notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . . [price threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- presence of strangers in the house of commons the agapemone, by richard greene london irish registers, by robert cole folk lore--divination by bible and key--charm for warts--boy or girl queries:-- poet laureates minor queries:--wood paper--latin line--new edition of milton--barum and sarum--roman roads--john dutton, of dutton--rome--prolocutor of convocation--language of queen mary's days--vault interments--archbishop williams' persecutor, r.k.--the sun feminine in english--construe and translate--men but children of a larger growth--clerical costume--ergh, er, or argh--burial service--gaol chaplains--hanging out the broom--george lord goring--bands replies:-- derivation of "news" and "noise" by samuel hickson the dodo queries, by h.e. strickland bohn's edition of milton umbrellas emancipation of the jews replies to minor queries:--wellington, wyrwast and cokam--sir william skipwyth--dr. johnson and dr. warton--worm of lambton--shakspeare's will--josias ibach stada--the temple or a temple--bawn--"heigh ho! says rowley"--arabic numerals--pusan--"i'd preach as though"--"fools rush in"--allusion in friar brackley's sermon--earwig--sir r. haigh's letter-book--marescautia--memoirs of an american lady--poem by sir e. dyer, &c. miscellanies:-- blue boar inn, holborn--lady morgan and curry--sir walter scott and erasmus--parallel passages--grays ode--the grand style--hoppesteris--sheridan's last residence miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. presence of strangers in the house of commons. in the late debate on mr. grantley berkeley's motion for a fixed duty on corn, sir benjamin hall is reported to have imagined the presence of a stranger to witness the debate, and to have said that he was imagining what every one knew the rules of the house rendered an impossibility. it is strange that so intelligent a member of the house of commons should be ignorant of the fact that the old sessional orders, which absolutely prohibited the presence of strangers in the house of commons, were abandoned in , and that a standing order now exists in their place which recognises and regulates their presence. the insertion of this "note" may prevent many "queries" in after times, when the sayings and doings of have become matters of antiquarian discussion. the following standing orders were made by the house of commons on the th of february, , on the motion of mr. christie, (see hansard, and commons' journals of that day), and superseded the old sessional orders, which purported to exclude strangers entirely from the house of commons:-- "that the serjeant at arms attending this house do from time to time take into his custody any stranger whom he may see, or who may be reported to him to be, in any part of the house or gallery appropriated to the members of this house; and also any stranger who, having been admitted into any other part of the house or gallery, shall misconduct himself, or shall not withdraw when strangers are directed to withdraw while the house, or any committee of the whole house, is sitting; and that no person so taken into custody be discharged out of custody without the special order of the house. "that no member of this house do presume to bring any stranger into any part of the house or gallery appropriated to the members of this house while the house, or a committee of the whole house, is sitting." now, therefore, strangers are only liable to be taken into custody if in a part of the house appropriated to members, or misconducting themselves, or refusing to withdraw when ordered by the speaker to do so; and sir benjamin hall imagined no impossibility. ch. * * * * * the agapemone. like most other things, the "agapemone" wickedness, which has recently disgusted all decent people, does not appear to be a new thing by any means. the religion-mongers of the nineteenth century have a precedent nearly years old for this house of evil repute. in the reign of elizabeth, the following proclamation was issued against "the sectaries of the family of love:"-- "whereas, by report of sundry of the bishops of this realm, and others having care of souls, the queen's majesty is informed, that in sundry places of her said realm, in their several dioceses there are certain persons which do secretly, in corners, make privy assemblies of divers simple unlearned people, and after they have craftily and hypocritically allured them to esteem them to be more holy and perfect men than other are, they do then teach them damnable heresies, directly contrary to divers of the principal articles of our belief and christian faith and in some parts so absurd and fanatical, as by feigning to themselves a monstrous new kind of speech, never found in the scriptures, nor in ancient father or writer of christ's church, by which they do move ignorant and simple people at the first rather to marvel at them, than to understand them but yet to colour their sect withal, they name themselves to be of the _family of love_, and then as many as shall be allowed by them to be of that family to be elect and saved, and all others, of what church soever they be, to be rejected and damned. and for that upon conventing of some of them before the bishops and ordinaries, it is found that the ground of their sect, is maintained by certain lewd, heretical, and seditious books first made in the dutch tongue, and lately translated into english, and printed beyond the seas, and secretly brought over into the realm, the author whereof they name h.n., without yielding to him, upon their examination, any other name, in whose name they have certain books set forth, called _evangelium regni, or, a joyful message of the kingdom; documental sentences, the prophecie of the spirit of love; a publishing of the peace upon the earth_, and such like. "and considering also it is found, that these sectaries hold opinion, that they may before any magistrate, ecclesiastical or temporal, or any other person not being professed to be of their sect (which they term the family of love), by oath or otherwise deny any thing for their advantage, so as though many of them are well known to be teachers and spreaders abroad of these dangerous and damnable sects, yet by their own confession they cannot be condemned, whereby they are more dangerous in any christian realm: therefore, her majesty being very sorry to see so great an evil by the malice of the devil, first begun and practised in other countries, to be now brought into this her realm, and that by her bishops and ordinaries she understandeth it very requisite, not only to have these dangerous heretics and sectaries to be severely punished, but that also all other means be used by her majesty's royal authority, which is given her of god to defend christ's church, to root them out from further infecting her realm, she hath thought meet and convenient, and so by this her proclamation she willeth and commandeth, that all her officers and ministers temporal shall, in all their several vocations, assist the archbishops and bishops of her realm, and all other persons ecclesiastical, having care of souls, to search out all persons duly suspected to be either teachers or professors of the foresaid damnable sects, and by all good means to proceed severely against them being found culpable, by order of the laws either ecclesiastical or temporal: and that, also, search be made in all places suspected, for the books and writings maintaining the said heresies and sects, and them to destroy and burn. "and wheresoever such books shall be found after the publication hereof, in custody of any person, other than such as the ordinaries shall permit, to the intent to peruse the same for confutation thereof, the same persons to be attached and committed to close prison, there to remain, or otherwise by law to be condemned, until the same shall be purged and cleared of the same heresies, or shall recant the same, and be thought meet by the ordinary of the place to be delivered. and that whoever in this realm shall either print, or bring, or cause to be brought into this realm, any of the said books, the same persons to be attached and committed to prison, and to receive such bodily punishment and other mulct as fautors of damnable heresies. and to the execution hereof, her majesty chargeth all her officers and ministers, both ecclesiastical and temporal, to have special regard, as they will answer not only afore god, whose glory and truth is by these damnable sects greatly sought to be defaced, but also will avoid her majesty's indignation, which in such cases as these are, they ought not to escape, if they shall be found negligent and careless in the execution of their authorities. "given at our mannour of richmond, the third of october, in the two-and-twentieth year of our reign. "god save the queen." richard greene. lichfield, may . . * * * * * london parish registers. the interleaving, of a little work in my possession, published by kearsley in , intitled _account of the several wards, precincts, and parishes in the city of london_, contains ms. notes of the commencement of the registers of fifty of the london parishes, and of four of southwark, the annexed list[ ] of which may be of use to some of the readers of "notes and queries." the book formerly belonged to sir george nayler, whose signature it bears on a fly-leaf. [footnote : we have collated the list with the population returns (parish register abstract) , and noted any difference. in addition to the list given from sir geo. nayler's ms. the following early registers were extant in :-- . allhallows, bread street; allhallows, honey lane; christ church; st. mary-le-bow; st. matthew, friday street; st. michael bassishaw; st. pancras, soper lane. . st. martin, ironmonger lane; st. martin ludgate; st. michael, crooked lane. . st. george, botolph lane, at the commencement of which are entries from tombs, - . . allhallows the less; st. andrew, wardrope; st. bartholomew, exchange; st. christopher-le-stock; st. mary-at-hill, st. michael le quern; st. michael, royal; st. olave, jewry; st. thomas the apostle; st. botolph, bishopsgate. . st. augustine; st. margaret, moses; st. michael, wood street. . st. magnus. allhallows, barking begins ----------- london wall " [ pop. ret.] ----------- lombard street " ----------- staining " st. andrew undershaft " st. antholin " st. bennet fink " ----------- gracechurch " st. clement, eastcheap " st. dionis backchurch " st. dunstan in the east " st. edmund the king " st. gabriel, fenchurch " st. gregory " [ pop. ret., probably an error of transcriber.] st. james garlickhithe " st. john baptist " [ pop. ret.] st. katharine coleman " st. lawrence, jewry " ------------- pountney " st. leonard, eastcheap " st. margaret lothbury " ------------ pattens " [ pop. ret.] st. martin orgars " ---------- outwick " [ pop. ret.] ---------- vestry " [ pop. ret.] st. mary, aldermanbury " st. mary magdalene, old fish street " [ pop. ret.] st. mary mounthaw " [ pop. ret. a register evidently lost.] st. mary somerset " [ pop. ret. a register missing.] st. mary woolchurch, and st. mary woolnorth, both in one " st. michael, cornhill, beg. _before_ ------------ royal begins st. mildred, poultry " st. nicholas acons " ------------ coleabby " [ pop. ret.] ------------ olave " st. peter, cornhill " st. peter le poor " [ pop. ret.] st. stephen, coleman street " ------------ walbrook " st. swithin " [ pop. ret.] st. andrew, holborn " [ pop. ret.] st. bartholomew the great " --------------- the less " st. botolph, aldgate " st. bride " [ ] st. dunstan in the west " [ pop. ret.] st. sepulchre " _note_.--the register prior burnt at the fire of london. st. olave, southwark. "register said by _bray's survey_ to be as early as . vide vol. i. - ; but on a search made this day it appears that the register does not begin till . qy. if not a book lost?-- th oct. ." [ pop. ret.] st. george, southwark, beg. abt. [ pop. ret.] st. mary magdalen, bermondsey, begins (lysons); but from end of to only two entries made; viz. one in nov. , and another aug. , which finishes the first volume; and the second volume begins in . st. saviour, southwark, begins temp. eliz. [ pop. ret.] st. thomas, southwark, begins . rob. cole. [footnote : _note in the book_--there are registers before this in the hands of mr. pridden.] * * * * * folk lore. _divination by bible and key_ seems not merely confined to this country, but to prevail in asia. the following passage from _pérégrinations en orient_, par eusèbe de salle, vol. i. p. ., paris, , may throw some additional light on this superstition. the author is speaking of his sojourn at antioch, in the house of the _english_ consul. "en rentrant dans le salon, je trouvai mistriss b. assise sur son divan, près d'un natif syrien chrétien. ils tenaient à eux deux une bible, suspendue à une grosse clé par un mouchoir fin. mistriss b. ne se rappelait pas avoir reçu un bijou qu'un aleppin affirmait lui avoir remis. le syrien disait une prière, puis prononçait alternativement les noms de la dame et de l'aleppin. la bible pivota au nom de la dame déclarée par-là en erreur. elle se leva à l'instant, et ayant fait des recherches plus exactes, finit par trouver le bijou." i hardly think that this would be an english superstition transplanted to the east; it is more probable that it was originally derived frown syria. e.c. newcastle-on-tyne, may . . _charm for warts_.--count most carefully the number of warts; take a corresponding number of nodules or knots from the stalks of any of the _cerealia_ (wheat, oats, barley); wrap these in a cloth, and deposit the packet in the earth; _all the steps of the operation being done secretly_. as the nodules decay the warts will disappear. some artists think it necessary that each wart should be _touched_ by a separate nodule. this practice was very rife in the north of scotland some fifty years since, and no doubt is so still. it was regarded as very effective, and certainly had plenty of evidence of the _post-hoc-ergo-propter-hoc_ order in its favour. is this practice prevalent in england? it will be remarked that this belongs to the category of _vicarious charms_, which have in all times and in all ages, in great things and in small things, been one of the favourite resources of poor mortals in their difficulties. such charms (for all analogous practices may be so called) are, in point of fact, _sacrifices_ made on the principle so widely adopted,--_qui facit per alium facit per se_. the common witch-charm of melting an image of wax stuck full of pins before a slow fire, is a familiar instance. everybody knows that the party _imaged_ by the wax continues to suffer all the tortures of pin-pricking until he or she finally melts away (colliquescit), or dies in utter emaciation. emdee. _boy or girl._--the following mode was adopted a few years ago in a branch of my family residing in denbighshire, with the view of discovering the sex of an infant previous to its birth. as i do not remember to have met with it in other localities, it may, perhaps, be an interesting addition to your "folk lore." an old woman of the village, strongly attached to the family, asked permission to use a harmless charm to learn if the expected infant would be male or female. accordingly she joined the servants at their supper, where she assisted in clearing a shoulder of mutton of every particle of meat. she then held the blade-bone to the fire until it was scorched, so as to permit her to force her thumbs through the thin part. through the holes thus made she passed a string, and having knotted the ends together, she drove in a nail over the back door and left the house, giving strict injunctions to the servants to hang the bone up in that place the last thing at night. then they were carefully to observe who should first enter that door on the following morning, exclusive of the members of the household, and the sex of the child would be that of the first comer. this rather vexed some of the servants, who wished for a boy, as two or three women came regularly each morning to the house, and a man was scarcely ever seen there; but to their delight the first comer on this occasion proved to be a man, and in a few weeks the old woman's reputation was established throughout the neighbourhood by the birth of a boy. m.e.f. * * * * * queries. poet laureates. can any of the contributors to your most useful "notes and queries" favour me with the title of any work which gives an account of the origin, office, emoluments, and privileges of poet laureate. selden, in his _titles of honour (works_, vol. iii. p. .), shows the counts palatine had the right of conferring the dignity claimed by the german emperors. the first payment i am aware of is to master henry de abrinces, the _versifier_ (i suppose poet laureate), who received d. a day,-- l. s., as will be seen in the _issue roll_ of thomas de brantingham, edited by frederick devon. warton (_history of english poetry_, vol. ii. p. .) gives no further information, and is the author generally quoted; but the particular matter sought for is wanting. the first patent, according to the _encyclopædia metropolitana_, article "laureate," is stated, as regards the existing office, to date from th charles i., ; and assigns as the annual gratuity l., and a tierce of spanish canary wine out of the royal cellars. prior to this, the emoluments appear uncertain, as will be seen by gifford's statement relative to the amount paid to b. jonson, vol. i. cxi.:-- "hitherto the laureateship appears to have been a mere trifle, adopted at pleasure by those who were employed to write for the court, but conveying no privileges, and establishing no claim to a salary." i am inclined to doubt the accuracy of the phrase "employed to write for the court." certain it is, the question i now raise was _pressed_ then, as it was to satisfy ben jonson's want of information selden wrote on the subject in his _titles of honour_. these emoluments, rights, and privileges have been matters of laureate dispute, even to the days of southey. in volume iv. of his correspondence, many hints of this will be found; e.g., at page ., with reference to gifford's statement, and "my proper rights." the abbé resnel says,--"l'illustre dryden l'a porté comme _poète du roy_," which rather reduces its academic dignity; and adds, "le sieur cyber, comédien de profession, est actuellement en possession du titre de poète lauréate, et qu'il jouit en même tems de deux cens livres sterling de pension, à la charge de présenter tous les ans, deux pièces de vers à la famille royale." i am afraid, however, the abbé drew upon his imagination for the amount of the salary; and that he would find the people were never so hostile to the court as to sanction so heavy an infliction upon the royal family, as they would have met with from the quit-rent ode, the peppercorn of praise paid by elkanah settle, cibber, or h.j. pye. the abbé, however, is not so amusing in his mistake (if mistaken) relative to this point, as i find another foreign author has been upon two poet laureates, dryden and settle. vincenzo lancetti, in his _pseudonimia milano_, , tells us:-- "anche la durezza di alcuni cognomi ha più volte consigliato un raddolcimento, che li rendesse più facili a pronunziarsi. percio macloughlin divenne macklin; machloch, mallet; ed elkana settle fu poi ---- john dryden!" --a metamorphose greater, i suspect, than any to be found in ovid, and a transmigration of soul far beyond those imagined by the philosophers of the east. s.h. athenæum. * * * * * minor queries. _wood paper_.--the reprint of the _works of bishop wilkins_, london, , vols. vo., is said to be on paper made from wood pulp. it has all the appearance of it in roughness, thickness, and very unequal opacity. any sheet looked at with a candle behind it is like a firmament scattered with luminous nebulæ. i can find mention of straw paper, as patented about the time; but i should think it almost impossible (knowing how light the indian rice paper is) that the heavy fabric above mentioned should be of straw. is it from wood? if so, what is the history of the invention, and what other works were printed in it? m. _latin line_.--i should be very much obliged to anybody who can tell where this line comes from:-- "exiguum hoc magni pignus amoris habe," which was engraved on a present from a distinguished person to a relation of mine, who tried in several quarters to learn where it came from. c.b. _milton, new edition of_.--i observe in mr. mayor's communication (vol. i. p. .), that some one is engaged in editing milton. may i ask who, and whether the contemplated edition includes prose and poetry? ch. _barum and sarum_.--by what theory, rule, or analogy, if any, can the contractions be accounted for of two names so dissimilar, into words terminating so much alike, as those of salisbury into sarum--barnstaple into barum? s.s.s. _roman roads_.--can you inform me in whose possession is the ms. essay on "roman roads," written by the late dr. charles mason, to which i find allusion in a ms. letter of mr. north's? buriensis. _john dutton, of dutton_.--in the vagrant act, george ii., c. ., the heir and assigns of john dutton, of dutton, co. chester, deceased, esq., are exempt from the pains and penalties of vagrancy. query--who was the said john dutton, and why was such a boon conferred on his heirs for ever? b. _rome, ancient and modern_.--i observed, in a shop in rome, in , a large plan of that city, in which, on the same surface, both ancient and modern rome were represented; the shading of the streets and buildings being such as to distinguish the one from the other. thus, in looking at the modern forum, you saw, as it were _underneath_ it, the ancient forum; and so in the other parts of the city. can any of your readers inform me as to the name of the designer, and where, if at all, in england, a copy of this plan may be obtained? if i remember rightly, the border to the plan was composed of the pianta capitolina, or fragments of the ancient plan preserved in the capitol. in the event of the map above referred to not being accessible, can i obtain a copy of this latter plan by itself, and how? a.b.m. _prolocutor of convocation_.--w.d.m. inquires who was prolocutor of the lower house of convocation during its session in - ? _language of queen mary's days_.--in the first vol. of evelyn's _diary_ (the last edition) i find the following notice:-- " th, went to beverley, a large town with two churches, st. john's and st. mary's, not much inferior to the best of our cathedrals. here a very old woman showed us the monuments, and being above years of age, spake _the language of queen mary's days_, in whose time she was born; she was widow of a sexton, who had belonged to the church a hundred years." will any of your readers inform me what was the language spoken in _queen mary's_ days, and what peculiarity distinguished it from the language used in _evelyn's_ days? a learned author has suggested, that the difference arose from the slow progress in social improvement in the north of england, caused by the difficulty of communication with the court and its refinements. i am still anxious to ascertain what the difference was. fra. mewburn. darlington. _vault interments_.--i shall be very glad of any information as to the origin and date of the practice of depositing coffins in vaults, and whether this custom obtains in any other country than our own. walter lewis. edward street, portman square. _archbishop williams' persecutor, r.k._--any information will be thankfully received of the ancestors, collaterals, or descendants, of the notorious r.k.--the unprincipled persecutor of archbp. williams, mentioned in fuller's _church hist._, b. xi. cent. .; and in hacket's life of the archbishop (abridgment), p. . f.k. _the sun feminine in english_.--it has been often remarked, that the northern nations made the sun to be feminine.[ ] do any of your readers know any instances of the _english_ using this gender of the sun? i have found the following:-- "so it will be at that time with the sun; for though _she_ be the brightest and clearest creature, above all others, yet, for all that christ with his glory and majesty will obscure _her."--latimer's works_, parker soc. edit. vol. ii. p. . "not that the sun itself, of _her_ substance, shall be darkened; no, not so; for _she_ shall give _her_ light, but it shall not be seen for this great light and clearness wherein our saviour shall appear."--(ib. p. .) thos. cox. [footnote : see latham's _english language_, nd edition, p. ] _construe and translate_.--in my school-days, verbal rendering from latin or greek into english was _construing_; the same on paper was _translating_. whence this difference of phrase? m. _men but children of a larger growth_.--can you give one the author of the following line? "men are but children of a larger growth." r.g. _clerical costume_.--in the diary of the rev. giles moore, rector of hosted keynes, in sussex, published in the first volume of the sussex archæological collections, there is the following account of his dress:-- "i went to lewis and bought yards of broad black cloth at s. the yard, and two yards and / of scarlet serge for a waistcoat, s. d., and / of an ounce of scarlet silke, s." and this appears to have been his regular dress. will any of your correspondents inform me whether this scarlet serge waistcoat was commonly worn by the clergy in those times, namely, in ? r.w.b. _ergh, er, or argh_.--in dr. whitaker's _history of whalley_, p. ., ed. , are the following observations on the above word:-- "this is a singular word, which occurs, however both to the north and south of the ribble, though much more frequently to the north. to the south, i know not that it occurs, but in angles-ark and brettargh. to the north are battarghes, ergh-holme, stras-ergh, sir-ergh, feiz-er, goosen-ergh. in all the teutonic dialects i meet with nothing resembling this word, _excepting the swedish_ arf, _terra_ (_vide_ ihre _in voce_), which, if the last letter be pronounced gutturally, is precisely the same with _argh_." can any of your readers give a more satisfactory explanation of this local term? t.w. burnley, may . . _burial service_.--during a conversation on the various sanitary measures now projecting in the metropolis, and particularly on the idea lately started of re-introducing the ancient practice of burning the bodies of the deceased, one of our company remarked that the words "ashes to ashes," used in our present form of burial, would in such a case be literally applicable; and a question arose why the word "ashes" should have been introduced at all, and whether its introduction might not have been owing to the actual cremation of the funeral pyre at the burial of gentile christians? we were none of us profound enough to quote or produce any facts from the monuments and records of the early converts to account for the expression; but i conceive it probable that a solution could be readily given by some of your learned correspondents. the burning of the dead does not appear to be in itself an anti-christian ceremony, nor necessarily connected with pagan idolatries, and therefore might have been tolerated in the case of gentile believers like any other indifferent usage. cinis. _gaol chaplains_.--when were they first appointed? did the following advice of latimer, in a sermon before king edward, in , take any effect? "oh, i would ye would resort to prisons! a commendable thing in a christian realm: i would wish there were curates of prisons, that we might say, the 'curate of newgate, the curate of the fleet,' and i would have them waged for their labour. it is a holiday work to visit the prisoners, for they be kept from sermons."--vol. i. p. . thos. cox. _hanging out the broom_ (vol. i., p. .).--this custom exists in the west of england, but is oftener talked of than practised. it is jocularly understood to indicate that the deserted inmate is in want of a companion, and is really to receive the visits of his friends. can it be in any way analogous to the custom of hoisting broom at the mast-head of a vessel which is to be disposed of? s.s.s. _george lord goring_, well known in history as colonel goring and general goring, until the elevation of his father to the earldom of norwich, in nov. , is said by lodge to have left england in november, , and after passing some time in france, to have gone into the netherlands, where he obtained a commission as lieutenant-general in the spanish army. lodge adds, upon the authority of dugdale, that he closed his singular life in that country, in the character of a dominican friar, and his father surviving him, he never became earl of norwich. a recent publication, speaking of lord goring, says he carried his genius, his courage, and his villainy to market on the continent, served under spain, and finally assumed the garb of a dominican friar, and died in a convent cell. can any of your readers inform me _when_ and _where_ he died, and whether any particulars are known respecting him after his retirement abroad, and when his marriage took place with his wife lady lettice boyle, daughter of the earl of cork, who died in ? the confusion that is made between the father and son is very great. g. _bands_.--what is the origin of the clerical and academical custom of wearing _bands_? were they not originally used for the purpose of preserving the cassock from being soiled by the beard? this is the only solution that presents itself to my mind. oxoniensis nondum-graduatus. * * * * * replies. derivation of "news" and "noise." i hasten to repudiate a title to which i have no claim; a compliment towards the close of the letter of your correspondent "ch." (vol. i., p. .) being evidently intended for a gentleman whose _christian_ name, only, _differs_ from mine. the compliment in his case is well-deserved; and it will not lower him in your correspondent's opinion, to know that he is not answerable for the sins laid to my charge. and now for a word in my own behalf. indeed, ch. is rather hard upon me, i must confess. in using the simple form of assertion as more convenient,--although i intended thereby merely to express that such was my opinion, and not dreaming of myself as an authority,--i have undoubtedly erred. in the single instance in which i used it, instead of saying "it is," i should have said "i think it is." throughout the rest of my argument i think the terms made use of are perfectly allowable as expressions of opinion. your correspondent has been good enough to give "the whole" of my "argument" in recapitulating my "assertions." singular dogmatism that in laying down the law should condescend to give reasons for it! on the other hand, when i turn to the letter of my friendly censor, i find assertion without argument, which, to my simple apprehension, is of much nearer kin to dogmatism than is the sin with which i am charged. i cannot help thinking that your correspondent, from his dislike "to be puzzled on so plain a subject," has a misapprehension as to the uses of etymology. i, too, am no etymologist; i am a simple inquirer, anxious for information; frequently, without doubt, "most ignorant" of what i am "most assured;" yet i feel that to treat the subject scientifically it is not enough to guess at the origin of a word, not enough even to know it; that it is important to know not only whence it came, but how it came, what were its relations, by what road it travelled; and treated thus, etymology is of importance, as a branch of a larger science, to the history of the progress of the human race. descending now to particulars, let your correspondent show me how "news" was made out of "new." i have shown him how _i think_ it was made; but i am open to conviction. i repeat my opinion that "news is a noun singular, and as such must have been adopted bodily into the language;" and if it were a "noun of plural form and plural meaning," i still think that the singular form must have preceded it. the two instances ch. gives, "goods" and "riches," are more in point than he appears to suppose, although in support of my argument, and not his. the first is from the gothic, and is substantially a word implying "possessions," older than the oldest european living languages. "riches" is most unquestionably in its original acceptation in our language a noun singular, being identically the french "richesse," in which manner it is spelt in our early writers. from the form coinciding with that of our plural, it has acquired also a plural signification. but both words "have been adopted bodily into the language," and thus strengthen my argument that the process of manufacture is with us unknown. your correspondent is not quite correct in describing me as putting forward as instances of the early communication between the english and the german languages the derivation of "news" from "neues," and the similarity between two poems. the first i adduced as an instance of the importance of the inquiry: with regard to the second, i admitted all that your correspondent now says; but with the remark, that the mode of treatment and the measure approaching so near to each other in england and germany within one half century (and, i may add, at no other period in either of the two nations is the same mode or measure to be found), there was reasonable ground for suspicion of direct or indirect communication. on this subject i asked for information. in conclusion, i think i observe something of a sarcastic tone in reference to my "novelty." i shall advocate nothing that i do not believe to be true, "whether it be old or new;" but i have found that our authorities are sometimes careless, sometimes unfaithful, and are so given to run in a groove, that when i am in quest of truth i generally discard them altogether, and explore, however laboriously, by myself. samuel hickson. st. john's wood, may . . i do not know the reason for the rule your correspondent mr. s. hickson lays down, that such a noun as "news" could not be formed according to english analogy. why not as well as "goods, the shallows, blacks, for mourning, greens?" there is no singular to any of these as nouns. _noise_ is a french word, upon which menage has an article. there can be no doubt that he and others whom he quotes are right, that it is derived from _noxa_ or _noxia_ in latin, meaning "strife." they quote:-- "sæpe in conjugiis fit noxia, cum nimia est dos." _ausonius_. "in mediam noxiam perfertur." _petronius_. "diligerent alia, et noxas bellumque moverent." _manilius_. it is a great pity that we have no book of reference for english analogy of language. c.b. why should mr. hickson (vol. i., p. .) attempt to derive "news" indirectly from a german adjective, when it is so directly attributable to an english one; and that too without departing from a practice almost indigenous in the language? have we not in english many similar adjective substantives? are we not continually slipping into our _shorts_, or sporting our _tights_, or parading our _heavies_, or counter-marching our _lights_, or commiserating _blacks_, or leaving _whites_ to starve; or calculating the _odds_, or making _expositions_ for _goods_? oh! but, says mr. hickson, "in that case the '_s_' would be the sign of the plural." not necessarily so, no more than an "_s_" to "mean" furnishes a "means" of proving the same thing. but granting that it were so, what then? the word "news" _is_ undoubtedly plural, and has been so used from the earliest times; as (in the example i sent for publication last week, of so early a date as the commencement of henry viii.'s reign) may be seen in "_thies_ new_es_." but a flight still more eccentric would be the identification of "noise" with "news!" "there is no process," mr. hickson says, "by which noise could be manufactured without making a plural noun of it!" is not mr. hickson aware that _la noise_ is a french noun-singular signifying a contention or dispute? and that the same word exists in the latin _nisus_, a struggle? if mere plausibility be sufficient ground to justify a derivation, where is there a more plausible one than that "news," _intelligence, ought_ to be derived from [greek: nous], _understanding_ or _common sense_? a.e.b. leeds, may th. further evidence (see vol. i., p. .) of the existence and common use of the word "newes" in its present signification but ancient orthography anterior to the introduction of newspapers. in a letter from the cardinal of york (bainbridge) to henry viii. (rymer's _foedera_, vol. vi. p. .), "after that thies newes afforesaide ware dyvulgate in the citie here." dated from rome, september, . the _newes_ was of the victory just gained by henry over the french, commonly known as "the battle of the spurs." a.e.b. * * * * * the dodo queries. i beg to thank mr. s.w. singer for the further notices he has given (vol. i., p. .) in connection with this subject. i was well acquainted with the passage which he quotes from osorio, a passage which some writers have very inconsiderately connected with the dodo history. in reply to mr. singer's queries, i need only make the following extract from the _dodo and its kindred_, p. .:-- "the statement that vasco de gama, in , discovered, sixty leagues beyond the cape of good hope, a bay called after san blaz, near an island full of birds with wings like bats, which the sailors called _solitaries_ (de blainville, _nouv. ann. mus. hist. nat._, and _penny cyclopædia_, dodo, p. .), is wholly irrelevant. the birds are evidently penguins, and their wings were compared to those of bats, from being without developed feathers. de gama never went near mauritius, but hugged the african coast as far as melinda, and then crossed to india, returning by the same route. this small island inhabited by penguins, near the cape of good hope, has been gratuitously confounded with mauritius. dr. hamel, in a memoir in the _bulletin de la classe physico-mathématique de l'académie de st. petersbourg_, vol. iv. p. ., has devoted an unnecessary amount of erudition to the refutation of this obvious mistake. he shows that the name _solitaires_, as applied to penguins by de gama's companions, [i should have said, 'by later compilers,'] is corrupted from _sotilicairos_, which appears to be a hottentot word." i may add, that dr. hamel shows osorio's statement to be taken from castanheda, who is the earliest authority for the account of de gama's voyage. h.e. strickland. * * * * * bohn's edition of milton. mr. editor,--i have just seen an article in your "notes and queries" referring to my edition of milton's prose works. it is stated that, in my latest catalogue, the book is announced as _complete_ in vols., although the contrary appears to be the case, judging by the way in which the third volume ends, the absence of an index, &c. in reply, i beg to say that the insertion of the word "complete," in some of my catalogues, has taken place without my privity, and is now expunged. the fourth volume has long been in preparation, but the time of its appearance depends on the health and leisure of a prelate, whose name i have no right to announce. those gentlemen who have taken the trouble to make direct inquiries on the subject, have always, i believe, received an explicit answer. henry george bohn. may . . * * * * * umbrellas. although dr. rimbault's query (vol. i., p. .) as to the first introduction of umbrellas into england, is to a certain extent answered in the following number (p. .) by a quotation from mr. cunningham's _handbook_, a few additional remarks may, perhaps, be deemed admissible. hanway is there stated to have been "the first man who ventured to walk the streets of london with one over his head," and that after continuing its use nearly thirty years, he saw them come into general use. as hanway died in , we may thus infer that the introduction of umbrellas may be placed at about . but it is, i think, probable that their use must have been at least partially known in london long before that period, judging from the following extract from gay's _trivia, or art of walking the streets of london_, published :-- "good housewives all the winter's rage despise, defended by the ridinghood's disguise; or, underneath th' _umbrella's_ oily shade, safe through the wet on clinking pattens tread. let persian dames the _umbrella's_ ribs display, to guard their beauties from the sunny ray; or sweating slaves support the shady load, when eastern monarchs show their state abroad; britain in winter only knows its aid, to guard from chilly showers the walking maid." book i. lines - . that it was, perhaps, an article of curiosity rather than use in the middle of the seventeenth century, is evident in the fact of its being mentioned in the "_musæum tradescantianum, or collection of rarities_, preserved at south lambeth near london, by john tradescant." mo. . it occurs under the head of "utensils," and is simply mentioned as "_an umbrella_." e.b. price. [mr. st. croix has also referred dr. rimbault to gay's _trivia_.] jonas hanway the philanthropist is reputed first to have used an "umbrella" in england. i am the more inclined to think it may be so, as my own father, who was born in , and lived to ninety-two years of age, has told me the same thing, and he lived in the same parish as mr. hanway, who resided in red lion square. mr. hanway was born in . j.w. the introduction of this article of general convenience is attributed, and i believe accurately so, to jonas hanway, the eastern traveller, who on his return to his native land rendered himself justly celebrated by his practical benevolence. in a little book with a long title, published in , written by "_john pugh_," i find many curious anecdotes related of hanway, and apropos of umbrellas, in describing his dress mr. pugh says,--"when it rained, a small parapluie defended his face and wig; thus he was always prepared to enter into any company without impropriety, or the appearance of neglect. and he (hanway) was the first man who ventured to walk the streets of london with an umbrella over his head: after carrying one near thirty years, he saw them come into general use." hanway died . j.f. as far as i remember, there is a portrait of hanway with an umbrella as a frontispiece to the book of travels published by him about , in four vols. to.; and i have no doubt that he had used one in his travels through greece, turkey, &c. t.g.l. in the hall of my father's house, at stamford in lincolnshire, there was, when i was a child, the wreck of a very large green silk umbrella, apparently of chinese manufacture, brought by my father from holland, somewhere between and , and as i have often heard, the first umbrella seen at stamford. i well remember also an amusing description given by the late mr. warry, so many years consul at smyrna, of the astonishment and envy of his mother's neighbours at sawbridgeworth, in herts, where his father had a country-house, when he ran home and came back with an umbrella, which he had just brought from leghorn, to shelter them from a pelting shower which detained them in the church-porch, after the service, on one summer sunday. from mr. warry's age at the time he mentioned this, and other circumstances in his history, i conjecture that it occurred not later than or . as sawbridgeworth is so near london, it is evident that even there umbrellas were at that time almost unknown. if i have "spun too long a yarn," the dates, at least, will not be unacceptable to others like myself. g.c. renouard. swanscombe rectory, may . dr. jamieson was the first who introduced umbrellas to glasgow in the year ; he bought his in paris. i remember very well when this took place. at this time the umbrella was made of heavy wax cloth, with cane ribs, and was a ponderous article. r.r. * * * * * emancipation of the jews. (vol. i, pp. , .) from a scarce collection of pamphlets concerning the naturalisation of the jews in england, published in , by dean tucker and others, i beg to send the following extracts, which may be of some use in replying to the inquiry (vol. i., p. .) respecting the jews during the commonwealth. dean tucker, in his _second letter to a friend concerning naturalisation_, says (p. .):-- "the jews having departed out of the realm in the year , or being expelled by the authority of parliament (it matters not which), made no efforts to return till the protectorship of oliver cromwell; but this negotiation is known to have proved unsuccessful. however, the affair was not dropped, for the next application was to king charles himself, then in his exile at bruges, as appears by a copy of a commission dated the th of september, , granted to lt.-gen. middleton, to treat with the jews of amsterdam:--'that whereas the lt.-gen. had represented to his majesty their good affection to him, and disowned the application lately made to cromwell in their behalf by some persons of their nation, as absolutely without their consent, the king empowers the lt.-gen. to treat with them. that if in that conjunction they shall assist his majesty by any money, arms, or ammunition, they shall find, when god should restore him, that he would extend that protection to them which they could reasonably expect, and abate that rigour of the law which was against them in his several dominions, and repay them." this paper, dean tucker says, was found among the original papers of sir edward nicholas, secretary of state to king charles i. and ii., and was communicated to him by a learned and worthy friend. the dean goes on to remark, that the restoration of the royal family of the stuarts was attended with the return of the jews into great britain; and that lord chancellor clarendon granted to many of them letters of denization under the great seal. from another pamphlet in the same collection, entitled, _an answer to a pamphlet entitled considerations on the bill to permit persons professing the jewish religion to be naturalized_, the following, is an extract:-- "there is a curious anecdote of this affair," (about the jews thinking oliver cromwell to be the messiah,) "in raguenet's _histoire d'oliver cromwell_, which i will give the reader at length. about the time rabbi manasseh ben israel came to england to solicit the jews' admission, the asiatic jews sent hither the noted rabbi jacob ben azahel, with several others of his nation, to make private inquiry whether cromwell was not that messiah, whom they had so long expected. (page .--i leave the reader to judge what an accomplished villain he will then be.) which deputies upon their arrival pretending other business, were several times indulging the favour of a private audience from him, and at one of them proposed buying hebrew books and mss. belonging to the university of _cambridge_[ ], in order to have an opportunity, under pretence of viewing them, to inquire amongst his relations, in huntingdonshire, where he was born, whether any of his ancestors could be proved of jewish extract. this project of theirs was very readily agreed to (the university at that time being under a cloud, on account of their former loyalty to the king), and accordingly the ambassadors set forwards upon their journey. but discovering by their much longer continuance at huntingdon than at cambridge, that their business at the last place was not such as was pretended, and by not making their enquiries into oliver's pedigree with that caution and secresy which was necessary in such an affair, the true purpose of their errand into england became quickly known at london, and was very much talked of, which causing great scandal among the _saints_, he was forced suddenly to pack them out of the kingdom, without granting any of their requests." j.m. [footnote : query: may not this be another version of the same story, quoted by your correspondent, b.a., of christ church, oxford, from monteith, (in vol. i. p. .), of the jews desiring to buy the library of _oxford_?] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _wellington, wyrwast, and cokam_ (vol. i., p. .).--the garrison in wellington was, no doubt, at the large house built by sir john topham in that town, where the rebels, who had gained possession of it by stratagem, held out for some time against the king's forces under sir richard grenville. the house, though of great strength, was much damaged on that occasion, and shortly fell into ruin. cokam probably designates colcombe castle, a mansion of the courtenays, near colyton, in devonshire, which was occupied by a detachment of the king's troops under prince maurice in , but soon after fell into the hands of the rebels. it is now in a state of ruin, but is in part occupied as a farm-house. i am at a loss for _wyrwast_, and should doubt the reading of the ms. s.s.s. _sir william skipwyth_ (vol. i., p. .).--mr. foss will find some notices of will. skipwyth in pp. , , , of _rotulorum pat. & claus. cancellariæ hib. calendarium_, printed in . r.b. trim, may . . _dr. johnson and dr. warton_ (vol. i., p. .).--mr. markland is probably right in his conjecture that johnson had warton's lines in his memory; but the original source of the allusion to _peru_ is boileau: "de tous les animaux de paris au _pérou_, du japon jusqu'à rome, le plus sot animal, à mon avis, c'est l'homme." warton's poems appeared in march, . johnson's _vanity of human wishes_ was published the th january, , and was written probably in december or november preceding. c. _worm of lambton_ (vol. i., p. .).--see its history and legend in surtees' _history of durham_, vol. ii. p. ., and a quarto tract printed by sir cuthbert sharp. g. "a.c." is informed that there is an account of this "worme" in _the bishoprick garland_, published by the late sir cuthbert sharpe in ; it is illustrated with a view of the worm hill, and a woodcut of the knight thrusting his sword with great _nonchalance_ down the throat of the worme. only copies of the _garland_ were printed. w.n. _shakspeare's will_ (vol. i., pp. , , , , and .).--i fear if i were to adopt mr. bolton corney's _tone_, we should degenerate into polemics. i will therefore only reply to his question, "_have_ i wholly mistaken the whole _affair_?" by one word, "_undoubtedly_." the question raised was on an irish edition of malone's _shakspeare_. mr. bolton corney reproved the querists for not consulting original sources. it appears that mr. bolton corney had not himself consulted _the edition_ in question; and by his last letter i am satisfied that he has not _even yet_ seen it: and it is not surprising if, in these circumstances, he should have "_mistaken the whole affair_." but as my last communication (vol. i., p. .) explains (as i am now satisfied) the blunder and its cause, i may take my leave of the matter, only requesting mr. bolton corney, if he still doubts, to follow his own good precept, and look at _the original edition_. c. _josias ibach stada_ (vol. i., p. .).--in reply to g.e.n., i would ask, is mr. hewitt correct in calling him stada, an italian artist? i have no hesitation in saying that stada here is no personal appellation at all, but the name of a town. the inscription "_fudit josias ibach stada bremensis_" is to be read, cast by josias ibach, _of the town of stada, in the duchy of bremen_. all your readers, particularly mercantile, will know the place well enough from the discussions raised by mr. hutt, member for gateshead, in the house of commons, on the oppressive duties levied there on all vessels and their cargoes sailing past it up the elbe; and to the year it was the capital of an independent graffschaft, when it lapsed to henry the lion. william bell. _the temple, or a temple._--i have had an opportunity of seeing the edition of chaucer referred to by your correspondent p.h.f. (vol. i., p. .), and likewise several other black-letter editions ( , , , , ), and find that they all agree in reading "the temple," which caxton's edition also adopts. the general reading of "temple" in the _modern_ editions, naturally induced me to suspect that tyrwhitt had made the alteration on the authority of the manuscripts of the poem. of these there are no less than ten in the british museum, all of which have been kindly examined for me. one of these wants the prologue, and another that part of it in which the line occurs; but in _seven_ of the remaining eight, the reading is-- "a gentil maunciple was ther of _a_ temple;" while _one_ only reads "the temple." the question, therefore, is involved in the same doubt which i at first stated; for the subsequent lines quoted by p.h.f. prove nothing more than that the person described was a manciple in _some_ place of legal resort, which was not disputed. edward foss. _bawn_ (vol. i., p. .).--if your querist regarding a "bawn" will look into macnevin's _confiscation of ulster_ (duffy: dublin, , p. . &c.), he will find that a bawn must have been a sort of court-yard, which might be used on emergency as a fortification for defence. they were constructed either of _lime_ and _stone_, of _stone_ and _clay_, or of _sods_, and twelve to fourteen feet high, and sometimes inclosing a dwelling-house, and with the addition of "flankers." w.c. trevelyan. "_heigh ho! says rowley_" (vol. i., p. .).--the burden of "_heigh ho! says rowley_" is certainly _older_ than r.s.s. conjectures; i will not say how much, but it occurs in a _jeu d'esprit_ of , on the installation of lord grenville, as chancellor, at oxford, as will be shown by a stanza cited from memory:-- "mr. chinnery then, an m.a. of great parts, sang the praises of chancellor grenville. oh! he pleased all the ladies and tickled their hearts; but, then, we all know he's a master of arts, with his rowly powly, gammon and spinach, heigh ho! says rowley." chethamensis. wimpole street, may . . _arabic numerals_.--as your correspondent e.v. (vol. i., p. .) is desirous of obtaining any instance of arabic numerals of early occurrence, i would refer him, for one at least, to _notices of the castle and priory of castleacre_, by the rev. j.h. bloom: london; richardson, . cornhill, . in this work it appears that by the acumen of dr. murray, bishop of rochester, the date was found impressed in the plaster of the wall of the priory in the following, form:-- × the writer then goes on to show, that this was the regular order of the letters to one crossing himself after the romish fashion. e.s.t. _pusan_ (vol. i., p. .)--may not the meaning be a collar in the form of a serpent? in the old roman de blanchardin is this line:-- "cy guer _pison_ tuit apolin." can _iklynton_ again be the place where such an ornament was made? ickleton, in cambridgeshire, appears to have been of some note in former days, as, according to lewis's _topog. hist._, a nunnery was founded there by henry ii., and a market together with a fair granted by henry iii. as it is only five miles from linton, it may have formerly borne the name of ick-linton. c.i.r. "_i'd preach as though_" (vol. i., p. .).--the lines quoted by henry martyn are said by dr. jenkyn (introduction to a little vol. of selections from baxter--nelson's _puritan divines_) to be baxter's "own immortal lines." dr. j. quotes them thus:-- "i preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." ed. s. jackson. may . "_fools rush in_" (vol. i., p. .).--the line in pope, "for fools rush in where angels fear to tread," it has been long ago pointed out, is founded upon that of shakspeare, "for wrens make wing where eagles dare not perch." i know not why that line of pope is in your correspondent's list. it is not a proverb. c.b. _allusion in friar brackley's sermon_ (vol. i., p. .)--it seems vain to inquire who the persons were of whom stories were told in medieval books, as if they were really historical. see the _gesta romanorum_, for instance: or consider who the greek king aulix was, having dealings with the king of syria, in the th story of the _novelle antiche_. the passage in the sermon about a greek king, seems plainly to be still part of the extract from the _liber decalogorum_, being in latin. this book was perhaps the _dialogi decem_, put into print at cologne in : brunet. c.b. _earwig_ (vol. i., p. .).--this insect is very destructive to the petals of some kinds of delicate flowers. may it not have acquired the title of "couchbell" from its habit of couching or concealing itself for rest at night and security from small birds, of which it is a favourite food, in the pendent blossoms of bell-shaped flowers? this habit is often fatal to it in the gardens of cottagers, who entrap it by means of a lobster's claw suspended on an upright stick. s.s.s. _earwig_ (vol. i., p. .).--in the north of england the earwig is called _twitchbell_. i know not whether your correspondent is in error as to its being called in scotland the "coach-bell." i cannot afford any explanation to either of these names. g. bouchier richardson. _sir r. haigh's letter-book_ (vol. i, p. .).--this is incorrect; no such person is known. the baronet intended is _sir roger bradshaigh, of haigh_; a very well-known person, whose funeral sermon was preached by wroe, the warden of manchester collegiate church, locally remembered as "silver-mouthed wroe." this name is correctly given in puttick and simpson's catalogue of a miscellaneous sale on april , and it is to be _hoped_ that sir roger's collection of letters, ranging from to , _may have_ fallen into the hands of the noble earl who represents him, the present proprietor of haigh. chethamensis. _marescautia_ (vol. i., p. .).--your correspondent requests some information as to the meaning of the word "marescautia." _mareschaucie_, in old french, means a stable. pasquier (_recherches de la france_, l. viii. ch. .) says,-- "pausanias disoit que mark apud celtas signifioit un cheual ... je vous diray qu'en ancien langage allemant mark se prenoit pour un cheual." in ch. . he refers to another etymolygy of "maréchal," from "maire," or "maistre," and "cheval," "comme si on les eust voulu dire maistre de la cheualerie." "maréchal" still signifies "a farrier." _maréchaussée_ was the term applied down to the revolution to the jurisdiction of nosseigneurs les maréchaux de france, whose orders were enforced by a company of horse that patrolled the _high_ways, la _chaussée_, generally raised above the level of the surrounding country. froissart applies the term to the marshalsea prison in london. in d.s.'s first entry there may, perhaps, be some allusion to another meaning of the word, namely, that of "_march_, limit, boundary." what the nature of the tenure per serjentiam marescautiæ may be i am not prepared to say. may it not have had some reference to the support of the royal stud? j.b.d. _memoirs of an american lady_ (vol. i., p. .).--if this work cannot now be got it is a great pity,--it ought to go down to posterity; a more valuable or interesting account of a particular state of society now quite extinct, can hardly be found. instead of saying that "it is the work of mrs. grant, the author of this and that," i should say of her other books that they were written by the author of the _memoirs of an american lady_. the character of the individual lady, her way of keeping house on a large scale, the state of the domestic slaves, threatened, as the only known punishment and most terrible to them, with being sold to jamaica; the customs of the young men at albany, their adventurous outset in life, their practice of robbing one another in joke (like a curious story at venice, in the story-book called _il peccarone_, and having some connection with the stories of the spartan and circassian youth), with much of natural scenery, are told without pretension of style; but unluckily there is too much interspersed relating to the author herself, then quite young. c.b. _poem by sir e. dyer_ (vol. i., p. .).--"my mind to me," &c. neither the births of breton nor sir edward dyer seem to be known; nor, consequently, how much older the one was than the other. mr. s., i conclude, could not mean much older than breton's tract, mentioned in vol. i., p. . the poem is not in england's _helicon_. the ballad, as in percy, has four stanzas more than the present copy, and one stanza less. some of the readings in percy are better, that is, more probable than the new ones. "i see how plenty _surfeits_ oft."--_p._ suffers.--_var._ "i grudge not at another's _gain_".--_p._ pain.--_var._ "no worldly _wave_ my mind can toss."--_p._ wants.--_var._ these seem to me to be stupid mistranscriptions. "i brook that is another's pain."--_p._ "my state at one doth still remain."--_var._ probably altered on account of the slight obscurity; and possibly a different edition by the author himself. "they beg, i give, they lack, i _lend_."--_p._ leave.--_var._ in this verse, "i fear no foe, i _scorn_ no friend."--_p._ fawn.--_var._ i think the new copy better. "to none of these i yield as thrall, for why my mind _despiseth_ all."--_p._ doth serve for.--_var._ the var. much better. in this-- "i never seek by bribes to please, nor by _dessert_ to give offence."--_p._ deceit.--_var._ i cannot understand either. so very beautiful and popular a song it would be well worth getting in the true version. c.b. _monumental brasses_.--in reply to s.s.s. (vol. i., p. .), i beg to inform him that the "small dog with a collar and bells" is a device of very common occurrence on brasses of the fifteenth and latter part of the fourteenth centuries. the rev. c. boutell's _monumental brasses of england_ contains engravings of no less than twenty-three on which it is to be found; as well as two examples without the usual appendages of collar, &c. in addition to these, the same work contains etchings of the following brasses:--gunby, lincoln., two dogs with plain collars at the bottom of the lady's mantle, . dartmouth, devon., . each of the ladies here depicted has two dogs with collars and bells at her feet. the same peculiarities are exemplified on brasses at harpham, york., ; and spilsby, lincoln., . i will not further multiply instances, as my own collection of rubbings would enable me to do. i should, however, observe, that the hypothesis of s.s.s. (as to "these figures" being "the private mark of the artist") is untenable: since the twenty-three examples above alluded to are scattered over sixteen different counties, as distant from each other as yorkshire and sussex. two examples are well known, in which the dog so represented was a favourite animal:--deerhurst, gloc., , with the name, "terri," inscribed; and ingham, norfolk, , with the name "jakke." this latter brass is now lost, but an impression is preserved in the british museum. the customary explanation seems to me sufficient: that the dog was intended to symbolise the fidelity and attachment of the lady to her lord and master, as the lion at _his_ feet represented his courage and noble qualities. w. sparrow simpson. queen's college, cambridge, april . . _fenkle street_.--a street so called in newcastle-upon-tyne, lying in a part of the town formerly much occupied by garden ground, and _in the immediate vicinity of the house of the dominican friars there_. also, a way or passage inside the town wall, and leading between that fortification and the _house of the carmelites or white friars_, was anciently called by the same name. the name of _fenkle_ or _finkle street_ occurs in several old towns in the north, as alnwick, richmond, york, kendal, &c. _fenol_ and _finugl_, as also _finul_, are saxon words for _fennel_; which, it is very probable, has in some way or other given rise to this name. may not the _monastic institutions_ have used fennel extensively in their culinary preparations, and thus planted it in so great quantities as to have induced the naming of localities therefrom? i remember a portion of the ramparts of the town used to be called _wormwood hill_, from a like circumstance. in hawkesworth's _voyages_, ii. ., i find it stated that the town of funchala, on the island of madeira, derives its name from _funcko_, the portuguese name for _fennel_, which grows in great plenty upon the neighbouring rocks. the priory of finchale (from _finkel_), upon the wear, probably has a similar origin; _sed qu._ g. bouchier richardson. newcastle-upon-tyne, may . . _christian captives_ (vol. i., p. .)--in reply to your correspondent r.w.b., i find in the papers published by the norfolk and norwich archæological society, vol. i. p. ., the following entries extracted from the parish registers of great dunham, norfolk:-- "december, . £ s. d. collected for the redemption of y'e english captives out of turkish bondage feb. . p'd the same to m'r. swift, minister of milcham, by the bhps appointm't. october, . collected towards the redemption of english captives out of their slavery and bondage in algiers which sum was sent to mr. nicholas browne, registrar under dr. connant, archdeacon of norwich, octr. d. ." probably similar entries will be found in other registers of the same date, as the collections appear to have been made by special mandate, and paid into the hands of the proper authorities. e.s.t. _passage in gibbon_ (vol. i., p. .).--the passage in gibbon i should have thought was well known to be taken from what clarendon says of hampden, and which lord nugent says in his preface to _hampden's life_ had before been said of cinna. gibbon must either have meant to put inverted commas, or at least to have intended to take nobody in. c.b. _borrowed thoughts_ (vol. i., p. .)--_la fameuse_ la galisse is an error. the french pleasantly records the exploits of the celebrated _monsieur_ de la galisse. many of goldsmith's lighter poems are borrowed from the french. c. _sapcote motto_ (vol. i., pp. . and .).--taking for granted that solutions of the "sapcote motto" are scarce, i send you what seems to me something nearer the truth than the arbitrary and unsatisfactory translation of t.c. (vol. i, p. .). the motto stands thus:-- "sco toot × vinic [or umic] × poncs." adopting t.c.'s suggestion that the initial and final _s_ are mere flourishes (though that makes little difference), and also his supposition that _c_ may have been used for _s_, and as i fancy, not unreasonably conjecturing that the × is intended for _dis_, which is something like the pronunciation of the numeral x, we may then take the _entire_ motto, without garbling it, and have sounds representing _que toute disunis dispenses_; which, grammatically and orthographically corrected, would read literally "all disunions cost," or "destroy," the equivalent of our "union is strength." the motto, with the arms, three dove-cotes, is admirably suggestive of family union. w.c. _lines attributed to lord palmerston_ (vol. i., p. .).--these lines have also been attributed to mason. s.s.s. _shipster_ (vol. i., p. .).--that "ster" is a feminine termination is the notion of tyrwhitt in a note upon hoppesteris in a passage of chaucer (_knight's tale_, l. .); but to ignorant persons it seems not very probable. "maltster," surely, is not feminine, still less "whipster;" "dempster," scotch, is a judge. sempstress has another termination on purpose to make it feminine. i wish we had a dictionary, like that of hoogeven for greek, arranging words according to their terminations. c.b. * * * * * miscellanies. _blue boar inn, holborn_.--the reviewer in the last "quarterly" of mr. cunningham's _handbook for london_, makes an error in reference to the extract from morrice's _life of lord orrery_, given by mr. cunningham under the head of "blue boar inn, holborn," and transcribed by the reviewer (_qu. rev._ vol. lxxxvi., p. .). morrice, lord orrery's biographer, relates a story which he says lord orrery had told him, that he had been told by cromwell and ireton of their intercepting a letter from charles i. to his wife, which was sewn up in the skirt of a saddle. the story may or may not be true; this authority for it is not first-rate. the quarterly reviewer, in transcribing from mr. cunningham's book the passage in morrice's _life of lord orrery_, introduces it by saying,--"cromwell, in a letter to lord broghill, narrates circumstantially how he and ireton intercept, &c." this is a mistake; there is no letter from cromwell to lord broghill on the subject. (lord broghill was earl of orrery after the restoration.) such a letter would be excellent authority for the story. the mistake, which is the quarterly reviewer's, and not mr. cunningham's, is of some importance. c.h. _lady morgan and curry_.--an anecdote in the last number of the _quarterly review_, p. ., "this is the first set down you have given me to-day," reminds me of an incident in dublin society some quarter of a century ago or more. the good-humoured and accomplished--curry (shame to me to have forgotten his christened name for the moment!) had been engaged in a contest of wit with lady morgan and another female _célébrité_, in which curry had rather the worst of it. it was the fashion then for ladies to wear very short sleeves; and lady morgan, albeit not a young woman, with true provincial exaggeration, wore none, a mere strap over her shoulders. curry was walking away from her little coterie, when she called out, "ah! come back mr. curry, and acknowledge that you are fairly beaten." "at any rate," said he, turning round, "i have this consolation, you can't laugh at me in your sleeve!" scotus. _sir walter scott and erasmus_.--has it yet been noticed that the picture of german manners in the middle ages given by sir w. scott, in his _anne of geierstein_ (chap. xix.), is taken (in some parts almost verbally) from erasmus' dialogue, _diversoria_? although sir walter mentions erasmus at the beginning of the chapter, he is totally silent as to any hints he may have got from him; neither do the notes to my copy of his works at all allude to this circumstance. w.g.s. _parallel passages_.--a correspondent in vol. i., p. , quoted some parallels to a passage in shakspeare's _julius cæsar_. will you allow me to add another, i think even more striking than those he cited. the full passage in shakspeare is, "there is a tide in the affairs of man, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune. omitted, all the voyage of their lives is bound in shallows and in miseries." in bacon's _advancement of learning_, book , occurs the following:-- "in the third place, i set down reputation because of the peremptory tides and currents it hath, which, if they be not taken in due time, are seldom recovered, it being extreme hard to play an after game of reputation." e.l.n. _gray's ode_.--in return for the information about gray's _ode_, i send an entertaining and very characteristic circumstance told in mrs. bigg's (anonymous) _residence in france_ (edited by gifford):-- "she had a copy of gray when she was arrested in the reign of terror. the jacobins who searched her goods lighted on the line-- 'oh, tu severi religio loci,' and said, 'apparemment ce livre est quelque chose de fanatique.'" my informant tells me that the monk he saw was the same as the one mentioned by your correspondent, and that he had a motto from lord bacon over his cell. c.b. _the grand style_.--is it not extremely probable that bonaparte plagiarised the idea of the centuries observing the french army from the pyramids from these lines of lucan?-- "_sæcula_ romanos nunquam tacitura labore, _attendunt, oevumque sequens speculatur_ ab omni orbe ratem."--_phars._ viii. . one of the recent french revolutionists (i think rollin) compared himself with the victim of calvary. even this profane rant is a plagiarism. gracchus baboeuf, who headed the extreme republican party against the directory, exclaimed, on his trial, that his wife, and those of his fellow-conspirators, "should accompany them _even to calvary_, because the cause of their punishment should not bring them to shame."--_mignet's french revolution_, chap. xii. j.f. boyes. _hoppesteris_.--the "shippis _hoppesteris_," in chaucer's _knight's tale_, ., is explained by tyrwhitt to mean _dancing_, and that in the feminine--a very odd epithet. he tells us that the corresponding epithet in boccaccio is _bellatrici_. i have no doubt that chaucer mistook it for _ballatrici_. c.b. _sheridan's last residence_ (vol. i., p. .).--i wonder at any doubt about poor sheridan's having died in his own house, . saville row. his remains, indeed, were removed (i believe for prudential reasons which i need not specify) to mr. peter moore's, in great george street; but he was never more than a temporary, though frequent visitor at mr. moore's. c. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. the devices and mottoes of the later middle ages (_die devisen und motto des späteren mittelalters, von j.v. radowitz_), just imported by messrs. williams and norgate, is one of those little volumes which such of our readers as are interested in the subject to which it relates should make a note of. they will, in addition to many novel instances of devices, mottoes, emblems, &c., find much curious learning upon the subjects, and many useful bibliographical references. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson still sell, on saturday next, the very beautiful collection of oriental manuscripts of the late dr. scott; on monday and tuesday, his medical library; on wednesday, his valuable collection of music; and on thursday, his philosophical and mathematical instruments, fire-arms, and other miscellaneous objects of interest. we have received the following catalogues:--john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cxii., no. . for of old and new books; w.s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) fifty-seventh catalogue of cheap second-hand books, english and foreign; james sage's ( . newman's row, lincoln's inn fields) miscellaneous list of valuable and interesting books; edward stibbs' ( . strand) catalogue of miscellaneous collection of books, comprising voyages, travels, biography, history, poetry, drama, &c. * * * * * notices to correspondents. index and title-page to volume the first. _the index is preparing as rapidly as can be, consistently with fullness and accuracy, and we hope to have that and the title page ready by the th of the month._ _covers for the first volume are preparing, and will be ready for subscribers with the title-page and index._ * * * * * new works in general literature. * * * * * i. memoirs of the dukes of urbino ( to ). by james dennistoun, of dennistoun. with numerous portraits, plates, facsimiles, and woodcuts. vols. square crown vo. l. s. ii. sir roger de coverley. from "the spectator". with notes, &c., by w.h. willis and twelve fine woodcuts from drawings by f. tayler. crown vo. s.; morocco, s. iii. mrs. jameson's sacred and legendary art or, legends of the saints and martyrs. new edition, complete in one volume with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. s. iv. mrs. jameson's legends of the saints and martyrs, as represented in the fine arts. with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. s. v. the church in the catacombs: a description of the primitive church of rome. by charles maitland. new edition, with woodcuts. vo. s. vi. mr. macaulay's history of england, from the accession of james ii. new edition. vols. i. and ii. vo. s. vii. john coad's memorandum of the sufferings of the rebels sentenced to transportation by judge jeffreys. square fcap. vo. s. d. viii. an introduction to english antiquities. intended as a companion to the history of england. by james eccleston. with many wood engravings. vo. s. ix. mr. a. rich's illustrated companion to the latin dictionary and greek lexicon. with about , woodcuts, from the antique. post vo. s. x. maunder's treasury of knowledge and library of reference: a compendium of universal knowledge. new edition. fcap. vo. s.; bound s. xi. maunder's biographical treasury; a new dictionary of ancient and modern biography; comprising about , memoirs. new edition, with supplement. fcap. vo. s. bound, s. xii. maunder's scientific and literary treasury: a copious portable encyclopædia of science and the belles lettres. new edition. fcap. vo. s.; bound, s. xiii. maunder's historical treasury: comprising an outline of general history, and a separate history of every nation. new edition. fcap. vo. s. bound, s. xiv. maunder's treasury of natural history, or, a popular dictionary of animated nature. new edition; with woodcuts. fcap. vo. s.; bound, s. xv. southey's common-place book. first series--choice passages, &c. second edition with medallion portrait. square crown vo. s. xvi. southey's common-place book second series--special collections. edited by the rev. j.w. warter, b.d., the author's son-in-law. square crown vo. s. xvii. southey's common-place book. third series--analytical readings. edited by mr. southey's son-in-law, the rev. j.w. warter, b.d. square crown vo. s. xviii. southey's common-place book. fourth and concluding series--original memoranda, &c. edited by the rev. j.w. warter, b.d., mr. southey's son-in-law. square crown vo. [nearly ready. xix. southey's the doctor. &c. complete in one volume, with portrait, bust, vignette, and coloured plate. edited by the rev. j.w. warter, b.d., the author's son-in-law. square crown vo. s. xx. southey's life and correspondence. edited by his son, the rev. c.c. southey, m.a., with portraits and landscape illustrations. vols. post vo. s. * * * * * london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents. notes:-- page illustrations of scottish ballads, by richard john king the red hand--the holt family--vincent family vondel's lucifer, by janus dousa a myth of midridge folk lore miscellanies:--st. thomas's day--black doll at old store-shops--snake charming--mice as a medicine--"many nits, many pits"--swans hatched during thunder--snakes--pixies or piskies--straw necklaces--breaking judas' bones local rhymes and proverbs of devonshire a christmas carol a note for little boys similarity of traditions pixey legends the pool of the black hound popular rhymes minor notes:--"passilodion" and "berafrynde"-- inscription on an alms-dish--the use of the french word "savez"--job's luck--the assassination of mountfort in for folk street, strand--the oldenburgh horn--curious custom--kite--epitaph on john randal--playing cards queries:-- dragons: their origin john sanderson, or the cushion dance; and bab at the bowster did bunyan know hobbes? by j.h. friswell minor queries:--boiling to death--meaning of "mocker"--"away, let nought to love displeasing" --baron münchausen--"sing tantararara rogues all," &c.--meaning of "cauking" replies:-- the wise men of gotham, by j.b. colman replies to minor queries:--master john shorne-- antiquity of smoking--meaning of the word "thwaites"--thomas rogers of horninger--earl of roscommon--parse--the meaning of "version" --first paper-mill in england--"torn by horses" --vineyards--cardinal--weights for weighing coins--umbrella--croziers and pastoral staves miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. illustrations of scottish ballads. in the ballad of "annan water" (_border minstrelsy_, vol. iii.) is the following verse:-- "o he has pour'd aff his dapperpy coat, the silver buttons glanced bonny; the waistcoat bursted aff his breast, he was sae full of melancholy." a very unexpected effect of sorrow, but one that does not seem to be unprecedented. "a plague of sighing and grief," says falstaff. "it blows a man up like a bladder." a remarkable illustration of falstaff's assertion, and of the scottish ballad, is to be found in this _saga of egil skallagrimson_. bodvar, the son of egil, was wrecked on the coast of iceland. his body was thrown up by the waves near einarsness, where egil found it, and buried it in the tomb of his father skallagrim. the _saga_ continues thus:-- "after that, egil rode home to borgar; and when he came there, he went straightway into the locked chamber where he was wont to sleep; and there he laid him down, and shot forth the bolt. no man dared speak a word to him. and thus it is said that egil was clad when he laid bodvar in the tomb. his hose were bound fast about his legs, and he had on a red linen kirtle, narrow above, and tied with strings at the sides. and men say that his body swelled so greatly that his kirtle burst from off him, and so did his hose."--p. . it is well known that the subjects of many ballads are common to scotland, and to the countries of northern europe. thus, the fine old "douglas tragedy," the scene of which is pointed out at blackhouse tower, on the yarrow, is equally localised in denmark: "seven large stones," says sir walter, "erected upon the neighbouring heights of blackhouse, are shown as marking the spot where the seven brethren were slain; and the douglas burn is avowed to have been the stream at which the lovers stopped to drink; so minute is tradition in ascertaining, the scene of a tragical tale, which, considering, the rude state of former times, had probably foundation in some real event." the corresponding danish ballad, however, that of "ribolt and guldborg," which has been translated by mr. jamieson, is not less minute in pointing out the scene of action. the origin of ballads, which are thus widely spread, must probably be sought in very high antiquity; and we cannot wonder if we find them undergoing considerable { } change in the passage from one country to another. at least the "douglas tragedy" betrays one very singular mark of having lost something of the original. in "ribolt and guldborg," when the lady's brothers have all but overtaken the fugitives, the knight addresses her thus: "light down, guldborg, my lady dear, and hald our steeds lay the renyes here. and e'en sae be that ye see me fa' be sure that ye never upon me ca'; and e'en sae be that ye see me bleed, be sure that ye name na' me till dead." ribolt kills her father and her two eldest brothers, and then guldborg can no longer restrain herself: "hald, hald, my ribolt, dearest mine, now belt thy brand, for its 'mair nor time. my youngest brother ye spare, o spare, to my mither the dowie news to bear." but she has broken her lover's mysterious caution, and he is mortally wounded in consequence: "when ribolt's name she named that stound, 'twas then that he gat his deadly wound." in the scottish ballad, no such caution is given; nor is the lady's calling on her lover's name at all alluded to as being the cause of his death. it is so, however, as in the danish version: "she held his steed in her milk-white hand, and never shed one tear, until that she saw her seven brethren fa', and her father hard fighting, who loved her so dear. "o hold your hand, lord william, she said, for your strokes they are wondrous sair; true lovers i can get many a ane, but a father i can never get mair." there is no note in the _kæmpe viser_, says mr. jamieson, on this subject; nor does he attempt to explain it himself. it has, however, a clear reference to a very curious northern superstition. thorkelin, in the essay on the berserkir, appended to his edition of the _kristni-saga_, tells us that an old name of the berserk frenzy was _hamremmi_, _i.e._, strength acquired from another or strange body, because it was anciently believed that the persons who were liable to this frenzy were mysteriously endowed, during its accesses, with a strange body of unearthly strength. if, however, the berserk was called on by his own name, he lost his mysterious form, and his ordinary strength alone remained. thus it happens in the _svarfdæla saga:_ "gris called aloud to klanfi, and said, 'klanfi, klanfi! keep a fair measure,' and instantly the strength which klanfi had got in his rage, failed him; so that now he could not even lift the beam with which he had been fighting." it is clear, therefore, continues thorkelin, that the state of men labouring under the berserk frenzy was held by some, at least, to resemble that of those, who, whilst their own body lay at home apparently dead or asleep, wandered under other forms into distant places and countries. such wanderings were called _hamfarir_ by the old northmen; and were held to be only capable of performance by those who had attained the very utmost skill in magic. richard john king. * * * * * the red hand.--the holt family. (vol. ii., pp. . .) your correspondent este, in allusion to the arms of the holt family, in a window of the church of aston-juxta-birmingham, refers to the tradition that one of the family "murdered his cook, and was afterwards compelled to adopt the red hand in his arms." este is perfectly correct in his concise but comprehensive particulars. that which, by the illiterate, is termed "the bloody hand," and by them reputed as an abatement of honour, is nothing more than the "ulster badge" of dignity. the tradition adds, that sir thomas holt murdered the cook in a cellar, at the old family mansion, by "running him through with a spit," and afterwards buried him beneath the spot where the tragedy was enacted. i merely revert to the subject, because, within the last three months, the ancient family residence, where the murder is said to have been committed, has been levelled with the ground; and among persons who from their position in society might be supposed to be better informed, considerable anxiety has been expressed to ascertain whether any portion of the skeleton of the murdered cook has been discovered beneath the flooring of the cellar, which tradition, fomented by illiterate gossip, pointed out as the place of his interment. your correspondents would confer a heraldic benefit if they would point out other instances--which i believe to exist--where family reputation has been damaged by similar ignorance in heraldic interpretation. the ancient family residence to which i have referred was situated at duddeston, a hamlet adjoining birmingham. here the holts resided until may, , when sir thomas took up his abode at ashton hall, a noble structure in the elizabethan style of architecture, which, according to a contemporary inscription, was commenced in april, , and completed in . sir thomas was a decided royalist, and maintained his allegiance to his sovereign, although the men of birmingham were notorious for their disaffection, and the neighbouring garrison of edgbaston was occupied by parliamentarian troops. when charles i., of glorious or unhappy memory, was on his way from shrewsbury to the important battle of edgehill, { } on the confines of warwickshire, he remained with sir thomas, as his guest, from the th to the th of october (vide mauley's _iter carolinum_, gutch's _collectanea_, vol. ii. p. .); and a closet is still pointed out to the visitor where he is said to have been concealed. a neighbouring eminence is to the present day called "king's standing," from the fact of the unhappy monarch having stood thereon whilst addressing his troops. by his acts of loyalty, sir thomas holt acquired the hostility of his rebellious neighbours; and accordingly we learn that on the th of december, , he had recourse to colonel leveson, who "put forty muskettiers into the house" to avert impending dangers; but eight days afterwards, on the th of december, "the rebels, , strong, assaulted it, and the day following tooke it, kil'd , and ye rest made prisoners, though w'th losse of of themselves." (vide dugdale's _diary_, edited by hamper, to. p. .) the grand staircase, deservedly so entitled, bears evident marks of the injury occasioned at this period, and an offending cannon-ball is still preserved. edward, the son and heir of sir thomas, died at oxford, on the th august, , and was buried in christ church. he was an ardent supporter of the king. the old baronet was selected as ambassador to spain by charles i., but was excused on account of his infirmities. he died a.d. , in the eighty-third year of his age. his excellence and benevolence of character would afford presumptive evidence of the falsehood of the tradition, if it were not totally exploded by the absurdity of the hypothesis upon which it is grounded. sir thomas was succeeded in the baronetcy by his grandson, robert, who in compliance with his will built an almshouse or hospital for five men and five women. it is unnecessary to pursue the family further, excepting to state that nearly at the close of the last century the entail was cut off: the family is now unknown in the neighbourhood, excepting in its collateral branches, and the hall has passed into the possession of strangers. its last occupant was james watt, esq., son of the eminent mechanical philosopher. he died about two years ago, and the venerable mansion remains tenantless. with reference to the ancient family residence of the holts, at duddeston, it will be sufficient to observe, that in the middle of the last century the house and grounds were converted into a tavern and pleasure gardens, under the metropolitan title of vauxhall: and for a century they continued to afford healthful recreation and scenic amusement to the busy inhabitants of birmingham. the amazing increase in the size and population of the town has at length demanded this interesting site for building purposes. within the last three months the house and gardens have been entirely dismantled, a range of building has already been erected, and old vauxhall is now numbered amongst the things that were. j. goodwin. birmingham. _"bloody hands at stoke d'abernon, surrey._--the legends of sir richard baker (vol. ii., pp. . .) and of a member of the holt family (vol. ii., p. .) recall to my mind one somewhat similar, connected with a monument in the church of stoke d'abernon, surrey, the appearance of a "bloody hand" upon which was thus accounted for to me:-- "two young brothers of the family of vincent, the elder of whom had just come into possession of the estate, were out shooting on fairmile common, about two miles from the village; they had put up several birds, but had not been able to get a single shot, when the elder swore with an oath that he would fire at whatever they next met with. they had not gone much further before the miller of a mill near at hand (and which is still standing) passed them, and made some trifling remark. as soon as he had got by, the younger brother jokingly reminded the elder of his oath, whereupon the latter immediately fired at the miller, who fell dead upon the spot. young vincent escaped to his home, and by the influence of his family, backed by large sums of money, no effective steps were taken to apprehend him, and he was concealed in the 'nunnery' on his estate for some years, when death put a period to the insupportable anguish of his mind. to commemorate his rash act and his untimely death, this 'bloody hand' was placed on his monument." so runs the story as far as i remember; the date i cannot recollect. the legend was told me after i had left the church, and i had paid no particular attention to the monument; but i thought at the time that the hand might be only the ulster badge. i shall be obliged to any of your readers who will throw further light upon this matter. a pilgrimage to stoke d'abernon, whose church contains the earliest known brass in england, would not be uninteresting even at this season of the year. arun. * * * * * vondel's lucifer. i have to complain of injustice done by a correspondent of "notes and queries," to the dutch poet vondel. to the question mooted by f. (vol. i. p. .), whether my countryman's _lucifer_ has ever been translated into english, hermes answers by a passage taken from the _foreign quarterly review_ for april, ; and subjoins a list of the _dramatis personæ_ "given from the _original dutch_ before him. the tragedy itself is condensed by your correspondent into a simple "&c." now, if hermes, instead of referring to a stale review for a comparison between vondel's tragedy and the _paradise lost_, without showing by _any_ proof that milton's justly renowned epic { } is indeed superior to this, one of the dutch poet's masterpiece--if hermes, being, as i conclude from his own words, conversant with the language of _our_ shakspeare, had taken pains to _read lucifer_, he would not have repeated a statement unfavourable to vondel's poetical genius. i, for my part, will _not_ hazard a judgment on poems so different and yet so alike, i will _not_ sneer at milton's demon-gods of olympus, nor laugh at "their artillery discharged in the daylight of heaven;" for such instances of bad taste are to be considered as clouds setting off the glories of the whole; but _this_ i will say, that vondel wrote his _lucifer_ in , the sixty-seventh of his life, while milton's _paradise lost_ was composed four years later. the honour of precedence, in time, at least, belongs to my countryman. all the odds were against the british poet's competitor, if one who wrote before him may be so called; for, while milton enjoyed every privilege of a sound classical education, vondel had still to begin a course of study when more than twenty-six years of age; and, while the dutch poet told the price of homely stockings to prosaic burghers, the writer of _paradise lost_ was speaking the language of torquato tasso in the country enraptured by the first sight of _la divina comedia_. i am no friend of polemical writing, and i believe the less we see of it in your friendly periodical, the better it is; but still i _must_ protest against such copying of partially-written judgments, when good information can be got. i say not by stretching out a hand, for the book was already opened by your correspondent--but alone by using one's eyes and turning over a leaf or two. else, why did hermes learn the dutch language? i ask your subscribers if the following verses are _weak_, and if they would not have done honour to the english vondel? chorus of angels. (from _lucifer_.) "who sits above heaven's heights sublime, yet fills the grave's profoundest place, beyond eternity, or time, or the vast round of viewless space: who on himself alone depends-- immortal--glorious--but unseen-- and in his mighty being blends what rolls around or flows within. of all we know not--all we know-- prime source and origin--a sea, whose waters pour'd on earth below wake blessing's brightest radiancy. 'tis power, love, wisdom, first exalted and waken'd from oblivion's birth; yon starry arch--yon palace, vaulted-- yon heaven of heavens, to smile on earth. from his resplendent majesty we shade us 'neath our sheltering wings, while awe-inspired, and tremblingly we praise the glorious king of kings, with sight and sense confused and dim; o name--describe the lord of lords, the seraph's praise shall hallow him;-- or is the theme too vast for words?" response. "'tis god! who pours the living glow of light, creation's fountain-head: forgive the praise--too mean and low-- or from the living or the dead. no tongue thy peerless name hath spoken, no space can hold that awful name; the aspiring spirit's wing is broken;-- thou wilt be, wert, and art the same! language is dumb. imagination, knowledge, and science, helpless fall; they are irreverent profanation, and thou, o god! art all in all. how vain on such a thought to dwell! who knows thee--thee the all-unknown? can angels be thy oracle, who art--who art thyself alone? none, none can trace thy course sublime, for none can catch a ray from thee, the splendour and the source of time-- the eternal of eternity. thy light of light outpour'd conveys salvation in its flight elysian, brighter than e'en thy mercy's rays; but vainly would our feeble vision aspire to thee. from day to day age steals on us, but meets thee never; thy power is life's support and stay-- we praise thee, sing thee, lord! for ever." chorus. "holy, holy, holy! praise-- praise be his in every land; safety in his presence stays; sacred is his high command!" dr. bowring's version,--though a good one, if the difficulty be considered of giving back a piece of poetry, whose every word is a poem in itself, and by whose rhyme and accentuation a feeling of indescribable awe is instilled into the most fastidious reader's mind,--dr. bowring's version is but a feeble reverberation of the holy fire pervading our dutch poet's anthem. but still there rests enough in his copy to give one a high idea of the original. i borrow the same englishman's words when i add:-- "the criticism that instructs, even though it instructs severely, is most salutary and most valuable. it is of the criticism that insults, and while it insults, informs not, that we have a right to complain."--_batavian anthology_, p. . janus dousa. manpadt house. * * * * *{ } a myth of midridge; _or, a story anent a witless wight's adventures with the midridge fairies in the bishoprick of durham; now more than two centuries ago._ talking about fairies the other day to a nearly octogenarian female neighbour, i asked, had she ever seen one in her youthful days. her answer was in the negative; "but," quoth she, "i've heard my grandmother tell a story, that midridge (near auckland) was a great place for fairies when she was a child, and for many long years after that." a rather lofty hill, only a short distance from the village, was their chief place of resort, and around it they used to dance, not by dozens, but by hundreds, when the gloaming began to show itself of the summer nights. occasionally a villager used to visit the scene of their gambols in order to catch if it were but a passing glance of the tiny folks, dressed in their vestments of green, as delicate as the thread of the gossamer: for well knew the lass so favoured, that ere the current year had disappeared, she would have become the happy wife of the object of her only love; and also, as well ken'd the lucky lad that he too would get a weel tochered lassie, long afore his brow became wrinkled with age, or the snow-white blossoms had begun to bud forth upon his pate. woe to those, however, who dared to come by twos or by threes, with inquisitive and curious eye, within the bounds of their domain; for if caught, or only the eye of a fairy fell upon them, ill was sure to betide them through life. still more awful, however, was the result if any were so rash as to address them, either in plain prose or rustic rhyme. the last instance of their being spoken to, is thus still handed down by tradition:--''twas on a beautifully clear evening in the month of august, when the last sheaf had crowned the last stack in their master's hagyard, and after calling the "harvest home," the daytale-men and household servants were enjoying themselves over massive pewter quarts foaming over with strong beer, that the subject of the evening's conversation at last turned upon the fairies of the neighbouring hill, and each related his oft-told tale which he had learned by rote from the lips of some parish grandame. at last the senior of the mirthful party proposed to a youthful mate of his, who had dared to doubt even the existence of such creatures, that he durst not go to the hill, mounted on his master's best palfrey, and call aloud, at the full extent of his voice, the following rhymes: "rise little lads, wi' your iron gads, and set the lad o' midridge hame." tam o' shanter-like, elated with the contents of the pewter vessels, he nothing either feared or doubted, and off went the lad to the fairy hill; so, being arrived at the base, he was nothing loth to extend his voice to its utmost powers in giving utterance to the above invitatory verses. scarcely had the last words escaped his lips ere he was nearly surrounded by many hundreds of the little folks, who are ever ready to revenge, with the infliction of the most dreadful punishment, every attempt at insult. the most robust of the fairies, who i take to have been oberon, their king, wielding an enormous javelin, thus, also in rhymes equally rough, rude, and rustic, addressed the witless wight: "silly willy, mount thy filly; and if it isn't weel corn'd and fed, i'll ha' thee afore thou gets hame to thy midridge bed." well was it for willy that his home was not far distant, and that part light was still remaining in the sky. horrified beyond measure, he struck his spurs into the sides of his beast, who, equally alarmed, darted off as quick as lightning towards the mansion of its owner. luckily it was one of those houses of olden time, which would admit of an equestrian and his horse within its portals without danger; lucky, also, was it that at the moment they arrived the door was standing wide open: so, considering the house a safer sanctuary from the belligerous fairies than the stable, he galloped direct into the hall, to the no small amazement of all beholders, when the door was instantly closed upon his pursuing foes! as soon as willy was able to draw his breath, and had in part overcome the effects of his fear, he related to his comrades a full and particular account of his adventures with the fairies; but from that time forward, never more could any one, either for love or money, prevail upon willy to give the fairies of the hill an invitation to take an evening walk with him as far as the village of midridge! to conclude, when the fairies had departed, and it was considered safe to unbar the door, to give egress to willy and his filly, it was found, to the amazement of all beholders, that the identical iron javelin of the fairy king had pierced through the thick oaken door, which for service as well as safety was strongly plated with iron, where it still stuck, and actually required the strength of the stoutest fellow in the company, with the aid of a smith's great fore-hammer, to drive it forth. this singular relic of fairy-land was preserved for many generations, till passing eventually into the hands of one who cared for none of those things, it was lost, to the no small regret of all lovers of legendary lore! m.a.d. * * * * * folk lore. _st. thomas's day._--a guernsey charm _pour ve ki ke sera son amant_-- "into a golden pippin stick eighteen new pins, nine in the eye, and nine in the stem, tie round it the left { } garter, and place it under the pillow. get into bed backwards, saying, "le jour de st. thomas, le plus court, le plus bas, je prie dieu journellement, qu'il me fasse voir, en dormant, celui qui sera mon amant; et le pays et la contrée où il fera sa demeurée, tel qu'il sera je l'aimerai, ainsi soit-il." viator. nov. . . _black doll at old store-shops_ (vol. i., p. .).--is it not probable that the black doll was an image of the virgin, sold at the reformation with a lot of church vestments, and other "rags of popery," as the puritans called the surplice, and first hung up by some puritan or hebrew dealer. images of the black virgin are not uncommon in roman catholic churches. has the colour an egyptian origin, or whence is it? a. holt white. gladwins, harlow. _snake charming_.--two or three summers ago, i was told a curious story of snake charming by a lady of undoubted veracity, in whose neighbourhood (about a dozen miles from totnes) the occurrence had taken place. two coast-guard men in crossing a field fell in with a snake: one of them, an _irishman_, threw his jacket over the animal, and immediately uttered or muttered a charm over it. on taking up the garment, after a few seconds had passed, the _snake was dead_. when i heard this story, and understood that the operator was an irishman, i bethought me of how rosalind says, "i was never so be-rhymed since pythagoras' time, that i was an irish rat," and accounted satisfactorily for the fact that, "as touching snakes, there are no snakes in _ireland_:" for, as the song voucheth, "the snakes committed suicide to save themselves from slaughter," _i.e._ they _were charmed to death by st. patrick_. i fear it would now be impossible to recover the charm made use of by the coast-guard man; but i will have inquiry made, and if i can obtain any further particulars, i will forward them to you. j.m.b. _mice as a medicine_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the remedy of the roast mouse recommended in _the pathway to health_ (which i find is in the british museum), is also prescribed in _most excellent and approved remedies_, :--"make it in powder," says the author, "and drink it off at one draught, and it will presently help you, especially if you use it three mornings together." the following is "an excellent remedy to stanch bleeding:"-- "take a toad and dry him very well in the sun, then put him in a linen bag, and hang him with a string about the neck of the party that bleedeth, and let it hang so low that it may touch the breast on the left side near unto the heart; and this will certainly stay all manner of bleeding at the mouth, nose," &c. sage leaves, yarrow, and ale, are recommended for a "gnawing at the heart;" which i think should be "made a note of" for the benefit of poor poets and disappointed authors. wedsecnarf. _mice as a medicine_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i was stopping about three years ago in the house of a gentleman whose cook had been in the service of a quondam canon of ch. ch., who averred that she roasted mice to cure her master's children of the hooping cough. she said it had the effect of so doing. chas. paslam. "many nits, [nuts] many pits." a common saying hereabouts, meaning that if hazel-nuts, haws, hips, &c., are plentiful, many deaths will occur. but whether the deaths are to be occasioned by nut-devouring or by seasonal influence, i cannot ascertain. in many places, an abundant crop of hips and haws is supposed to betoken a severe winter. chas. paslam. _swans hatched during thunder._--the fable of the singing of swans at death is well known; but i recently heard a bit of "folk lore" as to the birth of swans quite as poetical, and probably equally true. it is this: that swans are always hatched during a thunderstorm. i was told this by an old man in hampshire, who had been connected with the care of swans all his life. he, however, knew nothing about their singing at death. is this opinion as to the birth of swans common? if so, probably some of your numerous correspondents will detail the form in which such belief is expressed. robert rawlinson. _snakes_ (vol. ii., p. .).--several years ago, in returning from an excursion from clevedon, in somerset, to cadbury camp, i saw a viper on the down, which i pointed out to the old woman in charge of the donkeys, who assailed it with a stout stick, and nearly killed it. i expressed surprise at her leaving it with some remains of life; but she said that, whatever she did to it, it would "live till sun-down, and as soon as the sun was set it would die." the same superstition prevails in cornwall, and also in devon. h.g.t. _pixies or piskies._--at chudleigh rocks i was told, a few weeks ago, by the old man who acts as guide to the caves, of a recent instance of a man's being pixy-led. in going home, full of strong drink, across the hill above the cavern called the "pixies' hole," on a moonlit night, he heard sweet { } music, and was led into the whirling dance by the "good folk," who kept on spinning him without mercy, till he fell down "in a swoon." on "coming to himself," he got up and found his way home, where he "took to his bed, and never left it again, but died a little while after," the victim (i suppose) of _delirium tremens_, or some such disorder, the incipient symptoms of which his haunted fancy turned into the sweet music in the night wind and the fairy revel on the heath. in the tale i have above given he persisted (said the old man), when the medical attendant who was called in inquired of him the symptoms of his illness. this occurrence happened, i understood, very recently, and was told to me in perfect good faith. i have just been told of a man who several years ago lost his way on whitchurch down, near tavistock. the farther he went the farther he had to go; but happily calling to mind the antidote "in such case made and provided," he turned his coat inside out, after which he had no difficulty in finding his way. "he was supposed," adds my informant, "to be pisky-led." about ten miles from launceston, on the bodmin road (or at least in that direction) is a large piece of water called dosmere (pronounced dosmery) pool. a tradition of the neighbourhood says that on the shores of this lonely mere the ghosts of bad men are ever employed in binding the sand "in bundles with _beams_ of the same" (a local word meaning _bands_, in devonshire called _beans;_ as _hay-beans_, and in this neighbourhood hay-_beams_, for hay-bands). these ghosts, or some of them, were driven out (they say "_horsewhipped_ out," at any rate exorcised in some sort) "by the parson" from launceston. h.g.t. launceston. _straw necklaces_ (vol. i., p. ).--perhaps these straw necklaces were anciently worn to preserve their possessors against _witchcraft_; for, till the thirteenth century, straw was spread on the floors to defend a house from the same evil agencies. cf. _le grand d'aussi vie des anciens francs_, tom. iii. pp. . ; "notes and queries," vol. i., pp. . . janus dousa. _breaking judas' bones._--on good friday eve the children at boppart, on the rhine, in germany, have the custom of making a most horrid noise with _rattles_. they call it _breaking the bones of judas_. cf. "notes and queries," vol. i., p. . janus dousa. local rhymes and proverbs of devonshire. "river of dart, oh river of dart, every year thou claim'st a heart." it is said that a year never passes without the drowning of one person, at least, in the dart. the river has but few fords, and, like all mountain streams, it is liable to sudden risings, when the water comes down with great strength and violence. compare chambers' _popular rhymes_, p. ., "tweed said to till," &c. see also olaus wormius, _monumenta danica_, p. . the moormen never say "_the_ dart," but always "dart." "dart came down last night--he is very full this morning." the _cry_ of the river is the name given to that louder sound which rises toward nightfall. cranmere pool, the source of the dart, is a place of punishment for unhappy spirits. they may frequently be heard wailing in the morasses there. compare leyden _scenes of infancy_, pp. , ., &c. * * * * * wescote (_view of devonshire_: exeter, (reprint), p. .) has a curious story of the tamar and torridge. it is worth comparing with a local rhyme given by chambers, p. .: "annan, tweed, and clyde," &c. * * * * * "when haldon hath a hat kenton may beware a skat." this often quoted saying is curiously illustrated by a passage from the romance of sir gawaya and the grene knicht (madden's _sir gawaya_, p. .): "mist muged on the mor, malt on the mountes, _uch hille hadde a hatte_, a myst-hakel huge." in the note on this passage sir frederick quotes two proverbs like the devonshire one above. they are, however, well known, and there is no lack of similar sayings. * * * * * "when plymouth was a furzy down, plympton was a borough town." * * * * * when brutus of troy landed at totnes, he gave the town its name; thus,-- "here i sit, and here i rest, and this town shall be called totnes." * * * * * "crocker, cruwys, and coplestone, when the conqueror came, were found at home." * * * * * "who on the sabbath pares his horn, 'twere better for him he had never been born." "at toto thori die hominibus ungues secare minime licuit." --finn magnusen, _lex. edd._, s.v. _thor_. in the district of bohnsland, in sweden, in the middle of the eighteenth century, it was not thought proper to fell wood on the afternoon of thursday. (id.) * * * * * "many slones [sloes], many groans, many nits [nuts], many pits." * * * * * "when the aspen leaves are no bigger than your nail, is the time to look out for truff and peel." * * * * *{ } _margaret's flood_.--heavy rain is expected about the time of st. margaret's day (july th). it is called "margaret's flood." * * * * * "widdecombe folks are picking their geese, faster, faster, faster." a saying among the parishes of the south coast during a snow-storm. 'widdecombe' is "widdecombe in the dartmoors." * * * * * "quiet sow, quiet mow." a saying with reference to land or lease held on lives. if the seed is sown without notice of the death of the life, the corn may be reaped, although the death took place before the sowing. * * * * * bees.-- "if they swarm in may, they're worth a pound next day. if they swarm in july, they're not worth a fly." bees must never be bought. it is best to give a sack of wheat for a hive. * * * * * _dinnick_ is the devonshire name of a small bird, said to follow and feed the cuckoo. * * * * * a cat will not remain in a house with an unburied corpse; and rooks will leave the place until after the funeral, if the rookery be near the house. * * * * * it is proper to make a low bow whenever a single magpie is seen. * * * * * it is not considered safe to plant a bed of lilies of the valley; the person doing so will probably die in the course of the next twelve months. * * * * * where the rainbow rests, is a crock of gold. * * * * * a cork under the pillow is a certain cure for cramp. * * * * * seven different herbs must be used for making a herb poultice. "the editor remembers a female relation of a former vicar of st. erth, who, instructed by a dream, prepared decoctions of various herbs, and repairing to the land's end, poured them into the sea, with certain incantations, with the expectation of seeing the lionesse rise immediately out of the water having all its inhabitants alive, notwithstanding their long immersion."--davies gilbert's _cornwall_, vol. iii. p. . * * * * * if the fire blazes up brightly when the crock is hung up, it is a sign there is a stranger coming. * * * * * _cure for thrush_.--take the child to a running stream, draw a straw through its mouth, and repeat the verse, "out of the mouth of babes and sucklings," &c. * * * * * a creature of enormous size, called a "bull-frog," is believed to live under the foundation stones of old houses, hedges, &c. i remember having heard it spoken of with great awe. * * * * * _hen and chickens._--in a parish adjoining dartmoor is a green fairy ring of considerable size, within which a black hen and chickens are occasionally seen at nightfall. the vicar of a certain devonshire parish was a distinguished student of the black art, and possessed a large collection of mysterious books and manuscripts. during his absence at church, one of his servants visited his study, and finding a large volume open on the desk, imprudently began to read it aloud. he had scarcely read half a page when the sky became dark, and a great wind shook the house violently; still he read on; and in the midst of the storm the door flew open, and a black hen and chickens came into the room. they were of the ordinary size when they first appeared, but gradually became larger and larger, until the hen was of the bigness of a good sized ox. at this point the vicar suddenly closed his discourse, and dismissed his congregation, saying he was wanted at home, and hoped he might arrive there in time. when he entered the chamber the hen was already touching the ceiling. but he threw down a bag of rice, which stood ready in the corner; and whilst the hen and chickens were busily picking up the grains, he had time to reverse the spell.--(ceridwer takes the form of a hen in the _hanes taliesin_.) i believe a hen and chickens is sometimes found on the bosses of early church roofs. a sow and pigs certainly are. a black sow and pigs haunt many cross roads in devonshire. * * * * * the _dewerstone_ is a lofty mass of rock rising above the bed of the plym, on the southern edge of dartmoor. during a deep snow, the traces of a naked human foot and of a cloven hoof were found ascending to the highest point. the valley below is haunted by a black headless dog. query, is it dewerstone, tiwes-tun, or tiwes-stan?--(kemble's _saxons_, vol. i. p. .) * * * * * the great cromlech at drewsteignton is said to have been erected by three _spinsters_ (meaning _spinners_); another legend says by three young men. the first is the more usual saying. the cromlech is generally called "the spinster's rock." rowe (_dartmoor_, p. .) suggests that the three spinsters were the valkyrien, or perhaps the fates. he is no doubt right. * * * * * rock and stone legends abound. a great quoit on the top of heltor is said to have been thrown { } there by the devil during fight with king arthur. adin's hole (etin's) is the name of a sea cavern near torquay; another is daddy's hole. the devil long hindered the building of buckfastleigh church, which stands on the top of a steep hill. a stone, at about the distance of a mile, has the marks of his finger and thumb. the stone circles, &c. on dartmoor, are said to have been made "when there were wolves on the hills, and winged serpents in the low lands." on the side of belstone tor, near oakhampton, is a small grave circle called "nine stones." it is said to dance every day at noon. * * * * * whoever shall find the treasure hidden in ringmore down, may plough with a golden plough-share, and yoke his oxen with golden cross-sticks. r.j.k. a christmas carol. the following carol has not, i believe, been printed in any of the modern collections; certainly it is not in those of mr. sandys and mr. wright. it is copied from ad. ms. brit. mus. , , a manuscript of the time of james i. it may, perhaps, bethought appropriate for insertion in your christmas number. i have modernised the orthography. a carol for christmas-day. rejoice, rejoice, with heart and voice, for christ his birth this day rejoice. . from virgin's womb to us this day did spring the precious seed that only saved man; this day let man rejoice and sweetly sing, since on this day salvation first began. this day did christ man's soul from death remove, with glorious saints to dwell in heaven above. . this day to man came pledge of perfect peace, this day to man came love and unity, this day man's grief began for to surcease, this day did man receive a remedy for each offence, and every deadly sin, with guilt of heart that erst he wander'd in. . in christ his flock let love be surely placed, from christ his flock let concord hate expel, in christ his flock let love be so embraced, as we in christ, and christ in us, may dwell. christ is the author of all unity, from whence proceedeth all felicity. . o sing unto this glittering glorious king, and praise his name let every living thing; let heart and voice, let bells of silver, ring, the comfort that this day to us did bring; let lute, let shawm, with sound of sweet delight, the joy of christ his birth this day recite. buon. eric. a note for little boys. in order that all good little boys who take an interest in the "notes and queries" may know how much more lucky it is for them to be little boys now, than it was in the ancient times, i would wish them to be informed of the cruel manner in which even good little boys were liable to be treated by the law of the ripuarians. when a sale of land took place it was required that there should be twelve witnesses, and with these as many boys, in whose presence the price of the land should be paid, and its formal surrender take place; and then the boys were beaten, and their ears pulled, so that the pain thus inflicted upon them should make an impression upon their memory, and that they might, if necessary, be afterwards witnesses as to the sale and delivery of the land. (_lex ripuarium lx., de traditionibus et testibus._) in a note of balucius upon this passage he states: "a practice somewhat similar to this prevails in our our times, for in some of the provinces, whenever a notorious criminal is condemned to death, parents bring their sons with them to the place of execution, and, at the moment that he is put to death, they whip their children with rods, so that being thus excited by their own sufferings, and by seeing the punishment inflicted on another for his sins, they may ever bear in mind how necessary it is for them, in their progress through life, to be prudent and virtuous."--_rev. gall. et franc. script._, vol. iv. p. . n.e. w.b. maccabe. similarity of traditions. having recently met with some curious instances of the extent to which the same or similar traditions extend themselves, not only in our own country, but in wales and france, i have "made a note" of them for your service. _burying in the church wall_ is supposed to be burying in neutral ground. in the north wall of the church of tremeirchion, near the banks of the elwy, north wales (described by pennant, vol. ii. p. .), is the tomb of a former vicar, daffydd ddu, or the black of hiradduc, who was vicar of the parish, and celebrated as a necromancer, flourishing about . of him the tradition is, that he proved himself more clever than the wicked one himself. a bargain was made between them that the vicar should practise the black art with impunity during his life, but that the wicked one should possess his body after death, whether he were buried within or without the church; and that the worthy vicar cheated his ally of his bargain by being buried neither within nor without the church, but in the wall itself. a very similar tradition exists at brent pelham, hertfordshire, with reference to the tomb of pierce shonke, which was also in the wall. he is said to have died a.d. . under the feet of the figure { } was a "cross flourie, and under the cross a serpent" (weever, p. .), and the inscription is thus translated in chauncy's _hertfordshire_, p. : "nothing of cadmus nor st. george, those names of great renown, survives them, but their fames; time was so sharp set as to make no bones of theirs nor of their monumental stones, but _shonke_ one serpent kills, t'other defies, and in this wall as in a fortress lyes." whilst in the north wall of rouen cathedral is the tomb of an early archbishop, who having accidentally killed a man by hitting him with a soup ladle, because the soup given by the servant to the poor was of an inferior quality, thought himself unworthy of a resting-place within the church, and disliking to be buried without, was interred in the wall itself. _miraculous cures for lameness._--the holy well _y fynnon fair_, or our lady's well, near pont yr allt gôch, close to the elwy, has to this day the reputation of curing lameness so thoroughly, that those who can reach it walking on crutches may fling their crutches away on their return home. welsh people still come several miles over the hills to this holy spring. a whole family was there when i visited its healing waters last month. the same virtue is ascribed at rouen to a walk to the altar at st. katherine's church, at the top of st. katherine's hill, where the cast-off crutches have been preserved. in the latter case something less than a miracle may account for the possibility of going away without crutches; for they may be required to mount to a lofty eminence, and may well be dispensed with on coming down: but as this supposition would lessen the value of a tradition implicitly believed, of course all sensible men will reject it at once. wm. durant cooper. . guilford street. pixey legends. in reference to your correspondent h.g.t.'s article on _pixies_ (vol. ii., p. .), allow me to say that i have read the distich which he quotes in a tale to the following effect:--in one of the southern counties of england--(all the pixey tales which i have heard or read have their seat laid in the south of england)--there lived a lass who was courted and wed by a man who, after marriage, turned out to be a drunkard, neglecting his work, which was that of threshing, thereby causing his pretty wife to starve. but after she could bear this no longer, she dressed herself in her husband's clothes (whilst he slept off the effects of his drunkenness), and went to the barn to do her husband's work. on the morning of the second day, when she went to the barn, she found a large pile of corn threshed, which she had not done; and so she found, for three or four days, her pile of corn doubled. one night she determined to watch and see who did it, and carrying her intention into practice, she saw a little pixey come into the barn with a tiny flail, with which he set to work so vigorously that he soon threshed a large quantity. during his work he sang, "little pixey, fair and slim, without a rag to cover him." the next day the good woman made a complete suit of miniature clothes, and hung them up behind the barn door, and watched to see what _pixey_ would do. i forgot to mention that he hung his flail behind the door when he had done with it. at the usual time the pixey came to work, went to the door to take down his flail, and saw the suit of clothes, took them down, and put them on him, and surveyed himself with a satisfied air, and sang "pixey fine, and pixie gay. pixey now must fly away." it then flew away, and she never saw it more. in this tale the word was invariably spelt "pixey." tysil. _pixies._--the _puckie_-stone is a rock above the teign, near chagford. in the _athenæum_ i mentioned the rags in which the pixies generally appear. in _a narrative of some strange events that took place in island magee and neighbourhood in _, is this description of a spirit that troubled the house of mr. james hattridge: "about the th of december, , when the aforesaid mrs. hattridge was sitting at the kitchen-fire, in the evening, before daylight going, a little boy (as she and the servants supposed) came in and sat down beside her, having an old black bonnet on his head, with short black hair, a half-worn blanket about him, trailing on the ground behind him, and a _torn_ black vest under it. he seemed to be about ten or twelve years old, but he still covered his face, holding his arm with a piece of the blanket before it. she desired to see his face, but he took no notice of her. then she asked him several questions; viz., if he was cold or hungry? if he would have any meat? where he came from, and where he was going? to which he made no answer, but getting up, danced very nimbly, leaping higher than usual, and then ran out of the house as far as the end of the garden, and sometimes into the cowhouse, the servants running after him to see where he would go, but soon lost sight of him; but when they returned, he would be close after them in the house, which he did above a dozen of times. at last the little girl, seeing her master's dog coming in, said, 'now my master is coming he will take a course with this troublesome creature,' upon which he immediately went away, and troubled them no more till the month of february, ." this costume is appropriate enough for an irish spirit; but here may possibly be some connexion with the ragged clothes of the pixies. (comp. "tatrman," _deutsche mythol._, p. .; and canciani's note "de simulachris de pannis factis," _leges barbar._, iii. p. .; _indic. superst._) the common story of brownie and his clothes is, i suppose, connected. { } in some parts of devonshire the pixies are called "derricks," evidently the a.-s. "doeorg." in cornwall it is believed that wherever the pixies are fond of resorting, the depths of the earth are rich in metal. very many mines have been discovered by their singing. r.j.k. the pool of the black hound. in the parish of dean prior is a narrow wooded valley, watered by a streamlet, that in two or three places falls into cascades of considerable beauty. at the foot of one of these is a deep hollow called the hound's pool. its story is as follows. there once lived in the hamlet of dean combe a weaver of great fame and skill. after long prosperity he died, and was buried. but the next day he appeared sitting at the loom in his chamber, working diligently as when he was alive. his sons applied to the parson, who went accordingly to the foot of the stairs, and heard the noise of the weaver's shuttle in the room above. "knowles!" he said, "come down; this is no place for thee." "i will," said the weaver, "as soon as i have worked out my quill," (the "quill" is the shuttle full of wool). "nay," said the vicar, "thou hast been long enough at thy work; come down at once!"--so when the spirit came down, the vicar took a handful of earth from the churchyard, and threw it in its face. and in a moment it became a black hound. "follow me," said the vicar; and it followed him to the gate of the wood. and when they came there, it seemed as if all the trees in the wood were "coming together," so great was the wind. then the vicar took a nutshell with a hole in it, and led the hound to the pool below the waterfall. "take this shell," he said; "and when thou shalt have dipped out the pool with it, thou mayst rest--not before." and at mid-day, or at midnight, the hound may still be seen at its work. r.j.k. popular rhymes. the following popular rhymes may perhaps amuse some of your readers. they are not to be found in the article "days lucky or unlucky," in brand's _popular antiquities_, or in sir henry ellis's notes (see his edition, vol. ii. p. .), and perhaps have never been printed:-- _days of the week.--marriage._ "monday for wealth, tuesday for health, wednesday the best day of all; thursday for crosses, friday for losses, saturday no luck at all." _moon._ "saturday new, and sunday full, never was fine, and never wool." _days of the week.--birth._ "born of a monday, fair in face; born of a tuesday, full of god's grace; born of a wednesday, merry and glad; born of a thursday, sour and sad; born of a friday, godly given; born of a saturday, work for your living; born of a sunday, never shall we want; so there ends the week, and there's an end on't." _how to treat a horse._ "up the hill, urge him not; down the bill, drive him not; cross the flat, spare him not; to the hostler, trust him not." _how to sow beans._ "one for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, one to grow." _january weather._ "when the days lengthen, the colds strengthen." two german proverbial distiches, similar to the last, are given in körte's _sprichwörter_, p. .: "wenn de dage fangt an to längen, fangt de winter an to strengen." "wenn die tage langen, kommt der winter gegangen." with the first set of rhymes, we may compare the following verses on washing on the successive days of the week, in halliwell's _nursery rhymes of england_, p. . ed. .: "they that wash on monday have all the week to dry; they that wash on tuesday, are not so much awry; they that wash on wednesday, are not so much to blame; they that wash on thursday, wash for shame; they that wash on friday, wash in need; and they that wash on saturday, oh! they are sluts indeed." l. * * * * * minor notes. _"passilodion" and "berafrynde."_--have these terms, which play so memorable a part in the "tale of king edward and the shepherd" { } (hartshorne's _ancient metrical tales_) been explained? the shepherd's instructions (pp. , .) seem more zealous than luminous; but it has occurred to me that _perhaps_ "passelodion," "passilodyon," or "passilodion" may have some reference to the ancient custom of drinking from a _peg_-tankard, since [greek: passalos] means a _peg_, and [greek: passalôdia] would be a legitimate pedantic rendering of _peg-song_, or _peg-stave_, and _might_ be used to denote an exclamation on having _reached the peg_. h.g.t. _inscription on an alms-dish._--in bardsea church, island of furness, is an alms-dish(?) of a large size, apparently very old, gilt, and bearing the following inscription:-- "wylt : ghy : langheleven : soo : ert : godt : ende : hoovt : zyn : gebat : vorwar." bardsea church is recently erected in a district taken out of urswick parish. can any of your readers give an explanation of the inscription? f.b. relton. [this is another specimen of the alms-dishes, of which several have been described in our first volume. the legend may be rendered, _if thou wilt live long, honour god, and above all keep his commandments_.] _the use of the french word "savez."_--about fifty years ago the use of the french word _savez_, from the verb _savoir_, to know, was in general use (and probably is so at the present time) among the negroes in the island of barbadoes,--"_me no savez, massa_," for, "i do not know, master (or sir)." it occurred to the writer at that time as a very singular fact, because the french had never occupied that island; nor is he aware of any french negroes having been introduced there. he had also been informed of its use in other places, but made no note of it. in the _morning herald_ of the th instant there is a statement that the chinese at canton, speaking a little english, make use of the same word. can any of your readers give an explanation of this? j.f. _job's luck_.--i send you another version of job's luck, in addition to those that have lately appeared in "notes and queries:" "the devil engaged with job's patience to battle, tooth and nail strove to worry him out of his life; he robb'd him of children, slaves, houses, and cattle, but, mark me, he ne'er thought of taking his wife. "but heaven at length job's forbearance rewards, at length double wealth, double honour arrives, he doubles his children, slaves, houses, and herds, but we don't hear a word of a couple of wives." a.m. _the assassination of mountfort in norfolk street, strand._--the murder of mountfort is related with great particularity in galt's _lives of the players_, and is also detailed in, if i recollect aright, mr. jesse's _london and its celebrities;_ but in neither account is the following anecdote mentioned, the purport of which adds, if possible, to the blackness of mohun's character:-- "mr. shorter, horace walpole's mother's father, was walking down norfolk street in the strand, to his house there, just before poor mountfort the player was killed in that street by assassins hired by lord mohun. this nobleman lying in for his prey, came up and embraced mr. shorter by mistake, saying 'dear mountfort.' it was fortunate that he was instantly undeceived, for mr. shorter had hardly reached his house before the murder took place."--_walpoliana_, vol. ii. p. ., nd ed. j.b.c. _the oldenburgh horn_ (vol. ii., p. .) is preserved amongst the antiquities in the gallery of the king of denmark at copenhagen. it is of silver gilt, and ornamented in paste with enamel. it is considered by the danish antiquaries to be of the time of christian i., in the latter half of the fifteenth century. there are engraved on it coats of arms and inscriptions, which show that it was made for king christian i., in honour of the three kings, or wise men, on whose festival he used it, at cologne. w.c. trevelyan. wallington, dec. . . [we avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by sir walter trevelyan's communication to add from vulpius (_handwörterbuch der mythologie_) the following additional references to representations and descriptions of this celebrated horn--which is there said (p. .) to have been found in :--schneider, _saxon. vetust._ p. .; winkelmann's _oldenburgische chronik._ s. .; s. meyer, _vom oldenburgischen wunderhorne_, bremen, .] _curious custom_.--in the late record commissioners issued circular questions to the municipal corporations of england and wales, requesting various information; among such questions was the following:--"do any remarkable customs prevail, or have any remarkable customs prevailed within memory, in relation to the ceremonies accompanying the choice of corporate officers, annual processions, feasts, &c., not noticed in the printed histories or accounts of your borough? describe them, if there be such." to this question the borough of chippenham, wilts, replied as follows:--"the corporation dine together twice a-year, and _pay for it themselves_!" (_report of record commissioners_, , p. .) j.e. _kite_ (_french_, "_cerf-volant_").--some years ago, when reading dr. paris' popular work called _philosophy in sport made science in earnest_, th edition, london, j. murray, , i observed that the author could not explain the meaning of the french term "cerf-volant," applied to the toy so well known among boys in england as a "kite," and in scotland as a "dragon." the following passages will solve this mystery: { } "cerf-volant. scarabæus lucanus. sorte d'insecte volant qui porte des cornes dentelées, comme celles du cerf. "cerf-volant. ludicra scarabei lucani effigies. on donne ce nom à une sorte de joüet d'enfans qui est composé de quelques bâtons croisés sur lesquels on étend du papier, et exposant cette petite machine à l'air, le moindre vent la fait voler. on la retient et on la tire comme l'on veut, par le moyen d'une longue corde qui y est attachée."--see _dictionnaire de la langue françoise_, de pierre richelet; à amsterdam, . in kirby and spence's _entomology_, vol. ii. p. ., they mention "the terrific and protended jaws of the stag-beetle of europe, the _lucanus cervus_ of linnæus." the "toothed horns" alluded to by richelet are represented by the pieces of stiff paper fastened at intervals, and at right angles, to the string-tail of the toy kite, or dragon, so much delighted in by boys at certain seasons of the year in england and scotland. g.f.g. edinburgh. _epitaph on john randal._--as a counterpart to palise's death, i have sent a warwickshire epitaph, taken from watford magna churchyard, written about the same period: "here old john randal lies, who counting by his sale, lived three score years and ten, such virtue was in ale; ale was his meat, ale was his drink, ale did his heart revive, and could he still have drunk his ale, he still had been alive." j.r. _playing cards._--as a rider to the hermit of holyport's query respecting his playing cards (vol. ii., p. .), i would throw out a suggestion to all your readers for notices of similar emblematic playing cards: whether such were ever used for playing with? what period so introduced? and where? as both france and spain lay claim to their first introduction. i see that mr. caton exhibited at one of the meetings of the archæological institute this season a curious little volume of small county maps, numbered so as to serve as a pack of cards (described more fully in the _archæological journal_ for september, , p .), and which i regret i did not see. w.h.p. wanstead, dec. . . * * * * * queries. dragons: their origin. when passing through the city of brünn, in moravia, rather more than a year ago, my attention was drawn to the _lindwurm_ or dragon, preserved there from a very remote period. this monster, according to tradition, was invulnerable, like his brother of wantley, except in a few well-guarded points, and from his particular predilection in favour of veal and young children, was the scourge and terror of the neighbourhood. the broken armour and well-picked bones of many doughty knights, scattered around the entrance to the cave he inhabited, testified to the impunity with which he had long carried on his depredations, in spite of numerous attempts to destroy him. craftiness, however, at last prevailed where force had proved of no effect, and the lindwurm fell a victim to the skill of a knight, whose name i believe has been handed down to posterity. the mode adopted by the warrior to deceive his opponent, was to stuff, as true to nature as possible, with unslaked lime, the skin of a freshly killed calf, which he laid before the dragon's cave. the monster, smelling the skin, is said to have rushed out and instantly to have swallowed the fatal repast, and feeling afterwards, as may be readily expected, a most insatiable thirst, hurried off to a neighbouring stream, where he drank until the water, acting upon the lime, caused him to burst. the inhabitants, on learning the joyful news, carried the knight and the lindwurm in triumph into the city of brünn, where they have ever since treasured up the memento of their former tyrant. the animal, or reptile, thus preserved, is undoubtedly of the crocodile or alligator species, although i regret it was not in my power to examine it more particularly, evening having set in when i saw it in the arched passage leading to the town-hall of the city where it has been suspended. i fear also that any attempt to count the distinguishing bones would be fruitless, the scaly back having been covered with a too liberal supply of pitch, with the view to protection from the weather. have any of your readers seen this _lindwurm_ under more favourable circumstances than myself, and can they throw any light on the genus to which it belongs? may not the various legends respecting dragons, &c., have their origin from similar circumstances to those of this brünn lindwurm, which i take to leave strong proof of fact, the body being there? perhaps some of our correspondents may have it in their power to give further corroborative evidence of the former existence of dragons under the shape of crocodiles. the description of the wantley dragon tallies with that of the crocodile very nearly. r.s., jun. * * * * * joan sanderson, or the cushion dance; and bab at the bowster. can any of your numerous valuable correspondents give me the correct date, or any clue to it, of the above dance. there is little doubt of its great antiquity. the dance is begun by a single person (either a woman or man), who { } dances about the room with a cushion in his hand, and at the end of the tune stops and sings: "this dance it will no further go!" [_the musician answers._] "i pray you, good sir, why say you so?" [_man._] "because joan sanderson will not come to!" [_music._] "she must come to, and she shall come to, and she must come whither she will or no." he now lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her, singing: "welcome, joan sanderson, welcome, welcome." she rises with the cushion, and both dance about, singing: "prinkum-prankum is a fine dance, and shall we go dance it once again, and once again, and shall we go dance it once again?" then making a stop, the woman sings, as before: "this dance it will no further go!" [_music._] "i pray you, madam, why say you so?" [_woman._] "because john sanderson will not come to." [_music._] "he must come to," &c. and so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling, upon it, salutes her, she singing: "welcome, john sanderson," &c. then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands, and dance round, singing as before: and this they do till the whole company is taken into the ring. then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman singing, "this dance," &c. (as before), only instead of "come to," they sing "go fro," and instead of "welcome, john sanderson," &c., they sing, "farewell, john sanderson, farewell," &c.: and so they go out, one by one, as they came in. this dance was at one time highly popular, both at court and in the cottage, in the latter of which, in some remote country villages, it is still danced. selden, in his _table talk_, thus refers to it: "the court of england is much altered. at a solemn dancing, first you have the grave measures, then the _corvantoes_ and the _galliards_, and this is kept up with ceremony, at length to trenchmore and the cushion dance; and then all the company dance, lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. (would our fair belgravians of condescend to dance with their kitchen-maids?) so in our court in queen elizabeth's time, gravity and state were kept up. in king james's time, things were pretty well. but in king charles's time there has been nothing but trenchmore and the cushion dance," &c. i shall also feel obliged for the date of _bab at the bowster_, or _bab in the bowster_, as it is called in scotland. jamieson, in his _dictionary_, describes it as a very old scottish dance, and generally the last danced at weddings and merry-makings. it is now danced with a handkerchief in place of a cushion; and no words are used. that a rhyme was formerly used, there is little doubt. query, what were the words of this rhyme? mac. charminster. * * * * * did bunyan know hobbes? i observe a querist wishes to know the artist of the portrait of bunyan prefixed to his works. i can only myself conjecture cooper, the miniature painter, but i am also curious about the great author of _the pilgrim's progress_. first, is bunyan really the author of "heart's ease in heart's trouble," and the "visions of heaven and hell," published in his works, and perhaps, excepting "grace abounding," the most popular of his received miscellanies? i think not. my reasons are these. the style is very different, and much poorer than his best works. in the "progress," when he quotes latin, he modestly puts a side-note [the latin that _i borrow_]. in the two tracts mentioned he flashes out a bit of latin two or three times where he might have much better used english, or in a superfluous way. also it is curious to know that in his "visions of hell" he meets leviathan hobbes, the philosopher of malmesbury. the passage is curious, for if true, and written by bunyan, it proves him to be personally acquainted with hobbes. i extract it. after hearing his name called out, epenetus (the author and visitant of the infernal regions) naturally inquires who it is that calls him. he is answered,-- "i was once well acquainted with you on earth, and had almost persuaded you to be of my opinion. i am the author of that celebrated book, so well known by the title of _leviathan_! "'what! the great hobbes,' said i, 'are you come hither? _your voice is so much changed, i did not know it._'" the dialogue which ensues is not worth quoting, as it is from our purpose. but i would ask when was the time when bunyan "was nearly persuaded to be of hobbes' opinion?" if he is the author and speaks the truth (and he is notoriously truthful), it must have been in early youth; but surely the philosopher of malmesbury could not know an obscure tinker. bunyan cannot speak metaphorically, for he had not read the _leviathan_, since he mentions that his only reading in early life, _i.e._ when he was likely to have embraced freethinking, was the _practice of piety_, and the _plain man's pathway to heaven_, his wife's dowry. { } moreover, he notes particularly the _change of voice_, a curious circumstance, which testifies personal acquaintance. hobbes died in ; bunyan in . were they intimate? jas. h. friswell. * * * * * minor queries. _boiling to death._--some of your correspondents have communicated instances where burning to death was inflicted as a punishment; and mr. gatty suggests that it would prove an interesting subject for inquiry, at what period such barbarous inflictions ceased. in howe's _chronicle_ i find the two following notices: "the th of aprill ( ) one richard rose, a cooke, was boiled in smithfielde, for poisoning of divers persons, to the number of sixteen or more, at ye bishop of rochester's place, amongst the which benet curwine, gentleman, was one, and hee intended to have poisoned the bishop himselfe, but hee eate no potage that day, whereby hee escaped. marie the poore people that eate of them, many of them died."--howe's _chronicle_, p. . "the th march ( ) margaret dany, a maid, was boiled in smithfield for poisoning of three households that shee had dwelled in."--howe's _chronicle_, p. . query, was this punishment peculiar to cooks guilty of poisoning? and when did the latest instance occur? l.h.k. _meaning of "mocker."_--to-day i went into the cottage of an old man, in the village of which i am curate, and finding him about to cut up some wood, and he being very infirm, i undertook the task for him, and chopped up a fagot for his fire. during the progress of my work, the old fellow made the following observation:-- "old nannie hawkins have got a big stick o' wood, and she says as i shall have him for eight pence. if i could get him, i'd soon _mocker_ him." upon my asking him the meaning of the word _mocker_, he informed me it meant to _divide_ or _cleave in pieces;_ but, not being "a scholar" as he termed it, he could not tell me how to spell it, so i know not whether the orthography i have adopted is correct or not. can any of your readers give me a clue to the derivation of this word? i certainly never heard it before. i ought perhaps to state, that this is a country parish in herefordshire. w.m. pembridge, dec. . _"away, let nought to love displeasing"._--is it known who was the author of the song to be found in percy's _reliques_, and many other collections, beginning-- "away, let nought to love displeasing." the first collection, so far as i know, in which it appears is entitled _miscellaneous poems by several hands_, published by d. lewis, london, ; and in this work it is called a translation from the ancient british. does this mean a translation of an ancient poem, or a translation of a poem written in some extant dialect of the language anciently spoken in britain? either would appear to me incredible. as i feel much interested in the poetry of english songs, can you or any of your correspondents inform me if there exists any _good_ collection; that is, a collection, of such only as are excellent of their respective kinds? that the english language possesses materials for forming such a collection, and an extensive one too, i have no doubt, though i have never met with one. and, if there be none that answers the description i give, i should be glad of information respecting the best that exist. it is scarcely necessary to add, that my standard of excellence would admit only those which bore the character of "immortal verse," rejecting such as had been saved merely by the music to which they had been "married." samuel hickson. dec. . . _baron münchausen._--who was the author of this renowned hero's adventures? the _conversations-lexicon_ (art. _münchausen_) states that the stories are to be found under the title of "mendacia ridicula," in vol. iii. of _deliciæ academicæ_, by j.p. lange (heilbronn, ); and that "at a later period they appeared in england, where a reviewer supposed them to be a satire on the ministry." i remember to have read when a boy (i think in _the percy anecdotes_), that the book was written by an englishman who was styled "m----," and was described as having been long a prisoner in the bastille. since writing thus far i have seen the note by j.s. (vol. ii., pp. - .) on münchausen's story of the horn. the idea of sounds frozen in the air, and thawed by returning warmth, was no invention of "castilian, in his _aulicus_" (_i.e._ castiglione, author of _il cortegiano_); for, besides that, it is found in his contemporary rabelais (liv. iv. cc. - ), i believe it may be traced to one of the later greek writers, from whom bishop taylor, in one of his sermons, borrows it as an illustration. j.c.r. _"sing tantararara rogues all," &c._--the above is the chorus of many satirical songs written to expose the malpractices of peculators, &c. can any of your readers point out who was the author of the _original song_, and where it is to be found? a subscriber. _meaning of "cauking."_--an old dame told me the other day, in cheshire, that her servant was a { } good one, and among other good qualities "she never went _cauking_ into the neighbours' houses." unde derivatur "cauking?" chas. paslam. * * * * * replies. the wise men of gotham. (vol. ii., p. .) the proverb, "as wise as the men of gotham." is given in fuller's _worthies_ (ed. , pp. , .). ray, in his note upon this, observes "it passeth for the _periphrasis_ of a fool, and an hundred fopperies are feigned and fathered on the townsfolk of _gotham_, a village in this county [nottinghamshire]. here two things may be observed: " . men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out some place, and fixing the staple of stupidity and solidity therein. so the _phrygians_ in _asia_, the _abderitæ_ in _thrace_, and _boeotians_ in _greece_, were notorious for dulmen and blockheads. " . these places thus slighted and scoffed at, afforded some as witty and wise persons as the world produced. so _democritus_ was an _abderite_, _plutarch_ a _boeotian_, &c. "as for _gotham_, it doth breed as wise people as any which causelessly laugh at their simplicity. sure i am _mr. william de gotham_, fifth master of _michael house_ in _cambridge_, , and twice chancellor of the university, was as grave a governor as that age did afford."-- d. ed. p. . in thoroton's _nottinghamshire_, vol. i. pp. , ., the origin of the saying, as handed down by tradition, is thus given:--king john intending to pass through this place towards nottingham, was prevented by the inhabitants, they apprehending that the ground over which a king passed was for ever after to become a public road. the king, incensed at their proceedings, sent from his court, soon afterwards, some of his servants to inquire of them the reason of their incivility and ill-treatment, that he might punish them. the villagers hearing of the approach of the king's servants, thought of an expedient to turn away his majesty's displeasure from them. when the messengers arrived at gotham, they found some of the inhabitants engaged in endeavouring to drown an eel in a pool of water; some were employed in dragging carts upon a large barn, to shade the wood from the sun; and others were engaged in hedging a cuckoo, which had perched itself upon an old bush. in short, they were all employed upon some foolish way or other, which convinced the king's servants that it was a village of fools. should j.r.m. not yet have seen it, i beg to refer him to mr. halliwell's interesting edition of _the merry tales of the wise men of gotham_ (lond. ) for fuller and further particulars. j.b. colman. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _master john shorne_.--as neither mr. thoms' notes (vol. ii., p. .) nor mr. way's (p. .) mention where this reputed saint lived, or speak of him as connected with buckinghamshire, i will offer an extract from lysons in the hope of casting some little light on the subject. "north marston.--the church is a handsome gothic structure; there is a tradition that the chancel was built with the offerings at the shrine of sir john shorne, a very devout man, of great veneration with the people, who was rector of north marston about the year , and it is said that the place became populous and flourishing in consequence of the great resort of persons to a well which he had blessed. this story stands upon a better foundation than most vulgar traditions; the great tithes of north marston are still appropriated to the dean and canons of windsor, who, before the reformation, might without difficulty have rebuilt the chancel, as it is very probable they did, with the offerings at the shrine of sir john shorne, for we are told that they were so productive, that on an average they amounted to l. per annum.[ ] sir john shorne, therefore, although his name is not to be found, appears to have been a saint of no small reputation. the common people in the neighbourhood still keep up his memory by many traditional stories. browne willis, says, that in his time there were people who remembered a direction-post standing, which pointed the way to sir john shorne's shrine."[ ] north marston, formerly merston, is about four miles from winslow. i visited it about a year ago, and drank of the well, or spring, which is about a quarter of a mile from the village; but i know nothing of the traditions alluded to by lysons. the chancel of the church is a fine specimen of perpendicular style, with a vestry of the same date, and of two stories, with a fireplace in each. i do not find north marston, in bucks, mentioned in leland, camden, or defoe, nor can i meet with any account of sir john shorne in any books of english saints within my reach. a copy of browne willis's mss. may be seen in the british museum. w.h.k. [footnote : _history of windsor_, p. .] [footnote : b. willis's mss., bodleian library.] for the information of those who may not have the _norfolk archæology_ to refer to, let me add that john shorne appears to have been rector of north marston, in buckinghamshire, about the year , "and was held in great veneration for his virtues, which his benediction had imparted to a holy well in his parish, and for his miracles, one of which, _the feat of conjuring the devil into a boot_, was considered so remarkable that it was represented in the east window of his church." e.s.t. _antiquity of smoking._--the passage is in herodian. in the time of commodus there was a { } pestilence in italy. the emperor went to laurentum for the benefit of the smell of the laurel trees. "in ipsa quoque urbe de medicorum sententia plerique unguentis suavissimus nares atque aures opplebant, suffituque[ ] et odoramentis assidua utebantur, quod meatus sensuum (ut quidem dicunt) odoribus illis occupati, neque admittant aëra tabificum: et si maxime admiserint, tamen eum majore quasi vi longe superari." this has nothing to do with the practice of smoking, nor is it clear that they smoked these things with a pipe into the mouth at all. the medical use of fumigation, as sir william temple observes, was greatly esteemed among the ancients. but it is very probable that, being sometimes practised by means of pipes, it was what led to the practice of smoking constantly, either for general medical protection, or merely for luxury, in countries and times too, when these epidemics from bad air were very common. the great love of smoking among the turks may be originally owing to the plague. c.b. [footnote : [greek: "thumiamasi te kai arômasi sunechôs echrônto."]] _antiquity of smoking_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--mr. lane, in his edition of the _arabian nights_, infers the very late date of that book from there being no mention of tobacco or coffee in it. as two of the ancient authorities have broken down, it occurred to me that others might. the reference to strabo, vii. . leads me only to this; that the mysians were called [greek: kapnobatai] (some correct to [greek: kapnopatai]) because they did not eat animals, but milk, cheese, and honey; but of religion, living quietly. one cannot imagine that this can be meant. i referred to almaloveen's edition, the old paging. in the next page he repeats the epithet, coupling it, as before, with the word religious, and arguing from both as having the same meaning. it occurred to me that somebody might have read [greek: kapnopotai], "fumum bibentes," which might have given occasion to the reference to this passage: and i find in the english passow that [greek: kapnobotai], "smoke-eaters," has been proposed. [greek: kapnopatai], is there derived from [greek: paomai]. but if these are the readings, they can have nothing to do with smoking, but with religion. from the context they would mean as we say, "living on air;" like democritus, who subsisted three days upon the steam of new loaves. [greek: kapnobatai] meant, as i believe, to describe their religiousness more directly; treading on the clouds, living _in_ the air: like socrates in aristophanes, [greek: neph]. .: [greek: "aerobatô kai periphronô ton hêlion,"] and in v. . [greek: kapnos] is used of the clouds: [greek: "ma di all homichlên kai droson autas hêgoumên kai kapnon einai."] there is nothing in solinus, cap. .; and mela, lib. ii., is too wide a reference. c.b. _meaning of the word "thwaites"_(vol. ii., p. .).--the word "thwayte" occurred in the ancient form of the bidding prayer: "ye shalle byddee for tham, that this cherche honour with book, with bell, with vestiments, with _thwayte_," &c. this form is said to be above four hundred years old; and palmer says (_orig. lit._, iii. p. .) that we have memorials of these prayers used in england in the fourteenth century. hearne remarks that the explication of this word warranted by sir e. coke is "a wood grubbed up and turned to arable." this land being given to any church, the donors were thus commended by the prayers of the congregation. in yorkshire the word is so understood: thwaite, or "stubbed ground, ground that has been essarted or cleaned." j.h.m. _meaning of "thwaites"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--hearne took the word "thwayte" to signify "a wood grubbed up and turned into arable." his explanation, with other suggestions as to the meaning, of this word, may be found in a letter from hearne to mr. francis cherry, printed in vol. i. p. . of _letters written by eminent persons in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries_, published by longman and co. in . j.p. jr. december . . _thomas rogers of horninger_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent s.g. will find a brief notice of this person in rose's _biographical dictionary_, london, . it appears he was rector of horninger, and a friend of camden; who prefixed some commendatory verses to a work of his, entitled _the anatomy of the mind_. i would suggest to s.g. that further information may probably be collected respecting him from these verses, and from the prefaces, &c. of his other works, of which a long list is given in rose's _dictionary_. t.h. kersley, a.b. king william's col., isle of man. _thomas rogers of horninger_ (vol. ii., p .).--if s.g. will apply to the rev. j. perowne, of his own college, who is understood to be preparing an edition of rogers's work for the parker society, he will doubtless obtain the fullest information. a.h. _earl of roscommon_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a pretended copy of the inscription at kilkenny west, mentioned by your correspondent an hibernian, was produced in evidence, on the claim of stephen francis dillon to the earldom of roscommon, before the house of lords. as there was reason to doubt the evidence of the person who produced that copy, or the genuineness of the inscription itself, the house decided against that claim; and by admitting that of the late earl (descended { } from the youngest son of the first earl) assumed the extinction of all the issue of the six elder sons. the evidence adduced altogether negatived the presumption of any such issue. your correspondents francis and an hibernian will find a very clear and succinct account of the late earl's claim, and stephen francis dillon's counter-claim, in _the roscommon claim of peerage_, by j. sidney tayler, lond. . w.h.c. _parse_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent j.w.h. is far from correct in supposing that this word was not known in , for he will find it used by roger ascham, in a passage quoted by richardson in his _dictionary_ sub voce. in brinsley's curious _ludus literarius_, , reprinted , to., the word is frequently used. at page . he recommends the "continual practice of _parsing_." at p. ., enumerating the contents of chap. vi., we have "the questions of the accidence, called the _poasing_ of the english parts;" and chap. ix. is "of _parsing_ and the kinds thereof, &c." at the end of a kind of introduction there is an "advertisement by the printer," intimating that the author's book, "the _poasing_ of the accidence," is likely to come forth. from all this, it seems as if the two words were used indifferently. f.r.a. _the meaning of "version"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--t. appears to apply a peculiar meaning of his own to the word "version," which it would have been quite as well if he had explained in a glossarial note. he thinks a.e.b. was _mistaken_ in using that phrase in reference to lord bacon's translation into latin of his own english original work, and he proceeds to compare (to what end does not very clearly appear) a sentence from lord bacon's english text, with the same sentence as re-translated back again from lord bacon's latin by wats. finally, t. concludes with this very singular remark: "wats' version is the more exact of the two!" does t. mean to call lord bacon's english text a _version_ of his latin, by anticipation of eighteen years? the only other authority for such meaning of the word would seem to be the facetious dr. prout, who accused tom moore of a similar _version_ of his celebrated papers. a.e.b. _first paper-mill in england_ (vol. ii., p. ).--the birthplace of the "high germaine spilman" (_spielmann_), celebrated by churchyard, your english readers may not easily discover by his description as quoted by dr. rimbault. "lyndoam bodenze" is _lindau am boden-see_, on the lake of constance (in german, _bodensee_), once a free imperial city, called, from its site on three islets in the lake, "the swabian venice," now a pretty little town belonging to the kingdom of _bavaria_. v. "_torn by horses_" (vol. ii., p. .).--this cruel death was suffered by _ravaillac_, who accomplished what jean châtel failed in doing. the execution took place on the th of may, , with the most atrocious severities of torture, of which the drawing by horses was but the last out of a scene that continued for many hours. the day before he had been racked to the very extremity of human suffering. the horses dragged at the wretch's body for an hour in vain; at length a nobleman present sent one of his own, which was stronger; but this even would not suffice. the executioner had to sever the mangled body with his knife, before the limbs would give way. i could add more of these details, but the subject is intolerable. the execution of _ravaillac_ was followed with the utmost exactness, but with more cruelty, if possible, in the case of _damiens_ (sentenced for the attempt on louis le bien-aimé), who suffered on the place de grève, march . . the frightful business lasted from morning till dusk! here again the knife was used before the body gave way, the horses having dragged at it for more than an hour first; the poor wretch living, it is said, all the while! i believe this was the last instance of the punishment in france, if not in europe. a concise summary of the trials of these men, and all the hideous details of their tortures and execution, will be found, by those who have a taste for such things, in the third volume of the new series of the _neuer pitaval_, edited by hitzig and haring (leipzig, brockhaus),--a collection of _causes célèbres_ which has been in course of publication at intervals since . the volume in question appeared in the present year ( ). v. belgravia. _vineyards_ (vol. ii., p. .).--at ingatestone hall, in essex, one of the seats of lord petre, a part of the ground on the south side of the house still goes by the name of "the vineyard." and this autumn grapes came to great perfection on the south wall. j.a.d. _cardinal_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the expression referred to by o.p.q. was in some degree illustrated at the coronation of edward ii., , when the pope, wishing the ceremony to be performed by a cardinal, whom he offered to send for the purpose, was strenuously opposed by the king, and compelled to withdraw his pretensions. (see curtis's _history of england_, vol. ii. p. .) c.h. st. catherine's hall, cambridge. _weights for weighing coins_ (vol. ii., p. .).--if the question of your correspondent, who wishes to know at what period weights were introduced { } for weighing coins, is intended to have a general reference, he will find many passages alluding to the practice amongst the ancient romans, who manufactured balances of various kinds for that purpose: one for gold (_statera auraria_, varro _ap. non._, p. ., ed. mercer.; cic. _or._ ii. .); another for silver (varro _de vit. p.r._ lib. ii.); and another for small pieces of money (_trutina momentana pro parva modicaque pecunia._ isidor. _orig._, xvi. . .). the mint is represented on the reverse of numerous imperial coins and medals by three female figures, each of whom holds a pair of scales, one for each of the three metals; and in rich's _illustrated companion to the latin dictionary_, under the word libra, there is exhibited a balance of very peculiar construction, from an original in the cabinet of the grand duke at florence, which has a scale at one end of the beam, and a fixed weight at the opposite extremity, "to test the just weight of a given quantity, and supposed to have been employed at the mint for estimating the proper weight of coinage." moneta. _umbrellas_ (vol. i., p. . etc.).--to the extensive exhibition of _umbrellas_ formed through the exertions of the right worthy editor of the "notes and queries" and his very numerous friends, i am happy to have it in my power to make an addition of considerable curiosity, it being of much earlier date than any specimen at present in the collection:-- "of doues i haue a dainty paire which, when you please to take the aier, about your head shall gently houer, your cleere browe from the sunne to couer, and with their nimble wings shall fan you that neither cold nor heate shall tan you, and, like _vmbrellas_, with their feathers _sheeld you in all sorts of weathers._" _michael drayton, _. had not the exhibition been limited to umbrellas used in england, i could have produced oriental specimens, very like those now in fashion here, of the latter part of the sixteenth century. bolton corney. _croziers and pastoral staves_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the staff with the cross appears on the monument of abp. warham, in canterbury cathedral; on the brass of abp. waldeby ( ), in westminster abbey and on that of abp. cranley ( ), in new college chapel, oxford. the crook is bent _outwards_ in the brasses to the following bishops:--bp. trellick ( ), hereford cathedral; bp. stanley ( ), manchester cathedral; bp. goodrich ( ), ely cathedral; and bp. pursglove ( ), tideswell church, derbyshire. j.i.d. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. we never longed so much for greater space for our notes upon books as we do at this season of gifts and good will, when the christmas books demand our notice. never did writer pen a sweeter tale than that which the author of _mary barton_ has just produced under the title of _the moorland cottage_. it is a purely english story, true to nature as a daguerreotype, without one touch of exaggeration, without the smallest striving after effect, yet so skilfully is it told, so effectually does it tell, so strongly do maggie's trials and single-mindedness excite our sympathies, that it were hard to decide whether our tears are disposed to flow the more readily at those trials, or at her quiet heroic perseverance in doing right by which they are eventually surmounted. _the moorland cottage_ with its skilful and characteristic woodcut illustrations by birket foster, will be a favourite for many and many a christmas yet to come. rich in all the bibliopolic "pearl and gold" of a quaint and fanciful binding, glancing with holly berries and mistletoe, mr. bogue presents us with a volume as interesting as it is characteristic and elegant, _christmas with the poets_. a more elegantly printed book was never produced; and it is illustrated with fifty engravings designed and drawn on wood by birket foster; engraved by henry vizetelly, and printed in tints in a way to render most effective the artist's tasteful, characteristic, and very able drawings. the volume is, as it were, a casket, in which are enshrined all the gems which could be dug out of the rich mines of english poetry; and when we say that the first division treats of carols from the anglo-norman period to the time of the reformation; that these are followed by christmas poems of the elizabethan period, by shakspeare, ben jonson, and their great cotemporaries; that to these succeed herrick's poems, and so on, till we have the christmas verses of our own century, by southey, wordsworth, scott, shelley, tennyson, &c., we have done more than all our praise could do, to prove that a fitter present to one who loves poetry could not be found than _christmas with the poets_. while if it be a _little_ lover of poetry--mind, not one who little loves poetry, but one who listens with delight to those beloved ditties of the olden times, which as we know charmed shakspeare's childhood,--learn that an english lady, with the hand and taste of an artist, guided and refined by that purest and holiest of feelings, a mother's love, has illustrated those dear old songs in a way to delight all children; and at the same time charm the most refined. the _illustrated ditties of the olden time_ is in sooth a delightful volume, and if a love of the beautiful be as closely connected with a love of the moral as wise heads tell us, we know no more agreeable way of early inculcating morality than by circulating this splendid edition of our time-honoured nursery rhymes. but we fancy the taste of some of our readers may not yet have been hit upon. let them try _the story of jack and the giants, illustrated by richard doyle_; and { } they will find this wondrous story rendered still more attractive by some thirty drawings, from the pencil of one of the most imaginative artists of the day, and whose artistic spirit seems to have revelled with delight as he pourtrayed the heroic achievements of "the valiant cornish man." we will now turn to those works which are of a somewhat graver class; and we will begin with miss drury's able and well-written story, entitled _eastbury_, in which the heavy trials of beatrice eustace, mitigated and eventually overcome through the friendship and truthfulness of julia seymour, are told in a manner to delight all readers of the class of tales to which _eastbury_ belongs; and to sustain the reputation as a writer, which miss drury so deservedly acquired by her former story, _friends and fortune_. the name of the rev. charles b. tayler would alone have served as a sufficient warrant that _the angel's song, a christmas token_, is work of still more serious character, even though the author had not told his readers, in his _envoy_, that the tale was written to correct the mistake into which many well-meaning people have fallen on the subject of christmas merriment; and to suggest the spirit in which this sacred season should be celebrated. that the book will be favourably received by the large class of readers to whom it is addressed, there can be little doubt; and to their attention we accordingly commend it. it is very tastefully got up. to the publisher of _the angel's song_, mr. sampson low, we are also indebted for a very stirring and interesting book, _the whaleman's adventures in the southern ocean_, edited by the rev. dr. scoresby, from the notes of a pious and observant american clergyman, whilst embarked, on account of his health, on a whaling voyage to the south seas and pacific ocean. that dr. scoresby should think the matter of this work so far novel and interesting, as well as "calculated for conveying useful moral impressions," renders it scarcely necessary to say another word in its recommendation. but it has a higher object than mere amusement; its object is to enforce upon those "who go down to the sea in ships," the duty of "remembering the sabbath day to keep it holy." here our editorial labours have been interrupted by a band of infant critics to whose unprejudiced judgments we had entrusted _peter little and the lucky sixpence_,--each begging to be allowed to keep the book. good reader, do you wish for better criticism? worthy author of this _verse book for children_, do you wish for higher praise? we have received the following catalogues:--john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cxix. no. . for of old and new books; bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue no. . of english, french, german, and italian books; john lyte's ( . new oxford street) book catalogue for . * * * * * notices to correspondents. _although we have enlarged our present number to twenty-four pages, we are compelled to request the indulgence of our correspondents for the omission of many valuable communications._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvendors. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _part xiv., for december, price s., is now ready for delivery._ the index to volume the second _will be ready early in january._ _communications should be addressed to the editor of_ notes and queries, _care of_ mr. bell, no. . _fleet street_. e.a.d. _has our best thanks_. _errata._--in no. . vol. ii., p. , for [gothic: "sant valantinus"] read [gothic: "sant valentinus"]. (the reference of heinecken is _idée d'une collect. d'estampes_, p. .) for "_ind. par_. i. .," read "_ind._ par. i ." for "suppressed" read "supposed;" and instead of "de," before "vita," put [symbol: capitulum]. * * * * * just published, in a rich and novel binding, royal vo., price s. christmas with the poets; a collection of songs, carols, and descriptive verses, relating to the festival of christmas; with introductory observations explanatory of obsolete rites and customs. illustrated with upwards of fifty highly-finished wood engravings, from designs by birket foster, and printed in several tints, with gold borders, initial letters, and other ornaments. david bogue, fleet street. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine.--the first number of the gentleman's magazine for is embellished by a portrait of the late thomas amyot, esq., treasurer of the society of antiquaries, accompanied with memoirs written by two of his most intimate friends. a second plate represents a very highly ornamented roman sword recently discovered near mayence. this number also contains the story of nell gwyn, chapter ., by peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a., being the commencement of an original work, which will be continued periodically in the magazine. also, among other articles, the unpublished diary of john first earl of egmont, part iii.; farindon and owen, the divines of the cavalier and roundhead; notes of an antiquarian tour on the rhine, by c. roach smith, esq., f.s.a.; milton and the adamo caduto of salandra; the barons of london and the cinque ports; effigy of a notary (with an engraving), &c. &c. reviews of miss strickland's lives of the queens of scotland; vols. v. and vi. of southey's life, &c. &c. with literary and antiquarian intelligence; historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of the marchioness cornwallis. lord nugent, rt. hon. sir w. h. fremantle, mr. raphael, mrs. bell martin, &c. &c., price s. d. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * the london homoeopathic hospital, . golden square. founded by the british homoeopathic association. patron: h.r.h. the duchess of cambridge. vice-patron: his grace the duke of beaufort, k.g. president: f.m. the marquis of anglesey, k.g. k.c.b. chairman: culling c. smith, esq. treasurer: john dean paul, esq., . strand. this hospital is open every monday, tuesday, thursday, and friday, at o'clock, for the reception of out-patients without letters of recommendation. in-patients admitted every tuesday at o'clock upon the recommendation of a governor or subscribers. subscriptions to the hospital funds will be thankfully received by the bankers, messrs. strahan and co., strand, and messrs. prescott and co., threadneedle street, and by ralph bucham. honorary secretary, . golden square. * * * * *{ } just published, choice examples of art-workmanship, in gold, silver, steel, bronze, ivory, wood, glass, leather, earthenware, &c. upwards of sixty examples selected from the exhibition of ancient and mediÆval art at the society of arts, drawn and engraved under the superintendence of philip de la motte. elegantly bound in cloth, with gilt bosses, in fac-simile of an ancient venetian binding. * * * * * imperial octavo, bound in cloth with bosses £ ditto coloured and gilt, bound in morocco large paper, bound in cloth with bosses ditto coloured and gilt, bound in morocco ***_a few vellum copies will be printed to order only. these will be most carefully illuminated and finished by_ mr. de la motte, _bound in velvet, price twelve guineas_. * * * * * a catalogue of english art-manufactures, selected for their beauty of design, with about engravings of articles of use and ornament for the breakfast table, dinner table, drawing-room, library, in pottery, carved wood, glass, and metal. to. price s. in wrapper, or s. d. per post. the art-circular.--a monthly record of illustrated literature and art manufactures. with eight or ten illustrations. issued on the twenty-first of every month. price of each number, d.; or stamped for post, d. (this work will be forwarded, post free, s. per annum.) * * * * * london: cundall and addey, . old bond street. * * * * * _now ready, fcap. vo., price s. d.,_ a third series of plain sermons, addressed to a country congregation. by the late rev. edward blencowe, curate of teversal, notts, and formerly fellow of oriel college, oxford. * * * * * also, a new edition of the first series, and a second edition of the second series, price s. d. each. "their style is simple; the sentences are not artfully constructed; and there is an utter absence of all attempt at rhetoric. the language is plain saxon language, from which 'the men on the wall' can easily gather what it most concerns them to know".--_theologian_. also, vols. mo., sold separately, s. each, sermons. by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. "sermons of a high and solid character--earnest and affectionate."--_theologian_. "plain and practical, but close and scholarly discourses."--_spectator_. * * * * * london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * *{ } price three pence. _after the st of january, _, the literary gazette will be exclusively devoted to reviews of new publications and literary varieties. orders and advertisements will be received by messrs. reeve and benham, . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * miller's catalogue of books for january, , will be ready on new year's day. to be had gratis on application. it will also appear in the number of the gentleman's magazine for that month. ballad romances, by r.h. horne, esq., author of "orion," &c.--containing the noble heart, a bohemian legend; the monk of swinstead abbey, a ballad chronicle of the death of king john; the three knights of camelott, a fairy tale; the ballad of delora, or the passion of andrea como; red gelert, a welsh legend; ben capstan, a ballad of the night watch; the elf of the woodlands, a child's story. fcap. vo. elegantly printed and bound in cloth, pages, only s. d. "pure fancy of the most abundant and picturesque description. mr. horne should write us more fairy tales; we know none to equal him since the days of drayton and herrick."--_examiner_. "the opening poem in this volume is a fine one; it is entitled the 'noble heart,' and not only in title, but in treatment, well imitates the style of beaumont and fletcher."--_athenæum_. criticisms and essays on the writings of atherstone, blair, bowles, sir e. brydges, carlyle, carrington, coleridge, cowper, croly, gillfillan, graham, hazlitt, heber, heraud, harvey, irving, keats, miller, pollock, tighe, wordsworth, and other modern writers, by the rev. j.w. lester, b.a. royal vo. pages of closely printed letterpress, originally published at s., reduced to s. d. "we give our cordial subscription to the general scope and tenor of his views, which are in the main promulgated with a perspicuity and eloquence not always found in the same individual."--_church of england quarterly review_. "mr. lester's volume is one of superior merit, and deserves a high rank among works of its class."--_tait's edinburgh review_. "he is the pioneer of the beautiful."--_manchester examiner_. john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * mr. l.a. lewis, auctioneer of literary property, established , . fleet street, london, will have sales by auction of libraries, small parcels of books, prints, pictures, and miscellaneous effects, every friday throughout the year . property sent in on the previous saturday will be certain to be sold (if required) on the following friday. dec. . * * * * * gutch's scientific pocket-book, now ready, price s. d. roan tuck. literary and scientific register and almanack for , with an ample collection of useful statistical and miscellaneous tables, facts, and formulæ, in acoustics, aërial phenomena, agriculture, anatomy, architecture, astronomy, chemistry, gardening, geography, geology, hydraulics, mechanics, optics, &c. &c., with a complete index. dedicated, by special permission, to prince albert. by j.w.g. gutch, m.r.c.s.l., f.l.s. foreign service queen's messenger. "as perfect a compendium of useful knowledge in connexion with literature, science, and the arts, as it is necessary every body should have acquaintance with. it is, in short, a little volume which will save the trouble of hunting through many books of more pretension, and supply, off-hand, what without it would require much time and trouble."--_times_, dec. . d. bogue, fleet street, and all booksellers. * * * * * richards's universal daily remembrancer for is now ready, and may be had of all booksellers and stationers, comprising a correct diary of memoranda, appointments, &c., and much authentic and useful information. in various forms, adapted to the use of attorneys, the clergy, merchants, tradesmen, travellers, and generally serviceable to all persons of business. richards, st. martin's lane, charing cross. * * * * * family and historical portraits.--g.p. harding, having acquired the art of faithfully making copies in water colours of ancient and modern portraits, and having in his possession a large collection of them, will he happy to treat with any noblemen and gentlemen wishing to add to their series of ancestral portraits. mr. harding having visited more than three hundred of the principal mansions in the country to make himself acquainted with what pictures are contained in them, is enabled to point out where portraits are to be obtained. g.p. harding also restores ancient missals, and miniatures, having had much experience in that branch of art. g.p. harding, . hercules buildings, near the palace, lambeth. * * * * *{ } new publications. * * * * * i. professor potter's treatise on optics part ii. [now ready. ii. robson's first latin reading lessons. s. d. iii. latham's english language. third edition. s. iv. latham's english grammar. fifth edition. s. d. v. griesbach's greek testament. new edition s. d. vi. baron reichenbach on magnetism. by dr. gregory s. d. [the only authorised edition. vii. the economy of railways. by dr. lardner. s. d. viii. liebig, koup and hoffmann's progress of chemistry and the allied sciences for and . vols. l. s. history, biography, antiquities, &c. i. dictionary of greek and roman antiquities. edited by dr. smith. medium vo. illustrations l. s. ii. dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology. edited by dr. smith. illustration. vols. vo. l. s. d. iii. dr. schmitz's history of rome. second edition. mo. s. d. iv. niebuhr's lectures on the history of rome. by dr. schmitz. second and cheaper edition. vols. vo. s. v. niebuhr's history of rome. vols. vo. l. s. d. vi. guesses at truth. by two brothers. vols. fcap. vo. s. vii. classical museum. complete in vols. vo. l. s. d. cloth. viii. chronological tables of greek and roman history. vo. s. ix. akerman's numismatic manual. vo. l. s. x. hurwitz's hebrew grammar. third edition. vo. s. xi. descriptive catalogues of scientific and literary works, and of school books, published by taylor, walton and maberly, may be had on application. diaries and journals for the new year. i. the private diary for general use. arranged, printed and ruled for an account of each day's employment for one year. post vo. strongly half-bound, s. d. ii. the student's journal, formed on the plan of the "private diary." post vo. strongly half-bound, s. d. iii. the literary diary; or, complete common place book, with locke's index. post to. ruled throughout and strongly half-bound. s. iv. a pocket common place book, with locke's index. post vo. strongly half-bound, s. d. * * * * * london: taylor, walton, and maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * now ready, with an elegant frontispiece and vignette, gilt edges, price s. peter little and the lucky sixpence; the frog's lecture; and other stories. a verse book for my children and their playmates. ridgway, . piccadilly; george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * price d., by post d., or s. per hundred from distribution. westminster and dr. wiseman; or, facts _v._ fiction. by william page wood. esq., m.p., q.c. reprinted from _the times_, with an advertisement on the subject of the westminster spiritual aid fund, and more especially on the duty and justice of applying the revenues of the suspended stalls of the abbey for the adequate endowment of the district churches in the immediate neighbourhood. second edition, with an appendix. london: george bell, . fleet street; messrs. rivington's st. paul's church-yard, and waterloo place; and thomas hatchard, . piccadilly; and _by order_ of all booksellers. * * * * * journal francais, publié à londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en , paraissant le samedi, donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramatique par th. gautier ou j. janin, la révue de paris par pierre durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * fac-similes. ashbee and tuckett, lithographers, &c., . broad court, long acre, beg respectfully to draw attention to their establishment for the execution of ancient and modern fac-similes, both plain and in colours, comprising autographs, charters, deeds, drawings, illuminations, title pages, woodcuts, &c., which they produce with the utmost fidelity and exactness, also without the slightest injury to the original. specimens may be inspected at the offices, or will be forwarded on application. every description of plain and ornamental lithography executed with the greatest attention and punctuality. * * * * *{ } new works in general literature. i. memoirs of the dukes of urbino ( to ). by james dennistoun, of dennistoun. with numerous portraits, plates, facsimiles, and woodcuts. vols. square crown vo. l. s. ii. sir roger de coverley. from "the spectator." with notes, &c., by w.h. willis; and twelve fine woodcuts from drawings by f. tayler. crown vo. s.; morocco, s. iii. mrs. jameson's sacred and legendary art; or, legends of the saints and martyrs. new edition, complete in one volume; with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. s. iv. mrs. jameson's legends of the saints and martyrs, as represented in the fine arts. with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. s. v. the church in the catacombs: a description of the primitive church of rome. by charles maitland. new edition, with woodcuts. vo. s. vi. mr. macaulay's history of england, from the accession of james ii. new edition. vols. i. and ii. vo. s. vii. john coad's memorandum of the sufferings of the rebels sentenced to transportation by judge jeffreys. square fcap. vo. s. d. viii. an introduction to english antiquities. intended as a companion to the history of england. by james eccleston. with many wood engravings. vo. s. ix. mr. a. rich's illustrated companion to the latin dictionary and greek lexicon. with about , woodcuts, from the antique. post vo. s. x. maunder's treasury of knowledge and library of reference: a compendium of universal knowledge. new edition. fcap. vo. s.; 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[nearly ready xix. southey's the doctor, &c. complete in one volume, with portrait, bust, vignette, and coloured plate. edited by the rev. j.w. warter, b.d., the author's son-in-law. square crown vo. s. xx. southey's life and correspondence. edited by his son, the rev. c.c. southey, m.a.; with portraits and landscape illustrations. vols. post vo. s. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, dec. . . notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page alfred's geography of europe, by s.w. singer the first coffee houses in england, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. true tragedy of richard iii. folk-lore--merry lwyd--deathbed superstition passage in l'allegro--milton's minor poems doctor dobbs--golden age of magazines use of beaver hats in england, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. extracts from old records, by r. cole queries:-- queries on outline christ's hospital--old songs once popular there watching the sepulchre, &c. minor queries:--conrad of salisbury--peruse or pervise--cromlech--meaning of grummett--vertue's mss.--loscop--ormonde house--as morse caught the mare--dustpot, forthlot--tracts attributed to eachard--queen of hearts--guildhalls--vox populi--use of coffins--rococo--howlet the engraver--the bear, &c. replies:-- letter attributed to sir r. walpole college salting junius white hart inn, scole parkership, porkership, pokership replies to minor queries:--coleridge's christabel-- sir william rider--god tempers the wind-- complutensian polyglot--tickhill--bishop blaise-- sangred--judas bell--la mer des histoires miscellanies:-- tale of a tub--a genius--dedications miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * king alfred's geography of europe. there is no other printed copy of the a.-s. _orosius_ than the very imperfect edition of daines barrington, which is perhaps the most striking example of incompetent editorship which could be adduced. the text was printed from a transcript of a transcript, without much pains bestowed on collation, as he tells us himself. how much it is to be lamented that the materials for a more complete edition are diminished by the disappearance of the _lauderdale ms._, which, i believe, when mr. kemble wished to consult it, could not be found in the library at ham. perhaps no more important illustration of the geography of the middle ages exists than alfred's very interesting description of the _geography of europe_, and the _voyages of othere and wulfstan_; and this portion of the _hormesta_ has received considerable attention from continental scholars, of which it appears mr. hampson is not aware. as long since as erasmus rask (to whom, after jacob grimm, anglo-saxon students are most deeply indebted) published in the _journal of the scandinavian literary society_ (ii. . sq.) the anglo-saxon text, with a danish translation, introduction, and notes, in which many of the errors of barrington and forster are pointed out and corrected. this was reprinted by rask's son in the _collection_ he gave of his father's _dissertation_, in vols. copenhagen, . mr. thorpe, in the nd edit. of his _analecta_, has given "alfred's geography," &c., no doubt accurately printed from the cotton ms., and has rightly explained _apdrede_ and _wylte_ in his glossary, but does not mention _Æfeldan_; and dr. leo, in his _sprachproben_, has given a small portion from rask, with a few geographical notes. dr. ingram says: "i hope on some future occasion to publish the whole of 'alfred's geography,' accompanied with accurate maps." rask has anticipated mr. hampson's correction respecting the _wilti_, and thus translates the passage: "men norden for oldsakserne er obotriternes land, og i nordost vilterne, som man kalder Æfelder." the mistake of barrington and dr. ingram is the more extraordinary when it is recollected that no people are so frequently mentioned in the chronicles of the middle ages as this sclavonic tribe: citations might be given out of number, in which their contests with their neighbours the obotriti, _abodriti_, or _apdrede_ of alfred are noticed. why the wilti were sometimes called _Æfeldi_ or _heveldi_, will appear from their location, as pointed out by ubbo emmius: "_wilsos_, henetorum gentem, ad _havelam_ trans albim sedes habentem." (rer. fris. hist. l. iv. p. .) schaffarik remarks, "die stoderaner und _havelaner_ waren ein und derselbe, nur durch zwei namen interscheiden zweige des _weleten_ stammes;" and albinus says: "es sein aber die riehten _wilzen_ wender sonderlich an der _havel_ wonhaft." they were frequently designated by the name of _lutici_, { } as appears from adam of bremen, helmond, and others, and the sclavonic word _liuti_ signified _wild, fierce_, &c. being a _wild_ and contentious people, not easily brought under the gentle yoke of christianity, they figure in some of the old russian sagas, much as the jutes do in those of scandinavia; and it is remarkable that the names of both should have signified giants or monsters. notker, in his teutonic paraphrase of martianus capella, speaking of other anthropophagi, relates that the _wilti_ were not ashamed to say that they had more right to eat their parents than the worms.[ ] mone wrote a dissertation upon the weleti, which is printed in the _anzeigen für kunde des mittelalters_, , but with very inconclusive and erroneous results; some remarks on these sclavonic people, and a map, will be found in count ossolinski's _vincent kadlubek_, warsaw, ; and in count potocki's _fragments histor. sur la scythie, la sarmatie, et les slaves_, brunsw., , &c. vols. to.; who has also printed wulfstan's _voyage_, with a french translation. the recent works of zeuss, of schaffarik, and above all the _geschichte der deutschen sprache_, of jacob grimm, throw much light on the subject. on the names _horithi_ and _mægtha land_ rask has a long note, in which he states the different opinions that have been advanced; his own conclusions differ from mr. hampson's suggestion. he assigns reasons for thinking that the initial _h_ in _horithi_ should be _p_, and that we should read _porithi_ for _porizzi_, the old name for _prussians_. some imagined that _mægtha land_ was identical with _cwen land_, with reference to the fabulous northern amazons; but alfred has placed cwenland in another locality; and rask conjectures that _mægth_ signifies here _provincia, natio gens_, and that it stood for _gardariki_, of which it appears to be a direct translation. it appears to me that the _horiti_ of alfred are undoubtedly the _croati_, or _chrowati_, of pomerania, who still pronounce their name _horuati_, the _h_ supplying, as in numerous other instances, the place of the aspirate _ch_. nor does it seem unreasonable to presume that the _harudes_ of cæsar (_de bell. gall._ b. i. . . .) were also _croats_; for they must have been a numerous and widely spread race, and are all called _ch_arudes, [greek: aroudes]. the following passage from the _annales fuldensis_, a. ., will strengthen this supposition:--"inde transiens per angros, _harudos_, suabos, et hosingos ... thuringiam ingreditur." mr. kemble[ ], with his wonted acumen, has not failed to perceive that our _coritavi_ derived their name in the same manner; but his derivation of the word from hor, _lutum_, horilit, _lutosus_, is singularly at issue with herr leo's, who derives it from the bohemian hora, a mountain, horet a mountaineer, and he places the _horiti_ in the ober lanbitz and part of the silesian mountains. schaffarik again, says that _mægtha land_ is, according to its proper signification, unknown; but that as adam of bremen places amazons on the baltic coast, probably from mistaking of the _mazovians_? it is possible that _mægthaland_ has thus arisen. in dahlmann (_forschungen auf dem gebiete der geschichte_, t. i. .) gave a german version of king alfred's narration, where the passage is also correctly translated; but as regards the illustration of the names of the people of sclavonic race, much yet remains to be done. it is to be hoped that some competent northern scholar among us may still remove, what i must consider to be a national reproach--the want of a correct and well illustrated edition of the _hormesta_, or at any rate of this singularly interesting and valuable portion of it. s.w. singer. feb. . . [footnote : "aber _welitabi_, die in germania sizzent, tie wir _wilze_ heizen, die ni scáment sih niche ze chedenne, daz sih iro parentes mit mêrem réhte ézen súlin danne die wurme." albinus, in his _meissnische chronicle_, says they had their name from their _wolfish_ nature.] [footnote : _the saxons in england_, vol. i. p. . note.] * * * * * the first coffee-houses in england. as a supplement to your "notes on coffee," i send you the following extracts. aubrey, in his account of sir henry blount, (ms. in the bodleian library), says of this worthy knight, "when coffee first came in he was a great upholder of it, and hath ever since been a constant frequenter of coffee-houses, especially mr. farres at the rainbowe, by inner temple gate, and lately john's coffee-house, in fuller's rents. the first coffee-house in london was in st. michael's alley, in cornhill, opposite to the church, which was set up by one ---- bowman (coachman to mr. hodges, a turkey merchant, who putt him upon it) in or about the yeare . 'twas about yeares before any other was sett up, and that was by mr. farr. jonathan paynter, over against to st. michael's church, was the first apprentice to the trade, viz. to bowman.--mem. the bagneo, in newgate street, was built and first opened in decemb. : built by ... turkish merchants." of this james farr, edward hatton, in his _new view of london_, , (vol. i. p. ) says:-- "i find it recorded that one james farr, a barber, who kept the coffee-house which is now the rainbow, by the inner temple gate, (one of the first in england), was in the year , prosecuted by the inquest of st. dunstan's in the west, for making and selling a sort of liquor called coffee, as a great nuisance and prejudice to the neighbourhood, &c., and who would then have thought london would ever have had near three thousand such nuisances, and that coffee would have been, as now, so much drank by the best of quality and physicians." { } howel, in noticing sir henry blount's _organon salutis_, , observes that-- "this coffe-drink hath caused a great sobriety among all nations: formerly apprentices, clerks, &c., used to take their morning draughts in ale, beer, or wine, which often made them unfit for business. now they play the good-fellows in this wakeful and civil drink. the worthy gentleman, sir james muddiford, who introduced the practice hereof first in london, deserves much respect of the whole nation." from these extracts it appears that the use of this berry was introduced by other turkey merchants besides edwards and his servant pasqua. anthony wood in his _diary_, records, under the year , that-- "coffey, which had been drank by some persons in oxon. , was this yeare publickly sold at or neare the angel, within the easte gate of oxon., as also chocolate, by an outlander or jew." and in another place he says-- "this yeere jacob a jew opened a coffey-house at the angel, in the parish of st. peter in the east, oxon., and there it was by some, who delighted in noveltie, drank. when he left oxon. he sold it in old southampton buildings in holborne, near london, and was living there ." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * true tragedy of richard iii. in _the true tragedy of richard the third_, the following passage-- "his treacherous father hath neglect his word, and done imparshall past by dint of sword." is considered by mr. baron field as unintelligible. it seems to me that the correction of it is obvious, and the explanation probable, though not exactly fitting what had been said before, which is merely that lord stanley had refused to come to richard, not that he had actually joined richmond, much less fought for him. i read-- "and dome imparshall;" _i.e._ and _doom impartial_, and interpret, "pass'd upon himself impartial judgment," or rather on his son, as is said just before:-- "the father's fact condemns the son to die." it is possible that doom by dint of sword may mean, to be executed by dint of sword; that is, on the son. the _doom_ in the scotch court, in the _heart of mid lothian_, is not the verdict, but the punishment. immediately before, we have this passage, also described as unintelligible:-- "_king._ did not your selves, in presence, see the bondes sealde and assignde? "_lo._ what tho my lord, the _vardits own_, the titles doth resign. "_king._ the bond is broke, and i will sue the fine." i see no emendation for this but the _vardits own_ to mean, "the party who has the verdict in his favour," and the speech to be a question. the king tries to persuade himself that there is, _ipso facto_, no room for forgiveness. lovel answers, upon the principle of the rule of law, "qui vis potest renunciare juri pro se introducto." c.b. * * * * * folk lore. _merry-lwyd._--my attention has been called to an inquiry in no. . p. ., as to the origin and etymology of the merry-lwyd, still kept up in wales. i believe that all these mummings may be traced to the disguisings which formed so popular an amusement in the middle ages, and that the name applied in wales to this remnant of our ancient pastimes is nothing more than a compound of our english adjective "merry" and a corruption of the latin word "ludi," which these masquings were formerly termed. strutt, in his _sports and pastimes_, book iii. chap. ., speaks of christmas spectacles in the time of edward iii., as known by the name of ludi; and in warton's _history of english poetry_, it is said of these representations that "by the ridiculous and exaggerated oddity of the vizors, and by the singularity and splendour of the dresses, every thing was out of nature and propriety." in strutt's th plate, specimens will be found of the whimsical habit and attire in which the mummers were wont to appear. my impression that the merry-lwyd was by no means a diversion exclusively welsh is corroborated by the fact noticed in your number of the rd of feb., of its being found to exist in cheshire. and we know that many ancient customs lingered in the principality long after they fell into disuse in england. gwynn ab nudd. glamorganshire, march . . _death-bed superstition._--when a curate in exeter i met with the following superstition, which i do not remember to have seen noticed before. i had long visited a poor man, who was dying of a very painful disease, and was daily expecting his death. upon calling one morning to see my poor friend, his wife informed me that she thought he would have died during the night, and consequently she and her friends unfastened _every lock in the house_. on my inquiring the reason, i was told that any bolt or lock fastened was supposed to cause uneasiness to, and hinder the departure of the soul, and consequently upon the approach of death all the boxes, doors, &c., in the house were unlocked. can any of your readers tell me whether this is in any way a general superstition amongst the lower orders, or is it confined to the west of england? r.h. { } [this remarkable superstition forms the subject of a communication of the _athenæum_ (no. .) of th oct. : in a comment upon which it is there stated "that it originates from the belief which formerly prevailed that the soul flew out of the mouth of the dying in the likeness of a bird."] * * * * * passage in l'allegro--notes on milton's minor poems. the suggestion of your correspondent b.h.k. (no. . p. .) has been anticipated by mr. warton, who, in his st edition of _milton's poems_, notices a similar interpretation of the passage, as the suggestion of an unknown correspondent. in the nd edition this correspondent is mentioned to have been mr. headley; and the editor discusses the point in a note of upwards of a page, illustrating it with parallel passages, and an analysis of the context. as the book is one of ready access, i need not trouble you with a quotation; but i may mention that mr. gilchrist has added, in a ms. note in my copy, that "among the poems appended to those of lord surrey and sir thomas wyatt, is one of considerable elegance in the same measure as those of milton, nor is it unlike in its subject: the following lines may throw some light on the present inquiry (p. . ed. ):-- 'on hills then shewe the ewe and lambe and every young one with his damme; then lovers walke and _tell their tale_ both of their bliss and of their bale.'" [the passage is at p. . of the st vol. of dr. nott's edition.] i am glad of the present opportunity of mentioning, for the benefit of all whom it may concern, that my copy of the st edition of warton's _milton_ is enriched with numerous notes and parallel passages by mr. gilchrist; and a copy of the nd edition has been similarly, but less copiously, illustrated by mr. dunston. i shall be glad if my mention of them should lead to their being made useful--or, if you wish it, i shall be happy to transcribe the notes for occasional insertion in your journal. may i be allowed to suggest that similar notifications _to_ intending editors would have some tendency to do the same good results which may be expected from the announcements _by_ intending editors suggested by your correspondent r.r. at p. ? there must be hundreds of volumes enriched by the notes of scholars, such as those i have had occasion to mention, which are dispersed in private libraries, and might, by means of similar announcements, be made available to the cause of literature. j.f.m. [we are much indebted to our valued correspondent for the offer he has so kindly made us of the ms. notes in question, which we shall gladly receive; and also for his extremely useful suggestion of the advantage of such notifications to intending editors, as he describes.] _milton's l'allegro._--your correspondent (no. . p. .) has been anticipated by headley, who suggested, long ago, that the word _tale_ here implied the _numbering_ sheep. when handel composed his beautiful air, "let me wander not unseen," he plainly regarded this word in the more poetical sense. the song breathes the shepherd's tale of _love_ (perhaps addressed to "the milkmaid singing blithe") far more than it conveys a dull computation of the _number_ of "his fleecy care." despite of that excellent commentator, tom warton, who adopted headley's suggestion, it is to be hoped that readers will continue, though it may be in error, to understand the line as your correspondent _used_ to do: an amatory _tête-à-tête_ is surely better suited to "the hawthorn in the dale," than either mental arithmetic, or the study of cocker. j.h.m. * * * * * doctor daniel dove of doncaster and his horse nobs--golden age of magazines. it appears from the preface to the last edition of _the doctor, &c._ that the story of dr. daniel dove and his horse was one well known in southey's domestic circle. a letter is there quoted from mrs. southey (then miss caroline bowles), in which she says:-- "there is a story of dr. d.d. of d. and of his horse nobs, which has i believe been made into a hawker's book. coleridge used to tell it, and the humour lay in making it as long-winded as possible; it suited, however, my long-windedness better than his, and i was frequently called upon for it by those who enjoyed it, and sometimes i volunteered it, when coleridge protested against its being told." while upon the subject of _the doctor_, may i direct your attention to the following passage on p. . of the one volume edition, which you will admit in many respects accurately describes your "notes and queries"? "our doctor flourished in the golden age of magazines, when their pages were filled with voluntary contributions from men who never aimed at dazzling the public, but each came with his scrap of information or his humble question, or his hard problem, or his attempt in verse. "in those days a was an antiquary, and wrote articles upon altars and abbeys, and architecture. b made a blunder, which c corrected. d demonstrated that e was in error, and that f was wrong in philology, and neither philosopher nor physician, though he affected to be both. g was a genealogist. h was an herald who helped him. i was an inquisitive inquirer who found reason for suspecting j to be a jesuit. m was a mathematician. n noted the weather. o observed the stars. p was a poet who peddled in pastorals, { } and prayed mr. urban to print them. q came in the corner of the page with his query. r arrogated to himself the right of reprehending every one who differed from him. s sighed and sued in song. t told an old tale, and when he was wrong, u used to set him right. v was a virtuoso. w warred against warburton. x excelled in algebra. y yearned for immortality in rhyme, and z in his zeal was always in a puzzle." surely, sir, you have revived the golden age of magazines, and long may you flourish. q.d. * * * * * the use of beaver hats in england. the notice from fairholt's _costume in england_, concerning the earliest use of a beaver hat in england, is not very satisfactory. beaver hats were certainly used in this country long before stubbes's time. they were originally, like many other articles of dress, manufactured abroad, and imported here. indeed, this was a great source of complaint by the english artizan until a comparatively late period. the author of _a brief discourse of english poesy_, n.d. (temp. eliz.) says:-- "i merveil no man taketh heed to it, what number of trifles come hither from beyond the seas, that we might clean spare, or else make them within our realme. for the which we either pay inestimable treasure every year, or else exchange substantial wares and necessaries for them, for the which we might receive great treasure." "the _beaver_ or felt hats (says j.h. burn, in his interesting _history of the foreign refugees_, p. .) worn in the reign of edward iii., and for a long time afterwards, were made in flanders. the refugees in norfolk introduced the manufacture of felts and thrummed hats into that country; and by a statute of and edward vi., that trade was confined to norwich, and all other corporate and market towns in the country." "about that time (says a _history of trade_, published in ) we suffered a great herd of french tradesmen to come in, and particularly hat-makers, who brought with them the fashion of making a slight, coarse, mean commodity, viz. felt hats, now called _carolinas_; a very inferior article to beavers and demicastors, the former of which then sold at from s. to s. a piece." in the _privy-purse expenses of henry viii._, we read, under the date :-- "item the xxiij day [october] paied for a hatte and a plume for the king in boleyn [_i.e._ boulogue] ... xvs." and again-- "item the same day paied for the garnisshing of ij bonetts, and for the said hatte ... xxiijs. iiijd." these entries are curious, as the purchase of the hat was made in a foreign country. it was probably something that took the king's fancy, as we can hardly suppose that his majesty had neglected to provide himself with this necessary appendage before he left england. several interesting notices concerning hats, and apparel generally, may be seen in roger ascham's _schoolmaster_, , which i do not remember to have seen quoted; but the literature of this period abounds in illustration of costume which has been but imperfectly gleaned. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * extracts from old records. if you think the insertion of scraps from the mutilated exchequer records useful, i shall be most happy, from time to time, to contribute a few. the following are extracted from fragments of a book of entries, temp. charles i.: the book appears to have been a large folio, and each leaf torn into at least four pieces. it is much to be regretted that the work of selection and mutilation was not assigned to more competent persons than the ignorant porters who i am told were entrusted with it. robert cole. _fragment dated ._ john de critz, serjeant painter, p't of . , for a debt in the great wardrobe { s'r james palmer, kn't, for the tapestrie { makers and painters at mortlach { { { _fragment dated ._ ..........hony vandike kn't p't of _li._ for......... ..........le seur sculpter p't of _li._ .................statues and images _fragment dated ._ ..........in satisfaction for his greate losses by his greate and extraordinary disbursem'ts vpon assignem'ts and other charges s'r job harby and s'r john nulles, kn'ts, for soe much paid to the king of denmke for redempion of a greate jewell, and to liquidate the accompts betwixt his ma'ty and the said king hubrecht le seur in full of _li._ for } statues in brasse, the one of his late } ma'ty, and the other of our now } souerainge lo: king charles[ ] } more to him _li._, in p't of li. for a bust of brasse of his late ma'ty, and _li._ for carrying and erecting figures at winchester richard delamair for making divers } mathematicall instruments, and } other services } [footnote : qy. the statue now at charing cross.] * * * * *{ } queries. queries on outline. the boundary between a surface represented and its background received two different treatments in the hands of artists who have the highest claims on our respect. some, following the older painters as they were followed by raphael and albert durer, bring the surface of the figure abruptly against its background. others, like murillo and titian, melt the one into the other, so that no pencil could trace the absolute limit of either. curiously enough, though for very obvious reasons, the daguerreotype seems to favour one method, the calotype the other. yet, two calotypes, in which the outlines are quite undefined, coalesce in the stereoscope, giving a sharp outline; and as soon as the mind has been thus taught to expect a relievo, either eye will see it. but if you look at your face in the glass, you cannot at once (say at three feet distance) see the outlines of the eye and cheek. they disappear every where, except in the focus common to both eyes. then nothing is seen absolutely at rest. the act of breathing imparts perpetual motion to the artist and the model. the aspen leaf is trembling in the stillest air. whatever difference of opinion may exist as to turner's use or abuse of his great faculties, no one will doubt that he has never been excelled in the art of giving space and relative distance to all parts of his canvas. certainly no one ever carried confusion of outline in every part not supposed to be in the focus of the eye so far. on the other hand, every portion of a large picture, however severe its execution, acquires this morbid outline wherever the eye quits one detail for another. is, then, the law governing small and large surface different? do these instances imply that a definite boundary, a modern german style, is indefensible? or only indefensible in miniature? or, is such a picture as the van eyh in the national gallery a vindication of the practice in small works? i can answer that it is not; and this last question i merely ask to avoid all answers on the score of authority. no doubt that strange work is one of the most realising pictures ever painted,--more so than any neighbouring rembrandt,--whose masses of light and shade were used as a "creative power." i want to know whether there is a right and wrong in the case, apart from every thing men call taste. whether, whenever a work of art passes from suggestion to imitation, _some_ liberty must not be given at the lines whence the rays are supposed to diverge to the two eyes from two different surfaces. every advance in art and science removes something from the realms of opinion, and this appears to be a question on which science must some day legislate for art. j.o.w.h. * * * * * christ's hospital--old songs once popular there. amongst the numerous correspondents and readers of your very interesting little work, there may yet be living some who were scholars in the above institution during the last ten or fifteen years of the last century, coevals, or nearly so, with richards, afterwards of oriel college, author of a prize poem, _aboriginal britons_, and one of the bampton lecturers; middleton, afterwards bishop of calcutta; trollope, afterwards master of the grammar school; barnes, afterwards connected with the _times_; stevens, scott (poor scott!), coleridge, lamb, allen, white, leigh hunt, the two brothers le g. favell, thompson, franklin, &c., pupils of old james boyer, of flogging celebrity. if so, can any of them furnish me with the words of an old song, then current in the school, relating to the execution of the earl of derwentwater in the rebellion of , of which the four following lines are all that i remember: "there's fifty pounds in my right pocket, to be given to the poor; there's fifty pounds in my left pocket, to be given from door to door." of another song, equally popular, less pathetic, but of more spirit-stirring character, can any one supply the remainder? "as our king lay musing on his bed, he bethought himself once on a time of a tribute that was due from france, that had not been paid for so long a time. "oh! then he called his trusty page, his trusty page then called he, saying, 'you must go to the king of france, to the king of france right speedily.'" nemo. * * * * * watching the sepulchre--dominus factotum--robert passellew. allow me to offer a query or two respecting which i shall be glad of any information your numerous correspondents may be able to furnish. . in fuller's _history of waltham abbey_, pp. . ., nichol's edition, , we have the following entries from the churchwarden's accounts: "anno , the thirty-fourth of henry viii. _imprimis_. for watching the sepulchre, a groat." "_item_, for watching the sepulchre, eight pence." the last entry occurs in "anno , mariæ primo," but fuller adds, "though what meant thereby, i know not." can any satisfactory information be furnished which will explain the custom here alluded to? { } . in the same work, page ., a passage occurs, which not only explains the meaning of the term _factotum_, but furnishes matter for another query. the passage is this; speaking of "eminent persons buried" at waltham abbey, he says: "we spoil all, if we forget robert passellew, who was _dominus fac totum_ in the middle--and _fac nihil_ towards the end--of the reign of henry iii." some parasites extolled him by allusion to his name, _pass-le-eau_, (that is "passing the pure water,") the wits of those days thus descanting upon him: "est aqua lenis, et est aqua dulcis, et est aqua clara, tu præcellis aquam, nam leni lenior es tu, dulci dulcior es tu, clara clarior es tu; mente quidem lenis, re dulcis, sanguine clarus." _camden's mss._ cott. lib. the learned dr. whitaker, in his _history of whalley_, says, that "the word paslew was of norman origin (pass-le-eau), and afforded a subject for some rhyming monkish verses, not devoid of ingenuity, which the curious reader may find in weever's _funeral monuments_, p. ;" and a question now arises whether the _passellew_ mentioned by fuller belongs to the same family as the "paslews of wiswall," alluded to by dr. whitaker, one of whom, "john, abbot of whalley" was executed for the part he took in the "pilgrimage of grace." when it is stated that the paslews of wiswall bore "argent a fess between three mullets sable pierced of the field, a crescent for difference," probably some of your readers will be able to give some particulars respecting "robert passelew," and also identify the families if possible. t.w. burnley, lancashire, feb. , . * * * * * minor queries. _conrad of salisbury's descritio utriusque britanniæ._--a good many years since i had a communication from the baron de penhouet, a breton antiquary, respecting a work which i have never yet been able to discover. i may ascertain, through the medium of your very useful publication, whether there exists a work under the title of a "descriptio utriusque britanniæ," by conrad of salisbury, from a ms. of the time of henry i. i should feel much obliged to any one who would favour me with this information. james logan. _peruse or pervise--passage in frith's works._--your correspondent t.j. rightly conjectured that the _peruse_ of a modern reprint of frith was an error. i have been able since to consult two black-letter editions, and have found, as i suspected, "pervise" and "pervyse." if your same correspondent, or any other, can help me to correct, or to understand another erroneous clause in russell's edit. of frith, vol. iii. p. ., i shall be still further obliged. it is probably meant for some old rule in logic, but is printed there, "ab inferiori ad suis superius confuse distribue." foxe, however, has "suum" instead of "suis." h.w. _cromlech._--i shall feel much obliged if any of your readers will kindly refer me to any authority for the use of the word _cromlech_, prior to the sixteenth century, whether in the welsh or english language. jas. h. todd. trin. coll. dublin, jan. , . _meaning of "grummett."_--a constant reader is desirous of addressing such of your correspondents as are well versed in maritime history,--mr. bolton corney to wit,--on the following subject. in the early ages of our navy there was a distinct rating, called "grummett," on board each man-of-war, and he was generally, as may be seen in the cottonian mss., placed after the "maryners and gonners." now, the reader will be highly obliged to any one who will trace the designation to its source, and give information as to what were the special duties of the grummett, or gromet. [greek: sigma]. _vertue's manuscripts._--steevens and malone, in fixing the dates of shakspeare's dramas, frequently quote from _vertue's_ mss. george chalmers, in his _supplemental apology_, says, "on making some inquiries, by a friend, what manuscript of _vertue's_ it were, which i saw so often quoted about scenic matters, mr. steevens was so obliging as to say, 'the books, from which those extracts were made, with several others lost, belonged to secretary pepys, and afterwards to dr. rawlinson, who lent them to mr. vertue.' when the said mss. were consulted by the two commentators, they were, i believe, in the possession of garrick." chalmers adds, "much is it to be lamented, that any ms. or book, which furnished an illustration of shakespeare, and having once been seen, should ever disappear." every true lover of our great poet will heartily agree with this remark. edward f. rimbault. _loscop._--the patent roll, edw. iii. part i, membrane , contains the exemplification or copy of a grant by henry i. to his butler william de albini of--"manerium de snetesham cum duobus hundredis et dimidio scil. fredebruge et smethedune cum wreck et cum omnibus pertinentiis suis et misteria de luna cum medietate fori et theloneis et cum ceteris consuetudinibus et portu cum applicacione navium et _loscop_ et viam ipsius aquæ et transitu cum omnibus querelis." i should be greatly obliged to any of your learned correspondents who would explain the word _loscop_. luna is the town or port of king's lynn. _misteria_ { } may probably be translated "offices." see ducange (paris edit. ) under the words misterium and ministerium. _loscop_ appears to be a word of similar formation to laudcop and lahcop, which occur in the laws of ethelred (thorpe's _ancient laws_, vol. i. pp. , .). can it mean a fee paid on _loosing_ the vessel in order to leave the port? c.w.g. _ormonde house._--perhaps some of your annotators on cunningham's _hand-book of london_, will be so kind as to inform me whereabouts "ormonde house" stood in st. james's square; also to state any particulars respecting its history before and after it was occupied by that noble family. j.g. _as morse caught the mare._--i shall be glad to be informed the meaning of this expression--it is to be met with in the translation of rabelais. there is also a song sung among the farmers of south devon, of which the last line of each verse is "as morse caught the mare." r.s.b. _dustpot--forthlot._--in a manorial compotus, temp. hen. v., i find the following entry, under the head of out-goings:-- "in custodes carucarum et carectarum nil quia per firmarium. item pro eorum _duspot_ (xij'd) nil, causa predicta. item pro eorum _forlot_ (iiij'd) nil, causa predicta," &c. i have in vain consulted the glossaries within my reach,--ducange, spelman, halliwell, for the meaning of the terms _dustpot_ and _forlot_ (or, as spelt in another compotus, _dustpot_ and _forthlot_). they appear to have been customary payments to the servants who had the care of the carts and carriages belonging to the manor, which, at the time of this particular compotus, were not payable by the lord, because the demesne lands were in farm; and these dues were paid by the tenant. a reference to the _promptorinm parvulorum_ (a further instalment of which i rejoice to learn, from mr. way's communication, in no. ., is in a state of progress) has been equally unproductive. the editorial note to the communications inserted in no. ., on the interpretation of _pokership_, induces me to send you this query, in the hope of eliciting information, if not from the gentleman you there refer to, at least from some one or other of your numerous readers learned in archaic words. i may, at a future period trouble you with some further remarks arising out of the same compotus. g.a.c. _tracts attributed to eachard._--the writer of this article has long had in his possession an old volume (among many others of a like kind in his collection) published in ; and containing the following tracts:-- st. "the grounds and occasions of the contempt of the clergy,... in a letter written to r.l., th edition." this letter is signed t.b. nd. "observations upon the answer to the inquiry, &c., in a second letter from t.b. to r.l." rd. "hobbes' state of nature, considered, in a dialogue between philautus and timothy;" the "epistle dedicatory" is signed, j.e. th. "a letter to his old dear friend r.l. from t.b." th. "a letter to b.d.," the publisher of mr. herbert's _country parson_, from t.b. th. "a letter to the author of the vindication of the clergy," from t.b. th. "a letter to t.d.," the author of _hieragonisticon_, or _corah's doom_, from t.b. th. "a letter to i.o. from t.b." now, it is mentioned in dr. hooke's _ecclesiastical biography_ (vol. iv., art. eachard), that eachard was the author of these tracts. but the queries i would beg to propose, if any of your correspondents can answer them, are these:-- st. why does eachard sign himself t.b.; does that signature allude to any matter in particular? nd. who are meant by the other letters, r.l., b.d., l.o., &c.; and who, if any persons in particular, by philautus; and timothy; and who was the author of _hieragonisticon_. perhaps "philau_tus_" should be rather be "philau_tos_," and may mean "hobbes" himself, as a self-sufficient person, and a great admirer or lover of himself. i wish these queries may not be thought too insignificant for your periodical, which to me, and so many others, is of peculiar interest and value. geo. wyatt (clerk.) burghwallis, . _queen of hearts._--permit me to request some explanation of a passage in miss strickland's _life of queen elizabeth_ (vol. vii. p. .), where we are told that-- "lady southwell affirms that the two ladies in waiting discovered the _queen of hearts_, with a nail of iron knocked through the forehead, and thus fastened to the bottom of the chair: they durst not pull it out, remembering that her like thing was used to the old countess of sussex, and afterwards proved a witchcraft, for which certain persons were hanged." the author moralises upon this, but does not refer us to any authority, or tell where the affirmation of lady southwell is to be found, or where the account of the old countess is given; defects which i hope some of your correspondents will be good enough to supply. f.r.a. _guildhalls._--there are in most villages in this neighbourhood houses which from time immemorial have been called guildhalls. these are situate among such small populations that they are manifestly unconnected with trade. will any of your correspondents tell me-- st. why are they called guildhalls? nd. for what purpose were they anciently used? { } rd. are they common in other counties besides suffolk? also: what is the origin of the friday streets so common in most villages in this neighbourhood? a subscriber ab initio. guildhall, framlingham, suffolk, feb. . . _vox populi_--_monody on sir john moore._--can any reader give me the origin of the saying "_vox populi, vox dei_?"--and has any one of your correspondents ever heard of any doubts being raised as to the original author of the _monody upon sir john moore_, which is now always assigned to the rev. dr. wolfe? i saw it stated in an english paper, published in france some few years back, that wolfe had taken them from a poem at the end of the _memoirs of lally tottendal_, the french governor of pondicherry, in , and subsequently executed in . in the paper i refer to, the french poem was given; and certainly one of the two must be a translation of the other. i have not been able to get a copy of tottendal's _memoirs_, or of the paper i refer to, or i would not trouble you with this query; but perhaps some one can inform me which is the merchant here, and which the jew. quÆsitor. reg. coll. london. _use of coffins._--how long has it been the custom to inter the dead in coffins? "in a table of dutyes" dated th dec. , and preserved at shoreditch church, it is mentioned:-- "for a buryall in the new church yard without a coffin, . "for a buryall in ye old church yard without a coffin seauen pence . "for the grave marking and attendance of ye vicar and clarke on ye enterment of a corps uncoffined the churchwardens to pay the ordinary duteys (and no more) of this table." h.e. _rococo._--would any correspondent of "notes and queries" give the history of this word, or indicate where it is to be found? or, if the history is not known, state when, and by whom, it appears to have been _first_ used? t. oxford. _howlett the engraver._--can any of your readers furnish me with an account of the "publications of bartholomew howlett," who was an engraver of some note, and about forty-five or fifty years ago resided in london? he was a native of louth in lincolnshire, and about forty-five years ago, being then resident (as appears from his book) somewhere in the neighbourhood of the blackfriars' road, published by subscription a book containing a series of engravings, entitled "views in lincolnshire." l.l.l. _the bear, the louse, and religion._--i should be much obliged to any of your correspondents who will inform me where i can find _the bear, the louse, and religion_: a fable. it commences-- "a surly bear, in college bred, determin'd to attack religion; a louse, who crawl'd from head to head, defended her--as hawk does pidgeon. bruin subscription discommended; the louse determin'd to support it--" i know no more. when was it written?--upon what occasion?--who are meant by the bear and the louse? griffin. mar. . . * * * * * replies. letter attributed to sir r. walpole. there are many reasons, drawn from style and other internal evidence, which induce p.c.s.s. to entertain strong doubts as to the authenticity of the letter attributed to sir robert walpole (and reprinted from bankes) in no. . among others it seems very unlikely that a prime minister, confidentially addressing his sovereign (and that sovereign george ii.!) on a matter of the greatest import, would indulge in a poetical quotation. and it is remarkable that neither the quotation in question, not any thing at all resembling it, in thought or expression, is to be found in any part of fenton's printed works. p.c.s.s. has carefully looked them over, in the editions of london, , and of (chalmer's _collection_, vol. x.), and he cannot discover a trace of it. he had at first imagined that it might be successfully sought for in fenton's admirable _epistle to william lamborde_ (the kentish antiquary), where there is a remarkably fine passage respecting flattery and its influences; but nothing at all like the quotation cited in the letter is to be found in that poem, which (_par parenthèse_) seems to have met with much more neglect than it deserves. p.c.s.s. would further notice the great improbability that walpole would committed himself _in writing_, even to his royal master, by such a display of perilous frankness, in treating of the private character and principles of his great rival. he must have been aware that the letter would, most probably, at the decease of the king (then advanced in life) have been found among his majesty's papers, and, with them, have passed into the hands of his successor, by whom it would undoubtedly have been communicated to the very individual with whom it so hardly dealt. p.c.s.s. * * * * * college salting. the money collected at the eton montem, now wisely abolished, was called "salt." in the { } _consuetudinarium vetus scholæ etonensis_, taken from a ms. in the library of corpus, cambridge, and the harleian ms. , p. ., and printed by professor creasy in his _account of eton college_, p. . (from whose work i take the extract), the following passage occurs, under the head "mense januario." i would remark, that montem was changed from january to whit-tuesday, about a hundred years since:-- "'circiter festum conversionis divi pauli ad horam nonam quodam die pro arbitrio moderatoris' (ex consueto modo quo eunt collectum avellanas mense septembri), itur a pueris ad montem. mons puerili religione etonensium sacer locus est; hunc ob pulchritudinem agri, amoenitatem graminis, umbraculorum temperationem, et apollini et musis venerabilem sedem faciunt, carminibus celebrant, tempe vocant, heliconi præferunt. hic novitii seu recentes, qui annum nondum viriliter et nervose in acie etonensi ad verbera steterunt _sale primo_ condiuntur, tum versiculis qui habeant _salem_ ac leporem, quoad fieri potest egregie depinguntur. deinde in recentes epigrammata faciunt, omni suavitate sermonis, et facetiis alter alterum superare contendentes. quicquid in buccam venit libere licet effutire, modo latine fiat, modo habeat urbanitatem, modo caveat obscoenà verborum scurrilitate, postremo et lacrymis _salsis_ humectant ora genasque' et tune demum veteranorum ritibus initiantur. sequuntur orationes et parvi triumphi, et serio lætantur, cum ob præteritos labores tum ob cooptationem in tam lepidorum commilitonum societatem." it seems that "salting" was a sort of initiation, like that which prevails among our teutonic brethren, where the "fuchs" is raised to the sublime degree of a "brandfuchs," "junge bursch," "bemorstes haupt," by successive promotions. not improbably in after times, especially at the universities, like "passing the line," it admitted of being commuted for a money payment. the exact nature of the "salting" at eton i cannot explain; perhaps your able correspondent, r.o., may afford information on this head. c.r. soc. _college salting_ (no. . p. .).--i cannot but think that the asking for salt at the now abolished ceremony of the eton montem (whence also, as it is said, "salt hill" was named) must have been connected with the "college salting." the salt, or money, then collected belonged, as is well known, to the head-boy who had "got montem," as it (alas!) _was_ called, and who was about to enter on his career (of course as a freshman) at cambridge. i would gladly, if permitted, draw the attention of your correspondents, who are considering the original subject, to the latter, by placing it in juxtaposition with "college salting." g.w. hamilton terrace. * * * * * junius. the questions asked by your correspondent "p." (no. . p. .) perplexed by their simplicity. the answer, if answer can be seriously required, was obvious. all that was ever urged in favour of every other claimant was against the claim of sir george jackson. beyond this i know not what reply could be given. emboldened by silence, "p." now proceeds (p. .) to adduce certain evidence which he supposes has some bearing on the question. "i possess," he says, "an unpublished letter by junius _to_ woodfall, which once belonged to sir george jackson. my query is, 'is it likely he would have obtained it from junius, if he were neither junius himself nor a party concerned?'" what can be the meaning of this, obtain _from junius_ a letter which junius had sent to woodfall? why, it is obvious that sir george must have obtained it as "p." obtained it--as all autograph collectors obtain their treasures--directly or indirectly, by gift or by purchase, mediately or immediately from one of the woodfalls--probably from henry sampson woodfall--probably from george woodfall, who has recorded the fact that he lent one letter to a mr. duppa, which was never returned. "p." then proceeds a step further, and observes--"the manner in which burke evades the question, as to himself being the author of junius, makes me think two or three were concerned in these letters." well, and it made others think so half a century or more since. the three burkes have often been named--the burkes again, with the assistance of samuel dyer: and mr. prior put forth a very reputable argument in favour of the claims of the burkes, but it was delicate and died young. if your correspondent has nothing to urge in favour of this conjecture, why disinter it? "p.," however, has it in his power to do some service to the cause: let him send you, for publication, an exact copy of the junius' letter, following carefully the spelling, the capital letters, the instructions, and even the punctuation. mr. john sudlow's conjectures are still more simple. he evidently is not aware that when a public writer assumes a character he is bound to hold to it consistently; and that as "atticus" was then writing on the subject of the national debt, and objecting to the financial policy of the minister, he naturally affected to be a fundholder, to be frightened, and to have, in consequence, removed his property. what a strange notion mr. sudlow must have of steele and addison, if he has read the _the spectator_ and _the tatler_ after this literal fashion. but i will not speculate on his speculations, but come to facts. it is true that "amongst the letters attributed to junius, and, in the opinion of dr. good, most certainly his production, is one signed atticus," { } which your correspondent proceeds to quote, adding that it is "believed to be the first which appeared signed atticus." this is really a little "too bad." it is known, and ought to have been known to your correspondent before he intermeddled, that good, though he wrote so confidently in public, had "most certainly" very great doubts in private; that others who have examined the question have no doubt at all; and have, indeed, adduced such strong proofs against good's conjectures, that the gentleman now engaged in producing a new edition of good's work speaks, in the first volume, the only one yet published, of good's "unhesitating affiliation" of these letters, and announces his intention of offering hereafter "strong proof" that the letters signed poplicola, _atticus_, and others, "_were not written by junius_." that there may be persons who _believe_ that the letter quoted was the first which appeared signed atticus, i cannot deny; but all who are reasonably informed on the subject _know_ that it is not so;--know, as stated not long since in the _athenæum_, that letters signed atticus appeared in the _public advertizer_ from to --possibly before and after--and that within that period there were at least thirty-seven letters published, from which good was pleased to select four. w. * * * * * white hart inn, scole. having an engraving of this sign, i am enabled satisfactorily to reply to mr. cooper's query (no. . p. .) respecting its existence. the engraving measures inches and a half long, by wide; it was "published according to act of parliament may the st ." in the right-hand bottom corner appears "jno fessey sculp.," and in the left "joshua kirby delin't." it is entitled, "the north east side of ye sign of ye white hart at schoale inn in norfolk, built in the year by james peck, a merchant of norwich, which cost l., humbly dedicated to james betts gent by his most obed't serv't harwin martin." the sign springs on one side from a mass of masonry, and was joined to the house on the other: it was sufficiently high to enable carriages to drive under it. as it would trespass too much on your columns were i to particularise each of the figures, i will content myself with giving the printed explanation of them from the engraving, premising that each figure is numbered:--" . jonah coming out of the fishes mouth. . a lion supporting the arms of great yarmouth. . a bacchus. . the arms of lindley. . the arms of hobart, now lord hobart. . a shepherd playing on his pipe. . an angel supporting the arms of mr. peck's lady. . an angel supporting the arms of mr. peck. . a white hart, with this motto (this is the one which 'hangs down carved in a stately wreath')--'implentur veteris bacchi pinguisque ferinæ anno dom .' . the arms of the late earl of yarmouth. . the arms of the duke of norfolk. . neptune on a dolphin. . a lion supporting the arms of norwich. . charon carrying a reputed witch to hell. . cerberus. . an huntsman. . actæon [with three dogs, and this legend, 'actæon ego sum dominum cognoscite vestrum']. . a white hart couchant [underneath appears in the engraving the artist's name--johannes fairchild struxit]. . prudence. . fortitude. . temperance. . justice. . diana [with two greyhounds, one of whom is chasing a hare]. . time devouring an infant [with the legend, 'tempus edax rerum,' below]. . an astronomer, who is seated on a circumferenter, and by some chymical preparation is so affected that in the fine weather he faces that quarter from whence it is about to come." the whole sign is drawn by a scale of half an inch to a food, and most of the figures are of the size of life. on both sides of the engraving, but distinct from the sign, are seven coats of arms. those on the right hand are: . earl of yarmouth. . cornwallis impaling st and th buckton, nd unknown, rd teye. . castleton. . unknown. . mrs. peck [these arms are wrongly blazoned by blomefield; they are _gules_ a fesse _argent_, between, in chief, two crescents, and in base, a lion _passant guardant_ of the same]. . great yarmouth. . unknown. the arms on the opposite side are: . duke of norfolk. . hobart. . bacon. . thurston. . mr. peck impaling his wife [his arms, too, are wrongly blazoned; they should be--or, on a chevron engrailed gules three crosslets pattee argent]. . lindley. . norwich. mr. cooper will find a slight notice of this sign, both in gough's _camden_ and in _the beauties of england and wales_; but both these are of later date than mr. cruttwell's _tour_. i have only to add, that i should wish mr. cooper to _see_ the engraving. i shall be very happy to send it by post for his inspection. cranmore. * * * * * _parkership, porkership, pokership._--with every deference to the ingenious suggestions of mr. bolton corney (no. . p. .), i think it will be found, on reference to the original documents, that "pokership" is a misreading of the ancient writing for "parkership." this question might be determined if any correspondent, acquainted with the present excellent arrangement of our records, could inform us whether the appointments under the old earldom of march are extant. a large portion of herefordshire was held under his tenure. thomas croft, of croft, was, in , "parker" of pembrugge, in that county: _rot. parl_. vi. . in john amyas { } was, by the act of settlement made on the accession of henry vii., continued in his office "of the kepyng of our chase of moketree in wigmoresland under the erledom of marche," and thomas grove "in the keepying of our chase of the boryngwood in wigmoresland and of the 'poulterership' and keping of the ditch of the same." in _an abstract of the late king's revenues_ (printed , to.) is this entry relating to bringwood:-- "to sir robert harley for keeping boringwood alias bringwood forest com. heref. l. s. d. per ann., for the pokership s. d. by the year, and for the keeping the forest of prestwood s. by the year." in a survey made of mocktree and bringwood forests in , it is stated, that "these forests are stately grounds, and do feed a great and large deer, and will keep of red and fallow deer two or three thousand at the least." these enclosures were disafforested temp. charles ii., and they now form part of the downton castle estate. w.h.c. temple. _porkership_-accept my best thanks for your ready insertion of my observations in no. .; but i regret to say that the printer has unfortunately made a mistake in one word, and that, as it mostly happens, the principal one, on which the gist of my illustration in regard to the pokership depends. the error occurs in the extract from the pipe roll, where the word has been printed parcario instead of porcario; added to which the abbreviations in the other words are wanting, which renders the meaning doubtful. it should have been printed thus:--"et [i+] li[b+]ae const porcario de [h+]eford,"--being, _in extenso_, "et in liberatione constat porcario de hereford." showing that in early times there was a hog warden, or person who collected the king's hog-rent in hereford. and further, mr. smirke's extract in no. . p. ., shows that in henry viii.'s time the porcarius had become pocarius, the fee being within d. of the same amount as that paid in john's reign. may i, under these circumstances, crave a short note in your next number, correcting the oversight, so that my porker may be set on his legs again? p.s.--in reference to the claim, the name of the place should be burnford, not barnford. t.r.f. spring gardens, march , . * * * * * replies to minor queries. _coleridge's christabel and byron's lara_ (no. . p. .).--what christabel saw is plain enough. the lady was a being like duessa, a spenser; a horrible-looking witch, who could, to a certain degree, put on an appearance of beauty. the difference is, that this lady had both forms at once; the one in her face, the other concealed. this is quite plain from the very words of coleridge. the lifting her over the sill seems to be something like the same superstition that we have in scott's _eve of st. john_:-- "but i had not had pow'r to come to thy bow'r, if though had'st not charm'd me so." i have no doubt that lara is the corsair; and kaled gulnare, from the corsair: the least inspection is enough to show this. ezzelin must also be seyd; but that does not answer quite so well. all that there is to prepare it is, that seyd is only left for dead, in a great hurry, and therefore might recover; and that he drank wine, and therefore might be of christian extraction. in lara he is described as dark; but his appearance is rather confusedly related, as if he never appeared but once, and yet otho knows him, and he has a dwelling. the shriek is more difficult. there could be no meeting, then, between ezzelin and lara, because ezzelin is surprised by meeting him at otho's. whether the shriek may not be owing to a meeting between kaled and ezzelin, is in not so clear. from the splendid description of her looking down upon him, it is not proved that she there saw him first; and ezzelin never sees her at all there. nothing is more interesting than these mysteries left in narrative fictions. the story of gertude, in that first of romances, the _promessi sposi_, is a very great instance; and the bad taste, of bringing her up again to the subject of a story by another writer, is so extreme, that i never could look into the book. that mazoni has left the character, whom he calls the _innominato_, in mystery, is historical, and not of his own contrivance. i used to think that scott had left the part of clara, in _st. ronan's well_, intentionally mysterious, as to a most important circumstance; but we learn, from his _life_, that he meant to have made that circumstance a part of the story, but was prevented by the publisher. it is natural that the altered novel, therefore, should retain some impressions of it. i refer particularly to the latter part of the communications between her and her brother. but the meeting between her and tyrell in the woods, and their conversation there, i now think, forbid the reader to suspect any thing like what i speak of. in such cases i do not myself wish to know too much about the matter. sometimes the author wishes you to have the pleasure of guessing, as i think, in lara; sometimes he means to be more mysterious; sometimes he does not know himself. it would have been idle to have asked johnson where ajeet went to. c.b. { } _sir william rider_ (no. . p. ).--"h.f." will find some account of the acts and deeds of sir thomas lake and dame mary lake his wife in the _ th report on charities_, p. , as to their gifts to muccleston in staffordshire. in the _ th report_, p. , as to drayton in the same county. dame mary lake was also a benefactor to the parish of little stanmore, see _ th report_, p. . see also stow's _survey_ . (ed. .) h.e. _god tempers the wind_ (no. . p. .; no. . p .).--the proverb is french: "a brebis tondue dieu mesure le vent;" but i cannot tell now where to find it in print, except in chambaud's _dictionary_. that is why sterne puts it into the mouth of maria. c.b. _complutensian polyglot._--"mr. jebb" asks (no. . p. .), "in what review or periodical did there appear a notice of the supposed discovery of the mss. from which the _complutensian polyglot_ was compiled?" he will find an article on this subject in the _irish ecclesiastical journal_ for april, ; from which i learn that there was a previous article, by dr. james thomson, one of the agents of the british and foreign bible society, in the _biblical review_, a london periodical publication. dr. thomson, if i understand the matter aright, professed to have found at madrid the mss., so long supposed to have been lost. there is also an article on the same subject by dr. bowring, in the _monthly repository_, vol. xvi. ( ), p. . _tickhill, god help me_ (no. . p. .).--of tickhill i know nothing; but melverley in this county goes by the soubriquet of "melverley, god help;" and the folk-lore on the subject is this:--melverley lies by severn side, where that river flows under the breiddon hills from the county of montgomery into that of salop. it is frequently inundated in winter, and, consequently, very productive in summer. they say that if a melverley man is asked in winter where he belongs, the doleful and downcast reply is, "melverley, god help me;" but asked the same question in summer, he answers quite jauntily, "melverley, and what do you think?" a friend informs me that the same story appertains to pershore in the vale of evesham. perhaps the analogy may assist mr. johnson in respect to tickhill. let me take this opportunity to add to my flim-flam on pet-names in your late number, that jack appears to have been a common term to designate a low person, as "every jack;" "every man-jack;" "jack-of-all-trades?" "jackanapes;" &c. b.h. kennedy. shrewsbury, feb. . _bishop blaise_ (no. . p. .).--four lives of the martyr blasius, bishop of sebaste in cappadocia, are to be found in the bollandine _acta sanctorum_, under the rd of february. it appears that the relics and worship of this saint were very widely spread through europe, and some places seem to have claimed him as indigenous on the strength merely of possessing one of his toes or teeth. the wool-comb was one of the instruments with which he was tortured, and having become a symbol of his martyrdom, gave occasion, it would seem, to the wool-combers to claim him as their patron, and to ascribe to him the invention of their art. see ellis's brand's _popular antiquities_, vol. i. pp. , ; and query whether the veneration of st. blaise by these artizans were not peculiar to england. blasius of sebaste is said to have been a physician; in consequence of the persecution raised by diocletian, he retired to a mountain named argæus, whither all the wild beasts of the country resorted to him, and reverentially attended him. but there is a legend of another blasius of cæsarea in cappadocia, who is represented as an owner of herds ([greek: boukolos]), and remarkable for his charity to the poor. his herdsman's staff was planted over the spot where he was martyred, and grew into an umbrageous tree. this variation of legends favours the idea that the cultus of blasius was founded upon that of some deity worshipped in cappadocia, whose rites and attributes may have varied in different localities. c.w.g. _sangred--judas bell._--"buriensis" inquires (p. .) what _sangred_ is. this term is noticed in rock's _church of our fathers_, t. ii. p. . in the very interesting, "extracts from church-warden's accounts," p. ., it is asked what "judas' bell" was. i presume it to have been a bell named after, because blessed in honour of the apostle st. jude, who, in the greek testament, in the vulgate, and our own early english translations, as well as old calendars, is always called judas, and not jude, as a difference from judas iscariot. cephas. _la mer des histoires._--"mr. sansom" (no. . p. .) has inquired, what is known of columna's book, entitled _mare historiarum_? trithemius has made mention of the work (_de script. eccles_. dl.), and two manuscript copies of it are preserved in the royal library at paris. (b. de montfaucon, _biblioth. bibliothecar. mss._ tom ii. p. . par. .) douce very properly distinguished it from _la mer des histoires_; but, if he wrote "mochartus," he was in error; for _brochart_ was the author of the latin original, called _rudimentum novitiorum_, and published in . as to the statement of genebrard, that joannes de columna was the writer of the "_mater_ historiarum," i should say that the mistake was produced by confounding the words _mer_ and _mere_. mr. sansom may find all the information { } that need be desired on this subject in quetif et echard, _scriptores ord. præd._ tom. i. pp. - . lut. paris, . (vid. etiam amb. de altamura, _biblioth. dominican_. p. . romæ, ; fabricii, _bibl. med. et inf. latin._ i. . hamb. .) r.g. "what are _depenings_?" (no. . p. .) the nets used by the yarmouth herring busses were made in breadths of six feet. the necessary _depth_ was obtained by sewing together successive breadths, and each breadth was therefore called a _deepening_.[ ] ed. [footnote : from a pamphlet written about , not now before us. ed.] * * * * * miscellanies. _tale of a tub._--it is generally supposed that the title of swift's _tale of a tub_ was a jest originally levelled at the puritan pulpit. it probably had served a more ancient purpose. in bale's _comedye concerning three laws_, compiled in , infidelitas says: "ye say they follow your law, and vary not a shaw, which is a tale of a tub." j.o.w.h. * * * * * a genius. (_from the german of claudius_.) "friend ass," said the fox, as he met him one day, "what can people mean?--do you know what they say?" "no, i don't," said the ass; "nor i don't care, not i." "why, they say you're a genius," was reynard's reply. "my stars!" muttered jack, quite appall'd by the word, "what can i have done that's so very absurd?" * * * * * _dedications_ (no. . p. .).--in villaneuva's dedication to the duke of medinaceli of his _origen epocas y progressos del teatro español_ (madrid, , sm. to.), the enumeration of the names, titles, and offices of his patron occupies three entire pages, and five lines of a fourth. f.c.b. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the percy society have just issued a reprint of a black letter tract, entitled "a manifest detection of the most vyle and detestable use of dice play," which exhibits a curious picture of the tricks in vogue amongst the gamesters of the sixteenth century, and, as the editor very justly observes, "comprises fuller explanations of terms used by shakspeare and other old dramatists than are to be found in the notes of the commentators. the mysteries of _gowrds_ and _fullams_, _high men_ and _low men_, stumbling-blocks to many intelligent readers of the works of the stratford poet, are here satisfactorily revealed." whatever hope the projectors of the approaching _exhibition of works of ancient and mediæval art_ entertained of forming such a collection of objects as might deserve the attention of the public generally, and accomplish the great end in view, have been more than realised. thanks to the liberality with which the possessors of works of early art of this description, from the most distinguished personages of the realm, have placed their stores at the disposal of the committee, the very novel exhibition which will open to the public on thursday next, will be as remarkable for its intrinsic beauty, as for its instructive and suggestive character. we need scarcely remind lovers of fine editions of first class books that messrs. sotheby commence the sale of the first portion of the extensive stock of messrs. payne and foss, of pall mall, on monday next. we have received from mr. straker, of . adelaide street, his catalogue of english and foreign theology, arranged according to subject, and with an alphabetical index of authors: and also parts i. and ii. of his monthly catalogues of ancient and modern theological literature. mr. lilly, who has removed to no. . pall mall, has also forwarded nos. . and . of his catalogues of rare, curious, and useful books. mr. miller, of . chandos street, has just issued no. . for of his catalogue of books, old and new: and mr. quarritch (of . castle street, leicester square) no. . catalogue of oriental and foreign books: and, though not least deserving of mention (by us, at all events, as he has the good taste to announce on his catalogue "notes and queries sold"), mr. nield, of . burlington arcade has just issued no. . for , in which are some marprelate and magical books worth looking after. * * * * * notices to correspondents. e. vee. "when greeks join greeks," &c. is a line by _nat. lee._ see no. . p. . k.d.b. the following--"in flesh-monger-street, siward the moneyer (renders) to the king d. and to william de chesney houseroom, salt and water"--is a literal translation. correspondents must be careful not to omit letters or contractions in extracts from original records. it would in this case have been difficult correctly to render "monet" without a contraction; and "flemangerstret," as our correspondent wrote it, might have been changed into "fell-monger-," instead of "flesh-monger-street." the service of "house-room, salt, and { } water," seems a singular one; it was, of course, a kind of entertainment, or a contribution to entertainment. if the _liber winton_ contains no other notice of similar services, "h.d.k." will find the subject illustrated, though not the particular tenure, at pp. - . of the first volume of sir h. ellis's _introduction to the great domesday_. rue strewed before prisoners at the bar of the old bailey. this custom originated in the fear of infection, at a period when judges, &c. were liable to fall victims to gaol fever. erratum. no. . p. . col. ., for "pla_u_torum abbreviati_s_" read "pla_ci_torum abbreviati_o_." * * * * * just published, price s. an historical and descriptive account of cumnor place, berks, with biographical notices of the lady amy dudley and of anthony forster, esq., sometime m.p. for abingdon; followed by some remarks on the statements in sir walter scott's kenilworth; and a brief history of the parish of cumnor and its antiquities. by alfred durling bartlett, of abingdon. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * just published, a new edition, revised and much enlarged, of the history of england from the first invasion of the romans, to the accession of william and mary, in the year . by the rev. dr. lingard. handsomely printed in ten large octavo volumes, price six pounds, cloth lettered, and enriched with a likeness of the author, engraved in the best style, from a portrait taken last year by mr. skaile. london: c. dolman, . new bond street. * * * * * now ready, vol. vo, with etched frontispiece, by webnert, and eight engravings, price s. sabrinae corolla: a volume of classical translations with original compositions contributed by gentlemen educated at shrewsbury school. among the contributors are the head masters of shrewsbury, stamford, repton, uppingham, and birmingham schools; andrew lawson, esq. late m.p.; the rev. r. shilleto, cambridge; the rev. t.s. evans, rugby; j. riddell, esq., fellow of balliol college, oxford; the rev. e.m. cope, h.j. hodgson, esq., h.a.j. munro, esq., w.g. clark, esq., fellows of trinity college, cambridge, and many other distinguished scholars from both universities. the work is edited by three of the principal contributors. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * in vo., s. d.; royal vo., s. origines patriciÆ, or a deduction of european titles of nobility and dignified offices, from their primitive sources. by r.t. hampson. in vols. vo., with illuminated fac-simile engravings of anglo-saxon kalendars. price s. medii Ævi kalendarium; or dates, charters and customs of the middle ages, with kalendars from the tenth to the fifteenth century; and an alphabetical digest of obsolete names of days, forming a glossary of the dates and ecclesiastical observances of the middle ages. by r.t. hampson. fac-simile under seal. on a sheet, inches by . price s. d. magna charta sub sigillo regis johannis, an. dom. m.cc.xv. london: henry kent causton, at the printing offices, nag's head court, gracechurch street. * * * * * twenty day's sale of the first portion of the valuable and extensive stock of books of messrs. payne and foss. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and co., auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, march th, , and nine following days, and on monday, april th, and nine following days, at one o'clock precisely, the first portion of the extensive and valuable stock of books of messrs. payne and foss, retiring from business: comprising interesting publications in the infancy of printing, first and best editions of the classics, productions of the aldine press, theology and best editions of the fathers, french and italian books, voyages and travels, fine books of prints, english history and miscellaneous literature. many of the books are on large paper, and in morocco and russia bindings. to be viewed two days prior, and catalogues had. * * * * * in vol. royal to., with plates. price l. s. the dodo and its kindred, or the history of the dodo, the solitaire, and other extinct birds of the mascarene islands. by h.e. strickland, m.a., and a.g. melville, m.d. for reviews of this work see _blackwood's magazine_, jan., ; _athenæum_, feb. ., ; _westminster review_, april, ; _silliman's american journal_, jan., ; _revue zoologique_, oct., ; _zeitung für zoologie_, may , , &c. london: reeve, benham, and reeve, king william street, strand. * * * * * valuable quarto classics, in good condition and at reduced prices--Æliani varia historia, gr. et lat., gronovil, vellum, s.; Æschylus, gr. et lat. butleri, vols., new, cloth, l. s.; aurelius victor, aratzenii, calf, gilt, s. d.; ausonius, delphini, calf, gilt, s. d.; large paper, rare, s.; demosthenes et Æschines, gr. et lat., taylori, vols., calf, neat, s.; euripides, gr. et lat., beckii, vols., russia, extra, l. s.; homerus, gr. et lat., barnnessil, vols., calf, neat, s.; horatius, edidit combe, vols., calf, gilt, l. s. russia, extra, l. s.; lucanus, oudenorpil, vols., calf, neat, s. d.; lucanus, burmanni, calf, neat, s. d.; lucretius, edidit keats, calf, extra, s., russia, extra, large paper, s.; maximum tyrius, gr. et lat., marklandi et davisit, calf, gilt, s.; minuciux felix, ouzelii, vellum, s.; phædrus hoogstratani, calf, gilt, plates, scarce, s.; plautus, delphini, vols., calf, neat, s., vellum, fine copy, l. s.; plinii historia naturalis, delphini, vols., calf, neat, l. s.; plinii epistolæ, cortii et longolii, vellum, s.; plinii panegyricus, schwarzli, sewed, s., russia, s.; propertius, brouckhusii, , calf, gilt, or vellum, s.; quintillanus, burmanoi, vols., calf, neat, l. s.; quintus curtius, snakenburgii, vols., calf, neat, s., calf, gilt, s.; sallustius, havercampi, vols., calf, gilt, l. s.; suetonius, pitisci, vols., calf, gilt, s.; terentius, delphini, calf, neat, s.; thucydides, gr. et lat., gottleberi et dukeri, vols., russia, s.; tibullus, brouckhusii, calf, gilt, or vellum, s.; vilgilius, masavicii, vols., calf, neat, s. d.--a catalogue, containing upwards of articles, including translations, commentaries, lexicons, &c., will be sent on receipt of two postage stamps. r. saywell, . high holborn, opposite new oxford street. * * * * * the highly-interesting collection of autograph letters of george linnecar, esq., of liverpool; a picture by hogarth; various articles formerly in the possession of john evelyn, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on tuesday, march , and following day, the very select and interesting collection of autograph letters of george linnecar, esq., of liverpool. the greater part of this collection has been selected from the extraordinary assemblage of letters formed by the late william upcott, esq., and consists mainly of interesting letters of english literary characters from the time of alexander pope to the present period. a volume of unpublished poems in the autograph of james thompson, some miscellanies from the collection of john evelyn, including his well-known drinking cup; a plaster cast from thorwaldsen's bust of byron (only two taken), a picture by hogarth, miniature of voltaire by sir j. reynolds, &c. may be viewed the day before the sale. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * *{ } illustrated works. rickman's gothic architecture. an attempt to discriminate the different styles of architecture in england. by the late thomas rickman, f.s.a. with engravings on steel by le keux, &c., and on wood, of the best examples, from original drawings by f. mackenzie, o. jewitt, and p.h. delamotte. fifth edition. vo. s. the ecclesiastical and architectural topography of england. part i. bedfordshire. part ii. berkshire. part iii. buckinghamshire. vo. s. d. each. part iv. oxfordshire, nearly ready. an inquiry into the difference of style observable in ancient painted glass, with hints on glass painting, illustrated by numerous coloured plates from ancient examples. by an amateur. vols. vo. l. s. a book of ornamental glazing quarries, collected and arranged from ancient examples. by augustus wollaston franks, b.a. with coloured examples. vo. s. a glossary of terms used in british heraldry, with a chronological table illustrative of its rise and progress. vo. with engravings. s. a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. the fifth edition, enlarged. exemplified by numerous woodcuts. vols. vo., nearly ready. manual of english medieval embroidery. with a practical section, by a lady. mo. with numerous illustrations. s. architectural notices of the churches in the archdeaconry of northampton. with numerous illustrations on wood and steel royal vo., cloth, l. s. plain; l. s. d. india proofs. warmington church, northamptonshire. views, elevations, sections, and details. by w. caveler, esq., architect. plates, royal folio, cloth, l. s. minster lovell church, oxfordshire. views, elevations, sections, and details. by j. prichard, esq., architect. folio. nearly ready. anglican church architecture. with some remarks upon ecclesiastical furniture. by james barr, architect. illustrated by examples. the third edition, revised and enlarged. mo. s. descriptive notices of some of the ancient parochial and collegiate churches of scotland. with woodcuts. by o. jewitt. vo. s. d. an introduction to the study of gothic architecture. mo. with illustrations. price s. d. the archÆological journal, published under the direction of the central committee of the archæological institute of great britain and ireland, for the encouragement and prosecution of researches into the arts and monuments of the early and middle ages. with numerous illustrations. complete, with general index. vols. vo., cloth. l. s. the architectural history of canterbury cathedral. by the rev. professor willis, m.a., f.r.s., &c. vo. with woodcuts. s. d. the architectural history of winchester cathedral. by the same author. vo. with woodcuts and plan. s. the architectural history of york cathedral. with woodcuts and plan. s. d. specimens of church plate, sepulchral crosses, &c. complete in vol. to., cloth lettered, l. s. the sculptures of wells cathedral. with observations on the art of sculpture in england in the thirteenth century. by c.r. cockerell, esq., professor r.a. in the press. the primeval antiquities of england, illustrated by those of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen. translated from the danish, and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden and Ælfric societies. with numerous illustrations. vo. s. d. oxford parish burial ground chapels, the working drawings of. by h.j. underwood, esq., architect. folio. s. remarks on architectural character. by the rev. john lewis petit, m.a. with etchings. royal folio, cloth. l. s. a manual for the study of monumental brasses, with a descriptive catalogue of four hundred and fifty "rubbings," in the possession of the oxford architectural society. topographical and heraldic indices, &c. with numerous illustrations. vo. s. d. a manual for the study of sepulchral slabs and crosses of the middle ages. by the rev. edward l. cutts, b.a. vo. illustrated by upwards of engravings. s. * * * * * oxford: john henry parker; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october . . [price, with supplement, d. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- roberd the robber, by r.j. king on a passage in the merry wives of windsor, and on conjectural emendation minor notes:--chaucer's damascene--long friday--hip, hip, hurrah!--under the rose--albanian literature queries:-- bibliographical queries fairfax's tasso minor queries:--jeremy taylor's ductor dubitantium--first earl of roscommon--st. cuthbert--vavasour of haslewood--bells in churches--alteration of title-pages--weights for weighing coins--shunamitis poema--lachrymatories--egg-cups used by the romans--meleteticks--luther's hymns--"pair of 	twises"--countermarks on roman coin replies:-- gaudentio di lucca englemann's bibliotheca scriptorum classicorum, by professor de morgan shakspeare's use of the word "delighted," by samuel hickson collar of esses, by john gough nichols sirloin, by t.t. wilkinson, &c. riots of london, by e.b. price, &c. meaning of "gradely" pascal and his editor bossut, by gustave masson kings-skugg-sio, by e. charlton, &c. gold in california the disputed passage from the tempest, by samuel hickson, &c. "london bridge is broken down," by dr. e.f. rimbault arabic numerals caxton's printing-office, by j. cropp cold harbour st. uncumber, by w.j. thoms handfasting gray's elegy--droning--dodsley's poems replies to minor queries:--zündnadel guns--thompson of esholt--minar's books of antiquities--smoke money--holland land--caconac, caconacquerie--discourse of national excellencies of england--saffron bags--milton's penseroso--achilles and the tortoise--stepony ale--north side of churchyards--welsh money--wormwood--puzzling epitaph--umbrella--pope and bishop burgess--book of homilies--roman catholic theology--modum promissionis--bacon family--execution of charles i., and earl of stair--watermarks on writing-paper--st. john nepomuc--satirical medals--passage in gray--cupid crying--anecdote of a peal of bells, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. roberd the robber. in the _vision of piers ploughman_ are two remarkable passages in which mention is made of "roberd the robber," and of "roberdes knaves." "roberd the robbere, on _reddite_ loked, and for ther was noght wherof he wepte swithe soore." wright's ed., vol. i. p. . "in glotonye, god woot, go thei to bedde, and risen with ribaudie, the roberdes knaves." vol. i. p. . in a note on the second passage, mr. wright quotes a statute of edw. iii., in which certain malefactors are classed together "qui sont appellez _roberdesmen_, wastours, et dragelatche:" and on the first he quotes two curious instances in which the name is applied in a similar manner,--one from a latin song of the reign of henry iii.: "competenter per _robert_, robbur designatur; robertus excoriat, extorquet, et minatur. _vir quicunque rabidus consors est roberto_." it seems not impossible that we have in these passages a trace of some forgotten mythical personage. "whitaker," says mr. wright, "supposes, without any reason, the 'roberde's knaves' to be 'robin hood's men.'" (vol. ii. p. .) it is singular enough, however, that as early as the time of henry iii. we find the term 'consors roberto' applied generally, as designating any common thief or robber; and without asserting that there is any direct allusion to "robin hood's men" in the expression "roberdes knaves," one is tempted to ask whence the hero of sherwood got his own name? grimm (_deutsche mythol._, p. .) has suggested that robin hood may be connected with an equally famous namesake, robin goodfellow; and that he may have been so called from the hood or hoodikin, which is a well-known characteristic of the mischievous elves. i believe, however, it is now generally admitted that "robin hood" is a corruption { } of "robin o' th' wood" equivalent to "silvaticus" or "wildman"--a term which, as we learn from ordericus, was generally given to those saxons who fled to the woods and morasses, and long held them against their norman enemies. it is not impossible that "robin o' the wood" may have been a general name for any such outlaws as these and that robin hood, as well as "roberd the robbere" may stand for some earlier and forgotten hero of saxon tradition. it may be remarked that "robin" is the norman diminutive of "robert", and that the latter is the name by which we should have expected to find the doings of a saxon hero commemorated. it is true that norman and saxon soon came to have their feelings and traditions in common; but it is not the less curious to find the old saxon name still traditionally applied by the people, as it seems to have been from the _vision of piers ploughman_. whether robin goodfellow and his german brother "knecht ruprecht" are at all connected with robin hood, seems very doubtful. the plants which, both in england and in germany, are thus named, appear to belong to the elf rather than to the outlaw. the wild geranium, called "herb robert" in gerarde's time, is known in germany as "ruprecht's kraut". "poor robin", "ragged robin", and "robin in the hose", probably all commemorate the same "merry wanderer of the night." richard john king. * * * * * on a passage in "the merry wives of windsor," and on conjectural emendation. the late mr. baron field, in his _conjectures on some obscure and corrupt passages of shakspeare_, published in the "shakspeare society's papers," vol. ii. p. ., has the following, note on _the merry wives of windsor_, act ii. sc. .:-- "'_falstaff._ i myself sometimes having the fear of heaven on the left hand, and hiding mine honour in my necessity, am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch; and yet you, you rogue, will esconce your _rags_, your cat-a-mountain looks, your red-lattice phrases and your bold-beating oaths, under the shelter of your honour.' "pistol, to whom this was addressed, was an ensign, and therefore _rags_ can hardly bear the ordinary interpretation. a _rag_ is a beggarly fellow, but that will make little better sense here. associated as the phrase is, i think it must mean _rages_, and i find the word used for _ragings_ in the compound _bard-rags_, border-ragings or incursions, in spenser's _fairy queen_, ii. x. ., and _colin clout_, v. ." having on one occasion found that a petty larceny committed on the received text of the poet, by taking away a superfluous _b_, made all clear, perhaps i may be allowed to restore the abstracted letter, which had only been _misplaced_ and read _brags_, with, i trust, the like success? be it remembered that pistol, a braggadocio, is made up of _brags_ and slang; and for that reason i would also read, with hanmer, _bull-baiting_, instead of the unmeaning "_bold-beating_ oaths." i well know with what extreme caution conjectural emendation is to be exercised; but i cannot consent to carry it to the excess, or to preserve a vicious reading, merely because it is warranted by the _old copies_. regretting, as i do, that mr. collier's, as well as mr. knight's, edition of the poet, should both be disfigured by this excess of caution, i venture to subjoin a cento from george withers, which has been inscribed in the blank leaf of one of them. "though they will not for a better change a syllable or letter, must the _printer's_ spots and stains still obscure the poet's strains? overspread with antique rust, like whitewash on his painted bust which to remove revived the grace and true expression of his face. so, when i find misplaced b's, i will do as i shall please. if my method they deride, let them know i am not tied, in my free'r course, to chuse such strait rules as they would use; though i something miss of might, to express his meaning quite. for i neither fear nor care what in this their censures are; if the art here used be their dislike, it liketh me. while i linger on each strain, and read, and read it o'er again, i am loth to part from thence, until i trace the poet's sense, and have the _printer's errors_ found, in which the folios abound." periergus bibliophilus. october. * * * * * minor notes. _chaucer's damascene._--warton, in his account of the physicians who formed the library of the doctor of physic, says of john damascene that he was "secretary to one of the caliphs, wrote in various sciences before the arabians had entered europe, and had seen the grecian philosophers." (_history of english poetry_, price's ed., ii. .) mr. saunders, in his book entitled _cabinet pictures of english life_, "chaucer", after repeating the very words of this meagre account, adds, "he was, however, more famous for his religious than his medical writings; and obtained for his eloquence the name of the golden-flowing" (p .) now mr. saunders certainly, whatever warton did, has confounded damascenus, the physician, with johannes damascenus chrysorrhoas, "the { } last of the greek fathers," (gibbon, iv. .) a voluminous writer on ecclesiastical subjects, but no physician, and therefore not at all likely to be found among the books of chaucer's doctour, "whose studie was but litel on the bible." chaucer's _damascene_ is the author of _aphorismorum liber_, and of _medicinæ therapeuticæ_, libri vii. some suppose him to have lived in the ninth, others in the eleventh century, a.d.; and this is about all that is known about him. (see _biographie universelle_, s.v.) ed. s. jackson. _long friday, meaning of._--c. knight, in his _pictorial shakspeare_, explains mrs. quickly's phrase in _henry the fourth_--"'tis a _long_ loan for a poor lone woman to bear,"--by the synonym _great_: asserting that _long_ is still used in the sense of great, in the north of england; and quoting the scotch proverb, "between you and the long day be it," where _we_ talk of the _great_ day of judgment. may not this be the meaning of the name _long friday_, which was almost invariably used by our saxon forefathers for what we now call good friday? the commentators on the prayer book, who all confess themselves ignorant of the real meaning of the term, absurdly suggest that it was so called from the great _length of the services_ on that day; or else, from the length of the fast which preceded. surely, the great friday, the friday on which the great work of our redemption was completed, makes better sense? t.e.l.l. _hip, hip, hurrah!_--originally a war cry, adopted by the stormers of a german town, wherein a great many jews had taken their refuge. the place being sacked, they were all put to the sword, under the shouts of, _hierosolyma est perdita_! from the first letter of those words (_h.e.p._) an exclamation was contrived. we little think, when the red wine sparkles in the cup, and soul-stirring toasts are applauded by our _hip, hip, hurrah!_ that we record the fall of jerusalem, and the cruelty of christians against the chosen people of god. janus dousa. _under the rose_ (vol. i., p. .).--near zandpoort, a village in the vicinity of haarlem, prince william of orange, the third of his name, had a favourite hunting-seat, called after him the princenbosch, now more generally known under the designation of the kruidberg. in the neighbourhood of these grounds there was a little summer-house, making part, if i recollect rightly, of an amsterdam burgomaster's country place, who resided there at the times i speak of. in this pavilion, it is said, _and beneath a stucco rose_, being one of the ornaments of the ceiling, william iii. communicated the scheme of his intended invasion in england to the two burgomasters of amsterdam there present. you know the result. can the expression of "being under the rose" date from this occasion, or was it merely owing to coincidence that such an ornament protected, as it were, the mysterious conversation to which england owes her liberty, and protestant christendom the maintenance of its rights? janus dousa. huis te manpadt. _albanian literature.--bogdano, pietro, archivescovo di scopia, l'infallibile verita della cattolica fede_, in venetia, per g. albrizzi, mdxci, is i think much older than any albanian book mentioned by hobhouse. the same additional characters are used which occur in the later publications of the propaganda, in two parts, pp. . . f.q. * * * * * queries. bibliographical queries. . has anything recently transpired which could lead bibliographers to form an absolute decision with regard to the "unknown" printer who used the singular letter r which is said to have originated with finiguerra in ? that mentelin was the individual seems scarcely credible; and there is a manifest difference between his type and that of the anonymous printer of the _editio princeps_ of rabanus maurus, _de universo_, the copy of which work (illuminated, ruled, and rubricated) now before me was once in heber's possession; and it exhibits the peculiar letter r, which resembles an ill-formed a, destitute of the cross stroke, and supporting a round o on its reclined back. (panzer, i. .; santander, i. .) . is it not quite certain that the acts and decrees of the synod of würtzburg, held in the year , were printed in that city previously to the publication of the _breviarium herbiplense_ in ? the letter q which is used in the volume of these acts is remarkable for being of a double semilunar shape; and the type, which is very gothic, is evidently the same as that employed in an edition of other synodal decrees in germany about the year . . when and where was the _liber de laudibus gloriosissime dei genitricis marie semper virginis_, by albertus magnus, first printed? i do not mean the supposititious work, which is often confounded with the other one; but that which is also styled _super evangelium_ missus est _quæstiones_. and why are these questions invariably said to be in number, when there are chapters in the book? beughem asserts that the earliest edition is that of milan in (_vid._ quetif et echard, i. .), but what i believe to be a volume of older date is "sine ullâ notâ;" and a bookseller's observation respecting it is, that it is "very rare, and unknown to de bure, panzer, brunet, and dibdin." { } . has any discovery made as to the author of the extraordinary to. tract, _oracio querulosa contra inuasores sacerdotum?_ according to the crevenna _catalogue_ (i. .), the work is "inconnu à tous les bibliographes." compare seemiller, ii. .; but the copy before me is not of the impression described by him. it is worthy of notice, that at signature a iiiij the writer declares, "nostris jam temporibus calchographiam, hoc est impressioram artem, in nobilissima vrbanie germe maguncia fuisse repertam." . are we to suppose that either carelessness or a love of conjectures was the source of chevillier's mistake, not corrected by greswell (_annals of paris. typog._, p. .), that signatures were first introduced, anno , by zarotus, the printer, at milan? they may doubtless be seen in the _opus alexandride ales super tertium sententiarum_, venet. , a book which supplies also the most ancient instance i have met with of a "registrum chartarum." signatures, however, had a prior existence; for they appear in the _mammetractus_ printed at beron minster in (meermau, ii. .; kloss, p. .), but they were omitted in the impression of . dr. cotton (_typ. gaz._, p. .), mr. horne (_introd. to bibliog._, i. . ), and many others, wrongly delay the invention or adoption of them till the year . . is the edition of the _fasciculus temporum_, set forth at cologne by nicolaus de schlettstadt in , altogether distinct from that which is confessedly "omnium prima," and which was issued by arnoldus ther huernen in the same year? if it be, the copy in the lambeth library, bearing date , and entered in pp. , . of dr. maitland's very valuable and accurate _list_, must appertain to the third, not the second, impression. to the latter this louvain reprint of is assigned in the catalogue of the books of dr. kloss (p. .), but there is an error in the remark that the "tabula" prefixed to the _editio princeps_ is comprised in _eight_ leaves, for it certainly consists of _nine_. . where was what is probably a copy of the second edition of the _catena aurea_ of aquinas printed? the folio in question, which consists of unnumbered leaves, is an extremely fine one, and i should say that it is certainly of german origin. seemiller (i. .) refers it to esslingen, and perhaps an acquaintance with its water-marks would afford some assistance in tracing it. of these a rose is the most common, and a strigilis may be seen on folio . it would be difficult to persuade the proprietor of this volume that it is of so modern a date as , the year in which what is generally called the second impression of this work appeared. . how can we best account for the mistake relative to the imaginary bologna edition of ptolemy's _cosmography_ in , a copy of which was in the colbert library? (leuglet du fresnoy, _méth. pour étud. l'hist._, iii. ., à paris, .) that it was published previously to the famous mentz bible of this date is altogether impossible; and was the figure a misprint for ? or should we attempt to subvert it into ? the _editio princeps_ of the latin version by angelus is in roman letter, and is a very handsome specimen of vicenza typography in , when it was set forth "ab hermano leuilapide," alias hermann lichtenstein. . if it be true, as dr. cotton remarks in his excellent _typographical gazetteer_, p. ., that a press was erected at augsburg, in the monastery of ss. ulric and afra, in the year , and that anthony sorg is believed to have been the printer, why should we be induced to assent to the validity of panzer's supposition that nider's _formicarius_ did not make its appearance there until ? it would seem to be more than doubtful that cologne can boast of having produced the first edition, a.d. / ; and it may be reasonably asserted, and an examination of the book will abundantly strengthen the idea, that the earliest impression is that which contains this colophon, in which i would dwell upon the word "_editionem_" (well known to the initiated): "explicit quintus ac totus formicarii liber uxta editionem fratris iohannis nider," &c., "impressum auguste per anthonium sorg." . in what place and year was _wilhelmi summa viciorum_ first printed? fabricius and cave are certainly mistaken when they say colon. . in the volume, which i maintain to be of greater antiquity, the letters _c_ and _t_, _s_ and _t_, are curiously united, and the commencement of it is: "incipit summa viciorum seu tractatus moral' edita [_sic_] a fratre vilhelmo episcopo lugdunes. ordinsq. fratrû predicator." the description given by quetif and echard (i. .) of the primary impression of perault's book only makes a bibliomaniac more anxious for information about it: "in inc. typ. absque loco anno et nomine typographi, sine numeris reclamat. et majusculis." . was panormitan's _lectura super primo decretalium_ indubitably issued at venice, prior to the st of april, ? and if so, does it contain in the colophon these lines by zovenzonius, which i transcribe from a noble copy bearing this date? "abbatis pars prima notis que fulget aliemis est vindelini pressa labore mei: cuius ego ingenium de vertice palladis ortum crediderim. veniam tu mihi spira dabis." . is it not unquestionable that heroldt's _promptuarium exemplorum_ was published at least as early as his _sermones_? the type in both works is clearly identical, and the imprint in the latter, at the end of _serm._ cxxxvi., vol. ii., is colon. , an edition unknown to very nearly all bibliographers. for instance, panzer and denis commence with that of rostock, in ; laire { } with that of cologne, ; and maittaire with that of nuremberg, in . different statements have been made as to the precise period when this humble-minded writer lived. altamura (_bibl. domin._, pp. . .) places him in the year . quetif and echard (i. .), fabricius and mansi (_bibl. med. et inf. latin._), prefer , on the unstable ground of a testimony supposed to have proceeded from the author himself; for whatever confusion or depravation may have been introduced into subsequent impressions, the _editio princeps_, of which i have spoken, does not present to our view the alleged passage, viz., "à christo autem transacti sunt _millequadringenti decem et octo_ anni," but most plainly, "m.cccc. & liij. anni." (_serm._ lxxxv., tom. ii.) to this same "discipulus" oudin (iii. .), and gerius in the appendix to cave (p. .), attribute the _speculorum exemplorum_, respecting which i have before proposed a query; but i am convinced that they have confounded the _speculum_ with the _promptuarium_. the former was first printed at deventer, a.d. , and the compiler of it enters upon his prologue in the following striking style: "impressoria arte jamdudum longe lateque per orbem diffusa, multiplicatisque libris quarumcunque fere materiarum," &c. he then expresses his surprise at the want of a good collection of _exempla_; and why should we determine without evidence that he must have been heroldus? r.g. * * * * * fairfax's tasso. in a copy of fairfax's _godfrey of bulloigne_, ed. (the first), which i possess, there occurs a very curious variorum reading of the first stanza of the first book. the stanza, as it is given by mr. knight in his excellent modern editions, reads thus: "the sacred armies and the godly knight, that the great sepulchre of christ did free, i sing; much wrought his valour and foresight, and in that glorious war much suffer'd he; in vain 'gainst him did hell oppose her might, in vain the turks and morians armed be; his soldiers wild, to brawls and mutines prest, reduced he to peace, so heaven him blest." by holding up the leaf of my copy to the light, it is easy to see that the stanza stood originally as given above, but a cancel slip printed in _precisely the same type_ as the rest of the book gives the following elegant variation: "i sing the warre made in the holy land, and the great chiefe that christ's great tombe did free: much wrought he with his wit, much with his hand, much in that braue atchieument suffred hee: in vaine doth hell that man of god withstand, in vaine the worlds great princes armed bee; for heau'n him fauour'd; and he brought againe vnder one standard all his scatt'red traine." queries.-- . does the above variation occur in any or many other copies of the edition of ? . which reading is followed in the second old edition? t.n. demerary, september . . * * * * * minor queries. _jeremy taylor's ductor dubitantium._--book i. chap. . rule . § .-- "if he (the judge) see a stone thrown at his brother judge, as happened at ludlow, not many years since." (the first ed. was published in ). does any other contemporary writer mention this circumstance? or is there any published register of the assizes of that time? _ibid._ chap. . rule . § .-- "the filthy gingran." apparently a drug or herb. can it be identified, or its etymology pointed out? _ibid._ §. .-- "that a virgin should conceive is so possible to god's power, that it is possible in nature, say the arabians." can authority for this be cited from the ancient arabic writers? a.t. _first earl of roscommon._--can you or any of your correspondents put me on any plan by which i may obtain some information on the following subject? james dillon, first earl of roscommon, married helen, daughter of sir christopher barnwell, by whom he had seven sons and six daughters; their names were robert, lucas, thomas, christopher, george, john, patrick. robert succeeded his father in , and of his descendants and those of lucas and patrick i have some accounts; but what i want to know is, who are the descendants of thomas (particularly), or of any of the other three sons? lodge, in his _peerage_, very kindly kills all the sons, patrick included; but it appears that he did not depart this life until he had left issue, from whom the late earl had his origin. if lodge is thus wrong in one case, he may be in others, and i have reason to believe that thomas left a son settled in a place in ireland called portlick. francis. _st. cuthbert._--the body of st. cuthbert, as is well known, had many wanderings before it found a magnificent resting-place at durham. now, in an anonymous _history of the cathedral church of durham_, without date, we have a very particular account of the defacement of the shrine of st. { } cuthbert, in the reign of henry viii. the body was found "lying whole, uncorrupt, with his face bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's growth, with all the vestments about him as he accustomed to say mass withal." the vestments are described as being "fresh, safe, and not consumed." the visitors "commanded him to be carried into the revestry, till the king's pleasure concerning him was further known; and upon the receipt thereof the prior and monks buried him in the ground under the place where his shrine was exalted." now, there is a tradition of the benedictines (of whose monastery the cathedral was part) that on the accession of elizabeth the monks, who were apprehensive of further violence, removed the body in the night-time from the place where it had been buried to some other part of the building. this spot is known only to three persons, brothers of the order; and it is said that there are three persons who have this knowledge now, as communicated from previous generations. but a discovery was made in of the remains of a body in the centre of the spot where the shrine stood, with various relics of a very early period and it was asserted to be the body of st. cuthbert. this, however, has not been universally assented to, and mr. akerman, in his _archæological index_, has-- "the object commonly called st. cuthbert's cross" (though the designation has been questioned), "found with human remains and other relics of the anglo-saxon period, in the cathedral of durham in ."--p. . there does seem considerable discrepancy in the statements of the remains found in and the body deposited . i will conclude with asking, is there any evidence to confirm the tradition of the benedictines? j.r.n. _vavasour of haslewood.--bells in churches._--it is currently reported in yorkshire that three curious privileges belong to the chief of the ancient roman catholic family of vavasour of haslewood: . that he may ride on horseback into york minster. . that he may specially call his house a castle. . that he may toll a bell in his chapel, notwithstanding any law prohibiting the use of bells in places of worship not in union with the church of england. is there any foundation for this report; and what is the real story? is there still a law against the use of bells as a summons to divine services except in churches? a.g. _alteration of title-pages._--among the advertisements in the last _quarterly_ and _edinburgh reviews_, is one which replies to certain criticisms on a work. one of these criticisms was a stricture upon its title. the author states that the reviewer had a _presentation copy_, and ought to have inquired into the title under which the book was sold to the _public_ before he animaverted upon the connexion between the title and the work. it seems then that, in this instance, the author furnished the reviews with a title-page differing from that of the body of his impression, and thinks he has a right to demand that the reviewers should suppose such a circumstance probable enough to make it imperative upon them to inquire what the real title was. query, is such a practice common? can any of your readers produce another instance? m. _weights for weighing coins._--a correspondent wishes to know at what period weights were introduced for weighing coins. he has met with two notices on the subject in passages of cottonian manuscripts, and would be glad of farther information. in a ms. chronicle, cotton. otho b. xiv.-- " . novæ bilances instituuntur ad ponderanda aurea numismata." in another cottonian ms., vitell. a. i., we read-- " . here bigan gold balancis." h.e. _shunamitis poema._--who was the author of a curious small vo. volume of pages of latin and english poems, commencing with "shunamitis poema stephani duck latine redditum?" the last verse of some commendatory verses prefixed point out the author as the son of some well-known character: "and sure that is the most distinguish'd fame, which rises from your own, not father's name. london, april, ." my copy has no title-page: a transcript of it would oblige. e.d. _lachrymatories._--in many ancient places of sepulture we find long narrow phials which are called lachrymatories, and are supposed to have been receptacles for tears: can you inform me on what authority this supposition rests? j.h.c. _egg-cups used by the romans._--that the romans used egg-cups, and of a shape very similar to our own, the ruins at pompeii and other places afford ocular demonstration. can you tell me by what name they called them? j.h.c. _sir oliver chamberlaine._--in miss lefanu's _memoirs of mrs. frances sheridan_, the celebrated authoress of _sidney biddulph_, _nourjahad_, and _the discovery_, and mother of richard brinsley sheridan, it is stated that "her grandfather, sir { } oliver chamberlaine," was an "english baronet." the absence of his name in any of the baronetages induces the supposition, however, that he had received only the honour of knighthood; and the connexion of his son with dublin, that the statement of whitelaw and walsh, in their history of that city, may be more correct,--viz. that "sir oliver chamberlaine was descended from a respectable english family that had been settled in dublin since the reformation." i should be glad to be informed on this point, and also respecting the paternity of this sir oliver, who is not only distinguished as one of the progenitors of the sheridans, but also of dr. william chamberlaine, the learned author of the _abridgement of the laws of jamaica_, which he for some time administered, as one of the judges in that island; and of his grandson, the brave, but ill-fated, colonel chamberlaine, aide-de-camp to the president bolivar. j.r.w. october . . _meleteticks._--in boyle's _occasional reflections_ (ed. ), he uses the word _meleteticks_ (pp. . .) to express the "way and kind of meditation" he "would persuade." was this _then_ a new word coined by him, and has it been used by any other writer? p.h.f. _luther's hymns._--"in the midst of life we are in death," &c., in the burial service, is almost identical with one of luther's hymns, the words and music of which are frequently closely copied from older sources. whence? f.q. _"pair of twises."_--what was the article, carried by gentlemen, and called by boyle (r.b.), in his _occasional reflections_ (edit. , p. .), "a pair of _twises_," out of which he drew a little penknife? p.h.f. _countermarks on roman coin._--several coins in my cabinet of tiberius, trajan, &c. bear the stamp ncapr; others have an open hand, &c. i should be glad to know the reason of this practice, and what they denote. e.s.t. * * * * * replies. gaudentio di lucca. (vol. ii., p. . .) the _memoirs of sig. gaudentio di lucca_ have very generally been ascribed to bishop berkeley. in moser's _diary_, written at the close of the last century (ms. penes me), the writer says,-- "i have been reading berkeley's amusing account of _sig. gaudentio_. what an excellent system of patriarchal government is there developed!" see the _retrospective review_, vol iv. p. ., where the work is also ascribed to the celebrated bishop berkeley. edward f. rimbault. in the corrigenda and addenda to kippis's _biographia britannica_, prefixed to vol. iii. is the following note, under the head of _berkeley_: "on the same authority [viz., that of dr. george berkeley, the bishop's son,] we are assured that his father did not write, and never read through, the _adventures of signor gaudentio di lucca_. upon this head, the editor of the _biographia_ must record himself as having exhibited an instance of the folly of building facts upon the foundation of conjectural reasonings. having heard the book ascribed to bishop berkeley, and seen it mentioned as his in catalogues of libraries, i read over the work again under this impression, and fancied that i perceived internal arguments of its having been written by our excellent prelate. i was even pleased with the apprehended ingenuity of my discoveries. but the whole was a mistake, which, whilst it will be a warning to myself, may furnish an instructive lesson to others. at the same time, i do not retract the character which i have given of the _adventures of signor gaudentio di lucca_. whoever was the author of that performance, it does credit to his abilities and to his heart." after this decisive testimony of bishop berkeley's son, accompanied by the candid confession of error on the part of the editor of the _biographia britannica_, the rumour as to berkeley's authorship of _gaudentio_ ought to have been finally discredited. nevertheless, it seems still to maintain its ground: it is stated as probable by dunlop, in his _history of fiction_; while the writer of a useful essay on "social utopias," in the third volume of _chambers's papers for the people_, no. ., treats it as an established fact. l. in addition to the remarks of your correspondent l., i may state that the first edition in , vo., contains pages, exclusive of the publisher's address, pages. it is printed for t. cooper, at the globe, in paternoster row. the second edition in , vo., contains publisher's address, pages; the work itself pages. i find no difference between the two editions, except that in the first the title is _the memoirs of sigr. gaudentio di lucca_; and in the second, _the adventures of sigr. gaudentio di lucca_; and that in the second the notes are subjoined to each page, while in the first they follow the text in smaller type, as _remarks of sigr. rhedi_. the second edition is-- "printed for w. innys in paternoster row, and r. manby and h.s. cox on ludgate hill, and sold by m. cooper in paternoster row." with respect to the author, it must be observed that there is no evidence whatever to justify its being attributed to bishop berkeley. clara reeve, in her _progress of romana_, , vo., mentions him as having been supposed to be the author; { } but her authority seems only to have been the anonymous writer in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. xlvii. p. ., referred to by your correspondent. the author of an elaborate review of the work in the _retrospective review_, vol. iv., advocates bishop berkeley's claim, but gives no reasons of any validity; and merely grounds his persuasion upon the book being such as might be expected from that great writer. he was, however, at least bound to show some conformity in style, which he does not attempt. on the other hand, we have the positive denial of dr. george berkeley, the bishop's son (kippis's _biog. brit._, vol. iii., addenda to vol. ii.), which, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, seems to be quite sufficient. in a letter signed c.h., _gent. mag._, vol. vii. p. ., written immediately on the appearance of the work, the writer observes:-- "i should have been very glad to have seen the author's name prefixed to it: however, i am of opinion that it its very nearly related to no less a hand than that which has so often, under borrowed names, employed itself to amuse and trifle mankind, in their own taste, out of their folly and vices." this appears to point at swift; but it is quite clear that he could not be the author, for very obvious reasons. a correspondent of the _gent. mag._, who signs his initials w.h. (vol. lv. part . p. ), states "on very good authority" that the author was-- "barrington, a catholic priest, who had chambers in gray's inn, in which he was keeper of a library for the use of the romish clergy. mr. barrington wrote it for amusement, in a fit of the gout. he began it without any plan, and did not know what he should write about when be put pen to paper. he was author of several pamphlets, chiefly anonymous, particularly the controversy with julius bate on elohim." of this circumstantial and sufficiently positive attribution, which is dated october, , no contradiction ever appeared that i am aware of. the person intended is s. berington, the author of-- "dissertations on the mosaical creation, deluge, building of babel, and confusion of tongues, &c." london: printed for the author, and sold by c. davis in holborn, and t. osborn in gray's inn, , vo., pages , exclusive of introduction, pages. on comparing gaudentio di lucca with this extremely curious work, there seems a sufficient similarity to bear out the statement of the correspondent of the _gentleman's magazine_, w.h. the author quoted in the _remarks of sigr. rhedi_, and in the _dissertations_, are frequently the same, and the learning is of the same cast in both. in particular, bochart is repeatedly cited in the _remarks_ and in the _dissertations_. the philosophical opinions appear likewise very similar. on the whole, unless some strong reason can be given for questioning the statement of this correspondent of the _gentleman's magazine_, i conceive that s. berington, of whom i regret that so little is known, must be considered to be the author of _the memoirs of gaudentio di lucca_. jas. crossley. manchester, october . . * * * * * englemann's bibliotheca scriptorum classicorum. (vol. ii., pp. . .) the sort of defence, explanation, or whatever it may be called, founded upon usage, and offered by another foreign bookseller, is precisely what i wanted to get out, if it existed, as i suspected it did. if your correspondent be accurate as to engelmann, it appears that no wrong is done to _him_; it is only the public which is mystified by a variety of title-pages, all but one containing a suppression of the truth, and the one of which i speak containing more. i now ask you to put in parallel columns extracts from the title given by engelmann with the substitutes given in that which i received. "schriftsteller--welche vom "classics ... that have jahre bis zu ende des appeared in germany and the jahres besonders in adjacent countries up to the deutschland gedruckt worden end of ." sind." i do not think it fair towards mr. engelmann, whose own title is so true and so precise, to take it for certain, on anonymous authority, that he sanctioned the above paraphrase. according to the german, the catalogue contains works from to , published _especially_ in germany; meaning, as is the fact, that there are some in it published elsewhere. according to the english, all classics printed in germany, and all the adjacent countries, in all times, are to be found in the catalogue. i pass over the implied compliment to this country, namely, that while a true description is required in germany, a puff both in time and space is wanted for england. i dwell on the injurious effect of such alterations to literature, and on the trouble they give to those who wish to be accurate. it is a system i attack, and not individuals. there is no occasion to say much, for publicity alone will do what is wanted, especially when given in a journal which falls under the eyes of those engaged in research. i hope those of your contributors who think as i do, will furnish you from time to time with exposures; if, as a point of form, a query be requisite, they can always end with, is this right? a. de morgan. october . . * * * * * { } shakspeare's use of the word "delighted." (vol. ii., pp. . . . .) i should have been content to leave the question of the meaning of the word _delighted_ as it stands in your columns, my motive, so kindly appreciated by mr. singer, in raising the discussion being, by such means to arrive at the true meaning of the word, but that the remarks of l.b.l. (p. .) recall to my mind a canon of criticism which i had intended to communicate at an earlier period as useful for the guidance of commentators in questions of this nature. it is as follows:--master the grammatical construction of the passage in question (if from a drama, in its dramatic and i scenic application), deducing therefrom the general sense, before you attempt to amend or fix the meaning of a doubtful word. of all writers, none exceed shakspeare in logical correctness and nicety of expression. with a vigour of thought and command of language attained by no man besides, it is fair to conclude, that he would not be guilty of faults of construction such as would disgrace a school-boy's composition; and yet how unworthily is he treated when we find some of his finest passages vulgarised and degraded through misapprehensions arising from a mere want of that attention due to the very least, not to say the greatest, of writers. this want of attention (without attributing to it such fatal consequences) appears to me evident in l.b.l.'s remarks, ably as he analyses the passage. i give him credit for the faith that enabled him to discover a sense in it as it stands; but when he says that it is perfectly intelligible in its natural sense, it appears to me that he cannot be aware of the innumerable explanations that have been offered of this very clear passage. the source of his error is plainly referable to the cause i have pointed out. it is quite true that, in the passage referred to, the condition of the body before and after death is contrasted, but this is merely incidental. the natural antithesis of "a sensible warm motion" is expressed in "a kneaded clod" and "cold obstruction;" but the terms of the other half of the passage are not quite so well balanced. on the other hand, it is not the contrasted condition of each, but the separation of the body and spirit--that is, _death_--which is the object of the speaker's contemplation. now with regard to the meaning of the term _delighted_, l.b.l. says it is applied to the spirit "_not_ in its state _after death_, but _during life_." i must quote the lines once more:-- "ay, but to die, and go we know not where; to lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; this sensible warm motion to become a kneaded clod; _and_ the delighted spirit to bathe in fiery floods," &c. and if i were to meet with a hundred thousand passages of a similar construction, i am confident they would only confirm the view that the spirit is represented in the _then present_ state as at the termination of the former clause of the sentence. if such had not been the view instinctively taken by all classes of readers, there could have been no difficulty about the meaning of the word. as a proof that this view of the construction is correct, let l.b.l. substitute for "delighted spirit", _spirit no longer delighted_, and he will find that it gives precisely the sense which he deduces from the passage as it stands. if this be true, then, according to his view, the negative and affirmative of a proposition may be used indifferently, in the same time and circumstances giving exactly the same meaning. mr. singer furnishes another instance (vol. ii., p. .) of the value of my canon. i think there can be no doubt that his explanation of the meaning of the word _eisell_ is correct; but if it were not, any way of reading the passage in which it occurs would lead me to the conclusion that it could not be a river. _drink up_ is synonymous with _drink off_, _drink to the dregs_. a child, taking medicine, is urged to "drink it up." the idea of the passage appears to be that each of the acts should go beyond the last preceding in extravagance:-- "woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself? woo't drink up eisell?" and then comes the climax--"eat a crocodile?" here is a regular succession of feats, the last but one of which is sufficiently wild, though not unheard of, and leading to the crowning extravagance. the notion of drinking up a river would be both unmeaning and out of place. samuel hickson. september . . * * * * * the collar of esses. i shall look with interest to the documents announced by dr. rock (vol. ii., p. .), which in his mind connect the collar of esses with the "sanctus, sanctus, sanctus" of the salisbury liturgy: but hitherto i have found nothing in any of the devices of livery collars that partakes of religious allusion. i am well aware that many of the collars of knighthood of modern europe, headed by the proud order of the saint esprit, display sacred emblems and devices. but the livery collars were perfectly distinct from collars of knighthood. the latter, indeed, did not exist until a subsequent age: and this was one of the most monstrous of the popular errors which i had to combat in my papers in the _gentleman's magazine_. a frenchman named favyn, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, published { } a folio book on orders of knighthood, and, giving to many of them an antiquity of several centuries,--often either fabulous or greatly exaggerated,--provided them all with imaginary collars, of which he exhibits engravings. m. favyn's book was republished in english, and his collars have been handed down from that time to this, in all our heraldic picture-books. this is one important warning which it is necessary to give any one who undertakes to investigate this question. from my own experience of the difficulty with which the mind is gradually disengaged from preconceived and prevailing notions on such points, which it has originally adopted as admitting of no question, i know it is necessary to provide that others should not view my arguments through a different medium to myself. and i cannot state too distinctly, even if i incur more than one repetition, that the collar of esses was not a badge of knighthood nor a badge of personal merit; but it was a collar of livery; and the idea typified by livery was feudal dependence, or what we now call party. the earliest livery collar i have traced is the french order of _cosses de geneste_, or broomcods: and the term "order", i beg to explain, is in its primary sense exactly equivalent to "livery:" it was used in france in that sense _before_ it came to be applied to orders of knighthood. whether there was any other collar of livery in france, or in other countries of europe, i have not hitherto ascertained; but i think it highly probable that there was. in england we have some slight glimpses of various collars, on which it would be too long here to enter; and it is enough to say, that there were only two of the king's livery, the collar of esses and the collar of roses and suns. the former was the collar of our lancastrian kings, the latter of those of the house of york. the collar of roses and suns had appendages of the heraldic design which was then called "the king's beast," which with edward iv. was the white lion of march, and with richard iii. the white boar. when henry vii. resumed the lancastrian collar of esses, he added to it the portcullis of beaufort. in the former lancastrian regions it had no pendant, except a plain or jewelled ring, usually of the trefoil form. all the pendant badges which i have enumerated belong to secular heraldry, as do the roses and suns which form the yorkist collar. the letter s is an emblem of a somewhat different kind; and, as it proves, more difficult to bring to a satisfactory solution than the symbols of heraldic blazon. as an initial it will bear many interpretations--it may be said, an indefinite number, for every new oedipus has some fresh conjecture to propose. and this brings me to render the account required by dr. rock of the reasons which led me to conclude that the letter s originated with the office of seneschallus or steward. i must still refer to the _gentleman's magazine_ for , or to the republication of my essays which i have already promised, for fuller details of the evidence i have collected; but its leading results, as affecting the origin of this device, may be stated as follows:--it is ascertained that the collar of esses was given by henry, earl of derby, afterwards king henry iv., during the life-time of his father, john of ghent, duke of lancaster. it also appears that the duke of lancaster himself gave a collar, which was worn in compliment to him by his nephew king richard ii. in a window of old st. paul's, near the duke's monument, his arms were in painted glass, accompanied with the collar of esses; which is presumptive proof that his collar was the same as that of his son, the earl of derby. if, then, the collar of esses was first given by this mighty duke, what would be _his_ meaning in the device? my conjecture is, that it was the initial of the title of that high office which, united to his vast estates, was a main source of his weight and influence in the country,--the office of steward of england. this, i admit, is a derivation less captivating in idea than another that has been suggested, viz. that s was the initial of _souveraine_ which is known to have been a motto subsequently used by henry iv., and which might be supposed to foreshadow the ambition with which the house of lancaster affected the crown. but the objection to this is, that the device is traced back earlier than the lancastrian usurpation can be supposed to have been in contemplation. it might still be the initial of _souveraine_, if john of ghent adopted it in allusion to his kingdom of castille: but, because he is supposed to have used it, and his son the earl of derby certainly used it, after the sovereignty of castille had been finally relinquished, but also before either he or his son can be supposed to have aimed at the sovereignty of their own country, therefore it is that, in the absence of any positive authority, i adhere at present to the opinion that the letter s was the initial of seneschallus or steward. john gough nichols. p.s.--allow me to put a query to the antiquaries of scotland. can any of them help me to the authority from which nich. upton derived his livery collar of the king of scotland "de gormettis fremalibus equorum?"--j.g.n. _collar of ss_ (vol. ii., pp. . . . .).--i am surprised that any doubt should have arisen about this term, which has evidently no _spiritual_ or _literary_ derivation from the initial letters of _sovereign_, _sanctus_, _seneschallus_, or any similar word. it is (as mr. ellacombe hints, p. .) purely descriptive of the _mechanical_ mode of forming the chain, not by round or closed links, but by hooks alternately deflected into the shape of _esses_; thus, [illustration: sideways capital letter s's]. whether chains so made (being more susceptible of ornament than other forms of links) may not have been in special use for particular { } purposes, i will not say; but i have no doubt that the _name_ means no more than that the links were in the shape of the letter s. c. * * * * * sirloin. several correspondents who treat of lancashire matters do not appear to be sufficiently careful to ascertain the correct designations of the places mentioned in their communications. in a late number mr. j.g. nichols gave some very necessary corrections to clericus cravensis respecting his note on the "capture of king henry vi." (vol. ii., p. .); and i have now to remind h.c. (vol. ii., p. .) that "haughton castle" ought to be "hoghton tower, near blackburn, lancashire." hoghton tower and whittle springs have of late been much resorted to by pic-nic parties from neighbouring towns; and from the interesting scenery and splendid prospects afforded by these localities, they richly deserve to be classed among the _lions_ of lancashire. it is not improbable that the far-famed beauties and rugged grandeur of "the horr" may, for the time, have rendered it impossible for h.c. to attend to orthography and the simple designation "hoghton tower," and hence the necessity for the present note. the popular tradition of the knighting of the sirloin has found its way into many publications of a local tendency, and, amongst the rest, into the graphic _traditions of lancashire_, by the late mr. roby, whose premature death in the orion steamer we have had so recently to deplore. mr. roby, however, is not disposed to treat the subject very seriously; for after stating that dr. morton had preached before the king on the duty of obedience, "inasmuch as it was rendered to the vicegerent of heaven, the high and mighty and puissant james, defender of the faith, and so forth," he adds:-- "after this comfortable and gracious doctrine, there was a rushbearing and a piping before the king in the great quadrangle. robin hood and maid marian, with the fool and hobby horse, were, doubtless, enacted to the jingling of morris-dancers and other profanities. these fooleries put the king into such good humour, that he was more witty in his speech than ordinary. some of these sayings have been recorded, and amongst the rest, _that well-known quibble which has been the origin of an absurd mistake, still current through the county, respecting the sirloin_. the occasion, as far as we have been able to gather, was thus. whilst he sat at meat, casting his eyes upon a noble _surloin_ at the lower end of the table, he cried out, 'bring hither that _surloin_, sirrah, for 'tis worthy a more honourable post, being, as i may say, not _sur_-loin, but _sir_-loin, the noblest joint of all;' which ridiculous and desperate pun raised the wisdom and reputation of england's solomon to the highest."--_traditions_, vol. ii. pp. - . most probably mr. roby's view of the matter is substantially correct; for although _tradition_ never fails to preserve the remembrance of transactions too trivial, or perhaps too indistinct for sober history to narrate, the _existence_ of a tradition does not necessarily _prove_, or even _require_, that the myth should have had its foundation in fact. had the circumstance really taken place as tradition prescribes, it would probably have obtained a greater permanency than oral recital; for during the festivities at hoghton tower, on the occasion of the visit of the "merrie monarch", there was present a gentleman after captain cuttle's own heart, who would most assuredly have made a note of it. this was nicholas assheton, esq., of downham, whose _journal_, as dr. whitaker well observes, furnishes an invaluable record of "our ancestors of the parish of whalley, not merely in the universal circumstances of birth, marriage, and death, but acting and suffering in their individual characters; their businesses, sports, bickerings, carousings, and, such as it was, religion." this worthy chronicler thus describes the king's visit:-- "august . ( ). the king came to preston; ther, at the crosse, mr. breares, the lawyer, made a speche, and the corporn presented him with a bowle; and then the king went to a banquet in the town-hall, and soe away to houghton: ther a speche made. hunted, and killed a stagg. wee attend on the lords' table. "august , houghton. the king hunting: a great companie: killed affore dinner a brace of staggs. verie hot: soe hee went in to dinner. wee attend the lords' table, abt four o'clock the king went downe to the allome mynes, and was ther an hower, and viewed them p[re]ciselie, and then went and shott at a stagg, and missed. then my lord compton had lodged two brace. the king shott again, and brake the thigh-bone. a dogg long in coming, and my lo. compton shott agn and killed him. late in to supper. "aug. , houghton. wee served the lords with biskett, wyne, and jellie. the bushopp of chester, dr. morton, p[re]ched before the king. to dinner. abt four o'clock, ther was a rush-bearing and piping affore them, affore the king in the middle court; then to supp. then abt ten or eleven o'clock, a maske of noblemen, knights, gentlemen, and courtiers, affore the king, in the middle round, in the garden. some speeches: of the rest, dancing the huckler, tom bedlo, and the cowp justice of peace. "aug. . the king went away abt twelve to lathome." the journalist who would note so trivial a circumstance as the heat of the weather, was not likely to omit the knighting of the sirloin, if it really occurred; and hence, in the absence of more positive proof, we are disposed to take mr. roby's view of the case, and treat it as one of the thousand and one pleasant stories which "rumour with her hundred tongues" ever circulates amongst the peasantry of a district where some royal visit, or { } other unexpected memorable occurrence, has taken place. but this is not the only "pleasant conceit" of which the "merrie monarch" is said to have delivered himself during his visit to hoghton tower. on the way from preston his attention was attracted by a huge boulder stone which lay in the roadside, and was still in existence not a century ago. "o' my saul," cried he, "that meikle stane would build a bra' chappin block for my lord provost. stop! there be letters thereon: unto what purport?" several voices recited the inscription:-- "_turn me o're, an i'le tel thee plaine._" "then turn it ower," said the monarch, and a long and laborious toil brought to light the following satisfactory intelligence:-- "_hot porritch makes hard cake soft,_ _so torne me o'er againe._" "my saul," said the king, "ye shall gang roun' to yere place again: these country gowks mauna ken the riddle without the labour." as a natural consequence, sir richard hoghton's "great companie" would require a correspondingly great quantity of provisions; and the tradition in the locality is, that the subsequent poverty of the family was owing to the enormous expenses incurred under this head; the following characteristic anecdote being usually cited in confirmation of the current opinion. during one of the hunting excursions the king is said to have left his attendants for a short time, in order to examine a numerous herd of horned cattle then grazing in what are now termed the "bullock pastures," most of which had probably been provided for the occasion. a day or two afterwards, being hunting in the same locality, he made inquiry respecting the cattle, and was told, in no good-humoured way, by a herdsman unacquainted with his person, that they were all gone to feast the beastly king and his gluttonous company. "by my saul," exclaimed the king, as he left the herdsman, "then 'tis e'en time for me to gang too:" and accordingly, on the following morning, he set out for lathom house. in conclusion, allow me to ask the correspondents to the "notes and queries," what is meant by "dancing the _huckler_, _tom bedlo_, and the _cowp justice of peace_?" t.t. wilkinson. burnley, lancashire, sept. . . _sirloin._-in nichols's _progresses of king james the first_, vol. iii. p. ., is the following note:-- "there is a laughable tradition, still generally current in lancashire, that our knight-making monarch, finding, it is presumed, no undubbed man worthy of the chivalric order, knighted at the banquet in hoghton tower, in the warmth of his honour-bestowing liberality, a loin of beef, the part ever since called the _sirloin_. those who would credit this story have the authority of dr. johnson to support them, among whose explanations of the word _sir_ in his dictionary, is that it is 'a title given to the loin of beef, which one of our kings knighted in a fit of good humour.' 'surloin,' says dr. pegge (_gent. mag._, vol. liv. p. .), 'is, i conceive, if not knighted by king james as is reported, compounded of the french _sur_, upon, and the english _loin_, for the sake of euphony, our particles not easily submitting to composition. in proof of this, the piece of beef so called grows upon the _loin_, and behind the small ribs of the animal.' dr. pegge is probably right, and yet the king, if he did not give the sirloin its name, might, notwithstanding, have indulged in a pun on the already coined word, the etymology of which was then, as now, as little regarded as the thing signified is well approved." john j. dredge. _sirloin._-whence then comes the epigram-- "our second _charles_, of fame faeete, on loin of beef did dine, he held his sword pleased o'er the meat, 'rise up thou famed sir-loin!'" was not a _loin_ of pork part of _james_ the first's proposed banquet for the devil? k.i.p.b.t. * * * * * riots of london. the reminiscences of your correspondent senex concerning the riots of london in the last century form an interesting addition to the records of those troubled times; but in all these matters correctness as to dates and facts are of immense importance. the omission of a date, or the narration of events out of their proper sequence, will sometimes create vast and most mischievous confusion in the mind of the reader. thus, from the order in which senex has stated his reminiscences, a reader unacquainted with the events of the time will be likely to assume that the "attack on the king's bench prison" and "the death of allen" arose out of, and formed part and parcel of, the gordon riots of , instead of one of the wilkes tumults of . by the way, if senex was "personally either an actor or spectator" in _this_ outbreak, he fully establishes his claim to the signature he adopts. i quite agree with him that monumental inscriptions are not always remarkable for their truth, and that the one in this case may possibly be somewhat tinged with popular prejudice or strong parental feeling; but, at all events, there can be but little doubt that poor allen, whether guilty or innocent, was shot by a soldier of the scotch regiment, be his name what it may; and further, the deed was not the effect of a random shot fired upon the mob,--for the young man was chased into a cow-house, and shot by his pursuer, away from the scene of conflict. { } noorthouck, who published his _history of london_, , thus speaks of the affair:-- "the next day, may . ( ,) produced a more fatal instance of rash violence against the people on account of their attachment to the popular prisoner (wilkes) in the king's bench. the parliament being to meet on that day to open the session, great numbers of the populace thronged about the prison from an expectation that mr. w. would on that occasion recover his liberty; and with an intention to conduct him to the house of commons. on being disappointed, they grew tumultuous, and an additional party of the third regiment of guards were sent for. some foolish paper had been stuck up against the prison wall, which a justice of the peace, then present, was not very wise in taking notice of, for when he took it down the mob insisted on having it from him, which he not regarding, the riot grew louder, the drums beat to arms, the proclamation was read, and while it was reading, some stones and bricks were thrown. william allen, a young man, son of mr. allen, keeper of the horse shoe inn in blackman street, and who, _as appeared afterwards, was merely a quiet spectator_, being pursued along with others, was unfortunately singled out and followed by three soldiers into a cow-house, and shot dead! a number of horse-grenadiers arrived, and these hostile measures having no tendency to disperse the crowd, which rather increased, the people were fired upon, five or six were killed, and about fifteen wounded; among which were two women, one of whom afterwards died in the hospital." the author adds,-- "the soldiers were next day publicly thanked by a letter from the secretary-at-war in his master's name. mclaughlin, who actually killed the inoffensive allen, was withdrawn from justice and could never be found, so that though his two associates donald maclaine and donald maclaury, with their commanding officer alexander murray, were proceeded against for the murder, the prosecution came to nothing and only contributed to heighten the general discontent." with respect to the monument in st. mary's, newington, i extract the following from the _oxford magazine_ for , p. .:-- "tuesday, july . a fine large marble tombstone, elegantly finished, was erected over the grave of mr. allen, junr., in the church-yard of st. mary, newington, surry. it had been placed twice before, but taken away on some disputed points. on the sides are the following inscriptions:-- _north side._ sacred to the memory of william allen, an englishman of unspotted life and amiable disposition, [who was inhumanely murdered near st. george's fields, the th day of may, , by the scottish detachment from the army.][ ] "his disconsolate parents, _inhabitants of this parish_, caused this tomb to be erected to an only son, lost to them and the world, in his twentieth year, as a monument of his virtues and their affections." at page . of the same volume is a copperplate representing the tomb. on one side appears a soldier leaning on his musket. on his cap is inscribed " rd regt.;" his right hand points to the tomb; and a label proceeding from his mouth represents him saying, "i have obtained a pension of a shilling a day only for putting an end to thy days." at the foot of the tomb is represented a large thistle, from the centre of which proceeds the words, "murder screened and rewarded." accompanying this print are, among other remarks, the following:-- "it was generally believed that he was m----d by one maclane, a scottish soldier of the d regt. the father prosecuted, ad----n undertook the defence of the soldier. the solicitor of the treasury, mr. nuthall, the deputy-solicitor, mr. francis, and mr. barlow of the crown office, attended the trial, and it is said, paid the whole expence for the prisoner out of the treasury, to the amount of a very considerable sum. the defence set up was, that young allen was not killed by maclane, but by another scottish soldier of the same regiment, one mclaughlin, who confessed it at the time to the justice, as the justice says, though he owns he took no one step against a person who declared himself a murderer in the most express terms.... the perfect innocence of the young man as to the charge of being concerned in any riot or tumult, is universally acknowledged, and a more general good character is nowhere to be found. this mclaughlin soon made his escape, therefore was a deserter as well as a murtherer, yet he has had a discharge sent him with an allowance of a shilling a day." maclane was most probably the "mac" alluded to by senex; but his account differs in so many respects from cotemporaneous records that i have ventured to trespass somewhat largely upon your space. i may add, that i by no means agree in the propriety of erasing a monumental inscription of more than eighty years' existence without some much stronger proof of its falsehood; for i quite coincide with the remarks of rev. d. lysons, in his allusion to this monument (_surrey_, p. .), that "allen was illegally killed, whether he was concerned in the riots or not, _as he was shot apart from the mob at a time when he might, if necessary, have been apprehended and brought to justice_." e.b. price. september . . the rev. dr. john free[ ] preached a sermon on the above occasion (which was printed) from the { } th chapter of leviticus, st and nd verses, "he that killeth a man," &c.; and he boldly and fearlessly denominates the act as a murder, and severely reprehends those in authority who screened and protected the murderer. the sermon is of sixteen pages, and there is an appendix of twenty-six pages, in which are detailed various depositions, and all the circumstances connected with the catastrophe. § n. your correspondent senex will find in malcolm's _anecdotes of london_ (vol. ii., p. .), "a summary of the trial of donald maclane, on tuesday last, at _guildford assizes_, for the murder of william allen, jun., on the th of may last, in st. george's fields." r. barker, jun. a long account of this lamentable transaction may be found in every magazine eighty-two years since. the riot took place in st. george's fields, may . , and originated in the cry of "wilkes and liberty." gilbert. [footnote : a foot-note informs us that "a white-wash is put over these lines between the crotchets."] [footnote : dr. free was of christ church, oxford, and perhaps some of your readers may know where his biography is.] * * * * * meaning of "gradely." (vol. ii., p. .) for the origin of this word, a.w.h. may refer to brocket's _glossary of north country words_, where he will find-- "gradely, decently, orderly. sax. _grad_, _grade,_ ordo. rather, mr. turner says, from sax. _gradlie_ upright; _gradely_ in lanc., he observes, is an adjective simplifying everything respectable. the lancashire people say, our _canny_ is nothing to it." the word itself is very familiar to me, as i have often received a scolding for some boyish, and therefore not very wise or orderly prank, in these terns:--"one would think you were not altogether gradely," or, as it was sometimes varied into, "you would make one believe you were not _right in your head;_" meaning, "one would think you had not common sense." h. eastwood. ecclesfield. _gradely._--this word is not only used in yorkshire, but also very much in lancashire, and the rest of the north of england. i have always understood it to mean "good," "jolly," "out and out." its primary meaning is "orderly, decently." (see richardson's _dictionary_.) the french have _grade_; it. and sp., _grado_; lat. _gradus_. aredjid kooez. _gradely._--this word, in use in lancashire and yorkshire, means _grey-headedly_, and denotes such wisdom as should belong to old age. a child is admonished to do a thing _gradely_, _i.e._ with the care and caution of a person of experience. e.h. _gradely._--in webster's and also in richardson's _dictionaries_ it is defined, "orderly, decently." it is a word in common use in lancashire and yorkshire, and also cheshire. a farmer will tell his men to do a thing gradely, that is, "properly, well." g.w.n. _gradely._--in carr's _craven dialect_ appears "_gradely_, decently." it is also used as an adjective, "decent, worthy, respectable." . tolerably well, "how isto?" "_gradely._" fr. _gré_, "satisfaction"; _à mon gré._ s.n. _gradely._--holloway[ ] derives _gradely_ from the anglo-saxon _grade_, a step, order, and defines its meaning, "decently." he, however, fixes its paternity in the neighbouring county of york. in collier's edition of _tim bobbin_ it is spelt _greadly_, and means "well, right, handsomely." "i connaw tell the _greadly_, boh i think its to tell fok by."--p. . "so i seete on restut meh, on drank meh pint o ele; boh as i'r naw _greadly_ sleekt, i cawd for another," &c.--p. . "for if sitch things must be done _greadly_ on os teh aught to bee," &c.--p. . mr. halliwell[ ] defined it, "decently, orderly, moderately," and gives a recent illustration of its use in a letter addressed to lord john russell, and distributed in the manchester free trade procession. it is dated from bury, and the writer says to his lordship,-- "dunnot be fyert, mon, but rapt eawt wi awt uts reef, un us berry foke'll elp yo as ard as we kon. wayn helps robdin, un wayn elp yo, if yoan set obeawt yur work _gradely_." _gradely._--i think this word is very nearly confined to lancashire. it is used both as an adjective and adverb. as an adjective, it expresses only a moderate degree of approbation or satisfaction; as an adverb, its general force is much greater. thus, used adjectively in such phrases as "a gradely man," "a gradely crop," &c., it is synonymous with "decent." in answer to the question, "how d'ye do?" it means, "pretty well," "tolerable, thank you." adverbially it is ( .) sometimes used in sense closely akin to that of the adjective. thus in "behave yourself gradely," it means "properly, decently." but ( .) most frequently it is precisely equivalent to "very;" as in the expressions "a gradely fine day," "a gradely good man"--which last is a term of praise by no means applicable to the mere gradely man, or, as such a one is most commonly described, a "gradely sort of man." though one might have preferred a saxon origin for it, yet in default of such it seems most natural to connect it with the latin _gradus_, especially as the word _grade_, from which it is immediately formed, has a handy english look about it, that would soon naturalise it amongst us. _gradely_ { } then would mean "orderly, regular, according to degree." the difference in intensity of meaning between the adjective and the adverb seems analogous to that between the adjectives proper, _regular_, &c., and the same words when used in the vulgar way as adverbs. g.p. [footnote : dictionary of provincialisms.] [footnote : dictionary of provincial words.] * * * * * pascal and his editor bossut. (vol. ii., p. .) although i am not afraid of the fate with which that unfortunate monk met, of whom it is said,-- "pro solo puncto caruit martinus asello," yet a blunder is a sad thing, especially when the person who is supposed to commit it attempts to correct others. now the printer of the "notes and queries" has introduced, in my short remark on pascal, the _very error_ which has led the author of the article in the _british quarterly review_, as well as many others, to mistake the bishop of meaux for the editor of pascal's works. once more, that unfortunate editor is bossut, not bossuet; and if it may appear to some that the difference of one letter in a name is not of much consequence, yet it is from an error as trifling as this that people of my acquaintance confound madame de staël with madame de staal-delauney, in spite of chronology and common sense. again, by the leave of the _christian remembrancer_ (vol. xiii. no. .), the elegant and accomplished scholar to whom we owe the only complete text of pascal's thoughts, is m. faugère, not fougère. all these are minutiæ; but the chapter of minutiæ is an important one in literary history. another remarkable question which i feel a wish to touch upon before closing this communication, is that of _impromptus_. your correspondent mr. singer (p. .) supposes malherbe the poet to have been "ready at an impromptu." but, to say the least, this is rather doubtful, unless the extemporaneous effusions of malherbe were of that class which voiture indulged in with so much success at the hôtel de rambouillet--sonnets and epigrams leisurely prepared for the purpose of being fired off in some fashionable "_ruelle_" of paris. malherbe is known to have been a very slow composer; he used to say to balzac that ten years' rest was necessary after the production of a hundred lines: and the author of the _christian socrates_, himself rather too fond of the file, after quoting this fact, adds in a letter to consart: "je n'ai pas besoin d'un si long repos après un si petit travail. mais aussi d'attendre de moi cette heureuse facilité qui fait produire des volumes à m. de scudéry, ce serait me connaître mal, et me faire une honneur que je ne mérite pas." malherbe certainly had a most happy influence on french poetry; he checked the ultra-classical school of ronsard, and began that work of reformation afterwards accomplished by boileau. as i have mentioned voiture's name, i shall add a very droll "_soi-disant_" impromptu of his, composed to ridicule mademoiselle chapelain, the sister of the poet. like her brother, she was most miserly in her habits, and not distinguished by that virtue which some say is next to godliness. "vous qui tenez incessamment cent amans dedans votre manche, tenez-les au moins proprement, et faites qu'elle soit plus blanche. "vous pouvez avecque raison, usant des droits de la victoire, mettre vos galants en prison; mais qu'elle ne soit pas si noire. "mon coeur, qui vous est bien dévot, et que vous réduisez en cendre, vous le tenez dans un cachot comme un prisonnier qu'on va pendre. "est-ce que, brûlant nuit et jour, je remplis ce lieu de fumée, et que le feu de mon amour en a fait une cheminée?" gustave masson. hadley, near barnet. * * * * * kongs-skugg-sio. (vol. ii., p. .) the author of the _kongs-skugg-sio_ is unknown, but the date of it has been pretty clearly made out by bishop finsen and others. (_v._ finsen, _dissertatio historica de speculo regali_, .) there is only one complete edition of this remarkable work, viz. that published at soröe in , in to. bishop finsen maintains the _kongs-skugg-sio_ to have been written from to . ericksen believes it not to be older than ; while suhm and eggert olafsen do not allow it to be older than the thirteenth century. rafn, and the modern editors of the _grönlands historiske mindesmærker_, p. ., vol. iii., accept the date given by finsen as the true one. from the text of the work we learn that it was written in norway, by a young man, a son of one of the leading and richest men there, who had been on terms of friendship with several kings, and had lived much, or at least had travelled much, in helgeland. rafn and others believe the work to have been written by nicolas, the son of sigurd hranesön, who was slain by the birkebeiners on the th of september, . their reasons for coming to this conclusion are given at full length in the work above quoted. { } the whole of the _kongs-skugg-sio_ is well worthy of being translated into english. it may, indeed, in many respects, be considered as the most remarkable work of the old northerns. edward charlton. newcastle-on-tyne, oct . . if f.q. will look into halfdan einersen's edition of _kongs-skugg-sio_, soröe, , the first time it was printed, he will find in the editor's preliminary remarks all that is known of the date and origin of the work. the author is unknown, but that he was a northman and lived in nummedal, in norway, and wrote somewhere between and , or, according to finsen, about ; and that he had in his youth been a courtier, and afterwards a royal councillor, we infer from the internal evidence the work itself affords us. _kongs-skugg-sio_, or the royal mirror, deserves to be better known, on account of the lively picture it gives us of the manners and customs of the north in the twelfth century; the state of the arts and the amount of science known to the educated. it abounds in sound morals, and its author might have sate at the feet of adam smith for the orthodoxy of his political economy. he is not entirely free from the credulity of his age and his account of ireland will match anything to be found in sir john mandeville. here we are told of an island on which nothing rots, of another on which nothing dies, of another on one-half of which devils alone reside, of wonderful monsters and animals, and of miracles the strangest ever wrought. he invents nothing. what he relates of ireland he states to have found in books, or to have derived from hearsay. the following extract must therefore be taken as a specimen of irish folk-lore in the twelfth century:-- "there is also one thing, he says, that will seem wonderful, and it happened in the town which is called kloena [cloyne]. in that town there is a church which is dedicated to the memory of a holy man called kiranus. and there it happened one sunday, as the people were at prayers and heard mass, that there descended gently from the air an anchor, as if it had been cast from a ship, for there was a cable to it, and the fluke of the anchor caught in the arch of the church-door, and all the people went out of church, and wondered, and looked up into the air after the cable. there they saw a ship floating above the cable, and men on board; and next they saw a man leap overboard, and dive down to the anchor to free it. he appeared, from the motions he made with both hands and feet, like a man swimming in the sea. and when he reached the anchor, he endeavoured to loosen it, when the people ran forwards to seize the man. but the church in which the anchor stuck fast had a bishop's chair in it. the bishop was present on this occasion, and forbade the people to hold the man, and said that he might be drowned just as if in water. and immediately he was set free he hastened up to the ship, and when he was on board, they hauled up the cable and disappeared from men's sight; but the anchor has since laid in the church as a testimony of this." corkscrew. * * * * * gold in california. (vol. ii., p. .) e.n.w. refers to shelvocke's voyage of , in which reference is made to the abundance of gold in the soil of california. in hakluyt's _voyages_, printed in - , will be found much earlier notices on this subject. california was first discovered in the time of the great marquis, as cortes was usually called. there are accounts of these early expeditions by francisco vasquez coronada, ferdinando alarchon, father marco de niça, and francisco de ulloa, who visited the country in and . it is stated by hakluyt that they were as far to the north as the th degree of latitude, which would be about one degree south of st. francisco. i am inclined, however, to believe from the narrations themselves that the spanish early discoveries did not extend much beyond the th degree of latitude, being little higher than the peninsular or lower california. in all these accounts, however, distinct mention is made of abundance of gold. in one of them it is stated that the natives used plates of gold to scrape the perspiration off their bodies! the most curious and distinct account, however, is that given in "the famous voyage of sir francis drake into the south sea, &c. in ", which will be found in the third volume of hakluyt, page ., _et seq_. i am tempted to make some extracts from this, and the more so because a very feasible claim might be based upon the transaction in favour of our sovereign lady the queen. at page . i find: "the th day of june ( ) being in degrees wards the pole arctike, we found the ayre so colde, that our men being grievously pinched with the same, complained of the extremitie thereof, and the further we went, the more the colde increased upon us. whereupon we thought it best for that time to seeke the land, and did so, finding it not mountainous, but low plaine land, till we came within thirty degrees toward the line. in which height it pleased god to send us into a faire and good baye, with a good winde to enter the same. in this baye wee anchored." a glance at the map will show that "in this baye" is now situated the famous city of san francisco. their doings in the bay are then narrated, and from page . i extract the following:-- "when they [the natives with their king] had satisfied themselves [with dancing, &c.] they made signes to our general [drake] to sit downe, to whom the king and divers others made several orations, or rather supplications, that hee would take their province or { } kingdom into his hand, and become their king, making signes that they would resigne unto him their right and title of the whole land, and become his subjects. in which, to persuade us the better, the king and the rest with our consent, and with great reverence, joyfully singing a song, did set the crowne upon his head, inriched his necke with all their chaines, and offred unto him many other things, honouring him by the name of hioh, adding thereulto, as it seemed, a sign of triumph; which thing our generall thought not meet to reject, because he knew not what honour and profit it might be to our countrey. whereupon, in the name and to the use of her majestie, he took the scepter, crowne, and dignitie of the said country into his hands, wishing that the riches and treasure thereof might so conveniently be transported to the inriching of her kingdom at home, as it aboundeth in ye same. "our generall called this countrey nova albion, and that for two causes; the one in respect of the white bankes and cliffes, which lie towards the sea, and the other, because it might have some affinities with our countrey in name, which sometime was so called." then comes the curious statement: "_there is no part of earth heere to be taken up, wherein there is not some probable show of gold or silver._" the narrative then goes on to state that formal possession was taken of the country by putting up a "monument" with "a piece of sixpence of current english money under the plate," &c. drake and the bold cavaliers of that day probably found that it paid better to rob the spaniard of the gold and silver ready made in the shape of "the acapulco galleon," or such like, than to sift the soil of the sacramento for its precious grains. at all events, the wonderful richness of the "earth" seems to have been completely overlooked or forgotten. so little was it suspected, until the americans acquired the country at the peace with mexico, that in the fourth volume of knight's _national cyclopædia_, published early in , in speaking of upper california, it is said, "very little mineral wealth has been met with"! a few months after, intelligence reached europe how much the reverse was the case. t.n. * * * * * the disputed passage prom the tempest. (vol. ii., pp. . .) when the learning and experience of such gentlemen as mr. singer and mr. collier fail to conclude a question, there is no higher appeal than to plain common sense, aided by the able arguments advanced on each side. under these circumstances, perhaps you will allow one who is neither learned nor experienced to offer a word or two by way of vote on the meaning of the passage in the _tempest_ cited by mr. singer. it appears to me that to do full justice to the question the passage should be quoted entire, which, with your permission, i will do. "_fer._ there be some sports are painful; and their labour delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness are nobly undergone; and most poor matters point to rich ends. this, my mean task would be as heavy to me as odious, but the mistress, which i serve, quickens what's dead and makes my labours pleasures: o, she is ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed, and he's compos'd of harshness. i must remove some thousands of these logs, and pile them up upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness had ne'er like executor. _i forget_; _but_ these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labour(s), most busy(l)est when i do it." the question appears to be whether "most busy" applies to "sweet thoughts" or to ferdinand, and whether the pronoun "it" refers to the act of _forgetting_ or to "labour(s);" and i must confess that, to me, the whole significancy of the passage depends upon the idea conveyed of the mind being "most busy" while the body is being exerted. every man with a spark of imagination must many a time have felt this. in the most essential particular, therefore, i think mr. singer is right in his correction but at the same time agreeing with mr. collier, that it is desirable not to interfere with the original text further than is absolutely necessary, i think the substitution of "labour" for "labours" is of questionable expediency. what is the use of the conjunction "but" if not to connect the excuse for the act of forgetting with the act itself? without intending to follow mr. collier through the course of his argument, i should like to notice one or two points. the usage of shakspeare's day admitted many variations from the stricter grammatical rules of our own; but no usage ever admitted such a sentence as this,--for though elliptically expressed, mr. collier treats it as a sentence,-- "most busy, least when i do it." this is neither grammar nor sense: and i persist in believing that shakspeare was able to construct an intelligible sentence according to rules as much recognised by custom then as now. but, indeed, does not mr. collier virtually admit that the text is inexplicable in his very attempt to explain it? he sums up by saying "that in fact, his toil is no toil, and that when he is 'most busy' he 'least does it,'" which is precisely the reverse of what the text says, if it express any meaning at all. i will agree with him in preferring the old text to any other text where it gives a perfect meaning; but to prefer it here, when the omission of a single letter produces an image at once { } noble and complete, would, to my mind, savour more of superstition than true worship. p.s. it should be observed that mr. collier's "least" is as much of an alteration of the original text as mr. singer's "busyest", the one adding and the other omittng a letter. the folio of , where it differs front the first folio, will hardly add to the authority of mr. collier himself. samuel hickson. oct. . . if one, who is but a charmed listener to shakspeare, may presume to offer an opinion to practised interpreters, i should suggest to mr. singer and mr. collier, another and a totally different reading of the passage in discussion by them from the exquisite opening scene of the d act of the _tempest_. there can be little doubt that "most busy" applies more poetically to _thoughts_ than to _labours_; and, in so much, mr. singer's reading is to be commended. but it is equally true that, by adhering to the early text, mr. collier's school of editing has restored force and beauty to many passages which had previously been outraged by fancied improvements, so that his unflinching support of the original word in this instance is also to be respected. but may not both be combined? i think they may, by understanding the passage in question as though a transposition had taken place between the words "least" and "when". "most busy _when least_ i do it," or,-- "most busy when least employed." forming just the sort of verbal antithesis of which the poet was so fond. an actual transposition of the words may have taken place through the fault of the early printers; but even if the _present order_ be preserved, still the _transposed sense_ is, i think, much less difficult than the forced and rather contradictory meaning contended for by mr. collier. has not _the pause_ in ferdinand's labour been hitherto too much overlooked? what is it that has induced him to _forget_ his task? is it not those delicious thoughts, most busy in the _pauses_ of labour, making those pauses still more refreshing and renovating? ferdinand says-- "i forget,"-- and then he adds, _by way of excuse_,-- "_but_ the sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours, most busy when least i do it." more busy in thought when idle, than in labour when employed. the cessation from labour was favourable to the thoughts that made it endurable. malone quarrelled with the word "but", for which he would have substituted "and" or "for". but in the _apologetic_ sense which i would confer upon the last two lines of ferdinand's speech, the word "but", at their commencement, becomes not only appropriate but necessary. a.e.b. leeds, october . . * * * * * "london bridge is broken down." (vol. ii., p. .) your correspondent t.s.d. does not remember to have seen that interesting old nursery ditty "london bridge is broken down" printed, or even referred to in print. for the edification then of all interested in the subject, i send you the following. the old song on "london bridge" is printed in ritson's _gammer gurton's garland_, and in halliwell's _nursery rhymes of england_; but both copies are very imperfect. there are also some fragments preserved in the _gentleman's magazine_ for september, (vol. xciii. p. .), and in the _mirror_ for november st of the same year. from these versions a tolerably perfect copy has been formed, and printed in a little work, for which i am answerable, entitled _nursery rhymes, with the tunes to which they are still sung in the nurseries of england_. but the whole ballad has probably been formed by many fresh additions in a long series of years, and is, perhaps, almost interminable when received in all its different versions. the correspondent of the _gentleman's magazine_ remarks, that "london bridge is broken down" is an old ballad which, more than seventy years previous, he had heard plaintively warbled by a lady who was born in the reign of charles ii., and who lived till nearly that of george ii. another correspondent to the same magazine, whose contribution, signed "d.," is inserted in the same volume (december, p. .), observes, that the ballad concerning london bridge formed, in his remembrance, part of a christmas carol, and commenced thus:-- "dame, get up and bake your pies, on christmas day in the morning." the requisition, he continues, goes on to the dame to prepare for the feast, and her answer is-- "london bridge is broken down, on christmas day in the morning." the inference always was, that until the bridge was rebuilt some stop would be put to the dame's christmas operations; but why the falling of a part of london bridge should form part of a christmas carol it is difficult to determine. a bristol correspondent, whose communication is inserted in that delightful volume the _chronicles of london bridge_ (by richard thomson, of the london institution), says,-- "about forty years ago, one moonlight night, in a street in bristol, his attention was attracted by dance { } and chorus of boys and girls, to which the words of this ballad gave measure. the breaking down of the bridge was announced as the dancers moved round in a circle, hand in hand; and the question, 'how shall we build it up again?' was chanted by the leader, whilst the rest stood still." concerning the antiquity of this ballad, a modern writer remarks,-- "if one might hazard a conjecture concerning it, we should refer its composition to some very ancient date, when, london bridge lying in ruins, the office of bridge master was vacant, and his power over the river lea (for it is doubtless that river which is celebrated in the chorus to this song) was for a while at an end. but this, although the words and melody of the verses are extremely simple, is all uncertain." if i might hazard another conjecture, i would refer it to the period when london bridge was the scene of a terrible contest between the danes and olave of norway. there is an animated description of this "battle of london bridge," which gave ample theme to the scandinavian scalds, in _snorro sturleson_; and, singularly enough, the first line is the same as that of our ditty:-- "london bridge is broken down; gold is won and bright renown; shields resounding, war horns sounding, hildur shouting in the din; arrows singing, mail-coats ringing, odin makes our olaf win." see laing's _heimskringla_, vol. ii. p. .; and bulwer's _harold_, vol. i. p. . the last-named work contains, in the notes, some excellent remarks upon the poetry of the danes, and its great influence upon our early national muse. edward f. rimbault. [t.s.d.'s inquiry respecting this once popular nursery song has brought us a host of communications; but none which contain the precise information upon the subject which is to be found in dr. rimbault's reply. toby, who kindly forwards the air to which it was sung, speaks of it as a "'lullaby song,' well-known in the southern part of kent and in lincolnshire." e.n.w. says it is printed in the collection of _nursery rhymes_ published by burns, and that he was born and bred in london, and that it was one of the nursery songs he was amused with. nocab et amicus, two old fellows of the society of antiquaries, do not doubt that it refers to some event preserved in history, especially, they add, as we have a faint recollection "of a note, touching such an event, in an almost used-up english history, which was read in our nursery by an elder brother, something less than three-fourths of a century since. and we have also a shrewd suspicion that the sequel of the song has reference to the reconstruction of that fabric at a later date." j.s.c. has sent us a copy of the song; and we are indebted for another copy to an english mother, who has accompanied it with notices of some other popular songs, notices which at some future opportunity we shall lay before our readers.--ed.] * * * * * arabic numerals. (vol. ii., pp. . .) i must apologise for adding anything to the already abundant articles which have from time to time appeared in "notes and queries" on this interesting subject; i shall therefore confine myself to a few brief remarks on the _form_ of each character, and, if possible, to show from what alphabets they are derived:-- . this most natural form of the first numeral is the first character in the indian, arabic, syriac, and roman systems. . this appears to be formed from the hebrew [hebrew: b], which, in the syriac, assumes nearly the form of our ; the indian character is identical, but arranged vertically instead of horizontally. . this is clearly derived from the indian and arabic forms, the position being altered, and the vertical stroke omitted. . this character is found as the fourth letter in the phoenician and ancient hebrew alphabets: the indian is not very dissimilar. . and . these bear a great resemblance to the syriac heth and vau (a hook). when erected, the estrangelo-syriac vau is precisely the form of our . . this figure is derived from the hebrew [hebrew: z], zayin, which in the estrangelo-syriac is merely a reversed. . this figure is merely a rounded form of the samaritan kheth (a travelling scrip, with a string tied round thus, [character]). the estrangelo-syriac [character] also much resembles it. . identical with the indian and arabic. . nothing; vacuity. it probably means the orb or _boundary_ of the earth.-- . is the first boundary, [hebrew: tchwm], tekum, [greek: deka], decem, "terminus." something more yet remains to be said, i think, on the _names_ of the letters. cf. "table of alphabets" in gesenius, _lex_., ed. tregelles, and "notes and queries," vol. i., p. . e. s. t. _arabic numerals._--with regard to the subject of arabic numerals, and the instance at castleacre (vol. ii., pp. . .), i think i may safely say that no archæologist of the present day would allow, after seeing the original, that it was of the date , even if it were not so certain that these numerals were not in use at that time. i fear "the acumen of dr. murray" was wasted on the occasion referred to in mr. bloom's work. it is a very far-fetched idea, that the visitor must cross himself to discover the meaning of the figures; not to mention the inconvenience, i might say impossibility, { } of reading them after he had turned his back upon them,--the position required to bring them into the order . it is also extremely improbable that so obscure a part of the building should be chosen for erecting the date of the foundation; nor is it likely that so important a record would be merely impressed on the plaister, liable to destruction at any time. read in the most natural way, it makes : but i much doubt its being a date at all. the upper figure resembles a roman i; and this, with the o beneath, may have been a mason's initials at some time when the plaister was renewed: for that the figures are at least sixty years later than the supposed date, mr. bloom confesses, the church not having been built until then. x.p.m. * * * * * caxton's printing-office. (vol. ii., pp. . . . . .) i confess, after having read mr. j.g. nichols' critique in a recent number of the "notes and queries," relative to the locality of the first printing-press erected by caxton in this country, i am not yet convinced that it was not within the abbey of westminster. from mr. nichols' own statements, i find that caxton himself says his books were "imprynted" by him in the abbey; to this, however, mr. nichols replies by way of objection, "that caxton does not say in the church of the abbey." on the above words of caxton "in the abbey of westminster," mr. c. knight, in his excellent biography of the old printer, observes, "they leave no doubt that beneath the actual roof of some portion of the abbey he carried on his art." stow says "that caxton was the first that carried on his art in the abbey." dugdale, in his _monasticon_, speaking of caxton, says, "he erected his office in one of the side chapels of the abbey." mr. nichols, quoting from stow, also informs us that printing-presses were, soon after the introduction of the art, erected in the abbey of st. albans, st. augustin at canterbury, and other monasteries; he also informs us that the scriptorium of the monasteries had ever been the manufactory of books, and these places it is well known formed a portion of the abbeys themselves, and were not in detached buildings similar to the almonry at westminster, which was situated some two or three hundred yards distant from the abbey. i think it very likely, when the press was to supersede the pen in the work of book-making, that its capabilities would be first tried in the very place which had been used for the object it was designed to accomplish. this idea seems to be confirmed by the tradition that a printer's office has ever been called a chapel, a fact which is beautifully alluded to by mr. creevy in his poem entitled _the press_:-- "yet stands the chapel in yon gothic shrine, where wrought the father of our english line, our art was hail'd from kingdoms far abroad, and cherish'd in the hallow'd house of god; from which we learn the homage it received and how our sires its heavenly birth believed. each printer hence, howe'er unblest his walls, e'en to this day, his house a chapel calls." mr. nichols acknowledges that what he calls a vulgar error was current and popular, that in some part of the abbey caxton did erect his press, yet we are expected to submit to the almost unsupported dictum of that gentleman, and renounce altogether the old and almost universal idea. with respect to his alarm that the _vulgar error_ is about to be further propagated by an engraving, wherein the mistaken draftsman has deliberately represented the printers at work within the consecrated walls of the church itself, i may be permitted to say, on behalf of the painter, that he has erected his press not even on the basement of one of the abbey chapels, but in an upper story, a beautiful screen separating the workplace from the more sacred part of the building. john cropp. * * * * * cold harbour. (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .) i beg leave to inform you that yorkshire has its "cold harbour," and for the origin of the term, i subjoin a communication sent me by my father:-- "when a youngster, i was a great seeker for etymologies. a solitary farm-house and demesne were pointed out to me, the locality of which was termed cad, or cudhaber, or cudharber. conjectures, near akin to those now presented, occurred to me. i was invited to inspect the locality. i dined with the old yeoman (aged about eighty) who occupied the farm. he gave me the etymology. in his earlier days he had come to this farm; a house was not built, yet he was compelled by circumstances to bring over part of his farming implements, &c. he, with his men-servants, had no other shelter at the time than a dilapidated barn. when they assembled to eat their cold provisions, the farmer cried out, 'hegh lads, but there's cauld (or caud) harbour here.' the spot had no name previously. the rustics were amused by the farmer's saying. hence the locality was termed by them cold harbour, corrupted, cadharber, and the etymon remains to this day. this information put an end to my enquiries about cold harbour." c.m.j. _cold harbour._--the goldfinches which have remained among the valleys of the brighton downs during the winter are called, says mr. { } knox, by the catchers, "harbour birds, meaning that they have sojourned or harboured, as the local expression is, here during the season." does not this, with the fact of a place in pembroke being called cold blow, added to the many places with the prefix cold, tend to confirm the supposition that the numerous cold harbours were places of protection against the winter winds? a.c. with regard to cold harbour (supposed "coluber," which is by no means satisfactory), it may be worth observing that cold is a common prefix: thus there is cold ashton, cold coats, cold or little higham, cold norton, cold overton, cold waltham, cold st. aldwins, --coats, --meere, --well, --stream, and several _cole_, &c. cold peak is a hill near kendall. the latter suggests to me a _query_ to genealogists. was the old baronial name of peche, pecche, of norman origin as in the battle roll? from the fact of the peak of derby having been pech-e _antè_ , i think this surname must have been local, though it soon became soft, as appears from the rebus of the lullingstone family, a peach with the letter é on it. i do not think that _k_ is formed to similar words in domesday record. caldecote, a name of several places, may require explanation. aug. camb. i beg to give you the localities of two "cold harbours:" one on the road from uxbridge to amersham, ½ miles from london (see ordnance map .); the other on the road from chelmsford to epping, ½ miles from the former place (see ordnance map no. . n.w.). diss. there are several cold harbours in sussex, in dallington, chiddingly, wivelsfield, one or two in worth, one s.w. of bignor, one n.e. of hurst green, and there may be more. in surrey there is one in the parish of bletchingley. william figg. there is a farm called cold harbour, near st. albans, herts. s.a. after the numerous and almost tedious theories concerning cold harbours, particularly the "forlorn hope" of the _coal depôts_ in london and elsewhere, permit me to suggest one of almost universal application. respecting _here-burh_, an inland station for an army, in the same sense as a "harbour" for ships on the sea-coast, a word still sufficiently familiar and intelligible, the question seems to be settled; and the french "auberge" for an inn has been used as an illustration, though the first syllable may be doubtful. the principal difficulty appears to consist in the prefix "cold;" for why, it may be asked, should a bleak and "cold" situation be selected as a "harbour"? the fact probably is that this spelling, however common, is a corruption for "col.". colerna, in wiltshire, fortunately retains the original orthography, and in anglo-saxon literally signifies the habitation or settlement of a colony; though in some topographical works we are told that it was formerly written "cold horne," and that it derives its name from its bleak situation. this, however, is a mere coincidence; for some of these harbours are in warm sheltered situations. sir r.c. hoare was right when he observed, that these "harbours" were generally near some roman road or roman settlement. it is therefore wonderful that it should not at once occur to every one conversant with the roman occupation of this island, that all these "col-harbours" mark the settlements, farms, outposts, or garrisons of the roman colonies planted here. j.i. oxford. _cold harbour._--your correspondent asks whether there is a "cold harbour" in every county, &c. i think it probable, though it may take some time to catalogue them all. there are so many in some counties, that ten on an average for each would in all likelihood fall infinitely short of the number. the roman colonists must have formed settlements in all directions during their long occupation of so favourite a spot as britain. "cold harbour farm" is a very frequent denomination of insulated spots cultivated from time immemorial. these are not always found in _cold_ situations. nothing is more common than to add a final _d_, unnecessarily, to a word or syllable, particularly in compound words. instances will occur to every reader, which it would be tedious to enumerate. j.i. after reading the foregoing communications on the subject of the much-disputed etymology of cold harbour, our readers will probably agree with us in thinking the following note, from a very distinguished saxon scholar, offers a most satisfactory solution of the question:-- with reference to the note of g.b.h. (vol. i, p. .) as well as to the very elaborate letter in the "proceedings of the society of antiquaries" (the paper in the _archæologia_ i have not seen), i would humbly suggest the possibility, that the word _cold_ or _cole_ may originally have been the anglo-saxon col, and the entire expression have designated _a cool summer residence_ by a river's side or on an eminence; such localities, in short, as are described in the "proceedings" as bearing the name of cold harbour. the denomination appears to me evidently the modern english for the a.-s. col hereberg. colburn, colebrook, coldstream, are, no doubt, analagous denominations. [greek: ph.] * * * * * { } st. uncumber. (vol. ii., p. .) pwcca, after quoting from michael wodde's _dialogue or familiar talke_ the passage in which he says, "if a wife were weary of her husband _she offred otes at paules_ in london to st. uncumber," asks "who st. uncumber was?" st. uncumber was one of those popular saints whose names are not to be found in any calendar, and whose histories are now only to be learned from the occasional allusions to them to be met with in our early writers,--allusions which it is most desirable should be recorded in "notes and queries." the following cases, in which mention is made of this saint, are therefore noted, although they do not throw much light on the history of st. uncumber. the first is from harsenet's _discoverie, &c._, p.l .: "and the commending himselfe to the tuition of s. uncumber, or els our blessed lady." the second is from bale's _interlude concerning the three laws of nature, moses, and christ_: "if ye cannot slepe, but slumber, geve _otes_ unto saynt uncumber, and beanes in a certen number unto saynt blase and saynt blythe." i will take an early opportunity of noting some similar allusions to sir john shorne, st. withold, &c. william j. thoms. * * * * * handfasting. (vol. ii., p. .) jarltzbrg, in noticing this custom, says that the jews seem to have had a similar one, which perhaps they borrowed from the neighbouring nations; at least the connexion formed by the prophet hosea (chap. iii., v. .) bears strong resemblance to _handfasting_. the rd verse in hosea, as well as the nd, should i think be referred to. they are both as follows: "so i bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: and i said unto her, thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man; so will i also be for thee." now by consulting our most learned commentators upon the meaning which they put upon these two verses in connexion with each other, i cannot think that the analogy of jarltzberg will be found correct. in allusion to verse , "so i bought her," &c., bishop horsley says: "this was not a payment in the shape of a dowry; for the woman was his property, if he thought fit to claim her, _by virtue of the marriage already had_; but it was a present supply of her necessary wants, by which he acknowledged her as his wife, and engaged to furnish her with alimony, not ample indeed, but suitable to the recluse life which he prescribed to her." and in allusion, in verse ., to the words "thou shall abide for me many days," dr. pocock thus explains the context: "that is, thou shalt stay sequestered, and as in a state of widowhood, till the time come that i shall be fully reconciled to thee, and shall see fit again to receive thee to the privileges of a wife." both commentators are here evidently alluding to what occurs after a marriage has actually taken place. handfasting takes place before a marriage is consummated. a chapter upon marriage contracts and ceremonies would form an important and amusing piece of history. i have not picart's _religious ceremonies_ at hand, but if i mistake not he refers to many. in marco polo's _travels_, i find the following singular, and to a christian mind disgusting, custom. it is related in section l .:-- "these twenty days journey ended, having passed over the province of thibet, we met with cities and many villages, in which, through the blindness of idolatry, a wicked custom is used; for no man there marrieth a wife that is a virgin; whereupon, when travellers and strangers, coming from other places, pass through this country and pitch their pavilions, the women of that place having marriageable daughters, bring them unto strangers, desiring them to take them and enjoy their company as long as they remain there. thus the handsomest are chosen, and the rest return home sorrowful, and when they depart, they are not suffered to carry any away with them, but faithfully restore them to their parents. the maiden also requireth some toy or small present of him who hath deflowered her, which she may show as an argument and proof of her condition; and she that hath been loved and abused of most men, and shall have many such favours and toys to show to her wooers, is accounted more noble, and may on that account be advantageously married; and when she would appear most honourably dressed, she hangs all her lovers' favours about her neck, and the more acceptable she was to many, so much the more honour she receives from her countrymen. but when they are once married, they are no more suffered to converse with strange men, and men of this country are very cautious never to offend one another in this matter." j.m.g. worcester, oct. . the curious subject brought forward by j.m.g. under this title, and enlarged upon by jarltzberg (vol. ii., p. .), leads me to trouble you with this in addition. elizabeth mure, according to the _history and descent of the house of rowallane_ by sir william mure, was made choyce of, for her excellent beautie and rare virtues, by king robert ii., to be queen of scotland; and if their union may be considered to illustrate in any way the singular custom of _handfasting_, it will be seen { } from the following extract that they were also married by a priest:-- "mr. johne lermonth, chapline to alexander archbishop of st. andrews, hath left upon record in a deduction of the descent of the house of rowallane collected by him at the command of the said archbishop (whose interest in the familie is to be spoken of heirafter), that robert, great stewart of scotland, having taken away the said elizabeth mure, drew to sir adam her father ane instrument that he should take her to his lawful wife, (which myself hath seen saith the collector), as also ane testimonie written in latine by roger mc adame, priest of our ladie marie's chapel (in kyle), that the said roger maried robert and elizabeth forsds. but yrafter durring the great troubles in the reign of king david bruce, to whom the earl of rosse continued long a great enemie, at perswasion of some of the great ones of the time, the bishop of glasgow, william rae by name, gave way that the sd marriage should be abrogate by transaction, which both the chief instrument, the lord duglasse, the bishope, and in all likelihood the great stewart himself, repented ever hereafter. the lord yester snawdoune, named gifford, got to wife the sd elizabeth, and the earl of rosse's daughter was maried to the great stewart, which lord yester and eupheme, daughter to the earle of rosse, departing near to one time, the great stewart, being then king, openly acknowledged the first mariage, and invited home elizabeth mure to his lawfull bed, whose children shortlie yrafter the nobility did sweare in parliament to maintaine in the right of succession to the croune as the only lawfull heirs yrof." "in these harder times shee bare to him robert (named johne fairneyear), after earle of carrick, who succeeded to the croune; robert, after earl of fyffe and maneteeth, and governour; and alexander, after earle of buchane, lord badyenoch; and daughters, the eldest maried to johne dumbar, brother to the earl of march, after earle of murray, and the second to johne the whyt lyon, progenitor of the house of glames, now earle of kinghorn." so much for the marriage of elizabeth mure, as given by the historian of the house of rowallane. can any of your readers inform me whether elizabeth had any issue by her second husband, lord yester snawdoune? if so, there would be a relationship between queen victoria and the hays, marquesses of tweeddale, and the brouns, baronets of colstoun. one of the latter family received as a dowry with a daughter of one of the lords yester the celebrated warlock pear, said to have been enchanted by the necromancer hugo de gifford, who died in , and which is now nearly six centuries old. in the _lady of the lake_, james fitz-james is styled by scott "snawdon's knight;" but why or wherefore does not appear, unless queen elizabeth mure had issue by gifford. robert ii. was one of three scottish kings in succession who married the daughters of their own subjects, and those only of the degree of knights; namely, david bruce, who married margaret, daughter of sir john loggie; robert ii., who married elizabeth, daughter of sir adam mure; and robert iii., who married annabell, daughter to sir john drummond of stobhall. scotus. * * * * * gray's elegy.--droning.--dodsley's poems. (vol. ii., pp. . .) i only recur to the subject of gray's elegy to remark, that although your correspondents, a hermit at hampstead, and w.s., have given me a good deal of information, for which i thank them, they have not answered either of my queries. i never doubted as to the true reading of the third line of the second stanza of gray's elegy, but merely remarked that in one place the penultimate word was printed _drony_, and other authorities _droning_. with reference to this point, what i wanted to know was merely, whether, in any good annotated edition of the poem, it had been stated that when dodsley printed it in his _collection of poems_, , vol. iv., the epithet applied to flight was _drony_, and not _droning_? i dare say the point has not escaped notice; but if it have, the fact is just worth observation. next, any doubt is not at all cleared up respecting the date of publication of dodsley's collection. the rev. j. mitford, in his aldine edition of gray, says (p. xxxiii.) that the first three volumes came out in , whereas my copy of "the _second edition_" bears the date of . is that the true date, or do editions vary? if the second edition came out in , what was the date of the first edition? i only put this last question because, as most people are aware, some poems of note originally appeared in dodsley's _collection of poems_, and it is material to ascertain the real year when they first came from the press. the hermit of holyport. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _zündnadel guns_ (vol. ii., p. .).--jarltzberg "would like to know when and by whom they were invented, and their mechanism." to describe mechanism without diagrams is both tedious and difficult; but i shall be happy to show jarltzbrg one of them in my possession, if he will favour me with a call,--for which purpose i inclose my address, to be had at your office. the principle is, to load at the breach, and the cartridge contains the priming, which is ignited by the action of a pin striking against it. it is one of the worst of many methods of loading at the breach; and the same principle was patented in england by a.a. moser, a german, more than ten years ago. { } it has already received the attention of our ordnance department, and has been tried at woolwich. the letter to which jartzberg refers, dated berlin, sept. ., merely shows the extreme ignorance of the writer on such subjects, as the range he mentions has nothing whatever to do with the principle or mechanism of the gun in question. he ought also, before he expressed himself so strongly, to have known, that the extreme range of an english percussion musket is nearer _one mile_ than _ yards_ (which latter distance, he says, they do not exceed) and he would not have been so astonished at the range of the zündnadel guns being yards, if he had seen, as i have, a plain english two-grooved rifle range yards, with a proper elevation for the distance, and a conical projectile instead of a ball. the form and weight of the projectile fired from rifle, at a considerable elevation, say º to º, with sufficient charge of gunpowder, is the cause of the range and of the accuracy, and has nothing whatever to do with the construction or means by which it is fired, whether flint or percussion. the discussion of this subject is probably unsuited to your publication, or i could have considerably enlarged this communication. i will, however, simply add, that the zündnadel is very liable to get out of order, much exposed to wet, and that it does not in reality possess any of the wonderful advantages that have been ascribed to it, except a facility of loading, _while clean_, which is more than counterbalanced by its defects. henry wilkinson. _thomson of esholt_ (vol. ii., p. .).--dr. whitaker tells us (ducatus, ii. .) that the dissolved priory of essheholt was, in the st edw. vi., granted to henry thompson, gent., one of the king's _gens d'armes_ at bologne. about a century afterwards the estate passed to the more ancient and distinguished yorkshire family of calverley, by the marriage of the daughter and heir of henry thompson, esq., with sir walter calverley. if your correspondent jaytee consult sims's useful _index to the pedigrees and arms contained in the genealogical mss. in the british museum_, he will be referred to several pedigrees of the family of thomson of esholt. of numerous respectable families of the name of thompson seated in the neighbourhood of york, the common ancestor seems to have been a james thompson of thornton in pickering lythe, who flourished in the reign of elizabeth. (vice poulson's _holderess_, vol. ii. p. .) all these families bear the arms described by your correspondent, but _without_ the bend sinister. the crest they use is also nearly the same, viz., an armed arm, embowed, grasping a broken tilting spear. no general collection of yorkshire genealogies has been published. information as to the pedigrees of yorkshire families must be sought for in the well-known topographical works of thoresby whitaker, hunter, &c., or in the ms. collections of torre, hopkinson, &c. in the _monasticon eboracense_, by john burton m.d., fol., york, , under the head of "eschewolde, essold, esscholt, or esholt, in ayredale in the deanry of the ainsty," at pp. . and ., your correspondent jaytee will find that the site of this priory was granted, edward vi., , to henry thompson, one of the king's _gens d'armes_, at boleyn; who, by helen, daughter of laurence townley, had a natural son called william, living in who, assuming his father's surname, and marrying dorothy, daughter of christopher anderson of lostock in com. lanc. prothonotary became the ancestor of those families of the thompsons now living in and near york. he may see also burke's _landed gentry_, article "say of tilney, co. norfolk," in the supplement. _minar's books of antiquities_ (vol. i., p. .).--a.n. inquires who is intended by cusa in his book _de docta ignorantia_, cap. vii., where he quotes "minar in his _books of antiquities_." upon looking into the passage referred to, i remembered the following observation by a learned writer now living, which will doubtless guide your correspondent to the author intended:-- "on the subject of the imperfect views concerning the deity, entertained by the ancient philosophical sects, i would especially refer to that most able and elaborate investigation of them, meiner's very interesting tract, _de vero deo._"--(an elementary course of theological lectures, delivered in bristol college, - , by the rev. w.d. conybeare, now the very rev. the dean of llandaff. ) a.n. will not be surprised at cusa using the term "antiquitates" instead of "de vero deo," if he will compare his expressions on the same subject in his book _de venatione sapientiæ_, e.g.:-- "vides nunc æternum illud _antiquissimum_ in eo campo (scilicet non aliud) dulcissima venatione quæri posse. attingis enim _antiquissimum_ trinum et unum."--cap. xiv. t.j. _smoke money_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--sir roger twisden (_historical vindication of the church of england_, chap. iv. p. .) observes-- "king henry, ¾, took them (peter's pence) so absolutely away, as though queen mary repealed that act, and paulus quartus dealt earnestly with her agents in rome for restoring the use of them, yet i cannot find that they were ever gathered and sent thither during her time but where some monasteries did answer them to the pope, and did therefore collect the tax, that in process of time became, as by custom, paid to that house which being after derived to the crown, and from thence, by grant, to others, with as ample { } profits as the religious persons did possess them, i conceive they are to this day paid as an appendant to the said manors, by the name of _smoke money_. j.b. _smoke money_ (vol. ii., pp. , .).--i do not know whether any additional information on _smoke money_ is required but the following extracts may be interesting to your querist:-- "at this daie the bp. of elie hath out of everie parish in cambridgeshire a certeine tribute called elie farthings, or _smoke farthings_, which the church-wardens do levie, according to the number of houses or else of chimneys that be in a parish."--mss, baker, xxix. . the date of this impost is given in the next extract:-- "by the records of the church of elie, it appears that in the year , every person who kept a fire in the several parishes within that diocese was obliged to pay one farthing yearly to the altar of s. peter, in the same cathedral."--mss. bowtell, downing coll. library. this tax was paid in , but how much later i cannot say. the readers of macaulay will be familiar with the term "heart-money" (_history_, vol. i. p. .), and the amusing illustrations he produces, from the ballads of the day, of the extreme unpopularity of the tax on chimneys, and the hatred in which the "chimney man" was held (i. .) but this was a different impost frown that spoken of above, and paid to the king, not to the cathedral. it was collected for the last time in , having been first levied in , when, hume tells us, the king's debts had become so-- "intolerable, that the commons were constrained to vote him an extraordinary supply of , , l., to be levied by eighteen months' assessment, and finding upon enquiry that the several branches of the revenue fell much short of the sums they expected, they at last, after much delay, voted _a new imposition of s. on each hearth_, and this tax they settled on the king during his life." the rev. giles moore, rector of horstead keynes, sussex, notes in his _diary_ (published by the sussex archæological society),-- august , .--i payed fore half yeares earth-money s. other notices of this payment may be supplied by other correspondents. e. venables. _holland land_ (vol. ii., p. .).--holland means _hole_ or _hollow land_--land lower than the level of contiguous water, and protected by _dykes_. so _holland_, one of the united provinces; so _holland_, the southern division of lincolnshire. c. _caconac, caconacquerie_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this is a misprint of yours, or a misspelling of your correspondents. the word is _cacouac, cacouacquerie_. it was a cant word used by voltaire and his correspondents to signify an _unbeliever_ in christianity, and was, i think, borrowed from the name of some indian tribe supposed to be in a natural state of freedom and exemption from prejudice. c. _discourse of national excellencies of england_ (vol. ii., p. .).--_a discourse of the national excellencies of england_ was not written by sir rob. howard, but by richard hawkins, whose name appears at length in the title-page to some copies; others have the initials only. p.b. _saffron bags_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in almost all old works on materia medica the use of these bags is mentioned. quincy, in his _dispensatory_, , p. ., says:-- "some prescribe it (saffron) to be worn with camphire in a bag at the pit of the stomach for _melancholy_; and others affirm that, so used, it will cure agues." ray observes (_cat. plant. angl._, , p. .): "itemque in sacculo suspenditur sub mento vel gutture ad dissipandam sc. materiam putridam et venenatam, ne ibidem stagnans, inflammationen excitet, ægrotumque strangulet." the origin of the "saffron bag", is probably to be explained by the strong aromatic odour of saffron, and the high esteem in which it was once held as a medicine; though now it is used chiefly as a colouring ingredient and by certain elderly ladies, with antiquated notions, as a specific for "striking out" the measles in their grandchildren. [hebrew: t. a.] _milton's "penseroso"_ (vol. ii, p. .).--h.a.b. desires to understand the couplet-- "and love the high embower'd roof, with antique pillars massy proof." he is puzzled whether to consider "proof" an adjective belonging to "pillars," or a substantive in apposition with it. all the commentators seem to have passed the line without observation. i am almost afraid to suggest that we should read "pillars'" in the genitive plural, "proof" being taken in the sense of _established strength_. before dismissing this conjecture, i have taken the pains to examine every one of the twenty-four other passages in which milton has used the word "proof." i find that it occurs only four times as an adjective in all of which it is followed by something dependent upon it. in three of than thus: "---- not proof against temptation."--_par. l._ ix. . "---- proof 'gainst all assaults."--_ib._ x. . "proof against all temptation."--_par. r._ iv. . in the fourth, which is a little different, thus: "---- left some part not proof enough such object to sustain." _par. l._ viii. s . { } as milton, therefore, has in no other place used "proof" as an adjective without something attached to it, i feel assured that he did not use it as an adjective in the passage in question. j.s.w. stockwell, sept. . _achilles and the tortoise_ (vol. ii., p. l .).--[greek: idiôtês] will find the paradox of "achilles and the tortoise" explained by mr. mansel of st. john's college, oxon, in a note to his late edition of aldrich's _logic_ ( , p. .). he there shows that the fallacy is a material one: being a false assumption of the major premise, viz., that the sum of an infinite series is itself always infinite (whereas it may be finite). mansel refers to plato, _parmenid._ p. . [when will editors learn to specify the editions which they use?] aristot. _soph. eleuctr._ . . . ., and cousin, _nouveaux fragments, zénon d'elée._ t.e.l.l. _stepony ale_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the extract from chamberlayne certainly refers to ale brewed at _stepney._ in playford's curious collection of old popular tunes, the _english dancing master_, , is one called "stepney ale and cakes;" and in the works of tom brown and ned ward, other allusions to the same are to be found. edward f. rimbault. _north side of churchyards_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reference to the north region being "the devoted region of satan and his hosts," milton seems to have recognised the doctrine when he says-- "at last, far in the horizon to the north appear'd from skirt to skirt a fiery region, stretched in battailous aspect, and nearer view bristled with upright beams innumerable of rigid spears, and helmets throng'd, and shields various, with boastful argument pourtray'd, the banded powers of satan hasting on with furious expedition."--book vi. f.e. _welsh money_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it is not known that the welsh princes ever coined any money: none such has ever been discovered. if they ever coined any, it is almost impossible that it should all have disappeared. griffin. _wormwood_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the french gourmands have two sorts of liqueur flavoured with wormwood; crême d'absinthe, and vermouthe. in the _almanac des gourmands_ there is a pretty account of the latter, called the _coup d'après._ in the south of france, i think, they say it is the fashion to have a glass brought in towards the end of the repast by girls to refit the stomach. c.b. _puzzling epitaph_ (vol. ii., p. .).--j. bdn has, i think, not given this epitaph quite correctly. the following is as it appeared in the _times_, th sept., (copied from the _mirror_). it is stated to be in a churchyard in germany:-- "o quid tua te be bis bia abit ra ra ra es et in ram ram ram i i mox eris quod ego nunc." the reading is-- "o superbe quid superbis? tua superbia te superabit. terra es et in terram ibis. mox eris quod ego nunc." e.b. price. october . . [the first two lines of this epitaph, and many similar specimens of learned trifling, will be found in _les bigarrures et touches de seigneur des accords,_ cap. iii., _autre façons de rebus_, p. ., ed. .] _umbrella_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--in the collection of pictures at woburn abbey is a full-length portrait of the beautiful duchess of bedford, who afterwards married the earl of jersey, painted about the year . she is represented as attended by a black servant, who holds an open umbrella to shade her. cowper's "task," published in , twice mentions the umbrella: "we bear our shades about us; self-deprived of other screen, the thin umbrella spread, and range an indian waste without a tree." book i. in book iv., the description of the country girl, who dresses above her condition, concludes with the following lines-- "expect her soon with footboy at her heels, no longer blushing for her awkward load, her train and her umbrella all her care." in both these passages of cowper, the umbrella appears to be equivalent to what would now be called a parasol. l. _pope and bishop burgess_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the allusion is to the passage in _troilus and cressida_: "the dreadful sagitary appals our numbers." which theobald explained from caxton, but pope did not understand. c.b. [not the only passage in shakspeare which theobald explained and pope did not understand; but more of this hereafter.] _book of homilies_ (vol. ii., p. .).--allow me to inform b. that the early edition of homilies { } referred to in his query was compiled by richard taverner, and consists of a series of "postils" on the epistles and gospels throughout the year. it appears to have been first printed in (_ames_, i. .), and was republished in , under the editorial care of dr. cardwell. c.h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. _roman catholic theology_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i beg to refer m.y.a.h. to the _church history of england_ by hugh tootle, better known by his pseudonyme of charles dod ( vols. folio, brussels, - ). a very valuable edition of this important work was commenced by the rev. m.a. tierney; but as the last volume (the fifth) was published so long ago as , and no symptom of any other appears, i presume that this extremely curious book has, for some reason or other, been abandoned. perhaps the well-known jealousy of the censor may have interfered. a useful manual of catholic bibliography exists in the _thesaurus librorum rei catholicæ_, vo. würzburg, . g.r. _modum promissionis_ (vol. ii., p. .).--without the context of the passage adduced by c.w.b., it is impossible to speak positively as to its precise signification. i think, however, the phrase is equivalent to "formula professionis monasticæ." _promissio_ frequently occurs in this sense, as may be seen by referring to ducange (s.v.). c.h. _bacon family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the name of bacon has been considered to be of norman origin, arising from some fief so called.--see _roman de rose_, vol. ii. p. . x.p.m. _execution of charles i. and earl of stair_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--matfelonensis speaks too fast when he says that "no mention occurs of the earl of stair." i distinctly recollect reading in an old life of the earl of stair an account of his having been sent for to visit a mysterious person of extreme old age, who stated that he was the earl's ancestor (grandfather or great-grandfather, but whether paternal or not i do not remember), and that he had been the executioner of charles i. t.n. [the story to which our correspondent alludes is, probably, that quoted in cecil's (hone's) _sixty curious and authentic narratives_, pp. - ., from the _recreations of a man of feeling_. the peerage and the pedigree of the stair family alike prove that there is little foundation for this ingenious fiction.] _water-marks on writing-paper_ (vol. ii., p. .).--on this subject c., will, i think, find all the information he seeks in a paper published in the _aldine magazine_, (masters, aldersgate-st., ). this paper is accompanied by engravings of the ancient water-marks, as well as those of more modern times, and enters somewhat largely into the question of how far water-marks may be considered as evidence of precise dates. they are not always to be relied upon, for in december, , there will doubtless be thousands of reams of paper issued and in circulation, bearing the date of , unless the practice is altered of late years. timperley's _biographical, chronological, and historical dictionary_ is much quoted on the subject of "water-marks." e.b. price. _st. john nepomuc_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the statues in honour of this saint must be familiar to every one who has visited bohemia, as also the spot of his martyrdom at prague, indicated by some brass stars let into the parapet of the _steinerne brücke_, on the right-hand side going from prague to the suburb called the _kleinseite_. as the story goes, he was offered the most costly bribes by _wenzel_, king of bohemia, to betray his trust, and after his repeated refusal was put to the torture, and then thrown into the moldau, where he was drowned. the body of the saint was embalmed, and is now preserved in a costly silver shrine of almost fabulous worth, in the church of st. veit, in the kleinseite. in weber's _briefe eines durch deutschland reisende deutschen_, the weight silver about this shrine is said to be twenty "centener." c.d. lamont. _satirical medals_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a descriptive catalogue of british medals is preparing for the press, wherein all the satirical medals relating to the revolution of will be minutely described and explained. g.h. _passage in gray_ (vol. i., p. .).--i see no difficulty in the passage about which your correspondent; a grayan inquires. the _abode_ of the merits and frailties of the dead, _i.e._ the place in which they are treasured up until the judgment, is the divine mind. this the poet, by a very allowable figure, calls "bosom." homer's expression is somewhat analogous. [greek: "tade panta theion en gounasi keitai."] e.c.h. _cupid crying_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--another translation of the english verses, p. ., which english are far superior to the latin original:-- "perchi ferisce venere il filio suo che geme? diede il fanciullo a celia le freccie e l'arco insieme. sarebbe mai possibile! ei nol voluto avea; ma rise celia; ei subito la madre esser credea." e.c.h. { } _anecdote of a peal of bells_ (vol. i., p. .).--it is related of the bells of limerick cathedral by mrs. s.c. hall (_ireland_, vol. i., p. . note). m. [another correspondent, under the same signature, forwards the legend as follows "those evening bells." "the remarkably fine bells of limerick cathedral were originally brought from italy. they had been manufactured by a young native (whose name tradition has not preserved), and finished after the toil of many years; and he prided himself upon his work. they were subsequently purchased by a prior of a neighbouring convent, and, with the profits of this sale, the young italian procured a little villa, where he had the pleasure of hearing the tolling of his bells from the convent cliff, and of growing old in the bosom of domestic happiness. this, however, was not to continue. in some of those broils, whether civil or foreign, which are the undying worm in the peace of a fallen land, the good italian was a sufferer amongst many. he lost his all; and after the passing of the storm, he found himself preserved alone, amid the wreck of fortune, friends, family, and home. the convent in which the bells, the chef-d'oeuvre of his skill, were hung, was rased to the earth, and these last carried away to another land. the unfortunate owner, haunted by his memories and deserted by his hopes, became a wanderer over europe. his hair grew gray, and his heart withered, before he again found a home and friend. in this desolation of spirit he formed the resolution of seeking the place to which those treasures of his memory had finally been borne. he sailed for ireland, proceeded up the shannon; the vessel anchored in the pool near limerick, and he hired a small boat for the purpose of landing. the city was now before him; and he beheld st. mary's steeple lifting its turreted head above the smoke and mist of the old town. he sat in the stern, and looked fondly towards it. it was an evening so calm and beautiful as to remind him of his own native haven in the sweetest time of the year--the death of spring. the broad stream appeared like one smooth mirror, and the little vessel glided through it with almost a noiseless expedition. on a sudden, amid the general stillness, the bells tolled from the cathedral; the rowers rested on their oars, and the vessel went forward with the impulse it had received. the old italian looked towards the city, crossed his arms on his breast, and lay back on his seat; home, happiness, early recollections, friends, family--all were in the sound, and went with it to his heart. when the rowers looked round, they beheld him with his face still turned towards the cathedral, but his eyes were closed, and when they landed they found him cold in death." mr. h. edwards informs us it appeared in an early number of _chambers' journal._ j.g.a.p. kindly refers us to the _dublin penny journal_, vol. i. p. ., where the story is also told; and to a poetical version of it, entitled "the bell-founder," first printed in the _dublin university magazine_, and since in the collected poems of the author, d. h. mccarthy.] _codex flateyensis_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent w.h.f., when referring to the _orkneyinga saga_, requests information regarding the _codex flateyensis_, in which is contained one of the best mss. of the saga above mentioned. w.h.f. labours under the misapprehension of regarding the _codex flateyensis_ as a mere manuscript of the orkneyinga saga, whereas that saga constitutes but a very small part of the magnificent volume. the _codex flateyensis_ takes its name, as w.h.f. rightly concludes, from the island of flatey in the breidafiord in iceland, where it was long preserved. it is a parchment volume most beautifully executed, the initial letters of the chapters being finely illuminated, and extending in many instances, as in a fac-simile now before me, from top to bottom of the folio page. the contents of the volume may be learned from the following lines on the first page; i give it in english as the original is in icelandic:-- "john hakonson owns this book, herein first are written verses, then how norway was colonised, then of erik the far-travelled, thereafter of olaf tryggvason the king with all his deeds, and next is the history of olaf haraldson, the saint, and of his deeds, _and therewith the history of the earls of orkney_, then is there sverrers saga; thereafter the saga of hakon the old, with the saga of magnus the king, his son, then the deeds of einar sokkeson of greenland, and next of elga and ulf the bad; and then begin the annals from the creation of the world to the present year. john thordarson the priest wrote the portion concerning erik the far-travelled, and the sagas of both the olaves; but magnus thorhallson the priest has written all that follows, as well as all that preceded, and has illuminated all (the book). almighty god and the holy virgin mary give joy to those who wrote and to him who dictated." a little further on we learn from the text that when the book began to be written there had elapsed from the birth of christ and and years. the volume was, therefore, commenced in , and finished, as we judge from the year at which the annals cease, in . the death of hakon hakonson is recorded in the last chapters of the saga of that name, which we see is included in the list of those contained in the _codex flateyensis_. e. charlton. newcastle-on-tyne, oct. . . _paying through the nose, and etymology of shilling_ (vol. i., p. .).--odin, they say, laid a nose-tax on ever swede,--a penny a nose. (grimm, _deutsche rechts alterthümer_, p. .) i think people not able to pay forfeited "the prominence on the face, which is the organ of scent, and emunctory of the brain," as good walker says. it was according to the rule, "qui non habet in ære, luat in pelle." still we "count" or "tell noses," when computing, for instance, how many persons of the company are to pay the reckoning. the expression is used in england, if i am rightly informed, as well as in holland. { } tax money was gathered into a brass shield, and the jingling (_schel_) noise it produced, gave to the pieces of silver exacted the name of _schellingen_ (shillings). saxo-grammaticus, lib viii. p. ., citatus apud grimm, l. . p. . the reference is too curious not to note it down:-- "huic (fresiæ) gotricus nom tam arctam, quam inusitatam pensionem imposuit, de cujus conditione et modo summatim referam. primum itaque ducentorum quadraginta pedum longitudinem habentis ædificii structura disponitur, bis senis distincta spatiis, quorum quodlibet vicenorum pedum intercapedine tenderetur, prædictæ quantitatis summam totalis spatii dispendio reddente. in hujus itaque ædis capite regio considente quæstore, sub extremam ejus partem _rotundus_ e regione _elipeus_ exhibetur. fresonibus igitur tributum daturis mos erat singulos nummos in hujus _scuti cavum_ conjicere, e quibus eos duntaxat in censum regium ratio computantis eligeret, qui eminus exatoris aures clarioris soni crepitaculo perstrinxissent quo evenit, ut id solum æs quæstor in fiscum supputando colligeret, cujus casum remotiore auris indicio persensisset, cujus vero obscurior sonus citra computantis defuisset auditum, recipiebatur quidem in fiscum (!!!), sed nullum summæ præstabat augmentum. compluribus igitur nummorum jactibus quæstorias aures nulla sensibili sonoritate pulsantibus, accidit, ut statam pro se stipem erogaturi multam interdum æris partem inani pensione consumerent, cujus tributi onere per karolum postea liberati produntur." janus dousa. huis te manpadt. _small words_ (vol. ii., p. .).--some of your correspondents have justly recommended correctness in the references to authorities cited. allow me to suggest the necessity of similar care in quotations. if k.j.p.b.t. had taken the pains to refer to the passage in pope which he criticises (vol. ii., p. .), he would have spared himself some trouble, and you considerable space. the line is not, as he puts it, "and ten _small_ words," but-- "and ten _low_ words oft creep in one dull line." a difference which deprives his remarks of much of their applicability. [greek: ph.] _bilderdijk the poet_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there are several letters from southey, in his _life and correspondence_, written while under the roof of bilderdijk, giving a very agreeable account of the poet, his wife, and his family. [greek: ph.] _fool or a physician_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .).--the writer who has used this expression is dr. cheyne, and he probably altered it from the alliterative form, "a man is a fool or a physician at forty," which i have frequently heard in various parts of england. dr. cheyne's words are: "i think every man is a fool or a physician at thirty years of age, (that is to say), by that time he ought to know his own constitution, and unless he is determined to live an intemperate and irregular life, i think he may by diet and regimen prevent or cure any _chronical_ disease; but as to _acute_ disorders no one who is not well acquainted with medicine should trust to his own skill." dr. cheyne was a medical writer of the last century. a. g----t. _wat the hare_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the interesting, though perhaps somewhat partial, account of the unsuccessful siege of corfe castle, during the civil wars of the seventeenth century, which is given in the _mercurius rusticus_, there is an anecdote which will give a reply to the query of your correspondent k. the commander of the parliamentarian forces was sir walter erle; and it was a great joke with his opponents that the pass-word of "old wat" had been given (by himself i believe) on the night of his last assault on the castle. the chronicler informs us that "old wat" was the usual notice of a hare being found sitting; and the proverbial timidity of that animal suggested some odious comparisons with the defeated general. i have not the book at hand, but i am pretty sure that the substance of my information is correct. c.w. bingham. bingham's melcombe, blandford. _law courts at st. albans_ (vol. i., p. .).--although unable to answer [greek: s.], perhaps i may do him service by enabling him to put his query more correctly. the disease which drove the lawyers from london in the th year of elizabeth ( ) was not the _sweating sickness_ (which has not returned since the reign of edward vi.), but a plague brought into england by the late garrison of havre de grâce. and it was at _hertford_ that candlemas term was kept on the occasions. see heylyn, _hist. ref._, ed. eccl. hist. soc. ii. . j.c.r. _the troubles at frankfort_ (vol. i., p. .).--in petheram's edition of this work, it is shown that whittingham, dean of durham, was most likely the author. that coverdale was not, appears from the circumstance that the writer had been a party in the "troubles," whereas coverdale did not reside at frankfort during any part of his exile. j.c.r. _standing during the reading of the gospel_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "apostolica auctoritate mandamus, dum sancta evangelia in ecclesia recitantur, ut sacerdotes, et cæteri omnes presentes, non sedentes, sed venerabiliter curvi, in conspectu evangelii stantes dominica verba intente audiant, et fideliter adorent."--anastasius, i., apud _grat. decret. de consecrat. dist._, ii. cap. . j. be. { } _scotch prisoners at worcester_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i cannot think that the extract from the accounts of the churchwardens of st. margaret's, westminster, at all justifies c.f.s. in supposing that the scotch prisoners were massacred in cold blood. the total number of these prisoners was , . of the , who were buried, the greater part most probably died of their wounds; and though this number is large, yet we must bear in mind that in those days the sick and wounded were not tended with the care and attention which are now displayed in such cases. we learn from the _parliamentary history_ (xx. .), that on the th sep. , "the scots prisoners were brought to london, and marched through the city into tothill-fields." the same work (xx. .) states that "most of the common soldiers were sent to the english plantations; and of them were granted to the guiney merchants and sent to work in the gold mines there." large numbers were also employed in draining the great level of the fens (wells, _history of the bedford level_, i. - .). lord clarendon (book xiii.) says, "many perished for want of food, and, being enclosed in little room till they were sold to the plantations for slaves, they died of all diseases." c.h. cooper. cambridge, oct. . . _scotch prisoners at worcester._--the following is rapin's account of the disposition of these prisoners, and even this statement he seems to doubt. (vol. ii. p. .) "it is pretended, of the scots were slain [at worcester] about , and seven or eight thousand taken prisoners, who being sent to london, were sold for slaves to the plantations of the american isles."--authorities referred to: phillips, p. ., clarendon, iii. p. ., burnet's _mem._ p. . j.c.b. "_antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi_" (vol. ii., p. .).--a learned friend, who although involved in the avocations of an active professional career, delights "inter sylvas academi quærere verum," has favoured me with the following observation on these words:--"that the phrase _antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi_ is in italics in bacon's work does not, in my opinion, prove it to be a quotation, any more than the words _ordine retrogrado_ in the subsequent passage. italics were used in bacon's time, and long afterwards, to to mark not only quotations, but emphatic words, [greek: gnômai], and epigrammatic sentences, of which you will every where see instances. i have not the original edition of the work, but we have here[ ] the rare translation into english by gilbert wats, oxford, , folio, through which the references to authors are given in the margin; but there is no reference appended to this passage. i cannot of course decide positively that the phrase is not a quotation, but i incline to the opinion that it is not. it may be an adaptation of some proverbial expression; but i prefer believing that it is bacon's own mode of expressing that the present times are more ancient (_i.e._ full of years) than the earliest, and thus to show that the respect we entertain for authority is unfounded." coleridge was of the same opinion (introd. to _encycl. metrop._, p. .). had the phrase been a quotation, would not bacon have said, "sanè ut vere _dictum est_," rather than "ut vere _dicamus_." t.j. [footnote : primate marsh's library, st. patrick's, dublin, which contains about , volumes, including the entire collection of stillingfleet, bishop of worcester.] _the lass of richmond hill_ (vol. ii., p. .)--in reply to quÆro, i beg to say that he will find the words of the above song in the _morning herald_ of august , , a copy of which i possess. it is here described as a "favourite song, sung by mr. incledon at vauxhall; composed by mr. hook." j.b. walworth. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the importance of winchelsea as a convenient port for communication with france, from the time of the conquest to the close of the fifteenth century, having led to a wish for a more extended history of that town than is to be found in any work relating either to the cinque ports or to the county of sussex, mr. durrant cooper determined to gather together the existing materials for such a history as a contribution to the sussex archæological society. the industry, however, with which mr. cooper prosecuted his search after original records and other materials connected with the town and its varied history, was rewarded by the discovery of so many important documents as to render it impossible to carry out his original intention. the present separate work, entitled _the history of winchelsea, one of the ancient towns added to the cinque ports_, is the result of this change; and the good people of winchelsea have now to thank mr. cooper for a history of it, which has been as carefully prepared as it has been judiciously executed. mr. cooper has increased the amusement and information to be derived from his volume, by the manner in which he has contrived to make transactions of great historical importance illustrate his narrative of events of merely local interest. the new edition of the _pictorial shakspeare_ which mr. charles knight has just commenced under the title of the "national edition" cannot, we think, prove other than a most successful attempt to circulate among all classes, but especially among readers of comparatively small means, a cheap, well-edited, and beautifully illustrated edition of the works of our great poet. the text of the present edition is not printed, { } like of its precursor, in double columns, but in a distinct and handsome type extending across the page; and as there is no doubt the notes will be revised so as to incorporate the amendments and elucidations of the text, which have appeared from our colliers, hunters, &c., since the _pictorial shakspeare_ was first published, there can be little doubt but that this _national edition_ will meet with a sale commensurate with the taste and enterprise of its editor and publisher, mr. knight. we have received the following catalogues:--w. waller and son's ( . fleet street) catalogue part iii. for of choice books at remarkably low prices, in the best condition; john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue part cxvi. no. . for of old and new books; williams and norgate's ( . henrietta street, covent garden) catalogue no. . of second-hand books and books at reduced prices. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. grimaldi, origines genealogicÆ. anderson's royal genealogies. an account of the remains of the worship of priapus, with a discourse on the mystic theology of the ancients. by r. payne knight, to. . salvador's "jesus christ et sa doctrine." salvador's "institutions de moÏse et du peuple hebreu." boswell's johnson. mo. edition. murray, . vol. vi. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. g.r.m., _who inquires respecting the oft-quoted line_, "tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis," _is referred to_ notes and queries, vol. i., pp. . . _the germ of the line is in the_ delitiæ poet. germ., _under the poems of mathias borbonius._ volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price_ s. d., _bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen._ _the monthly part for september, being the fourth of_ vol. ii., _is also now ready, price_ s. * * * * * india overland mail.--diorama. gallery of illustration, . regent street, waterloo place.--a gigantic moving diorama of the route of the overland mail to india, exhibiting the following places, viz., southampton docks, isle of wight, osborne, the needles, the bay of biscay, the berlings, cintra, the tagus, cape trafalgar, tarifa, gibraltar, algiers, malta, alexandria, cairo, the desert of suez, the central station, suez, the red sea, aden, ceylon, madras, and calcutta--is now open daily.--mornings at twelve; afternoons at three; and evenings at eight.--admission, s.; stalls, s. d.; reserved seats, s. doors open half an hour before each representation. * * * * * journal franÇais, publié à londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en , paraissant le samedi, donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramatique par th. gautier ou j. janin, la revue de paris par pierre durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * shakspeare.--an advertisement of a new edition of shakspeare having appeared from mr. vickers of hollywell street, accompanied by an advertisement, in which he says he has "engaged the services," of mr. halliwell as editor, mr. halliwell begs publicly to state he has no knowledge whatever of mr. vickers; and that the use of mr. halliwell's name in that advertisement is entirely made without his authority. another advertisement of a similar work has been issued by messrs. tallis and co. of st. john street, london, announcing the publication by them of the works of shakspeare, edited, as the advertisement states, by mr. halliwell. this announcement has also been made entirely without mr. halliwell's sanction, mr. h. having no knowledge of that firm. avenue lodge, brixton hill, oct. . . * * * * * the caxton memorial.--gentlemen are respectfully requested to withhold their subscriptions to any engraving of-- caxton examining the first proof sheet from his printing press in westminster abbey, a.d. , until they have seen the celebrated picture (now on view at henry remington's, . regent street,) painted by w.e.h. wehnert. the engraving is now in the hands of mr. bacon, and will be in the highest style of mezzotinto, the size of bolton abbey, viz. in. by in. high. prospectuses and opinions of the press forwarded on application. * * * * * iolo morganwg.--recollections and anecdotes of edward williams, the bard of glamorgan. with illustrations and a copious appendix. by elijah waring. post vo., cloth, price s. london: charles gilpin, . bishopsgate without. * * * * * the new series of royal female biographies. lives of the queens of scotland, and english princesses, connected with the regal succession of great britain. by agnes strickland, author of "the lives of the queens of england." this series will be comprised in six volumes post vo., uniform in size with "the lives of the queens of england," embellished with portraits and engraved title-pages. vol. i. will be published in october. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * the weekly news.--a journal of the events of the week, political, scientific, literary and artistic; with original comment and elucidation by writers of high celebrity in their various departments. handsomely printed in a form fitted for binding. this newspaper is prepared, with the utmost care, for the educated man who desires to be kept _au courant_ with the progress of the great world in all matters of politics, of literature, of art, of science, and of mechanical, chemical, and agricultural discovery; and with all movements and proceedings, professional, collegiate, military, naval, sporting, &c. particular attention is devoted to the affairs of india, and our colonial empire. wherever the englishman has planted our laws, our institutions, and our language, there to us is england. the political and social views of the weekly news are liberal and progressive, and in these and all other departments of thought its original papers and articles treat earnestly and candidly of the great questions. fair space is also given to the lighter productions of writers of wit and fancy. quarterly subscription, s. d. office of the weekly news, no. . catherine street, strand. * * * * * best family newspaper. bell's weekly messenger, which is now dispatched from london by the evening mail on friday, has been established more than half a century, and is admitted to be the best family newspaper of the day, the most scrupulous care being taken to prevent the admission of all objectionable matter, either in the shape of advertisements or otherwise. the political principles of bell's weekly messenger are embodied in the words "_protection to all branches of native industry and capital_;" but every measure calculated to promote the moral, social, and religious welfare of the community, will find in it a sincere and strenuous advocate. a second edition is published on saturday morning, and can be received within twelve miles of london by five o'clock in the afternoon.--orders received by any newsman, or at the office, . bridge-street, blackfriars. { } mr. parker _has recently published_:-- a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. exemplified by upwards of eighteen hundred illustrations, drawn from the best examples. fifth edition vols. vo. cloth, gilt tops, l. s. "since the year , in which this work first appeared, no fewer than four large editions have been exhausted. the fifth edition is now before us, and we have no doubt will meet, as it deserves, the same extended patronage and success. the text has been considerably augmented by the enlargement of many of the old articles, as well as by the addition of many new ones, among which professor willis has embodied great part of his architectural nomenclature of the middle ages; the number of woodcuts has been increased from to above , and the work in its present form is, we believe, unequalled in the architectural literature of europe for the amount of accurate information it furnishes, and the beauty of its illustrations."--_notes and queries._ an introduction to the study of gothic architecture by john henry parker, f.s.a. mo. with numerous illustrations. price s. d. the primeval antiquities of england and denmark compared. by j.j.a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen, and by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. with numerous illustrations. vo. s. rickman's gothic architecture. an attempt to discriminate the different styles of architecture in england. by the late thomas rickman, f.s.a. with engravings on steel by le keux, &c., and on wood, of the best examples, from original drawings by f. mackenzie, o. jewitt, and p. h. delamotte. fifth edition. vo. s. the ecclesiastical and architectural topography of england. vol. i. diocese of oxford. vo. cloth, s. d. an inquiry into the difference of style observable in ancient painted glass, with hints on glass painting, illustrated by numerous coloured plates from ancient examples. by an amateur. vols. vo. l. s. a book of ornamental glazing quarries, collected and arranged from ancient examples. by augustus wollaston franks, b.a. with coloured examples. vo. s. a manual for the study of monumental brasses, with a descriptive catalogue of "rubbings," in the possession of the oxford architectural society, topographical and heraldic indices, &c. with numerous illustrations, vo. s. d. a manual for the study of sepulchral slabs and crosses of the middle ages. by the rev. edward l. cutts, b.a. vo., illustrated by upwards of engravings, s. the cross and the serpent. being a brief history of the triumph of the cross, through a long series of ages, in prophecy, types, and fulfilment. by the rev. william haslam, perpetual curate of st. michael's baldiu, cornwall. mo., with numerous woodcuts, s. some of the five hundred points of good husbandry, as well for the champion or open country, as also for the woodland or several, mixed in every month with huswifery, over and above the book of huswifery, with many lessons both profitable and not unpleasant to the reader, once set forth by thomas tusser, gentleman, now newly corrected and edited, and heartily commended to all true lovers of country life and honest thrift. mo. s. d. * * * * * john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, october . . { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- portrait of cardinal beaton on the pointing of a passage in "all's well that ends well" by a. roffe folk-lore:--the bigger the ring, the nearer the wet --power of prophesying before death--change in the appearance of the dead--strange remedies--mice as a medicine--omens from birds mode of computing interest on the cultivation of geometry in lancashire minor notes.--sermon's pills--an infant prodigy-- a hint for publishers--"he who runs may read"-- the rolliad--the conquest queries:-- bibliographical queries minor queries.--dr. timothy thruscross--echo song--meaning of thwaites--deus justificatus-- death by burning--irish bull--farquharson's observations on auroræ--defender of the faith-- calendar of sundays in greek and roman churches-- dandridge the painter--chaucer's portrait by occleve-- john o'groat's house--dancing the bride to bed--duke and earl of albermarle replies:-- julin, the drowned city nicholas ferrar and the so-called arminian nunnery of little gidding vineyards treatise of equivocation, by j. sansom riots in london replies to minor queries:--osnaburg bishoprick-- death of richard ii.--scottish prisoners sold to plantations--lachrymatories--querela cantabrigiensis-- "then" for "than."--doctrine of the immaculate conception-- letters of horning--dr. euseby cleaver--mrs. partington--"never did cardinal bring good to england"--florentine edition of the pandects--master john shorne--"her brow was fair"--dodd's church history--blackwall docks-- wives of ecclesiastics--stephens' sermons--saying of montaigne--scala coeli--red hand miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes portrait of cardinal beaton. a portrait of this eminent man was engraved by pennant, from a picture at holyrood house, in part ii. of his _tour in scotland_, p. . to. lond. . lodge has an engraving from the same portrait in his collection of _illustrious personages_. this is a strange circumstance; because, when pinkerton was about to include this portrait in his collection, pennant wrote to him, on th april, , as follows: "give me leave to say, that i suspect the authenticity of my cardinal beaton. i fear it is cardinal falconer or falconieri. i think there is a genuine one somewhere in scotland. it will be worth your while to inquire if there be one, and engrave it, and add my suspicions, which induce you do it."--pinkerton's _correspondence_, vol. i. p. . vo. lond. . pinkerton made inquiry, and on dec. st, , writes to the earl of buchan: "mr. pennant informs me the cardinal beaton is false. it is, indeed, too modern. a real beaton is said to exist in fife."--pinkerton's _correspondence_, vol. ii. p. . lord buchan writes to him that mr. beaton, of balfour, believes himself to have a genuine portrait of the cardinal, and offers it for engraving. the authenticity of this portrait, however, appears not to have been established, and it was not engraved. another was found at yester, and was at first concluded to be a genuine original: but lady ancram soon discovered that it possessed no marks of originality, but might be a good copy: it was, however, certainly _not_ one of the six cardinals purchased by the third earl of lothian. finally, it was rejected altogether. a copy of a portrait from the vatican was also rejected as undoubtedly spurious. it appears, therefore, that pinkerton, in this case at least, exercised caution in the selection of his subject for engraving, so far as concerned authenticity. his criticism, that the holyrood house portrait is "too modern," will be agreed in by all who will take the trouble to compare the portrait in lodge with undoubted portraits of the time: the style is too modern by a hundred years. but the portrait is of a man upwards of sixty years old: beaton was murdered in , in the fiftieth year of his age. the portrait is of a dark haired man without beard. i now come to a portrait of beaton which there appears reason to think is genuine, and i beg the favour of your correspondents to give me any information in their power regarding it. this portrait is in the roman catholic college at blairs, near aberdeen. it was in the scotch college at rome down to the period of the french occupation of that city in , and formed part of the plunder { } from that college. it was subsequently discovered in a sale-room by the late abbé macpherson, rector of the same college, who purchased it and sent it to blairs, where it has been for, now, a good many years. that it is a portrait of beaton's time is certain; but the artist is unknown, and the picture has sustained damage. it is attributed, by a competent judge, who has himself painted two careful copies of it, to titian, not only from its general style and handling, but from certain peculiarities of canvas, &c., on which latter circumstances, however, he does not lay much stress, taking them only as adminicles in proof. the portrait is a half-length, about ft. in. by ft.: it is that of a fresh-coloured, intellectual man, of forty-five or upwards; hazel eyes; hair slightly reddish, or auburn, just becoming tinged with grey; a thin small beard; costume similar to that of holbein's cardinal wolsey, in the hall of christchurch, oxford. it bears this inscription, painted at the bottom of the portrait, and over the original finished painting, and therefore of a subsequent date: "david betonius, s.r.e., card. archiep. s. andreæ in scotia, ab hostibus fidei barbare trucidatus." beaton was elected to the cardinalate in dec. ; did he visit rome after that? he was at all events in paris. the scotch college at rome was a natural habitat for a portrait of a scottish churchman so famous as cardinal beaton, and it would be strange indeed if they had not one of him where they affected a collecion of portraits of british prelates. i propose to have this portrait engraved, if its probable authenticity cannot be shaken. did pinkerton engrave any portrait of beaton? there is none in my copies of his _iconographia scotica_, , and his _scottish gallery_, . these contain several duplicates; but it is rare to meet with copies that can be warranted perfect. if the portrait be published, it will probably be accompanied by a short memoir, correcting from authentic documents some of the statements of his biographers: any information either as to the portrait or his life will be thankfully acknowledged. one or two letters from lord buchan, on the subject of scottish portraits, appeared in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxv., but not relating to this particular one. scotus. * * * * * on the pointing of a passage in "all's well that ends well." _lafeu._ "they say miracles are past: and we have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things, supernatural and causeless."--act ii. scene . so the passage is pointed in johnson and steevens, that is, with a comma after the word "things;" and the same pointing is used in the recent editions of mr. knight, barry cornwall, and mr. collier. it occurred to me that this pointing gave a meaning quite out of harmony with what directly follows, and also with the spirit in which lafeu speaks. let the comma be placed after "familiar", and the whole passage be read thus: _lafeu._ "they say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. hence is it, that we make trifles of terrors; ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear." lafeu apparently is speaking somewhat sarcastically of those who say miracles are past, and who endeavour to _explain away_ the wonderful into something common and well-known. subsequently i found that mr. coleridge, in his _literary remains_ (vol. ii. p. .), had adduced the above-mentioned passage, placing the comma after "familiar." he does not, however, make any observation on the other pointing; but remarking, that shakspeare often uses "modern" for "common," proceeds thus: "shakspeare, inspired, as it might seem, with all knowledge, here uses the word _causeless_ in its strict philosophical sense; cause being truly predicable only of _phenomena_,--that is, things natural, and not of _noumena_, or things supernatural." it is, perhaps, rather curious, that although mr. collier, in his note on lafeu's speech, has quoted the above from mr. coleridge, the improved pointing should have escaped that gentleman's notice. looking into theobald's _shakspeare_, i find that he also had placed the comma as mr. coleridge has. mr. theobald adds this note: "this, as it has hitherto been printed, is directly opposite to our poet's and his speaker's meaning. as i have stopped it, the sense quadrates with the context: and surely it is one unalterable property of philosophy to make seeming strange and preternatural phenomena familiar and reducible to cause and reason." does not mr. theobald, in his closing remark, turn what in lafeu is really an ironical outburst on _would-be_ philosophers, into something like a serious common-place? a. roffe. query, in a work entitled _philosophy of shakspeare_, by w.h. roukin, lafeu's speech is quoted, and one word changed; "_and_ we have our philosophical persons," &c., becomes "_yet_ we have," &c. is there any authority for such a change? a.r. * * * * * folk lore. _the bigger the ring, the nearer the wet._--on sunday evening, the th oct., the moon had a { } very fine ring round it, which apparently was based near the horizon, and spread over a considerable area of the heavens. this was noticed by myself and others as we returned home from church; and upon my mentioning it to my man-servant, who is a countryman, he said he had been noticing it, and that it reminded him of the old saying, "the bigger the ring, the nearer the wet." on the next day, however, it was fine and windy, and my faith began to be shaken as to the truth of the saying; but the almost incessant rain of the four or five subsequent days fully proved its correctness. j.a. _power of prophesying before death._--to the passages on this subject lately supplied by your correspondents (vol. ii., pp. . .) may be added the following from tertullian, _de anima_, c. . (vol. ii. col. ., ed. migne, paris, ): "evenit sæpe animam in ipso divortio potentius agitari, sollicitiore obtutu, extraordinariâ loquacitate, dum ex majori suggestu, jam in libero constituta, per superfluum quod adhuc cunctatur in corpore enuntiat quæ videt, quæ audit, quæ incipit nosse." j.c.r. _change in the appearance of the dead._--a woman near maidstone, who had had much experience as a sick-nurse, told me some years ago that she had always noticed in corpses a change to a more placid expression on the third day after death; and she supposed this to be connected with our lord's resurrection. i omitted to ask her whether the belief were wholly the result of her own observation, or whether it had been taught her by others, and were common among her neighbours. j.c.r. _strange remedies._--i find some curious prescriptions in an old book entitled _the pathway to health,_ &c. (i will not trouble you with the full title), "by peter levens, master of arts in oxford, and student in physick and chirurgery."... "printed for j.w., and are to bee sold by charles tym, at the three bibles on london bridge, mdclxiv." the first is a charm _for all manner of falling evils._--take the blood of his little finger that is sick, and write these three verses following, and hang it about his neck: '_jasper fert mirrham, thus melchior balthazar aurum,_ _hæc quicum secum portat tria nomina regum,_ _soleitur à morbo, domini pietate, caduca.'_ and it shall help the party so grieved." "_for a man or woman that is in a consumption._--take a brasse pot, and fill it with water, and set it on the fire, and put a great earthen pot within that pot, and then put in these parcels following:--take a cock and pull him alive, then flea off his skin, then beat him in pieces; take dates a pound, and slit out the stones, and lay a layer of them in the bottom of the pot, and then lay a piece of the cock, and upon that some more of the dates, and take succory, endive, and parsley roots, and so every layer one upon another, and put in fine gold and some pearl, and cover the pot as close as may bee with coarse dow, and so let it distill a good while, and so reserve it for your use till such time as you have need thereof." i could select some exceedingly ludicrous prescriptions (for the book contains pages), but the most curious unfortunately happen to be the most indelicate. besides this, i am afraid the subject is scarcely worthy of much space in such an important and useful work as "notes and queries." alexander andrews. abridge, essex. _mice as a medicine_ (vol. i., p. .).--an old woman lately recommended an occasional roast mouse as a certain cure for a little boy who wetted his bed at night. her own son, she said, had got over this weakness by eating three roast mice. i am told that the faculty employ this remedy, and that it has been prescribed in the oxford infirmary. j.w.h. _omens from birds._--it is said that for a bird to fly into a room, and out again, by an open window, surely indicates the decease of some inmate. is this belief local? j.w.h. * * * * * mode of computing interest. the mode of computing interest among the ancient greeks appears to have been in many respects the same as that now prevailing in india, which has probably undergone no change from a very remote period. precisely the same term, too, is used to denote the rate of interest, namely, [greek: tokos] in greek and _taka_ or _tuka_ in the languages of western india. [greek: tokoe epidekatoi] in greek, and _dus také_ in hindostanee, respectively denote _ten per cent_. at athens, the rate of interest might be calculated either by the month or by the year--each being expressed by different terms (böckh. _pub. econ. of athens_, i. .). precisely the same system prevails here. _pono taka_, that is, three quarters of a _taka_, denotes ¾ per cent. _per month_. _nau také_, that is, nine _také_, denotes nine per cent. _per annum_. for the greek mode of reckoning interest by the month, see smith's _dictionary of greek and roman antiquities_, p. . at athens, the year, in calculating interest, was reckoned at days (böckh, i. .). here also, in all native accounts-current, the year is reckoned at days. the word [greek: tokos], as applied to interest, was understood by the greeks themselves to be derived from [greek: tiktô], "to produce," _i.e._ money begetting money; the offspring or produce of money lent out. whether its identity may not be established with the word in current use for thousands of years in this country to express precisely the same meaning, is a question i should like to see discussed { } by some of your correspondents. the word _taka_ signifies any thing _pressed_ or _stamped_, anything on which an impression is made hence _a coin_; and is derived from the sanscrit root _tak_, to press, to stamp, to coin: whence, _tank_, a small coin; and _tank-sala_, a mint; and (query) the english word _token_, a piece of stamped metal given to communicants. many of your readers will remember that it used to be a common practice in england for copper coins, representing a half-penny, penny, &c., stamped with the name of the issuer, and denominated "tokens," to be issued in large quantities by shopkeepers as a subsidiary currency, and received at their shop in payment of goods, &c. may not _ticket_, defined by johnson, "a _token_ of any right or debt upon the delivery of which admission is granted, or a claim acknowledged," and _tick_, score or trust, (to go on _tick_), proceed from the same root? j.s. bombay. * * * * * on the cultivation of geometry in lancashire. if our queries on this subject be productive of no other result than that of eliciting the able and judicious analysis subsequently given by mr. wilkinson (vol. ii., p. .), they will have been of no ordinary utility. the silent early progress of any strong, moral, social, or intellectual phenomenon amongst a large mass of people, is always difficult to trace: for it is not thought worthy of record at the time, and before it becomes so distinctly marked as to attract attention, even tradition has for the most part died away. it then becomes a work of great difficulty, from the few scattered indications in print (the books themselves being often so rare[ ] that "money will not purchase them"), with perhaps here and there a stray letter, or a metamorphosed tradition, to offer even a probable account of the circumstances. it requires not only an intimate knowledge of the subject-matter which forms the groundwork of the inquiry, both in its antecedent and cotemporary states, and likewise in its most improved state at the present time; it also requires an analytical mind of no ordinary powers, to separate the necessary from the probable; and these again from the irrelevant and merely collateral. mr. wilkinson has shown himself to possess so many of the qualities _essential_ to the historian of mathematical science, that we trust he will continue his valuable researches in this direction still further. it cannot be doubted that mr. wilkinson has traced with singular acumen the manner in which the _spirit_ of geometrical research was diffused amongst the operative classes, and the class immediately above them--the exciseman and the country schoolmaster. still it is not to be inferred, that even these classes did not contain a considerable number of able geometers anterior to the period embraced in his discussion. the mathematical society of spitalfields existed more than half a century before the oldham society was formed. the sameness of pursuit, combined with the sameness of employment, would rather lead us to infer that geometry was _transplanted_ from spitalfields to manchester or oldham. simpson found his way from the country to london; and some other simpson as great as thomas (though less favourably looked upon by fortune in furnishing stimulus and opportunity) might have migrated from london to oldham. or, again, some lancashire weaver might have adventured to london (a very common case with country artisans after the expiration of apprenticeship); and, there having acquired a taste for mathematics, as well as improvement in his mechanical skill, have returned into the country, and diffused the knowledge and the tastes he took home with him amongst his fellows. the very name betokens jeremiah ainsworth to have been of a lancashire family. but was ainsworth really the earliest mathematician of his district? or, was he merely the first that made any figure in print as a correspondent of the mathematical periodicals of that day? this question is worthy of mr. wilkinson's further inquiry; and probably some light may be thrown upon it by a careful examination of the _original_ ladies' and gentleman's diaries of the period. in the reprints of these works, only the names, real or assumed, of those whose contributions were actually printed, are inserted--not the list of all correspondents. now one would be led to suppose that the study of mathematics was peculiarly suited to the daily mode of life and occupation of these men. their employment was monotonous; their life sedentary; and their minds were left perfectly free from any _contemplative_ purpose they might choose. algebraic investigation required writing: but the weaver's hands being engaged he could not write. a diagram, on the contrary, might lie before him, and be carefully studied, whilst his hands and feet may be performing their functions with an accuracy almost instinctive. nay more: an exceedingly complicated diagram which has grown up gradually as the result of investigations successively { } made, may be carried in the memory and become the subject of successful peripatetic contemplation. on this point a decided _experimental_ opinion is here expressed: but were further instances asked for, they may be found in stewart, monge, and chasles, all of whom possessed this power in an eminent degree. indeed, without it, all attempts to study the geometry of space (even the very elements of descriptive geometry, to say nothing of the more recondite investigations of the science) would be entirely unproductive. it is, moreover, a power capable of being acquired by men of average intellect without extreme difficulty; and that even to the extent of "mentally seeing" the constituent parts of figures which have never been exhibited to the eye either by drawings or models. that such men, if once imbued with a love for geometry, and having once got over the drudgery of elementary acquisition, should be favourably situated for its cultivation, follows as a matter of course. the great difficulty lay in finding sufficient stimulus for their ambition, good models for their imitation, and adequate facilities for publishing the results at which they had arrived. the admirable history of the contents of their scanty libraries, given by mr. wilkinson, leaves nothing more to be said on that head; except, perhaps, that he attributes rather more to the _influences_ of emerson's writings than i am able to do.[ ] as regards their facilities for publication, these were few, the periods of publication being rarely shorter than annual; and amongst so many competitors, the space which could be allotted to each (even to "the best men") was extremely limited. yet, contracted as the means of publication were, the spirit of emulation did something; from the belief that _insertion was an admitted test of superiority_, it was as much an object of ambition amongst these men to solve the "prize question" as it was by philosophers of higher social standing to gain the "prize" conferred by the _académie des sciences_, or any other continental society under the wing of royalty, at the same period. the prize (half a dozen or a dozen copies of the work itself) was not less an object of triumph, than a copley or a royal medal is in our own time amongst the philosophers of the royal society. these men, from similarity of employment and inevitable contiguity of position, were brought into intercourse almost of necessity, and the formation of a little society (such as the "oldham") the natural result--the older and more experienced men taking the lead in it. at the same time, there can be little doubt that the spitalfields society was the pattern after which it was formed; and there can be as little doubt that one or more of its founders had resided in london, and "wrought" in the metropolitan workshops. could the records of the "mathematical society of london" (now in the archives of the royal astronomical society) be carefully examined, some light might be thrown upon this question. a list of members attending every weekly meeting, as well as of visitors, was always kept; and these lists (i have been informed) have been carefully preserved. no doubt any one interested in the question would, upon application to the secretary (professor de morgan), obtain ready access to these documents. the preceding remarks will, in some degree, furnish the elements of an answer to the inquiry, "_why_ did geometrical speculation take so much deeper root amongst the lancashire weavers, than amongst any other classes of artisans?" the subject was better adapted to the weaver's mechanical life than any other that could be named; for even the other favourite subjects, botany and entomology, required the suspension of their proper employment at the loom. the formation of the oldham society was calculated to keep alive the aspiration for distinction, as well as to introduce novices into the arcanium of geometry. there was generous co-operation, and there was keen competition,--the sure stimulants to eminent success. the unadulterated love of any intellectual pursuit, apart from the love of fame or the hope of emolument, is a rare quality in all stages of society. few men, however, seem to have realised basil montagu's idea of being governed by "a love of _excellence_ rather than the pride of _excelling_," so closely as the lancashire geometers of that period--uncultivated as was the age in which they lived, rude as was the society in which their lives were passed, and selfish as the brutal treatment received in those days by mechanics from their employers, was calculated to render them. they were surrounded, enveloped, by the worst social and moral influences; yet, so far as can now be gathered from isolated remarks in the periodicals of the time, they may be held up as a pattern worthy of the imitation of the philosophers of our own time in respect to the generosity and strict honour which marked their intercourse with one another. mathematicians seldom grow up solitarily in any locality. when _one_ arises, the absence of all external and social incentives to the study can only betoken an inherent propensity and constitutional fitness for it. such a man is too much in earnest to keep his knowledge to himself, or to wish to stand alone. he makes disciples,--he aids, encourages, guides them. his own researches are fully communicated; and this with a prodigality proportioned to his own great resources. he feels no jealousy of competition, and is always gratified by seeing others successful. thus such bodies of men are created in wonderfully short periods by the magnanimous labours of one ardent { } spirit. these are the men that found societies, schools, sects; wherever one unselfish and earnest man settles down, there we invariably find a cluster of students of his subject, that often lasts for ages. take, for instance, leeds. there we see that john ryley created, at a later period, the yorkshire school of geometers; comprising amongst its members such men as swale, whitley, ryley ("sam"), gawthorp, settle, and john baines. this, too, was in a district in many respects very analogous to lancashire, but especially in the one to which the argument more immediately relates:--it was a district of weavers, only substituting wool for cotton, as cotton had in the other case been substituted for the silk of spitalfields. we see nothing like this in the agricultural districts; neither do we in those districts where the ordinary manufacturing operations themselves require the employment of the head as well as the hands and feet. with the exception, indeed, of the schoolmaster, and the exciseman, and the surveyor, there are comparatively few instances of persons whose employment was not strictly sedentary having devoted their intellectual energies to mathematics, independent of early cultivation. to them the subject was more or less professional, and their devotion to it was to be expected--indeed far more than has been realised. it is professional now to a larger and more varied class of men, and of course there is a stronger body of non-academic mathematicians now than at any former period. at the same time it may be doubted whether there be even as many really able men devoted to science purely and for its own sake in this country as there were a century ago, when science wore a more humble guise. combining what is here said with the masterly analysis which mr. wilkinson has given of the books which were accessible to these men, it appears that we shall be able to form a correct view on the subject of the lancashire geometers. of course documentary evidence would be desirable--it would certainly be interesting too. to such of your readers as have not seen the mathematical periodicals of that period, the materials for which were furnished by these men, it may be sufficient to state that the "notes and queries" is conceived in the exact spirit of those works. the chief difference, besides the usual subject-matter, consists in the greater formality and "stiffness" of those than of this; arising, however, of necessity out of the specific and rigid character of mathematical research in itself, and the more limited range of subjects that were open to discussion. the one great defect of the researches of those men was, that they were conducted in a manner so desultory, and that the subjects themselves were often so isolated, that there can seldom be made out more than a few dislocated fragments of any one subject of inquiry whatever. special inquiries are prosecuted with great vigour and acumen; but we look in vain for system, classification, or general principles. this, however, is not to be charged to _them_ as a scientific vice, peculiarly:--for, in truth, it must be confessed to be a vice, not only too common, but almost universal amongst english geometers; and even in the geometry of the greeks themselves, the great object appears to have been "problem-solving" rather than the deduction and arrangement of scientific truths. the modern french geometers have, however, broken this spell; and it is not too much too hope that we shall not be long ere we join them in the development of the systems they have already opened; and, moreover, add to the list some independent topics of our own. the chief dangers to which we are in this case exposed are, classification with incomplete data, and drawing inferences upon trust. it cannot be denied, at all events, that some of our french cotemporaries have fallen into both these errors; but the abuse of a principle is no argument for our not using it, though its existence (or even possible existence) should be a strong incentive to caution. these remarks have taken a more general form than it is usual to give in your pages. as, however, it is probable that many of your readers may feel an interest in a general statement of a very curious intellectual phenomenon, i am not without a hope that, though so far removed from the usual topics discussed in the work, they will not be altogether unacceptable or useless. pen-and-ink. [footnote : although at one period of our life we took great pains to make a collection of the _periodicals_ which, during the last century, were devoted wholly or partially to mathematics, yet we could never even approximate towards completeness. it was not, certainly, from niggardly expenditure. indeed, it is doubtful whether a complete set exists, or could even be formed now.] [footnote : see _philosophical magazine_, sept. .] * * * * * minor notes. _sermon's pills._--in guizot's _life of monk, duke of albermarle_, translated and edited by the present lord wharncliffe, it is stated (p. .) that when the duke was suffering from the diseases which afterwards proved fatal to him, "one of his neighbours, at new hall, formerly an officer in his army, mentioned to him certain pills said to be sovereign against the dropsy, which were sold at bristol by one sermon, who had also served under his orders in scotland as a private soldier. this advice and remedy from ancient comrades, inspired the old general with more confidence than the skill of the physicians. he sent for sermon's pills, and found himself so much recovered by them for a time, that he returned to london at the close of the summer." having "found," in the newspapers of the day, the following paragraphs illustrative of this passage in the great general's history, i think them sufficiently interesting "to make a note of." "london, july . .--his grace the lord general, after a long and dangerous distemper, is (god { } be praised) perfectly recovered and restored to his former health, to the great rejoycing of their majesties and the whole court, by the assistance of one william sermon, of bristol, whose pills have had that excellent success as to restore him perfectly to his sleep and appetite, and wholly abate all the symptoms of his disease. yesterday his grace, as being perfectly cured, dismissed his physicians from their farther attendance." "london, july . .--the th instant, mr. william sermon, the practitioner in physick, who so happily performed that excellent cure upon his grace the duke of albermarle, was presented to his majesty in st. james's park, where he had the honor to kiss his majesty's hand, and to receive his thanks for that good service." september . .--"advertisement: these are to give notice that william sermon, dr. of physick, a person so eminently famous for his cure of his grace the duke of albermarle, is removed from bristol to london, and may be spoken with every day, especially in the forenoon, at his house in west harding street, in goldsmith's rents, near three legged alley, between fetter lane and shooe lane." can any of your correspondents give an account of the subsequent career of dr. sermon? [greek: d] _an infant prodigy_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there are parallel cases in the hagioloists (_hist. de l'eglise gallicane_, par longueval, tom. iii. p. . ): "s. amand après cette mission étant repassé dans la gaule, eut bientôt occasion de montrer l'intrépidité de son zèle ... l'amour des femmes, écueil fatal des jeunes princes, fit en peu de temps oublier à dagobert les leçons qu'il avoit reçues de s. arnoux et de s. cunibert. il se livra à cette passion avec tant de scandale, qu'il eut jusqu'à trois femmes à la fois qui portoient le nom de reines, sans parler d'un grand nombre de concubines ... "amand, après un assez long exil, 'refusa d'abord l'honneur de baptiser' l'enfant de son maître: 'mais les instances que le roi lui fit faire par ouen et eloi firent céder sa modestie à l'obéissance. l'enfant fut aussitôt apporté le saint évêque l'ayant pris entre ses bras, lui donna sa bénédiction, et récita les prières pour le faire catéchumène. l'oraison étant finie, comme personne ne répondoit, dieu délia la langue du jeune prince, qui n'avoit pas plus de quarante jours, et il répondit distinctement _amen_.'" this happened in at orleans, and the holy abbot who attests the miracle was present when it occurred. had st. amand learnt ventriloquism during his missionary excursions? and now permit me to tell your correspondent ch. that abp. bramhall's dutch is quite correct. "mevrouw" is still the title of empresses, queens duchesses, countesses, noble ladies, ministers of state's and other great men's wives. g.m. guernsey. _a hint for publishers._--many, like myself, have no doubt experienced the inconvenience of possessing early impressions of books, of which later editions exist with numerous emendations and errata. would it not be practicable for publishers to issue these emendations and errata in a separate form and at a fair price, for the benefit of the purchasers of the preceding editions? were this plan generally adopted, the value of most books would be materially enhanced, and people would not object, as they now do, to order new publications. herbert. "_he who runs may read._"--there appeared in vol. ii., p. ., a new, and, in my opinion, an erroneous, interpretation of part of ver. ., chap. ii. habakkuk. it appears to me probable that a person reading the vision might be struck with awe, and so "alarmed by it" as not to be able "to fly from the impending calamity" in the way which your correspondent imagines. i prefer archbishop newcome's explanation:--"let the characters be so legible that one who hastily passeth on may read them. this may have been a proverbial expression." if you be pleased to insert this, readers may judge for themselves which is the right interpretation. plain sense. _the rolliad._--the following memoranda relative to this word were given to me by one who lived during the period of its publication, and was, it is believed, himself a contributor. wraxall, in his _memoirs_, states that the work was nearly all written by richardson; this is not true. the principal writers were gen. fitzpatrick, lord john townshend, dr. lawrence--he had the chief control. they met in a room at becket's, the bookseller; they had a secretary and copyist. none of the contributions went to the newspaper in the original handwriting. the _morning herald_ was the paper it is believed, in which they first appeared, although that journal was on the eve of going over to the opposite party. the "ode" to wraxall, was written by tickell, author of "anticipation.". w.a. november, . . _the rolliad._-- from _the times_, about . rolliad. _political eclogues._ rose. line . ed. . "mr. rose, mr. rose, how can you suppose i'll be led by the nose, in voting for those you mean to propose, mr. rose, mr. rose?" the above epigram is inserted in my copy of the rolliad. can any of your readers give the names of the { } authors of the numerous pieces in the second part of "political miscellanies." f.b.r. _the conquest._--permit me to point out the erroneous historical idea which obtains in the use of this phrase. acquisition out of the common course of inheritance is by our legists called _perquisitio_, by the feudists _conquisitio_, and the first purchaser (he who brought the estate into the current family) the _conquereur_. the charters and chronicles of the age thus rightly style william the norman _conquisitor_, and his accession _conquæstus_; but now, from disuse of the foedal sense, with the notion of the forcible method of acquisition, we annex the idea of victory to conquisition,--a title to which william never pretended. w.l. twickenham. * * * * * queries. bibliographical queries. (_continued from page ._) ( .) what could have induced the accurate and learned saxius (_catal. lib. mediol., edit._ p. dxc.) to give the name _elucidarium_ to the first part of the _mariale_ of bernardinus de bustis? this writer, who has sometimes erroneously been reputed a dominican, and who is commemorated in the franciscan martyrology on the th of may (p. .), derived his denomination from his family, and not "from a place in the country of milan," as mr. tyler has supposed. (_worship of the virgin_, p. . lond. .) elsewhere saxius had said (_hist. typog.-liter. mediol._, col. ccclii.) that the _mariale_ was printed for the first time in , and dedicated to pope alexander vi.; and argelati was led by him to consider the _elucidarium_ to be a distinct performance; and he speaks of the _mariale_ as having been published in . (_biblioth. scriptor. med._, tom. i. p. ii. .) unquestionably the real title assigned by the author to the first part of his _sermonarium_ or _mariale_ was "perpetuum silentium," and it was inscribed to alexander's predecessor, pope innocent viii.; and, in conjunction with de bustis's office of the immaculate conception of the virgin mary (sanctioned by a brief of pope sixtus iv., who in had issued the earliest pontifical decree in favour of an innovation now predominant in the church of rome), was primarily printed "mli," that is, _mediolani_, "per uldericum scinzenzeler, anno dni m.cccc.lxxxxij" ( ). wharton, olearius, clement, and maittaire knew nothing of this edition; and it must take precedence of that of strasburg named by panzer (i. .). ( .) can any particulars be easily ascertained relative to reprints of the acts of the canonisation of the seraphic doctor in their original small quarto shape? ( .) to whom should we attribute the rare tract entitled _lauacrum conscientie omnium sacerdotum_, which consists of fifty-eight leaves, and was printed in gothic letter at cologne, "anno post jubileum quarto?" ( .) where can information be met with as to the authorship of the _dialogus super libertate ecclesiastica_, between hugo, cato, and oliver? fischer (_essai sur gutenberg_, .) traces back the first edition to the year ; but i know the treatise only in the form in which it was republished at oppenheim in . ( .) who was the compiler or curator of the _viola sanctorum_? and can the slightest attempt be made at verifying the signatures and numbers inserted in the margin, and apparently relating to the mss. from which the work was taken? one of two copies before me was printed at nuremberg in , but the other i believe to belong to the earliest impression. it is of small folio size, in very gothic type, perhaps of the year , without date, place, or name of printer, and is destitute of cyphers, catchwords, and signatures. there are ninety-two leaves in the volume, and in each page generally thirty-three (sometimes thirty-four, rarely thirty-five) lines. (see brunet, iii. .; kloss, .; panzer, i. .) ( .) by what means can intelligence be procured respecting "doctor ulricus," the author of _fraternitas cleri_? a satisfactory reply to this inquiry might probably be found in the _bibl. spenceriana_; but i have not now an opportunity of determining this point. ( .) a question has been raised by dr maitland, from whose admirable criticism nothing connected with literature is likely to escape, as to the meaning of the letters "p.v." placed over a sudarium held by st. peter and st. paul. (_early printed books in the lambeth library_, pp. . .) any person who has happened to obtain the _vitas patrum_, decorated with the curious little woodcuts of which dr. maitland has carefully represented two, will cheerfully agree with him in maintaining the excellence of the acquisition. in a copy of this work bearing date , eleven years later than the lambeth volume (_list_, p. .), the reverse of the leaf which contains the colophon exhibits the same sudarium, in company with the words "salve sancta facies." this circumstance inclines me to venture to ask whether my much-valued friend will concur with me in the conjecture that _pictura veronicæ_ may be the interpretation of "p.v.?" though the pseudo-archbishop of westminster declared, in the simplicity of his heart (_letters to john poynder, esq._, p. .), that he had "never met" with the sequence "quæ dicitur in missa votiva _de vultu sancto_," doubtless some of his newly-arrested subjects are { } well aware that it exists, and that its commencement (see bona, iii. .) is,-- "salve sancta facies nostri redemptoris, in qua nitet species divini splendoris, impressa panniculo nivei candoris, dataque veronicæ signum ob amoris." r.g. * * * * * minor queries. _dr. timothy thruscross._--what is known of the rev. dr. timothy thruscross, thirscross, or thurscross? i am in possession of the very little related by wood, _ath. oxon. et fasti_, walker's _sufferings of the clergy_, _life of barwich_, and the interesting notices scattered in several parts of sir h. slingsby's _diary_; but this only renders me anxious for more, and i should be glad to receive other references. w. dn. _echo song._--_meaning of thwaites._--would you be kind enough to insert the inclosed poem as i am very desirous of being made acquainted with the name of the writer. i expect, from various reasons, that it was written about the year :-- an echo. "what wantst thou, that thou art in this sad taking? _a king._ what made him first remove hence his residing? _siding._ did any here deny him satisfaction? _faction._ tell me wherein the strength of faction lies? _on lies._ what didst though when the king left his parliament? _lament._ what terms wouldst give to gain his company? _any._ what wouldst thou do if here thou mightst behold him? _hold him._ but wouldst thou save him with they best endeavour? _ever._ but if he come not, what become of london? _undone._" i also wish to know (if any of your readers will enlighten me i shall be obliged) what is the meaning of the name "thwaites." it is a very common name, there being thwaites, thornthwaites, hawthornthwaites, haythornthwaites, in abundance through all part of england. llyd rhys morgan. _deus justificatus._--can any of your readers give any information respecting the authorship of the book entitled:-- "deus justificatus, or the divine goodness vindicated and cleared, against the assertors of absolute and inconditionate reprobation. together with some refections on a late discourse of mr. parkers concerning the divine dominion and goodness. london, ." vo. pp. xxxii. . iii.? my copy (which has the autograph of richard claridge, the quaker) has written on the title in an old hand "by h. hallywell." in the _biographia britannica_ vol. iv., p. ., d edit., it is said to be by ralph cudworth. if so, it has escaped birch and the other editors of this celebrated writer. john j. dredge. _death by burning_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the mendip mining district in somersetshire, i am credibly informed that within seventy years a person has been burned alive for stealing ore from the pit mouth. there must be some old inhabitant who can attest this fact, and it would be desirable to obtain its confirmation. j.w.h. _irish bull._--what is the exact definition of an irish bull? when was the term first applied to the species of blunder which goes by that name? griffin. _farquharson's observations on auroræ._--a translation of the _course of meteorology_, by professor kaenitz, of halle, by mr. c.v. walker, was published at london in , in one volume mo. the work was written in german, and afterwards translated into french, and the english work is derived from the french translation. in p. . the following passage occurs: "it is chiefly to the _shepherd_ farquharson, at alford, in aberdeenshire, that we are indebted for a long series of observations on auroræ; and he endeavoured to prove that their height is inconsiderable." lower down it is said: "at the same time, _another protestant minister_, mr. james paull, at tullynessle, four kilometres from alford, saw that the aurora possessed an unusual clearness in the zenith, so that its height did not perhaps exeed metres." i have neither the original german work nor the french translation at hand to refer to; but i have a strong suspicion that the word translated _shepherd_ is _pasteur_, and that it is used to designate mr. farquharson as _minister_ of alford. l. _smith's vitæ eruditissimorum et illustrium virorum._--in his _life of sir peter young_ he quotes _ex ephemeride cl. v.d. petri junii_, but does not say where it was preserved. this (so-called) _ephemeris_ was written by sir peter in his later years, partly perhaps from memory, partly from notes, and, as might be expected, is not free from errors of date which admit of correction from other sources. smith, following camden, places easter seatown, young's chief residence, in lothian, whereas it is in forfarshire, about a mile from arbroath, and was part of the property of the great abbey to which that town belonged. is it known whether this _ephemeris_ is extant? and, if so, where? scotus. { } _defender of the faith._--in banks' _dormant and extinct baronage_, pp. - ., vol. iv., i find the following:-- "he ( henry viii.) was the first english monarch who obtained the title of defender of the faith, which was conferred upon him by pope leo x., for a book written by him against martin luther." to which the following note is subjoined:-- "but in a letter from christopher wren, esq., to francis peek, m.a. (author of the _desiderata curiosa_), it is thus stated, viz., 'that king henry vii. had the title of defender of the faith, appears by the register of the order of the garter in the black book, (sic dictum a tegmine), now in my hands, by office, which having been shown to king charles i., he received with much joy; nothing more pleasing him than that the right of that title was fixed in the crown long before the pope's pretended donation, to all which i make protestation to all posterity.' [greek: autographô], hoc meo. ità testor. chr. wren, à memoria, et secretis honoratissimi ordinis. wrexham, march, - ." in support of this note, i find in chamberlayne's _present state of england_, , p. ., this statement: "defender of the faith was anciently used by the kings of england, as appears by several charters granted to the university of oxford, &c." as the word _anciently_, i conceive, applies to a period anterior to , may i express a hope that some of your learned subscribers at oxford will favour your readers with the dates of the charters alluded to; and, if possible, some information as to the circumstances which led to the adoption of the title "defender of the faith" by the kings of england previous to the reign of henry viii. robert anstruther, lieut.-col. bayswater. _calendar of sundays in greek and romish churches._--where can i find good authority on the calendar of sundays in the greek church, and in the roman? as to the latter, the missals and directories only give the current year: as to the former, there is no work i know of which gives anything. m. _dandridge the painter._--at osterley park (lord jersey's) is the only example of the pencil of dandridge, bearing his signature and the date . through neglect and the effect of time this able work has been dried up, so that we may say-- "the wine of life is drawn, and nothing left but the mere lees:" but there's savour of merit and signs of goodly craft for the dark age of its birth. in the group of three children of life-size we have a rare work of the period when few men of genius wielded the brush or daubed canvas, even through the inspiring patronage of a wealthy banker, whose progeny they are--and this is executed too before academies and societies offered their fostering aid, and when hogarth struggled on probably side by side with dandridge. some of your readers may have traces of him and of his works, and may be able to trace his memory to the grave. all that walpole has of him is (p. .): "son of a house painter; had great business from his felicity in taking a likeness. he sometimes painted small conversations, but died in the vigour of his age." questor. athenæum, nov. . . _chaucer's portrait by occleve._--is the _portrait_ of chaucer which occleve _drew_ in his translation of _egidius de roma_ to be found in _all_ the mss. of that work? and, if so, has it ever been engraved. i have not urry's _chaucer_ by me, or perhaps he could save you the trouble of answering the question. on reference to watts, i find he does not even mention this work of occleve, but contents himself with a piece of supercilious criticism; whereas the notices which occleve takes of passing events (of which the character of chaucer is one) are at least valuable (although his poetry may not be the best in the world), and his work is also valuable in giving us the phraseology of the fourteenth century. p. _john o'groat's house._--does any authenticated view of the building called _john o'groat's house_ in caithness exist, and are any traditions respecting it known beyond the certainly ridiculous account in the fifth volume of _beauties of scotland_, p. .? can any of your readers point out an engraving of the old _konigs_ or _kaiserstuhl, at rheuse_, on the rhine, as well as of its restoration in , after being destroyed by the hordes of revolutionary france, in ? it is not in merian or zeiler. i have seen it, but cannot call to mind the author. perhaps _alsatia illustrata_? william bell, phil. dr. _dancing the bride to bed_--_old hewson the cobler._--i have a tune called "_a round dance to dance the bride to bed_." can any of your readers favour me with notices of such a custom prevailing? the tune dates about or earlier, and resembles that of "the hunt is up." another, printed about , is called, "_my name is old hewson the cobler_." is this a cavelier's song in ridicule of the roundhead colonel hewson; and are the words to be found? wm. chappell. [we trust these queries may be regarded as a sign that mr. chappell is preparing a new edition of his valuable collection of _national english airs_.--ed.] _duke and earl of albemarle._--albemarle has given a title of duke to the celebrated general monk, and that of earl to the family of keppel. will some of your correspondents tell me where { } there is any place called albemarle, which gives rise to these dignities, or why this title was assumed by these families? j. * * * * * replies. julin, the drowned city. (vol. ii., p. .) it does not at all follow, that if a city perished by the encroachment of the sea, it was a very striking event at the time: it might have happened gradually, not suddenly. instances both ways seem to have occurred on the shores of the german ocean (see lyell's _principles of geology_, ch. .). a great flood happened in (helmold, p. . b. ii. c. . s. .), but it is mentioned with respect to the oceanic rivers only, and not as to the baltic, or destruction of houses or buildings. but was julin drowned at all? helmold does not say that it was (his account is in book i. c. . s. .); and he does say that it was not, but destroyed by a certain danish king. it is most inconceivable that he should not have known who the danish king was, if it happened in his own time. the passage savours of much later interpolation. koch, _rivol._ vol. i. p. ., states positively that julin was wollin, and was destroyed by waldemar i. in , for which he seems to rely upon helmold, or at least his continuator, arnold. helmold himself died in . saxo grammaticus lived at that time, and was probably well acquainted with the events, since he was intimate with archbishop absolon, who took part in them in a military as well as ecclesiastical sense. in p. . he says: "waldemar the st, goes with a fleet through the month of the river zwina, then to the river which adjoins julin and camin, and has its mouth divided into two. there was a long bridge joining the walls of julin. the king having landed 'ex adverso urbis in ripa australi, pontem disjici jussit.' the king cleared the way for his fleet; got to an island chrisztoa; crossed the river and went to camin. he went out to sea by that mouth." this is given very much at length. all this is the geography of the present day, and the names, if you read wollin for julin. the oder expands into a wide lake, shut off from the sea by a bar of land, through which there are three channels. the zwein is the middle one of the three; that which passes by wollin and kimmin is the eastern one. in p. . he says: "rex ... classem ... zuinsibus ostiis inserit, julinique vacuas defensoribus ædes, incendio adortus, rehabitatæ urbis novitatem, iterata penatium strage, consumpsit.... juilinenses, cum urbis uæ recenses ruinas, ferendæ obsidioni, inhabiles cernerent, perinde ac viribus orbati, deserta patria, præsidium caminense petiverunt, aliena amplexi moenia, qui propria tueri diffiderent." in p. . he says: the king "per suinam invectus, julinum oppidum, incolarum fugâ desertam, incendio tentat." saxo mentions julin, p. - .: "nobilissimum illius provinciæ oppidum," under harold blatand, king of denmark, who reigned in the latter half of the ninth century. he put a body of troops into it, who became dreadful pirates. in p. . he says that the danes compelled them to give up their pirates, who were punished. in p. ., in the reign of canute, son of waldemar, there is an expedition against the julinenses, the result of which is expressed "julinensium rebus absumptis." in p. ., the king sets out for julin, but seems to have attacked only camin. waldemar died in , canute, (koch.) arnold (b. iii. c. . s. .) speaks of the sclavi as finally subdued and made tributary, about . in the notes to saxo (p. .) there is a long extract about wollinum, from chytræus, a writer who lived - , taken from the information of a learned old man whose uncle was born there. he says he went there to see, accompanied by many of the principal inhabitants, the remains of julin, destroyed in by waldemar. wollin he calls "mediocris civitas." from the ruins, it had been more than a german mile round. part of it was "ineditiore paulum colle." he speaks of four montes, which had castles. he says wollin is "non aspernenda civitas," but not a thirtieth part of the ancient size. c.b. i regret that my questioner v., from belgravia (vol. ii., p. .), should have felt aggrieved that, upon his request for my story, i should have been compelled to reply, in the words of the ancient mariner: "story! bless you, sir, i have none to tell." as he seems, however, so assured that some account of the destruction of a city of such opulence and renown as vineta _must_ exist, i shall be extremely happy to learn it from him. i can assure my friend v. that neither kanzow nor microelius (who has, however, a plan of the stone pavement of its streets at the bottom of the baltic), nor giesebrecht, in his _wendische geschichten_ (berlin, , vols. vo.), know anything beyond what i have stated. and as to a great port disappearing in the ocean, without any cotemporary notice, the instances are frequent; as remarkable a one as any occurs in our own island, and at a much later period:--ravenspur, which was a sea-port of the greatest importance, where certainly henry iv., and, as some say, henry vii., landed from the opposite continent, to claim and conquer their crowns, and where the father of de la pole, { } duke of suffolk, was a merchant, is now so totally lost from memory and the earth, that its very site is unknown, whether within the humber, or outside the spurn; possibly where now the reef called stony binks at the mouth of that æstuary is situated. so far, however, as an actual legend is concerned with the destruction of a great emporium of commerce, i am happy i can supply your correspondent with one, possibly the more acceptable as it is of another famous city, not very remote from vineta, and is not without relations belonging to the latter: i allude to the town of wisby, visbuy, visbye, visburgum, on the island of gothland, of which the following account is found in an old latin description of sweden: "insulæ unica civitas, olim potentia splendore et magnitudine celebris, tantarum rerum jactura fracta in exiguos fines se contraxit et oppiduli speciem refert, ut jansonii atlas docet. arx prope portum satis valida. emporiis illis pomeraniæ clarissimis wineta et julin pessum euntibus, visbya inter omnia regionum oppida floruit. (olaus magnus, l. . cap. .) licet urbs vetustissima visbycensis potentissima ac opulentissima quondam fuerit _et pro minima occasione, nempe fractionis unius fenestralis vitri vix valoris obolaris, humiliata sit_, tamen leges maritimæ et decisiones omnium controversiarum singulariter longe latèque observantur. ex distructa autem vineta gothlandos incolas marmor, ferrum, cuprum, stannum, argentum, et inter alia duas ænei portas grandis ponderis petiisse, et secum in gothlandum avexisse ferunt." i need not remind your readers that the maritime code of wisby even now influences many of the most important decisions affecting our present mercantile shipping, it having been the model of the laws of the acquitanian islands of re and oleron, which richard i. ordered to be observed in england, and which are still frequently acted on. it is, however, to the notice which i have marked in italics that i would call the attention of v.,--the destruction of the city _on account of a small pane of glass not the value of an obolus_: and as he, no doubt, has interested himself on these northern histories, request him to explain the circumstance more in detail. i myself have often determined on searching pontanus, and other ancient danish authorities, but hitherto neglected, and therefore know nothing about the matter. as to the gates, which are more especially mentioned amongst the spoils of the ruined wineta, we find them also noticed in the same work, at its account of wineta: "urbem frequentabant græci aut potius russi multarumque aliarum nationum mercatores, quorum affluxus frequens civibus ingentes divitias et facultates conciliavit: _adeo ut portæ civitatis ex ære paratæ_, et argentum tam vulgare ibi esset ut ad communium et vilium rerum usum adhibetur." to go, however, completely into the history of these gates would require a volume. it would be necessary to commence with the great veneration for gates in general throughout the north: whether the name of their great god thor (a gateway) is cause or consequence would have to be considered, and his coincidence, in this respect, with janus and janua, the eldest deity of the italians, which i have more largely discussed in an _essay on a british coin with the head of janus_, in the st no. of the journal of the british archæological association. next, the question would arise, whether these gates have not been migratory, like those of somnauth, which mahmoud took to gazni from a similar principle of deeply-rooted ancient veneration,--relics of sanctity rather than trophies of victory, and which lord ellenborough was so unjustly ridiculed for endeavouring to restore. thirdly, therefore, also whether the famous gates of the cathedral of novogorod may not be identical with those which have successively adorned vineta's and wisby's portals; and whether those which are still the ornament of the west door of the cathedral of hildesheim, (which, according to the inscription which crosses their twenty scriptural bas-reliefs, were cast by bereward, the thirteenth bishop, in ), may not be an existing and beautiful example; as is the bronze column, with the bas-reliefs of passages of the new testament winding round it, and placed in the same cathedral close. it would not be too much to surmise, that even the beautiful gate of the florence baptistery are from the same atelier, as an old italian author sings: "o germania gloriosa, tu vasa ex aurichalcis ad nos subinde mittes." william bell, phil. d. * * * * * nicholas ferrar and the so-called arminian nunnery of little gidding. (vol. ii., pp. . .) hearne, the antiquary, has preserved two curious documents relating to the little gidding establishment in the appendix to his preface to _peter langtoff's chronicle_, nos. ix. and x. see also _thomæ caii vindiciæ_, vol. ii. the most complete account of this remarkable man is that by dr. peckard, formerly master of magdalen college, cambridge, entitled _memoirs of the life of nicholas ferrar_, published in , which has now become extremely scarce, but has been reprinted by dr. wordsworth, in his _ecclesiastical biography_, who has given in an appendix an account of the visit of the younger nicholas ferrar to london, from a ms. in the lambeth library. the _life of nicholas ferrar_, by dr. turner, bishop of ely, came into the hands of the celebrated dr. dodd, who published an abridgment { } of it in the _christian magazine_ of . this account was again republished, with additions, in , entitled _brief memorials of nicholas ferrar, founder of a protestant religious establishment at little gidding, in huntingdonshire_, by the rev. t.m. macdonogh, vicar of bovingdon. some further particulars of this family may be found in barnabas oley's preface to _herbert's country parson_, and in bishop hacket's _life of archbishop williams_. in _baker's mss._ (vol. xxxv. p. .) in the public library of cambridge, is an article entitled "large materials for writing the life of mr. nicholas ferrar." isaac walton, in his _life of george herbert_, also notices ferrar, and describes minutely his mode of life at little gidding. from an advertisement at the end of francis peck's _memoirs of cromwell_, it appears that peck had prepared for publication a _life of mr. nicholas ferrar_, no doubt the manuscript collections noticed by mr. rimbault (p. .): "little gidding," it has been observed, "was in england what port royal was in france. ardent devotion to the redeemer characterised both. in each, peace, charity, good order, and love to the souls and bodies of men, were eminently exhibited; upon each the hand of persecution fell with unrelenting severity. port royal was destroyed by the jesuits; little gidding by the puritans." j.y. hoxton. _arminian nunnery in huntingdonshire_ (vol. ii., p. .).--allow me to refer dr. rimbault to hacket's _life of archbishop williams_, part ii. p. .; izaak walton's _life of george herbert_; peter langloft's _chronicle_, ed. hearne, preface, sect xi., appendix to preface, nos. ix. and x.; _caii vindiciæ antiquitatis academiæ oxoniensis_, ed. hearne, vol. ii. p. . . . . .; and _memoirs of the life of mr. nicholas ferrar_, by peter peckard, d.d., cambridge, vo., (which is reprinted with additions from a manuscript in the archiepiscopal library at lambeth, in dr. wordsworth's _ecclesiastical biography_). in dr. peckard's preface will be found somewhat respecting "the loss (probably the unjust detention)" of francis peck's manuscript life of nicholas ferrar, apparently the same manuscript which dr. rimbault states he has seen. c.h. cooper. cambridge, november . . in nichol's _litterary anecdotes_, vol. ii. p. ., it is stated that "a capital account of the family of ferrar was compiled by mr. gough for the sixth volume of the second edition of the _biographica britannica_." of the only two copies known to exist of the printed portion of this sixth volume mr. chalmers possessed one, and he seems to have used it in the preparation of the life of ferrar for his _biographical dictionary_. john j. dredge. dr. rimbault will find many interesting particulars relating to the so-called "arminian nunnery," and the family of ferrars, together with an account of the present state of the place, in a paper by c. colson, b.a., fellow of st. john's college, entitled "an account of a visit to little gidding, on the feast of s. andrew, ," published in the first part of the _transactions of the cambridge camden society_, stevenson, cambridge, . e.v. dr. peckard appears to have had the use of some of peck's mss. (perhaps those referred to by dr. rimbault), but he regrets the loss of a ms. which he had lent to the rev. mr. jones, of sheepshall, being, a _life of nicholas ferrar_, by peck, prepared for the press, but which, after near twenty years' inquiry, he had been unable to recover. this suggests the query, has it ever yet been recovered? dr. rimbault's inquiry regarding thomas hearne has been answered by dr. dibdin (_bibliomania_, london, , p. .) who informs dr. peckard, dr. wordsworth, and his quarterly reviewer (p. ), that hearne, in the supplement to his _thom. caii vind. ant. oxon._, , vo., vol. ii., "had previously published a copious and curious account of the monastery at little gidding," which he says "does not appear to have been known to this latter editor," meaning dr. wordsworth. i have not hearne's work to refer to; but dr. dibdin _versus_ dr. wordsworth and his reviewer, as to ignorance of what so well-known an author as tom hearne has written, is a little curious. the word "arminian," in dr. rimbault's query, requires a remark. on reading the _memoir_ which dr. wordsworth has edited, he will find (appendix, p. .) that the ferrars complained of "a libellous pamphlet, entitled the _arminian nunnery at little gidding in huntingdonshire_," and that they repudiated "arminianism and other fopperies." this suggests a further query: is dr. rimbault possessed of that pamphlet? the attachment to books manifested by the ferrars family entitles them, i humbly think, to as much space as your "notes and queries" can afford them. j.d.n.n. renfrewshire. if dr. rimbault or any of your correspondents could furnish a reply to any of the queries inserted by you in vol. ii., p. ., relative to the memoir published by peckard, and other matters connected therewith, i should feel obliged. materre. mr. henning of hillingden, a descendant of the ferrar family, through his great-uncle, dr. john mapletoft, (see ward's _lives of the gresham professors_), who was the great-nephew of nicholas ferrar, possessed one of the three curious volumes arranged by members of the family, { } viz.--_a digest of the history of our saviour's life_, with numerous plates. one of these copies was presented to charles i. on his going into the north; another to charles ii. at the restoration; the third remained in the family. can any of your readers tell us whether the copies given to the two kings exist, and if so, who are the present possessors of them? j.h.m. bath * * * * * vineyards. (vol. ii., p. . .). clericus will find some information in the _gentleman's magazine_ for the year (vol. xlv. pp. . .) which will direct him to a still fuller discussion of the subject in the third volume of the _archæologia_. n.b. at _rochester_ there is a field so called; it is a very favourite _walk_. in the neighbourhood of the _cathedral at bath_, there is one side of a street so called. s.s. a part of the town of richmond (surrey) is called "the vineyard." the name, of the origin of which i am ignorant, is applied to a collection of small houses between the roman catholic chapel and the rose cottage hotel. w.a.g. in the fields between buckden and diddington, in the county of huntingdon, there is what is called "the vineyard" at the present day; and connected therewith is what is called, and evidently from the shape has been, a "fish pond." in buckden is the abbot's house, with the original door; and there is no doubt but what the above was, in olden times, belonging to a religious house in that part. m.c.r. a small close of land adjoining the churchyard at oiston, nottinghamshire (due west of the church), goes by the name of "the vineyard." p.p. there is also a street at abingdon called "the vineyard," from the land having been formerly used for that purpose by the benedictines of abingdon abbey. if my memory do not betray me, there is some interesting information on the early cultivation of the vine in england, in an article by mr. t. hudson turner, in the _archæological journal_, which i have not now at hand. h.g.t. there was a vineyard belonging to ely place, holborn: and another probably in the abbey grounds at westminster. a portion of the estate of the late chas. powell, esq., of hinton court, near hereford, was called the "vineyard" and the vineyard of the monks of st. mary's is yet pointed out by the good folks of beaulieu in hampshire. the vineyards of bath are in the heart, not the suburbs of the present town. mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * treatise of equivocation. (vol. ii., p. .). as supplementary to j.b.'s valuable paper on the _treatise of equivocation_, i transcribe the following from the _smith manuscripts_ (num. lxix. . p. .), thinking it may leave an interest for some of your readers:-- "_apud, d.p._ th of may, . _gerard the jesuite, his defence of Æquivocation._ john gerard, the jesuite, being told that, upon the arraignment of sowthwell the priest of high treason, one of the witnesses being asked upon her oath by one of the judges, in open court, whether sowthwell were ever in bellamie's house, said that she had been perswaded by sowthwell to affirme upon her oath, that she did not see sowthwell in bellamie's house and to keep this secret in her mind, of intent to tell you, whereas in truth she had seen him diverse times in bellamie's house; and sowthwell being charged therewith, openly confessed the same, and sought to justifie the same by the place out of jeremie, that a man ought to swear _in judicio, justitiá, et veritate_. now, this john gerrard, being asked what his opinion and judgment was concerning southwell's opinion above said, said that he was of the same opinion, and seemed to justifie the same by the example of our saviour christ, who said to his disciples, that _you shall go to jerusalem, ego autem non ascendam_, keeping this secret to himself, of intent to tell you. and also sayeth that our saviour christ said, that the son of man did not know of the day of judgment, keeping this secret to himself, of intent to tell you; for he sayeth, that as he was son of man he knew it, and could not be ignorant of any thing: and furder sayeth, that a witness being examined, _juridicè_ and of temporal things, not concerning religion or catholics, cannot answer with such æquivocation as is above said. and, forasmuch as this opinion and the defence thereof seemed to be damnable and blasphemous, he was required to sett down his own opinion therein, least he should be mistaken; but he denied the same, not because it is untrue, but because he would not publish it. then being required to subscribe the same, denied the same also. richard barkley. william waad. edward cook. thomas fleming." the reference "_apud. d.p._," which stands as i have placed it above, may perhaps enable some of your contributors to point out the source from which this account is derived. the date at the top appears to have been added by a later hand. j. sansom. oxford, nov. . * * * * * riots in london. (vol. ii., pp. . .) will you do me the favour to insert the following attempt to set right and disentangle the thread { } of my narrative respecting the death of young allen. certain it is that i was not "an actor nor spectator," in the riots of , for they occurred some little time before i was born! it is equally certain that a man well remembered by me as our servant, whose name was "mac," was a soldier concerned in the affair of allen's death. as all the three soldiers had the prefix of "mac" to their names, i cannot tell which of them it was, but it was _not_ the man who really shot allen, and _was never again heard of_; for "mac," whom i so well remember, must have lived with my father _after_ the affair of , or _i_ could not have known him. in my youthful remembrance, i have blended the story about him with the riots which i had witnessed in : this is the best and only explanation i can give. sure i am, that all my father related to me of that man was true. i presume the "mac" i knew must have been maclane, as your correspondent e.b. price thinks probable, because of his trial and acquittal, which agrees with my father's statement; and especially as he was singled out and erroneously accused of the crime--as the quotation above referred to states. all i can say is, i can relate no more; i have told the story _as i remember it,_ and for myself can only apologise that (though not so old as to witness the riots of ) i am old enough to experience that time has laid his hand not only on my head to whiten my locks, but in this instance compels me to acknowledge that even the memories of my early days are, like the present, imperfect. the failure is with me, not with my father. this vindication of my honourable parent's undoubted veracity reminds me of a circumstance that i have read or heard in a trial with regard to a right of way across an inclosure. several aged men had given their evidence, when one said, "i remember that a public footpath for more than years." "how old are you?" said the counsel. "somewhere about eighty," was as the reply. "how then do you remember the path for years?" "i remember (said the old man firmly), when a boy, sitting on my father's knee, and he told me of a robbery that took place on that footpath; and so i know it existed _then_, for _my father never told a lie_." the point was carried, and the footpath remains open to this day, to tell to all generations _the beauty of truth_. senex. in malcolm's _anecdotes of the manners and customs of london during the eighteenth century_, to. , there is a "summary of the trial of donald maclane, on tuesday last, at guildford assizes, for the murder of william allen jun. on the th of may last in st. george's fields." upon the trial mention was made of the paper stuck up against the walls of the king's bench prison, from which it appears that it contained the following: "let * * * judges, ministers combine, and here great wilkes and liberty confine. yet in each english heart secure their fame is in spite of crowded levies at st. j----'s. then while in prison envy dooms their stay, here grateful britons daily homage pay." the inscription upon the tomb of william allen was visible in , and in addition to the inscription on the north side, which has already been printed in "notes and queries" (vol. ii., p. ), was as follows:-- _south side._ "o disembody'd soul! most rudely driven from this low orb (our sinful seat) to heaven, while filial piety can please the ear, thy name will still occur for ever dear: this very spot now humaniz'd shall crave from all a tear of pity on thy grave. o flow'r of flow'rs! which we shall see no more, no kind returning spring can thee restore, thy loss thy hapless countrymen deplore. _east side._ "o earth! cover not thou my blood."--_job._ xvi. . _west side._ "take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness."--_prov._ xxiii. . fifteen months afterwards the father of william allen presented a petition to his majesty for vengeance on the murderers of his son. o. smith. * * * * * replies to minor queries _osnaburg bishopric_ (vol. ii. p. .).--by the treaty of osnaburg, in , it was stipulated "that the alternate nomination to the bishopric of osnaburg should be in the catholic bishops, and in the protestant branches of the house of luneburg." thus, the princes ernest augustus, the father of george i., ernest augustus, brother of the same monarch, and the late duke of york, became sovereign-bishops of osnaburg. but by the treaty of vienna, in , the bishopric became an integral part of the kingdom of hanover. (vide _halliday's house of guelph_, to. , pp. , , .) f.e. _death of richard ii._ (vol. ii., p. .).--otterburn tells us (pp. , .) that richard ii.'s death took place at _pontefract castle_, on st. valentine's day, and adds, that the body was exposed to public view in all the principal towns through which it passed on the road to london. see also walsingham (p. .): "clausitque diem extremum _apud castrum de pontefracto_, die sancti valentini." { } the keeper of the wardrobe, moreover, received marks for the conveyance of the king's body from pontefract to london. (_issue rolls_, henry iv.) it was the belief of many contemporaries--and arguments have been adduced by modern writers in support of the supposition--(see a very interesting treatise on the subject in the second volume of tytler's _history of scotland_), that richard ii. escaped from his prison, and lived for several years in stirling castle. but be that as it may, froissart, i think, is clearly wrong in stating that he died in the tower of london. o.p.q. in answer to your query relative to the death of richard ii., and his dying at pontefract, i beg to refer you to devon's printed _pell records_, hen. iii. to hen. vi., p. , for the following entry: " february. to thos. tuttabury, clerk, keeper of the king's wardrobe, in money paid to him by the hands of wm. pampleon, esq., for expenses incurred for the carriage of the body of richard, late king of england, _from the town of pomferait to london_, by writ, &c., l. s. d." again, at page .: "to a certain other valet, sent from london, by direction of the king's council, to pontfreyt castle for the protection and safe custody of the body of richard ii., late king of england, in money paid to his own hands for his wages and expenses, s. d." this seems to be decisive of the question; but there are several other interesting entries bearing on the same point. d.p.r. _scottish prisoners sold to plantations_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).-- "the judgements of heaven were never so visible upon any people as those which have fallen upon the scots since [the sale of charles i.]; for, besides the sweeping furious plague that reigned in edinburgh, and the incredible number of witches which have increased, and have been executed there since; besides the sundry shameful defeats they have received by the english, who carried away more of them prisoners than they were themselves in number; _besides that many of them died of mere hunger; besides that they were sold away slaves, at half a crown a dozen, for foreign plantations among savages_; i say besides all this chain of judgements, with diverse others, they have quite lost their reputation among all mankind; some jeer them, some hate them, and none pity them."--howell's _german dict._, p. ., . echard, in _hist. eng._, vol. ii. p. ., speaking of the prisoners taken at worcester, says that cromwell "marched up triumphantly to london, driving four or five thousand prisoners like sheep before him; making presents of them, as occasion offered, as of so many slaves, and selling the rest for that purpose into the english plantations abroad." w. dn. _lachrymatories._--there is absolutely _no_ authority in any ancient author for this name, and the best scholars speak of these vessels as _the bottles usually called lachrymatories_, &c. it would be curious to discover when the name was first used, and by whom first this absurd use was imagined. it _[illegible]_ that their _proper_ use was to contain perfumes, scents, and unguents, as sweet odours to rest with the departed. becker says: "bottles, filled with perfumes, were placed inside the tomb, which was besprinkled _odoribus_. these are the tear-flasks, or _lachrymatories_, so often mentioned formerly."--_gallus_, p. . eng. tr. a wasteful use of perfumes at funerals (_sumptuosa respersio_, cicero de legibus, ii. .) was forbidden by the twelve tables. the eighth verse of the fifty-sixth psalm, "my flight thou numberest: put my tears in thy bottle: stand they not in thy book?"--_hengstenberg_, clarke's tr. edinb. is, i believe, the only evidence that can be brought in favour of the old opinion; but we surely cannot take the highly figurative language of eastern poetry to establish a roman custom of which we have no hint elsewhere. this verse admits of a much simpler interpretation; see arndt, quoted by hengstenberg _ad locum_. from a review of _museum disneianum_, which appeared in no. xxiii. of the _classical museum_, it seems that mr. disney has devoted to this subject some pages of the introduction to part ii. of the above work, of which a summary is given by the reviewer. ed. s. jackson. torreridge, herts, oct. . _querela cantabrigiensis_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--mr. sansom is sustained by anthony wood in assigning the _querela_ to dean ryves; but it may be doubted whether he were anything but the editor, publishing it as an appendix to the _mercurius rusticus_. the title of the work is _querela cantabrigiensis: or a remonstrance by way of apologie for the banished members of the late flourishing university of cambridge, by some of the said sufferers_. now dean ryves was a member of the university of oxford. in wood's _fasti_, it is stated that he took the degree of b.a., oct. , , being then of new college. on june , , he was admitted of magdalen college, as a member of which he took his b.d. in , and proceeded to d.d. in . he had nothing therefore to do with the sufferings of the members of the university of cambridge. in the _life of dr. barwick_, the account given of the _querela cantabrigiensis_ is:-- "but _mr. barwick's_ no inconsiderable part of this tragedy, together with others of the university, groaning under the same yoke of tyranny, _and each taking a particular account of the sufferings of his own college_, { } gave a distinct narrative of all these barbarities, and under the title of _querela cantabrigiensis_, or the _university of cambridge's complaint_, got it printed by the care of _mr. richard royston_, a bookseller of _london_, who did great service to his king and country, by printing and disposing, in the most difficult times, books written in defence of the royal cause." pp. - . in the appendix (p. . note), dr. bruno ryves is mentioned, and spoken of as the author of _mercurius rusticus_; but no notice is taken of his being one of the authors of the _querela_. of dr. ryves, who assisted in the polyglot, a good account is given in todd's _life of bishop walton_, vol. i. pp. - . barwick was upon another occasion assisted in a work against the league and covenant, published in , by william lacy of st. john's, isaac barrow of peter-house, sethward of sidney college, edmund baldero, and william quarles of pembroke hall, and peter gunning of clare hall. it is not an improbable conjecture that some of these distinguished men assisted in the composition of the _querela_. a.b.r. easton. _"then" for "than."_--at the end of selden's _titles of honour_ (edit. ), after the list of "faults escapled in print," occur the words, "may with no less difficulty be amended _then_ observed?" was the word _then_ commonly used in the sense of _than_; or is it a misprint? p.h.f. [dr latham, in _english language_, p. . ( d ed.), observes. "as to the word _than_, the conjunction of comparison, it is a variety of _then_; the notions of _order_, _sequence_, and _comparison_, being allied. _this is good; then_ (or _next in order_) _that is good_, is an expression sufficiently similar to _this is better than that_ to have given rise to it."] _doctrine of the immaculate conception_ (vol. ii., p. .).--"the papal decision" referred to may probably be found in the popes letters of nd feb. , and of th may, . the former professes to seek for information on this question from the priests and bishops of the whole catholic world, but at the same time it enunciates clearly the pope's opinion in favour of the doctrine. j.h.m. bath. in the _catholic annual register for the year ended th june, _, published by dolman, will be found the recent allocution of his holiness pius ix., a pastoral of the cardinal wiseman, and one from the bishops of america on this subject; from which your correspondent l. will be fully able to discover the present state of the doctrine of the catholic church on this mystery. feste. _letters of horning_ (vol. ii., p. .).--letters of horning, in the law of scotland, are writs issuing under the signet of the sovereign (used in the supreme court, or court of session, for signifying the sovereign's assent to writs issuing from that court) obtained by creditors, commanding messengers at arms "to charge the debtor to pay or perform his obligation within a day certain." ... "if payment be not made within the days mentioned in the horning, the messsenger, after proclaiming three oyesses at the marketcross of the head borough of the debtor's domicil, and reading the letters there, blows three blasts with a horn, by which the debtor is understood to be proclaimed rebel to the king for contempt of his authority." § . "denunciation, if registered within fifteen days, either in the sheriff's books or in the general register, drew after it the rebel's single cheat, i.e. forfeiture of his moveables to the crown. so severe a penalty, with the character of rebel affixed to denunciation on civil debts, was probably owing to this; that anciently letters of horning were not granted but to enforce the performance of facts within one's own power, and when afterwards [in ] they came to be issued on liquid debts, the legislature neglected to soften the penalty. insomuch that those who were denounced rebels, even for a civil cause, might be put to death with impunity till . persons denounced rebels have not a _persona standi ne judicio_. they can neither sue nor defend in any action." i have preferred, to any explanation of my own, to make the preceding extracts from erskine's _principles of the law of scotland_, book ii., title ., sections , , .,--a standard institutional work of the highest authority. for those who are disinclined to examine the subject too gravely, i must refer to another authority equally worthy of credit, viz. sir walter scott's _antiquary_, where, in chapter xviii., "full of wise saws and modern instances." the subject of imprisonment for debt in scotland is discussed most ably by jonathan oldbuck, esq., of monkbarns, who proves to his nephew, captain mcintyre, that in that happy country no man can be legally imprisoned _for debt_. he says,-- "you suppose now a man's committed to prison because he cannot pay his debts? quite otherwise; the truth is, the king is so good as to interfere at the request of the creditor, and to send the debtor his royal command to do him justice within a certain time; fifteen days, or six, as the case may be. well, the man resists, and disobeys; what follows? why, that he be lawfully and rightfully declared a rebel to our gracious sovereign, whose command he has disobeyed, and that by three blasts of a horn, at the market-place of edinburgh, the metropolis of scotland. and he is then legally imprisoned, not on account of any civil debt, but because of his ungrateful contempt of the royal mandate." i have only quoted what was absolutely necessary to answer the query; but there is much more to be found on the subject in the same place. i cannot suppose that there is any one of your readers so illiterate as not to have read the _antiquary_, { } there are few memories which are not the better for being from time to time refreshed. my own is not of the best, which is sometimes disadvantageous to me, but not in a case like this. i have frequently read over the _antiquary_, again and again, and have always derived much pleasure and amusement from so doing, and that pleasure i hope still again to enjoy. j. s----s. _dr. euseby cleaver_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent h. cotton, thurles, ireland, is mistaken with reward to dr. euseby cleaver. he was never bishop of cork and ross. he was bishop of ferns and leighlin, and translated thence to the archbishopric of dublin _about_ the year . no doubt the transaction will be found in the registry of ferns, but i do not know the date of his consecration. i was acquainted with that good man, and my mother was his first cousin. r.s. belgave, nov. . . _mrs. partington_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--in the rev. sydney smith's speech at taunton, on the lords' rejection of the reform bill, october, , is this passage: "the attempt of the lords to stop the progress of reform, reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent mrs. partington on that occasion. in the winter of , there set in a great flood upon that town--the tide rose to an incredible height--the waves rushed in upon the houses, and everything was threatened with destruction. in the midst of this sublime and terrible storm, dame partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the atlantic ocean. the atlantic was roused. mrs. partington's spirit was up; but i need not tell you that the contest was unequal. the atlantic ocean beat mrs partington. she was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled with a tempest." this speech is reprinted in the collected editions of sydney smith's _works_. unless an allusion to mrs. partington of a prior date to october, , is produced, we may fairly consider that the celebrity of that lady is owing to sydney smith. i doubt if lord brougham ever alluded to mrs. partington. certain it is he never made any speech in the house of _commons_ on the reform bill, as he was raised to the peerage some months before that bill was brought forward. c.h. cooper. _"never did cardinal bring good to england"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent o.p.q. refers to dr. lingard's _history of england_, in which this exclamation of the duke of suffolk, on the adjournment of the legatine inquiry into the validity of the marriage of henry viii. and catharine of arragon, is termed an "old saw," and remarks that he should be glad to know if this saying is to be met with elsewhere, and what gave rise to it. before we enter upon the inquiries suggested by o.p.q., it seems to me that we have to consider a previous question--what authority is there for terming it an "old saw." dr. lingard refers to "cavendish, .; herbert, ." as his authorities for the whole paragraph. but herbert does not contain anything of the kind and cavendish relates the matter very differently: "with that stepped forth the duke of suffolk from the king, and lay his commandment spoke these words with a stout and an hault countenance, 'it was never merry in england,' quoth he, 'whilst we had cardinals amongst us!'"--cavendish's _wolsey_, pp. , , singer's edition. is dr. lingard the authority for these words being an "old saw", or has he merely omitted to give a reference to the place from whence he really derived them? beruchino. _pandects, florentine edition of_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent r.g. will find copies of the florentine edition of the pandects of , both in the british museum and in the bodleian library at oxford. it is described in the catalogues of both under the title of _pandecta_. c.l.l. _master john shorne_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. thoms, in his curious notes on this personage, has expressed much regret that fuller details relating to a representation of _magister johannes schorn_ at cawston, norfolk, communicated to the archæological institute by the rev. james bulwer, had not been preserved in the _archæological journal_. i believe that the omission was solely in deference to mr. bulwer's intention of giving in another publication the results of his inquiries, and those persons who may desire detailed information regarding master john will do well to peruse mr. bulwer's curious memoir in the _norfolk archæology_, vol. ii. p. ., published march , where representations of the figure at cawston, and of another at gateley, norfolk, are given. there seems to be no evidence that sir john, although in both instances pourtrayed with _nimbus_, had been actually canonized and it is deserving of notice that in no ancient evidence hitherto cited is he designated as a saint, but merely as master, or sir john. i am surprised that dr. husenbeth, who is so intimately conversant with the examples of hagiotypic symbols existing in norfolk, should not have given him even a supplementary place in his most useful manual of the _emblems of saints_, recently published. (burns, , mo.) i have sought for sir john in vain, in either section of that valuable work. it occurs neither under the names of saints, nor in the series of emblems. albert way. _"her brow was fair"_ (vol. ii p. .).--the author of the passage quoted by j.m.b. is barry cornwall. it occurs in one of the delicious { } little "miscellaneous poems" attached to the volume entitled _dramatic scenes_. the quotation is not quite accurate, the last two words of the first line, "and look'd," being carried into the second, and thus destroying the metre of both. the dr. armstrong alluded to by j.m.b. is, i suppose, a modern celebrity of whom i must plead guilty of being ignorant. the lines could, of course, only occur in the writings of the dr. armstrong who wrote _the art of preserving health_, and who was the friend of the poet thomson, through the interpolation of some modern editor, within the last thirty years. barry cornwall's poems have never been collected, in this country at least; and as the volume which contains the one in question is to be met with only occasionally, on the book stalls, i send you the entire poem:-- the magdalen. "and woman who had wept her loveliest dower there hid her broken heart. _paris._ "i do remember it. twas such a face as guido would have loved to dwell upon; but oh! the touches of his pencil never could paint her perfect beauty. in her home (which once she did desert) i saw her last; propp'd up by pillows, swelling round her like soft heaps of snow, yielding, and fit to bear her faded figure. i observed her well: her brow was fair, but _very_ pale, and look'd like stainless marble; a touch methought would soil its whiteness. o'er her temple one blue vein ran like a tendril; one through her shadowy hand branch'd like the fibre of a leaf--away. her mouth was tremulous, and her cheek wore then a flush of beautiful vermilion, but more like art than nature; and her eye spoke as became the youthful magdalen, dying and broken-hearted." g.j. de wilde. _dodd's church history_ (vol. ii., p. ).--g.r., who is good enough to speak of my edition of this work in a very flattering manner, presumes, and not unnaturally, from the lengthened period which has elapsed since the appearance of the last, or fifth volume, that its continuation "has for some reason or other been abandoned." i am glad, however, to inform him that such is not the case. health, and other uncontrollable circumstances, have unfortunately interfered to impede the progress of the work; but that it is not abandoned, i hope, ere long, to give to him and to the public a practical evidence. m.a. tierney. arundel, nov. . _blackwall docks_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--these, in pepys' time, probably included more than the dry docks, known as wigram's and green's; _e.g._, in sir thomas brame's _letters_, dated th sept. , we read: "blackwall hath the largest wet dock in england, and belongs chiefly to the east india company."--sir thos. brame's _letters_, edit. wilkin, t. i. p. . w. dn. _wives of ecclesiastics_ (vol. i., p. .).--in archdeacon hale's _curious precedents in criminal causes_, p. ., under , and in the parish of s. nicholas, coldharbour, london, we read: "nicholai colde.--johannes warwick quondam clericus parochie ibidem adulteravit cum rosa williamson et ob amorem illius mutilavit et quasi interfecit uxorem propriam." we may remark that the delinquent is not called dominus, but "clericus parochie." w. dn. _stephens' sermons_ (vol. i., p. .).--the sermons referred to by ballioliensis, with a suggestion that they may be those of the rev. w. stephens, were preached by rev. samuel johnson, vicar of great, and rector of little torrington. stephens was subsequently vicar of st. andrew's, plymouth, a living then in the gift of the corporation. w. dn. _saying of montaigne_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i have seen this attributed to fenelon, and, i think, to an english divine; but have no "note," and regret i cannot recollect the name. este. _scala coeli_ (vol. ii., p. .)--they are not _in_ the church of st. john lateran, but in a separate portico-like building. they form the middle flight, up which the faithful ascend on their knees, and descend by ordinary stairs on each side. these stairs are of stone (or marble), and are covered with boards, so that only parts are visible. they are said to have formed part of pilate's house at jerusalem; but i believe there are other claimants for the honour. one or two brass stars, inlaid in the stone, are said to mark the spots where christ's tears fell. este. birmingham, nov. . . _red hand--holt family--aston church_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the tradition is not, i belive, of very ancient date. it is stated that one of the holt family murdered his cook, and was afterwards compelled to adopt the red hand in his arms. it is, however, obviously only the "ulster badge" of baronetcy. i have never heard any further particulars of the tradition. este. _swearing by swans_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "toison d'or parut ensuite; il apportait un faisan vivant, orné d'un collier d'or; alors le duc philippe, suivant l'ancien usage qu'avaient les seigneurs de prêter leurs serments sur quelque noble oiseau, jura qu'il irait en personne dans l'orient combattre le chef des sarrasins." &c., &c.--_histoire des ducs de bourgogne_, par f. valentin, troisième édition, p. . vo. tours, . e.j.m. oxford. { } _"tickhill, god help me!"_ (vol. i., p. .).--chagford, on the borders dartmoor, in devon, is in winter a very desolate and almost unapproachable place. if an inhabitant be asked at this season concerning his locality, he calls it, in sad tones, "chagford, good lord!" in summer the place is picturesque and much sought, and then the exulting designation is "chaggiford, and what d'ye think?" widdicombe-in-the-moor, in the same neighbourhood, is a most out-of-the-way place, and is commonly spoken of as "widdicombe in the cold country, good lord!" j.w.h. _"noli me tangere"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--to the list given of the painters of this subject may be added _frederico baroccio_. a singularly beautiful engraving by raphael morghen of this picture, then in the possession of the marquis bonvisi of lucca, was published at florence, . c.i.r. _judas bell, judas candle, &c._ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the parish accounts of lambeth, the two following entries occur:-- " . to james calcot for payntyng of judas, d." " . paid for a staff for judas crosse -- d." i venture to add these to the instances cited by mr. walcott, hoping that the slightly varied form may furnish a clue by which some of your readers may be able to unravel the meaning of such allusions more satisfactorily than any yet attempted. j.c.b. _burial towards the west_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. hawker has stated very confidently that "it was the ancient usage of the church that the martyr, the bishop, the saint, and even the priest, should occupy in their sepulture a position the reverse of the secular dead, and lie down with their feet westward and their heads to the rising sun." it is true that a custom has existed in many places for nearly two centuries and a half to assign to the clergy a method of interment distinct from that adopted for the laity; and the observance of this usage is not limited to romanists, for its continuance may be noted among members of the church of ireland also, at least in remote districts of that country. with respect to this matter, however, your correspondent has entirely misapplied the term "ancient;" for until the seventeenth century there was not any difference in the mode of sepulture prescribed for priests and laymen but, most commonly, all persons entitled to christian burial were placed with their feet toward the east, in consequence of a tradition relative to the position of our saviour's body in the tomb. (haimo, _hom. pro die sancto pasch._; j. gregrory, _oriens nomen ejus_, ., martene, _de antiq. eccles. ritibus_, tom. ii. p. . venet. .) it is believed that there is no earlier authority for the sacerdotal privilege in question than a rule contained in the _rituale romanum_ sanctioned by pope paul v. in june, ; viz.: "corpora defunctorum in ecclesia ponenda sunt pedibus versus altare majus ... presbyteri verò habeant caput versus altare."--cap. _de exsequiis_, p. . antwerp, . a rubric afterwards directs (p. .) that the bier should be so set down in the middle of the church that in every case the injunction previously given should be complied with, even from the commencement of the funeral service; and, in fact, the manner of adhering to the established practice of exhibiting in the church to the people the bodies of the deceased clergy, clad in vestments, prior to their interment (on which occasions an altar-ward posture was naturally selected for the head, in order that the remains might be more easily seen), appears to have originated the idea of the fitness of retaining an unjustifiable priestly prerogative at the time of burial. mr. hawker may peruse with much advantage the first appendix in the second edition of _eusebii romani epistola de cultu sanctorum ignotorum_. mabillon has herein very usefully enlarged what he had said, "de sepultura sacerdotum," in the preceding impression, of which a french translation was speedily published at paris, mo in eights, . the text of both editions may be found together in tome i. of the _ouvrages posthumes de mabillon et ruinart_, à paris, . r.g. _totnes church_ (vol. ii., p. ).--as the priory of st. mary stood on the n.e. side of the parish church, it is not improbable that the arched passage to which your querist h.g.t. refers may have been formed between the two buildings, and found needful to allow room for the extension of the chancel on the re-erection of the church in . perhaps if h.g.t. could refer to the ancient documents brought to light by the fall of one of the pinnacles into the room over the porch in , he would gain some information in connexion with his inquiry. the following note may have reference to the very "gangway" in question: "william ryder of totnes, by his will dated th nov. desires to be buried in the cemetery of the parish church, in itinere processionali juxta ecclesiam prioris et conventus totton, ex opposito magni altaris ejusdem ecclesiæ."--see dr. oliver's _monasticum dioc. exon._ p. . it appears that the present churchyard is the site of the priory, but on this point the labours of the sexton would probably give some intimation. s.s.s. _irish brigade_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent j.b. will find some interesting particulars concerning the irish brigade in the _military history of the irish nation_, by matthew o'conor, extending to the peace of utrecht in . it { } was never finished. there is very valuable appendix in french, written in , and authenticated september . , by the adj.-comm.-col. de m. morres (hervé); it gives the war-orders, pay, changes in the organization, and numbers of this gallant corps. mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. we have received the second edition of _chronicles of the ancient british church_. the author exhibits great industry and research, and brings that kindly reverential temper to his subject, which cannot fail to win for it the sympathy of his readers. the apostolic origin of british christianity, and the early independence of the british church, are satisfactorily maintained, the labours of st. patrick in ireland, st. david and his workfellows in wales, st. columba and st. ninian in the north, are duly chronicled; and the slender particulars that remain to us of the ancient church in cornwall, are gleaned up with diligence and accuracy. the volume is put together in a readable and popular shape, but is not unworthy the attention of even our clerical friends. the author takes nothing upon trust, and while availing himself of the labours of usher, stillingfleet, &c., he ascends to the original authorities from which they drew, and makes us acquainted with the pages of gildas, nennius, and giraldus cambrensis. there is a time-honoured proverb, which bids us "laugh and grow fat." the author of a series of very witty and instructive papers written under the title of, and for the prose of showing us _how to make home unhealthy_,--written, too, it is obvious, on the principle of "when i say hold fast, let go, and when i say let go, hold fast,"--has improved upon the old saw, and bids us "laugh and grow healthy." the subject is one which comes home to everybody, and we accordingly recommend everybody in search of a pleasant half-hour's reading of a happy combination of common sense and uncommon humour to apply themselves to the study of _how to make home unhealthy_. we last week called attention to several flemish works likely to interest english readers. we have since seen how desirable it is that this should be done, in the fact, that a curious flemish rhyming chronicle respecting our edward iii., by jan de klerk, edited in by that accomplished antiquary willems, and of which only copies were printed, has hitherto been so little known in this country, that nearly a quarter of the whole impression was left unsold in the hands of the late mr. rodd. at the last sale of mr. rodd's books they were purchased by mr. quaritch. we have received the following catalogues:--thomas thorpe's ( . henrietta street, covent garden) general catalogue of the most extensive collection of curious books on sale in this or any other country, in most languages and classes of literature, and including many hundred articles of the utmost rarity; william brown's ( . high holborn) catalogue of second-hand english and foreign books; cole's ( . great turnstile, holborn) list no. xxx. of miscellaneous second-hand books; reeves' and turner's ( . chancery lane) catalogue no. . of cheap books, many rare and curious; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. . for , of books old and new; john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue part cxviii., no. . for , of old and new books. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell on wednesday next and three following days, the valuable philological, biblical, and miscellaneous library of the late rev. richard garnet of the british museum. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. obi. an early and abridged edition. burke's works. vols. vo. . lawrie's homoeopathic domestic medicine. last edition. _odd volumes._ knight's london, nos. . . . . . . pope's works. warburton, vo. . vol. ii. carter's architecture of england. . part i. parkinson's sermons on points of doctrine and rules of duty. . vol. i. alison's europe. first vo. edition. vol. ix. napier's peninsular war. vols. ii. iii. v. nicholson's architectural dictionary. parts xv. to the end. ure's dictionary of arts and manufactures. part vi. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we this week present our subscribers with eight pages extra to meet our increasing correspondence. but though our present number is thus enlarged, we are compelled again to postpone many valuable communications, which are already in type._ j.d.n.n. (_renfrewshire_) _is thanked for his kind note. he will see by the present number, that there is no occasion for the alternative he suggests._ twyford, _whose query respecting the_ ogden family _appears at page , is requested to say how a note may reach him._ _communications should be addressed to the editor of_ notes and queries, _care of_ mr. bell, no. . _fleet street._ _part xiii. for november, price s. d., is now ready for delivery._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _errata._--p. , l. , for "ee_n_ or de_n_" read "e_r_ or de_r_"; p. , l. , for "gar_n_elies" read "gar_u_elies", p. , l. , for j.v.r.w. read j.k.r.w.; p. , l. , for " " read " "; p. , l. , for [greek: exeleleiptô] read [greek: exeleleipto]; p. , l. , for _amæn. lit._ iii. read _amæn. lit._ ii.--l. , dele; after "manifest"; and in col. , l. , for "milcinqcens et _o_nze" read "mil cinqcens et _u_nze." * * * * * { } new works. i. the late lord holland's foreign reminiscences. edited by his son, henry edward lord holland. post vo. s. d. [on friday next. ii. mr. macaulay's history of england, from the accession of james ii. seventh edition. vols. i. and ii. vo. s. iii. southey's life and correspondence. edited by his son, the rev. c.c. southey, m.a.; with portraits and illustrations. vols. post vo. s. iv. mr. macaulay's critical and historical essays. new edition, complete in one volume; with portrait and vignette. square crown vo. s. calf, s. v. essays in ecclesiastical biography. by the right hon. sir james stephen, k.c.b. second edition. vols. vo. s. vi. mr. henry rogers's essays selected from contributions to the edinburgh review. vols. vo, s. vii. mr. s. laing's observations on the social and political state of the european people in and . vo. s. viii. mr. w.c. townsend's collection of modern state trials. revised, and illustrated with essays and notes. vols. vo. s. ix. sir john herschel's outlines of astronomy. new edition; with plates and woodcuts. vo. s. x. the rev. c. merivale's history of the romans under the empire. vols. i. and ii. vo. s. xi. loyola: and jesuitism in its rudiments. by isaac taylor. with medallion portrait. post vo. s. d. xii. the geology and fossils of the tertiary and cretaceous formations of sussex. by the late f. dixon, esq., f.g.s.; with woodcuts and forty-four plates. royal to. s.; india proofs, l. s. [early in december. xiii. mrs. jameson's sacred and legendary art. new edition; with etchings by the author and many woodcuts. square crown vo. s. xiv. alaric a. watts's poetry and painting, lyrics of the heart; and other poems. with steel plates. square crown vo. s. _d_; morocco, by hayday, s.; proof impressions, s. [on friday next. xv. james montgomery's poetical works. new edition, complete in one volume; with portrait and vignette. square crown vo. s. d.; morocco, s. xvi. sir roger de coverley. by "the spectator" with notes, &c., by w.h. wills; and twelve fine woodcuts from designs by frederick tayler. crown vo. s.; morocco, by hayday, s. xvii. villa verocchio; or, the youth of leonardo da vinci: a tale. by the late diana louisa macdonald. fcap. vo. s. xviii. the hunting field. by harry hieover. with two plates, "the right sort," and "the wrong sort." fcap. vo. s. xix. gleig's school series. first book of history--england. complete in two parts. forming the first work of a new school series, edited by the rev. g.r. gleig, m.a. mo. in two parts, price s. each. "these little books are not only good in themselves, but promise a whole crop of goodness in educational literature.... the present _history of england_ is a sample and a very good one,--clear, comprehensive, and conveying knowledge."--_spectator._ *** the prospectus may be had on application to messrs. longman and co., and of all booksellers. london longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * { } committee for the repair of the tomb of geoffrey chaucer. john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a. william richard drake, esq., f.s.a. thomas w. king, esq., f.s.a. sir frederick madden, k.ii. john gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a. samuel shepherd, esq., f.s.a. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a. the tomb of geoffrey chaucer in westminster abbey is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay. a sum of one hundred pounds will effect a perfect repair. the committee have not thought it right to fix any limit to the subscription; they themselves, have opened the list with a contribution from each of them of five shillings; but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them. subscriptions have been received from the earls of carlisle, ellesmere, and shaftesbury, viscounts strangford and mahon, pres. soc. antiq., the lords braybrooke and londesborough, and many other noblemen and gentlemen. subscriptions are received by all the members of the committee, and at the union bank, pall mall east. post-office orders may be made payable at the charing cross office, to william richard drake, esq., the treasurer, . parliament street, or william j. thoms, esq., hon. sec., . holy-well street, millbank. * * * * * published this day, knight's pictorial shakspere, national edition. published in fortnightly parts, price s. each. and monthly sections, price s. d. each. part iv., containing "king john," and section ii., containing "love's labour's lost," and "king john," with a portion of the "biography" and the "studies." london: charles knight, . fleet street, and sold by all booksellers in town and country; on application to whom may be obtained descriptive catalogue of the publications issued by charles knight. * * * * * periodicals for december. penny maps.--part . containing four maps in a wrapper. price ½d. plain, or ½d. coloured. the daltons; or, three roads in life. by charles lever. no. . price s. illustrated by phiz. the baronial halls. no. ix. price s. d. re-issue in super-royal to. the journal of design and manufactures. no. . price s. with numerous fabric patterns and illustrations. works of sir e. bulwer lytton, bart. cheap edition. part . price d. beck's florist and garden miscellany. no. . price s. with a coloured illustration and woodcuts. new monthly magazine. no. . price s. d. edited by w. harrison ainsworth, esq. ainsworth's magazine. no. . price s. d. london: chapman and hall, . strand. * * * * * epistolÆ obscurorum virorum alia que aevi xvi monimenta rarissima. edited by e. münch (the best edition, published at l s. d.). offered at s., or s. free by post. graff's althochdeutscher sprachschatz, wörterbuch der althochdeutscher sprache mit index von massmann, vols, to. (published at l.) offered at l. s. carriage free. a small number of copies of the above valuable works are offered at the above prices by williams and norgate, . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * just completed and ready for delivery. gothic ornaments. by j.k. colling, architect, in vols. royal to., price l. s. in appropriate _[book details not legible]_ gothic cathedrals and churches of the middle ages. the work may be also had in numbers, price s., or in parts, together or separately. parts , , , , , and , at l. s. each; part , at s. and part , at s. "'the gothic ornaments' constitutes a gorgeous work, illustrated by gold and colour, giving correct ideas of the magnificence of the original examples of which the unilluminated works afford but a scanty conception."--_civil engineer and architects' journal_, aug. . george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, price l. s. vols. i and ii. illustrated with many engravings on wood and copper. the church of our fathers; or, st. osmond's rite for the church of salisbury. from a manuscript in the library of that cathedral. printed for the first time, and elucidated with dissertations on the belief and ritual of the church in england, before and after the coming of the normans. by daniel rock, d.d., and canon of the english chapter. vol. iii. at press. also, price s. d., in octavo. did the early church in ireland acknowledge the pope's supremacy? answered in a letter to lord john manners, from daniel rock, d.d. london: c. dolman, . new bond street. * * * * * just published, price half-a-crown, junius and his works compared with the character and writings of phillip dormer stanhope, earl of chesterfield. by william champ, author of "the philosophy of language." london: hope & co., publishers, . great marlborough street * * * * * to gentlemen about to publish. hope and co., publishers., . great marlborough street, london, undertake the printing and publishing of books and pamphlets greatly under the usual charges. the works are got up in the best style, and tastefully and economically bound. every attention is also paid to the publishing department. a specimen pamphlet of bookwork, with prices, a complete author's guide, sent post free for d. gentlemen will save nearly one half by employing hope and co. * * * * * journal francais, publié á londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en , paraissant le samedi, donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramatique par th. gautier on j. janin, la révue de paris par pierre durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * nearly ready, price, neatly bound in cloth s.; with gilt edges in roan tuck, as pocket-book s.; with gilt edges, in morocco tuck, as pocket-book s. d. whitaker's clergyman's diary and ecclesiastical calendar, for the year of our lord , containing an almanack and diary, with a variety of information useful to the clergy, compiled from the best sources. john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * { } publications of w. pickering, . piccadilly, dr. richardson's dictionary of the english language, combining explanation with etymology, and illustrated by quotations from the best authorities. the words with those of the same family in german, dutch, and swedish, or in italian, french, and spanish, are traced to their origin. the explanations are deduced from the primitive meaning through their various usages. the quotations are arranged chronologically from the earliest period to the beginning of the present century. vols. to., reduced to l. abridged in one thick volume octavo, third edition, reduced to s. a new dictionary of the english language, to which is affixed a grammatical and etymological examination, adapted to the dictionary. early english poetry. edited by thomas wright. printed in the black letter. vols mo. half-bound morocco, l. containing--i. the turnament of tottenham. the feest, a sequel to the same poem.--ii. the nutbrowne maid.--the tale of the basin, and that of the frere and the boy, two early ballads of magic.--iv. songs and carols from a ms. in the british museum. chaucer's canterbury tales, with an essay on his language and versification, an introductory discourse, and glossary, by thomas tyrwhitt. vols. crown vo. with a portrait, and an engraving of the celebrated pilgrimage, by stothard, l. s. d. chaucer's romaunt of the rose, troilus and creseide, &c., with life by sir harris nicolas, vols. crown vo. l. s. d. *** a supplement to tyrwhitt's edition of chaucer, which completes the poetical works. early english dramatists, edited by the rev. alexander dyce, uniformly printed in crown vo. viz.:-- greene, vols. ls. peele. vols. l. s. d. kit marlowe, vols. l. s. d. the third vol. of peele may be had separately, price s. d. hesperides, or the works both humane and divine of robert herrick, esq., vols. fcp. vo. with portrait, s. piers ploughman's vision and crede, newly imprinted from a ms. in trinity college, cambridge, edited with notes and a glossary, by thomas wright, esq., vols. fcp. vo. l. s. the poems of beowulf, an english translation, with a copious glossary, by john m. kemble, esq. fcp. vo. s. beowulf, an epic poem, translated from the anglo-saxon into english verse, by a. diedrich wacker-barth, a.b. fcp. vo. s. d. the poetical romances of tristan, in french, in anglo-norman, and in greek. composed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. edited by francisque michel. vols. fcp. vo. l. s. charlemagne's travels to constantinople and jerusalem: a norman-french poem of the twelfth century, now first printed from the original ms. in the british museum. edited by f. michel. fcp. vo. s. d. conquest of ireland an early anglo-norman metrical history of the conquest of ireland, from a ms. at lambeth. edited by francisque michel. fcp. vo. s. d. master wace his chronicle of the norman conquest, from the roman de rou, by edgar taylor, f.a.s., with wood cuts, vo. l. s. the plates separately, coloured after the originals, vo. l. s. ancient fragments of the phoenician, chaldean, egyptian, and other writers, greek and english, with an introductory dissertation, by isaac preston cory. vo., second edition, l. s. the correspondence of sir philip sidney and hubert languet, now first collected and translated from the latin. with notes and an introduction, by the rev. s. a. pears, m.a., fellow of c.c.c. oxford. vo. s. d. a manual of british historians, comprising an account of the monkish writers, early chroniclers, and the collections in which they are printed, with the period of each history, and when the writer flourished. by wm. d. macray, of the bodleian library, oxford. vo. s. critick of pure reason, translated from the original of immanuel kant, with notes and explanation of terms, by francis haywood. second edition, vo. s. an analysis of kant's critick of pure reason. by the translator of that work. vo. s. a guide to the study of heraldry, by j.a. montagu, esq., of magdalen college, cambridge, in to., with numerous wood-cuts, s. a display of heraldry by william newton. numerous woodcuts, vo. s. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november . . { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- authorship of "henry viii." by samuel hickson on authors and books, no. ix., by bolton corney notes on the second edition of mr. cunningham's handbook of london, by e.f. rimbault folk-lore:--laying a ghost--a test of witchcraft minor notes:--quin's incoherent story--touchstone's dial--america and tartary--a deck of cards--time when herodotus wrote--"dat veniuam corvis." &c. queries:-- dryden's "absalom and achitophel" minor queries:--the widow of the wood--edward the confessor's crucifix and gold chain--cardinal erskine--thomas regiolapidensis--"her brow was fair"--hoods worn by doctors of divinity of aberdeen--irish brigade--doctrine of immaculate conception--gospel oak tree at kentish town--arminian nunnery in huntingdonshire--ruding's annotated langbaine--mrs. tempest--sitting cross-legged--twickenham: did elizabeth visit bacon there?--burial towards the west--medal struck by charles xii.--national debt--midwives licensed replies:-- the black rood of scotland replies to minor queries:--hæmony--byron's birthplace--modena family--nicholas breton's fantasticks--gaudentio di lucca--weights for weighing coins--mrs. partington--the east-anglican word "mauther"--cheshire cat--"thompson of esholt"--minar's book of antiquities--croziers and pastoral staves--socinian boast--mss. of locke--sir wm. grant--tristan d'acunha--arabic numerals--luther's hymns--bolton's ace--hopkins the witchfinder--sir richard steel--ale-draper--george herbert--notaries public--tobacconists--vineyards miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. authorship of "henry viii." in returning to the question of the authorship of _henry viii._, i am anxious to remove a misconception under which mr. spedding appears to labour relative to the purport of a remark i made in my last communication to you (vol. ii., p. .) on this subject. as we appear to be perfectly agreed as to the reasons for assigning a considerable portion of this play to fletcher, and as upon this basis we have each worked out a result that so exactly coincides with the other, i conclude that mr. spedding, as well as myself, has rested his theory solely on positive grounds; that is, that he imagines there is strong internal evidence in favour of all that he ascribes to this writer. it follows, therefore that the "third hand" which he thought he detected must be sought rather in what remained to shakspeare, than in that which had been already taken from him. i never for an instant doubted that this was mr. spedding's view; but the inequality which i supposed he had observed and accounted for in this way, i was disposed to refer to a mode of composition that must needs have been troublesome to shakspeare. the fact is, that, with one or two exceptions, the scenes contributed by the latter are more _tamely_ written than any but the earliest among his works; and these, different as they are, they recalled to my mind. but i have no doubt whatever that these scenes were all written about the same time; my feeling being, that after the opening shakspeare ceased to feel any great interest in the work. fletcher, on the other hand, would appear to have made a very great effort; and though some portions of the work i ascribe to him are tedious and overlaboured, no censure would weigh very strongly against the fact, that for more than two centuries they have been _applauded_ as the work of shakspeare. as to the circumstances under which _henry viii._ was composed, it is an exceedingly difficult question; and if i venture, on the present occasion, to give the impression upon my mind, i do so, reserving to myself the full right to change my opinion whenever i shall have acquired more knowledge of the subject, or, from any other motive, shall see fit to do it. i consider this case, then, as one of joint authorship; in point of time not much later than the _two noble kinsmen_, and in other respects similar to that play. if the conclusions of the article in the _westminster review_, to which mr. spedding alludes, be accepted, the writer of the introductory notice to _henry viii._ in the _illustrated shakspeare_, published by tyas, will recognise the "reverent disciple" whom he hints at, but does not name. in short, i think that { } fletcher was the pupil of shakspeare; and this view, it appears to me, demands the serious attention of the biographer who next may study or speculate upon the great poet's life. i don't know that i can add anything to mr. spedding's able analysis of _henry viii._ there are certain _tricks_ of expression he, no doubt, has observed that characterise fletcher's style, and which abound in the play. it might be useful to make notes of these; and, at some future time, i may send you a selection. i now beg to send you the following extracts, made some time ago, showing the doubts entertained by previous writers on the subject:-- "though it is very difficult to decide whether short pieces be genuine or spurious, yet i cannot restrain myself from expressing my suspicion that neither the prologue nor epilogue to this play is the work of shakspeare. it appears to me very likely that they were supplied by the friendship or officiousness of jonson, whose manner they will be _perhaps found exactly_ to resemble."--_johnson._ "play revived in ." "prologue and epilogue added by jonson or some other person."--_malone._ "i entirely agree with dr. johnson, that ben jonson wrote the prologue and epilogue to this play. shakspeare had a little before assisted him in his _sejanus_.... i think i now and then perceive his hand in the dialogue."--_farmer._ "that jonson was the author of the prologue and epilogue to this play has been controverted by mr. gifford. that they were not the composition of shakspeare himself is, i think, clear from internal evidence."--_boswell._ "i entirely agree with dr. johnson with respect to the time when these additional lines were inserted.... i suspect they were added in , after shakspeare had quitted the stage, by that hand which tampered with the other parts of the play so much as to have rendered the versification of it of a different colour from all the other plays of shakspeare."--_malone._ "if the reviver of this play (or tamperer with it, as he is called by mr. malone) had so much influence over its numbers as to have entirely changed their texture, he must be supposed to have new-woven the substance of the whole piece; a fact almost incredible."--_steevens._ the double character of wolsey drawn by queen katherine and her attendant, is a piece of vigorous writing of which any other author but shakspeare might have been proud; and the celebrated farewell of the cardinal, with his exhortation to cromwell, only wants that quickening, that vital something which the poet could have breathed into it, to be truly and almost incomparably great. "our own conviction is that shakspeare wrote a portion only of this play. "it cannot for a moment be supposed that any alteration of shakspeare's text would be necessary, or would be allowed; as little is it to be supposed that shakspeare would commence a play in his old-accustomed, various, and unequalled verse, and finish it in the easy, but somewhat lax and familiar, though not inharmonious numbers of a reverent disciple."--_tyas's shakspeare_, vol. iii. p. . at the same time i made the following notes from coleridge:-- "classification, . rd epoch. henry viii. gelegenheitsgedicht. classification, . rd epoch. henry viii., a sort of historical masque, or show-play." "it (the historical drama) must likewise be poetical; that only, i mean, must be taken which is the permanent in our nature, which is common, and therefore deeply interesting to all ages."--_lit. rem._, vol. ii. p. . what is said in this last extract might be applied (as coleridge, i feel no doubt, had he gone one step farther into the subject, would have applied it) to the shakspearian drama generally; and tried by this test _henry viii._ must certainly be found wanting. before i conclude i am anxious to make an observation with regard to the extract from mr. emerson's _representative men_ (vol. ii. p. .). the essay from which this is taken, i presume to be the same, in a printed form, as a lecture which i heard that gentleman deliver. with abundant powers to form a judgment for himself, i should say that his mind had never been directed to questions of this nature. accident, perhaps, had drawn his attention to the style of _henry viii._; but, with reference to the general subject, he had received implicitly and unquestioned the conclusions of authorities who have represented shakspeare as the greatest borrower, plagiarist, and imitator that all time has brought forth. this, however, did not shake his faith in the poet's greatness; and to reconcile what to some would appear contradictory positions, he proposes the fact, i might say the truism, that the greatest man is not the most original, but the "most indebted" man. this, in the sense in which it is true, is saying no more than that the educated man is better than the savage; but, in the apologetic sense intended, it is equivalent to affirming that the greatest thief is the most respectable man. confident in this morality, he assumes a previous play to shakspeare's; but it appears to me that he relies too much upon the "cadence" of the lines: otherwise i could not account for his _selecting_ as an "autograph" a scene that, to my mind, bears "unmistakeable traits" of fletcher's hand, and that, by whomsoever written, is about the weakest in the whole play. it is a branch of the subject which i have not yet fully considered; but mr. spedding will observe that the view i take does not interfere with the supposition that fletcher revised the play, { } with additions for its revival in ; a task for the performance of which he would probably have the consent of his early master. samuel hickson. * * * * * on authors and books, no. ix. _eustache deschamps._ except in the two centuries next after the conquest, contemporaneous french notices of early english writers seem to be of rather infrequent occurrence. on this account, and on other accounts, the ballad addressed to geoffrey chaucer by eustache deschamps deserves repetition. its text requires to be established, in order that we may be aware of its real obscurities--for no future memoir of chaucer can be considered as complete, without some reference to it. the best authorities on eustache deschamps are mm. crapelet, raynouard, and paulin paris. to m. crapelet we are indebted for the publication of _poésies morales et historiques d'eustache deschamps_; to m. raynouard, for an able review of the volume in the _journal des savants_; and to m. paulin paris, for an account of the manuscript in which the numerous productions of the author are preserved. of the author himself, the learned m. paris thus writes:-- "on pourroit surnommer eustache deschamps le rutebeuf du xive siècle.--ses oeuvres comprennent des épitres, des discours en prose, des jeux dramatiques, des ouvrages latins, des apologues, un grand poème moral, et un infinité de ballades et rondeaux pieux, bouffons, satiriques," &c. two impressions of the ballad in question are before me; one, in the _life of geoffrey chaucer by sir harris nicholas_, dated --and the other in a volume entitled _geoffrey chaucer, poète anglais du xive siècle. analyses et fragments par h. gomont_, paris, .--i transcribe the ballad from the latter volume, as less accessible to english students:-- "ballade inÉdite adressÉe a geoffrey chaucer par eustache deschamps. o socrates, plains de philosophie, senèque en meurs et _anglais_ en pratique, _ouï des grans_ en ta poëterie, bries en parler, saiges en rethorique, _virgiles_ tres haulz qui, par ta théorique, enlumines le règne d'eneas, lisle aux geans, ceuls du bruth, et qui as semé les fleurs et planté le rosier, aux ignorants, de la langue pandras grant translateur, noble geffroy chaucier. tu es d'amours mondains dieux en albie, et de la rose en la terre angélique, qui _d'angela_ saxonne et (est) puis flourie angleterre (d'elle ce nom s'applique). le derrenier en l'éthimologique en bon anglès le livre translatas; et un vergier, où du plant demandas de ceuls qui _sont_ pour eulx auctorisier, _a ja_ long teams que tu édifias, grant tranlslateur noble geffroy chaucier. a toy, pour ce, de la fontaine helye requier avoir un _buvraige_ autentique dont la doys est du tout en ta baillie, pour _rafrener_ d'elle ma _soif_ éthique _qui men_ gaule seray paralitique jusques à ce que tu m'abuveras. eustaces sui qui de mon plant aras; mais pran en gre les euvres d'escolier que par clifford de moy bavoir pourras, grant translateur noble geffroy chaucier. l'envoy. poëte hauls loenge destynie _en_ ton jardin ne seroie qu'ortie considere ce que j'ai dit premier ton noble plant, ta douce melodie mais pour savoir de rescripre te prie, grant translateur noble geoffroy chaucier." the new readings are in italics, and i shall now repeat them with the corresponding words as printed by sir harris nicolas:-- "anglais=angles; ouï des grans=ovides grans; virgiles=aigles; d'angela=dangels; sont=font; a ja=n'a pas; buvraige=ouvrage; rafrener=rafrecir; soif=soix; qui men=qu'en ma; en=et." after such an exhibition of various readings, arising out of only two copies of the same manuscript, it is evident that a re-collation of it is very desirable, and i am sure the result would be thankfully received by the numerous admirers of chaucer. bolton corney. _eustache deschamps_ (vol. ii., p. .).--j.m.b. is desirous of learning some particulars of this french poet, contemporaneous with chaucer. he will find a brief notice of him in the _recueil de chants historiques français, depuis le xiième jusqu'au xviiième siècle_, by le roux de lincy ( vols. paris, , libraire de charles espelin). he is there described as, "ecuyer et huissier d'armes des rois charles v. et charles vi., qui resta toujours fidèle à la maison de france;" and the editor adds: "les oeuvres d'eustache deschamps contiennent pour l'histoire du xivème siècle des renseignemens précieux; on peut y recueillir des faits politiques qui ne sont pas sans importance, mais on y trouve en plus grand nombre des détails précieux sur les moeurs, les usages, et les coutumes de cette époque." his poems were published for the first time in one vol. vo., in , by m. crapelet, with this title: { } "poésies morales et historiques d'eustache deschamps, écuyer, huissier d'armes des rois charles v. et charles vi., chatelain de fismes et bailli de senlis." as regards the "_genuineness_" of the poem cited, i am inclined, with j.m.b., to think that it admits of question, the orthography savouring more of the end of the fifteenth than of the close of the fourteenth century. i am sorry not to be able to explain the meaning of "_la langue pandras_." d.c. * * * * * notes on the second edition of mr. cunningham's handbook of london. . _new tunbridge wells, at islington._--this fashionable morning lounge of the nobility and gentry during the early part of the eighteenth century, is omitted by mr. cunningham. there is a capital view of it in bickham's _musical entertainer_, : "these once beautiful tea-gardens (we remember them as such) were formerly in high repute. in their royal highnesses the princesses amelia and caroline frequented them in the summer time for the purpose of drinking the waters. they have furnished a subject for pamphlets, poems, plays, songs, and medical treatises, by ned ward, george colman the older, bickham, dr. hugh smith, &c. nothing now remains of them but the original chalybeate spring, which is still preserved in an obscure nook, amidst a poverty-stricken and squalid rookery of misery and vice."--george daniel's _merrie england in the olden time_, vol. i. p. . . _london spa_ (from which spa fields derives its name) dates as far back as . in the eighteenth century, it was a celebrated place of amusement. there is a curious view of "london spaw" in a rare pamphlet entitled _may-day, or, the original of garlands_. printed for j. roberts, , vo. . _spring gardens._--cox's museum is described in the printed catalogue of , as being in "spring gardens." in the same year a small volume was published containing _a collection of various extracts in prose and verse relative to cox's museum_. . _the pantheon in spa fields._--this place of amusement was opened in for the sale of tea, coffee, wine, punch, &c. it had an organ, and a spacious promenade and galleries. in it was converted into a lay-chapel by the countess of huntingdon, and is now known as _northampton_ or _spa fields chapel_. mr. cunningham speaks of the burying-ground (originally the garden), but singularly enough omits to notice the chapel. . _baldwin's gardens_, running between leather lane and gray's inn lane, were, according to a stone which till lately was to have been seen against a corner house, bearing the arms of queen elizabeth, named after _richard baldwin_, one of the royal gardeners, who began building here in . . _rathbone place._--in an old print (now before me) dated , this street is called "_rawbone place_." the percy coffee-house is still in existence. . _surrey institution, blackfriars road._--this building was originally erected, and for some years appropriated to the _leverian museum_. this magnificent museum of natural history was founded by sir ashton lever, who died in . it was afterwards disposed of by way of lottery, and won by mr. james parkinson, who transferred it from leicester place to the surrey side of blackfriars bridge. . _schomberg house, pall mall_, (now, i believe, about to be pulled down), was once the residence of that celebrated "quack" dr. graham. here, in , he erected his _temple of health_. he afterwards removed to panton street, haymarket, where he first exhibited his _earth bath_. i do not find any mention of graham in mr. cunningham's book. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * folk lore. _laying a ghost._--frequent mention is made of the laying of ghosts, and in many localities the tradition of such an event is extant. at cumnor, lady dudley (amy robsart's) ghost is said to have been laid by nine oxford parsons, and the tradition is still preserved by the villagers; but nowhere have i been able to ascertain what was the ceremony on such an occasion. is anything known on the subject? a.d.b. abingdon, nov. . _a test of witchcraft._--among the many tests applied for the discovery of witchcraft was the following. it is, i believe, a singular instance, and but little known to the public. it was resorted to as recently as , and may be found in the _gentleman's magazine_ of that year. "one _susannah hannokes_, an elderly woman of wingrove, near ayleshbury, was accused by a neighbour for bewitching her spinning-wheel, so that she could not make it go round, and offered to make oath of it before a majistrate; on which the husband, to justify his wife, insisted upon her being tried by the church bible, and that the accuser should be present: accordingly she was conducted to the parish church, where she was stript of all her cloathes to her shift and undercoat, and weighed against the bible; when, to the no small mortification of her accuser, she outweighed it, and was honorably acquitted of the charge." a.d.n. abingdon, nov. . * * * * * { } minor notes. _quin's incoherent story._--the comic story of sir gammer vans (vol. ii., p. .) reminds me of an anecdote related of quin, who is said to have betted foote a wager that he would speak some nonsense which foote could not repeat off-hand after him. quin then produced the following string of incoherences:-- "so she went into the garden to pick a cabbage leaf, to make an apple-pie of; and a she-bear, coming up the street, put her head into the shop, and said 'do you sell any soap?' so she died, and he very imprudently married the barber; and the powder fell out of the counsellor's wig, and poor mrs. mackay's puddings were quite entirely spoilt; and there were present the garnelies, and the goblilies, and the picninnies, and the great pangendrum himself, with the little round button at top, and they played at the ancient game of 'catch who catch can,' till the gunpowder ran out of the heels of their boots." l. _touchstone's dial._--mr. knight, in a note on _as you like it_, gives us the description of a dial presented to him by a friend who had picked it "out of a deal of old iron," and which he supposes to be such a one as the "fool i' the forest" drew from his poke, and looked on with lacklustre eye. it is very probable that this species of chronometer is still in common use in the sister kingdom; for my brother mentions to me that, when at school in ireland some fifteen or sixteen years since, he had seen one of those "_ring-dials_" in the possession of one of his schoolfellows: and mr. carleton, in his amusing _traits and stories of the irish peasantry_, thus describes them:-- "the ring-dial was the hedge-schoolmaster's next best substitute for a watch. as it is possible that a great number of our readers may never have heard of--much less seen one, we shall in a word or two describe it--nothing indeed could be more simple. it was a bright brass ring, about three quarters of an inch broad, and two inches and a half in diameter. there was a small hole in it, which, when held opposite the sun, admitted the light against the inside of the ring behind. on this were marked the hours and the quarters, and the time was known by observing the hour or the quarter on which the slender ray, that came in from the hole in front, fell." j.m.b. _america and tartary._-- "un jésuite rencontra en tartarie une femme huronne qu'il avoit connue au canada: il conclut de cette étrange aventure, que le continent de l'amérique se rapproche au nord-ouest du continent de l'asie, et il devina ainsi l'existence du détroit qui, longtemps après, a fait la gloire de bering et de cook."--chateaubriand, _génie du christianisme_, partie ., livre ., chap. . yet, with all deference to the edifying letters of this missionary jesuit, it is difficult to make such distant ends meet. it almost requires a copula like that of the fool, who, to reconcile his lord's assertion that he had with a single bullet shot a deer in the ear and the hind foot, explained that the deer was scratching his ear at the time with his foot. subjoined is one more _proof_ of the communication which once existed between america and the old world: colomb disoit même avoir vu les restes des fourneaux de salomon dans les mines de cibao."--chateaubriand, _génie, notes, &c_. manleius. _deck of cards._-- "the king was slily finger'd from the _deck_." _henry vi._, pt. iii. act v. sc. . it is well known, and properly noted, that a pack of cards was formerly called a _deck_; but it should be added that the term is still commonly used in ireland, and from being made use of in the famed song of "de night before larry was stretched," "de deck being called for dey play'd, till larry found one of dem cheated," it seems likely to be preserved. i may add, that many words and many forms of expression which have gone out of vogue in england, or have become provincial, are still in daily use in ireland. j.m.b. _time when herodotus wrote._--the following passage appears to me to afford strong evidence, not only that herodotus did not complete his history till an advanced age, but that he did not _begin_ it. for in lib. i. . he writes: "[greek: ta de ep' emou ên megala, proteron ên smikra]," "those cities, which in my time _were_ great, were of old small." this is certainly such an expression as none but a man advanced in years could have used. it is perhaps worth observing, that this passage occurring in the introduction does not diminish its weight, as the events recorded in it, leading naturally into the history, could not well have been written afterwards. as i have never seen this passage noticed with this view. i shall be glad to see whether the argument which i have deduced from it appears a reasonable one to your classical readers. a.w.h. "_dat veniam corvis," &c._--there were two headmasters of the school of merchant taylors, of the respective names of du guard and stevens: the former having printed salmasius' _defensio regia_, was ejected by lord president bradshaw; and the latter held the vacant post in the interim, from february to september, . he wrote during his tenure of office in the school probation book."-- { } "res deus nostras celeri citatas turbine versat." "_dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas_, pejus merenti melior, et pejor bono." on his restoration du gard pleasantly retorted,-- "du gardum sequitur stephanus, stephanumque vicissim, du gardus: sortes versat utrinque deus." m.w. * * * * * queries. dryden's "absalom and achitophel." in my small library i have neither malone's _life of dryden_, nor that of more recent date by sir walter scott; and, possibly, either of those works would render my present query needless. it relates to a copy of _absalom and achitophel_ now lying before me, which is a mere chap-book, printed on bad paper, in the most economical manner, and obviously intended to be sold at a very reasonable rate: indeed, at the bottom of the title-page, which is dated " ," we are told that it was "printed and sold by h. hills, in black-fryars, near the water-side, _for the benefit of the poor_." it consists of twenty-four pages, small vo., and, in order that the poem should not occupy too much space, one of the pages (p. .) is in a smaller type, and in double columns. at the end is the following singular "advertisement. "to prevent the publicks being impos'd on, this is to give notice that the book lately published in to. is very imperfect and uncorrect, in so much that above thirty lines are omitted in several places, and many gross errors committed, which pervert the sense." the above is in italic type, and the body of the tract consists of only the first part of _absalom and achitophel_, as ordinarily printed: allowing for misprints (which are tolerably numerous), the poem stands very much the same as in several common editions i have at hand. my query is, is the work known to have been so published "for the benefit of the poor," and in order to give it greater circulation, and what is the explanation of the "advertisement?" the hermit of holyport. n.b. a short "key" follows the usual address "to the reader." * * * * * minor queries. _edward the confessor's crucifix and gold chain._--in ch. taylour published _a narrative of the finding st. edward the king and confessor's crucifix and gold chain in the abbey church of st. peter's, westminster_. are the circumstances attending this discovery well known? and where now is the crucifix and chain? edward f. rimbault. _the widow of the wood._--benjamin victor published in a "narrative" entitled _the widow of the wood_. it is said to be very rare, having been "bought up" by the wolseleys of staffordshire. what is the history of the publication? edward f. rimbault. _cardinal erskine._--i am anxious to obtain some information respecting cardinal erskine, a scotchman, as his name would impart, but called cardinal of england? i suppose he was elevated to the sacred college between cardinal howard, the last mentioned by dodd in his _church history_, and the cardinal of york, the last scion of the house of stuart. and is the following a correct list of english cardinals since wolsey, who died in ? elevated in john fisher, bishop of rochester reginald pole, archbishop of canterbury william peyto, bishop of salisbury william allen philip howard ---- erskine ---- henry stuart of york thomas weld charles acton or nicolas wiseman, who is the rd on the list of english cardinals both the latter were born abroad, the former at naples, the latter at seville; but they were born of british subjects, and were brought to england at an early age to be educated. the cardinal of york was born in rome; but being of the royal family of england, was always styled the cardinal of england. g.w. october . . _thomas regiolapidensis._--where can i find any information as to the saint who figures in the following curious story? _regiolapidensis_ may probably mean _of königstein_, in saxony; but albon butler takes no notice of this thomas. "incipit narratiuncula e libro vingto, cui titular _vita atq. gesta b. thomæ regiolapidensis, ex ordine ff. prædicatorum_, excerpta. "quum verò prædicator indefensus, missionum ecclesiasticarum causâ, in borealibus versaretur partibus, miraculum ibi stupendum sanè patravit. conspexit enim taurum ingentem, vaccarum (sicut poëta quidam ex ethnicis ait) 'magnâ comitante catervâ,' in prato quodam graminoso ferocientem, maceriâ tantum bassâ inter se et belluam istam horrendam interpositâ. constitit thomas, constitit et bos, horribiliter rugiens, caudâ erectâ, cornibus immaniter sæviens, ore spumam, naribus vaporem, oculis fulgur emittens, maceriam transsilire, in virum sanctum irruere, corpusque ejus venerabile in aëra jactitare, visibiliter nimis paratus. { } thomas autem, eaptâ occasione, oculos in monstrum obfirmat, signumque crucis magneticum in modum indesinenter ducere aggreditur, en portentum inauditum! geminis belluae luminibus illico palpebrae obducuntur, titubat taurus, cadit, ac, signo magnetico sopitus, primò raucum stertens, mox infantiliter placidum trahens halitum, humi pronus recumbit. nec moratus donec hostis iste cornutus somnum excuteret, viv sanctus ad hospitium se propinquum laetus inde incolumisque recepit." rusticus. "_her brow was fair._"--can any of your many readers inform me of the author of the following lines, which i copy as i found them quoted in dr. armstrong's _lectures_: "her brow was fair, but very pale, and looked like stainless marble; a touch methought would soil its whiteness. on her temple, one blue vein ran like a tendril; one through her shadowy hand branched like the fibre of a leaf away." j.m.b. _hoods warn by doctors of divinity of aberdeen._--will you allow me to inquire, through the pages of your publication, of what _colour_ and _material_ the _exterior_ and _lining_ of hoods were composed which doctors in divinity, who had graduated at aberdeen, glasgow, and st. andrew's, prior to the reformation, were accustomed to wear? i imagine, the same as those worn by doctors who had graduated at paris: but what hoods they wore i know not. i trust that some of your correspondents will enlighten me upon this subject. ll.d. _irish brigade._--where can i find any account of the institution and history of the irish brigade, a part of the army of france under the bourbons? j.d. bath. _doctrine of the immaculate conception._--in the charge delivered by the bishop of london to his clergy, on the nd instant, the following passage occurs: "it is not easy to say what the members of that church [the church of rome] are required to believe now; it is impossible for men to foresee what they may be called upon to admit as an article of faith next year, or in any future year: for instance, till of late it was open to a roman catholic to believe or not, as he might see reason, the fanciful notion of the immaculate conception of the blessed virgin; but the present bishop of rome has seen fit to make it an article of their faith; and no member of his church can henceforth question it without denying the infallibility of his spiritual sovereign, and so hazarding, as it is asserted, his own salvation." can any of your correspondents inform me where the papal decision on this point is to be found? l. _gospel oak tree at kentish town._--can you inform me why an ancient oak tree, in a field at kentish town, is called the "gospel oak tree." it is situated and grows in the field called the "gospel oak field," kentish town, st. pancras, middlesex. tradition says saint augustine, or one of the ancient fathers of the church, preached under its branches. stephen. _arminian nunnery in huntingdonshire._--where can i find an account of a religious academy called the _arminian nunnery_, founded by the family of the ferrars, at little gidding in huntingdonshire? i have seen some ms. collections of francis peck on the subject, but they are formed in a bad spirit. has not thomas hearne left us something about this institution? edward f. rimbault. _ruding's annotated langbaine._--can any of your readers inform me who possesses the copy of langbaine's _account of the english dramatic poets_ with ms. additions, and copious continuations, by the rev. rogers ruding? in one of his notes, speaking of the garrick collection of old plays, that industrious antiquary observes: "this noble collection has lately ( ) been mutilated by tearing out such single plays as were duplicates to others in the sloane library. the folio editions of shakespeare, beaumont and fletcher, and jonson, have likewise been taken from it for the same reason." this is a sad complaint against the museum authorities of former times. edward f. rimbault. _mrs. tempest._--can any of your correspondents give me any account of mrs. (or, in our present style, miss) tempest, a young lady who died the day of the great storm in nov., , in honour of whom pope's early friend walshe wrote an elegiac pastoral, and invited pope to give his "winter" pastoral "a turn to her memory." in the note on pope's pastoral it is said that "she was of an ancient family in yorkshire, and admired by walshe." i have elsewhere read of her as "the celebrated mrs. tempest;" but i know of no other celebrity than that conferred by walshe's pastoral; for pope's has no special allusion to her. c. _sitting cross-legged._--in an alliterative poem on fortune (_reliquiæ antiquæ_, ii. p. .), written early in the fifteenth century, are the following lines:-- "sitte, i say, and sethe on a semeli sete, rygth on the rounde, on the rennyng ryng; _caste kne over kne, as a kynge kete_, comely clothed in a cope, crouned as a kyng." the third line seems to illustrate those early illuminations in which kings and great personages are represented as sitting cross-legged. there are numerous examples of the a.-s. period. was it { } merely assumption of dignity, or was it not rather intended to ward off any evil influence which might affect the king whilst sitting, in his state? that this was a consideration of weight we learn from the passage in bede, in which ethelbert is described as receiving augustine in the open air: "post dies ergo venit ad insulam rex, et residens sub divo jussit augustinum cum sociis ad suum ibidem adveire colloquium; caverat enim ne in aliquam domum ad se introirent, vetere usus augurio, ne superventu suo, si quid maleficæ artis habuissent, eum superando deciperent."--_hist. eccles._, l. i. c. . it was cross-legged that lucina was sitting before the floor of alemena when she was deceived by galanthes. in devonshire there is still a saying which recommends "sitting cross-legged to help persons on a journey;" and it is employed as a charm by schoolboys in order to avert punishment. (ellis's _brand_, iii. .) were not the cross-legged effigies, formerly considered to be those of crusaders, so arranged with an idea of the mysterious virtue of the position? richard j. king. _twickenham--did elizabeth visit bacon there?_--i believe all the authors who within the last sixty years have written on the history of twickenham, middlesex (and among the most known of these i may mention lysons, ironside, and john norris brewer), have, when mentioning twickenham park, formerly the seat of lord bacon, stated that he there entertained queen elizabeth. of this circumstance i find no account in the works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. his lordship entertained her at gorhambury in one of her progresses; and i would ask if it be possible that twickenham may have been mistaken for his other seat of gorhambury? it is well known queen elizabeth passed much of the latter part of her life at richmond, and ended her days there; and in mr. nares' _memoirs of lord burghley_ there is an account of her visit to barn-elms; and there is also a curious description of her visit to kew (in that neighbourhood) in the _sydney papers_, published by arthur collins, in two vols. folio, vol. i. p. ., in a letter from rowland whyte, esq. had lord bacon received her majesty, it must most probably have been in . but perhaps some of your readers may be able to supply me with information on this subject. d.n. _burial towards the west._--the usual posture of the dead is with the feet eastward, and the head towards the west: the fitting attitude of men who look for their lord, "whose name is the east," and who will come to judgement in the regions of the dawn suddenly. but it was the ancient usage of the church that the martyr, the bishop, the saint, and even the priest, should occupy in their sepulture a position the reverse of the secular dead, and lie down with their feet westward, and their heads to the rising sun. the position of the crozier and the cross on ancient sepulchres of the clergy record and reveal this fact. the doctrine suggested by such a burial was, that these mighty men which were of old would be honoured with a first resurrection, and as their master came on from the east, they were to arise and to follow the lamb as he went; insomuch that they, with him, would advance to the judgement of the general multitudes,--the ancients and the saints which were worthy to judge and reign. now, sir, my purpose in this statement is to elicit, if i may, from your learned readers illustrations of this distinctive interment. r.s. hawker. morwenstow. _medal struck by charles ii._--voltaire, in his _histoire de charles xii._, liv. ., states that a medal was struck in commemoration of a victory which charles xii. gained over the russians, at a place named hollosin, near the boresthenes, in the year . he adds that on one side of this medal was the epigraph, "sylvæ, paludes, aggeres, hostes victi;" on the other the verse of lucan:-- "victrices _copias_ alium laturus in orbem." the verse of lucan referred to is in lib. v. l. .: "victrices _aquilas_ alium laturus in orbem." query, is the medal referred to by voltaire known to exist? and if so, is the substitution of the unmetrical and prosaic word _copias_ due to the author of the medal, or to voltaire himself? l. _national debt._--what volumes, pamphlets, or paragraphs can be pointed out to the writer, in poetry or prose, alluding to the bribery, corruption, and abuses connected with the formation of the national debt from to ? f.h.b. _midwives licensed._--in the articles to be inquired into in the province of canterbury, anno (_grindal rem._, park. soc. - ), inquiry to be made "whether any use charms, or unlawful prayers, or invocations, in latin or otherwise, and _namely, midwives in the time of women's travail of child_." in the oath taken by eleanor pead before being licensed by the archbishop to be a midwife a similar clause occurs; the words, "also, i will not use any kind of sorcery or incantations in the time of the travail of any woman." can any of your readers inform me what charms or prayers are here referred to, and at what period midwives ceased to be licensed by the archbishop, or if any traces of such license are still found in roman catholic countries? s.p.h.t. * * * * * { } replies. the black rood of scotland. (vol. ii., p. .) i am not aware of any record in which mention of this relique occurs before the time of st. margaret. it seems very probable that the venerated crucifix which was so termed was one of the treasures which descended with the crown of the anglo-saxon kings. when the princess margaret, with her brother edgar, the lawful heir to the throne of st. edward the confessor, fled into scotland, after the victory of william, she carried this cross with her amongst her other treasures. aelred of rievaulx (ap. twysd. .) gives a reason why it was so highly valued, and some description of the rood itself: "est autem crux illa longitudinem habens palmæ de auro purissimo mirabili opere fabricats, quæ in modum techæ clauditur et aperitur. cernitur in ea quædarn dominicæ crucis portio, (sicut sæpe multorum miraculorum argumento probatum est). salvatoris nostri ymaginem habens de ebore densissime sculptam et aureis distinctionibus mirabiliter decoratam." st. margaret appears to have destined it for the abbey which she and her royal husband, malcolm iii., founded at dunfermline in honour of the holy trinity: and this cross seems to have engaged her last thoughts for her confessor relates that, when dying, she caused it to be brought to her, and that she embraced, and gazed steadfastly upon it, until her soul passed from time to eternity. upon her death ( th nov., ), the black rood was deposited upon the altar of dunfermline abbey, where st. margaret was interred. the next mention of it that i have been enabled to make note of, occurs in , in the catalogue of scottish muniments which were received within the castle of edinburgh, in the presence of the abbots of dunfermline and holy rood, and the commissioners of edward i., on the rd august in that year, and were conveyed to berwick-upon-tweed. under the head "omnia ista inventa fuerunt in quadam cista in dormitorio s. crucis, et ibidem reposita prædictos abbates et altos, sub ecrum sigillis." we find "unum scrinium argenteum deauratum, in quo reponitur crux quo vocatur _la blake rode_."--robertson's _index_, introd. xiii. it does not appear that any such fatality was ascribed to this relique as that which the scots attributed to the possession of the famous stone on which their kings were crowned, or it might be conjectured that when edward i. brought "the fatal seat" from scone to westminster, he brought the black rood of scotland too. that amiable and pleasing historian, miss strickland, has stated that the english viewed the possession of this relique by the scottish kings with jealousy; that it was seized upon by edward i., but restored on the treaty of peace in . this statement is erroneous; the rood having been mistaken for the stone, which, by the way, as your readers know, was never restored. we next find it in the possession of king david bruce, who lost this treasured relique, with his own liberty, at the battle of durham ( th oct., ), and from that time the monks of durham became its possessors. in the _description of the ancient monuments, rites, and customs of the abbey church of durham_, as they existed at the dissolution, which was written in , and was published by davies in , and subsequently by the surtees society, we find it described as "a most faire roode or picture of our saviour, in silver, called the black roode of scotland, brought out of holy rood house, by king david bruce ... with the picture of our lady on the one side of our saviour, and st. john's on the other side, very richly wrought in silver, all three having crownes of pure beaten gold of goldsmith's work, with a device or rest to take them off or on." the writer then describes the "fine wainscote work" to which this costly "rood and pictures" were fastened on a pillar at the east end of the southern aisle of the quire. and in a subsequent chapter (p. . of surtees soc. volume) we have an account of the cross miraculously received by david i. (whom the writer confounds with the king david bruce captured at the battle of durham, notwithstanding that his _auntient memorial_ professes to be "collected forthe of the best antiquaries"), and in honour of which he founded holy rood abbey in from which account it clearly appears that this cross was distinct from the black rood of scotland. for the writer, after stating that this miraculous cross had been brought from holy rood house by the king, as a "most fortunate relique," says: "he lost _the said crosse_, which was taiken upon him, and many other most wourthie and excellent jewells ... which all weare offred up at the shryne of saint cuthbert, _together with the blacke rude of scotland_ (so termed), with mary and john, maid of silver, being, as yt were, smoked all over, which was placed and sett up most exactlie in the pillar next st. cuthbert's shrine," &c. in the description written in , as printed, the size of the black rood is not mentioned; but in sanderson's _antiquities of durham_, in which he follows that description, but with many variations and omissions, he says (p. .), in mentioning the black rood of scotland, with the images, as above described,-- "which rood and pictures were all three very richly wrought in silver, and were all smoked blacke over, { } being large pictures of a yard or five quarters long, and on every one of their leads a crown of pure beaten gold," &c. i have one more (too brief) notice of this famous rood. it occurs in the list of reliques preserved in the feretory of st. cuthhert, under the care of the shrine-keeper, which was drawn up in by richard de sedbrok, and is as follows: "a black crosse, called the _black rode of scotland_."--ms. dunelm., b. ii. . strange to say, mr. raine, in his _st. cuthbert_, p. ., appears to confound the cross brought from holy rood house, and in honour of which it was founded, with the black rood of scotland. he was misled, no doubt, by the statement in the passage above extracted from the _ancient monuments_, that this cross was brought out of holy rood house. i fear that the fact that it was formed of silver and gold, gives little reason to hope that this historical relique escaped destruction when it came into the hands of king henry's church robbers. its sanctity may, indeed, have induced the monks to send it with some other reliques to a place of refuge on the continent, until the tyranny should be overpast; but there is not any tradition at durham, that i am aware of, to throw light on the concluding query of your correspondent p.a.f., as to "what became of the 'holy cross,' or 'black rood,' at the dissolution of durham priory?" that the black rood of scotland, and the cross of holy rood house were distinct, there can, i think, be no doubt. the cross mentioned by aelred is not mentioned as the "black rood:" probably it acquired this designation after his time. but fordoun, in the _scoti-chronicon_, lord hailes in his _annals_, and other historians, have taken aelred's account as referring to the black rood of scotland. whether it had been brought from dunfermline to edinburgh before edward's campaign, and remained thenceforth deposited in holy rood abbey, does not appear: but it is probable that a relique to which the sovereigns of scotland attached so much veneration was kept at the latter place. w.s.g. newcastle-upon-tyne, nov. . . * * * * * replies to minor queries. _hæmony_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. basham will find some account of this plant under the slightly different type of "hemionion" in pliny, xxv. ., xvi. ., xxvii. .: "invenit et teucer eadem ætate teucrion, quam quidam 'hemionion' vocant, spargentem juncos tenues, folia parva, asperis locis nascentem, austero sapore, nunquam florentem: neque semen gignit. medetur lienibus ... narrantque sues qui radicem ejus ederint sine splene inveniri. "singultus hemionium sedat. "'asplenon' sunt qui _hemionion_ vocant foliis trientalibus multis, radice limosa, cavernosa, sicut filicis, candida, hirsuta: nec caulem, nec florem, nec semen habet. nascitur in petris parietibusque opacis, humidis." according to hardouin's note, p. ., it is the _ceterach_ of the shops, or rather _citrach_; a great favourite of the mules, [greek: hêmionoi], witness theophrastus, _hist._, ix. . ray found it "on the walls about bristol, and the stones at st. vincent's rock." he calls it "spleenwort" and "miltwaste." _catalog. plant._ p. . lond. . i have a copy of henri du puy's "original" _comus_, but do not recollect his noticing the plant. g.m. guernsey. _byron's birthplace._--can any of your correspondents give any information relative to the house in which lord byron was born? his biographers state that it was in holles street, but do not mention the number. c.b.w. edgbaston. [our correspondent will find, on referring to mr. cunningham's _handbook of london_, that "byron was born at no. . holles street, and christened in the small parish church of st. marylebone."] _ancient tiles_ (vol. i., p. .).--the device of two birds perched back to back on the twigs of a branch that rises between them, is found, not on tiles only, but in wood carving; as at exeter cathedral, on two of the misereres in the choir, and on the gates which separate the choir from the aisles, and these again from the nave. j.w.h. _modena family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--victor amadeus iii., king of sardinia, died in october, . mary beatrice, duchess of modena, mother of the present duke of modena, was the daughter of victor emmanuel v., king of sardinia, who abdicated his throne in , and died th january, . the present duke of modena is the direct heir of the house of stuart in the following line:-- all the legitimate issue of charles ii. and james ii. being extinct, we fall back upon henrietta maria, youngest child of charles i. she married her cousin philip, duke of orleans, brother of louis xiv., and by him had three children. two died without issue: the youngest, anna maria, b. aug. , mar. victor amadeus ii., duke of savoy, and had by him three children, one son and two daughters. the son, charles emmanuel iii., duke of { } savoy, married and had victor amadeus iii., who married maria antoinette of spain, and had:-- . charles emmanuel iv., who died without issue, and . victor emmanuel v., who married an austrian archduchess; his eldest daughter married francis iv. duke of modena. she died between a.d. - , i believe, and left four children:-- . francis v., duke of modena. . the wife of henri, comte de chambord. . ferdinand. . marie, wife of don juan, brother of the present de jure king of spain, carlos vi. j.k. _nicholas breton's fantasticks_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reply to the second bibliographical query of j. mt., edinburgh, respecting nicholas breton's _fantasticks_, i beg to inform him that my copy is perfect, and contains twenty-two leaves. the title is _fantasticks: seruing for a perpetuall prognostication_, with the subjects of the twenty-four _descants_, as they are called, in prose, contained in the volume. to. bl. lett. london: printed for francis williams, . after this is a dedication "to the worshipfull and worthy knight sir marke ive, of rivers hall, in essex;" and a short address "to the reader," one leaf. it is an entertaining work, and contains some curious and useful remarks on our ancient manners, customs, and habits. my copy had successively belonged to garrick, fillingham, and heber; the latter of whom has written in it, "who has ever seen another copy?" t.c. strand. _gaudentio di lucca_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--the rev. simon berington, the author of _the memoirs of gaudentio di lucca_, "of whom" mr. crossley (vol. ii., p. .) "regrets that so little is known," was the fourth son of john berington, of winesley, co. hereford, esquire, by elizabeth, daughter of sir thomas wolrich, of dudmaston, co. salop, bart. he was born . he studied and took holy orders at douay college. w.l. nov. . . _weights for weighing coins_(vol. ii., p. .).--i am able to supply h.e. with a reference to this subject of an earlier date than those he quotes. in the ms. _compotus_ or _accounts of sibton abbey, in suffolk_, in my possession, occurs the following item, under the year - : "et de ix d. pro ij paribus balaunces pro aure ponderand'." the following extract, although of later date than h.e. requires, may yet be not without its use to him in illustration of the subject. it occurs in the _compotus_ of a collegiate establishment at mettingam, suffolk, from an earlier volume of which some extracts were furnished to the _archæological journal_ (vol. vi. p. .). it is as follows, under the year :-- "item in ponderibus pro novo aura ponderant' s' nobili _xs._ di. nobyl et quadrant' ejusdem cunagii et pro nobili de _vj_s. _viij_d. di. nobil et quadrant' et minoribus ponderibus utriusque cunagii cum le scolys et cophino pro eisdem. _ij_s. _j_d." the new gold is of course the reduced coinage of edward iv. i conclude that the nobles of s. d. were the same as the angels. c.r.m. _mrs. partington_ (vol. ii., p. .).--ignorans no doubt refers to the oft-repeated allusion to "dame partington and her mop;" and taking it for granted that he does so, i will enlighten him a little on the subject. the "original mrs. partington" was a respectable old lady, living, at sidmouth in devonshire; her cottage was on the beach, and during an awful storm (that, i think, of nov. , when some fifty or sixty ships were wrecked at plymouth) the sea rose to such a height as every now and then to invade the old lady's place of domicile: in fact, almost every wave dashed in at the door. mrs. partington, with such help as she could command, with mops and brooms, as fast as the water entered the house, mopped it out again; until at length the waves had the mastery, and the dame was compelled to retire to an upper story of the house. i well recollect reading in the devonshire newspapers of the time an account similar to the above: but the first allusion to the circumstance was, i think, made by lord brougham in his celebrated speech in the house of commons on the reform bill, in which he compared the conservative opposition to the bill to be like the opposition of "dame partington and her mop, who endeavoured to mop out the waves of the atlantic." robert cole. _mrs. partington._--mr. greene, the witty editor of the _boston (n.e.) post_, is believed to be the original of mrs. partington: at least he fathers all her sayings. he began to print them about twelve or fifteen years ago. g.m.b. [g.m.b. has also kindly forwarded to us some of "_mrs. partington's queries_ from a recent number of the _boston post_, from which we select a couple of specimens, viz.,-- "whether the emperor of china is a _porcelain_ statue or a mere fiction?" "is the _great seal_ alive, or only stuffed?"] _the east anglian word "mauther"_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--skinner's note on this word is "mawther, vox norfolciensi agro peculiaris: _spelman_ ipse eodem agro ortus a dan. _moer_, virgo, puella, deflectit. possit tamen et declinari a belg. _maegd_, teut. _magd_, idem signante, addita term. _er_ vel _der_, ut in proximo agro lincolniensi in vocibus _heeder_ et _sheeder_ quæ marem et feminam notant. author dict. angl. scribit _modder_, et cum kiliano deducit a belg. _modde_, _moddeken_, pupa, puella, virgincula."--_etymol._ sub voce. webster merely gives (with strange neglect, having skinner before him): { } "mauther, a foolish young girl(not used)."--_ben jonson._ skinner is, i believe, wrong in assigning the _r_ termination to the danish word. such a termination of the word _maid_ is not to be found in any of the teutonic dialects. the diphthong sound and the _th_ appear frequently; as, . moeso-gothic: _magath_ or _magaths_; _mawi_, dim. _mawilo_. . anglo-saxon: _maeth_, _maegth_, dim. _meowla_. . old-german: _maget_. . swedish: _moe_. . norse: _moei_. i therefore suppose the _r_ termination in _mauther_ to be a mere corruption, like that pointed out by skinner in the lincoln folk-speech: or is it possible that it may have arisen from a contusion of the words _maid_ and _mother_ in roman catholic times? in holland the virgin mary was called _moeder maagd_,--a phrase which may possibly have crossed over to the east anglian coast, and occasioned the subsequent confusion. b.h.k. p.s. do the words _modde_, _moddeken,_ quoted by skinner, exist? and, if so, are they dutch or flemish? i have no means of verifying them at hand. [on referring to kilian's _dictionarium teutonico-latin-gallicum_ (ed. ), we find, "modde, moddeken, pupa, poupée."] _cheshire cat_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a correspondent, t.e.l.p.b.t., asks the explanations of the phrase, "grinning like a cheshire cat." some years since cheshire cheeses were sold in this town moulded into the shape of a cat, bristles being inserted to represent the whiskers. this may possibly have originated the saying. t.d. bath. "_thompson of esholt_" (vol. ii., p. .).--in an old pedigree of the calverley family, i find it stated that _henry thompson of esholt_ (whose only daughter _frances_ william calverley of calverley married, and by her acquired that property) was great-grandson to henry thompson, "one of the king's gentlemen-at-arms at the siege of boulogne (temp. h. .), where he notably signalised himself, and for his service was rewarded with the _maison dieu at dover_, by gift of the king; afterwards, in the reign of edward vi., exchanged it for the manor and rectory of _bromfield_ in cumberland, and the site of the late dissolved nunnery of esholt." further particulars regarding the above grant of _bromefield_, and a _pedigree_ of the thompsons, are published in _archæologia oeliana_, vol. ii. ( ), p. . w.c. trevelyan. wallington. _minar's book of antiquities_ (vol. i., p. .; ii. p. .).--i am much obliged to t.j. for his endeavours to help me to minar's _book of antiquities_. but there still remains a chasm too wide for me to jump; inasmuch as christopher meiners published his treatise _de vero deo_ in , and cardinal cusa, who refers to minar, died in , being more than years before. a.n. _croziers and pastoral staves_ (vol. ii., pp. , .).--the opinion expressed by the rev. mr. walcot (in your no. .), that by the word _crozier_ is to be understood the crossed staff belonging only to archbishops and legates, while the staff with a crook at its end is to be called the pastoral staff, cannot, i think, be considered satisfactory, for the following, among other reasons. crozier is generally (i should formerly have said universally) understood to mean the staff with a crook, the so well-known "ensign of bishops." in the instances mentioned by mr. walcot, _croziers_ are repeatedly spoken of as having been borne at the funerals of _bishops_, while the crosses borne before wolsey are called crosses, and not croziers. the word _crozier_ seems to be derived from the mediæval latin word _crocia_. this is explained by ducange: "pedum, baculus pastoralis, episcopalis." crocia seems to be derived from, or closely connected with, "crocha, uncinus, lamus," and "crochum, uncus quo arcubalistæ tenduntur" (ducange). hence it appears that _crozier_ does not refer to a cross but to a crook. in such ancient authorities as i have had the opportunity of referring to at the moment, as brasses, incised slabs, &c., bishops and archbishops are alike represented with the crooked staff; a cross is of more rare occurrence, and at the moment only two instances occur to me, one in the fine brass of frederic, son of casimir, king of poland, and a cardinal, which is in the cathedral of cracow, and in which he is represented holding a crozier, while crosses are figured on the sides under the cardinal's hat. the other is in the curious brass of lambert, bishop of bamberg, in the cathedral of that city: in this the bishop holds a cross in his right and a crozier in his left hand. the statement that the crook of the bishop's staff was bent outwards, and that of the abbot's inward, is one which is often made in books; i should, however, be very glad to learn whether any difference has been observed to exist either in mediæval representations of croziers on seals, accompanying, effigies, or in paintings, or in the existing examples. so far as i have seen, the crook, in all except a few early instances, is bent in the same manner, _i.e._ inwards. n. _socinian boast_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the following lines "de ruinâ babylonis" occur in the works of a socinian writer, one samuelis przipcovius, who died in , and evidently have reference to those quoted by dr. pusey:-- { } "quid per luterum, calvinum, perque socinum, funditus eversam jam babylona putas? perstat adhuc _babylon_, et toto regnat in orbe sub vario primum nomine robur habens. ostentat _muros_, jactat sublimia _tecta_ de _fundamento_ quis metus esse potest? ni deus hanc igitur molem disjecerit ipse humano nunquam marte vel arte ruet." przipcovius was a polish knight, and cotempory the author of _hudibras_. in a tract entitled _religio vindicata a calumniis atheismi_, he thus alludes to the spiritual quixotism which induced butler to "crack the satiric thong:" "sæpe audivi quod in _angliâ_ (quæ regio sicut in multis aliis rebus, sic præcipue in religionibus totius mundi compendium est) de ejusmodi fanaticis perhibetur, quod ita sui suarumque irrationabilium opinionum sint amantes, ut audeant propter eas divinam providentiam angustis ecclesiarum suarum (quæ ex angustis cujuslibet penatibus constant) terminis circumscribere.... et quemadmodum omnes isti miseri aperte delirant, præcipue ii quos zeli æstus eousque deducit, ut tanquam bacchantes aut cerriti per plateas, domos, templa, absque ullo ordine et respectu cursitantes concionentur, et interdum _anseres, equos, vel oves_ (cujus rei ibi satis frequentia exempla occurrunt) dum eis homines aures præbere nolunt, ad suas opiniones convertere tentent." r. price. cheam. _mss. of locke_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--in reply to a question in "notes and queries," i may state, that the address of the son of the late dr. hancock, is george h., park grove, birkenhead; and he will furnish information relative to the mss. of locke. an intended reader. _sir william grant_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent r. says that "_sir william grant_" was one of the few scotchmen who had freed himself from the peculiarities of the speech of his country. frank horner is another." if r. means to include the _scottish accent_, he is mistaken as to sir william grant, who retained a strong scottish _burr_. if he means only correctness of diction, then i should say the number was not _few_. mackintosh's and jeffery's english was, i think, quite as pure as horner's; and lord brougham, with much idiosyncrasy, had no _scotch peculiarities_, at least--_me judice_--infinitely less than sir william grant. i could name twenty members of the present houses of parliament in whom i have never detected any "scotch peculiarity." c. _tristan d'acunha_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the island is noticed, but briefly, in p. . of the first volume of perouse's _voyage round the world_, lond. . it is there stated that a tolerably minute account of it is contained in _le neptune oriental_, by d'apres (or apres de manvilette). this work was published in paris, , in two volumes, large folio. c.i.r. _arabic numerals_ (vol.ii., pp. . . .).-- in a work in arabic, by ahmad ben abubekr bin wahshih, on ancient alphabets, published in the original, and accompanied with an english translation, by von hammer, your correspondent on the subject of arabic numerals will find that these numerals were not invented as arbitrary signs, and borrowed for various alphabets; but that they are actually taken from an indian alphabet of nine characters, the remaining letters being made up at each decimal by repeating the nine characters, with one or two dots. the english preface states that this alphabet is still in use in india, not merely as a representative of numbers, but of letters of native language. the book is a neat quarto, printed in london in ; and the alphabet occurs in page . of the arabic original. e.c.h. athenæum. _luther's hymns_ (vol. ii., p. .).--if f.q. will turn to mr. palmer's _origines liturgicæ_, vol. ii. p. . th edit., he will find that the sentence in the burial service, "in the midst of life we are in death," &c., is taken from the _salisbury breviary psalter_. the salisbury use was drawn up by bishop osmund in the eleventh century. n.e.r. (a subscriber.) _bolton's ace._--what is the meaning of "_bolton's ace_," in the following passage in the address to the reader prefixed to henry hutton's _follies anatomie_, vo. lond. ? it is passed over by dr. rimbault in his reprint of the work for the percy society in : "could ye attacke this felon in's disgrace, i would not bate an inch (not _bolton's ace_) to baite, deride, nay, ride this silly asse." j. ct. ["_bate me an ace quoth bolton_" is an old proverb of unknown origin. ray tells us that a _collection of proverbs_ having been presented to queen elizabeth, with an assurance that it contained all the proverbs in the english language. "bate me an ace, quoth bolton," said the queen, implying that the assertion was too strong; and, in fact, that every proverb was not in the collection. see nares' _glossary_, who quotes the following epigram by h.p., to show the collection referred to "_secundæ cogitutiones meliores._ "a pamphlet was of proverbs penned by polton, wherein he thought all sorts included were; untill one told him _bate m' an ace quoth bolton_, 'indeed,' said he, 'that proverb is not there.'"] _hopkins the witchfinder_ (vol. ii., p. .).--if the inquiry of clericus relates to mathew hopkins the witchfinder general, my friend w.s. fitch of ipswich has some manuscript account of his residence in that town, as a lawyer of but little { } note, and his removal to manningtree, in essex; but whether it gives any further particulars of him i am unable to state, as i have not seen the manuscript. j. clarke. _sir richard steel_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the death and burial-place of sir richard steel is thus noticed in cibber's _lives of the poets_, vol. iv. p. .:-- "some years before his death he grew paralytic, and retired to his seat at langunnor, near caermarthen, in wales, where he died, september st, , and was privately interred, according to his own desire, in the church of caermarthen." j.v.r.w. _ale-draper_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a common designation for an ale-house keeper in the sixteenth century. henry chettle, in his very curious little publication, _kind-harts dreame_, (edited for the percy society by your humble servant), has the following passage: "i came up to london, and fall to be some tapster, hostler, or chamberlaine in an inn. well, i get mee a wife; with her a little money; when we are married, seeke a house we must; no other occupation have i but to be an _ale-draper_." (p. . of reprint.) again, in the same tract, the author speaks of "two milch maydens that had set up a shoppe of "_ale-drapery_." in the _discoverie of the knights of the poste_, , is another notice of the same occupation: "so that now hee hath left brokery, and is become a draper. a draper, quoth freeman, what draper--of woollin or linnen? no, qd. he, an _ale-draper_, wherein he hath more skil then in the other." probably these instances of the use of the term may be sufficient for your correspondent. edward f. rimbault. p.s. the above was written before j.s.w.'s note appeared (vol. ii., p. .), which does not carry the use of this term further back than bailey's _dictionary_. _george herbert_ (vol. ii., p. .) was buried under the communion table at bemerton, but there is no monument to his memory. the adornment of his little church would be one of the most fitting offerings to his memory. it is painful to contrast the whitewash and unpainted deal of the house of god with the rich furniture and hangings of the adjoining rectory. in the garden of the latter is preserved a medlar-tree, planted by "the sweet singer of the temple." j.w.h. _notaries public_ (vol. ii., p. .).--why does your correspondent manleius think this form of expression "putting the cart before the horse?" _public notary_ (though that phrase is sometimes erroneously used) is not so exact as "notary public;" for a notary is not, as the first form would imply, a public officer appointed by the public to perform public services, but an individual agent through whose ministry private acts or instruments become _publici juris_. the same form, and for analogous reasons, prevails in several other legal and technical titles or phrases, as attorney-general, solicitor-general, accountant-general, receiver-general, surveyor-general; advocate fiscal; theatre royal, chapel royal; gazette extraordinary; and many other phrases in which it is evident that the adjective has a special and restricted meaning. c. _tobacconists_ (vol. ii, p. .).--there was, in the old house of commons, a room called the _smoking-room_, where members tired of the debate used to retire to smoke, and in later years to drink tea or write letters. these, no doubt, were meant by the _tobacconists_, members within call, though not actually within the house. c. _vineyards_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in answer to clericus, i beg to say that there is a piece of land called the vineyards situated in the warm and sheltered valley of claverton, about two miles from bath: it formerly belonged to the abbey of bath. there is also in the suburbs, on the north side of the city of bath, a _street_ called the vineyards; but i do not know that this ever belonged to the abbey. g. falkner. devizes. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. those who know mr. craik's happy tact for seizing on the more striking points of a character or an incident, his acquaintance with our national history and biography, his love of research, and perseverance in following up a clue, were prepared to expect both instruction and amusement from his _romance of the peerage_. nor were they doomed to disappointment. each succeeding volume has added to the interest of the work and there can be little doubt, that the favour with which the first three volumes have been received by the reading world, will be extended to the one now published, and which concludes the first series, or main division of mr. craik's projected work. our space will permit us to do little more than specify its principal contents; but when we state that in the present volume mr. craik treats of the _great_ earl of cork and the boyles; of the founders of the fermor, bouverie, osborne, and bamfylde families; that he gives us with great completeness the history of anne clifford, the most remarkable woman of her time; that he furnishes pleasant gossipping pictures of the rise of the families of fox, phips, and petty; the history of the celebrated claim of the trunkmaker to the honours of the percies,--of the story of the heiress of the percies who married tom thynn of longleat hall; and lastly, that of ann of buccleugh, { } the widow of the unfortunate monmouth, we shall have done more than enough to make our readers wish to share the pleasure we have derived from turning over mr. craik's amusing pages. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell on monday next, and two following days, a valuable collection of books, chiefly the property of a gentleman deceased, among which we may specify _la vie saint germain l'auxerrois_ (lettres gothèques), printed on vellum, and quite unique; no other copy even on paper being known. we have received the following catalogues:-- williams and norgate's ( . henrietta street, covent garden) german book circular, a quarterly list of new publications, no. .; john russell smith's ( . old compton street, soho) catalogue no. . for of an extensive collection of choice, useful, and curious books in most classes of literature, english and foreign. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. bacon's advancement of learning, interpreted by wats, oxford, , , folio. stuart's athens. first edition. vols. iv. and v. supplement to berry's heraldry. specimen historiÆ arabum, by pocock. la roque, voyage dans la palestine. abulfaraq hist. dynast. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. g.w._'s query was in type before we received his unbecoming letter,--the terms of which both forbid our asking the name of the writer, or giving him that satisfactory explanation which we could furnish as to the delay in the insertion of his communication. as the first letter of the kind we have ever received, we should certainly have printed it, but for our regard for personal friends who belong to the same body as g.w., and whose names he can have no difficulty in discovering in the list of our distinguished contributors._ _we are compelled by want of space to omit many_ notes, queries, replies, _and articles of_ folk-lore. _volume the first of_ "notes and queries," _with very copious index, price_ s. d. _bound in cloth, may still be had by order of all booksellers._ _the monthly part for october, being the fifth of_ vol. ii., _is also now ready, price_ s. d. notes and queries _may be procured by the trade at noon on friday; so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels._ _errata_--p. . col. . line , for "v_e_riis circum_d_ant" read "v_a_riis circum_st_ant;" l. ., for "ante_s_olat" read "ante_v_olat;" and l. ., for "ne_c_" read "ne." * * * * * journal francais, publié à londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en , paraissant le samedi, donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramanque par th. gautier ou j. jauin, la révue de paris par pierre durand, et reprodrit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc,. en vogue par les premiers ecrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * pietas metrica: or, nature suggestive of god and godliness. by the brothers theophilus and theophylact. fcap. vo. cloth. price s. d. "they possess great sweetness combined with deep devotional feeling."--_john bull._ london: j. masters, aldersgate and new bond streets. * * * * * just published, part x., price s. plain; s. d. tinted; proofs, large paper, s. the churches of the middle ages: or, select specimens of early and middle pointed structures, with a few of the purest late pointed examples; illustrated by geometric and perspective drawings. by henry bouman and joseph s. crowther, architects, manchester. to be completed in twenty parts, each containing six plates, imperial folio. issued at intervals of two months. "we can hardly conceive anything more perfect. we heartily recommend this series to all who are able to patronise it." --_ecclesiologist._ london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, new edition, two vols. fcp. vo., price s. clothe; or two vols. in one, s. morocco. s. calf antique. the christian taught by the church's services. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. leeds: richard slocombe. london: george bell, . fleet street * * * * * knight's pictorial shakspere, national edition. published in fortnightly parts, price s. each, and monthly sections, price s. d. each. part iii., containing "love's labour's lost," is published this day, saturday. the monthly section is published on the st of every month. london: charles knight, . fleet street. * * * * * knight's cyclopÆdia of the industry of all nations. number iii., price twopence, is published this day, saturday. the monthly part, ninepence, on the st of the month. * * * * * knight's cyclopÆdia of london. number iii., price twopence, is published this day, saturday. the monthly part, ninepence, on the st of the month london: charles knight, . fleet street. * * * * * the british almanac and companion. for , november st instant. london: charles knight, . fleet street. and sold by all booksellers in town and country; on application to whom may be obtained descriptive catalogue of the publications issued by charles knight. { } mr. parker _has recently published:_-- a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. exemplified by upwards of eighteen hundred illustrations, drawn from the best examples. fifth edition, vols. vo. cloth, gilt tops, l. s. "since the year , in which this work first appeared, no fewer than four large editions have been exhausted. the fifth edition is now before us, and we have no doubt will meet, as it deserves, the same extended patronage and success. the text has been considerably augmented by the enlargement of many of the old articles, as well as by the addition of many new ones among which professor willis has embodied great part of his architectural nomenclature of the middle ages the number of woodcuts has been increased from to above and the work its present form is, we believe, unequalled in the architectural literature of europe for the amount of accurate information it furnishes, and the beauty of its illustrations."--_notes and queries._ an introduction to the study of gothic architecture. by john henry parker, f.s.a. mo. with numerous illustrations. price s. d. the primeval antiquities of england and denmark compared. by j. j. a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen, and by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. with numerous illustrations. vo. s. rickman's gothic architecture. an attempt to discriminate the different styles of architecture in england, by the late thomas rickman, f.s.a. with engravings on steel by le keux, &c., and on wood, of the best examples, from original drawings by f. mackenzie, o. jewitt, and p. h. delamotte. fifth edition. vo. s. the ecclesiastical and architectural topography of england. vol. i. diocese of oxford. vo. cloth, s. d. an inquiry into the difference of style observable in ancient painted glass, with hints on glass painting, illustrated by numerous coloured plates from ancient examples. by an amateur. vols. vo. l. s. a book of ornamental glazing quarries, collected and arranged from ancient examples, by augustus wollaston franks, b.a. with coloured examples. vo. s. a manual for the study of monumental brasses, with a descriptive catalogue of "rubbings," in the possession of the oxford architectural society, topographical and heraldic indices, &c. with numerous illustrations, vo. s. d. a manual for the study of sepulchral slabs and crosses of the middle ages. by the rev. edward l. cutts, b.a. vo., illustrated by upwards of engravings, s. the cross and the serpent. being a brief history of the triumph of the cross, through a long series of ages, in prophecy, types, and fulfilment. by the rev. william haslam, perpetual curate of st. michael's baldiu, cornwall. mo., with numerous woodcuts, s. some of the five hundred points of good husbandry, as well for the champion or open country, as also for the woodland or several, mixed in every month with huswifery, over and above the book of huswifery, with many lessons both profitable and not unpleasant to the reader, once set forth by thomas tusser, gentleman, now newly corrected and edited, and heartily commended to all true lovers of country life and honest thrift. mo. s. d. * * * * * john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturdays, november . . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- nicholas breton, by the rev. t. corser. notes upon cunningham's london, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. notes on the dodo, by h.e. strickland. derivation of "sterling" and "penny." hanno's periplus, by s.w. singer. folk lore:--cook-eels--divination by bible and key--weather proverb. bibliographical notes, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. pope, petronius, and his translators, by a. rich, jun. queries:-- when were umbrellas introduced into england? by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. minor queries:--duke of marlborough--"m. or n."--song of the bees--william godwin--regimental badges--mother of thomas à becket--swords worn in public--emblem and national motto of ireland--latin distich--verbum græcum--pope felix--"where england's monarch." replies:-- gray's alcaic ode. replies to minor queries:--chapels--beaver--poins and bardolph--god tempers the wind--sterne's koran--lollius--bishop ryder--brown study--seven champions--tempora mutantur, &c.--vox populi vox dei--cuckoo--ancient tiles--daysman--safeguard--finkel--gourders of rain--urbanus regius--horns--_the_ or _a_ temple--ecclestiastical year--paying through the nose--quem deus--shrew--zenobia--cromwell's estates--vox et præterea nihil--law of horses--christ's hospital--tickhill, god help me! miscellanies:-- mss. of casaubon--latin epigram--"nec pluribus impar"--close translation--st. antholin's parish books. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. * * * * * notes nicholas breton. like mr. collier (no. . p. .), i have for many years felt "a peculiar interest about nicholas breton," and an anxious desire to learn something more of him, not only from being a sincere lover of many of his beautiful lyrical and pastoral poems, as exhibited in _england's helicon_, _davison's poetical rhapsodie_, and other numerous works of his own, and from possessing several pieces of his which are not generally known, but also from my intimate connection with the parish in which he is supposed to have lived and died. from this latter circumstance, especially, i had been most anxious to connect his name with norton, and have frequently cast a reverential and thoughtful eye on the simple monument which has been supposed to record his name; hoping, yet not without doubts, that some evidence would still be found which would prove it to be really that of the poet. it was therefore with the utmost pleasure that i read mr. collier's concluding paragraph, that he is "in possession of undoubted proof that he was the nicholas breton whose epitaph is on the chancel-wall of the church of norton in northamptonshire." it seems strange that, notwithstanding the number and variety of his writings, the length of time he was before the public, and the estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries, so little should be known concerning breton, and the circumstances of his life be still involved in such great obscurity. in looking over his various publications, it is remarkable how little is to be gleaned in the preliminary prefixes which relate to his own personal history, and how very rarely he touches on any thing referring to himself. there is a plaintive and melancholy strain running through many of his works, and i am inclined to the opinion entertained by sir egerton bridges and others, that cares, and misfortunes, and continued disappointments had brought on melancholy and despair, and that the plaintive and touching nature of his writings were occasioned by real sorrows and sufferings. this seems at variance with his being the purchaser of the manor and lordship of norton, and in the possession and enjoyment of this world's goods. thus in his _auspicante jehova maries exercise_, vo. , one of the rarest of his works, in the dedication to mary, countess of pembroke, speaking of his temporal condition, he remarks, "i have soncke my fortune in the worlde, hauing only the light of vertue to leade my hope unto heauen:" and signs himself "your la. sometime unworthy poet, and now, and ever poore beadman, nich. breton." and the "address" after it is signed, "your poore friend or servant n.b." i am aware that these phrases are sometimes used in a figurative sense, but am disposed to think that here they are intended for something real. and i am at a loss how to reconcile these expressions of poverty with his being the purchaser and enjoyer of such an estate. i shall wait, therefore, with considerable anxiety till it may suit the pleasure or convenience { } of mr. collier to communicate to the world the proofs he has obtained of the poet's identification with the norton monument. i would, however, further add, that so late as , the dedication to _the praise of vertuous ladies_ is dated "from my chamber in the blacke-fryers," and that not one of his later productions is dated from norton, which probably would have been the case had he been resident there. i regret that i am unable to afford mr. collier any information respecting the "crossing of proverbs," beyond the fact of the late mr. rodd being the purchaser of mr. heber's fragment, but whether on commission or not, i cannot say, nor where it now is. the same kind of proverbs are given in _wit's private wealth_, , and in some other of his works. nicholas breton, besides being a pleasing and polished writer of lyric and pastoral poetry, appears to have been a close and attentive observer of nature and manners,--abounding in wit and humour,--and a pious and religious man. he was also a soldier, a good fisherman, and a warm admirer of queen elizabeth, of whom he gives a beautiful character in "_a dialogue full of pithe and pleasure, upon the dignitie or indignitie of man_," to., , on the reverse of sig. c. iii. as it is sometimes desirable to know where copies of the rarer productions of a writer are to be met with, i may state, that among some five or six-and-twenty of this author's pieces, besides the _auspicante jehova maries exercise_, vo. , already mentioned, of which i know of no other copy than my own, i possess also the only one of _a small handfull of fragrant flowers_, vo. , and _a floorish upon fancie_, to. , both reprinted in the heliconia; _marie magdalen's loue_, with _a solemne passion of the soules loue_, vo. , the first part in prose, the latter in six-line stanzas, and very rare; _fantastics: seruing for a perpetual prognostication_, to. ; and _wit's trenchmour, in a conference had betwixt a scholler and an angler. written by nich. breton, gentleman_, to. bl. lett. , the only copy known and not included in lowndes's list, which, from the style of its composition and the similarity of some of the remarks, is supposed to have been the original work from which izaac walton first took the idea of his _complete angler_. thomas corser. stand rectory, april . . * * * * * notes upon cunningham's handbook for london. _baldwin's gardens._--a passage upon the east side of gray's inn lane, leading into leather lane. tom brown dates some introductory verses, prefixed to playford's _pleasant musical companion_, , "from mr. steward's, at the hole-in-the-wall, in _baldwin's gardens_." there is extant a single sheet with an engraved head, published by j. applebee, , and called,-- "the english and french prophets mad, or bewitcht, at their assemblies in _baldwin's gardens_." a letter of anthony wood's, in the writer's collection, is thus addressed:-- "for john aubrey, esq. to be left at mr. caley's house, in _baldwin's gardens_, neare gray's inne lane, london." _the white hart, bishopsgate street._--a tavern said to be of very ancient date. in front of the present building, the writer of the present notice observed (in ) the date cut in stone, . _the nag's head, cheapside._--a view of this tavern is preserved in a print of the entry of mary de medici, when she paid a visit to her son-in-law and daughter, the unfortunate charles i. and his queen. _st. paul's alley._-- "whereas, the yearly meeting of the name of adam hath of late, through the deficiency of the last stewards, been neglected, these are to give notice to all gentlemen, and others that are of that name, that, at william adams', commonly called 'the northern alehouse,' in _st. paul's alley_, in st. paul's church yard, there will be a weekly meeting, every monday night, of our namesakes, between the hours of and of the clock in the evening, in order to choose stewards to revive our antient and annual feast."--_domestic intelligence_, . _st. paul's churchyard._-- "in st. paul's church yard were formerly many shops where music and musical instruments were sold, for which, at this time, no better reason can be given than that the service at that cathedral drew together, twice a day, all the lovers of music in london; not to mention that the chairmen were wont to assemble there, where they were met by their friends and acquaintance."-- _sir john hawkins' history of music_, vol. v. p. . _the french change, soho._--a place so called in the reign of queen anne. gough, in a ms. note, now before us, thought it stood on the site of the present bazaar. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * notes on the dodo. i have to thank "mr. s.w. singer" (no. . p. .) for giving some interesting replies to my "dodo queries" (no. . p. .). i trust that mr. s. will be induced to pursue the inquiry further, and especially to seek for some _portuguese_ account of the mascarene islands, prior to the dutch expedition of . i am now able to state that the supposed proof of the discovery of bourbon by the portuguese in , on the authority of a stone pillar, the figure of which leguat has copied { } from du qesne, who copied it from flacourt, turns out to be inaccurate. on referring to flacourt's _histoire de la grande isle madagascar_, to., paris, , p. , where the original figure of this monument is given, i find that the stone was not found in bourbon at all, but in "l'islet des portugais," a small island at the mouth of the river fanshere (see flacourt, p. .), near the s.e. extremity of madagascar. from this place flacourt removed it to the neighbouring settlement of fort dauphin in , and engraved the arms of france on the opposite side to those of portugal. we are therefore still without any historical record of the first discovery of bourbon and mauritius, though, from the unanimous consent of later compilers, we may fairly presume that the portuguese were the discoverers. the references which mr. singer has given to two works which mention the _oiseau bleu_ of bourbon, are very important, as the only other known authority for this extinct bird is the ms. journal of sieur d.b., which thus receives full confirmation. may i ask mr. singer whether either of these writers mentions the _solitaire_ as inhabiting bourbon? the "oiseaux appelez _flamands_" quoted by mr. s., are merely _flamingos_, and are devoid of interest as regards the present question. the history of the dodo's head at copenhagen, referred to by mr. singer, is fully recorded in the _dodo and its kindred_, pp. . . the name _dodo_ seems to have been first applied to the bird by sir thomas herbert, in , who adds, in his edition of , "a portuguese name it is, and has reference to her simpleness." before that time the dutch were in the habit of calling it _dodars_, _dodaers_, _toters_, and _dronte_. i had already made the same guesses at the etymology of these words as those which mr. singer has suggested, but not feeling fully satisfied with them, i put forth my query vii. for the chance of obtaining some further elucidation. mr. singer's reasonings on the improbability of tradescant's specimen of the dodo having been a fabrication are superfluous, seeing that the head and foot of this individual are, as is well known, still in existence, and form the subjects of six plates in the _dodo and its kindred_. in regard to my query ix. as to the local habitation of the family of _dronte_, who bore a dodo on their shield, it has been suggested to me by the rev. richard hooper (who first drew my attention to this armorial bearing), that the family was probably foreign to britain. it appears that there was a family named _dodo_, in friesland, a member of which (augustin dodo, deceased in ) was the first editor of st. augustine's works. mr. hooper suggests that possibly this family may have subsequently adopted the dodo as their arms, and that randle holme may, by a natural mistake, have changed the name of the family, in his _academy of armory_, from _dodo_ to the synonymous word _dronte_. can none of your genealogical readers clear up this point? h.e. strickland. * * * * * derivation of "sterling" and "penny". your correspondent suggests (no. . p. .) an ingenious derivation for the word _sterling_; but one which perhaps he has been too ready to adopt, inasmuch as it helped his other derivation of _peny_, from _pecunia_ or _pecus_. i quote the following from _a short treatise touching sheriff's accompts_, by sir matthew hale: london, : "concerning the second, _viz._ the matter or species whereof the current coin of this kingdom hath been made, it is gold or silver, but not altogether pure, but with an allay of copper, at least from the time of king h. i. and h. ii., though possibly in ancienter times the species whereof the coin was made might be pure gold or silver; and this allay was that which gave the denomination of sterling to that coin, _viz._ sterling gold, or sterling silver. wherein there will be inquirable, " . whence that denomination came? " . how ancient that denomination was? " . what was the allay that gave silver that denomination? "for the former of these there are various conjectures, and nothing of certainty. "_spelman_ supposeth it to take that denomination from the esterlings, who, as he supposeth, came over and reformed our coin to that allay. of this opinion was _camden. a germanis, quos angli_ esterlings, _aborientali situ, vocarunt, facta est appellatio; quos_ johannes _rex, ad argentum in suam puritatem redigendam, primus evocavit; et ejus modi nummi_ esterlingi, _in antiquis scripturis semper reperiuntur_. some suppose that it might be taken up from the _starre judæorum_, who, being the great brokers for money, accepted and allowed money of that allay for current payment of their stars or obligations; others from the impression of a starling, or an asterisk upon the coin. _pur ceo que le form d'un stare, dont le diminutive est sterling, fuit impressit on stamp sur ceo. auters pur ceo que le primer de cest standard fuit coyn en le castle de sterlin in_ scotland _pur le roy_ edw. i. and possibly as the proper name of the fourth part of a peny was called a farthing, ordinarily a ferling; so in truth the proper name of a peny in those times was called a sterling, without any other reason of it than the use of the times and arbitrary imposition, as other names usually grow. for the old act of h. iii., called _compositio mensurarum_, tells us that _denarius anglice sterlingus dicitur_; and because this was the root of the measure, especially of silver coin, therefore all our coin of the same allay was also called sterling, as five shillings sterling, five pounds sterling. "when this name of sterling came first in is uncertain, only we are certain it was a denomination in use in the time of h. iii. or ed. i. and after ages. but it was not in use at the time of the compiling of { } doomsday, for if it were we should have found it there where there is so great occasion of mention of firmes, rents, and payments. hovended in _rich. i fol. . b._ nummus _a_ numa, _que fuit le primer roy que fesoit moneies en_ rome. _issint sterlings, alias esterlings, queux primes fesoient le money de cest standard en_ engleterre."--_sheriffs' accompts_, p. - . so much for the derivation of _sterling_, which evidently applied originally to the metal rather than to a coin. may i be allowed to hazard a suggestion as to the origin of _peny_, its synonym? they were each equivalent to the denarius. "_denarius angliæ, qui nominatur sterlingus, rotundus sine tonsura, ponderabit grana in medio spicæ. sterlingus et denarius sont tout un. le shilling consistoit de sterlings. le substance de cest denier ou sterling peny al primes fuit vicessima pars unicæ._"--_indentures of the mint_, ed. i and vi. may we not derive it from denarius by means of either a typographical or clerical error in the initial letter. this would at once give a new name--the very thing they were in want of--and we may very easily understand its being shortened into penny. g. milford, april . * * * * * hanno's periplus. "mr. hampson" has served the cause of truth in defending hanno and the carthaginians from the charge of cruelty, brought against them by mr. attorney-general bannister. a very slender investigation of the bearings of the narration would have prevented it. i know not how dr. falconer deals with it, not having his little volume at hand; but in so common a book as the _history of maritime discovery_, which forms part of lardner's _cabinet cyclopædia_, it is stated that these _gorillæ_ were probably some species of _ourang-outang_. purchas says they might be the _baboons_ or _pongos_ of those parts. the amusing, and always interesting, italian, hakluyt, in the middle of the sixteenth century, gives a very good version of the [greek: annonos periplous], with a preliminary discourse, which would also have undeceived mr. bannister, had he been acquainted with it, and prevented mr. hampson's pleasant exposure of his error. ramusio says, "seeing that in the voyage of hanno there are many parts worthy of considerate attention, i have judged that it would be highly gratifying to the studious if i were here to write down a few extracts from certain memoranda which i formerly noted on hearing a respectable portugese pilot, in frequent conversations with the count raimondo della torre, at venice, illustrate this voyage of hanno, when read to him, from his own experience." there are, of course, some erroneous notions in the information of the pilot, and in the deductions made from it by ramusio; but the former had the sagacity to see the truth respecting this _gorgon island full of hairy men and women_. i will not spoil the _naïveté_ of the narration by attempting a translation; merely premising that he judged the island to be that of fernando po. "e tutta la descrittione de questo capitano era simile a quella per alcun scrittore greci, quale parlande dell' isola delle gorgone, dicono quella esser un isola in mezzo d'una palude. e conciacosa che havea inteso che li poeti dicevan le gorgone esser femine terribili, però scrisse che le erano pelose.... ma a detto pilotto pareva più verisimile di pensare, che havendo hannone inteso ne'i libri de' poeti come perseo era stato per ære a questa isola, e di quivi reportata la testa di medusa, essendo egli ambitioso di far creder al mondo che lui vi fasse audato per mare; e dar riputation a questo suo viaggio, di esser penetrato fuio dove era stato perseo; volesse portar due pelli di gorgone, e dedicarla nel tempio di ginnone. il che li fu facil cosa da fare, conciosia cosa che in tutta quella costa si truovino infinite di quelle simie grande, che fareno persone humane, delle babuine, le pelle delle quali poteva far egli credere ad ogniuno che fussero state di femine." gopelin, also, in his _recherches sur la géographie des anciens_, speaking of this part of hanno's voyage, says: "hanno encountered a troop of _ourang-outangs_, which he took for savages, because these animals walk erect, often having a staff in their hands to support themselves, as well as for attack or defence; and they throw stones when they are pursued. they are the satyrs and the argipani with which pliny says atlas was peopled. it would be useless to say more on this subject, as it is avowed _by all the modern commentators of the periplus_." the relation we have is evidently only an abridgment or summary made by some greek, studious of carthaginian affairs, long subsequent to the time of hanno; and judging from a passage in pliny (i. ii. c. .), it appears that the ancients were acquainted with other extracts from the original, yet, though its authenticity has been doubted by strabo and others, there seems to be little reason to question that it is a correct _outline_ of the voyage. that the carthaginians were oppressors of the people they subjugated may be probable; yet we must not, on such slender grounds as this narration affords, presume that they would wantonly kill and flay _human beings_ to possess themselves of their skins! s.w. singer april . . * * * * * folk lore. _cook-eels._--forby derives this from _coquille_, in allusion to their being fashioned like an escallop, in which sense he is borne out by cotgrave, who has "_pain coquillé_, a fashion of an hard-crusted loafe, somewhat like our stillyard bunne." i have always taken the word to be "coquerells," from { } the vending of such buns at the barbarous sport of "throwing at the cock" on shrove tuesday. the cock is still commonly called a cockerell in e. anglia. perhaps mr. wodderspoon will say whether the buns of the present day are fashioned in any particular manner, or whether any "the oldest inhabitant" has any recollection of their being differently fashioned or at all impressed. what, too, are the "_stillyard buns_" of cotgrave? are they tea-cakes? the apartment in which tea was formerly made was called the _still_-room. buriensis. _divination by the bible and key._--this superstition is very prevalent amongst the peasantry of this and adjoining parishes. when any article is suspected to have been stolen, a bible is procured, and opened at the st chap. of ruth: the stock of a street-door key is then laid on the th verse of the above chapter, and the key is secured in this position by a string, bound tightly round the book. the person who works the charm then places his two middle fingers under the handle of the key, and this keeps the bible suspended. he then repeats in succession the names of the parties suspected of the theft; repeating at each name a portion of the verse on which the key is placed, commencing, "whither thou goest, i will go," &c. when the name of the guilty is pronounced, the key turns off the fingers, the bible falls to the ground, and the guilt of the party is determined. the belief of some the more ignorant of the lower orders in this charm is unbounded. i have seen it practiced in other counties, the key being laid over the th verse of the th chap. of proverbs, instead of the st chap. of ruth. david stevens. godalming, april . . [in brand's _popular antiquities_ (ed. ellis). vol. iii. - , it is stated that the key is placed upon the th psalm.] _weather proverb._--weather proverbs are among the most curious portions of popular literature. that foul or fair weather is betokened according as the rainbow is seen in the morning or evening, is recorded in the following german "saw," which is nearly identical with our well-known english proverb: regenbogen am morgen macht dem schäfer sorgen; regenbogen am abend ist dem schäfer labend. in mr. akerman's recently published volume called _spring tide_, a pleasant intermixture of fly-fishing and philology, we have a wiltshire version of this proverb, curious for its old saxon language and its comparatively modern allusion to a "great coat" in the third and sixth lines, which must be interpolations. "the rainbow in th' marnin' gies the shepherd warning' to car' his girt cwoat on his back the rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight, for then no girt cwoat he lack." no one, we believe, has yet remarked the philosophy of this saying; namely that in the morning the rainbow is seen in the clouds in the west, the quarter from which we get most rain, and of course, in the evening, in the opposite quarter of the heavens. william j. thoms. * * * * * bibliographical notes. . a pleasant dialogue between a soldier of barwicke and an english chaplain; wherein are largely handed such reasons as are brought in for maintenance of popish traditions in our english church. vo. _circa_ . this work is frequently attributed to barnaby rich; but from bancroft's _dangerous positions_, p. , the author is ascertained to have been anthony gilby. . the trumpet of fame; or sir francis drake's and sir john hawkin's farewell: with an encouragement to all sailors and souldiers that are minded to go in this worthie enterprise, &c. mo. london, by t. creede, . this poetical tract is of the greatest rarity, and was unknown to ames, herbert, warton and ritson. a ms. note, in a contemporary hand, says the author was one henry roberts, whose initials are appended to the work. . the mastive, or young whelpe of the olde dogge. epigrams and satyrs, by h.p. to. london, by t. creede, _circa_ . as an epigram in this collection also appears in henry peacham's _minerva britanna_, with a slight variation, it is fair to surmise that he was the author of this very rare volume, in preference to henry parrott. . pasquil's jests, mixed with mother bunch's merriments. whereunto is added a dozen of gulles. pretty and pleasant to drive away the tediousnesse of a winter's evening. to. . in the _british bibliographer_, vol i., may be seen an account of the edition of , with extracts from it, and a statement that "an earlier edition is without the gulls." the present copy (which passed through my hands some years ago), although earlier, has the gulls. . holie historie of our lord and saviour jesus christ's nativitie, life, actes, miracles, doctrine, death, passion, resurrection, and ascension. gathered into english meeter, and published to withdraw all vajne wits from all unsaverie and wicked rimes and fables &c. mo. london, by r. field, . ames and herbert say this book was written by _henry_ holland; but the author's name { } was robert holland. it is not mentioned by warton. . news from the stars; or, erra pater's ghost, by meriton latroon. mo. . "richard head, a broken bookseller, and the author of the _english rogue_, writ this. he turned papist, and in his voyage to spain was drowned."--_ms. note in a contemporary hand._ edward f. rimbault. * * * * * pope, petronius, and his translators. the vindication of pope from the charge of borrowing his well-known sentiment--"_worth_ makes a man," &c.--from petronius, is not so completely made out by "p.c.s.s." as it might be; for surely there is a sufficient similitude of idea, if not of expression, between the couplet of pope and the sentence of petronius, as given in all four of the translations cited by him (no. . p. .)--"the _heart_ makes the man," &c.--to warrant a notion that the one was suggested by the other. but the surmise of plagiarism originates in a misconception of the terms employed by the latin author--_virtus_, _frugalitas_, and more especially _corcillum_,--which have been misunderstood by every one of these translators. _virtus_ is applied to mental as well as bodily superiority (_cic. fin._ v. .).--the sense in which _frugalitas_ is employed by petronius may be collected from a preceding passage in the same chapter, where trimalchio calls his pet _puerum frugalissimum_--a very _clever_ lad--as he explains the epithet by adding that "he can read at sight, repeat from memory, cast up accounts, and turn a penny to his own profit." _corcillum_ is a diminutive of _corculum_ (like _oscillum_, from _osculum_), itself a diminutive of _cor_, which word, though commonly put for "the heart," is also used by the best authors, lucretius, horace, terence, &c, in the same sense as our _wit_, _wisdom_, _intellect_. the entire passage, if correctly translated, might then be expressed as follows: "the time has been, my friends, when i myself was no better off than you are; but i gained my present position solely by my own talents (_virtute_). wit (_corcillum_) makes the man--(or, literally, it is wisdom that makes men of us)--everything else is worthless lumber. i buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market. but, as i said before, my own shrewdness (_frugalitas_) made my fortune. i came from asia no taller than that lamp stand; and used to measure my height against it day by day, and grease my muzzle (_rostrum_) with oil from the lamp to make a beard come." then follow some additional examples of the youth's sagacity, not adapted for translation, but equally instances of worldly wisdom. thus every one of the actions which trimalchio enumerated as the causes of his prosperity are emanations from the _head_, not the _heart_; the results of a crafty intellect, not of moral feeling; so that the sentiment he professes, instead of being similar to, is exactly the reverse of that expressed by pope. this explanation seems so satisfactory that we might be well contented to rest here. but some mss. have the reading _coricillum_ instead of _corcillum_. if that be received as the genuine one, and some editors prefer it, the interpretation above given will only be slightly modified, but not destroyed, by the introduction of another image, the essential point remaining the same. the insertion of a vowel, _i_, precludes all connection with _cor_ and its diminutives, but suggests a derivation from [greek: korukos], dim. [greek: korukion], a leathern sack or bag, which, when well stuffed, the greeks used to suspend in the gymnasium, like the pendulum of a clock (as may be seem on a fictile vase), to buffet to and fro with blows of the fist. the stuffed bag will represent the human head on the end of its trunk; and the word may have been a slang one of the day, or coined by the asiatic trimalchio, whose general language is filled with provincial patois. the translation would then be, in the familiar style of the original,--"the _noddle_ makes the man," &c. anthony rich, jun. * * * * * queries. when were umbrellas introduced into england? thomas coryat, in his _crudities_, vol. i. p. ., gives us a curious notice of the early use of the umbrella in italy. speaking of fans, he says: "these fans are of a mean price, for a man may buy one of the fairest of them for so much money as countervaileth one english groat. also many of them (the italians) do carry other fine things of a far greater price, that will cost at the least a ducat, which they commonly call in the italian tongue _umbrellaes_, that is, things that minister shadow unto them for shelter against the scorching heat of the sun. these are made of leather, something answerable to the form of a little canopy, and hooped in the inside with diverse little wooden hoops that extend the _umbrella_ in a pretty large compass. they are used especially by horsemen, who carry them in their hands when they ride, fastening the end of the handle upon one of their thighs: and they impart so long a shadow unto them, that it keepeth the heat of the sun from the upper parts of their bodies." lt.-col. (afterwards gen.) wolfe, writing from paris, in the year , says: "the people here use umbrellas in hot weather to defend them from the sun, and something of the same kind to secure them from snow and rain. i wonder a practice so useful is not introduced in england, (where there are such frequent showers,) and especially in the country, where they can be expanded without any inconveniency." { } query, what is the date of the first introduction of the _umbrella_ into england? edward f. rimbault * * * * * minor queries. _duke of marlborough._--the annual register for the year (pp. - .) contains an account of the circumstances connected with the trial of one barnard, son of a surveyor in abingdon buildings, westminster, on a charge of sending letters to the duke of marlborough, threatening his life by means "too fatal to be eluded by the power of physic," unless his grace "procured him a genteel support for his life." the incidents are truly remarkable, pointing most suspiciously toward barnard; but he escaped. can any of your readers refer me to where i can find any further account or elucidation of this affair? buriensis. "_m. or n._"--of what words are "m. or n." the initials? vide the answers to be given in the church catechism, and some of the occasional offices in he liturgy. j.c. [it has been suggested that "m. or n." originated in a misreading of "nom," a contraction for "_nomen_." this is certainly an ingenious explanation, though not a satisfactory one.] _song of the bees._--who was the author of the lines under this title beginning, "we watch for the light of the moon to break and colour the grey eastern sky with its blended hues of saffron and lake," &c. i have always understood them to be dr. aikin's, but latterly that has been contradicted. buriensis. _william godwin._--can any of your correspondents tell me where i can find an account of the leading events of the life of william godwin, author of _caleb williams, st. leon, mandeville_ &c., or any reference to his last hours? his sentiments, political and religious, are said to have been _peculiar_. n. woodbridge, april . _regimental badges._--when were the regimental badges granted to the first nine infantry corps of the line, and under what circumstances were they so granted? j.c. london, april . . _mother of thomas à becket._--the well-known romantic legend of the origin of this lady has been introduced into the _pictorial history of england_, on the authority of "brompton in x. scriptores." and on the same page ( . vol. i.) is a pictorial representation of the "baptism of the mother of becket, from the royal ms. b. vii." now, lord campbell, in his _lives of the chancellors_, repudiates the story in toto; but without assigning any other reason for doing so, than an inference from the silence of becket himself and his secretary, fitzstephen, on the point. can any of the learned gentlemen, whose distinguished names adorn your valuable pages, direct an humble student to the fountain of truth, for the settlement of this _verata questio_? w. franks mathews. kidderminster, april . . _swords worn in public._--can any of your correspondents say when swords ceased to be worn as an article of ordinary dress, and whether the practice was abolished by act of parliament, or that they gradually went out of fashion. j.d.a. april . . _emblem and national motto of ireland._--how long has the _harp_ been the emblem, and _erin-go-bragh_ the national motto of ireland? to this i give another query,--what is the national motto of england? e.m.b. _latin distich and translation._--who were the authors of the following latin distich, and its english translation? "mittitur in disco mihi piscis ab archiepisco-- --po non ponatur, quia potus non mihi datur." "i had sent me a fish in a great dish by the archbish-- --hop is not here, for he gave me no beer." e.m.b. _verbum græcum._--who was the author of "like the _verbum græcum_ spermagoraiolekitholukanopolides, words that should only be said upon holidays, when one has nothing else to do." the _verbum græcum_ itself is in aristophanes' _lysistrata_, . e.m.b. _pope felix._--who is "pope felix," mentioned in Ælfric's _homily on the birthday of st. gregory_? Ælfric, in speaking of the ancestors of st. gregory, states that "_felix_ se eawfaesta _papa_ waes his fifta faeder,"--"felix the pious pope was his fifth father," (i.e. great grandfather's grandfather). e.m.b. april . . "_where england's monarch," and "i'd preach as though._"--will any of your subscribers have the kindness to inform me who was the author of the lines "where england's monarch all uncovered sat and bradshaw bullied in a broad-brimm'd hat." and also of these, quoted by henry martyn as "well-known:" "i'd preach as though i ne'er should preach again, i'd preach as dying unto dying men." h.g. milford, april . . { } _latin epigram._--i should be much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me who was the author and what is the date of the following epigram. the peculiarity of it, your readers will observe, consists in the fact, that while read directly it contains a strong compliment; yet it is capable of being read backwards, still forming the same description of verse, but conveying a perfect reverse of the compliment:-- "laus tua, non tua fraus; virtus non copia rerum, scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium, pauperibus tua das; nunquam stat janua clausa; fundere res quæris, nec tua multiplicas. conditio tua sit stabilis! non tempore parvo vivere te faciat hic deus omnipotens." when reversed, it reads thus:-- "omnipotens deus hic faciat te vivere parvo tempore! non stabilis sit tua conditio. multiplicas tua, nec quæris res fundere; clausa janua stat, nunquam das tua pauperibus. eximium decus hoc fecit te scandere rerum copia, non virtus; fraus tua, non tua laus." any additional information would much oblige. o. april . . * * * * * replies. gray's alcaic ode. circumstances enable me to give a reply, which i believe will be found correct, to the inquiry of "c.b." in p. . of your th number, "whether gray's celebrated latin ode is actually to be found entered at the grande chartreuse?" the fact is, that the french revolution--that whirlwind which swept from the earth all that came within its reach and seemed elevated enough to offer opposition--spared not the poor monks of the chartreuse. a rabble from grenoble and other places, attacked the monastery; burnt, plundered, or destroyed their books, papers, and property, and dispersed the inmates; while the buildings were left standing, not from motives of respect, but because they would have been troublesome and laborious to pull down, and were not sufficiently combustible to burn. in travelling on the continent with a friend, during the summer of , we made a pilgrimage to the grande chartreuse, reaching it from the side of the echelles. it was an interesting moment; for at that very time the scattered remains of the society had collected together, and were just come again to take possession of and reinhabit their old abode. and being their _jour de spaciment_, the whole society was before us, as they returned from their little pilgrimage up the mountain, where they had been visiting st. bruno's chapel and spring; and it was impossible not to think with respect of the self-devotion of these men, who, after having for many years partaken (in a greater or less degree) of the habits and comforts of a civilised life, had thus voluntarily withdrawn themselves once more to their stern yet beautiful solitude (truly, as gray calls it, a _locus severus_), there to practise the severities of their order, without, it may be supposed, any possessions or means, except what they were themselves enabled to throw into a common stock; for nearly the whole of their property had been seized by the government during the revolution, and was still held by it. our conversation was almost wholly with two of the fathers (they use the prefix _dom_), whose names i forget, and have mislaid my memorandum of them. one of these had been in england, when driven out; and was there protected by the weld family in dorsetshire, of whom he spoke in terms of sincere gratitude and respect. the other told us that he was a native of chambery, and had done no more than cross the mountains to get home. on asking him for gray's ode, he shook his head, saying, the revolution had robbed them of that, and every thing else; but repeated the first line of it, so that there was no mistake as to the object of my inquiry. from what occurred afterwards, it appears, however, to be questionable whether he knew more than the first line; for i was informed that later english travellers had been attempting, from a laudable desire of diffusing information, to write out the whole in the present album of the chartreuse, by contributing a line or stanza, as their recollection served; but that, after all, this pic-nic composition was not exactly what gray wrote. of course, had our friend the dom known how to supply the deficiencies, he would have done it. there is a translation of the ode by james hay beattie, son of the professor and poet, printed amongst his poems, which is much less known than its merits deserve. and i would beg to suggest to such of your readers as may in the course of their travels visit this monastery, that books (need i say _proper_ ones?) would be a most acceptable present to the library; also, that there is a regular album kept, in which those who, in this age of "talent" and "intelligence," consider themselves able to write better lines than gray's, are at liberty to do so if they please. a very happy conjecture appeared in the _european magazine_ some time between and , as to the conclusion of the stanzas to mr. beattie. the corner of the paper on which they had been written as torn off; and mr. mason supplies what is deficient in the following manner, the words added by him being printed in italics:-- "enough for me, if to some feeling breast my lines a secret sympathy _impart_; and as their pleasing influence _flows confest_, a sign of soft reflection _heave the heart_." { } this, it will be seen, is prosaic enough; but the correspondent of the _e. mag._ supposes the lines to have ended differently; and that the poet, in some peculiar fit of modesty, tore off the name. his version is this:-- "enough for me, if to some feeling breast, my lines a secret sympathy _convey_; and as their pleasing influence _is imprest_, a sigh of soft reflection _heave for gray_." one word upon another poet, byron _v_. tacitus, in p. . of your th number. there can be no doubt that the noble writer had this passage of tacitus in his mind, when he committed the couplet in question to paper; but, in all probability, he considered it so well known as not to need acknowledgment. others have alluded to it in the same way. the late rev. w. crowe, b.c.l., of new college, oxford, and public orator of that university, in some lines recited by his son at the installation of lord grenville, has the following:-- "and when he bids the din of war to cease, he calls the silent desolation--peace." i wonder where lord byron stole stanzas , , , , of the second canto of _the bride of abydos_; to say nothing of some more splendid passages in the first and second cantos of _childe harold_? w. ( .) * * * * * replies to minor queries. _chapels._--perhaps the following remarks will be of service to "mr. gatty" in the solution of his queries touching the word _chapel_ (no. .). spelman (_glossary, sub voce_) endeavours to convince us that _capella_ is the same as _capsella_, the diminutive of _capsa_; thus making _chapel_, in the first instance, "a small repository" (_sc._ of relics). richardson is also in favour of this etymon, notwithstanding its harshness and insipidity. i think the common derivation (from _capella_, diminutive of _capa_) very much preferable to any other, both on the score of philology and of history. ducange has quoted several passages, all tending to evince that _capella_ (explained by the teutonic _voccus_) was specially applied to the famous vestment of st. martin, comprising his cloak and hood (not merely his _hat_, as some writers mention). the name was then metonymically transferred to the repository in which that relic was preserved, and afterwards, by a natural expansion, became the ordinary designation of the smaller sanctuaries. this derivation is distinctly affirmed by walafred strabo about , and by a monk of st. gall, placed by basnage about . the earliest instance where the word _capella_ is used for the vestment of st. martin appears to be in a "placitum" of theodoric, king of france, who ascended the throne a.d. --"in oratorio nostro super capella domini martini ... hæc dibiret conjurare." in a second "placitum," also quoted by ducange, of childebert, king of france (_circa_ ), the word _capella_ seems to mean a _sacred building_--"in oratorio suo seu capella sancti marthini." and in a charter of charles the simple, _circ._ , the term unquestionably occurs in this latter signification, disconnected from st. martin. other illustrations may be seen in ducange, who has bestowed especial industry on the words _capa_ and _capella_. with respect to the _legal_ definition of the modern _chapel_, i may mention that, in stat. & geo. iv. c. . s. ., it signifies, according to mr. stephens (_eccl. statutes_, p. .), "a chapel where the rites and ceremonies of the church of england are performed, and does not include the chapels of dissenters." in stat. & geo. iv. c. ., we read, notwithstanding, of "any _chapel_ for the religious worship of persons dissenting from the united church of england and ireland." c.h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. _chapels_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--the opinion of the "barrister" that this term had come into use as a designation of dissenting places of worship from no "idea of either assistance or opposition to the church of england," but only as a supposed means of security to the property, is probably correct. yet it is likely different reasons may have had weight in different places. however, he is mistaken in "believing that we must date the adoption of that term from about" forty years ago. i am seventy-six years old, and i can bear testimony, that from my infancy it was the term universally employed in yorkshire, derbyshire, cheshire, lancashire, and, i think probable, in the more northern counties. in common speech, it was used as the word of discrimination from the methodist places of worship, which bore the name of _meeting-houses_, or, more generally, _meetings_. but within the period (forty years) assigned by your learned correspondent, i think that i have observed the habit to have extensively obtained of applying the term _chapels_ to the latter class of places. i have abundant evidence of the general use of the term for dissenting buildings, back to the seventeenth century. from my early life, i remember the current opinion to have been that _chapel_ was the word in use north of the trent, and _meeting-house_ in nottingham and southwards. an eminent antiquary, the rev. joseph hunter, f.s.a., could cast a full light upon this subject. j.p.s. homerton, april . _beaver_ (no. . p. .).--the earliest form of this word is _fiber_, which is used to signify the animal, the _castor_, by varro and pliny. the fabulous story of the self-emasculation by which the beaver eludes pursuit, is thus introduced by silius, in illustrating the flight of hasdrubal:-- { } "fluminei veluti deprensus gurgitis undis, avulsâ parte inguinibus caussaque pericli, enatat intento prædæ _fibor_ avius hoste." _punica_, iv. - , where see ruperti. the scholiast on juvenal, xii. ., has the low latin _vebrus_. (see forcellini, lex. in _fiber_ et _castor_, ducange in _bever_, and adelung in _biber_.) derivations of the word _bebrus_ occur in all the languages of europe, both romanic and teutonic; and denote the castor. _beaver_, in the sense of a _hat_ or _cap_, is a secondary application, derived from the material of which the hat or cap was made. w. _poins and bardolph_ (no. . p. .)--mr. collier (life prefixed to the edit. of _shakspeare_, p. .) was the first to notice that bardolph, fluellen, and awdrey, were names of persons living at stratford in the lifetime of the poet; and mr. halliwell (_life of shakspeare_, pp. - ) has carried the subject still further, and shown that the names of ten characters in the plays are also found in the early records of that town. poins was, i believe, a common welsh name. s. _god tempers the wind_ (no. . p. .)--le roux de liney, _livre des proverbes français_ (paris, ), tom. i. p. ., cites the following proverbs-- "dieu mesure le froid à la brebis tondue, ou, dieu donne le froid selon la robbe," from henri estienne, _prémices_, &c., p. ., a collection of proverbs published in . he also quotes from gabriel meurier, _trésor des sentences_, of the sixteenth century:-- "dieu aide les mal vestus." siwel. april . . _sterne's koran_ (no. . p. .)--an inquiry respecting this work appeared in the _gent. mag._, vol. lxvii. pt. ii. p. .; and at p. . we are told by a writer under the signature of "normanus," that in _his_ edition of sterne, printed at dublin, , vols. mo., the koran was placed at the end, the editor honestly confessing that it was _not_ the production of sterne, but of mr. richard griffith (son of mrs. griffith, the _novellettist_), then a gentleman of large fortune seated at millecent, co. kildare, and married to a daughter of the late ld. c.b. burgh. i possess a copy of an indifferent edition of sterne's works, in point of paper and type, "printed for j. mozley, gainsbrough, . vols. mo." the koran is in the sixth vol., termed "the posthumous works of l. sterne," dedicated to the earl of charlemont by the editor, who, in his address to the reader, professes to have received the ms. from the hands of the author some time before his untimely death. this i hope will answer the query of "e.l.n.:" and at the same time i wish to express my regret, that we do not possess a really good and complete edition of sterne's works, with a life and literary history of them, incorporating the amusing illustrations by dr. ferriar. f.r.a. april . . _lollius._--in answer to "j.m.b." (no. . p. .) as to who was the lollius spoken of by chaucer, i send you the following. _lollius_ was the real or fictitious name of the author or translator of many of our gothic prose romances. d'israeli, in his admirable _amenities of literature_, vol. i. p. ., says:-- "in some colophons of the prose romances the names of real persons are assigned as the writers; but the same romance is equally ascribed to different persons, and works are given as translations which in fact are originals. amid this prevailing confusion, and these contradictory statements, we must agree with the editor of warton, that we cannot with any confidence name the author of any of these prose romances. ritson has aptly treated these pseudonymous translators as 'men of straw.' we may say of them all, as the antiquary douce, in the agony of his baffled researches after one of their favourite authorities, a will o' the wisp named lollius, exclaimed, somewhat gravely,--'of lollius it will become every one to speak with diffidence.'" perhaps this "scrap" of information may lead to something more extensive. edward f. rimbault. _henry ryder, bishop of killaloe_ (no. . p. ).--henry ryder, d.d., a native of paris, and bishop of killaloe, after whose paternity "w.d.r." inquires, was advanced to that see by patent dated june . (not ), and consecrated on the sunday following in the church of dunboyne, in the co. meath. see archdeacon cotton's _fasti ecclesiæ hibernicæ_, vol. i. p. ., who gives an account of his family. w.(i.) _brown study_ (no. . p. .).--surely a corruption of brow-study, brow being derived from to old german, _braun_, in its compound form _ang-braun_, an eyebrow. (vide wachter, _gloss. germ._) hennes _seven champions of christendom._--who was the author of _the seven champions of christendom_? r.f. johnson. [_the seven champions of christendom_, which ritson describes as "containing all the lies of christendom in one lie," was written by the well-known richard johnson. our correspondent will find many curious particulars of his various works in the introduction which mr. chappell has prefixed to one of them, viz. _the crown garland of golden roses_, edited by him from the edition of for the percy society.] { } "_tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis_."--"e.v." (p. .) is referred to cicero _de officiis_, lib. i. cap. ., and ovid, _met_. lib. xv. . et seqq. "_vox præterea nihil_."--"c.w.g." (p. .) is also referred to ovid, _met_. lib. iii. ., and lactantius, lib. iii. fab. v. these are the nearest approximations i know. a.w. _vox populi vox dei._--the words "populi vox, vox dei," stand as no. . among the "aphorismi politici ex ph. cominoeo," in a small volume in my possession, entitled,-- "aphorismi politici et militares, etc. par lambertum danæum collecti. lugduni batavorum. cid idc xxx ix." there is no reference given to book or chapter; and, judging from the manner in which the aphorisms of thucydides and tacitus (which i have been able to examine) are quoted, i fear it may be found that the words in question are rather a condensation of some paragraph by des comines that the _ipsissima verba_ that he employed. c. forbes. temple. _the cuckoo._--in respect to the query of "g." (no. . p. .), on the cuckoo, as the welsh ambassador, i would suggest that it was in allusion to the annual arrival of welshmen in search of summer and other employment. as those wanderers may have entered england about the time of the cuckoo's appearance, the idea that the bird was the precursor of the welsh might thus become prevalent. also, on the quotation given by "petit andrÉ" (no. . p. .) of welsh parsley, or hempen halters, it may have derived its origin from the severity practised on the welsh, in the time of their independence, when captured on the english side of the border,--the death of the prisoner being inevitable. gomer. _ancient titles_ (no. . p. .).--it may be interesting to your querist "b." to know that the seal of the borough of chard, in the county of somerset, has two birds in the position which he describes, with the date . s.s.s. _daysman_ (no. . p. ., no. . p. .).--for quoted instances of this, and other obsolete words, see jameson's _bible glossary_, just published by wertheim in paternoster row. s.s.s. _safeguard_ (no. . p. .).--the article of dress for the purpose described is still used by farmers' wives and daughters in the west of england, and is known by the same name. s.s.s. _finkle_ (no. . p. .).--means _fennel_. mr. halliwell (_dict._ p. .) quotes from a ms. of the _nominale_, "fynkylsede, _feniculum_." l. _gourders of rain_ (no. . p. ., no. . p. .).--has the word "gourders" any connection with _gourtes_, a stream, or pool? see cotgrave's _dict._, and kelham's _dict. of the norman language_. _geotere_ is the a.-s. word for "melter;" but may not the term be applied to the pourer out of anything? gourd is used by chaucer in the sense of a vessel. (see _prol. to the manciple's tale_.) c.i.r. _urbanus regius_ (no. . p. .).--the "delightful old lady" is informed that "urbanus regius" (or urban le roi) was one of the reformers, a native of langenargen, in germany. his works were published under the title of _vitet et opera urbani regii, &c._, norib. . his theological works have been translated into english, as the lady is aware. w. franks mathews. kidderminster, april . . _horns_ (no. . p. .).--rosenmüller ad exodum xxxiv. . "_ignorabat quods plenderet entis faciei ejus_. vulgatus interpres reddidit. _ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies sua_, quia verbum _karan_ denominativum nominis _keren, cornu_; opinatus est denotare, _cornua habere_; hine nata opinio, mosis faciem fuisse cornutam. sed nomen [hebrew: keren] ob similitudinem et ad _radios_ transferri, docet haliæ, m. . ubi de fulminibus dicitur.... hic denotat _emisit radias_, i.e. splenduit." lxx. [greek: dedoxastai]. our version, _shone_. r. ad psal. xxii. seems to say, that in arabic there is the like metaphor, of the sun's rays to a deer's horns. r. adds, that the jews also attributed horns to moses in another sense, figuratively for power, as elsewhere. _tauriformis._--the old scholiasts on horace say that rivers are always represented with horns, "propter impetum et mugitum æquarum." "corniger hesperidum fluvius." an old modern commentator observes, that in virgil "rhenus bicornis," rather applies to its two æstuaries. when milton says (xi. .) "push'd by the horned flood," he seems rather to mean, as newton explains him, that "rivers, when they meet with anything to obstruct their passage, divide themselves and become _horned_ as it were, and hence the ancients have compared them to bulls." c.b. ["m." (oxford) refers our correspondent to facciolati, _lexicon_, ed. bailey, voc. _corun_.] _horns_ (no. . p. .).-- . moses' face, ex. ch. xxxiv. (_karan_, heb.), shot out beams or _horns_ of light (from _keren_, heb.); so the first beams of the rising sun are by the arabian poets compared to horns. absurdly rendered by aqu. and vulg. (facies) _cornuta erat_. whence painters represent moses as having horns.--gesenius, _heb. lex._ { } . there appear many reasons for likening rivers to bulls. euripides calls cephisus taumomorphos, and horace gives aufidus the same epithet, for the same reason probably, as makes him call it also "longe sonans," "violentus," and "acer;" viz., the bull-like roaring of its waters, and the blind fury of its course, especially in flood time. other interpretations may be given: thus, milton, dryden, and others, speak of the "horned flood," i.e., a body of water which, when it meets with any obstruction, divides itself and becomes _horned_, as it were. see milt. p.l. xi. ., and notes on the passage by newton and todd. dryden speaks of "the seven-fold _horns_ of the nile," using the word as equivalent to winding stream. it would be tedious to multiply examples. . of this phrase i have never seen a satisfactory explanation. "coruna nasci" is said by petronius, in a general sense, of one in great distress. as applied to a cuckold, it is common to most of the modern european languages. the italian phrase is "becco cornuto" (horned goat), which the accademici della crusca explain by averring that that animal, unlike others can without anger bear a rival in his female's love. "dr. burn, in his _history of westmoreland_, would trace this _crest_ of _cuckoldom_ to horns worn as crests by those who went to the crusades, as their armorial distinctions; to the infidelity of consorts during their absence, and to the finger of scorn pointed at them on their return; crested indeed, but abused."--_todd's johnson's dictionary_. r.t.h.g. _why moses represented with horns._--you may inform your querist "l.c." (no. p. .), that the strange practice of making moses appear horned, which is not confined to statues, arose from the mistranslation of exod. xxxiv. . & . in the vulgate, which is to the romanist his authenticated scripture. for there he reads "faciem moysi cornutum," instead of "the skin of moses' face shone." the hebrew verb put into our type is _coran_, very possibly the root of the latin _cornu_: and its primary signification is to put forth horns; its secondary, to shoot forth rays, to shine. the participle is used in its primary sense in psalms, xix. .; but the greek septuagint, and all translators _from the hebrew_ into modern european languages, have assigned to the verb its secondary meaning in exod. xxxiv. in that chapter the nominative to _coran_ is, in both verses, undeniably _skin_, not _head_ nor _face_. now it would obviously be absurd to write "his skin was horned," so that common sense, and the authority of the septuagint, supported by the language of st. paul in his paraphrase and comment on this passage in cor. iii. - ., ought to have been sufficient to guide any christian translator as to the sense to be attached to _coran_ in the mention of moses. h.w. oxford, april , . [we have since received replies to a similar effect, from "sir edmund filmer," "j.e.," &c. "r.g." refers our querist to leigh's _critica særa_, part i. p. . london, ; and "m." refers him to the note on this passage in exodus in m. polus' _synopsis criticorum_. to "t.e." we are indebted for notes on other portions of "l.c.'s" queries.] _the temple or a temple._--"mr. foss" says (no. . p. .) that in tyrwhitt's edition of chaucer and in all other copies he has seen, the reading is-- "a gentil manciple was there of a temple." in an imperfect black-letter folio copy of chaucer in my possession (with curious wood-cuts, but without title-page, or any indications of its date, printer, &c.), the reading is-- "a gentyl mancyple was there of _the_ temple." that the above is the true reading ("the real passage"), and that it is to be applied to _the_ temple, appears to me from what follows, in the description of the manciple. "of maysters had he moo than thryes ten that were of lawe expirte and curyous, of whyche there were a dosen in that hous worthy to be," &c.; p.h.f. march , . _ecclesiastical year_ (no. . p. .).--the following note on the calendar is authority for the statement respecting the beginning of the ecclesiastical year:-- "note that the golden number and the dominicall letter doeth change euery yeere the first day of january. note also, that the yeere of our lord beginneth the xxv. day of march, the same supposed to be the first day upon which the world was created, and the day when christ was conceived in the womb of the virgin mary." as in the book of common prayer, lond. , p. . bishop cosins remarks, "beginneth the th day of march." "romani annum suum auspicantur ad calendas januarias. idem faciunt hodierni romani et qui in aliis regnis papæ authoritatem agnoseunt. ecclesia autem anglicana sequitur suppotationem antiquam a dionysio exiguo inchoatum, anno christi ." nicholl's commentary on the book of common prayer, additional notes, p. . fol. lond. , vid. loe. in the book of common prayer, oxford, , the note is,-- "_note._--the supputation of the year of our lord in the church of england beginneth the five-and-twentieth day of march." this note does not now appear in our prayer books, being omitted, i suppose, in consequence { } of the adoption of the new style in england in . the daily course of lessons used to begin, as it does now, with the book of genesis and of st. matthew, in january; the collects, epistles, and gospels with those for advent. m. oxford. _paying through the nose_ (no. . p. .).--i have always understood this to be merely a degenerated pronunciation of the last word. paying through _the noose_ gives the idea so exactly, that, as far as the etymology goes, it is explanatory enough. but whether _that_ reading has an historical origin may be another question. it scarcely seems to need one. c.w.h. _quem deus vult perdere, &c._ (no. . p. .).--the correct reading is, "quem jupiter vult perdere, dementat prius." see duport's _gnomologia homerica_, p. . (cantab. .) athenagoras quotes greek lines, and renders them in latin (p. . oxon. ): "at dæmon homini quum struit aliquid malum, pervertit illi primitus mentem suam." the word "dementat" is not to be met with, i believe, in the works of any real classical author. butler has employed the idea in part . canto . line . of _hudibras_: "like men condemned to thunderbolts, who, ere the blow, become mere dolts." c.i.r. _shrew_ (no. . p. .).--the word, i apprehend, means sharp. the mouse, which is not the field-mouse, as halliwell states, but an animal of a different order of quadrupeds, has a very sharp snout. shrewd means sharp generally. its bad sense is only incidental. they seem connected with scratch; screw; shrags, the end of sticks or furze (halliwell); to shred (a.-s., screadan, but which must be a secondary form of the verb). that the shrew-mouse is called in latin _sorex_, seems to be an accidental coincidence. that is said to be derived from [greek: urax]. the french have confounded the two, and give the name _souris_ to the common mouse, but _not_ to the shrew-mouse. i protest, for one, against admitting that broc is derived from _broc_, persecution, which of course is participle from break. we say "to badger" for to annoy, to teaze. i suppose two centuries hence will think the name of the animal is derived from that verb, and not the verb from it. it means also, in a.-s., _equus vilis_, a horse that is worn out or "broken down." c.b. _zenobia_ (no. . p. .).--zenobia is said to be "gente judaea," in hoffman's _lexicon universale_, and facciolati, ed. bailey, appendix, voc. _zenobia_. m. oxford. _cromwell's estates_ (no. . p. .).--there is woolaston, in gloucestershire, four miles from chepstow, chiefly belonging now to the duke of beaufort. c.b. _vox et præterea nihil_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--this saying is to be found in plutarch's _laconic apophthegms_ ([greek: apophthegmata lakonika]), plutarchi _opera moralia_, ed. dan. wyttenbach, vol. i. p. . philemon holland has "turned it into english" thus:-- "another [laconian] having plucked all the feathers off from a nightingale, and seeing what a little body it had: 'surely,' quoth he, 'thou art all voice, and nothing else.'"--_plutarch's morals_, fol. . p. . w.b.r. _law of horses._--the following is from oliphant's _law of horses, &c._, p. . will any of your readers kindly tell me whether the view is correct? "it is said in _southerene_ v. _howe_ ( rol. rep. .), _si home vend chivall que est lame, null action gist peur ceo, mes_ caveat emptor: _lou jeo vend chivall que ad null oculus la null action gist; autrement lou il ad un conterfeit faux et_ bright eye." "if a man sell a horse which is lame, no action lyes for that, but _caveat emptor_; and when i sell a horse that has _no_ eye, there no action lies; otherwise where he has a counterfeit, false, and _bright eye_." thus it appears that a distinction is here made between a horse having _no_ eye at all, and having a counterfeit, false or _bright_ one. and probably by _bright eye_ is meant _glass eye_, or _gutta serena_; and the words "counterfeit" and "false" may be an attempt of the reporter to explain an expression which he did not understand. because putting a false eye into a horse is far in advance of the sharpest practices of the present day, or of any former period. note.--_gutta serena_, commonly called glass-eye, is a species of blindness; the pupil is unusually dilated; it is immovable, bright, and glassy. g.h. hewit oliphant. april . . _christ's hospital._--in reply to "nemo" (no. . p. .), a contemporary of the eminent blues there enumerated, informs him, that although he has not a perfect recollection of the ballads then popular at christ's hospital, yet "nemo" may be pleased to learn, that on making search at the society of antiquaries for robin hood ballads, he found in a folio volume of broadsides, &c., one of the much interest and considerable length in relation to that school. the ballad must also be rare, as it is not among those in the two large volumes which have been for many years in the british museum, nor is it in the three volumes of roxburgh ballads recently purchased for that noble library. { } the undersigned believes that the only survivor of the scholars at christ's hospital mentioned by "nemo," is the rev. charles valentine le grice, now residing at trerieffe, near penzance. j.m.g. worcester, march . . [we are happy to say that one other, at least, of the christ hospital worthies enumerated by "nemo" still survives--mr. leigh hunt, whose kindly criticism and real poetic feeling have enriched our literature with so many volumes of pleasant reading, and won for him the esteem of a large circle of admirers.] _tickhill, god help me!_ (no. . p. .).--"h.c. st. croix" informs us that a similar expression is in use in lincolnshire. near to the town of "merry lincoln" is a large heath celebrated for its cherries. if a person meets one of the cherry-growers on his way to market, and asks him where he comes from, the answer will be, if the season is favourable, "from lincoln heath, where should 'un?" but if, on the contrary, there is a scarcity of cherries, the reply will be, "from lincoln heath, god help 'un." "diss" informs us, too, that this saying is not confined to tickhill, melverly, or pershore, but is also current at letton, on the banks of the wye, between hereford and hay. and "h.c.p." says the same story is told of the inhabitants of tadley, in the north of hampshire, on the borders of berkshire. _robert long_ (no. . p. .).--rear-admiral robert long died th _july_, , having been superannuated on the half-pay of rear-admiral some time before his death. his seniority in the navy was dated from st march, , and he was posted in the shoreham. he never was _sir_ robert. an account of the charity he founded may be seen in the _commissioners' reports on charities_, vol. iii. iv. vi. g. _transposition of letters_ (no. . p. .).--instances of shortened names of places. bensington, oxfordshire, now called benson; stadhampton, oxfordshire, now called stadham; and in suffolk the following changes have taken place; thelnetham is called feltam; hoxney, oxen. c.i.r. _the complaynt of scotland_.--i believe there has not been discovered recently any fact relative to the authorship of above-mentioned poem, and that the author is, "sir david lyndsay of the mount, lord lyon king-at-arms." w.b. _note books_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .)--i beg to state my own mode, than which i know of none better. i have _several_ books, viz., for history, topography, personal and family history, ecclesiastical affairs, heraldry, adversaria. at the end of each volume is an alphabet, with six columns, one for each vowel; in one or other of which the word is entered according to the vowel which first appears in it, with a reference to the page. thus, _bray_ would come under b.a; _church_ under c.u.; and so forth. s.s.s. * * * * * miscellanies. _mss. of casaubon._--there is a short statement respecting certain mss., now existing, of the great critic casaubon, in a recent volume of the parker society--whitaker's _disputation on holy scripture_, edited and translated by professor fitzgerald, professor of moral philosophy, dublin, which i conceive is one of those facts which might be of service at some future time to scholars, from having been recorded in your columns:-- whitaker having observed-- "one herman, a most impudent papist, affirms that the scriptures are of no more avail than aesop's fables, apart from the testimony of the church."--(parker soc. transl., p. .) professor fitzgerald appends the following "note:"-- "casaubon, exercit. baron. i. xxxiii. had, but doubtfully, attributed this to pighius; but in a ms. note preserved in primate marsh's library, at st. sepulchre's, dublin, he corrects himself thus: 'non est hic, sed quidam hermannus, ait wittakerus in præfat. controvers. i. quæst. s. p. .' if a new edition of those exercitations be ever printed, let not these mss. of that great man, which, with many other valuable records, we owe to the diligence of stillingfleet and the munificence of marsh, be forgotten." t. bath * * * * * on a very tall barrister named "long." longi longorum longissime, longe, virorum, dic mihi, te quæso, num _breve_ quicquid habes? w.( .) * * * * * "nec pluribus impar." _on a very bad book: from the latin of melancthon_. a thousand blots would never cure this stuff; one might, i own, if it were large enough. rufus. * * * * * _close translation._--the following is a remarkable instance; for it is impossible to say which is the original and which the translation, they are so nearly equivalent:-- "boys and girls, come out to play; the moon doth shine as bright as day; come with a whoop, come with a call, come with a good will, or come not at all." { } "garçons et filles, venez toujours; la lune fait clarté comme le jour; venez au bruit d'un joyeux éclat; venez de bon coeur, ou ne venez pas." w.( .) _st. antholin's parish books._--in common with many of your antiquarian readers, i look forward with great pleasure to the selection from the entries in the st. antholin's parish books, which are kindly promised by their present guardian, and, i may add, intelligent expositor, "w.c." st. antholin's is, on several accounts, one of the most interesting of our london churches; it was here, strype tells us (_annals_, i. i. p. .), "the new morning prayer," i.e., according to the new reformed service-book, first began in september, , the bell beginning to ring at five, when a psalm was sung after the geneva fashion, all the congregation, men, women, and boys, singing together. it is much to be regretted that these registers do not extend so far back as this year, as we might have found in them entries of interest to the church historian; but as "w.c." tells us the volumes are kept regularly up to the year , i cannot but hope he may be able to produce some notices of what mr. p. cunningham calls, "the puritanical fervour" of this little parish. "st. antling's bell," and "st. antling's preachers," were proverbial for shrillness and prolixity, and the name is a familiar one to the students of our old dramatists. let "w.c." bear in mind, that the chaplains of the commissioners of the church of scotland, with alexander henderson at their head, preached here in , commanding crowded audiences, and that a passage was formed from the house where they lodged into a gallery of this church; and that the pulpit of st. antholin's seems, for many years, to have been the focus of schism, faction, and sedition, and he may be able to bring forward from these happily preserved registers much interesting and valuable information. d.s. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. no one can have visited edinburgh, and gazed upon "the height where the huge castle holds its state," without having felt a strong desire to learn the history of that venerable pile, and the stirring tales which its grey walls could tell. what so many must have wished done, has at length been accomplished by mr. james grant, the biographer of kirkaldy of grange, the gallant governor of that castle, who was so treacherously executed by the regent morton. his work, just published under the title of _memorials of the castle of edinburgh_, contains its varied history, ably and pleasantly narrated, and intermixed with so much illustrative anecdote as to render it an indispensable companion to all who may hereafter visit one of the most interesting, as well as most remarkable monuments of the metropolis of scotland. the lovers of fine engravings and exquisite drawings will have a rare opportunity of enriching their portfolios in the course of the next and following week, as messrs. leigh sotheby and co., of wellington street, commence on monday a nine days' sale of a magnificent collection of engravings, of the highest quality, of the ancient and modern italian, german, dutch, flemish, french, and english schools, which comprises some superb drawings of the most celebrated masters of the different schools of europe. we have received the following catalogues:--bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue of oriental and foreign books, comprising most languages and dialects of the globe; and john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue, number four for , of books, old and new. * * * * * wanted to purchase. odd volumes. crevier--history of the roman emperors, vo. london, j. and p. knapton, , vols. i. and ii. plate , to the th chapter of vol. iii of stuart's athens. journals of the house of lords, from to . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _as we have been again compelled to omit many articles which we are anxious to insert, we shall next week give an enlarged number of pages, instead of , so as to clear off our arrears._ arnot's physics. _a copy of this work has been reported to mr. bell: will our correspondent who wishes for it forward his name and address?_ * * * * * public records monumenta historica britannica. just published, folio, guineas half-bound (printed by her majesty's command). materials for the history of britain, from the earliest period. vol. i, extending to the norman conquest. "sir robert inglis remarked, that this work had been pronounced, by one of our most competent collegiate authorities, to be the finest work published in europe."--_proceedings in parliament_, march . . henry butterworth, publisher to the public record department, . fleet street. of whom may be had, vo., sewed. a descriptive catalogue of the record publications. * * * * * scripture rule of marriages. this day is published, in post vo., price twopence; s. d. per dozen, or s. per hundred, let us uphold the scripture rule of marriages: an earnest address to englishmen. by the rev. abner w. brown, m.a. london; sampson low, . fleet street. * * * * * { } preparing for publication, with the sanction of the society of arts, and the committee of the ancient and mediæval exhibition, a description of the works of ancient and mediæval art collected at the society of arts in ; with historical introductions on the various arts, and notices of the artists. by augustus w. franks, honorary secretary. the work will be handsomely printed in super-royal vo., and will be amply illustrated with wood engravings by p.h. de la motte. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains.--the annual general meeting will be held at the freemason's tavern, great queen street, on thursday next, the nd of may, at four o'clock, precisely. the lord braybrooke, the president, in the chair. william j. thoms, secretary. the following are the publications of the society for the year - :-- i. inedited letters of queen elizabeth, addressed to king james vi. of scotland, between the years and . from the originals in the possession of the rev. edward ryder, of oaksey, wilts. edited by john bruce, esq. treas. s.a. ii. chronicon petroburgense. nunc primum typis mandatum, curante thoma stapleton. iii. the chronicle of queen jane, and of two years of queen mary, and especially of the rebellion of sir thomas wyatt, written by a resident in the tower of london. edited, with illustrative documents and notes, by john gough nichols, esq. f.s.a. the subscription to the society is l. per annum. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary; or to messrs. nichols, no. . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * on the st of may next, , will be published, price s. d. part i. of historic reliques; a series of representations of arms, jewellery, gold and silver plate, furniture, armour, &c., in royal and noble collections, colleges, and public institutions, &c., and which formerly belonged to individuals eminent in history. drawn from the originals and etched by joseph lionel williams. part i. will contain-- andiron, william iii., at windsor castle. candelabrum, charles i., st. baron, ghent. silver-gilt cup, margaret beaufort, christ's college, cambridge. to be completed in ten parts, price s. d. each. large paper copies, s. office . strand, london. * * * * * a second and cheaper edition of a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs. from the reign of edward i. by james orchard halliwell, f.r.s. f.s.a. &c. vols, vo., containing upwards of pages, closely printed in double columns, l. s. cloth. it contains above , words (embodying all the known scattered glossaries of the english language), forming a complete key to the reader of the works of our old poets, dramatists, theologians, and other authors whose works abound with allusions, of which explanations are not to be found in ordinary dictionaries and books of reference. most of the principal archaisms are illustrated by examples selected from early inedited mss. and rare books, and by far the greater portion will be found to be original authorities. j.r. smith, . old compton street, soho, london. * * * * * on the love of books in dark ages. vo. cloth, s. bibliomana in the middle ages. by f. merryweather. "whoever has the real mr. merryweather's spirit will be in love with him before they reach the end of this volume. the author is full of pleasant enthusiasm, and has given us a volume of very curious facts."--_eclectic review._ simpkin and co. * * * * * magnificent collection of engravings, the property of a distinguished amateur.--nine days' sale. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and co., auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, april , and eight following days (sunday excepted), at one precisely each day the magnificent collection of engravings, the property of a distinguished amateur comprising the works of the most eminent engravers of the ancient and modern italian, german, dutch, flemish, french, and english schools, the whole being of the very highest quality, both as to impression and condition; together with some superb drawings by the most celebrated masters of the different schools of europe. may be viewed four days prior to the sale. catalogues are now ready, and will be forwarded on application. * * * * * the beautiful collection of modern drawings of a distinguished amateur. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and co., auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, wellington street, strand, on thursday, may , a small but very choice collection of drawings, chiefly in water colours, by the most eminent modern artists, and containing exquisite specimens of the works of-- gainsborough j.w.m. turner, r.a. sir d. wilkie, r.a. wilson c. stanfield, r.a. sir a. callcott, r.a. watteau cattermole de wint zuccherelli d. cox van os sir t. lawrence chambers shelfhout bonnington muller hildebrandt stothard and many others of equal celebrity. they are the property of the same distinguished amateur by whom the superb collection of prints advertised above was formed, and have been selected with the most perfect taste and judgment. may be viewed four days prior to the sale. catalogues are now ready, and will be forwarded on application. * * * * * six days' sale of the third portion of the valuable stock of prints of messrs. w. and g. smith, the eminent printsellers of lisle street. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and co., auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, may , and five following days, at one precisely each day, the third portion of the important and valuable stock of prints, the property of messrs. w. and g. smith, the long-established, well-known, and eminent printsellers, of lisle street, leicester square, who have retired from business; comprising some of the works of the most eminent engravers of the early italian, german, dutch, flemish, french, and english schools, including the matchless assemblage of the works of the masters of the school of fontainbleau, formerly in count fries' collection; engravers' proofs of book plates, &c., generally of the very highest quality, both as to impression and condition; together with a very few fine drawings by ancient and modern masters. may be viewed four days before the sale, and catalogues had at the place of sale. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. ] saturday, may . {price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents page notes:-- oliver cromwell as a feoffee of parson's charity, ely dr. parr and dr. john taylor provincial words folk lore:--death bed superstition--may marriages --throwing old shoes--sir thomas boleyn's spectre --shuck the dog-fiend queries:-- numismatic queries queries proposed, no. ., by bolton corney authors who have privately printed, by e.f. rimbault minor queries:--seager a painter--marlow's autograph --ms. diary of the convention parliament of --etymology of totnes--dr. maginn--poor robin's almanack--the camp in bulstrode park replies:-- dr. percy and the poems of the earl of surrey by j payne collier symbols of the four evangelists complexion ballad of dick and the devil replies to minor queries:--cavell--gootet--christian captives--pamphlets respecting ireland--pimlico-- bive and chute lambs--latin names of towns--le petit albert--walker lynne--emancipation of the jews--as lazy as ludlum's dog--st. winifreda--vert vert--"esquire" and "gentleman"--pope felix and pope gregory--love's last shift--quem deus--dayrolles--emerods--military execution-- "m. or n."--sapcote motto--finkle &c. miscellanies:-- dr. sclater's works--runes miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notice to correspondents * * * * * oliver cromwell as a feoffee of parson's charity, ely there is in ely, where cromwell for some years resided, an extensive charity known as parson's charity, of which he was a feoffee or governor. the following paper, which was submitted to mr. carlyle for the second or third edition of his work, contains all the references to the great protector which are to be found in the papers now in the possession of the trustees. the appointment of oliver cromwell as a feoffee does not appear in any of the documents now remaining with the governors of the charity. the records of the proceedings if the feoffees of his time consist only of the collector's yearly accounts of monies received and expended, and do not show the appointments of the feoffees. these accounts were laid before the feoffees from time to time, and signed by them in testimony of their allowance. cromwell's name might therefore be expected to be found at the foot of some of them; but it unfortunately happens that, from the year to the year , there is an hiatus in the accounts. at the end of book no. ., between forty and fifty leaves have been cut away, and at the commencement of book no. . about twelve leaves more. whether some collector of curiosities has purloined these leaves for the sale of any autographs of cromwell contained in them, or whether their removal may be accounted for by the questions which arose at the latter end of the above period as to the application of the funds of the charity, cannot now be ascertained. there are however, still in the possession of the governors of the charity, several documents which clearly show that from the year to the year cromwell was a feoffee or governor, and took an active part in the management of the affairs of the charity. there is an original bond, dated the th of may, , from one robert newborne to "daniell wigmore, archdeacon of ely, oliver cromwell, esq., and the rest of the corporation of ely." the feoffees had then been incorporated by royal charter, under the title of "the governors of the lands and possessions of the poor of the city or town of ely." there are some detached collectors' accounts extending over a portion of the interval between and , and indorsed, "the accoumpts of mr. john hand and mr. william cranford, collectors of the revenewes belonging to the towne of ely." the following entries are extracted from these accounts:-- "the disbursements of mr. john hand from the of august unto the of ." "anno ." after several other items,-- £ s. d. "given to diverse poore people at ye } worke-house, in the presence of mr. } archdeacon of ely, mr. oliver cromwell, } mr. john goodericke, and others, feb. } th , as appeareth, } ___________ summa expens. ann. " ___________ "the disbursements of mr. cranford." "item, to jones, by mr. cromwell's consent} " mr. cranford's disbursements show no dates. his receipts immediately followed mr. hand's in point of dates. about the year a petition was filed in the court of chancery by one thomas fowler, on behalf of himself and others, inhabitants of ely, against the feoffees of parson's charity, and a commission for charitable uses was issued. the commissioners sat at ely, on the th of january, , and at cambridge on the rd of march in the same year, when several of the feoffees with other persons were examined. at the conclusion of the joint deposition of john hand and william cranford, two of the feoffees, is the following statement:-- "and as to the profitts of the said lands in theire tyme receaved, they never disposed of any parte thereof but by the direction and appointment of mr. daniell wigmore, archdeacon of ely, mr. william march, and mr. oliver cromwell." "these last two names were inserted att camb. mar. , by mr. hy. c." the last name in the above note is illegible, and the last two names in the deposition are of a different ink and handwriting from the preceding part, but of the same ink and writing as the note. an original summons to the feoffees, signed by the commissioners, is preserved. it requires them to appear before the commissioners at the dolphin inn, in ely, on the th of the then instant january, to produce before the commissioners a true account "of the monies, fines, rents, and profits by you and every of you and your predecessors feoffees receaved out of the lands given by one parsons for the benefitt of the inhabitants of ely for years past," &c. the summons is dated at cambridge, the th of january, , and is signed by the three commissioners, "tho. symon. tho. duckett. dudley page." the summons is addressed "to matthew, lord bishop of ely, willm. fuller, deane of ely, and to daniell wigmore, archdeacon of ely. william march, esq. anthony page, esq. henry gooderick, gent. oliver cromwell, esq. willm. anger. willm. cranford. john hand, and willm. austen." whether cromwell attended the sitting of the commissioners does not appear. the letter from cromwell to mr. john hand, published in cromwell's _memoirs of cromwell_, has not been in the possession of the feoffees for some years. there is, however, an item in mr. hand's disbursements, which probably refers to the person mentioned in that letter. it is as follows:-- £ s. d. "ffor phisicke and surgery for old benson, " cromwell's letter appears to be at a later date than this item. john hand was a feoffee for many years, and during his time executed, as was usual, the office of collector or treasurer. it may be gathered from the documents preserved that cromwell never executed that office. the office was usually taken by the feoffees in turn then, as at the present time; but cromwell most probably was called to a higher sphere of action before his turn arrived. it is worthy of note, that cromwell's fellow-trustees, the bishop of ely (who was the celebrated matthew wren), fuller the dean, and wigmore the archdeacon, were all severely handled during the rebellion. arun. * * * * * dr. sam. parr and dr. john taylor, of shrewsbury and shrewsbury school. looking at the index to the _memoirs of gilbert wakefield_, edit. of , i saw, under the letter t., the following entries:-- "taylor, rev. dr. john, tutor of warrington academy, i. . ---- his latinity, why faulty, ii. ." but i instantly suspected an error: for it was my belief that those two notices were designed for two distinct scholars. accordingly, i revised both passages, and found that i was right in my conjecture. the facts are these:--in the former of the references, "the rev. john taylor, d.d.," is pointed out. the other individual, of the same name, was john taylor, ll.d., a native of shrewsbury, and a pupil of shrewsbury school: his _latinity_ it is which dr. samuel parr [_ut supr._] characterises as faulty: and for the defects of which he endeavours, successfully or otherwise, to account. so that whosoever framed the _index_ has here committed an oversight. in the quotation which i proceed to make, parr is assigning causes of what, as i think, he truly deemed blemishes in g. wakefield's latin style; and this is the language of the not unfriendly censor:-- "--none, i fear, of his [w.'s] latin productions are wholly free from faults, which he would have been taught to avoid in our best public seminaries, and of which i have seen many glaring instances in the works of archbishop potter, dr. john taylor, mr. toup, and several eminent scholars now living, who were brought up in private schools." but could parr mean to rank shrewsbury school among the "private schools?" i am not old enough to recollect what it was in the times of taylor, j., the civilian, and the editor of demosthenes. its celebrity, however, in our own day, and through a long term of preceding years, is confessed. dr. parr's judgement in this case might be somewhat influenced by his prepossessions as an _harrovian_. n. april, . * * * * * provincial words. in _twelfth night_, act ii. scene ., occur the words "sneck up," in c. knight's edition, or "snick up," mr. collier's edition. these words appear most unaccountably to have puzzled the commentators. sir toby belch uses them in reply to malvolio, as,-- _enter_ malvolio. "_mal._ my masters, are you mad? or what are you? have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? do you make an alehouse of my lady's house, that you squeak out your cozier's catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice? is there no respect of place, person, nor time, in you? "_sir to._ we did keep time, sir, in our catches. sneck up!" "sneck up," according to mr. c. knight, is explained thus:-- "a passage in taylor, the water poet, would show that this means 'hang yourself.' a verse from his 'praise of hempseed' is given in illustration." "snick up," according to mr. collier, is said to be "a term of contempt," of which the precise meaning seems to have been lost. various illustrations are given, as see his note; but all are wide of the meaning. turn to halliwell's _dictionary of archaic and provincial words_, d edition, and there is this explanation:-- "sneck, that part of the iron fastening of a door which is raised by moving the latch. to _sneck_ a door, is to latch it." see also burn's poems: _the vision, duan first_, th verse, which is as follows:-- "when dick! the string the snick did draw,-- and jee! the door gaed to the wa'; an' by my ingle-lowe i saw, now bliezin' bright, a tight, outlandish hizzie, braw, come full in sight." these quotations will clearly show that "sneck" or "snick" applies to a door; and that to _sneck_ a door is to shut it. i think, therefore, that sir toby meant to say in the following reply:-- "we did keep time, sir, in our catches. sneck up!" that is, close up, shut up, or, as is said now, "bung up,"--emphatically, "we kept true time;" and the probability is, that in saying this, sir toby would accompany the words with the action of pushing an imaginary door; or _sneck up_. in the country parts of lancashire, and indeed throughout the north of england, and it appears scotland also, the term "sneck the door" is used indiscriminately with "shut the door" or "toin't dur." and there can be little doubt but that this provincialism was known to shakspeare, as his works are full of such; many of which have either been passed over by his commentators, or have been wrongly noted, as the one now under consideration. shakspeare was essentially a man of the people; his learning was from within, not from colleges or schools, but from the universe and himself. he wrote the language of the people; that is, the common every-day language of his time: and hence mere classical scholars have more than once mistaken him, and most egregiously misinterpreted him, as i propose to show in some future notes. r.r. * * * * * folk lore. _death-bed superstition_. (no. . p. .).--the practice of opening doors and boxes when a person dies, is founded on the idea that the ministers of purgatorial pains took the soul as it escaped from the body, and flattening it against some closed door (which alone would serve the purpose), crammed it into the hinges and hinge openings; thus the soul in torment was likely to be miserably pinched and squeezed by the movement on casual occasion of such door or lid: an open or swinging door frustrated this, and the fiends had to try some other locality. the friends of the departed were at least assured that they were not made the unconscious instruments of torturing the departed in their daily occupations. the superstition prevails in the north as well as in the west of england; and a similar one exists in the south of spain, where i have seen it practised. among the jews at gibraltar, at which place i have for many years been a resident, there is also a strange custom when a death occurs in the house; and this consists in pouring away all the water contained in any vessel, the superstition being that the angel of death may have washed his sword therein. trebor. * * * * * _may marriages_.--it so happened that yesterday i had both a colonial bishop and a home archdeacon taking part in the services of my church, and visiting at my house; and, by a singular coincidence, both had been solicited by friends to perform the marriage ceremony not later than to-morrow, because in neither case would the bride-elect submit to be married in the month of may. i find that it is a common notion amongst ladies, that may marriages are unlucky. can any one inform me whence this prejudice arose? alfred gatty. ecclesfield, april . . [this superstition is as old as ovid's time, who tells us in his _fasti_, "nec viduæ tædis eadem, nec virginis apta tempora. quæ nupsit non diuturna fuit. hac quoque de causa (si te proverbia tangunt), mense malas maio nubere vulgus ait." the last line, as our readers may remember, (see _ante_, no. . p. .), was fixed on the gates of holyrood on the morning ( th of may) after the marriage of mary queen of scots and bothwell.] * * * * * _throwing old shoes at a wedding_.--at a wedding lately, the bridesmaids, after accompanying the bride to the hall-door, threw into the carriage, on the departure of the newly-married couple, a number of old shoes which they had concealed somewhere. on inquiry, i find this custom is not uncommon; i should be glad to be favoured with any particulars respecting its origin and meaning, and the antiquity of it. arun. [we have some notes on the subject of throwing old shoes after a person as a means of securing them good fortune, which we hope to insert in an early number.] * * * * * _sir thomas boleyn's spectre_.--sir thomas boleyn, the father of the unfortunate queen of henry viii., resided at blickling, distant about fourteen miles from norwich, and now the residence of the dowager lady suffield. the spectre of this gentleman is believed by the vulgar to be doomed, annually, on a certain night in the year, to drive, for a period of years, a coach drawn by four headless horses, over a circuit of twelve bridges in that vicinity. these are aylsham, burgh, oxnead, buxton, coltishall, the two meyton bridges, wroxham, and four others whose names i do not recollect. sir thomas carries his head under his arm, and flames issue from his mouth. few rustics are hardy enough to be found loitering on or near those bridges on that night; and my informant averred, that he was himself on one occasion hailed by this fiendish apparition, and asked to open a gate, but "he warn't sich a fool as to turn his head; and well a' didn't, for sir thomas passed him full gallop like:" and he heard a voice which told him that he (sir thomas) had no power to hurt such as turned a deaf ear to his requests, but that had he stopped he would have carried him off. this tradition i have repeatedly heard in this neighbourhood from aged persons when i was a child, but i never found but one person who had ever actually _seen_ the phantom. perhaps some of your correspondents can give some clue to this extraordinary sentence. the coach and four horses is attached to another tradition i have heard in the west of norfolk; where the ancestor of a family is reported to drive his spectral team through the old walled-up gateway of his now demolished mansion, on the anniversary of his death: and it is said that the bricks next morning have ever been found loosened and fallen, though as constantly repaired. the particulars of this i could easily procure by reference to a friend. e.s.t. p.s. another vision of headless horse is prevalent at caistor castle, the seat of the fastolfs. * * * * * _shuck the dog-fiend_.--this phantom i have heard many persons in east norfolk, and even cambridgeshire, describe as having seen as a black shaggy dog, with fiery eyes, and of immense size, and who visits churchyards at midnight. one witness nearly fainted away at seeing it, and on bringing his neighbours to see the place where he saw it, he found a large spot as if gunpowder had been exploded there. a lane in the parish of overstrand is called, after him, shuck's lane. the name appears to be a corruption of "shag," as _shucky_ is the norfolk dialect for "shaggy." is not this a vestige of the german "dog-fiend?" e.s.t. * * * * * queries. numismatic queries. can any numismatical contributor give me any information as to the recurrence elsewhere, &c., of the following types of coins in my possession:-- . a coin of the size of roman b., of the province of macedonia prima.--_obv._ a female head, with symbols behind, and a rich floriated edge: _rev._ a club within an oaken garland: legend in the field, [greek: makedonÔn prÔtÊs]. the type is illustrated by dr. horne, in his _introduction to the study of the bible_, in explanation of acts, xvi. , . the specimen in my possession is in _lead_, finely struck, and therefore not a _cast_, and in all respects equal in point of sharpness and execution to the silver of the same size and type in the british museum; and was dug up by a labourer at chesterton, near cambridge. how is the metal of which my specimen is composed to be accounted for? . a b. coin apparently by the portrait of tiberius.--legend defaced: _rev._ the type known by collectors as the altar of lyons: _ex._ (rom)ae et av(g.) . a b. of herennia estruscilla.--_rev_. the usual seated figure of pudicitia; and the legend, pvdicitia avg. according to col. smyth, akermann, and other authorities, no third brass of this empress exists; but the specimen before me has been decided as undoubtedly genuine by many competent judges. . a b. coin of the emperor macrinus, struck in some of the provinces.--_obv._ a bearded portrait of the emperor: leg., avt. k.m.o.c.c. makpinoc: _rev._ an archaic s.c. in a laurel garland, above l and beneath c. i am anxious to know to what locality i may ascribe this coin, as i have not been able to find it described. e.s.t. * * * * * queries proposed, no. . when reflecting on my various pen-and-ink skirmishes, i have sometimes half-resolved to _avoid controversy_. the resolution would have been unwise; for silence, on many occasions, would be a dereliction of those duties which we owe to ourselves and the public. the halcyon days, so much desired, may be far distant! i have to comment, elsewhere, on certain parts of the _report_ of the commissioners on the british museum--which i hope to do firmly, yet respectfully; and on the evidence of mr. panizzi--in which task i must not disappoint his just expectations. i have also to propose a query on the _blunder of malone_--to which i give precedence, as it relates to shakspeare. the query is--have i "mistaken the whole affair"? a few short paragraphs may enable others to decide. . the question at issue arose, i presume to say, out of the _statement of mr. jebb_. i never quoted the irish edition. if _c._ can prove that malone superintended it, he may fairly tax me with a violation of my new canon of criticism--not otherwise. what says mr. james boswell on that point? i must borrow his precise words: "the only edition for which mr. malone can be considered as responsible [is] his own in ." [_plays and poems of w.s._ , i. xxxiii.] . i am said to have "repeated what _c._ had already stated."--i consulted the _shakspere_ of malone, and verified my recollections, when the query of "mr. jebb" appeared--but forbore to notice its misconceptions. besides, one _c._, after an interval of two months, merely _asserted_ that it was not a blunder of malone; the other _c._ furnished, off-hand, his proofs and references. . to argue fairly, we must use the same words in the same sense. now _c._ (no. . p. .) asserts the _malone had never seen_ the introductory fragment; and asks, who _forged_ it? he uses the word _fabrication_ in the sense of forgery.--the facts are produced (no. . p. .). he is informed that the _audacious fabrication_, which took place before , was first published by malone himself, in --yet he expects me to apply the same terms to the blunder committed by another editor in . . as an answer to my assertion that the irish editor _attempted to unite_ the two fragments, _c._ proceeds to prove that he _did not unite them_. the procedure is rather defective in point of logical exactness. it proves only what was not denied. malone refers to the _will of john shakspere, found by joseph moseley_, with sufficient clearness; and it is charitable to assume that the irish editor intended to observe the instructions of his precursor. he failed, it seems--but why? it would be useless to go in search of the rationale of a blunder. have i "_mistaken the whole affair_"?--i entreat those readers of the "notes and queries" who may take up the affirmative side of the question to point out my errors, whether as to facts or inferences. bolton cornet. * * * * * authors who have privately printed their own works. can any of your readers refer me to any source whence i can obtain an account of "john painter, b.a. of st. john's college, oxford?" he appears to have been a very singular character, and fond of printing (privately) his own lucubrations; to most of which he subscribes himself "the king's fool." three of these privately printed tracts are now before me:-- . _the poor man's honest praises and thanksgiving_, . . _an oxford dream, in two parts_, . . _a scheme designed for the benefit of the foundling hospital_, . who was robert deverell, who privately printed, in to., _andalusia; or notes tending to show that the yellow fever was well known to the ancients_? the book seems a mass of absurdity; containing illustrations of milton's _comus_, and several other subjects equally incongruous. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * minor queries. _seager a painter.--marlow's autograph._--in a ms., which has lately been placed in my hands, containing a copy of henry howard's translation of the last instructions given by the emperor charles v. to his son philip, transcribed by paul thompson about the end of the sixteenth century, are prefixed some poems in a different handwriting. the first of these is an eclogue, entitled _amor constans_, in which the dialogue is carried on by "dickye" and "bonnybootes," and begins thus:--"for shame, man, wilt thou never leave this sorrowe?" at the end is the signature, "infortunatus, ch.m." following this eclogue are sixteen sonnets, signed also "ch.m.;" in two of which the author alludes to a portrait painter named _seager_. one of these sonnets commences thus:-- "whilest thou in breathinge cullers, crimson white, drewst these bright eyes, whose language sayth to me. loe! the right waye to heaven; love stoode by the(e), _seager!_ fayne to be drawne in cullers brighte," &c. i should be glad to receive any information respecting this painter: as also any hints as to the name of the poet ch. m. may i add, also, another query? is any authentic writing or signature of _christopher marlow_ known to exist? m. * * * * * _ms. diary of the convention parliament of _.--the editors of the _parliamentary history_ give some passages from a ms. diary of the convention parliament of the restoration, and state that the diary was communicated to them by the rev. charles lyttleton, dean of exeter (vol. iv. p. .). i am anxious to know where this diary now is, and if it may be seen by-- ch. * * * * * _etymology of totnes_.--can any of your readers suggest a probable etymology for totnes, the "prime town of great britain," as it is called by westcote[ ], who supposes it to have been built by brutus, years before the christian era. mr. polwhele, who supposed the numerous _hams_ in devon to have owed their names to the worship of jupiter _hammon_, would, i imagine, have derived totnes from the egyptian god thoth or taut; or, perhaps, directly from king thothmes. westcote observes that some would have the name from,-- "the french word _tout-à-l'aise_, which is in english, all at ease; as if brutus at his arrival in such a pleasant soil ... should here assure himself and his fellow-travellers of ease, rest, and content; and the _l_, in this long time, is changed into _n_, and so from _tout-à-lesse_ we now call it _tout-à-nesse_, and briefly totnessse. this would _i willingly applaud, could i think or believe that brutus spake so good french_, or that the french tongue was then spoken at all. therefore, i shall with the more ease join in opinion with those who would have it named _dodonesse_, which signifieth [in what language?] the rocky-town, or town on stones, which is also agreeable with the opinion of leland." totnes is denominated totenais and totheneis in _domesday book_; and in other old records variously spelt, toteneis, totteneys, toteneys, totton', totteñ, totenesse, tottenesse, tottonasse, totonie, &c. never, donodesse. j.m.b. totnes, april . . [ ] _a view of devonshire in mdcxxx._, by thomas westcote, esq., exeter, . * * * * * _dr. maginn's miscellanies_.--towards the end of , dr. maginn issued the prospectus of a work to be published weekly in numbers, and to be entitled "_magazine miscellanies_, by dr. maginn," which was intended to comprise a selection from his contributions to blackwood, fraser, &c. will any one of your multitudinous readers kindly inform me whether this work was ever published, or any portion of it? j.m.b. * * * * * _dr. maginn's "shakspeare papers."_--the doctor published several very able critical dissertations under this, or some similar title, about the year , in one of the monthly magazines, for references to which i shall feel obliged. j.m.b. * * * * * _dr. maginn's homeric ballads._--between and , the "homeric ballads," from thirteen to sixteen, appeared in _fraser's magazine_. will any correspondent favour me with specific references to the numbers or months in which they were published? i may add, that i shall esteem it as a very great favour to receive authentic reference to any articles contributed to blackwood, fraser, &c., &c., by dr. maginn. the difficulty of determining authorship from internal evidence alone is well-known, and is aptly illustrated by the fact, that an article on miss austen's novels, by archbishop whately, was included in the collection of sir walter scott's prose works. j.m.b. * * * * * _poor robin's almanack_.--who was the author or originator of _poor robin's almanack_? are any particulars known of its successive editors? in what year did it cease to be published? the only one i possess is for the year ,--"written by poor robin, _knight of the burnt island_, a well-wisher to mathematicks," who informs his readers that this was his eighty-first year of writing. what is meant by _knight of the burnt island_? i must not omit to add, that at dean prior, the former vicar, robert herrick, has the reputation of being the author of _poor robin_. j.m.b. totnes, april . . * * * * * _the camp in bulstrode park_.--is there any published account of this camp having been opened? it is well worth the examination of a competent antiquary.... it is not even alluded to in mr. jesse's _favourite haunts_, nor does that gentleman appear to have visited the interesting village of "hedgerley" (anciently _hugely_), or jordans, the quakers' meeting-house, and burial-place of penn, between beaconsfield and chalfont. chalfont was anciently written chalfhunt, and is by the natives still called charffunt; and hunt is a very common surname in this parish: there was, however, tobias chalfont, rector of giston, who died . "chal" appears to be a common prefix. in chalfont (st. peter's) is an inscription to _sir_ robert hamson, vycar, alluded to in boutell's _brasses_. in a cupboard under the gallery staircase is a copper helmet, which, prior to the church having been beautified in , was suspended on an iron bracket with a _bit of rag_, as it then looked, to the best of my memory. i have heard that it belonged to the family of gould of oak end, extinct. a.c. * * * * * _hobit_, a measure of corn in wales; what is the derivation? a.c. * * * * * replies. dr. percy and the poems of the earl of surrey. i have the means of showing what dr. percy did with the poems of the earl of surrey, because i have a copy of the work now before me. it can hardly be said that he "prepared an edition" of those poems, as supposed by your correspondent "g." on the authority of watts's _bibliotheca britannica_, but he made an exact reprint of the _songes and sonnettes written by the right honorable lorde henry haward, late earle of surrey, and other_, which was printed _apud richardum tottell. cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum_. . the bishop of dromere made no attempt at editing the work much beyond what was necessary to secure an exact reimpression. he prefixed no life of surrey (a point "g." wishes to ascertain); and, in fact, the book was never completed. it contains considerably more than the reprint of the poems of lord surrey, and was intended to consist of two volumes with separate pagination; the first volume extending to p. ., and the second to p. . as the work is a rarity, owing to an unfortunate accident, some of your readers may like to see a brief notice of it. watts (as quoted by "g." for i have not his portly volumes at hand,) states that the "whole impression" was "consumed in the fire which took place in mr. nicholls's premises in ." this was a mistake, as my extant copy establishes; and _restituta_ (iii. .) informs us that _four_ were saved. of the history of my own impression i know nothing beyond the fact, that i paid a very high price for it some twenty years since, at an auction; but the late mr. grenville had another copy, which i had an opportunity of seeing, and which had belonged to t. park, and had been sent to him by dr. percy for the advantage of his notes and remarks. this, i presume, is now in the british museum; whither it came with the rest of mr. grenville's books, four or five years ago. the "songs and sonnets" of surrey occupy only the first forty pages of vol. i.; then follow "songs and sonnets" by sir thomas wyat to p. . inclusive; and they are succeeded by poems "of uncertain authors," which occupy the rest of the the first volume. the second volume begins with "the seconde boke of virgiles Ænæis," filling thirty pages; while "the fourth boke" ends at p. ., with the imprint of r. tottell, and the date of . "ecclesiastes and certain psalms by by henry earl of surrey," which are "from ancient mss. never before imprinted," close at p. . "certayne psalmes chosen out of the psalter of david," consisting of the seven penitential psalms, with the imprint of thomas raynald and john harrington," fill thirty pages; and to them is added "sir thomas wyat's defence," from the strawberry hill edition; which, with a few appended notes, carries the work on to p. . a new title-page, at which we now arrive, shows us the intention of dr. percy, and the object at which he had all along aimed: it runs thus:--"poems in bland verse (not dramatique) prior to milton's _paradise lost._ subsequent to lord surrey's in this volume, and to n.g.'s in the preceding." in truth, dr. percy was making a collection in the two volumes of all the english undramatic blank verse he could discover, prior to the publication of milton's great poem. he was guilty of some important omissions, because bibliographical knowledge was not then as far advanced as at present, but he performed good service to letters as far as he was able to go; and the blank verse productions he subjoins are by george tubervile, george gascoigne, barnabie riche, george peele, james aske, william vallans, nicholas breton, george chapman, and christopher marlow. these occupy from p. . of vol. ii. this list might now be considerably increased; but my present business is only to answer the query of "g.," as to the nature and contents of the work. it has been said, i know not on what authority, that steevens assisted percy in preparing and printing it. i apprehend that the aid given by steevens consisted solely in recommending the bishop to procure certain rare productions which would contribute to the purpose. j. payne collier. may , . [to this we may add, that about , when bishop percy printed these twenty-five sheets of poems of lord surrey and the duke of buckingham, it appears by a letter of the bishop to horace walpole, that he presented a copy of them to walpole, with a request for information about lord surrey. the bishop never wrote the life of surrey; and in the whole impression was burnt, with the exception of a copy or two that the bishop had given to his friends. in the letter to walpole the bishop says, "a few more leaves will complete that book, which with the second and dr. surrey's songs and sonnets, &c. will be sufficient for the book."] * * * * * symbols of the four evangelists. horne, in his _introduction_, vol. iv. p. ., says that irenæus was the first to discover the analogy between the four animals mentioned by ezekiel (i. . .) and the four evangelists, which gave rise to the well-known paintings of these latter. he quotes from _iren. adv. hoer._ lib. iii. cap. .:-- "the first living creature, which is like a lion, signifies christ's efficacy, principality, and regality, viz. john; the second, like a calf, denotes his sacerdotal order, viz. luke; the third, having as it were, a man's face, describes his coming in the flesh as man, viz. matthew; and the fourth, like a flying eagle, manifests the grace of the spirit flying into the church, viz. mark." there is also an interesting passage in _dionys carthus. in apocal. enarr._ iv. ., from which the following is an extract:-- "although the above exposition of gregorius, in which by the man in meant matthew, by the calf luke, &c., be the common one, yet other holy men have held a different opinion, for as bede relates on this point, augustine understood by the lion matthew, because in the beginning of his gospel he describes the _royal_ descent of christ; by the calf he also understood luke, because he wrote of the _priestly_ descent of our lord; by the man mark, because he omits the question of christ's birth, and confines himself more especially to describing his acts as a _man_; by the eagle, _all_ understand john, on account of the sublimity to which his gospel soars. others again understand by the lion matthew; by the calf mark, on account of the simplicity of his style; and by the man luke, because he has more fully treated of christ's _human_ generation." would "jarlzberg" kindly favour me with a reference to his interesting anecdote of the lion's whelps? j. eastwood. ecclesfield, may . . * * * * * your correspondent "jarlzberg" (no. . p. .) inquires for the origin of the evangelistic symbols. the four living creatures, in ezekiel, i. ., and revelations, iv. ., were interpreted from the earliest times to represent the four gospels. why the angel is attributed to st. matthew, the lion to st. mark, and so on, is another question: but their order in ezekiel corresponds with the order of the gospels as we have them. durandus would probably furnish some information. the fabulous legend of the lion savours of a later origin. some valuable remarks on the subject, and a list of references to early writers, will be found in dr. wordsworth's _lectures on the canon of scripture_ (lect. vi. p. .), and his _lectures on the apocalypse_ (lect. iv. pp. , .) c.r.m. * * * * * _symbols of the evangelists_ (no. . p. .).--the symbols of the four evangelists are treated of by j. williams, _thoughts on the study of the gospels_, p. -- . lond. . m. oxford. * * * * * with regard to the symbols of the four evangelists, "jarlzberg" may consult a sermon by boys on the portion of scripture appointed for the epistle for trinity-sunday. (_works_, p. . lond. .) r.g. [to these replies we will only add a reference to mrs. jameson's interesting and beautiful volume on _sacred and legendary art_, vol. i. p. ., _et seq._, and the following latin quatrain:-- "quatuor hæc dominum signant animalia christum, est _homo_ nascendo, _vitulus_que sacer moriendo, et _leo_ surgendo, coelos _aquila_ que petendo; nec minus hos scribas animalia et ipsa figurant."] * * * * * complexion. _complexion_ is usually (and i think universally) employed to express the _tint of the skin_; and the hair and eyes are spoken of separately when the occasion demands a specific reference to them. "nemo" (no. . p. .), moreover, seems to confound the terms "white" and "fair," between the meanings of which there is considerable difference. a white skin is not fair, nor a fair skin white. there is no close approach of one to the other; and indeed we never see a white complexion, except the chalked faces in a christmas of easter pantomime, or in front of richardson's booth at greenwich or charlton fair. a contemplation of these would tell us what the "human face divine" would become, were we any of us truly _white-skinned_. the skin diverges in tint from the white, in one direction towards the yellow, and in another towards the red or pink; whilst sometimes we witness a seeming tinge of blue,--characteristic of asphyxia, cholera, or some other disease. we often see a mixture of red and yellow (the yellow predominating) in persons subject to bilious complaints; and not unfrequently a mixture of all three, forming what the painters call a "neutral tint," and which is more commonly called "an olive complexion." the negro skin is black; that is, it does not separate the sun's light into the elementary colours. when, by the admixture of the coloured races with the negro, we find coloured skins, they _always_ tend to the yellow, as in the various mulatto shades of the west indies, and especially in the southern states of america; and the same is true of the "half-castes" of british india, though with a distinct darkness or blackness, which the descendant of the negro does not generally show. though i have, in accordance with the usual language of philosophers, spoken of _blue_ as an element in the colour of the skin, i have some doubt whether it be a "true blue" or not. it is quite as likely to arise from a partial participation in the quality of the negro skin--that of absorbing a large portion of the light without any analysis whatever. this may be called _darkness_. however, to return to the query: the term _pale_ is applied to the yellow-tinted skin; _fair_, to the red or pink; _brown_, to the mixture of red and yellow, with either blue or such darkness as above described; _sallow_, to yellow and darkness; and the only close approach to _whiteness_ that we ever see, is in the sick room of the long-suffering fair complexion. in death, this changes to a "blackish grey," a mixture of white and darkness. the _pale_ complexion indicates a thick, hard, dry skin; the _fair_, a thin and soft one; and all the shades of dark skin render a large amount of ablution essential to health, comfort, or agreeableness to others. if any of your readers should feel curious about the characters of the wearers of these several skins, they must inquire of lavater and his disciples. d.v.s. home, april . . * * * * * ballad of dick and the devil. looking over some of your back numbers, i find (no. . p. .) an inquiry concerning a ballad with this title. i have never met with it in print, but remember some lines picked up in nursery days from an old nurse who was a native of "the dales." these i think have probably formed a part of this composition. the woman's name was curiously enough martha kendal; and, in all probability, her forebears had migrated from that place into yorkshire:-- "robin a devil he sware a vow. he swore by the _sticks_[ ] in hell-- by the _yelding_ that crackles to mak the _low_[ ], that warms his _namsack_[ ] weel. "he _leaped_ on his beast, and he rode with heaste, to _mak_ his black oath good; 'twas the lord's day, and the folk did pray and the priest in _can_cel stood. "the door was wide, and in does he ride, in his clanking _gear_ so gay; a long keen brand he held in his hand, our dickon for to slay. "but dickon goodhap he was not there, and robin he rode in vain, and the men got up that were kneeling in prayer, to take him by might and main. "rob swung his sword, his steed he spurred, he plunged right through the thr_a_ng. but the stout smith jock, with his old mother's _crutch_[ ], he gave him a _woundy_ bang. "so hard he smote the iron pot, it came down plume and all; then with bare head away robin sped, and himself was _fit_ to fall. "robin a devil he _way'd_[ ] him home, and if for his foes he seek, i think that again he will not come to _late_[ ] them in kendal kirk."[ ] y.a.c. [ ] the unlettered bard has probably confused "styx" with the kindling, "yelding," of hell-fire. [ ] flame. [ ] i have often wondered what namsac (so pronounced) could be, but since i have seen the story as told by "h.j.m." it is evidently "namesake." [ ] probably crook in the original, to rhyme with jock. [ ] "i way'd me" is yet used in parts of yorkshire for "i went." [ ] "to late" is "to seek;" from _lateo_, as if by a confusion of hiding and seeking.] [ ] "kirk" is not a very good rhyme to "seek;" perhaps it should be "search" and "church".] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _cavell_.--in the time of charles i., a large tract of land lying south-eastward of doncaster, called hatfield chace, was undertaken to be drained and made fit for tillage and pasture by one sir cornelius vermuyden, a celebrated flemish engineer of that day, and his partners, or "participants," in the scheme, all or most of them dutchmen. the lands drained were said to be "_cavelled and allotted_" to so and so, and the pieces of land were called "_cavells_." they were "scottled," or made subject to a tax or assessment for drainage purposes. two eminent topographical writers of the present day are inclined to be of opinion that this word _cavell_ is connected with the saxon _gafol_, gavel-tributum--money paid--which we have in _gavel-kind_ and _gavelage_. one of them, however, suggests that the word _may_ be only a term used in holland as applicable to land, and then introduced by the dutch at the time of the drainage in question. i shall be obliged if any of your readers can inform me if the word "cavell" is so used in holland, or elsewhere, either as denoting any particular quantity of land, or land laid under any tax, or _tributum_, or otherwise. j. [our correspondent will find, on referring to kilian's _dictionarium teutonico-latino-gallicum_, that the word _kavel_ is used for sors, "sors in divisione bonorum:" and among other definitions of the verb _kavelen_, "sorte dividere terram," which corresponds exactly with his _cavelled and allotted_.] * * * * * _gootet_ (no. . p. .).--is not this word a corruption of _good-tide_, i.e. holiday or festival? in halliwell's _archæological dictionary_ i find,-- "good-day, a holiday; staff. "gooddit, shrovetide; north. shrove tuesday is called goodies tuesday. "good-time, a festival; jonson." c.w.g. * * * * * _salt ad montem_ (no. . p. .) _as meaning money_.--_salt_ is an old metaphor for money, cash, pay; derived, says arbuthnot, from _salt's_ being part of the pay of the roman soldiers; hence _salarium, salary_, and the levying contributions at _salt_ hill. your querist will find several explanations of the eton montem in the _gentleman's magazine_; and a special account of the ceremony, its origin and circumstances, in lyson's _mag. brit._ i. . c. * * * * * _pamphlets respecting ireland_ (no. . p. .)--i would refer "i." to no. . in the catalogue of stowe library, sold by leigh sotheby and co., in january . that lot consisted of two vols. of twenty-six tracts, to. amongst them is "gookin, the author and case of transplanting the irish in connaught vindicated, from col. r. lawrence, ." messrs. leigh sotheby will probably be able to inform the querist into whose hands these two vols. passed. the lot sold for the large sum of l. s. * * * * * _pimlico_ (no. . p. .).--the derivation of this word is explained from the following passage in a rare (if not unique) tract now before me, entitled _newes from hogsdon_, :-- "have at thee, then, my merrie boyes, and hey for old _ben pimlico's_ nut-browne." pimlico kept a place of entertainment in or near hoxton, and was celebrated for his nut-brown ale. the place seems afterwards to have been called by his name, and is constantly mentioned by our early dramatists. in a tract was printed, entitled _pimlyco, or runne red cap, 'tis a mad world at hogsdon_. isaac reed (dodsley's _old plays_, ed. collier, vii. .) says,-- "a place near chelsea is still called pimlico, and was resorted to within these few years, on the same account as the former at hogsdon." pimlico is still, i believe, celebrated for its fine ale. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * _pimlico_ (no. . p. .).--i see, by a passage in lord orrery's letters, that there was a place called pemlicoe in dublin:-- "brown is fluctuant; he once lay at a woman's house in pemlicoe, dublin." (_earl of orrery to duke of ormond_, feb. . , in _orrery's state letters_.) this may be of use to "r.h.," who inquires about the origin of _pimlico_. _ranelaugh_, in the same parts, is doubtless also of irish origin. c.h. [pimlico in dublin still exists, as will be seen by reference to thom's _irish almanac_, where we find "pimlico, from coombe to tripoli."] * * * * * _bive and chute lambs_ (no. . p. .).--i do not know whether my answer to your correspondent's inquiry about _bive_ and chute lambs will be satisfactory, inasmuch as the price he gives of "_bive_" lambs "apeece" is larger than the price of the "chute." twin lambs are still called _bive_ lambs on the borders of sussex and kent; and chute lambs are fat lambs. _chuet_ is an old word signifying a fat greasy pudding. it is rightly applied to falstaff:-- "peace, _chewet_, peace." _ st part k. hen. iv._ wm. durrant cooper. * * * * * _latin names of towns_.--"m." (no. . p. .) wishes for some guide with reference to the latin names of towns. a great deal of assistance may be obtained from an octavo volume, published anonymously, and bearing the title "dictionnaire interprète-manuel des noms latins de la géographie ancienne et moderne; pour servir à l'intelligence des auteurs latins, principalement des auteurs classiques; avec les désignations principales des lieux. ouvrage utile à ceux qui lisent les poëtes, les historiens, les martyrologes, les chartes, les vieux actes," &c. &c. a paris, . r.g. * * * * * _le petit albert_ (no. . p. .).--i suspect this petit albert, in mo.--a size in harmony with the cognomen--is only a catchpenny publication, to which the title of _le petit albert_ has been given by way of resembling its name to that of albertus magnus, who wrote a work or works of a character which gave rise, in the middle ages, to the accusation that he practised magical arts; and hence, probably, any abridgement or compendium of them, or any little work on such arts, would be styled by the french compiler _le petit albert_. in the _biographie universelle_, it is affirmed that the rhapsodies known under the name of _secrets du petit albert_ are not by albertus magnus; a statement which favours the belief that the work mentioned by your correspondent "jarlzberg" is one of that vulgar class (like our old moore's almanack, &c.) got up for sale among the superstitious and the ignorant, and palmed on the world under the mask of a celebrated name. according to bayle, albertus magnus has, by some, been termed _le petit albert_, owing, it is said, to the diminutiveness of his stature, which was on so small a scale, that when he, on one occasion, paid his respects to the pope, the pontiff supposed he was still kneeling at his feet after he had risen up and was standing erect. j.m. oxford, april . [_of le petit albert_, of which it appears by grässe's _bibliotheca magica_ there were editions printed at cologne in , lyons , and even at paris in , we are told in colin de plancy's _dictionnaire infernal_, s. v. albert le grand, "on a quelquefois défendu ce livre, et alors il s'est vendu énormément cher."] * * * * * _walter lynne_ (no. . p. .).--"g.p." may look for walter lynne into johnson's _typographia_, i. ., of which copies may be had very reasonably at mr. miller's (see end of no. .), . chandos street. your intimation of brevity is attended to; though, in truth, little more could come from novus. * * * * * _emancipation of the jews_ (no. . p. .).--"h.m.a." inquires-- . if the story mentioned in the thurloe state papers, that the jews sought to obtain st. paul's cathedral for a synagogue, has been confirmed by other writers? in egan's _status of the jews in england_, i find the following passage:-- "monteith informs us, that during the commonwealth, overtures were made on behalf of the hebrews to the parliament and council of war, through the medium of two popular adherents of the parliamentarians; the jews offered to pay for the privileges then sought by them, the sum of , l.; several debates took place on the subject, but the _ultimatum_ of the puritans being , l., the negotiation was broken off." the authorities cited on this point by the learned writer are, monteith's _history of great britain_, p. .; and thurloe's _state papers_, vol. ii. p. . on reference to monteith, i find the following passage:-- "what is very remarkable in this is, that the jews, who crucified the son of god, by whom kings reign, took then occasion of the conjuncture which seemed favourable to them. they presented a petition to the council of war, who crucified him again in the person of the king, his vicegerent in the kingdoms over which god had set him. by their petition, they requested that the act of their banishment might be repealed and _that they might have st. paul's church for their synagogue_, for which, _and the library of oxford_, wherewith they desired to begin their traffic again, they offered five hundred thousand pounds, but the council of war would have eight."--monteiths's _hist. of the troubles of great britain_, p. . i conclude that the author of the _status of the jews_, by omitting to notice the alleged desire of the jews to obtain st. paul's cathedral, considered that the acrimonious statements of monteith were not borne out by accredited or unprejudiced authorities; for it is but justice to state, it has been admitted by some of our most eminent critics, that mr. egan's book on the jews displays as dispassionate and impartial a review of their condition in this country as it evinces a profundity of historical and legal research. "h.m.a.'s" second question i am unable to answer, not being sufficiently versed in the religious dogmas of the jews. b.a. christ church, oxford. * * * * * _emancipation of the jews_ (no. . p. .).--"mr. austen," who inquires (p. .) about the jews during the commonwealth will do well to refer to a chapter on the jews in godwin's _history of the commonwealth_, and to sir henry ellis's notes on a remarkable letter describing a jewish synagogue in london immediately after the restoration, in the second series of his _letters_; and in these two places he will, i think, find references to all known passages on the subject of cromwell's proceedings as regards the jews. c.h. * * * * * _as lazy as ludlum's dog_ (no. . p. .).--this proverb is repeated somewhat differently in _the doctor, &c._, "as _lazy_ as _ludlum's_ dog, as _leaned_ his head against a wall to bark." i venture to suggest that this is simply one of the large class of alliterative proverbs so common in every language, and often without meaning. in devonshire they say as "busy as batty," but no one knows who "batty" was. as i have mentioned _the doctor, &c._, i may was well jot down two more odd sayings from the same old curiosity-shop:--"as proud as old cole's dog which took the wall of a dung-cart, and got crushed by the wheel." and, "as queer as dick's hat-band, that went nine times round his hat and was fastened by a rush at last." j.m.b. * * * * * _st. winifreda_ (no. . p. .).--your querist will find some information in warton's _hist. eng. poetry_, vol. i. p. ., note, . j.m.b. totnes, april . . * * * * * "_vert vert_" (no. . p. .)--it may be of some assistance to your querist "robert snow," in his endeavour to trace illustrations from gresset's "vert vert," to know that the mark of raux, who is said to have painted these subjects, was composed of ten small ciphers; seven of which were placed in a circle: the other three formed a tail, o o o o thus, o o something like the roman capital q. this artist, o o o o between the years and , was employed in the decoration of the sèvres porcelain: his usual subjects were bouquets or groups of flowers; and his mark will be found underneath the double l, interlaced, inclosing some capital letter or letters denoting the year such ware was manufactured. w.c. jun. * * * * * "_esquire_" _and_ "_gentleman_."--the amusing article in no. ., on the title of "esquire," recalled to my memory the resolution passed by the corporation of stratford-on-avon, when they presented the freedom of that town to garrick. it runs something like this:-- "through love and regard to the memory of the immortal _mr._ william shakspeare, and being fully sensible of the extraordinary merits of his most judicious representative, david garrick, _esquire_." had david a better right to the title than the great poet? shakespeare, in the latter part of his life, was no doubt _master shakspeare_, a title so common as even to be bestowed upon the geometer of alexandria. in bayford's collection is preserved a catalogue advertising "_master_ euclid's elements of plain geometry." j.o. halliwell. * * * * * _pope felix and pope gregory_.--"e.m.b." (no. . p. .) inquires who was "pope felix," whom Ælfric called the "fifth father" of s. gregory the great? this is a much disputed question, and a great deal depends upon the meaning to be attached to the unsatisfactory expression "atavus," used by pope gregory himself, in _evangel. hom._ xxxviii. § ., and found also in the dialogues commonly attributed to him. (lib. iv. cap. xvi.) your correspondent may consult beda, _hist. eccl. gen. anglor._, lib. ii. cap. ., with the note by mr. stevenson, who supposes that pope felix _iii._ was alluded to by his "venerable" author: this is the opinion of bollandus (ad feb.), as well as of cardinal baronius; (_annall._ ad an. ; _et martyrol. rom._ die feb. . conf. de aste, in _martyrolog. disceptat._, p. .; beneventi, ); but joannes diaconus (_s. greg. vit._ lib. i. cap. i.) employs these decisive terms, "_quartus_ felix, sedis apostolicæ pontifex." it is of course possible to translate "atavus meus" merely "my ancestor;" and this will leave the relationship sufficiently undefined. r.g. * * * * * _love's last shift_ (no. . p. ).--"the duchess of bolton (natural daughter of the duke of monmouth) used to divert george i. by affecting to make blunders. once when she had been at the play of _love's last shift_, she called it '_la dernière chemise_ de l'amour.'"--_walpoliana_, xxx. c. * * * * * _quem deus vult perdere_ (no. , p. ., and no. , p. .).--"c.j.r." having pointed out a presumed imitation of this thought, it may not be impertinent to observe, that dryden also has adopted the sentiment in the following lines:-- "for those whom god to ruin has designed, he fits for fate, and first destroys their mind." _hind and panther_, part . g.s. faber. * * * * * _dayrolles_ (no. . p. ).--the following information is appended to a description of the _dayrolles correspondence_, in folio vols. in the catalogue of mr. upcott's collection, sold by messrs. evans a few years ago:-- _note copied from the catalogue of manuscripts, &c., belonging to the late mr. upcott._ "james dayrolles was resident at the hague from to his death, nd january, . "solomon dayrolles, his nephew, commenced his diplomatic career under james, first earl of waldegrave, when that nobleman was ambassador at vienna. he was godson of philip, the distinguished earl of chesterfield, and was sworn a gentleman of the privy chamber to george ii., th feb. , in the room of sir philip parker, long deceased, and on the accession of george iii. was again appointed, th february, . "in , being at that time secretary to lord chesterfield, in holland, mr. dayrolles was nominated to be secretary to his lordship at lord lieutenant of ireland. "in may, , he was promoted to be president in the united provinces; and in november, , resident at brussels, where he continued till august, . he died in march, ." j.t.c. * * * * * _solomon dayrolles_.-- " th dec. . married baron de reidezel, aid-de-camp to the duke of wirtemberg, to miss dayrolles, d dau. of _the late solomon dayrolles_ of hanover square."--_gent. mag._ v. _ _, p. . probably mr. dayrolles' death may be recorded in the register of st. george's. b. * * * * * _emerods_ (no. . p. .) pro _hæmorrhoids_. "golden emerods" would be an absurdity if _emerod_ meant "emerald." "the philistines made golden emerods," i.e. golden images of hæmorrhoids (diseased veins), in commemoration of being delivered from plagues, of which such states of disease were concomitant signs. trebor. * * * * * _military execution_ (no. . p. .).--your correspondent "melanion" is informed that the anecdote refers to murat, and the author of the sentiment is lord byron. see _byron's poems_, murray's edit. vol. vo. p. ., note . c. * * * * * "_m. or n._" (no. . p. .)--i do not think that "m. or n." are used as the initials of any particular words; they are the middle letters of the alphabet, and, at the time the prayer book was compiled, it seems to have been the fashion to employ them in the way in which we now use the first two. there are only two offices, the catechism and the solemnisation of matrimony, in which more than one letter is used. in the former, the answer to the first question has always stood "n. or m." in the office of matrimony, however, in edward the sixth's prayer books, both the man and woman are designated by the letter n--"i, n., take thee, n., to my wedded wife;" whilst in our present book m. is applied to the man and n. to the woman. the adoption of one letter, and the subsequent substitution of another, in this service, evidently for the sake of a more clear distinction only, sufficiently shows that no particular name or word was intended by either. possibly some future "j.c." may inquire of what words the letters "a.b.," which our legislators are so fond of using in their acts of parliament, are the initials. arun. * * * * * "_m. or n._" (no. , p. .).--"m." and "n.," and particularly "n.," are still in frequent use in france for _quidam_ or _quædam_; so also is x. we read every day of monsieur n. or madame x., where they wish to suppress the name. c. * * * * * _sapcote motto_ (no. . p. .).--this motto is known to be french, and as far as it can be decyphered is-- "sco toot x vinic [or umic] x pones," the first and last letters _s_ being possibly flourishes. this certainly seems unpromising enough. the name being sapcote, _quasi_ sub-cote, and the arms "three dove-cotes," i venture to conjecture "sous cote unissons," as not very far from the letters given. if it be objected that the word "cote" is not in use in this sense, it may be remarked that french, "after the scole of stratford atte bowe," might borrow such a meaning to suit the sound, from "côte," in the sense of a side or declivity. and if the objection is fatal to the conjecture, i would then propose "sous toit unissons." if we reject the supposed flourishes at the beginning and ending of the inscription, and take it to be-- co toot vnic conc, the c being a well-known ancient form of s, there is a difference of only one letter between the inscription as decyphered and the proposed motto. if either of these is adopted, the sentiment of family union and family gathering, "as doves to their windows," is well adapted for a family device. t.c. durham, may . . * * * * * _finkle or finkel_ (no. . p. .).--is not "finkle" very probably derived from _finc_, a finch, in the a.-s.? _fingle_ bridge, which spans the river teign, amidst some most romantic scenery, has the following etymology assigned to it by a local antiquary, w.t.p. short, esq. (vide _essay on druidical remains in devon_, p. .): "_fyn_, a terminus or boundary; and _gelli_, hazel, the hazeltree limits or boundary." but, query, is not the second syllable rather _gill_, akin to the numerous tribe of "gills" or "ghylls," in the north countrie? j.m.b. * * * * * _meaning of finkle._--referring to no. . p. . of your most welcome and useful publication, will you allow me to say, touching the inquiry as to the derivation and meaning of the word "finkle" or "finkel" as applied to a street, that the danish word "vincle" applied to an angle or corner, is perhaps a more satisfactory derivation than "fynkylsede, _feniculum_," the meaning suggested by your correspondent "l." in no. . p. . it is in towns where there are traces of danish occupation that a "finkle street" is found; at least many of the northern towns which have a street so designated were inhabited by the danish people, and some of those streets are winding or angular. finchale, a place, as you know, of fame in monastic annals, is a green secluded spot, half insulated by a bend of the river wear; and godric's garth, the adjacent locality of the hermitage of its famous saint, is of an angular form. but then the place is mentioned, by the name of finchale, as the scene of occurrences that long preceded the coming of the danes; and the second syllable may be derived from the saxon "alh" or "healh," as the place was distinguished for a building there in saxon times. w.s.g. newcastle, may . . * * * * * your correspondent "w.m." ("_finkel._" p. .) may not have recollected that there is a beautiful ruin on the river wear near durham, of which the name is pronounced (though not spelt) _finkel_ abbey. * * * * * _christian captives_ (no. . p. .).--as a very small contribution towards an answer to "r.w.b.'s" inquiry, i may inform you that lady russell mentions in her _letters_ (p. ., ed. ) that sir william coventry left by his will l. to redeem slaves. c.h. * * * * * _christian captives_ (no. . p. .).--"r.w.b." may be referred to the case of "attorney-general _v._ the ironmongers' company," which was a suit for the administration of a fund bequeathed for the redemption of the captives. see _mylne & keen_, .; _beavan_, ., _beavan_, .; and _craig & philips_, .: all of which i mention to be reports in chancery, in case he be not a lawyer. a.j.h. * * * * * _ecclesiastical year_ (no. . p. .).--"nathan" is informed, that, according to the legal supputation, until a.d. , the year of our lord in that part of great britain called england, began on the th day of march, as he will find stated in the geo. ii. c. ., by which act it was enacted, that the st day of january next following the last day of december, , should be the first day of the year ; and that the st day of january in every year in time to come should be the first day of the year. philippe de thaun, in his _livre des créatures_, which was written in the first half of the twelfth century, p. . of the edition published for the historical society of science, has some remarks which may interest your correspondent, that are thus literally translated by mr. wright:-- "in march, the year ought always to begin, according to that explanation which we find in the book, that in the twelve kalends of april, as your understand, our creator formed the first, where the sun always will begin his course, but at all times we make the year begin in january, because the romans did so first; we will not un-make what the elders did." arun. * * * * * _hanap._--among the specimens of ancient and mediæval art now exhibiting in john street, adelphi, i was struck with the number of gilt cups, called in the catalogue _hanaps_. the word was new to me; but i have since met with it (as frequently happens after one's interest has been excited with respect to a word) in walter scott's _quentin durward_, in vol. i. chap. .; or rather, vol. xxxi. p. . of the edition in vols., cadell, ; in which place the context of the scene appears to connect the idea of _hanap_ with a cup containing treasure. now i cannot find _hanap_ in any dictionary to which i have access; but i find _hanaper_ in every one. johnson, and others, give the word _hanaper_ as synonymous with _treasury_ or _exchequer_. they also contract _hanaper_ into _hamper_. for example, in dyche's _english dictionary_, th ed. lond. , we have,-- "_hamper_, or _hanaper_, a wicker basket made with a cover to fasten it up with; also, an office in chancery; the clerk or warden of the _hanaper_ receives all monies due to the king for seals of charters, &c.... and takes into his custody all sealed charters, patents, &c.,... which he now puts into bags, but anciently, it is supposed, into _hampers_, which gave the denomination to the office." and perhaps it may be remarked here, since we commonly say of a man in difficulties that he is "exchequered" or in "chancery," that so we probably intend to express the same, when we say a man is _hanapered_, or _hampered_. thus, there is no difficulty about the meaning of _hanaper_; and its connection with _treasure_ is plain and clear enough: and, with respect to _cups_, though chiefly used for drinking, the presentation of them with sums of money in them has ever been, and indeed is, so very customary, that it is needless to occupy space here with instances. but i cannot distinctly connect the _hanap_ of the exhibition with _hanaper_: and i perhaps ought to look in another direction for its true signification and etymology. robert snow. [our correspondents who have written upon the subject of hanap are referred to halliwell's _archaic dictionary_, where they will find "hanap, a cup. _test. vet._ p. .;" to ducange, s.v. "hanapus, hanappus, hanaphus, vas, patera, crater, (vas ansatum et pede instructum, quo a poculo distinguitur), ex saxonico _hnaep_, _hnaeppa_, germ. _napf_, calix patera;" and to guenebault, _dict. iconographique des monuments_, who refers again for particulars of this species of drinking cup to the works of soumerard and willemin.] * * * * * _life of w. godwin._--"n.'s" inquiry (no. . p. .) for an account of the life of w. godwin, and more particularly of his last hours, leads me to express hope in your columns that the memoirs of godwin, which were announced for publication shortly after his death, but which family disputes, as i have understood, prevented from appearing, may not much longer be denied to the public. i am not aware of any better account of godwin's life, to which "n." can now be referred, than the sketch in the _penny cyclopædia_. ch. * * * * * _charles ii. and lord r.'s daughter.--earl of ranelagh._--since i inquired in your columns (no. . p. .) who was the lady mentioned in a passage of henry sidney's _diary_, edited by mr. blencowe, as lord r.'s daughter, and a new mistress of charles ii., who in march brought monmouth to the king for reconciliation, i have, by mr. blencowe's kindness, seen the original _diary_, which is in the possession of the earl of chichester. the name of the nobleman is there abbreviated: the letters appear to be _rane._, and it is probably lord ranelagh who is intended. i do not remember any other notice of this amour of charles ii., and should be glad to be referred to any other information on the subject. charles ii.'s mistresses are political characters; and in this notice of lord r.'s daughter, we find her meddling in state affairs. i do not know whether this lady, if indeed a daughter of a lord ranelagh, would be the daughter or sister of the lord ranelagh living in , who was the first earl of ranelagh and third viscount, and who is described by burnet as a very able and very dissolute man, and a great favourite of charles ii. (_hist. of his own time_, i. ., ii. ., ed. ); and who, having held the office of vice-treasurer in ireland during three reigns, was turned out of it in disgrace in . he died in , leaving no son, but three daughters, one of whom was unmarried; he was the last, as well as first, earl of ranelagh. the elder title of viscount went to a cousin, and still exists. ch. * * * * * miscellanies. _dr. sclater's works._--books written by w. sclater, d.d., omitted in wood's _ath. oxon._ edit. bliss. vol. iii. col. .:-- "a threefold preseruatiue against three dangerous diseases of these latter times:-- " . non-proficiency in grace. " . fals-hearted hypocrisie. " . back-sliding in religion. "prescribed in a sermon at s. paul's crosse in london, september , . london. ." to. ded. to "master iohn colles, esquire," from which it seems that sclater had been presented to his living by the father of this gentleman. the ser. is on heb. vi. - . "a sermon preached at the last generall assise holden for the county of somerset at taunton. london, ." vo. on ps. lxxxii. , . ded. to "john colles, esq., high sheriffe of sommerset." "three sermons preached by william sclater, doctor of diuinity, and minister of the word of god at pitmister [sic] in sommersetshire. now published by his sonne of king's colledge in cambridge. london, ." to. on pet. ii. ., kings, ix. ., and heb. ix. , . the last is a funeral sermon for john colles, esq., preached in . john j. dredge. * * * * * _runes._--worsäae (_primeval antiquities of denmark_, ) mentions that inscriptions are found in denmark, norway, and sweden, written in different languages in _runic character_. he also mentions the fact of a pagan runic inscription occurring at jellinge, denmark, on the tomb of old king gorm, a.d. c. , found in a huge barrow; and, at the same place, a christian runic inscription on the tomb of his son harold. has this inquiry been extended to british runes, and might it not throw much light upon many monuments of dates prior to the conquest? crossed slabs with runes have been found at hartlepool, durham; have the inscriptions been read? (boutell's _christian monuments_, p. .; cutt's _manual of sepulchral slabs_, pp. . . plate iii.) * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. the _nibelungenlied_, which has been aptly designated the german iliad, has hitherto been a sealed book to the mere english reader. mr. lettsom has however just published a most successful translation of it under the title of _the fall of the nibelungers_. few will rise from a perusal of the english version of this great national epic--which in its present form is a work of the thirteenth century--without being struck with the innate power and character of the original poem; and without feeling grateful to mr. lettsom for furnishing them with so pleasing and spirited a version of it. captain curling, clerk of the cheque of what was formerly designated the band of gentleman pensioners, has, under the influence of a laudable _esprit de corps_, combined the disjointed materials which pegge had collected upon the subject with the fruits of his own researches; and, under the title of _some account of the ancient corp of gentlemen-at-arms_, has produced a volume of great interest doubtless to his "brothers in arms," and containing some curious illustrations of court ceremonial.[ ] mr. timbs, the editor of _the year-book of facts_, &c., announces for early publication a work on which he has been engaged for some time, entitled _curiosities of london_. it will, we believe, be altogether of a different character from mr. cunningham's _handbook_, and treat rather of present london and its amusements than those of historical and literary associations which give a charm to mr. cunningham's volume. we are glad to find that the most mysterious and mystified portion of the greek geometry is likely to receive at last a complete elucidation--we mean the "porisms." there are so many questions arising out of this subject, respecting the development of the grecian intellect, that a full discussion of them is no easy task; especially of those arising out of the conflicting testimonies furnished by history, and by the internal evidences contained in the existing works of the "fathers of geometry." we certainly anticipate, from the known character of the minds now engaged in this work, that some conclusive evidence as to the state of geometry anterior to the time of euclid will be elicited by messrs. potts and davies. the analysis of the writings of all the authors who have treated on the porism, will form a subject of interest not only for its assigning to every author his fair share of credit for his contributions towards perfecting the poristic method; but for that _critical discrimination of principles_, which constitutes one of the marked features of mr. davies's writings in the archæology of geometry. we shall be glad if his slight notice of the intended work shall bring some accession of aid to the undertaking in the form of subscriptions: as upon adequate support, it appears, must depend whether the work shall go to press, or the project be abandoned. we have received the following catalogues:--thomas thorpe's ( . henrietta street) general catalogue of very choice, curious, rare, and most interesting books recently purchased, including some hundred articles of the utmost rarity. williams and norgate's ( . henrietta street) no. . of german book circular, a quarterly list of the principal new publications on the continent; c.j. stewart's ( . king william street, west strand) catalogue of dogmatical, polemical, and ascetical theology. [ ] we find at page , an order of the council, dated dec. . , respecting the disposition of the band at the funeral of queen caroline, signed by "temple stanyan," the subject of a query in no. . p. ., and of several replies in our last, no. . p. . * * * * * wanted.--manuscript of old english poetry.--borrowed, within the last few months, from the town residence of a gentleman, a large to. ms., in modern binding, of early english poetry, by richard rolle, of hampole; containing, among other matters, religious pieces couched in the form of legal instruments, and a metrical chronicle of the kings of england, in the style of lydgate's. as the owner does not recollect to whom it was lent, and is very anxious to refer to it, he will be obliged by its immediate return, either to himself directly, or, if more convenient, to the editor of "notes and queries." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) the doctrine of conscience framed according to the form in the common prayer book. by y.n., london. , vo., written by john prideaux, lord bishop of worcester. _odd volume_. army list for august . * * * * * notice to correspondents. _our pages again exhibit a large proportion of_ replies. _our next number, which will complete our first volume, will do the same, as it is obviously for the convenience of our readers that the_ replies _should, as far as possible, appear in the same volume with the_ queries _to which they relate_. * * * * * . great marlborough street mr. colburn has just published the following valuable & interesting works. * * * * * i. burke's peerage and baronetage for . new edition, revised and corrected throughout, from the personal communications of the nobility, &c. vol. royal vo., beautifully printed in double columns (comprising as much matter as ordinary volumes), with engravings of arms, &c., bound, l. s. ii. burke's history of the landed gentry for , corrected to the present time: a genealogical dictionary of the whole of the untitled aristocracy of england, scotland, and ireland, and comprising particulars of , persons connected with them. vols. royal vo., including the supplement (equal to ordinary volumes), bound, l. s. iii. evelyn's diary and correspondence. new and cheaper edition, revised, with numerous additional notes, vols. post vo., with illustrations (vols. i. and ii., comprising the diary, are now ready). price of each volume, s. d. iv. pepys' diary and correspondence, illustrative of the reigns of charles ii. and james ii. edited by lord braybrooke. new and revised edition, with the omitted passages restored from the original ms., many additional notes, &c. vols. post vo., with portraits, &c., l. s. d. v. lives of the princesses of england. by mrs. everett green, editor of the "letters of royal and illustrious ladies." vols. post vo., with illustrations, bound, l. s. vi. notes from nineveh, and travels in mesopotamia, assyria, and syria. by the rev. j.p. fletcher, minister of st. saviour's church, haverstock hill, vols. s. "a work of great merit; not less acceptable as a book of travel than valuable as an auxiliary to the archæology of the holy scriptures."--_standard_. vii. madame pulszky's memoirs; with interesting details of the late events in hungary. dedicated to the marchioness of lansdowne. vols, s. bound. "worthy of a place by the side of the memoirs of madame de stael and madame campan."--_globe_. also, just published, a second edition of mr. warburton's reginald hastings: an historical romance. revised, with a new preface. vols. "as an historical romancist, mr. warburton takes a first wrangler's rank."--_literary gazette_. * * * * * dr. wordsworth on church questions of the day. now ready, in vo., price s., in cloth, occasional sermons, preached at westminster abbey, in march and april . by christopher wordsworth, d.d., canon of westminster. these sermons may be had separately, price s. each, as follows:-- just published, no. vii. the church of england in and . no. viii. the church of england and the church of rome in . conclusion. just reprinted, nos. iv., v., and vi., an inquiry--whether the baptismal offices of the church of england may be interpreted in a calvinistic sense?--no. iii. the doctrine of baptism with reference to the opinion of prevenient grace.--no. ii. on pleas alleged for separation from the church.--no. . counsels and consolations in times of heresy and schism. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * preparing for publication by subscription, price s. a translation of dr. simson's restoration of euclid's porisms. with notes by robert potts, m.a., trinity college, cambridge; with historical geometrical, and analytical dissertations and illustrations, by t.s. davies, f.r.s. lond. and ed., f.s.a., royal military academy, woolwich. the printing will be commenced as soon as the number of subscribers is sufficient to indemnify the authors for the inevitable outlay upon the work; but should that number not be, at least approximately, obtained, their intention must be abandoned. gentlemen desirous of supporting this undertaking will oblige the authors by an early intimation to that effect. * * * * * in vo., with plates, price s. d. anastatic printing and papyrography: their various applications to the reprinting of letterpress, the reprinting of engravings, the multiplying of ornamental patterns, the successive alterations of the same design; papyrography with ink--writing circulars, music, oriental characters, &c., pen-etching, tracing facsimiles of engravings; papyrography with chalk--printing in colours, printing rubbings of brasses, drawing with heel-ball, &c. &c. with illustrative examples, by philip h. delamotte. london: published by david bogue, fleet street. * * * * * education, science, and general literature. now ready, and will be sent by post (free) to any one writing for them, descriptive catalogues of books for schools and colleges, and of chemical, medical, and literary works, published by taylor, walton, and maberly, . upper gower street, and . ivy lane, paternoster row. the object of these two catalogues is, to convey a more satisfactory notion of the contents of the books in them, than can be drawn from reading the titles. instead of laudatory extracts from reviews, general notices are given of the chief subjects and most prominent peculiarities of the books. the catalogues are designed to put the reader, as far as possible, in the same position as if he had inspected for himself, at least cursorily, the works described; and, with this view, care has been taken, in drawing up the notices, merely to state facts, with but little comment, and no exaggeration whatever. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- the oldenburg horn greek particles illustrated by the eastern languages samuel rowlands, and his claim to the authorship of "the choise of change," by dr. e.f. rimbault etymology of "apricot," "peach," and "nectarine" minor notes:--chaucer's monument robert herrick --epitaph of a wine merchant--father blackhal-- the nonjurors--booksellers' catalogues--bailie nicol jarvie--camels in gaul queries:-- bibliographical queries dryden's "essay upon satire" minor queries:--Ænius silvius (pope pius ii.)-- "please the pigs"--to save one's bacon--arabic numerals--cardinal--"by the bye"--poisons-- cabalistic author--brandon the juggler--jacobus præfectus siculus--the word "after" in the rubric-- hard by--thomas rogers of horminger--armorial bearings--lady compton's letter to her husband-- romagnasi's works--christopher barker's device replies:-- licensing of books, by c.h. cooper remains of james ii., by dr. j.r. wreford judge cradock, by h.t. ellacombe replies to minor queries:--replies by george stephens: on a passage in the "tempest;" legend of a saint; cupid and psyche; kongs skuggsia--disputed passage in the "tempest"--viscount castlecomer--steele's burial-place--cure for warts--etymology of "parse" miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notice to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. the oldenburg horn. the highly interesting collection of pictures at combe abbey, the seat of the earl of craven, in warwickshire, was, for the most part, bequeathed by elizabeth, queen of bohemia, the daughter of james i., to her faithful attendant, william, earl of craven. the collection has remained, entire and undisturbed, up to the present time. near the upper end of the long gallery is a picture which doubtless formed a part of the bequest of the queen of bohemia, and of which the following is a description:-- three quarters length: a female figure, standing, with long curling light hair, and a wreath of flowers round the head. she wears a white satin gown, with a yellow edge; gold chain on the stomacher, and pearl buttons down the front. she has a pearl necklace and earrings, with a high plaited chemisette up to the necklace; and four rows of pearls, with a yellow bow, round the sleeve. she holds in her hands a large highly ornamented gold horn. the back-ground consists of mountains. underneath the picture is this inscription: "anno post natum christum . ottoni comiti oldenburgico in venatione vehementer sitibundo virgo elegantissima ex monte osen prodiens cornu argenteum deauratum plenum liquore ut biberet obtulit. inspecto is liquore adhorruit, ac eundum bibere recusavit. quo facto, subito comes a virgine discedens liquorem retro super equum quem mox depilavit effudit, cornuque hic depictum secum oldenburgum in perpetuam illius memoriam reportavit. lucretio de sainct simon pinxit." the painting is apparently of the first part of the seventeenth century. the ordinary books of reference do not contain the painter's name. the same legend as that contained in this inscription, though with fuller details, is given by the brothers grimm, in their collection of _deutsche sagen_, no. . vol. ii. p. ., from two oldenburg chronicles. according to this version otto was count of oldenburg in the year or . [the chronicles appear to differ as to his date: the inscription of the combe abbey picture furnishes a third date.] being a good hunter, and fond of hunting, he went, on the th of july, in this year, attended by his nobles and servants, to hunt in the forest of bernefeuer. here he found a deer, and chased it alone from this wood to mount osen: but in the pursuit he left his companions and even his dogs behind; and he stood alone, on his white horse, in the middle of the mountain. being now exhausted by the great heat, he exclaimed: "would to god that some one had a draught of cold water!" as soon as the count had uttered these words, the mountain opened, and from the { } chasm there came a beautiful damsel, dressed in fine clothes, with her hair divided over her shoulders, and a wreath of flowers on her head. in her hand she held a precious silver-gilt hunting-horn, filled with some liquid; which she offered to the count, in order that he might drink. the count took the horn, and examined the liquid, but declined to drink it. whereupon the damsel said: "my dear lord, drink it upon my assurance; for it will do you no harm, but will tend to your good." she added that, if he would drink, he and his family, and all his descendants, and the whole territory of oldenburg, would prosper: but that, if he refused, there would be discord in the race of the counts of oldenburg. the count, as was natural, mistrusted her assurances, and feared to drink out of the horn: however, he retained it in his hand, and swung it behind his back. while it was in this position some of the liquid escaped; and where it fell on the back of the white horse, it took off the hair. when the damsel saw this, she asked him to restore the horn; but the count, with the horn in his hand, hastened away from the mountain, and, on looking back, observed that the damsel had returned into the earth. the count, terrified at the sight, spurred on his horse, and speedily rejoined his attendants: he then recounted to them his adventure, and showed them the silver-gilt horn, which he took with him to oldenburg. and because this horn was obtained in so wonderful a manner, it was kept as a precious relic by him and all his successors in the reigning house of oldenburg. the editors state that richly decorated drinking-horn was formerly preserved, with great care, in the family of oldenburg; but that, at the present time [ ], it is at copenhagen. the same story is related from hamelmann's _oldenburg chronicle_, by büsching, in his _volksagen_ (leips. ), p. ., who states that there is a representation of the horn in p. . of the _chronicle_, as well as in the title-page of the first volume of the _wunderhorn_. those who are accustomed to the interpretation of mythological fictions will at once recognise in this story an explanatory legend, invented for the purpose of giving an interest to a valuable drinking-horn, of ancient work, which belonged to the counts of oldenburg. had the story not started from a basis of real fact, but had been pure fiction, the mountain-spirit would probably have left, not _silver gilt_, but a _gold_ horn, with the count. moreover, the manner in which she suffers herself to be outwitted, and her acquiescence in the loss of her horn, without exacting some vengeance from the incredulous count, are not in the spirit of such fictions, nor do they suit the malignant character which the legend itself gives her. if the oldenburg horn is still preserved at copenhagen, its date might doubtless be determined by the style of the work. mount osen seems to have been a place which abounded in supernatural beings. some elves who came from this mountain to take fresh-brewed beer, and left good, though unknown money, to pay for it, are mentioned in another story in the _deutsche sagen_, (no. . vol. i. p. .) l. [having had an opportunity of inspecting a copy of hamelmann's _chronicle_, at present belonging to mr. quaritch, in which there is a very interesting engraving of the horn in question (which may possibly have been a charter horn), we are not disposed to pronounce it older than the latter end of the fifteenth century. if, however, it is still preserved at copenhagen, some correspondent there will perhaps do us the favour to furnish us with a precise description of it, and with the various legends which are inscribed upon it.--ed.] * * * * * greek particles illustrated by the eastern languages. the affinity which exists between such of the vernacular languages of india as are offshoots of the sanscrit, as the hindostanee, mahratta, guzeratee, &c., and the greek, latin, german, and english languages, is now well known to european scholars, more especially since the publication of the researches of vans kennedy, professor bopp of berlin, &c. indeed, scarcely a day passes in which the european resident in india may not recognise, in his intercourse with the natives, many familiar words in all those languages, clothed in an oriental dress. i am inclined also to think that new light may be thrown upon some of the impracticable greek particles by a reference to the languages of the east; and without wishing to be understood as laying down anything dogmatically in the present communication, i hope, through the medium of your valuable publication, to attract attention to this subject, and invite discussion on it. taking, as an illustration, the d line of the first book of the _iliad_, where the hero of the poem is violently abusing agamemnon for depriving him of his prize, the fair maid briseis, he says, [greek: "all' ek toi ereô, kai epi megan horkon homoumai."] what is the meaning of [greek: ek] in the above line? it is commonly construed with [greek: ereô], and translated, "i plainly tell thee--i declare to thee;" [greek: exereô], "i speak out--proclaim." but may it not be identical with the sanscrit _ek_, "one," a word, as most of your readers are doubtless aware, in universal use throughout india, persia, &c; the rendering literally running thus: "but _one_ thing i tell thee," &c. that this is the original sense of the line appears probable by comparing it with line . of the { } same book, where in the _second_ speech of achilles, that _impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer_, chieftain _again_ scolds "the king of men,"-- "[greek: allo de toi ereô, sy d' ene phresì balleo sêsi.]" "and _another_ thing i tell thee." this rendering receives additional confirmation by a comparison with the following: "[greek: touto de toi ereô.]" _il._ iii. ., and _od._ vii. . "[greek: panta de toi ereô.]" _od._ iv. ., and x. . in the last three lines [greek: allo], [greek: touto], and [greek: panta] stand precisely in the same relation to [greek: ereô] that [greek: ek] does in the first, [greek: all'] merely taking the place of [greek: de], for the sake of versification. "but _one_ thing i tell thee. and _another_ thing i tell thee. but _this_ thing i tell thee. and _all_ things i tell thee." it is not impossible that [greek: exereô] may be a compound of [greek: ek], "one," and [greek: ereô], "i speak." there is in the hindostanee an analogous form of expression, _ek bat bolo_, "one word speak." this is constantly used to denote, speaking plainly; to speak decidedly; one word only; no display of unnecessary verbiage to conceal thought; no humbug; i tell thee plainly; i speak solemnly--once for all; which is precisely the meaning of [greek: exereô] in all the passages where it occurs in homer: _e.g._ _il._ i. . (where it is employed by minerva in her solemn address to achilles); _il._ viii. ., _od._ ix. . (where it is very characteristically used), &c. the word _ace_ (ace of spades, &c.) i suppose you will have no difficulty in identifying with the sanscrit _ek_ and the greek [greek: eis], the _c_ sometimes pronounced hard and sometimes soft. the sanscrit _das_, the greek [greek: dek-a], and the latin _dec-em_, all signifying _ten_, on the same principle, have been long identified. j. sh. bombay. * * * * * samuel rowlands, and his claim to the authorship of "the choise of change." mr. t. jones in "notes and queries" (vol. i., p. .), describing a copy of _the choise of change_ in the chetham library, unhesitatingly ascribes its authorship to the well-known satirist, samuel rowlands, whom he says, "appears to have been a welshman from his love of triads." mr. jones's dictum, that the letters "s.r.," on the title-page "are the well-known initials of samuel rowlands," may well, i think, be questioned. great caution should be used in these matters. bibliographers and catalogue-makers are constantly making confusion by assigning works, which bear the initials only, to wrong authors. _the choise of change_ may with much more probability be given to a very different author. i have a copy of the edition of now before me, in which the name is filled up, in a cotemporary hand, s[imon], r[obson]. and i find in lowndes' _bibliographer's manual_, that the work in question is entered under the latter name. the compiler adds,--"this piece is by some attributed to dr. simon robson, dean of bristol in ; by others, most probably erroneously, to samuel rowland." an examination of the biography of dr. robson, who died in , might tend to elucidate some particulars concerning his claim to the authorship of this and several other works of similar character. samuel rowland's earliest publication is supposed to have been _the betraying of christ_, &c., printed in . if it can be proved that he has any claim to _the choise of change_ (first printed in ), we make him an author _thirteen_ years earlier. in the title-page of the latter, the writer, whoever he was, is styled "gent and student in the universitie of cambridge." this is a fact of some importance towards the elucidation of authorship and has, i believe, escaped the notice of those writers who have touched upon samuel rowland's scanty biography. but i can hardly conceive that either of the publications above alluded to came from the same pen as _humours ordinarie_, _martin mark-all_, _the four knaves_, and many others of the same class, which are known to have been the productions of samuel rowlands. respecting samuel rowlands it may be regarded as extraordinary that no account has been discovered; and though his pamphlets almost rival in number those of greene, taylor, and prynne, their prefaces--those fruitful sources of information--throw no light upon the life or circumstances of their author. the late mr. octavius gilchrist considered that "rowlands was an ecclesiastic [?] by profession;" and, inferring his zeal in the pulpit from his labours through the press, adds, "it should seem that he was an active servant of the church." (see fry's _bibliographical memoranda_, p. .) sir walter scott (preface to his reprint of _the letting of humours blood in the head vaine_) gives us a very different idea of the nature of his calling. his words are: "excepting that he lived and wrote, none of those industrious antiquaries have pointed out any particulars respecting rowland[s]. it has been remarked that his muse is seldom found in the best company; and to have become so well acquainted with the bullies, drunkards, gamesters, and cheats, whom he describes, he must have frequented the haunts of dissipation in which such characters are to be found. but the humorous descriptions of low-life exhibited in his satires are more precious to antiquaries than more grave works, and those who make the manners of shakspeare's { } age the subject their study may better spare a better author than samuel rowlands." the opinions of both these writers are entitled to some respect, but they certainly looked upon two very different sides of the question. gilchrist's conjecture that he was an ecclesiastic is quite untenable, and i am fully inclined to agree with sir walter scott, that rowlands' company was not of the most _select_ order, and that he must often have frequented those "haunts of dissipation" which he so well describes in those works which are the _known_ production of his muse. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * "apricot," "peach," and "nectarine," etymology of. there is something curious in the etymology of the words "apricot," "peach," and "nectarine," and in their equivalents in several languages, which may amuse your readers. the apricot is an armenian or persian fruit, and was known to the romans later than the peach. it is spoken of by pliny and by martial. plin. n.h., lib. xv. c. .: "post autumnum maturescunt persica, æstate _præcocia_, intra xxx annos reperta." martial, lib. xiii. epig. .: "vilia maternis fueramus _præcoqua_ ramis, nunc in adaptivis persica care sumus." its only name was given from its ripening earlier than the peach. the words used in galen for the same fruit (evidently græcised latin), are [greek: prokokkia] and [greek: prekokkia]. elsewhere he says of this fruit, [greek: tautês ekleleiphthai to palaion onoma]. dioscorides, with a nearer approach to the latin, calls apricots [greek: praikokia.] from _præcox_, though not immediately, _apricot_ seems to be derived. johnson, unable to account for the initial _a_, derives it from _apricus_. the american lexicographer webster gives, strangely enough _albus coccus_ as its derivation. the progress of the word from west to east, and then from east to south-west, and from thence northwards, and its various changes in that progress, are rather strange. one would have supposed that the arabs, living near the region of which the fruit was a native, might have either had a name of their own for it, or at least have borrowed one from armenia. but they apparently adopted a slight variation of the latin, [greek: to palaion onoma], as galen says, [greek: exeleleiptô]. the arabs called it [arabic: brqwq] or, with the article, [arabic: albrqwq]. the spaniards must have had the fruit in martial's time, but they do not take the name immediately from the latin, but through the arabic, and call it _albaricoque_. the italians, again, copy the spanish, not the latin, and call it _albicocco_. the french, from them, have _abricot_. the english, though they take their word from the french, at first called it _abricock_, then _apricock_ (restoring the _p_), and lastly, with the french termination, _apricot_. from _malum persicum_ was derived the german _pfirsiche_, and _pfirsche_, whence come the french _pêche_, and our _peach_. but in this instance also, the spaniards follow the arabic [arabic: bryshan], or, with the article [arabic: albryshan], in their word _alberchigo_. the arabic seems to be derived from the latin, and the persians, though the fruit was their own, give it the same name. johnson says that nectarine is french, but gives no authority. it certainly is unknown to the french, who call the fruit either _pêche lisse_, or _brugnon_. the germans also call it _glatte pfirsche_. can any of your readers inform me what is the armenian word for _apricot_, and whether there is any reason to believe that the arabic words for _apricot_ and _peach_, are of armenian and persian origin? if it is so, the resemblance of the one to _præcox_, and of the other to _persicum_, will be a curious coincidence, but hardly more curious than the resemblance of [greek: pascha] with [greek: paschô] which led some of the earlier fathers, who were not hebraists, to derive [greek: pascha] from [greek: paschô]. e.c.h. * * * * * minor notes. _chaucer's monument._--it may interest those of your readers who are busying themselves in the praiseworthy endeavour to procure the means of repairing chaucer's monument, especially mr. payne collier, who has furnished, in the november number of the _gentleman's magazine_ (p. .), so curious an allusion from warner's _albion's england_, to "---- venerable chaucer, lost had not kind brigham reared him cost," to know that there is evidence in smith's _life of nollekens_, vol. i. p. ., that remains of the painted figure of chaucer were to be seen in nolleken's times. smith reports a conversation between the artist and catlin, so many years the principal verger of the abbey, in which catlin inquires, "did you ever notice the remaining colours of the curious little figure which was painted on the tomb of chaucer?" m.n.s. [we have heard one of the lay vicars of westminster { } abbey, now deceased, say, that when he was a choir boy, some sixty-five or seventy years since, the figure of chaucer might be made out by rubbing a wet finger over it.] _robert herrick_ (vol. i., p. .)--there is a little volume entitled _selections from the hesperides and works of the rev. robert herrick_. (_antient_) _vicar of dean-prior, devon_. by the late charles short, esq., f.r.s. and f.s.a., published by murray in . i believe it was recalled or suppressed, and that copies are rare. j.w.h. _epitaph of a wine merchant._--the following is very beautiful, and well deserves a note. it is copied from an inscription in all saints church, cambridge. "in obitum mri. johannis hammond oenopolae epitaphium. spiritus ascendit generosi nectaris astra, juxta altare calix hic jacet ecce sacrum, corporum [greek: anastasei] cum fit communia magna unio tunc fuerit nectaris et calicis." j.w.h. _father blackhal._--in the _brief narration of services done to three noble ladies by gilbert blackhal_ (aberdeen, spalding club, ), the autobiographer states (p. .) that, while at brussels, he provided for his necessities by saying mass "at notre dame _de bonne successe_, a chapel of great devotion, so called from a statue of our lady, which was brought from aberdeen to ostend," &c. it may be interesting to such of your readers as are acquainted with this very amusing volume, to know that the statue is still held in honour. a friend of mine (who had never heard of blackhal) told me, that being at brussels on the eve of the assumption (aug. ), , he saw announcements that the _aberdeen_ image would be carried in procession on the approaching festival. he was obliged, however, to leave brussels without witnessing the exhibition. as to blackhal himself, _the catholic annual register_ for the present year (p. .) supplies two facts which were not known to his editor--that he was at last principal of the scots college at paris, and that he died july . . j.c.r. _the nonjurors_ (vol. ii., p. .).--may i take the liberty of suggesting to mr. yeowell that his interesting paper on "the oratories of the nonjurors," would have been far more valuable if he had given the authorities for his statements. j.c.r. _booksellers' catalogues._--allow me to suggest the propriety and utility of stating the weight or cost of postage to second-hand and other books. it would be a great convenience to many country book-buyers to know the entire cost, carriage-free, of the volumes they require, but have never seen. este. _bailie nicol jarvie._--lockhart, in his _life of scott_, speaking of the first representation of _rob roy_ on the edinburgh boards, observes-- "the great and unrivalled attraction was the personification of bailie jarvie by charles mackay, who, being himself a native of glasgow, entered into the minutest peculiarities of the character with high _gusto_, and gave the west country dialect in its most racy perfection." but in the sweetest cup of praise, there is generally one small drop of bitterness. the drop, in honest mackay's case, is that by calling him a "native of glasgow," and, therefore, "to the manner born," he is, by implication, deprived of the credit of speaking the "foreign tongue" like a native. so after wearing his laurels for a quarter of a century with this one withered leaf in them, he has plucked it off, and by a formal affidavit sworn before an edinburgh bailie, the glasgow bailie has put it on record that he is really by birth "one of the same class whom king jamie denominated a real edinburgh gutter-bluid." if there is something droll in the notion of such an affidavit, there is, assuredly, something to move our respect in the earnestness and love of truth which led the bailie to make it, and to prove him a good honest man, as we have no doubt, "his father, the deacon, was before him." effessa. _camels in gaul._--the use of camels by the franks in gaul is more than once referred to by the chroniclers. in the year , the treasures of mummolus and the friends of gondovald were carried from bordeaux to convennes on camels. the troops of gontran who were pursuing them-- "invenerunt _camelos_ cum ingenti pondere auri atque argenti, sive equos quos fessos per vias reliquerat"--_greg. turon._, l. vii. c. . and after brunichild had fallen into the hands of chlotair, she was, before her death, conducted through the army on a camel:-- "jubetque eam _camelum_ per omnem exercitum sedentem perducere."--_fredegarius_, c. . by what people were camels first brought into gaul? by the romans; by the visigoths; or by the franks themselves? r.j.k. * * * * * queries. bibliographical queries. (_continued from page ._) ( .) is it not a grievous and calumnious charge against the principal libraries of england, germany, and france, that not one of them contains a copy of the _florentine pandects_, in three folio { } volumes, "magnifice, ac pereleganter, perque accurate impressis," as fabricius speaks? (_bibl. græc._ xii: .) this statement, which may be but a libel, is found in tilgner (_nov. lib. rar. collect._ fascic. iv. .), schelhorn (_amæn. lit._ iii. .), vogt (_catal._ p. . hamb. ), and solger (_biblioth._ i .). according to the last writer, the edition in question, florent. , (for a fac-simile of the letters of the original ms. see mabillon's _iter italicum_, p. .) is,--"splendidissima, et stupendæ raritatis, quæ in tanta est apud eruditos æstimatione ut pro imperialibus sæpius divendita fuerit." would that the race of such purchasers was not extinct! in gibbon's notice of this impression (_decline and fall_, iv. . ed. milman), there are two mistakes. he calls the editor "taurellus" instead of _taurellius_; and makes the date " ", when it should have been . these errors, however, are scarcely surprising in a sentence in which antonius augustinus is named "antoninus." the archbishop of tarragona had received a still more exalted title in p. ., for there he was styled "antoninus augustus." are these the author's faults, or are they merely editorial embellishments? ( .) in what year was the improved woodcut of the _prelum ascensianum_ used for the first time? and has it been observed that the small and separated figures incised on the legs of this _insigne_ of jodocus badius may sometimes be taken as a safe guide with reference to the exact date of the works in which this mark appears? as an argument serving to justify the occasional adoption of this criterion i would adduce the fact, that the earliest edition of budæus _de contemptu rerum fortuitarum_ is believed to have been printed in (greswell's _parisian greek press_, i. .), and this year is accordingly visible in the title-page on the print of the _prelum ascensianum_. that recourse must, however, be had with caution to this method of discovering a date, is manifest; from the circumstance, that , or perhaps i should say an injured , appears on the badian device in the third impression of the same treatise (the second with the _expositio_), though it was set forth "postridie cal. april ." ( .) is it owing to the extreme rarity of copies of the first edition of the pagninian version of the scriptures that so many writers are perplexed and ignorant concerning it? one might have expected that such a very remarkable impression in all respects would have been so well known to bishop walton, that he could not have asserted (_proleg._ v.) that it was published in ; and the same hallucination is perceptible in the _elenchus scriptorum_ by crowe (p. .) it is certain that pope leo x. directed that pagnini's translation should be printed at his expense (roscoe, ii. .), and the diploma of adrian vi. is dated "die, xj. maij. m.d.xxiii.," but the labours of the eminent dominican were not put forth until the th of january, . this is the date in the colophon; and though " " is obvious on the title-page, the apparent variation may be accounted for by remembering the several ways of marking the commencement of the year. (_le long_, by masch, ii. .; _chronol. of hist._, by sir h. nicolas, p. .) chevillier informs us (_orig. de l'imp._ p. .) that the earliest latin bible, in which he had seen the verses distinguished by ciphers, was that of robert stephens in . clement (_biblioth._ iv. .) takes notice of an impression issued two years previously; and these bibliographers have been followed by greswell (_paris. g. p._ i. . .). were they all unacquainted with the antecedent exertions of sante pagnini (see pettigrew's _bibl. sussex._ p. .) ( .) why should panzer have thought that the true date of the _editio princeps_ of gregorius turonensis and ado viennensis, comprised in the same small folio volume, was ? (greswell, i. .) if he had said , he might have had the assistance of a misprint in the colophon, in which "m.d.xxii." was inserted instead of m.d.xii.; but the royal privilege for the book is dated, "le douziesme iour de mars lan _milcinqcens et onze_," and the dedication of the works by badius to guil. parvus ends with "ad. xii kalendas decemb. anni huius m.d.xii." ( .) who was the author of _peniteas cito_? and is it not evident that the impression at cologne by martinus de werdena, in , is considerably later than that which is adorned on the title-page with a different woodcut, and which exhibits the following words proceeding from the teacher: "accipies tanti doctoris dogmata sancta?" r.g. * * * * * dryden's "essay upon satire." on what evidence does the statement rest, that the earl of mulgrave was the author of the _essay upon satire_, and that dryden merely corrected and polished it? as at present advised, i have considerable doubt upon the point: and although, in modern editions of dryden's _works_, i find it headed _an essay upon satire, written by mr. dryden and the earl of mulgrave_, yet in the _state poems_, vol. i. p. ., originally printed in the lifetime of dryden, it is attributed solely to him--"_an essay upon satyr._ by j. dryden, esq." this gets rid of the assertion in the note of "d.," in the aldine edition of dryden (i. .), that "the earl of mulgrave's name has been _always_ joined with dryden's, as concerned in the composition." was it not first published without notice that any other person was concerned in it but dryden? the internal evidence, too, is strong that dryden was the author of it. i do not here refer to the { } free, flexible, and idiomatic character of the versification, so exactly like that of dryden; but principally to the description the _essay upon satire_ contains of the earl of mulgrave himself, beginning, "mulgrave had much ado to scape the snare, though learn'd in those ill arts that cheat the fair; for, after all, his vulgar marriage mocks, with beauty dazzled numps was in the stocks;" and ending: "him no soft thoughts, no gratitude could move; to gold he fled, from beauty and from love," &c. could mulgrave have so written of himself; or could he have allowed dryden to interpolate the character. earlier in the poem we meet with a description of shaftesbury, which cannot fail to call to mind dryden's character of him in _absalom and achitophel_; which, as we know, did not make its appearance, even in its first shape, until two years after dryden was cudgelled in rose street as _the author_ of the _essay upon satire_. everybody bears in mind the triplet, "a fiery soul, which working out its way, fretted his pigmy body to decay, and o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay;" and what does dryden (for it must be he who writes) say of shaftesbury in the _essay upon satire_? "as by our little machiavel we find, that nimblest creature of the busy kind: his limbs are crippled, and his body shakes, yet his hard mind, which all this bustle makes, no pity on its poor companion takes." if mulgrave wrote these lines, and dryden only corrected them, dryden was at all events indebted to mulgrave for the thought of the inequality, and disproportion between the mind and body of shaftesbury. moreover, we know that pope expunged the assertion subsequently made, that dryden had been "punished" (not _beaten_, as "d." quotes the passage) "for another's rhimes," when he was bastinadoed, in , at the instigation of rochester, for the character of him in the _essay upon satire_. it might suit mulgrave's purpose afterwards to claim a share in this production; but the evidence, as far as i am acquainted with it, seems all against it. there may be much evidence on the point with which i am not acquainted, and perhaps some of your readers will be so good as to point it out to me. the question is one that i am, at this moment, especially interested in. the hermit of holyport. * * * * * minor queries. _Æneas silvius (pope pius ii.)._--a broadsheet was published in , containing the excommunication and dethronement of the archbishop and elector dietrich of mayence, issued and styled in the most formidable terms by _pius ii._ this broadsheet, consisting of eighteen lines, and printed on one side only, appears from the uniformity of its type with the _rationale_ of , to be the product of _fust_ and _schöffer_. no mention whatever is made of this typographical curiosity in any of the standard bibliographical manuals, from which it seems, that this broadsheet is unique. can any information, throwing light upon this subject, be given? querist. november, . "_please the pigs_" is a phrase too vulgarly common not to be well known to your readers. but whence has it arisen? either in "notes and queries," or elsewhere, it has been explained as a corruption of "please the _pix_." will you allow another suggestion? i think it possible that the pigs of the gergesenes (matthew viii. . _et seq._) may be those appealed to, and that the invocation may be of somewhat impious meaning. john bradford, the martyr of , has within a few consecutive pages of his writings the following expressions: "and so by this means, as they save their pigs, which they would not lose, (i mean their worldly pelf), so they would please the protestants, and be counted with them for gospellers, yea, marry, would they."--_writings of bradford_, parker society ed., p. . again: "now are they willing to drink of god's cup of afflictions, which he offereth common with his son christ our lord, lest they should love their pigs with the gergenites." p. . again: "this is a hard sermon: 'who is able to abide it?' therefore, christ must be prayed to depart, lest all their pigs be drowned. the devil shall have his dwelling again in themselves, rather than in their pigs." p. . these, and similar expressions in the same writer, without reference to any text upon the subject, seem to show, that men loving their pigs more than god, was a theological phrase of the day, descriptive of their too great worldliness. hence, just as st. paul said, "if the lord will," or as we say, "please god," or, as it is sometimes written, "d.v.," worldly men would exclaim, "please the pigs," and thereby mean that, provided it suited their present interest, they would do this or that thing. alfred gatty. ecclesfield. [we subjoin the following query, as one so closely connected with the foregoing, that the explanation of the one will probably clear up the obscurity in which the other is involved.] { } _to save one's bacon._--can you or any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of the common saying, "he's just saved his bacon?" it has puzzled me considerably, and i really can form no conjecture why "bacon" should be the article "saved." c.h.m. _arabic numerals._--i should be glad to know something about the projected work of brugsh, berlin, referred to in vol. ii., p. .,--its size and price. j.w.h. _cardinal._--"_never did cardinal bring good to england._"--we read in dr. ligard's _history_ (vol. iv. p. .), on the authority of cavendish, that when the cardinals campeggio and wolsey adjourned the inquiry into the legality of henry viii.'s marriage with catharine of arragon, "the duke of suffolk, striking the table, exclaimed with vehemence, that the 'old saw' was now verified,--'never did cardinal bring good to england.'" i should be glad to know if this saying is to be met with elsewhere, and what gave rise to it? o.p.q. "_by the bye," &c._--what is the etymology of the phrases "by the bye," "by and by," and such like? j.r.n. _poisons._--our ancestors believed in the existence of poisons made so artfully that they did not operate till several years after they were administered. i should be greatly obliged by any information on this subject obtained from english books published previously to . m. _cabalistic author._--who was the author of a chemical and cabalistical work, not noticed by lowndes, entitled: "a philosophicall epitaph in hierogliphicall figures. a briefe of the golden calf (the world's idol). the golden ass well managed, and midas restored to reason. written by j. rod, glauber, and jehior, the three principles or originall of all things. published by w.c., esquire, vo. lond. printed for william cooper, at the pellican, in little britain, ." with a long catalogue of chemical books, in three parts, at the end. my copy has two titles, the first being an engraved one, with ten small circles round it, containing hieroglyphical figures, and an engraved frontispiece, which is repeated in the volume, with some other cuts. there are two dedications, one to robert boyle, esq., and the other to elias ashmole, esq.; both signed "w.c. or twice five hundred," which signature is repeated in other parts of the book. what is the meaning of "w.c. or twice five hundred"? t. cr. _brandon the juggler._--where is any information to be obtained of brandon the juggler, who lived in the reign of king henry viii.? t. cr. _jacobus præfectus siculus._--i have a beautiful copy of a poem by this person, entitled _de verbo dei cantica_. the binding expresses its date: "neapoli, ." it is not, i believe, the work which suggested to milton his greater songs, though it is a pretty complete outline of the _paradise lost_ and _regained_/ what is known about the author, or any other works of his? j.w.h. _the word "after" in the rubric--canons of ._-- . can any of your correspondents who may have in their possession any old greek, or latin, or other versions, of the book of common prayer, kindly inform me how the word _after_ is rendered in the rubrics of the general confession, the lord's prayer in the post communion, and the last prayer of the commination service? is it in the sense of _post_ or _secundum_? . where can any account of the translation of the canons of into english be found? it is apprehended the question is one more difficult to answer than might be supposed. t.y. _hard by._--is not _hard by_ a corruption of the german _hierbei_? i know no other similar instance of the word _hard_, that is to say, as signifying _proximity_, without the conjoint idea of _pressure_ or _pursuit._ k. _thomas rogers of horninger._--can any of the readers of your valuable publication give me, or put me in the way of obtaining, any information about one thomas rogers, who was in some way connected with the village of horninger or horringer, near bury st. edmunds, was author of a work on the thirty-nine articles, and died in the year ? s.g. corpus christi col., cambridge. _armorial bearings._--three barrulets charged with six church bells, three, two, and one, is a shield occurring in the speke chauntry, in exeter cathedral. can this coat be assigned? j.w.h. _lady compton's letter to her husband._--in bishop goodman's _court of king james i.,_ edited by john s. brewer, m.a. (vol. ii. p. ..), is a letter from lady compton to her husband, william lord compton, afterwards earl of northampton, written upon occasion of his coming into possession of a large fortune. this letter, with some important variations, is also given in knight's _london_ (vol. i. p. .), and, if my memory does not deceive me, in hewitt's _visits to remarkable places_. this letter is very curious, but i can hardly think it genuine. can any of your correspondents throw any light on the matter? was it printed before , when mr. brewer's work appeared? where is the original, or supposed original, to be seen? above all, is it authentic? if not, is it known when, and by { } whom, and under what circumstances it was written? c.h. cooper. cambridge, november . . _romagnasi's works._--in a "life of g.d. romagnasi," in vol. xviii. _law mag._, p. ., after enumerating several of his works, it is added, "all these are comprised in a single volume, florentine edit. of ." i have in vain endeavoured to procure the work, and have recently received an answer from the first book establishment in florence, to the effect that no such edition ever appeared either at florence or elsewhere. this is strange after the explicit statement in the _law mag._, and i shall be obliged to receive through the medium of your useful pages any information regarding the work in question. f.r.h. _christopher barker's device._--i have often been puzzled to understand the precise meaning of the inscription on christopher barker's device. whether this arises from my own ignorance, or from any essential difficulty in it, i cannot tell; but i should be glad of an explanation. i copy from a folio edition of the geneva bible, "imprinted at london by christopher barker, printer to the queene's majesty, ." the device consists of a boar's head rising from a mural crown, with a scroll proceeding from its mouth, and embracing a lamb in the lowest fold. the inscription on this scroll is as follows:-- "tigre . reo. animale . del. adam . vecchio. figliuolo . merce. l'evangelio . fatto. n'estat . agnello." i venture my own solution:--the tiger, the wicked animal, of the old adam, being made, thanks to the gospel, a son, is hence become a lamb." i presume _n'estat_ to be an abbreviation of "ne è stato." any correction or illustration of this will oblige. c.w. bingham. bingham's melcombe, blandford. * * * * * replies. licensing of books. (vol. ii., p. .) on the th november, & philip and mary, , a bill "that no man shall print any book or ballad, &c., unless he be authorized thereunto by the king and queen's majesties licence, under the great seal of englande," was read for the first time in the house of lords, where it was read again a second time on the th. on the th it was read for the third time, but it did not pass, and probably never reached the commons; for queen mary died on the following day, and thereby the parliament was dissolved. (_lords' journal_, i. , .) queen elizabeth, however did by her high prerogative what her sister had sought to effect by legislative sanction. in the first year of her reign, , she issued injunctions concerning both the clergy and the laity: the st injunction was in the following terms:-- "item, because there is great abuse in the printers of books, which for covetousness chiefly regard not what they print, so they may have gain, whereby ariseth the great disorder by publication of unfruitful, vain, and infamous books and papers; the queen's majesty straitly chargeth and commandeth, that no manner of person shall print any manner of book or paper, of what sort, nature, or in what language soever it be, except the same be first licensed by her majesty by express words in writing, or by six of her privy council; or be perused and licensed by the archbishops of canterbury and york, the bishop of london, the chancellors of both universities, the bishop being ordinary, and the archdeacon also of the place, where any such shall be printed, or by two of them, whereof the ordinary of the place to be always one. and that the names of such, as shall allow the same, to be added in the end of every such work, for a testimony of the allowance thereof. and because many pamphlets, plays, and ballads be oftentimes printed, wherein regard would be had that nothing therein should be either heretical, seditious, or unseemly for christian ears; her majesty likewise commandeth that no manner of person shall enterprise to print any such, except the same be to him licensed by such her majesty's commissioners, or three of them, as be appointed in the city of london to hear and determine divers clauses ecclesiastical, tending to the execution of certain statutes made the last parliament for uniformity of order in religion. and if any shall sell or utter any manner of books or papers, being not licensed as is abovesaid, that the same party shall be punished by order of the said commissioners, as to the quality of the fault shall be thought meet. and touching all other books of matters of religion, or policy, or governance, that have been printed, either on this side the seas, or on the other side, because the diversity of them is great, and that there needeth good consideration to be had of the particularities thereof, her majesty referreth the prohibition or permission thereof to the order, which her said commissioners within the city of london shall take and notify. according to the which, her majesty straitly chargeth and commandeth all manner her subjects, and especially the wardens and company of stationers, to be obedient. "provided that these orders do not extend to any profane authors and works in any language, that have been heretofore commonly received or allowed in any of the universities or schools, but the same may be printed, and used as by good order they were accustomed."--cardswell's _documentary annals_, i. . this injunction was, i take it, the origin of the licensing of the press of this country. on the d june, eliz. (not , as in strype), { } archbishop whitgift and the lords of the privy council in the star chamber made rules and ordinances for redressing abuses in printing. no printing-press was to be allowed elsewhere than in london (except one in each university); and no book was to be printed until first seen and perused by the archbishop of canterbury or bishop of london; with an exception in favour of the queen's printer, and books of the common law, which were to be allowed by the chief justices and chief baron, or one of them. extensive and arbitrary powers of search for unlicensed books and presses were also given to the wardens of the stationers' company. (strype's _life of archbishop whitgift_, .; records, no.xxiv.) on the st july, , another decree of a similar character was made by the court of star chamber. (rushworth's _historical collections_, part ii. p. .) the long parliament, although it dissolved the star chamber, seems to have had no more enlightened views as respects the freedom of the press than queen elizabeth or the archbishops whitgift and laud; for on the th june, , the two houses made an ordinance prohibiting the printing of any order or declaration of either house, without order of one or both houses; or the printing or sale of any book, pamphlet, or paper, unless the same were approved and licensed under the hands of such persons as both or either house should appoint for licensing the same. (_parliamentary history_, xii. .) the names of the licensers appointed are given in neal's _history of the puritans_ (ed. , ii. .). it was this ordinance which occasioned the publication, in or about , of milton's most noble defence of the liberty of the press, entitled _areopagitica; a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing, to the parliament of england_. after setting out certain italian imprimaturs, he remarks: "these are the pretty responsories, these are the dear antiphonies that so bewitched of late our prelates and their chaplains with the godly echo they made and besotted, as to the gay imitation of a lordly imprimatur, one from lambeth house, another from the west end of paul's; so apishly romanising, that the word of command still was set down in latin, as if the learned grammatical pen that wrote it would cast no ink without latin; or, perhaps, as they thought, because no vulgar tongue was worthy to express the pure conceit of an imprimatur; but rather, as i hope, for that our english, the language of men ever famous and foremost in the achievements of liberty, will not easily find servile letters enow to spell such a dictatory presumption englished." on the th september, , the lords and commons passed a still more severe ordinance, which imposed pains and penalties on all persons printing, publishing, selling, or uttering any book, pamphlet, treatise, ballad, libel, or sheet of news, without the licence of both, or either house of parliament, or such persons as should be thereunto authorised by one or both houses. offending hawkers, pedlars, and ballad-chappers were to be whipped as common rogues. (_parliamentary history_, xvi. .) we get some insight into the probable cause of this ordinance from a letter of sir thomas fairfax to the earl of manchester, dated "putney, th sept., ." he complains of some printed pamphlets, very scandalous and abusive, to the army in particular, and the whole kingdom in general; and expresses his desire that these, and all of the like nature, might be suppressed for the future. in order, however, to satisfy the kingdom's expectation for intelligence, he advises that, till a firm peace be settled, two or three sheets might be permitted to come out weekly, which might be licensed; and as mr. mabbott had approved himself faithful in that service of licensing, and likewise in the service of the house and the army, he requested that he might be continued in the said place of licenser. (_lords' journals_, ix. .) gilbert mabbott was accordingly appointed licenser of such weekly papers as should be printed, but resigned the situation nd may, . (_commons' journals_, vi. .) it seems he had conscientious objections to the service, for elsewhere it is recorded, under the same date, "upon mr. mabbott's desire and reasons against licensing of books to be printed, he was discharged of that imployment." (whitelock's _memorials_, .) on the th september, , was passed a parliamentary ordinance prohibiting printing elsewhere than in london, the two universities, york, and finsbury, without the licence of the council of state (scobell's _ordinances_, part ii. .); and on the th january, - , the parliament passed another ordinance for the suppression of unlicensed and scandalous books. (scobell's _ordinances_, part ii. .) in a bill for the regulation of printing passed the lords, but was rejected by the commons on account of the peers having inserted a clause exempting their own houses from search; but in was passed the statute & car. ii. c. ., which required all books to be licensed as follows:--law books by the lord chancellor, or one of the chief justices, or chief baron; books of history and state, by one of the secretaries of state; of heraldry, by the earl marshal, or the king-at-arms; of divinity, physic, philosophy, or whatsoever other science or art, by the archbishop of canterbury or the bishop of london: or if printed at either university, by the chancellor thereof. the number of master printers (exclusive of the king's printers and the printers of the universities) was to be reduced to twenty, and then vacancies were to be filled up by the archbishop of canterbury and bishop of london, and printing was not to be allowed elsewhere than in london, york (where the archbishop of york was to license all books), { } and the two universities. this act was to continue for two years, from th june, . it was renewed by the car. ii. c. .; & car. ii. c. .; and car. ii. c. ., and expired on the th may, ,--a day rendered ever memorable by the passing of the habeas corpus act: but in less than a year afterwards the judges unanimously advised the king that he might by law prohibit the printing and publishing of all news-books and pamphlets of news not licensed by his majesty's authority; and accordingly on the th may, , appeared in the _gazette_ a proclamation restraining the printing of such books and pamphlets without license. the act of was revived for seven years, from th june, , by jac. ii. c. . s. ., and, even after the revolution, was continued for a year longer by & wm. and mary, c. . s. . when that year expired, the press of england became free; but on the st of april, , the house of commons, after passing a vote against john salusbury, printer of the _flying post_, for a paragraph inserted in that journal tending to destroy the credit and currency of exchequer bills, ordered that leave should be given to bring in a bill to prevent the writing, printing, and publishing any news without licence. mr. poultney accordingly presented such a bill on the rd of april. it was read a first time; but a motion to read it a second time was negatived. (_commons' journals_, xi. . .) this attempt again to shackle the press seems to have occasioned "a letter to a member of parliament showing that a restraint on the press is inconsistent with the protestant religion and dangerous to the liberties of the nation." printed , and reprinted in cobbett's _parliamentary history_, v. app. p. cxxx. c.h. cooper. cambridge, october . . * * * * * remains of james ii. (vol. ii., pp. . .) to the information which has recently been furnished in your pages respecting the remains of james ii., it may be not uninteresting to add the inscription which is on his monument in the church of st. germain-en-laye, and which i copied, on occasion of my last visit to france. the body of the king, or a considerable portion of it, which had remained unburied, was, i believe, interred at st. germain soon after the termination of the war in ; but it being necessary to rebuild the church, the remains were exhumed and re-interred in . vicissitudes as strange in death as in life seem to have attended this unhappy king. the following is the inscription _now_ on his monument in the parish church of st. germain: "regio cineri pietas regia. "ferale quisquis hoc monumentum suspicis rerum humanarum vices meditare magnus in prosperis in adversis major jacobus . anglorum rex. insignes ærumnas dolendaque nimium fata pio placidoque obitu exsolvit in hac urbe die . septemb. anni . et nobiliores quædam corporis ejus partes hic reconditæ asservantur." * * * * * qui prius augustâ gestabat fronte coronam exiguâ nunc pulvereus requiescit in urnâ quid solium--quid et alta juvant! terit omnia lethum, verum laus fidei ac morum haud peritura manebit tu quoque summe deus regem quem regius hospes infaustum excepit tecum regnare jubebis." but a different inscription formerly was placed over the king's remains in this church, which has now disappeared; at all events, i could not discover it; and i suppose that the foregoing was preferred and substituted for that, a copy of which i subjoin: "d.o.m. jussu georgii iv. magnæ britanniæ &c., regis, et curante equite exc. carolo stuart regis britanniæ legato, cæteris antea rite peractis et quo decet honore in stirpem regiam hic nuper effossæ reconditæ sunt reliquiæ jacobi ii., qui in secundo civitatis gradu clarus triumphis in primo infelicior, post varios fortunæ casus in spem melioris vitæ et beatæ resurrectionis hic quievit in domino, anno mdcci, v. idus septemb., mdcccxxiv." at the foot of the monument were the words-- "depouilles mortelles de jacques . roi d'angleterre." a third monumental inscription to the memory of james ii., in latin, is to be seen in the chapel of the scotch college in paris. this memorial was erected in , by james, duke of perth. an urn, containing the brains of the king, formerly stood on the top of it. a copy of this inscription is preserved in the _collectanea topographica et genealogica_, vol. vii. j. reynell wreford, d.d. bristol, november . . * * * * * judge cradock. my transplantation from gloucester to devonshire, and the consequent unapproachable state of my books, prevents my referring to authorities at the moment in support of what i have said about the arms of judge cradock _alias_ newton: still i wish to notice the subject at once that i may not appear to shrink from the query of s.a.y. (vol. ii., p. .) i happen to have at hand a copy of the grant { } of arms to sir john of east harptree, somerset, in in which, on the authority of the heralds of the day, arg. on a chevron az. garbs or, are granted to him in the first quarter as the arms of robert cradock _alias_ newton. the judge seems to have been the first of the family who dropped the name of cradock. his forefathers, for several generations (from howel ap grononye, who was lord of newton, in rouse or trenewith, in poursland), went by the name of cradog dom. de newton. robert cradock, mentioned in the grant i have quoted, married margaret sherborne. he was the judge's great-great-grandfather. sir john newton, to whom the grant was made, lies buried at east harptree; and on his tomb may be seen (besides his effigies as large as life) the twelve quarterings in their original (?) blazoning, impaled with those of his wife, one of the pointz family. the same arms (of newton) are still discernible on a beautifully wrought, though now much mutilated shield, over one of the doors of barres court, at east hanham, in bitton, gloucestershire, where newton also had a residence, where john leland on his itinerary visited him, and says (_itin._ vol. vii. p. .) "his very propre name is caradoc," &c. this property newton inherited as a descendant from the de bittons or button (through hampton), a family of great note in their day, and residents on the site of barres court, a "fayr manner place of stone," which evidently took its name from sir john barre, who married joan, the relict of robert greyndon, and daughter of thomas roug by catherine, who was the last heiress of that branch of de bittons--(she died , and is buried with her first husband at newlond). of the same family were the three bishops of that name, in the reigns of the early edwards; one of which, _thomas_, bishop of exeter in , was the pious founder of a chantry chapel adjoining bitton church, over the bodies of his father and another, who were buried there; the building itself is quite an architectural gem. the said bishop must also have resided there, for in , when dean of wells, the lord of the manor of that part of bitton where his estate lay, impounded some of his cattle, and had a trial thereon at gloucester, as appears by a placite roll of that date. i send you a copy of the grant of arms, as it may be interesting, to publish--besides, it is a reply to the latter part of s.a.y.'s query. it is copied from the ashmol. mss. no. . p. . of the newtons of yorkshire i know nothing; but if s.a.y. wishes to question me further, i shall be happy to receive his communication under his own proper sign-manual. in nichols' _leicestershire_, vol. iv. pt. . p. ., is a pedigree of cradock bearing the same arms, and it is there laid down that howel ap gronow was slain by the french in , and buried at llandilo vawr; also that the judge was called newton from his birth-place. (it is in montgomeryshire, i believe.) matthew cradock, who lies in swansea church, bore different arms. "to all and singular as well nobles and gentills as others to whom these presents shall come, we, sir gilbert dethicke, knight, alias garter, principall kinge of armes for the order of the garter, robte. cooke, alias clarenciault, kinge of armes of the south, william flower alias norroy, kinge of armes of the northe, and all others the hereauldes of armes send humble commendacion and gretinge: that whereas we being required by sir john newton, of richmond castill, in the countie of somersett, knight, to make serche for the ancient armes descendinge to him from his ancetors [sic], at whose requeste we, the said kinges and hereauldes of armes have not only made diligent serche in our regesters, but also therewithall perused diverse of his ancient evidence and other monumentes, whereuppon we doe fynd that the said sir john newton, knight, maye beare twelve severall cotes, that is to say, the armes of robte. cradocke alias newton, the armes of robte. sherborne, the arms of steven angle, the armes of steven pirot, the armes of john harvie, the armes of sir john sheder, knight, the armes of richard hampton, the armes of sir john bitton, knight, the armes of sir matthewe ffurneault, knight, the armes of walter cawdecot, the armes of sir aunsell corney, knight, and the armes of sir henry harterie, knight. all which armes doth plainlie appere depicted in the margent; and for that the said sir john newton is yncertaine of any creaste which he ought to beare by his owne proper name, he therefore hath also required vs, the said kings and hereauldes of armes, to assigne and confirme vnto him and his posteritie for ever, the creaste of sir auncell corney, knight, which sir auncell corney, as it doth appere by divers ancient evidence and other monuments of the said sir john newton, was at the winnynge of acom with kinge richard the first, where he toke prisoner a kinge of the mores: and farther, the said sir john newton, knight, hath made goode proofe for the bearinge of the same creaste, that the heires male of the said sir auncell corney is extingueshed, and the heires generall do only remaine in him. in consideracion whereof wee, the said kinges and herehauldes of arms, do give, confirme, and grant vnto the said sir john newton and his posteritie for ever, the said creaste of sir auncell corney, knight, that is to say, vppon his helme on a torce silver and asure, a kinge of the mores armed in male, crowned gold, knelinge vpon his left knee rendring vppe his sworde, as more plainly aperith depicted in this margent, to have and to horold the said creast to him and his posteretie, with there due difference to vse, beare, and show in shelde, cote armour, or otherwise, for ever, at his or their libertie and pleasure, without impediment, let, or interruption of any parson or parsons. in witnesse whereof we, the said hinges and hereauldes of arms, have caused these letters to be made patentes, and set herevnto our common seale of corporation, given at the office of arms in london, the twelvethe of december, and in the tenthe yeare of the reigne of our sovereign { } ladie elizabeth, by the grace of god queene of england, france and ireland, defender of the faithe," &c. h.t. ellacombe. clyst st george, nov. . . _cradock_--i should like to know whether the mss. of randle holme, of chester, , which afterwards were penes dr. latham, are still accessible? nichols refers to them as his authority for cradock's pedigree, as laid down in his _leicestershire_ (vol. iv. part ii. p. .). h.t.e. * * * * * replies to minor queries. replies by george stephens. i beg to encloze ðe following scraps, purposely written on slips, ðat ðe one may be destroyed and not ðe oðer if you should þink fit so to do, and for eaze ov printing. pleaze to respect my orþography--a _beginning_ to a better system--if you can and will. Ðe types required will only be ðe Ð, ð, and Þ, þ, ov our noble anglo-saxon moðer-tongue, letterz in common use almost down to ðe time ov _shakspeare_! if you _will_ not be charmed, ov course you are at liberty to change it. i have a large work in ðe press (translationz from ðe a.-saxon) printed entirely in ðis orþography. george stephens. stockholm. [even our respect for mr. stephens' well-known scholarship, fails to remove our prejudices in favour of the ordinary system of orthography.] _on a passage in "the tempest"_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--will you allow me to suggest that the reading of the original edition is perfectly correct as it stands, as will be seen by simply italicising the emphatic words:-- "_most_ busie _least_, when i doe it." the construction is thus merely an instance of a common ellipsis (here of the word _busy_), and requires the comma after _least_. this is another proof of the advantage of being slow to abandon primitive texts. george stephens. _saint, legend of a_ (vol. ii., pp. .).--the circumstance alluded to is perhaps that in the legend of _st. patrick_. it was included by voragine in his life of that saint. see the "golden legend" in init. george stephens. _cupid and psyche_ (vol. ii., pp. .).--this is probably an old _folk-tale_, originally perhaps an antique philosophical temple-allegory. apuleius appears only to have dressed it up in a new shape. the tale is still current, but in a form _not_ derived from him, among the _swedes_, _norwegians_, _danes_, _scots_, _germans_, _french_, _wallachians_, _italians_, and _hindoos_. see _svenska folk-sagor och afventyr, efter muntlig ofverlemning samlade och utgifna of g.o.h. cavallius och g. stephens_, vol. i. (stockholm, - ), p. . george stephens. _kongs skuggsia_ (vol. ii., pp . .).--this noble monument of old norse literature was written at the close of the twelfth century by a norwegian of high rank, but who expresses his resolution to remain unknown, in which he has perfectly succeeded. he probably resided near trondhjem. see, for other information, the preface to the last excellent edition lately published by _keyser_, _munch_, and _unger_, as follows:-- "speculum regale konungs-skuggsjá konge-speilet et philosophisk-didaktisk skrift, forfattet i norge mod slutningen af det tolfte aarhundrede. tilligemed et samtidigt skrift om den norske kirkes stilling til statem. med to lithographerede blade facsimile-aftryck."--christiana, . vo. george stephens. stockholm. _the disputed passage in the "tempest"_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--i am the "comma" which mr. collier claims the merit of having removed, and i humbly protest against the removal. i adhere to the reading of the folio of , except that i would strike out the final _s_ in labours. the passage would then read: "but these sweet thoughts so refresh my labour most busy least, when i do it." that is, the thoughts so refresh my labour, that i am "most busy least" (an emphatic way of saying least busy), "when i do it," to wit, the labour. mr. hickson is ingenious, but he takes no notice of-- comma. _viscount castlecomer_ (vol. ii., p. .).--s.a.y. asks whether lord deputy wandesford (not wanderforde) "ever took up this title, and what became of it afterwards?" he never did; for on the receipt of the patent, in the summer of , wandesford exclaimed, "is this a time for a faithful subject to be exalted, when his king, the fountain of honours, is likely to be reduced lower than ever." a few months afterwards he died of a broken heart. we are told that he concealed the patent, and his grandson was the first of the family--apparently by a fresh creation in --who assumed the title. the neglect of sixty-six years, perhaps, rendered this necessary: beatson does not notice the first creation. the life of this active and useful statesman, the friend and relative of strafford, was compiled from his daughter's papers, by his descendant, thomas comber, ll.d. of this work dr. whitaker availed himself in the very interesting memoir which he has given of the lord deputy, in his _history of richmondshire_, written, as we may suppose it would be by so devoted { } an admirer of charles i., with the warmest feelings of respect and admiration. "the death of my cousin wandesford," said lord strafford, "more affects me than the prospect of my own; for in him is lost the richest magazine of learning, wisdom, and piety that these times could boast." j.h.m. bath. _steele's burial-place_ (vol. ii., pp. , .).--i have been able to get the following particulars respecting steele's burial-place. steele was buried in the chancel of st. peter's church, caermarthen. the entry stands thus in the register:-- " . "sep. . sr richard steel." there is no monument to his memory in st. peter's church; but in llangunnor church, about two miles from caermarthen, there is a plain monumental tablet with the following inscription:-- "this stone was erected at the instance of william williams, of ivy tower, owner of penddaylwn vawr, in llangunnor; part of the estate there once belonging to the deservedly celebrated sir richard steele, knight, chief author of the essays named tatlers, guardians, and spectators; and he wrote the christian hero, the englishman, and the crisis, the conscious lovers, and other fine plays. he represented several places in parliament; was a staunch and able patriot; finally, an incomparable writer on morality and christianity. hence the ensuing lines in a poem, called the head of the rock:-- 'behold llangunnor, leering o'er the vale, pourtrays a scene t' adorn romantic tale; but more than all the beauties of its site, its former owner gives the mind delight. is there a heart that can't affection feel for lands so rich as once to boast a steele? who warm for freedom, and with virtue fraught, his country dearly lov'd, and greatly taught; whose morals pure, the purest style conveys, t' instruct his britain to the last of days.'" steele resided at white house (ty gwyn, as it is called in welsh), a clean farm-house half way between caermarthen and llangunnor church, which is situate on a hill commanding extensive views of one of the prettiest values in wales. a field near the house is pointed out as the site of steele's garden, in the bower of which he is said to have written his "conscious lovers." the ivy bush, formerly a private house, and said to be the house where steele died, is now the principal inn in caermarthen. wm. spurrell. caermarthen. _cure for warts_ (vol. i., p. .)-- in buckinghamshire i have heard of the charming away of warts by touching each wart with a separate green pea. each pea being wrapped in paper by itself, and buried, the wart will vanish as the pea decays. j.w.h. _etymology of "parse"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--surely _to parse_ is to take by itself each _pars_, or part of speech. the word does not seem to have been known in when brinsley published his _posing of the parts: or, a most plain and easie way of examining the accidence and grammar_. this work appears to have been very popular, as i have by me the _twelfth_ edition, london, . in , the same author issued his _ludus literarius: or the grammar schoole_. both these works interest me in him. can any of your readers communicate any particulars of his history? j.w.h. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. admiration of the works of holbein in germany, as in this country, seems to increase with increasing years. we have received from messrs. williams and norgate a copy of a new edition of his bible cuts lately published at leipsic, under the title _hans holbein's altes testament in funfzig holzschnitten getreu nach den originalen copirt. herausgegeben von hugo burkner, mit einer einleitung von d.f. sotymann_, to which we direct the attention of our readers, no less on account of the beauty and fidelity with which these admirable specimens of holbein's genius have been copied, than of the interesting account of them prefixed by their new editor. we beg to call the attention of such of our antiquaries as are interested in the history of the orkneys to a valuable contribution to our knowledge of them, lately published by our accomplished friend, professor munch, of the christiana, under the title of _symbolæ ad historiam antiquiorem rerum norwegicarum_, which contains, i. a short chronicle of norway; ii. genealogy of the earls of orkney; iii. catalogue of the kings of norway--from a ms., for the most part hitherto inedited, and which appears to have been written in orkney about the middle of the fifteenth century. while on the subject of foreign works of interest to english readers, we may mention two or three others which we have been for some time intending to bring under the notice of those who know how much light may be thrown upon our early language and literature by a study of the contemporary literature of the low countries. the first is, _denkmaeler niederdeutscher sprache und literatur von dr. albert hoefer, erstes banchen_, which contains the highly curious low german whitson play called _claws bur_. the next is a larger, more elaborately edited, and from its introduction and extensive notes and various illustrations, a yet more interesting work to english philologists. it is entitled _leven van sinte christina de wonderbare_, an old dutch poem, now first edited from a ms. of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, by professor bormans. we have received the following catalogues:--thomas kerslake's ( . park street, bristol) books, including valuable late purchases; john wheldon's { } ( . paternoster row) catalogue of valuable collection of scentific books; w.h. mckeay's ( . vinegar yard, covent garden) catalogue of a portion of stock. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. epistolae obscurorum virorum. choix d'anecdotes orientales. vol. . paris, . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_ to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we venture to call attention to the communications from bombay and stockholm, which appear in our present number, as evidences of the extending circulation, and consequently, we trust, of the increasing utility of _notes and queries. w.s. (oxford) _who inquires respecting _tempora mutantur_, is referred to our first volume_, pp. . . and . * * * * * continuation of hume and smollett's history of england, to the present reign. new enlarged edition of hughes's history of england, in vo. in seven volumes, vo., price l. s. d. boards. history of england, from the accession of george iii., to the accession of queen victoria, by the rev. t.s. hughes, b.d., canon of peterborough. "to produce a literary work, justly deserving the name of national, is a rare contribution to our literature. this mr. hughes has done in a conscientious and able manner."--_literary gazette._ london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * chronicles of the ancient british church, prior to the arrival of st. augustine, a.d. . second edition. post to. price s. cloth. "the ancient british church was a stranger to the bishop of rome, and his pretended authority."--_judge blackstone._ wertheim & macintosh, . paternoster row. * * * * * perranzabuloe.--fifth edition. in small vo. price s. (with illustrations), the fifth edition of perranzabuloe, the lost church found; or, the church of england not a new church, but ancient, apostolical, and independent, and a protesting church nine hundred years before the reformaton. by the rev. t. collins trelawny, m.a., rector of timsbury, somerset, and late fellow of balliol college. the volume contains an interesting account of the hstory and recent recovery of the ancient church of perranzabuloe, in cornwall, after being buried in the sand for seven hundred years. rivingtons, st. pauls church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * anti-popery.--a large examination taken at lambeth, according to his majesties direction, point by point, of m. geo. blackwell made archpriest of england, by pope clement viii. &c., to., half bound (rare), l. s. .--history (the) of the damnable popish plot, vo., s. d., .--foxes and fire-brandes, or, a specimen of the dangers and harmony of popery and seperation, to., half bound, s. d., .--plot (the) in a dream, or, the discoverer in masquerade, mo., plates, calf, neat, (rare), l. s.--steel's romish ecclesiastical history, mo., calf, neat, s., .--gabr. de emilianne's fraudes of the romish monks and priests, vols., vo., s. d., --william's (gr. bishop of ossory), looking glass for rebels, to., s. d., .--histoire de la papesse jeanne, vols., mo., plates, calf, neat, s., d., .--owen's (l.) jesuites looking-glass, to., half bound, s. d., .--a piece of ordanance invented by a jesuit for cowards that fight by whisperings, &c.; and six other curious tracts in the vol., to., l. s.--smith's (jno.) narrative of the late horrid and popish plot, &c.; and nine other curious tracts in the vol., folio, l. s. d.--marvel's on the growth of popery, and various other tracts, folio, s. d., - .--foxe's acts and monuments by bright, (black letter), to., neat, l. s. d., .--carleton's (bishop of chichester) thankfull remembrancer of god's mercie, to., calf, neat, l. s., .--with other rare and curious books on sale at w.h. elkins, . lombard street, city. * * * * * on the th instant, fcp. vo. price s. d., a third series of plain sermons addressed to a country congregation. by the late rev. edward blencowe, curate of teversal, notts; and formerly fellow of oriel college, oxford. also, a new edition of the first series, and a second edition of the second series, price s. d. each. "their style is simple; the sentences are not artfully constructed; and there is an utter absence of all attempt at rhetoric. the language is plain saxton language, from which 'the men on the wall' can easily gather what it most concerns them to know. "again, the range of thought is not high and difficult, but level and easy for the wayfaring man to follow. it is quite evident that the author's mind was able and cultivated; yet as a teacher to men of low estate, he makes no displays of eloquence or argument. "in the statements of christian doctrine the reality of mr. blencowe's mind is very striking. there is a strength, and a warmth, and a life, in his mention of the great truths of the gospel, which show that he spoke from the heart, and that, like the apostle of old, he could say--'i believe, and therefore have i spoken.' "his affectionateness too is no less conspicuous; this is shown in the gentle, earnest, kind-hearted tone of every sermon in the book. there is no scolding, no asperity of language, no irritation of manner about them. at the same time there is no over-strained tenderness, nor affectation of endearment; but there is a considerate, serious concern, about the peculiar sins and temptations of the people committed to his charge, and a hearty desire and determined effort for their salvation."--_theologian._ "simple, intelligible, and affectionate."--_church and state gazette._ "very stirring and practical."--_christian remembrancer._ "the discourses are plain, interesting, and pre-eminently practical."--_english churchman._ "plain, short, and affectionate discourses."--_english review._ also, vols. mo., sold separately, _s_. each. sermons. by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. "sermons of a high and solid character--earnest and affectionate."--_theologian._ "plain and practical, but close and scholarly discourses."--_spectator._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * { } books of reference necessary to correspondents and readers of notes and queries. watt's (r., m.d., and his son) bibliotheca britannica, a general index to the literature of great britain and ireland, and of foreign nations, in two divisions, st, the authors (alphabetically arranged, with biographical notices, full chronological lists of their works, their editions, sizes, &c.), nd, subjects (and anonymous works, arranged alphabetically, with constant references to their authors in the st division), glasg. and edinb., - , to. vols. scarce, cloth, _l_. _s_. (cost _l_. _s_.) lowndes's (w.t.) bibliographer's manual of english literature, , vo. vols. in , half morocco, neat, l. s. (cost l. s.) ditto, another copy, uncut, l. s. nichols's (jo.) literary anecdotes of the th century, with a very copious index; and the illustrations of the literary history of the th century, - , numerous portraits, vo., bound in thick vols., newly bound, calf extra, gilt, very beautiful set, with edges uncut, l. s. moreri's (louis) great historical dictionary of the gods and heroes, the lives of the patriarchs, emperors, princes, popes, saints, fathers, cardinals, heresiarchs, the history of sects, councils, general and particular authors, orders, genealogies of families, &c., (in french), paris, , best edition, folio, vols. calf, gilt, l. s. nares's (rob.) glossary of words, phrases, names, customs, proverbs, &c., in the works of english authors, particularly shakspeare and his contemporaries, , to., very scarce, handsomely bound in russia, gilt, gilt edges, l. s. todd's johnson's dictionary, , portrait, to. vols. half cloth, l. s. (pub. at l. s.) bp. tanner's notitia monastica, an account of all the abbies, priories, and houses of friers formerly in england and wales, with many additions by nasmith, camb. , port. and large additional portrait and two plates inserted, fol. best edition, half russia, uncut, l. s. chalmers's (alex.) general biographical dictionary, - , vo. vols. half russia very neat, l. s. graff's (dr. e.g.) althochdeutscher sprachschatz oder wörterbuch der althochdeutschen sprache, mit völlstand. alphabetisch. index von h.f. massmann, berlin, - , to. vols. half calf, very neat, l. s. (cost _l_ _s_) lye (edv.) dictionarium saxonico et gothico-latinum, accedunt fragmenta vers. ulphilanæ, chartæ, sermo, &c., anglo-saxonice, , folio, vols. with ms. additions and notes in the autograph of the rev. t.d. fosbroke, the antiquary, newly bound in half calf, gilt, elegant, uncut, l. s. ducange et carpentarii glossarium manuale ad scriptores mediæ et infimæ latinitatis, in compendium redactum, multisque verbis auctum, halæ, - , vo, vols. half calf, very neat, l. s. robson's (thos.) british herald, or cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility and gentry of great britain and ireland, &c., , with a volume of plates, to, vols. half calf, gilt, l. s. (cost l.) tiraboschi (girol.) storia della literatura italiana, roma, - , (best edition, with the notes of p. mamachi,) large to. vols. vellum, gilt, neat, fine set, l. s. bayle (p.) dictionnaire historique et critique, nouv. edn., augmentée de notes de chaupepiÉ, joly, la monnoie, l.j. leclerc, le du chat, prosper marchand, &c., &c., paris, - , vo. thick and full printed volumes, half calf, neat, l. s. facciolati's latin lexicon, by bailey, , large to. vols. handsomely bound, calf extra, gilt, l. s. richardson's (charles, ll.d.) new dictionary of the english language, combining explanation with etymology; pickering, , to. vols. very handsomely bound, russia extra, gilt, gilt edges, a truly beautiful book, l. s. pugin's (a.w.) glossary of ecclesiastical ornament and costume, with extracts from durandus, georgius, bona, catalani, gerbert, martene, molanus, thiers, mabillon, ducange, &c., translated by the rev. bernard smith, of oscott, , illuminations, sumptuously printed in gold and colours, and other engravings, royal to. half morocco, gilt, elegant, l. s. collins's peerage of england, augmented and continued by sir e. brydges, , vo. vols. russia, marble edges, by lewis, l. s. retrospective review, complete, - , vo. vols. half green morocco, very neat, l. s. ditto in parts, uncut, l. s. baldinucci (fil.) opere (history of engraving in copper and wood, &c., &c.), milano, - , port. vo. thick vols. half calf, l. s. dibdin's (t.f.) typographical antiquities, or the history of printing in england, scotland, and ireland, comprehending a history of english literature and the progress of engraving, - , portraits and numerous fac-similes of ancient wood engraving, the types used by the various early printers, &c., &c., royal to. vols. boards, uncut, l. s. (cost l. s.) royal academy.--a collection of all the catalogues of the exhibitions of the royal academy from the st, , to the rd, , very scarce, to. vols. half cloth, neat, uncut, l. s. card. baronii (cæs.) annales ecllesiasticÆ, antv. , &c. port., vols. old oaken binding, stamped calf, old gilt, neat--bzovii (abra.) annales ecclesiasticÆ post baronium ad , accessit tomus posthumus et ultimus, col.-agripp, et romae, - , vols. old oaken binding, stamped calf, neat,--together, vols., a fine set, l. s. to be bought of thomas kerslake, at no. park street, bristol, at the net prices annexed to each lot. * * * * * just published, a catalogue of valuable books, containing selections from the libraries at conishead priory, lancashire; sir geo. goold, old court, co. cork; coleby hall, lincolnshire; prof. elrington, t.c., dublin; g.h. ward, esq., northwood park, isle of wight; j.b. swete, esq., oxton house, devon; and other late purchases. franked by a single stamp. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november . . { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january , . [price sixpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page traditional english ballads, by dr. e.f. rimbault the father of philip massinger touchstone's dial, by george stephens discrepancies in dugdale's account of sir ralph de cobham, by w. hastings kelke henry chettle coverdale's bible answer to cowley folk lore of lancashire, no. ., by t.t. wilkinson minor notes:--proclamation of langholme fair--seats in churches--flemish account--use of monosyllables--specimen of foreign english--epitaph queries:-- the tale of the wardstaff, by s.w. singer ballad ascribed to sir c. hanbury williams, by g.h. barker minor queries:--book called tartuare--william wallace in london--obeism--aged monks--lady alice carmichael--"a verse may find him"--daresbury, the white chapel of england--ulm manuscript-- merrick and tattersall--dr. trusler's memoirs-- life of bishop frampton--probabilism--sir henry chauncy's observations on wilfred entwysel--theological tracts--lady bingham--gregory the great--john hill's penny post in --andrea ferrara--imputed letter of sallustius--thomas rogers of horninger--tandem d.o.m.--the episcopal mitre replies:-- the passage in troilus and cressida, by john taylor black images of the virgin, by j.b. litchfield outline in painting ten children at a birth shakspeare's use of "captious" sword of william the conqueror meaning of eisell altar lights, &c. replies to minor queries:--handbell before a corpse --sir george downing--hulls, the inventor of steamboats--"clarum et venerabile nomen"--occult transposition of letters--darby and joan--did bunyan know hobbes?--mythology of the stars--dodo queries--holland land--swearing by swans--the frozen horn--cockade and true blue--the vavasours of hazlewood--"breeches" bible--histoire des sévarambes--verses attributed to charles yorke--archbishop bolton of cashel--erasmus and farel--early culture of the imagination--william chilcot--by and bye--mocker--was colonel hewson a cobbler?--mole--pillgarlick--a recent novel --tablet to napoleon--north sides of churchyards --wisby--singing of swans--dacre monument at herstmoneux--herstmoneux castle--suem; ferling; grasson--portrait of archbishop williams --swans hatched during thunder--etymology of apricot --"plurima gemma latet circa tellure sepulta"-- time when herodotus wrote--lucy and colin-- translations of apuleius, &c.--etymology of "grasson" --lynch law--"talk not of love"--the butcher duke--curfew--robertson struan miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. traditional english ballads. the task of gathering old traditionary song is surely a pleasant and a lightsome one. albeit the harvest has been plentiful and the gleaners many, still a stray sheaf may occasionally be found worth the having. but we must be careful not to "pick up a straw." one of your corespondents recommends, as an addition to the value of your pages, the careful getting together of those numerous traditional ballads that are still sometimes to be met with, floating about various parts of the country. this advice is by no means to be disregarded, but i wish to point out the necessity of the contributors to the undertaking knowing something about ballad literature. an acquaintance with the ordinary _published_ collections, at least, cannot be dispensed with. without this knowledge we should be only multiplying copies of worthless trifles, or reprinting ballads that had already appeared in print. the traditional copies of old _black-letter_ ballads are, in almost all cases (as may easily be seen by comparison), much the worse for wear. as a proof of this i refer the curious in these matters to a volume of _traditional versions of old ballads_, collected by mr. peter buchan, and edited by mr. dixon for the percy society. the rev. mr. dyce pronounces this "a volume of _forgeries_;" but, acquitting poor buchan (of whom more anon) of any intention to deceive, it is, to say the least of it, a volume of _rubbish_; inasmuch as the ballads are all worthless modern versions of what had appeared "centuries ago" in their _genuine_ shape. had these ballads _not existed in print_, we should have been glad of them in any form; but, in the present case, the publication of such a book (more especially by a learned society) is a positive nuisance. another work which i cannot refrain from noticing, called by one of the reviewers "a valuable contribution to our stock of ballad literature"? is mr. frederick sheldon's _minstrelsy of the english border_. the preface to this volume { } promises much, as may be seen by the following passage:-- "it is now upwards of forty years since sir walter scott published his _border minstrelsy_, and during his 'raids,' as he facetiously termed his excursions of discovery in liddesdale, teviotdale, tyndale, and the merse, very few ballads of any note or originality could possibly escape his enthusiastic inquiry; for, to his love of ballad literature, he added the patience and research of a genuine antiquary. yet, no doubt many ballads _did_ escape, and still remain scattered up and down the country side, existing probably in the recollection of many a sun-browned shepherd, or the weather-beaten brains of ancient hinds, or 'eldern' women: or in the well-thumbed and nearly illegible leaves of some old book or pamphlet of songs, snugly resting on the 'pot-head,' or sharing their rest with the 'great ha' bible,' _scott's worthies_, or blind harry's lines. the parish dominie or pastor of some obscure village, amid the many nooks and corners of the borders, possesses, no doubt, treasures in the ballad-ware that would have gladdened the heart of a ritson, a percy, or a surtees; in the libraries, too, of many an ancient descendant of a border family, some black-lettered volume of ballads, doubtlessly slumbers in hallowed and unbroken dust." this reads invitingly; the writer then proceeds:-- "from such sources i have obtained may of the ballads in the present collection. those to which i have stood godfather, and so baptized and remodelled, i have mostly met with in the 'broad-side' ballads, as they are called." although the writer here speaks of ritson and percy as if he were acquainted with their works, it is very evident that he had not looked into their contents. the name of evans' _collection_ had probably never reached him. alas! we look in vain for the tantalising "pamphlet of songs,"--still, perhaps, snugly resting on the "pot-head," where our author in his "poetical dream" first saw it. the "black-lettered volume of ballads" too, in the library of the "ancient descendant of a border family," still remains in its dusty repository, untouched by the hand of frederick sheldon. in support of the object of this paper i shall now point out "a few" of the errors of _the minstrelsy of the english border_. p. . _the fair flower of northumberland_:-- "it was a knight in scotland born, follow my love, come over the strand; was taken prisoner, and left forlorn even by the good erle northumberland." this is a corrupt version of thomas deloney's celebrated ballad of "the ungrateful knight," printed in the _history of jack of newbery_, , and in ritson's _ancient songs_, . a scottish version may be found in kinloch's _ballads_, under the title of the "the provost's daughter." mr. sheldon knows nothing of this, but says,-- "this ballad has been known about the english border for many years, and i can remember a version of it being sung by my grandmother!" he also informs us that he has added the last verse but one, in order to make the "ends of justice" more complete! p. . _the laird of roslin's daughter_:-- "the laird of roslin's daughter walk'd through the wood her lane; and by her came captain wedderburn, a servant to the queen." this is a wretched version (about half the original length) of a well-known ballad, entitled "captain wedderburn's courtship." it first appeared _in print_ in _the new british songster_, a collection published at falkirk, in . it was afterwards inserted in jamieson's _popular ballads and songs_, ; kinloch's _ancient ballads_, ; chambers' _scottish ballads_, , &c. but hear what mr. sheldon has to say, in :-- "this is a fragment of an apparently ancient ballad, related to me by a lady of berwick-on-tweed, who used to sing it in her childhood. i have given all that she was able to furnish me with. the same lady assures me that she never remembers having seen it in print [!!], and that she had learnt if from her nurse, together with the ballad of 'sir patrick spens,' and several irish legends, since forgotten." p. . _the merchant's garland_:-- "syr carnegie's gane owre the sea, and's plowing thro' the main, and now must make a lang voyage, the red gold for to gain." this is evidently one of those ballads which calls mr. sheldon "godfather." the original ballad, which has been "baptized and remodelled," is called "the factor's garland." it begins in the following homely manner:-- "behold here's a ditty, 'tis true and no jest concerning a young gentleman in the east, who by his great gaming came to poverty, and afterwards went many voyages to sea." p. . _the rare ballad of johnnie faa_:-- "there were seven gipsies in a gang, they were both brisk and bonny o; they rode till they came to the earl of castle's house, and here they sang so sweetly o." this is a very _hobbling_ version (from the recitation of a "gipsy vagabond") of a ballad frequently reprinted. it first appeared in ramsay's _tea-table miscellany_; afterwards in finlay's and chambers' collections. none of these versions were known to mr. sheldon. i have now extracted enough from the _minstrelsy of the english border_ to show the mode of "ballad editing" as pursued by mr. sheldon. the instances are sufficient to strengthen my position. one of the most popular traditional ballads still { } floating about the country, is "king henrie the fifth's conquest:"-- "as our king lay musing on his bed, he bethought himself upon a time, of a tribute that was due from france, had not been paid for so long a time." it was first printed from "oral communication," by sir harris nicolas, who inserted two versions in the appendix to his _history of the battle of agincourt_, d edition, vo. . it again appeared (not from either of sir harris nicolas's copies) in the rev. j.c. tyler's _henry of monmouth_, vo. vol. ii. p. . and, lastly, in mr. dixon's _ancient poems, ballads, and songs of the peasantry of england_, printed by the percy society in . these copies vary considerably from each other, which cannot be wondered at, when we find that they were obtained from independent sources. mr. tyler does not allude to sir harris nicolas's copies, nor does mr. dixon seem aware that any _printed_ version of the traditional ballad had preceded his. the ballad, however, existed in a printed "broad-side" long before the publications alluded to, and a copy, "printed and sold in aldermary church yard," is now before me. it is called "king henry v., his conquest of france in revenge for the affront offered by the french king in sending him (instead of the tribute) a ton of tennis balls." an instance of the various changes and mutations to which, in the course of ages, a popular ballad is subject, exists in the "frog's wedding." the pages of the "notes and queries" testify to this in a remarkable degree. but no one has yet hit upon the _original_ ballad; unless, indeed, the following be it, and i think it has every appearance of being the identical ballad licensed to edward white in - . it is taken from a rare musical volume in my library, entitled _melismata; musicall phansies, fitting the court, citie, and countrey humours. printed by william stansby for thomas adams_, . to. "the marriage of the frogge and the mouse. "it was the frogge in the well, humble-dum, humble dum; and the merrie mouse in the mill, tweedle, tweedle twino. "the frogge would a-wooing ride, humble-dum, &c. sword and buckler by his side, tweedle, &c. "when he was upon his high horse set, humble-dum, &c. his boots they shone as blacke as jet. tweedle, &c. "when he came to the merry mill pin, humble-dum, &c. lady mouse, beene you within? tweedle, &c. "then came out the dusty mouse, humble-dum, &c. i am lady of this house, tweedle, &c. "hast thou any minde of me? humble-dum, &c. i have e'ne great minde of thee, tweedle, &c. "who shall this marriage make? humble-dum, &c. our lord, which is the rat, tweedle, &c. "what shall we have to our supper? humble-dum, &c. three beanes in a pound of butter, tweedle, &c. "when supper they were at, humble-dum, &c. the frogge, the mouse, and even the rat, tweedle, &c. "then came in gib our cat, humble-dum, &c. and catcht the mouse even by the backe, tweedle, &c. "then did they separate, humble-dum, &c. and the frogge leapt on the floore so flat, tweedle, &c. "then came in dicke our drake, humble-dum, &c. and drew the frogge even to the lake, tweedle, &c. "the rat ran up the wall, humble-dum, &c a goodly company, the divell goe with all, tweedle, &c." from what i have shown, the reader will agree with me, that a collector of ballads from oral tradition should possess some acquaintance with the labours of his predecessors. this knowledge is surely the smallest part of the duties of an editor. i remember reading, some years ago, in the writings of old zarlino (an italian author of the sixteenth century), an amusing chapter on the necessary qualifications for a "complete musician." the recollection of this forcibly returns to me after perusing the following extract from the preface to a _collection of ballads_ ( vols. vo. edinburgh, ), by our "simple" but well-meaning friend, "mr. peter buchan of peterhead." "no one has yet conceived, nor has it entered the mind of man, what patience, perseverance, and general knowledge are necessary for an editor of a collection of ancient ballads; nor what mountains of difficulties he has to overcome; what hosts of enemies he has to encounter; and what myriads of little-minded quibblers he has to silence. the writing of explanatory notes is like no other species of literature. history throws { } little light upon their origin [the ballads, i suppose?], or the cause which gave rise to their composition. he has to grope his way in the dark: like bunyan's pilgrim, on crossing the valley of the shadow of death, he hears sounds and noises, but cannot, to a certainty, tell from whence they come, nor to what place they proceed. the one time, he has to treat of fabulous ballads in the most romantic shape; the next, legendary, with all its exploded, obsolete, and forgotten superstitions; also history, tragedy, comedy, love, war, and so on; all, perhaps, within the narrow compass of a few hours,--so varied must his genius and talents be." after this we ought surely to rejoice, that any one hardy enough to become an editor of old ballads is left amongst us. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * the father of philip massinger. gifford was quite right in stating that the name of the father of massinger, the dramatist, was arthur, according to oldys, and not philip, according to wood and davies. arthur massinger (as he himself spelt the name, although others have spelt it messenger, from its supposed etymology) was in the service of the earl of pembroke, who married the sister of sir philip sidney, in whose family the poet daniel was at one time tutor. i have before me several letters from him to persons of note and consequence, all signed "arthur massinger;" and to show his importance in the family to which he was attached, i need only mention, that in , when a match was proposed between the son of lord pembroke and the daughter of lord burghley, massinger, the poet's father, was the confidential agent employed between the parties. my purpose at present is to advert to a matter which occurred ten years earlier, and to which the note i am about to transcribe relates. it appears that in march, , arthur massinger was a suitor for the reversion of the office of examiner in the court of the marches toward south wales, for which also a person of the name of fox was a candidate; and, in order to forward the wishes of his dependent, the earl of pembroke wrote to lord burghley as follows:-- "my servant massinger hathe besought me to ayde him in obteyning a reversion from her majestie of the examiner's office in this courte; whereunto, as i willingly have yielded, soe i resolved to leave the craving of your lordship's furtheraunce to his owne humble sute; but because i heare a sonn of mr. fox (her majestie's secretary here) doth make sute for the same, and for the mr. sherar, who now enjoyethe it, is sicklie, i am boulde to desier your lordship's honorable favour to my servaunte, which i shall most kindlie accepte, and he for the same ever rest bounde to praye for your lordship. and thus, leaving further to trouble you, &c. . march, . h. pembroke." the whole body of this communication, it is worth remark, is in the handwriting of arthur massinger (whose penmanship was not unlike that of his son), and the signature only that of the earl, in whose family he was entertained. i have not been able to ascertain whether the application was successful; and it is possible that some of the records of the court may exist, showing either the death of sherar, and by whom he was succeeded about that date, or that sherar recovered from his illness. as i have before said, it is quite clear that arthur massinger was high in the confidence and service of lord pembroke ten years after the date of the preceding note. i have a good deal more to say about arthur massinger, but i must take another time for the purpose. the hermit of holyport. * * * * * touchstone's dial. (vol. ii., p. .) the conjecture of mr. knight, in his note to _as you like it_, and to which your correspondent j.m.b. has so instructively drawn our attention, is undoubtedly correct. the "sun-ring" or ring-dial, was probably the watch of our forefathers some thousand years previous to the invention of the modern chronometer, and its history is deserving of more attention than has hitherto been paid to it. its immense antiquity in europe is proved by its still existing in the _remotest_ and _least civilised_ districts of north england, scotland, and the western isles, ireland, and in scandinavia. i have in my possession _two_ such rings, both of brass. the one, nearly half an inch broad, and two inches in diameter, is from the swedish island of gothland, and is of more modern make. it is held by the finger and thumb clasping a small brass ear or handle, to the right of which a slit in the ring extends nearly one-third of the whole length. a small narrow band of brass (about one-fifth of the width) runs along the centre of the ring, and of course covers the slit. this narrow band is movable, and has a hole in one part through which the rays of the sun can fall. on each side of the band (to the right of the handle) letters, which stand for the names of the months, are inscribed on the ring as follows:-- j a s o n d j m a m f j [the letters in the lower row inverted] _inside_ the ring, opposite to these letters, are the following figures for the hours:-- [the figures in the upper row inverted, the sideways] the small brass band was made movable that the ring-click might be properly _set by the sun_ at stated periods, perhaps once a month. the second sun-ring, which i bought in stockholm in , also "out of a deal of old iron," is { } smaller and much broader than the first, and is perhaps a hundred years older; it is also more ornamented. otherwise its fashion is the same, the only difference being in the arrangement of the inside figures, which are as follows:-- [the figures in the lower row inverted] the ring recovered by mr. knight evidently agrees with the above. i hope mr. k. will, sooner or later, present the curiosity to our national museum,--which will be driven at last, if not by higher motives, by the mere force of public opinion and public indignation, to form a regularly arranged and grand collection of our own british antiquities in every branch, secular and religious, from the earliest times, down through the middle ages, to nearly our own days. such an archæological department could count not only upon the assistance of the state, but upon rich and generous contributions from british sources, individuals and private societies, at home and abroad, as well as foreign help, at least in the way of exchange. but any such plan must be _speedily_ and _well_ organised and _well announced_! i give the above details, not only because they relate to a passage in our immortal bard, who has ennobled and perpetuated every word and fact in his writings, but because they illustrate the astronomical antiquities of our own country and our kindred tribes during many centuries. these sun-dials are now very scarce, even in the high scandinavian north, driven out as they have been by the watch, in the same manner as the ancient clog[ ] or rune-staff (the carved wooden perpetual almanac) has been extirpated by the printed calendar, and now only exists in the cabinets of the curious. in fifty years more sun-rings will probably be quite extinct throughout europe. i hope this will cause you to excuse my prolixity. will no _astronomer_ among your readers direct his attention to this subject? does anything of the kind still linger in the east? george stephens. stockholm. [footnote : the scandinavian rune-staff is well known. an engraving of an ancient english clog (but with roman characters, instead of runic) is in hone's _every-day book_, vol. ii.] * * * * * discrepancies in dugdale's account of sir ralph de cobham. there are some difficulties in dugdale's account of the cobham family which it may be well to bring before your readers; especially as several other historians and genealogists have repeated dugdale's account without remarking on its inconsistencies. in speaking of a junior branch of the family, he says, in vol. ii. p. ., "there was also ralphe de cobham, brother of the first-mentioned stephen." he only mentions one stephen but names him twice, first at page ., and again at . perhaps he meant the _above_-mentioned stephen. he continues:-- "this ralphe took to wife mary countess of norfolk, widdow of thomas of brotherton. which mary was daughter to william lord ros, and first married to william lord braose of brembre; and by her had issue john, who e. iii., making proof of his age, and doing his fealty, had livery of his lands." at page . of the same volume he states that thomas de brotherton died in edward iii., which would be only eight years before his widow's son, by a subsequent husband, is said to have become of age. that he did become of age in this year we have unquestionable evidence. in _cal. ing. p. mortem_, vol. iv. p. ., we find this entry:-- "anno edw. iii. johannes de cobham, filius et hæres radulphi de cobeham defuncti. probatio ætatis." there is also abundant proof that thomas de brotherton died in edward iii. the most natural way of removing this difficulty would be to conclude that john de cobham was the son of ralph by a previous marriage. but here we have another difficulty to encounter. he is not only called the son of mary, countess of norfolk, or marishall, by dugdale, but in all contemporaneous records. see rymer's _foed._, vol. vi. p. .; _rot. orig._, vol. ii. p. .; _cal. rot. pat._, p. ., again at p. .; _cal. ing. p. mortem_, vol. iii. pp. . . being the son-in-law of the countess, he was probably called her son to distinguish him from a kinsman of the same name, or because of her superior rank. she is frequently styled the widow, and sometimes the wife of thomas de brotherton, even after the death of her subsequent husband, sir ralph de cobham. in the escheat at her death she is thus described:-- "maria comitissa norfolc', uxor thome de brotherton, comitis norfolc', relicta radi de cobeham, militis." it is remarkable that this discrepancy in sir john cobham's age, and the time of his supposed mother's marriage with his father, has never before, as far as my knowledge extends, been noticed by any of the numerous writers who have repeated dugdale's account of this family. before concluding i will mention another mistake respecting the countess which runs through most of our county histories where she is named. for a short period she became an inmate of the abbey of langley, and is generally stated to have entered it previously to her marriage with sir ralph de cobham. clutterbuck, in his _history of hertfordshire_ (vol. ii. p. .), for instance, relates the circumstance in these words:-- { } "in the th year of the reign of edward iii., she became a nun in the abbey of langley, in the country of norfolk; but quitting that religious establishment, she married sir ralph cobham, knt., and died anno edward iii." by _cal. ing. p. mortem_, vol. i. p. ., we find that ralph cobham died th edward iii.[ ], that is, the same year in which the countess entered the abbey, from whence we may conclude that she retired there to pass in seclusion the period of mourning. w. hastings kelke. [footnote : if my copy be correct, it is edw. ii. in the printed calendar: but it must have been edw. iii., for, from the possessions described, it must have been sir ralph cobham who married the widow of thomas de brotherton.] * * * * * henry chettle. dr. rimbault, in the introduction to his edition of _kind-hearts' dream_, for the percy society, says, "of the author, henry chettle, very little is known: ... we are ignorant of the time and place of his birth or death, and of the manner in which he obtained his living." (pp. vii. viii.) i trouble you with this note in the hope that it may furnish him with a clue to further particulars of henry chettle. hutchins (_hist. of dorset._, vol. i. p. . ed. ) mentions a family named chettle, which was seated at blandford st. mary from to about , and gives the following names as lineal successors to property in that parish: henry chettle, ob. . john, s. and h., ob. . edward, s. and h., ob. , "leaving henry, his son and heir, eleven years nine months old." among the burials for the same parish (p. .) occurs "henry chettle, esq., ;" and at pp. . . the marriage of "henry chettle, gent., and susan chaldecot, ." this last extract is from the register of the parish of steple, in the isle of purbeck, which also contains, says hutchins, many notices of the chettle family; but all, i should infer, _subsequent_ to the year . i have ascertained that the statement in hutchins corresponds with the entry in the register of blandford st. mary, of the burial of henry chettle in ; and that there is _no_ entry of the baptism of any one of that name. in fact, the registers only begin in . now it is clear that there were two persons of this name living at the same time, viz. h.c., aged eleven years in ; and h.c., who marries in . and if the conjecture of the learned editor be correct, as probably it is, that the poet, henry chettle, "died in or before the year ," it is equally clear that he was a _third_ of the same name, and that he could not be the person whose name occurs as buried in . but the name is not a common one, and there seems sufficient to warrant further research into this subject. i venture, therefore, to make these two suggestions in the form of queries: i. can any _internal_ evidence be gathered from the writings of henry chettle, as to his family, origin, and birthplace? _kind-heart's dream_, the only one of his works which i have either seen or have the means of consulting, contains nothing specific enough to connect him with dorset, or the west. it would seem, indeed, as if he were acquainted with the new forest, but not better than with essex, and other parts adjacent to london. ii. would it not be worth while to search the heralds' visitations for the county of dorset, the will-office, and the inquisitions "post mortem?" the family was of some consequence, and is mentioned even in domesday-book as holding lands in the county. hutchins blazons their arms--az. spiders, or; but gives no pedigree of the family. e.a.d. * * * * * coverdale's bible. we are told by mr. granville penn, in the preface to the _annotations to the book of the new covenant_, that "in coverdale printed an english translation of the old testament, to which he annexed tyndale's revision of the new, probably revised by himself. these last constitute what is called _coverdale's bible_. now, the title-page of coverdale's bible expressly states that it was faithfully and truly translated out of douche and latyn into englishe;" and that this is literally true may be seen by comparing any portion of it with the common german version of luther. the following portion is taken quite at hazard from the original edition; and i have added tyndale's version of , as edited by mr. offor: . john, vi. . the[ ] murmured the iewes ther ouer, that he sayde: i am yt bred which is come downe from heaue[ ], and they sayde: is not this iesus, iosephs sonne, whose father and mother we knowe? how sayeth be then, i am come downe from heaue[ ]? iesus answered, and sayde vnto them: murmur not amonge youre selues. no man can come vnto me, excepte the father which hath sent me, drawe him. and i shal rayse him vp at the last daye. it is wrytten in the prophetes: they shal all be taughte of god. who so euer now heareth it of the father and lerneth it, commeth vnto me. not that eny man hath sene the father, saue he which is of the father, the same hath sene the father. _luther._ da murreten die juden daruber, das er sagte: ich bin das brodt, das vom himmel gekommen ist. { } und sprachen; ist dieser nicht jesus, joseph's sohn, dess vater und mutter wir kennen? wie spricht er denn: ich bin vom himmel gekommen? jesus antwortete, und sprach zu ihnen: murret nicht unter einander. es kann niemand zu mir kommen, es sey denn, das ihn ziche der vater, der mich gesandt hat; und ich werde ihn auferwecken am jungsten tage. es stehet geschrieben in den propheten: sie werden alle von gott gelehret seyn. wer es nun höret vom vater, und lernet es, der kommt zu mir. nicht das jemand den vater habe gesehen ohne der vom vater ist, der hat den vater gesehen. _tyndale, ._ the iewes murmured att itt, be cause he sayde: i am thatt breed which is come doune from heven. and they sayde: is nott this jesus the sonne of joseph, whose father, and mother we knowe? how ys yt then thatt he sayeth, i came doune from heven? jesus answered and sayde vnto them: murmur not betwene youre selves. no man can come to me except my father which hath sent me, drawe hym. and y will rayse hym vp at the last daye. hit is written in the prophetes: and they shall all be taught of god. every man which hath herde, and lerned of the father, commeth unto me, not that eny man hath sene the father, save he which is off god. the same hath sene the father. _authorized version._ the jews then murmured at him, because he said, i am the bread which came down from heaven. and they said, is not this jesus, the son of joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, i came down from heaven? jesus therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. no man can come to me, except the father which hath sent me draw him: and i will raise him up at the last day. it is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of god. every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the father, cometh unto me. not that any man hath seen the father, save he which is of god, he hath seen the father. echo. * * * * * answer to cowley. on the fly-leaf of a copy of cowley's works (london, ), i find the following lines:-- an answer to drinking (page .). "the thirsty earth, when one would think her dusty throat required more drink, wets but her lips, and parts the showers among her thousand plants and flowers: those take their small and stinted size, not drunkard-like, to fall, but rise. the sober sea observes her tide even by the drunken sailor's side; the roaring rivers pressing high seek to get in her company; she, rising, seems to take the cup, but other rivers drink all up. the sun, and who dare him disgrace with drink, that keeps his steady pace, baits at the sea, and keeps good hours. the moon and stars, and mighty powers, drink not, but spill that on the floor the sun drew up the day before, and charitable dews bestow on herbs that die for thirst below. then drink no more, then let that die that would the drunkard kill, for why shall all things live by rule but i, thou man of morals, tell me why?" on the title-page, in the same hand-writing as the "answer," is the name of the rev. archibald foyer, with the date . y. * * * * * folk lore of lancashire. no. . lancashire, like all other counties, has its own peculiar superstitions, manners, and customs, which find no parallels in those of other localities. it has also, no doubt, many local observances, current opinions, old proverbs, and vulgar ditties, which are held and known in common with the inhabitants of a greater extent of county, and differ merely in minor particulars;--the necessary result of imperfect oral transmission. in former numbers of this work a few isolated specimens of the folk-lore of this district have been noticed, and the present attempt is to give permanency to a few others. . if a person's hair, when thrown into the fire, burns brightly, it is a sure sign that the individual will live long. the brighter the flame the longer life, and _vice versâ_. . a young person frequently stirs the fire with the poker to test the humour of a lover. if the fire blaze brightly, the lover is _good-humoured_; and _vice versâ_. . a crooked sixpence, or a copper coin with a hole through, are accounted _lucky_ coins. . cutting or paring the nails of the hands or feet on a friday or sunday, is very unlucky. . if a person's _left_ ear burn, or feel hot, somebody is _praising_ the party; if the _right_ ear burn, then it is a sure sign that some one is speaking evil of the person. . children are frequently cautioned by their parents not to walk _backwards_ when going an errand; it is a sure sign that they will be unfortunate in their objects. . witchcraft, and the belief in its reality, is not yet exploded in many of the rural districts. the writer is acquainted with parties who place full credence in persons possessing the power to bewitch cows, sheep, horses, and even those persons to whom the witch has an antipathy. one respectable farmer assured me that his horse was { } _bewitched into the stable through a loophole twelve inches by three_; the _fact_ he said was beyond doubt, for he had locked the stable-door himself when the horse was in the field, and had kept the key in his pocket. soon after this, however, a party of farmers went through a process known by the name of "_burning the witch out_," or "_killing the witch_," as some express it; the person suspected soon died, and the neighbourhood became free from his evil doings. . a horse-shoe is still nailed behind many doors to counteract the effects of witchcraft: a _hagstone_ with a hole through, tied to the key of the stable-door, protects the horses, and, if hung up at the bed's head, the farmer also. . a hot iron put into the cream during the process of churning, expels the witch from the churn; and dough in preparation for the baker is protected by being marked with the figure of a cross. . warts are cured by being rubbed over with a black snail, but the snail must afterwards be impaled upon a hawthorn. if a bag containing as many small pebbles as a person has warts, be tossed over the _left_ shoulder, it will transfer the warts to whoever is unfortunate enough to pick up the bag. . if black snails are seized by the horn and tossed over the _left_ shoulder, the process will insure _good luck_ to the person who performs it. . profuse bleeding is said to be instantly stopped by certain persons who pretend to possess the secret of a certain form of words which immediately act as a charm. . the power of bewitching, producing evil to parties by _wishing_ it, &c., is supposed to be transmitted from one possessor to another when one of the parties is about to die. the writer is in possession of full particulars respecting this supposed transfer. . cramp is effectually prevented by placing the shoes with the _toes_ just peeping from beneath the coverlet; the same is also prevented by tying the garter round the _left_ leg _below_ the knee. . charmed rings are worn by many for the cure of dyspepsia; and so also are charmed belts for the cure of rheumatism. . a _red-haired_ person is supposed to bring in ill-luck if he be the first to enter a house on new year's day. _black-haired_ persons are rewarded with liquor and small gratuities for "taking in the new year" to the principal houses in their respective neighbourhoods. . if any householder's fire does not burn _through_ the night of new year's eve, it betokens bad luck during the ensuing year; and if any party allow another a live coal, or even a lighted candle, on such an occasion, the bad luck is extended to the other part for commiserating with the former in his misfortunes. many other specimens of the folk lore of this district might be enumerated; but since many here have implicit faith in lover's expression,-- "there is luck in _odd_ numbers;" i will reserve them for a future opportunity, considering that _seventeen_ paragraphs are sufficient to satisfy all except the most thorough-paced _folklorians_. t.t. wilkinson. burnley, lancashire. * * * * * minor notes. _proclamation of langholme fair._--in an old paper i find the following proclamation of a fair, to be held in a town in scotland; it may, perhaps, amuse some of your numerous readers:-- "o yes! and that's a time. o yes! and that's twa times. o yes! and that's the third and last time: all manner of pearson or pearsons whatsoever let 'em draw near, and i shall let you ken that there is a fair to be held at the muckle town of langholme, for the space of aught days; wherein if any hustrin, custrin, land-louper, dukes-couper, or gang-y-gate swinger, shall breed any urdam, durdam, brabblement, or squabblement, he shall have his lugs tacked to the muckle trone, with a nail of twal-a-penny, until he down of his hobshanks and up with his mucle doubs, and pray to heaven neen times, gold bles the king, and thrice the muckle lord of relton, pay a groat to me jammey ferguson, bailiff of the aforesaid manor. so ye heard my proclamation, and i'll haam to dinner." perhaps some of your correspondents north of the tweed can give the meaning (if there be any) of a few of the choice expressions contained in this document. monkbarns. _seats in churches._--the following curious notice of seats in churches occurs in thompson's _history of swine_; which is quoted by him from _whitaker's whalley_, nd edit. to. p. .:-- "my man shuttleworth, of harking, made this form and here will i sit when i come; and any cousin nowell may make one behind me, if he please, and my son sherburne shall make one on the other side; and mr. catteral another behind him; and for the residue the use shall be, _first come first speed; and that will make the proud wives of whalley rise betimes to come to church_." which seems to convey the idea, that it was at that time customary for persons to make their seats in the churches. query, when did pews come into general use? r.w.e. hull. [the earliest notice of pews occurs in the _vision of piers plouman_, p. ., edit. :-- "among wyves and wodewes ich am ywoned sute yparroked _in puwes_. the person hit knoweth." see also _the history of pews_, a paper read before the cambridge camden society, .] { } _flemish account._--t.b.m. (vol. i., p. .) requests references to early instances of the use of this expression. in the _history of edward ii._, by e.f., written a.d. (see "notes and queries" vol. i., pp. . .), folio edition, p. ., i find "the queen (isabella) who had already a french and an italian trick, was jealous lest she should here taste a flemish one;" because she feared lest the earl of henault should abandon her cause. this instance is, i think, earlier than any yet referred to. s.g. _use of monosyllables._--the most remarkable instance of the use of monosyllables that i remember to have met with in our poets, occurs in the fire-worshippers in _lalla rookh_. it is as follows:-- "i knew, i knew it could not last-- 'twas bright, 'twas heav'nly, but 'tis past! oh! ever thus, from childhood's hour, i've seen my fondest hopes decay; i never lov'd a tree or flow'r but 'twas the first to fade away. i never nurs'd a dear gazelle to glad me with its soft black eye, but when it came to know me well, and love me, it was sure to die! now, too--the joy most like divine of all i ever dreamt or knew, to see thee, hear thee, call thee mine,-- oh misery! must i lose _that_ too? yet go! on peril's brink we meet;-- those frightful rocks--that treach'rous sea-- no, never come again--tho' sweet, tho' heav'n, it may be death to thee!" this passage contains words, of which are monosyllables, and the remainder words of only two syllables. the sentiment embodied throughout is that of violent mental emotion; and it affords a further illustration of the correctness of mr. c. forbes's theory (vol. i., p. .) that "the language of passion is almost invariably broken and abrupt." henry h. breen. st. lucia, w.i., nov. . _specimen of foreign english._-- "restorative hotel, fine hok. kept by frank prosperi, facing the military quarter at pompeii. that hotel open since a very few days, is renowned for the cleanness of the apartments and linen; for the exactness of the service, and for the eccelence of the true french cookery. being situated at proximity of that regeneration, it will be propitius to receive families, whatever, which will desire to reside alternatively into that town, to visit the monuments new found, and to breathe thither the salubrity of the air. that establishment will avoid to all the travellers, visitors, of that sepult city, and to the artists, (willing draw the antiquities) a great disorder, occasioned by the tardy and expensive contour of the iron-whay. people will find equally thither, a complete sortment of stranger wines, and of the kingdom, hot and cold baths, stables and coach houses, the whole with very moderated prices. now, all the applications and endeavours of the hoste, will tend always to correspond to the tastes and desires, of their customers, which will acquire without doubt, to him, in to that town, the reputation whome, he is ambitious." the above is a literal copy of a card in the possession of a friend of mine, who visited pompeii, . w.l. _epitaph._--while engaged in some enquiries after family documents in the british museum lately, i lighted on a little poem, which, though not connected with my immediate object, i copied, and here subjoin, hoping your readers will be as much attracted as i was by the simplicity and elegance of the lines and thoughts; and that some one of them, with leisure and opportunity, will do what i had not time to do, namely,--decypher in the mss. the _name_ of the "worthie knight" on whom this epitaph was composed, and give any particulars which can be ascertained concerning him. epitaph on ---- (_harleian mss._, . . b. pluto e.) "under this stone, thir ly'th at reste a friendlie manne--a worthie knight, whose herte and mynde was ever prest to favour truthe--to furder righte. "the poore's defense--hys neighbors ayde, most kinde alwaies unto his kyne, that stynt alle striffes that might be stayed, whose gentil grace great love dyd wynne, "a man that was fulle earneste sette to serve hys prince at alle assayes, no sicknesse could him from itt lette, which was the shortninge of hys daies. "his lyf was good--he dyed fulle welle, hys bodie here--the soule in blisse; with lengthe of wordes, why should i telle, or further shewe, that well knowne is, since that the teares of mor or lesse right welle declare hys worthynesse." a.b.r. * * * * * queries. the tale of the wardstaff. can any of your antiquarian correspondents furnish further elucidation of the strange ceremony of the gathering of the wardstaff (which was in old time one of the customs of the hundred of ongar, in essex) than are to be found in morant's _history of essex_, vol. i. p. .? from whence it was incorrectly copied in blount's _jocular tenures_ by beckwith, to. ed. it has been also more correctly given by sir francis palgrave, in his _rise and progress of the english commonwealth_, part ii. p. clvii., who justly styles it-- "a strange and uncouth fragment of the earliest customs of the teutons; in which we can still recognise { } the tone and the phraseology of the courts of the eresburg. the _irminsule_ itself having been described as a trunk of a tree, thor was worshipped under the same rude symbol; and it may be suspected that the singular respect and reverence shown to the ward-staff of the east saxons is not without its relation to the rites and ceremonies of the heathen time, though innocently and unconsciously retained." at the time of publication of his learned and interesting work, sir francis did me the honour to adopt some conjectural corrections of morant's very corrupt transcript of the rhyme, which i furnished at his request, in common with others suggested by the late mr. price. since that time, a more mature examination of it has enabled me, i think, to put it into a form much more nearly resembling what it must have originally been; many of the corrections being obviously required by the prose details which accompany it in the ms. from which morant gave it. it may not, therefore, be unacceptable to some of your readers, to subjoin this corrected copy. it may be proper to premise, that "the _tale_ of the wardstaff" is the _tallying_ or _cutting_ of it, and that it was evidently originally spoken in parts, assigned as under; although it should seem that there is no indication of this arrangement in the ms. "the tale of the wardstaff. _the bailiffe of the liberty._ "iche athied[ ] the staffe byleve, thanne staffe iche toke byleve, byleve iche will tellen[ ] now the staffe have iche got. _lord of ruckwood hall._ "tho the staffe to me com als he hoveon for to don, faire and well iche him underfing als iche hoveon for to don. _the bailiffe._ "all iche theron challenged, that theron was for to challenge, nameliche,--this:--and--this: and all that ther was for to challenge. _lord of ruckwood._ "fayer iche him uppdede als iche hoveon for to don. _the bailiffe._ "all iche warnyd to the ward to cum, that therto hoveon for to cum, by sunne shining. _lord of ruckwood._ "we our roope theder brouhton, a roope beltan[ ], als we hoveon for don; and there waren and wakeden, and the ward soe kept, that the king was harmless, and the country scatheless. _the bailiffe._ "and a morn, when itt day was, and the sun arisen was, faier honour weren to us toke, als us hoveon for to don. _the lords, and the tenants_ fayre on the staffe we scorden, als we hoveon for to don, fayre we him senden, theder we hoveon for to sende. _the bailiffe._ and zif ther is any man that this wittsiggen can iche am here ready for to dôn azens himself, iche ône, other mid him on, other mid twyn feren, als we ther weren. ---- "sir, byleve take this staffe, this is the tale of the wardstaffe." it will be at once apparent that this is a corrupt transcript of a semi-saxon original of much earlier date; and by comparing it with morant's very blundering copy, the conjectural corrections i have essayed will be perceived to be numerous. many of then will, however, be found not only warranted, but absolutely necessary, from the accompanying prose account of the ceremony. the ms. from which it was taken by morant, was an account of the rents of the hundred of ongar, in the time of john stonar of loughton, who had a grant of it for his life in the th year of king henry viii. he seems to have died th june, , holding of the queen, by the twentieth part of a knight's fee, and the yearly rent of l. s. d., the manor, park, chase, &c., of hatfield broad oak, with the hundreds of ongar and harlow; and the _wardstaff_ of the same hundreds, then valued at l. s. d. as the _wardstaff_ is said by morant to make a considerable figure in old records, it is reasonable to hope that a more satisfactory account of it may still lie amongst unsunned ancient muniments. all the old teutonic judicial assemblies were, as sir f. palgrave remarks, held in the open air, beneath the sky and _by the light of the sun_. the following is a part of the ancient rhyme by which the proceedings of the famous vehm-gerichte were opened, which were first printed by schottelius, and the whole of which may be found in beck's _geschichte der westphalischen fehm-gerichte_, and in sir f. palgrave's work. the similarity of expression is remarkable. { } "all dewile an düssem dage, mit yuwer allen behage, under den hellen himmel klar, ein fry feld-gericht openbar; geheget bym lechten sonnenshin mit nöchterm mund kommen herin, de toel ock is gesettet recht, dat maht befunden uprecht, so sprecket recht ane with und wonne up klage und antwort, weil schient die sonne." i must refer to morant, to beckwith or sir f. palgrave, for the details of the ceremony of the wardstaff, which it should appear was observed at least as late as the reign of queen elizabeth, but in morant's time it had long been neglected. in the hope that some of your antiquarian correspondents may be enabled to throw more light on this very curious custom, i will merely add, that morant suggests that it is possible some elucidation of it might be found "in the evidence house in hatfield church, where (he says) are a great number of writings relating to the priory and lordship." s.w. singer. jan . . [footnote : aþied, cut.] [footnote : _i.e._ tally, or _score_.] [footnote : _i.e._ a rope with a _bell_ appended.] * * * * * ballad ascribed to sir c. hanbury williams. being engaged on a collection of fugitive pieces by wits of the last century, yet unprinted, i wish to take the opinion of your valuable correspondents as to the authorship of the enclosed piece. it has been pointed out to me in an album, dated at the beginning feb. th, ; it occurs towards the end of the volume (which is nearly filled), without date, and signed c.h. williams. it is evidently not autograph, being in the hand which mainly pervades the book. had sir c.h. williams been a baronet at the time, his title would doubtless have been attached to his name. i wish to know, first, at what date sir c.h. williams was born, became a baronet, and died? secondly, is there any internal evidence of style that the ballad is by his hand? thirdly, is there any clue as to who the fair and cruel lucy may have been? and lastly, whether any of your correspondents have seen the thing in print before? g.h. barker. whitwell, yorkshire. i. "lips like cherries crimson-juicy, cheeks like peach's downy shades, has my lucy--lovely lucy! loveliest of lady's maids!!! ii. "eyes like violet's dew-bespangled, softly fringed deep liquid eyes! pools where cupid might have angled and expected fish to rise. iii. "cupid angling?--what the deuce! he must not fish in lucy's eye! cupid leave alone my lucy-- you have other fish to fry!!! iv. "but with patience unavailing-- angling dangling late and soon-- weeping, still i go a _wail_ing, and _harp on_ without harpoon. v. "kerchief, towel, duster, rubber, cannot wipe my weeping dry-- _whal_ing still i lose _my blubber_, catching _wails_ from lucy's eye. vi. "blubber--wax and spermaceti-- swealing taper--trickling tear! writing of a mournful ditty to my lovely lucy dear. vii. "pouring tears from eyelids sluicy, while the waning flamelet fades, all for lucy--lovely lucy, loveliest of lady's maids. "c.h. williams." [the foregoing ballad does not appear in the edition of the works of sir c. hanbury williams ( vols. vo. ), from the preface to which it appears that he was born in , installed a knight of the bath in , and died on the nd november, .] * * * * * minor queries. _book called tartuare.--william wallace in london._-- . is there any one of your correspondents, learned or unlearned, who can oblige me with any account of a printed book called _tartuare?_ its date would be early in the sixteenth century, if not before this. . after william wallace had been surprised and taken, he was brought to london, and lodged, it is said, in a part of what is now known as fenchurch street. there is a reader and correspondent of yours, who, i am assured, can point out the site of this house, or whatever it was. will he kindly assist archæological inquirers, by informing us whereabouts it stood? w.(i.) _obeism._--can any of your readers give me some information about _obeism_? i am anxious to know whether it is in itself a religion, or merely a rite practised in some religion in africa, and imported thence to the west indies (where, i am told, it is rapidly gaining ground again); and whether the _obeist_ obtains the immense power he is said to possess over his brother negroes by any acquired art, or simply by working upon the more superstitious { } minds of his companions. any information, however, on the subject will be acceptable. t.h. mincing lane, jan. . . _aged monks._--ingulphus (_apud wharton, anglia sacra_, .) speaks of five monks of croyland abbey, who lived in the tenth century, the oldest of whom, he says, attained the age of one hundred and sixty-eight years: his name was clarembaldus. the youngest, named thurgar, died at the premature age of one hundred and fifteen. can any of your correspondents inform me of any similar instance of longevity being recorded in monkish chronicles? i remember reading of some old english monks who died at a greater age than brother thurgar, but omitted to "make a note of it" at the time, and should now be glad to find it. f. somner merryweather. gloucester place, kentish town. _lady alice carmichael, daughter of john first earl of hyndford._--john second lord carmichael succeeded his grandfather in . he was born th february, , and married, th october, , beatrice drummond, second daughter of david third lord maderty, by whom he had seven sons and _four_ daughters. he was created earl of hyndford in , and died in . i wish to be informed (if any of the obliging readers of your valuable publication can refer me to the authority) what became of alice, who is named among the daughters of this earl in one of the early scottish peerages (anterior probably to that of crawfurd, in ), but which the writer of this is unable to indicate. archibald, the youngest son, was born th april, . the lady beatrice, the eldest daughter, married, in , _cockburn_; mary married _montgomery_; and anne married _maxwell_. it is traditionally reported that the lady alice, in consequence of her marriage with one of her father's tenants, named biset or bisset, gave offence to the family, who upon that contrived to have her name omitted in all subsequent peerages. the late alexander cassy, of pentonville, who bequeathed by will several thousand pounds to found a charity at banff, was son of alexander cassy of that place, and ---- biset, one of the daughters, sprung from the above-named marriage. scotus. "_a verse may find him._"--in the first stanza of herbert's poem entitled the _church porch_, in the _temple_, the following lines occur:-- "a verse may find him, whom a sermon flies, and turn delight into a sacrifice." which contain, evidently, the same idea as the one enunciated in the subsequent ones quoted by wordsworth (i believe) as a motto prefixed to his ecclesiastical sonnets, without an author assigned:-- "a verse may catch a wandering soul that flies more powerful tracts: and by a blest surprise convert delight into a sacrifice." query, who was the author of them? r.w.e. hull. _daresbury, the white chapel of england._--sometime ago i copied the following from a local print:-- "'_nixon's prophecy._--when a fox without cubs shall sit in the white chapel of england, then men shall travel to paris without horses, and kings shall run away and leave their crowns.' "the present incumbent of daresbury, cheshire (the white chapel of england), is the rev. mr. fawkes, who ( ) is unmarried. the striking accomplishment--railway travelling and the revolutions of the present year--must be obvious to every one." my query to the above is this: why is the church of daresbury called the white chapel of england, and how did the name originate? the people in the neighbourhood, i understand, know nothing on the subject. an answer to the above from one of your learned correspondents would greatly oblige. j.g. _ulm manuscript._--can you inform me where the ulm manuscript is, which was in the possession of archdeacon butler, at shrewsbury, in the year . it is a document of great interest, and some critical value, and ought to be, if it is not already, in public keeping. it is a latin ms. of the acts and epistles, probably of the ninth century, and contains the pseudo-hieronymian prologue to the "canonical" epistles. it renders the classical passage, john v. , ., in this wise:-- "quia tres sunt qui testimonium dant, spiritus, et aqua, et sanguis, et tres unum sunt. sicut in coelo tres sunt, pater, verbum, et spiritus, et tres unum sunt." you will remember that it is quoted by porson in his _letters to travis_, p. ., and again referred to by him, pp. . . was it sold on the death of the bishop of lichfield, or bequeathed to any public institution? or did it find its way into the possession of the duke of sussex, who was curious in biblical matters, and was a correspondent of dr. butler? some of your learned readers will perhaps enable you to trace it. o.t. dobbin, ll.d. t.c.d. hull, yorkshire, jan. . _merrick and tattersall._--will any of your correspondents be so obliging as to give the years of _birth_ of merrick, the poet and versifier of the psalms, and of his biographer, tattersall. the years of their _deaths_ are given respectively { } and : but i can nowhere find when they were born. m. [merrick was born in , and tattersall in .] _dr. trusler's memoirs._--i have the first part of the _memoirs of the life of the rev. dr. trusler, with his opinions and remarks through a long life on men and manners, written by himself._ bath. printed and published by john browne, george street, . this part is a to. of pages, and is full of curious anecdotes of the time. it was intended to form three or more parts. was it ever completed: and if so, where to be procured? in all my searches after books, i never met but with this copy. at the end of the first part there is a prospectus of a work trusler intended to publish in the form of a dictionary (and of which he gives a specimen sheet), entitled _sententiæ variorum_. can any of your bath friends say if the manuscript is still in existence, as he states that it is ready for the press; or that he would treat with any party disposed to buy the copyright? t. _life of bishop frampton._--i have in my possession a manuscript life of bishop frampton, who was ejected for not taking the oaths to william and mary. it is of sufficient detail and interest to deserve publication. but before i give it to the world, that i may do what justice i can to the memory of so excellent a man, i should be happy to receive the contributions of any of your readers who may happen to possess any thing of interest relating to him. i have reason to believe that several of his sermons, the texts of which are given in his life, are still in existence. will you be kind enough to allow your periodical to be the vehicle of this invitation? t. simpson evans. shoreditch. _probabilism._--will any one inform me by whom the doctrine of probabilism was first propounded as a system? and whether, when fairly stated, it is any thing more than the enunciation of a deep moral principle? r.p. _sir henry chauncy's observations on wilfred entwysel._--after recording the inscription on the brass plate in st. peter's church, st. alban's, to the memory of sir bertin entwysel, knt., viscount and baron of brykbeke in normandy, who fell at the first battle of st. alban's, in , chauncy proceeds to state:-- "these entwysels were gentlemen of good account in lancashire, whose mansion-house retains the name of entwysel, and the last heir of that house was one wilfred entwysel, who sold his estate, and served as a lance at musselborrow field, anno edw. vi. after that he served the guyes in defence of meth, and he was one of the four captains of the fort of newhaven, who being infected with the plague and shipped for england, landed at portsmouth, and uncertain of any house, in september, , died under a hedge."--_historical antiq. of hertfordshire, by sir henry chauncy, knt., serj. at law_, p. . fol. . on what authority is this latter statement made, and if it was traditional when chauncy wrote, was the foundation of the tradition good? did sir bertin entwysel leave issue male, and is the precise link ascertained which connects him with the family of entwisle of entwisle, in the parish of bolton-en-le-moors, in lancashire? wilfred entwysel was not "the last heir of that house," as the _post mortem inq._ of edmund entwisle, of entwisle, esq., was taken sept. , and his son and heir was george entwisle, then aged twenty-two years and upwards. amongst his large estates was "the manor of entwissell." f.r.r. _theological tracts._--can any of your correspondents inform me where the following tracts are to be found?-- "_pattern of the present temple_," "_garnish of the soul_," "_soldier of battle_," "_hunt of the fox_," "_fardle of fashions_," "_gamer's arraign_," and a work entitled "_vaux's catechism_." i am sorry not to be able to give a more minute description of them; they were all published, i think, before the middle of the seventeenth century. the bodleian and our own university libraries have been searched, but to no purpose. s.g. _lady bingham._--in _blackwood's magazine_, vol. lxviii. p. . there is a paper, bearing every mark of authenticity, which details the unsuccessful courtship of sir symonds d'ewes with jemima, afterwards baroness crewe, and daughter of edward waldgrave, esq., of lawford house in essex, and sarah his wife. it is stated that the latter bore the name of lady bingham, as being the widow of a knight, and that his monument may still be seen in lawford church. on referring to the suckling papers, published by weale, i find no account of this monument, though an inscription of that of edward waldgrave, esq., apparently his father-in-law, is given. can any of your readers give me any information as to this lady? i should, if possible, be glad to have her maiden name and origin, as well as that of her first husband. she might have been the widow of sir richard bingham, governor of connaught, &c., whose ms. account of the irish wars is now publishing by the celtic society, and who died a.d. . in that case, i leave a conjecture before me, that she was a kingsmill of sidmanton, in hampshire. i mention this to aid enquiry, if any one will be so good as to make it. if there is such a monument in existence, his arms may be quartered on it, for which i should be also thankful. c.w.b. { } _gregory the great._--lady morgan, in her letter to cardinal wiseman, speaks of "the pious and magnificent matilda, countess of tuscany, the ally of gregory _the great_, and the foundress of his power through her wealth and munificence." by gregory the great it is evident that lady morgan means hildebrand, or gregory vii. may ask, through the medium of your pages, whether any authority can be found for terming gregory vii. _the great_, an epithet which i had previously considered to be confined to gregory i.? egenhart. _john hill's penny post, in_ .--i noted a few years back, from a bookseller's catalogue, the title of a work-- "hill (john), a penny-post; or a vindication of the liberty of every englishman in carrying merchants' and other men's letters against any restraints of farmers of such employments. to. ." can any of your correspondents give an account of this work? e.m.b. _andrea ferrara._--will any kind friend inform me where any history is to be found of "andrea ferrara," the sword cutler? v.e.l. _imputed letters of sallustius._--can any of your correspondents inform me whether a ms. of the _epistles of sallustius to cæsar on statesmanship_ is deposited in any one of our public libraries? kenneth r.h. mackenzie. january . . _thomas rogers of horninger_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i am obliged to mr. kersley for his reference to rose's biographical dictionary; but he might have supposed that all such ordinary sources of information would naturally be consulted before your valuable journal be troubled with a query. having reason to believe that rogers took an active part in the stirring events of his time, i shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who will refer me to any _incidental_ notices of him in cotemporary or other writers: to diffuse which kind of information your paper seems to me to have been instituted. s.g. _tandem d.o.m._--in an ancient mansion, which stands secluded in the distant recesses of cornwall, there reposes a library nearly as ancient as the edifice itself, in the long gallery of which it has been almost the sole furniture for a space of full two centuries. what is still remarkable, the collection remains sole and entire in all its pristine originality, as well as simple but substantial bindings, uncontaminated by any additions of more modern literature, dressed up in gayer suits of calfskin or morocco. it is even said that few of the pages of these venerable volumes have even seen the light since the day they were deposited there by their first most careful owner, till the present proprietor took the liberty of giving them a dusting. how far he has advanced in examining their contents is uncertain; but, as he seldom can summon courage to withdraw himself from their company, even for his parliamentary duties, these literary treasures stand a chance, at last, not only of being dusted externally, but of being thoroughly sifted and explored internally. a note of the existence of such a collection of books is at least worth recording as unique of its kind. i have now a query to put in relations to it. the collector seems to have been one hannibal gamon, whose name appears written in fine bold characters,--as beseems so distinguished an appellation,--on the title-page of each volume; but, besides, there is frequently appended this addition--"_tandem d.o.m._" the writer has his own solution on the meaning of this bit of latin, but would be glad to know what interpretation any of your readers would be inclined to put thereon. faber marinus. _the episcopal mitre._--when first was the episcopal mitre used? and what was the origin of its peculiar form? an enquirer. * * * * * replies. the passage in troilus and cressida. (vol. ii., p. .) the oldest edition of this play is the quarto of , in which the passage referred to stands thus:-- "_hect._ begon, i say, the gods have heard me sweare. "_cas._ the gods are deafe to hotte and peevish vowes, they are polluted offrings more abhord, then spotted livers in the sacrifice. "_and._ o be perswaded, do not count it holy, it is the purpose that makes strong the vow, but vowes to every purpose must not hold: unarme, sweet hector." this reading, by stopping the sense at "holy," renders less likely to be correct the emendation of tyrwhitt, adopted by malone:-- "o be persuaded: do not count it holy to hurt by being just: it is as lawful, for we would give much to use violent thefts, and rob in the behalf of charity." dr. johnson observes, "this is so oddly confused in the folio, that i transcribe it as a specimen of incorrectness:-- '----do not count it holy to hurt by being just: it is as lawful for we would count give much to as violent thefts,' &c." with reference to these particulars, i should be glad if you would allow me to propose a reading which has not yet been suggested:-- { } "o be persuaded; do not count it holy: to hurt, by being just, count it unlawful: for we would give, as much, to violent thefts, and rob, in the behalf of charity." the meaning being, it is as unlawful to do hurt by being just, as it would be to _give_ to a robbery, or to _rob_ for a charity; to assist a bad cause by a good deed, or a good cause by a bad deed. the word "count," in its second occurrence, was inserted by the printer in the wrong line; when it is restored to its proper place, the passage presents but little difficulty. john taylor. * * * * * black images of the virgin. (vol. ii., p. .) your correspondent, mr. holt white, throws cut a suggestion relative to the origin of the black doll as a sign at old store shops, which is ingenious, but not very probable. the images of black virgins are confined, i believe, to the south of europe, with the exception of the celebrated shrine of einsiedeln in switzerland. the origin of the colour appears to be oriental, as mr. w. surmises. i send the following extract, in answer to his query on the subject. it is a quotation from grimm, in m. michelet's _introduction to universal history_; and, as your readers must be all familiar with the language of the gifted historian, i will not make the attempt to convey his brilliant style into another tongue. "une des idées qui reviennent le plus dans nos meistersinger, dit grimm, c'est la comparaison de l'incarnation de jésus christ avec _l'aurore d'un nouveau soleil_. toute religion avait eu son soleil-dieu, et dès le quatrième siècle l'église occidentale célèbre la naissance du christ au jour où le soleil remonte, au décembre, c'est-à-dire, au jour où l'on célébrait la naissance du _soleil invincible_. c'est un rapport évident avec le soleil-dieu mithra. on lit encore, dans nos poètes, que jésus à sa naissance reposait sur le sein de marie, comme un oiseau, qui, le soir, se réfugie dans une fleur de _nuit_ éclose au milieu de la mer. quel rapport rémarquable avec le mythe de la naissance de brama, enfermé dans le lis des eaux, le lotus, jusqu'au jour où la fleur fut ouverte par les rayons du soleil, c'est-à-dire, par vischnou lui-même, qui avait produit cette fleur. le christ, le nouveau-jour, est né de la nuit, c'est-à-dire de marie la _noire_, dont les pied reposent sur la lune, et dont la tête est couronnée de planètes comme d'un brillant diadême. (voyez les tableaux d'albert dürer.) ainsi reparaît, comme dans l'ancien culte, cette grande divinité, appelée tour-à-tour maïa, bhawani, isis, cérès, proserpine, perséphone. reine du ciel, elle est la nuit d'où sort la vie, et où toute vie se replonge; mystérieuse réunion de la vie et de la mort. elle s'appelle aussi la rosée, et dans les mythes allemands, la rosée est considérée comme le principe qui reproduit et redonne la vie. elle n'est pas seulement la nuit, mais comme mère du soleil, elle est aussi l'aurore devant qui les planètes brillent et s'empressent, comme pour perséphone. lorsqu'elle signifie la terre, comme cérès, elle est représentée avec la gerbe de blé; elle est perséphone, la graine de semence; comme cette déesse, elle a sa faucille: c'est la demi-lune qui repose sous ses pieds. enfin, comme la déesse d'ephèse, la triste cérès et proserpine, elle est belle et brillante, et cependant sombre et noire, selon l'expression du cantique des cantiques: 'je suis noir, mais pleine de charmes, le soleil m'a brûlée' (le christ). encore aujourd'hui, l'image de la mère de dieu est noire à naples, comme à einsiedeln en suisse. elle unit ainsi le jour et la nuit, la joie avec la tristesse, le soleil et la lune (chaleur, humidité), le terrestre et le céleste." this fragment is, perhaps, rather too long; but i think your readers will consider it too beautiful to abridge. the late g. higgins, in his _anacalepsis_ (ii. .), has some observations to the same purport, and points out the resemblance of some of the old italian paintings of the virgin and child to egyptian representations of isis and the infant horus. many of these ideas have been taken up by the free-masons, and are typified and symbolised in their initiatory ceremonies. j.b. ditchfield. * * * * * outline in painting. a correspondent (j.o.w.h.) at p. . of vol. i. asks a question on the subject of outline in painting; instancing the works of albert durer and raffaelle as examples of defined, and those of titian, murillo, &c., of indefined outline. he wishes to know whether there is "a right and a wrong in the matter, apart from anything which men call taste?" the subject generally is a curious one, and has interested me for some time; as experiments exhibit several singular phenomena resulting from the interference and diffraction of rays of light in passing by the outline of a material body. as a matter of fact, i believe i may say, that there is no such thing in nature as a perfectly defined outline; since the diffraction of the rays, in passing it, causes them to be projected upon it more or less, according to the nature of the particular body, and the intensity of the light. and i may remark, by the way, that i believe this circumstance of the projection of a star upon the moon's disc at the time of an occultation, is to be accounted for on this principle (though with all due deference to higher authority); a phenomenon which is to this day unexplained. of course every outline is rendered less defined by any motion of the eye of the observer, however slight. hence, perhaps, the comparative indistinctness of outline commonly seen in pictures, compared with those in nature; as the artist { } would be apt to take advantage of this circumstance, and give to his painting the same kind of effect the reality would have to an eye wandering over it; thereby taking away the attention from individual parts, and, as it were, forcing it to judge of the general effect, which general effect is, perhaps, the main object in painting. hence it follows that wherever, in any design, separate portions are intended to arrest attention, the outline should be more defined and, accordingly, we may remark that albert durer, and others like him, who were very careful of minutiæ, are also distinct and hard in their outlines, which is also the case, for the most part, in the dutch school, and in architectural paintings, fruit-pieces, &c.; and we find that in proportion as the artist discards the comparatively unworthy minute accompaniments of his subject, and aims at unity of effect, so does he neglect sharpness of outline. which is the _correct_ practice--distinctness, or indistinctness of outline--will be differently judged by those who hold different opinions on painting in general. while one person will maintain that a picture, to be perfect, must be an exact copy of nature, in short an artistic daguerreotype; another will hold almost the contrary; so that the subject of outline must be matter of opinion still. however, the lover of general effect has this rational ground of argument on his side, viz., there is no such thing as a strictly defined outline in nature, even to an eye at rest; while to one in motion, which is perhaps the normal state, that outline is rendered still more indistinct. h.c.k. ---- rectory, hereford, dec. . . * * * * * ten children at a birth. (vol. ii., p. .) the curiosity excited by the perusal of my previous communication under the foregoing head, and the interesting editorial note appended in "notes and queries," induce me to continue the attempt to verify one of the most remarkable instances of abnormal fecundity in an individual of the human species recorded in modern times. the reader must judge of the following "circumstantial evidence:"-- . i have just seen widow platts (formerly sarah birch), a poor, fat, decent woman, who keeps a small greengrocer's shop, in west bar, sheffield. she says she was born in spring street in the same town, on the th sept. ; well remembers wondering why she was so much looked at when a girl: and her surprise, when afterwards told by her mother, that she was one of ten children born at the same time. had often been told that she was so small at birth, that she was readily put into a quart measure; and for some time, lay in a basket before the fire "wrapped in a flannel like a newly hatched chicken." . the improbability of finding any living gossip who was present at the birth, must be obvious: but i have conversed with old women who had heard their mothers describe the occurrence from personal knowledge. . one ancient dame had no more doubt of the fact than the cause of it. having apparently heard and believed a monstrous tradition of a multitudinous gestation extant in common "folklore." "it was," said she, with all gravity, "the effect of a wish," intended to spite the father; who, having had two children by his wife, and an interval of _nine years_ elapsing before the portentous pregnancy in question, did not desire, it seems, any further increase to his family. . the parents died, the daughter married, and the "story of her birth" was forgotten: until the publication of white's _sheffield directory_ in , when, among other local memorabilia, the strange announcement of "ten children at birth," was reproduced on the contemporary authority of the _leeds mercury_. from that time mrs. platts has been more or less an object of curiosity. . the _directory_ paragraph is as follows:-- "an instance of _extraordinary fecundity_ is recorded in the _leeds mercury_ of , which says that _ann_ [sarah] _birch_, of sheffield, was, in that year, _delivered of ten children!!!_ we, in our time, have heard of sheffield ladies having three children at birth; but we know no other case, but that of the aforesaid mrs. birch, which countenances the fructiferous fame which they have obtained in some circles." i have been unsuccessful in an effort to collate the foregoing with the original newspaper paragraph: but mr. white, while he personally assured me of the veracity of the transcript, also pointed out to me an earlier version of the same fact from the same source in the _annals of the clothing districts_, published about thirty years since. . in conformity with the suggestion (notes and queries, vol. ii., p. ), i have examined the parish register of baptisms, but the entry is as curt and formal as possible, viz.:-- "sarah, dr. of thos. and sarah birch, cutler," under the date, dec. . . taking all the foregoing circumstances into account, there seems to me little ground for the erection of any strong objection to the alleged fact--extraordinary as it is--of ten children having been brought forth at one time; or, to the hardly less interesting coincidence, that one of them is still living. i cannot but add, that if the contemporary notice of this extraordinary birth in the _leeds mercury_ of should not be admitted as good evidence for the fact, it does, at least, negative the presumptive value of any objection { } derived from the silence of the writer in the _philosophical transactions_ six years afterwards; strange as such silence assuredly appears. after all, the question occurs: what has become of the bodies said to have been preserved? as all parties concur in naming "old mr. staniforth" as the accoucheur in attendance on mrs. birch; and as that gentleman has been dead many years, i called upon his eldest surviving pupil, mr. nicholson, surgeon, to ask him whether, in conversation, or among the preparations in the surgery of his worthy master, he had ever met with any illustration of the parturition in question? he replied that he had not. it may not, perhaps, be out of place here to mention that the above-named mr. nicholson, surgeon, himself delivered a poor woman of five children, on the th of february, , at handsworth woodhouse, near sheffield. this case was even more remarkable than that which gave occasion to the paper which was read before the royal society in , inasmuch as not only were four of the children born alive, but three of them lived to be baptized. n.d. sheffield, jan. . . * * * * * shakspeare's use of "captious." (vol. ii., p. .) in _all's well that ends well_, act i. sc. ., helena says to the countess, speaking of her love for bertram,-- "i know i love in vain; strive against hope; yet, in this captious and intenible sieve, i still pour in the waters of my love, and lack not to lose still." it is not without hesitation that i venture to oppose mr. singer on a point on which he is so well entitled to give an opinion. but i cannot help thinking that mr. singer's explanation, besides being somewhat too refined and recondite, is less applicable to the general sense and drift of the passage than that of steevens, which malone and mr. collier have adopted. what i think wanting to steevens' interpretation, is an increase, if i may so express myself, of intensity. he takes the word, i conceive, in its right bearing, but does not give it all the requisite force. i should suggest that it means not merely "_recipient_, capable of receiving," but, to coin a word, _captatious_, eager or greedy to receive, absorbing; as we say _avidum mare_, or a _greedy gulf_. the latin analogous to it in this sense would be, not _capax_, or mr. singer's _captiosus_, but _captax_, or _captabundus_; neither of which words, however, occurs. the sense of the word, like that of many others in the same author, must be determined by the scope and object of the passage in which it is used. the object of helena, in declaring her love to the countess, is to show the all-absorbing nature of it; to prove that she is _tota in illo_; and that, however she may strive to stop the cravings of it, her endeavours are of no more use than the attempt to fill up a bottomless abyss. the reader may, if he pleases, compare her case with that of other heroines in like predicaments. thus medæa, in _apollonius rhodius_: [greek: "pantê moi phrenes eisin amêchanoi, oude tis alkê pêmatos."] and the same lady in _ovid_: "---- luctata diu, postquam ratione furorem, vincere non poterat. frustra, medea, repugnas. ---- excute virgineo conceptas pectore flammas, si potes, infelix. si possem sanior essem: sed trahit invitam nova vis." or dido, in _virgil_ or _ovid_: "ille quidem malè gratus, et ad munera surdus; et quo si non sim stulta carere velim: non tamen Æneam, quamvis male cogitat, odi; sed queror infidum, questaque pejus amo." or phædra, in _seneca_: ----"furor cogit sequi pejora: vadit animus in præceps sciens, remeatque, frustra sana consilia appetens. sic cum gravatam navita adversâ ratem propellit undâ, cedit in vanum labor, et victa prono puppis aufertur vado." the complaints of all are alike; they lament that they make attempts to resist their passion, but find it not to be resisted; that they are obliged at last to yield themselves entirely to it, and to feel their whole thoughts, as it were, swallowed up by it. such being the way in which shakspeare represents helena, and such the sentiments which he puts into her mouth, it seems evident that the interpretation of _captious_ in the sense of _absorbent_ is better adapted to the passage than the explanation of it in the sense of _fallacious_. "i know i love in vain, and strive against hope; yet into this _insatiable_ and _unretaining_ sieve i still pour in the waters of my love, and fail not to lose still." i said that the sense of _fallacious_ seemed to be too refined and recondite. to believe that shakspeare borrowed his _captious_ in this sense, from the latin _captiosus_, we must suppose that he was well acquainted with the exact sense of the latin word; a supposition which, in regard to a man who had _small latin_, we can scarcely be justified in entertaining. this interpretation is, therefore, too recondite: and to imagine helena as applying the word to bertram as being "_incapable of receiving_ her love," and "truly _captious_" (or deceitful and ensnaring) "in that respect," is surely to indulge in too much refinement of exposition. that shakspeare had in his mind, as mr. singer { } suggests, the punishment of the danaides, is extremely probable; but this only makes the explanation of _captious_ in the sense of _absorbent_ more applicable to the passage, with which that of seneca, quoted above, may be aptly compared. i am sorry that johnson was so unfortunate as to propose _carious_ as an emendation; but even in doing this, he had, according to my notion of the lines, the right sense in view, viz., that of _letting through_ or _swallowing up_, like a rotten tub or a quicksand. i hope that mr. singer will take these remarks in good part, as being offered, not from a wish to oppose his opinion, but from a conviction that the interpretation now given is right, and from a desire that to every word in shakspeare should be assigned its true signification. j.s.w. stockwell. * * * * * sword of william the conqueror. (vol. iii., p. .) there can be little doubt that the sword respecting which p. inquires is in the armoury at goodrich court. it was presented by lord viscount gage to the late sir samuel meyrick, and exhibited by dr. meyrick to the society of antiquaries, nov. . . the doctor's letter is to be found in the appendix to the _archæologia_ of that date, with an engraving of the sword. he states that the arms on the pommel are those of battle abbey, that its date is about a.d. , and that it was the symbol of the criminal jurisdiction of the abbot. at the dissolution of the abbey it fell into the hands of sir john gage, who was one of the commissioners for taking the surrender of religious houses. its entire length is feet inches, and the breadth of the blade at the guard inches. the doctor considers it to be "the oldest perfect sword in england." the arms are a cross, with a crown in the first and last quarters, and a sword in the second and third. there are also the letters t.l., the initials of the abbot, thomas de lodelow, who held that office from to . this fixes its date in the reign of henry v., though the fact of the first william having been the founder of battle abbey has given colour to the tradition of its having been his property. w.j. bernhard smith. temple. i much doubt the fact of the conqueror's sword ever having been in the possession of the monks of battle. nor am i aware of any writer contemporary with the dissolution of that famous abbey who asserts it. william's royal robe, adorned with precious gems, and a feretory in the form of an altar, inclosing relics of the saints, were bequeathed by him to the monastery; and rufus transmitted them to battle, where they were duly received on the th of the calends of november, . this information is furnished by the _chronicle of battel abbey_, which i have just translated for the press; but not one word is said of the sword. though i have always lived within a few miles of firle place, the seat of the gages, and though i am tolerably well acquainted with the history and traditions of that noble family, i never heard of the sword mentioned by p. had that relic really been preserved at battle till the time of henry viii., it is not improbable that it might have come into sir john gage's hands with the manor of aleiston, of which he was grantee, while his son-in-law, sir anthony browne, became possessor of the abbey itself. will p. have the goodness to mention the source from which he obtained his statement? mark antony lower. lewes. in reply to the query respecting the sword of william the conqueror (vol. iii., p. .), i am enabled to inform you that the sword, and also the coronation robes, of william the conqueror, were, together with the original "roll of battel," kept in the church or chapel of battel abbey until it was dismantled at the reformation; when they were transferred to the part of the abbey which remained, and which became the possession and habitation of sir anthony browne, master of the horse to henry viii. these precious relics continued in the possession of his descendants, who were created lords mountacute; and when battel abbey was sold by them to the ancestor of the present owner, they conveyed them to cowdray park, sussex, where they remained until they were destroyed in the lamentable fire which burned down that mansion; and which, by a singular coincidence, took place on the same day that its owner, the last male representative of the brownes lords mountacute, was drowned in a rash attempt to descend the falls of schaffhausen in a boat. e.h.y. * * * * * meaning of eisell. (vol. ii., pp. . . . ) after all that has been written on this subject in "notes and queries," from mr. singer's proposition of wormwood in no. ., to mr. hickson's approval of it in no. ., the question remains substantially where steevens and malone had left it so many years agone. it is not necessary to discuss whether vinegar, verjuice, or wormwood be the preferable translation of the shakspearian word; for before either of them can be received, the advocate is bound to { } accommodate his exposition to shakspeare's sentence, and to "get over the _drink up_," which still stands in his way as it did in that of malone. mr. singer get over the difficulty by simply saying "to _drink up_ was commonly used for simply to _drink_." the example he quotes, however,-- "i will drink potions of eysell,"-- is not to his purpose; it is only an equivalent by the addition of the words "_potions of_" to give it the same definite character. omit those words, and the question remains as before. mr. hickson (vol. ii., p. .) has laid down "a canon of criticism for the guidance of commentators in questions of this nature," so appropriate and valuable, that i cannot except to be bound by it in these remarks; and if in the sequel his own argument (and his friend's proposition to boot) shall be blown up by his own petard, it will show the instability of the cause he has espoused. "master the _grammatical construction_ of the passage in question (if from a drama, in it dramatic and scenic application), deducing therefrom the general sense, before you attempt to amend or fix the meaning of a doubtful word." such is the canon; and mr. hickson proceeds to observe, in language that must meet the approval of every student of the immortal bard, that-- "of all writers, none exceed shakspeare in _logical correctness_ and nicety of expression. with a vigour of though and command of language attained by no man besides, it is fair to conclude, that _he would not be guilty of faults of construction such as would disgrace a schoolboy's composition_." with this canon so ably laid down, and these remarks so apposite, mr. hickson, taking up the weak point which mr. singer had slurred over, observes-- "_drink up_ is synonymous with _drink off_, _drink to the dregs_. a child taking medicine is urged to 'drink it up.'" ay, exactly so; drink up what? _the_ medicine; again a defined quantity; dregs and all,--still a _definite_ quantity. mr. hickson proceeds: "the idea of the passage appears to be that each of the acts should go beyond the last preceding in extravagance. 'woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself? woo't drink up eisell?' and then comes the climax--'eat a crocodile?' here is a regular succession of feats, the last but one of which is sufficiently wild, though not unheard of, and leading to the crowning extravagance. the notion of drinking up a river would be both unmeaning and out of place." from this argument two conclusions are the natural consequences: first, that from _drinking up_ wormwood,--a feat "sufficiently wild but not unheard of," to eating a crocodile, is only a "regular succession of events;" and, secondly, that the "crowning extravagance," to eat a crocodile, is, after all, neither "unmeaning" nor "out of place;" but, on the contrary, quite in keeping and in orderly succession to a "drink up" of the bitter infusion. mr. singer (vol. ii., p. .) says: "numerous passages of our old dramatic writers show that it was a fashion with the gallants of the time to do some extravagant feat as proof of their love." i quite agree with him, if he mean to say that the early dramatists ascribe to their gallants a fashion which in reality belongs to the age of du gueslin and the troubadours. but hamlet himself, in the context of the passage in question, gives the key to his whole purport, when, after some further extravagance, he says: "nay, an thoul't mouth, i'll rant as well as thou." that being so, why are we to conclude that each feat of daring is to be a tame possibility, save only the last--the crowning extravagance? why not also the one preceding? why not a feat equally of mere verbiage and rant? why not a river? adopting mr. hickson's canon of criticism, the grammatical construction of the passage requires that a definite substantive shall be employed to explain the definite something that is to be done. shakspeare says-- "woul't drink up esile?"[ ] --a totality in itself, without the expression of quantity to make it definite. if we read "drink up wormwood," what does it imply? it may be the smallest possible quantity,--an ordinary dose of bitters; or a pailful, which would perhaps meet the "madness" of hamlet's daring. thus the little monosyllable "up" must be disposed of, or a quantity must be expressed to reconcile mr. singer's proposition with mr. hickson's canon and the grammatical sense of shakspeare's line. if with steevens we understand _esile_ to be a river, "the danish river _oesil_, which empties itself into the baltic," the _yssel_, _wessel_, or any other river, real or fictitious, the sense is clear. rather let shakspeare have committed a geographical blunder on the information of his day, than break { } priscian's head by modern interpretation of his words. if we read "_drink up esile_" as one should say, "_woul't drink up thames?_"--a task as reasonably impossible as setting it on fire (nevertheless a proverbial expression of a thirsty soul, "he'll drink the thames dry"),--the task is quite in keeping with the whole tenor of hamlet's extravagant rant. h.k.s.c. brixton. [footnote : so the folio, according to my copy. it would be advantageous, perhaps, to note the spelling in the earliest edition of the sonnet whence mr. singer quotes "_potions of eysell_:" a difference, if there be any, would mark the distinction between hamlet's river and the saxon derivative.] * * * * * altar lights, etc. (vol. ii., p. . vol. iii., p. .) the following passage from the works of a deeply pious and learned caroline divine, which i have never before seen quoted, merits, i think, a place in "notes and queries:"-- "as our lord himself, so his gospel also, is called light, and was therefore anciently never read without a burning taper, '_etiam sole rutilante_' ('tis saint hierome's testimony), though it were lighted in the sun.... the careful church, perceiving that god was so much taken with this outward symbol of the light, could do no less than go on with the ceremony. therefore, the day of our lord's nativity was to be called [greek: epiphania], or, appearing of the light; and so many tapers were to be set up the night before, as might give name to the vigil, '_vigilia luminum_'. and the ancients did well to send lights one to another, whatsoever some think of the christmas candle. the receiving of this light in baptism, though called not usually so, but [greek: phôtismos], illumination, which further to betoken the rites, were to celebrate this sacrament [greek: haptomenôn pantôn tôn kêrôn], etc., with all the tapers lighted, etc., as the order in the euchologus. the neophytus, also, or new convert, received a taper lighted and delivered by the mystagogus, which for the space of seven days after, he was to hold in his hand at divine service, sitting in the baptistery. "who perceiveth not that by this right way the tapers came into the church, mysteriously placed with the gospel upon the altar as an emblem of the truer light?... "the funeral tapers (however thought of by some) are of the same harmless import. their meaning is, to show that the departed souls are not quite put out, but having walked here as the children of the light, are now going to walk before god in the light of the living. the sun never rose to the ancients, no, not so much as a candle was lighted, but of this signification. '_vincamus_' was their word, whensoever the lights came in; [greek: phôs gar tên nikên], etc., for light (saith phavorinus) betokeneth victory. it was to show what trust they put in the light, in whom we are more than conquerors. our meaning is the same when, at the bringing in of a candle, we use to put ourselves in mind of the light of heaven: which those who list to call superstition do but 'darken counsel by words without knowledge.' _job_ xxxviii. ."--gregorie's _works_, th ed. p. . lond. . i believe it is a fact, that in some churches (i hope not many) lamps or candles are placed on the altar _unlighted_ during divine service. now i would not quarrel with persons who have objections to altar lights, &c., but i have no patience with that worse than superstition which would place _unlighted_ candles on the altar,--if they symbolize any thing, it is damnation, excommunication, misery, and dark woe. coming out of a church one time in which unlighted candles were ostentatiously displayed, i was forcibly reminded of an hieroglyphical of quarles--an extinguished taper,--and under it the words, "_sine lumine inane_." "how canst thou be useful to the sight? what is the taper not endued with light?" i can hardly refrain from quoting here a beautiful passage from wordsworth: "our ancestors within the still domain of vast cathedral, or conventual gloom, their vigils kept: when tapers day and night on the dim altar burn'd continually, in token that the house was evermore watching to god. religious men were they, nor would their reason, tutor'd to aspire above this transitory world, allow that there should pass a moment of the year when in their land the almighty's service ceased." any communication of interest of the above subject will much oblige jarltzberg. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _handbell before a corpse_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it is usual, at the funeral of any member of the university of oxford, for the university marshal and bellman to attend in the character of _mutes_. as the procession moves along, the latter rings his bell at about half-minute time. i have witnessed it also when the deceased has been one of the family of a member of the university, and when he has been a matriculated person. i have never considered it as anything but _a cast of the bellman's office_, to add more solemnity to the occasion. [hebrew: b]. l---- rectory. somerset. _sir george downing_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--it may assist your querist "alpha," to be informed that among the monuments to the family of pengelly, in the church of whitchurch near tavistock, in the county of devon, is one to the memory of ann, wife of francis pengelly, and daughter of sir george downing of east hatley in the county of cambridge, who died the rd of november, ; with the arms of pengelly impaling barry of six argent and gules, over all a wyvern or--for downing. { } nicholas downing of exeter college, vicar of kingsteignton, in devon, who died in , and was buried there, seems to have been of another family, as he bore a very different coat of arms. a lieut. downing was buried in charles church, plymouth, in , but the arms on his monument are not the same as either of the above. other than these, i know of none of the name, ancient or recent, in the county, and i shall be glad to learn on what ground sir george downing's family is said to be of most ancient origin in devonshire. the name does not appear in westcote, pole, prince, risdon, or the heralds' visitations, and the modern authorities state that the family was from essex or norfolk. j.d.s. the following memorandum i found accidentally on the margin of a ms. pedigree of downing, but i am sorry i cannot recall the source from whence i obtained it. possibly, however, it may assist "alpha" in his enquiry. "sir george downing was not the son of calibut downing, rector of hackney, but of emmanuel downing, a london merchant, who went to new england. governor hutchinson, in his _history of massachusetts_, gives the true account of downing's affiliation, which has been further confirmed by mr. savage, of boston, from the public records of new england." j.p.c. _hulls, the inventor of steam-boats_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your facetious correspondent, nocab, may gain some information relative to his friend jonathan hulls, by going to the british museum, and asking for the following book from mr. grenville's library. i will give the full title and mr. grenville's note, as it stands in my catalogue of the library. grenville catalogue (vol. i. p. .) "hulls, jonathan. a description and draught of a new-invented machine for carrying vessels or ships out of, or into any harbour, port, or river, against wind and tide, or in a calm. for which his majesty has granted letters patent, for the sole benefit of the author, for the space of fourteen years. london, , folding plate.[ ] vo. r.[ ] "this new invented machine is a steam-boat. it entirely puts an end to the claims of america to the invention of steam navigation, and establishes for this country the honour of that important discovery." henry foss. . devonshire street, . jan. . [footnote : representing, as well as i remember, a perfect steam-boat.] [footnote : meaning russia binding.] [we are also indebted to [curly-pi] for a reply to nocab's query.] "_the lucky have whole days_" (vol. i., pp. . .).--i can inform your correspondents p.s. and h.h., that the passage in question is correctly quoted by the latter at p. ., and that it is to be found in dryden's _tyrannic love_. henry h. breen. st. lucia, west indies, nov. "_clarum et venerabile nomen_" (vol. ii., p. .).--your enquirer as to whence comes "clarum et venerabile nomen," &c., will find them in lucan. book ix. l. . e.h. norwich. _occult transposition of letters_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .).--_concert of nature._--other examples of these ambiguous verses are given by j. baptista porta, _de furtivis literarum notis_, one of which has suggested the following lines, as conveying the compliments of the season to the editor of "notes and queries:" but which, transposed, would become an unseasonable address:-- "principio tibi sit facilis, nec tempore parvo vivere permittat te dea terpsichore. si autem conversis dictionibus leges, dicent,-- terpsichore dea te permittat vivere parvo tempore, nec facilis sit tibi principio." i beg leave sincerely, to add, in the words of ausonius (ep. xxv.),-- "quis prohibet salve atque vale brevitate parata scribere? felicesque notas mandare libellis." this magnificent epistle inculcating-- "nil mutum natura dedit: non aëris ales quadrupedesve silent," &c. should be compared with the celebrated stanza of spenser's _faerie queen_ (book ii. canto xii. st. .), beginning with "the joyous birds shrouded in cheareful shade;" and with d'israeli's animated defence, in his _amenities_ (vol. ii. p. .) of these charming verses against the [greek: plêmmelês] and tasteless, the anti-poetical and technical, criticism of twining, in his first _dissertation on poetical and musical imitation_. t.j. _darby and joan_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i never heard of the tradition mentioned by h. i can only suppose that the poet referred to was the first person who introduced the ballad at the manor-house. helaugh nichols, an excellent authority in such matters, whose trade traditions, through the boyers, father and son, went back a century and a half, tells us that the ballad was supposed to have been written by henry woodfall, while an apprentice to darby. the darbys were printers time out of mind--one robert darby was probably an assistant to wynkyn de worde, who certainly left a legacy to a person of that name. the woodfalls, too, can be traced up as printers for nearly two centuries. _the_ darby, and joan, his wife, were probably john darby, printer, in bartholomew close, who was { } prosecuted in for printing "lord russell's speech," and died in . _the_ woodfall, the printer, is understood to have been henry woodfall, afterwards "woodfall without temple bar," grandfather of henry sampson, the printer of _junius' letters_, and great-great-grandfather of the present excellent printer of the same name. j.d.y. _did bunyan know hobbes?_ (vol. ii., p. .).--before this question, put by jas. h. friswell, can be answered satisfactorily, it should be shown that bunyan was the author of the _visions of hell_. in _chambers' journal_ for sept. . , n., it is taken for granted that he was, and the passage alluding to hobbes is noticed. your correspondent more justly questions the fact. a very intelligent friend of mine, who has devoted much research into the supposed origin of the _pilgrim's progress_, the result of which i hope ere long will appear, tells me that he is decidedly of opinion that the _visions_ in question are not the production of the "prince of dreamers." he believes the _visions_ first appeared as bunyan's in a stereotyped collection or selection of his works, about - . some time after seeing this, my friend was surprised at meeting with the following little volume, which is now before me: _the world to come. the glories of heaven, and the terrors of hell, lively displayed under the similitude of a vision_. by g.l., sunderland. printed by r. wetherald, for h. creighton, . mo. the running title, as far as p. ., is, _the world to come; or, visions of heaven_; and on that page commence the _visions of hell, and of the torments of the damned_: and here it is the author has _charitably_ placed hobbes, with whom the colloquy alluded to by your querist occurs. i shall not occupy your papers with any remarks on the ignorance betrayed by g.l. (whoever he may be), both of the writings and character of hobbes; but i shall be glad if i can lead to the elucidation of what yet remains a literary obscurity, and obtains the name of g.l. f.r.a. _mythology of the stars_ (vol. iii., p. .).--g.i.c. is recommended to study the ordinary celestial globe, and to make himself familiar with its _use_, in order to enhance the interest of the spectacle of the sidereal heavens as seen by the naked eye. he is also particularly referred to the _celestial cycle_, by capt. smyth, published by parker and co., west strand, in vols. vo., price l. s.; a book full of astronomical and mythological gossip. g.i.c. will find books on _astrology_ for sale at maynard's, no. . earl's court, cranbourn street, leicester square, more readily, perhaps, than any where else in london. robert snow. . chesterfield street, mayfair, jan. . . _dodo queries_ (vol. i., pp. , .).--mr. strickland is informed, that in the list of pingré's works, as given in quérard's _france littéraire,_ there is one with the following title:-- "mémoire sur les découvertes faites dans la mer du sud, avant les derniers voyages des français autour du monde, lu à l'académie des sciences, , , , in. ." i have not read pingré's works, but if they contain any mention of _solitaires_, it will probably be found in the _mémoire_ above referred to. henry h. breen. st. lucia, w.i., nov. . _holland land_ (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., p. ).--in an ancient charter, in my possession, bearing date edw. i.: "gilebertus dictus ate vorde, de farlegh," and "james, son of the late philip de essche," quitclaim to james, son of paulinus de wynchelse: "dimidiam acram terre flandrensis ... in villa de ickelesham," to have and to hold una cum redditu et servitio mihi (_sic_) pertinentibus de alia dimidia acra terre flandrensis." the _polders_ of holland are familiar to all travellers, as lands lying below the level of the sea, once a mere morass, redeemed from that state, and brought into cultivation by embankments, &c., &c. in another charter, somewhat earlier in date and relating to the same district, viz. the neighbourhood of winchelsea, hamo de crevecour speaks of lands in la more in ideun, which the monks of robertsbridge, with consent of his father hamo, "a mari incluserunt." i have always supposed that the "terra flandrensis" of my charter signified land of the same description as the dutch polders; the art of thus redeeming land being probably introduced from the low countries. it is not unlikely that, in that day, lands so brought into cultivation were designated as "terre flandrenses," and the term afterwards anglicised into "holland land." l.b.l. _swearing by swans_ (vol. ii., p. .).--symbology of the swan. "tunc allati sunt in pompatica gloria duo cygni, vel olores, ante regem, &c. &c.,--vindicaturus."[ ]--_matthæus westmonasteriensis_. dr. lingard states that "the vows of chivalry were not taken on the gospels, but, ridiculous as it may appear, in the presence of a peacock, or { } pheasant, or other bird of beautiful plumage."--_history of england_, edward i. "nec dissimili ingenio heraldi antiquiores, musicos et cantatores cygnis[ ] donarunt. ejusque haud ignarus perspicax noster franciscanus cum hos a non cantoribus latos observasset, rationem se ait a rege heraldorum petiisse, eumque duplicem assignasse: hanc quia viri essent pulcherrimi, illam quia haberent longa colla. sane candorem animi per cygni effigiem antiquitùs prædicabant, nec insulsè igitur corporis. sed gloriæ studium ex eodem hoc symbolo indicari multi asserunt. "cum edwardus primus," &c. &c.--spelmanni _aspilogia_, p. . the spaniards found that the swan had been employed emblematically in mexico, supporting the theory of hornius that that part of america was colonised by the phoenicians and carthaginians, inasmuch as, according to bryant, "where the canaanites or their descendants may have settled, there will a story be found in reference to swans." the mythological history of the cygnus will be found in the latter author's _analysis_, and in hill's _urania, or a complete view of the heavens, containing the ancient and modern astronomy, in form of a dictionary_, which will perhaps meet the wants of g.i.c. (vol. iii. p. .). it will not, perhaps, be irrelevant to this subject to advert to the story of albertus aquensis (in _gesta dei per francos_, p. .), regarding a _goose and a goat_, which in the second crusade were considered as "divino spiritu afflati," and made "duces viæ in jerusalem." well may it be mentioned by the histoian as "scelus omnibus fidelibus incredibile;" but the imputation serves to show that the christians of that age forgot what a heathen poet could have taught them,-- [greek: "eis oiônos aristos amynesthai peri patrês."] t.j. [footnote : with this solecism in the printed _flores historiarum_ i find that a ms. in the chetham library agrees, the abbreviative mark used in the hundred rolls of edward i. for the terminations _us_ and _er_ having been affixed to this participle.] [footnote : to the passages i have elsewhere referred to on _the concert of nature_, from ausonius, epistle ., and spenser's _faerie queen_, book ii. canto xii. st. ., "divine respondence meet" is made by the last lines in tennyson's _dying swan_.] _swearing by swans_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the quotation given by your correspondent e.t.m. (vol. ii., p. .), only increases my desire to receive a reply to my query on this subject, since he has adduced a parallel custom. what are the earliest notices of the usage of swearing by swans and pheasants? was the pheasant ever considered a _royal_ bird? r.v. _the frozen horn_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i am quite angry with j.m.g. for supposing my old friend sir john maundevile guilty of such a _flam_ as that which he quotes from memory as the worthy knight's own statement. there is no such story in the _voiage and travaile_: nay more, there is not in the whole of that "ryght merveillous" book, a single passage given on the authority of sir john as eyewitness that is not perfectly credible. when he quotes pliny for monsters, the chronicles for legends, and the romances of his time for narratives of an extraordinary character, he does so in evident good faith as a compiler. his most improbable statements, too, are always qualified with some such phrase as "men seyn, but i have not sene it." in a word, i believe sir john maundevile to have been as truthful in intention as any writer of his age. i am afraid that j.m.g.'s knowledge of our old "voiager" is limited to some jest-book of more modern times, which attributes to him sayings and doings of which he is perfectly guiltless. mark antony lower. lewes. _cockade and true blue_ (vol. iii., pp. . .) both owe their origin to the wars of the scottish covenanters; and the cockade appears to have been first adopted as a distinguishing emblem by the english army at the battle of sherra-muir, where the scotch wore the blue ribbon as a scarf, or on their bonnets (which was their favourite colour). the english army then, to distinguish themselves, assumed a black rosette on their hats; which, from its position, the scotch nick-named a "cock'ade" (with which our use of the word "cockscomb" is connected) and is still retained. an old scotch song describing, "the battle of sherra-muir" (which name it bears) in verse ., line ., speaks of the english as-- "the red-coat lads, wi' black cockades;" verse ., describing the scotch and their mode of fighting, says,-- "but had you seen the philibegs, and skyrin tartan trews, man, when in the teeth they dared our whigs, and covenant true-blues, man; in lines extended lang and large, when bayonets opposed the targe, and thousands hasten'd to the charge, wi' highland wrath, they frae the sheath drew blades o' death, till, out o' breath, they fled like frighted doos, man." the song, which is rather a long one, carries you with the army to the forth, dumblane, stirling, perth, and dundee. oft referring to the "poor red-coat," and to the "angus lads." blower. _the vavasours of hazlewood (vol. ii., p. .)._-- . it is a well-known fact that the stone for york minster was given by the vavasour family. to commemorate this, there is, under the west window in that cathedral, a statue of the owner of hazelwood at that period, holding a piece of stone in his hand. hence may have arisen the tradition that the chief of the family might ride into york minster on horseback. { } . in feudal times hazlewood was a fortified castle, having its regular retainers, &c. . hazlewood chapel was _the only roman catholic parish church_ in england which did not become a protestant church at the reformation. chas. d. markham. jan. . . _"breeches" bible_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in quoting from specimens of early printing, correctness of orthography, even in trivial matters, is desirable, and therefore i venture, in allusion to the interesting communication from [curly-pi] on the subject of the geneva or "_breeches_" bible, to state that the edition of , in my possession, is "imprinted by _christopher barkar_" (not barker), "dwelling in paternoster rowe, at the signe of the tygres head." the text quoted varies also in two or three words from my copy, and it is probably from the geneva edition. the english edition of runs thus, (gen. iii. .): "then the eyes of them _both_ were opened, and they _knew_ that they were naked, and they sewed _figge_ tree _leaves_ together, and made them _selves_ breeches." i am, sir, yours truly, s.h.h. _histoire des sévarambes_ (vol. iii., p. .).--on the subject of the authorship of this work i will transcribe a note which i subjoined to a short account of isaac vossius (worthington's _diary_, p. ):-- "whether the history of the sevarites, of sevarambi by captains thomas liden, published in two parts (london, - , mo.), which is one of the ablest of the fictions written after the model of more's _utopia_, and which has been ascribed to isaac vossius by j.a. fabricius, be his, is a point yet unsettled. on a careful consideration of the internal evidence, and a comparison with his avowed publications, so far as such a comparison can be made between works so dissimilar in character, i incline to the conclusion that this tract is justly ascribed to isaac vossius." on a reconsideration of the subject, i see no reason to alter this opinion. morhof, who always attributed it to isaac vossius (see polyhistor, vol. i. p. ., edit. ), was thoroughly versed in the literary history, including the english, of the period, and was not likely to have been mistaken. vossius lived in england from to , when he died. i have seen several english letters of his, though his general correspondence was in latin or french, and he seems quite able to have written it, as far as the language is concerned. vairasse appears to have translated it into french but to have had no other part in it. i may observe, that the publication in english, london, , is a retranslation from the french, not a reprint of the original work of - . james crossley. _verses attributed to charles yorke_ (vol. ii., p. .; and vol. iii., p. .).--these lines, "stript to the naked soul," have been frequently printed, indeed so lately as in lord campbell's _lives of the chancellors_, at the end of the life of charles yorke, as his, but without any observation. what is most singular is, that the excellent editor of bishop warburton's _literary remains_ has overlooked the fact that they are driven in that prelate's correspondence with bishop hurd as pope's. (see _letters_, p. ., edit. , vo.) warburton observes, "the little poem is certainly his." he remarks in a letter to yorke-- "you have obliged me much (as is your wont) by a fine little poem of my excellent and endeared friend, mr. pope, and i propose to put in into use."--_letters from warburton to c. yorke_. , to. p. . warburton then gave them to ruffhead, who inserted them in his _life of pope_, from which they were transferred in bowles's editions of _pope's works_ (vol. ii. p. ), and in the supplementary volume to _pope's works_ ( , to.). the extraordinary circumstance is, that they had appeared as far back as in the miscellaneous works of aaron hill, published in , in vols. vo., and are included in that collection as his own. roscoe observes (life of pope, in vol. i. of his edition of _pope's works_, p. ., edit. ), without, however appearing to have been fully acquainted with the facts of the case: "these verses are not the production of pope, as might indeed readily have been perceived, but of aaron hill." i must confess i cannot agree with the remark. if the point be to be decided by internal evidence, the verses are surely pope's. the collection of a. hill's miscellaneous works was a posthumous one for the benefit of the family, and includes several other poems, which were certainly not written by him. little stress, therefore, can be laid upon the fact of the lines being included in this collection, which seems to have comprised whatever was found amongst hill's papers, without any nice examination or scrutiny. my conclusion is, that the verses are pope's; and it is at all events certain that they are not charles yorke's. james crossley. _archbishop bolton of cashel_ (vol. iii., p. .).--he was born at burrishool, in the county of mayo, about ; graduated at trinity college, dublin; was ordained deacon in ; priest in ; became a prebendary of st. patrick's, dublin, in ; chancellor of that cathedral in ; vicar-general of the diocese of dublin in ; vicar of finglas, near dublin, in the same year; præcentor of christ church, dublin, in ; bishop of clonfert in the same year; bishop of elphin in ; archbishop of cashel in ; to which diocese he bequeathed his valuable library. he died in january, , and was buried at st. werburgh's church, in dublin. { } see my _fasti ecclesiæ hibernicæ_, vols. i., ii., and iv., for a few more particulars, if required. h. cotton. thurles, ireland, jan. . . _erasmus and farel_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in my _life of calvin_, p. ., i mention that erasmus named farel, _phallicus_; and infer that he probably did so from some manifestation of amorous propensities on the part of that reformer. a querist in your last number (j.c.r.) points out that d'aubigné, or his translator, spells the word _fallicus_, and refers it to the deceitful character of farel. _phallicus_ is a greek word, and has a meaning--[greek: phallikos], of or belonging to the [greek: phallos]. _fallicus_, to the best of my knowledge, is neither greek nor latin, and has no meaning. erasmus, in his epistles, constantly spells the word _phallicus_. (see _epp._ . . &c. leyden, ed. .) and that i was justified in drawing from it an inference which is in analogy with its meaning, the following passages, in the last of the epistles just cited, will establish:-- "hunc stomachum in me concepit (phallicus) quod in _spongia_ dubitem de lutheri spiritu: præterea quod scripserim, quosdam sordidos, et _impuræ vitæ_ se jactitare nomine evangelii." and a little farther on-- "at tamen quicquid hactenus in me blateravit phallicus, non minus vane quam virulente, facite condonabitur hominis morbo, modo posthac sumat _mores evangelii præcone dignos_." thos. h. dyer. london, jan. . . _early culture of the imagination_, (vol. iii., p. .).--the interesting article to which mr. gatty refers will be found in the _quarterly review_, no. xli. sir walter scott, in a letter addressed to edgar taylor, esq. (the translator of _german fairy tales and popular stories by m.m. grimm_), dated edinburgh, th jan. , says-- "there is also a sort of wild fairy interest in them [the _tales_] which makes me think them fully better adapted to awaken the imagination and soften the heart of childhood, than the good-boy stories which have been in later years composed for them. in the latter case, their minds are, as it were, put into the stocks, like their feet at the dancing-school, and the moral always consists in good moral conduct being crowned with temporal success. truth is, i would not give one tear shed over _little red riding-hood_ for all the benefit to be derived from a hundred histories of jemmy goodchild.... in a word, i think the selfish tendencies will be soon enough acquired in this arithmetical age; and that, to make the higher class of character, our wild fictions--like our own simple music--will have more effect in awakening the fancy and elevating the disposition, than the colder and more elaborate compositions of modern authors and composers." f.r.r. milnrow parsonage. _early culture of the imagination_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. alfred gatty will find what he inquires for in the th volume of the _quarterly review_, "children's books." with the prefatory remarks of that article may be compared no. . of the _rambler_, "the climacterics of the mind." t.j. _william chilcot_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. hooper is referred to the history of tiverton, by lieut. col. harding, ed. boyce, tiverton; whittaker, london, , vol. ii., b. iii., p. ., for an account of the family of chilcot _alias_ comyn; to which most likely the author belonged, and was probably a native of tiverton. as mr. hooper many not have ready access to the book, i send the substance of an extract. robert chilcott _alias_ comyn, born at tiverton, com. devon, merchant, and who died, it is supposed, at isleworth, com. middlesex, about a.d. , "married ann, d. of walter cade of london, haberdasher, by whom he had one son, _william_, who married catherine, d. of thomas billingsly of london, merchant, and had issue." certain lands also in tiverton, a.d. - , are described as "now or late of william comyns _alias_ chilcott."--_ibid._ p. . if the first edition of the work were in , most likely the author was a grandson of the above-named william chilcot and catherine his wife, which the tiverton registers might show. if the search prove unsuccessful there, try that of watford, herts, where a branch of the same family was settled, and to which there are monuments in watford churchyard. e.a.d. _by and bye_ (vol. ii., p. .).--surely this means "by the way." _good by_ may mean "bon voyage." s.s. _mocker_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in some of the provincial dialects of england, and in the scotch of the lowlands of scotland, there are a good many dutch words. _moker_, in dutch, means _a large hammer_. this is probably the word used by the old cottager of pembridge, and spelt _mocker_ by w.m. g.f.g. edinburgh. _was colonel hewson a cobbler?_ (vol. iii., p. .).--hume's history relates that "colonel hewson suppressed the tumult of london apprentices, november, :" and that "he was a man who rose from the _profession_ of a cobbler to a high rank in the army." colonel john hewson was member for guildford from september , , to january , - . (bray and manning.) gilbert. { } _mole_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this story is of course much older than the form which it now appears. sir bevil grenville is the great hero of the n.w. coast of cornwall most of the floating legend has been gathered about him. legends referring to the origin of different animals are common. mrs. jamieson (canada) has a very beautiful chippewa story of the first robin. it is believed in devonshire that moles begin to work with the flow, and leave off with the ebb of the tide. the same thing is asserted of the beaver. _pillgarlick_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--the word is given by todd, in his edition of johnson, under the forms _pilgarlick_ and _pilled-garlick_. the same orthography is adopted by other lexicographers. the spelling, concerning which your querist desires information, is, however, the least important point. i trust that the question will elicit information of a valuable kind as to the origin of the term, by which i have i myself been sorely puzzled, and which, i think, has not been satisfactorily cleared up by any of those who have attempted it. following the authority of skinner, our philologists are satisfied with assuring us, that _pilled_ means bald (french, pelé) and about this there can be no dispute. thus chaucer (reve's tale) says:-- round was his face, and camuse was his nose, and _pilled_ as an ape was his skull." shakspeare also has:-- "pieled priest! doost thou command me to be shut out?" for "shaven priest." but _pilled_, in other cases as might be shown by quotations, which for the sake of brevity i omit, means _pillaged_, _robbed_, and also _peeled_, of which last sense the quotations above given seem only to be a figurative application. the difficulties which arise from these explanations are, first, if _bald_ be the true meaning, why must we, with todd, limit it to baldness, resulting from disease, or more especially (as grose will have it) from a disgraceful disease? secondly, if _peeled_ be taken as the equivalent to _pilled_, why is peeled garlick a more perfect type of misery than any other peeled root or fruit? thirdly, if _pillage_ is an essential ingredient in the true meaning of the term "pilled garlick," what has the stolen garlick to do with wretchedness? and, lastly, how will any one, or all of these explanations together, tally with the following passage from skelton:-- "wyll, wyll, wyll, wyll, wyll he ruleth always styll. good reason and good skyll, _they may garlyck pyll_, cary sackes to the myll, or pescoddes they may shyll, or elles go rost a stone?" _why come ye not to courte?_ - . without further elucidation of this pilling, the existing definitions are pills which defy deglutition of f.s.q. _a recent novel_ (vol. i., pp. , .).--may i be permitted to correct an error in a communication from one of your correspondents? adolphus (p. .) puts a query respecting the title of a recent novel; and j.s. (p. ) informs him that the title is _le morne au diable_, by eugène sue. the fact is, that "la morne au diable" is the principal scene of the events described, and nothing more. the title is _l'aventurier, ou la barbe-bleue_; and an english translation, styled the _female blue beard, or the adventurer_, was published in by w. strange, . paternoster row. henry h. breen. st. lucia, w.i., nov. _tablet to napoleon_ (vol. i., p. .).--the form and punctuation given to this inscription by c. suggest its true meaning. napoleon is called the egyptian, the italian, for reasons similar to those for which publius cornelius scipio obtained the name of "africanus." there is, however, another sense in which the epithet "bis italicus" is applicable to napoleon: he was an italian by birth as well as by conquest. it is in this sense that voltaire has applied to henri quatre the second line of the following couplet:-- "je chante ce héros qui régna sur la france et par droit de _conquête_, et par droit de _naissance_." as to the "lingual purity" of the inscription, there is not much to be said about it, one way or the other. it is on a level with most modern inscriptions and epitaphs in the latin language; neither so elegant as the latinity of dr. johnson, or walter savage landor, nor yet so hackneyed as our "latin de cuisine." henry h. breen. st. lucia, w.i., nov. . _north sides of churchyards_ (vol. ii., pp. . &c.)--in a chapter on the custom of burying on the south side of churches, in thompson's _history of swine_, published , i find the following mention of the north side being appropriated to felons: "the writer hereof remembers, that between fifty and sixty years ago, a man who was executed at lincoln, was brought to swine, and buried on the north side of the church, as the proper place in which to bury a felon." i have heard it stated by several inhabitants of the parish, that it is only within a few years that burials began to be made irrespectively on the north side. whilst speaking of things in connection with this church, i may mention for the { } interest of antiquaries, that only a short time ago, the sexton discovered a very curious fresco of the virgin on one of the pillars in the north aisle. there is an inscription beneath the figure, but so very indistinct, as not to admit of being deciphered. r.w.e. hull. _wisby_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "wisby was fortified about against its country neighbours; and king magnus, , quieted another civil war, and allowed the citizens to restore their fallen walls."--_olaus magnus_, ii. . "it was destroyed in (koch) by walderna, king of denmark, who, taking advantage of the discords in sweden, and having flattered the king magnus till he made him a mere tool of his own, conquered or destroyed some valuable parts of the swedish dominions, and among the rest gothland."--_johannes magnus, rex suev._, xxi. . and in .: "... ob direptum insigne emporium vis becense." "as, therefore, it was not an individual event, probably it had not any individual cause, and that the pane of glass story is not true."--_olaus magnus_, x. the same olaus (ii. .) says, that pride and discord were its ruin; that its inhabitants scattered into the continental cities; and that in his time, , there were splendid ruins, iron doors, brass or copper windows, once gilt or silvered. c.b. _singing of swans_ (vol. ii., p. .).--if your correspondent t.j. will turn to erman's _travels in siberia_ translated by cooley, vol. ii. p. ., he will find that the singing of swans is by no means so groundless a notion as bp. percy supposed. _erman_ says the notes of the cygnus olor are most beautifully clear and loud--"and that this bird, when wounded, pours forth its last breath in such notes, is now known for certain." there is more also to the same purpose. a.c.m. _dacre monument at herstmonceux_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in answer to part of the third query of your correspondent e.v., i beg to inform him that sable, a cross _potent_ or, is the coat of alleyn. sable, a cross _patonce_ or, belongs to lascelles. argent a fesse gules belongs to the solers family. and barry of six argent and gules, _with a canton ermine_, is the coat of apseley of sussex. h.c.k. _herstmonceux castle_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the elucidation of your correspondent's _second_ query suggests several further questions; for instance--was _juliana_ wife of _william_, the _owner_ of the estate? if so, did she die in the lifetime of her husband? if so, did she leave issue? semble not, and assuming her to have no direct heirs, the estate would escheat. was the king lord of the fee? were william de warburton and ingelram de monceaux relatives of the _half_ blood of juliana? if so, a re-grant to them, if claimants, would not, i imagine, have been unusual upon payment of a fine to the crown. it would almost seems as if a doubt existed as to the heirship, from the expression "_whose next of kin they _say_ they are_." this note is conjectural only, and is therefore offered with much diffidence. i.b.c. _suem._--_ferling._--_grasson_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it is obvious that your correspondent's extract from the rotherfield court-roll is not accurately transcribed. the original most probably contains no such words as _suem_. _ferling_ is a well-known word in old legal phraseology. as a term of superficial measure it denotes a quarter of an acre; of lineal measure, an eighth of a mile, or furlong. _grassum_ is the term commonly used in the northern parts of the kingdom to signify the fine, or foregift in money, paid by a lessee for the renewal of his lease from a lay or ecclesiastical corporation. it is derived from the a.-s. _gærsum_ or _gærsame_, a treasure; the root of which is still retained in the northern word _gear_, goods or stuff. [delta]. jan. . . _portrait of archbishop williams_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent y.y. desires to be informed of the "locus" of the portraits of several bishops, among them of _john williams_, archbishop of york. there is a full-length in the hall of this college, which i shall have great pleasure in showing to him should he ever find it convenient to pay cambridge a visit. p.j.f. gantillon. st. john's college. _swans hatched during thunder_ (vol. ii., p. .).--some years ago i purchased a pair of swans, and, during the first breeding season after i procured them, they made a nest in which they deposited seven eggs. after they had been sitting about six weeks, i observed to my servant, who had charge of them and the other water-fowl, that it was about the time for the swans to hatch. he immediately said, that it was no use expecting it till there had been a rattling peal of thunder to crack the egg-shells, as they were so hard and thick that it was impossible for the cygnets to break them without some such assistance. perhaps this is the reason why swans are said to be hatched during a thunder-storm. i need only say, that this is a popular fallacy, as swans regularly hatch after sitting six weeks, whether there happens to be a thunder-storm or not. henry e. _etymology of apricot_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i cannot agree in the opinion expressed by your correspondent e.c.h., that this word is derived from the latin _præcox_, signifying "early-ripening,"--that the words [greek: prokokkia] and [greek: prekokkia] are { } græcised latin,--and that the arabs themselves, adopting the word with a slight variation, made it _al-bercoy_. the fact of the fruit itself being of asiatic origin, renders it in the highest degree improbable that the orientals would borrow a name for it from the latin. my own opinion is, that the reverse is the case--that the latin is merely a corruption of the arabic; and that the latins, in adopting the word, naturally gave it the slight alteration which rendered the arabic word, to them unmeaning, appropriately significant of the nature of the fruit. i find that in various languages the word strolls thus in the latin of the middle age, _avercoccius_--in the modern greek, [greek: berykokkion]--in the italian, _albercocco_, _albicocca_--in the spanish, _albaricoque_--and all these various words, undeducible from the latin _præcox_, are readily derivable from the arabic word, the prefix _al_, which is merely the article, being in some cases dropped, and in others retained. i may add, as a curious fact, that, in the south of italy, of which i am a native, the common people call the apricot _verricocca_, and _the peach_ _precucco_, although the former ripen _earlier_ than the latter. a.p. di pio, italo-græcos. carlisle. _"plurima gemma latet cæcâ tellure sepulta"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the course of my reading, some time back, i met with a passage which was given as quotation from bishop hall. i transcribe it, as it appears to me to approach nearer to the above hexameter than even gray's lines: "there is many a rich stone laid up, in the bowels of the earth; many a fair pearl in the bosom of the sea, that never was seen, nor ever shall be." _time when herodotus wrote_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the passage in herodotus which shows that he was still employed on his history when he was seventy-five, is in his first book. but a.w.h. thinks, that, as it is a general introduction, showing why he mentioned all places, small or great, it must have been written at the beginning. i should infer the contrary; that he would give an account why he had done so after he had done it, and not while it rested merely in intention. but perhaps it may be said, that [greek: ên] is in the former part of the sentence, and therefore might have been repeated in the latter part, which is the converse of it, though it might not be exactly the proper tense. however, f. clinton puts down his birth b.c. ; or as the years in which he read his history at the olympic games; and as a year in which he was still adding to it. however, if he wrote the passage when he was thirty, that would justify the past tense, which perhaps, too, we have a right to construe _have been_, for that verb has no perfect preterite. c.b. _lucy and colin_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the ballad adverted to, which is the one translated by vincent bourne, is by tickel, and will be found in any collection of his works. notwithstanding southeys epithet "wretched!" it will always be admired, both in the original and the translation. james crossley. manchester, jan. . . _translations of apuleius_, &c. (vol. ii., p. .).--in answer to your correspondent, g.p.i., concerning a translation of the _golden ass of apuleius_, i beg you will insert the following particulars. there is a copy in the british museum (press mark, case . b.) of a translation by adlington. the title is as follows--_"the xi. bookes of the golden asse, conteining the metamorphosie of lucius apuleius, enterlaced with an excellent narration of the marriage of cupido and psiches, set out in the iiii. v. and vi. bookes. translated out of latine into englishe by william adlington. imprinted at london, in fleet streate, and the sign of the oliphante, by henry wykes. anno ."_ this work is of extreme rarity. at the end of the dedicatory epistle there is a ms. note, which i transcribe:--"_this translation and its author has escaped ye notice of the industrious oxford antiquary[ ], for i find not his name in the athen. oxon., nor is the book menconed _(mentioned)_ in mr. ames's typographical antiquities, both which omissions add a singular rareness to this scarce book. r.e.w."_ the pagination of the book is only on one side, and contains folios, including the table of contents. ritson (_vide_ note on fly-leaf) does not notice this edition ( ), nor the second in , but quotes that of . kenneth mackenzie. [footnote : wood.] taylor's translation of apuleius's _golden ass_, lond. , vols., is said by lowndes to be an esteemed version. the french translations of the same work, according to de bure (see _manuel du libraire_) are very inferior. c.i.r. _etymology of "grasson"_ (vol. iii., p. .).--grasson appears to be derived front "grassor," "to assail." livy somewhere has the following--"grassor in possessionem agri"--which would be rendered, "to enter upon it by force;" it being only by the payment of the fine (grasson) that the entry, "grassor," or alienation of copyhold lands, could be warded off: hence the act of the lord of the manor (grassor) became the name for the fine paid by this tenant, "grasson." blower. _lynch law_ (vol. iii., p. .).--webster's { } _american dictionary_ ( ) explains this phrase thus-- "the practice of punishing men for crimes and offences by private unauthorized persons, without a legal trial. the term is said to be derived from a virginian farmer, named lynch, who thus took the law into his own hands." (u.s.) webster is considered the highest authority in america, or i should not offer the above. g.h.b. "_talk not of love_" (vol. iii., p. .).--the song quoted by your querist, a. m., was written by mrs. maclehose, the "clarinda" of burns, and is to be found in most of the lives of the scottish poet. [j.h., jr., says it is printed in chambers's _journal_, no. . new series. daniel ferguson points them out at p. . of a _collection of songs of england and scotland_, published by cochrane, of waterloo place; and in vol. ii. of johnson's _scots musical museum_; and g.t. also refers to the last-named collection.] _the butcher duke_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the song referred to by mezzotinto is to be found in most of the collections of scotch songs, under the name of "bonnie laddie, highland laddie," for which old air it was written; or, when only partially printed, by the commencing line of one of its stanzas:-- "geordie sits in charlie's chair." it is one of the numerous jacobite songs composed either about , by some one "out in the fifteen," or later by a poet of "the forty-five." the author's name is unknown. in the collection of scottish songs, published by robert chambers in , the song, consisting of no less than twenty-two stanzas, will be found at p. . [l.m.m.r. has also kindly transcribed the song from the _scots musical museum;_ and dr. c., of newcastle, who says "it is well known in the remoter districts of northumberland," obligingly offers to furnish mezzotinto with a copy, if he should desire it.] _curfew_ (vol. ii., p. .).--_the curfew_ is rung at handsworth, near sheffield. h.j. _robertson struan_ (vol. iii., p. .).--as one of those who quarter the coat of robertson struan, i may perhaps be able to afford c.r.m. some slight information. my maternal grandfather was a son of william robertson, of richmond, one of whose daughters married sir david dundas, bart. the arms borne by him were, gules, three wolves' heads erased, langued, azure. a selvage man in chains hanging beneath the shield. crest, a bare cubit, supporting a regal crown. motto, "virtutis gloriæ merces." w.j. bernhard smith. temple. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the landing of charles edward stuart, and the "seven men of moidart," on the memorable th july, , was the opening of the last, and, in many respects, the most brilliant and stirring chapter in the romance of english history. that mr. murray has therefore done wisely in the publication, in a separate form, of _the forty-five: by lord mahon, being the narrative of the insurrection of , extracted from lord mahon's history of england_, there can be little doubt. the memory of that eventful period is so kept alive among us, by snatches of jacobite ballads, and recitals of the strange incidents in which it was so rich, that this separate publication of so much of lord mahon's _history of england from the peace of utrecht ( ) to the peace of paris ( )_ as relates to its "moving accidents by flood and field," will be a great boon to those numerous readers who have neither means, time, nor opportunity to peruse lord mahon's interesting narrative in that valuable contribution to our national history for which it was originally written. some time since the british museum purchased for about l. a volume containing no less than sixty-four early french farces and moralities, printed between the year and , of which a very large proportion was entirely unknown. how important a collection of materials for the early history of the drama, especially in france, is contained in this precious volume, we learn from a work which has reached us, "_pas destiné au commerce_," under the title of _description bibliographique et analyse d'un livre unique qui se trouve au musée britannique_, which contains a short but able analysis of the various pieces which formed the volume thus fortunately secured for our national library. though the name of the editor is stated, on the title-page, to be _tridace-nafe-théobrome, gentilhomme breton_, we strongly suspect that no such gentleman is to be found; and that we are really indebted for this highly curious and interesting book to a gentleman who has already laid the world of letters under great obligation, m. delpierre, the accomplished secretary of legation of the belgian embassy. literature, science, and the arts have sustained a heavy loss in the death of that accomplished patron of them--that most amiable nobleman the marquess of northampton. his noble simplicity and single-mindedness of character, and his unaffected kindliness of manner, endeared him to all who had the good fortune to be honoured with his acquaintance, and by all of whom his death will be long and most deeply regretted. mr. sandys, f.s.a., of canterbury, has issued a prospectus for the immediate publication, by subscription, of the _consuetudines kanciæ: a history of gavelkind and other remarkable customs in the county of kent_. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell on monday next, and four following days, a very select and valuable library, the property of a gentleman deceased, including among other choice lots, two early mss. of the _divina comedia_, and an extensive, rare, and interesting series of early editions of dante. { } _books received._--_clark's introduction to heraldry_ (london, washbourne), fourteenth edition, which contains a chapter and plates, which are entirely new, on heraldry in conjunction with architecture;--_hints and queries intended to promote the preservation of antiquities and the collection and arrangement of information on the subject of local history and tradition_--a most useful little tract, highly creditable to the _kilkenny archæological society_, by whose order it has been printed for circulation;--_the peril of the papal aggression; or, the case as it stands between the queen and the pope, by anglicanus_. london, bosworth. _catalogues received._--charles skeet's ( . king william street, charing cross) catalogue no. . for , of a miscellaneous collection of books, new and second-hand; john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cxx. (no. . for ) of old and new books; edward stibbs' ( . strand) catalogue, part ii., of a valuable collection of books, including an extensive purchase of italian, french, and spanish literature; bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue no. . of european and oriental philology and general literature; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. xvii. of books old and new. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. de cultu et amore dei. pts. london, . ainslie's materia indica. lewin, lepidur, insects of new south wales, coloured plates. to. cockburne on gonorrhoea virulenta, c. . col. london, . ray, synopsis methodica avium et piscitm. london, . burke's thoughts on the causes of the discontents, . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. hanap. q.b., _who asks the meaning of this old name given to certain cups and drinking vessels, is referred to our first vol. pp. - , our second vol. p. ., and the_ archæological journal, vol. ii., p. . mr. kenneth mackenzie, mr. m.a. lower. mr. george stephens (_of_ stockholm), _and several anonymous correspondents, who have written to us suggesting certain alterations either in our size, price, mode of publication, or other arrangements, are assured that fully appreciating the kind motives which have prompted their communications, their respective suggestions will receive our best attention; and that if we do not adopt them, it will be for reasons the force of which our correspondents would, we have no doubt, if they could be made fully acquainted with them, be the very first to admit._ delta, _who writes to us respecting the origin of the thought embodied in cambell's line_-- like angels' visits, few and far between," _is referred to our first vol. p. , and our second vol. p. ., for two quotations from norris of bemerton, which embody the same idea._ _if _mr. john powers_, who in _notes and queries_ for jan. th. , p. ., offered to furnish an extract from hardiman's _statute of kilkenny_, will have the kindness to so at this distance of time, and to forward it to us, the querist to whom he replied, and whose direction we have just received, will be much obliged to him._ e.t., _who inquires respecting the quotation in sterne_,-- "god tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," _will find many earlier instances of this proverbial expression quoted in our first vol._ pp. . . . replies received.--_breeches bible--curse of scotland--john sanderson--st. saviour's, canterbury--frozen horn--under the rose--lynch law--"talk not of love"--darby and joan--robertson of struan--wolf and hound--difformis--culture of imagination--lachrymatories--synod of dort--bunyan and hobbes--booty's case--lucy and colin--black rood of scotland--ferling--portraits of bishops--time when herodotus wrote--fronte capillata--separation of sexes in church--touching for the evil--true blue--st. paul's clock--annoy--umbrella._ volume the second of notes and queries, _with very copious _index_, is now ready, price_ s. d. _strongly bound in cloth. vol. i. is reprinting, and will, we hope, be ready next week._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers. &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive _notes and queries_ in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of _notes and queries_ should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * to book buyers.--william brough, . paradise street, birmingham, has just published a catalogue of upwards of , volumes of second-hand books, which may be had _gratis_ on application; by post, four stamps. books of every description, and in any quantity, purchased. * * * * * mr. maccabe's romance of the dark ages, bertha. "the book is able, learned, and instructive to a degree wholly unusual in works of its class."--_weekly chronicle._ "we gladly recommend a work, the learning, purity, and interest of which must please all kinds of reader."--_morning chronicle._ "the mere novel reader will value it for its exciting adventures, its touching incidents, and its dramatic interest; while it will be acceptable to the historical student for its vigorous grasp of historic character, and to the antiquarian for its information relating to the dark ages."--_morning post._ "it is treated with the learning of a scholar, and the grace of an experienced writer."--_news of the world._ see also notes and queries, january th. also, vols. i. and ii. a catholic history of england. by w.b. maccabe, esq. "a work of great literary value."--_the times._ t.c. newby, . welbeck street, cavendish square. * * * * * now ready, fcap. vo., price s. d. a third series of plain sermons, addressed to a country congregation. by the late rev. edward blencowe, curate of teversal, notts, and formerly fellow of oriel college, oxford. also, a new edition of the first series, and a second edition of the second series, price s. d. each. "their style is simple; the sentences are not artfully constructed; and there is an utter absence of all attempt at rhetoric. the language is plain saxon language, from which 'the men on the wall' can easily gather what it most concerns them to know."--_theologian._ also, vols. mo., sold separately, s. each, sermons. by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. 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[price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page old ballads upon the "winter's tale," by j. payne collier crossing rivers on skins, by janus dousa folk lore of south northamptonshire, no . minor notes:--kentish town in the last century-- murray's hand-book for devon and cornwall--judges' walk, hampstead--gray's alcaic ode--fleet marriages queries:-- histoire des séverambes origin of present penny postage, by e. venables red book of the irish exchequer minor queries:--abbey of shapp, or hepp--"talk not of love"--lucy and colin--chapel, printing-office --cockade--suem, ferling, grasson--cranmer's descendants--collections of pasquinades-- portraits of bishops--the butcher duke--rodolph gualter--passage in st. mark--"fronte capillatâ," &c. replies:-- "god speed the plough" "defender of the faith," by robert anstruther beatrix lady talbot, by sir f. madden replies to minor queries:--passage in hamlet--passage in tennyson--was quarles pensioned?--old hewson the cobbler--the inquisition--mrs. tempest--cardinal allen's declaration--scandal against queen elizabeth--church of st. saviour, canterbury--pope ganganelli-nicholas ferrar's digest--nicholas ferrar-- cardinal erskine--the author of "peter wilkins" --"the toast," by dr. king--"the widow of the wood"--damasked linen miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. notices to correspondents books and odd volumes wanted advertisements * * * * * our third volume. the commencement of our third volume affords an opportunity, which we gladly seize, of returning our best thanks to those kind friends and correspondents to whom we are indebted for our continued success. we thank them all heartily and sincerely; and we trust that the volume, of which we now present them with the first number, will afford better proof of our gratitude than mere words. such improvements as have suggested themselves in the course of the fourteen months during which notes and queries has been steadily working up its way to its present high position shall be effected; and nothing shall be wanting, on our part, which may conduce to maintain or increase its usefulness. and here we would announce a slight change in our mode of publication, which we have acceded to at the suggestion of several parties, in order to meet what may appear to many of our readers a trivial matter, but which is found very inconvenient in a business point of view--we allude to the diversity of price in our monthly parts. to avoid this, and, as we have said, to meet the wishes of many of our friends, we propose to publish a fifth or supplementary number in every month in which there are only four saturdays, so as to make the monthly parts one shilling and threepence each in all cases, with the exception of the months of january and july, which will include the index of the preceding half-yearly volume, at the price of one shilling and ninepence each. thus the yearly subscription to notes and queries, either in unstamped weekly numbers or monthly parts, will be eighteen shillings. trusting that this, and all the other arrangements we are proposing to ourselves, may meet with the approbation of our friends and subscribers, we bid them farewell! and wish them,--what we trust they wish to notes and queries--a happy new year, and many of them! * * * * * notes. old ballad upon the "winter's tale." some of your correspondents may be able to give me information respecting an old ballad that has very recently fallen in my way, on a story similar to that of shakspeare's _winter's tale_, and in some particulars still more like greene's novel of _pandosto_, upon which the _winter's tale_ was founded. you are aware that the earliest known edition of greene's novel is dated , although there is room to suspect that it had been originally { } printed before that year: the first we hear of the _winter's tale_ is in , when it was acted at court, and it was not printed until it appeared in the folio of . the ballad to which i refer has for title _the royal courtly garland, or joy after sorrow_: it is in ordinary type, and was "printed and sold in aldermary churchyard, london." it has no date, and in appearance does not look older than from perhaps, to ; it may even be more recent, as at that period it is not easy to form a correct opinion either from typography or orthography: black-letter has a distinguishing character at various periods, so as to enable a judgment to be formed within, perhaps, ten years, as regards an undated production: but such is not the case with roman type, or white-letter. what i suspect, however, is that this ballad is considerably older, and that my copy is only a comparatively modern reprint with some alterations; it requires no proof, at this time of day, to show that it was the constant habit of our old publishers of ephemeral literature to reprint ballads without the slightest notice that they had ever appeared before. this, in fact, is the point on which i want information, as to _the royal courtly garland, or joy after sorrow_. can any of your correspondents refer me to an older copy, or do they know of the existence of one which belongs to a later period? i cannot be ignorant of dr. rimbault's learning on such matters, and i make my appeal especially to him. it is very possible that it may bear a different title in other copies, and for the sake of identification i will furnish a few extracts from the various "parts" (no fewer than six) into which the ballad is divided; observing that they fill a closely printed broadside, and that the production is entirely different from jordan's versification of the _winter's tale_, under the title of _the jealous duke and the injured duchess_, which came out in his _royal arbor of loyal poesie_, vo. . it is singular that two ballads, hitherto wholly unknown, should have been written upon the same incidents of the same drama, although we are yet without evidence that jordan's effusion was ever published as a broadside. not a single name is given to any of the persons in my _royal courtly garland_, but the places of action are reversed exactly in the same way as in greene's novel of _pandosto_, where what shakspeare represents as passing in sicily occurs in bohemia, and _vice versa_; moreover, the error of representing bohemia as a maritime country belongs to my ballad, as well as to the novelist and the dramatist. the king of bohemia, jealous of an "outlandish prince," who he suspected had intrigued with his queen, employs his cup-bearer to poison the prince, who is informed by the cup-bearer of the design against his life. "for fear of the king the prince dare not stay: the wind being fair, he sailed away, saying, i will escape from his blood-thirsty hand by steering away to my native land." not long after his departure, the queen, "who had never conceived before" (which varies both from greene and shakspeare), produces a daughter, which the king resolves to get rid of by turning it adrift at sea in "a little boat." he so informs the queen, and she in great grief provides the outfit for the infant voyager: "a purse of rare jewels she placed next her skin, and fasten'd it likewise securely within; a chain round her neck, and a mantle of gold, because she her infant no more should behold." it is revealed to the king in a dream that his wife is innocent, but she soon dies of a broken-heart. meanwhile, the prince, on his return to his own dominions, marries, and has a son. the infant princess is driven on shore in his kingdom, and is saved by an old shepherd, and brought up by him and his wife as their own child, they carefully concealing the riches they had found in the "little boat." "this child grew up, endued with grace, a modest behaviour, a sweet comely face; and being arrived at the age of fifteen, for beauty and wisdom few like _her_ were seen." "her" is misprinted _him_ in the original, and the whole, as may be expected, is not a first-rate specimen of typography. the son of the prince sees and falls in love with the supposed shepherd's daughter, and, to avoid the anger of the prince his father, he secretly sails away with her and the old shepherd. by a storm they are driven on the coast of bohemia: "a violent storm on the sea did arise, drove them to bohemia; they are took for spies; their ship was seized, and they to prison sent: to confine them a while the king's fully bent." here we arrive at an incident which is found in greene, but which shakspeare had the judgment to avoid, making the termination of his drama as wonderful for its art, as delightful for its poetry. greene and my ballad represent the king of bohemia falling in love with his own daughter, whom he did not recognise. she effectually resisted his entreaties, and he resolves "to hang or burn" the whole party; but the old shepherd, to save himself, reveals that she is not his daughter, and produces "the mantle of gold" in which he had found her: "he likewise produced the mantle of gold. the king was amazed the sight to behold; though long time the shepherd had used the same, the king knew it marked with his own name." this discovery leads directly to the unwinding of the plot: the young prince makes himself known, and his father being sent for, the lovers are { } "married in triumph" in bohemia, and the old shepherd is made "a lord of the court." if any of your readers can inform me of another copy of the above ballad, especially unmodernised (the versification must have suffered in the frequent reprints) and in black-letter of an early date, they will do me a favour. at present i am unable to decide whether it was founded upon greene's novel, shakspeare's play, or upon some independent, possibly foreign, narrative. i am by no means satisfied that greene's novel was not a translation, and we know that he was skilful in italian, spanish, and french. j. payne collier. i cannot find the particular number of notes and queries, but unless i am greatly mistaken, in one of them, a correspondent gave praise (i am the last to say it was not deserved) to dr. maginn for suggesting that _miching mallecho_, in _hamlet_, act iii. sc. ., was from the spanish _mucho malhecho_. i never heard of dr. maginn's opinion until i saw it in your pages; but if you happen to be able to refer to the shakspeare i superintended through the press in , vol. vii. p ., note ., you will see that i propose the spanish word _malhecho_ as the origin of "mallecho." i did not think this point worth notice at the time, and i doubt whether it is worth notice now. if you leave out this postscript, as you are at perfect liberty to do, i shall conclude that you are of my opinion. j.p.c. [the passage to which our valued correspondent refers is in our second volume, p. ., where j.m.b. points out that the suggestion of a writer in the _quarterly review_ for march , that shakspeare's _miching mallecho_ was a mere misprint of the spanish words _mucho malhecho_, had been anticipated by dr. maginn. it now appears that he had also been anticipated by mr. collier.] * * * * * crossing rivers on skins. the mode of crossing a river on skins, mentioned by layard (_nineveh and its remains_, th edition, vol. i. p. ., vol. ii. p. .) is also referred to in the works of the following ancient writers. i quote _facciolati lexicon totius latinitatis_, in vocibus _uter_ et _utricularius_. [edit. _furlanetto_, to.] "frequens fuit apud veteres utrium usus ad flumina trananda, _liv._ . . hispani, sine ulla mole, in utres vestimentis conjectis, ipsi cetris suppositis incubantes, flumen tranavere, _cæs._ b.g. i. . lusitani, peritique earum regionum cetrati citerioris hispaniæ, consectabantur, quibus erat proclive transnare flumen, quod consuetudo eorum omnium est, ut sine utribus ad exercitum non eant, (cf. _herzog._, qui longam huic loco adnotationem adscripsit), _curt._ . . utres quam plurimos stramentis refertos dividit; his incubantes transnavere amnem, _plin._ . . . arabes ascitæ appellati, quoniam bubulos utres binos sternentes ponte piraticam exercent, _h.e._ utribus junctis tabulas instar pontis sternentes. adde _front. strat._ . ., et _ammian._ . . _med._" "utricularii vocabantur qui utriculos, seu utres inflatos ratibus ita subjiciebant, ut iisdem flumina transnare possent. eorum collegium in quibusdam urbibus ad flumen aliquod sitis habebatur, ideoque utricularii sæpe cum nautis conjunguntur, _inscr._ ap. _mur._ , n. . ex voto a solo templum ex suo fecerunt collegio utriculariorum." janus dousa. manpadt house, near haarlem. * * * * * folk lore of south northamptonshire, no. . _hedgehog._--among other animals looked upon in a superstitious light, we have the hedgehog, who, in addition to his still credited attribute of sucking cows, is looked upon by our rustics as the emblem of craft and cunning; playing the same part in our popular stories as reynard in the more southern _fabliaux_. they tell concerning him, the legend given by m.m. grimm, of the race between the hare and hedgehog. the northamptonshire version makes the trial of speed between a _fox_ and hedgehog. in all other respects the english tale runs word for word with the german. _hares._--besides the ancient superstition attached to the crossing of the path by one of these animals, there is also a belief that the running of one along the street or mainway of a village, portends fire to some house in the immediate vicinity. _toads._--belief in their venomous nature is yet far from being extinct. this, added to the ill-defined species of fascination which they are supposed to exercise, has caused them here, as elsewhere, to be held in great abhorrence. i have heard persons who ought to have known better, exclaim on the danger of gazing upon one of the harmless reptiles. the idea respecting the fascinating powers of the toad, is by no means confined to our district. witness the learned cardan: "fascinari pueros fixo intuitu magnorum bufonum et maximè qui è subterraneo specu aut sepulchris prodierint, utque ob id occulto morbo perire, haud absurdum est."--_de rerum varietate_, lib. xvi. c. . _crickets_, contrary to the idea prevailing in the western counties, are supposed to presage good luck, and are therefore most carefully preserved. their presence is believed to be a sure omen of prosperity; while, on the other hand, their sudden departure from a hearth which has long echoed with their cry, betokens approaching misfortune, and is regarded as the direst calamity that can happen to the family. _magpies._--to see one magpie alone bodes bad luck; two, good luck; three, a "berrin;" four, a wedding. this is our version of the saying: grose gives it differently. _spiders._--when a spider is found upon your { } clothes, or about your person, it signifies that you will shortly receive some money. old fuller, who was a native of northamptonshire, thus quaintly moralises this superstition: "when a spider is found upon our clothes, we use to say, some money is coming towards us. the moral is this: such who imitate the industry of that contemptible creature may, by god's blessing, weave themselves into wealth and procure a plentiful estate."--_worthies_, p. . pt. . ed. . omens of death and misfortune are also drawn from the howling of dogs--the sight of a trio of butterflies--the flying down the chimney of swallows or jackdaws; and swine are sometimes said to give their master warning of his death by giving utterance to a peculiar whine, known and understood only by the initiated in such matters. gaule, in his _mag-astromancers posed and puzzled_, lond. , p. , ranks among evil omens "the falling of swallows down the chimney" and "the grunting of swine." t.s. * * * * * minor notes. _kentish town in the last century_-- "thursday night some villains robbed the kentish town stage, and stripped the passengers of their money, watches, and buckles. in the hurry they spared the pockets of mr. corbyn, the druggist; but he, content to have neighbour's fare, called out to one of the rogues, 'stop, friend, you have forgot to take my money'."--_morning chron. and land advertiser_, jan. . . _murray's hand-book for devon and cornwall._--the author does not mention haccombe chapel or the oswell rocks, both near newton; the latter is a most picturesque spot, and the view near and far most interesting!--a notice of the tiles, and of the ft. in effigy at haccombe, appears in the _arch. journal_, iii. . .--the monuments are in fine preservation up to the last of the "haccombes" _ante_ , which is _perfect_. the chapel would be improved by the removal of the two pews and of the family arms from the velvet cloth on the communion-table!--tavistock church has an east window by williment; pattern, and our saviour in the centre.--the church by dartmouth castle contains a brass and armorial gallery; the visitor should sail round the rock at the harbour entrance, it's appearance from seaward is fine.--littleham church has a decorated wooden screen, very elegant.--a work on the devonshire pulpits and screens would be valuable. a.c. _judges walk, hampstead._--a friend of mine, residing at hampstead, has communicated to me the following information, which i forward to you as likely to instruct your readers. he states that the oldest inhabitant of hampstead, mr. rowbotham, a clock and watchmaker, died recently, at the age of ninety. he told his son and many other persons, that in his youth the _upper terrace avenue_, on the south-west side of hampstead heath was known by the name of "the judges' walk," from the circumstance of prisoners having been tried there during the plague of london. he further stated, that he had received this information from his grandmother. c.r. weld somerset house. _gray's alcaic ode._--a question asked in vol. i., p. , whether "gray's celebrated latin ode is actually to be found entered at the grande chartreuse?" is satisfactorily answered in the negative at p. . of the same volume, and its disappearance traced to the destructive influence of the first french revolution. it may not, however, be without interest to some of your readers to know, that this elegant "alcaic" was to be found at the chartreuse not very long before the outbreak of that great political tempest, proof of which will be found in the following extract taken from the th volume of malte-brun's _annales des voyages_, paris, . it is found in a paper entitled "voyage à la grande chartreuse en . par m. t*******," and is in p. : "l'album, ou le grand livre dans lequel les étrangers inscrivent leurs noms, présente quelquefois une lecture intéressante. nous en copiâmes quelques pages. le morceau le plus digne d'être conservé est sans doute l'ode latine suivante du célèbre poëte anglais gray. je ne crois pas qu'elle ait été publiée encore." then follows the ode, as usually printed, excepting that in the third line, "nativa nam certe fluentia," the words "nam certe" are transposed. g.b. _fleet marriages._--_the general evening post_, june - , , contains the following singular note of a fleet marriage:-- "yesterday came on a cause at doctors' commons, wherein the plaintiff brought his action against the defendant for pretending to be his wife. she in her justification pleaded a marriage at the fleet the th of february, , and produced a fleet certificate, which was not allowed as evidence: she likewise offered to produce the minister she pretended married them, but he being excommunicate for clandestine marriages, could not be received as a witness. the court thereupon pronounced against the marriage, and condemned her in l., the costs of the suit." y.s. * * * * * queries. _historie des sÉvarambes._ the authorship of _gaudentio di lucca_ has recently been discussed by some of your correspondents, and it has been shown that this _voyage imaginaire_ { } was written by simon berington, a catholic priest, and the member of a family resident for many years in herefordshire. the following query will relate to another work of the same class, but of an earlier date. the _histoire des sévarambes_ is a fictitious account of a nation in the southern ocean, visited by a supposed navigator named siden. it's first appearance was as an english work, with this title: "the history of the sevarites or sevarambi, a nation inhabiting part of the third continent, commonly called terræ australes incognitæ; with an account of their admirable government, religion, customs, and language. written by one captain siden, a worthy person, who, together with many others, was cast upon those coasts, and lived many years in that country. london: printed for henry brome, at the gun, at the west end of st. paul's churchyard, . mo. pp. ." no preface. there is a second part, "more wonderful and delightful than the first," published in (pp. .). the licence by roger lestrange bears date feb. . / . there is a short preface, without signature, arguing that the country of the sevarites is not fabulous. a copy of the original edition of these two parts is in the british museum. shortly after its publication in england, this work appeared in france with the following title:-- "histoire des sévarambes, peuples qui habitent une partie du troisième continent ordinairement appellé terre australe, contenant un compte exact du gouvernement, des moeurs, de la réligion et du langage de cette nation, jusques aujourd'hui inconnue aux peuples de l'europe. traduite de l'anglois." first part, paris, . vols. mo. second part, - . vols. mo. both parts are dedicated to monsieur riquet, baron de bonrepos; and the dedications are both signed with the initials d.v.d.e.l. the british museum contains no french edition of this work earlier than an amsterdam reprint of . the above account of the early french edition is taken from the _dictionnaire historique_ of prosper marchand (la haye, ), tom. i. p. ., art. allais. this article (which may be cited as a model of bibliographical research) attributes the authorship of the _histoire des sévarambes_, upon evidence, which, if not conclusive, is very strong, to denis vairasse, or vayrasse. marchand explains the initials appended to the dedications of the french edition to mean, _denis vairasse d'allais en languedoc_. he likewise considers _siden_ as the anagram of _denis_; and _sevarias_, the legislator of the sevarambians, as the anagram of _vairasse_. some of the religious opinions expressed in this fiction were thought bold, and the authorship of the work was at one time much discussed: it was attributed both to isaac vossius and leibnitz. it was translated into dutch, german, and italian; and there is an english edition, london, , in vol. vo., in which the preface from the french edition, alluding to plato's _republic_, more's _utopia_, and bacon's _new atlantis_, not to be found in the original english edition, is introduced. this volume is entitled-- "the history of the sevarambians, a people of the south continent, in five parts, containing, &c. translated from the memoirs of capt. siden, who lived fifteen years amongst them." the work is included in the collection of _voyages imaginaires_, tom. v., where the editor speaks of the distinguished place which it holds among the fictions of that class; but he says that its authorship was unknown or uncertain. an account of another fictitious voyage to the terra australis, with a description of an imaginary people, published in , may be seen in bayle's _dict._, art. sadeur, _voyages imaginaires_, tom. xxiv. according to the account given by marchand, vairasse began life by serving in the army in piedmont, and he afterwards studied the law. subsequently he went to england, where he is stated to have attempted to penetrate the intrigues of the court, and to discover the maxims of the english government. in , he was in the ship commanded by the duke of york against the dutch; and some years afterwards, having been regarded as an accomplice in the designs of a public minister (apparently lord clarendon), he was forced to retire with him, and follow him to paris. he re-entered the military service, and was with the french army which invaded holland in . afterwards he taught english and french at paris; he likewise published a french grammar, and an abridgment of it in the english language ( ). he was of the reformed religion. it is possible that vairasse's visit to england may have been connected with his religion. he appears, during his residence here, to have acquired the english language; but it is difficult to understand what are the designs of lord clarendon in which he was an "accomplice." lord clarendon's exile took place in ; which hardly accords with the expression "some years" after . no person of the name of vairasse is mentioned as having accompanied lord clarendon in his banishment. the first part of the _history of the sevarambians_ was published in english in , two years before the french edition of the first part. the second parts were published at london and paris in the same year. even if vairasse did not leave england with lord clarendon, he had left it before the year in which the first part of this { } work appeared in english: for he is stated to have been with the french army in holland in . it is therefore difficult to account for the publication of the english version of the _history of the sevarambians_ before its publication in france, upon the assumption that vairasse was the author. the writer of the life of vairasse (art. allais) in the _biographical dictionary of the society of useful knowledge_ thinks that he may have been only the translator: but the facts collected by marchand show that he claimed the authorship; and there is no trace of its composition by any englishman. besides, its prior publication in england is just as inexplicable upon the assumption of his being the translator, as upon that of his being the author. query, is vairasse's residence in england mentioned by any english writer? and can any light be thrown upon the authorship of the _history of the sevarambians_ from any english source? l. * * * * * origins of present penny postage. many of your readers have, i doubt not, perused with interest the vivid sketch of the origin of the penny postage system, given by miss martineau in her _history of england during the thirty years' peace_, vol. ii. p. ., and have seen in the incident of the shilling letter delivered to the poor cottager, somewhere in the lake district--refused by her from professed inability to pay the postage--paid for by mr. rowland hill, who happened most opportunely to be passing that way--and, when opened, found to be blank (this plan being preconcerted between the woman and her correspondent, to know of each other's welfare without the expense of postage). a remarkable instance of "how great events from little causes spring," and have bestowed much admiration on the penetration of mr. hill's mind, which "wakened up at once to a significance of the fact," nor ever rested till he had devised and effected his scheme of post-office reform; though all the while an uncomfortable feeling might be lurking behind as to the perfect credibility of so interesting a mode of accounting for the initiation of this great social benefit. i confess to having had some suspicions myself as to the trustworthiness of this story; and a few days since my suspicions were fully confirmed by discovering that the real hero of the tale was not the post-office reformer, but the poet coleridge; unless, indeed, which is surely out of the range of ordinary probabilities, the same event, _corresponding exactly as to place and amount of postage_, happened to two persons at separate times. coleridge relates the story himself, in one of his "conversations," of which memoranda are preserved in the interesting volumes published by moxon in (ii. .). "one day," "when i had not a shilling to spare, i was passing by a cottage at _keswick_ where a carter was demanding _a shilling_ for a letter, which the woman of the house appeared unwilling to give, and at last declined to take. i paid the postage, and when the man was out of sight, she told me that the letter was from her son, who took that means of letting her know that he was well. the letter was not to be paid for. it was then opened and _found to be blank_." now, while so many copies of "notes and queries" pass through the post-office, it is to be hoped one at least may remain there, and be the means of inducing mr. hill to inform us whether miss martineau had any authority for fathering this story upon him; and whether the post-office reform is really indebted to any such trivial incident for its original idea. e. venables. * * * * * red book of the irish exchequer. on one of the vellum leaves of which the red book of the irish exchequer is composed, there is depicted a pen and ink sketch of that court. in the centre of the picture is the table, which is covered (as it is at this day) with a chequered cloth, whereon are placed a bag upon which are the words "baga cum rotulis," a book with a clasp, five large pieces of money, and a strip of parchment, upon which is written, "ceo vous, &c." the table is surrounded on its four equal sides by thirteen human figures, namely, six at the top of the picture, three on the left hand, three on the right, and one at the bottom. of the six figures at the top of the sketch, all of whom wear robes, he who is on the right hand holds a wand, bears upon his head a cap, and is in the act of leaving the court, exclaiming, "ademayn." to the right of this man, who is probably the crier of the court, is one of the officers carrying a piece of parchment, upon which is written in contracted law latin, "preceptum fuit vicecomiti per breve hujus scaccarii." to the right of the last-named figure is another officer of the court, who is in the act of examining his pen by placing its nib at a short distance from his eyes; and this person carries in his left hand a piece of parchment upon which are written, in like character, the words "memorandum quod x die maii, &c." to the right of this officer, who is probably the chief remembrancer, is placed another officer, wearing a cap, who is in the act of writing upon a piece of parchment bearing the words "henricus dei gratia." the two remaining figures at the top of the picture are apparently conversing together: to one of them are applied the words, "eynt bre vic.," with another word following the last which { } is scarcely decypherable; and to the other the word "elgyn" seems to have reference; such word being placed upon the ample sleeve of his gown. the three figures on the left of the picture are probably the three barons. the head-dress of the judge who is sitting at the extreme right of the bench, varies in its form from that which is worn by the baron who is seated in the centre; and the third baron, who is sitting at the left, has his head uncovered. the first-named baron seems in the act of counting or reckoning the pieces of coin which are placed before him upon the table, and says "xx d.;" the baron in the centre, who wears a cap similar in form to the night-cap now commonly used, says "voyr dire;" and the third baron says "soient forfez." opposite to the judges, and to the right of the picture, are three persons wearing gowns, and standing at the bar of the court. one of these points towards his face with the first finger of his right hand, and says, "oy de brie;" the figure to his left extends his right arm towards the bench, and exclaims, "soit oughte;" and the third figure says, "chalange." this man, the handle of whose sword is distinctly visible on his right side, whose outer sleeves are wide and flowing, whose under garment is buttoned tightly at the wrist, and whose boots are in shape similar to ladies' boots of modern times, closely laced to the leg, has placed the thumb of his left hand between the thumb and first finger of his right. and, lastly, at the bottom of the picture is seated the sheriff, bearing upon his head a hood or cap, upon which the words "vic. tot & unit" are written. query, are the persons here represented the barons and officers of the exchequer? and, more especially, who are the persons who exclaim "oy de brie," "soit oughte," and "chalange"? j.f.f. * * * * * minor queries. _abbey of shapp, or hepp._--i shall be much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me whether the chartulary of the abbey of shapp, or hepp, in westmoreland, is now in existence; and if so, where it is. in the _monasticon_, vol. vi. p. ., it is stated that in it was in the possession of lord william howard, of naworth; but though a search has been made among lord william's papers and mss. in the possession of his descendant, the earl of carlisle, at castle howard, the chartulary is not now to be found among them. j.c. "_talk not of love._"--do any of your musical correspondents know the author of the following song, and whether it has ever appeared in print? i have it in manuscript, set to a very fine tune, but have never seen or heard it elsewhere. "talk not of love, it gives me pain, for love hath been my foe; he bound me with an iron chain, and plunged me deep in woe. "but friendship's pure and lasting joys my soul was form'd to prove, then welcome, win, and wear the prize, but never talk of love." a.m. _lucy and colin._--can you tell me who was the author of "lucy and colin," so beautifully translated by vincent bourne, and by him entitled "lucia et corydon"? in southey's _common-place book_, d series, i found the following in p. .:-- "of the wretched poem _colin and lucy_ (tickel?) published as a fragment of elizabeth's age, the reviewer says, 'is this the language of q. elizabeth's time, or something better? but to whatever age, or to whatever author we are indebted for this beautiful piece, it must be allowed an honour to both, and therefore worth contending for on behalf of our own time.'" i wonder whether this be the "colin and lucy" that v. bourne translated. i have not tickel's works, and therefore cannot discover whether he be the author of that beautiful (whatever southey may say) ballad beginning with-- "in leinster famed for maidens fair," &c. a.b. _chapel, printing-office._--is there any other authority than creery's _press_ for the statement that printing-offices are called chapels? whatever may have been the case, at present the word "chapel" is applied to the persons, or companionship, employed in the office, not to the office itself. gomer. [_moxon_, in his _mechanick exercises_, vol. ii. p. . to. , says: "every printing-house is by the custom of time out of mind called a chappel; and all the workmen that belong to it are members of the chappel: and the oldest freeman is father of the chappel. i suppose the style was originally conferred upon it by the courtesie of some great churchman, or men, (doubtless, when chappels were in more veneration than of late years they have been here in england), who, for the books of divinity that proceeded from a printing-house, gave it the reverend title of chappel."] _cockade_ is a ribband worn in the hat, as defined by dr. johnson. query, what is the origin of its use by officers of the army and navy; who are privileged to wear it; when was it first introduced; and by what authority, if any, is it sanctioned or confined to the army and navy? a.e. _suem, ferling, grasson_--in a copy of court roll, dated the th year of elizabeth, and relating { } to the manor of rotherfield, co. sussex, these words occur:-- "r. k. cepit extra manus domini unam suem tr[~e] nat' de ferling," &c. i shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who will explain the words _suem_ and _ferling_. what is the etymology of _grasson_, a word used in some north-country manors for a fine paid on alienation of copyhold lands? c.w.g. _cranmer's descendants._--being much interested in everything that concerns the martyrs of the reformation, and not the less so from being descended (in the female line) from the father of archbishop cranmer, i should be very glad if any of your correspondents could inform me whether there are any of his male descendants still in existence. gilpin, in his _lives of the reformers_, says that the archbishop's wife and children lived in great obscurity. this was probably on account of the prejudice, which had hardly passed away, against the marriage of the clergy; but surely the descendants of so great a man, if there be such, have not lost the records or pedigree by which their descent can be verified. c.d.f. _collections of pasquinades._--can any of your correspondents inform me whether a collection has ever been published of the satirical verses affixed to the _torso_ of menelaus, at the corner of the palazzo braschi at rome, and commonly known as _pasquinades_, from the name of a tailor whose shop stood near the place of its discovery? (see nibby _itinerario di roma_, ii. .) i send you a specimen which i do not remember to have seen in print. it was occasioned by the pope pius vi. (braschi) having placed his own coat of arms in various parts of st. peter's. they consisted of the double-headed eagle, two stars, a lily, and the head of a boy, puffing at it. "redde aquilam imperio; gallorum lilia regi; sidera redde polo; cætera brasche tibi." the eagle being restored to the holy roman empire, the lily to the most christian king, and the stars to the firmament, there remained for the pope himself--an empty puff. marforio. _portraits of bishops._--can any of your correspondents inform me of portraits of john williams, archbishop of york (previously bishop of lincoln); john owen, bishop of st. asaph; george griffith, bishop of st. asaph; lewis bayley, bishop of bangor; humphrey henchman, bishop of london (previously bishop of salisbury); lord chief justice glynne; and sir thomas milward, chief justice of chester. cassan, in his _bishops of salisbury_, mentions one of henchman; but i mean exclusively of this. y.y. _the butcher duke._--can any of your readers furnish me with the rest of a scotch song of which i have heard these two couplets? "the deil sat girning in a nook, breaking sticks to burn the duke. a' the whigs sal gae to hell! geordie sal gae there hissel." and who was the writer? mezzotinto. _rodolph gualter._-i think i have somewhere seen it stated that rodolph gualter (minister at zurich, and well known as a correspondent of our divines in the age of the reformation) was a scotchman. will any of your correspondents oblige me by supplying either a reference for this statement, or a disproof of it--or both? j.c.r. _passage in st. mark._--what fathers of the early christian church have annotated that remarkable text, mark xiii. ., "[greek: oude ho hyios]," "neither the son?" as this subject has certainly engaged the attention of many of your readers, it will be a great favour conferred on the present writer, if their replies should indicate the authors' names, the date and place of the edition, the page, and such other distinctive marks as shall lead to a prompt investigation of the subject: among them, whether the authors quoted are in the library of the british museum. calmet. "_fronte capillatâ," &c._--on the grammar school at guilsbro, in northamptonshire, is inscribed the following hexameter:-- "fronte capillatâ post est occasio calva." i suppose it alludes to some allegorical representation of _occasio_; and is intended to convey the same meaning as our english proverb, "seize time by the forelocks." from what author is this inscription taken? e.h.a. * * * * * replies. "god speed the plough." (vol. i., p. .) l.s. asks, in what rebellion was the banner carried with the motto "god speed the plough?"--(_homily against wilful rebellion._) probably in the rebellion of the earls of northumberland and westmoreland in the north of england, during the autumn of a.d. . in the passage of the homily which immediately follows the one quoted by l.s., occur these words:-- "and though some rebels bear the picture of the five wounds painted, against those who put their only hope of salvation in the wounds of christ ... and though they do bear the image of the cross painted in a rag ... yet let no good and godly subject ... follow such standard-bearers of rebellion." again: just _before_ the quotation cited by l.s. { } is an allusion to the "defacing or deformation" which the rebels have made, "where through they tarry but a little while they make such reformation, that they destroy all places, and undo all men where they come." collier, in his _eccles. history_, vol. vi. p. . edit. straker, , part ii. b. vi., says,-- "however, the insurrection went on, and the rebels made their first march to durham. and here going into the churches _they tore the english bible_ and the _common prayer_. they officiated in the service of the mass, _had the five wounds of christ represented in some of their colours_, and a chalice in others. one richard norton, an ancient gentleman, carried the standard _with a cross in it_." in this passage we have three out of four facts enumerated: st. the defacing of places; d. the banner with the five wounds; d. the standard with the cross. it does not, therefore, seem unreasonable to infer, that the other fact alluded to, viz. the banner with the motto, is to be referred to the same rebellion. it is not, however, impossible that the rebellion, which broke out a.d. , first in the western counties, and then in oxfordshire, bucks, norfolk, suffolk, and yorkshire, may be also alluded to in the homily. for cranmer, in his answer to the devonshire and cornish rebels, urges this amongst other reasons:-- "fourthly, for that they let the harvest, which is the chief sustentation of our life; and god of his goodness hath sent it abundantly. and they by their folly do cause it to be lost and abandoned."--strype's _mem. of c._, ed. oxf. , vol. ii. p. . an argument similar to the one used in the homily. the insurrection, in fact, in the midland and north-eastern counties, began with an attempt to redress an agricultural grievance; according to fox (_e.h._ vol. ii. p. . edit. ); "about plucking down of enclosures and enlarging of commons." the date of the homily itself offers no objection; for though it is said (oxf. ed. pref. p. v.) not to occur in any collected edition printed before , yet there exists a separate edition of it printed in to. by jugge and cawood, probably _earlier_ than a.d. . collier does not quote his authority for the statement about the banners, but probably it was either camden or holinshed, and a reference to these authors, which i regret i have no means of making, might established the particular point in question. e.a.d. * * * * * "defender of the faith." (vol. ii., pp. . .) i regret that my note, inserted in your paper of nov. th, was so ambiguously written as to elicit such a reply as it has been favoured with by mr. gibson of newcastle-upon-tyne. what i meant to say in my last note was simply this--that two persons, viz. messrs. christopher wren and chamberlayne, have asserted that the title "defender of the faith" had been used by our monarchs anterior to ; and in support of their assertions, cite the black book of the order of the garter, and several charters granted to the university of oxford: that is, each gives a distinct proof of his allegation. had mr. gibson understood my note, as i trust he now will, he will see at once that the expression "untrue" is totally inapplicable to their statements, at least upon any showing upon his part; for he does not appear to me to have consulted either the black book or the charters, on which alone their assertions are based, to which alone we must in common honesty refer, and by which alone their veracity must be judged. that their "startling" statements do not appear in selden, nor in luder's brief paper in the th vol. of the _archæologia_, is conceded; but i think it might have occurred to the mind of one of less acumen than mr. gibson, that it was precisely because the allegations do not appear in these or any other writers or authorities that i considered them not unworthy of the attention of the readers of the "notes and queries". i am at a loss to reconcile mr. gibson's expression "startling," as applied to the assertions of messrs. wren and chamberlayne (and i need not add, that had they not been startling to myself as to him, they would never have found their way to your paper), with the following paragraph: "in this sense, the sovereign and every knight became a sworn defender of the faith. can this duty have come to be popularly attributed as part of the royal style and title?" i do not allude to this statement in a critical point of view, but simply, as, from the general tenor of his communication, mr. gibson appears to labour under an impression, that, from ignorance of historical authorities, i have merely given utterance to a _popular_ fallacy, unheard of by him and other learned men; and, like the "curfew," to be found in no contemporaneous writer. i beg, however, to assure him, that before forwarding the note and question to your paper, i had examined not only the bulls, and our best historians, but also the works of such writers as prynne, lord herbert, spelman, camdem, and others, who have in any way treated of regal titles and prerogatives. i have only to add, that beyond the investigation of the truth of the assertions of messrs. wren and chamberlayne, i am not in any way interested. i care not for the result. i only seek for the elucidation of that which is at once "startling" and a "popular fallacy". robert anstruther. bayswater. * * * * * { } beatrix lady talbot. in reference to the query of scotus (vol. ii., p .) respecting beatrix lady talbot (so long confounded by genealogists with her more illustrious contemporary, beatrix countess of arundel), perhaps i may be permitted to state, that the merit, whatever it may be, of having been the first to discover this error, belongs to myself; and that the whole of the facts and authorities to prove the non-identity of the two ladies were supplied by me to the late sir h. nicolas, to enable him to compile the article on the subject in the _collectanea topographica_, vol. i.; the notes to which also were almost entirely written by myself. from the note of scotus, one would suppose that _he_ had made the discovery that lady talbot belonged to the portuguese family of _pinto_; whereas he merely transcribes my words in p. . of the addenda to vol. i. of the _collectanea_. i had originally supposed that this lady was a member of the house of _sousa_, which bore a coat of four crescents, quartered with the arms of portugal (without the border); and in that belief a paragraph was written by sir h. nicolas, accompanied by a pedigree, to show the connexion of beatrix lady talbot, through her great-great-grandfather, with the royal line of portugal, and, consequently, with beatrix countess of arundel; but these were subsequently struck out. by an oversight, however, the note referring to some works on the genealogy of the house of sousa has been allowed to remain at p. . of the _collectanea_; and as it stands at present, it has no corresponding passage in the text. for the information that lady talbot bore the arms of pinto, i was really indebted to a portuguese gentleman, the chevalier m.t. de moraes sarmento, who published (anonymously) a small volume entitled _russell de albuquerque, conto moral, por um portuguez_, mo. cintra, , at p. - . of which work is a brief notice of the two beatrixes, from memoranda furnished by myself. at the time i collected the information given to sir h. nicolas, i wrote to the earl of shrewsbury, to inquire whether among the family papers any evidence could be found, to clear up the history of his ancestress; but his lordship informed me he had no means of elucidating the difficulty, and that in the earliest pedigree in his possession (drawn up in the reign of elizabeth), beatrix lady talbot was not only described as daughter of the king of portugal, but had the royal arms of portugal assigned to her,--a proof, by the way, that even in pedigrees compiled and attested by heralds, there are statements which are not borne out by historic documents. i am still, therefore, like scotus, anxious to know more about this lady, and hope some of your correspondents versed in portuguese genealogies may supply the required information. f. madden. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _passage in hamlet_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the word _modern_, instead of _moderate_, in my editions of shakspeare, is a printer's error, which shall be corrected in the edition i am now publishing. to a person unfamiliar with printing, it might appear impossible that any compositor, with this copy before him,-- "while one with moderate haste might tell a hundred," should substitute-- "while one with modern haste might tell a hundred." and yet such substitution of one word for another is a constant anxiety to every editor. some may consider that a competent editor would detect such a gross blunder. unfortunately, the more familiar the mind is with the correct reading, the more likely is such an error to escape the eye. your correspondent who did me the favour to point out this blunder will, i trust, receive this explanation, as also your other readers, in a candid spirit. the error has run through three editions, from the circumstance that the first edition furnished the copy for the subsequent ones. the passage in question was not a doubtful text, and therefore required no special editorial attention. the typographical blunder is, however, an illustration of the difficulties which beset the editors of our old dramatists especially. had the word _modern_ occurred in an early edition of shakspeare, it would have perplexed very commentator; but few would have ventured to substitute the correct word, _moderate_. the difficulty lies in finding the just mean between timidity and rashness. with regard to typographical errors, the obvious ones naturally supply their own correction; but in the instance before us, as in many others, it is not easy to detect the substitution, and the blunder is perpetuated. if a compositor puts _one_ for _won_--a very common blunder--the context will show that the ear has misled the eye; but if he change an epithet in a well-known passage, the first syllable of the right and the wrong words being the same, and the violation of the propriety not very startling, the best diligence may pass over the mistake. it must not be forgotten that many gross errors in typography occur after the sheet is gone to press, through the accidents that are constantly happening to the movable types. charles knight. _passage in tennyson_ (vol. ii., p. .)--the following extract from sir james mackintosh's _history of england_ vol. ii. p. ., will explain this passage: "the love of margaret roper continued to display itself in those outwardly unavailing tokens of tenderness to his (her father, sir thomas more's) remains, by which affection seeks to perpetuate itself; ineffectually, indeed, for the object, but very effectually for { } softening the heart and exalting the soul. she procured his head be taken down from london bridge, where more odious passions had struggled in pursuit of a species of infernal immortality by placing it. she kept it during her life as a sacred relic, and was buried with that object of fondness in her arms, nine years after she was separated from her father." x.z. _was quarles pensioned?_ (vol. i., p. .).--i believe that no reply has been made to this query. the following passage, transcribed from the _epistle dedicatory_ to the surreptitious edition of quarles's _judgment and mercy_, affords a slight negative proof to the contrary;-- "and being so usefull, dare not doubt your patronage of this _child_, which survives a _father_, whose utmost abilities were (till death darkned that great light in his soule) sacrificed to your service." now if charles had conferred a pension on quarles, is it not exceedingly probable that the publisher and dedicator, richard royston, would have recalled so honourable a circumstance to the memory of his "most gratious soveraigne king charles" in this _epistle dedicatory_, when he had so excellent an opportunity of doing so? j.m.b. _old hewson the cobbler_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i remember that there was a low song sung at some wine parties in oxford about fifteen years ago, which began with the words, "my name is old hewson," &c. i do not remember the words, but they were gross: the chief _fun_ seemed to consist in the chorus,--a sort of _burring_ noise being made with the lips, while the doubled fists were rubbed and thumped upon the thigh, as if the cobbler's lapstone had been there. was hewson, the parliamentarian colonel, a cobbler? c.p. _the inquisition_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the following reply to iota's queries is extracted from _walchii bibliotheca theologica_, tom. iii. p. .: "auctor libri: histoire de l'inquisition et son origine. coloniæ mdcxciii. . qui jacob marsollierius est."[ ] of the history of the bohemians i can ascertain only that j. amos comenius was the author of the original. (see walch, tom. iii. p. .) [footnote : _journal des savans_, mdcxciv, p. .; _niceronii memoir.,_ tom. vii. p. .] t.j. _mrs. tempest_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reply to your correspondent requesting information respecting this lady, i have much pleasure in sending you the following particulars, which i leave obtained through the kindness of colonel tempest of tong hall, the present representative of the ancient family of tempest of tong. henry tempest, the oldest son of sir john tempest, bart., of tong hall, by henrietta his wife, daughter and heir of sir henry cholmley of newton grange, married alathea, daughter of sir henry thompson of marston, county of york, and had two daughters, alathea and henrietta; one of these ladies was celebrated as pope's daphne. henry tempest died very young, before his father sir john; the next brother, george, succeeded to the title and tong estates. daphne was on the point of being, married very highly, tradition says to the duke of wharton, but died of the small-pox before the celebration. in the library at tong hall there is a painting, by sir godfrey kneller, of pope's daphne. oliver thomlinson wyndowe. _cardinal allen's declaration_ (vol ii., p. .).--i am happy to inform h.p. that the _declaration of the sentence and deposition of elizabeth, the usurper and pretended queen of england_, alluded to in his note, is in the bodleian library; where, a few days since, i saw dr. cumming poring over it; and where, i have no doubt, he, or any friend, can easily obtain a sight of it by applying to any of the librarians. z.x.z. _cardinal allen's admonition_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the _declaration of the sentence and deposition of elizabeth, the usurper and pretended queen of england_, will be found accurately reprinted in the appendix to vol. iii. of dodd's _church history_, edited and enlarged by the rev. m.a. tierney, f.r.s., f.s.a., in whose possession a copy of the declaration is stated to be. d. _scandal against queen elizabeth_ (vol. ii., p. .).--although many of your correspondents must be well able to reply to p.t.'s query, i have seen no notice of it as yet. the note to burton's _diary_, in citing osborn, ought to have begun with the word which precedes the words quoted. the note would then have run thus:-- "that queen elizabeth had a son, &c., i neglect to insert, as fitter for a romance than to mingle with so much truth and integrity as i profess." in the add. mss. . is an apparently modern note, stated to be in the handwriting of mr. ives, to the following effect:-- "i have heard it confidently asserted, that queen elizabeth was with child by the earl of essex, and that she was delivered of a child at kenilworth castle, which died soon after its birth, was interred at kenilworth, and had a stone put over it, inscribed '_silentium_.'" this is doubtless one of the many tales, which, as osborn says, "may be found in the black relations of the jesuits, and some french and spanish pasquilers." these slanderers were chiefly, i believe, parsons or persons, and sanders, who scrupled at nothing that would tend to blacken the character and reputation of elizabeth. thus besides the above, and other stories of elizabeth { } herself, it was stated by sanders that her mother, anne boleyn, was henry viii.'s own daughter; and that he intrigued, not only with anne's mother, but with her sister. p.t. will find these points, and others which are hardly suited for public discussion, noticed in the article on elizabeth in bayle's _dictionary_. cudyn gwyn. _church of st. saviour, canterbury_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i would submit to sir henry ellis, that the church at canterbury which is mentioned in the charter from which he quotes, is termed _mater et domina_, not on account of its greater antiquity, but by reason of its superior dignity; and that the church referred to is clearly the cathedral church. the charter is one of confirmation of privileges: it proceeded upon the "admonition of the most pious archbishop liuingus," and "upon consideration of the liberties _of the monasteries_ situated within kent." it granted that the church of the saviour (_ecclesia salvatoris_), situated in canterbury, the mother and lady of all the churches in the kingdom of england, should be free, and that no one should have any right therein _save the archbishop and the monks there serving god_. the whole tenor of the charter, and more particularly the words last referred to, "archiepiscopum et monachos ibidem deo famulantes," seem to me to indicate the cathedral church, and no other. if it be inquired, how then came it to pass that the cathedral, which is dedicated to christ, should be described as _ecclesia salvatoris?_ some persons may answer, that this apparent blunder is an indication that the charter is not genuine. but that is not my opinion. the charter is printed from the register of the cathedral, and if it had been forged by the monks, they would scarcely have made a mistake upon such a point as the dedication of their own church. coming out of such custody, the unusual designation, as we now esteem it, seems clear proof that the charter is genuine. i would suggest, either that the cathedral, or a part of it, was really dedicated to the saviour; or that the words are to be understood not as indicating the church of st. saviour, but the church of the saviour, that is, christ. john bruce. _pope ganganelli_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reply to the inquiry of cephas, i give you the following anecdote, in the words of the rev. dr. kirk, of lichfield, who still survives (and long may he yet survive!) to bear testimony to its correctness:-- "charles plowden travelled with mr. middleton; and when at rome, he called with mr. thorpe to see me at the english college. we walked together for some time in st. george's hall, and he quite scandalised me with the manner in which he spoke of ganganelli. there is no doubt that mr. plowden had a principal hand in the _life of ganganelli_, which was published in london in . father thorpe supplied the materials (j.t. is subscribed to the letters printed), and mr. plowden arranged them. i brought a packet of letters from mr. thorpe to mr. c. plowden, and one or two other packets were brought from him to mr. plowden by other students. 'the contents were so scandalous,' said bishop milner in my hearing, at oscott, 'that mr. weld, with whom mr. c. plowden lived, insisted on the work being suppressed.' the copies were all bought up, and i have never seen or heard of a copy since i saw it in coghlan's shop in . mr. cordell, of newcastle, wrote some observations upon it. mr. conolly, s.j., told me at oxford, october , , that he 'once saw in a corner of mr. c. plowden's room, a heap of papers, some torn, and put there apparently to be burnt. i took up one of them,' he said, 'which was torn in two.' it contained anecdotes and observations _against ganganelli_." it was doubtless from this collection that mr. keon was supplied with those papers, which he published in _dolman's magazine_ in , concerning "the preservation of the society of jesus in the empire of russia." m.a. tierney. arundel. _pope ganganelli_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the rev. charles cordell, a priest of the roman catholic church, who was stationed at newcastle-upon-tyne about the date mentioned by your correspondent cephas (he was there in ), was the translator of the letters of pope clement xiv. (ganganelli); but as i have not the book, i do not know whether it contained also a life of that pontiff. mr. cordell was editor of other works. w.s.g. _nicholas ferrar's digest_ (vol. ii., p. .).--one of the copies of the gidding _digest of the history of our saviour's life_, inquired after by j.h.m. (a most beautiful book), is in the library of the marquis of salisbury. i believe it to be the copy presented to charles i. w.h.c. _ferrar, nicholas._--the following extract from a very interesting paper on "illustrated books" in the _quarterly review_, vol. lxxiv. p. , will aid j.h.m. in his researches after the curious volumes arranged by the members of the ferrar family: "king charles's statues, pictures, jewels, and curiosities, were sold and dispersed by the regicide powers; from this fate, happily, the royal collection of manuscripts and books was preserved; neither was it, like the archiepiscopal library at lambeth, doled out piecemeal to hugh peters and his brother fanatics. this good service was mainly owing to bolstrode whitelocke. when the british museum was founded, king george ii. presented to it the whole of the royal library; and ferrar's _concordance_, with another similarly illustrated compilation by him, is there preserved in safety. the rev. thomas bowdler of sydenham, the representative of the last baronet of the cotton family, the founders of the cottonian library, possesses another of the ferrar volumes. of those which were presented by ferrar to george herbert and dr. jackson, no record remains." john i. dredge. { } _cardinal erskine_ (vol. ii., p. .) flourished later than your correspondent g.w. supposes. he was in communication with mr. pitt about - . query, was he then in england? w.h.c. _the author of peter wilkins_ (vol. ii., p. .).--an advertisement prefixed to the edition of this remarkable work in smith's _standard library_, , gives the following information respecting the author:-- "in the year , mr. nicol the printer sold by auction a number of books and manuscripts in his possession, which had formerly belonged to the well-known publisher dodsley; and in arranging them for sale, the original agreement for the sale of the manuscript of 'peter wilkins,' by the author, 'robert pultock of clement's inn' to dodsley, was discovered. from this document it appears that mr. pultock received twenty pounds, twelve copies of the work, and 'the cuts of the first impression,' that is, a set of proof impressions of the fanciful engravings that professed to illustrate the first edition, as the price of the entire copyright. this curious document was sold to john wilks, esq., m.p. on the th december, ." mr. leigh hunt, in his _book for a corner_, remarks upon this,-- "the reader will observe that the words 'by the author,' in this extract, are not accompanied by marks of quotation. the fact, however, is stated as if he knew it for such, by the quoter of the document." the difference mentioned by dr. rimbault between the initials in the title-page and those appended to the dedication, occurs also in mr. smith's edition. but the dedication to which the initials r.p. are affixed, speaks of the book as the work of the writer in the most unmistakeable terms. was the s. in the place of the p. a typographical error, perpetuated by carelessness and oversight; or a mystification of the author, adopted when the success of the book was uncertain, and continued after the dedication had contradicted it, by that want of attention to minutiæ which was more frequently manifest in former times than at present? mr. leigh hunt informs us that the countess of northumberland, to whom the dedication is made, was the lady to whom percy addressed his _reliques of ancient poetry_. "she was a wriothesley descended of shakspeare's earl of southampton, and appears to have been a very amiable woman." permit me to take this opportunity of saying, that there is a misprint in the poem by barry cornwall (vol. ii., p. .), by which the title of a poem from which a quotation is made, appears as the name of a _dramatis persona_. "paris" is the title of a poem by the rev. geo. croly, from which the "motto" is quoted. g.j. de wilde. _peter wilkins_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the preface to a garbled and mutilated edition of this work, which appeared lond. , sq. mo., it is stated that the author was robert pultock, of clement's inn, which is in accordance with the initials to the dedication. those of r.s. on the title i consider as mere fiction. lowndes gives the st ed. , vols. mo. and i have a note of a reprint, dublin, geo. falkner, , vols. mo., "illustrated with several cuts." my copy is lond. , vols. mo., with a few indifferent engravings. f.r.a. _"the toast," by dr. king_ (vol. ii., p. .).--dr. rimbault will find the _key_ to the characters named in this poem printed in davis's _second journey round the library, &c._, p. . f.r.a. [w.a. informs us that there is a key to this work in martin's _account of privately printed books_.] _the widow of the wood_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the history of this publication can hardly be given without raking up a piece of scandal affecting an honourable family still in existence. if dr. rimbault wishes to see the book, and has any difficulty in meeting with it, i shall be happy to forward him my copy by the post on learning his address. i inclose you mine, and will thank you to communicate it to him if he should wish for it. the maiden name of this "widow" was anne northey. her second husband was sir wm. wolseley; her _fourth_, mr. hargrave, father of the celebrated jurist. every copy of the work which could be found was destroyed by the latter gentleman. h.c. _damasked linen_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it may interest r.g.p.m. to learn that portion of the damasked linen which formed part of the establishment of james ii. when in ireland, still exists in the possession of r. ely, esq., of ballaghmore castle in the queen's county. i have seen with that gentleman several large napkins beautifully damasked with the then royal arms, together with the initials j.r. of large size, and elaborately flourished. the tradition of the family is, that they were obtained from the plunder of james's camp equipage, after the defeat of the boyne. mr. ely's ancestor was in william's army. x.y.a. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. every one who had an opportunity of inspecting the glorious assemblage of masterpieces of workmanship and design which were collected together at the _exhibition of ancient and mediæval art_ last spring, must have felt a desire to possess some more lasting memorial of that unparalleled display than the mere catalogue. { } so strong, indeed, was this feeling at the time, as to call several announcements of works in preparation, commemorative of the exhibition, including one by the accomplished honorary secretary of the committee, mr. franks. mr. franks has, however, we regret to hear, now abandoned that intention, so that of these promised memorials, we shall probably only see the one which has just been published under the title of _choice examples of art workmanship, selected from the exhibition of ancient and mediæval art at the society of arts_; and, whether as a pleasant record to those who visited the collection, or as a compensation for their disappointment to those who were not so fortunate, the book will, doubtless, find favour with the rapidly increasing class who take an interest in works of this character. that the publishers anticipate a large sale, is obvious, from the remarkably low price at which they have published this beautiful volume, which contains upwards of sixty engravings, drawn from the gems of the collection, by mr. de la motte, and engraved under his superintendence; and furnishes representations of objects of the most varied kinds, from the _nautilus cup_ belonging to her majesty, to mr. vulliamy's _ivory bas-reliefs_ ascribed to fiamingo, mr. slade's matchless specimens of _glass_, and dr. rock's _superaltare_. mr. charles knight has just put forth a small pamphlet, entitled _case of the authors as regards the paper duty_, in which he shows most ably and most clearly the social advantages which must result from the repeal of a tax which, as mr. knight proves, "encourages the production of inferior and injurious works by unskilled labourers in literature." the _gentleman's magazine_ of the present month is a capital number. mr. cunningham has commenced in it, what promises to be an interesting series of papers upon a subject which that gentleman's well-known tact and judgment ill prevent from being objectionable, _the story of nell gwyn_; and the numerous friends of the late mr. amyot--and how numerous were his friends!--cannot but be pleased with the characteristic portrait which accompanies the interesting memoir of that kind-hearted and accomplished gentleman. _oracles from the british poets, a drawing-room table book and pleasant companion for a round party_, by james smith exhibits a good idea carried out with excellent taste, and justifies the author's motto: "out of them scatter'd sibyl's leaves, strange prophecies my fancy weaves." a game which, while it amuses the family circle, will make its members acquainted with so many beautiful passages from our poets as are here assembled, must find a welcome in many a home at the present season. the publisher of the _oracles_ has availed himself of the demand, at this period of the year, for "song of knight and lady bright," to re-issue in one volume instead of two, and at a reduced price, his _pictorial book of ballads traditional and romantic_. _a monumentarium of exeter cathedral_, carefully compiled by the rev. j.w. hewett, the result of six months regular labour, has been printed in the _transactions of the exeter architectural society_. by this work mr. hewett has done good service to all genealogists, local and general historians, &c., and we know no greater benefit that could be conferred on this branch of literature, than that some of our now super-abundant brass-rubbers should follow mr. hewett's example, and note with accuracy all the inscriptions, monuments, coats of arms, &c., preserved in the churches in their respective neighbourhoods. they may then either hand them over for publication to the nearest archæological society, or the archæological institute, or the society of antiquaries; or transmit a copy of them to the ms. department of the british museum. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson, of wellington street, will sell, on monday next and two following days, the valuable collection of ancient and modern engravings of the late james brown, esq. we have received the following catalogues:--w.s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) sixty-fourth catalogue of cheap second-hand english and foreign books; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue number sixteen of books old and new. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. leland's history of ireland. vol. ii. gretser opera omnia. folio. ingolst. . heywood's spider and flie. london. . title-page and first leaf of table. essay on music, encyc. metropolitana. hodgson's lady jane grey. zacchias questiones medico legales. pulleyn's etymological compendium. london. vo. . shakspeare's dramatic works. vol. iv. of whittingham's edition in vols. . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. etymologicus _will find a full reply to his query, under the word _"aiguillette,"_ in the _dictionnaire infernal_ of m. collin de plancy; and by so doing he will also learn why we do not here enter into a fuller explanation_. march. _there is no question but that we derived the name _april fool_ from the french _poisson d'avril_. see ellis'_ brand, vol. i. p. (ed. ). investigator _is referred to lowndes' _bibliographer's manual_, under the title "huloet," for an account of huloet's _abecedarium_, as well as of the newly corrected edition of it by higgins_. a subscriber _who wishes for an abridged translation of dugdale's account of norton priory, lincolnshire, is referred to wright's english abridgment of the _monasticon_, published in_ . j.k. (medical use of mice) _is thanked for his friendly postscript. he will, we trust, see a great alteration in future_. curiosus. _the best account of the domestic fool is in douce's _illustrations of shakespeare_, and flägel's_ geschichte der hofnarren. philo-stevens. _rask's _anglo-saxon grammar_, by thorpe; and vernon's _guide to anglo-saxon_, are considered the best elementary books_. _the _index_ to our _second volume_ will, we trust, be ready by the middle of the present month_. notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive _notes and queries_ in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of _notes and queries_ should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. , fleet street. { } * * * * * mr. t. richards (late of st. martin's lane), printer and agent to the percy and hakluyt societies, has removed to . great queen street, near drury lane, where he respectfully requests all letters may be addressed to him. * * * * * on the st of january, no. iv., price s. d. continued monthly. details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples, by j.k. colling, architect.--contents: window on south side of chancel, burnby church, yorkshire; oak chest in vestry, south church, lincolnshire; west doorway, st. mary's church, beverley; details of west doorway, ditto; portions from the west doorway, ditto. the work is intended to illustrate those features which have not been given in messrs. brandon's "analysis:" it will be uniform with that work, and also the "gothic ornaments." each number contains five to. plates. d. bogue, fleet street; sold also by george bell, fleet street. * * * * * new and improved edition.. price s. large square octavo, illustrated by numerous examples of the most exquisite greek and roman coins, executed in fac-simile of the originals, in actual relief, and in their respective metals. ancient coins and medals: an historical account of the origin of coined money, the development of the art of coining in greece and her colonies, its progress during the extension of the roman empire, and its decline as an art with the decay of that power. by h.n. humphreys. 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and e. gardner, . paternoster-row. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january , . [price, with index to vol. ii., d. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page authorship of henry viii., by samuel hickson the cavalier's farewell, by f.h. gray's elegy, by henry h. breen the "nineveh" monuments and milton's nativity ode illustrated from lucian minor notes:--gaudentia di lucca--george wither the poet, a printer--"preached as a dying man to dying men"--authors of anonymous works--umbrellas queries:-- sonnet (query, by milton) on the library at cambridge, by c. howard kenyon burying in church walls minor queries:--meaning of venwell or venville-- erasmus and farel--early culture of the imagination-- sir thomas bullen's drinking horn--peter sterry--"words are men's daughters," &c.--robert henryson--gawyn douglas--darby and joan-- william chilcot--benj. wheeler's theological lectures-- sir alexander cumming--cross between a wolf and hound--landwade church, and moated grange--dr. bolton, archbishop of cashel--genealogy of the talbots, &c. &c. replies:-- dragons origin of the family name of bacon, by proba conscientia replies to minor queries:--cockade--form of prayer for king's evil--"aver," hogs not pigs--pilgarlic --collar of esses--filthy gingram--the life and death of clancie--"rab. surdam"--"fronte capillatâ" --taylor's holy living--portrait of bishop henchman--lines attributed to charles yorke-- rodolph gualter--"annoy" used as a noun--culprit, origin of the word--passage in bishop butler --wat the hare--the letter yogh--did elizabeth visit bacon in twickenham park--mock-beggar-- cardinal chalmers--binsey, god help me!--midwives licensed--dr. timothy thristcross--history of the bohemian persecution--"earth has no rage" --couplet in de foe--private memoirs of queen elizabeth--abbot's house at bucksden--bab in the bowster--sir cloudesley shovel--noli me tangere --cad miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. authorship of henry viii. in my last communication on the subject of _henry viii._, i referred to certain characteristic _tricks_ of fletcher's style of frequent occurrence in that play, and i now beg leave to furnish you with a few instances. i wish it, however, to be understood, that i advance these merely as illustrative specimens selected at random; as there is scarcely a line of the portions of the play i assume to be fletcher's but would furnish some evidence to a diligent student of this writer's style: and that, although i think each separate instance as strongly characteristic of fletcher as it is unlike shakspeare, it is only in their aggregate number that i insist upon their importance. the first instance to which i call attention is the use of the substantive "one" in a manner which, though not very uncommon, is used by no writer so frequently as fletcher. take the following:-- "_so_ great ones."--_woman's prize_, ii. . "and yet his songs are sad ones."--_two noble kinsmen_, ii. . and the title of the play, _the false one_. compare with these from _henry viii._:-- "this night he make a supper, and a great one."--act i. . "shrewd ones."--"lame ones."--"_so_ great ones."--_ibid._ "i had my trial, and must needs say a noble one."--act ii. . "a wife--a true one."--act iii. . "they are a sweet society of fair ones."--act i. . fletcher habitually uses "thousand" without the indefinite article, as in the following instances: "carried before 'em thousand desolations."--_false one_, ii. . "offers herself in thousand safeties to you."--_rollo_, ii. . "this sword shall cut thee into thousand pieces."--_knight of malta_, iv. . in _henry viii._ we have in the prologue: "of thousand friends." "cast thousand beams upon me."--act iv. . the use of the word "else" is peculiar in its position in fletcher:-- "'twere fit i were hang'd else."--_rule a wife_, ii. "i were to blame else."--_ibid._ "i've lost me end else."--act iv. "i am wide else."--_pilgrim_, iv. . in _henry viii._, the word occurs in precisely the same position:-- "pray god he do! he'll never know himself, else."--act ii. . "i were malicious, else."--act iv. . { } the peculiarly idiomatic expression "i take it" is of frequent occurrence in fletcher, as witness the following:-- "this is no lining for a trench, i take it."--_rule a wife_, iii. "and you have land i' th' indies, as i take it."--_ibid._ iv. "a fault without forgiveness, as i take it."--_pilgrim_, iv. . "in noble emulation (so i take it)."--_ibid._ iv. . in one scene of _henry viii._, act i. ., the expression occurs twice: "one would take it;" "there, i take it." of a peculiar manner of introducing a negative condition, one instance from fletcher, and one from _henry viii._ in reference to the same substantive, though used in different senses, will suffice: "all noble battles, maintain'd in thirst of honour, not of blood."--_bonduca_, v. . "and those about her from her shall read the perfect ways of honour, and by those claim their greatness, not by blood."--_henry viii._, v. . of a kind of parenthetical asseveration, a single instance, also, from each will suffice: "my innocent life (i dare maintain it, sir)."--_wife for a month, iv. ._ "a woman (i dare say, without vain glory) never yet branded with suspicion."--_henry viii., iii. ._ "a great patience," in _henry viii._, may be paralleled by "a brave patience," in _the two noble kinsmen_: and the expression "aim at," _occurring at the close of the verse_ (as, by the bye, almost all fletcher's peculiarities do) as seen in act iii. ., "madam, you wander from the good we aim at," is so frequently to be met with in fletcher, that, having noted four instances in the _pilgrim_, three in the _custom of the country_, and four in the _elder brother_, i thought i had found more than enough. now, sir, on reading _henry viii._, and meeting with each of these instances, i felt that i remembered "the trick of that voice;" and, without having at present by me any means for reference, i feel confident that of the commonest examples not so many can be found among all the rest of the reputed plays of shakspeare, as in _henry viii._ alone, or rather in those parts of _henry viii._ which i reject as shakspeare's; while of the more remarkable, i think i might challenge the production of a single instance. my original intention in the present paper was merely to call attention to a few such expressions as the foregoing; but i cannot resist the impulse to quote one or two parallels of a different character:-- _henry viii._: "the dews of heaven fall thick in blessings on her!"--act iv. . fletcher: "the dew of sleep fall gently on you, sweet one!"--_elder brother_, iv. . "blessings from heaven in thousand showers fall on ye!"--_rollo_, ii. . "and all the plagues they can inflict, i wish it, fall thick upon me!"--_knight of malta_, iii. . _henry viii._: "to-day he puts forth the tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms."--act iii. . fletcher: "my long-since-blasted hopes shoot out in blossoms."--_rollo_, ii. . these instances, of course, prove nothing; yet they are worth the noting. if, however, i were called upon to produce two passages from the whole of fletcher's writings most strikingly characteristic of his style, and not more in expression than in thought, i should fix upon the third scene of the first act of _henry viii._, and the soliloquy of wolsey, beginning-- "farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness!" in conclusion, allow me to remark, that i am quite content to have been anticipated by mr. spedding in this discovery (if discovery you and your readers will allow it to be), for the satisfaction i am thereby assured of in the concurrence of so acute a critic as himself, and of a poet so true as the poet-laureate. samuel hickson. dec. . . * * * * * the cavalier's farewell. the following song is extracted from the ms. diary of the rev. john adamson (afterwards rector of burton coggles, lincolnshire) commencing in . can any of your readers point out who was the author?-- "the cavalier's farewell to his mistress being called to the warrs." . "ffair ffidelia tempt no more, i may no more thy deity adore nor offer to thy shrine, i serve one more divine and farr more great y{^n} you: i must goe, lest the foe gaine the cause and win the day. let's march bravely on charge ym in the van our cause god's is, though their odds is ten to one. { } . "tempt no more, i may not yeeld although thine eyes a kingdome may surprize: leave off thy wanton toiles the high borne prince of wales is mounted in the field, where the royall gentry flocke. though alone nobly borne of a ne're decaying stocke, cavaleers be bold bravely hold your hold, he that loyters is by traytors bought and sold. . "one kisse more and yn farewell oh no, no more, i prethee giue me ore. why cloudest thou thy beames, i see by these extreames, a woman's heaven or hell. pray the king may haue his owne, and the queen may be seen with her babes on england's throne. rally up your men, one shall vanquish ten, victory we come to try thee once agen. query: who was the author of the above? f.h. * * * * * gray's elegy. j.f.m. (vol. i., p. .) remarks, "i would venture to throw out a hint, that an edition of this _elegy_, exhibiting all the known translations, arranged in double columns, might be made a noble monument to the memory of gray." it has been asserted that there is scarcely a thought in this _elegy_ that gray has not borrowed from some writer, ancient or modern and if this be true, i would take the liberty of adding a hint to that of j.f.m., namely, that the proposed edition should contain a _third_ column, exhibiting all the known plagiarisms in this famous _elegy_. to begin with the first line-- "the curfew tolls the knell of parting day." lord byron, in his notes to the third canto of _don juan_, says that this was adopted from the following passage in dante's _purgatory_, canto viii.: ---- "si ode squilla di lontano che paja 'l giorno pianger che si muore." and it is worthy of notice that this passage corresponds with the first line of giannini's translation of the elegy, as quoted by j.f.m.:-- "piange la squilla 'l giorno, che si muore." i must add, however, that long before lord byron thought of writing _don juan_, mr. cary, in his excellent translation of the italian poet, had noticed this plagiarism in gray; and what is more, had shown that the principal thought, the "giorno che si muore," was borrowed by dante from statius's "jam moriente die." henry h. breen. st. lucia, west indies, nov. . [the preceding communication was accompanied by several others, and by the following gratifying letter, which we print as a fresh proof that our paper is fulfilling the object for which it was instituted, namely, that of promoting literary intercourse between men of letters throughout the world and that it is as favourably received by our fellow countrymen abroad, as it has been by those who are enabled to receive it wet from the press:-- "owing to the difficulty of procuring the early numbers of 'notes and queries,' especially at this distance from britain, i have been compelled to wait for its publication in a collected form. i am now in possession of the first volume, and beg leave to offer you a few notes which have occurred to me on perusing its contents. i am fully sensible of the disadvantage of corresponding with you from so remote a corner of the globe, and am prepared to find some of my remarks anticipated by other correspondents nearer home; but having deeply suffered from the literary isolation consequent upon a residence of twenty-one years in this country, i shall gladly submit to any disadvantage which shall not involve a total exclusion from the means of inter-communication so opportunely afforded by your excellent periodical. "henry h. breen."] * * * * * the nineveh monuments and milton's nativity ode illustrated from lucian. layard in his _nineveh_, vol. ii., p. ., in his description of "the sacred emblems carried by the priests," says, they are principally the fruit or cone of the pine. "... and the square utensil which, as i have already remarked, appears to have been of embossed or engraved metal, or of metal carved to represent wicker work, or sometimes actually of wicker work." he adds, that m. lajard "has shown the connection between the cone of the cypress and the worship of venus in the religious systems of the east;" that it has been suggested that "the square vessel held the holy water," that, "however this may be, it is evident from their constant occurrence on assyrian monuments, that they were very important objects in religious ceremonies. any attempt to explain their use and their typical { } meaning, can at present be little better than ingenious speculation." there is a passage in lucian _de dea syria_, § ., which may serve to elucidate this feature in the nineveh marbles. he is referring to the temple of hierapolis and a ceremony which deucalion was said to have introduced, as a memorial of the great flood and the escaping of the waters: [greek: "dis ekastou eteos ek thalassês ydôr es ton nêon apikneetai; pherousi de ouk irees mounon alla pasa syriê kai arabiê, kai perêthen tou euphrêteô, polloi anthrôpoi es thalassan erchontai, kai pantes ydôr pherousai, ta, prôta men en tôi nêôi ekchrousi,"] &c. "twice every year water is brought from the sea to the temple. not only the priests, but" all syria and arabia, "and many from the country beyond the euphrates come to the sea, and all bring away water, which they first pour out in the temple," and then into a chasm which lucian had previously explained had suddenly opened and swallowed up the flood of waters which had threatened to destroy the world. tyndale, in his recent book on sardinia, refers to this passage in support of a similar utensil appearing in the sarde paganism. it may be interesting to refer to another passage in the _dea syria_, in which lucian is describing the splendour of the temple of hierapolis; he says that the deities themselves are really present:-- [greek: "kai theoi de karta autoisi emphanees; idrôei gar dê ôn para sphisi ta xoata,"] when the very images sweat, and he adds, are moved and utter oracles. it is probable milton had this in recollection when, in his noble _nativity ode_, he sings of the approach of the true deity, at whose coming "... the chill marble seems to sweat, while each peculiar power foregoes his wonted seat." l.i.m. * * * * * minor notes. _gaudentio di lucca._--sir james mackinstosh, in his _dissertation on the progress of ethical philosophy_, adverts to the belief that bishop berkeley was the author of _gaudentio di lucca_, but without adopting it. "a romance," he says, "of which a journey to an utopia, in the centre of africa, forms the chief part, called _the adventures of signor gaudentio di lucca_, has been commonly ascribed to him; probably on no other ground than its union of pleasing invention with benevolence and elegance."--_works_, vol. i. p. . ed. . sir j. mackintosh, like most other modern writers who mention the book, seems not to have been aware of the decisive denial of this report, by bishop berkeley's son, inserted in the third volume of kippis's _biographia britannica_. l. _george wither, the poet, a printer_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in addition to dr. rimbault's extract from wither's _britain's remembrancer_, showing that he printed (or rather composed) every sheet thereof with his own hand, i find, in a note to mr. r.a. willmott's volume of the _lives of the english sacred poets_, in that interesting one of george wither, the following corroboration of this singular labour of his: the poem, independent of the address to the king and the præmonition, consisting of between nine and ten thousand lines, many of which, i doubt not, were the production of his brain while he stood at the printing-case. a ms. note of mr. park's, in one of the many volumes of wither which i possess, confirms me in this opinion. "ben jonson, in _time vindicated_, has satirized the custom, then very prevalent among the pamphleteers of the day, of providing themselves with a portable press, which they moved from one hiding-place to another with great facility. he insinuates that chronomastix, under whom he intended to represent wither, employed one of these presses. thus, upon the entrance of the mutes,-- "_fame._ what are this pair? _eyes._ the ragged rascals? _fame._ yes. _eyes._ these rogues; you'd think them rogues, but they are friends; one is his printer in disguise, and keeps his press in a hollow tree." from this extract it should seem that wither not only composed the poem at case (the printer's phrase), but worked it off at press with his own hands. j.m.g. worcester. "_preached as a dying man to dying men_" (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .).--some time ago there appeared in this series (vol. i., p. .) a question respecting a pulpit-phrase which has occasionally been used by preachers, delivering their messages as "dying men to dying men." this was rightly traced (vol. ii., p. .) to a couplet of the celebrated richard baxter, who, in one of his latest works, speaking of his ministerial exercises, says,-- "i preach'd as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." the passage occurs in one of his "poetical fragments," entitled "love breathing thanks and praise." this small volume of devotional verse is further entitled, _heart imployment with _god_ and itself; the concordant discord of a broken-healed heart; sorrowing, rejoicing, fearing, hoping, dying, living: published for the use of the afflicted_. the introduction is dated "london: at the door of eternity, aug. . ." he yet survived ten years, in the course of which he was twice imprisoned and fined under { } the profligate and persecuting reigns of charles ii. and james ii. for his zeal and piety. j.m.g. hallamshire. _authors of anonymous works._--on the title-page of the first volume of my copy of _the monthly intelligencer_ for and , which was published anonymously, is written in ms., "by the rev. mr. kimber." this book belonged to, and is marked with the autograph of d. hughes, ; but the ms. note was written by another hand. p.h.f. _umbrellas_ (vol. ii., pp. . ., &c.).--i have talked with an old lady who remembered the first umbrella used in oxford, and with another who described the surprise elicited by the first in birmingham. an aunt of mine, born , could not remember when the house was without one, though in her youth they were little used. may not the word umbrella have been applied to various sorts of _impluvia_? swift, in his "description of a city shower," says:-- "now in contiguous drops the flood comes down, threatening with deluge this devoted town. to shops in crowds the dangled females fly, pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy. the templar spruce, while every spout's abroach, stays till 'tis fair, yet seems to call a coach. the tuck'd-up sempstress walks with hasty strides, while _streams run down her oil'd umbrella's sides_." _tatler_, no. . oct. . . this might be applied to an oiled cape, but i think the passage quoted by mr. corney (vol. ii., p. .) signifies something carried over the head. by the way, the "description of a city shower" contains one of the latest examples of _ache_ as a dissyllable:-- "a coming shower your shooting corns presage, old _aches_ throb, your hollow tooth will rage." h.b.c. u.u. club, jan. * * * * * queries. sonnet (query, by milton) on the library at cambridge. in a _collection of recente and witty pieces by several eminente hands_, london, printed by w.s. for simon waterfou, , p. ., is the following sonnet, far the best thing in the book:-- "on the librarie at cambridge. "in that great maze of books i sighed and said,-- it is a grave-yard, and each tome a tombe; shrouded in hempen rags, behold the dead, coffined and ranged in crypts of dismal gloom, food for the worm and redolent of mold, traced with brief epitaph in tarnished gold-- ah, golden lettered hope!--ah, dolorous doom! yet mid the common death, where all is cold, and mildewed pride in desolation dwells, a few great immortalities of old stand brightly forth--not tombes but living shrines, where from high sainte or martyr virtue wells, which on the living yet work miracles, spreading a relic wealth richer than golden mines. "j.m. ." attached to it, it will be seen, are the initials j.m. and the date . is it possible that this may be an early and neglected sonnet of milton? and yet, could milton have seriously perpetrated the pun in the second line? c. howard kenyon. * * * * * burying in church walls. (vol. ii., p. .) mr. w. durrant cooper has mentioned some instances of burials in the walls of churches; it is not however clear whether in these the monument, or coffin lid, is in the inside or the outside of the wall. stone coffin lids, with and without effigies, are very frequently found placed under low arches hollowed in the wall in the _interior_ of the church: tombs placed in the _exterior_ of the wall are much less common; and the singularity of their position, leads one to look for some peculiar reason for it. tradition often accounts for it by such stories as those mentioned by mr. cooper. such is the case with a handsome canopied tomb (i think with an effigy) on the south side of the choir of the cathedral of lichfield, where we are told that the person interred died under censure of the church. other instances which i have noticed, are, at-- little casterton, rutland.--tomb, with an effigy, apparently of an ecclesiastic, but much decayed, of the th century, in the south wall of the nave. warbleton, sussex.--circular arch over a sort of altar tomb, no effigy remains. probably of the earlier half of the th century. in the south wall of chancel. basildon, berks.--a very elegant canopy. there was once an effigy, now destroyed, with the tomb, and a door made under the canopy! about . in the south wall of the chancel. bridewater, somerset.--two arches, with foliations, over effigies between them, a door leading, down to a crypt. the effigies are too much decayed to enable a decided opinion to be formed as to sex or station. in the north wall of north transept. date probably between and . st. stephen's, vienna.--a fine tomb, with canopy and effigy, by the side of the south door of the nave. probably of the th century. i have been disposed to think that the most { } probable motive which may have led to tombs and effigies, sometimes of an elaborate and costly character, being placed in such exposed positions, was the desire of obtaining the prayers of the passers-by for the soul of the deceased. it is worth notice, that the usage seems in england to have been very much limited to the th, or early part of the th century. i should, however, be very glad if any one who may possess information bearing on the subject would communicate it. n. * * * * * minor queries. _meaning of venwell or venville._--will you allow me to make the following query as to the custom of "ven_well_" or "ven_ville_"? risdon, in his _survey of devon_, states it to be a right enjoyed by the tenants of land adjoining to dartmoor of pasturage and cutting turf within the limits of the forest. he calls it "fenfield, antiently fengfield," but makes no allusion to the etymology of the word, or to the origin of the custom. some of your correspondents can most probably afford information on both these points. r.e.g. . lidlington place, harrington square. _erasmus and farel._--in d'aubigné's _history of the reformation_, ii. . (white's translation), it is said that erasmus "instead of farellus would often write _fallicus_, thus designating one of the frankest men of his day with the epithets of cheat and deceiver." but mr. dyer, in his late _life of calvin_, spells the word _phallicus_, and supposes it to allude to some amorous propensities of the reformer. which of these authorities are we to believe? j.c.r. _early culture of the imagination._--i have somewhere read, possibly in an article of the _quarterly review_, the opinion very strikingly expressed, and attributed to mr. lockhart, that children's imaginative faculty ought to be more prominently cultivated than their reason; and, on this ground, the reading of _fairy tales_, _the arabian nights_, &c. was recommended for children. will any one kindly refer me to this passage? and, as it is wanted for an immediate purpose, an early insertion and reply to this query will oblige me. alfred gatty. _sir thomas bullen's drinking horn._--does any one know whether the drinking horn which belonged to sir thomas bullen still exists? by the will it was directed to be kept as a heir-loom. p. _peter sterry._--in the title-page and address to the reader of peter sterry's _appearance of god to man in the gospel_, &c., and other his posthumous discourses, to. , mention is made of certain miscellaneous tracts, letters, &c., taken from original mss. left by him, whose publication was made to depend on the success of the above work. sterry was spoken of by baxter in complimentary terms, notwithstanding his peculiar sentiments and manner of writing; and in a ms. note on the title-page of sterry's _discourse of the freedom of the will_, folio, , he is said to have been "chaplain first to lord brooke, afterwards to oliver cromwell." if any of your readers can say whether the "miscellaneous tracts," &c., were ever published, and, if not, where the mss. are likely to be found, with any further information concerning him, which is desired by many persons deeply interested in his history and writings, it will confer a favour on me. lord clarendon notices a work of sir harry vane (who was an associate of sterry's), entitled _love to god_, &c.[ ] i should also be glad to know where that work may be found. [footnote : [the title of vane's work is, _of the love of god, and union with god_, to. . it is not to be found in the catalogues of the british museum, bodleian, sion college, d. williams' library, or london institution.]] j.p. _"words are men's daughters," &c._-- "words are men's daughters, but god's sons are things." where does this verse occur? who was the author? can any parallel passages be adduced? t.j. _robert henryson--gawyn douglas._--complete uniform editions of the poems of these celebrated authors, accompanied with biographical notices and illustrative notes, being a desideratum in scottish literature, permit me to ask, through the medium of your entertaining and useful "notes and queries," if such publications be in contemplation by any of the various literary societies, or individual member thereof, in this kingdom; and if so, are they likely to appear soon? t.g.s. edinburgh, dec. . . _darby and joan._--can any of your readers refer me to a copy of the ballad of darby and joan? there is a tradition in the parish of helaugh, near tadcaster, that they were inhabitants of that village, and that the ballad is the composition of some poet who was a constant visitor to the duke of wharton, when living in the manor house. h. _william chilcot._--as i am about to reprint an excellent little work, entitled, _practical treatise concerning evil thoughts_, by william chilcot, can any of your readers give me any account of his life? the work was originally, i believe, printed in exeter, , or thereabouts, as i find it in a { } catalogue of "books printed for and sold by philip bishop, at the golden bible over against the guildhall in exon, ." it was reprinted, "london, ," for "edward score, over against the guildhall in exeter." and again (_privately_), a few years ago. of the _first_ edition i have never seen a copy, although i am not aware that it is particularly scarce; of the second, copies are not uncommon. if any of your readers could communicate any information regarding the author, i should feel much obliged. richard hooper. university club, suffolk street. _benj. wheeler's theological lectures._--in the year was published vol. i. of the _theological lectures_ of benjamin wheeler, late regius professor of divinity in oxford. in the preface, it is said-- "the first of the three volumes, in which the lectures will be comprised, is offered to the public as an experiment of its disposition towards the completion of the work; the favourable entertainment of which will determine the editor's purpose of sending the two remaining volumes after it with all convenient expedition." can any of your readers inform me whether the mss. of the two unpublished volumes are preserved, and where they are to be found? w.a. _sir alexander cumming._--a nova scotia baronet, living in , of coulter, called by some, "king of the cherokees." he married elizabeth, one of the last coheiresses of the ancient family of _dennis_, of pucclechurch, co. gloucester. where may be found any account of his connection with the cherokees; also any thing of his death or descendants? s.s. _cross between a wolf and hound._--may i call the attention of such of your correspondents as are versed in natural history, to an account that i have lately received from a gentleman of intelligence, education, and undoubted veracity. i am informed by him that he has lately seen, in the south of france, a she-wolf that had been caught at a very early age, and brought up on very friendly terms with a kennel of hounds. the animal had come to its maturity when my friend observed it and its good understanding with its canine neighbours had never been interrupted. so far from it, indeed, that the she-wolf has had and reared a litter of pups by one of the dogs, and does duty in hunting as well as any dog of the pack. buffon states that he had found that an experiment continued for a considerable time, to bring about the like result between the like animals, never showed the least appearance of success. the circumstances which he mentions as to the capture and habits of the she-wolf are nearly the same as i have above described, and from the failure of the experiments, buffon doubted the possibility of any sexual conjunction between these kinds of animals. some of your correspondents may be able to say how far subsequent observation confirms buffon's conclusion. t----n. athenæum. _landwade church, and moated grange._--about five miles from the town of newmarket, the metropolis of the racing world, and from eening, a village in the county of suffolk, there is a secluded hamlet called "landwade," which contains a "_moated grange_," and a church to all appearances very ancient. the church contains several antique tombs, together with curious monumental brasses, nearly all, i believe i may say all, to the memory of the cotton family; amongst whom, judging from the inscriptions, were crusaders and knights of mighty emprize, and other worthies. there is only one grave and gravestone in the churchyard, and that is to an old domestic servant of the said cotton family. can any of your readers or antiquaries give any information touching the church, the ancient tombs and effigies, the cotton family, the grange, &c. when a boy i used to look upon the old house and the quaint little church with a deal of awe. it is very distressing, but i cannot find any published account of this ancient and remarkable place and its antiquities. jonathan oldbuck, jun. _dr. bolton, archbishop of cashel._--any information respecting the family, the arms, or descent of doctor theophilus bolton, archbishop of cashel, in the early part of the last century, will oblige. x.x. dec. . . _genealogy of the talbots._--in some of the printed genealogies of the talbots, to whose ancestry you have lately made several references, descent is claimed for that noble family from the emperors of the east, through anne, wife of henry i., king of france, and daughter of iaroslaf, or georges, king of russia, whose father, the great vladimir, married anne, sister of basilius, emperor of byzantium. now that excellent authority, _l'art de vérifier les dates_, gives the date of for the conquest of the chersonese by vladimir and his marriage with the emperor's sister, and that of for the birth of iaroslaf, who must, therefore, be a son of one of the many concubines mentioned in that work as preceding his wife anne. can the rare honour of descent from the eastern emperors be substantiated by the correspondents who appear to take interest in the pedigree of this house? i may add, that _l'art de vérifier les dates_, though seldom incorrect, seems to err when it asserts enguerherde, wife of the above-named iaroslaf, to be { } the daughter of olaus, or olaf, "king of _norway_, and not of _sweden_," as the _heims kringla_ of snorro sturleson gives a long account of the betrothal of ingigerd or enguerherde, daughter of olaf ericson, king of _sweden_, to st. olaf, king of _norway_, and of her subsequent marriage to iaroslaf, or jarislief, king of russia. can you say where the best pedigree of the early kings of sweden is to be found? e.h.y. _robertson of muirtown_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in thanking a.r.x. for his reference to a pedigree of robertson of muirtown, i should be glad if he can explain to me the connection with that branch of _george_ robertson, of st. anne's, soho, who lived in the middle of the last century, and married elizabeth love, of ormsby, co. norfolk. he was uncle, i believe, to mr. robertson barclay (who assumed the last name), of keavil, co. fife, and nearly related, though i cannot say in what degree, to william robertson, of richmond, whose daughter isabella married david dundas, created a baronet by george iii., and one of whose granddaughters was married to sir james moncreiff, and another to dr. sumner, the present archbishop of canterbury. this william robertson, i believe sold the muirtown property. is he one of those mentioned in the work to which a.r.x. has referred me? and was he the _first_ cousin to robertson the historian? perhaps a.r.x. can also say whether the arms properly borne by the muirtown branch are those given to them in burke's _armory_, viz. gu. three crescents interlaced or, between as many wolves' heads erased arg. armed and langued az., all within a bordure of the third, charged with eight mullets of the first. the late rev. love robertson, prebendary of hereford (son of the above george robertson), was accustomed to use: gu. three wolves' heads erased arg., armed and langued az., which are the arms of the original stock of strowan. as i am entitled to quarter his coat, i should be glad to know the correct blazonry. c.r.m. _booty's case._--where can an authentic report be found of "booty's case," and before what judge was it tried? the writer would also be obliged with an account of the result of the case, and a note of the summing up, as far as it is to be ascertained. the case is said to be well known in the navy. demonologist. [we have seen it stated that this case was tried in the court of king's bench about the year or .] _did st. paul's clock ever strike thirteen._--there is a very popular tradition that a soldier, who was taxed with having fallen asleep at midnight, whilst on guard, managed to escape the severe punishment annexed to so flagrant a dereliction of duty, by positively averring, as evidence of his having been "wide awake," that he had heard the clock of st. paul's cathedral strike _thirteen_ at the very time at which he was charged with having indulged in forbidden slumbers. the tradition of course adds, indeed this is its point, that, upon inquiry, it was found that the famous horary monitor of london city had, "for that night only," actually treated those whose ears were open, with the, till then, unheard of phenomenon of "thirteen to the dozen." can any of your readers state how this story originated, or whether it really has any foundation in fact? henry campkin. jan. . . * * * * * replies. dragons. (vol. ii., p. .) the subject on which r.s. jun. writes in no. . is one of so much interest in many points of view, that i hope that a few notices relating to it may not be considered unworthy of insertion in "notes and queries." in murray's _handbook of northern italy_, mention is made, in the account of the church of st. maria delle grazie, near mantua, of a stuffed lizard, crocodile, or other reptile, which is preserved suspended in the church. this is said to have been killed in the adjacent swamps, about the year . it is stated to be six or seven feet long. eight or ten years ago, i saw an animal of the same order, and about the same size, hanging from the roof of the cathedral of abbeville, in picardy. i then took it for a small crocodile, but i cannot say positively that it was one. i am not sure whether it still remains in the cathedral. i do not know whether any legend exists respecting this specimen, or whether it owed its distinguished post to its being deemed an appropriate ornament. at the west door of the cathedral of cracow are hanging some bones, said to have belonged to the dragon which inhabited the cave at the foot of the rock (the wawel) on which the cathedral and the royal castle stand; and was destroyed by krak, the founder of the city. i regret that my want of osteological science prevented me from ascertaining to what animal these bones had belonged. i thought them the bones of some small species of whale. i hope that some competent observer may inform us of what animals these and the lindwurm at brünn are the remains. it has struck me as possible that the real history of these crocodiles or alligators, if they are such, may be, that they were brought home by crusaders as specimens of dragons, just as henry the lion, duke of brunswick, brought from the holy land the antelope's horn which had been palmed upon { } him as a specimen of a griffin's claw, and which may still be seen in the cathedral of that city. that they should afterwards be fitted with appropriate legends, is not surprising. some years since, when walking down the valley of st. nicholas, on the south side of the valais, my guide, a native of the valley, pointed out to me a wood on the mountain side, and told me that therein dwelt great serpents, about feet long, which carried off lambs from the pastures. he had, however, never seen one of these monsters, but had only seen those who had, and i failed in procuring any testimony of a more decisive character. my guide, however, affirmed that their existence was generally believed in the valley. n. * * * * * origin of the family name of bacon. (vol. ii., p. .) the query proposed by nocab evidently possesses some interest, having already elicited two or three replies. i trust, therefore, i shall be excused for submitting yet another solution, which appears to me more satisfactory, if not _conclusive_. the answers to such questions are for the most part merely ingenious _conjectures_; but these to be of weight, should be supported by antiquarian learning. they claim perhaps more regard when they seem to elucidate collateral difficulties; but are of most value when _authenticated_ by independent evidence, especially the evidence of _documents_ or of _facts_. fortunately, in the case before us, all these desiderata are supplied. old richard verstegan, famous for saxon lore and archæological research, explains it thus:-- "bacon, _of the beechen tree_, anciently called bucon; and, whereas swinesflesh is now called by the name of bacon, it grew only at the first unto such as were fatted with bucon or _beechmast_."--chap. ix. p. . there is one agreeable feature in this explanation, viz., that it professes somewhat naturally to account for the mysterious relation between the flesh of the unclean animal, and the name of a very ancient and honourable family. but its chief value is to be found in the singular _authentication_ of it which i accidentally discovered in collins's _baronetage_. in the very ample and particular account there given of the pedigree of the premier baronet, it will be seen that the _first_ man who assumed the surname of bacon, was one william (temp. rich. i.), a great grandson of the grimbaldus, who came over with the conqueror and settled in norfolk. of course there was _some_ reason for his taking that name; and though collins makes no comment on it, he does in fact unconsciously supply that reason (elucidated by verstegan) by happily noting of this _sole_ individual, that he _bore for his arms_, "argent, _a beech tree_ proper!" thank you, mr. collins! thank you kindly, richard verstegan! you are both excellent and honest men. you cannot have been in collusion. you have not, until _now_, even reaped the merit of truthfulness and accuracy, which you silently reflect upon each other. the family name, bacon, then, undoubtedly signifies "of the beechen tree," and is therefore of the same class with many others such as ash, beech, &c., latinized in ancient records by de fraxino, de fago, &c. the motto of the somersetshire bacons, noticed by nocab, when read as written, is supposed to be in the _ablative_ case; when transposed, the evident ellipse may be supplied _ad libitum_. from grimbaldus, downwards, it does not appear that these _beechen_ men ever signalized themselves by _deeds of arms_, the favourite boast of heralds and genealogists. nor indeed could we expect them to have "hearts of _oak_." but several have rendered the name illustrious by their contributions to literature, science, and the fine arts. its _appropriateness_, therefore, must be apology for the motto; which, like most others, is by no means too modest and unassuming. duly blushing, i subscribe myself, yours, proba conscientia. p.s. the pedigree of the norfolk bacons is one of the most _perfect_ in the herald's college. any of your readers fond of genealogy might find himself repaid in seeking further information regarding the _particular coat of arms_ above referred to, and might throw still more light on the subject. in vol. ii., p. ., your correspondent, nocab, quotes (without reference) the remark _en passant_ of a previous correspondent "that the word _bacon_ had the obsolete signification of 'dried wood.'" i have searched in vain for this allusion in your preceding numbers.[ ] the information is too curious, however, to be lost sight of. the _saxon_ word _bacon_ is, without doubt, simply and purely _beechen_--pertaining to, or relating to the beech tree. it is probable enough, therefore, that the word _has_ borne the signification of "dried wood." but it is very desirable to know on what authority the assertion rests. will your correspondent refer us to the book? or can any of your learned readers say how, where, and when _bacon_ has signified "dried wood?" the subject is well worth the bestowal of some pains upon its elucidation; for the meaning and derivation of the word _bacon_, both as a substantive noun and as a proper name, have been frequently discussed by etymologists and philologists for the last years; and yet, apparently, without any satisfactory determination of the question. the family is ancient, and has been highly distinguished { } in literature, and science and art. the pedigree is one of the most perfect on record. but lord bacon himself, "who knew everything" else, knew nothing of his own name. [footnote : see vol. ii., p. .] samoht nehceeb. _meaning of bacon_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--as, on reconsideration, i perceive there is some doubt as to the meaning of the word _bacons_ in foulques fitzwarin, i send you the passage in which it occurs, that your readers may form their own opinion concerning it:-- "pus après, furent les portes de le chastel, qe treblées erent, ars e espris par feu que fust illumée de bacons e de grece." i must in addition add, that i was mistaken as to the meaning of _hosebaunde_, which was possibly only the french mode of writing husband. b.w. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _cockade_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the black cockade worn by the officers of the army and navy is the relic of a custom which probably dated from the hanoverian succession; the black cockade being the hanoverian badge, the white that of the stuart. in _waverley_, when the hero for the first time meets the baron bradwardine, he is accosted by the latter thus:-- "and so ye have mounted the cockade? right, right; though i could have wished the colour different." apodliktes. erechtheum club. _form of prayer for king's evil._--mr. lathbury, in his _convocation_, p. ., states that this form appeared in prayer-book of . this was not, however, its earliest appearance, as it is found in a quarto one bearing date , printed by the queen's printers, charles bill and the executrix of thomas newcomb. it occurs immediately before the articles, and is simply entitled, "at the healing." n.e.r. (a subscriber.) [prayers at the healing may be found in sparrow's _collection of articles, injunctions, canons, &c._, p. . to. . consult also, nichols's _anecdotes of bowyer_, p. ; _the antiquary's portfolio_, vol. ii. p. .; aubrey's _letters_, vol. i. p. .; nichols's _literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century_, vol. ii. pp. - .; _christian observer_ ( ), p. .] "_aver._"--_hogs not pigs_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in wensleydale, north yorkshire, the thin oat-cake (common in many mountainous parts of england) is called "_aver-cake_," or "_haver-cake_." the loyal dales volunteers were surnamed "the haver-cake lads." previously to seeing the note of g.m., i imagined the "aver" to be derived from "avena" (lat.), "avoine" (fr.). what _dictionary_ defines "aver" (french) as denoting the _annual_ stock or produce of a farm? d. . e.m., in his note on j. mn.'s remarks on hogs, mentions that the term _aver_, _averium_, is still used in guernsey. is not this word closely connected with the _eber_ of the german jägers? e.h.k. _pilgarlic_ (vol. ii., p. .).--sir john denham spelt this word _peel_-garlick--it may be found in one of his _directions to a painter_--but the passage in which it appears is scarcely fit for quotation. the george of the couplet referred to was albemarle, who had been wounded during the fight in the part of his person which hudibras alludes to when he tells us that one wound there "hurts honour more than twenty wounds laid on before." denham seems to compare albemarle's wounded buttocks to a peeled onion! the resemblance (to denham) would account for his use of the word in this instance; but it is pretty evident that the word was not coined by him. we must, at least, give him credit for a witty application of it. carlisle. _collar of esses_ (vol. ii., p. .).--with reference to the suggestion in no. ., to give examples of effigies bearing the collar, i beg to mention those at northleigh church, oxon. the following extract is from the _guide to neighbourhood of oxford_:-- "in northleigh church, beneath an arch between the chancel and a chapel, is a fine perpendicular tomb, with two recumbent figures in alabaster,--a knight in armour, with the collar of ss; the lady with a rich turban and reticulated head-dress, and also with the collar of ss. the figures are lord and lady wilmot; and attached to the monument are two small figures of angels holding shields of arms; on one is a spread eagle, on the other three cockle shells, with an engrailed band." jasper. _filthy gingram_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the name "toad-flax" is evidently put by mistake, in owen's _dictionary_, for "toad-stool," a fungus, the _agaricus virosus_ of linnæus. the common name in the north of england is "poisonous toad-stool." it is a virulent poison. see * . , ., in sowerby's _english fungi_. d. . toad-flax, the yellow _antirrhinum_, certainly does stink. c.b. _the life and death of clancie, by e.s._ (vol. ii., p. .).--there is a copy in the bodleian library. j.o.h. "_rab. surdam_" (vol. ii., p. .).--edinensis. gives the above as the inscription on a tomb-stone, and requests an explanation. it is very probable that the stone-cutter made a mistake, and cut "rab. surdam" instead of "rap. surum," which would be a contraction for "rapax suorum," alluding to death or the grave. it seems { } impossible to extract a meaning, from "rab. surdam" by any stretch of latinity. g.f.g. edinburgh. _"fronte capillatâ," &c._ (vol. iii., p. .).--the hexameter cited vol. iii., p. ., and rightly interpreted by e.h.a., is taken (with the slight alteration of _est_ for the original _es_) from "occasio: drama, p. joannis david, soc. jesu sacerd. antv. mdcv.," appended to that writer's _occasio, arrepta, neglecta_; in which the same implied moral is expressed, with this variation: "fronte capillitium gerit, ast glabrum occiput illi." g.a.s. this verse is alluded to by lord bacon in his essay on delays: "occasion (as it is in the common verse) turneth a bald noddle after she hath presented her locks in front, and no hold taken; or, at least, turneth the handle of the bottle first to be received, and after the belly, which is hard to clasp." l. _taylor's holy living._--i should be obliged by any of your readers kindly informing me whether there is any and what foundation for the statement in the _morning chronicle_ of dec. th last, that that excellent work, _holy living_, which i have always understood to be bishop taylor's, "is now _known_" (so says a constant reader) "not to be the production of that great prelate, but to have been written by a spanish friar. on this account it is not included in the works of bishop taylor, lately printed at the oxford university press." i do not possess the oxford edition here mentioned, so cannot test the accuracy of the assertion in the last sentence but if the first part of the above extract be correct, it is, to say the least, singular that mr. bohn, in his recent edition of the work, should be entirely silent on the subject. i should like to know who and what is this "spanish friar?" has he not "a local habitation and a name?" w.r.m. [a fraud was practised on the memory of bishop jeremy taylor soon after his death, in ascribing to him a work entitled _contemplations of the state of man in this life, and in that which is to come_, and which archdeacon churton, in _a letter to joshua watson, esq._, has shown, with great acuteness and learning, was in reality a compilation from a work written by a spanish jesuit, named john eusebius nieremberg. the treatise _holy living and dying_ is unquestionably bishop taylor's, and forms vol. iii. of his works, now in the course of publication under the editorship the rev. charles page eden.] _portrait of bishop henchman_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent y.y. is informed, that there is in the collection of the earl of clarendon, at the grove, a full-length portrait of bishop henchman, by sir peter lely. this picture, doubtless, belonged to the chancellor clarendon. lord clarendon, in his _history of the rebellion_, b. xiii. (vol. vi. p. . ed. oxford, ), describes the share which dr. henchman, then a prebendary of salisbury, had in facilitating the escape of charles ii., after the battle of worcester. dr. henchman conducted the king to a place called heale, near salisbury, then belonging to serjeant hyde, afterwards made chief justice of the king's bench by his cousin the chancellor. l. _lines attributed to charles yorke_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the editor of bishop warburton's _literary remains_ is informed, that the lines transcribed by him, "stript to the naked soul," &c., have been printed lately in a work entitled _the sussex garland_, published by james taylor, formerly an eminent bookseller at brighton, but now removed to newick, sussex. the lines appear to have been written on mrs. grace butler, who died at rowdel, in sussex, in the th year of her age, by alexander pope, but, according to taylor, not inserted in any edition of pope's works. the lines will be found in the th and th nos. of _the sussex garland_, p. ., under "warminghurst." w.s. richmond, surrey. _rodolph gualter_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "rodolph gualter naquit à zurich en , et y mourut en . il fit ses études dans sa ville natale, à lausanne, à marbourg, et en angleterre. rodolph, son fils, mort en , avait fait de très bonnes études à genève, en allemagne, et à l'université d'oxford." the above i have extracted from the account of him given in the _biographie universelle_, which refers as authority to "j.b. huldrici gualtherus redivivus seu de vita et morte rod. gualtheri oratio, ," in the biblioth. bremens., viii. p. . in this memoir i find it stated: "quod gualtherus noster unà cum nicolao partrigio anglo in angliam iter suscepit. quatuor illud mensibus et aliquot diebus finitum est, inciditque in annum seculi trigesimum." but neither in this, nor in the account of his life by melchior adam, nor in that contained in rose's _biographical dictionary_, can i find any trace of the opinion that he was a scotchman; and as huldricus was himself a professor in the athenæum at zurich, he would probably be correctly informed on the subject. tyro. dublin. _"annoy" used as a noun_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent ch. will find three good instances of the use of the word _annoy_ as a noun (in addition to the lines cited by him from wordsworth) by queen elizabeth, george gascoigne, and mr. keble: "the doubt of future woes exiles my present joy, and wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine _annoy_." see ellis' _specimens of early english poets_, ii. p. . { } "and as they more esteeme that merth than dread the night's _annoy_, so must we deeme our dayes on erth but hell to heauenly joye." _good morrowe_; see farr's _select poetry, &c._, p. . "high heaven, in mercy to your sad _annoy_, still greets you with glad tidings of immortal joy." _christian year_, "christmas day." h.g.t. _culprit, origin of the word_ (vol. ii., p. .).--see stephen's _commentaries on the laws of england_, iv. . note (_p_). c.h. cooper. cambridge, dec. . . passage in bishop butler (vol. ii., p. .).--the "peculiar term" referred to by bishop butler is evidently the verb "to blackguard." it is for this reason that he inserts the condition, "when the person it respects is present." we may abuse, revile, vituperate an absent person; but we can only "blackguard" a man when he is present. the word "blackguard" is not recognised by johnson. richardson inserts it as a noun, but not as a verb. l. _wat the hare_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent k. asks what other instances there are of _wat_ as the name of a _hare_? i know of one. on the market-house at watton the spandrils of an elizabethan doorway have been placed, taken from some old building in the town. this has a _hare_ on one side, a _ton_ on the other,--a rebus of the town name watton. h.h. _the letter yogh_ (vol. ii., p. .).--_yerl_ for _earl_, and _yirth_ for _earth_, &c., are, to this day, quite common in scottish orthoëpy among many of the lower classes. g.f.g. _did elizabeth visit bacon at twickenham park?_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--to this question your correspondent j.i.d. replies with a quotation from nicols (edition of ), who dates her visit in or . i had looked into nichols's first edition ( ) without finding the subject mentioned; and i am now inclined to think, as at first, that it is altogether a misapprehension. sir francis bacon, in _his apologie in certaine imputations concerning the late earl of essex, written to the right hon. his very good lord the earle of devonshire, lord-lieutenant of ireland_. lond. , in mo. pp. ., says, at p. .:-- "a little before that time, being about the middle of michaelmas terme, her maiestie had a purpose to dine at my lodge at twickna[m] parke, at which time i had (though i professe not to be a poet) prepared a sonnet, directly tending and alluding to draw on her maiesties reconciliation to my lord," &c. &c. this i conceive to have reference to an intention of elizabeth, rather than to an accomplished fact. at p. . of this work, bacon says he had sold twickenham park some time ago to reynold nicholas. i consider lysons to have been the first author who mentions the subject and at _environs_, vol. iii. ( ), p. ., there is a note: "from the information of the earl of orford." and i therefore conclude it to have been some mistake of lord orford's. your former correspondent. dec. . . _mock-beggar_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the origin of this term was discussed in the _gentleman's magazine_ in . two localities so called were cited (vol. xiv. p. .), with the opinion of sir william burrell, that some buildings so named at brighton had been "a mendicant priory." another writer (p. .) suggested that the term was applied to country houses when deserted or unoccupied; or to rocks, as one near bakewell, where the semblance of a ham might attract a wayfarer from the high road, only to deceive his expectations of relief. j.g.n. _cardinal chalmers_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the insignia mentioned by your correspondent s.p., in no. , are very common among roman catholic ecclesiastics on the continent, and are frequently to be seen on tombs. the hat and tassels are appropriated to notaries apostolic of the holy roman see, as well as to cardinals and the dignity having some privileges attached to it, it is sought after by ecclesiastics of standing. hyde clarke. _binsey, god help me!_ (vol. i., p. .).--i remember the _same_ words respecting the village of binsey, half-way between oxford and godstow. during the winter and spring months it was nearly all under water, like port meadow, on the opposite side of the river: so if you asked a binseyite in winter where he came from, the answer was as above; if in summer, "binsey, where else?" chas. paslam. _midwives licensed_ (vol. ii., p. .).--on this subject i would refer s.p.h.t. to burn's _ecclesiastical law_, under the head of "midwives," which is all nearly that can be ascertained at present on that head. among other things it says in the oath taken of them,-- "you shall not in anywise use or exercise any manner of witchcraft, charm, or sorcery, invocation, or other prayers, than may stand with god's law and the king's." m.c.r. _dr. timothy thruscross_ (vol. ii., p. .)--there are frequent notices of dr. thristcross, or thruscross, in dr. worthington's correspondence. (see vol. i. of same, edited for the chetham society. index, voc. "thristcross.") dr. worthington observes, p. ., "i did love to talk with worthy mr. thirstcross, who knew mr. ferrar and little gidding." jas. crossley. { } _history of bohemian persecution_ (vol. ii., p. .).--see note to worthington's _diary and correspondence_, vol. i. p. ., for a notice of this work of comenius, and his other publications relating to the bohemian church. jas. crossley. "_earth has no rage_" (vol. iii., p. .).-- "earth has no rage like love to hatred turn'd, and hell no fury like a woman scorn'd." these are the concluding lines of act iii. of congreve's _mourning bride_. they stand, however, thus, in the edition to which i have referred: "heaven has no rage like love to hatred turn'd, nor hell a fury like a woman scorn'd." jas. crossley. manchester, . jan. . _couplet in de foe_ (vol. ii., p. .). "restraint from ill is freedom to the wise, and good men wicked liberties despise." the couplet is altered from the following couplet in de foe's _true born englishman_:-- "restraint from ill is freedom to the wise, but englishmen do all restraint despise." see collection of his writings, vol. i. p. ., edit. . jas. crossley. _private memoirs of queen elizabeth_ (vol. iii., p. .).--"_the secret history of the most renowned queen elizabeth and the earl of essex_. in two parts. by a person of quality. cologne: printed for will with the wisp, at the sign of the moon in the ecliptick. m.d.clxxxi."--is the title of a small volume in my possession, containing some curious hints corroborative of the first part of mr. ives' ms. note mentioned in "notes and queries" (vol. iii. p. .). if this be the book to which your correspondent, j.e.c., refers in your last number, he is perfectly welcome to the perusal of my copy. william j.d. roper. vane house, hampstead, jan. . . _abbot's house at buckden_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. c.h. cooper asks, "will m.c.r. explain his allusion to the abbot's house at buckden?" being only an occasional visitor there, i can give no other explanation than it is universally called so by the inhabitants of the place. the house is very low-roomed, and only one story high; it has been compoed over, so that there is nothing very ancient in the look of the brickwork, excepting the chimneys, which form a cluster in the centre. the door i mentioned, evidently is an ancient one. a good deal of iron about it, and in square compartments. when i was there recently, i was informed of a discovery in a public-house _formerly_ called the lion--now, the _lamb_. a gentleman in the place came into possession of some pamphlets respecting buckden; in one of which it is said, that this house was originally the hostel where the visitors and domestics used to go when the bishop had not room at the palace for them, and that it would be found there was an "agnus dei" in the ceiling of one of the lower rooms. the consequence was, search was made for it: and what seemed a plain boss, where two beams crossed each other, on being cleansed and scraped, turned out to be as the book said, and which i saw only last week. the clergyman has the pamphlet above alluded to. whether this, and the abbot's house, belonged to the palace i cannot say. the road now runs between them. the "agnus dei" is seven or eight inches in diameter; the lamb, &c., in the centre, and the words "ecce agnus dei" in a circular border round it. this is all the information i can now give. m.c.r. _bab in the bowster_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in your valuable periodical your correspondent "mac." makes an observation regarding "bab in the bowster," which is not correct so far as regards this part of the country at least. he says "it is now danced with a handkerchief instead of a cushion," whereas the fact is i have never seen it danced but with a pillow, as its name "bab in the bowster (anglice bolster)" would seem to denote. the manner of dancing it is, the company having formed itself into a circle, one, either male or female, goes into the centre, carrying a pillow, and dances round the circle with a sort of shuffling quick step, while the others sing,-- "wha learn'd you to dance, you to dance, you to dance, wha learn'd you to dance, bab in the bowster brawly?" to which the dancer replies: "mother learn'd me to dance, me to dance, me to dance, mother learn'd me to dance, bab in the bowster brawly." he or she then lays down the pillow before one of the opposite sex, when they both kneel on it and kiss; the person to whom the pillow has been presented going over the above again, &c, till the company tires. i may add that the above is a favourite dance here, particularly among young people, and at children's parties in particular it is never omitted. if your correspondent wishes the air to which it is danced, i shall be glad to send it to him. gleniffer. paisley. _sir cloudesley shovel_ (vol. iii., p. .).--"h.j." will find a "note" in cunningham's _lives of eminent englishmen_ (vol. iv. p. .), of the circumstances attendant upon sir cloudesley's death, as preserved in the family of the earl of romney, detailing the fact of his murder, and the mode of { } its discovery. i shall be happy to supply your correspondent with an extract, if he has not the above work at hand. j.b. colmar. _noli me tangere_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in addition to the painters already enumerated as having treated this subject, the artist le sueur, commonly called the raphael of france, may be mentioned. in his picture, the figures are somewhat above half nature. w.j. mercer. _cad_ (vol. i., p. .).--jamieson derives this word, or rather its scotch diminutive, "cadie," from the french, _cadet_. i have heard it fancifully traced to the latin "cauda." w.j. mercer. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. mr. disraeli's work, entitled _commentaries on the life and reign of charles the first_, has been pronounced by one of the great critical authorities of our own days, "the most important work" on the subject that modern times have produced. those who differ from mr. disraeli's view of the character of the king and the part he played in the great drama of his age may, in some degree, dissent from this eulogy. none will, however, deny that the work, looking to its anecdotical character, and the great use made in it of sources of information hitherto unemployed, is one of the most amusing as well as interesting histories of that eventful period. while those who share with the editor, mr. b. disraeli, and many reflecting men, the opinion that in the great questions which are now agitating the public mind, history is only repeating itself; and that the "chapters _on the genius of the papacy; on the critical position of our earlier protestant sovereigns with regard to their roman catholic subjects_, from the consequences of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy; _on the study of polemical divinity prevalent at the commencement of the seventeenth century_, and kindred themes, are, in fact, the history of the events, the thoughts, the passions, and the perplexities of the present agitated epoch," will agree that the republication of the work at this moment is at once opportune and acceptable. we have received a copy of dr. rimbault's _musical illustrations of bishop percy's reliques of ancient english poetry: a collection of old ballad tunes, chiefly from rare mss. and early printed books, deciphered from the obsolete notation, and harmonized and arranged according to modern usage_. if any thing could add to the extensive popularity which percy's work has continued to enjoy ever since its first appearance, (for have we not washbourne's handsome reprint of it, published within this year or two?) it must be the quaint and racy melodies, the "old antique strains," to which these fine old ballads were anciently sung. dr. rimbault, who combines great musical acquirements with a rich store of antiquarian knowledge, in giving us these, has produced a work as carefully executed as it is original in its character; one which can only be exceeded in interest by the _musical illustrations of shakspeare's plays_, which we are glad to see promised from the same competent authority. we are at length enabled to announce that _the treatise on equivocation_, so often referred to in our columns, is about to be published under the editorship of mr. jardine, whose attention has long been directed to it from its connexion with the gunpowder conspiracy; and whose intimate acquaintance with that subject, as shown in his _criminal trials_, is a sufficient pledge for his ability to do justice to this curious and important historical document. we regret to learn, from the _catalogue of the museum of mediæval art, collected by the late mr. cottingham_, which has been very carefully drawn up, with a preface by mr. shaw, that, if the family are disappointed in disposing of the museum to the government, or by private contract, it will be submitted to public sale in april next, and a collection of the most ample and varied examples of mediæval architecture ever brought together, which has been formed at a vast outlay both of labour and cost, will be dispersed, and be thereby rendered inaccessible and valueless to the architectural student. the rev. w.h. kelke has published some _notices of sepulchral monuments in english churches_, a work which is not intended for professed antiquaries, but for that large class of persons who, although they have some taste for the subject of which it treats, have neither time nor inclination to enter deeply into it, and as will, we have no doubt, be very acceptable to those to whom it is immediately addressed. we regret to announce the death of one of our earliest and most valued contributors, professor t.s. davies of woolwich. "probably few men in england," says the _athenæum_, "were better versed in the methods of the old geometers, or possessed a more critical appreciation of their relative merits." his death is a great loss to geometrical science, as well as to a large circle of friends. we have received the following catalogues:--stacey and co. ( . southampton street, strand) catalogue of books chiefly relating to history, commerce, and legislation; g. bumstead's ( . high holborn) catalogue of interesting and rare books on the occult sciences, america, asia, &c. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _to meet the wishes of many friends, and to avoid the inconvenience arising from the diversity of prices in our monthly parts, we propose in future to publish a fifth, or supplementary number, every month in which there are only four saturdays. by this arrangement our monthly parts will be of the uniform price of one shilling and three pence, with the exception of those for january and july, which will include the index of the preceding half-year at the price of one shilling and ninepence each. thus the yearly subscription to _notes and queries_, either in unstamped weekly numbers or monthly parts, will be _sixteen shillings_. the subscription for the stamped edition, with which gentlemen may be supplied regularly by giving their orders direct to the publisher, _mr. george bell, . fleet street_ (accompanied by a post office order), is one pound and fourpence for a twelve-month, or ten shillings and two pence for six months_. replied received.--_it has been suggested to us that we should here acknowledge all communications received by us. we would willingly do so, but that, from their number, such acknowledgment would necessarily occupy far more space than our readers would like to see so employed. but we propose in future to notice all replies that have reached us; by which means those who _have replied_ will be aware that their communications have come to hand, and those who are _about to { } reply_ will be enabled to judge whether or not they have been anticipated. the following have reached us between the publication of our number on saturday last and wednesday. our future lists will comprise those received in the week ending on the wednesday previous to publication._ _lynch law--curse of scotland--butcher willie--midwives--steam navigation--frozen horn--collar of ss.--holland land--umbrellas--passage in tennyson--sword of the conqueror--couplet in defoe--thruscross--earth has no rage--private memoirs of elizabeth--by-the-bye--swearing by swans--sir cloudesley shovel--chapel--difformis--grasson--savez--land holland--peter wilkins--passage in st. mark--cockade and true blue--mocker--mythology of the stars--cauking--ten children at a birth--swans._ w.h.b. _will find, on referring to chappell's _national english airs_, that the words of _rule britannia_ were written by thomson (in the _masque of alfred_), and the music composed by dr. arne._ tapetia.--_miss linwood's _salvator mundi, after carlo dolce_, is, we believe, in one of her majesty's private apartments at windsor castle. we do not insert _tapetia's_ letter, because we by no means agree with the writer in his views of the property of the crown. the queen behaved most kindly and liberally on the occasion of the late _exhibition of mediæval art_: but that is a very different thing from calling for a transfer of the holbein or da vinci drawings to some public museum._ r.w.e. _will find the custom of "_going a gooding_," which appears to prevail on st. thomas's day in many parts of the country, described in brand's _popular antiquities_ (ed. ellis)._ s.g. (c.c.c.c.) _is thanked for his friendly note. had we been aware of the facts with which he has now furnished us, of course, the communication to which he refers would not have been inserted in its present shape._ volume the second of notes and queries.--_we this day issue the index to our second volume. copies of which volume, strongly bound in cloth, may now be had price_ s. d. _we hope next week, by the publication of a double number, under our new arrangement, to clear off a large accumulation of correspondence._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive _notes and queries_ in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of _notes and queries_ should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * musical illustrations of percy's reliques of ancient poetry. a collection of old ballad tunes, &c., chiefly from rare manuscript and early printed books, with some account of the ballads. by edward f. rimbault, ll.d. in cloth, s. london: cramer and co., . regent street. * * * * * to bookbuyers. this day is published, part i., for january, of c. skeet's monthly catalogue of new and second-hand books, marked at unusually low prices, for cash. to be had gratis, and post free, upon application at . king william street, charing cross. * * * * * pocket editions, neatly and uniformly printed, royal mo. george herbert.--the temple, sacred poems, and private ejaculations. very neatly printed, mo., cloth, s. d.; morocco, s.; morocco extra, by hayday, at various prices. a priest to the temple; or, the country parson, his character and rule of holy life. cloth s.; morocco, s. d. john selden.--table talk, being the discourses of john selden, or is sense of various matters of weight and high consequence, relating especially to religion and the state. royal mo. cloth, s.; morocco. s. d.; morocco extra, by hayday, at various prices. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * committee for the repair of the tomb of geoffrey chaucer. john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a. thomas w. king, esq., f.s.a. sir frederick madden, k.h. john gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a. samuel shepherd, esq., f.s.a. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a. the tomb of geoffrey chaucer in westminster abbey is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay. a sum of one hundred pounds will effect a perfect repair. the committee have not thought it right to fix any limit to the subscription; they themselves, have opened the list with a contribution from each of them of five shillings; but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them. subscriptions have been received from the earls of carlisle, ellesmere, and shaftesbury, viscounts strangford and mahon, pres. soc. antiq., the lords braybrooke and londesborough, and many other noblemen and gentlemen. subscriptions are received by all the members of the committee, and at the union bank, pall mall east. post-office orders may be made payable at the charing cross office, to william richard drake, esq., the treasurer, . parliament street, or william j. thomas, esq., hon sec., . holy-well street, millbank. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for december contains the following articles:-- . an evening with voltaire, by mr. r.n. neville; . the new cratylus; . old ballads from the bright collection; . the abbé de saint-pierre; norman crosses (with engravings); . duchess of queensberry and gay; . dryden and flecknoe; . legends of the monastic orders; . t. lodge and his works; . birth of the old pretender; . history of winchelsea (with engravings); . autobiography of mr. britton; . the recent papal bull historically considered: with notes of the month. review of new publications, literary and antiquarian intelligence, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of lord rancliffe, lord stanley of alderley, lord leigh, chief justice doherty, rev. dr. thackeray, john jardine, esq., thomas hodgson, esq., f.s.a., newcastle, &c., &c. price s. d. "the gentleman's magazine has been revived with a degree of spirit and talent which promises the best assurance of its former popularity."--_taunton courier._ "the additional talent which the new year has brought to its assistance, will give an impetus advantageous to the circulation of the gentleman's, and, high as it previously stood, will advance it still more in the estimation of those who are enabled to appreciate its worth."--_poole herald._ the magazine for january, , will contain a portrait of the late thomas amyot, esq., treasurer of the society of antiquaries. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * price d., by post d., or s. per hundred for distribution. westminster and dr. wiseman; or, facts _v._ fiction. by william page wood, esq., m.p., q.c. reprinted from _the times_, with an advertisement on the subject of the westminster spiritual aid fund, and especially on the duty and justice of applying the revenues of the suspended stalls of the abbey for the adequate endowment of the district churches in the immediate neighbourhood. second edition, with an appendix. london: george bell, . fleet street; messrs. rivingtons, st. paul's church-yard, and waterloo place; and thomas hatchard, . piccadilly; and _by order_ of all booksellers. { } mr. murray's list of new books. i. the quarterly review, no. clxxv. vo. s. contents: . mr. gordon cumming's hunting in africa. . socrates. . the ignatian epistles. . mysteries of ceylon. . cheap sugar and slave trade. . british museum. . general radowitz on germany. . life of southey. . the ministry and the pope. . sir f. head on the defenceless state of great britain. *** the index to vols. . to . inclusive (forming vol. .) is now ready. ii. the schools of painting in italy from the german of kugler. edited by sir charles eastlake, p.r.a. a new and revised edition. illustrated with woodcuts, from the works of the old masters. vols. post vo. s. iii. what ought landlords and farmers to do? by ph. pusey, esq., m.p. reprinted from the royal agricultural journal. with map. vo. s. iv. palaces of niniveh and persepolis restored. an essay on ancient assyrian and persian architecture. by james fergusson. with woodcuts. vo. s. v. military events in italy, - . translated from the german. by lord ellesmere. map. post vo. s. vi. the lexington papers. extracted from the official and private correspondence of lord lexington, while minister at vienna, - . edited by the hon. h. manners sutton. vo s. vii. "the forty-five." being the narrative of the rebellion in scotland of , by lord mahon. post vo. s. (extracted from his history of england) viii. law and practice of naval courts martial. by william hickman, r.n. vo s. d. ix. manual of elementary geology; or the ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants. by sir charles lyell. third edition, revised. with woodcuts. vo. s. x. england as it is: political, social, and industrial, in the middle of the th century. by wm. johnston. vols. post vo. s. xi. christianity in ceylon. its introduction and progress under the portuguese, dutch, british, and american missions. by sir j. emerson tennent. woodcuts. vo. s. xii. progress of the nation, in its various social and economical relations. by g.r. porter. third edition, corrected. vo. s. xiii. byron's works. in one volume. cheaper edition. portrait. royal vo. s. xiv. byron's life. in one volume. cheaper edition. portraits. royal vo. s. xv. crabbe's life and poems. in one volume. cheaper edition. portrait. royal vo. s. d. xvi. croker's boswell's johnson. in one volume. cheaper edition. portraits. royal vo. s. xvii. specimens of the table-talk of the late s.t. coleridge. third edition. portrait. fcap. vo. s. xviii. consolations in travel. by sir humphry davy, fifth edition. woodcuts. fcap. vo. s. xix. salmonia: or, days of fly-fishing. by sir humphry davy. fourth edition,. woodcuts. fcap. vo s. [_next week_] lavengro: the scholar,--gipsy,--and priest. by george borrow, author of "the bible in spain." with portrait. vols. post vo. xxi. a voyage to the mauritius. by author of "paddiana," post vo. xxii. murray's modern cookery, based on the work of mrs. rundell; but entirely revised, and brought down to the present time, by a lady. woodcuts. post vo. s. xxiii. memoirs of sir thomas fowell buxton, bart. with selections from his correspondence. by his son. a new library edition. portrait. vo. s. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid,--saturday, january . . { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january , . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page the breeches, or geneva bible poems discovered among the papers of sir kenelm digby works of camoens, by john adamson folk lore elizabeth walker--shakspeare old english actors and musicians in germany minor notes:--the curse of scotland--george herbert--dutch versions of english essayists-- long meg of westminster--errors in the date of printed books queries:-- dousa's poem on sidney--old dutch song book minor queries:--sir cloudesley shovel--christopher flecamore--"earth has no rage." &c.-- d'oyly and barry families--lord crewe, bishop of durham--epigram on the synod of dort--private memoirs of queen elizabeth--invention of steam power--mythology of the stars--sword of the conqueror--neville family--meaning of "difformis" --lynch law--prior's posthumous works--suppressed chantries replies:-- pagnini's bible the frozen horn dominicals medals struck by charles xii.--rudbeck's atlantica, by g.j.r. gordon replies to minor queries:--fossil deer (not elk) of ireland--"away, let nought to love displeasing" --red sindon--coleridge and the penny post-- autograph of titus oates--circulation of the blood --true blue--cherubim and seraphim--darcy lever church--lines attributed to lord palmerston-- defender of the faith--farquharson on auroræ, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * * notes. the breeches, or geneva bible. of this, the most popular edition of the scriptures in the reign of queen elizabeth, we meet continually with erroneous opinions of its rarity, and also of its value, which the following brief statement may tend in a degree to correct. the translation was undertaken by certain reformers who fled to geneva during the reign of queen mary; and is attributed to w. whittingham, anthony gilby, miles coverdale, thomas sampson, christopher goodman, thomas cole, john knox, john bodleigh, and john pullain; but mr. anderson, in his _history of the english bible_, says that the translators were whittingham, gilby, and sampson: and from the facts stated, he is, no doubt, correct. it is called the "breeches bible" from the rendering of genesis, iii. .: "then the eyes of them bothe were opened, and they knewe that they were naked, and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches." the first edition of the geneva bible was printed at geneva in , folio, preceded by a dedication to queen elizabeth, and an address "to our beloved in the lord the brethren of england, scotland, ireland," &c.; dated from geneva, th april, . this edition contains two remarkable errors: matt. v. . "blessed are the _place_ makers." luke xxi. "chris _condemneth_ the poor widow." this is the first bible divided into verses. second edit. to., printed at geneva, . to this edition is added "certeine tables, a calendar, and fairs in fraunce and elsewhere." the first edition printed in london is a small folio. imprinted by christopher barker, . the first edition of the scriptures printed in scotland is the geneva version, folio, began , by thomas bassandyne; and finished in by alexander arbuthnot. other editions, , london, sm. fol.; , sm. fol.; to., ; two editions to., , ; sm. fol.; ; to., ; lar. fol., ; to., ; to., ; vo., ; to., ; to., ; to., ; vo., cambridge, , supposed to be first printed at the university; fol., ; to., ; to., ; fol., ; to., ; sm. fol., ; to., ; to., . of this last date, said to be "imprinted at london by the deputies of chr. barker," but probably printed at dort, and other places in holland, there were at least seven editions; and, before , there were at least twenty other editions. between the years and , there were printed at least editions of the geneva bible, in folio, to., and vo.; each edition probably consisted of copies. persons who know but little of the numbers which are extant of this volume, have asked l., { } l., and other like sums, for a copy; whereas, as many shillings is about the value of the later editions. the notes by the reformers from the margin of the geneva version, have been reprinted with what is usually called king james' version, the one now in use, in the editions printed at amsterdam, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. [curly-pi]. * * * * * poems discovered among the papers of sir kenelm digby. mr. halliwell (vol. ii., p. .) says that he does not believe my ms. of the "minde of the lady venetia digby" can be an autograph. i have reason to think that he is right from discovering another ms. written in the same hand as the above, and containing two poems without date or signature, neither of which (i _believe_) are ben jonson's. i enclose the shorter of the two, and should feel obliged if any of your correspondents could tell me the author of it, as this would throw some light upon the _writer_ of the two mss. the hourglasse. doe but consider this small dust running in this glasse, by atoms moved; would you believe that this the body ever was of one that loved; who in his mistresse flames playing like a fly, burnt to cinders by her eye? yes! and in death as life unblest, to have it exprest even ashes of lovers have no rest. i also enclose a copy of another poem i have discovered, which appears to me very curious, and, from the date, written the very year of the visit of prince charles and buckingham to the court of spain. has it ever been printed, and who is the author? what sodaine change hath dark't of late the glory of the arcadian state? the fleecy flocks refuse to feede the lambes to play, the ewes to breede the altars make(s) the offeringes burne that jack and tom may safe returne. the springe neglectes his course to keepe, the ayre continual stormes do weepe, the pretty birdes disdaine to singe, the maides to smile, the woods to springe, the mountaines droppe, the valleys morne till jack and tom do safe returne. what may that be that mov'd this woe? whose want afflicts arcadia so? the hope of greece, the proppe of artes, was prinly jack, the joy of hartes. and tom was to his royall paw his trusty swayne, his chiefest maw. the loftye toppes of menalus did shake with winde from hesperus, whose sweete delicious ayre did fly through all the boundes of arcady, which mov'd a vaine in jack and tom to see the coast the winde came from. this winde was love, which princes state to pages turn, but who can hate where equall fortune love procures, or equall love success assures? so virtuous jack shall bring from greece the beautyous prize, the golden fleece. love is a world of many paines, where coldest hills, and hottest playnes, with barren rockes and fertill fieldes by turne despaire and comforte yeldes; but who can doubt of prosperous lucke where love and fortune both conducte? thy grandsire great, and father too, were thine examples thus to doe, whose brave attempts, in heate of love, both france and denmark did approve. for jack and tom do nothing newe when love and fortune they pursue. kind shepheardes that have lov'd them long, be not rasfe in censuringe wronge, correct your feares, leave of to mourne, the heavens will favour their returne; committ your cares to royall pan, for jack his sonne and tom his man. finis. from london, . martii, . prefaced to this poem is an extract from a letter of buckingham's to his wife, containing an account of their reception: but it is hardly worth copying. h.a.b. * * * * * works of camoens. having been requested by a foreign nobleman to furnish him with a list of the editions of the works of camoens, and of the various translations, i have prepared one; and considering the information might be interesting to several of your readers, i send you a copy for insertion it besides affords an opportunity of asking after those editions, to which i have added the observations. the first star indicates that the works are in my private collection, as are several other works relating to that celebrated poet. obras means the collected works. joan adamson. newcastle-upon-tyne, dec. l . . { } editions of the works of luis de camoens. obras. lusiadas. rimas. comedias. size. date. observations * -- * -- -- to. * -- * -- -- to. * -- * -- -- vo. the first with any commentary. -- -- -- * very doubtful. -- * -- -- vo. supposed to be a mistake for . * -- -- * -- to. * -- * -- -- to. * -- -- * -- to. -- -- * -- very dubious. -- * -- -- dubious, but mentioned by machado. * -- -- * -- to. * -- * -- -- to. * -- * -- -- to. * -- * -- -- to. * -- -- * -- to. * -- -- -- * to. * -- -- * -- to. -- * -- -- mo. mentioned by machado. -- -- * -- to. * -- -- * -- mo. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- -- * -- mo. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- * -- -- folio. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- -- * -- mo. -- * -- -- mo.} { sold together at bridge's -- -- * -- mo.} { sale. machado mentions { the edition of the { _lusiad_ printed by { pedro craerbeeck. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- -- * -- mo. * -- -- * -- to. -- -- * -- to. -- -- * -- to. * -- * -- -- to. * * -- -- -- to. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- -- * -- mo. * -- -- * -- folio. - * * -- -- -- folio. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- -- * -- mo. has no separate title. * -- * -- -- to. - -- * -- -- { mentioned in clarke's { _progress of maritime_ { _discovery._ * * -- -- -- mo. * * -- -- -- mo. * * -- -- -- vo. - * * -- -- -- vo. - * -- * -- -- mo. * -- * -- -- mo. * * -- -- -- mo. -- * -- -- to. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- * -- -- vo. * -- * -- -- mo. * -- * -- -- mo. * * -- -- -- vo. * -- -- -- vo. { } translations of the lusiad. language. name. size. date. observations. * latin. faria vo. * spanish. caldera to. * tapia to. * garces to. * gill vo. he has also translated some of the rimas. * italian. paggi mo. * do. another edition mo. * anonymo mo. * nervi mo. * do. another edition vo. * briccolani mo. * french. castera vo. * la harpe vo. * millié vo. * gaubier de barault ms. only part, and not known if published. * german. kuhn and winkler vo. * heise mo. * anonymo mo. only one canto. * donner vo. * danish. lundbye vo. - * english. fanshaw folio. * mickle to. many subsequent editions. * musgrave vo. * strangford vo. only specimen. _n.b._ there are several translations of portions of the _lusiad_, and of the smaller poems, both in french and english. * * * * * folk lore. _may cats._--in wilts, and also in devon, it is believed that cats born in the month of may will catch no mice nor rats, but will, contrary to the wont of all other cats, bring in snakes and slow-worms. such cats are called "may cats," and are held in contempt. h.g.t. _folk lore of wales_: _shewri-while._--there is a legend connected with one of the monmouthshire mountains (_mynydd llanhilleth_), that was, until very recently, implicitly believed by most of the residents in that neighbourhood. they stated that the mountain was haunted by a spirit in the form of a woman, and known by the name of "shewri-while." her principal employment appears to have been misleading those whose business or inclination led them across the mountain; and so powerful was her influence, that few, even of those who resided in the neighbourhood, could cross the mountain without losing their way. if some unlucky wanderer hesitated in which direction to go, shewri would attract his attention by a loud "whoo-whoop," and with upraised arm beckon him on. if followed, she glided on before him: sometimes allowing him to approach so near, that the colour and arrangement of her dress could be distinguished; at other times, she would only be seen at a distance, and then she frequently repeated her call of "whoo-whoop." at length, after wandering over the mountain for hours in the hope of overtaking her, she would leave her weary and bewildered pursuer at the very spot from which he had first started. c[reversed-c]. _charm for the tooth-ache._--the following doggerel, to be written on a piece of parchment, and worn round the neck next to the skin: "when peter sat at jerusalems gate his teeth did most sorely eake (ache) ask counsel of christ and follow me of the tooth eake you shall be ever free not you a lone but also all those who carry these few laines safe under clothes in the name of the father son and holy ghoste." (_copied verbatim._) g. tr. _quinces._--in an old family memorandum-book, i find the following curious entry: "sept. . . my father mr. ---- ---- brought my mother home to my grandfather's house, and the wedding dinner was kept there on monday, sept. ., with all the family, and mr. ---- and mr. ---- and his wife were present. "in the evening my honoured grandfather gave all his children a serious admonition to live in love and charity ... and afterwards gave his wife a { } present of some _quinces_, and to his sister ----, and every son and daughter, son in law and daughter in law, five guineas each." the last-named gift consisted of gold five-guinea pieces of charles ii. and james ii., some of which have been preserved in the family. the part of the record, however, which appears to me worthy of note, is that which concerns the _quinces_, which brings to one's mind the ancient greek custom that the bridegroom and bride should eat a _quince_ together, as a part of the wedding ceremonies. (see potter's _grecian antiquities_.) can any of your readers furnish any additional information on this curious point? h.g.t. * * * * * elizabeth walker.--shakspeare. i have before me a reprint (blackwell, sheffield, ) of _the holy life of mrs. elizabeth walker, late wife of a. walker, d.d., rector of fyfield, in essex_, originally published by her husband in . it is a beautiful record of that sweet, simple, and earnest piety which characterised many of the professors of religion in the seventeenth century. it is not, however, the general character of the book, however excellent, but an incidental allusion in the first section of it, that suggests this communication. the good woman above named, and who was born in london in , says, in her diary: "my dear father was john sadler, a very eminent citizen. he was born at stratford-upon-avon, where his ancestors lived. my grandfather had a good estate in and about the town. he was of a free and noble spirit, which somewhat outreached his estate, but was not given to any debauchery that i ever heard of. my father's mother was a very wise, pious, and good woman, and lived and died a good christian. my father had no brother, but three sisters who were all eminently wise and good women, especially his youngest sister." it is, i confess, very agreeable to me, amidst the interest of association created by the world-wide fame of the "swan of avon," to record this pleasing tribute to the character of the _genius loci_ at so interesting a period. in a passage on a subsequent page, mrs. walker, referring to some spiritual troubles, says: "my father's sister, my dear aunt quiney, a gracious good woman, taking notice of my dejected spirit, she waylaid me in my coming home from the morning exercise then in our parish." this was in london: but it is impossible to have read attentively some of the minuter memorials of shakspeare (_e.g._ hunter's, halliwell's, &c.) without recognising in "aunt quiney" a collateral relationship to the immortal bard himself. i am not aware that any shakspearian reader of the "notes and queries" will feel the slightest interest in this remote branch of a genealogical tree, which seems to have borne "diverse manner of fruits;" but assuredly the better portion of those who most justly admire its exuberance of dramatic yield, will not disparage their taste should they equally relish the evangelical flavour of its "holier products," exemplified in the life of mrs. elizabeth walker. j.h. * * * * * old english actors and musicians in germany. (vol. ii., pp. . .) the following extracts furnish decisive evidence of the custom of our old english actors' and musicians' professional peregrinations on the continent at the beginning of the seventeenth century--a subject which has been ably treated by mr. thoms in the _athenæum_ for , p. . in september, , king james i. despatched the lord spenser and sir william dethick, garter king-at-arms, to stuttgart, for the purpose of investing the duke of würtemberg with the ensigns of the garter, he having been elected into the order in the th year of the late queen's reign. a description of this important ceremony was published at tubingen in , in a to. volume of pages, by erhardus cellius, professor of poetry and history at that university, entitled: "eques auratus anglo-wirtembergicus." at page . we are told that among the ambassador's retinue were "four excellent musicians, with ten other assistants." (four excellentes musici, unà cum decem ministris aliis.) these performed at a grand banquet given after the duke's investiture, and are described at p. . as "the royal english music, which the illustrious royal ambassador had brought with him to enhance the magnificence of the embassy and the present ceremony; and who, though few in number, were eminently well skilled in the art. for england produces many excellent musicians, commedians, and tragedians, most skilful in the histrionic art; certain companies of whom quitting their own abodes for a time, are in the habit of visiting foreign countries at particular seasons, exhibiting and representing their art principally at the courts of princes. a few years ago, some english musicians coming over to our germany with this view, remained for some time at the courts of great princes; their skill both in music and in the histrionic art, having procured them such favour, that they returned home beautifully rewarded, and loaded with gold and silver." (musica anglicana regiæ, quam regius illustris legatus secum ad legationis et actus huius magnificentiam adduxerat: non ita multos quidem sed excellenter in hac arte versatos. profert enim multos et præstantes anglia musicos, comoedos, tragædos, histrionicæ peritissimos, è quibus interdum aliquot consociati sedibus { } suis ad tempus relictis ad exteras nationes excurrere, artemq'; suam illis præsertim principum aulis demonstrare, ostentareq'; consueverunt. paucis ab hinc annis in germaniam nostram anglicani musici dictum ob finem expaciati, et in magnorum principum aulis aliquandiu versati, tantum ex arte musica, histrionicaq'; sibi favorem conciliârunt, ut largiter remunerati domum inde auro et argento onusti sint reversi.) dancing succeeded the feast and then (p. .) "the english players made their appearance, and represented the sacred history of _susanna_, with so much art of histrionic action, and with such dexterity, that they obtained both praise and a most ample reward." (histriones anglicani maturè prodibant, et sacram susannæ historiam tanta actionis histrionicæ arte, tanta dexteritate representabant, ut et laudem inde et præmium amplissimum reportarent.) w.b.r. [see, also upon this subject, a most interesting communication from albert cohn in the _athenæum_ of saturday last, january the th.] * * * * * minor notes. _the curse of scotland._--in vol. i. p. ., is a query why the nine of diamonds is called the curse of scotland. reference is made to a print dated oct. , , entitled "briton's association against the pope's bulls," in which the young pretender is represented attempting to lead across the tweed a herd of bulls laden with curses, excommunications, indulgences, &c.: on the ground before them lies the nine of diamonds. in p. . it is said that the "curse of scotland" is a corruption of the "cross of scotland," and that the allusion is to st. andrew's cross, which is supposed to resemble the nine of diamonds. this explanation is unsatisfactory. the _nine_ resembles st. andrew's cross less than the _five_, in a pack of cards; and, moreover, the nine of any other suit would be equally applicable. the true explanation is evidently to be found in the game of pope joan, in which the nine of diamonds is the pope. the well-known antipapal spirit of the scottish people caused the pope to be called the curse of scotland. the game of pope joan is stated to have been originally called pope julio, and to be as old as the reign of queen elizabeth. see sir john harington's "treatise on playe," written about , nugæ antiquæ, vol. i. p. . l. _george herbert._--it is much to be desired that the suggestion thrown out by your correspondent (vol. ii., p. .) may be acted upon. the admirers of george herbert are doubtless so numerous, that the correct and complete restoration of bemerton church might be effected by means of a small subscription among them, as in the case of the chaucer monument. most gladly would i aid in the good work. r.v. [it is needless for us to add that we shall be glad to promote, in every way, the good work proposed by our correspondent.--ed. n. and q.] _dutch versions of english essayists._--how much the works of the british essayists were appreciated by my dutch ancestors, the following plain facts may show. i have now before me a translation of the tatler: "de snapper, of de britsche tuchtmeester. door den ridder richard steele. uit het engelsch vertaald door p. le clerc. t'amsterdam, by hendrik vieroot, , iv. vol. in º." a second edition of "de guardian of de britsche zedemeester, door den ridder richard steele. uit het engelsch vertaald dor p. le clercq. te rotterdam, by jan daniel beman, , iii. vol. in º." a third edition of "de spectator, of verrezene socrates. uit het engelsch vertaald door a.g. & r.g. (some volumes by p. le clercq) t'amsterdam, by dirk sligtenhorst, boekverkooper, , ix. vol. º." janus dousa. _long meg of westminster_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the same epithet has been applied to women in other places. in the parish register of tiverton, devon, is the following entry: "burials. april, . the long jone seruant to mr. demant's. iii. day." why should "long meg" be more fabulous than "long jone?" e.a.d. _errors in the date of printed books._--in the title-page of peter heylin's _microcosmos_, th ed., the date is printed instead of . in like manner, in _historical applications and occasional meditations upon several subjects, written by a person of honour_, printed in , the imprimatur, signed "sam. parker," is dated , instead of . in each of these cases the error is evidently caused by the compositor having inverted the figure , which thus became . p.h.f. * * * * * queries. dousa's poem on sidney.--old dutch song-book. your correspondent, who subscribes himself janus dousa in the last number of "notes and queries," ought to be able, and i dare say will be able, to supply through your columns information of which i have been long in search. in his great namesake printed at lugd. batav. a collection of greek and latin poems upon dead and living persons of distinction. geoffrey whitney, an englishman, apparently residing at leyden, and { } who printed two works there in his own language, has fifteen six-line stanzas preceding dousa's collection, and he subjoins to it a translation of a copy of dousa's verses on the earl of leicester. of these i have a memorandum, and they are not what i want; but what i am at a loss for is a copy of verses by dousa, in the same volume, upon sir philip sidney. it is many years since i saw the book, and i am not sure if there be not two copies of verses to sidney, in which he is addressed as _princeps_; and if your correspondent can furnish me with either, or both, i shall be much obliged to him. will you allow me to put another question relating to an old dutch song-book that has lately fallen in my way; and though i can hardly expect a man like janus dousa to know anything about such a trifle, it is on some accounts a matter of importance to me, in connection with two early english songs, and one or other of your many friends may not object to aid me. the book is called _de zingende lootsman of de vrolyke boer_, and it professes to be the _tweede druk_: the imprint is _te amsteldam by s. en w. koene, boekdrukkers, boek en papierverkoopers, op de linde gragt_. the information i request is the date of the work, for i can find none; and whether any _first part_ of it is known in england, and where? you are probably aware that the dutch adopted not a few of our early tunes, and they translated also some of our early songs. these i am anxious to trace. the hermit of holyport. * * * * * minor queries. _sir cloudesley shovel._--in mrs. markham's _history of england_ it is stated that sir cloudesley shovel escaped from the wreck of his ship, but was murdered afterwards by a woman, who on her death-bed confessed it. is there any authentic record elsewhere published? h.j. _christopher flecamore._--walton says that sir h. wotton wrote his well-known definition of an ambassador at augusta (_augsburg_), in the album of "christopher flecamore." (wordsworth, _eccl. biog._, vol. iv. p. ., ed. .) can any of your correspondents tell me who this person was? j.c.r. "_earth has no rage," &c._--can you, or any of your contributors or readers, inform one where the following couplet is to be found: "earth has no rage like love to hatred turn'd, and hell no fury like a woman scorn'd." i do not trouble you idly, as i have a particular reason for desiring to know the source of the lines. w.t.m. o. and c. club _d'oyly and barry families._--any authentic information, original or not in the usual depositories, concerning the two great norman races of d'oyly and barry, or de barry (both of which settled in england at the conquest, and, singularly, both connected themselves with mistresses of king henry i.), will be thankfully received if sent to wm. d'oyly bayley (barry), f.s.a., whose histories of both races are still unfinished. coatham, near redcar, yorkshire. _lord crewe, bishop of durham._--a collector of scraps and anecdotes relating to nathaniel lord crewe, bishop of durham, would be glad to know whether, in the various ms. collections of our public libraries, there are extant any letters either written by that prelate or addressed to him? e.h.a. _epigram on the synod of dort._--in the _biographie universelle_, art. grotius, it is stated that the following singular distich against the synod of dort was made in england:-- "dordrechti synodus, nodus; chorus integer, æger; conventus, ventus; sessio, stramen. amen!" query, by whom was it made? l. _private memoirs of queen elizabeth._--several years ago i met with a book bearing this, or a similar title, upon one of the tables of the reading room of the british museum. a passing glance made me anxious to refer to it at a future opportunity. but, although i have again and again searched through the catalogues, and made anxious inquiries of the attendants in the reading-room, i have never yet been able to catch a glimpse of it. can any of your correspondents furnish me with the correct title, and state whether it is still preserved in this national library? j.e.c. _invention of steam power._--the following doggerel is the burden of a common street-ditty, among the boys of campden, in gloucestershire. "jonathan hulls, with his paper skulls, invented a machine to go against wind and stream; but he, being an ass, couldn't bring it to pass, and so was asham'd to be seen." now this jonathan hulls was the great grandfather of a man of the same name, now residing in campden; so that if there be any truth in the tradition, the application of steam power to the propulsion of hulls must be long prior to the time of _watts his name!_ can any reader of notes and queries throw any light on the inventions of this man hulls? nocab. _mythology of the stars._--i want (in perfect { } ignorance whether there is such a book) a "mythology of the stars." considering how often persons of sound mind express an enthusiasm for the celestial bodies, and exclaim, of clear night, that the stars are the poetry of heaven, it is wonderful how little most of us know about them. nine out of ten educated persons would be quite unable to do more than point out the great bear and north star. if there is not, there _ought_ to be, some collection of the nomenclature and mythological history of the heavens, with a familiar treatise on astrology ancient and modern. the chaldeans, egyptians, grecians, arabs, celts, and norsemen, must have had names and stories, whose relation (both in itself and to one another) would make a very pretty volume either of poetry or prose. perhaps some of your readers may be able to inform me of such a work, or where detached masses of the information i want could be found. g.i.c. _sword of william the conqueror._--can any one inform me where is the sword of william the conqueror? it was kept in battle abbey till the dissolution, and then taken to sir john gage's house at firle, as it is said. p. _neville family._--will any of your correspondents inform me what family of the nevilles were connected by marriage with the fleetwoods or cromwells? in a collateral note in my family pedigree, i find it stated, that sarah neville (who married thomas burkitt, in ) was cousin to general charles fleetwood, who married bridget cromwell, daughter of the protector; and, on the cover of a book, i find written-- "my cozen fleetwood he gave me this book.--sarah burkitt, ." i have also traditional testimony in possessing a valuable cabinet, known us "the fleetwood;" and a portrait of the above bridget cromwell; both of which have been preserved in the family for more than a century and a half, and supposed to have passed into their possession by the marriage of sarah neville. a.h.b. clapham, jan . . _difformis, signification of._--can any of your classical readers refer me to a competent source of information with regard to the signification of the word _difformis_, which is repeatedly to be met with in the writings of linnæus, and which i cannot find recorded in _ducange_, _facciolati_, or any of our ordinary latin dictionaries? tyro. dublin. _lynch law._--what is the origin of this american phrase? j.c.r. _prior's posthumous works._--among the curiosities collected by the duchess of portland, was a volume containing some prose treatises in ms. of the poet prior. forbes, in his _life of beattie_ (vol. ii. p. .), speaking of this interesting volume, says:-- "her grace was so good as to let me read them, and i read them with great pleasure. one of them, a dialogue between locke and montaigne, is all admirable piece of ridicule on the subject of locke's philosophy." have these treatises since been printed? and where now is prior's original ms.? edward f. rimbault. _suppressed chantries._--does there exist (and if so, where is it to be found) a list of the chantries suppressed by henry viii. and edward vi.? ignobus. * * * * * replies. bibliographical queries by r.g. (vol. ii., p. .). _pagnini's bible._--i have before me a mo. copy of _liber psalmorum davidis. tralatio duplex vetus et nova_. it contains also the songs of moses, deborah, etc., with annotations. in the title-page, the new translation is said to be that of pagnini. it was printed by robert stephens, and is dated on the title-page " ," and in the colophon " , cal. jan." in this edition, both the old and new versions have the _verses distinguished by cyphers_ (numerals). i have not the means of knowing whether, in the earlier editions of pagnini's bible, the verses are so distinguished; but i gather from r.g. that they are. the writer of the article "bible" in rees's _cyclopædia_, says that r. stephens reprinted pagnini's bible in folio, with the vulgate, in . and it appears, from my copy of the psalms of david, that he also printed that part of pagnini's bible in mo. in the same year, --the colophon probably containing the correct date. your pages have recommended that communications should be made of ms. notes and remarks found in fly-leaves, margins, etc. of printed books; and the above is written, partly in confirmation of pagnini's title to the honour of distinguishing the verses of the bible with cyphers, as suggested by r.g., but chiefly to note that there is written with a pen, in my copy, the word "vetus" over the column which contains the old, or vulgate, and the words "pagnini _sive_ ariæ montani" over the column containing the new version of the first psalm. the writer in rees's _cyclopædia_, above referred to, says, that "in the number of latin bibles is also usually ranked the version of the same pagninus, corrected, or rather rendered literal by { } arias montanus." but in the title-page of my copy montanus is not mentioned. my copy belonged to jo. sheldrake (who was he?) in ; to d. hughes, of queen's college, cambridge, in ; and to e. tymewell bridges (as the family name was then spelled) in . the latter was a brother of the late sir s. egerton br_y_dges. but the ms. note above mentioned does not seem to be in the handwriting of either of them. will some learned reader of your work let me know whether there be any, and what ground for attributing the new translation, as it stands in this volume, to montanus; or as pagnini's corrected by montanus? p.h.f. * * * * * the frozen horn. (vol. ii., p. .) the quotation from heylin is good; "the amusing anecdote from munchausen" may be better; but the personal testimony of sir john mandeville is best of all, and, if i am not mistaken, as true a traveller's lie as ever was told. many years ago i met with an extract from his antiquated volume, of which, having preserved no copy, i cannot give the admirable verbiage of the fourteenth century, but must submit for it the following tame translation in the flat english of our degenerate days. he testifies that once, on his voyage through the arctic regions, lat. ***, long. ***, the cold was so intense, that for a while whatever was spoken on board the vessel became frost-bound, and remained so, till, after certain days, there came a sudden thaw, which let loose the whole rabblement of sounds and syllables that had been accumulating during the suspense of audible speech; but now fell clattering down like hailstones about the ears of the crew, not less to their annoyance than the embargo had been to their dismay. among the unlucky revelations at this denouement, the author gravely states that a rude fellow (the boatswain, i think), having cursed the knight himself in a fit of passion, his sin then found him out, and was promptly visited by retributive justice, in the form of a sound flogging. if this salutary moral of the fable be not proof sufficient to authenticate both the fact in natural history, and the veracity of the narrator, i know nothing in the world of evidence that could do so. it may be added, that the author of _hudibras_, in his significant manner, alludes to the popular belief of such an atmospheric phenomenon in the following couplet: "where truth in person doth appear, like words congeal'd in northern air." _hudibras_, book i. canto i. it is possible that zachary grey, in his copiously illustrated edition of the poem, may have quoted sir john mandeville's account of this notable adventure, in his wanderings, like a true knight-errant, through scythia, armenia, egypt, arabia, syria, media, persia, chaldea, greece, dalmatia, belgium, &c. he wrote an itinerary of his travels in english, french, and latin. in these he occupied nearly forty years, and was long supposed to have died in the course of them, but (as if his person had been "congealed in northern air" and suddenly thawed into warm life again) when he re-appeared, his friends with difficulty recognised him. j.m.g. hallamshire. * * * * * dominicals (vol. ii., p .) i believe to have been that kind of customary payment or oblations made _on sundays_ to the rector, or his vicegerent, of the church where a person heard divine service and received the sacraments: "hostiensis dicit quod in præcipuis festivitatibus tenetur quis offerre, et _cogi potest_; maximè cum sit quasi _generalis consuetudo ubique terrarum_ ... et intelligit festivitates præcipuas, _dies dominicos_, et alios dies festivos."--lyndwood, _prov._, p. ., not. e., ed. oxon. . though lyndwood himself, as i understand him, seems to doubt the cardinal's statement, that the payment could be _enforced_, unless sanctioned by local custom. ducange, in v. "denarius," vo. ed., adel. , says, the "denarius de palmâ" and "denarius dominicalis" were the same: "habebit (vicarius) cum eis victum suum competentem, et ad vestes sibi emendas xl. solidos andegavenses, et _denarium singulis diebus dominicis ecclesiasticâ consuetudine offerendum_." on this extract from a charter he observes: "erat itaque _denarius de palmâ_, ille qui singulis diebus dominicis et [lege à] fidelibus offerrebatur. cur autem dictus 'de palmâ' non constat, nisi forte sic dictus fuerit quod in manum seu _palmam_ traderetur." _denarius dominicalis_, idem.--arest. ms. a. . it would seem also from his definition to be the same as the payment called "denaria sacramentorum," that is: "iidem denarii qui _singulis offerrebantur dominicis_, ideoque sacramentorum dicti, quod tempore sacrosancti missæ sacrificii, pro excellentiâ interdum nudè appellati sacramentum, a fidelibus offerrentur."--_annal. bened._, t. iv. p. ., n. . ad annum . these extracts sufficiently explain, perhaps, the payment known by the different names of "dominicals," "palm-penny," and "sacrament-pence;" and still indicated, probably, by the weekly offertory of our communion service. of a kindred nature were the "denarii pro requestis," or "denarii perquisiti," sometimes also { } called "denarii memoriales," pence paid for masses in memory of the dead: called "pro requestis," because they were obtained by special petition [requesta] from the curate; and "perquisiti," "perquisite pence," because they were demanded [perquirebantur] from the devotion of the parishioners, over and above the customary offerings. and in this, perhaps, we find the origin of our word "perquisite." (lyndw. _prov._ p. ., notes c, e. and p. .) in further illustration of this subject, i will quote the following note from mr. dansey's learned work _horæ decanicæ rurales_, vol. i., p. ., ed. , which refers also to blomefield's _norfolk_, vol. iv. p. .: "a.d. . the dean of the deanery of the city of norwich was committed to custody, on one occasion, by the itinerant justices, for exacting _hallidays toll_ by his sub-dean in too high a manner; but on his proving that he took of every great boat that came up to the city on a holiday d. only, and of each small one a _halfpenny_; of every cart d., and of every horse or man laden an _halfpenny_; and of all bakers, butchers, and fishmongers, that sold their commodities on a holiday, d. each; and that his predecessors always had immemorially taken it, he was discharged.--something of the same kind is related, in t. martin's ms. history, respecting the dues exacted by the rural dean of thetford. dr. sutton's ms. letter." e.a.d. * * * * * medal struck by charles xii.--rudbeck's atlantica. although no numismatist, yet, being resident at stockholm, i have taken steps to enable me to reply to l.'s query (vol. ii., p. . of "notes and queries") respecting charles xii.'s medal in commemoration of the victory at holowzin. no copy of the medal exists in the cabinet of the royal museum of antiquities; but in that belonging to the national bank, there is a very fine example of it in copper, and the inscriptions are as follow: on the reverse:--"_silvæ. paludes. aggeres. hostes. victi._" in the exergue:--"_moschi ad holowzinum victi a. / jul._" and round the margin the verse from lucan in question: "_victrices copias alium laturus in orbem_:" with the substitution of _copias_ for _aquilas_, recorded by voltaire and criticised by l. the same inscriptions are given in bergh's _beskrifning öfver svenska mynt och skädepenningar_, to., upsala, ; only he adds, that the inscription in the margin is only found on some copies. i may transcribe bergh's description in full: "slagetvid holofsin. ' . konungens bild och hamnunder armen nat. . jun. , silvÆ. palvdes. aggeres. hostes. victi. en wahl-platz pä hoilken stär en rysk trophé; och twenne fängar derwid bunden. i exerguen: moschi ad holofzinum victi. a. / jul. "pä nägra exemplar är denna randskrift: victrices copias alivm latvrvs in orbem." could any of your readers obtain from the british museum answers to the following queries respecting rudbeck's _atlantica_, for the use of a swedish friend of mine. _british museum.--biblioteca grenvilliana--olof_ _redbeck, atland sive manheim._ tomus i. s. anno , . has any one of these three copies a separate leaf, entitled _ad bibliopegos?_ if so, which of them? has the copy with the date _testimonia_ at the end? if so, how many pages do they consist of? have they a separate title and a separate sheet of _errata?_ is there a duplicate copy of this separate title at the end of the preface? tomus ii. how many pages of _testimonia_ are there at the end of the preface? is there, in any one of these volumes, the name of any former owner, any book number, or any other mark by which they can be recognised (for instance, that of the duke de la vallière)? should there be any other copy of any one of these tomes in the british museum, these questions will extend to that volume also. g.j.r. gordon. stockholm, dec. . * * * * * replies to minor queries. _fossil deer (not elk) of ireland, c. megaceros_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent w.r.c. will find in mr. hart's description of a skeleton of this animal (dublin, ), in a pamphlet, published by w. richardson (dublin, , m'glashan), in professor owen's _british fossil mammalia_, and in the _zoologist_ (van voorst) for and for , p. ., all that is known and much that has been imagined on the subject of his inquiry. the rib which he mentions is well known, and is in fact one of the principal bones of contention between the opposing theorists. i never before heard the story of the specimen shot in , although several years ago i devoted some time to the subject. i am inclined to suspect that it must have been found in some irish manuscript which has been discovered, since (in the year ) some bones of the fossil deer were found in a certain { } lake in the west of ireland in company with those of a turkey. (see _zoologist_, ub. sup.) w.r.f. lincoln's inn, dec. . . "_away, let nought to love displeasing_" (vol. ii., p. .).--this song, usually entitled "_winifreda_," has been attributed to sir john suckling, but with what justice i am unable to say. it has also acquired additional interest from having been set to music by the first earl of mornington, the father of the duke of wellington. the author should certainly be known; and perhaps some of your correspondents can furnish a clue by which he may be discovered. braybrooke. _red sindon_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i have only just seen your correspondent, b.w.'s query respecting the "red sindon," and refer him to du cange, where he will find-- "sindon pro specie panni [byssus tenuis], etc." it was a manufacture that was used for dresses as well as hangings, and is constantly mentioned in inventories and descriptions of the middle ages. j.r. planchÉ. jan. . . _coleridge and the penny post_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. venables asks a question in a way that may lead the reader to infer an answer, and an ungenerous answer; and he calls on mr. hill to give him satisfaction, as if mr. hill had nothing better to do than to inform mr. venables, and correct miss martineau's blunders. if mr. venables had taken an active part in bringing about the greatest moral movement of our age, he would have known that, amongst the hundred other illustrations adduced by mr. hill, was the very anecdote to which he refers; and that mr. hill quoted it, not once or twice, but dozens of times, and circulated it, with coleridge's name, over the whole length and breadth of the three kingdoms, by tens of thousands of printed papers. mr. hill has not had a tithe of the honour he deserves--and never will have--and i cannot remain silent, and see his character questioned, though in matters too trifling, i think, even to have occupied a corner in "notes and queries." c.w.d. _the autograph of titus oates_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it may be seen in the library of st. john's college, cambridge. it is written at the end of every chapter in "_a confession of faith, put forth by the elders and brethren of many congregations of christians (baptized upon profession of faith) in london and the country_." mo. lond. . j.r. cambridge. _circulation of the blood_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the passage in venerable bede referred to by j.mn. may have been in a tract _de minutione sanguinis sive de phlebotomia_; (which occurs in the folio editions, basle, vol. i. p. .; colon., vol. i. p. .). in the enumeration of the veins from which blood may be taken, he says,-- "de brachio tres, _qui per totum corpus reddunt sanguinem_, capitanea linea, matricia, capsale." the subject of bleeding is again referred to in _eccl. hist._, vol. iii, but not to the purpose. j. eastwood. ecclesfield. _true blue_ (vol. ii., p. .).--from documents relative to the wars of the scottish covenanters, in the seventeenth century, it appears that they assumed _blue ribbons_ as their colours, and wore them as scarfs, or in bunches fastened to their _blue bonnets_ and that the border english nicknamed them "_blue caps_" and "jockies." hence the phrase, "true blue presbyterian." g.f.g. _cherubim and seraphim._--why are the cherubim represented as a human head, with the wings of a bird? and why have the seraphim no bodily representation? what, in fact, is the supposed distinction between them? omega. [our correspondent will find much curious information on this subject, accompanied by some exquisite woodcuts, in mrs. jameson's _poetry of sacred and legendary art_.] _darcy lever church_ (vol. ii., p. .), which is referred to by your correspondent, is the first instance, i believe, of the application of a new material to the construction of an ecclesiastical edifice. it is built throughout, walls, tower, and spire, benches and fittings, of terra cotta from the ladyshore works. the architect is that accomplished antiquary, mr. sharpe of lancaster, who furnished the designs of every part, from which moulds were made, and in these the composition forming the terra cotta was prepared, and hardened by the application of fire. the style is the purest and richest second pointed, and the effect of the pierced work of the spire is, as your correspondent observes, very fine when seen from a distance. there is a rich colour, too, in the material, which has a remarkably pleasing result upon the eye. but a nearer approach destroys the charm. it is found to be a "sham." the lines of the mouldings, mullions, etc., are warped by the heat attendant upon the process of the manufacture. the exquisite sharpness of outline produced by the chisel is wanting, and there is (in consequence of the impossibility of undercutting) an absence of that effect of light and shade which is the characteristic of the mediæval carvings. the greatest shock is, however, experienced on an examination of the interior. what at first sight appear to be highly elaborated oaken bench-ends and seats are only painted earthenware. in point of fact, it is a pot church. a similar and larger { } structure by the same architect, and in the same material, has been erected near platt hall, in the parish of manchester. j.h.p. leresche. the church at lever bridge, near darcy lever hall, on the line of railway between normanton and bolton, was built about seven years since. the architect is edward sharpe, esq., of lancaster. the material of the entire structure, including the internal fittings, is terra cotta, from the ladyshore works in the neighbourhood, where a model of the church, in the same material, is in preparation for the exhibition of . g.i.f. _lines attributed to henry viscount palmerston_ (vol. i., p. .).--having been absent for some time, i have not been able to see whether any one has answered a query i put, viz:-- "who was the author of those lines beginning with-- 'stranger! whoe'er thou art that views this tomb,' etc. which porson translated into greek iambics, beginning with-- [greek: Ô xeine, touton hostis eisoras taphon] etc." a friend, who was senior medallist in his time at cambridge, tells me that tradition said that the lines were set by the rev. r. collier, hebrew professor and examiner at trinity college; and that it is supposed that collier found them in some magazine of the day. with reference to the imposition supposed to be set porson (vol. ii., p. .), and shown by c. at p. . to be by joshua barnes, i question whether any imposition were ever set him: for i have heard mr. summers (porson's first instructor) observe, that he was a well-conducted man during the whole of his undergraduateship; others have reported the same of him. a.b. _defender of the faith_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--in _collectanea topographica et genealogica_, vol. vi. p. ., is an indenture of lease "maide the xxijth daye of januarye, in the second yeare of the reagne of king henry the seaventhe, by the graice of god kinge of england, _defendoure of the faithe_," etc. the lessor, christopher ratlife, of hewick, died before henry vii., and the editor of the above work says, "it is impossible to account for the peculiarity in the date of this deed." bishop burnet cites spelman as asserting that several of the kings of england before henry viii. had borne the title of "defender of the faith." a correspondent of the _gentleman's magazine_ (n.s. xvi. .) conjectures that the name of spelman had been inadvertently substituted for the name of selden; though he justly remarks, that selden by no means countenances the assertion of the bishop. c.h. cooper. cambridge. _farquharson on auroræ_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondant l. inquires about mr. farquharson, _shepherd_ or _minister_ of alford. whether the word translated _shepherd_ be _pasteur_ or not, i cannot say, as i have not either of the works he alludes to; but certain it is that the rev. mr. farquharson, _minister_ of alford, only recently deceased, was well known as a meteorological observer; and it is to him, doubtless, that professor koenitz refers. the "other protestant minister, mr. james paull, at tullynessle," now dr. paull, is still in life. s.p. "_old rowley_" (vol. ii., pp. . .).--charles ii. was called "old rowley," after rowley, a famous horse at newmarket; who, like the king, was the sire of stock much better looking than himself. a. holt white. _tale of a tub_ (vol. i., p. .).--your correspondant j.o.w.h. may find some curious remarks on this subject in sir james mackintosh's _life of sir thomas more_. i cannot give a precise reference; but as the book is small, the passages may be easily found. h.g.t. _painting by c. bega_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the translation of the lines is, i believe, "we sing certainly what is new, and have still a prize." "a cracknel is our gain, but the ditty must first (come) out." in modern dutch most probably, "wÿ singen vast wat nienw, en hebben nog een buit. een krakeling is onze winst maar het liedker moet eerst uit." i should think there is a lake somewhere in the picture, and the lines are probably part of an old dutch song. as to the painter c. bega, i have at hand a catalogue of the munich gallery, and find there "cornelius bega, geb. , gest. ." his picture is described as "eine rauch- und trinkgesellschaft belustiget sich mit tanz in einer schenke." in a catalogue of the louvre, i have the following description: "bega, corneille ou cornille, né à harlem en , mort de la peste dans la même ville en ; élève d'adrien van ostade." his picture is "intérieur d'un ménage rustique. un homme et une femme sont assis près d'une table." his subjects appear to be generally of the character of the painting possessed by your correspondent. j.h.l. _herstmonceux_ (vol. ii., p. .).--question . in the privy seal writs of henry v. frequent mention is made of "nostre maison de bethleem," a monastery at shene, so called because it was dedicated to "jesus of bethlehem." it was for forty monks of the cistercian order. { } question . in the _battle of agincourt_, by sir h. nicolas, sir rover fyene's name is given amongst the retinue of henry v. he was accompanied by eight men-at-arms and twenty-four archers. sir roger "ffynys," accompanied by ten of his men-at-arms and forty archers, also followed henry (in the suite of lord willoughby d'eresby) in his second continental expedition. (_gesta henrici quinti._) b.w. _leicester's commonwealth_ (vol. ii., p. ).--see _gentleman's magazine_, december, , for many remarks upon this work. j.r. _midwives licensed_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i find the following question among the articles of inquiry issued by fleetwood, bp. of st. asaph, in the year . "do any in your parish practise physic chyrurgery, or _undertake the office of a midwife without license_?" e.h.a. _volusenus_ (vol. ii, p. ).--boswell, writing to johnson from edinburgh, jan. . , asks: "did you ever look at a book written by wilson, a scotchman, under the latin name of volusenus, according to the custom of literary men at a certain period? it is entitled _de animi tranquillitate_." e.h.a. [mr. croker, in a note on this passage, tells us that the author, florence wilson, born at elgin, died near lyons, in , and wrote two or three other works of no note.--ed.] _martin family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--clericus asks for information touching the family of martin, "in or near wivenhoe, essex." there is a large house in the village, said to have been the seat of matthew martin, esq., member for colchester in the second parliaments of george i. and ii. he died in . he had been a commander in the service of the east india company. only one party of the name now lives in the neighbourhood, but whether he is of the family or not i cannot say. he is described as "edward martin, master, royal navy." a.a. _swords used in dress_ (vol. i. .; vol. ii. . . .).--might it not have happened that swords went out of fashion after the middle of the last century, and were revived towards its close? in old prints from to , they appear to have been universally worn; later they are not so general. in - , they appear again. my grandmother (born in ) well remembers her brother, of nearly her own age, wearing a sword, say about . some of fielding's heroes wore "hangers." a.a. _clerical costume_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the use of scarlet cloth is popularly recommended in berks and in devon as a cure for the rheumatism. it should be wrapped round the "ailing" limb. h.g.t. _tristan d'acunha_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the latest and best description of this isle is to be found in _a narrative of a nine months' residence in new zealand, together with a journal of a residence in tristan d'acunha_. by a. earle. longmans, . gomer. _swearing by swans_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--though i can give no reason why the birds of juno should have been invoked as witnesses to an oath, the query about them has suggested to me what may perhaps appear rather an irrelevant little note. cooper, in his _raven's nest_, makes mr. aristobulus brag use the provincialism "_i swanny_;" "by which," observes the author, "i suppose he meant--_i swear!_" of course, this has nothing to do with swearing by swans, more than sounding like it; argument of sound being very different from sound argument. mr. cooper does not seem to have given a thought to the analysis of the phrase, which is no oath, merely an innocent asseveration. "i's-a-warrant-ye" (perhaps when resolved to its ungrammatical elements, "i is a warranty to ye") proceeds through "i's-a-warnd-ye," "i's-warn-ye" (all english provincialisms,) to its remote transatlantic ultimatum of debasement in "_i swanny_." g.j. cayley. _mildew in books_ (vol. ii., p. ).--in reply to b., who inquires for a prevention for _mildew in books_, i send the following receipt, which i have copied from a book containing many others:--"take a feather dipt in spirits of wine, and lightly wash over the backs and covers. to prevent mould, put a little into writing ink." another to take _mildew out of linen_.--"mix powdered starch and soft soap with half the quantity of bay salt; mix it with vinegar, and lay it on both sides with a painter's brush. then let it lie in the open air till the spots are out." j.r. "_swinging tureen_," (vol. i., pp. . . .).-- "next crowne the bowle full with gentle lamb's-wooll adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger, with store of ale too; and thus must ye doe to make the wassaile a _swinger_." herrick, cited in ellis' _brand_, ed. , vol. i. p. . by the way, is not the "lanycoll" (so called, i presume, from the froth like wool (_lana_) at the neck (_collum_) of the vessel), mentioned in the old ballad of "king edward and the shepherd" (hartshorne's _met. tales_, p. .), the same beverage as "lamb's-wool?" h.g.t. _totness church_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--my thanks are due to your correspondent s.s.s. for kindly furnishing information as to the singular arched passage mentioned in a former note, which drew my attention as a casual visitor, and which { } certainly appears to be the "iter processionale" referred to in the will of william ryder. any information as to the subject of the good woman's tradition would be very acceptable. perhaps s.s.s. will allow me, in return for his satisfactory explanation of the "dark passage" in question, to over a very luminous passage in confirmation of his view of goldsmith's. h.g.t. _lights on the altar_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the nd canon of those enacted under king edgar (thorpe's _ancient laws and institutes of england_, vol. ii. pp. - .) we find:-- "let there be always burning lights in the church when mass is singing." and in the th of the canons of Ælfric (pp. - . of the same volume):-- "acoluthus he is called, who bears the candle or taper in god's ministries when the gospel is read, or when the housel is hallowed at the altar: not to dispel, as it were, the dim darkness, but, with that light, to announce bliss, in honour of christ who is our light." c.w.g. _time when herodotus wrote_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the passage quoted by your correspondent a.w.h. affords, i think, a reasonable argument to prove that herodotus did not commence his work until an advanced age; most probably between the ages of seventy and seventy-seven years. moreover, there are various other reasons to justify the same conclusion; all which a.w.h. will find stated in dr. smith's _dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology_, vol. ii. i believe a.w.h. is correct in his supposition that the passage has not been noticed before. t.h. kersley, a.b. king william's college. _adur_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the connexion of the welsh _ydwr_ with the greek [greek: hydor] is remarkable. can any of your readers tell me whether there be not an older welsh word for _water_? there are, i know, two sets of welsh numerals, of which the later contains many greek words, but the older are entirely different. is not _cader_ akin to [greek: kathedra], and _glas_ to [greek: glaukos]? j.w.h. _the word "alarm"_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i send you an instance of the accurate use of the word "alarm" which may be interesting. in an account of the attempt made on the th of oct. , to assassinate geo. iii., the earl of onslow (as cited in maunder's _universal biog._ p. .) uses the following expression:-- "his majesty showed, and, i am persuaded, felt, no alarm; much less did he fear." is not this a good instance of the true difference of meaning in these two words, which are now loosely used as if strictly synonymous? h.g.t. _the conquest_ (vol. ii., p ).--w.l. is informed that i have before me several old parchment documents or title-deeds, in which the words "post conquestum" are used merely to express (as part of their dates) the year after the accession of those kings respectively in whose reigns those documents were made. p.h.f. _land holland_ (vol. ii., p. . .).--j.b.c. does not say in what part of england he finds this term used. holland, in lincolnshire, is by ingulph called _hoiland_, a name which has been thought to mean _hedgeland_, in allusion to the sea-walls or hedges by which it was preserved from inundation. other etymologies have also been proposed. (see gough's _camden_, "lincolnshire.") in norfolk, however, the term _olland_ is used, forby tells us, for "arable land which has been laid down in grass more than two years, q.d. _old-land_." in a norfolk paper of few months since, in an advertisement of a ploughing match, i observe a prize is offered "to the ploughman, with good character, who shall plough a certain quantity of _olland_ within the least time, in the best manner." c.w.g. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the camden society have just issued to the members a highly important volume, walter mapes _de nugis curialium_. the best idea of the interesting character of this work may be formed from the manner in which it is described by its editor, mr. thomas wright, who speaks of it as "the book in which this remarkable man seems to have amused himself with putting down his own sentiments on the passing events of the day, along with the popular gossip of the courtiers with whom he mixed;" and as being "one mass of contemporary anecdote, romance, and popular legend, interesting equally by its curiosity and by its novelty." there can be little doubt that the work will be welcomed, not only by the members of the camden society, but by all students of our early history and all lovers of our folk lore. though we do not generally notice the publication of works of fiction, the handsome manner in which, in the third volume of his _bertha, a romance of the dark ages_, mr. maccabe has thought right to speak of the information which he obtained, during the progress of his work, through the medium of notes and queries, induces us to make an exception in favour of his highly interesting story. at the same time, that very acknowledgment almost forbids our speaking in such high terms as we otherwise should of the power with which mr. maccabe has worked up this striking narrative, which take its name from bertha, the wife of the profligate henry iv. of germany; and of which the main incidents turn on henry's deposition of the pope, and his consequent excommunication by the inflexible gregory the seventh. but we the less regret this necessity of speaking thus moderately, since it must be obvious that when an accomplished scholar like the { } author of the _catholic history of england_, to whom old chronicles are as household words, chooses to weave their most striking passages into a romance, his work will be of a very different stamp from that of the ordinary novelist, who has hunted over the same chronicles for the mere purpose of finding startling incidents. the one will present his readers, as mr. maccabe has done, with a picture uniform in style and consistent in colouring, while the other will at best only exhibit a few brilliant scenes, which, like the views in a magic lanthorn, will owe as much of their brilliancy to the darkness with which they are contrasted as to the skill of the artist. messrs. sotheby and co. will sell, on wednesday next and three following days, the valuable collection of coins and medals of the rev. dr. neligan, of cork; and on the following monday that gentleman's highly interesting antiquities, illuminated mss., ancient glass, bronzes, etruscan and roman pottery, silver ring money, &c. to those who have never studied what voltaire maliciously designated "the science of fools with long memories," but yet occasionally wish to know the families which have borne certain mottoes, the new edition of _the book of mottoes_ will be a very acceptable source of information. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. andran's proportions of the human body. folio. . sandcart's academia homographia. shakspeare. vols. by johnson. . vol. vii. hume's england. . vol. iii. foxes and firebrands. mo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _to meet the wishes of many friends, and to avoid the inconvenience arising from the diversity of prices in our monthly parts, we propose in future to publish a fifth, or supplementary number, every month in which these are only four saturdays. by this arrangement our monthly parts will be of the uniform price of one shilling and three pence, with the exception of those for january and july, which will include the index of the preceding half-year at the price of one shilling and ninepence each. thus the yearly subscription to _notes and queries_, either in unstamped weekly numbers or monthly parts, will be _sixteen shillings_. the subscription for the stamped edition, with which gentlemen may be supplied regularly by giving their orders direct to the publisher, _mr. george bell, . fleet street_ (accompanied by a post office order), is one pound and fourpence for a twelve-month, or ten shillings and two pence for six months_. william c. penny _is referred for an account of the national anthem to clarke's_ "history of god save the king." w.g. _will find all the information he requires respecting the twelve labours of hercules in dr. smith's_ new classical dictionary. w. anderson. _dr. mavor published a work under the title of_ the british plutarch. nocab _is thanked for his kind letter. he will find in our next number some information on the subject of his query respecting the bacon family_. f.e.m. _the pamphlet alluded to is directed against the well-known pamphleteer sir roger le strange_. iota _is thanked for his suggestion. the subject has been repeatedly considered, but has not at present been found practicable_. w.a.l. _will find full particulars of bishop percy's collection of _poems in blank verse_ in our first vol. p. ., for which we were indebted to our valued correspondent_ mr. j.p. collier. _the _index_ for the _second volume_ will be ready for delivery with our next number_. notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive _notes and queries_ in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of _notes and queries_ should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * dr. richardson's etymological dictionaries, in two volumes quarto, reduced to l. s. a new dictionary of the english language: combining explanation with etymology, and illustrated by quotations from the best authorities. the words--with those of the same family in german, dutch, and swedish, or in italian, french, and spanish, are traced to their origin. the explanations are deduced from the primitive meaning through their various usages. the quotations are arranged chronologically from the earliest period to the beginning of the present century. abridged in one thick volume, octavo, third edition, reduced to s. a new dictionary of the english language; 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(with a portrait beautifully engraved by dean), the sixth thousand of the life of wiclif. by charles webb le bas, m.a.. formerly principal of the east india college, haileybury; and fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same author (uniformly printed), . the life of archbishop cranmer. with portraits of cranmer and ridley. _fourth thousand._ vols. s. . the life of bishop jewel. with portrait. _third thousand._ s. . the life of archbishop laud. with portrait. _third thousand._ s. * * * * * just published, part , price s. plain; s. d. tinted; proofs, large paper, s. the churches of the middle ages. by henry bowman and joseph s. crowther, architects, manchester. to be completed in twenty parts, each containing plates, imperial folio. "we can hardly conceive any thing more perfect we heartily recommend this series to all who are able to patronize it."--_ecclesiologist._ london george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents. notes:-- page daniel defoe and his ghost stories pet names, by rev. b.h. kennedy lacedæmonian black broth a hint to intending editors notes on cunningham's london, by e.f. rimbault folk lore--easter eggs--buns--gloucestershire custom--curious custom queries:-- white hart inn, scole, by c.h. cooper on passages in pope belvoir castle minor queries:--dr. hugh todd's mss.--french leave--portugal--tureen--military execution-- change of name--symbolism of fir cone--kentish ballad--monumental brass--a tickhill man-- bishop blaize--vox et præterea nihil--cromwell relics--lines on woman's will replies:-- Ælfric's colloquy, by s.w. singer and c.w.g. antony alsop replies to minor queries:--origin of snob--bishop burnet--circulation of the blood--genealogy of european sovereigns--sir stephen fox--french maxim--shipster--spars--cosmopolis--complutensian polyglot--christmas hymn--sir j. wyattville-- peruse--autograph mottoes--boduc--annus trabeationis miscellanies:-- pursuits of literature--dr. dobbs--translation from v. bourne--st. evona's choice--muffins and crumpets--dulcarnon--bishop barnaby--barnacles --ancient alms dish, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * daniel de foe and his ghost stories. i feel obliged by your intelligent correspondent "d.s." having ascertained that de foe was the author of the _tour through great britain_. perhaps he may also be enabled to throw some light on a subject of much curiosity connected with de foe, that appears to me well worth the inquiry. mrs. bray, in her general preface prefixed to the first volume of the reprint, in series, of her _novels and romances_, when giving an account of the circumstances on which she founded her very graphic and interesting romance of _trelawny of trelawne_, says-- "in gilbert's _history of cornwall_, i saw a brief but striking account, written by a doctor ruddell, a clergyman of launceston, respecting a ghost which (in the year ) he has seen and laid to rest, that in the first instance had haunted a poor lad, the son of a mr. bligh, in his way to school, in a place called the 'higher broom field.' this grave relation showed, i thought, the credulity of the times in which the author of it lived; and so i determined to have doctor, boy, and ghost in my story. but whereas, in the worthy divine's account of the transaction, the ghost appears to come on earth for no purpose whatever (unless it be to frighten the poor boy), i resolved to give the spirit something to do in such _post-mortem_ visitations, and that the object of them should be of import to the tale. accordingly i made boy, doctor, and the woman (who is said after her death to have appeared to the lad) into characters, invented a story for them, and gave them adventures." mrs. bray adds-- "soon after the publication of _trelawny_, my much esteemed friend, the rev. f.v.t. arundell[ ], informed me, that, whilst engaged in his antiquarian researches in cornwall, he found among some old and original papers the manuscript account, in dr. ruddell's own hand-writing, of his encounter with the ghost in question. this he lent gilbert, who inserted it in his _history of cornwall_; and there i first saw it, as stated above. a few months ago, i purchased some of the reprinted volumes of the _works of daniel de foe_. among these was the _life of mr. duncan campbell_, a fortune-teller. to my great surprise, i found inserted in the appendix (after verses to mr. duncan campbell), without either name of the author, reference, or introduction, under the heading, 'a remarkable passage of an apparition, ,' no other than dr. ruddell's account of meeting the ghost which had haunted the boy, so much the same as that i had read in gilbert, that it scarcely seemed to differ from it in a word. the name of mr. bligh, the father of the boy, was, however, omitted; and dr. ruddell could only be known as the author of the account by the lad's father calling the narrator mr. ruddell, in their discourse about the youth. the account is so strangely inserted in the appendix to the volume, without comment or reference, that, had i not previously known the circumstances above names by mr. arundell, i should have fancied it a fiction of de foe himself, like the story { } of the ghost of mrs. veal, prefixed to _drelincourt on death_. "aware that mr. arundell had no idea that ruddell's ghost story was to be found in any work previous to gilbert's, i lost no time in communicating to that gentleman what i could not but deem a very curious discovery. he assured me there could be no mistake as to the genuineness of the ghost document he had found, as he had compared the manuscript with ruddell's hand-writing in other papers, and saw it was one and the same. soon after, mr. arundell favoured me with some further information on the subject, which i here give, as it adds still more to the interest of the story:--'looking into gilbert's _history of cornwall_, in the parish of south petherwin, there is said to be in the old mansion of botathan five portraits of the bligh family; one of them is the likeness of the boy, whose intimacy with the ghost of dorothy durant has been spoken of in his first volume, where she is erroneously called dingley. if this be a fact, it is very interesting; for it is strange that both mr. ruddell, the narrator (whose manuscript i lent to gilbert), and de foe, should have called her dingley. i have no doubt it was a fictitious name, for i never heard of it launceston or the neighbourhood; whereas durant is the name of an ancient cornish family: and i remember a tall, respectable man of that name in launceston, who died at a very advanced age; very probably a connexion of the ghost lady. he must have been born about . durant was probably too respectable a name to be published, and hence the fictitious one.' mr. arundell likewise says, 'in launceston church is a monument to charles bligh and judith his wife, who died, one in , and the other in . he is said to have been sixty years old, and was probably the brother of samuel, the hero of dorothy dingley. sarah, the wife of the rev. john ruddell, died in . mr. ruddell was vicar of aternon in . he was the minister of launceston in , when he saw the ghost who haunted the boy.'" such is mrs. bray's account of these very curious circumstances. the ghost story inserted in gilbert, as mentioned above, is altogether so much in the style of de foe, that a doubt remains whether, after all, he may not have been the author of it. can "d.s.," or any of your readers, throw further light on the subject? d.s.y. [footnote : of landulph, cornwall, the author of _discoveries in asia minor_, and the well-known _visit to the seven churches of asia_. mr. arundell is now dead.] * * * * * pet-names. "mary" is informed that "polly" is one of those "hypocorisms," or pet-names, in which our language abounds. most are mere abbreviations, as will, nat, pat, bell, &c., taken usually from the beginning, sometimes from the end of the name. the ending _y_ or _ie_ is often added, as a more endearing form: as annie, willy, amy, charlie, &c. many have letter-changes, most of which imitate the pronunciation of infants. _l_ is lisped for _r_. a central consonant is doubled. _o_ between _m_ and _l_ is more easily sounded than _a_. an infant forms _p_ with its lips sooner than _m_; papa before mamma. the order of change is: mary, maly, mally, molly, polly. let me illustrate this; _l_ for _r_ appears in sally, dolly, hal _p_ for _m_ in patty, peggy; vowel-change in harry, jim, meg, kitty, &c; and in several of these the double consonant. to pursue the subject: re-duplication is used; as in nannie, nell, dandie; and (by substitution) in bob. ded would be of ill omen; therefore we have, for edward, ned or ted, _n_ and _t_ being coheir to _d_; for rick, dick, perhaps on account of the final _d_ in richard. letters are dropped for softness: as fanny for franny, bab for barb, wat for walt. maud is norman for mald, from mathild, as bauduin for baldwin. argidius becomes giles, our nursery friend gill, who accompanied jack in his disastrous expedition "up the hill." elizabeth gives birth to elspeth, eliza (eloisa?), lisa, lizzie, bet, betty, betsy, bessie, bess; alexander (_x_=_cs_) to allick and sandie. what are we to say of jack for john? it seems to be from jacques, which is the french for our james? how came the confusion? i do not remember to have met with the name james in early english history; and it seems to have reached us from scotland. perhaps, as jean and jaques were among the commonest french names, john came into use as a baptismal name, and jaques or jack entered by its side as a familiar term. but this is a mere guess; and i solicit further information. john answers to the german johann or jehann, the sclavonic ivan, the italian giovanni (all these languages using a strengthening consonant to begin the second syllable): the french jean, the spanish juan, james to the german jacob, the italian giacomo, the french jacques, the spanish jago. it is observable that of these, james and giacomo alone have the _m_. is james derived from giacomo? how came the name into scotland? of german pet-names some are formed by abbreviation; some also add _s_, as fritz for frieds from friedrich, hanns for hann from johann. (to this answers our _s_ or _c_ in the forms betsy, nancy, elsie, &c.) some take _chen_ (our _kin_, as _mannikin_) as franschen, hannchen. thus catskin in the nursery ballad which appears in mr. halliwell's collection, is a corruption of kätchen kitty. most of our softened words are due to the smooth-tongued normans. the harsh saxon schrobbesbyrigschire, or shropshire, was by them softened into le comté de salop, and both names are still used. benj. h. kennedy. shrewsbury, feb. . . * * * * * lacedÆmonian black broth. if your readers are not already as much disgusted with spartan black broth as dionysius was { } with the first mouthful, i beg leave to submit a few supplementary words to the copious indications of your correspondents "r.o." and "w." selden says:-- "it was an excellent question of lady cotton, when sir robert cotton was magnifying of a shoe, which was moses's or noah's, and wondering at the strange shape and fashion of it: 'but, mr. cotton,' says she, '_are you sure it is a shoe?_'" now, from the following passage in manso's _sparta_, it would seem that a similar question might be put on the present occasion: _are you sure that it was broth?_ speaking of the _pheiditia_, manso says:-- "each person at table had as much barley-bread as he could eat; swine's-flesh, or some other meat, to eat with it, with which the famous black-sauce[ ] (whose composition, without any loss to culinary art, is evidently a mystery for us) was given round, and to close the meal, olives, figs, and cheese." in a note he continues:-- "some imagined that the receipt of its composition was to be found in plutarch (_de tuendâ sanitate_, t. vi. p. .), but apparently it was only imagination. that [greek: zomos] signified not broth, as it has been usually translated, but _sauce_, is apparent from the connection in which athenæus used the word. to judge from hesychius, it appears to have borne the name [greek: bapha] among the spartans. how little it pleased the sicilian dionysius is well known from plutarch (_inst. lacon._ t. v. .) and from others." sir walter trevelyan's question is soon answered, for i presume the celebrity of spartan black broth is chiefly owing to the anecdote of dionysius related by plutarch, in his very popular and amusing _laconic apophthegms_, which stobæus and cicero evidently followed; this, and what is to be gathered from athenæus and julius pollux, with a few words in hesychius and the _etymologicon magnum_, is the whole amount of our information. writers since the revival of letters have mostly copied each other, from coelius rhodiginus down to gesner, who derives his conjecture from turnebus, whose notion is derived from julius pollux,--and so we move in a circle. we sadly want a greek apicius, and then we might resolve the knotty question. i fear we must give up the notion of cuttle-fish stewed in their own ink, though some former travellers have not spoken so favourable of this greek dish. apicius, _de arte coquinariâ_, among his fish-sauces has three alexandrian receipts, one of which will give some notion of the incongruous materials admissible in the greek kitchen of later times:-- "jus alexandrinum in pisce asso. "piper, cepam siccam, ligusticum, cuminum, orignum, apii semen, pruna damascena enucleata; passum, liquamen, defrutum, oleum, et coques." this question vexata it seems had not escaped the notice of german antiquaries. in boettiger's _kleine shriften_, vol. iii., sillig has printed for the first time a dissertation, in answer to a question which might have graced your pages: "wherewith did the ancients spoon" [their food]? which opens thus:-- "though about the composition and preparation of spartan black sauce we may have only so many doubts, yet still it remains certain that it was a _jus_--boiled flesh prepared with pig's blood, salt, and vinegar, a _brodo_; and, when it was to a certain degree thickened by boiling, though not like a _polenta_ or other dough-like mass (_maza offa_), eaten with the fingers. here, then, arises a gastronomic question, of importance in archæology; what table furniture or implements did the spartans make use of to carry this sauce to their months? a spoon, or some substitute for a spoon, must have been at hand in order to be able to enjoy this schwarzsauer." it is certain at least that spoons and forks were unknown to the spartans, and some have conjectured that a shell, and even an egg-shell, may have served the purpose. those who are desirous of knowing more about the table-supellectile of the ancients, may consult casaubon's _notes on athenæus_, iv. . p. .; "barufaldo de armis convivialibus," in sallengre's _thesaurus_, iii. .: or boettiger's _dissertation_ above referred to. how little ground the passage in plutarch, _de sanitate tuendâ_, afforded for the composition will appear from the passage, which i subjoin, having found some difficulty in referring to it: [greek: oi lakones uxos kai halas dontes to mageiro, ta loipa keleuouso en to iereio setein.] this only expresses the simplicity of spartan cookery in general. to revert to the original question propounded, however, i think we must come to the conclusion that _coffee_ formed no part of the [greek: melas zomos.] s.w.s. [footnote : manso's word is _tunke._] * * * * * a hint to intending editors. allow me to suggest, as an addition to the sphere of usefulness of the "notes and queries," that persons preparing new editions of old writers should give an early intimation of the work on which they are engaged to the public, through your paper. very many miscellaneous readers are in the habit of making notes in the margins of their books, without any intention of using them themselves for publication, and would be glad to give the benefit of them to any body to whom they would be welcome; but as matters are now arranged, one has no opportunity of hearing of an intended new edition until it is advertised as being in the press, when it is probably too late to send notes or suggestions; and one is also deterred from communicating with the editor from doubts { } whether he will not think it an intrusion: doubts which any editor who _did_ wish for communications might dispel by making such an announcement as i have suggested. r.r. lincoln's inn. * * * * * notes upon cunningham's hand-book of london. _st. giles's pound_.--the exact site of this pound, which occupied a space of thirty feet, was the broad space where st. giles's high street, tottenham court road, and oxford street meet. the vicinity of this spot was proverbial for its profligacy; thus in an old song:-- "at newgate steps jack chance was found, and bred up near _st. giles's pound_." _dudley court, st. giles's_.--this spot was once the residence of alice duchess of dudley, in the reign of charles the second; and afterwards of the celebrated lord wharton. the mansion and gardens were of considerable extent. _st. giles's hospital_.--the celebrated dr. andrew boorde rented for many years the master's house. he is mentioned as its occupant in the deed of transfer between lord lisle to sir wymonde carewe, dated in the last year of henry the eighth's reign. _gray's inn lane_.--anciently called _portpoole_. see the commission granted to the master of the hospital of st. giles's, &c. to levy tolls upon all cattle, merchandize, &c., dated , in rymer's _foedera_. _great queen street, lincoln's inn_.--lord herbert of cherbury was one of the first inhabitants of this street, residing at the south side, near the east corner of wild (or more properly _weld_) street, where he died in . the house is still standing, and is one of fifteen built in the third year of james the first. _powlet_ and _conway_ houses, also still standing, are among the said number. the celebrated dr. mead (d. ) resided in this street. _turnstile lane, holborn_.--richard pendrell, the preserver of charles the second, resided here in . it is supposed that pendrell, after the restoration, followed the king to town, and settled in the parish of st. giles, as being near the court. certain it is that one of pendrell's name occurs in as overseer, which leads to the conclusion that richard's descendants continued in the same locality for many years. a great-granddaughter of this richard was living in in the neighbourhood of covent garden. richard pendrell died in , and had a monument erected to his memory on the south-east side of the old church of st. giles. the raising of the churchyard, subsequently, had so far buried the monument as to render it necessary to form a new one to preserve the memory of this celebrated man. the black marble slab of the old tomb at present forms the base of the new one. edward f. rimbault. _mrs. cornelly's_ is stated, in vol. ii. p. ., _to be_ "the corner of sutton street," soho square, "_now d'almaines's_." mrs. cornelly's _was_ at the corner of sutton street, but has long been pulled down: the catholic chapel _in_ sutton street was mrs. cornelly's concert, ball, and masquerade-room; and the arched entrance below the chapel, and now a wheelwright's, was the entrance for "chairs." d'almaine's is two doors north of sutton street, and was built by earl (?) tilney, the builder of wanstead house? the house in soho square has a very fine banqueting-room, the ceiling said to have been painted by angelica kauffmann. tilney was fond of giving magnificent dinners, and here was always to be found "the flesh of beeves, with turkie and other small larks!" _cock lane_.--the house in cock lane famous for its "ghost" _is still_ standing, and the back room, where "scratching fanny" lay surrounded by princes and peers, is converted into a gas meter manufactory. naso. * * * * * folk lore. _easter eggs_.--the custom of presenting eggs at easter is too well known to need description; but perhaps few are aware that, like many other customs of the early church, it had its origin in paganism. sir r.k. porter (_travels_, vol. i. p. .) mentions that at a period of the year corresponding to easter, "the feast of nooroose, or of the waters," is held, and seems to have had its origin prior to mahometanism. it lasts for _six_ days, and is supposed to be kept in commemoration of the creation and the deluge--events constantly synchronised and confounded in pagan cosmogonies. at this feast eggs are presented to friends, in obvious allusion to the mundane egg, for which ormuzd and ahriman were to contend till the consummation of all things. when the many identities which existed between druidism and magianism are considered, we can hardly doubt that this persian commemoration of the creation originated our easter-eggs. g.j. _buns_.--it has been suggested by bryant, though, i believe, not noticed by any writer on popular customs, that the good friday cakes, called _buns_, may have originated in the cakes used in idolatrous worship, and impressed with the figure of an ox, whence they were called [greek: boun]. the cow or bull was likewise, as coleridge (_lit. rem_. vol. ii. p. .) has justly remarked, the { } symbol of the _cosmos_, the prolific or generative powers of nature. g.j. _gloucestershire custom_.--it is a custom in gloucestershire, and may be so in other counties, to place loose _straw_ before the door of any man who beats his wife. is this a general custom?--and if so, what is its origin and meaning? b. _curious custom_.--the custom spoken of by "pwcca" (no. p. .) was also commonly practised in one or two places in lancashire some ten or twelve years back, but is now, i believe, obsolete. the horse was played in a similar way, but the performer was then called "old balls." it is no doubt a vestige of the old "hobby-horse,"--as the norwich "snap," who kept his place in the procession of the mayor of that good city till the days of municipal reform, was the last representative of his companion the dragon. j.t. [nathan also informs us "that it is very common in the west riding of yorkshire, where a ram's head often takes the place of the horse's skull. has it not an obvious connection with the 'hobby-horse' of the middle ages, and such mock pageants as the one described in scott's _abbot_, vol. i. chap. .; the whole being a remnant of the saturnalia of the ancients?"] * * * * * queries. white hart inn, scole. in _songs and other poems_, by alex. brome, gent. lond. mo. , there is (at p. .) a ballad upon a sign-post set up by one mr. pecke, at skoale in norfolk. it appears from this ballad, that the sign in question had figures of bacchus, diana, justice, and prudence, "a fellow that's small, with a quadrant discerning the wind," temperance, fortitude, time, charon and cerberus. this sign is noticed in the _journal_ of mr. e. browne (sir thomas browne's works, ed. wilkin, i. .). under date of th march, - , he says:--"about three mile further i came to scoale, where is very handsome inne, and the noblest sighne post in england, about and upon which are carved a great many stories, as of charon and cerberus, of actæon and diana, and many other; the sighne it self is the white harte, which hangs downe carved in a stately wreath." blomefield, in his _history of norfolk_ ( vo. edit. i. .), speaking of osmundestone or scole, has the following passage:-- "here are two very good inns for the entertainment of travellers; the _white hart_ is much noted in these parts, being called, by way of distinction, _scole inn_; the house is a large brick building, adorned with imagery and carved work in several places, as big as the life. it was built in , by _john peck_, esq., whose arms impaling his wife's, are over the porch door. the sign is very large, beautified all over with a great number of images of large stature carved in wood, and was the work of one _fairchild_; the arms about it are those of the chief towns and gentlemen in the county, viz. _norwich, yarmouth, duke of norfolk, earl of yarmouth, bacon of garboldisham, hobart, conwaleis_, impaling _bukton, teye, thurston, castleton_, and many others; _peck's_ arms are _arg_. on a chevron ingrailed, _gul_. three croslets pattee of the field; his wife's are _arg_., a fess between two crescents in chief, a lion rampant in base _gul_., which coat i think is borne by the name of _jetheston_. here was lately a very round large bed, big enough to hold fifteen or twenty couple, in imitation (i suppose) of the remarkable great bed at _ware_. the house was in all things accommodated, at first, for large business; but the road not supporting it, it is in much decay at present; though there is a good bowling-green and a pretty large garden, with land sufficient for passengers' horses. the business of these two inns is much supported by the annual cock-matches that are here fought." in cruttwell's _tour through the whole island of great britain_ (lond. mo. ), vol. v. ., is the following:-- "osmondeston, or schole. the inn here was once remarkable for a pompous sign, with ridiculous ornaments, and is said to have cost a thousand pounds; long since decayed." i shall be glad to be referred to any other notices of this sign, and am desirous of knowing if any drawing or engraving of it be extant. c.h. cooper. cambridge, st jan. . * * * * * passages from pope. in addition to the query of "p.c.s.s." (no. . p. .), in which i take great interest, i would beg leave to ask what evidence there is that quarles had a _pension?_ he had, indeed, a small _place_ in the household of james the first's queen, anne; and if he had a _pension_ on her death, it would have been from james, not from charles. i would also, in reference to pope, beg leave to propound another query. in the "imitation of the nd sat. book i. of horace," only to be found in modern editions, but attributed, i fear, too justly to pope, there is an allusion to "poor e----s," who suffered by "_the fatal steel_," for an intrigue with a royal mistress. e----s is no doubt _john ellis_, and the royal mistress the _duchess of cleveland_. (see lord dover's introduction to the "ellis correspondence," and "anecdotes of the ellis family," _gent. mag_. . p. .) but i cannot discover any trace of the circumstances alluded to by pope. yet ellis was a considerable man in his day;--he had been secretary to the lord-lieutenant of ireland in the reign of charles ii., and was under-secretary of state under william iii.; he is said to have afterwards sunk into the humbler character { } of a "london magistrate," and to have "died in , at or , immensely rich." i should be glad of any clue to pope's allusion. j.w.c. feb . . * * * * * "worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; the rest is all but leather and prunello." _essay on man_, epistle iv. . will your correspondent "p.c.s.s." (no. ), evidently a critical reader of pope, and probably rich in the possession of various editions of his works, kindly inform me whether any commentator on the poet has traced the well-known lines that i have quoted to the "corcillum est, quod homines facit, cætera quisquilia omnia" of petronius arbiter, cap. .? pope had certainly both read and admired the _satyricon_, for he says:-- "fancy and art in gay petronius please, the scholar's learning with the courtier's ease." _essay on criticism_, sect. i find no note on the lines either in the edition of warton, vols. vo., london, , or in cary's royal vo., london, ; but the similarity strikes me as curious, and deserving further examination. c. forbes. temple. * * * * * belvoir castle. in nichol's _history and antiquities of the county of leicester_, vol. ii., part i., containing the framland hundred, p. of the folio ed. , occurs the following quotation, in reference to the rebuilding of belvoir castle by henry, second earl of rutland, in :-- "that part of the more ancient building, which was left by both unaltered, is included in the following concise description by an ingenious writer, who visited it in :-- 'Ædes in culmine montis sitæ, scilicet, [greek: aipeia kolonen en pedio apaneuthe, peridromos entha kai entha]' aditu difficilis circa montem; cujus latera omnia horti acrarum circumeunt, nisi versus aquilonem, quò ascenditur ad ostium ædium ubi etiam antiqua jauna arcuato lapide. versus occidentem fenestræ et in sacello; et ulterior pars vetusta. versus aquilonem fenestræ. facies australis et turris de _staunton_, in qui archiva familiæ reponuntur, extructa ante annos circa . pars restat kernellata," &c. &c. &c. the description goes on for a few more lines; but it matters not to continue them. i should be much obliged by any of your readers giving an account of who this "ingenious writer" was, and on what authority he founded the foregoing observations, as it is a subject of much interest to me and others at the present time. alythes. jan. . . * * * * * minor queries. _mss. formerly belonging to dr. hugh todd_.--i shall feel most grateful to any of your correspondents who can afford me any information, however imperfect, respecting the mss. of dr. hugh todd, vicar of penrith, and prebendary of carlisle, in the beginning of the last century. in the _cat. mss. angliæ_, &c., , is a catalogue of nineteen mss, then in his possession, five of which are especially the subject of the present inquiry. one is a chartulary of the abbey of fountains, in to; another is an act book of the consistory court of york, in the fifteenth century, in folio; the third is the chapter book of the collegiate church of ripon, from to ; the fourth contains extracts and manuscripts from records relating to the church of ripon; and the last is apparently a book of the acts of the benefactors to that foundation. in a letter to humphrey lawley, dated in , dr. todd says he was engaged in a work relating to the province of york, and the greater part of the mss. in the catalogue above mentioned appear to have been collected as the materials. john richard walbran. falcroft, ripon, jan . . _french leave_--in no. . i perceive several answers to the query respecting _flemish account_, which i presume to be the same as _dutch account_. can you inform me how the very common expression _french leave_ originated? w.g.b. _portugal_.--can any of your geographical readers inform me if a gazetteer of portugal has been published within these twenty years? if there has been one, in what language, and where published? information of the title of any good modern works on portugal, giving an account of the minor places, would be acceptable. northman. _tureen_--how and whence is the term "tureen" derived?--and when was it introduced? "at the top there was tripe in a swinging tureen." goldsmith's _haunch of venison_. g.w. _military execution_.--i am very anxious to be referred to the authority for the following anecdote, and remark made on it:-- "some officer, or state prisoner, on being led out to be shot, refused either to listen to a confessor, or to cover his eyes with a handkerchief." the remark was, that "he refused a bandage for either mind or body." it smacks somewhat of voltaire. melanion. _change of name_.--if, as it appears by a recent decision, based, perhaps, on a former one by lord tenterden, that a man may alter his name { } as he pleases _without the royal license_, i wish to know what then, is the use of the royal license? b. _the symbolism of the fir-cone_. what does the "fir-cone" in the ninevite sculptures mean? layard does not explain it. is it there as the emblem of fecundity, as the pomegranate of persia and syria? has it altogether the same character as the latter fruit? then--was it carried into hindostan _viâ_ cashmir? when? by the first wave of population which broke through the passes of the parapamisus? b.c. _kentish ballad_.--when i was a boy, i can remember hearing a song sung in kent, in praise of that country, which i never could find in print, and of which i am now glad to recollect the following stanza:-- "when harold was invaded, and falling lost his crown, and norman william waded through gore to pull him down; when countries round with fear profound, to help their sad condition, and lands to save, base homage gave, bold kent made no submission." can any reader furnish the remainder, and state who is the author? f.b. _curious monumental brass_.--i have a rubbing of a brass, presenting some peculiarities which have hitherto puzzled me, but which probably some of your more experienced correspondents can clear up. the brass, from which the rubbing is taken (and which was formerly in the abbey church of st. albans, but when i saw it was detached and lying at the rectory), is broken off a little below the waist; it represents an abbot, or bishop, clad in an ornamented chasuble, tunic, stole, and alb, with a maniple and pastoral staff. so far all is plain; but at the back (i.e. on the surface hidden when the brass lay upon the floor) is engraved a dog with a collar and bells, apparently as carefully executed as any other part. can you tell me the meaning of this? i can find no mention of the subject either in boutell or any other authority. the fragment is about inches long, and the dog about , more or less. rahere. jan. , . _tickhill, god help me_.--can any one tell why a tickhill man, when asked where he comes from, says, "tickhill, god help me." is it because the people at tickhill are famed for misery, as the neighbouring town of blythe seems to have been so called from its jolly citizens? r.f. johnson. _bishop blaize_.--i should be much obliged by any reference to information respecting bishop blaize, the santo biagio of agrigentum, and patron saint of ragusa. butler says little but that he was bishop of sebaste, in armenia, the proximity of which place to colchis appears to me suspicious. wonderful and horrible tales are told of him; but i suspect his patronage of wool-combers is founded on much more ancient legends. his establishment at agrigentum must have been previous to christianity. i have a vague remembrance of some mention of him in higgins's _anacalypsis_, but i have not now access to that work. i wish some learned person would do for other countries what blunt has partly done for italy and sicily; that is, show the connection between heathen and christian customs, &c. f.c.b. _vox et præterea nihil._--whence come these oft-quoted words? burton, in _the anatomy of melancholy_ (not having the book by me, i am unable to give a reference), quotes them as addressed by some one to the nightingale. wordsworth addresses the cuckoo similarly, vol. ii. p. .:-- "o, cuckoo! shall i call thee bird, or but a wandering voice?" c.w.g. _cromwell relics_.--in noble's _memorials of the protectorate house of cromwell_ it is stated, in the proofs and illustrations, letter n, that in , there were dispersed in st. ives a great number of swords, bearing the initials of the protector upon them; and, further, that a large barn, which oliver built there, was still standing, and went by the name of cromwell's barn; and that the farmer then renting the farm occupied by the protector circa - , marked his sheep with the identical marking-irons which oliver used, and which had o.c. upon them. can any of your correspondents inform me if any of these relics are still in existence, and, if so, where? a.d.m. _lines on "woman's will_."--many of your readers will have heard quoted the following stanza, or something like it:-- "the man's a fool who strives by force or skill to stem the torrent of a woman's will; for if she will, she will you may depend on't, and if she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't." i have heard these lines confidently attributed to shakspeare, byron, &c. by persons unable to verify the quotation, when challenged so to do. i can point out where the first two lines may be found with some variation. in _the adventures of five hours_, a comedy translated from the spanish of calderon, by samuel tuke, and { } printed in the th volume of dodsley's _old plays_ (edit. ), in the th act (p. .), the lines run thus:-- "he is a fool, who thinks by force or skill to turn the current of a woman's will." i should be glad if any one could inform me by whom the latter lines were added, and where they may be found in print. c.w.g. _pity is akin to love_.--where are the following words to be met with?-- "for pity is akin to love." i have found very similar expressions, but never the exact words as above. h. * * * * * replies. aelfric's colloquy, and the a.-s. word Ægype in the a.-s. psalter. in reference to mr. thorpe's note (no. . p. .), i beg leave, with all possible respect and deference, to suggest that his joke is not quite _ad rem_.--what would do for a _beefsteak_ does not help his _mistake_; for it is quite evident that _sprote_ applies to fish-_swimming_ and not to fish-_catching_; and i presume that "useful and sagacious" auxiliary, dr. kitchener himself, would hardly have ventured to deny that _fish_ may _swim quickly_? now let us try how mr. thorpe's proposed _salice=wicker_, or _sallow_, with or without the _basket_, will suit the context. the fisherman is asked, "quales pisces capias? = what fish do you take?" the answer is anguillos &c. &c. et qualescunque in amne natant salu = eels &c. &c., and every sort whatever that in water swimmeth [wicker/sallow] basket! let it be remembered that the question here is not, "_how_ dost thou take fish?" which had been put and _answered before_, but "_what_ fish dost thou take?" and then let common sense decide; for the fisherman having already mentioned that he cast _nets_ and _hooks_, and [_spyrian_/spartas], i.e. _baskets_, now only replies as to the _fish_ he takes. mr. thorpe calls the a.-s. dialogue a _gloss_; is it not rather an _interlineary version_? like those in use, in later times, of corderius, and used for the same purpose. i have no doubt that upon more mature consideration mr. thorpe will see that it could not be a substantive that was intended; and, as he admits my conjecture to be _specious_, that he will, in the course of his very useful labours, ultimately find it not only specious but correct. meanwhile, i submit to his consideration, that beside the analogy of the gothic _sprauto_, we have in icelandic _spretta_, imperf. _spratt_, "subito movere, repente salire, emicare;" and _sprettr_, "cursus citatus," and i do think these analogies warrant my conclusion. i embrace this opportunity of submitting another _conjecture_ respecting a word in mr. thorpe's edition of the _anglo-saxon paraphrase of the psalms_. it occurs in ps. cvi. ver. ., "quid exacerbaverunt eloquium domini," &c., which is rendered: "forthon hidydan drihtnes spræce ægwaes _ægype_." in a note mr. thorpe says: "_ægype_, non intelligo," and gives a reason for deeming the passage corrupt. to me it seems to express the generally accepted sense of _exacerbaverunt_: and here a cognate language will show us the way. icelandic _geip_, futilis exaggeratio; _atgeipa_, exaggerare, effutire: _ægype_, then, means to _mock_, to _deride_, and is allied to _gabban_, to gibe, to jape. in the psalter published by spelman it is rendered: hi _gremedon_ spræce godes. in notker it is _widersprachen_, and in the two old teutonic interlinear version of the psalms, published by graff, _verbitterten_ and _gebittert_. let us hear our own interesting old satirist, piers plouhman [whitaker's ed. p. .]: and god wol nat be gyled, quoth gobelyn, ne be _japed_. but i cease, lest your readers should exclaim, res non verba. when i have more leisure for _word-catching_, should you have space, i may furnish a few more. s.w. singer. feb. . . _Ælfric's colloquy_.--i have my doubts whether mr. singer's ingenious suggestions for explaining the mysterious word _sprote_ can be sustained. the latin sentence appears clearly to end with the word _natant_, as is not only the case in the st. john's ms., mentioned in mr. thorpe's note, but in fact, also in the cottonian ms. there is a point after _natant_, and then follows the word _saliu_ (not _salu_) with a capital _s_. any person who examines the handwriting of this ms. will see that the word, whatever the transcriber may have understood by it, was intended by him to stand alone. he must, however, have written it without knowing what it meant; and then comes the difficulty of explaining how it got into the ms. from which he copied. it has always appeared to me probable that the name of some fish, having been first interlined, was afterwards inserted at random in the text, and mis-spelt by a transcriber who did not know its meaning. a word of common occurrence he would have been less likely to mistake. can _saliu_ be a mistake for _salar_, and _sprote_ the anglo-saxon form of the corresponding modern word _sprod_, i.e. the salmon of the second year? the _salar_ is mentioned by ausonius in describing the river moselle and its products (_idyll_. , l. .). { } "teque inter species geminas neutrumque et utrumque, qui necdum salmo, nec jam salar, ambiguusque amborum medio fario intercepte sub ævo." i throw out this conjecture to take its chance of refutation or acceptance. valeat quantum! c.w.g. * * * * * antony alsop. "r.h." (no. , p. .) will find all, i believe, that is known respecting antony alsop, in that rich storehouse of materials for the literary history of the last century, nichols's _anecdotes_, or in chalmers (_biog. dict._), who has merely transcribed from it. the volume of _latin odes_ your correspondent mentions, was published by sir francis bernard, and printed by bowyer. some notice of sir francis bernard will also be found in nichols. the _odes_ were long circulated in ms.; and i have a copy that once belonged to thomas warton, which seems to have been written by g. crochly, of christchurch college, in . it contains, however, nothing that is not to be found in the printed volume. the dedication to the duke of newcastle was written by bernard, who had intended to have given a preface and copious notes, as appears by the prospectus he published: but, to our great regret, he was dissuaded from his purpose. alsop was a favourite with that worthy man and elegant scholar dean aldrich, at whose instance he published his pleasing little volume, _fabularum Æsopicarum delectus_, oxon. . in the preface bentley is thus designated--"richardum quendam bentleium virum in volvendis lexicus satis diligentem:" and there is a severe attack upon him in one of the fables, which was not forgotten by the great scholar, who affects to speak of tony alsop the fabulist with great contempt. i have never seen the volume of _latin and english poems_ published in ; but, notwithstanding the designation, "a gentleman of trinity college," it may be at least partly by alsop, though he undoubtedly was of christchurch. there are english poems by him, published both in dodsley's and pearch's collection, and several in the early volumes of the _gentleman's magazine_. i have the authority of a competent judge for saying, that the very witty, but not quite decent verses in that miscellany, vol. v. p. --"ad hypodidasculum quendam plagosum, alterum orbilium, ut uxorem duceret, epistola hortativa." subscribed "kent, lady-day, "--are alsop's. he took the degree of m.a. in , and of b.d. in , and, by favour of the bishop of winchester, got a prebend in his cathedral, and the rectory of brightwell, berks. he was accidentally drowned in a ditch leading to his garden gate, in . there is good reason to believe that a ms. life of him is to be found among the rawlinson mss., which it may be worth while to consult. it will be remembered that christchurch was the head-quarters of the phalanx of wits opposed to bentley. "nor wert thou, isis, wanting to the day, [tho' christchurch long kept prudishly away,"] is pope's ironical banter; and he has not failed to mention alsop and freind in bentley's speech:-- "let freind affect to speak as terence spoke, and alsop never but like horace joke," where the note says, "dr. antony alsop, a happy imitator of the horatian style." indeed, alsop seems to have been duly esteemed and appreciated by his contemporaries; and every tasteful scholar will concur in the opinion that his truly elegant sapphics deserve a place among the few volumes of modern latin verse, which he would place near cowper's more extensively known favourite, vinny bourne. s.w.s. antony alsop, respecting whom a query appears in no. . p. ., was of christchurch, under the famous dr. aldrich, by whom the practice of smoking was so much enjoyed and encouraged. the celebrated sapphic ode, addressed by alsop to sir john dolben, professes to have been written with a pipe in his mouth:-- "dum tubum, ut mos est meus, ore versans, martiis pensans quid agam calendas, pone stat sappho monitisque miscet blanda severis." ant. alsop took his degree of m.a. march . , b.d. dec. . he died june , ; and the following notice of his death appears in the _historical register_ for that year:-- "dy'd mr. antony alsop, prebendary of winchester, and rector of brightwell, in the county of berks. he was killed by falling into a ditch that led to his garden door, the path being narrow, and part of it foundering under his feet." i believe alsop was not the author of a volume by a gentleman of trinity college, and that he never was a member of that society; but that doubt is easily removed by reference to the entry of his matriculation at oxford. w.h.c. temple. "r.h." inquires, whether antony alsop was at trinity college before he became a student of christchurch? i have considered it to be my duty to examine the admission registers of trinity college in my possession since the foundation of the college; and i can only say, that i do not find the name in any of them. that he was at christchurch, and admitted there as a student, is recorded by his biographers. it is also { } said, that he was elected at once from westminster to christchurch, where he took the degree of m.a. march . , and that of b.d. dec. . . he was soon distinguished by dean aldrich as worthy of his patronage and encouragement. he was consequently appointed tutor and censor, and in course of time left college, on his promotion to a prebendal stall in winchesser cathedral by sir jonathan trelawney, the then bishop, with the rectory of brightwell, near wallingford; at which latter place he chiefly resided till the time of his death, which happened by an accident, june . . sir francis bernard, bart., who had himself been a student of christchurch, published the to. volume of _latin odes_ mentioned by "r.h.," lond. ; for which he had issued _proposals_, &c., so early as july, . in addition to these _odes_, four english poems by alsop are said to be in dodsley's collection, one in pearch's, several in the early volumes of the _gentleman's magazine_, and some in _the student_. dr. bentley calls him, rather familiarly, "tony alsop, editor of the _Æsopian fables_;" a work published by him at oxford, in , vo., in the preface to which he took part against dr. bentley, in the dispute with mr. boyle. j.i. trinity college, oxford. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _origin of the word "snob"_.--i think that _snob_ is not an archaism, and that it cannot be found in any book printed fifty years ago. i am aware that in the north of england shoe-makers are still sometimes called _snobs_; but the word is not in brockett's _glossary of north country words_, which is against its being a genuine bit of northern dialect. i fancy that _snobs_ and _nobs_, as used in vulgar parlance, are of classic derivation; and, most probably, originated at one of the universities, where they still flourish. if a _nob_ be one who is _nobilis_, a _snob_ must be one who is _s[ine] nob[ilitate]_. not that i mean to say that the _s_ is literally a contraction of _sine_; but that, as in the word slang, the _s_, which is there prefixed to _language_, at once destroys the better word, and degrades its meaning; and as, in italian, an _s_ prefixed to a primitive word has a privative effect--e.g. _calzare_, "to put on shoes and stockings;" _scalzare_, "to put them off:" _fornito_, "furnished;" _sfornito_, "unfurnished," &c.; as also the _dis_, in latin (from which, possibly, the aforesaid _s_ is derived), has the like reversing power, as shown in _continue_ and _discontinue_--so _nob_, which is an abbreviation of _nobilis_, at once receives the most ignoble signification on having an _s_ put before it. the word _scamp_, meaning literally a fugitive from the field, one _qui ex campo exit_, affords another example of the power of the initial _s_ to reverse the signification of a word. all this, mr. editor, is only conjecture, in reply to "alpha's" query (no. p. .); but perhaps you will receive it, if no better etymology of the word be offered. a.g. ecclesfield, jan. . . _derivation(?) of "snob" and "cad."_--i am informed by my son, who goeth to a latin school, that _snob_ (which is a word he often useth) cometh of two latin words; to wit, "_sine obolo_"--as who should say, "one that hath not a cross to bless himself." he saith, that the man behind the omnibus is called "_cad_," "_a non cadendo_." your humble servant, the governor. * * * * * _mr. macaulay and bishop burnet_.--the passage in which mr. macaulay calls burnet "a rash and partial writer," alluded to by your correspondent in no. . p. ., occurs towards the end of his essay on "sir william temple," p. . of the new edition in one volume. etoniensis. * * * * * _circulation of the blood_.--"a.w." (no. . p. .) is referred to smith's _dictionary of biography_, article nemesius. j.e.b. mayor. * * * * * _genealogy of european sovereigns_.--i send the full title of a book which i would recommend to your correspondent "q.x.z.," (no. . p. .):-- gÉnÉalogie ascendante, jusqu'au quatriÈme dÉgrÉ inclusivements, de tous les rois et princes de maisons souveraines de l'europe actuellement vivans; réduite en cxiv. tables de xvi. quartiers, composées selon les principes du blazon; avec une table générale. * * * * * "la noblesse, daugaux, n'est point une chimère, quand sous l'étroite loi d'une vertu sévère, un homme, issu d'un sang fécond en demi-dieux, suit, comme toi, la trace où marchaient ses ayeux." boileau, s.v. * * * * * a berlin: au dépens de l'autheur: se vend chez etienne de bourdeaux, libraire; imprimé chez frédéric guillaume birnstiel. mdcclxviii. i presume that it is of some rarity, never having met with any other copy than the one from which i transcribed this title. some of your correspondents may, perhaps, be able to give the name of the author who, as far as i have had occasion to refer, seems to have done his work carefully. t.w. * * * * * _sir stephen fox._--i have seen it stated in some biographical dictionary, that sir stephen fox was a younger brother of "john fox, esq.," who was a devoted royalist at the time of the great rebellion, and fought at the battle of worcester, { } and after the restoration was clerk of the acatry, in the household of charles the second. mr. suckling, in his _history of suffolk_, claims for a family some time seated at stradbrook, in that county, a consanguinity with the descendants of sir stephen. on an altar-tomb in stadbrook churchyard are inscribed notices of many members of this family, but without dates. one is rather extraordinary, making the lives of a father and son together to amount to years. amongst them is this:-- "here is hourly expected, simon the next descendant, with his son simon, who died young, tho' still preserved to be interr'd with his father at the earnest request of his pious mother the lady hart. and also major john fox, with his issue, who during the late rebellion loyally behav'd himself, undergoing with great courage not only the danger of the field, but many severe imprisonments." the arms on this tomb differ from those of lords ilchester and holland, being simply three foxes' heads erased. should this note supply a clue for your correspondent "vulpes" to identify major john fox with the brother of sir stephen, on knowing that he has found the scent i shall be able to assist him in unearthing the whole litter. venator. _french maxim_.--the maxim inquired after by "r.v." (no. . p. .) undoubtedly belongs to rochefoucault. i have met with a somewhat similar passage in massillon:-- "le vice rend hommage à la vertu en s'honorant de sus apparences." j.b.m. feb. . . _shipster_.--a _scip-steora_ among our anglo-saxon ancestors was a pilot ("_ship-steerer_"). the word has descended to our own times in the surname of the family shipster. as a common noun it was not obsolete in the days of wynkyn de worde, who printed that curious production "_cock lorelle's bote_," one line of which runs thus:-- "with gogle-eyed tomson, _shepster_ of lyn." it is pretty certain, however, that this masculine occupation was not the one followed by "marie fraunceys de suthwerk!" pray accept this "reply" for what it is worth. perhaps i might have done better by meeting mr. john r. fox's "query" (no. . p. .) with another. should not the designation of marie f. be _spinster_ instead of shipster? mark antony lower. lewes, feb. . _sparse_.--permit me to refer your correspondent "c. forbes" for a reply to his query, p. . of your last number, to the article "americanism" in the _penny cyclopædia_, the author of which observes:-- "_sparse_ is, for any thing we know, a new word, and well applied; the americans say a _sparse_ instead of a scattered population; and we think the term has a more precise meaning than scattered, and is the proper correlative of _dense_." in the _imperial dictionary_ (avowedly based upon webster's american work, which i cannot at this moment refer to in its original form), the word in question is given both as an adjective and as a verb, and the derivatives "sparsed," "sparsedly," "sparsely," and "sparseness," are also admitted. the reference given for the origin of "sparse" is to the latin "_sparsus_, scattered, from _spargo_;" and the definitions are, . "thinly scattered, set or planted here and there; as, a _sparse_ population:" and, ., as a botanical term, "not opposite, not alternate, nor in any regular order; applied to branches, leaves, peduncles, &c." j.t. stanesby. _cosmopolis--complutensian polyglot_.--though in considerable haste, i must send replies to the fourth and eighth queries of my friend mr. jebb, no. . p. . _cosmopolis_ was certainly amsterdam. that the _interpretationes paradoxæ quatuor evangeliorum_, by christophorus christophori sandius, were there printed, appears from this writer's _bibliotheca anti-trinitarionum_, p. ., freistad, . i may add that "coloniæ" signifies "amstelædami" in the title-page of sandius's _nucleus historiæ ecclesiasticæ_, , and in the _appendix addendorum_, , to. with regard to the mss. used in the formation of the text of the _complutensian polyglot_, mr. jebb will find an account of their discovery in a letter addressed by dr. james thompson to the editor of _the biblical review_. see also _the irish ecclesiastical journal_ for april . r.g. _complutensian polyglot_.--the following extract from "the prospectus of a critical edition of the new testament," by the learned mr. s. prideaux tregelles, affords a satisfactory reply to mr. jebb's query, no. . p. .:-- "however there is now more certainty as to the mss. belonging to the university of alcala. dr. james thompson has published (_biblical review_, march, ), the result of inquiries made thirty years ago by dr. bowring, and more recently by himself. hence it appears that all the mss. which formerly were known as belonging to cardinal ximenes, and which were preserved in the library of alcala, are now with the rest of that library, at madrid....dr. josé gutierrez, the present librarian at madrid, communicated to dr. j. thomson a catalogue of the complutensian mss., and from this it appears that the principal mss. used in the polyglott are all safely preserved." j. milner barry. totnes, feb. . . * * * * *{ } _christmas hymn._--your correspondent "e.v." (no. . p. .) asks for the author of the christmas hymn-- "hark! the herald angels sing." i believe it to be the composition of the rev. charles wesley, the younger brother of the celebrated john wesley: he was born in , and died in . he was the author of many of the hymns in his brother's collection, which are distinguished for their elegance and simplicity. i am not able to find out, for certain, whether he had another name; if he had, it was probably the occasion of the initials (j.c.w.) your correspondent mentions. j.k.r.w. _sir jeffery wyattville._--sir jeffery wyattville, respecting whom "j.p." inquires (no. . p. .), was knighted at windsor castle, dec. , ., on the king entering into possession after the restoration. s.g. [to which may be added, on the information of our valued correspondent "c.," "that it was about that mr. wyatt, being appointed by george iv. to conduct the improvements at windsor castle, had the absurd ambition of distinguishing himself from the other architects of his name by changing it to _wyattville_. this produced the following epigram in, i think, the _morning chronicle_:-- "'let george whose restlessness leaves nothing quiet, change, if he will, the good old name of _wyatt_; but let us hope that their united skill may not make _windsor castle--wyattsville!_'"] _"peruse."_--in reply to the question of "h.w." (no. . p. .), although from want of minute reference i have been unable to find, in the original edition, the quotation from frith's works, i beg leave to suggest that the word "peruse" is a misprint, and that the true reading is "pervise." to this day the first examination at oxford, commonly called the "little-go," is "responsiones in _parviso_." it must not, however, be supposed that "pervise," or "parvise," is derived from the latin "parvus;" the origin, according to spelman and succeeding etymologists, is the french "le parvis," a church porch. in london the parvis was frequented by serjeants at law: see chaucer, _prol. cant. tales_. there is a difference of opinion where it was situated: see tyrwhitt's _gloss_. the student in ecclesiastical history may compare _leo allatius de templis græcorum_, p. . t.j. _autograph mottoes of richard duke of gloucester and harry duke of buckingham_. (no. . p. .)--there can be no doubt that "mr. nicols" is somewhat wrong in his interpretation of the duke of buckingham's motto. it is evident that both mottoes are to be read continuously, and that "souene" is the third person singular of a verb having "loyaulte" for its nominative case. it appears to me that the true reading of the word is "soutienne," and that the meaning of the motto is "my feelings of loyalty often sustain me in my duty to the king when i am tempted to join those who bear no good feeling towards him." so that we shall have in english, loyalty binds me} richard gloucester.} often sustains me} harry buckingham.} arun. _boduc._--your correspondent "p." (no. , p. .) seems to consider the "prevailing opinion," that _boduc_ or _boduoc_ on the british coin must be intended for our magnanimous queen boadicea, to be merely a "pleasing vision," over which he is "_sorry_ to cast a cloud." yet his own remark, that the name budic (a mere difference in spelling) is often found among families of the welsh in brittany, and that the name was once common in england, serves only to confirm the common opinion that _boduoc_ on the coins was intended as the name of the british queen. dio expressly writes her name in greek boudouica, which approaches nearly to budic. in cornwall we still find budock, the name of a parish and of a saint. in oxford there was a church formerly called from st. budoc, long since destroyed. leland mentions a mr. budok, and his manor place, and s. budok church. his opinion was, that "this budocus was an irisch man, and cam into cornewalle, and ther dwellid." whether there was a regulus of britain of this name, is not material. i am not prepared to cast a cloud over it, if it should be found. our motto should be, "ex fumo dare lucem," &c. antinephelegereta. oxford. _annus trabeationis_.--i am sure that you will allow me to correct an oversight in your reply to a query of "g.p.," in no. . p. . you have attributed to du cange a sentence in the benedictine addition to his explanation of the term _trabeatio_. (_glossar_. tom. vi. col. . venet. .) this word certainly signifies the incarnation of christ, an not his crucifixion. besides the occurrence of "trabea carnis indutus," at the commencement of a sermon on s. stephen by s. fulgentius ruspensis, i have just now met with the expressions, "trabea carnis velatus," and "carnis trabea amicti," in a copy of the _editio princeps_ of the latin version of damascen's books in defence of image-worship, by godefridus tilmannus, fol. b. a, to. paris, . r.g. * * * * *{ } miscellanies. _pursuits of literature._--the lines upon the pursuits of literature, quoted by you at p. ., remind me of some others, which i have heard ascribed to mr. grattan, and are as follows:-- "'tis well, pursuits of literature! but who, and what is the pursuer, a jesuit cursing popery: a railer preaching charity; a reptile, nameless and unknown, sprung from the slime of warburton, whose mingled learning, pride, and blundering, make wise men stare, and set fools wondering." x. _doctor dobbs and his horse nobbs_.--i remember having read somewhere of "doctor dobbs and his horse nobbs," but where i cannot now recall. i only remember one anecdote. the horse nobbs was left, one cold night, outside a cottage, whilst the doctor was within officiating as accoucheur (i believe); when he was ready to start, and came out, he found the horse apparently dead. the doctor was miles from home, and, as the horse was dead, and the night dark, in place of walking home, he, with his host, dragged the horse into the kitchen, and skinned him, by way of passing the time profitably. but, lo! when the skinning was finished, the horse gave signs of returning animation. what was to be done? doctor dobbs, fertile in resources, got sheepskins and sewed them on nobbs, and completely clothed him therein; and--mirabile dictu!--the skins became attached to the flesh, nobbs recovered, and from thenceforward carried a _woolly_ coat, duly shorn every summer, to the profit of doctor dobbs, and to the wonder and admiration of the neighbourhood. i have also read somewhere that coleridge told the story of "doctor dobbs and his horse nobbs" to southey at oxford. j.m.b. _dr. dobbs and his horse nobbs_.--although of small moment, it is, perhaps, worth recording, that a doctor daniel dove, of doncaster, and his horse nobbs, form the subjects of a paper in "the nonpareil, or the quintessence of wit and humour," published in , and which, there can be little doubt, was the source whence southey adopted, _without alteration_, the names so well known to all readers of the _doctor_. jno. sudlow. manchester. seeing the communication of "p.c.s.s." (p. .), reminds me of a note taken from our parish register:-- " . feb. . 'dorothy dove, gentlewoman, bur.'" i have never seen the name in connection with doncaster before or since the above date. j.s. doncaster, jan. . --si propius stes, te capiet minus. _(from the latin of vincent bourne.)_ glide down the thames by london bridge, what time st. saviour's bells strike out their evening chime; forth leaps the ompetuous cataract of sound, dash'd into noise by countless echoes round. pass on--it follows--all the jarring notes blend in celestial harmony, that floats above, below, around: the ravish'd ear finds all the fault its own--it was too near. rufus. _st. evona's choice._--to your citation of ben jonson's exceptional case of the justice randall as "a lawyer an honest man," in justice add the name of the learned and elegant author of _eunomus_; for mr. wynne himself tells the story of st. evona's choice (dialogue ii. p. . rd ed. dublin, ), giving his authority in the following note:-- "the story here dressed up is told in substance in a small book published in , called a _description of the netherlands_," p. . in strict law, sir, the profession may in courts of momus be held bound by the act of the respectable but unlucky st. evona; but in equity, let me respectfully claim release, for evona was a _churchman_. a templar. [we gladly insert our correspondent's "claim to release," but doubt whether he can establish it; inasmuch as st. ivo or evona, canonized on account of his great rectitude and profound knowledge both of civil and canon law, was both lawyer and churchman, like the clericus so recently discussed in our columns; and clearly sought for and obtained his patron saint in his legal character.] _muffins and crumpets, &c._--not being quite satisfied with the etymology of "muffin," in p. ., though brought by urquhart from phoenicia and the pillars of hercules, i am desirous of seeking additional illustration. some fancy that "coffee" was known to athenæus, and that he saw it _clearly_ in the "black broth" of the lacedæmonian youth. in the same agreeable manner we are referred to that instructive and entertaining writer for the corresponding luxury of "muffins." _maphula_, we are told, was one of those kinds of bread named as such by athenæus; that is to say, "a cake baked on a hearth or griddle." if we need go so far, why not fetch our muffins from memphis, which is _môph_ in hebrew? (see _hosea_, ix. .) it is, perhaps, _mou-pain_, in old french, _soft bread_, easily converted into _mouffin_. so "crumpet" may be a corruption of _crumpâte_ a paste made of fine flour, slightly baked. the only difficulty would then be in the { } first syllable, concerning, which the ingenuity of your various correspondents, mr. editor, may be exercised to some effect. is it connected with the use of the _crimping_ irons in producing these delicacies? hypomagirus. oxford. _dulcarnon_.--dulcarnon is one of those words in chaucer which tyrwhitt professes that he does not understand. it occurs in _trolius and creseide_, book iii. . . creseide says:-- "i am, til god me better minde sende, at _dulcarnon_, right at my witt'is ende. quod pandarus ye nece, wol ye here, _dulcarnon_ clepid is fleming[ ] of wretches." this passage of _trolius and creseide_ is quoted in the life of sir thomas more, given in wordsworth's _ecclesiastical biography_. more's daughter said to him, when he was in prison, "father, i can no further goe; i am come, as chaucer said of cressid dulcarnon, to my witt's end." has this passage been satisfactorily explained since tyrwhitt's time? the epithet "dulcarnon" is mentioned in a note to the translation of richard de bury's _philobiblon_, london, . i give the note in full. it is in reference to the word "ellefuga":-- "this word was a pons asinorum to some good grecians,--but that is probably its meaning[ ]; at least making it the name of a problem gets over all difficulty. the allusion is to the flight of helle, who turned giddy in taking a flying leap, mounted on a ram, and fell into the sea;--so weak a head fails in crossing the pons. the problem was invented by pythagoras, 'and it hath been called by barbarous writers of the latter time dulcarnon,'--_billingsley_. this name may have been invented after our author's time. query [greek: dolkarenon]." if we take the words "dulcarnon" in this sense, it will help to explain the passage in the _troilus and creseide_. e.m.b. _bishop barnaby_.--the origin of the term "bishop barnaby," as applied to the lady-bird, is still unexplained. i wish to observe, as having some possible connexion with the subject, that the word "barnaby" in the seventeenth century appears to have had a particular political signification. for instance, i send you a pamphlet (which you are welcome to, if you will accept of it) called "_the head of nile, or the turnings and windings of the factious since sixty, in a dialogue between whigg and barnaby_," london, . in this dialog, whigg, as might be expected, is the exponent of all manner of abominable opinions, whilst barnaby is represented as the supporter of orthodoxy. again, in the same year was published durfey's comedy, "_sir barnaby whigg_," the union of the two names indicating that the knight's opinions were entirely regulated by his interest. q.d. p.s. the pamphlet above alluded to affords another instance of the use of the word "factotum," at page .: "before the pope had a great house there, and became dominus factotum, dominus deus noster papu." _barnacles_.--in _speculum mundi, or a glass representing the face of the world_, by john swan, m.a., th edit., , is the following mention of the barnacle goose (pp. , .):-- "in the north parts of _scotland_, and in the places adjacent, called _orchades_, are certain trees found, whereon there groweth a certain kind of shell-fish, of a white colour, but somewhat tending to a russet; wherein are contained little living creatures. for in time of maturity the shells do open, and out of them by little and little grow those living creatures; which falling into the water when they drop out of their shells, do become fowls, such as we call _barnacles_ or _brant geese_; but the other that fall upon the land, perish and come to nothing." the author then quotes the passage from gerard where mention is made of the barnacle. henry kersley. _ancient alms-dishes_.--i have one of these dishes; diameter foot - / inches, and its height - / inch. the centre is plain, without any device, and separated from the circle of inscription by a bold embossed pattern. the inscription is _der infrid gehwart_, in raised (not engraved) capital letters, inch long, repeated three times in the circle. mine is a handsome dish of mixed metal; yielding, when struck, a fine sound like that of a gong. it has devices of leaves, &c. engraved on the broad margin, but no date. i have seen another such dish, in the collection of the late william hooper, esq., of ross, part of which (and i think the whole of the under side) had been enamelled, as part of the enamel still adhered to it. in the centre was engraved the temptation in eden; but it was without legend or date. p.h.f. _why the american aborigines are called indians_.--i have often wondered how the aborigines of america came to be called indians; and for a considerable time i presumed it to be a popular appellation arising from their dark colour. lately, however, i fell in with a copy of _theatrum orbis terrarum_. antwerp, , by abraham ortelius, geographer to the king; and, in the map entitled _typus orbis terrarum_. i find america called _america, sive india nova_. how it came to get { } the name of _india nova_ is of course another question, and one which at present i cannot answer. northman. [footnote : fleming; banishing? from _fleme_, a.s. to banish.] [footnote : "helleflight," as given in the translation, p. .] * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the arrangements for the _exhibition of works of ancient and mediæval art_ at the rooms of the society of arts in the adelphi, are proceeding most satisfactorily. her majesty and prince albert have manifested the interest they feel in its success, by placing at the disposal of the committee for the purposes of the approaching exhibition a selection from the magnificent collection of such objects which is preserved at windsor. messrs. puttick and simpson, of . piccadilly, will sell on thursday next, and five following days, the extensive and valuable library of a well known and eminent collector; comprising some very early printed books of extreme rarity, numerous french, spanish, and italian early romances, an extensive series of ancient italian books quoted by the _academia della crusea,_ ancient and modern books of travels, and oriental books and mss.; amongst which latter are the original mss. of the celebrated m. jules de klaproth. we have received the following catalogues:-- "a catalogue of scientific and mathematical books, comprising architecture, astrology, magic, chess, and other games; fine arts, heraldry, naval and military, numismatics, penmanship and short hand, typography, and miscellaneous books now selling at the reduced prices affixed by william brown, . and . old street, st. luke's, london." "catalogue (part i. feb. . ) of choise, useful and curious books in most departments of literature, on sale, at the very low prices affixed, by john russell smith, , old compton street, soho square." "william dobson reeves' catalogue of books (many rare and curious), now on sale at . chancery lane." "catalogue of very cheap books, chiefly divinity, with a selection of miscellaneous literature, on sale, for ready money, by t. arthur, no. . new oxford street." "a catalogue of fathers of the church, and ecclesiastical writers to the fifteenth century, arranged in chronological order, with collections, analyses and selections, illustrative and introductory works, and an alphabetical index of authors; on sale at the low prices affixed, for ready money, by c.j. stewart, . king william street, west strand." we had occasion in a former number (no. . p. ) to speak in terms of high and deserved praise of mr. stewart's "catalogue of bibles and biblical literature;" the present is no less deserving of commendation, in as much as it gives not only the fathers and ecclesiastical writers in chronological order, according to centuries (to each of which, by the way, mr. stewart affixes its distinctive character, apostolic, gnostic, &c., as given by cave); but also marking the precise period in which they severally flourished, so as to show their succession in each century. so that this catalogue, with its index, and its tempting quotations from cranmer and bishop hall, which we regret we have not room to quote, will really be most useful to all students of theology and ecclesiastical history. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos_.) glamorganshire pedigrees, from the mss. of sir isaac heard, knt. by sir thomas phillips, bart. . a little welsh account of the principality of wales. by d.t. first printed about the year . richards' (wm.) review of the memoirs of the protectural house of cromwell. by rev. mark noble. . hearne's richard ii.; to which is subjoined, sir richard wynne's narrative of his journey into spain. a letter to the right hon. sir charles long, on the improvement proposed and new carrying on in the western part of london, a pamphlet, vo. or . lord farnborough's pamphlet upon the improvement of westminster. published the latter end of , or january . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. we are again compelled, by want of space, to omit many articles that are in type; among others, one by mr. hampson, on _king alfred's geography of europe_; _extracts from accounts of st. antholin's_, the rev. dr. todd _on the etymology of armagh_; as well as many notes, queries, and replies; and our acknowledgments of communications received. we are for the same reason under the necessity of abridging our usual weekly notes on books, &c. r.m. jones, chesea. to the queries of this correspondent (no. . p. .), who inquired for the best treatise on the microscope, and where to purchase the most perfect instrument, we have received many replies, all agreeing in one point--namely, that mr. queckett's is the best work on the subject--but differing mostly as to who is the best maker. mr. jones is recommended to join the microscopical society, . regent street, where he will see some of the best-constructed and most valuable microscopes ever made; and then can make his choice. to correspondents inquiring as to the mode of procuring "_notes and queries_," we have once more to explain, that every bookseller and newsman will supply it regularly _if ordered_; and that gentlemen residing in the country, who may find a difficulty in getting it through any bookseller in their neighbourhood, may be supplied regularly with the _stamped_ edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher, mr. george bell., . fleet street, accompanied by a post office order, for a quarter, s. d.; a half year, s. d.; or one year, s. d. errata.--no. p. vol. l. ., dele full stop after gloss; same page, col. . lines , ., for "historia" read "historica," and for "herveio" read "heroico." p. . l. ., for "varieties" read "vanities." * * * * * just published, holy men of old; being short notices of such as are named in the calendar of the english church. demy mo. cloth, price s. poetry, past and present: a collection for every-day reading and amusement, by the editor of "church poetry" and "days and seasons." demy mo. cloth, price s. d.; or bound in morocco, s. d. john and charles mozley, . paternoster row; and joseph masters, . new bond street. * * * * * just published, gratis. scientific and mathematical books.--w. brown's catalogue of books, on the arts, sciences, and various branches of the mathematics, is just published, and may be had gratis on application, or by post on sending penny stamps. it includes many works on architecture, astrology, chess, and other games, the fine arts, heraldry, naval and military affairs, numismatics, penmanship, typography, &c. &c., marked at greatly reduced prices. london: w. brown, . and . old street. * * * * * vo., cloth, with illustrations, price s. d. chronicles of charterhouse. by a carthusian. "an effort of one of the carthusians who has recently left the walls of the school, and is creditable alike to his taste and industry."--_spectator_. "conceived in the spirit and after the rules of the old antiquary, but in its execution there are many signs of the earnest feeling of the modern ecclesiologist."--_ecclesiologist_. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * mo., cloth, s. d. thoughts on the relations of man to the external world. "a modest volume, containing an amount of thought and philosophy to which only a very elaborate analysis would do justice. it is a book of very high merit. we hope its reception will be such as to induce the author to continue it. its neglect would be a mark of the shallowness of the age and its indifference to serious subjects."--_guardian_. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * folio, price s. the choral responses and litanies of the united church of england and ireland. collected from authentic sources. by the rev. john jebb, a.m., rector of peterstow. the present work contains a full collection of the harmonized compositions of ancient date, including nine sets of pieces and responses and thirteen litanies, with a few of the more ancient psalm chants. they are given in full score, and in their proper cliffs. in the upper part, however, the treble is substituted for the "cantus" or "medius" cliff: and the whole work is so arranged as to suit the library of the musical student, and to be fit for use in the choir. memoirs of musick. by the hon. roger north, attorney general to james i. now first printed from the original ms., and edited with copious notes, by edward f. rimbault, ll.d., f.s.a., &c. &c. quarto; with a portrait; handsomely printed in to.; half-bound in morocco, s. this interesting ms., so frequently alluded to by dr. burney in the course of his "history of music," has been kindly placed at the disposal of the council of the musical antiquarian society, by george townshend smith, esq., organist of hereford cathedral. but the council, not feeling authorised to commence a series of literary publications, yet impressed with the value of the work, have suggested its independent publication to their secretary, dr. rimbault, under whose editorial care it accordingly appears. it abounds with interesting musical anecdotes; the greek fables respecting the origin of music; the rise and progress of musical instruments; the early musical drama; the origin of our present fashionable concerts; the first performance of the beggar's opera, &c. a limited number having been printed, few copies remain for sale; unsold copies will shortly be raised in price to £. s. d. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * exhibition of works of ancient and mediæval art * * * * * committee. president and chairman, h.r.h. prince albert, k.g., f.r.s., f.s.a. vice-presidents. the earl of enniskillen. right hon. sidney herbert, m.p. sir john p. boileau, bart., f.r.s. henry thomas hope, esq., m.p. the duke of bucclough, k.g. the duke of northumberland, f.r.s., f.s.a. the marquis of northhampton, f.r.s., f.s.a. the earl of jersey. the earl of ellesmere, f.s.a. the bishop of oxford, f.r.s., v.p.s.a. lord albert denison, m.p., k.c.h., f.s.a. hon. robert curzon, jun. hon. james talbot, m.r.i.a. sir philip de malpas grey-egerton, bart., m.p., f.r.s. the very rev. the dean of westminster, f.r.s. j.y. akerman, esq., sec. s.a. beriah botfield, esq., f.r.s., f.s.a. john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. henry cole, esq. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. william r. drake, esq., f.s.a. augustus w. franks, esq., b.a., hon. sec. henry farrer, esq. peter le neve foster, esq. m.a. edward hailstone. esq. f.s.a. m. rohde hawkins, esq. a.j. beresford hope, esq., m.p. rev. joseph hunter, f.s.a. h. bowyer lane, esq. hollingsworth magnise, esq. octavius s. morgan, esq. m.p., f.s.a. frederic ouvry, esq., f.s.a. james robinson planche, esq., f.s.a. samuel redgrave, esq. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a. edward smirke, esq., f.s.a. c. roach smith, esq., f.s.a. captain w.h. smyth, r.n., f.r.s., dir. s.a. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a. william tite, esq. f.r.s., f.s.a. john webb, esq. digby wyatt, esq. the above committee has been formed for the purpose of organizing an exhibition of works of ancient and mediÆval art. the society of arts having considered that such an exhibition is not only likely to be interesting to the public, but also to be especially useful to manufacturers (with reference to the exhibition of works of industry of all nations to be held in the year ), have placed a portion of their rooms at the disposal of the committee, and have agreed to adopt the exhibition as part of that annually made by the society, thereby taking all the expenses connected with it upon themselves. the committee, regarding the exhibition in the twofold character contemplated by the society of arts, have resolved that the objects of ancient and mediæval art of which the exhibition is to be composed, shall, as far as possible, be selected with reference to their beauty and the practical illustration which they are likely to afford of processes of manufacture; and now beg to invite the possessors of works deemed suitable for such an exhibition to assist the committee in their very important office, by entering into communication with them, respecting the nature of any objects which they may be willing to offer for exhibition. it is requested that all works proposed for exhibition be punctually sent to the rooms of the society of arts, john street, adelphi, on or before the th of february, it being imperative that the exhibition should open early in march. letters and communications should be addressed to augustus w. franks, esq. honorary secretary of the committee, society of arts, john street, adelphi. by order of the committee, augustus w. franks. hon. sec. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | transcriber's note: italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline characters_. greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildes~. hebrew transliterations appear | | like ¤this¤.| diacritical marks over characters are | | bracketed: [=x] indicates a macron over the letter, [(x] | | indicates a breve. archaic spellings have been retained. | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april, . . [price fourpence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page rigby correspondence isthmus of darien notes on several misunderstood words folk lore:--drills presaging death--beltane in devonshire--touching for king's evil gaffer or gammer, &c., by thos. keightley minor notes:--search for mss.--clifton of normanton --the three per cent. consols queries:-- wolves nursing children, by gilbert n. smith "the luneburg table"--queen elizabeth's love of pearls minor queries:--st. dominic--"will" and "shall" --sir john fleming--deal, how to stain--irish characters on the stage--arms on king robert bruce's coffin-plate--chaucer's prophetic view of the crystal palace--magistrates wearing their hats in court--derby municipal seal--sir josias bodley-- sir edwin sadler--the cross given by richard i. to the patriarch of antioch--lister family--family of abrahall, eborall, or ebrall--eulenspiegel: murner's visit to england--aged --annuellarius minor queries with answers:--boyer's "great theatre of honour and nobility"--list of bishops of norwich--"a letter to a convocation man"-- nicholas thane--churchwardens, qualification of-- sir john powell--s. n.'s "antidote," &c.--beads replies:-- broad arrow english comedians in the netherlands the sweet singers edmund spenser lamech killing cain, by francis crossley, &c. photographic notes and queries:--photographic notes--on some difficulties in photographic practice --mr. weld taylor's cheap iodizing process replies to minor queries:--somersetshire ballad-- family of de thurnham--major. general lambert-- loggerheads--grafts and the parent tree--the lisle family--the dodo in ceylon--thomas watson, bishop of st. david's, to --etymology of fuss --palindromical lines--nugget--hibernis ipsis hiberniores --the passame sares (mel. passamezzo) galliard--swedish words current in england--gotch --passage in thomson: "steaming"--the word "party"--curious fact in natural philosophy--lowbell --life and correspondence of s. t. coleridge-- coniger, &c.--cupid crying--westminster assembly of divines, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. rigby correspondence. [we are enabled, by the kindness of their possessor, to lay before our readers copies of the following characteristic letters from the well-known richard rigby, esq., who was for so many years the leader of the bedford party in the house of commons. they were addressed to robert fitzgerald, esq., a member of the house of commons in ireland, and judge of the court of admiralty in that country.] _mr. rigby to mr. r. fitzgerald._ woburn abbey, wednesday, th dec., . dear little bob, i am impatient to know if you had resolution enough to attend his excellency last sunday, as i advised, and if you had, what was the result of the audience.... i arrived here last night, and find the duke and duchess, marquis and marchioness, all in perfect health. with my love to the provost[ ], tell him the chancellorship answers the intention to the utmost of his desire: we are wonderfully pleased with it. tell him also that i do not find the defalcation amongst our friends to be as was represented in dublin. stanley is not, but has refused to be, ambassador to berlin; lord north is not, but has refused to be, vice-treasurer. the parliament meets on tuesday: the ministers of the house of commons, who are to be rechose, can get nobody who is in parliament to read the king's speech for them at the cockpit the night before. they, i believe, are in a damned dilemma: how much that makes for us time must show. cooper is bribed to be secretary of the treasury, by l. a-year for his life, upon the - / per cents, in the leeward islands, the same that pitt's pension is upon. he remains for the present, however, at bath. calcraft will run cooper hard at rochester, against both admiralty and treasury. wish col. draper joy for me of his red riband: he will have it next week with mitchell, who returns to the { } king of prussia. the poor young prince cannot live. i have time for no more. adieu, yours ever, r. r. i expect to hear fully from you very shortly. * * * st. james's place, st feb., . dear little bob, though you are a little villain for never sending me a word of news from sir lucius pery, flood, lucas, and the rest of the friends to your enslaved country, yet i will inform you that yesterday, in the house of commons, upon a question of no moment, only for fixing a day for the hearing a contested election, the ministry were run within : the numbers and . twenty rats in the speaker's chamber, and in all the cupboards in the neighbourhood. monday next is the day for deciding the american question; and do not be surprised if there is an end of the present ministry in less than a week. as soon as i know who are to be their successors, you shall hear from me again. if you are in want of such another patriot to second lucas, pitt is at your service. he seems likely to want a place. yours ever, r. r. * * * st. james's place, th nov., . dear little bob, i have not wrote to you this age, nor have i anything very pleasant to say to you now. our parliament is met in a very acquiescing disposition. the opposition is sickly, and my great friend, who would naturally give it most strength and energy, is tired of it as much as he is of the court. lord chatham seems, by all that has yet appeared, to have adopted all grenville's plan of pacific measures; and as he formerly told us he had borrowed a majority, he seems now to have borrowed a system. the world has it, that we are joined to the ministry, and, as matters stand, i wish there was more truth in that report than there is; but i have not the smallest expectation of a place, i assure you. tell this or not, as you like. the duke of bedford says he sees no ground to oppose upon: he disapproves of mere factious opposition; that no good can arise from such conduct either to ourselves or the public. i have been at the house only the first day, nor do i know when i shall go again. i cannot stomach giving my silent approbation to conway's measures, be they good or bad. in this damned situation of affairs you will not expect i should write long letters; but i could not avoid giving you a hint to let you know the true state of things. adieu, my dear friend. yours ever, r. r. * * * st. james's place, nd may, . dear bob, the east india business is in a way of being settled,-- , l. to be paid by the company for three years, and no addition of term to be given for their charter. it remains for the general court of proprietors to consent to this next wednesday, which, if they do, the parliament will confirm it on friday. we had some good warm talk upon it yesterday in the house. conway and beckford and i sparred a good deal, and i am vain enough to think i did not come off with the worst of it. conway said, _inter alia_, that lord chatham's health was too bad to have any communication of business. the world seems to agree that he is mad, and his resignation is talked of,--god knows with what truth. the american business is next tuesday. i do not see much prospect of a junction taking place where i have been labouring for it. we remain upon civil terms with each other, and no more.... my heart's love to all friends in dublin: tell them it is every day more and more my opinion that this lieutenant never means to set his foot in that kingdom, and i have good reasons for what i say. adieu, my dear little fellow. i am ever yours, r. r. * * * st. james's place, th may, . dear fitz, i have received your several letters, and am much obliged to you for them. i wish i could send you something real in the political way, as you call it, in return; but there is as little reality as stability in our politics. dyson has carried his persecuting bill against the east india company through the house of commons, in spite of the secretary of state and chancellor of the exchequer, both of whom helped us to make up a miserable minority of against . charles went at one o'clock in the morning, when the house was up, to dinner with a set of our friends, at sir lau. dundass's, and there talked a big language of resigning the seals the next day. the next day came, and we rallied the majority upon this state of independence with great success, both charles himself, wedderburn, and i; and he invited himself, charles i mean, to dine with us again that day at lord gower's. again the same language of resignation; but the spirit has subsided since, and we hear no more of it. if conway and he will take such usage, the court will certainly let them keep their places; for where can it find better tools? the east india company pursue the bill, with the council and evidence, to the house of lords, where matters run much nearer; for on the same day we were so beat in the house of commons, lord gower's motions in the house of lords, touching america, were rejected only by a majority of { } three, two of which were the king's brothers. the duke of york was absent. if we should succeed in that house, so as to reject this bill, possibly the ministry may break to pieces; otherwise i rather think it will hobble lamely on, through the summer, with universal discontent attending it. chatham is certainly as ill as ever; and, notwithstanding all reports to the contrary, lord holland has not been sent to by the court. he is arrived at his house in kent, and comes, but of his own accord, to town to the birthday. on that day, the clerks, watts, and i go down to lynch's for five or six days: i wish you was of the party. it would have been very kind indeed in mr. harvey, the six-clerk, to have tipped so soon. your lord lieutenant says he is to go. god help the poor man if he does. i am sorry for your account of the disorders in the college. i do not like anything that may throw reflexion on andrews, and i will press him to come homewards. adieu, my dear bob. most faithfully yours, r. r. * * * pay office, nd may, . dear bob, after i wrote to you last saturday morning, i went to the house, where i found a petition presented from fifteen tailors or tinkers, freeholders of middlesex, against lutterell. the opposition wanted a call of the house for wednesday fortnight. we insisted on hearing it next monday, and divided against . this business retards the prorogation till this day or to-morrow se'nnight: but we are adjourned till monday; so nothing but hearing this nonsense remains. wilkes' stock falls very fast every day, and upon this measure there was such difference of opinion amongst his friends, that sawbridge and townsend would not attend on saturday. serjeant whitacre has desired to be lutterell's counsel gratis, in order to deliver his opinion at the bar of the house on the legality of lutterell's seat; and says he shall insist, if the house should be of opinion that lutterell is not duly elected, that he himself is, as having been next upon the poll of those who were capable of receiving votes. no news yet of your secretary. some people are impatient to hear his report of the state of parties, and their several dispositions to support government, on your side the water. he must certainly be a most competent judge, after so long a residence there, and after such open and frank discourse as every man there would naturally hold with him upon critical matters. some better judges than him, lately arrived from ireland, make no scruple in declaring there will be a majority of forty against the castle at the opening the session. adieu, my dear little bob: my love to the provost. yours ever, r. r. p.s.--i shall get the journals of the house of commons for you certainly. * * * lawford, saturday evening, th nov., . dear little bob, it would be ungrateful in the present company here not to take some notice of you, just as they had finished the last bottle of an excellent hogshead of burgundy, which you sent into my cellar, i believe, seven years ago. what has come since we will avoid mentioning. a few bottles, however, of the former were reserved for the divine charlotte, and she, and caswell, and i have this day finished them; and the last glass went off to your health. sister charlotte wishes you public and private happiness during this bustling winter, and hopes that you are not determined to forsake the english part of your family for ever. i received your letter of the th here two days ago, and should most undoubtedly desire you to send me your votes, if i had not already engaged my old friend at the secretary's office to do it; but i beg early intelligence of your parliamentary proceedings, about which i am very anxious. i do not believe there is the smallest foundation for believing that junius is wedderburn. i had, a few days ago, great reason to guess at the real junius: but my intelligence was certainly false; for sending to inquire in a more particular manner, i discovered the person hinted at to be dead. he was an obscure man; and so will the real junius turn out to be, depend upon it. are shannon and ponsonby and lanesborough still stout against augmentation? or must the friends to the measure form a plan that they like themselves? a letter from colonel hall, of the th regiment, this evening, informs me that general harvey is come from ireland, and is very impatient to see me: if his business is to consult me upon the utility of this military plan, i am already fully convinced of it: but nobody knows less than i do how to get it through your house of commons,--i only hope by any means rather than a message from the king. perhaps the measure is taken, and i am writing treason against the understanding of our own ministers. god forbid! but i do not approve of letting down the dignity and power of the chief governors of ireland lower than they are already fallen, to quarrel with a mountebank at a custard feast. adieu, my dear little fellow. yours ever, most sincerely, r. r. [footnote : t. andrews, provost of trin. col., dublin.] * * * * * isthmus of darien. as public attention is now much directed to the canal across the isthmus of darien, one end of which is proposed to communicate with the harbour which was the site of the ill-fated attempt { } at colonisation by the scotch about years ago, the subjoined extract, giving an account of that harbour, by (apparently) one of the scotch colonists, may be interesting to your readers. it is taken from a paper printed in _miscellanea curiosa_, vol. iii. p. ., nd edit., entitled "part of a journal kept from scotland to new caledonia in darien, with a short account of that country, communicated [to the royal society] by dr. wallace, f.r.s.": "the th [november] we came into the great harbour of caledonia. it is a most excellent one; for it is about a league in length from n.w. to s.e. it is about half a mile broad at the mouth, and in some places a mile and more farther in. it is large enough to contain sail of ships. the greatest part of it is landlocked, so that it is safe, and cannot be touched by any wind that can blow the harbour; and the sea makes the land that lies between them a peninsula. there is a point of the peninsula at the mouth of the harbour that may be fortified against a navy. this point secures the harbour, so that no ship can enter but must be within reach of their guns. it likewise defends half of the peninsula; for no guns from the other side of the harbour can touch it, and no ship carrying guns dare enter for the breastwork at the point. the other side of the peninsula is either a precipice, or defended against ships by shoals and breaches, so that there remains only the narrow neck that is naturally fortified; and if thirty leagues of a wilderness will not do that, it may be artificially fortified in twenty ways. in short, it may be made impregnable; and there are bounds enough within it, if it were all cultivated, to afford , hogsheads of sugar every year. the soil is rich, the air good and temperate; the water is sweet, and every thing contributes to make it healthful and convenient." c. t. w. * * * * * notes on several misunderstood words. _mechal_ is from the mint of thomas heywood; but, like many other words of the same stamp, it continued a private token of the party who issued it, and never, as far as i am aware, became current coin. four times, at least, it occurs in his works; and always in that sense only which its etymon indicates, to wit, "adulterous." in his "challenge for beauty:" "... her own tongue hath publish'd her a _mechall_ prostitute." dilke's _old english plays_, vol. vi. p. . in his "rape of lucrece:" "... that done, straight murder one of thy basest grooms, and lay you both grasp'd arm in arm in thy adulterate bed, men call in witness of that _mechall_ sin." _old english drama_, vol. i. p. . --where the editor's note is--"probably derived from the french word _méchant_, wicked." in his "english traveller:" "... yet whore you may; and that's no breach of any vow to heaven: pollute the nuptial bed with _michall_ sin." dilke's _old english plays_, vol. i. p. . this misprint the editor corrects to _mickle_: professing, however, as he well might, distrust of his amendment. nares discards dilke's guess, and says, "if a right reading, it must be derived from _mich_, truant, adulterous." whereby to correct one error he commits another, assigning to _mich_ a sense that it never bears. if haply any doubt should remain as to what the true reading in the above passage is, a reference to heywood's _various history concerninge women_ will at once assoil it. in that part of his fourth book which treats of adulteresses (p. .), reciting the very story on which his play was founded, and calling it "a moderne historie lately happening, and in mine owne knowledge," he continues his narrative thus: "with this purpose, stealing, softly vp the stayres, and listening at the doore, before hee would presume to knocke, hee might heare a soft whispering, which sometimes growing lowder, hee might plainely distinguish two voyces (hers, and that gentleman's his supposed friend, whom the maide had before nominated), where hee might euidently vnderstand more than protestations passe betwixt them, namely, the _mechall_ sinne itselfe." mr. halliwell, in his compilation of _archaic and provincial words_, gives _mechall_, wicked, adulterous, with a note of admiration at dilke's conjecture; and a reference to nares, in v. _michall_. mr. h. neither adduces any authority for his first sense, "wicked," nor can adduce one. _to lowt_, to mock or contemn. a verb of very common occurrence, but, as might be expected, quite unknown to the commentators on shakspeare, though its meaning was guessed from the context. as it would be tedious and unnecessary to write all the instances that occur, let the following suffice: "to the holy bloud of hayles, with your fyngers and nayles, all that ye may scratche and wynne; yet it woulde not be seen, except you were shryven, and clene from all deadly synne. there, were we flocked, _lowted_ and mocked; for, now, it is knownen to be but the bloud of a ducke, that long did sucke the thrifte, from every degre." "the fantassie of idolatrie," foxe's _acts and monuments_, vol. v. p. . (cattley's edition.) "pride is it, to vaunt princely robes, not princely virtues. pride is it to _lowte_ men of lower sort or pore { } lasers, as is some men's guise."--_the third booke of nobilitye_; writte in latine by laurence humfrey, late englished, . "among serving men also, above all other, what wicked and detestable oaths are there heard! if there be any of that sort which fear god, and love his word, and therefore abstain from vain oaths, how doth his company _lout_ him! look what an ass is among a sort of apes, even the very same is he among his fellows."--_the invective against swearing_, p. .; works of thomas becon (parker society). samson was accounted of the philistines for a fool, but he would rather die than suffer that opprobry unrevenged (judic. xvi.). "david was _lowted_ of michol saul's daughter, but she was made therefore barren all her life."-- reg. vi. and same page, a little _above_: "he that calleth his brother fool, that is to say, contemn him, mock him, or, as men call it now-a-days, _lowting_ of a man, committeth such murder as is worthy hell-fire and eternal damnation."--_a declaration of the ten commandments_, ch. ix. p. .; early writings of bishop hooper (parker society). "renowned talbot doth expect my ayde, and i am _lowted_ by a traitor villaine and cannot help the noble cheualier." the first part of _henry vi._, actus quartus, scena prima (first folio shakspeare). where i would note, by the way, that in three copies of the folio , now by me, it is printed "_at_ traitor," although two of these folios have different title-pages; that which appears to be the later impression bears under the portrait these words: "london, printed by thos. cotes, for robert allot, and are to be sold _at his shop_ at the signe of the blacke beare, in paul's church-yard, ." the other wants the words "at his shop," as described in mr. collier's edition. the mention of mr. collier's name is a hint that reminds me to advertise him of a mistake he lies under, in supposing that the duke of devonshire's copy of the play of _king richard ii._ in to., dated , is unique (_vid._ collier's _shakspeare_, vol. iv. p. ., introduction); as there is another in the philosophical institute at hereford, presented by the late edward evans, esq., of eyton hall, in the same county. but to return. mr. halliwell, in his work above quoted, furnishes another instance of the verb _lowt_, from hall's _history of king henry iv._, which the reader may consult for himself. i will merely add, that the interpretation there propounded is plausible but unsound, the context only giving aim to his conjecture. (_to be continued._) * * * * * folk lore. _drills presaging death._--in norfolk, agricultural labourers generally believe that if a drill go from one end of a field to the other without depositing any seed--an accident which may result from the tubes and coulters clogging with earth--some person connected with the farm will die before the year expires, or before the crop then sown is reaped. it is a useful superstition, as it causes much attention to be paid to make the drill perform its work correctly. still it is remarkable that such a superstition should have arisen, considering the recent introduction of that machine into general use. i should be glad to learn from other readers of "n. & q." whether this belief prevails in other parts of england where the drill is generally used. e. g. r. _beltane in devonshire._--seeing that the ancient superstition of the beltane fire is still preserved in scotland, and is lighted on the st of may, the origin of which is supposed to be an annual sacrifice to baal, i am induced to state that a custom, evidently derived from the same source, is, or was a few years since, annually observed in the wild parts of devonshire. at the village of holne, situated on one of the spurs of dartmoor, is a field of about two acres, the property of the parish, and called the ploy (_play_) field. in the centre of this stands a granite pillar (menhir) six or seven feet high. on may morning, before daybreak, the young men of the village assemble there, and then proceed to the moor, where they select a ram lamb (doubtless with the consent of the owner), and after running it down, bring it in triumph to the ploy field, fasten it to the pillar, cut its throat, and then roast it whole, skin, wool, &c. at midday a struggle takes place, at the risk of cut hands, for a slice, it being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year on the fortunate devourer. as an act of gallantry, in high esteem among the females, the young men sometimes fight their way through the crowd to get a slice for their chosen amongst the young women, all of whom, in their best dresses, attend the _ram feast_, as it is called. dancing, wrestling, and other games, assisted by copious libations of cider during the afternoon, prolong the festivity till nightfall. the time, the place (looking east), the mystic pillar, and the ram, surely bear some evidence in favour of the ram feast being a sacrifice to baal. an old holne curate. _touching for king's evil._--the following passage bearing upon the custom of touching for the king's evil, and its antiquity, is extracted from laing's translation of snorro sturleson's _heimskringla_. king olaf the rich, afterwards saint, had fled to russia on being driven out of his kingdom by { } knut the great. ingigerd, queen of russia, desired a widow to take her son, who "had a sore boil upon his neck," to king olaf, "the best physician here, and beg him to lay his hands on thy lad." the king was unwilling to do so, saying that he was not a physician; but at last consented: "then the king took the lad, laid his hands upon his neck, and felt the boil for a long time, until the boy made a very wry face. then the king took a piece of bread, laid it in the figure of the cross upon the palm of his hand, and put it into the boy's mouth. he swallowed it down, and from that time all the soreness left his neck, and in a few days he was quite well.... then first came olaf into the repute of having as much healing power in his hands as is ascribed to men who have been gifted by nature with healing by the touch." laing asks in a note: "is the touching for the king's evil ... connected with this royal saint's healing by the touch?"--_the heimskringla_, vol. ii. p. ., vo.: london, . de camera. * * * * * gaffer or gammer, etc. these two venerable words were used by our ancestors. every one has heard of gammer gurton; gaffer gingerbread was also famous in, as well as i can remember, a portion of the literature which amused my childhood. in _joseph andrews_, fielding styles the father of pamela "gaffer andrews:" and, for aught i know, the word may be still in use in wilts and somerset. unde derivantur _gaffer_ and _gammer_? lye said they were _quasi_ good-father and good-mother; somner, that they were the anglo-saxon _gefæder_ and _gemeder_, i. e. godfather and godmother; webster derives the former from the hebrew _geber_, man, the latter from the scandinavian _gamel_, old. having a fondness for simplicity, i go less learnedly to work. i have observed little children, when commencing to speak, to say "ganpa" and "gamma" for grandpapa and grandmamma: whence i conjecture that, in the olden time, ere we had pa's and ma's, the little aspirants used to say "ganfa'er" and "gamma'er," which easily became _gaffer_ and _gammer_. i am confirmed in this view by a friend to whom i mentioned it, and who told me that his own children always called his father _gaffer_, a word entirely of their own formation. there is a term now coming a little into use, which is i believe of pure irish origin, namely, _old fogie_. indeed, i have heard it used rather disrespectfully of those mature old warriors, whom it pleases the wisdom of our government to send out in the command of our fleets and armies. the word, as i said, is of irish, or rather of dublin birth. the _old fogies_ are the inmates of the royal or old men's hospital, the irish chelsea. i think, then, that it must be plain to every one that the term is nothing more than a good-humoured corruption or diminutive of _old folks_. this leads me to the simple origin of a word which seems to have posed all our etymologists--it has done so to richardson at least--namely, "pettifogger, a low, tricky attorney." according to my view, _pettifogger_ is neither more nor less than _pettifolker_, i. e. one whose practice lies among the _petty folk_, small tradesmen, day-labourers, and such like. this derivation, too, has simplicity in its favour. thos. keightley. * * * * * minor notes. _search for mss._--a proposal was made some time ago in "n. & q." by mr. mackenzie, that some systematic effort should be made for the recovery of ancient mss. i have heard nothing more of it, but am sure that, if a beginning were made, it would receive warm support from the friends of literature. there is, however, a kindred search which can be prosecuted nearer home, with more certain success and more important results. i mean a continued search among the numerous mss. in which so much of our unknown history is buried. might not a systematic examination of these be instituted, with the help of the "division of labour" principle, so that important portions of the great mass should be accurately described and indexed, valuable papers abridged for publication, and thus given to the world entire? much is being done, no doubt, here and there; but surely much more would be accomplished by united and systematised labour. how much light might be thrown on a given period of our history by such a study of all the records, correspondence, &c. relating to it. is there none of our existing societies within whose scope such an undertaking would fall, or might not different societies unite for the purpose? the books, of course, should be sold to the public. i leave the hint to the judgment of your readers. elsno. _clifton of normanton._--following the excellent example of dr. todd, of trin. coll. dublin, i send you from the fly-leaves of an old english bible (c. barker, london, , small to.), for the information of any one connected, some of the particulars inscribed on the leaves, relating to-- "thomas clifton of normanton, in the county of darby, who had issue by his first wife three sonnes and four daughters; and by his second wife, two sonnes and one daughter." the names of his wives are not mentioned. the details of births, marriages, and deaths extend from to , and some of the branches of { } the family went to rotterdam and amsterdam, and newcastle-upon-tyne. zachary clifton was at the universities of utrecht and leyden (at which latter university "hee co[=m]enct m'r. of arts, march , "), and in was ordained minister of the gospel at wisborough green in sussex. many other particulars are given. the bible is in the library of sir robert taylor's institution, oxford, and is in excellent preservation, having been recently carefully repaired. j. m. oxford. _the three per cent. consols._--in jerdan's _autobiography_, vol. iii., published in , we read this anecdote: "at a city dinner, so political that the three consuls of france were drunk, the toast-master, quite unacquainted with bonaparte, cambacères, and lebrun, hallooed out from behind the chair, 'gentlemen, fill bumpers! the chairman gives the three per cent. consols!'" in _merrie england in the olden time_, vol. ii. p. . (published ten years before), will be found the following note: "this eminent professor (toast-master toole), whose sobriquet is 'lungs,' having to shout the health of the 'three present consuls,' at my lord mayor's feast, proclaimed the health of the 'three per cent. consols!'" the _latter_ version is the _correct_ one. it was the three foreign consuls who were present among this annual gathering of grandees that was given; not bonaparte, cambacères, and lebrun. the after-dinner organ of toole might easily, on hearing the toast, mistake "present" for "per cent.," and "consuls" (in the city, too) for "consols." a subscriber. * * * * * queries. wolves nursing children. at the meeting of the cambrian archæological society, lord cawdor in the chair, i read a letter on this subject from the resident at lucknow, colonel sleeman, to whom india is indebted for the suppression of thuggee, and other widely extended benefits. though backed by such good authority, the letter in question was received with considerable incredulity, although colonel sleeman represents that he has with him one of these wolf-nurtured youths. since reading the letter, i have received from the colonel's brother a more full account, printed in india, and containing additional cases, which i should have no objection to print in the pages of "n. & q." in the meantime, further information from indian experience, where mothers so often expose their children, would be thankfully received. i appended my letter, for want of a better opportunity, and at the request of several members, to a paper on the doctrine of the myth, read at the time; observing, that if the account is credible, perhaps niebuhr may have been precipitate in treating the nurture of the founders of rome as fabulous, and consigning to the myth facts of infrequent occurrence. there is both danger and the want of philosophy in rejecting the marvellous, merely as such. nor is the invention of lupa, for the name of the mother of the roman twins, by any means satisfactory. may not the mysteries of lycanthropy have had their origin in such a not infrequent fact, if col. sleeman may be trusted, as the rearing of infants by wolves? gilbert n. smith. the rectory, tregwynfrid, tenby, s. w. * * * * * "the luneburg table."--queen elizabeth's love of pearls. in the _travels_ of hentzner, who resided some time in england in the reign of elizabeth, as tutor to a young german nobleman, there is given (as most of your readers will doubtless remember) a very interesting account of the "maiden queen," and the court which she then maintained at "the royal palace of greenwich." after noticing the appearance of the presence-chamber,--"the floor, after the english fashion, strewed with hay,"--the writer gives a descriptive portrait of her majesty. he states,-- "next came the queen, in her sixty-fifth year, as we were told, very majestic; her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled; her eyes small, but black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked; her lips narrow, and her teeth black (a defect the english seem subject to, from their too great use of sugar). she had in her ears two _pearls_, with very rich drops.[ ] she wore false hair, and that red." { } then comes the passage to which i beg to call especial attention, and on which i have to invite some information: "upon her head a small crown, _reported to be made of some of the gold of the celebrated luneburg table_." what was this table? the work from which i quote (_recollections of royalty_, vol. ii. p. .) has a note hereon, merely remarking that, "at this distance of time, it is difficult to say what this was." if, anything, however, can be gleaned on the subject, some of the readers of "n. & q." in some one of the "five _quarters_" of the world will assuredly be able to answer this query. j. j. s. middle temple. p.s.--since the above was written, i find that elizabeth's christening gift from the duchess of norfolk was a cup of gold, fretted with _pearls_; that noble lady being (says miss strickland) "completely unconscious of the chemical antipathy between the acidity of wine and the misplaced pearls." elizabeth seems thus to have been rich in those gems from her infancy upwards, and to have retained a passionate taste for them long after their appropriateness as ornaments for her had ceased. [footnote : with respect to the rich pearl earrings above mentioned, it may not be uninteresting to remark, that elizabeth seems to have been particularly fond of pearls, and to have possessed the same taste for them from youth to even a later period than "her sixty-fifth year." the now faded wax-work effigy preserved in westminster abbey (and which lay on her coffin, arrayed in royal robes, at her funeral, and caused, as stowe states, "such a general sighing, groaning, and weeping, as the like hath not being seen or known in the memory of man") exhibits large round roman _pearls_ in the stomacher; a carcanet of large round _pearls_, &c. about her throat; her neck ornamented with long strings of _pearls_; her high-heeled shoe-bows having in the centre large _pearl_ medallions. her earrings are circular _pearl_ and ruby medallions, with large pear-shaped _pearl_ pendants. this, of course, represents her as she dressed towards the close of her life. in the tollemache collection at ham house is a miniature of her, however, when about twenty, which shows the same taste as existing at that age. she is here depicted in a black dress, trimmed with a double row of _pearls_. her point-lace ruffles are looped with _pearls_, &c. her head-dress is decorated in front with a jewel set with _pearls_, from which three pear-shaped _pearls_ depend. and, finally, she has large _pearl_-tassel earrings. in the henham hall portrait (engraved in vol. vii. of miss strickland's _lives of the queens of england_), the ruff is confined by a collar of _pearls_, rubies, &c., set in a gold filagree pattern, with large pear shaped _pearls_ depending from each lozenge. the sleeves are ornamented with rouleaus, wreathed with _pearls_ and bullion. the lappets of her head-dress also are adorned at every "crossing" with a large round _pearl_. her gloves, moreover, were always of white kid, richly embroidered with _pearls_, &c. on the backs of the hands. a poet of that day asserts even that, at the funeral procession, when the royal corpse was rowed from richmond, to lie in state at whitehall,-- "fish wept their eyes of _pearl_ quite out, and swam blind after," doubtless intending, most loyally, to provide the departed sovereign with a fresh and posthumous supply of her favorite gems!] * * * * * minor queries. _st. dominic._--was st. dominic, the founder of the dominican order, a descendant of the noble family of the guzmans? machiavelli wrote a treatise to prove it; but in the _biographie universelle_ it is stated (i know not on what authority) that cardinal lambertini, afterwards benedict xiv., having summoned that lawyer to produce the originals, machiavelli deferred, and refused at last to obey the order: and further, that cuper the bollandist wrote on the same subject to some learned men at bologna, who replied that the pieces cited in machiavelli's dissertation had been forged by him, and written in the old style by a modern hand. a bookworm. _"will" and "shall."_--can you refer me to any grammar, or other work, containing a clear and definite rule for the distinctive use of these auxiliaries? and does not a clever contributor to "n. & q." make a mistake on this point at vol. vi., p. ., st col., th line? w. t. m. hong kong. _sir john fleming._--what was the coat of arms borne by sir john fleming, or le fleming, of st. george's castle, co. glamorgan, a.d. ? where is it to be found sculptured or figured? and does any modern family of the name of fleming, or le fleming, claim descent from the above? caret. _deal, how to stain._--i should be much obliged if some one of your correspondents would inform me what is the best composition for giving plain deal the appearance of oak for the purpose of church interiors? c. winton. _irish characters on the stage._--could any of your correspondents inform me of the names of any old plays (besides those of shadwell) in which irishmen are introduced? and which of the older dramatists have enrolled this character among their _dramatis personæ_? was shakspeare an irishman? philobiblion. _arms on king robert bruce's coffin-plate._--can any of your heraldic readers give me any information as to whom the arms found on king robert bruce's coffin-plate in belonged? they are a cross inter four mullets pierced of the field. they are not the arms given in nisbet to the families of bruce; neither does sir. wm. jardine, in his report to the lords of the exchequer on the finding of the king's tomb, take any notice of them further than to mention their discovery. alexander carte. _chaucer's prophetic view of the crystal palace_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "chaucer it seems drew continually, through lydgate and caxton, from guido di colonna, whose latin _romance of the trojan war_ was, in turn, a compilation from dares, phrygius, ovid, and statius. then petrarch, boccacio, and the provençal poets, are his benefactors; the _romaunt of the rose_ is only judicious { } translation from william of lorris and john of meun; _troilus and creseide_, from lollius of urbino; _the cock and the fox_, from the lais of marie; _the house of fame, from the french or italian_: and poor gower he uses as if he were only a brick-kiln or stone quarry, out of which to build his house."--_representative men; shakspeare or the poet_, by r. w. emerson. from what sources in the french or italian is "the house of fame" taken? and ought not an attack on chaucer's claim to be the original author of that beautiful poetical vision to be grounded, especially by an american, on some better evidence than bare assertion? an oxford b. c. l. _magistrates wearing hats in court._--what authority is there for magistrates wearing their hats in a court of justice, and is it an old custom? parvus homo. west chillington, hurst, sussex. _derby municipal seal._--what is the origin and meaning of the "buck in the park," on the seal now in use at the town hall, derby?* b. l. [* edmondson gives the arms, as painted in the town hall, as "ar. on a mount vert, a _stag_ lodged within park-pales and gate, all proper. the seal, which is very ancient, has not any park-pales; and the stag is there represented as lodged in a wood."--ed.] _sir josias bodley._--was sir josias bodley, as stated by harris in ware's _writers of ireland_, a younger brother of sir thomas bodley, the founder of the bodleian library? who did sir josias bodley marry; where did he live after his employment in ireland ceased, and where did he die? any information relating to him and his descendants will be most gratefully received. y. l. _sir edwin sadler._--in the appendix to the _cambridge university commission report_, p. ., we find that nothing is known of sir e. sadler, the husband of dame mary sadler, foundress of the "algibræ" lectures in that university. can any of your correspondents throw any light on this? p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _the cross given by richard i. to the patriarch of antioch._--the "hero of acre," sir sidney smith, received from the hands of the archbishop of cyprus, in the name of a grateful people, a cross of which the tradition was, that it had been given by king richard coeur de lion to the patriarch of antioch, when he went to palestine on the third croisade. this gift was preserved by sir sidney with the care due to a relique so venerable in its associations; and it was bequeathed by him to the convent of the order of st. john of jerusalem, at paris, as successors of the templars, from whose order it originally came. he directed that it should be worn by the grand masters in perpetuity. in the biographical memoirs of sir sidney smith, published a few years ago, the cross is stated to be preserved in the house of the order at paris. perhaps some member of the order residing there would take the trouble to give some description of this interesting relique, and would say whether its style and character are consistent with the tradition of its antiquity? i am not at all acquainted with the evidence on which the tradition rests; but any particulars relating to such a relique must be interesting to the countrymen of the illustrious admiral, and would much oblige his godson, wm. sidney gibson. newcastle-on-tyne. p.s.--_apropos_ of sir sydney smith, may i be allowed to suggest that, in the decoration of _the st. jean d'acre_, recently launched, some personal _souvenir_ might be introduced that would visibly connect his memory with the stately vessel whose name commemorates the scene of his greatest victory. _lister family._--in a communication relating to major-general lambert (vol. vii, p. .), lord braybrooke mentions his marriage with frances, daughter of sir william lister, of thornton in craven. i imagine that this lady was sister to sir martin lister, physician to king charles i., of whose (sir martin's) descendants i shall be glad of any information. sir martin lister married susanna, daughter of sir alexander temple, widow of sir gifford thornhurst. this lady, by her first husband (thornhurst), had issue a daughter, who married mr. jennings, and became the mother of three celebrated women; of whom one was sarah, duchess of marlborough, wife of the great duke. had sir martin lister any issue by her? and, if so, can their descendants be traced? mr. lister, of burwell park, lincolnshire, is probably descended from sir martin (if he left issue), or is of kin to him, through dr. martin lister, physician to queen anne, who, if not a son or grandson, was certainly his nephew. my mother's great-grandmother was a lister, a daughter of dr. martin lister. any information through the pages of "n. & q." will be appreciated. r. b. a. walthamstow, essex. _family of abrahall, eborall, or ebrall._--i shall be obliged if any of your readers can give me some information relative to this family, or refer me to any work containing an account of it, more particularly as regards the first settlers in england. the arms are--azure, three hedgehogs or. quÆrist. _eulenspiegel--murner's visit to england._--are any of your correspondents acquainted with the history and literature of the german tales { } which go under the name of _till eulenspiegel_? i am searching to find out which are the english translations, but have only succeeded to trace two. the oldest is a very curious black-letter volume in small to. in the british museum, c. . c/ , formerly in the possession of mr. garrick, as appears from bishop percy ("dissertation on the origin of the british stage," _reliques_, vol. i. p. ., ed. ). it is entitled, "here begynneth a merye jest of a man that was called howleglas, and of many marucylous thinges and jestes that he dyd in his lyfe, in eastlande and in many other places." colophon: "imprynted at london in tamestrete at the vintre on the thre craned wharfe by wylliam copland." of the second i have only a reference of the title: _the german rogue, or the life of till eulenspiegel_, . i am also anxious to learn whether there are any more notices about the visit of thomas murner, the author of the german _eulenspiegel_, in england, besides that in a letter of thomas more to cardinal wolsey in the _state papers_, vol. i. p. . ~alpha~. _aged ._--when your correspondents were all in a state of excitement about the old countess of desmond, i ventured to ask for proof that some person had, within the age of registers, insurance offices, and legal proof, ever lived to , or even to within twenty or thirty years of that age. no answer was given, no such proof offered; all our clever actuaries were silent. the newspapers now report one such mitigated case: "_singular longevity._--the irish papers announce the recent death of mrs. mary power, widow of j. power, esq., and aunt of the late right hon. r. l. sheil, at the ursuline convent, cork, at the advanced age of years." if this story be true, there can be no difficulty in proving it. the lady was not an obscure person, whose antecedents are unknown. will some one connected with the ursuline convent, or mr. sheil's family, obligingly tell us where the lady was born, and produce the register of her birth--give us, in brief, _legal_ evidence that she was born in the year . a. i. _annuellarius._--can any of your numerous readers inform me what the meaning of the word _annuellarius_ is? it occurs in a section of the constitutions of one of our cathedral churches: "item, quod nullus quicq' sit qui aliqui alii servit nisi tantum ep[=i] servus sit, in vicarior' choralium annuellarior' vel choristarum numerum in eccl[=i]a cath. ... deinceps eligatur." p. s. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _boyer's "great theatre of honour and nobility,"_ to. london, .--at the end of the preface to this work, a copy of which is in my possession, the following advertisement occurs: "although this volume exceeds by one-fourth part the number of sheets proposed for subscription, nevertheless it shall be delivered to the subscribers without enhancing the price; and their coats of arms shall be inserted in the second volume; as well as theirs who shall purchase this, provided thay take care to send them, with their blazon, to any one of the booksellers named in the title-page." i want to know whether boyer ever published this second volume; and shall be much obliged to any correspondent of "n. & q." who will enlighten me on the subject. s. i. tucker. [only the first volume has been published. according to the original prospectus, now before us, the work was to have made two volumes, divided into six parts. so that the volume of , consisting of three parts, is half of what boyer originally proposed to publish.] _list of bishops of norwich._--where can i find a list of the bishops of norwich, with their coats of arms, from an early date? caret. [in blomefield's _history of norfolk_, edit. , fol., vol. ii. pp. - .] "_a letter to a convocation man._"--who, i am desirous of knowing, was the author of _a letter to a convocation man, concerning the rights, powers, and privileges of that body_, published about , which occasioned wake's book of _the authority of christian princes over their ecclesiastical synods asserted_? atterbury says, in the preface of his _rights, powers, and privileges of an english convocation_: "if at least i were not prevented by some abler hand, particular by the author of that letter which first gave rise to this debate; and who, it was expected, would have appeared once more upon it, and freed what he had advanced from all exceptions." w. fraser. [according to the bodleian catalogue, it was written by sir bartholomew shower; but we have seen it attributed to william binkes, the prolocutor to the convocation of .] _nicholas thane._--dr. browne willis, in his _history of the town of buckingham_, published london, , says (p. .): "about the year , as we are told in the _peerage of england_, in the account of the earl of pomfret's family, his ancestor richard fermour of easton neston in northamptonshire, esq., had his estate seized on and taken away from him upon his having incurred a _præmunire_, by relieving one nicholas thane, an obnoxious popish priest, who had been committed a close prisoner to the gaol in the town of buckingham." can any of your readers inform me what crime or offence this "obnoxious priest" had been guilty of, as to be committed a "close prisoner;" and that { } richard fermour, esq., who had relieved him during his incarceration, should, for this apparently simple act of charity, have incurred a _præmunire_, for which he was subjected to so heavy a fine as the forfeiture of his estate? i should be glad of any further particulars respecting him, or to be referred to any work in which an account of him is recorded; and also to be informed by whom the _peerage of england_, quoted by dr. willis, was compiled, when published, and whether it contains a more copious account of this reprehensible ecclesiastic. arthur r. carter. camden town. [richard fermor was a merchant of the staple at calais, and having acquired a considerable fortune, located himself at easton neston, co. northampton. being a zealous romanist he refused to conform to the reformed faith, and thus rendered himself obnoxious to the court; and being accused of administering relief to nicholas thane, formerly his confessor, who was then a prisoner in buckingham castle for denying the supremacy of the king, he was committed to the marshalsea in july, , and was afterwards arraigned in westminster hall, though nothing could be proved against him, except that he had sent d. and a couple of shirts to the imprisoned priest. he was adjudged to have incurred a _præmunire_, whereby all his lands and goods became forfeited, and the rapacious monarch enforced the sentence with the most unrelenting severity. see baker's _hist. of northamptonshire_, vol. ii. p. .; collins's _peerage_, edit. brydges, vol. iv. p. .; and lipscomb's _buckinghamshire_, vol. ii. p. .] _churchwardens, qualification of._--can any of your correspondents give the title and price of any work which will define the qualifications requisite for filling the office of churchwarden? the case on which the question has arisen is that of a country parish divided into two townships, each township naming a warden. one of these is a dissenter, and seldom or never attends church; the other is said not to be a householder. both of these are, by many of the parishioners, considered ineligible, owing to these circumstances. should any one send the required information, you would oblige by allowing it to appear in the next number of "n. & q.," where it would be sure to be seen, and thankfully acknowledged by b. b. f. f. t. t. [our correspondent will find the required information in prideaux's _churchwarden's guide_, th edit. , price s., who has devoted sect. ii. "to the persons liable to be chosen to the office of churchwarden, and the persons disqualified and exempt from serving that office." (pp. - .) consult also cripps's _practical treatise on the law relating to the church and the clergy_, vo. , pp. - ., price s.] _sir john powell._--in vol. vii., p. ., of "n. & q." is an inquiry respecting sir john powell, and an answer given, in which there must surely be some mistake, or there must have been two sir john powells. i beg to give the following extract from britton's _history and antiquities of the abbey church of gloucester_: "a full-length marble statue, in judicial robes, erected by john snell, esq., to the memory of his uncle, judge powell, who in represented this city, his native place, in parliament. he was successively a justice of common pleas and the king's bench, and was one of the judges who tried the seven bishops, and joined in the declaration against the king's dispensing power. for this, james ii. deprived him of his office, july , ; but william iii. created him, first a baron of the exchequer, then a judge in the common pleas, and on june , , advanced him to the king's bench, where he sat till his death, june , ." i will add, that on the floor near the above monument are inscribed the names, &c., of various members of his family. sir john powell is traditionally said to have lived at an old house called wightfield in this county, which certainly belonged, at one time, to the above john snell, who had married the judge's niece, and from whose descendants it was purchased by the grandfather of the present possessor. allow me to ask, by-the-bye, if the place, as spelt in your paper, should not be langharne, or more correctly still, llangharne? f. s. gloucestershire. [there were not only two, but three judges of the name of powell, who were cotemporaries, viz.-- . sir john powell, mentioned in "n. & q." (vol. vii., p. .), whose burial-place should have been printed llangharne, as our correspondent suggests. he was made a judge of the common pleas on april , , and a judge of the king's bench on april , . he was removed on june , , on consequence of the resolution he displayed on the trial of the seven bishops; but was restored to the bench, as a judge of the common pleas, in may, , and continued to sit till his death in . . sir thomas powell became a baron of the exchequer on april , , and was transferred into the king's bench in june, , to take the seat there left vacant by the removal of the above sir john powell. he himself was removed in may, . . sir john powell, or, as he was then called, john powell, junior, was made a baron of the exchequer on november , , removed into the common pleas on october , , and into the king's bench in june, , where he sat till his death in . he it was who was buried at gloucester. britton has evidently, as chalmers and noble had done before him, commingled and confused the histories of the two sir johns.] _s. n.'s "antidote," &c._--i have just purchased an old book, in small quarto, of which the title is-- "an antidote or soveraigne remedie against the pestiferous writings of all english sectaries, and in { } particular against dr. whitaker, dr. fulke, dr. bilson, dr. reynolds, dr. sparkes, and dr. field, the chiefe upholders, some of protestancy, some of puritanisme; divided into three parts, &c., &c., &c. by s. n., doctour of divinity. permissu superiorum, mdcxv." who is the author s. n., and what other particulars are known respecting it? lewis kelly. leeds. [sylvester norris is the author. there is an edition published in , to.] _beads._--when was the use of beads, for the purpose of counting prayers, first introduced into europe? c. w. g. [for the repose of a bishop, by wilfrid's _canons of cealcythe_, a.d. , can. x., seven belts of paternosters were to be said; the prayers being numbered probably by studs fixed on the girdle. but st. dominic invented the rosary, which contains ten lesser beads representing ave marias, to one larger standing for a paternoster.] * * * * * replies. broad arrow. (vol. iv., p. .) with reference to my note, ascribing a celtic origin to this symbol, i have just met with somewhat of a curious coincidence, to say the least of it. in richardson's _travels in the sahara, &c._, vol. i. p. ., speaking of the camel, he says: "the camels have all public and private marks, the former for their country, the latter for their owner; and, strange enough, the public mark of the ghadames camel is the english broad r." &c. [arrow, he should have said.] now, the celtic [symbol: arrow pointing up] (as before mentioned) is typical of superior holiness, &c. &c.; and it is singular that a city of marabouts (saints or holy men, such as the ghadamsee are described to be) should have adopted this symbol as their public (or government) mark. the population of ghadames is a strange medley of arabs, touaricks, negroes, half-breeds of all kinds, &c., and whence their claim to superior sanctity does not appear. that celtic tribes once sojourned in northern africa is attested by druidical remains in morocco and elsewhere. mr. richardson mentions the frequent occurrence of pyramidal stones in the sahara, incidentally, without specifying whether they are rocks _in sitû_, or supposed to be the work of man's hand. the language of ghadames is one of the berber dialects; and according to mr. urquhart (_pillars of hercules_, vol. i. p. .), these, or some of them, are said to contain so much of the celtic element, that highlanders from the garrison of gibraltar, and the natives about tangier, can mutually understand each other. the above, however, are mere speculations; and i would suggest that, previous to further research as to the origin of the broad arrow, it would be as well to ascertain how long it has been used as "the king's mark." i should incline to believe that the earliest mark upon government stores was the royal cipher--er (with a crown above) perhaps. on old guns of henry viii. and elizabeth, we find the rose and crown, but no broad arrow; more frequently elizabeth's bear her cipher. a few articles i have seen of william iii. are stamped with [symbol: wr, no space between letters] (with a crown above): no broad arrow. nor do i remember having ever seen it upon anything older than george iii. this, however, is a question which may interest some gentleman of the ordnance department, and induce him to make research where success is most likely to reward his trouble, viz. in the tower, in the royal arsenal at woolwich, or amongst the ancient records in the ordnance office; for i presume there be such. p. c. s. s. (vol. iv., p. .) says that "he always understood" the broad arrow represented the "pheon" in the arms of the sydney family; but, as he quotes no authority, we are at liberty to doubt the adoption and perpetuation of a bearing appertaining to any particular master-general of ordnance as a "king's mark," howsoever illustrious or distinguished he might be. a. c. m. exeter * * * * * english comedians in the netherlands. (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) returning to this question, i will communicate a few extracts from the gerechtsdagboeken (minutes of the council) of the city of leyden:-- _sept. , ._--"die van de gerechte opt voorschryven van zÿne ex'e en versouc van jan woodtss, engelsman, hebben toegelaten ende geconsenteert dat hy geduyrende deze aenstaende jaermarct met zyn behulp zal mogen speelen zeecker eerlick camerspel tot vermaeckinge van der gemeente, mits van yder persoen (comende om te bezien) nyet meer te mogen nemen nochte genyeten dan twaelf penn., ende vooral betaelen tot een gootspenning aen handen van jacob van noorde; bode metter roede, vier guld. om ten behouve van de armen verstrect te worden." _translation._ the magistrates, on the command of his excellence, and on the request of john woodtss, an englishman, have permitted and consented that he, with his company, during the approaching fair, may play certain decent pieces for the amusement of the people, provided he take no more than twelve pennings from each person coming to see, and, above all, pay to jacob van noorde four guilders, to be applied to the use of the poor. { } and again: _jan. , ._--"op't versouck aen die van de gerechte gedaen by de engelsche comedyanten om te mogen spelen: staet geappostilleert. die van de gerechte deser stadt leyden gesien in haer vergaderinge opt raedthuys der voors. stede, de _favorable brieven_ van recommandatie ende testimoniael vanden _forst_ van _brandenburch_ van de x augustij des jaers xvi'c vier, mitsgaders t consent by zyne ex'ie van _nassau_ verleent den xxij decembris laest verleden, es disponerende opt versouc int blanc van dezen, hebben voor zoo veel in hem is, de engelsche commedianten ende musicyns toonders in dezen, conform haer versouc toegelaten binnen deser stede te mogen spelen en haer consten doen ouffenen ende vertoonen ter gewoenlycke plaetse te weten opten groten hoff onder de bibliotecque, dewelcke hem toonders mits dezen ten eynde voorseyt, belast wert te werden ingeruymt, ende dit al voor den tyt van veertien dagen eerstcomende, en mits, voor den jegenwoordige _gracieuse toelatinge_, gevende ten behouve van de gemeene huysarmen dezer stede een somme van twaelf gulden van xl groot tstuck. aldus, gedaen opten vi january xvi'c e[=n] vyff. my jegenwoordich en is get. j. van hout." _translation._ on the request to the magistrates of the english comedians to be allowed to perform, was decided: the magistrates of this city of leyden, having seen in their assembly in the town-house of the aforesaid city, the favourable letters of recommendation and testimonial of the prince of brandenberg of the th aug., , as well as the consent granted by his excellence of nassau, the nd of dec. last, have permitted the english comedians and musicians, according to their request, to perform and exercise and exhibit their arts in the accustomed place, namely, in the great court under the library; and this for the space of fourteen days, provided they, for this _gracious_ permission, give twelve guilders of forty groats a-piece to the poor of this city. done on the th jan., . me present; and signed "j. van hout." elsevier. constanter has communicated the following lines of g. a. brederode, confirming the statements of heywood and tieck: "ick mach soo langh oock by geen reden-ryckers zijn: want dit volckje wil steets met allen menschen gecken, en sy kunnen als d'aep haer afterst niet bedecken; sy seggen op haer les, soo stemmigh en soo stijf, al waer gevoert, gevult met klap-hout al haer lijf! waren 't _de engelsche_, of andere uytlandtsche die men hoort singen, en soo lustigh siet dantse dat sy suyse-bollen, en draeyen als een tol: sy spreken 't uyt eaer geest, dees leeren 't uyt een rol. 't isser weer na (seyd ick) als 't is, sey eelhart schrander, dat verschil is te groot, besiet men 't een by 't ander! d'uytheemsche die zijn wuft, dees raden tot het goedt, en straffen alle het quaet bedecklelijck en soet." _translation._ to stay with rhetoricians i've no mind: the fool they'll play with men of every kind, and, like the ape, exhibit what's behind. with gests so stiff their lesson they repeat, you'd swear with staves their bodies were replete! heard you the _men_ from merry _england_ sing? saw you their jolly dance, their lusty spring? how like a top they spin, and twirl, and turn? and from the heart they speak--ours from a roll must learn.... --_from the navorscher._ * * * * * the sweet singers. (vol. v., p. .) a. n. asks for some historical notices of the above fanatics: as he may not be satisfied with timperley's meagre allusion, allow me to refer him to the _memoirs of the lord viscount dundee_: london, . the author of this, "an officer of the army," speaking of the stiff-necked presbyterians, says: "at this time ( ), about thirty of these deluded people left their families and business, and went to the hills, where they lived in rocks and caves for some weeks. john gib, sailor in borrowstowness, walter ker, in trafritham, ---- gemmison, in linlithgow, were their chief leaders. they called themselves the _sweet singers_ of israel, eat nothing that there was salt in or paid tax to the king, blotted the name of king out of their bibles, and cohabited all together. when a party of dragoons took them at the ouffins, in tweeddale, they were all lying on their faces, and jumped up in a minute, and called out with an audible voice, that god almighty would consume the party with fire from heaven, for troubling the people of god. on the road, as they went to edinburgh, when any of their relations or acquaintances came to visit them, they spit at them, and threw themselves on their faces, and bellowed like beasts, whereof his highness (the duke of york, then in scotland) being informed, ordered them immediately to be set at liberty." a more detailed account of these gibbites will be found in the curious presbyterian biographies "collected by, and printed for patrick walker, in the bristo-port of edinburgh," the early part of last century. in that entitled "some remarkable passages in the life, &c. of mr. daniel cargill:" mo. edin. , a. n. will find the original story of the crazy skipper and his band of "three men and twenty-six women," whom worthy mr. cargill endeavoured unsuccessfully to reclaim. from this it would appear that the _sweet singers_ went far greater lengths than above described, and that gib, after the dispersion of his followers, took himself off to america, "where," says the aforesaid patrick, "he was much admired by the blind { } indians for his familiar converse with the devil." for the further information of your correspondent, i would add that walker's account of the gibbites is very well condensed in that more accessible book _biographia scoticana_, better known as the _scots worthies_, where the deluded gib figures under the head of "god's justice exemplified in his judgments upon persecutors." j. o. * * * * * edmund spenser. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. f. f. spenser published the results of his researches relative to spenser in the _gentleman's magazine_ for august, ; and towards the end of his communication promised to record "many further interesting particulars," through the same medium, but failed to do so. mr. craik has made special reference to mr. f. f. spenser's paper in a little work upon which he must have bestowed a vast deal of labour, and which contains the completest investigation of all that has been discovered concerning the life, works, and descendants of the poet that i have met with: i refer to _spenser and his poetry_: by george l. craik, m.a.: vols. london, . the appendix to vol. iii., devoted to an account of the descendants of spenser, among other interesting matter, contains the history of the family descended from sarah spenser, a sister of edmund spenser, which is still represented. to which i may add that spenser's own direct descendants are living in the city of cork, and, i regret to say, in reduced circumstances. this should not be. a pension might well be bestowed on the descendants of spenser, the only one of our four great poets whose posterity is not extinct. j. m. b. tunbridge wells. i have read with much curiosity and surprise a paragraph engrafted into "n. & q." (vol. vii., p. .) from _the times_ newspaper, june , , announcing that a mr. f. f. spenser, of halifax, had ascertained that the ancient residence of his own family, at hurstwood, near burnley, lancashire, was the identical spot where the great elizabethan poet, edmund spenser, is said to have retired, when driven by academical disappointments to his relations in the north of england. i confess all this appears to me very like a hoax, there is such a weight of negative testimony against it. dr. whitaker, the learned historian of whalley, describes hurstwood hall as a strong and well-built old house, bearing on its front, in large characters, the name of "barnard townley," its founder, and that it was for several descents the property and residence of a family branched out from the parent stock of townley, in the person of john townley, third son of sir richard townley, of townley--died sept. . his son, barnard townley, died , and married agnes, daughter and coheiress of george ormeroyd, of ormeroyd, who died . it must be remembered that hurstwood is in the immediate neighbourhood of dr. whitaker's ancient patrimonial estate of holme; and he must have been familiar with all the traditionary history of that locality. yet he is silent on this subject, and does not allude either to the occasional residence of the poet spenser in those parts, or to the family of spensers, who are stated in this paragraph to have resided at hurstwood about four hundred years. clivigee. * * * * * lamech killing cain. (vol. vii., p. .) sir john maundeville says: "also, seven miles from nazareth is mount cain, under which is a well; and beside that well lamech, noah's father, slew cain with an arrow. for this cain went through briars and bushes, as a wild beast; and he had lived from the time of adam, his father, unto the time of noah; and so he lived nearly two thousand years. and lamech was blind for old age."--_travels_, chap. x., bohn's _early travels in palestine_, p. . to which is appended the following note by mr. thomas wright, the editor: "this legend arose out of an interpretation given to gen. iv. , . see, as an illustration, the scene in the _coventry mysteries_, pp. . . zeus. j. w. m. will find this question discussed at length in the _dictionnaire de bayle_, art. "lamech," and more briefly in _pol. synopsis criticorum_, gen. iv. . the subject has been engraved by lasinio in his _pitture a fresco del campo santo di pisa_ (tom. xvii.), after the original fresco by buonamico buffalmacco, whose name is so familiar to readers of the _decameron_. f. c. b. bayle relates this legend in his account of lamech as follows: "there is a common tradition that lamech, who had been a great lover of hunting, continued the sport even when, by reason of his great age, he was almost blind. he took with him his son, tubal-cain, who not only served him as a guide, but also directed him where and when he ought to shoot at the beast. one day, as cain was hid among the thickets, lamech's guide seeing something move in that place, gave him notice of it; whereupon lamech shot an arrow, and slew cain. he was extremely concerned at it, and beat his guide so much as to leave him dead upon the place." one of the frescos of the campo santo at pisa gives the whole subject, from the offering of abel's and cain's sacrifice, to the death of the young man { } by the hand of lamech, painted by pietre da orvieto about . in one corner of the fresco, cain is depicted as a wild and shaggy figure, crouched in a thicket, at which lamech, at the suggestion of his guide, shoots an arrow. below, the homicide is represented as murdering the cause of his error by blows on the head inflicted with his bow. cheverells. the following note upon the name of lamech may perhaps serve to throw a little light upon the difficult passage in genesis iv. , .--_lamech_, in celtic _lamaich_, or _laimaig_, means a slinger of stones; and lamech being dextrous in the use of that weapon the sling, wantonly slew two young men, and boasted of the bloody deed to his two wives, adah and zillah, blasphemously maintaining that as cain for one murder should be avenged sevenfold, so he, for his wanton act, would be avenged seventy and seven fold upon whoever should slay him. it may be considered strange that the name of lamech should be celtic, and that it should signify a slinger; but i am strengthened in my opinion by reference to the hebrew alphabet, in which the letter _l_ is called _lamed_; but why it is so named the hebrews cannot say. now, if any one examines the hebrew ¤lamed¤ he will perceive that it is by no means a rude representation of a human arm, holding a sling with a stone in it. the word _lamech_ is derived from _lam_, the hand; and the termination signifies dexterity in shooting or discharging missiles therewith. it is curious to notice that the remaining names in the passage of scripture are celtic: thus cain is compounded of _cend_, first, and _gein_, offspring,--pronounced _kayean_, _i. e._ first begotten. adah means a fair complexioned, red-haired woman; and zillah, peace, from _siotlad_, pronounced _shieta_. francis crossley. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _photographic notes._--g. h. p. has communicated (vol. vii., p. .) a very excellent paper in reference to our numerous failures in the collodion process; but the remedies he proposes are not, as he is aware, infallible. he gives the recommendation you find in every work on the subject, viz. to lift the plate up and down in the bath to allow evaporation of ether. i have made experiments day after day to ascertain the value of this advice, and i am convinced, as far as my practice goes, that you gain nothing by it; indeed, i am sure that i much oftener get a more even film when the plate is left in the bath for about two minutes without lifting it out. i should be glad of other photographers' opinion on the point. i have never found any benefit, but much the contrary, from re-dipping the plate in the bath; and i may observe the same of mixing a drop or two of silver solution with the developing fluid. i think with g. h. p. that the developing solution should be weak for positives. i omitted, in my description of a new head-rest, to say that it is better to have all the parts in metal; and that the hole, through which the arm runs, should be a square mortice instead of a round one, as is usual. a screw at the side sets it fast; the lower portion of the upright piece being round, and sliding up and down in a tube of metal, as it does in the best rests, allowing the sitter to be placed in different positions. all this is very difficult to describe, but a slight diagram would explain it easily, which i would willingly, as i have before said, send to any one thinking it worth writing to me for. j. l. sisson. edingthorpe rectory. _on some difficulties in photographic practice._--being desirous to have a glass bath for the silver, i was glad to find you had given (in "notices to correspondents") directions for making one, viz. two parts best red sealing-wax to one part of jeffries' marine glue. i tried this, but found the application of it to the glass impossible, as it set immediately. now, can you afford room for the means by which this may be remedied; as my wish to substitute glass for gutta percha remains? now i am addressing you, may i offer one or two hints which may be of service to beginners? if, after what has been considered a sufficient washing of the glass, after the hypo., during the drying, crystals from hypo. remaining appear, and which would most certainly destroy the picture, i have found that by _breathing well_ over these parts, and immediately repeating the washing, all ill effects are thoroughly prevented. to substitute hot water instead of breathing does not destroy the hyposulphite, and therefore will not do. when the plate shall be dry after the washing process, if a leaden, dim, grey appearance occurs, i have found that by tenderly rubbing it with fine cotton, and applying with a good-sized camel's hair pencil a varnish of about - ths spirits of turpentine and - ths mastic varnish, and then, before this gets dry, putting on the black varnish, the grey effect will have been removed. i have found the protonitrate of iron, as also the protosulphate, and not seldom the pyrogallic, so difficult of application, that i have stained and spoiled very good pictures. i have therefore used, and with perfect success, a tray of gutta percha a little longer than the glass (say one-fourth of an inch), and one-fourth of an inch deep; sliding from one end the glass into the tray (supplied immediately before using it), by which means the glass is all covered at once. i think the rev. mr. sisson's suggestion, viz. to send you some of our specimens with collodion, { } a very proper one, if not declined on your own part, and shall, for one, feel great pleasure in acting in accordance with it. you will, i trust, pardon any foregoing hints for beginners, as i well know that i have lost several pictures by hypo-crystals, and very many by the difficulty in developing. l. merritt. maidstone. p.s.--i always find collodion by dr. diamond's formula capital, and with it from five to ten seconds is time enough. _mr. weld taylor's cheap iodizing process._--i have no doubt mr. weld taylor will be kind enough to explain to me two difficulties i find in his cheap iodizing process for paper. in the first place, whence arises the caustic condition of his solution, unless it be through the decomposition of the cyanide of potassium which is sometimes added? and if such caustic condition exists, does it not cause a deposition of oxide of silver together with the iodide, thereby embrowning the paper? why does the caustic condition of the solution require a larger dose of nitrate of silver, and does not this larger quantity of nitrate of silver more than outbalance the difference between the new process and the old, as regards price? i pay s. d. for an ounce of iodide of potassium of purest quality; the commoner commercial quality is cheaper. f. maxwell lyte. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _somersetshire ballad_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "go vind the vicar of taunton deane," &c. s. a. s. will find the above in _the aviary, or magazine of british melody_, a square volume published about the middle of last century; or in a volume bearing the running title--_a collection of diverting songs, airs, &c._, of about the same period--both extensive depôts of old song; the first containing , and the last, as far as my mutilated copy goes, extending to nearly pages quarto. j. o. _family of de thurnham_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to ~theta~. i send a few notes illustrative of the pedigree, &c. of the de thurnhams, lords of thurnham, in kent, deduced from dugdale, public records, and ms. charters in my possession, namely, the ms. rolls of combwell priory, which was founded by robert de thurnham the elder; from which it appears that robert de thurnham, who lived tempore hen. ii., had two sons, robert and stephen. of these, robert married joan, daughter of william fossard, and died john, leaving a daughter and sole heir isabel, for whose marriage peter de maulay had to pay marks, which were allowed him in his accounts for services rendered to the crown. stephen, the other son, married edelina, daughter of ralph de broc, and, dying circiter john, was buried in waverley abbey, surrey. he seems to have left five daughters and coheirs; viz. mabilia, wife of ralph de gatton, and afterwards of thomas de bavelingeham; alice, wife of adam de bending; alianore, wife of roger de leybourne; beatrice, wife of ralph de fay; and alienore, wife of ralph fitz-bernard. dugdale and the combwell rolls speak of only four daughters, making no mention of the wife of ralph fitz-bernard; but an entry on the fine rolls would seem almost necessarily to imply that she was one of the five daughters and coheiresses. if not a _daughter_, she was in _some way_ coheiress with the daughters; which is confirmed by an entry in _testa de nevill_: and, by a charter temp. edw. i., i find roger de northwood, husband of bona fitz-bernard, in possession of the manor of thurnham, with every appearance of its having been by inheritance of his wife. with this explanation, i have ventured to include alianore, wife of ralph fitz-bernard, as among the daughters and coheiresses of stephen de thurnham. the issue of all of these marriages, after a few years, terminated in female representatives--among them the great infanta juliana de leybourne--mingling their blood with the denes, towns, northwoods, wattons, &c., and other ancient families of kent. i have two beautiful seals of sir stephen de thurnham temp. john,--a knight fully caparisoned on horseback, but not a trace of armorial bearings on his shield; nor, in truth, could we expect to find any such assigned to him at that early period. l. b. l. _major-general lambert_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--lambert did not survive his sentence more than twenty-one years. his trial took place in , and he died during the hard winter of . the last fifteen years of his life were spent on the small fortified island of st. nicholas, commonly called drake's island, situated in plymouth sound, at the entrance to the hamoaze. lambert's wife and two of his daughters were with him on this island in . (see "n. & q.," vols. iv. and v.) j. lewelyn curtis. _loggerheads_ (vol. v., p. .; and vol. vii., pp. - .).--your correspondent cambrensis, whose communication on this subject i have read with much interest, will excuse my correcting him in one or two minor points of his narrative. the little wayside inn at llanverres, rendered famous by the genius of the painter wilson, is still standing in its original position, on the _left_-hand of the road as you pass through that village to ruthin. woodward, who was landlord of the inn at the time wilson frequented it, survived his friend about { } sixteen years, leaving six children (two sons and four daughters), none of whom however, as cambrensis surmises, succeeded him as landlord. his widow shortly afterwards married edward griffiths, a man many years her junior, and who, at the period cambrensis alludes to, and for a lone time previous, was "mine host" of the "loggerheads." griffiths died about three years ago, after amassing a large property by mining speculations in the neighbourhood. there are, i believe, several fine paintings by wilson in the new hall of colomendy, now the residence of the relict of col. garnons. the old house, where wilson lived, was taken down about thirty years ago, to make way for the present structure. t. hughes. chester. _grafts and the parent tree_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to j. p. of this town, i beg to say that the belief, that "the graft perishes when the parent tree decays," is merely one among a host of superstitions reverently cherished by florists. the fact is, that grafts, after some fifteen years, wear themselves out. of course there cannot be wanting many examples of the almost synchronous demise of parent and graft. from such cases, no doubt, the myth in question took its rise. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _the lisle family_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--mr. garland's query has induced me to inquire, through the same channel, whether anything is known about a family of this name, some of whom are buried at thruxton in hampshire. there are four monuments in the church, two of which are certainly, the others probably, erected to members of the family. the first is a very fine brass (described in the oxford _catalogue of brasses_), inscribed to sir john lisle, lord of boddington in the isle of wight, who died a.d. . the next in date, and i suppose of much the same period, is an altar-tomb under an arch, which seems to have led into a small chantry. on this there are no arms, and no inscription. the tomb is now surmounted by the figure of a crusader, which once lay outside the church, and is thought to be one of the lisles, and the founder of the original church. on the north side of the chancel two arches looked into what was once a chantry chapel. in the eastern arch is an altar-tomb, once adorned with shields, which are now torn off. this chantry stood within the memory of "the oldest inhabitant;" but it was pulled down by the owner of the land appertaining to the chantry, and of its materials was built the church tower. one of its windows forms the tower window, and its battlements and pinnacles serve their old purpose in their new position. a modern vestry occupies part of the site of the chantry, and shows one side the altar-tomb i have last mentioned. this side has been refaced in jacobian style, and the arms of lisle and courtenay, and one other coat (the same which occur on the brass), form part of the decoration. two figures belonging to this later work lie now on the altar-tomb, and many more are remembered to have existed inside the chantry. the mixture of this late jacobian work with the old work of the chantry is very curious, and can be traced all over what remains of it. the initials t. l. appear on shields under the tower battlements. i should be glad to find that these lisles would throw any light on the subject of mr. garland's inquiry; and if they do not, perhaps some of your readers can give some information about them. the coat of arms of this family is--or, on a chief gules, three lioncels rampant of the first. r. h. c. _the dodo in ceylon_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the bird which sir j. emerson tennent identifies with the dodo is common on ceylonese sculpture. the natives say it is now extinct, and call it the _hangsiya_, or sacred goose; but whether deemed sacred for the same reason as the capitoline goose, or otherwise, i must leave the author of _eleven years in ceylon_ to explain, he being the person in this country most conversant with ceylonese mythology. i now wish to call sir emerson's attention to a coincidence that may be worthy his notice in connexion with his forthcoming work on ceylon. if he will take the trouble to examine the model of the parthenon, in the elgin marble room of the british museum, he cannot fail, to be struck with its resemblance to the beautiful building he visited at polonaroowa, called the jaitoowanarama. the dimensions of the respective buildings i cannot at present ascertain; but the ground-plans are precisely similar, and each was roofless. but the most striking resemblance is in the position and altitude of the statues: that of the gigantic bhoodho is precisely similar, even in the posture of the right arm and hand, to that of minerva, the masterpiece of phidias. on consulting his notes, he may find the height of the statues to correspond. that of phidias was thirty-nine feet. ol. mem. ju. glen tulchan. _thomas watson, bishop of st. david's, - _ (vol. vii., p. .).--this harshly-treated prelate died at great wilbraham, near cambridge, on june , , æt. eighty years; and, from a private letter written at the time, seems to have been buried in haste in the chancel of that church, "but without any service," which may perhaps imply that there was not a funeral sermon, and the ordinary ceremony at a prelate's burial. it is, however, { } intimated that he died excommunicated. in paulson's _history of holderness_ is a notice of bishop watson, and of his relatives the medleys, who are connected with my family by marriage; but the statement that the bishop "died in the tower" is incorrect (vol. i. part ii. p. .; vol. ii. part i. p. .; part ii. p. ., to., - ). f. r. r. milnrow parsonage. he died in retirement at wilburgham, or wilbraham, in the county of cambridge, june , , ætat. eighty.--see gough's _camden_, vol. ii. p. ., and _gentleman's magazine_, vols. lix. and lx. bishop gobat was born in , at cremine, in the perish of grandval, in switzerland. his name is not to be found in the list of graduates of either oxford or cambridge. his degree of d. d. was probably bestowed on him by the archbishop of canterbury. tyro. dublin. _etymology of fuss_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "fuss, _n. s._, a low, cant word, dr. johnson says. it is, however, a regularly-descended northern word: sax. >fus<, prompt, eager; su. goth. and cimbr. _f u s_, the same; hence the sax. >fysan<, to hasten, and the su. goth. _f y s a_, the same."--todd's _johnson_. richardson gives the same etymology, referring to somner. webster says, "allied, perhaps, to gr. ~physaô~, to blow or puff." zeus. a reference to the word in todd's _johnson's dictionary_ will show, and i think satisfactorily, that its origin is _fus_ (anglo-saxon), prompt or eager; hence _fysan_, to hasten. the quotation given is from swift. c. i. r. _palindromical lines_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the sotadic inscription, "~nipson anomÊma mÊ monan opsin~," is stated (_gentleman's magazine_, vol. xl. p. .) to be on a font at sandbach in cheshire, and (_gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxiii. p. .) to be on the font at dulwich in surrey, and also on the font at harlow in essex. zeus. _nugget_ (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., pp. . .).--furvus is persuaded that the word _nugget_ is of home growth, and has sprung from a root existing under various forms throughout the dialects at present in use. the radical appears to be _snag_, _knag_, or _nag_ (_knoge_, cordylus, cf. _knuckle_), a protuberance, knot, lump; being a term chiefly applied to knots in trees, rough pieces of wood, &c., and in its derivatives strongly expressive of (so to speak) misshapen _lumpiness_. every one resident in the midland counties must be acquainted with the word _nog_, applied to the wooden ball used in the game of "shinney," the corresponding term of which, _nacket_, holds in parts of scotland, where also a short, corpulent person is called a _nuget_. so, in essex, _nig_ signifies a piece; a _snag_ is a well-known word across the atlantic; _nogs_ are ninepins in the north of england; a _noggin_ of bread is equivalent to a _hunch_ in the midland counties; and in the neighbourhood of the parret and exe the word becomes _nug_, bearing (besides its usual acceptation) the meaning of _knot_, _lump_. this supposed derivation is by no means weakened by the fact, that miners and others have gone to the "diggins" from parts at no great distance from the last-mentioned district; and we may therefore, although the radical is pretty generally diffused over the kingdom, attribute its better known application to _them_. it is no objection that the word, in many of its forms, is used of rough pieces of _wood_, as instances show that it merely refers to a _rudis indigestaque moles_ characteristic of any article in question. furvus. st. james's. _hibernis ipsis hiberniores_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this, which is no doubt the proper form, will be found in southey's _naval history of england_, vol. iv. p. ., applied to "those of old english race who, having adopted the manners of the land, had become more irish than the irishry." the expression originally was applied to these persons in some proclamation or act of parliament, which i think is quoted in the _history of england_ in lardner's _cabinet cyclopædia_: but that work has so bad an index as to make it very difficult to find any passage one may want. probably southey would mention the source whence he had it, in his collections for his _naval history_ in his commonplace book. e. g. r. _the passame sares (mel. passamezzo) galliard_ (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .).--will you allow me to correct a mistake into which both the correspondents who have kindly answered my questions respecting this galliard seem to have fallen, perhaps misled by an ambiguity in my expression? my inquiry was not intended to refer to _galliards in general_, the tunes of which, i am well aware, must have been very various, but to this _one_ galliard in particular; and was made with the view of ascertaining whether the air is ever played _at the present day_ during the representation of the second part of _king henry iv._ c. forbes. temple. _swedish words current in england_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i beg to inform your correspondent that the following words, which occur in his list, are pure anglo-saxon, bearing almost the same meaning { } which he has attributed to them:--_wÿrm_; _by_, _bya_, to inhabit, _becc_; _dioful_; _dobl_, equivalent to _doalig_: _goepung_, a heap; _lacan_; _loppe_; _nebb_; _smiting_, contagion; _stæth_, a fixed basis. _eldon_ is icelandic, from _elldr_, fire: hence we have "at slá elld úr tinnu," to strike fire from flint; which approaches very near to a tinder-box. _ling_, icel., the heath or heather plant: _ljung_ i take to be the same word. _gat_, icel. for way or opening; hence _strand-gata_, the opening of the strand or creek. _tjarn_, _tiorn_, icel., well exemplified in malham tarn in craven. c. i. r. _gotch_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the _gotch cup_, described by w. r., must have been known in england before the coming of the present royal family, as it is given in bailey's _dictionary_ ( ) as a south country word: it is not likely to have become provincial in so short a time, nor its origin, if german, to have escaped the notice of old ~philologos~. the a.-s. verb _geotan_ seems to have had the sense of to cast metals, as _giessen_ has in german. in bosworth's _anglo-saxon dictionary_ is _leadgota_, a plumber. in modern dutch this is _lootgieter_. thus, from _geotan_ is derived _ingot_ (germ. _einguss_), as well as the following words in halliwell's _dictionary: yete_, to cast metals (_pr. parv._), _belleyetere_ and _bellyatere_, a bell-founder (_pr. parv._); _geat_, the hole through which melted metal runs into a mould; and _yote_, to pour in. grose has _yoted_, watered, a west country word. e. g. r. _passage in thomson: "steaming"_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--this word, and not _streaming_, is clearly the true reading (as is remarked by the former correspondents), and is so printed in the editions to which i am able to refer. the object of my note is to point out a parallel passage in milton, and to suggest that _steaming_ would there also be the proper reading: "ye mists and exhalations, that now rise, from hill or _streaming_ lake, dusky or gray, till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold, in honour to the world's great author, rise." _paradise lost_, book v. cuthbert bede, b.a. [the reading is _steaming_ in the st edition of _paradise lost_, .--ed.] _the word "party"_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the use of this word for a particular person is earlier than shakspeare's time. it no doubt occurs in most of our earliest writers; for it is to be found in herbert's _life of henry viii._, in his translation of the "centum gravamina" presented to pope adrian in , the th running thus: "that, if one of the marryed couple take a journey either to the warres, or to perform a vow, to a farre countrey, they permit the _party_ remaining at home, if the other stay long away, upon a summe of money payd, to cohabite with another, not examining sufficiently whether the absent party were dead." it may also be found in exodus xxii. ., where, though it occurs in the plural, it refers to two individuals: "for all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both _parties_ shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, _he_ shall pay double unto his neighbour." h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. _curious fact in natural philosophy_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to elginensis i send you a quotation from dr. golding bird's _natural philosophy_ in explanation of this well-known phenomenon: "one very remarkable phenomenon connected with the escape of a current of air under considerable pressure, must not be passed over silently. m. clement desormes (_ann. de phys. et chim._, xxxvi. p. .) has observed, that when an opening, about an inch in diameter, is made in the side of a reservoir of compressed air, the latter rushes out violently; and if a plate of metal or wood, seven inches in diameter, be pressed towards the opening, it will, after the first repulsive action of the current of air is overcome, be apparently attracted, rapidly oscillating within a short distance of the opening, out of which the air continues to emit with considerable force. this curious circumstance is explained on the supposition, that the current of air, on escaping through the opening, expands itself into a thin disc, to escape between the plate of wood or metal, and side of the reservoir; and on reaching the circumference of the plate, draws after it a current of atmospheric air from the opposite side.... the plate thus balanced between these currents remains near the aperture, and apparently attracted by the current of air to which it is opposed." dr. g. b. then describes the experiment quoted by elginensis as "a similar phenomenon, and apparently explicable on similar principles." (bird's _nat. phil._, p. .) cokely. _lowbell_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i may add to the explanation of this word given by m. h., that _low_, derived from the saxon _loeg_, is still commonly used in scotland for a flame; hence the derivation of _lowbell_, for a mode of birdcatching by night, by which the birds, being awakened by the bell, are lured by the light into nets held by the fowlers. in the ballad of _st. george for england_, we have the following lines: "as timorous larks amazed are with light and with a _lowbell_." the term _lowbelling_ may therefore, from the noise, be fitly applied to the rustic _charivari_ described by h. t. w. (vol. vii., p. .) as practised in northamptonshire. j. s. c. { } _life and correspondence of s. t. coleridge_ (vol. vii., p. .).--there can be but one opinion and feeling as to the want which exists for a really good biography of this intellectual giant; but there will be many dissentients as to the proposed biographer, whose life of hartley coleridge cannot be regarded as a happy example of this class of composition. a life from the pen of judge coleridge, the friend of arnold and whateley, is, we think, far more to be desired. ~theta~. _coniger, &c._ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--at one extremity, the picturesque range of hills which forms the noble background of dunster castle, co. somerset, is terminated by a striking conical eminence, well-wooded, and surmounted by an embattled tower, erected as an object from the castle windows. this eminence bears the name of _the coniger_, and is now a pheasant preserve. mr. hamper, in an excellent notice of dunster and its antiquities, in the _gentleman's magazine_, october, , p. ., says: "the _conygre_, or rabbit-ground, was a common appendage to manor-houses." savage, however, in his _history of the hundred of carhampton_, p. ., is of opinion that "_coneygar_ seems to be derived from the anglo-saxon _cyning_, king; and the moeso-gothic _garas_, the same as the latin _domus_, a house, that is, the king's house or residence. mr. hamper has some notion that _conygre_ means a rabbit-ground, &c., but mr. h. does not go high enough for his etymology; besides, how does it appear that a rabbit-ground was at any time an appendage to manor-houses? there is no authority for the assertion." i give you this criticism on mr. hamper _valeat quantum_, but am disposed to think he is right. at all events there are no vestiges of any building on the coniger except the tower aforesaid, which was erected by the present mr. luttrell's grandfather. balliolensis. in the irish language, _cuinicear_, pronounced "keenèkar," is a rabbit-warren. _cuinin_ is the diminutive of _cu_, a dog of any sort; and from the celtic _cu_, the greeks took their word ~kyôn~, a dog. i am of opinion that the origin of rabbit is in the celtic word _rap_, i. e. a creature that digs and burrows in the ground. fras. crossley. _cupid crying_ (vol. i., p. .).--i had no means (for reasons i need not now specify) of referring to my st vol. of "n. & q." until yesterday, for the pretty epigram given in an english dress by rufus and as the writer in the _athenæum_, whose communication you quote on the same subject (vol. i., p. .), observes "that the translator has taken some liberties with his text," i make no apology for sending you a much closer rendering, which hits off with great happiness the point and quaintness of the original, by a septuagenarian, whose lucubrations have already been immortalised in "n. & q." "de cupidine. cur natum cædit venus? arcum perdidit, arcum nunc quis habet? tusco flavia nata solo: qui factum? petit hæc, dedit hic, nam lumine formæ deceptus, matri se dari crediderat." "cupid crying. wherefore does venus beat her boy? he has mislaid or lost his bow:-- and who retains the missing toy? th' etrurian flavia. how so? she ask'd: he gave it; for the child, not e'en suspecting any other, by beauty's dazzling light beguil'd, thought he had given it to his mother." f. t. j. b. _westminster assembly of divines_ (vol. vii., p. .).--dr. lightfoot's interesting and valuable "journal of the assembly of divines," from january , , to december , , will be found in the last volume of the edition of his _works_, edited by pitman, and published at london, , in vols. vo. i believe a few copies of the th volume were printed to be sold separately. the ms. journal in three thick folio volumes, preserved in dr. williams's library, redcross street, london, is attributed to dr. thomas goodwin. a ms. journal, by geo. gillespie, from feb. , , to oct. , , in vols., is in the advocates' library, edinburgh. the rev. w. m. hetherington published a tolerably impartial _history of the westminster assembly_, edinburgh, , mo. the most important work, as throwing light upon the proceedings of the assembly, is the _letters and journals of robert baillie_. the only complete edition of these interesting documents is that edited by david laing, esq., and published in vols. royal vo., - . john i. dredge. mr. stansbury will find the "journal of the assembly of divines," by lightfoot, in the new edition of his _works_, vol. xiii. pp. . _et seq._ some further light is thrown upon the subject by a parliamentary paper, printed "for the service of both houses and the assembly of divines." a copy of it is preserved in our university library (ff. xiv. .). i have referred to both these documents in _a history of the articles, &c._, pp. - . c. hardwick. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. the journal kept by lightfoot will be found in the th volume of his _works_, as edited by the rev. j. r. pitman: london, , vo. it should be studied by all those who desire to see a revived convocation. s. r. m. { } _epigrams_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--"suum cuique" being a principle which holds good with regard to literary property as well as to property of every other description, i can inform your correspondent balliolensis that the epigram on dr. toe, which he says was "represented to have proceeded from the pen of thomas dunbar, of brasenose," was in reality the production of my respected neighbour, the rev. william bradford, m.a., rector of storrington, sussex. it was written by that gentleman when he was an undergraduate of st. john's college, oxford. balliolensis may rely upon the accuracy of this information, as i had it from mr. bradford's own lips only yesterday. the correct version of the epigram is that given by scrapiana, p. . r. blakiston. ashington, sussex. "_god and the world_" (vol. vii., pp. . .).--these lines are found, as quoted by w. h., in coleridge's _aids to reflection_, p. ., ed. . coleridge gives them as the words of a sage poet of the preceding generation (meaning, i suppose, the generation preceding that of archbishop leighton, a passage from whose works he has introduced as an aphorism just before). i have often wondered who this poet was, and whether the last line were really a quotation from _macbeth_, or whether shakspeare and the unknown poet had both but borrowed a popular saying. i also had my suspicions that coleridge himself might have patched the verses a little; and the communication of your correspondent rt., tracing the lines in their original form to the works of fulke greville lord brooke, now verifies his conjecture. it may be worth while to point out another instance of this kind of manufacture by the same skilful hand. in the first volume of _the friend_ (p. ., ed. ), coleridge places at the head of an essay a quotation of two stanzas from daniel's _musophilus_. the second, which precedes in the original that which coleridge places first, is thus given by him: "_since writings_ are the veins, the arteries, and undecaying life-strings of those hearts, that still shall pant and still shall exercise _their mightiest powers when nature none imparts; and the strong constitution of their praise wear out the infection of distemper'd days_." daniel wrote as follows (vol. ii. p. ., ed. ): "_for these lines_ are the veins, the arteries and undecaying life-strings of those hearts, that still shall pant and still shall exercise _the motion spirit and nature both imparts, and still with those alive so sympathize, as nourish'd with their powers, enjoy their parts_." c. w. g. _skating problem_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the query of your correspondent recalls the one said to have been put by king james to the members of the royal society: "how is it," said the british solomon, "that if two buckets of water be equipoised in a balance, and a couple of live bream be put into one of them, the bucket containing the fish does not overweigh the other?" after some learned reasons had been adduced by certain of the philosophers, one of them said, "please your majesty, that bucket would be heavier by the exact weight of the fish." "thou art right," said the sapient king; "i did not think there had been so much sense among you." now, although i do not mean to say that a skater propounds for elucidation what he knows to be a fallacy, yet i do assert that he is mistaken as to the fact alleged. he recommends any one who is "incredulous" to make the trial--in which case, the experimenter would undoubtedly find himself in the water! i advise an appeal to common sense and philosophy: the former will show that a person in skates is not lighter than another; the latter, that ice will not fracture less readily beneath the weight of an individual raised on a pair of steel edges, than one on a pair of flat soles--_all other circumstances being the same_; the reverse, indeed, would be the fact. the true explanation of the "problem" is to be found in the circumstance, that "a skater," rendered confident by the ease with which he _glides_ over ice on which _he_ could _not stand_, will often also "stand" securely on ice which would break under the restless feet of a person in his shoes only. this has always appeared to be the obvious reason for the apparent anomaly to one who is no skater. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. .).--let me add to the list of parochial libraries that at wendlebury, oxon, the gift of robert welborn, rector, cir. . it consists of about fifty volumes in folio, chiefly works of the fathers, and, if i remember rightly, benedictine editions. it was originally placed in the north transept of the church, but afterwards removed to the rectory. i believe that the books were intended for the use of the rector, but were to be lent to the neighbouring clergy on a bond being given for their restoration. after many years of sad neglect, this library was put into thorough order a few years ago by the liberality of the rev. jacob ley, student of ch. ch. cheverells. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. books received.--_reynard the fox, after the german version of goethe, with illustrations, by j. wolf._ part iv. carries us on to _the trial_, which is very ably rendered.--_dictionary of greek and roman geography, by various writers_, edited by w. smith. this sixth part, extending from _cinabi_ to _cyrrhestica_, contains { } numerous interesting articles, such as _constantinople_, which gives us an outline of byzantine history, and _corinth_, _crete_, _cyrene, &c._--mr. darling's _cyclopædia bibliographica_ has now reached its seventh part, and which extends from dr. abernethy drummond to dr. john fawcett.--_the journal of sacred literature_, no. vii., containing articles on _the scythian dominion in asia_; _modern contributions to the study of prophecy_; _heaven, hell, hades_; _nature of sin and its earliest development_; _life and epistles of st. paul_; _slavery and the old testament_; _biblical criticism_; _memphitic new testament_; and its usual variety of correspondence, minor notices, &c.--_gentleman's magazine for april_, which commences with an article on mr. collier's _notes and emendations to the text of shakspeare's plays_.--mr. akerman, although the number of subscribers is not sufficient to cover the expenses, continues his _remains of pagan saxondum_. the fourth part just issued contains coloured plates, the full size of the respective objects, of a _fibula from a cemetery_ at fairford, gloucester; and of _fibulæ, tweezers, &c._ from great driffield, yorkshire. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the truth teller. a periodical. sarah coleridge's phantasmion. j. l. petit's church architecture. vols. r. mant's church architecture considered in relation to the mind of the church. vo. belfast, . cambridge camden society's transactions. vol. iii.--ellicott on vaulting. quarterly review, . gardeners' chronicle, to , all but oct. to dec. . collier's further vindication of his short view of the stage. . congreve's amendment of collier's false and imperfect citations. . filmer's defence of plays, or the stage vindicated. . the stage condemned. . bedford's serious reflections on the abuses of the stage. vo. . dissertation on isaiah, chapter xviii., in a letter to edward king, &c., by samuel horsley, lord bishop of rochester. . first edition, in to. bishop fell's edition of cyprian, containing bishop pearson's annales cypriania. athenÆum journal, to inclusive. a description of the royal gardens at richmond in surry. in a letter to a society of gentlemen. pp. . vo. with a plan and eight plates. no date, circa annum ? memoirs of the rose, by mr. john holland. vol. mo. london, . psyche and other poems, by mrs. mary tighe. portrait. vo. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. w. s. g. _is thanked. we have not inserted the two folk lore articles he has sent, inasmuch as they are already recorded in brand._ w. s. d. _the saying_ "god tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," _made so popular by its application to sterne's "maria," is from a french proverb_ "a brebis tondue dieu mesure le vent," _which, in a somewhat older form, is to be found in gruter's_ florilegium: _francfort, _, p. ., _and in st. estienne's_ premices, _published in .--see our_ st vol., pp. . . . . . c. m. i. _we propose to insert some articles on shakspeare in our next or following number._ m. a. _and_ j. l. s. _are referred to our_ no. ., p. . photography. _dr. diamond's_ photographic notes _are preparing for immediate publication in a separate form. we may take this opportunity of explaining that_ dr. d. _is_ only an amateur, _and has nothing to do with photography as a profession. we are the more anxious to make this known, since, in consequence of holding an important public office, dr. diamond has but little leisure for pursuing his researches._ j. b. s. _will find what he requires at_ p. . _of our last volume._ c. b. (birmingham). _if the hyposulphite of soda is not thoroughly removed from a photograph, it will soon become covered with reddish spots, and in a short time the whole picture may disappear. if cyanide of potassium has been used, it is requisite that the greatest care should be used to effect its removal entirely._ w. l. (liverpool). _a meniscus lens of the diameter of four inches should have a focal length of twenty inches, and will produce perfect landscape pictures fourteen inches square. it is said they will cover fifteen inches; but fourteen they do with great definition. we strongly advise_ w. l. _to purchase a good article. it is a bad economy not to go to a_ first-rate _maker at once._ j. m. s. (manchester). _you will find, for a screen to use in the open air, that the white cotton you refer to will be far too light. "linsey woolsey" forms an admirable screen, and by being left loose upon a stretcher it may be looped up so as to form drapery, &c. if you cannot depend upon the collodion you purchase in your city, pray use your ingenuity, and make some according to the formulary given in_ vol. vi., p. ., _and you will be rewarded for your trouble._ c. e. f. _the various applications to your bath which you have used have destroyed it in all probability past use. all solutions containing silver will precipitate it in the form of a white powder, upon the addition of common salt; and from this chloride the pure metal is again readily obtained. the collodion of some makers always acts in the manner you describe; and we have known it remedied by the addition of about one drachm of spirits of wine to the ounce of collodion. spirits of wine also added to the nitrate bath--two drachms of spirits of wine to six ounces of the aqueous solution--is sometimes very beneficial. when collodion is inert, and the colour remains a pale milk and water blue after the immersion, a few drops of saturated solution of iodide of silver may be added, as it indicates a deficiency of the iodide. should the collodion then be turbid, a small lump of iodide of potassium may be dropped into the bottle, which by agitation will soon effect a clearance; when this is done, the fluid may be poured off from the excess of iodide which remains undissolved._ alex. rae (banff). _you shall have a private reply at our earliest leisure. the questions you ask would almost comprise a treatise on photography._ h. n. (march th). _ st. you will find the opacity you complain of completely removed by the use of the amber varnish, as recommended by_ dr. diamond, _unless it proceeds from light having acted generally upon your sensitive collodion in the bath, or during the time of its exposure in the camera; in which case there is no cure for it.-- ndly. a greater intensity in negatives will be produced without the nitric acid, but with an addition of more acetic acid the picture is more brown and never so agreeable as a positive. rd. the protonitrate of iron used pure produces a picture as delicate, and having all the brilliancy of a daguerreotype, without its unpleasant metallic reflexion--the fine metal being deposited of a dead white; and combined with the pyrogallic acid solution in the proportion of one part to six or ten, produces pictures of a most agreeable ivory-like colour.-- th. the protonitrate of iron, when mixed with the pyrogallic acid solution, becomes of a fine violet blue; but after some minutes it darkens. it should only be mixed immediately before using. the colour of the protonitrate of iron will vary, even using the same chemicals. the cheap nitrate of barytes of commerce answers exceedingly well in most cases; but a finer silver surface is obtained by the use of the purified.-- th. we have generally succeeded in obtaining portraits in an ordinary room, the sitter being placed opposite and near the window: of course, a glass-house is much better, the roof of which should be of violet glass, ground on the inner side. this glass can be bought, made especially for the purpose, at_ d. _the square foot. it obstructs no chemical rays of light, and is most pleasant to the eyes, causing no fatigue from the great body of light admitted._ _a few compete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * *{ } a literary curiosity.--a fac-simile of a very remarkably curious, interesting, and droll newspaper of charles ii.'s reign. sent free by post on receipt of three postage stamps. j. h. fennell. . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place. bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, and every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of le gray, hunt, brébisson, and other writers, may be obtained, wholesale and retail, of william bolton (formerly dymond & co.), manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists may be had on application. improved apparatus for iodizing paper in vacuo, according to mr. stewart's instructions. . holborn bars. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * _directors_. h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq. q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration; being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * established . medical, invalid, and general life office, . pall mall. * * * during the last ten years, this society has issued more than _four thousand one hundred and fifty policies_-- covering assurances to the extent of _one million six hundred and eighty-seven thousand pounds, and upwards_-- yielding annual premiums amounting to _seventy-three thousand pounds_. this society is the only one possessing tables for the assurance of diseased lives. healthy lives assured at home and abroad at lower rates than at most other offices. a bonus of per cent. on the premiums paid was added to the policies at last division of profits. next division in --in which all policies effected before th june, , will participate. * * * agents wanted for vacant places. prospectuses, forms of proposal, and every other information, may be obtained of the secretary at the chief office, or on application to any of the society's agents in the country. f. g. p. neison, actuary. c. douglas singer, secretary. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company; established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. thomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- ----------------------------------------------------- | | sum added to | sum | time | policy. | sum assured. | assured.|----------------------| payable | | in . | in . | at death. ---------+---------+----------+-----------+----------- £ | | £ s. d. | £ s. d. | £ s. d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | ---------+---------+----------+-----------+----------- *example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being - / per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * *{ } the gentleman's magazine for april contains:-- . the text of shakspeare's plays. . mrs. hamilton gray's history of rome. . lares and penates (with engravings). . jacques van artevelde. . literary relics of james thomson and allan ramsey. . a word upon wigs. . the income tax. . paris after waterloo. . correspondence of sylvanus urban: concealed lands; richard of cirencester; artifice of a condemned malefactor; billingsgate and whittington's conduit. with notes of the month; review of new publications; reports of archæological societies, historical chronicle, and obituary; including memoirs of the earl of belfast, bishop kaye, bishop broughton, sir wathen waller, rear-admiral austen, william peter, esq., the late provost of eton, john philip dyott, &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * new works--published this day. demy vo., s. historical outlines of political catholicism: its papacy--prelacy--priesthood--people. montenegro and the slavonians of turkey. by count valerian krasinski. author of the "religious history of the slavonic nations," &c. fcap. s. d. being the new volume of reading for travellers. chamois hunting in the mountains of bavaria. by charles boner. with illustrations. demy vo., s. the diary of martha bethune baliol, from to . post vo. s. forming the new volume of chapman & hall's series. the deluge. by viscount maidstone. dedicated to the electors of westminster. second edition. price s. d. london: chapman & hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * just published, fcap. vo., price s. in cloth. sympathies of the continent, or proposals for a new reformation. by john baptist von hirscher, d.d., dean of the metropolitan church of freiburg, breisgau, and professor of theology in the roman catholic university of that city. translated and edited with notes and introduction by the rev. arthur cleveland coxe, m.a., rector of st. john's church, hartford, connecticut, u.s. "the following work will be found a noble apology for the position assumed by the church of england in the sixteenth century, and for the practical reforms she then introduced into her theology and worship. if the author is right, then the changes he so eloquently urges upon the present attention of his brethren ought to have been made _three hundred years ago_; and the obstinate refusal of the council of trent to make such reforms in conformity with scripture and antiquity, throws the whole burthen of the sin of schism upon rome, and not upon our reformers. the value of such admissions must, of course, depend in a great measure upon the learning, the character, the position, and the influence of the author from whom they proceed. the writer believes, that questions as to these particulars can be most satisfactorily answered."--_introduction by arthur cleveland coxe._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london * * * * * just published, price one penny, memoir of the right honourable sir john sinclair, bart., with an account of his personal exertions for the agricultural and social improvement of scotland. by catherine sinclair. this interesting memoir, forming one of the number of chambers's repository of instructive and amusing tracts, has already had a circulation of fifty thousand copies. w. & r. chambers, edinburgh; w. s. orr & co., amen corner, london; d. n. chambers, glasgow; j. m'glashan, dublin; and sold by all booksellers. * * * * * on st of april, price s., no. iv. new series. the ecclesiastic. contents: morgan on the trinity of plato and of philo-judæus. greek hymnology. montalembert's catholic interests. second notice. illustrations of the state of the church during the great rebellion. reviews and notices. notices to correspondents. now ready, price s., part v. of concionalia; outlines of sermons for parochial use throughout the year. by the rev. henry thompson, m.a., cantab., curate of wrington, somerset. it contains sermons for the first, second, third, and fourth sundays after easter; the annunication of the blessed virgin mary; st. mark's day. to be continued monthly. london: j. masters, aldersgate street, and new bond street. * * * * * vo., price s. a manual of ecclesiastical history, from the first to the twelfth century inclusive. by the rev. e. s. foulkes, m.a., fellow and tutor of jesus college, oxford. the main plan of the work has been borrowed from spanheim, a learned, though certainly not unbiassed, writer of the seventeenth century: the matter compiled from spondanus and spanheim, mosheim and fleury, gieseler and döllinger, and others, who have been used too often to be specified, unless when reference to them appeared desirable for the benefit of the reader. yet i believe i have never once trusted to them on a point involving controversy, without examining their authorities. the one object that i have had before me has been to condense facts, without either garbling or omitting any that should be noticed in a work like the present, and to give a fair and impartial view of the whole state of the case.--_preface._ "an epitomist of church history has a task of no ordinary greatness.... he must combine the rich faculties of condensation and analysis, of judgment in the selection of materials, and calmness in the expression of opinions, with that most excellent gift of faith, so especially precious to church historians, which implies a love for the catholic cause, a reverence for its saintly champions, an abhorrence of the misdeeds which have defiled it, and a confidence that its 'truth is great, and will prevail.' "and among other qualifications which may justly be attributed to the author of the work before us, this last and highest is particularly observable. he writes in a spirit of manly faith, and is not afraid of facing 'the horrors and uncertainties,' which, to use his own words, are to be found in church history."--_from the scottish ecclesiastical journal, may, ._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * cheaper editions, s. d. readings in science; familiar explanations of appearances and principles in natural philosophy. readings in poetry; selections from the works of the best english poets, with specimens of the american poets; notices of the writers; and notes. readings in english prose literature; specimens of the works of the best english writers, with biographical sketches and essays on the progress of english literature. readings in biography; a selection of the lives of the most eminent men of all nations. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, vols. post vo., s. hypatia; or new foes with an old face. by charles kingsley, jun., rector of eversley. reprinted from "fraser's magazine." by the same author, the saint's tragedy, cheaper edition, s. yeast; a problem. reprinted from "fraser's magazine." cheaper edition, s. twenty-five village sermons. cheaper edition, s. d. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day is published, price s. ~aischylou eumenides~. Æschyli eumenides. recensuit f. a. paley. editio auctior et emendatior. cantabrigiæ: apud j. deighton. londini: apud whittaker et soc.; et simpkin et soc. * * * * * vols. vo. price l. s. a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. the fifth edition enlarged, exemplified by woodcuts. "in the preparation of this the fifth edition of the glossary of architecture, no pains have been spared to render it worthy of the continued patronage which the work has received from its first publication. "the text has been considerably augmented, as well by the additions of many new articles, as by the enlargement of the old ones, and the number of illustrations has been increased from eleven hundred to seventeen hundred. "several additional foreign examples are given, for the purposes of comparison with english work, of the same periods. "in the present edition, considerably more attention has been given to the subject of mediæval carpentry, the number of illustrations of 'open timber roofs' has been much increased, and most of the carpenter's terms in use at the period have been introduced with authorities."--_preface to the fifth edition._ john henry parker. oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . [transcriber's notes] this is one of the first books i remember reading as a child. some of the items are thoughtfully written, like how to write checks. many others are just rumors or careless opinions. some are "racy" ads. many articles are lead-ins to the advertisements. whatever their truth, they are interesting reading, calculated to draw the attention of drug store customers of . the text of the advertisements have been reproduced along with the accompanying graphics. correct grammar and punctuation has been sacrificed to preserving the original format of the ads. "mother's remedies, over one thousand tried and tested remedies from mothers of the united states and canada" (gutenberg etext ) is a book for a similar audience, but without advertisements. here are the definitions of some unfamiliar (to me) words. aperients laxative. averment assert formally as a fact. biliousness peevish; irritable; cranky; extremely unpleasant or distasteful. bill of attainder legislative determination imposing punishment without trial. bodkin small, sharply pointed instrument to make holes in fabric or leather. carnelian pale to deep red or reddish-brown. catarrhal inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the respiratory tract, accompanied by excessive secretions. cholera morbus acute gastroenteritis occurring in summer and autumn; symptoms are severe cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting. conspectus general or comprehensive view; survey; digest; summary. copperas ferrous sulfate. cumulation accumulation, heap, mass. diathesis constitutional predisposition. disseised dispossess unlawfully or unjustly; oust. emercement (amercement) fine not fixed by law; inflicting an arbitrary penalty. emoluments payment for an office or employment; compensation. erebus greek mythology; the dark region of the underworld through which the dead must pass before they reach hades. erraticism deviating from the usual conduct or opinion; eccentric; queer. histologist one who does anatomical studies of the microscopic structure of animal and plant tissues. impecuniosity having little or no money; penniless; poor. indurated hardened; obstinate; unfeeling. inheres inherent or innate. intendent title of various government officials or administrators. irondequoit town of western new york on lake ontario and irondequoit bay, near rochester. lees sediment settling during fermentation, especially wine; dregs. luxation displacement or misalignment of a joint or organ. marque (letter of) commission granted by a state to a private citizen to capture and confiscate the merchant ships of another nation. meerschaum fine, compact, usually white clay-like mineral of hydrous magnesium silicate, h mg si o , used for tobacco pipes, building stone and ornamental carvings. also called sepiolite. orfila mathieu orfila ( - ). chemist, founder of toxicology. pearlash potassium carbonate. prosody study of the metrical structure of verse. prussian blue dark blue crystalline hydrated compound, fe [fe(cn) ] .xh o; ferric ferrocyanide. putrescible liable to decay or spoil or become putrid. quassia shrub or small tree of tropical america, quassia amara. prepared form of the heartwood, used as an insecticide and in medicine as a tonic to dispel intestinal worms quoits game; player throws rings of rope or flattened metal at an upright peg, attempting to encircle it or come as close to it as possible. rotten stone porous, lightweight, siliceous sedimentary rock; shells of diatoms or radiolarians or of finely weathered chert, used as an abrasive and a polish. saltpetre potassium nitrate, kno . sciatica pain extending from the hip down the back of the thigh and surrounding area. spatulate shaped like a spatula; rounded like a spoon. sustension sustaining. tete d'armee head of army. theine caffeine. towardliness apt to learn; promising; docile; tractable; propitious; seasonable. [end transcriber's notes] every purchase save you money at the central save money on your drug store merchandise by buying at the central. we carry everything in drugs toilet article, rubber goods, sundries, candies, cigars, etc. you will be surprised at our low prices and quick service and pleased with our complete stocks. we carry a complete line of burke's home remedies. burke's home remedies are sold under the money back guarantee. stores in detroit central drug co. main store woodward ave. branch stores woodward ave. grand river ave. detroit, mich the handy cyclopedia of things worth knowing a manual of ready reference covering especially such information of everyday use as is often hardest to find when most needed "inquire within about everything" for alphabetical index see page chicago albert j. dubois copyright. , by joseph trienens to our patrons this little book is presented to you to evidence our appreciation of your patronage. we trust you will examine its contents closely, for you will find within its covers many things that will prove entertaining, instructive and useful. it is new and up-to-date and has been expressly compiled for our patrons. only matter of real interest and value has been included in its pages. it is a general experience that answers to those questions which arise most often in every-day life are hardest to find. information on practical subjects is usually just beyond your reach when it is most desired. you will use this little book every day when you "want to know." it is equally valuable to all classes, men as well as women; to workers generally as well as people of leisure. it is the book for the busy housekeeper as well as the woman of fashion. we shall feel amply repaid for the painstaking labor, care and expense which we have bestowed upon this little volume if its constant utility to you more firmly cements your good will to our establishment. just a few words about the advertisements. they are from concerns of established reputation whose products we freely recommend with full confidence that they are the best of their respective kinds. the index to the advertising section is on pages and . sincerely yours, the central drug co. index to advertisements for index of general contents see page abilena mineral water albany chemical co aleta hair tonic alexander's asthma remedy allen's cough balsam ankle supports arch cushions astyptodyne athlophoros australian eucalyptus globulus oil bath cabinets blair's pills blood berry gum page facing inside back cover "bloom of youth," laird's blue ribbon gum blush of roses bonheim's shaving cream borax, pacific coast borden's malted milk brown's asthma remedy brown's liquid dressing brown's wonder face cream brown's wonder salve bryans' asthma remedy buffalo lithia springs water buffers, nail burnishine byrud's corn cure byrud's instant relief cabler's (w. p.) root juice calder's dentine carmichael's gray hair restorer carmichael's hair tonic celery-vesce chavett diphtheria preventive chavett solace chocolates and bon bons coe's cough balsam consumers company corsets coupons crane's lotion crown headache powders daisy fly killer "dead stuck" for bugs delatone dennos food digesto dissolvene rubber garments downs' obesity reducer drosis duponts hair restorative dyspepsia remedy, graham's elastic stockings el perfecto veda rose rouge empress hair color restorer empress shampoo soap euca-scentol femaform cones golden remedy for epilepsy golden rule hair restorative goodwin's corn salve goodwin's foot powder gowans pneumonia preparation graves' (dr.) tooth powder gray's ointment great western champagne grube's corn remover guild's asthma cure harvard athletic supports heel cushions hegeman's camphor ice hill's chloride of gold tablets hoag's (dr.) cell tissue tonic hollister's rocky mountain tea hot water bottles hydrox chemical company hygeia nursing bottles i-de-lite irondequoit port wine jetum jucket's (dr.) salve karith kellogg's asthma remedy knickerbocker spraybrushes kondon's catarrhal jelly kumyss, arend-adamick lemke's (dr.) golden electric liniment lemke's (dr.) laxative herb tea lemke's (dr.) st. johannis drops leslie safety razors louisenbad reduction salt lune de miel perfume "lustr-ite" toilet specialties luxtone toilet preparations mando, depilatory manicure goods mares cough balsam martel's (dr.) female pills marvel syringes mayr's stomach remedy "meehan's" razor stropper mey's poultice mixer medicine company mt. clemens bitter water musterole nardine new bachelor cigars noblesse toilet preparations obesity gaveck tablets obesity reducer, downs' olive oil orange blossom orangeine ordway (dr. d. p.) plasters oriental cream orthopedic apparatus palmer's perfumes paracamph peckham's croup remedy perry davis painkiller physiological tonicum pinus medicine co. piso's remedy planten's capsules plexo toilet cream poland water pozzoni's complexion powder "queen bess" perfume rat-nox razor stropper, "meehan's" razors rex bitters riker's tooth powder roachine rossman's pile cure saliodin salted peanuts salubrin samurai perfumes sandholm's skin lotion sanford's inks "sanitas," disinfectant scheffler's hair colorine seguin et cie sharp & smith shoes for the lame shoulder braces simplex vaporizers skidoo soap soaps, stiefel's medicinal solo rye sorority girl toilet requisites sponges stiefel's medicinal soaps st. jacob's oil strong's arnica jelly strong's arnica tooth soap sweet babee nursing bottle tailoring for men tanglefoot fly paper toilet paper tooth brushes typewriters tyrrell's hygienic institute villacabras mineral water virgin oil of pine whittemore's polishes wright's catarrhal balm wright's rheumatic remedy young's victoria cream social forms manners and customs of good society etiquette of courtship and marriage. it is a growing custom in america not to announce an engagement until the date of the marriage is approximately settled. long engagements are irksome to both man and woman, and a man is generally not supposed to ask a girl to marry him until he is able to provide a home for her. this, however, does not prevent long friendships between young couples or a sentimental understanding growing up between them, and it is during this period that they learn to know each other and find out if they are suited for a life's partnership. when a "young man goes a-courting" it generally means that he has some particular girl in mind whom he has singled out as the object of his devotion. a man a-courting is generally on his best behavior, and many a happily married wife looks back on her courting days as the most delightful of her life. at that time the woman is the object of a devotion to which she has as yet conceded nothing. she is still at liberty to weigh and choose, to compare her lover to other men, while the knowledge that she is the ultimate girl that some man is trying to win gives her a pretty sense of self-importance and a feeling that she has come into the heritage of womanhood. whether it is one of the fictions about courtship or not, it is generally assumed that a young woman is longer in making up her mind than is the young man. when a man finds the right girl he is pretty apt to know it, and it is his business then to start out and persuade her to his point of view. "neither willing nor reluctant" is the attitude of the young girl. gifts and attention. just what attention a man is privileged to show a young woman to whom he is not engaged, and yet to whom he wishes to express his devotion, is a point a little difficult to define. if she is a bookish girl she will be pleased with gifts of books or the suggestion that they may read the same books so they may talk them over together. she will probably feel complimented if a man discusses with her his business affairs and the problems that are interesting men in their life work. when a man begins to call often and regularly on a girl it is best to have some topic of conversation aside from personalities. when a man is led to spend more money than he can afford in entertaining a girl it is a bad preparation for matrimony. courtship is a time when a man desires to bring gifts, and it is quite right and fitting that he should do so within reasonable limits. a girl of refined feelings does not like to accept valuable presents from a man at this period of their acquaintance. flowers, books, music, if the girl plays or sings, and boxes of candy are always permissible offerings which neither engage the man who offers them nor the girl who receives them. this is the time when a man invites a girl to the theater, to concerts and lectures, and may offer to escort her to church. the pleasure of her society is supposed to be a full return for the trouble and expense incurred in showing these small attentions. the claims of companionship. a man cannot justly complain if a girl accepts similar favors from other men, for until he has proposed and been accepted he has no claim on her undivided companionship. an attitude of proprietorship on his part, particularly if it is exercised in public, is as bad manners as it is unwise, and a high-spirited girl, although she may find her feelings becoming engaged, is prone to resent it. it should be remembered that a man is free to cease his attentions, and until he has finally surrendered his liberty he should not expect her to devote all her time to him. at this period it is a wise man who makes a friend of a girl's mother, and if he does this he will generally be repaid in a twofold manner. no matter how willful a girl may be, her mother's opinion of her friends always has weight with her. moreover, what the mother is the girl will in all probability become, and a man has no better opportunity of learning a girl's mental and moral qualities than by knowing the woman who bore and reared her. engagement and wedding rings. the form and material of "the mystic ring of marriage" change but little, and innovations on the plain gold band are rarely successful. the very broad, flat band is now out of date and replaced by a much narrower ring, sufficiently thick, however, to stand the usage of a lifetime. it is generally engraved on the concealed side with the initials of the giver and the date of the marriage. the gold in the ring should be as pure as possible, and the color, which depends on the alloy used, should be unobtrusive, the pale gold being better liked now than the red gold. many women never remove their wedding ring after it has been put on and believe it is bad luck to do so. there is but one choice for an engagement ring, a solitaire diamond, and clusters or colored stones are not considered in this connection. as after the wedding the engagement ring is used as a guard to the wedding ring, it should be as handsome as possible, and a small, pure stone is a far better choice than a more showy one that may be a little off in color or possess a flaw. correct form in jewelry. on the wedding day the groom often makes the bride a wedding present of some piece of jewelry, and if this is to be worn during the ceremony it should consist of white stones in a thin gold or platinum setting, such as a pendant, bracelet or pin of pearls and diamonds. if a colored stone is preferred--and a turquoise, for instance, adds the touch of blue which is supposed to bring a bride good luck--it should be concealed inside the dress during the services. as a memento of the event a groom often presents his ushers with a scarf pin or watch or cigarette case ornamented with the initials of the bride and groom, and the bride generally makes a similar present to her bridesmaids of some dainty piece of jewelry. whether this takes the form of a pin, bracelet or one of the novelties that up-to-date jewelers are always showing, it should be the best of its kind. imitation stones or "silver gilt" have no place as wedding gifts. wedding customs. there is no time in a woman's life when ceremonies seem so important as when a wedding in the family is imminent. whether the wedding is to be a simple home ceremony or an elaborate church affair followed by a reception, the formalities which etiquette prescribes for these functions should be carefully studied and followed. only by doing so can there be the proper dignity, and above all the absence of confusion that should mark the most important episode in the life of a man or woman. wedding customs have undergone some changes of late years, mostly in the direction of simplicity. meaningless display and ostentation should be avoided, and, if a girl is marrying into a family much better endowed in worldly goods than her own, she should have no false pride in insisting on simple festivities and in preventing her family from incurring expense that they cannot afford. the entire expenses of a wedding, with the exception of the clergyman's fee and the carriage which takes the bride and groom away for their honeymoon, are met by the bride's family, and there is no worse impropriety than in allowing the groom to meet or share any of these obligations. rather than allow this a girl would show more self-respect in choosing to do away with the social side of the function and be content with the marriage ceremony read by her clergyman under his own roof. invitations and announcements. in the case of a private wedding announcement cards should be mailed the following day to all relatives and acquaintances of both the contracting parties. evening weddings are no longer the custom, and the fashionable hour is now high noon, although in many cases three o'clock in the afternoon is the hour chosen. whether the wedding is to be followed by a reception or not, the invitations to it should be sent out not less than two weeks before the event, and these should be promptly accepted or declined by those receiving them. the acceptance of a wedding invitation by no means implies that the recipient is obliged to give a present. these are only expected of relatives and near friends of the bride and groom, and in all cases the presents should be addressed and sent to the bride, who should acknowledge them by a prettily worded note of thanks as soon as the gifts are received or, at the latest, a few days after the marriage ceremony. silver and linen. the usual rule followed in the engraving of silver or the marking of linen is to use the initials of the bride's maiden name. the question of duplicate gifts is as annoying to the sender as it is to the young couple who are ultimately to enjoy the gifts. theoretically, it is bad form to exchange a gift after it has been received, but, in truth, this is often done when a great deal of silver is given by close friends or members of the family it is a comparatively easy matter to find out what has already been sent and to learn the bride's wishes in this matter. prenuptial functions. after the wedding invitations are out it is not customary for a girl to attend any social functions or to be much seen in public. this gives her the necessary time to devote to the finishing of her trousseau and for making any necessary arrangements for the new life she is to take up after the honeymoon is over. family dinners are quite proper at this time, and it is expected of her to give a lunch to her bridesmaids. the wedding presents may be shown at this occasion, but any more public and general display of them is now rarely indulged in and is, in fact, not considered in good taste. the groom, as a prenuptial celebration, is supposed to give a supper to his intimate bachelor friends and the men who are to act as ushers at the marriage ceremony. the ushers are generally recruited from the friends of the groom rather than those of the bride, but if she has a grown brother he is always asked to act in this capacity. ushers, like bridesmaids, are chosen among the unmarried friends of the young couple, although a matron of honor is often included in the bridal party. the bride's trousseau. the bride's trousseau should be finished well before the fortnight preceding the wedding. fashions change so quickly now that it is rarely advisable for a bride to provide gowns for more than a season ahead. if the check her father furnishes her for her trousseau is a generous one it is a wise provision to put a part of it aside for later use, and in so doing she has the equivalent of a wardrobe that will last her for a year or more. custom has decreed that the bride's wedding dress shall be of pure white, and, as the marriage ceremony is a religious one, whether it takes place in a church or in a private house, that it shall be made high in the neck and with long sleeves. orange blossoms, the natural flowers, form the trimming to the corsage and a coronet to fasten the veil. a bride's ornaments include only one gift of white jewelry, pearls or diamonds, from her future husband, and the bouquet he presents her. so many awkward moments have been occasioned in wedding ceremonies by removing the glove that brides are dispensing with wearing gloves at this time. the bride's appearance is by no means affected by this custom, and the slipping of the ring on the third finger of the left hand is made simpler and thereby more graceful. the engagement ring, which up to the time of the wedding ceremony has been worn on this finger, afterwards serves as a guard for the wedding ring. the bridesmaids. millinery is a most important question in discussing a wedding, and we cannot dismiss the question with the gown worn by the bride. a most serious consideration is what the bridesmaids are to wear, and this is generally only settled after long and serious consultation with the bride. it is generally agreed that all of these gowns shall be made by the same dressmaker so that they may conform to the colors and styles decided on, the gown of the maid or matron of honor differing slightly from the general scheme. at a church wedding bridesmaids wear hats and carry baskets or bouquets of flowers, but, if bouquets are carried, they should be quite unlike the one borne by the bride. it is customary for the bride to give her bridesmaids some souvenir of the occasion, and it is expected that the groom provide the gloves and ties for the ushers. duties of the "best man." the duties of the "best man" are arduous, and it is indeed wise, as it is general, for a man to ask his best and most devoted friend to serve in this capacity. the best man is supposed to relieve the groom of all the details of the ceremony and to take on his shoulders all the worry incident to its success as a social function. it is he who purchases the gloves and ties for the other ushers and sees that they are coached in their duties; he procures the marriage license, if that is necessary, and has the ring ready for the groom at the critical moment. after the ceremony he is supposed to hand the clergyman his fee, and at the same time be in readiness to conduct the line of bridesmaids and ushers to their carriages. he must be at the bride's home, in case there is a wedding reception, before the principal actors in the ceremony are there. it is he who sends the notices of the event to the newspapers, and, if there is a formal breakfast with speech-making, it is the best man who proposes the health of the newly-married pair and replies to the toast in behalf of the bridesmaids. he is the one member of the wedding party who sees the happy couple off at the station and bids them the last farewell as they depart on their honeymoon. this is perhaps the time and moment when his good sense and social tact is the most needed, the foolish custom of decorating bridal baggage with white ribbon, and of throwing a superabundance of old shoes and a rain of rice after the departing pair, may be mitigated by a little care on his part. mourning customs. there has been of late years a healthy revolt against the excessive use of crepe or the wearing of mourning for an undue period. mourning is first of all a protection, for in these busy days and in a large city a death affecting our acquaintances is not always known to us. if we meet a friend wearing black we are instantly apprised that she has suffered the loss of a near member of her family. it is easy to say under such circumstances, "i am very sorry to see you in black," or "i am afraid i have not heard of your loss." for a father or mother full mourning, that is, black unrelieved by any touch of white, is worn for a year, and at the end of that period half mourning, consisting first of white with black, and then violet and gray, is worn for the second year. for a brother or sister or grandparent black is worn for six months, and then half mourning for the six months preceding the wearing of ordinary colors. what is called complimentary mourning, put on at the death of a relative by marriage, consists of the wearing of black for a period of from six weeks to a year, depending on the closeness of the personal relationship. for instance, in the case of the death of a mother-in-law residing in a distant city, it would only be necessary for a woman to wear black for a few weeks following the funeral. if, on the other hand, she resides in the same place and is a great deal in the company of her husband's family, it would show more tact and affection on her part to refrain from wearing colors for a longer period. crepe is no longer obligatory in even first mourning. many widows only wear the crepe-bordered veil hanging from the conventional bonnet for the funeral services and for a few weeks afterward, when it is replaced by an ordinary hat and veil of plain black net bordered with thin black silk. widows wear neck and cuff bands of unstarched white book muslin, this being the only sort of white permitted during the first period of mourning. young widows, especially those who must lead an active life, often lighten their mourning during the second year and discard it at the end of the second year. of course the conventional period of mourning for a widow is three years, but, if there should be any indication that a second marriage is contemplated, black should gradually be put aside. however, the discarding of mourning is no indication that a woman is about to change her name, and the wearing of black is so much a matter of personal feeling that a woman should not be criticised for curtailing the conventional period. in this country it is not the custom for young children to wear mourning, and with men the wearing of a black band about the hat or on the left arm is all that is deemed necessary. a woman wearing full mourning refrains from attending the theater or any large functions. she may properly be seen at concerts, club meetings or lectures, and she may receive and visit her friends informally. etiquette of the visiting card. the prevailing shape for a woman's card is nearly square (about - / by inches), while the correct form for a man's card is slightly smaller. the color should be pure white with a dull finish, while the engraving, plain script or more elaborate text, is a matter of choice and fashion varying from time to time. it is safe to trust the opinion of a first-class stationer in this matter, for styles fluctuate, and he should be constantly informed of what polite usage demands. a woman's card should always bear the prefix "miss" or "mrs." there is no exception to this rule save in the case of women who have regularly graduated in medicine or theology and who are allowed therefore the use of "dr." or "rev." before the name. "miss" or "mrs." should not be used in addition to either of these titles. the card of a married woman is engraved with her husband's full name, such as mrs. william eaton brown, but she has no right to any titles he may bear. if he is a judge or colonel she is still mrs. james eaton brown and not mrs. judge or mrs. colonel brown. a widow may with propriety retain the same visiting card that she used during the lifetime of her husband, especially if she has no grown son who bears his father's name. in that case she generally has her cards engraved with a part of her full maiden name before her husband's name, such as mrs. mary baker brown. in this country a divorced woman, if she has children, does not discard her husband's family name, neither does she retain his given name. for social purposes she becomes mrs. mary baker brown or, if she wishes, mrs. baker brown. the address is engraved in the lower right corner of the visiting-card, and, if a woman has any particular day for receiving her friends, that fact is announced in the lower left corner. as a rule even informal notes should not be written on a visiting-card, although when a card accompanies a gift it is quite proper to write "best wishes" or "greetings" on it. this is even done when a card does not accompany a gift, but it should be borne in mind that a card message should not take the place of a note of thanks or be used when a more formal letter is necessary. a man's visiting-card should bear his full name with the prefix "mr." unless he has a military title above the grade of lieutenant or is a doctor or clergyman. in these cases the proper title should be used in place of "mr." courtesy titles, although they may be common usage in conversation and a man may be known by them, are best abandoned on the visiting-card. during the first year of marriage cards are engraved thus: mr. and mrs. william eaton brown and this card may be used in sending presents, returning wedding civilities or making calls, even when the bride is not accompanied by her husband. after the first year these cards are discarded, and husband and wife have separate visiting-cards. in some communities it is not the custom for a young girl to make formal calls without her mother. to meet this requirement the girl's name with the prefix "miss" is engraved on her mother's card, below her mother's name. it is no longer considered necessary to leave a number of cards at the same house when calling in person or sending cards. if there are several women members of the family one card suffices. if a woman wishes to leave her husband's card she should leave two, one for the mistress and one for the man of the house. a woman never leaves a card for a man unless she has called on him on a matter of business and wishes him to be reminded of the fact. at a tea or large afternoon reception a card should be left in the hall as a guest departs, so as to enable the hostess to preserve a record of those who have called on her. if she is not able to attend she should send her visiting-card so that it may arrive on the day of the function. after a dinner or any formal function she should make a personal call or leave her card in person. when making an ordinary call it is not necessary to send one's visiting-card to the hostess by the servant who opens the door. pronouncing the name distinctly is sufficient, but, if it is a first call, and there is danger that the hostess may not be familiar with the caller's address, it is best to leave a card on the hall table when leaving, no matter if the hostess herself conducts her visitor to the door. when one is invited but unable to attend a church wedding it is necessary to send, on the day of the ceremony, cards to those who issue the invitations. an invitation to a wedding reception or breakfast demands a more formal acceptance sent immediately on receipt of the invitation and couched in the same manner in which the invitation reads. a newcomer in town or a young married woman may receive a card from an older woman indicating her receiving days and hours. this is a polite invitation to call, and if she is unable to make a call at the time indicated she should send a card on that day. cards of condolence are left as soon as possible after learning of the affliction. it is not necessary to write anything on the card; in fact, it is better not to do so, for, if the acquaintance warrants a personal message, it should take the form of a letter. on the other hand it is quite proper in felicitating a friend on a happy event, such as the announcement of an engagement in the family or the arrival of a new baby, to send a visiting-card with "congratulations" written on it. there are times when it seems necessary to send cards to practically all one's acquaintances, this is wise after a long absence or a change of residence, and when one is leaving town for a long period it is proper to send cards with the french expression, "pour prendre conge." formalities in dress and etiquette. "costly thy habit as thy purse can buy" was old polonius' advice to his son, and he counseled suitability as well. it is this question of suitability that is the hall mark of correct dressing. a safe rule to follow, especially in the case of a young woman, is not to be conspicuous in attire and to conform to the standards of dress as set down by older women of recognized standing in the town in which she lives and the community in which her social or business life is spent. a young girl needs little adorning. her school or college dresses should be characterized by their neatness, freshness, correctness of cut and utility rather than by elaborate trimmings or costly materials. her party gowns are simpler than those of a girl who has left school, and she wears less jewelry. at the end of school life, if her parents are able and willing to give her a coming-out party, she begins her social career under the pleasantest auspices, and this is the opportunity for her first elaborate gown. the debutante. the character of this gown depends largely on the nature of the entertainment given her. it most commonly takes the form of an afternoon tea or reception to which her mother invites all of her friends as well as the younger set. the debutante receives with her mother and wears an elaborate frock of light material and color, made high in the neck and with elbow sleeves. long white gloves are worn, and her hair is more elaborately arranged than it was during her school-girl period. in fact, she is now a full- fledged young lady and is dressed accordingly. such a gown may serve later as an informal evening gown, or, if it is made with a detachable yoke, it may be worn as a dancing-frock or for any evening occasion for which a full evening gown is expected. the receiving party at an afternoon function generally includes near relatives of the debutante, and a number of her intimate girl friends are asked to assist in various ways. these receive with her and her mother in the early part of the afternoon and later assist at the tea table or mingle among the guests. the ladies assisting do not wear hats, and the young girls in the party are gowned much like the debutante, except that their gowns may be less elaborate if they choose, and they do not carry flowers. a popular girl or one with many family connections may count on a good many floral offerings on the occasion of her coming-out party. these are scattered about the room, either left in bunches or arranged in vases. one large bunch she generally carries in her left hand, and it is a wise girl who avoids singling out anyone of her men friends by carrying his flowers. a gift from her father or brother or the flowers sent by some friend of the family is the better choice. the success a girl makes during her first year in society depends more on her general popularity than on the devotion of any one man. afternoon reception. for an afternoon reception light refreshments, consisting of tea, coffee, chocolate, perhaps a light claret cup, with cakes and delicate sandwiches, are sufficient, and these are set out on a long table in a room adjoining the reception parlors. if a large number of guests are expected it is necessary to have a maid or two in attendance to remove cups and saucers, keep the tea urn replenished with hot water and to bring additional cakes and sandwiches if the supply on the table is in danger of running short. two women friends are generally asked to preside at the refreshment table, one at each end to pour tea and chocolate, and, as this task is an arduous one and much of the success of the entertainment depends on its being well done, it is advisable to relieve the ladies in charge during the afternoon. this, however, like every other feature of the entertainment, should be arranged beforehand. the charm of an afternoon reception lies in its apparent informality, but every detail should be considered in advance and all contingencies provided for. the debutante, and especially her mother, should be relieved from all such responsibilities before the guests begin to come. the mother's duties consist in welcoming her guests and presenting her daughter to them. if many people are arriving the guests are quickly passed on to some one of the ladies assisting, whose duty it is to see that they meet some of those who are already in the room and are eventually asked to the tea table. a part of the receiving party, and certainly the hostess and her daughter, should remain together in a place where they may be easily found as the guests enter the room. no more sympathetic act of friendship can be shown a debutante than to contribute toward the success of her party. girls who are asked to assist should remember that their first duty is not to entertain their own friends who may happen to be present, but to see that everyone is welcome and that especially those who are not acquainted with many in the room have an opportunity to become so. anyone asked to assist at a function of this sort is in a sense a hostess, and it is quite within her province to enter into conversation with any unoccupied guest whether she has been introduced or not. the usual hours for an afternoon tea are from four to six, but in the case of a coming-out reception the hour is often prolonged to seven so as to allow more men to be present than would be the case if the time were restricted to the early afternoon. in these busy days few men are at liberty to make afternoon calls, and it is always a compliment to a girl if her tea includes a sprinkling of black coats. whatever hours are decided on, they should be engraved on the cards sent out two weeks before the tea. these are of the form and size of an ordinary visiting-card and include the daughter's name below that of her mother's. if she is the eldest unmarried daughter or the only girl in the family the card reads as follows: mrs. geo. baker blank miss blank december , to o'clock the daughter's given name is only used in case she has an older unmarried sister. ball and evening reception. a more elaborate form of coming-out party consists of a ball or of an evening reception followed by dancing, and in this case the card contains the word "dancing" below the date of the entertainment and the hours at which it is given. few homes are large enough to provide for even a small dance, and so a party of this sort is generally given at a hotel. the guests as well as the receiving party wear evening gowns without hats, and men are expected to come in full evening clothes, which means the long-tailed coats and not the popular tuxedo, white gloves, and, although this is not obligatory, white waistcoats. after a girl has been introduced into society she has her individual visiting-cards, makes her own calls and is allowed to receive her own friends. social customs differ with locality, and the chaperon is less customary in the west than in the east. in many cities girls are allowed to go to the theater and to evening parties with a man friend without a married woman being included in the party. a wise girl, however, is careful that any man she meets shall be introduced as soon as possible to some older member of her family and to introduce a young man calling for the first time to either her mother or father. also when she accepts an invitation to an evening's entertainment she insists that her escort shall call for her at her own home and bring her directly home at the close of it. dining or supping at a restaurant alone with a young man is sure to expose a girl to criticism. a woman's lunch. there are many pleasant forms of entertainment offered to a young girl entering society in which men are not included, and the most popular of these is a woman's lunch. this is a favorite form of entertainment for a young married woman to give in honor of some girl friend who has just come out in society or whose engagement has just been announced. one o'clock or half after is the usual hour, and the meal is served in courses and is as elaborate as the household resources may allow. the decorations of the table are important, and three courses are sufficient if they are carefully arranged. handsome street costumes are worn for a function of this sort, and the guest of honor, if there is one, dresses as the others do. outer wraps are left in the hall or in a room put aside for this purpose, and, as a rule, hats are retained and gloves removed when the guests sit down at table. the custom of wearing a hat during lunch is not an arbitrary one, and it is not universal. in france, for example, where social customs are most carefully observed, it is the custom to wear handsome afternoon gowns if invited for the noon meal and to remove hats. the noon meal there is a social function, and certain formalities are observed. in london, on the contrary, no matter if a number of guests are expected, lunch is an informal occasion, and women dress for lunch as they would for an afternoon tea. hats are worn and women are prepared to rush off afterwards to meet other engagements. the english custom prevails now in the large cities in america, and, moreover, women seem disinclined to remove their hats after they are once dressed for the round of the day's social obligations. it is simpler and really quite conventional to leave the wearing of hats to the individual. the hostess should ask her guest if she wishes to take her hat off or retain it, and she can at the same time intimate to her guest, if she is a stranger in the town, what the others will probably do in this connection. true hospitality on the part of the hostess is to make her guests at ease, and true politeness on the part of the visitor is to conform to the rules governing the community that she is visiting. proper apparel for men. american gentlemen are no longer dependent on english tailors or on english fashions as they were some years ago. the american type of physique is a distinct one, and london tailors have never been able to fit american men as well as they do their own clients. moreover social life is so different in the united states from what it is in england that men really need different clothes. practically all american men are business men for the working hours of the day, and few of them have any time or inclination for anything save business clothes while daylight lasts. for dinner or for the evening what are generally called evening clothes are permissible, and in fact obligatory in large cities for anything beyond the most informal home functions. for the evening there is the informal and formal dress suit. the former consists of the long-tailed coat worn with either a white or black waistcoat. for a dancing party or formal dinner the white waistcoat is generally preferred, and, if it is worn, it must be accompanied by a white lawn tie. a made-up bow is considered incorrect. the accompaniments to a suit of this sort are patent-leather shoes and white kid gloves if dancing is a part of the evening programme. the informal evening suit includes the shorter dinner jacket or tuxedo, as it was formerly called, and, strictly speaking, this is only considered proper for the club or for parties where ladies are not expected to be present. however, men who commonly dress for dinner in the home circle generally prefer the dinner jacket to the long coat, and well-dressed men are often seen wearing it at small dinner parties, at the theater or at any informal evening event. this coat is always worn with a black tie and waistcoat, and it is not a suitable apparel for a dance or any large formal evening affair. the correct dress for a daytime wedding is a black frock coat with light trousers, light fancy waistcoat and gray gloves and gray ascot or four-in-hand tie, and the frock coat with black waistcoat proper for church or when making afternoon calls. many young men are adopting for afternoon wear the english morning suit, which consists of a cutaway coat with trousers and waistcoat to match and made of some other color save black. wedding anniversaries. first anniversary cotton wedding second anniversary paper wedding third anniversary leather wedding fifth anniversary wooden wedding seventh anniversary woolen wedding tenth anniversary tin wedding twelfth anniversary silk and fine linen wedding fifteenth anniversary crystal wedding twentieth anniversary china wedding twenty-fifth anniversary silver wedding thirtieth anniversary pearl wedding fortieth anniversary ruby wedding fiftieth anniversary golden wedding seventy-fifth anniversary diamond wedding how to select colors the natural laws of tints, tones, shades and hues. some combinations of color are pleasing to the eye, and some are discordant. the reasons for this are based on natural laws and are explained in a very simple manner in a learned article by dr. w. k. carr which originally appeared in shop notes quarterly. impressions continue upon the retina of the eye, says dr. carr, about one-sixth of a second after the object has been moved. for this reason a point of light or flame whirled swiftly around appears as a continuous ring. or take a piece or red ribbon, place it on white paper, look intently at it for thirty seconds and suddenly remove the ribbon. the portion of the paper which was covered by the ribbon will then appear green. the explanation is that the color sensation in the eye is caused by the almost unthinkably rapid whirling of electrons around their atoms, and that the retina, becoming fatigued by the vibration of the red, is therefore less sensitive to them. when the ribbon is suddenly removed, the eye sees, not the blue, yellow and red which produce the white surface of the paper, but, because of the fatigue of the eye to the red, it sees only the blue and yellow constituents of the white light. but blue and yellow produce green; hence the tendency at the eye to see the complementary of a color. this may be referred to as the "successive contrast of colors." colors for blondes and for brunettes. now, for a practical application of this knowledge. the hair of the blond is a mixture of red, yellow and brown. as a rule the skin is lighter, that is, it contains not so much orange, and the tinges of red are lighter. nature, therefore, very properly made the blond's eyes blue, since the blue is complementary to the orange of her hair. the brunette's skin, on the other hand, has more orange in it, and hence a color favorable to one would not be becoming to the other. what would be the effect of green upon a complexion deficient in red? it would certainly heighten the rose tints in the cheeks, but the greatest care should be exercised in the selection of the proper shade of green, because the brunette's complexion contains a great deal of orange, and the green, acting upon the red of the orange, could readily produce a brick-dust appearance. green, therefore, is a risky color for a brunette, and so is violet, which would neutralize the yellow of the orange and heighten the red. but if the orange complexion had more yellow than red, then the association of violet would produce pallor. yellow, of course, is her color, since its complementary violet neutralizes the yellow of the orange complexion and leaves the red. but with the yellow-haired blond the conditions are very different. the complementary of blue is orange, which improves the hair and freshens the light flesh tints. a blond, therefore can wear blue, just as a brunette can wear yellow. in arranging flowers the same law holds. complementary colors should be placed side by side; blue with orange, yellow with violet, red and rose with green leaves. and anyone who successfully selects his wall paper and house furnishings is drawing unconsciously, perhaps, on an intuitive knowledge of these fundamental facts. dark papers are bad, especially in rooms with a northern exposure, because they absorb too much light. the complementaries of red and violet are exceedingly trying to most complexions, and orange and orange-yellow are fatiguing to the eye. the most pleasing effects are to be had with yellow, light blue and light green, for the latter freshens the red in pale skins, and the blue heightens blond complexions, and goes well with gilding and with mahogany and cherry furniture. color contrast and harmony. the following tables will be found useful in selecting colors for dress, decoration, or any other purpose in which the proper application of the true laws of contrast and harmony in color is desirable: contrasts in color. yellow contrasts with-- purple, russet, and auburn. red contrasts with-- green, olive, and drab. blue contrasts with-- orange, citrine, and buff. harmonies in color. yellow harmonizes with-- orange, green, citrine, russet, buff, and drab. red harmonizes with-- orange, purple, russet, citrine, auburn, and buff. blue harmonizes with-- purple, green, olive, citrine, drab, and auburn. the care of the teeth. decay of the teeth, or caries, commences externally, appearing upon the enamel or bony structure of the teeth. usually it is the result of chemical action produced by decomposition of food. acids found in some fruits will cause decay if allowed to remain in contact with the teeth. then there are the natural mouth acids, which, although not strong, are none the less effective if allowed to remain long enough around the teeth. microscopical examinations have shown that the secretions of almost every person's month contain more or less vegetable and animal life that will withstand the application of acids and astringents and will only succumb to alkalies. a dentifrice or mouth wash should be alkaline. toothache. toothache is not always due to an exposed nerve, for in the majority of teeth extracted because they are painful the nerve is dead. inflammation is often the cause of the trouble. a toothache due to inflammation is a steady, aggravating pain, overspreading the affected side of the face, sometimes even the neck and shoulder. as there is no nerve to kill in a case of this kind, the tooth should be treated until cured, or removed upon the first symptom of trouble. its extraction would be unattended by any danger and would afford welcome relief. tartar, a creamy, calcareous deposit, supposed to be from the saliva, will sometimes cause toothache. it accumulates around the necks of the teeth and eventually becomes hard and dark-colored. it also causes foul breath and loosens the gums from the teeth, causing them to present an unsightly appearance. the teeth of children. children have twenty temporary teeth, which begin making their appearance about the sixth or seventh month. the time varies in different children. this is the most dangerous and troublesome period of the child's existence, and every parent will do well to consult a reputable dentist. about the second or third year the temporary teeth are fully developed. they require the same care to preserve them as is exercised toward the permanent set. about the sixth year, or soon after, four permanent molars, or double teeth, make their appearance. some parents mistakenly suppose these belong to the first set. it is a serious error. they are permanent teeth, and if lost will be lost forever. no teeth that come after the sixth year are ever shed. let every parent remember this. at twelve years the second set is usually complete, with the exception of the wisdom teeth, which appear anywhere from the eighteenth to the twenty-fourth year. when the second set is coming in the beauty and character of the child's countenance is completed or forever spoiled. everything depends upon proper care at this time to see that the teeth come with regularity and are not crowded together. the teeth cannot have too much room. when a little separated they are less liable to decay. dentifrices--useful and injurious. the habit of caring for the teeth daily, and if possible after each meal, should be established early in life. those who have neglected to do so should lose no time in consulting a reputable dentist, and then persistently caring for their teeth day by day. children especially should be taught to use the tooth-brush and some reliable dentifrice. the more pleasant the preparation the easier it will be to teach them its daily use. a fragrant, refreshing liquid is recommended, as it is a mouth wash as well as a tooth cleanser. the habit thus formed, neglected for even a single day, will make the mouth feel decidedly uncomfortable. cleansing the teeth. preparations for cleansing the teeth and purifying the mouth should be free from all acids, and should be saponaceous or soapy, containing as one of the principal ingredients an alkali to neutralize the acids and destroy the animal and vegetable parasites which, as the microscope would show us, are in the secretions of almost every person's mouth. a finely triturated powder having slight abrasive properties, but free from dangerous grit, should be used as the complement of a liquid. one way to use both is to pour on the wet brush or into the palm of the hand a sufficient quantity of powder and moisten it with the liquid. occasionally the powder or the liquid alone could be employed. be careful to use a liquid and powder of established reputation. beware of thy teeth. take good care of thy teeth, and they will take good care of thee. the perfect female figure. according to the chicago tribune, miss helen loewe, a student at the chicago art institute, is credited by art critics with closely approaching the standard of physical perfection set by statues of the goddess venus. miss loewe was posed as a model for a series of photographs issued for the benefit of the playground fund of oak park. aside from the artistic nature of miss loewe, a comparison of measurements with those of the typically perfect figure explains part of the success of these photographic studies. miss loewe. perfect figure. ft. in height. ft. in. weight - / neck chest bust waist hips thigh upper arm - / forearm calf men and complexions. dr. katherine blackford, of boston, speaking of men's complexions, arrives at the following conclusions. there are, of course, exceptions to all rules: "as a general rule, the blonds are inconstant. they change their minds too often. they get angry one moment and forgive the next. they are impulsive, and when they do commit crimes they are done on the impulse of the moment. a blond radiates his personality about him. the brunette, on the other hand as a rule, likes to concentrate on one subject. he is a specialist. he prefers his home and family, and his pleasures are more often lectures and kindred entertainments than those of a lighter order. he learns slowly, but he retains what he knows far better than does the blond." how the baby's mind develops. in his book on "the development of the intellect," mr. h. w. brown presents a conspectus of the observations of prof. preyer on the mind of the child which shows chronologically the gradual development of the senses, intellect and will of the growing child and presents in a condensed form the result of a great number of careful observations. it is recorded that sensibility to light, touch, temperature, smell and taste are present on the first day of infant life. hearing, therefore, is the only special sense which is not active at this time. the child hears by the third or fourth day. taste and smell are senses at the first most active, but they are differentiated. general organic sensations of well being or discomfiture are felt from the first, but pain and pleasure as mental states are not noted till at or near the second month. the first sign of speech in the shape of utterance of consonant sounds is heard about the end of the second month, these consonants being generally "m," "r," "g," or "t." all the movements of the eyes become co-ordinate by the fourth month, and by this time the child begins to have the "feeling of self," that is, he looks at his own hands and looks at himself in the mirror. the study of the child's mind during the first year shows conclusively that ideas develop and reasoning processes occur before there is any knowledge of words or of language; though it may be assumed that the child thinks in symbols, visual or auditory, which are clumsy equivalents for words. by the end of the year the child begins to express itself by sounds--that is, speech begins. the development of this speech capacity is, according to preyer, in accordance with the development of the intellectual powers. by the end of the second year the child's power of speech is practically acquired. the wonderful human brain. according to the novel computations of a renowned histologist, who has been calculating the aggregate cell forces of the human brain, the cerebral mass is composed of at least , , of nerve cells, each an independent body, organism, and microscopic brain so far as concerns its vital functions, but subordinate to a higher purpose in relation to the functions of the organ; each living a separate life individually, though socially subject to a higher law of function. the lifetime of a nerve cell he estimates to be about sixty days, so that , , die every day, about , every hour, and nearly , every minute, to be succeeded by an equal number of their progeny; while once in every sixty days a man has a new brain. mourning colors the world over. black is by no means the only color used by man to express grief or mourning for the dead. in the south sea islands the natives express sorrow and hope by stripes of black and white. grayish brown, the color of the earth to which the dead return, is used in ethiopia. pale brown, the color of withered leaves, is the mourning of persia. sky-blue, to express the assured hope that the deceased has gone to heaven, is the mourning of syria, cappadocia, and armenia. deep blue in bokhara. purple and violet, to express "kings and queens to god," was the color of mourning for cardinals and kings of france. the color of mourning in turkey is violet. white (emblem of hope) is the color of mourning in china. henry viii. wore white for anne boleyn. the ladies of ancient rome and sparta wore white. it was the color of mourning in spain till . yellow is the color of mourning in egypt and in burmah. anne boleyn wore yellow mourning for catharine of aragon. curious facts about hair. the hair of men is finer than that of women. the average weight of a head of hair is from to ounces. on an average head there are about , hairs to the square inch. hair will stretch about one-fourth of its length and retract nearly to its original length. four hairs of good strength will hold suspended a one-pound weight. a single head of hair, of average growth, would therefore hold suspended an entire audience of people. things that are misnamed catgut is gut of sheep. baffin's bay is no bay at all. arabic figures were invented by the indians. turkish baths are not of turkish origin. blacklead is a compound of carbon and iron. slave by derivation should mean noble, illustrious. turkeys do not come from turkey, but north america. titmouse is not a mouse, but a little hedge sparrow. dutch clocks are of german (deutsch), not dutch manufacture. salt (that is table salt) is not a salt at all, but "chloride of sodium." galvanized iron is not galvanized--simply iron coated with zinc. ventriloquism is not voice from the stomach, but from the mouth. kid gloves are not kid at all, but are made of lambskin or sheepskin. pompey's pillar, in alexandria, was erected neither by nor to pompey. tonquin beans come from tonka, in guinea, not tonquin, in asia. fire, air, earth, and water, called the four elements, are not elements at all. rice paper is not made from rice, but from the pith of tungtsau, or hollowplant. japan lacquer contains no lac at all, but is made from the resin of a kind of nut tree. pen means a feather. (latin. "penna," a wing.) a steel pen is therefore an anomaly. jerusalem artichoke has no connection with jerusalem, but with the sunflower, "girasole." humble pie, for "umbil pie." the umbils of venison were served to inferiors and servants. lunar caustic is simply nitrate of silver, and silver is the astrological symbol of the moon. bridegroom has nothing to do with groom. it is the old english "guma," a man, "bryd-guma." mother of pearl is the inner layer of several sorts of shell, and in some cases the matrix of the pearl. sealing wax is not wax at all nor does it contain wax. it is made of shellac, venice turpentine and cinnabar. cleopatra's needles were not erected by cleopatra, nor in honor of that queen, but by thothmes iii. german silver is not silver at all, but a metallic mixture which has been in use in china time out of mind. cuttle-bone is not bone, but a structure of pure chalk imbedded loosely in the substance of a species of cuttlefish. america was named after amerigo vespucci, a naval astronomer of florence, but he did not discover the new world. prussian blue does not come from prussia. it is the precipitate of the salt of protoxide of iron with red prussiate of potass. wormwood has nothing to do with worms or wood; it is the anglo-saxon "wer mod," man-inspiriting, being a strong tonic. honeydew is neither honey nor dew, but an animal substance given off by certain insects, especially when hunted by ants. gothic architecture is not that of the goths, but the ecclesiastical style employed in england and france before the renaissance. sperm oil properly means "seed oil," from the notion that it was spawn or milt of a whale. it is chiefly taken, however, from the head, not the spawn of the "spermaceti" whale. whalebone is not bone, nor does it possess any properties of bone. it is a substance attached to the upper jaw of the whale, and serves to strain the water which the creature takes up. the language of the flag. to "strike a flag" is to lower the national colors in token of submission. flags are used as the symbol of rank and command, the officers using them being called flag officers. such flags are square, to distinguish them from other banners. a "flag of truce" is a white flag displayed to an enemy to indicate a desire to parley or for consultation. the white flag is a sign of peace. after a battle parties from both sides often go out to the field to rescue the wounded or bury dead under the protection of a white flag. the red flag is a sign of defiance, and is often used by revolutionists. in the naval service it is a mark of danger, and shows a vessel to be receiving or discharging her powder. the black flag is a sign of piracy. the yellow flag shows a vessel to be at quarantine or is the sign of a contagious disease. a flag at half-mast means mourning. fishing and other vessels return with a flag at half-mast to announce the loss or death of some of the men. dipping the flag is lowering it slightly and then hoisting it again to salute a vessel or fort. if the president of the united states goes afloat the american flag is carried in the bows of his barge or hoisted at the main of the vessel on board of which he is. death sentence of the savior. the following is said to be the sentence of death, word for word, pronounced against jesus christ: sentence pronounced by pontius pilate, intendent of the lower province of galilee, that jesus of nazareth shall suffer death by the cross. in the seventeenth year of the reign of emperor tiberius, and on the th day of the month, in the most holy city of jerusalem, during the pontificate of annas and caiaphas. pontius pilate, intendent of the province of lower galilee, sitting to judgment in the presidential seat of the praetors, sentences jesus of nazareth to death on a cross between robbers, as the numerous and notorious testimonies of the people prove: . jesus is a misleader. . he has excited the people to sedition. . he is an enemy to the laws. . he calls himself the son of god. . he calls himself, falsely, the king of israel. . he went to the temple followed by a multitude carrying palms in their hands. orders from the first centurion quirrillis cornelius to bring him to the place of execution. forbids all persons, rich or poor, to prevent the execution of jesus. the witnesses who have signed the execution of jesus are: . daniel robani, pharisee. . john zorobabic. . raphael robani. . capet. jesus is to be taken out of jerusalem through the gate of tournes. the horse's prayer. to thee, my master, i offer my prayer: feed, water and care for me; and when the day's work is done, provide me with shelter and a clean, dry bed. always be kind to me. pet me sometimes, that i may serve you the more gladly and learn to love you. do not jerk the reins, and do not whip me when going up hill. never strike, beat or kick me when i do not understand what you want, but give me a chance to understand you. watch me, and if i fail to do your bidding, see if something is not wrong with my harness or feet. do not overload me or hitch me where water will drip on me. keep me well shod. examine my teeth when i do not eat; i may have an ulcerated tooth, and that, you know, is painful. do not tie or check my head in an unnatural position or take away my best defence against flies and mosquitoes by cutting off my mane or tail. i cannot tell you when i am thirsty, so give me clean, cool water often. i cannot tell you in words when i am sick, so watch me and by signs you may know my condition. give me all possible shelter from the hot sun, and put a blanket on me not when i am working, but when i am standing in the cold. never put a frosty bit in my mouth; first warm it by holding it in your hands. i try to carry you and your burdens without a murmur, and wait patiently for you long hours of the day or night. without the power to choose my shoes or path, i sometimes fall on the hard pavements, and i must be ready at any moment to lose my life in your service. and finally, o, my master, when my useful strength is gone, do not turn me out to starve or freeze, nor sell me to some human brute to be slowly tortured and starved to death, but do thou, my master, take my life in the kindest way, and your god will reward you here and hereafter. amen. a lady's chance of marrying. every woman has some chance to marry. it may be one to fifty, or it may be ten to one that she will. representing her entire chance at one hundred at certain points of her progress in time, it is found to be in the following ratio: between the ages of and years - / percent between the ages of and years per cent between the ages of and years per cent between the ages of and years - / per cent between the ages of and years - / per cent between the ages of and years - / per cent between the ages of and years / of percent between the ages of and years / of per cent after sixty it is one-tenth of one per cent, or one chance in a thousand. some hae meat and canna' eat, and some wad eat who want it; but we hae meat and we can eat, so let the lord be thankit. hints on shaving. learn to shave right. don't shave in a hurry. have the water hot enough so that it won't cool too quickly. wash the face with soap and hot water before lathering, especially if the beard is hard. have the lather very soapy--thin enough to spread easily, yet thick enough so it won't drop. rub well into the face with the brush, then with the fingers. the longer you lather and the more you rub, the easier the shave. the hair usually grows downward. shave with the grain, not against it. use a sliding motion, as well as downward. if you get a "nick," wash with cold water. rubbing the cut with a piece of lump alum will stop the bleeding at once and help to heal. hold the razor properly. lay it as flat as possible--the back of razor nearly touching the skin. have it under easy control. don't grab it--an easy position means an easy shave. a poor strop will spoil the best razor ever made. to buy a good razor and a cheap strop is pour economy. if you prefer a swing strop, pull it as tightly as you can. better use a stiff strop--cushion or solid--if in doubt. a serious mistake made by a number of self-shavers is to hold the strop loose. this bends the invisible teeth and rounds the edge. strop your razor before and after shaving. this keeps the edge free from rust. dip your razor in hot water before stropping and shaving. this dissolves the accumulation in the invisible teeth. press as hard as you like on the back of the blade, but very lightly on the edge. as you reach the end of the strop, turn the razor on the back of the blade to strop the other side, pulling toward you. keep rust away from your strop, and remember that a cut in the strop will ruin your razor. don't use a strop that is cut. facts to settle arguments telephone invented. . there are , languages. sound moves miles per hour. hawks can fly miles an hour. chinese invented paper, b. c. a hand, horse measure, is inches. german empire re-established, . storm clouds move miles an hour. the first steel pen was made in . phonographs invented by edison, . light moves , miles per second. watches were first constructed in . first steamer crossed the atlantic, . rome was founded by romulus, b. c. first musical notes used, ; printed, . the first atlantic cable was operated in . the first balloon ascended from lyons, france, . slow rivers flow at the rate of seven-tenths of a mile per hour. napoleon i. crowned emperor, ; died at st. helena, . harvard, the oldest college in the united states, was founded, . the first steam engine on this continent was brought from england, . the most extensive park is deer park in denmark. it contains , acres. measure ft. on each side and you will have a square acre, to an inch. albert durer gave the world a prophecy of future wood engraving in . the first iron ore discovered in this country was found in virginia in . "bravest of the brave" was the title given to marshal ney at friedland, . the highest bridge in the world, ft. from the surface of the water, is over a gorge at constantine in algiers. the first volunteer fire company in the united states was at philadelphia, . st. augustine, oldest city in the united states, founded by the spaniards, . jamestown, va., founded, ; first permanent english settlement in america. books in their present form were invented by attalus, kind of pergamos, b. c. robert raikes established the first sunday-school, at gloucester, england, . oberlin college, ohio, was the first in the united states that admitted female students. the first knives were used in england, and the first wheeled carriages in france, in . the largest park in the united states is fairmont, at philadelphia, and contains . acres. the highest natural bridge in the world is at rockbridge, virginia, being feet high to the bottom of the arch. the largest empire in the world is that of great britain, being , , square miles, and more than a sixth part of the globe. the first electrical signal ever transmitted between europe and america passed over the field submarine cable on aug. , . paris was known as lutetia until , when the name of the great french capital was changed to that which it has borne ever since. the longest tunnel in the world is st. gothard, on the line of the railroad between lucerne and milan, being - / miles in length. burnt brick were known to have been used in building the tower of babel. they were introduced into england by the romans. the loftiest active volcano is popocatapetl. it is , feet high, and has a crater three miles in circumference and , feet deep. the largest insurance company in the world is the mutual life of new york city, having cash and real estate assets of over $ , , . the latin tongue became obsolete about . the value of a ton of pure gold is $ , . . first authentic use of organs, ; in england, . ether was first used for surgical purposes in . ignatius loyola founded the order of jesuits, . the first newspaper advertisement appeared in . benjamin franklin used the first lightning rods, . glass windows (colored) were used in the th century. the largest desert is sahara, in northern africa. its length is , miles and breadth miles, having an area of , , square miles. the most remarkable echo known is that in the castle of simonetta, two miles from milan. it repeats the echo of a pistol shot sixty times. the first deaf and dumb asylum was founded in england, by thomas braidwood, ; and the first in the united states was at hartford, . the largest diamond in the world is the braganza, being a part of the portugese jewels. it weighs , carats. it was found in brazil in . the "valley of death," in the island of java, is simply the crater of an extinct volcano, filled with carbonic acid gas. it is half a mile in circumference. the grade of titles in great britain stands in the following order from the highest: a prince, duke, marquis, earl, viscount, baron, baronet, knight. the city of amsterdam, holland, is built upon piles driven into the ground. it is intersected by numerous canals, crossed by nearly three hundred bridges. coal was used as fuel in england as early as , and in the first charter to dig it was granted by henry iii. to the inhabitants of newcastle-on-tyne. the present national colors of the united states were not adopted by congress until . the flag was first used by washington at cambridge, january , . tobacco was discovered in san domingo in ; afterwards by the spaniards in yucatan in . it was introduced into france in , and into england in . kerosene was first used for illuminating in . cork is the bark taken from a species of the oak tree. national banks first established in the united states, . introduction of homoeopathy into the united states, . egyptian pottery is the oldest known; dates from , b. c. authentic history of china commenced . years b. c. the largest free territorial government is the united states. the chaldeans were the first people who worked in metals. spectacles were invented by an italian in the th century. soap was first manufactured in england in the th century. julius caesar invaded britain, b. c.; assassinated, b. c. medicine was introduced into rome from greece, b. c. first electric telegraph, paddington to brayton, england, . first photographs produced in england, ; perfected, . first life insurance, in london, ; in america, philadelphia. . slavery in the united states was begun at jamestown, va. in . the highest denomination of legal-tender notes in the united states is $ , . postage stamps first came into use in england in the year ; in the united states, in . the highest range of mountains are the himalayas, the mean elevation being from , to , feet. the term "almighty dollar" originated with washington irving, as a satire on the american love for gain. the largest inland sea is the caspian, between europe and asia, being miles long and miles wide. a span is ten and seven-eighths inches. first watches made in nuremberg, . pianoforte invented in italy about . the value of a ton of silver is $ , . . french and indian war in america, . a hurricane moves eighty miles per hour. coaches were first used in england in . the first horse railroad was built in - . electricity moves , miles per second. modern needles first came into use in . the average human life is thirty-three years. french revolution, ; reign of terror, . $ , , gold coin weighs , . lb. avoirdupois. mormons arrived at salt lake valley, utah, july , . the largest cavern in the world is the mammoth cave, kentucky. experiments in electric lighting, by thomas a. edison, - . daguerre and nieper invented the process of daguerreotype, . first american library founded at harvard college, cambridge, . first cotton raised in the united states was in virginia, in ; first exported, . first sugar-cane cultivated in the united states, near new orleans, ; first sugar-mill, . first telegraph in operation in america was between washington and baltimore, may , . the largest university is oxford, in england. it consists of twenty-one colleges and five halls. the first illumination with gas was in cornwall, eng., ; in the united states, at boston, . printing was known in china in the th century; introduced into england about ; america, . the great wall of china, built b. c. is , miles in length, feet high, and feet thick at the base. glass mirrors first made by venetians in the th century. polished metal was used before that time. meerschaum means "froth of the sea." it is white and soft when dug from the earth, but soon hardens. in round numbers, the weight of $ , , in standard gold coin is - / tons; standard silver coin, - / tons; subsidiary silver coin, tons; minor coin, -cent nickel, tons. the highest monument in the world is the washington monument, being feet. the highest structure of any kind is the eiffel tower, paris, finished in , and feet high. there has been no irregularity in the recurrence of leap year every four years since , except in , which was a common year, although it came fourth after the preceding leap year. it is claimed that crows, eagles, ravens and swans live to be years old; herons, , parrots, ; pelicans and geese, ; skylarks, ; sparrow hawks, ; peacocks, canaries and cranes, . the greatest cataract in the world is niagara, the height of the american falls being feet. the highest fall of water in the world is that of the yosemite in california, being , feet. the most ancient catacombs are those of the theban kings, begun , years ago. the catacombs of rome contain the remains of about , , human beings; those of paris, , , . the first english newspaper was the english mercury, issued in the reign of queen elizabeth, and was issued in the shape of a pamphlet. the gazette of venice was the original model of the modern newspaper. the great eastern, at one time the greatest steamer afloat, and twice as long as any other vessel at the time of her launching, in , was feet in length and feet in breadth. she was too large to be handled profitably with the motive power then available, but proved indispensable in the laying of the atlantic cable. she was broken up and sold as junk, although the isherwood system, on which she was built, has since been revived, and is now successfully employed in shipbuilding. the seven sages flourished in greece in the th century b. c. they were renowned for their maxims of life, and as the authors of the mottoes inscribed in the delphian temple. their names are: solon, chilo, pittacus, bias, periander, cleobolus, and thales. a "monkey wrench" is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey with, or for any kindred reason. "monkey" is not its name at all, but "moncky." charles moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $ , , and invested the money in a house in williamsburgh, kings county, n. y. the "seven wonders of the world" are seven most remarkable objects of the ancient world. they are: the pyramids of egypt, pharos of alexandria, walls and hanging gardens of babylon, temple of diana at ephesus, the statue of the olympian jupiter, mausoleum of artemisia, and colossus of rhodes. in there were only twenty-seven newspapers published in the united states. ten years later, in , there were seven published in the english language in philadelphia alone, of which one was a daily. the oldest newspaper published in philadelphia at the time of the federal convention was the pennsylvania gazette, established by samuel keimer, in . the second newspaper in point of age was the pennsylvania journal, established in by william bradford, whose uncle, andrew bradford, established the first newspaper in pennsylvania, the american weekly mercury, in . next in age, but the first in importance, was the pennsylvania packet, established by john dunlap, in . in it became a daily, being the first daily newspaper printed on this continent. "liberty," bartholdi's statue, presented to the united states by the french people in , is the largest statue ever built. its conception is due to the great french sculptor whose name it bears. it is said to be a likeness of his mother. eight years of time were consumed in the construction of this gigantic brazen image. its weight is , pounds, of which , pounds are copper, the remainder iron and steel. the major part of the iron and steel was used in constructing the skeleton frame work for the inside. the mammoth electric light held in the hands of the giantess is feet above tide-water. the height of the figure is - / feet; the pedestal feet, and the foundation feet and inches. forty persons can find standing-room within the mighty head, which is - / feet in diameter. a six-foot man standing on the lower lip could hardly reach the eyes. the index finger is feet in length and the nose - / feet. the colossus of rhodes was a pigmy compared with this latter-day wonder. the largest and grandest temple of worship in the world is st. peter's cathedral at rome. it stands on the site of nero's circus, in the northwest part of the city, and is built in form of a latin cross. the total length of the interior is - / english feet; transept, - / feet; height of nave, - / feet; diameter of cupola, feet; height of dome from pavement to top of cross, feet. the great bell alone, without the hammer or clapper, weighs , pounds, or over - / tons. the foundation was laid in a. d. forty-three popes lived and died during the time the work was in progress. it was dedicated in the year , but not entirely finished until the year . the cost, in round numbers, is set down at $ , , . the great pyramid of cheops is the largest structure of any kind ever erected by the hand of man. its original dimensions at the base were feet square, and its perpendicular height in the highest point feet; it covers four acres, one rood and twenty-two perches of ground and has been estimated by an eminent english architect to have cost not less than , , pounds, which in united states currency would be about $ , , . internal evidence proves that the great pyramid was begun about the year b. c., about the time of the birth of abraham. it is estimated that about , , tons of hewn stone were used in its construction, and the evidence points to the fact that these stones were brought a distance of about miles from quarries in arabia. the largest body of fresh water in the world is lake superior. it is miles long and miles wide; its circumference, including the winding of its various bays, has been estimated at , miles. its area in square miles is , , which is greater than the whole of new england, leaving out maine. the greatest depth of this inland sea is fathoms, or , feet. its average depth is about fathoms. it is feet above the sea level. the corner stone of the washington monument, the highest in the united states, and until the highest structure in the world, was laid july , . robert e. winthrop, then speaker of the house, delivered the oration. work progressed steadily for about six years, until the funds of the monumental society became exhausted. at that time the monument was about feet high. from until nothing to speak of was done on the building. in the year last above named congress voted an appropriation of $ , to complete the work. from that time forward work progressed at a rapid rate until december th, , when the aluminum apex was set at feet - / inches from the foundation and the work declared finished. the foundation is - / feet square; number of stones used above the -foot level, , ; total weight stone used in work, , tons. the largest state in our grand republic is texas, which contains , square miles, capable of sustaining , , people, and then it would not be more crowded than scotland is at present. it has been estimated that the entire population of the globe could be seated upon chairs within the boundary of texas and each have four feet of elbow room. the mississippi river, from the source of the missouri to the eads jetties, is the longest river in the world. it is , miles in length and drains an area of , , square miles. the amazon, which is without doubt the widest river in the world, including the beni, is , miles in length and drains , , square miles of territory. the single tax. this idea was first formulated by mr. henry george in , and has grown steadily in favor. single-tax men assert as a fundamental principle that all men are equally entitled to the use of the earth; therefore, no one should be allowed to hold valuable land without paying to the community the value of the privilege. they hold that this is the only rightful source of public revenue, and they would therefore abolish all taxation--local, state and national--except a tax upon the rental value of land exclusive of its improvements, the revenue thus raised to be divided among local, state and general governments, as the revenue from certain direct taxes is now divided between local and state governments. the single tax would not fall on all land, but only on valuable land, and on that in proportion to its value. it would thus be a tax, not on use or improvements, but on ownership of land, taking what would otherwise go to the landlord as owner. in accordance with the principle that all men are equally entitled to the use of the earth, they would solve the transportation problem by public ownership and control of all highways, including the roadbeds of railroads, leaving their use equally free to all. the single-tax system would, they claim, dispense with a horde of tax-gatherers, simplify government, and greatly reduce its cost; give us with all the world that absolute free trade which now exists between the states of the union: abolish all taxes on private issues of money; take the weight of taxation from agricultural districts, where land has little or no value apart from improvements, and put it upon valuable land, such as city lots and mineral deposits. it would call upon men to contribute for public expenses in proportion to the natural opportunities they monopolize, and make it unprofitable for speculators to hold land unused or only partly used, thus opening to labor unlimited fields of employment, solving the labor problem and abolishing involuntary poverty. the mysteries of hypnotism. a compend of the general claims made by professional hypnotists. animal magnetism is the nerve-force of all human and animal bodies, and is common to every person in a greater or less degree. it may be transmitted from one person to another. the transmitting force is the concentrated effort of will-power, which sends the magnetic current through the nerves of the operator to the different parts of the body of his subject. it may be transmitted by and through the eyes, as well as the finger tips, and the application of the whole open hands, to different regions of the body of the subject, as well as to the mind. the effect of this force upon the subject will depend very much upon the health, mental capacity and general character of the operator. its action in general should be soothing and quieting upon the nervous system; stimulating to the circulation of the blood, the brain and other vital organs of the body of the subject. it is the use and application of this power or force that constitutes hypnotism. magnetism is a quality that inheres in every human being, and it may be cultivated like any other physical or mental force of which men and women are constituted. from the intelligent operator using it to overcome disease, a patient experiences a soothing influence that causes a relaxation of the muscles, followed by a pleasant, drowsy feeling which soon terminates in refreshing sleep. on waking, the patient feels rested; all his troubles have vanished from consciousness and he is as if he had a new lease of life. in the true hypnotic condition, when a patient voluntarily submits to the operator, any attempt to make suggestions against the interests of the patient can invariably be frustrated by the patient. self-preservation is the first law of nature, and some of the best known operators who have recorded their experiments assert that suggestions not in accord with the best interest of the patient could not be carried out. no one was ever induced to commit any crime under hypnosis, that could not have been induced to do the same thing much easier without hypnosis. the hypnotic state is a condition of mind that extends from a comparatively wakeful state, with slight drowsiness, to complete somnambulism, no two subjects, as a rule, ever presenting the same characteristics. the operator, to be successful, must have control of his own mind, be in perfect health and have the ability to keep his mind concentrated upon the object he desires to accomplish with his subject. how to care for a piano. by william h. damon the most important thing in the preservation of a piano is to avoid atmospheric changes and extremes and sudden changes of temperature. where the summer condition of the atmosphere is damp all precautions possible should be taken to avoid an entirely dry condition in winter, such as that given by steam or furnace heat. in all cases should the air in the home contain moisture enough to permit a heavy frost on the windows in zero weather. the absence of frost under such conditions is positive proof of an entirely dry atmosphere, and this is a piano's most dangerous enemy, causing the sounding board to crack, shrinking up the bridges, and consequently putting the piano seriously out of tune, also causing an undue dryness in all the action parts and often a loosening of the glue joints, thus producing clicks and rattles. to obviate this difficulty is by no means an easy task and will require considerable attention. permit all the fresh air possible during winter, being careful to keep the piano out of cold drafts, as this will cause a sudden contraction of the varnish and cause it to check or crack. plants in the room are desirable and vessels of water of any kind will be of assistance. the most potent means of avoiding extreme dryness is to place a single-loaf bread-pan half full of water in the lower part of the piano, taking out the lower panel and placing it on either side of the pedals inside. this should be refilled about once a month during artificial heat, care being taken to remove the vessel as soon as the heat is discontinued in the spring. in cases where stove heat is used these precautions are not necessary. the action of a piano, like any other delicate piece of machinery, should be carefully examined, and, if necessary, adjusted each time it is tuned. the hammers need occasional and careful attention to preserve original tone quality and elasticity. never allow the piano to be beaten or played hard upon. this is ruinous to both the action and tuning. when not in use the music rack and top should be closed to exclude dust. the keyboard need never be closed, as the ivory needs both light and ventilation and will eventually turn yellow unless left open. the case demands careful treatment to preserve its beauty and polish, never use anything other than a soft piece of cotton cloth or cheese cloth to dust it with. never wipe it with a dry chamois skin or silk cloth. silk is not as soft as cotton and will scratch. a dry chamois skin picks up the dust and grit and gradually scours off the fine finish. in dusting never use a feather duster, nor rub the piano hard with anything. the dust should be whipped off, and not rubbed into the varnish. if the piano is dingy, smoky or dirty looking, it should be washed carefully with lukewarm water with a little ammonia in it to soften it. never use soap. use nothing but a small, soft sponge and a chamois skin. wipe over a small part at a time with the sponge, following quickly with the wet chamois skin wrung out of the same water. this will dry it immediately and leave it as beautiful and clean as new. never use patent polishes. if your piano needs polishing employ a competent polisher to give it a hand-rubbing friction polish. the highest mountain on the globe is not, as is generally supposed, mt. everest, that honor belonging to a lofty peak named mt. hercules on the isle of papua, new guinea, discovered by capt. lawson in , according to lawson, this monster is , feet in height, being , feet higher than mt. everest, which is only , feet above the level of the indian ocean. [transcriber's note: the highest point in new guinea is puncak jaya (mount carstensz or the carstensz pyramid), at , feet.] salt-rising bread. the real formula for making salt-rising bread, as set down by the daughter of governor stubbs, of kansas, and by him communicated to theodore roosevelt, is as follows, according to the "saturday evening post": "on the night before you contemplate this masterpiece of baking take half a cupful of corn meal and a pinch each of salt and sugar. scald this with new milk heated to the boiling point and mix to the thickness of mush. this can be made in a cup. wrap in a clean cloth and put in a warm place overnight. "in the morning, when all is ready, take a one-gallon stone jar and into this put one scant cupful of new milk. add a level teaspoonful of salt and one of sugar. scald this with three cupfuls of water heated to the boiling point. reduce to a temperature of one hundred and eight degrees with cold water, using a milk thermometer to enable you to get exactly the right temperature. then add flour and mix to a good batter; after the batter is made, mix in your starter that was made the night before. cover the stone jar with a plate and put the jar in a large kettle of water and keep this water at a temperature of one hundred and eight degrees until the sponge rises. it should rise at least an inch and a half. when it has raised mix to a stiff dough, make into loaves and put into pans. do not let the heat get out of the dough while working. grease the loaves well on top and set your bread where it will be warm and rise. after the loaves rise bake in a medium oven for one hour and ten minutes. when you take the loaves from the oven wrap them in a bread-cloth." a cure for love. take twelve ounces of dislike, one pound of resolution, two grains of common sense, two ounces of experience, a large sprig of time, and three quarts of cooling water of consideration. set them over a gentle fire of love, sweeten it with sugar of forgetfulness, skim it with the spoon of melancholy, put it in the bottom of your heart, cork it with the cork of clean conscience. let it remain and you will quickly find ease and be restored to your senses again. these things can be had of the apothecary at the house of understanding next door to reason, on prudent street. doing business with a bank in opening your account with a bank it is proper that you should first be introduced to the cashier, or some other official. if you are engaged in business, that officer will inquire as to your particular business or calling, your address, etc., and unless he is already satisfied on this point, he may make inquiries as to your business standing. this being satisfactory, he will hand you a passbook, and some deposit tickets, whereupon you make your first deposit, entering the amount on the ticket. you will then be asked to write your signature in a book provided for that purpose, or upon a card to be filed away for reference. the signature. this signature should be just as you intend to use it in all your dealings with the bank. if, for instance, your name is john henry smith, you may write it j. h. smith, j. henry smith. john h. smith or john henry smith, but whatever form you adopt should be used all the time. once having adopted the form, it should be maintained in exactly that way. the only excuse for variation from your usual signature is when presenting checks or other paper made payable to you. in that case, supposing you had adopted the form j. henry smith for your regular signature, and the check is made payable to john h. smith, you should first write on the back of that check "john h. smith," and immediately under this you should place your regular signature. depositing money. when making a deposit, always use the deposit ticket provided by the bank, filling it out yourself in ink. from this ticket, which is first checked up by the receiving teller, the amount of your deposit is placed to your credit. do not ask the teller to fill our your deposit ticket. no doubt he would be glad to accommodate you, but to do so would violate a rule which protects both the bank and the depositor, deposit tickets are preserved by the bank, and often serve to correct mistakes. how to avoid mistakes. consider for a moment the vast aggregate of bank transactions, and you will see that perfect system on the part of the banks and bank officials is required to insure accuracy and avoid mistakes. sometimes the requirements of the banks may seem arbitrary and troublesome, but reflection will show that they safeguard the depositor as well as the bank. the simple rules here laid down will enable anyone who has business with a bank to do so with the least trouble and with absolute safety. how to make out a check. checks are the most satisfactory and most convenient method of paying a debt or making any ordinary remittance. the stub of your check book will furnish a permanent memorandum, and when the check is canceled and returned to you by the bank, it is an indisputable evidence that the debt has been paid, or that the remittance has been made. the making of a check is a simple matter, but even the best business men make mistakes sometimes which are as difficult to remedy as they are easy to avoid. the hints here given and the facsimiles of checks printed in illustration will repay careful study. [illustration: a check properly drawn. the name and amount are against the left side of their fields.] the first facsimile shows a check properly made. it will be seen, in the first place, that this check is written very plainly, and that there is no room for the insertion of extra figures or words. the writing of the amount commences as nearly as possible to the extreme left of the check. the figures are written close together and there is no space between the first figure and the dollar mark. all erasures in checks should be avoided. if you have made a mistake, tear a blank check from the back of your check book and use that in place of the one spoiled. some business men allow their clerks to fill out checks on the typewriter. this is ill-advised for two reasons: first, it is much easier to alter a typewritten check than one filled in with a pen; in the second place, a teller, in passing on the genuineness of a check, takes into consideration the character of the handwriting in the body of the check as well as in the signature. the typewritten characters offer no clue to individuality. never mail a check drawn to "bearer." remember that if your check is made payable to "bearer" or to "john smith or bearer" it may be cashed by anybody who happens to have it. unless it is for a large amount the paying teller of your bank will look only to see whether your signature is correct, and, that being right, the bank cannot be held responsible if the check should have come into the wrong hands. a check drawn to order can be cashed only when the person to whose order it has been drawn has indorsed it by writing his or her name on the back and the bank will be responsible for the correctness of the indorsement. if you make your check payable say, to william armstrong or order, nobody but william armstrong, or some one to whom he indorses the check, can collect the amount, and if through fraud or otherwise some one not entitled to it gets the money which the check calls for, the responsibility is not yours, but the bank's. it is for that reason that bankers and business men use such great care in accepting checks. [illustration: a check carelessly drawn. the text and numbers for the amount is in the center of their fields, leaving of space for extra text.] [illustration: the same check "raised". the amount has been changed from one hundred/ . to eighty-one hundred/$ . .] for the same reason you should never accept a check from anybody whom you do not know as responsible, and you should not be surprised or angered if some one else should hesitate to take a check from you. checks or drafts received by you should be deposited as soon as possible. should you receive a check for a considerable amount and have no convenient bank account, you should go to the bank on which the check is drawn and have the cashier certify it by stamping "accepted" or "certified" across the face over his signature. that formality makes the paper as good as money so long as the bank accepting it is solvent. it sometimes happens that a check drawn in good faith by a responsible party is withheld so long by the person receiving it that there is no money to the account when the check is finally presented. paying notes and acceptances. make your notes and accepted drafts payable at the bank where you do business. whether it or other banks hold them for collection, they will be presented to your bank when due. pay your notes, etc., on the day they fall due, and early in the day if convenient, or leave a check for the amount with your bank on the day before your paper matures. banks will not pay notes or drafts without instructions. keep a careful record of the days of maturity of all your paper. banks usually notify all payers a few days beforehand when their paper matures, but this is only courtesy on their part and not an obligation. exchange. "exchange" means funds in other cities made available by bankers' drafts on such places. these drafts afford the safest and cheapest means for remitting money. drafts on new york are worth their face value practically all over the united states in settlement of accounts. collections. a draft is sometimes the most convenient form for collecting an account. the prevalence of the custom is due to the fact that most men will wait to be asked to pay a debt. if a draft is a time draft it is accepted by the person on whom it is drawn by writing his name and date across the face. this makes it practically a note, to be paid at maturity. notes or drafts that you desire to have collected for you by your bank should be left at the bank several days before they are due, so as to give ample time to notify the payers. borrowing. banks are always willing to loan their funds to responsible persons within reasonable limits. that is what they exist for. there is, of course, a limit to the amount a bank may loan, even on the best known security, but the customer of the bank is entitled to and will receive the first consideration. the customer should not hesitate, when occasion requires, to offer to the bank for discount such paper as may come into his hands in the course of business, if, in his opinion, the paper is good. at the same time he should not be offended if his bank refuses to take it even without giving reasons. indorsing checks, etc. when depositing checks, drafts, etc., see that they are dated properly and that the written amounts and figures correspond. the proper way to indorse a check or draft--this also applies to notes and other negotiable paper--is to write your name upon the back about one inch from the top. the proper end may be determined in this way: as you read the check, holding one end in each hand, draw the right hand toward you, and turn the check over. the end which is then farthest from you is the top. if, however, the check, draft or note has already been indorsed by another person, you should write your name directly under the other indorsement, even if that is on the wrong end. if your own name on the face of the check, draft or note is misspelled, or has the wrong initials, but if the paper is clearly intended for you, you should first write your name as it appears on the face, and under it your regular signature. you should indorse every check you deposit, even though it be payable to bearer. mistakes in banking. mr. samuel woods, a member of the american institute of bank clerks, recently contributed to munsey's magazine an interesting article on the subject of "mistakes in banking." from this we are permitted by the courtesy of the publishers of munsey's to reproduce two of the facsimiles shown. one wrong word, or figure, or letter--the right thing in the wrong way or the wrong place--the scratch of an eraser or the alteration of a word--or any one of these things, in the making or cashing of a check, is liable to become as expensive as a racing automobile. the paying teller of a bank, says mr. woods, must keep his eyes open for new dangers as well as old ones. the cleverest crooks in the country are pitting their brains against his. after he has learned the proper guard for all the well-known tricks and forgeries it is still possible that an entirely new combination may leave him minus cash and plus experience. but it is not the unique and novel swindle that is most dangerous, either to a bank or an individual. it is the simple, ordinary mistake or the time-worn trick that makes continuous trouble. apparently, every new generation contains a number of dishonest people who lay the same traps, and a number of careless people who fall into these traps in the same old way. check-raising made easy. one of the first lessons, for instance, that a depositor should learn before he is qualified to own a check-book is to commence writing the amount as near as possible to the extreme left of the check. those who forget this are often reminded of it in a costly way. some one "raises" their checks by writing another figure in front of the proper amount. "five hundred" might be "raised" to "twenty-five hundred" in this way, even by an unskilled forger. the highest court has recently decided that a bank cannot be held responsible, when it pays a "raised" check, if the maker of the check failed in the first place to write it out correctly. the treasurer of the bath electric company, of bath, maine, had written a check for one hundred dollars, which was raised to eighty-one hundred dollars and cashed. the court held that the company, and not the bank, should lose the eight thousand dollars, because of the "gross carelessness" in drawing up the check. facsimiles showing the check as originally written and as it looked when paid are here reproduced. altered words and figures. the altered check is the bane of the paying teller's profession, and it is the general practice in conservative banks to accept no checks or other paper which shows signs of erasure or alteration in either words or figures. the names of the states. alabama--indian; meaning "here we rest." arkansas"--kansas," the indian name for "smoky water," with the french prefix "arc," bow or bend in the principal river. california--caliente fornala, spanish for "hot furnace," in allusion to the climate. colorado--spanish; meaning "colored," from the red color of the colorado river. connecticut--indian; meaning "long river." delaware--named in honor of lord de la ware. florida--named by ponce de leon, who discovered it in , on easter day, the spanish pascua de flores, or "feast of flowers." georgia--in honor of george ii. of england. illinois--from the indian "illini," men, and the french suffix "ois," together signifying "tribe of men." indiana--indian land. iowa--indian; meaning "beautiful land.'" kansas--indian; meaning "smoky water." kentucky--indian for "at the head of the river," or "the dark and bloody ground." louisiana--in honor of louis xiv. of france. maine--from the province of maine, in france. maryland--in honor of henrietta maria, queen of charles i. of england. massachusetts--the place of the great hills (the blue hills southwest of boston). michigan--the indian name for a fish weir. the lake was so called from the fancied resemblance of the lake to a fish trap. minnesota--indian; meaning "sky-tinted water." mississippi--indian; meaning "great father of waters." missouri--indian; meaning "muddy." nebraska--indian; meaning "water valley." nevada--spanish; meaning "snow-covered," alluding to the mountains. new hampshire--from hampshire county, england. new jersey--in honor of sir george carteret, one of the original grantees, who had previously been governor of jersey island. new york--in honor of the duke of york. north and south carolina--originally called carolina, in honor of charles ix. of france. ohio--indian; meaning "beautiful river." oregon--from the spanish "oregano," wild marjoram, which grows abundantly on the coast. pennsylvania--latin; meaning penn's woody land. rhode island--from a fancied resemblance to the island of rhodes in the mediterranean. tennessee--indian; meaning "river with the great bend." texas--origin of this name is unknown. vermont--french; meaning "green mountain." virginia--in honor of elizabeth, the "virgin queen." wisconsin--indian; meaning "gathering of the waters," or "wild rushing channel." mottoes of the states. arkansas--regnant populi: the peoples rule. california--eureka: i have found it. colorado--nil sine numine: nothing without the divinity. connecticut--qui transtulit sustinet: he who has transferred, sustains. delaware--liberty and independence. florida--in god is our trust. georgia--wisdom, justice, moderation. illinois--state sovereignty and national union. iowa--our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain. kansas--ad astra per aspera: to the stars through rugged ways. kentucky--united we stand, divided we fall. louisiana--union and confidence. maine--dirigo: i direct. maryland--crescite et multiplicamini: increase and multiply. massachusetts--ense petit placidam sub libertate quietam: by her sword she seeks under liberty a calm repose. michigan--si quaeris peninsulam amoeanam circumspice: if thou seekest a beautiful peninsula, look around. minnesota--l'etoile du nord: the star of the north. missouri--salus populi suprema lex esto: let the welfare of the people be the supreme law. nebraska--popular sovereignty. nevada--volens et potens: willing and able. new jersey--liberty and independence. new york--excelsior: higher. ohio--imperium in imperio: an empire within an empire. oregon--alis volat propriis: she flies with her own wings. pennsylvania--virtue, liberty, independence. rhode island--hope. south carolina--animis opibusque parati: ready with our lives and property. tennessee--agriculture, commerce. vermont--freedom and unity. virginia--sic semper tyrannis: so be it ever to tyrants. west virginia--montani semper liberi: the mountaineers are always free. wisconsin--forward. united states e pluribus unum: from many, one. annuit captis: god has favored the undertaking; vovus ordo seclorum: a new order of ages. the first named on one side of the great seal, the other two on the reverse. geographical nicknames. states and territories. alabama, cotton state; arkansas, toothpick and bear state; california, eureka and golden state; colorado, centennial state; connecticut, land of steady habits: freestone state and nutmeg state; dakota, sioux state; delaware, uncle sam's pocket handkerchief and blue hen state; florida, everglade and flowery state; georgia, empire state of the south; idaho, gem of the mountains; illinois, prairie and sucker state; indiana, hoosier state; iowa, hawkeye state; kansas, jayhawker state; kentucky, corn-cracker state; louisiana, creole state; maine, timber and pine tree state; maryland, monumental state; massachusetts, old bay state; michigan, wolverine and peninsular state; minnesota, gopher and north star state; mississippi, eagle state; missouri, puke state; nebraska, antelope state; nevada, sage state; new hampshire, old granite state; new jersey, blue state and new spain; new mexico, vermin state; new york, empire state; north carolina, rip van winkle, old north and turpentine state; ohio, buckeye state; oregon, pacific state; pennsylvania, keystone, iron and oil state; rhode island, plantation state and little rhody; south carolina, palmetto state; tennessee, lion's den state; texas, lone star state; utah, mormon state; vermont, green mountain state; virginia, old dominion; wisconsin, badger and copper state. natives of states and territories. alabama, lizards; arkansas, toothpicks; california, gold-hunters; colorado, rovers; connecticut, wooden nutmegs; dakota, squatters; delaware, muskrats; florida, fly-up-the-creeks; georgia, buzzards; idaho, fortune seekers; illinois, suckers; indiana, hoosiers; iowa, hawkeyes; kansas, jayhawkers; kentucky, corn-crackers; louisiana, creoles; maine, foxes; maryland, clam-humpers; massachusetts, yankees; michigan, wolverines; minnesota, gophers; mississippi, tadpoles; missouri, pukes; nebraska, bugeaters; nevada, sagehens; new hampshire, granite boys; new jersey, blues or clam-catchers; new mexico, spanish indians; new york, knickerbockers; north carolina, tarheels; ohio, buckeyes; oregon, hard cases; pennsylvania, pennamites, or leather-heads; rhode island, gun flints; south carolina, weazles; tennessee, whelps; texas, beef-heads; utah, polygamists; vermont, green mountain boys; virginia, beagles; wisconsin, badgers. nicknames of cities. atlanta, gate city of the south; baltimore, monumental city; bangor, lumber city; boston, modern athens, literary emporium, city of notions and hub of the universe; brooklyn, city of churches; buffalo, queen of the lakes; burlington (iowa), orchard city; charleston, palmetto city; chicago, prairie, or garden city; cincinnati, queen of the west and porkopolis; cleveland, forest city; denver, city of the plains; detroit, city of the straits; hartford, insurance city; indianapolis, railroad city; keokuk, gate city.; lafayette, star city; leavenworth, cottonwood city; louisville, falls city; lowell, spindle city; mcgregor, pocket city; madison, lake city; milwaukee, cream city; nashville, rock city; new haven, elm city; new orleans, crescent city; new york, empire city, commercial emporium, gotham, and metropolis of america; philadelphia, city of brotherly love, city of penn, quaker city, and centennial city; pittsburgh, iron city and smoky city; portland (me.), hill city; providence, roger williams' city, and perry davis' pain killer; raleigh, oak city; richmond, (va.), cockade city; richmond (ind.), quaker city of the west; rochester, aqueduct city; salt lake city, mormon city; san francisco, golden gate; savannah, forest city of the south; sheboygan, evergreen city; st. louis, mound city; st. paul, north star city; vicksburg, key city; washington, city of magnificent distances, and federal city. theosophy. much is said nowadays about theosophy, which is really but another name for mysticism. it is not a philosophy, for it will have nothing to do with philosophical methods; it might be called a religion, though it has never had a following large enough to make a very strong impression on the world's religious history. the name is from the greek word theosophia--divine wisdom--and the object of theosophical study is professedly to understand the nature of divine things. it differs, however, from both philosophy and theology even when these have the same object of investigation. for, in seeking to learn the divine nature and attributes, philosophy employs the methods and principles of natural reasoning; theology uses these, adding to them certain principles derived from revelation. theosophy, on the other hand, professes to exclude all reasoning processes as imperfect, and to derive its knowledge from direct communication with god himself. it does not, therefore, accept the truths of recorded revelation as immutable, but as subject to modification by later and personal revelations. the theosophical idea has had followers from the earliest times. since the christian era we may class among theosophists such sects as neo-platonists, the hesychasts of the greek church, the mystics of mediaeval times, and, in later times, the disciples of paracelsus, thalhauser, bohme, swedenborg and others. recently a small sect has arisen, which has taken the name of theosophists. its leader was an english gentleman who had become fascinated with the doctrine of buddhism. taking a few of his followers to india, they have been prosecuting their studies there, certain individuals attracting considerable attention by a claim to miraculous powers. it need hardly be said that the revelations they have claimed to receive have been, thus far, without element of benefit to the human race. the evolution theory. the evolution or development theory declares the universe as it now exists to be the result of a long series of changes which were so far related to each other as to form a series of growths analogous to the evolving of the parts of a growing organism. herbert spencer defines evolution as a progress from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from general to special, from the simple to the complex elements of life, and it is believed that this process can be traced in the formation of worlds in space, in the multiplication of types and species among animals and plants, in the origin and changes of languages and literature and the arts, and also in all the changes of human institutions and society. asserting the general fact of progress in nature, the evolution theory shows that the method of this progress has been ( ) by the multiplication of organs and functions; ( ) according to a defined unity of plan, although with ( ) intervention of transitional forms, and ( ) with modifications dependent upon surrounding conditions. ancient writers occasionally seemed to have a glimmering knowledge of the fact of progress in nature, but as a theory "evolution" belongs to the enlightenment of the nineteenth century. leibnitz, in the latter part of the seventeenth century first uttered the opinion that the earth was once in a fluid condition and kant about the middle of the eighteenth century, definitely propounded the nebular hypothesis, which was enlarged as a theory by the herschels. the first writer to suggest the transmutation of species among animals was buffon, about , and other writers followed out the idea. the eccentric lord monboddo was the first to suggest the possible descent of man from the ape, about . in dr. w. c. wells first proposed to apply the principle of natural selection to the natural history of man, and in professor herbert first asserted the probable transmutation of species of plants. in a book appeared called "vestiges of creation," which, though evidently not written by a scientific student, yet attracted great attention by its bold and ingenious theories. the authorship of this book was never revealed until after the death of robert chambers, a few years since, it became known that this publisher, whom no one would ever have suspected of holding such heterodox theories, had actually written it. but the two great apostles of the evolution theory were charles darwin and herbert spencer. the latter began his great work, the "first principles of philosophy," showing the application of evolution in the facts of life, in . in appeared darwin's "origin of species." the hypothesis of the latter was that different species originated in spontaneous variation, and the survival of the fittest through natural selection and the struggle for existence. this theory was further elaborated and applied by spencer, darwin, huxley, and other writers in europe and america, and though to-day by no means all the ideas upheld by these early advocates of the theory are still accepted, evolution as a principle is now acknowledged by nearly all scientists. it is taken to be an established fact in nature, a valid induction from man's knowledge of natural order. the english sparrow. the first english sparrow was brought to the united states in , but it was not until that the species can be said to have firmly established itself. since then it has taken possession of the country. its fecundity is amazing. in the latitude of new york and southward it hatches, as a rule, five or six broods in a season, with from four to six young in a brood. assuming the average annual product of a pair to be twenty-four young, of which half are females and half males, and assuming further, for the sake of computation, that all live, together with their offspring, it will be seen that in ten years the progeny of a single pair would be , , , . feminine height and weight. it is often asked how stout a woman ought to be in proportion to her height. a very young girl may becomingly be thinner than a matron, but the following table gives a fair indication of proper proportions: height pounds height pounds five feet about five feet inches. about five feet inch about five feet inches. about five feet inches about five feet inches. about five feet inches about five feet inches. about five feet inches about five feet inches. about five feet inches about six feet about five feet inches about six feet inch about when a man becomes of age. the question sometimes arises whether it man is entitled to vote at an election held on the day preceding the twenty-first anniversary of his birth. blackstone, in his commentaries, book , page , says: "full age in male or female is years, which age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a person's birth, who, till that time, is an infant, and so styled in law." the late chief justice sharswood, in his edition of blackstone's commentaries, quotes christian's note on the above as follows: "if he is born on the th day of february, , he is of age to do any legal act on the morning of the th of february, , though he may not have lived twenty-one years by nearly forty-eight hours. the reason assigned is that in law there is no fraction of a day; and if the birth were on the last second of one day and the act on the first second of the preceding day twenty-one years after, then twenty-one years would be complete, and in the law it is the same whether a thing is done upon one moment of the day or another." dreams and their meaning the bible speaks of dreams as being sometimes prophetic, or suggestive of future events. this belief has prevailed in all ages and countries, and there are numerous modern examples, apparently authenticated, which would appear to favor this hypothesis. the interpretation of dreams was a part of the business of the soothsayers at the royal courts of egypt, babylon and other ancient nations. dreams and visions have attracted the attention of mankind of every age and nation. it has been claimed by all nations, both enlightened and heathen, that dreams are spiritual revelations to men; so much so, that their modes of worship have been founded upon the interpretation of dreams and visions. why should we discard the interpretation of dreams while our mode of worship, faith and knowledge of deity are founded upon the interpretation of the dreams and visions of the prophets and seers of old. dreams vividly impressed upon the mind are sure to be followed by some event. we read in the holy scripture the revelation of the deity to his chosen people, through the prophet joel: "and it shall come to pass, afterward, that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will i pour out my spirit." (joel ii, .) both sacred and profane history contain so many examples of the fulfilment of dreams that he who has no faith in them must be very skeptical indeed. hippocrates says that when the body is asleep the soul is awake, and transports itself everywhere the body would be able to go; knows and sees all that the body could see or know were it awake; that it touches all that the body could touch. in a word, it performs all the actions that the body of a sleeping man could do were he awake. a dream, to have a significance, must occur to the sleeper while in healthy and tranquil sleep. those dreams of which we have not a vivid conception, or clear remembrance, have no significance. those of which we have a clear remembrance must have formed in the mind in the latter part of the night, for up to that time the faculties of the body have been employed in digesting the events of the day. dictionary of dreams. (note.--if you do not find the word you want, look for a word of identical or closely similar meaning.) a abundance--deceitful security. accident--unexpected meeting. acorn--irreparable fault. account--(of possessions) bankruptcy. adultery--(that you commit) scandal, misfortune and disgrace. air--(clear and serene) reconciliation; (dark and gloomy) sadness and sickness. almonds--peace, happiness; (tree) success in business. altar--prosperity, speedy marriage. alms--(giving) mediocrity; (receiving) privations. anchor--safe enterprise. angry--(that you are) many powerful enemies. ape--enemies, deceit. apples--gain, profit; (to be eating) disappointment. apricots--health, contentment. apple tree--good news; (if dead) ill news. artichokes--embarrassment, pain. argument--justice done. arm--(right arm cut off) death of a female relative; (both arms cut off) captivity and sickness; (broken or withered) sorrows, losses and widowhood; (swollen) sudden fortune coming to a dear friend. ashes--misfortune. asparagus--success, profit. ass--quarrel between friends; (one sleeping) security; (one braying) dishonor; (ears of one) scandal; (one laden) profit. aunt--wealth and friends. angel--good news. ants--time spent to no purpose. authority--(to have) easy times. b babe--happy marriage. baker--gain. balloon--literary note. barley--good fortune. basket--increase. babboon--affronts. ball--(for dancing) jealousy, rage, then harmony. bank--never to be rich, except by saving. barber--a long story, discontent. barn--(full) wealthy marriage. bath--marriage; (too cold) grief; (too hot) separation; (in running water) disappointment; (in stagnant water) misfortune. beggar--help when not expected. bells--alarm, misfortune. bear--danger, misfortune. beans--quarrels. bed--botheration, unrest. beer--fatigue to no purpose. bees--profit; (to catch) success; (stung by) to be over-worked. blind person--false friends. blows--(to give) forgiveness; (to receive) advantage. boots--(new) success in love and business; (old) quarreling and failure. bonnet--(new) flirtation; (old or torn) rivalry. boat--(on clear water) happiness; (in muddy water) disgrace. bones--large acquisition by small degrees. book--information. bow and arrows--love affairs. bottles--a feast; (broken) sickness; (empty) melancholy. bouquet--(to carry) marriage; (to destroy) separation; (to throw away) displeasure. brandy--depravity. brook--(clear) lasting friendship; (troubled) domestic quarrel. briars--disputes. betrothal--brief pleasures. birds--new pleasures; (singing) love, good fortune. bite--mistrust, ingratitude. billiards--hazards, dissipation. biscuit--rejoicings, jolly feasting. blessing or benediction--a forced marriage. blackbird--scandal, deceit. bridge--(to pass one) success through industry; (to fall from) loss of business and disappointment in love. bread--profit; (white) lasting affection; (black) inconstancy. bugs--enemies seeking to do injury. bull--(peaceful) gain; (onset of) apprehension. butcher--death of a friend. butterfly--inconstancy. butter--surprises; (to make) a legacy. c cabbage--health and long life. cage--(with bird) liberty; (without bird) imprisonment. cakes--meeting with friends; (to make or eat) prosperity. calf--assured success. camel--riches. candle--favors, praise. candy--ardent love. cane--correction. cards--married life. carpenter--arrangement of affairs. cart--sickness and disgrace. cave--quarrel, loss. carving--business prosperity. cat--(to see) treason; (to kill) family quarrels. cellar--(full) passing renown; (empty) health. cemetery--(to see) future prosperity; (to be in) news of a death. chain--union; (broken) rupture. challenge--rupture, illusion. cherries--health; (to gather) deception by a woman; (to eat) love. chicken--(cooking) good news. cheese--vexation and after success. chestnuts--home troubles. child--(pretty) pleasure; (ugly) danger; (running) business difficulty. church--heritage; (to pray in) deceit; (to speak aloud in) domestic quarrels. chess--affairs embarrassed, cider--distant heritage, dispute. clams--small possessions, stingily kept. clock--marriage; (striking) a competency. coal--persecution. cock--pride, power, success; (one crowing) sudden trouble; (two fighting) expensive follies. colic--bickerings, estrangement corkscrew--vexatious inquiries. corpse--long life; news of the living; (one disinterred) infidelity. cow--prosperity, abundance. cobbler--long toil, ill paid. coffee--misfortune. coffin--speedy marriage. cooking--a wedding. corn--riches; (to grind) abundance. crabs--ill results of endeavor. cradle, or crib--increase in the family. cricket--hospitality, home comfort. crocodile--a catastrophe. cross--(to see) disquiet; (to bear) tranquillity. crow--disappointed expectations, humiliation; (to hear) disgrace. crowd--many matters, much to hear. crutches--(to use) gambling losses; (to break or leave) recovery. cucumber--serious illness. currants--(red) friendship; (white) satisfaction; (black) infidelity. cypress--despair, death of one cherished. d dancing--(to engage in) successful endeavor; (to see) weariness. debts--(denied) business safety; (admitted) distress. doctor--robustness; (to be one) enjoyment. dog--friendly services; (to play with) suffering through extravagance. desertion--good news, permanence. devil--temptations. diamonds--brief, illusive happiness; (to find) loss; (to sell) peril. dice--doubt, risks. dirt--sickness, detraction. dispute--(friendly) see argument; (not friendly) see quarrel. dishes--possessions; (breaking) family quarrels. ditch--bankruptcy. door--(open) opportunities; (closed) unfruitful adventure; (to force) reproof. dove--home happiness, a lover. draughts--(to play at) disappointment. drawing--a proposal for rejection. drowning--happiness. drum--small difficulties, trifling loss. duck--profit and pleasure; (to kill one) misfortune. duel--rivalries; dissension. dumb--(one's self) quarrels; (another) peace. dwarf--feeble foes. dyer--embarrassed affairs. e eagle--worthy ambition; (kill one) gratified wishes. eating--botheration. eclipse--(the sun) loss; (the moon) profit. eels--(alive) vexation; (dead) vengeance satisfied. eggs--(a few) riches; (many) misadventure. elephant--power; (feed one) gain of a service. embroidery--love, ambition. epitaph--indiscretion. eyes--bad luck. f face--(smiling) joy; (pale) trouble. fairs--sudden loss. falling--dangerous elevation; (in a hole) calumny, disappointment. fan----pride, rivalry. farmer--full, good living. fatigue--successful enterprise. father-in-law--unlucky. feast--trouble ahead. feathers--(white) great joy, friendship; (black) hindrances. fields--joy, good health, domestic happiness. fingers--(scalded) envy; (cut) grief; (to see more than five on one hand) new relatives. figs--(dried) festivity; (green) hope; (to eat) transient pleasures. flowers--happiness; (to gather) benefit; (to cast away) quarrels. flute--news of a birth. fire--anger, danger. firearms--(to see) anger; (blaze of) spite; (to hear) havoc. fish--success, joy; (to catch) deceit of friends. flag--contention; (to bear) fame, honor. flame--(luminous) good news. fleas--unhappiness; (to kill) triumph over enemies. flies--that some one is jealous of us. flood--misfortunes, calumny. fog--deception. forest--loss, shame. fountain--abundance, health. fox--to be duped; (to kill) to triumph over enemies. frogs--distrust; (hopping) vexation, annoyance. fruits--joy, prosperity, gain; (to eat) be deceived by a woman; (throwaway) trouble through others' envy. funeral--inheritance, news of a birth or marriage. fur--(on the body) health and long life. g gallows--dignities and honors (proportionate to height). gambling--deception. game--(live) adventure. garden--bright future days; (well kept) increase of fortune; (disorderly) business losses and failure. garlic--deceived by a woman. garments--annoyance; (white) innocence, comfort; (black) death of a friend; (torn or soiled) sadness, misfortune. garter--happy marriage. gauze--affected modesty. ghost--(white) consolation; (black) temptation. gift--(from a man) danger; (from a woman) spite. gloves--friendly advances. goat--(white) prosperity; (black) sickness. gold--profit, fortune. goose--same as duck; (catch one) ensnarement. grandparents--occasion for repentance. grapes--enjoyment, rejoicing; (scant or poor) deprivations. grass--(green) long life. grasshopper--lost harvest or savings. grave--(open) loss of a friend; (filled up) good fortune. guitar--deception, ill-conduct. gypsy--small troubles. h hail--trouble, sadness. hair--(orderly) comfort, complacency; (tangled) perplexities; (falling out) anxieties. ham--happiness. harp--a handsome partner. harvest--wealth in the country. hay--abundance. heart--(pain or troubles) sickness, danger. heaven--some joyful event will happen. hell--you lead a bad life and should reform before it is too late. hen--profit; (hear one) consolation; (one laying) joy. herbs--prosperity; (to eat) grief. hermit--treacherous friend. hill--(up one) success; (down) misadventure. hole--obstacles. see falling. holly--annoyance. honey--success in business. horse--(see white one) unexpected good fortune; (see black one) partial success; (mount or ride) success in enterprise; (curry one) a speedy journey. hotel--(see one) wandering; (be in) discomfort. house--(new or strange) consolation; (many) bewilderment. hunger--profitable employment. hunt--snares, accusations. husband--if a wife dreams that her husband is married to another it betokens separation. i ice--treachery, misadventure. imps--occasion for caution. infants--connubial felicity. ink--reconciliation; (upset) separation. insanity--bright ideas, wise thought. iron--cruel experience. island--solitude, loneliness. itch--small foes. ivory--profitable enterprise. intoxication--(one's self) pleasures; (another) scandal. ivy--children many and handsome. j jail--(to enter) safety; (leaving one) single blessedness. jaw--riches in the family. jew--trickery. joy--bad news. judge--punishment. jug--loss through awkwardness or neglect. k keys--explanations, progress in knowledge; (to lose) perplexity. killing--(to see) security; (one's self) love quarrels; (another) jealousy. kids--consolation. king--satisfaction, progress in affairs. kiss--(in the light) true love; (in the dark) risks; (a stranger) a new lover; (a rival) treason; (married woman kissed by a stranger) a new baby and a jealous husband. kitchen--arrivals. kite--vain glory. knife--inconstancy, dissension. knitting--mischievous talk, malice. knots--embarrassments, difficulties. l labor--conjugal happiness, increase of fortune. ladder--(to go up) brief glory; (to go down) debasement. lady--humiliation; (many) gossip. lambs--(to see) peace; (to have) profit; (to carry) success; (to buy) great surprise; (to kill) secret grief. lame person--business misfortune. lamps--(unlit) neglect; (lighted) love troubles. landscape--unexpected gain. lantern--(lighted) safe adventure; (unlit) blunder. larks--riches, elevation. laughter--troubled happiness, botheration. leg--(if sound and supple) successful enterprise, prosperous journey. letter--(to see) discovery; (to receive) good news from afar. lice--wealth. lightning--a love quarrel. lily--(faded) vain hopes; (fine) innocence, happiness. linen--fortune, abundance. lion--future dignity. liver--losses, discomforts. lizard--snares of dubious origin. laurel--honor, gain. lawyer--marriage of a friend. lead--accusations, ingratitude. leaves--transient indisposition. leech--aid in trouble; (many of them) extortion, usury. leeks--labor. lettuce--poverty. locksmith--robbery. lottery tickets--(number distinct) success in affairs; (number indistinct) foolish expenditure. love--an all round good indication. lovers--troubles and joys mixed. m macaroni--distress. man--(handsome) love; (ugly) wrangles. mantle--victimizing. manure--depravity, shame. maps--a journey. marble--estrangements. markets--(a busy one) joyous events; (empty) deprivations. marsh--unfruitful endeavors. masks--hypocrisy. measles--wealth coupled with disgrace. meat--(roast) kind reception, (boiled) melancholy. melon--hope, success. mice--annoyances. milestone--desires accomplished. milk--love affairs. mills--legacy from a relative mire--mistakes, privations. mirror--(to look in) misunderstanding; (broken) misadventure. money--losses in business; (to find) tardy discoveries. money-lender--persecution. monkey--harmless mischief. moon--love; (bright) continual pleasure; (clouded) sickness, danger to one beloved; (full) wealth; (new) awakening affection; (failing) deceit; (red) renown. mourning--impending happiness, invitation to a ball or wedding. mouth--(closed so that cannot eat) sudden death; (wider than usual) riches. mud--riches. mule--difficulty. music--ease, pleasure. mustard--troubles. myrtle--love declaration. n nails--(broken) misadventure; (very long) emoluments. nakedness--threatened danger. navigating--approaching journey. necklace--jealousy, annoyance. needles--disappointment in love. negro--vexation, annoyance. nest--good luck, profit. newspaper--botheration, gossip. night--(walking) uneasiness, melancholy. nightingale--happy marriage. nose--(that yours is large) prosperity and acquaintance with rich people. nurse--long life. nuts--peace and satisfaction after trouble and difficulty. o oak--(green) health, strength; (dead or fallen) heavy losses. oars--safe enterprise; (to break or lose) dependence. offer of marriage--new lovers. office--(turn out of) death or loss of property. oil--good harvest. old person--(man) prudence, wisdom; (woman) scandal. olives--honors and dignities. onions--aggravation, dispute with inferiors. opera--pleasure followed by pain. orange blossom--a marriage. oranges--amusement, pleasure; (sour) chagrin, injury. orchard--much of nothing. ostrich--misadventure through vanity. oven--ease, riches; (hot) feasting. owl--secrets revealed. oysters--satiety. p pain--trouble and recovery. painter--that everything will be lovely. palm-tree--honor, power, victory. paper--tidings; (colored) deceit; (painted) brief happiness. parent--good news. parrot--a bad neighbor, tale-bearing. pastry--(to eat) annoyance; (to make) good times. paths--(straight) happiness; (crooked) ill to the willful. pawnbroker--little result of big endeavor. peacock--peril through pride, ambition or unwariness. peaches--contentment, pleasure. pearls--tears, distress. pears--treachery; (to eat) tidings of death; (to gather) festivities. peas--good fortune. pens--tidings. peddler--you are mistaken in your estimate of a friend. pepper--affliction, vexation. pheasant--good fortune; (to kill one) peril; (to carry one) honor. piano--disputes. pig--pork--(few) avarice; (many) profits. pigeon--reconciliation. pillow--disturbance. pills--trouble. pine tree--danger. pins--contradiction. pirates--fortunate adventure. pitch--evil companions. pitchfork--punishment. playing--entertainment. plums--pleasure, happiness. policeman--trouble. pomegranate--power. postman--news from the absent. poverty--thrift, advantage. preserves--loss of time and money. priest--reconciliation. procession--happy love. pump--(if water) marriage and fortune; (if dry) flirtation. purchase--(on credit) deprivations; (for cash) possessions. purse--(empty) something to get; (full) pride, disquiet. puzzle--favors, pleasure. q quail--family responsibilities. quarrel--constancy, friendship. queen--prosperity. questions--wisdom. quill--particular information. quoits--rivalries. r rabbit--(white) friendship; (black) trouble; (many) extensive pleasures. racing--success in life. radishes--that you will discover secrets. raft--new views. rain--legacy or gift. rainbow--separation. rat--secret enemies; (white) triumph over enemies. raven--misfortune; (hear one) grief. reading--venturesomeness. reaper--a picnic party. revenge--repentance. ribbons--prodigality. rice--talking. ride--(with men) it is a good sign; (with women) a bad sign. ring--approaching marriage. riot--scarcity through mischief. rival--quarrels. river--success in enterprise; (to fall in) attempts of enemies; (to throw one's self in) confusion in affairs. robber--fear. rock--annoyance; (to surmount) difficulties overcome. roof--adventure abroad. roses--always of happy omen; (full blown) health, joy, abundance; (faded) success, with some drawbacks; (white) innocence; (red) satisfaction; (yellow) jealousy. ruffles--honors, profitable occupation. ruins--pleasant surprises. rust--idle times, decay, failure. s sailor--tidings from abroad. salad--embarrassments. salt--wisdom. satin or silk--gain. sausage--affliction, sickness. saw--satisfactory conclusion in affairs. scissors--enemies, hatred. scratches--inconveniences, annoyances. screech-owl--death of near relative. sculptor--profit. sea--long journey, large affairs. seabeach--tranquilly. secretary--fortune. serenade--news of a marriage. sermon--weariness, sleeplessness. servant--(man) abuse of confidence; (maid) suspicion. sewing--plots. shawl--(a fine one) honors; (thin or old) shame; (torn) detraction. sheep--great gain. shell--(filled) success; (empty) ill-omen. shepherd--malice. ship--wishes fulfilled; (in danger) unexpected good fortune. shoes--advantageous speculation; (much worn) a speedy journey. shop--(to be in) pleasure denied; (to conduct) dues withheld. shroud--death. singing--vexation. skating--(to see) hindrances, crosses; (to do) success. skeleton--disgust. sky--(clear) happiness, peace; (clouded) misfortune. sleep--illusive security. slippers--comfort, satisfaction. smoke--extravagant expectations. snail--infidelity, dishonor. snakes--treason, betrayal. sneezing--long life. snow--(in season) good harvest; (unseasonable) discouragement. soap--revelations, assistance. soldier--quarrels. soup--return of health or fortune. spectacles--melancholy, obstacles. spider--(in the dark) gain; (in the light) contention; (kill one) pleasure. sponge--greed, avarice. sports--pleasure and after regrets. spot--(on clothes) sadness; (on the sun) baseless fears. spy--(to be one) reprehension; (to see) rumors. stable--hospitality, welcome. stag--gain; (chase one) business failure. stammer--decision, resolution. stars--happiness; (pale) affliction; (shooting) death of relative. stocking--(to pull off) comfort; (to pull on) discomfort; (new) a visit; (a hole in) deceitful fortune. stones--(under foot) trouble, suffering; (thrown or falling) malice. storks--loss, robbery. storm--contest, vexation. stove--riches. stranger--return of a lost friend. strange bed--contentment. strange room--a mystery solved. strawberries--unexpected good fortune. straws--poverty. street--(to walk in) a favorable reception. sugar--privation and want. sun--(bright) discovery of secrets; (clouded) bad news; (rising) success; (setting) losses. supper--news of a birth. swallow--successful enterprise. swans--private riches. swearing--disagreeables. sweeping--confidence well placed. swimming--enjoyment. swords--misfortune. t table--joy; (to set) abundance. tailor--unfaithfulness. tea--confusion, incumbrance. tears--joy, comfort. teeth--(handsome) health, goodness; (mean or drawn) vexation, loss. ten-pins--undesirable adventures. tent--quarrels. theater--sadness, loss. thicket--evasions, apprehensions. thief--(to be one) loss; (to lose by one) good speculations. thimble--work hard to find. thirst--affliction. thistle--disputes, folly. thorns--disappointment, pain; (to be pricked by) loss of money. thread--intrigue; (tangled) confusion of affairs; (to break) failure; (to split) a secret betrayed. thunder--danger; (to see thunderbolt fall) death of a friend. tiger--fierce enmity. toads--something to disgust. tomb--family matters, nuptials, births. torches--invitation to a wedding. trap-door--(open) a secret divulged; (shut) mystery. travel--(on foot) work; (on wheels) fortune. treasure--(that you find one) disappointment. trees--in general; (green) hope; (withered) grief; (leafless) deceit; (cut down) robbery; (to climb) change of employment. trousers--honors and responsibilities. turkey--if you dream of a turkey you will shortly see a fool. turnips--disappointment, annoyance. twins--honors, riches. u umbrella--(to a lady) a new lover; (to a gentleman) a breach of promise suit. uncle--advantageous marriage. undress--(one's self) rebuke; (another) scandal. uniform--(to see) humbling; (to wear) flattery. v vegetables--(in general) weary toil; (to gather) quarrels; (to eat) business losses. veil--marriage; (black) death or separation. veins--grief. vermin--enough and to spare. villain--danger of losing property. vine--fruitfulness, abundance. vinegar--(to drink) wrangles; (spoiled) sickness. violets--success of undertakings. violin--(in concert) sympathy, consolation; (alone) bereavement. visitors--loneliness. virgin--joy without regret; (pretended one) sorrow, evil. vulture--bitter enmity; (kill one) triumph over foes; (one feeding) returning fortune. w wagon--(loaded) emolument; (empty) ease, pleasure. wake--poverty and misery. wall--obstacles; (to be on) prosperity. war--misunderstandings and contention. wardrobe--advantage. wash-day--new friends, good resolutions. wasps--annoyance; (to be stung) affronts. watch--time well employed. watchman--trifling loss. water--see bath, drink; (to drink) a marriage or birth; (to fall into) reconciliation. water carrier--gain. wax--desirable marriage. weasel--to be outwitted. wedding--unexpected danger, troubled happiness. well--(draw water from) good fortune; (fall into) peril. wheat--money. wheelbarrow, wheel--disability, infirmity. whirlwind--danger, scandal. widowhood--satisfaction, new belongings. wife--if a man dreams he sees his wife married to another, it betokens a separation. wolf--enmity; (to kill one) gain, success. woman--deceit; (fair) love; (ugly) scandal. wood-cutter--labor without profit. woods--(to rich) loss; (to poor) profit. work--(of right hand) prosperity; (of left hand) impecuniosity. worms--secret enemies, ill-health. wreck--catastrophes, peril. writing--pleasant and profitable discovery. y yeast--increase, abundance. yoke--responsibilities, particularly of marriage. youth--good time, light responsibilities. the language of flowers. flowers may be combined and arranged so as to express even the nicest shades of sentiment. if a flower is offered reversed, its direct significance is likewise reversed, so that the flower now means its opposite. a rosebud divested of its thorns, but retaining its leaves conveys the sentiment. "i fear no longer; i hope." stripped of leaves and thorns, it signifies, "there is nothing to hope or fear." a full-blown rose placed over two buds signifies "secrecy." "yes" is implied by touching the flower given to the lips. "no" by pinching off a petal and casting it away. "i am," is expressed by a laurel leaf twined around the bouquet. "i have," by an ivy leaf folded together. "i offer you," by a leaf of virginia creeper. combinations and their meaning. moss, rosebud and myrtle--"a confession of love." mignonette and colored daisy--"your qualities surpass your charms of beauty." lily of the valley and ferns--"your unconscious sweetness has fascinated me." yellow rose, broken straw and ivy--"your jealousy has broken our friendship." scarlet geranium, passion flower, purple hyacinth, and arbor vitae--"i trust you will find consolation, through faith, in your sorrow; be assured of my unchanging friendship." columbine, day lily, broken straw, witch hazel and colored daisy--"your folly and coquetry have broken the spell of your beauty." white pink, canary grass and laurel--"your talent and perseverance will win you glory." golden-rod and monkshead, sweet pea and forge-me-not--"be cautious; danger is near; i depart soon; forget me not." significance of single flowers. arbor vitae--unchanging friendship. camelia, white--loveliness. candy-tuft--indifference. carnation, deep red--alas! for my poor heart. carnation, white--disdain. china-aster--variety. clover, four-leaf--be mine. clover, white--think of me. clover, red--industry. columbine--folly. columbine, purple--resolved to win. daisy--innocence. dead leaves--sadness. deadly nightshade--falsehood. fern--fascination. forget-me-not--true love, forget me not. fuschia, scarlet--taste. geranium, rose--preference. geranium, scarlet--consolation. golden-rod--be cautious. heliotrope--devotion. honey-flower--love, sweet and secret. hyacinth, white--unobtrusive loveliness. ivy--fidelity. lady's slipper--win me and wear me. lily, day--coquetry. lily, white-sweetness. lily, yellow--gaiety. lily of the valley--return of happiness. mignonette--your qualities surpass your charm. monkshead--danger is near. myrtle--love. oats--the witching soul of music. orange blossoms--chastity. pansy--thoughts. passion flower--faith. peach blossom--i am your captive. pear--affection. primrose--inconstancy. quaking grass--agitation. rose--love. rose, deep red--bashful shame. rose, yellow--jealousy. rose, white--i am worthy of you. rosebud, moss--confession of love. shamrock--lightheartedness. straw--agreement. straw, broken--broken agreement. sweet pea--depart. tuberose--dangerous pleasures. verbena--pray for me. witch hazel--a spell. alphabet of advice to writers. a word out of place spoils the most beautiful thought.--voltaire. begin humbly. labor faithfully. be patient.--elizabeth stuart phelps. cultivate accuracy in words and things; amass sound knowledge; avoid all affectation; write all topics which interest you.--f. w. newman. don't be afraid. fight right along. hope right along.--s.l. clemens. every good writer has much idiom; it is the life and spirit of language.--w. s. landor. follow this: if you write from the heart, you will write to the heart.--beaconsfield genius may begin great works, but only continued labor completes them.--joubert. half the writer's art consists in learning what to leave in the ink-pot.--stevenson. it is by suggestion, not cumulation, that profound impressions are made on the imagination.--lowell. joy in one's work is an asset beyond the valuing in mere dollars.--c. d. warner. keep writing--and profit by criticism. use for a motto michael angelo's wise words: "genius is infinite patience."--l. m. alcott. lord, let me never tag a moral to a story, nor tell a story without a meaning.--van dyke. more failures come from vanity than carelessness.--joseph jefferson. never do a "pot-boiler." let one of your best things go to boil the pot.--"o. henry." originality does not mean oddity, but freshness. it means vitality, not novelty.--norman hapgood. pluck feathers from the wings of your imagination, and stick them in the tail of your judgment.--horace greeley. quintessence approximates genius. gather much though into few words. --schopenhauer. revise. revise. revise.--e. e. hale. simplicity has been held a mark of truth: it is also it mark of genius.--carlyle. the first principle of composition of whatever sort is that it should be natural and appear to have happened so.--frederick macmonnies. utilize your enthusiasms. get the habit of happiness in work.--beveridge. very few voices but sound repellent under violent exertion.--lessing. whatever in this world one has to say, there is a word, and just one word, to express it. seek that out and use it.--de maupassant. yes, yes; believe me, you must draw your pen not once, nor twice, but o'er and o'er again through what you've written, if you would entice the man who reads you once to read you twice. -horace (conington, tr.) zeal with scanty capacity often accomplishes more than capacity with no zeal at all.--george eliot. what different eyes indicate. the long, almond-shaped eye with thick eyelids covering nearly half of the pupil, when taken in connection with the full brow, is indicative of genius, and is often found in artists, literary and scientific men. it is the eye of talent, or impressibility. the large, open, transparent eye, of whatever color, is indicative of elegance, of taste, of refinement, of wit, of intelligence. weakly marked eyebrows indicate a feeble constitution and a tendency to melancholia, deep sunken eyes are selfish, while eyes in which the whole iris shows indicate erraticism, if not lunacy. round eyes are indicative of innocence; strongly protuberant eyes of weakness of both mind and body. eyes small and close together typify cunning, while those far apart and open indicate frankness. the normal distance between the eyes is the width of one eye; a distance greater or less than this intensifies the character supposed to be symbolized. sharp angles, turning down at the corners of the eyes, are seen in persons of acute judgment and penetration. well-opened steady eyes belong to the sincere; wide staring eyes to the impertinent. the mysteries of palmistry [illustration: various forms of fingers and hands. nine hands with various markings and eleven fingers.] the following points, upon which the science of palmistry is based, explain its mysteries, and will be found very interesting, amusing and instructive: form of the hand. hands are classed into seven types, each of which is illustrated by the cuts on the preceding page, and described as follows: plate i--the elementary or bilious hand, indicating brutal instinct instead of reason as the governing power of the character. plate ii--the square or jupiter hand, indicating a practical, stubborn, methodical, and conventional character; one apt to be suspicious of strangers and radical in views. plate iii--the spatulate or nervous hand, so named because of its imagined resemblance to a spatula. it is broad at the base of the fingers, and indicates great energy and push to discover; also, courage and fearlessness. plate iv--the philosophic or venus hand, has a long, thin, muscular palm, with long, knotty fingers; indicates a student of nature and searcher after truth. plate v--the mercury or artistic hand, indicates quick temper, impulsiveness; a character that is light-hearted, gay and charitable, to-day; and to-morrow, sad, tearful and uncharitable. plate vi--the lunar or idealistic hand, indicates an extremely sensitive nature. plate vii--the harmonic or solar hand, indicates a character of great versatility, brilliant in conversation, and an adept in diplomacy. the fingers. for fortune-telling the fingers from first to fourth are designated as jupiter, saturn, apollo and mercury. note the cut on preceding page, representing the different types of fingers, numbered from one to eleven. --large fingers indicate a person of vulgar tastes and a cruel, selfish disposition. --small, thin fingers indicate a keen, quick acting mind and a person not very particular about personal appearance. --long, lean fingers indicate an inquiring disposition; love of details in narrative; short fingers imply simple tastes and selfishness. --fat fingers, largely developed at base, indicate sensualness; if small at base, the reverse. --smooth fingers indicate artistic ability. --knotty fingers indicate truthfulness and good order in business affairs. --pointed fingers indicate a very magnetic and enthusiastic personality. --square fingers indicate a strong mind, regularity and love of good order. --spatulate fingers indicate a character of positiveness in opinions and lacking in gentleness. --fingers of mixed shape indicate a harmonious disposition, with ability to easily adapt oneself to all conditions. --obtuse fingers indicate coarse and cruel sensibilities. the phalanges of the fingers. see plate viii, , , --the phalanges of the thumb: , , --repeated on each finger, indicate the phalanges of the four fingers. the mounts of the hands. see plate ix--a, mount venus; b, mount jupiter; c, mount saturn; d, mount apollo; e. mount mercury; f, mount luna; g, mount mars. the shape and length of the phalanges represent certain qualities and features of character, as presented in the following: jupiter, the first finger; if the first phalange is longer than the second, it indicates ability to control others, direct and maintain order; if the second phalange is long and well developed, it indicates leadership; if short and thin, intellectual weakness; if the third phalange is long, it indicates love of power in material things. saturn, second finger; if the first phalange is longer than the second, it indicates ability for mastering scientific subjects; if the second phalange is long, it indicates great interest in subjects requiring deep study; if the third phalange is long, it indicates a love of metaphysics and money. apollo, third finger; if the first phalange is longer than the second, it indicates love of the arts; if the second phalange is long, it indicates success and love of riches; if the third phalange is thick, it indicates an inherited talent of the arts. mercury, fourth finger; if the first phalange is longer than the second, it indicates a taste for and love of research; if the second phalange is long and well developed, it indicates industrious habits; if the third phalange is long and fat, it indicates a desire for the comforts of life. the mountains. these are points or elevations on the palm. mount venus, if prominent, indicates a person of strong passions, great energy in business, and admiration of physical beauty in the opposite sex; it also indicates love of children, home and wife, or husband. when not well developed there is a lack of love for home, children, wife or husband; and in a man, it indicates egotism and laziness,--in a woman, hysteria. mount jupiter, if prominent, indicates a person who is generous, loves power, and is brilliant in conversation; if a woman, she desires to shine and be a social leader. when not well developed, it indicates lack of self-esteem, slovenliness and indifference to personal appearance. mount saturn, if prominent, indicates a serious-minded person, religiously inclined, slow to reach a conclusion, very prudent, free in the expression of opinions, but inclined to be pessimistic. mount apollo, if prominent, indicates ability as an artist, generosity, courageousness, and a poetical nature, apt to be a spendthrift. when not well developed, it indicates cautiousness and prudence. mount mercury, if prominent, indicates keen perceptions, cleverness in conversation, a talent for the sciences, industry, and deceitfulness. if not well developed, it indicates a phlegmatic, stupid disposition. mount luna, if prominent, indicates a dreamy, changeable, capricious, enthusiastic, and inventive nature. when not well developed, it indicates constancy, love of home, and ability to imitate others. mount mars, if prominent, indicates self-respect, coolness, and control of self under trying circumstances, courage, venturesomeness and confidence in one's ability for anything undertaken. when not well developed, it indicates the opposite of these characteristics. lines on the hand. if the lines of the hand are not well defined, this fact indicates poor health. deep red lines indicate good, robust health. yellow lines indicate excessive biliousness. dark-colored lines indicate a melancholy and reserved disposition. the life line extends from the outer base of mount jupiter, entirely around the base of mount venus. if chained under jupiter, it indicates bad health in early life. hair lines extending from it imply weakness, and if cut by small lines from mount venus, misplaced affections and domestic broils. if arising from mount jupiter, an ambition to be wealthy and learned. if it is joined by the line of the head at its beginning, prudence and wisdom are indicated. if it joins heart and head line's at its commencement, a great catastrophe will be experienced by the person so marked. a square on it denotes success. all lines that follow it give it strength. lines that cut the life line extending through the heart line denote interference in a love affair. if it is crossed by small lines, illness is indicated. short and badly drawn lines, unequal in size, imply bad blood and a tendency to fevers. the heart line, if it extends across the hand at the base of the finger mounts, and is deep and well defined, indicates purity and devotion; if well defined from mount jupiter only, a jealous and tyrannical disposition is indicated; if it begins at mount saturn and is without branches, it is a fatal sign; if short and well defined in the harmonic type of hand it indicates intense affection when it is reciprocated; if short on the mercury type of hand, it implies deep interest in intellectual pursuits; it short and deep in the elementary type of hand, it implies the disposition to satisfy desire by brutal force, instead of by love. the head line is parallel to heart line and forms the second branch of letter m, generally very plain in most hands; if long and deep it indicates ability to care for one's self; if hair lines are attached to it, mental worry; if it divides toward mount mercury love affairs will be first, and business secondary; if well defined its whole length, it implies a well-balanced brain; a line from it extending into a star on mount jupiter, great versatility, pride and love for knowledge are indicated; if it extend to mount luna interest in occult studies is implied; separated from the life line, indicates aggressiveness; if it is broken, death is indicated from an injury in the head. the rascettes are lines across the wrist where the palm joins it. it is claimed they indicate length of life; if straight it is a good sign. one rascette indicates thirty years of life; two lines, sixty; three lines, ninety. the fate line commences at rascettes, and if it extends straight to mount saturn, uninterrupted, and alike in both hands, good luck and success are realized without personal exertion. if not in one hand and interrupted in the other, success will be experienced only by great effort. if well defined at the wrist the early life is bright and promising; if broken in the center, misery for middle life is indicated. if this line touches mounts luna and venus, it indicates a good disposition and wealth; if inclined toward any mount, it implies success in that line for which the mount stands. if it is made up of disconnected links, it indicates serious physical and moral struggles. should it end at heart line, the life has been ruined by unrequited love. if it runs through a square, the life has been in danger and saved. should it merge into the heart line and continue to mount jupiter, it denotes distinction and power secured through love. the girdle of venus is a curved line extending from mount jupiter to mercury, encircling saturn and apollo. it appears on few hands, but it indicates superior intellect, a sensitive and capricious nature; if it extends to base of jupiter it denotes divorce; ending in mercury, implies great energy; should it be cut by parallel lines in a man, it indicates a hard drinker and gambler. lines of reputation, commencing in the middle of the hand, at the head line, mount luna or mount mars, indicate financial success from intellectual pursuits after years of struggling with adversity. if from heart line, real love of occupation and success; if from head line, success from selfishness. an island on this line denotes loss of character, a start on it near apollo implies that success will be permanent, and a square, brilliant success. the absence of this line implies a struggle for recognition of one's abilities. line of intuition, beginning at base of mount mercury, extends around mars and luna; it is frequently found in the venus, mercury and lunar types of hands; when deeply dented with a triangle on mount saturn it denotes clairvoyant power; if it forms a triangle with fate line, or life line, a voyage will be taken. health line commences at center of the rascettes, takes an oblique course from fate line, ending toward mount mercury. if straight and well defined, there is little liability to constitutional diseases; when it does not extend to head line, steady mental labor cannot be performed; when it is broad and deep on mount mercury, diminishing as it enters the life line, death from heart disease is indicated; small lines cutting it denote sickness from biliousness. when joined to heart line, health and business are neglected for love; if made up of short, fine lines, there is suffering from stomach catarrh; if it is checked by islands there is a constitutional tendency to lung disease. marriage lines extend straight across mount mercury; if short, affairs of the heart without marriage are denoted. when near heart line early marriage is indicated; if it turns directly to heart line, marriage will occur between the ages of and ; if close to the top of the mount, marriage will not take place before the th year; if it curves upward it indicates a single life; when pronged and running toward the center or to mount mars, divorce will occur. if the end at this line droops the subject will outlive wife or husband; if broken, divorce is implied; if it ends in a cross, the wife or husband will die from an accident. a branch from this line upward implies a high position attained by marriage. a black spot on this line means widowhood. children's lines are small and upright, extending from the end of marriage lines. if broad and well defined, males; if fine and narrow, females are indicated. a line of this order that is deep and well defined denotes prominence for that child. small lines have a signification depending upon their position and number. a single line on jupiter signifies success; on saturn, happiness; on apollo, fame and talent. ascending small lines are favorable, while descending lines are unfavorable signs. several small lines on mars indicate warfare constantly. cross lines, failure. riddles, old and new. feet have they, but they walk not--stoves. eyes have they, but they see not--potatoes. noses have they, but they smell not--tea-pots. mouths have they, but they taste not--rivers. hands have they, but they handle not--clocks. ears have they, but they hear not--corn stalks. tongues have they, but they talk not--wagons. what thing is that which is lengthened by being cut at both ends? a ditch. why do we all go to bed? because the bed will not come to us. why paris like the letter f? because it is the capital of france. in which month do ladies talk least? in february. why is a room full of married folks like an empty room? there is not a single person in it. why is a peach-stone like a regiment? it has a kernel (colonel). why is an island like the letter t? because it is in the midst of wa-t-er. why is a bee-hive like a spectator? because it is a beeholder (beholder). what is that which a train cannot move without, and yet is not the least use to it? a noise. when is a man over head and ears in debt? when the hat he has on is not paid for. why is a man led astray like one governed by a girl? he is misled (miss-led). why is a jew in a fever like a diamond? he is a jew ill (jewel). why are fixed stars like pen, ink and paper? they are stationary (stationery). what is that which is always invisible and never out of sight? the letter i. why is a cook like a barber? he dresses hare (hair). why is a waiter like a race horse? he often runs for a plate or a cup. why is a madman like two men? he is one beside himself. why is a good story like a church bell? it is often told (tolled). what is the weight of the moon? four quarters. what sea would make the best bed-room? adriatic (a-dry attic). why is ireland likely to become rich? because the capital is always dublin (doubling). what two letters make a county in massachusetts? s. x. (essex). why is a good saloon like a bad one? both inn convenient why do dentists make good politicians? because they have a great pull. why is the hudson river like a shoe? because it is a great place for tows (toes). why is a race at a circus like a big conflagration? because the heat is in tents (intense). which is the left side of a plum pudding? the part that is not eaten. why is a man who runs in debt like a clock? he goes on tick. why is the wick of a candle like athens? it is in the midst of grease (greece). why are deep sighs like long stockings? heigh-ho's (high hose). what occupation is the sun? a tanner. why are your eyes like stage horses? they are always under lashes. why are your teeth like verbs? regular, irregular and defective? what word makes you sick if you leave out one of its letters? music. what word of ten letters can be spelled with five? expediency (x p d n c). why should red-headed men be chosen for soldiers? they carry fire-locks. why is the letter d like a sailor? it follows the sea (c). why is a theological student like a merchant? both study the prophets (profits). if the alphabet were invited out to dine what time would u, v, w, x, y and z go? after tea (t). how can you take one from nineteen and leave twenty? xix--xx last words of famous men and women. "'tis well."--george washington. "tete d'armee."--napoleon. "i thank god that i have done my duty."--admiral nelson. "i pray thee see me safe up, but for my coming down i can shift for myself," were the last words of sir thomas more when ascending the scaffold. "god bless you."--dr. johnson. "i have finished."--hogarth. "dying, dying."--thos. hood. "drop the curtain, the farce is played out."--rabelais. "i am what i am. i am what i am."--swift. "i still live."--daniel webster. "how grand these rays. they seem to beckon earth to heaven."--humboldt. "it is now time that we depart--i to die, you to live: but which is the better destination is unknown."--socrates. "adieu, my dear morand, i am dying."--voltaire. "my beautiful flowers, my lovely flowers."--richter. "james, take good care of the horse."--winfield scott. "many things are becoming clearer to me."--schiller. "i feel the daisies growing over me."--john keats. "what, is there no bribing death?"--cardinal beaufort. "taking a leap in the dark. o, mystery."--thomas paine. "there is not a drop of blood on my hands."'--frederick v. "i am taking a fearful leap in the dark."--thomas hobbes. "don't let that awkward squad fire over my grave."--burns. "here, veteran, if you think it right, strike."--cicero. "my days are past as a shadow that returns not."--r. hooker. "i thought that dying had been more difficult,"--louis xiv. "o lord, forgive me specially my sins of omission."--usher. "let me die to the sounds of delicious music."--mirabeau. "it is small, very small," alluding to her neck.--anna boleyn. "let me hear those notes so long my solace and delight."--mozart. "we are as near heaven by sea as by land,"--sir humphrey gilbert. "i do not sleep. i wish to meet death awake."--maria theresa. "i resign my soul to god; my daughter to my country."--jefferson. toasts and sentiments merit to gain a heart, and sense to keep it. money to him that has spirit to use it. more friends and less need of them. may those who deceive us be always deceived. may the sword of justice be swayed by the hand of mercy. may the brow of the brave never want a wreath of laurel. may we be slaves to nothing but our duty, and friends to nothing but real merit. may he that turns his back on his friend, fall into the hands of his enemy. may honor be the commander when love takes the field. may reason guide the helm when passion blows the gale. may those who would enslave become slaves themselves. may genius and merit never want a friend. may the road of happiness be lighted by virtue. may life last as long as it is worth wearing. may we never murmur without a cause, and never have a cause to murmur. may the eye that drops for the misfortunes of others never shed a tear for its own. may the lovers of the fair sex never want means to support and spirit to defend them. may the tear of misery be dried by the hand of commiseration. may the voyage of life end in the haven of happiness. provision to the unprovided. peace and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. riches to the generous, and power to the merciful. short shoes and long corns to the enemies of freedom. success to the lover, and joy to the beloved. the life we love, with whom we love. the friend we love, and the woman we dare trust. the union of two fond hearts. the lovers of honor, and honorable lovers. the unity of hearts in the union of hands. the liberty of the press without licentiousness. the virtuous fair, and the fair virtuous. the road to honor through the plains of virtue. the hero of saratoga--may his memory animate the breast of every american. the american's triumvirate, love, honor and liberty. the memory of washington. may the example of the new world regenerate the old. wit without virulence, wine without excess, and wisdom without affectation. what charms, arms and disarms. home pleasant, and our friends at home. woman--she needs no eulogy, she speaks for herself. friendship--may its lamp ever be supplied by the oil of truth and fidelity. the american navy--may it ever sail on the sea of glory. may those who are discontented with their own country leave their country for their country's good. discretion in speech is more than eloquence. may we always remember these three things: the manner, the place and the time. here's a sigh to those who love me, and a smile to those who hate, and whatever sky's above me, here's a heart for every fate. were't the last drop in the well, as i gasped upon the brink, ere my fainting spirit fell, 'tis to thee that i would drink. --byron. caddy's toast in "erminie"--'ere's to the 'ealth o' your royal 'ighness; hand may the skin o' ha gooseberry be big enough for han humbrella to cover hall your enemies." here's to the girl i love, and here's to the girl who loves me, and here's to all that love her whom i love, and all those that love her who love me. i will drink to the woman who wrought my woe, in the diamond morning of long ago; to the splendor, caught from orient skies, that thrilled in the dark of her hazel eyes, her large eyes filled with the fire of the south, and the dewy wine of her warm red mouth. --winter. may those that are single get wives to their mind, and those that are married true happiness find. here's a health to me and mine, not forgetting thee and thine; and when thou and thine come to see me and mine, may we and mine make thee and thine as welcome as thou and thine have ever made me and mine. industry.--the right hand of fortune, the grave of care, and the cradle of content. here's to the prettiest, here's to the wittiest, here's to the truest of all who are true. here's to the sweetest one, here's to them all in one--here's to you. our country.--may she always be in the right--but, right or wrong, our country.-- stephen decatur. here's to our sweethearts and our wives. may our sweethearts soon become our wives and our wives ever remain our sweethearts. here's to the girls of the american shore; i love but one, i love no mare. since she's not here to drink her part, i drink her share with all my heart. here's to one and only one, and may that one be she who loves but one and only one, and may that one be me. a glass is good and a lass is good, and a pipe to smoke in cold weather. the world is good and the people are good, and we're all good fellows together. yesterday's yesterday while to-day's here, to-day is to-day till to-morrow appear, to-marrow's to-morrow until to-day's past, and kisses are kisses as long as they last. our country.-- to her we drink, for her we pray, our voices silent never; for her we'll fight, come what may; the stars and stripes forever. woman.--the fairest work of the great author; the edition is large, and no man should be without a copy. drink to me only with thine eyes, and i will pledge thee mine; or leave a kiss within the cup, and i'll not look for wine. the thirst that from the soul doth rise doth ask a drink divine; but might i of jove's nectar sip, i would not change from thine. --ben jonson. drink to-day and drown all sorrow; you shall perhaps not do't to-morrow; best while you have it, use your breath; there is no drinking after death. --beaumont and fletcher. home.--the father's kingdom; the child's paradise; the mother's world. here's to those i love; here's to those who love me; here's to those who love those i love, and here's to those who love those who love those who love me. --ouida's favorite toast. a little health, a little wealth, a little house and freedom, with some friends for certain ends, but little cause to need 'em. here's to the lasses we've loved, my lad, here's to the lips we've pressed; for of kisses and lasses, like liquor in glasses, the last is always the best. come in the evening, come in the morning, come when you're looked for, come without warning. here's to a long life and a merry one, a quick death and an easy one, a pretty girl and a true one, a cold bottle and another one. the man we love.--he who thinks the most and speaks the least ill of his neighbor. false friends.--may we never have friends who, like shadows, keep close to us in the sunshine only to desert us on a cloudy day or in the night. here's to those who'd love us if we only cared. here's to those we'd love if we only dared. here's to one another and one other, whoever he or she may be. the world is filled with flowers, and flowers are filled with dew, and dew is filled with love and you and you and you. here's to you as good as you are, and to me as bad as i am; and as good as you are and as bad as i am, i'm as good as you are as bad as i am. the law.--the only thing certain about litigation is its uncertainty. the lawyer--learned gentleman, who rescues your estate from your enemies and keeps it for himself. a spreadeagle toast.--the boundaries of our country: east, by the rising sun; north, by the north pole; west by all creation; and south, by the day of judgment. when going up the bill of prosperity may you never meet a friend coming down. may the hinges of friendship never grow rusty. come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used.--shakespeare. shall i ask the brave soldier who fights by my side in the cause of mankind whether our creeds agree? may all single men be married, and all married men be happy. our country's emblem:-- the lily of france may fade, the thistle and shamrock wither, the oak of england may decay, but the stars shine on forever. the good things of the world.--parsons are preaching for them, lawyers are pleading for them, physicians are prescribing for them, authors are writing for them, soldiers are fighting for them, but true philosophers alone are enjoying them. my life has been like sunny skies when they are fair to view; but there never yet were lives or skies clouds might not wander through. the three great american generals.--general peace, general prosperity and general satisfaction. america.-- our hearts, our hopes are all with thee, our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, our faith triumphant o'er our fears, are all with thee, are all with thee. our national birds.--the american eagle, the thanksgiving turkey: may one give us peace in all our states--and the other a piece for all our plates. opportunity. master of human destinies am i. fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait. cities and fields i walk; i penetrate deserts and seas remote, and, passing by hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late i knock unbidden once at every gate! if sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before i turn away. it is the hour of fate, and they who follow me reach every state mortals desire, and conquer every foe condemned to failure, penury, and woe. save death; but those who doubt or hesitate, seek me in vain and uselessly implore: i answer not, and i return no more. --john j. ingalls. a health to our dearest.--may their purses always be heavy and their hearts always light. an irishman's toast.-- here's to the land of the shamrock so green, here's to each lad and his darling colleen, here's to the ones we love dearest and most. and may god save old ireland--that's an irishman's toast. here's a health to the future, a sigh for the past. we can love and remember, and hope to the last, and for all the base lies that the almanacs hold. while there's love in the heart, we can never grow old. some hae meat and canna' eat, and some wad eat who want it; but we hae meat and we can eat, so let the lord be thankit. --burns. a little health, a little wealth, a little house and freedom, with some few friends for certain ends, but little cause to need 'em. if i were a raindrop and you a leaf, i would burst from the cloud above you, and lie on your breast in a rapture of rest, and love you--love you--love you. if i were a brown bee and you were a rose, i would fly to you, love, nor miss you; i would sip and sip from your nectared lip, and kiss you--kiss you--kiss you. --ella wheeler wilcox, in three women. strange--is it not?--that of the myriads who before us passed the door of darkness through, not one returns to tell us of the road, which to discover, we must travel too? --omar. away with the flimsy idea that life with a past is attended. there's now--only now--and no past. there's never a past; it has ended. away with the obsolete story and all of its yesterday sorrow! there's only today, almost gone, and in front of today stands tomorrow. --eugene ware. god made man frail as a bubble; god made love, love made trouble; god made the vine; was it a sin that man made wine to drown trouble in? "my character may be my own, but my reputation belongs to any old body that enjoys gossiping more than telling the truth." may your joy be as deep as the ocean, your trouble as light as its foam. the man that has no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; the motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as erebus. let no such man be trusted. mark the music. --shakespeare. see the mountains kiss high heaven, and the waves clasp one another; no sister flower would be forgiven if it disdained its brother; and the sunlight clasps the earth, and the moonbeams kiss the sea; what are all these kissings worth, if thou kiss not me? --percy bysshe shelley. jest a-wearyin' for you, all the time a-feelin' blue; wishin' for you, wonderin' when you'll be comin' home again; restless--don't know what to do-- jest a-wearyin' for you. --frank stanton. here's to love, the worker of miracles. he strengthens the weak and weakens the strong; he turns wise men into fools and fools into wise men; he feeds the passions and destroys reason, and plays havoc among young and old! --marguerite de valois. "good bye, god bless you." i like the anglo--saxon speech with its direct revealings; it takes a hold, and seems to reach way down into our feelings that some folks deem it rude, i know, and therefore they abuse it; but i have never found it so-- before all else i choose it. i don't object that men should air the gallic they have paid for, with "au revoir," "adieu, ma chere," for that's what french was made for. but when a crony takes your hand at parting to address you, he drops all foreign lingo and he says, "good--bye, god bless you." --eugene field. language of precious stones. the ancients attributed marvelous properties to many of the precious stones. we give in tabular form the different months and the stones sacred to them, as generally accepted, with their respective meanings. it has been customary among lovers and friends to notice the significance attached to the various stones in making birthday, engagement and wedding presents. january, garnet.--constancy and fidelity in every engagement. february, amethyst--preventive against violent passions. march, bloodstone--courage, wisdom and firmness in affection. april, sapphire--free from enchantment; denotes repentance. may, emerald--discovers false friends, and insures true love. june, agate--insures long life, health and prosperity. july, ruby--discovers poison; corrects evils resulting from mistaken friendship. august, sardonyx--insures conjugal felicity. september, chrysolite--free from all evil passions and sadness of the mind. october, opal--denotes hope, and sharpens the sight and faith of the possessor. november, topaz--fidelity and friendship. prevents bad dreams. december, turquoise--prosperity in love. tiffany's list of birth stones is somewhat different from the above and is given below: birth stones. (as given by tiffany & co.) january--garnet. february--amethyst, hyacinth, pearl. march--jasper, bloodstone. april--diamond, sapphire. may--emerald, agate. june--cat's-eye, turquoise, agate. july--turquoise, onyx. august--sardonyx, carnelian, moonstone, topaz. september--chrysolite. october--beryl, opal. november--topaz, pearl. december--ruby, bloodstone. grammar-spelling-pronunciation five hundred common errors corrected concise rules for the proper use of words in writing or speaking. the most objectionable errors in speaking or writing are those in which words are employed that are unsuitable to convey the meaning intended. thus, a person wishing to express his intention of going to a given place says, "i propose going," when, in fact, he purposes going. the following affords an amusing illustration of this class of error: a venerable matron was speaking of her son, who, she said, was quite stage-struck: "in fact," remarked the old lady, "he is going to a premature performance this evening!" considering that most amateur performances are premature, it cannot be said that this word was altogether misapplied, though, evidently, the maternal intention was to convey quite another meaning. other errors arise from the substitution of sounds similar to the words which should be employed; that is, spurious words instead of genuine ones. thus, some people say "renumerative," when they mean "remunerative." a nurse, recommending her mistress to have a perambulator for her child, advised her to purchase a preamputator! other errors are occasioned by imperfect knowledge of english grammar; thus, many people say, "between you and i," instead of "between you and me." and there are numerous other departures from the rules of grammar, which will be pointed out hereafter. misuse of the adjective--"what beautiful butter!" "what a nice landscape!" they should say, "what a beautiful landscape!" "what nice butter!" again, errors are frequently occasioned by the following causes: mispronunciation of words--many persons say pronoun-ciation instead of pronunciation; others say pro-nun-ce-a-shun, instead of pro-nun-she-a-shun. misdivision of words and syllables--this defect makes the words an ambassador sound like a nambassador, or an adder like a nadder. imperfect enunciation--as when a person says hebben for heaven, ebber for ever, jocholate for chocolate. to correct these errors by a systematic course of study would involve a closer application than most persons could afford, but the simple and concise rules and hints here given, founded upon usage and the authority of scholars, will be of great assistance to inquirers. english grammar in a nutshell. who and whom are used in relation to persons, and which in relation to things. but it was once common to say, "the man which." this should now be avoided. it is now usual to say, "our father who art in heaven," instead of "which art in heaven." whose is, however, sometimes applied to things as well as to persons. we may therefore say, "the country whose inhabitants are free." thou is employed in solemn discourse, and you in common language. ye (plural) is also used in serious addresses, and you in familiar language. the uses of the word it are various, and very perplexing to the uneducated. it is not only used to imply persons, but things, and even ideas, and therefore in speaking or writing, its assistance is constantly required. the perplexity respecting this word arises from the fact that in using it in the construction of a long sentence, sufficient care is not taken to insure that when it is employed it really points out or refers to the object intended. for instance, "it was raining when john set out in his cart to go to market, and he was delayed so long that it was over before he arrived." now what is to be understood by this sentence: was the rain over? or the market? either or both might be inferred from the construction of the sentence, which, therefore, should be written thus: "it was raining when john set out in his cart to go to market, and he was delayed so long that the market was over before he arrived." rule--after writing a sentence always look through it, and see that wherever the word it is employed, it refers to or carries the mind back to the object which it is intended to point out. the general distinction between this and that may be thus defined: this denotes an object present or near, in time or place; that something which is absent. these refers, in the same manner, to present objects, while those refers to things that are remote. who changes, under certain conditions, into whose and whom; but that and which always remain the same, with the exception of the possessive case, as noted above. that may be applied to nouns or subjects of all sorts; as, the girl that went to school, the dog that bit me, the opinion that he entertains. the misuse of these pronouns gives rise to more errors in speaking and writing than any other cause. when you wish to distinguish between two or more persons, say: "which is the happy man?" not who--"which of those ladies to you admire?" instead of "whom do you think him to be?" say, "who do you think him to be?" whom should i see. to whom do you speak? who said so? who gave it to you? of whom did you procure them? who was he? who do men say that i am? self should never be added to his, their, mine or thine. each is used to denote every individual of a number. every denotes all the individuals of a number. either and or denote an alternative: "i will take either road, at your pleasure;" "i will take this or that." neither means not either, and nor means not the other. either is sometimes used for each--"two thieves were crucified, on either side one." "let each esteem others as good as themselves," should be, "let each esteem others as good as himself." "there are bodies each of which are so small," should be, "each of which is so small." do not use double superlatives, such as most straightest, most highest, most finest. the term worser has gone out of use; but lesser is stilt retained. the use of such words as chiefest, extreamest, etc., has become obsolete, because they do not give any superior force to the meanings of the primary words, chief, extreme, etc. such expressions as more impossible, more indispensable, more universal, more uncontrollable, more unlimited, etc., are objectionable, as they really enfeeble the meaning which it is the object of the speaker or writer to strengthen. for instance, impossible gains no strength by rendering it more impossible. this class of error is common with persons who say, "a great large house," "a great big animal," "a little small foot," "a tiny little hand." here, there and where, originally denoting place, may now, by common consent, be used to denote other meanings, such as, "there i agree with you," "where we differ," "we find pain where we expected pleasure," "here you mistake me." hence, whence and thence, denoting departure, etc., may be used without the word from. the idea of from is included in the word whence--therefore it is unnecessary to say "from whence." hither, thither and whither, denoting to a place, have generally been superseded by here, there and where. but there is no good reason why they should not be employed. if, however, they are used, it is unnecessary to add the word to, because that is implied--"whither are you going?" "where are you going?" each of these sentences is complete. to say, "where are you going to?" is redundant. two negatives destroy each other, and produce an affirmative. "nor did he not observe them," conveys the idea that he did observe them. but negative assertions are allowable. "his manners are not impolite," which implies that his manners are in some degree marked by politeness. instead of "let you and i." say "let you and me." instead of "i am not so tall as him," say "i am not so tall as he." when asked "who is there?" do not answer "me," but "i," instead of "for you and i," say "for you and me." instead of "says i," say "i said." instead of "you are taller than me," say "you are taller than i." instead of "i ain't," or "i arn't," say "i am not." instead of "whether i be present or no," say "whether i be present or not." for "not that i know on,"' say "not that i know." instead of "was i to do so," say "were i to do so." instead of "i would do the same if i was him," say "i would do the same if i were he." instead of "i had as lief go myself," say "i would as soon go myself," or "i would rather." it is better to say "six weeks ago" than "six weeks back." it is better to say "since which time," than "since when," it is better to say "i repeated it," than "i said so over again." instead of "he was too young to have suffered much," say "he was too young to suffer much." instead of "less friends," say "fewer friends." less refers to quantity. instead of "a quantity of people," say "a number of people." instead of "he and they we know," say "him and them." instead of "as far as i can see," say "so far as i can see." instead of "a new pair of gloves," say "a pair of new gloves." instead of "i hope you'll think nothing on it," say "i hope you'll think nothing of it." instead of "restore it back to me," say "restore it to me." instead of "i suspect the veracity of his story," say "i doubt the truth of his story." instead of "i seldom or ever see him," say "i seldom see him." instead of "i expected to have found him," say " expected to find him." instead of "who learns you music?" say "who teaches you music?" instead of "i never sing whenever i can help it," say "i never sing when i can help it." instead of "before i do that i must first ask leave," say "before i do that i must ask leave." instead of saying "the observation of the rule," say "the observance of the rule," instead of "a man of eighty years of age," say "a man eighty years old." instead of "here lays his honored head," say "here lies his honored head." instead of "he died from negligence," say "he died through neglect," or "in consequence of neglect." instead of "apples are plenty," say "apples are plentiful." instead of "the latter end of the year," say "the end, or the close, of the year." instead of "the then government," say "the government of that age, or century, or year, or time." instead of "a couple of chairs," say "two chairs." instead of "they are united together in the bonds of matrimony," say "they are united in matrimony," or "they are married," '. instead of "we travel slow," say "we travel slowly." instead of "he plunged down into the river," say "he plunged into the river." instead of "he jumped from off the scaffolding," say "he jumped off the scaffolding." instead of "he came the last of all," say "he came the last." instead of "universal," with reference to things that have any limit, say "general," "generally approved," instead of "universally approved," "generally beloved," instead of "universally beloved." instead of "they ruined one another," say "they ruined each other," instead of "if in case i succeed," say "if i succeed." instead of "a large enough room," say "a room large enough." instead of "i am slight in comparison to you," say "i am slight in comparison with you." instead of "i went for to see him," say "i went to see him." instead of "the cake is all eat up," say "the cake is all eaten." instead of "handsome is as handsome does," say "handsome is who handsome does." instead of "the book fell on the floor," say "the book fell to the floor." instead of "his opinions are approved of by all," say "his opinions are approved by all." instead of "i will add one more argument," say "i will add one argument more," or "another argument." instead of "a sad curse is war," say "war is a sad curse." instead of "he stands six foot high," say "he measures six feet," or "his height is six feet." instead of "i go every now and then," say "i go sometimes (or often)." instead of "who finds him in clothes," say "who provides him with clothes." say "the first two," and "the last two" instead of "the two first" "the two last." instead of "his health was drank with enthusiasm," say "his health was drunk enthusiastically." instead of "except i am prevented," say "unless i am prevented." instead of "in its primary sense," say "in its primitive sense." instead of "it grieves me to see you," say "i am grieved to see you." instead of "give me them papers," say "give me those papers." instead of "those papers i hold in my hand," say "these papers i hold in my hand." instead of "i could scarcely imagine but what," say "i could scarcely imagine that." instead of "he was a man notorious for his benevolence," say "he was noted for his benevolence." instead of "she was a woman celebrated for her crimes," say "she was notorious on account of her crimes." instead of "what may your name be?" say "what is your name?" instead of "i lifted it up," say "i lifted it." instead of "it is equally of the same value," say "it is of the same value," or "equal value." instead of "i knew it previous to your telling me," say "i knew it previously to your telling me." instead of "you was out when i called," say "you were out when i called." instead of "i thought i should have won this game," say "i thought i should win this game." instead of "this much is certain," say "thus much is certain," or "so much is certain." instead of "he went away as it may be yesterday week," say "he went away yesterday week." instead of "he came the saturday as it may be before the monday," specify the saturday on which he came. instead of "put your watch in your pocket," say "put your watch into your pocket." instead of "he has got riches," say "he has riches." instead of "will you set down?" say "will you sit down?" instead of "no thankee," say "no, thank you." instead of "i cannot do it without farther means," say "i cannot do it without further means." instead of "no sooner but," or "no other but," say "than." instead of "nobody else but her," say "nobody but her." instead of "he fell down from the balloon," say "he fell from the balloon." instead of "he rose up from the ground," say "he rose from the ground." instead of "these kind of oranges are not good," say "this kind of oranges is not good." instead of "somehow or another," say "somehow or other." instead of "will i give you some more tea?" say "shall i give you some more tea?" instead of "oh, dear, what will i do?" say "oh, dear, what shall i do?" instead of "i think indifferent of it," say "i think indifferently of it." instead of "i will send it conformable to your orders," say "i will send it conformably to your orders." instead of "to be given away gratis," say "to be given away." instead of "will you enter in?" say "will you enter?" instead of "this three days or more," say "these three days or more." instead of "he is a bad grammarian," say "he is not a grammarian." instead of "we accuse him for." say "we accuse him of." instead of "we acquit him from," say "we acquit him of." instead of "i am averse from that," say "i am averse to that." instead of "i confide on you," say "i confide in you." instead of "as soon as ever." say "as soon as." instead of "the very best," or "the very worst," say "the best or the worst." avoid such phrases as "no great shakes," "nothing to boast of," "down in my boots," "suffering from the blues." all such sentences indicate vulgarity. instead of "no one hasn't called," say "no one has called." instead of "you have a right to pay me," say "it is right that you should pay me." instead of "i am going over the bridge," say "i am going across the bridge." instead of "i should just think i could," say "i think i can." instead of "there has been a good deal," say "there has been much." instead of "the effort you are making for meeting the bill," say "the effort you are making to meet the bill." to say "do not give him no more of your money," is equivalent to saying "give him some of your money." say "do not give him any of your money." instead of saying "they are not what nature designed them," say "they are not what nature designed them to be." instead of saying "i had not the pleasure of hearing his sentiments when i wrote that letter," say "i had not the pleasure of having heard," etc. instead of "the quality of the apples were good," say "the quality of the apples was good." instead of "the want of learning, courage and energy are more visible," say "is more visible." instead of "we die for want," say "we die of want." instead of "he died by fever," say "he died of fever." instead of "i enjoy bad health," say "my health is not good." instead of "either of the three," say "any one of the three." instead of "better nor that," say "better than that." instead of "we often think on you," say "we often think of you." instead of "mine is so good as yours," say "mine is as good as yours." instead of "this town is not as large as we thought," say "this town is not so large as we thought." instead of "because why?" say "why?" instead of "that there boy," say "that boy." instead of "the subject-matter of debate," say "the subject of debate." instead of saying "when he was come back," say "when he had come back." instead of saying "his health has been shook," say "his health has been shaken." instead of saying "it was spoke in my presence," say "it was spoken in my presence." instead of "very right," or "very wrong," say "right" or "wrong." instead of "the mortgagor paid him the money," say "the mortgagee paid him the money." the mortgagee lends; the mortgagor borrows. instead of "i took you to be another person," say "i mistook you for another person." instead of "on either side of the river," say "on each side of the river." instead of "there's fifty," say "there are fifty." instead of "the best of the two" say "the better of the two," instead of "my clothes have become too small for me" say "i have grown too stout for my clothes." instead of "two spoonsful of physic," say "two spoonfuls of physic." instead of "she said, says she," say "she said." avoid such phrases as "i said, says i," "thinks i to myself," etc. instead of "i don't think so," say "i think not." instead of "he was in eminent danger," say "he was in imminent danger." instead of "the weather is hot," say "the weather is very warm." instead of "i sweat," say "i perspire." instead of "i only want two dollars," say "i want only two dollars." instead of "whatsomever," say "whatever," or "whatsoever." avoid such exclamations as "god bless me!" "god deliver me!" "by god!" "by gosh!" "holy lord!" "upon my soul!" etc., which are vulgar on the one hand, and savor of impiety all the other, for--"thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain." accent and pronunciation. accent is a particular stress or force of the voice upon certain syllables or words. this mark in printing denotes the syllable upon which the stress or force of the voice should be placed. a word may have more than one accent. take as an instance aspiration. in uttering the word we give a marked emphasis of the voice upon the first and third syllables, and therefore those syllables are said to be accented. the first of these accents is less distinguishable than the second, upon which we dwell longer; therefore the second accent in point of order is called the primary, or chief accent of the word. when the full accent falls on a vowel, that vowel should have a long sound, as in vo'cal; but when it falls on or after a consonant, the preceding vowel has a short sound, as in hab'it. to obtain a good knowledge of pronunciation it is advisable for the reader to listen to the examples given by good speakers, and by educated persons. we learn the pronunciation of words, to a great extent, by imitation, just as birds acquire the notes of other birds which may be near them. but it will be very important to bear in mind that there are many words having a double meaning or application, and that the difference of meaning is indicated by the difference of the accent, among these words, nouns are distinguished from verbs by this means: nouns are mostly accented on the first syllabic, and verbs on the last. noun signifies name; nouns are the names of persons and things, as well as of things not material and palpable, but of which we have a conception and knowledge, such as courage, firmness, goodness, strength; and verbs express actions, movements, etc. if the word used signifies has been done, or is being done, or is, or is to be done, then that word is a verb. thus when we say that anything is "an in'sult," that word is a noun, and is accented all the first syllable; but when we say he did it "to insult' another person," that word insult' implies acting, and becomes a verb, and should be accented on the last syllable. simple rules of pronunciation. c before a, o and u, and in some other situations, is a close articulation, like k. before e, i and y, c is precisely equivalent to s in same, this; as in cedar, civil, cypress, capacity. e final indicates that the preceding vowel is long; as in hate, mete, sire, robe, lyre, abate, recede, invite, remote, intrude. e final indicates that c preceding has the sound of s; as in lace, lance, and that g preceding has the sound of j, as in charge, page, challenge. e final in proper english words never forms a syllable, and in the most used words in the terminating unaccented syllables it is silent. thus, motive, genuine, examine, granite, are pronounced motiv, genuin, examin, granit. e final, in a few words of foreign origin, forms a syllable; as syncope, simile. e final is silent after l in the following terminations: ble, cle, dle, fle, gle, kle, ple, tle, zle; as in able, manacle, cradle, ruffle, mangle, wrinkle, supple, rattle, puzzle, which are pronounced a'bl, mana'cl, cra'dl, ruf'fl, man'gl, wrin'kl, sup'pl, puz'zl. e is usually silent in the termination en; as in taken, broken; pronounced takn, brokn. ous, in the termination of adjectives and their derivatives, is pronounced us; as is gracious, pious, pompously. ce, ci, ti, before a vowel, have the sound of sh; as in cetaceous, gracious, motion, partial, ingratiate; pronounced cetashus, grashus, moshun, parshal, ingrashiate. si, after an accented vowel, is pronounced like zh; as in ephesian, coufusion; pronounced ephezhan, confushon. gh, both in the middle and at the end of words is silent; as in caught, bought, fright, nigh, sigh; pronounced caut, baut, frite, ni, si. in the following exceptions, however, gh is pronounced as f: cough, chough, clough, enough, laugh, rough, slough, tough, trough. when wh begins a word, the aspirate h precedes w in pronunciation: as in what, whiff, whale; pronounced hwat, hwiff, hwale, w having precisely the sound of oo, french ou. in the following words w is silent:---who, whom, whose, whoop, whole. h after r has no sound or use; as in rheum, rhyme; pronounced reum, ryme. h should be sounded in the middle of words; as in forehead, abhor, behold, exhaust, inhabit, unhorse. h should always be sounded except in the following words:--heir, herb, honest, honor, hour, humor, and humble, and all their derivatives,--such as humorously, derived from humor. k and g are silent before n; as know, gnaw; pronounced no, naw. w before r is silent; as in wring, wreath; pronounced ring, reath. b after m is silent; as in dumb, numb; pronounced dum, num. l before k is silent; as in balk, walk, talk; pronounced bauk, wauk, tauk. ph has the sound of f; as in philosophy; pronounced filosofy. ng has two sounds, one as in singer, the other as in fin-ger. n after m, and closing a syllable, is silent; as in hymn, condemn. p before s and t is mute; as in psalm, pseudo, ptarmigan; pronounced salm, sudo, tarmigan. r has two sounds, one strong and vibrating, as at the beginning of words and syllables, such as robber, reckon, error; the other is at the termination of the words, or when succeeded by a consonant, as farmer, morn. common errors in pronunciation. --ace, is not iss, as furnace, not furniss. --age, not idge, as cabbage, courage, postage, village. --ain, ane, not in, as certain, certane, not certin. --ate, not it, as moderate, not moderit. --ect, not ec, as aspect, not aspec; subject, not subjec. --ed, not id, or ud, as wicked, not wickid or wickud. --el, not l, model, not modl; novel, not novl. --en, not n, as sudden, not suddn.--burden, burthen, garden, lengthen, seven, strengthen, often, and a few others, have the e silent. --ence, not unce, as influence, not influ-unce. --es, not is, as pleases, not pleasis. --ile should be pronounced il, as fertil, not fertile, in all words except chamomile (cam), exile, gentile, infantile, reconcile, and senile, which should be pronounced ile. --in, not n, as latin, not latn. --nd, not n, as husband, not husban; thousand, not thousan. --ness, not niss, as carefulness, not carefulniss. --ng, not n, as singing, not singin; speaking, not speakin. --ngth, not nth, as strength, not strenth. --son, the o should be silent; as in treason, tre-zn, not tre-son. --tal, not tle, as capital, not capitle; metal, not mettle; mortal, not mortle; periodical, not periodicle. --xt, not x, as next, not nex. short rules for spelling. words ending in e drop that letter on taking a suffix beginning with a vowel. exceptions--words ending in ge, ce, or oe. final e of a primitive word is retained on taking a suffix beginning with a consonant. exceptions--words ending in dge, and truly, duly, etc. final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is generally changed into i on the addition of a suffix. exceptions--retained before ing and ish, as pitying. words ending in ie and dropping the e by rule , change the i to y, as lying. final y is sometimes changed to e, as duteous. nouns ending in y, preceded by a vowel, form their plural by adding s; o as money, moneys. y preceded by a consonant is changed to ies in the plural; as bounty, bounties. final y of a primitive vowel, preceded by a vowel, should not be changed into i before a suffix; as, joyless. in words containing ei or ie, ei is used after the sound s, as ceiling, seize, except in siege and in a few words ending in cier. inveigle, neither, leisure and weird also have ei. in other cases ie is used, as in believe, achieve. words ending in ceous or cious, when relating to matter, end in ceous; all others in cious. words of one syllable, ending in a consonant; with a single vowel before it, double the consonant in derivatives; as, ship, shipping, etc. but if ending in a consonant with a double vowel before it, they do not double the consonant in derivatives; as troop, trooper, etc. words of more than one syllable, ending in a consonant preceded by a single vowel, and accented on the last syllable, double that consonant in derivatives; as commit, committed; but except chagrin, chagrined; kidnap, kidnaped. all words of one syllable ending in l, with a single vowel before it, have ll at the close; as mill, sell. all words of one syllable ending in l, with a double vowel before it, have only one l at the close: as mail, sail. the words foretell, distill, instill and fulfill retain the double ll of their primitives. derivatives of dull, skill, will and full also retain the double ll when the accent falls on these words; as dullness, skillful, willful, fullness. punctuation. a period (.) after every declarative and every imperative sentence; as, it is true. do right. a period is also used after every abbreviation; as, dr., mr., capt. an interrogation point (?) after every question. the exclamation point (!) after exclamations; as, alas! oh, how lovely! quotation marks (" ") inclose quoted expressions; as socrates said: "i believe the soul is immortal." a colon (:) is used between parts of a sentence that are subdivided by semi-colons. a colon is used before a quotation, enumeration, or observation, that is introduced by as follows, the following, or any similar expression; as, send me the following: doz. "armstrong's treasury," schulte's manual, etc. a semicolon (;) between parts that are subdivided by commas. the semicolon is used also between clauses or members that are disconnected in sense; as, man grows old; he passes away; all is uncertain. when as, namely, that is, is used to introduce an example or enumeration, a semicolon is put before it and a comma after it; as, the night was cold; that is, for the time of year. a comma is used to set off interposed words, phrases and subordinate clauses not restrictive; as, good deeds are never lost, though sometimes forgotten. a comma is used to set off transposed phrases and clauses, as, "when the wicked entice thee, consent thou not." a comma is used to set off interposed words, phrases and clauses; as, let us, if we can, make others happy. a comma is used between similar or repeated words or phrases; as, the sky, the water, the trees, were illumined with sunlight. a comma is used to mark an ellipsis, or the omission of a verb or other important word. a comma is used to set off a short quotation informally introduced; as, who said, "the good die young"? a comma is used whenever necessary to prevent ambiguity. the marks of parenthesis ( ) are used to inclose an interpolation where such interpolation is by the writer or speaker of the sentence in which it occurs. interpolations by an editor or by anyone other than the author of the sentence should be inclosed in brackets--[ ]. dashes (--) may be used to set off a parenthetical expression, also to denote an interruption or a sudden change of thought or a significant pause. the use of capitals. . every entire sentence should begin with a capital. . proper names, and adjectives derived from these, should begin with a capital. . all appellations of the deity should begin with a capital. . official and honorary titles begin with a capital. . every line of poetry should begin with a capital. . titles of books and the heads of their chapters and divisions are printed in capitals. . the pronoun i, and the exclamation o, are always capitals. . the days of the week, and the months of the year, begin with capitals. . every quotation should begin with a capital letter. . names of religious denominations begin with capitals. . in preparing accounts, each item should begin with a capital. . any word of special importance may begin with a capital. the name of god in fifty languages. hebrew, eleah, jehovah; chaldaic, eiliah; assyrian, eleah; syrian and turkish, alah; malay, alla; arabic, allah; languages of the magi, orsi; old egyptian, teut; modern egyptian, teun; armenian, teuti; greek, theos; cretan, thios; aedian and dorian, ilos; latin, deus; low latin, diex; celtic gaelic, diu; french, dieu; spanish, dios; portuguese, deos; old german, diet; provencal, diou; low breton, done; italian, dio; irish, dia; olotu, deu; german and swiss, gott; flemish, god; dutch, god; english, god; teutonic, goth; danish and swedish, gud; norwegian, gud; slav, buch; polish, bog; polacca, bung; lapp, jubinal; finnish, jumala; runic, as; zembilian, as; pannanlian, istu; tartar, magatai; coromandel, brama; persian, sire; chinese, prussa; japanese, goezer; madagascar, zannar; peruvian, puchecammae. facts about sponges. by albert hart. sponges belong to the animal kingdom, and the principal varieties used commercially are obtained off the coasts of florida and the west indies; the higher grades are from the mediterranean sea, and are numerous in variety. a sponge in its natural state is a different-looking object from what we see in commerce, resembling somewhat the appearance of the jelly fish, or a mass of liver, the entire surface being covered with a thin, slimy skin, usually of a dark color, and perforated to correspond with the apertures of the canals commonly called "holes of the sponge." the sponge of commerce is, in reality, only the skeleton of a sponge. the composition of this skeleton varies in the different kinds of sponges, but in the commercial grades it consists of interwoven horny fibers, among and supporting which are epiculae of silicious matter in greater or less numbers, and having a variety of forms. the fibers consist of a network of fibriles, whose softness and elasticity determine the commercial quality of a given sponge. the horny framework is perforated externally by very minute pores, and by a less number of larger openings. these are parts of an interesting double canal system, an external and an internal, or a centripetal and a centrifugal. at the smaller openings on the sponge's surface channels begin, which lead into dilated spaces. in these, in turn, channels arise, which eventually terminate in the large openings. through these channels or canals definite currents are constantly maintained, which are essential to the life of the sponge. the currents enter through the small apertures and emerge through the large ones. the active part of the sponge, that is, the part concerned in nutrition and growth, is a soft, fleshy mass, partly filling the meshes and lining the canals. it consists largely of cells having different functions; some utilized in the formation of the framework, some in digestion and others in reproduction. lining the dilated spaces into which different canals lead are cells surmounted by whip-like processes. the motion of these processes produces and maintains the water currents, which carry the minute food products to the digestive cells in the same cavities. sponges multiply by the union of sexual product. certain cells of the fleshy pulp assume the character of ova, and others that of spermatozoa. fertilization takes place within the sponge. the fertilized eggs, which are called larvae, pass out into the currents of the water, and, in the course of twenty-four to forty-eight hours, they settle and become attached to rocks and other hard substances, and in time develop into mature sponges. the depth of the water in which sponges grow varies from to feet in florida, but considerably more in the mediterranean sea, the finer grades being found in the deepest water, having a temperature of to degrees. don't be buried alive. from time to time we are horrified by learning that some person has been buried alive, after assurances have been given of death. under these circumstances the opinion of a rising french physician upon the subject becomes of world-wide interest, for since the tests which have been in use for years have been found unreliable no means should be left untried to prove beyond a doubt that life is actually extinct before conveying our loved ones to the grave. dr. martinot, as reported in the new york journal, asserts that an unfailing test may be made by producing a blister on the hand or foot of the body by holding the flame of a candle to the same for a few seconds, or until the blister is formed which will always occur. if the blister contains any fluid it is evidence of life, and the blister only that produced by an ordinary burn. if, on the contrary, the blister contains only steam, it may be asserted that life is extinct. the explanation is as follows: a corpse, says dr. martinot, is nothing more than inert matter, under the immediate control of physical laws which cause all liquid heated to a certain temperature to become steam; the epidermis is raised, the blister produced; it breaks with a little noise, and the steam escapes. but if, in spite of all appearances, there is any remnant of life, the organic mechanism continues to be governed by physiological laws, and the blister will contain serous matter, as in the case of any ordinary burns. the test is as simple as the proof is conclusive. dry blister: death. liquid blister: life. any one may try it; there is no error possible. how to serve wine. a fine dinner may be spoiled by not serving the proper wine at the proper time and at the proper temperature. a white wine (sauterne, riesling, moselle, etc.) should be used from the beginning of the meal to the time the roast or game comes on. with the roast serve red wine, either claret or burgundy. use sparkling wines after the roast. with dessert, serve apricot cordial. never serve red wine with soup or fish, and never a white wine with game. storage, temperature, etc. store your wines in the cellar at to degrees. all bottles should lie flat so that the cork is continually moist. this rule should be specially observed with sparkling wines. sparkling wine should be served ice cold. put the wine on the ice--not ice in the wine. serve red wine at only about degrees cooler than the dining-room. white wine should be about degrees cooler than the temperature of the room. the steps in the growth of american liberty. magna charta. about seven hundred years ago there was organized a movement which resulted in the great charter of english liberty--a movement which foreshadowed the battle of our american forefathers for political independence. on the th of august, , the prelates and barons, tiring of the tyranny and vacillation of king john, formed a council and passed measures to secure their rights. after two years of contest, with many vicissitudes, the barons entered london and the king fled into hampshire. by agreement both parties met at runnymede on the th of june, , and after several days' debate, on june , magna charta (the great charter), the glory of england, was signed and sealed by the sovereign. the magna charta is a comprehensive bill of rights, and, though crude in form, and with many clauses of merely local value, its spirit still lives and will live. clear and prominent we find the motto, "no tax without representation." the original document is in latin and contains sixty-one articles, of which the th and th, embodying the very marrow of our own state constitutions, are here given as translated in the english statutes: " . no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his freehold, or liberties or free customs, or be otherwise destroped [damaged], nor will be press upon him nor seize upon him [condemn him] but by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. " . we will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man, either right or justice." the great charter recognizes a popular tribunal as a check on the official judges and may be looked upon as the foundation of the writ of habeas corpus. it provides that no one is to be condemned on rumor or suspicion, but only on the evidence of witnesses. it affords protection against excessive emercements, illegal distresses and various processes for debts and service due to the crown. fines are in all cases to be proportionate to the magnitude of the offense, and even the villein or rustic is not to be deprived of his necessary chattels. there are provisions regarding the forfeiture of land for felony. the testamentary power of the subject is recognized over part of his personal estate, and the rest to be divided between his widow and children. the independence of the church is also provided for. these are the most important features of the great charter, which, exacted by men with arms in their hands from a resisting king, occupies so conspicuous a place in history, which establishes the supremacy of the law of england over the will of the monarch, and which still forms the basis of english liberties. the mecklenburg declaration more than a year before the signing of the declaration of independence a document was drawn up that was almost a model in phraseology and sentiment of the great charter of american freedom. there are various accounts of this matter, but the most trustworthy is this: at a public meeting of the residents of mecklenburg county, north carolina, held at charlotte on the th of may, , it was "resolved, that whenever directly or indirectly abetted, or in any way, form or manner countenanced, the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by great britain, is an enemy to our country--to america--and to the inherent and inalienable rights of man. "resolved, that we, the citizens of mecklenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have connected us to the mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the british crown, and abjure all political connection, contract or association with that nation, which has wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of american patriots at lexington. "resolved, that we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power other than that of our god and the general government of the congress. to the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual cooperation, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." there are two other resolutions, concerning the militia and the administration of the law, but these, having no present value, are here omitted. the declaration of independence. in congress, july , . when, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. the history of the present king of great britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. he has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. he has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. he has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature--a right inestimable to them, formidable to tyrants only. he has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. he has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. he has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large, for their exercise, the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. he has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising conditions of new appropriation of lands. he has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws establishing judiciary powers. he has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries. he has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our people, and to eat out their substance. he has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. he has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. he has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. for protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states. for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. for imposing taxes on us without our consent. for depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury. for transporting us beyond the seas to be tried for pretended offenses. for abolishing the free system of english laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies. for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments. for suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. he has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. he has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. he is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries, to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. he has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. he has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. in every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. a prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be ruler of a free people. nor have we been wanting in attention to our british brethren. we have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. we have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. we have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connection and correspondence. they, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. we must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. we, therefore, the representatives of the united states of america, in general congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the british crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of great britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. the foregoing declaration was, by order of the congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members: john hancock new hampshire--josiah bartlett, william whipple, matthew thornton. massachusetts bay--samuel adams, john adams, robert treat paine, elbridge gerry. rhode island--stephen hopkins, william ellery. connecticut--roger sherman, samuel huntington, william williams, oliver wolcott new york--william floyd, philip livingston, francis lewis, lewis morris. new jersey--richard stockton. john witherspoon, francis hopkinson, john hart, abraham clark. pennsylvania--robert morris, benjamin rush, benjamin franklin, john morton, george clymer, james smith, george taylor, james wilson, george ross. delaware--caesar rodney, george read, thomas mckean. maryland--samuel chase, william paco, thomas stone, charles carroll, of carrollton. virginia--george wythe, richard henry lee, thomas jefferson, benjamin harrison, thomas nelson, jr., francis lightfoot lee, carter braxton. north carolina--william hooper, joseph hewes, john penn. south carolina--edward rutledge, thomas heyward, jr., thomas lynch, jr., arthur middleton. georgia--button gwinett, lyman hall, george walton. the following clause formed part of the original declaration of independence as signed, but was finally left out of the printed copies "out of respect to south carolina": "he [king george iii.] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither." the constitution of the united states. we, the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the united states of america. article i. section i. . all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the united states, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives. section ii. . the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. . no person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and have been seven years a citizen of the united states, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen. . representative and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. the actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the congress of the united states, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. the number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of new hampshire shall be entitled to choose three; massachusetts, eight; rhode island and providence plantations, one; connecticut, five; new york, six; new jersey, four; pennsylvania, eight; delaware, one; maryland, six; virginia, ten; north carolina, five; south carolina, five, and georgia, three. . when vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. . the house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment. section iii. . the senate of the united states shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote. . immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. the seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. . no person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the united states, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen. . the vice-president of the united states shall be president of the senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. . the senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro tempore, in the absence of the vice-president, or when he shall exercise the office of president of the united states. . the senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. when sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation. when the president of the united states is tried, the chief justice shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. . judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to removal from office, disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the united states; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law. section iv. . the times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. . the congress shall assemble at least once in every year; and such meeting shall be on the first monday in december, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. section v. . each house shall be the judge of the election, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide. . each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. . each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. . neither house, during the session of congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. section vi. . the senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the united states. they shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place. . no senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the united states, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person holding any office under the united states shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office. section vii. . all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills. . every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and the senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the president of the united states; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. if, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. but in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for or against the bill be entered on the journal of each house respectively. if any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. . every order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of the senate and the house of representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the president of the united states; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the senate and house of representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. section viii. the congress shall have power-- . to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the united states; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the united states; . to borrow money on the credit of the united states; . to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the indian tribes; . to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the united states; . to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures; . to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the united states; . to establish post-offices and post-roads; . to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; . to constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court; . to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations; . to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; . to raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years; . to provide and maintain a navy; . to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces; . to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions; . to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the united states, reserving to the states, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by congress; . to exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of congress, become the seat of the government of the united states, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by the constitution in the government of the united states, or in any department or officer thereof. section ix . the migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. . the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. . no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. . no capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. . no tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. . no preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those or another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. . no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public moneys shall be published from time to time. . no title of nobility shall be granted by the united states; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the congress, accept of any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state. section x. . no state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. . no state shall, without the consent of the congress, lay any impost or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of an duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports shall be for the use of the treasury of the united states; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the congress. no state shall, without the consent of the congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. article ii. section i. . the executive power shall be vested in a president of the united states of america. he shall hold his office during the term of four years; and, together with the vice-president chosen for the same term, be elected as follows: . each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress; but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the united states, shall be appointed an elector. . the electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. and they shall make a list of all the persons voted for and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the united states, directed to the president of the senate. the president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. the person having the greatest number of votes shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such a majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the house of representatives shall immediately choose, by ballot, one of them for president, and if no person have a majority, then, from the five highest on the list, the said house shall, in like manner, choose the president. but in choosing the president the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of all the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. in every case, after the choice of the president, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the vice-president. but if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the senate shall choose from them, by ballot, the vice-president. . the congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the united states. . no person, except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the united states at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the united states. . in case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-president; and the congress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act as president; and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a president shall be elected. . the president shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected; and he shall not receive within that period any other emoluments from the united states, or any of them. . before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation: "i do solemnly swear (or affirm) that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states; and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states." section ii. . the president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the united states, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the united states. he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the united states, except in cases of impeachment. . he shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint embassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the united states whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. but the congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. . the president shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session. section iii. . he shall, from time to time, give to the congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them; and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper. he shall receive embassadors and other public ministers. he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall commission all officers of the united states. section iv. . the president, vice-president and all civil officers of the united states shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. article iii. section i . the judicial power of the united states shall be vested in one supreme court and in such inferior courts as congress may from time to time ordain and establish. the judges both of the supreme and inferior courts shall hold their offices during good behavior; and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance of office. section ii. . the judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this constitution, the laws of the united states, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting embassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the united states shall be a party; to controversies between two or more states, between a state and citizens of another state, between citizens of different states, between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects. . in all cases affecting embassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. in all the other cases mentioned, the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the congress shall make. . the trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crime shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the congress may by law have directed. section iii. l. treason against the united states shall consist only in levying war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. no person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. . the congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. article iv. section i. . full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state; and the congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. section ii. . the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. . a person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. . no person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any laws or regulations therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. section iii. . new states may be admitted by the congress into this union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of congress. . the congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the united states; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claim of the united states, or of any particular state. section iv. . the united states shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. article v. . the congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution; or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the congress; provided, that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the fifth article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate. article vi. . all debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this constitution shall be as valid against the united states under this constitution as under the confederation. . this constitution, and the laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the united states, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges of every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. . the senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the united states and the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the united states. article vii. . the ratification of the convention of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same. done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the seventeenth day of december, in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the united states of america the twelfth. in witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names. george washington, president, and deputy from virginia. amendments. article i. congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievance. article ii. a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. article iii. no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. article iv. the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. article v. no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb, nor shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. article vi. in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law; and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. article vii. in suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined, in any court of the united states, than according to the rules of the common law. article viii. excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. article ix. the enumeration in the constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. article x. the powers not delegated to the united states by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. [the preceding ten amendatory articles were proposed to the legislatures of the states by the first congress, september , , and notification of ratification received from all the states except connecticut, georgia and massachusetts.] article xi. the judicial power of the united states shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the united states by citizens or subjects of any foreign state. [proposed by the third congress, and congress notified of its adoption january , .] article xii. . the electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for president and vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice-president; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice-president; and of the number of votes for each; which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the united states, directed to the president of the senate. the president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. the person having the greatest number of votes for president shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. but, in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. and if the house of representatives shall not choose a president whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of march next following, then the vice-president shall act as president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president. . the person having the greatest number of votes as vice-president shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the senate shall choose the vice-president. a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. . but no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the united stales. [proposed by the eighth congress, and declared adopted september , , by proclamation of the secretary of state.] article xiii. . neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the united states, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. . congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. [proposed by the thirty-eighth congress, and declared adopted december , , by proclamation of the secretary of state.] article xiv. section i. all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process or law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. section ii. representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the united states, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. section iii. no person shall be a senator or representative in congress, or elector of president and vice-president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the united states, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of congress, or as an officer of the united states, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the constitution of the united states, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; but congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. section iv. the validity of the public debt of the united states, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. but neither the united states nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the united states, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. section v. the congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. [proposed by the thirty-ninth congress and declared adopted by concurrent resolution of congress, july , .] article xv. section i. the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or any state, on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. section ii. the congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. [proposed by the fortieth congress, and declared adopted by proclamation of the secretary of state, march , .] workingmen easily gulled. who fought for king george in ? working people. what interest did they have in being ruled by him? none. why, then, did they risk their lives for him? because he hired them. where did the king get the money to pay them? by taxing them. then they really paid themselves for fighting? certainly. in every war ever fought the working people paid the expenses. "what constitutes a state? men who their duties know, but know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain." --jones. jefferson's political policy. . legal equality of all human beings. . the people the only source of power. . no hereditary offices, nor order of "nobility," nor title. . no unnecessary taxation. . no national banks or bonds. . no costly splendor of administration. . freedom of thought and discussion. . civil authority superior to the military. . no favored classes; no special privileges; no monopolies. . free and fair elections; universal suffrage. . no public money spent without warrant of law. . no mysteries in government hidden from the public eye. . representatives bound by the instructions of their constituents. . the constitution of the united states a special grant of powers limited and definite. . freedom, sovereignty and independence of the respective states. . absolute severance of church and state. . the union a compact--not a consolidation nor a centralization. . moderate salaries, economy and strict accountability. . gold and silver currency--supplemented by treasury notes bearing no interest and bottomed on taxes. . no state banks of issue. . no expensive navy or diplomatic establishment. . a progressive or graduated tax laid upon wealth. . no internal revenue system. a complete separation of public moneys from bank funds. presidents of the united states. declaration of independence july th, general washington, first president. and john adams thomas jefferson and james madison and james monroe and john quincy adams general andrew jackson and martin van buren general william henry harrison (died th april) john tyler (elected as vice-president). james knox polk general zachary taylor (died th july, ) millard fillmore (elected as vice-president) general franklin pierce james buchanan abraham lincoln (assassinated th april, ) and andrew johnson (elected as vice-president) general ulysses s. grant and rutherford b. hayes general j. abram garfield (died th september, ) general chester a. arthur (elected as v. pres.) grover cleveland benjamin h. harrison grover cleveland william mckinley (elected) (re-elected) (assassinated september , ) theodore roosevelt (elected vice-president) (became president september ) theodore roosevelt (elected) wm. h. taft facts about the liberty bell. cast by thomas lester, whitechapel, london. arrived in philadelphia in august, . first used in statehouse, philadelphia, aug. , . twice recast by pass & snow, philadelphia, to repair crack, september, . muffled and tolled oct. , , on arrival of ship royal charlotte with stamps. muffled and tolled oct. , , when stamp act was put in operation. summoned meeting to prevent landing of cargo of tea from the ship polly dec. , . summoned meeting of patriots april , , after battle of lexington. proclaimed declaration of independence and the birth of a new nation at great ratification meeting july , . first journey from philadelphia made in september, , to allentown, pa., to escape capture by the british; returned june , . proclaimed treaty of peace april , . tolled for the death of washington dec. , . rung on the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of independence july , . last used in tolling for the death of john marshall july , , principal tours: to new orleans in ; chicago, ; atlanta, ; boston, ; st louis, . how the presidents died. george washington's death was the result of a severe cold contracted while riding around his farm in a rain and sleet storm on dec. , . the cold increased and was followed by a chill, which brought on acute laryngitis. he died at the age of , on dec. , . john adams died from old age, having reached his ninety-first milestone. though active mentally, he was nearly blind and unable to hold a pen steadily enough to write. he passed away without pain on july , . thomas jefferson died at the age of eighty-three, a few hours before adams, on july , . his disease was chronic diarrhoea, superinduced by old age, and his physician said the too free use of the waters of the white sulphur springs. james madison also died of old age, and peacefully, on june , . his faculties were undimmed to the last. he was eighty-five. james monroe's demise, which occurred in the seventy-third year of his age, on july , , was assigned to enfeebled health. john quincy adams was stricken with paralysis on feb. , , while addressing the speaker of the house of representatives, being at the time a member of congress. he died in the rotunda of the capitol. he was eighty-one years of age. andrew jackson died on june , , seventy-eight years old. he suffered from consumption and finally dropsy, which made its appearance about six months before his death. martin van buren died on july , , from a violent attack of asthma, followed by catarrhal affections of the throat and lungs. he was eighty years of age. william henry harrison's death was caused by pleurisy, the result of a cold, which he caught on the day of his inauguration. this was accompanied with severe diarrhoea, which would not yield to medical treatment. he died on april , , a month after his inauguration. he was sixty-eight years of age. john tyler died on jan. , , at the age of seventy-two. cause of death, bilious colic. james k. polk was stricken with a slight attack of cholera in the spring of , while on a boat going up the mississippi river. though temporarily relieved, he had a relapse on his return home and died on june , , aged fifty-four years. zachary taylor was the second president to die in office. he is said to have partaken immoderately of ice water and iced milk, and then later of a large quantity of cherries. the result was an attack of cholera morbus. he was sixty-six years old. millard fillmore died from a stroke of paralysis on march , , in his seventy-fourth year. franklin pierce's death was due to abdominal dropsy, and occurred on oct. , l , in the sixty-fifth year of his age. james buchanan's death occurred on june , , and was caused by rheumatic gout. he was seventy-seven years of age. abraham lincoln was shot by j. wilkes booth at ford's theater, washington, d. c., on april , , and died the following day, aged fifty-six. andrew johnson died from a stroke of paralysis july , , aged sixty-seven. u. s. grant died of cancer of the tongue, at mt. mcgregor, n. y., july , . james a. garfield was shot by charles j. guiteau on july . . died sept. , . chester a. arthur, who succeeded garfield, died suddenly of apoplexy in new york city, nov. , . rutherford b. hayes died jan. , , the result of a severe cold contracted in cleveland, ohio. benjamin harrison died march , . cause of death, pneumonia. william mckinley was assassinated sept. , . grover cleveland died on june , , of debility, aged . who is the author? the following literary curiosity found its way recently into the query column of a boston newspaper. nobody seems to know who wrote it: o i wish i was in eden where all the beastes is feedin, the pigs an cows an osses. and the long tale bull wot tosses the bulldog and the rabbit, acaus it is his habbit; where lions, tigurs, monkees, and them long-ear'd things call'd donkeys, meat all together daylee with crockedyles all skaley, where sparros on the bushis sings to there mates, the thrushis, an hawks and littel rens wawks about like cocks and ens, one looking at the tuther for all the world like a bruther. where no quarlin is or phytin, its tru wot ime aritin. o for a wauk at even, somewhere abowt or , when the son be gwain to bed, with his fase all fyree red. o for the grapes and resins wot ripens at all seesins; the appels and the plumbs as big as my thums; the hayprecocks an peechis, wot all within our reech is, an we mought pick an heat, paying nothing for the treat. o for the pooty flouers a bloomin at all ours, so that a large bokay yew may gether any day of ev'ry flour that blose from colleflour to rose. the art of not forgetting. a brief but comprehensive treatise based on loisette's famous system of memory culture. so much has been said about loisette's memory system, the art has been so widely advertised, and so carefully guarded from all the profane who do not send five or many dollars to the professor, that a few pages, showing how man may be his own loisette, may be both interesting and valuable. in the first place, the system is a good one, and well worth the labor of mastering, and if the directions are implicitly followed there can be no doubt that the memory will be greatly strengthened and improved, and that the mnemonic feats otherwise impossible may be easily performed. loisette, however, is not an inventor, but an introducer. he stands in the same relation to dr. pick that the retail dealer holds to the manufacturer: the one produced the article, the other brings it to the public. even this statement is not quite fair to loisette, for he has brought much practical common sense to bear upon pick's system, and, in preparing the new art of mnemonics for the market, in many ways he has made it his own. if each man would reflect upon the method by which he himself remembers things, he would find his hand upon the key of the whole mystery. for instance, i was once trying to remember the word "blythe." there occurred to my mind the words "bellman," "belle," and the verse: "---- the peasant upward climbing hears the bells of buloss chiming." "barcarole," "barrack," and so on, until finally the word "blythe" presented itself with a strange insistence, long after i had ceased trying to recall it. on another occasion, when trying to recall the name "richardson," i got the words "hay-rick," "robertson," "randallstown," and finally "wealthy," from which, naturally, i got "rich" and "richardson" almost in a breath. still another example: trying to recall the name of an old schoolmate, "grady," i got "brady," "grave," "gaseous," "gastronome," "gracious," and i finally abandoned the attempt, simply saying to myself that it began with a "g," and there was an "a" sound after it. the next morning when thinking of something entirely different, this name "grady" came up in my mind with as much distinctness as though someone had whispered it in my ear. this remembering was done without any conscious effort on my part, and was evidently the result of the exertion made the day before when the mnemonic processes were put to work. every reader must have had a similar experience which he can recall, and which will fall in line with the examples given. it follows, then, that when we endeavor, without the aid of any system, to recall a forgotten fact or name, our memory presents to us words of similar sound or meaning in its journey toward the goal to which we have started it. this goes to show that our ideas are arranged in groups in whatever secret cavity or recess of the brain they occupy, and that the arrangement is not an alphabetical one exactly, and not entirely by meaning, but after some fashion partaking of both. if you are looking for the word "meadow" you may reach "middle" before you come to it, or "mexico," or many, words beginning with the "m" sound, or containing the "dow", as window, or "dough," or you may get "field" or "farm"--but you are on the right track, and if you do not interfere with your intellectual process you will finally come to the idea which you are seeking. how often have you heard people say, "i forget his name, it is something like beadle or beagle--at any rate it begins with a b." each and all of these were unconscious loisettians, and they were practicing blindly, and without proper method or direction, the excellent system which he teaches. the thing, then, to do--and it is the final and simple truth which loisette teaches--is to travel over this ground in the other direction--to cement the fact which you wish to remember to some other fact or word which you know will be brought out by the implied conditions--and thus you will always be able to travel from your given starting-point to the thing which you wish to call to mind. it seems as though a channel were cut in our mind-stuff along which the memory flows. how to construct an easy channel for any event or series of events or facts which one wishes to remember, along which the mind will ever afterward travel, is the secret of mnemonics. loisette, in common with all the mnemonic teachers, uses the old device of representing numbers by letters--and as this is the first and easiest step in the art, this seems to be the most logical place to introduce the accepted equivalents of the arabic numerals: is always represented by s, z or c soft. is always represented by t, th or d. is always represented by n. is always represented by m. is always represented by r. is always represented by l. is always represented by sh, j, ch soft or g soft. is always represented by g hard, k, c hard, q or final ng. is always represented by f or v. is always represented by p or b. all the other letters are used simply to fill up. double letters in a word count only as one. in fact, the system goes by sound, not by spelling, for instance, "this" or "dizzy" would stand for ten; "catch" or "gush" would stand for , and the only difficulty is to make some word or phrase which will contain only the significant letters in the proper order, filled out with non-significants into some guise of meaning or intelligibility. you can remember the equivalents given above by noting that z is the first letter of "zero," and c of "cipher," t has but one stroke, n has two, m three; the script f is very like ; the script p like ; r is the last letter of "four;" l is the roman numeral for , which suggests . the others may be retained by memorizing these nonsense lines: six shy jewesses chase george. seven great kings came quarreling. suppose you wished to get some phrase or word that would express the number , , you arrange the letters this way: .. .. .. a m a sh a f a e e j e v e i i ch i i o o g o o u u u u h h h h w w w w x x x x y y y y you can make out "image of law," "my shuffle," "matchville," etc., etc., as far as you like to work it out. now, suppose you wished to memorize the fact that $ , , in gold weighs , pounds, you go about it in this way, and here is the kernel and crux of loisette's system: "how much does $ , , in gold weigh?" "weigh-scales." "scales--statue of justice." "statue of justice--image of law." the process is simplicity itself. the thing you wish to recall, and that you fear to forget, is the weight; consequently you cement your chain of suggestion to the idea which is most prominent in your mental question. what do you weigh with? scales. what does the mental picture of scales suggest? the statue of justice, blindfolded and weighing out award and punishment to man. finally, what is this statue of justice but the image of law? and the words "image of law," translated back from the significant letters m, g soft, f and , give you -- -- -- , the number of pounds in $ , , in gold. you bind together in your mind each separate step in the journey, the one suggests the other, and you will find a year from now that the fact will be as fresh in your memory as it is today. you cannot lose it. it is chained to you by an unbreakable mnemonic tie. mark that it is not claimed that "weight" will of itself suggest "scales," and "scales" "statue of justice," etc., but that, having once passed your attention up and down that ladder of ideas, your mental tendency will be to take the same route, and get to the same goal again and again. indeed, beginning with the weight of $ , , , "image of law" will turn up in your mind without your consciousness of any intermediate station on the way, after some iteration and reiteration of the original chain. again, so as to fasten the process in the reader's mind even more firmly, suppose that it were desired to fix the date of the battle of hastings (a. d. ) in the memory; may be represented by the words "the wise judge" (th-- , s-- , j-- , dg-- ; the others are non-significants); a chain might be made thus: battle of hastings--arbitrament of war. arbitrament of war--arbitration. arbitration--judgment. judgment--the wise judge. make mental pictures, connect ideas, repeat words and sounds, go about it any way you please, so that you will form a mental habit of connecting the "battle of hastings" with the idea of "arbitrament of war," and so on for the other links in the chain, and the work is done. loisette makes the beginning of his system unnecessarily difficult, to say nothing of his illogical arrangement in the grammar of the art of memory, which he makes the first of his lessons. he analyzes suggestion into-- . inclusion. . exclusion. . concurrence. all of which looks very scientific and orderly, but is really misleading and badly named. the truth is that one idea will suggest another: . by likeness or opposition of meaning, as "house" suggests "room" or "door," etc.; or, "white" suggests "black"; "cruel," "kind," etc. . by likeness of sound, as "harrow" and "barrow"; "henry" and "hennepin." . by mental juxtaposition, a peculiarity different in each person, and depending upon each one's own experiences. thus, "st. charles" suggests "railway bridge" to me, because i was vividly impressed by the breaking of the wabash bridge at that point. "stable" and "broken leg" come near each other in my experience, as do "cow" and "shot-gun" and "licking." out of these three sorts of suggestion it is possible to get from anyone fact to another in a chain certain and safe, along which the mind may be depended upon afterwards always to follow. the chain is, of course, by no means all. its making and its binding must be accompanied by a vivid, methodically directed attention, which turns all the mental light gettable in a focus upon the subject passing across the mind's screen. before loisette was thought of this was known. in the old times in england, in order to impress upon the mind of the rising generation the parish boundaries in the rural districts, the boys were taken to each of the landmarks in succession, the position and bearing of each pointed out carefully, and, in order to deepen the impression, the young people were then and there vigorously thrashed--a mechanical method of attracting the attention which was said never to have failed. this system has had its supporters in many of the old-fashioned schools, and there are men who will read these lines who can recall, with an itching sense of vivid impression, the lickings which were said to go with the multiplication table. in default of a thrashing, however, the student must cultivate as best he can an intense fixity of perception upon every fact or word or date that he wishes to make permanently his own. it is easy. it is a matter of habit. if you will, you can photograph an idea upon your cerebral gelatine so that neither years nor events will blot it out or overlay it. you must be clearly and distinctly aware of the thing you are putting into your mental treasure-house, and drastically certain of the cord by which you have tied it to some other thing of which you are sure. unless it is worth your while to do this, you might as well abandon any hope of mnemonic improvement, which will not come without the hardest kind of hard work, although it is work that will grow constantly easier with practice and reiteration. you need, then: . methodic suggestion. . methodic attention. . methodic reiteration. and this is all there is to loisette, and a great deal it is. two of them will not do without the third. you do not know how many steps there are from your hall door to your bedroom, though you have attended to and often reiterated the journey. but if there are twenty of them, and you have once bound the word "nice," or "nose," or "news" or "hyenas," to the fact of the stairway, you can never forget it. the professor makes a point, and very wisely, of the importance of working through some established chain, so that the whole may be carried away in the mind--not alone for the value of the facts so bound together, but for the mental discipline so afforded. here, then, is the "president series," which contains the name and date of inauguration of each president from washington to cleveland. the manner in which it is to be mastered is this: beginning at the top, try to find in your mind some connection between each word and the one following it. see how you can at some future time make one suggest the next, either by suggestion of sound or sense, or by mental juxtaposition. when you have found this dwell on it attentively for a moment or two. pass it backward and forward before you, and then go on to the next step. the chain runs thus, the names of the president being in capitals, the date words or date phrases being inclosed in parentheses: president chosen for the first word as the one most apt to occur to the mind of anyone wishing to repeat the names of the presidents. dentist president and dentist. draw what does a dentist do? (to give up) when something is drawn from one it is given up. this is a date phrase meaning . washington. associate the quality of self-sacrifice with washington's character. morning wash washington and wash. dew early wetness and dew. flower beds dew and flowers. (took a bouquet) flowers and bouquet. date phrase ( ), garden bouquet and garden. eden the first garden. adam juxtaposition of thought. adams suggestion by sound. fall juxtaposition of thought. failure fall and failure. (deficit) upon failure there is usually a deficit date word ( ). debt the consequence of a deficit. confederate bonds suggestion by meaning. jefferson davis juxtaposition of thought. jefferson. now follow out the rest for yourself, taking about ten at a time, and binding those you do last to those you have done before, each time, before attacking the next bunch. jefferson judge jeffreys (bloody assize) bereavement (too heavy a sob) parental grief mad son madison maderia frustrating first-rate wine (defeating) feet toe the line row monroe row boat steamer side-splitting (divert) annoy harassing harrison old harry the tempter (the fraud) painted clay baked clay tiles tyler wat tyler poll tax compulsory (free will) free offering burnt offering poker polk end of dance termination "ly" (adverb) part of speech part of a man taylor measurer theodoilte (theophilus) fill us fillmore more fuel the flame flambeau bow arrow pierce hurt (feeling) wound soldier cannon buchanan rebuke official censure (to officiate) wedding linked lincoln civil service ward politician (stop 'em) stop procession (tough boy) little ben harry harrison tippecanoe tariff too knapsack war-field (the funnel) windpipe throat quinzy quincy adams quince fine fruit (the fine boy) sailor boy sailor jack tar jackson stone wall indomitable (tough make) oaken furniture bureau van buren rent link stroll seashore take give grant award school premium examination cramming (fagging) laborer hay field hayes hazy clear (vivid) brightly lighted camp-fire war-field garfield guiteau murderer prisoner prison fare (half fed) well fed well read author arthur round table tea cup (half full) divide cleave cleveland city of cleveland two twice (the heavy shell) mollusk unfamiliar word dictionary johnson's johnson son bad son (thievish bay) dishonest boy (back) mac mckinley kill czolgosz (zees) seize ruffian rough rider rouse roosevelt size heavy fat taft it will be noted that some of the date words, as "free will," only give three figures of the date, ; but it is to be supposed that if the student knows that many figures in the date of polk's inauguration he can guess the other one. the curious thing about this system will now become apparent. if the reader has learned the series so that he can say it down from president to taft, he can with no effort, and without any further preparation, say it backwards from taft up to the commencement! there could be no better proof that this is the natural mnemonic system. it proves itself by its works. the series should be repeated backward and forward every day for a month, and should be supplemented by a series of the reader's own making, and by this one, which gives the numbers from to , and which must be chained together before they can be learned: --hoes --wheat --hen --home --hair --oil --shoe --hook --off --bee --daisy --tooth --dine --time --tower --dell --ditch --duck --dove --hand --tabby --hyenas --nun --name --owner --nail --hinge --ink --knife --knob --muse --mayday --hymen --mama --mare --mill --image --mug --muff --mob --race --hart --horn --army --warrior --royal --arch --rock --wharf --rope --wheels --lad --lion --lamb --lair --lily --lodge --lake --leaf --elbow --chess --cheat --chain --sham --chair --jail --judge --jockey --shave --ship --eggs --gate --gun --comb --hawker --coal --cage --cake --coffee --cube --vase --feet --vein --fame --fire --vial --fish --fig --fife --fib --piles --putty --pane --bomb --bier --bell --peach --beef --book --pope --diocese [transcriber's note: items , , , are shown as printed.] by the use of this table, which should be committed as thoroughly as the president series, so that it can be repeated backward and forward, any date, figure or number can be at once constructed, and bound by the usual chain to the fact which you wish it to accompany. when the student wishes to go farther and attack larger problems than the simple binding of two facts together, there is little in loisette's system that is new, although there is much that is good. if it is a book that is to be learned as one would prepare for an examination, each chapter is to be considered separately. of each an epitome is to be written in which the writer must exercise all of his ingenuity to reduce the matter in hand to its final skeleton of fact. this he is to commit to memory both by the use of the chain and the old system of interrogation. suppose after much labor through a wide space of language one boils a chapter or an event down to the final irreducible sediment: "magna charta was exacted by the barons from king john at runnymede." you must now turn this statement this way and that way; asking yourself about it every possible and impossible question, gravely considering the answers, and, if you find any part of it especially difficult to remember, chaining it to the question which will bring it out. thus, "what was exacted by the barons from king john at runnymede?" "magna charta." "by whom was magna charta exacted from king john at runnymede?" "by the barons." "from whom was," etc., etc.? "king john." "from what king," etc., etc.? "king john." "where was magna charta," etc., etc.? "at runnymede." and so on and so on, as long as your ingenuity can suggest questions to ask, or points of view from which to consider the statement. your mind will be finally saturated with the information, and prepared to spill it out at the first squeeze of the examiner. this, however, is not new. it was taught in the schools hundreds of years before loisette was born. old newspaper men will recall in connection with it horace greeley's statement that the test of a news item was the clear and satisfactory manner in which a report answered the interrogatories, "what?" "when?" "where?" "who?" "why?" in the same way loisette advises the learning of poetry, e. g.: "the assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold." "who came down?" "how did the assyian come down?" "like what animal did?" etc. and so on and so on, until the verses are exhausted of every scrap of information to be had out of them by the most assiduous cross-examination. whatever the reader may think of the availability or value of this part of the system, there are so many easily applicable tests of the worth of much that loisette has done, that it may be taken with the rest. few people, to give an easy example, can remember the value of the ratio between the circumference and the diameter of the circle beyond four places of decimals, or at most six-- . . here is the value to decimal places: . . . . . . .- . . . . plus. by a very simple application of the numerical letter values these decimal places can be carried in the mind and recalled about as fast as you can write them down. all that is to be done is to memorize these nonsense lines: mother day will buy any shawl. my love pick up my new muff. a russian jeer may move a woman. cables enough for utopia. get a cheap ham pie by my cooley. the slave knows a bigger ape. i rarely hop on my sick foot. cheer a sage in a fashion safe. a baby fish now views my wharf. annually mary ann did kiss a jay, a cabby found a rough savage. now translate each significant into its proper value and you have the task accomplished. "mother day," m-- , th--l, r-- , d--l, and so on. learn the lines one at a time by the method of interrogatories. "who will buy any shawl?" "which mrs. day will buy a shawl?" "is mother day particular about the sort of shawl she will buy?" "has she bought a shawl?" etc., etc. then cement the end of each line to the beginning of the next one, thus, "shawl"--"warm garment"--"warmth"--"love"--"my love," and go on as before. stupid as the work may seem to you, you can memorize the figures in fifteen minutes this way so that you will not forget them in fifteen years. similarly you can take haydn's dictionary of dates and turn fact after fact into nonsense lines like these which you cannot lose. and this ought to be enough to show anybody the whole art. if you look back across the sands of time and find out that it is that ridiculous old "thirty days hath september" which comes to you when you are trying to think of the length of october--if you can quote your old prosody, "o datur ambiguis," etc., with much more certainty than you can serve up your horace; if, in fine, jingles and alliterations, wise and otherwise, have stayed with you, while solid and serviceable information has faded away, you may be certain that here is the key to the enigma of memory. you can apply it yourself in a hundred ways. if you wish to clinch in your mind the fact that mr. love lives at dearborn street, what is more easy than to turn into the word "rifle" and chain the ideas together, say thus: "love--happiness--good time-- picnic--forest--wood--rangers--range--rifle range--rifle fine weapon--costly weapon--dearly bought--dearborn." or if you wish to remember mr. bowman's name and you notice he has a mole on his face which is apt to attract your attention when you next see him, cement the ideas thus: "mole, mark, target, archer, bowman." memory rhymes. the months. thirty days hath september, april, june and november; all the rest have thirty-one, but february, which has twenty-eight alone. except in leap-year; then's the time when february's days are twenty-nine. birthdays. monday for health, tuesday for wealth, wednesday best of all, thursday for crosses, friday for losses, saturday no luck at all. the lines refer to the days of the week as birthdays. they are, in idea, the same as the more familiar lines: monday's child is fair of face, tuesday's child is full of grace; wednesday's child is merry and glad, thursday's child is sorry and sad; friday's child is loving and giving; saturday's child must work for its living; while the child that is born on the sabbath day is blithe and bonny and good and gay. short grammar. three little words you often see are articles, a, an, and the. a noun's the name of any thing, as school, or garden, hoop, or swing. adjectives tell the kind of noun, as great, small, pretty, white, or brown. instead of nouns the pronouns stand-- his head, her face, your arm, my hand. verbs tell something to be done-- to read, count, laugh, sing, jump or run. how things are done the adverbs tell-- as slowly, quickly, ill or well. conjunctions join the words together-- as men and women, wind or weather. the preposition stands before the noun, as in or through the door. the interjection shows surprise-- as oh! how pretty, ah! how wise. the whole are called nine parts of speech, which reading, writing, speaking teach. to tell the age of horses. to tell the age of any horse, inspect the lower jaw, of course; the six front teeth the tale will tell, and every doubt and fear dispel. two middle "nippers" you behold before the colt is two weeks old, before eight weeks will two more come; eight months the "corners" cut the gum. the outside grooves will disappear from middle two in just one year. in two years, from the second pair; in three, the corners, too, are bare. at two the middle "nippers" drop; at three, the second pair can't stop. when four years old the third pair goes; at five a full new set he shows. the deep black spots will pass from view at six years from the middle two. the second pair at seven years; at eight the spot each "corner" clears. from middle "nippers" upper jaw, at nine the black spots will withdraw. the second pair at ten are white; eleven finds the "corners" light. as time goes on, the horsemen know, the oval teeth three-sided grow; they longer get, project before, till twenty, when we know no more. bees. a swarm of bees in may is worth a load of hay; a swarm of bees in june is worth a silver spoon; a swarm of bees in july is not worth a fly. the cuckoo. may--sings all the day; june--changes his tune; july--prepares to fly; august--go he must. rules for riding. keep up your head and your heart, your hands and your heels keep down, press your knees close to your horse's side, and your elbows close to your own. happiness defined. wanting nothing and knowing it. the mental sunshine of content. a "will-o'-the-wisp" which eludes us even when we grasp it. excelsior! the ever-retreating summit on the hill of our ambition. the prize at the top of a greasy pole which is continually slipping from one's grasp. the only thing a man continues to search for after he has found it. the bull's-eye on the target at which all the human race are shooting. the goal erected for the human race, which few reach, being too heavily handicapped. a wayside flower growing only by the path of duty. a bright and beautiful butterfly, which many chase but few can take. the interest we receive from capital invested in good works. the birthright of contentment. a treasure which we search for far and wide, though oft-times it is lying at our feet. the summer weather of the mind. appalling depths of space. distances that stun the mind and baffle comprehension. "the stars," though appearing small to us because of their immense distance, are in reality great and shining suns. if we were to escape from the earth into space, the moon, jupiter, saturn, and eventually the sun would become invisible. mizar, the middle star in the tail of the great bear, is forty times as heavy as the sun. to the naked eye there are five or six thousand of these heavenly bodies visible. cygni is the nearest star to us in this part of the sky. alpha centauri, in the constellation of centaur, in the southern hemisphere, is the nearest of all the stars. the sun is off , , miles; multiply this by , , and the result is, roughly speaking, , , , , ; and this is the distance we are from alpha centauri. at the speed of an electric current, , miles per second, a message to be sent from a point on the earth's surface would go seven times around the earth in one second. let it be supposed that messages were sent off to the different heavenly bodies. to reach the moon at this rate it would take about one second. in eight minutes a message would get to the sun, and allowing for a couple of minutes' delay, one could send a message to the sun and get an answer all within twenty minutes. but to reach alpha centauri it would take three years; and as this is the nearest of the stars, what time must it take to get to the others? if, when wellington won the battle of waterloo, in , the news had been telegraphed off immediately, there are some stars so remote that it would not yet have reached them. to go a step further, if in the result of the norman conquest had been wired to some of these stars, the message would still be on its way. senator vest's eulogy on the dog. "gentlemen of the jury: the best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. his son and daughter that he has reared with loving care may become ungrateful. those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. the money that a man has he may lose. it flies away from him when he may need it most. man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. the people who are prone to fall on their knees and do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our head. the one absolutely unselfish friend a man may have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is the dog. "gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and in sickness. he will sleep on the cold ground, when the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. he will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. he guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. "when all other friends desert, he remains, when riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. if fortune drives the master forth an outcast into the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death." health and beauty would you be beautiful? in womanly beauty the excellences expected and looked for are faultless symmetry of form and feature and a complexion varying in hue as the mind is affected by internal emotion, but with an expression of purity, gentleness, sensibility, refinement and intelligence. moore, the poet, has given expression to his ideal of beauty in the following lines: "this was not the beauty--oh, nothing like this, that to young nourmahal gave such magic bliss; but that loveliness, ever in motion, which plays like the light upon autumn's shadowy days. "now here and now there, giving warmth as it flies from the lips to the cheek, from the cheek to the eyes; now melting in mist, and now breaking in gleams like the glimpses a saint has of heavenly dreams." wordsworth expressed himself in the following lines: "he was among the prime in worth, an object beauteous to behold; well born, well bred; i sent him forth ingenuous, innocent, and bold." perhaps you ask how you can attain beauty if you do not possess it; or, if you have some of its qualities, how you may get those you are lacking. if you will practice the following rules you will grow more and more beautiful in the eyes of others, even if age does bring gray hair and a wrinkled skin: first.--cleanliness is next to godliness. practice it in every feature of your daily life. second.--have some purpose to achieve and steadfastly work to attain it. third--cultivate self-discipline; be master of your passions, under all circumstances. fourth.--study to know the laws of life that yield harmony and good health and obey them. look on the bright side of life always. fifth.--avoid intemperance in all things. sixth.--cultivate every mental and bodily quality that will make you firm in goodness, strong and physically able to be useful to your kind, generous and broad-minded, self-sacrificing, and you will daily and hourly be lovely and grow into the beautiful. care of the scalp and hair. beautiful hair, beautiful skin and a beautiful form are the three graces which are the birthright of every woman, but which, through lack of good judgment and common sense, or through thoughtlessness on the part of mothers of growing children, comparatively few possess. beautiful hair is one of nature's greatest gifts, and yet we never seem to appreciate it until there is danger of losing it, or until it becomes faded and lusterless because we have not used the right means for preserving it. the beauty and continuance of the hair depend upon its proper nourishment, gained by the circulation of blood through the scalp, and this must be maintained to keep the hair in good condition. the structure of the hair is very beautiful, and each hair is contained in a delicate sheath which fits into a slight depression in the skin called the follicle, and around the base of the hair nature has provided glands to secrete oily matter, the purpose of which is to keep the hair glossy. in early maturity the hair reaches the state of greatest beauty, and at this time the greatest care should be given it, feeding and nourishing it as we would a plant--giving it plenty of air and sunlight, carefully shampooing at least once in ten days. massage the scalp to keep it loose and flexible. use electricity, a good tonic, and occasionally singe the split ends. if this process is commenced at the right time, the result will be fewer cases of baldness in men and thin, poor hair in women. the hair should also be worn loosely, forming a soft frame for the face, which is always more becoming than tightly drawn hair. many women drag their hair out by the roots by tying back too firmly. care of the skin. a beautiful skin is smooth, soft and clear; the color varies in different individuals. in perfect health it is moist and with the delicate shading of a flower--climate, hair and eyes, of course, determining the color, and the continued beauty of it depending upon pure blood, fresh air and sunlight, also perfect cleanliness and care. the pores should always be kept free from obstruction and extremes of heat and cold avoided as much as possible. in health, the care of the skin is a simple matter, massage being a great factor, assisted always by the use of pure creams. a good cleansing cream is a great necessity, as it enters the pores and frees them from dirt, leaving the skin soft and pliable, in which condition it is ready to absorb the skin food when the finger massage is given, making it possible for the gentle electric current to force the ointment into the deeper layers of the skin, thus effecting the removal of moth patches, tan, freckles and other discolorations and imperfections. the vibratory massage should follow, the purpose of which is to stimulate the tissues, throwing off worn-out particles and increasing the circulation of the blood by giving proper exercise to the facial muscles, thereby restoring and preserving the color and contour, making the skin beautiful, clear, eradicating and preventing wrinkles. the use of a pure face powder is absolutely necessary. best results are obtained by using a blended powder, as the skin tint is thus assured. to develop the bust. a beautiful bust is the desire and admiration of every woman. if nature has not been kind in this respect, any woman can develop a beautiful bust by exercise, bathing and gentle massage with a good bust ointment or skin food. electric massage is very beneficial, and if properly given, brings quick and sure results. swimming and deep breathing are great aids. care of the hands. a study of the hand is very interesting, and if mothers understood more of its beautiful construction many of the little accidents which result in deformed finger nails could be avoided. mothers should attend most carefully to the early cultivation of their children's finger nails, as the habit of biting them is so easily formed and is sure to permanently destroy their beauty. a perfect hand is rounded and plump, soft, white and dimpled, with tapering finger tips and filbert-shaped nails, snowing the little half-moon. it is possible for any woman to have such a hand if she is willing to take time once a week to have the nails treated and to give them a little personal attention each day. great care should be taken in washing the hands. a mild soap should be used, and particular attention paid to the thorough drying of them, after which a good cuticle cream should be applied and well rubbed in. the same cream may be used to loosen the cuticle at the base of the nail, when it can be gently pushed back, thus keeping the half-moon exposed. an orange-wood stick should always be used to clean the nails. massaging the hands at least once a month aids wonderfully in making them symmetrical and keeping the joints flexible and the skin free from dark spots and wrinkles. infant feeding and management. it is of prime importance in feeding an infant to do this at regular intervals, since during the first three months of its life the feeding habits of the child should be established, and if care be used in this regard the child will wake of its own accord at the proper time. the last meal at night should be at p. m., and if the child is healthy and will sleep it need not be fed until to a. m. the following morning. in both breast and artificial feeding the above applies, and the same method should be employed; namely, the child should be held in the arms during the meal, which should last from ten to fifteen minutes. both in breast and artificial feeding it is possible to overfeed the child. many infants are systematically overfed. the young mother should understand how small an infant's stomach is. at birth it will hold a little more than an ounce of fluid, or two tablespoonfuls, and at the end of two months only three ounces. if, therefore, the mother persists in trying to give the child four ounces of food, the child will suffer from an excess. many children during the first few mouths of life bring up their food, and the mother fears that there is some inherited tendency to weak digestion. it is wrong to feed a child simply because it cries, as very frequently it is not a cry of hunger, but one caused by indigestion from overfeeding. if the child is being fed with the bottle it is important that the food be given at a temperature of deg. f., or as nearly that as possible; never over; and if the child be fed out of doors in its carriage it is well to have a flannel bag of some kind to slip over the bottle to keep it at the same temperature until the meal is finished. many cases of colic are caused by inattention to this point. it is a common mistake that when a child cries it needs additional food. there are many cases where a little drink of water is the prime need of the child, and great care should be taken that this is heated to the proper temperature, and especially that no water be given to the child except that which has been boiled. a few teaspoonfuls should be given to the child, therefore, several times a day, but aside from that he should have nothing but his regular food until he is at least a year old. for the same reason, therefore, if a child be fed by the bottle, the water used in preparing the food should have been previously boiled, and care should be exercised not to expose the food to the air during or after its preparation. it should be remembered that the food of a child must be nutritious, and that in this food, especially when at the proper temperature for the infant, bacteria from the air will flourish wonderfully fast, and therefore the food should not be exposed to possible contamination. it is of very great importance that the feeding-bottles be always clean and sweet. it is an advantage to have several bottles on hand, and also two or three brushes for cleaning. keep a special vessel, with water in which there is a little bicarbonate of soda, so that the moment the bottle is used it may be thoroughly washed and kept in the water. do not use a nipple with a rubber tube, but the short, black rubber nipples, which fit over the mouth of the bottle. do not enlarge the hole in the nipple, so as to make it too easy for the baby to draw its food, otherwise the food being taken so rapidly into the stomach will often cause pain or vomiting. in washing the nipples turn them inside out and see that they are as thoroughly cleaned as possible, and keep them for use in a bottle filled with boiled water with a pinch of boric acid added. the first nursing. it is very important that the child should be put to the breast immediately after it is washed. this is very necessary, both for the mother and the child, and prevents subsequent troubles. the fluid contained in the breast is at this stage called colostrum, and is intended by nature to act upon the child as a laxative. this first nursing stimulates the secretion of the milk and causes uterine contraction, which is very much needed at this time. it is well to wash the infant's mouth out with sterilized water every time it feeds. for this purpose use clean water which has been boiled and allowed to cool, or a solution of boric acid in boiled water-- grains to the ounce of water. infants, as a rule, should be bathed once a day, but never immediately after being nursed or fed. in very warm weather a child may be sponged in the evening as well as in the morning. the water for the bath of a young baby should be warm, and the temperature can be judged by testing it with the elbow, which is more sensitive than the hand. lay a small blanket on the lap, cover the child with a flannel and sponge it under the clothes. this prevents it from taking cold from exposure, the room should not be cooler than deg. f., and the door must be kept closed to avoid drafts. use only pure white soap, and a soft cloth is better than a sponge. the body should be carefully dried and lightly powdered to absorb any moisture that may remain. the names of the months. the derivations of the names of the months. january.--the roman god janus presided over the beginning of everything; hence the first month of the year was called after him. february.--the roman festival februs was held on the th day of this month, in honor of lupercus, the god of fertility. march--named from the roman god of war, mars. april.--latin, aprilis, probably derived from aperire, to open; because spring generally begins, and the buds open in this month. may.--lat. maius, probably derived from maia, a feminine divinity worshiped at rome on the first day of this month. june.--juno, a roman divinity worshiped as the queen of heaven. july (julius)--julius caesar was born in this month. august.--named by the emperor augustus caesar, b. c. , after himself, as he regarded it as a fortunate month, being that in which he had gained several victories. september (septem, or ).--september was the seventh month in the old roman calendar. october (octo, or ).--eighth month of the old roman year. november (novem, or ).-november was the ninth month in the old roman year. december (decem, or ).--december was the tenth month of the early roman year. about the st of this month the sun enters the tropic of capricorn, and forms the winter solstice. days of the week. sunday, (saxon) sunnandaed, day of the sun, monday, (german) montag, day or the moon. tuesday, (anglo-saxon) tiwesdaeg, from tiw, the god of war. wednesday, (anglo-saxon) wodnesdaeg, from odin, the god of storms. thursday, (danish) thor, the god of thunder. friday, (saxon) frigedaeg, day of freya, goddess of marriage. saturday, the day of saturn, the god of time. the names of the seven days of the week originated with the egyptian astronomers. they gave them the names of the sun, moon, and five planets, viz.: mars, mercury, jupiter, venus and saturn. what housekeepers should remember. that cold rain water and soap will remove machine grease from washable fabrics. that fish may be scaled much easier by first dipping them into boiling water for a minute. that fresh meat beginning to sour will sweeten if placed outdoors in the cool air over night. that milk which has changed may be sweetened or rendered fit for use again by stirring in a little soda. that a tablespoonful of turpentine boiled with your white clothes will greatly aid the whitening process. that kerosene will soften boots and shoes that have been hardened by water and will render them as pliable as new. that thoroughly wetting the hair once or twice with a solution of salt and water will keep it from falling out. that salt fish are quickest and best freshened by soaking in sour milk. that salt will curdle new milk; hence, in preparing porridge, gravies, etc., salt should not be added until the dish is prepared. that one teaspoonful of ammonia to a teacup of water, applied with a rag, will clean silver or gold jewelry perfectly. that paint stains that are dry and old may be removed from cotton and woolen goods with chloroform. it is a good plan to first cover the spot with olive oil or butter. that clear boiling water will remove tea stains. pour the water through the stain and thus prevent it spreading over the fabric. that charcoal is recommended as an absorbent of gases in the milk-room where foul gases are present. it should be freshly powdered and kept there continually, especially in hot weather, when unwholesome odors are most liable to infect the milk. that applying kerosene with a rag, when you are about to put your stoves away for the summer, will prevent them from rusting. treat your farming implements in the same way before you lay them aside for the fall. that a teaspoonful of borax, put in the last water in which clothes are rinsed, will whiten them surprisingly. pound the borax so it will dissolve easily. this is especially good to remove the yellow that time gives to white garments that have been laid aside for two or three years. that a good agency for keeping the air of the cellar sweet and wholesome is whitewash made of good white lime and water only. the addition of glue or size, or anything of that kind, only furnishes organic matter to speedily putrefy. the use of lime in whitewash is not only to give a white color, but it greatly promotes the complete oxidation of effluvia in the cellar air. any vapors that contain combined nitrogen in the unoxidized form contribute powerfully to the development of disease germs. character as seen in faces. thick lips indicate genius and conservatism. large dilating nostrils are a sign of poetic temperament and a sensitive nature. a long forehead denotes liberality. arched eyebrows, good ancestry and amiability. a bold, projecting roman nose indicates enterprise. delicate nose, good nature. a large nose, strength of will and character. an eye that looks one cheerfully and frankly in the face shows honesty and faithfulness. lips slightly curved upward at the ends indicate a fine sense of humor. soft round cheeks denote gentleness and affection; dimples in the cheeks, roguery; in the chin, one who falls easily in love. a broad chin denotes firmness. straight lips, firmly closed, resolution. large ears denote generosity. bell time on shipboard. time on shipboard is divided into periods of four hours--from midnight to midnight--and the lapse of every half hour is marked by one or more strokes of the bell--from one stroke for the end of the first half hour to eight strokes or, in nautical language, eight bells, for the end of the fourth hour. thus : a. m. is bell; : a. m., bells; : a. m., bells; : a. m., bells; : a. m., bells; : a. m., bells; : a. m., bells; : a. m., bells. then : a. m. is indicated by bell; : a. m., bells, etc.; bells being sounded at : a. m., : m., : p. m., : p. m. and : p. m. four to : p. m. is divided into two "dog watches" called "first dog watch" and "last dog watch," so as to change the watches daily; otherwise starboard or port watch would be on deck the same hours day after day. queer analogies in nature. the cocoanut is, in many respects, like the human skull, although it closely resembles the skull of the monkey. a sponge may be so held as to remind one of the unfleshed face of the skeleton, and the meat of an english walnut is almost the exact representation of the brain. plums and black cherries resemble the human eyes; almonds, and some other nuts, resemble the different varieties of the human nose, and an opened oyster and its shell are a perfect image of the human ear. the shape of almost any man's body may be found in the various kinds of mammoth pumpkins. the open hand may be discerned in the form assumed by scrub-willows and growing celery. the german turnip and the eggplant resemble the human heart. there are other striking resemblances between human organs and certain vegetable forms, the forms of many mechanical contrivances in common use may be traced back to the patterns furnished by nature. thus, the hog suggested the plow; the butterfly, the ordinary hinge; the toadstool, the umbrella; the duck, the ship; the fungous growth on trees, the bracket. anyone desirous of proving the oneness of the earthly system will find the resemblances in nature a most amusing study.--scientific american. modern fables. luxury. of two cats, one, thinking to be very fine, hunted only humming birds, and the other hunted only mice. the first had to hunt much longer than the other, because humming birds were scarce, so that it spent nearly all its life in getting food, while the other had little trouble to get all it wanted. "how unfortunate it is," said the first cat, "that i have formed my liking for what is so hard to get and is so little when i have it." fastidiousness. a fastidious ox would not drink while standing in the water with his head turned down stream lest he should soil the water with his feet. but once when drinking with his head turned up stream he saw a whole drove of hogs washing in the water above him. attracting attention. a flea, which saw many people trying to get the attention of a king and waiting long for that purpose, said: "though i am but a little thing, i will get his attention." so he jumped up the throne until he got on the king's head. here he received recognition from the king by a slap, and when he boasted to a dog of his success, the latter said: "some get attention by their merit, others by their demerit. in making yourself a nuisance you get recognition before the lords of the realm, but only as a flea." gambling. a monkey playing with a steel trap got his tail cut off. he went back the next day to get his tail, when he got his foot cut off. "now," he said, "i will go back and get both my foot and my tail." he went back, and the third time he got his head cut off, which ended his monkeying with the trap. mugwumpery. a mule on one side of a fence was discontented because he was not on the other side. he finally jumped over, when he was equally discontented because he was not back again. "which side of the fence do you want to be on?" asked a horse. "it does not matter," replied the mule, "provided i am on the other side." the non-partisan. a dog, running about in an irregular way, was asked where he was going. "i am not going anywhere," replied the dog, "but only running about to learn where to go." partisanship. the swans, wishing to drive the peacocks from a park, procured a law against big feet. the peacocks retaliated by getting a counter law against big necks. soon one side could see nothing but ugly feet, and the other nothing but long necks. at last they came to think peacocks were all feet and swans all neck. number of miles by water from new york. to amsterdam, , ; bermudas, ; bombay, , ; boston, ; buenos ayres, , ; calcutta, , ; canton, , ; cape horn, , ; cape of good hope, , ; charleston, ; columbia river, , ; constantinople, , ; dublin, , ; gibraltar, , ; halifax, ; hamburg, , ; havana, , ; havre, , ; kingston, , ; lima, , ; liverpool, , ; london, , ; madras, , ; naples, , ; new orleans, , ; panama, , ; pekin, , ; philadelphia, ; quebec, , ; rio janeiro, , ; sandwich islands, , ; san francisco, , ; st. petersburg, , ; valparaiso, , ; washington, ; around the globe, , . business law in brief it is a fraud to conceal a fraud. ignorance of the law excuses no one. a contract made on a sunday is void. a contract made with a lunatic is void. the act of one partner binds all the others. an agreement without consideration is void. the law compels no one to do impossibilities. agents are liable to their principals for errors. principals are liable for the acts of their agents. a receipt for money paid is not legally conclusive. signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law. the seal of a party to a written contract imports consideration. a contract made with a minor cannot be enforced against him. a note made by a minor is voidable. each individual in a partnership is liable for the whole amount of the debts of the firm. a note which does not state on its face that it bears interest, will bear interest only after due. a lease of land for a longer term than one year is void unless in writing. an indorser of a note is exempt from liability if notice of its dishonor is not mailed or served within twenty-four hours of its non-payment. in case of the death of the principal maker of a note, the holder is not required to notify a surety that the note is not paid, before the settlement of the maker's estate. notes obtained by fraud, or made by an intoxicated person, are not collectible. if no time of payment is specified in a note it is payable on demand. an indorser can avoid liability by writing "without recourse" beneath his signature. a check indorsed by the payee is evidence of payment in the drawer's hands. an outlawed debt is revived should the debtor make a partial payment. if negotiable paper, pledged to a bank as security for the payment of a loan or debt, falls due, and the bank fails to demand payment and have it protested when dishonored, the bank is liable to the owner for the full amount of the paper. want of consideration--a common defense interposed to the payment of negotiable paper--is a good defense between the original parties to the paper; but after it has been transferred before maturity to an innocent holder for value it is not a defense. sometimes the holder of paper has the right to demand payment before maturity; for instance, when a draft has been protested for non-acceptance and the proper notices served, the holder may at once proceed against the drawer and indorsers. negotiable paper, payable to bearer or indorser in blank, which has been stolen or lost, cannot be collected by the thief or finder, but a holder who receives it in good faith before maturity, for value, can hold it against the owner's claims at the time it was lost. if a note or draft is to be paid in the state where it is made, the contract will be governed by the laws of that state. when negotiable paper is payable in a state other than that in which it is made, the laws of that state will govern it. marriage contracts, if valid where they are made, are valid everywhere. contracts relating to personal property are governed by the laws of the place where made, except those relating to real estate, which are governed by the laws of the place where the land is situated. the right of dower. dower is one-third of the husband's estate, and in general cannot be destroyed by the mere act of the husband. hence, in the sale of real estate by the husband, his wife must, with the husband, sign the conveyance to make the title complete to the purchaser. in the absence of such signature, the widow can claim full dower rights after the husband's death. creditors, also, seize the property subject to such dower rights. the husband in his will sometimes gives his wife property in lieu of dowry. in this case, she may, after his death, elect to take either such property or her dower; but she cannot take both. while the husband lives the wife's right of dower in only inchoate; it cannot be enforced. should he sell the land to a stranger, she has no right of action or remedy until his death. in all cases the law of the state in which the land is situated governs it, and, as in the case of heirship, full information must be sought for in statute which is applicable. marriage and divorce. marriage may be entered into by any two persons, with the following exceptions: idiots, lunatics, persons of unsound mind, persons related by blood or affinity within certain degrees prohibited by law, infants under the age of consent, which varies in the different states, and all persons already married and not legally divorced. the causes for which a divorce may be obtained vary greatly in the different states. in south carolina only fraud and force are recognized as invalidating the marriage tie, this state having no divorce law. in the district of columbia and all the other states with the exception of maryland, massachusetts, michigan and virginia, cruelty is a statutory cause, and desertion in all but new york. in most of the states neglect is also recognized as a valid cause. imprisonment for crime is a cause in all except florida, maryland, massachusetts, new jersey and new york. physical inability is a cause in all the states except california, connecticut, idaho, north dakota and texas. intemperance, in all but massachusetts, new jersey, north carolina, north dakotah, rhode island, vermont, virginia and west virginia. the time of residence required to secure a divorce varies from months in idaho, nebraska, nevada and texas to to years in massachusetts. in most states it is one year. remarriage is permitted in all the states having divorce laws except georgia, and alimony is also provided for in all these states. rights of married women. any and all property which a woman owns at her marriage, together with rents, issues and profits thereof, and the property which comes to her by descent, devise, bequest, gift or grant, or which she acquires by her trade, business, labor, or services performed on her separate account, shall, notwithstanding her marriage, remain her sole and separate property, and may be used, collected and invested by her in her own name, and shall not be subject to the interference or control of her husband, or be liable for his debts, unless for such debts as may have been contracted for the support of herself or children by her as his agent. a married woman may likewise bargain, sell, assign, transfer and convey such property, and enter into contracts regarding the same on her separate trade, labor or business with the like effect as if she were unmarried. her husband, however, is not liable for such contracts, and they do not render him or his property in any way liable therefor. she may also sue and be sued in all matters having relation to her sale and separate property in the same manner as if she were sole. in the following cases a married woman's contract may be enforced against her and her separate estate: . when the contract is created in or respecting the carrying on of the trade or business of the wife. . when it relates to or is made for the sole benefit of her sole or separate estate. . when the intention to charge the separate estate is expressed in the contract creating the liability. when a husband receives a principal sum of money belonging to his wife, the law presumes he receives it for her use, and he must account for it, or expend it on her account by her authority or direction, or that she gave it to him as a gift. if he receives interest or income and spends it with her knowledge and without objection, a gift will be presumed from acquiescence. money received by a husband from his wife and expended by him, under her direction, on his land, in improving the home of the family, is a gift, and cannot be recovered by the wife, or reclaimed, or an account demanded. an appropriation by a wife, herself, of her separate property to the use and benefit of her husband, in the absence of all agreement to repay, or any circumstances from which such an agreement can be inferred, will not create the relation of debtor and creditor, nor render the husband liable to account. though no words of gift be spoken, a gift by a wife to her husband may be shown by the very nature of the transaction, or appear from the attending circumstances. a wife who causelessly deserts her husband is not entitled to the aid of a court of equity in getting possession of such chattels as she has contributed to the furnishing and adornment of her husband's house. her legal title remains, and she could convey her interest to a third party by sale, and said party would have a good title, unless her husband should prove a gift. wife's property is not liable to a lien of a sub-contractor for materials furnished to the husband for the erection of a building thereon, where it is not shown that the wife was notified of the intention to furnish the materials, or a settlement made with the contractor and given to the wife, her agent or trustee. the common law of the united states has some curious provisions regarding the rights of married women, though in all the states there are statutory provisions essentially modifying this law. as it now stands the husband is responsible for necessaries supplied to the wife even should he not fail to supply them himself, and is held liable if he turn her from his house, or otherwise separates himself from her without good cause. he is not held liable if the wife deserts him, or if he turns her away for good cause. if she leaves him through good cause, then he is liable. if a man lives with a woman as his wife, and so represents her, even though this representation is made to one who knows she is not, he is liable the same way as if she were his wife. the law of finding. the general rule is that the finder has a clear title against every one but the owner. the proprietor of a hotel or a shop has no right to demand property of others found on his premises. such proprietors may make regulations in regard to lost property which will bind their employes, but they cannot bind the public. the finder has been held to stand in the place of the owner, so that he was permitted to prevail in all action against a person who found an article which the plaintiff had originally found, but subsequently lost. the police have no special rights in regard to articles lost, unless those rights are conferred by statute. receivers of articles found are trustees for the owner or finder. they have no power in the absence of special statute to keep an article against the finder, any more than the finder has to retain an article against the owner. the law of copyright. the new copyright law, which went into effect july , , differs in many respects from the law previously in force. its main provisions are given below, but those desiring to avail themselves of its protection should write to the register of copyrights, library of congress, washington, d. c., for full instructions and the necessary blanks. etc. the new law provides that the application for registration of any work "shall specify to which of the following classes the work in which copyright is claimed belongs": (a) books, including composite and cyclopedic works, directories, gazetteers, and other compilations; (b) periodicals, including newspapers; (c) lectures, sermons, addresses prepared for oral delivery: (d) dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions; (c) musical compositions; (f) maps; (g) works of art; models or designs for works of art; (h) reproductions of a work of art; (i) drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character: (j) photographs; (k) prints and pictorial illustrations. necessary steps to secure copyright. for works reproduced in copies for sale: . publish the work with the copyright notice. the notice may be in the form "copyright, ..... (year date of publication) by (name of copyright proprietor)." . promptly after publication, send to the copyright office, library of congress, washington, d. c., two copies of the best edition of the work, with an application for registration and a money order payable to the register of copyrights for the statutory registration fee of $l. in the case of books by american authors, or permanent residents of the united states, the copies deposited must be accompanied by an affidavit, under the official seal of an officer authorized to administer oaths, stating that the typesetting, printing and binding of the book have been performed within the united states. affidavit and application forms will be supplied on request. books of foreign origin in a language or languages other than english are not required to be manufactured in the united states. in the case of a book in the english language published abroad before publication in this country, an ad interim copyright for days may be secured under certain conditions. copyright may also be had of certain classes of works (see a, b, c, below) of which copies are not reproduced for sale, by filing an application for registration, with the statutory fee of $ , sending therewith: (a) in the case of lectures or other oral addresses or of dramatic or musical compositions, one complete manuscript or typewritten copy of the work. registration, however, does not exempt the copyright proprietor from the deposit of printed copies. (b) in the case of photographs not intended for general circulation, one photographic print. (c) in the case of works of art (paintings, drawings, sculpture), or of drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character, one photograph or other identifying reproduction of the work. in all these cases, if the work is later reproduced in copies for sale, such copies must be deposited. duration of copyright. the original term of copyright runs for twenty-eight years, and may be renewed under certain conditions for a further term of twenty-eight years, making fifty-six years in all. assignments. copyrights are assignable by any instrument of writing. every assignment of copyright must be recorded in the copyright office within three months after its execution in the united states or within six months after its execution without the limits of the united states. legal holidays in various states. jan. , new year's day. all the states (including district of columbia), except mass., miss. and n. h. jan. , lee's birthday. in ga., fla., n. c, s. c., va., ala., ark. feb. , lincoln's birthday. in col., conn., del., ill., kans., mass., minn., nev., n. j., n. y., n. dak., penn., wash. and wyo. feb. . washington's birthday. in all the states and district of columbia; in miss., observed in the schools. april , , good friday. in ala., dela., fla., la., md., minn., n.j., penn., tenn. april , patriots' day. in me. and mass. april , confederate memorial day. in ala., fla., ga., and miss. may, second sunday, mothers' day, recognized in sixteen states. may , confederate memorial day. in n. c and s. c.; in tenn., second friday of may. may, last friday, pioneer day. in mont. may , decoration day. in all states and territories, and the district of columbia. except fla., ga., ida., la., miss., n.c., s. c., tenn., tex. in va., called confederate memorial day. june , jefferson davis' birthday. in fla. ga., ala., miss., tenn., tex. and s. c. in la., called confederate memorial day. july , independence day. in all states, territories and the district. sept. , , labor day. in all states, territories and the district. except n. dak. oct. , columbus day. in n. y., penn., ill., conn., n. j., mich., mont., calif., o., md., ky., and r. i. nov. , all saints' day. in la. november--general election day. in ariz., calif., col., del., fla., ida., ill. (chicago, springfield and east st. louis only), ind., ia., kans., ky., la., md., mich., minn., mo., mont., nev., n. h., n. j., n. mex., n. y., n. c., n. dak., o. ( : a. m. to a. m. only). okla., ore. (presidential only), penn., r. i., s. c., s. dak., tenn., tex., w. va., wash., wis., wyo. by act of march , , elections of representatives in congress take place on the tuesday next after the first monday in nov., , and every second year thereafter. nov. , , thanksgiving day, observed in all the states, ariz., n. mex. and the dist. of col. december , christmas day. in all the states, territories and the district. arbor day. in ariz., me., md., n. mex., wis., wyo., and penn., by appointment of the governor. tex., feb. ; neb., apr. ; utah., apr. ; r. i., second friday in may; mont., second tuesday in may; ga., first friday in december; col. (in the schools), third friday in apr.; okla., friday after second monday in march; ark., first saturday in march. half holidays. every saturday after o'clock noon; in calif., public offices; in ill., cities of , or more inhabitants; in md., mich., n. y., n. j., o., penn., r. i., va., dist. of col. (for banking); new orleans, charleston, la. and mo., cities of , or more inhabitants; in tenn. (state and county offices); in col., for june, july, august; in ind., from first saturday in june to last saturday in october, for public offices in counties with a county seat of , or more population. principal points of constitutional law. congress must meet at least once a year. one state cannot undo the acts of another. congress may admit as many new states as desired. the constitution guarantees every citizen a speedy trial by jury. a state cannot exercise a power which is vested in congress alone. one state must respect the laws and legal decisions of another. congress cannot pass a law to punish a crime already committed. u. s. senators are chosen by the legislatures of the states by joint ballot. bills for revenue can originate only in the house of representatives. a person committing a felony in one state cannot find refuge in another. the constitution of the united states forbids excessive bail or cruel punishment. treaties with foreign countries are made by the president and ratified by the senate. in the u. s. senate rhode island or nevada has an equal voice with new york. when congress passes a bankruptcy law it annuls all the state laws on that subject. writing alone does not constitute treason against the united states. there must be an overt act. congress cannot lay any disabilities on the children of a person convicted of crime or misdemeanor. the territories each send a delegate to congress, who has the right of debate, but not the right to vote. the vice-president, who ex-officio presides over the senate, has no vote in that body except on a tie ballot. an act of congress cannot become a law over the president's veto except on a two-thirds vote of both houses. an officer of the government cannot accept title of nobility, order or honor without the permission of congress. money lost in the mails cannot be recovered from the government. registering a letter does not insure its contents. it is the house of representatives that may impeach the president for any crime, and the senate hears the accusation. if the president holds a bill longer than ten days while congress is still in session, it becomes a law without his signature. silver coin of denominations less than $ is not a legal tender for more than $ . . copper and nickel coin is not legal tender. the term of a congressman is two years, but a congressman may be re-elected to as many successive terms as his constituents may wish. amendments to the constitution requires two-thirds vote of each house of congress and must be ratified by at least three-fourths of the states. when the militia is called out in the service of the general government, they pass out of the control of the various states under the command of the president. the president of the united states must be years of age: a united states senator, ; a congressman, . the president must have been a resident of the united states fourteen years. a grand jury is a secret tribunal, and may hear only one side of a case. it simply decides whether there is good reason to hold for trial. it consists of twenty-four men, twelve of whom may indict. a naturalized citizen cannot become president or vice-president of the united states. a male child born abroad of american parents has an equal chance to become president with one born on american soil. chamois skins. the animal from which the chamois skin derives its name inhabits the high mountains from the pyrenees to the caucasus. chamois are most numerous in the alps, where they dwell in small herds and feed on the herbage of the mountain sides. they are about the size of a small goat, dark chestnut-brown in color, with the exception of the forehead, the sides of the lower jaws and the muzzle, which are white. its horns, rising above the eyes, are black, smooth and straight for two-thirds of their length, when they suddenly curve backward. the chamois hunter, provided with a gun, a bag of provisions, an iron-shod staff to assist him in climbing and leaping, an ax to cut steps in the ice and shoes studded with iron points, traverses the mountains and follows his prey not only during the day, but also at night. nearly all the chamois skins now in the market are made from the skins of the lamb or sheep. this industry has been largely developed in england and france, and these countries have supplied the market of the united states almost exclusively until recent years, when the manufacture of these goods was commenced in the united states. what's in a name? origin and meaning of names of men. a aaron, hebrew, a mountain, or lofty. abel, hebrew, vanity. abraham, hebrew, the father of many. absalom, hebrew, the father of peace. adam, hebrew, red earth. adolphus, saxon, happiness and help. adrian, latin, one who helps. alan, celtic, harmony; or slavonic, a hound. albert, saxon, all bright. alexander, greek, a helper of men. alfred, saxon, all peace. alonzo, form of alphonso, q. v. alphonso. german, ready or willing. ambrose, greek, immortal. amos, hebrew, a burden. andrew, greek, courageous. anthony, latin, flourishing. archibald, german, a bold observer. arnold, german, a maintainer of honor. arthur, british, a strong man. augustus, latin, venerable, grand. b baldwin, german, a bold winner. barnaby, hebrew, a prophet's son. bartholomew, hebrew, the son of him who made the waters to rise. beaumont, french, a pretty mount. benjamin, hebrew, the son of a right hand. bennett, latin, blessed. bertram, german, fair, illustrious. bertrand, german, bright, raven. boniface, latin, a well-doer. brian, french, having a thundering voice. c cadwallader, british, valiant in war. caesar, latin, adorned with hair. caleb, hebrew, a dog. cecil, latin, dim-sighted. charles, german, noble-spirited. christopher, greek, bearing christ. clement, latin, mild-tempered. conrad, german, able counsel. cornelius, latin, meaning uncertain. crispin, latin, having curled locks. cuthbert, saxon, known famously. d daniel, hebrew, god is judge. david, hebrew, well-beloved. denis, greek, belonging to the god of wine. douglas, gaelic, dark gray. duncan, saxon, brown chief. dunstan, saxon, most high. e edgar, saxon, happy honor. edmund, saxon, happy peace. edward, saxon, happy keeper. edwin, saxon, happy conqueror. egbert, saxon, ever bright. elijah, hebrew, god the lord. elisha, hebrew, the salvation of god. emmanuel, hebrew, god with us. enoch, hebrew, dedicated. ephraim, hebrew, fruitful. erasmus, greek, lovely, worthy to be loved. ernest, greek, earnest, serious. esau, hebrew, hairy. eugene, greek, nobly descended. eustace, greek, standing firm. evan, or ivan, british, the same as john. evard, german, well reported. ezekiel, hebrew, the strength of god. f felix, latin, happy. ferdinand, german, pure peace. fergus, saxon, manly strength. francis, german, free. frederic, german, rich peace. ` g gabriel, hebrew, the strength of god. geoffrey, german, joyful. george, greek, a husbandman. gerald, saxon, all towardliness. gideon, hebrew, a breaker. gilbert, saxon, bright as gold. giles, greek, a little goat. godard, german, a godly disposition. godfrey, german, god's peace. godwin, german, victorious in cod. griffith, british, having great faith. guy, french, a leader. h hannibal, punic, a gracious lord. harold, saxon, a champion. hector, greek, a stout defender. henry, german, a rich lord. herbert, german, a bright lord. hercules, greek, the glory of hera or juno. horace, latin, meaning uncertain. howel, british, sound or whole. hubert, german, a bright color. hugh, dutch, high, lofty. humphrey, german, domestic peace. i ignatius, latin, fiery. ingram, german, of angelic purity. isaac, hebrew, laughter. j jabez, hebrew, one who causes pain. jacob, hebrew, a supplanter. james, or jaques, beguiling. job, hebrew, sorrowing. joel, hebrew, acquiescing. john, hebrew, the grace of the lord. jonah, hebrew, a dove. jonathan. hebrew, the gift of the lord. joseph, hebrew, addition. joshua, hebrew, a savior. josiah, or josias, hebrew, the fire of the lord. julius, latin, soft-haired. l lambert, saxon, a fair lamb. lancelot, spanish, a little lance. laurence, latin, crowned with laurels. lazarus, hebrew, destitute of help. leonard, german, like a lion. leopold, german, defending the people. lewis or louis, french, the defender of the people. lionel, latin, a little lion. llewellin, british, like a lion. llewellyn, celtic, lightning. lucius, latin, shining. luke, creek, a wood or grove. m manfred, german, great peace. mark, latin, a hammer. martin, latin, martial. matthew, hebrew, a gift or present. maurice, latin, sprung of a moor. meredith, british, the roaring of the sea. michael, hebrew, who is like god. morgan, british, a mariner. moses, hebrew, drawn out. n nathaniel, hebrew, the gift of god. neal, french, somewhat black. nicholas, greek, victorious over the people. noel, french, belonging to one's nativity. norman, french, one born in normandy. o oliver, latin, an olive. orlando, italian, counsel for the land. orson, latin, a bear. osmund, saxon, house peace. oswald, saxon, ruler of a house. owen, british, well descended. p patrick, latin, a nobleman. paul, latin, small, little. percival, french, a place in france. percy, english, adaptation of "pierce eye." peter, greek, a rock or stone. philip, greek, a lover of horses. phineas, hebrew, of bold countenance. r ralph, contracted from randolph, or randal, or rudolph, saxon, pure help. raymond, german, quiet peace. reuben, hebrew, the son of vision. reynold, german, a lover of purity. richard, saxon, powerful. robert, german, famous in counsel. roderick, german, rich in fame. rollo, form of roland, q.v. rufus, latin, reddish. roger, german, strong counsel. roland, german, counsel for the land. s samson, hebrew, a little son. samuel, hebrew, heard by god. saul, hebrew, desired. seth, hebrew, appointed. silas, latin, sylvan or living in the woods. simeon, hebrew, hearing. simon, hebrew, obedient. solomon, hebrew, peaceable. stephen, greek, a crown or garland. swithin, saxon, very high. t theobald, saxon, bold over the people. theodore, greek, the gift of god. thomas, hebrew, a twin. timothy, greek, a fearer of god. titus, greek, meaning uncertain. toby, hebrew, goodness of the lord. v valentine, latin, powerful. victor, latin, conqueror. vincent, latin, conquering. vivian, latin, living. w walter, german, a conqueror. wilfred, saxon, bold and peaceful. william, german, defending many. z zaccheus, syriac, innocent. christian names of women. a adela, german, same as adeline, q. v. adelaide, german, same as adeline, q. v. adeline, german, a princess. agatha, greek, good. agnes, german, chaste. althea, greek, hunting. alice, alicia, german, noble. alma, latin, benignant. amabel, latin, lovable. amy, amelia, french, beloved. angelina, greek, lovely, angelic. anna, or anne, hebrew, gracious. arabella, latin, a fair altar. aurora, latin, morning brightness. b barbara, latin, foreign or strange. bella, italian, beautiful. benedicta, latin, blessed. bernice, greek, bringing victory. bertha, greek, bright or famous. bessie, short form of elizabeth. q.v. blanche, french, fair. bona, latin, good. bridget, irish, shining bright. c camilla, latin, attendant at a sacrifice. carlotta. italian, same as charlotte, q. v. caroline, latin, noble-spirited. cassandra, greek, a reformer of men. catherine, greek, pure or clean, charity, greek, love, bounty. charlotte, french, all noble. chloe, greek, a green herb. christina, greek, belonging to christ. clara, latin, clear or bright. constance, latin, constant. d dagmar, german, joy of the danes. deborah, hebrew, a bee. diana, greek, jupiter's daughter. dorcas, greek, a wild roe. dorothy, greek, gift of god. e edith, saxon, happiness. eleanor, saxon, all-fruitful. eliza, elizabeth, hebrew, the oath of god. emily, corrupted from amelia. emma, german, a nurse. esther, hester, hebrew, secret. eudora, greek, good gift. eugenia, french, well-born. eunice, greek, fair victory. eva, or eve, hebrew, causing life. f fanny, dim. of frances, q.v. flora, latin, flowers. florence, latin, blooming, flourishing. frances, german, free. g gertrude, german, all truth. grace, latin, favor. h hannah, hebrew, gracious. harriet, german, head of the house. helen, or helena, greek, alluring. henrietta, fem. and dim. of henry, q. v. hilda, german, warrior maiden. honora, latin, honorable. huldah, hebrew, a weasel. i irene, peaceful. isabella, spanish, fair eliza. j jane, or jeanne, fem. of john, q.v. janet, jeanette, little jane. jemima, hebrew, a dove. joan, joanna. hebrew, fem. of john, q. v. joyce, french, pleasant. judith, hebrew, praising. julia, juliana, fem. of julius, q. v. k katherine, form of catherine, q. v. ketura, hebrew, incense. l laura, latin, a laurel. lavinia, latin, of latium. letitia, latin, joy or gladness. lilian, lily, latin, a lily. lois, greek, better. louisa, german. fem. of louis, q.v. lucretia, latin, a chaste roman lady. lucy, latin, fem. of lucius. lydia. greek, descended from lud. m mabel, latin, lovely or lovable. madeline, form of magdalen, q. v. margaret, greek, a pearl. martha, hebrew, bitterness, mary, hebrew, bitter. matilda, german, a lady of honor. maud, german, form of malilda, q.. v. may, latin, month of may. mercy, english, compassion. mildred, saxon, speaking mild. minnie, dim. of margaret. q. v. n naomi, hebrew, alluring. o olive, olivia, latin, an olive. ophelia, greek, a serpent. p patience, latin, bearing patiently. penelope, greek, a weaver. persis, greek, destroying. philippa, greek, fem. of philip. phoebe, greek, the light of life. phyllis, greek, a green bough. polly, variation of molly, dim. of mary, q. v. priscilla, latin, somewhat old. prudence, latin, discretion. r rachel, hebrew, a lamb. rebecca, hebrew, fat or plump. rhoda, greek, a rose. rose or rosa, latin, a rose. rosalind, latin, beautiful as a rose. roxana, persian, dawn of day. rosamond, saxon, rose of peace. ruth, hebrew, trembling, or beauty. s sabina, latin, sprung from the sabines. salome, hebrew, a princess. selina, greek, the moon. sibylla, greek, the counsel of god. sophia, greek, wisdom. susan, susanna, hebrew, a lily. t tabitha, syriac, a roe. theodosia, creek, given by god. u ursula, latin, a she bear. v victoria, latin, victory. vida, erse, fem. of david. w walburga, saxon, gracious. winifred, saxon, winning peace. z zenobia, greek, the life of jupiter. principal american cities with population of over , in . (the population for is given in parentheses by way of comparison.) new york, n. y., , , ( , , ); chicago, ill., , , (l, , ); philadelphia, pa., , , ( , , ); st. louis, mo., , ( , ); boston, mass., , ( , ); cleveland, o., , ( , ); baltimore, md., , ( , ); pittsburg, pa., , ( , ); detroit. mich., , ( , ); buffalo, n. y., , ( , ); san francisco, cal., , ( , ); milwaukee, wis., , ( , ); cincinnati, o., , ( , ); newark. n. j., , ( , ); new orleans. la., , ( , ); washington. d. c., , ( , ); los angeles, cal., , ( , ); minneapolis, minn., , ( , ); jersey city, n. j., , ( , ); kansas city, mo., , ( , ); seattle, wash., , ( , ); indianapolis, ind., , ( , ); providence, r. i., , ( , ); louisville, ky., , ( , ); rochester, n. y., , ( , ); st. paul, minn., , ( , ); denver, col., , ( , ); portland, ore., , ( , ); columbus, o., , ( , ); toledo, o., , ( , ); atlanta, ga., , ( , ); oakland, cal., , ( , ); worcester, mass., , ( , ); syracuse, n. y., , ( , ); new haven, conn., , ( , ); birmingham, ala., , ( , ); memphis, tenn., , ( , ); scranton, pa., , ( , ); richmond, va., , ( , ); paterson, n. j., , ( , ); omaha, neb., , ( , ); fall river, mass., , ( , ); dayton, o., , ( , ); grand rapids, mich., , ( , ); nashville, tenn., , ( , ); lowell, mass., , ( , ); cambridge, mass., , ( , ); spokane, wash., , ( , ); bridgeport, conn., , ( , ); albany, n. y., , ( , ). state flowers. the following list includes all the "state flowers" commonly accepted or officially adopted: alabama, goldenrod; arizona, sequoia cactus; arkansas, apple blossom; california, poppy; colorado, columbine; delaware, peach blossom; georgia, cherokee rose; idaho, syringa; illinois, violet; iowa, wild rose; kansas, sunflower; louisiana, magnolia; maine, pine cone; michigan, apple blossom; minnesota, moccasin; mississippi, magnolia; montana, bitter root; missouri, goldenrod; nebraska, goldenrod; new jersey, sugar maple (tree); new york, rose; north dakota, goldenrod; oklahoma, mistletoe; oregon, oregon grape; rhode island, violet; texas, blue bonnet; utah, sego lily; vermont, red clover; washington, rhododendron. height of noted structures. following is the height in feet of some noted monuments and structures: amiens cathedral, ; bunker hill monument, ; capitol, washington, ; city hall, philadelphia, ; cologne cathedral, ; eiffel tower, ; florence cathedral, ; fribourg cathedral, ; masonic temple, chicago, ; metropolitan building. n. y., ; milan cathedral, ; the great pyramid, ; rouen cathedral, ; st. paul's, london, ; st. peter's, rome, ; singer building, n. y., ; strassburg cathedral, ; st. stephen's, vienna, ; ward building, chicago, ; washington monument, . maximum age of trees. palm, years; elm, years; cypress, years; ivy, years; maple, years; larch, years; lemon, years; plane, years; cedar, years; chestnut, years; walnut, years; lime, , years; spruce, , years; oak, , years; olive, , years; yew, , years; baobab, , years; dragon, , years. eucalyptus, or australian gum-tree, sometimes grows twenty-four feet in three months: bamboo, two feet in twenty-four hours. dictionary of aeronautics the new science of aeronautics has given rise to many new words, among them some of awkward derivation, and even those properly formed and worthy of preservation in the language are often erroneously used. the following compact lexicon is therefore both interesting and instructive: aeroplane--a generic term applied in common use to all classes of sustaining surfaces; strictly applicable only to flat surfaces. adjusting surfaces--commonly a comparatively small surface, usually at the end of a wing tip, used to adjust lateral balance; preferably restricted to surfaces capable of variable adjustment, but not of movement by controlling devices. see "stabilizer'" and "wing tip" and compare "aileron." advancing edge--the front edge of a sustaining or other surface. advancing surface--a surface that precedes another through the air, as in a double monoplane. aerocurve--a proposed substitute for aeroplane. aerodrome--a substitute proposed by langley for aeroplane. strictly applicable to a course rather than to a vehicle. aileron (a'ler-on)--a small hinged or separated wing tip or surface capable of independent manipulation for the purpose of maintaining lateral balance. aviation (a-vi-a'shun)--dynamic flight by means of heavier-than-air mechanisms. aviator (a'vi-a-ter)--the operator or pilot of a heavier-than-air machine. aerofoil--term used to indicate lifting surface, angle of incidence--the angle which a line drawn from the leading to the trailing edge of the plane makes with the horizontal trailing angle between the tangent to the trailing edge of the plane and the chord or a line drawn from the leading to the trailing edge. arc--any portion of a circle or other curve. aspect--the top or plan view of an aeroplane surface. automatic stability--applied to lateral or longitudinal stability maintained by the action of suitable elements on mechanisms independent of any control exercised by the operator. there is a tendency to restrict the term to such stability secured by automatic manipulation of controlling devices, rather than to systems in which balance is maintained by the use of dihedral arrangements. biplane (bi'plane)--an aeroplane with two superposed main surfaces. balance--to maintain equilibrium by hand or automatic movement of balancing surfaces, as opposed to equilibrium maintained by stabilizing. see "stabilizer." body--the center part of an aeroplane or other aerial vehicle, in which the motor, fuel tanks, passenger accommodation, etc., are placed. camber--the camber of the ribs is the amount of curvature which is imparted to them in the same way that a motor car spring or a road has a camber or curvature. chassis (shas-see)--that part of the main framework of a monoplane to which the main planes and tail planes are fitted and which contains the engine and aviators seat. center of pressure--really a line of pressure along the under side of a wing or aeroplane surface, on either side of which the pressures are equal. center of gravity--the center of weight, about which the vehicle balances in all directions. chord--a straight line drawn between the ends of the arc of a circle or other curve. dirigible (dir'-igihle)--steerable or navigable; applied to balloons. derrick--a tower in which a falling weight is dropped in starting an aeroplane. diagonal--a diagonal brace or stay in a framework. dihedral (di-he'dral)--said of wing pairs inclined at an upward angle to each other. elevator--a principal supplementary surface, usually of a miniature form of the main planes. used for purpose of altering the vertical direction of machine. gap--the distance between two main planes in a biplane. gliding--flying down a slant of air without power. gyroscopic effect--the property of any rotating mass whereby it tends to maintain its plane of rotation against disturbing forces. gauchissement (or warping)--applied to the main planes and produces the same ultimate effect as the use of ailerons. hangar (hang'ar)--a shed for housing balloons or aeroplanes, generally the latter. horsepower--a rate of work equivalent to the lifting of , ft.-lb. a minute. head resistance--the resistance of a surface to movement through the air; closely proportionate to its projected area. heavier-than-air--applied to dynamic flying machines weighing more than the air they displace. horizontal rudder--a horizontally placed rudder for steering in vertical directions. lift--the sustaining effect, expressed in units of weight of an aeroplane or wing surface. monoplane--an aeroplane with one or more main surfaces in the same horizontal plane. main plane--usually the largest or lowest supporting surface of a multi-surfaced aeroplane. mast--a spar or strut used for the attachment of wire or other stays to stiffen the wings or other parts of a structure. main spars--lateral spars upon which the main planes are built. main landing wheels--in an alighting gear, the wheels that take the chief shock in landing. ornithopter--a dynamic flying machine of the heavier-than-air type, in which sustension is provided by the effect of reciprocating wing surfaces. pylon--a tower to mark the course in aerial racing contests. ribs--supports for the fabric, made of ash or spruce and bent to the correct curves. rudder--one or more steering planes are invariably fitted to practical machines to control the direction of flight. superposed planes--arrangement of one plane over the other, as in the wright, voisin and farman machines. supplementary planes (or surfaces)--additional surfaces which are used for stabilization. stabilizer--any surface for automatically maintaining lateral or longitudinal balance. struts--fixtures used in biplane construction to maintain an equal distance between two planes. skids--long skates on which the machine can land in safety. span--the distance from tip to tip of the main planes in a transverse direction to that of flight. soaring flight--the flight of certain large birds without wing flapping. its solution and imitation constitute one of the problems of aerial navigation. sustaining surface--any surface placed in a horizontal or approximately horizontal position, primarily for the purpose of affording sustension. triplane--an aeroplane with three main surfaces. webs--small blocks of wood placed between the ribs which act as distance pieces. wing warping--a system of maintaining lateral balance by differential twisting of wing tips in such manner as to increase the sustension on one side and decrease it on the other. --new york tribune. college colors. amherst--purple and white. beloit--old gold, bowdoin--white. brown--brown and white. columbia--light blue and white. cornell--carnelian and white. dartmouth--green. harvard--crimson. indiana--crimson and cream. iowa--scarlet and black. iowa state--cardinal and gold. johns hopkins--black and old gold. lake forest--red and black. leland stanford--cardinal. northwestern--royal purple. oberlin--crimson and gold princeton--orange and black. purdue--old gold and black. university of chicago--maroon. university of illinois--orange and navy blue. university of michigan--maize and blue. university of minnesota--old gold and maroon. university of notre dame--gold and blue. university of pennsylvania--red and blue. university of rochester--dandelion yellow. university of wisconsin--cardinal. vassar--rose and gray. williams--royal purple. yale--blue. the claims of osteopathy. strictly construing the claims of osteopathic doctors, it is an anti-medicine system of practice for the cure of every disease to which the human body is liable. dr. andrew t. still, who claims to have made the discoveries that led to the establishment of the school of osteopathy, asserts that all diseases and lesions are the result of the luxation, dislocation, or breakage of some bone or bones; this, however, is not now maintained to any great extent by his followers. osteopathists, though, do generally claim that all diseases arise from some maladjustment of the bones of the human body, and that treatment, therefore, must be to secure the normal adjustment of the bones and ligaments that form the skeleton. they claim that a dislocation is not always necessarily the result of external violence; it may be caused by the ulceration of bones, the elongation of ligaments, or excessive muscular action. the constriction of an important artery or vein, which may be caused by a very slightly displaced bone, an indurated muscle, or other organ, may produce an excess of blood in one part of the body, thereby causing a deficiency in some other part. a dislocated member will generally show alteration in the form of the joint and axis of the limb; loss of power and proper motion; increased length or shortening of the limb; prominence at one point and depression at another; greatly impaired circulation, and pain due to the obstruction of nerve force in the parts involved. the osteopathist claims that pain and disease arise mainly from some mal-adjustment in some part of the body, and that a return to good health involves treatment for the normal adjustment of the skeleton; he asserts, though any luxation may be only partial, it may cause pressure at some point upon a blood vessel, or a nerve of which the patient may be unconscious, and thus be a barrier to the restoration of good health. osteopathy asserts that trying to heal the body of an ailment caused by a dislocated member, be it a bone, ligament, or nerve, by which abnormal pressure is maintained upon a blood vessel or a nerve, would be like trying to operate a machine with an important cog out of gear. to cure it involves the reduction of a dislocation; the breaking up of adhesions, and the arousing of the enervated organ or organs partially or wholly failing in the performance of function. the law of trademarks. any person, firm or corporation can obtain protection for any lawful trademark by complying with the following: . by causing to be recorded in the patent office the name, residence and place of business of persons desiring the trademark. . the class of merchandise and description of the same. . a description of the trademark itself with facsimiles. . the length of time that the said mark has already been used. . by payment of the required fee--$ for labels and $ for trademarks. . by complying with such regulations as may be prescribed by the commissioner of patents. . a lawful trademark must consist of some arbitrary word (not the name of a person or place), indicating or not the use or nature of the thing to which it is applied; of some designating symbol, or of both said word and symbol. how to obtain a patent. patents are issued in the name of the united states, and under the seal of the patent office. a patent is a grant by the government to the inventor, his heirs or assigns, for a limited period, of the exclusive right to make, use or sell any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or any new, original and ornamental design for any article of manufacture. every patent contains a grant to the patentee, his heirs or assigns, for the term of seventeen years, of the exclusive right to make, use and vend the invention or discovery throughout the united states and the territories, referring to the specification for the particulars thereof. if it appears that the inventor, at the time of making his application, believed himself to be the first inventor or discoverer, a patent will not be refused on account of the invention or discovery, or any part thereof, having been known or used in any foreign country before his invention or discovery thereof, if it had not been before patented or described in any printed publication. joint inventors are entitled to a joint patent; neither can claim one separately. independent inventors of distinct and independent improvements in the same machine cannot obtain a joint patent for their separate inventions; nor does the fact that one furnishes the capital and another makes the invention entitle them to make application as joint inventors; but in such case they may become joint patentees. application for a patent must be made in writing to the commissioner of patents, from whom blanks and printed instructions can be obtained by mail. reissues.--a reissue is granted to the original patentee, his legal representatives, or the assignees of the entire interest, when, by reason of a defective or insufficient specification, or by reason of the patentee claiming as his invention or discovery more than he had a right to claim as new, the original patent is inoperative or invalid, provided the error has arisen from inadvertence, accident or mistake and without any fraudulent or deceptive intention. caveats.--a caveat, under the patent law, is a notice given to the office of the caveator's claim as inventor, in order to prevent the grant of a patent to another for the same alleged invention upon an application filed during the life of the caveat without notice to the caveator. any citizen of the united states who has made a new invention or discovery, and desires further time to mature the same, may, on payment of a fee of $ , file in the patent office a caveat setting forth the object and the distinguishing characteristics of the invention, and praying protection of his right until he shall have matured his invention. such caveat shall be filed in the confidential archives of the office and preserved in secrecy, and shall be operative for the term of one year from the filing thereof. an alien has the same privilege, if he has resided in the united states one year next preceding the filing of his caveat, and has made oath of his intention to become a citizen. the caveat must comprise a specification, oath, and, when the nature of the case admits of it, a drawing, and, like the application, must be limited to a single invention or improvement. fees.--fees must be paid in advance, and are as follows. on filing each original application for a patent, $ . on issuing each original patent, $ . in design cases: for three years and six months, $ : for seven years, $ ; for fourteen years, $ . on filing each caveat, $ . on every application for the reissue of a patent, $ . added to these are the usual charges of patent solicitors for preparing the application and for drawings etc. shakespeare's counsel. (polonius' advice to his son laertes.) and these few precepts in thy memory see thou character: give thy thoughts no tongue. nor any unproportion'd thought his act. be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel; but do not dull thy palm with entertainment of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. beware of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee. give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. costly thy habit as thy purse can buy. but not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; for the apparel oft proclaims the man. * * * neither a borrower nor a lender be: for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. this above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. --"hamlet," : . poor richard's sayings. (benjamin franklin.) drive thy business! let not thy business drive thee! diligence is the mother of good luck. now i have a sheep and a cow, everybody bids me good morrow. if you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some. great estates may venture more, but little boats should keep near shore. what maintains one vice would bring up two children. god helps them that help themselves. poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue, 'tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright. beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship. for age and want, save while you may. no morning sun lasts a whole day. how to make change quickly. always consider the amount of purchase as if that much money were already counted out, then add to amount of purchase enough small change to make an even dollar, counting out the even dollars last until full amount is made up. if the purchase amounts to cents, and you are handed $ . in payment, count out cents first to make an even dollar. then layout the other dollar. should the purchase be $ . , to be taken out of $ . , begin with $ . as the basis and make up even $ . by laying out cents. this cents with the amount of the purchase you will consider as $ . , and count out even dollars to make up the $ . which the customer has handed in. merchants' cost and price marks. all merchants use private cipher marks to note cost or selling price of goods. the cipher is usually made up from some short word or sentence of nine or ten letters, as: c o r n e l i u s, a five dollars, according to this key, would be eaa. but generally an extra letter is used to prevent repeating the mark for . if the sign for a second in this case were y, we would have eay instead of eaa. time in which money doubles. per simple compound ct interest. interest. yrs. yrs. - / yrs. yrs. da. yrs. mos. yrs. da. - / yrs, da. yrs. yrs. yrs. da. - / yrs. da. yrs. da. yrs. yrs. da. yrs. mos. yrs. da. yrs. da. yrs. da. - / yrs. yrs da. yrs. da. yrs. da. yrs. yrs. da. "a dollar saved, a dollar earned." the way to accumulate money is to save small sums with regularity. a small sum saved daily for fifty years will grow at the following rate: daily savings. result. daily savings. result. one cent $ sixty cents $ , ten cents , seventy cents , twenty cents , eighty cents , thirty cents , ninety cents , forty cents , one dollar , fifty cents , [transcriber's note: the figures from to cents assume about . % interest. the one dollar amount ($ , ) assumes about % interest.] short interest rules. to find the interest on a given sum for any number of days, at any rate of interest, multiply the principal by the number of days and divide as follows: at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by at per cent, by trade discounts. wholesale houses usually invoice their goods to retailers at "list" prices. list prices were once upon a time supposed to be retail prices, but of late a system of "long" list prices has come into vogue in many lines of trade--that is, the list price is made exorbitantly high, so that wholesalers can give enormous discounts. these discounts, whether large or small, are called trade discounts, and are usually deducted at a certain rate per cent from the face of invoice. the amount of discount generally depends upon size of bill or terms of settlement, or both. sometimes two or more discounts are allowed. thus % and % is expressed and meaning first a discount of % and then % from the remainder. and is not % but - / %. , and off means three successive discounts. a wholesale house allowing , and off gets more for its goods than it would at off. how to detect counterfeit money. in the space at disposal here, it is impossible of course to give a complete illustrated counterfeit detector, but the following simple rules, laid down by bank note examiner geo. r. baker, will be found extremely valuable: examine the form and features of all human figures: if graceful, and features distinct, examine the drapery. notice whether the folds lie naturally, and observe whether the fine strands of the hair are plain and distinct. examine the lettering. in a genuine bill is absolutely perfect. there has never been a counterfeit put out but was more or less defective in the lettering. counterfeiters rarely, if ever, get the imprint or engraver's name perfect. the shading in the background of the vignette and over and around the letters forming the name of the bank, on a good bill, is even and perfect; on a counterfeit, it is uneven and imperfect. the die work around the figures of the denomination should be of the same character as the ornamental work surrounding it. never take a bill deficient in any of these points. big trees.--of ninety-two redwood trees in calaveras grove, cal., ten are over thirty feet in diameter, and eighty-two have a diameter of from fifteen to thirty feet. their ages are estimated at from , to , years. their height ranges from to feet. facts of general interest. a hawk flies miles per hour; an eider duck miles; a pigeon, miles. a man's working life is divided into four decades: to , bronze; to , silver; to , gold; to , iron. intellect and judgment are strongest between and . hair which is lightest in color is also lightest in weight. light or blond hair is generally the most luxuriant, and it has been calculated that the average number of hairs of this color on an average person's head is , ; while the number of brown hairs is , , and black only , . goldsmith received $ for "the vicar of wakefield;" moore, $ , for "lalla rookh;" victor hugo, $ , for "hernani;" chateaubriand, $ , for his works; lamartine, $ , for "travels in palestine;" disraeli, $ , for "endymion;" anthony trollope, $ , for forty-five novels; lingard, $ , for his "history of england;" mrs. grant received over $ , as royalty from the sale of "the personal memoirs of u. s. grant." one woman in , one man in is barren--about per cent. it is found that one marriage in is barren-- per cent. among the nobility of great britain, per cent have no children, owing partly to intermarriage of cousins, no less than - / per cent being married to cousins. the largest bells are the following, and their weight is given in tons: moscow, : burmah, ; pekin, ; novgorod, ; notre dame, ; rouen, ; olmutz, ; vienna, ; st. paul's, ; westminster, ; montreal, ; cologne, ; oxford, ; st. peter's, . bell metal should have parts copper and tin. american life averages for professions (boston): storekeepers, . years; teamsters, . years; laborers. . years; seamen, . years; mechanics, . years; merchants, . years; lawyers, . years; farmers, . years. a camel has twice the carrying power of an ox; with an ordinary load of lb. he can travel to days without water, going miles a day. camels are fit to work at years old, but their strength begins to decline at , although they live usually till . the checks paid in new york in one year aggregate $ , , , , which is more than nine times the value of all the gold and silver coin in existence. pounds of water evaporated by lb. of fuel as follows: straw. . ; wood, . ; peat, . ; coke or charcoal. . ; coal, . ; petroleum, . . the average elevation of continents above sea level is: europe, feet; asia, , feet; north america. , feet; south america, , feet. a body weighing lb. produces lb. ashes; time for burning, minutes. the seven largest diamonds in the world weigh, respectively, as follows; kohinoor, carats; star of brazil, carats; regent of france, carats; austrian kaiser, carats; russian czar, carats; rajah of borneo, carats; braganza, , carats. the value of the above is not regulated by size, nor easy to estimate, but none of them is worth less than $ , . according to orfila, the proportion of nicotine in havana tobacco is per cent; in french, per cent; and virginia tobacco, per cent. that in brazilian is still higher. one horsepower will raise - / tons per minute a height of inches, working hours a day. this is about , foot-tons daily, or times a man's work. good clear ice two inches thick will bear men to walk on; four inches thick will bear horses and riders; six inches thick will bear horses and teams with moderate loads. one pair of rabbits can become multiplied in four years into , , . australia ships , , rabbit skins yearly to england. the largest of the pyramids, that of cheops, is composed of four million tons of stone, and occupied , men during years, equal to an outlay of $ , , . it would now cost $ , , at a contract price of cents per cubic foot. one tug on the mississippi can take, in six days, from st. louis to new orleans, barges carrying , tons of grain, which would require railway trains of fifteen cars each. comparative scale of strength.--ordinary man, ; byron's gladiator, ; farnese hercules, ; horse, . a man will die for want of air in five minutes; for want of sleep, in ten days; for want of water, in a week; for want of food, at varying intervals, dependent on various circumstances. the average of human life is years. one child out of every four dies before the age of years, and only one-half of the world's population reach the age of . one out of , reaches years. the average number of births per day is about , , exceeding the deaths by about per minute. there have been many alleged cases of longevity in all ages, but only a few are authentic. the various nations of europe are represented in the list of popes as follows: english, ; dutch, ; swiss, ; portuguese, ; african, ; austrian, ; spanish, ; german, ; syrian, ; greek, ; french, ; italian, . eleven popes reigned over years; , from to ; , from to ; and the reign of was less than years. the reign of piux ix was the longest of all, the only one exceeding years. a knot, in sailor phrase, is a nautical mile, , feet, or feet more than a land mile. the garden of the gods is near colorado springs and consists of a tract some acres in area surrounded by mountains and ravines of red sandstone. a number of large upright rocks, some as high as feet, have given the beautiful valley its name. it is entered by a very narrow pass called the "beautiful gate." the trans-siberian railway is , miles long and was built at a cost of $ , , . the longest reigns in english history were; victoria, years; george iii., ; henry iii, ; edward iii, ; elizabeth, ; henry viii., . the highest mountain in north america is mt. mckinley, at the headwaters of the suswhitna and kuskokwim rivers, alaska. its height is , feet. the largest viaduct in the world was designed and built by american engineers for the english railway in burma. it crosses the gokteik gorge, eighty miles from mandalay. it is , feet long and feet high, and was constructed in . the degrees of alcohol in wines and liquors are: beer, . ; porter, . ; ale, . ; cider, . ; moselle, . ; tokay, . ; rhine, . ; orange, . ; bordeaux, . ; hock, . ; gooseberry, . ; champagne, . ; claret, . ; burgundy, . ; malaga, . ; lisbon, . ; canary, . ; sherry, . ; vermouth, . ; cape, . ; malmsey, . ; marsala, . ; madeira, . ; port, . ; curacoa, . ; aniseed, . ; maraschino, . ; chartreuse, . ; gin, . ; brandy, . ; rum, . ; irish whisky, . ; scotch, . . spirits are said to be "proof" when they contain per cent. the maximum amount of alcohol, says parkes, that a man can take daily without injury to his health is that contained in oz. brandy, / pt. of sherry, / pt. of claret, or pt. of beer. the measurement of that part of the skull which holds the brain is stated in cubic inches thus: anglo-saxon, ; german, ; negro, ; ancient egyptian, ; hottentot, ; australian native, . in all races the male brain is about ten per cent heavier than the female. the highest class of apes has only oz. of brain. a man's brain, it is estimated, consists of , , nerve cells, of which over , are disintegrated and destroyed every minute. everyone, therefore, has a new brain once in sixty days. but excessive labor, or lack of sleep, prevents the repair of the tissues, and the brain gradually wastes away. diversity of occupation, by calling upon different portions of the mind or body successively, affords, in some measure, the requisite repose to each. but in this age of overwork there is no safety except in that perfect rest which is the only natural restorative of exhausted power. the king james version of the bible contains , , letters, , words, , verses, , chapters, and books. the word and occurs , times. the word lord occurs , times. the word reverend occurs but once, which is in the th verse of the th psalm. the middle verse is the th verse of the th psalm. the st verse of the th chapter of ezra contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter j. the th chapter of ii kings and the th chapter of isaiah are alike. the longest verse is the th verse of the th chapter of esther. the shortest verse is the th verse of the th chapter of st. john. there are no words or names of more than six syllables. some of nature's wonders. the human body has bones. man's heart beats , times in a day. a salmon has been known to produce , , eggs. some female spiders produce , eggs. a queen bee produces , eggs in a season. there are , cells in a square foot of honeycomb. it requires , silkworms to produce one pound of silk. it would take , spiders to produce one pound of web. the rule of the road. the "rule of the road" in the united states is "turn to the right"; in england it is the reverse. the rule holds in this country in the case where two vehicles going in opposite directions meet. when one vehicle overtakes another the foremost gives way to the left and the other passes by on the "off side"; and when a vehicle is crossing the direction of another it keeps to the left and crosses in its rear. these two rules are the same in this country as in england, and why the rule concerning meeting vehicles should have been changed it is impossible to say. canary birds. how to keep them healthy and in good song. place the cage so that no draught of air can strike the bird. give nothing to healthy birds but rape, hemp, canary seed, water, cuttle-fish bone, and gravel, paper or sand on floor of cage. a bath three times a week; the room should not be overheated. when moulting keep warm and avoid all draughts of air. give plenty of german summer rape seed. a little hard-boiled egg mixed with cracker, grated fine, once or twice a week, is excellent. feed at a certain hour in the morning. diseases and cures. husk or asthma.--the curatives are aperients, such as endive, water cresses, bread and milk, and red pepper. pip.--mix red pepper, butter and garlic and swab out the throat. sweating.--wash the hen in salt and water, and dry rapidly. costiveness.--plenty of green food and fruit. obstruction of the rump gland--pierce with a needle. press the inflamed matter out, and drop fine sugar over the wound. lice.--keep a saucer of fresh water in the cage and the bird will free itself. overgrown claws or beak.--pare carefully with a sharp knife. moulting.--give plenty of good food and keep warm. saffron and a rusty nail put in the drinking water is excellent. loss of voice.--feed with paste of bread, lettuce and rape seed with yoke of egg. whisky and sugar is an excellent remedy. recipes, trade secrets etc. toothache cure.--compound tinct. benzoin is said to be one of the most certain and speedy cures for toothache; pour a few drops on cotton, and press at once into the diseased cavity, when the pain will almost instantly cease. toothache tincture.--mix tannin, scruple; mastic, grains; ether, drams. apply on cotton wool, to the tooth, previously dried. charcoal tooth paste.--chlorate of potash, / dram; mint water, ounce. dissolve and add powdered charcoal, ounces; honey, ounce. excellent mouth wash.--powdered white castile soap, drams; alcohol, ounces; honey, ounce; essence or extract jasmine, drams. dissolve the soap in alcohol and add honey and extract. removing tartar from the teeth.--this preparation is used by dentists. pure muriatic acid, one ounce; water, one ounce; honey, two ounces; mix thoroughly. take a toothbrush, and wet it freely with this preparation, and briskly rub the black teeth, and in a moment's time they will be perfectly white; then immediately wash out the mouth well with water, that the acid may not act on the enamel of the teeth. this should be done only occasionally. test for glue.--the following simple and easy test for glue is given: a weighed piece of glue (say one-third of an ounce) is suspended in water for twenty-four hours, the temperature of which is not above fifty degrees fahrenheit. the coloring material sinks, and the glue swells from the absorption of the water. the glue is then taken out and weighed; the greater the increase in weight the better the glue. if it then be dried perfectly and weighed again, the weight of the coloring matter can be learned from the difference between this and the original weight. bad breath.--bad breath from catarrh, foul stomach or bad teeth may be temporarily relieved by diluting a little bromo chloralum with eight or ten parts of water, and using it as a gargle, and swallowing a few drops before going out. a pint of bromo chloralum costs fifty cents, but a small vial will last a long time. good tooth powder.--procure, at a druggist's, half an ounce of powdered orris root, half an ounce of prepared chalk finely pulverized, and two or three small lumps of dutch pink. let them all be mixed in a mortar, and pounded together. the dutch pink is to impart a pale reddish color. keep it in a close box. another tooth powder.--mix together, in a mortar, half an ounce of red peruvian bark, finely powdered, a quarter of an ounce of powdered myrrh, and a quarter of an ounce of prepared chalk. a safe depilatory.--take a strong solution of sulphuret of barium, and add enough finely powdered starch to make a paste. apply to the roots of the hair and allow it to remain on a few minutes, then scrape off with the back edge of a knife blade, and rub with sweet oil. quick depilatory for removing hair.--best slaked lime, ounces; orpiment, fine powder, ounce. mix with a covered sieve and preserve in a dry place in closely stoppered bottles. in using mix the powder with enough water to form a paste, and apply to the hair to be removed. in about five minutes, or as soon as its caustic action is felt on the skin, remove, as in shaving, with an ivory or bone paper knife, wash with cold water freely, and apply cold cream. tricopherus for the hair.--castor oil, alcohol, each pint; tinct. cantharides, ounce; oil bergamot, / ounce; alkanet coloring, to color as wished. mix and let it stand forty-eight hours, with occasional shaking, and then filter. liquid shampoo.--take bay rum. - / pints; water, / pint; glycerine, ounce; tinct. cantharides, drams; carbonate of ammonia, drams; borax, / ounce; or take of new england rum, - / pints; bay rum, pint; water, / pint; glycerine, ounce; tinct. cantharides, drams, ammon. carbonate, drams; borax, / ounce; the salts to be dissolved in water and the other ingredients to be added gradually. cleaning hair brushes.--put a teaspoonful or dessertspoonful of aqua ammonia into a basin half full of water, comb the loose hairs out of the brush, then agitate the water briskly with the brush, and rinse it well with clear water. hair invigorator.--bay rum, two pints; alcohol, one pint; castor oil, one ounce; carb. ammonia, half an ounce; tincture of cantharides, one ounce. mix them well. this compound will promote the growth of the hair and prevent it from falling out. for dandruff.--take glycerine, four ounces; tincture of cantharides, five ounces; bay rum, four ounces; water, two ounces. mix and apply once a day, and rub well into the scalp. mustache grower.--simple cerate, ounce; oil bergamot, minims; saturated tinct. of cantharides, minims. rub them together thoroughly, or melt the cerate and stir in the tincture while hot, and the oil as soon as it is nearly cold, then run into molds or rolls. to be applied as a pomade, rubbing in at the roots of the hair. care must be used not to inflame the skin by too frequent application. razor-strop paste.--wet the strop with a little sweet oil, and apply a little flour of emery evenly over the surface. shaving compound.--half a pound of plain white soap, dissolved in a small quantity of alcohol, as little as can be used; add a tablespoonful of pulverized borax. shave the soap and put it in a small tin basin or cup; place it on the fire in a dish of boiling water; when melted, add the alcohol, and remove from the fire; stir in oil of bergamot sufficient to perfume it. cure for prickly heat.--mix a large portion of wheat bran with either cold or lukewarm water, and use it as a bath twice or thrice a day. children who are covered with prickly heat in warm weather will be thus effectually relieved from that tormenting eruption. as soon as it begins to appear on the neck, face or arms, commence using the bran water on these parts repeatedly through the day, and it may probably spread no farther. if it does, the bran water bath will certainly cure it, if persisted in. to remove corns from between the toes.--these corns are generally more painful than any others, and are frequently situated as to be almost inaccessible to the usual remedies. wetting them several times a day with hartshorn will in most cases cure them. try it. superior cologne water.--oil of lavender, two drams; oil of rosemary, one dram and a half; orange, lemon and bergamot, one dram each of the oil; also two drams of the essence of musk, attar of rose, ten drops, and a pint of proof spirit. shake all together thoroughly three times a day for a week. inexhaustible smelling salts.--sal tartar, three drams; muriate ammonia, granulated, drams; oil neroli. minims; oil lavender flowers, minims; oil rose, minims; spirits ammonia, minims. put into the pungent a small piece of sponge filling about one-fourth the space, and pour on it a due proportion of the oils, then put in the mixed salts until the bottle is three-fourths full, and pour on the spirits of ammonia in proper proportion and close the bottle. volatile salts for pungents.--liquor ammon., pint; oil lavender flowers, dram; oil rosemary, fine, dram; oil bergamot, / dram; oil peppermint, minims. mix thoroughly and fill pungents or keep in well stoppered bottle. another formula is, sesqui-carbonate of ammonia, small pieces, ounces; concentrated liq. ammonia, ounces. put the sesqui-carb. in a wide-mouthed jar with air-tight stopper, perfume the liquor ammonia to suit and pour over the carbonate; close tightly the lid and place in a cool place; stir with a stiff spatula every other day for a week, and then keep it closed for two weeks, or until it becomes hard, when it is ready for use. paste for papering boxes.--boil water and stir in batter of wheat or rye flour. let it boil one minute, take off and strain through a colander. add, while boiling, a little glue or powdered alum. do plenty of stirring while the paste is cooking, and make of consistency that will spread nicely. aromatic spirit of vinegar.--acetic acid, no. . pure, ounces; camphor, / ounce. dissolve and add oil lemon, oil lavender flowers, each two drams; oil cassia, oil cloves, / dram each. thoroughly mix and keep in well stoppered bottle. rose-water.--preferable to the distilled for a perfume, or for ordinary purposes. attar of rose, twelve drops; rub it up with half an ounce of white sugar and two drams carbonate magnesia, then add gradually one quart of water and two ounces of proof spirit, and filter through paper. bay rum.--french proof spirit, one gallon; extract bay, six ounces. mix and color with caramel; needs no filtering. fine lavender water.--mix together, in a clean bottle, a pint of inodorous spirit of wine, an ounce of oil of lavender, a teaspoonful of oil of bergamot, and a tablespoonful of oil of ambergris. the virtues of turpentine.--after a housekeeper fully realizes the worth of turpentine in the household, she is never willing to be without a supply of it. it gives quick relief to burns, it is an excellent application for corns, it is good for rheumatism and sore throat, and it is the quickest remedy for convulsions or fits. then it is a sure preventive against moths: by just dropping a trifle in the bottom of drawers, chests and cupboards, it will render the garments secure from injury during the summer. it will keep ants and bugs from closets and store-rooms by putting a few drops in the corners and upon the shelves; it is sure destruction to bedbugs, and will effectually drive them away from their haunts if thoroughly applied to all the joints of the bedstead in the spring cleaning time, and injures neither furniture nor clothing. a spoonful of it added to a pail of warm water is excellent for cleaning paint. a little in suds washing days lightens laundry labor. a perpetual paste is a paste that may be made by dissolving an ounce of alum in a quart of warm water. when cold, add as much flour as will make it the consistency of cream, then stir into it half a teaspoonful of powdered resin, and two or three cloves. boil it to a consistency of mush, stirring all the time. it will keep for twelve months, and when dry may be softened with warm water. paste for scrap books.--take half a teaspoonful of starch, same of flour, pour on a little boiling water, let it stand a minute, add more water, stir and cook it until it is thick enough to starch a shirt bosom. it spreads smooth, sticks well and will not mold or discolor paper. starch alone will make a very good paste. a strong paste.--a paste that will neither decay nor become moldy. mix good clean flour with cold water into a thick paste well blended together; then add boiling water, stirring well up until it is of a consistency that can be easily and smoothly spread with a brush; add to this a spoonful or two of brown sugar, a little corrosive sublimate and about half a dozen drops of oil of lavender, and you will have a paste that will hold with wonderful tenacity. a brilliant paste.--a brilliant and adhesive paste, adapted to fancy articles, may be made by dissolving caseine precipitated from milk by acetic acid and washed with pure water in a saturated solution of borax. a sugar paste.--in order to prevent the gum from cracking, to ten parts by weight of gum arabic and three parts of sugar add water until the desired consistency is obtained. if a very strong paste is required, add a quantity of flour equal in weight to the gum, without boiling the mixture. the paste improves in strength when it begins to ferment. tin box cement.--to fix labels to tin boxes either of the following will answer: . soften good glue in water, then boil it in strong vinegar, and thicken the liquid while boiling with fine wheat flour, so that a paste results. . starch paste, with which a little venice turpentine has been incorporated while warm. paper and leather paste.--cover four parts, by weight, of glue, with fifteen parts of cold water, and allow it to soak for several hours, then warm moderately till the solution is perfectly clear, and dilute with sixty parts of boiling water, intimately stirred in. next prepare a solution of thirty parts of starch in two hundred parts of cold water, so as to form a thin homogeneous liquid, free from lumps, and pour the boiling glue solution into it with thorough stirring, and at the same time keep the mass boiling. commercial mucilage.--the best quality of mucilage in the market is made by dissolving clear glue in equal volumes of water and strong vinegar, and adding one-fourth of an equal volume of alcohol, and a small quantity of a solution of alum in water. some of the cheaper preparations offered for sale are merely boiled starch or flour, mixed with nitric acid to prevent their gelatinizing. acid-proof paste.--a paste formed by mixing powdered glass with a concentrated solution of silicate of soda makes an excellent acid-proof cement. paste to fasten cloth to wood.--take a plump pound of wheat flour, one tablespoonful of powdered resin, one tablespoonful of finely powdered alum, and rub the mixture in a suitable vessel, with water, to a uniform, smooth paste; transfer this to a small kettle over a fire, and stir until the paste is perfectly homogeneous without lumps. as soon as the mass has become so stiff that the stirrer remains upright in it, transfer it to another vessel and cover it up so that no skin may form on its surface. this paste is applied in a very thin layer to the surface of the table; the cloth, or leather, is then laid and pressed upon it, and smoothed with a roller. the ends are cut off after drying. if leather is to be fastened on, this must first be moistened with water. the paste is then applied, and the leather rubbed smooth with a cloth. paste for printing office.--take two gallons of cold water and one quart wheat flour, rub out all the lumps, then add one-fourth pound of finely pulverized alum and boil the mixture for ten minutes, or until a thick consistency is reached. now add one quart of hot water and, boil again, until the paste becomes a pale brown color, and thick. the paste should be well stirred during both processes of cooking. paste thus made will keep sweet for two weeks and prove very adhesive. to take smoke stains from walls.--an easy and sure way to remove smoke stains from common plain ceilings is to mix wood ashes with the whitewash just before applying. a pint of ashes to a small pail of whitewash is sufficient, but a little more or less will do no harm. to remove stains from broadcloth.--take an ounce of pipe clay, which has been ground fine, mix it with twelve drops of alcohol and the same quantity of spirits of turpentine. whenever you wish to remove any stains from cloth, moisten a little of this mixture with alcohol and rub it on the spots. let it remain till dry, then rub it off with a woolen cloth, and the spots will disappear. to remove red stains of fruit from linen.--moisten the cloth and hold it over a piece of burning sulphur; then wash thoroughly, or else the spots may reappear. to remove oil stains.--take three ounces of spirits of turpentine and one ounce of essence of lemon, mix well, and apply it as you would any other scouring drops. it will take out all the grease. iron stains may be removed by the salt of lemons. many stains may be removed by dipping the linen in some buttermilk, and then drying it in a hot sun; wash it in cold water; repeat this three or four times. to remove oil stains from wood.--mix together fuller's earth and soap lees, and rub it into the boards. let it dry and then scour it off with some strong soft soap and sand, or use lees to scour it with. it should be put on hot, which may easily be done by heating the lees. to remove tea stains.--mix thoroughly soft soap and salt--say a tablespoonful of salt to a teacupful of soap, rub on the spots, and spread the cloth on the grass where the sun will shine on it. let it lie two or three days, then wash. if the spots are wet occasionally while lying on the grass, it will hasten the bleaching. to remove stains from muslin.--if you have stained your muslin or gingham dress, or similar articles, with berries, before wetting with anything else, pour boiling water through the stains and they will disappear. before fruit juice dries it can often be removed by cold water, using a sponge and towel if necessary. to remove acid stains.--stains caused by acids may be removed by tying some pearlash up in the stained part; scrape some soap in cold, soft water, and boil the linen until the stain is gone. to disinfect sinks and drains.--copperas dissolved in water, one-fourth of a pound to a gallon, and poured into a sink and water drain occasionally, will keep such places sweet and wholesome. a little chloride of lime, say half a pound to a gallon of water, will have the same effect, and either of these costs but a trifle. a preparation may be made at home which will answer about as well as the chloride of lime. dissolve a bushel of salt in a barrel of water, and with the salt water slake a barrel of lime, which should be made wet enough to form a thin paste or wash. to disinfect a cellar.--a damp, musty cellar may be sweetened by sprinkling upon the floor pulverized copperas, chloride of lime, or even common lime. the most effective means i have ever used to disinfect decaying vegetable matter is chloride of lime in solution. one pound may be dissolved in two gallons of water. plaster of paris has also been found an excellent absorbent of noxious odors. if used one part with three parts of charcoal, it will be found still better. how to thaw out a water pipe.--water pipes usually freeze up when exposed, for inside the walls, where they cannot be reached, they are or should be packed to prevent freezing. to thaw out a frozen pipe, bundle a newspaper into a torch, light it, and pass it along the pipe slowly. the ice will yield to this much quicker than to hot water or wrappings or hot cloths, as is the common practice. to prevent mold.--a small quantity of carbolic acid added to paste, mucilage and ink, will prevent mold. an ounce of the acid to a gallon of whitewash will keep cellars and dairies from the disagreeable odor which often taints milk and meat kept in such places. thawing frozen gas pipe.--mr. f. h. shelton says: "i took off from over the pipe, some four or five inches, just a crust of earth, and then put a couple of bushels of lime in the space, poured water over it, and slaked it, and then put canvas over that, and rocks on the canvas, so as to keep the wind from getting underneath. next morning, on returning there, i found that the frost had been drawn out from the ground for nearly three feet. you can appreciate what an advantage that was, for picking through frozen ground, with the thermometer below zero, is no joke. since then we have tried it several times. it is an excellent plan if you have time enough to let the time work. in the daytime you cannot afford to waste the time, but if you have a spare night in which to work, it is worth while to try it." how to test a thermometer.--the common thermometer in a japanned iron case is usually inaccurate. to test the thermometer, bring water into the condition of active boiling, warm the thermometer gradually in the steam and then plunge it into the water. if it indicates a fixed temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees, the instrument is a good one. indelible ink.--an indelible ink that cannot be erased, even with acids, can be obtained from the following recipe: to good gall ink add a strong solution of prussian blue dissolved in distilled water. this will form a writing fluid which cannot be erased without destruction of the paper. the ink will write greenish blue, but afterward will turn black. to get a broken cork out of a bottle.--if, in drawing a cork, it breaks, and the lower part falls down into the liquid, tie a long loop in a bit of twine, or small cord, and put it in, holding the bottle so as to bring the piece of cork near to the lower part of the neck. catch it in the loop, so as to hold it stationary. you can then easily extract it with a corkscrew. a wash for cleaning silver.--mix together half an ounce of fine salt, half an ounce of powdered alum, and half an ounce of cream of tartar. put them into a large white-ware pitcher, and pour on two ounces of water, and stir them frequently, till entirely dissolved. then transfer the mixture to clean bottles and cork them closely. before using it, shake the bottles well. pour some of the liquid into a bowl, and wash the silver all over with it, using an old, soft, fine linen cloth. let it stand about ten minutes, and then rub it dry with a buckskin. it will make the silver look like new. to remove the odor from a vial.--the odor of its last contents may be removed from a vial by filling it with cold water, and letting it stand in any airy place uncorked for three days, changing the water every day. to loosen a glass stopper.--the manner in which apothecaries loosen glass stoppers when there is difficulty in getting them out is to press the thumb of the right hand very hard against the lower part of the stopper, and then give the stopper a twist the other way, with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, keeping the bottle stiff in a steady position. to soften boots and shoes.--kerosene will soften boots and shoes which have been hardened by water, and render them as pliable as new. to remove stains, spots, and mildew from furniture.--take half a pint of ninety-eight per cent alcohol, a quarter of an ounce each of pulverized resin and gum shellac, add half a pint of linseed oil, shake well and apply with a brush or sponge. sweet oil will remove finger marks from varnished furniture, and kerosene from oiled furniture. to freshen gilt frames.--gilt frames may be revived by carefully dusting them, and then washing with one ounce of soda beaten up with the whites of three eggs. scraped patches should be touched up with gold paint. castile soap and water, with proper care, may be used to clean oil paintings. other methods should not be employed without some skill. to fill cracks in plaster.--use vinegar instead of water to mix your plaster of paris. the resultant mass will be like putty, and will not "set" for twenty or thirty minutes, whereas if you use water the plaster will become hard almost immediately, before you have time to use it. push it into the cracks and smooth it off nicely with a table knife. to toughen lamp chimneys and glassware.--immerse the article in a pot filled with cold water, to which some common salt has been added. boil the water well, then cool slowly. glass treated in this way will resist any sudden change of temperature. to remove paint from window-glass.--rub it well with hot, sharp vinegar. to clean stovepipe.--a piece of zinc put on the live coals in the stove will clean out the stovepipe. to brighten carpets.--carpets after the dust has been beaten out may be brightened by scattering upon them cornmeal mixed with salt and then sweeping it off. mix salt and meal in equal proportions. carpets should be thoroughly beaten on the wrong side first and then on the right side, after which spots may be removed by the use of ox-gall or ammonia and water. to keep flowers fresh exclude them from the air. to do this wet them thoroughly, put in a damp box, and cover with wet raw cotton or wet newspaper, then place in a cool spot. to preserve bouquets, put a little saltpetre in the water you use for your bouquets, and the flowers will live for a fortnight. to preserve brooms.--dip them for a minute or two in a kettle of boiling suds once a week and they will last much longer, making them tough and pliable. a carpet wears much longer swept with a broom cared for in this manner. to clean brassware.--mix one ounce of oxalic acid, six ounces of rotten stone, all in powder, one ounce of sweet oil, and sufficient water to make a paste. apply a small proportion, and rub dry with a flannel or leather. the liquid dip most generally used consists of nitric and sulphuric acids, but this is more corrosive. to keep out mosquitoes.--if a bottle of the oil of pennyroyal is left uncorked in a room at night, not a mosquito, nor any other blood-sucker, will be found there in the morning. to kill cockroaches.--a teacupful of well bruised plaster of paris, mixed with double the quantity of oatmeal, to which a little sugar may be added, although this last named ingredient is not essential. strew it on the floor, or into the chinks where they frequent. to destroy ants.--drop some quicklime on the mouth of their nest, and wash it with boiling water, or dissolve some camphor in spirits of wine, then mix with water, and pour into their haunts; or tobacco water, which has been found effectual. they are averse to strong scents. camphor, or a sponge saturated with creosote, will prevent their infesting a cupboard. to prevent their climbing up trees, place a ring of tar about the trunk, or a circle of rag moistened occasionally with creosote. to prevent moths.--in the month of april or may, beat your fur garments well with a small cane or elastic stick, then wrap them up in linen, without pressing them too hard, and put betwixt the folds some camphor in small lumps; then put your furs in this state in boxes well closed. when the furs are wanted for use, beat them well as before, and expose them for twenty-four hours to the air, which will take away the smell of the camphor. if the fur has long hair, as bear or fox, add to the camphor an equal quantity of black pepper in powder. to get rid of moths-- . procure shavings of cedar wood, and inclose in muslin bags, which can be distributed freely among the clothes. . procure shavings of camphor wood, and inclose in bags. . sprinkle pimento (allspice) berries among the clothes. . sprinkle the clothes with the seeds of the musk plant. . to destroy the eggs, when deposited in woolen cloths, etc., use a solution of acetate of potash in spirits of rosemary, fifteen grains to the pint. bed bugs.--spirits of naphtha rubbed with a small painter's brush into every part of the bedstead is a certain way of getting rid of bugs. the mattress and binding of the bed should be examined, and the same process attended to, as they generally harbor more in these parts than in the bedstead. ten cents' worth of naphtha is sufficient for one bed. bug poison.--proof spirit, one pint; camphor, two ounces; oil of turpentine, four ounces; corrosive sublimate, one ounce. mix. a correspondent says: "i have been for a long time troubled with bugs, and never could get rid of them by any clean and expeditious method, until a friend told me to suspend a small bag of camphor to the bed, just in the center, overhead. i did so, and the enemy was most effectually repulsed, and has not made his appearance since--not even for a reconnoissance!" this is a simple method of getting rid of these pests, and is worth a trial to see if it be effectual in other cases. mixture for destroying flies--infusion of quassia, one pint; brown sugar, four ounces; ground pepper, two ounces. to be well mixed together, and put in small, shallow dishes when required. to destroy flies in a room, take half a teaspoonful of black pepper in powder, one teaspoonful of brown sugar, and one tablespoonful of cream, mix them well together, and place them in the room on a plate, where the flies are troublesome, and they will soon disappear. to drive flies from the house.--a good way to rid the house of flies is to saturate small cloths with oil of sassafras and lay them in windows and doors. the flies will soon leave. aging oak.--strong ammonia fumes may be used for aging oak. place the piece to be fumed, with an evaporating dish containing concentrated ammonia, in a box, and close it airtight. leave for hours and finish with a wax polish, applying first a thin coat of paraffine oil and then rubbing with a pomade of prepared wax made as follows: two ounces each of yellow and white beeswax heated over a slow fire in a clean vessel (agate ware is good) until melted. add oz. turpentine and stir till entirely cool. keep the turpentine away from the fire. this will give the oak a lustrous brown color, and nicking will not expose a different surface, as the ammonia fumes penetrate to a considerable depth. opportunity. they do me wrong who say i come no more when once i've knocked and failed to find you in; for every day i stand outside your door, and bid you wake and ride, to fight and win. wail not for precious chances passed away, weep not for golden ages on the wane; each night i burn the records of the day; at sunrise every soul is born again. laugh like a boy at splendors that have sped; to vanished hopes be blind and deaf and dumb; my judgments seal the dead past with its dead, but never bind a moment yet to come. though deep in mire, wring not your hands and weep: i lend my arm to all who say. "i can." no shamefaced outcast ever sank so deep but yet might rise and be again a man! dost thou behold thy lost youth all aghast? dost reel from righteous retribution's blow? then turn from blotted archives of the past. and find the future's pages white as snow. art thou a mourner? rouse thee from thy spell! art thou a sinner? sins may be forgiven; each morning gives thee wings to flee from hell. each night a star to guide to heaven! --walter maloney. weights and measures troy weight.-- grains make pennyweight, pennyweights make ounce. by this weight, gold, silver and jewels only are weighed. the ounce and pound in this are same as in apothecaries' weight. apothecaries' weight.-- grains make one scruple. scruples make dram. drams make ounce, l ounces make pound. avoirdupois weight.-- drams make ounce, ounces make pound, pounds make quarter, quarters make hundredweight, , pounds make ton. dry measure.-- pints make quart, quarts make peck, pecks make bushel, bushels make chaldron. liquid or wine measure.-- gills make pint, pints make quart, quarts make gallon. - / gallons make barrel, barrels make hogshead. time measure.-- seconds make minute, minutes make hour, hours make day, days make week, weeks make lunar month, , , or days make calendar month ( days make month in computing interest). weeks and day, or calendar months make a year; days, hours, minutes and seconds make solar year. circular measure.-- seconds make minute, minutes make degree, degrees make sign, degrees make quadrant, quadrants or degrees make circle. long measure.--distance-- barleycorns inch, inches foot. feet yard. - / yards rod, rods furlong, furlongs mile. cloth measure.-- - / inches nail, nails quarter, quarters yard. miscellaneous.-- inches palm, inches hand, inches span, inches cubit, . inches bible cubit. - / feet military pace. square measure.-- square inches square foot, square feet square yard, - / square yards square rod, square rods rood, roods acre. surveyors' measure.-- . inches link, links rod, rods chain, square chains or square rods acre, acres square mile. cubic measure.--l, cubic inches cubic foot. cubic feet cubic yard, cubic feet cord (wood), cubic feet ton (shipping), , . cubic inches standard bushel, . cubic inches standard gallon, cubic foot four-fifths of a bushel. metric weights.-- milligrams centigram, centigrams decigram, decigrams gram, grams dekagram, dekagrams hektogram, hektograms kilogram. metric measure.--(one milliliter--cubic centimeter).-- milliliters centiliter, centiliters deciliter, deciliters liter, liters dekaliter, dekaliters hektoliter, hektoliters kiloliter. metric lengths.-- millimeters centimeter, centimeters decimeter, decimeters meter, meters dekameter, dekameters hektometer, hektometers kilometer. relative value of apothecaries' and imperial measure. apothecaries'. imperial. pints ounces drams minims gallon equals pint equals fluid ounce equals fluid dram equals - / handy metric table. the following table gives the equivalents of both the metric and common systems, and will be found convenient for reference: approximate accurate equivalent. equivalent. inch [length] - / cubic centimeters . centimeter . inch . yard meter . meter ( . inches) l yard . foot centimeters . kilometer ( , meters) / mile . mile - / kilometers . gramme [weight] - / grains . grain . gramme . kilogramme ( , grammes) . pounds avoirdupois. . pound avoirdupois / kilogramme . ounce avoirdupois ( - / grains) - / grammes . ounce troy, or apothecary ( grains) grammes . cubic centimeter [bulk] . cubic inch. . cubic inch - / cubic centimeters . liter ( , cubic centimeters). united states standard quart . united states quart. liter . fluid ounce - / cubic centimeters . hectare ( , square meters) [surface] - / acres . acre . hectare . [transcriber's noted: inch is about - / centimeters, not cubic centimeters. cubic centimeter is about . cubic inch (not . ).] handy weights and measures. one quart of wheat flour is one pound. one quart of corn meal weighs eighteen ounces. one quart of butter, soft, weighs to ounces. one quart of brown sugar weighs from a pound to a pound and a quarter, according to dampness. one quart of white sugar weighs pounds. ten medium-sized eggs weigh one pound. a tablespoonful of salt is one ounce. eight tablespoonfuls make gill. two gills, or tablespoonfuls, are half a pint. sixty drops are one teaspoonful. four tablespoonfuls are one wineglassful. twelve tablespoonfuls are one teacupful. sixteen tablespoonfuls or half a pint, are one tumblerful. the meaning of measures.--a square mile is equal to acres. a square acre is . feet on one side. an acre is , square feet. a league, miles. a span, - / inches. a hand, inches. a palm, inches. a great cubit, inches. a fathom, feet. a mile, , feet. domestic and drop measures approximated.--a teaspoonful, one fluid dram grams; a dessertspoonful, two fluid drams grams; a tablespoonful, half fluid ounce grams; a wineglassful, two fluid ounces grams; a tumblerful, half pint grams. to tell the age of any person. hand this table to a young lady, and request her to tell you in which column or columns her age is contained, and add together the figures at the top of the columns in which her age is found, and you have the secret. thus, suppose her age to be seventeen, you will find that number in the first and fifth columns: add the first figures of these two columns. l dr. spurzheim's phrenology. the first claim put forth by the teachers and professional demonstrators of phrenology makes it a system of mental philosophy, besides at the same time presenting a much more popular aspect as a method whereby the disposition, character and natural aptitude of the individual may be ascertained. [illustration: side and front view of a head, with several numbered areas above the eyes and ears.] these two features of the subject are quite distinct from each other, for, while it can serve as a reliable guide for reading character only on the assumption of its truth as a philosophic system, yet the possibility of its practical application does not necessarily follow from the establishment of the truth of its theoretical side. two of the earliest founders of the science of anatomy, erasistratus and herophilus, who lived in the age of ptolemy soter, taught that the brain was the seat of sensation and intellect, and that there was therein a certain degree of localization of function. galen later taught that the brain is the seat of the soul and intellect. from these facts of history the system of phrenology, though formulated by dr. gall, dr. spurzheim, the fowler brothers and others, rests upon deductions derived from the teachings of the demonstrators of anatomy and students of philosophy. the formulated system of phrenology is very generally believed to be a modern expansion of an old empirical philosophy, but, according to dr. gall's account, it arose with him as the result of independent observations. the popularity of phrenology has waned in the public mind, and cultivation of the system is confined to a few enthusiasts, such as pose as teachers of it as a vocation. these claim that phrenology is a practical and important science and that it rests upon the following principles: first--that the human brain is the organ of the mind. second--that the mental powers of man can be analyzed into a definite number of measurably independent faculties. third--that these faculties are innate, and each has its seat in a definite region of the brain. fourth--that the size of each of these regions is the measure of the power of manifesting the faculty associated with it. the faculties and their localities, as originally constructed by dr. gall, were for the most part identified on slender grounds. his procedure was as follows: having selected the place of a faculty, he examined the heads of his friends and casts of persons with that peculiarity in common, and in them sought for the distinctive feature of their characteristic trait. some of his earlier studies were among low associates in jails and lunatic asylums, and some of the qualities located by him were such as tend to perversion to crime. these he named after their excessive manifestations, and thus mapped out organs of theft, murder, etc. this, however, caused the system to be discredited. later his pupil, dr. spurzheim, claimed that the moral and religious features belonging to it greatly modified these characteristics of dr. gall's work. the chart of the human head as invented by dr. gall represented organs; the chart as improved by dr. spurzheim makes out organs. this is the chart now generally used and which is shown on a preceding page. the number specifies the location of each organ, which is followed by its phrenological name, and classified as follows: propensities. ( ) amativeness. ( ) philoprogenitiveness. ( ) concentrativeness. ( ) adhesiveness. ( ) combativeness. ( ) destructiveness. ( a) alimentiveness. ( ) secretiveness. ( ) acquisitiveness. ( ) constructiveness. lower sentiments. ( ) self-esteem. ( ) love of approbation. ( ) cautiousness. superior sentiments. ( ) benevolence. ( ) veneration. ( ) conscientiousness. ( ) firmness. ( ) hope. ( ) wonder. ( ) ideality. ( ) wit. ( ) imitation. perceptive faculties. ( ) individuality. ( ) form. ( ) size. ( ) weight. ( ) color. ( ) locality. ( ) number. ( ) order. ( ) eventuality. ( ) time. ( ) tune. ( ) language. reflective faculties. ( ) comparison. ( ) causality. the judgment of the phrenologist is determined by the size of the brain in general, and by the size of the organs that have been formulated, and these are estimated by certain arbitrary rules that render the boundaries of the regions indefinite. the controversy over phrenology has served undoubtedly the very useful purpose of stimulating research into the anatomy of the brain. it is generally conceded that any psychological theory which correlates brain-action and mental phenomena requires a correspondence between the size of the brain and mental power, and generally observation shows that the brains of those whose capacities are above the average are larger than those of the general run of their fellow men. a study of the cuts and comparison of the sizes of different heads and their shape will prove very entertaining with most any group of persons intellectually inclined, and it will be found that persons who are naturally good readers by instinct of human nature can, with its help, make remarkable readings in the delineation of character. principles of parliamentary law. list of motions arranged according to their purpose and effect. [letters refer to the rules below.] modifying or amending. . to amend or to substitute, or to divide the question k to refer to committee. . to commit (or recommit) d deferring action. . to postpone to a fixed time. c . to lay on the table a e g suppressing or extending debate . for the previous question a e m to limit, or close debate a m to extend limits of debate. a suppressing the question. objection to consideration of question a h m n . to postpone indefinitely. d e . to lay upon the table. a e g to bring up a question the second time. to reconsider-- debatable question d e f i undebatable question a e f i concerning orders, rules, etc. . for the orders of the day. a e h n to make subject a special order m to amend the rules m to suspend the rules a e f m to take up a question out of its proper order a e to take from the table a e g questions touching priority of business a questions of privilege. asking leave to continue speaking after indecorum a appeal from chair's decision touching indecorum a e h l appeal from chair's decision generally. e h l question upon reading of papers. a e withdrawal of a motion. a e closing a meeting. . to adjourn (in committees, to rise), or to take a recess, without limitation a e f . to fix the time to which to adjourn b order of precedence--the motions above numbered to take precedence over all others in the order of the numbers, and anyone of them, except to amend or substitute, is in order while a motion of a lower rank is pending. rule a--undebatable, but remarks may be tacitly allowed. rule b--undebatable if another question is before the assembly. rule c--limited debate allowed on propriety of postponement only. rule d--opens the main question to debate. motions not so marked do not allow of reference to main question. rule e--cannot be amended. motion to adjourn can be amended when there is no other business before the house. rule f--cannot be reconsidered. rule g--an affirmative vote cannot be reconsidered, rule h--in order when another has the floor. rule i--a motion to reconsider may be moved and entered when another has the floor, but the business then before the house may not be set aside. this motion can only be entertained when made by one who voted originally with the prevailing side. when called up it takes precedence of all others which may come up, excepting only motions relating to adjournment. rule k--a motion to amend an amendment cannot be amended. rule l--when an appeal from the chair's decision results in a tie vote, the chair is sustained. rule m--requires a two-thirds vote unless special rules have been enacted. rule n--does not require to be seconded. general rules. no motion is open for discussion until it has been stated by the chair. the maker of a motion cannot modify it or withdraw it after it has been stated by the chair except by general consent. only one reconsideration of a question is permitted. a motion to adjourn, to lay on the table, or to take from the table, cannot be renewed unless some other motion has been made in the interval. on motion to strike out the words, "shall the words stand part of the motion?" unless a majority sustains the words, they are struck out. on motion for previous question, the form to be observed is, "shall the main question be now put?" this, if carried, ends debate. on an appeal from the chair's decision, "shall the decision be sustained as the ruling of the house?" the chair is generally sustained. on motion for orders of the day, "will the house now proceed to the orders of the day?" this, if carried, supersedes intervening motions. when an objection is raised to considering questions, "shall the question be considered?" objections may be made by any member before debate has commenced, but not subsequently. letter combinations. when king stanislaus of poland, then a young man, came back from a journey, the whole lescinskian house gathered together at lissa to receive him. the schoolmaster, jablowsky, prepared a festival in commemoration of the event, and had it end with a ballet performed by thirteen students, dressed as cavaliers. each had a shield, upon which one of the letters of the words "domus lescinia" (the lescinskian house) was written in gold. after the first dance, they stood in such a manner that their shields read "domus lescinia"; after the second dance, they changed order, making it read, "ades incolumnis" (unharmed art thou here); after the third. "mane sidus loci" (continue the star of this place); after the fourth, "sis coumna dei" (be a pillar of god); and finally, "i! scade solium!" (go! ascend the throne). indeed, these two words allow of , , , transpositions; yet that five of them convey independent and appropriate meanings is certainly very curious. points of criminal law. you cannot lawfully condone an offence by receiving back stolen property, the exemption of females from arrest applies only in civil, not in criminal matters. every man is bound to obey the call of a sheriff for assistance in making an arrest. the rule "every man's house is his castle" does not hold good when a man is accused of crime. embezzlement can be charged only against a clerk or servant, or the officer or agent of a corporation. bigamy cannot be proven in law if one party to a marriage has been absent and not heard from for five years. grand larceny is when the value of property stolen exceeds $ . --when less than that, the offence is petit larceny. arson to be in the first degree must have been committed at night and the buildings fired must have been inhabited. drunkenness is not a legal excuse for crime, but delirium tremens is considered by the law as a species of insanity. in a case of assault it is only necessary to prove an "offer or attempt at assault." battery presumes physical violence. mayhem, although popularly supposed to refer to injury to the face, lip, tongue, eye, or ear, applies to any injury done a limb. a felony is a crime punishable by imprisonment in a state prison; an "infamous" crime is one punishable with death or state prison. a police officer is not authorized to make an arrest without a warrant unless he has personal knowledge of the offense for which the arrest is made. an accident is not a crime, unless criminal carelessness can be proven. a man shooting at a burglar and killing a member of his family is not a murderer. burglary in the first degree can be committed only in the night time. twilight, if dark enough to prevent distinguishing a man's face, is the same as "night" in law. murder to be in the first degree must be willful, premeditated and malicious, or committed while the murderer is engaged in a felonious act. the killing of a man in a duel is murder, and it is a misdemeanor to accept or give a challenge. false swearing is perjury in law only when willfully done, and when the oath has been legally administered. such qualifying expressions as "to the best of my belief," "as i am informed," may save an averment from being perjured. the law is that the false statement sworn to must be absolute. subornation of perjury is a felony. to tell pure water. the color, odor, taste and purity of water can be ascertained as follows: fill a large bottle made of colorless glass with water; look through the water at some black object. pour out some of the water and leave the bottle half full; cork the bottle and place it for a few hours in a warm place; shake up the water, remove the cork, and critically smell the air contained in the bottle. if it has any smell, particularly if the odor is repulsive, the water should not be used for domestic purposes. by heating the water an odor is evolved that would not otherwise appear. water fresh from the well is usually tasteless, even if it contains a large amount of putrescible organic matter. all water for domestic purposes should be perfectly tasteless, and remain so even after it has been warmed, since warming often develops a taste in water which is tasteless when cold. hand grenades. take chloride of calcium, crude, parts; common salt, parts; and water, parts. mix and put in thin bottles. in case of fire, a bottle so thrown that it will break in or very near the fire will put it out. this mixture is better and cheaper than many of the high-priced grenades sold for the purpose of fire protection. how to get rid of rats. get a piece of lead pipe and use it as a funnel to introduce about - / ounces of sulphite of potassium into any outside holes tenanted by rats. not to be used in dwellings. to get rid of mice use tartar emetic mingled with any favorite food; they will eat, sicken and take their leave. friendly advice on many subjects. tomato in bright's disease. when thomas jefferson brought the tomato from france to america, thinking that if it could be induced to grow bountifully it might make good feed for hogs, he little dreamed of the benefit he was conferring upon posterity. a constant diet of raw tomatoes and skim-milk is said to be a certain cure for bright's disease. gen. schenck, who, when minister to england, became a victim to that complaint, was restored to health by two years of this regimen. relief for asthma. an old friend of the editor of this book writes: "i have been a sufferer from asthma for twenty-five years, and for more than a dozen years have used the following recipe with great benefit. it is not a cure, but in my case gives almost instant relief. take equal parts of powdered stramonium leaves and powdered belladonna leaves and mix thoroughly; to each ten ounces of the mixture add one ounce of powdered saltpeter (nitrate of potash); mix all thoroughly. i always keep some of this in a small tin box. when i wish to use it i pour a little of the powder into the cover of the box, light it with a match, cover the whole with a little paper cone with the point cut off. i place the point of the cone in my mouth, and breathe the smoke into my lungs with the air. the first trial is very hard; it almost strangles, but if persevered in will give great relief. this is much better than stramonium alone. the saltpeter makes it burn freely, and also helps to give relief. when my home was in northern indiana, i used to buy the leaves in chicago already powdered. now i send to new york. i find it cheaper to do this than to gather and dry the leaves. it is also almost impossible to dry and pulverize the leaves at home. by using a paper cone and breathing through it, little or no smoke is wasted, and the box and paper can be carried in the pocket and used as occasion requires." for swollen feet. policemen, mail carriers, and others whose occupation keeps them on their feet a great deal, often are troubled with chafed, sore and blistered feet, especially in extremely hot weather, no matter how comfortably their shoes may lit. a powder is used in the german army for sifting into the shoes and stockings of the foot soldiers, called "fusstreupulver," and consists of parts salicylic acid, parts starch and parts pulverized soapstone. rules for fat people and for lean. to increase the weight: eat to the extent of satisfying; a natural appetite, of fat meats, butter, cream, milk, cocoa, chocolate, bread, potatoes, peas, parsnips, carrots, beets, farinaceous foods, as indian corn, rice, tapioca, sago, corn starch, pastry, custards, oatmeal, sugar, sweet wines, and ale. avoid acids. exercise as little as possible, and sleep all you can. to reduce the weight: eat to the extent of satisfying a natural appetite, of lean meat, poultry, game, eggs, milk moderately, green vegetables, turnips, succulent fruits, tea or coffee. drink lime juice, lemonade, and acid drinks. avoid fat, butter, cream, sugar, pastry, rice, sago, tapioca, corn starch, potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, and sweet wines. when quinine will break up a cold. it is surprising, says a family physician, how certainly a cold may be broken up by a timely dose of quinine. when first symptoms make their appearance, when a little languor, slight hoarseness and ominous tightening of the nasal membranes follow exposure to draughts or sudden chill by wet, five grains of this useful alkaloid are sufficient in many cases to end the trouble. but it must be done promptly. if the golden moment passes, nothing suffices to stop the weary sneezing, handkerchief-using, red-nose and woe begone looking periods that certainly follow. a mistaken idea. the old adage. "feed a cold and starve a fever." is characterized by the journal of health as very silly advice. if anything, the reverse would be nearer right. when a person has a severe cold it is best for him to eat very lightly, especially during the first few days of the attack. hints on bathing. there has been a great deal written about bathing. the surface of the skin is punctured with millions of little holes called pores. the duty of these pores is to carry the waste matter off. for instance, perspiration. now, if these pores are stopped up they are of no use, and the body has to find some other way to get rid of its impurities. then the liver has more than it can do. then we take a liver pill when we ought to clean out the pores instead. the housewife is very particular to keep her sieves in good order; after she has strained a substance through them they are washed out carefully with water, because water is the best thing known. that is the reason water is used to bathe in. but the skin is a little different from a sieve, because it is willing to help along the process itself. all it needs is a little encouragement and it will accomplish wonders. what the skin wants is rubbing. if you should quietly sit down in a tub of water and as quietly get up and dry off without rubbing, your skin wouldn't be much benefited. the water would make it a little soft, especially if it was warm. but rubbing is the great thing. stand where the sunlight strikes a part of your body, then take a dry brush and rub it, and you will notice that countless little flakes of cuticle fly off. every time one of these flakes is removed from the skin your body breathes a sigh of relief. an eminent german authority contends that too much bathing is a bad thing. there is much truth in this. soap and water are good things to soften up the skin, but rubbing is what the skin wants. every morning or every evening, or when it is most convenient, wash the body all over with water and a little ammonia, or anything which tends to make the water soft; then rub dry with a towel, and after that go over the body from top to toe with a dry brush. try this for two or three weeks, and your skin will be like velvet. tea and coffee. tea is a nerve stimulant, pure and simple, acting like alcohol in this respect, without any value that the latter may possess as a retarder of waste. it has a special influence upon those nerve centers that supply will power, exalting their sensibility beyond normal activity, and may even produce hysterical symptoms, if carried far enough. its active principle, theine, is an exceedingly powerful drug, chiefly employed by nerve specialists as a pain destroyer, possessing the singular quality of working toward the surface. that is to say, when a dose is administered hypodermically for sciatica, for example, the narcotic influence proceeds outward from the point of injection, instead of inward toward the centers, as does that of morphia, atropia, etc. tea is totally devoid of nutritive value, and the habit of drinking it to excess, which so many american women indulge in, particularly in the country, is to be deplored as a cause of our american nervousness. coffee, on the contrary, is a nerve food. like other concentrated foods of its class, it operates as a stimulant also, but upon a different set of nerves from tea. taken strong in the morning, it often produces dizziness and that peculiar visual symptom of overstimulus which is called muscae volilantes--dancing flies. but this is an improper way to take it, and rightly used it is perhaps the most valuable liquid addition to the morning meal. its active principle, caffeine, differs in all physiological respects from theine, while it is chemically very closely allied, and its limited consumption makes it impotent for harm. to straighten round shoulders. a stooping figure and a halting gait, accompanied by the unavoidable weakness of lungs incidental to a narrow chest, may be entirely cured by the very simple and easily-performed exercise of raising one's self upon the toes leisurely in a perpendicular position several times daily. to take this exercise properly one must take a perfectly upright position. with the heels together and the toes at an angle of forty-five degrees. then drop the arms lifelessly by the sides, animating and raising the chest to its full capacity and muscularity, the chin well drawn in, and the crown of the head feeling as if attached to a string suspended from the ceiling above. slowly rise upon the balls of both feet to the greatest possible height, thereby exercising all the muscles of the legs and body; come again into standing position without swaying the body backward out of the perfect line. repeat this same exercise, first on one foot, then on the other. it is wonderful what a straightening-out power this exercise has upon round shoulders and crooked backs, and one will be surprised to note how soon the lungs begin to show the effect of such expansive development. care of the eyes. in consequence of the increase of affections of the eye, a specialist has recently formulated the following rules to be observed in the care of the eyes for school work: a comfortable temperature, dry and warm feet, good ventilation; clothing at the neck and on other parts of the body loose; posture erect, and never read lying down or stooping. little study before breakfast or directly after a heavy meal; none at all at twilight or late at night; use great caution about studying after recovery from fevers; have light abundant, but not dazzling, not allowing the sun to shine on desks or on objects in front of the scholars, and letting the light come from the left hand or left and rear; hold book at right angles to the line of sight or nearly so; give eyes frequent rest by looking up. the distance of the book from the eye should be about fifteen inches. the usual indication of strain is redness of the rim of the eyelid, betokening a congested state of the inner surface, which may be accompanied with some pain. when the eye tires easily rest is not the proper remedy, but the use of glasses of sufficient power to aid in accommodating the eye to vision. how and when to drink water. according to doctor leuf, when water is taken into the full or partly full stomach, it does not mingle with the food, as we are taught, but passes along quickly between the food and lesser curvature toward the pylorus, through which it passes into the intestines. the secretion of mucus by the lining membrane is constant, and during the night a considerable amount accumulates in the stomach; some of its liquid portion is absorbed, and that which remains is thick and tenacious. if food is taken into the stomach when in this condition, it becomes coated with this mucus, and the secretion of the gastric juice and its action are delayed. these facts show the value of a goblet of water before breakfast. this washes out the tenacious mucus, and stimulates the gastric glands to secretion. in old and feeble persons water should not be taken cold, but it may be with great advantage taken warm or hot. this removal of the accumulated mucus from the stomach is probably one of the reasons why taking soup at the beginning of a meal has been found so beneficial. what causes coughs. cold and coughs are prevalent throughout the country, but throat affections are by far more common among business men. every unfortunate one mutters something about the abominable weather and curses the piercing wind. much of the trouble, however, is caused by overheated rooms, and a little more attention to proper ventilation would remove the cause of suffering. doctor j. ewing mears, who was thus afflicted, said to an inquirer: "the huskiness and loss of power of articulation so common among us are largely due to the use of steam for heating. the steam cannot be properly regulated, and the temperature becomes too high. a person living in this atmosphere has all the cells of the lungs open, and when he passes into the open air he is unduly exposed. the affliction is quite common among the men who occupy offices in the new buildings which are fitted up with all modern improvements. the substitution of electric light for gas has wrought a change to which people have not yet adapted themselves. the heat arising from a number of gas jets will quickly raise the temperature of a room, and unconsciously people rely upon that means of heating to some extent. very little warmth, however, is produced by the electric light, and when a man reads by an incandescent light he at times finds himself becoming chilly, and wonders why it is. too hot during the day and too cold at night are conditions which should be avoided." physical exercise. the principal methods of developing the physique now prescribed by trainers are exercise with dumbbells, the bar bell and the chest weight. the rings and horizontal and parallel bars are also used, but not nearly to the extent that they formerly were. the movement has been all in the direction of the simplification of apparatus; in fact, one well-known teacher of the boston gymnasium when asked his opinion said: "four bare walls and a floor, with a well-posted instructor, is all that is really required for a gymnasium." probably the most important as well as the simplest appliance for gymnasium work is the wooden dumbbell, which has displaced the ponderous iron bell of former days. its weight is from three-quarters of a pound to a pound and a half, and with one in each hand a variety of motions can be gone through, which are of immense benefit in building up or toning down every muscle and all vital parts of the body. the first object of an instructor in taking a beginner in hand is to increase the circulation. this is done by exercising the extremities, the first movement being one of the hands, after which come the wrists, then the arms, and next the head and feet. as the circulation is increased the necessity for a larger supply of oxygen, technically called "oxygen-hunger," is created, which is only satisfied by breathing exercises, which develop the lungs. after the circulation is in a satisfactory condition, the dumbbell instructor turns his attention to exercising the great muscles of the body, beginning with those of the back, strengthening which holds the body erect, thus increasing the chest capacity, invigorating the digestive organs, and, in fact, all the vital functions. by the use of very light weights an equal and symmetrical development of all parts of the body is obtained, and then there are no sudden demands on the heart and lungs. after the dumbbell comes exercise with the round, or bar bell. this is like the dumbbell, with the exception that the bar connecting the balls is four or five feet, instead of a few inches in length. bar bells weigh from one to two pounds each and are found most useful in building up the respiratory and digestive systems, their especial province being the strengthening of the erector muscles and increasing the flexibility of the chest. of all fixed apparatus in use the pulley weight stands easily first in importance. these weights are available for a greater variety of objects than any other gymnastic appliance, and can be used either for general exercise or for strengthening such muscles as most require it. with them a greater localization is possible than with the dumbbell, and for this reason they are recommended as a kind of supplement to the latter. as chest developers and correctors of round shoulders they are most effective. as the name implies, they are simply weights attached to ropes, which pass over pulleys, and are provided with handles. the common pulley is placed at about the height of the shoulder of an average man, but recently those which can be adjusted to any desired height have been very generally introduced. when more special localization is desired than can be obtained by means of the ordinary apparatus, what is known as the double-action chest weight is used. this differs from the ordinary kind in being provided with several pulleys, so that the strain may come at different angles. double-action weights may be divided into three classes--high, low, and side pulleys--each with its particular use. the highest of all, known as the giant pulleys, are made especially for developing the muscles of the back and chest, and by stretching or elongating movements to increase the interior capacity of the chest. if the front of the chest is full and the back or side chest deficient, the pupil is set to work on the giant pulley. to build up the side-walls he stands with the back to the pulley-box and the left heel resting against it; the handle is grasped in the right hand if the right side of the chest is lacking in development, and then drawn straight down by the side; a step forward with the right foot, as long as possible, is taken, the line brought as far to the front and near the floor as can be done, and then the arm, held stiff, allowed to be drawn solely up by the weight. to exercise the left side the same process is gone through with, the handle grasped in the left hand. another kind of giant pulley is that which allows the operator to stand directly under it, and is used for increasing the lateral diameter of the chest. the handles are drawn straight down by the sides, the arms are then spread and drawn back by the weights. generally speaking, high pulleys are most used for correcting high, round shoulders; low pulleys for low, round shoulders; side pulleys for individual high or low shoulders, and giant pulleys for the development of the walls of the chest and to correct spinal curvature. the traveling rings, a line of iron rings, covered with rubber and attached to long ropes fastened to the ceiling some ten feet apart, are also valuable in developing the muscles of the back, arms and sides. the first ring is grasped in one hand and a spring taken from an elevated platform. the momentum carries the gymnast to the next ring, which is seized with the free hand, and so the entire length of the line is traversed. the parallel bars, low and high, the flying rings, the horizontal bar and the trapeze all have their uses, but of late years they have been relegated to a position of distinct inferiority to that now occupied by the dumbbells and pulley weights. accidents and emergencies. what to do if an artery is cut, red blood spurts. compress it above the wound. if a vein is cut, dark blood flows. compress it below and above. if choked, go upon all fours and cough. for slight burns, dip the part in cold water; if the skin is destroyed, cover with varnish or linseed oil. for apoplexy, raise the head and body; for fainting, lay the person flat. send for a physician when a serious accident of any kind occurs, but treat as directed until he arrives. scalds and burns--the following facts cannot be too firmly impressed on the mind of the reader, that in either of these accidents the first, best, and often the only remedies required, are sheets of wadding, fine wool, or carded cotton, and, in the default of these, violet powder, flour, magnesia, or chalk. the object for which these several articles are employed is the same in each instance; namely, to exclude the air from the injured part; for if the air can be effectually shut out from the raw surface, and care is taken not to expose the tender part till the new cuticle is formed, the cure may be safely left to nature. the moment a person is called to a case of scald or burn, he should cover the part with a sheet, or a portion of a sheet, of wadding, taking care not to break any blister that may have formed, or stay to remove any burnt clothes that may adhere to the surface, but as quickly as possible envelop every part of the injury from all access of the air, laying one or two more pieces of wadding on the first, so as effectually to guard the burn or scald from the irritation of the atmosphere; and if the article used is wool or cotton, the same precaution, of adding more material where the surface is thinly covered, must be adopted; a light bandage finally securing all in their places. any of the popular remedies recommended below may be employed when neither wool, cotton, nor wadding are to be procured, it being always remembered that that article which will best exclude the air from a burn or scald is the best, quickest, and least painful mode of treatment. and in this respect nothing has surpassed cotton loose or attached to paper as in wadding. if the skin is much injured in burns, spread some linen pretty thickly with chalk ointment, and lay over the part, and give the patient some brandy and water if much exhausted; then send for a medical man. if not much injured, and very painful, use the same ointment, or apply carded cotton dipped in lime water and linseed oil. if you please, you may lay cloths dipped in ether over the parts, or cold lotions. treat scalds in same manner, or cover with scraped raw potato; but the chalk ointment is the best. in the absence of all these, cover the injured part with treacle, and dust over it plenty of flour. body in flames--lay the person down on the floor of the room, and throw the table cloth, rug, or other large cloth over him, and roll him on the floor. dirt in the eye--place your forefinger upon the cheek-bone, having the patient before you; then slightly bend the finger, this will draw down the lower lid of the eye, and you will probably be able to remove the dirt; but if this will not enable you to get at it, repeat this operation while you have a knitting-needle or bodkin placed over the eyelid; this will turn it inside out, and enable you to remove the sand, or eyelash, etc., with the corner of a fine silk handkerchief. as soon as the substance is removed, bathe the eye with cold water, and exclude the light for a day. if the inflammation is severe, let the patient use a refrigerant lotion. lime in the eve--syringe it well with warm vinegar and water in the proportion of one ounce of vinegar to eight ounces of water; exclude light. iron or steel spiculae in the eye--these occur while turning iron or steel in a lathe, and are best remedied by doubling back the upper or lower eyelid according to the situation of the substance, and with the flat edge of a silver probe, taking up the metallic particle, using a lotion made by dissolving six grains of sugar of lead and the same of white vitriol, in six ounces of water, and bathing the eye three times a day till the inflammation subsides. another plan is--drop a solution of sulphate of copper (from one to three grains of salt to one ounce of water) into the eye, or keep the eye open in a wineglassful of the solution. bathe with cold lotion, and exclude light to keep down inflammation. dislocated thumb--this is frequently produced by a fall. make a clove hitch, by passing two loops of cord over the thumb, placing a piece of rag under the cord to prevent it cutting the thumb; then pull in the same line as the thumb. afterwards apply a cold lotion. cuts and wounds--clean cut wounds whether deep or superficial, and likely to heal by the first intention, should always be washed or cleaned, and at once evenly and smoothly closed by bringing both edges close together and securing them in that position by adhesive plaster. cut thin strips of sticking plaster, and bring the parts together; or, if large and deep, cut two broad pieces, so as to look like the teeth of a comb, and place one on each side of the wound, which must be cleaned previously. these pieces must be arranged so that they shall interlace one another; then, by laying hold of the pieces on the right side with one hand, and those on the other side with the other hand and pulling them from one another, the edges of the wounds are brought together without any difficulty. ordinary cuts are dressed by thin strips, applied by pressing down the plaster on one side of the wound, and keeping it there, and pulling in the opposite direction; then suddenly depressing the hand when the edges of the wound are brought together. contusions are best healed by laying a piece of folded lint, well wetted with extract of lead or boracic acid, on the part, and, if there is much pain, placing a hot bran poultice over the dressing, repeating both if necessary every, two hours. when the injuries are very severe lay a cloth over the part, and suspend a basin over it filled with cold lotion. put a piece of cotton into the basin, so that it shall allow the lotion to drop on the cloth, and thus keep it always wet. hemorrhage, when caused by an artery being divided or torn, may be known by the blood issuing out of the wound in leaps or jerks, and being of a bright scarlet color. if a vein is injured, the blood is darker and flows continuously. to arrest the latter apply pressure by means of a compress and bandage. to arrest arterial bleeding, get a piece of wood (part of a broom handle will do), and tie a piece of tape to one end of it. then tie a piece of tape loosely over the arm, and pass the other end of the wood under it; twist the stick around and around until the tape compresses the arm sufficiently to arrest the bleeding, and then confine the other end by tying the string around the arm. a compress made by enfolding a penny piece in several folds of lint or linen should, however, be first placed under the tape and over the artery, if the bleeding is very obstinate, and it occurs in the arm, place a cork underneath the string, on the inside of the fleshy part, where the artery may be felt beating by any one; if in the leg, place a cork in the direction of a line drawn from the inner part of the knee toward the outer part of the groin. it is an excellent thing to accustom yourself to find out the position of these arteries, or, indeed, any that are superficial, and to explain to every person in your house where they are, and how to stop bleeding. if a stick cannot be got, take a handkerchief, make a cord bandage of it, and tie a knot in the middle; the knot acts as a compress, and should be placed over the artery, while the two ends are c around the thumb. observe always to place the ligature between the wound and the heart. putting your finger into a bleeding wound, and making pressure until a surgeon arrives, will generally stop violent bleeding. bleeding from the nose, from whatever cause, may generally be stopped by putting a plug of lint into the nostrils; if this does not do, apply a cold lotion to the forehead; raise the head, and place over it both arms, so that it will rest on the hands; dip the lint plug, slightly moistened, into some powdered gum arabic, and plug the nostrils again; or dip the plug into equal parts of powdered gum arabic and alum, and plug the nose. or the plug may be dipped in friar's balsam, or tincture of kino. heat should be applied to the feet; and, in obstinate cases, the sudden shock of a cold key, or cold water poured down the spine, will often instantly stop the bleeding. if the bowels are confined, take a purgative. injections of alum solution from a small syringe into the nose will often stop hemorrhage. violent shocks will sometimes stun a person, and he will remain unconscious. untie strings, collars, etc.; loosen anything that is tight and interferes with the breathing; raise the head; see if there is bleeding from any part; apply smelling-salts to the nose, and hot bottles to the feet. in concussion, the surface of the body is cold and pale, and the pulse weak and small, the breathing slow and gentle, and the pupil of the eye generally contracted or small. you can get an answer by speaking loud, so as to arouse the patient. give a little brandy and water, keep the place quiet, apply warmth, and do not raise the head too high. if you tickle the feet, the patient feels it. in compression of the brain from any cause, such as apoplexy, or a piece of fractured bone pressing on it, there is loss of sensation. if you tickle the feet of the injured person he does not feel it. you cannot arouse him so as to get an answer. the pulse is slow and labored; the breathing deep, labored, and snorting; the pupil enlarged. raise the head, loosen strings or tight things, and send for a surgeon. if one cannot be got at once, apply mustard poultices to the feet and thighs, leeches to the temples, and hot water to the feet. choking--when a person has a fish bone in the throat, insert the forefinger, press upon the root of the tongue, so as to induce vomiting; if this does not do, let him swallow a large piece of potato or soft bread; and if these fail, give a mustard emetic, fainting, hysterics, etc.--loosen the garments, bathe the temples with water or eau-de-cologne; open the window, admit plenty of fresh air, dash cold water on the face, apply hot bricks to the feet, and avoid bustle and excessive sympathy. drowning.--attend to the following essential rules: . lose no time. . handle the body gently. . carry the body face downward, with the head gently raised, and never hold it up by the feet. . send for medical assistance immediately, and in the meantime act as follows: . strip the body; rub it dry, then wrap it in hot blankets, and place it in a warm bed in a warm room. . cleanse away the froth and mucus from the nose and month. . apply warm bricks, bottles, bags of sand, etc. to the armpits, between the thighs, and to the soles of the feet. . rub the surface of the body with the hands inclosed in warm, dry worsted socks. . if possible, put the body into a warm bath. . to restore breathing, put the pipe of a common bellows into one nostril, carefully closing the other, and the mouth; at the same time drawing downward, and pushing gently backward, the upper part of the windpipe to allow a more free admission of air; blow the bellows gently, in order to inflate the lungs, till the breast be raised a little; then set the month and nostrils free, and press gently on the chest; repeat this until signs of life appear. the body should be covered the moment it is placed on the table, except the face, and all the rubbing carried on under the sheet or blanket. when they can be obtained, a number of tiles or bricks should be made tolerably hot in the fire, laid in a row on the table, covered with a blanket, and the body placed in such a manner on them that their heat may enter the spine. when the patient revives, apply smelling-salts to the nose, give warm wine or brandy and water. cautions.-- . never rub the body with salt or spirits. . never roll the body on casks. . continue the remedies for twelve hours without ceasing. hanging--loosen the cord, or whatever it may be by which the person has been suspended. open the temporal artery or jugular vein, or bleed from the arm; employ electricity, if at hand, and proceed as for drowning. apparent death from drunkenness--raise the head; loosen the clothes, maintain warmth of surface, and give a mustard emetic as soon as the person can swallow. apoplexy and fits generally--raise the head; loosen all tight clothes, strings, etc.; apply cold lotions to the head, and send for a surgeon. suffocation from noxious gases, etc.--remove to the fresh air; dash cold vinegar and water in the face, neck, and breast; keep up the warmth of the body; if necessary, apply mustard poultices to the soles of the feet and to the spine, and try artificial respirations as in drowning, with electricity. lightning and sunstroke--treat the same as apoplexy. poisons and their antidotes. general rules always send immediately for a medical man. save all fluids vomited, and articles of food, cups, glasses, etc., used by the patient before taken ill, and lock them up. as a rule give emetics after poisons that cause sleepiness and raving; chalk, milk, eggs, butter, and warm water, or oil, after poisons that cause vomiting and pain in the stomach and bowels, with purging; and when there is no inflammation about the throat, tickle it with a feather to excite vomiting. vomiting may be caused by giving warm water, with a teaspoonful of mustard to the tumblerful, well stirred up. sulphate of zinc (white vitriol) may be used in place of the mustard, or powdered alum. powder of ipecacuanha, a teaspoonful rubbed up with molasses, may be employed for children. tartar emetic should never be given, as it is excessively depressing, and uncontrollable in its effects. the stomach pump can only be used by skillful hands, and even then with caution. opium and other narcotics--after vomiting has occurred, cold water should be dashed over the face and head. the patient must be kept awake, walked about between two strong persons, made to grasp the handles of a galvanic battery, dosed with strong coffee, and vigorously slapped. belladonna is an antidote for opium and for morphia, etc.; its active principles; and, on the other hand, the latter counteract the effects of belladonna. but a knowledge of medicine is necessary for dealing with these articles. strychnia--after emetics have been freely and successfully given, the patient should be allowed to breathe the vapor of sulphuric ether, poured on a handkerchief and held to the face, in such quantities as to keep down the tendency to convulsions. bromide of potassium, twenty grains at a dose, dissolved in syrup, may be given every hour. alcoholic poisoning should be combated by emetics, of which the sulphate of zinc, given as above directed, is the best. after that, strong coffee internally, and stimulation by heat externally, should be used. acids are sometimes swallowed by mistake. alkalies, lime water, magnesia, or common chalk mixed with water, may be freely given, and afterward mucilaginous drinks, such as thick gum water or flaxseed tea. alkalies are less frequently taken in injurious strength or quantity, but sometimes children swallow lye by mistake. common vinegar may be given freely, and then castor or sweet oil in full doses--a tablespoonful at a time, repeated every half hour or two. nitrate of silver when swallowed is neutralized by common table salt freely given in solution in water. the salts of mercury or arsenic (often kept as bedbug poison), which are powerful irritants, are apt to be very quickly fatal. milk or the whites of eggs may be freely given and afterward a very thin paste of flour and water. in these cases an emetic is to be given after the poison is neutralized. phosphorus paste, kept for roach poison or in parlor matches, is sometimes eaten by children and has been willfully taken for the purpose of suicide. it is a powerful irritant. the first thing to be done is to give freely of magnesia and water; then to give mucilaginous drinks as flaxseed tea, gum water or sassafras pith and water; and lastly to administer finely powdered bone-charcoal, either in pill or in mixture with water. in no case of poisoning should there be any avoidable delay in obtaining the advice of a physician, and, meanwhile, the friends or bystanders should endeavor to find out exactly what has been taken, so that the treatment adopted may be as prompt and effective as possible. keep still. keep still. when trouble is brewing, keep still. even when slander is getting on its legs, keep still. when your feelings are hurt, keep still, till you recover from your excitement at any rate. things look differently through an unagitated eye. a doctor relates how once in a commotion he wrote a letter, and sent it, and wished he had not. "i had another commotion and wrote a long letter; but life had rubbed a little sense into me. i kept that letter in my pocket against the day when i could look it over without agitation and without tears. i was glad i did. less and less it seemed necessary to send it i was not sure it would do any hurt, but in my doubt i leaned to reticence, and eventually it was destroyed." philosophical facts. the greatest height at which visible clouds ever exist does not exceed ten miles. air is about eight hundred and fifteen times lighter than water. the pressure of the atmosphere upon every square foot of the earth amounts to two thousand one hundred and sixty pounds. the violence of the expansion of water when freezing is sufficient to cleave a globe of copper of such thickness as to require a force of , pounds, to produce the same effect. during the conversion of ice into water one hundred and forty degrees of heat are absorbed. water, when converted into steam, increases in bulk eighteen hundred times. in one second of time--in one beat of the pendulum of a clock--light travels two hundred thousand miles. were a cannon ball shot toward the sun, and were it to maintain full speed, it would be twenty years in reaching it, and yet light travels through this space in seven or eight minutes. strange as it may appear, a ball of a ton weight, and another of the same material of an ounce weight, falling from any height will reach the ground at the same time. the heat does not increase as we rise above the earth nearer to the sun, but decreases rapidly until, beyond the regions of the atmosphere, in void, it is estimated that the cold is about seventy degrees below zero. the line of perpetual frost at the equator is , feet altitude; , feet between the tropics; and , to , between the latitudes of forty degrees and forty-nine degrees. at a depth of forty-five feet under ground, the temperature of the earth is uniform throughout the year. the human ear is so extremely sensitive that it can hear a sound that lasts only the twenty-four thousandth part of a second. sound travels at the rate of one thousand one hundred and forty-two feet per second-about thirteen miles in a minute. so that if we hear a clap of thunder half a minute after the flash, we may calculate that the discharge of electricity is six and a half miles off. alphabetical index accent and pronunciation accidents and emergencies aeronautics, dictionary of age, to tell, of any person age, when one becomes of alphabet of advice to writers amendments to the constitution analogies in nature, queer appalling depths of space, the apparel for men, proper art of not forgetting, the asthma, relief for baby's mind, development of the balls and evening receptions bank, doing business with a bathing, hints on beauty and health bees (memory rhyme) bell time on shipboard "best man." duties of the birthdays (memory rhyme) birth stones blonds and brunettes, colors for brain, the wonderful human bread, salt-rising bride's trousseau bright's disease, tomato in burial alive, to guard against business law in brief bust, to develop the canary birds, care of capital letters. the use of chamois skins change, how to make character as seen in faces check, how to draw a check-raising made easy cities, nicknames of cities, principal american college colors color contrast and harmony colors, how to select colors for blonds and brunettes complexions, men and constitutional law, principal points of constitution of the united states, the copyright, the law of cost and price marks coughs, what cures counterfeit money, how to detect courtship and marriage, etiquette of criminal law, points of cuckoo, the (memory rhyme) cure for love, a days of the week death sentence of the savior debutantes, etiquette for declaration of independence, the declaration of independence, signers of the dentifrices, useful and injurious dictionary of aeronautics dictionary of dreams discount, trade distances by water from new york distances that stun the mind divorce and marriage dog, senator vest's eulogy on the doing business with a bank don't be buried alive dower, the right of dreams and their meaning dress and etiquette, formalities in engagement and wedding rings english grammar in a nutshell etiquette of courtship and marriage etiquette of the visiting-card evolution theory, the exercise, physical eyes, care of the eyes, character indicated by the fables, modern facts about sponges facts about the liberty bell facts of general interest facts, handy, to settle arguments fat people and lean, rules for female figure, the perfect feminine height and weight finding, the law of fingers and hands, various forms of flag, the language of the flowers, the language of formalities in dress and etiquette friendly advice on many subjects geographical nicknames girdle of venus glue, test for god, the name of, in fifty languages "good bye, god bless you" grammar, english, in a nutshell grammar, short (memory rhyme) grammar, spelling and pronunciation hair, curious facts about hair and scalp, care of the hand grenades hands and fingers, various forms of hands, care of the handy metric table happiness defined health line health and beauty height and weight height of noted structure holidays, legal, in various states horse's prayer, the horses, to tell the age of housekeepers should remember, what hypnotism, the mysteries of independence, the declaration of indorsement of checks, etc. infant feeding and management interest rules, short invitations and announcements jefferson's political policy jewelry, correct form of keep still lady's chance of marrying, a language of flowers, the language of precious stones last words of famous men and women law, business, in brief law, points of criminal letter combinations liberty bell, facts about the loisette's memory system love, a cure for magna charta marriage and courtship, etiquette of marriage and divorce measures and weights mecklenburg declaration, the memory rhymes memory system, loisette's merchants' cost and price marks metric table, handy months, derivation of the names of the months, the (memory rhyme) mottoes of the states mourning colors the world over mourning customs name of god in fifty languages names of men, meanings of christian names of women, christian name, what's in a nature's wonders, some of nicknames, geographical nicknames of cities notes and acceptances nursing of infants "oh, i wish i was in eden" opportunity--ingalls' famous sonnet opportunity--poem osteopathy, the claims of palmistry, the mysteries of palm-reading, chart for parliamentary law, principles, of patent, how to obtain a philosophical facts phrenology, dr. spurzheim's physical exercise piano, how to care for a points of criminal law poisons and their antidotes population of principal cities poor richard's sayings presidents, ages and deaths of the presidents of the united states precious stones, the language of pronunciation and accent pronunciation, common errors in pronunciation, simple rules of punctuation quinine to break up a cold "raised" checks rats, how to get rid of recipes, trade secrets, etc. reputation, lines of riddles, old and new riding, rules for (memory rhyme) rights of married women road, rule of the salt-rising bread scalp and hair, care of the science and statistics, facts of shakespeare's counsel shaving, hints on short rules for spelling shoulders, to straighten round single tax, the skin, care of the social forms sparrow, the english spelling, short rules for sponges, facts about states, mottoes of the states, the names of the steps in the growth of american liberty swollen feet, relief for tea and coffee teeth of children, the teeth, the care of the theosophy things that are misnamed toasts and sentiments toothache time in which money doubles trade discounts trademarks, the laws of trees, big trees, maximum age of united states, constitution of visiting-card, etiquette of the water, how and when to drink water, to tell pure wedding and engagement rings wedding anniversaries wedding customs weights and measures weights and measures, handy what housekeepers should remember what's in a name? wine, how to serve, etc. woman's lunch, a workingmen easily gulled writers, alphabet of advice to [transcriber's note: the rest of the book is advertisemnts. ads are separated by a row of hyphens.] ------------------------- things worth knowing about dr. graves' tooth powder are too many and too well known to print on this small page but- here are a few , , cans sold in girls can make gross in one day , druggists in the u. s. a., carry graves' tons of tooth powder made in if so many people use graves' why can't you? [illustration: preceding text with image container.] ------------------------- perfect form health brace develop your chest from to inches. compels deep breathing and insures long life consumption claims thousands whose stooped shoulders and cramped lungs prevent them from inhaling the health-giving, revitalizing air special price, $ . for a $ . quality for sale where you got this book. [illustration: pictures of a man and woman modeling the brace.] ------------------------- products worth knowing. "now my mouth and teeth really do feel clean." "isn't it a godsend we had it in the house when the youngster cut his hand." remarks frequently made by users of hydrox peroxide of hydrogen. the always reliable antiseptic. you cannot depend on cheap peroxides in an emergency. they're dear at any price. for ideal cleanliness, comfort and hygiene use hydrox peroxide cream tooth powder dental paste soap talc face powder "the aristocrats of toilet preparations" all drug stores sell them. hydrox chemical co. new york san francisco chicago [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- this is a reproduction of the handsome new style package of st. jacobs oil which has a world-wide reputation as the great remedy for pain no other oil or liniment has ever received the cordial approval of the medical and nursing professions the world over. st. jacobs oil is the safest, surest and best pain relieving agent. highest prize medals awarded at international expositions for being the best pain cure. good for rheumatism, neuralgia, sore throat, chest colds, etc. just rub it on the affected parts. the pain may resist a dozen treatments--but it can't resist st. jacobs oil. send for illustrated booklet containing free music offer. price c., c. the c bottle contains times as much as the c size. st. jacobs oil ltd. baltimore, md. [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- stiefel's medicinal soaps for more than a quarter of a century stiefel's medicinal soaps, the pioneer products in the field, have been the standby of physicians everywhere, and many of the varieties have, originally through the recommendation of the skin specialist or the family physician, become household remedies and toilet accessories in the homes of the refined and particular. the ideal, logical and scientifically approved care of the scalp calls for the use of stiefel's superlative boracic acid shampoo soap a most effective remover of dandruff. cleanses the scalp and opens the pores. leaves the hair loose and fluffy, so that "you can do a thing with it" next day. price: cents per cake. tear out the coupon printed on page and get a free sample sole agents for the u. s. schering & glatz - maiden lane new york the oldest yet most up-to-date ------------------------- listen to these men there's no use talking--your appearance has much to do with your success, yes, any man's success in business. a small investment with us will give you the right appearance, the appearance of real prosperity. many men are wearing clothes made by us because they're stylish, reliable and may be had at very reasonable prices. we import many of our own goods and always display a large line of exclusive novelties at very attractive prices. the proprietors of this publication are our customers. our work pleases them and they think it will please you. we know it will. we would very much appreciate a call and if you will mention this advertisement we will allow you an extra cash discount of %. our household accounts are subject to premiums, and make buying clothes easy. drop us a card and we will mail you pamphlet giving full information, also samples. misselhorn & nelson tailors telephone, main south fifth ave., chicago ------------------------- our specialty orthopedic apparatus for all deformities including spinal curvature, hip joint disease, weak legs, bow legs, knock knees, club feet, flat feet, etc. shoes for the lame all apparatus made in our own factory. by skilled mechanics on short notice. estimates cheerfully given. send for catalog "d." sharp & smith manufacturers of orthopedic apparatus. shoes for the lame, artificial limbs. trusses, crutches, abdominal supporters, elastic stockings. n. wabash ave., chicago two doors north of washington street [illustration: image of person modeling a corset. image of shoe.] ------------------------- are you too fat? downs' obesity reducer will reduce your fat downs' obesity reducer is unlike other reducing remedies in that it does not require other medicines to strengthen up the system after it has performed its function of relieving the patient of superfluous fat. on the contrary downs' obesity reducer not only does away with obesity, but it strengthens the entire system, discharges all impurities and tones up the blood. it is easy to take; being put up in pill and capsule form. downs' obesity reducer contains no injurious drugs; a child might take it in any quantity without harmful effects. it is not one of the so-called "new discoveries." it has been used successfully for over thirty years and has never produced an evil effect. scores of people have been reduced by it from to pounds and never felt better than while taking and after taking. guaranteed by the downs' chemical company, chicago, under the pure food and drugs' act of june , . serial number . regular price for a full month's treatment is $ . . [illustration: silhouette of obese man and woman.] ------------------------- finest razors in the world. hand forged satisfaction largest factory in the u. s. guaranteed ask for the geneva standard brand, made by geneva cutlery co., geneva, n. y., u. s. a. [illustration: image of razor.] [illustration: picture of blacksmith pounding iron on an anvil.] ------------------------- pure olive oil is a health building food. it builds firm solid flesh, aids digestion and clears the complexion. dress your food with chiris (pronounced sheris) olive oil it is the first pressing of the choicest french olives. every package put up and sealed at the factory, at grasse, france. american agents antoine chiris company, - platt st., new york ------------------------- don't be cut open! don't suffer! promptly use meys poultice (hygroscopine) for pains, wounds, swellings, burns, bites, stings, and all inflammations meys poultice is in air-tight glass jars. ozs. net; ozs. net; lbs. net; and lbs. meys poultice is a safe, clean, soothing dressing--is antiseptic and anesthetic; does not soil or stain. it dissolves in water; lasts hours as a dressing. meys poultice is indorsed by physicians everywhere. it has no equal as a treatment in pneumonia, pleurisy, bronchitis, croup, rheumatic joints, carbuncles, old ulcers, infections, pelvic pains, ovaritis, erysipelas, orchitis, tonsillitis, enlarged glands and appendicitis. meys chemical mfg. co., chicago, iii. ------------------------- prevent disease australian eucalyptus globulus oil "kangaroo" brand recommended by the highest medical authorities for sick-room and household use as a general antiseptic, disinfectant and deodorant. it is non-poisonous and non-irritating. used the world over. take no substitute but see that you get our "kangaroo" brand. euca-scentol a fragrant but powerful antiseptic and inhalant. invaluable to those exposed to infection and contagion; to travelers; and for use in crowded cars, theatres, etc. mosquitoes and other insects shun it. use it when on the water or at summer resorts. either of the above sold by or obtained through any druggist in original bottles only. australian eucalyptus chemical co. n. michigan ave. chicago, iii. ------------------------- colds catarrh colds in head hay fever kondon's catarrhal jelly sample free for relief to prove why it cures please try kondon's with our compliments, for catarrhal sore throat--or colds or any catarrhal trouble. pleasant, pure, quick to stop distress and speedily cures. don't delay. sold by over , druggists--or write us for free sample. kondon's (in sanitary tubes) gives quick relief. snuff a bit of this aromatic, soothing, healing jelly well into the nasal passages. take a small portion internally, leaving in the throat as long as possible, rub the throat well with the jelly--you'll find almost instant relief. get a c or c tube today of your druggist or send penny postal to us for free sample. kondon mfg. co., minneapolis. minn. c or c sanitary tubes at all druggists. sample free [illustration: image of woman rubbing her throat. image of package.] ------------------------- spring house poland, maine can boast of two things that are unsurpassed, if equalled, in the united states. poland spring hotel, which is the most delightful summer resort in the state of maine. and the famous poland spring water, known all over the civilized world for its purity and sweetness and beneficial effects, has not its equal for kidney trouble, diabetes, gall-stones, and various other ailments of a similar nature. the spring house is the most magnificent of any spring house m the world having cost more then $ , . "poland" water is the purest, most efficacious and lightest of all natural mineral waters. hiram ricker & sons south poland, maine proprietors sprague, warner & company, chicago western agents [illustration: photograph of spring house; stone building with a steeple, resembling a church.] ------------------------- a hygienic cleanser a youthful complexion a protection from sun and wind brown's wonder face cream wonder face cream is recognized by both users and dealers to be the best face cream on the market, is the best looking package and the most goods for the money. for oily skin wonder face cream will prevent an oily skin, whether this is caused by the use of a grease cream, or by oil extuding from the skin itself. no other face cream is equal to wonder cream for this purpose. as a cleanser it is superior to soap. it penetrates the skin and removes the secretions which if allowed to remain will cause blackheads and pimples. wonder face cream contains no grease and will not grow hair. it will remove tan and sunburn, give the user a fresh complexion, whiten the skin, will gradually remove freckles and when used with massage will remove wrinkles. one jar will convince you. if you do not think this possible give it a trial. every person going out in the sun or wind, especially on automobile rides, requires a face dressing, and only a non-grease cream can be used. wonder face cream is perfect for this purpose. an invisible dressing of wonder cream will protect the face, preventing sunburn, roughening of the skin, etc, no one will suffer from sunburn if they will put on a dressing of wonder face cream before going out. put up in c, c, c, c, $ . and $ . jars. [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- brown's wonder salve a household remedy. perfectly harmless. can be used on both adults and children. wonder salve cures sore throat and colds, inflammation of lungs or chest, frost bite, neuralgia, chilblain, tired or aching feet, rheumatism, burns, boils, sprains, bruises, croup, earache, warts, appendicitis, eczema, sores at long standing, mumps, sore corns, cuts, piles and fistulas, deafness after scarlet lever, is best cure for pneumonia. brown's wonder salve cures first by removing inflammation or irritation of the parts; second by regulating the circulation when from any cause it has become impaired. with the cause of the inflammation removed and the circulation brought to its normal condition nature does the healing. put up in c, c and $ . sizes, and hospital size of $ . . if not obtainable at your druggist, goods will be sent by mail on receipt of price. safe delivery guaranteed. r. h. brown & co. menlo avenue, los angeles, cal. [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- collis famous corset ankle supports with removable bones the only real support for weak or sprained ankles men's, ladies' and misses'. price, per pair $ . children's. price per pair . made in tan or black leather. when ordering state size shoe worn. ------------------------- dr. bull's elastic ankle supports merc. silk men's, ladies' and misses'. price per pair $ . the feature of our elastic support is, they are made to fit and conform perfectly with ankle, giving free instep movement recommended by leading physicians. when ordering state size shoe worn. ------------------------- the harvard athletic supports price each cents made in three sizes, small, medium and large. these are used for all classes of athletic sports, such as baseball, football, basket ball, and all other indoor games. when ordering, enclose cents extra for mailing goods. h. j. collis mfg. co. :: taunton, mass. ------------------------- strops all blades gillette, o.v.b. durham, duplex, enders, keen kutter, ward and clark safety razor blades. old blades better than new--when--you use "meehan's" razor stropper. we guarantee every one of them to be in perfect condition. if a fair trial fails to convince you of its being the most economical stropping device on the market, come and get your money back. double edged blades sharpened without readjustment weighs only five ounces "meehan's" razor stropper. a sharp razor blade is the most essential point for the "home shaver." no safety razor set is complete without "meehan's" razor stropper. only one insertion of blade in holder is necessary for sharpening both sides of both edges at the same time. no complicated parts--simple construction--easy to operate. no possible chance of an accidental cut when inserting blade or stropping--when--you use "meehan's" razor stropper. $ for sale where you got this book [illustration: image of man using strop.] ------------------------- woman's beauty is her power every woman can be beautiful if she uses geo. w. laird's "bloom of youth" woman's beauty rules the world kings, emperors, sultans, millionaires, statesmen and men of influence all bow to women's beauty. then it is not to be wondered at that women do all in their power to attain that wonderful charm. a clear, smooth, soft, white, beautiful skin is far more attractive than the most costly costume. laird's "bloom of youth" will remove all imperfections of the skin--tan, freckles and all other discolorations--leaving it clear and beautiful. laird's "bloom of youth" has been in use the past fifty years and improved from time to time, until now it is simply a perfect toilet preparation. woman's duty woman should use every legitimate means in her power to make herself attractive if nature has not been generous to her and blessed her with a clear, soft, beautiful skin. she should use some of the artificial means of attaining the desired effect. we would recommend the use of laird's "bloom of youth." it has been in use the past fifty years by millions of society ladies, actresses and opera singers both in this country and in europe. sold at all druggists and fancy goods stores. price c a bottle. manufactured by geo. w. laird, cliffside. n. j. for sale where you got this book. [illustration: image of four well dressed men staring at a woman in the foreground. she is looking forward, toward the viewer and away from the men.] ------------------------- [illustration: photograph of child, - years old.] "i wish to state that we have been using your baby food for one year and have met with nothing but the best of results. it was only after trying, i think, all other kinds of foods, which only seemed to make matters worse, that a trial was made of dennos food, which, we feel, is a life saver. the photo and the boy's condition will best testify as to the merits of dennos food. yours very truly," (signed) ralph krows. union st., seattle. , babies die every year--almost invariably from improper feeding! doctors agree that the only substitute for mother's milk is fresh cow's milk, scientifically modified. that is why physicians and mothers alike are giving much heartfelt welcome to dennos food the wonderful new cereal preparation which adds to cow's milk all vital nutritional elements--flakes the indigestible curd completely, and saves babies' lives. i am using dennos food in my practice and find it very satisfactory. (signed), w. c. emery, m. d., kenton, ohio. i had tried several foods with very little success until we put our baby on dennos. dennos food is a godsend to mothers. (signed) mrs. m. lawrence. sycamore st., cincinnati, ohio. sold by your druggist ask your doctor about "dennos" write to dennos food co. western ave., seattle for free sample and baby book. ------------------------- sweetola high grade chocolates made for a discerning public packed in packages containing either bitter sweet chocolates milk chocolates chocolates and bon bons assorted chocolates made by the chicago chocolate co. west lake street phones kedzie and chicago ------------------------- things worth knowing dr. lemke's golden electric liniment is a powerful pain expeller and a reliable house remedy. it alleviates and heals external and internal pain and inflammation, both for man and beast. it is an extraordinary and valuable liniment. price, $ . and c. dr. lemke's st. johannis drops is a valuable medicine. in thousands of cases these drops have alleviated pain and cured sickness; yes, in a great many cases saved lives in attacks of spasms, colic, cramps and cholera. in case of excitement and anxious feelings in the head and nerves these drops. bring quick relief. a very important medicine. price, c and c. dr. lemke's laxative herb tea has a salutary effect on the whole system in cases of colds, biliousness, costiveness and intermittent fevers. it thoroughly cleanses the blood, creates appetite, works on the liver, kidneys, bladder and produces a regular stool. price, c and c. these remedies have been in use over years and have enjoyed a gradual increase in sales through their good work. they are for sale by druggists and prepared by dr. h. c. lemke medicine co., elburn ave., chicago ------------------------- [illustration: image of young woman using typewriter.] typewriters special prices for serviceable machines as low as $ , $ , and $ i sell all makes rebuilt and some nearly new. write me for special price on any make or model preferred. telephones: franklin automatic - walter h. fox, n. la salle st., chicago, ill. ------------------------- the perfect removable buffer with extra chamois the metal band being removable, the chamois may be easily replaced, making the polisher practically everlasting. in sizes; - / , , and inches. colors: ebony, cocobola and olive wood. manufactured by the manicure novelty mfg. co. sullivan street, new york inquire where you got this book ------------------------- sanford's inks for permanent records mucilage, library paste the only ink for a fountain pen a necessity in every office and home [illustration: image of packages.] ------------------------- you must have an antiseptic always on hand to protect yourself against disease-breeding bacteria. be absolutely sure that it is (a) free from poison; (b) reliable; (c) easily applied; (d) free from objectionable odor. how can you be sure of finding these four properties in an antiseptic? read the official reports on salubrin from eminent authorities, professors of medicine in the royal university of lund, sweden. buy from your druggist a bottle of salubrin, and read the circular, containing such reports; or drop us a postal card, giving your address, and we will mail you absolutely convincing proofs. there is no other antiseptic remedy equal to salubrin. the salubrin laboratory grand crossing chicago, ill. ------------------------- particular people demand calder's saponaceous dentine made for years it cleans and polishes the teeth, making them white and beautiful. it keeps the gums a natural red, the breath fragrant. buy it anywhere the material used in calder's dentine is made especially for it. ------------------------- lune de miel (honeymoon) the new perfume a charming new perfume of exquisite odor. cut glass bottle in satin lined case beautifully put up. an unusually attractive package at a moderate price. lune de miel (the french for honeymoon) is probably the most delightful perfume on the market. it's fragrance is not alone pleasing but lasting. lune de miel perfume is now enjoying the same large demand in america as it has in europe. lune de miel toilette water, sachet. face powder and soap. the crown perfumery co. of london east th street, new york [illustration: photograph of perfume bottle and enclosing box.] ------------------------- [illustration: image of woman using product.] burnishine did it! warranted not to contain anything injurious to the metal. works quick and easy. for cleaning or polishing copper, brass, zinc, tin, nickel, silver and all kinds of metals. put up in cans -oz., / -pint, -pint, -quart, -quart. -gallon for sale by all dealers j. c. paul & co., mfrs. chicago ------------------------- mt. clemens bitter water nature's great laxative and tonic for biliousness and indigestion prepared from and containing all of the remedial merit of the famous mt. clemens mineral waters the original the long green bottle born in mt. clemens the dose is small--it's not bad to take-- per cent. satisfaction analysis and history for the asking mt. clemens mineral springs water co. mt. clemens, michigan ------------------------- ask your druggist the canton seamless hot water bottle, as the name implies, is seamless--it cannot possibly leak. the highest grade materials are used in its construction, making it the most durable seamless water bottle ever devised. guaranteed two years. made in all sizes. ask your druggist ------------------------- [illustration: image of spray can.] "dead stuck" for bugs big bugs, little bugs-- all sorts of bugs are exterminated by "dead stuck" price cents per can--all druggists manufactured by the penn chemical co., inc. philadelphia. pa. ------------------------- sanitas the best disinfectant powerful, fragrant and non-poisonous "sanitas" disinfecting fluid, -oz. bottle, cents "sanitas" crude disinfecting liquid, -oz. bottle, cents "sanitas" oil, -oz. bottle, cents "sanitas" jelly (salve), -oz. jar, cents "sanitas" disinfecting toilet soap, per cake, cents remember an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. write for book, "how to disinfect." the "sanitas" co., u. s. a. to west th street, new york ------------------------- for years gray's ointment has stood the test for burns, boils, carbuncles, sores of all kind, frost-bite and all external inflammations. a box should be kept in every home. immediate application to the wound has saved thousands of cases of blood-poison. cents from your druggist or w. f. gray & co. nashville, tenn. write for booklet. ------------------------- dr. lindley's golden remedy for epilepsy years of successful treatment golden remedy has stood the test of time; it is no new thing, but a well tried remedy which stands alone as the only medicine that will stop fits in hours; of course to do away with them altogether it must be taken from to years, although many cases have been cured in much less time than this, depending upon the severity of the case. golden remedy is also of great value in the treatment of the following troubles: nervous headache. great nervous excitability. insomnia or sleeplessness. hysteria. st. vitus dance. spasms and convulsions of men, women and children. [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- those who seek the best get borden's malted milk those who accept substitutes are losers malted milk dept. borden's condensed milk co. new york ------------------------- [illustration: image of hand holding syring with.] every woman is interested and should know about the wonderful marvel whirling spray syringe the marvel by reason of its peculiar construction, dilates and flushes the vaginal passage with a volume of whirling fluid, which smooths out the folds and permits the injection to come in contact with its entire surface, instantly dissolving and washing out all secretions and discharges. ask your druggist for it. if he cannot supply the marvel, accept no other, but send stamp for illustrated book--sealed. it gives full particulars and directions invaluable to ladies. address marvel co. east d street, new york for sale where you got this book. $ . ------------------------- "where there's life, there's hope" rev. w. w. brown's asthma remedy a preventive of paroxysms or choking spells. all we ask for this wonderful remedy is a fair trial. why not try it? address: w. w. brown, sioux city, iowa ------------------------- peckham's croup remedy is the children's safe-guard for cough, colds, croup, whooping cough. mothers, get a bottle to-day, you may need it to-night. sold where you got this book. c ------------------------- chavett diphtheria preventive cents a pleasant fruity syrup, used by thousands of families to safeguard children against diphtheria, scarlet fever, diseased tonsils and all throat infections. it should always be kept on hand for immediate use. its value is well worth knowing. ------------------------- chavett solace cents a standard household remedy for all distressed conditions, neuralgic or rheumatic. a comforting insurance against loss of time due to pain, headache or la grippe. one bottle proves its value. chavett laboratory, w. st street, chicago ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] "lustr-ite" a brand on manicure goods which is recognized and stamped with the approval of its thousands of users. standing for purity and quality of manufacture. lustr-ite specialties are sold by the central drug company, state and washington st., chicago. the floridine manufacturing co. new york ------------------------- shaving comfort found only in a tube of bonheim's shaving cream no soap no cup no trouble price per large tube cents if your dealer cannot supply you send cents to us and a full size tube will be mailed to your address. savoy drug & chemical co. chicago. [illustration: image of man shaving.] ------------------------- physiological tonicum this is what may be described as a scientific iron tonic. in it the ferric and ferrous oxides are combined in exactly the same proportions as they are found combined in the normal human blood; hence it is that the physiological tonicum is a blood maker, or, if the term be preferred, blood purifier--it corrects the blood. thus it is that this tonic (which may be used in connection with other medicine) is useful in nearly all diseases, save such as are characterized by plethoric states, or full-bloodedness. in any instance where the physician wants to prescribe iron which will cause no untoward effects, such as disturbing the stomach, affecting the teeth, etc., this physiological tonicum is the best preparation of iron he can find in the market. price -ounce bottle, cents. price -ounce bottle. $ . . prepared solely by boericke & tafel, publishers of hensel's scientific works in the united states and germany and sole authorized depositaries for his physiological preparations. for sale by the store where you got this book. ------------------------- everybody admires a beautiful complexion. dr. t. felix gouraud's oriental cream or magical beautifier an indispensable and delightful toilet requisite for fashionable women. a daily necessity for the ladies' toilet whether at home or while traveling. it protects the skin from injurious effects of the elements, gives a wonderfully effective beauty to the complexion. it is a perfect non-greasy toilet cream and positively will not cause or encourage the growth of hair which all ladies should guard against when selecting a toilet preparation. when dancing, bowling or other exertions heat the skin, it prevents a greasy appearance. gouraud's oriental cream has been highly recommended by physicians, actresses, singers and women of fashion for over half a century and cannot be surpassed when preparing for daily or evening attire. gouraud's oriental cream cures skin diseases and relieves sunburn. removes tan, pimples, blackheads, moth patches, rash, freckles and vulgar redness, yellow and muddy skin, giving a delicately clear and refined complexion which every woman desires. no. . for sale by druggists and fancy goods dealers. ferd. t. hopkins, prop., great jones street, new york [illustration: image of package.] [illustration text] oriental cream or magical beautifier trade mark the most elegant and delicate preparation for the skin ever invented for tan, pimples, freckles, morphew & all blemishes of the cuticle. prepared by ferd. t. hopkins, successor to t. felix gouraud great jones st. - new york price $ . per bottle. [end illustration text] ------------------------- employed and prescribed by leading physicians everywhere. simplex steam vaporizers lead size x nickel plate complete croup kettles, warm vapor inhalers and nursery vaporizer. no. with oz. boiler and restricted alcohol flame, complete price $ . no. with oz. boiler al copper boiler and jacket, handsome instrument price . no. with oz. boiler hospital size with restricted alcohol lamp price . no. with oz. boiler with retaining chest works / hour with flame price . no. with oz. boiler a kettle with improved vent tube, highly finished price . simplex inhalers and benzoin kettles for whooping cough, grip, colds, lost voice bronchitis, singers', speakers' and smokers' throats. delivered postpaid with direction and formulae. simplex lamp mfg. co., brooklyn, n. y. geo. h. bells patents sold at all leading drug stores. [illustration: image of boiler and heat lamp.] ------------------ nardine a name to be remembered by every housekeeper, as it is the name of one of the best household remedies on earth. it is divided into a series of specifics. each specific is intended to eliminate a certain group of disorders as follows: no. . catarrh, cold in the head, grip, neuralgia, hay fever, asthma. no. . eczema, itching, salt-rheum, sunburn, mosquito bites, boils, burns, bruises, chapped and cracked hands, and all forms of skin eruptions. no. . sore throat, bronchitis, lung trouble, whooping cough, croup. no. . for indigestion (catarrh of the stomach) cause sour stomach and foul breath. no. . for piles and chafing. no. . for chilblains, tender feet, callouses, bunions, and corns. no. . for complexion, blackheads, pimples, skin eruptions. no. . for toothache, headache, earache, deafness. sold by all leading druggists everywhere. price cents or sent direct from this office on receipt of price. trial box free. nardine med. co, schenectady, n. y. ------------------------- we sell alexander's remedy for asthma and hay fever "don't fail to give it a trial" ------------------------- the sweet babee nursing bottle patented may , has no neck, therefore is washed on the inside like a tumbler, and filled without a funnel. every mother is familiar with this style nipple; we have simply added the large bottom to fit the opening of the bottle. it is reversible and will not collapse. endorsed by doctors and nurses as the most sanitary nursing bottle made. for sale by all druggists. price complete c. the yankee co., mfrs., utica, n. y. ------------------------- whittemore's polishes the oldest and largest manufacturers of shoe polish in the world finest in quality largest in variety below we mention some of our special brands: "gilt edge" oil polish blacks and polishes ladies' and children's boots and shoes; shines without rubbing; always ready for use. price c. "dandy" combination for cleansing and polishing all kinds of russet or tan boots and shoes. price c. "star" size, c. also oxblood and brown combinations in same sizes and at same prices. "elite" combination for those who take pride in having their shoes look a- . restores color and lustre to all black shoes. polish with a brush or cloth. price c "baby elite" size, c. "french gloss." for blacking and polishing ladies' and children's boots and shoes; shines without rubbing. (see cut.) price c. "quick white" makes dirty canvas shoes clean and white. in liquid form so it can be quickly and easily applied. no white dust. will not rub off. a sponge in every package, so always ready for use. two sizes, c and c. "bully shine." a waterproof paste polish for all kinds of black shoes and old rubbers. blacks, polishes, softens and preserves. contains oils and waxes to polish and preserve the leather. large tin boxes, price c. boxes open with a key. ask for whittemore's shoe polishes if you want the best, [illustration: images of packages.] ------------------------- [illustration: images of packages.] leslie safety razors and spiral stropper leslie standard the shaving outfit of the world contains leslie safety razor and spiral stropper and leslie blades. pronounced by its users to be far in advance of all other shaving and stropping devices. in handsome leather lined and covered case. no. . special leslie finish $ . no. . gold plated . ------------------------- leslie tourist the leslie tourist safety razor with leslie blades, identical with the $ . outfit with the exception of the leslie stropper. the true test of any razor is the blade, and without reservation or qualification, we pronounce this the finest and most efficient "no hone, no strop" safety razor ever produced. this outfit will out-shave and out-last all other makes of safety razors and, in doing so, will afford far greater comfort and satisfaction. in handsome leather lined and covered case. no. . special leslie finish $ . no. . gold plated. . ------------------------- leslie junior the vest pocket safety razor realizing the enormous demand for a really first-class safety razor that will far excel all others now in use, at the popular price of $ . , we have brought out the leslie junior safety razor which consists of the unequaled leslie holder and six regulation leslie blades. in handsome leather lined and covered case. no. . special leslie finish $ . no. . gold plated . made by leslie manufacturing company, boston, u. s. a. ------------------------- retain a "bloom of youth" by using luxtone beauty secret a dainty invisible cream powder and skin tonic combined, which freshens the complexion and tones down the hard lines as tho' by magic. it feeds the tissue, refines the texture, instantly beautifies, and permanently benefits. only under the luxtone label will you find the real "beauty secret." accept no other, for then you are safe, price c, c, c. luxtone rubitint. a delicate coloring for cheeks and lips; when combined with the "beauty secret," produces an effect truly captivating. price c, c. luxtone almondolive cream. the cream for making flesh and banishing wrinkles. price $ . . luxtone cold cream. the cream that cleanses clear through. price c, c. luxtone cucumber cream. the only cream for sunburn. price c. manufactured only by blanche w. moe, w. nd street new york, n. y. [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] look for our trade mark el perfecto veda rose rouge a wonderful beautifier sold in the highest class stores in many places all over the world. it is famous for giving a perfectly natural tint to the cheeks. this article of great merit has been manufactured by the el perfecto veda rose co. for over fourteen years, is harmless and never fails to give satisfaction. any rouge bordering on the shade of el perfecto veda rose is an imitation. use the original which is known to be the most perfectly natural shade ever before manufactured. el perfecto veda rose co. san francisco, cal. ------------------------- sandholm's skin lotion is a clear liquid used externally. eradicates all skin and scalp trouble by absorbing the germ--returns the skin to normal condition. it has no equal for salt rheum, eczema, rash, tetter (herps), scald head, milk scald, plant poisoning, hives, mosquito bites, small burns or scratches, barbers' itch, parasitic diseases, scaly or scabby eruptions of the skin, itching piles, acne, psoriasis, pimples, blackheads, cracked hands and lips, etc. a perfect antiseptic after shaving. what is more desirable than a clear, healthy skin? remove the blotches, pimples and hideous red marks by the free use of sandholm's lotion. when used as a massage, sandholm's lotion is the greatest skin beautifier ever discovered, and produces that velvety softness of the skin which is so much admired. one trial will convince you of its merits. manufactured by sandholm drug co. des moines, iowa ------------------------- abilena america's truest and purest natural laxative. one of the most remarkable of all natural phenomena is the famous wells of abilena from which flows a perfect laxative water. scientists of today, with the accumulated knowledge of , years to guide them, have not been able to manufacture a harmless, non-irritating laxative which relieves constipation and stimulates the liver as abilena water does. you will never need laxative medicines of any kind--pills, tablets, capsules, salts, artificial waters--if you occasionally drink a wine-glass of abilena when conditions call for a laxative or cathartic. abilena comes to you pure--just as it flows from the famous wells of abilena--harmless as the water you drink--clear, sparkling, vitalizing. it flushes and cleanses the system thoroughly, and in the gentlest way possible. instead of irritating the delicate membranes of the stomach and bowels, as drugs and artificial waters are very apt to do, it relieves congestions and soothes these membranes, and it stimulates liver activities. there is no magic in the name, abilena, nor no special virtue simply because it happens to be america's only natural cathartic water, but its splendid clinical value and effect is due solely to the fact that abilena is almost wholly pure and true sodium sulphate--the world's truest representative of this ideal laxative and reconstructive base, all the other waters on the markets are largely solutions of epsom salts, consequently are nauseous, harsh and irritating. the same thing is more or less true with pills, powders and the manufactured cathartics. abilena is a safe, sure, inexpensive laxative and cathartic, convenient and pleasant to take, suited for old and young alike, a cure for constipation and biliousness, and truly the ideal family remedy. abilena is america's only bottled natural cathartic water. we will mail, free, upon application, "the natural method," an interesting booklet on the importance of normal elimination and a study of the comparative values of the better known cathartics. the abilena company frank m. gier, m. d., pres. abilene, kan. ------------------------- [illustration: image of two men.] the sad story of my father's great suffering from cancer read the following and be convinced. there's hope for you. forty-five years ago my father, who was himself a doctor, had a vicious cancer that was eating away his life. the best physicians in america could do nothing for him. after nine long years of awful suffering, and after the cancer had totally eaten away his nose and portions of his face (as shown in his picture here given) his palate was entirely destroyed together with portions of his throat. father fortunately discovered the great remedy that cured him. he lived over years and no return of the disease. the same discovery has now thousands who were threatened with operation and death. and to prove that this is the truth we will give their sworn statement if you will write us. doctors, lawyers, mechanics, ministers, laboring men, bankers and all classes recommend this glorious life-saving discovery, and we want the whole world to benefit by it. have you cancer, tumors, ulcers, abscesses, fever sores, goitre, catarrh, salt-rheum, rheumatism, piles, eczema, scald head, or scrofula in any form? ask your druggist for mixer's cancer & scrofula syrup. it will cost you nothing to learn the truth about this wonderful home treatment without the knife or caustic. and if you know anyone who is afflicted with any disease above mentioned, you can do them a christian act of kindness by telling them of our great treatment and how to get it. forty years' experience guarantees success. ask your druggist for illustrated booklet free, showing half tones of many people cured, with their testimonials. manufactured by mixer medicine co., jefferson st., hastings, mich. ------------------------- your feet as well as any part of your body, should be properly treated and taken care of. if you are in need of a positive and guaranteed remedy, something entirely different from the every-day-so-called "corn cures," an article for removing corns and callouses, and for relief of painful bunions--buy a c tube of goodwin's chiropody corn salve [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- for tired, aching, swollen, bad-smelling or burning feet there is nothing to compare with goodwin's foot powder. these articles are for sale and recommended by your druggist. man'f'd by goodwin german foot remedy co. chicago, ill. [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- [illustration: photograph of young woman smiling.] strong's arnica tooth soap cleanser and mouth wash in one polishes the teeth to dazzling whiteness, while its fragrant antiseptic foam reaches every part of the mouth--neutralizing all tooth-destroying acids, preventing discoloration and decay. strong's arnica tooth soap comes in a handy metal box--nothing to break or spill. a convenient cake that insures beautiful teeth, healthy, gums and a sweet breath. at your druggist, cents. strong's arnica jelly keeps your skin smooth no need to endure the discomfort of sunburn or winter chapping. apply with finger tips, rub gently into pores. in collapsible metal tubes, cents. note.--if your druggist does not have these goods, send price to us. we will forward them prepaid. guaranteed under the food and drug act, june , . serial no. c. h. strong & co., chicago, u. s. a. ------------------------- delays are dangerous unexpected changes are apt to bring on coughs and colds. mares cough balsam will not allow a cold or cough to run to the dangerous point. it checks the irritation and drives out the inflammation. if you have children you ought to have a bottle of this medicine on the mantel. c a bottle at all drug stores. mares cathartic capsules tone the stomach, help the liver and clean the bowels. ------------------------- for women orange blossom dr. j. a. mcgill's famous female suppositories are a famous remedy for all female diseases. the orange blossom is simple and harmless. every lady can treat herself. suffering women call and get a free sample and book telling how at the store where you got this book. $ . ------------------------- grube's method after minutes, no pain! for complete eradication of toe corns, sole corns, bunions, callouses, soft corns, heel corns. kills the seed. leaves smooth skin one drop corn remover advise no cutting with knife. use eraser to remove hard part. rub well. apply "one drop," covering corn completely to kill seed of the trouble; cover it with tissue paper; peel it off third day. result a normal smooth skin. put cotton between toes when soft corns. price cents when properly applied, gives relief in minutes. excelsior chemical company, state street, chicago. for sale at the store where you got this book. [illustration: photograph showing product in use on foot.] ------------------------- "look out for the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves" --an old saying look out for the blood cells and the body will take care of itself you can't expect to be well, or to ever accomplish much in the world if the blood and nerve cells are lacking strength and vitality. as the blood races through your body--head and brain, every little cell should be brim full of life and power. then you feel the vim and "go" that will make you a power among your fellow men. no nervousness, no indecision, no signs of the weakling if you use dr. hoag's cell tissue tonic the great nerve and tissue builder. this goes straight to the cells of the blood and enriches them and puts new strength into them so they can combat and throw off disease. this is undoubtedly the greatest and grandest rebuilder and strengthener that modern medicine has produced. cell tissue tonic is particularly recommended for paleness and weakness, debilitation, stomach and bowel trouble (of both infants and adults), hysteria, fainting spells, insomnia (sleeplessness) and poor assimilation of food. all druggists sell dr. hoag's cell tissue tonic. price $ . per bottle. or it is sent direct upon receipt of price. address dr. c. a. hoag company, west kinzie st., chicago, ills. dr. hoag's "home doctor book" contains instructions on care of sick and sick room as well as much other valuable information. sent to anyone free upon request. dr. c. a. hoag co., chicago, ill. ------------------------- wright's rheumatic remedy wright's catarrhal balm two great medicines these well known canadian medicines are of a high order of excellence and of the greatest value. prompt in action and relief. try a bottle of wright's rheumatic remedy for your rheumatism. it dissolves uric acid quickly, stops pain, takes out the grit in the joint, establishes a good circulation, very soon puts the patient on the road to ease and comfort. a truly wonderful medicine. one dose a day. usually one bottle sufficient. just one dollar. all singers, speakers, voice users, children, in fact everybody should use wright's antiseptic catarrh balm. it clears out the head, stops the ringing noises, heals the tender places, keeps the germ away, gives the clear voice, clean throat, and free air passages. "just a little on the finger tip" inserted in the nostril during the day, and upon retiring works wonders. keep a box handy, it saves the doctor bill. cents per box. the wright medicine co. peru, indiana or from the central drug co. cor. state & washington sts., chicago, ill. ------------------------- one of the "things worth knowing" is that dr. j. d. kellogg's asthma remedy does relieve asthma and hay fever cents and one dollar free sample on request northrop & lyman co., inc. buffalo, n. y. ------------------------- one of the best external remedies known the dr. d. p. ordway plasters a broad statement, yet true. better than filling the system up with drugs. rheumatism, weak lungs, asthma, backache, lumbago, strains, bronchitis, female weakness and all other transient aches and pains. a strengthening support wherever applied. c each ------------------------- we are headquarters for a. p. w. brand toilet paper. a light, soft tissue of the finest quality, made from absolutely clean, pure stock. we will deliver anywhere in the city , sheets and a handsome nickel-plated holder for the sum of $ . send us a trial order and be convinced that the a. p. w. brand is not only the best but also the most economical toilet paper on the market. central drug company, chicago or detroit independent drug company, chicago auditorium pharmacy company, chicago ashland drug company, chicago congress drug company, chicago standard drug company, cleveland ------------------------- rat-nox destroys rats, mice and roaches (do not die in house) most economical and effective remedy. in self sealing boxes made with a view to convenience in handling, and cents. omega novelty company, milwaukee, wis. ------------------------- test it yourself--free a real hair restorative? yes--that's just it--a real one at last--one that invigorates the roots and promotes the restoration of the hair to its original beauty, luxuriance and color. better than any argument is the restorative itself--for you to try. we are only too glad to throw ourselves wholly on the merits of golden rule hair restorative, so we years ago set aside thousands of dollars to spend on big free sample bottles. if we didn't know what our preparation would do this would be reckless extravagance. but we do know and believe that the quickest way to help you to find it out is to place a bottle of it in your bands. we know the annoyance of having one's hair fall and turn gray, perhaps while you are still young. it is the result perhaps of some unusual worry or care, but that does not prevent friends and neighbors from the knowing nod that says, "growing old." not so, it is only a run down condition of the roots of the hair--just as the body gets run down. but you should not permit this. it is not necessary and this needless look of age impairs your usefulness and popularity in society and business. golden rule hair restorative simply invigorates the roots--waking them up--toning them up--rejuvenating them until they are rendered lively and vigorous as in youth, the obvious result is that the growth of the hair is promoted. hair can starve and wither like any plant that gets its life from its roots. if the roots are vigorous and healthy, the hair is bound to be natural. we want you to accept a large sample bottle with our compliments. we want you to know what a remarkable remedy this is. if you don't need it yourself, get it for some friend. the truth is, however, that everyone should use golden rule hair restorative as a dressing for the hair to keep it healthy, just as you use a dentrifice to keep the teeth dainty and healthy. get this bottle and try it. remember its continued use tends to stop hair from falling by promoting a vigorous growth of healthy hair. remember that it restores color to the hair. it is harmless and a trial will convince you that it is just what we claim for it. send to us today, enclosing c to pay postage and packing, and the bottle will come by first mail--in a plain wrapper with full explanations. the citizens' wholesale supply co. department c. - columbus, ohio ------------------------- have you piles? why suffer longer when rossman's pile cure is at hand - / south st., glens falls, n. y., june , . g. a. mckinstry, hudson, n. y. dear sir:--by the advice of my druggist, mr. bert h. bentley. i bought and used your pile cure and have found it a wonder. i have been around the world and have used all kinds of salves, but never found anything equal to yours. in the year i enlisted in the u. s. regulars and went to the philippines. was operated upon for hemorrhoids and was all right for three months. when itching developed, went to the hospital, where i was told i had itching piles. i have been doctoring for nine years for same and found no relief until i used a box of rossman's cure. i think it wonderful. wishing you further success, i remain, yours very truly, wm. f. carter. subscribed and sworn before me this rd day of june, j. e. potter, notary public. mailed on receipt of price, cents. geo. a. mckinstry successor to a. mckinstry & son, druggists warren street, hudson. n. y. ------------------------- don't wait until tomorrow before you investigate our method of treating drug, liquor and tobacco addictions with hill's chloride of gold tablets. do it now we remove desire of patients we accept for treatment, if directions are followed, and do it without pain or suffering. can be given secretly without the knowledge of the patient. testimonials sent free. give it a trial. for sale by druggists, or sent on receipt of $ . . the ohio chemical works toledo, ohio. ------------------------- there may be other remedies nearly as good, but there are none better than ath-lo-pho-ros searles' remedy for rheumatism and neuralgia write us for our booklets athlo-ointment for stiff and sore joints athlo-tablets for constipation the athlophoros company new haven, conn. ------------------------- scheffler's instantaneous hair colorine by the use scheffler's hair colorine, the hair may be colored eight natural shades. no. . black no. . dark brown no. . light brown no. a. medium brown no. . dark drab no. . light drab no. . auburn no. . blonde this colorine has been the recognized standard for years and is easy to apply. directions come with each box. the shades obtained by the use of scheffler's hair colorine are natural looking also leaves the hair soft and glossy. new york hair company broadway, n. y. city. sole agents and distributors for sale where you got this book. price $ . ------------------------- new kind salted peanuts did you ever try them? if not, you ought to ask your druggist, confectioner or grocer for them at once and insist on having no other kind but "marple bros. new kind salted peanuts." if you buy them once you will never again buy any of the other cheap kinds. our peanuts are prepared so different from the old way, making them very nutritious and healthy. they are especially favored by the ladies to serve at all social functions. once you try them, you will always buy them. put up only by marple bros., toledo. o. for sale where you got this book. ------------------------- tangleoot the original fly paper for more than years the standard of quality all others are imitations [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- the best perfumes are made by seguin et cie french perfumers we carry a full line ------------------------- [illustration: image of bottle and nipple.] the hygeia nursing bottle, with a wide mouth food-cell and a breast, is the safest, cleanest, most natural, and simple nursing bottle for the feeding of infants. mothers will make no mistake if they buy the hygeia. it will save them much anxiety and trouble in feeding their babies. it is widely and generally known, and stands at the head of all nursing devices. be sure you get the hygeia. the name is on the breast-nipple; also, on the food receptacle. beware of imitations! beware of infringements! on sale by all druggists. manufactured by the hygeia nursing bottle co. main st. buffalo, n. y. ------------------------- all of our stores sell the new bachelor cigar it's one of the best sellers ------------------------- w. p. cabler's root juice (compound) tones, soothes and heals the mucous linings of the stomach, bowels and bladder, invigorates the liver and kidneys. unsurpassed for general debility, nervous weakness, stomach troubles, kidney affections and general break-down. the quick, beneficial results obtained from the use of root juice is surprising thousands of people throughout the country. the compound is certainly a remarkable tonic stomachic and seems to benefit from the very start, all who take it. manufactured by w. p. cabler root juice med. co., fort wayne, ind. ------------------------- i-de-lite cleans-dusts-polishes all varnished or waxed woodwork, floors, pianos, furniture, white enamel, automobile bodies with ease and satisfaction. a spoonful on a dampened cheese cloth wiped over the varnish and polished with a dry cheese cloth will pick up all the dust, remove the grease, smoked or blued spots, cover scratches and restore the original lustre or finish. i-de-lite does not contain alcohol, ether, turpentine, benzine, vinegar, common paraffine or coal oil, anyone of which will in time ruin fine varnish. easy to apply, a pleasant and purifying odor. manufactured by oscar s. rhoads. fort wayne, ind. ------------------------- what is saliodin? quantitative and qualitative analyses saliodin densten manufactured by the saliodin chemical co. scranton. pa. saliodin dose, grs. x to xxx oz. formula each grs. xx of saliodin contains approximately: salicylic acid, (aceto-salicylate), grs. xv iodine (iodate) equivalent to iodide potass, grs. xv acetic acid (acetate) equiv. to acetate potass, grs. v aconite, equiv. to tr. aconite r. gtts. iv bryonia, equiv. to tr. bryonia, gtts. v colchicum, equiv. to vin colchicum r. gtts. xv capsicum, equiv. to tr. capsicum gtts ii oil gaultheria, m iii saliodin is an "iodated aceto-salicylate with adjuvants" and the specific treatment for every form of uric acid diathesis. "saliodin" is a solvent and eliminant of uric acid and is a happy combination of salicylic acid, iodine, acetic acid, aconite, bryonia, colchicum, capsicum and gaultheria and chemically appears in the form of a pink greyish powder soluble in water to --dose grs. x to grs. xxx for the exclusive use of physicians--put up in one-ounce bottles; price, per ounce, $ . . is manufactured only by the saliodin chemical co. "saliodin" is specifically indicated in rheumatism. gout, neuralgia, malaria and la grippe; is analgesic, antipyrectic, an intestinal antiseptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, deobstruent, sialagogue, cholagogue, emmenagogue, gouocococidal, anti-syphilitic and alterative. doctor, you may prescribe saliodin with confidence wherever iodine or salicylate is indicated. used both internally and externally. no iodism, no salicylism. not less than grains at a dose to adults, and in acute cases repeat every or hours or oftener. in gonorrhoea, saliodin is a specific. peter van schaack & sons, lake st., chicago, ill. depositary and distributers for chicago and tributary district. london agents: messrs. thomas christy & company. send for samples and literature to the saliodin chemical co., scranton, pa., u. s. a. guaranteed under the food and drug act of june , . no. . ------------------------- [illustration: image of package and nurse.] the trained nurse of the emergency ward of your home. as a mouthwash as a gargle for the teeth for cuts for burns for wounds for boils or mosquitoes for insects for bee stings for the complexion prevents pimples and blotches for the bath--relieves skin eruptions for the toilet--destroys body odors after shaving gives instant relief to tender skins in all cases of emergency meeting anticipation at all times in a hundred different ways. the genuine bears this signature consumers company consumers company th & butler sts. chicago ------------------------- don't forget to try "queen bess" perfume one drop of "queen bess" has in it the fragrance of a garden in bloom--delicate--subtile, clinging, haunting, and elusive--it does not force itself upon the senses--it just seems as though it should be. if you are particularly critical in your choice of perfumes, let us convince you in the most forceful way possible that "queen bess" is what you have been looking for and could not find. that you may be able to see this matter of "perfumes" from our standpoint, we will give you a free sample upon your presenting coupon in the back of this book, at the store where you got it. ------------------------- a good toilet water but note what that adjective means--"good." the good things of this life are none too many in number, and unfortunately we are forced in nearly every instance to prove at our own expense the superiority or inferiority of each article, or commodity--whether it be an investment, a friend or a household necessity. a true toilet water is not a luxury--it is an absolute necessity to those who appreciate the highest form of health and appearance. a true toilet water invigorates and adds to the general health of the skin tissues. a true toilet water relieves skin irritations--unreliable imitations aggravate them. it is the imitation that is the most costly sort of luxury. the toilet water de luxe is baldwin's vivian violet. it is made of only the best material, and in its composition--it is the triumph of the art of distillation, the odor of vivian violet toilet water is delicate though lasting and delightful to the most refined taste. baldwin's products have a reputation of years behind them. when buying your face powder, perfumes and toilet water insist on baldwin's. guaranteed under the food and drug act. june , . serial no. . the baldwin perfumery co., chicago perfume, c per oz. toilet water, oz. bot. c. face powder. c box ------------------------- "its use is a fine habit" drosis the snow white odorless powder does not check perspiration. easy to use and its effect lasts for hours. takes all the odor out of perspiration without injurying the skin or the clothing--a pure antiseptic powder. is highly recommended by physicians as the best antiseptic and deodorant powder for destroying offensive odors of the body. its wonderful soothing qualities makes it indispensable in the home. relieves chafing, scalding, sunburn, windburn and nothing can equal it after shaving. for bad smelly feet it has no rival. drosis destroys all odors from excessive perspiration, not by overpowering with another odor, but by its own process of elimination, effects an entire absence of any odor whatsoever, drosis is not absorbed by the pores and is a necessity, positively indispensable on the toilet table of every lady. drosis contains no alum use drosis freely after the bath. write us for a sample the drosis company, lewis block, buffalo, n. y. ------------------------- reduce your weight by bathing use louisenbad reduction salt (for the bath) removes superfluous fat and gives a slender firm, stylish figure. merely use a little twice a week in warm water when taking a bath. no need of taking drugs or starving yourself; no need of devoting hours to tiresome exercise, or of wearing uncomfortable reducing garments. louisenbad reduction salt enters the pores in a natural way, prevents formation of superfluous fat and reduces it where it exists by transforming the fat into strength giving blood and muscle. it brings to your own tub the salts such as are found in the reducing bath springs of europe--patronized by royalty, famous for centuries. endorsed by the medical profession. praised by those who have used it. wash away your fat reduce it by a refreshing, toning bath. give louisenbad reduction salt a fair trial. price $ per package or packages for $ . for sale at all first class drug stores or sent in plain sealed wrapper, express prepaid on receipt of price by karl landshut, dickey building chicago ------------------------- guild's green mountain the tried and true. asthma cure guaranteed under the food and drug act. june , . serial no. . this unrivaled remedy is the result of many years study and experience in the special treatment of diseases of the lungs and throat, by dr. j, h. guild, graduate of new york medical college and new york chemical laboratory, a practitioner in bellevue and new york charity hospital, and a physician of recognized ability and distinguished eminence. this article has been the standard remedy for asthma for a quarter of a century. it has found its way on its own merits to every civilized country on the globe. the growing demand, its great popularity and general use stamp it as absolutely the most successful and satisfactory remedy that has ever been placed on the market. no other preparation has met with such great and uniform success as a permanent cure of acute or chronic asthma, especially spasmodic asthma. hay fever, etc. absolutely harmless; can be used by the most delicate with perfect safety, whether young or old, and never falls to give immediate relief and perfect satisfaction. thousands of testimonials from all over the world are reciting the most marvelous cures. the remedy is handled by all leading wholesale drug houses. ask your drug house for it. large size, $ . . small size, $ . . dr. j. h. guild; rupert, vt. ------------------------- carmichael's gray hair restorer positively restores gray or faded hair to its natural color is not a dye, but a restorative. clear as water, absolutely harmless, odorless and clean. contains no sulphur, lead, or nothing of a sticky or greasy nature. besides restoring it to its natural shade, it renders it soft and fluffy. no matter how long your hair has been gray, faded or bleached, carmichael's gray hair restorer will bring it back to its original color. $ . per bottle or bottles for $ . money back guarantee ------------------------- carmichael's quinine hair tonic makes the hair soft and fluffy, prevents the formation of dandruff and the falling out of the hair. invigorates the scalp and stimulates the growth of the hair. this tonic when used in conjunction with carmichael's gray hair restorer simply works in a marvelous manner, "not only removing dandruff and stopping the falling out of the hair," but in some way the combination of the two, gives the hair a most beautiful, glossy tint, which everybody so much desires. price c a bottle ------------------------- sorority girl toilet requisites our purpose is to supply only the best and highest grade "toilet preparations" that can be made. these articles possess not only useful, but healthful properties, free from all deleterious and dangerous substances, therefore, we can positively guarantee them. sorority girl massage cream and cts. sorority girl skin tonic and cts. sorority girl vanishing cream cts. sorority girl hygienic bath oil cts. sorority girl beauty powder cts. sorority girl rouge (paste and liquid) cts. sorority girl eye-brow pencils cts. sorority girl toilet water cts. and $ . sorority girl non-alcoholic perfume cts. sorority girl perfume, per oz $ . beware of imitations and so-called "just as good" preparations. insist on having the genuine "sorority girl" articles. r. a. carmichael & co., detroit, michigan ------------------------- without cost, we will prove to you that young's victoria cream is a better cream for your complexion than you have ever used before. that there is simply nothing like it for keeping the skin in perfect condition. being made from the sweetest absorbable oils it is a perfect skin food. it is antiseptic and will remove pimples and eruptions. as a bleaching cream for freckles, tan and brown patches there is nothing equal to it. all we ask of you is to try it. please use the free coupon given in another part of this book. young's victoria cream, powder and soap give the same good results that you get in a beauty parlor. hundreds of parlors are using these goods in their work. young's victoria cream, and cents per box; powder, cents per box; soap, cents per cake. do try this splendid cream at our expense. frederick h. young & co. toledo, ohio [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] byrud's sure corn and wart cure stops the pain at once clean and easy not a plaster to slide all over your foot and make it sore not a greasy salve. no rags. just paint it on. price cents byrud's instant relief stops pain and promptly cures sprains bruises toothache neuralgia sciatica pleurisy pains in back pains in chest swellings frost bites bronchitis chilblains croup cramps lumbago stiff joints rheumatism tonsilits hoarseness sore throat boils all inflammations ulcerated teeth byrud's instant relief is the safest and most powerful external remedy made. byrud's instant relief is absorbed so readily an quickly that it penetrates to the seat of pain and gives immediate relief. instant relief does not contain any cocaine, morphine or other opiates. price cents at all druggists ------------------------- to break up a cold in twenty-four hours! cure any cough that is curable get from the drugstore, and mix together in a large bottle, ounces of glycerine, ounces of pure whisky and / ounce of virgin oil of pine. shake well and take a teaspoonful every four hours. it will quickly heal any irritation of the mucous surface in throat and bronchial organs. this formula was used and recommended for many years by the late dr. w. a. leach, who claimed it would break up a cold in twenty-four hours and cure any curable cough. the well-known healing properties of pine, in its action on the respiratory organs, are present in the genuine virgin oil of pine. this, combined with its absolute freedom from opiates and narcotic drugs of any description, makes it an invaluable remedy for the family medicine chest. in the case of young children, a drop of the pine on a little sugar provides a pleasant, as well as effective remedy for coughs and colds. oil of pine is also frequently used in this way by preachers and public speakers, to relieve hoarseness and other affections of the vocal organs. its effect is almost instantaneous. the genuine virgin oil of pine is put up in half-ounce vials for dispensing through druggists and prepared only in the laboratories of the leach chemical co., cincinnati, o., who guarantee its freshness and purity. ------------------------- is your stomach wrong? suffer with constipation, sluggish liver, dyspepsia, feel bad all over? you need a course of hollister's rocky mountain tea it neutralizes the stomach, cleanses the mucus membranes, assimilates the food you eat, thus giving you all the good there is in your meals, regulating the bowels perfectly. for dyspepsia, sour and distressed stomach, do not take large doses but prepare every morning one full dose by pouring boiling water over a heaping teaspoonful of the mixture and let it draw out the strength take of the tea so prepared one-fourth of this amount after each meal and at bed time. try it. you will be surprised at the result after a week's treatment. an unfailing remedy for sick headaches, rheumatism, blood diseases, and all stomach, kidney, liver and bowel derangements. write us care dept. c. for special advice to meet the requirements of your case. if not sold by your dealer send us c for a large package, double the size of any c package. one package contains more health and life giving principles than $ . worth of any other remedy. the genuine by hollister drug co., madison, wis. ------------------------- stomach and liver trouble quickly cured mayr's wonderful stomach remedy is a positive remedy for all stomach, liver and intestinal trouble, gastritis, indigestion, dyspepsia, pressure of gas around the heart, sour stomach, distress after eating, nervousness, dizziness, fainting spells, constipation, congested and torpid liver, yellow jaundice, sick headache and gall stones. the above ailments are caused by the clogging of the intestinal tract with mucoid and catarrhal accretions, backing up poisonous fluids into the stomach, and otherwise deranging the digestive system. i want every sufferer of these diseases to test this wonderful treatment. you are not asked to take this treatment for a week or two before you will feel its great benefits--only one dose is usually required. i say, emphatically, it a positive, permanent remedy and i will prove it to you if you will allow me to. the most eminent specialists declare that per cent of the people who suffer from stomach trouble are suffering from gall stones. i firmly believe that this remedy is the only one in the world that will cure this disease. sufferers of stomach and liver troubles and gall stones should not hesitate a moment, but purchase this remedy at once. i would be pleased to send you the names of people who state they have been cured of various aliments and speaking the highest praise of this medicine. don't suffer with agonizing pains--don't permit a dangerous surgical operation, which gives only temporary relief, when this medicine will permanently help you. you are not asked to take this treatment for a week or two before you feel its great benefits. one dose is all that is necessary to prove its wonderful powers to benefit. absolutely harmless. guaranteed by the pure food and drug act. serial no. . geo. h. mayr, mfg. chemist mayr bldg, - whiting street chicago for sale and recommended by central drug stores and others, price $ . a bottle. worth $ . . ------------------------- crown headache powders a quick relief and a reliable remedy for sick headache, neuralgia and nervous affections, headache caused by over-eating, or drinking, sudden change, or exposure, overwork or fatigue. an excellent remedy for a bad cold or lagrippe. directions:--place one powder dry on the tongue and swallow with a draught of water, or, if convenient, with warm tea or any other warm drink. repeat in twenty minutes if necessary. for children in proportion to age. for a cold or lagrippe take one powder with three grains of quinine and a warm drink at bed-time. trade mark registered and guaranteed by the f. a. weck company under the food and drugs act, june , . serial no. . these powders contain no morphine, opium, anti-pyrine or chloral. price cents a package of powders; or cents a box of powders. if you are unable to obtain them from your druggist send us the price in stamps and we will forward them to you by return mail. the f. a. weck co. manufacturing pharmacists shattuck ave., berkeley, cal. ------------------------- use in the privacy of your boudoir and no one need know that you were ever troubled with superfluous hair growths. you will find mando for superfluous hair not only a painless, inexpensive depilatory, but a harmless one as well. used successfully for years. don't experiment with dangerous depilatories any druggist will tell you that the market is now being flooded with preparations loudly claiming to permanently remove superfluous hair growths. such depilatories often do more harm than good, leaving behind tiny scars or blemishes, or a tell-tale redness on the skin--ofttimes even injuring the delicate texture. isn't it better and safer to buy a preparation like mando that has been successfully used by thousands of women during the past years. a depilatory of established reputation among druggists and department stores. simply go to any of the central drug co.'s stores and ask for convincing proof of mando's power. a generous sample will be given free. mando leaves no scars, blemishes or red marks on the most delicate skin. if you would rather write us confidentially do so. josephine lefevre co., phila. ------------------------- worth its weight in gold but it only costs a quarter dr. jucket's compound salve is a boon and a blessing for all cuts, burns, bruises, sunburns and sprains. it should always be on hand for emergencies. this wonderful curative salve is a specific for kidney disease, pleurisy, bronchitis, piles, sore back and neuralgia. its effect is immediate and soothing. comes in compact form, sealed in foil, and always retains its strength. full directions in each package. price c---at your druggist [illustration: image of package and a sack of money.] ------------------------- [illustration: image of packages.] noblesse toilet preparations the highest possible standard of purity guaranteed by noblesse laboratories under the pure food and drugs act of june , serial no. skin food & form builder feeds the tissue, strengthens the muscles and obliterates wrinkles. price c natural blush rouge gives a natural tint to pale cheeks and lips. price c natural blush rouge liquid gives natural tint to pale cheeks and lips. price c noblesse cleansing cream a substitute for soap and water, keeps the skin smooth, clear and healthy. price c noblesse cream bouquet is the best greaseless, antiseptic, liquid face cream obtainable; it is excellent in cases of sunburn tan, chafed and chapped skin. also used by gentlemen of discretion after shaving. price c noblesse finger nail powder gives a brilliant and lasting polish and preserves the nail. price c noblesse tooth powder for cleansing and preserving the teeth, and purifying the breath. price c noblesse depilatory powder removes superfluous hair without pain or injury. price $ . noblesse delightful face powder is chemically pure and keeps the skin as smooth as satin. three shades--naturelle, brunette and white. price c skin whitener and flush worm eradicator cleanses the pores of black-heads, pimples, freckles and moth patches and bleaches the skin. price c for sale and recommended by central drug co., detroit & chicago congress drug co., chicago ashland drug co., chicago independent drug co., chicago. auditorium pharmacy co., chicago standard drug co., cleveland ------------------------- [illustration: image of stern looking man.] crane's celebrated lotion for the hair and head. removes dandruff and scurf. prevents the hair from falling out. promotes its growth and cures scale heads. c and c per bottle it is not a dye, will not discolor the hair. made in newark for the last years. use no other. send us c for sample free. ray s. g. mfg. co. manufacturers wakeman ave. newark, n. j. ------------------------- albany chemical co. manufacturing chemists albany, n. y . a full line of medicinal, photographic and technical chemicals. call for a. c. co. brand. ------------------------- bryans' great asthma remedy a faithful trial will convince anyone of the true merit and worth of bryans' asthma remedy, professor p. j. de lara, of detroit, mich., says: "i cannot speak too highly of bryans' asthma remedy; which has been so beneficial to me. for over thirty years i have suffered with asthma and have spent thousands of dollars for medicines from the best specialists in europe and america without any relief, and up to three months ago i lost hope in any kind of treatment; some reputable doctors told me i never could be cured. i then heard of bryans' asthma remedy and took on myself to try it. the result astonished me. after using nine or ten boxes the disease abated and by degrees left me, and i am glad to say that i have no more of those severe spasmodic attacks and consider myself permanently cured." bryans' asthma remedy, , & cent metal boxes. made only by bryans' drug house, rochester, n. y. ------------------------- straus brothers company established distillers, importers telephone main and automatic - east madison street, chicago [illustration: image of wine bottle.] ------------------------- it is something worth knowing that riker's antiseptic tooth powder cleanses without wearing, polishes without scratching. and keeps the mouth always in perfect condition. see coupon in the back part of this book, tear it out and get a free sample. it will be worth the trouble. also ask to see other riker requisites for the toilet. they will interest you. [illustration: image of packages.] ------------------------- the samurai perfume co. yokohama new york importers and manufacturers perfumes, powders, creams, soaps, rouges, sachets, oriental odors exclusively corylopsis sandalwood orange blossom cherry blossom flowery kingdom geisha lotus rajah mikado delhia ask your dealer for a sample of samurai greaseless massage cream and corylopsis talcum, or write us. dept. c. save money by buying our lb. size can corylopsis talcum. price c [illustration: image of packages.] ------------------------- wonderful mission of the internal bath by means of the "j. b. l. cascade" have you read of the wonderful cures made by the internal bath? do you know that it goes to the root of all disease and eradicates the cause? do you know that many of the greatest physicians in the world endorse and prescribe this treatment, and also that among its patrons are some of the most distinguished people in all parts of the world, as well as hosts of others from whom we have grateful letters, which we should be pleased to furnish to those interested upon application? do you know that an occasional internal bath is a better preventive of illness and preserver of health than any other single means? do you know that it makes beautiful complexions? do you know it cures constipation and prevents and cures appendicitis? the record of its benefits reads like a revelation to those hitherto unacquainted with it. it is used by means of the "j.b.l. cascade"--the only scientific appliance for this purpose--by hundreds of the best known people in all parts of the world, by innumerable ministers, lawyers, and those persons whose intelligence gives unequivocal weight to their testimony. it is known that seven-tenths of all disease arises from the retention of foreign matter in the human system, also that the greater part of this waste is held in the colon, which is nature's sewer, hence the flushing of this sewer removes the greatest cause of disease. while immeasurably the best treatment for constipation, indigestion, etc., there is scarcely any known disease for which the "j.b.l. cascade" may not be confidently prescribed. this hygienic, drugless treatment saves hundreds of dollars yearly in doctors' and druggists' bills. we want to send to every reader of this publication, sick or well, a simple statement setting forth this treatment. it contains matter which must interest every thinking person. write for our pamphlet. "the what, the why, the way," which will we sent free on application. tyrrell's hygienic institute, dept. b., w. th st., new york city,. u. s. a. ------------------------- [illustration: image of packages.] "the old reliable" planten's (trade mark) c&c or black capsules remedy for men at druggists, or trial box by mail c from planten, henry st. brooklyn, ny beware of imitations. rheumatism & gout promptly relieved by the english remedy blair's pills safe & effective, c & $ druggists. or henry st. brooklyn, ny. ------------------------- palmer's new york since best perfumes made guaranteed to please the most fastidious solon palmer, perfumer, new york for sale by central drug company; detroit and chicago independent drug company; chicago auditorium pharmacy company; chicago congress drug company; chicago ashland drug company; chicago standard drug company; cleveland ------------------------- "zel" transparent tooth brushes exchanged if bristles come out as clear and lustrous as crystal glass--each bunch of bristle, fastened with an expanding anchor, cannot loosen. made in a variety of patterns. for sale at all toilet counters holton & adams (incorporated) sole agents for the united states and canada - east nd st. success magazine bldg. new york city ------------------------- great bath invention hundreds of rubber fingers massage impurities out. water flowing through washes impurities away. knickerbocker spraybrush "purifies pores" combines shower-shampoo-massage. you won't bathe in water full of body impurities after using a knickerbocker spraybrush slips over any faucet. bathes you in fresh flowing water--any temperature desired--without waiting for tub to fill. gives shower--needle spray--and frictional bath. saves time, labor and water. absolutely sanitary and self-cleaning. ideal for scalp massage and shampoo for men and women. no home should be without one. absolutely guaranteed for one year. prices, $ . to $ . according to size and style. mail orders promptly attended to. ------------------------- [illustration: image of woman seeing her reflection in the bottom of a cooking pan.] the housekeeper that wants to keep the pans and other kitchen articles bright and clean, the bath room, tile floors, painted walls and woodwork, and then take all the stains from the hands, must use skidoo soap a creamy paste, in sanitary cans for only c. sold everywhere. made only by the yeazell-goldstein corporation columbus, ohio ------------------------- dyspepsia cured free the grover graham dyspepsia remedy is sold under a positive guarantee that it will cure dyspepsia, heartburn, gastritis or any form of stomach disorder, no matter how chronic or severe. let us send you the names and addresses of thousands who have been cured by our preparation, when all else had failed. the very first dose removes all distress, tones the weak stomach, prevents fermentation and restores digestion. when digestion ceases a slow form of starvation begins, and the vital organs, deprived of their substance, become debilitated. good digestion is essential to health; proper assimilation of nourishment means pure rich blood, strong nerves, sound sleep and makes life worth living. the most chronic cases of stomach disorder are immediately corrected by our remedy. the grover graham dyspepsia remedy is prepared from the mcdermott formula, the greatest european specialist. it is sold under a guarantee to cure. instant relief insured. in evidence of good faith we will send, absolutely free of charge to any dyspeptic who has not already used our remedy, sufficient of our preparation to demonstrate its truly wonderful and remarkable properties, write grover graham co., newburgh, n. y., for full particulars, or purchase a trial size bottle at the store where you procured "things worth knowing." ------------------------- sponges we are headquarters for sponges of every variety. our buyer makes sponge buying a specialty and the selections are most carefully made so that our reputation for carrying the finest and largest assortment in this market is well known. try our and b: genuine mediterranean bath sponges--bleached these goods, though not perfect shapes, are as strong and durable and just as fine quality as the most expensive grades. ------------------------- great western champagne half the cost of imported absence of duty reduces its cost per cent. of the six american champagnes exhibited, great western was the only one awarded the gold medal at paris exposition, . your grocer or dealer can supply you sold everywhere pleasant valley wine co. rheims, n. y. oldest and largest champagne house in america ------------------------- i-ron-de-quoit port wine if you are sick or run down, or feel the need of a stimulant, it will pay you to exercise care when making your selection. you need something that is both a food and a tonic. what could be better than a pure wine? for seventy-eight years irondequoit port has been sought for this purpose. it is pure, nourishing and distinctive in body and flavor, due to a special grape--the oporto--of which it is made and of which we are exclusive growers. for sale by all leading druggists irondequoit wine company rochester, n. y. ------------------------- arend-adamick kumyss is a perfect food for consumptives, invalids and convalescents, retained by the most delicate stomach. avoid all imitations. telephone and mail orders promptly filled a. arend drug co. g. h. adamick, manager phone, main fifth ave. and madison st., chicago. to be had where you got this book ------------------------- the th century wonder roachine pack chemical co. inc. waukegan ill. kills roaches and water bugs a pleasant odored powder not a food not a poison not a liquid not a paste not a cure all sold on its merits. you will be a booster if you try it. your druggist has it. pack chemical co., inc. chicago and waukegan, illinois our goods guaranteed by us under the food and drugs act of june , serial number . ------------------------- [illustration: image of woman admiring her own hair.] why not have beautiful hair if mother nature has failed to do her duty by you it's quite easy to take matters into your own hands empress instantaneous hair color restorer. will change your faded or gray hair to any shade desired. no after washing. just one single application with the empress, that's all. fully guaranteed under the pure food and drug act. different shades. empress shampoo soap a combination of best vegetable oils, cochin and coconut oil, makes best shampoo imaginable. is the most thorough scalp cleaner, relieves scalp irritation and leaves hair bright, soft, fluffy and easy to make up. for sale where you got this book ------------------------- "soft spots" pneumatic cushions are simply what the name implies; "soft spots" of light new air-pumping, pneumatic rubber, attached to a shapely leather innersole scientifically made to conform to all pressure of the foot. the hermetically sealed globules are air chambers and act as pneumatic cushions to the entire body, taking up the jar when walking, the weight of the body when standing, giving infinite relief to the entire nervous system worn inside the shoe--leather side up. positively prevent and cure nervous headaches flat feet and fallen insteps callouses and foot troubles if your dealer cannot supply you, we will on receipt of price and size of shoe. arch cushions $ . per pair heel cushions c per pair international specialty co. san some st., san francisco, cal. ------------------------- mule-team borax in packages nature's great cleansing agent--destroys the dirt and saves your clothes by not attacking the fabric or its colors, and is therefore economical. not to be confounded with washing powders or so-called "borax powders" most of which contain no borax, but are heavily adulterated with soda, a strong alkali which rots, ruins and shrinks the clothes. don't fail to ask your dealer for our valuable booklet the magic crystal [illustration: images of women hanging out laundry.] ------------------------- you will appreciate the delightful flavors and high quality of blue ribbon gum made in six flavors licorice cinnamon pepsin spearmint mint blood orange made by blue ribbon gum co. wrightwood ave., chicago [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- immediate relief for pain and congestion an ointment containing mustard, menthol and other curative remedies which act quickly and powerfully, for coughs, colds in chest, pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, croup, sprains. for rheumatism, pleurisy, headache, neuralgia, chilblains, sore muscles, stiff joints, lame back. wherever there is inflammation, pain or congestion. better than a mustard plaster. will not blister. c and c a jar at all druggists the musterole co., cleveland, ohio ------------------------- astyptodyne a natural remedy from natures healing pine. antiseptic-styptic-anodyne. heals all kinds of sores, wounds and cuts. relieves pain--toothache, neuralgia, rheumatism. a splendid remedy for colds, sore throat, and bronchial affections. astyptodyne healing oil, astyptodyne cough remedy, astyptodyne "tro-ke," astyptodyne croup and pneumonia salve. these and others, are prepared by astyptodyne chemical company wilmington, n. c. booklet mailed on application ------------------------- a noted physician of much learning worked twelve years to get the orangeine formula just right. to relieve pain, he knew he must reach the cause. orangeine does this, better than strong drugs. each dose is a five grain powder, combining seven well known remedies in perfect balance, to relieve headache, neuralgia, colds, grip, fatigue. a remedy for general household use. full formula on every package. this store has supplied orangeine powders for years, with excellent results. ------------------------- the two creams every woman needs plexo greaseless cream a superb toilet cream of delicate fragrance made from the purest ingredients. imparts the velvety softness so much desired by the well-groomed woman of today. indispensable to motorists, golfers and bathers. protects against the sun and wind. apply before going outdoors and massage until it vanishes. cleansing cream will positively remove all impurities. will impart a fresh complexion to all women striving to retain a fair skin. plexo cleansing cream is absolutely pure and wholesome having no irritating qualities. exposure usually plays havoc with a delicate complexion, but the application of plexo cleansing cream will keep a most sensitive skin in excellent condition. try these two creams. they are exactly what you need for keeping your skin smooth, soft and clear. can be had at all the central drug co's stores. ------------------------- piso's remedy the best cough and cold medicine. years on the market. a copy of piso's nursery rhymes will be mailed free to any applicant. address. the piso company. warren. pa. [illustration: image of mother goose next to sign, "piso's nursery rhymes".] ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] for half a century coe's cough balsam has been the leading remedy for whooping cough, croup, coughs, colds, asthma and all throat and lung diseases. it is the best and cheapest cough remedy in the world and will break up a cough quicker than anything else. try it. ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] hegeman's camphor ice with glycerine, for chapped hands and face, sore lips, cold sores, sunburn, chilblains, etc. hegeman's camphor ice is the original and oldest preparation of the kind in the world. all others are simply imitations. manufactured by the c. g. clark company, new haven, connecticut. ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] daisy fly killer the daisy fly killer is a tightly sealed ornamental metal box provided with five holes, into which are secured felt wicks, and contains a fly killing material. when filled with water and the cork replaced, and is thoroughly shaken (keeping it level), the fly-killing material inside mixes with the water and is absorbed through the wicks, which become moist and sweet from the inside contents, the flies being attracted by the moisture and sweetness in the wicks, get a taste of it and will soon die, the fly-killing material inside is sufficient to last through the season, for when the water evaporates there is enough of the fly-killing material inside to stand many fillings with water and prove effectual as a fly-killer. after several fillings, it is better to sweeten the water with a teaspoonful of sugar before putting it in the daisy. daisy fly killer placed anywhere attracts and kills all flies. neat, clean, ornamental, convenient, cheap. lasts all season. made of metal, cannot spill or tip over, will not spoil or injure anything. guaranteed effective harold somers manufacturer de kalb ave. brooklyn, new york ------------------------- most powerful purgative water known / the quantity required by others absolutely harmless as it contains almost exclusively sulphate of soda. no repulsive smell nor bitter taste villacabras not followed by constipation no gripes no pains can be taken indefinitely as a laxative without ill effects. invaluable in long standing cases of stubborn constipation: infants and adults henry e. gourd south william street new york ------------------------- are you sore? sore head, sore nose, sore throat? sore lips, sore face, sore chest? sore muscles, sore back, neuralgia? colds in the head? catarrh, fever blisters? sore joints, sore feet? frost bites, soft corns? muscular rheumatism? burns, cuts, sprains, bruises? swellings and inflammations? use paracamph first aid to the injured it cools. it soothes. it cures. unequaled for use after shaving. satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded. c, c, and $ . bottles. all druggists. [illustration: image of man with head bandaged, reading a newspaper.] ------------------------- hair on the face arms or neck can be easily removed--quickly and without pain or irritating the skin. delatone does the work best of all hair removers. for sale at all drug stores. ------------------------- (trade mark) celery-vesce granular effervescent sold at your druggists c, c c and $ . for headache, neuralgia, sweetens the stomach braces the nerves clears the brain pleasant as cream soda speedy, efficient harmless century chemical co. indianapolis, ind. address dept. t. w. k. "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." and we want you to test celery-vesce for yourself. so when sending your own address, if you will send the addresses of a dozen friends who suffer of headaches or bad stomachs we will send you by mail a quarter package of celery-vesce free of charge. write now ------------------------- the standard self shining shoe polish cirage francais or french dressing for ladies and children's boots & shoes trunks, harness, carriage tops, &c. manufactured by b. f. brown boston, mass. [illustration: image of package.] ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] trade mark reg. u. s. patent office aleta hair tonic for the cure of dandruff many who have tried for five and ten years, and have spent hundreds of dollars for a cure without effect, have had the most pleasing results in a short time from the use of aleta. hard crusts and scales, as well as the most simple cases of dandruff, yield to the applications of this remedy. itching scalps and eczematic troubles are effectually treated. one of our most prominent physicians made this remark: "it is the first time for me to have any satisfaction from a dandruff cure." aleta is applied but once a week. it is as clean as water upon the head; it contains no oils or other substance to gum the hair or to make it sticky. it does the work. hair grows faster and looks better when the scalp is clean and healthy, and there is no remedy which brings these good conditions so readily and perfectly, as the aleta hair tonic. aleta chemical co. des moines, iowa. ------------------------- gowans preparation king of externals prescribed by ethical physicians and recommended by druggists as being the best preparation on the market for all kinds of inflammation and congestion. pneumonia, croup, colds, pleurisy and any and all ailments where inflammation appears gowans subdues and conquers it. gowans is absorbant and antiseptic--it acts quickly and with a bottle of gowans preparation in the home you feel absolutely secure. in the fall, in the winter, in the spring, you know that croup and pneumonia come, they must be combated at once and with a bottle of gowans preparation you are master of the situation. buy today! could not say half enough. anything we might say would not be half enough in behalf of the wonderful results our patrons have derived from the use of gowans preparation. the proof of its efficacy being in the greatly increased sales, starting by buying a quarter of a dozen the demand has been so great we now purchase the hundred dollar quantity several times a year. tragle drug company, july , . richmond, va. an excellent remedy claremont, n. c. gowan medical company, durham. n. c. gentlemen:--l have used gowans preparation in pneumonia and find it an excellent remedy--it acts promptly and surely. i recommend its use in cases of inflammation of any kind. d. m. moser, m. d. all druggists--$l, c., c. take no substitute; there is nothing just as good. beware of imitations. buy gowans. gowan medical co., durham, n. c. chicago, ill. ------------------------- [illustration: photograph of child painting hat.] jetum & klenzum jetum dyes straw hats, all kinds of wood, metal and leather goods. klenzum cleans white straw hats. jetum in black, blue, brown, green, red and gray, will dye your old or rusty hat, and make it look like new. jetum black will dye tan and white kid shoes, pocket books, belts and all leather goods. also anything in wood or metal, such as picture frames, furniture of all kinds, brass or iron fixtures; in fact anything you want black use jetum. a child can do it. the jetum co. chicago ------------------------- you'll try it won't you? [illustration: image of hand holding package.] allen's cough balsam for hoarseness, coughs and throat irritations has the endorsement of all who have used it for coughs and colds a trifling, seemingly insignificant cough, if neglected, works down the throat to the bronchial tubes and finally to the lungs, and unless checked, may result seriously. at the first sign of a cough take allen's cough balsam. bronchitis barking, backing, rasping, and irritating the throat are the constant accompaniments of this disease. don't delay a minute when you have this ailment. a few doses of allen's cough balsam will usually bring relief and frequently break it up. sore throat, quinsy, tonsilitis these troubles are confined to the throat and breathing tubes, and should be cured at once, or more serious ailments develop, allen's cough balsam is prepared for just such cases and has been used for over years. its good effects can be noticed at once. allen's cough balsam contains no opium in any form. perfectly harmless. large, medium and trial size bottles. all dealers ------------------------- [illustration: image of camel carrying cases labels "painkiller".] painkiller is transported to all corners of the earth because nothing as good can be found to relieve cramps, colic, diarrhoea and similar bowel complaints; also it quickly reduces the swelling caused by bruises and promptly drives the pain away. saves much suffering and many a doctor's bill. read this tribute: r. h, moore, franklin, ky., writes: i have been selling perry davis painkiller for years and have often wondered at the steady sale with so little advertising for same. this i consider is strong evidence that the remedy has merit, and in fact i feel assured that i sell but few remedies that would stand this test. of all dealers in medicine c, c, and c bottles beware of substitutes and imitations there's only one painkiller-perry davis ------------------------- most widely known and endorsed by eminent specialists-- buffalo lithia springs water guaranteed under the food and drug act, june , . serial no. l . it is a natural spring water, bottled at the springs under directions of a competent bacteriologist. corrects all disorders of the kidneys and bladder. eliminates any excess of uric acid in the system. especially effective in the treatment of bright's disease, albuminuria, gout, rheumatism, pyelitis, cystitis, gravel, etc. sold by leading druggists and mineral water dealers everywhere. buffalo lithia springs water co. buffalo lithia springs, va. ------------------------- turn the gray hair back bring the lost hair back [illustration: image of package.] duponts hair restorative, the ideal hair preparation, restores gray hair to its natural color, by giving health and activity to the glands which supply the coloring pigment from the blood to the hair. it brings back lost hair by giving life and vigor to the torpid or paralyzed scalp nerves. it is not a dye, does not stain the skin or scalp. one bottle will prove its worth. sold by all druggists. price, $ . manufactured by kelley & knefler, chicago ------------------------- drink rex bitters for constipation ------------------------- don't forget karith the only perfect cleaner -for- white kid silks, satins velvets chiffons feathers furs cleans without injury removes grease, grime, pitch, tar, paint a household necessary ask for the little jug c c c ------------------------- guaranteed by the manufacturer under the food and drugs act. serial no. lauber's femaform cones physicians prescription womans greatest remedy soothing and healing [illustration: image of package.] [illustration text: lauber's femaform cones germicide, antiseptic, astringent cones non irritating, soothing, healing cones femaform cones always reliable trade mark lauber and lauber co, chicago, ill usa preventive of disease] non-irritating germicide antiseptic and astringent cones most useful remedy for all forms of womb complaints. sold only in boxes, $ . per box at drug stores or direct from the manufacturers by mail. made by lauber & lauber co. chicago, ill., u. s. a. ------------------------- anyone can enjoy this delightful turkish bath at home--cost cents surface bathing is insufficient---the turkish bath is the only effective method of purifying the pores---the "robinson" makes all simple, delightful and economical. here's the rejuvenation cabinet for every home. here's the producer and preserver of clear, clean skin, good spirits, great physical exuberance that puts a sharper edge on the enjoyment of living. the "robinson" thermal bath cabinet is wonderfully simple. a bath in it costs only cents and takes only minutes. how much better this is than having to go to some hotel or public turkish baths and pay out a lot of money for something not a whit better and not one-tenth as convenient. have it in your own home and use it every time you feel like it. it will keep you from going "stale". it will make you bright and care free. the great physical luxury it affords will be a constant delight to you. read below how you can get our great $ . book free. it tells everything. look out for substitutes--make sure you get the "robinson."--it's the original thermal bath cabinet it is made under the direction of prof. charles m. robinson, the originator of thermal bath cabinets. it is the one having the four curtain top enabling you to heat up the cabinet before entering and to use the cabinet as a cooling room before leaving by dropping the curtains one at a time. [transcriber's note: the two remaining paragraphs are missing.] [illustration: image of woman in bathrobe near product, a metal frame with a cloth cover and a small heater under a chair.] ------------------------- you can depend on digesto because it is the best malt extract on the market, only the choicest materials being used in its manufacture, making a highly concentrated liquid food. physicians recommend digesto because of its remedial value to the convalescent, tired housewife, anaemic women and people in a general rundown condition. digesto builds wasted tissues, makes rich, red blood and aids digestion. for the nursing mother it is nigh indispensable as an aid to nature in supplying food for two. [transcriber's note: the remaining text on this page is missing.] ------------------------- [illustration: photograph of woman.] helen marlowe's "blush of roses" helen marlowe's "blush of roses" is a scientifically prepared liquid rouge so perfectly natural in effect, that its use defies detection on the closest scrutiny. it is easily applied; a delicate tint is obtained by one light application; a deeper tint by more than one. unlike the majority of rouges now before the public it does not give that blotched appearance to the face. "blush of roses" is an absolutely water-proof rouge. surf bathing will not remove it. it remains a soft beautiful pink until it is washed off with pure soap and water. "blush of roses" is not removed by perspiration. "blush of roses" is guaranteed to be perfectly harmless. "blush of roses" is used and highly recommended by the most refined ladies in private and public life. price cents. prepared only by helen marlowe co., cincinnati, ohio sold by the central drug co. independent drug co. auditorium pharmacy co., ashland drug co., congress drug co., of chicago, iii. all stores of central drug co., detroit, mich., and standard drug co., cleveland, ohio ------------------------- dr. martels female pills years the standard a scientifically prepared remedy (for disturbances of the menstrual functions) sold only through the medical and drug profession; for medical purposes only. a few remarks of importance to womankind dr. martel's female pills is a preparation of unequaled excellence, which acts as a positive tonic on the female reproductive organs, and imparts to them the proper functional action nature demands in normal, healthy women, without untoward action. dr. martel's female pills possess only virtues of the highest possible value. it re-establishes the proper action of the generative organs by restoring their vitality, and not by merely stimulating them excessively (and temporarily), as do so many other agents of this class. in the treatment of all disturbances of the menstrual functions arising from debility, anemia or nervousness, dr. martel's female pills are of unsurpassed value. this preparation is a uterine and ovarian sedative, and is of special service in treating congestive and inflammatory conditions of these organs which are accompanied with unusual pain. amenorrhea.--when the menstrual flow is scanty or suppressed, as a result of sudden exposure to cold, worry, fright, grief or other violent mental shocks. menorrhagia.--profuse menstruation is at once relieved by dr. martel's pills. the preparation instantly restores vigor to the uterus which has been lost through the excessive flow of blood. it is advisable to begin the use of the preparation a few days in advance of the flow in those cases which are disposed to menstruate profusely at each visitation. menopause.--the nervous and mental disturbances which frequently precede and succeed the final cessation of ovulation and menstruation respond readily to the anti-spasmodic and tranquilizing action of dr. martel's pills. where hysteria, melancholia, moroseness and despondency are conspicuous factors, the preparation can be used to great advantage. the improvement in the mental state of the patient after the administration of this product is always durable and pronounced. dysmenorrhea.--in the treatment of congestive, neuralgic, mechanical or membranous types of dysmenorrhea, the action of dr. martel's pills is particularly gratifying. this preparation is of particular value in the treatment of menstrual irregularities from any cause, as above stated, which fail to respond to other and ordinary medical remedies. it is a well known, and scientifically proven fact, that all women are not constitutionally or temperamentally alike. where some respond readily to one mode of treatment others do not. for this reason we have prepared a preparation designed for such instances. this remedy is dr. martel's special female pills. $ . box. sold by all druggists ------------------------- nervous? suffer from indigestion, irregular kidneys, bowel trouble, appendicitis, gall stones--here is relief when your head aches; when your breath is bad; when your bowels or kidneys are irregular; when your appetite fails or the twinges of indigestion make you regret each meal; when your nervous system has gone to pieces--then is your stomach sending its wireless message for help. the trouble may be in the stomach itself--indigestion--dyspepsia, and their nightmare evils. the intestinal tract may be deranged or the liver clogged, or it may be gall stones. your case may not have reached the gall stone stage. it may be of a different nature--threatened appendicitis, for example. in any case, whether it be bad stomach, torpid liver or weakened and inflamed bowels--the answer to that wireless should be fruitola and traxo. these are two remarkable preparations used in combination, which for the past years and more have released thousands from the pangs of dyspepsia and have saved as many from operations for gall stones and appendicitis. fruitola cleanses, lubricates and soothes all the channels of the digestive system, without the least pain, griping or resulting weakness. it is nutritive in effect. it revives the appetite, clears the way for perfect digestion and thorough assimilation, allows nature to make pure blood, firm flesh, strong muscles, healthy tissue and store up vital energy. a whole bottle of fruitola is to be taken at once; this to be followed by small doses of traxo to complete the strengthening and toning effect on the stomach, to insure regular, natural action of bowels and kidneys and to give permanence to all the benefits of the treatment. the gentle action of traxo on the kidneys removes waste and by keeping the liver active it frees the general circulation of bile--it clears the eye and complexion and brings the glow of health to the cheeks. pinus, the great rheumatism remedy, has saved thousands of sufferers after long years of agonizing attacks. joints swollen and misshapen by inflammatory rheumatism, nerves and muscles overpowered by the intense misery of chronic rheumatism and sciatica have been restored to health and strength--pain and swelling banished by the marvelous properties of pinus, a product of california's wonderful soil and sun. fruitola, traxo and pinus are guaranteed under the pure food and drugs act. they are entirely vegetable and there is not a single ingredient that can harm the most sensitive system when taken as directed. they are made from the natural products of california, the land of health and sunshine. stop your suffering and suspense at once. get the most wonderful remedies from your druggist today. if he doesn't have them he can get them for you promptly. every wholesale druggist keeps them. get our booklet anyway and read the living testimony. if not at your druggist's, write us. pinus medicine co., los angeles. cal. ------------------------- o-b-e-s-i-t-y, c-a-v-e-c-k t-a-b-l-e-t-s a reducing tonic successful, harmless and positive when directions are followed. the way to do. there are just three ways of reducing fat: starvation, exercise and medical treatment. anyone can reduce by starvation methods. let him eat nothing for three weeks and the fat will drop from his bones, but the after effects are bad. debilitated looking wrinkles. use gaveck tablets, eat most anything. k-e-e-p y-o-u-n-g by not taking on flesh. that makes one look old and flabby. gaveck tablets are harmless, a reducing tonic to the system. give them a fair trial. beware of imitations. do not diet gaveck company chicago kenmore ave. price $ . ------------------------- coupon for free samples present this coupon at any drug store named on the back hereof and receive absolutely free a sample cake of stiefel's superlative boracic acid shampoo soap one of a great many varieties of stiefel's medicinal soaps which have for more than a quarter of a century been the stand-by of physicians everywhere. name______________________ city ______________________ state___________ address ___________________________ ------------------------- free coupon this coupon is worth cents. when signed will entitle the holder to one trial box of young's victoria cream at any drug store named on the back. the coupon and cents in cash for one large box of cream or the coupon and cents for a box of victoria powder. name ______________________________ address_____________________________ must be written plainly ------------------------- [transcriber's note: these addresses are on the back of the two coupons on the previous page.] the central drug company, north state street, chicago independent drug company, state street, chicago auditorium pharmacy company, wabash avenue, chicago ashland drug company, clark and randolph streets, chicago congress drug company, wabash ave. and van buren st., chicago the central drug company, woodward avenue, detroit the central drug company, woodward avenue, detroit the central drug company, grand river avenue, detroit the standard drug co., ( stores), cleveland ------------------------- the central drug company, north state street, chicago independent drug company, state street, chicago auditorium pharmacy company, wabash avenue chicago ashland drug company, clark and randolph streets, chicago congress drug company, wabash ave. and van buren street, chicago the central drug company, woodward avenue, detroit the central drug company, woodward avenue, detroit the central drug company, grand river avenue, detroit the standard drug co., ( stores), cleveland ------------------------- [illustration: image of package.] j. a. pozzoni's complexion powder a luxurious toilet necessity--producing a smooth, velvety complexion. its impalpable fineness and softness makes pozzoni's cooling, refreshing and beautifying to the most delicate skin. things worth knowing about pozzoni's they are merits all its own a. the only powder put up in a wooden box which retains all the delicate perfume and medication until entirely used up. b. perfumed with genuine tyroline rose geranium c. on the market since . d. a powder whose flesh color is an exact imitation of the skin e. the only powder which really clings and won't rub off. f. our "special pink." a powder that is not a rouge. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | transcriber's note: italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline charcters_. greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildas~. diacritical marks over | | characters are bracketed: [=mt] indicates a macron over the | | letters mt, [(y] indicates a breve over the y, etc. archaic | | spellings such as ffurther and pseudonymes have been | | retained. | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page jack, by john jackson mythe _versus_ myth, by thomas keightley witchcraft in st. augustin and baxter, by e. smirke folk lore:--subterranean bells--welsh legend of the redbreast johnsoniana minor notes:--white roses--fifeshire pronunciation --original letter--erroneous forms of speech queries:-- eustache de saint pierre, by henry h. breen passage in coleridge minor queries:--cann family--landholders in lonsdale south of the sands--rotation of the earth --nelson and wellington--are white cats deaf?-- arms in dugdale's "warwickshire," &c.--tombstone in churchyard--argot and slang--priests' surplices--john, brother german to david ii.-- scott, nelson's secretary--the axe which beheaded anne boleyn--roger outlawe--"berte au grand pied"--lying by the walls--constables of france-- st. john's church, shoreditch minor queries with answers:--sir john thompson --ring, the marriage--amusive--belfry towers separate from the body of the church--an easter-day sun replies:-- hamilton queries, by lord braybrooke, &c. the wood of the cross edmund chaloner, by t. hughes "anywhen" and "seldom-when:" unobserved instances of shakespeare's use of the latter, s. w. singer chichester: lavant, by w. l. nichols scarfs worn by clergymen, by rev. john jebb, &c. inscriptions in books, by russell gole, george s. master, &c. photographic notes and queries:--head-rests-- sir w. newton's explanations of his process--talc for collodion pictures replies to minor queries:--portrait of the duke of gloucester--key to dibdin's "bibliomania"--high spirits a presage of evil--hogarth's works--town plough--shoreditch cross and the painted window in shoreditch church--race for canterbury--lady high sheriff--burial of an unclaimed corpse--surname of allan--the patronymic mac--cibber's "lives of the poets"--parallel passages, no. .: stars and flowers--schomberg's epitaph--pilgrimages to the holy land--album--gesmas and desmas--"quod fuit esse"--straw bail--pearl--sermons by parliamentary chaplains, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. jack. i wish to note, and to suggest to students in ethnology, the query, how it comes to pass that john bull has a peculiar propensity to call things by his own name, his familiar appellative of _jack_? of all the long list of abbreviations and familiar names with which times past and present have supplied us, that which honest falstaff found most pleasing to his ears, "_jack_ with my familiars!" is the household word with which ours are most conversant. were not _jack_ the giant-killer, _jack_ and the bean-stalk, and little _jack_, the intimates of our earliest days? when we were lulled to sleep by ditties that told of _jack_ sprat and his accommodating wife (an instance of the harmony in which those of opposite tastes may live in the bonds of wedlock); of _jack_, the bachelor who lived harmoniously with his fiddle, and had a soul above the advice of his utilitarian friend; of _jack_ who, like caliban, was to have a new master; of _jack_[ ] the brother of gill; and of the _jack_ who was only remarkable for having a brother, whose name, as a younger son, is not thought worthy of mention. and were not our waking hours solaced by songs, celebrating the good jack[ ], little _jack_ horner, and holding up to obloquy the bad jack, naughty _jacky_ green, and his treachery to the innocent cat? who does not remember the time when he played at _jack_-straws, fished for _jack_-sharps, and delighted in a skip-_jack_, or _jack_-a-jumper, when _jack_-in-a-box came back from the fair (where we had listened not unmoved to the temptations of that eloquent vagabond cheap-_jack_) and popped up his nose before we could say _jack_ { } robinson; and when _jack_-in-the-green ushered in may-day? while a halo of charmed recollections encircles the memory of _jack_-pudding, dear to the englishman as jack pottage and jack sausage (jean potage and hans wurst) are to frenchman and german. our childhood past, _jack_ still haunts us at every turn and phase of our existence. the smoke-_jack_ and bottle-_jack_, those revolutionary instruments that threw the turnspit out of employment (and have well-nigh banished him from the face of the earth), cook the _jack_ hare, which we bring in in the pocket of our shooting-_jacket_. we wear _jack_-boots, and draw them off with boot-_jacks_; prop up our houses with _jack_-screws; wipe our hands on _jack_-towels; drink out of black-_jacks_, and wear them on our backs too, at least our ancestors did; while flap-_jacks_[ ] gave a relish to their lenten diet, _jack_-of-the-clock[ ] told them the hour; _jack_ priests held rule over them; and gentle exercise at the _jack_, at bowls, helped them to digest their dinners. we ride upon _jack_-asses; _jacks_ flourish in our fish-ponds; _jack_-a-lanterns and _jack_-snipes flit over our bogs, the one scarcely less difficult to capture than the other; _jack_-daws multiply in our steeples, and _jack_-herons still linger about our baronial halls. the four _jack_ knaves, _jack_-a-lents, _jack_-a-dandies, _jack_-a-nasties, and _jacks_-in-office (_jack_-an-apeses every man _jack_ of them), with that name fraught with mysterious terror, _jack_ ketch, are the scape-graces of this numerous family; and, at every _jack_ who would be the gentleman, at a saucy _jack_ who attempts to play the _jack_ with us, our indignation rises, like that of juliet's nurse. but, on the whole, _jack_ is an honest fellow, who does his work in this life, though he has been reproached with tom's helping him to do nothing; but let the house that jack built vindicate him from this calumny. _jack_, we repeat, is an honest fellow, and is so more especially, when as _jack_-tar (heaven protect him from _jack_-sharks both on sea and shore!) he has old ocean beneath, and the union-_jack_ above him. of black and yellow _jack_, who are foreigners, we make no mention; neither of _jack_-spaniards, nor of _jacko_ the monkey, whom we detest; but, go where we will, _jack_ meets us, and is master of all trades, for that we hold to be the right, though, we are aware, not the usual version of the saying. in short, with merry _andrews_, _jerry_ sneaks, _tom_ noddies, and silly _simons_, we may all have a casual acquaintance; but _jack_, sweet _jack_, kind _jack_, honest _jack_, _jack_ still is our familiar. john jackson. [footnote : jack and gill were measures. "wherefore," says grumio, "be the jacks fair within and the gills fair without," meaning the leathern jacks clean within, and the metal gills polished without.] [footnote : his character has suffered by antiquarian research, which tells us that the song was made on a colonel horner, intrusted by the last abbot of wells with a pie, containing the title-deeds of the abbey, which he was to deliver to henry viii., and that he abstracted one for his own purposes, whereupon the abbot was hanged.] [footnote : the old name for pancakes. slap-_jacks_ is their present name in america.] [footnote : the figure which struck the hour, as on the old clocks of st. dunstan's, and of carfax in oxford.] * * * * * mythe versus myth. when i first began to write on mythology, i followed the germans in using _mythus_ for the greek ~mythos~. i afterwards thought it would be better to anglicise it, and, strange to say, i actually found that there was a rule in the english language without an exception. it was this: words formed from greek disyllables in ~os~, whether the penultimate vowel be long or short, are monosyllables made long by _e_ final. thus, not only does ~bôlos~ make _bole_, but ~polos~ _pole_, ~poros~ _pore_, ~skopos~ _scope_, ~tonos~ _tone_, &c.; so also ~gyros~, _gyre_; ~thymos~, _thyme_; ~stylos~, _style_; ~kybos~, _cube_, &c.: i therefore, without hesitation, made an english word _m[=y]the_. mr. grote, in his _history of greece_, has done the very same thing, and probably on the same principles, quite independently of me; for, as i am informed, he has never condescended to read my _mythology of greece and italy_, perhaps because it was not written in german. we have had no followers, as far as i am aware, but miss lynn, in her classical novels, and mr. j. e. taylor, in his translation of the _pentamerone_, &c. meantime the english language had got another form of ~mythos~, namely, _m[)y]th_, which i believe made its first appearance in mr. cooley's _maritime and inland discovery_, and so has the claim of priority, if not of correctness. this form has been so generally adopted, that it seems likely ere long to become a mere slang term. it is used for every kind of fiction whatever; indeed, i have seen it employed where the proper word would be _hoax_. nay, to make matters worse, it is actually used of persons. mrs. harris, for instance, has been termed a _myth_, as also was robin hood, not long since, even in "n. & q."! i wonder how apolodorus would have looked, if he had heard orion or polyphemus called a ~mythos~! do i then expect the people of england to surrender their glorious privilege of going wrong without let or hindrance, in matters of grammar and etymology? far from me be such folly and presumption. all i venture to expect is, that men of learning and good sense will, when they are speaking or writing about those venerable fictions which once commanded the assent of polished nations, use the more dignified term _m[=y]the_, and the adjective _mythic_, instead of the hybrid _mythical_, leaving the poor unhappy little _m[)y]th_ to be bandied about at the popular will and pleasure. thos. keightley. * * * * * witchcraft in . i inclose you an extract from an old document in my possession, which appears to be the examination of two witnesses against one mary shepherd for witchcraft. the nature of the offence is not { } specified. perhaps it may be interesting to some of your readers. _the exa[=m] of jone coward of wareham, taken upon oath the march, ._ who sayth, y't about midsomer last past one mary sheapheard of wareham did pull of one of this ex[=mt]'s stockings, and within howers after this ex[=nt] was taken in all her limbs that she could not stur hand or foot, where upon this ex[=nt] considered that the fors'd mary sheapheard had done her that hurt, and forth w'th cryed out upon the sayd mary shep. (though the sayd m. shep. was not present), where upon this ex[=mt]'s mother went unto the house of m. shep. to perswaed her to come downe to this ex[=nt]; but the sayd m. shep. would not. whereupon this ex[=nt]'s mother went unto the mayor of the town, who co[=m]anded the s'd m. shep. to goe to this exa[=nt]. at length the s'd ma. shep. accordingly did (and being co[=e]), she did wring this ex[=nt] by the hande, and p'esently this ex[=nt] recouered. ffurther, the ex[=nt] sayth, y't about ye of july _next followinge_, this ex[=nt] was taken in ye like manner ye second time, w'th her hands and feet wrested about, and so sent for the s'd m. shep., who instantly pulled the ex[=nt] by the hands, and p'esently the ex[=nt] recovered again. jone coward. joane coward de warh[=a], spinster £xx, to appear and give evidence at the next assizes ag[=nt] ma. sheapheard. * * * * * _the ex[=am] of ann trew, single woman, of wareham, taken upon oath as afors'd._ who sayth, y't on ye th of march last past she saw mary shep. come into ye house of joh. gillingame, and likewise saw ed. gillingame come down bare-footed very well, without any lamnesse or sickness at all, and p'esently after ye sayd mary shep. had pulled on the legginge upon the legge of ye s'd ed. gill., he fell instantly both lame and sick. further, the ex[=nt] asked the s'd ed. gill. (in the time of his sickness) what ma. shep. did unto him, who answered, she did put her hand upon his thigh. ann trew. anne trew de warh[=a], spinster £xx, to appear and give evidence at next assizes ag[=nt] m. shepheard. i should like to know if the effect of her supposed sorcery could be attributed to mesmerism. the document in my possession appears to be original, as jone coward's signature is in a different hand to that of the examination. j. c. m. spetisbury. * * * * * st. augustin and baxter. i am not aware that any author has pointed out a remarkable coincidence in the confessions of st. augustin and of baxter: "divers sins i was addicted to, and oft committed against my conscience, which, for the warning of others, i will here confess to my shame. i was much addicted to the excessive and gluttonous eating of apples and pears, which, i think, laid the foundation of the imbecility and flatulency of my stomach.... to this end, and to concur with naughty boys that gloried in evil, i have oft gone into other men's orchards and stolen the fruit, when i had enough at home.... these were my sins in my childhood, as to which conscience troubled me for a great while before they were overcome." sir w. scott cites the above passages in his _life of dryden_, with sharp comments on the rigid scruples of the puritans: "how is it possible," he says, "to forgive baxter for the affectation with which he records the enormities of his childhood?... can any one read this confession without thinking of tartuffe, who subjected himself to penance for killing a flea with too much anger?..." it probably did not occur to the biographer, that no less illustrious a saint than augustin, to whom puritanism can hardly be imputed, had made a parallel confession of like early depravity many centuries before. enlarging on his own puerile delinquencies, and indeed on the wickedness of children in general, he confesses that, in company with other "naughty boys" ("nequissimi adolescentuli"), he not only stole apples, but stole them for the mere pleasure of the thing, and when he "had enough at home": "id furatus sum quod mihi abundabat, et multo melius. nec eâ re volebam frui quam furto appetebam; sed ipso furto et peccato. arbor erat pirus in viciniâ vineæ nostræ pomis onusta, nec formâ nec sapore illecebrosis. ad hanc excutiendam atque asportandam, nequissimi adolescentuli perreximus nocte intempestâ; et abstulimus inde onera ingentia, non ad nostras epulas, sed vel projicienda porcis, etiamsi aliquid inde comedimus.... ecce cor meum, deus meus, ecce cor meum, quod miseratus es in imo abyssi!"--_confessionum_, lib. ii. cap. iv. in comparing the two cases, the balance of juvenile depravity is very much against the great doctor of grace. he does not seem to have had even a fondness for fruit to plead in extenuation of his larceny. he robbed orchards by wholesale of apples, which, by his own admission, had no attractions either of form or flavour to tempt him. yet the two anecdotes are so much alike, that one would be inclined to suspect one story of being a mere recoction of the other if it were possible to doubt the veracity of richard baxter. { } the incident, however, is one too familiar in schoolboy life to make the repetition of the story a matter of surprise. the property in an apple growing within the reach of a boy's hand has from time immemorial been in peril, and the law itself has not always regarded it as an object of scrupulous protection. the old laws of the rheingau, and (if i mistake not) of some other states, warranted a wayfaring man in picking apples from any tree, provided he did not exceed the number of three. e. smirke. * * * * * folk lore. _subterranean bells_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--in answer to j. j. s.'s inquiry, i beg to state, that at crosmere, near ellesmere, shropshire, where there is one of a number of pretty lakes scattered throughout that district, there is a tradition of a chapel having formerly stood on the banks of the lake. and it is said that the belief once was, that whenever the waters were ruffled by wind, the chapel bells might be heard as singing beneath the surface. this, though bearing on the subject of "submarine" or "subaqueous," rather than "subterranean" bells, illustrates, i think, the tradition to which j. j. s. refers. j. w. m. hordley, ellesmere. _welsh legend of the redbreast._--according to my old nurse (a carmarthenshire woman), the redbreast, like prometheus, is the victim ~philanthrôpou tropou~. not only the babes in the wood, but mankind at large, are indebted to these deserving favourites. how could any child help regarding with grateful veneration the little bird with bosom red, when assured-- "that far, far, far away is a land of woe, darkness, spirits of evil, and _fire_. day by day does the little bird bear in his bill a drop of water to quench the flame. so near to the burning stream does he fly, that his dear little feathers are _scorched_: and hence he is named bron-_rhuddyn_.[ ] to serve little children, the robin dares approach the infernal pit. no good child will hurt the devoted benefactor of man. the robin returns from the land of _fire_, and therefore he feels the _cold_ of winter far more than his brother birds. he shivers in the brumal blast; hungry, he chirps before your door. oh! my child, then, in gratitude throw a few crumbs to poor red-breast." why, a pythagorean would have eaten a peacock sooner than one of us would have injured a robin. r. p. [footnote : bron-rhuddyn = "breast-burnt," or "breast-scorched."] * * * * * johnsoniana. i inclose you a transcript of a letter of boswell's which i think worthy of being permanently recorded, and am not aware of its having been before in print. edinburgh, th april, . dear sir, when mr. johnson and i arrived at inveraray after our expedition to the hebrides, and there for the first time _after many days_ renewed our enjoyment of the luxuries of civilised life, one of the most elegant that i could wish to find was lying for me, a letter from mr. garrick. it was a pineapple of the finest flavour, which had a high zest indeed amongst the heath-covered mountains of scotia. that i have not thanked you for it long ere now is one of those strange facts for which it is so difficult to account, that i shall not attempt it. the _idler_ has strongly expressed many of the wonderful effects of the _vis inertiæ_ of the human mind. but it is hardly credible that a man should have the warmest regard for his friend, a constant desire to show it, and a keen ambition for a frequent epistolary intercourse with him, and yet should let months roll on without having resolution, or activity, or power, or whatever it be, to write a few lines. a man in such a situation is somewhat like tantalus reversed. he recedes, he knows not how, from what he loves, which is full as provoking as when what he loves recedes from him. that my complaint is not a peculiar fancy, but deep in human nature, i appeal to the authority of st. paul, who though he had not been exalted to the dignity of an apostle, would have stood high in fame as a philosopher and orator, "_what i would that do i not._" you need be under no concern as to your debt to me for the book which i purchased for you. it was long ago discharged; for believe me, i intended the book as a present. or if you rather chuse that it should be held as an exchange with the epitaphs which you sent me, i have no objection. dr. goldsmith's death would affect all the club much. i have not been so much affected with any event that has happened of a long time. i wish you would give me, who am at a distance, and who cannot get to london this spring, some particulars with regards to his last appearances. dr. young has a fine thought to this purpose, that every friend who goes before us to the other side of the river of death, makes the passage to us the easier. were our club all removed to a future world but one or two, _they_, one should think, would incline to follow. by all means let me be on your list of subscribers to mr. morrell's _prometheus_. you have enlivened the town, i see, with a musical piece. the prologue is admirably fancied _arripere populum tributim_; though, to be sure, foote's remark applies to it, that your prologues { } have a culinary turn, and that therefore the motto to your collection of them should be, _animus jamdudum in patinis_. a player upon words might answer him, "any patinis rather than your piety in pattens." i wonder the wags have not been quoting upon you, "whose erudition is a _christmas tale_." but mr. johnson is ready to bruise any one who calls in question your classical knowledge and your happy application of it. i hope mr. johnson has given you an entertaining account of his northern tour. he is certainly to favour the world with some of his remarks. pray do not fail to quicken him by word as i do by letter. posterity will be the more obliged to his friends the more that they can prevail with him to write. with best compliments to mrs. garrick, and hoping that you will not punish me by being long silent, i remain faithfully yours, james boswell. to david garrick, esq., adelphi, london. w. p. * * * * * minor notes. _white roses._--in an old newspaper, _the weekly journal, or british gazetteer_, of saturday, june , , i find the following paragraph: "monday being the anniversary of the white roses, some persons who had a mind to boast that they had bid defiance to the government, put them on early in the morning; but the mob not liking such doings, gathered about them, and demolished the wearers; which so terrified the crew, that not one of them afterwards would touch a white rose." can you, or any of your correspondents, explain this curious allusion? is it to the emblem of the house of york, or the badge of the pretender? e. g. b. _fifeshire pronunciation._--i have observed, in various parts of fifeshire, a singular peculiarity in the pronunciation of certain words, of which the following are specimens: pronounced wrong, vrang. wright, vricht (_gut._). wretch, vretch. write, _v. a._ vrite. write, or writing, _s._ vreat. this strange mode is not altogether confined to the most illiterate portion of the people. my query is, does this peculiarity obtain in any other portion of scotland? a. r. x. paisley. _original letter._--the following letter, written by the french general at guadaloupe, when it was taken in , to his conqueror, is an exquisite specimen of something more than that national politeness which does not desert a frenchman even in misfortune. i possess the original: au quartier général du parc, le février, . a son excellence le général beckwith, commandant en chef les forces de sa majesté britannique aux isles du vent. monsieur le général, j'ai été prévenu que votre excellence se proposait de venir au parc demain dans la matinée. j'ose espérer qu'elle voudra bien me faire l'honneur d'accepter le diner que lui offre un général malheureux et vaincu, mais qu'il présente de tout coeur. daignez, monsieur le général, agréer l'assurance de la haute considération avec laquelle j'ai l'honneur d'être, de votre excellence, le très-obéissant serviteur, emouf. edward foss. _erroneous forms of speech._--since you allow your correspondents to correct such words as _teetotal_, i hope you will allow me to call the attention of your agricultural readers to the corruption in the word _mangold_, as they now write it. the word is in german _mangel wurzel_, root of scarcity. it is wrong to use even such a name as this, in my opinion, while we have the english name _beet_, which has the additional advantage of being derived from the botanical name _beta_. but if a new name must be used, let it, at any rate, be the pure german _mangel_, and not the mongrel _mangold_. indeed, those who spell the word in the latter way, ought in common consistency to write _reddishes_, _sparrowgrass_, and _cowcumbers_ for radishes, asparagus, and cucumbers. e. g. r. * * * * * queries. eustache de saint pierre. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. king's inquiry reminds me of two queries on the same subject which i sent you as far back as the end of , or beginning of . those queries have not appeared in "n. & q.," and i was led to suppose, either that you had laid them aside for some future occasion, or had found something objectionable in the form in which they were presented. the following is a literal copy. "there are two circumstances connected with this event (the surrender of calais), respecting which i am desirous of obtaining information. the first has reference to the individuals who offered themselves as victims to appease the exasperation of edward iii., after the obstinate siege of { } that town in . they are represented as _six_ of the principal citizens; eustache de saint pierre was at their head, and the names of three others have come down to us, as jean d'aire, jacques de wissant, and pierre de wissant. who were the other two? "the second point relates to the character of that occurrence. some historians are of opinion that the devotedness of saint pierre and his associates was prompted by the most exalted sentiments of patriotism; while others assert that it was all a 'sham,' that saint-pierre was secretly attached to the cause of the english monarch, and that he was subsequently employed by him in some confidential negociations. to which of these opinions should the historical inquirer give his assent?" i may add, in reply to mr. king, that "the light thrown on the subject, through m. de bréquigny's labours," has been noticed in the _biographie universelle_, sub voce _saint-pierre (eustache de)_; and it was the remarks in that work that first drew my attention to it. the circumstances disclosed by bréquigny are also commented upon by lévesque in his _la france sous les valois_. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * passage in coleridge. de quincy, in his "suspiria de profundis," blackwood's _magazine_, june, , p. ., speaking of the spectre of the brocken, and of the conditions under which that striking phenomenon is manifested, observes that "coleridge ascended the brocken on the whitsunday of with a party of english students from goettingen, but failed to see the phantom; afterwards in england (and under the same three conditions) he saw a much rarer phenomenon, which he described in the following eight lines. i give them from a corrected copy. the apostrophe in the beginning must be understood as addressed to an ideal conception: "'and art thou nothing? such thou art as when the woodman winding westward up the glen at wintry dawn, when o'er the sheep-track's maze the viewless snow-mist weaves a glist'ning haze, sees full before him, gliding without tread, an image with a glory round its head: this shade he worships for its golden hues, and makes (not knowing) that which he pursues.'" these lines are from "constancy to an ideal object;" but in the usual editions of coleridge's _poems_, the last two lines are printed thus: "the enamour'd rustic worships its fair hues, nor knows he makes the shadow he pursues." coleridge's _poetical works_, vol. ii. p. ., . query: which reading is the correct one? coleridge refers to the _manchester philosophical transactions_ for a description of this phenomenon; but, as the earlier volumes of these are scarce, perhaps some of your correspondents would copy the description from the volume which contains it, or furnish one from some authentic source. j. m. b. * * * * * minor queries. _cann family._--can any of your correspondents enlighten me as to the origin of this family name; and if of foreign extraction, as i suspect, in what county of england they first settled? there is a village in dorsetshire called cann st. rumbold. possibly this may afford some clue. burke informs us that william cann, esq., was mayor of bristol in , and that his son, sir robert cann, also mayor, and afterwards m.p. for that city, was knighted by charles ii. in , and created a baronet, september th in the same year. the title became extinct in , by the death of sir robert cann, the sixth baronet. the first baronet had several brothers, some of whom most probably left issue, as i find a respectable family of that name now, and for many years past, located in devonshire; but i am not aware if they are descended from the same stock. domini-cann. canada. _landholders in lonsdale south of the sands._--in his _history of lancashire_, baines states (vol. i. chap. iv.) that a return of the principal landholders in lonsdale south of the sands, in the time of james i., has been kept; but he does not state where the return is registered, nor whether it was in a private or public form. in fact, it is impossible to make any reference to the return, from the brief mention made of it by baines. perhaps some one of your lancashire correspondents may be acquainted with the sources of the learned historian's information. if so, it would much oblige your correspondent to be directed to them, as also to any of the lancashire genealogical authorities referring to the district of lonsdale south of the sands. observer. _rotation of the earth._--has the experiment which about two years ago was much talked of, for demonstrating the rotation of the earth by means of a pendulum, been satisfactorily carried out and proved? and if so, where is the best place for finding an account of it? the diagram by mr. little in the _illustrated london news_ does not seem to explain the matter very fully. [?] _nelson and wellington._--the following statement has been going the round of the american newspapers since the death of the duke of wellington. is it true?--"lord nelson was the eighteenth in descent from king edward i., and { } the duke of wellington was descended from the same monarch." uneda. _are white cats deaf?_--white cats are reputed to be "hard of hearing." i have known many instances, and in all stupidity seemed to accompany the deafness. can any instances be given of white cats possessing the function of hearing in anything like perfection? shirley hibberd. _arms in dugdale's "warwickshire," &c._--in dugdale's _warwickshire_ ( ), p. . fig. ., is a coat of arms from the prior's lodgings at maxstoke, viz. or, fretty of ten pieces sa. with a canton gu. and in shaw's _hist. of staffordshire_, vol. i. p. * ., is the notice of a similar coat from armitage church, near rugeley, extracted out of _church notes_, by wyrley the herald, taken about : viz. "rugeley as before, impaling o. fretty of ... s. with a canton g. query if ..." dugdale gives another coat, p. . fig. ., from the windows of trinity church, coventry; viz. arg. on a chev. sa. three _stars_ of the first. there is a mitre over this coat. can any of the correspondents of "n. & q." assign the family names to these arms? does the mitre necessarily imply a bishop or mitred abbot; and, if not, does it belong to john de ruggeley, who was abbot of merevale (not far from coventry) temp. hen. vi., one branch of whose family bore--arg. on a chev. sa. three _mullets_ of the first. i may observe that this john was perhaps otherwise connected with coventry; for edith, widow of nicholas de ruggeley, his brother, left a legacy, says dugd., p. ., to an anchorite mured up at stivichall church, a member of st. michael's church, coventry. the same coat (_i. e._ with the mullets) is assigned by dugd., p. . fig. ., to the name of knell. j. w. s. r. _tombstone in churchyard._--does any one know of a legible inscription older than ? a. c. _argot and slang._--i shall be much obliged by learning from any correspondent the etymons of _argot_ (french) and _slang_, as applied to language; and when did the latter term first come into use? thos. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _priests' surplices._--will some of the readers of "n. & q." favour me with a decision or authority on the following point? does a priest's surplice differ from that worn by a lay vicar, or vicar choral? i have been an old choir-boy; and some few years since, as a boy, used to remark that the priests' surplices worn at st. paul's, the chapel royal, and westminster abbey, were, as a sempstress would term it, _gaged_, or stitched down in rows over the shoulders some seven or eight times at the distance of about half an inch from each other. in the cathedral churches of durham, york, hereford, worcester, gloucester, and oxford, i have remarked their almost universal adoption; but, to the best of my belief, i have never seen such a description of vestment in use among parochial clergymen, above half-a-dozen times, and i am desirous of knowing if the _gaged_ surplice is peculiar to cathedrals and collegiate churches (i have even seen canons residentiary in them, habited in the lay vicar's surplice), or is the surplice used by choristers, undergraduates, and vicars choral, which, according to my early experience, is one without needlework, the correct officiating garment; the latter is almost universally used at funerals, where the officiating priest seldom wears either his scarf or hood, and presents anything but a dignified appearance when he crowns this _négligée_ with one of our grotesque chimney-pot hats, to the exclusion of the more appropriate college cap. amanuensis. _john, brother german to david ii._--can any of your readers solve the problem in scotch history, who was john, brother german to king david ii., son of robert bruce? david ii., in a charter to the priory of rostinoth, uses these words: "pro salute animæ nostræ, etc., ac ob benevolentiam et affectionem specialem quam erga dictum prioratum devote gerimus eo quod ossa celebris memoriæ johannis fratris nostri germani ibidem (the priory) humata quiescunt dedimus, etc., viginti marcas sterlingorum, etc." dated at scone, "in pleno parliamento nostro tento ibidem decimo die junii anno regni sexto decimo." the expression "celebris memoriæ" might almost be held to indicate that john had lived to manhood, but is perhaps only a style of royalty; nevertheless, the passage altogether seems to lead to the inference, that the person had at least survived the age of infancy. king robert's bastard son, sir robert bruce, had a grant of the lands of finhaven, in the neighbourhood of rostinoth.[ ] de camera. [footnote : dr. jamieson has a note on king david ii., brother, in his edition, of barbour's bruce; but does not quote the words of the charter so fully as they are here given.--_the bruce and wallace_, to., edin. , vol. i. p. .] _scott, nelson's secretary._--can any of your readers give me information as to the pedigree and family of john scott, esq., public secretary to lord nelson? he was killed at trafalgar on board the victory; and dying while his sons were yet very young, his descendants possess little knowledge on the subject to which i have alluded. he was, i _think_, born at fochabers, near gordon castle, where his mother is known to have died. a subscriber. { } _the axe which beheaded anne boleyn._--a friend of mine has excited my curiosity by stating, that in his school-boy readings of the history of england, he learned that the axe which deprived henry viii.'s second wife (anne boleyn) of her head was preserved as a relic in the northgate street of kent's ancient citie, canterbury. i have written to friends living in that locality for a confirmation of such a strange fact; but they plead ignorance. can any of your numerous readers throw any light relative to this subject upon the benighted mind of philip west. _roger outlawe._--a friend of mine in germany has met with some ancient rolls, said to have been from the irish court of common pleas, chiefly of the time of edward iii., and headed thus: "communia placita apud dublin coram fratre rogero outlawe priore hospitii sancti johannis de jerusalem in hibernia tenens locum johannis darcy le cosyn justiciarii hiberniæ apud dublin die pasche in viiij mense anno b. etii post ultimum conquestum hiberniæ quarto." can any person state who this _roger outlawe_ was? and is it not singular that a prior of a religious and military establishment should be qualified to sit as _locum tenens_ of a judge in a law court? h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. "_berte au grand pied._"--i should be glad to know what is the history or legend of the goose-footed queen, whose figure mr. laing, in his _norway_, p. . vo. edition, says is on the portals of four french cathedrals. thos. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _lying by the walls._--what is the origin of the phrase "lying by the walls," an euphemism for _dead_? it was very commonly used in this county some years ago. instead of saying "poor m. or n. is _dead_," they always said "poor m. or n. _lies by the walls_." r. p. st. ives, hunts. _constables of france_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--has no person been appointed to fill that high office since the death of the duc de luynes, in ? a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _st. john's church, shoreditch._--the church of st. john, within the priory of holywell, shoreditch, and the chapel adjoining it, built by sir thomas lovel, treasurer of the household to king henry vii., knight of the most noble order of the garter, &c. is there any better or other account of this priory, church, and chapel than that given in the _monasticon_? judging by the statement copied by mr. lysons from the original entry in the books of the college of arms, the chapel must have been a splendid building. sir thomas lovel was buried there on the th june, , "in a tombe of whyte marbell which both hit and the chappell were founded by hym, and it stondeth on the southe syde of the quyre of the saide churche." at his funeral there were present the bishop of london, lord st. john, sir richard wyngfield, and many others, nobles and gentlemen. the abbot of waltham, the prior of st. mary spital, four orders of friars, the mayor and all the aldermen of london, the gentlemen of the inns of court, the lord steward, and all the clerks of london, &c., also attended. what a contrast to the present condition of the place, now a scavenger's yard, once the apparently last resting-place of the councillor of a mighty sovereign! "they that did feed delicately, that were brought up in scarlet, embrace dunghills. the holy house where our fathers worshipped is laid waste." warden s. hendry. p. s.--part of the chapel is now to be found under the floor of the "old king john," holywell lane. the stone doorway into the porter's lodge of the priory still exists; but, from the accumulation of earth, the crown of the arch is six feet below the ground. i took a sketch of it, and some other remains of the priory, also under ground, about ten years ago. w. s. h. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _sir john thompson._--what are the crest, arms, motto, and supporters of sir john thompson, bart., created baron haversham, of haversham and newport pagnel, about the eighth year of william iii.? r. p. d. [or, on a fesse indented az. three etoiles ar.; on a canton of the second, a sun in his glory, ppr.--crest, an arm, erect, vested gu. cuff ar. holding in the hand ppr. five ears of wheat or. motto, "in lumine luce."--robson's _british herald_, vol. ii. _s. v._; and for the plate, vol. iii. pl. .] _ring, the marriage._--when and how did the use of the ring, in the marriage ceremony, originate? is it of christian origin; or is it derived from the jews, or from the greeks or romans? jonathan pim. [brand quotes vallancey and leo modena for the use of the marriage ring among the jews (_popular antiq._, vol. ii. p. . edit. ). wheatly, however, has given the most detailed account of its origin:--"the reason," he says, "why a ring was pitched upon for the pledge rather than anything else was, because anciently the ring was a _seal_, by which all orders were signed, and things of value secured (gen. xxxviii. ., esther iii. . ., maccab. vi. .); and therefore the delivery of it was a sign that the person to whom { } it was given was admitted into the highest friendship and trust (gen. xli. .). for which reason it was adopted as a ceremony in marriage to denote that the wife, in consideration of her being espoused to the man, was admitted as a sharer in her husband's counsels, and a joint-partner in his honour and estate: and therefore we find that not only the _ring_, but the _keys_ also were in former times delivered to her at the marriage. that the ring was in use among the old romans, we have several undoubted testimonies (juvenal, _sat._ vi. ver. , .; plin. _hist. nat._, lib. iii. c. i.; tertull. _apol._, c. vi. p. . a.). pliny, indeed, tells us, that in his time the romans used an iron ring without any jewel; but tertullian hints, that in the former ages it was a ring of gold."--_rational illustration of the common prayer_, p. . edit. .] _amusive._--is this word peculiar to thomson, or is it made use of by other poets? its meaning does not appear to be very definite. in the _spring_ it is applied to the rooks, with their "ceaseless caws amusive;" in the _summer_ to the thistledown, which "amusive floats;" and in the _autumn_, the theory of the supposed cause of mountain springs is called an "amusive dream." thomson seems to have been partial to these kind of adjectives, "effusive," "diffusive," "prelusive," &c. cuthbert bede, b.a. [a reference to richardson's _dictionary_ will show that, however fond thomson may have been of this word, it is not one peculiar to him. whitehead says: "to me 'twas given to wake _th' amusive_ reed," and chandler, in his _travels in greece_, speaks of the wind "murmuring _amusively_ among the pines."] _belfry towers separate from the body of the church._--at mylor, near falmouth, there is an old tower for the bells (where they are rung every sunday), separate from the church itself, which has a very low tower. are there many other instances of this? i do not remember to have seen any. j. s. a. [if our correspondent will refer to the last edition of the _glossary of architecture_, s. v. _campanile_, he will learn that though bell towers are generally attached to the church, they are sometimes unconnected with it, as at chichester cathedral, and are sometimes united merely by a covered passage, as at lapworth, warwickshire. there are several examples of detached bell-towers still remaining, as at evesham, worcestershire; berkeley, gloucestershire; walton, norfolk; ledbury, herefordshire; and a very curious one entirely of timber, with the frame for the bells springing from the ground, at pembridge, herefordshire. at salisbury a fine early english detached campanile, feet in height, surmounted by a timber turret and spire, stood near the north-west corner of the cathedral, but was destroyed by wyatt.] _an easter-day sun._--in that verse of sir john suckling's famous _ballad upon a wedding_, wherein occurs the simile of the "little mice," what is the meaning of the allusion to the easter-day sun?-- "but oh! she dances such a way, no sun upon an easter-day is half so fine a sight!" cuthbert bede, b.a. [it was formerly a common belief that the sun danced on easter-day: see brand's _popular antiquities_, vol. i. p. . _et seq._ so general was it, that sir thomas browne treats on it in his _vulgar errors_, vol. ii. p. . ed. bohn.] * * * * * replies. hamilton queries. (vol. vii., p. .) on reference to the peerages of sir harris nicolas and wood, i feel no doubt that the father of lord spencer hamilton, as tee bee remarks, was the fifth duke of hamilton, and not the third, as collins (edition brydges) states, who misled me. perhaps the perplexity, if any, arose from anne duchess of hamilton, the inheritress of the ducal honours by virtue of the patent of , after the deaths of her father and uncle _s. p. m._, having obtained a _life dukedom_ for her husband, william earl of selkirk, and, subsequently to his decease, having surrendered all her titles in favour of their eldest son, james earl of arran, who was in made duke of hamilton, with the same precedency of the original creation of , as if he had succeeded thereto. sir william hamilton, the ambassador, married first, jan. , , the only child of hugh barlow, esq., of lawrenny in pembrokeshire, with whom he got a large estate: she died at naples, aug. , , and was buried in wales. his second lady was emma harte, a native of hawarden in flintshire; where her brother, then a bricklayer working for the late sir stephen glynne, was pointed out to me forty years ago. in wood's _peerage_ it is stated that sir w. hamilton's second marriage took place at london, sept. , : he died in april, , and was buried in slebech church. i well remember single-speech hamilton, who was a fried of the family, dining with my father when i was a little boy; and i still retain the impression of his having been a tall and thin old gentleman, very much out of health. he left a treatise called _parliamentary logick_, published in . the brief memoir of the author prefixed to the work, makes no mention of him as a member of the house of hamilton; but it is said that he derived his name of gerard from his god-mother elizabeth, daughter of digby, lord gerard of bromley, widow of james, fourth duke of hamilton, who fell in the duel with lord mohun, which looks as if some affinity was recognised. { } the same authority tells us that william gerard hamilton was the only child of a scotch advocate, william hamilton, by hannah hay, one of the sisters of david bruce, the abyssinian traveller; and that he removed to london, and practised with some reputation at the english bar. mr. w. g. hamilton died, unmarried, in july, , æt. sixty-eight. braybrooke. tee bee has, by his queries about sir w. hamilton, recalled some most painful reminiscences connected with our great naval hero. according to the statement in the _new general biographical dictionary_, sir william hamilton was married to _his first wife_ in the year ; but although it is asserted that she brought her husband l. a-year, her name is not given. she died in , and in "he married emma harte, the fascinating, mischievous, and worthless lady hamilton." pettigrew, in his _memoirs of nelson_, says, that this marriage took place at st. george's, hanover square, _on the th of september_, . tee bee will find a full account of lady h. in the above-mentioned work of pettigrew. f. s. b. * * * * * the wood of the cross. (vol. vii., p. .) i never heard of our lord's cross having been made of _elder_ wood. the common idea, legend, or tradition, that prevailed formerly was, that the upright beam of the cross was made of _cedar_, the cross-beam of _cypress_, the piece on which the inscription was written of _olive_, and the piece for the feet of palm. the legend concerning the wood of the cross is very curious, and may be analysed as follows:--when adam fell sick, he sent his son seth to the gate of the garden of eden to beg of the angel some drops of the oil of mercy that distilled from the tree of life. the angel replied that none could receive this favour till five thousand years had passed away. he gave him, however, a cutting from the tree, and it was planted upon adam's grave. it grew into a tree with three branches. the rod of moses was afterwards cut from this tree. solomon had it cut down to make of it a pillar for his palace. the queen of sheba, when she went to visit solomon, would not pass by it, as she said it would one day cause the destruction of the jews. solomon then ordered it to be removed and buried. the spot where it was buried was afterwards dug for the pool of bethsaida, and the mysterious tree communicated the power of healing to the waters. as the time of the passion of christ approached, the wood floated on the surface of the water, and was taken for the upright beam of the cross. see this curious legend at greater length in the _gospel of nicodemus_; the _legenda aurea_ at the feasts of the discovery and exaltation of the cross; curzon's _monasteries of the levant_, p. .; and didron's _iconography_, p. ., bohn's edition. i think, however, that i can explain the origin of the question put to rubi by his poor parishioner as to the cross having been made of _elder_ wood. his question may have sprung from a corruption of an old tradition or legend regarding not our saviour, but judas his betrayer. judas is said to have hanged himself on an _elder_ tree. sir john maundeville, in his description of jerusalem, after speaking of the pool of siloe, adds, "and fast by is still the elder tree on which judas hanged himself for despair, when he sold and betrayed our lord."--p. ., bohn's edit. to return to the wood of the cross. in sir john maundeville's time a spot was pointed out at jerusalem as the spot where the tree grew: "to the west of jerusalem is a fair church, where the tree of the cross grew."--p. . and he speaks of the wood of this tree as having once been used as a bridge over the brook cedron (p. .). henry maundrell describes a greek convent that he visited, about half an hour's distance from jerusalem: "that which most deserves to be noted in it, is the reason of its name and foundation. it is because there is the earth that nourished the root, that bore the tree, that yielded the timber, that made the cross. under the high altar you are shown a hole in the ground where the stump of the tree stood."--p. . these are some of the legendary traditions regarding the history and site of the wood of the cross, up to the time of the passion of christ. ceyrep. * * * * * edmund chaloner. (vol. vi., p. .) i have been waiting for several months in expectation of seeing some satisfactory reply to ursula's query. it seems, however, that, in common with myself, your numerous correspondents are quite at a nonplus. wood, in his _athenæ oxoniensis_, vol. ii. p. ., mentions this edmund chaloner as being about nineteen (ursula says twenty-one) years old at the death of his father, james chaloner, in . wood, granger, as also burke in his _extinct baronetage_, represent james as being the fourth son of sir thomas chaloner of gisborough, in the county of york, and this appears to be the general impression as to his parentage. in a _history of cheshire_, however, written, i believe, by cowdray, and published in , the author claims him as a native of that county, and makes him to be of much { } humbler birth and descent than any of his other biographers. hear him in his own words: "our succeeding (cheshire) collectors form a family harmonic trio, a father, son, and grandson, of the surname of chaloner, and of the several christian names, thomas, jacob, and _james_. thomas was an arms-painter in chester about ; he knew the value of learning sufficiently to give his son a better education than he received himself. and this son followed the same occupation in chester, and made collections, about the year . but it was _james_, the grandson, who reflected the greatest credit upon his family, by a very concise, accurate, and sensible account of the isle of man, printed at the end of king's _vale royal_, in . he laid the foundation of a learned education in our much honoured college (brazennoze); and when the parliament invested lord fairfax with the seignory of man, he was one of his lordship's three commissioners for settling the affairs of that island. the antiquarian collections of all the three chaloners are valuable." without specially binding myself to either one of these conflicting testimonies, i may be allowed to suggest that, apart from any proof to the contrary, the inference that he was a native of chester is a perfectly fair and legitimate one. his _short treatise of the isle of man_, which was the only work he ever sent to press, was printed at the end of that famous cheshire work, the _vale royal of england_, in , and was illustrated with engravings by daniel king, the editor of that work, himself a cheshire man. independent of this, his biographer wood informs us that he was "a singular lover of antiquities," and that he "made collections of arms, monuments, &c., in staffordshire, salop, and _chester_," the which collections are now, i believe, in the british museum.* he made no collections for yorkshire, nor yet for london, where he is stated by wood to have been born. one thing is certain, james chaloner of chester was living at the time this treatise was written, and was, moreover, a famous antiquary, and a collector for this, his native county; but whether he was, _de facto_, the regicide, or merely his cotemporary, i leave it to older and wiser heads to determine. t. hughes. chester. *[in the _harleian collection_, no. ., will be found "a paper book in vo., wherein are contained, poems, impreses, and other collections in prose and verse; written by thomas chaloner and randle holme, senior, both armes-painters in chester, with other notes of less value."--ed.] * * * * * "anywhen" and "seldom-when:" unobserved instances of shakspeare's use of the latter. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. fraser's remark about the word _anywhen_ has brought to my mind two passages in shakspeare which have been always hitherto rendered obscure by wrong printing and wrong pointing. the first occurs in _measure for measure_, act iv. sc. ., where the duke says: "this is a gentle provost: _seldom-when_ the steeled gaoler is the friend of men." here the compound word, signifying _rarely_, _not often_, has been always printed as two words; and mr. collier, following others, has even placed a comma between _seldom_ and _when_. the other passage occurs in the second part of _king henry iv._, act iv. sc. .; where worcester endeavours to persuade the king that prince henry will leave his wild courses. king henry replies: "'tis _seldom-when_ the bee doth leave her comb in the dead carrion." here also the editors have always printed it as two words; and, as before, mr. collier here repeats the comma. that the word was current with our ancestors, is certain; and i have no doubt that other instances of it may be found. we have a similar compound in chaucer's _knight's tale_, v. .: "i me rejoyced of my lyberté, that _selden-tyme_ is founde in mariage." palsgrave, too, in his _eclaircissement de la langue françoise_, , has-- "_seldom-what_, gueres souvent." _seldom-when_, as far as my experience goes, seems to have passed out of use where archaisms still linger; but _anywhen_ may be heard any day and every day in surrey and sussex. those who would learn the _rationale_ of these words will do well to consult dr. richardson's most excellent _dictionary_, under the words an, any, when, and seldom. this is at least a step towards mr. fraser's wish of seeing _anywhen_ legitimatised; for what superior claim had _seldom-when_ to be enshrined and immortalised in the pages of the poet of the world? s. w. singer. manor place, south lambeth. * * * * * chichester: lavant. (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent c. affirms, as a mark of the roman origin of chichester, that "the little stream that runs through it is called the lavant, _evidently from lavando_!" now nobody, as old camden says, "has doubted the _romanity_ of chichester;" but i am quite sure that the members of the archæological institute (who meet next summer upon the banks of this same _lavant_) would decidedly demur to so singular a proof of it. { } c. is informed that, in the fourth volume of the _archæologia_, p. ., there is a paper by the hon. daines barrington, on the term _lavant_, which, it appears, is commonly applied in sussex to all brooks which are dry at some seasons, as is the case with the chichester river. "from the same circumstance," it is added, "the sands between conway and beaumaris in anglesey, are called the _lavant sands_, because they are dry when the tide ebbs; as are also the sands which are passed at low water between cartmell and lancaster, for the same reason." to trace the origin of the term _lavant_, we must, i conceive, go back to a period more remote than the roman occupation; for that remarkable people, who conquered the inhabitants of britain, and partially succeeded in imposing roman appellations upon the greater towns and cities, never could change the aboriginal names of the rivers and mountains of the country. "our hills, forests, and rivers," says bishop percy, "have generally retained their old celtic names." i venture, therefore, to suggest, that the british word for river, _av_, or _avon_, which seems to form the root of the word _lavant_, may possibly be modified in some way by the prefix, or postfix, so as to give, to the compound word, the signification of an _intermittent_ stream. the fact that, amidst all the changes which have passed over the face of our country, the primitive names of the grander features of nature still remain unaltered, is beautifully expressed by a great poet recently lost to us: "mark! how all things swerve from their known course, or vanish like a dream; another language spreads from coast to coast; only, perchance, some melancholy stream, and some indignant hills old names preserve, when laws, and creeds, and people all are lost!" wordsworth's _eccles. sonnets_, xii. w. l. nichols. bath. * * * * * scarfs worn by clergymen. (vol. vii., p. .) the mention of the distinction between the broad and narrow scarf, alluded to by me (vol. vii., p. .), was made above thirty years ago, and in ireland. i have a distinct recollection of the statement as to what _had_ been the practice, then going out of use. i am sorry that i cannot, in answer to c.'s inquiry, recollect who the person was who made it. nor am i able to specify instances of the partial observance of the distinction, as i had not till long after learned the wisdom of "making a note:" but i had occasion to remark that dignitaries, &c. frequently wore wider scarfs than other clergymen (not however that the narrower one was ever that slender strip so improperly and servilely adopted of late from the corrupt custom of rome, which has curtailed all ecclesiastical vestments); so that when the discussion upon this subject was revived by others some years ago, it was one to which my mind had been long familiar, independently of any ritual authority. i hope c. will understand my real object in interfering in this subject. it is solely that i may do a little (what others, i hope, can do more effectually) towards correcting the very injurious, and, i repeat, inadequate statement of the _quart. review_ for june, , p. . however trifling the matter may be in itself, it is no trifling matter to involve a considerable portion of the clergy, and among them many who are most desirous to uphold both the letter and the spirit of the church of england, and to resist all real innovation, in a charge of lawlessness. before the episcopal authority, there so confidently invoked, be interposed, let it be _proved_ that this is not a badge of the clerical order, common to all the churches of christendom, and actually recognised by the rules, in every respect so truly catholic, of our own church. the matter does not, i apprehend, admit of demonstration one way or the other, at least till we have fresh evidence. but to me, as to many others, analogies seem all in favour of the scarf being such a badge; and not only this, but the very regulation of our royal ecclesiastical authorities. the injunctions of queen elizabeth, in , seem to mark the tippet as a distinction between clergymen and laymen, who otherwise, in colleges and choirs at least, would have none. i also am strongly of opinion that the tippets mentioned in the th and th english canons are the two scarfs referred to: the silken tippet (or broad scarf) being for such priests or deacons as hold certain offices, or are m.a., ll.b., or of superior degree; the plain tippet (or narrow scarf) being for all ministers who are non-graduates (bachelors of arts were not anciently considered as graduates, but rather as candidates for a degree, as they are still styled in many places abroad); so that _all_ in orders may have tippets. this notion is confirmed by the fact, that the scarf was frequently called a _tippet_ in ireland within memory. and in a letter, discussing this very subject, in the _gentleman's mag._ (for , part ii. p. .[ ]), the testimony of one is given who had for upwards of fifty years considered the two words as identical, and had heard them in his youth used indiscriminately by aged clergymen. it is notorious that in ireland, time out of mind, _tippets_ have been more generally worn than _hoods_ in parish churches there. i am not sure (though i lay no stress on the conjecture) whether this may not have been in { } consequence of the option apparently given by the canons of wearing _either_ hood or tippet. it is not correct to restrict the _customary_ use of the scarf to doctors, prebendaries, and chaplains. in some cathedrals the immemorial custom has been to assign it to minor canons and clerical vicars also. at canterbury, indeed, the minor canons, except otherwise qualified, do not wear it. (but is not this an exception? was it always so? and, by the way, can any cathedral member of old standing testify as to the customary distinction in his church between the two scarfs, either as to size or materials?) the very general use of it in towns cannot be denied. i may add, that bishop jebb used to disapprove of its disuse by country clergymen. in his charge he requests that "all beneficed clergymen" of his diocese "who are _masters of arts_, or of any superior degree, and who by chaplaincies or otherwise are entitled to the distinction, may with their surplices wear scarfs or _tippets_." this apparently was his construction of the canons. john jebb. [footnote : see also p. .; and , part i. p. .] the narrow scarf, called the stole or orarium, is one of the most ancient vestments used by the christian clergy, representing in its mystical signification the yoke of christ. though it may be true that its use is not enjoined by any modern rubric or canon, custom, i think, fully warrants the clergy in wearing it. what other sanction than custom is there for the use of bands? e. h. a. a great deal of very interesting matter bearing upon this question, both in an ecclesiastical and antiquarian point of view, though no definite conclusion is arrived at, will be found in a pamphlet by g. a. french, entitled _the tippets of the canons ecclesiastical_. an oxford b.c.l. * * * * * inscriptions in books. (vol. vii., p. .) the following were lines much used when i was at school, and i believe are still so now: "this book is mine by right divine; and if it go astray, i'll call you kind my desk to find and put it safe away." another inscription of a menacing kind was,-- "this book is one thing, my fist is another; touch this one thing, you'll sure feel the other." a friend was telling me of one of these morsels, which, considering the circumstances, might be said to have been "insult added to injury;" for happening one day in church to have a book alight on his head from the gallery above, on opening it to discover its owner, he found the following positive sentence: "this book doant blong to you, so puttem doon." russell gole. the following salutary advice to book-borrowers might suitably take its position in the collection already alluded to in "n. & q.": "neither blemish this book, or the leaves double down, nor lend it to each idle friend in the town; return it when read; or if lost, please supply another as good, to the mind and the eye. with right and with reason you need but be friends, and each book in my study your pleasure attends." o. p. birmingham. is not this curious warning worthy of preservation in your columns? it is copied from a black-letter label pasted to the inside of an old book cover: "steal not this booke, my honest friende, for fear ye gallows be ye ende; for if you doe, the lord will say, 'where is that booke you stole away?'" j. c. to the collection of inscriptions in books commenced by balliolensis, allow me to add the following: "hic liber est meus, testis et est deus; si quis me quærit, hic nomen erit." in french books i have seen more than once,-- "ne me prend pas; on te pendra." an on the fly-leaf of a bible,-- "could we with ink the ocean fill, were ev'ry stalk on earth a quill, and were the skies of parchment made, and ev'ry man a scribe by trade, to tell the love of god alone would drain the ocean dry. nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretch'd from sky to sky." george s. master. welsh-hampton, salop. i beg to subjoin a few i have met with. some monastic library had the following in or over its books: "tolle, aperi, recita, ne lædas, claude, repone." the learned grotius put in all his books,-- "hugonis grotii et amicorum." { } in an old volume i found the following: "hujus si quæris dominum cognoscere libri, nomen subscriptum perlege quæso meum." philobiblion. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _head-rests._--the difficulty i have experienced in getting my children to sit for their portraits in a steady position, with the ordinary head-rests, has led me to design one which i think may serve others as well as myself; and i therefore will describe it as well as i can without diagrams, for the benefit of the readers of "n. & q." it is fixed to the ordinary shifting upright piece of wood which in the ordinary rest carries the semicircular brass against which the head rests. it is simply a large oval ring of brass, about an inch and a half broad, and sloping inwards, which of the following size i find fits the back of the head of all persons from young children upwards:--five inches in the highest part in front, and about four inches at the back. it must be lined with velvet, or thin vulcanised india rubber, which is much better, repelling grease, and fitting quite close to the ring. this is carried forward by a piece of semicircular brass, like the usual rest, and fixes with a screw as usual. about half the height of the ring is a steel clip at each side, like those on spectacles, but much stronger, about half an inch broad, which moving on a screw or rivet, after the sitter's head is placed in the ring, are drawn down, so as to clip the head just above the ears. a diagram would explain the whole, which has, at any rate, simplicity in its favour. i find it admirable. ladies' hair passing through the ring does not prevent steadiness, and with children the steel clips are perfect. i shall be happy to send a rough diagram to any one, manufacturers or amateurs. j. l. sisson. edingthorpe rectory. _sir w. newton's explanations of his process._--in reply to mr. john stewart's queries, i beg to state, first, that i have hitherto used a paper made by whatman in , of which i have a large quantity; it is not, however, to be procured now, so that i do not know what paper to recommend; but i get a very good paper at woolley's, holborn, opposite to southampton street, for positives, at two shillings a quire, and, indeed, it might do for negatives. secondly, i prefer making the iodide of silver in the way which i have described. thirdly, soft water is better for washing the iodized paper; if, however, spring water be made use of, _warm_ water should be added, to raise it to a temperature of sixty degrees. i think that sulphate or bicarbonate of lime would be injurious, but i cannot speak with any certainty in this respect, or to muriate of soda. fourthly, the iodized paper should keep good for a year, or longer; but it is always safer not to make more than is likely to be used during the season. fifthly, if i am going out for a day, i generally excite the paper either the last thing the night before, or early the following morning, and develope them the same night; but with care the paper will keep for two or three days (if the weather is not hot) before exposure, but of course it is always better to use it during the same day. wm. j. newton. . argyle street. _talc for collodion pictures._--should any of your photographic friends wish to transmit collodion pictures through the post, i would suggest that thin plates of talc be used instead of glass for supporting the film; i find this substance well suited to the purpose. one of the many advantages of its use (though i fear not to be appreciated by your archæological and antiquarian section) is, that portraits, &c., taken upon talc can be cut to any shape with the greatest ease, shall i say suitable for a locket or brooch? w. p. headingley, leeds. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _portrait of the duke of gloucester_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i beg to inform mr. way that he will find an engraving of "the most hopefull and highborn prince, henry duke of gloucester, who was borne at oatlandes the eight of july, anno : sould by thos. jenner at the south entry of the exchange," in a very rare pamphlet, entitled: "the trve effigies of our most illustrious soveraigne lord, king charles, queene mary, with the rest of the royall progenie: also a compendium or abstract of their most famous genealogies and pedegrees expressed in prose and verse: with the times and places of their births. printed at london for john sweeting, at the signe of the angell, in pope's head alley, , to." for henry duke of gloucester, see p. .: "what doth kingdomes happifie but a blesst posteritie? this, this realme, earth's goshen faire, europe's garden, makes most rare, whose most royall princely stemme (to adorne theire diadem) two sweet may-flowers did produce, sprung from rose and flower-de-luce." [greek: phi]. richmond, surrey. _key to dibdin's "bibliomania_" (vol. vii., p. .).--there are some inaccuracies in the list of names { } furnished by w. p., which may be corrected on the best authority, namely, that of dr. dibdin himself, as put forth in his "new and improved edition" of the _bibliomania_, with a supplement, "including a key to the assumed characters in the drama," vo., . according to this supplement we are to interpret as follows: alfonso mr. morell. gonzalo mr. jessop. narcottus william templeman, esq., of hare hatch, berkshire. nicas mr. shaclewell. philemon mr. jacobs? pontevallo john dent, esq. a complete "key" is not furnished; but there is reason, i think, to doubt a few of the other names in w. p.'s list. moreover, in the edition of , several other pseudonymes are introduced, which do not appear in the list; namely, that of florizel, for joseph haslewood; antigonus; baptista; camillo; dion; ferdinand; gonsalvo; marcus; and philander; respecting whom some of your readers may possibly enlighten us further. as to the more obvious characters of atticus, prospero, &c., see the _literary reminiscences_, vol. i. p. . [greek: mu]. _high spirits a presage of evil_ ("n. & q." _passim_).--in a case lately detailed in the newspapers, a circumstance is mentioned which appears to me to come under the above heading. in the inquiry at the coroner's inquest, on feb. , , concerning the death of eliza lee, who was supposed to have been murdered by being thrown into the regent's canal, on the evening of the st of january, by her paramour, thomas mackett,--one of the witnesses, sarah hermitage, having deposed that the deceased left her house in company with the accused at a quarter-past ten o'clock in the evening of the st, said as follows: "deceased appeared in particularly good spirits, and wanted to sing. witness's husband objected; but she would insist upon having her way, and she sang 'i've wander'd by the brook-side.'" the deceased met with her death within half an hour after this. cuthbert bede. _hogarth's works._--observing an inquiry made in vol. vii., p. . of "n. & q." about a picture described in mrs. hogarth's sale catalogue of her husband's effects in , made by mr. haggard, i am induced to ask whether a copy of the catalogue, as far as it relates to the pictures, would not be a valuable article for your curious miscellany? it appears from all the lives of hogarth, that he early in life painted small family portraits, which were then well esteemed. are any of them known, and where are they to be seen? were they mere portraits, or full-length? are any of them engraved? i had once a picture, of about that date, which represented a large house with a court-yard, and a long garden wall, with a road and iron gate, something like the old wall and road of kensington gardens, with the master, mistress, and dog walking in front of the house, and evidently portraits. i always suspected it might be by hogarth; but i am very sorry to say i parted with it at auction for a few shillings. it was (say) two feet square: the figures were about four inches in height, and dressed in the then fashion. i would further ask if any oil painting or sketches are known of the minor engravings, such as "the laughing audience," "the lecture," "the doctors," &c.? an amateur. _town plough_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--in vol vi., p. ., gastron notices the town plough; and it is again noticed by s. s. s. (vol. vii., p. .) as never having been seen by him mentioned in ancient churchwardens' accounts. not ten years since there was in the belfry of caston church, northamptonshire, a large clumsy-looking instrument, the use of which was not apparent at first sight, being a number of rough pieces of timber, put together as roughly. on nearer inspection, however, it turned out to be a plough, worm-eaten and decayed, i should think at least three times as large and heavy as the common ploughs of the time when i saw the one in question. i have often wondered at the rudeness and apparent antiquity of that plough, and whether on "plough monday" it had ever made the circuit of the village to assist in levying contributions. i have only for a week or two been in the possession of "n. & q." when having accidentally, and for the first time, met with the number for that week, i could not resist the temptation of becoming the owner of the complete series. under these circumstances, you will excuse me if i am asking a question which may have been answered long since. what is the origin of plough monday? may there not be some connexion with the town plough? and that the custom, which was common when i was a boy, of going round for contributions on that day, may not have originated in collecting funds for the keeping in order, and purchasing, if necessary, the town plough? brick. _shoreditch cross and the painted window in shoreditch church_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i beg to acquaint your correspondent j. w. b. that although i had long searched for an engraving of shoreditch cross, my labour was lost. the nearest approach to it will be found in a modern copy of a plan of london, taken in the time of elizabeth, in which its position is denoted to be on the west side of kingsland road; but, from records to { } which i have access, i believe that the cross stood on the opposite side, between the pump and the house of dr. burchell. most likely its remains were demolished when the two redoubts were erected at the london ends of kingsland and hackney roads, to fortify the entrance to the city, in the year . the best accounts that i have seen of the painted window are in dr. denne's _register of benefactions_ to the parish, compiled in , and printed in ; and dr. hughson's _history of london_, vol. iv. pp. , . henry edwards. _race for canterbury_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--it is probable that the lines "the man whose place they thought to take, is still alive, and still _a wake_," are erroneously _written_ on the print referred to; but i have no doubt of having seen a print of which (with the variation of "ye think" for "they thought") is the genuine engraved motto. b. c. _lady high sheriff_ (vol. vii., p. .).--there is a passage in warton's _history of english poetry_ (vol. i. p. ., tegg's edition) which will in part answer the query of your correspondent w. m. it is in the form of a note, appended to the following lines from the metrical romance of _ipomydon_: "they come to the castelle yate the porter was redy there at, the porter to theyme they gan calle, and prayd hym go in to the halle, and say thy lady gent and fre, that comen ar men of ferre contrè, and if it plese hyr, we wolle hyr pray, that we myght ete with hyr to-day." on this passage warton remarks: "she was lady, by inheritance, of the signory. the female feudatories exercised all the duties and honours of their feudal jurisdiction in person. in spenser, where we read of the _lady of the castle_, we are to understand such a character. see a story of a _comtesse_, who entertains a knight in her castle with much gallantry. (_mém. sur l'anc. chev._, ii. .) it is well known that anciently in england ladies were sheriffs of counties." to this note of warton's, park adds another, which i also give as being more conclusive on the subject. it is as follow: ["margaret, countess of richmond, was a justice of peace. sir w. dugdale tells us that ela, widow of william, earl of salisbury, executed the sheriff's office for the county of wilts, in different parts of the reign of henry iii. (see _baronage_, vol. i. p. .) from fuller's _worthies_ we find that elizabeth, widow of thomas lord clifford, was sheriffess of westmoreland for many years; and from pennant's _scottish tour_ we learn that for the same county anne, the celebrated countess of dorset, pembroke and montgomery, often sat in person as sheriffess. yet riston doubted of facts to substantiate mr. warton's assertion. see his obs. p. ., and reply in the _gent. mag. _, p. .--park."] t. c. s. i can answer part of w. m.'s query, by a reference to a personage who could not have been very far from being the first instance of the kind (query, was she?). "about this time ( ) gerard de camville, his old and faithful adherent, was restored by john to the possession of the honours of which he had been deprived by king richard; and it is a remarkable circumstance that, on the death of the said gerard, in the eighteenth year of the king's reign, his widow, nichola camville (who is described by an ancient historian as being 'a martial woman of great courage and address') had the sheriffalty of the county of lincoln committed to her; which honourable and important trust was continued to her by a grant of henry iii.," &c. the above quotation is taken from bailey's _annals of nottinghamshire_, now publishing in numbers (part iii. p. .). should i be wrong in asking correspondents to contribute towards a list of ladies holding the above honorable post? furvus. st. james's. _burial of an unclaimed corpse_ (vol. vii., p. .).--e. g. r.'s question is easily answered. the parish of keswick proved that some years before they had buried a body found on a piece of land. this was evidence of reputation that at the time of the burial the land was in keswick, otherwise the parishioners would not have taken on themselves this work of uncalled-for benevolence. the fact of their having incurred an expense, which, unless the land was in their parish, would have been the burden of markshall, satisfied the commissioner that the land must have belonged to keswick. i have no doubt this was the reason, though i never heard of the question in connexion with keswick and markshall. battersea rise, i heard when a boy, had formerly belonged to clapham, and been given to battersea for the same reason as e. g. r. states to have been the cause of markshall losing its territory to keswick. j. h. l. _surname of allan_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i think a. s. a. will find that this name was introduced into britain from normandy. it occurs in early norman times as a personal name, and afterwards as a patronymic. thus alan, the son of flathald, who had the castle of oswestry granted him by the conqueror, had a son, william fitz-alan, ancestor of the great baronial house of arundel. in the _hundred rolls_, temp. edward i., it is very common under the orthographies of _fil. alan_, { } _fil. alain_, _alayn_, _aleyn_, _aleyne_, _aleynes_, _aleynys_, &c. allen has always remained a baptismal name, and hence it is probable that there is no more affinity between the numerous families now bearing it as a surname, than between the various thompsons, williamses, and others of this class. the macallans of scotland may have a separate celtic source, though it is far likelier that this name (like macedward, macgeorge, and numerous others) is the english appellative with the patronymic mac prefixed. mark antony lower. lewes. _the patronymic mac_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the present earl of stair has collected and printed, under the title of _almacks extraordinary_, a list of seven hundred scotch and irish surnames with the prefix "mac;" and a highly esteemed correspondent promises me a _supplementary_ list of "a few hundreds" of such appellatives, which must therefore be in the aggregate upwards of a thousand in number. i hope to include all these in my forthcoming _dictionary of british surnames_. mark antony lower. lewes. _cibber's "lives of the poets_" (vol. v., p. .).--when mr. crossley inserted in your pages, at great length, the _original_ prospectus of cibber's _lives_, he was not aware that it had been _reprinted_ before. such, however, is the case, as may be seen by turning to the sixth volume of sir egerton brydges' _censura literaria_, ed. , p. . it was communicated to the columns of that work by that diligent antiquary in literary matters, joseph haslewood. mr. crossley says, "it is rather extraordinary that none of dr. johnson's biographers appear to have been aware that the prospectus of cibber's _lives_ was furnished by johnson." where is there the slightest _proof_ that johnson wrote one line of it? haslewood believed it to have been the production of messrs. cibber and shiels. does mr. crossley ground his claim for johnson merely upon a fancied resemblance in _style_? edward f. rimbault. _parallel passages, no. .--stars and flowers_ (vol. vii., p. .).--other parallels on this subject are given in "n. & q." (vol. iv., p. .), to which may be added the following: "silently, one by one, on the infinite meadows of heaven, blossom'd the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels." longfellow's _evangeline_, part i. iii. p. . of the liverpool edition. zeus. _schomberg's epitaph_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i find this entry in my note-book:--the following inscription is written on a black slab of marble, affixed to the wall of the choir of st. patrick's cathedral. the remains of the duke were removed to this cathedral immediately after the battle of the boyne; and on the th july, , they were deposited under the altar. the relatives of this great man having neglected to raise any monument to his memory, dean swift undertook and caused the above slab to be erected, having first vainly applied to the connexions of the deceased. his sword is in the possession of the society of the "friendly brothers," dublin. the following is the inscription on the slab: "hic infra situm est corpus frederici ducis de schonberg ad bubindam occisi a.d. . decanus et capitulum maximopere etiam atque etiam petierunt, ut hæredes ducis, monumentum in memoriam parentis erigendum curarent. sed postquam per epistolas, per amicos, diu ac sæpe orando nil profecere, hunc demum lapidem statuerunt; saltem ut scias hospes ubinam terrarum schonbergenses cineres delitescunt. "plus potuit fama virtutis apud alienos quam sanguinis proximitas apud suos, a.d. ." clericus (d.) dublin. _pilgrimages to the holy land_ (vol. v., p. .).--there is still another book to be added to the curious list of old pilgrimages to the holy land, furnished by your correspondent peregrine a. i derive my knowledge of it from brunet's _manuel_, sub voce capodilista (gabriele), where it is described as follows: "itinerario di terra santa, e del monte sinai." (without date or printer) to. it is a journal of a pilgrimage to the holy land, made in the year by a padua nobleman, accompanied by a relative, antonio capodilista, a canon of the same place, and several other noble personages. it is one of the earliest productions of the press at perugia, and the date assigned to it by m. brunet is , but by vermiglioli or . the latter authority, in his _principi della stampa in perugia_, calls it "veramente un prezioso cimelio di tipografia e bibliografia." i am anxious to know where a copy of this very rare work is deposited, as i have been told that there is none at the british museum. w. m. r. e. _album_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the origin and the earliest notice of this kind of friendly memorial book is to be traced to the registers of the deceased that were formerly kept in every church and monastery. such a book was called the _album_, _i. e._ the blank book, in which the names of the friends and benefactors to the church or monastery were recorded, that they might be prayed for at their decease, and on their anniversaries. the earliest writer belonging to this country who uses the word is the venerable beda, who in his { } preface to his prose life of st. cuthbert, written previous to the year , reminds bishop eadfrith that his name was registered in the album at lindisfarne, "in albo vestræ sanctæ congregationis." (_bedæ opera minora_, p. ., ed. stevenson.) elsewhere beda calls this book "the annal" (_hist. eccles._, lib. iv. c. .). at a later period it was called, both in england and abroad, the _liber vitæ, or book of life_, a name borrowed from st. paul (philippians, iv. .). the earliest specimen of an english album, and perhaps the most elegant one that this or any other country ever produced, may be seen in the british museum (_cotton mss._, domitian vii.). it is the album, or book of life, of the monastery of durham. nor need we add that this album affords a relief to the eye wearied with looking over the pages of a modern album, and to the mind sick of the endless but monotonous repetition of imaginary ruins, love sonnets, and moss roses. ceyrep. _gesmas and desmas_ (vol. vii., p. .).--for the information of your correspondent a. b. r., i copy the passage referred to by you in the disputed gospel of nicodemus, formerly called the acts of pontius pilate. the extract is from an english version, printed for william hone, ludgate hill, : "but one of the two thieves who were crucified with jesus, whose name was _gestas_, said to jesus, if thou art the christ, deliver thyself and us."--vii. . "but the thief who was crucified on his right hand, whose name was _dimas_, answering, rebuked him, and said, dost not thou fear god, who art condemned to this punishment? we indeed receive rightly and justly the demerit of our actions; but this jesus, what evil hath he done?"--vi. . "after this, groaning, he said to jesus, lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."--vi. . it thus appears the names have been differently received: here they appear gestas the _im_penitent, and dimas the penitent. i have a fine old engraving, nineteen inches by fourteen, bearing date "greg. huret, lugd. inv. et sculp. ;" published in paris, _cum priv. regis_. the three crosses, with their inscriptions (each in hebrew, greek, and latin), appear. the latin on the cross of the thief on the right hand of our lord (and, from the expression of countenance, confessed the penitent) is _dismas_ latro: the other is _gestas_ latro. w. c. h. chelsea. "_quod fuit esse_" (vol. vii., p. .).--allow me to suggest the following meaning of the epitaph in lavenham churchyard, which is the subject of a. b. r.'s query. the word _est_ has evidently been omitted in the third line: with this restored, the lines will read as a couple of hexameters: "quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse; esse quod (est), non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse." and the literal meaning, will be: "what was existence, is that which lies here; that which was not existence, is that which is existence; to be what is now, is not to be; that which is now, is not existence, but will be hereafter." this, perhaps, is as enigmatical as the original: but the following lines will render the meaning plainer, though it is difficult to preserve the brevity of the latin in an english version: all that i really was lies here in dust; that which was death before is life, i trust. to be what _is_, is not, i ween, to _be_; _is_ not, but _will be_ in eternity. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. i think your correspondent a. b. r. is not quite correct in his version of the epitaph of which he inquires the sense. it is evidently intended for two hexameter verses, and, as i have heard it, runs thus: "quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse; esse quod est, non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse." i inclose a similar epitaph in another churchyard (the _locale_ of which i do not know), which may serve to elucidate its meaning: "that which a being was, what is it? show: that being which it was, it is not now. to be what 'tis is not to be, you see; that which now is not shall a being be." q. s. _straw bail_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in connexion with, though not as a reply to, mr. curtis's query touching the origin of the expression "a man of straw," i beg to bring under notice a phrase i heard for the first time a few days ago, but which may nevertheless be well known to others. a seaman, talking to me of a strike for wages among the crew of a ship, said that the captain, as the rate of wages had not been raised, had manned his ship with a "lot of straw-yarders." on my asking the meaning of the expression, i was told that a "straw-yarder" was a man about the docks who had never been to sea, and knew little or nothing of the duties of a seaman. brutoniensis. _pearl_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .).--in the old german, _merikrioz_ is pearl; and in the ang.-sax. it is _meregreot_,--the latter from _mere_, sea, and _greot_, grit, sand, or _grot_, an { } atom. these are so similar to the greek _margaritas_, and the _margarita_ of the sister language (latin), that we may be excused believing they have a common origin; more especially as we find the first syllable (at least?) in almost all the cognate indo-germanic or indo-european languages: latin, _mare_; celt., _mor_; gothic, _marei_; sax., _mære_ or _mere_; old germ., _meri_; slavon., _more_ and _morze_; swed., _mar_; iceland, _mar_; esthon., _merri_; lett., _marrios_. among modern languages, we have,--span., _margarita_; ital., _margarita_ and _maugherita_; fr., _marguerite_, but used only in the proverb, "il ne faut pas jeter les marguerites devant les pourceaux." johnson, webster, and halliwell give _margarite_ as an english word. probably all derived from the latin. at the same time, although not occurring (as far as i am aware) in either greek or latin, the word _pearl_ is found in some shape in most of the same indo-germanic languages: thus, ital. and span., _perla_; low. lat., _perla_; french, _perle_; eng., _pearl_; dan., _paarl_; swed., _perla_ or _p[)a]rla_; bohem., _perle_; ang.-sax., _pearl_ and _pærl_; low. sax., _berel_. webster says the word _pearl_ may be radically the same as _beryl_. in the celtic we find, irish, _pearla_, and welsh _perlyn_. the germans derive _pearl_ from _beer_, a berry, making thus _berle_ or _beerlein_; as in latin _bacca_ also means a pearl. some of your correspondents can, no doubt, inform us whether any analogous words to _pearl_ and _margarita_ exist in the sanscrit? a. c. m. exeter. _sermons by parliamentary chaplains_ (vol. vii., p. .).--on the day of thanksgiving, th july, , mr. obadiah sedgwick was ordered to preach before the house, and his sermon to be printed. where can a copy of it be seen? joseph rix. st. neot's. _etymological traces of the social position of our ancestors_ (vol. vii., pp. , .).--your correspondent may find the passage to which he wishes to refer again, in one of the back volumes of dickens's _household words_, in an article with the title of "history in words." another correspondent, in the succeeding page of the same number, will obtain the information he requires by consulting dunlop's _history of fiction_. w. l. n. _tuebeuf_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. e. j. will find tuboeuf is a town in france, in the department of mayenne. on may , , richard i. sailed from england on his expedition against philip ii. of france; and he was accompanied by master eustace, dean of salisbury, for the purpose of his conducting such business of the great seal as might be necessary while the king remained abroad. the doncaster charter appears to have been sealed on the nd of the same month of may, and i shall feel obliged if j. e. j. will give me a copy of eustace's title, and the date and place, as they appear on the document. the addition to his name in other charters is "tunc gerentis vices cancellarii." he himself became chancellor and bishop of ely on the death of longchamp. edward foss. street-end house, near canterbury. "_goe, soule, the bodies guest_" (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent is mistaken in thinking that his "additions" are a new discovery. both stanzas were printed, with slight variations from this copy, by sir h. nicolas, at the end of his edition of davison's _poetical rhapsody_, , pp. -- .; and both are mentioned by mr. hannah, when he says (p. .): "in e (the mark by which mr. h. designates that copy in nicolas), one stanza is interpolated after line , and a second at the end." as i entirely agree with sir h. nicolas that the lines in question are "a wanton interpolation," i think mr. hannah was perfectly justified in contenting himself with this acknowledgment of their existence. r. _bells versus storms_ (vol. vi., p. .).--while returning my acknowledgments to your correspondents the rev. h. t. ellacombe and w. s. g., i would briefly refer to the subject again, which may be of interest to some of our readers. dr. fuller says: "that bells are no effectual charm against lightning. the frequent firing of abbey churches by lightning confuteth the proud motto commonly written on the bells in their steeples, wherein each intitled itself to a six-fold efficacy. 'men's death i tell, by doleful knell, lightning and thunder, i break asunder, on sabbath all, to church i call, the sleepy head, i raise from bed, the winds so fierce, i do disperse, men's cruel rage, i do assuage.'" "it has anciently been reported," observes lord bacon, "and is still received, that extreme applauses and shouting of people assembled in multitudes, have so rarefied and broken the air, that birds flying over have fallen down, the air not being able to support them; and it is believed by some that great ringing of bells in populous cities hath chased away thunder, and also dissipated pestilent air. all which may be also from the concussion of the air, and not from the sound." w. w. malta. the following note in connexion with the baptism of bells may be interesting, as it shows the manner of working, at that time. { } among the _centum gravamina_ offered to pope adrian in by the princes of germany, as given in herbert's _henry viii._, p. ., this is the st: "that suffragans used to baptize bels under pretence of driving away divels and tempests; and for this purpose did invite many rich godfathers, who were to touch the rope while the bell was exorcised, and its name invoked (unto which all the people must answer). and that a banquet was used to be made thereupon, at the cost of the layicks, amounting in little towns to a hundred florins, whither the godfathers were to come, and bring great gifts, &c., whereas they desired that the said bels might be baptized not onely by suffragans, but by any priest, with holy water, salt, herbs, without such costs." h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. will mr. gole oblige me and your readers with a reference to the _golden legend_, from which he has sent a quotation bearing on bells and storms. h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. _exercise day_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the extract from the borough chamberlain's accounts, referred to by your correspondent leicestriensis, relates rather to a religious assembly or meeting established by authority in the reign of elizabeth, and designed as a check on the growing tendency towards puritanism, which marked that period. in this diocese (at that time the diocese of chester) bishop downham instituted a "monthly exercise," which was confirmed by his successor dr. chadderton, in an injunction bearing date sept. , . (see appendix to strype's _annals_, vol. i.) it is there decreed that all parsons, vicars, curates, and schoolmasters shall resort to this exercise, there either to speak or write; and certain penalties are enforced on any neglect of its observance. in the churchwardens' accounts of this parish is an entry of similar import to that quoted by leicestriensis: " , pd. for minister diner at the exercise day, . . ," the only perceptible difference being in the degree of hospitality extended to the clergy by their entertainers. john booker. prestwich. _the iron mask_ (vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent a. s. a. asks with much complacency, "what authority mr. james cornish has for asserting (vol. v., p. .) that the mysterious secret of the _masque de fer_ has ever been satisfactorily explained?" mr. james cornish does not make statements of historical facts without authority: he therefore begs to refer a. s. a. to delort, _histoire de l'homme au masque de fer_, paris, ; and to _the true history of the state prisoner, commonly called "the iron mask," &c._, by the hon. george agar ellis: london, . i repeat "my sanguine" expectations that "junius" will yet be "unearthed." "matthias" made an equal boast with the "mighty shade," that he would be for ever unknown. your journal "n. & q." has left no doubt about the author of _the pursuits of literature_. james cornish. _shakspeare's use of the word "delighted"_ (vol. ii., pp. . . . &c.).--the following passage from douce's _illustrations_ has not been referred to by any of your contributors on this point; to some it may be unknown: "with respect to the much contested and obscure expression of _bathing the delighted spirit in fiery floods_, milton appears to have felt less difficulty in its consideration than we do at present; for he certainly remembered it when he made comus say: "' ... one sip of this will _bathe_ the drooping _spirits in delight_ beyond the bliss of dreams.'" w. t. m. hong kong. _samuel daniel_ (vol. vi., p. .).--a copy of an original letter of samuel daniel, sent to lord keeper egerton with a present of his _works newly augmented_, , is printed in _censura literaria_, ed. , vol. vi. p. . john daniel, who published _songs for the lute, viol, and voice_, , is supposed to have been the brother of the poet, and the publisher of his works in . he was of christ church, oxford; and took his degree of bachelor of music in . at the commencement of the reign of charles i., he was one of the court musicians, and his name occurs among the "musicians for the lutes and voices," in a privy seal, dated dec. , , exempting the musicians belonging to the court from the payment of subsidies. john daniel's _songs_ were "printed by t. e. for thomas adams, at the signe of the white lyon, paule's church yard, folio, ." they are dedicated, in rhyme, to "mrs. anne greene, the worthy daughter to sir william greene, of milton, knight." edward f. rimbault. _english bishops deprived by queen elizabeth_, (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .).--i regret that i am unable to furnish a. s. a. with any additional information respecting the marian bishops. none of the authorities i used give the dates he requires. possibly, mr. charles butler's _historical memoires of the english, irish, and scottish catholics_, vols. vo., , might answer his queries. i have ascertained from calamy's _life and times_ (vol. i. p. .), that thomas white, the { } deprived bishop of peterborough, died in london, may , ; and that robert frampton, the deprived bishop of gloucester, died may , (vol. ii. p. .). john i. dredge. "_jenny's bawbee_" (vol. vii., p. .).--this is a very old song, a fragment of which (all we have) appeared in david herd's _collection of ancient and modern scottish songs_, vols. mo., edinb. . as it is very short, i quote it: "an' a' that e'er my jenny had, my jenny had, my jenny had, a' that e'er my jenny had, was ae bawbee. "there's your plack, and my plack, an' your plack, an' my plack, an' my plack, an' your plack, an' jenny's bawbee. "we'll put it a' in the pint-stoup, the pint-stoup, the pint-stoup, we'll put it in the pint-stoup, and birle't a' three." there is a capital song founded upon this rude fragment, by the late sir alexander boswell. it was published anonymously in , and commences thus: "i met four chaps yon birks amang, wi hinging lugs and faces lang; i spier'd at neebour bauldy strang, wha's they i see? "quo' he, ilk cream-fac'd pawky chiel thought he was cunning as the diel, and here they cam' awa to steal jenny's bawbee." copies of this latter song may be seen in johnson's _scottish musical museum_, edit. , vol. v. p. .; and in graham's _songs of scotland_, , vol. ii. p. . edward f. rimbault. the old scotch ballad with the above title, on which sir alexander boswell, bart., founded his humorous song, with the same name, may be found in _the book of scottish songs_, recently published in _the illustrated london library_, p. . j. k. r. w. _irish convocation_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i am unable to answer w. fraser's queries as to when the irish convocation last met, and where their deliberations are recorded; but that gentleman will find some account of its nature and constitution in a recently published pamphlet, entitled _the jerusalem chamber_, by the rev. h. caswall, m.a., pp. , . j. c. b. _spontaneous combustion_ (vol. vii., p. .).--is there such a thing; meaning, i presume, of the _human body_? one of the latest and best authenticated cases is given in _the abstainer's journal_ (glasgow), no. iii., march, , p. . in the narrative is included the official medical report from the _journal of medical science_, dec. . w. c. trevelyan. _do the sun's rays put out the fire?_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "why does the sun, shining, on a fire, make it dull, and often put it out? " st. because the air (being rarefied by the sunshine) flows more slowly to the fire; and " ndly. the chemical action of the sun's rays is detrimental to combustion. "the sun's rays are composed of three parts; lighting, heating, and actinic or chemical rays. these latter interfere with the process of combustion." the above is an extract from rev. dr. brewer's _guide to the scientific knowledge of things familiar_, th edition, p. ., which may perhaps prove interesting to c. w. b. at p. . of the same book, h. a. b. will find, i think, an answer in the affirmative to his query (vol. vii., p. .): "is there such a thing as spontaneous combustion?" c---- s. t. p. w---- rectory. _dover castle_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the "j cenovectorum cum j rota ferro ligata" was a wheel-barrow. in the _promptorum parvulorum_ occurs (p. .) "barowe cenovectorum." e. g. r. _quotations wanted_ (vol. vii., p. .).--"and if he read little, he had need have much cunning to seem to know that he doth not." from lord bacon.--_bacon's essays: of studies_, p. . mo., . [greek: omega]. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. if any of the readers of mr. hudson turner's volume on domestic architecture have been under the apprehension that the death of that able antiquary would necessarily lead, if not to the abandonment of that work, to its being completed in a more imperfect manner than mr. turner would have completed it, we can assure them that such apprehension is entirely groundless. we have now before us the second part, entitled _some account of domestic architecture in england from edward i. to richard ii., with notices of foreign examples, and numerous illustrations of existing remains from original drawings. by the editor of the glossary of architecture._ the editing of the work is indeed most creditable to mr. parker, who, though he modestly confesses that if he had not known that he could safely calculate upon much valuable assistance from others more competent than himself, he would never have ventured to undertake it at all, had already given proof of his fitness for the task by the _glossary of architecture_ with which his name has been so long and so honourably connected. the work, which supplies a deficiency which the architectural student has { } long felt, is produced in the same handsome style, and with the same profuseness of illustration, as its predecessor, and will be found valuable not only to archæologists who study history in brick and stone, but also to those who search in the memorials of bygone ages for illustrations of manners and customs, and of that greater subject than all, the history of our social progress. books received.--_history of england from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles_, -- , by lord mahon, vol. ii. -- . this second volume of the new and cheaper edition of lord mahon's work extends from the accession of walpole and townshend to office in , to the declaration of war against spain in , and contains a valuable appendix of original papers.--_the annals of roger de hoveden, from_ a.d. _to_ a.d. , _translated from the latin, with notes and illustrations_, by henry t. riley. vol. i. a.d. to a.d. , is a new volume of the valuable series of translations of early english chronicles, which is to give so important a character to bohn's _antiquarian library_.--_thomas à becket and other poems_, by patrick scott. notices of new poems scarcely fall within our vocation, but mr. scott is a true poet, and we cannot refuse to praise the present volume, and more especially the little poem which owes its origin to the notice of the opening of the coffin of lady audrey leigh in our th number.--_the family shakspeare, &c._, by thomas bowdler, vol. v. this fifth volume contains troilus and cressida, coriolanus, julius cæsar, antony and cleopatra, and cymbeline. * * * * * books and odd volumes. wanted to purchase. dissertation on isaiah, chapter xviii., in a letter to edward king, &c., by samuel horsely, lord bishop of rochester. . first edition, in to. bishop fall's edition of cyprian, containing bishop pearson's annales cypriania. athenÆum journal, to inclusive. a description of the royal gardens at richmond in surry. in a letter to a society of gentlemen. pp. . vo. with a plan and eight plates. no date, circa annum ? memoirs of the rose, by mr. john holland. vol. mo. london, . psyche and other poems, by mrs. mary tighe. portrait. vo. . gmelin's handbook of chemistry. inorganic part. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., x., xxvii., xxviii., unbound. the history of shenstone, by the rev. h. saunders. to. london, . lubbock's elementary treatise on the tides. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we hope next week, in addition to many other interesting articles, to lay before our readers a copy of a remarkable and inedited proclamation of henry viii. on the subject of the translation of the scriptures; and some specimens of the_ rigby correspondence. hercules. _the custom (which we hope does not very generally obtain) of sending green ribbons, called willows, tied round bridal cards, to rejected suitors of the bride, is no doubt derived from that alluded to by shakspeare and herrick, and especially fuller, who tell us the willow "is a sad tree, whereof such as have lost their love make their mourning garments."_ robin hood. _a subscriber would be obliged by_ h. k. (vol. vi., p. .) _giving a precise reference to the act of the scotch parliament prohibiting "the plays and personages of robin hood." &c._ c. mansfield ingleby _will find the proverb "when our lord falls in our lady's lap," &c., in our number for the_ th feb., p. . viator. _the imprecatory epitaph referred to has already appeared in our columns._ w. a. c. _is thanked. the rhymes have, however, been already frequently printed by brockett, brand, &c._ b. l. (manchester). _the ordinary use of arms by the english nobility is supposed to date from about the year . the arms on the shield of geoffrey de mandeville in the temple church have been considered among the earliest examples of heraldic bearings in england. he died in ._ hy. ce. _our correspondent is probably correct. the lines are not in the reprint of the_ musarum deliciæ: _so we amend our reply to_ david brown _in_ no. ., _by stating that the lines_ "that same man, that runneth awaie, may again fight, an other daie"-- _are from udall's translation of the apothegms of erasmus._ does a corpse passing make a right of way? a. s. _will find an elaborate answer to this query in our_ rd vol., p. . _he is also referred to_ pp. . _and_ . _of the same volume, and_ pp. . ., vol. iv. a. b. mosaic _is so named from the tesselated pavements of the romans, which being worked in a regular and mechanical manner, were called_ opus musivum, opera quæ ad amussim facta sunt. _hence the italian_ musaico, _the french_ mosaique, _and our english_ mosaic. _see_ "n. & q.," vol. iii., pp. . . . c. gonville. _how can we forward a letter to this correspondent?_ m. c. _the answer to mr. canning's famous riddle is "cares--caress."_ brookthorpe. _the epitaph,_ "if heaven is pleased," _&c.,_ _is sometimes said to have been written on burnet, and at others on coleman the jesuit. see our_ th vol., pp. . ., _&c._ photographic notes and queries. _several articles are necessarily postponed until next week, when we will also give replies to several correspondents. we hope by that time to be able to report upon the new camera._ the rev. j. l. sisson _is thanked for the very beautiful specimen of his skill which he has forwarded to us. we hope to write to him in the course of a day or two._ _errata._--p. . col. . lines . . for "built a new house on a pinnacle, on which," read "built a new house, on a pinnacle _of_ which." line ., dele full-stop after "yreret," and insert colon. p. . col. . l. . for "trull" read "hull," _i. e._ "hurl." _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * islington, highbury, etc. alfred allchin begs to inform photographers, that he can supply them with pure chemicals for photographic purposes. . coles terrace, richmond road, barnsbury park. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * { } to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of le gray, hunt, brébisson, and other writers, may be obtained, wholesale and retail, of william bolton, (formerly dymond & co.), manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists may be had on application. improved apparatus for iodizing paper in vacuo, according to mr. stewart's instructions. . holborn bars. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors_. h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees_. w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration; being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons., foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver)--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photography--the ammonio-iodide of silver in collodion, prepared by messrs. delatouche & co., operative chemists, . oxford street, is now generally used by photographers, and cannot be surpassed in the beautiful results it produces. specimens may be seen on application. messrs. delatouche & co. supply apparatus with the most recent improvements, pure chemicals, english and foreign papers, and every article connected with photography on paper or glass. instruction given in the art. see hennah's new work on the collodion process, giving the most practical directions yet published, price s., or free by post s. d. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, march , contains articles on agricultural statistics beet, sugar, by mr. sinclair ---- large and small, by prof. sullivan bignonia tweediana boiler incrustations boronia serrulata calceolaria pavonia calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural cloches, by mr. gilbert cyclamens, to increase drainage, suburban, by mr. marshall ---- deep and shallow, by mr. hunt ---- nene valley farm practice fruit, changing names of heating public buildings ireland, locke on, rev. irrigation, mr. mechi's larch, treatment of level, bottle, by mr. lucas (with engraving) major's landscape gardening manure, stothert's mint, bottled nitrate of soda, by dr. pusey oaks, mexican onion maggot pampas grass, by mr. gorrie peaches, select pears, select plum, huling's superb, by mr. rivers potatoes in cornwall ---- in tan rain gauges, large and small schools, union sewage of milan, by captain smith societies, proceedings of the linnean, entomological, national, floricultural, royal dublin steam culture temperature, ground trade memoranda trees, to transplant trout, artificial breeding of vegetable lists, by mr. fry vines, stem-roots of, by mr. harris vine mildew warner's (mrs.) garden winter in south devon the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and _a complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * j. t. goddard, astronomical telescope maker, . jesse cottage, whitton, near isleworth, middlesex: of whom photographical view and portrait combinations may be obtained as follows: £ s. d. the lenses, - / diameter, for portraits and views ditto, for views only ditto, - / diameter, for portraits and views ditto, - / diameter, for views only the above are mounted with rack and pinnion, and two stops; where rack and pinnion is not required, deduct s. d. to s. achromatic lenses of long focus to order. * * * * * elgin marbles.--arundel society, established , for promoting the knowledge of art. casts from mr. cheverton's reductions of the theseus and ilissus in the elgin collection, may be had by application at messrs. colnaghi's, . pall mall east, price l. s. (to members s. d.) each. electro-bronze copies of the theseus may be had at messrs. elkington's, . regent street, price l. s. (to members l. s.) mr. cheverton obtained a prize medal for the theseus at the great exhibition, . annual subscription to the society l. s., entitling members to all engravings and books published. payable at coutts' bank, or . pall mall east. g. aubrey bezzi, hon. sec. * * * * * { } murray's railway reading. immediately, fcap. vo. wellington--his character,--his actions,--and his writings. by jules maurel. "i am much mistaken in my estimate of m. maurel's work, if it do not take rank now and hereafter among the most accurate, discriminating, and felicitous tributes which have emanated from any country in any language to the memory of the duke of wellington."--_lord ellesmere's preface_. to be followed by lockhart's ancient spanish ballads. life of lord bacon. by lord campbell. volumes already published-- fall of jerusalem. by dean milman. story of joan of arc. by lord mahon. hallam's literary essays and characters. life of theodore hook. the emigrant. by sir f. b. head. lord ellesmere's discourse on wellington. music and dress. by a lady. layard's popular account of nineveh. bees and flowers. lord mahon's "forty-five." essays from "the times." giffard's deeds of naval daring. the art of dining. oliphant's journey to nepaul. john murray, albemarle street; and to be obtained at all booksellers, and railway stations. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxiv., is just published. contents: apsley house. scrope's history of castle combe. human hair. the old countess of desmond. hungarian campaigns--kossuth and gÖrgey. buckingham papers. search for franklin. the two systems at pentonville. maurel on the duke of wellington. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * bohn's standard library for april. miss bremer's works, by mary howitt. vol. iii. the home, and strife and peace. post vo. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for april. aristotle's politics and economics, translated by e. walford, m.a., with notes, analyses, life, introduction, and index. post vo. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for april. bechstein's cage and chamber birds, including sweet's "warblers." new edition, greatly enlarged, numerous plates. post vo. s.; (or, coloured, s. d.) henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for april. henry of huntingdon's history of england, from the roman invasion to henry ii.; with the acts of king stephen, &c. translated and edited by t. forester, esq., m.a. post vo. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * third edition, cloth, s.; by post, s. d. welsh sketches. first series. by the author of "proposals for christian union." "it is rarely that a shilling will purchase so much information of a high and interesting kind."--_leeds intelligencer_. by the same, second edition, cloth, s.; by post, s. d. welsh sketches. second series. "it is written in a plain attractive style, which, in conjunction with the impartial feeling and the great research it evinces, is sure to make it a favourite."--_archæologia cambrensis_. london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's-inn fields. * * * * * just published, in vo., price s. cloth, goethe's faust: with copious english notes, grammatical, philological, and exegetical, for students of the german language. by falk lebahn, ph. d., author of "german in one volume," &c. *** the grammatical notes contain the whole of the text, in german and english, classified according to rules of grammar. "faust" is thus brought within the reach of the merest beginner. in the exegetical notes, the editor has endeavoured to render goethe's own meaning strictly: and where his interpretation differs from those of his predecessors, goethe himself is adduced as authority, the supporting passages from his other works being given in german. copious extracts from other german authors are also given in the original. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * just published, royal mo., s. d., elements of psychology. part i. by j. d. morell, a.m., author of "an historical and critical view of the speculative philosophy of europe in the nineteenth century," &c. &c. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * just published, one vol. vo., s. d., researches into the history of the roman constitution; with an appendix upon the roman knights. by w. ihne, ph. d. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * on april st, part iv., price s., with a beautiful engraving, reynard the fox; after the german version of goethe. with illustrations by j. wolf. to be continued monthly, and completed in twelve parts. william pickering, . piccadilly; and may be had of all booksellers. * * * * * just published, imp. vo., containing thirty-seven plates, cloth lettered, price s., the handbook of mediÆval alphabets and devices. by henry shaw, f.s.a., author of "dresses and decorations of the middle ages," &c. &.c. this work contains twenty-six complete alphabets, and from seventy to eighty initial letters of a larger and more elaborate character, the whole forming a series of specimens of almost every type to be found from the beginning of the tenth to the end of the seventeenth century. to these have been added examples of the various forms of arabic numerals in use from their first introduction in this country, and also a series of labels, monograms, heraldic devices, and other matters of detail, calculated to render it most useful as a work of reference. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * wordsworth on the church of rome in the third century. in vo., price s. d. st. hippolytus and the church of rome, in the earlier part of the third century; from the newly-discovered "philosophumena;" or, the greek text of those portions which relate to that subject; with an english version and notes; and an introductory inquiry into the authorship of the treatise, and on the life and works of the writer. by chr. wordsworth, d.d., canon of westminster, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * just published, pp. , plates , price s. a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, with descriptions of all the species, and abstracts of the systems of ehrenberg, dujardin, kützing, siebold, &c. by andrew pritchard, esq., m.r.i. also, price s., a general history of animalcules, with engravings. also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on microscopes. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page further notes on the hippopotamus parallel passages: coleridge, hooker, butler, by j. e. b. mayor shakspeare and the old english actors in germany, by albert cohn ten children at a birth george herbert and bemerton church, by h. t. ellacombe minor notes:--lord mayor's show in --sir thomas phillipps's mss.--translation from owen, &c.--epigram on the late bull--bailie nicol jarvie--hogs not pigs--the baptized turk queries:-- gray--dryden--playing cards minor queries:--pretended reprint of ancient poetry--the jews' spring gardens--cardinal allen's admonition to the nobility--"clarum et venerabile nomen"--whipping by women--lærig--ms. history of winchester school--benedicite--the church history society--pope ganganelli--sir george downing--solemnization of matrimony--passage in bishop butler--the duke of wharton's poetical works--titus oates--translations of erasmus' colloquies and apuleius' golden ass, &c. replies:-- holme mss.--the cradocks antiquity of smoking antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi albemarle, title of, by lord braybrooke replies to minor queries:--cromwell poisoned--"never did cardinal bring good to england"--gloves not worn in the presence of royalty--nonjurors' oratories in london--"filthy gingran"--michael scott--the widow of the wood--modum promissionis--end of easter--first earl of roscommon--dryden's "absolom and achitophel"--cabalistic author--becket--aërostation--kilt--bacon family, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * notes. further notes on the hippopotamus. the following remarks are supplementary to a note on the hippopotamus in vol. ii, p. . in that note the exhibition of the hippopotamus at the roman games is not traced lower than the time of the emperor commodus. helagabalus, however, - a.d., had hippopotami among the various rare animals which he displayed in public as a part of his state. (lamprid. c. ) a hippopotamus was likewise in the vast collection of animals which were prepared for the persian triumph of gordian iii., but were exhibited at the secular games celebrated by the emperor philip in the th year of rome, a.d. (_capitol. in gordian. tert_., c. .) in the seventh eclogue of calpurnius, a countryman describes the animals which he saw in the roman amphitheatre, among which is the hippopotamus: "non solum nobis silvestria cernere monstra contigit; æquoreos ego cum certantibus ursis spectavi vitulos, et equorum nomine dignum, sed deforme genus, quod in illo nascitur amni qui sata riparum venientibus irrigat undis." vii. -- . calpurnius is generally referred to the time of carus and numerian, about a.d.; but his date is not determined by any satisfactory proof. (see dr. smith's _dict. of ancient biog. and myth_. in v.) there is no trace of a live hippopotamus having been brought to europe between the time specified in the last of these testimonies and the middle of the sixteenth century. when belon visited constantinople, he saw there a living hippopotamus, which had been brought from the nile: "l'animal que j'ai veu vivant à constantinople (he says), apporté du nil, convenoit en toutes marques avec ceulx qu'on voit gravez en diverses medales des empereurs."--_observations_, liv. ii. c. . fol. . b. ed. . belon returned to paris from the levant in the year . in his work on fishes, p. ., he speaks of another frenchman, lately returned from constantinople, who had seen the same animal. (see schneider on _artedi synonym. piscium_, p. .) p. gillius likewise, who visited constantinople in , saw there the same hippopotamus, as he states in his description of the elephant, hamburg, . (schneider, _ib._ p. .) your correspondent, mr. g. s. jackson (vol. ii., p. .) controverts the opinion expressed in my former note, that none of the greek writers had seen a live hippopotamus. he thinks that "herodotus's way of speaking would seem to show that he was describing from his own observation;" and he infers that the animal was found at that time as far north as the delta, from the fact, mentioned by herodotus, of its being held sacred in the nome of papremis. but, in the first place, it does not follow that, because the hippopotamus was held sacred in the papremitic nome, it was found in the { } nile as low as that district. in the next place, there is nothing in the words of herodotus to indicate that he had seen the object of his description. (ii. .) on the other hand, the substance of his description tends strongly to the inference that he had _not_ seen the animal. it is difficult to conceive that any eye-witness could have described a hippopotamus as having the hoofs of an ox, with the mane and tail of a horse. his information as to javelins being made of its skin was doubtless correct, and he may perhaps have seen some of these weapons. cuvier conjectures that the original author of the description in herodotus had seen only the teeth and some part of the skin of the real hippopotamus; but that the other particulars were taken from a figure or description of the gnu (_trad. de pline_, tom. vi. p. .) this supposition is improbable, for the gnu is an animal of southern africa, and was doubtless unknown to the egyptians in the time of herodotus. moreover, cuvier is in error as to the statement of herodotus respecting the animal's size: he says that the animal is equal in size, not to an ass, but to the largest ox. the statement as to the ass is to be found in arist. _hist. an._, ii. . cuvier's note is hastily written; for he says that diodorus describes the hippopotamus as equalling the strongest bulls,--a statement not to be found in diodorus. (i. .) his judgment, however, is clear, as to the point that none of the ancient naturalists described the hippopotamus from autopsy. the writer of the accurate history of the hippopotamus in the _penny cyclopædia_, vol. xii. p. ., likewise takes the same view. if achilles tatius is correct in stating that "the horse of the nile" was the native egyptian name of the animal, it is probable that the resemblance to the horse indicated in the description of herodotus, was supplied by the imagination of some informant. in the mosaic of palestrina (see barthelemy in _mém. de l'acad. des inscript._, tom. xxx. p. .), the hippopotamus appears three times in the lower part of the composition, at the left-hand corner. two entire figures are represented, and one head of an animal sinking into the river. men in a boat are throwing darts at them, some of which are sticking in their backs. (see _ib._ p. .) diodorus (i. .) describes the hippopotamus as being harpooned, and caught in a manner similar to the whale. barthelemy properly rejects the supposition that the mosaic of palestrina is the one alluded to by pliny (_hist. nat._ xxxvi. .) as having been constructed by sylla. he places it in the time of hadrian, and supposes it to represent a district of upper egypt, with which the introduction of the hippopotamus well accords. the true form of the hippopotamus was unknown in italy in the time of sylla. the word [greek: hippopotamos] as used by the latin writers, instead of [greek: hippos potamios] occurs in lucian (_rhet. præcept._, c. .). the author of the _cynegetica_, who addresses his poem to the emperor caracalla, describes the hippopotamus under the name of [greek: hippagros], "the wild horse," compounded like [greek: onagros] (iii. - .). in this passage the old error as to the cloven hoofs and the mane is repeated. it is added that the animal will not endure captivity; but if any one is snared by means of ropes, he refuses to eat or drink. that this latter statement is fabulous, is proved by the hippopotamus taken alive to constantinople, and by the very tame animal now in the zoological garden. the fable about the hippopotamus destroying its father and violating its mother, cited before from damascius, is to be found in plutarch, _de solert. anim._, c. . pausan. (viii. . § .) mentions a greek statue, in which the face was made of the teeth of the hippopotamus instead of ivory. an interesting account of the younger hippopotamus in the zoological garden, by professor owen, may be seen in the _annals and magazine of natural history_ for june last. l. * * * * * parallel passages: coleridge, hooker, butler. i do not remember to have seen the following parallels pointed out. coleridge. _the nightingale. a conversation poem:_ "the nightingale-- 'most musical, most melancholy' bird! a melancholy bird! oh! idle thought! in nature there is nothing melancholy. but some night-wandering man whose heart was pierced with the remembrance of a grievous wrong, . . . . he, and such as he, first named these notes a melancholy strain." plato phædo, § . (p. ., steph.): "men, because they fear death themselves, slander the swans, and say that they sing from pain lamenting their death, and do not consider that no bird sings when hungry, or cold, or suffering any other pain; no, not even the nightingale, and the swallow, and the hoopoe, which you know are said to sing for grief," &c. * * * * * hooker, e. p. i. c. . § .: "all things therefore coveting as much as may be to be like unto god in being ever, that which cannot hereunto attain personally doth seek to continue itself another way, that is, by offspring and propagation." clem. alex. strom. ii. . § . (p. . sylb.) sir j. davies. _immortality of the soul_, sect .: "and though the soul could cast spiritual seed, yet would she not, because she never dies; for mortal things desire their like to breed, that so they may their kind immortalise." { } plato sympos. § . (p. . d. steph.): "mortal natures seek to attain, suffer as they can, to immortality; but they can attain to it by this generation only; for thus they ever leave a new behind them to supply the place of the old." compare § . "generation immortalises the mortal, so for as it can be immortalised."--plato _leg_. iv. (p. . g.), vi. § . (p. . e.); ocell. lucan. iv. § . * * * * * butler, _serm. i. on human nature_ (p. . oxford, ): "which [external goods], according to a very ancient observation, the most abandoned would choose to obtain by innocent means, if they there as easy, and as effectual to their end." dr. whewell has not, i think, in his edition, pointed out the passage alluded to, cic. _de fin._ iii., c. . § .: "quis est enim, aut quis unquam fuit aut avaritiâ tam ardenti, aut tam effrenatis cupiditatibus, ut eamdem illam rem, quam adipisci scelere quovis velit, non multis partibus malit ad sese, etiam omni impunitate proposita, sine facinore, quam illo modo pervenire?" j. e. b. mayor. marlborough college. * * * * * shakspeare and the old english actors in germany. my studies on the first appearance of shakspeare on the german stage, by means of the so-called "english comedians" who from the end of the sixteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century visited germany and the netherlands, led me to the following passage of a dutch author: "in the voyages of vincent le blanc through england, i met with a description of the representation of a most absurd tragedy, which i recognised to be the _titus andronicus_ of shakspeare." i have examined the _voyages of vincent le blanc_ without having been able to discover the passage alluded to; and as the dutch author says that some time had elapsed between his first reading those _voyages_ and the composition of his treatise, and as he seems to quote only from memory, i am led to believe his having confounded vincent le blanc with some other traveller of the same period. undoubtedly one of your numerous readers can furnish me with the title of the work in which such a description occurs, or with the name of some other foreign traveller who may have visited england at the period alluded to, and in whose works i may find the description mentioned above. albert cohn. berlin, nov. . . * * * * * ten children at a birth. the following circumstance, although perhaps hardly coming within the ordinary scope of the "notes and queries," appears to me too curious to allow a slight doubt to prevent the attempt to place it on permanent and accessible record. chancing, the other day, to overhear an ancient gossip say that there was living in her neighbourhood a woman who was one of _ten_ children born at the same time, i laughed at her for her credulity,--as well i might! as, however, she mentioned a name and place where i might satisfy myself, i called the next day at a small greengrocer's shop in this town, the mistress of which, a good-looking, respectable woman, aged seventy, at once assured me that her mother, whose name was birch, and came from derby, had been delivered of _ten children_; my informant having been the only one that lived, "_the other nine_," she added, "_being in bottle in the museum in london_!" on mentioning the matter to a respectable professional gentleman of this place, he said "he had a recollection of the existence of a glass jar, which was alleged to contain some such preparation, in the museum of the royal college of surgeons, as mentioned when he was a pupil in london." of the question, or the fact, of so marvellous a gestation and survivorship in the history of human nature should strike the editor of "notes and queries" as forcibly as his correspondent, the former, should he publish this article, may perhaps be kind enough to accompany it with the result of at least an inquiry, as to whether or not the museum of the royal college of surgeons does contain anything like corroborative evidence of so strange, and, if true, surely so unprecedented a phenomenon. n. d. [we are enabled by the courtesy of professor owen to state that there exists no corroboration of this remarkable statement in the museum of the college of surgeons. the largest number at a birth, of which any authentic record appears, is five, and the museum contains, in case no. , five children, of about five months, all females, which were born at the same time. three were still-born, two were born alive, and survived their birth but a short time. the mother, margaret waddington, aged twenty-one, was a poor woman of the township of lower darling, near blackburn in lancashire. this remarkable birth took place on the th april, , and was the subject of a communication to the royal society, which contained also the result of an investigation into similar cases which could be well authenticated, and which may be seen in a note in the admirable catalogue of the college museum, vol. v. pp. - . as the remarkable birth described by our correspondent n. d. took place five years previously to these inquiries, and is not mentioned, it is scarcely possible to doubt that his informant must be labouring under some great mistake. if such a birth took place, it is probable that the parish register will contain some record of the fact. our correspondent will, perhaps, take the trouble to make some further investigations, so as to trace the source of the error, for error there must be, in the statement of his informant.] { } * * * * * george herbert and bemerton church. it is gratifying to see that some of your correspondents are taking, an interest in the "worthy, lowly, and lovely" (as isaac walton called him) mr. george herbert (vol. ii., pp. . .). it may tend to increase that interest, if i send you a note i made a few years ago, when i visited bemerton, and had the pleasure of officiating within the walls of that celebrated little church. the rector kindly showed me the whole parsonage house; the parts rebuilt by herbert were traceable; but the inscription set up by him on that occasion is not there, nor had it been found, viz.: "to my successor. "if thou chance for to find, a new house to thy mind, and built without thy cost; be good to the poor, as god gives the store, and then my labour's not lost." it may truly be said to stand near the chapel (as his biographer calls it), being distant only the width of the road, thirty-four feet, which in herbert's time was forty feet, as the building shows. on the south is a grass-plat sloping down to the river, whence is a beautiful view of sarum cathedral in the distance. a very aged fig-tree grows against the end of the house, and a medlar in the garden, both, traditionally, planted by herbert. the whole length and breadth of the church is forty-five feet by eighteen. the south and west windows are of the date called decorated, say . they are two-light windows, and worthy of imitation. the east window is modern. the walls have much new brickwork and brick buttresses, after the manner recommended in certain _hints to churchwardens_, lond. . a little square western turret contains an ancient bell of the fourteenth century (diameter, twenty-four inches), the daily sound of which used to charm the ploughmen from their work, that they "might offer their devotions to god with him." "note, it was a saying of his 'that his time spent in prayer and cathedral music elevated his soul, and was his heaven upon earth.'"--walton. the doorway is jacobean, as is the chest or parish coffer, and also the pulpit canopy; the old sittings had long been removed. the font is circular, of early english date, lined with lead, seventeen inches diameter, by ten inches deep. the walls were ( ) very dilapidated. it cannot but be a surprise to every admirer of george herbert and to all visitors to this highly favoured spot, to find no monument whatever to the memory of that bright example of an english parish priest. this fact need surely only to be made known to insure ample funds for rebuilding the little church, and "beautifying" it in all things as herbert would desire (he once did it "at his own cost"), retaining, if i may be allowed to suggest, the decorated windows, with the font and bell, which, from my notes and recollections, seem to be all that remains of what he must have so often looked upon and cherished. from the register i was permitted to extract this entry: "mr. george herbert, esq., parson, of ffoughlston and bemerton, was buried day of march, ." the _locus in quo_ is by this still left doubtful. may i, in conclusion, add a quotation from isaac walton: "he lived and died like a saint, unspotted from the world, full of alms deeds, full of humility, and all the examples of a virtuous life. 'i wish (if god shall be so pleased) that i may be so happy as to die like him.'" h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george, nov. . . * * * * * minor notes. _lord mayor's show in_ .--among the varieties which at different times have graced the procession of the city on lord mayor's day, be pleased to take the following from the _post-boy_, oct. . to nov. . : "the maiden queen who rid on the lord mayor's day in the pageant, in imitation of the patroness of the mercer's company, had a fine suit of cloaths given her, valued at ninety guineas, a present of fifty guineas, four guineas for a smock, and a guinea for a pair of gloves." y. s. _sir thomas phillipps's manuscripts._--many inquiries are made in your useful publication after books and authors, which may easily be answered by the querist referring to the catalogue of sir thomas phillipps's manuscripts in the british museum, the society of antiquaries, the _athenæum_, or the bodleian library. t. _translation from owen, &c._--i do not remember seeing in a subsequent number of "notes and queries" any version of owen's epigram, quoted by dr. maitland in no. . i had hoped rufus would have tried his hand upon it; but as he has not, i send you a translation by an old friend of the doctor's, which has at least the merit of being a close one, and catching, perhaps, not a little of the spirit of the original. "_owen de libro suo._ "oxoniæ salsus (juvenis tum) more vetusto wintoniæque (puer tum) piperatus eram. si quid inest nostro piperisve salisve libello, oxoniense sal est, wintoniense piper." { } "_owen on his book._ "when fresh at oxon i a salting got; at winton i'd been pepper'd piping hot; if aught herein you find that's sharp and nice, 'tis oxon's seasoning, and winton's spice." i subjoin also an epitaph[ ] from the chapel of our ladye in gloucester cathedral, translated by the same hand. "_elizabetha loquitur._ "conjugis effigiem sculpsisti in marmore conjux sic me immortalem te statuisse putas; sed christus fuerat viventi spesque fidesque sic me mortalem non sinit esse deus." "say, didst thou think within this sculptured stone thy faithful partner should immortal be? fix'd was her faith and hope on christ alone, and thus god gave her immortality." f. t. j. b. deanery of gloucester. _epigram on the late bull_.--pray preserve the following admirable epigram, written, it is said, by one of the most accomplished scholars of the university of oxford:-- "cum sapiente pius nostras juravit in aras: impius heu sapiens, desipiensque pius." thus translated: "the wise man and the pius have laid us under bann; oh pious man unwise! oh impious wise-man!" s. m. h. _bailie nicol jarvie_ (vol. ii., p. .).--when we spoke recently of charles mackay, the inimitable bailie nicol jarvie of one of the terryfications (though not by terry) of scott's _rob roy_ having made a formal affidavit that he was a real "edinburgh gutter bluid," we suspect some of our readers themselves suspected a joke. the affidavit itself has, however, been printed in the _athenæum_, accompanied by an amusing commentary, in which the document is justly pronounced "a very curious one." here it is: "at edinburgh, the fourteenth day of november, one thousand eight hundred and fifty years. "in presence of john stoddart, esq., one of her majesty's justices of the peace for the city of edinburgh, appeared charles mackay, lately theatre royal, residing at number eleven drummond street, edinburgh; who being solemnly sworn and examined depones, that he is a native of edinburgh, having been born in one of the houses on the north side of the high street of said city, in the month of october one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. that the deponent left edinburgh for glasgow when only about nine years of age, where he sojourned for five years; thence he became a wanderer in many lands, and finally settled once more in edinburgh a few months before february eighteen hundred and nineteen years, when the drama of _rob roy_ was first produced in the theatre royal here. that the deponent by his own industry having realised a small competency, he is now residing in edinburgh; and although upwards of threescore years old he finds himself 'hale and hearty,' and is one of the same class whom king jamie denominates '_a real edinburgh gutter bluid._' all which is truth, as the deponent shall answer to god. "chas. mackay, b. n. jarvie. "john stoddart, j. p. "john middleton, m.d.e., witness. "walter henderson, witness." _hogs not pigs_ (vol. ii., p. .).--j. mn.'s remark on "hogs, lambs a year old," reminds me that the origin of this rustical word still lingers in the remote west, among the irish and the highland gaels, whose _gnath-bearla_, vernacular tongue, furnishes the neglected key of many a dark chamber. the word to which i allude is "og," _adj._ young; whence "ogan," a young man; "oige," a virgin. in these islands we still apply the old french term "aver," _averium_, in guernsey, to the hog or pig; in jersey, to a child. in france "aver" denoted the animal produce or stock on a farm; and there were "averia lanata" likewise. similar apparently whimsical adaptations of words will not shock those who are aware that "pig" in england properly means a little fellow of the swine species, and that "pige" in norse signifies a little maid, a damsel. g. m. guernsey. _the baptized turk_.--your correspondent ch. (vol. ii., p. .), who inquired about lord richard christophilus (_al._ isuf bassa), a converted turk, may be interested in a curious account of another convert to christianity, which has lately fallen in my way, if he be not already in possession of the (almost legendary) narrative. i allude to a small vo. volume, entitled: "the baptized turk; or, a narrative of the happy conversion of signior rigep dandulo, the onely son of a silk merchant in the isle of tsio, from the delusions of that great impostor mahomet, unto the christian religion; and of his admission unto baptism, by mr. gunning at excester-house chappel, the th of november, . drawn up by tho. warmstry, d.d., lond. ." dr. warmstry was dean of worcester. his conversion of the turk dandulo is mentioned in the _lansdowne mss._ ( ., p. .), and also in the _athenæ oxonienses_. the narrative is dedicated to "the right honourable the countess of dorset, the honourable the lord george, and the worshipful philip warwick, esq., _witnesses_ at the baptism of signior dandulo the convert." there appears to have been "a picture of the said dandulo in a turkish habit put before it;" { } but this has been abstracted from the only copy i have seen. this conversion appears to have been effected by the instrumentality of a dream; and the narrative contains an interesting essay of some length on the subject of visions, and gives an interpretation of the dream in question. j. sansom. [footnote : on elizabeth williams, youngest daughter of miles (smith), and wife of john williams, esq., died in child-bed at the age of seventeen. the above miles smith, was bishop of gloster during the latter part of henry viii. and part of elizabeth's reign.] * * * * * queries. gray.--dryden.--playing cards. although my question regarding gray and dodsley's _collection of poems_ has only been half answered, and my two queries respecting dryden's _absolom and achitophel_ and _essay on satire_ not answered at all, i am not discouraged from putting interrogatories on other matters, in the hope that i may be more fortunate hereafter. on each of my former inquiries i have still a word or two to say, and i do not know why i should not say them now. first, as to gray and dodsley:--is the epithet _droning_, or _drony_, in the first edition of the _elegy_? and, as my copy of dodsley's _collection_ is dated , and is said (on the half title, preceding the whole title) to be "the _second_ edition," was there a _first_ edition in the same year, or in an earlier year, or was there, in fact, no _first_ edition at all? this question is important, because several poetical productions, of undisputed excellence, originally made their appearance in dodsley's _collection_. next, as to dryden's _absolom and achitophel_: is it known, or anywhere stated, that it was printed early in the eighteenth century as a penny or two-penny chap-book, and why was it so printed? observe, too, that it was unaccompanied by tate's _continuation_, which, as far as a lesson to the lower orders is concerned, was of more consequence than dryden's portion. it is a circumstance i did not mention, but it is, nevertheless, worth a note, that in _the key_ which follows the address "to the reader," in my edition of , the character of zimri (which was given by dryden himself to the duke of buckingham) is assigned to lord gray, who was in truth the caleb of the performance. is it to be taken that the publication of this chap-book edition is merely a proof of the extreme popularity of dryden's half of the poem? my third unanswered query referred to the _essay on satire_, commonly attributed to lord mulgrave and dryden, but with which, as it seems to me, for reasons there assigned, lord mulgrave could have nothing to do. as a farther proof of dryden's _sole authorship_, i may here add, what i have since found, that the addendum to the first volume of _state poems_ consists of one thus entitled: "in opposition to mr. dryden's _essay on satyr_," treating it as only his: it begins, "now the reformer of the court and stage, the common beadle of this wilful age, has with impartial hand whipp'd sovereign sin, in me it is but manners to begin." it sounds drolly, in our day, to hear dryden called "the reformer of the court and stage," especially recollecting the attack upon him made just afterwards by jeremy collier. then, what are we to say to the subsequent lines, attributed to prior, which advert to the cudgelling dryden received in rose street for his attack upon rochester. prior calls his own production _a satire on the modern translators_, where he thus speaks of dryden under his name of bayes:-- "but what excuse, what preface can atone for crimes which guilty bayes _has singly done_-- bayes, whose rose alley ambuscade enjoin'd to be to vices, which he practised, kind?" all the contemporary evidence, with which i am acquainted, tends to establish that lord mulgrave, instead of being the author of a satire which dryden improved and polished, had nothing in the world to do with it. is there any evidence, not contemporary, which shows the contrary? surely this, and the two other matters to which i have above adverted, are interesting literary queries. now to a subject that i care less about, and upon which i am entitled, from his published works, to appeal to your correspondent, mr. s. w. singer. it is a mere trifle, but upon a curious point--the history of playing cards, which may, however, attract more attention than topics that relate only to such insignificant men as thomas gray and john dryden. i have before me only four, out of what i presume originally consisted of fifty-two playing cards, unlike any i have hitherto heard of. each of them illustrates a proverb, which is engraved at the bottom of a pictorial representation of figures and objects, and the cards consist of the ten of diamonds, the ace of hearts, the seven of hearts, and the eight of spades: the number is in roman figures at the left-hand corner, and the subject, a diamond, heart, and spade, at the right-hand corner. i will briefly describe them separately. the proverb illustrated by the ten of diamonds is "hee's in an ill case y^t can finde no hole to creepe out at;" and the engraving (upon copper) represents two men, with grey heads and in black gowns, in the pillory, surrounded by soldiers armed with halberds, partisans, spears, &c., of various shapes, and by a crowd of men in dresses of the seventeenth century. the ace of hearts illustrates the proverb "look before you leap;" a man in a hat turned up at the sides is about to leap from a high bank into the waters, wherein two others are already swimming: in the background is a fifth man looking over the fence of a cottage. the seven of hearts has engraved at the bottom of it, { } "patience on force is a medicine for a mad horse;" and it represents the female keeper of a brothel receiving whip-castigation at a cart's tail, a punishment frequently inflicted of old upon women of that description, as many authors testify: soldiers with halberds, &c., as before, march on either side of the cart, which at the moment is passing a house with the sign of the half-moon hanging out from the wall by ornamented iron-work. the eight of spades is upon the proverb, "two of a trade can never agree;" and in the engraving, a couple of fish-wives, who have thrown down their baskets of plaise, flounders, &c., are fighting furiously, while a man, behind, is obviously running away with something he has stolen from them: the background consists of gable-ended houses, part of a street. these cards came to me from an old relative, who very likely once had the whole pack, or _deck_, as it was formerly called; but i never could find more than these four, and i have been unable to meet with, or hear of, any others like them. from the costume and other circumstances, i am inclined to think that they belong to the period of the civil war, or rather later; and i remember, some years ago, to have been shown twenty or thirty cards of the latter end of the seventeenth century, founded upon public events, one of them relating to the celebrated "virgins of taunton dean," another to the death of monmouth, &c. i shall be personally obliged by any information respecting the cards i have described; and, since a distinct query may be desirable, i beg leave to ask any of your readers, whether they know of the existence of any other cards belonging to the same set? the hermit of holyport. * * * * * minor queries. _pretended reprint of ancient poetry._--in a bookseller's catalogue (j. taylor, blackfriars-road, ), i find mention of a work entitled _sundrie pleasaunte flowres of poesie, newlie plucked from the hill parnasse the hand of p. m., and verie goodlie to smelle_. it is said to have been "imprynted in london, in the yeare of our lorde ," and "reprinted by davidson, ." the bookseller's note records the fact, that "only two copies were reprinted from the original supposed to be unique." i do not believe that any work with the above title came from the press in the sixteenth century. query, who was the enlightened individual who produced the _two_ copies? edward f. rimbault. _the jews' spring gardens._--in the newspaper called the _postman_, oct. . to . , i read, "at milend the garden and house called _the jews' spring garden_, is to be let. enquire at capt. bendal's at milend." can any of your readers, acquainted with the neighbourhood of london, afford me information regarding this place, which was probably one of amusement and promenade much used by the jews, many of the wealthier of whom, at that time and long afterwards, resided in goodman's fields? y. s. _cardinal allen's admonition to the nobility._--sharon turner (eliz., book ii. chap. xxx. vol. iv. p. .) mentions that there is a copy of cardinal allen's _admonition to the nobility_, &c., in the jesuit's college at stoneyhurst, and but a few others in england. i shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me where one is to be found. there is not one either in the bodleian or the british museum. james bliss. _"clarum et venerabile nomen._"--can any of your correspondents inform me in what author the following lines are to be found? they are quoted by burke in his speech on american taxation. "clarum et venerabile nomen gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi?" w. l. _whipping by women._--in the accounts of the constable of this parish for the year , there are the following items: "paid to two men for watching ellen shaw, she beinge accused for felonie "paid to a woman for whippinge y^e said ellen shaw "paid for beare for her after she was whipped ." was it the usual custom for women sentenced to whipping to be consigned to the tender mercies of one of their own sex? j. eastwood. ecclesfield. _lærig_ (vol. i., p. .).--have we not a relic of this word in the vulgar _leary_, used of a _tough_ customer, one not easily taken in? j. w. h. _ms. history of winchester school._-- "in the year , proposals were published for an exact account of the history and antiquities of this college of st. mary; and large collections are made for that end, now dormant in a private hand."--rawlinson's _english topographer_, p ., london, . can any of your readers tell me where this invaluable ms. (if existing) may be found? and also what became of the late rev. peter hall's collections in manuscript? mackenzie walcott, m.a. _benedicite_.--when a priest saluted or was asked for his blessing,, he said "benedicite," bless ye,--_domino_, or, in worse latin, _nomen dei_. understood. can any one say why _benedicat_ or _benedicimini_ was not used, as the use of _benedicite_ was intended { } to convey or invoke a blessing, not an exhortation to bless. peter corona. _the church history society._--as one who feels greatly interested in the scheme for the establishment of the church history society, given in your number for the nd november last, and which you properly describe as "a proposal calculated to advance one of the most important branches of historical learning," will you permit me to inquire, through the medium of "notes and queries," whether dr. maitland's scheme has met with so much encouragement as to justify the expectation, and i will add the hope, that it may ever be fully carried out? laicus. _pope ganganelli._--there was a _life of pope clement xiv._ (ganganelli) published in london in . it was a distinct work from that by caraccioli. can any of your readers inform me of the author's name; or is there any one who has seen the book, or can tell where a copy may be found? cephas. _sir george downing._--i should be glad to obtain any information respecting sir george downing, of east halley, cambridgeshire, and gamlingay park, or his family. he was ambassador from cromwell and charles ii. to the states-general of holland, secretary to the treasury, and the statesman who caused the "appropriation act" to be passed, the th of charles ii. the family is of most ancient origin in devonshire, and i have heard that a portrait of him is possessed by some person in that county. alpha. _solemnization of matrimony._--in the service of the church for this occasion, on the ring being placed upon the woman's finger, the man is prescribed to say: "with this ring i thee wed, with my body i thee worship, and _with all my worldly goods i thee endow_," &c. how is this last sentence to be reconciled with the law? or is the vow to be considered revocable? a. a. abridge. _passage in bishop butler._--in bishop butler's sermon "upon the government of the tongue" occurs the following passage: "there is in some such a disposition to be talking, that an offence of the slightest kind, and such as would not raise any other resentment, yet raises, if i may so speak, the resentment of the tongue, puts it into a flame, into the most ungovernable motions. _this outrage, when the person it respects is present, we distinguish in the lower rank of people by a peculiar term._" now i should be glad if any one could offer a conjecture as to the bishop's meaning in this last sentence? i have shown it to several people, but no one has been able to think of this "peculiar term." r. _the duke of wharton's poetical works._--ritson prepared an edition of this nobleman's poetical works for the press. it contained nearly as much again as the printed edition of . what has become of the ms.? edward f. rimbault. _titus oates._--can any of your correspondents refer me to an _autograph_ of titus oates? edward f. rimbault. _erasmus' colloquies--apuleius' golden ass, translations of._--will any of your readers be kind enough to enlighten a provincial ignoramus by answering the following queries:-- . which is the best and most complete english translation of erasmus' _colloquies_? . is there an english translation of apuleius' _golden ass_? . is the french translation of the latter work considered a good one? g. p. i. _the molten sea._--in , captain j. b. jervis, of the bombay engineers, published at calcutta an essay, entitled _records of ancient science_, in which he endeavours to reconcile the discrepancy between the kings, vii. . . and the chron. iv. . . by proving that a vessel of oblate spheroidal form--of cubits in the periphery, and cubits in the major axis--would (according to the acknowledged relation of the bath to the cubit) hold exactly , baths liquid measure, and , baths when filled and heaped up conically with wheat (as specified in ezekiel, xlv. .). i do not possess any means of criticising this explanation of the difficulty, and having searched in various modern commentaries for a notice of it without success, i venture to submit it in your columns to the attention of others. tyro-etymologicus. _"sedem animæ", &c._--will any of your correspondents inform me where the following quotation is taken from:-- "sedem animæ in extremis digitis habent." it will be found in burton's _anatomy of melancholy_, folio edition ( th), p. ., and in the vo. edition of , vol. iv. p. . burton cites it as from sallust, but the verbal index of that author has been consulted in vain for it. w. s. richmond, surrey. _old st. pancras church._--old st. pancras has always been a noted burial-place for roman catholics that reside in or near london; and it has been assigned as a reason for that being their mausoleum and cemetery, that prayers and mass are said daily in a church dedicated to the same saint, in the south of france, for the repose of the souls of the faithful whose bodies are deposited in the church of st. pancras near london (england), where crosses and requiescat in pace, or the initial of those words, r.i.p., are found on the sepulchral monuments. it is said prayer and mass { } are said at st. peter at rome, also for the same purpose. can any of your readers inform me where that church is in the south of france; and when such prayers and masses were first said? it is also understood that this church was the last whose bell tolled in england for mass, and in which any rites of the roman catholic religion were celebrated after the reformation. s. s. n. h. * * * * * replies. holme mss.--the cradocks. (vol. ii., p. .). in answer to the query of mr. ellacombe, "i should like to know whether the mss. of randle holme, of chester, , which afterwards were penes dr. latham, are still accessible?" . the mss. alluded to are those of _four_ successive antiquaries of that name, of whom an account will be found in ormerod's _hist. chesh._, vol. ii., under "tranmere." . the person intended was _not_ dr. latham, but mr. william latham, of eltham, afterwards of quenby hall, leicestershire, _brother_ of dr. latham, _of romsey_, the naturalist. . the holme mss. were _never_ in the possession of mr. latham, but if mr. ellacombe will refer to dr. gower's prospectus, reissued by mr. latham in , he will find a correct statement of their having been obtained by bishop gastrell for the earl of oxford, and "eventually for the mighty emolument of the public." (p. .) . these mss. (being part of the harleian collection), _are accessible_ to visitors of the reading room at the museum, and extend, in the harleian catalogue, from no. . to no. . inclusive. . with respect to _cradocks_, as connected with cheshire, mr. e. will find notice in ormerod's _hist. chesh._, iii. ., of the tomb of sir john cradock in nantwich church, as lately, and perhaps now, remaining, and an account of its _former_ state in chaloner's and holme's _church notes_, harl. mss. ., and in _ordinary of arms in king's vale royall_, , arms assigned to cradock:--"argent, on a chevron azure three garbs, or. partridge (_hist. of nantwich_, ) names him sir david, and states that the arms were not _then_ discoverable." platt's later _history_ quotes derrick's _letters_ for naming him sir roger. the pedigree of newton, previously cradock, will be found at length in lewys dwnn's _visitation of wales_ (vol. i. p. .), published by the late sir samuel meyrick, under the auspices of the welsh mss. society. it places newton in pembrokeshire, and differs in some other respects from mr. ellacombe's account. the entry was made in eliz., , and the close of the pedigree, translated into english, is as follows: sir john newton, kt.== _________________________________|_____________________ | | | henry newton of john newton frances, wife hanham, somersetshire. of frusto. of william lord cobham. lancastriensis. * * * * * antiquity of smoking. in vol. ii., p. ., an allusion is made by a correspondent to the following verses of the comic poet crobylus, in reference to the antiquity of smoking: [greek: a. "egô de pros ta therma tauth' huperbolêi] [greek: tous daktulous dêpouthen idaious echô,] [greek: kai ton larung' hêdista puriô temachiois.] [greek: b. "kaminos, ouk anthrôpos."] athen i. p. . f. the two last verses are thus rendered in the passage referred to: "and i will sweetly burn my throat with cuttings; a chimney, not a man." athenæus is describing the fondness of the ancient gourmands for eating their food extremely hot. as they had no forks, but, like the modern orientals, carried their food to their mouth with their fingers, one pithyllus used gloves in order to avoid burning his fingers. (_ib._ i. p. . d.) in the second line there is a pun upon the word [greek: idaios] which is explained to mean "cold"--the allusion being to the idæan dactyli. (see meineke, _fragm. com. gr._, vol. iv. p. . lobeck, _aglaoph_. p. .) the passage is to be translated thus: a. my fingers are fire-proof against these exceedingly hot morsels, and i delight in burning my throat with slices of fish. b. "a furnace, not a man." in v. . [greek: puriô] is the word properly applied to steaming in a vapour-bath; and [greek: temachos] or [greek: temachôn] is a slice or cutlet of fish. (see aristoph. _nub._ .) in v. . [greek: kaminos] must not be rendered "chimney". it is a furnace or oven, and not even a stove or hearth, as scott and liddell remark in v. the ancient greeks, and probably the romans likewise, were unacquainted with chimneys. (see beckmann, _hist. of inventions_, art. "chimneys," and smith's _dict. of greek and rom. ant._, art. "house".) the meanings of the latin word _caminus_ are explained by beckmann (_ib._, vol. i. p. . ed. bohn). the short poem of [greek: kaminos ê keramis], attributed to homer (_epig._ .), illustrates the meaning of the word [greek: kaminos]. in these verses it is a furnace used for baking pottery. crobylus was not earlier than olymp. . b. c. . (see meineke, _ib._, vol. i. p. .) l. { } * * * * * antiquitas sÆculi juventus mundi. (vol. ii., pp. . . .). the aphorism, "antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi," which occurs in the _treatise de augm. scient._, vol. viii. p. ., and in the _advancement of learning_, vol. ii. p. ., ed. montagne, may be safely attributed to lord bacon himself, though it is printed in both passages in the form of quotation, between inverted commas. in the _novum organum_, lib. i. aph. , the thought appears in this form: "de antiquitate autem, opinio quam homines di ipsâ fovent. negligens omnino est, et vix verbo ipsi congrua. _mundi enim senium et grandævitas pro antiquitate vere habenda sunt_; quæ temporibus nostris tribui debent, non juniori ætati mundi, qualis apud antiquos fuit. illa enim ætas, respectu nostri, antiqua et major; respectu mundi ipsius, nova et minor fuit." the pointed and aphoristic form of the thought is due to bacon; the thought itself has, however, been traced by dr. whewell to giordano bruno. "it is worthy of remark, that a thought which is often quoted from francis bacon, occurs in bruno's _cena di cenere_, published in ; i mean the notion, that the later times are more aged than the earlier. in the course of the dialogue, the pedant, who is one of the interlocutors, says, 'in antiquity is wisdom;' to which the philosophical character replies, 'if you knew what you were talking about, you would see that your principle leads to the opposite result of that which you wish to infer; i mean, that _we_ are older and have lived longer than our predecessors.' he then proceeds to apply this, by tracing the course of astronomy through the earlier astronomers up to copernicus."--_philosophy of the inductive sciences_, vol. ii. p. . the _advancement of learning_ was published in , twenty-one years after the treatise of bruno. mr. hallam (_history of europe_, vol. iv. p. .) treats the thought as the original property of bacon; and although the first trace of it is to be found in bruno, there is no improbability in supposing that it occurred independently to bacon about the same time. l. _bacon's advancement in learning_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the writer in "notes and queries" speaks of the english text as being original, and the latin a version of lord bacon's _instauratio magna_; is he not mistaken? in reality there were two originals of that work, as we learn from mallet's account prefixed to the folio edition of bacon's works in vols. london, , p. xvii. et seq. (vol. first). the first edition was in english, london, , and is to be found in the bodleian. the latin, published in , is said by mallet to be the work of bacon himself, with the assistance of some friends, after he had enlarged and corrected the original; it is from this that wats' version is made, which is very exact and faithful to its original. the title-page is engraved on copper by marshall, with this inscription: "instavr. mag. p. i. of the advancement and proficience of learning or the partitions of sciences, i[=x] bookes, written in latin by the most eminent, illustrious, and famous lord francis bacon, baron of verulam, vicont st. alban, counsilour of estate, and lord chancellor of england, interpreted by gilbert wats, oxford: printed by leon. lichfield, printer to the vniversity, for rob. young and ed. forrell, ci[c*]i[c*]cxl." the passage referred to is at p. .: "indeed, to speak truly, _antiquitas seculi juventus mundi_, certainly our times are the ancient times, when the world is now ancient, and not those which we count ancient, _ordine retrogrado_, by a computation backward from our own times." now this agrees exactly with bacon's original latin in mallet's edition, vol. i. p. ., except that ordine retrogrado is not in italics; but in bacon's english text (mallet's edition, vol ii. p. .), the coincidence in all respects is complete: "and to speak truly, antiquitas sacculi, (_sic_) juventus mundi. these times are the ancient times when the world is ancient, and not those which we account ancient _ordine retrogrado_, by a computation backward from ourselves." wats' version is the more exact of the two. t. * * * * * albemarle, title of. (vol. ii., p. .). in reply to the question of j., i send you some particulars about _aumerle_ or albemarle. the first earl of this place, which is the name of a small town or territory in normandy, was otho, descended from the earls of champagne, and nearly related to william the conqueror, to whom he fled for protection, having killed a great person in that country, and obtained this earldom and the isle of holderness, in yorkshire, for his maintenance. the title remained in the heirs of otho till the death of william, eighth earl of albemarle, th henry iii., when it reverted to the crown, with the lordship of holderness, and in the th of richard ii. he granted them to thomas of woodstock, summoned to parliament as "thomas, duke of albemarle, the king's loving uncle." without enumerating the different persons upon whom our kings subsequently conferred this title as often as it became extinct or vacant, it will be sufficient for our purpose to show, that at the restoration the dukedom of albemarle was given to general monk, who, according to banks (_d. and e. peerage_, vol. iii. p. .), had a certain degree of hereditary pretension to the name { } by which he was ennobled, inasmuch as he was descended from margaret, eldest daughter and co-heir of richard beauchamp, earl of warwick and albemarle; but this is not satisfactorily made out in banks' table. at all events, the dukedom became again extinct on the death of christopher monk, the second duke of albemarle, in , s.p.; but the name was once more revived in - , by william iii., in favour of arnold joort van keppel, lord of voorst, who had attended the king in several campaigns, and was his master of the robes, and on the th of february in that year created "_earl of albemarle in normandy_;" the title having been doubtless selected as one so frequently enjoyed by persons of the highest consideration, and not in any way resting upon an hereditary claim. braybrooke. audley end. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _cromwell poisoned_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent p. t. queries if there be any other statement than that which he adduces respecting cromwell having been poisoned. i would refer him to the _athenæ oxoniensis_ of anthony à wood, vol. ii. p. .,[ ] in which it is stated that dr. george bate's friends gave him credit for having given a baneful dose to the protector, to ingratiate himself with charles ii. amidst all the mutations of those changeful times, and whether charles i., cromwell, or charles ii. were in the ascendant, dr. george bate always contrived to be the chief state physician. in whitelock's _memorials of the english affairs_ ( ), p. , it appears that the parliament, in , ordered dr. bate to go into scotland to attend the general (cromwell), and to take care of his health; he being his usual physician in london, and well esteemed by him. he wrote a work styled _elenchus motuum nuperorum in angliâ_. this was severely scrutinised in another, entitled _elenchus elenchi; sive animadversiones in georgii batei, cromwelli paricidæ, aliquando protomedici, elenchi motuum nuperorum in angliâ. autore robt. pugh; parisiis, _. dr. bate, who died th april, , was buried at kingston upon thames. § n. nov. . . [footnote : i allude to the old edition, vols. lond. - , folio; not having any other at hand.] "_never did cardinal bring good to england_" (vol. ii., pp. , .).--beruchino is right in his suggestion that dr. lingard may accidentally have omitted a reference to the place from whence he really derived this saying; for hall tells us in his _chronicle_ (ed. , p. .), that "charles, duke of suffolke, seeing the delay, gave a great clappe on the table with his hande and said, 'by the masse, now i see that the olde saied sawe is true, _that there was never legatt nor cardinall that did good in englande_.'" whether charles brandon was a reader of _piers ploughman_, i know not; but the following passage from that poem proves he was giving expression to a feeling which had long been popular in this country. i quote from mr. wright's edition, published by pickering: "i knew nevere cardinal that he ne cam fra the pope; and we clerkes, whan thei come, for hir comunes paieth, for hir pelure and hir palfreyes mete, and pilours that hem folweth. "the comune _clamat cotidie_ ech a man til oother, _the contree is the corseder_ _that cardinals comme inne_; and ther thei ligge and lenge moost, lecherie there regneth." l. -- . mr. wright observes in a note upon this passage, that "the contributions levied upon the clergy for the support of the pope's messengers and agents was a frequent subject of complaint in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries." thetas. _gloves not worn in the presence of royalty_ (vol. i., p. .).-- "this week the lord coke, with his gloves on, touched and kissed the king's hand; but whether to be confirmed a counsellor, or cashiered, i cannot yet learn."--letter in _court and times of charles i._, dated april, . w. dn. _nonjurors' oratories in london_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "nothing, my lord, appears so dreadful to me, as the account i have of the barefaced impudence of your jacobite congregations in london. the marching of the king's forces to and fro through the most factious parts of the kingdom, must (in time) put an end to our little country squabbles; but your _fifty churches_ of nonjurors could never be thus daring, were they not sure of the protection of some high ally."--letter from bishop nicholson to archbishop wake, dated rose, sept. . . in ellis's _letters_, series iii. w. dn. _"filthy gingran"_ (vol. ii., p. ).--i have found the following clue to the solution of my query on this point:-- "gingroen (gin-croen) _s. f._, the toad-flax, a kind of stinking mushroom."--owen's _welsh dictionary_. there is, however, some mistake (a high authority informs me) in the explanation given in the dictionary. toad-flax is certainly not a "mushroom," neither does it "stink." is the welsh word applied to both equivocally as distinct { } objects? in withering's _arrangement of british plants_, th edit., vol. iii., p. ., , the welsh name of _antirrhinum sinaria_, or common yellow toad-flax, is stated to be _gingroen fechan_. i must still invite further explanation. a. t. _michael scott_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a correspondent wishes to know what works of michael scott's have ever been printed. in john chapman's catalogue for june, , i see advertised "michael scott's physionomia, venet. . -------- chyromantia del tricasso da ceresari, vols. in , ." h. a. b. _the widow of the wood_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent is referred to lowndes's _bibliographical manual_, vol. iii. p. , for some mention of this work. it is there stated that the late eminent conveyancer, francis hargreave, the step-son of the lady, "bought up and destroyed every copy of this work that he could procure." j. h. m. bath. _the widow of the wood_, , mo., pp. vi. and . (inquired after at vol. ii, p. .)--i have this book. it appears to be a narrative of complaint of the widow of "john wh--y, esq.," of "great h-y-w--d" (great heywood, near stafford), against sir w--m w--y in the same neighbourhood. thomas kerslake. bristol. _modum promissionis_ (vol. ii., pp . .).--your correspondent c. h. has not solved my difficulty as to _modum promissionis_. in the hope that he, or others, will still kindly endeavour to do so, i subjoin the context in which it stands:-- "noluit jethro legem posteris figere: sed, quoad quietam stationem adeptus esset populus, remedium præsentibus incommodis, atque (ut vulgo loquitur) modum promissionis ostendit." an old french translation renders it:-- "il n'a point donc voulu mettre loy pour la posterité: mais seulement remedier aux incommoditez presentes _par maniére de provision_ (comme on dit)," &c. the general import of the passage is, that jethro's counsel to moses, as to the appointment of rulers over the people, was not intended to apply to canaan, but only to their sojourn in the wilderness. i do not see how the "formula professionis monasticæ" helps us; unless, indeed, "modus promissionis" were a kind of temporary and conditional vow, which does not appear in ducange. c. w. b. _end of easter_ (vol. ii., p. ).--should not the end of easter be considered its octave--low sunday? j. w. h. _first earl of roscommon_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there was, in the burying-ground of kilkenny-west, some thirty-five years or more ago, an old tombstone belonging to the dillon family, on which was traced the genealogy of the roscommon branch from one of the sons of the first earl (if i remember right, the third or fourth), down to a thomas, who had, i have heard my father say, a son called garrett, who had issue two sons, patrick and thomas. patrick was always, in that part of the country, _considered the heir_ to this title. patrick and thomas had issue, (living or dead i know not), but should imagine dead; as, had they been living, they would no doubt have come forward when the late earl claimed the title, as he claimed it as being descended from the youngest son of the first earl, whereas patrick and thomas were certainly the descendants of one of the elder sons of the first earl; and therefore, had the sons of either patrick or thomas come forward, it would no doubt have been decided in their favour. on this account, it was several years before the late earl's claim was fully confirmed, as it was thought that some of the descendants of the elder branches might come forward. this would have attracted my attention earlier had i not been abroad. an hibernian. mivart's hotel, london. _dryden's "absolom and achitophel"_ (vol. ii. p. .).--the passage in _absolom and achitophel_ is taken from fuller's _profane state_, speaking of alva: "he was one of a lean body and visage, as if his eager soul, biting for anger at the clog of his body, desired to fret a passage through it;" and from carew, p. ., "the purest soul that ere was sent into a clayey tenement." c. b. _cabalistic author_ (vol. ii., p. .).--"w. c. or twice five hundred." the meaning is very evident. v. signifies five, and c. one hundred. w. is two v's, therefore w. c. twice five hundred. terra martis. \[ [another correspondent points out that w. c., the author, may probably be _william_ cooper the printer.] \] _twickenham--did elizabeth visit bacon there?_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "at twickenham park, either in this [ ] or the following year, through the immediate interest of his steady patron, the earl of essex, mr. francis bacon had the honour of entertaining queen elizabeth, where he presented her with the sonnet in honour of that generous nobleman."--nichols's _progresses of queen eliz._, d ed. iii. p. . j. i. d. _legend of a saint and crozier_ (vol. ii., p. .)--the incident is related of st. patrick and one of the kings of cashel, and formed the subject of the first picture exhibited by james barry. in the { } _pursuit of knowledge under difficulties_, london, , (art. barry, p. .) it is stated that: "the picture was painted in his twentieth or twenty-first year, on the baptism by st. patrick of one of the kings of cashel, who stands unmoved while the ceremony is performed, amidst a crowd of wondering spectators; although the saint, in setting down his crosier, has, without perceiving it, struck its iron point through the royal foot." este. _becket_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--it so happens that, before seeing, mr. venables' communication, with his quotations from the _monasticon_ (vol. ii., p. ), i had taken an opportunity of looking into a friend's copy of that work, and had there found what seems to be a key to the origin of the designation "_st. thomas of acon_ or _acres_." it is stated, in a quotation from bp. tanner, that "the hospital [in cheapside] consisted of a master and several brethren, professing the rule of st. austin, but were of a particular order, which was about this time instituted in the holy land, viz. _militiæ hospitales s. thomæ martyris cantuariensis de acon_, being a branch of the templars."--_monast._ vi. . and the same title occurs in the charter of edward iii. (_ibid._) now it appears to me that the words _de acon_ here relate, not to the saint, but to the order which took its name from him; and this view is confirmed by the passage which mr. venables quotes from _matthew of westminster_, as to the foundation of a chapel in honour of st. thomas, at acre, in syria, a. d. . it is easy to suppose that in course of time, especially when the origin of the designation had been cast into the shade by the cessation of the crusades, and the ruin of the great order to which the brethren of st. thomas were at first attached, the patron himself may have come to be styled _de acon_ or _of acres_: and this seems to be the case in the act of hen. vi. (_monast._ vi. .) allow me to ask a question as to another point in the history of becket. among his preferments is said to have been the parish of "st. mary _littory_ or _ad litters_," which is commonly supposed to mean st. mary-le-strand.[ ] my friend mr. foss, in his elaborate work on _the judges of england_, contradicts this, on the ground that there was then no parish of that name; and he supposes st. mary-at-hill to be intended. now the words _ad litters_ would be alike applicable as a description in either case but it appears to me that, if the city church were meant, it would be styled, as it usually is, _ad montem_, and that _ad litters_ is latin for _le strand_. was there not then an ancient church so called, until the demolitions of protector somerset in that quarter? and is not the common belief as to becket's parish correct? i ask in great ignorance, but not without having vainly searched some books from which information might have been expected. j. c. r. [footnote : we have in the name of this church an answer to a. e. b.'s query, vol. ii., p. ., as to whether the strand was ever known as _le strand_,--the church of st. mary-le-strand.--ed.] _aërostation_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--i happen to remember a few old verses of a squib on lunardi, which may be enough seasoned with the dust of oblivion to interest some of your readers. "good folks, can you believe your eyes? vincenzo di lunardi has made a voyage to the skies, that foreigner foolhardy! "he went up in a round baloon (for moon is luna, latin), to pay a visit to the moon; a basket-boat he sat in. "and side by side the moon, he cried 'how do, fair cousin moon? eh!' through telescopes they were espied, baloon--lunardi--luna. * * * * * "when weary on the wing, to perch once more, and air abandon, quite apropos he swooped in search of solid earth to 'stand-on.'[ ] * * * * * "now after all remains to tell how learned mr. baker, set up a _moonstone_ where he fell, and called the field 'wise-acre.' perhaps some of your correspondents could supply the remaining stanzas. i fancy there were several more. as far as i can remember, they chiefly related to m. lunardi's conversation with the moon, which, involving some political allusions, did not so much hit my youthful imagination at the time. when a boy, i have frequently heard my father repeat the lines. c. j. f. [footnote : standon, herts, where he alighted.] _aërostation, works on_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--if your correspondent who inquires respecting works on aërostation will look into the _revue des deux mondes_ for october , he will find an article on that subject, detailing the various attempts made from the time of montgolfier down to a very recent period. a still later communication has been made to the world in the french newspaper, _la presse_, of yesterday's date (nov. th), relating, in terms of exultation, a successful experiment made in paris by messrs. julien and arnault to steer a machine _against the wind_, in which hitherto impracticable attempt they are said to have completely succeeded at repeated times, and the mechanical { } means by which they attained their object are detailed. j.m. oxford, nov. . _kilt_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent [sigma]. will find some information regarding the introduction of the _kilt_ into scotland in a volume entitled _notes to assist the memory in various sciences_, d edition, london, murray, . i quote the passage, p. .: "_the pheliebeg._ thomas rawlinson, an iron-smelter and an englishman, was the person who, about or prior to a. d. , introduced the pheliebeg, or short kilt, worn in the highlands. this fact, very little known, is established in a letter from ewan baillie, of oberiachan, inserted in the _edinburgh magazine_ for , and also by the culloden papers." the writer of that work, and of that _daring_ statement, was, i have been informed, a scottish military gentleman of the name of hamilton. this origin of the kilt is also mentioned by mr. robert chambers in his _life of duncan forbes, of culloden_. see his _biographical dictionary of eminent scotsmen_. scotus secundus. edinburgh, nov. . _bacon family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the origin, of this surname is to be found, i conceive, in the word _beacon_. the man who had the care of the _beacon_ would be called _john_ or _roger of the beacon. beacon hill_, near newark, is pronounced in that locality as if spelt _bacon hill_. w. g. s. _mariner's compass_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the "fleur de lis" was made the ornament of the northern radius of the mariner's compass in compliment to charles of anjou (whose device it was), the reigning king of sicily, at the time when flavio gioja, the neapolitan, first employed that instrument in navigation. o. p. q. _arabic numerals, brugsch_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--_brugsch, numerorum apud veteres Ægyptos demoticorum doctrina. ex papyris et inscriptionibus nunc primum illustrata_. to., with five plates of facsimiles, &c., is published in this country by williams and norgate, henrietta street, covent garden, where j. w. h. may see it, or whence he may get any information he may require respecting it. w. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. mr. bohn has just issued a new volume of his antiquarian library; and we shall be greatly surprised if it does not prove one of the most popular of the whole series. it is a new and greatly enlarged edition of mr. keightley's _fairy mythology illustrative of the romance and superstition of various countries_, a work characterised alike by a quick perception of the beauty of the popular myths recorded in its pages, the good taste manifested in their selection, and the learning and scholarship with which mr. keightley has illustrated them. the lovers of folk-lore will be delighted with this new edition of a book, which such men as goethe, grimm, von hammer, douce, and southey have agreed in commending; and of which the appearance is particularly well timed, for a fitter book for fire-side reading, or a christmas present, we know not than this edition of keightley's _fairy mythology_, with its inimitable frontispiece by george cruikshank, which alone is worth the price of the volume. whitaker's _clergyman's diary and ecclesiastical calendar_ is intended to supply a want which is acknowledged to have been long felt by the clergy, though the lawyer and man of business have been for many years well supplied with works of a similar character. a glance at the table of contents shows how much valuable matter, of especial interest to our clerical friends, has here been collected from various sources for their information; and to prove the value of a work destined, we have no doubt, to find for many years an extensive and well-deserved patronage. few of our readers but have tested and found the value of mrs. cowden clarke's _concordance to shakspeare_; and few are the nurseries into which some of her clever and kindly books for children have not found their way; so that albeit her projected series of tales, _the girlhood of shakspeare's heroines_, scarcely belongs to the class of works usually noticed in our columns, we gladly find in mrs. clarke's love of children and reverence for shakspeare, an excuse for saying a few words in favour of her good work of tracing the probable antecedents in the history of some of shakspeare's heroines. we have received the following catalogues:--edward stibbs' ( . strand) catalogue, part i, of a valuable collection of books; w. s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) catalogue no. . of english and foreign second-hand books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. ducange's glossary, (didot's edition). _odd volumes_. chalmer's british poets, vols. iv. and vi. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street * * * * * notices to correspondents. norvicensis _is informed that upon reference to stewart's_ ( . _king william street_) _catalogue, we find no._ . dodd's commentary, vols. folio, , _marked at_ l. s. _the work is esteemed for the notes of locke, waterland, and clarendon, which it contains._ _we have again to request the indulgence of many of our correspondents for the postponement of their communications._ { } _we have to thank several correspondents for correcting an oversight in_ dr. bell's _article on_ julin. _the line_ "story, lord bless you, i have none to tell, sir," _is from canning's_ knife grinder, _and not from the_ ancient mariner. _communications should be addressed to the editor of_ notes and queries, _care of_ mr. bell, no. . _fleet street_. _part xiii. for november, price _ _s. _ _d., is now ready for delivery_. notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _errata._--p. . col. , l. , for "collecion" read "collection"; p. . col. , l. , for "letter" read "letter_s_," and l. . for "writ_s_" read "writ"; col. . l. , for "cheat" read "_es_cheat"; and l. , for "ne" read "in." * * * * * london library, . st. james's square. patron--his royal highness prince albert. this institution now offers to its members a collection of , volumes, to which additions are constantly making, both in english and foreign literature. price of the large catalogue already published, s. a second volume is now in preparation. a reading room is also open for the use of the members, supplied with the best english and foreign periodicals. terms of admission:--entrance fee, l.; annual subscription, l.; or entrance fee and life subscription, l. by order of the committee, j. g. cochrane, secretary and librarian. november, . * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for december contains the following articles:-- . an evening with voltaire, by mr. r. n. neville; . the new cratylus; . old ballads from the bright collection; . the abbé de saint-pierre; . norman crosses (with engravings); . duchess of queensberry and gay; . dryden and flecknoe; . legends of the monastic orders; . t. lodge and his works; . birth of the old pretender; . history of winchelsea (with engravings); . autobiography of mr. britton; . the recent papal bull historically considered: with notes of the month, review of new publications, literary and antiquarian intelligence, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of lord rancliffe, lord stanley of alderley, lord leigh, chief justice doherty, rev. dr. thackeray, john jardine, esq., thomas hodgson, esq., f.s.a., newcastle, &c., &c. price s. d. "the gentleman's magazine has been revived with a degree of spirit and talent which promises the best assurance of its former popularity."--_taunton courier._ "the additional talent which the new year has brought to its assistance, will give an impetus advantageous to the circulation of the gentleman's, and, high as it previously stood, will advance it still more in the estimation of those who are enabled to appreciate its worth."--_poole herald._ the magazine for january, . will contain a portrait of the late thomas amyot, esq., treasurer of the society of antiquaries. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * curious books, mss., seals, antiquities, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction at their great room, . piccadilly, on wednesday, dec. , and two following days, a collection of curious books, mostly english, several thousand plays, rare, curious, satirical, and other poetry, historical pieces, facetiæ, some fine specimens of early typography, books of prints and emblems, mss., deeds, &c., relating to english counties, family papers of sir ed. coke, an extraordinary collection of seals, &c. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * the roman catholic controversy.--at the present crisis, when the extraordinary aggression of pope pius ix. on the rights of the church and sovereign of england renders a thorough acquaintance with the roman catholic controversy most essential, the council of the parker society are desirous of calling public attention to the works of the reformers which they have issued. these are the writings of archbishop cranmer, two vols.; bishop ridley, latimer, two vols.; coverdale, two vols.; jewel, three vols. completed, the fourth nearly ready; also those of tyndale, three vols.; becon, three vols., &c. the annual subscription to the society is l., to be paid in advance, for which each member receives four volumes. in the concluding volume of bishop jewel's works will appear, among other treatises, his "view of a seditious bull," being that issued by pius v. against queen elizabeth. the republication of this will be felt to be most seasonable at the present time, and the complete answers furnished by the romanisers to all the romish doctrines and assumptions will be found of the greatest interest and use. the council are anxious to facilitate as far as possible the desire of the clergy and others to possess these important works; and as they have on hand copies of some of the authors named, they are prepared to dispose of these on reasonable terms. application may be made to w. thomas, esq., . southampton street, strand. it is particularly requested that the members will pay their subscriptions for as early as possible. as the series of publications is is now drawing to a close, this announcement is important, and the council will feel greatly obliged by attention to it. * * * * * now ready, cloth, one shilling, the greek church, a sketch, by the author of "proposals for christian union."--contents: . patriarchate of constantinople; . alienation of eastern and western churches; . athanasius and arius; . council of florence; . cyril lucar. "this work is not so much a history of the greek church generally, as of that one most important feature in her career, the long protracted struggle with the western church, which terminated in their unhappy separation. the author's investigation into the conflicting causes which led to this result is ably carried out, with considerable research, and great lucidity of style."--_ecclesiastic._ this essay concludes the series. the four preceding numbers on sale, second edition, one shilling each. james darling--london: great cullen street; edinburgh: . south st. andrew's street. * * * * * the girlhood of shakespeare's heroines; in a series of fifteen tales, by mary cowden clarke, author of the "concordance to shakespeare." "as petty to his ends, as is the morn dew on the myrtle leaf to his grand sea." _shakespeare._ to be published periodically in one shilling books, each containing a complete story, one of the following subjects:-- portia; the heiress of belmont the thane's daughter helena; the physician's orphan desdemona; the magnifico's child meg and alice; the merry maids of windsor isabella; the votaress katharina and bianca; the shrew and the demure ophelia; the rose of elsinore rosalind and celia; the friends juliet; the white dove of verona beatrice and hero; the cousins olivia; the lady of illyria hermione; the russian princess viola; the twin imogen; the peerless. tale (portia; the heiress of belmont) on the st december, . tale (the thane's daughter), st january, . london: w. h. smith and son, . strand: and simpkin, marshall, and co., stationers' hall court. * * * * * protestant & church of england theology. just published, and may be had on application on the receipt of four stamps, the price of the postage, a catalogue of divinity, doctrinal, controversial, practical, and devotional; consisting, with a few exceptions, of protestant and church of england writers; selected from the stock of c. j. stewart, . king william street, west strand, london. { } * * * * * bernard quaritch, second-hand foreign, and antiquarian bookseller, . castle street, leicester square, london, begs to inform the readers of "notes and queries," that he has just published a new catalogue of antiquarian and heraldic works, comprising valuable chronicles, armorials, provincial and family histories. * * * * * new purchases not inserted in this catalogue. meriani theatrum europeum, oder wahrhaftige beschreibung aller denkwürd. geschichten, so sich hin und wieder in der welt, fürnehmlich in europa, &c., von - ereignet, thick vols. in , folio, with several thousand portraits, plans of cities, representations of battles, events, monuments, buildings, &c., engraved by matt. merlan, hollar, &c., vell., l. s. frankfurt, - . *** this voluminous history of europe (each vol. containing upwards of pages) was compiled from substantial information received at the time, and, as such, is worthy of the historian's reference; some of the curious portraits and historical prints fall into the english series. complete sets like the above are very seldom met. petitot, mémoires sur l'histoire de france, depuis le règne de phillippe auguste jusqu'au commencement de xvii^e siècle. avec des notices sur chaque auteur, et des observations sur chaque ouvrage, vols. vo., hf. bd. calf, very neat, l. s. paris, - . honnorat, dictionnaire provençal-français, ou dictionnaire de la langue d'oc ancienne et moderne, suivi d'un vocabulaire français-provençal, &c., vols. to., sd., l. s. paris, - . legonidec, dictionnaire breton-français et français-breton, précédé de la grammaire, nouvelle édition, augmentée des mots gallois et gaëls correspondant au breton, vols. to., sd., uncut, s. st. breas, - . flemish dictionary.--des roches, dictionnaire flamand-français et français-flamand, nouvelle édition par grangÉ, vols. vo., calf, neat, s. anvers, . sismondi, histoire des français, vols. vo., complete, sewed, only l. s. - . the best history of france is undoubtedly that of the learned sismondi, who diligently studied all the original sources, and guided by a sound critical judgment, and by liberal political views, produced a work which supersedes all other rivals. sismondi's style is noble and vivid: he gives life to every character he describes. many pages of sismondi illustrate english history, and of all the french historians he is the most honest and candid with regard to this country. edward iii. king of england: van den derden edewaert, coning van engelant, rymkronyk geschreven het jaer , door jan de klerk van antwerpen, vo., sd., scarce, s. d. gent, . nordisk tidsskrift for oldkyndighed (transactions of the royal society of northern antiquaries), complete series, vols. vo., numerous plates of antiquities, sd. or hf. bd., s. kiob. - . jordens, lexicon deutscher dichter and prosaisten (a very excellent literary history of germany, with quotations from ancient and modern writers), vols. vo., sd., s. leipzig, - . gaelic dictionary, by the highland society of scotland, with english-gaelic and latin-gaelic vocabularies, vols. to. (pub. at l. s.). cloth, s. . mÜller's dansk synonymik, vols. vo., fine paper, bds., s. d. kiob. . german dictionary.--kaltschmidt's stamm- und sinnverwandtschaftliches wörterbuch der deutschen sprache, to. bds., s. d. leipzig, . baldinucci, opere: notizie de professori del disegno, da cimabue, storia dell' arte dell' intagliare in rame, vocabulario del disegno, &c., vols. vo., sewed, s. milano, - baldinucci contains many lives of early painters, engravers, and architects, not comprised in vasari. owens's welsh-english dictionary, with numerous illustrations, vols. royal vo., clean, boards, s. . ---- welsh grammar, royal vo. bds., scarce, s. d. . fauriel, histoire de la poësie provençale, vols. vo., sd., uncut, s. d. paris, . micali monumenti inediti della storia degli antichi popoli italiani, royal folio, large copper plates, some coloured, containing many hundred fine engravings of vases, sculptures, bronzes, urns, masks, arms, gems, ornaments, bas-reliefs, &c. of etruscan workmanship, with an vo. vol. of letterpress, bds. (pub l. s.), s. firenze, . dictionnarie de l'académie, sixième edition, vols. to., last edition, hf. bd. calf, s. paris, . hertha, zeitschrift für erd-, völker-, und staaten-kunde, von berghaus humboldt, &c., vols, vo., maps and plates, hf. bd. calf, s. stuttgart, - . ariosto, orlando furioso, con annot., vols.; rime e satire, vol.; together vols. royal vo., sd., uncut, s. firenze, - . tasso, gierusalemme liberata, con annotazioni di gentili e guastavini e la vita dell' autore, vols, to., plates, old, calf gilt, gilt edges, s. tonson, . huber et rost, manuel des amateurs de l'art: i., ii. ecole allemande; iii., iv., ecole italienne; v., vi., ecole des pays-bas; vii., viii., ecole de france, vols. sm. vo. hf. bd. russia, very neat, s. zurich, - . dictionnaire roman, walon, celtique et tudesque (par franÇois), to. calf, scarce, _s_ d. bouillon, . "ouvrage fort recherché."--brunet. achard, vocabulaire provençal-français et français-provençal, stout vols. to., bds., s. marseilles, . edwards, recherches sur les langues celtiques, vo. sd., s. paris, imprimerie royale, . a very valuable and learned celtic polyglott grammar, giving a comparative view of the breton, gaelic, welsh, irish, cornish, and basque languages. vulpius, handwörterbuch der mythologie der deutschen, nordischen, sclavonischen und celtischen völker, vo. plates, sd., s. d. leipzig, . this very interesting volume is particularly devoted to teutonic and scandinavian mythology, and what renders it still mosre attractive is, that it includes sclavonian, wendian, russian, polish, lapponic, finnic, celtic, british, and gallic antiquities and mythology; constant references are given to the original sources. davies' mythology and rites of the british druids, with specimens of poetry and remarks upon ancient british coins, vo., hf. bd. calf, s. d. . faereyinga-saga eller faeroboernes historie, in icelandic, danish, and the faroer dialect, by rafn, imp. vo. large paper, bds., s. d. kiob, . johnson's english dictionary, with numerous corrections, and with the addition of several thousand words, as also with additions to the history of the language, by the rev. h. j. todd, vols. to., last and best edition, calf gilt, l. s. . *** _catalogues of_ bernard quaritch's _antiquarian, oriental, french, italian, spanish, northern, celtic, german, and scientific books_ gratis. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page "notes and queries" in holland notes:-- sir john davies and his biographers, by dr. e. f. rimbault a note on queen anne's farthings by j. y. akerman folk-lore:--lammer beads--on the lingering of the spirit--may cats--mottos on warming-pans and garters notes on jesse's "london and its celebrities," by henry campkin minor notes:--verstegan--george herbert and the church at leighton bromswold--little gidding--etymology of kobold--judas cup--essleholt priory--crossing rivers on skins queries:-- bibliographical queries minor queries:--bishops' lands--the barons of hugh lupus--can the queen make a gentleman?--plafery--st. john's bridge fair--queries on costume--cum grano salis--earl of clarendon's daughter, lucretia--vandyke's portrait of lord aubigny--foundation stone of st. mark's, venice--coins of richard cromwell--cataracts of the nile--paternoster tackling--dancing trenchmore--hymns-- camden and curwen families--jartuare replies:-- john bunyan and his portrait.--did bunyan know hobbes? by george offor the mother church of the saxons by dr. j. rawson replies to minor queries:--the frozen horn--to pose--culprits torn by horses--the conquest--mayors, their correct prefix--true blue--modum promissionis--fronte capillatâ &c.--cross between a wolf and a hound--touching for the evil--old booty--breeches bible--separation of the sexes--defender of the faith--epigram on the synod of dort--parish register tax--clergy sold for slaves miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * "notes and queries" in holland. the following extremely interesting, and, we need scarcely add, to us most gratifying, communication reached us at too late a period last week to admit of our then laying it before our friends, readers, and contributors. they will one and all participate in our gratification at the proof which it affords, not merely of that success which they have all combined to secure, but of the good working, and consequent wide extension, of that great principle of literary brotherhood which it has been the great object of "notes and queries" to establish. _to the editor of_ "notes and queries." mr. editor, we have the pleasure of sending you the prospectus of "de navorscher," a new dutch periodical, grounded upon the same principle as its valuable and valiant predecessor "notes and queries." the title, when translated into english, would be--"_the searcher; a medium of intellectual exchange and literary intercourse between all who know something, have to ask something, or can solve something._" if it be glorious for _you_ to have proposed a good example, we think it honourable for _us_ to follow it. though we do not wish to be our own trumpets, we can say that never a dutch newspaper was greeted, before its appearance, by such favourable prognostics. _your_ idea, mr. editor, was received with universal applause; and mr. frederik muller, by whom "de navorscher" will be published, is not only a celebrated bookseller, but also one of our most learned _bookmen_. ready to promote by every means in our power the friendly intercourse between your country and our fatherland, we desire of you to lay the following plan before the many readers of "notes and queries." . every query, which, promulgated by our english sister, would perhaps find a solution when meeting the eyes of _dutch_ readers, will be translated for them by her foreign brother. we promise to send you a version of the eventual answers. . of queries, divulged in "de navorscher," and likely to be answered if translated for the british readers of "notes and queries," a _version_ will be presented by us to the sister-periodical. . the title of books or odd volumes wanted to purchase, of which copies may exist in the netherlands, will be duly inserted into "de navorscher" when required. mr. frederik muller will direct his letters, containing particulars and lowest price, to the persons anxious for information. . all communications for "de navorscher" must be addressed to mr. d. nutt, bookseller, { } no. . strand; or, _carriage free_, to the "_directors_ of the same," care of mr. frederik muller, "heerengracht, near the oude spieglestraat, amsterdam." with a fervent wish that in such a manner, two neighbourly nations, connected by religion, commerce, and literary pursuits, may be more and more united by the mail-bearing sea which divides them, we have the honour to remain, mr. editor, your respectful servants, the directors of "de navorscher." amsterdam, the th of december, . when by the publication of "notes and queries" we laid down those telegraphic lines of literary communication which we hoped should one day find their way into every library and book-room in the united kingdom, we little thought that, ere fifteen months had passed, we should be called upon, not to lay down a _sub_marine telegraph, but to establish a _super_marine communication with our brethren in the low countries. we do so most gladly, for we owe them much. from them it was that caxton learned the art, but for which "notes and queries" would never have existed; and of which the unconstrained practice has, under providence, served to create our literature, to maintain our liberties, and to win for england its exalted position among the nations of the earth. heartily, therefore, do we bid god speed to "de navorscher;" and earnestly will we do all we can to realize the kindly wish of our amsterdam brethren, that the "two neighbourly nations of holland and england, connected by religion, commerce, and literary pursuits, may be more and more united by the mail-bearing sea which divides them." * * * * * notes. sir john davies and his biographers. sir john davies, the "sweet poet" and "grave lawyer"--rather odd combinations by the bye,--according to wood, was "born at chisgrove, in the parish of tysbury in wiltshire, being the son of a wealthy _tanner_ of that place!" this statement is repeated in cooper's _muses' library_, p. .; nichols's _select poems_, vol. i., p. .; sir e. brydges's edition of philips's _theatrum poetarum_, , p. .; sir harris nicolas's edition of davison's _poetical rhapsody_, vol. i. p. cii., &c. and headley, in his _select beauties of poetry_, ed. , vol. i. p. xli., adds, "he was a man of _low_ extraction!" wood's assertion concerning davies's parentage, was made, i believe, upon the authority of fuller; but it is undoubtedly an error, as the books which record the admission of the younger davies into the society of the middle temple, say the father was "late of new inn, _gentleman_." mr. robert r. pearce, in a recent work, entitled _a history of the inns of court and chancery_, vo. , p. ., gives the following sketch of the leading facts in the life of our "poetical lawyer:"-- "sir john davis, the author of _reports_, and several other legal works, and a poet of considerable repute, was of this society [_i.e._ the middle temple]. his father was a member of new inn, and a practitioner of the law in wiltshire. at the middle temple, young davis became rather notorious for his irregularities, and having beaten mr. richard martin (also a poet, and afterwards recorder of london) in the hall, he was expelled the house. afterwards, through the influence of lord chancellor ellesmere, he was restored to his position in the middle temple; and, in , was elected a member of the house of commons. in , he was appointed by king james solicitor-general in ireland. in , he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law; and, in the following year, was knighted by the king at whitehall. in , he published a book on the state of ireland, which is often referred to; and soon afterwards he was appointed king's serjeant, and speaker of the house of commons in ireland. on his return to england he published his reports of cases adjudged in the king's court in ireland,--the first reports of irish cases made public. the preface to these reports is very highly esteemed. it has been said to vie with coke in solidity and learning, and equal blackstone in classical illustration and elegant language. sir john davis died th of december, ." it is amusing to see how erroneous statements creep into ordinary biography. headley, as we have just seen, calls davies "a man of _low_ extraction;" and now we find a more recent biographer adding (without the shadow of an authority), "at the middle temple, young davies became _rather notorious for his irregularities_!" davies's quarrel with richard martin is alluded to by wood. after speaking of his admission into the middle temple, and of his being made a barrister (july, ), that writer adds:-- "but so it was that he [sir john davies] being a high-spirited young man, did, upon some little provocation or punctilio, bastinado rich. martin (afterwards recorder of london) in the common hall of the middle temple, while he was at dinner. for which act being forthwith [february, - ] expell'd, he retired for a time in private, lived in oxon in the condition of a sojourner, and follow'd his studies, tho' he wore a cloak. however, among his serious thoughts, making reflections upon his own condition, which sometimes was an affliction to him, he composed that excellent philosophical and divine poem called _nosce teipsum_." it is not a little singular that this very richard martin, whose chastisement is thus recorded, had { } been on terms of strict friendship with our "high-spirited" young lawyer. in , davies had published his poem on dancing, entitled _orchestra_, the title-page of which is followed by a dedicatory sonnet "to his very friend, ma. richard martin." this sonnet is written in extravagant terms of friendship and admiration; and as it is only to be found in the _rare_ first edition, and in the almost equally rare _bibliographical catalogue of the ellesmere collection_, some of your readers may not be displeased to see it on the present occasion:-- "to his very friend ma. rich. martin. "to whom shall i this dauncing poeme send, this suddaine, rash, halfe-capreol of my wit? to you, first mover and sole cause of it, mine-owne-selves better halve, my deerest frend. o, would you yet my muse some honny lend from your mellifluous tongue, whereon doth sit suada in majestie, that i may fit these harsh beginnings with a sweeter end. you know the modest sunne full fifteene times blushing did rise, and blushing did descend, while i in making of these ill made rimes, my golden bowers unthriftily did spend. yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse, i will mispend another fifteene dayes." the cause of quarrel between the two young lawyers is not known, but the "offence," whatever it was, was not slight. in the year , when davies reprinted his poetical works, we find that his feelings of resentment against his once "very friend" had not abated, for in place of the dedicatory sonnet to richard martin, is substituted a sonnet addressed to prince charles; and at the conclusion of the poem, he left a _hiatus_ after the one hundred and twenty-sixth stanza, on account of the same quarrel. sir john davies's celebrated poem, _nosce teipsum_ (mentioned by wood in the previous extract), is said to have gained the author the favour of james i., even before he came to the crown. wood gives the precise period of its composition, and, i think, with every appearance of truth, although it does not accord with the statement of modern biographers, that it was written at twenty-five years of age. (see campbell's _essay on poetry_, &c., ed. , p. .) the first edition of this poem was printed in to. in the year , and has for its title the following:-- "_nosce teipsum_. this oracle expounded in two elegies. . of humane knowledge. . of the soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof. london, printed by richard field, for john standish. leaves." as i am deeply interested in all that relates to the subject of this note, i have compiled a list of editions of the above poem, which shows its popularity for more than a century and a half:-- . . _london_, to. first edition. . . _ib._ to. second ed. . . _ib._ to. third ed. . . _ib._ vo. fourth ed. . . _ib._ vo. the last edition printed during the author's lifetime. . . _ib._ to. published by t. jenner with curious plates, and prose paraphrase. . . _ib._ folio. with prose dissertation. . . _dublin,_ vo. with life of the author, by nahum tate. . . _ib._ mo. second edition by tate. . . _ib._ vo. with essay by dr. sheridan. . . _london,_ mo. . . _glasgow,_ mo. with life of the author. . . _london,_ vo. in capel's _prolusions._ . . _ib._ mo. in davies's _poetical works_, edited by thompson. sir john davies left behind him a large number of mss. upon various subjects, none of which have since been printed. it would be very desirable that a list, as far as can now be made out, should be put on record. anthony wood says, several of davies's mss. were formerly in the library of sir james ware of ireland and since that in the possession of edward, earl of clarendon. the most interesting of these mss. were a collection of epigrams, and a metaphrase of david's psalms. the harleian mss., nos. . and ., contain two law treatises of this learned writer, and in thorpe's _catalogue_ for , i find _a treatise of tenures touchinge his majesties prerogative royal_, by john davies, folio, ms. granger does not record any engraved portrait of this writer, and all my enquiries have failed in discovering one. in mr. soame jenyn's hall, at botesham, in cambridgeshire (in ), was a full-length portrait of an elderly gentleman in a gown, with a book in one hand, on which is written "_nosce teipsum_." if this is a genuine portrait of sir john davies, it ought to be engraved to accompany a new edition of his poetical works; a publication which the lovers of our old poetry would deem an acceptable offering. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * a note on queen ann's farthings. the idea that a queen anne's farthing is a coin of the greatest rarity, originated perhaps in the fact that there are several _pattern pieces_ executed by croker, which are much valued by collectors, and which consequently bring higher prices. one type only was in circulation, and this appears to have been very limited, for it is somewhat scarce, though a specimen may easily be procured of any dealer in coins for a few shillings. this bears the bust of the { } queen, with the legend anna dei gratia--reverse, britannia around the trite figure of britannia with the spear and olive-branch: the date in the exergue. those with peace in a car, britannia standing with olive-branch and spear, or seated under an arch, are patterns; the second has the legend bello et pace in indented letters, a mode revived in the reign of george iii. it is said that many years ago a lady in the north of england lost one of the farthings of queen anne, which she much prized as the bequest of a deceased friend, and that having offered in the public journals a large reward for its recovery, it was ever afterwards supposed that any farthing of this monarch was of great value. j. y. akerman. * * * * * folk lore. _lammer beads._--does any one know the meaning of "lammer beads?" they are almost always made of amber, and are considered as a charm to keep away evil of every kind; their touch is believed to cure many diseases, and they are still worn by many old people in scotland round the neck. the name cannot have anything to do with "lammermuir," as, although they are well known among the old people of lammermuir, yet they are equally so all over scotland. l. m. m. r. _on the lingering of the spirit._--perhaps you may think the following story worthy of insertion in your paper. there is a common belief among the poor, that the spirit will linger in the body of a child a long time when the parent refuses to part with it. i said to mrs. b., "poor little h. lingered a long time; i thought, when i saw him, that he must have died the same day, but he lingered on!" "yes," said mrs. b., "it was a great shame of his mother. he wanted to die, and she would not let him die: she couldn't part with him. there she stood, fretting over him, and couldn't give him up; and so we said to her, 'he'll never die till you give him up.' and then she gave him up; and he died quite peaceably." rich. b. machell. vicarage, barrow-on-humber, jan. . . _may cats_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in hampshire, to this day, we always kill may kittens. cx. _mottos on warming-pans and garters._--it seems to have been much the custom, about two centuries ago, to engrave more or less elaborately the brass lids of warming-pans with different devices, such as armorial bearings, &c., in the centre, and with an inscription or a motto surrounding the device. a friend of the writer has in his possession three such lids of warming-pans, one of which has engraven on the centre a hart passant, and above his back a shield, bearing the arms of devereux, the whole surrounded by this inscription:-- "the . earle . of . essex . his . armes." another bears the arms of the commonwealth, (as seen on the coins of the protectorate,) encircled with an inscription, thus:-- "englands . stats . armes." the third bears a talbot passant, with the date above its back, , and the motto round:-- "in . god . is . all . my . trust." it appears to me that the first two, at least, belonged to _inns_, known by the respective signs indicated by the mottos, &c.; the first probably in honour of the lord-general of the parliament's army, who was the last devereux bearing the title. that last described affords a curious illustration of a passage cited in ellis's _brand_ (ed. , vol. i. p. .), from _the welsh levite tossed in a blanket_, . "our _garters_, bellows, and _warming-pans_ wore godly mottos," &c. in further illustration, i may mention that the owner of the warming-pans has in his possession likewise a beautifully manufactured long silk _garter_, of perhaps about the same date, in which are woven the following words:-- "love . not . the . world . in . which . thou . must . not . stay. but . love . the . treasure . that . abides . alway." h. g. t. * * * * * notes on jesse's "london and its celebrities." during my perusal of mr. jesse's pleasant volumes, i marked two or three slips of the pen, which it may not be amiss to make a note of. in vol. i. pp. , , ., there is a curious treble error regarding thomas sutton, the munificent founder of the charter house. he is successively styled _sir_ thomas, _sir richard_, and _sir robert_. sutton's christian name was thomas. he was never knighted. of the quaint leaden case which incloses his remains, and of its simple inscription, an accurate drawing, with accompanying particulars, by your able correspondent mr. e. b. price, was inserted in the _gent. mag._ for january, , p. . the inscription runs thus: " . thomas sutton, esquiar." vol. ii. pp. , , . mr. jesse's ingenious suggestions relative to the tradition of the burial of oliver cromwell in red lion square, merit the careful attention of all london antiquaries. ib. p. .: "there is no evidence of clement's inn having been a court of law previous to ." for "a court of law," read "an inn of court." { } ib. p. . erratum, line , in reference to mrs. garrick's reopening of her house, for the first time after her husband's decease--for " " read " ," obviously a printer's error. ib. p. .: "cranmer's successor in the see of canterbury was archbishop whitgift." whitgift was _grindal's_ successor, and grindal was preceded by parker, who must be deemed cranmer's successor. cranmer perished in . parker was made archbishop in . mr. jesse will not be angry, i am sure, with the above notes, or need any apology for an attempt to add to the value of his book. henry campkin. reform club, jan. . . * * * * * minor notes. _verstegan.--a restitution of decayed intelligence in antiquities, concerning the most noble and renowned english nation. by the study and travel of richard verstegan._--there is something so sonorous and stately in the very sound of the title of master richard verstegan's etymological treatise, that any bibliographical notice of it, i am sure, will find a corner in "notes and queries." the following ms. note is on a fly-leaf of my copy, a.d. :-- "the first edition was printed at antwerp, in . a full account of this work is given in oldys's _british librarian_, pp. . it concludes with suggestions for improving any future editions: namely, to add those animadversions, in their proper places, which have been since occasionally made on some mistakes in it; as those made by mr. sheringham on his fancy of the _vitæ_ being the ancient inhabitants of the isle of wight, &c. but more especially should be admitted the corrections of the learned mr. somner, he having left large marginal notes upon verstegan's whole book, as we are informed by bishop kennett, the late accurate author of his life. this advice has never been acted upon." to this is subjoined a notice of verstegan's _poems_. "there is a thin mo. volume of _poems_ by richard verstegan, of which only one perfect copy is known. dr farmer had it; then a mr. lloyd, who disposed of it, when it sold for l. s. mr. faber now has it. another copy, completed by ms., had belonged to t. park, which was sold at sotheby's, march . , for l. s., and bought by triphook." j. yeowell. hoxton. _george herbert and the church at leighton bromswold.--little gidding._--some of your readers may not be aware that george herbert built the church of leighton bromswold, hunts as well as that of bemerton. the church stands about three-quarters of a mile to the right of the road from huntingdon to thrapston, and a view of it is given in zouch's to. edition of isaac walton's _lives_; it is stated, in a note, to be near spalding, for which read _spaldwick_. herbert desired the pulpit and reading-desk to be placed on opposite sides of the church, and of the same height; to show that "preaching ought not to be esteemed above praying, nor praying above preaching." query, what is the state of the interior _now_, as to pews, &c.? the nuns, if i may so call them, in the monastery at little gidding, hunts, employed themselves in covering or in ornamenting the covers of books, in patterns, with silver and coloured-silk threads: a friend of mine in surrey has a small volume so ornamented by them. e. h. norwich, jan. . _etymology of kobold._--at page . of mr. bohn's edition of keightley's _fairy mythology_, we find that mr. k., after heading a chapter with "kobolds," says in a note:-- "this word is usually derived from the greek [greek: kobalos], a knave, _but as this is only found in lexicographers_, it may in reality be a teutonic word in a greek form." surely, mr. keightley has forgotten the following passages-- . ar. equites, . dindf. [conf. ranæ, .] "[greek: kleÔn: kobalos ei.] [greek: all. panourgos ei.]" . ejusdem fab., .: "[greek: bereschethoi te kai kobaloi kai mothôn.]" . plutus, .: "[greek: hôs mothôn ei te kai phusei kobalos.]" . aristotle, _h. a._ . . . [bekker oxon.] says of a bird, "[greek: kobalos kai mimêtês.]" in the nd passage liddell and scott call [greek: kobaloi] "_mischievous goblins_," which is exactly equivalent to "kobolds." the word is also used adjectively for "knavish tricks," "rogueries." see _equites_, .: "[greek: kai, nê di', alla g' esti mou kobala paidos ontos.]" ranæ, :-- "[greek: hê mên kobala g' estin, hôs kai soi dokei.]" in _equites_, . we find [greek: kobalikeumata], "the tricks of a [greek: kobalos]." p. j. f. gantillon. _judas cup_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the _ancient monuments, rites, and customs of durham_, published by the surtees society, we have the following account of "judas cup" in the refectory, which is described as-- "a goodly great mazer, called judas cup, edged about { } with silver and double gilt, with a foot underneath it to stand on, of silver and double gilt, which was never used but on maunday thursday at night in the frater house, where the prior and the whole convent did meet and keep their maunday." (p. .) i send this with reference to the mention of the "judas bell" and "judas candle" in your nd volume, p. . echo. _essheholt priory._--esholt hall (now in the possession of w. r. c. stansfield, esq.) is the same as the ancient priory of essheholt, which was under the abbot of kirkstall. this priory fell, of course, with the smaller houses, and was valued at l. s. d. essheholt remained in the crown till the first year of edward vi., nine years after the dissolution, when it was granted to henry thompson, gent., one of the king's gens-d'armes at boulogne. in this family the priory of esholt remained somewhat more than a century, when it was transferred to the neighbouring and more distinguished house of calverley by the marriage of frances, daughter and heiress of h. thompson, esq., with sir walter calverley. his son, sir walter calverley, bart., built, on the site of the old priory, the house which now stands. over a door of one of the out-buildings is an inscription in ancient letters, from which may be traced--"aleisbet. pudaci, p----," with a bird sitting on the last letter p. (elizabeth pudsay, prioress). the builder of the present house died in ; and, in , his son of the same name sold the manor-house and furniture to robert stansfield, esq., of bradford; from whom the present owner is descended.[ ] chas. w. markham. jan. . . [footnote : thoresby's _history of leeds_.] _crossing rivers on skins_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. c. m. g., a near relative of mine, who lately returned from naval service on the indus, told me, last year, that he had often seen there naked natives employed in fishing. the man, with his fishing-tackle, launches himself on the water, sustained by a large hollow earthen vessel having a round protuberant opening on one side. to this opening the fisherman applies his abdomen, so as to close the vessel against the influx of water; and clinging to this air-filled buoy, floats about quite unconcernedly, and plies his fishing-tackle with great success. the analogy between this oriental buoy and the inflated skins mentioned by layard and by your correspondent janus dousa, is sufficiently remarkable to deserve a note. g. f. g. edinburgh. * * * * * queries. bibliographical queries. (_continued from_ vol. ii., p. .) ( .) p. h. f. (vol. iii., pp. , .) has described a mo., or rather an vo., copy of latin psalter in his possession, and he wishes to know whether montanus had any connexion with one of the translations therein exhibited. the title-page of your correspondent's volume will tell him precisely what the book contains. he had better not rely too much upon ms. remarks in any of his treasures; and when a bibliographical question is being investigated, let _cyclopædias_ by all means not be disturbed from their shelves. would it not be truly marvellous if a volume, printed by robert stephens in , could in that year have presented, by prolepsis, to its precocious owner a version which bened. arias montanus did not execute until ? but p. h. f.'s communication excites another query. he appears to set a special value upon his psalter because that the verses are in it distinguished by cyphers; but pagnini's whole bible, which i spoke of, came thirty years before it, and we have still to go nearly twenty years farther back in search of the earliest example of the employment of arabic figures to mark the verses in the book of psalms. the _quincuplex psalterium_, by jacques le fevre, is a most beautiful book, perhaps the finest production of the press of henry stephens the elder; and not only are the verses numbered in the copy before me, which is of the improved "secunda emissio" in , but the initial letters of them are in red. at signature a iiij. there is a very handsome woodcut of the letter a., somewhat of a different style, from the larger (not the ascensian) p., within the periphery of which st. paul is represented, and which is so well worthy of notice in le fevre's edition of the _epistole diui pauli apostoli_, paris, . the inquiry toward which i have been travelling is this, when did henry stephens first make use of the open ratdoltian letter on dotted ground? (see maitland's _lambeth list_, p. . dibdin's _typog. antiq._ vol. i., prel. disquis., p. xl.) ( .) is there extant any collation of the various exemplars of the _alphabetum divini amoris_? and has an incontrovertible opinion been formed as to the paternity of this tract? for the common error of ascribing it to gerson is entirely inexcusable, as this parisian chancellor is frequently alleged therein. the third volume of his works, set forth by du pin, in , contains this "treatise of the elevation of the soul to god," and the editor has left the blunder uncorrected in his _eccles. hist._ iii. . again, can it be affirmed that the folio impression of louvain, (panzer, ix. .), in which gerson's name occurs, was assuredly anterior to the small black-letter and { } anonymous editions, likewise without dates? two of the latter (one much older than the other) are of mo. size, in vo., as is also bonaventura's _stimulus divini amoris_, printed in and . ( .) in what way can we detect the propounder of the _notabilis expositio super canonem misse_? his work is of small folio size without mention of place or year; but it certainly proceeded from nuremberg, and was it not one of the _primitiæ_ of creusner? ( .) who is designated by the letters "g. n. n. d.," which are put at the head of the epistle to zuinglius, _de magistris nostris lovaniensibus, quot et quales sint_? and why has the _vita s. nicolai, sive stultitiæ exemplar_, originally attached to this performance, been omitted by dr. münch in his edition of the _epistolæ obscurorum vivorum, aliaque ævi decimi sexti monimenta rarissima_, leipzig, ? if he had reprinted this very desirable appendix, it would have furnished him with the date "anno m.d.xx.," which would have prevented him from assigning this satirical composition to the year " ." (einl. p. .) ( .) a student can scarcely be considered moderately well versed in ancient ecclesiastical documents who has neither read nor heard of the _somnium viridarii_; and we may wonder at, and pity, the learned goldast, for having fallen into the extravagant mistake of attributing this latin translation of the celebrated dialogue, _le songe du verger_, to "philotheus achillinus, consiliarius regius." (_monarch. s. rom. imper_. i. . hanov. .) the question arises, how was he misled? was it not through a strange misconception of a sentence in the _silva nuptialis_ of nevizan, to which he refers in his preliminary "dissertatio de auctoribus?" this writer, who has been plentifully purified by the roman _index_, had cited the preface of an italian poem, "il viridario," composed by his contemporary, giovanni filoteo achillini; and is it thus that an author of the sixteenth century has got credit for an anonymous achievement of the fourteenth age? goldastus has hardly been out-heroded by those who have devised an individual named _viridarius_, or "le sieur _du vergier_." (see baillet, _déguisemens des auteurs_, p. ., and m. de la monnoye's note, pp. - .) ( .) is there not a transpositional misprint in the colophon of the old german _life of s. dorothea_, the so-called patroness of prussia? for it would seem to be inevitable that we should endeavour to elicit , and not , from the following date: "den dingstag nach gregory als man tzelete, m.cccc. unde cxii." (vid. lilienthal, _histor. b. doroth_. p. . dantisc., .) ( .):-- "the original manuscript of both volumes of this history will be deposited in the cotton library, by "t. burnett." has this declaration been inserted, in the handwriting of thomas burnet, on the reverse of the title-page of the second volume, in all large-paper copies (and is it strictly limited to them?) of bishop burnet's _history of his own time_, lond., ? compare the printed "advertisement to the reader" in the first volume, published in . ( .) mr. t. r. hampson, the author of _medii Ævi kalendarium_, which has, i believe, been commended in "notes and queries," informs us, in a precious production which he has lately issued on the _religious deceptions of the church of rome_, p. ., that-- "dr. geddes, himself a learned romanist, has selected many [remarkable errors] in his tract, _a discovery of some gross mistakes in the roman martyrology_." only fancy a romanist, learned or unlearned, having the effrontery to bestow so outrageous an appellation upon such an exploit. does not the second volume of _miscellaneous tracts_, in which the said treatise may be seen, explicitly admonish us to remember that michael geddes, ll.d., was erst a chancellor of the church of sarum? "quid romæ faciam?" he upbraidingly asks in one of his title-pages, "mentiri nescio." r. g. * * * * * minor queries. _bishops' lands_.--in the month of september, , the parliament appointed a committee for the sale of bishops' lands; and an account of some sold between and , will be found in vol. i. of the _collectanea topographica_, vo., . on the restoration, a committee sat to inquire into these sales and make satisfaction. bishop kennet refers to a ms. containing the orders of the commissioners, but does not state where the ms. was deposited; nor has sir frederic madden, who communicated that article to the _collectanea_, met with it anywhere. can any of your correspondents give any information upon the subject, or say where may be found any accounts of the sales of the lands under the parliamentary orders, or of the proceedings of the commissioners appointed to make restitution upon the king's restoration? g. _the barons of hugh lupus_.--it appears by the charter foundation to the abbey of st. werburge at chester, that several very eminent persons held the rank of baron, under hugh lupus, earl of chester. the charter is signed by the earl himself and by the following barons: richard, son of hugh lupus; hervey, bishop of bangor; ranulph de meschines, nephew of the earl; roger bigod, alan de perci, william constabular, ranulph dapifer, william malbanc, robert fitz-hugh, hugh fitz-norman, hamo de masci, and bigod de loges. { } can any of your readers inform us what befel the families and descendants of william malbanc, and bigod de loges? the descendants of the rest are too well authenticated to need inquiry. p. _can the queen make a gentleman?_--the following is from the patent rolls ( ric. ii. pars. . m. . prynne's _fourth institutes_, p. .):-- "le roy a tous ceux as queux cestes lettres viendrount. sachez qe come un chivalier fraunceys, a ceo qe nous soums enformez, ad chalenge un nostre liege, johan de kyngeston, a faire certeinez faitz et pointz darmes oveske le dit chivalier. nous a fyn qe le dit nostre liege soit le multz honerablement resceuz a faire puisse et perfourmir les ditz faitz et pointz d'armes _luy avons resceux en lestat de gentile homme, et luy fait esquier_. et volons, qil soit conuz par armes, et porte desore enavant, cestassavoir d'argent ove une, chapewe dazure ovesque une plume dostrich de goules. et ceo a tous yeaux as queux y appertient nous notifions pu ycelles. en tesmoignance de quelle chose nous avons fait faire cestes noz lettres patentes. done souz nostre grant seal a nostre paleys de westm. le primer jour de juyll. "par brief de prive seal." h. witham. _plafery_.--in carew's masque of _coelum britannicum_, acted before the court at whitehall, the th of february, ; momus, arriving from olympus immediately after mercury, says to him-- "the hosts upon the highway cry out with open mouth upon you, for supporting _plafery_ in your train; which, though, as you are the god of petty larceny, you might protect, yet you know it is directly _against the new orders_, and oppose the reformation in diameter." what is _plafery_? it is evident that the joking allusion to it was rather bold, for mercury exclaims,-- "peace, railer, bridle your licentious tongue, and let this presence teach you modesty." b. r. i. _st. john's bridge fair._--in what county in england was st. john's bridge fair held in the year , and in what town in the county? josephus. _queries on costume._--in wilson's _life of de foe_ there is an anecdote of charles ii. concealing himself, when a fugitive from worcester, beneath a lady's hoop, while his pursuers searched the house in which he had taken refuge. were hoops worn so early as the year ? in the _book of costume_ i find no mention of them before the beginning of the eighteenth century; but i do not think this circumstance conclusive, as the "lady of rank" is not always very accurate. writing in the reign of anne, she says, "fans were now very much used," but omits to mention that they were in fashion long before, having been indispensable to catherine of braganza and her ladies at home and abroad, in the church and the theatre. "long gloves," says the lady of rank, "began to be worn by the ladies in this reign." (queen anne's). "twelve dozen martial,[ ] whole and half," says evelyn:--were not _whole_ martial gloves, long? wedsecnarf. [footnote : "_martial._--the name of a famous french perfumer, emulating the frangipani of rome."--_miscellaneous writings of john evelyn_, pp. . . to. edit. .] _cum grano salis._--sometime ago i asked from what figure is borrowed the expression of "cum grano salis," and have had no reply. i can't find it in erasmus. once a very clever cambridge man said that it meant "the thing must be swallowed with a little attic salt to make it go down pleasantly." i don't think that he was right. e. h. _earl of clarendon's daughter, lucretia._--i should be very glad to learn whether the great earl of clarendon had a daughter named lucretia. a friend of mine is descended from dr. marsh, archbishop of armagh, who (it is said) married lucretia, daughter of the earl of clarendon, and was the father of lucretia, wife of dr. mcneil, dean of down and connor. wedsecnarf. _vandyke's portrait of lord aubigny._--can any of your correspondents give any information respecting a portrait, by vandyke, of george lord aubigny, brother to the duke of richmond and lennox? there is no doubt that such a picture once existed. l. _foundation stone of st. mark's, venice._--in vol. xxvi. of the _archæologia_ is a paper by the late mr. douce, "on the foundation stone of the original church of st. mark, at venice," &c., accompanied by an engraving of the mutilated object itself, which also appears to have been submitted to the inspection of the society of antiquaries at the time the paper was read. the essay contains, in reality, very little information relating to the stone, and that little is of no very satisfactory kind; and i have never been able to divest myself of the idea that it bears somewhat the semblance of a hoax. were i inclined to discuss the points which have suggested this notion, the necessity there is for brevity in corresponding with the editor of "notes and queries" would preclude my doing it; but i must quote the following passage, which comes immediately after the statement that the original church, in the foundation of which this stone was deposited, was destroyed in . "it is very possible that, in clearing away the rubbish of the old church, the original foundation stone was discovered, and, in some way or other, at present not traceable, preserved." { } if the fact is so, this stone, "of a circular form, the diameter six inches and a quarter, its thickness half an inch," must have been loose in the world for years from its exhumation to , when mr. douce's essay was read, and during that time has lost only the least important part of its inscription and ornaments. can any one say where this stone now is? when and where mr. douce obtained it? and, i must add, what history was attached to it when in his possession? for he was not a person likely to possess such an object without, at least, endeavouring to trace its history. on these points the essay contains not a word. h. c. r. _coins of richard cromwell_.--will any of your numismatical readers inform me whether there are any coins or medals known of richard cromwell, either during his chancellorship of oxford, or his short protectorate of these realms? blower. _cataracts of the nile_.--seneca (_nat. quæst._ iv. .) tells a story of the natives suffering themselves to be carried down in sport, which rollin says is confirmed by modern travellers; but can this be so? can any one give the names of any of these travellers, and supply the blank thus left by the historian? s. g. _paternoster tackling.--dancing trenchmore._--what is the origin and meaning of this term? also of the phrase "dancing trenchmore?" s. g. _hymns_.--will some of your correspondents favour me with a copy of "queen mary's lament," a translation of which appeared in coxe's delightful _christian ballads_. also adam of st. victor's "exquisite poem" on the cross, referred to by mr. trench in his _sacred latin poetry_? jarltzberg. _camden and curwen families._--camden, in his _britannia_, art. "cumberland," mentions his descent, by the mother's side, from the curwens of workington. should any of your numerous correspondents be able to trace their descent, he would much oblige a member of that family. h. c. _jartuare._--can any of your readers oblige me with any account of a printed book called _jartuare?_ its date would be early in the sixteenth century, if not earlier. w.( .) * * * * * replies. john bunyan and his portrait.--did bunyan know hobbes? (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., p. .) the best portrait of john bunyan was drawn and engraved by white, to the _holy war_, . the original drawing, and a fine impression of the engraving, is preserved in the illustrated grainger's _history of england_, in the print-room at the british museum. it was copied in folio for bunyan's _works_. it has been recently copied for mr. bogue's elegant edition of the _pilgrim_, and for the first complete edition of bunyan's _works_, now publishing by messrs. blackie and sons, glasgow. a fac-simile was engraved for an edition of the _pilgrim_, by mr. pickering, vo. . that the great allegorist was not the author of _heart's ease_ in _heart trouble_ is perfectly clear, not only that the style is very different, but from the author being known. it was first published in , under the initials of j. b., and the epistle is dated "from the house of my pilgrimage, march, ." bunyan died in august, . mr. palmer, in his _calamy_, vol. ii. p. ., states that the author was james birdwood. whether bunyan was acquainted with hobbes depends upon the authority of a small volume of _visions of heaven and hell_, published under the name of bunyan. in this it is represented that he saw poor hobbes in hell, and recognised an old acquaintance. the earliest edition of _the visions_ which i have been able to discover, is at "london: printed for edward midwinter, at the looking glass upon london bridge, price, bound, one shilling;" without date. it was printed early in the reign of george i.; this is seen in an advertisement of books at the end, among which is _the lives of the monarchs of england to his present majesty king george_. it is entitled, _the visions of john bunyan, being his last remains_. there is no account of either of this, or the _heart's ease_, in _the struggler for the preservation of mr. john bunyan's labours_. this gives a list of forty-three works published by him, and of seventeen left by him at his decease for publication. if _the visions_ were written by him, it must have escaped the search of his widow and surviving friends; but the style at once proves that it was not a production of his prolific pen. bunyan's style was remarkably simple and plain. the following phrases extracted from _the visions_ will carry conviction to every reader:-- "mormo's of a future state," "metempsychosis of nature," "nefandous villanies," "diurnal and annual," "my visive faculty," "soul-transparent and diaphonous," "translucid ray," "terrene enjoyments," "our minds are clarified," "types both of the ante and post-diluvian world," "the tenuity thereof," "the aereal heavens," "effluxes of divine glory," "all ænigmas," "corruscations of his divine nature," "solomon's mystick epithalamium," "the epiphonema," "propinquity in nature," "diversified refractions," "too bright and too diaphonous," "sweet odes and eniphalamics," "amarantine crown," "bright corruscancy," "palinodies and elegies," "no cataplasm," "eccentricks quite exterminate," "mutual assassinates," &c. &c. such phrases and terms plain john bunyan utterly despised. they prove, as does the whole plan of the treatise, that it must have been a very different man to the author of the _pilgrim's progress_ who wrote these _visions_. { } it is not likely that hobbes and bunyan were acquainted; they lived in distant parts of the country. bunyan's _pilgrim_, which was the foundation of his wide-spread fame, was not published till , when the leviathan philosopher was ninety years of age; he died in . hobbes' company were the learned and illustrious among men,--the des carteses, gassendis, and wallises of his age; while bunyan associated with the despised nonconformists. nor is is likely that bunyan read the _leviathan_; dent's _plain man's pathway to heaven, the practice of piety_, fox's _martyrs_, and, above all, his bible, constituted his library during his imprisonment for conscience-sake, which lasted from to . had he suffered from hobbes's philosophy, he would have proclaimed it upon the house-tops, especially in his _grace abounding_, that others might have been guarded from such dangerous scepticism. the _vision_ of hobbes was doubtless intended to render the forgery more popular. george offor. hackney, jan. . * * * * * the mother church of the saxons. in "notes and queries" (vol. ii., p. .) sir henry ellis observes, that-- "although st. martin's, canterbury, is commonly called the mother church of england on account of its having been the first used here by augustine, tradition represents, that when this missionary arrived in kent, he found an ancient church on the site of what is now called st. martin's." sir h. ellis adds, that-- "a charter of king canute's styles saviour's church, canterbury, the mother and mistress of all churches in the kingdom of england."-_Æcclesia salvatoris_, &c. i conceive these accounts to be perfectly reconcilable. from bede's _ecclesiastical history_ (b. i., caps. , .), we learn that, on the east side of canterbury, in the year , there was a church dedicated to the honour of st. martin, that was "built while the romans were still in the island," some two hundred years before this date. st. martin's was the church wherein bertha, queen of kent, used to pray; she having been a christian of the royal family of the franks. it will, of course, be allowed that during the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, different saints were held in especial honour in different countries. for instance, not long after the arrival of the roman missionaries in england, various churches and monasteries,--at canterbury, lindisfarne, bamborough, lichfield, weremouth, and jarrow, and the capital city of the picts,--were wholly or partially named after st. peter. when naitan, king of the picts, was about to build his church, he sought the assistance of the abbot of weremouth, a strong supporter of roman observances, and "promised to dedicate the same in honour of st. peter," and to follow the custom of the roman church, in certain matters, which the subjects of his kingdom had protested against, for more than a hundred years. now, on the occasion of queen bertha's leaving france, she was accompanied to england by a bishop of her native country, named luidhard; and when it is remembered that they settled in kent, amongst heathens of great superstition,--an example of which is recorded on the part of her own husband,--it is natural to suppose they would, in some public manner, seek the especial protection of the popular saint of france; and that saint was martin. for so profound was the popular veneration which the franks at one period offered to the power of saint martin, that they even computed ordinary occurrences and national events, by an era which commenced with the year of his death.[ ] it is therefore very probable that the public act of reverence just alluded to, consisted in a new dedication of the repaired church, by adding to the ancient name that of st. martin. that a practice of altering the names of sacred edifices in this manner was common at the date under consideration, cannot be questioned. for example, bishop aidan, about the year , built a church in the island of lindisfarne, the name of which is now unknown. this structure, however, having been destroyed by a fire, his successor, finan, erected another on the same site, and apparently of the same name. but when a second fire destroyed this church also, in some five and twenty or thirty years, "a larger church" was erected on the old site, and gratefully "dedicated in honour of st. peter," by theodore of roman appointment, "the first archbishop whom all the english church obeyed." (_bede_, iii. . and ., and iv. .) here, then, a new name was given to a church on the site of a former one of different appellation; and in lichfield, we have two examples of similar alterations in the names of churches; one st. chad's church, stow, and the other, the cathedral. on the site of the former, according to bede, bishop chad built a st. mary's church, hard by which he was buried; "but afterwards, when the church of the most holy prince of the apostles, peter, was built, his bones were translated into it." (_ecc. history_, iv. .) that is to say, when chad was canonised, his remains were removed to the site of the present cathedral, as relics over which the principal church of the mercian kingdom was to be erected. throughout the various documents relating to this church, which are preserved in dugdale's _monasticon_, vol. iii. pp. - , savoy edition, { } the cathedral is generally styled the church of st. mary and st. chad. and again, on a recently discovered seal of the dean and chapter, engraved some two hundred years after stephen's reign, the inscription is this: "s' decani et capl'i eccle'ie sce marie et sci cedde lychfeld' ad cas."[ ] but in a grant from king stephen to bishop roger de clinton, who commenced the present fabric, it is simply styled _ecclesia sancti ceddæ de lichfield_; and in the year a document was addressed _decano et capitulo ecclesiæ sancti ceddæ lych'_, as may be learned from the _foedera_, vol. ii. p. . we thus perceive, that the original name of lichfield cathedral has been dropped for centuries, and so has that of the church which bishop chad built in honour of the virgin mary at stow; for this church has, for a long time, been known only by the name of stow church, or by that of st. chad's, stow. and in this manner, i fancy, may be reconciled the different names of saviour's, or st. saviour's, canterbury, and st. martin's, canterbury; both alluding to the same church, the mother church of _saxon_ england. j. rawson, m.d. lichfield. [footnote : see brady's _clavis calendaria_, november .] [footnote : see the _gentleman's magazine_ for august ; in which an accurate representation of this seal is given.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the frozen horn_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--in an old edition of _hudibras_ now before me, i find the following note on the lines quoted by j. m. g.:-- "some report that in nova zembla and greenland men's words are wont to be frozen in the air, and at the thaw may be heard." the application of the idea by charles dickens, in his _old curiosity shop_, is also, i think, extremely felicitous. "'don't be frightened, mistress,' said quilp, after a pause. 'your son knows me: i don't eat babies; i don't like 'em. it will be as well to stop that young screamer though, in case i should be tempted to do him a mischief. holloa, sir! will you be quiet?' _little jacob stemmed the course of two tears which he was squeezing out of his eyes, and instantly subsided into a silent horror.... the moment their_ [quilp and swiveller] _backs were turned, little jacob thawed, and resumed his crying from the point where quilp had frozen him._"--vol. i. pp. - . j. b. colman. _to pose._--in vol. ii., p. ., your correspondent f. r. a. points out some passages in which the word "posing" appears to be used in a sense equivalent to "parsing." neither the etymology nor the exact meaning of the word "to pose," are easy to determine. it seems to be abbreviated from the old verb "to appose;" which meant, to set a task, to subject to an examination or interrogatory; and hence to perplex, to embarrass, to puzzle. the latter is the common meaning of the word _to pose_; thus in crabbe's _parish register_:-- "then by what name th' unwelcome guest to call, was long a question, and _it posed them all_." hence, too, the common expression, that a question which it is difficult to answer, or an argument which seems to decide the controversy, is a _poser_. the word "posing" in the passages cited by f. r. a. may refer to the examination of the pupil by the teacher of grammar. thus, fuller, in his _worthies_, art. norfolk, says that-- "the university appointed dr. cranmer, afterwards archbishop of canterbury, to be the _poser-general_ of all candidates in divinity." roquefort, _gloss. de la langue romaine_, has "apponer, appliquer, poser, plaier." see richardson in _appose_ and _pose_. l. _culprits torn by horses_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reply to mr. jackson's question respecting culprits torn by horses, i beg to inform him that robert françois damiens was the last criminal thus executed in france. he suffered on the th march, , for an attempt on the life of louis xv. the awful penalty of the law was carried out in complete conformity with the savage precedents of former centuries. not one of the preparatory barbarities of question, ordinary and extraordinary, or of the accompanying atrocities of red-hot pincers, melted lead, and boiling oil, was omitted. the agony of the wretched man lasted for an hour and a half, and was witnessed, as mercier informs us, by all the best company in paris. the men amused their leisure with cards, while waiting, as he says, for the boiling oil; and the women were the last to turn their eyes from the hideous spectacle. your correspondent may be glad to be informed that the same punishment was inflicted on poltrot de méré for the murder of the duke of guise, in ; on salcède, in , for conspiring against the duke of alençon; on brilland, in , for poisoning the prince de condé; on bourgoing, prior of the jacobins, as an accessory to the crime of jaques clément, in ; and on ravaillac, for the murder of henry iv. in . these, with the case of jean chastel, are all of which i am aware. if any of your readers can add to the list, i shall feel obliged. as i am upon the subject of judicial horrors, i would ask, whether any of your correspondents can supply me with a reference to the case of a { } woman executed, i think in paris, and, if my recollection serves, for a systematic series of infanticides. she was put to death by being suspended over a fire in an iron cage, in which a number of wild cats were shut up with her. i read the story many years ago, and for some time have been vainly endeavouring to recover it. j. s. _torn by horses_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this cruel mode of execution was practised both in antiquity and the middle ages. livy, speaking of tullus hostilius, says:-- "exinde, duabus admotis quadrigis, in currus earum distentum illigat mettum; deinde in diversum iter equi concitati, lacerum in utroque curru corpus, qua inhæserant vinculis membra, portantes. avertere omnes a tantâ foedidate spectaculi oculos."--l. i., c. . livy adds, that this was the first and last example of so savage a punishment among the romans. the punishment, however, must have been well-known in antiquity, as it is alluded to by seneca among the tortures which accompanied death. "cogita hoc loco carcerem, et cruces, et equleos, et uncum; et adactum per medium hominem, qui per os emergat, stipitem; _et distracta in diversum actis curribus membra_."--epist. xiv. . grimm (_deutsche rechtsalterthümer_, p. .) quotes the following instance of this punishment from gregory of tours, _hist. france_, iii. .: "puellas crudelinece interfecerunt ita ut ligatis brachiis super equorum cervicibus, ipsique acerrimo moti stimulo per diversa petentes diversas in partes feminas diviserunt" he adds that it occurs frequently in the legends of the carolingian period. thus turpin, c. ., describes as follows the punishment of the traitor gannalon:-- "jussit illum carolus quatuor equis ferocissimis totius exercitus alligari, et super eos quatuor sessores agitantes contra quatuor plagas coeli, et sic dignâ morte discerptus interiit." almost all cruel punishments have been used in the east, and it is not improbable that execution by means of horses may be mentioned in some oriental narrative. l. _the conquest_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in _cambria triumphans_, by percy enderbie, at p. , will be found a copy of a deed, the conclusion of which runs thus:-- "sigilla nostra apposuimus in castro nostro de burgavenny vicessimo secundo die julii, anno regni regis henrici sexti, post _conquestum_ vicessimo septimo." the word is here used for the accession of the king. s. k. _mayors--their correct prefix_ (vol. i., p. .).--since propounding my query in vol. i., p. ., relative to this subject, i have to inform your readers, that i have been favoured with the opinion of gentlemen very high in official authority on all points connected with heraldry and the rules of precedence; which is, that the proper style of the mayor of a borough is "the worshipful;" and they are further of opinion, that there can be no ground for styling the mayor of a city "the right worshipful." j. _true blue_ (vol. iii., p. .).--on the origin of this expression, i must claim the right to dissent from your correspondent g. f. g., who appears to have fallen into the error of confining a form of very wide application to one particular case, in which he discovers a trifling coincidence of fact. the connexion of the colour blue with truth is of very ancient date, of which the following may for the present suffice as an example:-- "and by hire beddes hed she made a mew and covered it with velouettes blew, in signe of trouth, that is in woman sene." chaucer, _squiere's tale_. blue, in the early practice of the tinctorial art, appears to have been the most humble of the colours in use, and the least affected by any external influence; and, down to the present day, if certain tints of recent invention be excepted, the same character may be claimed for it. what then more natural, than that it should be taken as the type of immutability, or that every party, political or religious, should in turn assume it as the badge of honesty of purpose, and of firm adherence to their principles? f. s. q. _modum promissionis_ (vol. ii., pp. , , .).--this phrase is perhaps connected with the promissivus modus, _i.e._ tempus promissivum or futurum of diomedes and other mediæval grammarians. t. j. _fronte capillatâ, &c._ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--the representation of "occasio," or "opportunity," with hair in front, and bald behind, is far more ancient than the drama referred to by your correspondent g. a. s. in the _anthologia_ (brunck's edition, vol. ii. p. .) the following beautiful epigram is the th by posidippus:-- [greek: eis agalma tou kairou.] [greek: tis, pothen ho plastês? sikuônios. ounoma dê tis?] [greek: lusippos. su de, tis? kairos ho pandamatôr.] [greek: tipte d' ep' akra bebêkas? aei trochaô. ti de tarsous] [greek: possin echeis diphueis? hiptam' hupênemios.] [greek: cheiri de dexiterêi ti phereis xuron? andrasi deigma] [greek: hôs akmês pasês oxuteros telethô.] [greek: hê de komê, ti kat' opsin? hupantiasanti labesthai,] [greek: nê dia. taxopithen pros ti phalakra pelei?] [greek: ton gar hapax ptênoisi parathrexanta me possin] [greek: ou tis eu' himeirôn draxetai exopithen.] [greek: tounech' ho technitês se dieplasen? heineken humeôn,] [greek: xeine, kai en prothurois thêke dikaskaliên.] { } the same epigram, with an inconsiderable alteration, is given in bosch's _anthologia græca_, vol. ii. p. ., with a close latin translation by grotius. the following english version of the greek is as nearly literal as the idioms of the two languages will allow. "who is the sculptor, say, and whence? from sicyon. what is he by name? lysippus. who art thou? i am opportunity. "why is thy step so high and light? i am running all the day. why on each foot hast thou a wing? i fly with the winds away. "why is a razor in thy hand? more keen my edge is set. why hast thou hair upon thy brow? to seize me by, when met. "why is thy head then bald behind? because men wish in vain, when i have run past on wingèd feet to catch me e'er again. "why did the artist form thee so? to place me in this hall, that i a lesson thus might give to thee, friend, and to all." ausonius, in the fourteenth century of the christian era, imitates this in his th epigram. phædrus (lib. v., fab. ), in the augustine age, speaks of the same representation as already sanctioned by antiquity:-- "occasio depicta. "cursu veloci pendens in novaculâ, calvus, comosâ fronte, nudo corpore; quem si occuparis, teneas: elapsum semel non ipse possit jupiter reprehendere; occassionem rerum significat brevem. effectus impediret ne segnis mora, finxere antiqui talem effigiem temporis." t. c. durham, jan. . . _cross between a wolf and a hound_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is no doubt that a dog and a wolf are capable of breeding together. the fact is well known, and has been long ascertained. see _penny cyclopædia_, art. "dog." the only question is whether the offspring of this cross is a mule, and, like other mules, incapable of continuing its race; or whether it is prolific? the latter position is maintained by mr. bell, in his _history of british quadrupeds_. "the dog and wolf will readily breed together (he says), _and their progeny is fertile_." but query, can any authentic instance be produced of a cross between a dog and a wolf, which has produced a prolific animal? l. professor thomas bell states that the dog and wolf will readily breed with each other, and that their progeny thus obtained will again mingle with the dog. w. j. bernard smith. temple, jan. . . i have read somewhere (in kohl's _russia_, if i mistake not) that this cross is not uncommon in the southern portions of european russia, but i have not the book at hand to refer to. diss. your correspondent, t----n, will find this fact referred to in sir john franklin's _narrative of a journey to the shores of the polar sea_, vol. i., p. ., nd edition, london. murray, . lieutenant hood says-- "on our way to the tent a black wolf rushed out upon an indian, who happened to pass its den. it was shot, and the indians carried away three black whelps, to improve the breed of their dogs." w. h. h. k. drayton beauchamp, jan. . . _touching for the evil_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i have seen an illuminated ms. containing the form of prayer in use previous to the reformation. as far as i remember, the ms. in question must have been of the fifteenth century. where it may now be found i am not aware. at the time of my seeing it, it was in the possession of mr. toovey of piccadilly. a somewhat curious field for inquiry on this subject is opened by a passage in voltaire's _siècle de louis xiv_. speaking of james ii. touching for the evil while in exile at the french court, he says-- "soit que les rois anglais se soient attribué ce singulier privilège, comme prétendans à la couronne de la france; soit que cette cérémonie soit établie chez eux depuis le temps du premier edouard." have we any evidence of the ceremony having been performed by any french monarchs? i am not aware of any. j. sn. _old booty_ (vol. iii, p. .).--in there appeared a humorous versification, by w. t. moncrieff, of this story, for the authenticity of which he prudently says he cannot vouch. he furnishes a sort of account of the affair, and of an action at the suit of booty's widow, the records of which, it says, are at westminster, jan. . . notwithstanding this apparent circumstantial account, we find in a very entertaining anonymous work, entitled _the history of man; or, the wonders of human nature_, nd edit. edinb. , vo., vol. i. p. ., a similar incident related of a mr. gresham, an eminent merchant of london, which happened in the reign of hen. viii., the authorities for which are cited, _sandy's trav._ l. . p. . _clark's mir._ c. . p. . f. r. a. _breeches bible_ (vol. iii., p .).--the first edition of this bible is now before me. the title-page and portions of the addresses to queen elizabeth and to the reader are unfortunately { } wanting, as is also the first leaf of genesis. but the title of the new testament as follows:-- "the newe testament of ovr lord jesus christ [***] conferred diligently with the greke, and best approued translacions in divers languages. at geneva: printed by rouland hull. m.d.lx." there is a woodcut of the egyptians pursuing the israelites on the shore of the red sea, surrounded with texts from scripture. it is a small quarto in roman type, and divided into verses. echo. _separation of sexes in church_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this custom appears to be of considerable antiquity. sir thomas more, in his _utopia_ (p. . of the edition of ), says-- "when they be come thither, the men goe into the right side of the church, and the women into the left side." j. sn. _defender of the faith_ (vol. iii., p. .).--by a hasty perusal of the letter of col. anstruther in your number of the th of january, i perceive that some doubt has been raised whether any of our sovereigns have used the title of defender of the faith, prior to the time of king henry viii. if you will refer to the forth part of prynne's _institutes_, pp. - , and - - , you will find set out at full length divers letters close and patent from king richard ii. in the th, th, and th years of his reign, for suppressing the heresies of wickliff and his followers. these letters are addressed to the chancellor of the university of oxford, william archbishop of canterbury (courtney), and to ralfe crombewell, chivalier, and john lekyll, and the mayor and bailiffs of nottingham, in which king richard ii. styles himself thus--"nos zelo fidei catholicæ, cujus sumus et esse volumus defensores," &c. h. witham. lincoln chambers, chancery lane, jan. . . _epigram on synod of dort_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the statement in the _biographie universelle_, that this epigram was made _in england_, is probably taken from mosheim (_eccl. hist_.), who says the same; but his authority neal (_hist. of the puritans_) does not say that it was made _in england_; and one can hardly read the sentence in which he quotes it without feeling satisfied that he did not know _who_ made it. after stating that the proceedings of the synod were much approved of by the english divines, and quoting expressions of mr. baxter and the learned jacobus capella in its favour, he proceeds-- "p. du moulin, paulus servita, and the author of the life of waleus, speak the same language. but _others_ poured contempt upon the synod, or burlesqued their proceedings in the following lines: 'dordrechti synodus, nodus; chorus integer, æger; conventus, ventus; sessio stramen. amen.' lewis du moulin, with all the favourers of the arminian doctrine, as heylin, womeck, brandt, &c., charge them with partiality and unjustifiable severity." when a writer, in the midst of a shower of authorities, refers a particular expression to "others," it may almost be laid down as a rule, that he does not know whose property it is. here, therefore, the inquiry seems brought to a dead stop, in this tract at least. b. r. i. _parish register tax_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in our register, hawarden, i find the following entry: "october, . on the nd of this month the act commenced which layeth a duty of threepence upon every registry of a burial, except a _pauper's_." and again: "oct. . . the duty of threepence on each registry of births, deaths, and marriages, imposed by act of parliament, commencing october . , ceased this day." during this interval many burials are marked _paupers_. waldegrave brewster. hawarden, flints. _clergy sold for slaves_ (vol. ii., p. .).--walker says: "mr. dugdale, in relating the same matter, adds that rigby not only exposed them to sale, but _found purchasers_ also; and what is more, had actually contracted with two merchants for them; and for that reason moved it twice (in the house, as i understand him) that they might be disposed of." waldegrave brewster. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. when a work of such general reference as a peerage, which is wanted upon every library table, and in every club and reading-room "where men do congregate;" which is, at the same time, from its nature, open to the criticism of hundreds of critics,--when a work of this nature and of such extent as _burke's genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the british empire_ bears on its title-page the brief but expressive words "_thirteenth edition_," it has obviously long outlived the time when any question can exist as to its merits. these have long been recognised by those best able to appreciate them, namely, the noble personages to whose history, and the history of whose descent and collateral branches, it is especially devoted; and whose personal communications have served to procure for the present work the merit by which it seeks to distinguish itself from all similar productions, namely, by its greater fullness of detail and its extreme accuracy. the rev. a. hussey, m.a., has in the press _notes on the churches in the counties of kent, sussex, and surrey mentioned in domesday book_. subscribers names are received by mr. j. russell smith. { } mr. m. a. lower's translation of _the chronicle of battel abbey, from the vow of its foundation by the conqueror in to the year _, will be published in the course of the present month. messrs. sotheby and co. will sell, on monday and tuesday next, a very valuable and important collection of classical and historical books, from the library of a collector; and on wednesday and two following days, an important portion of the valuable library of the right hon. c. w. williams wynn, including first and second folio shakspeare, caxton's _golden legend_, and some valuable mss., including one of the works of robert rolle, the hermit of hampole, &c. _catalogues received_.--william brown's ( . high holborn) catalogue part li. of second-hand english and foreign books on theology, fine arts, and miscellaneous literature; j. russell smith's ( . old compton street, soho) catalogue of books relating to kent, sussex, and surrey; w. s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) sixty-fifth catalogue of cheap second-hand english foreign and classical books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. walker's rhyming dictionary. mrs. grant's letters from the mountains. colebrooke's essays. vols. vo. southey's life of wesley (_early edition_.) cÆsar, valpy's delphin edition. greek translation of cÆsar's gallic war. van espen, jus ecclesiasticum, . [***] letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," , fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. locke. _we shall next week lay before our readers a long and most interesting inedited letter from lord shaftesbury, the author of the_ characteristics, _to le clerc, in which he gives a biographical sketch of his friend and foster father mr. locke._ j. s. b. _the two notes were duly forwarded. will our correspondent enable us to write to him._ c. w. b. _the very interesting little_ history of venice _in murray's_ family library _was written by the late rev. e. smedley_. g. r. m. _the brass token in question is a weight for weighing half-guineas; the coinage weights of which were_ dwt. ¾ gr., _and the_ current _weights_ dwt. gr. _we have two or three favours to request of our correspondents, and we ask them no less for their sakes than for our own. st. that they will be particular in their references, and collate their extracts before sending them to us; for they little know the loss of time and the trouble which a neglect of these trifles occasions us. d. that they will forward their separate articles as far as possible on separate papers; for several valuable communications are now standing over, until we can find leisure to separate and arrange for the press the different parts. rd. that they will write_ as legibly as they can. j. s. (brighton). _received._ k. r. h. m. _the poem, beginning_, "give lucinda pearle nor stone," _written by thomas carew, or carye, was addressed to the celebrated countess of carlisle, daughter of edward lord howard of escrick, and is printed at p. . of tom davies' edition of_ carew's poems ( ). replies received. _umbrella--ulm ms.--pillgarlick--tandem d. o. m.--swearing by swans--by and bye--frozen horn--gray and byron--hornbooks--ring dials--apricot--folk lore of lancashire--lady bingham--downing family--episcopal mitre--handbell before a corpse--probabilism--herstmonceux castle--burning the hill--venwell--annoy--breeches bible--lynch law--_"notes and queries" _in holland--sir john davies and his biographers--queen anne's farthings--jesse's london--verstegan--george herbert--folk-lore--bunyan and hobbes--pretended reprint of old poetry--fossel elk of ireland--jonathan hulls--touchstone's dial._ volume the second of notes and queries, _with very copious_ index, _is now ready, price s. d. strongly bound in cloth_. vol. i. _is reprinted, and may also be had at the same price._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * in a few days will be published, price s., containing nearly pages with illustrations, handsomely bound in cloth, the sussex garland. dedicated by permission to the sussex archæological society. edited and published by james taylor, newick, sussex. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for february, , contains the story of nell gwyn related by peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a., chapter ii (with two engravings); laudism and puseyism, a parallel exhibiting their exact identity; on the poetry of thomas lodge, by john payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a.; unpublished historical illustrations of the reign of henry vii., from the archives of the city of york; extracts from a pembrokeshire diary in ; unpublished order for supply of night gowns for queen elizabeth and the earl of leicester; pio nono and canon townsend; the history of the roman wall (with many engravings); the mediæval exhibition of (with engravings); court gossip of the twelfth century, from a new work by walter map; the sicilian vespers and amari; junius and lord chesterfield, &c. &c. with the customary review of new books, historical chronicle, and obituary: including memoirs of sir lumley skeffington, the rev. richard garnett, dr. haviland, mr. hullmandel, &c. &c, price s. d. nichols and son, parliament street. * * * * * second edition, revised and corrected, vo. cloth, price s. a table of anti-logarithms. containing to seven places of decimals, natural numbers, answering to all logarithms from to ; and an improved table of gauss's logarithms, by which may be found the logarithm to the sum or difference of two quantities where logarithms are given: preceded by an introduction, containing also the history of logarithms, their construction, and the various improvements made therein since their invention. by herschell e. filipowski. the publisher, having purchased the copyright and stereotype places of these tables, (published a few months ago at l. s.,) is enabled to offer a corrected edition at the above reduced price. _testimonial of augustus de morgan, esq._ "i have examined the proofs of mr. filipowski's table of anti-logarithms, and of gauss's logarithms, and also the plan of his proposed table of annuities for three lives, constructed from the carlisle table. "the table of anti-logarithms is, i think, all that could be wished, in extent, in structure, and in typography. for its extent it is unique among modern tables. of accuracy i cannot speak, of course; but this being supposed, i have no hesitation in recommending it without qualification. "the form in which gauss's tables are arranged will be a matter of opinion. i can only say that mr. filipowski's table is used with ease, as i have found upon trial; and that its extent, as compared with other tables, and particularly with other five-figure tables, of the same kind, will recommend it. i desire to confine myself to testifying to the facility with which this table can be used; comparison with other forms, as to relative facility, being out of the question on so short a trial. "on the table of annuities for three lives, there is hardly occasion to say anything. all who are conversant with life contingencies are well aware how much it is wanted. "a. de morgan." george bell, no. . fleet-street. * * * * * { } notice. the new edition of burke's peerage and baronetage for is published this day. revised and corrected throughout to the present time from the personal communications of the nobility, &c. in vol. royal vo., comprising as much matter as twenty ordinary volumes, with engravings of arms, &c. s. bound. "the most complete, the most convenient, and the cheapest work of the kind ever given to the public."--_sun_. also just published, in vols. vo., s. bound, mr. disraeli's life and reign of charles i. new edition, revised by the author, and edited by his son, b. disraeli, m.p. "by far the most important work on the important age of charles i. that modern times have produced."--_quarterly review_. henry colburn, publisher, . great marlborough street. * * * * * the important and valuable library of the late thomas amyot, esq,. f.r.s., f.s.a. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and john wilkinson, auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, february , and three following days, at precisely, the valuable antiquarian, miscellaneous, and historical library of the late thomas amyot, esq., f.r.s., f.s.a.; comprising the first, second and fourth editions of the works of shakspeare, and an extensive collection of shaksperiana; dugdale (w.) monasticon anglicanum, vols., original edition; dugdale (w.) monasticon anglicanum, by bandinel, caley, and ellis, vols., a fine subscription copy, in blue morocco; the baronage of england, and other of his works; duchesne (a.) historiæ normannorum scriptores antiqui; guillim (j.) display of heraldry, best edition; hidgdon (r.) polychronicon, black letter, a rare edition, fine copy; hollinshed (r.) chronicles, vols, best edition; works of homer, translated by chapman, in old blue morocco; horsley (j.) britannia romana, scarce, rerum britannicarum scriptores, very scarce; rymeri foedera, vols.; sandford (f.) genealogical history, best edition; somneri (g.) dictionarium saxonico-latino anglicanum; the sydney papers, vols.; tanneri (t.) bibliotheca britannico hibernica et notitia monastica; thurloe (j.) state papers, vols; wilkins (d.) concilia magnæ britanniæ, vols, very scarce; with an important series of the valuable antiquarian publications of thomas herne. to be viewed two days prior, and catalogues had; if in the country on receipt of six postage stamps. * * * * * the eclectic review for february, price _s_. d. edited by thos. price, ll.d. and rev. w. h. stowell, d.d. contains: . the royal academy . sunday legislation.--memoirs of sir andrew agnew. . smith's sacred aspects. . popular rhymes and nursery tales. . emigration.--its distribution and importance. . lord carlisle, and alexander pope. . the italian revolution.--mazzini and baillie cochrane. . höhner on musical composition . the power of romanism. review of the month, &c. &c. * * * * * [***] the circulation of the eclectic having increased _fourfold_, a third edition of the january number is now ready, and may be had by order of any bookseller in town or country. ward and co, . paternoster row. * * * * * periodical works, _for february_, . * * * * * knight's pictorial shakspere.--the national edition, part viii., containing king henry iv., part i., with numerous illustrations, price s. [***] this work is published twice a month. each part contains a complete play. the national edition of the pictorial shakspere is also published in monthly sections, each containing two plays and a portion of the biography and studies. section iv., price s. d. half a century of the british empire.--a history of the kingdom and the people from to . by harriet martineau, part i., price s., with portraits of pitt, fox, nelson and napoleon. the work will be completed in twenty-four shilling parts, published twice a month. the national cyclopÆdia of useful knowledge. part xlviii., first half, price d. the second half-part. price d., completing the work, will be published in march, . knight's cyclopÆdia of the industry of all nations. part iii., price d. issued also in weekly numbers, price d. knight's cyclopÆdia of london. part iii., price d. issued also in weekly numbers, price d. knight's excursion train companion. part i., price d. issued also in weekly numbers, price d. half-hours with the best authors. part xi., price d. issued also in weekly numbers, price ½d. half-hours with the best authors. volume iii., with portraits on steel of scott, byron, cowper, and wordsworth, handsomely bound in cloth, price s. d. vols. i and ii., uniformly bound, are constantly on sale. pictorial half-hours; or miscellanies of art. part ix., price d. issued also in weekly numbers, price d. each. [***] the first and second volumes, with illuminated frontispieces, handsomely bound in cloth, price s. d. each, are constantly on sale. the land we live in. part xxxix., price s. containing south wales, with a map, and numerous woodcuts. * * * * * descriptive catalogues of mr. charles knight's publications may be had on application. * * * * * london: charles knight, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. , fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) +------------------------------------------------------------+ | transcriber's note: italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline characters_. emphasized words | | within italics indicated by +plus signs+. | | greek transliterations are surrounded by ~tildes~. | | hebrew transliterations appear like ¤this¤. superscripts | | indicated with ^s. one typo, anticipitated, fixed. other | | archaic spellings have been retained. | +------------------------------------------------------------+ { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . . [price fourpence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page dryden on shakspeare, by bolton corney party similes of the seventeenth century:-- no. . "foxes and firebrands." no. . "the trojan horse" dutch east india company.--slavery in england, by james graves original royal letters to the grand masters of malta, by wm. winthrop enareans minor notes:--russia and turkey--social effects of the severe weather, jan. and , --star of bethlehem--origin of the word "cant"--epigram on four lawyers queries:-- contributors to "knight's quarterly magazine" the stationers' company and almanack minor queries:--john bunyan--tragedy by mary leapor-- repairing old prints--arch-priest in the diocese of exeter--medal in honour of the chevalier de st. george-- robert bloet--sir j. wallace and mr. browne-- robert dudley, earl of leicester--abbott families-- authorship of a ballad--elias petley--canaletto's views round london--a monster found at maidstone--page minor queries with answers:--the fish "ruffins"--origin of the word etiquette--henri quatre--"he that complies against his will," &c., and "to kick the bucket"-- st. nicholas cole abbey replies:-- trench on proverbs, by the rev. m. margoliouth inscriptions on bells arms of geneva photographic correspondence:--multiplying negatives--towgood's paper--adulteration of nitrate of silver replies to minor queries:--passage of cicero--major andré-- catholic bible society--cassiterides--wooden tombs and effigies--tailless cats--warville--green eyes--came-- "epitaphium lucretiæ"--oxford commemoration squib-- "imp"--false spellings from sound--"good wine needs no bush"--three fleurs-de-lys--portrait of plowden-- st. stephen's day and mr. riley's "hoveden"--death warnings in ancient families--"the secunde personne in the trinitie" miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * photographic society.--the exhibition of photographs and daguerreotypes is now open at the gallery of the society of british artists, suffolk street, pall mall, in the morning from a.m. to half-past p.m., and in the evening from to p.m. admission s. catalogue d. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * to pre-raphaelites.--on sale, a very beautiful collection of chinese drawings. b. quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. *** b. q.'s catalogue of rare, valuable, and curious books, just published, price d. * * * * * scientific recreation for youth--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads, in iron, brass, japanned wood, polished birch, mahogany, rosewood, and walnut-tree woods; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * just published, in cloth vo., s. d. on the decline of life in health and disease; being an attempt to investigate the causes of longevity, and the best means of attaining a healthful old age. by barnard van oven, m.d., fellow of the royal medical chirurgical society, &c. "old and young, the healthy and the invalid, may alike obtain useful and practical hints from dr. van oven's book; his advice and observations are marked by much experience and good sense."--_literary gazette._ john churchill, princes street, soho. * * * * * just published, price s., ecclesiastical courts reform.--an account of the present deplorable state of the ecclesiastical courts of record, with proposals for their complete reformation. by w. downing bruce, esq., lincoln's inn, barrister-at-law, fellow of the society of antiquaries, &c. henry adams, . parliament street, and w. arpthorp, . bishopsgate street. * * * * * tegg's chronology. in one handsome volume, post vo., cloth, price s. tegg's dictionary of chronology; or, historical and statistical register, from the birth of christ to the present time. fifth edition, revised and improved. london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxvii., is published this day. contents: i. life and works of gray. ii. humboldt's cosmos--sidereal astronomy. iii. missions in polynesia. iv. m. guizot. v. religion of the chinese rebels. vi. castren's travels among the lapps. vii. memoirs of king joseph. viii. turkey and russia. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * all works published under the title scott's poetical works are imperfect and incomplete, unless they bear the imprint of robert cadell, or adam & charles black, edinburgh. author's edition of scott's poetry, including the copyright poem of the lord of the isles, engravings, cloth, gilt edges, s. a. & c. black, edinburgh. houlston & stoneman, london. * * * * *{ } the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the camden society is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the civil, ecclesiastical, or literary history of the united kingdom; and it accomplishes that object by the publication of historical documents, letters, ancient poems, and whatever else lies within the compass of its designs, in the most convenient form, and at the least possible expense consistent with the production of useful volumes. the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due in advance on the first day of may in every year, and is received by messrs. nichols, . parliament street, or by the several local secretaries. members may compound for their future annual subscriptions, by the payment of l. over and above the subscription for the current year. the compositions received have been funded in the three per cent. consols to an amount exceeding l. no books are delivered to a member until his subscription for the current year has been paid. new members are admitted at the meetings of the council held on the first wednesday in every month. * * * * * the publications for the year - were: . privy purse expenses of charles ii. and james ii. edited by j. y. akerman, esq., sec. s.a. . the chronicle of the grey friars of london. edited from a ms. in the cottonian library by j. gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. . promptorium: an english and latin dictionary of words in use during the fifteenth century, compiled chiefly from the promptorium parvulorum. by albert way, esq., m.a., f.s.a. vol. ii. (m to r.) (_now ready._) books for - . . the second volume of the camden miscellany, containing, . expenses of john of brabant, - ; . household accounts of princess elizabeth, - ; . requeste and suite of a true-hearted englishman, by w. cholmeley, ; . discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell, - ; . trelawny papers; . autobiography of dr. william taswell.--now ready for delivery to all members not in arrear of their subscription. . the verney papers. a selection from the correspondence of the verney family during the reign of charles i. to the year . from the originals in the possession of sir harry verney, bart. to be edited by john bruce, esq., trea. s.a. . regulÆ inclusarum: the ancren rewle. a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the thirteenth century, addressed to a society of anchorites, being a translation from the latin work of simon de ghent, bishop of salisbury. to be edited from mss. in the cottonian library, british museum, with an introduction, glossarial notes, &c., by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. (_now ready._) * * * * * the following works are at press, and will be issued from time to time, as soon as ready: . the correspondence of lady brilliana harley, during the civil wars. to be edited by the rev. t. t. lewis, m.a. (will be ready immediately.) roll of the household expenses of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, in the years , , with illustrations from other and coeval documents. to be edited by the rev. john webb, m.a., f.s.a. the domesday of st. paul's: a description of the manors belonging to the church of st. paul's in london in the year . by the ven. archdeacon hale. romance of jean and blonde of oxford, by philippe de reims, an anglo-norman poet of the latter end of the twelfth century. edited, from the unique ms. in the royal library at paris, by m. le roux de lincy, editor of the roman de brut. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or to messrs. nichols. william j. thoms, secretary. . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * works of the camden society, and order of their publication. . restoration of king edward iv. . kyng johan, by bishop bale. . deposition of richard ii. . plumpton correspondence. . anecdotes and traditions. . political songs. . hayward's annals of elizabeth. . ecclesiastical documents. . norden's description of essex. . warkworth's chronicle. . kemp's nine daies wonder. . the egerton papers. . chronica jocelini de brakelonda. . irish narratives, and . . rishanger's chronicle. . poems of walter mapes. . travels of nicander nucius. . three metrical romances. . diary of dr. john dee. . apology for the lollards. . rutland papers. . diary of bishop cartwright. . letters of eminent literary men. . proceedings against dame alice kyteler. . promptorium parvulorum: tom. i. . suppression of the monasteries. . leycester correspondence. . french chronicle of london. . polydore vergil. . the thornton romances. . verney's notes of the long parliament. . autobiography of sir john bramston. . correspondence of james duke of perth. . liber de antiquis legibus. . the chronicle of calais. . polydore vergil's history, vol. i. . italian relation of england. . church of middleham. . the camden miscellany, vol. i. . life of ld. grey of wilton. . diary of walter yonge, esq. . diary of henry machyn. . visitation of huntingdonshire. . obituary of rich. smyth. . twysden on the government of england. . letters of elizabeth and james vi. . chronicon petroburgense. . queen jane and queen mary. . bury wills and inventories. . mapes de nugis curialium. . pilgrimage of sir r. guylford. * * * * * the second volume is now ready. embellished with portraits, price only s. d. bound, of the cheap edition of miss strickland's lives of the queens of england. to be completed in monthly volumes, post vo., price s. d. each, bound, illustrated with portraits of every queen, and including, besides all other late improvements, a copious index. also just published, the fourth and concluding volume, price s. bound, of the cheap re-issue of evelyn's diary and correspondence. "we rejoice to welcome this beautiful and compact edition of 'evelyn'--one of the most valuable and interesting works in the language, now deservedly regarded as an english classic."--_examiner._ in a few days, pepys' diary and correspondence. a new and improved library edition, in vols. demy vo., illustrated with portraits and other plates, and with numerous additional notes. edited by lord braybrooke. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * in vo., s. d., bound in cloth, with many woodcuts. the laws of the hebrews relating to the poor. by the rabbi maimonides. now first translated into english, with an introduction upon the rights and upon the treatment of the poor, the life of maimonides, and notes. by j. w. peppercorne, esq. "deeply learned and of inestimable value."--_church of england quarterly review._ london: pelham richardson, . cornhill; and e. lumley, . high holborn. * * * * * completion of the catholic history of england. by wm. bernard mac cabe, esq. in the press. the third and last volume of a catholic history of england. price s. orders to complete sets can be addressed to the publisher, t. c. newby, . welbeck street, cavendish square, london. n.b.--only a limited number of copies of this edition will be published. it will be therefore necessary for intending purchasers to give their orders as early as possible. "carefully compiled from our earliest records, and purporting to be a literal translation of the writings of the old chroniclers, miracles, visions, &c., from the time of gildas; richly illustrated with notes, which throw a clear, and in many instances a new light on what would otherwise be difficult and obscure passages."--thomas miller, _history of the anglo-saxons_, p. . works by the same author. bertha; or, the pope and the emperor. the last days of o'connell. a true history of the hungarian revolution. the life of st. ethelbert, king of the east angles. a grandfather's story-book; or, tales and legends, by a poor scholar. * * * * *{ } _london, saturday, february , ._ * * * * * notes. dryden on shakspere. "_dryden may be properly considered as the father of english criticism, as the writer who first taught us to determine upon principles the merit of composition._"--samuel johnson. no one of the early prose testimonies to the genius of shakspere has been more admired than that which bears the signature of john dryden. i must transcribe it, accessible as it is elsewhere, for the sake of its juxtaposition with a less-known metrical specimen of the same nature. "he [shakspere] was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. all the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too. those who accuse him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards, and found her there. i cannot say he is every where alike; were he so, i should do him injury to compare him with the greatest of mankind. he is many times flat, insipid; his comic wit degenerating into clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. but he is always great when some great occasion is presented to him: no man can say he ever had a fit subject for his wit, and did not then raise himself as high above the rest of poets, _'quantùm lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.'_" john dryden, _of dramatick poesie, an essay_. london, . to. p. . the metrical specimen shall now take its place. though printed somewhat later than the other, it has a much better chance of being accepted as a rarity in literature. _prologue to_ iulius cÆsar. "in country beauties as we often see something that takes in their simplicity, yet while they charm they know not they are fair, and take without their spreading of the snare-- such artless beauty lies in _shakespear's_ wit; 'twas well in spite of him whate'r he writ. his excellencies came, and were not sought, his words like casual atoms made a thought; drew up themselves in rank and file, and writ, he wondering how the devil it were, such wit. thus, like the drunken tinker in his play, he grew a prince, and never knew which way. he did not know what trope or figure meant, but to persuade is to be eloquent; so in this _cæsar_ which this day you see, _tully_ ne'er spoke as he makes _anthony_. those then that tax his learning are to blame, he knew the thing, but did not know the name; great _iohnson_ did that ignorance adore, and though he envied much, admir'd him more. the faultless _iohnson_ equally writ well; _shakespear_ made faults--but then did more excel. one close at guard like some old fencer lay, t'other more open, but he shew'd more play. in imitation _iohnson's_ wit was shown, heaven made _his_ men, but _shakespear_ made his own. wise _iohnson's_ talent in observing lay, but others' follies still made up his play. he drew the like in each elaborate line, but _shakespear_ like a master did design. _iohnson_ with skill dissected human kind, and show'd their faults, that they their faults might find; but then, as all anatomists must do, he to the meanest of mankind did go, and took from gibbets such as he would show. both are so great, that he must boldly dare who both of them does judge, and both compare; if amongst poets one more bold there be, the man that dare attempt in either way, is he." _covent garden drolery_, london, . ^o p. . a short historical comment on the above extracts is all that must be expected. the rest shall be left to the critical discernment of those persons who may be attracted by the heading of this note--_dryden on shakspere_. when johnson wrote his preface to shakspere, he quoted the _first_ of the above extracts to prove that the plays were once admired without the aid of comment. this was written in . in garrick placed the same extract at the head of his collection of _undeniable_ prose-testimonies to the genius of shakspere. johnson afterwards pronounced it to be "a perpetual model of encomiastic criticism;" and malone quoted it as an _admirable character_ of shakspere. now, _admirable_ as it is, i doubt if it can be considered as expressive of the deliberate opinion of dryden. the essayist himself, in his epistolary address to lord buckhurst, gives a caution on that point. he observes, "all i have said is problematical." in short, the essay _of dramatick poesie_ is in the form of a dialogue--and a dialogue is "a chace of wit kept up on both sides." i proceed to the second extract.--who wrote the _prologue to julius cæsar_? to what master-hand are we to ascribe this twofold specimen of psychologic portraiture? take up the dramatic histories of langbaine and baker; take up the _theatrical register_ of the reverend charles burney; take up the voluminous _some account_ of the reverend john genest; examine the mass of commendatory verses in the twenty-one-volume editions of shakspere; examine also the commendatory verses in the nine-volume edition of ben. jonson. here is the result: langbaine calls attention to the prologue in question as an _excellent prologue_, and genest repeats what had been said one hundred and forty years before by langbaine. there is not the slightest hint on its authorship. { } i must therefore leave the stronghold of facts, and advance into the of conjecture. _i ascribe the prologue to john dryden._ it appears by the list of plays altered from shakspere, as drawn up by steevens and reed, that _julius cæsar_ had been altered by sir william d'avenant and dryden jointly, and acted at the theatre-royal in drury-lane. it would therefore seem probable that one of those poets wrote the _prologue_ on that occasion. nevertheless, it does not appear in the works of either poet. the _works_ of sir william d'avenant were edited by mr. herringman, with the sanction of lady d'avenant, in ; and its exclusion so far decides the question. the non-appearance of it in the _poems_ of dryden, as published by mr. tonson in , is no disproof of the claim which i advocate. the volume contains only twenty prologues and epilogues--but dryden wrote _twice_ that number! i shall now produce some circumstantial evidence in favour of dryden. it is derived from an examination of the volume entitled _covent garden drolery_. this small volume contains twenty-two prologues or epilogues, and more than fifty songs--all anonymous, but said to be written by the _refinedest wits of the age_. we have, . a prologue and epilogue to the _maiden queen_ of dryden--not those printed in ; . a prologue and epilogue to the _parson's wedding_ of thomas killigrew; . a prologue and epilogue to the _marriage à la mode_ of dryden--printed with the play in ; . the prologue to julius cÆsar; . a prologue to the _wit without money_ of beaumont and fletcher--printed in the _poems_ of dryden, ; . a prologue to the _pilgrim_ of fletcher--not that printed in . these pieces occupy the first twelve pages of the volume. it cannot be requisite to give any further account of its contents. i waive the question of internal evidence; but have no misgiving, on that score, as to the opinion which may henceforth prevail on the validity of the claim now advanced in favour of dryden. sir walter scott observes, with reference to the essay _of dramatick poesie_, "the contrast of ben. jonson and shakspere is peculiarly and strikingly felicitous." he could have said no less--whatever he might have said as to its authorship--had he seen the _prologue to julius cæsar_. bolton corney. * * * * * party similes of the seventeenth century:--no. i. "foxes and firebrands." no. ii. "the trojan horse." (_continued from_ vol. viii., p. .) the following works i omitted to mention in my last note from want of room. the first is by that _amiable_ nimrod, john bale, bishop of ossory: "yet a course at the romyshe foxe, &c. compyled by johan harrison. zurich. . to." the four following are by william turner, m.d., who also wrote under an assumed name: "the huntyng of the romishe foxe, &c. by william wraughton. basil. ." "the rescuynge of the romishe foxe, &c. winchester. . vo." "the huntyng of the romyshe wolfe. vo. (?)." "the huntyng of the foxe and wolfe, &c. vo." the next is the most important work, and i give the title in full: "the hunting of the romish fox, and the quenching of sectarian _firebrands_. being a specimen of popery and separation. collected by the honourable sir james ware, knight, out of the memorials of eminent men, both in church and state: a. b. cranmer, a. b. usher, a. b. parker, sir henry sidney, a. b. abbot, lord cecil, a. b. laud, and others. and now published for the public good. by robert ware, gent. dublin. . mo. pp. ." the work concludes with this paragraph: "now he that hath given us all our hearts, give unto his majesties subjects of these nations _an heart of unity_, to quash division and separation; _of obedience_, to quench the fury of rebellious firebrands: and _a heart of constancy_ to the reformed church of england, the better to expel popery, and to confound dissention. _amen._" the last work, with reference to the first simile of my note, which i shall mention, is that by zephaniah smith, one of the leaders of the english antinomians: "the doome of heretiques; or a discovery of subtle foxes who wer tyed tayle to tayle, and crept into the church to doe mischiefe, &c. lond. ."[ ] { } with regard to the second simile, see-- "the trojan horse, or the presbyterian government unbowelled. london. . to. by henry parker of lincoln's inn." "comprehension and toleration considered, in a sermon on gal. ii. . by dr. south." "remarks on a bill of comprehension. london. . by dr. hickes." "the new distemper, or the dissenters' usual pleas for comprehension, toleration, and the renouncing the covenant, considered and discussed. non quis sed quid. london. . mo. second edition. pp. . (with a figurative frontispiece, representing the 'ecclesia anglicana.')" the first edition was published in . thomas tomkins, fellow of all souls' college, was the author; but the two editions are anonymous. as to the service book, see the curious work of george lightbodie: "against the apple of the left eye of antichrist; or the masse-booke of lurking darknesse (_the liturgy_), making way for the apple of the right eye of antichrist, the compleate masse-booke of palpable darknesse. london. . vo." baylie's _parallel_ (before referred to) was a popular work; it was first printed london, , in to.; and reprinted , , , . as to "high church" and "low church," see an article in the _edinburgh review_ for last october, on "church parties," and the following works: "the true character of a churchman, showing the false pretences to that name. by dr. west." (no date. ?) answered by sacheverell in "the character of a low churchman. to. ." "low churchmen vindicated from the charge of being no churchmen. london. . vo. by john handcock, d.d., rector of st. margaret's, lothbury." "inquiry into the duty of a low churchman. london. . vo." (by james peirce, a nonconformist divine, largely quoted in _the scourge_: where he is spoken of as "a gentleman of figure, of the most apostolical moderation, of the most christian temper, and is esteemed as the evangelical doctor of the presbyterians in this kingdom," &c.--p. .) he also wrote: "the loyalty, integrity, and ingenuity of high churchmen and dissenters, and their respective writers, compared. london. . vo." see also the following periodical, which lowndes thus describes: "_the independent whig._ from jan. , - , to jan. , . numbers. london. written by gordon and trenchard in order to oppose the high church party; - , mo., vols.; , mo., vols." will some correspondent kindly furnish me with the date, author's name, &c., of the pamphlet entitled _merciful judgments of high church triumphant on offending clergymen and others in the reign of charles i._?[ ] i omitted wordsworth's lines in my first note: "_high_ and _low_, watchwords of party, on all tongues are rife; as if a church, though sprung from heaven, must owe to opposites and fierce extremes her life;-- not to the golden mean and quiet flow of truths, that soften hatred, temper strife." wordsworth, and most anglican writers down to dr. hook, are ever extolling the golden mean and the moderation of the church of england. a fine old writer of the same church (dr. joseph beaumont) seems to think that this love of the mean can be carried too far: "and witty too in self-delusion, we against highstreined piety can plead, gravely pretending that extremity is vice's clime; that by the catholick creed of all the world it is acknowledged that the temperate _mean_ is always virtue's seat. hence comes the race of mongrel goodness: hence faint tepidness usurpeth fervour's name; hence will the earth-born meteor needs commence, in his gay glaring robes, sydereal flame; hence foolish man, if moderately evil, dreams he's a saint because he's not a devil." _psyche_, cant. xxi. , . { } cf. bishop taylor's _life of christ_, part i. sect. v. . jarltzberg. nov. , . p.s.--not having the fear of sir roger twisden or mr. thomas collis before my eyes, i advisedly made what the latter gentleman is pleased to term a "loose statement" (vol. viii., p. .), when i spoke of the church of england separating from rome. as to the romanists "conforming" for the first twelve (or as some have it nineteen) years of elizabeth's reign, the less said about that the better for both parties, and especially for the dominant party.[ ] mr. collis's dogmatic assertions, that the roman catholics "conformed" for the twelve years, and that popes paul iv. and pius iv. offered to confirm the book of common prayer if elizabeth would acknowledge the papal supremacy, are evidently borrowed, word for word, from dr. wordsworth's[ ] _theophilus anglicanus_, cap. vii. p. . a careful examination of the evidence adduced in support of the latter assertion, shows it to be of the most flimsy description, and refers it to its true basis, viz. _hearsay_: the reasoning and inferences which prop the evidence are equally flimsy. fuller, speaking of this report, says that it originated with "some who love to feign what they cannot find, that they may never appear to be at a loss." (_ch. hist._, b. ix. .) as the question at issue is one of great historical importance, i am prepared, if called on, to give a summary of the case in all its bearings; for the present i content myself with giving the following references: "sir roger twisden's historical vindication of the church of england in point of schism, as it stands separated from the roman. lond. ."--p. . "bp. andrewes' tortura torti. lond. ."--p. . "parallel torti et tortoris."--p. . "abp. bramhall ag. bp. chal."--ch. ii. (vol. ii. p. ., oxf. ed.) "sir e. cook's speech and charge at norwich assizes. ." "babington upon numbers. lond. ."--ch. vii. § . p. . "servi fidelis subdito infideli responsis, apud johannem dayum. lond. ." (in reply to saunders' _de visibili monarchia_.) "camd. annal. an. . lond. ."--pt. i. pp. . . (see also heylin, .; burnet, ii. .; strype, _annal._ ch. xix.; tierney's _dodd_, ii. .) the letter which the pontiff _did_ address to elizabeth is given in fuller, ix. ., and dodd, ii. app. xlvii. p. cccxxi. n.b.--in the p.s. to my last note, "n. & q.," vol. _viii._, p. ., was a misprint for vol. v. [footnote : the titles of these books remind one of "a merry disport," which formerly took place in the hall of the inner temple. "at the conclusion of the ceremony, a huntsman came into the hall bearing a fox, a pursenet, and a cat, both bound at the end of a staff, attended by nine or ten couples of hounds with the blowing of hunting-horns. then were the fox and cat set upon and killed by the dogs beneath the fire, to the no small pleasure of the spectators." one of the masque-names in this ceremony was "sir morgan mumchance, of much monkery, in the county of mad popery." in _ane compendious boke of godly and spiritual songs_, edinburgh, , printed from an old copy, are the following lines, seemingly referring to some such pageant: "the hunter is christ that hunts in haist, the hunds are peter and pawle, the paip is the fox, rome is the rox that rubbis us on the gall." see hone's _year-book_, p. . the symbolism of the brute creation is copiously employed in holy scripture and in ancient writings, and furnishes a magazine of arms in all disputes and party controversies. thus, the strange sculptures on _misereres_, &c. are ascribed to contests between the secular and regular clergy: and thus dryden, in his polemical poem of _the hind and the panther_, made these two animals symbolise respectively the church of rome and the church of england, while the independents, calvinists, quakers, anabaptists, and other sects are characterised as wolves, bears, boars, foxes--all that is odious and horrible in the brute creation. "a jesuit has collected _an alphabetical catalogue of the names of beasts by which the fathers characterised the heretics_. it may be found in _erotemata de malis ac bonis libris_, p. ., to., , of father raynaud. this list of brutes and insects, among which are a variety of serpents, is accompanied by the names of the heretics designated." (see the chapter in d'israeli's _curios. lit._ on "literary controversy," where many other instances of this kind of complimentary epithets are given, especially from the writings of luther, calvin, and beza.)] [footnote : [we are enabled to give the remainder of the title and the date:--"together with the lord falkland's speech in parliament, , relating to that subject: london, printed for ben. bragg, at the black raven in paternoster row. ."--ed.]] [footnote : see the authorities given by mr. palmer, _church of christ_, rd ed., lond. , pp. - .; and mr. percival _on the roman schism_: see also tierney's _dodd_, vols. ii. and iii. a full and impartial history of the "conformity" of roman catholics and puritans duping the penal laws is much wanting, especially of the former during the first twelve years of elizabeth. with the editor's permission i shall probably send in a few notes on the latter subject, with a list of the works for and against outward conformity, which was published during that period. (see bp. earle's character of "a church papist," _microcosmography_, bliss's edition, p. .)] [footnote : it is painful to see party spirit lead aside so learned and estimable a man as dr. wordsworth, and induce him to convert a ridiculous report into a grave and indisputable matter of fact. the more we know, the greater is our reverence for accuracy, truthfulness, and candour; and the older we grow in years and wisdom, the more we estimate that glorious motto--_audi alteram partem_. what are our ordinary histories of the reformation from burnet to cobbett but so many caricatures? would that there were more maitlands in the english church, and more pascals and pugins in the roman! let me take this occasion to recommend to the particular attention of all candid inquirers a little brochure, by the noble-minded writer last named, entitled _an earnest address on the establishment of the hierarchy_, by a. welby pugin: lond. dolman, . and let me here inquire whether this lamented writer completed his _new view of an old subject; or, the english schism impartially considered_, which he advertised as in preparation? i should mention, perhaps, that sir roger twisden's book was reprinted in : i have, however, met with the original edition only.] * * * * * dutch east india company.--slavery in england. having come across an old _daily post_ of thursday, august , , i send you the following cuttings from it, which perhaps you may think worth insertion: "hague, august . "it was on the th that the first of our east-india ships appear'd off of the texel, four of the ships came to an anchor that evening, nine others kept out at sea till day-light, and came up with the flood the next morning, and four more came in this afternoon; but as they belong to the chambers of zealand, and other towns, its thought they will stand away for the maese. this fleet is very rich, and including the single ship which arriv'd about a fortnight since, and one still expected, are valued at near seven millions of guilders prime cost in the indies, not reckoning the freight or value at the sale, which may be suppos'd to make treble that sum." "we have an account from flanders, that two ships more are come in to ostend for the new east india { } company there; it is said, these ships touch no where after they quit the coast of malabar till they come upon the coast of guinea, where they put in for fresh water; and as for those which come from china, they water on the bank of the island of ceylon, and again on the east shore of madagascar; but that none of them touch either at the cape de bon esperance, or at st. helena, not caring to venture falling into the hands of any of the dutch or other nations trading to the east. these ships they say are exceedingly rich, and the captains confirm the account of the treaty which one of their former captains made with the great mogul, for the settling a factory on his dominions, and that with very advantageous conditions; what the particulars may be we yet know not." "went away the d of july last, from the house of william webb in limehouse hole, a negro man, about twenty years old, call'd dick, yellow complection, wool hair, about five foot six inches high, having on his right breast the word hare burnt. whoever brings him to the said mr. webb's shall have half a guinea reward, and reasonable charges." james graves. kilkenny. * * * * * original royal letters to the grand masters of malta. (_continued from_ vol. viii., p. .) i am now enabled to forward, according to my promise, literal translations, so far as they could be made, of three more letters, which were written in the latin language, and addressed by henry viii. to the grand masters of malta. the first two were directed to philip de villiers l'isle adam, and the last to his successor pierino dupont, an italian knight, who, from his very advanced age, and consequent infirmity, was little disposed to accept of the high dignity which his brethren of the order of st. john of jerusalem had unanimously conferred upon him. the life of dupont was spared "long enough," not only for him to take an active part in the expedition which charles v. sent against tunis at his suggestion, to reinstate muley hassan on the throne of that kingdom, but also to see his knights return to the convent covered with glory, and galleys laden with plunder. no. iv. fol. th. henry by the grace of god, king of england and france, defender of the faith, and lord of ireland, to our reverend father in christ, dominus f. de villiers l'isle adam, our most dear friend--greeting: for a long period of time, master peter vanes, of _luca_, has been serving as private secretary; and as we have always found his service loving and faithful, we not only love him from our heart, and hold him dear, but we are also extremely desirous of his interest and advancement. as he has declared to us that his most ardent wish is by our influence and favour to be in some way invested with honour in his own country, we have most willingly promised to do for him in this matter whatever lay in our power; and we trust that from the good offices which your most worthy reverence has always received from us, this our desire with regard to promoting the aforesaid master peter will be furthered, and the more readily on this account, because what we beg for may be granted without injury to any one. since, then, a certain dominus livius, concerning whom your reverend lordship will be more fully informed by our same secretary, is in possession of a priory in the collegiate church of ss. john and riparata in the city of _luca_, we most earnestly desire that the said livius, through your reverend lordship's intercession, may resign the said priory and collegiate church to our said latin secretary, on this condition, however, that your reverend lordship, as a special favour to us, will provide the said dominus livius with a commandery of equal or of greater value. we therefore most earnestly entreat that you will have a care of this matter, so that we may obtain the object of our wishes; and we shall be greatly indebted to your reverend lordship, to whom, when occasion offers, we will make a return for the twofold favour, in a matter of like or of greater moment. may all happiness attend you. from our palace of greenwich, th day of january, , your good friend, henry rex. no. v. fol. th. henry by the grace of god, king of england and france, defender of the faith, and lord of ireland, to our reverend father in christ, dominus f. de villiers l'isle adam, our most dear friend--greeting: although, by many proofs, we have often before been convinced that our reverend lordship, and your venerable brethren, after the loss of rhodes, have had nothing more to heart than that by your actions you might deserve most highly of the christian republic, and that you might sometimes give proof of this by your deeds, that you have zealously sought for some convenient spot where you might at length fix your abode; nevertheless, what we have lately learnt from the letters of your reverend lordship, and from the conversation and prudent discourse of your venerable brother de dentirville has caused us the greatest joy; and although, with regard to the recovery of rhodes, complete success has not answered your intentions, nevertheless we think that this your order of jerusalem has always wished to seek after whatever it has judged might in any { } manner tend to the propagation of the catholic faith and the tranquillity of the christian republic. but that his imperial majesty has granted to your order the _island_ of _malta_, gozo, and tripoli, we cannot but rejoice; places which, as we hear, are most strongly fortified by nature, and most excellently adapted for repelling the attacks of the infidels, should have now come into your hands, where your order can assemble in all safety, recover its strength, and settle and confirm its position.[ ] and we wish to convince you that fresh increase is daily made to the affection with which we have always cherished this order of jerusalem, inasmuch as we perceive that your actions have been directed to a good and upright end, both because these undertakings of your reverend lordship, and of your venerable brethren, are approved by us as highly beneficial and profitable; and because we trust that your favour and protection will ever be ready to assist our nation, if there be any need; nor shall we on our part be ever wanting in any friendly office which we can perform towards preserving and protecting your order, as your reverend lordship will gather more at length of our well affected mind towards you from dominus dentirville, the bearer of these presents. may all happiness attend you. from our palace at hampton court, the nd day of november, . your good friend, henry rex. no. vi. henry by the grace of god, king of england and france, defender of the faith, and lord of ireland, to our reverend father in christ, don pierino de ponte, grand master of jerusalem. our most dear friend--greeting: we had conceived so great a hope and opinion of the probity, integrity, and prudence of your predecessor, that, from his care and vigilance, we securely trusted that the business and affairs of this your order, which hitherto has always wont to be of no slight assistance to our most holy faith, and to the christian name, would as far as was needful have been amended and settled most quietly and effectually with god and his holy religion. from the love then and affection which we have hitherto shown in no ordinary manner to your order, for the sake of the propagation of the christian faith, we were not a little grieved at the death of your predecessor, because we very much feared that serious loss would in consequence be entailed on that religion. but since, both from your letters and from the discourse of others, we now hear that your venerable brethren agreed by their unanimous voice and consent to choose your reverence as the { } person to whom the care and government of so weighty an office should be intrusted, considering this dignity to be especially worthy of you and your spirit of religion, we cannot but sincerely be glad; and rejoice especially if, by your eminent virtues, it shall be effected that only such matters shall be undertaken, and presided over by the strength and counsels of the order of jerusalem, as are most in accordance with the true religion of christ our redeemer, and best adapted to the propagation of his doctrine and faith. and if you shall seriously apply your mind to this, as you are especially bound to, we shall by no means repent of the favours which we have bestowed neither seldom nor secretly upon this your order, nay rather this object shall be attained that you shall have no reason to think that you have been foiled in that your confidence, and in our protection and the guardianship which we extend over your concerns through reverence for the almighty god. and we shall not find that this guardianship and protection of your order, assumed by us, has been borne for so long a period by us without any fruit. those things which the reverend prior of our kingdom, and the person who brought your reverend lordship's letter to us, have listened to with attention and kindness, and returned an answer to, as we doubt not will be intimated by them to your reverend lordship. may all happiness attend you. from our palace at westminster, the th day of november, . henry rex. from the date and superscription of the above truly catholic letter, it will be seen that it was written about the period of the reformation in england, and addressed to the grand master of an order, which for four centuries had been at all times engaged in paynim war; and won for itself among the catholic powers of europe, by its many noble and daring achievements, the style and title of being the "bulwark of the christian faith." bound as the knights of st. john of jerusalem were in all ages to pay a perfect obedience to the roman pontiffs, it is not surprising that this should be the last letter which we have found filed away in the archives of their order, bearing the autograph of henry viii. william winthrop. la valetta, malta. [footnote : h. m. henry viii. was certainly labouring under an error, when supposing that the islands of malta and gozo "were strongly fortified by nature, and excellently adapted for repelling the attacks of the infidels;" as in truth nature had done nothing for their defence, unless it be in furnishing an abundance of soft stone with its yellow tinge, of which all their fortifications are built. when l'isle adam landed at malta in october, , it was with the rank of a monarch; and when, in company with the authorities of the island, "he appeared before its capital, and swore to protect its inhabitants, the gates of the old city were opened, and he was admitted with the knights; the maltese declaring to them their fealty, without prejudice to the interests of charles v., to whom they had heretofore been subject." never, since the establishment of the order, had the affairs of the hospitallers appeared more desperate than at this period. for the loss of rhodes, so famed in its history, so prized for its singular fertility, and rich and varied fruits; an island which, as de lamartine so beautifully expressed it, appeared to rise "like a bouquet of verdure out of the bosom of the sea," with its groves of orange trees, its sycamores and palms; what had l'isle adam received in return, but an arid african rock, without palaces or dwellings, without fortifications or inland streams, and which, were it not for its harbours, would have been as difficult to hold as it would have been unworthy of his acceptance. (vertot.) a person who has never been at malta can, by reading its history, hardly picture to himself the change which the island underwent for the better, under the long and happy rule of the order of st. john. look whither one will, at this day, he sees some of the most perfect fortresses in the world,--fortifications which it took millions of money to erect; and two hundred and fifty years of continual toil and labour, before the work on them was finished. as a ship of war now enters the great harbour, she passes immediately under the splendid castles of st. elmo, ricasoli, and st. angelo. going to her anchorage, she "comes to" under some one of the extensive fortifications of the borgo, la sangle, burmola, cotonera, and la valetta. in all directions, and at all times, she is entirely commanded by a line of walls, which are bristling with cannon above her. should the more humble merchantman be entering the small port of marsamuscetto, to perform her quarantine, she also is sailing under st. elmo and florianna on the one side, and forts tigné and manoel on the other; from the cannon of which there is no escape. but besides these numerous fortifications, the whole coast of the island is protected by forts and batteries, towers and redoubts. we name those of the red tower, the melleha, st. paul, st. julien, marsa sirocco, and st. thomas; only to show how thoroughly the knights had guarded their convent, and how totally different the protection of the maltese was under their rule, from what it was when they first landed; and found them with their inconsiderable fort, with one cannon and two falconets, which, as boisgelin has mentioned, was their only defence.] * * * * * enareans. when psammeticus turned back the conquering scythians from their contemplated invasion of egypt, some stragglers of the rear-guard plundered the temple of venus urania at ascalon. the goddess punished this sacrilege by inflicting on the scythian nation the "female disease." herodotus, from whom we learn this, says: "the scythians themselves confess that their countrymen suffer this malady in consequence of the above crime; their condition also may be seen by those who visit scythia, where they are called enareæ."--beloe's translation, vol. i. p. ., ed. vo. and again, vol. ii. p. ., hippocrates says: "there are likewise among the scythians, persons who come into the world as eunuchs, and do all the work of women; they are called enaræans, or womanish," &c. it would occupy too much space to detail here all the speculations to which this passage has given rise; sufficient for us be the fact, that in scythia there were men who dressed as, and associated with, the women; that they were considered as victims of an offended female deity; and yet, strange contradiction! they were revered as prophets or diviners, and even acquired wealth by their predictions, &c. (see _universal history_, xx. p. ., ed. vo.) the curse still hangs over the descendants of the scythians. reineggo found the "female disease" among the nogay tatars, who call persons so afflicted "choss." in - , count potocki saw one of them. the turks apply the same term to men wanting a beard. (see klaproth's _georgia and caucasus_, p. ., ed. to.) from the turkish use of the word "choss," we may infer that enareans existed in the cradle of their race, and that the meaning only had suffered a slight modification on their descent from the altai. de pauw, in his _recherches sur les américains_, without quoting any authority, says there are men in mogulistan, who dress as women, but are obliged to wear a man's turban. it must be interesting to the ethnologist to find this curse extending into the new world, and actually now existing amongst dr. latham's american _mongolidæ_. it would be doubly interesting could we trace its course from ancient scythia to the atlantic coast. in this attempt, however, we have not been successful, a few isolated facts only presenting themselves as probably descending from the same source. the relations of travellers in eastern asia offer nothing of the sort among the tungusi, yakuti, &c. the two mahometans (a.d. , thereabout), speaking of chinese depravity, assert that it is somehow connected with the worship of their idols, &c. (harris' _collection_, p. . ed. fol.) sauer mentions boys dressed as females, and performing all the domestic duties in common with the women, among the kodiaks; and crossing to the american coast, found the same practised by the inhabitants of oonalashka (ed. to., pp. . .). more accurate observation might probably detect its existence amongst intermediate tribes, but want { } of information obliges us here to jump at once over the whole range of the rocky mountains, and then we find enareanism (if i may so term it) extending from canada to florida inclusive, and thence at intervals to the straits of magellan. most of the earlier visitors to america have noticed the numerous hermaphrodites everywhere met with. de pauw (who, i believe, never was in america) devotes a whole chapter to the subject in his _recherches sur les américains_, in which he talks a great deal of nonsense. it assisted his hypothesis, that everything american, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, was inferior to their synonymes in the old world. the calm and more philosophical observation of subsequent travellers, however, soon discovered that the so-called hermaphrodites were men in female attire, associating with the women, and partaking of all their labours and occupations. père hennepin had already mentioned the circumstance (amstel. ed. in mo., p. .), but he seems to have had no idea of the practice being in any way connected with religion. charlevoix went a step farther, for speaking of those he met with among the illinois, he says: "on a prétendu que cet usage venait de je ne sais quel principe de la religion, mais cette religion avait, comme bien d'autres, prit sa naissance dans la corruption du coeur," &c. here he stopped, not caring to inform himself as to the real origin of the usage. lafitau says these so-called hermaphrodites were numerous in louisiana, florida, yucatan, and amongst the sioux, illinois, &c.; and goes on,-- "il y a de jeunes gens qui prennent l'habit de femme qu'ils gardent toute leur vie, et qui se croyent honorez de s'abaisser à toutes leurs occupations; ils ne se marient jamais, ils assistent à tous les exercises où la religion semble avoir part, et cette profession de vie extraordinaire les fait passer pour des gens d'un ordre supérieur et au-dessus du commun des hommes," &c. are not these, he asks, the same people as those asiatic worshippers of cybele? or those who, according to julius firmicus, consecrated themselves, the one to the phrygian goddess, the others to venus urania?--priests who dressed as women, &c. (see _moeurs des sauvages américains_, vol. i. p. ., ed. to., paris, .) he farther tells us that vasco nuñez de balbao met many of them, and in the fury of his religious zeal had them torn to pieces by dogs. was this in darien? i believe neither heckewelder, adair, colden, nor j. dunn hunter, mention this subject, though they must all have been aware of the existence of enareans in some one or more of the tribes with which they were acquainted; and i do not remember having ever met with mention of them among the indian nations of new england, and tanner testifies to their existence amongst the chepewa and ottawa nations, by whom they are called a-go-kwa. catlin met with them among the sioux, and gives a sketch of a dance in honour of the i-coo-coo, as they call them. southey speaks of them among the guayacuru under the name of "cudinas," and so does von martius. captain fitzroy, quoting the jesuit falkner, says the patagonian wizards (query priests) are dressed in female attire: they are chosen for the office when young, preference being given to boys evincing a feminine disposition. lafitau's conjecture as to the connexion between these american enareans and the worshippers of venus urania, seems to receive some confirmation from our next evidence, viz. in major long's _expedition to st. peter's river_, some of these people were met with, and inquiry being made concerning them, it was ascertained that-- "the indians believe the moon is the residence of a hostile female deity, and should she appear to them in their dreams, it is an injunction to become cinædi, and they immediately assume feminine attire."--vol. i. p. . farther it is stated, that two of these people whom they found among the sauks, though generally held in contempt, were pitied by many-- "as labouring under an unfortunate destiny that they cannot avoid, being supposed to be impelled to this course by a vision from the female spirit that resides in the moon," &c.--vol. i. p. . venus urania is placed among the scythian deities by herodotus, under the name "artimpasa." we are, for obvious reasons, at liberty to conjecture that the adoption of her worship, and the development of "the female disease," may have been contemporaneous, or nearly so. it were needless entering on a long story to show the connexion between venus and the moon, which was styled urania, juno, jana, diana, venus, &c. should it be conceded that the american _mongolidæ_ brought with them this curse of scythia, the date of their emigration will be approximated, since it must have taken place subsequently to the affair of ascalon, or between or years b.c. the adoption of female attire by the priesthood, however, was not confined to the worshippers of venus urania; it was widely spread throughout heathendom; so widely that, as we learn from tacitus, the priests of the naharvali (in modern denmark) officiated in the dress of women. like many other heathenish customs and costumes, traces of this have descended to our own times; such, for example, may have been the exchange of dresses on new year's eve, &c.: see drake's _shakspeare and his times_, vol. i. p. ., ed. to. and what else is the effeminate costume of the clergy in many parts of europe, the girded waist, and the petticoat-like cassock, but a relique { } of the ancient priestly predilection for female attire? a. c. m. * * * * * minor notes. _russia and turkey._--the following paragraph from an old newspaper reads with a strange significance at the present time: "the last advices from leghorn describe the genius of discord still prevailing in the unfortunate city of constantinople, the people clamouring against their rulers, and the janissaries ripe for insurrection, in consequence of the backwardness of the porte to commence hostilities with russia."--_english chronicle, or universal evening post_, february th to th, . j. locke. _social effects of the severe weather, jan. and , ._--the daily and local newspapers have detailed many public incidents of the severe weather of the commencement of : such as snow ten yards deep; roads blocked up; mails delayed; the streets of the metropolis, for a time, impassible; omnibuses with four horses; hansom cabs driven tandem, &c. the effects of the storms of snow, socially, were not the least curious. in the neighbourhood of manchester seventy persons were expected at an evening party, one only arrived. at another house one hundred guests were expected, nine only arrived. many other readers of your valuable paper have, no doubt, made similar notes, and will probably forward them. robert rawlinson. _star of bethlehem._--lord nugent, in his _lands, classical and sacred_, vol. ii. p. ., says: "the spot shown as the place of the nativity, and that of the manger, both of which are in a crypt or subterraneous chapel under the church of st. katherine, are in the hands of the roman catholicks. the former is marked by this simple inscription on a silver star set in the pavement: 'hic de virgine maria jesus christus natus est.'" the emperor of the french, as representative of the latin church, first raised the question of the sacred places, now likely to involve the pentarchy of europe in a _quasi_ civil war, by attempting, through the authority of the sultan of turkey, to restore the above inscription, which had been defaced, as is supposed, by the greek christians; and thereby encountering the opposition of the emperor of the russias, who claims to represent the eastern church. t. j. buckton. birmingham. _origin of the word "cant."_--from the _mercurius publicus_ of feb. , , edinburgh: "mr. alexander cant, son to mr. andrew cant (who in his discourse _de excommunicato trucidando_ maintained that all refusers of the covenant ought to be excommunicated, and that all so excommunicated might lawfully be killed), was lately deposed by the synod for divers seditious and impudent passages in his sermons at several places, as at the pulpit of banchry; 'that whoever would own or make use of a service-book, king, nobleman, or minister, the curse of god should be upon him.' "in his grace after meat, he praid for those phanaticques and seditious ministers (who are now secured) in these words, 'the lord pity and deliver the precious prisoners who are now suffering for the truth, and close up the mouths of the _edomites_, who are now rejoicing;' with several other articles too long to recite." from these two cants (andrew and alexander) all seditious praying and preaching in scotland is called "canting." j. b. _epigram on four lawyers._--it used to be said that four lawyers were wont to go down from lincoln's inn and the temple in one hackney coach for one shilling. the following epigram records the economical practice: "causidici curru felices quatuor uno quoque die repetunt limina nota 'fori.' quanta sodalitium præstabit commoda! cui non contigerint socii cogitur ire pedes." see _poemata anglorum latina_, p. . lemma, "defendit numerus."--_juv._ j. w. farrer. * * * * * queries. contributors to "knight's quarterly magazine." i shall feel exceedingly obliged if you or any of your correspondents will inform me who were the writers in _knight's quarterly magazine_, bearing the following fictitious signatures:-- . marmaduke villars; . davenant cecil; . tristram merton; . irvine montagu; . gerard montgomery; . henry baldwin; . joseph haller; . peter ellis; . paterson aymer; . eustace heron; . edward haselfoot; . william payne; . archibald frazer; . hamilton murray; . charles pendragon; . lewis willoughby; . john tell; . edmund bruce; . reginald holyoake; . richard mills; . oliver medley; . peregrine courtenay; . vyvyan joyeuse; . martin lovell; . martin danvers heaviside. i fear i have given you so long a list as to deter you from replying to my inquiry but if you cannot spare time or space to answer me fully, i have numbered the writers in such a way as that you may be induced to give the numbers without the names, except you think that many of your readers would be glad to have the information given to them which i ask of you. _tristram merton_ is t. b. macaulay, who wrote several sketches and five ballads in the _magazine_; { } indeed, it was in it that his fine english ballads first appeared. _peregrine courtenay_ was the late winthrop mackworth praed, who was, i believe, its editor. henry nelson coleridge and john moultire were also contributors, but under what signatures they wrote i cannot tell. _knight's quarterly magazine_ never extended beyond three volumes, and it is now a rather scarce book. any light you can throw upon this subject will have an interest for most people, and will be duly appreciated by e. h. leeds. * * * * * the stationers' company and almanack. having recently had occasion to consult the lansdown mss., no. ., a volume containing documents formerly belonging to mr. umfreville, i observed the following: "ordinances, constitutions, rules, and articles made by the court of star chamber relating to printers and printing, jan. , anno eliz." appended to these ordinances, &c. is a statement from which i have made the following extracts: "viii^o januarii, . "bookes yeilded into the hands and disposition of the master, wardens, and assistants of the mysterie of the stationers of london for the releife of y^e poore of y^e saide companie according to the discretion of the master, wardens, and assistants, or the more parte of them. "mr. barker, her ma^{ties} printer, hath yeilded unto the saide disposition and purpose these bookes following: viz. "the first and second volume of homelies. "the whole statutes at large, w^{th} y^e pamble as they are now extant. "the paraphrasis of erasmus upon y^e epistles and gospells appoynted to be readd in churches. "articles of religion agreed upon for y^e ministers. "the several injunctions and articles to be enquired of through y^e whole realme. "the profitt and benefite of the two most vendible volumes of the new testament in english, commonlie called mr. cheekes' translation: that is, in the volume called _octavo_, w^{th} annotacions as they be now: and in the volume called _decimo sexto_ of the same translation w^{th}out notes, in the brevier english letter only. "provided that mr. barker himselfe print the sayde testaments at the lowest value by the direction of the master and wardens of the company of stationers for the tyme being. provided alwaye that mr. barker do reteyn some small number of these for diverse services in her ma^{ties} courtes or ... [ms. illegible] and lastlye that nothing that he yeildeth unto by meanes aforesaide be preiudiciall to her ma^{ties} highe prerogative, or to any that shall succeed in the office of her ma^{ties} printer." the other printers named are, mr. totell, mr. watkins, mr. john daye, mr. newberye, and henrie denham. i wish to raise a query upon the following: "mr. watkins, now wardein, hath yeilded to the disposcion and purpose aforesaide this that followeth: viz. "the broad almanack; that is to say, the same to be printed on one syde of a sheete, to be sett on walls as usuallie it hath bene." query . is this _broad almanack_ the original of the present _stationers' almanack_? . when was this _broad almanack_ first issued? . when were sheet almanacks, printed on one side of a sheet, first published? b. h. c. p.s.--the books enumerated in this ms., under the other printers' names, are some of them very curious, and others almost unknown at the present time. * * * * * minor queries. _john bunyan._--the following advertisement is copied from the _mercurius reformatus_ of june , , vol. ii. no. .: "mr. john bunyan, author of the _pilgrim's progress_, and many other excellent books, that have found great acceptance, hath left behind him ten manuscripts prepared by himself for the press before his death: his widow is desired to print them (with some other of his works, which have been already printed, but are at present not to be had), which will make together a book of s. in sheets, in fol. all persons who desire so great and good a work should be performed with speed, are desired to send in s. for their first payment to dorman newman, at the king's arms in the poultrey, london: who is empower'd to give receipts for the same." can any of your readers say whether such a publication as that which is here proposed ever took place: that is, a publication of "ten manuscripts," of which none had been previously printed? s. r. maitland. gloucester. _tragedy by mary leapor._--in the second volume of _poems_ by mary leapor, vo., , there is an unfinished tragedy, begun by the authoress a short time before her death. can you give me the name of this drama (if it has any), and names of the _dramatis personæ_? a. z. _repairing old prints._--n. j. a. will feel thankful to any one who will give him directions for the cleaning and repairing of old prints, or refer him to any book where he can obtain such information. he wishes especially to learn how to detach them from old and worn-out mountings. n. j. a. { } _arch-priest in the diocese of exeter._--i am informed that there is, in the diocese of exeter, a dignitary who is called the arch-priest, and that he has the privilege of wearing lawn sleeves (that is of course, properly, of wearing a lawn alb), and also precedence in all cases next after the bishop. can any of your devonian readers give additional particulars of his office or his duties? they would be useful and interesting. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _medal in honour of the chevalier de st. george._--it appears that prince james (styled the chevalier de st. george) served in several campaigns in the low countries under the marquis de torcy. on one occasion, when the hostile armies were encamped on the banks of the scarpe, medals were struck, and distributed among the english, bearing, besides a bust of the prince, an inscription relating to his bravery on a former occasion. are any of these now in existence? they would probably be met with in those families whose ancestors served under marlborough. a. s. _robert bloet._--can you certify me whether it is received as an undoubted historical fact that "robertus, comes moritoniensis," william the conqueror's uterine brother, was identical with _robert bloet_, afterwards chancellor and bishop of lincoln? j. sansom. _sir j. wallace and mr. browne._--i inclose an extract from _the english chronicle or universal evening post_, february th to february th, . can any of your learned correspondents state the result of the _fracas_ between mr. browne and sir j. wallace? "yesterday about one o'clock, sir j----s w----e and lieutenant b----e, accidentally meeting in parliament street, near the admiralty gate, mr. b----e, the moment he saw sir j----s, took a stick which a gentleman he was in company with held in his hand, and, after a few words passing, struck sir j----s, and gave him a dreadful wound in the forehead; they closed, and sir j----s, who had no weapon, made the best defence possible, but being a weaker man than his antagonist, was overpowered. mr. b----e, at parting, told sir j----s, if he had anything to say to him, he would be found at the salopian coffee house. an account of this transaction being communicated to sir sampson wright, he sent mr. bond after mr. b----e, who found him at the admiralty, and delivered the magistrate's compliments, at the same time requesting to see him in bow street. mr. b----e promised to wait upon sir sampson, but afterwards finding that no warrant had issued, did not think it incumbent on him to comply, and so went about his avocations. "sir j----s's situation after the fracas very much excited the compassion of the populace; they beheld that veteran bleeding on the streets, who had so often gloriously fought the battles of his country! the above account is as accurate as we could learn; but should there be any trivial misstatement, we shall be happy in correcting it, through the means of any of our readers who were present on the spot. "sir james wallace has not only given signal proofs of his bravery as a naval officer, but particularly in a duel with another marine officer, mr. perkins, whom he fought at cape françois; each taking hold of the end of a handkerchief, fired, and although the balls went through both their bodies, neither of the wounds proved mortal! the friars at cape françois, with great humanity, took charge of them till they were cured of their wounds." j. locke. dublin. _robert dudley, earl of leicester._--i should be glad if any of your correspondents would refer me to any authentic account of the death of robert dudley, earl of leicester, queen elizabeth's favourite. he is said by some to have been _accidentally_ poisoned by his wife; by others _purposely_, by some of his adherents. this affair, though clouded in mystery, appears not to have been particularly inquired into. likewise let me ask, on what authority is stanfield hall, norfolk (the scene of a recent tragedy), described as the birthplace of amy robsart, the unfortunate first wife of this same nobleman? a. s. _abbott families._--samuel abbott, of sudbury, in the county of suffolk, gentleman, lived about . can any of your genealogical contributors inform me if he was in any way connected with the family of archbishop abbott, or otherwise elucidate his parentage? it may probably be interesting to persons of the same name to be acquainted that the _pears_ worn by many of the abbot family are merely a corruption of the ancient inkhorns of the abbots of northamptonshire, and impaled in netherheyford churchyard, same county, on the tomb of sir walt. mauntele, knight, and his wife elizabeth, daughter of john abbot, esq., , viz. a chev. between three inkhorns. the resemblance between pears and inkhorns doubtless occasioned the error. i believe the ancient bottles of harebottle were similarly corrupted into icicles. j. t. abbott. darlington. _authorship of a ballad._--in the _manchester guardian_ of jan. , the author of a stanza, written on the execution of thos. syddale, is desired; as also the remainder of the ballad. from what quarter is either of these more likely to be obtained than from "n. & q.?" p. j. f. gantillon. _elias petley._--what is known of the life or works of elias petley, priest, who dedicated to archbishop laud his translation of the english liturgy into greek. the book was published at the press of thomas cotes, for richard whitaker, { } at the king's arms, st. paul's churchyard, in . is it remarkable for rarity or merit? j. o. b. wicken. _canaletto's views round london._--antonio canaletto, the painter of venice, the destruction of one of whose most powerful works has been of late the subject of so much agitation, was here amongst us in this city one hundred years since; as seen by his proposal in one of the journals of : "signior canaletto gives notice that he has painted chelsea college, ranelagh house, and the river thames; which, if any gentleman, or others, are pleased to favour him with seeing the same, he will attend at his lodgings at mr. viggans, in silver street, golden square, from fifteen days from this day, july , from to , and from to at night, each day." here is that able artist's offer in his own terms, if, not his own words. i have to inquire, are these pictures left here to the knowledge of your readers? did he, in short, find buyers as well as admirers? or, if not, did he return to venice with those (no doubt) vividly pictured recollections of our localities under his arm? gondola. _a monster found at maidstone._--in kilburne's _survey of kent_, to. , under "maidstone," is the following passage: "wat tiler, that idol of clownes, and famous rebell in the time of king richard the second, was of this town; and in the year about this town was a monster found stricken with lightning, with a head like an asse, a belly like a man, and all other parts far different from any known creature, but not approachable nigh unto, by reason of the stench thereof." no mention of this is made by lambarde in his _perambulation of kent_. has this been traditional, or whence is kilburne's authority? and what explanation can be offered of the account? h. w. d. _page._--what is the derivation of this word? in the _dictionary of greek and roman antiquities_, edited by dr. w. smith, st edit., p. ., it is said to be from the greek ~paidagôgos~, _pædagogus_. but in an edition of tacitus, with notes by boxhorn (amsterdam, ), it is curiously identified with the word _boy_, and traced to an eastern source thus:--persian, _bagoa_; polish, _pokoigo_; old german, _pagie_, _bagh_, _bai_; then the welsh, _bachgen_; french, _page_; english, _boy_; and greek, ~pais~. some of your correspondents may be able to inform me which is correct. b. h. c. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _the fish "ruffins."_--in spenser's _faerie queene_ we read (book iv. canto .), among the river guests that attended the nuptials of thames and medway came "yar, soft washing norwitch walls;" and farther on, that he brought with him a present of fish for the banquet called _ruffins_, "whose like none else could show." was this description of fish peculiar to the yare? and is there any record of its having been esteemed a delicacy in elizabeth's reign? a. s. [this seems to be the fish noticed by izaak walton, called the _ruffe_, or _pope_, "a fish," says he, "that is not known in some rivers. he is much like the perch for his shape, and taken to be better than the perch, but will grow to be bigger than a gudgeon. he is an excellent fish, no fish that swims is of _a pleasanter taste_, and he is also excellent to enter a young angler, for he is a greedy biter." in the _faerie queene_, book i. canto iv., spenser speaks of "his _ruffin_ raiment all was stain'd with blood which he had spilt, and all to rags yrent." to these lines mr. todd has added a note, which gives a clue to the meaning of the word. he says, "mr. church here observes, that _ruffin_ is reddish, from the latin _rufus_." i suspect, however, that the poet did not intend to specify the _colour_ of the dress, but rather to give a very characteristical expression even to the raiment of wrath. ruffin, so spelt, denoted a swashbuckler, or, as we should say, a _bully_: see minsheu's _guide into tongues_. besides, i find in _my ladies' looking-glasse_, by barnabe rich, to. , p. ., a passage which may serve to strengthen my application of _ruffin_, in this sense, to garment: "the yong woman, that as well in her behaviour, as in the manner of her apparell, is most _ruffian_ like, is accounted the most gallant wench." now, it appears, that the _ruff_, or _pope_, is not only, as walton says, "a greedy biter," but is extremely voracious in its disposition, and will devour a minnow nearly as big as itself. its average length is from six to seven inches.] _origin of the word etiquette._--what is the original meaning of the word _etiquette_? and how did it acquire that secondary meaning which it bears in english? s. c. g. [etiquette, from the fr. _étiquette_, sp. _etiqueta_, a ticket; delivered not only, as cotgrave says, for the benefit and advantage of him that receives it, but also entitling to place, to rank; and thus applied to the ceremonious observance of rank or place; to ceremony. webster adds, "from the original sense of the word, it may be inferred that it was formerly the custom to deliver cards containing orders for regulating ceremonies on public occasions."] _henri quatre._--what was the title of henry iv. (of navarre) to the crown of france? or in what way was he related to his predecessor? if any { } one would be kind enough to answer these he would greatly oblige. w. w. h. [our correspondent will find his query briefly and satisfactorily answered by hénault, in his _abrégé de l'histoire de france_, p. . his words are: "henri iv. roi de navarre, né à pau, le décembre, , et ayant droit à la couronne, comme descendant de robert, comte de clermont, qui étoit fils de st. louis, et qui avoit épousé l'héritière de bourbon, y parvient en ." the lineal descent of henri from this count robert may be seen in _l'art de vérifier les dates_, vol. vi. p. ., in a table entitled "généalogie des valois et des bourbon; st. louis ix., roi de france."] _"he that complies against his will," &c.; and "to kick the bucket."_--oblige t. c. by giving the correct reading of the familiar couplet, which he apprehends is loosely quoted when expressed-- "convince a man against his will," &c. or, "persuade a man against his will," &c. also by stating the name of the author. likewise by giving the origin of the phrase "to kick the bucket," as applied to the death of a person. [the desired quotation is from butler's _hudibras_, part iii. canto iii. l. - .: "he that complies against his will, is of his own opinion still." as to the origin of the phrase "to kick the bucket," the tradition among the slang fraternity is, that "one bolsover having hung himself to a beam while standing on the bottom of a pail, or bucket, kicked the vessel away in order to pry into futurity, and it was all up with him from that moment--_finis_!" our querist will find a very humorous illustration of its use (too long to quote) in an article on "anglo-german dictionaries," contributed by de quincy to the _london magazine_ for april, , p. .] _st. nicholas cole abbey._--there is a church in the city of london called st. nicholas cole abbey: what is the origin of the name or derivation? ellfin ap gwyddno. [this query seems to have baffled old stowe. he says, "towards the west end of knight rider street is the parish church of st. nicolas cold abby, a comely church, somewhat ancient, as appeareth by the ways raised thereabout; so that men are forced to descend into the body of the church. it hath been called of many _golden abby_, of some _gold_ (or _cold_) _bey_, and so hath the most ancient writing. but i could never learn the cause why it should be so called, and therefore i will let it pass. perhaps as standing in a _cold_ place, as _cold harbour_, and such like." for communications on the much-disputed etymology of cold harbour, see "n. & q.," vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., pp. . .; and vol. vi., p. .] * * * * * replies. trench on proverbs. (vol. viii., pp. . . .) the courteous spirit which generally distinguishes the communications of your correspondents, renders the "n. & q." the most agreeable magazine, or, as you have it, "medium of inter-communication for literary men," &c. i was so much pleased with the general _animus_ which characterised the strictures on my proposed translation of ps. cxxvii. ., that i was almost disposed to cede to my critics, from sheer good-will towards them. but the elder d'israeli speaks of such a thing "as an affair of literary conscience," which consideration prescribes my yielding in the present instance; but i trust that our motto will always be, "may our difference of opinion never alter our inter-communications!" i must however, at the outset, qualify an expression i made use of, which seems to have incurred the censure of all your four correspondents on the subject; i mean the sentence, "the translation of the authorised version of that sacred affirmation is unintelligible." it seems to be perfectly intelligible to messrs. buckton, jebb, walter, and s. d. i qualify, therefore, the assertion. i mean to say, that the translation of the authorised version of that sacred affirmation was, and is, considered unintelligible to many intelligent biblical critics and expositors; amongst whom i may name luther, mendelsohn, hengstenberg, zunz, and many others whose names will transpire in the sequel. having made that concession, i may now proceed with the replying to my querists, or rather critics. mr. buckton is entitled to my first consideration, not only because you placed him at the head of the department of that question, but also because of the peculiar mode in which he treated the subject. my replies shall be _seriatim_. . luther was not the first who translated ¤ken iten liydido sheinah¤ "denn seinen freunden gibt er _es_ schlafend." a far greater hebraist than luther, who flourished about two hundred years before the great german reformer came into note, put the same construction on that sacred affirmation. rabbi abraham hacohen of zante, who paraphrased the whole hebrew psalter into modern metrical hebrew verse (which, according to a p.s., was completed in ), interprets the sentence in question thus: ¤ki ken yiten el teref l'yidido ushnato meenehu lo taref¤ "for surely god shall give food to his beloved, and his sleep shall not be withheld from him." . it is more than problematical whether the eminent translator, mendelsohn, was influenced by { } luther's _error_ (?), or by his own superior knowledge of the sacred tongue. . i do not think that the phrase, "the proper jewish notion of gain," was either called for or relevant to the subject. . the reign of james i. was by no means as distinguished for hebrew scholarship as were the immediate previous reigns. indeed it would appear that the knowledge of the sacred languages was at a very low ebb in this country during the agitating period of the reformation, so much so that even the unaccountable henry viii. was forced to exclaim, "vehementer dolere nostratium theologorum sortem sanctissime linguæ scientia carentium, et linguarum doctrinam fuisse intermissam." (_hody_, p. .) when coverdale made his version of the bible he was not only aided by tindale, but also by the celebrated hebrew, of the hebrews, emanuel tremellius, who was then professor of the sacred tongue in the university of cambridge, where that english reformer was educated; and coverdale translated the latter part of ps. cxxvii. . as follows: "for look, to whom it pleaseth him, he giveth it in sleep." when the translation was revised, during the reign of james i., the most accomplished anglo-hebraist was, by some caprice of jealousy, forced to leave this country; i mean hugh broughton. he communicated many renderings to the revisers, some of which they thoughtlessly rejected, and others, to use broughton's own phrase, "they thrust into the margin." a perusal of broughton's works[ ] gives one an accurate notion of the proceedings of the revisers of the previous versions. . coverdale's translation is not "ungrammatical" as far as the hebrew language is concerned, notwithstanding that it was rejected in the reign of james i. ¤lechem¤, "bread," is evidently the accusative noun to the transitive verb ¤yiten¤, "he shall give." nor is it "false," for the same noun, ¤lechem¤, "bread," is no doubt the antecedent to which the word _it_ refers. . mendelsohn does _not_ omit the _it_ in his hebrew comment; and i am therefore unwarrantably charged with supplying it "unauthorisedly." i should like to see mr. buckton's translation of that comment. if any doubt remained upon mr. b.'s mind as to the intended meaning of the word ¤yitenhu¤ used by mendelsohn, his german version might have removed such a doubt, as the little word _es_, "it," indicates pretty clearly what mendelsohn meant by ¤yitenhu¤. so that, instead of proving mendelsohn "at variance with himself," he is proved most satisfactorily to have been in perfect harmony with himself. . mendelsohn does not omit the important word ¤ken¤; and if mr. b. will refer once more to his copy of mendelsohn (we are both using the same edition), he will find two different interpretations proposed for the word ¤ken¤, viz. _thus_ and _rightly_. i myself prefer the latter rendering. the word occurs about twenty times in the hebrew bible, and in the great majority of instances _rightly_ or _certainly_ is the only correct rendering. both mendelsohn and zunz omit to translate it in their german versions, simply because the sentence is more idiomatic, in the german language, without it than with it. . i perfectly agree with mr. b. "that no version has yet had so large an amount of learning bestowed on it as the english one." but mr. b. will candidly acknowledge that the largest amount was bestowed on it since the revision of the authorised version closed. lowth, newcombe, horne, horsley, lee, &c. wrote since, and they boldly called in question many of the renderings in the authorised version. let me not be mistaken; i do most sincerely consider our version superior to _all_ others, but it is not for this reason faultless. in reply to mr. jebb's temperate strictures, i would most respectively submit-- . that considerable examination leads me to take just the reverse view to that of burkius, that ¤sheinah¤ cannot be looked upon as antithetical to _surgere_, _sedere_, _dolorum_. with all my searchings i failed to discover an analogous antithesis. i shall be truly thankful to mr. jebb for a case in point. moreover, psalms iii. and iv., to which dr. french and mr. skinner refer, prove to my mind that not sleep is the gift, but sustenance and other blessings bestowed upon the psalmist whilst asleep. i cannot help observing that due reflection makes me look upon the expression, "so he { } giveth his beloved sleep," as an extraordinary anticlimax. . mr. jebb challenges the showing strictly analogous instances of ellipses. he acknowledges that there are very numerous ellipses even in the songs of degrees themselves, but they are of a very different nature. i might fill the whole of this _number_ with examples, which the most scrupulous critic would be obliged to acknowledge as being strictly analogous to the passage under review; but such a thing you would not allow. two instances, however, you will not object to; they will prove a host for mr. jebb's purpose, inasmuch as one has the very word ¤shena¤ elliptically, and the other the transitive verb ¤yitein¤, _minus_ an accusative noun. would messrs. buckton, jebb, walter, and s. d. kindly translate, for the benefit of those who are interested in the question, the following two passages? ¤z'ram'tam, sheinah yih'yu; baboker, kechatzir yachalof¤ _psalm xc. ._ ¤yiten lifanav goyim um'lachim yard yiten ke-afar charbo, kikash needaf kashto¤ _isaiah xli. ._ the rev. henry walter will see that some of his observations have been anticipated and already replied to. it remains, however, for me to assure him that i never dreamt that any one would suppose that i considered ¤sheinah¤ anything else but a noun, minus the ¤bet¤ preposition. the reason why i translated the word "whilst he [the beloved] is asleep," was because i thought the expression more idiomatic. s. d. attempts to prove nothing; i am exempt therefore from disproving anything as far as he is concerned. before i take leave of this lengthy and somewhat elaborate disquisition, let me give my explanation of the scope of the psalm in dispute, which, i venture to imagine, will commend itself, even to those who differ from me, as the most natural. this psalm, as well as the other thirteen entitled "a song of degrees," was composed for the singing on the road by those israelites who went up to jerusalem to keep the three grand festivals, to beguile their tedious journey, and also to soothe the dejected spirits of those who felt disheartened at having left their homes, their farms, and families without guardians. ps. cxxvii. is of a soothing character, composed probably by solomon. in the first two verses god's watchfulness and care over his beloved are held up to the view of the pilgrims, who are impressed with the truth that no one, "by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature." the best exposition which i can give of those two verses i have learned from our saviour's "sermon on the mount" (matt. vi. - .). the third and following verses, as well as the next psalm, are exegetical or illustrative. to whom do you attribute the gift of children? is it not admitted on all hands to be "an heritage of the lord?" no one can procure that blessing by personal anxiety and care: god alone can confer the gift. well, then, the same god who gives you the heritage of children will also grant you all other blessings which are good for you, provided you act the part of "his beloved," and depend upon him without wavering. the above is a hasty, but i trust an intelligible, view of the scope of the psalm. moses margoliouth wybunbury, nantwich. [footnote : lightfoot, who edited broughton's works in , entitled them as follows:--"the works of the great albionen divine, renowned in many nations for rare skill in salem's and athens' tongues, and familiar acquaintance with all rabbinical learning," &c. ben jonson has managed to introduce broughton into some of his plays. in his _volpone_, when the "fox" delivers a medical lecture, to the great amusement of politic and peregrine, the former remarks, "is not his language rare?" to which the latter replies, "but alchemy, i never heard the like, or broughton's books." in the _alchemist_, "face" is made thus to speak of a female companion: "y' are very right, sir, she is a most rare scholar, and is gone mad with studying broughton's works; if you but name a word touching the hebrew, she falls into her fit, and will discourse so learnedly of genealogies, as you would run mad too to hear her, sir." (see also _the history of the jews in great britain_, vol. i. pp. , &c.)] * * * * * inscriptions on bells. (vol. viii., p. .) the inscription on one of the bells of great milton church, oxon. (as given by mr. simpson in "n. & q."), has a better and rhyming form occasionally. in meivod church, montgomeryshire, a bell (the "great" bell, i think) has the inscription-- "i to the church the living call, and to the grave do summon all." the same also is found on the great bell of the interesting church (formerly cathedral) of llanbadarn fawr, cardiganshire. e. dyer green. nantcribba hall. i beg to forward the following inscription on one of the bells in the tower of st. nicholas church, sidmouth. i have not met with it elsewhere; and you may, perhaps, consider it worthy of being added to those given by cuthbert bede and j. l. sisson: "est michi collatum ihc istud nomen amatum." there is no date, but the characters may indicate the commencement of the fifteenth century as the period when the bell was cast. g. j. r. gordon. at lapley in staffordshire: "i will sound and resound to thee, o lord, to call thy people to thy word." g. e. t. s. r. n. pray add the following savoury inscriptions to your next list of bell-mottoes. the first disgraces the belfry of st. paul's, bedford; the second, that, of st. mary's, islington: "at proper times my voice i'll raise, and sound to my _subscribers'_ praise!" "at proper times our voices we will raise, in sounding to our _benefactors'_ praise!" the similarity between these two inscriptions favours the supposition that the ancient { } bell-founders, like some modern enterprising firms, kept a poet on the establishment, _e.g._ "thine incomparable oil, macassar!" j. yeowell. a friend informs me, that on a bell in durham cathedral these lines occur: "to call the folk to church in time, i chime. when mirth and pleasure's on the wing, i ring. and when the body leaves the soul, i toll." j. l. s. * * * * * arms of geneva. (vol. viii., p. .) your correspondent who desires the blazon of the arms of the "town of geneva," had better have specified to which of the two bearings assigned to that name he refers. one of these, which i saw on the official seal affixed to the passport of a friend of mine lately returned from that place, is an instance of the obsolete practice of _dimidiation_; and is the more singular, because only the dexter one of the shields thus impaled undergoes curtailment. the correct blazon, i believe, would be: or, an eagle double-headed, displayed sable, dimidiated, and impaling gu. a key in pale argent, the wards in chief, and turned to the sinister; the shield surmounted with a marquis' coronet. the blazon of the sinister half i owe to edmondson, who seems, however, not at all to have understood the dexter, and gives a clumsy description of it little worth transcribing. he, and the _dictionnaire de blazon_, assign these arms to the republic of geneva. the other bearing would, in english, be blazoned, checquy of nine pieces, or and azure: and in french, _cinq points d'or, équipollés à quatre d'azur_. this is assigned by nisbett to the _seigneurie_ of geneva, and is quartered by the king of sardinia in token of the claims over the genevese town and territory, which, as duke of savoy, he has never resigned. with regard to the former shield, i may just remark, that the dimidiated coat is merely that of the german empire. how or why geneva obtained it, i should be very glad to be informed; since it appears to appertain to the present independent republic, and not to the former seignorial territory. let me also add, that the plate in the _dictionnaire_ gives the field of this half as argent. mr. willement, in his _regal heraldry_, under the arms of richard ii.'s consort, also thus describes and represents the imperial field; and nisbett alludes to it as such in one place, though in his formal blazon he gives it as _or_. nothing, in an heraldic point of view, would be more interesting than a "regal heraldry of europe," with a commentary explaining the historical origin and combinations of the various bearings. should this small contribution towards such a compilation tend to call the attention of any able antiquary to the general subject, or to elicit information upon this particular question, the writer who now offers so insignificant an item would feel peculiarly gratified. l. c. d. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _multiplying negatives._--in reply to m. n. s. (vol. ix., p. .) i would suggest the following mode of multiplying negatives on glass, which i have every reason to believe would be perfectly successful:--first, _varnish_ the negative to be copied by means of dr. diamond's solution of amber in chloroform; then attach to each angle, with any convenient varnish, a small piece of writing-paper. prepare a similar plate of glass with collodion, and drain off all superfluous nitrate of silver, by standing it for a minute or so on edge upon a piece of blotting-paper. lay it flat upon a board, collodion side upwards, and the negative prepared above upon it, collodion side downwards. expose the whole to daylight for a single second, or to gas-light for about a minute, and develope as usual. the result will be a _transmitted positive_, but with reversed sides; and from this, when varnished and treated as the original negative, any number of negatives similar to the first may be produced. the paper at the angles is to prevent the _absolute_ contact and consequent injury by the solution of nitrate of silver; and, for the same reason, it is advisable not to attempt to print until the primary negative is varnished, as, with all one's care, sometimes the nitrate will come in contact and produce spots, if the varnishing has been omitted. should the negative become moistened, it should be _at once_ washed with a gentle stream of water and dried. i have repeatedly performed the operation above described so far as the production of the positive, and so perfect is the impression that i see no reason why the second negative should be at all distinguishable from the original. i am, indeed, at present engaged upon a _similar_ attempt; but there are several other difficulties in my way: i, however, entertain no doubts of perfect success. geo. shadbolt. _towgood's paper._--a. b. (vol. ix., p. .) can purchase towgood's paper of mr. sandford, who frequently advertises in "n. & q." with regard to his other query, i think there can be no doubt of his being at liberty to publish a photographic _copy_ of a portrait, mr. fox talbot having reserved only the right to paper copies of a _photographic_ portrait. collodion portraits are _not_ patent, but the _paper_ proofs from collodion negatives are. geo. shadbolt. { } _adulteration of nitrate of silver._--will any of your chemical readers tell me how i am to know if nitrate of silver is pure, and how to detect the adulteration? _if so_ with nitrate of potash, how? one writer on photography recommends the fused, as then the excess of nitric acid is got rid of. another says the fused nitrate is nearly always adulterated. i fear you have more querists than respondents. i have looked carefully for a reply to some former queries respecting mr. crookes's restoration of old collodion, but at present they have failed in appearance. the reader of photographic works. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _passage of cicero_ (vol. viii., p. .).--is the following what semi-tone wants? "mira est enim quædam natura vocis; cujus quidem, _e tribus omnino sonis_, inflexo, acuto, gravi, tanta sit, et tam suavis varietas perfecta in cantibus."--_orator_, cap. . b. h. c. _major andré_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the late mrs. mills of norwich (_née_ andré) was not the sister of major andré; she was the only daughter of mr. john andré of offenbach, near frankfort on the maine, in germany; where he established more than eighty years ago a prosperous concern as a printer of music, and was moreover an eminent composer: this establishment is now in the hands of his grandson. mr. john andré was not the brother of the major, but a second or third cousin. mrs. mills used to say, that she remembered seeing the major at her father's house as a visitor, when she was a very small child. he began his career in london in the commercial line; and, after he entered the army, was sent by the english ministry to hesse-cassel to conduct to america a corps of hessian hirelings to dragoon the revolted americans into obedience: it was on this occasion that he paid the above-mentioned visit to offenbach. having frequently read the portion of english history containing the narrative of the transactions in which major andré was so actively engaged, and for which he suffered, i have often asked myself whether he was altogether blameless in that questionable affair. trivet allcock. norwich. p.s.--this account was furnished to me by mr. e. mills, husband of the late mrs. mills. _catholic bible society_ (vol. ix., p. .).--besides the account of this society in bishop milner's _supplementary memoirs of the english catholics_, many papers on the same will be found in the volumes of the _orthodox journal_ from , when the society was formed, to . in this last volume, p. ., bishop milner wrote a long letter, containing a comparison of the brief notes in the stereotyped edition of the above society with the notes of bishop challoner, from whose hands he mentions having received a copy of his latest edition of both testaments in . it should be mentioned that most of the papers in the _orthodox journal_ alluded to were written by bishop milner under various signatures, which the present writer, with all who knew him well, could always recognise. that eminent prelate thus sums up the fate of the sole publication of the so-called catholic bible society: "its stereotype testament ... was proved to abound in gross errors; hardly a copy of it could be sold; and, in the end, the plates for continuing it have been of late presented by an illustrious personage, into whose hands they fell, to one of our prelates [this was bishop collingridge], who will immediately employ the cart-load of them for a good purpose, as they were intended to be, by disposing of them to some pewterer, who will convert them into numerous useful culinary implements, gas-pipes, and other pipes." f. c. h. _cassiterides_ (vol. ix., p. .).--kassiteros; the ancient indian sanscrit word _kastira_. of the disputed passage in herodotus respecting the cassiterides, the interpretation[ ] of rennell, in his _geographical system of herodotus_; of maurice, in his _indian antiquities_, vol. vi.; and of heeren, in his _historical researches_; is much more satisfactory than that offered by your correspondent s. g. c., although supported by the french academicians (_inscript._ xxxvi. .) the advocates for a celtic origin of the name of these islands are perhaps not aware that-- "through the intercourse which the phoenicians, by means of their factories in the persian gulph, maintained with the east coast of india, the sanscrit word _kastira_, expressing a most useful product of farther india, and still existing among the old aramaic idioms in the arabian word _kasdir_, became known to the greeks even before albion and the british cassiterides had been visited."--see humboldt's _cosmos_, "principal epochs in the history of the physical contemplation of the universe," notes. bibliothecar. chetham. [footnote : his want of information in this matter can only be referred to the jealousy of the phoenicians depriving the greeks, as afterwards the romans, of ocular observation.] _wooden tombs and effigies_ (vol. ix., p. .).--there are two fine recumbent figures of a lord neville and his wife in brancepeth church, four miles south-west of durham. they are carved in wood. a view of them is given in billing's _antiquities of durham_. j. h. b. _tailless cats_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in my visits to the isle of man, i have frequently met with { } specimens of the tailless cats referred to by your correspondent shirley hibberd. in the pure breed there is not the slightest vestige of a tail, and in the case of any intermixture with the species possessing the usual caudal appendage, the tail of their offspring, like the witch's "sark," as recorded by honest tam o' shanter, "in longitude is sorely scanty." in fact, it terminates abruptly at the length of a few inches, as if amputated, having altogether a very ludicrous appearance. g. taylor. reading. the breed of cats without tails is well known in the isle of man, and accounted by the people of the island one of its chief curiosities. these cats are sought after by strangers: the natives call them "rumpies," or "rumpy cats." their hind legs are rather longer than those of cats with tails, and give them a somewhat rabbit-like aspect, which has given rise to the odd fancy that they are the descendants of a cross between a rabbit and cat. they are good mousers. when a perfectly tailless cat is crossed with an ordinary-tailed individual, the progeny exhibit all intermediate states between tail and no tail. edward forbes. _warville_ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "jacque pierre brissot was born on the th jan., , in the village of ouarville, near chartres."--_penny cyclo._ if your correspondent is a french scholar, he will perceive that warville is, as nearly as possible, the proper pronunciation of the name of this village, but that brissot being merely the son of a prior pastrycook, had no right whatever to the name, which doubtless he bore merely as a distinction from some other brissot. it may interest your american friend to know, that he married félicité dupont, a young lady of good family at boulogne. a relation of my own, who was very intimate with her before her marriage, has often described her to me as being of a very modest, retiring, religious disposition, very clever with her pencil, and as having received a first-rate education from masters in paris. these gifts, natural and acquired, made her a remarkable young person, amidst the crowd of frivolous idlers who at that time formed "good society," not only in paris, but even in provincial towns, of which boulogne was not the least gay. perhaps he knows already that she quickly followed her husband to the scaffold. her sister (i believe the only one) married a parisian gentleman named aublay, and died at a great age about ten years ago. n. j. a. _w_ is not a distinct letter in the french alphabet; it is simply _double v_, and is pronounced like _v_, as in wissant, wimireux, wimille, villages between calais and boulogne, and wassy in champagne. w. r. d. s. _green eyes_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following are quotations in favour of green eyes, in addition to mr. h. temple's: "an eagle, madam, hath not so _green_, so quick, so fair an eye." _romeo and juliet_, act iii. sc. . and dante, in _purgatory_, canto xxxi., likens beatrice's eyes to emeralds: "disser: fa che le viste non risparmi: posto t' avem dinanzi agli smeraldi, ond' amor già ti trasse le sue armi." "spare not thy vision. we have station'd thee before the _emeralds_[ ], whence love, erewhile, hath drawn his weapons on thee." cary's _translation_. i think short-sightedness is an infirmity more common among men of letters, authors, &c., than any other class; indeed, one is inclined to think it is no rare accompaniment of talent. a few celebrated names occur to me who suffered weakness of distinct vision to see but the better near. i am sure your correspondents could add many to the list. i mark them down at random:--niebuhr, thomas moore, marie antoinette, gustavus adolphus, herrick the poet, dr. johnson, margaret fuller, ossoli, thiers, quevedo. these are but a few, but i will not lengthen the list at present. m----a s. [footnote : beatrice's eyes.] _came_ (vol. viii., p. .).--h. t. g. will find this word to be as old as our language. piers ploughman writes: "a cat _cam_ when hym liked." _vision_, l. . "a lovely lady _cam_ doun from a castel." _ib._ l. . chaucer: "till that he _came_ to thebes." _cant. t._ l. . gower: "thus (er he wiste) into a dale he _came_." _conf. am._ b. i. fol. . p. . col. l. q. "_epitaphium lucretiæ_" (vol. viii., p. .).--allow me to send an answer to the query of balliolensis, and to state that in that rather scarce little book, _epigrammata et poematia vetera_, he will find at page . that "epitaphium lucretiæ" is ascribed to modestus, perhaps the same person who wrote a work _de re militari_. the version { } there given differs slightly from that of balliolensis, and has two more lines; it is as follows: "cum foderet ferro castum lucretia pectus, sanguinis et torrens egereretur, ait: procedant testes me non favisse tyranno, ante virum sanguis, spiritus ante deos. quam recte hi testes pro me post fata loquentur, alter apud manes, alter apud superos." perhaps the following translation may not be unacceptable: "when thro' her breast the steel lucretia thrust, she said, while forth th' ensanguin'd torrent gush'd; 'from me that no consent the tyrant knew, to my spouse my blood, to heaven my soul shall show; and thus in death these witnesses shall prove, my innocence, to shades below, and powers above.'" c--s. t. p. _oxford commmemoration squib_, (vol. viii., p. .).--quoted incorrectly. the heading stands thus: "liberty! equality! fraternity!" after the name of "wrightson" add "(queen's);" and at the foot of the bill "floreat lyceum." i quote from a copy before me. w. p. storer. olney, bucks. "_imp_" (vol. viii., p. .).--perhaps as amusing use of the word _imp_ as can be found anywhere occurs in an old bacon, in his "pathway unto prayer" (see _early writings_, parker society, p. .): "let us pray for the preservation of the king's most excellent majesty, and for the prosperous success of his entirely beloved son edward our prince, that most _angelic imp_." p. p. _false spellings from sound_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the observations of mr. waylen deserve to be enlarged by numerous examples, and to be, to a certain extent, corrected. he has not brought clearly into view two _distinct classes_ of "false spelling" under which the greater part of such mistakes may be arranged. one class arose _solely_ from erroneous pronunciation; the second from _intentional_ alteration. i will explain my meaning by two examples, both which are, i believe, in mr. waylen's list. the french expression _dent de lion_ stands for a certain plant, and some of the properties of that plant originated the name. when an englishman calls the same plant _dandylion_, the sound has not given birth "to a new idea" in his mind. surely, he pronounces badly three french words of which he may know the meaning, or he may not. but when the same englishman, or any other, orders _sparrow-grass_ for dinner, these two words contain "a new idea," introduced purposely: either he, or some predecessor, reasoned thus--there is no meaning in _asparagus_; _sparrow-grass_ must be the right word because it makes sense. the name of a well-known place in london illustrates both these changes: _convent_ garden becomes _covent_ garden by mispronunciation; it becomes _common_ garden by intentional change. mistakes of the first class are not worth recording; those of the second fall under this general principle: words are purposely exchanged for others of a similar sound, because the latter are supposed to recover a lost meaning. i have by me several examples which i will send you if you think the subject worth pursuing. j. o. b. wicken. "_good wine needs no bush_" (vol. viii., p. .).--the custom of hanging out bushes of ivy, boughs of trees, or bunches of flowers, at _private_ houses, as a sign that good cheer may be had within, still prevails in the city of gloucester at the fair held at michaelmas, called barton fair, from the locality; and at the three "mops," or hiring fairs, on the three mondays following, to indicate that ale, beer, cider, &c. are there sold, on the strength (i believe) of an ancient privilege enjoyed by the inhabitants of that street to sell liquors, without the usual license, during the fair. brookthorpe. _three fleurs-de-lys_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reply to the query of devoniensis, i would say that many families of his own county bore fleurs-de-lys in their coat armour, in the forms of _two and one_, and _on a bend_; also that the heraldic writers, robson and burke, assign a coat to the family of baker charged with three fleurs-de-lys on a fesse. the devon family of velland bore, sable, a fesse argent, in chief three fleurs-de-lys of the last, but whether these bearings were ever placed fesse-wise, or, as your querist terms it, in a horizontal line, i am not sure. j. d. s. if devoniensis will look at the arms of magdalen college, oxford, he will there find the three fleurs-de-lys in a line in the upper part of the shield. a. b. athenæum. _portrait of plowden_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a portrait of plowden (said to have been taken from his monument in the temple church) is prefixed to the english edition of his _reports_, published in . j. g. exon. _st. stephen's day and mr. riley's "hoveden"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the statement of this feast being observed prior to christmas must have { } arisen from the translator not being conversant with the technical terms of the _ecclesiastical calendar_, in which, as the greater festivals are celebrated with octaves, other feasts falling during the octave are said to be under (_infrà_) the greater solemnity. thus, if mr. warden will consult the _ordo recitandi officii divini_ for , he will see that next sunday, the th inst., stands "dom inf. oct.," _i.e._ of the epiphany, and that the same occurs on other days during the year. may i point out an erratum in a query inserted some time since (not yet replied to), regarding a small castle near kingsgate, thanet, the name of which is printed aix ruochim; it should be arx ruochim. a. o. h. blackheath. _death warnings in ancient families_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a brief notice of these occurrences, with references to works where farther details may be met with, would form a very remarkable record of events which tend to support one's belief in the truth of the remark of hamlet: "there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy." a drummer is stated to be heard in c---- castle, the residence of the earl and countess of a., "going about the house playing his drum, whenever there is a death impending in the family." this warning is asserted to have been given shortly before the decease of the earl's first wife, and preceded the death of the next countess about five or six months. mrs. crowe, in her _night side of nature_, observes hereupon: "i have heard that a paper was found in her (the countess's) desk after her death, declaring her conviction that the drum was for her." whenever a little old woman visits a lady of the family of g. of r., at the time of her confinement, when the nurse is absent, and strokes down the clothes, the patient (says mrs. crowe), "never does any good, and dies." another legend is, that a single swan is always seen on a particular lake close to the mansion of another family before a death. then, lord littleton's dove is a well-known incident. and the lady above quoted speaks of many curious warnings of death by the appearance of birds, as well as of a spectral black dog, which visited a particular family in cornwall immediately before the death of any of its members. having made this note of a few more cases of death warnings, i will end with a query in the words of mrs. crowe, who, after detailing the black dog apparition, asks: "if this phenomenon is the origin of the french phrase _bête noire_, to express an annoyance, or an augury of evil?" jas. j. scott. hampstead. "_the secunde personne of the trinitie_" (vol. ix., p. .).--i think it is hobart seymour who speaks of some italians of the present day as considering the three persons of the trinity to be the father, the virgin, and the son. j. p. o. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. mr. wright's varied antiquarian acquirements, and his untiring zeal, are too well known to require recognition from us. we may therefore content ourselves with directing attention to his _wanderings of an antiquary, chiefly upon the traces of the romans in britain_, which has just been published, and of which the greater part has appeared in a series of papers under the same title in the _gentleman's magazine_. it is intended to furnish, in a popular form, a few archæological truths which may foster a love of our national antiquities among those who are less likely to be attracted by dry dissertations: and its gossiping character and pretty woodcuts are well calculated to promote this object. this endeavour to make the study of antiquities popular, naturally calls our attention to a small and very agreeable volume on the subject of what brand designated _popular antiquities_. we refer to the last volume of bohn's _illustrated library_. it is from the pen of mary howitt, and is entitled the _pictorial calendar of the seasons, exhibiting the pleasures, pursuits, and characteristics of country life for every month of the year, and embodying the whole of aikin's calendar of nature_. it is embellished with upwards of one hundred engravings on wood; and what the authoress says of its compilation, viz. that it was "like a walk through a rich summer garden," describes pretty accurately the feelings of the reader. but, as we must find some fault, where is the index? we have received from birmingham a work most creditable to all concerned in its production, and which will be found of interest to such of our readers as devote their attention to county or family history. it is entitled _a history of the holtes of aston, baronets, with a description of the family mansion, aston hall, warwickshire_, by alfred davidson, with _illustrations from drawings_ by allan e. everitt; and whether we regard the care with which mr. davidson has executed the literary portion of the work, the artistic skill of the draughtsman, or the manner in which the publisher has brought it out, we may safely pronounce it a volume well deserving the attention of topographers generally, and of warwickshire topographers in especial. books received.--_folious appearances; a consideration on our ways of lettering books_. few lovers of old books and good binding will begrudge half a florin for this quaint opuscule.--_indications of instinct_, by t. lindley kemp, the new number of the _traveller's library_, is an interesting supplement to dr. kemp's former contribution to the same series, _the natural history of creation_.--we record, for the information of our meteorological friends, the receipt of a _daily weather journal for the year _, kept at islington by mr. simpson. * * * * *{ } books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the establishment of the turks in europe. by lord john russell. of sir walter scott's novels, without the notes, constable's miniature edition: anne of geierstein, betrothed, castle dangerous, count robert of paris, fair maid of perth, highland widow, red gauntlet, st. ronan's well, woodstock, surgeon's daughter, and talisman. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell. publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the acts and monuments of john foxe. vol. i. edited by rev. s. cattley. seeley and burnside. voltaire's works. vol. i. translated by smollett. francklin, london, . ecclesiologist. vol. v. in numbers or unbound. wanted by _e. hailstone_, horton hall, bradford, yorkshire. * * * * * penny cyclopÆdia. from part cvii. inclusive, to the end. wanted by _rev. f. n. mills_, . cunningham place, st. john's wood. * * * * * birch's gallery of antiquities. parts i. and ii. burton's excerpta hieroglyphica. wilkinson's materia hieroglyphica. wanted by _prichard, roberts, & co._, booksellers, chester. * * * * * genuine and impartial memoirs of the life and character of charles ratcliffe, wrote by a gentleman of the family, mr. eyre, to prevent the public being imposed on by any erroneous or partial accounts to the prejudice of this unfortunate gentleman. london: printed for the proprietor, and sold by e. cole. . wanted by _mr. douglas_, . russell square, london. * * * * * notices to correspondents. col. charteris _or_ chartres.--_our correspondent who inquires for particulars respecting this monster of depravity is referred to pope's +works+, edit. , vol. ii. p. . of the ethic epistles. also to the following works: +the history of col. francis charteris from his birth to his present catastrophe in newgate+, to. ; +memoirs of the life and actions of col. ch----s+, vo. ; +life of col. don francisco+, with a wood-cut portrait of col. charteris or chartres, vo._ n. _on the "sun's rays putting out the fire," see_ vol. vii., pp. . . . r. v. t. _an excellent tract may be had for a few pence on +the history of pews+, a paper read before the cambridge camden society, : see also +"n. & q.," vol. iii., p. ., and vol. viii., p. +._ c. k. p. (bishop's stortford). _we candidly admit that your results upon waxed paper are much like our own, for no +certainty+ has at present attended our endeavours. if the paper is made sensitive, then it behaves exactly as yours has done; and if, following other formulæ, we use a less sensitive paper, then the exposure is so long and tedious that we are not anxious to pursue photography in so "slow a phase". why not adopt and abide by the simplicity of the calotype process as given in a late number? in the writer's possession we have seen nearly a hundred consecutive negatives without a failure._ w. s. p. (newcastle-upon-tyne). _filtered rain-water is far the best to use in making your iodized paper. the appearances which you describe in all probability depend upon the different sheets resting too firmly upon one another, so that the water has not +free+ and +even+ access to the whole sheet._ h. j. (norwich). _turner's paper is now quite a precarious article; a specimen which has come to us of his recent make is full of spots, and the negative useless. towgood's is admirable for positives, but it does not appear to do well for iodizing. we hope to be soon able to say something cheering to photographers upon a good paper!_ _errata._--mr. p. h. fisher wishes to correct an error in his article on "the court-house of painswick." vol. viii., p. ., col. ., for "the lodge, an old wooden house," read "stone house." also in his article in vol. ix., p. ., col. ., for "rev. ---- hook," read "rev. ---- stock." "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * just published, in vo., price s. tres breves tractatus. de primis episcopis. s. petri alexandrini episcopi fragmenta quædam. s. irenæi illustrata ~rhsis~, in qua ecclesia romana commemoratur. recensuit martimus josephus routh. s.t.p., collegii s. magdalenæ. oxon. præses. oxonii: apud johannem henricum parker. * * * * * the penny post for february, with illustrations, contains:-- . the escape of the empress maude from oxford castle. . god's children: scenes from the lives of two young christians. . readings for septuagesima sunday: the formation of eve. . the mammoth. . brazilian sketches. . true stories of my younger days: no. i. the landslip. . reason and instinct. . birds, bees, and flowers. . poetry: hymn; five couplets; church ornaments. . the post-bag. . new books. also, the twopenny post for february. john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * price one shilling. the national miscellany for february contains--i. dedications of books; ii. sevastopol; iii. a chapter of history as it might have been; iv. the "petite soeur des pauvres;" v. verse-making in the olden time; vi. our literary friends; vii. invalids; viii. life of theodoric the great, king of italy; ix. notices; x. poetry. at the office, . exeter street, strand, london. * * * * * near monmouth.--to be let on lease, from the st of may, the tump house, about two miles from monmouth, beautifully situate on a declivity, above the monnow, celebrated for its trout fishing. the residence, which is suitable for a highly respectable family, contains dining-room, drawing-room, library, six best bedrooms, and four servants' rooms, with all necessary offices, coach-house, stabling for six horses, convenient farm buildings, with good pleasure and kitchen gardens, and about acres of prime meadow and orchard land, stocked with fruit-trees. it is approached by a private bridge, with lodge, from the village of rockfield, and a right of shooting over about acres adjoining will be granted. in the season a pack of fox-hounds constantly meet in the adjacent covers.--for particulars apply to messrs. snell, albemarle street; or to j. w. peppercorne, esq., oatlands house, near chertsey. * * * * * near weybridge.--to be let, furnished or on lease, woodlawn house, containing handsome dining and drawing-room, library, servants' hall, and fifteen other rooms, coach-house and stabling for eight horses, pleasure and kitchen garden, fish-pond, orchard, &c., beautifully situate on a gravelly soil, near st. george's hill, and about a mile from the railway stations of walton and weybridge. also a cottage residence, containing thirteen rooms, dairy, small conservatory, coach-house, stabling, pleasure and kitchen gardens.--apply to messrs. snell, albemarle street, or to j. w. peppercorne, esq., . exchange buildings, london. * * * * * the eclectic review for february, price s. d., contains:-- . burton's history of scotland, from the revolution. . gosse's naturalist's ramble on the devonshire coast. . baumgarten on the acts of the apostles. . professor silliman--a new phase in american life. . journals and correspondence of thomas moore. . history and resources of turkey. . the dignity of the pulpit. review of the month, short notices, &c. * * * * * the homilist for january, , price s. (commencing vol. iii.) contains, among other articles: . the theory of true progress. . the absolute in truth. . the prophet's dream. . judas; or, truth sold for money. . caiaphas: a glance at government, human and divine. "certainly one of the most extraordinary and ably written publications of the day. it is entirely original, and abounds with sterling ideas.... it needs but to be perused to commend itself to the genuine christian of every denomination."--_birmingham mercury._ ward & co., . paternoster row. * * * * *{ } western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq.; t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration; being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * views in london. stereoscopes and stereoscopic pictures. bland & long, . fleet street, opticians and philosophical instrument makers, invite attention to their stock of stereoscopes of all kinds, and in various materials; also, to their new and extensive assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same, in daguerreotype, on paper, and transparent albumen pictures on glass, including views of london, paris, the rhine, windsor, &c. these pictures, for minuteness of detail and truth in the representation of natural objects, are unrivalled. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. *** "familiar explanation of the phenomena" sent on application. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * valuable illustrated books at reduced prices. roberts' holy land. plates. l. s. published at guineas. digby wyatt's industrial arts of the nineteenth century. plates. vols. folio. half-bound morocco. l. s. published at l. s. digby wyatt's metal work, and its artistic design. plates. folio, half-bound morocco, l. s. published at l. s. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and, by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lauza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page corrections adopted by pope from the dunces, by james crossley notes on several misunderstood words, by the rev. w. r. arrowsmith devonianisms the poems of rowley, by henry h. breen folk lore:--legend of llangefelach tower--wedding divination shakspeare correspondence:--shakspearian drawings --thomas shakspeare--passage in macbeth, act i. sc. .--"discourse of reason" minor notes:--the mss. of gervase hollis--anagrams --family caul--numerous progeny queries:-- smith, young, and scrymgeour mss. mormon publications, by w. sparrow simpson minor queries:--dimidiation--early christian mothers--the lion at northumberland house--the cross in mexico and alexandria--passage in st. james --"the temple of truth"--santa claus--donnybrook fair--saffron, when brought into england-- isping geil--humbug--franklyn household book-- james thomson's will--"country parson's advice to his parishioners"--shakspeare: blackstone minor queries with answers:--turkey cocks-- bishop st. john--ferdinand mendez pinto--satin-- carrier pigeons replies:-- "pylades and corinna:" psalmanazar and defoe, by james crossley robert wauchope, archbishop of armagh seal of william d'albini, by e. g. ballard, &c. "will" and "shall," by william bates, &c. inscriptions in books, by honoré de mareville, &c. bacon's "advancement of learning," by thomas markby photographic correspondence:--test for a good lens--photography and the microscope--cement for glass baths--mr. lyte's mode of printing replies to minor queries:--eulenspiegel or ulenspiegel --lawyers' bags--"nine tailors make a man" --"time and i"--carr pedigree--campvere, privileges of--haulf-naked--old picture of the spanish armada--parochial libraries--how to stain deal-- roger outlawe--tennyson--old fogie--errata corrigenda --anecdote of dutens--gloves at fairs-- arms: battle-axe--enough--feelings of age--optical query--cross and pile, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. corrections adopted by pope from the dunces. in pope's "letter to the honourable james craggs," dated june , , after making some observations on dennis's remarks on the _essay on criticism_, he says-- "yet, to give this man his due, he has objected to one or two lines with reason; and i will alter them in case of another edition: i will make my enemy do me a kindness where he meant an injury, and so serve instead of a friend." an interesting paper might be drawn up from the instances, for they are rather numerous, in which pope followed out this very sensible rule. i do not remember seeing the following one noted. one of the heroes of the _dunciad_, thomas cooke, the translator of hesiod, was the editor of a periodical published in monthly numbers, in vo., of which nine only appeared, under the title of _the comedian, or philosophical inquirer_, the first number being for april, and the last for december, . it contains some curious matter, and amongst other papers is, in no. ., "a letter in prose to mr. alexander pope, occasioned by his epistle in verse to the earl of burlington." it is very abusive, and was most probably written either by cooke or theobald. after quoting the following lines as they then stood: "he buys for topham drawings and designs, for fountain statues, and for curio coins, rare monkish manuscripts for hearne alone, and books for mead, and rarities for sloane," the letter-writer thus unceremoniously addresses himself to the author: "rarities! how could'st thou be so silly as not to be particular in the rarities of sloane, as in those of the other five persons? what knowledge, what meaning is conveyed in the word _rarities_? are not some drawings, some statues, some coins, all monkish manuscripts, and some books, _rarities_? could'st thou not find a trisyllable to express some parts of nature for a collection of which that learned and worthy physician is eminent? fy, fy! correct and write-- 'rare monkish manuscripts for hearne alone, and books for mead, and butterflies for sloane.' { } "sir hans sloane is known to have the finest collection of butterflies in england, and perhaps in the world; and if rare monkish manuscripts are for hearne only, how can rarities be for sloane, unless thou specifyest what sort of rarities? o thou numskull!"--no. ., pp. -- . the correction was evidently an improvement, and therefore pope wisely accepted the benefit, and was the channel through which it was conveyed; and the passage accordingly now stands as altered by the letter-writer. james crossley. * * * * * notes on several misunderstood words. (_continued from_ p. .) _dare_, to lurk, or cause to lurk; used both transitively and intransitively. apparently the root of _dark_ and _dearn_. "here, quod he, it ought ynough suffice, five houres for to slepe upon a night: but it were for an olde appalled wight, as ben thise wedded men, that lie and _dare_, as in a fourme sitteth a wery hare." tyrwhitt's utterly unwarranted adoption of speght's interpretation is "_dare_, v. sax. to stare." the reader should always be cautious how he takes upon trust a glossarist's sly fetch to win a cheap repute for learning, and over-ride inquiry by the mysterious letters sax. or ang.-sax. tacked on to his exposition of an obscure word. there is no such saxon vocable as _dare_, to stare. again, what more frequent blunder than to confound a secondary and derivative sense of a word with its radical and primary--indeed, sometimes to allow the former to usurp the precedence, and at length altogether oust the latter: hence it comes to pass, that we find _dare_ is one while said to imply peeping and prying, another while trembling or crouching; moods and actions merely consequent or attendant upon the elementary signification of the word: "i haue an hoby can make larkys to _dare_." skelton's _magnifycence_, vol. i. p. . l. ., dyce's edition; on which line that able, but therein mistaken editor's note is, "_to dare_, i. e. to be terrified, to tremble" (he however also adds, it means to lurk, to lie hid, and remits his reader to a note at p. ., where some most pertinent examples of its true and only sense are given), to which add these next: " . . let his grace go forward, and _dare_ vs with his cap, like larkes." first fol., _henry viii._, act iii, sc. . "thay questun, thay quellun, by frythun by fellun, the dere in the dellun, thay droupun and _daren_". _the anturs of arthur at the tarnewathelan_, st. iv. p. . camden society's publications. "she sprinkled vs with bitter juice of vncouth herbs, and strake the awke end of hir charmed rod vpon our heades, and spake words to the former contrarie. the more she charm'd, the more arose we vpward from the ground on which we _darde_ before." the xiiii. booke of ouid's _metamorphosis_, p. . arthur golding's translation: london, . "sothely it _dareth_ hem weillynge this thing; that heuenes weren before," &c. and again, a little further on: "forsothe yee moste dere, one thing _dare_ you nougt (or be not unknowen): for one day anentis god as a thousande yeeris, and a thousande yeer as one day."--_c^m ^m petre ._, wycliffe's translation: in the latin vulgate, _latet_ and _lateat_ respectively; in the original, [greek: lanthanei] and [greek: lanthanetô]. now the book is before me, i beg to furnish mr. collier with the references to his usage of _terre_, mentioned in todd's _dictionary_, but not given (collier's _shakspeare_, vol. iv. p. ., note), namely, th cap. of epistle to ephesians, _prop. init._; and rd of that to colossians, _prop. fin._ * * * * * _die and live._--this _hysteron proteron_ is by no means uncommon: its meaning is, of course, the same as live and die, _i. e._ subsist from the cradle to the grave: " . . . will you sterner be. than he that _dies and lives_ by bloody drops?" first fol., _as you like it_, act iii. sc. . all manner of whimsical and farfetched constructions have been put by the commentators upon this very homely sentence. as long as the question was, whether their wits should have licence to go a-woolgathering or no, one could feel no great concern to interfere: but it appears high time to come to shakspeare's rescue, when mr. collier's "clever" old commentator, with some little variation in the letters, and not much less in the sense, reads "kills" for dies; but then, in the _merry wives of windsor_, act ii. sc. ., the same "clever" authority changes "cride-game (cride i ame), said i well?" into "curds and cream, said i well?"--an alteration certainly not at odds with the host's ensuing question, "said i well?" saving that that, to liquorish palate, might seem a rather superfluous inquiry. "with sorrow they both _die and live_ that unto richesse her hertes yeve." _the romaunt of the rose_, v. - . "he is a foole, and so shall he _dye and liue_, that thinketh him wise, and yet can he nothing." _the ship of fooles_, fol. ., by alexander barclay, . { } "behold how ready we are, how willingly the women of sparta will _die and live_ with their husbands."--_the pilgrimage of kings and princes_, p. . except in shakspeare's behalf, it would not have been worth while to exemplify so unambiguous a phrase. the like remark may also be extended to the next word that falls under consideration. * * * * * _kindly_, in accordance with kind, viz. nature. thus, the love of a parent for a child, or the converse, is kindly: one without natural affection ([greek: astorgos]) is unkind, kindless, as in-- "remorselesse, treacherous, letcherous, _kindles_ villaine." _hamlet_, act ii. sc. . thence _kindly_ expanded into its wider meaning of general benevolence. so under another phase of its primary sense we find the epithet used to express the excellence and characteristic qualities proper to the idea or standard of its subject, to wit, genuine, thrifty, well-liking, appropriate, not abortive, monstrous, prodigious, discordant. in the litany, "the _kindly_ fruits of the earth" is, in the latin versions "genuinus," and by mr. boyer rightly translated "les fruits de la terre chaqu'un selon son espèce;" for which pegge takes him to task, and interprets _kindly_ "fair and good," through mistake or preference adopting the acquired and popular, in lieu of the radical and elementary meaning of the word. (_anonymiana_, pp. -- . century viii. no. lxxxi.) the conjunction of this adjective with _gird_ in a passage of _king henry vi_. has sorely gravelled mr. collier: twice over he essays, with equal success, to expound its purport. first, _loc. cit._, he finds fault with _gird_ as being employed in rather an unusual manner; or, if taken in its common meaning of taunt or reproof, then that _kindly_ is said ironically; because there seems to be a contradiction in terms. (monck mason's rank distortion of the words, there cited, i will not pain the reader's sight with.) mr. collier's note concludes with a supposition that _gird_ may possibly be a misprint. this is the misery! men will sooner suspect the text than their own understanding or researches. in act i. sc. . of _coriolanus_, dissatisfied with his previous note, mr. collier tries again, and thinks a _kindly gird_ may mean a gentle reproof. that the reader may be able to judge what it does mean, it will be necessary to quote the king's _gird_, who thus administers a kindly rebuke to the malicious preacher against the sin of malice, _i.e._ chastens him with his own rod: "_king._ fie, uncle beauford, i have heard you preach, that mallice was a great and grievous sinne: and will not you maintaine the thing you teache, but prove a chief offender in the same? _warn._ sweet king: the bishop hath a _kindly gyrd_." first part of _king henry vi._, act iii. sc. . st fol. a _gird_, akin to, in keeping with, fitting, proper to the cardinal's calling; an evangelical _gird_ for an evangelical man: what more _kindly_? _kindly_, connatural, homogeneous. but now for a bushel of examples, some of which will surely avail to insense the reader in the purport of this epithet, if my explanation does not: "god in the congregation of the gods, what more proper and _kindly_"?--andrewes' sermons, vol. v. p. . _lib. ang.-cath. theol._ "and that (pride) seems somewhat _kindly_ too, and to agree with this disease (the plague). that pride which swells itself should end in a tumour or swelling, as, for the most part, this disease doth."--_id._, p. . "and so, you are found; and they, as the children of perdition should be, are lost. here are you: and where are they? gone to their own place, to judas their brother. and, as is most _kindly_, the sons to the father of wickedness; there to be plagued with him for ever."--_id._, vol. iv. p. . "for whatsoever, as the son of god, he may do, it is _kindly_ for him, as the son of man, to save the sons of men."--_id._, p. . "there cannot be a more _kindly_ consequence than this, our not failing from their not failing: we do not, because they do not."--_id._, p. . "and here falls in _kindly_ this day's design, and the visible 'per me,' that happened on it."--_id._, p. . "and having then made them, it is _kindly_ that viscera misericordiæ should be over those opera that came de visceribus."--_id._, p. . "the children came to the birth, and the right and _kindly_ copulative were; to the birth they came, and born they were: in a kind consequence who would look for other?"--_id._, p. . "for usque adeo proprium est operari spiritui, ut nisi operetur, nec sit. so _kindly_ (proprium) it is for the spirit to be working as if it work not, it is not."--_id._, vol. iii. p. . "and when he had overtaken, for those two are but presupposed, the more _kindly_ to bring in [greek: epelabeto], when, i say, he had overtaken them, cometh in fitly and properly [greek: epilambanetai]."--_id._, vol. i. p. . "no time so _kindly_ to preach de filio hodie genito as hodie."--_id._, p. . "a day whereon, as it is most _kindly_ preached, so it will be most _kindly_ practised of all others."--_id._, p. . "respice et plange: first, 'look and lament' or mourn; which is indeed the most _kindly_ and natural effect of such a spectacle."--_id._, vol. ii. p. . "devotion is the most proper and most _kindly_ work of holiness."--_id._, vol. iv. p. . perhaps the following will be thought so apposite, that i may be spared the labour, and the reader the tedium of perusing a thousand other examples that might be cited: and there is nothing more _kindly_ than for them that will be touching, to be touched themselves, and to { } be touched home, in the same _kind_ themselves thought to have touched others."--_id._, vol. iv. p. .[ ] w. r. arrowsmith. (_to be continued._) [footnote : _kindly_ is quite a pet word with andrewes, as, besides the passages quoted, he employs it in nearly the same sense in vol. iii., at pp. . . . . . . . . . .; in vol. i., at pp. . . . . .; in vol. ii. at pp. . . . . . the same immortal quibbler is also very fond of the word _item_, using it, as our cousins across the atlantic and we in herefordshire do at the present day, for "a hint."] * * * * * devonianisms. _miserable._--_miserable_ is very commonly used in devonshire in the signification of _miserly_, with strange effect until one becomes used to it. hooker the judicious, a devonshire man, uses the word in this sense in the _eccl. polity_, book v. ch. lxv. p. .: "by means whereof it cometh also to pass that the mean which is virtue seemeth in the eyes of each extreme an extremity; the liberal-hearted man is by the opinion of the prodigal _miserable_, and by the judgment of the _miserable_ lavish." _few._--speaking of broth, people in devon say a _few broth_ in place of a little, or some broth. i find a similar use of the word in a sermon preached in , by thomas lever, fellow of st. john's college, preserved by strype (in his _eccles. mem._, ii. .). speaking of the poor students of cambridge, he says: "at ten of the clock they go to dinner, whereas they be content with a penny piece of beef among four, having a _few pottage_ made of the broth of the same beef, with salt and oatmeal, and nothing else." _figs, figgy._--most commonly _raisins_ are called _figs_, and plum-pudding _figgy_ pudding. so with plum-cake, as in the following rhymes:-- "rain, rain, go to spain, never come again: when i brew and when i bake, i'll give you a _figgy_ cake." _against_ is used like the classical _adversùm_, in the sense of _towards_ or _meeting_. i have heard, both in devonshire and in ireland, the expression to send _against_, that is, to send _to meet_, a person, &c. the foregoing words and expressions are probably provincialisms rather than devonianisms, good old english forms of expression; as are, indeed, many of the so-called hibernicisms. _pilm, farroll._--what is the derivation of _pilm_=dust, so frequently heard in devon, and its derivatives, _pilmy_, dusty: it _pilmeth_? the cover of a book is there called the _farroll_; what is the derivation of this word? j. m. b. tunbridge wells. * * * * * the poems of rowley. the tests propounded by mr. keightley (vol. vii. p. .) with reference to the authenticity of the poems of rowley, namely the use of "its," and the absence of the feminine rhyme in _e_, furnish additional proof, if any were wanting, that chatterton was the author of those extraordinary productions. another test often insisted upon is the occurrence, in those poems, of borrowed thoughts--borrowed from poets of a date posterior to that of their pretended origin. of this there is one instance which seems to have escaped the notice of chatterton's numerous annotators. it occurs at the commencement of _the tournament_, in the line,-- "the _worlde_ bie _diffraunce_ ys ynn _orderr_ founde." it will be seen that this line, a very remarkable one, has been cleverly condensed from the following passage in pope's _windsor forest_:-- "but as the _world_, harmoniously confused, where _order_ in variety we see; and where, tho' all things _differ_, all agree." this sentiment has been repeated by other modern writers. pope himself has it in the _essay on man_, in this form,-- "the lights and shades, whose well-accorded strife gives all the strength and colour of our life." it occurs in one of pascal's _pensées_: "j'écrirai ici mes pensées sans ordre, et non pas peut-être dans une confusion sans dessein: c'est le véritable ordre, et qui marquera toujours mon objet par le désordre même." butler has it in the line,-- "for discords make the sweetest airs." bernardin de st. pierre, in his _etudes de la nature_: "c'est des contraires que résulte l'harmonie du monde." and burke, in nearly the same words, in his _reflections on the french revolution_: "you had that action and counteraction, which, in the natural and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers, draws out the harmony of the universe." nor does the sentiment belong exclusively to the moderns. i find it in horace's twelfth epistle: "nil parvum sapias, et adhuc sublimia cures, . . . . . . quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors." { } lucan, i think, has the same expression in his _pharsalia_; and it forms the basis of longinus's remark on the eloquence of demosthenes: [greek: "oukoun tên men phusin tôn epanaphorôn kai asundetôn pantêi phulattei têi sunechei metabolêi? houtôs autôi kai hê taxis atakton, kai empalin hê ataxia poian perilambanei taxin."] it may be said that, as pope adopted the thought from horace or lucan, so a poet of the fifteenth century (such as the supposed rowley) might have taken it from the same sources. but a comparison of the line in _the tournament_ with those in _windsor forest_ will show that the borrowing embraces not only the thought, but the very words in which it is expressed. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * folk lore. _legend of llangefelach tower._--a different version of the legend also exists in the neighbourhood, viz. that the day's work on the tower being pulled down each night by the old gentleman, who was apparently apprehensive that the sound of the bells might keep away all evil spirits, a saint, of now forgotten name, told the people that if they would stand at the church door, and throw a stone, they would succeed in building the tower on the "spot where it fell," which accordingly came to pass. ceridwen. _wedding divination._--being lately present on the occasion of a wedding at a town in the east riding of yorkshire, i was witness to the following custom, which seems to take rank as a genuine scrap of folk-lore. on the bride alighting from her carriage at her father's door, a plate covered with morsels of bride's cake was flung from a window of the second story upon the heads of the crowd congregated in the street below; and the divination, i was told, consists in observing the fate which attends its downfall. if it reach the ground in safety, without being broken, the omen is a most _un_favourable one. if on the other hand, the plate be shattered to pieces (and the more the better), the auspices are looked upon as most happy. oxoniensis. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _shakspearian drawings._--i have very recently become possessed of some curious drawings by hollar; those relating to shakspeare very interesting, evidently done for one captain john eyre, who could himself handle the pencil well. the inscription under one is as follows, in the writing of the said j. eyre: "ye house in ye clink streete, southwarke, now belonging to master ralph hansome, and in ye which master shakspeare lodged in ye while he writed and played at ye globe, and untill ye yeare it was at the time ye house of grace loveday. will had ye two rooms over against ye doorway, as i will possibly show." size of the drawing, × , "w. hollar delin., ." it is an exterior view, beautifully executed, showing very prominently the house and a continuation of houses, forming one side of the street. the second has the following inscription in the same hand: "ye portraiture of ye rooms in ye which master will shakspeare lodged in clink streete, and which is told to us to be in ye same state as when left by himself, as stated over ye door in ye room, and on the walls were many printed verses, also a portraiture of ben jonson with a ruff on a pannel." size of the drawing - / × - / , "w. hollar delin., :" shows the interior of three sides, and the floor and ceiling, with the tables, chairs, and reading-desk; an open door shows the interior of his sleeping-room, being over the entrance door porch. the third-- "ye globe, as to be seen before ye fire in ye year , when this place was burnt down. this old building," &c. here follows a long interesting description. it is an exterior view; size of drawing ¼ wide × - / high, "w. h. ." the fourth shows the stage, on which are two actors: this drawing, - / × ½, was done by j. eyre, , and on which he gives a curious description of his accompanying prince charles, &c.; at this time he belonged to the court, as he also accompanied that prince to spain. the fifth, done by the same hand in a _most masterly manner_, pen and ink portrait of shakspeare, copied, as he writes, from a portrait belonging to the earl of essex, with interesting manuscript notice. the sixth, done also by j. eyre: "ye portraiture of one master ben jonson, as on ye walls of master will shakspeare's rooms in clinke streete, southwarke."--j. e. . the first three, in justice to hollar, independent of the admirers of the immortal bard and lovers of antiquities, should be engraved as "facsimiles of the drawings." this shall be done on my receiving the names of sixty subscribers, the amount of subscription one guinea, for which each subscriber will receive three engravings, to be paid for when delivered. p. t. p. s.--these curious drawings may be seen at no. . osnaburgh place, new road. _thomas shakspeare._--from a close examination of the documents referred to (as bearing the signature of thomas shakspeare) in my last { } communication to "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .), and from the _nature_ of the _transaction_ to which they relate, _my impression_ is, that he was by profession a money scrivener in the town of lutterworth; a circumstance which may possibly tend to the discovery of his family connexion (if any existed) with william shakspeare. charlecote. _passage in macbeth, act i. sc. ._-- " . . . come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the _blanket_ of the dark, to cry, hold, hold!" in mr. payne collier's _notes and emendations_, p. ., we are informed that the old corrector substitutes _blankness_ for _blanket_. the change is to me so exceedingly bad, even if made on some sort of authority (as an extinct to.), that i should have let it be its own executioner, had not mr. collier apparently given in his adhesion to it. i now beg to offer a few obvious reasons why _blanket_ is unquestionably shakspeare's word. in the _rape of lucrece_, stanza cxv., we have a passage very nearly parallel with that in _macbeth_: "o night, thou furnace of foul reeking smoke, let not the jealous day behold thy face, which underneath thy _black all-hiding cloak_, immodestly lies martyr'd with disgrace." in _lucrece_, the _cloak_ of night is invoked to screen a deed of adultery; in _macbeth_ the _blanket_ of night is invoked to hide a murder: but the foul, reeking, smoky cloak of night, in the passage just quoted, is clearly parallel with the smoky blanket of night in _macbeth_. the complete imagery of both passages has been happily caught by carlyle (_sartor resartus_, , p. .), who, in describing night, makes teufelsdröckh say: "oh, under that _hideous coverlet of vapours, and putrefactions, and unimaginable gases_, what a fermenting-vat lies simmering and hid!" c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _"discourse of reason"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this phrase, "generally supposed to be peculiarly shakspearian," which a. e. b. has indicated in his quotation from philemon holland, occurs also in dr. t. bright's _treatise of melancholy_, the date of which is . in the third page of the dedicatory epistle there is this sentence: "such as are of quicke conceit, and delighted in _discourse of reason_ in naturall things." here, then, is another authority against gifford's proposed "emendation" of the expression as it occurs in _hamlet_. m. d. * * * * * minor notes. _the mss. of gervase hollis._--these were taken during the reign of charles i., and continue down to the middle of charles ii. in harl. mss. , will be found a most curious and valuable volume, containing the painted glass, arms, monuments, brasses, and epitaphs in the various churches and chapels, &c. throughout the county of lincoln. the arms are all drawn in the margin in colours. being taken before the civil war, they contain all those which were destroyed or defaced by the parliament army. they were all copied by gough, which he notices in his _brit. top._, vol. i. p. ., but not printed. his genealogical collections are contained in a series of volumes marked with the letters of the alphabet, and comprehended in the lansdowne catalogue under no. . the catalogue is very minute, and the contents of the several volumes very miscellaneous; and some of the genealogical notes are simply short memoranda, which, in order to be made available, must be wrought out from other sources. they all relate more or less to the county of lincoln. one of these, called "trusbut," was presented to the british museum by sir joseph banks in , and will be found in add. mss. . e. g. ballard. _anagrams._--the publication of two anagrams in your number for may , calls to my mind a few that were made some years ago by myself and some friends, as an experiment upon the anagrammatic resources of words and phrases. a subject was chosen, and each one of the party made an anagram, good, bad, or indifferent, out of the component letters. the following may serve as a specimen of the best of the budget that we made. . french revolution. violence, run forth! . swedish nightingale. sing high! sweet linda. (_q. d._ di chamouni.) . spanish marriages. rash games in paris; or, ah! in a miser's grasp. . paradise lost. reap sad toils. . paradise regained. dead respire again. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _family caul--child's caul._--the will of sir john offley, knight, of madeley manor, staffordshire (grandson of sir thomas offley, lord mayor of london temp. eliz.), proved at doctors' commons th may, , contains the following singular bequest: "item, i will and devise one jewell done all in gold enammelled, wherein there is a caul that covered my face and shoulders when i first came into the world, the use thereof to my loving daughter the lady { } elizabeth jenny, so long as she shall live; and after her decease the use likewise thereof to her son, offley jenny, during his natural life; and after his decease to my own right heirs male for ever; and so from heir to heir, to be left so long as it shall please god of his goodness to continue any heir male of my name, desiring the same jewell be not concealed nor sold by any of them." cestriensis. _numerous progeny._--the _london journal_ of oct. , , contains the following paragraph: "letters from holderness, in yorkshire, mention the following remarkable inscription on a tombstone newly erected in the churchyard of heydon, viz. 'here lieth the body of william strutton, of padrington, buried the th of may, , aged , who had by his first wife children, and by a second wife ; own father to , grandfather to , great-grandfather to , and great-great-grandfather to ; in all .'" t. b. h. * * * * * queries. smith, young, and scrymgeour mss. thomas smith, in his _vitæ illustrium_, gives extracts from a so-called ephemeris of sir peter young, but which sir peter compiled during the latter years of his life. thomas hearne says, in a note to the appendix to leland's _collectanea_, that he had had the use of some of smith's mss. this ephemeris of sir peter young may be worth the publishing if it can be found: can any of your readers say whether it is among smith's or hearne's mss., or if it be preserved elsewhere? peter young, and his brother alexander, were pupils of theodore beza, having been educated chiefly at the expense of their maternal uncle henry scrymgeour, to whose valuable library peter succeeded. it was brought to scotland by alexander about the year or , and was landed at dundee. it was especially rich in greek mss.; and dr. irvine, in his "dissertation on the literary history of scotland," prefixed to his _lives of the scottish poets_, says of these mss. and library, "and the man who is so fortunate as to redeem them from obscurity, shall assuredly be thought to have merited well from the republic of letters." it is much to be feared, however, that as to the mss. this good fortune awaits no man; for sir peter young seems to have given them to his fifth son, patrick young, the eminent greek scholar, who was librarian to prince henry, and, after his death, to the king, and to charles i. patrick young's house was unfortunately burned, and in it perished many mss. belonging to himself and to others. if scrymgeour's mss. escaped the fire, they are to be sought for in the remnant of patrick young's collection, wherever that went, or in the king's library, of which a considerable part was preserved. young's house was burned in , and he is supposed to have carried off a large number of mss. from the royal library, after the king's death in . if therefore scrymgeour's mss. were among these, it is possible that they may yet be traced, for they would be sold with young's own, after his death in . this occurred on the th of september, rather suddenly, and he left no will, and probably gave no directions about his mss. and library, which were sold _sub hastâ_, probably within a few months after his death, and with them any of the mss. which he may have taken from the king's library, or may have had in his possession belonging to others. smith says that he had seen a large catalogue of mss. written in young's own hand. is this catalogue extant? patrick young left two daughters, co-heiresses: the elder married to john atwood, esq.; the younger, to sir samuel bowes, kt. a daughter of the former gave to a church in essex a bible which had belonged to charles i.; but she knew so little of her grandfather's history that she described him as patrick young, esq., library keeper to the king, quite unconscious that he had been rector of two livings, and a canon and treasurer of st. paul's. perhaps, after all, the designation was not so incorrect, for though he held so many preferments, he never was in priest's orders, and sometimes was not altogether free from suspicion of not being a member of the church of england at all, except as a recipient of its dues, and of course, a deacon in its orders. but it may be worthy of note, as affording another clue by which, perchance, to trace some of scrymgeour's mss., that sir thomas bowes, kt., who was sir symonds d'ewes's literary executor, employed patrick young to value a collection of coins, &c., among which he recognised a number that had belonged to the king's cabinet, and which sir symonds had purchased from hugh peters, by whom they had been purloined. young taxed peters with having taken books, and mss. also, which the other denied, with the exception of two or three, but was not believed. i do not know what relation sir thomas bowes was to sir samuel, who married young's second daughter, nor to paul bowes, who edited d'ewes's _journals_ in . it is quite possible that some of scrymgeour's mss. may have fallen into d'ewes's hands, may have come down, and be recognisable by some mark. as to scrymgeour's books, it is probable that they were deposited in peter young's house of easter seatoun, near to arbroath, of which he obtained possession about , and which remained with his descendants for about ninety years, when his great-grandson sold it, and purchased the castle and part of the lands of aldbar. that any very fine library was removed thither is not probable, especially any bearing henry { } scrymgeour's name; and for this reason, that thomas ruddiman was tutor to david young, and was resident at aldbar, and would hardly have failed to notice, or to record, the existence of any so remarkable a library as scrymgeour's, or even of sir peter young's, who was himself an ardent collector of books, as appears from some of his letters to sir patrick vans (_recte_ vaux) which i have seen, and as might be inferred from his literary tastes and pursuits. there is perhaps reason to believe that sir peter's library did not descend in his family beyond his eldest son, sir james young, who made an attempt to deprive the sons of his first marriage (the elder of whom died in infancy) of their right of succession to their grandfather's estates, secured to them under their father's marriage contract, and which attempt was defeated by their uncle, dr. john young, dean of winchester (sixth son of sir peter), who acquired from lord ramsay, eldest son of the earl of dalhousie, part of the barony of baledmouth in fife. dean young founded a school at st. andrew's, on the site of which is now built dr. bell's madras college. sir peter young the elder, knighted in , has been sometimes confounded with his third son, peter, who received his knighthood at the hands of gustavus adolphus, on the occasion of that king being invested with the order of the garter. another fine library (andrew melville's) was brought into scotland about the same time as scrymgeour's; and it is creditable to the statesmen of james's reign that there was an order in the scotch exchequer, that books imported into scotland should be free from custom. a note of this order is preserved among the harleian mss. in the british museum; but my reference to the number is not at hand. de camera. * * * * * mormon publications. can any of your correspondents oblige me by supplying particulars of other editions of the following mormon works? the particulars required are the size, place, date, and number of pages. the editions enumerated below are the only ones to which i have had access. . _the book of mormon_: first american edition, mo.: palmyra, , pp. ., printed by e. b. grandin for the author. first european edition, small vo.: liverpool, , title, one leaf, pp. ., including index at the end. second european edition, mo.: liverpool, . query number of pages? third european edition, mo.: liverpool, , pp. xii. . . _book of doctrine and covenants_: first (?) american edition, mo.: kirkland, , pp. . third european edition, mo.: liverpool, , pp. xxiii, . . _hymn book for the "saints" in europe_: ninth edition, mo.: liverpool, , pp. vii. ., containing hymns. as i am passing through the press two lectures on the subject of mormonism, and am anxious that the literary history and bibliography of this curious sect should be as complete as possible, i will venture to ask the favour of an immediate reply to this query: and since the subject is hardly of general interest, as well as because the necessary delay of printing any communication may hereby be avoided, may i request that any reply be sent to me at the address given below. i shall also be glad to learn where, and at what price, a copy of the first _american_ edition of the _book of mormon_ can be procured. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. . grove road, north brixton, surrey. * * * * * minor queries. _dimidiation._--is the practice of _dimidiation_ approved of by modern heralds, and are examples of it common? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _early christian mothers._--can any of your correspondents inform me whether the christian mothers of the first four or five centuries were much in the habit of using the rod in correcting their children; and whether the influence acquired by the mother of st. chrysostom, and others of the same stamp, was not greatly owing to their having seldom or never inflicted corporal punishment on them? pater. _the lion at northumberland house._--one often hears the anecdote of a wag who, as alleged, stared at the lion on northumberland house until he had collected a crowd of imitators around him, when he cried out, "by heaven! it wags, it wags," and the rest agreed with him that the lion did wag its tail. if this farce really took place, i should be glad to know the date and details. j. p. birmingham. _the cross in mexico and alexandria._--in _the unseen world; communications with it, real and imaginary, &c._, , a work which is attributed to an eminent divine and ecclesiastical historian of the english church, it is stated that-- "it was a tradition in mexico, before the arrival of the spaniards, that when that form (the sign of the cross) should be victorious, the old religion should disappear. the same sign is also said to have been { } discovered on the destruction of the temple of serapis at alexandria, and the same tradition to have been attached to it."--p. . the subject is very curious, and one in which i am much interested. i am anxious to refer to the original authorities for the tradition in both cases. it is known that the mexicans worshipped the cross as the god of rain. we have the following curious account thereof in _the pleasant historie of the conquest of west india, now called newe spayne_, translated out of the spanish tongue by t. n., anno : "at the foote of this temple was a plotte like a churchyard, well walled and garnished with proper pinnacles; in the midst whereof stoode a crosse of ten foote long, the which they adored for god of the rayne; for at all times whe they wanted rayne, they would go thither on procession deuoutely, and offered to the crosse quayles sacrificed, for to appease the wrath that the god seemed to have agaynste them: and none was so acceptable a sacrifice, as the bloud of that little birde. they used to burne certaine sweete gume, to perfume that god withall, and to besprinkle it with water; and this done, they belieued assuredly to haue rayne."--p. . edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton lindsey. _passage in st. james._--i hope you will not consider the following query unsuited to your publication, and in that case i may confidently anticipate the removal of my difficulty. in reading yesterday jeremy taylor's _holy living and dying_, i came to this passage (p. . bohn's edition): "st. james, in his epistle, notes the folly of some men, his contemporaries, who were so impatient of the event of to-morrow, or the accidents of next year, or the good or evils of old age, that they would consult astrologers and witches, oracles and devils, what should befall them the next calends--what should be the event of such a voyage--what god had written in his book concerning the success of battles, the election of emperors, &c.... against this he opposes his counsel, that we should not search after forbidden records, much less by uncertain significations," &c. now my query is, to what epistle of st. james does the eloquent bishop refer? if to the canonical epistle, to what part? to the words (above quoted) "forbidden records" there is a foot-note, which contains only the well-known passage in horace, lib. i. od. xi., and two others from propertius and catullus. s. s. s. _"the temple of truth."_--who was the author of an admirable work entitled _the temple of truth_, published in by mawman? t. b. h. _santa claus._--reading _the wide wide world_ recalled to my mind this curious custom, which i had remarked when in america. i was then not a little surprised to find so strange a superstition lingering in puritanical new england, and which, it is needless to remark, was quite novel to me. _santa claus_ i believe to be a corruption of _saint nicholas_, the tutelary saint of sailors, and consequently a great favourite with the dutch. probably, therefore, the custom was introduced into the western world by the compatriots of the renowned knickerbocker. it is unnecessary to describe the nature of the festivity, as it is so graphically pourtrayed in miss wetherell's, or rather warner's work, to which i would refer those desirous of further acquaintance with the subject; the object of this query being to learn, through some of the american or other correspondents of "n. & q.," the original legend, as well as the period and events connected with the immigration into "the states" of that beneficent friend of young america, _santa claus_. robert wright. _donnybrook fair._--this old-established fair, so well known in every quarter of the globe, and so very injurious to the morality of those who frequent it, is said to be held by patent: but is there any patent for it in existence? if there be, why is it not produced? i am anxious to obtain information upon the subject. abhba. _saffron, when brought into england._--in a footnote to beckmann's _history of inventions, &c._, vol. i. p. . (bohn's), is the following, purporting to be from hakluyt, vol. ii. p. .: "it is reported at saffron walden that a pilgrim, proposing to do good to his country, stole a head of saffron, and hid the same in his palmer's staff, which he had made hollow before on purpose, and so he brought this root into this realm, with venture of his life; for if he had been taken, by the law of the country from whence it came, he had died for the fact." can any of your readers throw any light upon this tradition? w. t. saffron walden. _isping geil._--in a charter of joanna fossart, making a grant of lands and other possessions to the priory of grosmont in yorkshire, is the following passage as given in dugdale's _monasticon_ (i quote from bohn's edition, , vol. vi. p. .): "dedi eis insuper domos meas in eboraco; illas scilicet quæ sunt inter domos laurentii clerici quæ fuerunt benedicti judæi et _isping geil_, cum tota curia et omnibus pertinentiis." can any of your readers, and in particular any of our york antiquaries, inform me whether the "isping geil" mentioned in this passage is the name of a person, or of some locality in that city now obsolete? in either case i should be glad of any information as to the etymology of so singular { } a designation, which may possibly have undergone some change in copying. [greek: th.] _humbug._--when was this word introduced into the english language? the earliest instance in which i have met with it is in one of churchill's poems, published about the year . uneda. philadelphia. _franklyn household book._--can any reader inform me in whose keeping, the household book of sir john franklyn _now_ is?[ ] extracts were published from it in the _archæologia_, vol. xv. j. k. [footnote : [sir john franklyn's _household book_ was in the possession of sir john chardin musgrave, of eden hall, co. cumberland, who died in . some farther extracts, consisting of about thirty items, relating to archery (not given in the _archæologia_) will be found in the british museum, add. mss. . f. . among other items is the following: "oct. , . item, for a pound of tobacco for the lady glover, s." sir john franklyn, of wilsden, co. middlesex, was m.p. for that county in the beginning of the reign of charles i., and during the civil wars.--ed.]] _james thomson's will._--did the author of the _seasons_ make a will? if so, where is the original to be seen? d. leamington. _"country parson's advice to his parishioners."_--could you inquire through your columns who the author of a book entitled _the country parson's advice to his parishioners_ is? it was printed for benjamin tooke, at the ship, in st. paul's church yard, . i have a singular copy of this book, and know at present of no other copy. the booksellers all seem at a loss as to who the author was; some say jeremy taylor, others george herbert; but my date does not allow the latter,--at least it makes it very improbable, unless it was published after his death. the book itself is like george herbert's style, very solid and homely; it is evidently by some masterly hand. should you be able to give me information, or get it for me, i should be obliged. i think of reprinting the book. geo. nugÉe. senior curate of st. paul's, wilton place. _shakspeare--blackstone._--in moore's _diary_, vol. iv. p. ., he says,-- "mr. duncan mentioned, that blackstone has preserved the name of the judge to whom shakspeare alludes in the grave-digger's argument?-- 'if the water comes to the man,' &c." will one of your shakspearian or legal correspondents have the kindness to name the judge so alluded to, and give a reference to the passage in blackstone in which he conveys this information? ignoramus. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _turkey cocks._--why are turkey cocks so called, seeing they were not imported from turkey? cape. [this query did not escape the notice of dr. samuel pegge. he says; "the cocks which pancirollus (ii. tit. .) mentions as brought from america, were turkey cocks, as salmuth there (p. .) rightly observes. the french accordingly call this bird _coq d'inde_, and from _d'inde_ comes the diminutive _dindon_, the young turkey; as if one should say, 'the young indian fowl.' fetching the turkey from america accords well with the common notion: 'turkeys, carps, hops, pikarel, and beer, came into england all in a year;' that is, in the reign of henry viii., after many voyages had been made to north america, where this bird abounds in an extraordinary manner. but query how this bird came to be called turkey? johnson latinizes it _gallina turcica_, and defines it, 'a large domestic fowl brought from turkey;' which does not agree with the above account from pancirollus. brookes says (p. .), 'it was brought into europe either from india or africa.' and if from the latter, it might be called _turkey_, though but improperly."--_anonymiana_, cent. x. .] _bishop st. john._--the following passage occurs at vol. iv. p. . of the second series of ellis's _original letters, illustrative of english history_. it is taken from the letter numbered , dated london, jan. , - , and addressed "for john ellis, esq., secretary of his majesty's revenue in ireland, dublin:" "the bishop of london's fame runs high in the vogue of the people. the london pulpits ring strong peals against popery; and i have lately heard there never were such eminently able men to serve in those cures. the lord almoner ely is thought to stand upon too narrow a base now in his majesty's favour, from a late violent sermon on the th of november. i saw him yesterday at the king's levy; and very little notice taken of him, which the more confirms what i heard. our old friend the new bishop st. john, gave a smart answer to a (very well put) question of his m---- with respect to him, that shows he is not altogether formed of court-clay; but neither you nor i shall withdraw either of our friendship for him on such an account." all who know this period of our history, know compton and turner; but who was bishop st. john? j. j. j. [an error in the transcription. in the manuscript it reads thus: "bish^p s^r jon^n," and clearly refers to sir jonathan trelawney, bart., consecrated bishop of { } bristol, nov. , , translated to exeter in , and to winchester in .] _ferdinand mendez pinto._-- "ferdinand mendez pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude!" where is the original of the above to be found? was ferdinand mendez pinto a real or imaginary character? inquirens. [a famous portuguese traveller, in no good odour for veracity. his _travels_ have been translated into most european languages, and twice published in english. a notice of pinto will be found in rose's _biog. dict._, s. v.] _satin._--what is the origin of the word _satin_? cape. [see ogilvie and webster. "fr. _satin_; w. _sidan_, satin or silk; gr. and lat. _sindon_; ch. and heb. _sedin_; ar. _sidanah_."] _carrier pigeons._--when were carrier pigeons first used in europe? cape. [our correspondent will find some interesting notices of the early use of the carrier pigeon in europe in the _penny cyclopædia_, vol. vii. p. ., art. "columbidÆ;" and in the _encyclopædia britannica_, vol. vi. p. ., art. "carrier pigeon."] * * * * * replies. "pylades and corrina."--psalmanazar and defoe. (vol. vii., pp. . . . .) i had forwarded for insertion a short answer to the query as to _pylades and corinna_ before dr. maitland's communication was printed; but as it now appears more distinctly what was the object of the query, i can address myself more directly to the point he has raised. and, in the first place, i cannot suppose that defoe had anything to do with _pylades and corinna_, or the _history of formosa_. in all defoe's fictions there is at least some trace of the master workman, but in neither of these works is there any putting forth of his power, or any similitude to his manner or style. when the _history of formosa_ appeared ( ), he was ingrossed in politics, and was not, as far as any evidence has yet informed us, in the habit of translating or doing journeyman work for booksellers. then the book itself is, in point of composition, far beneath defoe, even in his most careless moods. as to _pylades and corinna_, defoe died so soon after mrs. thomas--she died on the rd february, , and he on the th april following, most probably worn out by illness--that time seems scarcely afforded for getting together and working up the materials of the two volumes published. the editor, who signs himself "philalethes," dates his dedication to the first volume, in which are contained the particulars about psalmanazar, "st. john baptist, ," which day would be after defoe's death. nor is there any ground for supposing that defoe and curll had much connexion as author and publisher. curll only printed two works of defoe, as far as i have been able to discover, the _memoirs of dr. williams_ ( , vo.), and the _life of duncan campbell_ ( , vo.), and for his doing so, in each case, a good reason may be given. as regards the genuineness of the correspondence in _pylades and corinna_, i do not see any reason to question it. sir edward northey's certificate, and various little particulars in the letters themselves, entirely satisfy me that the correspondence is not a fictitious one. the anecdotes of psalmanazar are quite in accordance with his own statements in his life--(see particularly p. ., _memoirs_, , vo.); and if they were pure fiction, is it not likely that, living in london at the time when they appeared, he would have contradicted them? in referring (vol. vii., p. ., "n. & q.") to the _gentleman's magazine_ for these anecdotes, i had not overlooked their having appeared in _pylades and corinna_, but had not then the latter book at hand to include it in the reference. dr. maitland considers _pylades and corinna_ "a farrago of low rubbish, utterly beneath criticism." is not this rather too severe and sweeping a character? unquestionably the poetry is but so-so, and of the poem the greater part might have been dispensed with; but, like all curll's collections, it contains some matter of interest and value to those who do not despise the minutiæ of literary investigation. the autobiography of the unfortunate authoress (mrs. thomas), who was only exalted by dryden's praise to be ignominiously degraded by pope, and "whose whole life was but one continued scene of the utmost variety of human misery," has always appeared to me an interesting and rather affecting narrative; and, besides a great many occasional notices in the correspondence, which are not without their use, there are interspersed letters from lady chudleigh, norris of bemerton, and others, which are not to be elsewhere met with, and which are worth preserving. for psalmanazar's character, notwithstanding his early peccadilloes, i can assure dr. maitland that i have quite as high a respect as himself, even without the corroborative evidence of our great moralist, which on such a subject may be considered as perfectly conclusive. james crossley. * * * * * { } robert wauchope, archbishop of armagh. (vol. vii., p. .) this prelate seems to have been a cadet of the family of wauchope, of niddry, or niddry marischall, in the county of midlothian, to which family once belonged the lands of wauchopedale in roxburghshire. the exact date of his birth i have never been able to discover, nor which "laird of niddrie" he was the son of. robert was a favourite name in the family long before his time, as is evidenced by an inscription at the entry to a burial chapel belonging to the family to this effect: "this tome was biggit be robert vauchop of niddrie marchal, and interit heir ." i am at present out of reach of all books of reference, and have only a few manuscript memoranda to direct further research; and these memoranda, i am sorry to say, are not so precise in their reference to chapter and verse as they ought to be. according to these notes, mention is made of robert wauchope, doctor of sorbonne, by leslie, bishop of ross, in the th book of his _history_; by labens, a jesuit, in the th tome of his _chronicles_; by cardinal pallavicino, in the th book of his _hist. conc. trid._; by fra paolo sarpi, in his _hist. conc. trid._ archbishop spottiswood says that he died in paris in the year , "much lamented of all the university," on his return home from one of his missions to rome. one of my notes, taken from the _memoirs of sir james melville_, i shall transcribe, as it is suggestive of other queries more generally interesting. the date is : "now the ambassador met in a secret part with oneel(?) and his associates, and heard their offers and overtures. and the patriarch of ireland did meet him there, who was a scotsman born, called wauchope, and was blind of both his eyes, and yet had been divers times at rome by post. he did great honour to the ambassadour, and conveyed him to see st. patrick's purgatory, which is like an old coal pit which had taken fire, by reason of the smoke that came out of the hole." query . what was the secret object of the ambassador? query . has st. patrick's purgatory any existence at the present time? d. w. s. p. * * * * * seal of william d'albini. (vol. vii., p. .) the curious article of your correspondent senex relative to this seal, as described and figured in barrett's _history of attleburgh_, has a peculiar interest as connected with the device of a man combating a lion. the first time i saw this device was in a most curious ms. on "memorial trophies and funeral monuments, both in the old churches of london before the fire, and the churches and mansions in many of the counties of england." the ms. is written by henry st. george, and will be found in lansd. mss. . the arms and tombs are all elaborately and carefully drawn, with their various localities, and the epitaphs which belong to them; and the whole is accompanied with an index of persons, and another of places. at p. . this device of a man combating a lion is represented associated with a shield of arms of many quarterings, showing the arms and alliances of the royal family of stuart, and is described as having formed the subject of a window in the stewards house adjoining the church of st. andrew's, holborn. in the _catalogue of the lansdowne mss._ is a long and interesting note on this device, with references to the various works where it may be found, to which i have had access at the museum, and find them correct, and opening a subject for investigation of a most curious kind. the figure of the knight, in this drawing, differs considerably from that on dr. barrett's seal. he is here represented on foot, dressed in the chain mail and tunic of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with a close-barred helmet, with a broad flat crown, such as was worn in france in the time of louis ix., called st. louis. the lion is in the act of springing upon him, and he is aiming a deadly blow at him with a ragged staff, as his sword lies broken at his feet. the figure is represented as fighting on the green sward. from a cloud over the lion proceeds an arm clothed in chain mail, and holding in the hand, suspended by a baldrick, a shield bearing the arms of france (modern[ ])--azure, three fleurs-de-lis or. on a scutcheon of pretence in the centre, argent, a lion ramp. gules, debruised with ragged staff, proper. this device forms the st quarter of the quarterings of the stuart family. in this device there is no figure of a lizard, dragon, or chimera, whichever it is, under the horse's feet, as represented in the seal of d'albini. i could much extend this reply, by showing the antiquity of this device, which by a long process of investigation i have traced as connected with the legendary songs of the troubadours; but i think i have said sufficient for the present, in reply to senex. in addition to the above, i may mention a seal of a somewhat similar character to that of d'albini, representing a knight on horseback, with his sword in his hand, and his shield of arms, which are also on the housings of the horse, under whose feet is the dragon: on the reverse is the { } combat of the knight with the lion. the knight is holding his shield in front, and holding his sword in his left hand. this seal is that of roger de quincy, earl of winchester, and appended to a deed "m.cc. quadrigresimo quinto." it occurs in harl. mss. . p. . e. g. ballard. [footnote : i say _modern_, for the ancient arms of france were azure, semée of fleurs-de-lis, as they are represented in old glass, when quartered with those of england by our henries and edwards.] pray request senex to withdraw every word he has said about me. i do not recollect that i ever said or wrote a word about the seal of william d'albini; and i cannot find that my name occurs in dr. barrett's volume. edw. hawkins. * * * * * "will" and "shall." (vol. vii., p. .) the difficulty as to the proper use of the auxiliaries _shall_ and _will_, will be found to arise from the fact, that while these particles respectively convey a different idea in the _first_ person singular and plural, from that which they imply in the _second_ and _third_ persons singular and plural, the distinction has been lost sight of in the amalgamation of _both_; as if they were interchangeable, in _one_ tense, according to the old grammatical formula _i shall_ or _will_. with a view of giving my own views on the subject, and attempting to supply what appears to me a grammatical deficiency, i shall proceed to make a few remarks; from which i trust your hong kong correspondent w. t. m. may be able to form "a clear and definite rule," and students of english assisted in their attempts to overcome this formidable conversational "shibboleth." the fact is simply thus:--_will_ is _volitive_ in the _first_ persons singular and plural; and simply _declarative_ or _promissory_ in the _second_ and _third_ persons singular and plural. _shall_, on the other hand, is _declaratory_ or _promissory_ in the _first_ person singular and plural; _volitive_ in the _second_ and _third_ singular and plural. thus, the so-called future is properly divisible into _two_ tenses: the _first_ implying _influence_ or _volition_; the _second_ (or future proper) _intention_ or _promise_. thus: . . i _will_ go. i _shall_ go. thou _shalt_ go. thou _wilt_ go. he _shall_ go. he _will_ go. we _will_ go. we _shall_ go. you _shall_ go. you _will_ go. they _shall_ go. they _will_ go. when the above is thoroughly comprehended by the pupil, it will be only necessary to impress upon his mind (as a concise rule) the necessity of making use of a different auxiliary in speaking of the future actions of _others_, when he wishes to convey the same idea respecting _such actions_ which he has done, or should do, in speaking of his _own_, and _vice versâ_. thus: i _will_ go, and you _shall_ accompany me. (_i. e._ it is my _wish_ to go, and also that you shall accompany me.) i _shall_ go, and you _will_ accompany me. (_i. e._ it is my _intention_ to go; and believe, or know, that it is your _intention_ to accompany me.) the philosophical reason for this distinction will be evident, when we reflect upon the various ideas produced in the mind by the expression of either _volition_ or mere _intention_ (in so far as the latter is distinguishable from active _will_) with regard to _our own_ future actions, and the same terms with reference to the future actions of _others_. it will be seen that a mere _intention_ in the _first_ person, becomes _influence_ when it extends to the _second_ and _third_; we know nothing, _à priori_ (as it were) of the _intentions_ of others, except in so far as we may have the power of _determining_ them. when i say "_i_ shall go" (_j'irai_), i merely express an _intention_ or _promise_ to go; but if i continue "_you_ and _they_ shall go," i convey the idea that _my_ intention or promise is operative on _you_ and _them_; and the terms which i thus use become unintentionally influential or expressive of an extension of _my_ volition to the actions of _others_. again, the terms which i use to signify _volition_, with reference to _my own_ actions, are but _declaratory_ or _promissory_ when i speak of _your_ actions, or those of _others_. i am conscious of _my own_ wish to go; but _my_ wish not influencing _you_, i do, by continuing the use of the same auxiliary, but express my belief or knowledge that _your_ wish is, or will be, coincident with _my own_. when i say "i will go" (_je veux aller_), i express a desire to go; but if i add, "_you_ and _they_ will go," i simply promise on behalf of _you_ and _them_, or express _my_ belief or knowledge that _you_ and _they_ will also desire to go. it is not unworthy of note, that the nice balance between _shall_ and _will_ is much impaired by the constant use of the ellipse, "i'll, you'll," &c.; and that _volition_ and _intention_ are, to a great extent, co-existent and inseparable in the _first_ person: the metaphysical reasons for this do not here require explanation. i am conscious that i have not elucidated this apparently simple, but really complex question, in so clear and concise a manner as i could have wished; but, feeling convinced that my principle at least is sound, i leave it, for better consideration, in the hands of your correspondent. william bates. birmingham. brightland's rule is,-- "in the first person simply _shall_ foretells; in _will_ a threat or else a promise dwells: { } _shall_ in the second and the third does threat; _will_ simply then foretells the coming feat." (see t. k. arnold's _eng. gram. for classical schools_, rd edit., p. .; mitford, _harmony of language_; and note . in rev. r. twopeny's _dissertations on the old and new testament_.) the inconsistency in the use of _shall_ and _will_ is best explained by a doctrine of mr. hare's (j. c. h.), the _usus ethicus_ of the future. (see _cambridge philological museum_, vol. ii. p. ., where the subject is mentioned incidentally, and in illustration; and latham's _english language_, nd edit., p. ., where mr. hare's hypothesis is given at length. indeed, from latham and t. k. arnold my note has been framed.) f. s., b. a. lee. * * * * * inscriptions in books. (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent balliolensis, at p. . of the current volume of "n. & q.," gives several forms of inscriptions in books. the following may prove interesting to him, if not to the generality of your readers. a ms. preserved in the bibliothèque sainte généviève--it appears to have been the cellarer's book of the ancient abbey of that name, and to have been written about the beginning of the sixteenth century--bears on the fly-sheet the name of "mathieu monton, religieux et célérier de l'église de céans," with the following verses: "qui ce livre cy emblera, propter suam maliciam au gibet pendu sera, repugnando superbiam au gibet sera sa maison, sive suis parentibus, car ce sera bien raison, exemplum datum omnibus." an ovid, printed in , belonging to the bibliothèque de chinon, has the following verses: "ce present livre est à jehan theblereau. "qui le trouvera sy lui rende: il lui poyra bien le vin le jour et feste sainct martin, et une mésenge à la sainct jean, sy la peut prendre. "tesmoin mon synet manuel, cy mis le x^e jour de avril mil v^c trente et cyns, après pasque." here follows the paraphe. school-boys in france write the following lines in their books after their names, and generally accompany them with a drawing of a man hanging on a gibbet: "aspice pierrot pendu, quòd librum n'a pas rendu; pierrot pendu non fuisset, si librum reddidisset." english school-boys use these forms: "hic liber est meus testis est deus. si quis furetur a collo pendetur ad hunc modum." this is always followed by a drawing of a gibbet. "john smith, his book. god give him grace therein to look; not only look but understand, for learning is better than house or land. when house and land are gone and spent, then learning is most excellent." "john smith is my name, england is my nation, london is my dwelling-place, and christ is my salvation. when i am dead and in my grave, and all my bones are rotten, when this you see, remember me, when i am 'most forgotten." "steal not this book, my honest friend, for fear the gallows should be your end, and when you're dead the lord should say, where is the book you stole away?" "steal not this book for fear of shame, for under lies the owner's name: the first is john, in letters bright, the second smith, to all men's sight; and if you dare to steal this book, the devil will take you with his hook." honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. i forward you the following inscription, which i met with in an old copy of cæsar's _commentaries_ (if i remember rightly) at pontefract, yorkshire: "si quis hunc librum rapiat scelestus atque scelestis manibus reservet ibit ad nigras acherontis undas non rediturus." f. f. g. (oxford). * * * * * bacon's "advancement of learning." (vol. vii., p. .) i have to thank l. for his notice of my edition of the _advancement of learning_, as well as for the information which he has given me, of which i hope to have an early opportunity of availing myself. as he expresses a hope that it may be followed by similar editions of other of bacon's works, i may state that the _essays_, with the _colours of good and evil_, are already printed, and will be issued very shortly. i am quite conscious that the references in the margin are by no means complete: indeed, as i had only _horæ subsecivæ_ to give to the work, i did not attempt to make them so. { } but i thought it might be useful to give a general indication of the sources from which the writer drew, and therefore put in all that i could find, without the expenditure of a great deal of time. consequently i fear that those i have omitted will not be found to be the most obvious. i shall be glad to make a few remarks on some of the passages noticed by l. p. .--of this piece of carelessness--for which i do not the less feel that i deserved a rebuke because l. has not administered it--i had already been made aware by the kindness of a friend. i confess i had never heard of osorius, which is perhaps no great matter for wonder; but i looked for his name both in bayle and the catalogue of the library of the british museum, and by some oversight missed it. i have since found it in both. i cannot help, however, remarking that this is a good example of the advantage of noting _every_ deviation from the received text. had i tacitly transposed three letters of the word in question (a small liberty compared with some that my predecessors have taken), my corruption of the text might have passed unnoticed. i have not had much experience in these things; but if the works of english writers in general have been tampered with by editors as much as i have found the _advancement_ and _essays_ of lord bacon to be, i fear they must have suffered great mutilation. i rather incline to think it is the case, for i have had occasion lately to compare two editions of paley's _horæ paulinæ_, and i find great differences in the text. all this looks suspicious. p. .--i spent some time in searching for this passage in aristotle, but i could not discover it. i did not look elsewhere. p. .--in the forthcoming edition of the _essays_ i have referred to plutarch, _gryll._, ., which i incline to think is the passage bacon had in his mind. the passage quoted from cicero i merely meant to point out for comparison. p. .--the passage quoted is from sen. _ad lucil._, . p. .--_ad lucil._, . p. .--_ad lucil._, . two or three other passages from seneca will be found without any reference. one of them, p. ., "quidam sunt tam umbratiles ut putent in turbido esse quicquid in luce est," i have taken some pains to hunt for, but hitherto without success. another noticeable one, "vita sine proposito languida et vaga est," is from _ep. ad lucil._, . for the reference to aristotle i am much obliged. i was anxious to trace all the quotations from aristotle, but could not find this one. p. .--i cannot answer this question. is it possible that he was thinking of st. augustine? in the _confessions_, i. ., we kind the expression _vinum erroris_. p. .--no doubt bacon had read the treatise of sallust quoted, but my impression is that he thought the proverb had grown out of the line in plautus. p. .--i have searched again for "alimenta socordiæ," as it is quoted in the _colours of good and evil_, but cannot fix upon any passage from which i can say it was taken, though there are many which might have suggested it. one at p. . of the _advancement_, which i missed at first, i have since met with. it is from the _cherson._, p. . thomas markby. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _test for a good lens._--the generality of purchasers of photographic lenses can content themselves with merely the following rules when they buy. it ought to be achromatic, _i. e._ consisting of the usual two pieces of crown and flint glass, that its curves are the most recommended, and that it is free from bubbles: to ascertain the latter, hold the lens between the finger and thumb of the right hand, much as an egg-merchant examines an egg before a strong gas flame, and a little to the right of it; this reveals every bubble, however small, and another kind of texture like minute gossamer threads. if these are too abundant, it should not be chosen; although the best lenses are never altogether free from these defects, it is on the whole better to have one or two good-sized bubbles than any density of texture; because it follows, that every inequality will refract pencils of light out of the direction they ought to go; and as bubbles do the same thing, but as they do not refract away so much light, they are not of much consequence. i believe if a lens is made as thin as it safely can be, it will be quicker than a thicker one. i have two precisely the same focus, and one thinner than the other; the thinner is much the quicker of the two. an apparently indifferent lens should be tried with several kinds of apertures, till it will take sharp pictures; but if no size of aperture can make it, or a small aperture takes a very long time, it is a bad lens. m. claudet, whose long experience in the art has given him the requisite judgment, changes the diameter of his lenses often during the day; and tries occasionally, in his excellent plan, the places of the chemical focus: by this his time is always nearly the same, and the results steady. as he is always free in communicating his knowledge, he will, i think, always explain his method when he is applied to. the inexperienced photographer is often too prone to blame his lens when the failure proceeds more from the above causes. the variation of the chemical focus during a day's work is often the cause of disappointment: though it does not affect the landscape so much as the portrait operator. { } if any one has a lens, the chemical and visual focus being different, his only remedy is m. claudet's method. and this method will also prove better than any other way at present known of ascertaining whether a lens will take a sharp picture or not. if, however, any plan could be devised for making the solar spectrum visible upon a sheet of paper inside the camera, it would reduce the question of taking sharp pictures at once into a matter of certainty. all lenses, however, should be tried by the opticians who sell them; and if they presented a specimen of their powers to a buyer, he could see in a moment what their capabilities were. weld taylor. bayswater. _photography and the microscope_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i beg to inform your correspondents r. i. f. and j., that in number . of the _quarterly journal of microscopical science_ (highley, fleet street) they will find three papers containing more or less information on the subject of their query; and a plate, exhibiting two positive photographs from collodion negatives, in the same number, will give a good idea of what they may expect to attain in this branch of the art. practically, i know nothing of photography; but, from my acquaintance with the modern achromatic microscope, i venture to say that photography applied to this instrument will be of no farther use than as _an assistant to the draughtsman_. a reference to the plates alluded to will show how incompetent it is to produce _pictures_ of microscopic objects: any one who has seen these objects under a good instrument will acknowledge that these specimens give but a very faint idea of what the microscope actually exhibits. it is unfortunately the case, that the more perfect the instrument, the less adapted it is for producing photographic pictures; for, in those of the latest construction, the aperture of the object-glasses is carried to such an extreme, that the observer is obliged to keep his hand continually on the fine adjustment, in order to accommodate the focus to the different _planes_ in which different parts of the object lie. this is the case even with so low a power as the half-inch object-glasses, those of messrs. powell and lealand being of the enormous aperture of °; and if this is the case while looking through the instrument when this disadvantage is somewhat counteracted by the power which the eye has, to a certain degree, of adjusting itself to the object under observation, how much more inconvenient will it be found in endeavouring to focus the whole object at once on the ground glass plate, where such an accommodating power no longer exists. the smaller the aperture of the object-glasses, in reason, the better they will be adapted for photographic purposes. again, another peculiarity of the object-glasses of the achromatic microscope gives rise to a farther difficulty; they are over-corrected for colour, the spectrum is reversed, or the violet rays are projected beyond the red: this is in order to meet the requirements of the eye-piece. but with the photographic apparatus the eye-piece is not used, so that, after the object has been brought visually into focus in the camera, a farther adjustment is necessary, in order to focus for the actinic rays, which reside in the violet end of the spectrum. this is effected by withdrawing the object-glass a little from the object, in which operation there is no guide but experience; moreover, the amount of withdrawal differs with each object-glass. however, the inconvenience caused by this over-chromatic correction may, i think, be remedied by the use of the achromatic condenser in the place of an object-glass; that kind of condenser, at least, which is supplied by the _first_ microscopic makers. i cannot help thinking that this substitution will prove of some service; for, in the first place, the power of the condenser is generally equal to that of a quarter of an inch object-glass, which is perhaps the most generally useful of all the powers; and again, its aperture is, i think, not usually so great as that which an object-glass of the same power would have; and, moreover, as to correction, though it is slightly spherically under-corrected to accommodate the plate-glass under the object, yet the chromatic correction is _perfect_. the condenser is easily detached from its "fittings," and its application to the camera would be as simple as that of an ordinary object-glass. however, my conviction remains that, in spite of all that perseverance and science can accomplish, it never will be in the power of the photographer to produce a picture of an object under the microscope, _equally distinct in all its parts_; and unless his art can effect this, i need scarcely say that his best productions can be but useful auxiliaries to the draughtsman. i see by an advertisement that the messrs. highley supply everything that is necessary for the application of photography to the microscope. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. in reply to your correspondent j., i would ask if he has any photographic apparatus? if so, the answer to his question "what extra apparatus is required to a first-rate microscope in order to obtain photographic microscopic pictures?" would be _none_; but if not, he would require a camera, or else a wooden conical body, with plate-holder, &c., besides the ordinary photographic outfit. part iii. of the _microscopical journal_, published by highley & son, fleet street, will give him all the information he requires. { } [phi]. (p. .) may find a solution of his difficulties regarding the production of stereoscopic pictures, in the following considerations. the object of having two pictures is to present to _each eye_ an image of what it sees in nature; but as the angle subtended by a line, of which the pupils of the eyes form the extremities, must differ for every distance, and for objects of varying sizes, it follows there is no _absolute_ rule that can be laid down as the only correct one. for _distant_ views there is in nature scarcely any stereoscopic effect; and in a photographic stereoscopic view the effect produced is not really a representation to the eye of the _view itself_, but of _a model of such view_; and the apparent size of the model will vary with the angle of incidence of the two pictures, being _smaller_ and _nearer_ as the angle increases. i believe professor wheatstone recommends for landscapes in , or about half an inch to every foot. geo. shadbolt. _cement for glass baths._--in reply to numerous inquiries which have appeared in "n. & q." relative to a good cement for making glass baths for photographic purposes, i send a recipe which i copied a year or two ago from some newspaper, and which seems likely to answer the purpose: i have not tried it myself, not being a photographer. caoutchouc grains, chloroform ounces, mastic ½ an ounce. the two first-named ingredients are to be mixed first, and after the gum is dissolved, the mastic is to be added, and the whole allowed to macerate for a week. when great elasticity is desirable, more caoutchouc may be added. this cement is perfectly transparent, and is to be applied with a brush cold. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _mr. lyte's mode of printing._--all persons who have experienced disappointment in the printing of their positive pictures will feel obliged by mr. lyte's suggestion as to the bath; but as the preparation of the positive paper has also a great deal to say to the ultimate result, mr. lyte would confer an additional obligation if he gave the treatment he adopts for this. i have observed that the negative collodion picture exercises a good deal of influence on the ultimate colour of the positive, and that different collodion negatives will give different results in this respect, when the paper and treatment with each has been precisely the same. does this correspond with other persons' experience? c. e. f. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _eulenspiegel or ulenspiegel_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--mr. thoms's suggestion, and his quotation in proof thereof from the chronicler, are farther verified by the following inscription and verses which i transcribe from an engraved portrait of the famous jester: "ulenspiegel. "ligt begraben zu dom in flandern in der grosen kirch, auf dem grabister also likend abgebildet. starb a^o. ." these lines are above the portrait, and beneath it are the verses next following: "tchau _ulenspiegeln_ hier. das bildniss macht dich lachen: was wurdst du thun siehst du jhn selber possen machen? zwar _thÿle_ ist ein bild und _spiegel_ dieser welt, viel bruder er verliess; wir treiben narretheÿen, in dem uns dunckt, dass wir die grosten weysen seÿen, drum lache deiner selbst; diss blat dich dir vorstellt." the portrait, evidently that of a man of large intellect, is very life-like, and full of animation. he seems to be some fifty years of age or so; he has a cap, ornamented by large feather, on his head. he is seated in a chair, has a book in his hand, and is attired in a kind of magisterial robe bordered with fur. there is a good-humoured roguish twinkle in his eyes; and i should be inclined to call him, judging from the portrait before me, an epigrammatist rather than mere vulgar jester. the engraving is beautifully executed: it has neither date nor place of publication, but its age may perhaps be determined by the names of the painter (paulus furst) and engraver (p. troschel). the orthography is by no means of recent date. i cannot translate the verses to my own satisfaction; and should feel much obliged if you, mr. editor, or mr. thoms, would favour the readers of "n. & q." with an english version thereof. henry campkin. reform club. _lawyers' bags_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--colonel landman is doubtless correct in his statement as to the colour of barristers' bags; but from the evidence of a templar and causidicus, we must place the change from green to red at some period anterior to the trial of queen caroline. in queen anne's time they were _green_. "i am told, cousin diego, you are one of those that have undertaken to manage me, and that you have said you will carry a _green bag_ yourself, rather than we shall make an end of our lawsuit: i'll teach them and you too to manage."--_the history of john bull_, by dr. arbuthnot, part i. ch. xv. t. h. kersley, b. a. audlem, cheshire. _"nine tailors make a man"_ (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .).--the origin of this saying is to be sought for elsewhere than in england only. le conte de la villemarqué, in his { } interesting collection of breton ballads, _barzas-breiz_, vol. i. p. ., has the following passage: "les tailleurs, cette classe vouée au ridicule, en bretagne, comme dans le pays de galles, en irlande, en ecosse, en allemagne et ailleurs, et qui l'était jadis chez toutes les nations guerrières, dont la vie agitée et errante s'accordait mal avec une existence casanière et paisible. le peuple dit encore de nos jours en bretagne, _qu'il faut neuf tailleurs pour faire un homme_, et jamais il ne prononce leur nom, sans ôter son chapeau, et sans dire: 'sauf votre respect.'" the saying is current also in normandy, at least in those parts which border on britany. perhaps some of the readers of "n. & q." may be able to say whether it is to be found in other parts of europe. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. _"time and i"_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--arbuthnot calls it a spanish proverb. in the _history of john bull_, we read among the titles of other imaginary chapters in the "postscript," that of-- "ch. xvi. commentary upon the _spanish_ proverb, _time and i against any two_; or advice to dogmatical politicians, exemplified in some new affairs between john bull and _lewis baboon_." t. h. kersley, b. a. audlem, cheshire. _carr pedigree_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--w. st. says that william carr married elizabeth, daughter of edward sing, bishop of cork. the name is synge, not sing. the family name was originally millington, and was changed to synge by henry viii. or queen elizabeth, on account of the sweetness of the voice of one of the family, who was a clergyman, and the ancestor of george synge, bishop of cloyne; edward synge, bishop of ross; edward synge, archbishop of tuam; edward synge, bishop of leighlin and ferns; nicholas synge, bishop of killaloe; the late sir samuel synge hutchinson, archdeacon of killala; and of the present sir edward synge. i cannot find that any of these church dignitaries had a daughter married to wm. carr. nicholas synge, bishop of killaloe, left a daughter, elizabeth, who died unmarried in , aged ninety-nine; but i cannot discover that either of the other bishops of that family had a daughter elizabeth. gulielmus. _campvere, privileges of_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--what were these privileges, and whence was the term derived? "veria, quæ et canfera, vel campoveria potius dicitur, alterum est inter oppida hujus insulæ, muro et moenibus clausa, situ quidem ad aquilonem obversa, et in ipso oceani littore: fossam habet, quæ middelburgum usque extenditur, à quâ urbe leucæ tantum unius, etc. "estque oppidulum satis concinnum, et mercimoniis florens, maxime propter commercia navium _scoticarum_, quæ in isto potissimum portu stare adsueverunt. "_scotorum_ denique, superioribus annis, frequentatione celebris et _scoticarum_ mercium, præcipue vellerum ovillorum, stapula, ut vocant, et emporium esse coepit."--l. guicciardini, _belgium_ ( ), vol. ii. pp. , . will j. d. s. be so good as to say where he found the "campvere privileges" referred to? e. _haulf-naked_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the conjecture that _half-naked_ was a manor in co. sussex is verified by entries in _cal. rot. pat._, edw. i., m. .; and edw. i., m. . also in _abbreviatio rot. orig._, edw. iii., _rot._ .; in which latter it is spelt _halnaked_. j. w. s. r. st. ives, hunts. _old picture of the spanish armada_ (vol. vii., p. .).--although perhaps this may not be reckoned an answer to j. s. a.'s query on this head, i have to inform you that in the steeple part of gaywood church near this town, is a fine old painting of queen elizabeth reviewing the forces at tilbury fort, and the spanish fleet in the distance. it is framed, and sadly wants cleaning. j. n. c. king's lynn. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. ., &c.).--we have in st. margaret's parish a parochial library, which is kept in a room fitted up near the vestry of the church in this town. j. n. c. king's lynn. to the list of places where there are parochial libraries may be added bewdley, in worcestershire. there is a small library in the grammar school of that place, consisting, if i recollect aright, mainly of old divinity, under the care of the master: though it is true, for some years, there has been no master. s. s. s. in the preface to the _life of lord keeper guilford_, by roger north, it appears that dudleys youngest daughter of charles, and granddaughter of dudley lord north, dying,-- "her library, consisting of a choice collection of oriental books, by the present lord north and grey, her only surviving brother, was given to the parochial library of rougham in norfolk, where it now remains." this library then existed in , the date of the first edition of the work. furvus. st. james's. _how to stain deal_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent c. will find that a solution of { } asphaltum in boiling turpentine is a very good stain to dye deal to imitate oak. this must be applied when cold with a brush to the timbers: allowed to get dry, then size and varnish it. the dye, however, which i always use, is a compound of raw umber and a small portion of blue-black diluted to the shade required with strong size in solution: this must be used hot. it is evident that this will not require the preparatory sizing before the application of the varnish. common coal, ground in water, and used the same as any other colour, i have found to be an excellent stain for roof timbers. w. h. cullingford. cromhall, gloucestershire. _roger outlawe_ (vol. vii., p. .).--of this person, who was lord deputy of ireland for many years of the reign of edward iii., some particulars will be found in the notes to the _proceedings against dame alice kyteler_, edited for the camden society by mr. wright, p. . there is evidently more than one misreading in the date of the extract communicated by the rev. h. t. ellacombe: "die pasche in viiij mense anno b. etii post ultimum conquestum hibernia quarto." i cannot interpret "in viiij mense;" but the rest should evidently be "anno _regis edwardi tertii_ post ultimum conquestum hiberniæ quarto." may i ask whether this "last conquest of ireland" has been noticed by palæographers in other instances? anon. _tennyson_ (vol. vii., p. .).--will not the following account by lord bacon, in his _history of henry vii._, of the marriage by proxy between maximilian, king of the romans, and the princess anne of britany, illustrate for your correspondent h. j. j. his last quotation from tennyson? "she to me was proxy-wedded with a bootless calf, at eight years old." "maximilian so far forth prevailed, both with the young lady and with the principal persons about her, as the marriage was consummated by proxy, with a ceremony at that time in these parts new. for she was not only publicly contracted, but stated, as a bride, and solemnly bedded; and after she was laid, there came in maximilian's ambassador with letters of procuration, and in the presence of sundry noble personages, men and women, put his leg, stripped naked to the knee, between the espousal sheets," &c. tyro. dublin. _old fogie_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. keightley supposes the term of _old fogie_, as applied to "mature old warriors," to be "of pure irish origin," or "rather of dublin birth." in this he is certainly mistaken, for the word _fogie_, as applied to old soldiers, is as well known, and was once as familiarly used in scotland, as it ever was or could have been in ireland. the race was extinct before my day, but i understand that formerly the permanent garrisons of edinburgh, and i believe also of stirling, castles, consisted of veteran companies; and i remember, when i first came to edinburgh, of people who had seen them, still talking of "the castle fogies." dr. jamieson, in his _scottish dictionary_, defines the word "foggie or fogie," to be first, "an invalid, or garrison soldier," secondly, "a person advanced in life" and derives it from "su. g. _fogde_, formerly one who had the charge of a garrison." this seems to me a more satisfactory derivation than mr. keightley's, who considers it a corruption or diminutive of _old folks_. j. l. city chambers, edinburgh. _errata corrigenda._--vol. ii., p. . col. ., near the bottom, for sir _william_ jardine, read sir _henry_ jardine. sir william and sir henry were very different persons, though the former was probably the more generally known. sir h. was the author of the report referred to. vol. vii., p. . col. . line , for _lenier_ read _ferrier_. j. l. city chambers, edinburgh. _anecdote of dutens_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).-- "lord lansdowne at breakfast mentioned of dutens, who wrote _mémoires d'un voyageur qui se repose_, and was a great antiquarian, that, on his describing once his good luck in having found (what he fancied to be) a tooth of scipio's in italy, some one asked him what he had done with it, upon which he answered briskly: 'what have i done with it? le voici,' pointing to his mouth; where he had made it supplemental to a lost one of his own."--moore's _journal_, vol. iv. p. . e. h. a. _gloves at fairs_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in hone's _every-day book_ (vol. ii. p. .) is the following paragraph:-- "exeter lammas fair.--the charter for this fair is perpetuated by a glove of immense size, stuffed and carried through the city on a very long pole, decorated with ribbons, flowers, &c., and attended with music, parish beadles, and the mobility. it is afterwards placed on the top of the guildhall, and then the fair commences: on the taking down of the glove, the fair terminates.--p." as to crolditch, _alias_ lammas fair, at exeter, see izacke's _remarkable antiquities of the city of exeter_, pp. , . c. h. cooper. cambridge. at macclesfield, in cheshire, a large glove was, perhaps is, always suspended from the outside of the window of the town-hall during the holding of a fair; and as long as the glove was so suspended, every one was free from arrest within the { } township, and, i have heard, while going and returning to and from the fair. edward hawkins. at free mart, at portsmouth, a glove used to be hung out of the town-hall window, and no one could be arrested during the fortnight that the fair lasted. f. o. martin. _arms--battle-axe_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the families which bore three dane-axes or battle-axes in their coats armorial were very numerous in ancient times. it may chance to be of service to your querist a.c. to be informed, that those of devonshire which displayed these bearings were the following: dennys, batten, gibbes, ledenry, wike, wykes, and urey. j. d. s. _enough_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in staffordshire, and i believe in the other midland counties, this word is usually pronounced _enoo_, and written _enow_. in richardson's _dictionary_ it will be found "enough or enow;" and the etymology is evidently from the german _genug_, from the verb _genugen_, to suffice, to be enough, to content, to satisfy. the anglo-saxon is _genog_. i remember the burden of an old song which i frequently heard in my boyish days: "i know not, i care not, i cannot tell how to woo, but i'll away to the merry green woods, and there get nuts _enow_." this evidently shows what the pronunciation was when it was written. j. a. h. _enough_ is from the same root as the german _genug_, where the first _g_ has been lost, and the latter softened and almost lost in its old english pronunciation, _enow_. the modern pronunciation is founded, as that of many other words is, upon an affected style of speech, ridiculed by holofernes.[ ] the word _bread_, for example, is almost universally called _bred_; but in chaucer's poetry and indeed now in yorkshire, it is pronounced bré-äd, a dissyllable. t. j. buckton. birmingham. [footnote : the euphuists are probably chargeable with this corruption.] in vol. vii., p. . there is an inquiry respecting the change in the pronunciation of the word _enough_, and quotations are given from waller, where the word is used, rhyming with _bow_ and _plough_. but though spelt _enough_, is not the word, in both places, really _enow_? and is there not, in fact, a distinction between the two words? does not _enough_ always refer to _quantity_, and _enow_ to _number_: the former, to what may be _measured_; the latter, to that which may be _counted_? in both quotations the word _enough_ refers to _numbers_? s. s. s. _feelings of age_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a.c. asks if it "is not the general feeling, that man in advancing years would not like to begin life again?" i fear not. it is a wisdom above the average of what men possess that made the good sir thomas browne say: "though i think no man can live well once, but he that could live twice, yet for my own part i would not live over my hours past, or begin again the thread of my dayes: not upon cicero's ground--because i have lived them well--but for fear i should live them worse. i find my growing judgment daily instruct me how to be better, but my untamed affections and confirmed vitiosity make me daily do worse. i find in my confirmed age the same sins i discovered in my youth; i committed many then, because i was a child, and, because i commit them still, i am yet an infant. therefore i perceive a man may be twice a child before the days of dotage, and stand in need of Æson's bath before threescore." the annotator refers to _cic._, lib. xxiv. ep. .: "quod reliquum est, sustenta te, mea terentia, ut potes, honestissimè. viximus: floruimus: non vitium nostrum, sed virtus nostra, nos afflixit. peccatum est nullum, nisi quod non unâ animam cum ornamentis amisimus."--edit. orell., vol. iii. part i. p. . however, it seems probable that sir thomas meant that this sentiment is rather to be gathered from cicero's writings,--not enunciated in a single sentence. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _optical query_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to the optical query by h. h., i venture to suggest that a stronger gust of wind than usual might easily occasion the illusion in question, as i myself have frequently found in looking at the fans on the tops of chimneys. or possibly the eyes may have been confused by gazing on the revolving blades, just as the tongue is frequently influenced in its accentuation by pronouncing a word of two syllables in rapid articulations. f. f. s. oxford. _cross and pile_ (vol. vii., p. .).--here is another explanation at least as satisfactory as some of the previous ones: "the word _coin_ itself is money struck on the _coin_ or head of the flattened metal, by which word _coin_ or _head_ is to be understood the _obverse_, the only side which in the infancy of coining bore the stamp. thence the latin _cuneus_, from _cune_ or _kyn_, the head. "this side was also called _pile_, in corruption from _poll_, a head, not only from the side itself being the _coin_ or _head_, but from its being impressed most commonly with some head in contradistinction to the reverse, which, in latter times, was oftenest a cross. thence the vulgarism, _cross or pile, poll, head_."--cleland's _specimen of an etymological vocabulary_, p. . a. holt white. { } _capital punishments_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the authorities to which w. l. n. refers not being generally accessible, he would confer a very great obligation by giving the names and dates of execution of any of the individuals alluded to by him, who have undergone capital punishment in this country for exercising the roman catholic religion. herein, it is almost needless to remark, i exclude such cases as those of babington, ballard, parsons, garnett, campion, oldcorne, and others, their fellows, who suffered, as every reader of history knows, for treasonable practices against the civil and christian policy and government of the realm. cowgill. _thomas bonnell_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in what year was this person, about whose published _life_ j. s. b. inquires, mayor of norwich? his name, as such, does not occur in the lists of nobbs, blomefield, or ewing. cowgill. _passage in the first part of faust_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. w. fraser will find good illustrations of the question he has raised in his second suggestion for the elucidation of this passage in _the abbot_, chap. . _ad fin._ and _note_. a few weeks after giving this reference, in answer to a question by emdee (see "n. & q.," vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .), i sent in english, for i am not a german scholar, as an additional reply to emdee, the very same passage that mr. fraser has just forwarded, but it was not inserted, probably because its fitness as an illustration was not very evident. my intention in sending that second reply was to show that, as in _christabel_ and _the abbot_, the voluntary and _sustained_ effort required to introduce the evil spirit was of a physical, so in _faust_ it was of a mental character; and i confess that i am much pleased now to find my opinion supported by the accidental testimony of another correspondent. it must, however, be allowed that the peculiar wording of the passage under consideration may make it difficult, if not impossible, to separate _earnest_ from the _magical_ form in which faust's command to enter his room is given. göthe's intention, probably, was to combine and illustrate both. as proofs of the belief in the influence of the number _three_ in incantation, i may refer to virg. _ecl._ viii. -- .; to a passage in apuleius, which describes the resuscitation of a corpse by zachlas, the egyptian sorcerer; "propheta, sic propitiatus, herbulam quampiam ter ob os corporis, et aliam pectori ejus imponit."--apul. _metamorph._, lib. ii. sect. . (regent's classics); and to the rhyming spell that raised the white lady of avenel at the corrie nan shian. (see _the monastery_, chaps. xi. and xvii.) c. forbes. _sir josias bodley_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent y. l. will find some account of the family of bodley in prince's _worthies of devon_, edit. , pp. - ., and in moore's _history of devon_, vol. ii. pp. - . see also "n. & q.," vol. iv., pp. . . . j. d. s. _claret_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the word _claret_ is evidently derived directly from the french word _clairet_; which is used, even at the present day, as a generic name for the "_vins ordinaires_," of a light and thin quality, grown in the south of france. the name is never applied but to red wines; and it is very doubtful whether it takes its appellation from any place, being always used adjectively--"_vin clairet_," not _vin_ de _clairet_. i am perhaps not quite correct in stating, that the word is always used as an adjective; for we sometimes find _clairet_ used alone as a substantive; but i conceive that in this case the word _vin_ is to be understood, as we say "du bordeaux," "du champagne," meaning "du vin de bordeaux," "du vin de champagne." _eau clairette_ is the name given to a sort of cherry-brandy; and lapidaries apply the name _clairette_ to a precious stone, the colour of which is not so deep as it ought to be. this latter fact may lead one to suppose that the wine derived its name from being _clearer_ and lighter in colour than the more full-bodied vines of the south. the word is constantly occurring in old drinking-songs. a song of olivier basselin, the minstrel of vire, begins with these words: "beau nez, dont les rubis out coûté mainte pipe de vin blanc et clairet." by the way, this song is the original of one in the musical drama of _jack sheppard_, which many of the readers of "n. & q." may remember, as it became rather popular at the time. it began thus: "jolly nose, the bright gems that illumine thy tip, were dug from the mines of canary." i am not aware that the plagiarism has been noticed before. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. now that the season is arriving for the sportsman, angler, yachtsman, and lover of nature to visit the wild and solitary beauties of _gamle norge_, nothing could be better timed than the pleasant gossiping _month in norway_, by j. g. holloway, which forms this month's issue of murray's _railway library_; or the splendidly illustrated _norway and its scenery_, comprising the _journal of a tour_ by edward price, esq., and a _road book for tourists, with hints to anglers and sportsmen_, edited by t. forster, esq., which forms the new number of bohn's _illustrated library_, and { } which is embellished with a series of admirable views by mr. price, from plates formerly published at a very costly price, but which, in this new form, are now to be procured for a few shillings. as the americans have been among the most successful photographic manipulators, we have looked with considerable interest at a work devoted to the subject which has just been imported from that country, _the history and practice of the art of photography, &c._, by henry h. snelling, _fourth edition_; and though we are bound to admit that it contains many hints and notes which may render it a useful addition to the library of the photographer, we still must pronounce it as a work put together in a loose, unsatisfactory manner, and as being for the most part a compilation from the best writers in the old world. when dr. pauli's _life of alfred_ made its appearance it received, as it deserved, our hearty commendation. we have now to welcome a translation of it, which has just been published in bohn's _antiquarian library_,--_the life of alfred the great, translated from the german of dr. pauli; to which is appended alfred's anglo-saxon version of orosius, with a literal english translation, and an anglo-saxon alphabet and glossary by_ benjamin thorpe; and it speaks favourably for the spread of the love of real learning, that it should answer the publisher's purpose to put forth such a valuable book in so cheap and popular a form. mr. thorpe's scholarship is too well known to require recognition at our hands. books received.--_remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england, by_ j. y. akerman. the present number contains coloured engravings of the _umbo of shield and weapons found at driffield_, and of a _bronze patera from a cemetery at wingham, kent_.--_gervinus' introduction to the history of the nineteenth century_. apparently a carefully executed translation of dr. gervinus' now celebrated brochure issued by mr. bohn; who has, in his _standard library_, given us a new edition of _de lolme on the constitution_, with notes by j. macgregor, m.p.; and in his _classical library_ a translation by c. d. yonge of _diogenes laertius' lives and opinions of the ancient philosophers_. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. walker's latin particles. herbert's carolina threnodia. vo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . scott, remarks on the best writings of the best authors (or some such title). sermons by the rev. robert wake, m.a. , , &c. history of ancient wilts, by sir r. c. hoare. the last three parts. rev. a. dyce's edition of dr. richard bentley's works. vol. iii. published by francis macpherson, middle row, holborn. . dissertation on isaiah xviii., in a letter to edward king, esq., by samuel lord bishop of rochester (horsley). the quarto edition, printed for robson. . ben jonson's works. vols. vo. vols. ii., iii., iv. bds. sir walter scott's novels. vols. vo. the last nine vols. boards. * * * _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ * * * letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are compelled to postpone until next week many interesting articles which are in type, and many replies to correspondents._ mr. riley's _reply to the_ rev. mr. graves' _notice of_ hoveden _did not reach us in time for insertion this week._ i. a. n. ( rd highlanders.) _several correspondents, as well as yourself, complain of the difficulty of obtaining amber varnish. there are several eastern gums which much resemble amber, as also a substance known as "highgate resin." genuine amber, when rubbed together, emits a very fragrant odour similar to a fresh lemon, and does not abrade the surface. the fictitious amber, on the contrary, breaks or becomes rough, and has a resinous turpentine-like smell. genuine amber is to be obtained generally of the tobacconists, who have often broken mouth-pieces by them: old necklaces, now out of use, are sold at a very moderate price by the jewellers. the amber of commerce, used in varnish-making, contains so much impurity that the waste of chloroform renders it very undesirable to use. the amber should be pounded in a mortar, and, to an ounce by_ measure _of chloroform, add a drachm and a half of amber (only about one-fourth of it will be dissolved), and this requires two days' maceration. it should be filtered through fine blotting-paper. being so very fluid, it runs most freely over the collodion, and, when well prepared and applied, renders the surface so hard, and so much like the glass, that it is difficult to know on which side of the glass the positive really is. the varnish is to be obtained properly made at from_ s. _to_ s. d. _per ounce; and although this appears dear, it is not so in use, so very small a portion being requisite to effectually cover a picture; and the effects exceed every other application with which we are acquainted,--to say nothing of its_ instantaneously _becoming hard, in itself a most desirable requisite._ ---- (islington). _your note has been mislaid, but in all probability the spots in your collodion would be removed by dipping into the bottle a small piece of iodide of potassium. collodion made exactly as described by_ dr. diamond _in_ "n. & q.," _entirely answers our expectations, and we prefer it, for our own use, to any we have ever been able to procure._ j. m. s. (manchester) _shall receive a private communication upon his photographic troubles. we must, however, refer him to our advertising columns for pure chemicals. ether ought not to exceed_ s. d. _the pint of twenty ounces._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * this day is published, pictorial illustrations of the catalogue of manuscripts in gonville and caius college library. selected by the rev. j. j. smith. being facsimiles of illumination, text, and autograph, done in lithograph, to. size, with letter-press description in vo., as companion to the published catalogue, price l. s. a few copies may be had of which the colouring of the plates is more highly finished. price l. s. cambridge: john deighton. london: george bell. * * * * * officers' bedsteads and bedding. heal & son beg to call the attention of gentlemen requiring outfits to their large stock of portable bedsteads, bedding, and furniture, including drawers, washstands, chairs, glasses, and every requisite for home and foreign service. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * to parents, guardians, residents in india, &c.--a lady residing within an hour's drive westward of hyde park, and in a most healthy and cheerful situation, is desirous of taking the entire charge of a little girl, to share with her only child (about a year and a half old) her maternal care and affection, together with the strictest attention to mental training. terms, including every possible expense except medical attendance, l. per annum. if required, the most unexceptionable references can be furnished. address to t. b. s., care of mr. bell, publisher, , fleet street. { } * * * * * photographic school.--royal polytechnic institution. the school is now open for instruction in all branches of photography, to ladies and gentlemen, on alternate days, from eleven till four o'clock, under the joint direction of t. a. malone, esq., who has long been connected with photography, and j. h. pepper, esq., the chemist to the institution. a prospectus, with terms, may be had at the institution. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for the delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make, waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * city of london life assurance society, . royal exchange buildings, london. subscribed capital, a quarter of a million. _trustees._ mr. commissioner west, leeds. the hon. w. f. campbell, stratheden house. john thomas, esq., bishop's stortford. this society embraces every advantage of existing life offices, viz. the mutual system without its risks of liabilities: the proprietary, with its security, simplicity, and economy: the accumulative system, introduced by this society, uniting life with the convenience of a deposit bank: self-protecting policies, also introduced by this society, embracing by one policy and one rate of premium a life assurance, an endowment, and a deferred annuity. no forfeiture. loans with commensurate assurances. bonus recently declared, per cent. edw. fred. leeks, secretary. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. polices effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * winslow hall, bucks. dr. lovell's scholastic establishment (exclusively for the sons of gentlemen) was founded at mannheim in , under the patronage of h. r. h. the grande duchesse stephanie of baden, and removed to winslow in . the course of tuition includes the french and german languages, and all other studies which are preparatory to the universities, the military colleges, and the army examination. the number of pupils is limited to thirty. the principal is always in the schoolroom, and superintends the classes. there are also french, german, and english resident masters. prospectus and references can be had on application to the principal. { } * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, may , contains articles on agriculture, history of agricultural machinery, by mr. mechi ---- statistics, by mr. watson birds, names of, by mr. holt bottles, preserve, by mr. cuthill calendar, horticultural ----, agricultural chemical work nuisance dahlia, the, by mr. m^cdonald draining swamps, by mr. dumolo drill seeding, advantages of dropmore gardens exhibition of , estate purchased by commissioners of (with engraving) frost, plants injured by, by mr. whiting gardening, kitchen grapes, colouring of heating, gas, (with engraving) land, transfer of law relating to land ---- of leases, by dr. mackenzie ---- of fixtures, french manchester and liverpool agricultural society's journal, rev. machinery, agricultural, by mr. mechi mangold wurzel, by mr. watson musa cavendishi pipes, to coat, by dr. angus smith potatoes, curl in potato disease preserves, bottles for, by mr. cuthill rhubarb wine, by mr. cuthill root, crops on clay, by mr. wortley royal botanic society, report of exhibition seeding, advantages of drill siphocampylus betulifolius societies, proceedings of the horticultural, linnean, national floricultural, agricultural of england sparkenhoe farmers' club statistics, agricultural, by mr. watson swamps, to drain, by mr. dumolo tulips, groom's vegetables, culture of water-pipe coating, by dr. angus smith winter, effects of, by mr. whiting woods, management of * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * this day is published, part iii. of lilly's catalogue, containing a most extraordinary collection of rare and curious black-letter english books, printed in the fifteenth century, particularly rich in theology and works relating to controversial theology, and historical books, relating to the reign of queen elizabeth and james i. on the jesuits, seminary priests, roman catholics, mary queen of scots, martin mar-prelate tracts, &c. &c., during this eventful period. also, a collection of historical and antiquarian books, in english topography, heraldry, history, antiquities, &c. &c., in very fine state, in fine old russia and calf gilt bindings; besides a selection of rare and curious books in english and miscellaneous literature, on sale, at the very moderate prices affixed, by j. lilly, . king street, covent garden, london. the catalogue will be forwarded to any gentleman on the receipt of two postage stamps; or the whole of lilly's catalogues for on the receipt of twelve postage stamps. *** j. lilly would most respectfully beg the attention of collectors and literary gentlemen to the above catalogue. * * * * * new books published this day. britannic researches; or, new facts and rectifications of ancient british history. by the rev. beale poste, m.a. vo., pp. , with engravings, s. cloth. a glossary of provincialisms in use in the county of sussex. by w. durrant copper, f.a.s. mo., s. d. cloth. a few notes on shakspeare; with occasional remarks on the emendations of the manuscript-corrector in mr. collier's copy of the folio, . by the rev. alexander dyce. vo., s. cloth. wiltshire tales, illustrative of the dialect and manners of the rustic population of that county. by john yonge akerman, esq. mo., s. d. cloth. remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england, described and illustrated. by j. y. akerman, secretary of the society of antiquaries. parts i. to v., to., s. d. each. *** the plates are admirably executed by mr. basire, and coloured under the direction of the author. it is a work well worthy the notice of the archæologist. the retrospective review; consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from curious, useful, and valuable old books. vo. nos. , , and , s. d. each. (no. ., august .) j. russell smith, . soho square. * * * * * the royal society of female musicians, _established , for the relief of its distressed members._ _patroness_: her most gracious majesty the queen. _vice-patronesses_: her royal highness the duchess of kent, her royal highness the duchess of cambridge. on friday evening, june , , at the hanover square rooms, will be performed, for the benefit of this institution, a grand concert of vocal and instrumental music. _vocal performers_--miss birch, miss dolby, miss pyne, miss helen taylor, mrs. noble, and miss louisa pyne. madame f. lablache and madame clara novello. signor gardoni, mr. benson, and signor f. lablache. herr pischek and herr staudigl. in the course of the concert, madlle. clauss will play one of her celebrated pianoforte pieces. the members of the harp union, mr. t. h. wright, herr oberthür, and mr. h. j. trust, will perform the grand national fantasia for three harps, composed by oberthür, as lately played at buckingham palace, by command of her majesty. the band will be complete in every department.--_leader_, mr. h. blagrove. _conductor_, mr. w. sterndale bennett. the doors will open at seven o'clock, and the concert will commence at eight precisely. tickets, half-a-guinea each. reserved seats, one guinea each. an honorary subscriber of one guinea annually, or of ten guineas at one payment (which shall be considered a life subscription), will be entitled to two tickets of admission, or one for a reserved seat, to every benefit concert given by the society. donations and subscriptions will be thankfully received, and tickets delivered, by the secretary, mr. j. w. holland, . macclesfield st., soho; and at all the principal music-sellers. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for june contains the following articles:-- . the daughters of charles i. . the exiled royal family of england at rome in . . the philopseudes of lucian. . history of the lead hills and gold regions of scotland. . survey of hedingham castle in (with two plates). . layard's discoveries in nineveh and babylon (with engravings). . californian and australian gold. . correspondence of sylvanus urban: establishment of the cloth manufacture in england by edward iii.--st. james's park.--the meaning of "romeland."--the queen's and prince's wardrobes in london.--the culture of beet-root.--with notes of the month, reviews of new publications, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of rear-adm. sir t. fellowes, general sir t. g. montresor, lieut.-gen. sir walter gilbert, the dean of peterborough, professor scholefield, james roche, esq., george palmer, esq., andrew lawson, esq., w. f. lloyd, esq., &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * mr. parker's new magazine. the national miscellany.--no. ii. june. contents. . public picture galleries. . poems by alexander smith. . the pawnbroker's window. . notes and emendations of shakspeare. . the præraphaelites. . social life in paris--_continued_. . the rappists. . colchester castle. . cabs and cabmen. . the lay of the hero. _price one shilling._ london: john henry parker. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, respectfully informs the clergy, architects, and churchwardens, that he replies immediately to all applications by letter, for information respecting his manufactures in church furniture, robes, communion linen, &c., &c., supplying full information as to prices, together with sketches, estimates, patterns of materials, &c., &c. having declined appointing agents, mr. french invites direct communications by post, as the most economical and satisfactory arrangement. parcels delivered free by railway. * * * * * record and literary agency.--the advertiser, who has had considerable experience in topography and genealogy, begs to offer his services to those gentlemen wishing to collect information from the public record offices, in any branch of literature, history, genealogy, or the like, but who, from an imperfect acquaintance with the documents preserved in those depositories, are unable to prosecute their inquiries with satisfaction. address by letter, prepaid, to w. h. hart, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. p. "probably gave no directions about his mss." - "give" in original p. "the unseen world; communications with it, real and imaginary, &c., " - date printed as , corrected by subsequent erratum note p. "the mexicans worshipped the cross as the god of rain" - "pain" in the original, the quotation clearly indicates that "rain" is correct p. "in neither of these works is there any putting forth of his power" - "in there any" in original p. "it is my intention to go;" - "in is my intention" in original generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july . .. [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page the eye: its primary idea gossiping history--de quincey's account of hatfield notes upon the names of some of the early inhabitants of hellas shakspeare readings, no. ix. göthe's author-remuneration minor notes:--parallel passages--unpublished epitaphs-- the colour of ink in writings--literary parallels-- latin verses prefixed to parish registers-- napoleon's bees queries:-- was thomas lord lyttelton the author of junius's letters? by sir f. madden minor queries:--lord chatham--slow-worm superstition-- tangiers--snail gardens--naples and the campagna felice--"the land of green ginger"--mugger-- snail-eating--mysterious personage--george wood of chester--a scale of vowel sounds--seven oaks and nine elms--murder of monaldeschi--governor dameram--ancient arms of the see of york--hupfeld--inscription on a tomb in finland--sir isaac newton and voltaire on railway travelling--tom thumb's house at gonerby, lincolnshire--mr. payne collier's monovolume shakspeare replies:-- wild plants and their names jacob bobart, by h. t. bobart heraldic queries door-head inscriptions consecrated roses notes on serpents photographic correspondence:--early notice of the camera obscura--queries on dr. diamond's collodion process--baths for the collodion process replies to minor queries:--mitigation of capital punishment to a forger--chronograms and anagrams-- abigail--burial in unconsecrated ground--"cob" and "conners"--coleridge's unpublished mss.--selling a wife--life--passage of thucydides on the greek factions--archbishop king--devonianisms--perseverant, perseverance--"the good old cause"--saying of pascal-- paint taken off of old oak--passage in the "tempest" miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. the eye: its primary idea. i do not remember to have remarked that any writer notices how uniformly, in almost all languages, the same primary idea has been attached to the eye. this universal consent is the more remarkable, inasmuch as the connexion in question, though of course most appropriate and significant in itself, hardly seems to indicate the most prominent characteristic, or what we should deem to be _par excellence_ the obvious qualities of the eye; in a word, we should scarcely expect a term derived from a physical attribute or property. the eye is suggestive of life, of divinity, of intellect, piercing acuteness (_acies_); and again, of truth, of joy, of love: but these seem to have been disregarded, as being mere indistinctive accidents, and the primary idea which, by the common consent of almost all nations, has been thought most properly to symbolise this organ is a spring--_fons_, [greek: pêgê]. thus, from [hebrew: `iyn], _manare, scatere_, a word not in use, according to fuerst, we have the hebrew [hebrew: `ayin], _fons aquarum et lacrimarum_, h. e. _oculus_. this word however, in its simple form, seems to have almost lost its primary signification, being used most generally in its secondary--_oculus_. (old testament hebrew version, _passim_.) in the sense of _fons_, its derivative [hebrew: ma`yan] is usually substituted. precisely the same connexion of ideas is to be found in the syriac, the ethiopic, and the arabic. again, in the greek we find the rarely-used word [greek: opê], a fountain, or more properly the _eye_, whence it wells out,--the same form as [greek: opê], _oculus_; [greek: ôps, opsis, optomai]. thus, in st. james his epistle, cap. iii. .: [greek: mêti hê pêgê ek tês autês opês bruei to gluku kai to pikron]. in the welsh, likewise, a parallel case occurs: _llygad_, an eye, signifies also the spring from which water flows, as in the same passage of st. james: _a ydyw ffynnon o'r un llygad_ (from one spring or eye) _yn rhoi dwfr melus a chwerw?_ on arriving at the teutonic or old german tongue, we find the same connexion still existing: _avg_, _auga_,--_oculus_; whence _ougen ostendere_--gothis _augo_; and _awe, auge, ave, campus ad { } amnem_. (vid. schilteri, _thes._, vol. iii. _ad voc._) and here we cannot help noticing the similarity between these words and the hebrew [hebrew: y'or], which (as well as the coptic _iaro_) means primarily a river or stream from a spring; but, according to professor lee, is allied to [hebrew: 'wor], light, the enlightenment of the mind, the opening of the eyes; and he adds, "the application of the term to water, as _running, translucid_, &c., is easy." here, then, is a similar connexion of ideas with a change in the metaphor. in the dialects which descended from the teutonic in the saxon branch, the connexion between these two distinct objects is also singularly preserved. it is to be found in the low german, the friesic, and the anglo-saxon. in the latter we have _eá_, _eah_, _eagor_, a welling, flowing stream; _eah_, _ægh_, _eage_, an eye, which might be abundantly illustrated. we could hardly fail to find in shakspeare some allusion to these connected images in the old tongue; no speck of beauty could exist and escape his ken. thus: "in that respect, too, like a loving child, shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring, because kind nature doth require it so." _tit. and._, act v. sc. . "back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; your tributary drops belong to woe, which you, mistaking, offer up for joy." _rom. and jul._, act iii. sc. . many of the phrases of the ancient tongues, in which the eye bears a part, have been handed down to us, and are still preserved in our own. my space, however, forbids me to do more than allude to them; but there is one very forcible expression in the hebrew [hebrew: `ayin b`ayin], literally, eye in eye, which we render much less forcibly--face to face. the welsh have preserved it exactly in their _llygad yn llygad_. indeed, this is not the only instance in which they are proud of having handed down the hebrew idiom in all its purity. shakspeare twice uses the old phrase: "since then my office hath so far prevailed, that face to face, and royal eye to eye, you have congreeted."--_hen. v._, act v. sc. . and in _tro. and cres._, act iii. sc. ; but it appears now to be obsolete. before concluding, i cannot help noticing, in connexion with this subject, the old english term "the apple of the eye." i am unable to trace it beyond the anglo-saxon. the teutonic _sehandes ougen_, _pupilla oculi_, is totally distinct; _seha_ being merely _medius punctus oculi_, whence _sehan_, _videre_. in the semitic languages, as well as in the greek and latin, the origin of the term is the same, and gives no clue to the meaning of the saxon term. thus, in the hebrew [hebrew: 'iyshwon], dim. of [hebrew: 'iysh], _homunculus_, the small image of a person seen in the eye. in arabic it is the _man_ or _daughter of the eye_. in greek we have [greek: korê, korasion, korasidon]; and in latin, _pupa, pupula, pupilla_. has any light been thrown on the anglo-saxon term? can it be that _iris_, not the pupil, is taken to represent an apple? the pupil itself would then be the eye of the apple of the eye. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * gossiping history--de quincey's account of hatfield. in proof of the severity with which the laws against forgery were enforced, i have been referred to the case of hatfield, hanged in for forging franks. it is given very fully in mr. de quincey's "literary recollections of coleridge" in the first volume of the boston edition of his _works_. the story has some romance in it, and excited great interest fifty years ago. hatfield had lived by swindling; and, though he underwent an imprisonment for debt, had, upon the whole, a long career of success. the last scene of his depredations was the lakes, where he married a barmaid, who was called "the beauty of buttermere." shortly after the marriage he was arrested, tried, and executed. mr. de quincey afterwards lived in the neighbourhood, dined at the public-house kept by mary's father, and was waited upon by her. he had the fullest opportunities of getting correct information: and his version of the story is so truthlike, that i should have accepted it without hesitation but for the hanging for forging a frank. as that offence never was capital, and was made a felony punishable with transportation for seven years by geo. iii. c. ., i was impelled to compare the statement founded on gossip with more formal accounts; and i send the result in illustration of the small reliance which is to be placed on tradition in such matters. the arrival of hatfield in a carriage is graphically described. he called himself the hon. augustus hope, brother of the earl of hopetoun. some doubts were felt at first, but-- "to remove suspicion, he not only received letters addressed to him under this assumed name, but he continually franked letters by that name. now, _that being a capital offence_, being not only a forgery, but (as a forgery on the post-office) sure to be prosecuted, nobody presumed to question his pretensions any longer; and henceforward he went to all places with the consideration due to an earl's brother."--p. . the marriage with mary robinson, and the way in which they passed the honeymoon, are described: "they continued to move backwards and forwards, until at length, _with the startling of a thunderclap to the_ { } _affrighted mountaineers_, the bubble burst; officers of justice appeared, _the stranger was easily intercepted from flight_, and, _upon a capital charge_, he was _borne away to carlisle_. at the ensuing assizes he was _tried for forgery on the prosecution of the post-office_, found guilty, left for execution, and executed accordingly."--p. . "one common scaffold confounds the most flinty hearts and the tenderest. however, it was in some measure the heartless part of hatfield's conduct which drew upon him his ruin; for _the cumberland jury_, as i have been told, _declared their unwillingness to hang him for having forged a frank_; and both they, and _those who refused to aid his escape when first apprehended_, were reconciled to this harshness entirely by what they heard of his conduct _to their injured young fellow-countrywoman_."--p. . hatfield was not "easily intercepted from flight." sir frederick vane granted a warrant to apprehend him on the charge of forcing franks. hatfield ordered dinner at the queen's head, keswick, to be ready at three; took a boat, and did not return. this was on october : he was married to mary on the nd. in november he was apprehended near brecknock, in wales: so those who refused to aid his escape, if such there were, were not "reconciled to the hardship by what they heard of his conduct to their young fellow-countrywoman." the "startling of the thunderclap" was preceded by an ordinary proclamation, describing the offender, and offering a reward of l. for his apprehension. he was not "hurried away to carlisle," but deliberately taken to london on december ; examined at bow street, remanded three times, and finally committed; and sent to carlisle, where he was tried on august , . three indictments were preferred against him: the first for forging a bill of exchange for l., drawn by alexander augustus hope on john crump, payable to george wood; the second for a similar bill for l.; and the third for counterfeiting colonel hope's handwriting to defraud the post-office. the cumberland jury did not "declare their unwillingness to hang him for forging a frank," that not being a capital offence. i infer, also, that it was one for which he was not tried. he was convicted on the first indictment; the court rose immediately after the jury had given their verdict; and the prisoner was called up for judgment at eight the next morning. trying a man under sentence of death for a transportable felony, is contrary to all practice. hatfield was executed at carlisle on september , . mary's misfortunes induced the sympathising public to convert her into a minor heroine. she seems to have been a common-place person, with small claims to the title of "the beauty of buttermere." a cotemporary account says, "she is rather gap-toothed and somewhat pock-marked." and mr. de quincey, after noticing her good figure, says, "the expression of her countenance was often disagreeable." "a lady, not very scrupulous in her embellishment of facts, used to tell an anecdote of her which i hope was exaggerated. some friend of hers, as she affirmed, in company with a large party, visited buttermere a day or two after that on which hatfield suffered; and she protested that mary threw on the table, with an emphatic gesture, the carlisle paper containing an elaborate account of the execution."--p. . considering the treatment she had received, it is not unlikely that her love, if she ever had any for a fat man of forty-five, was turned into hatred; and it was not to be expected that her taste would keep down the manifestation of such feeling. when hatfield was examined at bow street, sir richard ford, the chief magistrate, ordered the clerk to read aloud a letter which he received from her. it was: "sir,--the man whom i had the misfortune to marry, and who has ruined me and my aged and unhappy parents, always told me that he was the hon. colonel hope, the next brother to the earl of hopetoun. "your grateful and unfortunate servant, "mary robinson." i do not blame mr. de quincey, having no doubt that he believed what he was told; but i have put together these facts and discrepancies, to show how careful we should be in accepting traditions, when a man of very high ability, with the best opportunities of getting at the truth, was so egregiously misled. my authorities are, _the annual register_, , pp. . and .; _the gentleman's magazine_, , pp. . . and .; kirby's _wonderful magazine_, vol. i. pp. . and . _the newgate calendar_ gives a similar account but not having it at hand, i cannot vouch it. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * notes upon the names of some of the early inhabitants of hellas. i. i have never seen it yet noticed, that the names _pyrrha_, _Æolus_, _xuthus_, _ion_, are all names of _colours_. is there anything in this, or is it fortuitous? ii. in accordance with the above, i think we may refer most of the names of the early inhabitants of greece to words denoting _light_ or _colour_, or the like. ( .) _pelas-gi._ the first part of this word is, by mr. donaldson, connected with [greek: mel-as], which is also, probably, the root of _mol-ossi_. ( .) _hellenes_, connected with _helli_, _selli_, [greek: selas, heulê, hêlios]. this derivation is made more probable { } by the fact, that the neighbouring pelasgic tribes have a similar meaning; _e.g._, _perrhæbi_, alike to _pyrrha_ and [greek: pur]; _Æthices_, [greek: aithô], _tymphæi_, [greek: tuphô]; _hestiæi_, [greek: hestia]. add to this, that the name _phthiotis_ seems indubitably to derive its name from _phthah_, the egyptian _hephæstus_, and to be a translation of the word _hellas_. n.b.--the existence of an egyptian colony in that part is attested by the existence of a phthiotic _thebæ_. ( .) on the other hand, the word _achæus_ seems to be connected with [greek: achos, achnumai], and [greek: achlus] in the sense of gloom (of [greek: ouranion achos]). so the homeric _cimmerians_ are derived from [hebrew: kimriyriy] (job), denoting _darkness_. ( .) lastly, i submit with great diffidence the following examination of the words _dorus_ and the Æolian _minyæ_, which i shall attempt to derive from words denoting _sun_ and _moon_ respectively. the word _dorus_ i assume to be connected with the first part of the names _dry-opes_ and _dol-opes_. the metathesis in the first case seems sanctioned by the analogy of the sanscrit _drî_ and greek [greek: deirô], and the mutation of _l_ and _r_ in the second is too common in greek and latin to admit of any doubt, _e.g._ [greek: ar-galeos] and [greek: algaletos]; _sol_ and _soracte_. with this premised, i think we may be justified in connecting the following words with one another. _dores_, _dryopes_ with [greek: seirios] (of [greek: sios] and [greek: dios]) [greek: theros], the scythian sun-god [greek: oito-surus], the egyptian _o-siris_, and perhaps the hebrew [hebrew: dwor] and greek [greek: dêros] (the course of the sun being the emblem of eternity).--_dol-opes_ with _sol_, [greek: heilê], _selli_, &c. on the other hand, the neighbouring _minyæ_ seem connected with [greek: minuthô, minuntha], _minus_,--all with the sense of _decreasing_ or _waning_; hence referable, both in sense and (i fancy) in derivation, to greek [greek: mên], and latin _men-sis_. j. h. j. * * * * * shakspeare readings, no. ix. "it lies as sightly on the back of him as great alcides' shoes upon an ass."--_king john_, act ii. sc. . "the ass was to _wear_ the shoes, and not to bear them on his back, as theobald supposed, and therefore would read _shows_. the 'shoes of hercules' were as commonly alluded to by our old poets, as the _ex pede herculem_ was a familiar allusion of the learned." (mr. knight in .) fourteen years' additional consideration has not altered mr. knight's view of this passage. in we find him putting forth a prospectus for a new edition of shakspeare, to be called "the stratford edition," various portions from which he sets before the public by way of sample. here we have over again the same note as above, a little diversified, and placed parallel to theobald's edition in this way: "it lies as sightly on the back of him as great alcides' _shows_ upon an ass." "the folio reads 'great alcides' shoes.' theobald says, 'but why _shoes_, in the name of propriety? for let hercules and his _shoes_ have been really as big as they were ever supposed to be, yet they (i mean the _shoes_) would not have been an overload for an ass.'" "the 'shoes of hercules' were as commonly alluded to in our old poets, as the _ex pede herculem_ was a familiar allusion of the learned. it was not necessary that the ass should be overloaded with the shoes--he might be _shod_ (shoed) with them." now who, in reading these parallel notes, but would suppose that it is mr. knight who restores _shoes_ to the text, and that it is mr. knight who points out the common allusion by our old poets to the shoes of hercules? who would imagine that the substance of this correction of theobald was written by steevens a couple of generations back, and that, consequently, theobald's proposed alteration had never been adopted? i should not think of pointing out this, but that mr. knight himself, in this same prospectus, has taken mr. collier to task for the very same thing; that is, for taking credit, in his _notes and emendations_, for all the folio ms. corrections, whether known or unknown, necessary or unnecessary. indeed, the very words of mr. knight's complaint against mr. collier are curiously applicable to himself: "it requires the most fixed attention to the nice distinctions of such constantly-recurring 'notes and emendations,' to disembarrass the cursory reader from the notion that these are _bonâ fide_ corrections of the common text.... "who cares to know what errors are corrected in" (the forthcoming stratford edition), "that exist in no other, and which have never been introduced into the modern text?"--_specimen_, &c., p. xxiv. the impression one would receive from mr. knight's note upon theobald is, that shakspeare had his notion of _the shoes_ from "our old poets," while _the learned_ had _theirs_ from _ex pede herculem_; but where the analogy lies, wherein the point, or what the application, is not explained. steevens' original note was superior to this, in so much that he quoted the words of these old poets, thereby giving his readers an opportunity of considering the justness of the deduction. the only set-off to this omission by mr. knight is the introduction of "ex pede herculem," the merit of which is doubtless his own. but it so happens that the size of the foot of hercules has no more to do with the real point of the allusion than the length of prester john's; therefore _ex pede herculem_ is a most unfortunate illustration,--particularly awkward in a specimen sample, the excellence of which may be questioned. { } it is singular enough, and it says a great deal for theobald's common sense, that _he_ saw what the true intention of the allusion must be, although he did not know how to reconcile it with the existing letter of the text. he wished to preserve _the spirit_ by the sacrifice of _the letter_, while mr. knight preserves the letter but misinterprets the spirit. theobald's word "shows," in the sense of externals, is very nearly what shakspeare meant by _shoes_, except that _shoes_ implies a great deal more than _shows_,--it implies the assumption of the character as well as the externals of hercules. out of five quotations from our old poets, given by steevens in the first edition of his note, there is not one in which _the shoes_ are not provided with _feet_. but malone, to his immortal honour, was the first to furnish them with _hoofs_: "upon an ass; _i.e._ upon the hoofs of an ass."--_malone._ but shakspeare nowhere alludes to feet! his ass most probably _had feet_, and so had juvenal's verse (when he talks of his "satyrâ sumente cothurnum"); but neither shakspeare nor juvenal dreamed of any necessary connexion between the feet and the shoes. therein lies the difference between shakspeare and "our old poets;" a difference that ought to be sufficient, of itself, to put down the common cry,--that shakspeare borrowed his allusions from them. if so, how is it that his expositors, with these old poets before their eyes all this time, together with their own scholarship to boot, have so widely mistaken the true point of his allusion? it is precisely because they _have_ confined their researches to these old poets, and have _not_ followed shakspeare to the fountain head. there is a passage in quintilian which, very probably, has been the common source of both shakspeare's version, and that of the old poets; with this difference, that he understood the original and they did not. quintilian is cautioning against the introduction of solemn bombast in trifling affairs: "to get up," says he, "this sort of pompous tragedy about mean matters, is as though you would dress up children with the _mask_ and _buskins_ of hercules." ["nam in parvis quidem litibus has tragoedias movere tale est quale si _personam_ herculis et _cothurnos_ aptare infantibus velis."] here the addition of the _mask_ proves that the allusion is purely theatrical. the mask and buskins are put for the stage trappings, or _properties_, of the part of hercules: of these, one of the items was the _lion's skin_; and hence the extreme aptitude of the allusion, as applied by the bastard, in _king john_, to austria, who was assuming the importance of coeur de lion! it is interesting to observe how nearly theobald's plain, homely sense, led him to the necessity of the context. the real points of the allusion can scarcely be expressed in better words than his own: "faulconbridge, in his resentment, would say this to austria, 'that lion's skin which my great father, king richard, once wore, looks as uncouthly on thy back, as that other noble hide, which was borne by hercules, would look on the back of an ass!' a double allusion was intended: first, to the fable of the ass in the lion's skin; then richard i. is finely set in competition with alcides, as austria is satirically coupled with the ass." one step farther, and theobald would have discovered the true solution: he only required to know that _the shoes_, by a figure of rhetoric called synecdoche, may stand for the whole character and attributes of hercules, to have saved himself the trouble of conjecturing an ingenious, though infinitely worse word, as a substitute. as for subsequent annotators, it must be from the mental preoccupation of this unlucky "ex pede herculem," that _they_ have so often put their foot in it. they have worked up alcides' shoe into a sort of antithesis to cinderella's; and, like procrustes, they are resolved to stretch everything to fit. a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * gÖthe's author-remuneration. the note in your valuable journal (vol. vii., p. .) requires, i think, so far as it relates to göthe, several corrections which i am in the position of making. the amount which that great man is said to have received for his "works (aggregate)" is " , crowns." the person who _originally_ printed this statement must have been completely ignorant of göthe's affairs, and even biography. göthe had (unlike byron) several publishers in his younger years. subsequently he became closer connected with m. _j. g. cotta_ of stuttgardt, who, in succession, published almost all göthe's works. amongst them were _several_ editions of his complete works: for instance, that published conjointly at vienna and stuttgardt. then came, in , what was called the edition of the last hand (_ausgabe letzter hand_), as göthe was then more than eighty years of age. during all the time these two editions were published, other detached new works of göthe were also printed; as well as new editions of former books, &c. who can now say that it was , crowns (_thalers?_) which the great poet received for each various performance?--_no one._ and this for many reasons. göthe always remained with m. cotta on terms of polite acquaintanceship, no more: there was no "my dear murray" in their strictly business-like connexion. göthe also never wrote on such things, even in his biography or diary. but some talk was going around in germany, that for _one_ of the editions of his _complete_ works (there { } appeared still many volumes of posthumous), he received the above sum. i can assert on good authority, that göthe, foreseeing his increasing popularity even long after his death, stipulated with m. cotta to pay his _heirs_ a certain sum for every new edition of either his complete or single works. one of the recipients of these yet _current accounts_ is baron wolfgang von göthe, attaché of the prussian legation at rome. a foreign surgeon. charlotte street, bloomsbury square. * * * * * minor notes. _parallel passages._-- "the father of the gods his glory shrouds, involved in tempests and a night of clouds."--dryden's _virgil_. "mars, hovering o'er his troy, his terror shrouds in gloomy tempests and a night of clouds."--pope's _homer's iliad_, book xx. lines , . uneda. _unpublished epitaphs._--i copied the following two epitaphs from monuments in the churchyard of llangerrig, montgomeryshire, last autumn. they perhaps deserve printing from the slight resemblance they bear to that in melrose churchyard, quoted in vol. vii., pp. , .: "o earth, o earth! observe this well-- that earth to earth shall come to dwell: then earth in earth shall close remain till earth from earth shall rise again." "from earth my body first arose; but here to earth again it goes. i never desire to have it more, to plague me as it did before." p. h. fisher. _the colour of ink in writings._--my attention was called to this subject some years ago by an attempt made in a judicial proceeding to prove that part of a paper produced was written at a different time than the rest, because part differed from the rest in the shade of the ink. the following conclusions have been the result of my observations upon the subject: . that if the ink of part of a writing is of a different shade, though of the same colour, from that of the other parts, we cannot infer from that circumstance alone that the writing was done at different times. ink taken from the top of an inkstand will be lighter than that from the bottom, where the dregs are; the deeper the pen is dipped into the ink, the darker the writing will be. . writing performed with a pen that has been used before, will be darker than that with a new pen; for the dry residuum of the old ink that is encrusted on the used pen will mix with the new ink, and make it darker. and for the same reason-- . writing with a pen previously used will be darker at first than it is after the old deposit, having been mixed up with the new ink, is used up. m. e. philadelphia. _literary parallels._--has it ever been noticed that the well-known epitaph, sometimes assigned to robin of doncaster, sometimes to edward courtenay, third earl of devon, and i believe to others besides: "what i gave, that i have," &c., has been anticipated by, if not imitated from, martial, book v. epigr. ., of which the last two lines are: "extra fortunam est, quicquid donatur amicis; quas dederis, solas semper habebis opes." the english is so much more terse and sententious, besides involving a much higher moral signification, that it may well be an original itself; but in that case, the verbal coincidence is striking enough. j. s. warden. _latin verses prefixed to parish registers._--on a fly-leaf in one of the registers of the parish of hawsted, suffolk, is the following note in the handwriting of the rev. sir john cullum, the rector and historian of the parish: "many old register books begin with some latin lines, expressive of their design. the two following, in that of st. saviour's at norwich, are as good as any i have met with: 'janua, _baptismus_; medio stat _tæda jugalis_ utroque es felix, _mors_ pia si sequitur.'" can any of your correspondents contribute other examples? buriensis. _napoleon's bees_ (vol. vii., p. .).--no one, i believe, having addressed you farther on the subject of the napoleon bees, the models of which are stated to have been found in the tomb of childeric when opened in , "of the purest gold, their wings being inlaid with a red stone, like a cornelian," i beg to mention that the small ornaments resembling bees found in the tomb of childeric, were only what in french are called _fleurons_ (supposed to have been attached to the harness of his war-horse). handfuls of them were found when the tomb was opened at tournay, and sent to louis xiv. they were deposited on a green ground at versailles. napoleon wishing to have some regal emblem more ancient than the _fleur-de-lys_, adopted the _fleurons_ as bees, and the green ground as the original merovingian colour. this fact was related to me as unquestionable by augustin thierry, the celebrated historian, when i was last in paris. wm. ewart. university club. * * * * * { } queries. was thomas lord lyttelton the author of junius's letters? in the _quarterly review_ for (vol. xc. no. .) appeared a clever and speciously written article on the long debated question of the identity of junius, in which the writer labours at great length to prove that thomas, second lord lyttelton, who died in , was the real substance of the shadow of junius, hitherto sought in vain. that this lord lyttelton was fully competent to the task, i do not doubt; and that there are many points in his character which may well be reconciled with the knowledge we possess of the imaginary junius, i also admit--but this is all. the author of the review has wholly failed, in my opinion, to prove his case and the remark he makes on mr. britton's theory (as to col. barré) may equally well apply to his own, namely, that it affords "a [another] curious instance of the delusion to which ingenious men may resign themselves, when they have a favourite opinion to uphold!" the reviewer, indeed, admits that he has "traced the parallel from the scantiest materials;" and in another passage repeats, that but "few materials exist for a sketch of thomas lyttelton's life." of these materials used by the reviewer, the principal portion has been derived from the two volumes of letters published in and , attributed to lord lyttelton, but the authorship of which has since been claimed for william coombe. the reviewer argues, that they are "substantially genuine;" but evidence, it is believed, exists to the contrary.[ ] according to chalmers, these letters were "publicly disowned" by the executors of lord lyttelton; and this is confirmed by the notice in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , p. ., shortly after the publication of the first volume. putting aside, however, this moot-point (which, i trust, will be taken up by abler hands, as it bears greatly on the theory advanced by the author of the _review_), i proceed to another and more conclusive line of argument. in the _preliminary essay_, prefixed to woodfall's edition of junius, (vol. i. p. * .), the following statement is made in regard to that writer, the accuracy of which will scarcely be doubted: "there is another point in the history of his life, during his appearance as a public writer, which must not be suffered to pass by without observation: and that is, _that during a great part of this time, from january to january , he uniformly resided in london, or its immediate vicinity, and that he never quitted his stated habitation for a longer period than a few weeks._" now, do the known facts of thomas lyttelton's life correspond with this statement or not? the reviewer says, p. .: "for a period of three years after mr. lyttelton lost his seat[ ]--_that period during which junius wrote his acknowledged compositions_--we hardly find a trace of him in any of the contemporaneous letters or memoirs that have fallen under our observation." but how is it, let me ask, that the author of the review has so studiously avoided all mention of one work, which would at once have furnished traces of thomas lyttelton at this very period? i allude to the volume of _poems by a young nobleman of distinguished abilities, lately deceased_, published by g. kearsley: london, , to. does not this look much like the _suppressio veri_ which follows close on the footsteps of the _assertio falsi_? it is hardly credible that the reviewer should not be acquainted with this book, for he refers to the lines spoken in , at stowe, in the character of queen mab, which form part of its contents; and the existence of the work is expressly pointed out by chalmers, and noticed by lowndes, watt, and other bibliographers. among the poems here published, are some which ought to have received a prominent notice from the author of the review, if he had fairly stated the case. these are: . lines "to g----e ed----d ays----gh, esq., [george edward ayscough, cousin to thomas lyttelton] _from venice, the th july, _."--p. . . "an irregular ode, _wrote at vicenza, in italy, the th of august, _."--p. . . "on mr. ----, _at venice, in j----, _." . "an invitation to mrs. a----a d----, _wrote at ghent in flanders, the rd of march, _."--p. . . "_an extempore, by lord lyttelton, in italy, anno _."--p. . admitting that these poems are genuine, it is evident that their author, thomas lyttelton, was abroad in flanders and italy during the years and ; and consequently could not have been the mysterious junius, who in those years (particularly in ) was writing constantly in or near london to woodfall and the _public advertiser_. of what value then is the assertion so confidently made by the reviewer (p. .): "the position of thomas lyttelton in the five years from to , is exactly such a one as it is reasonable to suppose that junius held during the period of his writings;" or how can it be made to agree with the fact of his residence on the continent during the greater part of the time? { } the reviewer, indeed, tells us that "just as junius concluded his great work, thomas lyttelton returned to his father's house, and chatham was one of the first to congratulate lord lyttelton on the event." this was in february ; and in the _chatham correspondence_, vol. iv. p. ., is lord lyttelton's letter of thanks in reply. the reviewer would evidently have it inferred, that thomas lyttelton had returned home like a prodigal son, after a temporary estrangement, and from a comparatively short distance; but surely, had the volume of _poems_ been referred to, it might or rather _must_ have occurred to a candid inquirer, that in february thomas lyttelton returned from his _travels on the continent, after an absence of nearly three years_! but, perhaps, the authenticity of the _poems_ may at once be boldly denied? is this the case? chalmers certainly includes them with the _letters_, as having been "disowned" by lord l.'s executors; but says, "as to the _poems_, they added, '_great part whereof are undoubtedly spurious_.'" it is certain, therefore, that _some_ of the _poems_ are genuine; and it is a pity that the exceptions were not specified, as the discussion might then have been confined within narrower limits. the editor of the _poems_, in his address "to the reader," writes thus in vindication of them: "there is scarcely a line in the collection which does not bear testimony of its origin; the _places and dates_ are also strong corroborations to such of his friends as he corresponded with _on his last journey across the alps_. his style was elegant, and his ideas so animated, that _spurious productions would be immediately detected_." this is the testimony of one who "had the honour of his friendship, which terminated only with his death," and is not to be lightly rejected.[ ] my own conviction is in favour of the authenticity of the whole; but, at all events, i shall be able to offer undoubted evidence as to the genuineness of part of the volume, and additional proof that the author was abroad at the precise time when, if he were junius, he must have resided in this country. by thomas lord lyttelton's will (dated oct. , ), he appointed as his executors his brother-in-law arthur viscount valentia, his uncle william henry lord westcote, and wilson aylesbury roberts of bewdley. to the latter he left all his "letters, verses, speeches, and writings," with directions that, if published, it should be for his sole emolument. the important query therefore at once arises, _what became of these manuscripts, and were they destroyed or preserved_? the above mr. roberts was an intimate personal friend; and from his local influence as bailiff and deputy-recorder of bewdley, had no doubt contributed towards thomas lyttelton's return for that borough in . his son continued to keep up a close connexion with the valentia family at arley hall[ ]; and this fact, coupled with the close proximity of bewdley, arley, and hagley, and the circumstance of the co-executorship of lord valentia and mr. roberts, would make us naturally look to the library at arley as a not unlikely place of deposit for thomas lyttelton's papers. this is not mere conjecture, and brings me immediately to the point at issue: for, at the sale of the valentia library at arley castle, in december last, a manuscript volume made its appearance in a lot with others thus designated: "original diary of travels [of lord valentia] vols.; five memorandum books of journeys and travels; also _two old folio volumes of original poetic pieces_." one of the folio volumes thus catalogued subsequently came into my hands, and is evidently one of the manuscripts left by thomas lord lyttelton's will to the care of mr. roberts, since it consists wholly of pieces in verse and prose of his composition, written either _in his own hand_, as rough draughts, or copied (apparently by a female scribe) and afterwards _corrected by himself_. among the poetry in this ms. i find the greater part of the long poem printed in the edition of , p. ., entitled "the state of england in the year ," which is without date in the ms., but in the edition bears date march , ; as likewise the "invitation to miss warb[u]rt[o]n," edit. p. ., which appears in the ms. without any name; and the "extempore rhapsody, march , ," edit. p. ., also undated in the ms., but which supplies the name of "yates," expressed in the edition by asterisks; and also six lines at the end, which were omitted in the edition on account of their indecency. there are several variations in the manuscript, which prove that some other copy was followed by the printer; and many typographical errors in the edition may hence be corrected. besides these poems, the following pieces constitute the chief contents of this manuscript volume: draughts of four letters _written by thomas lyttelton from lyons, the first of which is dated september_ , . heads of a series of dialogues, in imitation of "dialogues of the dead," by his father george, first lord lyttelton. poetical fragments, imitated from lucretius. { } two letters addressed by thomas lyttelton to his father; and a third to "dear george," probably his cousin george edward ayscough. some latin lines, not remarkable for their delicacy. political letter, _written from milan_, by thomas lyttelton; in which indignant notice is taken of the commital of brass crossby, lord mayor, _which took place in march, _. fragment of a poem on superstition, and various other unfinished poetical scraps. private memoranda of expenses. a page of writing in a fictitious or short-hand character, of which i can make nothing. remarks, in prose, on the polypus, priestcraft, &c. poem in french, of an amatory character. portion of a remarkable political letter, containing some bitter remarks by thomas lyttelton on the "first minister." he ends thus: "the play now draws to a conclusion. i am guilty of a breach of trust in telling him so, but i shall [not] suffer by my indiscretion, for it is an absolute impossibility any man should divine who is the author of the letter signed aruspex." it would appear from the water-mark in the paper of which this ms. is composed, that it was procured in italy; and there can be little or no doubt it was used by thomas lyttelton as a draught-book, during his travels there in - ; during which period, nearly the whole of the contents seem to have been written. the evidence afforded therefore by this volume, comes peculiarly in support of the dates and other circumstances put forth in the printed volume of _poems_; and leads us inevitably to the conclusion, _that it was utterly impossible for thomas lyttelton to have had any share in the letters of junius_. he has enough to answer for on the score of his early profligacy and scepticism, without being dragged from the grave to be arraigned for the crime of deceit. his heart need not, according to the reviewer, be "stripped bare" by the scalpel of any literary anatomist; but he may be left to that quiet and oblivion which a sepulchre in general bestows. before i conclude these remarks (which i fear are too diffuse), i will venture to add a few words in regard to the signature of thomas lord lyttelton. in the _chatham correspondence_, a letter from him to earl temple is printed, vol. iv. p. ., the signature to which is printed lyttleton, and the editors point out in a note the "alteration adopted" in the spelling of the name; but it is altogether an error, for the fac-simile of this signature in vol. iv. p. ., as well as his will in the prerogative court, prove that he wrote his name _lyttelton_, in the same manner as his father and uncle. as to the resemblance pointed out by the author of the _review_ between the handwriting of thomas lyttelton and that of junius, it exists only in imagination, since there is really no similitude whatever between them. some queries are now annexed, in reference to what has been above discussed: . in what publication or in what form did the executors of thomas lord lyttelton disown the _letters_ and _poems_? . is it known who was the editor of the _poems_ published in ? . can the present representative of the family of roberts give any farther information respecting thomas lord lyttelton's manuscripts? . lastly, is any letter known to exist in the public journals of the years , , under the signature of aruspex? f. madden. british museum. [footnote : i have been unable to refer to these letters, as no copy exists in the british museum library.] [footnote : as m.p. for bewdley. he was returned in , and unseated in january, .] [footnote : in the _public advertiser_ for january , [ ], appeared a notice of the _poems_, said to have been "published yesterday;" and although two pieces are extracted at length, not a syllable of doubt is expressed as to their genuineness.] [footnote : the estate at arley was left to the hon. george annesley (afterwards earl of mountnorris), son of lord valentia, by the will of thomas lord lyttelton, and mr. roberts was one of the trustees appointed.] * * * * * minor queries. _lord chatham._--i would suggest as a query, whether lord chatham's famous comparison of the fox and newcastle ministry to the confluence of the rhone and saone at lyons (_speech_, nov. , ), was not adapted from a passage in lord roscommon's _essay on translated verse_. possibly lord chatham may have merely quoted the lines of roscommon, and reporters may have converted his quotation into prose. lord chatham (then of course mr. pitt) is represented to have said: "_i remember_ at lyons to have been carried to the conflux of the rhone and the soane: the one a gentle, feeble, languid stream, and, though languid, of no depth; the other, a boisterous and _impetuous_ torrent." lord roscommon says: "thus _have i seen_ a rapid headlong tide, with foaming waves the passive saone divide, whose lazy waters without motion lay, while he, with eager force, urg'd his _impetuous_ way." w. ewart. university club. _slow-worm superstition._--could any of your correspondents kindly inform me whether there is any foundation for the superstition, that if a slow-worm be divided into two or more parts, those parts will continue to live till sunset (life i suppose to mean that tremulous motion which the divided parts, for some time after the cruel operation, continue to have), and whether it exists in any other country or county besides sussex, in which county i first heard of it? tower. _tangiers_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i have not seen any opinion as to these queries. a. c. _snail gardens._--what are the continental enclosures called snail gardens? c. m. t. oare. _naples and the campagna felice._--who was the author of letters bearing this title, which { } originally appeared in ackermann's _repository_, and were published in a collected form in ? in a catalogue of jno. miller's (april, ), i see them attributed to combe. q. philadelphia. "_the land of green ginger_"--the name of a street in hull. can any of your correspondents inform me why so called? r. h. b. _mugger._--why are the gipsies in the north of england called _muggers?_ is it because they sell mugs, and other articles of crockery, that in fact being their general vocation? or may not the word be a corruption of _maghrabee_, which is, i think, a foreign name given to this wandering race? h. t. riley. _snail-eating._--can any of your correspondents inform me in what part of surrey a breed of large white snails is still to be found, the first of which were brought to this country from italy, by a member, i think, of the arundel family, to gratify the palate of his wife, an italian lady? i have searched britton and brayley's history in vain. h. t. riley. _mysterious personage._--who is the mysterious personage, what is his real or assumed lineage, who has, not unfrequently, been alluded to in recent newspaper articles as a legitimate roman catholic claimant of the english throne? of course i do not allude to those _pseudo_-stuarts, the brothers hay allan. w. pinkerton. _george wood of chester._--of what family was george wood, esq., justice of chester in the first year of the reign of queen elizabeth, ? cestriensis. _a scale of vowel sounds._--can any correspondent tell me if such scale has anywhere been agreed on for scientific purposes? researches into the philosophy of philology are rendered excessively complex by the want of such a scale, every different inquirer adopting a peculiar notation, which is a study in itself, and which, after all, is unsatisfactory. i should feel obliged by any reference to what has been done in this matter. e. c. _seven oaks and nine elms._--can any reader of "n. & q." inform me whether there is any old custom or superstition connected with seven oaks and nine elms, even to be traced as far back as the time of the druids? in some old grounds in warwickshire there is a circle of nine old elm-trees; and, besides the well-known nine elms at vauxhall, and seven oaks in kent, there are several other places of the same names in england. j. s. a. old broad street. _murder of monaldeschi._--i will thank any of your correspondents who can give me an account of the murder of monaldeschi, equerry to christina, queen of sweden. in the nd volume of miss pardoe's _louis xiv_. (p. .), christina is stated to have visited the court of france, and housed at fontainebleau, where she had not long been an inmate ere the tragedy of monaldeschi took place and in a letter to mazarin she says, "those who acquainted you with the details regarding monaldeschi were very ill-informed." t. c. t. _governor dameram._--i should be glad of any particulars respecting the above, who was governor of canada (i think) about the commencement of the present century. he had previously been the head of the commissariat department in the continental expeditions. tee bee. _ancient arms of the see of york._--can any correspondent enlighten me as to the period, and why, the present arms were substituted for the ancient bearings of york? the modern coat is, gu. two keys in saltire arg., in chief an imperial crown proper. the ancient coat was blazoned, az. an episcopal staff in pale or, and ensigned with a cross patée arg., surmounted by a pall of the last, edged and fringed of the second, charged with six crosses formée fitchée sa., and differed only from that of canterbury in the number of crosses formée fitchée with which the pall was charged. tee bee. _hupfeld._--can any correspondent of "n. & q." tell me where i can see hupfeld, _von der natur und den arten der sprachlaute_, which is quoted by several german authors? it appeared in jahn's _jahrb. der philol. und päd._, . if no correspondent can refer me to any place where the paper can be seen in london, perhaps they can direct me to some account of its substance in some english publication. e. c. _inscription on a tomb in finland._--can any reader of "n. & q." explain the meaning of the following inscription? "ietatis in subditos martyri .`iet:s coniugalis :: :::iv." it appears on an old monument of considerable size in a finnish burial-ground at martishkin near peterhoff on the gulf of finland. the letters are in brass on a stone slab. the dots before the iv., and in the other word, are holes in the stone wherein the missing characters had been fixed. j. s. a. old broad street. _sir isaac newton and voltaire on railway travelling._--having been forcibly impressed by a { } paragraph in a popular periodical (_the leisure hour_, no. .), i am desirous of learning upon what authority the statements therein depend. as, perhaps, it may also prove interesting to some of the readers of "n. & q." who may not already have seen it, and in the hope that some of your contributors may be able to throw a light upon so curious a subject, i herewith transcribe it: "_sir isaac newton and voltaire on railway travelling._--sir isaac newton wrote a work upon the prophet daniel, and another upon the book of revelation, in one of which he said that in order to fulfil certain prophecies before a certain date was terminated, namely, years, there would be a mode of travelling of which the men of his time had no conception; nay, that the knowledge of mankind would be so increased, that they would be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. voltaire, who did not believe in the inspiration of the scriptures, got hold of this, and said 'now look at that mighty mind of newton, who discovered gravity, and told us such marvels for us all to admire. when he became an old man, and got into his dotage, he began to study that book called the bible; and it seems, that in order to credit its fabulous nonsense, we must believe that the knowledge of mankind will be so increased that we shall be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. the poor dotard!' exclaimed the philosophic infidel voltaire, in the self-complacency of his pity. but who is the dotard now?--_rev. j. craig._" the query i would more particularly ask is (presuming the accuracy of the assertions), what is the prophecy so wonderfully fulfilled? r. w. _tom thumb's house at gonerby, lincolnshire._--on the south-west side of the tower of the church of great gonerby, lincolnshire, is a curious cornice representing a house with a door in the centre, an oriel window, &c., which is popularly called "tom thumb's castle." i have a small engraving of it ("w. t. del. , r. r. sculpt."): and a pencil states that on the same tower are other "curious carvings." i would ask, therefore, why carved? from what event or occasion? for whom? why called "tom thumb's house?" and what are the other curious carvings? g. creed. _mr. payne collier's monovolume shakspeare._--i should be extremely obliged to mr. collier, if he would kindly give me a public reply to the following question. the express terms of the publication of his monovolune edition of shakspeare, as advertised, were-- "the text regulated by the _old copies_, and by the _recently discovered folio of _." these terms manifestly exclude corrections from any other source than those of _collation of the old copies_, and the _ms. corrections_ of the folio of . now the text of mr. collier's monovolume reprint contains many of the emendations of the commentators _not_ referred to in _notes and emendations_. for example: in _the taming of the shrew_, where biondello runs in to announce the coming down the hill of the "ancient angel" (changed by the corrector into _ambler_), two other alterations in the same sentence appear without explanation in the _regulated text_, namely, _mercatante_ substituted by steevens for "marcantant" of the folios; and _surely_ in lieu of "surly," which latter is the word of _the folio of _. i now ask mr. collier, on what authority were these emendations adopted? c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * replies. wild plants and their names. (vol. vii., pp. . .) perhaps the following may prove of some use to enivri, in reply to his query respecting the names of certain wild flowers. . shepherd's purse (_bursa pastoris_). "sic dict. a folliculis seminum, qui crumenulam referre videntur." also called poor man's parmacitty, "quia ad contusos et casu afflictos instar spermatis ceti utile est." also st. james's wort, "quia circa ejus festum florescit," july th. also called pick-purse. . eye-bright, according to skinner (_euphrasia_), teut. _augentrost_; "oculorum solamen, quia visum eximiè acuit." fluellin (_veronica femina_), "forte a leolino aliquo cambro-brit. ejus inventore." . pass wort, or palsy wort (_primula veris_). "herba paralyseos." . guelder rose (_sambucus rosea_). "quia ex gueldriâ huc translata est." gueldria is, or rather was, a colony, founded by the hollanders, on the coast of coromandel. . ladies' tresses, a corruption of _traces_. a kind of orchis, and used, with its various appellations, "sensu obsc." . the kentish term _gazel_ is not improbably the same as _gale_, which, skinner says, is from the a.-s. _gagel_ (_myrtus brabantica_). . stitch wort (_gramen leucanthemum_, alias _holostium pumilum_). "sic dict. quia ad dolores laterum punctorios multum prodesse creditur." . the term _knappert_, for bitter vetch, is probably a corruption of knap wort, the first syllable of which, as in knap weed and knap bottle, is derived from the sound or snap emitted by it when struck in the hollow of the hand. . charlock (_rapum sylvestre_); anglo-saxon _cerlice_. { } . london pride or tufts (_armeria prolifera_). "sic dict. quia flores propter pulchritudinem londini valdè expetuntur." (?) . avens; also herb bennet (_caryophyllata_). skinner says, "herba benedicta ab insigni radicis vulnerariâ vi." (?) . mill mountain, or purge flax (_linum sylvestre catharticum_, or _chamælinum_). "montibus gaudet." . jack of the buttery. "_sedi_ species sic dict. quia in tecto galacterii crescit." pricket: "a sapore acri." . cudweed or cotton weed; live-long. "quia planta perennis est." . sun spurge. "quia flores ad ortum solis se aperiunt." churn staff, from its similarity. . welcome to our house (_tithymalus cyparissias_). "ob pulchritudinem suam omnibus expetitus." . ruddes (_fl. calendulæ_). "a colore aureo." wild or corn marigold. "q. d. aurum mariæ, a colore sc. floris luteo." gouls or goulans, with a half-suppressed _d_, may very well be supposed to indicate its natural name--gold. another name of this plant is lockron, or locker goulans. . spurry (_spergula_). "sic dict. quia folia ejus octo, angusta, stelliformia, radios calcaris satis exactè referunt." . mercury goose-foot. probably a goose-foot resembling mercury (_mercurialis_), a herb concerning which skinner doubts, but suggests, "quia mercurio, ut ceteræ omnes plantæ planetis, appropriata sit." another name is good henry,--i find not good _king_ henry--(_lapathum unctuosum_), "a commodo ejus usu in enematis." it is also called all-good, forasmuch as it is useful, not only for its medicinal qualities, but also in supplying the table with a substitute for other vegetables, such as asparagus. a plant termed in this country gang flower is the same as rogation flower, recalling the perambulation of parishes on one of those days. there is a vast fund of interesting matter in these old names of wild flowers (mixed up, of course, with much that is trifling); and i cordially agree with your correspondent, that it is well worth a steady effort to rescue the fast-fading traditions relating to them. it must be confessed, however, that the obstacles in the way of tracing the original meaning and supposed virtues, will in many instances be found very great, arising principally from the fanciful translations and corruptions which our ancestors made of the old names. take, for instance, the following: loose strife or herb willow, from _lysimachia_, the original being undoubtedly a man's name, lysimachus. ale-hoof (_hedera terrestris_). anglo-saxon _al behófian_. "herba [greek: panchrêstos], ad multos usus efficacissima." herb ambrose has a greek origin, [greek: ambrotos], and is not indebted to the saint of that name. comfrey or cumfrey. "herba vulnera _conferruminans_;" good for joining the edges of a wound. calathian violets. simply cupped violets, from [greek: kalathos]. brank ursin (_acanthus_). "it. brancha, unguis ursinus." blood strange; properly, _string_. to stanch. bertram. a corruption of [greek: purethron] (_pyrethrum_). spreusidany, hair-strong, sulphur wort. corrupted from _peucedanum_. pell-a-mountain, wild thyme. from _serpyllum montanum_. faceless. from _phaseolus_, dim. of _phaselus_; so called from its shallop shape. stick-a-dove, french lavender. from [greek: stoichas, stoichados], _stoechas_; so called from the regularity of the petals. such instances might be multiplied to almost any extent. there is, doubtless, a good deal of scattered information respecting old english wild flowers to be met with, not only in books, but also among our rural population, stored up by village sages. contributions of this description would surely be welcome in "n. & q." h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. herbs of all kinds were, some two hundred years ago, esteemed of much value as medicine; for in a curious, and i believe rather scarce, pharmacopoeia by wm. salmon, date , i find some pages devoted to their uses. this pharmacopoeia, or _compleat english physician_, was dedicated to mary, second queen of england, scotland, france, ireland, &c., and appears to have been the first. the preface says "it was the first of that kind extant in the world, a subject for which we have no precedent." "i have not trusted," he says, "to the reports of authors, but have wrote as an eye-witness in describing most things therein; and it is nothing but what i know and have learnt by daily experience for thirty years together, so that my prescriptions may in some measure plead a privilege above the performances of other men." . _capsella_ (_bursa pastoris_) he describes as cold ^o, and dry in ^o, binding and astringent. good against spitting of blood or hæmorrhage of the nose, and other fluxes of the bowels. the leaves, of which [dr.]j. in powder may be given. the juice inspissate, drunk with wine, helps ague. a cataplasm applied in inflammations, anthony's fire, &c., represses them. . _veronica chamædrys_ he calls _euphrasia_, _euphrosunee_, and says it is much commended by arnoldus de villa nova, who asserts that it not only helps dimness of the sight, but the use of it { } makes old men to read small letters without spectacles, who could scarcely read great letters with spectacles before; but that it did restore their sight who had been a long time blind. truly a most wonderful plant; and, if he freely used it, must have been a great drawback to spectacle-makers. . _primula veris_, he says, more properly belongs to the primrose than cowslip. the root is haumatic, and helps pains in the back. the herb is cephalic, neurotic, and arthritic. the juice or essence, with spirits of wine, stops all manner of fluxes, is excellent against palsy, gout, and pains, and distempers of the nerves and joints. a cataplasm of the juice, with rye meal, is good against luxations and ruptures. the flowers are good against palsy, numbness, convulsions, and cramps, being given in a sulphurous or a saline tincture, or an oily tincture, or an essence of the juice with spirits of wine. the juice of the flowers, or an ointment of the _flower_ or its juice, cleanses the skin from spots, though the worthy old physician only gives a receipt for making essence as follows: beat the whole plant well in a mortar; add to it an equal quantity of brandy or spirits of wine; close up tight in a large bolt-head, and set it to digest in a very gentle sand-heat for three months. strain out all the liquor, which close up in a bolt-head again, and digest in a gentle sand-heat for two months more. rather a troublesome and slow process this. . _geum urbanum_ he calls _caryophyllata_, _herba benedicta_, and _geum plinii_, and should be gathered, he says, in the middle of march, for then it smells sweetest, and is most aromatic. hot and dry in the ^o, binding, strengthening, discussive, cephalic, neurotic, and cardiac. is a good preservative against epidemic and contagious disease; helps digestion. the powder of the root, dose [dr.]j. the decoction, in wine, stops spitting of blood, dose [dr.]ss to [dr.]jss. the saline tincture opens all obstructions of the viscera, dose [dr.]j to [dr.]iij. should enivri wish to know the medical virtues of our wild plants, i have no doubt but that this worthy old physician will tell him what virtues they were considered to possess in his day, at least by himself; and i can assure him that of the _english physician's_ pages ascribe marvellous properties, not only to plants, but to animals, fish, and even the bones of a stag's heart. r. j. shaw. * * * * * jacob bobart. (vol. vii., pp. . .) i am exceedingly obliged for the information afforded by dr. e. f. rimbault concerning the bobarts. can he give me any more communication concerning them? i am anxious to learn all i can. i have old jacob bobart's signature, bearing date , in which he spells his name with an _e_ instead of _a_, which seems to have been altered to an _a_ by his son jacob. in _vertumnus_ it says bobart's _hortes siccus_ was in twenty volumes; but the _oxford botanic garden guide_ only mentions twelve quarto volumes: which is correct, and where is it? in one of my copies of _vertumnus_, a scrap of paper is fixed to p. ., and the following is written upon it: "the hortus siccus here alluded to was sold at the rev. mr. hodgkinson's sale at sarsden, to mrs. de salis, wife of dr. de salis." is there any pedigree of the family? in a letter of jno. ray's to mr. aubrey is the following: "i am glad that mr. bobart hath been so diligent in observing and making a collection of insects." is there any collection extant? "he may give me much assistance in my intended synopsis of our english animals, and contribute much to the perfecting of it." did he do so? is the print of old jacob bobart, by w. richardson, _valuable_? where can i pick up a print of him by loggan del., burghers sculp.? there is a portrait of jacob bobart the younger in _oxford almanack_ for ; can i procure it? h. t. bobart. * * * * * heraldic queries. (vol. vii., p. .) ceyrep is informed, st, that a shield in the form of a lozenge was appropriated exclusively to females, both spinsters and widows, in order to distinguish the sex of the bearer of a coat of arms. it is of doubtful origin, though supposed, from the form, to symbolise the spindle with yarn wound round it; of good authority, and not of very modern date. many instances may be seen in fuller, in the coats of arms appended to the dedications of the various chapters of his _church history_. in sect. ii. book vi. p. . ed. , he has separated the coats of man and wife, and placed them side by side; that of the latter upon a lozenge-shaped shield--party per pale arg. and gules, two eagles displayed, counterchanged. ndly, no one has a right to inscribe a motto upon a garter or riband, except those dignified with one of the various orders of knighthood. for any other person to do so, is a silly assumption. the motto should be upon a scroll, either over the crest, or beneath the shield. rdly, i cannot find that it was ever the custom in this country for ecclesiastics to bear their paternal coat on an oval or circular shield. forbidden, as they were, by the first council of { } mascon, bingham, vi. ., in the excerptions of ecgbright, a.d. , item ., and the constitutions of othobon, a.d. , can. ., to bear arms for the purposes of warfare, it is a question whether any below the episcopal order ought, in strict right, to display any armorial ensigns at all. archbishops and bishops bear the arms of their sees impaled (as of their spouse) with their own paternal coats; the latter probably only in right of their baronies. it is worthy of remark that, since the reformation, and consequent marriage of bishops, there has been no official decision as to the bearing the arms of their wives, nor has any precedence been granted to the latter. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * door-head inscriptions. (vol. vii., pp. . . .) a few years ago i copied the following inscription from over the door of the residence of a parish priest at cologne: "protege deus parochiam hanc propter te et s.s. tuum, sicut protexisti jerusalem propter te et david servum tuum. iv reg. xx. . a.d. ." from the gateway leading into the villa borghese, just outside of the "porta del popolo," at rome, i copied the following: "villæ burghesiæ pincianæ custos hæc edico. quisquis es, si liber legum compedes ne hic timeas. ite quo voles, carpite quæ voles, abite quando voles. exteris magis hæc parantur quam hero. in aureo sæculo ubi cuncta aurea temporum securitas fecit bene morato: hospiti ferreas leges præfigere herus velat. sit hic pro amico, pro lege honesta voluntas. verum si quis dolo malo, lubens, sciens aureas urbanitatis leges fregerit, caveat ne sibi tesseram amicitiæ subiratus villicus advorsum frangat." on the entrance into the villa medici are the two following: "aditurus hortos hospes, in summo ut vides colle hortulorum consitos, si forte quid audes probare, scire debes hos hero herique amicis esse apertos omnibus." "ingressurus hospes hosce quos ingentibus instruxit hortos sumptibus suis medices fernandus expleare visendo licet: atque his fruendo plura velle nondecet." the following i copied from a gateway leading into a vineyard near the church of san eusebio, at rome: "tria sunt mirabilia; trinus et unus, deus et homo, virgo et mater." ceyrep. * * * * * consecrated roses. (vol. vii., pp. . .) i forward the accompanying observations on the origin of the rosa d'oro, in compliance with the request contained at page . of the th no. of "n. & q.," in case they should not have come under your observation. they are to be found in _histoire de lorraine_, par r. p. dom. calmet: nancy, . "le troisième monastère fondé par les parens de st. leon est l'abbaye de volfenheim, à deux lieues de colmar, vers le midi, et à deux lieues environs d'egesheim, château des comtes de dasbourg, aujourd'hui ( ) inhabité, mais bien remarquable par ces vastes ruines, sur le sommet des montagnes qui dominent sur l'alsace. "volfenheim étoit un village considérable, à une lieue et demi de colmar. on voie encore aujourd'hui à une demi lieue de sainte croix dans les champs, l'église qui lui servoit autrefois de paroisse. l'abbaye étoit à quelque distance de là, au lieu où est aujourd'hui le bourg de sainte croix. "volfenheim ayant étoit [_quære_, été] ruiné par les guerres, les habitans se sont insensiblement établis autour de l'abbaye, ce qui a formé un bon bourg, connu sous le nom de sainte croix; parceque l'abbaye étoit consacrée sous cette invocation. le pape leon ix., dans la bulle qu'il donna à ce monastère la première année de son pontificat, de j. c. , nous apprend qu'il avoit été fondé par son père hughes et sa mère heilioilgdis, et ses frères gerard et hugues, qui étoient déjà décédés; il ajoûte que ce lieu lui étoit tombé par droit de succession; il le met sous la protection spéciale du saint siége, en sorte que nulle personne, de quelque qualité qu'elle soit, n'y exerce aucune autorité, mais qu'il jouisse d'une pleine liberté, et que l'abbesse et les religieuses puissent employer quelque evêque ils jugeroient apropos pour les bénédictions d'autels, et autres fonctions qui regardent le ministère épiscopal: que son neveu, le comte henri seigneur d'egesheim, en soit la voue, et après lui, l'aîné des seigneurs d'egesheim à perpétuité. "que si cette race vient à manquer, l'abbesse et le couvent choisiront quelque autre de la parenté de ces { } seigneurs, afin que l'avocatie ne soit pas de leur race, et qu'après la mort de kuentza, qui en étoit abbesse, et à qui le pape avoit donné la bénédiction abbatiale, les religieuses choisissent de leur communauté, ou d'ailleurs, celle qui leur paroîtra la plus propre, reservant toujours au pape le droit de la bénir. et en reconnaissance d'un privilège si singulier, l'abbesse donnera tous les ans au saint siége une rose d'or du poids de deux onces romaines. elle l'envoyera toute faite, ou en envoyera la matière préparée, de telle sorte qu'elle soit rendue au pape huit jours auparavant qu'il la porte, c'est-à-dire, le dimanche de carême, où l'on chante à l'introite, 'oculi mei semper ad dominum;' afin qu'il puisse bénir au dimanche 'lætare,' qui est le quatrième du carême. telle est l'origine de la rose d'or, que le pape bénit encore aujourd'hui le quatrième dimanche de carême, nommé 'lætare,' et qu'il envoye à quelque prince pour marque d'estime et de bienveillance. ce jour-là, la station se fait à sainte croix de jérusalem. le pape, accompagné des cardinaux, vetûs de couleur de rose, marche en cavalcade à l'eglise, tenant la rose d'or à la main. il la porte, allant à l'autel, chargé de baume et de mare. il la quitte au 'confiteor,' et la reprend après 'l'introite.' il en fait la bénédiction, et après l'evangile, il monte en chaise et explique les propriétés de la rose. après la messe il retourne en cavalcade à son palais, ayant toujours la rose en main et la couronne sur la tête. on appelle ce dimanche 'pascha rosata,' ou 'lætare.' "nous avons encore un sermon du pape innocent iii., composé en cette occasion, an commencement du treizième siècle. le pape nicholas iv., en , dans le dénombrement qu'il fait des églises qui doivent des redevances à l'église de rome, met le monastère de sainte croix, diocèse de basle, qui doit deux onces d'or pour la rose d'or, qui se bénit au dimanche lætere, jérusalem." p. p. p. * * * * * notes on serpents. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. vi., p. .--vol. iii., p. .; vol. vi., pp. . .) loskiel, in his account of the moravian missions to the north american indians[ ], tells us that,-- "the indians are remarkably skilled in curing the bite of venomous serpents, and have found a medicine peculiarly adapted to the bite of each species. for example, the leaf of the rattlesnake-root (_polygala senega_) is the most efficacious remedy against the bite of this dreadful animal. god has mercifully granted it to grow in the greatest plenty in all parts most infested by the rattlesnake. it is very remarkable that this herb acquires its greatest perfection just at the time when the bite of these serpents is the most dangerous.... virginian snake-root (_aristolochia serpentaria_) chewed, makes also an excellent poultice for wounds of this sort.... the fat of the serpent itself, rubbed into the wound, is thought to be efficacious. the flesh of the rattlesnake, dried and boiled to a broth, is said to be more nourishing than that of the viper, and of service in consumptions. their gall is likewise used as medicine."--p. . pigs are excepted from the dreadful effects of their bite; they will even attack and eat them. it is said that, _if a rattlesnake is irritated and cannot be revenged, it bites itself, and dies in a few hours_: "wird dieses thier zornig gemacht, und es kann sich nicht rächen, so beiszt es sich selbst, und in wenig stunden ist es todt."--p. .[ ] "i have seen some of our canadians eat these rattlesnakes repeatedly. the flesh is very white, and they assured me had a delicious taste. their manner of dressing them is very simple.... great caution, however, is required in killing a snake for eating; for if the first blow fails, or only partially stuns him, _he instantly bites himself in different parts of the body, which thereby become poisoned_, and would prove fatal to any person who should partake of it."--cox's _adv. on the columbia river_: lond. , p. . "dr. fordyce knew the black servant of an indian merchant in america, who was fond of soup made of rattlesnakes, in which he always boiled the head along with the rest of the animal, without any regard to the poisons."--rees's _cyclopædia_. "there is a religious sect in africa, not far from algiers, which eat the most venomous serpents _alive_; and certainly, it is said, without extracting their fangs. they declare they enjoy the privilege from their founder. the creatures writhe and struggle between their teeth; but possibly, if they do bite them, the bite is innocuous." mrs. crowe, in the concluding chapter of her _night-side of nature_, gives the testimony of an eye-witness to "the singular phenomenon to be observed by placing a scorpion and a mouse together under a glass." "it is known that _stags renew their age by eating serpents_; so the phoenix is restored by the nest of spices she makes to burn in. the pelican hath the same virtue, whose right foot, if it be put under hot dung, after three months a pelican will be bred from it. wherefore some physicians, with some confections made of _a viper_ and hellebore, and of some of the flesh of these creatures, _do promise to restore youth, and sometimes they do it_."[ ] on reading any of our old herbalists, one would imagine that serpents (and those of the worst kind) abounded in "merrie englande," and that they were the greatest bane of our lives. it is { } hard to stumble on a plant that is not an antidote to the bite of serpents. our old herbals were compiled, however, almost entirely from the writings of the ancients, and from foreign sources. the ancients had a curious notion relative to the plant basil (_oscimum basilicum_), viz., "that there is a property in basil to propagate scorpions, and that the smell thereof they are bred in the brains of men." others deny this wonderful property, and make basil a simple antidote. "according unto oribasius, physician unto julian, the africans, men best experienced in poisons, affirm, whosoever hath eaten basil, although he be stung with a scorpion, shall feel no pain thereby, which is a very different effect, and rather antidotally destroying than seminally promoting its production."--sir thomas browne, _vulgar errors._ an old writer gives the following anecdote in point: "francis marcio, an eminent statesman of genoa, having sent an ambassador from that republic to the duke of milan, when he could neither procure an audience of leave from that prince, nor yet prevail with him to ratify his promises made to the genoese, taking a fit opportunity, presented a handful of the herb basil to the duke. the duke, somewhat surprised, asked what that meant? 'sir,' replied the ambassador, 'this herb is of that nature, that if you handle it gently without squeezing, it will emit a pleasant and grateful scent; but if you squeeze and gripe it, 'twill not only lose its colour, but it _will become productive of scorpions_ in a little time."--_the entertainer_: london, , p. . pliny tells us that a decoction from the leaves of the ash tree, given as a drink, is such a remedy that "nothing so soveraigne can be found against the poison of serpents;" and farther: "that a _serpent dare not come neare the shaddow of that tree_. the serpent will chuse rather to goe into the fire than to flie from it to the leaves of the ash. a wonderful goodnesse of dame nature, that the ash doth bloome and flourish alwaies before that serpents come abroad, and never sheddeth leaves, but continueth green untill they be retired into their holes, and hidden within the ground." the ancient opinion respecting the rooted antipathy between the ash and the serpent is not to be explained merely by the fact in natural history of its being an antidote, but it has a deeply mythical meaning. see, in the _prose edda_, the account of the ash yggdrasill, and the serpents gnawing its roots. loskiel corroborates pliny as to the ash being an antidote: "a decoction of the buds or bark of the white ash (_fraxinus carolina_) taken inwardly is said to be a certain remedy against the effects of poison," _i.e._ of the rattlesnake. serpents afford pliny a theme for inexhaustible wonders. the strangest of his relations perhaps is where he tells us that serpents, "when they have stung or bitten a man, die for very greefe and sorrow that they have done such a mischeefe." he makes a special exception, however, of the murderous salamander, who has no such "pricke and remorse of conscience," but would "destroy whole nations at one time," if not prevented. in this same book (xxix.) he gives a receipt for making the famous _theriacum_, or treacle, of vipers' flesh. another strange notion of the ancients was "that the marrow of a man's backe bone will breed to a snake" (_hist. nat._, x. .). this perhaps, originally, had a mystic meaning; for a great proportion of the innumerable serpent stories have a deeper foundation than a credulous fancy or lively imagination. take, for instance, the wide-spread legend of the sea-serpent. mr. deane says,-- "the superstition of 'the serpent in the sea' was known to the chinese, as we observed in the chapter on the 'serpent-worship of china.' but it was doubtless, at one time, a very general superstition among the heathens, for we find it mentioned by isaiah, ch. xxvii. ., 'in that day the lord, with his sore and great and strong sword, shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent: and he shall slay _the dragon that is in the sea_.'" in _blackwood's magazine_, vol. ii. p. ., vol. iv. pp. . ., may be found some interesting papers on the "scrakin, or great sea serpent." mr. deane's _worship of the serpent_ (london, ); and _the cross and the serpent_, by the rev. wm. haslam (london, ), are noble works both of them, and ought to be in the hands of every christian scholar. in these two words, "cross" and "serpent," we have an epitome of the history of the world and the human race, as well as the ground-work for all our hopes and fears. in them are bound up the highest mysteries, the truest symbolism, the deepest realities, and our nearest and dearest interests. lord bacon thus narrates the classical fable which accounts for the serpent's being gifted with the power of restoring youth: "the gods, in a merry mood, granted unto men not only the use of fire, but _perpetual youth_ also, a boon most acceptable and desirable. they being as it were overjoyed, did foolishly lay this gift of the gods upon the back of an ass, who, being wonderfully oppressed with thirst and near a fountain, was told by a serpent (which had the custody thereof) that he should not drink unless he would promise to give him the burthen that was on his back. the silly ass accepted the condition, and _so the restoration of youth_ (_sold for a draught of water_) _passed from men to serpents._"--_the wisdom of the ancients_ (prometheus, xxvi.). that this, as well as the whole of the legend relating to prometheus, is a confused account of an early tradition relative to the fall of man, and his forfeiture of immortality, is obvious to any { } unprejudiced mind. lord bacon's explanation shows that he has been overreached by his fancy and ingenuity. in all the ancient mysteries, the serpent was more or less conspicuously introduced, and always as a symbol of the invigorating or active power of nature. the serpent was an emblem of the sun. _solar_, _phallic_, and _serpent_ worship, are all forms of a single worship.[ ] the hindu _boodh_, chinese _fo_, egyptian _osiris_, northern _woden_, mexican _quetzalcoatl_ (feathered serpent), are one and the same. (see the _american archæological researches_, no. .; _the serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in america_, by e. g. squier: new york, .) in hindostan, to this day, we have the _chaudravanasas_ and the _snaryavanasas_, worshippers of the moon, the aqueous or female; and of the sun, the igneous or male principle. the _saivas_ conjoin the two. clemens alexandrinus has a curious remark, referring to the calling on _evoe_ or _eva_ in the orgies of bacchus; he says: "the symbol in the orgies of bacchus is a consecrated _serpent_; and, indeed, if we pay attention to the strict sense of the hebrew, the name _evia_, aspirated, signifies _female serpent_." in my list of saints who are represented with a dragon or serpent beneath their feet, i omitted st. hilary: "he is usually represented with three books. in callot's _images_ he is treading on serpents, and accompanied by the text numb. xxi. . both these emblems allude to his opposition to arianism; the books signifying the treatises he wrote against it, and the serpents the false doctrines and heresies which he overthrew." _calendar of the anglican church illustrated_: london, , p. . in didron's splendid work (the _iconographie_) we have several references to ancient representations of our blessed lord treading the dragon under foot; and sometimes the lion, the asp, and the basilisk are added. (see ps. xci. .) _the conception_ is usually represented in christian art by a figure of mary setting her foot, as second eve, on the head of the prostrate serpent (in allusion to gen. iii. .), and thus we find it in callot's _images_. "not seldom, in a series of subjects from the old testament, the pendant to eve holding the apple is mary crushing the head of the fiend: and thus the bane and antidote are both before us." (see mrs. jameson's _legends of the madonna._) eirionnach. [footnote : the title of this curious book is, _geschichte der mission der evangelischen brüder unter den indianern in nordamerika_, durch georg h. loskiel: barby, , vo., pp. . latrobe's translation of this book was published lond. .] [footnote : this reminds one of the notion respecting "the scorpion girt with fire," immortalised by lord byron's famous simile.] [footnote : _eighteen books of the secrets of art and nature; being the summe and substance of naturall philosophy methodically digested_: london, .] [footnote : in o'brien's work on _the round towers of ireland_, london, , may be found much curious matter on this subject; and a good deal of light is thrown on the horrors of serpent or boodhist worship. it is, however, a wild and irreverent book, and by no means to be recommended to the general reader, independently of the nature of its details. mr. payne knight's book is too well known to need mention here.] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _early notice of the camera obscura._--i send you an early notice of the camera obscura, which is to be found in vol. vi. of the _nouvelles de la république des lettres_ for september, , p. . it is taken from a letter of mons. laurenti, médecin, of boulogne, "sur l'érection des espèces dans une chambre optique." "c'est ainsi qu'on nomme one chambre exactement fermée partout, si ce n'est dans un endroit par où on laisse entrer la lumière, afin de voir peints, et situés à rebours, sur un morceau de papier blanc, les objets de dehors qui respondent à ce trou, auquel il faut mettre un verre convexe. on a souhaité, pour donner plus d'agrément à ce spectacle, que les objets se peignissent sur ce papier selon leur véritable situation; et pour cet effet on a cherché des expédiens qui redressassent les espèces avant qu'elles parvinssent au foier du verre, c'est-à-dire, sur le papier. l'auteur raporte ' ' de ces expédiens, et trouve dans chacun d'eux quelque chose d'incommode, mais enfin il en raporte un autre, qui est exempt de toutes ces incommoditéz, et qui, par le moien d'un prisme, au travers duquel il faut regarder les images peints sur le papier, les montre dans leur situation droite, et augmente même la vivacité de leurs couleurs. c'est le hazard qui a découvert ce phénomène." this letter is to be found at length in the _miscellanea curiosa, sive ephemeridum medico-physicarum germanicarum academiæ naturæ curiosorum decuria ii. annus quartus, anni continens celeberrimorum virorum observationes medicas_: norimbergæ, , in to. it may perhaps be worth consulting, if it were only to know what the ten rejected expedients are. anon. _queries on dr. diamond's collodion process._--will you oblige me by informing dr. diamond through your valuable publication, that i am, in common with many others, extremely indebted to him for his collodion, and would esteem it a favour if he would answer the following queries, viz.: st. he says, in answer to a previous query, that "nitrate of potassa" is _not_ formed in his process. now i wish to ask if (as the iodide of silver is redissolved in iodide of potassium) it is _not_ formed when the plate is plunged into the nitrate silver bath, as the nitrate decomposes the iodide of potassium? nd. how long will the collodion, according to his formulæ, keep, as collodion made with iodide of silver generally decomposes quickly. rdly. why does he prohibit _washed_ ether? thly. does he think cyanide of potassium would do as well as the iodide, to redissolve the iodide of silver, iodide of potassium being at present so dear? { } thly. in his paper process, does not the soaking in water after iodizing merely take away a portion of iodides of silver and potassium from the paper; or, if not, what end is answered by it? w. f. e. _baths for the collodion process._--having lately been assured, by a gentleman of scientific attainments, that the sensitiveness of the prepared collodion plate depends rather upon the strength of the nitrate of silver bath than on the collodion, i am desirous of asking how far the experience of your correspondents confirms this statement. my informant assured me, that if, instead of using a solution of thirty grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce of water for the bath, which is the proportion recommended by messrs. archer, horne, delamotte, diamond, &c., a sixty grain solution be substituted, the formation of the image would be the work of the fraction of a second. this seems to me so important as to deserve being brought under the notice of photographers--especially at this busy season--without a moment's delay; and i therefore record the statement at once, as, from circumstances with which i need not encumber your pages, i shall not have an opportunity of trying any experiment upon the point for a week or two. upon referring to the authorities on the subject of the best solution for baths, i have been struck with their uniformity. one exception only has presented itself, which is in a valuable paper by mr. thomas in the th number of the _journal of the photographic society_. that gentleman directs the bath to be prepared in the following manner: into a oz. stoppered bottle, put-- nitrate of silver oz. distilled water oz. dissolve. iodide of potassium grs. distilled water dr. dissolve. on mixing these two solutions, a precipitate of iodide of silver is formed. place the bottle containing this mixture in a saucepan of hot water, keep it on the hob for about twelve hours, shake it occasionally, now and then removing the stopper. the bath is now perfectly saturated with iodide of silver; when cold, filter through white filtering paper, and add-- alcohol drs. sulphuric ether dr. the prepared glass is to remain in the bath about eight or ten minutes. now, is this bath applicable to all collodion, or only to that prepared by mr. thomas; and if the former, what is the rationale of its beneficial action? a beginner. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _mitigation of capital punishment to a forger_ (vol. vii., p. .).--if your correspondent h. b. c. really wishes to be released from his hard work in hunting up the truth of my and other narratives of the _mitigation of capital punishment to forgers_, i shall be happy to receive a note from him with his name and address, when i will give him the name and address of my informant in return. by this means i may be able to relieve his shoulder from a portion of its burden, and myself from any farther imputations of "mythic accompaniments," &c., which are unpalatable phrases even when coming from a gentleman who only discloses his initials. alfred gatty. ecclesfield. _chronograms_ (vol. v., p. .) and _anagrams_ (vol. iv., p. ).--though we have ceased to practise these "literary follies," they are not without interest; and you will perhaps think it worth while to add the following to your list: "hugo grotius, his _sophompaneas_. by francis goldsmith." has no date on the title-page, the real date of being supplied by the chronogram, which is a better one than most of those quoted in "n. & q.," inasmuch as all the numerical letters are employed, and it is consequently not dependent on the typography. james howell concludes his _parly of beasts_ as follows: "gloria lausque deo sæclorvm in sæcvla sunto. a chronogrammaticall verse which includes not onely this year, , but hath numericall letters enow [an illustration, by the way, of _enow_ as expressive of number] to reach above a thousand years farther, untill the year ." query, how is this made out? and are there any other letters employed as numerical than the m, d, c, l, v, and i? if not, i can only make howell's chronogram equivalent to . the author, in his _german diet_, after narrating the death of charles, son of philip ii. of spain, says: "if you desire to know the yeer, this chronogram will tell you: filivs ante diem patrios inqvirit in annos," which would represent the date of . the same work contains an anagram on "frere jacques clement," the murderer of henry iii. of france: "c'est l'enfer qui m'a créé." j. f. m. _abigail_ (vol. iv., p. .; vol. v., pp. . . .).--can it be shown that this word was in general use, as meaning a "lady's maid," before the time of queen anne. it probably was so used; { } but i have always thought it likely that it became much more extensively employed, after abigail hill, lady masham, became the favourite of that queen. she was, i believe, a poor cousin of sarah jennings, duchess of marlborough, and early in life was employed by her in the humble capacity of lady's maid. after she had supplanted the haughty duchess, it is not unlikely that the whigs would take a malicious pleasure in keeping alive the recollection of the early fortunes of the tory favourite, and that they would be unwilling to lose the opportunity of speaking of a lady's maid as anything else but an "abigail." swift, however, in his use of the word, could have no such design, as he was on the best of terms with the mashams, of whose party he was the very life and soul. h. t. riley. _burial in unconsecrated ground_ (vol. vi., p. .).--susanna, the wife of philip carteret webb, esq., of busbridge, in surrey, died at bath in march, , and was, at her own desire, buried with two of her children in a cave in the grounds at busbridge; it being excavated by a company of soldiers then quartered at guildford. their remains were afterwards disinterred and buried in godalming church. h. t. riley. _"cob" and "conners"_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--these names are not synonymous, nor are they irish words. it is the pier at lyme regis, and not the harbour, which bears the name of the _cob_. in the "y gododin" of aneurin, a british poem supposed to have been written in the sixth century, the now obsolete word _chynnwr_ occurs in the seventy-sixth stanza. in a recent translation of this poem, by the rev. john williams ab ithel, m.a., this word is rendered, apparently for the sake of the metre, "shore of the sea." the explanation given in a foot-note is, "harbour _cynwr_ from _cyn dwfr_." on the shore of the estuary of the dee, between chester and flint, on the welsh side of the river, there is a place called "connah's quay." it is probable that the ancient orthography of the name was _conner_. _cob_, i think, is also a british word,--_cop_, a mound. all the ancient earth-works which bear this name, of which i have knowledge, are of a circular form, except a lone embankment called _the cop_, which has been raised on the race-course at chester, to protect it from the land-floods and spring-tides of the river dee. n. w. s. ( .) _coleridge's unpublished mss._ (vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., p. .).--theophylact, at the first reference, inquired whether we are "ever likely to receive from any member of coleridge's family, or from his friend mr. j. h. green, the fragments, if not the entire work, of his _logosophia_." agreeing with your correspondent, that "we can ill afford to lose a work the conception of which engrossed much of his thoughts," i repeated the query in another form, at the second reference (_supra_), grounding it upon an assurance of sara coleridge, in her introduction to the _biographia literaria_, that the fragment on ideas would hereafter appear, as a sequel to the _aids to reflection_. whether this fragment be identical with the _logosophia_, or, as i suspect, a distinct essay, certain it is that nothing of the kind has ever been published. from an interesting conversation i had with dr. green in a railway carriage, on our return from the commemoration at oxford, i learned that he has in his possession, ( .) a complete section of a work on _the philosophy of nature_ which he took down from the mouth of coleridge, filling a large volume; ( .) a complete treatise on _logic_; and ( .) if i did not mistake, a fragment on _ideas_. the reason dr. green assigns for their not having been published, is, that they contain nothing but what has already seen the light in the _aids to reflection_, _the theory of life_, and the _treatise on method_. this appears to me a very inadequate reason for withholding them from the press. that the works would pay, there can be no doubt. besides the editing of these mss., who is so well qualified as dr. green to give us a good biography of coleridge? c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _selling a wife_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a case of selling a wife actually and _bonâ fide_ happened in the provincial town in which i reside, about eighteen years ago. a man publicly sold his wife at the market cross for l.: the buyer carried her away with him some seven miles off, and she lived with him till his death. the seller and the buyer are both now dead, but the woman is alive, and is married to a _third_ (or a _second_) husband. the legality of the transaction has, i believe, some chance of being tried, as she now claims some property belonging to her first husband (the seller), her right to which is questioned in consequence of her supposed alienation by sale; and i am informed that a lawyer has been applied to in the case. of course there can be little doubt as to the result. sc. _life_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--compare with the lines quoted by your correspondents those of moore, entitled "my birthday," the four following especially: "vain was the man, and false as vain, who said[ ], 'were he ordain'd to run his long career of life again, he would do all that he had done.'" many a man would gladly live his life over again, were he allowed to bring to bear on his { } second life the _experience_ he had acquired in that past. for in the grave there is no room, either for _ambition_ or _repentance_; and the degree of our happiness or misery for eternity is proportioned to the state of preparation or unpreparation in which we leave _this world_. instead of many a man, i might have said most good men; and of the others, all who have not passed the rubicon of hope and grace. the vista of the past, however, appears a long and dreary retrospect, and _any_ future is hailed as a relief: yet on second and deeper thought, we would mount again the rugged hill of life, and try for a brighter prospect, a higher eminence. jarltzberg. [footnote : fontenelle.] * * * * * "immo deus mihi si dederit renovare juventam, utve iterum in cunis possim vagire; recusem." isaac hawkins browne, _de animi immortalitate_, lib. i., near the end. (see _selecta poemata anglorum latina_, iii. .) f. w. j. _passage of thucydides on the greek factions_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the passage alluded to by sir a. alison appears to be the celebrated description of the moral effects produced by the conflicts of the greek factions, which is subjoined to the account of the corcyræan sedition, iii. . the quotation must, however, have been made from memory, and it is amplified and expanded from the original. the words adverted to seem to be: [greek: mellêsis de promêthês deilia euprepês, to de sôphron tou anandrou proschêma, kai to pros hapan xuneton epi pan argon.] thucydides, however, proceeds to say that the cunning which enabled a man to plot with success against an enemy, or still more to discover his hostile purposes, was highly esteemed. l. _archbishop king_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a few days since i met with the following passage in a brief sketch of kane o'hara, in the last number of the _irish quarterly review_: "in the extremely meagre published notices of o'hara (the celebrated burletta writer), no reference has been made to his skill as an artist, of which we have a specimen in his etching of dr. william king, archbishop of dublin, in a wig and cap, of which portrait a copy has been made by richardson." this extract is taken from one of a very interesting series of papers upon "the streets of dublin." abhba. _devonianisms_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_pilm_, _forrell_.--_pillom_ is the full word, of which _pilm_ is a contraction. it appears to have been derived from the british word _pylor_, dust. _forell_ is an archaic name for the cover of a book. the welsh appear to have adopted it from the english, as their name for a bookbinder is _fforelwr_, literally, one who covers books. i may mention another devonianism. the cover of a book is called its _healing_. a man who lays slates on the roof of a house is, in devonshire, called a _hellier_. n. w. s. ( .) _perseverant, perseverance_ (vol. vii., p. .).--can mr. arrowsmith supply any instances of the verb _persever_ (or _perceyuer_, as it is spelt in the edition of hawes, m. i. col. .), from any other author? and will he inform us when this "abortive hog" and his litter became extinct. in explaining _speare_ (so strangely misunderstood by the editor of dodsley), he should, i think, have added, that it was an old way of writing _spar_. in shakspeare's prologue to _troilus and cressida_, it is written _sperr_. _sparred_, quoted by richardson from the _romance of the rose_, and _troilus and creseide_, is in the edition of chaucer referred to by tyrwhitt, written in the _romance_ "spered," and in _troilus_ "sperred." q. bloomsbury. "_the good old cause_" (vol. vi., _passim_).--mrs. behn, who gained some notoriety for her licentious writings even in charles ii.'s days, was the author of a play called _the roundheads, or the good old cause_: london, . in the epilogue she puts into the mouth of the puritans the following lines respecting the royalists: "yet then they rail'd against _the good old cause_; rail'd foolishly for loyalty and laws: but when the saints had put them to a stand, we left them loyalty, and took their land: yea, and the pious work of reformation rewarded was with plunder and sequestration." the following lines are quoted by mr. teale in his _life of viscount falkland_, p. .: "the wealthiest man among us is the best: no grandeur now in nature or in book delights us--repose, avarice, expense, this is the idolatry; and these we adore: plain living and high thinking are no more; the homely beauty of _the good old cause_ is gone: our peace and fearful innocence, and pure religion breathing household laws." whence did mr. teale get these lines? either _the good old cause_ is here used in a peculiar sense, or mr. teale makes an unhappy use of the quotation. jarltzberg. _saying of pascal_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to the question of w. fraser, i would refer him to pascal's _sixteenth_ provincial letter, where, in the last paragraph but one, we read,-- "mes révérends pères, mes lettres n'avaient pas accoutumé de se suivre de si près, ni d'être si étendues. _le peu de temps que j'ai eu a été cause de l'un et de l'autre. je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je { } n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte._ la raison qui m'a obligé de hâter vous est mieux connue qu'à moi." r. e. t. _paint taken off of old oak_ (vol. vii., p. .).--about twenty-six years ago, by the adoption of a very simple process recommended by dr. wollaston, the paint was entirely removed from the screen of carved oak which fills the north end of the great hall at audley end, and the wood reassumed its original colour and brilliancy. the result was brought about by the application of soft-soap, laid on of the thickness of a shilling over the whole surface of the oak, and allowed to remain there two or three days; at the end of which it was washed off with plenty of cold water. i am aware that potash has been often tried with success for the same purpose; but, in many instances, unless it is used with due caution, the wood becomes of a darker hue, and has the appearance of having been charred. it is worthy of remark, that dr. wollaston made the suggestion with great diffidence, not having, as he said, had any practical experience of the effect of such an application. braybrooke. _passage in the "tempest"_ (vol. ii., pp. . . . .).--as a parallel to the expression "most busy least" (meaning "least busy" emphatically), i would suggest the common expression of the northumbrians, "far over near" (signifying "much too near"). h. t. riley. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the committee appointed by the society of antiquaries to consider what improvements could be introduced into its management, has at length issued a report; and we are glad to find that the alterations suggested by them have been frankly adopted by the council. the principal changes proposed refer to the election of the council; the having but one secretary, who is not to be a member of that body; the appointment of local secretaries; the retirement annually of the senior vice-president; and lastly, that which more than anything else must operate for the future benefit of the society, the appointment of a third standing committee, to be called _the executive committee_, whose duty shall be "to superintend the correspondence of the society on all subjects relating to literature and antiquities, to direct any antiquarian operations or excavations carried on by the society, to examine all papers sent for reading, all objects sent for exhibition, and to assist the director generally in taking care that the publications of the society are consistent with its position and importance." it is easy to see that if a proper selection be made of the fellows to serve on this committee, their activity, and the renewed interest which will be thereby awakened in the proceedings of the society, will ensure for the thursday evening meetings a regular supply of objects for exhibition, and papers for reading, worthy of the body--and therefore unlike many which we have too frequently heard, and to which, but for the undeserved imputation which we should seem to cast upon our good friend sir henry ellis, might be applied, with a slight alteration, that couplet of mathias which tells-- "how o'er the bulk of these _transacted_ deeds sir henry pants, and d----ns 'em as he reads." we have now little doubt that better days are in store for the society of antiquaries. the annual meeting of the archæological institute commences at chichester on tuesday next, under the patronage of the dukes of norfolk and richmond, and the bishop of chichester, and the presidentship of lord talbot de malahide. there is a good bill of fare provided in the shape of lectures on the cathedral, by professor willis; excursions to boxgrove priory, halnaker, godwood, cowdray, petworth, pevensey, amberley, shoreham, lewes, and arundel; excavations on bow hill; meetings of the sections of history, antiquities, and architecture; and, what we think will be one of the pleasantest features of the programme, the annual meeting of the sussex archæological society, in the proceedings of which the members of the institute are invited to participate. books received.--_a glossary of provincialisms in use in the county of sussex_, by w. durrant cooper, _second edition_: a small but very valuable addition to our provincial glossaries, with an introduction well worth the reading. we shall be surprised if the meeting of the institute this year in sussex does not furnish mr. cooper with materials for a third and enlarged edition.--_the traveller's library_, no. ., _a tour on the continent by rail and road_, by john barrow: a brief itinerary of dates and distances, showing what may be done in a two months' visit to the continent.--no. . _swiss men and swiss mountains_, by robert ferguson: a very graphic and well-written narrative of a tour in switzerland, which deserves a corner in the knapsack of the "intending" traveller.--_the essays, or counsels civil and moral, by francis bacon, viscount st. alban_, edited by thomas markby: a cheap edition of this valuable "handbook for thinking men," produced by the ready sale which has attended _the advancement of learning_ by the same editor.--_reynard the fox, after the german version of göthe_, with illustrations by j. wolf, part vii., in which the translator carries on the story to _the outlawry_ in well-tuned verse.--_cyclopædia bibliographica_, part x. this tenth part concludes the first half of the volume of authors and their works; and the punctuality with which the parts have succeeded each other is a sufficient pledge that we shall see this most useful library companion completed in a satisfactory manner. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. moore's melodies. th edition. wood's athenÆ oxonienses (ed. bliss). vols. to. - . the complaynts of scotland. vo. edited by leyden. . shakspeare's plays. vol. v. of johnson and steevens's edition, in vols. vo. . circle of the seasons. mo. london, . (two copies.) jones' account of aberystwith. trevecka, vo. . { } m. c. h. broemel's fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . cooper's account of public records. vo. . vol. i. passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. basil, . lord lansdowne's works. vol. i. tonson, . james baker's picturesque guide to the local beauties of wales. vol. i. to. . sanders' history of shenstone in staffordshire. j. nichols, london, . two copies. herbert's carolina threnodia. vo. . theobold's shakspeare restored. to. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. j. m. g., _who writes respecting the leigh peerage, is informed that we have a private letter for him. how can it be addressed to him?_ w. w. (malta) _has our best thanks for his letter of the th of june. his suggestion will be adopted; but we shall shortly have the pleasure of addressing a_ private _communication to him._ shakspeare criticism. _we have to apologise to many friends and correspondents for the postponement of their communications. as soon as the index to_ vol. vii. _is published, we shall take steps to get out of these arrears._ c. p. f. _the_ ch _in the name of _ch_obham is soft. there is a _c_obham within a few miles of the camp._ iodide (june th). _there is much care required in iodizing paper; we have no hesitation in saying at present the subject has not met with sufficient attention. when the iodized paper is immersed in water, it is some time before it assumes a yellow colour. this may be accelerated by often changing the water. the brightness of the colour is by no means an index of its degree of sensitiveness--on the contrary, paper of a bright yellow colour is more apt to brown than one of a pale primrose. too bright a yellow would also indicate an insufficient soaking; and suffering the paper to remain longer than is needful not only lessens its sensitive powers, but does much damage by removing all the size._ h. n. (kingston). _violet-coloured glass, ground on one side, may be obtained at d. per square foot of messrs. forest and brownley, lime street, liverpool. it may also be had in london, but the price charged is much higher. this glass obstructs just a sufficient degree of light, and is most agreeable to the sitter; not much advantage accrues from the use of large sheets, and it is objectionable for price. no doubt such an application as you mention would be useful; but, from the difficulty there is in keeping out the wet from a glass roof, it would be very objectionable. beyond a reference to our advertising columns, we cannot enter upon the subject of the prices of chemicals and their purity. in making gun cotton, the time of immersion in the acids must be the same for twenty grains as for any large quantity: when good, there is a peculiar crispness in the cotton, and it is_ quite _soluble in the ether. if our correspondent (who expresses so much earnestness of success) will forward his address, he shall receive a small portion made according to_ dr. diamond's _formulary, which we find extremely soluble; and he can compare it with that of his own production._ f. m. (malta). _ st. we are informed by_ dr. diamond _that however beautiful the results obtained by others in the use of canson's paper, in his hands he has found no certainty in its action, and, for iodized paper for negatives, far inferior to the best english papers. if the salts of gold are to be used, deep tints are very readily obtained by the french papers. the propriety of using gold is very questionable, not only as affecting the after permanence of the picture, but from the strong contrasts generally produced being very offensive to an artist's eye. ndly. xyloidine may be iodized precisely the same as collodion, but no advantage whatever is gained from its use. a collodion for the taking of positives on glass should be differently made to one for negative pictures. there should be less of the iodides contained in it, and it should be more fluid. when this is the case, the image is never washed out by the hypo., and the delineation is equal in minuteness to any daguerreotype on metal plates, as has been shown by the specimens of the reduction of printing exhibited by mr. rosling at the society of arts' exhibition, where the letters were reduced to - th of an inch, or less than half the diameter of a human hair. if the protonitrate of iron_ properly prepared _be used in the development, the deposit assumes the beautiful appearance of dead white silver, having none of the reflecting qualities of the metal plates._ c. e. f. (june th). _the spots in the specimen sent depend upon minute substances in your collodion not receiving the action of the nitrate of silver bath; and you will find this upon looking through a prepared plate after it has been in the nitrate bath, and previously to its ever having been in the camera. they may be iodide or iodate of silver, or small crystals of nitrate of potash. if the former, add a little piece of iodide of potassium, say ten grains to two ounces of collodion; or if the latter, it would depend upon a defective washing of the gun cotton by which all the soluble salts have not been removed: thus more care must be used. we would recommend you to use an entirely new bath and stronger, four ounces of hypo. to a pint: it is evident that your very nice specimens have been spoiled by the stains of the bath. allow us again to draw your attention to the process given by_ mr. pollock; _we have seen most satisfactory pictures produced by it._ r. h. chattock (solihull). _the "freckled" appearance which you mention in your positives in all probability depends upon the action of the light upon the silver, which still remains in your proof. we have often found it to be the case when old hyposulphite of soda is used, and when the strength of the bath is becoming weak and doubtful. it is certainly a safe process to soak the picture in clean water for an hour or two,_ the light being excluded _previous to the immersion into the hypo.; and the water extracting a large portion of the solutions remaining on the paper, the after application of the hypo. need not be so long continued, whereby the tone of the picture is not so much lowered. your own observation, that a piece of whatman's paper being merely divided, and one point exhibiting the defects and the other not, at once negatives the idea that the size in the paper has been affected._ _the_ index _to our_ seventh volume _will be ready on saturday next, the th._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * wanted, for the ladies' institute, . regent street, quadrant, ladies of taste for fancy work,--by paying s. will be received as members, and taught the new style of velvet wool work, which is acquired in a few easy lessons. each lady will be guaranteed constant employment and ready cash payment for her work. apply personally to mr. thoughey. n.b. ladies taught by letter at any distance from london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * { } photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic apparatus manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. t. ottewill (from horne & co.'s) begs most respectfully to call the attention of gentlemen, tourists, and photographers, to the superiority of his newly registered double-bodied folding cameras, possessing the efficiency and ready adjustment of the sliding camera, with the portability and convenience of the folding ditto. every description of apparatus to order. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. . _great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- ---------+----------+--------------------+---------- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * pure nervous or mind complaints.--if the readers of notes and queries, who suffer from depression of spirits, confusion, headache, blushing, groundless fears, unfitness for business or society, blood to the head, failure of memory, delusions, suicidal thoughts, fear of insanity, &c., will call on, or correspond with, rev. dr. willis moseley, who, out of above , applicants, knows not fifty uncured who have followed his advice, he will instruct them how to get well, without a fee, and will render the same service to the friends of the insane.--at home from to . . bloomsbury street, bedford square. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * { } murray's railway reading. this day, new and revised edition, post vo., s. d. ancient spanish ballads: historical and romantic. translated, with notes, by john gibson lockhart, esq. also, fcap. vo., s. a month in norway, during the summer of . by john g. hollway, esq. the former volumes of murray's railway reading are-- life of lord bacon. by lord campbell. wellington. by jules maurel. fall of jerusalem. by dean milman. story of joan of arc. by lord mahon. literary essays and characters. by henry hallam. life of theodore hook. the emigrant. by sir f. b. head. character of wellington. by lord ellesmere. music and dress. by a lady. popular account of nineveh. by a. h. layard. bees and flowers. by a clergyman. "the forty-five." by lord mahon. essays from "the times." deeds of naval daring. by edward giffard. the art of dining. journey to nepaul. by laurence oliphant. the chace, turf, and road. by nimrod. just ready, history, as a condition of social progress. by samuel lucas. fcap. vo., price d. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * dutch language.--werninck's dutch dictionary, (published at s.), bd. s.--van der pyl's dutch grammar, vo. , bds. s.;--and a variety of other dutch works for sale at bernard quaritch's, . castle street, leicester square. *** b. q.'s catalogue, containing an extensive stock of books in all the languages of the world, may be had for d.--b. q.'s monthly catalogues are sent for a year on receipt of twelve postage stamps. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, july , contains articles on aloes, to water, by mr. burgess analyses of roots ants, black banana, by mr. bidwell beetles, to kill begonia prestoniensis books noticed botanic garden, glasnevin, fete in calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural celery, to blanch, by mr. bennett chopwell wood digger, samuelson's drainage, land farming on dartmoor fences, land occupied by fir, miniature scotch, by mr. mcpherson forests, royal fruit, to pack grapes, to pack ---- at chiswick grape mildew grasses for lawns grubbers or scufflers horticultural society's garden law of fixtures lawn grasses lisianthus russellianus lycoperdon proteus, by mr. richardson mangold wurzel manuring, liquid, by professor hay mildew, grape newbury horticultural show packing fruit peaches, to pack pear disease (with engraving) pelargoniums, to bed out ---- window poultry literature rhubarb wine root crops roots, best size of, by mr. hamilton royal botanic gardens scufflers or grubbers seeding, thin societies, proceedings of the horticultural, agricultural of england turnip crops wine, rhubarb the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden. london. * * * * * archÆological institute of great britain and ireland. annual meeting, chichester, . patrons. his grace the duke of norfolk, earl marshal, k.g. his grace the duke of richmond, k.g., lord lieutenant of sussex, and custos rotulorum. the lord bishop of chichester, d.d. president. the lord talbot de malahide, m.r.i.a. presidents of sections. _history._--the earl of chichester. _antiquities._--the hon. robert curzon, jun. _architecture._--the very rev. the dean of chichester. the annual meeting will commence at chichester on tuesday next, july the th. all persons who propose to communicate memoirs, or to send antiquities, &c., for exhibition, are requested to make known their intention forthwith. geo. vulliamy, sec. _ . suffolk street, pall mall._ * * * * * madvig's greek syntax, by arnold and browne. in square vo., price s. d. syntax of the greek language, especially of the attic dialect, for the use of schools. by professor madvig. translated from the german by the rev. h. browne, m.a., and edited by the rev. t. k. arnold, m.a., late rector of lyndon, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge. with an appendix on the greek particles, by the translator. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * arnold's editions of the greek dramas, with english notes. just published, price s. the medea of euripides; with english notes, from the german of witzschel. edited by the rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a., late rector of lyndon, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. recently published in this series: . euripidis bacchÆ, s.--hippolytus, s.--hecuba, s. . sophoclis oedipus coloneus, s.--oedipus tyrannus, s.--philoctetes, s.--ajax, s.--antigone, s. . eclogÆ aristophanicÆ. (clouds), s. d.--(birds), s. d. * * * * * now ready, with woodcuts, post vo., s. d. the story of corfe castle, and of many who have lived there. collected from ancient chronicles and records; also from the private memoirs of a family resident there in the time of the civil wars, which include various particulars of the court of charles i., when at york, and afterwards at oxford. by the right hon. george bankes, m.p. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for july, , being the first of a new volume, contains:-- . memoirs of thomas moore. . wanderings of an antiquary, from york to godmanham (with engravings). . female novelists. . a political caricature, temp. charles i. . a midland town (leicester) in the reign of george iii., and mr. gardiner's anecdotes of t. moore. . historical notes on the retaining of counsel. . roman antiquities found at kingsholm, near gloucester. . remains of norman cross at birstall, co. york (with an engraving). . the bourne stream near croydon. . dr. guest on the etymology of stonehenge. correspondence of sylvanus urban: the itinerary of richard of cirencester.--the roches and viscounty of fermoy.--recent repairs of lambeth church.--early state of st. james's park.--postmen, temp. charles i., &c. &c. with notes of the month, reviews of new publications, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the earl of ducie, lord dacre, sir john hope, bart., sir charles a. elton, bart., lt.-gen. sir r. arbuthnot, vice-adm. sir f. mason, sir richard b. comyn, culling c. smith, esq., j. l. dampier, esq., ludwig tieck, &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * now ready, price s. d. by post, s. the practice of photography. a manual for students and amateurs. by philip delamotte, f.s.a. illustrated with a photographic picture taken by the collodion process. this manual contains much practical information of a valuable nature. joseph cundall, . new bond street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "awe, auge, ave, campus": 'campres' in original (errata, issue ). page , "the coptic iaro": 'iars' in original (errata, issue ). page , "connecting the following words with one another": 'word' in original. page , "any other source than those": 'that those' in original. page , "the regularity of the petals.": 'irregularity' in original (errata, issue ). generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july . .. [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page books chained to desks in churches: font inscription: parochial libraries, by w. sparrow simpson, b.a. real signatures _versus_ pseudo-names, by the rev. james graves popular stories of the english peasantry, by vincent t. sternberg shakspeare correspondence, by cecil harbottle, &c. epitaph and monuments in wingfield church, suffolk original royal letters to the grand masters of malta minor notes:--meaning of "clipper"--anathema, maran-atha--convocation and the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts--pigs said to see the wind--anecdote of the duke of gloucester queries:-- lord william russell ancient furniture--prie-dieu minor queries:--reynolds' nephew--sir isaac newton--limerick, dublin, and cork--praying to the west--mulciber--captain booth of stockport--"a saint in crape"--french abbés--what day is it at our antipodes?--"spendthrift"--second growth of grass-- the laird of brodie--mrs. tighe, author of "psyche"-- bishop ferrar--sir thomas de longueville--quotations wanted--symon patrick, bishop of ely: durham: weston: jephson--the heveninghams of suffolk and norfolk-- lady percy, wife of hotspur (daughter of edmund mortimer, earl of march)--shape of coffins--st. george family pictures--caley (john), "ecclesiastical survey of the possessions, &c. of the bishop of st. david's," &c.--adamson's "lusitania illustrata"--blotting-paper-- poetical versions of the fragments in athenæus replies:-- robert drury the termination -by the rosicrucians, by william bates inscriptions on bells, by w. sparrow simpson, b.a. was cook the discoverer of the sandwich islands? by c. e. bagot megatherium americanum, by w. pinkerton photographic correspondence:--stereoscopic angles--yellow bottles for photographic chemicals replies to minor queries:--earth upon earth, &c.--picalyly--mr. justice newton--manners of the irish--arms of the see of york--"up, guards, and at 'em!"--coleridge's christabel: the rd part--mitigation of capital punishment--the man with the iron mask-- gentleman executed for murder of a slave--jahn's jahrbuch--character of the song of the nightingale, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. books chained to desks in churches: font inscription: parochial libraries. it would be interesting to have a complete list of the various books still to be found chained to desks in our ancient churches. the "bible of the largest volume," the "books of homilies allowed by authority," and the book of common prayer, are ordered by canon . to be provided for every church. in some places this regulation is still complied with: at oakington, cambridgeshire, a copy of a recent ( ) edition of the homilies lies on a small desk in the nave. but besides these authoritative works, other books are found _chained_ to their ancient desks: at impington, cambridgeshire are, or were, "three black-letter volumes of fox's _martyrs_ chained to a stall in the chancel." (paley's _ecclesiologist's guide, &c._) at st. nicholas, rochester, chained to a small bracket desk at the south side of the west door, is a copy of _a collection of cases and other discourses to recover dissenters to the church of england_, small vo., . the _paraphrase_ of erasmus may probably be added to the list (see professor blunt's _sketch of the history of the reformation_, th edit., p. .), though i cannot call to mind any church in which a copy of this work may now be found. in the noble minster church at wimborne, dorsetshire, is a rather large collection of books, comprising some old and valuable editions: all these books were, and many still are, chained to their shelves; an iron rod runs along the front of each shelf, on which rings attached to the chains fastened to the covers of the works have free play; these volumes are preserved in an upper chamber on the south side of the chancel. the parochial library at st. margaret's, lynn, norfolk, is one of considerable interest and importance; amongst other treasures are a curious little manuscript of the new testament very neatly written, a (mutilated) black-letter copy of the _sarum missal_, and many fine copies of the works of the fathers, and also of the reformers; these are preserved in the south aisle of the chancel, which is fitted up as a library, and are in very good order. at margate church are a few volumes, of what kind my note-book does { } not inform me. i may also mention, in connexion with st. nicholas, rochester, that the font is octagonal, and inscribed with the following capital letters, the first surmounted by a crown: c . r . i . * . * . * . a . n. the large panel on each side contains one of the letters; the font is placed close to the wall, so that the remaining letters, indicated by asterisks, cannot now be read: the sexton said that the whole word was supposed to be "christian," or rather "cristian." beside the font is a very quaint iron bracket-stand, painted blue and gold, "constructed to carry" two candles. w. sparrow simpson. p. s.--permit me to correct an error of the press in my communication at p. . of your present volume, col. . l. . from bottom; for "worn," read "won." * * * * * real signatures versus pseudo-names. it is pleasant to see so many of the correspondents of "n. & q." joining in the remonstrance against the anonymous system. were one to set about accumulating the reasons for the abandonment of pseudo-names and initials, many of the valuable columns of this periodical might be easily filled; such an essay it is not, however, my intention to inflict on its readers, who by a little thought can easily do for themselves more than a large effusion of ink on the part of any correspondent could effect. i shall content myself with recounting the good which, in one instance, has resulted from a knowledge of the real name and address of a contributor. the rev. h. t. ellacombe (one of the first to raise his voice against the use of pseudo-names) having observed in "n. & q." many communications evincing no ordinary acquaintance with the national records of ireland, and wishing to enter into direct communication with the writer (who merely signed himself j. f. f.), put a query in the "notices to correspondents," begging j. f. f. to communicate his real name and address. there in all probability the matter would have ended, as j. f. f. did not happen to take "n. & q.," but that the writer of these lines chanced to be aware, that under the above given initials lurked the name of the worthy, the courteous, the erudite, and, yet more strange still, the _unpaid_ guardian of the irish exchequer records--james frederick ferguson,--a name which many a student of irish history will recognise with warm gratitude and unfeigned respect. now it had so happened that by a strange fortune mr. ellacombe was the repository of information as to the whereabouts of certain of the ancient records of ireland (see mr. ellacombe's notice of the matter, vol. viii., p. .), abstracted at some former period from the "legal custody" of some heedless keeper, and sold by a jew to a german gentleman, and the result of his communicating this knowledge to mr. ferguson, has been the latter gentleman's "chivalrous" and successful expedition for their recovery. the _english quarterly review_ (not _magazine_, as mr. ellacombe inadvertently writes), in a forthcoming article on the records of ireland, will, it is to be hoped, give the full details of this exciting record hunt, and thus exemplify the _great utility_, not to speak of the _manliness_, of real names and addresses, _versus_ false names and equally will-o'-the-wisp initials. james graves. kilkenny. * * * * * popular stories of the english peasantry. (vol. v., p. . &c.) will you allow me, through the medium of "n. & q.," to say how much obliged i should be for any communications on this subject. since i last addressed you (about a year ago) i have received many interesting contributions towards my proposed collection; but not, i regret to say, quite to the extent i had anticipated. my own researches have been principally confined to the midland counties, and i have very little from the north or east. such a large field requires many gleaners, and i hope your correspondents learned in folklore will not be backward in lending their aid to complete a work which scott, southey, and a host of illustrious names, have considered a desideratum in our national antiquities. i propose to divide the tales into three classes--mythological, humorous, and nurse-tales. of the mythological i have already given several specimens in your journal, but i will give the following, as it illustrates another link in the transmission of mr. keightley's hindustani legend, which appeared in a recent number. it is from northamptonshire. _the bogie and the farmer._ once upon a time a bogie asserted a claim to a field which had been hitherto in the possession of a farmer; and after a great deal of disputing, they came to an arrangement by agreeing to divide its produce between them. at seed time, the farmer asks the bogie what part of the crop he will have, "tops or bottoms." "bottoms," said the spirit: upon which the crafty farmer sows the field with wheat, so that when harvest arrives the corn falls to his share, while the poor bogie is obliged to content himself with the stubble. next year the spirit, finding he had made such an unfortunate selection in the bottoms, chose the tops; whereupon cunning hodge set the field with turnips, thus again outwitting the simple { } claimant. tired of this unprofitable farming, the bogie agrees to hazard his claims on a mowing-match, thinking that his supernatural strength would give him an easy victory; but before the day of meeting, the cunning earth-tiller procures a number of iron bars which he stows among the grass to be mown by his opponent; and when the trial commences, the unsuspecting goblin finds his progress retarded by his scythe coming into contact with these obstacles, which he takes to be some very hard--very hard--species of dock. "mortal hard docks, these," said he; "nation hard docks!" his blunted scythe soon brings him to a stand still, and as, in such cases, it is not allowed for one to sharpen without the other, he turns to his antagonist, now far ahead, and inquires, in a tone of despair, "when d'ye wiffle-waffle (whet), mate?" "waffle!" said the farmer, with a well-feigned stare of amazement, "o, about noon mebby." "then," said the despairing spirit, "that thief of a christian has done me;" and so saying, he disappeared and was never heard of more. under _nurse-tales_, i include the extremely puerile stories of the nursery, often (as in the german ones) interlaced with rhymes. the following, from the banks of the avon, sounds like an echo from a german story-book. _little elly._ in the old time, a certain good king laid all the ghosts, and hanged all the witches and wizards save one, who fell into a bad way, and kept a school in a small village. one day little elly looked through a chink-hole, and saw him eating man's flesh and drinking man's blood; but little elly kept it all to herself, and went to school as before. and when school was over the ogee fixed his eyes upon her, and said-- "all go home but elly, and elly come to me." and when they were gone he said, "what did you see me eat, elly?" "o something did i see, but nothing will i tell, unto my dying day." and so he pulled off her shoes, and whipped her till she bled (this repeated three days); and the third day he took her up, and put her into a rose-bush, where the rain rained, and the snow snowed, and the hail hailed, and the wind blew upon her all night. quickly her tiny spirit crept out of her tiny body and hovered round the bed of her parents, where it sung in mournful voice for evermore-- "dark, weary, and cold am i, little knoweth gammie where am i." of the humorous stories i have already given a specimen in vol. v., p. . any notes of legends, or suggestions of any kind, forwarded to my address as below, will be thankfully received and acknowledged. vincent t. sternberg. . store street, bedford square. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _the old corrector on "the winter's tale."_--i am glad to find that you have another correspondent, and a very able one too, under the signature of a. e. b., who takes the same view of "aristotle's checks" as i have done; though i think he might have paid me the compliment of _just_ noticing my prior remonstrance on this subject. it is to be lamented, that mr. collier should have hurried out his new edition of shakspeare, adopting all the sweeping _emendations_ of his newly-found commentator, without paying the slightest heed to any of the suggestions which have been offered to him in a friendly spirit, or affording time for the farther objections which are continually pouring in. at the risk of probably wearying some of your readers, i cannot forbear submitting to you a few more remarks; but i shall confine them on this occasion to one play, _the winter's tale_: which contains, perhaps, as many poetical beauties as any single work of our great dramatic bard. with reference to the passage quoted in p. ., i can hardly believe that shakspeare ever wrote such a poor unmeaning line as-- " . . . they are false as _dead blacks_." nor can i perceive any possible objection to the original words "o'er dyed blacks." they may either mean false mourners, putting an _over_ dark semblance of grief; or they may allude figuratively to the material of mourning, the colours of which if _over-dyed_ will not stand. in either of these senses, the passage is poetical; but there is nothing like poetry in "_our dead blacks_." in p. . the alteration of the word "and" to "heaven" may be right, though it is difficult to conceive how the one can have been mistaken for the other. at all events, the sense is improved by the change; but i do not see that anything is gained by the substitution in the next line of "dream" for "theme." whatever the king said in his ravings about hermione, might as aptly be called part of his "theme" as part of his "dream." the subject of his _dream_ was in fact his _theme_! neither can i discover any good reason for changing, in p. ., " . . . and one may drink, depart, and yet partake no venom," into "drink a part." the context clearly shows the author's meaning to have been, that if any one _departed_ at once after tasting of the beverage, he would have no knowledge of what he had drunk; { } but if he remained, some one present might point out to him the spider in the cup, and _then_ "he cracks his gorge," &c. in p. . mr. collier says that the passage, "dangerous, unsafe lunes i' the king," is mere tautology, and _therefore_ he follows the old corrector in substituting "_unsane lunes_." now it strikes me that there is quite as much _tautology_ in "_unsane lunes_" as in the double epithet, "dangerous, unsafe." it is, in fact, equivalent to "insane madness;" and, moreover, drags in quite needlessly a very unusual and uncouth word. in p. . we have the last word of the following passage-- "i never saw a vessel of like sorrow, so fill'd and so becoming,"-- converted into "_o'er-running_." this may possibly be the correct reading; but, seeing that it is immediately followed by the words-- " . . . in pure white robes, like very sanctity," i question whether "becoming" is not the more natural expression. "there weep--and leave it crying," is made-- "there _wend_--and leave it crying," which i submit is decidedly wrong. i will not be hypercritical, or i might suggest that in that case the words would have been "_thither_ wend;" but i maintain that the change is contrary to the _sense_. the spirit of hermione never could have been intended to say that the _child_ should be left _crying_. she would rather wish that it might _not cry_! the meaning, as it seems to me, is, that antigonus should _weep_ over the babe, and leave it while so _weeping_. in p. . the words "missingly noted" are altered to "_musingly_ noted," which is a very questionable improvement. camillo, _missing_ florigel from court, would naturally _note_ his absence; and he may have _mused_ over the causes of it, but there could be no necessity for _musing_ to note the fact of his absence: and i cannot help thinking that the word _missingly_ is more in shakspeare's style. i cannot subscribe at all to the alteration in p. . of the word "unrolled" to "enrolled." to be enrolled _and placed_ in the book of virtue is very like tautology; but i conceive shakspeare meant autolycus to wish that his name might be _unrolled_ from the company of thieves and gypsies with whom he was associated, and transferred to the book of virtue. i am entirely at issue with the old corrector upon his _emendation_ in p. .: " . . . nothing she does or _seems_, but smacks of something greater than herself;" he says, ought to be: "nothing she does or _says_." and how does mr. collier explain this misprint? why, by stating that formerly "says" was often written "saies." now, i cannot for the life of me discover why the word "saies" should have been mistaken for "seems," any more than the word "says." but surely the phrase, "nothing she does or seems," is far more poetical and elegant than the other. it says in effect: there is nothing either in her acts or her carriage, "but smacks of something greater than herself." we have positive evidence, however, that the passage could not have been "nothing she does or says," viz. that this speech of polixenes immediately follows a long dialogue between florizel and perdita, which could not have been overheard, because camillo directly afterwards says to the king: " . . . he tells her something, that makes her blood look out." thereby clearly proving, that the king could not have been remarking on what _she said_. the transformation of the last-mentioned line into-- "that _wakes_ her blood--look out!" cannot, i think, be justified on any ground. he tells her something which "makes her blood look out." that is, something which makes her blush rush to the surface to look out upon it! what can be more natural? the proposed alteration is not only unnecessary, but awkward! in p. ., if the words "unbraided wares" must be altered, i see no reason for the change to "_embroided_" wares. it seems to me that _embraided_ would be the most proper word. what possible reason can there be for converting "force and knowledge," in p. ., to "sense and knowledge?" if i may be excused a play upon the words, i should say the _sense_ of the passage is not at all improved, and the _force_ is entirely lost. i must protest most decidedly against the correction of the following lines, p. .: " . . . can he speak? hear? know man from man? dispute his own estate?" dispute his own estate means, _defend_ his property, dispute with any one who questions his rights. the original passage expresses the sense quite perfectly, while "dispose his own estate" appears to me poor and insipid in comparison. mr. collier's objection to the speech of camillo, in p. ., " . . . it shall be so my care to have you royally appointed, as if the scene you play were mine;" is, that to make the scene appear as if it were camillo's, could be of no service to the young prince. now camillo says nothing about the scene _appearing_ as his. he says he will have the prince royally appointed, as if the scene he played _were_ really his own: that is, as if _he_ were the party interested in it, instead of the prince. { } the reading of the old corrector-- " . . . . as if the scene you play were true," would be nonsense; because, so far as the prince appearing to be bohemia's son (which was what he was most anxious about), the scene to be played was _really true_! the last correction i have now to notice is in the soliloquy of autolycus in p. .: where mr. collier proposes to read, "who knows how that may turn _luck_ to my advantage," instead of "may turn _back_ to my advantage." i see no advantage in the change, but the very reverse. "who knows but my availing myself of the means to do the prince my master a service, may come back to me in the shape of some advancement?" this seems to me to be the author's meaning, and it is legitimately expressed. how frequently it has been said that an evil deed recoils upon the head of the perpetrator! then why not a good deed _turn back_ to reward the doer? cecil harbottle. p. s.--it is rather singular that a. e. b., who, as i have already shown, has so completely _shelved_ me in his remarks upon "aristotle's checks," should now complain of the very same thing himself, and say that his "humble auxilia have been coolly appropriated, without the slightest acknowledgment." however, as our opinions coincide upon the passage in question, i am not disposed to pick a quarrel with him. i cannot, however, at all concur in his alteration of the passage in _king lear_: "our means secure us," to "our means _recuse_ us." i will certainly leave him "in the quiet possession of whatever merit is due to this _restoration_," or rather this invention! can a. e. b. show any other instance in which shakspeare has used the verb _recuse_; or will he point out any other author who has adopted it in the sense referred to? johnson calls it a "juridical word:" and i certainly have no recollection of having met with it, except in judicial proceedings. i can neither subscribe to the emendation of a. e. b., nor to that of the old commentator, but infinitely prefer the original words, which appear to me perfectly intelligible. the sense, as it strikes me, is, that however we may desire things which we have not, the _means_ we already possess are sufficient for our security; and even our _defects_ prove serviceable. blindness, for instance, will make a man more careful of himself; and then the other faculties he enjoys will secure him from harm. _"king lear," act iv. sc. ._-- "our means secure us, and our mere defects prove our commodities." i should not object to your correspondent a. e. b.'s conjectural emendation, "recuse" for "secure," but that, unless my memory and ayscough are both deceptive, the word "recuse" is nowhere to be found in shakspeare; nor, as far as i know, in any dramatist of the age. if it be used by any of the latter, it is probably only in the strict legal meaning, which is quite different from that which a. e. b. would attach to it. this is conclusive with me; for i hold that there is no sounder canon in shakspearian criticism than never to introduce by conjecture a word of which the poet does not himself elsewhere make use, or which is not at least strongly sanctioned by contemporary employment. i therefore, as the passage is flat nonsense, return to the well-abused "corrector's" much modester emendation, "wants" for "means." and now permit one word in defence of this deceased and untoward personage. i think much of the unpopularity into which he has fallen with a certain class of critics, is owing to their not allowing him fair play. suppose a ms. placed in our hands, containing, beyond all doubt, what mr. collier's corrected second folio is alleged to contain, authoritative emendations of the text: what should we, _à priori_, expect to find in it? that text is abominably corrupt beyond a doubt; it contains many impossible readings, which must be misprints or otherwise erroneous; it contains also many improbable readings, harsh, strained, mean, inadequate, and the like. now it is excessively unlikely that a truly corrected copy, could we find one, would remove all the impossible readings, and leave all the improbable ones. it is still more unlikely that, in correcting the improbable passages, it would leave those to which mr. a., or mr. b., or mr. c., ay, or all of us together, have formed an attachment from habit, predilection, or prejudice of some kind. such phrases as "the blanket of the dark," "a man that hath had losses," "unthread the rude eye of rebellion," and many more, have become consecrated in our eyes by habit; they have assumed, as it were, the character of additions to our ordinary vocabulary; and yet i think sound reason itself, and that kind of secondary reason or instinct which long familiarity with critical pursuits gives us, combine to suggest that, _occurring in a corrupt text_, they are probably corruptions; and corruptions in lieu of some very common and even prosaic phrases, such as the corrector substitutes for them, and such as no conjectural critic would venture on. in short, the kind of disappointment which many of these corrections unavoidably give to the reader, is with me an argument in favour of their genuineness, not against it. and, lastly, in so very corrupt a text, it is _à priori_ probable that many phrases which appear to need no correction at all, are misprints or { } mistakes nevertheless. it is probably that the true text of the poet contained many variations utterly unimportant, as well as others of importance, from the printed one. now here it is precisely, that we find in the corrector what we should anticipate, and what it is difficult to account for on any theory disparaging his authority. what could have induced him to make such substitutions as _swift_ for "sweet," _then_ for "there," _all arose_ for "are arose," _solemn_ for "sorry," _fortune_ for "nature," to quote from a single play, the _comedy of errors_, which happens to lie before me,--none of them necessary emendations, most of them trivial, unless he had under his eye some original containing those variations, to which he wished his own copy to conform? it is surely wild guessing to attribute corrections like these to a mere wanton itch for altering the text; and yet no other alternative is suggested by the corrector's enemies. i am myself as yet a sceptic in the matter, being very little disposed to hasty credulity on such occasions, especially where there is a possibility of deceit. but i must say that the doctrine of probabilities seems to me to furnish strong arguments in the corrector's favour; and that the attacks of professed shakspearian critics on him, both in and out of "n. & q.," have hitherto rather tended to raise him in my estimation. h. m. _aristotle's checks v. aristotle's ethics._-- "only, good master, while we do admire this virtue, and this moral discipline, let's be no stoicks, nor no stocks, i pray; or so devote to aristotle's _checks_, as ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd." _taming of the shrew_, act i. sc. . the following are instances of the use of the substantive _check_ by shakspeare: "_orlando._ a man that had a wife with such a wit, might say,--'wit whither wilt?' "_rosalind._ nay, you might keep that _check_ for it, till you met your wife's wit going to your neighbour's bed." "_falstaff._ i never knew yet, but rebuke and _check_ was the reward of valour." "_antony._ this is a soldier's kiss; rebukable, and worthy shameful _check_ it were to stand on more mechanic compliment." "_belarius._ . . . o, this life is nobler, than attending for a _check_." "_iago._ however, this may gall him with some _check_. "_desdemona._ and yet his trespass, in our common reason . . . . is not almost a fault to incur a private _check_." these instances may show that the word in question was a favourite expression of the poet. it is true there was a translation of the ethics of aristotle in his time, _the _ethiques_ of aristotle_. if he spelt it _ethiques_, no printer would have blundered and substituted _checks_. judge blackstone suggested _ethicks_, but johnson and steevens kept to _checks_. and johnson, in his _dictionary_, _sub voce_ devote, quotes the passage, but which, by a strange printer's misreading, is referred to "_tim._ of ath." instead of _tam. of sh._ in todd's edit. of _johnson's dictionary_ ( ). w. n. pall mall. * * * * * epitaph and monuments in wingfield church, suffolk. i am not aware if the following epitaph has yet appeared in print; but i can safely assert that it really has a sepulchral origin; unlike those whose doubtful character causes them to be placed by your correspondent mr. shirley hibberd among the "gigantic gooseberries" ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .). i copied it myself from a gravestone in the churchyard of the village of wingfield, suffolk. after the name, &c. of the deceased is the following verse: "pope boldly says (some think the maxim odd), 'an honest man's the noblest work of god;' if pope's assertion be from error clear, the noblest work of god lies buried here." wingfield church itself is an interesting old place, but has been a good deal mauled in times past; and the brasses, of which there were once several, are all gone. it is, i believe, a good deal noted for a parvise, or room over the porch, from which, by an opening in the wall, a view of the altar is obtained. there are two or three piscinas in different parts of the church, and a sedilla near the altar. the most interesting objects are, however, three altar tombs, with recumbent figures of the earls of suffolk; the earliest, which is of wood, representing either the first or second peer of the family, with his spouse. the next in date is that of the celebrated noble who figures in shakspeare's _henry vi._ the monument is, if i recollect right, of alabaster. the figure is attired in complete armour, and was originally painted; a good deal of the colour still remaining. this and the following monument are partly let into the wall, and are surmounted by beautiful gothic canopies. the third is, i believe, also of alabaster, and is the effigy of (i think) the nephew of margaret of anjou's earl, and who lies by the side of his wife, one of edward iv.'s family. it is very likely that all i have been writing is no news to any one. in that case i have but to ask your pardon for troubling you with such a worthless note. pictor. * * * * * { } original royal letters to the grand masters of malta. in searching through the manuscripts now filed away in the record office of this island with dr. villa, who has charge of them, and for whose assistance in my search i am greatly indebted, i have been gratified by seeing several original letters, addressed by different monarchs of england to the grand masters of the order of st. john of jerusalem. each of the royal letters in the following list bears the signature of the writer: +-------------+---------------------+---------+-------------------------+ |writer. |date. |in what |to whom addressed, | | | |language |or by whom | | | |written. |received. | +-------------+---------------------+---------+-------------------------+ |henry viii. | th january, | latin |villiers de l'isle adam. | |ditto | st august, | ditto | ditto. | |ditto | th january, | ditto | ditto. | |ditto | th day, | ditto | ditto. | | |(month omitted) | | | |ditto | nd november, | ditto | ditto. | |ditto | th november, | ditto | ditto. | |charles ii. | th january, - | ditto |nicholas cotoner. | |ditto | th april, | ditto | ditto. | |ditto | th january, - | ditto | ditto. | |ditto |last day of november,| ditto | ditto. | | | | | | |ditto | st june, | ditto | ditto. | |james ii. | th july, |french |gregory carafa. | |anne | th july, | ditto |raymond perellos de | | | | | roccaful. | |george i.* | th august, | latin |anthony manoel de | | | | | villena. | |james (the | th september, |french | ditto. | | pretender) | | | | |george ii. | th june, | latin |emanuel pinto de | | | | | fonseca. | |ditto | th december, | ditto | ditto. | |ditto | th november, | ditto | ditto. | +-------------+---------------------+---------+-------------------------+ * the letter of george i. is countersigned "carteret;" those of george ii. by "harrington," "h. fox," and "bedford." none of the other letters in the above list bear any signature but that of the king or queen who wrote them. among the letters of henry viii., addressed to villiers de l'isle adam, there is one of much interest. i refer to that of the earliest date, in which his majesty strongly recommended the grand master to accept of tripoli, on the coast of barbary, and the islands of malta and gozo, as a residence for the convent, which charles v. had offered him. the importance of malta as a military station was known in england three hundred years ago. l'isle adam (with the exception of la valetta), the most distinguished of all the maltese grand masters, died on the st of august, . the last letter of henry viii., addressed to him, came to his successor, nicholas cotoner. on the mantle which covered the remains of this great man these few words were inscribed,--"here lies virtue triumphant over misfortune."] intending in a short time to examine these royal letters more closely, and hoping to refer to them again in "n.& q.," i refrain from writing more at length on the present occasion. w. w. la valetta, malta. p.s.--perhaps the following chronological table, referring to the maltese grand masters who are mentioned in the above note, may not be uninteresting to the readers of "n. & q.": +-------------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |name. |when elected. |when deceased at malta.| +-------------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |villiers de l'isle adam |at rhodes, | , st of august. | |nicholas cotoner |at malta, | . | |gregory carafa | ditto | . | |raymond perellos | ditto | . | |anthony manoel de villena| ditto | . | |emanuel pinto de fonseca | ditto | . | +-------------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ * * * * * { } minor notes. _meaning of "clipper."_--i have more than once been asked the meaning and derivation of the term _clipper_, which has been so much in vogue for some years past. it is now quite a nautical term, at least among the fresh-water sailors: and we find it most frequently applied to yachts, steamers, fast-sailing merchant vessels, &c. and in addition to the colloquial use of the word, so common in praising the appearance or qualities of a vessel, it has become one quite recognised in the official description given of their ships by merchants, &c. thus we often see an advertisement headed "the well-known clipper ship," "the noted clipper bark," and so forth. this use of the word, however, and its application to _vessels_, is somewhat wide of the original. the word in former times meant merely a hackney, or horse adapted for the road. the owners of such animals naturally valued them in proportion to their capabilities for such service, among which great speed in trotting was considered one of the chief: fast trotting horses were eagerly sought after, and trials of speed became the fashion. a horse then, which was pre-eminent in this particular, was termed a _clipper_, _i.e._ a _hackney, par excellence_. the original of the term is perhaps the following: _klepper-lehn_ was a feudal tenure, so termed among the old germans, where the yearly due from the vassal to the lord was a _klepper_, or, in its stead, so many bushels of oats: and the word _klepper_, or _kleopper_, is explained by haltaus. _glos. germ. med. Ævi_, : "equus qui corripit gradum, et gressus duplicat. nomen habet a celeri correptorum passuum sonitu." h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _anathema, maran-atha._--perhaps the following observation on these words may be as instructive to some of the readers of "n. & q." as it was to me. maran-atha means "the lord cometh," and is used apparently by st. paul as a kind of motto: compare [greek: ho kurios engus], phil. iv. . the greek word has become blended with the hebrew phrase, and the compound used as a formula of execration. (see conybeare and howson's _life and epistles of st. paul_, p. ., note .) f. w. j. _convocation and the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts._-- "when the committee i have mentioned was appointed, march , , to consider what might be done towards _propagating the christian religion as professed in the church of england in our foreign plantations_; and the committee, composed of very venerable and experienced men, well suited for such an inquiry, had sat several times at st. paul's, and made some progress in the business referred to them, a charter was presently procured to place the consideration of that matter in other hands, where it now remains, and will, we hope, produce excellent fruits. but whatever they are, they must be acknowledged to have sprung from the overtures to that purpose first made by the lower house of convocation."--_some proceedings in the convocation of faithfully represented_, p. . of preface. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _pigs said to see the wind._--in _hudibras_, independant says to presbyter: "you stole from the beggars all your tones, and gifted mortifying groans; had lights when better eyes were blind, _as pigs are said to see the wind_."--pt. . c. ii. l. . that most delightful of editors, dr. zachary grey, with all his multifarious learning, leaves us here in the lurch for once with a simple reference to "hudibras at court," _posthumous works_, p. . is this phrase merely an hyperbolic way of saying that pigs are very sharp-sighted, or is it an actual piece of folk-lore expressing a belief that pies have the privilege of seeing "the viewless wind?" i am inclined to take the latter view. under the head of "superstitions," in hone's _year-book_ for feb. , , we find: "among common sayings at present are these, _that pigs can see the wind_," &c. the version i have always heard of it is-- "pigs can see the wind 'tis said, and it seemeth to them _red_." eirionnach. _anecdote of the duke of gloucester._--looking through some of the commonwealth journals, i met with a capital _mot_ of this spirited little stuart. "it is reported that the titular duke of gloucester, being informed that the dutch fleet was about the isle of wight, he was asked to which side he stood most addicted. the young man, apprehending that his livelihood depended on the parliament, and that it might be an art to circumvent him, turning to the governor, demanded of him how he did construe 'quamdiu se bene gesserit.'"--_weekly intelligencer._ speriend. * * * * * queries. lord william russell. can any of your correspondents inform me where the virtuous and patriotic william lord russell was buried? it is singular that neither burnet, who attended him to the scaffold, nor his descendant lord john russell in writing his life, nor collins's _peerage_, nor the accounts and letters of his admirable widow, make any allusion to his { } remains. at last i found, in the _state trials_, vol. ix. p. ., that after the executioner had held up the head to the people, "mr. sheriff ordered his lordship's friends or servants to take the body and dispose of it as they pleased, being given them by his majesty's favour." probably, therefore, it was buried at cheneys; but it is worth a query to ascertain the fact. my attention was drawn to this omission by the discovery of the decapitated man found at nuneham regis ("n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .), and from observing that the then proprietor of the place appears to have been half-sister to lady russell, viz. daughter of the fourth lord southampton, by his second wife frances, heiress of the leighs, lords dunsmore, and the last of whom was created earl of chichester. but a little inquiry satisfied me this could not have been lord russell's body; among other reasons, because it was very improbable he should be interred at nuneham, and because the incognito body had a peaked beard, whereas the prints from the picture at woburn represent lord russell, according to the fashion of the time, without a beard. but who then was the decapitated man? he was evidently an offender of consequence, from his having been beheaded, and from the careful embalming and the three coffins in which his remains were inclosed. the only conjecture i see hazarded in your pages is that of mr. hesleden (vol. vi., p. .), who suggests monmouth; but he has overlooked the fact stated in the original communication of l. m. m. r., that nuneham only came into the possession of the buccleuch family through the montagues, _i.e._ by the marriage of henry, third duke of buccleuch, to lady elizabeth montagu; the present proprietor, lord john scott, being their grandson. this marriage took place in , or eighty-two years after monmouth's execution, and thirty-three years after the death of his widow, the duchess of buccleuch and monmouth, who is supposed to have caused the body to be removed from tower hill. notwithstanding the failure of heirs male in three noble families within the century, viz. the leighs, the wriothesleys, and the montagus, the present proprietor is their direct descendant, and there are indications in the letter referred to, that the place of interment of his ancestors, as well as of this singular unknown, will no longer be abandoned to be a depository of farm rubbish. w. l. m. * * * * * ancient furniture--prie-dieu. perhaps some of the readers of "n. & q." will be able to give me some information as to the use of an ancient piece of furniture which i have met with. at codrington, a small village in gloucestershire, in the old house once the residence of the family of that name, now a farm-house, they show you in the hall a piece of furniture which was brought there from the chapel when that part of the building was turned into a dairy. it is a cupboard, forming the upper part of a five-sided structure, which has a base projecting equally with the top, which itself hangs over a hollow between the cupboard and the base, and is finished off with pendants below the cupboard. the panel which forms the door of the cupboard is wider than the sides. all the panels are carved with sacred emblems; the vine, the instruments of the passion, the five wounds, the crucifix, the virgin and child, and a shield, with an oak tree with acorns, surmounted by the papal tiara and the keys. the dimensions are as follows: depth from front to back, feet ½ inches. height, feet inches. height of cupboard from slab to pendants, feet inches. height of base, ½ inches. width of side panels, foot inches; of centre panel, foot ½ inches. width of the door of the cupboard, foot inches. the door has carved upon it a scene representing two men, one an old man sitting upon a chair, the other a young one falling back from a stool; a table separates them and in the next compartment (for an arcade runs through the group) a female figure clasps her hands, as if in astonishment. this i can hardly understand. but the panel with the papal ensigns i think may throw some light on the use of the whole. in the year , john codrington of codrington obtained a bull from pope martin v. to have a portable altar in his house, to have mass celebrated when and where he pleased. i find that such a portable altar ought to have "a suitable frame of wood whereon to set it." such altars are frequently mentioned, though i believe very few remain; but i never could hear of the existence of anything to show what the frame would be. it occurs to me as possible that this piece of furniture may have been used for the purpose. the whole question of portable altars is an interesting one, and if this account should by the means of "n. & q." fall into the hands of any one who is acquainted with the subject, i hope he would consider it worth a communication. for some time i was at a loss for another instance; however, i have just received from a friend, who took interest in the subject, a sketch of something almost identical from the disused chapel at chillon in the canton vaud. of this i have not the measurements, but it stands about breast-high. it is there called a "prie-dieu," and is said to have belonged to the dukes of savoy, but the size is very unusual for such a use. i send sketches of each of the subjects of my query, { } and hope that, if this should be thought worthy of a place in "n. & q.," some one will be able and willing to afford some information about them. i would add as a farther query, the question of the meaning of the battle-axe and pansy, which appear on the "prie-dieu" at chillon. is it a known badge of the savoy family? r. h. c. * * * * * minor queries. _reynolds' nephew._--in the correspondence of david garrick, vol. i. pp. . ., to., , there are letters of sir joshua reynolds regarding a play written by his nephew. can you tell me whether this was the rev. mr. palmer, minister of the temple church, and who was afterwards dean of gashel; or had sir joshua any other nephew? the letters are dated , and the author appears to have been resident in london about that time. a. z. _sir isaac newton._--which is the passage in newton's _optics_ to which flamsteed refers, in his account of the altercation between them, as having given occasion to some of the enemies of the former to tax him with atheism? and is there any evidence, besides what this passage may afford, in favour of dr. johnson's assertion, that newton _set out_ as an infidel? (boswell, july , .) the _optics_ were not published till , but had been composed many years previously. j. s. warden. _limerick, dublin, and cork._--can any of your irish or other correspondents inform me to whom we are indebted for the lines-- "limerick was, dublin is, and cork shall be, the finest city of the three"? also, in what respect limerick was formerly superior to dublin? n. dublin. _praying to the west._--a friend of mine told me that a highland woman in strathconan, wishing to say that her mother-in-law prayed for my friend daily, said: "she holds up her hands to the _west_ for you every day." if to the _east_ it would have been more intelligible; but why to the west? l. m. m. r. _mulciber._--who was mulciber, immortalised (!) in garth's _dispensary_ (ed. , p. .) as "the mayor bromicham?" my copy contains on the fly-leaf a ms. key to all the names save this. r. c. warde. kidderminster. _captain booth of stockport_ (vol. vi., p. .).--as yet, no reply to this query has been elicited; but as it is a subject of some interest to both lancashire and cheshire men, i should like to ascertain from jaytee in what collection he met with the ms. copy of captain booth's _ordinary of arms_? its existence does not appear to have been known to any of our cheshire or lancashire historians; for in none of their works do i find any mention of such an individual as capt. booth of stockport. sir peter leycester, in his _antiquities of bucklow hundred_, cheshire, repeatedly acknowledges the assistance rendered him by john booth of twanbow's _book of pedigrees_; but this gentleman appears merely to have collected for cheshire, and not for lancashire. sir george booth, afterwards lord delamere, is the only _captain_ booth i have met with in my limited sphere of historical research; and i am not aware that he ever indulged much in genealogical study. t. hughes. chester. "_a saint in crape._"-- "a saint in crepe is twice a saint in lawn." whence this line? w. t. m. hong kong. _french abbés._--what was the precise ecclesiastical and social _status_ of a french abbé before the revolution? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _what day is it at our antipodes?_--perhaps you can give me a satisfactory answer to the following question, a reply to which i have not yet been able to procure. i write this at p.m. on tuesday, july ; at our antipodes it is, of course, a.m.: but is it a.m. on tuesday, july , or on wednesday, july ? and whichever it is, what is the reason for its being so? for it seems to me that the solution of the question must be perfectly arbitrary. h. "_spendthrift._"--in lord john russell's _memorials of charles james fox_, vol. i. p. ., there is a letter addressed to mr. richard fitzpatrick, in which mr. fox asks "if he was in england when lord carlisle's _spendthrift_ came out." and at the foot of the same page there is a note in which it is stated that this "was probably some periodical paper of ." my object in writing the above is for the purpose of asking what publication the _spendthrift_ really was, and where it can be purchased or seen? w. w. malta. _second growth of grass._--the second growth of grass is known by different names in different localities. in some it is called _fog_, in others _after-math_ and _after-grass_. the former name is common about uxbridge, and the latter about stoke pogis, in buckinghamshire. in hertfordshire it is { } called _hugga-mabuff_; i am not certain that this is the correct spelling of the name, never having seen it either in writing or print. in leicestershire and cambridgeshire the name _eddish_ prevails, i am told, and hence _eddish cheese_, made from the milk of cows which have grazed _eddish_. can any of your correspondents add to the above names, or throw a light upon their origin? r. w. f. bath. _the laird of brodie._--can any of your correspondents explain what james v. of scotland means in his celebrated ballad when he says: "i thocht you were a gentleman, at least the laird of brodie." according to the literal meaning, it would seem that the laird of brodie was something less than a gentleman? could his majesty intend to satirise the alleged royal descent of brodie from bruidhie, the son of billi, king of the picts (see james' _critical essay_), by insinuating that the "picts" and their descendants were not entitled to be ranked as "generosi?" i. h. b. _mrs. tighe, author of "psyche."_--there is a monument in inistioge churchyard, co. kilkenny, to the memory of the authoress of that beautiful poem _psyche_, mrs. mary tighe, with a statue of her, said to be by flaxman, which statement, as to its being from the chisel of that celebrated sculptor, i have seen contradicted. she was the daughter of the rev. w. blackford, and married mr. henry tighe of woodstock, ireland, in . the inscription, which, i believe, is in existence, was not added to the monument in . can any of your correspondents favour me with a copy of it? and was the statue by flaxman? is there any authentic memoir of this delightful poetess? when did her husband mr. tighe die? he is said to have survived his lady, who died in , but a short time; and that he was the author of a _history of the county of kilkenny_. i believe it was on visiting the churchyard of inistioge that mrs. hemans wrote "the grave of a poetess." she is said to have been very beautiful. is there any other engraved portrait of her in existence beside the one annexed to the several editions of her poems? any particulars relating to this lady or her husband will be esteemed by t. b. whitborne. _bishop ferrar._--was the bishop ferrar (or farrar), the martyr who suffered during the reign of mary, of the same family as ferrers (or ferrars) earl of derby and nottingham, in the reign of henry iii.? a constant reader. _sir thomas de longueville._--in the year , a sir thomas de longueville, baronet, was a lieutenant in his majesty's fleet, and his commission bore date rd june, . i should be glad if any of your correspondents could inform me if he was a descendant of the de longueville, the second _fides achates_ of scotland's "ill-requited chief." the real sir thomas de longueville reposes in the churchyard of bourtie, in the county of aberdeen. bourtie is a parish fraught with historic recollections. on the hill of barra, within a mile of the parish church, bruce at once and for ever put a period to the sway and power of the cuming. i should be glad to learn if any of the descendants of the _lieutenant_ longueville still survive, and if he was any descendant of the favorite "de longueville" of the olden time. abredonensis. _quotations wanted._-- ( .) "never ending, still beginning." ( .) "chew the bitter cud of disappointment." whence? c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _symon patrick, bishop of ely--durham--weston--jephson._--in a small autobiography of symon patrick, the bishop's wife is stated to have been _penelope jephson_, grandchild of lady durham of borstall. can any of your readers inform me who this lady durham was? penelope jephson was daughter of sir cornelius (?) jephson, i suppose of mallow in ireland. one of bishop patrick's granddaughters, penelope, married edward weston, under-secretary of state, of corkenhatch (herts?). query, who was he, and are there any descendants of this marriage? k. g. _the heveninghams of suffolk and norfolk._--this ancient family traces its pedigree through twenty-five knights in succession to galtir heveninghame, who lived when canute was king of england, ann. . (see harleian mss. . fol. b.; and southey's _doctor_, &c.) from one of those knights, sir john hevenyngham (ob. ), descended a collateral branch, represented by walter heveningham of pipe hall and aston estates, staffordshire ( ), who married annela, daughter of fitzherbert the judge. his eldest son was nicholas, who married eliza, daughter of sir john beevor; and the eldest son of the last-named was sir walter heveningham ( , ob. ). now i should feel greatly obliged to any of your readers if, from any of the published or written documents relating to the county of stafford, or from any other source, they could favour me with answers to the following queries: . whom did sir walter heveningham marry? his second son married the widow of sir edward simeon, bart.; but . what was the name of sir walter's eldest son, and whom did he marry? the issue of this { } latter marriage was charles heveningham of lichfield (ob. ), who married a daughter of robinson of appleby, and john heveningham. a chip of the old block. _lady percy, wife of hotspur (daughter of edmund mortimer, earl of march)._--upon what authority does miss strickland say (_lives of the queens of england_, vol. iv. p. .) that it is stated "by all ancient heralds" that this lady died without issue? what herald can say this without bastardising the second earl of northumberland? this assertion is a very sweeping one, and i have sought in vain for the statement said to be made by all heralds. g. _shape of coffins._--it would be interesting to ascertain in what localities any peculiar form of coffin is used? in devonshire, particularly among the farmers and poorer classes, the _ridged_ coffin is very general, the end being gabled. the top, instead of being flat with one board, is made of two boards, like the double roof of a house; in other respects the shape is of the common form. the idea is, that such coffins resist much longer the weight of the superincumbent earth; but there can be no doubt that it is a very ancient shape. many years ago i heard that in some parish in this county the coffin was shaped like a flat-bottomed boat; the boat shape is known to have been an old form. h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. _st. george family pictures._--in gough's _sepulchral monuments_, vol. iii. p. ., it is mentioned, with reference to the estate of hatley st. george, in county of cambridge, that, at the sale of the house in , "the family pictures were removed to mr. pearce's house at cople, bedford." can any one tell me if the family pictures here spoken of were those of the st. george family (which inhabited the house for six hundred years); and if so, what has become of them? r. a. s. o. ceylon, june , . _caley (john), "ecclesiastical survey of the possessions, &c. of the bishop of st. david's," vo. ._--the above is said, in a bookseller's catalogue, to be privately printed. it is unknown to the bishop of the diocese and mr. black. can any of your readers give any information about it? john martin. froxfield. _adamson's "lusitania illustrata."_--is there any prospect of mr. adamson continuing his _lusitania illustrata_? could that accomplished portuguese student kindly inform me if there is any better insight into portuguese literature than that contained in bouterweck's _geschichte der poesie und beredsamkeit_? w. m. m. _blotting-paper._--when did blotting-paper first come into use. carlyle, in his _life of cromwell_, twice repeats that it was not known in those days. is not this a mistake? i have a piece which i am able to refer to . speriend. _poetical versions of the fragments in athenæus._--can any of your correspondents inform me of the locus of any of these, in addition to _blackwood_, xxxvi., and _fraser's magazine_? p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. * * * * * replies. robert drury. (vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) under the conviction that robert drury was a real character, and his _madagascar_ a true narrative of his shipwreck, sufferings, and captivity, i crave your permission to give a few additional reasons why i think he should be discharged from the fictitious, and admitted into the catalogue of real and _bonâ fide_ english travellers. i have before stated that drury did not skulk in the background when he published his book in ; but, on the contrary, invited the public to tom's coffee-house, where he engaged to satisfy the incredulous, and resolve the doubting. by the rd edition of _madagascar_, , it farther appears that he continued "for some years before his death" to resort to the above-named house; "at which place several inquisitive gentlemen received from his own mouth the confirmation of those particulars which seemed dubious, or carried with them the air of romance." the period was certainly unpropitious for any but a writer of fiction, and drury seems to have anticipated no higher rank for his _treatise_, in point of authenticity, than that occupied by the several members of the robinson crusoe school. he, however, positively affirms it to be "a plain honest narrative of the matter of fact;" which is endorsed in the following terms by "capt. william mackett:" "this is to certify, that robert drury, fifteen years a slave in madagascar, now living in london, was redeemed from thence and brought into england, his native country, by myself. i esteem him an honest industrious man, of good reputation, and do firmly believe that the account he gives of his strange and surprising adventures is genuine and authentic." mackett was a commander in the e. i. comp. service; and the condenser of drury's mss., after showing the opportunities the captain had of assuring himself upon the points he certifies to, characterises him as a well-known person, of the highest integrity and honour: a man, indeed, as unlikely to be imposed upon, as to be guilty of lending himself to others, to carry out a deception upon the public. { } mr. burton, in his lately published "narratives," points out another source of information regarding drury, in the _gent. mag._ for , where will be found an account of w. benbow; in this, allusion is made to his brother john benbow, who was wrecked with drury in the "degrave" indiaman, on madagascar. w. d., who communicates the information to sylvanus urban, asserts that he recollects hearing the ms. journal of this john benbow read; and that it afforded to his mind a strong confirmation of the truthfulness of drury's _madagascar_. he adds the following curious particulars anent our subject:--"robin drury," he says, "among those who knew him (and he was known to many, being _a porter at the east india house_), had the character of a downright honest man, without any appearance of fraud or imposture. he was known to a friend of mine (now living), who frequently called upon him at his house in lincoln's inn fields, which were not then enclosed. he tells me he has often seen him throw a javelin there, and strike a small mark at a surprising distance. it is a pity," he adds, "that this work of drury's is not better known, and a new edition published[ ] (it having been long out of print); as it contains much more particular and authentic accounts of that large and barbarous island, than any yet given; and, though it is true, it is in many respects as entertaining as gulliver or crusoe." it may farther be mentioned that the french, who have a good acquaintance with madagascar, "have found drury's statement of the geography, the natural history, the manners of the people, and the conspicuous men of the time, in madagascar, remarkably accurate." (_bib. gén. des voyages_, paris, .) archdeacon wrangham says: "duncombe (?) calls drury's _madagascar_ the best and most genuine account ever given of the island;" and the missionary ellis quoted drury without the slightest suspicion that any doubt hangs over the genuineness of his narrative. drury's account of himself runs thus:--"i, robert drury," he says, when commencing his book, "was born on july , , in crutched friars, london, where my father then lived; but soon after removed to the old jury, near cheapside, where he was well known, and esteemed for keeping that noted house called 'the king's head,' or otherwise distinguished by the name of the beef-stake house; and to which there was all my father's time a great resort of merchants, and gentlemen of the best rank and character." to this famous resort of the revolutionary and augustan ages i lately betook myself for _my stake_, in the hope that _mine host_ might be found redolent of the traditional glory of his house. but alas! that worthy, although firmly believing in the antiquity of the king's head, and of there being _some book_ in existence that would prove it, could not say of his own knowledge whether the king originally complimented by his predecessor was harry the eighth or george the fourth! in conclusion, i would just add, is not the circumstance of our subject holding the humble post of porter at the east india house confirmatory of that part of his story which represents him as one of the crew of hon. company's ship "degrave," whose wreck upon madagascar i take to be an undoubted fact? what so probable as this recognition, in a small provision for a man in his old age, whose misfortunes commenced while in their service? finally, to me the whole narrative of robert drury seems so probable, and so well vouched for, that i have given in my adhesion thereto by removing him to a _higher shelf_ in my library than that occupied by such apocryphal persons as crusoe, quarle, boyle, falconer, and a host of the like. j. o. [footnote : the editions of _madagascar_ known to me are those of , , and , by the original publisher, meadows, hull, , and london, .] * * * * * the termination -by. (vol. vii., p. .) i would suggest a doubt, whether the suffix _-by_, in the names of places, affords us any satisfactory evidence, _per se_, of their exclusively danish origin. this termination is of no unfrequent occurrence in districts, both in this country and elsewhere, to which the danes, _properly so called_, were either utter strangers, or wherein they at no time established any permanent footing. the truth is, there seems to be a fallacy in this danish theory, in so far as it rests upon the testimony of language; for, upon investigation, we generally find that the word or phrase adduced in its support was one recognised, not in any single territory alone, but throughout the whole of scandinavia, whose different tribes, amid some trifling variations of dialect, which can now be scarcely ascertained, were all of them as readily intelligible to one another as are, at this day, the inhabitants of two adjoining english counties. if this were so, it appears that, in the case before us, nothing can be proved from the existence of the expression, beyond the fact of its _norse_ origin; and our reasonable and natural course is, if we would arrive at its true signification, to refer at once to the parent tongue of the scandinavian nations, spoken in common, and during a long-continued period, amid the snows of distant iceland, on the mountains of norway, the plains of denmark, and in the forests of sweden. this ancient and widely-diffused language was the icelandic, norman, or dönsk tunga,--that in which were written the eddas and skálda, the { } njála and heimskringla. in it we have the suffix _by_, under the forms of the verbs _ek bý_, _ek bió_, or _at búa_, and _ek byggi_ or _byggia_, manere, habitare, incolere, struere, edificare; also the nouns _bú_ (ang.-sax. _bý_, dan. _bo_, _by_), domus, habitaculum; and _búi_, incola, colonus, vicinus; closely assimilated expressions all of them, in which the roots are found of our english words _bide_, _abide_, _be_, _by_ (denoting proximity), _build_, _borough_, _bury_ (edmondsbury), _barrow_, _byre_, _bower_, _abode_, _&c._ now, these explanations undoubtedly confirm the interpretation assigned by mr. e. s. taylor to his terminating syllable; and it is probable enough that the villages to which he refers received their titles from the danes, who, we know, on the subjugation of its former inhabitants, possessed themselves of the country in which they are situated. this, however, is a begging the question; for, resting simply on the evidence of the suffix, it is equally probable that these places preserved the names assigned to them by their former northern colonists. but our _bý_ or _búa_, ang.-sax. _bugan_ and _beón_, and the germ. (ich) _bin_ and _bauen_, have all been referred by learned philologists to the greek [greek: phuô], or to [greek: bioô], or to [greek: pauô, pauomai]; and the word has affinities scattered throughout numerous languages (there are the camb.-brit. _bydio_, habitare, and _byw_, vivere, for instance), so that we are surrounded by difficulties, if we attempt to establish from its use any such point as that involved in your correspondent's query. cowgill. * * * * * the rosicrucians. (vol. vii., p. .) when pope, in dedicating his _rape of the lock_ to mrs. arabella fermor, was desirous of putting within the reach of that lady the information which mr. e. s. taylor has sought through your pages, he wrote: "the _rosicrucians_ are a people that i must bring you acquainted with. the best account of them i know is in a french book called _le compte de gabalis_, which, both in its title and size, is so like a novel, that many of the fair sex have read it for one by mistake."--_dedicatory letter to the rape of the lock._ this celebrated work was written by the abbé montfaucon de villars, and published in . "c'est une partie (says voltaire, _siècle de louis xiv._) de l'ancienne mythologie des perses. l'auteur fut tué en d'un coup de pistolet. on dit que les sylphes l'avaient assassiné pour avoir révélé leurs mystères." in , an english translation appeared (_penes me_), entitled: "the count of gabalis; or the extravagant mysteries of the cabalists, exposed in five pleasant discourses on the secret sciences. done into english by p. a. (peter ayres), gent., with short animadversions. london printed for b. m., printer to the royal society of the sages at the signe of the rosy crusian." the original french work went through several editions: my own copy bears the imprint of _amsterdam_, , and has appended to it _la suite du compte de gabalis, ou entretiens sur les sciences secrètes, touchant la nouvelle philosophie_," &c. so much in deference to pope,--whose only object, however, was to make mrs. fermor acquainted with so much of rosicrucianism as was necessary to the comprehension of the machinery of his poem. mr. e. s. taylor must go farther afield if he is desirous of "earning the _vere adeptus_," and becoming, like butler's _ralpho_-- for mystic learning wondrous able, in magic _talisman_ and _cabal_, whose primitive tradition reaches as far as adam's first green breeches; deep-sighted in intelligences, ideas, atoms, influences; and much of terra-incognita, th' intelligible world could say; a deep occult philosopher, as learned as the wild irish are, or sir agrippa; for profound and solid lying much renowned. he anthroposophus and fludd, and jacob behmen understood; knew many an amulet and charm, that would do neither good nor harm; in rosy-crucian lore as learned as he that _vere adeptus_ earned." _hudibras_, part i. canto . these lines enumerate, in a scarcely satirical form, the objects and results of a study of _rosicrucianism_, in so far as it differs from that of alchemy and the occult sciences. the history of the _rosicrucians_,--or rather the inquiry as to whether actually existed at any time such a college or brotherhood, and, if so, to what degree of antiquity can it lay claim,--forms another and, perhaps, somewhat more profitable subject of attention. this question, however, having been fully discussed elsewhere, i will conclude by a _catalogue raisonné_ of such books and essays (the most important of which are readily obtainable) as will enable your correspondent to acquire for himself the information he seeks. allgemeine und general reformation der ganzen weiten welt, beneben der fama fraternitatis, oder enstehung der brüderschaft des löblichen ordens des _rosenkreutzes_, &c. vo. cassel, . [ascribed to john valentine andrea. in this pamphlet occurs the _first_ mention of the society; no allusion being made to it in the works of bacon, paracelsus, agrippa, &c. it was republished at frankfort in under a somewhat different title. appended to it is a tract entitled "sendbrieff, oder bericht an alle welche von den _neuen_ brüderschafft des ordens von _rosen-creutz_ genannt etwas gelesen," &c. this work contains a full account of the origin and tenets of the brotherhood, { } and is the source whence modern writers have drawn their information. it called into existence a host of pamphlets for and against the very existence and tenets of the society.] histoire de la philosophie hermétique, accompagnée d'un catalogue raisonné des ecrivains de cette science, par l'abbé lenglet du fresnoy. vols. mo. paris, . theomagia, or the temple of wisdom, containing the occult powers of the angels of astromancy in the telesmatical sculpture of the persians and Ægyptians; the knowledge of the _rosie-crucian_ physick, and the miraculous in nature, &c., by john heydon. vo. . [the works of this enthusiast are extremely curious and rare. he is also the author of the following.] the wiseman's crowne, or the glory of the _rosie-cross_, &c.; with the regie lucis, and holy household of _rosie-crucian_ philosophers. vo. . elhavarevna, or the english physitian's tutor in the astrabolismes of mettals _rosie-crucian_, miraculous sapphiric medicines of the sun and moon, &c., all harmoniously united, and operated by astromancy and geomancy, in so easie a method that a fine lady may practise and compleat incredible, extraordinary telesmes (and read her gallant's devices without disturbing her fancy), and cure all diseases in yong and old, whereunto is added psonthonphancia, &c. vo. . dictionnaire infernal; ou répertoire des etres, apparitions de la magique, des sciences occultes, impostures, &c., par collin de plancy. vo. paris, . to render this list more complete, a great number may be added, the titles of which will be found in the following essays, from which much information on the subject will be gained:-- new curiosities of literature. by george soane, b.a. vols. vo. london, . [in vol. ii. p. . is an able and interesting essay entitled "_rosicrucianism and freemasonry_," in which the author, with considerable success, endeavours to show that _rosicrucianism_ had no existence before the sixteenth century, and is a mere elaboration of paracelsian doctrines: and that _freemasonry_ is nothing more than an offspring from it, and has, consequently, no claim to the antiquity of which it boasts.] swift's tale of a tub. [in section x. of this wonderful book will be found a caustic piece of satire on the futility of the _rosicrucian_ philosophy.] butler's hudibras. [grey's notes to part i., _passim._] memoirs of extraordinary popular delusions. by charles mackay, ll.d. vols. vo. [in the section devoted to the _alchymists_, is a carefully compiled account of the _rosicrucians_.] chambers's papers for the people, no. ., vol. v., "secret societies of the middle ages." idem, no. ., "alchemy and the alchemists." the guardian, no. . the spectator, no. . idem, no. . [this number contains budgell's _legend of the sepulchre of rosicrucius_.] the rosicrucian: a novel. vols. vo. zanoni. by sir e. l. bulwer. after the slumber of a century, with new objects and regulations, _rosicrucianism_ (so to speak) was revived in the country of its birth. a very curious volume was published fifty years ago, entitled _proofs of a conspiracy against all the religions and governments of europe, carried on in the secret meetings of freemasons, illuminati, and reading societies_, by john robinson, a.m., &c., vo., london, . this volume is chiefly occupied by a history of the origin, proceedings, and objects of the _illuminati_, a sect which had rendered important services to revolutionary interests, and laid the foundations of european propagandism. much curious matter relative to this sect will also be found in george sand's _comtesse de rudolstadt_, vol. ii.; upon, or just before, its extinction, a new political association was formed at baden and carlsruhe, under the auspices of baron van edelsheim, police minister of the elector, under the title of _die rosenkrietzer_. this society was called into existence by a reactionary dread of that republicanism in politics, and atheism in morals, which seemed at that time to prey upon the vitals of european society. the society soon spread, and had its affiliations in various parts of germany, giving such uneasiness to buonaparte, to the accomplishment of whose projects it exercised an adverse influence, that he despatched a secret messenger for the purpose of obtaining information as to its projects and developments. he did everything in his power to destroy the association, which, however, survived, until his murder of palm, the bookseller, for publishing the _geist der zeit_, seeming to call for a new and modified association, led to its extinction, and the creation of a new secret society, the celebrated _tungen-bund_, in its place. it will be seen that in the foregoing i have confined myself to that part of your correspondent's query which relates to "the brethren of the rosy-cross." i have not ventured to allude to the alchymists, or the writings of paracelsus, his predecessors and followers, which form a library, and demand a catalogue for their mere enumeration. if mr. e. s. taylor, however, is desirous of farther information, and will favour me with his address, i shall be happy to assist his researches in hermetic philosophy to the extent of my ability. william bates. birmingham. the society of rosicrucians, or rosecroix (whom collier calls a sect of mountebanks), first started into existence in germany in the seventeenth century. they laid claim to the possession of divers secrets, among which the philosopher's stone was the least. they never dared to appear publicly, and styled themselves _the invisible_. { } in they put forth the following advertisement: "we, deputed by our college, the principal of the brethren of the rosicrucians, to make our visible and invisible abode in this city, through the grace of the most high; towards whom are turned the hearts of the just: we teach without books or notes, and speak the languages of the countries wherever we are, to draw men like ourselves from the error of death." the illuminati of spain were a branch of this sect. in one john bringeret printed a work in germany containing two treatises, entitled _the manifesto and confession of faith of the fraternity of the rosicrucians in germany_. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * inscriptions on bells. (vol. vi., p. . vol. vii., p. .) my note-book contains a considerable number of inscriptions on bells; some extracted from books, but others transcribed from the bells themselves. i send you a few of the most remarkable inscriptions, with one or two notes on the subject. chesterton, cambridgeshire: . "god save the church." . "non sono animabus mortuorum, sed viventium." s. benet's, cambridge (see le-keux' _memorials_): . "of all the bels in bennet, i am the best, and yet for my casting the parish paid lest. ." . "non nomen fero ficti, sed nomen benedicti. ." . "this bell was broke, and cast againe, by john draper, in , as plainly doth appeare: churchwardens were, edward dixon, for one, who stood close to his tacklyn, and he that was his partner then, was alexander jacklyn." girton, cambridgeshire: "non clamor sed amor cantat in aure dei." stoneleigh, warwickshire: . "michaele te pulsante winchelcombe a petente dæmone te libera. . "o kenelme nos defende ne maligni sentiamus focula." eastry, kent: "one bell inscribed with the names of the churchwardens and the maker; a shilling of william iii., and other coins are let into the rim." erith, kent: "a tablet in the belfry commemorates the ringing of a peal of changes in twenty-six minutes." s. clement, sandwich, kent: "in the ringing chamber of this noble tower is a windlass for lowering the bells in case of repairs becoming necessary, with a trap-door in the floor opening into the church." s. mary, sandwich, kent: "this bel was bought and steeple built, a.d. . j. bradley, r. harvey, ch. wardens. r. p. f." s. andrew, histon, camb.: "coins of queen anne in the rim of one bell; but dated ." s. stephen's chapel, westminster (weever, _fur. mon._, p. ., edit. fol. ): "king edward the third built in the little sanctuarie a clochard of stone and timber, and placed therein three bells, for the vse of saint _stephen's_ chappel. about the biggest bell was engrauen, or cast in the metall, these words: 'king edward made mee thirtie thousand weight and three: take mee downe and wey mee, and more you shall fynd mee.' but these bells being to be taken downe, in the raigne of king _henry_ the eight, one writes vnderneath with a coal: 'but _henry_ the eight will bait me of my weight.'" if any farther extracts may interest you, they are very much at your service. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. * * * * * was cook the discoverer of the sandwich islands? (vol. viii., p. .) mr. warden will find this question discussed by la pérouse (english vo. edit., vol. ii. ch. .), who concludes unhesitatingly that the sandwich group is identical with a cluster of islands discovered by the spanish navigator gaetan in , and by him named "the king's islands." these the spaniard placed in the tenth, although the sandwich islands are near the twentieth, degree of north latitude, which la pérouse believed was a mere clerical error. the difference in longitude, sixteen or seventeen degrees, he ascribed to the imperfect means of determination possessed by the early navigators, and to their ignorance of the currents of the pacific. allowing for the mistake in latitude, the king's islands are evidently the same as those found on some old charts, about the nineteenth and twentieth degrees of north latitude, under the names of _la mesa_, _los mayos_, and _la disgraciada_; which capt. dixon, as well as la pérouse, sought for in vain in the longitude assigned to them. they appear to have been introduced into the { } english and french charts from that found in the galleon taken by commodore anson, and of which a copy is given in the account of his voyage. cook, or lieutenant roberts, the compiler of the charts to his third voyage, retained them; and la pérouse was the first to erase them from the map. there can, indeed, be little doubt of their identity with the sandwich islands. but although cook was not actually the first european who had visited those islands, to him rightly belongs all the glory of their discovery. forgotten by the spaniards, misplaced on the chart a thousand miles too far to the eastward, and unapproached for years, their existence utterly unknown and unsuspected, cook was, to all intents and purposes, their real discoverer. c. e. bagot. dublin. * * * * * megatherium americanum. (vol. vii., p. .) is not the cast of a skeleton in the british museum, recently alluded to by a foreign surgeon, and which is labelled _megatherium americanum_ blume., better known to english naturalists by its more correct designation of _mylodon robustus_ owen; and if so, why is the proper appellation not painted on the label? if that had been done, _a foreign surgeon_ would not have fallen into the error of confounding the remains of two distinctly different animals. might i beg leave to add, for the information of your correspondent, that no british naturalist "of any mark or likelihood," has ever assumed that (though undoubtedly sloths) either the _mylodon_, _scelidotherium_, or _megatherium_, were climbers. indeed, the whole osseous structure of those animals proves that they were formed to uprend the trees that gave them sustenance. by no other hypothesis can we intelligibly account for the immense expanse of pelvis, the great bulk of hind-legs, the solid tail, the massive anterior limbs furnished with such powerful claws, and the extraordinary large spinal chord--all these the characteristic features of the _mylodon_. whether there were palms or not at the period of the telluric formation, i cannot undertake to say; but as a foreign surgeon assumes that a palm is an exogenous tree (!), i am induced to suspect that his acquaintance with geology may be equally as limited as his knowledge of botany. besides, what can he mean by speaking of a sloth "the size of a large bear?" why, the _mylodon_ must have been larger than a rhinoceros or hippopotamus. the veriest tyro in natural history would see that at the first glance of the massive skeleton. it is a painful and ungracious task to have to pen these observations, especially, too, in the case of a stranger. but "n. & q." must not be made a channel for erroneous statements, and we "natives and to the manner born" must be allowed to know best what is in our own museums. w. pinkerton. ham. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _stereoscopic angles._--like many of your correspondents, i have been an inquirer on the subject of stereoscopic angles, which seems to be still a problem for solution. what is this problem? for until that be known, we cannot hope for a solution. i would ask, is it this?--_stereoscopic pictures should create in the mind precisely such a conception as the two eyes would if viewing the object represented by the stereograph._ if this be the problem (and i cannot conceive otherwise), its solution is simple enough, as it consists in placing the cameras _invariably_ ½ inches apart, on a line parallel to the building, or a plane passing through such a figure as a statue, &c. in this mode of treatment we should have two pictures possessing like stereosity with those on the retinas, and consequently with like result and as our eyes enable us to conceive perfectly of any solid figure, so would the stereograph. i believe, therefore, that this is, under every circumstance, the correct treatment; simply because every other mode may be proved to be false to nature. professor wheatstone recommends in when objects are more than feet distant, and this rule seems to be pretty generally followed. its incorrectness admits of easy demonstration. suppose a wall feet in extent, with abutments, each two feet in front, and projecting two feet from the wall, at intervals of five feet. the proper distance from the observer ought to be feet, which, agreeably with this rule, would require a space of feet between the cameras. under this treatment the result would be, that both of the _sides, as well as the fronts_, of the three central abutments would be seen; whilst of all the rest, only the front and one side would be visible. this would be outraging nature, and false, and therefore should, i believe, be rejected. the eyes of an observer situated midway between the cameras, could not possibly perceive either of the sides of the buttress opposite to him, and only the side next to him of the rest. this seems to me conclusive. again, your correspondent [phi]. (vol. vii., p. .) says, that for portraits he finds in a good rule. let the sitter hold, straight from the front, _i.e._ in the centre, a box ½ inches in width. the result would be, that in the stereographs the box would have both its sides represented, and the front, instead of being horizontal, consisting of two inclined lines, _i.e._ unless the cameras were { } placed on _one line_, when it would be horizontal. in such treatment the departure from both is as great as in the first example, and the outrage greater, inasmuch as, under these circumstances (i mean a boy with a box), to any person of common sense, the caricature would be at a glance obvious. this rule, then, although it produces stereosity enough, being false, should also be rejected. i believe that ½ inches will be found to be right under any circumstance; but should sufficient reasons be offered for a better rule, i trust i am open to conviction, and shall hail with great pleasure a demonstration of its correctness. should it, however, turn out that i have given a right definition, and a correct solution of this most interesting problem, i shall rejoice to know that i have rendered an essential service to a great number of anxious students in photography. t. l. merritt. maidstone. _yellow bottles for photographic chemicals._--the proposal of your correspondent ceridwen to employ yellow glass bottles for preventing the decomposition of photographic solutions has been anticipated. it was suggested by me, in some lectures on photography in november , and in january of the present year, that yellow bottles might be so used, as well as for preventing the decomposition, by light, of the vegetable substances used in pharmacy, such as digitalis, ipecacuanha, cinchona, &c. for solutions of silver, however, the most effectual remedy against precipitation is the use of very pure water, procured by slow redistillation in glass vessels at a temperature much below the boiling point. hugh owen. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _earth upon earth, &c._--i think the information which has been elicited in connexion with the so-called "unpublished epigram by sir w. scott," "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. ., sufficiently curious to justify an additional reference to the sentiment in question; the more so as i have to mention the name of its putative author. in montgomery's _christian poet_, rd edit. p. ., he gives, under the title of "earth upon earth," five verses, which it would appear are substantially the same as those published by weaver (whose _funeral monuments_, his only publication, i have not within reach), but they exhibit considerable verbal difference in the verses corresponding with those cited in "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. . montgomery tells us in a note that this extract, given under the name of william billyng, along with another from a poem entitled "the five wounds of christ," by the same author, were from "a manuscript on parchment of great antiquity, in possession of william bateman, esq.," of which a few copies had been printed at manchester, and "accompanied by rude but exceedingly curious cuts." now who was william billyng? and when did he live? montgomery says "the age of this author is well known." the death of the archbishop of canterbury, to whom weaver (_fun. mon._ ) applies the stratford epigraph, is temp. edward iii. is mr. bateman's ms. in a hand indicating so early a date? j. h. _picalyly_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in barnaby rich's _honestie of this age_, p. . of the percy society reprint, we find this passage: "but he that some fortie or fifty yeares sithens should haue asked after a pickadilly, i wonder who could haue understood him, or could haue told what a pickadilly had beene, either fish or flesh." little did the writer think that in future years the name would become a "household word;" though his prophecy as to the meaning of the word has been fulfilled by the appearance of the query in the pages of "n. & q." the editor of the work, mr. peter cunningham, has a long note on the above passage; and i am indebted to him for the following. "ben jonson (_works_ by gifford, viii. .) speaks of a _picardill_ as a new cut of band much in fashion: 'ready to cast at one whose band stands still, and then leap mad on a neat _picardill_.' "but middleton, _the world tost at tennis_, , speaks of a _pickadill_ in connexion with the shears, the needle, &c. of the tailor; from which it appears to have been an instrument used for plaiting the picked vandyke collar worn in those days. "mr. gifford, in a note on another passage in ben jonson, says: '_picardil_ is simply a diminutive of _picca_ (span. and ital.), a spear-head; and was given to this article of foppery from a fancied resemblance of its stiffened plaits to the bristled points of these weapons. blount thinks, and apparently with justice, that _picadilly_ took its name frown the sale of the 'small stiff collars so called,' which was first set on foot in a house near the western [eastern] extremity of the present street by one higgins, a tailor.'" the bands worn by the clergy and judges, &c., at the present day, are lineal descendants of the old _picadils_, reduced to a more sober cut; and the picked ornament alluded to by your correspondent no doubt derived its name from its resemblance in shape to these tokens of ancient fashion. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _mr. justice newton_ (vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. viii., p. .).--i did not answer mr. f. kyffin lenthall's first query, because it was { } palpable, from the context, that the "mr. justice newton" he inquired after could not possibly be the chief justice who flourished in the fifteenth century; and because i am not aware of any judge of the superior courts of that name, during the time of the commonwealth, or the years which immediately preceded or followed that period. indeed, his designation as "mr. justice newton, _of the middle temple_," plainly proves that he could not have been a judge upon the bench at westminster. he may perhaps have been a welsh judge; or, remembering that "mr. justice" was the common title for a justice of the peace, it is still more probable that he was merely a magistrate of the county in which he resided. edward foss. _manners of the irish_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the very curious extract given by your correspondent h., _boyranne_ is very likely to stand for _borbhan_, the irish for "lamentation" or "complaint." an irish landlord knows full well that, even up to the present day, his tenants "keep the bread, and make _borbhan_." _molchan_, i suspect, comes from _miolc_, whey. _localran_ stands for _loisgrean_, corn turned out of the ear. as to the concluding line of the extract, i must leave it to some better irish scholar than i can boast myself. "i am the geyest mayed of all that brought the somer houme," plainly has reference to the old practice, still prevalent in some parts of ireland on may-day, when young girls carry about a figure dressed as a baby, singing the irish song, [irish: thugamar féin an samhra linn], "we have brought the summer with us" (see _transactions of the kilkenny archæological society_). _ultagh_ (_ultach_) is irish for an ulster man, as h. will see by consulting any irish dictionary, and can have no connexion with utlagh, the kilkenny money-lender. _ugteller_ is of course a misprint for _kyteller_. would that h. would give us his real name and address, or at least allow me to ask whether h. f. h. do not constitute his initials in full. james graves. kilkenny. _arms of the see of york_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i was about to send a note to "n. & q.," pointing out that mr. knight, in his heraldic illustrations to _hen. iv._, in his _pictorial edition of shakspeare_, has given the modern bearings of the see of york to archbishop scroope, instead of those which belonged to that date, when i observed a query from tee bee, asking the date and origin of the _change_ of arms which took place. i am sorry that i am unable to give any authority for my statement, but i believe it to be not the less true, that the change in question took place when cardinal wolsey came to the see. nor can i give any farther reason for that change than the notorious jealousy of the cardinal towards the superior rank of the archbishop of canterbury. up to this period the arms of the two sees were precisely the same, though tee bee gives the number of crosses "patée fitchée" on the pall for difference; i should be glad to know whether there is good authority for this statement. the present arms of the see evidently have reference to the dedication of the ancient cathedral church to st. peter. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _"up, guards, and at 'em!"_ (vol. v., p. .).--these oft-quoted words have already engaged the attention of the readers of "n. & q." your frequent correspondent c. (vol. v., p. .) is of opinion that the duke _did_ make use of these, or equivalent, words. the following extract i have copied from an article in the june number of _bentley's miscellany_. it will be found at p. . as a foot-note to a clever article, one of a series, entitled "random recollections of campaigns under the duke of wellington," written by an officer of the second brigade of guards. "the expression attributed to the duke of 'up, guards, and at them again!' i have good reason for _knowing_ was never made use of by him. he was not even _with_ the brigade of guards in question at the _time_ they rose from their recumbent position to attack the french column in their front, and therefore could not well have thus addressed them. i never heard this story till long after, on my return to england, when it was related by a lady at a dinner-table; probably it was the invention of some goodly botherby. i remember denying my belief at the time, and my view has since been sufficiently confirmed. besides, the words bear no internal evidence of the style either of thought or even expression of him to whom they were attributed." the invention of the goodly botherby has prospered! cuthbert bede, b. a. _coleridge's christabel--the rd part_ (vol. viii., pp. , .).--mr. j. s. warden asks if i am correct in stating the rd part of _christabel_ to be the composition of dr. maginn. i can but "_give my authority_" in a reference to a sketch of maginn's life, in a new and well-conducted periodical, _the irish quarterly review_, which, in the number for september, , after giving a most humorous account of a first interview between blackwood and his wild irish contributor, who had for more than a year been mystifying the editor by contributions under various signatures, proceeds thus:-- "a few days before the first interview with blackwood, maginn had sent in his famous 'third part of christabel.' it is only to be found in the magazine; and as many of our readers must be unacquainted with the poem, we here subjoin it." { } the poem follows, containing the lines which led to the first inquiry on this subject. it was having read the memoir in _the irish quarterly_ which enabled me so promptly to remember where the lines were to be found; but i had long before heard, and never doubted, that the clever parody was composed by dr. maginn. a. b. r. belmont. _mitigation of capital punishment_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i am sorry mr. gatty takes the phrase "mythic accompaniments" as an imputation on himself. i did not intend it for one, having no doubt that he repeated the story as he heard it. in it were two statements of the highest decree of improbability. one i showed (vol. v., p. .) to be contrary to penal, the other to forensic practice. one mr. gatty found to have been only a report, the other to have occurred at a different place and under different circumstances. had these been stated in the first version, i should not have disputed them. whittington was thrice lord mayor of london--that is history, to which the prophecy of bow-bells and the exportation of the cat are "mythic accompaniments." a word as to "disclosing only initials." i think you, as a means of authentification, should have the name and address of every correspondent. you have mine, and may give them to any one who pays me the compliment of asking; but i do not seek farther publicity. h. b. c. oxford. _the man with the iron mask_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i think that mr. james, in his _life and times of louis xiv._, has, to say the least, shown strong grounds for doubting the theory which identifies this person with mathioli; and since then several writers have been inclined to fall back, in the want of any more probable explanation, on the old idea that the captive was a twin brother of louis. what has become of the letter from m. de st. mars, said to have been discovered some years ago, confirming this last hypothesis? has any such letter been published, and, if so, what is the opinion of its genuineness? j. s. warden. _gentleman executed for murder of a slave_ (vol. vii., p. .)--sometime between and , lord seaforth being governor of barbadoes, a slaveowner, having killed one of his own slaves, was tried for the murder and acquitted, the law considering that such an act was not murder. thereupon lord seaforth came to england, obtained an act of parliament declaring the killing of a slave to be murder, and returned to barbadoes to resume his official duties. soon afterwards another slave was killed by his owner, who was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged for murder under the new act of parliament. at the time appointed the prisoner was brought out for execution, but so strong was public feeling, that the ordinary executioner was not forthcoming; and on the governor requiring the sheriff to perform his office either in person or by deputy, after some excuses he absolutely refused. the governor then addressed the guard of soldiers, desiring a volunteer for executioner, adding, "whoever would volunteer should be subsequently protected as well as rewarded then." one presented himself, and it thenceforth became as dangerous to kill a slave as a freeman in barbadoes. g. m. e. c. _jahn's jahrbuch_ (vol. viii., p. .).--permit me to inform your correspondent e. c. that there is a copy of jahn's _jahrbücher für philologie und pädagogik_ in the library of sir robert taylor's institution, oxford. although this library is for the use of members of the university, i am sure the curators of the institution will give their permission to consult the books in it, to any gentleman who is properly recommended to them. j. macray. oxford. _character of the song of the nightingale_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i imagine that many of the writers quoted by your correspondent lived in places too far removed to the north or west (as is my own case) ever to have heard the nightingale, and are, in consequence, not competent authorities as to a song they can only have described at second hand; but that shelley was not far wrong in styling it voluptuous, and placing it amidst the luxurious bowers of daphne, may receive some confirmation from an anecdote told by nimrod ("life and times," _fraser's magazine_, vol. xxv. p. .) of the sad effects produced both on morals and parish rates by the visit of a nightingale one summer to the groves of erthig, near wrexham. j. s. warden. i accidently met with a scrap of evidence on this point lately, as i was driving at midnight on a sudden call to visit a dying man. the nightingales were singing in full choir, when my servant, an intelligent young man from the country, remarked, "a cheerful little bird the nightingale, sir. it is beautiful to hear them singing when one is walking alone on a dark night." unsophisticated judgment of this sort, when met with unsought, seems to be of real value in a question depending for its decision so much upon the faithful record of impressions. oxoniensis. walthamstow. mr. cuthbert bede gives, in his list of epithets of the nightingale, "solemn," as used by milton, otway, graingle. how the last two employ the term i do not know, perhaps they { } copied from milton; but he uses it, not as an epithet exactly, but to express the frequency of the bird's appearance. "night, her _solemn_ bird," means the _customary_ attendant of the night: _solemn_ being used in the classical sense, and derived front _soles_. so virgil, "solemnes tum forte dapes et tristia dona ante urbem in luco," &c. the word _solemn_ probably acquired its present signification from the staid manner in which englishmen go through their customary ceremonies. "they took their pleasure _sadly_," as froissart has it. sydney gedge, b.a. _mysterious personage_ (vol. viii., p. .).--there is no mystery about the legitimate claimant of the british throne. he is the duke of modena, lineally descended from henrietta of england, youngest daughter of charles i.: she married philip duke of orleans, son of louis xiii. and anne of austria, and had two daughters; louisa married to charles ii. of spain (she died without issue), and anna maria, married to victor amadeus, duke of savoy and king of sardinia. their son charles emanuel iii. succeeded in , and was succeeded by his son victor amadeus iii. he was succeeded by his eldest son charles emanuel iv., who died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother victor emanuel, who left twin daughters, the elder of whom, mary beatrice, married francis duke of modena, while the crown of sardinia passed to her father's heirs male. the duchess mary beatrice of modena has left two sons, the elder of whom (born june , ) is the direct, undoubted heir of the house of stuart. l. m. m. r. _ken: "the crown of glory"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this work was properly rejected by mr. round in his edition of bishop ken's _works_; and in the preface he gives the reasons for so doing. the absence of certain forms of expression was the chief test relied on. the book is so excellent, and the prayers so warm and ken-like, that its exclusion indicates much critical acumen on the part of mr. round. subsequently to the publication of this collection, it was ascertained that the prayers and other parts of _the crown of glory_ were taken from a book of dean brough, of gloucester, entitled _sacred principles_, which was published, i believe (i am writing at a distance from my books), in . w. d----n. _pennycomequick, adjoining plymouth_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in days gone by, when the boundaries of the town were much more circumscribed than at the present day, a well-known old female (a perfect character in her way) had long fixed her abode in a curiously built hut-like cot in the locality in question; the rusticity of which, together with the obliging demeanour of its tenants, had gradually induced the good folk of plymouth to make holiday bouts to this retired spot for the purpose of merry-making. as years rolled on, the shrewd old dame became a general favourite with the pleasure-seekers; the increasing frequency of these pic-nics suggesting to her an opportunity which might be turned to good account, viz. that of providing her visitors with the cheap requisite, boiling water, for the brewing their sober afternoon's beverage, at the low rate of a penny a head. still later in the evening of life, shrugging herself closely in her old scarlet cloak, which had served her well for better than half a century, she would, with much apparent gusto, recount to her pleased auditory how many a time and often she had made the "penny come quick," by the above-recited inexpensive vocation; until at length her saying became a by-word in the neighbourhood, and universal consent fixed on the ever-happy octogenarian's triplet as a fitting appellation for the then nameless and retired little nook, but now thickly studded grounds, of _pennycomequick_. that equally simple occurrences have frequently given rise to the names of places, is shown by other remarkable titles of localities not far distant from _pennycomequick_, such as those of "the bold venture," and of "no place." henry h. hele. ashburton. your correspondent r. h. b. is informed that the name of this village is welsh, viz. _pen y cwn gwich_, and signifies a village at the head of a valley. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _longevity_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--may i be permitted a word with your correspondent a. i., and at the same time assist mr. hughes in his laudable attempt "to convert him to the faith?" to do this, it will not be necessary for me to search either in annual or parish registers, or to decipher half-defaced inscriptions on marble monuments or humble headstones. a lady is now living, or was two months ago, in williamsburg, state of south carolina, by the name of singleton, who is known to be in the _one hundred and thirty-first year of her age_: "her mental faculties are still unimpaired, and she retains all her senses except that of sight, of which she was deprived at the advanced age of ninety-nine years by an attack of the measles. her bodily energy exhibits no diminution for many years, she being still able to walk briskly about the room. she has outlived all her children: her oldest descendant living being a granddaughter, over sixty years old. the first granddaughter of this granddaughter, if now living, would be over sixteen years of age." w. w. malta. _arms: battle-axe_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the undermentioned families bore three battle-axes { } simply, their coats of arms varying only in metal and colour: aynisworthe. bainbrige. batten. daueys. daverston. gyves. gibbes. hall. hakelett. lewston. stephen hoby (the earliest ancestor of the bisham family of whom any record is preserved), married ----, the daughter and heiress of ---- bylmore, whose arms were--gu. three halberds (long-handled battle-axes) in pale ar. handled or.: hence, no doubt, the three battle-axes in connexion with the hoby or hobby name at bisham church. william hoby, of leominster, the tenth in descent from the above-mentioned stephen, married catherine, sole daughter and heiress of john forden _alias_ fordayne, by gwentwynar, daughter and heiress of sir griffith vahan _alias_ vaughan, knight banneret; who was, as i am led to think, of denbigh or its neighbourhood. i shall be happy to find i have thrown any light upon the query of a. c. h. c. c. _sir g. browne, bart._ (vol. vii., p. .)--your correspondent newbury is in error in styling this george browne a baronet, nor was he of west stafford or wickham. he was the sole son and heir of sir george browne, knight, of wickhambreux, co. kent, caversham, co. oxford, and cowdray in midhurst, co. sussex; which last estate devolved on this family by the will of william fitzwilliam, earl of southampton, the son of lucy (daughter and co-heiress of john nevill, marquess of montagu) by her first husband, sir thomas fitzwillam of aldwark, co. york; which lucy became the wife of sir anthony browne, who was knighted at the battle of stoke, june , , and succeeded as above-mentioned to the cowdray estate. george browne, who married elizabeth or eleanor, the daughter of sir richard blount, was of wickhambreux, caversham, and also of west shefford in co. berks; his name appears as thus in the visitation of this county anno . of the nineteen children, he had three sons whose names are not given, and who died in the royal cause during the civil wars: but as richard, the third son, is expressly mentioned, he certainly was not one of the three killed in the service of king charles i. sir george browne, second, but eldest surviving son, was made a k.b. at the coronation of king charles ii.; and was celebrated by pope in his "windsor forest." he married elizabeth, daughter of sir francis englefield, the second baronet of wootton bassett, co. wilts, and died _s. p. m._ george, the eldest born, died an infant. henry, the fourth son, died unmarried march , , and was buried at west shefford; and john, the fifth son, was of caversham, and created a baronet may , . he married the widow of ---- bradley, and was the ancestor of the baronets of caversham, extinct in . three daughters, whose names are not given, became nuns. eleanor, another daughter, died unmarried, nov. , , and was buried at west shefford: and elizabeth was the wife of john yate of west hanney, co. berks; and who died jan. , , before his wife. h. c. c. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and volumes wanted to purchase. memoirs of the rose, by mr. john holland. vol. mo. . literary gazette, to . athenÆum, commencement to . a narrative of the holy life and happy death of mr. john angier. london, . moore's melodies. th edition. wood's athenÆ oxonienses (ed. bliss). vols. to. - . the complaynts of scotland. vo. edited by leyden. . shakspeare's plays. vol. v. of johnson and steevens's edition, in vols. vo. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _in consequence of being compelled to go to press with the present number on thursday, and of the number of_ replies to minor queries _waiting for insertion, we have been compelled to omit our_ notes on books, &c. t. m. b. _the oft-quoted lines_-- "so down thy hill, romantic ashbourn, glides, the derby dilly, carrying three insides," &c.-- _will be found in the_ poetry of the antijacobin, _at the close of the second part of_ the loves of the triangles. j. d. _where is the sentence of which you ask an explanation to be found? send the context, or farther particulars._ c. e. f. _and_ t. d. (leeds). _your inquiry as to the best mode of constructing a glass chamber for photographic purposes will be answered in our next._ mr. john cook _has sent us a plan for taking cheaper pictures for stereoscopic purposes by means of a common camera, and the substitution for the ordinary ground glass of a piece of plate glass and a piece of paper, on which the outline of the figure is to be traced. when one sketch is thus made, the camera is to be moved fifteen or sixteen inches to the right or left, and a second drawing made in the same way. the plan is a very obvious one; and though adapted for those who can draw and have an ordinary camera, it presents few advantages to photographers._ h. h. h. (ashburton). _were we to recommend you to any particular maker for your collodion tent, we should deviate from our rule of impartiality where several vendors are concerned, and we would therefore refer you to our advertising columns._ w. n. (kingston). _we are sorry we cannot afford space for answering all your queries on the making of gun cotton. a portion made according to dr. diamond's formulary has been forwarded to your address; and if it is not_ entirely _soluble, then the fault is in your ether._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published an noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * { } indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--the collodion process, with the latest improvements; calotype, daguerreotype, stereoscopic, and microscopic pictures: being a most complete guide to the successful production of good pictures by this interesting art. price s. in wrapper, and s. d. cloth, gilt; free by post for d. london: clark, . warwick lane. shew, . rathbone place. baker, . holborn. * * * * * la lumiere; french photographic journal. the only journal which gives weekly all the principal photographic news of england and the continent; with original articles and communications on the different processes and discoveries, reports of the french academy of sciences, articles on art, reviews, &c. published every saturday at paris, . rue de la perle. terms, s. per annum in advance. all english subscriptions and communications to be addressed to the english editor, . henman terrace, camden town, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * established . medical, invalid, and general life office, . pall mall. during the last ten years, this society has issued more than _four thousand one hundred and fifty policies_-- covering assurances to the extent of _one million six hundred and eighty-seven thousand pounds, and upwards_-- yielding annual premiums amounting to _seventy-three thousand pounds_. this society is the only one possessing tables for the assurance of diseased lives. healthy lives assured at home and abroad at lower rates than at most other offices. a bonus of per cent. on the premiums paid was added to the policies at last division of profits. next division in --in which all policies effected before th june, , will participate. agents wanted for vacant places. prospectuses, forms of proposal, and every other information, may be obtained of the secretary at the chief office, or on application to any of the society's agents in the country. f. g. p. neison, actuary. c. douglas singer, secretary. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * { } j. r. smith's new publications britannic researches; or, new facts and rectifications of ancient british history. by the rev. beale poste, m.a. just published, vo. (pp. .), with engravings, cloth, s. a few notes on shakspeare, with occasional remarks on mr. collier's folio of . by the rev. alexander dyce. vo. cloth, s. wiltshire tales, illustrative of the manners, customs, and dialect of that and adjoining counties. by j. y. akerman, esq. mo. cloth, s. d. facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards. by w. a. chatto, author of "jackson's history of wood engraving." in one handsome volume, vo., illustrated with many engravings, both plain and coloured, cloth, _l_. s. bosworth's (rev. dr.) compendious anglo-saxon and english dictionary. vo., closely printed in treble columns, cloth, s. lower's (m.a.) essays on english surnames. vols. post vo. third edition, greatly enlarged, cloth, s. lower's curiosities of heraldry, with illustrations from old english writers. vo., numerous engravings, cloth, s. wright's (thos.) essays on the literature, popular superstitions, and history of england in the middle ages. vols. post vo., cloth s. guide to archÆology. an archæological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano british, and anglo-saxon periods. by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary to the society of antiquaries. vol. vo., illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upwards of objects, cloth, s. a new life of shakspeare; including many particulars respecting the poet and his family, never before published. by james orchard halliwell, f.r.s., f.s.a., &c. vo., engravings by fairholt, cloth, s. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * bohn's standard library for august. foster's lectures, delivered at broadmead chapel, bristol, rd edition, edited, with additions, by j. e. ryland, esq. vols. post vo., cloth, s. d. per volume. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for august. the comedies of aristophanes, literally translated into english prose, with copious notes, by w. j. hickie. in vols. post vo., cloth. vol. i. with frontispiece. price s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for august. matthew of westminster's flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of britain, from the beginning of the world to a.d. . translated by c. d. yonge, b.a. in vols. post vo., cloth. vol. ii. price s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire. respectfully informs the clergy, architects, and churchwardens, that he replies immediately to all applications by letter, for information respecting his manufactures in church furniture, robes, communion linen, &c., &c., supplying full information as to prices, together with sketches, estimates, patterns of materials, &c., &c. having declined appointed agents, mr. french invites direct communications by post, as the most economical and satisfactory arrangement. parcels delivered free by railway. * * * * * this day is published in vo., with fac-simile from an early ms. at dulwich college, price s. curiosities of modern shakspearian criticism. by j. o. halliwell, esq., f.r.s. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neutronics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley,) of saturday, july , contains articles on agricultural society's show at gloucester agricultural college examination papers atmospheric agents, influence of, by mr. rigby attraction, capillary books reviewed bottles, to cut, by mr. prideaux broccoli, winter calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural cattle breeding diclytra v. dielytra drainage and capillary attraction ellipse fir leaves, uses of dried, by mr. mackenzie forests, royal frog, reproduction of, by mr. lowe fruit preserving fungi, eatable gloucestershire, trip through grove gardens, noticed guano, peruvian heating, galvanised iron for, by mr. ayres holt forest honey implements, agricultural, at gloucester iron, galvanised manure, peat mould as mechi's (mr.), gathering mildew, grape mulberries, to propagate, by mr. brown mushrooms, bad peat mould plant-houses, to fumigate, mr. whalley potato disease potentillas poultry at gloucester preserving fruit roses, bedding sheep, breeds of ---- handbook on skimmia japonica, by messrs. standish and noble societies, proceedings of the entomological, caledonian and cheltenham, horticultural, national floricultural, belfast flax spermatozoids stock breeding strawberry, nimrod stylidium fasciculatum tanks, galvanised, by mr. ayres toad, reproduction of, by mr. lowe vine, culture of ---- to propagate, by mr. brown ---- mildew wheat, culture of, by mr. rigby the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transaction of the week._ order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * just published, s. d. cloth, the vicar and his duties: being sketches of clerical life in a manufacturing town parish. by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. "we sincerely thank mr. gatty for his interesting sketches."--_english churchman._ london: george bell, . fleet street. edinburgh: r. grant & son. * * * * * for august, now ready, w. s. lincoln's ninety-fifth catalogue of cheap second-hand english and foreign books. a copy will be sent gratis and postage-free to any gentleman in town or country, who forwards his address to cheltenham house, westminster road, london. * * * * * every man his own engraver: or, a new, cheap, and simple process, by which to produce from a substitute, and multiply to any extent, either portraits, names on cards, drawings, maps, &c., the proofs of which will be equal to copper-plate engravings. this invaluable and profitable art will be taught to ladies and gentlemen, by printed instructions, with ease and certainty, in one lesson, upon receipt of fourteen postage stamps, addressed to mr. a. b. cleveland, . western cottages, brighton. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july . .. [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page oblation of a white bull newstead abbey, by w. s. hasleden on a celebrated passage in "romeo and juliet," act iii. sc. ., by s. w. singer on the passage from "king lear" manners of the irish, by h. t. ellacombe, &c. minor notes:--burial in an erect posture--the archbishop of armagh's cure for the gout, --the last known survivor of general wolfe's army in canada--national methods of applauding--curious posthumous occurrence queries:-- did captain cook first discover the sandwich islands? by j. s. warden superstition of the cornish miners minor queries:--clerical duel--pistol--council of laodicea, canon .--pennycomequick, adjoining plymouth--park the antiquary--honorary d.c.l.'s-- battle of villers en couché--dr. misaubin--kemble, willet, and forbes--piccalyly--post-office about --"carefully examined and well-authenticated"-- sir heister ryley--effigies with folded hands minor queries with answers:--passage in bishop horsley--"marry come up!"--dover court-- porter--dr. whitaker's ingenious earl--dissimulate replies:-- bishop ken, by the rev. j. h. markland bohn's edition of hoveden, by james graves coleridge's christabel, by j. s. warden its family of milton's widow, by t. hughes books of emblems--jacob behmen, by c. mansfield ingleby raffaelle's sposalizio windfall mr. justice newton, by the rev. h. t. ellacombe and f. kyffin lenthall photographic correspondence:--mr. lyte's treatment of positives--stereoscopic angles--query respecting mr. pollock's process--gallo-nitrate of silver replies to minor queries:--verney note decyphered--emblems by john bunyan--mr. cobb's diary--"sat cito si sat bene"--mythe versus myth--the gilbert family--alexander clark--christ's cross--the rebellious prayer--"to the lords of convention"-- wooden tombs and effigies--lord clarendon and the tubwoman--house-marks--"amentium haud amantium"-- the megatherium in the british museum--pictorial proverbs--"hurrah," and other war-cries miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. oblation of a white bull. by lease dated th april, , the abbat of st. edmund's bury demised to john wright, glazier, and john anable, pewterer, of bury, the manor of haberdon appurtenant to the office of sacrist in that monastery, with four acres in the vynefeld, for twenty years, at the rent of l. s. to the sacrist; the tenants also to find a white bull every year of their term, as often as it should happen that any gentlewoman, or any other woman, should, out of devotion, visit the shrine of the glorious king and martyr of st. edmund, and wish to make the oblation of a white bull. (dodsw. coll. in _bibl. bodl._, vol. lxxi. f. .) if we are to understand a white bull of the ancient race of wild white cattle, it may be inferred, i suppose, that in some forest in the vicinity of bury st. edmund's they had not disappeared in the first half of the sixteenth century. the wild cattle, probably indigenous to the great caledonian forest, seem to have become extinct in a wild state before the time of leland, excepting where preserved in certain ancient parks, as chillingham park, northumberland, gisburne park in craven, &c., where they were, and in the former at all events still are, maintained in their original purity of breed. they were preserved on the lands of some abbeys; for instance, by the abbats of whalley, lancashire. whitaker (_history of craven_, p. .) mentions gisburne park as chiefly remarkable for a herd of wild cattle, descendants of that indigenous race which once roamed in the great forests of lancashire, and they are said by some other writer to have been originally brought to gisburne from whalley after the dissolution. one of the descendants of robert de brus, the founder of gainsborough priory, is stated by matthew paris to have conciliated king john with a present of white cattle. the woods of chillingham castle are celebrated at this day for the breed of this remarkable race, by which they are inhabited; and i believe there are three or four other places in which they are preserved. in the form and direction of the horns, these famous wild white oxen seem to be living { } representatives of the race whose bones are found in a fossil state in england and some parts of the continent in the "diluvium" bone-caves, mixed with the bones of bears, hyenas, and other wild animals, now the cotemporaries of the bos gour, or asiatic ox, upon mountainous slopes of western india. i have read that white cattle resembling the wild cattle of chillingham exist in italy, and that it has been doubted whether our british wild cattle are descendants of an aboriginal race, or were imported by ecclesiastics from italy. but this seems unlikely, because they were not so easily brought over as the pope's _bulls_ (the pun is quite unavoidable), and were undoubtedly inhabitants of our ancient forests at a very early period. however, my present object is only to inquire for any other instances of the custom of offering a white bull in honour of a christian saint. perhaps some of your correspondents would elucidate this singular oblation. i am not able to refer to col. hamilton smith's work on the mythology and ancient history of the ox, which may possibly notice this kind of offering. w. s. g. newcastle-upon-tyne. * * * * * newstead abbey. the descent of property, like the family pedigree, occasionally exhibits the most extraordinary disruptions; and to those who may be ignorant of the cause, the effect may appear as romance. i have been particularly struck with the two interesting papers contained in the april number of the _archæological journal_, having reference to the newstead abbey estate, formerly the property of lord byron's family, which, amongst other matters, contain some severe remarks on the conduct of one of its proprietors, the great uncle and predecessor of our great poet, and having reference to dilapidation. mr. pettigrew, in his paper, states that-- "family differences, particularly during the time of the fifth lord byron, _of eccentric and unsocial manners_, suffered and even aided the dilapidations of time. the castellated stables and offices are, however, yet to be seen." and mr. ashpitel adds that-- "the state of newstead at the time the poet succeeded to the estate is not generally known: '_the wicked lord_' had felled all the noble oaks, destroyed the finest herds of deer, and, in short, had denuded the estate of everything he could. the hirelings of the attorney did the rest: they stripped away all the furniture, and everything the law would permit them to remove. the buildings on the east side were unroofed; the old xenodochium, and the grand refectory, were full of hay; and the entrance-hall and monks' parlour were stable for cattle. in the only habitable part of the building, a place then used as a sort of scullery, under the only roof that kept out wet of all this vast pile, the fifth lord byron breathed his last; and to this inheritance the poet succeeded." it is not necessary for me to refer to the lofty expression of the poet's feelings on such his inheritance, nor to the necessity of his parting from the estate, which appears now to be happily restored to its former splendour; but possessing some knowledge of a lamentable fact, that neither mr. pettigrew nor mr. ashpitel appears to be aware of, i feel inclined to soften the asperity of the reflections quoted; and palliate, although i may not justify, the apparently reckless proceedings of the eccentric fifth lord, as he is called. in the years and , after finishing my clerkship, i had a seat in the chambers of the late jas. hanson, esq., an eminent conveyancer of lincoln's inn; and while with him, amongst other peers of the realm who came to consult mr. hanson regarding their property, we had this _eccentric_ fifth lord byron, who apparently came up to town for the purpose, and under the most painful and pitiable load of distress,--and i must confess that i felt for him exceedingly; but his case was past remedy, and, after some daily attendance, pouring forth his lamentations, he appears to have returned home to subside into the reckless operations reported of him. his case was this:--upon the marriage of his son, he, as any other father would do, granted a settlement of his property, including the newstead abbey estate; but by some unaccountable inadvertence or negligence of the lawyers employed, the ultimate reversion of the fee-simple of the property, instead of being left, as it ought to have been, in the father as the owner of the estates, was limited to the heirs of the son. and upon his death, and failure of the issue of the marriage, the unfortunate father, _this eccentric lord_, found himself robbed of the fee-simple of his own inheritance, and left merely the naked tenant for life, without any legal power of raising money upon it, or even of cutting down a tree. it is so many years ago, that i now do not remember the detail of what passed on these consultations, but it would appear, that if the lawyers were aware of the effect of the final limitation, neither father nor son appear to have been informed of it, or the result might have been corrected, and his lordship would probably have kept up the estate in its proper order. whether this case was at all a promoting cause of the alteration of the law, i do not know; but, as the law now stands, the estate would revert back to the father as heir of this son. this case made a lasting impression on me, and i once had to correct a similar erroneous proposition in a large intended settlement; and i quoted this unfortunate accident as an authority. now, although this relation may not fully justify the reckless waste that appears to have been committed, it certainly is a palliative. i do not recollect whether { } our fifth lord had any surviving daughter to provide for; but if he had, his situation would be a still more aggravated position. w. s. hasleden. * * * * * on a celebrated passage in "romeo and juliet," act iii. sc. . few passages in shakspeare have so often and so ineffectually been "winnowed" as the opening of the beautiful and passionate soliloquy of juliet, when ardently and impatiently invoking night's return, which was to bring her newly betrothed lover to her arms. it stands thus in the first folio, from which the best quarto differs only in a few unimportant points of orthography: "gallop apace, you fiery footed steedes, towards phoebus' lodging, such a wagoner as phaeton should whip you to the wish, and bring in cloudie night immediately. spred thy close curtaine, loue-performing night, that run-awayes eyes may wincke, and romeo leape to these armes, untalkt of and unseene", &c. the older commentators do not attempt to change the word _run-awayes_, but seek to explain it. warburton says phoebus is the runaway. steevens has a long argument to prove that night is the runaway. douce thought juliet herself was the runaway; and at a later period the rev. mr. halpin, in a very elegant and ingenious essay, attempts to prove that by the runaway we must understand cupid. mr. knight and mr. collier have both of them adopted jackson's conjecture of _unawares_, and have admitted it to the honour of a place in the text, but mr. dyce has pronounced it to be "villainous;" and it must be confessed that it has nothing but a slight similarity to the old word to recommend it. mr. dyce himself has favoured us with three suggestions; the first two in his _remarks on collier and knight's shakspeare_, in , where he says-- "that _ways_ (the last syllable of _run-aways_) ought to be _days_, i feel next to certain; but what word originally preceded it i do not pretend to determine: 'spread thy close curtain, love-performing night! that rude/soon (?) day's eyes may wink, and romeo leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen,' &c." the correctors of mr. collier's folio having substituted-- "that _enemies_ eyes may wink," mr. dyce, in his recent _few notes_, properly rejects that reading, and submits another conjecture of his own, founded on the supposition that the word _roving_ having been written illegibly, _roavinge_ was mistaken for _run-awayes_, and proposes to read-- "that _roving_ eyes may wink." every suggestion of mr. dyce, certainly the most competent of living commentators on shakspeare, merits attention; but i cannot say that i think he has succeeded in either of his proposed readings. monck mason seems to have had the clearest notion of the requirements of the passage. he saw that "the word, whatever the meaning of it might be, was intended as a proper name;" but he was not happy in suggesting _renomy_, a french word with an english termination. in the course of his note he mentions that heath, "the author of the _revisal_, reads '_rumour's_ eyes may wink;' which agrees in sense with the rest of the passage, but differs widely from _run-aways_ in the trace of the letters." i was not conscious of having seen this suggestion of heath's, when, in consequence of a question put to me by a gentleman of distinguished taste and learning, i turned my thoughts to the passage, and at length came to the conclusion that the word must have been _rumourers_, and that from its unfrequent occurrence (the only other example of it at present known to me being one afforded by the poet) the printer mistook it for _runawayes_; which, when written indistinctly, it may have strongly resembled. i therefore think that we may read with some confidence: "spread thy close curtains, love-performing night, that _rumourers'_ eyes may wink, and romeo leap to these arms, _untalk'd of_ and _unseen_." it fulfils the requirements of both metre and sense, and the words _untalk'd of_ and _unseen_ make it nearly indisputable. i had at first thought it might be "_rumorous_ eyes;" but the personification would then be wanting. shakspeare has personified _rumour_ in the introduction to the second part of _king henry iv._; and in _coriolanus_, act iv. sc. ., we have-- "go see this _rumourer_ whipp'd." i am gratified by seeing that i have anticipated your able correspondent, the rev. mr. arrowsmith, in his elucidation of "_clamour_ your tongues," by citing the same passage from udall's _apophthegmes_, in my _vindication of the text of shakspeare_, p. . it is a pleasure which must console me for having subjected myself to his just animadversion on another occasion. if those who so egregiously blunder are to be spared the castigation justly merited, we see by late occurrences to what it may lead; and your correspondent, in my judgment, is conferring a favour on all true lovers of our great poet by exposing pretension and error, from whatever quarter it may come,--a duty which has been sadly neglected in some late partial reviews of mr. collier's "clever" corrector. mr. arrowsmith's communications have been so truly _ad rem_, that i think i shall be expressing the sentiments of all your readers interested in such { } matters, in expressing an earnest desire for their continuance. s. w. singer. mickleham. * * * * * on the passage from "king lear." (vol. vii., p. .) will you allow me to suggest to your ingenious leeds correspondent (whose communications would be read with only the more pleasure if they evinced a little more respect for the opinions of others) that before he asserts the existence of a certain error which he points out in a passage in _king lear_ to be "undeniable," it would be desirable that he should support this improved reading by other passages from shakspeare, or from cotemporary writers, in which the word he proposes occurs? for my own part, i think a. e. b.'s suggestion well worthy of consideration, but i cannot admit that it "demonstrates itself," or "that any attempt to support it by argument would be absurd," for it would unquestionably strengthen his case to show that the verb "recuse" was not entirely obsolete in shakspeare's time. neither can i admit that there is an "obvious opposition between _means_ and _defects_," the two words having no relation to each other. the question is, which of two words must be altered; and at present i must own i am inclined to put more faith in the authority of "the old corrector" than in a. e. b. having taken up my pen on this subject, allow me to remark upon the manner in which mr. collier's folio is referred to by your correspondent. i have carefully considered many of the emendations proposed, and feel in my own mind satisfied that _so great a number_ that, in the words of your correspondent, _demonstrate themselves_, could not have been otherwise than adopted from some authority. even in the instance of the passage from henry v., "on a table of green friese," which a. e. b. selects, i presume, as being especially absurd, i think "the old corrector" right; although i had frequently cited theobald's correction as particularly happy, and therefore the new version was at first to me very distasteful. but, whatever opinion may be held as to the value of the book, it is surely unbecoming to the discussion of a literary question to indulge in the unsparing insinuations that have been thrown out on all sides respecting it. i leave out of question the circumstance, that the long and great services of mr. collier ought to protect him at least from such unworthy treatment. samuel hickson. p.s.--since writing the above, i have seen mr. keightley's letter. i hope he will not deprive the readers of "n. & q." of the benefit of his valuable communications for the offences of one or two. he might consider, first, that his own dignity would suffer least by letting them pass by him "as the idle wind;" and, secondly, that some allowance should be made for gentlemen who engage in controversy on a subject which, strangely enough, next to religion, seems to be most productive of discord. s. h. "i have no way, and therefore want no eyes; i stumbled when i saw. full oft 'tis seen our means _secure_ us; and our mere defects prove our commodities." does not shakspeare here use _secure_ as a verb, in the sense "to make careless?" if so, the passage would mean, "our means," that is, our power, our strength, make us wanting in care and vigilance, and too self-confident. gloucester says, "i stumbled when i saw;" meaning, when i had eyes i walked carelessly; when i had the "means" of seeing and avoiding stumbling-blocks, i stumbled and fell, because i walked without care and watchfulness. then he adds, "and our mere defects prove our commodities." our deficiencies, our weaknesses (the sense of them), make us use such care and exertions as to prove advantages to us. thus the antithesis is preserved. how scriptural is the first part of the passage! "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."-- cor. x. . "he hath said in his heart, tush, i shall never be cast down; there shall no harm happen unto me."--ps. x. . the second part is also scriptural: "my strength is made perfect in weakness."-- cor. xii. . "when i am weak then am i strong."-- cor. xii. . in _timon of athens_ we find _secure_ used as verb "_secure_ thy heart."--act ii. sc. . again, in _othello_: "i do not so _secure_ me in the error."--act i. sc. . in du cange's _gloss._ is the verb "_securare_ nudè pro securum reddere." in the "alter index sive glossarium" of ainsworth's _dictionary_ is the verb "_securo_, as ... to live carelessly." in the "verba partim græca latinè scripta, partim barbara," &c., is "_securo_, as securum reddo." the _means_ of the hare in the fable for the race (that is, her swiftness) _secured_ her; the defects of the tortoise (her slowness) proved her _commodity_. f. w. j. * * * * * manners of the irish. the following are extracts from a ms. volume of the sixteenth century, containing, _inter alia_, notes of the manners and superstitions of the { } celtic irish. some of our readers may be able to elucidate the obscure references: "the irish men they have a farme, they kepp the bread, and make _boyranne_. they make butter and eatt _molchan_. and when they haue donne they have noe shamm. they burne the strawe and make _loisbran_. they eatt the flesh and drinke the broth, and when they have done they say _deo gracias is smar in doieagh_." the next appears to be a scrap of a woman's song: "birch and keyre 'tis wal veyre a spyunyng deye a towme. i am the geyest mayed of all that brought the somer houme. justice deyruse in my lopp, and senscal in my roame," &c. john devereux was justiciary of the palatinate liberty of wexford in the early part of henry viii.'s reign. that palatinate was then governed by a seneschal or "senscal." the justice would seem to have been a gallant and _sensual_ man, and the song may have been a little satirical. among the notes of the "manners" of the irish, it is declared that-- "sett them a farme--the grandfather, father, son, and they clayme it as their own: if not, they goe to rebellion." will any antiquary versed in celtic customs explain whether this claim of possession grew out of any celtic usage of tenancy? and also point out authorities bearing upon the customs of celtic agricultural tenancy? the next extract bears upon the communication at vol. vii., p. .: "an _ultagh_ hath three purses. he runneth behind dore to draw his money: one cutteth the throte of another." now, was an _ultagh_ an irish usurer or money-lender? your correspondent at page . requests information respecting roger outlaw. sir william betham, in a note to the "proceedings against dame alice ugteler," the famous pseudo-kilkenny witch, remarks that "the family of utlagh were seated in dublin, and filled several situations in the corporation." utlagh and outlaw are the same surnames. the named utlagh also occurs in the calendar of printed irish patent rolls. william utlagh, or outlaw, was a _banker_ and _money-lender_ in kilkenny, in the days of edward i. he was the first husband of the witch, and brother of friar roger outlaw. in favour of the latter, who was prior of kilmainham, near dublin, a mandamus, dated edw. ii., was issued for arrears due to him since he was "justice and chancellor, and even lieutenant of the justiciary, as well in the late king's time as of the present king's." he was appointed lord justice, or deputy to the lord lieutenant, by patent dated mar. , edw. iii. many of the irish records having been lost, your correspondent will do an obliging service in pointing out the repository of the discovered roll. perhaps steps might be taken for its restoration. h. [the following communication from our valued correspondent, the rev. h. t. ellacombe, affords at once a satisfactory reply to h's query, and a proof of the utility of "n. & q."] _roger outlawe_ (vol. vii., p. .).--thanks to anon. and others for their information. as for "in viiij mense," i cannot understand it: i copied it as it was sent to me. b. etii was an error of the press for r. etii, but i purposely avoided noticing it, because my very first communication on the subject to "n. & q.," under my own name and address, opened a very pleasing correspondence, which has since led to the restoration of these irish documents to their congeners among the public records in dublin; a gentleman having set out most chivalrously from that city at his own cost to recover them, and i am happy to say he has succeeded; and in the _english quarterly magazine_ there will soon appear, i believe, an account of the documents in question. it would not, therefore, become me to give in this place the explanation which has been kindly communicated to me as to the meaning of the last conquest of ireland; but i have no doubt it will be explained in the _english quarterly_. h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. * * * * * minor notes. _burial in an erect posture._--in the north transept of stanton harcourt church, oxon, the burial-place of the harcourt family, is a circular slab of blue marble in the pavement, in which is inlaid a shield of brass bearing the arms of harcourt,--two bars, dimidiated with those of beke; the latter, when entire, forming a cros ancrée. the brass is not engraved, but forms the outline of the shield and arms. it is supposed to be the monument of sir john, son of sir richard harcourt and margaret beke, who died . (see extracts from lord harcourt's "account," in the _oxford architectural guide_, p. .) tradition relates, if my memory does not mislead me, that the knight was buried beneath this stone in an erect posture, but assigns no reason for this peculiarity. is the probability of this being the case supported by any, and what instances? or does the legend merely owe its existence to the circular form of the stone? { } i think that its diameter is about two feet. if mr. fraser has not met with the information already, he may be interested, with reference to his query on "dimidiation" (vol. vii., p. .), in learning that the above mentioned margaret was daughter and coheiress of john lord beke of eresby, who by his will, made the th of edw. i., devised the remainder of his arms to be divided between sir robert de willoughby and sir john de harcourt. and this may lead to the farther query, whether dimidiation was originally or universally resorted to in the case of coheiresses? cheverells. _the archbishop of armagh's cure for the gout_, .--extracted from a letter from thomas lancaster, archbishop of armagh, to lord burghley, dated from dublin, march , :-- "i am sorofull for that yo^r honor is greved w^{th} the goute, from the w^{ch} i beseche almighty god deliver you, and send you health; and yf (it) shall please y^r honor to prove a medicen for the same w^{ch} i brought owt of duchland, and have eased many w^{th} it, i trust in god it shall also do you good, and this it is. take ij spaniel whelpes of ij dayes olde, scald them, and cause the entrells betaken out, but wash them not. take ounces brymstone, ounces torpentyn, ounce parmacete, a handfull nettells, and a quantyte of oyle of balme, and putt all the aforesayd in them stamped, and sowe them up and rost them, and take the dropes and anoynt you wheare your grefe is, and by god's grace yo^r honor shall fynd helpe."--_from the original in the state paper office._ spes. _the last known survivor of general wolfe's army in canada._--in a recent number of the _montreal herald_, mention is made of more than twenty persons whose ages exceed one hundred years. the editor remarks that-- "the most venerable patriarch now in canada is abraham miller, who resides in the township of grey, and is years old. in he scaled the cliffs of quebec with general wolfe, so that his residence in canada is coincident with british rule in the province. he is attached to the indians, and lives in all respects like them." w. w. malta. _national methods of applauding._--clapping with the hands is going out of use in the united states, and stamping with the feet is taking its place. when mr. combe was lecturing on phrenology at the museum building in philadelphia twelve or thirteen years ago, he and his auditors were much annoyed by the _pedal_ applause of a company in the room above, who were listening to the concerts of a negro band. complaint was made to the authorities of the museum society; but the answer was, that nothing could be done, as stamping of the feet was "the national method of applauding." the crying of "hear him! hear him!" during the delivery of a speech, is not in use in the united states, as an english gentleman discovered who settled here a few years ago. he attended a meeting of the members of the church to which he had attached himself, and hearing something said that pleased him, he cried out "hear him! hear him!" upon which the sexton came over to him, and told him that, unless he kept himself quiet, he would be under the necessity of turning him out of church. m. e. philadelphia. _curious posthumous occurrence._--if the following be true, though in ever so limited a manner, it deserves investigation. notwithstanding his twenty-three years' experience, the worthy grave-digger must have been mistaken, unless there is something peculiar in the bodies of bath people! but if the face turns down in any instance, as asserted, it would be right to ascertain the cause, and why this change is not general. it is now above twenty years since the paragraph appeared in the london papers:-- "a correspondent in the _bath herald_ states the following singular circumstance:--'having occasion last week to inspect a grave in one of the parishes of this city, in which two or three members of a family had been buried some years since, and which lay in very wet ground, i observed that the upper part of the coffin was rotted away, and had left the head and bones of the skull exposed to view. on inquiring of the grave-digger how it came to pass that i did not observe the usual sockets of the eyes in the skull, he replied that what i saw was the hind part of the head (termed the _occiput_, i believe, by anatomists), and that the face was turned, as usual, to the earth!!--not exactly understanding his phrase 'as usual,' i inquired if the body had been buried with the face upwards, as in the ordinary way; to which he replied to my astonishment, in the affirmative, adding, that in the course of decomposition the face of every individual turns to the earth!! and that, in the experience of three-and-twenty years in his situation, he had never known more than one instance to the contrary.'" a. b. c. * * * * * queries. did captain cook first discover the sandwich islands? in a french atlas, dated , in my possession, amongst the numerous non-existing islands laid down in the map of the pacific, and the still more numerous cases of omission inevitable at so early a period of polynesian discovery, there is inserted an island styled "i. st. françois," or "i. s. francisco," which lies in { } about ° n. and ° e. from the meridian of ferro, and, of course, almost exactly in the situation of owhyhee. that this large and lofty group may have been seen by some other voyager long before, is far from improbable; but, beyond a question, cooke was the first to visit, describe, and lay them down correctly in our maps. professor meyen, however, as quoted in johnston's _physical atlas_, mentions these islands in terms which would almost lead one to suppose that he, the professor, considered them to have been known to the spaniards in anson's time or earlier, and that they had been regular calling places for the galleons in those days! it is difficult to conceive such a man capable of such a mistake; but if he did not suppose them to have been discovered before cook's voyage in , his words are singularly calculated to deceive the reader on that point. j. s. warden. * * * * * superstition of the cornish miners. mr. kingsley records a superstition of the cornish miners, which i have not seen noted elsewhere. in reply to the question, "what are the _knockers_?" tregarva answers: "they are _the ghosts_, the miners hold, _of the old jews that crucified our lord, and were sent for slaves by the roman emperors to work the mines_: and we find their old smelting-houses, which we call _jews' houses_, and their blocks of the bottom of the great bogs, which we call _jews' tin_: and then, a town among us, too, which we call _market jew_, but the old name was _marazion_, that means the bitterness of zion, they tell me; and bitter work it was for them no doubt, poor souls! we used to break into the old shafts and adits which they had made, and find old stags-horn pickaxes, that crumbled to pieces when we brought them to grass. and they say that if a man will listen of a still night about those old shafts, he may hear the ghosts of them at working, knocking, and picking, as clear as if there was a man at work in the next level."--_yeast; a problem_: lond. , p. . miners, as a class, are peculiarly susceptible of impressions of the unseen world, and the superstitions entertained by them in different parts of the world would form a curious volume. is there any work on cornish folk lore which alludes to this superstition respecting the jews? it would be useless, i dare say, to consult carew, or borlase; besides, i have not them by me. apropos to cornish matters, a dictionary with a very tempting title was advertised for publication two or three years ago: "geslevar cernewac, a dictionary of the cornish dialect of the cymraeg or ancient british language, in which the words are elucidated by numerous examples from the cornish works now remaining, with translations in english: and the synonyms in welsh, armoric, irish, gaelic, and manx, so as to form a celtic lexicon. by the rev. robert williams, m.a., oxon., to be published in one vol. to. price s. d." when shall we see this desirable lexicon? i was reminded of it the other day by hearing of the subscriptions on foot for the publication of the great irish dictionary, which the eminent irish scholars messrs. o'donovan and curry have had in hand for many years. eirionnach. * * * * * minor queries. _clerical duel._--i shall be obliged to any correspondent who will supply the name of the courtier referred to in the following anecdote, which is to be found in burckhardt's _kirchen-geschichte der deutschen gemeinden in london_, tub. , p. . anton wilhelm böhme, who came over as chaplain with prince george of denmark, officiated at the german chapel, st. james's, from the year to . he was a favourite of queen anne, and a friend of isaac watts. on one occasion he preached against adultery in a way which gave great offence to one of the courtiers present, who conceived that a personal attack on himself was intended. he accordingly sent a challenge to the preacher, which was without hesitation accepted; and at the time and place appointed the chaplain made his appearance in full canonicals, with his bible in his hand, and gave the challenger a lecture which led to their reconciliation and friendship. i should like also to know whether there is any other authority for the story than that which i leave quoted. s. r. maitland. gloucester _pistol._--what is the date of the original introduction of this word into our vocabulary in either of the senses in which it is equivocally used by falstaff in _henry iv._, act. v. sc. .? in the sense of fire-arms, pistols seem to have been unknown by that name as late as the year ; for the stat. hen. viii. c. ., after reciting the murders, &c. committed "with cross-bows, little short hand-guns, and little hagbuts," prohibits the possession of "any hand-gun other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of one whole yard, or any hagbut or demihake other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of three quarters of one yard." but throughout the act there is no mention of the word "pistol." j. f. m. _council of laodicca, canon ._--can any of your readers inform me whether, in any early work on the councils, the word _angelos_ is in the text, without having _angulos_ in the margin? if so, oblige me by stating the editions. clericus (d). { } _pennycomequick, adjoining plymouth._--the bath and west of england agricultural society held their recent annual meeting here. will any of your correspondents oblige me with the derivation of this remarkable word? r. h. b. _park the antiquary._--in a note to the third volume (p. lxxiii.) of the _grenville correspondence_ the following passage: "barker has printed a second note, which junius is supposed to have written to garrick, upon the authority of park the antiquary, _who states_ that he found it in a _cotemporary newspaper_," &c. this is not strictly correct. barker says (p. .), "the letter was found in a copy of junius belonging to [query, which _had_ belonged to?] t. park, &c. he had [query, it is presumed?] cut it out of a newspaper; but unfortunately has omitted to furnish the date of the newspaper." [query, how then known to be cotemporary?] the difference is important; but where is the copy containing this letter? by whom has it been seen? by whom and when first discovered? where did barker find the story recorded? when and where first printed? p. t. a. _honorary d.c.l.'s._--it was mentioned in a report of proceedings at the late installation, that the two _royal personages_ honoured with degrees, having been doctored by diploma, would be entitled to vote in convocation,--a privilege not possessed by the common tribe of honorary d.c.l.'s. can you inform me whether dr. johnson had, or ever exercised, the right referred to in virtue of his m.a. degree (conferred on the publication of the _dictionary_), or of the higher academical dignity to which his name has given such a world-wide celebrity? cantabrigiensis. _battle of villers en couché._--some of your correspondents, better versed than myself in military matters, will doubtless render me assistance by replying to this query. where can i find a copious and accurate account of the battle, or perhaps i should rather say skirmish, of villers en couché? if i am rightly informed, it must be one of the most remarkable actions on record, when the comparative numbers of the troops engaged are taken into consideration. we have, as an heirloom in our family, a medal won by an officer on that occasion: it is suspended from a red and white ribbon, and is inscribed thus: "fortitudine villers en couchÉ. th april, ." i do not remember to have read any account of the battle; but, as i have heard from the lips of one who gained his information from the officer before alluded to, the particulars were these:--general mansell, with a force consisting of two squadrons of the th hussars, and one squadron of the german legion, _two hundred and seventy-two_ in all, charged a body of the french army, _ten thousand_ strong. the french were formed in a hollow square: but five times, as i am informed, did our gallant troops charge into and out of the square, till the french, struck with a sudden panic, retreated with a loss of twelve hundred men. i am desirous of authenticating this almost incredible account, and shall be thankful for such information as may guide me to an authoritative record of the action in question. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. _dr. misaubin._--will any of your numerous correspondents give me any information, or refer me to any work where i can find it, respecting dr. misaubin, who appears to have practised in london during the first half of the last century? what was the peculiarity of his practice? griffin. _kemble, willet, and forbes._--what are the two concluding lines of an epigram published ten or twelve years ago, beginning,-- "the case of kemble, willet, and forbes, much of the chancellor's time absorbs; if i were the chancellor i should tremble at the mention of willet, forbes, and kemble"? uneda. philadelphia. _piccalyly._--the ornament, somewhat between a hood, a scarf, and an armlet, worn hanging over the right shoulder of judges and serjeants at law, is called a _piccalyly_. what is the origin of this peculiarity of judicial costume, what are the earliest examples of it, and what its etymology? no judge. _post-office about ._--mr. smith, in the notes prefixed to the _grenville correspondence_, says several of junius's letters appear to have been sent from the same post-office "as the post-mark is '_peny_ post payd,'"--a peculiarity of spelling not likely to occur often. have any of your correspondents letters of that date with a like post-mark? and, if so, can they tell us _where_ posted? p. a. o. "_carefully examined and well-authenticated._"--i agree with mr. cramp (vol. vii., p. .) that "the undecided question of the authorship of junius requires that every statement should be carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence." i take leave, therefore, to remind him that my question (vol. iii., p. .) remains unanswered; that i am anxious that he should authenticate his statement (p. .), and name some of the "many" { } persons in whose libraries vellum-bound copies of junius have been found. v. b. _sir heister ryley._--who was the author of the _visions of sir heister ryley_, and whence did it derive its name? it was published in , and consists of papers periodically published on serious subjects. it was one of the many short-lived periodicals that sprung up in imitation of the _tatler_, and appears to have died a natural death at the end of the so-called first volume. h. t. riley. _effigies with folded hands._--on the south side of llangathen church, carmarthenshire, is a huge monument (of the style well designated as bedstead) for dr. anthony rudd, bishop of st. david's, and anne dalton, his wife, , with their recumbent effigies, and those of four sons kneeling at their head and feet. from all these figures the iconoclasts had smitten the hands upraised in prayer, and they have been replaced by plaister hands folded on the bosom. the effect is singular. is there any other instance of such restoration? e. d. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _passage in bishop horsley._--in the introduction to _utrum horum_, a rather curious work by henry care, being a comparison of the thirty-nine articles with the doctrines of presbyterians on the one hand, and the tenets of the church of rome on the other, is an extract from dr. hakewill's _answer_ ( ) _to dr. carier_, "an apostate to popery." in it occurs the following passage: "and so, through calvin's sides, you strike at the throat and heart of our religion." will you allow me to ask if a similar expression is not used by bishop horsley in some one of his charges? s. s. s. [the following passage occurs in the bishop's charge to the clergy of st. asaph in , p. . "take especial care, before you aim your shafts at calvinism, that you know what is calvinism, and what is not: that in that mass of doctrine, which it is of late become the fashion to abuse under the name of calvinism, you can distinguish with certainty that part of it which is nothing better than calvinism, and that which belongs to our common christianity, and the general faith of the reformed churches; _lest, when you mean only to fall foul of calvinism, you should unwarily attack something more sacred and of higher origin_."] "_marry come up!_"--what is the origin of this expression, found in the old novelists? it perhaps originates in an adjuration of the virgin mary. if so, how did it gain its present form? h. t. riley. [halliwell explains it as an interjection equivalent to indeed! _marry on us, marry come up, marry come out_, interjections given by brockett. _marry and shall_, that i will! _marry come up, my dirty cousin_, a saying addressed to any one who affects excessive delicacy.] _dover court._--what is the origin of the expression of a "_dover court_, where all are talkers and none are hearers?" there is a place called by this name in the vicinity of harwich? h. t. riley. [there is a legend, that dover-court church in essex once possessed a miraculous cross which spoke, thus noticed in the _collier of croydon_: "and how the rood of _dovercot_ did speak, confirming his opinions to be true." so that it is possible, as nares suggests, that this church was the scene of confusion alluded to in the proverb: "dover court, all speakers and no hearers." fox, in his _martyrology_, vol. ii. p. ., states, that "a rumour was spread that no man could shut the door, which therefore stood open night and day; and that the resort of people to it was much and very great."] _porter._--in what book is the word _porter_, meaning the malt liquor so called, first found? i have an impression that the earliest use of it that i have seen is in nicholas amherst's _terræ filius_, about . h. t. riley. [we doubt whether an earlier use of this word, as descriptive of a malt liquor, will be found than the one noticed by our correspondent; for it was only about that harwood, a london brewer, commenced brewing this liquor, which he called "entire," or "entire butt," implying that it was drawn from one cask or butt. it subsequently obtained the name of _porter_, from its consumption by porters and labourers.] _dr. whitaker's ingenious earl._-- "to our equal surprise and vexation at times, we find the ancients possessed of degrees of physical knowledge with which we were mostly or entirely unacquainted ourselves. i need not appeal in proof of this to that extraordinary operation of chemistry, by which moses reduced the golden calf to powder, and then give it mingled with water as a drink to the israelites; an operation the most difficult in all the processes of chemistry, and concerning which it is a sufficient honour for the moderns to say, that they have once or twice practised it. i need not appeal to the mummies of egypt, in which the art of embalming bodies is so eminently displayed, that all attempts at imitation have only showed the infinite superiority of the original to the copy. i need not appeal to the gilding upon those mummies so fresh in its lustre; to the stained silk of them, so vivid in its colours after a lapse of years; to the ductility and malleability of glass, discovered by an artist of rome in the days of tiberius, but instantly lost by the immediate murder of the man under the orders of the emperor, and just now boasted vainly to be re-discovered by the wildly eccentric, yet vividly vigorous, genius of that earl who professes to teach law to my lord chancellor, and divinity to my lords the { } bishops, who proposes to send ship, by the force of steam, with all the velocity of a ball from the mouth of a cannon, and who pretends by the power of his steam-impelled oars to beat the waters of the ocean into the hardness of adamant; or to the burning-glasses of archimedes, recorded in their effects by credible writers, actually imitated by proclus at the siege of constantinople with archimedes' own success, yet boldly pronounced by some of our best judges, demonstrably impracticable in themselves, and lately demonstrated by some faint experiments to be very practicable, the skill of the moderns only going so far as to render credible the practices of the ancients."--_the course of hannibal___, by john whitaker, b.d., , vol. ii. p. . who was the earl whose universality of genius is described above by this "laudator temporis acti?" h. j. [charles earl stanhope, whose versatility of talent succeeded in abolishing the old wooden printing-press, with its double pulls, and substituting in its place the beautiful iron one, called after him the "stanhope press." his lordship's inventive genius, however, failed in the composing-room; for his transmogrified letter-cases, with his eight logotypes, once attempted at _the times'_ office, were soon abandoned, and the old process of single letters preferred.] _dissimulate._--where is the earliest use of this word to be found? it is to be met with in bernard mandeville's _fable of the bees_, ; but is not to be found, i think, in any dictionary. i was once heavily censured at school for using it in my theme; but i have more than once of late seen it used in a leading article of _the times_. h. t. riley. [_dissimulate_ occurs in richardson's dictionary, with the two following examples: "under smiling she was _dissimulate_, prouocatiue with blinkes amorous." chaucer, _the testament of creseide_. "we commaunde as kynges, and pray as men, that al thyng be forgiuen to theim that be olde and broken, and to theim that be yonge and lusty, to _dissimulate_ for a time, and nothyng to be forgiuen to very yong children."--_golden boke_, c. ix. * * * * * replies. bishop ken. (vol. vii., p. .) by converting a noun into a surname, dodsley has led j. j. j. into a natural, but somewhat amusing mistake. the lines quoted are in horace walpole's well-known epistle, from florence, addressed to his college friend t[homas] a[shton,] tutor of the earl of p[lymouth]. in walpole's _fugitive pieces_, printed at strawberry hill, (the copy of which, now before me, was given by walpole to cole in , and contains several notes by the latter), the passage stands correctly thus: "or, with wise ken, judiciously define, when pius marks the honorary coin, of carnealla, or of antonine." your correspondent refers to an edition of the _collection of poems_ of . in a much later edition of that work, viz. , the line is again printed-- "or with wise ken," &c. it is strange that the mistake was not corrected, at the instance of walpole himself, during this long interval. turning to bishop ken, i would observe that in his excellent life of this prelate, mr. anderdon has given the three well-known hymns "word for word," as first penned. these, mr. a. tells us, are found, for the first time, in a copy of the _manual of prayers for the use of the winchester scholars_, printed in . the bishop's versions vary so very materially from those to which we have been accustomed from childhood, that these original copies are very interesting. indeed, within five years after their first appearance, and during the author's life, material changes were made, several of which are retained to the present hour. it must be admitted that some of the stanzas, as they first came from the bishop's pen, are singularly rugged and inharmonious, almost justifying the request made by the lady to byrom (as i have stated elsewhere[ ]), "to revise and polish the bishop's poems." how came these hymns, so far the most popular of his poetical works, to be omitted by hawkins in the collected edition of the poems, printed in vols., ? my present object is, to call your attention to a "midnight hymn," by sir thomas browne, which will be found in his works (vol. ii. p. ., edit. wilkin). can there be question that to it ken is indebted for some of the thoughts and expressions in two of his own hymns? the good bishop's fame will not be lessened by his adopting what was good in the works of the learned physician. he doubtless thought far more of the benefit which he could render to the youthful wykehamists, than of either the originality or smoothness of his own verses. _sir thomas browne._ "while i do rest, my soul advance; make my sleep a holy trance: that i may, my rest being wrought, awake into some holy thought, and with as active vigour run my course as doth the nimble sun. "sleep is a death: o make me try, by sleeping, what it is to die! { } and as gently lay my head on my grave, as now my bed. "these are my drowsy days; in vain i do now wake to sleep again. o come that hour when i shall never sleep again, but wake for ever! "guard me 'gainst those watchful foes, whose eyes are open while mine close; let no dreams my head infest, but such as jacob's temples blest." _bishop ken._ "awake, my soul, and with the sun thy daily stage of duty run. "teach me to live that i may dread the grave as little as my bed. "o when shall i in endless day for ever chase dark sleep away, and endless praise with th' heavenly choir, incessant sing and never tire. "you, my blest guardian, whilst i sleep, close to my bed your vigils keep; divine love into me instil, stop all the avenues of ill. "thought to thought, with my soul converse celestial joys to me rehearse; and in my stead, all the night long, sing to my god a grateful song." in the work referred to--one of the most valuable and best edited of modern days--mr. wilkin, when speaking of a fine passage on music in the _religio medici_ (vol. ii. p. .), asks whether it may not have suggested to addison the beautiful conclusion of his hymn on the glories of creation: "what tho' in solemn silence, all," &c. this passage in sir thomas browne appears forcibly to have struck the gifted author of _confessions of an english opium-eater_ (see p. . of that work). j. h. markland. [footnote : _sketch of bishop ken's life_, p. .] * * * * * bohn's edition of hoveden. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. riley mistakes my purpose if he thinks that my object was to make a personal attack on him; and for anything in my last communication which may have appeared to possess that tendency, i hereby freely express my regret. still i cannot allow that he has explained away the mistakes of which i complained, and of which i still have to complain. the kingdom of cork _never_ "extended to within a short distance of waterford;" and the territory of desmond was _never_ co-extensive with cork, having been always confined to the county of kerry. mr. riley, therefore, is in error when he uses "cork" and "desmond" as synonymous. again, he falls into the same mistake by assuming "crook, hook point, or the crook," to be synonyms. i never heard that henry ii. landed at hook point, which is in the county of wexford, and from which a land journey to waterford would be very circuitous. at crook, however, on the opposite side of waterford harbour, and within the shelter of creden head, he is said to have done so; and as that point answers pretty exactly to the _crock_ of hoveden, why assume some indefinite point of the "kingdom of cork" as the locality, even supposing that its boundary _did_ approach waterford city? really mr. riley's explanations but make matters worse. with regard to "erupolensis" being an _alias_ of ossoriensis, i may quote the authority of the learned de burgo, who, speaking of the diocese of ossory, observes: "quandoque tamen nuncupata erat _eyrupolensis_ ab _eyro_ flumine, vulgò _neoro_, quod _kilkenniam_ alluit."--_hibernia dominicana_, p. . note _i_. i maintain that the reading public has just cause to complain, not (as i said on a former occasion) because the editor of such a book as hoveden's _annals_ does not know everything necessary to elucidate his author, but because baseless conjectures are put forward as elucidations of the text. james graves. kilkenny. * * * * * coleridge's christabel. (vol. vii., pp. . .) it is difficult to believe that the third part of _christabel_, published in blackwood for june, , vol. v. p. ., could have either "perplexed the public," or "pleased coleridge." in the first place, it was avowedly written by "morgan odoherty;" and in the next, it is too palpable a parody to have pleased the original author, who could hardly have been satisfied with the raving rhapsodies put into his mouth, or with the treatment of his innocent and virtuous heroine. this will readily be supposed when it is known that the lady geraldine is made out to have been a man in woman's attire, and that "the mark of christabel's shame, the seal of her sorrow," is neither more nor less than the natural consequence of her having shared her chamber with such a visitor. is your correspondent a. b. r. correct in stating this parody to have been the composition of dr. maginn? in the biography of this brilliant writer in the twenty-third volume of the _dublin university magazine_, dr. moir, who had undoubtedly good opportunities of knowing, mentions that his first contribution to _blackwood_ was the latin translation of "chevy chase," in the number for november ; if this be correct, many of the cleverest papers that appeared under the name of odoherty, and which are all popularly attributed { } to maginn, must have been the work of other authors, a circumstance which i had been already led to suspect from the frequent local allusions to scotland in general, and to edinburgh in particular, which could have scarcely proceeded from the pen of a native of cork, who had then never visited scotland. since dr. moir's own death, it appears that the _eve of st. jerry_, and the _rhyme of the auncient waggonere_, have been claimed for him, as well as some other similar pieces; and i believe that the series of _boxiana_, which also appeared under the name of the renowned ensign and adjutant, was written by professor wilson. maginn's contributions were at first under various signatures, and some time elapsed before he made use of the _nom de guerre_ of morgan odoherty, which eventually became so identified with him. j. s. warden. paternoster row. * * * * * its. (vol. vii., p. .) i am sorry to intrude upon your valuable space again in reference to this little word, but the inquiry of mr. rye (p. .), and other reasons, render it desirable. the truth is that mr. keightley, mr. rye and myself, are more or less mistaken. . mr. keightley, in his quotation from fairfax's _tasso_ (mr. singer's accurate reprint, ), has _his_ in both lines. . mr. rye, in understanding me to refer to any translation proper; unless sternhold and hopkins are to be considered as having produced one. . myself, in supposing the old metrical version in the book of common prayer originally had the word _its_. i copied from the oxford edition in fol. of ; but a to. edition, "printed by iohn daye, dwelling over aldersgate, anno ," does not exhibit the word in the places specified; we have instead _her_ in both places. hitherto, then, the oldest examples of the use of this word have been adduced from shakspeare. these are to be found in the first folio, but are in each case printed with the apostrophe after the _t_,--_it's_. this method of writing the word, however, soon disappeared, for in a treatise of pemble's, printed (the author died in ), it appears as we write it now: "if faith alone by _its_ own virtue and force."--_works_, fol. p. . i have not observed the fact remarked, that besides the use of _his, her, hereof, thereof, of it_, and _the_, it was customary to employ the unchanged word _it_ for the possessive case. i will give an example or two. in the genevan version, at rom. viii. ., we read "not of _it_ owne wille." this passage is thus quoted in and in , but in a later edition of the same work, , _its_ is substituted for _it_. i have a note of one other instance from perkins on rev. ii. . (ed. ): "for as the sunne in the spring time quickeneth by _it_ warme beames." in conclusion, may i request that if any genuine instance of the use of this word _its_, is observed by any of your many contributors, they will communicate the fact to you? at present we can only go back to shakspeare, in his _winter's tale_ and _henry viii_. b. h. c. * * * * * family of milton's widow. (vol. vii., p. .) as your correspondent cranmore has long been a deserter from the ranks of "n. & q.," i may perhaps, without presumption, for once "stand in his shoes," and reply to the challenge addressed to him by v. m. much obscurity has all along prevailed among the many biographers of milton, in reference to the family of elizabeth minshull, his third wife, and eventually, for more than fifty years, his widow. philips, warton, todd, and numerous others, state her to have been "the daughter of mr. minshull, of cheshire,"--a very vague assertion when we consider that there were at least three or four different families of that name then existing in the county. pennant, who delighted in particularities, sometimes even at the expense of historical fact, tells us, for the first time, in , that she was the daughter of mr. (or sir) edward minshull, of stoke, near nantwich, and that she died at the latter town in march, , at an advanced age. mr. ormerod, again, whose splendid _history of cheshire_ will be the standard authority of the county for ages after he himself is carried to his fathers, has unfortunately adopted the same conclusion, and so given a colour, as it were, to this erroneous statement of our cambrian antiquary. the rev. benjamin mardon's paper, printed in the _journal of the british archæological association for _, is another and more recent instance of the way in which such errors as this may become perpetuated. another writer (palmer) conjectures her to have been the daughter of minshull of manchester; but this also has been proved to be entirely destitute of foundation. the truth of the matter is (and i am indebted to mr. fitchett marsh's clear and succinct dissertation in the _miscellany_ of the chetham society for the information), the poet's widow was daughter of mr. randle minshull, of wistaston in the county of chester, whose great-great-grandfather, a younger son of minshull of minshull, settled on a small estate there in the reign of queen elizabeth, and so founded the house of minshull of wistaston. milton was introduced to his cheshire wife by his friend dr. paget; and { } it was by his advice that the author of _paradise lost_ once more entered into the bonds of wedlock. mr. marsh, to clear up all doubt upon the subject, and having previously established the identity of the family, examined the parish register at wistaston, and there found that "elizabeth, the daughter of randolph mynshull, was baptized the th day of december, ;" so that, if baptized shortly after birth, she must have been about twenty-six years old when united to milton in , and about eighty-nine at her death, which occurred in . v. m., and all others who desire farther enlightenment on the subject, will do well to refer to the volume before mentioned, which forms the twenty-fourth of the series published by the chetham society. t. hughes. chester. * * * * * books of emblems--jacob behmen. (vol. vii., pp. . .) perhaps you will allow poor old jacob behmen, the inspired cobbler of gorlitz, a niche in your temple of writers of emblems. i think he is legitimately entitled to that distinction. his works are nearly all couched in emblems; and, besides his own figures, his principles were pictorially illustrated by his disciple william law (the author of _the way to divine knowledge_, _the serious call_, &c.), in some seventeen simple, and four compound emblematic drawings. of these the most remarkable, and in fact the most intelligible, are three compound emblems representing the creation, apostasy, and redemption of man. every phase of each stage in the soul's history is disclosed to view by means of double and single doors. we are now concerned only with such of behmen's emblematic works as have been translated into english. the following list contains only those in my own library. i am acquainted with no others: ( .) "the works of jacob behmen, the teutonic theosopher, to which is prefixed the life of the author, with figures illustrating his principles, left by the rev. william law, m.a. in four thick volumes, royal to. london: printed for m. richardson in paternoster row, mdcclxiv." with a fine portrait of behmen facing the title-page of the first volume. this edition contains the following works: . aurora: the day-spring, or dawning of the day in the east; or morning-redness in the rising of the sun: that is, the root or mother of philosophy, astrology, and theology, from the true ground; or, a description of nature. . the three principles of the divine essence of the eternal: dark, light, and temporary world. . mysterium magnum: or an explanation of the first book of moses called genesis. . four tables of divine revelation. . the high and deep-searching of the threefold life of man, through or according to the three principles. . forty questions concerning the soul, proposed by dr. balthasar walter, and answered by jacob behmen. . the treatise of the incarnation. . the clavis, or an explanation of some principal points and expressions. . signatura rerum. . of the election of grace; or of god's will towards man, commonly called predestination. . the way to christ discovered in the following treatises:--i. of true repentance. ii. of true resignation. iii. of regeneration. iv. of supernatural life. . a discourse between a soul hungry and thirsty after the fountain of life, the sweet love of jesus christ, and a soul enlightened. . a treatise of the four complexions, or a consolatory instruction for a sad and assaulted heart in the time of temptation. . a treatise of christ's testament, baptism, and the supper. ( .) "theosophic letters, or epistles of the man from god enlightened in grace, jacob behmen, of old seidenburgh, wherein everywhere [are?] divine blessed exhortations to true repentance and amendment, as also plaine instructions concerning the highly worthy and precious knowledge of the divine and natural wisdome; together with a right touchstone or triall of these times, for an introduction to the author's other writings: published in english for the good of the sincere lovers of true christianitie, by i. s.[ ]" (i have only a ms. copy of this publication.) ( .) a beautiful ms. translation of "the way to christ." this is hardly so accurate as the one already referred to, though some of the expressions are better chosen. the date of this ms. is about , or earlier. ( .) a fair ms. translation of jacob behmen's treatise called "a fundamental instruction concerning the earthly and concerning the heavenly mystery; how they two stand in one another, and how in the earthly the heavenly becometh manifested or revealed, wherein then you shall see babell the great citty upon earth stand with its forms and wonders; and wherefore, or out of what, babell is generated, and where antichrist will stand quite naked. comprised in nine texts. written may , , in high dutch." (i have seen no printed translation of this treatise.) ( .) ms. translation of the fourth treatise of "the way to christ," viz. "of the supersensual life." this is a less accurate rendering than either of the others above mentioned. perhaps your mystic correspondents will kindly furnish lists of other publications and mss. of { } "the teutonick theosopher." there are sixteen more of his works, of which fifteen are now extant in high dutch. as old behmen is but little known in this country, save by ill-repute, as having led astray william law in his old age, and, through him, having tinctured the religious philosophy of coleridge, it way be worth noting, that no less a philosopher than schelling (to whom, as we know, coleridge stood so greatly indebted) stole from the lusatian shoemaker the corner-stones of his _philosophy of nature_. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. [footnote : j. sparrow.--ed.] * * * * * raffaelle's sposalizio. (vol. vii., p. .) with regard to your correspondent mr. g. brindley ackworth's query respecting _raffaelle's sposalizio_, i am induced to think that the _custode_ at the church of the santa croce at florence was right as to his information. in the copy which i have of the "ordo ad faciendum sponsalia," _according to the ancient use of salisbury_, the ring is undoubtedly to be placed on the bride's _right_ hand. wheatly indeed says, that "when the man espouses his wife with it (_i.e._ the ring), he is to put it _upon the fourth finger of her_ left _hand_;" and then refers, for _the reason_ of this, to the rubric of _salisbury manual_, which speaks of the vein going from this finger directly to the heart. now, what are the precise words of this rubric? after giving directions for the benediction of the ring, provided it has not previously been blessed, the rubric goes on thus: "si autem antea fuerit annulus ille benedictus tunc statim postquam vir posuerit annulum super librum, accipiens sacerdos annulum tradat ipsum viro: quem vir accipiat manu sua dextera cum tribus principalioribus digitis, et manu sua sinistra tenens dexteram sponsæ docente sacerdote dicat." the man is to receive the ring from the priest with the three principal fingers of the right hand; and then, holding the _right hand_ of the bride with his own left hand, he shall say, "with this ring," &c. he is then to place the ring on her thumb, saying, "in nomine patris;" then on her second finger, saying "et filii;" then on the third finger, saying "et spiritus sancti;" then on the fourth finger, saying "amen;" and there he is to leave it. there is not a word said about the bride's _left_ hand, the _right_ is alone mentioned; and why should the man hold her _right_ hand with his _left_, but that with his _right_ hand he may the more easily place the ring, _first_ on the _thumb_, then on the other fingers of her _right_ hand, until it arrives at its ideal destination? while i am upon this subject, allow me to point out another singular direction given in a rubric in this same "ordo ad faciendum sponsalia." when the woman is, as we term it, given away, if she be a spinster, she is to have her hand _uncovered_; if a widow, _covered_: the words are-- "deinde detur femina a patre suo, vel ab amicis ejus: quod si _puella_ sit, _discoopertam_ habeat _manum_, si _vidua_, _tectam_." there is no reason given for this distinction, nor do i ever remember to have seen it noticed. f. b. w. the _sposalizio_, or "espousals," or betrothing, is certainly a different ceremony from the marriage. is not the fact of young ladies popularly considering and calling the third finger of the _right_ hand the engaged finger, and wearing a ring on that finger when engaged, a confirmation of your correspondent's idea, that at this "betrothal" or "espousals" (compare the phrase "his espoused wife" of mary before her _marriage_ with joseph) the ring was placed in the _right_ hand; at the marriage ceremony on the left? sc. * * * * * windfall. (vol. vii., p. .) w. w. is desirous of interpreting _windfall_, as necessarily from its origin denoting a gain. he is, perhaps, expecting a handsome bequest; i wish he may get it; but he may rely on it that the _windfall_ of the bequest will be accompanied by the _windfall_ of the "succession act." let us hear what our great doctor says; his first explanation is, "fruit blown down from the tree." w. w.'s little boys and girls would deem a _windfall_ of unripe apples, at this time of the year, a good; they will make a pie for dinner. w. w. himself would call it an evil; the ripe crop is ruined. but let us see how johnson illustrates his explanation: "their _boughs_ were too great for their stem, they became a _windfall_ upon the sudden."--_bacon_, essay . webster copies this for his first explanation, as he does also our dr's. second for his second; but as it is not his plan to illustrate by examples, he is saved from the _eccentricity_ of his original. if we refer to bacon we shall be reminded of johnson's warning, that by "hasty detruncation the general tendency of a sentence may be changed." the sentence here so hastily detruncated, stands thus in the essay: "the spartans were a nice people in point of naturalisation, whereby while they kept their compasse, they stood firme. but when _they_ did spread, and _their boughes_ were becommen too great for their stemme, they became a _windfall_ upon the suddaine. 'potentia eorum subito corruit.'" _they_, in johnson's mutilated sentence, refers to the _boughs_; in bacon, to the spartans; so that, in { } the first place, the spartans are transformed into boughs, and, in the next place, the boughs into fruit. detruncation, however, had nothing to do with this latter metamorphosis; and i am afraid this is not a solitary instance of lexicographical incongruity. w. w. may assure himself that a windfall is "whatever _falls_ by the wind, or with similar suddenness or unexpectedness, whether bringing good or ill." and if he will take the trouble to refer to "the case of impeachment of waste," quoted by mr. arrowsmith, vol. vii., p. ., he will find, only a few lines before that gentleman's quotation begins, a legal question at issue as to the right of property in _windfalls_. q. bloomsbury. * * * * * mr. justice newton. (vol. vii., pp. . .) it would greatly enhance the value of contributions to "n. & q.," save much trouble, and often lead to a more direct intercourse between persons of similar pursuits, if contributors would drop initials, and sign their own proper name and _habitat_; and in saying this, i believe the editor will second me. if c. s. g. had done this, i should have been happy to send him an envelope full of proofs that mr. justice newton did not die in , for that a fine was levied before him in ; that he is not buried in bristol cathedral, but in the wyke aisle in yatton church, somerset, where may be seen his effigies beautifully carved in alabaster, in his judge's robes, and his head resting on a wheat-sheaf or garb; that there was _no_ relationship between the second baronet of hather, his arms being _cross bones_, &c., and those of the judge, who was truly a _cradock_, were three garbs, &c. i would now beg leave to refer c. s. g. to my former communications in "n. & q." about cradock newton, particularly vol. ii., pp. . .; _chronica judicialia_, ; foss's _lives of the judges_; and a paper of mine in the forthcoming volume of the _proceedings of the archæological institute at bristol_. h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. from c. s. g.'s reply to my inquiry respecting mr. justice newton i conclude that at least _two_ individuals of this name have, at different periods, and at a considerable interval apart, occupied the judicial bench. the portrait i wish to trace is of a well-known character of the commonwealth era, and could not, of course, have belonged to a judge then some two centuries deceased. my omission to state this circumstance, in the first instance, has very naturally occasioned complete misapprehension throughout. since my query was written, a duplicate of the drawing in the bodleian (_minus_ the inscription), out of the strawberry hill collection, has, curiously enough, appeared in an extensive public sale. it was likewise said to be by bulfinch; and farther examination leads me to infer that both this and the oxford copy were, in respect of artist, in all probability _not_ incorrectly described. as bulfinch lived _temp._ charles ii., and the bodleian inscription points to his original painting, as "in the hands of mr. justice newton," it may fairly be presumed that a second judge of the name flourished in this reign. substantially, then, my original query yet remains unanswered, notwithstanding c. s. g.'s obliging reply. f. kyffin lenthall. . mount street, grosvenor square. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mr. lyte's treatment of positives._--it would be quite superfluous, after the very excellent communication of mr. pollock, were i to give a detailed account of my method of printing albumen positives, as, in the main, we both follow the process of mr. le gray. but as we both have our own improvements on the original process, i will ask for space in which to record our differences in manipulation. first, in regard to the chloride of gold, i always find, and i believe such is the experience of many photographers, that all salts of gold, though they heighten the effect at first, have a slow, but sure, destructive action on the picture. next, i find that acetic acid, by generating sulphurous acid, has a similar effect, and my care was to try and make a solution which should be free from these defects. i first take my positive, which, as a general rule, i print at least half as dark again as the shade required. this done, i wash it well with water, and next with salt and water in the proportion of about half a grain per gallon, or quite a tasteless solution; this removes all the nitrate of silver from the paper, or if there is any left, the bath of salt decomposes it, leaving none in the texture of the paper to unite with the hypo., which otherwise forms a sticky substance, difficult to remove, which may be readily seen on looking through a positive which has been too hastily finished in the usual way, giving a dark shade, and a want of transparency to the lights. i then place the picture in a bath composed as follows: sodæ hyposul. oz. argent. chlorid. grs. potassii iodidi grs. pyrogallic acid ½ to grs. the iodide of potassium i add on the same principle as mr. pollock's iodide of silver, but as being { } more convenient, as immediately on being added it decomposes some of the chloride of silver, and forms iodide of silver. i am happy to find that mr. pollock confirms me in the use of this salt; which i had long thought to improve the tone of my pictures. the liquid, which will become rapidly very dark coloured, must be set aside in an open vessel in a warm place for some weeks, _e.g._ till, when a positive is placed in it, left for a short time, and then washed with water, it shows clean and not mottled in the light. the solution may be kept always exposed, and much improves by this: if _much_ used, it should be replenished with a simple solution of hypo. three ounces or two ounces to the pint; if little used, it may be filled up as much as evaporates with pure water. the positive is left in this solution till the required tint is obtained, when it is to be placed in plain hypo. two ounces to the pint, and in about a quarter of an hour transferred to a basin of pure water, and well washed in several waters. the other detail of mr. pollock's process is so admirably and clearly given, and so like that i pursue, that i will not trouble your columns with it again. the after-bath of pure hypo. is not absolutely necessary; and where it is desired to obtain fine olive, and dark sepia, and black tints, a better tone results from washing well, long, and frequently, with water alone. this bath also gives very rich tints with paper, prepared without albumen: viz.-- chloride of ammonium grs. water oz. lay the paper on this, and then hang it up to dry, and excite with ammonio-nitrate containing seventy grains of nitrate of silver to one ounce of water. should the above solution not give the requisite tints soon after being made, add more chloride of silver; but bear in mind that the solution will then soon become saturated when setting positives, and when this occurs it must be rectified by the addition of a small portion of fresh hypo. alone. f. maxwell lyte. p.s.--i may add that i have only lately tried the addition of the iodide of potassium to my setting liquid, and so must qualify my recommendation of it by saying so. florian, torquay. _stereoscopic angles._--i am obliged to messrs. shadbolt and wilkinson for the information given in reply to my queries (vol. vii., p. .) my mode of operation is precisely that of mr. wilkinson: "i obtain all the information i can from every source; then try, and judge for myself." hence the present letter. i regret to be obliged to differ from mr. shadbolt, but there is a point in his communication which appears to me to arise from a misconception of the stereoscopic problem. he says (p. .), "for _distant_ views there is in nature scarcely any _stereoscopic_ effect." now, surely visual distance is merely visual stereosity; for, to see an object solid is merely to see its parts in relief, some of them appearing to project or recede from the others. it is the difficulty of producing this effect in landscapes, by the ordinary camera process, that renders views taken by such means so deficient in air, or, as the artists term it, aerial perspective, most distant objects seeming almost as near as those in the foreground. this indeed is the main defect of all photographs: they are true representations of nature to one eye--cyclopean pictures, as it were--appearing perfectly stereoscopic with one eye closed, but seeming absolutely flattened when viewed by the two eyes. i remember being shown a huge photograph of the city of berlin, taken from an eminence; and a more violent caricature of nature i never set eyes upon. it was almost chinese in its perspective: the house-tops appeared to have been mangled. it was a wonderful work of art, photographically considered; but artistically it was positively hideous. but the same defect exists in _all_ monophotographic representations, though in a less degree, and consequently less apparent than in views to which a sense of distance is essential. in portraits, the features appear slightly flattened; and until photographers are able to overcome this, the chief of all obstacles to perfection, it is idle to talk of the art giving a correct rendering of nature. this is what is wanted, more than colour, diactinic lenses, multiplication of impressions, or anything else. and when it is remembered that the law of an ordinary convex lens is, the farther the object from the lens the nearer the focus, and, _vice versâ_, the nearer the object the farther the focus, it becomes evident that by such an instrument distant objects must be made to appear near, and near objects distant, and nature consequently mangled. the stereoscope gives us the only demonstrably correct representation of nature; and when that instrument is rendered more simple, and the peep-show character of the apparatus disconnected from it, the art of photography will transcend the productions of the painter--but not till then. i am anxious to obtain all the information i can from such of your photographic readers as are practically acquainted with the stereoscopic portion of the art relative to the angles under which they find it best to take their pictures for given distances. mr. fenton, the secretary of the photographic society, takes his stereoscopic pictures, when the objects are feet and upwards from the camera, at in . this is, as mr. shadbolt states, professor wheatstone's rule for distances. { } mr. wilkinson, on the other hand, asserts that feet in yards is sufficient separation for the cameras: this is only in ,--a vast difference truly. "for views across the thames," says the editor of the _photographic journal_, "the cameras should be placed feet apart, and with this separation the effect is declared to be astonishing." mr. wilkinson, however, asserts that from to feet in a mile will do _well enough_! farther, mr. latimer clark (the inventor of an ingenious stereoscopic camera) states that with regard to the distance between the two positions of the cameras, he knows no good reason why the natural distance of the eyes, viz. ½ inches, should be much exceeded. "a little extra relief is obtained," he adds, "without visible distortion, by increasing the separation to about or inches; but if this distance be greatly exceeded, especially for near objects (i give the gentleman's own words), they become apparently diminished in size, and have the appearance of models and dolls rather than natural objects." the reason for making the separation between the cameras greater than that between the two eyes, is exceedingly simple. the stereograph is to be looked at much _nearer_ than the object itself, and consequently is to be seen under a much larger angle than it is viewed by the two eyes in nature. hence the two pictures should be taken at the angle under which they are to be observed in the stereoscope. suppose the object to be feet distant, then of course it is seen by the two eyes under an angle of ½ inches in feet, or in . but it is intended that the stereograph should be seen by the two eyes when but a few inches removed from them, or generally under an angle of ½ in inches, or nearly in . hence it is self-evident that the stereoscopic angle should be considerably larger than that formed by the optic axes of the two eyes when directed to the object itself. but there is great diversity of opinion as to the extent of the angles requisite for producing the precise stereoscopic or distantial effect of nature. for myself i prefer professor wheatstone's rule, in for objects beyond feet distant. for portraits i find the best angle in when the sitter is feet off, and for busts about in when placed about or feet from the cameras. but i should be happy to receive information from any of your readers concerning this important branch of the photographic art. for months past i have been engaged in a series of experiments in connexion with the subject, and wish for larger experience than it is possible for any single operator to acquire for himself. mr. fenton, i may observe, does not keep the cameras parallel in taking landscapes, but inclines them so that the same object may occupy as nearly as possible the centre of the ground glass plate. nor is it essential that perfect horizontality or parallelism of the cameras should be maintained in copying trees. for buildings, however, it is absolutely necessary that the cameras be kept straight. i am sorry thus to trespass on your space, but being anxious, as mr. wilkinson says, to collect information from every source, and your periodical being a happy medium for conveying and receiving instruction, i am glad to avail myself of such a channel. [phi]. ( ) p.s.--mr. claudet has, i perceive, been awarded the prize given by the society of arts for the best essay on the stereoscope. can you, or any of your readers, inform me whether this is likely to be published, and when and at what price? _query respecting mr. pollock's process._--in mr. pollock's directions for obtaining positives which appeared in "n. & q." (vol. vii, p. .), iodide of silver is to be dissolved in a saturated solution of hypo. can you give me the quantity of iodide of silver to be dissolved, and the quantity of the saturated solution of hypo. in which it is to be dissolved? n. t. b. _gallo-nitrate of silver._--can you inform me what the true nature of the decomposition is which takes place after a short time in the gallo-nitrate solution of silver? and if there be any ready means of rendering the silver it contains again available for photographic use? sir w. newton, in the description of his calotype process, says: "bring out with the saturated solution of gallic acid, and when the subject begins to appear, add the aceto-nitrate of silver solution." which way of doing this is the best,--mixing the two solutions together and applying them to the paper; or applying the paper, when wetted with the gallic acid, to the silver solution? t. l. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _verney note decyphered_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i am extremely obliged to mr. thompson cooper for his decyphered rendering of sir ralph verney's note of a speech or proceeding in parliament. the note itself is not now in my possession, but i have requested the owner to be good enough to re-collate it with the original, and if any mistakes should appear in the copy, or the printing (which is very likely), i will give you notice of the fact, that the doubtful words in mr. cooper's version may, if possible, be set right. students in the art of decyphering may be pleased to have the key to the cypher recorded in { } your pages. i therefore give it you as discovered by mr. cooper, and beg, in the strongest way, to reiterate my thanks to that gentleman. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , f, r, k, t, b, h, s, w, c, g, p, d, a, e, i, o, u, , , , . l, x, m, n. the cyphers (if any) for _j, q, y, z_ have not been discovered, and the numbers , , , , , , remain unappropriated. john bruce. _emblems by john bunyan_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this work which mr. corser has not met with, is in the folio edition of his works, forming pp. . to . of vol. ii. ( ). the plates are small woodcuts of very indifferent execution. e. d. _mr. cobb's diary_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this volume was printed solely for private distribution by the family, who also presented their relatives and friends (amongst whom the writer was reckoned) with another volume compiled on the decease of francis cobb, esq., the husband of mrs. cobb, and entitled, _memoir of the late francis cobb, esq., of margate, compiled from his journals and letters_: maidstone, printed by j. v. hall and son, journal office, . both of these are at the service for perusal of your inquiring correspondent, john martin. e. d. "_sat cito si sat bene_" (vol. vii., p. .).--i have not twiss at hand; but i think f. w. j. is mistaken in calling it a "favourite maxim" of lord eldon. i remember to have heard lord eldon tell the story, which was, that the newcastle fly, in which he came up to town, in i forget how many days, had on its panel the motto, "sat cito si sat bene:" he applied it jocularly in defence of his own habits in chancery. c. _mythe versus myth_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--it gives me much pleasure to have afforded mr. thiriold an opportunity for displaying so much learning and sagacity; but i hope he does not imagine that he has confuted me. as i only spoke of words which, like [greek: muthos], had a single consonant between two vowels, such words as _plinth_, _labyrinth_, &c. have nothing to do with the question. if _mythe_, differing from the other examples which are to be found, happens to have _the_ for its termination, and thus resembles words of anglo-saxon origin, i cannot help it, but it was formed _secundum artem_. as to mr. theriold's _m[=y]th_, unless so written and printed, it will always be pronounced _m[)y]th_, like the french _mythe_. as to the _hybrid_ adjectives, i only wished to avoid increasing the number of them. the french, i believe, have only one, _musical_; for though, like ourselves, they have made substantives of the greek [greek: mousikê] (sc. [greek: technê]), [greek: phusikê], &c., in all other cases they retain the greek form of the adjective, as in _physique_, substantive and adjective, while we generally have pairs of adjectives, as _philosophic, philosophical_; _extatic, extatical_; &c. some may think this an advantage; i do not. thos. keightley. _the gilbert family_ (vol. vii., p. ).--if your correspondent seeking genealogical information in reference to my ancestors, calls on me, i will show him a presentation copy of _a genealogical memoir of the gilbert family in old and new england_, by j. w. thornton, ll.b., boston, u. s., , vo. pp. , only fifty printed. james gilbert. _alexander clark_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i should feel obliged if j. o. could find leisure to communicate to "n. & q." some particulars relative to clark. he is supposed to have been the author of a curious poem: _the institution and progress of the buttery college of slains, in the parish of cruden, aberdeenshire; with a catalogue of the books and mss. in the library of that university_: aberdeen, . mr. peter buchan thus mentions him in his _gleanings of scarce old ballads_: "clark, a drunken dominie at slains, author of a poetical dialogue between the gardeners and tailors on the origin of their crafts, and a most curious latin and english poem called the 'buttery college of slains,' which resembled much in language and style drummond of hawthornden's 'polemo middino.'" this poem is printed in watson's _collection of scottish poems_, edin. ; and also noticed in the _edinburgh topographical and antiquarian magazine_, , last page. i am anxious to ascertain if the emblem writer, and the burlesque poet, be one and the same person. the dates, i confess, are somewhat against this conclusion; but there may have been a previous edition of the _emblematical representation_ ( ). the _university_ clark is supposed to have been an aberdeenshire man. possibly j. o. may be able to throw some light on the subject. perthensis. _christ's cross_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--in morley's _introduction to practical music_, originally printed in , and which i quote from a reprint by william randall, in to., in , eighteen mortal pages ( - ), which, in my musical ignorance, i humbly confess to be wholly out of my line, are occupied with the "cantus," "tenor," and "bassus," to the following words: "christes crosse be my speed in all vertue to proceede, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, & t, double w, v, x, with y, ezod, & per se, con per se, tittle tittle est amen, when you haue done begin again, begin again." j. f. m. { } _the rebellious prayer_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. a. may find the poem, of which he quotes the opening lines, in the _churchman's monthly penny magazine_, october, , with the signature l. e. p. the magazine is published by wertheim & macintosh, . paternoster row. m. e. "_to the lords of convention_" (vol. vii., p. .).--l. evans will find the whole of the ballad of "bonnie dundee," the first line of which he quotes, in sir walter scott's _doom of devorgoil_, where it is introduced as a song. singularly enough, his best ballad is thus found in his worst play. ficulnus. _wooden tombs and effigies_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--in a chapel adjoining the church of heveningham in suffolk, are (or rather were in ) the remains of a good altar tomb, with recumbent effigies carved in chesnut, of a knight and his lady: it appeared to be, from the armour and architecture, of the early part of the fifteenth century; and from the arms, _quarterly or and gules within a border engrailed sable, charged with escallops argent_, no doubt belonged to the ancient family of heveningham of that place; probably sir john heveningham, knight of the shire for the county of suffolk in the st of henry iv. when i visited this tomb in , it was in a most dilapidated condition: the slab on which the effigy of the knight once rested was broken in; within the head of the lady, which was separated from the body, a thrush had built its nest: notwithstanding, however, the neglect and damp to which the chapel was exposed, these chesnut effigies remained wonderfully sound and perfect. spes. the monument to sir walter traylli and his lady, in woodford church in northamptonshire, is of wood. there is a wooden effigy in gayton church, northamptonshire, of a knight templar, recumbent, in a cross-legged position, his feet resting on an animal: over the armour is a surcoat; the helmet is close fitted to the head, his right hand is on the hilt of his sword, a shield is on the left arm. there is also a fine wooden effigy of sir hugh bardolph in burnham church in norfolk. j. b. in fersfield church, in norfolk, there is a wooden figure to the memory of sir robert du bois, kt., ob. . see bloomfield's _norfolk_, vol. i. p. . j. b. _lord clarendon and the tubwoman_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--upon reference to the story of the "tubwoman" in p. ., it will be seen that mr. hyde is distinctly stated to have himself married the brewer's widow, and to have married her for her money. it is farther said that ann hyde, the mother of queen mary and queen ann, was the only issue of this marriage; whereas ann hyde had four brothers and a sister. no allusion is made in this account to sir thomas ailesbury. your correspondent mr. warden says, that "the story has _usually_ been told of the wife of sir thomas ailesbury," and that it may be true of her. will he have the kindness to furnish a reference to the version of the story in which sir thomas ailesbury is said to have married the tubwoman? l. _house-marks_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i do not know whether [alpha]. recollects the frequent occurrence of _marks_ upon sheep in this country. although i have often seen them, i cannot just now describe one accurately. some sheep passed my house yesterday which were marked with a _cross_ within a circle. riding with a friend, a miller, in essex, about thirteen years ago, he jumped out of the gig and over a gate, to seize a sack which was lying in a field. seeing no initials upon it, i asked how he knew that it was his; when he pointed out to me a fish marked upon it, which he told me had been his own and his father's mark for many years. he also said that most of the millers in the neighbourhood had a peculiar _mark_ (not their names or initials), each a different one for his own sacks. a. j. n. birmingham. "_amentium haud amantium_" (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent's query sent me at once to a queer old _terence in english_, together with the text, "_operâ ac industriâ r. b., in axholmensi insulâ, lincolnsherii epwortheatis_. [london, printed by john legatt, and are to be sold by andrew crooke, at the sign of the green-dragon, in paul's church yard. .] th edition." here, as i expected, i found an alliterative translation of the phase in question "for they are fare as they were _lunaticke, and not love-sicke_." the translation, i may add, is in prose. oxoniensis. walthamstow. _the megatherium in the british museum_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it is much to be regretted that a foreign surgeon should not have examined the contents of the room which contains the cast of the skeleton of this animal with a little more attention, before he penned the above article. had he done so, he would have found many of the original bones, from casts of which the restored skeleton has been constructed, in wall cases and , and would not have fallen into the error of supposing that it is a _fac-simile_ of the original skeleton at madrid. _that_ specimen was exhumed near buenos ayres in ; whilst our restoration { } has been made from bones of another individual, many of which are, as i have stated, to be found in the british museum itself, and others in that of the royal college of surgeons. i are not about to defend the propriety of putting the trunk of a palm-tree into the claws of the megatherium, though i do not suppose that the restorer ever expected, when he did so, that any one would entertain the idea that this gigantic beast was in the habit of climbing trees; but i would fain ask your correspondent on what grounds he makes the dogmatic assertion that "palms there were none, at that period of telluric formation." i will simply remind him of the vast numbers of fossil fruits, and other remains of palms, in the london clay of the isle of sheppey. w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _pictorial proverbs_ (vol. v., p. .).--perhaps the book here mentioned is one of the old german _narrenbuchs_, or _book of fools_, which were generally illustrated with pictures, of which i have a curious set in my possession. can any of your correspondents give some account of the nature and merits of these books? are any of them worth translating at the present day? the one from which my pictures were taken has the title _mala gallina, malum ovum_, and was published at vienna and nuremburg. it seems to have been a satire on the female sex; but the text, i am sorry to say, is not in my possession. h. t. riley. _"hurrah," and other war-cries_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following passage (which i find in my notes with the reference _ménagiana_, vol. ii. p. .) may partially assist your correspondent cape: "le cri des anciens comtes d'anjou étoit _rallie_. en voici l'origine. eude ii., comte de blois, marchant avec une armée considérable contre foulke nerra, comte d'anjou, ces deux princes se rencontrèrent à pontlevoi sur le cher, où ils se livrèrent bataille le juillet, . foulke eut d'abord quelque désavantage; mais herbert, comte du maine (dit _eveillechien_), étant venu à son secours, il rallia ses troupes, and défit absolument, &c. depuis ce temps-là le cri des anciens comtes d'anjou étoit _rallie_. et à ce propos je vous rapporterai ce qu'en dit maître vace, surnommé _le clerc de caen_, dans son roman de normandie: 'françois crie _montjoye_, et normans _dex-aye_: flamands crie _aras_, et angevin _rallie_: et li cuens thiebaut _chartre_ et _passavant_ crie.'" this last cry is not unlike the irish "faugh-a-ballagh" in signification. j. h. leresche. manchester. the following extracts from sir francis palgrave's _history of normandy and england_, vol. i. p. ., explain the origin of the word "hurrah," respecting which one of your correspondents inquires: "it was a 'wise custom' in normandy, established by rollo's decree, that whoever sustained, or feared to sustain, any damage of goods or chattels, life or limb, was entitled to raise the country by the cry of _haro_, or _haron_, upon which cry all the lieges were bound to join in pursuit of the offender,--_haron! ha raoul!_ justice invoked in duke rollo's name. whoever failed to aid, made fine to the sovereign; whilst a heavier mulct was consistently inflicted upon the mocker who raised the _clameur de haro_ without due and sufficient cause, a disturber of the commonwealth's tranquillity. "the _clameur de haro_ is the english system of 'hue and cry.' the old english exclamation _harrow!_ our national vernacular _hurrah!_ being only a variation thereof, is identical with the supposed invocation of the norman chieftain; and the usage, suggested by common sense, prevailed under various modifications throughout the greater part of the pays coutumier of france." a. m. s. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. among the books which we have for some time intended to bring under the notice of our readers is a new and cheaper edition of _the coin collector's manual, or guide to the numismatic student in the formation of a cabinet of coins: comprising an historical and critical account of the origin and progress of coinage, from the earliest period to the fall of the roman empire; with some account of the coinages of modern europe, more especially of great britain, by_ h. noel humphreys: and we have been the more anxious to do this, because, except among professed collectors, greater ignorance probably exists on the subject of coins, their date, value, &c., than upon any other subject with which educated people are supposed to possess some acquaintance. yet there are few numismatic questions likely to occur which ordinary readers would not be enabled to solve by a reference to these two little volumes, enriched as it is with numerous illustrations; especially if they would place beside them akerman's most useful _numismatic manual_. we are indebted to mr. murray for two volumes which will be among the pleasant additions to the cheap books of the month, namely, the new volume, being the fourth of the reprint, of lord mahon's _history of england to the peace of versailles_, which comprises the interval between the peace of aix-la-chapelle and that of hubertsburg; and in the _railway reading_, for half-a-crown! the fourth edition of lockhart's spirited translations of _ancient spanish ballads, historical and romantic_. thanks, mr. murray, thanks! that mr. de la motte, who is so well known as an accomplished draughtsman, should turn his attention to photography, is no slight testimony to the value of the art. that he has become a master in it, may be seen by one glance at his own works on the walls of his photographic gallery. the beginner may therefore receive with confidence the results of that gentleman's experience; and _the practice of photography, a manual for students and amateurs_, just published by him, will { } be found a most useful and instructive companion to every one who is now contemplating an excursion, armed with a camera, for the purpose of securing for the gratification of his friends truthful records of his wanderings. mr. de la motte wisely confines his instruction to the paper and glass processes; his details on these are clear and minute, and the book is well worth the money for those pages of it alone which are devoted to the "chemicals used in photography." books received.--_on the archaic mode of expressing numbers in english, saxon, friesic, &c._, by e. thomson, esq.; a learned and ingenious tract, written originally for insertion in "n. & q.," but which fact ought not to prevent our speaking of it in the terms which it deserves.--_a few words in reply to the animadversions of the rev. mr. dyce on mr. hunter's "disquisition on the tempest," , and his "new illustrations of the life, studies, and writings of shakspeare," , &c._ a short but interesting contribution to shakspearian criticism, by one who has already done good service in the same cause. if we cannot agree with mr. hunter in all that he seeks to establish, we can admire his knowledge of elizabethan literature, and appreciate the spirit in which he writes.--_the antiquary._ this is the first number of a small work consisting of reprints of proclamations, curious advertisements from early newspapers, and such odd matters as paint more forcibly than the gravest historian, the colours of the times. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the complaynts of scotland. vo. edited by leyden. . shakspeare's plays. vol. v. of johnson and steeven's edition, in vols. vo. . circle of the seasons. mo. london, . (two copies.) jones' account of aberystwith. trevecka, vo. . m. c. h. broemel's fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . cooper's account of public records. vo. . vol. i. passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. basil, . lord lansdowne's works. vol. i. tonson, . james baker's picturesque guide to the local beauties of wales. vol. i. to. . webster's dictionary. vol. ii. to. . walker's particles. vo. old calf, . warner's sermons. vols. longman, about . author's printing and publishing assistant. mo., cloth, . sanders' history of shenstone in staffordshire. j. nichols, london. . two copies. herbert's carolina threnodia. vo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. our eighth volume. _we avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by the commencement of a new volume, to state that our attention has been called to the sharp and somewhat personal tone of several of the recent contributions to "n. & q.," and which, we are reminded, is the more striking from the marked absence of anything of that character in our earlier volumes. we are perhaps ourselves somewhat to blame for this, from our strong indisposition to exercise our editorial privilege of omission. our notice of the subject will, we are sure, be sufficient to satisfy our contributors of the inconvenience which must result to themselves as well as to us from the indulgence in too great license of the pen. we know that when men write_ currente calamo, _words and phrases are apt to escape, the full application of which is not observed, until, as charles lamb said, "print proves it;" but being conscious that, when treating on the subjects with which we deal, no one would willingly write anything with design to give offence, we shall in future "play the tyrant" on all such occasions with more vigilance than we have done._ l. k. _the lines_-- "worth makes the man, the want of it the fellow; the rest is all but leather and prunello." _are from pope's_ essay on man, _ep. iv._ . _see some curious illustrations of them in our_ first volume, pp. . . &c. blackamoor _will find the_ cyanogen soap, _manufactured by thomas, excellent for removing photographic stains. it is, however, to be used with care, being_ poisonous. albert. _the history of the phrase_-- "quem deus vult perdere," _will be seen in our_ first volume, pp. . . . .; _and_ second volume, p. . i. g. t. _gooseberry_ fool _is the same as pressed or crushed gooseberries, from the french_ fouler, _to press, tread, &c._ sir f. madden's paper, was thomas lord lyttelton the author of junius's letters? _is unavoidably postponed until next week._ _replies to our numerous_ photographic querists _in our next._ _the_ index _to our_ seventh volume _will be ready on saturday the th._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * this day is published, price s.; or, post free, s. d. dickson and mowbray on poultry, edited by mrs. loudon, with numerous beautiful illustrations by harvey (including the cochin-china fowl). post vo. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * miller's fly-leaves is the literary and supplemental portion of his london librarian. the most extensive sheet catalogue of old books published, announcing monthly for sale, cheap books, in all departments of useful and entertaining, as well as scarce and uncommon, literature. no book collector or librarian should fail to be a subscriber. it is published about the st of each month, containing pages of letter-press, price d., stamped for post, d. annual subscription, s. john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * bohn's standard library for july. milton's prose works, vol. v., containing the conclusion of the christian doctrine, translated and edited by the bishop of winchester. with a general index to the five vols. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for july. aristotle's organon, or, logical treatises, with the introduction of porphyry literally translated, with notes, analysis, introduction, and index, by the rev. o. f. owen, m.a. vols. post vo. s. d. per volume. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for july. china, pictorial, descriptive, and historical, with some account of ava and the burmese, siam and annam. illustrated by nearly one hundred fine engravings on wood. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for july. matthew of westminster's flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of britain, from the beginning of the world to a.d. translated by c. d. yonge, b.a. in vols. post vo. cloth. s. per volume. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * { } the new and improved edition of burke's peerage and baronetage for is now ready, in vol. royal vo., comprising as much matter as twenty ordinary volumes, with , accurate engravings of arms. price s. bound. this new and thoroughly revised edition has engaged the author's closest attention for a considerable time. every line of its voluminous contents has been tested by the most minute research, and every page has been submitted to the members of the various noble and eminent families themselves. much additional information of the deepest interest has thus been obtained. the collateral branches, too, have been fully investigated and inserted. in addition, great improvements have been made in the heraldic illustrations, and arrangement of the printing, &c. also just published, burke's landed gentry, corrected for , in large vols., including the supplement, printed in double columns (equal in quantity to thirty ordinary volumes). price l. s. bound, with a separate index, gratis, of all the names (upwards of , ) mentioned in the work. the great expense attending the production of this important and truly national work will preclude its being again printed in so extended and comprehensive a form, and the present opportunity will consequently be the only one afforded for obtaining it. evelyn's diary and correspondence. new edition, with numerous additions and original letters, now first published, and a copious index. complete in volumes, s. d. each. "this very excellent edition of evelyn's famous 'diary' furnishes us with much interesting correspondence never before published. these volumes will be treasures to those who delight in genuine curiosities of literature, while to the student of history they will be invaluable. the work is a necessary companion to the popular histories of our country--to hume, hallam, macaulay, and lingard."--_sun._ horace walpole's memoirs. edited by eliot warburton. cheaper edition, vols. vo. with portraits, s. "the memoirs of horace walpole nearly complete the chain of personal, political, and literary history, commencing with evelyn and pepys, and ending almost in our own day with the histories of mr. macaulay and lord mahon. the work is a necessary addition to the library of every english gentleman."--_standard._ published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * freemason's quarterly magazine. contents of the number for july:--engraving of the royal freemasons' girls' school; the increase of freemasonry; on benefit societies, by the rev. t. a. buckley; episodes in the life of a freemason; the countess and the serf, by miss pardoe; the knights of st. helen's; on symbols and symbolism; a relic of the pretender; eleanora ulfeld; the prison flower, by miss pardoe; olden holiday customs; si j'étais roi; correspondence. masonic intelligence:--supreme grand chapter of royal arch masons of england; united grand lodge; grand conclave of masonic knights templar; the ancient and accepted rite; royal freemasons' girls' school; royal masonic benevolent institution; metropolitan; provincial; scotland; colonial. interesting discovery at jerusalem. obituary. notices to correspondents. the third number will be published on the th of september. routledge & co., farringdon street. * * * * * irish educational books.--notice is hereby given, that from and after the th july next, the school books used by the commissioners of national education in ireland, may be obtained from the office, merrion street, dublin, for ready money only, by the trade (and by private persons ordering them in quantities of the value of l. and upwards), at the under mentioned prices. from the above date the commissioners will supply no books, except to the irish national schools. s. d. first book of lessons ½ second ditto sequel to second book, no. . ditto ditto, no. . fourth book of lessons supplement to fourth book fifth book of lessons girl's reading book biographical sketches of british poets selections from british poets. vol. i. ditto ditto, vol. ii. introduction to the art of reading english grammar key to ditto ½ third book of lessons first arithmetic key to ditto arithmetic in theory and practice book keeping key to ditto epitome of geography compendium of ditto elements of geometry mensuration appendix to ditto scripture lessons, old testament, no. . ditto ditto, no. . ditto new testament, no. . ditto ditto, no. . sacred poetry lessons on truth of christianity agricultural class book farm account book treatise on needlework stationery office, th may, . * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for july, , being the first of a new volume, contains:-- . memoirs of thomas moore. . wanderings of an antiquary, from york to godmanham (with engravings). . female novelists. . political caricature, temp. charles i. . a midland town (leicester) in the reign of george iii., and mr. gardiner's anecdotes of t. moore. . historical notes on the retaining of counsel. . roman antiquities found at kingsholm, near gloucester. . remains of norman cross at birstall, co. york (with an engraving). . the bourne stream near croydon. . dr. guest on the etymology of stonehenge. correspondence of sylvanus urban: the itinerary of richard of cirencester.--the roches and viscounty of fermoy.--recent repairs of lambeth church.--early state of st. james's park.--postmen, temp. charles i., &c. &c. with notes of the month, reviews of new publications, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the earl of ducie, lord dacre, sir john hope, bart., sir charles a. elton, bart., lt.-gen. sir r. arbuthnot, vice-adm. sir f. mason, sir richard b. comyn, culling c. smith, esq., j. l. dampier, esq., ludwig tieck, &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid reader."--_john bull newspaper, june_ , . * * * * * murray's modern cookery book. new and cheaper edition. now ready, an entirely new, revised, and cheaper edition, with woodcuts. post vo., s., bound. modern domestic cookery. founded upon principles of economy and practical knowledge, and adapted for the use of private families. "a collection of plain receipts, adapted to the service of families. in which the table is supplied, with a regard to economy as well as comfort and elegance."--_morning post._ "unquestionably the most complete guide to the culinary department of domestic economy that has yet been given to the world."--_john bull._ "a new edition, with a great many new receipts, that have stood the test of _family_ experience, and numerous editorial and typographical improvements throughout."--_spectator._ "murray's 'cookery book' claims to rank as a new work."--_literary gazette._ "the best work extant on the subject for an ordinary household."--_atlas._ "as a complete collection of useful directions clothed in perspicuous language, this can scarcely be surpassed."--_economist._ "full of sage instruction and advice, not only on the economical and gastronomic materials, but on subjects of domestic management in general."--_builder._ "we may heartily and safely commend to english housewifery this cookery book. it tells plainly what plain folks wish to know, and points out how an excellent dinner may be best secured."--_express._ * * * * * now ready, the most extraordinary work of the season, the adventures of a lady in tartary, thibet, china, and kashmir; through portions of territory never before visited by european. with an account of the journey from the punjab to bombay overland, via the famous caves of ajunta and ellora. also, an account of the mahalleshwur and neilgherry mountains, the sanataria of the bombay and madras presidencies. with engravings, portraits and maps. in three thick vols., post vo., price s. d. ii. agnes maynard; or, dreams and realities. by the authoress of "the garden in the wilderness," &c. one vol. post vo., price s. d. ready on monday at all the libraries. iii. rosa st. orme, and other tales. by mrs. locke. one vol., post vo., price s. d. ready on the st at all the libraries. iv. much ado about nothing; or, the religion of england staked on the opening or shutting of the crystal palace on sundays. a farce, in many acts. by a clergyman of the church of england. price s. v. convicts and colonies; thoughts on transportation and colonisation, with reference to the islands and mainland of northern australia. by g. s. morris, b.a., vicar of bretforton, worcestershire, formerly one of her majesty's chaplains in the island of van diemen's land. price s. vi. important to authors.--new publishing arrangements.--hope & co., publishers, . great marlborough street, london, have resolved to charge no commission for publishing works printed by them, until the author has been refunded his original outlay. they would also state that they print, in the first style, greatly under the usual charges; while their publishing arrangements enable them to promote the interest of all works intrusted to their charge. estimates and every particular furnished gratuitously in course of post. * * * * * { } photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic apparatus manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. t. ottewill (from horne & co.'s) begs most respectfully to call the attention of gentlemen, tourists, and photographers, to the superiority of his newly registered double-bodied folding cameras, possessing the efficiency and ready adjustment of the sliding camera, with the portability and convenience of the folding ditto. every description of apparatus to order. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. . _great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, respectfully informs the clergy, architects, and churchwardens, that he replies immediately to all applications by letter, for information respecting his manufactures in church furniture, robes, communion linen, &c., &c., supplying full information as to prices, together with sketches, estimates, patterns of materials, &c., &c. having declined appointing agents, mr. french invites direct communications by post, as the most economical and satisfactory arrangement. parcels delivered free by railway. * * * * * established . medical, invalid, and general life office, . pall mall. during the last ten years, this society has issued more than _four thousand one hundred and fifty policies_-- covering assurances to the extent of _one million six hundred and eighty-seven thousand pounds, and upwards_-- yielding annual premiums amounting to _seventy-three thousand pounds_. this society is the only one possessing tables for the assurance of diseased lives. healthy lives assured at home and abroad at lower rates than at most other offices. a bonus of per cent. on the premiums paid was added to the policies at last division of profits. next division in --in which all policies effected before th june, , will participate. agents wanted for vacant places. prospectuses, forms of proposal, and every other information, may be obtained of the secretary at the chief office, or on application to any of the society's agents in the country. f. g. p. neison, actuary. c. douglas singer, secretary. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * { } this day are published, fraser's magazine for july, price s. d., or by post, s., containing: the navy of france. cayley's las alforjas. the tables turned. wanted--an owner.--some account of certain bones found in a vault beneath rothwell church. history of the prussian court and aristocracy. bertha's love. carpiana. lorenzo benomi. chimney pots. by a grumbler. emily orford. part i. mahomet's song. belgium, leopold, and the duke of brabant. ii. dedicated by special permission to her majesty. meliora; or, better times to come. edited by viscount ingestre. the second series, s., containing contributions by rev. t. beames. | john leigh. t. beggs. | viscount lewisham, m.p. dr. g. bell. | rev. h. mackenzie. earl of carlisle. | hon. and rev. s. g. osborne. rev. j. field. | rev. t. f. stooks. montagu gore. | lord teignmouth. dr. guy. | alex. thomson. with some papers by working men. meliora. the first series. second edition, s. iii. bacon's essays; or, counsels, civil and moral: with a table of the colours of good and evil. revised from the early copies, with the references now first supplied, and a few notes, by t. markby, m.a. s. d. in cloth. by the same editor, bacon's advancement of learning. s. in cloth. hooker's ecclesiastical polity. book i. s. d. iv. analysis of grecian history. by dawson w. turner, m.a., head master of the royal institution, liverpool. s. by the same author, analysis of roman history. s. analysis of english and of french history. second edition. s. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * the national miscellany.--no. iii. july. contents: . a trip to leipsic fair. . the nurse's tale. . modern spanish poetry.--zorilla. . erskine's cruise in the pacific. . castle building. . modern french art.--ary scheffer. . the history of the harp. . evening twilight. price one shilling. london: john henry parker. * * * * * albemarle street, _july_ . mr. murray's list of new works. i. the captivity of napoleon at st. helena. from the letters and journals of sir hudson lowe; and other official documents, not before made public. by william forsyth, m.a. portrait and map. vols. vo. s. ii. the concluding volumes of the diary of george grenville, while first lord of the treasury; including unpublished letters of junius. vols. vo. s. iii. narrative of an exploring expedition in tropical south africa. by francis galton, esq. plates and maps. post vo. s. iv. ten months among the tents of the tuski; with incidents of an arctic boat expedition in search of sir john franklin, as far as the mackenzie river and cape bathurst. by lieut. w. h. hooper, r.n. plates and map. vo. s. v. the story of corfe castle, and of many who have lived there, including the private memoirs of a family in the time of the civil wars, &c. by the right hon. george bankes, m.p. woodcuts. post vo. s. d. vi. a hunter's solitary rambles and adventures in the prairies. by john palliser, esq., woodcuts. post vo. s. d. vii. a four weeks' summer tour in norway, during . by john g. hollway, esq. fcap. vo. s. viii. the islands of the western pacific, including the feejees, and others inhabited by the polynesian negro races. by capt. john erskine, r.n. map and plates. vo. s. ix. the castlereagh despatches, during the congress of vienna, battle of waterloo, &c. edited by the marquis of londonderry. third and last series. vols. vo. s. x. nineveh and babylon: being the result of a second expedition to assyria, with researches at nineveh and babylon. by austen h. layard, m.p. th thousand. plates and woodcuts. vo. s. xi. history of greece. continued from the accession to the death of philip of macedon. by george grote, esq. vol. xi. vo. s. (the th volume will complete the work.) xii. a history of england. from the peace of utrecht. by lord mahon. library edition. vols. i. to vi. vo. s. xiii. lord mahon's history of england. cheap and popular edition. vols. i. to iv. post vo. s. each. * * * * * now ready, price s. d. by post, s. the practice of photography. a manual for students and amateurs. by philip delamotte, f.s.a. illustrated with a photographic picture taken by the collodion process. this manual contains much practical information of a valuable nature. joseph cundall, . new bond street. * * * * * just published, second enlarged edition, vo., cloth boards, s. williams' new zealand dictionary and grammar. dictionary of the new zealand or maori language. two parts. with a grammar and colloquial phrases. by the rev. w. williams, archdeacon of waiapu. williams & norgate. . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * nibelungen in english verse. the fall of the nibelungers, otherwise the book of kriemhild: a translation of the nibelungen not, or nibelungenlied. by w. nanson lettsom, esq. vo., cloth boards, s. d. london: williams & norgate, . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * clergymen and gentlemen intending to publish, either volumes or pamphlets, during the approaching season, may enter into arrangements with a publisher of experience and energy, who will use his most zealous endeavours to promote the literary and commercial success of works confided to his care. address to beta, care of mr. harrild, printer, silver street, falcon square. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dustan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "a medal won by an officer": 'a medal worn ...' in original (corrected, issue ). page , "cum tribus principalioribus digitis": 'principalionibus' in original generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july . .. [with index, price d.. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page derivation of the word "island" weather rules, by edward peacock on the modern practice of assuming arms morlee and lovel, by l. b. larking shakspeare correspondence, by robert rawlinson and john macray unpublished letter minor notes:--lines on the institution of the order of the garter--old ship--the letter "h" in "humble"-- "the angels' whisper"--pronunciation of coke--the advice supposed to have been given to julius iii. queries:-- bishop gardiner "de vera obedientiâ" minor queries:--lord byron--curious custom of ringing bells for the dead--unpublished essay by lamb--peculiar ornament in crosthwaite church-- cromwell's portrait--governor brooks--old books--the privileges of the see of canterbury--heraldic colour pertaining to ireland--descendants of judas iscariot--parish clerks and politics--"virgin wife and widowed maid"--"cutting off the little heads of light"--medal of sir robert walpole--la fête des chaudrons--who first thought of table-turning?-- college guide minor queries with answers:--done pedigree--scotch newspapers, &c.--dictum de kenilworth--dr. harwood replies:-- names of places, by j. j. a. worsaae cleaning old oak, by henry herbert hele, &c. burial in an erect posture, by cuthbert bede, b.a. lawyers' bags photographic correspondence:--new photographic process replies to minor queries:--the ring finger--the order of st. john of jerusalem--calvin's correspondence-- old booty's case--chatterton--house-marks, &c.-- bibliography--parochial libraries--faithful teate-- lack-a-daisy--bacon--angel-beast: cleek: longtriloo-- hans krauwinckel--revolving toy--rub-a-dub--muffs worn by gentlemen--detached church towers--christian names--hogarth's pictures--old fogie--clem--kissing hands--uniform of the foot guards--book inscriptions-- humbug--sir isaac newton and voltaire on railway travelling--engine-à-verge--"populus vult decipi," &c.-- sir john vanbrugh--erroneous forms of speech-- devonianisms miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. derivation of the word "island." lexicographers from time to time have handed down to us, and proposed for our choice, two derivations of our english word _island_; and, that one of these two is correct, has, i believe, never yet been called in question. the first which they offer, and that most usually accepted as the true one, is the a.-s. _ealand_, _ealond_, _igland_; belg. _eylandt_: the first syllable of which, they inform us, is _ea_, low germ. _aue_, water, _i.e._ water-land, or land surrounded by water. if this etymon be deemed unsatisfactory, they offer the following: from the fr. _isle_, it. _isola_, lat. _insula_, the word _island_, they say, is easily deflected. at the risk of being thought presumptuous, i do not hesitate to say, that both these alternatives are manifestly erroneous; and, for the following reason, i propose a third source, which seems to carry conviction with it: first, from analogy; and secondly, from the usage of the language from which our english word is undoubtedly derived, the anglo-saxon. first, from analogy. let us only consider how frequently names are given to parts of our hills, shores, rivers, &c., from their supposed resemblance to parts of the human body. thus, for instance, we have a _head_ land, a _neck_ of land, a _tongue_ of land, a _nose_ of land (as in ness, in orfordness, dungeness, and, on the opposite coast, grinez); also a _mouth_ of a river or harbour, a _brow_ of a hill, _back_ or _chine_ of a hill, _foot_ of a hill; an _arm_ of the sea, _sinus_ or bosom of the sea. with these examples, and many more like them, before us, why should we ignore an _eye_ of land as unlikely to be the original of our word _island_? the correspondence between the two is exact. how frequently is the term _eye_ applied to any small spot standing by itself, and peering out as it were, in fact an _insulated_ spot: thus we have the _eye_ of an apple, the _eye_ or centre of a target, the _eye_ of a stream (_i.e._ where the stream collects into a point--a point well known to salmon fishers), and very many other instances. what more natural term, then, to apply to a spot of land standing alone in the midst of an expanse of water than an _eye_ of land? { } in confirmation of this view, let us look to the original language; there we find the compounds of _eag_, _ea_, _ægh_, the eye, of very frequent occurrence: all of them showing that this compound _ea-land_ is not only legitimate, but extremely probable. thus we find, _eag-æple_, the pupil of the eye; _eag-dura_, a window-light, eye-door; _eag ece_, pain in the eye; _eah-hringas_, the orbits of the eyes. in the last instance, the _g_ is dropped; and it is certain that _eag_ was pronounced nearly as eye now is. from all this, is it too much to conclude that _ea-land_ is the same as _eye-land_? but farther, _ig_ (a.-s.) sometimes stands by itself for an island, as also do _igland_ and _igoth_, and _ii_ was the old name of iona. now i cannot find that there ever was the slightest connexion between the a.-s. _ig_ and _water_; nor do i believe that such an idea would ever have been started, but to support the old derivation of the word; i have never seen a genuine instance of such connexion brought forward. then the word _ig_, if it be supposed to mean an _eye_, as i contend, may very well stand by itself for _island_; but, if _water_ be expressed by it, i cannot understand how it can serve to import _land_. if any farther confirmation be wanted, we have it in the diminutive _eyot_, of which _ait_, _aight_, _eight_ are corruptions. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * weather rules. thomas passenger, who dwelt at the three bibles and star, on london bridge, was very celebrated during the latter part of the seventeenth century for publishing popular histories and chap-books. his shop seems to have been the principal place of resort for the hawkers who then supplied the provinces with literature. many of the works which issued from his press are now very rare: one of the most curious, and, at the same time, the rarest, is _the shepherd's kalendar: or, the citizen's and country man's daily companion_, &c. the contents of this book are of a very singular nature, it being a kind of epitome of the facts it was then thought necessary for a countryman to be acquainted with. a considerable portion of the work is occupied by remarks on the weather, and on lucky and unlucky days: if i were to extract all on those subjects, this communication would extend to an unreasonable length. we are informed, under the head "observations on remarkable days, to know how the whole year will succeed in weather, plenty," &c., that-- "if the sun shine clear and bright on christmas-day, it promiseth a peaceable year from clamours and strife, and foretells much plenty to ensue; but if the wind blow stormy towards sunset, it betokeneth sickness in the spring and autumn quarters." "if january (being st. paul's day) be fair, it promises a happy year; but if cloudy, windy, or rainy, otherwise: hear in this case what an ancient judicious astrologer writes: 'if st. paul be fair and clear, it promises then a happy year; but if it chance to snow or rain, then will be dear all sorts of grain: or if the wind do blow aloft, great stirs will vex the world full oft; and if dark clouds do muff the sky, then foul and cattle oft will die.'" "mists or hoar frosts on the tenth of march betokens (_sic_) a plentiful year, but not without some diseases." "if, in the fall of the leaf in october, many of them wither on the bows, and hang there, it betokens a frosty winter and much snow." under "the signs of rain in creatures" we have the following: "when the hern or bitron flies low, the air is gross, and thickening into showers." "the froggs much croaking in ditches and pools, &c., in the evening, foretells rain in little time to follow: also, the sweating of stone pillars or tombs denotes rain." "the often doping or diving of water fowl foreshows rain is at hand." "the peacock's much crying denotes rain." there is a list given of lucky days, which contains all the red letter saints' days of the reformed english kalendar. we are also informed that there are other days in each month which "are successful enough." thus-- "in january there are three, viz. . . . in february there are four, viz. . . . . in march there are two, viz. . . in april there are three, viz. . . . in may there are five, viz. . . . . . in june there are four, viz. . . . . in july there are six, viz. . . . . . . in august there are three, viz. . . . in september there are five, viz. . . . . . in october there are three, viz. . . . in november there are four, viz. . . . . in december there are three, viz. . . ." edward peacock. bottesford, messingham, kirton-in-lindsey. * * * * * on the modern practice of assuming arms. "if any person be advanced into an office or dignity of publique administration, be it eyther ecclesiasticall, martiall, or ciuill: so that the same office comprehendeth in it _dignitatem vel dignitatis titulum_, either dignitie or (at the least) a title of dignitye: the heralde must not refuse to devise to such a publique person, upon his instant request and willingnes to beare the same without reproche, a coate of armes: and thenceforth to matriculate him, with his { } intermarriages, and issues descending, in the register of the gentle and noble." thus wrote sir john ferne in _the blazon of gentrie_, printed in the year . so also coates, in his additions to gwillim, writing in , says: "for though arms, in their first acceptation, were (as is shewed) taken up at any gentleman's pleasure, yet hath that liberty for many ages been deny'd, and they, by regal authority, made the rewards and ensigns of merit, &c., the gracious favours of princes; no one being, by the law of gentility in england, allowed the bearing thereof, but those that either have them by descent, or grant, or purchase from the body or badge of any prisoner they in open and lawful war had taken." he proceeds to adduce various authorities on this subject, for which i would refer to the introduction to the last edition of gwillim's _heraldry_, p. . &c. porny defines _assumptive arms_ to be-- "such as are taken up by the caprice or fancy of _upstarts_, who, being advanced to a degree of fortune, assume them without having deserved them by any glorious action. this, indeed (he adds), is _great abuse of heraldry_; but yet so common, and so much tolerated, almost everywhere, that little or no notice is taken of it." this was written in . archdeacon nares, in his very amusing _heraldic anomalies_, printed in , says: "at present, _similarity of name_ is quite enough to lead any man to conclude himself to be a branch of some very ancient or noble stock, and, if occasion arise, to assume the arms appropriate to such families, without any appeal to the heralds' office; nor would any _alderman gathergrease_, living in affluence, be without such marks and symbols on his plate, seals, carriages, &c., with no higher authority, perhaps, than his own fancy and conceit." it must be confessed that the middle of the nineteenth century offers the most ample facilities for the would-be aristocrats of the age, and _that_ without troubling sir charles young or the college of arms; witness the following advertisement cut from a newspaper of the day:-- "the family livery.--arms and crests correctly ascertained, and in any case a steel die expressly cut for the buttons, free of cost," &c. there can, indeed, be no doubt that this foolish practice of assuming arms without right has of late years grown to an absurd height; and i fear the assumption is by no means confined to persons who have risen by trade, or by some lucky speculation in railways &c.; even those who have been "_advanced into an office or dignity of publique administration_" have but seldom made their "_instant request_" to the heralds "_to devise a coate of armes to be borne by them without reproch_." the episcopal bench, in particular, are very generally faulty in this respect, and, for the greater part, content themselves (if not by birth entitled to bear arms) by assuming the coat of some old-established family of the same, or _nearly the same_, name. in the case of temporal peerages, which are not seldom, thanks to the ancient constitution of england, renovated from the middle and lower classes, the practice is more in accordance with the precepts of _the blazon of gentrie_; but i believe there is at least _one instance_, that of a lawyer of the greatest eminence, who was last year advanced to a peerage, and to the highest rank in his profession, who has assumed both arms and supporters without the fiat of the college of arms. the "novi homines" of a former age set a better example to those of the present day, and were not ashamed to go honestly to the proper office and take out their patent of arms, thus "founding a family" who have a _right_ to the ensigns of honour which they assume. spes. * * * * * morlee and lovel. the following document, in connexion with the trial between morlee and lovell, in the court of chivalry, will probably interest your heraldic readers. l. b. larking. ceste indentur tesmoyne q' mos^r joh[=n] de cobeh[=m] s^r de cobeh[=m] ad baille [p=] assent de les sires de morlee et louel dys lib' de bone moneye amest' joh[=n] barnet, cest assau' cent south p^r le un [p=]tye et cent south p^r lautre [p=]tye acause q' mesme le dit mestre joh[=n] et mest' will[=m] dawode et mest' will[=m] sondeye serrount assessours sur la matire pendaunt [p=]entre les deux syngn' susdite p^r leur armes en le court de chiualerie. en tesmoynaunce de quel payment a ycestes endentur lez [p=]tyes susditez entrechaungeablement ount mys lours sceals. don a loundres le xx iu^r de feu'er lan du rengne le roy richard secounde quinzisme. [in dorso.] lendentur de x li paye a mest' joh[=n] barnet p^r morlee et louel. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _shakspeare emendations._--as this is the age of shakspeare emendations, i beg to propose the following for the consideration of the numerous readers of "n. & q." i am the more emboldened to do so, as i find several marginal corrections made from time to time are verified by the manuscript corrections in mr. collier's folio of . these proposed are not, however, there, or i would not have troubled you, though it is many months since i first altered the reading of my copy. { } _taming of the shrew,_ act v. sc. .--on the exit of katharina to "fetch" in the disobedient wives, lucentio remarks: "_luc._ here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder. _hort._ and so it is. i wonder what it bodes. _pet._ marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life, _an awful_ rule, and right supremacy; and, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy." for "an awful rule" i propose to substitute _and lawful rule_, as agreeing better with the text and context; indeed, the whole passage indicates it. petruchio means that the change in katharina's temper and conduct bodes love, peace, law, and order, in contradistinction to awe or fear. the repetition of the conjunction _and_ also makes the harmony of the language more equal; "and love, and quiet life, and lawful rule, and right supremacy," rings evenly to the ear. considering the number and character of the emendations in mr. collier's volume, i have the less hesitation in proposing this one. the language of shakspeare is, as we know it, for the most part so clear, harmonious, distinct, and forcible, that i think we are justified in considering any obscure, inconsistent, or harsh passage, as having met with some mishap either in hearing, transcribing, or in printing. some months ago, and certainly before mr. collier's volume of corrections appeared, i forwarded to "n. & q." (it never appeared) a correction from _antony and cleopatra_, act v. sc. ., where cleopatra, contemplating suicide, says it is-- "to do that thing that ends all other deeds, which shackles accidents, and bolts up change; which sleeps, and never palates more the dung. the beggar's nurse and cæsar's." the word "dung" ending the third line, was so evidently _dug_, or nipple, that i thought no man to whom it was pointed out could have a doubt about it. mr. collier remarks in his recent volume, "this emendation may, or may not, have been conjectural, but we may be pretty sure it is right." i doubt if mr. collier would have accepted any authority other than that of his own folio, although shakspeare has frequently used the word _dug_ as a synonym for nipple, as see _romeo and juliet_, act i. sc. .: "_nurse._ and she was wean'd,--i never shall forget it,-- of all the days of the year, upon that day: for i had then laid wormwood to my dug. . . . . . . --but, as i said, when it did taste the wormwood on the nipple of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool, to see it tetchy, and fall out with the dug!" this quotation proves clearly, i consider, that dug was meant by cleopatra, and not _dung_; and so i considered before the old manuscript correction of mr. collier's appeared. the words "an awful" are as clearly to my mind _and lawful_. i doubt, however, if they will be so acknowledged, as the use of the words "an awful," it may be contended, are countenanced by other passages in shakspeare; i quote the following. _two gentlemen of verona_, act iv. sc. i.-- "_ rd outlaw._ know then, that some of us are gentlemen, such as the fury of ungovern'd youth thrust from the company of _awful_ men." the word "awful" is surely, in this place, _lawful_; an outlaw would be little inclined to consider men as "awful," but the contrary. read the last line as under-- "thrust from the company of _lawful_ men," and the meaning is simple and clear. the outlaws were thrust from the company of _lawful men_, that is, men who obeyed the laws they had broken in "the fury of ungovern'd youth." in _king richard ii._, act iii. sc. ., the following use of the words _lawful_ and _awful_ occurs: "_k. rich._ we are amazed; and thus long have we stood to watch the fearful bending of thy knee, [_to northumberland._ because we thought ourself thy lawful king; and if we be, how dare thy joints forget to pay their awful duty to our presence?" the meaning in this case is no doubt clear enough, and the words "awful duty" may be the right ones; but had they stood _lawful duty_ in any old copy, he should have been a bold man who would have proposed to substitute _awful_ for _lawful_. _second part of king henry iv._, act iv. sc. .-- "_arch._ to us, and to our purposes, confin'd: we come within our _awful_ banks again, and knit our powers to the arm of peace." the use of the word "awful" in this passage may be right, but, as in the preceding case, i think, had _lawful banks_ stood in any old printed copy, or had it even been found in mr. collier's volume, the fitness would have been acknowledged. shakspeare used the word "lawful" in many instances where, no doubt, it may with reason, strong as any given here, be changed to _awful_. in the historical plays, _lawful_ king, _lawful_ progeny, _lawful_ heir, _lawful_ magistrate, _lawful_ earth, _lawful_ sword, &c., may be found. these suggestions, like the pinch of sand thrown on the old woman's cow, if they do no good, will, i trust, do no harm. robert rawlinson. _shakspeare._--a german writer, professor hilgers, of aix-la-chapelle, published in a pamphlet, in which he endeavoured to prove that many passages in shakspeare, which were originally written in verse, have been "degraded" into prose, and quotes several passages from the plays { } in support of his thesis. professor hilgers says that emendation of the text, by means of such a mode of correction as would restore the corrupted verses to their original form, has hitherto been almost entirely neglected by commentators, or else employed by them with very little ability and success. i have not seen the professor's treatise, and only write from a short notice which i have just perused of it in a german review; but, if what professor h. states be correct, the subject appears to deserve more particular attention from the writers in the "n. & q.," who have devoted their ingenuity and research to the illustration of shakspeare. in the hope of attracting them to "fresh fields and pastures new," in which to recreate themselves, and to instruct and delight the world-wide readers of the great dramatist, i venture to solicit attention to professor hilger's pamphlet and its subject. in this i only echo the german reviewer's language, who most highly praises the professor's acuteness, and the value of his strictures, and promises to return to them at greater length in a future number of the periodical in which he writes. john macray. oxford. * * * * * unpublished letter. i have thought that the following old letter, from a retired lawyer of the seventeenth century to his future son-in-law, might not be altogether uninteresting to your readers, as referring to the value of land and money at the period when it was written. c. w. b. july y^e ^{th}, ( ) . s^r, since you are pleased to demand my opinion concerning your intended purchase, i shall give you it as well as i can upon so short a warning. you say, if lett, you suppose it was worth a l. per ann[=u]. i cannot tell by your letter whether the mills, lett at l. per ann[=u], are a part of y^e l.: if it be, i think l. a great price, being much above twenty years' purchase, considering the lord's rent. but if they are not included in that sum, 'tis a good twenty years' purchase. now you must consider what returne this will make for your money. i am sure, as times goe, not three per cent; and money makes full five, and very seldom, if ever, pays taxes. i believe it may be very convenient for you, and it is very advantageous to be entire; but if you should contract a debt to buy this estate you will be very uneasy, and, if you marry, the first setting out will be expensive, and it will be ill taking up money to defray necessary charges. i conceive the land is in hand, and not lett; so that, if you have not a tenant, you must be at the expence of stocking, w^{ch} will sett very hard upon you. and you know, w^n your sister marrys, there is a pounds more to be provided. pray putt all these things together, and propose some way of solving all these difficultys; and, if you can, i should be glad to have it annexed to your estate, and settled upon the heirs male of your body. upon w^{ch} consideration i shall be more inclined to farther your desires in a reasonable manner. pray, w^n you hear any more of that co[=u]selor's amours send me word, but lett me advise you never to say anything of him or his estate that may come to the lady's ears. i hope my lady morton will not tell m^{rs} tregonell any more than what all the world should know. i heard the k^t had bid adieu to the woodland lady. i am very glad of it, for i wish him better ffortune. i writt lately to s^r john, who honoured me with a letter. as for public news, you have heard, i suppose, of our burning st. malos and grandvile; and that wee have left a great many of our men before namur, but they continue the siege vigorously. they say the ffrench are about to sett downe before dixmude, to bring us of by revultion. pray p^rsent mine and my daughter's service to your sister, and believe me to be, s^r, your affectionate kinsman and servant j. potenger. remember, at this time there is a great deal of land to be sold, but few purchasers. i have spooke to s^r miles cooke, who promises to lett me have your settlement to peruse, and to end matters fairly. since i writt my letter 'tis reported ... is surrendered or taken. these ffor richard bingh[=a], esq., at bingham's malcombe, to be left at the post-house in st. andrew's, milborne, dorsett. * * * * * minor notes. _lines on the institution of the order of the garter._--i send you the following, which may be worth a corner in "n. & q." the only account i can give of them is that i found them in ms. among other poetical extracts, without date or author's name:-- "when salisbury's famed countess was dancing with glee, her stocking's security fell from her knee. allusions and hints, sneers and whispers went round; the trifle was scouted, and left on the ground. when edward the brave, with true soldier-like spirit, cried, 'the garter is mine; 'tis the order of merit; the first knight in my court shall be happy to wear, proud distinction! the garter that fell from the fair: while in letters of gold--'tis your monarch's high will-- shall there be inscribed, "ill to him that thinks ill."'" tee bee. { } _old ship._--it may be of interest to some of your readers to learn that the ship which conveyed general wolfe on his expedition to quebec is still afloat under the name of the "william and ann." she was built in for a bomb-ketch, and was in dock in the thames a few days since, sound and likely to endure for many years yet: she is mostly now engaged in the honduras and african timber trades, which is in itself a proof of her great strength. a. o. h. blackheath. _the letter "h" in "humble."_--i was always taught in my childhood to sink the _h_ in this word, and was confirmed in this habit by the usage of all the well-educated people that i met in those days, as also by the authority of every pronouncing dictionary in the english language: and to this day hear many people quite as well educated, and of as high station in all but literary society, as mr. dickens, use the same pronunciation; but this eminent writer has thought fit of late to proscribe this practice as far as in him lies, by making it the shibboleth of two of the meanest and vilest characters in his works. i should like to know whether the aspiration of this letter is due to mr. d.'s london birth and residence, or whether it has become of late the general usage of good society. if the latter, it is clear that a new edition of _walker_ is required for the benefit of such as have no wish to be confounded with the "heeps." your late numbers have given some curious instances of cockney and other rhymes. i am sorry to see that the offensive _r_ not only appears to be gaining ground in poetry, but also in the mouths of many whose station and education might have been supposed to preserve them from this vulgarism. if the masters of our great schools took as much pains with their pupils' pronunciation of english, as with that of latin and greek, we should hear less of this. j. s. warden. _"the angels' whisper."_--the admirers of that popular song will be surprised to find that there prevails in india a tradition very similar to the one on which that song is founded. the other day our hindoo nurse was watching our baby asleep, and noticing that it frequently smiled, said, "god is talking to it!" the tradition, as elicited from this woman, seems to be here, that when a child smiles in its sleep, god is saying something pleasing to it; but when it cries, he is talking to it of sorrow. j. c. b. punjab. _pronunciation of coke_ (vol. vii., p. .).--probably the under-mentioned particulars may tend to elucidate the query discussed in your paper touching the pronunciation of chief justice coke's surname in his lordship's time. in numerous original family "coke documents" in my possession, amongst which are a most spirited and highly interesting letter written by the celebrated lady elizabeth hatton[ ], sir edward coke's widow, quite in character with her ladyship, shortly after her husband's death; and likewise several letters written by his children and grandchildren; sir edward's surname is invariably spelt coke, whilst in other his family documents[ ] and public precepts i possess, the latter of which came under the eye of lords keepers coventry and littleton, sir edward's name is, in nine cases out of ten in five hundred instances, spelt _cooke_ and _cook_; thus, i submit, raising an almost irresistible presumption that, however the chief justice's surname was written, it was pronounced _cook_ and not c_o_ke. t. w. jones. nantwich. [footnote : her surname is so written.] [footnote : some of them of so early a date as the year , when sir edward was attorney-general to queen elizabeth.] _the advice supposed to have been given to julius iii._--the _consilium_, sometimes and inadvertently called a _council_, addressed to julius iii., pope of rome, by certain prelates, has just been once more quoted, for the fiftieth time, perhaps, within the present generation, as a genuine document, and as proceeding from adherents of the church of rome. this re-quotation appears in an otherwise useful little volume of the religious tract society, entitled _the bible in many tongues_, p. .; and it may tend to check the use made of the supposed advice or council to state, what a perusal either of the original in brown's _fasciculus rerum expetend. et fugiend._, or of a translation in gibson's _preservative_ (vol. i. pp. . ., ed. ), will soon make evident, that the document in question is a piece of banter, and must be attributed to the pen of p. p. vergerio, in whose _works_ it is in fact included, in the single volume published tubing. , fol. -- . so frequently has this supposed advice been cited as a _serious_ affair, that the pages of "n. & q." may be well employed in endeavouring to stop the somewhat perverse use of a friendly weapon. novus. * * * * * queries. bishop gardiner "de vera obedientiÂ." it is probable that others of your readers besides myself have had good reason to complain that dr. maitland has cruelly raised the price of this little book to a bibliomaniacal height, by his inimitable description of its curious contents and history. (_essays on subjects connected with the reformation_, xvii. xviii. xix.) { } some of the things which seem to be indubitable respecting the original work are these:-- . that it was first printed in . . that, consequently, bishop burnet (_hist. of ref._, part i. b. iii. p. .: dublin, ) was mistaken in representing it as having been written in reply to cardinal pole. . that there _was_ an octavo edition published at strasburg in , and that goldastus followed it. . that there was an additional reprint of the tract at london in . (schelhornii, _amoen. hist. eccles._, tom. i. pp. . .) but i am anxious to make three inquiries relative to this really important document and its fictitious preface. . the roane volume, certainly the earliest in english, professes to have been printed by "michal wood" in . can we not determine the place of its origin by the recollection of the fact, that bishop bale's _mysterye of iniquyte, or confutation of ponce pantolabus_, was printed at _geneva_ by "mychael woode" in ? . with regard to the typographical achievements of the brocards, is it not rather an _apropos_ circumstance, that "biliosus balæus," as fuller calls him, was the author of a _historia divi brocardi_? (ware's _works_, ii. .) . may not bale (or _baal_, according to pits) be suspected to have been the composer of the bonnerian preface? he might have reckoned it among the many _facetias et jocos_ which he declares that he had put forth. it is observable that, while the writer of this preface designates bishop gardiner as the "common cutthrot of englande," the same title is bestowed upon bonner in the foxian letter addressed to him by "an unknown person" (strype's _memor._ iii., catal. p. .: london, ), and which, from internal evidence taken from the part relating to philpot, must be referred to the year . the style of these performances is similar; and let "gaie gardiner, blow-bole boner, trusti tonstal, and slow-bellie samson" of the preface be compared with "glorious gardiner, blow-bolle bonner, tottering tunstal, wagtaile weston, and carted chicken." (bale's _declaration of bonner's articles_, fol. . b., london, .) r. g. * * * * * minor queries. _lord byron._--what relation to the poet was the lord byron mentioned in the _apology for the life of george ann bellamy_? uneda. philadelphia. _curious custom of ringing bells for the dead._--in marshfield, massachusets, it has been customary for a very long period to ring the bell of the parish church most violently for eight or ten minutes, whenever a death occurs in the village; then to strike it slowly three times three, which makes known to the inhabitants that a man or boy has expired, and finally to toll it the number of times that the deceased had numbered years of existence. the first settlers of marshfield having been englishmen, may i ask if this custom ever did, or does now, exist in the mother country? w. w. malta. _unpublished essay by lamb._--coleridge is represented in his _table talk_ (p. . ed. ), to have said that "charles lamb wrote an essay on a man, who had lived in past time." the editor in a note tells us he knows "not when or where." i do not find it in the edition of his works published in , nor have i been able to discover it in any of the journals, to which he contributed, that have fallen in my way. have any of your correspondents met with it? r. w. elliott. _peculiar ornament in crosthwaite church._--on lately visiting crosthwaite church, cumberland, i was exceedingly struck with the great peculiarity of a carving, pointed out to me by the sexton, on the left jambs of all the windows in the north and south aisles, both inside and out. it is in the form of a circle with eight radiations, and always occurs about half-way between the shoulder of the arch and the sill. during the late restoration of the church, it has been covered with plaster in every case in the interior, save one in the north aisle, which is left very distinct. it does not appear on any of the windows at the east end or in the tower. i noticed a similar figure over the stone door-way of the old inn at threlkeld, with the letters c g inscribed on one side, and the date on the other. the sexton said, he had never been able to obtain any intelligence as to its symbolical meaning or history, although he had inquired of nearly every one who had been to see the church. can any of your correspondents throw a light upon the subject? r. w. elliott. _cromwell's portrait._--in the _annual register_, , "characters," p. .; in hughes's _letters_, ii. .; in _gent. mag._, xxxv. .; and in noble's _house of cromwell_, i. ., is a statement, originally made by mr. say, of lowestoft, in his account of mrs. bridget bendish, importing that the best picture of oliver which the writer had ever seen, was at rosehall (beccles), in the possession of sir robert rich. where is this portrait? has it ever been engraved? s. w. rix. beccles. _governor brooks_, about a century since, was governor of one of the west india islands. i have heard cuba named as his government; and it might have been that, the short time cuba was in { } the possession of the english, he was governor of it; but i am uncertain. if any correspondent, versed in west indian affairs, can give me any particulars of the family and antecedents of the above, or any reference to his services (for i suppose him to have been a military man), it will great oblige tee bee. _old books._--i notice some of your correspondents, having fancied that they have picked up at some old book-stall an invaluable treasure, are coolly told by others more learned, "it would be a bad exchange for a shilling;" and, again, "if it cost three shillings and sixpence, the purchaser was most unfortunate." may i ask the value of the following? they came into possession of my family about thirty years ago: "epitome thesauri antiquitatum hoc est impp. rom. orientalium et occidentalium iconum ex antiquis numismatibus quam fidelissime delineatum. "ex musæo jacobi de strada mantuani antiquatum. "lugduni, apud jacobum de strada et thomam guercinum, mdliii. ( ). cum privilegio regio." handsomely got up; gilt edges, pp. . also, "sommario delle vite de gl'imperiatore romani da c. giolio cesare sino a ferdinando ii., con le loro effigie causte dalle medaglie: in roma apresso, lodovico grignani, mdcxxxvii, pp. ." bristoliensis. _the privileges of the see of canterbury._--i find preserved by william of malmsbury, in his _chronicle_, book iii., the following letter from pope boniface to justus, archbishop of canterbury, respecting the privileges of his see: "far be it from every christian, that anything concerning the city of canterbury be diminished or changed, in present or _future times_, which was appointed by our predecessor pope gregory, _however human circumstances may be changed_: but more especially by the authority of st. peter, the chief of the apostles, we command and ordain, that the city of canterbury _shall ever hereafter be esteemed the metropolitan see_ of all britain; and we decree and appoint _immutably_, that all the provinces of the kingdom of england shall be subject to the metropolitan church of the aforesaid see. and if any one attempt to injure this church, which is more especially under the power and protection of the holy roman church, or to lessen the jurisdiction conceded to it, may god expunge him from the book of life; and let him know that he is bound by the sentence of a curse." how can the expressions i have italicised be reconciled with the creation of the archiepiscopal see of westminster? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _heraldic colour pertaining to ireland._--there occurs in the _dublin university magazine_ for october, , an article entitled "a night in the fine arts' court of our national exhibition," and at the conclusion a "note," in which i find the following remarks:-- "this last (the figure of erin), as described, is purely ideal, but legitimately brought in, as hogan's figure of 'hibernia' occupied a position in the fine arts' court, and suggested it. it may be as well to add that erin is described as wearing a _blue_ mantle, as blue, not green, is the heraldic colour pertaining to ireland now." may i inquire at what time, and under what circumstances, blue was substituted for the old favourite green? henry h. breen. st. lucia. _descendants of judas iscariot._--in southey's _omniana_ is the following: "it was believed in pier della valle's time that the descendants of judas still existed at corfu, though the persons who suffered this imputation stoutly denied the truth of the genealogy." is anything farther to be met with on this curious subject? g. creed. _parish clerks and politics._--in _twenty-six psalms of thanksgiving and praise, love and glory, for the use of a parish church_ (exon., and. brice, ), the rector (who compiled it), among other reasons for omitting all the _imprecatory_ psalms, says,-- "lest a parish clerk, or any other, should be whetting his _spleen_, or obliging his _spite_, when he should be entertaining his devotion." that such practices were indulged in, we have the farther evidence of bramston the satirist: "not long since _parish clerks_, with saucy airs, apply'd _king david's psalms_ to _state-affairs_."[ ] can any readers of "n. & q." point out examples of such misapplication? j. o. [footnote : _the art of politicks, in imitation of horace_, , with a hybrid portrait of heidegger, the _arbit. elegant._ of his day.] "_virgin wife and widowed maid._"--whence come the words "virgin wife and widow'd maid," quoted, apparently, by liddell and scott in their greek lexicon, s.v. [greek: aparthenos], as a rendering or illustration of hec. .? "[greek: numphên t' anumphon, parthenon t' aparthenon]." anon. "_cutting off the little heads of light._"--perhaps you or one of your correspondents would help me to the whereabouts of some thoughtful lines which i recently came across, in a volume which i accidentally took up, but the name of which has completely skipped my memory. { } the lines referred to typified tyranny under the form of the man who puts out the gas-lights at dawn: "cutting off the little heads of light which lit the world." i am not sure of the rhythm, and so have put the lines like prose; but they wind up with a fine analogy of the sun in all its glory bursting on the earth, and putting the proceedings of the light extinguisher utterly to nought. a. b. r. _medal of sir robert walpole._--on a brass medal, without date, rather larger than half a crown, are these effigies. on one side the devil, horned and tailed proper, with a fork in his right hand, and marching with a very triumphant step, is conducting a courtier in full dress (no doubt meant for walpole), by a rope round his neck, into the open jaws of a monster, which represent the entrance to the place of punishment. out of the devil's mouth issues a label with the words, "make room for sir robert." underneath, "no excise." on the reverse are the figures of two naval officers, with the legend, "the british glory revived by admiral vernon and commodore brown." this refers of course to the taking of porto bello in november, . is this piece one of rarity and value? j. _la fête des chaudrons._--in the exhibition of pictures in the british institution is one (no. .) by teniers, entitled "la fête des chaudrons." in what publication can the description of this fête, or fair, be found? c. i. r. _who first thought of table-turning?_--whilst the people are amusing themselves, and the learned are puzzling themselves, on the subject of table-turning, would you have any objection to answer the following query? who first thought of table-turning? and whence has it suddenly risen to celebrity? j. g. t. hagley. _college guide._--will some of your correspondents kindly inform a father, who is looking forward to his boys going to college, in what work he will find the fullest particulars respecting scholarships and exhibitions at the different colleges in both universities? querist is in possession of gilbert's _liber scholasticus_ ( ), the _family almanack_ for , and, of course, the _university calendars_. s. s. s. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _done pedigree._--a very old ms. pedigree of the family of done of utkington, in the county before me, connects with that family no less than twenty-three cheshire families of distinction, viz. cholmondeley, egerton, wilbraham, booth, arden, leicester, and seventeen others. now, as it appears by your note on the communication of a correspondent (vol. vi., p. .), that there exists a pedigree of the family of done, of utkington, in the british museum, additional ms. no. . pp. . and ., perhaps you will be good enough to say whether that pedigree discloses the extensive cheshire family connexion with the done family above noticed. t. w. jones. nantwich. [the following families connected with done of utkington occur in the pedigree (add. ms. . p. .) "richard de kingsley, a.d. ; venables, swinerton, peter de thornton, lord audley, dutton, aston, gerrard, wilbraham, manwaring, eliz. trafford, widow of geo. booth of dunham, ralph legh of high legh, davenport thomas stanley de alderley, thomas wagstaff of tachbroke, and devereux knightley of fawsley." this pedigree was copied by cole from an old ms. book of pedigrees formerly belonging to sir john crew. see also ormerod's _cheshire_, vol. ii. p. ., for a pedigree of done of utkington, flax-yards, and duddon, compiled from inquisitions _post mortem_, the parochial registers, and the visitations of and .] _scotch newspapers, &c._--what are the earliest publications of scotland giving an account of the current events of that kingdom? t. f. [_the edinburgh gazette, or scotch postman_, printed by robert brown on tuesdays and thursdays, appears to have been the earliest gazette. the first number was published in march, . this was followed by _the edinburgh evening courant_, published on mondays, tuesdays, and thursdays. no. . appeared on the th december, , and has existed to the present time. there was another paper issued on may , , called _the scotch mercury_, giving a true account of the daily proceedings and most remarkable public occurrences in scotland; but this seems to have been printed in london for r. baldwin. the earliest _almanack_ published in scotland was in , by mr. forbes of aberdeen, under the title of _a new prognostication, calculated for north britain_, and which was continued until the year .] _dictum de kenilworth._--said to have passed anno . what was the nature of it? abredonensis. [it is a declaration of the parliament of henry iii., containing the terms on which the king was to grant a general pardon to the malcontents of ely, namely, that all who took arms against the king should pay him the value of their lands, some for five years, others for three and for one. a copy of it is in the cottonian library, claudius, d. ii., . b., and in tyrrel's _hist. of england_, p. .] _dr. harwood._--can you tell me in what year the rev. dr. harwood of lichfield, author of a history of that city, and other works, died? i { } believe it was about ; but i have not been able to ascertain the exact date. a. z. [dr. harwood died rd december, , aged . for a biographical notice of him, see _gent. mag._ for february, , p. .] * * * * * replies. names of places. (vol. vii., p. .) i have been travelling so much about in the country since i left england, that i have not always the opportunity of seeing your "n. & q." until long after the publication of the different numbers. i have in this way seen some queries put to me about matters connected with the history of the danish settlements in england. but as i have had no particular information to give, i have not thought it worth while to write to say that i know nothing of any great consequence. just when i left copenhagen, some days ago, a friend of mine showed me that mr. taylor, of ormesby in norfolk, asked some questions regarding the danish names of places in norfolk. in answer to them i beg to state, that all the names terminating in _-by_ unquestionably are of danish origin. mr. taylor is perfectly right in supposing that several of these names of places contain the names of the old danish conquerors. but i do not think that ormesby originally has been gormsby. gorm certainly is the same as guthrum; but both of these names are distinctly different from the name "orme" or "orm," which, in our old language, signifies a serpent, and also a worm. (the famous ship, on board of which king olaf tryggveson was killed in the year , was called "ormen hin lange," _i.e._ the long serpent.) i have observed that several english families (undoubtedly of old scandinavian descent) at this day have the family-name "orm" or "orme." among the other names of places quoted by mr. taylor, rollesby most probably must be derived from the name "rollo" or "rolf;" but i regard the origin of the other names as being much more doubtful. if we had the original forms of these names, it might have been easier to decide upon it. as the names are now, i do not see anything purely scandinavian in them, except the termination _-by_. it is not at all unlikely that the name ashby or askeby might have been called so from "ash-trees" (danish "ask eller esk"), but i dare not venture into conjectures of this kind. i should be very happy if i in any other way could be of any service to mr. taylor in his researches about the danish settlements in east anglia. his remarks upon the situation of the villages with danish names are most interesting and instructive. i always sincerely wish that inhabitants of the different old danish districts in the north and east of england would, in the same way, take up the question about the danish influence, as i feel fully convinced that very remarkable and important elucidations might be gained to the history of england during a long and hitherto very little known period. j. j. a. worsaae. * * * * * cleaning old oak. (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .) having been so frequently benefited by the instruction, especially photographic, issuing from your most useful periodical, i feel myself almost bound to contribute my mite of information whenever i may chance to have the power of doing so; consequently, should you not get a better method of assisting mr. f. m. middleton out of his difficulty of softening old paint, as describe in the "n. & q.," no. ., i beg to offer him the following, and from experience i can vouch for its certainty of leading him to the desired result. some years since, having had occasion to enter a lumber-room of an old building, i was struck with the antiquated appearance of an arm-chair, which had, in days long gone by, been daubed over with a dirty bluish paint. finding, on inquiry, that its owner set no particular value on it, i met with but little difficulty in inducing him to make an exchange with me for a good mahogany one. soon after its being brought into my house, one of my domestics discovered that it positively swarmed with a species of lice, issuing from innumerable minute worm-holes and crevices, which of course rendered it in its present state worse than useless. determined not to be deprived of my prize, i resolved on attempting to rid it of this troublesome pest by washing it over with a strong solution of caustic soda, made by mixing some quick-lime with a very strong solution of the common washing soda (impure carbonate of soda), and pouring off the clear supernatant liquid for use. this proceeding, much to my satisfaction, not only succeeded in entirely getting rid of the vermin, but on my servant's scrubbing the chair with a hard brush and hot soap and water, i found that the caustic soda had formed a kind of soap, by chemically uniting with the oil contained in the old paint, thereby reducing it to such a state of softness, that by a few vigorous applications and soakings of the above-named solution, and subsequent scrubbings, my new favourite was also freed from its ugly time-worn jacket of dirty paint, discovering underneath a beautifully carved and darkly coloured oaken surface. after being perfectly dried and saturated with linseed oil, it was frequently well rubbed, and the { } chair stands to this day, like some of the valuable discoveries made by the alchemists when in search of the elixir vitæ, or the philosopher's stone, an example of a fortunate and unexpected disclosure made when not directly in search of it. i have since learnt that a fluid possessing the above-named detergent qualities, is to be purchased at some of the oil and colour shops, the formula for its preparation being kept a secret. henry herbert hele. ashburton, devonshire. p. s.--in making the solution on a caustic alkali, perhaps i should have said that the common carbonate of potass of commerce will do as well as the common carbonate of soda, if not better, from the probability of its making a stronger solution. the following recipe for taking paint off old oak is from no. . of _the builder_: "make a strong solution of american potash (which can be bought at any colour-shop, and resembles burnt brick in appearance); mix this with sawdust into a kind of paste, and spread it all over the paint, which will become softened in a few hours, and is then easily removed by washing with cold water. if, after the wood has dried, it becomes cracked, apply a solution of hot size with a brush, which will bind it well together and make it better for varnishing, as well as destroy the beetle which is often met with in old oak, and is erroneously called the worm." the following is also from the same number: "to make dark oak pale in colour, which is sometimes a desideratum, apply with a brush a little dilute nitric acid judiciously; and to stain light oak dark, use the dregs of black ink and burnt amber mixed. it is better to try these plans on oak of little value at first, as, to make a good job, requires care, practice, and attention." h. c. k. f. m. middleton will find that american potash, soft soap, and warm water, will remove paint from oak. the mixture should be applied with a paint-brush, and allowed to remain on until the paint and it can be removed by washing with warm water and a hard brush. getsrn. * * * * * burial in an erect posture. (vol. viii., p. .) your correspondent cheverells refers to the "tradition" of one of the harcourt family being buried in an erect posture, and asks, "is the probability of this being the case supported by any, and what instances?" as this query has been raised, it may be worth while to mention the following circumstance, as a singular illustration of a remarkable subject; though (as will be seen) the actual burial in an erect posture is here also probably "traditional." towards the close of the last century, there lived in kidderminster an eccentric person of the name of orton (_not_ that orton, the friend of doddridge, who passed some time in the town), but "job orton," the landlord of the bell inn. during his lifetime he erected his tomb in the parish churchyard, with this _memento-mori_ inscription graven in large characters on the upper slab: "job orton, a man from leicestershire; and when he's dead, he must lie under here." this inscription remains unaltered to this day, and may be seen on the right-hand of the broad walk on the north side of the spacious churchyard. his coffin was constructed at the same time; and, until it should be required for other and personal purposes, was used as a _wine-bin_. but, to carry his eccentricity even to the grave, he left strict orders that he should be buried in an _erect posture_: and "tradition" (of course) says that his request was complied with. your correspondent says that tradition "assigns no reason for the peculiarity" of the harcourt knight's burial; but tradition has been more explicit in job orton's case, whose _reason_ (?) for his erect posture in the tomb was, that at the last day he might be able to rise from his grave before his wife, who was buried in the usual horizontal manner! job orton appears to have had a peculiar talent for the composition of epitaphs; as, in his more playful moments, he was accustomed to tell his better-half that if he outlived her he should put the following lines on her tombstone: "esther orton--a bitter, sour weed; god never lov'd her, nor increas'd her seed." he seems, however, to have spared her this gratuitous insult. as a farther illustration of the characters of this singular couple, the following anecdote is told. esther orton having frequently declared, that she should "never die happy until she had rolled in riches," job, like a good husband, determined to secure his wife's happiness. having sold some land for a thousand pounds, he insisted that the money should be paid wholly in guineas. taking these home in a bag, he locked his wife up in a room; knocked her down, opened his bag of guineas, and raining the golden wealth upon her, rolled his danae over and over in the coin. "and now, esther," said job orton, "thee mayst die as soon as thee pleases: for thee'st had thy wish, and _roll'd in riches_." cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * lawyers' bags. (vol. vii., p. .) additional evidence of the fact that lawyers used to carry _green_ bags towards the end of the { } seventeenth century, is to be found in the _plain dealer_, a comedy by wycherley. one of the principal characters in the play is the widow blackacre, a petulant, litigious woman, always in law, and mother of jerry blackacre, "a true raw squire under age and his mother's government, _bred to the law_." in act i. sc. ., i find the following stage directions: "enter widow blackacre with a mantle and a _green_ bag, and several papers in the other hand. jerry blackacre, her son, in a gown, laden with _green_ bags, following her." in act iii. sc. . the widow is called impertinent and ignorant by a lawyer of whom she demands back her fee, on his returning her brief and declining to plead for her. this draws from her the following reply: "impertinent again and ignorant to me! gadsbodikins, you puny upstart in the law to use me so, you _green bag_ carrier, you murderer of unfortunate causes," &c. farther on, in the same scene, freeman, a gentleman well educated, but of a broken fortune, a complier with the age, thus admonishes jerry: "come, squire, let your mother and your trees fall as she pleases, rather than wear this gown and carry _green_ bags all thy life, and be pointed at for a tony. but you shall be able to deal with her yet the common way. thou shalt make false love to some lawyer's daughter, whose father, upon the hopes of thy marrying her, shall lend thee money and law to preserve thy estate and trees." a. w. s. temple. * * * * * photographic correspondence. [by the courtesy of our valued cotemporary _the athenæum_, we are permitted to reprint the following interesting communication, which appeared in that journal on saturday last.] "new photographic process. "henley street, july . "your insertion of the annexed letter from my brother-in-law, mr. john stewart, of pau, will much oblige me. the utility of this mode of reproduction seems indisputable. in reference to its concluding paragraph, i will only add, that the _publication_ of concentrated microscopic editions of works of reference--maps, atlases, logarithmic tables, or the concentration for pocket use of private notes and mss., &c., &c., and innumerable other similar applications--is brought within the reach of any one who possesses a small achromatic object-glass of an inch or an inch and a half in diameter, and a brass tube, with slides before and behind the lens of a fitting diameter to receive the plate or plates to be operated upon,--central or nearly central rays only being required. the details are too obvious to need mention.--i am, &c. "j. f. w. herschel. * * * * * "pau, june . "dear herschel.--i sent you some time ago a few small-sized studies of animals from the life, singly and in flocks, upon collodionised glass. the great rapidity of exposition required for such subjects, being but the fraction of a second, together with the very considerable depth and harmony obtained, gave me reason to hope that ere this i should have been able to produce microscopic pictures of animated objects. for the present, i have been interrupted. meantime, one of my friends here, mr. heilmann, following the same pursuit, has lighted on an ingenious method of taking from glass negatives positive impressions of different dimensions, and with all the delicate minuteness which the negative may possess. this discovery is likely, i think, to extend the resources and the application of photography,--and with some modifications, which i will explain, to increase the power of reproduction to an almost unlimited amount. the plan is as follows:--the negative to be reproduced is placed in a slider at one end (_a_) of a camera or other box, constructed to exclude the light throughout. the surface prepared for the reception of the positive--whether albumen, collodion, or paper--is placed in another slider, as usual, at the opposite extremity (_c_) of the box, and intermediately between the two extremities (at _b_) is placed a lens. the negative at _a_ is presented to the light of the sky, care being taken that no rays enter the box but those traversing the partly transparent negative. these rays are received and directed by the lens at _b_ upon the sensitive surface at _c_, and the impression of the negative is there produced with a rapidity proportioned to the light admitted, and the sensibility of the surface presented. by varying the distances between _a_ and _c_, and _c_ and _b_, any dimension required may be given to the positive impression. thus, from a medium-sized negative, i have obtained negatives four times larger than the original, and other impressions reduced thirty times, capable of figuring on a watch-glass, brooch, or ring. "undoubtedly one of the most interesting and important advantages gained by this simple arrangement is, the power of varying the dimensions of a picture or portrait. collodion giving results of almost microscopic minuteness, such negatives bear enlarging considerably without any very perceptible deterioration in that respect. indeed, as regards portraits, there is a gain instead of a loss; the power of obtaining good and pleasing likenesses appears to me decidedly increased, the facility of subsequent enlargement permitting them to be taken sufficiently small, at a sufficient distance (and therefore with greater rapidity and certainty) { } to avoid all the focal distortion so much complained of,--while the due enlargement of a portrait taken on glass has the effect, moreover, of depriving it of that hardness of outline so objectionable in a collodion portrait, giving it more artistic effect, and this without quitting the perfect focal point as has been suggested. "but there are many other advantages obtained by this process. for copying by engraving, &c. the exact dimension required of any picture may at once be given to be copied from. "a very small photographic apparatus can thus be employed when a large one might be inconvenient or impracticable, the power of reproducing on a larger scale being always in reserve. independent of this power of varying the size, positives so taken of the _same_ dimension as the negative reproduce, as will be readily understood, much more completely the finer and more delicate details of the negatives than positives taken by any other process that i am acquainted with. "the negative also may be reversed in its position at _a_ so as to produce upon glass a positive to be seen either upon or under the glass. and while the rapidity and facility of printing are the same as in the case of positives taken on paper prepared with the iodide of silver, the negatives, those on glass particularly, being so easily injured, are much better preserved, all actual contact with the positive being avoided. for the same reason, by this process positive impressions can be obtained not only upon wet paper, &c., but also upon hard inflexible substances, such as porcelain, ivory, glass, &c.,--and upon this last, the positives being transparent are applicable to the stereoscope, magic lantern, &c. "by adopting the following arrangement, this process may be used largely to increase the power and speed of reproduction with little loss of effect. from a positive thus obtained, say on collodion, _several hundred_ negatives may be produced either on paper or on albumenised glass. if on the latter, and the dimension of the original negative is preserved, the loss in minuteness of detail and harmony is almost imperceptible, and even when considerably enlarged, is so trifling as in the majority of cases to prove no objection in comparison with the advantage gained in size, while in not a few cases, as already stated, the picture actually gains by an augmentation of size. thus, by the simultaneous action, if necessary, of some hundreds of negatives, many thousand impressions of the same picture may be produced in the course of a day. "i cannot but think, therefore, that this simple but ingenious discovery will prove a valuable addition to our stock of photographic manipulatory processes. it happily turns to account and utilises one of the chief excellencies of collodion--that extreme minuteness of detail which from its excess becomes almost a defect at times,--toning it down by increase of size till the harshness is much diminished, and landscapes, always more or less unpleasing on collodion from that cause, are rendered somewhat less dry and crude. "a very little practice will suffice to show the operator the quality of glass negatives--i mean as to vigour and development--best adapted for reproducing positives by this method. he will also find that a great power of correction is obtained, by which overdone parts in the negative can be reduced and others brought up. indeed, in consequence of this and other advantages, i have little doubt that this process will be very generally adopted in portrait taking. "should your old idea of preserving public records in a concentrated form on microscopic negatives ever be adopted, the immediate positive reproduction on an enlarged readable scale, without the possibility of injury to the plate, will be of service. "i am, &c. "john stewart." * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the ring finger_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the greek church directs that the ring be put on the right hand (schmid, _liturgik_, iii. .: nassau, ); and although the direction of the sarum _manual_ is by no means clear (see palmer's _origines liturgicæ_, ii. ., ed. .), such may have formerly been the practice in england, since rastell, in his counter-challenge to bishop jewel, notes it as novelty of the reformation,-- "that the man should put the wedding-ring on the fourth finger in the left hand of the woman, and not on the right hand, as hath been many hundreds of years continued."--heylyn, _hist. ref._, ii. . vo. ed. but the practice of the roman communion in general agrees with that of the anglican. (schmid, iii. - .) martene quotes from an ancient pontifical an order that the bridegroom should place the ring successively on three fingers of the right hand, and then shall leave it on the fourth finger of the left, in order to mark the difference between the marriage ring, the symbol of a love which is mixed with carnal affection, and the episcopal ring, the symbol of entire chastity. (_mart. de antiquis eccl. ritibus_, ii. ., ed. venet. ; schmid, p. .) j. c. r. _the order of st. john of jerusalem_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--as my old neighbour r. l. p. dates from the banks of the lake of constance, and may possibly not see w. w.'s communication for some time, i in the meanwhile take the liberty of informing w. w. that the order of st. john was restored in england by queen mary, and, with other orders revived by her, was again suppressed by the act eliz. c. . j. c. r. { } _calvin's correspondence_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--it may be well to mention that all the letters of calvin which mr. walter quotes, are to be found in the old collection of his correspondence; perhaps, however, the latter copies may be fuller or more correct in some parts. the original french of the lone letter to protector somerset is printed by henry in his _life of calvin;_ but, like the other documents of that laborious work, it is omitted without notice in the english travestie which bears the name of dr. stebbing. heylyn's mis-statement as to calvin and cranmer is exposed, and the ground of it is pointed out, in the late edition of the _ecclesia restaurata_, vol. i. p. . j. c. r. _old booty's case_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a friend, on whose accuracy i can rely, has examined the _london gazettes_ for and , in the british museum: they do not contain any report of booty's case. i thought i had laid booty's ghost in vol. iii., p. ., by showing that the facts of the case were unlikely and the law impossible. h. b. c. u. u. club. _chatterton_ (vol. vii., p. .).--we are all very curious in bristol to know what evidence or light j. m. g. of worcester can bring to bear upon the rowley poems from the researches (as he states) of an individual here to prove not only that chatteron was not their author, but that probably the "venerable rowley" himself was. i had thought in no one doubted their authorship. there is abundance of proof to show rowley could not have written them, and that only chatterton could have done so. bristoliensis. _house-marks, &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--it is very well known that the sign of the "swan with two necks," in london, is a corruption of the private mark of the owner of the swans, viz., two nicks made by cutting the neck feathers close in two spaces. it is also a common custom in devon to mark all cattle, horses, &c., with the owner's mark when sent out on exmoor, dartmoor, and other large uninclosed tracts for summering: thus, sir thos. dyke acland's mark is an anchor on the near side of each of his large herd of ponies, on exmoor. w. collyns. harlow. _bibliography_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following may assist mariconda: fischer: beschreibung einiger typographischer seltenheiten nebst beyträgen zur erfindungsgeschichte der buchdruckerkunst, vo. mainz, - . origin of printing, in two essays; with remarks and appendix, vo. . the typographical antiquities of great britain, by j. johnson, dr. dibdin, dr. wilkins, and others, longmans, . he will also find a list of works under the head printing in the _penny cyclopædia_. getsrn. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. . vol. vii. _passim._).--a parochial library was for many years deposited in the room over the south entrance of beccles church. the books consist chiefly of old divinity, &c., and appear to have been gifts from various persons; among whom were bishop trimnel (of norwich), sir samuel barnardiston, sir edmund bacon of gillingham, sir john playters, mrs. anna north, and mr. ridgly of london. there is a copy of walton's _polyglot bible_, - , besides an odd volume of the same work (job to malachi), , uncut. it is probable that many of the books have been lost, as the room in which they were kept was used as a repository for discarded ecclesiastical appliances, and, latterly, for charity blankets during summer. in , with the consent of the late bishop of norwich, and of the rector and churchwardens of the parish, the remaining volumes (about ) were removed to the public library room, and placed under the care of the committee of that institution. a catalogue of them was then printed. the greater part have been repaired, with the aid of a donation of l. from a former inhabitant, who had reason to believe that some of the works had been lost in consequence of their having been in his hands many years ago. are there not numerous instances elsewhere in which this example might be copied with propriety? s. w. rix. beccles. _faithfull teate_ (vol. vii., p. .).--"though this author's name be spelt teate, there is great reason to believe that he was the father of nahum tate, translator of the psalms."--_bibl. anglopoetica_, p. . in the punning copy of verses preceding the "ter tria" is this distich: "we wish that teats and herberts may inspire randals and davenants with poetick fire.--jo. chishutt." my copy is on miserable paper, yet priced s. d., with this remark in ms. by some former possessor: "very rare: which will not be wondered at by any one who will read five pages carefully." e. d. _lack-a-daisy_ (vol. vi., p. .).--todd had better have allowed johnson to speak for himself: _lack-a-daisy, lack-a-day, alack the day_, as juliet's nurse exclaims, and _alas-the-day_, are only various readings of the same expression. and of such inquiries and such solutions as todd's, i cannot refrain from expressing my sentiments in the { } words of poor ophelia, "alack! and fye for shame!" q. bloomsbury. _bacon_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--i think that you have not noticed one very common use of this word, as evidently meaning _beechen._ schoolboys call tops made of boxwood, _boxers;_ while the inferior ones, which are generally made of beechwood, they call _bacons._ h. t. riley. _angel-beast--cleek--longtriloo_ (vol. v., p. .).--an account of these games, the nature of which is required by your correspondent, is given in the _compleat gamester_, frequently reprinted in the latter part of the seventeenth century. the first, which is there called _beast_, is said to derive its name from the french _la bett_, meaning, no doubt, _bête_. it seems to have resembled the game of loo. _gleek_ is the proper name of the second game, and not _check_, as your correspondent suggests. it was played by three persons, and the cards bore the names of tib, tom, tiddy, towser, and tumbler. hence we may conclude that it was an old english game. the third game, or _lanterloo_, is evidently the original form of the game now known as _loo_. its name would seem to indicate a dutch origin. h. t. riley. _hans krauwinckel_ (vol. v., p. .).--when the ground in charterhouse square was opened in , for the purposes of sewerage (i believe), vast numbers of bones and skeletons were found, being the remains, as was supposed, of those who died of the plague in , and had been interred in that spot, as forming a part of pardon churchyard, which had lately been purchased by sir walter manny, for the purposes of burial, and attached to the carthusian convent there. among the bones a few galley halfpence, and other coins, were found, as also a considerable number of abbey counters or jettons. i do not recollect if there was any date on the counters but the name "hans krauwinckel" occurred on some of them which fell into my possession, and which i gave some years ago to the museum of the city library, guildhall. if these were coeval, as was generally supposed, with the plague of , it is singular that the same name should be found on abbey counters with the date . i should be obliged if any of your correspondents could inform me when the use of jettons ceased in england; and whether pardon churchyard was used as a place of sepulture after , and, if so, how long? h. t. riley. _revolving toy_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the chinese have lanterns with paper figures in them which revolve by the heat, and are very common about new year time. h. b. shanghai. _rub-a-dub_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent seems at a loss for an early instance of this expression. in percy's _reliques_ there is a song, the refrain or burden of which is: "rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, so beat your drums, tantara, tantara, the englishman comes." h. t. riley. _muffs worn by gentlemen._--in one of goldsmith's _essays_ i remember well an allusion to the practice. the writer of the letter, or essay, states that he met his female cousin in the mall, and after some sparring conversation, she ridicules him for carrying "a nasty _old_-fashioned [a.d. ] muff;" and his retort is, that he "heartily wishes it were a tippet, for her sake,"--glancing at her dress, which was, i suppose, somewhat what we moderns call "décolletée". e. c. g. _detached church towers._--the norman tower at bury st. edmund's should not be included in the lists. although now used as the bell tower of the neighbouring church of st. james, it was erected several centuries before the church, and was known as the "great gate of the churchyard," or the "great gate of the church of st. edmund." it would be very desirable to add to the list the date of the tower, and its distance from the church. buriensis. add to the list the modern roman catholic chapel at baltinglass, ireland. it has a detached tower built in a field above it, and, although devoid of architectural beauty, is so placed that it appears an integral part of the chapel from almost any point of view. alexander leeper. dublin. is not the bell-tower at hackney detached from the church? i do not remember that it has been yet named by your correspondents. b. h. c. _christian names_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--on the name of besilius fetiplace, sheriff of berkshire, in elizabeth, fuller remarks,-- "some may colourably mistake it for _basilius_ or _basil_, whereas indeed it is _besil_, a surname.... reader, i am confident an instance can hardly be produced of a surname made christian, in england, save since the reformation; before which time the priests were scrupulous to admit any at font, except they were baptised with the name of a scripture or legendary saint. since, it hath been common; and although the lord coke was pleased to say he had noted many of them prove unfortunate, yet the good success in others confutes the general truth of the observation."--_worthies_, vol. i. pp. , ., edit. nuttall. j. c. r. lord c. of ireland, which mr. william bates guesses to be lord _castlereagh_, was lord _clare_, chancellor of ireland, who used also to call men { } with three names by a term opprobrious among the romans: "homines trium literarum." c. _hogarth's pictures_ (vol. vii. _passim_).--one of the correspondents of "n. & q." inquires where he could see some pictures from this great artist. may i ask if he is aware of the three very fine large paintings in the church of st. mary, redcliffe, bristol? which i am told will shortly be sold. bristoliensis. p.s.--they were painted for the church, and the vestry holds his autograph receipt for the payment of them. _old fogie_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--whether the origin of this term be irish, scotch, or swedish i know not; but i cannot help stating the significant meaning which, as an edinburgh boy at the beginning of the century, i was taught to attach to it. every high-school boy agreed in applying it to the veterans of the castle garrison, to the soldiers of the town guard (veterans also, and especial foes of my school-mates), and more generally to any old and objectionable gentleman, civil or military. it implied that, like stones which have ceased to roll, they had obtained the proverbial covering of _moss_, or, as it is called in scotland (probably in ireland also), _fog_. i have heard in scotland the "_moss_ rose" called the "_fogie_ rose;" and there is a well-known species of the humble bee which has its nest in a mossy bank, and is itself clothed with a moss-like covering: its name among the scottish peasantry is the _fogie_ bee. g. j. f. bolton. _clem_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. keightley considers this word to mean _press_ or _restrain_, and quotes three passages from massinger and jonson in support of his opinion; admitting, however, that it is usually rendered _starve_. now, whatever may have been the root of this word, or whencesoever it may have been derived, i think it must be admitted that _starve_ is the correct meaning of the word in these passages. let the reader test it by substituting _starve_ for _clem_ in each case. in cheshire and lancashire the word is in common use to this day, and invariably means _starved_ for want of food. of a thin, emaciated child it is said, "his mother _clems_ him." a person exceedingly hungry says, "i'm welly _clem'd_; i'm almost or well-nigh _starved_." it is the ordinary appeal of a beggar in the streets, when asking for food. edw. hawkins. _kissing hands_ (vol. vii., p. .).--cape will find in suetonius that caligula's hands were kissed. c. _uniform of the foot guards_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in answer to d. n., as to where he can see uniforms of the foot guards, to , i have to refer him to the orderly-room, horse guards, where he will see the costume of the three regiments since they were raised. in mackinnon's _history of the coldstream guards_, he will find that regiment's dress from the year to . c. d. _book inscriptions_ (vol. vii., p. .).--at the end of no. . _harl. mss._ is the following: "hic liber est scriptus, qui scripsit sit benedictus. qui scriptoris manum culpat, basiat anum." in the printed catalogue there is this note: "neotricus quidam hos scripsit versiculos, ex alio forsan codice depromptos." [omega]. [phi]. i have not seen the following amongst your deprecatory rhymes. it may come in with another batch. the nature of the punishment is somewhat different from that usually selected, and savours of spain: "si quisquis furetur this little libellum, per phoebum, per jovem, i'll kill him, i'll fell him! in ventum illius i'll stick my scalpellum, and teach him to steal my little libellum." rubi. in a gesner's _thesaurus_ i have the following label of the date : "ex caroli ferd. hommelii bibliotheca. "intra quatuordecim dies comodatum ni reddideris, neq' belle custodieris, alio tempore, non habeo, dicam." l. _humbug_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i do not remember any earlier use of this word than in fielding's _amelia_, . its origin is involved in obscurity: but may it not be a corruption of the latin _ambages_, or the singular ablative _ambage_? which signifies _quibbling, subterfuge_, and that kind of conduct which is generally supposed to constitute _humbug_. it is very possible that it may have been pedantically introduced in the seventeenth century. may, in his translation of lucan, uses the word _ambages_ as an english word. h. t. riley. a severe instance of the use of the term "humbug" occurred in a court of justice. a female in giving her evidence repeatedly used this term. in her severe cross-examination, the counsel (a very plain, if not an ugly person) observed she had frequently used the term humbug, and desired to know what she meant by it, and to { } have an explanation; to which she replied, "why, sir, if i was to say you were a very handsome man, would you not think i was humbugging you?" the counsel sat down perfectly satisfied. g. h. j. _sir isaac newton and voltaire on railway travelling_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the passage in daniel alluded to is probably the following:--"many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," chap. xii. v. . mr. craig should send to your pages the exact words of newton and voltaire, with references to the books in which the passages may be found. john bruce. _engine-à-verge_ (vol. vii., p. .).--is not this what we term a garden engine? the french _vergier_ (_viridarium_) is doubtless so named, quia _virgâ_ definita; and we have the old english word _verge_, a garden, from the same source. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _"populus vult decipi," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--the origin of this phrase is found in thuanus, lib. xvii. a.d. . see jackson's _works_, book iii. ch. . § . _note_. c. p. e. _sir john vanbrugh_ (vol. vii., p. .).--sir john vanbrugh was the grandson of a protestant refugee, from a family originally of ghent in flanders. the duke of alva's persecution drove him to england, where he became a merchant in london. giles, the son of this refugee, resided in chester, became rich by trade, and married the youngest daughter of sir dudley carleton, by whom he had eight sons, of whom sir john vanbrugh was the second. the presumption is he was born in chester, but the precise date is unknown. anon. _erroneous forms of speech_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--with regard to your two correspondents e. g. r. and m., i hold that, with cowper's disputants, "both are right and both are wrong." the name of the _field_ beet is, in the language of the unlearned, _mangel-wurzel_, "the root of poverty." it acquired that name from having been used as food by the poor in germany during a time of great famine. turning to buchanan's _technological dictionary_, i find,-- "_mangel-wurzel._ field beet; a variety between the red and white. it has as yet been only partially cultivated in britain." in reference to the assertion of your later correspondent, that "such a thing as mangel-wurzel is not known on the continent," i would ask if either he or his friends are familiar with half the beautiful and significant terms applied to english flowers and herbs? if he prefer using mangold for beet, he is quite at liberty to do so, and i believe on sufficiently good authority. what says noehden, always a leading authority in german: "_mangold._ red beet; name of some other plants, such as lungwort and sorrel." mangold is here, then, a generic term, standing for other plants equally with the beet. one suggestion, however; i would recommend the generic term, when used at all, to be used alone, leaving the more familiar appellation as it stands, for the adoption of those who prefer the homely but suggestive phraseology to which it belongs. e. l. h. _devonianisms_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_plum_, adj. i am at a loss for the origin of this word as employed in devonshire in the sense of "soft," _e.g._ "a _plum_ bed:" meaning a soft, downy bed. query: can it be from the latin _pluma_? and if so, what is its history? there is also a verb _to plum_, which is obscure. dough, when rising under the influence of heat and fermentation, is said to be _plumming_ well; and the word _plum_, as an adjective, is used as the opposite of _heavy_ with regard to currant and other cakes when baked. if the cake rises well in the oven, it is commonly said that it is "nice and plum;" and _vice versâ_, that it is heavy. _clunk_, verb. this word is used by the common people, more especially the peasantry, to denote the swallowing of masses of unmasticated food; and of morsels that may not be particularly relished, such as fat. what is the origin of the word? _dollop_, subs. this word, as well as the one last-named, is very expressive in the vocabulary of the vulgar. it is applied to lumps of any substances, whether food or otherwise. such a phrase as this might be heard: "what a _dollop_ of fat you have given me!" "well," would be the reply, "if you don't like it, _clunk_ it at once." i should be glad to be enlightened as to the etymology of this term. isaiah w. n. keys. plymouth, devon. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. a narrative of the holy life and happy death of mr. john angier. london. . moore's melodies. th edition. wood's athenÆ oxonienses (ed. bliss). vols. to. - . the complaynts of scotland. vo. edited by leyden. . shakspeare's plays. vol. v. of johnson and steevens's edition, in vols. vo. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * { } notices to correspondents. _owing to the necessity of infringing on the present number for the title-page of our_ seventh volume, _we are compelled to omit many interesting communications, and our usual_ notes on books, &c. abredonensis _must be referred to the_ philosophical transactions, vol. xliii. p. ., _for a reply to his query. it will be sufficient here to state, that the willingham boy was at his birth of gigantic form, and an object of great curiosity to the philosophical world. it is not stated how long he lived, or what education he received, so that we cannot ascertain whether he distinguished himself in any "department of literature or art."_ h. n. _will find in our_ seventh volume, p. ., _that the quotation--_ "perhaps it was right to dissemble your love," &c., _is from j. p. kemble's comedy of_ the panel, _altered from bickerstaff's_ 'tis well 'tis no worse. mr. pollock's process.--"_in answer to_ n. t. b., _a saturated solution of hypo. saturated with iodide of silver._ " . maddox street. henry pollock." t. b. (coventry). _paper positives are seldom varnished. the glossy appearance which they possess may depend either upon their being printed on albumenised paper, or upon their being hot-pressed. the latter process always much improves the picture. where the size has been much removed, it is well to re-size the paper, which may be done by boiling a few parchment cuttings in water, and soaking the prints in the liquor._ h. h. h. (ashburton). _all the best authorities concur in the uncertain properties of the salts of gold. we have seen some daguerreotypes which have been executed about three years, and were treated with the salts of gold, and which are now mere shades._ c. m. m. (abbey road). _your question as to the spots has been carefully answered in a late number. the film which you notice on the surface of your nit. silver bath depends upon the remaining portion of ether in the collodion being liberated, which, not being very soluble in water, causes the greasy appearance. it soon evaporates, and is of no consequence._ t. cook _is thanked for his offer of a cheap and easy method of obtaining pictures for the stereoscope. we shall be glad to receive it._ dr. diamond's photographic notes.--_we share in the desire expressed by_ w. c., j. m. s., _and many other correspondents, for the speedy publication of this volume. but we believe the delay is not to be regretted. it is a very easy matter to write a book upon photography; but it requires no small labour, and great consideration, to produce such a volume as_ dr. diamond _proposes, in which it is his desire to explain everything so clearly, that a person living in a remote part of the country, or in the colonies, may, from his directions, make a good photograph._ _errata._--p. ., last line, read "camp_u_s" for "camp_re_s;" p. ., fourth line, read "iar_o_" for "iar_s_;" p. ., nd col. line ., read "regularity" for "irregularity." _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, respectfully informs the clergy, architects, and churchwardens, that he replies immediately to all applications by letter, for information respecting his manufactures in church furniture, robes, communion linen, &c., &c., supplying full information as to prices, together with sketches, estimates, patterns of material, &c., &c. having declined appointing agents, mr. french invites direct communications by post, as the most economical and satisfactory arrangement. parcels delivered free by railway. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * bromized collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, are ready to supply the above photographic agent: vide _photographic journal_, june st. their iodized collodion is highly sensitive, and retains all its qualities unimpaired for three months. the sensitive solution may be had separate. pure chemicals, apparatus, and all the requisites for the practice of photography, and instruction in all its branches. a very superior positive paper. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic apparatus manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. t. ottewill (from horne & co.'s) begs most respectfully to call the attention of gentlemen, tourists, and photographers, to the superiority of his newly registered double-bodied folding cameras, possessing the efficiency and ready adjustment of the sliding camera, with the portability and convenience of the folding ditto. every description of apparatus to order. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed, and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * { } hamilton's modern instructions for the pianoforte. thirty-eighth edition price s. "so simple and clear are the directions laid down that any one with a moderate degree of application would have no difficulty in overcoming the intricacies of the instrument. the lessons are progressive, and the treatise is popular," &c.--tallis's _london weekly paper_. robert cocks & co.'s chorister's hand-book. edited by joseph warren. vol. to., white cloth boards, price s. or in numbers, each d. "valuable contribution to choral melody; contains no fewer than fifty-two anthems, arranged for two, three, or four voices (with piano or organ accompaniment), in a very effective style. the work is marvellously cheap, and should find a place in every parochial choir."--tallis's _london weekly paper_, march . hamilton's modern instructions in singing. large music folio, s. robert cocks & co. "one of the most useful of the many works which the messrs. cocks have published. we cordially recommend this volume; like the author's 'modern instructions for the pianoforte,' it will become one of the most popular works of the day."--_scottish press_, march . sacred music.--a select catalogue of sacred music, vocal and for the organ, including the favourite oratorios of handel and others (with tables of contents), cathedral music, choral music, psalmody, &c. new edition, enlarged, to., pp.--gratis, and postage free, on application to the publishers, robert cocks & co., new burlington street, london: and of all music-sellers and booksellers. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * in vols. imperial vo., cloth, l. s. the imperial dictionary; english, technological, and scientific. adapted to the present state of literature, science, and art, on the basis of webster's "english dictionary;" with the addition of many thousand words and phrases from the other standard dictionaries and encyclopedias, and from numerous other sources; comprising all words purely english, and the principal and most generally used technical and scientific terms, together with their etymologies, and their pronunciation, according to the best authorities. illustrated by upwards of two thousand engravings on wood. "i can safely pronounce it to be the most perfect work of its kind that has ever appeared. no man, literary or mercantile, should be without it.--charles edward tindal, rector of st. andrew's church, dublin. "i have examined 'blackie's imperial dictionary,' and it appears to me to be decidedly the best work of the kind in the english language."--walter scott, president and theological tutor of airedale castle. "i have great pleasure in bearing testimony to the beauty of the type, the clearness of the definitions, and to the great addition of words of recent introduction into our language. i have compared it with several contemporary publications of a similar character, and hesitate not for one moment to say, it is decidedly the best of those which have come under my notice."--e. cobham brewer, ll.d., author of "guide to science," &c. blackie & son, warwick square, london, and edinburgh and glasgow. * * * * * reading for travellers. this day is published, foolscap, price s., samuel johnson. by thomas carlyle. reprinted from "critical and miscellaneous essays." recently published, character and anecdotes of charles the second. s. montenegro and the slavonians of turkey. s. d. the village doctor. s. franklin's footsteps; a sketch of greenland, &c. s. d. magic and witchcraft. s. old roads and new roads. s. london: chapman & hall . piccadilly. * * * * * this day, post vo. cloth, s. d. the turks in europe: a sketch of manners and politics in the ottoman empire. by bayle st. john, author of "village life in egypt," "two years' residence in a levantine family," &c. london: chapman & hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * arundel society.--casts of one of the most perfect slabs (no. .) of the parthenon frieze in the elgin collection, lately reduced by mr. cheverton to one-third scale, will now be sold by written order of mr. mackay: . fictile ivory s. (to members, s.)-- . superfine plaster, s. d. (members, s. d.)-- . rough plaster, s. d. (members, s.) electro-bronze copies may be had at messrs. elkington's . regent street, price l. s. (to members, s.) casts of theseus and ilissus are still kept. these casts are independent of the annual publications supplied to members. apply at messrs. p. & d. colnaghi's, . pall mall, east. * * * * * { } murray's railway reading this day, new and revised edition, post vo., s. d. ancient spanish ballads: historical and romantic. translated, with notes, by john gibson lockhart, esq. also, fcap, vo., s. a month in norway, during the summer of . by john g. hollway, esq. the former volumes of murray's railway reading are-- life of lord bacon. by lord campbell. wellington. by jules maurel. fall of jerusalem. by dean milman. story of joan of arc. by lord mahon. literary essays and characters. by henry hallam. life of theodore hook. the emigrant. by sir f. b. head. character of wellington. by lord ellesmere. music and dress. by a lady. popular account of nineveh. by a. h. layard. bees and flowers. by a clergyman. "the forty-five." by lord mahon. essays from "the times." deeds of naval daring. by edward giffard. the art of dining. journey to nepaul. by laurence oliphant. the chace, turf, and road. by nimrod. just ready, history, as a condition of social progress. by samuel lucas. fcap. vo., price d. john murray, albermarle street. * * * * * now ready, with woodcuts, post vo., s. d. the story of corfe castle, and of many who have lived there. collected from ancient chronicles and records; also, from the private memoirs of a family resident there in the time of the civil wars, which include various particulars of the court of charles i., when at york, and afterwards at oxford. by the right hon. george bankes, m.p. john murray, albermarle street. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley,) of saturday, july contains articles on abies bracteata acorns, mexican agriculture, progressive, by mr. morton anbury, by mr. goodiff ants, how to get rid of black balsam, the bees, right of claiming bidwill (mr.), death of bohn's (mr.) rose fete books noticed botany of the camp, by mr. ilott bottles, to cut calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural carts and waggons cattle, red water in celery, to blanch chiswick shows chopwell wood cottages, labourers', by mr. elton draining match forests, royal grasses for lawns hampstead heath (with engraving) horticultural society's shows irrigation, italian, by captain smith labourers' cottages, by mr. elton lawn grasses lime water, a steep for timber oaks, mexican acorns peach trees, young, by mr. burnet peas, early pelargonium leaves, a cure for wounds pelargonium, scarlet potatoes, autumn planted ---- to cure diseased, by mr. baudoin poultry literature rhubarb wine right of claiming bees rose fete, mr bohn's societies, proceedings of the entomological, caledonian horticultural, botanical of edinburgh, agricultural of england timber, to season waggons and carts walpers, dr. wine, rhubarb wounds, cure for the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week._ order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper willington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * this day, seventh edition, revised, s. view of the scripture revelations respecting a future state. by the same author, lectures on the characters of our lords apostles, s. d. lectures on the scripture revelations respecting good and evil angels. s. d. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * just published, price s. (by post for stamps), a collection of curious, interesting, and facetious epitaphs, &c. by joseph simpson, librarian of the islington literary and scientific society. also, price d. (by post for stamps), to be continued yearly, a weather journal for : containing readings of thermometer, wind, and weather daily, in the north of london. published and sold by joseph simpson, . college place, highbury vale; and literary institution, wellington street, islington. * * * * * arnold's (rev. t. k.) third and fourth greek books. now ready, i. the third greek book, containing a selection from xenephon's cyropÆdia, with explanatory notes, syntax, and a glossarial index. by the late rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge. price s. d. ii. the fourth greek book: or the last four books of xenophon's anabasis, containing the history of the retreat of the ten thousand greeks: with explanatory notes, and grammatical references. by the same editor. price s. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same author, . the first greek book, on the plan of henry's "first latin book." second edition. s. . the second greek book, on the same plan. s. d. * * * * * in vo., price s. d. parochial fragments relating to the parish of west tarring, and the chapelries of heene and durrington, in the county of sussex; including a life of thomas à becket. and some account of the learned john selden. (published in aid of the restoration of the church of west tarring.) by john wood warter, b.d., vicar of west tarring. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * burke's (right hon. edmund) works and correspondence. the new edition (containing the whole of the contents of the former edition published in volumes, vo., at the price of l. s.) is now completed, handsomely printed in vols, vo., with portrait and fac-simile, price l. s. london: rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. *** the reflections on the french revolution may be had separately, price s. d. in cloth boards. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d. or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * this day is published, price d. observations on some of the manuscript emendations of the text of shakspeare. by j. o. halliwell, esq., f.r.s. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "the british glory revived": 're-revived' on line break in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july . .. [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page william blake a poem by shelley, not in his works the impossibilities of history "quem deus vult perdere prius dementat," by t. j. buckton shakspeare correspondence, by j. payne collier, george blink, &c. "the dance of death," by weld taylor minor notes:--old lines newly revived--inscription near cirencester--wordsworth--"magna est veritas et prævalebit"--"putting your foot into it" queries:-- fragments of mss., by philip hale the electric telegraph, by w. matthews minor queries:--sir walter raleigh--ancient fortifications: hertstone, pale, brecost--newton and somers--daventry, duel at--passage in burial service-- "they shot him on the nine-stane rig"--wardhouse, and fishermen's custom there--"adrian turn'd the bull"-- cary's "palæologia chronica"--the southwark pudding wonder--roman catholics confined in fens of ely--white bell heather transplanted--green's "secret plot"-- "the full moon brings fine weather"--nash the artist-- woodwork of st. andrew's priory church, barnwell-- "the mitre and the crown"--military music minor queries with answers:--stoven church--the statute of kilkenny--kenne of kenne--rents of assize, &c.--edifices of ancient and modern times--gorram-- "rock of ages" replies:-- remuneration of authors on the use of the hour-glass in pulpits ladies' arms borne in a lozenge photographic correspondence:--multiplication of photographs--yellow bottles for photographic chemicals replies to minor queries:--donnybrook fair--abigail-- honorary degrees--red hair--historical engraving-- proverbs quoted by suetonius--"sat cito, si sat bene"-- council of laodicea, canon .--anna lightfoot--jack and gill--simile of the soul and the magnetic needle-- gibbon's library--st. paul's epistles to seneca-- "hip, hip, hurrah!"--emblemata--campvere, privileges of-- slang expressions: "just the cheese"--the honorable miss e. st. leger--queries from the navorscher--"pity is akin to love" miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. william blake. my antiquarian tendencies bring me acquainted with many neglected and obscure individuals connected with our earlier english literature, who, after "fretting their hour" upon life's stage, have passed away; leaving their names entombed upon the title-page of some unappreciated or crotchetty book, only to be found upon the shelves of the curious. to look for these in kippis, chalmers, gorton, or rose would be a waste of time; and although agreeing to some extent with the _utilitarians_, that we have all that was worth preserving of the _antediluvians_, there is, i think, here and there a name worth resuscitating, possessing claims to a _niche_ in our "antiquary's newspaper;" and for that distinction, i would now put in a plea on behalf of my present subject, william blake. although our author belongs to the _eccentric category_, he is a character not only deserving of notice, but a model for imitation: the "_bee_ in his bonnet" having set his sympathies in the healthy direction of a large _philanthropy_ for the spiritual and temporal interests of his fellow men. the congenial reader has already, i doubt not, anticipated that i am about to introduce that nondescript book bearing the running title--and it never had any other--of _silver drops, or serious things;_ purporting, in a kind of colophon, to be "written by william blake, housekeeper to the ladies' charity school."[ ] the curious in old books knows too, that, apart from its subject, the _silver drops_ of w. b. has usually an attractive exterior; most of the _exemplaires_ which have come under my notice being sumptuously bound in old morocco, profusely tooled; with the name of the party to whom it had apparently been presented, stamped in a compartment upon the cover. its value is farther enhanced by its pictorial and emblematical accompaniments. these are four in number: the first representing a heart, whereon { } a fanciful picture of charity supported by angels; second, a view of highgate charity schools (dorchester house); third, time with his scythe and hour-glass[ ]; and the fourth, in three compartments, the centre containing butterflies; the smaller at top and bottom, sententious allusions to the value of time--"time drops pearles from his golden wings," &c. these are respectable engravings, but by whom executed i know not. after these, and before coming to the _silver drops_, which are perhaps something akin to master brooks' _apples of gold_, the book begins abruptly: "the ladies' charity school-house roll of highgate, or a subscription of many noble well-disposed ladies for the easie carrying of it on." "being well informed," runs the prospectus, "that there is a pious, good, commendable work for maintaining near forty poor or fatherless children, born all at or near highgate, hornsey, or hamsted: we, whose names are subscribed, do engage or promise, that if the said boys are decently cloathed in blew, lined with yellow; constantly fed all alike with good and wholsom diet; taught to read, write, and cast accompts, and so put out to trades, in order to live another day; then we will give for one year, two or three (if we well like the design, and prudent management of it,) once a year, the sum below mentioned," &c. the projector of this good work was the subject of my present note; and after thus introducing it, the worthy "woollen-draper, at the sign of the golden boy, maiden lane, covent garden," for such he was, goes on to recommend and enforce its importance in a variety of cajolling addresses, or, as he calls them, "charity-school sticks," to the great and wealthy; ostensibly the production of the boys, but in reality the concoctions of mr. blake, and in which he pleads earnestly for his _hobby_. in _an essay, or humble guess, how the noble ladies may be inclined to give to and encourage their charity-school at highgate_, mr. blake farther humorously shows up the various dispositions of his fair friends:--"and first," says he, "my lady such-a-one cryed, come, we will make one purse out of our family;" and "my lady such-an-one said she would give for the fancy of the roll and charity stick. my lady such-an-one cryed by her troth she would give nothing at all, for she had waies enough for her money; while another would give five or six stone of beef every week." again, in trying to come at the great citizen-ladies, he magnifies, in the following characteristic style, the city of london; and, by implication, their noble husbands and themselves:--"there is," says mr. blake, "the tower and the monument; the old change, guild-hall, and blackwall-hall, _which some would fain burn again_; there is bow steeple, the _holy bible_, _the silver bells of aaron_, _the godly-outed ministers_; the melodious musick of the gospels; smithfield martyrs yet alive; and the best society, the very best in all the world for civility, loyalty, men, and manners; with the greatest cash, bulk, mass, and stock of all sorts of silks, cinnamon, spices, wine, gold, pearls, spanish wooll and cloaths; with the river _nilus_, and the stately ships of _tarshish_ to carry in and out the great merchandizes of the world." in this the city dames are attacked collectively. individually, he would wheedle them thus into his charitable plans:--"now pray, dear madam, speak or write to my lady out of hand, and tell her how it is with us; and if she will subscribe a good _gob_, and get the young ladies to do so too; and then put in altogether with your lordship's and sir james's also: for it is necessary he or you in his stead should do something, _now the great ship is come safe in, and by giving some of the first-fruits of your great bay, or new plantation, to our school, the rest will be blessed the better_." the scheme seems to have offered attractions to the highgate gentry:--"the great ladies do allow their house-keeper," he continues, "one bottle of wine, three of ale, half a dozen of rolls, and two dishes of meat a-day; who is to see the wilderness, orchard, great prospects, walks, and gardens, all well kept and rolled for their honours' families; and to give them small treats according to discretion when they please to take the air, which is undoubtedly the best round london." notwithstanding the eloquent pleadings of mr. blake for their assistance and support, it is to be feared that the _noble ladies_ allowed the predictions of his friends to be verified, and _did_ "suffer such an inferiour meane and little person (to use his own phraseology) to sink under the burden of so good and great a work:" for we find that gough, in allusion thereto, says (_topographical anecdotes_, vol. i. p. .):-- "this hospital at highgate, called the ladies' charity school, was erected by one w. blake, a woollen-draper in covent garden; who having purchased dorchester house, and having fooled away his estate in building, was thrown into prison." even here, and under such circumstances, our subject was nothing daunted; for the same authority informs us, that, still full of his philanthropic projects, he took the opportunity his leisure there admitted to write another work upon his favourite topic of educating and caring for the { } poor; its title is, _the state and case of a design for the better education of thousands of parish children successively in the vast northern suburbs of london vindicated, &c._ besides the above, there is another remarkable little piece which i have seen, beginning abruptly, "here followeth a briefe exhortation which i gave in my owne house at my wife's funerall to our friends then present," by blake, with the ms. date, ; and exhibits this original character in another not less amiable light:--"i was brought up," says he, "by my parents to learne _hail mary_, paternoster, the beliefe, and learne to reade; and where i served my apprenticeship little more was to be found." he attributes it to god's grace that he fell a reading the _practice of piety_, by which means he got a little persuading of god's love to his soul:--"well, my time being out, i set up for myselfe; and seeking out for a wife, which, with long waiting and difficulty, much expence and charge, at last i got. four children god gave me by her; but he hath taken them and her all again too, who was a woman of a thousand." mr. b. then naturally indulges in a panegyric upon this pattern of wives, and reproaches himself for his former insensibility to her surpassing merits: relating with great _naïveté_ some domestic passages, with examples of her piety and trials, in one of which latter the _enemy_ would tempt her to suicide:--"there lie your garters," said he; "but she threw them aside, and so escaped this will of the devil." in conclusion, let me inquire if your highgate correspondents are cognisant of any existing institution raised upon the foundation of william blake's charity school at dorchester house? j. o. [our correspondent's interesting communication suggests a query: is there any biographical notice of william blake; and was he the author of the following piece, preserved among the kings' pamphlets in the british museum? "the condemned man's reprieve, or god's love-tokens, flowing in upon the heart of william blake, a penitent sinner, giving him assurance of the pardon of his sins, and the enjoyment of eternal happiness through the merits of christ his saviour. recommended by him (being a condemned prisoner for manslaughter within the statute) unto his sister, and bequeathed unto her as a legacy." it is dated from "exon jayle," june , , and was published july , ."--ed.] [footnote : "mr. henry cornish, merchant," was a coadjutor of blake's in this charitable undertaking; and as that alderman was not executed until , this publication may be assigned to about that date.] [footnote : [it appears, from the following advertisement at the end of _silver drops_, that the plates of time and charity were used as receipts:--"it is humbly desired, that what you or any of you, most noble ladies, gentlewomen, or others, are pleased to bestow or give towards this good or great design, that you would be pleased to take a receipt on the backside of time or charity, sealed with three seales, namely, the treasurer's, housekeeper's, and register's; and it shall be fairly recorded, and hung up in the school-house, to be read of all from time to time, to the world's end, we hope."--ed.]] * * * * * a poem by shelley, not in his works. the following poem was published in a south carolina newspaper in the year . the person who communicates it states that it was among the papers of a deceased friend, in a small packet, endorsed "a letter and two poems written by shelley the poet, and lent to me by mr. trelawney in . i was prevented from returning them to him, for which i am sorry, since this is the only copy of them--they have never been published." upon this poem was written, "given to me by shelley, who composed it as we were sailing one evening together." uneda. philadelphia. "_the calm._ "hush! hark! the triton calls from his hollow shell, and the sea is as smooth as a well; for the winds and the waves in wild order form, to rush to the halls and the crystal-roof'd caves of the deep, deep ocean, to hold consultation about the next storm. "the moon sits on the sky like a swan sleeping on the stilly lake: no wild breath to break her smooth _massy_ light and _ruffle_ it into _beams:_ "the downy clouds droop like moss upon a tree; and in the earth's bosom grope dim vapours and streams. the darkness is weeping, oh, most silently! without audible sigh, all is noiseless and bright. "still 'tis living silence here, such as fills not with fear. ah, do you not hear a humming and purring all about and about? 'tis from souls let out, from their day-prisons freed, and joying in release, for no slumber they need. "shining through this _veil of peace,_ love now pours her omnipresence, and various nature feels through every feature the joy intense, yet so _passionless,_ passionless and pure; the human mind restless long could not endure. "but hush while i tell, as the _shrill whispers flutter_ through the pores of the sea,-- whatever they utter i'll interpret to thee. king neptune now craves of his turbulent vassals their workings to quell; and the billows are quiet, _though thinking on riot._ on the left and the right in ranks they are coil'd up, { } like snakes on the plain; and each one has roll'd up a bright flashing streak of the white moonlight on his glassy green neck: on every one's forehead there glitters a star, with a hairy train of light _floating from afar_, and pale or fiery red. now old eolus goes to each muttering blast, scattering blows; and some he binds fast in hollow rocks vast, and others he gags with thick heavy foam. 'twing them round the sharp rugged crags that are sticking out near,' growls he, 'for fear they all should rebel, and so play hell.' those that he bound, their prison-walls grasp, and through the dark gloom scream fierce and yell: while all the rest gasp, in rage fruitless and vain. their shepherd now leaves them to howl and to roar-- of his presence bereaves them, to feed some young breeze on the violet odour, and to teach it on shore to rock the green trees. but no more can be said of what was transacted and what was enacted in the heaving abodes of the great sea-gods." * * * * * the impossibilities of history. in _the tablet_ of june is a leading article on the proposed erection of baron marochetti's statue of richard coeur de lion. theology and history are mixed: of course i shall carefully exclude the former. i have tried to trace the statements to their sources; and where i have failed, perhaps some of your readers may be able to help me. "when the physicians told him that they could do nothing more for him, and when his confessor had done his duty faithfully and with all honesty, the stern old soldier commanded his attendants to take him off the bed, and lay him naked on the bare floor. when this was done, he then bade them take a discipline and scourge him with all their might. this was the last command of their royal master; and in this he was obeyed with more zeal than he found displayed when at the head of his troops in palestine." i find no record that "the stern old soldier," who was then forty-two years of age, and whom the writer oddly calls richard ii., had any reason to complain of want of zeal in his troops. they fought well, and flogged well--if they flogged at all. richard died of gangrene in the shoulder; and i have the authority of an eminent physician for saying, that gangrene, so near the vital parts, would produce such mental and bodily prostration, that it is highly improbable that the patient, unless in delirium, should give such an order, and impossible that he should live through its execution. hume and lingard do not allude to the "discipline;" and the silence of the latter is important. henry says: "having expressed great penitence for his vices, and having undergone a very severe discipline from the hands of the clergy, who attended him in his last moments," &c.--vol. iii. p. . ed. . he cites brompton, and there i find the penance given much stronger than in _the tablet_: "præcepitque pedes sibi ligari, et in altum suspendi nudumque corpus flagellis cædi et lacerari, donec ipse præciperat ut silerent. cumque diu cæderetur, ex præcepto, ad modicum siluerunt. et spiritu iterum reassumpto, hoc idem secundo ac tertio in abundantiâ sanguinis compleverunt. tamdiu in se revertens, afferri viaticum sibi jussit et se velut proditorem et hostem, contra dominum suum ligatis pedibus fune trahi." this is taken from brompton's chronicle in _decem scriptores historiæ anglicanæ_, , p. ., edited by selden. as brompton lived in the reign of edward iii., he is not a high authority upon any matter in that of richard i. i cannot find any other. hoveden and knyghton are silent. is the fact stated elsewhere? hoveden states, and the modern historians follow him, that after the king's death, marchader seized the archer, flayed him alive, and then hanged him. my medical authority says, that no man could be flayed _alive_: and that the most skilful operator could not remove the skin of one arm from the elbow to the wrist, before the patient would die from the shock to his system. mr. riley, in a note on the passage in hoveden, cites from the _winchester chronicle_ a possible account of gurdum being tortured to death. the historian of _the tablet_, in the same article, says: "we are far from attributing absolute perfection to the son of henry ii., one of that awful race popularly believed to be descended from the devil. when henry, as a boy, practising whiggery by revolting against his father, was presented to st. bernard at the court of the king of france, the saint looked at him with a sort of terror, and said, 'from the devil you came, and to the devil you will go.'" the fact that henry ii. rebelled against his father is not given in any history which i have { } read; and the popular belief in the remarkable descent of henry, and consequently of our present royal family, is quite new to me, and to all of whom i have inquired. still, finding that the writer had an authority for the "discipline," he may have one for the devil. if so, i should like to know it; for i contemplate something after the example of lucian's _quomodo historia sit conscribenda_. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * "quem deus vult perdere prius dementat." having disposed of the allegation that the greek iambic, "[greek: hon theos thelei apolesai prôt' apophrenai]," was from euripides, by denying the assertion, i am also, on farther investigation, compelled to deny to him also the authorship of the cited passage,-- "[greek: hotan de daimôn andri porsunêi kaka, ton noun eblapse prôton]." its first appearance is in barnes, who quotes it from athenagoras "sine auctoris nomine." carmeli includes it with others, to which he prefixes the observation,-- "a me piacque come al barnesio di porle per disteso, ed a canto mettervi la traduzione in nostra favella, _senza entrare tratto tratto in quistioni_ inutili, _se alcuni versi appartengano a tragedia di euripide, o no_." there is, then, no positive evidence of this passage having ever been attributed, by any competent scholar, to euripides. indirect proof that it could not have been written by him is thus shown:--in the antigone of sophocles (v. .) the chorus sings, according to brunck,-- "[greek: sophiai gar ek tou] [greek: kleinon epos pephantai;] [greek: to kakon dokein pot' esthlon] [greek: tôid' emmen, hotôi phrenas] [greek: theos agei pros atan;] [greek: prassein d' oligoston chronon ektos atas]." "for a splendid saying has been revealed by the wisdom of _some one_: that evil appears to be good to him whose mind god leads to destruction; _but that he (god) practises this a short time without destroying such a one_." now, had barnes referred to the scholiast on the antigone, or remembered at the time the above-cited passage, he would either not have omitted the conclusion of his distich, or he would at once have seen that a passage quoted as "[greek: ek tou], _of some one_," by sophocles, seventeen years the senior of euripides, could not have been the original composition of his junior competitor. the conclusion of the distich is thus given by the old scholiast: "[greek: hotan d' ho daimôn andri porsunêi kaka,] [greek: ton noun eblapse prôton hôi bouleuetai]." the words "when he wills it" being left out by barnes and carmeli, but which correspond with the last line of the quotation from sophocles. the old scholiast introduces the exact quotation referred to by sophocles as "a celebrated (notorious, [greek: aoidimon]) and splendid saying, revealed by the wisdom of _some one_, [greek: meta sophias gar hupo tinos]." indeed, the sentiment must have been as old as paganism, wherein, whilst all _voluntary_ acts are attributed to the individual, all _involuntary_ ones are ascribed to the deity. even _sneezing_ was so considered: hence the phrase common in the lower circles in england, "bless us," and in a higher grade in germany, "gott segne euch," which form the usual chorus to a sneeze. the other scholiast, triclinius, explains the passage of sophocles by saying, "the gods lead to error ([greek: blabên]) him whom they intend to make miserable ([greek: dustuchein]): hence the application to antigone, who considers death as sweet." t. j. buckton. lichfield. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _a passage in "the taming of the shrew."_--perhaps i mistake it, but mr. c. mansfield ingleby seems to me to write in a tone as if he fancied i should be unwilling to answer his questions, whether public or private. although i am not personally acquainted with him, we have had some correspondence, and i must always feel that a man so zealous and intelligent is entitled to the best reply i can afford. i can have no hesitation in informing him that, in preparing what he terms my "monovolume shakspeare," i pursued this plan throughout; i adopted, as my foundation, the edition in eight volumes octavo, which i completed in ; that was "formed from an entirely new collation of the old editions," and my object there was to give the most accurate representation of the text of the folios and quartos. upon that stock i engrafted the manuscript alterations in my folio , in every case in which it seemed to me possible that the old corrector might be right--in short, wherever two opinions could be entertained as to the reading: in this way my text in the "monovolume shakspeare" was "regulated by the old copies, and by the recently discovered folio of ." mr. ingleby will see that in the brief preface to the "monovolume shakspeare," i expressly say that "while a general similarity (to the folio ) has been preserved, care has been taken _to rectify the admitted mistakes of the early impression_, and to introduce such alterations of a corrupt and imperfect text, as were warranted by better authorities. thus, while the new readings of the old corrector of the folio , considerably exceeding a thousand, are duly inserted in the places { } to which they belong, the old readings, which, during the last century and a half, have recommended themselves for adoption, and have been derived from a comparison of ancient printed editions, have also been incorporated." i do not know how i could have expressed myself with greater clearness; and it was merely for the sake of distinctness that i referred to the result of my own labours in , , and , during which years my eight volumes octavo were proceeding through the press. those labours, it will be seen, essentially contributed to lighten my task in preparing the "monovolume shakspeare." my answer respecting the passage in _the taming of the shrew_, referred to by mr. ingleby, will, i trust, be equally satisfactory; it shall be equally plain. i inserted _ambler_, because it is the word substituted in manuscript in the margin of my folio . i adopted _mercatantè_, as proposed by steevens, not only because it is the true italian word, but because it exactly fits the place in the verse, _mercatant_ (the word in the folios) being a syllable short of the required number. in the very copy of florio's _italian dictionary_, which i bought of rodd at the time when i purchased my folio , i find _mercatantè_ translated by the word "marchant," "marter," and "trader," exactly the sense required. then, as to "surely" instead of _surly_, i venture to think that "surely" is the true reading: "in gait and countenance surely like a father." "surely like a father" is certainly like a father; and although a man may be _surly_ in his "countenance," i do not well see how he could be _surly_ in his "gait;" besides, what had occurred to make the pedant _surly_? this appears to me the best reason for rejecting _surly_ in favour of "surely;" but i have another, which can hardly be refused to an editor who professes to follow the old copies, where they are not contradicted. i allude to the folio , where the line stands precisely thus: "in gate and countenance surely like a father." the folio misprinted "surely" _surly_, as, in _julius cæsar_, act i. sc. ., it committed the opposite blunder, by misprinting "surly" _surely_. another piece of evidence, to prove that "surely" was the poet's word in _the taming of the shrew_, has comparatively recently fallen in my way; i did not know of its existence in , or it would have been of considerable use to me. it is a _unique_ quarto of the play, which came out some years before the folio , and is not to be confounded with the quarto of _the taming of the shrew_, with the date of on the title-page. this new authority has the line exactly as it is given in the folio , which, in truth, was printed from it. it is now before me. j. payne collier. july . _critical digest of various readings in the works of shakspeare._--there is much activity in the literary world just now about the text of shakspeare: but one most essential work, in reference to that text, still remains to be performed,--i mean, the publication of a complete digest of _all_ the various readings, in a concise shape, such as those which we possess in relation to the mss. and other editions of nearly every classical author. at present, all editions of shakspeare which claim to be considered critical, contain much loose information on readings, mixed up with notes (frequently very diffuse) on miscellaneous topics. this is not in the least what we require: we need a regular _digest_ of readings, wholly distinct from long debates about their value. what i mean will be plain to any one who is familiar with any good critical edition of the greek new testament, or with such books as gaisford's _herodotus_, the berlin _aristotle_, the zurich _plato_, and the like. we ought to have, first, a good text of shakspeare: such as may represent, as fairly as possible, the real results of the labours of the soundest critics; and, secondly, page by page, at the foot of that text, the following particulars: i. all the readings of the folios, which should be cited as a, b, c, and d. ii. all the readings of the quartos, which might be cited separately in each play that possesses them, either as a, b, c, d; or as , , , and . iii. a succinct summary of all the respectable criticisms, in the way of conjecture, on the text. this is especially needed. the recent volumes of messrs. collier, singer, and dyce, show that even editors of shakspeare scarcely know the history of all the emendations. let their precise _pedigree_ be in the last case recorded with the most absolute brevity; simply the _suggestion_, and the names of its proposers and adopters. iv. to simplify this last point, a new siglation might be introduced to denote the various critical editions. such a publication should be kept distinct from any commentary; especially from one laid out in the broad flat style of modern editors. mr. collier's volume of _emendations_, &c., for instance, need not have occupied half its present space, if he had first denoted his ms. corrector by some short symbol, instead of by a lengthy phrase; and, secondly, introduced his suggestions by some such formularies as those employed in classical criticisms, instead of toiling laboriously after variations in his style of expression, till we are wearied by the real iteration which lies under the seeming diversity. there should be none of this _phrasework_ in the digest which i recommend. if indeed it were found absolutely necessary to connect it with a commentary, then arrange the two portions of the { } apparatus as in arnold's edition of _thucydides_: the _variæ lectiones_ in the middle of the page, and the comment in a different type below it. but i repeat, it would be better still to give us the digest _without_ the comment. all would go into one large volume. and it cannot be doubted that such a volume, if thoroughly well done, would furnish at once a sort of _textus receptus_, and a critical basis, from which future editors might commence their labours. it would also be an indispensable book of reference to all who treat of, or are interested in, the poet's text. such, i say, would be its certain prospects if the editor were at once an accurate, painstaking scholar, and a man of true poetical feeling. the labour would be great, but so would be the reward. it is only what the ablest scholars have proudly undertaken for the classics, even in the face of toils far more severe. would that mr. dyce could be roused to attempt it! b. [some such edition as that alluded to by our correspondent has been long desired and contemplated. a proposal in connexion with it has been afloat for some time past, and we had hoped would have been publicly made in our pages before now. there are difficulties in the way which do not exist in the parallel instances from classical literature, and which do not seem to have occurred to our correspondent; but the project is in good hands, and we hope will soon be brought to bear.--ed.] _emendations of shakspeare._--i am sadly afraid, what with one annotator and another, that we, in a very little time, shall have shakspeare so modernised and weeded of his peculiarities, that he will become a very second-rate sort of a person indeed; for i now see with no little alarm, that one of his most delightful quaintnesses is to give way to the march of refinement, and be altogether ruined. hazlitt, one the most original and talented of critics, has somewhere said, that there was not in any passage of shakspeare any single word that could be changed to one more appropriate, and as an instance he gives a passage from _macbeth_, which certainly is one of the most perfect and beautiful to be found in the whole of his works: "this castle hath a pleasant seat; the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses. this guest of summer, the temple-haunting martlet, does approve by his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, buttress, nor coin of vantage, but this bird hath made his pendent bed, and procreant cradle: where they most breed and haunt, i have observed, the air is delicate." there are some who differ from hazlitt in the present day, and assert that there is an error in the press in dogberry's reproof of borachio for calling him an "ass." the passage as it stands is as follows: "i am a wise fellow; and which is more, an officer, and which is more, a _householder_, and which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in messina, and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had _losses_, and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him." his having had losses evidently meaning, though he was then poor, that his circumstances were at one time so prosperous, that he could afford to _bear_ losses; and he, even then, had a superfluity of wardrobe in "two gowns, and everything handsome about him." but this little word _losses_, the perfect shakspearian quaintness of which is universally acknowledged, is to be changed into _leases_; if it should be _leases_, how is it that it does not follow upon "householder," instead of being introduced so many words after? as, if _leases_ were the proper word, it would assuredly have suggested itself immediately as an additional item to his respectability as a householder: for a moment only fancy similar corrections to be introduced in others of shakspeare's plays, and falstaff be made to exclaim at the robbery at gad's hill, "down with them, they dislike us old men," instead of "they hate us youth;" for falstaff was no boy at the time, and this might be advanced as an authority for the emendation. but seriously, if this alteration is sent forth as a specimen of the improvements about to be effected in shakspeare, from an edition of his plays lately discovered, i shall, for one, deeply regret that it was ever rescued front its oblivion; for with my prejudices and prepossessions against interpolations, and in favour of old readings, i shall find it no easy matter to reconcile my mind to the new. strip history of its romance, and you deprive it of its principal charm; the scenery of a play-house imposes upon us an illusion, and though we know it to be so, it is not essential that the impression should be removed. i remember once travelling at night in norfolk, and a part of my way was through a wood, at the end of which i came upon a lake lit up by a magnificent moon. i subsequently went the same road by day: the wood, i then found, was a mere belt of trees, and the lake had dwindled to a duck-pond. i have ever since wished that the first impression had remained unchanged; but this is a digression. there is no author so universal as shakspeare, and would that be the case if he was not thoroughly understood? he is appreciated alike in the closet and on the stage, quoted by saints and sages, in the pulpit and the senate, and your nostrum-monger advertises his wares with a quotation from his pages; does he then require interpreting who is his own interpreter? johnson says of him that-- "panting time toil'd after him in vain." { } and that he-- "exhausted worlds and then imagined new." there is no passion that he has not pourtrayed, and laid bare in its beauty or deformity; no feeling or affection to which his genius has not given the stamp of immortality: and does he want an interpreter? it is treading on dangerous ground to attempt to improve him. even mr. knight, enthusiast as he is in his veneration for shakspeare, and who, by his noble editions of the poet's works, has won the admiration and secured the gratitude of every lover of the poet, has gone too far in his emendations when he changes a line in _romeo and juliet_ from "hence will i to my ghostly father's cell." to "hence will i to my ghostly friar's close cell." as in the latter case the line will not scan unless the word "friar" be reduced to a monosyllable, which, on reflection, i think mr. knight will be inclined to admit. but my paper is, i fear, extending to a limit beyond which you have occasionally warned your correspondents not to go, and i must therefore draw my remarks to a close, with a hope that not any offence will be taken where none is intended by those to whom any of my observations may apply. george blink. canonbury. * * * * * "the dance of death." amongst the numerous emblematic works, it has often appeared to me that the above work should be republished entire; to give any part of it would be spoiling a most admirable series. i should desire to see it executed not as a fac-simile, but improved by good modern artists. the history of "the dance of death" is too long and too obscure to enter upon here; but from the general tenor of the accounts and criticisms of the work, it does not appear to have originated at all with hans holbein, or even his father, who also really painted it at basil, in switzerland, but to have had its origin in more remote times, as quoted in several authors, that anciently monasteries usually had a painted representation of a death's dance upon the walls. it is a subject, therefore, open to any artist, nor could it be said he had pirated anything if he treated the subject after his own fashion. "the dance of death" begins of course with king, the queen, the bishop, the lawyer, the lovers, &c., and ends with the child, whom death is leading away from the weeping mother. the original plates of hollar, from holbein's drawings, are possibly still extant, but they are by no means perfect, although admirable in expression. the deaths or skeletons are very ill-drawn as to the anatomical structure, and were they better the work would be excellent. the death lugging off the fat abbot is inimitable; and the gallant way he escorts the lady abbess out the convent door is very good. i have the engravings by hollar, and have made some of the designs afresh, intending to lithograph them at some future day; but there being thirty subjects in all, the work would be a difficult task. mr. j. b. yates might, indeed, with his excellent collection of emblemata, revive this old and beautiful taste now in abeyance: it is now rarely practised by our painters. there is, however, a very fine picture in the royal academy exhibition, by mr. goodall, which is, strictly speaking, an emblem, though the artist calls it an historical episode. now it appears to me an episode cannot be reduced into a representation; it might embrace a complete picture in writing, but as i read the picture it is an emblem, and would have been still more perfect had the painter treated it accordingly. the old man at the helm of the barge might well represent strafford, because, though he holds the tiller, he is not engaged in steering right, his eyes are not directed to his port. charles himself, rightly enough, has his back to the port, and is truly not engaged in manly affairs, nor attending to his duty; but the sentiment of frivolity here painted cannot, i should say, attach itself to him, for he is not to be reproached with idling away his time with women and children, as this more strictly must be laid to his son. but the port where some grim-looking men are seriously waiting for him, completes a very happy and poetical idea, but incomplete as an emblem, which it really is; and were the emblematic rules more cultivated, it would have told its story much better. at present, the taste of the day lies in more direct caricature, and our volatile friend _punch_ does the needful in his wicked sallies of wit, and his fertile pencil. his sharp rubs are perhaps more effective to john bull's temper, who can take a blow with punch's truncheon and bear no malice after it,--the heavy lectures of the ancients are not so well suited to his constitution. weld taylor. bayswater. * * * * * minor notes. _old lines newly revived._--the old lines of spondees and dactyls are just now applicable:-- c[=o]nt[=u]rb[=a]b[=a]nt[=u]r c[=o]nst[=a]nt[=i]n[=o]p[)o]l[)i]t[=a]n[=i] inn[)u]m[)e]r[=a]b[)i]l[)i]b[=u]s s[=o]l[)i]c[)i]t[=u]d[)i]n[)i]b[=u]s." w. collyns. harlow. _inscription near cirencester._--in earl bathurst's park, near cirencester, stands a building--the resort in the summer months of occasional pic-nic parties. during one of these visits, at which i { } was present, i copied an inscription, painted in old characters on a board, and nailed to one of the walls, and as the whole thing had not the appearance of belonging to modern times, and, as far as i could decipher it, it referred to some agreement between alfred and some of his neighbouring brother kings, concerning boundaries of territory, i send it to you for insertion. a. smith. [cross] "foedvs . quod . Ælfredvs . et . lvthrvnvs . reges . omnes . angliam . intolebant . orientalem . feriervnt . et . non . solvm . de . seipsis . vervm . etiam . de . natis . svis . ac . nondvm . in . lvcem . editis . qvotqvot . misericordiÆ . divinÆ . avt . regiÆ . velvnt . esse . participes . jvrejvrando . sanxervnt." [cross] [cross] "primo . ditionis . nostrÆ . fines . tamesin . evehvntor . inde . leam . vsqve . fontem . ejvs . tam . recta . ad . bedfordiam . ac . deniqve . per . vsam . ad . viam . vete . lintianam." _wordsworth._--in wordsworth's touching "lament of mary queen of scots," one of the stanzas opens with: "_born all too high; by wedlock rais'd_ _still higher_, to be brought thus low!" is it straining a point to suppose that the author has here translated the opening words of the well-known epitaph on the empress matilda, mother of our henry ii.? "_ortu magna; viro major_; sed maxima prole; hic jacet henrici filia, sponsa, parens." a. w. sunningdale. "_magna est veritas et prævalebit._"--i was asked the other day whence came this hackneyed quotation. it is taken from the uncanonical scriptures, esdras iv. .: "et desiit loquendo: et omnes populi clamaverunt, et dixerunt: magna est veritas, et _prævalet_." t. h. de h. "_putting your foot into it._"--the legitimate origin of this term i have seen thus explained. perhaps it may pass as correct until a better be found. according to the _asiatic researches_, a very curious mode of trying the title to land is practised in hindostan. two holes are dug in the disputed spot, in each of which the lawyers on either side put one of their legs, and remain there until one of them is tired, or complains of being stung by insects, in which case his client is defeated. an american writer has remarked that in the united states it is generally the _client_, and not the _lawyer_, "who puts his foot in it." w. w. malta. * * * * * queries. fragments of mss. dr. maitland, in his valuable volume on the "dark ages," has the following remarks on a subject which i think has not met with the attention it deserves: "those who are in the habit of looking at such things, know how commonly early printed books, whose binding has undergone the analytical operation of damp, or mere old age, disclose the under end pieces of beautiful and ancient manuscript. they know how freely parchment was used for backs and bands, and fly-leaves, and even for covers. the thing is so common, that those who are accustomed to see old books _have ceased to notice it_." in order to come within the design of your pages, i must put this in the shape of a query, and ask, if it is not a pity that this fact has _ceased to be noticed_? we do not know what treasures may be contained in the shabby covers which we contemplate getting rid of. "there are thousands" (of mss.), says the same writer, "equally destroyed,--thousands of murdered wretches not so completely annihilated: their ghosts do walk the earth; they glide unseen into our libraries, our studies, our very hands; they are all about and around us. we even take them up and lay them down, without knowing of their existence; unless time and damp (as if to punish and mock us for robbing them of their prey) have loosed their bonds, and set them to confront us." archbishop tenison had not "ceased to notice it." he very diligently rescued these "fragments" from the hands of his bookbinder and it is to be regretted that he did not take equal precaution in preserving them. recently, all that i could collect have been cleaned, inlaid, and arranged chronologically, making two interesting and valuable volumes. how far would it be desirable to unite for the purpose of collecting ms. fragments, and early printed leaves? might not a society, which should have for its especial object the _discovery_, cataloguing, and circulating information about these stray bits, be of great service? _e. g._ i have before me five volumes of justinian's _codices_ and _digesta_, paris, ; the covers of which are made of ms. thirteen leaves go to make one board. they are written on both sides and thus an easy multiplication gives us pages of ms., or early printing, in the covers of one work! it is not unlikely that, if the results of research in this direction were carefully registered, many perfect pieces might be recovered. philip hale. archbishop tenison's library, st. martin-in-the-fields. * * * * * { } the electric telegraph. i have just met with a passage in the _pseudodoxia epidemica_ of sir thomas browne, wherein this invention is foreshadowed in terms more remarkable and significant, if less imaginative and beautiful, than that from _the spectator_, to which public attention has already been directed, and which, i conceive, must unquestionably have been written, with this particular example of the "received tenets and commonly presumed truths" of the learned physician's day, distinctly present to the mind of addison. the passage referred to is as follows: "there is another conceit of better notice, and _whispered thorow the world_ with some attention; credulous and vulgar auditors readily believing it, and more judicious and distinctive heads not altogether rejecting it. the conceit is excellent, and, if the effect would follow, somewhat divine: whereby we might communicate like spirits, and confer on earth with menippus in the moon. and this is pretended from the sympathy of two needles touched with the same loadstone, and placed in the centre of two abecedary circles, or rings with letters described round about them, one friend keeping one, and another the other, and agreeing upon the hour wherein they will communicate. for then, _saith tradition_, at what distance of place soever, when one needle shall be removed unto any letter, the other, by a wonderful sympathy, will move unto the same."--book ii. chap. ii, to., , p. . thus it is that "coming events cast their shadows before:" and, in the present case, one is curious to learn how far back the _shadow_ may be traced. by whom has this _conceit_ been _whispered thorow the world_? and in what musty tomes is that _tradition_ concealed, which speaks concerning it? kircher's _catena magnetica_ might haply tell us something in reply to these inquiries. in conformity with an often repeated suggestion to the correspondents of "n. & q.," to the simple signature of my _habitat_, alone hitherto adopted by me, i now subjoin my name. wm. matthews. cowgill. * * * * * minor queries. _sir walter raleigh._--in the discussions on the copyright question some years ago, sir walter raleigh was mentioned as one of the authors whose posterity is totally extinct; but in his life, as given in _lodge's portraits_, his descendants are given as far down as his great-grandchildren, of whom many were still living in , at which period, says mr. lodge, my information ceases. it seems unlikely that a family then so numerous should have utterly perished since, both in its male and female branches; and perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to trace their subsequent history: the _name_ is certainly not extinct, whether its bearers be his descendants or not. is the gallant sir walter raleigh gilbert descended from one of sir walter's half-brothers? j. s. warden. _ancient fortifications: hertstone, pale, brecost._--in the clause rolls, john, m. . (_public records_, vol. i. p. .) is a warrant of king john's, addressed to the bailiffs of peter de maulay of doncaster, as follows: "mandam' vob' q[=d] villa de danecast[=r] claudi faciatis heritone et palo sc[=d]m q[=d] fossatu f[=cm] exigit, et una leve bretasca fi faciatis su[p=] ponte ad villa defendenda." which, in miller's history of that town (p. .), is thus translated: "we command ye, cause the town of doncaster to be inclosed with _hertstone_ and _pale_, according as the ditch that is made doth require; and that ye make a light _brecost_ or barbican upon the bridge, to defend the town." i shall be obliged by being informed if _hertstone_ is the correct translation of the word "heritone," and, if so, what species of fortification it was. _pale_ is probably a defence composed of high wooden stakes. _brecost_ is questionable, i imagine, and should most likely be spelt _bretesk_ or _bretex_. i shall be glad, however, of explanations of the words. c. j. _newton and somers._--it has been said that there is a complimentary allusion to somers in newton's writings. where? m. _daventry, duel at._-- "veni daintreo cum puella, procerum celebre duello." "thence to daintree with my jewel, famous for a noble duel."--_drunken barnaby's journal._ can any northamptonshire reader of "n. & q." say between whom, and when, this duel took place? j. h. l. _passage in burial service._--whence comes the expression in the burial service, "in the midst of life we are in death." i have observed that mr. palmer, in his _origines liturgicæ_, refers for a parallel passage to ancient liturgies, but, if i mistake not, to none but those used in england. the passage is very scriptural: but i do not believe it exists in the bible. j. g. t. "_they shot him on the nine-stane rig._"--where is the ballad beginning with the words-- "they shot him on the nine-stane rig, beside the headless cross." to be found? who is the author? borderer. _wardhouse, and fishermen's custom there._--in a ms. local history, written in , there is this { } passage: "they bought herrings during the season, and then departed, _as those fishermen which kill fish at wardhouse do use to do at present_." where was wardhouse, and what was the custom there? c. j. p. great yarmouth. "_adrian turn'd the bull._"--in an old ms. in my possession, the following verse occurs:-- "of whate'er else your head be full, remember adrian turn'd the bull; 'tis time that you should turn the chase, kick out the knave and take the place." would any of the correspondents of "n. & q." be so good as to explain to me the reference in the second line of the verse? g. m. _cary's "palæologia chronica._"--i have an old book entitled: "palæologia chronica; a chronological account of ancient time. performed by robert cary, d.ll., devon. london: printed by j. darby, for richard chiswell, at the rose and crown in st. paul's church yard, ." and shall be glad to be informed whether the author was any relation of dr. valentine carey, who was consecrated bishop of exeter in , and died in . (see walton's _life of dr. donne_.) chris. roberts. bradford, yorkshire. _the southwark pudding wonder._--i have been very much pleased with the perusal of a collection of ms. letters, written by the celebrated antiquary william stukeley to maurice johnson, esq., the founder of the gentlemen's society at spalding. these letters have not been published; the mss. exist in the library of the spalding society. they contain much interesting matter, and furnish many traits of the manners, character, and modes of thinking and acting of their respected author. can any of your readers explain the meaning of the following passage, which is found in a letter dated th june, : "_the southwark pudding wonder is over?_" in the same letter the dr. alludes to a contested election for the office of chamberlain of the city of london, which took place in : "the city is all in an uproar about the election of a chamberlain, like a country corporation for burgesses, where roast pig and beef and wine are dealt about freely at taverns, and advertisements about it more voluminous than the late celebrated bangorean notification, though not in a calm and undisturbed way." pishey thompson. stoke newington. _roman catholics confined in fens of ely._--mr. dickens, in _household words_, no. . p. ., in the continuation of a "child's history of england," says, when alluding to the threatened invasion of england by the spanish armada: "some of the queen's advisers were for seizing the principal english catholics, and putting them to death; but the queen--who, to her honour, used to say that she would never believe any ill of her subjects, which a parent would not believe of her own children--neglected the advice, and only confined a few of those who were the most suspected among them, in the fens of lincolnshire." mr. dickens had, of course, as he supposed, good authority for making this statement; but, in reply to a private communication, he states it should have been _fens of ely_. i am, perhaps convicting myself of gross ignorance by seeking for information respecting it; nevertheless, i venture to ask the readers of at "n. & q." for a reference to the authentic history, where a corroboration of mr. dickens' statement is to be found? pishey thompson. stoke newington. _white bell heather transplanted._--is it generally known that _white bell_ heather becomes _pink_ on being transplanted from its native hills into a garden? two plants were shown to me a few days ago, by a country neighbour, flowering pink, which were transplanted, the one three, and the other two, years ago; the former had white bells for two years, the latter for one year only. what i wish to know is, whether these are exceptional cases or not? w. c. argyleshire. _green's "secret plot."_--can you inform me where the scene of the following drama is laid, and the names of the _dramatis personæ_? _the secret plot_; a tragedy by rupert green, mo., . the author of this play, which was published when he was only in his ninth year, was the son of mr. valentine green, who wrote a history of worcester. a. z. "_the full moon brings fine weather._"--when did this saying originate, and have we any proof of its correctness? the late duke of wellington is reported to have said, that, as regarded the weather, it was "nonsense to have any faith in the moon." (vide larpent's _private journal_, vol. ii. p. .) w. w. malta. _nash the artist._--in the year , mr. f. nash made a water-colour drawing of the town hall, churches, &c., in the high street of the ancient borough of dorchester; a line engraving (now rather scarce) was shortly afterwards published therefrom by mr. j. frampton, then a bookseller in the town. can any reader of the { } "n. & q." inform me what mr. nash this was, and what became of him? was he related to the _castles and abbeys_ nash? john garland. dorchester. _woodwork of st. andrew's priory church, barnwell._--the cambridge architectural society, which is now attempting the restoration of st. andrew's priory church, barnwell, will feel deeply indebted to any of your readers who can give them any information respecting the carved woodwork removed from that church some forty years ago, to make way for the present hideous arrangement of pews and pulpit. a man who lives on the spot speaks of a fine wood screen, and highly decorated pulpit, some portions of which were sold by auction; and the rest was in his possession for some time, and portions of it were given away by him to all who applied for it. the treasurer. trin. coll. camb. "_the mitre and the crown._"--i find the following work, at first published anonymously, reprinted as dr. atterbury's in sir walter scott's edition of the _somers' tracts_. no reason is assigned by the editor for ascribing it to him, and i should be glad to know whether there is any satisfactory evidence for doing so. the original tract appears as anonymous the bodleian catalogue: "the mitre and the crown, or a real distinction between them: in a letter to a reverend member of the convocation: lond. , vo." [greek: halieus]. dublin. _military music._--was military music ever played at night in the time of king charles i.? militaris. belfast. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _stoven church._--can you give me any information concerning the _original_ church of stoven, suffolk, which was of good norman work throughout, as lately ascertained by the vast number of norman mouldings found in the walls in restoring it? l. ( ) [in jermyn's "suffolk collections," vol. vi. (add. mss. .), in the british museum, are the following notes of this church, taken st june, , by h. i. and d. e. d.: "the church consists of a nave and chancel, both under one roof, which is covered with thatch. the chancel is ft. in. long, and ft. in. wide. the communion-table is neither raised nor inclosed. the floor of the whole church is also of the same height. the nave is ft. long, and ft. in. wide. between the chancel and nave are the remains of a screen, and over it the arms of george ii., between two tables containing the lord's prayer, &c. in the n. e. angle is the pulpit, which is of oak, hexagon, ordinary, as are also the pews and seats. at the w. end stands the font, which is octagon, the faces containing roses and lions, and two figures holding blank escutcheons, the pedestal supported by four lions. the steeple is in the usual place, small, square, of flints, but little higher than the roof. in it is only one bell, inscribed . the entrance into the church on the n. side is through a circular saxon arch, not much ornamented. on the side is another of the same description, but more ornamented, with zig-zag moulding, &c." then follow the inscriptions, &c. in the chancel, of mrs. elizabeth brown, john brown, thomas brown; in the nave, of henry keable, with extracts from the parish register commencing in .] _the statute of kilkenny._--said to have been passed in . what was the nature of it? abredonensis. [this statute legally abolished the ancient code of the irish, called the brehon laws, and was passed in a parliament held at kilkenny in the th edward iii., under the government of lionel, duke of clarence, lord lieutenant of ireland. by this act, the english are commanded in all controversies to govern themselves by the common laws of england, so that whoever submitted himself to the brehon law, or the law of the marches, is declared a traitor. among other things the statute enacted that "the alliaunce of the english by marriage with any irish, the nurture of infantes, and gossipred with the irish, be deemed high treason." and again, "if anie man of english race use an irish name, irish apparell, or any other guize or fashion of the irish, his lands shall be seized, and his bodie imprisoned, till he shall conform to english modes and customs." this statute was followed by the th henry vi. c. i. ii. iii., and the th hen. vi., c. i., with similar prohibitions and penalties. these prohibitions, however, had little effect; nor were the english laws universally submitted to throughout ireland until the time of james i., when the final extirpation of the ancient brehon law was effected.] _kenne of kenne._--can any of your kentish correspondents inform me to whom a certain christ. kenne of kenne, in co. somerset, sold the manor of "oakley," in the parish of higham, near rochester; and in whose possession it was about the close of the reign of queen elizabeth or commencement of james i.? the above kenne, by marrying elizabeth, the daughter of sir roger cholmeley, and widow of sir leonard beckwith, of selby, in co. york, acquired possession of the same manor in co. kent. after the death of his first wife, he married a florence stalling, who survived him. he died in . f. t. ["christopher kenne of kenne, in the county of somerset, esq., was possessed of the manor of little okeley, in higham, kent, in the right of his wife, the daughter and co-heir of sir roger cholmeley, anno { } eliz.; and then, having levied a fine of it, sold it to thompson, and he, in the reign of charles i., alienated it to best."--_hasted._ of course, the christian name of thompson, and other particulars if required, can be obtained by a reference to the foot of the fine in the record office, carlton ride.] _rents of assize, &c._--in the _valor ecclesiasticus_, the following varieties of income derived from rent of land constantly recur, viz.: "de redditu (simply). de redditu assisæ. de redditu libero. de redditu ad voluntatem." can the distinction between these be exactly explained by any corresponding annual payments for land according to present custom? and will any of your readers be kind enough to give such explanation? j. [_redditus._--rents from lands let out to tenants; modern farm rents. _redditus assisæ._--quit rents: fixed sums paid by the tenants of a manor annually to the lord; as in modern times. _redditus liberi._--those quit rents which were paid to the lord by "liberi tenentes," freeholders; as distinguished from "villani bassi tenentes," &c. _redditus ad voluntatem._--annual payments "ad voluntatem donatium;" such as "confrana," &c. the modern easter offering perhaps corresponds with them.] _edifices of ancient and modern times._--can any of your architectural or antiquarian readers inform me where a chronological list of the principal edifices of ancient and modern times can be found? getsrn. [consult _chronological tables of ancient and modern history synchronistically and ethnographically arranged_, fol., oxford, . for those relating to great britain, see britton's _chronological and historical illustrations_, and his _architectural antiquities of great britain_.] _gorram._--please to direct me where i can find a short account of gorram, an ecclesiastical writer (i suppose) mentioned by d'aubigné, vol. v. p. . l. ( ) [the divine alluded to by d'aubigné is no doubt nicholas de gorran, a dominican, confessor to philip the fair of france. he was an admired and eloquent preacher, and his sermons, together with a commentary on the gospels, appeared at paris, and . he died in .] "_rock of ages._"--who is the author of the hymn beginning "rock of ages?" j. g. t. [that celebrated advocate for _the calvinism of the church of england_, the rev. augustus montague toplady.] * * * * * replies. remuneration of authors. (vol. vii., p. .) responding to the challenge of your correspondent mr. andrews, i copy the following from my common-place book: _from lintot's memorandum-book of "copies when purchased."_ _farquhar._ £ s. d. . recruiting officer . beaux stratagem _betterton._ . the miller's tale, with some characters from chaucer _mr. centlivre._ . may . love's contrivance . may . busy body _mr. cibber._ . nov. . a third of love's last shift . nov. . perolla and izadora . oct. . double gallant nov. . lady's last stake feb. . venus and adonis . oct. . comical lover . mar. . cinna's conspiracy . oct. . the nonjuror _mr. gay._ . may . wife of bath . nov. . letter to a lady . feb. . the what-d'ye-call-it? dec. . trivia epistle to the earl of burlington . may . battle of the frogs jan. . three hours after marriage revival of the wife of bath the mohocks, a farce l. s. sold the mohocks to him again. ----------- ----------- _captain killegrew._ -l . feb. . chit chat _mr. ozell._ . nov. . } translating homer's iliad, . jan. . } books i. ii. iii. . april . translating molière _n. rowe, esq._ dec. . jane shore . april . jane grey _somerville._ . july . a collection of poems. { } _pope._ . feb. . statius, st book, and verstumnus and pomona mar. . first edition of the rape april . to a lady presenting voiture. upon silence. to the author of a poem called successio - . windsor forest (feb. ) . july . ode to st. cecilia's day . feb. . addition to the rape mar. . homer, vol. i. copies on royal paper . feb. . temple of fame april . key to the lock . feb. . homer, vol. ii. may . royal paper july . essay on criticism . aug. . homer, vol. iii. . jan. . royal paper mar. . homer, vol. iv. royal paper oct. . homer, vol. v. . april . royal paper . feb. . homer, vol. vi. may . royal paper . parnell's poems paid mr. pope for the subscription-money due on the nd volume of his homer, and on his th volume, at the agreement for the said th vol.--(i had mr. pope's assignment for the royal paper that was then left of his homer) copy-money for the odyssey, vols. i. ii. iii., and of each volume printed on royal paper, to. copy-money for the odyssey, vols. iv. and v., and of each royal ½ ---------------- £ ½ ---------------- from that storehouse of instruction and amusement, nichols's _anecdotes_, vol. viii. pp. - . i take this opportunity of forwarding to you a curious memorandum which i found in rummaging the papers of a "note-maker" of the last century. it appears to be a bill of fare for the entertainment of a party, upon the "flitch of bacon" being decreed to a happy couple. it is at harrowgate, and not at dunmow, which would lead us to believe that this custom was not confined to one county. the feast itself is almost as remarkable, as regards its component parts, as that produced by mr. thackeray, in his delightful "lectures," as characteristic of polite feeding in queen anne's reign: "_june .--mr. and mrs. liddal's dinner at green dragon, harrowgate, on taking fflitch bacon oath._ _bill fare._ beans and bacon. cabbage, colliflower. three doz. chickens. two shoulders mutton, cowcumbers. two turbets. rump beef, &c. &c. goose and plumbpudding. quarter lamb, sallad. tarts, jellies, strawberries, cream. cherrys, syllabubs, and blomonge. leg lamb, spinnage. crawfish, pickled salmon. fryd tripe, calves' heads. gravy and pease soup. two piggs. breast veal, ragoud. ice cream, pine apple. surloin beaf. pidgeons, green peas. lobsters, crabs. twelve red herrings, twenty-two dobils." w. r. stockwell. * * * * * on the use of the hour-glass in pulpits. (vol. vii., p. .) perhaps the following may be of service as a farther illustration of this subject. zacharie boyd says, in _the last battell of the sovle in death_, , reprinted glasgow, , at p. .: "now after his battell ended hee hath surrendered the spirit, _clepsydra effluxit_, his _houre-glasse_ is now runne out, and his soule is come to its wished home, where it is free from the fetters of flesh." this divine was minister of the barony parish of glasgow, the church for which was then in the crypt of the cathedral. i have no doubt the hour-glass was there used from which he draws his simile. your correspondent refers to sermons an hour long, but, to judge from the contents of "mr. zacharie's" ms. sermons still preserved in the library of the college of glasgow, each, at the rate of ordinary speaking, must have occupied at least an hour and a half in delivery. when he had become infirm and near his end, and had found it necessary to shorten his sermons, his "kirk session" was offended, as-- "feb. , . some are to speak to mr. z. boyd about the soon skailing (dismissing) of the baronie kirk on sunday afternoon." though sermons are now generally restricted from three quarters to an hour's delivery, the practice of long preaching in the olden times in the west of scotland had much prevailed. within my own recollection i have heard sermons of nearly two hours' duration; and early among a few classes of the first dissenters, on "sacramental occasions" as they are yet called, the services lasted altogether (not unfrequently) continuously from ten o'clock on sabbath forenoon, to three and { } four o'clock the following morning. a traditional anecdote is current of an old presbyterian clergyman, unusually full of matter, who, having preached out his hour-glass, was accustomed to pause, and addressing the precentor, "_another glass and then_," recommenced his sermon. a pictorial representation of the hour-glass in a country church is to be seen in front of the precentor's desk, or pulpit, in a very scarce humorsome print, entitled "presbyterian penance," by the famous david allan. it also figures in the engraving of the painting by wilkie, of john knox preaching before mary queen of scots. about twenty years ago it was either in the cathedral of stirling or the armory of the castle (the ancient chapel), that i saw the hour-glass (about twelve inches high) which had been connected with one or other of the pulpits, from both of which john knox is said to have preached. it is likely the hour-glass is there "even unto this day" (unless abstracted by some relic hunter); and if it could be depended on as an original appendage to the pulpits, would prove that its use was coeval with the times of the scottish reformation. i think its high antiquity as certain as the oaken pulpits themselves. at an early period the general poverty of the country, and the scarcity of clocks and watches, must have given rise to the adoption of the hour sand-glass, a simple instrument, but yet elegant and impressive, for the measurement of a brief portion of our fleeting span. g. n. glasgow. on the st may, , the churchwardens of great staughton, co. huntingdonshire, "are, and stand charged with (among other church goods), a pulpit standinge in the church, having a cover over the same, and an houre-glasse adjoininge." copy of a cutting from a magazine, name and date unknown: "among dr. rawlinson's manuscripts in the bodleian library, no. contains collection of _miscellaneous discourses_, by mr. lewis of margate, in kent, whence the following extract has been made: "'it appears that these hour-glasses were coeval with our reformation. in a fine frontispiece, prefixed to the holy bible of the bishops' translation, printed in to. by john day, , archbishop parker is represented in the pulpit with an hour-glass standing on his right hand; ours, here, stood on the left without any frame. it was proper that some time should be prescribed for the length of the sermon, and clocks and watches were not then so common as they are now. this time of an hour continued till the revolution, as appears by bishop sanderson's, tillotson's, stillingfleet's, dr. barrow's, and others' sermons, printed during that time.' "the writer of this article was informed in by the rev. mr. burder, who had the curacy of st. dunstan's, fleet street, that the large silver hour-glass formerly used in that church, was melted down into two staff heads for the parish beadles. "an hour-glass frame of iron, fixed in the wall by the side of the pulpit, was remaining in in the church of north moor, in oxfordshire." joseph rix. st. neots, huntingdonshire. in many of our old pulpits built during the seventeenth century, when hour sermons were the rule, and thirty minutes the exception, the shelf on which the glass used to stand may still be seen. if i recollect rightly, that of miles coverdale was thus furnished, as stated in the newspapers, at the time the church of bartholomew was removed. perhaps this emblem was adopted on gravestones as significant of the character of death as a minister or preacher. the late basil montague, when delivering a course of lectures on "laughter" at the islington institution some few years since, kept time by the aid of this antique instrument. if i remember aright, he turned the glass and said, "_another glass and then_," or some equivalent expression. e. g. ballard. there is an example at the church of st. alban, wood street, cheapside. this church was rebuilt by sir c. wren, and finished ; showing that the hour-glass was in use subsequent to the times alluded to. j. d. allcroft. i saw on th january last, an iron hour-glass stand affixed to a pillar in the north aisle of belton church, in the isle of axholme. edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton-in-lindsey. * * * * * ladies' arms borne in a lozenge. (vol. vii., p. .) the subject of the query put by your correspondent is one that has frequently occurred to me, but which is involved in obscurity. heraldic writers generally have contented themselves with the mere statement of ladies' arms being thus borne; and where we do find an opinion hazarded, it is more in the form of a quotation from a nameless author, or of a timid suggestion, than an attempt to elucidate the question by argument or from history. by some this form of shield is said to have descended to us from the amazons, who bore such: others say, from the form of their tombstones! now we find it to represent the ancient spindle so much used by ladies; and again to be a shield found by the romans unfit for use, and therefore transferred to the weaker sex, who were "allowed to place their ensigns upon it, with one corner always uppermost." { } here are quotations from a few of our writers on the science of heraldry:-- burke, _encyclop. herald._ . queen victoria bears her arms on a full and complete shield; "for," says the old rhyme-- "our sagest men of lore define the kingly state as masculine, paiseant, martial bold and strong, the stay of right, the scourge of wrong; hence those that england's sceptre wield, must buckle on broad sword and shield, and o'er the land, and o'er the sea, maintain her sway triumphantly." this, unfortunately, is only one side of the question: and, though satisfactorily accounting for the shape of the shield of royalty, does not enlighten us on the "origin and meaning" of the lozenge. barrington, _display of heraldry_, :-- "an unmarried daughter bears her father's arms on a lozenge-shaped shield, without any addition or alteration." berry, _encycl. herald._ :-- "the arms of maidens and widows should be borne in shields of this shape." robson, _british herald_, :-- "lozenge, a four-cornered figure, differing from the fusil, being shorter and broader. plutarch says that in megara [read megura], an ancient town of greece, _the tombstones under which the bodies of amazons lay_ were of that form: some conjecture this to be the cause why ladies have their arms on lozenges." porny, _elements of heraldry_, , supposes-- "the lozenge may have been originally a _fusil_, or _fusée_, as the french call it: it is a figure longer than the lozenge, and _signifies a spindle_, which is a woman's instrument." this writer also quotes _sylvester de petra sancta_, who would have this shield to "_represent a cushion_, whereon women used to sit and spin, or do other housewifery." brydson, _summary view of heraldry_, :-- "the shields on which armorial bearings are represented are of various forms, as round, oval, or somewhat resembling a heart; which last is the most common form. excepting sovereigns, women unmarried, or widows, bear their arms on a lozenge shield, which is of a square form, so placed as to have one of its angles upwards, _and is supposed to resemble a distoff_." boyes, _great theatre of honour_, . in this great work the various forms of shields, and the etymology of their names, are treated on at considerable length. the greeks had five:--the _aspis_, the _gerron_ or _gerra_, the _thurios_, the _laiveon_, and the _pelte_ or _pelta_. the romans had the _ancile_, the _scutum_, the _clypeus_, the _parma_, the _cetra_, and others; but none of these approached the shape of the lozenge. the shields of modern nations are also dealt with at length; still the author appears to have had no information nor an opinion upon the lozenge, which he dismisses with these remarks:-- "l'écu des filles est _en lozenge_, de même de celui des veuves; et en france et ailleurs, celles-ci l'ornent et l'entourent d'une cordelière ou cordon à divers neuds. quant aux femmes mariées, elles accollent d'ordinaire leurs armes avec celles de leurs époux; mais quelquefois elles les portent aussi _en lozenge_." coates, _dictionary of heraldry_, , quotes colombière, a french herald, who, he says, gives upwards of thirty examples of differently formed shields; but no allusion is made to the lozenge. carter, _honor redivivus_, . dugdale, _ancient usage in bearing arms_, . gwillim, _display of heraldry_, . camden, _remains_, . gerard legh, _accedence of armorie_, . none of these authors have touched on the subject; which, considering that at the least two of them are the greatest authorities, appears somewhat strange. ferne, _blazon of gentrie_, -- "thinks the lozenge is formed of the shield called _tessera_ or _tessela_, which the romans, finding unfit for use, did allow to women to place their ensigns upon, with one of its angles always upmost." though unable at this moment to furnish examples in proof of my opinion, i must say that it is contrary to the one expressed by your correspondent ceyrep, that "formerly all ladies of rank" bore their arms upon a complete shield, or bore shields upon their seals. the two instances cited by him are rather unfortunate, the connexion of both ladies with royalty being sufficiently close to suggest the possibility of their right to the "full and complete" shield. margaret, duchess (not countess) of norfolk, was sole heir of her father, thomas of brotherton, fifth earl of norfolk, son of king edward i., and marshal of england. she, "for the greatness of her birth, her large revenues and wealth," was created duchess of norfolk for life; and at the coronation of king richard ii. she exhibited her petition "to be accepted to the office of high marshal," which was, i believe, granted. in such case, setting aside her royal descent, i apprehend that, by virtue of her office, she would not bear her arms in a lozenge. she bore the arms of england with only a label for difference. margaret, countess of richmond, was herself royally descended, being great-granddaughter of john of gaunt, son of edward iii.; was daughter-in-law of henry v.'s widow, and mother of henry vii. being descended from the antenuptial children of john of gaunt's third wife, who had been legitimatised by act of parliament for all purposes except succession to the crown, { } henry vii. would probably desire by every means in his power to suppress anything suggestive of his unsubstantial title to the crown. it might be by his particular desire that his mother assumed the full regal shield, on which to emblazon arms differing but slightly from those of her son, the king. it is not, however, my opinion that the form of shield under consideration is anything like so ancient as some of the authors would make it. i do not believe it comes to us either from the amazons or the romans. my own opinion, in the absence of any from the great writers to guide me, is, that we owe the use of this form of shield amongst ladies to _hatchments_ or _funeral achievements_. during the time of mourning for persons of rank, their coats of arms are set up in churches and over the principal entrances of their houses. on these occasions it is well known their arms are always placed in a large black lozenge; a form adopted as the most proper figure for admitting the coats of arms of sixteen ancestors to be placed round it, four on each of the sides of the square. it was not until the reign of richard iii. that the college of arms was regularly incorporated; and though the science of heraldry received its highest polish during the splendid reigns of edward iii. and henry v., it had yet scarcely been subjected to those rules which since the establishment of the college have controlled it. mark noble, in his _history of the college of arms_, says that the latter reign-- "if it did not add to the wealth of the nation at large, gave rise to a number of great families, enriched by the spoils of azincourt, the plunder of france, and the ransom of princes. the heraldic body was peculiarly prized and protected by the king, who, however, was very whimsical in the adoption of cognizances and devices." during the greater portion of the fourteenth century, and the early part of the fifteenth, there was a rage for jousts, tilts, and tournaments; and almost every english nobleman had his officers of arms; dukes, marquesses, and earls were allowed a herald and pursuivant; the lower nobility, and even knights, might retain one of the latter. to these officers belonged the ordering of everything relating to the solemn and magnificent funerals, which were so general in these centuries, and which they presided over and marshalled. during the reign of edward iv. the exact form of these obsequies was prescribed. not only were the noblemen's own heralds there, but the king's also; and not in tabards bearing the sovereign's, but the deceased's arms. so preposterously fond of funeral rites were monarchs and their subjects, that the obsequies of princes were observed by such sovereigns as were in alliance with them, and in the same state as if the royal remains had been conveyed from one christian kingdom to another. individuals had their obsequies kept in various places where they had particular connexions.[ ] is it too much then to presume that in the midst of all this pomp and affectation of grief, the hatchment of the deceased nobleman would be displayed as much, and continued as long, as possible by the widow? may we not reasonably believe that these ladies would vie with each other in these displays of the insignia of mourning, until, by usage, the lozenge-shaped hatchment became the shield appropriated to the sex? these hypotheses are not without some foundation; but if any of your correspondents will enunciate another theory, i shall be glad to give it my support if it is found to be more reasonable than the foregoing. broctuna. bury, lancashire. [footnote : noble.] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _multiplication of photographs._--in vol. viii., p. . is a letter from mr. john stewart of pau suggesting certain modes of operating in producing positive photographs, and which suggestions are apparently offered as _novelties_, when, in fact, they have been for some considerable time in practice by other manipulators. of course, i do not suppose that they are otherwise regarded by mr. stewart than as novelties, who cannot be acquainted with what is doing here; but it appears to me desirable to discriminate between facts that are _absolutely_, and those that are _relatively_ new. most of the transparent stereoscopic photographs sold in such numbers by all our eminent opticians, _are actually produced_ in the way recommended by mr. stewart; and reduced copies of photographs, &c., have been produced in almost every possible variety by dr. diamond, and many others of our most eminent photographers. very early in the history of this science, the idea was suggested by mr. fox talbot himself, of taking views of a small size, and enlarging them for multiplication; and, if i am rightly informed, mr. ross was applied to to construct a lens specially for the purpose. some months back, as early at least as march or april in the present year, mr. f. h. wenham actually printed on common chloride paper a _life-size_ positive from a small negative on collodion; and immediately afterwards adopted the use of iodized paper for the same purpose; and after he had exhibited the proofs, i myself repeated the experiment. in fact, had there been time at the last meeting of the photographic society, a paper on this very subject would have been read by mr. wenham; but the { } business before the meeting was too extensive to admit of it. my object is not, of course, to offer any objection to the proposition, but simply to put in a claim of merit for the idea originally due to mr. fox talbot, and secondarily to mr. wenham, who i believe was an earlier operator in this way than any one. geo. shadbolt. _yellow bottles for photographic chemicals._--as light transmitted through a yellow curtain, or yellow glass, does not affect photographic operations, would it not be desirable to keep the nitrate of silver and its solutions in yellow glass bottles, instead of covering the plain white glass with black paper, as i see directed in some cases? ceridwen. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _donnybrook fair_ (vol. vii., p. .).--abhba will find his answer in d'alton's _history of the county of dublin_, p. .: "about the year , earl 'strongbow' gave donnybrock (devonalbroc), amongst other lands, to walter de riddlesford; and in , king john granted to the corporation of dublin license for an _annual eight-day fair here_, commencing on the day of the finding of the holy cross (may rd), with similar stallages and tolls, as established in waterford and limerick." this scene of an irishman's glory has been daguerreotyped in lines that may be left in your pages, as being probably quite as little known to your readers as is the work above cited: "instead of weapons, either band seized on such arms as came to hand. and as famed ovid paints th' adventures of wrangling lapithæ and centaurs, who at their feast, by bacchus led, threw bottles at each others' head; and these arms failing in their scuffles, attack'd with andirons, tonges, and shovels: so clubs and billets, staves and stones, met fierce, encountering every sconce, and cover'd o'er with knobs and pains, each void receptacle for brains." j. d. _abigail_ (vol. iv., p. .; vol. v., pp. . . ., vol. viii., p. .).--not having my "n. & q." at hand, i cannot say what may have been already told on this subject, but i think i can answer the queries of your last correspondent, h. t. ryley. there can be, i think, no doubt that the familiar use of the name abigail, for the _genus_ "lady's maid," is derived from one whom i may call _abigail the great_; who, before she ascended king david's bed and throne, introduced herself under the oft-reiterated description of a "hand-maid." (see sam. xxv. , , , , .) i have no _concordance_ at hand, but i suspect there is no passage in scripture where the word _hand-maid_ is more prominent; and so the idea became associated with the name _abigail_. an _abigail_ for a hand-maid is therefore merely analogous to a _goliath_ for a giant; a _job_ for a patient man; a _samson_ for a strong one; a _jezebel_ for a shrew, &c. i need hardly add, that h. t. ryley's conjecture, that this use of the term _abigail_ had any relation to the lady masham, is, therefore, quite supererogative--but i may go farther. the old duchess of marlborough's _apology_, which _first_ told the world that lady masham's christian name was abigail, and that she was a poor cousin of her own, was not published till , when all feeling about "abigail hill and her brother jack" was extinct. in fine, it will be found that the use of the term _abigail_ for a lady's maid was much more frequent _before_ the change of queen anne's whig ministry than _after_. c. _honorary degrees_ (vol. viii, p. .).--honorary degrees give no corporate rights. johnson never himself assumed the title of doctor; conferred on him first by the university of dublin in , and afterwards in by that of oxford. see croker's _boswell_, p. . n. ., for the probable motives of johnson's never having called himself doctor. c. _red hair_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the danes are said to have been (and to be even now) a red-haired race. they were long the scourge of england, and to this possibly may be attributed in some degree the prejudice against people having hair of that colour. in denmark, it is said, red-hair is esteemed a beauty. that red-haired people are fiery and passionate is undoubtedly true; at least i vouch for it as far as my experience goes; but that they emit a disagreeable odour when inattentive to personal cleanliness, is probably a vulgar prejudice arising from the colour of their hair, resembling that of the fox--_unde_ the term "foxy." a. c. m. exeter. _historical engraving_ (vol. vii., p. ).--i am glad i happen to be able to inform e. s. taylor that his engraving, about the restoration of charles ii., is to be found in a book entitled-- "verhael in forme van journal, van de reys ende 't vertoeven van den seer doorluchtige ende machtige prins carel de ii." &c. "in 's graven-hage, by adrian vlack, m.dc.lx." &c. folio. the names at the corner of the engraving are apparently "f. t. vliet, jn. p. phillipe, sculp." j. m. g. _proverbs quoted by suetonius_ (vol. vii., p. ).--a full explanation of the proverb [greek: speude bradeôs] { } will be found in the _adagia_ of erasmus, under the head "festina lente," p. ., edit. . that it was a favourite proverb of the emperor augustus is also stated by gellius, _noct. att._ x. ., and macrob., saturn. vi. . the verse,-- "[greek: asphalês gar est' ameinôn ê thrasus stratêlatês]," is from the _phoenissæ_ of euripides, v. . l. "_sat cito, si sat bene_" (vol. v., p. ; vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent c. thinks that f. w. j. is mistaken in calling it a favourite maxim of lord eldon. few persons are more apt to make mistakes than f. w. j. he therefore sends the following extract from twiss's _life of lord c. eldon_, vol. i. p. . they are lord eldon's own words, after having narrated the anecdote to which c. refers: "in short, in all that i have had to do in future life, professional and judicial, i have always felt the effect of this early admonition on the pannels of the vehicle which conveyed me from school, 'sat cito, si sat bene.' it was the impression of this which made me that deliberative judge--as some have said, too deliberative; and reflection on all that is past will not authorise me to deny, that whilst i have been thinking 'sat cito, si sat bene,' i may not sufficiently have recollected whether 'sat bene, si sat cito' has had its influence." the anecdote, and this observation upon it, are taken by twiss from a book of anecdotes in lord eldon's own handwriting. f. w. j. _council of laodicea, canon ._ (vol. viii., p. .).--clericus (d.) will find _angelos_ in the text, without _angulos_ in the margin, in any volume which contains the version by dionysius exiguus, or that by gentianus hervetus; the former printed mogunt. ; paris, , , and : the latter, paris, and ; and sufficiently supplied by beverege and howell. both translations are given by crabbe, surius, binius, and others. the corrupt reading _angulos_, derived from isidorus mercator, appears in the text, and without a marginal correction, in james merlin's edition of the _councils_, colon. ; in carranza's _summa_, salmant. , lugd. , lovan. (in which last impression, the twelfth, the true heading of the canon, according to dionysius and crisconius, viz. "de his qui _angelos_ colunt," is restored); and in the _sanctiones ecclesiasticæ_ of joverius, paris, . for _angelos_ in the text, with a courageous "fortè legendum" _angulos_ in the margin, in pope adrian's _epitome canonum_, we are deeply indebted to canisius (_thesaur. monum._, ii. . ed. basnage); and this is the method adopted by longus à coriolano and bail. r. g. _anna lightfoot_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i have heard my mother speak of anna lightfoot: her family belonged to the religious community called friends or quakers. my mother was born , and died in the year . the aunt of anna eleanor lightfoot was next-door-neighbour to my grandfather, who lived in sir wm. warren's square, wapping. the family were from yorkshire, and the father of anna was a shoemaker, and kept a shop near execution dock, in the same district. he had a brother who was a linendraper, living in the neighbourhood of st. james's, at the west end of the town; and anna was frequently his visitor, and here it was that she became acquainted with the great man of the day. she was missing, and advertised for by her friends; and, after some time had elapsed, they obtained some information as to her retreat, stating that she was well provided for; and her condition became known to them. she had a son who was a corn-merchant, but, from some circumstance, became deranged in his intellects, and it is said committed suicide. but whether she had a daughter, i never heard. a retreat was provided for anna in one of those large houses surrounded with a high wall and garden, in the district of cat-and-mutton fields, on the east side of hackney road, leading from mile end road; where she lived, and it is said died, but in what year i cannot say. all this i have heard my mother tell when i was a young lad; furthermore your deponent knoweth not. j. m. c. _jack and gill_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a somewhat earlier instance of the occurrence of the expression "jack and gill" is to be found (with a slight difference) in john heywood's _dialogue of wit and folly_, page . of the percy society's reprint: "no more hathe he in mynde, ether payne or care, than hathe other cock my hors, or gyll my mare!" this is probably not more than twenty years earlier than your correspondent's quotation from tusser. h. c. k. _simile of the soul and the magnetic needle_ (vol. vi. _passim_; vol. vii., p. .).--southey, in his _omniana_ (vol. i. p. .), cites a passage from the _partidas_, in which the magnetic needle is used in illustration. it is as follows: "e bien assí como los marineros se guian en la noche escura por el aguja, que les es medianera entre la piedra é la estrella, é les muestra por de vayan, tambien en los malos tiempos, como en los buenos; otrosí los que han de consejar al rey, se deven siempre guiar por la justicia; que es medianera entre dios é el mundo, en todo tiempo, para dar guardalon á los buenos, é pena á los malos, á cada uno segund su merescimiento."-- _partida_, tit. ix. ley . this passage is especially worthy of attention, as having been written half a century before the supposed invention of the mariner's compass by flavius gioias at amalfi; and, as southey { } remarks, "it must have been well known and in general use before it would thus be referred to as a familiar illustration." i do not think that any of your correspondents have quoted the halting lines with which byron mars the pathos of the rousseau-like letter of donna julia (_don juan_, canto i. stanza cxcvi.): "my heart is feminine, nor can forget-- to all, except one image, madly blind; so shakes the needle, and so stands the pole, as vibrates my fond heart to my fix'd soul." william bates. birmingham. _gibbon's library_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--the following quotation from cyrus redding's "recollections of the author of vathek" (_new monthly magazine_, vol. lxxi. p. .) may interest j. h. m. and your other correspondents under this head: "'i bought it (says beckford) to have something to read when i passed through lausanne. i have not been there since. i shut myself up for six weeks, from early in the morning until night, only now and then taking a ride. the people thought me mad. i read myself nearly blind.' "i inquired if the books were rare or curious. he replied in the negative. there were excellent editions of the principal historical writers, and an extensive collection of travels. the most valuable work was an edition of _eustathius_; there was also a ms. or two. all the books were in excellent condition; in number, considerably above six thousand, near seven perhaps. he should have read himself mad if there had been novelty enough, and he had stayed much longer. "'i broke away, and dashed among the mountains. there is excellent reading there, too, equally to my taste. did you ever travel alone among mountains?' "i replied that i had, and been fully sensible of their mighty impressions. 'do you retain gibbon's library?' "'it is now dispersed, i believe. i made it a present to my excellent physician, dr. schall or scholl (i am not certain of the name). i never saw it after turning hermit there.'" william bates. birmingham. _st. paul's epistles to seneca_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the affirmation so frequently made and alluded to by j. m. s. of hull, that seneca became, in the last year of his life, a convert to christianity, is an old tradition, which has just been revived by a french author, m. amédée fleury, and is discussed and attempted to be established by him at great length in two octavo volumes. i have not read the book, but a learned reviewer of it, m. s. de sacy, shows, with the greatest appearance of reason and authority, that the tradition, instead of being strengthened, is weakened by all that m. fleury has said about it. m. de sacy's review is contained in the _journal des débats_ of june , in which excellent paper he is a frequent and delightful writer on literary subjects. in the hope that it may interest and gratify j. m. s. to be informed of m. fleury's new work, i send this scrap of information to the "n. & q." john macray. oxford. _"hip, hip, hurrah!"_ (vol. vii., pp. . ).--the reply suggested by your correspondent r. s. f., that the above exclamation originated in the crusades, and is a corruption of the initial letters of "hierosolyma est perdita," never appeared to me to be very apposite. in _a collection of national english ballads_, edited and published by w. chapple, , in a description of the song "old simon, the king," the favourite of squire western in _tom jones_, the following lines are quoted: "'hang up all the poor hep drinkers,' cries old sim, the king of skinkers."[ ] a note to the above states, in reference to the word "hep," that it was a term of derision, applied to those who drank a weak infusion of the "hep" (hip) berry, or sloe. "hence," says the writer, "the exclamation of 'hip, hip, hurrah,' corrupted from 'hip, hip, away.'" the couplet quoted above was written up in the apollo room at the devil tavern, temple bar, where ben jonson's club, the "apollo club," used to meet. many a drinker of modern port has equally good reason to exclaim with his brethren of old, "hip, hip, away!" j. brent. [footnote : a _skinker_ is one who serves drink.] _emblemata_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i have a small edition of the _emblemata horatiana_, with the following title-page: "othonis væni emblemata horatiana imaginibus in _æs_ incisis atque latino, germanico, gallico et belgico carmine illustrata: amstelædami, apud henricum wetstenium, m. dc. lxxxiv." the engravings, of which there are , measure about four inches by three; the book contains pages, exclusive of the index. "amicitiæ trutina," mentioned by mr. weld taylor, is the sixty-sixth plate on page . there is another volume of emblems by otho venius, of which i have a copy: "amorum emblemata figuris Æneis incisa, studio othonis væni: batavo lugdunensis antverpiæe venalia apud auctorem prostant apud hieronymum verdussen, mdciix." the engravings, of which (besides an allegorical frontispiece representing the power of venus) there are , are oval, measuring five inches in length by three and a half inches in height. the designs appear to me to be very good. on the { } first plate is the name of the engraver, "c. boel fecit." each engraving has a motto, with verses in latin, italian, and french. recommendatory verses, by hugo grotius, daniel heinsius, max. vrientius, ph. rubentius, and petro benedetti, are prefixed. it appears from rose's _biographical dictionary_ (article "van veen"), that venius published another illustrated work, _the seven twin sons of lara_. is this work known? horace walpole did not appreciate venius. he says: "the perplexed and silly emblems of venius are well known."--_anecdotes of painting_, vol. ii. p. . the emblems of gabriele rollenhagius (of which i have also a copy) consist of two centuries. the engravings are circular, with a motto round each, and latin verses at foot. my edition was published at utrecht, mdcxiii. i write rather in the hope of eliciting information, than of attempting to give any, on a subject which appears to me to deserve farther inquiry. q. d. _campvere, privileges of_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--will your contributors j. d. s. and j. l. oblige me with references to the works in which these privileges are mentioned? they will find them noticed also at pages . and . of the second volume of l. guicciardini's _belgium_ (ed. ): "_jus gruis liberæ._" this is mentioned as one of the privileges of campvere. can any of your legal friends tell me what this is, and where i may find it treated of? e. _slang expressions: "just the cheese"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this phrase is only some ten or twelve years old. its origin was this:--some desperate witty fellows, by way of giving a comic turn to the phrase "c'est une autre chose," used to translate it, "that is another cheese;" and after awhile these words became "household words," and when anything positive or specific was intended to be pointed out, "that's the cheese" became adopted, which is nearly synonymous with "just the cheese." astolpho. _the honorable miss e. st. leger_ (vol. vii., p. .).--perhaps your correspondent mr. breen may like to be informed that the late general the honorable arthur st. leger related to me the account of his relative having been made a master mason, and that she had secreted herself in an old clock-case in doneraile house, on purpose to learn the secrets of the lodge, but was discovered from having coughed. the rev. richard arthur st. leger, of starcross, devon, has an engraving of the lady, who is represented arrayed in all the costume of a master mason, with the apron, ring, and jewel of the order. w. collyns. harbow. _queries from the navorscher_ (vol. vii., p. .)--"the choice of hercules," in the _tatler_, was written by addison; swift did not contribute more than one article to that publication, a treatise on "improprieties of language." the allegory of "religion being the foundation of contentment" in the _adventurer_, was the work of hawkesworth, to whose pen most of those papers are attributable. "_amentium haud amantium._"--the alliteration of this passage in the _andria_ of terence is somewhat difficult to preserve in english; perhaps to render it "an act of _frenzy_ rather than _friendship_," would keep up the pun, though a weak translation, bringing to mind the words of the song: "o call it by some other name, for _friendship_ is too cold." in french the expression might be turned "follement plutôt que folâtrement," although this is a fault on the other side, and a stronger word than the original. t. o. m. "_pity is akin to love_" (vol. i., p. .).--though a long time has elapsed since the birthplace of these words was queried, no answer has, i think, appeared in your columns. will you then allow me to refer h. to southern's _oroonoko_, act ii. sc. .? "_blandford._ alas! i pity you. _oroonoko._ do pity me; _pity's akin to love_, and every thought of that soft kind is welcome to my soul. i would be pity'd here." w. t. m. hong kong. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. our library table is covered at this time with books for all classes of readers. the theological student will peruse with no ordinary interest the learned _dissertation on the origin and connexion of the gospels, with a synopsis of the parallel passages in the original and authorised version, and critical notes_, by james smith, esq., of jordan hill: and when he has mastered the arguments contained in it, he may turn to the new number of _the journal of sacred literature_, in which will be found a great variety of able papers. our antiquarian friends will be gratified with a volume compiled in a great measure from original family papers, by its author mr. bankes, the member for dorsetshire; and which narrates _the story of corfe castle, and of many who have lived there, collected from ancient chronicles and records; also from the private memoirs of a family resident there in the time of the civil wars_. the volume, which is with good feeling inscribed by the author to his friends and neighbours, members of the society for mutual improvement in the borough of corfe castle, contains many interesting { } notices of his ancestors, the well-known judge, sir john bankes and his lady--so memorable for her gallant defence of corfe castle--drawn from the family papers. _the royal descent of nelson and wellington from edward i., king of england, with tables of pedigree and genealogical memoirs_, compiled by g. r. french, is a handsomely printed volume, which will please the genealogist; while the historical student will be more interested in _the flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of britain from the beginning of the world to the year , collected by matthew of westminster, translated by c. d. yonge_, vol. i., a new volume of bohn's _antiquarian library_, and an important addition to his series of translations of our early national chronicles. the classical student is indebted to the same publisher for the second volume of mr. owen's _translation of the organon, or logical treatises of aristotle_: nor will he regard as the least important addition to his library, the new part (no. vii.) of smith's _dictionary of greek and roman geography_, which extends from _cyrrhus_ to _etruria_, and is distinguished by the same excellences as the preceding parts. we must conclude these notes with a brief reference to a handsome reprint of the great work of de quincy, the appearance of which in the _london magazine_ some thirty years since created so great a sensation, we mean of course his _confessions of an english opium-eater_. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. literary gazette, to . athenÆum, commencement to . a narrative of the holy life and happy death of mr. john angier. london . moore's melodies. th edition. wood's athenÆ oxonienses (ed. bliss). vols. to. - . the complaynts of scotland. vo. edited by leyden. . shakspeare's plays. vol. v. of johnson and steevens's edition, in vols. vo. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. cecil harbottle _in our next._ w. merry _and_ m. e. c. _our correspondents are right. the oversight in question is certainly open to their censure._ _answers to other correspondents next week._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that nights parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services. responses to the commandments and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and, by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears"--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale. . old bond street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c., &c., used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * bromized collodion.--j. b. hockin & co. chemists, . strand, are ready to supply the above photographic agent: vide _photographic journal_, june st. their iodized collodion is highly sensitive, and retains all its qualities unimpaired for three months. the sensitive solution can be had separate. pure chemicals, apparatus, and all the requisites for the practice of photography, and instruction in all its branches. a very superior positive paper. * * * * * la lumiere; french photographic journal. the only journal which gives weekly all the principal photographic news of england and the continent; with original articles and communications on the different processes and discoveries, reports of the french academy of sciences, articles on art, reviews, &c. published at paris every saturday. terms, s. per annum in advance. all english subscriptions and communications to be addressed to the english editor, . henman terrace, camden town, london. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. 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also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * { } a cheap issue of murray's handbooks for travellers. for the continent. handbook--travel talk. s. d. handbook--belgium and the rhine. s. handbook--switzerland, savoy, and piedmont. s. d. handbook--north germany, and holland. s. handbook--south germany and the tyrol. s. handbook--france and the pyrenees. s. handbook--spain, andalusia, etc. s. handbook--north italy and florence. s. handbook--south italy and naples. handbook--egypt and thebes. s. handbook--denmark, norway, and sweden. s. handbook--russia and finland. s. for england. handbook--modern london. s. handbook--england. part i. devon and cornwall. s. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxv., is published this day. contents: i. ireland, by the four masters. ii. haxthausen on russia. iii. comparative anatomy--professor owen. iv. ecclesiastical forgeries. v. autobiography of signor ruffini. vi. count ficquelmont on foreign policy. vii. report of the oxford commission. viii. life of thomas moore. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * just published, the christian remembrancer, no. lxxxi., for july, . contents. . recent metaphysics. . miss yonge's novels. . palmer's dissertations on the orthodox communion. . stirling's cloister life of charles v. . alford's greek testament. vol. ii. . modern poetry. . church penitentiary association. . spicilegium solesmense. . notices of new books, &c. london: j. & c. mozley, . paternoster row. * * * * * j. r. smith's new publications. britannic researches; or, new facts and rectifications of ancient british history. by the rev. beale poste, m.a. just published, vo. (pp. .), with engravings, cloth, s. a few notes on shakspeare, with occasional remarks on mr. collier's folio of . by the rev. alexander dyce. vo. cloth, s. wiltshire tales, illustrative of the manners, customs, and dialect of that and adjoining counties. by j. y. akerman, esq. mo. cloth, s. d. facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards. by w. a. chatto, author of "jackson's history of wood engraving." in one handsome volume, vo., illustrated with many engravings, both plain and coloured, cloth, l. s. bosworth's (rev. dr.) compendious anglo-saxon and english dictionary. vo., closely printed in treble columns, cloth, s. lower's (m.a.) essays on english surnames. vols. post vo. third edition, greatly enlarged, cloth, s. lower's curiosities of heraldry, with illustrations from old english writers. vo., numerous engravings, cloth, s. wright's (thos.) essays on the literature, popular superstitions, and history of england in the middle ages. vols. post vo., cloth, s. guide to archÆology. an archæological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano british, and anglo-saxon periods. by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary to the society of antiquaries. vol. vo., illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upwards of objects, cloth, s. a new life of shakspeare; including many particulars respecting the poet and his family, never before published. by james orchard halliwell, f.r.s., f.s.a., &c. vo., engravings by fairholt, cloth, s. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * new editions of sharon turner's historical works, with the author's final corrections. just published, in vols. vo., price s. cloth. sharon turner's history of england during the middle ages: comprising the reigns from the norman conquest to the accession of henry viii. the fifth edition, revised; with the author's final corrections added by the author's son, the rev. sydney turner. by the same author, new editions, the history of the anglo-saxons. the seventh edition. vols. vo., price s. the sacred history of the world. the eighth edition, in vols. post vo., price s. d. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * a complete history of drugs, by m. pomet; with what is observable from messrs. lemerq and tournefort. divided into three classes: vegetable, animal, and mineral, and their use in chemistry, pharmacy, and the arts. illustrated with above copper cuts. done into english. vols. to. in one. london: r. bornirck & co., . dedicated to dr. sloane. de humana physiognomia joannis baptistÆ portÆ neapolitani. libri . . ursellis typ. conellatorii. numerous woodcuts. to be disposed of. apply by letter to w. c., care of mr. bell, . fleet street. * * * * * literary curiosities. an original and highly interesting newspaper (_a little mercury_, of eight pages), published in the ever memorable year of the martyrdom of king charles the first, years ago! very rare, exceedingly curious, and in fine preservation! sent free on receipt of s. d. an original, rare, and curious newspaper (_a little mercury_, of sixteen pages), published in charles the second's reign, sent free on receipt of s. an original newspaper (_a little gazette_), rich in curious historical and domestic announcements, published in charles the second's reign, sent free on receipt of s. d. an original newspaper of james the second's reign, rare and curious, sent free on receipt of s. d. an original newspaper of william and mary's reign, rare and curious, sent free on receipt of s. d. an original newspaper of queen anne's reign, ornamented with curious woodcuts, rare and very interesting, sent free on receipt of s. an original newspaper of george the first's reign, with a curious woodcut title, rare, sent free on receipt of s. d. an original newspaper of george the second's reign, sent free on receipt of s. an original newspaper of george the third's reign, sent free on receipt of s. apply, by letter only, inclosing a remittance, either post-office order, or postage stamps, addressed to mr. james hamilton fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * to printers, publishers, authors, etc. wood engravings.--illustrations for books, periodicals, newspapers, and every class of wood engravings executed in a superior style, at reasonable prices, by george dorrington, designer and engraver on wood, . ampton street, gray's inn road.--specimens and estimates forwarded upon receipt of particulars. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "spicilegium solesmense": 'solesmence' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page kennington common, by the rev. w. sparrow simpson life and death battle of trafalgar and death of nelson heraldic anomaly folk lore:--three maids--mother russel's post--shrove tuesday custom stornello minor notes:--perspective--"that"--corporation enactments--jacobite club--dean nowell's first wife-- "oxoniana"--an epigram falsely ascribed to george herbert--ingulph: bohn's "antiquarian library" queries:-- quotations wanted sir edmund plowden, by s. f. streeter ancient clock, and odevaere's history of it, by octavius morgan minor queries:--spielberg, when built?--"ded. pavli"-- mantelpiece: mantelshelf: mantleboard: mantell and brace--passage in job--provincial glossaries-- chadderton of nuthurst, co. lancaster--a marvellous combat of birds--battle of the gnats--sandford of thorpe salvine, co. york--"outlines of the history of theology"--"mawkin"--"plain dealer"--hymn attributed to handel--degrees in arts--"goloshes:" "kutchin-kutchu"--cornwalls of london--flasks for wine-bottles--froxhalmi, prolectricus, phytacus, tuleus, candos, gracianus, and tounu or tonnu minor queries with answers:--postmaster at merton college--"lyra apostolica"--east dereham manor-- quakers executed in north america--inscription in fulham church--hero of the "spanish lady's love"-- "bothy"--"children in the wood" replies:-- brydone the tourist, by john macray "the red cow"--cromwell's carriages, &c. fox-hunting, by f. m. middleton weather rules, by e. macculloch, &c. bingham's antiquities ancient tenure of lands photographic correspondence:--spots on collodion pictures, &c.--the double iodide solution--mounting photographs replies to minor queries:--books on bells--medal in honour of chevalier st. george--dean swift's suspension--"vanitatem observare"--ballina castle, mayo--dorset--judicial rank hereditary--tolling the bell on leaving church--archpriest in the diocese of exeter--dogs in monumental brasses--the last of the palæologi--long names, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * the late duke of wellington. now ready, vols. vo., s. the speeches in parliament of field marshal his grace the duke of wellington. collected and arranged. also, a new edition, vo., s. col. gurwood's selection from the wellington despatches and general orders, arranged as a convenient travelling volume for officers. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review. no. clxxxviii. advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the th, and bills for insertion by the th april. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * archÆology of the streets of dublin, and celtic records of ireland, etc. for the series of papers illustrating the above, see vols. i. ii. and iii. of the "irish quarterly review." price, bound, s. each. london: simpkin & co. dublin: w. b. kelly. * * * * * bohn's standard library for april. condÉ's history of the dominion of the arabs in spain. translated from the spanish by mrs. foster. in three volumes. vol. i. with frontispiece. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for april. gibbon's roman empire, complete and unabridged, with variorum notes, including, in addition to all the author's own, those of guizot, wenck, niebuhr, hugo, neander, and other foreign scholars. edited by an english churchman. in six volumes. vol. iii., with fine map of the western empire. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for april. the works of tacitus, literally translated, with notes. in two volumes. vol. ii., containing the history, germania, agricola, &c. with a very complete index. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's scientific library for april. hunt's poetry of science; or, studies of the physical phenomena of nature. third edition, revised and enlarged. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for april. tasso's jerusalem delivered, translated into english spenserian verse, with a life of the author, by j. h. wiffen. fourth edition, with twenty-four engravings on wood by thurston, and eight engravings on steel. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * notice. burke's landed gentry. a new and thoroughly revised edition of "history of the landed gentry," by sir bernard burke, ulster king of arms, being in preparation, it is earnestly requested that communications with additional genealogies, or corrections of the former work, may be addressed as soon as possible to sir b. burke, care of mr. colburn, . great marlborough street. * * * * * { } annotated edition of the english poets. by robert bell. in monthly volumes, s. d. each, in cloth. this day, the first volume of cowper's poetical works. already published. dryden. vols. i and ii. surrey, minor contemporaneous poets, and sackville, lord buckhurst. on the first of may, the third and concluding volume of dryden's poetical works. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * the archbishop of dublin's sermons. this day, third and cheaper edition. octavo, s. d. sermons on some of the principal festivals, and on other occasions. by richard whately, d.d., archbishop of dublin. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, sixth and cheaper edition, pages, foolscap octavo, with woodcuts, s. d. familiar history of birds: their nature, habits, and instincts. by edward stanley, d.d., bishop of norwich. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * small books on great subjects. now ready, philosophical theories and philosophical experience, being no. i. of small books on great subjects. third edition, with a new preface. s. d. exposition of vulgar and common errors, being no. viii. of small books on great subjects. second edition. s. d. on the state of man subsequent to the promulgation of christianity. part iv., being no. xxii. of small books on great subjects. s. d. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, cheaper edition. collated, and enlarged, s. d., charicles: illustrations of the private life of the ancient greeks. with notes and excursuses. from the german of professor becker. also, second edition, enlarged, with additional illustrations, s., becker's gallus: scenes of the times of augustus. with notes and excursuses, illustrative of the manners and customs of the romans. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * just published, in royal vo., cloth, with engravings, price s. the homeric design of the shield of achilles. by w. watkiss lloyd. london: williams & norgate, henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * popery and the romish controversy.--the want of a periodical collection of the numerous facts and documents bearing on the progress of popery and the controversy with rome, which appear in the journals and periodicals of the day, has long been felt by every earnest protestant. to remedy this deficiency, the proprietors of the "britannia" newspaper have arranged to issue from time to time a supplement (gratis), exclusively devoted to the republication of this important and interesting matter, without editorial comment, and so arranged as to be capable of being bound up at the close of the year in a convenient quarto volume, with a complete index to its contents. the first number appeared on saturday, february th, and contained, "the census of romanism." price sixpence. . strand, london. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles, s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * this day is published, history of the french protestant refugees, from the revocation of the edict of nantes. by charles weiss, professor of history in the lycée buonaparte. translated, with the assistance of the author, by frederick hardman. in demy octavo, price s. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * russia and turkey. a french map of russia in europe, and turkey, comprising the baltic and black seas, with the adjacent countries, is now published. price s. in sheet, case s., per post d. additional. london: edward stanford, . charing cross, who will forward on application a list of maps of the seat of war. * * * * * baltic and black seas. the admiralty charts of these seas are now published. price, plain. s. d. each; in case, s. coloured, s. d.; case, s., per post d. additional. london: edward stanford, . charing cross, who will forward on application (gratis) a list of admiralty charts of the coasts and harbours of these seas. * * * * * danubian principalities. a map of this district, on the the scale of miles to the inch, prepared from the celebrated vienna map in sheets, is now published. price, in sheets coloured, s.; case or rollers, s. london: edward stanford, . charing cross; and all map and booksellers. * * * * * to ethnologists.--messrs. trÜbner & co. are preparing for immediate publication, in one volume, to., pp. profusely illustrated price l. s., gliddon's types of mankind; or ethnological researches, based upon the ancient monuments, paintings, sculptures, and crania of races, and upon their natural, geographical, philological, and biblical history. by j. c. nott, m.d., and g. r. gliddon, formerly u. s. consul at cairo. gentlemen desirous of becoming subscribers are requested to send their names in as early as possible. illustrated prospectus to be had on application. trÜbner & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * catalogues of vols. of second-hand books gratis, on application (post free for stamps). w. brough, . paradise street, birmingham. books of every description purchased. on sale:--grose's antiquities of england and wales, vols. folio, coloured plates, half russia, neat, clean, sound copy, l. s. d. clarendon's rebellion, vols. royal vo., calf, very neat, s. camden society's publications, vols., s. to s. per vol. sammes' britannia antiqua illustrata, curious engravings, folio, calf, s. boutell's monumental brasses, large paper copy, on drawing paper, folio, half morocco, cloth sides, perfectly clean, l., published at l. s. * * * * * cheap books of a miscellaneous character, including long articles on natural history, biography, &c., are to be seen in no. . of reeves & turner's catalogue of books. sent free on application to . chancery lane. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, april , ._ * * * * * notes. kennington common. before all traces be lost of kennington common, so soon to be distinguished by the euphonious epithet of _park_, let me put a query to some of your antiquarian readers in relation thereunto; and suffer me to make the query a peg, whereon to hang sundry and divers little notes. and pray let no one ridicule the idea that kennington has its antiquities; albeit that wherever you look, new buildings, new bricks and mortar, plaster and cement, will meet your eye; yet, does not the manor figure in _domesday book?_ is it not dignified by the stately name of _chenintune?_ was it not held by theodoric of king edward the confessor? and did it not, in times gone by, possess a royal residence? here, at a danish marriage, died hardi knute in . here, harold, son of earl godwin, who seized the crown after the death of the confessor, is said to have placed it on his own head. here, in , king henry iii. held his court, and passed a solemn and a stately christmas. and here, says matthew paris, was held a parliament in the succeeding year. hither, says good old stow, anno , came the duke of lancaster to escape the fury of the populace of london, on friday, february , the day following that on which wicliffe had been brought before the bishops at st. paul's. the duke was dining "with one john of ipres" when the news arrived, borne by a breathless messenger, that the people sought his life. when the duke "leapt so hastily from his oysters, that he hurt both his legges against the foarme: wine was offered to his oysters, but hee would not drinke for haste; he fledde with his fellowe syr henry percy, no man following them; and entring the thamis, neuer stinted rowing vntill they came to a house neere the manor of kenington (besides lambeth), where at that time the princesse was, with the young prince, before whom hee made his complaint." doubtless, lambeth marsh was then what its name imports. hither also came a deputation of the chiefest citizens to richard ii., june , , "before the old king was departed," "to accept him for their true and lawfull king and gouernor." but the royal residence was destroyed before . "the last of the long succession of royal tenants who inhabited the ancient site," says a writer in the _illustrated london news_ not long since (i have the cutting, but neglected to note the date of the paper), "was charles i., when prince of wales: his lodging, a house built upon a part of the site of the old palace, is the only existing vestige, as represented in the accompanying engraving (in the _illus. lond. news_), unless earlier remains are to be found in the lower parts of the interior." but i believe that the identity of the site of this ancient mansion (which is situated on the western side of lower kennington lane), with part of the site of the old palace, is not quite so certain as the writer appears to intimate. in , however, the manor gave the title of earl to william augustus, duke of cumberland, second son to george ii. kennington common acquired an unenviable notoriety from being the place of execution for malefactors tried in this part of the county. "after the suppression of the rebellion in scotland in , many of the insurgents having been convicted of treason at southwark, here suffered the sentence of the law" (dugdale's _england and wales_, p. .). "seventeen officers of the rebel army were hanged, drawn, and quartered" on this spot. (goldsmith's _history_, continued by morell, to., , vol. ii. p. .) "one of the last executions which took place on kennington common was that of seven men; three of whom belonged to a notorious gang of housebreakers, eighteen in number. these men kept shops, and lived in credit: of the three who were executed, one made over a sum of l. to a friend, previous to his trial. they confessed that the profits of their practices, for the five years past, had been upwards of l. a year to each. this was in the year ."--from a cutting, sent me by a friend, from the _sunday times'_ "answers to correspondents," march , . here too occurred the chartist meeting, on the memorable th of april, . now comes my query. was there ever a theatre on kennington common? in the _biographia dramatica_ of david erskine baker (edit. , vol. ii. p. .), we are told, that the "satyrical comical allegorical farce," _the mock preacher,_ published in vo. in , was "acted to a crowded audience at kennington common, and many other theatres, with the humours of the mob." was it acted in a booth, or in a permanent theatre? the words, "many other theatres," almost give one the impression that the latter is indicated. many more notes might be added, but i fear lest this paper should already be too local to interest general readers. suffice it to say, that clayton street, close to the common, takes its name from the clayton family; one member of which, sir robert clayton, was sometime master of the drapers' company, in whose hall a fine portrait of him is preserved. bowling green street derives its name from a bowling green which existed not very many years since. and white hart street from a field, which was so called certainly as early as . on the common was "a bridge called merton bridge, which formerly was repaired by the canons of merton { } abbey, who had lands for that purpose." (lysons' _environs_, edit. to., , vol. i. p. .) it is due to your readers to state, that the authorities for the statements made in the former part of this paper are these: lysons' _environs_, ut supra, vol. i. pp. . .; manning and bray's _surrey_, lond., , fol., vol. iii. pp. - .; stow, _annales_, edit. to., , pp. , .; and _bibl. top. brit._, to., , vol. ii. "history and antiq. of lambeth," p. . w. sparrow simpson. kennington. * * * * * life and death. i have thrown together a few parallel passages for your pages, which may prove acceptable. . "_to die is better than to live._" "i praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun."--_eccles._ iv. , . "great travail is created for every man, and a heavy yoke upon the sons of adam, from the day that they go out of their _mother's womb_, till the day that they return to the _mother of all things_."--_ecclus._ xl. .: cf. _esdr._ vii. , . "never to have been born, the wise man first would wish; and, next, as soon as born to die."--_anth. græc._(posidippus). in the affecting story of cleobis and biton, as related by herodotus, we read,-- "the _best end of life_ happened to them, and the deity showed in their case that _it is better for a man to die than to live_." [greek: diedexe te en toutoisi ho theos hôs ameinon eiê anthrôpôi tethanai mallon ê zôein.]--herod., [greek: kleiÔ]. i. . "as for all other living creatures, there is not one but, by a secret instinct of nature, knoweth his owne good and whereto he is made able.... man onely knoweth nothing unlesse hee be taught. he can neither speake nor goe, nor eat, otherwise than he is trained to it: and, to be short, apt and good at nothing he is naturally, but to pule and crie. and hereupon it is that some have been of this opinion, _that better it had been, and simply best, for a man never to have been born, or else speedily to die_."--pliny's _nat. hist._ by holland, intr. to b. vii. "_happy the mortal man_, who now at last has through this doleful vale of misery passed; who to his destined stage has carry'd on the tedious load, and laid his burden down; whom the cut brass or wounded marble shows victor o'er life, and all her train of woes. _he_, _happier yet_, who, privileged by fate to shorter labour and a lighter weight, received but yesterday the gift of breath, order'd to-morrow to return to death. but o! beyond description, _happiest he_ who ne'er must roll on life's tumultuous sea; who with bless'd freedom, from the general doom exempt, must never face the teeming womb, nor see the sun, nor sink into the tomb! who breathes must suffer; and who thinks must mourn; _and he alone is blessed who ne'er was born_."--prior's _solomon_, b. iii. the proverbs, "god takes those soonest whom he loveth best," and, "whom the gods love die young," have been already illustrated in "n. & q." (vol. iii., pp. . .). "i have learned from religion, that an early death has often been the reward of piety," said the emperor julian on his death-bed. (see gibbon, ch. xxiv.) . "_judge none blessed before his death_."[ ] "ante mortem ne laudes hominem," saith the son of sirach, xi. . of this sentiment st. chrysostom expresses his admiration, hom. li. in. s. eustath.; and heathen writers afford very close parallels: [greek: prin d' an teleutêsê epischeein mêde kaleein kô olbion all' eutuchea,] says solon to croesus (herod., [greek: kleiÔ.] i. .): cf. aristot., _eth. nic._ ch. x., for a comment on this passage. sophocles, in the last few lines of the _oedipus tyrannus_, thus draws the moral of his fearful tragedy: "[greek: hôste thnêton ont', ekeinên tÊn teleutaian idein] [greek: hÊmeran episkopounta, mêden' olbizein, prin an] [greek: terma tou biou perasêi, mêden algeinon pathôn.]" elmsley, on this passage, gives the following references: trach. i. soph. tereo, fr. .; ibid. tyndar. fr. .; agam., .; androm., .; troad., .; heracl., .; dionys. ap. stob., ciii. p. .; gesn., cv. p. .; grot. to which i may add the oft-quoted lines,-- "ultima semper expectanda dies, homini dicique beatus _ante obitum_ nemo supremaque funera debet." in farther illustration of this passage from ecclus., let us consider the _death of the righteous_. "let me die _the death_ of the righteous, and let my _last end_ be like his," exclaims the truth-compelled and reluctant prophet, numb. xxiii. . the royal psalmist, after reflecting on the prosperity of the wicked in this world, adds: "then thought i to understand this, but it was too hard for me, until i went into the sanctuary of god: then understood i the end of these men."--_ps._ lxxiii. and again: "i have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree; { } yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not; yea, i sought him, but he could not be found. mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for _the end_ of that man is _peace_."--_ps._ xxxvii. - .: cf. the prayer-book version. the prophet isaiah declares: "the righteous man is taken away because of the evil; _he shall go in peace_, he shall rest in his bed; even the perfect man, he that walketh in the straight path."--ch. lvii., bp. lowth's trans. "sure _the last end_ of the good man is peace! how calm his exit! night-dews fall not more gently to the ground, nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft. behold him! in the evening tide of life, a life well spent, whose early care it was his riper years should not upbraid his green: by unperceived degrees he wears away; yet, like the sun, seems larger at his setting! high in his faith and hopes, look how he reaches after the prize in view! and, like a bird that's hamper'd, struggles hard to get away! whilst the glad gates of sight are wide expanded to let new glories in, the first fair fruits of the fast-coming harvest."--blair's _grave_. "how blest the righteous when he dies! when sinks the weary soul to rest! how mildly beam the closing eyes! how gently heaves the expiring breast! "so fades the summer cloud away; so sinks the gale when storms are o'er; so gently shuts the eye of day; so dies a wave upon the shore. "life's duty done, as sinks the clay, light from its load the spirit flies; while heaven and earth combine to say, 'how blest the righteous when he dies!'"--_mrs. barbauld._ "an eve beautiful as the good man's quiet _end_, when all of earthly now is passed away, and heaven is in his face."--_love's trial._ "he sets as sets the morning star, which goes not down behind the darken'd west, nor hides obscured among the tempests of the sky, but melts away into the light of heaven." "as sweetly as a child, whom neither thought disturbs nor care encumbers, tired with long play, at close of summer's day lies down and slumbers." a holy life is the only preparation to a happy death, says bishop taylor. and we have seen how much importance even heathen minds attached to _peace at the last_. truly, as kettlewell said while expiring, "there is no _life_ like a happy _death_." "consider," says that excellent writer, norris of bemerton, "that _this_ life is wholly in order to _another_, and that _time_ is that sole opportunity that god has given us for transacting the great business of _eternity_: that our work is great, and our day of working short; much of which also is lost and rendered useless through the cloudiness and darkness of the morning, and the thick vapours and unwholesome fogs of the evening; the ignorance and inadvertency of youth, and the disease and infirmities of old age: that our portion of time is not only _short_ as to its duration, but also _uncertain_ in the possession: that the loss of it is irreparable to the loser, and profitable to nobody else: that it shall be severely accounted for at the great judgment, and lamented in a sad eternity."--"of the care and improvement of time," _miscel._, th edit., p. . eirionnach. [footnote : cf. sir thos. browne's _christian morals_, sect. ix.] * * * * * battle of trafalgar and death of nelson. the following unpublished letter, as a historical document, is worth preserving in the pages of "n. & q." it relates to the important national events of the battle of trafalgar and death of nelson. the writer was, at the time, a signal midshipman in the service, and only about thirteen years of age. he was a native of glasgow, and died many years since, much respected. h.m.s. defence, at anchor off cadiz, oct. . my dear betty [the writer's sister], i have now the pleasure of writing you, after a noble victory over the french and spanish fleets, on the st october, off cape spartel. we have taken, burnt and sunk, gone on shore, &c., twenty-one sail of the line. the names i will let [you] know after. on the [th] our frigates made the signal; the combined fleets were coming out; so as we were stationed between the frigate and our fleet, we repeated ditto to lord nelson. it being calm we could not make much way, but in the course of the night we got a strong breeze, and next morning our frigate made the signal for them, being all at sea. so on the afternoon of the [th] we saw them to leeward; but it was blowing fresh and very hazy, so lord nelson made our signal for a captain; so our captain went on board, and lord nelson told captain hope he expected he would keep sight of them all night. so on the morning of the st we observed them to leeward about two miles, so we made the signal to lord nelson how many the bearings, and everything; so brave nelson bore down immediately; and at twelve o'clock lord nelson broke the south^d line, and brave admiral collin[g]wood the north; and at two o'clock we were all in action. we were the last station'd ship; so when we went down we had two frenchmen and one spaniard on us at one time. we engag'd them forty-six minutes, when the "achille" and "polyphemus" came up to our assistance. the spaniard ran away; we gave him chase, and fought him { } one hour and forty-six minutes, when he struck, and we boarded him, and have him safe at anchor, as we have not had a good wind. i am sorry to say poor lord nelson was wounded the second broadside. he went down and got his wounds dress'd, and he was wound'd a second time, and he just lived to hear of the victory. the ship we took, her name is the "san ildifonzo," eighty-two guns, and a very fine ship, new. i don't think we will save more than twelve sail of them: but we have sunk, burnt, drove on shore, twenty-one sail of the line in all; and if we had not had a gale of wind next day we would have taken every one of them. we were riding close in shore with two anchors a-head, three cables on each bower, and all our sails were shot to pieces, ditto our rudder and stern, and mainmast, and everything; but, thank good, i am here safe, though there was more shot at my quarters than any other part of the ship. we are now at anchor, but expect to go to gibraltar every day. i hope in good you are all in health: i was never better in all my life. my comp^{ts} to all friends [&c. ...] and my dear father and mother. i am your affectionate brother, (signed) charles reid. you must excuse this letter, as half our hands are on board our prize, and have had no time. i have been two days writing this; five minutes one time and ten minutes another time, and so on. we are just getting under way for gibraltar. now for the french and spanish ships taken, burnt, run on shore, &c. &c.: bucentaure, , taken. french. santiss' trinidada, , sunk. spanish. santa, taken, but afterwards got into cadiz. rayo, , sunk. french. bahama, , taken. french. argonauta, , sunk and burnt. neptuna, , on shore. san ildifonzo, , taken by the defence. algazeras, , on shore; swiftsure, , gib.; berwick, , gib. all english ships taken by the french last war. intrepid, , burnt. aigle, , on shore. tonguer, , on shore [ms. uncertain]. de ..., , gibraltar [ditto]. argonauta, , gib. redoubtable, , sunk. achell, , burnt. manareo, , on shore. san augustino, , gibraltar. there is not one english ship lost, but a number lost their masts. (signed) c. r. the writer had a brother, andrew reid, who bore a commission in the ships of captain parry in the first arctic expedition. g. n. * * * * * heraldic anomaly. i beg to call the attention of the heraldic readers of "n. & q." to a singular custom of displaying their coats of arms, peculiar to the knights of st. john, of the venerable language of england. it is well known that the members of this valiant brotherhood, throughout europe, bear their paternal shield alone, surmounted, as the badge of their profession, with the particular device of the order, that is, on a chief, gules, a cross argent. the english knights, with their paternal coat, bore also, party-per-pale, that of their mothers, with the chief of the order over both, a strange heraldic anomaly! i have somewhere read, but where, for lack of a "note," i cannot recollect, that in making their proofs of nobility previous to their admission into the order, unlike the other languages, the cavalier of england gave in only the names of their father and mother, but at the same time it was requisite that these two names should be able to prove a nobility of two hundred years each. perhaps the custom of bearing the paternal shield impaled with the maternal sprung from these proofs. in the british museum, harl. mss. ., may be seen three examples of this custom, in a paper entitled, _a note of certain knights of rhodes_, "in prioratû sancti johannis jerusalem." . sir thomas docwra, grand prior of england, a.d. , a knight not more renowned as a valiant man-at-arms, "preux et hardi," than as a skilful diplomatist; and who, on the death of fabricio caretto, a.d. - , was thought worthy to be put in competition for the grand mastership with the celebrated villiers de l'isle adam, and, as vertot tells us, only lost that dignity by a very trifling majority. his paternal coat--sable, a cheveron engrailed argent, between three plates, on each a pale, gules--is impaled with that of his mother, alice, daughter of thomas green, of gressingham, in yorkshire; argent, a bugle-horn sable, stringed gules, between three griffins' heads, erased, of the second; over all, the chief of the order. . sir lancelot docwra, near kinsman to sir thomas, and son of robert docwra, of docwra-hall, in cumberland. his arms are impaled with--or, a cross flory sable--the coat armour of his mother, jane, daughter of sir john lamplugh, of lamplugh, in the same county; one "of a race," as denton says, "of valorous gentlemen, successively for their worthiness knighted in the field, all, or most part of them." the chief of the order also surmounts his shield. . the third is the shield of sir john randon; gules, a bend checquy or and azure, impaling argent, a frette, and on a chief, gules, three escallops of the field; over all, the chief of the order. { } if any readers of "n. & q." could furnish me with more examples, i should be much obliged. john o' the ford. malta. * * * * * folk lore. _three maids._--there is a spot on the road from winchester to andover called the "three maids." they are i believe nameless. tradition says that they poisoned their father, and were for that crime buried alive up to their necks. travellers passing by were ordered not to feed them; but one compassionate horseman as he rode along threw the core of an apple to one, on which she subsisted for three days. wonderful is it to state that three groups of firs sprung up miraculously from the graves of the three maids. thus their memories have been perpetuated. the peasantry of winchester and its neighbourhood for the most part accredit the story, and i see no reason for disbelieving the first part of it myself. does any one know of a like punishment being awarded in olden times, when the tender mercies of the law were cruel and arbitrary? _mother russel's post._--whilst i am on the subject of folk lore i may as well add, that on the road to kings sombourn, of educational renown, there is a spot where four roads meet. report says that a certain mother russel, who committed suicide, was buried there. a little girl in this village was afraid to pass the spot at night on account of the ghosts, which are supposed to haunt it in the hours of darkness. the rightful name of the place is "mother russel's post." eustace w. jacob. crawley. _shrove tuesday custom_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the shrove tuesday custom mentioned by mr. elliott as existing at leicester, and an account of which he quotes from hone's _year-book_, has been abolished within the last few years. there is, i believe, still a curious custom on that day at ludlow, the origin and meaning of which has never, so far as i am aware, been discovered and stated. "the corporation," i quote from a history of the town, "provide a rope, three inches in thickness, and in length thirty-six yards, which is given out at one of the windows of the market house as the clock strikes four, when a large body of the inhabitants, divided into two parties, commence an arduous struggle, and as soon as either party gains the victory by pulling the rope beyond the prescribed limits, the pulling ceases, &c. * * * * * "without doubt this singular custom is symbolical of some remarkable event, and a remnant of that ancient language of visible signs, which, says a celebrated writer, 'imperfectly supplies the want of letters to perpetuate the remembrance of public or private transactions.' the sign in this instance has survived the remembrance of the occurrence it was designed to represent, and remains a profound mystery. it has been insinuated that the real occasion of this custom is known to the corporation, but that, for some reason or other, they are tenacious of the secret." the local historian then mentions an "obscure tradition," but as it is not in agreement with my own opinion, i omit it. s. p. q. * * * * * stornello. verses, the rhymes of which return after the fashion of those printed in "n. & q." (vol. vi., p. ., and vol. vii., p. .), are commonly current among the peasants of tuscany, and in many instances form the materials of their popular songs. it is probable that this description of rhyme originated in the "bel paese la dove 'l si suona." they usually turn on a combination of _three_ words, as in those quoted in vol vii. of "n. & q." and the name _stornello_, as will be readily perceived, is derived from _tornare_, to return. i send you a specimen of one of them, which has a certain degree of historical interest attached to it, from its connexion with the movement of . it was difficult to walk through the streets of florence in those days without hearing it carolled forth by more than one florentine tyrtæus. _now_, i need hardly say, "we never mention it--its name is never heard." the patriot-flag was a _tricolor_ of white, red, and green, a nosegay of which colours a youth has brought to his mistress. she sings as follows: "e gli dirò che il verde, il rosso, il bianco gli stanno ben con una spada al fianco. e gli dirò che il bianco, il verde, il rosso, vuol dir che italia il duro giogo ha scosso. e gli dirò che il rosso, il bianco, il verde e un terno che si giuoca e non si perde." of which the following rough version may serve to give a sufficiently-accurate idea of the meaning, for the benefit of your "country gentlemen" readers: "and i'll tell him the green, and the red, and the white would look well by his side as a sword-knot so bright. and i'll tell him the white, and the green, and the red mean, our country has flung the vile yoke from her head. and i'll tell him the red, and the white, and the green is the prize that we play for, a prize that we'll win." "un terno che si giuoca" is a phrase which refers to the system of the public lotteries, { } established (so much to their shame) by the italian governments; and a page of explanation of that system would be needful, to make any literal translation of it intelligible to an english reader. in conclusion i may say, in reply to the query of henry h. breen, that the popes alluded to in the epigram cited by him as above referred to (vol. vi., p. .), seem evidently to have been julius ii. (rovere), leo x. (medici), clement vii. (medici), and paul iii. (farnese). and the epigram in question says no more than the truth, in asserting that they all four occasioned infinite mischief to france. t. a. t. florence. * * * * * minor notes. _perspective._--there is a very common error in drawing walls, the plane of which is parallel to the plane of the picture. an instance of it occurs in the façade of sennacherib's palace, layard's nd book on nineveh, frontispiece. all the horizontal lines in the plane of the picture are drawn parallel. the fact is, that every line above or below the line of the horizon, though _really_ parallel to it, _apparently_ approaches it, as it is produced to the right or left. the reason is obvious. one point in the wall, viz. that on which you let fall a perpendicular from your eye, is nearest to your eye. the perpendicular height of the wall, as drawn through this point, must therefore appear greater than as drawn through any other point more to the right or left. the lines which are really parallel do therefore apparently converge on some point more or less distant, according to the distance of the wall from your eye. every drawing in which this principle is not considered must, i think, appear out of perspective. g. t. hoare. tandridge. "_that._"--i lately met with the following grammatical puzzle among some old papers. i forget from what book i copied it many years ago. perhaps it may be new to some of your readers. "i'll prove the word that i have made my theme, is that that may be _doubled_ without blame, and that that that thus _trebled_ i may use, and that that that that critics may abuse, may be correct.--farther, the dons to bother, _five_ thats may closely follow one another-- for, be it known that we may safely write or say that that that that that man writ was right; nay, e'en that that that that that that has followed through _six_ repeats, the grammar's rule has hallowed, and that that that (that _that_ that that began), repeated _seven_ times is right! deny't who can." mcc. _corporation enactments._--in the town books of the corporation of youghal, co. cork, among other singular enactments of that body are two which will now be regarded as curiosities. in the years and , a cook and a barber received their freedom, on condition that they would respectively dress the mayor's feasts, and shave the corporation, gratis! abhba. _jacobite club._--the adherents of the stuarts are now nearly extinct; but i recollect a few years ago an old gentleman, in london, who was then upwards of eighty years of age, and who was a stanch jacobite. i have heard him say that, "when he was a young man, his father belonged to a society in aldersgate street, called the 'mourning bush;' and this bush was to be always in mourning until the stuarts were restored." a member of this society having been met in mourning when one of the reigning family had died, was asked by one of the members how it so happened? his reply was, that he was "not mourning for the dead, but for the living." the old gentleman was father of the mercers' company, and his brother of the stationers' company: they were bachelors, and citizens of the old school, hospitable, liberal, and charitable. an instance occurred, that the latter had a presentation to christ's hospital: he was applied to on behalf of a person who had a large family; but the father not being a freeman, he could not present it to the son. he immediately bought the freedom for the father, and gave the son the presentation! this is a rare act. the brothers have long gone to receive the reward of their goodness, and lie buried in the cemetery attached to mercers' hall, cheapside. james reed. sunderland. _dean nowell's first wife._--churton, in his _life of alexander nowell_, dean of st. paul's, p. ., is at a loss to know the name of the dean's first wife. he says: "of his first wife nothing farther is known but that he was married, either to her or to his second wife, in or before the year . his surviving wife, eliz. nowell, had been twice married before, and had children by both her former husbands. laurence ball appears to have been her first husband, and thomas blount her second." the pedigree of bowyer, in the _visitation of sussex_, in - , gives the name of the dean's first wife: "thomas = jane, da. and heir of = alexander nowell, bowyer robert merry, son dean of st. paul's. of london. of thomas merry nd husband." of hatfield. y. s. "_oxoniana._"--to your list of desirable reprints, i beg to add the very amusing work under this title, and originally published in four small { } volumes about fifty years since, and now become scarce. additions and corrections would add to the value and interest of a work which preserves many curious traits of past times and of oxford dons. alpha. _an epigram falsely ascribed to george herbert._--the recent editors of george herbert have printed as his, among his latin poems, the last two lines of the th epigram of martial's eighth book: "vero verius ergo quid sit, audi: verum, gallice, non libenter audis." j. e. b. mayor. _ingulph: bohn's "antiquarian library."_--will you kindly allow me to avail myself of your columns to correct an error in my translation of "ingulph," in bohn's _antiquarian library_? in the note to page , the abbey of _bardney,_ in lincolnshire, is confounded with _partney,_ which was one of its cells. the mistake was not observed till, unfortunately, the sheet had been printed; and it was accidentally omitted among the _errata_. my authority had, i rather think, been misled by camden. henry t. riley. . st. peter's square, hammersmith. * * * * * queries. quotations wanted. "quid levius calamo? pulvis. quid pulvere? ventus. quid vento? meretrix. quid meretrice? nihil." "what is lighter than a feather? dust. the wind more light than either. what is lighter than the wind? airy, fickle, womankind. what than womankind is lighter? nothing, nothing--but the writer." x. y. "the knights are dust, their good swords are rust, their souls are with the saint, we trust." c. m. o'caoimh. "circles are prized, not that abound in greatness, but the exactly round. thus men are honoured, who excel, not in high state, but doing well." g. c. h. "ill habits gather by unseen degrees, as brooks to rivers, rivers run to seas." s. "the clanging trumpet sounds to arms, and calls me forth to battle: our banners float 'midst war's alarms, the signal cannons rattle." t. w. "of whose omniscient and all-spreading love, aught to implore were impotence of mind." q. "he no longer shall dwell upon that dirty ball, but to heaven shall come, and make punch for us all." a septuagenarian. "sometimes, indeed, an acre's breadth half green, and half strewed o'er with rubbish, may be seen. when lo! a board, with quadrilateral grace, stands stiff in the phenomenon of space, proposing still the neighbourhood's increase, by, 'ground to let upon a building lease.'" h. w. "then what remains, but well our parts to chuse, and keep good humour whatsoe'er we lose." f. w. j. "bachelors of every station, listen to my true relation." also a ballad describing the visit of a countryman and his wife to oxford. both of berkshire origin. l. "a fellow feeling makes us wond'rous kind." w. v. "sir john once said a good thing." [greek: xanthos]. * * * * * sir edmund plowden. in your publication (vol. iv., p. .), one of your correspondents has given some interesting particulars relative to sir edmund plowden, new albion, &c., and expresses the hope that americans will hereafter do justice to the memory of one really deserving their respect. i am desirous of doing something to vindicate his memory and claims; and to this end should be greatly obliged if your correspondent would favour me with some additional facts. to get at these, i will put some of them in the interrogative form. when and where was sir edmund born? what is the evidence that he was in america from to ? if so, where (in what localities), and what capacity? he says that his sister married a son of secretary lake, _then_ in office; but lake was turned out several years before , and lord baltimore took his place, i think. nor was wentworth made earl of strafford till after the time of the petition. he is said to have served five years in ireland: in what capacity? who were viscount musherry, lord monson, sir thomas denby, (claiborne i know of), capt. balls; besides sir john laurence, sir bowyer { } worstley, barrett, &c.? where did these parties "die, in america," in ? is the _latin_ original of the character in existence? there is an omission in the bounds given in the paper referred to: can i get an extract from the original entry of limits? did the charter ever pass the _great seal_? would it be valid, if only passed under the private seal? can the date of the grant to danby be ascertained? are there any memoranda of plowden's six years' residence as governor of new albion (i have some of his residence in virginia)? can i get more definite facts about the misconduct of francis? the license for alienation, &c. is stated to have been obtained th of charles, ; but the th of charles was . when did he arrive to attend to his property, and when was he imprisoned in the fleet? who was beauchamp plantagenet, the author of the tract on _new albion_, published in ? who were robert evelin, captain young, and master miles, mentioned in that tract? can you give me any additional facts, _dates_ especially, of events and births, deaths, &c.? i know not into whose hands these queries will come; but i can say that, if they are answered, the cause of historic truth and justice will be served; and i shall have the aid i want towards correcting the misrepresentations and errors that have been accumulating for years on this point. s. f. streeter, sec. md. hist. soc. baltimore md., march , . p. s.--i should like to inquire, through your publication, if any one can give me the family of mr. claiborne; and any facts in his history not stated in our works? * * * * * ancient clock, and odevaere's history of it. as a portion of the history of the magnificent clock, which came into my possession last year, is connected with holland, i think it probable that i may, through the means of "n. & q." and the _navorscher_, be able to obtain the information respecting it which i desire. i shall therefore be very much obliged if you will give this communication a place. it will be necessary to give a brief description of the clock, so as to enable parties on the other side of the water to recognise and identify it. the clock, which is of copper richly gilt, and elaborately engraved, stands about four feet high, independent of the pedestal. it is of architectural design, and is divided into three stories, having detached columns at each corner. the two lower stories contain the dials in the front. the upper story exhibits the groups of moving silver figures, which strike the quarters, hours, and move in procession whilst a tune is played by a chime of bells. the whole is surmounted by a dome, on which is placed a silver cock, which flaps his wings and crows when the clock strikes. it was made by isaac hahrecht (the artist who made the great clock in the cathedral at strasburg), according to the inscription on it, in the year : and is evidently a model of that celebrated work condensed into a single tower, since it performs all the feats of that clock. its reputed history, as given in a printed account of it, is, that it was made for pope sixtus v., and was for more than two hundred years in the possession of the court of rome. it afterwards came into the possession of william i., king of the netherlands, who authorised odevaere the antiquary, now deceased, to investigate everything concerning it, and to give a description of it. what i should wish to know is, who was this odevaere, and where is his description of it to be found? with regard to the history of the clock, i should wish to know the authority for the statement of its having been made for the pope, when and how it came to leave the vatican; how it became the property of the king of holland; when and why it ceased to belong to the crown of holland; and under what circumstances it came over to this country, where it was exhibited in ? if any of the readers of "n. & q.," or the _navorscher_, can give me any information respecting it, i shall feel greatly obliged. octavius morgan. . pall mall. * * * * * minor queries. _spielberg, when built?_--when and by whom was the prison of spielberg, in moravia, built? has it been used exclusively as a state prison? m. j. s. _"ded. pavli."_--can you give me any information respecting a tract entitled-- "ded. pavli antiquarius, theologia, et contra perciocas thologo rvmætatis nostræ scholas philippi melanchthonis declamativncvla. et quædam alia lectv dignissima." f. coleman. . great st. helens. _mantelpiece: mantelshelf: mantelboard: mantell and brace._--what is the origin of this word, and whence came the thing? it must originally have had a use and a meaning, before it became a haven of rest for hyacinth-glasses, china monsters, bohemian glass vases, and a thousand nick-nacks and odds and ends of drawing-room { } furniture, as it _now_ is with us. it had, no doubt, some real work to do before it became what we are pleased to term _ornamental_. c. d. lamont. greenock. _passage in job._--the rev. moses margoliouth will much oblige the writer, and some of his friends, by giving in "n. & q." a literal translation of job xix. . the authorised version is: "and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh i shall see god." the marginal reference gives: "after i shall awake, though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall i see god." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _provincial glossaries._--in an article in the th volume of the _edinburgh review_, on the provincialisms of the european languages, the writer says: "there are some very copious early english vocabularies lying in manuscript in the cathedral libraries of durham, winchester, and canterbury; in the british museum, king's college, and other depositories, deserving collection." will any of your learned readers inform me of the dates of the mss. referred to, and by whom the collections were made? i would recommend them to the notice of the camden society. fra. mewburn. _chadderton of nuthurst, co. lancaster._--what crest did this family bear, and when did the family become extinct? j. b. _a marvellous combat of birds._--in the _phoenix britannicus_, by j. morgan, london, to., p. .[ ], there is an account of-- "the wonderful battle of stares (or starlings), fought at cork on saturday th, and monday th, october, ." and this narration relates, that on the sunday, october , the intervening day, the starlings absented themselves to fight at woolwich, in kent!! without vouching for the fact, or calling in question the prowess of this "irish brigade," i leave it to be confirmed or refuted by any reader of the "n. & q."--_comme bon lui semblera_. [greek: s]. p. s.--i would, _à propos_ to the above subject, thank any reader of your miscellany to point out to me a work by a m. hanhart (i believe is the name), which i think is upon _les moeurs des fourmis indigènes_, in which are given some particulars of regular conflicts between ants. i am not aware of the exact title of the book, but i have seen an account of it in some edinburgh periodical, if i am not mistaken. [footnote : at p. . of the same article is an account of the battle of the gnats, noticed by mr. e. w. jacob.--ed.] _battle of the gnats._--in reading stowe's _chronicles of england_, i hit upon the following passage recorded in the reign of king richard ii., p. .: "a fighting among gnats at the king's maner of _shine_, where they were so thicke gathered, that the ayre was darkned with them: they fought and made a great battaile. two partes of them being slayne, fel downe to the grounde; the thirde parte hauing got the victorie, flew away, no man knew whither. the number of the deade was such that might be swepte uppe with besomes, and bushels filled weyth them." this is a curious incident, and i have never heard of anything of the sort taking place in modern times. would some of your readers who study natural history be good enough to give me another instance? i am at present inclined to think that the account is one of the many myths which stow doubtless believed. eustace w. jacob. _sandford of thorpe salvine, co. york._--wanted, the arms and crest of the sandfords of thorpe salvine. also any particulars of the family, from the commencement of their residence at high ashes, in the parish of ashton-under-lyne, co. lancashire, until the termination of that residence. were they of the same family with sandford, baron mount sandford? j. b. "_outlines of the history of theology_," vo., london, , said to be privately printed. any information as to the author, &c. will oblige john martin. woburn abbey. _"mawkin."_--is this word, which signifies here "a scarecrow," merely a norfolk pronunciation of _mocking_? i. e. an imitation of a man--composed of coat, hat, &c. hung upon a cross bar of wood? j. l. s. _"plain dealer."_--can any one of your readers inform me where i can see a copy of aaron hill's _plain dealer_, as originally published, and before it was collected and printed in two volumes? d. _hymn attributed to handel._--can any of your readers give information concerning a hymn which commences thus: "we'll proclaim the wond'rous story of the mercies we receive, from the day-spring's dawn in glory, to the fading hour of eve." it has been attributed to handel. on what authority? w. p. storer. olney, bucks. { } _degrees in arts._--in the diploma of master of arts which i obtained from the university of edinburgh, occur the words: "cunctaque consecutum esse privilegia, immunitates, jura, quæ hic aut usquam alibi bonarum artium magistris concedi solent." what are (or rather _were_, for i suppose they do not now exist) these _privilegia_, _immunitates_, and _jura_? annandale. _"goloshes"--"kutchin-kutchu."_--what is the origin of _goloshes_, as the name of water-proof shoes? it is, of course, of american derivation. but has it any connexion with the tribe of north american indians, the goloshes? they are the immediate neighbours of those tribes of esquimaux who form water-proof boats and dresses from the entrails of the seal; and a confusion of names may easily have occurred. the expedition of sir john richardson to the arctic shores, which suggests the above query, also gives rise to another. did any of your readers ever amuse themselves, as children, by performing the dance known as _kutchin kutchu_-ing; which consists in jumping about with the legs bent in a sitting posture? if so, have they not been struck with a philological mania, on seeing his picture of the kutchin-kutcha indians dancing; in which the principal performer is actually figuring in the midst of the wild circle in the way described. is not the nursery term something more than a mere coincidence? seleucus. _cornwalls of london._--perhaps some reader of "n. & q." may be able to inform me what were the arms, crest, and motto of the cornwalls of london? one of the family, john cornwall, was a director of the bank of england in . f. c. beverley. _flasks for wine-bottles._--when, and under what circumstances, did the common use of flasks in this country, for holding wine, go out? hogarth died in , and in none of his pictures, i believe, is the wine-bottle, in its present shape, to be seen. on the other hand, i have never found any person able to remember the use of flasks, or indeed any other than the wine-bottle in its present shape. the change must have been rapidly effected between and . of course i am aware that certain wines, greek, i believe, are still imported in flasks. henry t. riley. _froxhalmi, prolectricus, phytacus, tuleus, candos, gracianus, and tounu or tonnu._--can any of your correspondents suggest the meaning of these words, or either them? they are not in the recent paris edition of ducange. henry t. riley. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _postmaster at merton college._--can you tell me whether there is any known derivation for the term "postmaster," as applied to part of the members on the foundation of merton college, oxford? also, what connexion there is between this word and the latin for it, which is seen on the college plate, in the words "in usum portionistarum?" j. g. t. ch. ch. [it seems probable that these postmasters formerly occupied one of the postern gates of the college. hence we find anthony à wood, in his life, august , , says, "a fine of _li._ was set by the warden and fellowes of merton college. when his father renewed his lease of the old stone-house, wherein his son a. wood was borne (called antiently portionists' or postmasters' hall), for forty yeares," &c. again, april , : "a meeting of the warden and fellowes of merton college, where the renewing of the leases belonging to the family, concerning the housing (portionists' hall and its appurtenances) against merton college, was by them proposed." fuller, in his _church hist._, book iii. cent. xiii. sect. ., has given the origin of postmasters. "there is," says he, "a by-foundation in merton college, a kind of college in the college, and this tradition goeth of their original:--anciently there was, over against merton college, a small unendowed hall, whose scholars had so run in arrears, that their opposite neighbours, out of charity, took them into their college (then but nine in number) to wait on the fellows. but since, they are freed from any attendance, and endowed with plentiful maintenance.... bishop jewel was a postmaster, before removed hence to be fellow of corpus christi." consult also oxoniana, vol. ii. pp. - . the _portionistæ_, or postmasters, did not reside in the college till the latter end of the reign of queen elizabeth, but in a hall opposite to it, which had been provided for the use of the college by peter de habinton, or habendon, the first warden. it afterwards became the property of the father of anthony à wood, and beneath its roof that distinguished antiquary was born, december , . the second brother of anthony became one of the postmasters of merton college.] _"lyra apostolica."_--can you inform me who were the writers in the _lyra apostolica_ who assumed the letters [alpha], [beta], [gamma], [delta], [epsilon], [zeta]? tyro. [we have heard the initials attributed to the following writers:--[alpha], bowden; [beta], r. h. froude; [gamma], john keble; [delta], j. h. newman; [epsilon], isaac williams; [zeta], wilberforce.] _east dereham manor._--is it true that "the manor of east dereham of the queen" was wrested from the see of ely by queen elizabeth's celebrated threat of "unfrocking?" s. z. z. s. [the memorable unique epistle from the maiden majesty of england only deprived dr. cox, at that time, of his town-house and fair gardens, called ely { } place, on holborn hill, reserving to himself and his successors free access, through the gate-house, of walking in the garden, and leave to gather twenty bushels of roses yearly therein! during the life of dr. cox an attempt was made by elizabeth on some of the best manors belonging to the see of ely; but it was not till that of his successor, dr. martin heton, that dereham grange, with other manors, were alienated to the crown. see dugdale's _monasticon_, vol. i. p. .] _quakers executed in north america._--were there not several quakers hanged in north america on account of their religious opinions? and can you inform me where an account of the circumstances attending this persecution (if there ever was such an one) can be found? alfred conder. [three quakers were executed at boston in , viz. william robinson, merchant of london; marmaduke stevenson of yorkshire; and mary dyar. an account of the cruelties inflicted upon them is given in sewell's _history of the quakers_, edit. , pp. - .; also in a pamphlet entitled _a declaration of the sad and great persecution and martyrdom of the people of god, called quakers, in new england, for the worshipping of god_: london, printed for robert wilson, in martin's-le-grand, . it will be found among the king's pamphlets in the british museum.] _inscription in fulham church._--i should esteem it a favour if any one of your numerous correspondents would furnish me with a correct copy of the inscription to the memory of the son of colonel wm. carlos, who so nobly defended charles ii. at the battle of worcester. j. b. whitborne. ["here lieth william carlos of stafford, who departed this life, in the twenty-fifth yeare of his age, the th day of may, . 'tis not bare names that noble fathers give to worthy sonnes: though dead, in them they live; for in his progeny, 'tis heaven's decree, man only can on earth immortall bee; but heaven gives soules w^h grace doth sometymes bend early to god their rice and soveraigne end. thus, whilst that earth, concern'd, did hope to see thy noble father living still in thee, careless of earth, to heaven thou didst aspire, and we on earth, carlos in thee desire." arms: an oak on a fesse, three regal crowns.] _hero of the "spanish lady's love."_--was sir john bolle, of thorpe hall, near louth, the hero of the _spanish lady's love_? the bolle pedigree is in illingworth's _history of scampton_. s. z. z. s. [according to ormerod's _cheshire_, vol. iii. p. ., sir urian legh, of adlington, disputes the fact of being the hero of that romantic affair. "sir urian legh was knighted by the earl of essex at the siege of cadiz, and during that expedition is traditionally said to have been engaged in an adventure which gave rise to the well-known ballad of 'the spanish lady's love.' a fine original portrait of sir urian, in a spanish dress, is preserved at bramall, which has been copied for the family at adlington." so that between these two chivalrous knights it is difficult to decide which is the famed gallant. from the care exercised by mr. illingworth in collecting all the anecdotes and notices of the bolle family, the presumptive evidence seems to favour his hero.] _"bothy."_--in the march number of _blackwood's magazine_, , the word "bothy" is frequently used in an article called "news from the farm." will some one of your numerous correspondents give me a little account of "the bothy system?" f. m. middleton. [a bothy is a cottage or hut where labouring servants are lodged, and is sometimes built of wood, as we read in the _jacobite relics_, ii. .: "fare thee well, my native cot, _bothy_ of the birken tree! sair the heart, and hard the lot, o' the lad that parts wi' thee." bothies, or detached houses, in which the unmarried farm-servants sleep and prepare their victuals, and of which there is a considerable number in perthshire, though convenient and beneficial in some respects, have not, certainly, contributed to the formation of virtuous habits. these servants are often migratory, removing frequently at the expiration of the year, according as humour or caprice may dictate, and, like birds of passage, taking their departure to other lands.] _"children in the wood."_--was weyland wood in norfolk the scene of the "children in the wood?" s. z. z. s. [the following account of this tradition is given in _beauties of england and wales_, vol. xi. p. ., norfolk:--"near the town of watton is weyland wood, vulgarly called _wailing_ wood, from a tradition that two infants were basely murdered in it by their uncle; and which furnished the story of a beautifully pathetic and well-known ancient ballad, entitled "the children in the wood, or the norfolk gentleman's last will and testament," preserved in percy's _reliques_.] * * * * * replies. brydone the tourist. (vol. ix., pp. . .) in reply to h. r. nÉe f., i beg to state that the writer of the remarks alluded to, on brydone's _tour in sicily and malta_, was the rev. robert finch, m.a., formerly of balliol college in this university, and who died about the year . when i met with mr. finch's honest and somewhat blunt expression of opinion, recorded in a { } copy which once belonged to him, of brydone's _tour_, i was quite ignorant of the hostile criticisms that had appeared at different times on that once popular work; but knowing mr. finch's high character for scholarship, and a knowledge of italy, i thought his remark worth sending to a publication intended, like "n. & q.," as "a medium of intercommunication for literary men, antiquaries," &c., who are well able to examine a note of the kind; and either to accept it as valid, or to reject it as untenable. on referring now to some standard works, in order to discover the opinions of learned men respecting mr. brydone's _tour_, the first work i looked into was the _biographie universelle_ (in eighty-three volumes, and not yet completed, paris, - ), in vol. lix. of which the following observations occur, under the name of brydone (patrice): "on lui a reproché d'avoir sacrifié la vérité au plaisir de raconter des choses piquantes. on l'avait accusé aussi d'avoir, par son indiscretion, suscité à l'abbé recupero, chanoine de catane, une persécution de la part de son évêque. cette indiscretion n'eut pas heureusement un résultat aussi facheux; mais ses erreurs sur plusieurs points sont évidentes; il donne toises de hauteur à l'etna qui n'en a que ; il commet d'autres fautes qui ont été relevées par les voyageurs venus après lui. bartels (_briefe über kalabrien und sicilien_, te auflage, bd., vo., götting. - ) est même persuadé que le voyage au sommet de l'etna, chef-d'oeuvre de narration, n'est qu'un roman, et cet avis est partagé par d'autres." göthe says (_werke_, band xxviii. pp. , .: stuttgart, ) that when he inquired at catania respecting the best method of ascending mount etna, chevalier gioeni, the professor of natural history there, gave him the following advice and information: "als wir den ritter um die mittel befragten wie man sich benehmen müsse um den aetna zu besteigen, wollte er von einer wagniss nach dem gipfel, besonders in der gegenwärtigen jahreszeit gar nichts hören. ueberhaupt, sagte er, nachdem er uns um verzeihung gebeten, die hier ankommenden fremden sehen die sache für allzuleicht an; wir andern nachbarn des berges sind schon zufrieden, wenn wir ein paarmal in unserm leben die beste gelegenheit abgepasst und den gipfel erreicht haben. brydone, der zuerst durch seine beschreibung die lust nach diesem feuergipfel entzündet, ist gar nicht hinauf gekommen." from these quotations it is evident, that mr. finch was not singular in the belief he entertained; and certainly the scepticism of men so eminent as professor gioeni, dr. barthels, and messrs. eyriès and parisot (the french writers whose names are attached to the memoir in the _biog. univ._), must be grounded on reasons deserving of attention. an ordinary reader of brydone would accept the account of his ascent with implicit confidence; but when veteran professors, scientific men, and experienced travellers and scholars refuse to believe that he reached the summit of etna, the most probable mode of accounting for their incredulity is, perhaps to suppose, that in their opinion he had mistaken some other part of the mountain for the real summit. not having met with any detail of their reasons for disbelief, i am only able to state their bare assertion. in my opinion, the beautifully glowing and poetical description of the magic scene beheld by brydone from the mountain--a description, the perusal of which, in youth, remains for ever after imprinted on the memory, like a passage from addison or gibbon, could only have been written by an actual spectator. john macray. oxford. * * * * * "the red cow"--cromwell's carriages, etc. (vol. ix., p. .) i have known "the red cow," at the top of granham hill, near marlborough, for fifty years, but do not recollect ever to have heard of any particular origin for the sign. the old carriages at manton were built about a century and a half ago, perhaps not so much, for one of the baskerville family, on the occasion of his being sheriff of the county to which he belonged, probably wilts or hereford. there are two of them: one a square coach, and the other a very high phaeton. the baskerville arms--ar. a chevron gu. between three hurts, impaling, quarterly, one and four, or, a cross moline az, two and three, gu. a chevron ar. between three mallets or--are painted on the panels. as i have no ordinary of arms at hand, i cannot ascribe this impalement; but will trust to some more learned herald among your correspondents to determine who the lady was? when her name, perhaps moleyns or molyneaux, is ascertained, reference to a baskerville pedigree would probably determine the husband, and the precise date of the carriages, which could not have belonged to the protector. o. cromwell's arms were, sable, a lion rampant ar. there were also two families styled williams _alias_ cromwell: one of which bore, gu. three cheverons ar. between as many lions rampant or; the other, sa. a lion rampant ar., the same as oliver's coat, and probably derived by him from the williams family. i have wandered from "the red cow," but i will not omit to hazard an idea for the consideration of glywysydd. marlborough has changed its armorial bearings several times; but the present coat, containing a white bull, was granted by harvey, clarenceux in a.d. . cromwell was attached to cowbridge and its cow by family { } descent; so he was to marlborough by congeniality of sentiment with the burghers. query, whether, in affection to the latter, he granted to the town a new coat, some such as the following: gules, a bull passant argent, armed or, impaling a cow passant regardant gules: and so might originate "the red cow" upon granham hill. history is entirely silent upon this point; but if such a combination were ever given to marlborough, it is quite certain that harvey's grant was resumed at the restoration. i have quite forgotten to remark, that there is a suburb at marlborough called cowbridge--a fact which seems to strengthen my hypothesis. a cow may be borne by some name, but at present i only recollect that of vach: to which is accorded, ar. three cows' heads erased sable. bulls and oxen occur frequently; as in fitz-geffrey, cowley, bull, oxley, oxcliffe, oxendon, &c. bulls' heads belong to the families of bullock, hillesdon, fleming, barbor, frend, gornay, bullman, and williams, a baronet, &c. patonce. * * * * * fox-hunting. (vol. viii., p. .) as no answer to the query on "fox-hunting" has yet appeared in "n. & q.," i venture to send the following extracts from an article in the _quarterly review_, march , on "the management of hounds and horses," by nimrod. it appears that "the first public notice of fox-hunting" occurs in the reign of richard ii., who gave permission to the abbot of peterborough to hunt the fox: "in twice's _treatise on the craft of hunting_, reynard is thus classed: 'and for to sette young hunterys in the way to venery, i cast me fyrst to go; of which four bestes be, that is to say, the hare, the herte, the wulf, and the wild boar: but there ben other bestes, five of the chase, the buck the first, the seconde is the do; the _fox_ the third, which hath hard grace, the ferthe the martyn, and the last the roe.' "it is indeed quite apparent, that until at most a hundred and fifty years ago, the fox was considered as an inferior animal of the chase; the stag, buck, and even hare, ranking before him. previously to that period, he was generally taken in nets or hays, set on the outside of his earth: when he _was_ hunted, it was among rocks and crags, or woods inaccessible to horseman: such a scene in short, or nearly so, as we have drawn to the life in dandie dinmont's primitive _chasse_ in _guy mannering_. it is difficult to determine when the first regularly appointed pack of hounds appeared among us. dan chaucer gives the thing in _embryo_: 'aha, the fox! and after him they ran; and eke with staves many another man. ran coll our dogge, and talbot, and gerlond, and malkin with her distaff in her hond. ran cow and calf, and eke the very hogges, so fered were for the barking of the dogges, and shouting of the men and women eke, they ronnen so, hem thought her hertes brake.' "at the next stage, no doubt, neighbouring farmers kept one or two hounds each; and, on stated days, met for the purpose of destroying a fox that had been doing damage to their poultry yards. by and bye, a few couple of strong hounds seem to have been kept by the small country esquires or yeomen who could afford the expense, and they joined packs. such were called _trencher_ hounds, implying that they ran loose about the house, and were not confined in kennel." these are but short extracts, but they comprise the whole of what is said on the first origin of fox-hunting. the rest of the article treats of the quality and breed of horses and hounds. frederick m. middleton. * * * * * weather rules. (vol. viii., pp. . .) _st. vincent's day, jan. ._--in brand's _popular antiquities_, bohn's edition, vol. i. p. ., is to be found the following notice of this day: "mr. douce's manuscript notes say: 'vincenti festo si sol radiet, memor esto;' thus englished by abraham fleming: 'remember on st vincent's day, if that the sun his beams display.' "[dr. foster is at a loss to account for the origin of this command, &c.]" it is probable that the concluding part of the precept has been lost; but a curious old manuscript, which fell into my hands some years since, seems to supply the deficiency. the manuscript in question is a sort of household book, kept by a family of small landed proprietors in the island of guernsey between the years and . it contains memoranda, copies of wills, settlements of accounts, recipes, scraps of songs and parts of hymns and prayers; some romanist, some anglican, some of the reformed church in france. among the scraps of poetry i find the following rhymes on st. vincent's day; the first three lines of which are evidently a translation of the latin verse above quoted, the last containing the to be remembered: "prens garde au jour st. vincent, car sy ce jour tu vois et sent que le soleil soiet cler et biau, nous érons du vin plus que d'eau." these lines follow immediately after the rhymed prognostications to be drawn from the state of the weather on st. paul's day, jan. . as these { } verses differ from those quoted in brand, from an _almanack_ printed at basle in , i here give the guernsey copy: "je te donneray ugne doctryne qui te vauldra d'or ugne myne; et sordement sur moy te fonde, car je dure autant que ce monde: et sy te veulx byen advertir et que je ne veulx point mentir. de mortaylle guerre ou chertey, [a line appears to be lost here] si le jour st. paul le convers se trouve byaucob descouvert, l'on aura pour celle sayson du bled et du foyn à foyson; et sy se jour fait vant sur terre, ce nous synyfye guerre; s'yl pleut ou nège sans fallir le chier tans nous doet asalir; si de nyelle faict, brunes ou brouillars, selon le dyt de nos vyellars, mortalitey nous est ouverte." another line appears to be omitted here; then follow immediately the lines on st. vincent's day. edgar macculloch. guernsey. the following is copied from an old manuscript collection of curiosities in my possession. i should be glad to know the author's name, and that of the book[ ] from which it is taken:-- "_observations on remarkable days, to know how the whole year will succeed in weather, plenty, &c._ "if it be lowering or wet on childermas or innocence day, it threatens scarcity and mortality among the weaker sort of young people; but if the day be very fair, it promiseth plenty. "if new year's day, in the morning, open with dusky red clouds, it denotes strifes and debates among great ones, and many robberies to happen that year. "it is remarkable on shrove tuesday, that as the sun shine little or much on that day, or as other weather happens, so shall every day participate more or less of such weather till the end of lent. "if the sun shines clear on palm sunday, or easter day, or either of them, there will be great store of fair weather, plenty of corn, and other fruits of the earth. "if it rains on ascension day, though never so little, it foretells a scarcity to ensue that year, and sickness particularly among cattle; but if it be fair and pleasant, then to the contrary, and pleasant weather mostly till michaelmas. "if it happen to rain on whitsunday, much thunder and lightning will follow, blasts, mildews, &c. but if it be fair, great plenty of corn. "if midsummer day be never so little rainy, the hazel and walnut will be scarce, corn smitten in many places; but apples, pear and plums will not be hurt. "if on st. swithin's day it proves fair, a temperate winter will follow; but if rainy, stormy, or windy, then the contrary. "if st. bartholomew day be misty, the morning beginning with a hoar frost, then cold weather will soon ensue, and a sharp winter attended with many biting frosts. "if michaelmas day be fair, the sun will shine much in the winter; though the wind at north-east will frequently reign long, and be very sharp, and nipping." ruby. [footnote : _the shepherd's kalendar_, by thomas passenger. see "n. & q." vol. viii., p. ., where many of his observations are quoted.--ed.] * * * * * bingham's antiquities. (vol. ix., p. .) i beg to send to your correspondent mr. richard bingham the following replies to his seven queries. . if there be any use in verifying so slight a verbal reference to panormitan, one of whose huge folios, venet. , i have examined in vain, perhaps the object might be attained by the assistance of such a book as thomassin's _vetus et nova ecclesiæ disciplina_, in the chapter "de episcopis titularibus," tom. i. . bishop bale's description of the monks of bangor is to be found in his _scriptor. britann. catal._ compare richard broughton's _true memorial of the ancient state of great britain_, pp. . , ed. an. . . i should think in his _colloquies_, and most probably in the _peregrinatio religionis ergo_. erasmus, in his _modus orandi deum_, also observes that "quidam in concionibus implorant opem virginis," and condemns the "vestigia veteris paganismi." (sigg. _u_ and _s_ , basil, .) . respecting the existence of what is called the epistle of st. athanasius to eustathius, cardinal bona was right and bingham in error. vide st. athan., _opp._ ii. , ed. bened. . bingham was seriously astray in consequence of his misunderstanding bona, who does not by any means refer to pamelius, but to the anonymous author of the _antiquitatum liturgicarum syntagma_, who is believed to have been florentius vanderhaer. if pamelius is to be introduced at all, the reference in bingham should be, not to "tom. iii. p. .," but to i. - . i would remark too that, in the heading of one of the extracts subjoined, "ex vita ambrosiana," should be "ex ritu ambrosiano." . joannes semeca did not flourish a.d. , but died in . suicer wrongly refers to "dist. iv. cap. iv.," and harding, more inaccurately, to "dist. iv. _can._ iv." (bp. jewel's _works_, { } ed. jelf, i. .) cap. xxviii. is the one intended, and there is no corruption whatsoever. . joseph bingham was only closely following barrow. the first edition of de la bigne's _bibliotheca patrum_, tom. i., also has the evidently senseless reading, "ista quidam _ego_," instead of "_nego_," about which see comber's _roman forgeries_, ii. . for mss. of the epistles of pope symmachus, your correspondent may consult the carmelite lud. jacob à s. carolo's _bibliotheca pontifica_, p. .; or, much more successfully, de montfaucon's _bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptorum_, paris, . r. g. should mr. richard bingham not yet have verified the reference to erasmus, i beg to furnish him with the means of doing so but i am tolerably certain that i recollect having met with another place in which this admirable writer more fully censures those preachers of his church who, at the commencement of their sermons, called upon the virgin mary for assistance, in a manner somewhat similar to that in which heathen poets used to invoke the muses. the following passage, however, may be quite sufficient for your correspondent's purpose: "sed si est fons gratiæ, quid opus est illi dicere ora pro nobis? non est probabile eam consuetudinem à gravibus viris inductam, sed ab inepto quopiam, qui, quòd didicerat apud poëtas propositioni succedere invocationem, pro musa supposuit mariam."--des. erasmi roterod. _apologia adversus rhapsodias calumniosarum querimoniarum alberti pii, quondam carporum principis_, p. . basil. in off. froben. . r. g. * * * * * ancient tenure of lands. (vol. ix., p. .) about the close of the tenth century (and perhaps much earlier) there began to arise two distinct modes of holding or possessing land: the one a _feud_, _i.e._ a stipendiary estate; the other _allodium_, the phrase applied to that species of property which had become vested by allotment in the conquerors of the country. the stipendiary held of a superior; the allodialist of no one, but enjoyed his land as free and independent property. the interest of the stipendiary did not originally extend beyond his own life, but in course of time it acquired an hereditary character which led to the practice of subinfeudation; for the stipendiary or feudatory, considering himself as substantially the owner, began to imitate the example of his lord by carving out portions of the feud to be held of himself by some other person, on the terms and conditions similar to those of the original grant. here b. must be looked upon as only vassal to a., his superior or lord; and although feuds did not originally extend beyond the life of the first vassal, yet in process of time they were extended to his heirs, so that when the feudatory died, his male descendants were admitted to the succession, and in default of them, then such of his male collateral kindred as were of the blood of the first feudatory, but no others; therefore, in default of these, it would consequently revert to a., who had a reversionary interest in the feud capable of taking effect as soon as b.'s interest should determine. if the subinfeudatory lord alienated, it would operate as a forfeiture to the person in immediate reversion. w. t. t. as a very brief reply to the queries of j. b., permit me to make the following observations. the queen is lady paramount of all the lands in england; every estate in land being holden, immediately or mediately, of the crown. this doctrine was settled shortly after the norman conquest, and is still an axiom of law. until the statute _quia emptores_, edw. i., a tenant in fee simple might grant lands to be holden by the grantee and his heirs _of the grantor and his heirs_, subject to feudal services and to escheat; and by such subinfeudation manors were created. the above-named statute forbade the future subinfeudation of lands, and consequently hindered the further creation of manors. since the statute a seller of the fee can but transfer his tenure. there are instances in which one manor is holden of another, both having been created before the statute. in the instance mentioned by j. b. it is presumed that the hamlet escheated to the heirs of a. on failure of the heirs of b. (see the statute _de donis conditionalibus_, edw. i.) it is not, and never was, necessary, or even possible, that the lord of a manor should be the owner of all the lands therein; on the contrary, if he were, there would be no manor; for a manor cannot subsist without a court baron, and there can be no such court unless there are _freehold_ tenants (at least two in number) holding of the lord. the land retained by the lord consists of his own demesne and the wastes, which last comprise the highways and commons. if the lord should alienate all the lands, but retain his lordship, the latter becomes a _seignory in gross_. such was and is the tenure of lands in england, so far as concerns the queries of j. b. he will find the subject lucidly explained at great length in the second volume of blackstone's _commentaries_. i. ctus. lincoln's inn. i think that j. b. will find in blackstone, or any elementary book on the law of real property, all the information which he requires. the case which he puts was, i suppose, the common case { } of subinfeudation before the statute of _quia emptores_, edw. i. a., the feoffor, reserved to himself no estate or reversion in the land, but the seignory only, with the rent and services, by virtue of which he might again become entitled to the land by escheat, as for want of heirs of the feoffee, or by forfeiture, as for felony. if the feoffment were in tail, the land would then, as now, revert on failure of issue, unless the entail had been previously barred. the right of alienation was gradually acquired; the above statute of _quia emptores_ was the most important enactment in that behalf. with this exception, and the right to devise and to bar entails, the lords of manors have the same interest in the land held by freeholders of the manor that they had in times of subinfeudation. (blackstone's _comm._, vol. ii. ch. ., may be carefully consulted.) h. p. lincoln's inn. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _spots on collodion pictures, &c._--the principal difficulty i experience in the collodion process is occasioned by the appearance of numberless very minute spots or points over the whole extent of the picture. these occurring on the whites of my pictures (positives) give them a rough, rubbed, appearance and want of _density_, which i should feel obliged if any of your correspondents can teach me how to overcome. one of your photographic querists inquires the remedy for his calotype negatives darkening all over before the minor details are brought out. i had for a long time been troubled in the same way, but by diminishing the aperture of my three-inch lens to half an inch, and reducing the strength of my sensitising solution to that given by dr. diamond, and, in addition, by developing with gallic acid alone until the picture became tolerably distinct in all its parts, and then applying the gallo-nitrate, i have quite succeeded in obtaining first-rate negatives. it is well to prepare only a small quantity of aceto-nitrate at once, as the acetic acid is of a sufficiently volatile nature to escape from the solution, which is a not unfrequent cause of the general darkening of the picture. it would be well to substitute a more fixed acid for the acetic if this be practicable, as it is in the collodion process, where tartaric is recommended. h. c. cowley. devizes, wilts. _the double iodide solution._--the great difference in the quantity of iodide of potassium ordered by different persons, to dissolve a given weight of iodide of silver in a given volume of water, has induced me to make some experiments on the subject. i find that using pure nitrate of silver, and perfectly pure iodide of potassium (part of a parcel for which mr. arnold, who manufactures iodine on a large scale in this island, got a medal at the exhibition of ), the quantity of iodide of potassium required varies, _cæteris paribus_, to the extent of per cent., with the quantity of water added to the iodide of silver before adding the iodide of potassium; the minimum required being when the two salts act on each other in as dry a form as possible. take the precipitate of iodide of silver, got by decomposing grains of nitrate of silver with . grains of iodide of potassium; drain off the last water completely, so that the precipitate occupies not more than five or six drachms by measure; throw on it grains of iodide of potassium; rapid solution ensues; when perfectly clear, add water up to four ounces: the solution remains unclouded. but if two or three ounces of water had been first poured on the iodide of silver, grains, as i stated in my former paper, would have been required, and perhaps . the _rationale_ is, i suppose, that in a concentrated form the salts act on each other with greater energy, and a smaller quantity of the solvent is required than if it is diluted. many analogous cases occur in chemistry. i hope this little experiment will be useful to others, as a saving of per cent. on the iodide of potassium is gained. as a large body of precipitated iodide of silver can be more completely drained than a smaller quantity, in practice it will be found that small precipitates require a few grains more than i have stated: thus, throw on the precipitate of iodide of silver (got from grains of nitrate), drained dry, grains of iodide of potassium; solution rapidly ensues, which, being made up to six ounces, the whole remains perfectly clear; whereas the iodide of silver thrown down from grains of nitrate, similarly treated with grains of iodide of potassium, and made up to two ounces (the proportional quantities), will probably require or grains more of iodide to effect perfect solution, the reason being that it contained a greater quantity of water _pro ratâ_ than the first. the following table, showing the exact quantities of iodide of potassium required to decompose , , and grains of nitrate of silver, the resulting weight of iodide of silver, and the weight of iodide of potassium to make a clear solution up to , , and ounces, will often be found useful: _grs._ _grs._ _grs._ nitrate of silver iodide of potassium . . . iodide of silver . . . iodide of potassium water up to oz. oz. oz. t. l. mansell, a.b., m.d. guernsey. _mounting photographs_ (vol. ix., p. .).--j. l. s. will find the "indian-rubber glue," which is sold in tin cases, the simplest and cleanest substance for mounting positives; it also possesses the advantage of being free from the attacks of insects. seleucus. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _books on bells_ (vol. ix., p. .).--add to mr. ellacombe's curious list of books on bells the following: "duo vota consultiva, unum de campanis, alterum de coemeteriis. in quibus de utriusque antiquitate, { } consecratione, usu et effectibus plenè agitur, pluraque scitu dignissima ad propositi casus, aliorumque in praxi, hac de re occurrentium decisionem, non injucunde adducuntur. auctore d. augustino barbosa, protonotario apostolico, eminentissimorum dd. cardinalium sacræ congregationis indicis consultore, abbate de mentrestido, ac insignis ecclesiæ vimarensis thesaurario majore." [ to., no place nor date.] i have here given the full title of a pamphlet of pages, exclusive of title, which i purchased about twenty years since of rodd, the honourable and intelligent bookseller of great newport street. it came from the library of professor j. f. vandevelde of louvaine. some former possessor has written before the title, "quamvis tantum libellus tamen rarissimus," and it is, perhaps, the only copy in this country. it is not in the bodleian catalogue, nor was it in mr. douce's library. p. b. _medal in honour of chevalier st. george_ (vol. ix., p. ).--a. s. inquires about a medal supposed to have been struck in honour of prince james (chevalier st. george); but his account of it is so vague, that i am unable to answer his question. if he will describe the medal, or state the grounds upon which he supposes such a medal to have existed, i will endeavour to solve his doubts. h. _dean swift's suspension_ (vol. ix., p. ).--i am surprised that abhba should express a belief that the circumstances of swift's college punishment have not been noticed by _any of his biographers_, when every syllable of his communication is detailed (with original documentary proofs) in dr. barrett's _early life of swift_, and is in substance repeated in sir walter scott's _life_, prefixed to swift's works. c. "_vanitatem observare_" (vol. ix., p. ).--i am sorry to have given your correspondent f. c. h. a wrong reference, and i am not _quite_ sure about the right one; but i think it is to a latin translation of the council of laodicea, a.d. , c. . r. h. g. _ballina castle, mayo_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have no idea to what place o. l. r. g. can allude as ballina castle; there is no place, ancient or modern, about that town, that has that name; and the only place with the title of castle in the neighborhood, is a gentleman's modern residence of no great pretensions either as to size or beauty. he perhaps alludes to belleck abbey, which is a fine building; but, notwithstanding its title, is of still more modern date than the so-called castle. i am not aware of any recent historical or descriptive work on the county generally. cæsar otway, maxwell, and the _saxon in ireland_, have confined their descriptions to the "wild west;" and the crowd of tourists appear to follow in their track, leaving the far finer central and eastern districts untouched. the first-named tourist appears to have projected another work on the county, but never published it. j. s. warden. _dorset_ (vol. ix., p. .).--nares gives various spellings, as _douset_, _dowset_, _doulcet_, but in all equally derived from _dulcet_, "sweet;" and halliwell has "doucet drinkes;" so that the great manchester philosopher had probably been indulging in a too copious libation of some sweet wine, which he styles "foolish dorset." f. r. r. dorchester beer had acquired a very great name, and was sent about england. out of the shire it was called "dorset beer," or "dorset." that town has lost its fame for brewing beer. g. r. l. _judicial rank hereditary_ (vol. viii., p. .).--such a list as your correspondent gives is not easily paralleled, it is true, in the judicial annals of england or ireland; but in scotland he might have found cases in considerable number to equal or surpass those which he mentions: for instance, in the family of dundas of arniston, respecting which i find the following note in the _quarterly review_, vol. lvii. p. .: "the series is so remarkable, that we subjoin the details:--sir james dundas, judge of the court of session, ; robert dundas, son of sir james, judge of the court of session from to ; robert dundas, son of the last, successively solicitor-general and lord advocate, m.p. for the county of edinburgh, judge of the court of session , lord president , died in (father of henry, viscount melville); robert dundas, son of the last, successively solicitor-general and lord advocate, and member for the county, lord president from to ; robert dundas, son of the last, successively solicitor-general and lord advocate, lord chief baron from to ; all these judges, except the chief baron, had been known in scotland by the title of lord arniston. they were, we need hardly add, all men of talents, but the two lords president arniston were of superior eminence in legal and constitutional learning." the hope family, and some other scottish ones, present as numerous a display of legal dignitaries as the above; but the hereditary succession from father to son is perhaps not equalled, certainly not excelled, in any age or country. in fact, let the opponents of hereditary honours say what they will, there is no description of talent except the poetical that has not frequently remained in the same family for several generations unabated. j. s. warden. _tolling the bell on leaving church_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reply to j. h. m.'s query, i beg to state that the chief reason for tolling the bell while the congregation is leaving church, is to { } inform the parishioners who have not been able to attend in the morning, divine service will be celebrated in the afternoon. in scattered villages, or where a single clergyman had to perform the duties of more than one church, this was formerly quite requisite. at a neighbouring village of tytherly, the custom is still observed, though no longer necessary. w. s. there is little doubt that priests in olden times were fond of hot dinners, and the bell at the conclusion of the service must have been intended as a warning to their cooks (and many others) to make ready the repast. this is merely a supposition; but i shall cherish the idea in the want of a better explanation. the custom has been, until very lately, observed in our little country church. there are other customs which are still kept up, namely, that of tolling the church bell at eight o'clock on sunday morning, and again at nine, as well as that of ringing a small bell when the clergyman enters the reading-desk. e. w. j. crawley, winchester. i believe that the custom of tolling the bell when the congregation is leaving the church, is to notify that there will be another service in the day. this is certainly the reason in this parish (in leicestershire); for after the second service the bell is not tolled, nor if, on any account, there is no afternoon service. s. s. s. when i was lecturer of st. andrew's, enfield, the bells rang out a short peculiar peal immediately after sunday morning prayer. i always thought it was probably designed to give notice to approaching funeral processions that the church service was over, as in the country burials--usually there always on sundays--immediately follow the celebration of morning service. mackenzie walcott, m.a. i beg to inform your correspondent j. h. m. that this is often done at bray, near maidenhead. newburiensis. the custom observed at olney church after the morning service, i have heard, is to apprize the congregation of a vesper service to follow. w. p. storer. olney, bucks. _archpriest in the diocese of exeter_ (vol. ix., p. .).--besides the archpriest of haccombe, there were others in the same diocese; but, to quote the words of dr. oliver, in his _monasticon, dioc. exon._, p. ., "he would claim no peculiar exemption from the jurisdiction of his ordinary, nor of his archdeacon; he was precisely on the same footing as the superiors of the archpresbyteries at penkivell, beerferris, and whitchurch, which were instituted in this diocese in the early part of the fourteenth century. the foundation deed of the last was the model in founding that of haccombe." in the same work copies of the foundation deeds of the archipresbytery of haccombe and beer are printed. one would suppose that wherever there was a collegiate body of clergymen established for the purposes of the daily and nightly offices of the church, as chantry priests, that one of them would be considered the superior, or archipresbyter. godolphin, in _rep. can._, ., says that by the canon law, he that is archipresbyter is also called _dean_. query, would he then be other than "primus inter pares?" prince, in his _worthies_, calls the rector of haccombe "a kind of chorepiscopus;" and in a note refers to dr. field _of the church_, lib. v. c. . with regard to the vicar of bibury (quoted by mr. sansom, "n. & q.," vol. ix., p. .), he founded his exemption from spiritual jurisdiction, i believe, upon his holding a _peculiar_, and not as an archpriest. h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. _dogs in monumental brasses_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have always understood (but i cannot say on any authority) that the dogs at the feet of monumental effigies of knights were symbolical of _fidelity_. that signification would certainly be very appropriate in monuments of _crusaders_, where, i believe, they are generally found. and i would suggest to mr. alford, that the idea might not have been confined to fidelity in keeping the vow of the cross, but might have been extended to other religious vows: in which case the ladies undoubtedly might sometimes claim the canine appendage to their effigies. the lion might perhaps symbolise _courage_, in which ladies are not commonly supposed to excel. m. h. r. _the last of the palæologi_ (vol. v., pp. . . .).--the following scrap of information may be useful to l. l. l. and others, if too long a time has not gone by since the subject was under discussion. in _the list of the army raised under the command of his excellency robert earle of essex_, &c.: london, printed for john partridge, , of which i have seen a manuscript copy, the name of theo. palioligus occurs as lieutenant in "the lord saint john's regiment." edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton in lindsey. _long names_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--allow me to add the following polysyllabic names to those supplied by your correspondents:--_llanvairpwllgwyngyll_, a living in the diocese of bangor, became vacant in march, , by the death of its incumbent, the rev. richard prichard, æt. { } ninety-three. the labour of writing the name of his benefice does not seem to have shortened his days. the following are the names of two _employés_ in the finance department at madrid:--_don epifanio mirurzururdundua y zengotita_; _don juan nepomuceno de burionagonatotorecagogeazcoecha_. there was, until , a major in the british army named _teyoninhokarawen_ (one single name). g. l. s. _elizabeth seymour_ (vol. ix., p. .).--according to collins,-- "sir e. seymour, first baronet, married elizabeth, daughter of sir arthur champeirion, of dartington, co. devon, by whom he had, besides other issue, a daughter elizabeth, who married george cary, of cockington, co. devon. sir edward seymour, third baronet, married anne, daughter of sir william portman, and left, besides sons, a daughter, also named elizabeth, who married sir joseph tredenham, of tregony in cornwall, knight." these two ladies, whose similarity of name probably caused the confusion, must have lived at least half a century apart. a. b. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. those who share the well-grounded opinion of mr. petit, that we cannot fully enter into the character of english architecture unless we give some attention also to french, german, and italian, will gladly turn to the very profusely and handsomely-illustrated volume which he has just issued, under the modest title of _architectural studies in france_, by the rev. j. l. petit, m.a., f.s.a., _with illustrations from drawings_ by the author and p. h. delamotte. it is of course impossible, within the limits of our brief notice, to enter into any examination of mr. petit's views upon the subject of gothic architecture, the principles of which he believes to have been more completely developed at an early period in england than anywhere else; and we must therefore content ourselves with directing attention to the book itself, which will in no small degree supply to the architectural student desirous of studying french buildings, the opportunity of doing so; and that too under the guidance of one well qualified to direct his steps. mr. petit has long been known to the antiquarian world as one of our greatest authorities on the subject of gothic architecture; and his various papers, illustrated by his own bold yet effective sketches in the _archæological journal_, may have prepared some of our readers for a volume of great importance; yet we think even they will be surprised at the interest and beauty of the present book. mr. petit, who has had on this occasion the assistance of mr. delamotte as a draughtsman, expresses his hope that at some future time he may avail himself of that gentleman's skill as a photographer. there is, perhaps, no man of letters, no man of science, of whom the world possesses so unsatisfactory an account as jerome cardan. the author of _palissy the potter_ has therefore done good service, and executed a task worthy of himself, by _the life of girolamo cardano, of milan, physician_. in two small readable volumes, rich in all the characteristics of his own peculiar mode of treatment, mr. morley has given us not only a clear view of the life and character of cardan, based on a diligent and careful examination of his voluminous writings--for cardan reckoned that he had published one hundred and thirty-one books, and left in ms. nearly as many--but also a striking picture of the age in which he lived; and the work, which is one of great interest to the general reader, is made still more valuable to the literary antiquary by the accuracy with which mr. morley quotes his authorities. some interesting manuscripts were sold by messrs. puttick and simpson on wednesday, the nd ultimo, including original letters by blake, penn, monk, nelson, and other of our most renowned admirals; and of charles i. and charles ii., oliver and richard cromwell, desborough; and numerous autographs of commonwealth celebrities. the chief lot was a letter from cromwell to pastor cotton, in new england, written shortly after the battle of worcester, in which he alludes to the difficulties he has experienced in treating with some of the scotch party. mr. carlyle had not seen the original, but used the copy among the arundel mss. it was knocked down to mr. stevens, the american agent, for l. a printed broadsheet of the peace of breda sold for l. s. a letter of richard cromwell brought l. an autograph of queen bess brought l.; and one of edward vi. brought l. s. autographs of mary are less common: one in this collection realised l. s. one of nelson's letters to lady hamilton brought l. s. altogether, the prices realised were good. books received.--_lives of the queens of england_, by agnes strickland, vol. iii. this new volume of the cheaper edition of miss strickland's popular regal biographies comprises the lives of jane seymour, anne of cleves, katherine howard, katherine parr, and mary.--_the works of the rt. hon. joseph addison, with notes by bishop hurd_, vol. ii., is the new volume of bohn's _british classics_, and comprises addison's contributions to the _tatler_ and _spectator_.--in the same publisher's _standard library_, we have the third volume of his edition of southey's _works and correspondence of cowper_, which embraces his letters between the years and .--_cyclopædia bibliographica_, part xviii., which extends from _shepherd (rev. e. j.)_ to _surtees (rev. scott f.)_.--_whitaker's educational register_, . the work, which has undergone some modifications, is now confined altogether to educational statistics, of which it is a most valuable compendium.--_remains of pagan saxondom_, by j. y. ackerman, parts viii. and ix. the contents of these numbers are:--fragments from a tumulus at caenby, lincolnshire; fibula from ingarsby, leicestershire; glass drinking-vessels from cemeteries in kent; fibulæ from rugby, warwickshire. the great peculiarity of this series is, that the objects are drawn of the size of the originals; thus affording great facilities for comparing them with remains of similar character. * * * * * { } books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the volume of the london polyglott which contains the prophets. imperfection in other parts of no consequence. carlisle on grammar schools. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. two copies. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: allister's paradigma chess openings. natt's sermons preached at st. sepulchre. armytage's (rev. j., of tidenham) sermons. mayhew's london life and labour. complete. nicholson's lectures on hezekiah. walton and cotton's angler. edited by sir h. nicolas. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. * * * * * penny cyclopÆdia. part . (for september, .) wanted by _a. baden, jun._, . old broad street. * * * * * london labour and the london poor. various numbers, several of many of them. knight's national cyclopÆdia. parts. almanack of the month, by gilbert a. a'beckett. jan., feb., june, sept., and dec., . wanted by _geo. newbold_, . regent street, vauxhall road. * * * * * an essay explanatory of the tempest prognosticator in the building of great exhibition. the last edition. wanted by _j. t. c._, care of messrs. mcgee & co., nassau street, dublin. * * * * * the family instructor, by de foe. vols. . oxford, talboys. allan ramsay's tea-table miscellany. . hazlitt's select poets of great britain. . the lady's poetical magazine, or beauties of british poets. vols. london, . the hive, containing vol. i. _first_ edition. ( vols.) the hive. vol. iii. th edition. (edition in vols.) london magazine. vols. after the year . wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. * * * * * evans's old ballads. vol. i. . any of the sermons, tracts, &c., by the late rev. a. g. jewitt. history of lincoln, by a. jewitt. howitt's gipsy king, and other poems. either one or two copies. wanted by _r. keene_, bookseller, irongate, derby. * * * * * the epicure's almanack for . wanted by _george r. corner_, . tooley street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. a. j. n. (birmingham). _will this correspondent let us see the papers respecting_ john henderson? j. c. k. _the coin is a penny of henry iii., struck in london._ mr. pinkerton'_s letter has been forwarded to_ eirionnach. f. c. j. _we cannot discover that james murray, the second and last earl of annandale, was executed. the earl joined montrose after the battle of kilsyth, and upon that heroic chieftain's defeat retired to england, where he died in . at his death the titles of annandale, annand, and murray of lochmaben, became extinct, and those of stormont and scoon devolved on david, second lord balvaird, who married the earl's widow. see the_ earldom of mansfield _in burke's_ peerage. sander's history of shenstone.--_will any reader of_ "n. & q." _oblige me by lending me a copy of sander's_ history of shenstone? _of course i would pay the carriage and expenses. a letter would find me directed_, cid, _post office, stourbridge, worcestershire._ b. h. a. _for the derivation of_ czar, _see our_ last volume, pp. . . . t. h. _on the lord mayor being a privy councillor, see our_ fourth volume passim. s. c. (norwich). _the line_-- "when greeks joined greeks then was the tug of war" --_is from lee's_ alexander the great. piscator _will find ample illustration of_ "ampers and _and the character_ &" _in our_ last volume ( th), pp. . . . . . . a. baden, jun., _will find that his query respecting the pronunciation of_ tea _in queen anne's time, has already been treated of in the curious discussion on_ irish rhymes _in our_ th, th, and th volumes. x. y. z. _brother-german is a brother by the father's or mother's side, in contradistinction to a uterine brother, or by the mother only._ e. h. mcl. _some examples of _wage_, the singular of _wages_, are given in todd's_ johnson: _consult also richardson_, s. v. gallo-nitrate.-- . _we advise you to try the formula given in our former number_ (vol. vii., p. .) _for positives; grains of nitrate of silver may do, but it is not very active._ . _a glass rod is inappropriate; it works up the albumen into a lather._ . _towgood's paper will take the albumen very excellently. as we have often said before, when you may obtain certain excellent results from_ known good _formulæ, why waste your time upon uncertainties?_ t. d. l. _if your bath contains the smallest portion of hypo., or any salt of iron, it is useless. precipitate the silver with salt; collect and reduce it to its metallic state._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * grosjean's celebrated trowsers, s. per pair. . regent street. * * * * * one thousand bedsteads to choose from.--heal & son's stock comprises handsomely japanned and brass-mounted iron bedsteads, children's cribs and cots of new and elegant designs, mahogany, birch, and walnut-tree bedsteads, of the soundest and best manufacture, many of them fitted with furnitures, complete. a large assortment of servants' and portable bedsteads. they have also every variety of furniture for the complete furnishing of a bed room. heal & son's illustrated and priced catalogue of bedsteads and bedding, sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * surplices. gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, has prepared his usual large supply of surplices, in anticipation of easter. parcels delivered free at railway stations. * * * * * the empress of china's tea.--recommended by the faculty for its purity, by the nobility and gentry for its choice quality (which is always the same) and by the trade for its general superiority and moderate price. moore & co., . little tower street. london. sold retail at . coventry st., haymarket, and by their agents throughout the kingdom. price s. d. per lb., in tins of various sizes. agents wanted (tea-dealers only) where none are appointed. * * * * * { } archer's registered folding camera.--this new form of camera combines portability with the power of expansion, and is capable of taking pictures from × to × , in the open air without a tent. it is made to contain the lens, baths, bottles, &c., necessary for an excursion, packed up and ready for use in an upright position. it is applicable to all the known processes in photography. further particulars can be obtained of mr. archer, . great russell street, bloomsbury, who supplies all other apparatus necessary in photography, collodion, pure chemicals, &c. portraits on glass. an assortment of prints on sale, works of art copied, &c. &c. * * * * * classical musical library--subscribers are liberally supplied, on loan, with every description of new vocal and instrumental music, and have also at their disposal upwards of , volumes, including the standard operas, italian, german, french, and english songs, and all kinds of instrumental music. during the term of subscription, each subscriber has the privilege of selecting--for his own property--from , different pieces, guineas' worth of music. prospectuses forwarded free on application. jullien & co., . regent street. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having fully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete lists of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * to photographers.--second-hand camera for sale, with ross's ½ inch lens, capable of taking pictures ½ by ½. two double shutters for paper, and one for collodion, adjusting front, &c. price, l. s. for further particulars apply to mr. dixey, king's road, brighton. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photography.-messrs. a. marion & co. beg to inform the artists and amateurs that they are now ready to supply them with papers manufactured expressly for photographic purposes; since it has been tried it has received the unanimous good opinion of the most successful operators. positive and negative (not prepared), simple salted, and salted albumenized positive, simple waxed, and waxed iodized negative, gummed paper, and cards for mounting proofs. papeterie marion, . regent street. * * * * * photographs mounted and framed in every style, by e. fox, a. little britain, city, mounter to the photographic society, polytechnic, and photographic institutions. e. f. begs to inform the profession and amateurs that from his great experience in photograph mounting, framing, &c., he can guarantee perfect satisfaction both as regards style and price. mounts and passepartouts of every description. price lists sent on application. gentlemen waited on at their residences. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * { } works printed for walton & maberly, . upper gower street, and . ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * completion of a volume. now ready, volume i., price s. d., in handsome boards, lardner's museum of science and art.--a miscellany of instructive and amusing tracts on the physical sciences, and on their application to the uses of life. illustrated by engravings on wood. contents. part i., price d. . the planets; are they inhabited globes? . weather prognostics. . the planets. chap. ii. . popular fallacies in questions of physical science. part ii., price d. . latitudes and longitudes. . the planets. chap. iii. . lunar influences. . meteoric stones and shooting stars. chap. i. part iii., price d. . railway accidents. chap. i. . the planets. chap. iv. . meteoric stones and shooting stars. chap. ii. . railway accidents. chap. ii. . light. *** continued in weekly numbers, monthly parts, and quarterly volumes. "this series, besides affording popular but sound instruction on scientific subjects, with which the humblest man in the country ought to be acquainted, also undertakes that teaching of 'common things' which lord ashburton and every well-wisher of his kind are anxious to promote."--_the times_, feb. , . "a cheap and interesting publication, alike informing and attractive. the papers combine subjects of importance with great scientific knowledge, considerable inductive powers, and a popular style of treatment."--_spectator._ also, part iv., price d., containing, . common things. air. . locomotion in america. chap. i. . cometary influences. chap. i. . locomotion in america. chap. ii. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * third course of dr. lardner's natural philosophy. this day, vol., plates, and woodcuts, price s. d. dr. lardner's handbook of astronomy and meteorology. being the third course of the "handbook of natural philosophy and astronomy." by the same author. first course: mechanics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, pneumatics, sound, optics. woodcuts. price s. d. second course: heat, common electricity, magnetism, voltaic electricity. woodcuts. s. d. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * new work on arithmetic. mo., s. cloth. a course of arithmetic as taught in the pestallozzian school, worksop. by j. l. ellenberger. "a happy combination of theory and practice, containing explanation and demonstration enough to afford wholesome mental discipline, and yet not too difficult to be understood by pupils of average ability. in every case the reason why a particular process is adopted in order to obtain the desired result is clearly set forth."--_athenæum._ london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * professor boole's new work. just published, vo., s., the laws of thought, on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities. by george boole, professor of mathematics in queen's college, cork. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * just published, fcp. vo., s. d., euclid explained.--the first book of euclid explained to beginners. by c. p. mason, b.a., fellow of university college, and principal of denmark hill grammar school. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * young men's christian association. just published, crown vo., s. sewed, s. d. cloth, business as it is and as it might be. by joseph lyndall. this work obtained the prize of fifty guineas offered by the young men's christian association for the best essay on the evils of the present system of business, and the difficulties they present to the attainment and development of personal piety, with suggestions for their removal. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * second edition, woodcuts, l. s., dr. wm. smith's dictionary of greek and roman antiquities. by various writers. medium vo. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * woodcuts, vols. medium vo., l. s. d., dr. wm. smith's dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology. by various writers. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * mr. quain's new work. now ready, crown vo., with coloured plates, s. d., cloth, diseases of the rectum. by richard quain, f.r.s., professor of clinical surgery in university college, and surgeon to university college hospital. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * completion of the first volume of dr. smith's dictionary of geography. just completed, volume i., price l. s., cloth, lettered, a dictionary of greek and roman geography. by various writers. edited by dr. william smith. illustrated by numerous engravings on wood. to form two volumes. vo. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane; and john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * italian language. just published, royal mo., price s. d. cloth, first italian course; being a practical and easy method of learning the elements of the italian language. by w. brownrigg smith, m.a., second classical master of the city of london schools. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * cheap issue.--fourth edition. book of genesis in english hebrew; accompanied by an interlinear translation, substantially the same as the authorised english version: philological notes and grammatical introduction. by w. greenfield, m.r.a.s. vo., s. d., cloth. with the original text in hebrew characters at the end. vo., s. d., cloth. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * niebuhr's new lectures. just published, vols. vo., l. s. niebuhr's lectures on ancient ethnography and geography; comprising greece and her colonies, italy, the islands of the mediterranean, spain, gaul, britain, northern africa, and phoenicia. by dr. leonhard schmitz, rector of the high school of edinburgh. by the same author, niebuhr's lectures on ancient history: the asiatic nations, the egyptians, greeks, carthaginians, and macedonians. by dr. l. schmitz. vols. vo., l. s. d. niebuhr's lectures on roman history. by leonhard schmitz, ph.d. new and cheaper edition. vols. vo., s. niebuhr's history of rome. by bishop thirlwall, archdeacon hare, dr. w. smith, and dr. schmitz. fourth and cheaper edition, vols., vo., s. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * *** messrs. w. & m.'s catalogue will be sent by post (free) to any one writing for it. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london: and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "a few parallel passages": 'paralled' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page an encyclopædia of ventilation, by bolton corney the house of russell, or du rozel, by john macray ferdinand charles iii., duke of parma original royal letters to the grand masters of malta, by william winthrop minor notes:--whipping a lady--mother of thirty children--"ought" and "aught"--walton--salutations-- good times for equity suitors--the emperor of russia and the order of the garter queries:-- sir henry wotton's verses, "the character of a happy life," by john macray minor queries:--plants and flowers--quotations wanted--griffith, william, bishop of ossory-- "cowperiana"--john keats's poems--holland--armorial-- stoke and upton--slavery in england--"go to bath"-- mummy chests--the blechenden family--francklyn household book--lord rosehill's marriage--colonel butler--willesdon, co. middlesex minor queries with answers:--ashes of "lignites"-- bishop bathurst--"selah"--the long parliament--"the three pigeons"--captain cook--varnish for old books--cabbages replies:-- addison's hymns, by j. h. markland longfellow, by john p. stillwell, &c. books burnt by the hangman, by e. f. woodman, &c. sack irish law in the eighteenth century, by alexander andrews, &c. job xix. ., by the rev. moses margoliouth photographic correspondence:--photographic experiences--the céroléine process--on preserving the sensitiveness of collodion plates replies to minor queries:--tippet--heraldic anomaly-- george wood of chester--moon superstitions--"myself"-- roman roads in england--anecdote of george iv.-- general fraser--the fusion--"corporations have no souls"--apparition of the white lady--female parish clerk--bothy--king's prerogative and hunting bishops-- green eyes--brydone the tourist--descendants of john of gaunt, noses of--"put"--"caricature; a canterbury tale" miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * the new novel. counterparts: or, the cross of love; by the author of "charles anchester," is just out. in three volumes. london: smith, elder, & co., . cornhill. * * * * * the waterloo banquet at apsley house, and numerous others of the finest works of art, are now for the first time reduced below the prices at which they were originally published; see an historic and descriptive catalogue of fine and important engravings, including all the publications of mr. alderman moon, who has retired from business, now published by thomas boys (of the late firm of moon, boys, and graves), printseller to the royal family, . oxford street, london. this catalogue occupies sixty pages in royal octavo; of the importance of the works enumerated and noticed, it may suffice to say, that mr. boys paid the alderman on his retirement more than twenty thousand pounds for the property purchased of him. to be had gratis on application. merchants supplied. london: thomas boys, printseller to the royal family, . oxford street. * * * * * johnston's maps of the war, engraved from entirely new drawings, and containing the latest and most accurate information. i. the black sea, caucasus, crimea, &c., with large plans of sevastopol, and the positions of the ships and batteries, seen from h.m.s.f. "retribution." the bosphorus and beicos bay. ii. the danubian principalities, and adjoining countries from vienna to constantinople, and map of central europe, from st. petersburg to cairo. iii. the baltic sea and german ocean, with enlarged plans of cronstadt, sveaborg, revel, port baltic, and gulf of riga. price, coloured, s. each; by post, s. d.; or the three by post, s. d. edinburgh: w. & a. k. johnston, geographers and engravers to the queen; and all booksellers. * * * * * just published, in fcp. vo. price, in cloth, s. the statistical companion for : exhibiting the most interesting facts in moral and intellectual, vital, economical, and political statistics, at home and abroad. compiled by t. c. banfield, esq. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * annotated edition of the english poets. by robert bell. in monthly volumes, s. d. each, in cloth. this day, the third and concluding volume of dryden's poetical works. already published. cowper. vol. i. dryden. vols. i. and ii. surrey, minor contemporaneous poets, and sackville, lord buckhurst. on the first of june, the second volume of cowper's poetical works. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * vo., s. la normandie souterraine, ou notices sur des cimetières romains et francs explorés en normandie, par m. l'abbe cochet, inspecteur des monumens, etc., à dieppe. vo., planches. *** the trade supplied. rouen: lebrument. oxford: j. h. parker, and . strand, london * * * * * the original quadrilles, composed for the piano forte by mrs. ambrose merton. london: published for the proprietor, and may be had of c. lonsdale. . old bond street; and by order of all music sellers. price three shillings. * * * * * the ocean quadrilles. by the celebrated john blewitt. founded on the most favourite of dibdin's sea songs. illustrated, s. the spirit-stirring reminiscences evoked by the ocean quadrilles (full of life and vigour) belong to that glorious period when the fleets of england were, as they now again are, sweeping the seas. every patriotic assembly should dance to blewitt's ocean quadrilles. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street, music publishers to the queen. * * * * * excelsior. ballad; words by longfellow, music by miss lindsay. beautifully illustrated, s. d. "some beautiful words of longfellow are here wedded to a beautiful melody by this talented lady. this ballad is quite out of the way of the common-place productions of the day. it is evidently a heart-offering both from the poet and the gifted musician." london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street, music publishers to the queen. * * * * * { } now publishing, price threepence, post free, no. iv. for the present year (published monthly) of willis's catalogues of books, ancient and modern, comprising a choice selection of standard and curious works in all branches of literature and the fine arts, in good library condition, for sale at very moderate prices. preceded by willis's current notes, series of original and inedited articles on literature and antiquities by eminent literary men, illustrated occasionally by woodcuts. contents of the present number.--last hours of queen mary ii., from ms. memoranda by one of the household; original letter of the late professor wilson; hewing blocks with razors; certain cures for hydrophobia; disputative authorities on christ's nativity; supplement to todd's johnson's dictionary; m. guizot and the eikon basilike; cucking stool and scolding cart, leicester; neapolitan innkeeper's announcement; the awakening mallet; inscriptions on bells in st. patrick's cathedral, dublin; dissection of laurence sterne, &c. &c. * * * * * valuable works on sale at reduced prices. shakspeare society's publications, complete, from its commencement in , to its termination in ; the contents classified, vols. in , new cloth, l. s. the shakspeare society being now dissolved, and the few complete sets of their publications dispersed, the present is a favourable opportunity for acquiring them at a moderate price. they consist of nearly fifty different works illustrative of shakspeare and the literature of his time, comprising old plays, poems, curious tracts, memoirs, &c., either now printed for the first time or difficult to be procured from their rarity, edited by eminent literary men. * * * * * camden society's publications, complete, from the commencement in to the present time, vols. small to. cloth, a very clean copy, from a subscriber, l. s. - . this is a most important series of works, being reprints of exceedingly rare and valuable books, and publications of mss. never before published; printed verbatim, with copious introductions, notes, and illustrations by the learned members of the society. * * * * * parker society's publications, complete, from the commencement in to , vols. vo., royal vo., and mo. cloth, from a subscriber, l. s. - . this valuable publication contains, without abridgment, alteration, or omission, the best works of the fathers and early writers of the reformed english church, published in the period between the accession of k. edward vi. and q. elizabeth; and also other esteemed writers of the sixteenth century, including some of the early english translations of the foreign reformers. * * * * * splendid illuminated work. the english crusaders, containing an account of all the english knights who formed part of these expeditions, with accurate representations of coats of arms of the crusaders, and various rich embellishments and large initial letters from ancient and rare mss., all illuminated in gold and colours, by j. c. dansey, large vol. royal to., l. s. published at l. s. dickinson, . this is a very superb and highly interesting volume, which cost the author several thousand pounds in the getting up. only a few copies remain for sale at the present reduced price. * * * * * chetham society's publications.--remains, historical and literary, connected with the palatine counties of lancaster and chester, published by the chetham society. a complete set of these valuable works edited by distinguished scholars, vols. small to. (wanting one volume) cloth, l. s. printed for the chetham society, - . * * * * * giles' (dr.) history of the ancient britons, from the earliest period to the invasion of the saxons, compiled from the original authorities. vols. vo. second edition, cloth, s.; pub. at l. s. g. willis, . the most valuable work on the subject. vol. ii. consists of the original histories from which this work has been compiled, viz., excerpta ex scriptoribus gr. et lat.; gildas; nennius; excerpta ex bedâ, &c. * * * * * giles' (dr.) life and times of alfred the great, drawn up from the most authentic ancient chroniclers, and including important facts now first published. second edition, with coloured plate of k. alfred's jewel, vo., new cloth, s. (pub. at s.) g. willis, . the most valuable and authentic life of alfred the great. included are alfred's will, in saxon, with translation the treaty between alfred and guthrum in saxon; fulke's letter to alfred, alfred's preface to gregory's pastoral care, in saxon, with a translation; a chronological summary of anglo-saxon history, &c. * * * * * hume's (dr. a.) the learned societies and printing clubs of the united kingdom; being an account of their respective origin, history, objects, and constitution, with a supplement containing all the recently established societies and printing clubs, and complete lists of their publications to the present time, by a. i. evans, post vo., new cloth, s. g. willis, . this work will be found of great utility to all literary men, public libraries, &c. * * * * * raynouard, lexique roman, ou dictionaire de al langue des troubadours, comparée avec les autres langues de l'europe latine, large vols. royal vo., sewed, l. s. paris, . this excellent and extensive work is preceded by "nouvelles recherches historiques et philologiques, un résumé de la _grammaire romance_, un nouveau choix des _poesies originales des troubadours_, et extraits de poemes divers," &c. * * * * * g. willis, great piazza, covent garden. * * * * * the homilist for may (no. xvii.), price s., contains: the necessary instrument of true progress. buying the truth; by the rev. a. hannay. germs of thought: christianity and pharisaism; the perfection of humanity; the moral mirror of the good. the religion of semblance. and the religion of substance; glances at great preachers; williams of wern. "it is, of all thought-books for ministers the most suggestive and philosophical we have seen for many a year. if we have any objection to make, it is on the score of too prodigal an expenditure of mental wealth."--_monthly christian spectator_. just published, in vol. price s. d. cloth, consecrated heights; or, scenes of higher manifestations. by the rev. r. fergusson, ll.d., f.a.s., m.r.i.a. in a few days, in vol., crown vo. sacred studies; or, aids to the development of truth. being a second and enlarged edition of "discourses on important subjects." by the rev. dr. fergusson. ward & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * price one shilling. the national miscellany for may contains: . cronstadt. . a chapter from the romance of vegetable life. . water. . a scene on the coasts of the skagarack. . mediæval london--continued. . advertising columns and their associations. . the military geography of turkey. . notices. . poetry. at the office, no. . exeter street, strand, london. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series) consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxviii., is published this day. contents: i. laurence sterne. ii. sacred geography. iii. the whig party. iv. the russian empire. v. criminal law digest. vi. the turks and the greeks. vii. treasures of art in britain. viii. new reform bill. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * murray's british classics.--the new volume of this series of standard editions of english authors, contains the third volume of cunningham's edition of goldsmith's works, and is now published; and the fourth volume, completing the work, will be ready early in may. albemarle street, _april th_, . * * * * * { } _london, saturday, may , _ * * * * * notes. an encyclopÆdia of ventilation. "_the house_ [_of commons_] _met to-day_ [_ th april_] _after the easter holidays--and honourable members, on entering, seemed highly to appreciate the unusual luxury of a little fresh air._"--the times, th april. the failure of some late attempts to ventilate public buildings invites me to set forth an _encyclopædia of ventilation_--at a cheap rate, and in a compendious form. aware of the abilities and celebrity of many of the writers on this subject--from whitehurst and franklin to reid and gurney--i must ward off the imputation of self-conceit by expressing my belief that the errors of those who have failed should be chiefly ascribed to excessive cleverness; to unadvised attempts at outwitting nature! i hope to escape that snare. in the execution of my humble task, i shall entirely rely on common sense and common experience. air is essential to human life, and as respiration destroys its vital qualities, the _ventilation_ of rooms which are intended for habitation should be a primary object in all architectural plans. architects, however, seldom provide for the ventilation of rooms otherwise than as they provide for the admission of light. now the properties of light and air, with reference to our domestic requirements, differ in some important particulars--of which it may not be amiss to give a brief enumeration. _light_ moves with uniform velocity: _air_ is sometimes quiescent, and sometimes moves at the rate of thirty miles an hour. _light_ diffuses itself with much uniformity: _air_ passes in a current from the point of its entrance to that of its exit. _light_, whatever be its velocity, has no sensible effect on the human frame: _air_, in the shape of a partial current, is both offensive to the feelings and productive of serious diseases. _light_, once admitted, supplies our wants till nightfall: _air_ requires to be replaced at very short intervals. _light_ may be conveniently admitted from above: _air_ requires to be admitted on the level of the sitter. _light_, by the aid of ground glass, may be modified permanently: _air_ requires to be variously adjusted according to its direction, its velocity, the seasons, the time of the day, the number of persons assembled, &c. an attentive consideration of the above circumstances leads me to certain conclusions which i shall now state aphoristically, and proceed to describe in more detail. a room designed for a numerous assemblage of persons--as a reading-room, a lecture-room, or a school-room--should be provided with apertures, adapted to admit spontaneous supplies of fresh air, in such variable quantities as may be required, on at least two of its opposite sides, and within three feet from the floor; also, with apertures in the ceiling, or on a level therewith, to promote the exit of the vitiated air. the apertures of both descriptions may be quite distinct from those which admit light. suppose a room to be twenty-four feet square, and sixteen feet in height, with two apertures for light on each side, each aperture being three feet wide by eight feet in height, and rising from the floor. there are not many rooms constructed on a plan so favourable to the admission of fresh air--but it has some serious defects. . the air would enter in broad and partial currents. . it would not reach the angular portions of the room. . the vitiated air might rise above the apertures, and so accumulate without the means of escape. now, suppose the same room to have its apertures at eight feet from the floor, and so to reach the ceiling. the escape of the vitiated air might then take place--if not prevented by a counter-current. but whence comes the fresh air for the occupants? there is no direct provision for its admission. the elevated apertures are utterly insufficient for that purpose; and _the perpetual requisite is no otherwise afforded than by the occasional opening of a door!_ it being thus established that the same apertures can never effectually serve for light and ventilation, i propose with regard to reading-rooms, lecture-rooms, and school-rooms, which require accommodation for books, maps, charts, and drawings, rather than a view of external objects, that the windows should be placed in the upper part of the room--that the admission of fresh air should be provided for by ducts near the floor--and the escape of the vitiated air by openings in, or on a level with, the ceiling. the number of windows, and their size, must depend on the size of the room. if windows are to admit light only, a smaller number may be sufficient, and they may not be required on more than one side; a circumstance which recommends the plan proposal, as we can seldom have windows on each side of a room, or even on two of its opposite sides, but may devise a method of so admitting air. rejecting the use of windows as a means of ventilation, and rejecting artificial currents of every description, i propose the substitution of air-ducts of incorrodible iron, to be inserted horizontally in the walls of at least two opposite sides of the room, within three feet from the floor, and at intervals of about four feet. the ducts to be six or eight inches in diameter, according to the size of the room. the external orifice of each duct to be formed of perforated zinc, and the internal orifice, which may be trumpet-shaped, of { } perforated zinc or wire-gauze, with a device which would serve to adjust the quantum of air according to circumstances, and to exclude it at night. by such contrivances, while the offensive and noxious currents which proceed from wide openings would be obviated, the supplies of fresh air would always be equal to the demand. the _purest_ air may not be accessible--but, as franklin says, "no common air from without is so unwholesome as the air within a _close_ room." the escape of the vitiated air requires less consideration. if the ceiling of the room be flat, with another room above it, the upper part of each window, in the shape of a narrow slip, might be made to act as a sort of safety-valve; but if the windows are on one side only, corresponding openings should be made on the opposite side, so that there would almost always be, more or less, a leeward opening. a vaulted ceiling, without any other room over it, seems to be the most desirable form, as the vitiated air would rise and collect towards its centre, where there could be no counter-current to impede its egress. it is the union of those two objects, the admission of fresh air and the riddance of the vitiated air, skilfully and economically effected, which forms the circle of the science of ventilation. i have restricted myself to the means of _ventilation_, which is requisite at all seasons of the year, but am quite aware that _warmth_, or a temperature above that of the external air, is sometimes indispensable to health and comfort, and therefore to the free exercise of the faculties. i believe, however, that the means proposed for the admission of fresh air might also be made available for the admission of heated air, and that either description of air might be admitted independently of the other, or both descriptions simultaneously. a vast increase of reading-rooms, lecture-rooms, and school-rooms, may be safely predicted, and as the due ventilation of such rooms is a project of undeniable importance, i hope this note, eccentric in form, but earnest as to its purpose, may invite the remarks of others more conversant with architecture and physics--either in correction, or confirmation, or extension, of its general principles and details. bolton corney. the terrace, barnes, th april, . * * * * * the house of russell, or du rozel. at a time when the readers of "n. & q.," and the world at large, have been hearing of the gift of a bell to a village church in normandy, so pleasantly and readily made by the princely house of russell, far exceeding the modest solicitation of the curé for assistance by way of a subscription, in remembrance of the du rozels having left their native patrimony in france to share the fortunes of the conqueror in old england, the following particulars may not be uninteresting. mr. wiffen, when compiling his elaborate _historical memoirs of the house of russell, from the time of the norman conquest_, had occasion to make some inquiries respecting a statement put forth by a m. richard seguin, a rich dealer in merceries and wooden shoes at vire, in the department of calvados; who, it appears, had a mania for appropriating the literary labours of others as his own, and, in fact, is stigmatised as a _voleur littéraire_ by m. quérard, in his curious work entitled _les supercheries littéraires dévoilées_. mr. wiffen wished to ascertain m. seguin's authority for affirming in some work, the name of which is not given by m. quérard, but which is probably the _histoire du pays d'auge et des evêques comtes de lisieux_, vire, , that the du rozels were descended from bertrand de briquebec. m. seguin's reply is contained in the following letter from m. le normand of vire, to whom mr. wiffen had written, requesting him to obtain m. seguin's authority for his statement: "j'ai vu m. séguin, et je lui ai demandé d'où provenaient les renseignements dont il s'était servi pour dire dans son ouvrage que les du rozel descendaient des bertrand de bricquebec. _il m'a répondu qu'il l'ignorait_; qu'il avait eu en sa possession une grande quantité de copies de chartres et d'anciens titres qui lui avaient fourni les matériaux de son histoire, _mais qu'il ne savait nullement d'où elles provenaient_."--_historical memoirs, &c._, vol. i. p. . n. . the fact appears to be, that m. seguin had obtained possession, through marriage, of a quantity of mss., and was in the habit of printing them as his own works. some of them had belonged to an abbé lefranc, one of the priests who were murdered in the diabolical massacre of the clergy in the prisons of paris in september, ; and others of the mss. had been the property of a m. noël deshayes, curé de compigni, whose _mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des evêques de lisieux_, were published by seguin as his own, but altered and disfigured under the title of-- "histoire du pays d'auge et des evêques comtes de lisieux, contenant des notions sur l'archéologie, les droits, coutumes, franchises et libertés du bocage et de la normandie; vire, adam, ." the ms., however, from which seguin printed his forgery, turns out to have been but a copy; the original having since been discovered by m. formeville in the library of the séminaire of evreux, and is now about to be published by that gentleman (see _supercheries_, tom. iv., paris, ). by a just retribution, m. formeville is one of the literary men to whom sequin refused to point out his original authorities. m. quérard quotes some { } passages, in juxtaposition, from seguin's pretended work and from the original ms., to show how the latter had been altered and corrupted in the printed copy. m. seguin was quite illiterate, and has committed the most egregious blunders in his _chef d'oeuvre de plagiat_, as his _histoire du pays d'auge_ is termed by quérard. many other authors, besides mr. wiffen and m. formeville, wrote to seguin for his authorities on various subjects, but he never pointed out a single one. full details are given of his literary thefts by m. quérard and his coadjutors. when the original work of m. deshayes appears, in its genuine state, as promised by m. formeville, the world will then learn what was really stated respecting the descent of the du rozels from bertrand de briquebec; although the amiable and accomplished mr. wiffen is no longer living to avail himself of the information. seguin died in . john macray. oxford. * * * * * ferdinand charles iii., duke of parma. englishmen might, perhaps, feel even more horror than they will do at the assassination, on mar. , of the duke of parma, if they were reminded that he was the representative and lineal descendant of charles i., and as such possessed a claim, by hereditary descent, on our crown, superior to that of our gracious queen, who is only lineally descended from james i. i subjoin his pedigree: charles i.== _____________| | henrietta maria==philip duc d'orleans. ____________________| | anna maria==victor amadeus ii., duke of savoy and king of | sardinia. |____ | charles emanuel iii., king of sardinia, == ____________________________________| | victor amadeus iii., king of sardinia== _______________________________| | victor emanuel, king of sardinia, == ____________________________________| | maria theresa==charles ii., duke of parma. _______________| | ferdinand charles iii., duke of parma, born january , , married, november , , louisa maria theresa of bourbon, daughter of the late duc de berry, and was assassinated march , . it is rather a singular circumstance, that the duchess of parma should have been the wife of the hereditary heir to the throne of england, and the sister of the hereditary heir to the throne of france,--her husband, the duke of parma, having been the representative of the house of stuart,--and her brother, the count de chambord, being the representative of the house of bourbon. e. s. s. w. * * * * * original english royal letters to the grand masters of malta. (_continued from_ vol. ix., p. .) through the great kindness of my old friend at this island, frederick sedley, esq., and the continued and constant assistance of dr. vella, i am now enabled to forward correct translations of the seven remaining letters bearing the autograph of charles ii. mindful of the space which will be required for their insertion in "n. & q.," i shall confine myself to a few preliminary remarks. the first letter in the following list is the earliest in date, as it is of the greatest interest. in it we have, for the first time, found a curious statement recorded by an english monarch, making known that he not only built his galleys for the protection of trade in this sea in different ports of the mediterranean, _and purchased the slaves to man them of the order of malta_, but also complaining to the grand master for permitting the collector of customs to charge an export toll of "five pieces of gold per head," which he considered an unjust tax on this _kind of commerce_, and the more especially so, because it was not demanded from his neighbours and allies, the kings of france and spain. that the knights of st. john made their prisoners slaves, disposing of some to the wealthy residents or natives of the island, and employing others in the erection of their dwellings, palaces, and fortifications, is well known. historians have stated that when dragut landed at malta, in july, , with sinam, his admiral, who was in joint command, they went to the summit of mount sceberras to reconnoitre before an attack should be made on the convent. when employed on this service, sinam, who was opposed to any hostile movement, pointing to the castle, thus remarked, "surely no eagle could have chosen a more craggy and difficult place to make his nest in. dost thou not see that men must have wings to get up to it, and that all the artillery and troops of the universe would not be able to take it by force?" an old turkish officer of his suite, addressing dragut, thus continued,--"see'st thou that bulwark which juts out in the sea, and on which the maltese have planted the great standard of their order? i can assure thee that whilst i was a _prisoner with them, i have helped to carry the large stones of which it is built_, and am pretty sure that before thou canst make thyself master of it, thou wilt be overtaken by the winter season; and probably likewise prevented from succeeding by some powerful succours from europe." there can be little doubt that this remark was { } feelingly made, and that the aged turk who uttered it had experienced, during his residence as a prisoner at malta, all the horrors of slavery. that no consideration was given to the comfort of a slave, and little value set on his life, will be briefly shown by the following anecdote:--on the th of april, , an accusation was made against an english knight of the name of massimberg, to the effect that he had unwarrantably drawn his sword and _killed four galley slaves_; and being convicted of the crime on the th of may of the same year, he was asked why judgment should not be given against him. massimberg thus replied, "_in killing the four slaves i did well, but in not having at the same time killed our old and imbecile grand master i did badly._" this plea not being _considered satisfactory_, he was deprived of his habit; but two days afterwards, that is, on the th may, , he was reinstated in the order, though for a time not permitted to enjoy his former dignity of a commander. this knight was also accused of having stolen a slave from a maltese; but this accusation he stoutly denied, giving, in proof of his innocence, that the man _bore on his shoulder a brand, or mark_, by which he could be easily known as belonging to him. (vide manuscript records of the order.) the next letter in the following list to which i would briefly call attention is that under date of june st, , in which his majesty charles ii. refers to a misunderstanding which had taken place between his admiral, sir john narbrough, and the order of malta. the nature of this difficulty is well explained by giving a correct copy of the admiral's letter to the grand master, which i have taken from the original now on file in the record office of this island. it reads as follows:-- to the most eminent prince, the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta. most eminent sir, after the tender of my humble service, with my hearty thanks for the manifold favours vouchsafed unto my master, the king of great britain, &c., and for your highness' extraordinary kindness manifested to myself--and, most eminent sir, since your favour of _product_, i have sent on shore one of my captains to wait upon your highness with the presentment of this my grateful letter, and withal to certify to your eminence _that i did, and do expect, a salute to be given by your highness to my master's flag which i carry_, correspondent to the salutes which you give to the flags of the king of spain and the king of france, which are carried in the same place, _it being the expectation of the king my master_. formerly your eminence was pleased to make some scruple of my command as admiral, which i humbly conceive your highness is fully satisfied in, since you received the last letter from the king of great britain. sir, i have, since my arrival at your eminence's port, often employed the consul desclaous to wait upon your highness _concerning the salutes_, but have not received any satisfactory answer thereto, which i now humbly desire may be returned unto me by my officer; and withal, that your eminence will be pleased to honour me with your commands wherein i may serve you, which shall be most cheerfully embraced, and readily performed by, most eminent sir, your highness' most humble and faithful servant, john narbrough. on board his majesty's ship henrietta, malta, october , . that the complaints of sir john narbrough, with reference to the grand master's refusal to salute the english flag, were, in the end, satisfactorily explained and removed, will be seen by the following extracts taken from the _diary of henry teonge_, published in london in . the reverend writer was serving as chaplain on board h. m. s. "assistance" at the time ( - ) his notes were written. "_august , ._--this morn wee com near malta; before wee com to the cytty, a boate with the malteese flagg in it coms to us to know whence wee cam. wee told them from england; they asked if wee had a bill of health for prattick, viz., entertaynment; our captain told them he had _no bill but what was in his guns' mouths_. wee cam on and anchored in the harbour betweene the old towne and the new, about nine of the clock; but must waite the governour's leasure to have leave to com on shoare, which was detarded _because our captain would not salute the cytty, except they would retaliate_. at last cam the consull with his attendants to our ship (but would not com on board till our captain had been on shoare) to tell us that we had leave to com on shoare six, or eight, or ten, at a time, and might have anything that was there to be had; _with a promise to accept our salute kindly_. wherupon our captain tooke a glasse of sack, and drank a health to king charles, and fyred seven gunns: the cytty gave us five againe, which was more than they had don to all our men of warr that cam thither before." "_august ._--this cytty is compassed almost cleane round with the sea, which makes severall safe harbours for hundreds of shipps. the people are generally extreamly courteouse, but especially to the english. a man cannot demonstrate all their excellencys and ingenuitys. let it suffice to say thus much of this place: viz. had a man no other business to invite him, yet it were sufficiently worth a man's cost and paines to make a voyage out of england on purpose to see that noble cytty of malta, and their works and fortifications about it. several of their knights and cavaliers cam on board us, six at one time, men of sufficient courage and friendly carriage, wishing us { } good successe in our voyage, with whom i had much discourse, i being the only entertainer, because i could speak latine; for which i was highly esteemed, and much invited on shoare again." "_august ._--this morning a boate of ladys with their musick to our ship syd, and bottels of wine with them. they went severall times about our ship, and sang several songs very sweetly; very rich in habitt, and very courteous in behaviour; but would not com on board, though invited; but having taken their friscs, returned as they cam. after them cam, in a boate, four fryars, and cam round about our ship, puld off their hatts and capps, saluted us with congjes, and departed. after them cam a boat of musitians, playd severall lessons as they rowed gently round about us, and went their way." "_august ._--this morning our captain was invited to dine with the grand master, which hindered our departure. in the mean time wee have severall of the malteese com to visit us, all extreamly courteous. and now wee are preparing to sail for tripoly. deus vortat bene. "thus wee, th' 'assistance,' and the new sattee, doe steare our course poynt blanke for trypoly; our ship new rigged, well stord with pigg, and ghoose a, henns, ducks, and turkeys, and wine cald syracoosa." the rev. mr. teonge, having returned to malta on the th of january, - , thus continues:-- "this morning wee see the famous island of malta; coming under goza, a small island adjoyning to malta, wee discover a sayle creeping closse to the shoare; we hayle her with a shott--she would not budge; we sent a second, and then a third, falling very neare her; then the leiuetenant cam aboard us, and payd for the shott; it proved a pittifull frenchman." "_january ._--a little after one a clock wee are at anchor in malta harbour, _and have many salutes_. but we have no prattick by reason of the plague, which is begun heare." "_january ._--this morning wee warp out of the harbour with six merchantmen and a doggar, which wee are to convoy towards the strait's mouth. here also wee took in two mounths' provisions and fresh water. and as wee goe out wee meete six gallys of malta coming in in all their pompe, and they salute us, and wee them, and part. and heare at malta (which was very strainge to mee), at this time of the year, wee have radishes, cabbiges, and excellent colly flowers, and large ones for a penny a-piece." on the th january, - , the reverend writer again returned to malta, and made under this date the following note:-- "this day david thomas and marlin, the coock, and our master's boy, had their hands stretched out, and with their backs to the rayles, and the master's boy with his back to the maine mast, all looking one upon the other, and in each of their mouths a mandler spike, viz., an iron pinn clapt closse into their mouths, and tyd behind their heads; and there they stood a whole houre, till their mouths were very bloody, _an excellent cure for swearers_." "_february ._--this day dined with us sir roger strickland, captaine temple, captaine harrice, and one gentleman more. wee had a gallant baked pudding, an excellent legg of porke, and colliflowers, an excellent dish made of piggs' petti-toes, two roasted piggs, one turkey cock, a rosted hogg's head, three ducks, a dish of cyprus burds, and pistachoes and dates together, and store of good wines." "_february ._--god blesse those that are at sea! the weather is very bad." "_february ._--sir john narbrough cam in from trypoly, and four more ships with him. the noble malteese _salute him with forty-five gunns_; he answers them with so many that i could not count them. and what with our salutes, and his answers, there was nothing but fyre and smoake for almost two hours." the great length of this communication prevents my taking other extracts from a "diary" which contains much interesting information, and is written in a quaint and humorous style. william winthrop. la valetta, malta. * * * * * minor notes. _whipping a lady._--the following is from a ms. diary of the rev. john lewis, rector of chalfield and curate of tilbury: "august, . sir christopher hales being jilted by a lady who promised him marriage, and put him off on the day set for their marriage, gave her a good whipping at parting. remember the story." is there any corroboration of this? e. d. _mother of thirty children._--an instance has come under my notice of a woman, whose maiden name was lee, born in surrey; married, first, berry, with whom she lived thirty years, and had twenty-six children (four times twins): all survived infancy. married, secondly, taylor, by whom she had four children. died at stratford, aged eighty-four. within a few weeks of her death, was as upright as a young woman. at the time of her death, there were one hundred and twenty-two of her descendants living. she lived most of her married life near whitechapel and radcliffe, and was buried in the brickfield burying-ground. she had sixteen boys and fourteen girls. leyton. _"ought" and "aught."_--i regret to observe that _ought_ is gradually supplanting _aught_ in our language, where the meaning intended to be conveyed is "anything." todd's _johnson_ gives authorities, but may they not be errors of the press? i am aware that use has substituted _nought_ for _naught_ in the sense of "not anything", the latter now expressing only what is "bad," and convenience may justify that change, _nought_ being not otherwise used. let me add that i am the more { } in fear for our old servant _aught_, who surely has done _nought_ worthy of excommunication, from observing that such a writer as the rev. chevenix trench has substituted _ought_ for _aught_ to express "anything." if convenience is allowed to justify our having _nought_ and _naught_, it surely claims that we should keep _aught_ and _ought_ each for its appropriate signification in writing, impossible as it is to distinguish one from the other in speech. [upsilon]. nilbud. _walton._--the following note is written on the fly-leaf at the end of hieron's _sermons_, : "mr. gillamour.--i pray you be entreated to lend my wife what silver you think fittest upon this or other bookes to supplie our present wants, soe as i may have them againe when i restore it to you; you shall doo mee a greate curtesie, and i shall be very thankfull to you. yours to his power to be co[=m]anded, johs' walton, cler." i have no information as to either party, and no date is affixed to the request. e. d. _salutations._--the parting salutations of various nations are strikingly alike. the _vale_ of the latins corresponds with the [greek: chaire] of the greeks; and though deity is not expressed distinctly in either, it was doubtless understood: for who can be kept in health without, as the ancients would say, the will of the gods? the greek word perhaps has a higher signification than the latin; for it was not a mere complimentary salutation, says macknight: "st. john forbids it to be given to heretical teachers, eph. ii. , ." the french, on taking leave, say "adieu," thus distinctly recognising the providential power of the creator; and the same meaning is indeed conveyed in our english word, "good-bye," which is corruption of "god be with you." the irish, in their warmth of manner and love of words, often extend the expression. a well-known guide, upon my leaving one of the loveliest spots in wicklow, shook hands with me heartily, and said, in a voice somewhat more tremulous through age than it was when tom moore loved to listen to it: "god almighty bless you, be with you, and guide you safely to your journey's end!" this salutation, when used thoughtfully and aright, has not only a pleasant sound, but deep meaning. e. w. j. crawley. _good times for equity suitors._--having lately met with the following particulars in bishop goodman's _diary_, i send them for insertion, if you think fit, in "n. & q.:" "then was the chancery so empty of causes, that sir thomas more could live in chelsea, and yet very sufficiently discharge that office; and coming one day home by ten of the clock, whereas he was wont to stay until eleven or twelve, his lady came down to see whether he was sick or not; to whom sir thomas more said, 'let your gentlewoman fetch me a cup of wine, and then i will tell you the occasion of my coming;' and when the wine came, he drank to his lady, and told her that he thanked god for it he had not one cause in chancery, and therefore came home for want of business and employment there. the gentlewoman who fetched the wine told this to a bishop, who did inform me." abhba. _the emperor of russia and the order of the garter._--the emperor of russia is a knight of the order of the garter. now, according to the statutes of the order, no knight ought to take up arms against another, or in any way assist anybody so to do. in illustration of this, we find it stated in anstis' _register of the most noble order of the garter_, who quotes from caligula, l. ., in _bib. cott._, that when the french king wished to borrow a sum of money from henry vii., to employ in the war with the king of naples, the answer was: "que le roy ne povoit avec son honneur bailler aide et assistence a icelluy son bon frere et cousin a l'encontre du roy de naples, qui estoit son confrere et allye, veu et considere qu'il avoit prise et recue l'ordre de la garretiere. et si le roi autrement faisoit, ce seroit contrevenir au serment qu'il a fait par les statuz du dit ordre." will the emperor of russia be deprived of his ill-deserved honours, or what is the course now pursued? it was not unusual formerly for kings to exchange orders, and to return them in case of war. oscar browning. * * * * * queries. sir henry wotton's verses, "the character of a happy life." owing to the almost perfect identity of these verses with some by a german poet, george rudolph weckerlin, a doubt has been expressed in a german work as to whether they are to be considered the production of sir henry wotton, or a translation from the _geistliche und weltliche gedichte_ of weckerlin, a lyrical poet of considerable eminence and popularity in his day, and who died in london in . weckerlin was employed in important affairs connected with the protestants in germany during the thirty years' war, as secretary to an embassy in london from that country; and was also employed on several occasions by james i. and charles i. an edition of weckerlin's _poems_ was edited by him while he resided in london, and was printed at amsterdam in , and again in . a previous collection had { } appeared at stutgart in . many of his poems, which he had left in ms. with his brother ludwig in germany, perished with him during the horrors of the war. "what has become," weckerlin feelingly exclaims, "of my _myrta_, that dear poem, composed of so many sonnets and stanzas?" perhaps some of the readers of "n. & q.," who are conversant with the literature of england and germany during the period alluded to, may be able to solve the question as to the real author of the verses mentioned. john macray. oxford. * * * * * minor queries. _plants and flowers._--might i inquire of your correspondent eirionnach why his long-promised notes on the "ecclesiastical and rustic pet names" of plants and flowers have never been forthcoming? i have often lingered on the threshold of the "garden full of sunshine and of bees," where eirionnach has laboured; would he kindly be my guide to the pleasant domain, and indicate (without trespassing on your columns i mean) the richest gatherings of the legendary lore and poetry of the vegetable kingdom? are there any collections of similes drawn from plants and flowers? dr. aitkin has broken ground in his _essay on poetical similes_. any notes on this subject, addressed to the "care of the editor," will greatly oblige sigma. customs, london. _quotations wanted._--whence the following: . "condendaque lexica mandat damnatis, poenam pro poenis omnibus unam." quoted at the end of the preface to liddell and scott's _lexicon_? . "_rex_ erat _elizabeth_, sed erat _regina jacobus?_"[ ] p. j. f. gantillon. [footnote : rapin has given the parentage of this pasquil at the end of his history of james i.: "tandis qu' elizabeth fut roy l'anglois fut d'espagne l'effroy, maintenant, devise et caquette, regi par la reine jaquette." "extinctus amabitur idem." unde? w. t. m. _griffith, william, bishop of ossory._--any facts relative to the life of this prelate will be acceptable, as i am about to go to press with a work comprising _lives of the bishops of ossory_. james graves. killkenny. "_cowperiana._"--southey, in his preface to the last volume of his edition of cowper's _works_ (dated aug. , ), speaks of his intention to publish two additional volumes under the title of _cowperiana_. were these ever published? if not, will they ever be? w. p. storer. olney, bucks. _john keats's poems._--can any of your readers inform me what legend (if any) john keats the poet refers to in his beautiful poem of _st. agnes' eve_, st. xix., when he says: "never on such a night have lovers met, since merlin paid his demon all the monstrous debt." and pray let me know what is implied in the concluding lines of his absurd poem of _hyperion_, as they have always been a mystery to me. [greek: xanthos]. _holland._--we have the kingdom of holland, we have the holland division of lincolnshire, and in lancashire we have the two townships of downholland and upholland. is the derivation of each the same, and, if it be, what is the affinity? prestoniensis. _armorial._--can the younger son of a peer use the supporters to his family arms? prestoniensis. _stoke and upton._--these names of places are so very common, and in some counties, as bucks, worcester, and devon, apply to adjoining villages, that it would be interesting to know the origin of the names, and of their association. jno. d. alcroft. _slavery in england._--one of the recent volumes published by the chetham society, the _stanley papers_, part ii., contains the household books of the third and fourth earls of derby, temp. queen elizabeth. i find in the "orders touching the government of my lo. his house," that at the date thereof ( ) slavery in some form or other existed in england, for in the mansion of this powerful noble it was provided-- "that no _slaves_ nor boyes shall sitt in the hall, but in place therefore appoynted convenyent." and,-- "that the yemen of horses and groomes of the stable shall not suffre any boyes or _slaves_ to abye about the stables, nor lye in theym, nor in anie place about theym." was there then in england the form of slavery now in existence in the united states, and until lately in the west indies; or was it more like the serfdom of russia? and when was this slavery abolished in england? prestoniensis. "_go to bath._"--what is the origin of this saying? r. r. { } _mummy chests._--harris, in his _natural history of the bible_, says: "the imperishable chests which contain the egyptian mummies were of _cypress_." shaw, in his _travels_, p. ., says: "the mummy chests, and whatever figures and instruments are found in the catacombs, are all of them of _sycamore_." which is right, and how can we account for the contradiction? n. l. j. _the blechenden family._--thomas blechenden, d.d., a prebendary of canterbury, whose will was proved in , had a younger brother richard, who had a daughter mary. it is desired to know if mary married, and if so, to whom? the family were of ruffin's hill in kent, and richard is described as "of london." gwillim. philadelphia. _francklyn household book._--in the extracts from this ms., given in the _archæologia_, vol. xv. p. ., is an entry,-- "given to the prisoners at white chappel, s." who were they? "nov. , . given to mr. atkynson's man for writing out the causes which are to be hearde in the star chamber this tearme, s." who and what was mr. atkynson? "june , . spent by wyllyam when he was sworn by the pages, s. d." what does this refer to? "april , . given to sir charles morrison's groomes, s." who and what was sir charles morrison? in another extract given elsewhere, i find,-- "august , . for bay salt to stop the barrells, d." what does this mean? "january , . for four giggs and scourgesticks, s." what are giggs and scourgesticks? "november , . for haulfe a pound of cakes and jumballs, d." what are jumballs? can any of your readers tell me where this _livre des acconts pour chevalier jean francklyn en son_ [sic] _maison au wilsden_ now is? when the extracts were published in the _archæologia_, it was said to be in the possession of the late sir john chardin musgrave, bart. i have applied to the present sir george musgrave, and also to george musgrave, esq., of gordon square, and bedfordshire, who is descended from sir christopher musgrave, who married to his second wife a daughter of sir george francklyn; but neither can give me any tidings of this ms. j. k. _lord rosehill's marriage._--an american paper of august , , has the following: "last week was married in maryland, the right honorable lord rosehill to miss margaret cheer, a lady much admired for her theatrical performances." who was lord rosehill? w. d. r. philadelphia. _colonel butler._--can you give me any information respecting colonel butler, who fought during the civil wars, i fear, under the banner of the usurper? he belonged to a lincolnshire family, and either his daughter or some relative married a person of the name of hairby or harby. agares. _willesdon, co. middlesex._--information is solicited respecting the families of willesdon, roberts, francklyn, barne, poulett, atye, troyford, and nicolls of this place, as well as of other families known to have belonged to this parish. any communications as to the church, its original construction, or its reconstruction about the end of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth, century, or illustrative of the general history of the parish in early or recent times, or biographical notices of its vicars, will be gladly received; and as such information may not be generally interesting to your readers, i would request contributors to address any communications they may be pleased to favour me with, to j. k., care of mr. fenton, kensall green, harrow road, middlesex. j. k. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _ashes of "lignites."_--a paragraph has been making the circuit of the public papers, recommending the use of ashes of _lignites_, to preserve esculent roots. it may have originated with some dealer in _lignites_; but plain dealers would like to be informed what _lignites_ are? rusticus. [lignite is a fossil wood carbonized to a certain degree, but retaining distinctly its woody texture. dr. macculloch, _on rocks_, p. ., observes: "in its chemical properties, lignite holds a station intermediate between peat and coal; while among the varieties a gradation in this respect may be traced; the brown and more organised kinds approaching very near to peat, while the more compact kinds, such as jet, approximate to coal."] _bishop bathurst._--i have heard it often asserted that the late dr. bathurst, bishop of norwich, was the youngest of _forty-two_ children. can this { } be satisfactorily ascertained? i remember hearing it many years since during the bishop's lifetime. such a circumstance is not beyond the bounds of possibility, if we are to believe the parish register of bermondsey; for there appears an entry there of the marriage, on jan. , - , of james harriott, esq., one of the _forty_ children of his father. i myself knew intimately a lady, a clergyman's widow, who was the mother of twenty-six children (vol. v., p. .; vol. ix., p. .); and i have heard it said that one of her brothers-in-law was father of twenty-four, and another of fourteen children. the late sir robert wigram, bart., had twenty-four children: he died at the age of eighty-six. y. s. m. [mrs. thistlethwaite, in her _memoirs_ of her father, p. , states, that "benjamin bathurst, esq., the father of the bishop of norwich, having married, first, miss poole, an heiress, he had issue by her twenty-two children; by his second wife, miss brodrick, daughter of dr. brodrick, a brother of lord midleton's, mr. bathurst had a second family of fourteen children, of whom my father was third child and second son. he was a seven months' child, and i have heard that he was so extremely small an infant, that he could not be dressed like other children for some time after his birth, but was obliged to be wrapped in cotton. my father used to say in a joke, that he was wrapped in cotton, and put into a quart mug." the bishop's father had four children, one daughter and three sons. these four had a hundred children between them, thirty-six of whom fell to the lot of the bishop's father.] "_selah._"--what is the meaning of the word _selah_, which occurs so often in the psalms? i have observed that most people, in reading, omit it. should it be read or not? f. m. middleton. [a diversity of opinion prevails as to the exact import of this term. the great musical critic mattheson, in a work written on the word, having rejected eleven meanings, decides in favour of the twelfth, which makes the word equivalent to the modern italian _da capo_. in this view, the word _selah_ directs a repetition of the air or song from the commencement, to the parts where it is placed. herder held that _selah_ denoted a swell, or a change in the rapidity of the movement, or in the key. the easterns, he says, are fond of a very uniform, and, as it appears to europeans, mournful music; but at certain points, they of a sudden change the key, and pass into a different melody. these points, he thinks, were among the hebrews indicated by the word _selah_. the balance of authority, however, is in favour of the former view.--_the people's dict. of the bible._ consult also, julius bate's _critica hebræa_, and gesenius' _hebrew and english lexicon_.] _the long parliament._--where is a list of it, including its various changes, to be seen? y. s. m. [among the _king's pamphlets_ in the british museum (press-mark, e. .) is the following "a list of the names of the long parliament, anno ; likewise of the parliament holden at oxford; as also of the three ensuing parliaments holden at westminster in the years , , , and of the late parliament, dissolved april , , with a catalogue of the lords of the other house. london: printed in the year ." there is also another pamphlet entitled "the names of the members of parliament which began on the th june, . to. london, ."] "_the three pigeons._"--was it the house at brentford, mentioned by dr. rimbault (vol. ix., p. .), that suggested tony lumpkin's convivial ballad in praise of "the three jolly pigeons?" g. taylor. reading. [it is highly probable that the scene "an ale-house room" in goldsmith's comedy _she stoops to conquer_ is the "three pigeons" at brentford, as this remarkable hostel dates its origin from the days of shakspeare and ben jonson. it is frequently mentioned by the early dramatists, and appears at one time to have been in some repute, having had for its landlord the celebrated tragedian, john lowin, cotemporary of shakspeare, and one of the original actors in his plays, who died in this house at a very advanced age: "thou art admirably suited for the three pigeons at brentford, i swear i know thee not."--_the roaring girl._ "we will turn our courage to braynford--westward, my bird of the night--to the pigeons."--ben jonson's _alchymist_. see faulkner's _history of brentford_, p. .] _captain cook._--wanted, the pedigree of capt. jas. cook (the circumnavigator), and full account of his lineal and collateral descendants. wardale g. mcallister. philadelphia. [dr. kippis's _life of captain cook_ may be consulted with advantage. it is carefully compiled, and will be found in the fourth volume of his _biographia britannica_, as well as in a separate to. volume, . for the death of the eldest and only surviving son of the celebrated navigator, see _gentleman's magazine_ for february, , p. ., and p. . of the same volume.] _varnish for old books._--can any of your readers oblige me with a good receipt for varnishing the bindings of old books? bees-wax and turpentine, used very thin, is a tolerably good one; but i am desirous of learning another. investigator. [a little common glue-size, made thin, would be better than bees-wax and turpentine. the best varnish that can be used is that made in france, and may be had at barbe lechertier's, artists' colourman, . regent's quadrant. it is called french varnish for leather, and is sold at s. per pound. there is also a common varnish for leather, which can be purchased { } at reilly's varnish manufactory, . old street, st. luke's. it is sold at about s. d. per pint.] _cabbages._--when were cabbages first cultivated in england? who introduced them? c. h. [evelyn says, "'tis scarce a hundred years since we first had cabbages out of holland, sir anthony ashley, of wiburg st. giles, in dorsetshire, being, as i am told, the first who planted them in england."--_acetaria_, sect. . they were introduced into scotland by the soldiers of cromwell's army.] * * * * * replies. addison's hymns. (vol. ix., p. .) after the correspondence that took place ("n. & q.," vol. v.), i had hoped that addison would have been left in peaceable possession of those "divine hymns" ascribed to his pen; but this is not to be. a former correspondent, j. g. f., doubted whether they were not composed by andrew marvell? this inquiry was, i hope, satisfactorily answered, by myself in the first instance, and afterwards by mr. crossley, vol. v., pp. , . in no. . a later correspondent, s. m., asks whether the hymn "when rising from the bed of death," which he says is "taken from the chapter on 'death and judgment,' in addison's _evidences of the christian religion_," was written by addison or dr. isaac watts? in what edition of the _evidences_ does s. m. find either the chapter he speaks of, or this hymn? the place which it occupies is in no. . of the _spectator_. as i have elsewhere stated, addison was accustomed to throw a little mystery over these poems; and "the excellent man in holy orders," to whom this hymn is attributed, is unquestionably the ideal clergyman, the occasional visitor of the club, spoken of in the second number of the _spectator_. in the letter that accompanies this hymn, the supposed writer says,-- "the indisposition which has long hung upon me, is at last grown to such a head, that it must quickly make an end of me or of itself.... were i able to dress up several thoughts of a serious nature, which have made great impressions on my mind during a long fit of sickness, they might not be an improper entertainment for one of your saturday's papers." what a natural remark from a writer who, addison tells us, treats divine topics "as one who has no interests in this world, as one who is hastening to the object of all his wishes, and conceives hope from his decays and infirmities!" this sublime paper, or "series of thoughts," stamped with the peculiar beauties and polish of addison's style, closes with the hymn in question, composed, as the writer says, "during this my sickness." watts survived the date of this paper above thirty-five years. had it been his own composition, would he not have claimed the authorship, and incorporated the hymn amongst his sacred songs? let us not, in the pages of "n. & q." at least, witness farther attempts to misappropriate the writings of one, whose undying fame will be cotemporaneous with the literature of england. still, in the beautiful language of addison's friend tickell, may he in his hymns-- ----"warn poor mortals left behind, a task well suited to his gentle mind." j. h. markland. * * * * * longfellow. (vol. ix., pp. . .) a communication from a gentleman, who married into a family of this name, informs me that the longfellows of brecon were a branch of a yorkshire family; and that a portion of more than one family, probably from the same county, are now settled in kent. my friend has not before had his attention turned to this subject, but he promises farther inquiry. t. s. n. bermondsey. why should w. p. storer suppose that the name of longfellow originated otherwise than in the lengthy proportions of an ancestor? surely the well-known surnames, rufus, longshanks, strongbow, are sufficient to warrant us in saying that longfellow need have nothing to do with longueville. from what shall we derive the names of longman, greathead, littlejohn, and tallboy? john p. stilwell. dorking. by the kindness of the registrar-general, i am enabled to point, with some precision, to a few of the localities in which the name of longfellow exists in this country. upon reference to the well-arranged indexes in his office, it appears that the deaths of sixty-one persons bearing this name were recorded in the years to ; and of these, fifty occurred in the west riding of yorkshire, namely, in leeds thirty-five; otley, and its neighbourhood, ten; selby four, and in keighley one. the other instances were, in the metropolis seven, and one each in swansea, newport (monmouth), tewkesbury, and hastings. more than one third of the males bore the christian name of william. it is not probable that the longfellows are numerous in any part of england: indeed, as we { } know that of the general population the average annual mortality is . per cent, the sixty-one deaths in fifteen years, or four deaths yearly, might be supposed to result from about two hundred persons of the name; but inferences of this nature, except when large masses are dealt with, are often very fallacious. may not the derivation of the name be from _long fallow_, of the same family as fallows, fellowes, fallowfield, and langmead, which are not uncommon? james t. hammack. . st. mark's crescent, regent's park. c. h. quotes some lines said to have been written on a window-shutter of the "golden lion," brecon, when a mr. longfellow was proprietor, fifty or sixty years ago: "tom longfellow's name is most justly his due; long his neck, long his bill, which is very long too; long the time ere your horse to the stable is led," &c. these lines remind me of the following passage of the poet longfellow's in his _hyperion_, which, not to speak of a possible plagiarism, has at least a strange _family_ resemblance: "if you go to zurich, beware how you stop at 'the raven.' i wrote in the travellers' book-- 'beware of the raven of zurich; 'tis a bird of omen ill, with a noisy and an unclean breast, and a very, very long bill.' "if you go to 'the golden falken' you will find it there. i am the author of those lines--longfellow." g. dymond. * * * * * books burnt by the hangman. (vol. ix., pp. . .) as the subject is interesting, you will probably permit me to cite a few more examples:--in geo. chalmers' _catalogue_, "burnt by the hangman" is appended to a copy of wm. thomas' _historie of italie_, ; but i do not find this stated elsewhere. the opinions emitted in this work are of a free nature certainly, in respect to the governed and governing powers; but whatever was the fate of his book, i rather think thomas (who was executed in mary's reign) suffered for some alleged act of overt treason, and not for publishing seditious books. _an information from the states of the kingdome of scotland to the kingdome of england, showing how they have bin dealt with by his majesty's commissioners_, : in a proclamation (march , ) against seditious pamphlets sent from scotland, this tract was prohibited on account of its containing many most notorious falsehoods, scandals, &c.; it was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. (rymer's _foed._, as quoted by chalmers.) there is now before me a modern impression of an old cut in two compartments: the upper representing the demolition of the "crosse in cheapeside on the nd may, ;" and the lower a goodly gathering of the public around a bonfire, viewing, with apparent satisfaction, the committal of a book to the flames by the common executioner, with this inscription: " th may, the boocke of spartes vpon the lord's day, was burnt by the hangman in the place where the crosse stoode, and at (the) exchange." that great lover of sights, master pepys, notices one of these exhibitions: " , th may, with mr. shipley," says our gossip, "to the exchange about business; and there, by mr. rawlinson's favour, got into a balcone over against the exchange, and there saw the hangman burn, by vote of parliament, two old acts: the one for constituting us a commonwealth, and the other i have forgot; which still do make me think of the greatness of this late turne, and what people will do to-morrow against what they all, thro' profit or fear, did promise and practise this day." a note to this passage in the _diary_ (vol. i. p. ., rd edit.) supplies the defective memory of pepys, by informing us that the last was an "act for subscribing the engagement;" and adds, on the same day there had been burnt by the hangman, at westminster hall, the "act for erecting a high court of justice for trying and judging charles stuart." they seem to have been just then cleansing out the augean stable of the commonwealth: for it is added, "two more acts" were similarly burnt next day. in _a letter to a clergyman, relating to his sermon on the th jan._, by a lover of truth, , the lay author (one coade, i believe), inveighing against high churchmen, reminds the preacher that he-- "was pleased to dress up the principles of the presbyterians in a frightful shape; but let me tell you, sir, in my turn, that the principles of your party have been burnt, not by a rude and lawless rabble, but by the common hangman, in broad day-light, before the royal exchange in london, and by authority of parliament. perhaps," he continues, "you never heard of this contemptuous treatment of the oxford principles, and therefore i will give it you from the parliamentary records:--'anno domini . the house of lords, taking into consideration the judgment and decree of the university of oxford, passed in their convocation july , ,--it was resolved by the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled, that the said judgment and decree contains in it several positions contrary to the constitution of this kingdom, and destructive to the protestant succession as by law established. and it was thereupon ordered, by the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled, that the said judgment and decree shall be burnt by the hands of the common hangman before the royal { } exchange, between hours of twelve and one, on monday the th march, in the presence of the lord mayor of the city of london,' &c." doleman's _conference about the next succession to the crown of england_, reprinted at n. with licence, in , was, in , condemned by the university of oxford, and burnt by the common hangman. in the above examples i have confined myself to those books, &c. only which were expressly consigned to the flames by the hangman. the instances of book-burning where this indignity was either not imposed, or its infliction not recorded, are numerous. among the curiosities of literature of elizabeth's reign, were certain books ascribed to a dutchman, by name henry nicholas, translated into english, and probably imported from the low countries. this person, imbibing the "damnable heresies" of david george, of leyden, became the apostle of a sect who styled themselves "the family of love," and their fanatical books becoming obnoxious to the dominant party, they were, by proclamation, ordered to be burnt; and, as such manifestations of the royal will usually ran, all persons were held punishable for having them in their possession. (see herbert's _ames._) as an example of the spiritual power thus dealing with a book, apparently upon its own authority, the following may be offered:--_servetus de trinitate, &c._ (london, .) this edition, which is without name of place or printer, and without date, was printed by palmer for osborne the bookseller; but, as soon as completed was seized at the instance of dr. gibson, bishop of london, and burnt, with the exception of a very few copies. (davis' _journey round the library, &c._) the last unfortunate book i shall mention is the _metrical psalms_ of dod; which was also, most likely, an episcopal seizure. mr. holland, in his _psalmists of britain_, quoting from george withers' _scholler's purgatory_, says, "dod the silkman's late ridiculous translation of the psalms was, by authority, worthily condemned to the fire," and, judging from its extreme scarcity, i should say very few escaped. j. o. i have not seen in your list of martyred books the following, in the year a.d. : _a plea for the nonconformists_, by thomas de laune, gentleman. he died in newgate, during his imprisonment for the book, in pursuance of the following sentence: "ad general. quartercal. session. pacis dom. regis tent. pro civitat. london per adjornament, apud justice-hall in le old bayly, die mercurii scil. decimo sexto die january, anno regis caroli secundi cundi nunc ang. &c. "thomas de laune convict. pro illicite scribend. imprimend. et publicand. libel. seditios. dert. concernen. librum communis præcationis. fin. marc. et committit, etc.! et ulterius quousq; inven. bon. de se bene gerend. per spacium unius anni integri ex tunc prox. sequen. et quad libel. sedit. cum igne combust. sint apud excambium regal. in london, et si del. sol. shil. wagstaffe." in a letter containing a narrative of his trial and imprisonment, written by him from prison, occur many touches of humour. in his remarks on the sentence he says,-- "the six shillings to be paid on my discharge is to the hangman, for the faggots, i suppose." "the court told us that, in respect to our education as scholars, we should not be pillory'd, though ('twas said) we deserved it.... we were sent back to our confinement, and _the next execution-day_ our books were burnt with fire (not with water, you must note), and we continue here; but, since i writ this, mr. ralphson had a supersedeas by _death_ to a _better place_!" in his account he affirms that, on his own confession of being the author of _the plea_, and because he could find no bail, he was committed to newgate-- "lodged among the felons, whose horrid company made a perfect representation of that horrible place which you describe when you mention hell. a hard bench was my bed, and two bricks my pillow. but after two days and nights, _without any refreshment_, the unusualness of that society and place having impaired my health, which at the very best is tender, and crazy, i was removed, and am now in the press-yard, a _place of some sobriety_, though still a prison _ubi nihil amabile est_!" twenty years after, , his plea was republished, with his narrative, by one of his fellow-prisoners, who had been released, and who calls it "an elaborate piece"! he adds, that de laune, being unable to pay "the seventy-five pound, his children, his wife, and himself were imprison'd, and _all_ dy'd in new-gate; of which myself was an eye-witness, and a companion with him for the same cause in the same prison, where i continued above a year after his death." e. f. woodman. p. s.--query, what is the meaning, in the foregoing, of the expression "at the next execution-day"? have we any instance on record of the execution of a malefactor in front of the royal exchange? and, if not, did the hangman come from newgate, after "doing duty" there, and burn the book at the exchange? in the books of conrad vorstius were publicly burnt in st. paul's churchyard and both the universities by the king's order. (wilson's _life and reign of james i._, p. .) on sunday, november , , the books of francis suarez, the spanish jesuit, were publicly burnt at st. paul's cross. (_court and times of james i._, vol. i. pp. , .) c. h. cooper. cambridge. * * * * * { } sack. (vol. ix., p. .) with respect to the wines called sacks, much diversity of opinion has prevailed, and although the question has been frequently discussed, it still remains, in a great measure, undetermined. it seems admitted, on all hands, that the term _sack_ was originally applied to certain growths of spain. in a ms. account of the disbursements by the chamberlain of the city of worcester for , dr. percy found the ancient mode of spelling to be _seck_, and thence concluded that sack is a corruption of _sec_, signifying a dry wine. moreover, in the french version of a proclamation for regulating the prices of wines, issued by the privy council in , the expression _vins secs_ corresponds with the word _sacks_ in the original. the term _sec_ is still used as a substantive by the french to denote a spanish wine; and the dry wine of xerez is known at the place of its growth by the name of _vino seco_. the foregoing account is abridged from _the history of ancient and modern wines_, by alex. henderson, lond. . the following is taken from cyrus redding's _history of modern wines_, lond. : "in the early voyages to these islands (the canaries), quoted in ashley's collection, there is a passage relative to sack, which will puzzle wise heads about that wine. it is under the head of 'nicols' voyage.' nicols lived eight years in the islands. the island of teneriffe produces three sorts of wine, canary, malvasia, and verdona, 'which may all go under the denomination of sack.' the term then was applied neither to sweet nor dry wines exclusively, but to canary, xeres (_i. e._ sherry), or malaga generally. in anglo-spanish dictionaries of a century and a quarter old, sack is given as _vino de canarias_. hence it was canary sack, xeres sack, or malaga sack." [greek: halieus]. dublin. in reply to your correspondent, i believe sack to be nothing but _vino secco_, dry wine, probably identical with sherry or madeira. i once, when an undergraduate at oxford, ordered a dozen from a travelling agent to a london wine merchant, probably from shakspearian associations, and my belief is that what he sold me under that name was an italian wine of some sort, bearing a good deal of resemblance to the _vino panto_, of which perugia is the head-quarters. b. d. this is the same wine which is now named sherry. falstaff calls it _sherris sack_, and also _sherris_ only, using in fact both names indiscriminately ( _henry iv._, act iv. sc. .). for various commentaries regarding it, see blount's _glossographia_; dr. venner's _via recta ad vitam longam_, published in ; nares' _glossary_, &c. cotgrave, in his _dictionary_, makes sack to be derived from _vin sec_, french; and it is called _seck_ in an article by bishop percy, from an old account-book at worcester, anno elizbethæ . n. l. j. * * * * * irish law in the eighteenth century. (vol. ix., p. .) what has been mistaken by your correspondent for a piece of irish barbarity, was, until the act geo. iii. c. ., the usual punishment awarded by the law to culprits standing mute upon an arraignment of felony (that is, without speaking at all, or without putting himself upon god and the country). the judgment in such case was: "that the man or woman should be remanded to the prison, and laid there in some low and dark room, where they should lie naked on the bare earth, without any litter, rushes, or other clothing, and without any garment about them, but something to cover their privy parts, and that they should lie upon their backs, their heads uncovered and their feet, and one arm to be drawn to one quarter of the room with a cord, and the other arm to another quarter, and in the same manner to be done with their legs; and there should be laid upon their bodies iron and stone, so much as they might bear, and more; and the next day following, to leave three morsels of barley bread without any drink, and the second day to drink thrice of the water next to the house of the prison (except running water), without any bread; and this to be their diet until they were dead. so as, upon the matter, they should die three manner of ways, by weight, by famine, and by cold. and the reason of this terrible judgment was because they refused to stand to the common law of the land."-- _inst._ , . in the year-book of henry iv. the form of the judgment is _first_ given. the marshal of the king's bench is ordered to put the criminals into "diverses measons bases et estoppes, que ils gisent par la terre touts nuds forsque leurs braces, que ils mettroit sur chascun d'eux tants de fer et poids quils puissent porter et plus," &c., (as above). it appears also, from barrington's _observations on the statutes_, that, until the above-mentioned act, it was usual to torture a prisoner by tying his thumbs tightly together with whipcord in order to extort a plea; and he mentions the following instances where one or more of these barbarous cruelties have been inflicted: "in a prisoner's thumbs were thus tied at the same place" (old bailey), "who then pleaded; and in january, , william spigget submitted in the same manner after the thumbs being tied _as usual_, and his accomplice, phillips, was absolutely pressed for a considerable time, till he begged to stand on his trial. in april, , mary andrews continued so obstinate, that three whipcords were broken before she would plead. in december, , nathanael haws suffered in the same manner by squeezing the thumbs; after { } which he continued under the press for seven minutes with lbs., and then submitted." barrington also says in the text: "as it is very unusual for criminals to stand mute on their trials in more modern days, and it was not unfrequent, if we go some centuries back in english history, it may not be improper to observe, that the occasion of its being then more common, was to prevent forfeitures, and involving perhaps innocent children in their parents' guilt. these forfeitures only accrued upon judgment of _life and limb_, and, to the disgrace of the crown, were too frequently levied with the utmost rigour. the sentence, however, hath continued to be put into execution till the late act of parliament ( geo. iii. c. .) properly abolished it." he mentions two other cases, one of which happened at the sussex assizes, under baron thompson, and the other at cambridge, in , when baron carter was the judge. i do not think there are any more modern instances than these, for they are the only ones cited by counsel in general picton's case, in justification of inflicting torture on a prisoner. (_state trials_, vol. xxx.) the marquis beccaria, in an exquisite piece of raillery, has proposed this problem with a gravity and precision truly mathematical: "the force of the muscles and the sensibility of the nerves of an innocent person being given, it is required to find the degree of pain necessary to make himself guilty of a given crime."--_ bl. com. . n._ a prisoner standing mute at the present day would be sentenced to undergo the punishment that would be awarded to him, if found guilty of the crime laid to his charge. investigator. manchester, april , . blackstone (book iv. chap. .) speaks of the cases in which punishment of "peine forte et dure" was inflicted according to the ancient law. it would occupy too great space to quote what he says on this point, and, therefore i must refer your correspondent to his work itself, where he will also find an inquiry into its origin. the punishment is described almost in the words of your correspondent's quotation; thus: "that the prisoner be remanded to the prison from whence he came, and be put into a low, dark chamber; and there be laid on his back, on the bare floor, naked, unless where decency forbids, that there be placed upon his body as great a weight of iron as he could bear, and more; that he have no sustenance, save only, on the first day, three morsels of the worst bread, and, on the second day, three draughts of standing water, that should be nearest to the prison door; and in this situation this should be alternately his daily diet, _till he died_, or (as anciently the judgment ran) till he answered." blackstone farther intimates that this punishment was abolished by statute geo. iii. c. ., which shows, of course, that it continued to be according to law for more than thirty years after the date mentioned by abhba. r. o. the punishment, or more properly torture, alluded to by abhba, was the "peine forte et dure," commonly applied in the early part of the last century to such criminals as refused to plead. many died under it in order to save their estates, &c. from forfeiture to the crowns. in my forthcoming anecdotes of "the eighteenth century," several cases are cited from the newspapers of the time; but, as the ms. is now in the printer's hands, i cannot refer to them. writing from memory, i think that the last case in which this torture was applied at the old bailey in london was in , and reported in the _london magazine_ of that year. the "press-yard" at newgate derives its name from being the scene of these tortures. alexander andrews. * * * * * job xix. . (vol. ix., p. .) perhaps the best mode in which i can comply with mr. c. mansfield ingleby's request, is to send for insertion in the "n. & q." my ms. note on the text in question: [hebrew: w'chr `wry nqpw z't] [hebrew: wmbshry 'chzh 'lwh:] the difficulties which the reader experiences, on reading the authorised version of this passage, are by no means trifling. every one knows that the words printed in _italics_ are not to be found in the original; the strictly literal rendering, according to the construction put upon the verse by our translators, would therefore run thus: "and after my skin, destroy this, yet in my flesh shall i see god." to say the least of it, "it is hard to be understood." the three words in italics, arbitrarily introduced, make the passage by no means more intelligible. the erudite author of the marginal readings (see "n. & q.," vol. ix., p. .) felt the difficulty, and therefore proposed another translation, which is,-- "after i shall awake, though this _body_ be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall i see god." by an effort of violent criticism, [hebrew: `wry] might be translated _my awaking_; but it will require an extraordinary critical mind to turn [hebrew: nqpw z't] into _though this body be destroyed_. the difficulties seem to have originated with the misapprehension of the proper meaning of the verb [hebrew: nqp] here. instead of translating it according to its primitive signification, viz. _to surround_ { } a foreign sense has been palmed upon it, viz. _to destroy_. job, no doubt, meant to say thus: "and after my skin has returned, this shall be; and out of my flesh shall i see god." thus the literal meaning demonstrates a connecting link between verses and . the authorised version and the marginal reading seem to lack that link: "and i know that my redeemer liveth, and he shall at length abide upon the earth." but would you know when this _at length_ is to take place? it will come to pass when a shaking of the dry bones shall take place, when bone to bone shall be joined, when sinews and flesh shall come upon them, and skin cover them above; that is, when the skeleton of my mutilated body shall be raised a glorified body. in other words,-- "and after my skin returned, this shall be; and out of my flesh shall i see god." the most ancient translators have evidently put this construction upon the verse under consideration. the chaldee paraphrase runs thus: [chaldee: wmn btr d'tpch mshky th' d'] [chaldee: wmbsry 'chmy twb 'lh'::] "and after my skin is healed, this shall be; and out of my flesh shall i see the return of god." [chaldee: 'tpch] does not mean here _inflated_, as some suppose. the syriac version translates the word [hebrew: nqpw] by the word [syriac: 'tkrk], which means _surround_, _wind round_. the vulgate has the following version of the patriarch's prophetic exclamation: "et rursum circumdabor pelle mea, et in carne mea videbo deum meum." jerome evidently knew not what to do with the word [hebrew: z't], and therefore omitted it. he might have turned it to good account by translating it _erit hoc_. the above note has been penned upwards of five years ago, and i transcribe it now, without a single alteration, for the benefit of mr. c. mansfield ingleby and his friends. moses margoliouth. wybunbury, nantwich. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _photographic experiences._--we have received from our valued correspondent dr. mansell, of guernsey, a suggestion to which we are happy to give publicity, and to the promotion of which we shall be very glad to lend the columns of "n. & q." our photographic readers are probably aware that the talbotype process is increasing in favour; we have recorded dr. diamond's strong testimony to its advantages. mr. llewellyn has just described his process (which is strikingly similar) in the _photographic journal_; and in a recent number of _la lumière_ the vicomte vigier confirms the views of our countrymen. dr. mansell, who has given our readers the benefit of his experience, well remarks that in all his acquaintance with physical science, he knows nothing more remarkable than that mr. fox talbot should not only have discovered this beautiful process, but likewise have given it to the world (in ) in so perfect a form, that the innumerable experiments of a dozen years have done nothing essential to improve it, and the best manipulators of the day can add nothing to it. it is, however, with a view to testing some of the points in which photographers differ, so as to establish which are best, that dr. mansell suggests, that a table giving, . the time of exposure in the camera, in a bright may sun, . the locality, . the iodizement, . the maker of the paper, . the diameter of the diaphragm, . its distance from the lens, and . the diameter, focal length, and maker of the lens, would, if carefully and honestly stated by some twenty or thirty photographers, be extremely valuable. of this there can be little doubt, and we hope that our scientific photographic friends, will respond to this suggestion. we for our parts are ready to receive any such communications, and will, at the end of the month, collate and arrange them in such form as may best exhibit the results. it is obvious that, in a matter of such a nature, _we_ at least should be furnished with the names of our correspondents. _the céroléine process._--the unfavourable state of the weather has prevented me from making many experiments as to the value of the process given in your th number, but i have seen enough to convince me that it will effect a great saving of trouble, and be more sensitive than any modification of le gray's process that has yet been published. it will, however, be rather more expensive, and, in the hands of persons unaccustomed to chemical manipulations, rather difficult; but the solutions once made, the waxing process is delightfully easy. william pumphrey. _on preserving the sensitiveness of collodion plates._--_the philosophical magazine_ of the present month contains a very important article by messrs. spiller and crookes upon this great desideratum in photographic practice. we have heard from a gentleman of considerable scientific attainments, that, from the few experiments which he had then made, he is convinced that the plan is quite feasible. we of course refer our readers to the paper itself for fuller particulars as to the reasoning which led the writers to their successful experiment, and for all enumeration of the many advantages which may result from their discovery. their process is as follows: "the plate, coated with collodion (that which we employ contains iodide, bromide, and chloride of ammonium, in about equal proportions), is made sensitive by immersion in the ordinary solution of nitrate of { } silver ( grains to the ounce), and after remaining there for the usual time, is transferred for a second solution of the following composition: nitrate of zinc (fused) ounces. nitrate of silver grains. water ounces. the plate must be left in this bath until the zinc solution has thoroughly penetrated the film (we have found five minutes amply sufficient for this purpose, although a much longer time is of no consequence); it should then be taken out, allowed to drain upright on blotting-paper until all the surface moisture has been absorbed (about half an hour), and then put by until required. the nitrate of zinc, which is still retained on the plate, is sufficient to keep it moist for any length of time, and we see no theoretical or practical reason why its sensitiveness should not be retained as long: experiments on this point are in progress; at present, however, we have only subjected them to the trial of about a week, although at the end of that period they were hardly deteriorated in any appreciable degree. it is not necessary that the exposure in the camera should be immediately followed by the development, as this latter process can be deferred to any convenient opportunity, provided it be within the week. previous to development, the plate should be allowed to remain for a few seconds in the original thirty-grain silver-bath, then removed and developed with either pyrogallic acid or a protosalt of iron, and afterwards fixed, &c. in the usual manner." * * * * * replies to minor queries. _tippet_ (vol. ix., p. .).--p. c. s. s. cannot help thinking that _tippet_ is nothing more than a corruption, _per metathesia_, of _epitogium_. such, at least, seems to have been the opinion of old minsheu, who, in his _guide to the tongues_, , describes it thus: "a habit which universitie men and clergiemen weare over their gownes. l. _epitogium_, ab [greek: epi] and _toga_." p. c. s. s. _heraldic anomaly_ (vol. ix., p. .).--as your correspondent john o' the ford wishes to be furnished with examples of arms now extant, augmented with a cross in chief, i beg to inform him that on the north side of st. john's gate, clerkenwell, immediately above the arch, are three shields: the centre one bearing a plain cross (the arms of the order); on the right, as you face the gateway, the shield bears a chevron ingrailed between three roundles, impaling a cross flory, over all on a chief a cross; that on the left is merely a single shield, bearing a chevron ingrailed between three roundles apparently (being somewhat damaged), in chief a plain cross. if the colours were marked, they are indistinguishable,--shield and charges are alike sable now. on the south side are two shields: that on the right has been so much damaged that all i can make out of it is that two coats have been impaled thereon, but i cannot discover whether it had the cross in chief or not; that on the left bears a chevron between three roundles, in chief a plain cross. this shield also is damaged; but, nevertheless, enough remains to enable one to make out the charges with tolerable certainty. tee bee. _george wood of chester_ (vol. viii., p .).--i think it very probable that this gentleman, who was justice of chester in the last year of the reign of mary and the first of elizabeth, will turn out to be george wood, esq., of balterley, in the county of stafford, who married margaret, relict of ralph birkenhead, of croughton, in cheshire, and sixth daughter of sir thomas grosvenor, of eaton, knight, ancestor of the present noble house of westminster. if cestriensis can obtain access to shaw's _history of staffordshire_, the hint i have thrown out may speed him in his investigations. t. hughes. chester. _moon superstitions_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .)--the result of my own observations, as far as they go, is, that remarkable changes of weather sometimes accompany or follow so closely the changes of the moon, that it is difficult for the least superstitious persons to refrain from imagining some connexion between them--and one or two well-marked instances would make many converts for life to the opinion;--but that in comparatively few cases are the changes of weather so marked and decided as to give them the air of cause and effect. j. s. warden. "_myself_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the inscription from a gravestone, inserted by g. a. c., brought to my mind a poem by bernard barton, which i had met with in a magazine (_the youth's instructor_ for december, ), into which it had been copied from the _amulet_. the piece is entitled "a colloquy with myself." the first two stanzas, which i had always considered original, are subjoined for the sake of comparison: "as i walk'd by myself, i talk'd to myself, and myself replied to me; and the questions myself then put to myself, with their answers i give to thee. put them home to thyself, and if unto thyself, their responses the same should be: o look well to thyself, and beware of thyself, or so much the worse for thee." t. q. c. polperro, cornwall. i cannot inform g. a. c. by whom or in what year the lines were written, from which the epitaph he mentions was copied; but he will find them amongst { } the epigrams, &c., &c., in _elegant extracts_, in the edition bearing date , under the title of a rhapsody. west sussex. _roman roads in england_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i think that in addition to the reference to _richard of cirencester_, prestoniensis should be apprised of the late general roy's _military antiquities of great britain_ (published by the society of antiquaries), a most learned and valuable account of and commentary on _richard de cirencester_, and on all the other works on the subject; stukeley, horsley, &c. i have my own doubts as to the genuineness of richard's work; that is, though i admit that the facts are true, and compiled with accuracy and learning, i cannot quite persuade myself that the work is that of the monk of westminster in the fourteenth century, never heard of till the discovery of an unique ms. in the royal library at copenhagen about . i suspect it to have been a much more modern compilation. c. _anecdote of george iv._ (vol. ix., pp. . .)--if julia r. bockett has accurately copied (as we must presume) the note that she has sent you, i am sorry to inform her that it is a forgery: the prince never, from his earliest youth, signed "george" _tout court_; he always added p. if the story be at all true, your second correspondent, w. h., is assuredly right, that the "old woman" could not mean the queen, who was but eighteen when the prince was born, and could not, therefore, at any time within which this note could have been written, be called, even by the giddiest boy, "an old woman." when the prince was twelve years old, she was but thirty. c. _general fraser_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the communication of j. c. b. contains the following sentence: "during his interment, the incessant cannonade of the enemy covered with dust the chaplain and the officers who assisted in performing the last duties to his remains, they being within view of the greatest part of both armies." as some might suppose from this that the american army was guilty of the infamous action of knowingly firing upon a funeral, the following extract from lossing's _pictorial field book of the revolution_, lately published, is submitted to the readers of "n. & q." it tells _the whole truth_ upon the subject. it is from vol. i. p. .: "it was just sunset in that calm october evening, that the corpse of general fraser was carried up the hill to the place of burial within the 'great redoubt.' it was attended only by the members of his military family, and mr. brudenel, the chaplain; yet the eyes of hundreds of both armies followed the solemn procession, while the americans, ignorant of its true character, kept up a constant cannonade upon the redoubt. the chaplain, unmoved by the danger to which he was exposed, as the cannon-balls that struck the hill threw the loose soil over him, pronounced the impressive funeral service of the church of england with an unfaltering voice.[ ] the growing darkness added solemnity to the scene. suddenly the irregular firing ceased, and the solemn voice of a single cannon, at measured intervals, boomed along the valley and awakened the responses of the hills. it was a minute gun, fired by the americans in honour of the gallant dead. the moment information was given that the gathering at the redoubt was a funeral company fulfilling, amid imminent perils, the last breathed wishes of the noble fraser, orders were issued to withhold the cannonade with balls, and to render military homage to the fallen brave." i may add, for the information of english readers, that lossing's _pictorial field book of the revolution_ is a work of great general accuracy, written by a gentleman who travelled thousands of miles to collect the materials. the drawings for the work were drawn, and the numerous woodcuts engraved, by him. they are the finest woodcuts ever produced in this country. uneda. philadelphia. [footnote : burgoyne's _state of the expedition_, p. . lieutenant kingston's _evidence_, p. .] _the fusion_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the orleans branch, though it derives its eventually hereditary claim to the throne of france from louis xiii., as stated by e. h. a., have later connexions in blood with louis xiv. the regent duke married mdlle de blois, the legitimated daughter of louis xiv. louis-philippe's mother was great-granddaughter of louis xiv. by another line. c. "_corporations have no souls_" (vol. ix., p. .).--this saying is to be found in coke's _reports_, vol. x. p. .: "a corporation aggregate of many is invisible, immortal, and rests only in intendment and consideration of the law. they cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicate, _for they have no souls_, neither can they appear in person, but by attorney." erica. _apparition of the white lady_ (vol. viii., p. .).--some account of the origin of this apparition story is given at considerable length by mrs. crowe in the _night side of nature_, chapter on haunted houses, pp. . . john james. avington rectory, hungerford. _female parish clerk_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the sexton of my parish, john poffley, a man worthy of a place in wordsworth's _excursion_, was telling me but a few days ago, that his mother was the parish clerk for twenty-six years, and that he well remembers his astonishment as a boy, whenever { } he happened to attend a neighbouring church service, to see a man acting in that capacity, and saying the responses for the people. john james. avington rectory, hungerford. i have just seen an extract from "n. & q." in one of our local papers, mentioning elizabeth king as being clerk of the parish of totteridge in , and a question by y. s. m. if there were any similar instance on record of a woman being a parish clerk? in answer to this query, i beg to inform y. s. m. that in the village of misterton, somerset, in which place i was born, a woman acted as clerk at my mother's wedding, my own baptism, and many years subsequently: i was born in . wm. higgins. _bothy_ (vol. ix., p. .).--for a familiar mention of this word (commonly spelt _bothie_), your correspondent may be referred to the poem of _the bothie of toper-na-fuosich_, a long-vacation pastoral, by arthur hugh clough, oxford: macpherson, . the action of the poem is chiefly carried on at the bothie, the situation of which is thus described (in hexameter verse): "there on the blank hill side, looking down through the loch to the ocean, there with a runnel beside, and pine trees twain before it, there with the road underneath, and in sight of coaches and steamers, dwelling of david mackaye, and his daughters elspie and bella, sends up a volume of smoke the bothie of toper-na-fuosich." this sort of verse, by the way, is thus humorously spoken of by professor wilson in his dedication, "to the king," of the twelfth volume of blackwood ( ): "what dost thou think, my liege, of the metre in which i address thee? doth it not sound very big, verse bouncing, bubble-and-squeaky, rattling, and loud, and high, resembling a drum or a bugle-- rub-a-dub-dub like the one, like t'other tantaratara? (it into use was brought of late by thy laureate doctor-- but, in my humble opinion, i write it better than he does) it was chosen by me as the longest measure i knew of, and, in praising one's king, it is right full measure to give him." cuthbert bede, b.a. _king's prerogative and hunting bishops_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the passage of blackstone, referred to by the edinburgh reviewer, will be found in his _commentaries_, vol. ii, p. ., where reference is made to [cokes'] _inst._ . see also the same volume of blackstone, p. . it is evident that bishop jewel possessed his "muta canum." see a curious account of a visit to him by hermann falkerzhümer, in the _zurich letters_, second series, pp. &c. h. gough. lincoln's inn. _green eyes_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--antoine heroet, an early french poet, in the third book of his _opuscules d'amour_, has the following lines: "amour n'est pas enchanteur si divers que les yeux noirs face devenir _verds_, qu'un brun obscur en blancheur clere tourne, ou qu'un traict gros du vissage destourne." (love is not so strange an enchanter that he can make black eyes become green, that he can turn a dark brown into clear whiteness, or that he can change a coarse feature of the face.) uneda. philadelphia. _brydone the tourist_ (vol. ix., pp. . . .).-- "on lui a reproché d'avoir sacrifié la vérité au plaisir de raconter des choses piquantes." in a work (i think) entitled _a tour in sicily_, the production of captain monson, uncle to the late lord monson, published about thirty years ago, i remember to have read a denial and, as far as i can remember, a refutation of a statement of brydone, that he had seen a pyramid in the gardens or grounds of some dignitary in sicily, composed of--chamber-pots! i was, when i read mr. monson's book (a work of some pretensions as it appeared to me), a youngster newly returned from foreign travel, and in daily intercourse with gentlemen of riper age than myself, and of attainments as travellers and otherwise which i could not pretend to; many of them were italians, and i perfectly remember that by all, but especially by the latter, brydone's book was treated as a book of apocrypha. traveller. _descendants of john of gaunt, noses of_ (vol. vii., p. .).--allow me to repeat my query as to e. d.'s remark: he says, to be dark-complexioned and black-haired "is the family badge of the herberts quite as much as the unmistakeable nose in the descendants of john of gaunt." i hope e. d. will not continue silent, for i am very curious to know his meaning. y. s. m. _"put"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i am surprised at the silence of your irish readers in reference to the pronunciation of this word. i certainly never yet heard it pronounced like "but" amongst educated men in ireland, and i am both a native of this country and resident here the greater part of my life. the prince consort's name i have { } occasionally heard, both in england and ireland, pronounced as if the first letter was an o--"olbert"--and that by people who ought to know better. y. s. m. _"caricature; a canterbury tale"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the inquiry of h. as to the meaning of a "caricature," which he describes (though i doubt if he be correct as to all the personages), appears to me to point to a transaction in the history of the celebrated "coalition ministry" of lord north and fox; in which-- "burke being paymaster of the forces, committed one or two imprudent acts: among them, the restoration of powel and bembridge, two defaulting subordinates in his office, to their situations. his friends of the ministry were hardly tasked to bring him through these scrapes; and, to use the language of wraxall's _memoirs_, 'fox warned the paymaster of the forces, as he valued his office, not to involve his friends in any similar dilemma during the remainder of the session.'" a. b. r. belmont. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. dr. waagen, the accomplished director of the royal gallery of pictures, berlin, has just presented us with three volumes, to which, as englishmen, we may refer with pride, because they bear testimony not only to the liberality of our expenditure in works of art, but also to the good taste and judgment which have generally regulated our purchases. _the treasures of art in great britain, being an account of the chief collections of paintings, drawings, sculptures, illuminated mss., &c._, as the work is designated, must become a handbook to every lover of art in this country. it is an amplification of dr. waagen's first work, _art and artists in england_, giving, not only the results of the author's more ripened judgment and extended experience, but also an account of twenty-eight collections in and round london, of nineteen in england generally, and of seven in scotland, not contained in his former work. and as the doctor has bestowed much pains in obtaining precise information regarding the art of painting in england since the time of hogarth, and of sculpture since the time of flaxman; and also devoted much time to the study of english miniatures contained in mss. from the earliest time down to the sixteenth century; of miniatures of other nations preserved in england; of drawings by the old masters, engravings and woodcuts; he is fully justified in saying that, both as regards the larger class of the public who are interested in knowing the actual extent of the treasures of art in england, and also the more learned connoisseurs of the history of art, this edition offers incomparably richer and more maturely digested materials than the former one. let us add, that the value of this important and most useful and instructive book is greatly enhanced by a very careful index. we have received from messrs. johnston, the geographers and engravers to the queen, two maps especially useful at the present moment, viz., one of the baltic sea, with enlarged plans of cronstadt, revel, sveaborg, kiel bay, and winga sound; and the other of the seat of war in the danubian principalities and turkey, with map of central europe. at the annual general meeting of the camden society on tuesday last, m. van de weyer, mr. blencowe, and the rev. john webb were elected of the new council in the place of mr. cunningham, mr. foss, and sir charles young, who retire. the inaugural general meeting of the surrey archæological society is announced for wednesday next, at the bridge house hotel, london bridge, henry drummond, esq., in the chair. objects of antiquarian and general interest intended for exhibition may be sent, not later than monday the th, to mr. bridger, the curator. books received.--_the present state of morocco, a chapter of mussulman civilisation_, by xavier durriew, the new part of longman's _traveller's library_, is an interesting picture of the institutions, manners, and religious faith of a nation too little known in europe.--_deeds of naval daring, &c._, by edward giffard, _second series_. this new volume of murray's _railway reading_ is well timed.--_the diary and letters of madame d'arblay_, vol. iii., carries on her record of the gossip of the court during the years - .--_critical and historical essays, &c._, by t. b. macaulay, contains, among other admirable essays, those on walpole's letters to mann, william pitt, earl of chatham, mackintosh's history of the revolution, and lord bacon. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: essays and sketches of life and character, by a gentleman who recently left his lodgings. london, . memoir of sheridan, by the late professor smyth. leeds, . mo. wanted by _john martin_, librarian, woburn abbey. * * * * * the artifices and impositions of false teachers, discovered in a visitation sermon. vo. london, . the church of england not superstitious--showing what religions may justly be charged with superstition, pp. , vo. london, . physica aristotelica moderna accomodata in usum juventutis academicÆ, auctore gulielmo taswell. vo. london, . antichrist revealed among the sect of quakers, london, . the above were written by wm. taswell, d.d., rector of newington, surrey, &c. miscellanea sacra; containing the story of deborah and barak; david's lamentations over saul and jonathan; a pindaric poem; and the prayer of solomon at the dedication of the temple, to., by e. taswell. london. . the usefulness of sacred music, chron. . . . ., by wm. taswell, a.m., rector of wootton-under-edge, gloucestershire. vo. london, . commerce of the united states and west indies, by the hon. littleton w. tazewell. london, . wanted by _r. jackson_, . northampton place, old kent road. * * * * * { } liber precum. . liber precum. . liber precum. . ch. ch. oxford. liturgia. . eton prayers. . enchiridion precum. . enchiridion precum. . liber precum. . worcester college, oxford. wanted by _rev. j. w. hewett_, bloxham, banbury. * * * * * any of the occasional sermons of the rev. charles kingsley, of eversley, more particularly the mission of the church to the labouring classes, and clothes cheap and nasty, by parson lot. wanted by _h. c. cowley_, melksham, wilts. * * * * * the numbers of the british and colonial quarterly review, published in , by smith and elder, cornhill, containing a review of a work on graduated, sliding-scale, taxation. also any work of the french school on the same subject, published from down to the end of the revolution. wanted by _r. j. cole_, . furnival's inn. * * * * * brevint's christian sacrament and sacrifice. th edition, . rivingtons. wanted by _s. hayward_, bookseller, bath. * * * * * j. g. agardh, species, genera, et ordines algarum. royal vo. london, - . lacroix, diff. et integ. calculus. last edition. wanted by the _rev. frederick smithe_, churchdown, gloucester. * * * * * platonis opera omnia (stallbaum). gothæ et erfordiæ. sumptibus guil. hennings, ; published in jacobs and rost's bibliotheca græca. vol. iv. sect. ., containing menexenus, lysis, hippias uterque, io. wanted by the _rev. g. r. mackarness_, barnwell rectory, near oundle. * * * * * admiral napier's revolution in portugal. moxon, dover street. wanted by _hugh owen, esq._, bristol. * * * * * notices to correspondents. f. r. f. _the third part of bunyan's_ pilgrim's progress _is an imposture_. see "n. & q.," vol viii., p. . _for bibliographical notices of that work, see the introduction to_ the pilgrim's progress, _published by the hanserd knollys society in _. i. r. r. _for notices of john a cumber, see our_ fourth volume passim.--knight of l. _is leopold of austria_; k. c., _knight of the crescent of turkey_.--pricket _is a young male deer of two years old_.--impresse _is from ital._ imprendere, _says blount: see also his_ dict. s. v. devise.--_the_ wends, _or_ vends, _is an appellation given to the slavonian population, which had settled in the northern part of germany from the banks of the elbe to the shores of the baltic_. w. w. (malta). _received with thanks. letters and more sheets will be despatched on the th._ a subscriber (atherstone) _is referred to our reply to_ b. p. _in_ "n. & q." _of march th_, p. . _we propose giving a short paper on the subject._ r. p. (bishop stortford) _shall receive a private communication as to his photographic difficulties_. b. (manchester). _the new facts arising every day necessarily compel the postponement of the proposed work._ _replies to many other correspondents next week._ errata.--vol. viii., p. ., _for_ sir william upton _read_ sir william ussher. vol. viii., p. , _for_ vernon _read_ verdon, _and for_ harrington _read_ harington. vol. ix., p. ., _for lord_ boteloust _read_ botetourt. our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery_, _price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * opening of the crystal palace, .--it is intended to open the crystal palace and park at the end of may; after which they will be open daily--sundays excepted. the following are the arrangements for the admission of the public:-- five shilling days.--on saturdays the public will be admitted by payment at the doors, by tickets of s. each, and by tickets to include conveyance by railway. half-crown days.--on fridays the public will be admitted by payment at the doors, by tickets of s. d. each, or by tickets to include conveyance by railway. shilling days.--mondays, tuesdays, wednesdays, and thursdays will be shilling days. at the gates a payment of s. each will admit the public, or tickets entitling the holder to admission to the palace and park, and also to conveyance along the crystal palace railway, from london-bridge station to the palace and back, will be issued at the following prices:-- including first-class carriage s. d. including second ditto s. d. including third ditto s. d. children.--children under years of age will be admitted at half the above rates. hours of opening.--the palace and park will be opened on mondays at o'clock; on tuesdays, wednesdays, and thursdays at o'clock a.m.; and on fridays and saturdays at o'clock; and close every day an hour before sunset. opening day.--the opening will take place about the end of may; the precise day will be announced as early as possible. on that occasion season tickets only will be admitted. season tickets.--season tickets will be issued at two guineas each, to admit the proprietor to the palace and park on the day of opening, and on all other days when the building is open to the public. season tickets to include conveyance along the crystal palace railway from london bridge to the palace and back, without further charge, will be issued at four guineas each, subject to the regulations of the london, brighton, and south coast railway company; but these tickets will be available only for trains from and to london and the palace, on such days as it is open to the public, and will not be available for any intermediate stations. no season ticket will be transferable or available except to the person whose signature it bears. family season tickets.--members of the same family who reside together will have the privilege of taking season tickets for their own use with or without railway conveyance on the following reduced terms:-- families taking two tickets will be entitled to per cent. discount on the gross amount paid for such tickets; taking three tickets, to a a discount of per cent.; taking four tickets, to a discount of per cent.; and five tickets and upwards, to a discount of per cent. families claiming the above privilege, and desiring to avail themselves of it, must apply in the accompanying form, and these tickets will be available only to the persons named in such application. printed forms of application may be had at the office, . adelaide place. season tickets will entitle to admission from the opening day till the th april, . the tickets to include conveyance by railway will be delivered at the office of the secretary to the brighton railway, london bridge. special regulations and bye-laws.--all the general provisions and regulations mentioned above are to be understood as being subservient to such special provisions, regulations, and bye-laws on the part of the railway company and the palace company as may be found necessary to regulate the traffic, and to meet special occasions and circumstances which may from time to time arise. by order of the board, g. grove, secretary. adelaide place, london bridge, april , . * * * * * form of application for family season tickets. to g. grove, esq., secretary, . adelaide place, london bridge. sir,--be good enough to supply me with family season tickets for myself and the following members of my family, who are all residing with me. yours obediently, name . . . . . . . . . . . . . address . . . . . . . . . . . designation . . . . . . . . . * * * * * schedule of prices of family season tickets. without conveyance | including conveyance by railway. | by railway. | £ s. d. | £ s. d. two tickets | two tickets three ,, | three ,, four ,, | four ,, five ,, | five ,, six ,, | six ,, seven ,, | seven ,, eight ,, | eight ,, nine ,, | nine ,, ten ,, | ten ,, note.--the above application must be addressed to the secretary, as above, and accompanied by a remittance for the full amount of the tickets asked for, according to the above schedule, in favour of george fasson, . adelaide place. cheques must be on a london banker, and be crossed with the words "union bank of london;" and no application, unless so accompanied, will be attended to. * * * * * { } in one vol. vo., price s. d. the life of mrs. sherwood (chiefly autobiographical), with extracts from mr. sherwood's journal during his imprisonment in france and residence in india. edited by her daughter, sophia kelly, authoress of the "de cliffords," "robert and frederic," &c. &c. london: darton & co., holborn hill. * * * * * just published, price s. d., mo., cloth, an index to familiar quotations, selected principally from british authors, with parallel passages from various writers, ancient and modern. by j. c. grocott, attorney-at-law. liverpool: walmsley, lord street. london: george bell. . fleet street. * * * * * popish nunneries! this day (price s. d.), a work of fiction, entitled quicksands on foreign shores, which ought to be in the hands of every protestant parent in the kingdom. its perusal cannot fail to make a deep impression, and lead every right-minded man, who takes as his rule the motto of the great selden, "liberty above all things," to use his best endeavours to aid mr. chambers' motion for governmental inspection of these institutions. blackader & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * now ready, part xx., price s. d., super-royal vo. part xxi. on st june, completing the work, forming one large volume, strongly bound in cloth, price l. s. d. cyclopÆdia bibliographica; a library manual of theological and general literature, and guide for authors, preachers, students, and literary men, analytical, bibliographical and biographical. a prospectus, with opinions of the press, sent free on receipt of a postage stamp. london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet," by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal_. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * evans's self-acting kitchen ranges continue to maintain their superiority over all others, for roasting, boiling, steaming, and baking, in the best and most economical manner, and yield a constant supply of hot water, with the addition of a hot plate over the whole extent of the range, from feet to feet long. every article for the kitchen in copper, iron, and block tin, always on sale at jeremiah evans, son, & company's stove grate manufactory and show rooms, . king william street, london bridge. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * to photographers, daguerreotypists, &c.--instantaneous collodion (or collodio-iodide silver). solution for iodizing collodion. pyrogallic, gallic, and glacial acetic acids, and every pure chemical required in the practice of photography, prepared by william bolton, operative and photographic chemist, . holborn bars. wholesale dealer in every kind of photographic papers, lenses, cameras, and apparatus, and importer of french and german lenses, &c. catalogues by post on receipt of two postage stamps. sets of apparatus from three guineas. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * arundel society.--the publication of the fourth year ( - ), consisting of eight wood engravings by messrs. dalziel, from mr. w. oliver williams' drawings after giotto's frescos at padua, is now ready: and members who have not paid their subscriptions are requested to forward them to the treasurer by post-office order, payable at the charing cross office. john j. rogers, treasurer and hon. sec. . & . pall mall east. march, . * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantage of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the under-signed members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilllam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square, lists and designs gratis. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. no. . pall mall east, and . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. _established_ a.d. . investment accounts may be opened daily, with capital of any amount. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses and forms sent free on application. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in sliver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * chubb's fire-proof safes and locks.--these safes are the most secure from force, fraud, and fire. chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. complete lists, with prices, will be sent on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles, s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effective remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale. messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * valuable library of books at bigadon house, devonshire, six miles from the railway station, totness. to be sold by auction, by mr. john heath, on tuesday, may th, and two following days, the valuable library of richard john king, esq. (author of "anschar"), comprising some of the best standard works in theology, history, classics, and the general branches of literature. also some curious works on witchcraft and dæmonology, early printed books, &c. catalogues to be had of mr. sampson low, ludgate hill, and of the auctioneer, totness. * * * * * library of valuable books. mr. bentley will sell by auction, in the lecture room of the natural history society, at worcester, on tuesday, the rd day of may, , at eleven o'clock, a valuable library of rare and choice books, including one copy of the first folio edition of shakspeare, london, , and two varying copies of the second folio, london, , with many valuable black-letter books in divinity and history. catalogues may be had at the office of the auctioneer, . foregate street, worcester, one week previous to the sale. * * * * * sale of photographic pictures, landscape camera by horne & co.; also prints and drawings. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, early in may, an important collection of photographic pictures by the most celebrated artists and amateurs; comprising some _chefs d'oeuvre_ of the art, amongst which are large and interesting views taken in paris, rouen, brussels, switzerland, rome, venice, various parts of england and scotland, rustic scenes, architectural subjects, antiquities, &c. also, some interesting prints and drawings. catalogues will be sent on application (if at a distance, on receipt of two stamps). * * * * * sale of the rev. g. s. faber's library.--mr. white has received instruction to sell by auction in the house no. . north bailey (next door to the exhibition room), durham, on tuesday, may th, and three following days, the extensive and valuable library of the late rev. g. s. faber, prebendary of salisbury, and master of sherburn hospital, durham, consisting of editions of the fathers, works on divinity, general literature, &c. catalogues are now ready, and may be had of messrs. f. & j. rivington, no. . waterloo place, pall mall, and of mr. s. low, . fleet street, london; messrs. blackwood & sons, edinburgh; of mr. andrews, bookseller, durham, and of the auctioneer. catalogues will be forwarded by post by mr. andrews, bookseller, durham, on receipt of two postage stamps. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. contents. notes:-- page note upon a passage in "measure for measure" rhyming latin version of the song on robin goodfellow, by s. w. singer folk lore:--devonshire folk lore: . storms from conjuring; . the heath-hounds; . cock scares the fiend; . cranmere pool--st. uncumber and the offering of oats--"similia similibus curantur"--cure of large neck dibdin's library companion minor notes:--a note on dress--curious omen at marriage--ventriloquist hoax--barker, the original panorama painter queries:-- minor queries:--vegetable sympathy--court dress--dieu et mon droit--cachecope bell--the image of both churches--double names--"if this fair flower," &c.--hugh peachell--sir john marsham--legend represented in frettenham church--king of nineveh burns himself in his palace--butchers not jurymen--redwing's nest--earth thrown upon the coffin--family of rowe--portus canum--arms of sir john davies--william penn--who were the writers in the north briton? minor queries answered:--"many a word"--roman catholic church--tick--hylles' arithmetic replies:-- villenage maclean not junius replies to minor queries:--the ten commandments-- mounds, munts, mounts--san graal--epitaph on the countess of pembroke miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. note upon a passage in "measure for measure." the third act of _measure for measure_ opens with isabella's visit to her brother (claudio) in the dungeon, where he lies under sentence of death. in accordance with claudio's earnest entreaty, she has sued for mercy to angelo, the sanctimonious deputy, and in the course of her allusion to the only terms upon which angelo is willing to remit the sentence, she informs him that he "must die," and then continues: "this outward-sainted deputy,-- whose settled visage and deliberate word nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew, as falcon doth the fowl,--is yet a devil; his filth within being cast, he would appear a pond as deep as hell." whereupon (according to the reading of the folio of ) claudio, who is aware of angelo's reputation for sanctity, exclaims in astonishment: "the _prenzie_ angelo?" to which isabella replies (according to the reading of the same edition): "o, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, the damned'st body to invest and cover in _prenzie_ guards! dost thou think, claudio, if i would yield him my virginity, thou might'st be freed?" claudio, still incredulous, rejoins: "o, heavens! it cannot be." the word _prenzie_ has given rise to much annotation, and it seems to be universally agreed that the word is a misprint. the question is, what was the word actually written, or intended, by shakspeare? steevens and malone suggested "princely;" warburton, "priestly;" and tieck, "precise." mr. knight adopts "precise," the reading of tieck, and thinks "that, having to choose some word which would have the double merit of agreeing with the sense of the passage and be similar in the number and form of the letters, nothing can be more unfortunate than the correction of "princely;" mr. collier, on the other hand, follows steevens and malone, and reads "princely," observing the tieck's reading ("precise") "sounds ill as regards the metre, the accent falling on the wrong syllable. mr. collier's choice is determined by the _authority_ of the second folio, which he considers ought to have considerable weight, whilst mr. knight regards the authority of that edition as very trifling; and the only point of agreement between the two distinguished recent editors is with respect to warburton's word "priestly," which they both seem to think nearly conveys the meaning of the poet. i have over and over again considered the several emendations which have been suggested, and it seems to me that none of them answer all the necessary conditions; namely, that the word adopted shall be ( .) suitable to the reputed character of angelo; ( .) an appropriate epithet to the word "guards," in the reply of isabella above quoted; ( .) of the proper metre in both { } places in which the misprint occurred; and ( .) similar in appearance to the word "prenzie." "princely" does not agree with the sense or spirit of the particular passage; for it is extremely improbable that claudio, when confined under sentence of death for an absurd and insufficient cause, would use a term of mere compliment to the man by whom he had been doomed. "precise" and "priestly" are both far better than "princely;" but "precise" is wholly unsuited to the metre in both places, and "priestly" points too much to a special character to be appropriate to angelo's office and position. it may also be remarked, that both "princely" and "priestly" differ from the number and form of the letters contained in "prenzie." the word which i venture to suggest is "pensive," a word particularly applicable to a person of saintly habits, and which is so applied by milton in "il penseroso:" "come, pensive nun, devout and pure, sober, stedfast, and demure." the word "pensive" is stated by dr. johnson to mean "sorrowfully thoughtful, sorrowfully serious," or melancholy; and that such epithets are appropriate to the reputed character of angelo will be seen from the following extracts: "i implore her, in my service, that she make friends to the strict deputy."--_claudio_, act i. sc. . "i have deliver'd to lord angelo, a man of stricture, and firm abstinence."--_duke_, act i. sc. . "lord angelo is precise; stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses that his blood flows, or that his appetite is more to bread than stone."--_duke_, act i. sc. . "a man, whose blood is very snow-broth; one who never feels the wanton stings and motions of the sense, but doth rebate and blunt his natural edge with profits of the mind, study and fast."--_lucio_, act i. sc. . see also angelo's portraiture of himself in the soliloquy at the commencement of act ii. sc. .: "my gravity, wherein (let no man hear me) i take pride, could i, with boot, change for an idle plume which the air beats for vain." and, lastly, the passage immediately under consideration: "this outward-sainted deputy, whose settled visage and deliberate word, nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew."--_isabella_, act iii. sc. . thus much as to the propriety of the word "pensive," in relation to the reputed character of angelo. the next question is, whether the word "pensive" is an appropriate epithet to the word "guards." if messrs. knight and collier are correct in construing "guards" to mean the "trimmings or border of robe," this question must be answered in the negative. but it appears to me that they are in error, and that the true meaning of the word "guards," in this particular passage, is "outward appearances," as suggested by monck mason; and, consequently, that the expression "pensive guards" means a grave or sanctified countenance or demeanour--"the settled visage and deliberate word" which "nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew." it requires no argument to establish that the word "pensive" is suitable to the metre in both places in which the misprint occurred and it is equally clear that "prenzie" and "pensive" in manuscript are so similar, both in the number, form, and character of the letters, that the one might easily be printed for the other. the two words also have a certain resemblance, in point of sound; and if the word "pensive" be not very distinctly pronounced, the mistake might be made by a scribe writing from dictation. referring to mrs. cowden clarke's admirable concordance of shakspeare, it appears that the word "pensive" is used by shakspeare in the _text_ of his plays twice; namely, in _romeo and juliet_, act iv. sc. ., where friar laurence addresses juliet thus: "my leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now." and again, in the third part of _henry vi_., act iv. sc. ., where clarence is thus addressed by king edward upon the subject of his marriage with the lady grey: "now, brother clarence, how like you our choice, that you stand pensive, as half mal-content?" i also find that, according to the stage directions (both ancient and modern) of act ii. sc . of _henry viii_. (see collier's _shakspeare_, vol. v. p. ., _note_), the king is described to be found "reading pensively," at a moment when he is meditating his divorce from katharine of arragon, not "because the marriage of his brother's wife had crept too near his conscience," but "because his conscience had crept too near another lady." i might extend the argument by further observations upon the reference last cited, but not without risk of losing all chance of a place in "notes and queries." query, whether pen_s_ive was ever written or printed pen_z_ive in shakspeare's time? if so, that word would bear a still closer resemblance to "prenzie." leges. * * * * * rhyming latin version of the song on robin goodfellow. in the same ms. from which i extracted braithwait's latin drinking song, the following version { } of the well-known song on robin goodfellow occurs. it is apparently by the same hand. i give the english, as it contains but six stanzas, and affords some variations from the copy printed by percy; and indeed one stanza not given by him. peck attributes the song to ben jonson, but we know not on what foundation. it must be confessed that internal evidence is against it. the publication of percy's _reliques_ had a no less beneficial influence on the literature of germany than it had on our own; and voss had given an admirable version of nine stanzas of this song as early as the year . the first stanza will afford some notion of his manner: "von oberon in feenland, dem könige der geister, komm' ich, knecht robert, abgesandt, von meinem herrn und meister. als kobolt und pux, wohlkundig des spuks, durchschwarm' ich nacht vor nacht. jezt misch' ich mich ein zum polternden reihn, wohlauf, ihr alle, gelacht, gelacht!" although the classic ear may be offended by the "barbarous adjunct of rhyme," and by the solecisms and false quantities which sometimes occur, "et alia multa damna atque outragia," others may be amused with these emulations of the cloistered muse of the middle ages. the witty author of _whistlecraft_ has shown that he had a true relish for them, and has successfully tried his hand, observing at the same time: "those monks were poor proficients in divinity, and scarce knew more of latin than myself; compar'd with theirs, they say that true latinity appears like porcelain compar'd with delf." honest barnaby had no intention of rivalling horace: his humbler, but not less amusing, prototypes were walter de mapes and his cotemporaries. we may accept his own defence, if any is needed: "that paltry patcher is a bald translator, whose awl bores at the _words_ but not the matter; but this translator makes good use of leather, by stitching _rhyme_ and _reason_ both together." s. w. singer. a song on robin goodfellow. "from oberon in faery-land, the king of ghosts and goblins there, mad robin i, at his command, am sent to view the night-sports here. what revel rout is here about, in every corner where i go; i will it see, and merry be, and make good sport with ho, ho, ho! "as swift as lightning i do fly amidst the aery welkin soon, and, in a minute's space, descry what things are done below the moon. there's neither hag nor spirit shall wag, in any corner where i go; but robin i, their feats will spy, and make good sport with ho, ho, ho! "sometimes you find me like a man, sometimes a hawk, sometimes a hound, then to a horse me turn i can, and trip and troll about you round: but if you stride my back to ride, as swift as air i with you go, o'er hedge, o'er lands, o'er pool, o'er ponds, i run out laughing ho, ho, ho! "when lads and lasses merry be, with possets and with junkets fine; unknown to all the company, i eat their cake and drink their wine; then to make sport, i snore and snort, and all the candles out i blow; the maids i kiss; they ask who's this? i answer, laughing, ho, ho, ho! "if that my fellow elf and i in circle dance do trip it round, and if we chance, by any eye there present, to be seen or found, then if that they do speak or say, but mummes continue as they go,[ ] then night by night i them affright, with pinches, dreams, and ho, ho, ho! "since hag-bred merlin's time have i continued night-sports to and fro, that, for my pranks, men call me by the name of robin goodfellow. there's neither hag nor spirit doth wag, the fiends and goblins do me know; and beldames old my tales have told; sing vale, vale, ho, ho, ho!" _the latine of the foregoing verses_. "ab oberone lemurum coemetriorum regulo, spectator veni lubricum, illius jussu, robbio; quodcunque joci, sit hic loci, quocunque vado in angulo, id speculabor, et conjocabor, sonorem boans, ho, ho, ho! "præceps feror per aerem telo trisulco citius, et translunaria penetrem momento brevi ocyus; larvatus frater non vagatur quocunque vado in angulo, nam robbio, huic obvio, et facta exploro, ho, ho, ho! "nunc canis nunc accipiter, et homo nunc obambulo, nunc equi forma induor et levis circumcursito; { } si quis me prendat, et ascendat, velocius aurâ rapio, per prata, montes, vada, fontes, risumque tollo, ho, ho, ho! "cum juvenes convivio admiscent se puellulis, ignotus vinum haurio et impleor bellariis; tunc sterto, strepo, et dum crepo, lucernam flatu adventillo, hæc basiatur; hic quis? clamatur, cachinnans reddo, ho, ho, ho! "si quando cum consorte larva in circulum tripudio, et observemur nos per arva acutiori oculo; et si spectator eloquatur nec os obhæret digito, nocte terremus et torquemus ungue spectris, ho, ho, ho! "post incubiginam merlinum nocturni feci ludicra, et combibonem me robbinum vocent ob jocularia, me dæmones, me lemures, me novite tenebrio, decantant me veneficæ; vale! valete! ho, ho, ho!" [footnote : this line is distinctly so written. we should probably read _or_ instead of _but_. _mummes_ may mean _mumbling_, muttering.] * * * * * folk lore. devonshire folk lore. . _storms from conjuring_.--a common devonshire remark on the rising of a storm is, "ah! there is a conjuring going on somewhere." the following illustration was told me by an old inhabitant of this parish. in the parish of st. mary tavy is a spot called "steven's grave," from a suicide said to have been buried there. his spirit proving troublesome to the neighbourhood, was laid by a former curate on sunday after afternoon service. a man who accompanied the clergyman on the way was told by him to make haste home, as a storm was coming. the man hurried away home; but though the afternoon had previously been very fine, he had scarcely reached his door before a violent thunderstorm came to verify the clergyman's words. . _the heath-hounds_.--the _brutende heer_ are sometimes heard near dartmoor, and are known by the appellation of "heath-hounds." they were heard in the parish of st. mary tavy several years ago by an old man called roger burn: he was working in the fields, when he suddenly heard the baying of the hounds, the shouts and horn of the huntsman, and the smacking of his whip. this last point the old man quoted as at once settling the question. "how could i be mistaken? why i heard the very smacking of his whip." . _cock scares the fiend_.--mr. n. was a devonshire squire who had been so unfortunate as to sell his soul to the devil, with the condition that after his funeral the fiend should take possession of his skin. he had also persuaded a neighbour to undertake to be present on the occasion of the flaying. on the death of mr. n., this man went in a state of great alarm to the parson of the parish, and asked his advice. by him he was told to fulfil his engagement, but he must be sure and carry a cock into the church with him. on the night after the funeral, the man proceeded to the church armed with the cock; and, as an additional security, took up his position in the parson's pew. at twelve o'clock the devil arrived, opened the grave, took the corpse from the coffin and flayed it. when the operation was concluded, he held the skin up before him, and remarked: "well! 'twas not worth coming for after all, for it is all full of holes!" as he said this, the cock crew; whereupon the fiend, turning round to the man, exclaimed: "if it had not been for the bird you have got there under your arm, i would have your skin too." but, thanks to the cock, the man got home safe again. . _cranmere pool_.--cranmere pool, in the centre of dartmoor, is a great penal settlement for refractory spirits. many of the former inhabitants of this parish are still there expiating their ghostly pranks. an old farmer was so troublesome to his survivors as to require seven clergymen to secure him. by their means, however, he was transformed into a colt; and a servant boy was directed to take him to cranmere pool. on arriving at the brink of the pool, he was to take off the halter, and return instantly without looking round. curiosity proving too powerful, he turned his head to see what was going on, when he beheld the colt plunge into the lake in the form of a ball of fire. before doing so, however, he gave the lad a parting salute in the form of a kick, which knocked out one of his eyes. j. m. ( .) st. mary tavy, may . . _st. uncumber and the offering of oats_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--a further illustration of this custom is found in the legend of st. rhadegund, or at least in the metrical version of it, which is commonly ascribed to henry bradshaw. a copy of this very scarce poem, from the press of pynson, is preserved in the library of jesus college, cambridge. we there read as follows: "among all myracles after our intelligence which radegunde shewed by her humilite, one is moost vsuall had in experience among the common people noted with hert fre _by offeryng of otes_ after theyr degre at her holy aulters where myracles in sight dayly haue be done by grace day and nyght. { } "_by oblacion of othes_, halt lame and blynde hath ben restored vnto prosperite; dombe men to speke aboue cours of kynde sickemen delyuered from payne and miserie, maydens hath kept theyr pure virginite, wyddowes defended from greuous oppression, and clarkes exalted by her to promocion." it is also remarkable that a _reason_ exists in the story of this saint for the choice of so strange an offering. as she was escaping from her husband, a crop of _oats_ sprang up miraculously, to testify in her behalf, and to silence the messengers who had been sent to turn her from her purpose. on this account is there not room for the conjecture that _st. rhadegund_ is the original st. uncumber, and that the custom of offering oats at poules, when a wife was weary of her husband, is traceable to the story of the french queen, who died in . c. h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. "_similia similibus curantur_."--the list proposed by mr. james buckman (vol. iii., p. .) of "old wives' remedies," based on the above principle, would, i imagine, be of endless length; but the following extract from the _herbal_ of sir john hill, m.d., "fellow of the royal academy of sciences at bordeaux," published in , will show at how late a period such notions have been entertained by men of education and even scientific attainment:-- "it is to be observed that nature seems to have set her stamp upon several herbs, which have the virtue to stop bleedings; this [cranesbill] and the tutsan, the two best remedies the fields afford for outward and inward bleedings, become all over as red as blood at a certain season." seleucus. _cure of large neck_.--i send you two remedies in use here for the cure of a common complaint, called "large neck." perhaps they may be worthy of a place in your "folk lore." a common snake, held by its head and tail, is slowly drawn, by some one standing by, nine times across the front part of the neck of the person affected, the reptile being allowed, after every third time, to crawl about for a while. afterwards the snake is put alive into a bottle, which is corked tightly and then buried in the ground. the tradition is, that as the snake decays the swelling vanishes. the second mode of treatment is just the same as the above, with the exception of the snake's doom. in this case it is killed, and its skin, sewn in a piece of silk, is worn round the diseased neck. by degrees the swelling in this case also disappears. rovert. withyam, sussex. * * * * * dibdin's library companion. a few days since the writer was musing over the treasures of one of the most amiable of the bibliographical brotherhood, when his eye rested on a document endorsed with the following mysterious notification: "a squib for dibdin, to be let off on the next fifth of november." what in the name of guido fawkes have we here! thinking that the explosion in "notes and queries" would do no harm, but perhaps some good, a note was kindly permitted to be taken of it for that publication. it was evidently written soon after the appearance of the _library companion._ "_sundry errors discovered in the library companion, recently put forth by the rev. t. f. dibdin_, f.r.s., a.s. this work exhibits the most extraordinary instance of gross negligence that has appeared since the discovery of the profitable art of book-making. in two notes (pp. , .), comprised in twelve lines, occur _fifteen_ remarkable blunders, such as any intelligent bookseller could, without much trouble, have corrected for the rev. and learned author. "henry's _exposition of the old and new testaments_ first appeared collectively in [ ], five[ ] vols. folio; but the recent edition of [ ], in six vols. to., is the best[ ], as the last volume contains[ ] additional matter from the author's mss. left at his decease.--dr. gill's _exposition of the new testament_ was published in , &c., three vols. folio; of the old, in [ ], &c., nine[ ] vols. folio; but the work advancing in reputation and price, became rare, so as to induce mr. bagster[ ] to put forth a new edition of the whole, in ten[ ] vols. to. i recommend the annotations of gill to every theological collector, and those who have the quarto edition will probably feel disposed to purchase gill's _body of practical_[ ] _divinity_, containing[ ] some account of his life, writings, and character, in two[ ] volumes to. .[ ] these two[ ] volumes are worth about l. s.[ ]" [footnote : instead of , read .] [footnote : this edition is in _six_ volumes.] [footnote : it bears the date of .] [footnote : the best edition of henry's _commentary_ was elegantly printed by knapton, in vols. folio, , known as the fifth edition.] [footnote : this new edition is respectable, except the plates, which had been well worn in bowyer's _cabinet bible_. the _commentary_ is printed verbatim from the former editions, and has _no_ additional matter from the author's mss. left at his decease; no mention of anything of the kind is made in the title, preface, or advertisement, until mr. dibdin so marvellously brought it to light: upon what authority he makes the assertion remains a mystery. a very considerable number of sets remain unsold in the warehouse of a certain great bookseller. _query_. was the rev. gentleman's pen dipped in gold when he wrote this puff direct?] [footnote : not , &c.: it first appeared in , &c.] [footnote : nine volumes folio should be _six_ volumes folio.] [footnote : it was not mr. bagster, but messrs. mathews and leigh of the strand, who put forth the new edition of dr. gill's _exposition_.] [footnote : it was completed in _nine_ vols. to.] [footnote : the title is _a body of doctrinal divinity_.] [footnote : dr. gill's _body of divinity_ was published by _himself_, and has no account of his life, writings, and character.] [footnote : it was in _three_ vols. to, not in two.] [footnote : instead of , it was published in - ; nor did any new edition appear for many years, until those recently printed in vols. vo., and vol. to.] [footnote : these two vols. should be _three_ vols.] [footnote : dr. gill's _body of divinity_ is introduced under the head of "english bibles!"] "these glaring errors are made with regard to { } modern books, and may seriously mislead the bibliomaniacs of the next generation; but what can be expected from an author who, in giving directions for the selection of hebrew bibles, forgets the beautiful and correct editions of vanderhooght and jablonski; who tells us that frey republished jahn's[ ] edition of the hebrew bible in ; and who calls boothroyd's incorrect and ugly double-columned to. '_admirable_.'[ ] "the rev. gentleman fully proves, in the compilation of his volume, that he can dip his pen in gall, as well as allow it to be guided by gold. dr. warton's _history of english poetry_, a very beautiful and correct edition, greatly enlarged from most interesting materials at a very considerable expense, has just issued from the press in vols. vo. but 'can any good thing come out of nazareth?' it was not published by any of the favoured houses; hence the following ominous notice of it: 'clouds and darkness rest upon it!'[ ] gentle reader, they are the clouds and darkness of _cheapside._ it may be possible that some propitious golden breeze had driven all the clouds and darkness from cornhill, paternoster row, the strand, pall-mall, and bedford street." j. y. hoxton. [footnote : frey republished vanderhooght's hebrew bible in .] [footnote : note on page .] [footnote : note on page .] * * * * * minor notes. _a note on dress._--dress is mutable, who denies it? but still old fashions are retained to a far greater extent than one would at first imagine. the thames watermen rejoice in the dress of elizabeth: while the royal beefeaters (buffetiers) wear that of private soldiers of the time of henry vii.; the blue-coat boy, the costume of a london citizen of the reign of edward vi.; the london charity-school girls, the plain mob cap and long gloves of the time of queen anne. in the brass badge of the cabmen, we see a retention of the dress of elizabethan retainers: while the shoulder-knots that once decked an officer now adorn a footman. the attire of the sailor of william iii.'s era is now seen amongst our fishermen. the university dress is as old as the age of the smithfield martyrs. the linen bands of the pulpit and the bar are abridgments of the falling collar. other costumes are found lurking in provinces, and amongst some trades. the butchers' blue is the uniform of a guild. the quaint little head-dress of the market women of kingswood, gloucestershire, is in fact the gipsy hat of george ii. scarlet has been the colour of soldiers' uniform from the time of the lacedemonians. the blue of the army we derived from the puritans; of the navy from the colours of a mistress of george i. torro. _curious omen at marriage_.--in miss benger's _memoirs of elizabeth, queen of bohemia_, it is mentioned that,-- "it is by several writers observed that, towards the close of the ceremony, _certain coruscations of joy_ appeared in elizabeth's face, which were afterwards supposed to be sinister presages of her misfortunes." in a note, echard is alluded to as the authority for this singular circumstance. can any of your readers explain _why_ such a _coruscation of joy_ upon a wedding day should forebode evil? or whether any other instances are on record of its so doing? h. a. b. _ventriloquist hoax_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the following is extracted from _admirable curiosities, rarities, and wonders in england, scotland, and ireland, by r. b., author of the history of the wars of england, &c._, remarks of london, &c., mo., , p. . it may serve as a pendant to the ventriloquist hoax mentioned by c. h., vol. ii., p. .:-- "i have a letter by me, saith mr. clark, dated july , , written by one mr. bovy to a minister in london, where he thus writes: 'touching news, you shall understand that mr. sherwood hath received a letter from mr. arthur hildersham, which containeth this following narrative: that at brampton, in the parish of torksey, near gainsborough in lincolnshire, an ash-tree shaketh both in the body and boughs thereof, and there proceed from thence sighs and groans, like those of a man troubled in his sleep, as if it felt some sensible torment. many have climbed to the top thereof, where they heard the groans more plainly than they could below. one among the rest being a-top, spoke to the tree; but presently came down much astonished, and lay grovelling on the earth speechless for three hours, and then reviving said, _brampton, brampton,_ thou art much bound to pray.' the author of this news is one mr. vaughan, a minister who was there present and heard and saw these passages, and told mr. hildersham of it. the earl of lincoln caused one of the arms of the ash to be lopped off, and a hole to be bored into the body, and then was the sound or hollow voice heard more audibly than before; but in a kind of speech which they could not comprehend nor understand." k. p. d. e. _barker, the original panorama painter._--mr. cunningham, at p. . of his admirable _handbook of london,_ says that robert barker, who originated the panorama in leicester square, died in . now, barker, who preceded burford, and eventually, i think, entered into partnership with him, married a friend of my family, a daughter of the admiral bligh against whom had been the mutiny in the _bounty_. i remember mr. barker, and his house in surrey square, or some small square on the surrey side of london bridge; also its wooden rotunda for painting in; and this, too, at the time when the picture of spitzbergen was in progress { } and you felt almost a chill as the transparent icebergs were splashed on. if there have not been two messrs. barker connected with the panorama, mr. cunningham must be incorrect in his date, for i was not in existence in . a. g. ecclesfield. * * * * * minor queries. _vegetable sympathy._--i have been told that sir humphrey davy asserted that the shoots of trees, if transplanted, will only live as long as the parent stock--supposing that to die naturally. how is this to be accounted for, if true? a. a. d. _court dress_--when was the present court dress first established as the recognised costume for state ceremonials? and if there are extant any orders of the earl marshal upon the subject, where are they printed? henco. _dieu et mon droit._--when was this first adopted as the motto of our sovereigns? i have heard widely different dates assigned to it. leicestrensis. _cachecope bell._--in the ancient accounts of the churchwardens of the parish of st. mary-de-castro, leicester, and also in those of st. martin in the same town, the term "cachecope," "kachecope," "catche coppe," or "catch-corpe-bell," is not of unfrequent occurrence: _e. g._, in the account for st. mary's for the year , we have: "for castynge ye cachecope bell, js. "it. to thos. raban for me'dyng ye kachecope bell whole, iiijd." i have endeavoured in vain to ascertain the meaning and derivation of the word, which is not to be found in mr. halliwell's excellent _dictionary of archaic words_. can you enlighten me on the subject? leicestrensis. _the image of both churches._--a curious work, treating largely of the schism between the catholics and protestants in the reign of queen elizabeth, was printed at tornay in , under the following title: _the image of bothe churches, hierusalem and babel, unitie and confusion, obedience and sedition, by p. d. m._ what is the proof that this was written by dr. matthew paterson? edward f. rimbault. _double names._--perhaps some one would explain why so many persons formerly bore two names, as "hooker _alias_ vowel." illegitimacy may have sometimes caused it: but this will not explain those cases where the bearers ostentatiously set forth both names. perhaps they were the names of both parents, used even by lawfully born persons to distinguish themselves from others of the same paternal name. t. "_if this fair flower_," &c.--would you kindly find a place for the lines which follow? i have but slender hopes of discovering their author, but think that their beauty is such as to deserve a reprint. they are not by waller; nor dryden, as far as i know. i found them in a periodical published in scotland during the last century, and called _the bee_. "lines supposed to have been addressed, with the present of a white rose, by a yorkist, to a lady of the lancastrian faction. 'if this fair flower offend thy sight, it in thy bosom bear: 'twill blush to be outmatched in white and turn lancastrian there!'" i observe that amongst the many "notes" and quotations on the subject of the supposed power of prophecy before death, no one has cited those most beautiful lines of campbell in "lochiel's warning:" "'tis the _sunset_ of life gives me mystical lore, and coming events cast their shadows before." w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _hugh peachell--sir john marsham._--can any of your correspondents give me information respecting one hugh peachell, of whom i find the following curious notice in a bundle of mss. in the state paper office, marked "_america and west indies, no._ a." "st. michael's toune in ye barbados, sept. . [ ]. jo neuington, addrese w. mr. james drawater, merch^t at mr. jo. lindapp's, at ye bunch of grapes in ship yard by temple barre.--all ye news i can write from here is, y^t one hugh peachell, who hath been in this island allmost twenty years and lived w^{th} many persons of good esteem, and was last with coll. barwick. it was observed that he gained much monyes, yet none thrived lesse than hee; and falling sicke about weeks since, was much troubled in his conscience, but would not utter himself to any but a minister, who being sent for he did acknowledge himself ye person y^t cut of ye head of king charles, for w^{ch} he had ^{lbs} and w^{th} much seeming penitence and receiving such comforts as the devine, one parson leshely, an emminent man here, could afford him, he dyed in a quarter of an hour afterwards. this you may report for truth, allthough you should not have it from any other hand. he had ^{lbs} for ye doing of itt. there is one wm. hewit condemned for ye same, i think now in newgate; he will be glad you acquaint him of this if he have it not allready." oldmixon, in his _british empire in america_, mentions a sir john marsham of barbados; was he a knight or baronet, and when did he die? w. downing bruce, f.s.a. middle temple. _legend represented in frettenham church._--perhaps some one of your numerous readers may { } be able to give an explanation of the following legend, for such i suppose it to be:-- in the parish church of frettenham, co. norfolk, several alabaster carvings were discovered some years ago, near the chancel arch, having traces of colour. the most perfect, and the one which had most claims to merit as a piece of sculpture, represented a very curious scene. a horse was standing fixed in a kind of stocks, a machine for holding animals fast while they were being shod. but it (the horse) had only three legs: close by stood a bishop, or mitred abbot, holding the horse's missing fore quarter, on the hoof of which a smith was nailing a shoe. of course the power which had so easily removed a leg would as easily replace it. the details of the story may be very safely conjectured to have been--a bishop or high church dignitary is going on a journey or pilgrimage; his horse drops a shoe; on being taken to a smith's to have it replaced, the animal becomes restive, and cannot be shod even with the help of the stocks; whereupon the bishop facilitates the operation in the manner before described. one feels tempted to ask why he could not have replaced the shoe without the smith's intervention. what i want to know is, of whom is this story told? i regret that not having seen the carving in question, i can give no particulars of dress, &c., which might help to determine its age; nor could my informant, though he perfectly well remembered the subject represented. he told me that he had often mentioned it to people likely to know of the existence of such a legend, but could never gain any information respecting it. c. j. e. king's col. cambridge, may . . _king of nineveh burns himself in his palace_.--in a review of mr. layard's work on nineveh (_quarterly_, vol. lxxxiv. p. .) i find the following statement: "the act of sardanapalus in making his palace his own funeral pyre and burning himself upon it, is also attributed to the king who was overthrown by cyaxares." may i ask where the authority for this statement is to be found? x. z. _butchers not jurymen_.-- "as the law does think it fit no butchers shall on juries sit."--butler's _ghost_, cant. ii. the vulgar error expressed in these lines is not extinct, even at the present day. the only explanation i have seen of its origin is given in barrington's _observations on the more ancient statutes_, p. ., on hen. viii., where, after referring in the text to a statute by which surgeons were exempted from attendance on juries, he adds in a note: "it may perhaps be thought singular to suppose that this exemption from serving on juries is the foundation of the vulgar error, that a surgeon or butcher from the barbarity of their business may be challenged as jurors." sir h. spelman, in his _answer to an apology for archbishop abbott_, says,-- "in our law, those that were exercised in slaughter of beasts, were not received to be triers of the life of a man."--_posth. works_, p. .; _st. trials_, vol. ii. p. . so learned a man as spelman must, i think, have had some ground for this statement, and could scarcely be repeating a vulgar error taking its rise from a statute then hardly more than a hundred years old. i hope some of your readers will be able to give a more satisfactory explanation than barrington's. e. s. t. t. _redwing's nest_.--i trust you will excuse my asking, if any of your correspondents have found the nest of the redwing? for i lately discovered what i consider as the egg of this bird in a nest containing four blackbirds' eggs. the egg answers exactly the description given of that of the redwing thrush, both in bewick and wood's _british song birds;_ being bluish-green, with a few largish spots of a dark brown colour. the nest was not lined with mud, as is usually the case with a blackbird's, but with moss and dried grass. has the egg of the redwing been ever seen in this situation before? c. t. a. lyndon. _earth thrown upon the coffin_.--is there anything known respecting the origin of the ceremony of throwing earth upon the coffin at funerals? the following note is from a little german tale, _die richtensteiner_, by van der velde, a tale of the time of the thirty years' war. whether the ceremony is still performed in germany as there described, i do not know. "darauf warfen, nach der alten, frommen sitte, zum letzten lebewohl, der wittwer, und die waisen drei hände voll erde auf den sarg hinunter ... alle zuschauer drangten sich nur um das grab ... und aus hundert händen flog die erde hinab auf den sarg." j. m. ( .) _family of rowe_.--lysons, in his work _environs of london_, gives an extract from the will of sir thomas rowe, of hackney, and, as his authority, says in a note:-- "_extracts of wills in the prerogative office_, by e. rowe mores, esq., in the possession of th. astle, esq., f.r.a.s." can any of your numerous readers inform me in whose possession the above now is? and whether, wherever it is, it is open to inspection? tee bee. _portus canum_.--erim, one of the biographers of becket, states that the archbishop's murderers { } (_s. thom. cantuar_., ed. giles, vol. i. p. .), having crossed from france, landed at _portus canum_. it has been conjectured that this means hythe, which is close to saltwood castle, where the knights were received by ranulph de broc (_english review_, december, , p. .). is the conjecture right? i believe hasted does not notice the name. j. c. r. _arms of sir john davies_.--can any of your correspondents inform me what were the arms, crest, and motto (if any), borne by sir john davies, the eminent lawyer and poet? in a collection which i have made of the armorial bearings of the families of davies, davis, and davys, amounting to more than fifty distinct coats, there occur the arms of _three_ sir john davies or davys, but there is nothing to distinguish which of them was _the_ sir john. llaw gyffes. _william penn_.--will mr. hepworth dixon, or some of your correspondents, be so good as to send a reply to this query? what was the name, and whose daughter was the lady to whom william penn (the son of william penn and miss springett) was married? a. n. c. _who were the writers in the north briton?_--the _athenæum_ of saturday, may , contains a very interesting article on the recently published _correspondence of horace walpole with mason_, in which certain very palpable hits are made as to the identity of mason and junius. in the course of the article the following query occurs: "in the second part of the folio edition of the _north briton_ published by bingley, in the british museum, are inserted two folio pages of manuscript thus headed:-- 'the extraordinary north briton. by w. m.' this manuscript is professedly a copy from a publication issued june rd, , by staples steare, . fleet street, price three-pence. it is a letter addressed to lord mansfield, and an appeal in favour of wilkes, on whom, the writer says, judgment is this day to be pronounced. it is written somewhat in the style of junius. the satire is so refined that the reader does not at first suspect that it is satire,--as in junius's _letters_, wherein the satirical compliments to the king have been mistaken for praise, and quoted in proof of inconsistency. "who was this 'w. m.'? who were the writers in the _north briton?_--not only 'the extraordinary' _north briton_, published by steare, but the genuine _north briton_, published by bingley. these questions may perhaps be very simple, and easily answered by persons better informed than ourselves." as the inquiries of your correspondent w. m. s. (vol. iii., p. .) as to the wilkes mss. and the writers of the _north briton_ have not yet been replied to, and this subject is one of great importance, will you allow me to recall attention to them? f. s. a. * * * * * minor queries answered. "_many a word_."--your correspondent's observations are perfectly correct: we daily use quotations we know not where to find. perhaps some of your friends may be able to reply whence "many a word, at random spoke will rend a heart that's well-nigh broke." s. p. [the lines will be found in walter scott's _lord of the isles_, canto v. st. . "o! many a shaft, at random sent finds mark the archer little meant! and many a word, at random spoken may soothe or wound a heart's that broken!"] _roman catholic church_ (vol. iii., p. .).--many thanks for your reference to the _almanach du clergé de france_; but as i have failed to obtain the requisite information through my booksellers, might i beg the additional favour of knowing what is the cost of the book, and where it can be procured? e. h. a. [the _almanach_ to which our correspondent refers is or was published by _gaume frères à paris_, and sold also by grand, rue du petit-bourbon, , in the same city. its price, judging from the size of the book, is about a couple of francs.] _tick_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. de la pryme's suggestion as to the origin of the expression "going tick" is ingenious; nevertheless i take it to be clear that "tick" is merely an abbreviation of ticket. (see nares's _glossary_, and halliwell's _dictionary of archaic and provincial words_, under "ticket.") in addition to the passages cited by them from decker, cotgrave, stephens, and shirley, i may refer to the act car. ii. c. . s. ., which relates to gambling and betting "upon ticket or credit." c. h. cooper. cambridge, may . . [in the _mirrour for magistrates_, p ., we read:-- "of _tickle credit_ ne had bin the mischiefe." "tickle credit," says pegge, "means easy credit, alluding to the credulity of theseus."--_anonymiana_, cent. ii. . mr. jon bee, in his _sportsman's slang dictionary_, gives the following definition:-- "_tick_", credit in small quantities; usually _scored_ up with chalk (called _ink_ ironically), which being done with a sound resembling 'tick, tick, tick,' gives the appellation 'going to _tick_,' '_tick_ it up,' 'my _tick_ is out,' 'no more _tick_!'"] _hylles' arithmetic_.--having seen it mentioned in the public papers that a copy of the first edition of cocker's _arithmetic_ (considered unique) was lately sold at an exceedingly high price by messrs. puttick and simpson, i am induced to send you a { } copy of the title-page of an arithmetical work in my possession which seems a curiosity in its way; but whether unique or not, my slender bibliographical knowledge does not enable me to determine. it is as follows: "the arte of vulgar arithmeticke, both in integers and fractions, _devided into two bookes, whereof the first is called nomodidactus numerorum_, and the second _portus proportionum_, with certeine demonstrations, reduced into so plaine and perfect method, _as the like hath not hetherto beene published in english_. _wherevnto_ is added a third booke, entituled _musa mercatorum_: comprehending all the most necessarie and profitable rules _vsed in the trade of merchandise_. in all which three bookes, the rules, precepts, and maxims are _onely composed in meeter for the better retaining of them in memorie_, but also the operations, examples, demonstrations, and questions, _are in most easie wise expounded and explaned, in the forme_ of a dialogue, for the reader's more cleere vnderstanding. _a knowledge pleasant for gentlemen, commendable for capteines_ and soldiers, profitable for merchants, and generally _necessarie for all estates and degrees_. newly collected, digested, and in some part deuised by a _welwiller to the mathematicals_." "_ecclesiasticus_, cap. . "learning unto fooles is as fetters on their feete and manicles vpon their right hand; but to the wise it is a iewell of golde, and like a bracelet vpon his right arme. "_boetius_. i. _arith_. cap. . "_omnia quæcunque a primæua natura constructa sunt, numerorum videntur racione formata. hoc enim fuit principale in animo conditoris exemplar_. imprinted at london by _gabriel simson_, dwelling in fleete lane, ." the volume (which is a small quarto of folios) is dedicated "to the right honorable sir thomas sackuill, knight, baron of buckhurst, lord treasurer of england," &c. &c., by thomas hylles. perhaps one or other of your correspondents will kindly inform me whether this volume is a rarity, and also oblige me with some information regarding thomas hylles, its author. sn. davie, jun. [professor de morgan, in his "_arithmetical books from the invention of printing to the present time_," describes hylles' work "as a big book, heavy with mercantile lore;" and the author as being, "in spite of all his trifling, a man of learning." a list of the author's other works will be found in watt's _bibliotheca britannica_, and lowndes's _bibliographer's manual of english literature_, under the word _hills_ (thomas). see also ames's _typographical antiquities_.] * * * * * replies. villenage. (vol. iii., p. .) your correspondent h. c. wishes to know whether bondage was a reality in the time of philip and mary; and, if so, when it became extinct. it was a reality much later than that, as several cases in the books will show. dyer, who was appointed chief justice of the court of common pleas in , settled several in which man claimed property in his fellow-man, hearing arguments and giving judgment on the point whether one should be a "villein regardant" or a "villein in gross." lord campbell, in his _lives of the chief justices_, gives the following, tried before dyer, _c.j._: "a. b., seised in fee of a manor to which a villein was regardant, made a feoffment of one acre of the manor by these words: 'i have given one acre, &c., and further i have given and granted, &c., john s., my villein.' question, 'does the villein pass to the grantee as a villein in gross, or as a villein appendant to that acre?' the court being equally divided in opinion, no judgment seems to have been given."--_dyer_, b. pl. . another action was brought before him under these circumstances:--butler, lord of the manor of badminton, in the county of gloucester, contending that crouch was his villein regardant, entered into certain lands, which crouch had purchased in somersetshire, and leased them to fleyer. crouch thereupon disseised fleyer, who brought his action against crouch, pleading that butler and his ancestors were seised of crouch and his ancestors as of villeins regardant, from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. the jury found that butler and his ancestors were seised of crouch and his ancestors until the first year of the reign of henry vii.; but, confessing themselves ignorant whether in point of law such seisin be an actual seisin of the defendant, prayed the opinion of the court thereon. dyer, _c.j._, and the other judges agreed upon this to a verdict for the defendant, for "the lord having let an hundred years pass without redeeming the villein or his issue, cannot, after that, claim them." (_dyer_, . pl. .) when holt was chief justice of the king's bench, an action was tried before him to recover the price of a slave who had been sold in virginia. the verdict went for the plaintiff. in deciding upon a motion made in arrest of judgment, holt, _c.j._, said,--"as soon as a negro comes into england he is free: one may be a villein in england, but not a slave." (_cases temp. holt_, .) as to the period at which villenage in england became extinct, we find in _litt_. (sec. .):-- "villenage is supposed to have finally disappeared in the reign of james i., but there is great difficulty in saying when it ceased to be lawful, for there has been no statute to abolish it; and by the old law, if any freeman acknowledged himself in a court of record to be a villein, he and all his after-born issue and their descendants were villeins." even so late as the middle of the eighteenth century, when the great lord mansfield adorned { } the bench, it was pleaded "that villenage, or slavery, had been permitted in england by the common law; that no statute had ever passed to abolish this _status_;" and that "although _de facto_ villenage by birth had ceased, a man might still make himself a villein by acknowledgment in a court of record." this was in the celebrated case of the negro somersett, in which lord mansfield first established that "the air of england had long been too pure for a slave." in his judgment he says,-- "... then what ground is there for saying that the _status_ of slavery is now recognised by the law of england?... at any rate, villenage has ceased in england, and it cannot be revived."--_st. tr._, vol. xx. pp. - . and macaulay, in his admirable _history of england_, speaking of the gradual and silent extinction of villenage, then, towards the close of the tudor period, fast approaching completion, says: "some faint traces of the institution of villenage were detected by the curious as late as the days of the stuarts; nor has that institution ever to this hour been abolished by statute." tee bee. _villenage_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in reply to the question put by h. c., i beg to say that in burton's _leicestershire_ (published in ), a copy of which is now before me, some curious remarks occur on this subject. burton says, under the head of "houghton-on-the-hill," that the last case he could find in print, concerning the claim to a villein, was in mich. & eliz. (_dyer_, . b.), where one butler, lord of the manor of badminton in gloucestershire, did claim one crouch for his villein regardant to his said manor, and made an entry upon crouch's lands in somersetshire. upon an answer made by crouch, an _ejectione firmæ_ was brought in the king's bench; and upon the evidence it was moved, that as no seizure of the body had been made, or claim set up by the lord, for sixty years preceding, none could then be made. the court held, in accordance with this, that no seizure could be made. i do not know what the reference means; perhaps some of your legal correspondents may do so. jaytee. * * * * * maclean not junius. (vol. iii., p. .) your correspondent Ægrotus (_antè_, p. .) is not justified in writing so confidently on a subject respecting which he is so little informed. he is evidently not even aware that the claims of maclean have been ably and elaborately set forth by sir david brewster, and, as i think, conclusively, on the evidence, set aside in the _athenæum_. he has, however, been pleased to new vamp some old stories, to which he gives something of novelty by telling them "with a difference." i remember, indeed, four or five years since, to have seen a letter on this subject, written by mr. pickering, the bookseller, to the late sir harris nicolas, in which the same statements were made, supported by the same authorities,--which, in fact, corresponded so exactly with the communication of Ægrotus, that i must believe either that your correspondent has seen that letter, or that both writers had their information from a common story-teller. respecting the "vellum-bound copy" locked up in the ebony cabinet in possession of the late marquis of lansdowne, mr. pickering's version came nearer to the authority; for he said, "_my informant saw_ the bound volumes and the cabinet _when a boy_." the proof then rests on the recollection of an anonymous, who speaks positively as to what took place nearly half a century since; and this anonymous boy, we are to believe, was already so interested about junius as to notice the fact at the time, and remember it ever after. against the probabilities of this we might urge, that the present marquis--who was born in , and came to the title in , is probably as old, or older than anonymous; as much interested in a question believed by many persons, Ægrotus amongst them, intimately to concern his father, and quite as precocious, for he was chancellor of the exchequer in --never saw or heard of either the volumes or the cabinet; and, as Ægrotus admits, after a search expressly made by his order, they could not be found. further, allow me to remind you, that it is not more than six weeks since it was recorded in "notes and queries" that a "vellum-bound" junius was lately sold at stowe; and it is about two months since i learnt, on the same authority, that a mr. cramp had asserted that vellum-bound copies were so common, that the printer must have taken the junius copy as a pattern; so that, if Ægrotus's facts be admitted, they would prove nothing. there is one circumstance, however, bearing on this question, which perhaps Ægrotus himself will think entitled to some weight. it was not until , when george woodfall published the private letters of junius, that the public first heard about "a vellum-bound" copy. if therefore the anonymous knew before that some special interest did or would attach more to one vellum-bound book than another, he must be junius himself; for sampson woodfall was dead, and when living had said nothing about it. Ægrotus then favours us with the anecdote about "old mr. cox" the printer, and that maclean corrected the proofs of _junius' letters_ at his printing-office. of course, persons acquainted with the subject have heard the story before, though not with all the circumstantialities now given. where, i might ask, is the authority for { } this story? who is responsible for it? but the emphatic question which common sense will ask is this: why should junius go to mr. cox's printing-office to correct his proofs? where he wrote the letters he might surely have corrected the proofs. why, after all his trouble, anxiety, and mystification to keep the secret, should he needlessly go to anybody's printing-office to correct the proofs, and thus wantonly risk the consequences?--in fact, go there and betray himself, as we are expected to believe he did? the story is absurd, on the face of it. but what authority has Ægrotus for asserting that junius corrected proofs at all? strong presumptive evidence leads me to believe that he did not: in some instances he could not. in one instance he specially desired to have a proof; but it was, as we now know, for the purpose of forwarding it to lord chatham. junius was also anxious to have proofs of the dedication and preface, but it is by no means certain that he had them; the evidence tends to show that they were, at woodfall's request, and to remove from his own shoulders the threatened responsibility, read by wilkes: and the collected edition was printed from wheble's edition, so far as it went, and the remainder from slips cut from the _public advertiser_, both corrected by junius; but we have no reason to believe that junius ever saw a proof, even of the collected edition,--many reasons that tend strongly to the contrary opinion. under these circumstances, we are required to believe an anonymous story, which runs counter to all evidence, that we may superadd an absurdity. mr. pickering further referred to mr. raphael west, as one who "could tell much on the subject." here Ægrotus enlarges on the original, and tells us what this "much" consisted of. the story, professedly told by benjamin west, about maclean and junius, on which sir david brewster founded his theory, may be found in galt's _life of west_. but galt himself, in his subsequent autobiography, admits that the story told by west "does not relate the actual circumstances of the case correctly;" that is to say, galt had found out, in the interval, that it was open to contradiction and disproof, and it has since been disproved in the _athenæum_. so much for a story discredited by the narrator himself. of these facts Ægrotus is entirely ignorant, and therefore proceeds by the following extraordinary circumstantialities to uphold it. "the late president of the royal academy knew maclean; and his son, the late raphael west, _told the writer of these remarks_ [Ægrotus himself] that _when a young man_ he had seen him [maclean] in the evening at his father's house in newman street, and _once heard him repeat a passage in one of the letters which was not then published_;" and Ægrotus adds, "a more correct and veracious man than mr. r. west could not be." so be it. still it is strange that the president, who was said to have told his anecdote expressly to show that maclean was junius, never thought to confirm it by the conclusive proof of having read the letters before they were published! further,--and we leave the question of extreme accuracy and _veraciousness_ to be settled by Ægrotus,--the president west was born in ; he embarked from america for italy in ; on his return he visited england in , and such was the patronage with which he was welcomed, that his friends recommended him to take up his residence in london. this he was willing to do, provided a young american lady to whom he was attached would come to england. she consented; his father accompanied her, and they were married on the nd of september, , at st. martin's church. now maclean embarked for india in december, , or january, , and was lost at sea, when "the young man," master raphael, could not have been more than seven years of age,--nay, to speak by the card, as master raphael heard one of junius' letters read before it was published, and as the last was published in january, , it follows, assuming that he was the eldest child, born in nine months to the hour, and that it was the very last letter that he heard read, he _may have been_ five years and seven months old--a very "young man" indeed; or rather, all circumstances considered, as precocious a youth as he who found out the vellum-bound copy years before it was known to be in existence. i regret to have occupied so much of your space. but speculation on this subject is just now the fashion. "notes and queries" is likely hereafter to become an authority, and if these circumstantial statements are admitted into its columns, they must be as circumstantially disproved. m. j. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the ten commandments_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the controversy on the division of the ten commandments between the romanists and lutherans on the one side, and the reformers or calvinists on the other, has been discussed in the following works-- . goth (cardinalis), _vera ecclesia, &c._, venet., (art. xvi. § .); . chamieri _panstratia_ (tom i. l. xxi. c. viii.); . riveti _opera_ (tom. i. p. ., and tom. iii. _apologeticus pro vera pace ecclesiastica contra h. grotii votum_.); . bohlii _vera divisio decalogi ex infallibili principio accentuationis_; . hackspanii _notæ philologicæ in varia loca s. scripturæ_; . pfeifferi _opera_ (cent. i. loc. .); . ussher's _answer to a jesuit's challenge (of images) and his serm. at westminster before the house of commons, out of deuteronomy, chap. iv. ver_. , ., _and romans, chap. i. ver._ .; . stillingfleet's _controversies with godden, author of "catholics no idolaters," and_ { } _with gother, author of "the papist misrepresented," &c._ the earliest notices of the division of the decalogue, are those of josephus, lib. iii. c. . s. .; philo-judæus _de decem oraculis_; and the chaldaic paraphrase of jonathan. according to these, the third verse of exod. xx. contains the first commandment; the fourth, fifth, and sixth, the second. the same distinction was adopted by the following early writers:--origen (_homil. viii. in exod._), greg. nazienzen (_carmina mosis decalogus_), irenæus (lib. iii. c. .), athanasius (_in synopsi s. scripturæ_), ambrose (_in ep. ad ephes. c. vi._). it was first abandoned by augustine, who was instigated to introduce this innovation by the unwarranted representation of the doctrine of the trinity by the first tablet containing three commandments. the schoolmen followed his example, and accommodated the words of god to the legislative requirements of their new divinity, progressive development, which terminated in the church of rome, in compelling them to command what he strictly prohibits (see ussher's _answer_.) "hath god himself any where declared this to be only an explication of the first commandment? have the prophets or christ and his apostles ever done it? how then can any man's conscience be safe in this matter? for it is not a trifling controversy whether it be a distinct commandment or an explication of the first; but the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the worship of images depends very much upon it, for if it be only an explication of the first, then, unless one takes images to be gods, their worship is lawful, and so the heathens were excused in it, who were not such idiots; but if it be a new and distinct precept, then the worshipping any image or similitude becomes a grievous sin, and exposes men to the wrath of god in that severe manner mentioned in the end of it. and it is a great confirmation that this is the true meaning of it, because all the primitive writers[ ] of the christian church not only thought it a sin against this commandment, but insisted upon the force of it against those heathens who denied that they took their images for gods; and, therefore, this is a very insufficient account of leaving out the second commandment (that the people are in no danger of superstition or idolatry by it.)."--stillingfleet's _doctrines of the church of rome, . of the second commandment_. "if god allow the worship of the represented by the representation, he would never have forbidden that worship absolutely, which is unlawful only in a certain respect."--ibid. _answer to the conclusion_. with your permission i shall return to this subject, not of images, but of the second commandment, in reply to mr. gatty's queries on the division at present adopted by the jews, &c. t. jones. chetham's library, manchester. [footnote : thus st. augustine himself: "in the first commandment, any similitude of god in the figments of men is forbidden to be worshipped, not because god hath not an image, but because no image of him ought to be worshipped, but that which is the same thing that he is, nor yet that for him but with him."--see what is further cited from augustine by ussher in his _answer_.] _mounds, munts, mount_ (vol. iii., p. .).--if r. w. b. will refer to mr. lower's paper on the "iron works of the county of sussex" in the second volume of the _sussex archælogical collections_, he will find that iron works were carried on in the parish of maresfield in , and probably much later. it is therefore probable that the lands which he mentions have derived their names from the pit-mounts round the mouths of the pits through which the iron ore was raised to the surface. in staffordshire and shropshire the term _munt_ is used to denote fire-clay of an inferior kind, which makes a large part of every coal-pit mount in those counties. if the same kind of fire-clay was found in the iron mines of sussex, it is not necessary to suggest the derivation of the word _munt_. i take this opportunity of suggesting to mr. albert way that the utensil figured in page . of the above-mentioned work is not an ancient mustard-mill, but the upper part of an iron mould in which cannon-shot were cast. the iron tongs, of which a drawing is given in page ., were probably useful for the purpose of drawing along a floor recently cast shot while they were too hot to be handled. v. x. y. _san graal_ (vol. iii., pp . .).--roquefort's article of nine columns in his _glos. de la l. rom._, is decisive of the word being derived from _sancta cratera;_ of _graal, gréal_, always having meant a vessel or dish and of all the old romancers having understood the expression in the same meaning, namely, _sancta cratera, le saint graal, the holy cup or vessel_, because, according to the legend, christ used it at the paschal supper; and joseph of arimathea afterwards employed it to catch the blood flowing from his wounds. many cities formerly claimed the honour of possessing this fabulous relic. of course, as price shows, it was an old oriental magic-dish legend, imitated in the west. george stephens. stockholm. _epitaph on the countess of pembroke_ (vol. iii., pp . .).--it has been asserted that the second part of this epitaph was written by lady pembroke's son; among whose poems, which were published in , the whole piece was included. (park's _walpole_, ii. . _note_; gifford's _ben jonson_, viii. .) but it is notorious, that no confidence whatever can be placed in that volume (see this shown in detail in mr. hannah's edit. of poems by wotton and raleigh, pp. . .); nor have we any right to distribute the two parts between different authors. there are at least _four_ { } old copies of the whole; two in mss. which are referred to by mr. hannah; the one in pembroke's _poems_; and the one in that lansdowne ms., where it is ascribed to william browne. brydges assigned it to browne, when he published his _original poems_ from that ms. at the lee priory press in , p. . upon the whole, there seems to be more direct evidence for browne than any other person. r. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. _a history of the articles of religion: to which is added a series of documents from_ a.d. _ to_ a.d. _ ; together with illustrations from contemporary sources_, by charles hardwick, m.a., is the title of an octavo volume, in which the author seeks to supply a want long felt, especially by students for holy orders; namely, a work which should show not the _doctrine_ but the _history_ of the articles. for, as he well observes, while many have enriched our literature by expositions of the _doctrine_ of the articles, "no regular attempt has been made to illustrate the framing of the formulary itself, either by viewing it in connection with the kindred publications of an earlier and a later date, or still more in its relation to the period out of which it originally grew." this attempt mr. hardwick has now made very successfully; and it is because his book is historical and not polemical, that we feel called upon to notice it, and to bear our testimony to its interest, and its value to that "large class of readers who, anxious to be accurately informed upon the subject, are precluded from consulting the voluminous collectors, such as strype, le plat, or wilkins." such readers will find mr. hardwick's volume a most valuable handbook. a practical illustration that "union is strength," is shown by a volume which has just reached us, entitled, _reports and papers read at the meetings of the architectural societies of the archdeaconry of northampton, the counties of york and lincoln, and of the architectural and archæological societies of bedfordshire and st. alban's during the year _mdcccl. _presented gratuitously to the members._ had each of these societies, instead of joining with its fellows, put forth a separate report, the probability is, it would not only have involved such society in an expense far beyond what it would be justified in incurring, but the report itself would not have excited half the interest which will now be created by a comparison of its papers with those of its associate societies; while, with the reduced expense, the benefit of a larger circulation is secured. the volume is one highly creditable to the societies, and to the authors of the various communications which are to be found in it. messrs. puttick and simpson ( . piccadilly) will be engaged on monday and two following days in the sale of a library rich in works on every branch of what is now known as folk lore and popular antiquities, and which may certainly, and with great propriety, be styled "a very curious collection." the mere enumeration of the various subjects on the title-page of the catalogue, ranging, as they do, from mesmerism and magic, to celestial influences, phrenology, physiognomy, &c., might serve for the table of contents to a history of human weakness. books received.--_neander's history of the planting and training of the christian church by the apostles, translated from the third edition of the original german by j. e. ryland_, is the fourth volume of the standard library which mr. bohn has devoted to translations of the writings of neander; the first and second being his _church history_, in two volumes, and the third his _life of christ_.--_cosmos, a sketch of the physical description of the universe by alexander von humboldt, translated from the german by e. c. otté_, vol. iii., is the new volume of bohn's scientific library, and completes his edition of the translation of the great work of the prussian philosopher. catalogues received.--adam holden's ( . high street, exeter) catalogue part xxxi. of books in every department of literature; j. wheldon's ( . paternoster row) catalogue part iii. for , of a valuable collection of topographical books; j. rowsell's ( . great queen street) catalogue no. xliii. of a select collection of second-hand books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. diana (antoninus) compendium resolutionem moralium. antwerp.-colon. - . passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. folio. basil, . cartari--la rosa d'oro pontificia. to. rome, . broemel, m. c. h., fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . the complaynt of scotland, edited by leyden. vo. edin. . thoms' lays and legends of various nations. parts i. to vii. mo. . l'abbÉ de saint pierre, projet de paix perpetuelle. vols. mo. utrecht, . chevalier ramsay, essai de politique, où l'on traite de la nécessité, de l'origine, des droits, des bornes et des différentes formes de la souveraineté, selon les principes de l'auteur de télémaque. vols. mo. la haye, without date, but printed in . the same. second edition, under the title "essai philosophique sur le gouvernement civil, selon les principes de fénélon," mo. londres, . pullen's etymological compendium, vo. cooper's (c. p.) account of public records, vo. . vol. i. lingard's history of england. sm. vo. . vols. x. xi. xii. xiii. miller's (john, of worcester coll.) sermons. oxford, (or about that year). wharton's anglia sacra. vol. ii. phebus (gaston, conte de foix), livre du deduyt de la chasse. turner's sacred history. vols. demy vo. knight's pictorial history of england. vol. iv. commencing from abdication of james ii. lord dover's life of frederick the great. vo. . vol. ii. ladies' diary for and . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. quidam. _vernon's_ anglo-saxon guide _should be followed up by thorpe's_ analecta _and_ anglo-saxon gospels. silenus. _if our correspondent will refer to our first volume_, pp. . . . ., _and our second volume_, p. ., _he will find the history of the well-known couplet from the_ musarum deliciæ, "for he that fights, and runs away, may live to fight another day," _fully illustrated._ writing paper. _will our correspondent, who sometime since_ { } _sent us a specimen manufactured at penshurst, favour us for the information of another correspondent with the name of the maker?_ record of existing monuments. _we hope next week to return to this important subject. in the meantime, mr. a. j. dunkin, of dartford, announces that the first part of his_ monument. anglic. _is in the press, and will be published in july._ replies received.--_meaning of crambe--ex pede herculem--cardinal azolin--charles lamb's epitaph--poem on the grave--bunyan and the visions of hell--colfabias--coptic language--benedicite--amicus plato--doctrine of the resurrection--registry of dissenting baptisms--the bellman--babington's conspiracy--epitaph--quotations--prayer of mary queen of scots--robertii sphæria--ob--blake family--to endeavour oneself--cart before the horse--anonymous ravennas--family of sir j. banks--mind your p's and q's--mazer wood._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _errata._--page . col. . lines . and . for _"prichard"_ read _"richards;"_ p. ., in the query on the "blake family," for "bishop's h_a_ll" read "bishop's h_u_ll;" p. . col. . l. ., for "_frag_ments" read "payments;" and l. ., for "south _green_" read "south lynn;" p. . col. . l. ., for "t_ur_ners" read "t_an_ners." * * * * * mechi's manufactures. mr. mechi respectfully informs his patrons, the public, that his manufactures at the great exhibition will be found in the gallery at the north-east corner of the transept. . leadenhall street, london, may , . p.s.--in order to afford room for the great accession of stock which mechi has provided to meet the demand consequent upon the anticipated influx of visitors to london during this season, he has fitted up an additional show room of great splendour, and made other improvements, to which he earnestly invites public attention. * * * * * in vols., price s., with portrait and numerous illustrations, chaucer's canterbury tales, and other poems; with a life of the author; remarks on his language and versification: a glossary and index; and a concise history of english poetry. london: g. berger, and all booksellers. * * * * * now ready, sir reginald mohun. cantos i., ii., iii. by george john cayley. part iv. s. d. "has a vivid and prolific fancy, great humour, brilliant imagery and depth of feeling. sir reginald mohun, in truth, is a production finished of its kind both in style and power."--_daily news_. "a vehicle for presenting the writer's views of society, exactly after the manner of the latter part of _don juan_."--_spectator_. "the work of a man of genius, full of fine poetry, and as amusing as a novel."-- _gardener's and farmer's journal_. "a picture in verse of society as it is."--_sunday times_. "we part from our author with the warmest good wishes for his journey on the path to fame and honours, which we feel certain he will merit."--_tait's magazine_. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * price s. d., cloth, a new and enlarged edition of somnolism and psycheism; or, the science of the soul, and the phenomena of nervation, as revealed by mesmerism, considered physiologically and philosophically; including notes of mesmeric and psychical experience. by joseph wilcox haddock, m.d. second and enlarged edition, illustrated by engravings of the brain and nervous system. *** this edition contains much new matter of considerable interest, relative to clairvoyance, together with experiments in chemistry in connection with the researches of baron von reichenbach. hodson, . portugal street, lincoln's inn; and all other booksellers. * * * * * topography.--j. wheldon's new catalogue of books for sale on english and welsh topography, local history, &c., is just published, and may be had gratis on application, or will be sent by post on the receipt of a stamp. london: john wheldon, . paternoster row. * * * * * new works. * * * * * i. the traveller's library. london in and . by j. r. mcculloch. reprinted from the "geographical dictionary." mo. one shilling. ii. forester and biddulph's rambles in norway in and . map, plates and woodcuts. vo. s. iii. maunder's scientific and literary treasury; a portable encyclopædia of the belles-lettres. fcp. vo. s.; bound, s. iv. sir henry thos. de la beche's geological observer. in one large volume; with many woodcuts. vo. s. v. maunder's treasury of natural history, or popular dictionary of animated nature. woodcuts. fcp. vo. s.; bound, s. vi. the rev. c. moody's edition of the new testament, with complete marginal harmony. part ii. completing the work. to. s. vii. marie-madeleine: a tale, translated from the french, by lady mary fox. with illustrations engraved on wood. vo. s. d. viii. smee's process of thought adapted to words and language. describing the relational and differential machines. vo. s. ix. logic for the million: a familiar exposition of the art of reasoning. by a fellow of the royal society. mo. s. x. a treatise of equivocation. edited, from an original ms., by david jardine, esq., barrister-at-law. fcp. vo. s. xi. the theory of reasoning. by samuel bailey. vo. s. d. xii. rowton's debater: a series of debates, outlines of debates, and questions for discussion. second edition ( ). fcp. vo. s. xiii. maunder's treasury of knowledge and library of reference: a compendium of general knowledge. fcp. vo. s.; bound, s. xiv. the judges of england; with sketches of their lives, &c. by edward foss, f.s.a., of the inner temple. vols. iii. and iv. vo. 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"the authors exhibit, by means of a series of very clever engravings, its gradual progress to a complete state."--_the examiner_. "the book is based on public and professional documents, and fully illustrated by plates. the best designs laid before the committee, and buildings previously erected for similar purposes, are also given."--_the spectator_. "we most warmly recommend this history of the crystal palace."--_the standard of freedom_. "the word embodies a variety of interesting facts; the whole illustrated by many excellent illustrations in order to convey an idea of the auxiliaries employed to facilitate and bring to perfection this glorious work."--_the weekly dispatch_. london: james gilbert, . paternoster row. orders received by all booksellers, &c. * * * * * price s. d.; by post s. illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism. part i. by the rev. s. r. maitland, dd. f.r.s. f.s.a. sometime librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, and keeper of the mss. at lambeth. "one of the most valuable and interesting pamphlets we ever read."--_morning herald_. "this publication, which promises to be the commencement of a larger work, will well repay serious perusal."--_ir. eccl. journ._ "a small pamphlet in which he throws a startling light on the practices of modern mesmerism."--_nottingham journal_. "dr. maitland, we consider, has here brought mesmerism to the 'touchstone of truth,' to the test of the standard of right or wrong. we thank him for this first instalment of his inquiry, and hope that he will not long delay the remaining portions."--_london medical gazette_. "the enquiries are extremely curious, we should indeed say important. that relating to the witch of endor is one of the most successful we ever read. we cannot enter into particulars in this brief notice; but we would strongly recommend the pamphlet even to those who care nothing about mesmerism, or _angry_ (for it has come to this at last) with the subject."--_dublin evening post_. "we recommend its general perusal as being really an endeavour, by one whose position gives him the best facilities, to ascertain the genuine character of mesmerism, which is so much disputed."--_woolmer's exeter gazette_. "dr. maitland has bestowed a vast deal of attention of the subject for many years past, and the present pamphlet is in part the result of his thoughts and inquiries. there is a good deal in it which we should have been glad to quote ... but we content ourselves with referring our readers to the pamphlet itself."--_brit. mag._ * * * * * this day is published, [greek: Ê palaia diathÊkÊ kata tous ebdomÊkonta.] the greek septuagint version, with the apocrypha, including the fourth book of maccabees, and the real septuagint version of daniel: with an historical introduction. one volume vo., s. [greek: Ê kainÊ diathÊkÊ.] a large-print greek new testament, with selected various readings and parallel references, &c. &c. one volume vo., s. uniform with the septuagint. london: samuel bagster and sons, . paternoster row. * * * * * books relating to america, voyages, maps, charts, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on wednesday, june , and following day, a curious and valuable library, including a collection of interesting and rare works relating to america and its territories, their history, natural history, progress, language, and literature; also relating to mexico, the east and west indies, &c.; several very curious voyages, travels, and itineraries, including some pieces of the utmost rarity; a few curious works on the indian languages; and a very extensive and highly valuable collection of maps and charts in the finest condition. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page suggestions for preserving a record of existing monuments notes:-- on the word "rack" in shakspeare's tempest, by samuel hickson ancient inedited poems, no. iii., by k. r. h. mackenzie folk-lore:--moths called souls--holy water for hooping cough--daffy down dilly dr. maitland's illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism minor notes:--original warrant--gloves--prince rupert--inscription on a gun--richard iii.--lines by pope--origin of st. andrew's cross in relation to scotland--snail-eating queries:-- henry smith, by t. m'calmont minor queries:--owen glendower--meaning of gig-hill-- sir john vaughan--quebecca and his epitaph--a monumental inscription--sir thomas herbert's memoirs of charles i.--comets--natural daughter of james ii.--going the whole hog--innocent convicts--the san grail--meaning of "slums"-- bartolus' "learned man defended and reformed"-- odour from the rainbow--tradesmen's signs minor queries answered:--supporters borne by commoners--answer to fisher's relation--"drink up eisell" replies:-- scandal against queen elizabeth the mistletoe on the oak, by james buckman, &c. universality of the maxim, "lavor come se tu," &c., by s. w. singer replies to minor queries:--tennyson's in memoriam-- bishop hooper's godly confession, &c.--machell's ms. collections for westmoreland and cumberland-- oration against demosthenes--borrow's danish ballads--head of the saviour--lady bingham-- shakespeare's use of captious--tanthony--lama beads--"language given to men," &c.--daresbury, the white chapel of england--holland land--passage in the tempest--damasked linen--straw necklaces-- library of the church of westminster, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * suggestions for preserving a record of existing monuments. when, in the opening number of the present volume (p. ), we called the attention of our readers to the _monumentarium of exeter cathedral_, we expressed a hope that the good services which mr. hewett had thereby rendered to all genealogical, antiquarian, and historical inquirers would be so obvious as to lead a number of labourers into the same useful field. that hope bids fair to be fully realised. in vol. iii., p. ., we printed a letter from mr. peacock, announcing his intention of copying the inscriptions in the churches and churchyards of the hundred of manley; and we this week present our readers with three fresh communications upon the subject. we give precedence to miss bockett's, inasmuch as it involves no general proposal upon the subject, but is merely expressive of that lady's willingness, in which we have no doubt she will be followed by many of her countrywomen to help forward the good work. in your number for feb. th, i find mr. edward peacock, jun., of bottesford moors, messingham, kirton lindsey, wishes to collect church memorials for work he intends to publish. if he would like the accounts of monuments in the immediate neighbourhood of reading, as far as i am able it would give me pleasure to send some to him. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge, near reading. the second makes us acquainted with a plan for the publication of a _monumenta anglicana_ by mr. dunkin,--a plan which would have our hearty concurrence and recommendation, if it were at all practicable; but which, it will be seen at a glance, must fail from its very vastness. if the _monumentarium of exeter_ contains the material for half a moderate-sized octavo volume, in what number of volumes does mr. dunkin propose to complete his collection--even if a want of purchasers of the early volumes did not nip in the bud his praiseworthy and well-intentioned scheme? your correspondent mr. edw. peacock, jun, may be interested in knowing that a work has some time been projected by my friend mr. alfred john dunkin of dartford (whose industry and antiquarian learning render him well fitted for the task), under the title of _monumenta anglicana_, and which is intended to be a medium for preserving the inscriptions in every church in the kingdom. there can be no doubt of the high value and utility of such a work, especially if accompanied by a well-arranged index of names; and i have no doubt mr. peacock, and indeed many others of your valued correspondents, will be induced to { } assist in the good cause, by sending memoranda of inscriptions to mr. dunkin. l. j. plymouth. the following letter from the rev. e. s. taylor proposes a society for the purpose:-- i for one shall be happy to co-operate with mr. peacock in this useful work; and i trust that, through the valuable medium of "notes and queries," many will be induced to offer their assistance. could not a society be formed for the purpose, so that mutual correspondence might take place? e. s. taylor. martham, norfolk. we doubt the necessity, and indeed the advisability, of the formation of any such society. mr. peacock (_antè_., p. .) has already wisely suggested, that "in time a copy of every inscription in every church in england might be ready for reference in our national library," and we have as little doubt that the ms. department of the british museum is the proper place of deposit for such records, as that the trustees would willingly accept the charge of them on the recommendation of their present able and active keeper of the manuscripts. what he, and what the trustees would require, would be some security that the documents were what they professed to be; and this might very properly be accomplished through the agency of such a society as mr. taylor proposes, if there did not already exist a society upon whom such a duty might very safely be devolved:--and have we not, in the greater energy which that society has lately displayed, evidence that it would undertake a duty for which it seems pre-eminently fitted? we allude to the society of antiquaries. the anxiety of lord mahon, its president, to promote the efficiency of that society, has recently been made evident in many ways; and we cannot doubt that he would sanction the formation of a sub-committee for the purpose of assisting in collecting and preserving a record of all existing monuments, or that he would find a lack of able men to serve on such a committee, when he numbers among the official or active fellows of the society gentlemen so peculiarly fitted to carry out this important national object, as mr. hunter, sir charles young, mr. j. payne collier, and mr. bruce. * * * * * notes. on the word "rack" in shakspeare's tempest. as another illustration of the careless or superficial manner in which the meaning of shakspeare has been sought, allow me to call attention to the celebrated passage in the _tempest_ in which the word "rack" occurs. the passage really presents no difficulty; and the meaning of the word, as it appears to me, might as well be settled at once and for ever. i make this assertion, not dogmatically, but with the view of testing the correctness of my opinion, that this is not at all a question of etymology, but entirely one of construction. the passage reads as follows:-- "these, our actors, as i foretold you, were all spirits, and are melted into air, into thin air: and, like the baseless fabrick of this vision, the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; and, like this insubstantial pageant, faded, leave not a rack behind."--_tempest_, act iv. sc. . as i have expressed my opinion that this is not at all a question of etymology, i shall not say more in reference to this view of the case than that "rack," spelt as in shakspeare, is a word in popular and every-day use in the phrase "rack and ruin;" that we have it in the term "rack off," as applied to wine, meaning _to take from the rack_, or, in other words, "to leave a rack" or _refuse_ "behind," racked wine being wine drawn from the lees; and that it is, i believe, still in use in parts of england, meaning _remains_ or _refuse_, as, in the low german, "der wraek" means the same thing. misled, however, by an unusual mode of spelling, and unacquainted with the literature of shakspeare's age, certain of the commentators suggested the readings of _track_ and _trace_; whereupon horne tooke remarks:-- "the ignorance and presumption of his commentators have shamefully disfigured shakspeare's text. the first folio, notwithstanding some few palpable misprints, requires none of their alterations. had they understood english as well as he did, they would not have quarrelled with his language."--_diversions of purley_, p. . he proceeds to show that _rack_ "is merely the past tense, and therefore past participle, [reac] or [rec], of the anglo-saxon verb recan, _exhalare_, to _reek_;" and although the advocates of its being a particular description of light cloud refer to him as an authority for their reading, he treats it throughout generally as "a vapour, a steam, or an exhalation." but horne tooke, in his zeal as an etymologist, forgot altogether to attend to the construction of the passage. what is it that shall "leave not a rack behind?" a rack of what? not of the baseless fabric of this vision, like which the "cloud-capp'd towers shall dissolve,"--not of this insubstantial pageant, like which they shall have faded,--but of "the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself." there is in fact a double comparison; but the construction and the meaning are perfectly clear, and no word will suit the passage but one that shall express a result common { } to the different objects enumerated. a cloud may be a fit object for comparison, but it is utterly inconsequential; while the sense required can only be expressed by a general term, such as _remains_, a _vestige_, or a _trace_. i beg now to transcribe a note of mr. collier's on this passage:-- "'rack' is vapour, from _reck_, as horne tooke showed; and the light clouds on the face of heaven are the 'rack,' or vapour from the earth. the word 'rack' was often used in this way."--coll. _shaksp._, vol. i. p. . mr. knight appears to incline to the same view; and regarding these as the two latest authorities, and finding in neither of them any reference to the question of construction, i naturally concluded that the point had been overlooked by the commentators. on reference, however, i found to my surprise, that malone, for the very same reasons, had come to the same conclusion. had malone's argument been briefly stated by the "two latest and best editors," i should, of course, have had no occasion to trouble you with this note: and this instance, it appears to me, furnishes additional reasons for enforcing the principle for which i am contending; the neglect of it affecting, in however slight a degree, the sense or correctness of so important and frequently quoted a passage. for my own part, i should have thought that the commonest faith in shakspeare would have protected any editor, whose avowed object it was to restore the text, from preferring in this instance, to the plain common sense of malone, the more showy authority of horne tooke. in my last paper i wrote,--"so far as quantity is concerned, to eat a crocodile would be _no_ more than to eat an ox." you have omitted the negative. samuel hickson. * * * * * ancient inedited poems, no. iii. in my last communication on this subject, i forgot to remark on the strange title given to the monody on mr. browne. may i ask if the name of "chorus" was thus indiscriminately applied at the time when the poem was composed? the next poem that i shall give is copied from _harleian mss._, ., art. ., fol. . it is entitled-- "a vertuous woman. "when painted vice fils upp the rimes of these our last depraued times: and soe much lust by wanton layes disperséd is; that beautie strayes into darke corners wheere vnseen, too many sadd berefts haue been. aduance my muse to blaze[ ] that face wheere beautie sits enthroand in grace. the eye though bright, and quicke to moue, daignes not a cast to wanton loue. a comely ffront not husht in hayre, nor face be-patcht to make it fayre. the lipps and cheekes though seemely redd, doe blush afresh if by them fedd. some wanton youthes doe gaze too much though naked breasts are hidd from touch. when due salutes are past, they shunn a seconde kisse: yea, half vndone shee thinkes herselfe, when wantons praise her hande or face with such loose phraise as they haue learnt at acts and scenes, noe hand in hand with them shee meenes, shall giue them boldnes to embalme, ther filthie fist in her chast palme. her pretious honners overlookes, at her retires the best of bookes. whatsoeuer else shee doth forget noe busines shall her prayers[ ] let. those that bee good, shee prizes most, noe time with them shee counteth lost. her chast delights, her mind, aduance above lot-games or mixéd dance. shee cares not for an enterlude, or idly will one day conclude. the looser toungs that filth disclose are graueolencie to her nose. but when a vertuous man shall court her virgin thoughts in nuptiall sort: her faire depor[t]ment, neyther coy nor yet too forward, fits his ioy, and giues his kisses leaue to seale on her fayre hand his faythfull zeale. blest is his conquest in her loue, with her alone death cann remoue. and if before shee did adorne her parents' howse, the cheerefull morne reioyceth now at this blest payre, to see a wife soe chast soe fayre. they happy liue; and know noe smart of base suspects or iealous heart; and if the publike bredd noe feare, nor sadd alarms did fill ther care, from goodnes flowes ther ioy soe cleere as grace beginnes ther heauen heere." the poem has no subscription, nor, from the appearance of the paper, should i say there had been one. the comparatively modern phraseology points to a late era. the poem is bound up with a quantity of john stowe's papers, and i think is in his handwriting, upon comparing it with other papers known to be his in the same book. as it is my chief object (next to contributing to the preservation and publication of these ancient ballads) to obtain data regarding the anonymous productions of the earlier days of england's literature, any remarks, allow me to say, that other contributors will favour our { } medium of intercommunication with, will be much appreciated by kenneth r. h. mackenzie. [our correspondent is certainly mistaken in supposing this poem to be in stowe's handwriting. we have the best possible authority for assuring him that it is not.] [footnote : _blason_, describe.] [footnote : we have here an instance of the use of the word _prayers_ as a dissyllable.] * * * * * folk lore. _moths called souls._--while i am upon this subject, i may as well mention that in yorkshire the country-people used in my youth, and perhaps do still, call night-flying white moths, especially the _hepialus humuli_, which feeds, while in the grub state, on the roots of docks and other coarse plants, "souls." have we not in all this a remnant of "psyche?" f. s. [this latter paragraph furnishes a remarkable coincidence with the tradition from the neighbourhood of truro (recorded by mr. thoms in his folk lore of shakspeare, _athenæum_ (no. .) oct. . ) which gives the name of _piskeys_ both to the _fairies_ and to _moths_, which are believed by many to be _departed souls_.] _holy water for the hooping cough_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in one of the principal towns of yorkshire, half a century ago, it was the practice for persons in a respectable class of life to take their children, when afflicted with the hooping cough, to a neighbouring convent, where the priest allowed them to drink a small quantity of holy water out of a silver chalice, which the little sufferers were strictly forbidden to touch. by protestant, as well as roman catholic parents, this was regarded as a remedy. is not the superstition analogous to that noticed by mr. way? eboracomb. _daffy down dilly._--at this season, when the early spring flowers are showing themselves, we hear the village children repeating these lines:-- "daff a down dill has now come to town, in a yellow petticoat and a green gown." does not this nursery rhyme throw light upon the character of the royal visitor alluded to in the snail charm recorded by f. j. h. (p. .)? eboracomb. * * * * * dr. maitland's illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism. i know more than one person who would second the request that i am about to make through "notes and queries" to dr. maitland, that he would publish the remaining parts of his _illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism_: he would do so, i know, at once, if he thought that anybody would benefit by them; and i can bear witness to part i. as having been already of some use. it is high time that christians should be decided as to whether or no they may meddle with the fearful power whose existence is is impossible to ridicule any longer. dr. maitland has suggested the true course of thought upon the subject, and promised to lead us along it; but it is impossible at present to use anything that he has said, on account of its incompleteness. in tracing the subject through history, dr. maitland would no doubt mention the "[greek: omphalopsuchoi], or umbilicani," of the fourteenth century, whose practices make a page ( .) of waddington's _history of the church_ read like a sketch of middle-age mesmerism, contemptuously given. also, in washington irving's _life of mahomet_, a belief somewhat similar to theirs is stated to have been preached in the seventh century (_bohn's reprint in shilling series_, p. .) by a certain moseïlma, a false prophet. i may add that miss martineau's new book, _letters of the development of man's nature, by atkinson and martineau_, which cannot be called sceptical, for its unbelief is unhesitating, is the immediate cause of my writing to-day. a. l. r. * * * * * minor notes. _original warrant._--the following warrant from the original in the surrenden collection may interest some of your correspondents, as bearing upon more than one query that has appeared in your columns:-- "forasmuch as s^r john payton, knight, lieutenant of the tower, hath heretofore receaved a warrant from the lls. of the counsell, by her ma^{ts} commandment, for the removinge of wright the preist out of the tower, to framingham castle, and for that, since then, it is thought more convenient, that he be removed to the clincke--theise therefore shalbe to require now (sic) to enlarge him of his imprisonment in the tower, and to deliver him prisoner into the hands of the l. bishop of london, to be committed by his lp. to the clincke, because it is for her m^{ts} speciall service,--for doinge whereof, this shalbe your warrant. "from the court at "oatlands this "of september, . "ro. cecyll. "to mr. anthony deeringe, "deputy lieutenant of the tower of london." " . october, . "i have receyed mr. wryght from mr. derynge, deputy lieutenant, and have comitted him to the clincke according the direction from mr. secretary above expressed. "ric. london." l. b. l. _gloves.--prince rupert._--in your first vol., pp. . ., and in other places in vol. ii., there are notices with respect to the presentation of _gloves_. if what is contained in the following { } paper be not generally known, it may claim an interest with some of your readers:-- "at the court of whitehall, the rd of october, . present the kings most excellent majesty, his highness _prince rupert_, lord archbp. of canterbury," [with twelve others, who are named.] "whereas formerly it hath been a custom upon the consecra[~c]on of all [~b]ps for them to make presents of gloves to all persons that came to the consecra[~c]on dinners, and others, w^{ch} amounted to a great su[~m] of money, and was an unnecessary burden to them, his ma^{tie} this day, taking the same into his considera[~c]on, was thereupon pleas'd to order in council, that for the future there shall be no such distribu[~c]on of gloves; but that in lieu thereof each lord b[~p] before his consecra[~c]on shall hereafter pay the su[~m] of l. to be employ'd towards the rebuilding of the cathedral church of st. paul. and it was further ordered, that his grace the lord archb[~p] of canterbury do not proceed to consecrate any b[~p] before he hath paid the s[~d] su[~m] of l. for the use aforesaid, and produced a receipt for the same from the treasurer of the money for rebuilding the said church for the time being, w^{ch} as it is a pious work, so will it be some ease to the respective b[~p]s, in regard the expense of gloves did usually farr exceed that sum. "phi. lloyd." _tanner's mss._ vol. . . al. . one of your correspondents, i think, some time back asked for notices of _prince rupert_ posterior to the restoration. besides the mention made of him in this paper, _echard_ speaks of his having the command of one squadron of the english fleet in the dutch war. j. sansom. _inscription on a gun_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your notes on "the potter's and shepherd's keepsakes" remind me of an old gun, often handled by me in my youth, on the stock of which the following tetrastick was _en-nailed_:-- "of all the sports as is, i fancies most a gun; and, after my decease, i leaves this to my son." whether this testamentary disposition ever passed through doctors' commons, i know not. c. w. b. _richard iii._ (vol. iii., pp. - .).--the statement by mr. harrison, that richard was not a "hunchback," is curiously "backed" by an ingenious conjecture of that very remarkable man, doctor john wallis of oxford, in his _grammatica linguæ anglicanæ_, first published in . the passage occurs in the d section of chapter , "de etymologia." wallis is treating of the words _crook_, _crouch_, _cross_, &c., and says: "hinc item _croisado_ de militibus dicebatur ad bellum (quod vocant) sanctum conscriptis (pro recuperanda terra sancta) qui à tergo gestabant formam crucis; et _richardus_ olim rex angliæ dicebatur _crouch-backed_, non quod dorso fucrit incurvato, sed quod à tergo gestare gestiebat formam crucis." g. f. g. edinburgh. _lines by pope._--on the back of a letter in my possession, written by the poet gray, are the following lines in the handwriting of his friend mason:-- "_by mr. pope._ "tom wood of chiswick, deep divine, to painter kent gave all this coin. 'tis the first coin, i'm bold to say, that ever churchman gave to lay." "wrote in evelyn's book of coins given by mr. wood to kent: he had objected against the word _pio_ in mr. pope's father's epitaph." if these lines are not already in print, perhaps you will insert them amongst your "notes" as a contribution from robert hotchkin. thimbleby rectory, march . . _origin of st. andrew's cross in connexion with scotland._--john lesley, bishop of ross, reports, that in the night before the battle between athelstan, king of england, and hungus, king of the picts, a bright cross, like that whereon st. andrew suffered, appeared to hungus, who, having obtained the victory, ever after bore that figure. this happened in . vide _gent. mag._ for nov. . e. s. t. _snail-eating_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent c. w. b. does not seem to be aware that "a ragout of boror (snails)" is a regular dish with english _gypsies_. vide borrow's _zincali_, part i. c. v. he has clearly not read mr. borrow's remarks on the subject: "know then, o gentile, whether thou be from the land of gorgios (england), or the busné (spain), that the very gypsies, who consider a ragout of snails a delicious dish, will not touch an eel because it bears a resemblance to a snake; and that those who will feast on a roasted hedgehog could be induced by no money to taste a squirrel!" having tasted of roasted hotchiwitchu (hedgehog) myself among the "gentle rommanys," i can bear witness to its delicate fatness; and though a ragout of snails was never offered for my acceptance, i do not think that those who consider (as most "gorgios" do) stewed eels a delicacy ought to be too sever on "limacotrophists!" hermes. _snail-eating._--perhaps you will permit me to remark, in reference to the communication of c. w. b., that snails are taken medicinally occasionally, and are supposed to be extremely strengthening. i have known them eagerly sought after for the meal of a consumptive patient. as a matter of taste, too, they are by { } some considered quite epicurean. a gentleman whom i used to know, was in the constant habit as he passed through the fields, of picking up the white slugs that lay in his way, and swallowing them with more relish than he would have done had they been oysters. that snails make a no inconsiderable item in the bill of fare of gypsies, and other wanderers, i proved while at oxford, some time ago; for passing up shotover hill, in the parish of headington, i unexpectedly came upon a camp of gypsies who were seated round a wood fire enjoying their sunday's dinner: this consisted of a considerable number of large snails roasted on the embers, and potatoes similarly cooked. on inquiry, i was told by those who were enjoying their repast, that they were extremely good, and were much liked by people of their class, who made a constant practice of eating them. i need hardly say that i received a most hospitable invitation to join in the feast, which i certainly declined. l. j. * * * * * queries. henry smith. in marsden's _history of the early puritans_ (a work recently published, which will well repay perusal) there occurs (pp. , .) the following notice of henry smith:-- "henry smith was a person of good family, and well connected; but having some scruples, he declined preferment, and aspired to nothing higher than the weekly lectureship of st. clement danes. on a complaint made by bishop aylmer, whitgift suspended him, and silenced for a while probably the most eloquent preacher in europe. his contemporaries named him the chrysostom of england. his church was crowded to excess; and amongst his hearers, persons of the highest rank, and those of the most cultivated and fastidious judgment, were content to stand in the throng of citizens. his sermons and treatises were soon to be found in the hands of every person of taste and piety: they passed through numberless editions. some of them were carried abroad, and translated into latin. they were still admired and read at the close of nearly a century, when fuller collected and republished them. probably the prose writing of this, the richest period of genuine english literature, contains nothing finer than some of his sermons. they are free, to an astonishing degree, from the besetting vices of his age--vulgarity, and quaintness, and affected learning; and he was one of the first english preachers who, without submitting to the trammels of a pedantic logic, conveyed in language nervous, pure, and beautiful, the most convincing arguments in the most lucid order, and made them the ground-work of fervent and impassioned addresses to the conscience." would it not be desirable, as well in a literary as a theological point of view, that any extant sermons of so renowned a divine should be made accessible to general readers? at present they are too rare and expensive to be largely useful. a brief _narrative of the life and death of mr. henry smith_ (as it is for substance related by mr. thomas fuller in his _church history_), which is prefixed to an old edition ( ) of his sermons in my possession, concludes in these words:-- "the wonder of this excellent man's worth is increased by the consideration of his tender age, he dying very young (of a consumption as it is conceived) above fifty years since, about anno ." thos. m^ccalmont. highfield, southampton. * * * * * minor queries. _owen glendower._--some of your cambrian correspondents might, through your columns, supply a curious and interesting desideratum in historical genealogy, by contributing a pedigree, authenticated as far as practicable by dates and authorities, and including collaterals, of owen glendower, from his ancestor griffith maelor, lord of bromfield, son of madoc, last prince of powys, to the extinction of owen's male line. all cambrian authorities are, i believe, agreed in attributing to owen the lineal male representation of the sovereigns of powys; but i am not aware that there is any printed pedigree establishing in detail, on authentic date, his descent, and that of the collaterals of his line; while uncertainty would seem to exist as to one of the links in the chain of deduction, as to the fate of his sons and their descendants, if any, as well as to the marriages and representatives of more than one of his daughters. i have in vain looked for the particulars i have indicated in yorke's _royal tribes of wales_; in the _welsh heraldic visitation pedigrees_, lately published by the welsh mss. society, under the learned editorship of the late sir samuel meyrick; and in the valuable contributions to the genealogy of the principality to be found in the _landed gentry_ and the _peerage and baronetage_ of mr. burke,--a pedigree, in other respects admirable, in the _landed gentry_ of a branch of the dynasty of powys, omitting the intermediate descents in question. s. m. _meaning of gig-hill._--can any of your readers favour me with an explanation of the following matter in local topography? there are two places in the neighbourhood of kingston-on-thames distinguished by the name of _gig-hill_[ ], although there is no indication of anything in the land to warrant the name. { } are there any instances to be met with where the place of punishment by the stocks or pillory in olden times, was known by that name? there was a king of brittany who resigned his crown, and obtained the honours of canonisation as saint giguel, in the seventh century. st. giles, who died about the sixth century, might, perhaps, have had some connexion with those who are traditionally believed to have been punished on the spot; that is, if we judge by his clients, who locate themselves under the sanctity of his name as a "guild" or fraternity in london. there is, however, a curious use by shakspeare of the word gig. it occurs in _love's labour's lost_, act v. sc. i.: holofernes says, "what is the figure?" _moth._ horns. _holofernes._ thou disputest like an infant. go, whip thy gig." i submit this matter, as local names have often their origin in religious associations or in proverbial philosophy. it has been suggested that _giggle_, as a mark of the derision to which the culprit was exposed, might so become corrupted. if the term be connected with the punishment, it would be, doubtless, one of general application. the smallest contribution will be thankfully received. k. [footnote : [one of these places, namely, that on the road from kingston to ditton, is, we believe, known as gig's hill.--ed.]] _sir john vaughan._--in the patent under which the barony of hamilton of hackallen, in the county of meath, was granted on the th of october, in the second year of the reign of george i., to gustavus hamilton, he is described as son of sir frederick hamilton, knt., by sidney, daughter and heiress of sir john vaughan, knt.; and that the said dame sidney hamilton was descended from an honourable line of ancestors, one of whom, sir will sidney, was chamberlain to henry ii., another of the same name comptroller of the household to henry viii., &c., &c. can any of your genealogical friends inform me who the above-named sir john vaughan married, and in what way she was connected with the sidneys of penshurst, as the pedigree given by collins contains no mention of any such marriage? the arms of sir john vaughan, which appear quartered with those of hamilton and arran in the margin of the grant, are,--argent, a chevron sable between three infants' heads coupled at the shoulders, each entwined round the neck with a snake, all proper, thereby intimating his descent from the vaughans of porthaml trêtower, &c., in the county of brecon. j. p. o. _quebecca and his epitaph._-- "here lies the body of john quebecca, precentor to my lord the king. when his spirit shall enter the kingdom of heaven, the almighty will say to the angelic choir, 'silence, ye calves! and let me hear john quebecca, precentor to my lord the king.'" can any of your correspondents inform me who john quebecca was, and where the epitaph may be found? e. hailsture. _a monumental inscription._--near the chancel door of the parish-church of wath-upon-dearne, in yorkshire, is an upright slab inscribed to the memory of william burroughs. after stating that he was of masbro', gentleman, and that he died in the year , the monument contains the two following hexameters:-- "burgus in hoc tumulo nunc, orthodoxus itermus, deposuit cineres, animam revocabit olympus." the meaning of all which is obvious, except of the words "orthodoxus itermus:" and i should be glad to have this unscanning doggrel translated. it has been conjectured that _itermus_ must be derived from _iter_, and hence that burroughs may have been a _traveller_, or possibly _an orthodox itinerant preacher_: surely there can be no punning reference to _a journeyman_! the lines have been submitted, in vain, to some high literati in oxford. a. g. ecclesfield. _sir thomas herbert's memoirs of charles i._ (vol. iii., p. .).--my friend, who is in possession of the original ms. of this work, is desirous of ascertaining whether the volume published in be a complete and exact copy of it. i will transcribe the commencing and concluding passages of the ms., and shall be obliged if mr. bolton corney will compare them with the book in his possession, and tell me the result. "s^r, "by your's of the d of august last, i find you have receaved my former letters of the first and thirteenth of may, ; and seeing 'tis your further desire," &c. "this briefe narrative shall conclude with the king's owne excellent expression: _crowns and kingdoms are not so valuable as my honour and reputation--those must have a period with my life; but these survive to a glorious kind of immortality when i am dead and gone: a good name being the embalming of princes, and a sweet consecrating of them to an eternity of love and gratitude amongst posterity._" the present owner of the ms. has an idea that an incorrect copy was fraudulently obtained and published about . is there any foundation for this supposition? alfred gatty. ecclesfield. _comets._--where may a correct list of the several comets and eclipses, visible in france or england, which appeared, or took place, between the years and , be obtained? s. p. o. r. { } _natural daughter of james ii._--james ii., in _souverains du monde_ ( vols. ), is stated to have had a natural daughter, who in was married to the duke of buckingham. can any of your readers inform me the name of this daughter, and of her mother? also the dates of her birth and death, and the name of her husband, and of any children? f. b. relton. _going the whole hog._--what is the origin of the expression "going the whole hog?" did it take its rise from cowper's fable, _the love of the world reproved_, in which it is shown how "mahometans eat up the hog?" [sigma]. _innocent convicts._--can any of your readers furnish a tolerably complete list of persons convicted and executed in england, for crimes of which it afterwards appeared they were innocent? [sigma]. _the san grail._--can any one learned in ecclesiastical story say what are the authorities for the story that king arthur sent his knights through many lands in quest of the _sacred vessel_ used by our blessed lord at his "last supper," and explain why this chalice was called the "holy grail" or "grayle?" tennyson has a short poem on the knightly search after it, called "sir galahad." and in spenser's _faerie queene_, book ii. cant. x. ., allusion is made to the legend that "joseph of arimathy brought it to britain." w. m. k. _meaning of "slums."_--in dr. wiseman's _appeal to the reason and good feeling of the english people_, we find the word "slums" made use of with respect to the purlieus of westminster abbey. warren, in a note of his letter on "the queen or the pope?" asks "what are 'slums?' and where is the word to be found explained? is it roman or spanish? there is none such in our language, at least used by gentlemen." i would ask, may not the word be derived from _asylum_, seeing that the precincts of abbeys, &c. used to be an asylum or place of refuge in ancient times for robbers and murderers? w. m. w. stokesley. _bartolus' "learned man defended and reformed."_--can any one inform the applicant in what modern author this excellent (and he believes rare) book in his possession, translated from the italian of daniel bartolus, g. j., by (sir) thomas salusbury, , is spoken of in terms of high approval? the passage passed before him not long ago, but having _made no note_, he is unable to recover it.--query, is it in mr. hallam's _literary history_, which he has not at hand? u. q. _odour from the rainbow._--what english poet is it that embodies the idea contained in the following passage of bacon's _sylva_? i had noted it on a loose scrap of paper which i left in my copy of the _sylva_, but have lost it:-- "it hath been observed by the ancients, that when a raine bow seemeth to hang over or to touch, there breaketh forth a sweet smell. the cause is, for that this happenth but in certain matters which have in themselves some sweetnesse, which the gentle dew of the raine bow doth draw forth. and the like doe soft showers; for they also make the ground sweet. but none are so delicate as the dew of the raine bow, where it falleth. it may be also that the water itself hath some sweetnesse: for the raine bow consisteth of a glomeration of small drops which cannot possibly fall but from the aire that is very low. and therefore may hold giving sweetnesse of the herbs and flowers, as a distilled water," &c.--bacon's _sylva_, by rawley, th ed. , p. . jarltzberg. _tradesmen's signs._--a citizen wishes to be informed in what year or reign the signs that used to hang over the tradesmen's shop-doors were abolished, and whether it was accomplished by "act of parliament," or only "by the authority of the lord mayor." also, whether there is any law now in existence that prevents the tradesmen putting the signs up again, if they were so disposed. * * * * * minor queries answered. _supporters borne by commoners._--can any of your readers state why some commoners bear supporters, and whether the representatives of bannerets are entitled to do so? i find in burke's _dictionary of landed gentry_, that several gentlemen in england, scotland, and ireland continue to use them. see fulford, p. .; wyse, p. .; hay-newton, p. ., &c. &c. the late mr. portman, father of lord portman, used supporters, as do sir w. carew, bart., and some other baronets. guinegate. [baronets are not entitled, _as such_, to bear supporters, which are the privilege of the peerage and the knights of the orders. there are many baronets who by virtue of especial warrants from the sovereign have, as acts of grace and favour, in consideration of services rendered to the state, received such grants; and in these instances they are limited to descend with the dignity only. no doubt there are some private families who assume and improperly bear supporters, but whose right to do so, even under their own statements as to origin and descent, has no legal foundation. "notes and queries" afford neither space nor place for the discussion of such questions, or for the remarks upon a correction of statements in the works quoted.] _answer to fisher's relation._--i have a work published at london by adam islip, an. , the title-page of which bears-- "an answere to mr. fisher's relation of a third { } conference betweene a certaine b. (as he stiles him) and himselfe. the conference was very private till mr. fisher spread certaine papers of it, which in many respects deserved an answere. which is here given by r. b., chapleine to the b. that was employed in the conference." pray, who _was_ the chaplain? i have heard he was the after-famous archbishop laud. i pray your assistance in the resolution of this query. j. m. liverpool. [this famous conference was the _third_ held by divines of the church of england with the jesuit fisher (or perse, as his name really was: see dodd's _church history_, vol. iii. p. .). the first two were conducted by dr. francis white: the latter by bishop laud, was held in may, , and the account of it published by r. b. (_i.e._ dr. richard baylie, who married laud's niece, and was at that time his chaplain, and afterwards president of st. john's college, oxford). should j. m. possess a copy printed in , it would be a literary curiosity. laud says himself, that "his _discourse_ was not printed till april, ."] _drink up eisell_ (vol. iii., p. .).--here is a passage in _troilus and cressida_, in which _drink up_ occurs (act iv. sc. .): "he, like a puling cuckold, would _drink up_ the lees and _dregs_ of a flat-tamed piece." the meaning is plainly here _avaler_, not _boire_. here is another, which does not perhaps illustrate the passage in _hamlet_, but resembles it (act iii. sc. .): "when we vow to weep seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers, thinking it harder for our mistress to devise imposition enough, than for us to undergo any difficulty imposed." c. b. [we are warned by several correspondents that this subject is becoming as bitter as wormwood to them. before we dismiss it, however, we must record in our pages the opinion of one of the most distinguished commentators of the day, mr. hunter, who in his _new illustrations_, vol. ii. p. ., after quoting "potions of eysell" from the sonnet, says, "this shows it was not any river so called, but some desperate drink. the word occurs often in a sense in which _acetum_ is the best representative, associated with verjuice and vinegar. it is the term used for one ingredient of the bitter potion given to our saviour on the cross, about the composition of which the commentators are greatly divided. thus the eighth prayer of the fifteen oos in the _salisbury primer_, , begins thus: 'o blessed jesu, sweetness of heart and ghostly pleasure of souls, i beseech thee for the bitterness of the _aysell_ and gall that thou tasted and suffered for me in thy passion,' &c." since the above was written, we have received a communication from _an english mother_ with the words and _music_ of the nursery song, showing that the music does not admit the expressions "eat _up_," and "drink _up_;" quoting from haldorson's _icelandic lexicon_, eysill, m. haustrum en ose allsa; and asking what if shakspeare meant either a pump or a bucket? we have also received a note from g. f. g. showing that _eisel_ in dutch, german, and anglo-saxon, &c., meant _vinegar_, and stating, that during his residence in florence in , , and , he had often met with wormwood wine at the table of the italians, a weak white wine of tuscany, in which wormwood had been infused, which was handed round by the servants immediately after the soup, and was believed to promote digestion.] _saxon coin struck at derby._--in the reign of athelstan there was a royal mint at derby, and a coinage was struck, having on the obverse merely the name of the town, deoraby, and on the other side the legend "hegenredes mo . on . deoraby." what is the meaning of this inscription? r. c. p. derby, feb. . . [if hegenredes is rightly written, it is the name of a moneyer. mo . on . deoraby signifies _monetarius_ (or moneyer) _in derby_. coins are known with megenfred and megneredtes, and our correspondent may have read his coin wrongly.] * * * * * replies. scandal against queen elizabeth. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . . .) the marquis of ormonde having been informed that certain statements, little complimentary to the reputation of queen elizabeth, and equally discreditable to the name of his ancestor, thomas, earl of ormonde, have appeared in "notes and queries," wherein it is stated "that the ormonde family possess documents which afford proof of this," begs to assure the editor of the journal in question, that the ormonde collection of papers, &c. contains nothing that bears the slightest reference to the very calumnious attack on the character of good queen bess. hampton court, march . . [if the marquis of ormonde will do us the favour to refer to our number for the th march (no. .), he will find he has not been correctly informed with respect to the article to which his note relates. the family in which the papers are stated to exist, is clearly not that of the noble marquis, but the family with which our correspondent "j. bs." states himself to be "connected;" and we hope j. bs. will, in justice both to himself and to queen elizabeth, adopt the course suggested in the following communication. we believe the warmest admirers of that great queen cannot better vindicate her character than by making a strict inquiry into the grounds for the scandals, which, as has been already shown (_antè_, no. . p. .), were so industriously circulated against her.] { } j. bs. says papers are "said to exist in the family which prove the statement." as it is one of _scandal_ against a female, and that female a great sovereign, should he not ascertain the fact of the existence of any such paper, before supporting the scandal, and not leave a _tradition_ to be supported by another tradition, when a little trouble might show whether any papers exist, and when found what their value may be. q. g. * * * * * the mistletoe on the oak. (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., p. .) from having been a diligent searcher for the mistletoe on the oak, i may be allowed to make a few remarks upon the question. is it ever found now on other trees? now, it not only occurs abundantly on other trees, but it is exceedingly rare on the oak. this may be gathered from the following list, in which numbers have been used to express comparative frequency, as near as my observations enable me to form a judgment:-- _on native trees._ apple (various sorts) poplar (mostly the black) whitethorn lime maple willow oak _on foreign trees._ sycamore robinia from this it would appear that notwithstanding the british oak grows everywhere, it is at present only favoured by the companionship of the mistletoe in equal ratio with two comparatively recently introduced trees. indeed such objection does this parasite manifest to the brave old tree, even in his teens, that, notwithstanding a newly-planted line of mixed trees will become speedily attacked by it, the oak is certain to be left in his pride alone. i have, however, seen the mistletoe on the oak in two instances during my much wandering about amid country scenes, especially of gloucester and worcester, two great mistletoe counties. one was pointed out to me by my friend, mr. lees, from whom we may expect much valuable information on this subject, in his forthcoming edition of the _botanical looker-out_--it was on a young tree, perhaps of fifty years, in eastnor park, on the malvern chain. the other example is at frampton-on-severn, to which the president of the cotteswold naturalists' club, t. b. l. baker, esq., and myself, were taken by mr. clifford, of frampton. the tree is full a century old, and the branch, on which was a goodly bunch of the parasite, numbered somewhere about forty years. that the plant is propagated by seeds there can, i think, be but little doubt, as the seeds are so admirably adapted for the peculiar circumstances under which alone they can propagate; and the want of attention to the facts connected therewith, is probably the cause why the propagation of the mistletoe by artificial means is usually a failure. i should be inclined to think that the mistletoe never was abundant on the oak; so that it may be that additional sanctity was conferred on the _viscum guerneum_ on account of its great rarity. james buckman. cirencester. _mistletoe upon oak_ (vol. ii., p. .).--besides the mistletoe-bearing oak mentioned by your correspondent, there is one in lord somers' park, near malvern. it is a very fine plant, though it has been injured by sight-seeing marauders. h. a. b. trinity college, cambridge. _mistletoe_ (vol. ii., pp. ., .).--do i understand your correspondent to ask whether mistletoe is found now except on oaks? the answer is, as at st. paul's, "circumspice." just go into the country a little. the difficulty is generally supposed to be to find it _on_ the oak. c. b. * * * * * universality of the maxim, "lavora come se tu," etc. (vol. iii., p. .) i have not been able to trace this sentence to its source, but it would most probably be found in that admirable book, _monosinii floris italicæ linguæ_, to, venet., ; or in torriano's _dictionary of italian proverbs and phrases_, folio, lond., , a book of which duplessis doubts the existence! most of jeremy taylor's citations from the italian are proverbial phrases. your correspondent has probably copied the phrase as it stands in bohn's edition of the _holy living and dying_, but there is a trifling variation as it stands in the first edition of _holy living_, :-- "lavora come se tu _havesti_ a campar ogni hora: adora come se tu _havesti_ a morir _alhora_." the universality of this maxim, in ages and countries remote from each other, is remarkable. thus we find it in the hitopadÉsa: "a wise man should think upon knowledge and wealth as if he were undecaying and immortal. he should practise duty as if he were seized by the hair of his head by death."--johnson's _translation_, intr. s. so democratis of abdera, more sententiously: "[greek: houtos peirô zên, hôs kai oligon kai polun chronon biôsomenos]." then descending to the fifteenth century, we { } have it thus in the racy old saxon _laine doctrinal_: "men schal leven, unde darumme sorgen, alse men stärven sholde morgen, unde leren êrnst liken, alse men leven sholde ewigliken." where the author of the _voyage autour de ma chambre_, jean xavier maitre, stumbled upon it, or whether it was a spontaneous thought, does not appear; but in his pleasing little book, _lettres sur la vieillesse_, we have it thus verbatim: "il faut vivre comme si l'on avoit à mourir demain, mais s'arranger en même temps sa vie, autant que cet arrangement peut dépendre de notre prévoyance, comme si l'on avoit devant soi quelques siècles, et même une éternité d'existence." some of your correspondents may possibly be able to indicate other repetitions of this truly "golden sentence," which cannot be too often repeated, for we all know that "a verse may reach him who a sermon flies." s. w. singer. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _tennyson's in memoriam_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "before the crimson-circled star had fallen into her father's grave." means "before the planet venus had sunk into the sea." in smith's _dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology_, under the word aphrodite or venus, we find that-- "some traditions stated that she had sprung from the foam ([greek: aphros]) of the sea which had gathered around the mutilated parts of uranus, that had been thrown into the sea by kronos, after he had unmanned his father."--hesiod. _theog._ . the allusion in the first stanza of _in memoriam_ is, i think, to shelley. the doctrine referred to is common to him and many other poets; but he perhaps inculcates it more frequently than any other. (see _queen mab_ sub finem. _revolt of islam_, canto xii. st. . _adonais_, stanzas . . et passim.) besides this, the phrase "clear harp" seems peculiarly applicable to shelley, who is remarkable for the simplicity of his language. x. z. _tennyson's in memoriam._--the word _star_ applies in poetry to all the heavenly bodies; and therefore, to the _crescent moon_, which is often near enough to the sun to be within or to be _encircled_ by, the crimson colour of the sky about sunset; and the sun may, figuratively, be called _father_ of the moon, because he dispenses to her all the light with which she shines; and, moreover, because _new_, or waxing moons, must _set_ nearly in the same point of the horizon as the sun; and because that point of the horizon in which a heavenly body sets, may, figuratively, be called its _grave_; therefore, i believe the last two lines of the stanza of the poem numbered lxxxvii., or , in tennyson's _in memoriam_, quoted by w. b. h., to mean simply-- _we returned home between the hour of sunset and the setting of the moon, then not so much as a week old._ robert snow. _bishop hooper's godly confession, &c._ (vol. iii., p. .).--the rev. charles nevinson may be informed that there are two copies of the edition of the above work for which he inquires, in the library of trinity college, dublin. tyro. dublin. _machell's ms. collections for westmoreland and cumberland_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in reply to the inquiry of edward f. rimbault, that gentleman may learn the extent to which the _machell ms. collections of the rev. thomas machell, who was chaplain to king charles ii._, have been examined, and published, by referring, to burn and nicholson's _history of westmoreland and cumberland_, edit. . a great part of the ms. is taken up with an account of the antiquary's own family, the "mali catuli," or machell's lords of crakenthorpe in westmoreland. the papers in the library of carlisle contain only copies and references to the original papers, which are carefully preserved by the present representatives of the family. there are above one thousand deeds, charters, and other documents which i have carefully translated and collated with a view to their being printed privately for the use of the family, and i shall feel pleasure in replying to any inquiry on the subject. address: g.p. at the post office, barrow upon humber, lincolnshire. two impressions of the seal of the abbey of shapp (anciently hepp), said not to be attainable by the editors of the late splendid edition of the _monasticon_, are preserved in the machell mss. _oration against demosthenes_ (vol. iii., p. .).--for the information of your correspondent kenneth r. h. mackenzie, i transcribe the title of the oration against demosthenes, for which he makes inquiry, which was not "privately printed" as he supposes, but _published_ last year by mr. j. w. parker. "the oration of hyperides against demosthenes, respecting the treasure of harpalus. the fragments of the greek text, now first edited from the fac-simile of the ms. discovered at egyptian thebes in ; together with other fragments of the same oration cited in ancient writers. with a preliminary dissertation and notes, and a fac-simile of a portion of the ms. by churchill babington, m.a. london: j. w. parker, ." the discovery of the ms. was made by mr. { } a. c. harris of alexandria, who placed a fac-simile in the hand of mr. churchill babington, who edited it as above described. my information is derived from an article on the work in the _christian remembrancer_ for october, , to which i refer mr. mackenzie for further particulars. tyro. dublin [mr. edward sheare jackson, b.a., to whom we are indebted for a similar reply, adds, "mr. harris contributed a paper on the ms. to the royal society of literature"] mr. sharpe has also published "fragments of orations in accusation and defence of demosthenes, respecting the money of harpalus, arranged and translated," in the _journal of the philological society_, vol. iv.; and the german scholars boeckh (in the _hallische litteratur-zeitung_ for ) and sauppe have also written critical notices on the fragments; but whether their notices include the old and new fragments, i am unable to say, having only met with a scanty reference to their learned labours. j. m. oxford. _borrow's danish ballads_ (vol. iii., p. ).--the following is the title of mr. borrow's book, referred to by bruno:-- "targum; or, metrical translations from thirty languages and dialects. by george borrow. 'the raven ascended to the nest of the nightingale.'--persian poem. st. petersburgh. printed by schulz and beneze. ." r. w. f. _borrow's danish ballads._--the title of the work is-- "romantic ballads, translated from the danish, and miscellaneous pieces; by george borrow. vo. printed by s. wilkin, norwich; and published at london by john taylor, ." in the preface it is stated that the ballads are translated from oehlenslöger, and from the _kiæmpé viser_, the old norse book referred to in _lavengro_. [mu]. _head of the saviour_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the correspondent who inquires about the "true likeness" of the saviour exposed in some of the london print-shops, is not perhaps aware that there is preserved in the church of st. peter's at rome a much more precious and genuine portrait than the one to which he alludes--a likeness described by its possessors as "far more sublime and venerable than any other, since it was neither painted by the hands of men nor angels, but by the divinity himself who makes both men and angels." it is not delineated upon wood or canvass, ivory, glass, or stucco, but upon "a pocket handkerchief lent him by a holy woman named veronica, to wipe his face upon at the crucifixion" (aringhi, _roma subterran._, vol. ii. p. .). when the handkerchief was returned it had this genuine portrait imprinted on its surface. it is now one of the holiest of relics preserved in the vatican basilica, where there is likewise a magnificent altar constructed by urban viii., with an inscription commemorating the fact, a mosaic above, illustrative of the event, and a statue of the holy female who received the gift, and who is very properly inscribed in the roman catalogue of saints under the title of st. veronica. all this is supported by "pious tradition," and attested by authorities of equal value to those which establish the identity of st. peter's chair. the only difficulty in the matter lies in this, that the woman veronica never had any corporeal existence, being no other than the name by which the picture itself was once designated, viz., the vera icon, or "true image" (mabillon, _iter. ital._, p. .). this narrative will probably relieve your correspondent from the trouble of further inquiries by enabling him to judge for himself whether "there is any truth" about the other true image. a. r., jun. in your th number i perceived that some correspondent asked, "what is the truth respecting a legend attached to the head of our saviour for some time past in the print-shops?" i ask the same question. true or false, i found in a work entitled _the antiquarian repertory_, by grose, astle, and others, vol. iii., an effigy of our saviour, much inferior in all respects to the above, with the following attached:-- "this present figure is the similitude of our lord [=ihv], oure saviour imprinted in amirvld by the predecessors of the greate turke, and sent to the pope innosent the . at the cost of the greate turke for a token for this cawse, to redeme his brother that was taken presonor." this was painted on board. the rev. thomas thurlow, of baynard's park, guildford, has another painted on board with a like inscription, to the best of my recollection: his has a date on it, i think. pope innocent viii. was created pope in , and died in . the variation in the three effigies is an argument against the truth of the story, or the two on board must have been ill-executed. that in the shops is very beautiful. the same gentleman possesses a bible, printed by robert barker, and by the assignees of john bill, ; and on a slip of paper is, "holy bible curiously bound in tapestry by the nuns of little gidding, mo., barker." in a former number a person replies that a bible, bound by the nuns of gidding for charles i., now belongs to the marquis of salisbury. query the _size of that_? e. h. norwich, march . { } _lady bingham_ (vol. iii., p. .).--if c. w. b. will refer to the supplementary volume of burke's _landed gentry_, p. , he will see that sarah, daughter of john heigham, of giffords hall, co. suffolk (son of william heigham, of giffords, second son of clement heigham, of giffords, second son of thomas heigham, of heigham, co. suffolk) married, first, sir richard bingham, knt., of melcombe bingham, co. dorset, governor of connaught in , &c.; and secondly, edward waldegrave, of lawford, co. essex. this, i presume, is the lady whose maiden name he enquires for. c. r. m. _shakepeare's use of captious_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in _all's well that ends well_, act i. sc. .: "i know i love in vain; strive against hope; yet in this _captious_ and intenible sieve, i still pour in the waters of my love, and lack not to lose still:" has not mr. singer, and all the other commentators upon this passage, overlooked a most apparent and satisfactory solution? is it not evident that the printer simply omitted the vowel "a," and that the word, as written by shakespeare, was "cap_a_tious," the "t," according to the orthography of the time, being put for the "c" used by modern writers? with great deference to former critics, i think this emendation is the most probable, as it accords with the sentiment of helena, who means to depict her _vast_ but unretentive sieve, into which she poured the waters of her love. w. f. s. p.s.--i hope mr. singer and j. s. w. will tell us what they think of this proposed alteration. bognor, feb, . . _tanthony_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i would suggest that the "tanthony" at kimbolton is a corruption or mis-pronunciation of "tintany," _tintinnabulum_. i have failed to discover any legend of st. anthony, confirmatory of arun's suggestion. a. newark, notts., feb. . _by the bye_ (vol. iii., p .).--is your correspondent s. s. not aware that the phrase "good bye" is a contraction of our ancestors' more devotional one of "god be wi' ye!" d. p. w. rotherhithe, jan. . . _lama beads_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it is a pretty bold assertion that lama beads are derived from the lamas of asia. _lamma_, according to jamieson, is simply the scotch for _amber_. he says _lamertyn steen_ means the same in teutonic. i do not find it in wachter's _lexicon_. your correspondent's note is a curious instance of the inconvenience of half quotation. he says the lamas are an order of priests among the western tartars. i was surprised at this, since their chief strength, as everybody knows, is in thibet. on referring to rees's _cyclopædia_, i found that the words are taken from thence; but they are not wrong there, since, by the context they have reference to china. c. b. _language given to men, &c._ (vol. i., p. .).--the saying that language was given to men to conceal their thoughts is generally fathered upon talleyrand at present. i did not know it was in goldsmith; but the real author of it was fontenelle. c. b. _daresbury, the white chapel of england_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this _jeu-d'esprit_ was an after-dinner joke of a learned civilian, not less celebrated for his wit than his book-lore. some stupid blockhead inserted it in the newspapers, and it is now unfortunately chronicled in your valuable work. it is not at all to be wondered at that "the people in the neighbourhood know nothing on the subject." echo. _holland land_ (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., pp. . .).--were not the lincolnshire estates of count bentinck, a dutch nobleman who came over with william iii., and the ancestor of the late lord george bentinck, m.p. for lynn regis, denominated _little holland_, which he increased by reclaiming large portions in the dutch manner from the wash? e. s. taylor. _passage in the tempest_ (vol. ii., p. , &c.).--i do not profess to offer an opinion as to the right reading; but with reference to the suggestion of a. e. b. (p. .) that it means-- "most busy when least i do it," or-- "most busy when least employed," allow me to refer you to the splendid passage in the _de officiis_, lib. iii. cap. i., where cicero expresses the same idea:-- "pub. scipionem,... eum, qui primus africanus appellatus sit, dicere solitum scripsit cato,... _nunquam se minus otiosum esse, quam cum otiosus_; nec minus solum, quam cum solus esset. magnifica vero vox, et magno viro, ac sapiente digna; quæ declarat, illum et in otio de negotiis cogitare, et in solitudine secum loqui solitum: ut neque cessaret unquam, et interdum colloquio alterius non egeret." ache. _damasked linen_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i believe it has always been customary to damask the linen used by our royal family with appropriate devices. i have seen a cloth of queen anne's, with the "a. r." in double cypher, surrounded by buds and flowers; and have myself a cloth with a view of london, and inscribed "der konig georg ii.," which was purchased at brentford, no doubt having come from kew adjoining. h. w. d. _straw necklaces_ (vol. ii., p. .).--having only lately read the "notes and queries" (in fact, this being the first number subscribed for), i do not know the previous allusion. it makes me mention a curious custom at carlisle, of the { } servants who wish to be hired going into the marketplace of carlisle, or as they call it "carel," with a straw in their mouths. it is fast passing away, and _now_, instead of keeping the straw constantly in the mouth, they merely put it in a few seconds if they see any one looking at them. anderson, in his _cumberland ballads_, alludes to the custom:-- "at carel i stuid wi' a strae i' my mouth, the weyves com roun me in clusters: 'what weage dus te ax, canny lad?' says yen." h. w. d. _library of the church of westminster_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the statement here quoted from the _délices de la grande bretagne_ is scarcely likely to be correct. we all know how prone foreigners are to misapprehension, and therefore, how unsafe it is to trust to their observations. in this case, may not the description of the _bibliothèque publique_, which was open night and morning, during the sittings of the courts of justice, have originated merely from the rows of booksellers' stalls in westminster-hall? j. g. n. _the ten commandments_ (vol. iii., p. .).--waterland (vol. vi. p. ., nd edition, oxford, ) gives a copy of the decalogue taken from an old ms. in this the first two commandments are embodied in one. leighton, in his _exposition of the ten commandments_, when speaking on the point of the manner of dividing them, refers in a vague manner to josephus and philo. r. v. _sitting crosslegged to avert evil_ (vol. ii.,p. .).--browne says:-- "to set crosselegg'd, or with our fingers pectinated or shut together, is accounted bad, and friends will perswade us from it. the same conceit religiously possessed the ancients, as is observable from pliny: 'poplites alternis genibus imponere nefas olim;' and also from athenæus, that it was an old veneficious practice."--_vulg. err._, lib. v. cap. xxi. § . ache. _george steevens_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a. z. wishes to know whether a memoir of george steevens, the shakspearian commentator, was ever published, and what has become of the manuscripts. i believe the late sir james allen park wrote his life, but whether for public or private circulation i cannot tell. the late george steevens had a relative, a mrs. collinson, and daughters who lived with him at hampstead, and with him when he died, in jan. . miss collinson married a mr. pyecroft, whose death, i think, is in the _gentleman's magazine_ for this month: perhaps the pyecroft family may give information respecting the manuscripts. "the house he lived in at hampstead, called the upper flask, was formerly a place of public entertainment near the summit of hampstead hill. here richardson sends his clarissa in one of her escapes from lovelace. here, too, the celebrated kit-cat club used to meet in the summer months; and here, after it became a private abode, the no less celebrated george steevens lived and died."--vide park's _hampstead_, pp. . . i just recollect mr. steevens, who was very kind to us, as children. my mother, who is an octogenarian, remembers him well, and says he always took a nosegay, tied to the top of his cane, every day to sir joseph banks. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge, near reading. _the waistcoat bursted, &c._ (vol. ii., p. .).--the general effect of melancholy: digestion is imperfectly performed, and melancholy patients generally complain of being "blown up." bodvar's "blowing up," on the contrary, is the mere effect of the generation of gases in a dead body, well illustrated by a floating dead dog on the river side, or the bursting of a leaden coffin. h. w. d. _love's labour's lost_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent has very neatly and ably made out how the names of the ladies ought to have been placed; but the error is the poet's, not the printer's. it is impossible to conceive how, in printing or transcribing, such a mistake should arise; the names are quite unlike, and several lines distant from one another. such forgetfulness is not very uncommon in poets, especially those of the quickest and liveliest spirit. it is the old mistake of bentley and other commentators, to think that whatever is wrong must be spurious. these, too, we must recollect, are fictitious characters. c. w. b. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. agreeing with mr. lower, that they who desire to know the truth as to the earlier periods of our national history, will do wisely to search for it among the mists and shadows of antiquity, and rather collect it for themselves out of the monkish chronicles than accept the statements of popular historiographers, we receive with great satisfaction the addition to our present list of translations of such chronicles, which mr. lower has given us in _the chronicle of battel abbey from to , now first translated, with notes, and an abstract of the subsequent history of the establishment_. the original chronicle, which is preserved among the cottonian mss., though known to antiquaries and historians, was never committed to the press until the year , when it was printed by the _anglia christiana society_ from a transcript made by the late mr. petrie. mr. lower's translation has been made from that edition; and though undertaken by him as an illustration of local history, will be found well deserving the perusal of the general reader, not only from the light it throws upon the norman invasion and upon the { } history of the abbey founded by the conqueror in fulfilment of his vow, but also for the pictures it exhibits of the state of society during the period which it embraces. books received.--_the embarrassment of the clergy in the matter of church discipline._ two ably written letters by presbyter anglicanus, reprinted, by request, from the _morning post_;--_ann ash, or the foundling_, by the _author of 'charlie burton' and 'the broken arm.'_ if not quite equal to _charlie burton_, and there are few children's stories which are so, it is a tale well calculated to sustain the writer's well-deserved reputation;--_burns and his biographers, being a caveat to cavillers, or an earnest endeavour to clear the cant and calumnies which, for half a century, have clung, like cobwebs, round the tomb of robert burns._ messrs. sotheby and wilkinson, of . wellington street, strand, will sell on monday next, and five following days, the valuable library of the late mr. andrews of bristol, containing, besides a large collection of works of high character and repute, some valuable historical, antiquarian, and heraldic manuscripts. catalogues received.--john gray bell's ( . bedford street, covent garden) catalogue of autograph letters and other documents; john alex. wilson's ( . upper kirkgate, aberdeen) catalogue of cheap books, many rare and curious; e. stibbs' ( . strand) catalogue part iii. of books in all languages. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. madame d'aulnoy's fairy tales, a small old folio. at the end of the edition sought for, there are some spanish romances: it is in one vol. rural walks--rambles farther, by charlotte smith. a child's book in vols. (of the last century). [_however ragged and worn the above may be, it does not signify._] any rare or valuable works relating in any way to free masonry. baronii annales eccles. cum cent. o. raynaldi et lauterbachii. volumes. l'abbÉ annales de saint pierre, projet de paix perpetuelle, vols. mo. utrecht, . chevalier ramsay, essai de politique, où l'on traite de la nécessité, de l'origine, des droits, des bornes, et des différentes formes de la souveraineté, selon les principes de l'auteur de "télémaque." vols. mo. la haye, without date, but printed in . the same, second edition, under the title of essai philosophique sur le gouvernement civil, selon les princeps de fÉnelon. mo. londres, . biblia hebraica, cum locc. pavall. et adnott. j. h michaelis. halæ magd. . quarto preferred. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are this week compelled by want of room to postpone many interesting papers, among which we may mention one by_ lord braybrooke _on_ portraits of distinguished englishmen, _and one by_ sir f. madden _on the_ collection of pictures of bart. del nave purchased by charles i. _our next number will be enlarged to pages, so as to include these and many other valuable communications, which are now waiting for insertion._ lucius questorius. _it is obvious that we have no means of explaining the discrepancy to which our correspondent refers. if we rightly understand his question, it is one which the publisher alone can answer._ enquirer (milford). _the copy of_ hudibras _described is worth from fifteen to twenty shillings._ w. h. g. _a coin of aphrodisia in caria. has our correspondent consulted mr. akerman's_ numismatic manual? j. n. g. g. _anania, azaria, and mizael, occurring in the_ benedicite, _are the hebrew names of shadrach, meshach, and abednego. see_ daniel, i. . laudator temporis acti. _will our correspondent who wrote to us under this signature enable us to address a communication to him?_ hermes _is assured that the proposal for "showing the world that there is something worth living for beyond external luxury" is only postponed because it jumps completely with a plan which is now under consideration, and which it may in due time help forward._ replies received.--_lines on woman--meaning of strained--mounds or munts--rococo sea--headings of chapters in english bibles--predeceased and designed--christmas day--ulm ms.--bede ms.--booty's case--good bye--almond tree--snail-eating--swearing by swans--rev. w. adams--engraved portraits--laus tua--nettle in--portraits of bishops--passage in gray--oliver cromwell--fifth sons--lady jane of westmoreland--the volpe family--ten children at a birth--edmund prideaux and the first post-office--dr. thomlinson--drax free school--mistletoe--standfast's cordial comfort._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each._ notes and queries _may 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princes-street, hanover-square. * * * * * the water cure. the principles and practice of hydropathy, along with the popular treatment of measles, small-pox, and other diseases. by dr. macleod, f.r.c.p.e., physician to the celebrated wharfedale hydropathic establishment, ben rhydding, otley, yorkshire. price s. manchester: printed and published by wm. irwin, . oldham street. london: published by simpkin, marshall and co., and charles gilpin. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page illustrations of chaucer inedited poetry, no. ii., by k. r. h. mackenzie on a passage in marmion gloucestershire provincialisms, by albert way the chapel of loretto folk lore:--"nettle in dock out"--soul separates from the body--lady's trees--norfolk folk lore rhymes minor notes:--note for the topographers of ancient london, and for the monasticon--gray and burns-- traditional notice of richard iii.--oliver cromwell-- snail-eating queries:-- biddings in wales minor queries:--lord of relton--beatrix de bradney-- "letters on the british museum"--ballad editing: the "outlandish knight"--latin epigram on the duchess of eboli--engraved portrait-- blackstone's commentaries and table of precedence-- the two drs. abercromby--witte van haemstede--j. bruckner: dutch church in norwich minor queries answered:--the hereditary earl marshal--the beggar's petition--"tiring-irons never to be untied" replies:-- the meaning of eisell, by h. k. s. causton replies to minor queries:--william chilcott--fossil elk of ireland--canes lesos--"by hook or by crook"--suem--sir george downing--miching malicho--cor linguæ--under the rose--"impatient to speak, and not see"--bishop frampton--old tract on the eucharist--was hugh peters ever on the stage? miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. illustrations of chaucer. (vol. iii., pp. . .) i am glad to perceive that some of the correspondents of "notes and queries" are turning their attention to the elucidation of chaucer. the text of our father-poet, having remained as it were in fallow since the time of tyrwhitt, now presents a rich field for industry; and, in offering free port and entry to all comments and suggestions, to be there sifted and garnered up, the pages of "notes and queries" may soon become a depository from which ample materials may be obtained for a new edition of chaucer, now become an acknowledged desideratum. one excellent illustration has lately been added, at page ., in a note without signature upon "nettle in, dock out." if _confirmed_[ ], it will furnish not only a most satisfactory explanation of that hitherto incomprehensible phrase, but also a curious example of the faithful preservation of an exact form of words through centuries of oral tradition. and if the note which precedes it, at page ., upon a passage in palamon and arcite, is less valuable, it is because it is deficient in one of the most essential conditions which such communications ought to possess--that of originality. no suggestion ought to be offered which had been previously published in connexion with the same subject: at least in any _very obvious_ place of reference, such as notes or glossaries already appended to well-known editions of the text. now the precise explanation of the planetary distribution of the twenty-four hours of the day, given by [greek: e]. in the first portion of his communication, was anticipated seventy or eighty years ago by tyrwhitt in his note upon the same passage of palamon and arcite. and with respect to [greek: e].'s second explanation of the meaning of "houre inequal," that expression also has been commented upon by tyrwhitt, who attributes it to the well-known expansive duration of ancient hours, the length of which was regulated by that of the natural day at the several seasons of the year: hence an _inequality_ always existed; except at the equinoxes, between hours before, and hours after, sunrise. this is undoubtedly the true explanation, since chaucer was, at the time, referring to hours before and after sunrise upon the same day. on the contrary, [greek: e].'s ecliptic hours, if they ever existed at all (he has cited no authority), would be obviously incompatible with the planetary disposition of the hours first referred to. i shall now, in my turn, suggest explanations of the two new difficulties in chaucer's text, to { } which, at the conclusion of his note, [greek: e]. has drawn attention. the first is, that, "with respect to the time of year at which the tournament takes place, there seems to be an inconsistency." theseus fixes "this day fifty wekes" from the fourth of may, as the day on which the final contention must come off, and yet the day previous to the final contention is afterwards alluded to as "the lusty seson of that may," which, it is needless to say, would be inconsistent with an interval of fifty _ordinary_ weeks. but fifty weeks, if taken in their literal sense of days, would be a most unmeaning interval for theseus to fix upon,--it would almost require explanation as much as the difficulty itself: it is therefore much easier to suppose that chaucer meant to imply the interval of a solar year. why he should choose to express that interval by fifty, rather than by fifty-two, weeks, may be surmised in two ways: first, because the latter phrase would be unpoetical and unmanageable; and, secondly, because he might fancy that the week of the pagan theseus would be more appropriately represented by a lunar quarter than by a jewish hebdomad. chaucer sometimes makes the strangest jumble--mixing up together pagan matters and christian, roman and grecian, ancient and modern; so that although he names sunday and monday as two of the days of the week in athens, he does so evidently for the purpose of introducing the allocation of the hours, alluded to before, to which the planetary names of the days of the week were absolutely necessary. but in the fifty weeks appointed by theseus, the very same love of a little display of erudition would lead chaucer to choose the _hebdomas lunæ_, or lunar quarter, which the athenian youth were wont to mark out by the celebration of a feast to apollo on every seventh day of the moon. but after the first twenty-eight days of every lunar month, the weekly reckoning must have been discontinued for about a day and a half (when the new moon was what was called "in coitu," or invisible), after which a new reckoning of sevens would recommence. hence there could be but four hebdomades in each lunar month; and as there are about twelve and a half lunar months in a solar year, so must there have been fifty lunar weeks in one solar year. it will explain many anomalies, even in shakspeare, if we suppose that our early writers were content to show their knowledge of a subject in a few particulars, and were by no means solicitous to preserve, what moderns would call _keeping_, in the whole performance. the next difficulty, adverted to by [greek: e]., is the mention of the third as the morning upon which palamon "brake his prison," and arcite went into the woods "to don his observaunce to may." there is not perhaps in the whole of chaucer's writings a more exquisite passage than that by which the latter circumstance is introduced; it is well worth transcribing:-- "the besy larke, the messager of day, sal[=e]weth in hire song the morw[=e] gray; and firy phebus riseth up so bright, that all the orient laugheth at the sight; and with his strem[=e]s drieth in the greves the silver drop[=e]s hanging on the leves." such is the description of the morning of the "thridde of may;" and perhaps, if no other mention of that date were to be found throughout chaucer's works, we might be justified in setting it down as a random expression, to which no particular meaning was attached. but when we find it repeated in an entirely different poem, and the same "observaunce to may" again associated with it, the conviction is forced upon us that it cannot be without some definite meaning. this repetition occurs in the opening of the second book of _troilus and creseide_, where "the thridde" has not only "observaunce to may" again attributed to it, but also apparently some peculiar virtue in dreams. no sooner does creseide behold pandarus on the morning of the third of may, than "_by the hond on hie, she tooke him fast_," and tells him that she had thrice dreamed of him that night. pandarus replies in what appears to have been a set form of words suitable to the occasion-- "yea, nece, ye shall faren well the bet, if god wull, all this yeare." now unless the third of may were supposed to possess some unusual virtue, the dreaming on that morning could scarcely confer a whole year's welfare. but, be that as it may, there can at least be no doubt that chaucer designedly associated _some_ celebration of the advent of may with the morning of the third of that month. without absolutely asserting that my explanation is the true one, i may nevertheless suggest it until some better may be offered. it is, that the association may have originated in the invocation of the goddess flora, by ovid, on that day (_fasti_, v.), in order that she might inspire him with an explanation of the floralia, or floral games, which were celebrated in rome from the th of april to the _third_ of may. these games, if transferred by chaucer to athens, would at once explain the "gret feste" and the "lusty seson of that may." supposing, then, that chaucer, in the _knight's tale_, meant, as i think he meant, to place the great combat on the anniversary of the fourth of may--that being the day on which theseus had intercepted the duel,--then the entry into athens of the rival companies would take place on { } (sunday) the second, and the sacrifices and feasting on the _third of may_, the last of the floralia. a. e. b. leeds, march , . [footnote : [of which there can be no doubt. see further p. . of our present number.--ed.]] * * * * * inedited poetry, no. ii. chorus. (harleian mss., no. . fo. .) "is, is there nothing cann withstand the hand of time: but that it must be shaken into dust? then poore, poore israelites are wee who see, but cannot shunn the graue's captivitie. "alas, good browne! that nature hath no bath, or virtuous herbes to strayne, to boyle[ ] thee yong againe; yet could she (kind) but back command thy brand, herself would dye thou should'st be unman'd. "but (ah!) the golden ewer by [a] stroke, is broke, and now the almond tree with teares, with teares, we see, doth lowly lye, and with its fall do all the daughters dye, that once were musicall. "thus yf weake builded man cann saye, a day he lives, 'tis all, for why? he's sure at night to dye, for fading man in fleshly lome[ ] doth rome till he his graue find, his eternall home. "then farewell, farewell, man of men, till when (for us the morners meet pal'd visag'd in the street, to seale up this our britle birth in earth,) we meet with thee triumphant in our mirth." _trinitäll hall's exequies._ now, to what does hall refer in the third stanza, in his mention of the almond-tree? is it a classical allusion, as in the preceding stanza, or has it some reference to any botanical fact? i send the ballad, trusting that as an inedited morsel you will receive it. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. [we do not take _hall_ here to be the name of a man, but trinity hall at cambridge.] [footnote : the reader will recognise the classical allusion.] [footnote : loam, earth; roam.] * * * * * on a passage in marmion. i venture for the first time to trespass upon the attention of your readers in making the following remarks upon a passage in _marmion_, which, as far as i know, has escaped the notice of all the critical writers whose comments upon that celebrated poem have hitherto been published. it will probably be remembered, that long after the main action of the poem and interest of the story have been brought to a close by the death of the hero on the field of flodden, the following incident is thus pointedly described:-- short is my tale:--fitz-eustace' care a pierced and mangled body bare to moated lichfield's lofty pile: and there, beneath the southern aisle, a tomb, with gothic sculpture fair did long lord marmion's image bear, &c. &c. &c. "there erst was martial marmion found, his feet upon a couchant hound, his hands to heaven upraised: and all around on scutcheon rich, and tablet carved, and fretted niche, his arms and feats were blazed. and yet, though all was carved so fair, and priest for marmion breathed the prayer, _the last lord marmion lay not there._ from ettrick woods a peasant swain follow'd his lord to flodden plain,-- &c. &c. &c. "sore wounded sybil's cross he spied, and dragg'd him to its foot, and died, close by the noble marmion's side. the spoilers stripp'd and gash'd the slain, and thus their corpses were mista'en; and thus in the proud baron's tomb, the lowly woodsman took the room." now, i ask, wherefore has the poet dwelt with such minuteness upon this forced and improbable incident? had it indeed been with no other purpose than to introduce the picturesque description and the moral reflexions contained in the following section, the improbability might well be forgiven. but such is not the real object. the critic of the _monthly review_ takes the following notice of this passage, which is printed as a note in the last edition of scott's _poems_ in :-- "a corpse is afterwards conveyed, as that of marmion, to the cathedral of lichfield, where a magnificent tomb is erected to his memory, &c. &c.; but, by an _admirably imagined act of poetical justice_, we are informed that a peasant's body was placed beneath that costly monument, while the haughty baron himself was buried like a vulgar corpse on the spot where he died." had the reviewer attempted to penetrate a little deeper into the workings of the author's mind, he would have seen in this circumstance much more than "an admirably imagined act of poetical { } justice." he would have perceived in it the ultimate and literal fulfilment of the whole penalty foreshadowed to the delinquent baron in the two concluding stanzas of that beautiful and touching song sung by fitz-eustace in the hostelrie of gifford in the third canto of the poem, which i here transcribe: "where shall the traitor rest, he the deceiver, who could win maiden's breast, ruin, and leave her? in the lost battle borne down by the flying, where mingles war's rattle, with groans of the dying-- there shall he be lying. her wing shall the eagle flap o'er the false-hearted, his warm blood the wolf shall lap ere life be parted. _shame and dishonour sit_ _by his grave ever;_ _blessing shall hallow it,_ _never, o never!_" then follows the effect produced upon the conscience of the "traitor," described in these powerful lines:-- "it ceased. the melancholy sound; and silence sunk on all around. the air was sad; but sadder still it fell on marmion's ear, and plain'd as if disgrace and ill, and shameful death, were near." &c. &c. &c. and lastly, when the life of the wounded baron is ebbing forth with his blood on the field of battle, when-- "the monk, with unavailing cares exhausted all the church's prayers-- ever, he said, that, close and near, a lady's voice was in his ear, and that the priest he could not hear-- for that she ever sung, '_in the lost battle, borne down by the flying,_ _where mingles war's rattle with groans of the dying!_'-- so the notes ring." i am the more disposed to submit these remarks to your readers, because it is highly interesting to trace an irresistible tendency in the genius of this mighty author towards the fulfilment of prophetic legends and visions of second sight: and not to extend this paper to an inconvenient length, i purpose to resume the subject in a future number, and collate some other examples of a similar character from the works of sir walter scott. i write from the southern slopes of cheviot, almost within sight of the hill of flodden. during the latter years of the great border minstrel, i had the happiness to rank myself among the number of his friends and acquaintances, and i revere his memory as much as i prized his friendship. a borderer. * * * * * gloucestershire provincialisms. _to burl, burling; to shunt, &c._--in the report of the evidence regarding the death of mrs. hathway, at chipping sodbury, supposed to have been poisoned by her husband, the following dialectical expression occurs, which may deserve notice. one of the witnesses stated that he was invited by mr. hathway to go with him into a beer-house in frampton cotterell, "and have a tip," but he declined. "mr. h. went in and called for a quart of beer, and then came out again, and i went in. he told me 'to burl out the beer, as he was in a hurry;' and i 'burled' out a glass and gave it to him."--_times_, feb. . i am not aware that the use of this verb, as a provincialism, has been noticed; it is not so given by boucher, holloway, or halliwell. in the cumberland dialect, a _birler_, or _burler_, is the master of the revels, who presides over the feast at a cumberland bidden-wedding, and takes especial care that the drink be plentifully provided. (_westmoreland and cumberland dialects_, london, .) boucher and jamieson have collected much regarding the obsolete use of the verb _to birle_, to carouse, to pour out liquor. see also mr. dyce's notes on _elynour rummyng_, v. . (_skelton's works_, vol. ii. p. .). it is a good old anglo-saxon word--byrlian, _propinare_, _haurire_. in the wycliffite versions it occurs repeatedly, signifying to give to drink. see the glossary to the valuable edition lately completed by sir f. madden and mr. forshall. in the _promptorium parvulorum_, vol i. p. ., we find-- "bryllare of drynke, or schenkare: bryllyn, or schenk drynke, _propino_: bryllynge of drynke," &c. whilst on the subject of dialectical expressions, i would mention an obsolete term which has by some singular chance recently been revived, and is actually in daily use throughout england in the railway vocabulary--i mean the verb "to shunt." nothing is more common than to see announced, that at a certain station the parliamentary "shunts" to let the express pass; or to hear the order--"shunt that truck," push it aside, off the main line. in the curious ballad put forth in , called "john nobody" (strype's _life of cranmer_, app. p. .), in derision of the reformed church, the writer describes how, hearing the sound of a "synagogue," namely, a congregation of the new faith, he hid himself in alarm: "the i drew me down into a dale, wheras the dumb deer did shiver for a shower, but i shunted from a freyke, for i would no wight in this world wist who i were." { } in the townley mysteries, _ascensio domini_, p. ., the virgin mary calls upon st. john to protect her against the jews,-- "mi fleshe it qwakes, as lefe on lynde, to shontt the shrowres sharper than thorne,"-- explained in the glossary, "sconce or ward off." sewel, in his _english and dutch dictionary_, , gives--"to shunt (a country word for to shove), _schuiven_." i do not find "shunt," however, in the provincial glossaries: in some parts of the south, "to shun" is used in this sense. thus, in an assault case at reigate, i heard the complainant say of a man who had hustled him, "he kept shunning me along: sometimes he shunt me on the road," that is, pushed me off the footpath on to the highway. i hope that the philological society has not abandoned their project of compiling a complete provincial glossary: the difficulties of such an undertaking might be materially aided through the medium of "notes and queries." albert way. * * * * * the chapel of loretto. among the aerial migrations of the chapel of loretto, it is possible that our own country may hereafter be favoured by a visit of that celebrated structure. in the mean time, as i am not aware that the contributions of our countrymen to its history have been hitherto commemorated, the following extract from a note, made by me on the spot some years ago, may not be unsuitable for publication in "notes and queries." as i had neither the time nor the patience which the pious, but rather prolix, scotchman bestowed upon his composition, i found it necessary to content myself with a mere abstract of the larger portion. the story of the holy house of loretto is engraved on brass in several languages upon the walls of the church at loretto. among others, there are two tablets with the story in english, headed "the wondrus flittinge of the kirk of our blest lady of laureto." it commences by stating that this kirk is the chamber of the house of the blessed virgin, in nazareth, where our saviour was born; that after the ascension the apostles hallowed and made it a kirk, and "s. luke framed a pictur to har vary liknes thair zit to be seine;" that it was "haunted with muckle devotione by the folke of the land whar it stud, till the people went after the errour of mahomet," when angels took it to slavonia, near a place called flumen: here it was not honoured as it ought to be, and they took it to a wood near recanati, belonging to a lady named laureto, whence it took its name. on account of the thieveries here committed, it was again taken up and placed near, on a spot belonging to two brothers, who quarrelled about the possession of the oblations offered there; and again it was removed to the roadside, near where it now stands. it is further stated that it stands without foundations, and that sixteen persons being sent from recanati to measure the foundations still remaining at nazareth, they were found exactly to agree: "and from that tim fourth it has beine surly ken'd that this kirk was the cammber of the b. v. whereto christian begun thare and has ever efter had muckle devotione, for that in it daily she hes dun and dus many and many mirakels. ane frier paule, of sylva, an eremit of muckle godliness who wond in a cell neir, by this kirk, whar daily he went to mattins, seid that for ten zeirs, one the eighth of september, tweye hours before day, he saw a light descende from heaven upon it, whelk he seyd was the b. v. wha their shawed harselfe one the feest of her birthe." then follows the evidence of paule renalduci, whose grandsire's grandsire saw the angels bring the house over the sea: also the evidence of francis prior, whose grandsire, a hunter, often saw it in the wood, and whose grandsire's grandsire had a house close by. the inscription thus terminates:-- "i, robt. corbington, priest of the companie of iesus in the zeir mdcxxxv., have treulie translated the premisses out of the latin story hanged up in the seid kirk." s. smirke. * * * * * folk lore. "_nettle in dock out_" (vol. iii., p. .).--if your correspondent will refer to _the literary gazette_, march , , no. ., he will find that i gave precisely the same explanation of that obscure passage of chaucer's _troilus and creseide_, lib. iv., in a paper which i contributed to the british archæological association. fras. crossley. [we will add two further illustrations of this passage of chaucer, and the popular rhyme on which it is founded. the first is from mr. akerman's _glossary of provincial words and phrases in use in wiltshire_, where we read-- "when a child is stung, he plucks a dock-leaf, and laying it on the part affected, sings-- 'out 'ettle in dock dock shall ha a new smock; 'ettle zhant ha' narrun.'" then follows a reference by mr. akerman to the passage in _troilus and creseide_.--our second illustration is from chaucer himself, who, in his _testament of love_ (p. ed. urry), has the following passage: "ye wete well ladie eke (quoth i), that i have not plaid raket, nettle in, docke out, and with the weathercocke waved." mr. akerman's work was, we believe, published in { } ; and, at all events, attention was called to these passages in the _athenæum_ of the l th september in that year, no. .] _soul separates from the body._--in vol. ii., p. ., is an allusion to an ancient superstition, that the human soul sometimes leaves the body of a sleeping person and takes another form; allow me to mention that i remember, some forty years ago, hearing a servant from lincolnshire relate a story of two travellers who laid down by the road-side to rest, and one fell asleep. the other, seeing a bee settle on a neighbouring wall and go into a little hole, put the end of his staff in the hole, and so imprisoned the bee. wishing to pursue his journey, he endeavoured to awaken his companion, but was unable to do so, till, resuming his stick, the bee flew to the sleeping man and went into his ear. his companion then awoke him, remarking how soundly he had been sleeping, and asked what had he been dreaming of? "oh!" said he, "i dreamt that you shut me up in a dark cave and i could not awake till you let me out." the person who told me the story firmly believed that the man's soul was in the bee. f. s. _lady's trees._--in some parts of cornwall, small branches of sea-weed, dried and fastened in turned wooden stands, are set up as ornaments on the chimney-piece, &c. the poor people suppose that they preserve the house from fire, and they are known by the name of "_lady's trees_," in honour, i presume, of the virgin mary. h. g. t. launceston. _norfolk folk lore rhymes._--i have met with the rhymes following, which may not be uninteresting to some of your readers as _folk lore, norfolk_:-- "rising was, lynn is, and downham shall be, the greatest seaport of the three." another version of the same runs thus: "risin was a seaport town, and lynn it was a wash, but now lynn is a seaport lynn, and rising fares the worst." also another satirical tradition in rhyme: "that nasty stinking sink-hole of sin, which the map of the county denominates lynn." also: "caistor was a city ere norwich was none, and norwich was built of caistor stone." john nurse chadwick. king's lynn. * * * * * minor notes. _note for the topographers of ancient london, and for the monasticon._-- "walter grendon, prior of the hospital of st john of jerusalem, acknowledges to have received, by the hands of robert upgate and ralph halstede,--from margaret, widow of s^r john philippott k^t,--thomas goodlak and their partners,-- pounds in full payment of arrears of all the rent due to us from their tenement called jesoreshall in the city of london. "dated . december, ." from the original in the surrenden collection. l. b. l. _gray and burns._-- "authors, before they write, should read." so thought matthew prior; and if that rule had been attended to, neither would lord byron have deemed it worth notice that "_the knell of parting day_," in gray's elegy, "was adopted from dante;" nor would mr. cary have remarked upon "this plagiarism," if indeed _he_ used the term. (i refer to "notes and queries," vol. iii., p. .) the truth is, that in every good edition of gray's _works_, there is a note to the line in question, _by the poet himself_, expressly stating that the passage is "_an imitation of the quotation from dante_" thus brought forward. i could furnish you with various _notes_ on gray, pointing out remarkable coincidences of sentiment and expression between himself and other writers; but i cannot allow _gray_ to be a plagiary, any more than i can allow _burns_ to be so designated, in the following instances:-- at the end of the poem called _the vision_, we find-- "and like a passing thought she fled." in _hesiod_ we have-- "[greek: ho d' eptato hôste noêma.]"--_scut. herc._ . again, few persons are unacquainted with burns's lines-- "her 'prentice han' she tried on man, an' then she made," &c. in an old play, _cupid's whirligig_ ( to. ), we read-- "man was made when nature was but an apprentice, but woman when she was a skilful mistress of her art." pliny, in his _natural history_, has the pretty notion that "nature, in learning to form a lily, turned out a convolvulus." varro. _richard iii., traditional notice of._--i have an aunt, now eighty-nine years of age, who in early life knew one who was in the habit of saying: "i knew a man, who knew a man, who knew a man who danced at court in the days of richard iii." thus there have been but three links between one who knew richard iii. and one now alive. my aunt's acquaintance could name his three predecessors, who were members of his own family: { } their names have been forgotten, but his name was harrison, and he was a member of an old yorkshire family, and late in life settled in bedfordshire. richard died in , and thus five persons have sufficed to chronicle an incident which occurred nearly years since. mr. harrison further stated that there was nothing remarkable about richard, that he was not the hunchback "lump of foul deformity" so generally believed until of late years. the foregoing anecdote may be of interest as showing that traditions may come down from remote periods by few links, and thus be but little differing from the actual occurrences. h. j. b. . hamilton terrace, st. john's wood, march . . _oliver cromwell._--echard says that his highness sold himself to the devil, and _that he had seen the solemn compact_. anthony à wood, who doubtless credited this account of a furious brother loyalist, in his journal says: "aug. , . monday, a terrible raging wind happened, which did much damage. dennis bond, a great oliverian and anti-monarchist, died on that day, and then the devil took _bond_ for oliver's appearance." clarendon, assigning the protector to eternal perdition, not liking to lose the portent, boldly says the remarkable hurricane occurred on september , the day of oliver's death. oliver's admirers, on the other hand, represent this wind as ushering him into the other world, but for a very different reason. heath, in his _flagellum_ (i have the th edit.), says: it pleased god to usher in his end with a great whale _some three months before_, june , that came up as far as greenwich, and there was killed; and more immediately by a terrible storm of wind: the prognosticks that the great leviathan of men, that tempest and overthrow of government, was now going to his own place!" i have several works concerning cromwell, but in no other do i find this story very like a whale. would some reader of better opportunities favour us with a record of these two matters of natural history, not as connected with the death of this remarkable man, but as mere events? your well-read readers will remember some similar tales relative to the death of cardinal mazarine. these exuberances of vulgar minds may partly be attributed to the credulity of the age, but more probably to the same want of philosophy which caused the ancients to deal in exaggeration. b. b. _snail-eating._--the practice of _eating_, if not of talking to, snails, seems not to be so unknown in this country as some of your readers might imagine. i was just now interrogating a village child in reference to the addresses to snails quoted under the head of "folk lore," vol. iii., pp. . and ., when she acquainted me with the not very appetising fact, that she and her brothers and sisters had been in the constant habit of indulging this horrible _limacotrophy_. "we hooks them out of the wall (she says) with a stick, in winter time, and not in summer time (so it seems they have their seasons); and we roasts them, and, when they've done spitting, they be a-done; and we takes them out with a fork, and eats them. sometimes we has a jug heaped up, pretty near my pinafore-full. i loves them dearly." surely this little bit of practical cottage economy is worth recording. c. w. b. * * * * * queries. biddings in wales. there is a nursery song beginning-- "harry parry, when will you marry? when apples and pears are ripe. i'll come to your wedding, without any bidding, and," &c. &c. &c. does this mean that i will come without an invitation, or without a marriage-present? it will be observed that parry is a welsh name, and that bidding is a welsh custom, as is shown by mr. spurrell (vol. iii., p. .). he has anticipated my intention of sending you a bidding-form, which has been lying upon my table for some weeks, but which i have not had time to transcribe; i now send it you, because it somewhat varies from mr. spurrell's, and yet so much resembles it as to show that the same formula is preserved. both show that the presents are considered as debts, transferable or assignable to other parties. is this the case in all districts of wales where the custom of bidding prevails? i think i have heard that in some places the gift is to be returned only when the actual donor "enters into the matrimonial state." it will be observed, too, in these forms, relations only transfer to relations. is it considered that they may assign to persons not relations? some of your welsh correspondents may reply to these questions, which may elucidate all the varieties of practice in a custom which contributes much to the comfort of a young couple, and, in many instances, is an incentive to prudence, because they are aware that the debt is a debt of honour, not to be evaded without some loss of character. "december . . "as we intend to enter the matrimonial state on _tuesday_ the th of _january_, , we purpose to make a bidding on the occasion the same day for the young man at his father's house, in the village of _llansaint_, in the parish of _st. ishmael_; and for the young { } woman, at her own house, in the said village of _llansaint_; at either of which places the favour of your good company on that day will be deemed a peculiar obligation; and whatever donation you may be pleased to confer on either of us then, will be gratefully received, and cheerfully repaid whenever required on a similar occasion, by your humble servants, seth rees, ann jenkins. "the young man's father and mother, and also the young woman's father and mother, and sister amy, desire that all gifts of the above nature due to them, may be returned on the same day; and will be thankful for all favour shown the young couple." e. h. * * * * * minor queries. _lord of relton_ (vol. iii., p. .)--will your correspondent monkbarns favour me with the date of the paper from which he copied the paragraph quoted, and whether it was given as being then in use, or as of ancient date? can any of your readers inform me from what place the lord of relton derived his name? what was his proper name, and who is the present representative of the family? is there any family of the name of relton now existing in the neighbourhood of langholme, or in cumberland or westmoreland? f. b. relton. _beatrix de bradney._--in your "notes and queries" for january th, , p. ., you have given sir henry chauncy's observations on wilfred entwysel. sir bertin left a daughter named lucy, of whom master bradene of northamptonshire is descended. can f. r. r., or any genealogist, inform me whether this master bradene is descended from simon de bradney, one of the knights of the shire for somersetshire in the year ? in collins's _somersetshire_, vol. iii. p. ., he mentions: "in st. michael's church, bawdrip, under a large gothic arch lies the effigy in armour of sir simon de bradney or bredenie. "the manor of bradney, in somersetshire, supposed to have ended in beatrix de bradney, an heiress, and passed with her into other families; this beatrix was living in the forty-sixth year of edward iii." can you inform me whom she married? about sixty-five years ago it was purchased by the late joseph bradney, esq., of ham, near richmond; and his second son, the reverend joseph bradney, of greet, near tenbury, shropshire, is the present possessor. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge, near reading. "_letters on the british museum._"--in the year was published by dodsley a work in mo. pp. ., with the above title; and at p. . is printed "a pastoral dialogue," between _celia_ and _ebron_, beginning, "as celia rested in the shade," which the author states he "found among the manuscripts." i wish to know, first, who was the anonymous author of these letters; and, secondly, in what collection of manuscripts this "dialogue" is to be found. [mu]. _ballad editing._--the "_outlandish knight_" (vol. iii.,p. .).--i was exceedingly glad to see mr. f. sheldon's "valuable contribution to our stock of ballad literature" in the hands of mr. rimbault, and thought the treatment it received no better than it deserved. _blackwood_, may, , reviewed mr. sheldon's book, and pointed out several instances of his "godfathership;" among others, his ballad of the "outlandish knight," which he obtained from "a copy in the possession of a gentleman at newcastle," was condemned by the reviewer as "a vamped version of the scotch ballad of 'may collean.'" it may be as the reviewer states, but the question i would wish answered is one affecting the reviewer himself; for, if i mistake not, the southron "outlandish knight" is the original of "may collean" itself. i have by me a copy, in black letter, of the "outlandish knight," english in every respect, and as such differing considerably from mr. sheldon's border edition, and from "may collean;" and, with some slight alterations, the ballad i have is yet popularly known through the midland counties. if any of your correspondents can oblige me with a reference to the first appearance of "may collean," sheet or book, i shall esteem it a favour. emun. birmingham. _latin epigram on the duchess of eboli._--in his controversy with bowles touching the poetry of pope, byron states that it was upon the princess of eboli, mistress of philip ii. of spain, and mangirow, the minion of henry iii. of france, that the famous latin epigram, so well known to classic readers, was composed, concluding with the couplet: "blande puer lumen quod habes concede parenti, sic tu cæcus amor, sic erit illa venus." can any contributor to the "notes and queries" suggest what authority his lordship has for his statement? many years since, a curious paragraph appeared in one of the public journals, extracted apparently from an historical work, specifying the extraordinary political embroglios which the one-eyed duchess occasioned, eliciting from one of the statesmen of her times the complimentary declaration, that if she had had two eyes instead of only one, she would have set the universe on fire. a reference to this work--i fancy one of roscoe's--would be of material service to an historical inquirer. c. r. h. { } _engraved portrait._-- "all that thou see'st and readest is divine, learning thus us'd is water turn'd to wine; well may wee then despaire to draw his minde, view here the case; i'th booke the jewell finde." the above quatrain is placed beneath a portrait characteristically engraved by cross. above the head is the following inscription:-- "Ætatis suæ º. octob. . ." of whom is this a portrait? it is no doubt well known to collectors, and is of course a frontispiece; but having never yet seen it _vis-à-vis_ with a title-page, i am at a loss as to the author of whom it is the _vera effigies_. possibly some of your readers will be kind enough to enlighten me upon the matter, and favour me with the name of the british worthy thus handed down to posterity by cross's admirable burin. henry campkin. _blackstone's commentaries and table of precedence._--the first edition of blackstone was published at oxford in to., in the year ; and the table of precedence, in the th chapter of the first book, found in subsequent editions edited by mr. christian, does not occur in blackstone's first edition. can any of your readers, having access to good legal theories, inform me in which of blackstone's _own_ editions the table of precedence was first inserted? e. _the two drs. abercromby._--in the latter half of the seventeenth century, there were two physicians of the name of abercromby, who both graduated at the university of leyden, and were afterwards the authors of various published works. the first work of david abercromby mentioned in watt's _bibliotheca_ is dated in , and the first written by patrick abercromby in . as it was usual to compose an inaugural dissertation at obtaining the doctorate, and such productions were ordinarily printed (in small quarto), j. k. would feel obliged by the titles and dates of the inaugural dissertations of either or both of the physicians above mentioned. _witte van haemstede._--can any of your readers inform me whether there still exist any descendants of _witte van haemstede_, an illegitimate scion of the ancient house of _holland_? _willem de water_, in his _adelijke zeeland_, written in the seventeenth century, says that in his youth he knew a _witte van haemstede_ of this family, one of whose sons became pastor of the dutch congregation in _london_.--_navorscher_, jan. , p. . _j. bruckner--dutch church in norwich._--in the _gentleman's magazine_ for is a short memoir of the rev. j. bruckner. he was born in the island of cadsand, completed his studies at leyden, where he enjoyed the society of hemsterhuis, valckenaer, and the elder schultens. in he became pastor of the walloon, and afterwards of the dutch congregation in norwich, where he remained till his death in may, . in he published at leyden his _théorie du système animal_; in appeared his _criticisms on the diversions of purley_. could your correspondents furnish me with a complete list of bruckner's works, and direct me to a history of the dutch church in norwich, from its origin to the present time?--_navorscher_, feb. , p. . * * * * * minor queries answered. [under this heading we propose to give such minor queries as we are able to reply to at once, but which are not of a nature to be answered with advantage in our notices to correspondents. we hope by this means to economise our space.] _the hereditary earl marshal._--miss martineau, in her _history of england_, book iii. ch. ., speaks (in ) of "three catholic peers, the _duke of norfolk_, lord clifford, and lord dormer, having obtained entrance _at last_ to the legislative assembly, where their fathers sat and ruled when their faith was the law of the land." in lord campbell's _lives of the chancellors_, there is an anecdote, vol. vii. p. ., of the duke of norfolk falling asleep and _snoring_ in the house of lords, while lord eldon was on the woolsack. did not the duke of norfolk (though roman catholic) sit and vote in the house of lords, either by prescription or special act of parliament, before ? j. h. s. [the anecdote told by lord campbell (but much better by lord eldon himself in twiss's life of the great chancellor), does not refer to the _late_ duke of norfolk, but to his predecessor charles (the eleventh duke), who was a protestant. the late duke never sat in parliament till after the relief bill passed. in a bill was passed to enable him to exercise the office of earl marshal without taking certain oaths, but gave him no seat in the house. we may as well add, that lord eldon's joke must have been perpetrated--not on the bringing up of the bill, when the duke was not in the house--but on the occasion of the _great snoring bill being reported_ (april , ), when the duke appears to have been present.] _the beggar's petition._--i shall feel obliged by your informing me who the author is of the lines-- "pity the sorrows of a poor old man, whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door." s. [the authorship of this little poem has at times excited a good deal of attention. it has been attributed, on no very sufficient grounds, to dr. joshua webster, m.d.; but from the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxx., p. ., it appears that it is the entire production of the { } rev. thomas moss, minister of brierly hill and trentham, in staffordshire, who wrote it at about the age of twenty-three. he sold the manuscript of that, and of several others, to mr. smart, printer, in wolverhampton, who, from the dread which mr. moss had of criticism, was to publish them on this condition, that only twenty copies should have his name annexed to them, for the purpose of being presented to his relations and friends.] "_tiring-irons never to be untied._"--to what does lightfoot (vol. vii. p. .) refer when, in speaking of the scriptures, he says-- "they are not unriddleable riddles, and tiring-irons never to be untied"? j. eastwood. ecclesfield. [the allusion is to a puzzle for children--often used by grown children--which consists of a series of iron rings, on to or off which a loop of iron wire may be got with some labour by those who know the way, and which is very correctly designated _a tiring-iron_.] * * * * * replies. the meaning of eisell. [this controversy is becoming a little too warm for our pages. but mr. causton is entitled to have some portion of the letter he has sent to us inserted. he writes with reference to the communications from mr. hickson and mr. singer in our th number, p. ., in reply to mr. c.'s article, which, although it had been in our hands a considerable time, was not inserted until out th number, p. .; a delay which gave to that article the appearance of an attempt to revive a discussion, whereas it really was written only in continuance of one.] to mr. hickson i suggest, that whether the notion of "drinking up a river," or "eating a crocodile," be the more "unmeaning" or "out of place," must after all be a mere matter of opinion, as the latter must remain a question of taste; since it seems to be his settled conviction that it is not "impossible," but only "extravagant." archdeacon nares thought it quite the reverse; and i beg to remind your readers that shakspearian crocodiles are never served _à la soyer_, but swallowed _au naturel_ and entire. mr. hickson is dissatisfied with my terms "mere verbiage" and "extravagant rant." i recommend a careful consideration of the scene over the grave of ophelia; and then let any one say whether or not the "wag" of tongue between laertes and hamlet be not fairly described by the expressions i have used,--a paraphrase indeed, of hamlet's concluding lines: "nay, an thou'lt _mouth_, i'll _rant_ as well as thou." doubtless shakspeare had a purpose in everything he wrote, and his purpose at this time was to work up the scene to the most effective conclusion, and to display the excitement of hamlet in a series of beautiful images, which, nevertheless, the queen his mother immediately pronounced to be "mere madness," and which one must be as mad as hamlet himself to adopt as feats literally to be performed. the offence is rank in the eyes of mr. singer that i should have styled mr. hickson his friend. the amenities of literature, i now perceive, do not extend to the case, and a new canon is required, to the effect that "when one gentleman is found bolstering up the argument of another, he is not, ever for the nonce, to be taken for his friend." i think the denial to be expressed in rather strong language; but i hasten to make the _amende_ suitable to the occasion, by withdrawing the "falsehood and unfounded insinuation." mr. singer has further charged me with "want of truth," in stating that the question remains "substantially where steevens and malone had left it." wherein, i ask, substantially consists the difference? mr. singer has merely substituted his "wormwood wine" for malone's vinegar; and before he can make it as palatable to common sense, and shakspeare's "logical correctness and nicety of expression," as it was to creed and shepley, he must get over the "stalking-horse," the _drink_ up, which stands in his way precisely as it did in that of malone's more legitimate proposition. mr. singer overleaps the difficulty by a bare assertion that "to _drink_ up was commonly used for simply to drink." he has not produced any parallel case of proof, with the exception of one from mr. halliwell's _nursery rhymes_. i adopt his citation, and shall employ it against him. _drink_ up can only be grammatically applied to a determinate total, whether it be the river yssell or mr. hickson's dose of physic. shakespeare seems to have been well acquainted with, and to have observed, the grammatical rule which mr. singer professes not to comprehend. thus: "i will drink, _potions of_ eysell." shaksp. _sonnet_ cxi. and "give me to drink mandragora," _ant. and cleop._, act i. sc. . are parallel passages, and imply quantity indeterminate, inasmuch as they admit of more or less. now mr. singer's obliging quotation from the _nursery rhymes_,-- "eat up your cake, jenny, _drink_ up your wine"-- certainly implies quite the reverse; for it can be taken to mean neither more nor less than the identical glass of wine that jenny had standing before her. a parallel passage will be found in shakspeare's sonnet (cxiv.): "_drink up_ the monarch's plague, _this_ flattery:" { } and in this category, on the rule exponed, since it cannot positively appertain to the other, must, i think, be placed the line of hamlet,-- "woo't _drink up_ eisell?" as a noun implying absolute entirety; which might be a _river_, but could not be grammatically applied to any unexpressed quantity. now what is the amount and value of mr. singer's proposition? he says: "in thomas's _italian dictionary_, , we have 'assenzio, _eysell_'[ ]; and florio renders that word [assenzio, not _eysell_?] by 'wormwood.' what is meant, however, is _wormwood wine_, a nauseously bitter medicament then much in use." when pressed by lord braybrooke ("notes and queries," vol. ii., p. .), who proved, by an extract from _pepys's diary_, that wormwood wine, so far from bearing out mr. singer's description, was, in fact, a fashionable luxury, probably not more nauseous than the _pale ale_ so much in repute at the present day, mr. singer very adroitly produced a "corroborative note" from "old langham" ("notes and queries," vol. ii., p. .), which, curiously enough, is castrated of all that langham wrote pertaining to the question in issue. treating of the many virtues of the prevailing tonic as an appetiser, and restorer "of a good color" to them that be "leane and evil colored," langham says: ["make wormwood wine thus: take _aqua vitæ_ and malmsey, of each like much, put it in a glasse or bottell with _a few leaves of dried wormwood_, and let it stand certain days,] and strein out a little spoonfull, and drink it with a draught of ale or wine: [it may be long preserved.]"[ ] thus it will be seen that the reason for "streining out a little spoonfull" as a restorative for a weak stomach was less on account of the infusion being so "atrociously unpalatable," than of the alcohol used in its preparation. dr. venner also recommends as an excellent stomachic, "to drink mornings fasting, and sometimes also before dinner, _a draught of wormwood-wine_ or beer:" and we may gather the "atrocious bitterness" of the restorative, by the substitute he proposes: "or, for want of them," he continues: "white wine or stale beer, wherein a few branches of wormwood have, for certain hours, been infused."[ ] dr. parr, quoting bergius, describes _absinthium_ as "a grateful stomachic;" and _absinthites_ as "a pleasant form of the wormwood."[ ] is this therefore the article that hamlet proposed to _drink_ up with his crocodile? so far from thinking so, i have ventured to coincide with archdeacon nares in favour of steevens; for whether it be malone's vinegar, or mr. singer's more comfortable stomachic, the challenge to drink either "_in such a rant_, is so inconsistent, and even ridiculous, that we must decide for the river, whether its name be exactly found or not."[ ] i am quite unconscious of any purport in my remarks, other than they appear on paper; and i should be sorry indeed to accuse mr. singer of being "ignorant" of anything; but i venture to suggest that those young gentlemen of surpassing spirit, who ate crocodiles, _drank_ up eisell, and committed other anomalies against nature in honor of their mistresses, belonged decidedly to a period of time anterior to that of shakspeare, and went quite out with the age of chivalry, of which shakspeare saw scarcely even the fag end. your lover of shakspeare's time was quite another animal. he had begun to take beer. he had become much more subtle and self-satisfied. he did sometimes pen sonnets to his mistress's eye-brow, and sing soft nothings to the gentle sighing of his "lewte." he sometimes indeed looked "pale and wan;" but, rather than for love, it was more than probably from his immoderate indulgence in the "newe weede," which he _drank_[ ], though i never discovered that it was _drank up_ by him. he generally wore a doublet and breeches of satin, slashed and lined with coloured taffata; and walked about with a gilliflower in one hand, and his gloves in the other. his veritable portrait is extant, and is engraved in mr. knight's _pictorial shakspeare_.[ ] it will be time enough to decide which of us has run his head against "a stumbling-block of his own making," when mr. singer shall have found a probable solution of his difficulty "by a parallelism in the poet's pages." h. k. staple causton. vassall road, brixton, feb. . . [footnote : this deduction is not warranted by the _vocab. della crusca_, or any other ital. dic. to which i have had the opportunity of reference: and _somner_ and _lye_ are quite distinct on the a.-sax. words, _wermod_ and _eisell_.] [footnote : _garden of health_, to. london, . the portions within the brackets were omitted by mr. singer.] [footnote : _via recta ad vitam longam_, by thomas venner, m.d. to. london, .] [footnote : _med. dict._] [footnote : a description of the rivers yssel will be found in _dict. géograph. de la martinière_, v. ix. fo. .] [footnote : as the verb "to drink" was not limited to the act of bibition, but for mr. hickson's decision against drinking up the "sea-serpent," it might yet become a question whether hamlet's _eisell_ had not been a misprint for _eosol_ (asinus).] [footnote : _merchant of venice_, introduction.] { } * * * * * replies to minor queries. _william chilcott_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--the few notes which follow are very much at the service of your correspondent. william chilcott, m.a., was rector of st. george's, exeter, where he died on may , , at the age of forty-eight. the coat of arms on the tablet to his memory indicates that he married a coplestone. his daughter catherine died in august, . the first edition of the _practical treatise concerning evil thoughts_ was printed at exeter in , and was dedicated to his parishioners. robert chilcott, whom i take to be the brother of william, was rector of st. mary-major in exeter, and died feb. , . there does not appear to be any evidence that the persons above mentioned, were descended from the chilcotts of tiverton, though the identity of the christian names renders it probable. if the object were to trace their ancestors or their descendants, much might be added to the suggestions of e.a.d. by searching the registers at tiverton, and by comparing prince's _worthies of devon_, ed. , p. ., and polwhele's _devon_, vol. iii. p. ., with harding's _tiverton_; in various parts of which eight or nine individuals of the name are mentioned; especially vol. i. book ii. p. .; vol. ii. book iii. pp. , . . ., and book iv., p. ., where the connexion of the chilcotts with the families of blundell, hooper, collamore, crossing, slee, and hill, is set forth. failing these, the object might be attained by reference to the registers at stogumber, co. somerset, and of northam, near bideford, with the inscribed floorstones in the church there. something might perhaps be learned of their descendants by reference to the registers at exeter, and those at morchard-bishop, where a john chilcott resided in ; nympton st. george, where a family of the same name lived about ; north molton, where c. chilcott was vicar in ; and dean prior, where joseph chilcott was vicar about . a mr. thomas chilcott, who was an organist at bath, married ann, daughter of the rev. chichester wrey. this lady died in , and was buried at tavistock, near barnstaple. the coat of arms on the tablet to her memory is almost identical with the coat of the rev. william chilcott of exeter first above mentioned. j. d. s. _fossil elk of ireland_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in the _edinburgh journal of science_, new series, vol. ii., , p. ., is a curious paper by the late dr. hibbert ware, under the title of "additional contributions towards the history of the cervus euryceros, or fossil elk of ireland." it is illustrated with a copy of an engraving of an animal which dr. h. w. believes to have been the same as the irish elk, and which was living in prussia at the time of the publication of the book from which it is taken, viz. the _cosmographia universalis_ of sebastian munster: basiliæ, . dr. h. w. in this paper refers to a former one in the third volume of the first series of the same journal, in which he advanced proofs that the cervus was a race which had but very recently become extinct. w. c. trevelyan. edinburgh, feb. . . _canes lesos_ (vol. iii. p. .).--in a note to beckwith's edition of blount's _jocular tenures_, to. , p. ., mr. allan of darlington anticipates your correspondent c. w. b., and says, respecting blount's explanation of "canes lesos," "i can meet with no such word in this sense: why may it not be dogs that have received some hurt? _læsos_ from _lædo_." _clancturam_ should be _clausturam_, and so it is given in the above edition, and explained "a tax for fencing." s. w. singer. "_by hook or by crook_" (vol. iii. p. .).--however unimaginative the worthy cit may be for whose explanation of this popular phrase j. d. s. has made himself answerable, the solution sounds so pretty, that to save its obtaining further credence, more than your well-timed note is needed. i with safety can contradict it, for i find that "tusser," a norfolk man living in the reign of henry viii., in a poem which he wrote as a complete monthly guide and adviser for the farmer through the year, but which was not published till , in the thirty-second year of queen elizabeth, has the following advice for march : "of mastiues and mongrels, that many we see a number of thousands, to many there be: watch therefore in lent, to thy sheepe go and looke, for dogs will have vittels, by hooke and by crooke." this must be a norfolk phrase; for in january he advises farmers possessing "hollands," rich grass lands, to only keep ewes that bear twins, "twinlins." blowen. this appears as a well-known proverbial expression long before the time pointed out by j. d. s. thus, in _devout contemplations_, by fr. ch. de fonseca, englished by j. m., london, , we read that the devil "overthroweth monasteries; through sloth and idleness soliciting religious men to be negligent in coming to church, careless in preaching, and loose in their lives. in the marriage bed he soweth tares, treacheries, and lightness. with worldly men he persuadeth that he is nobody that is not rich, and therefore, _bee it by hooke or by crooke_, by right or wrong, he would have them get to be wealthy." w. d--n. _suem._--allow me to suggest to your correspondents c. w. g. (vol. iii., p. .) and [delta]. (vol. iii., p. .), that _suem_ is probably a form of the a.-s. word _seam_, a _horse-load_, and generally a _burden_. for cognates, see bosworth's _a.-s. dict._ { } i may add, that the word is written _swun_ in a charter of edward the confessor, printed by hickes in his _thesaurus_, vol. i. p. ., as follows: "--ic ann [þæt] ðridde treow. [et] [þæt] ðridde swun of ævesan ðæs nextan wudes ðe liþ to kyngesbyrig," &c. which hickes thus renders: "dono tertiam quamque arborem, et tertiam quamque sarcinam jumentariam fructuum, qui nascuntur in sylva proxime ad kyngesbyrig sita," &c. r. m. w. _sir george downing_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the following extract of a letter in cartes' _letters_, ii. ., confirms the accuracy of the memorandum as to sir g. downing's parentage, sent you by j. p. c. the letter is from t. howard to charles ii., written april , , on the eve of the restoration. downing had offered to howard to serve the king,-- "alleging to be engaged in a contrary party by his father, who was banished into new england, where he was brought up, and had sucked in principles that since his reason had made him see were erroneous." ch. _miching malicho_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent mr. collier is probably not aware that his suggestion respecting the meaning of _malicho_ had been anticipated upwards of twenty years since. in the unpretending edition of shakspeare by another of your correspondents, mr. singer, printed in , i find the following note:-- "_miching malicho_ is lurking mischief, or evil doing. _to mich_, for to skulk, to lurk, was an old english verb in common use in shakspeare's time; and _malicho_, or _malhecho_, misdeed, he has borrowed from the spanish. many stray words of spanish and italian were then affectedly used in common conversation, as we have seen french used in more recent times. the quarto spell the word _mallicho_. our ancestors were not particular in orthography, and often spelt according to the ear." i have since looked at mr. collier's note to which he refers, and find that he interprets _miching_ by _stealing_, which will not suit the context; and abundant examples may be adduced that to _mich_ was to _skulk_, to _lurk_, as mr. singer has very properly explained it. thus minsheu:-- "to miche, or secretly hide himself out of the way, as truants doe from schoole, vi. _to hide_, to cover." and again-- "a _micher_, vi. _truant_." mr. collier's text, too, is not satisfactory, for he has abandoned the old word _malicho_, and given _mallecho_, which is as far from the true form of the spanish word as the old reading, which he should either have preserved or printed _malhecho_, as minsheu gives it. i am glad to see from your pages that mr. singer has not entirely abandoned shakspearian illustration, for in my difficulties i have rarely consulted his edition in vain; and, in my humble opinion, it is as yet the most practically useful and readable edition we have. fiat justitia. _cor linguæ, &c._ (vol. iii., p. .).--the lines quoted by j. bs. occur in the poem "de palpone et assentatore," printed in the volume of _latin poems_, commonly attributed to walter mapes, edited by mr. t. wright for the camden society, , at p. ., with a slight variation in expression, as follows:-- "cor linguæ foederat naturæ sanctio, tanquam legitimo quodam connubio; ergo cum dissonant cor et locutio, sermo concipitur ex adulterio." mr. wright's only source quoted for the poem is ms. cotton, vespas, e. xii. of its authority he remarks (preface, p. xx.), that the writer's name was certainly walter, but that he appears to have lived at wimborne, with which place walter map is not traced to have had any connexion; and if mr. wright's conjecture be correct, that the young king alluded to in it is henry iii., it must of course have been written some years after walter map's death. j. g. n. _under the rose_ (vol. i., pp. . .; vol. ii., pp. . .).--i am surprised that no one has noticed sir t. browne's elucidations of this phrase. (_vulg. err._ lib. v. cap. . § .) besides the explanation referred to by archÆus (vol. i., p. .), he says: "the expression is commendable, if the rose from any _naturall_ propertie may be the symbole of silence, as nazienzene seems to imply in these translated verses-- 'utque latet rosa verna suo putamine clausa, sic os vinela ferat, validisque arctetur habenis, indicatque suis prolixa silentia labris.'" he explains "the germane custome, which over the table describeth a rose in the seeling" (vol. ii., pp. . .), by making the phrase to refer only to the secrecy to be observed "in society and compotation, from the ancient custome in symposiacke meetings to wear chapletts of roses about their heads." ache. "_impatient to speak and not see_" (vol. ii., p. .).--there is no doubt of the fine interpretation of your correspondent; but it is not illustrated by the latin. also, i apprehend, "indocilis pati" is not put for "indocilis patiendi." it is a common use of _to_--proud to be praised; angry to be so ill-treated. it illustrates a line in hotspur, the construction of which warburton would have altered: "i then, all smarting, and my wounds being cold, _to be_ so pestered," &c., _i.e._ at being. may i mention a change in _troilus and cressida_ which i have long entertained, but with doubt: "and with an accent tun'd in self-same key, retires to chiding fortune." { } pope reads "returns," hanmer "replies." my conjecture is "recries." c. b. _bishop frampton_ (vol. iii., p. .).--see an interesting notice of his preaching in pepys' _diary_, jan. , - ; and what is said of him in lathbury's _nonjurors_, p. . but probably mr. evans is already aware of these references to bishop frampton, whose life is a desideratum which many will be glad to hear is going to be supplied. e. h. a. _old tract on the eucharist_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the author of the tract on the eucharist, referred to by abhba, was the rev. john patrick. the title of the tract, as given in the catalogues of archbishop wake, no. .; of dr. gee, no. .; and of peck, no. ., of the _discourses against popery during the reign of james ii._, is as follows:-- "a full view of the doctrines and practices of the ancient church relating to the eucharist, wholly different from those of the present _roman_ church, and inconsistent with the belief of transubstantiation; being a sufficient confutation of _consensus veterum_, _nubes testium_, and other late collections of the fathers pretending the contrary. by _john patrick, preacher at the charter-house_, . to." e. c. harrington. exeter, march . . this tract is in to., and contains pp. xv. . it is one of the more valuable of the numerous tracts published on the roman catholic controversy during the reign of james ii. in a collection of more than two hundred of these made at the period of publication, and now in my library, the names of the authors are written upon the titles, and this is attributed to _mr. patrick_. in another collection from the library of the late mr. walter wilson, it is stated to be by _bishop patrick_. bishop gibson reprinted the tract in his _preservative against popery_, london, , fol. vol. ii. tit. vii. pp. -- .; and in the table of contents says that it was written by "mr. patrick, late preacher of the charter-house." not bishop patrick therefore, but his brother, dr. john patrick, who died , aged sixty-three, was the author of this tract. john j. dredge. _was hugh peters ever on the stage?_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i possess "a dying father's last legacy to an onely child, or hugh peter's advice to his daughter. written by his own hand during his late imprisonment in the tower of london, and given her a little before his death. london, :" which advice he ends, p. ., with-- "the father of our lord jesus christ preserve you to his heavenly kingdom, my poor child. "to elizabeth peters." and then, after a poem at p. ., he commences a short sketch of his life with-- "i shall give you an account of myself and dealings, that (if possible) you may wipe off some dirt, or be the more content to carry it." that part of his life which would bear upon this subject reads thus, p. .:-- "when (at cambridge) i spent some years vainly enough, being but fourteen years old when thither i came, my tutor died, and i was exposed to my shifts. coming from thence, at london god struck me with the sense of my sinful estate by a sermon i heard under paul's." the wonderful success of his lecture at sepulchre's caused it to be asserted by his enemies, that his enthusiastic style of preaching was but stage buffoonery. (see p. .) "at this lecture the resort grew so great, that it contracted envie and anger ... there were six or seven thousand hearers ... and i went to holland:" thereby leaving his character to be maligned. i do not believe, from the tone of the condemned man's _legacy_, that he would purposely avoid any mention of the stage, had he appeared on it, and "usually performed the part of a clown;" in fact it appears, that immediately on his coming into london he was awakened by the "sermon under paul's, which stuck fast:" he almost directly left for essex, and was converted by "the love and labours of mr. thomas hooker. i there preacht;" so that he was mostly preaching itinerantly in essex, when it is asserted that he was "a player in shakespeare's company." that _legacy_ in question, and a book autograph of hugh peters, are at the service of dr. rimbault. blowen. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. all who take an interest in english philology will join in the wish expressed a few pages back by one of the highest authorities on the subject, mr. albert way--namely, "that the philological society has not abandoned their project of compiling a complete provincial glossary;" and will greet as a valuable contribution towards that great desideratum, every skilful attempt to record a local dialect. as such, mr. sternberg's valuable little book, _the dialect and folk lore of northamptonshire_, will meet a hearty welcome from our philological friends; and no less hearty a welcome from those who find in "popular superstitions, fairy-lore, and other traces of teutonic heathenism," materials for profitable speculation on the ancient mythology of these islands. we are bound to speak thus favourably of mr. sternberg's researches in this department, since some portion of them were first communicated by him to our folk-lore columns. books received.--_vestiges of the gael in gwynedd, by the rev. william basil jones, m.a._ a learned essay on the subject of deep interest to the antiquaries { } of the principality, involving, as it does among other questions, that of the claim of the gael, or the cymry, to be the aborigines of the country. _the book of family crests, comprising nearly every family bearing, properly blazoned and explained, accompanied by upwards of four thousand engravings, with the surnames of the bearers, dictionary of mottoes, and glossary of terms_, in vols., sixth edition. the best criticism on this popular work, with its _well blazoned_ title-page bearing the words sixth edition on its _honour point_, is to state, as a proof of its completeness, that it records the crests of upwards of ninety _smiths_, and nearly fifty _smyths_ and _smythes_. _illustrations of medieval costume in england, collected from mss. in the british museum_, by t. a. day and j. b. dines. when before did english antiquaries see four plates of costume, some of them coloured, sold for one shilling? as an attempt at cheapening and so popularising archæological literature, the work deserves encouragement. catalogues received.--william and norgate's ( . henrietta street, covent garden) german book circular, no. .; g. bumstead's ( . high holborn) catalogue part . of interesting and rare books; cole's ( . great turnstile) list no. . of very cheap books; b. quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue no. . of books in all languages. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. archÆologia. vol. . frere's translations from aristophanes. morrison's edit. of burns' works, vols., printed at perth. herd's collection of ancient and modern scottish songs, vol. . edin. . blind harry's "wallace," edited by dr. jamieson. to. companion volume to "the bruce." barrow's (isaac) works. vol. . ; or leaves a--d, "some account of the life," &c. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. r. c. p. "thal," "theam," "thealonia," _in the charter referred to, are certain rights of toll, of which the peculiarities will be found in any law dictionary; and "infangethe" was the privilege of judging any thief within the fee._ s. p. q. r. _we must refer this correspondent also to a law dictionary for a full explanation of the terms sergeant and sergeantcy. a deed_ poll _is plain at the top, and is so called to distinguish it from a deed_ indented, _which is cut in and out at the top._ tyro. _the work quoted as_ gammer gurton _in the_ arundines cami, _is the collection of_ nursery rhymes _first formed by ritson, and of which an enlarged edition was published by triphook in , under the title of_ gammer gurton's garland, _or_ the nursery parnassus, &c. r. c. _the music, &c. of_ "the roast beef of england," "britons strike home," _and_ "the grenadier's march," _will be found in mr. chappell's_ collection of national english airs. _webbe's glee_, "hail star of brunswick," _the words of which are by young, may doubtless be got at cramer's. we cannot point out a collection containing the words and music of_ "croppies lie down." k. r. h. m. _all received._ a. e. b. _is thanked for his suggested monogram, which shall not be lost sight of: also for his friendly criticism._ hermes. _we have received a packet from holland for our correspondent. will he inform us how it may be forwarded to him?_ m. or n. _the meaning of these initials in our_ catechism _and_ form of matrimony _is still involved in great obscurity. see_ "notes and queries," vol. i., pp. . .; vol. ii., p. . de navorscher. _mr. nult is the london agent for the supply of our dutch ally, the yearly subscription to which is about ten shillings._ "conder on provincial coins" _has been reported to the publisher. will the person who wants this book send his address?_ replies received.--_head of the saviour--borrow's danish ballads--mistletoe on oaks--lord howard of effingham--passage in merchant of venice--waste-book--dryden's absolom--ms. of bede--altar lights--auriga--ralph thoresby's library--st. john's bridge fair--closing rooms--north side of churchyards--barons of hugh lupus--tandem d. o. m.--fronte capillatâ--haybands in seals--hanger--countess of desmond--aristophanes on modern stage--engimatical epitaph--notes on newspapers--duncan campbell--ms. sermons by j. taylor--dr. dodd--d. o. m. s.--hooper's godly confession--finkle street--"she was--but words are wanting"--umbrella--conquest--old tract on the eucharist--prince of wales's motto--by hook or by crook--lights on the altar--derivation of fib, &c.--extradition, ignore, &c.--obeahism--thesaurus hospitii--christmas day--camden and curwen families--death by burning--organ blower--thomas may--friday weather._ vols. i. and ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * the london homoeopathic hospital, . golden-square: founded by the british homoeopathic association, and supported by voluntary contributions. patroness--h. r. h. the duchess of cambridge. vice-patron--his grace the duke of beaufort, k.g. treasurer--john dean paul, esq. (messrs. strahan and co., strand). the annual festival in aid of the funds of the charity, and in commemoration of the opening of this the first homoeopathic hospital established in london, will be held at the albion tavern, aldersgate-street, on thursday, the th of april next, the anniversary of the birth of samuel hahnemann: the most noble the marquis of worcester, m.p., v.p., in the chair. stewards. f. m. the marquis of anglesey rt. hon. the earl of chesterfield rt. hon. the earl of essex rt. hon. viscount sydney rt. hon. lord gray the viscount maldon the lord francis gordon the lord clarence paget, m.p. the lord alfred paget, m.p. culling charles smith, esq. marmaduke b. sampson, esq. f. foster quin, esq., m.d. nathaniel barton, esq. j. askew. esq. h. banister, esq. h. batemann, esq. capt. branford, r.n. f. blake, esq. h. cameron, esq. capt. chapman, r.a. f.r.s. h. cholmondeley, esq. j. b. crampern, esq. col. disbrowe w. dutton, esq. ed. esdaile, esq. w. m. fache, esq. fr. fuller, esq. h. goez, esq. j. gosnell, esq. g. hallett, esq. e. hamilton, esq., m.d. j. huggins, esq. p. hughes, esq. j. p. knight, esq., r.a. j. kidd, esq. t. r. leadam, esq. t. r. mackern, esq. v. massol, esq., m.d. j. mayne, esq., m.d. j. b. metcalfe, esq. c. t. p. metcalfe, esq. s. t. partridge, esq., m.d. t. piper, esq. w. piper, esq. r. pope, esq. h. reynolds, esq. a. robinson, esq. h. rosher, esq. c. j. sanders, esq. w. scorer, esq. rittson southall, esq. t. spicer, esq. j. smith, esq. c. snewin, esq. c. trueman, esq. t. uwins, esq., r.a. w. watkins, esq. j. wisewould, esq. d. w. witton, esq. s. yeldham, esq. j. g. young, esq. the responsibility of stewards is limited to the dinner ticket, s., and gentlemen who will kindly undertake the office are respectfully requested to forward their names to any of the stewards; or to the hon. secretary at the hospital. . golden-square. ralph buchan, hon. sec. { } * * * * * interesting new historical work. just ready, in two vols. vo., with portraits, s. bound. memoirs of horace walpole, and his contemporaries. including numerous original letters, chiefly from strawberry hill. edited by eliot warburton, esq. perhaps no name of modern times is productive of so many pleasant associations as that of horace walpole, and certainly no name was ever more intimately connected with so many different subjects of importance in connection with literature, art, fashion, and politics. the position of various members of his family connecting horace walpole with the cabinet, the court, and the legislature, his own intercourse with those characters who became remarkable for brilliant social and intellectual qualities, and his reputation as a wit, a scholar, and a virtuoso, cannot fail, it is hoped, to render his memoirs equally amusing and instructive. henry colburn, publisher, . great marlborough street. * * * * * very choice books, the remaining library of the late charles hebbert, esq.; valuable framed engravings. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on thursday, march , and two following days, the choice remaining library of the late charles hebbert, esq., consisting of standard english authors and fine books of prints, many on large paper, the whole in rich bindings; and (in the second and third days' sale) numerous curious books, english and foreign, variorum classics, aldines, &c. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * now ready, second edition, price s., cloth, the greek church. a sketch by the author of "proposals for christian union." "completes what may be justly termed, even in these days, a very cheap, interesting, and unique series of popular and most readable sketches of the main visible features of the christian world"--_english churchman._ the four preceding numbers on sale. second edition. s. each. london: james darling, great queen street, lincoln's-inn-fields. * * * * * published this day, in one handsome volume vo., with illustrations, price s. in cloth. the chronicle of battel abbey, in sussex, originally compiled in latin by a monk of the establishment, and now first translated, with notes and an abstract of the subsequent history of the abbey. by mark antony lower, m.a. mr. lower's other publications. essays on english surnames. the third edition, in vols. post vo., cloth s. curiosities of heraldry, with numerous engravings, vo., cloth s. j. russell smith, . old compton street, soho, london. * * * * * just published, vo. price s. d. vestiges of the gael in gwynedd. by the rev. w. basil jones, m.a., fellow of queen's college, oxford. william pickering, . piccadilly, london. r. mason, tenby. * * * * * athenÆum, waterloo place, london.--the members of the athenæum are informed that a supplement to the catalogue of the library, with a classified index of subjects, containing all additions made to the close of the year , may be obtained upon their personal application or written order addressed to the librarian, mr. spencer hall. the price of the catalogue and supplement is ten shillings, volumes, royal vo. members who purchased the first part of the catalogue printed in are entitled to the supplement. * * * * * lent. just published, new edition, fcap vo., cloth, large type, price s. d. short meditations for every day in the year. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. vol. ii--lent to easter. also a cheap edition, in small type, price d. cloth. leeds: richard slocombe. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * the devotional library. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. just published, the history of our lord and saviour jesus christ. with suitable meditations and prayers. by william reading, m.a. (reprinted from the edition of .) mo., cloth, price s. also, devout musings on the book of psalms. part . psalms lxxvi. to cx. price s. cloth; and vol. ., containing parts and , price s. d. cloth. leeds: richard slocombe. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * vo., price s. d. the tippets of the canons ecclesiastical. with illustrative woodcuts. by g. j. french. mo., price d. hints on the arrangement of colours in ancient decorative art. with some observations on the theory of complementary colours. by g. j. french. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * in anticipation of easter. the subscriber has prepared an ample supply of his well known and approved surplices, from s. to s., and various devices in damask communion linen, well adapted for presentation to churches. illustrated priced catalogues sent free to the clergy, architects, and churchwardens by post, on application to gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire. * * * * * just published, h. rodd's catalogue, part ii. , containing many curious and valuable books in all languages, some rare old poetry, plays, shakspeariana, &c. gratis, per post, four stamps. . little newport street, leicester square. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page st. stephen's day and riley's hoveden, by j. s. warden the holy trinity church, hull, by r. w. elliot minor notes:--italian-english--american names-- rulers of the world in --revocation of the edict of nantes queries:-- derivation of silo, by augustus strong minor queries:--handwriting--rev. joshua brooks--"new universal magazine"--francis browne--advent hymn--milton's correspondence--"begging the question"--passage of cicero minor queries with answers:--goldsmith's "haunch of venison" replies:-- school libraries, by weld taylor, p. h. fisher, &c. trench on proverbs, by t. j. buckton, &c. major andré passage in whiston helmets hampden's death peter allan, by shirley hibberd "could we with ink," &c., by the rev. moses margoliouth, &c. what day is it at our antipodes? photographic correspondence:--aceto-nitrate of silver--on the restoration of old collodion replies to minor queries:--admissions to inns of court-- inedited lyric by felicia hemans--derivation of britain-- derivation of the word celt--"kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira"-- cash--"antiquitas sæculi junentus mundi"--caves at settle, yorkshire--character of the song of the nightingale-- inscriptions in books--door-head inscription--fogie--sir w. hewet--ladies' arms borne in a lozenge--the crescent-- abigail--handbook to the library of the british museum--the arms of richard, king of the romans--greek and roman fortifications--osbernus filius herfasti--devonianisms--gentile names of the jews--longevity--reversible names--etymology of eve--manifesto of the emperor nicholas--binometrical verse--gale of rent miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. st. stephen's day and riley's hoveden. in roger de hoveden's account of the accident which proved fatal to leopold, duke of austria, the jailer of richard i. (bohn's edit., vol. ii. p. .), st. stephen's day, on which it occurred, is twice stated to be _before_ christmas day, instead of after it. is this an error of the author, or of translator?[ ] or are they right, and was st. stephen's martyrdom in those times commemorated on a different day from what it now is? i cannot find, on reference to the authorities within my reach, that this last was the case. mr. riley does not notice the discrepancy at all. in the translation of this volume, a few errors have come under my observation, to which i beg to call mr. r.'s attention: . in his note on corumphira's prophecy, at p. ., he seems to forget that the mahometan year differs from the julian by eleven or twelve days, and that in consequence a. d. does not correspond to a. h. ; in fact, the old astrologer is perfectly correct in his chronology, more so than in his predictions, many of which were signally falsified in the course of the next few years. . a mountain frequently mentioned by his author as projecting into the sea at the boundary of catalonia and valencia, and called "muncian," he says in a note at p. . is "probably montserrat," which is far from either the sea or the frontier; the maps of spain all show, near the town of vinaros on the east coast, a hill on the sea-shore called "monte sia," which still, as then, forms the boundary in that direction between the two provinces. . in his note at p. . on "mount gebel," the translator says, "he (the author) probably means stromboli;" surely the name of mongibello, and the mention of catania a few lines farther down should have shown him that etna only could be meant, although part of the mistake is due to hoveden himself, who talks of it as a separate island from sicily. mr. riley's other geographical notes are generally { } correct, though a little more pains might have greatly increased their number, to the elucidation of his author's account of the crusaders' proceedings in the east. . at p. . a well-known passage from horace is ascribed to juvenal. j. s. warden. [footnote : the text in the _scriptores post bedam_ reads:--"eodam anno die s. stephani protomartyris _infra_ natale domini."] * * * * * the holy trinity church, hull. there is an error in the heading of one of the architectural notes appended to the _proceedings of the arch. inst._ held at york in . from the description which is given (p. .), it is plain that the above church is the one to which the note refers; not that of st. mary's, which is the title of the article. the material of the whole church is not, also, "brick with stone dressings," as the note informs us, only the chancel, south porch, and south transept; all the rest is of stone, and in a very sad state of repair. a few years ago, the south transept was restored; but the ornamental part was worked in such bad stone, that the crockets of the pinnacles have already begun to moulder away. it is a curious fact, that bishop lyttleton, who visited hull in for the express purpose of "examining the walls of the town, and the materials of which the holy trinity church is constructed," should have stated in the _archæologia_ (vol. i. p. .) that there did not appear to be "_a single brick_ in or about the whole fabric, except a few in the south porch, placed there of late years." there is a matter of great archæological interest connected with the part of the church which is built of brick; for, as there is reason to believe that the chancel was raised in the year , there is good foundation for the supposition, that hull was "the first town to restore in this country the useful art of brickmaking" (frost's _hull_, p. .). the walls of the town, which were erected by royal licence in , and still standing with their gates and towers in the time of leland and camden, are described by them as being of brick. leland also says (_itin._, edit. hearne, fol. .) that the greater part of the "houses of the town at that tyme (richard ii.) was made al of brike." r. w. elliot. clifton. * * * * * minor notes. _italian-english_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following wholesale assassination of the english language was perpetrated in the form of a circular, and distributed among the british residents at naples in : "joseph the cook, he offer to one illuminated public and most particular for british knowing men in general one remarkable, pretty, famous, and splendid collection of old goods, all quite new, excavated from private personal diggings. he sells cooked clays, old marble stones, with basso-relievos, with stewing-pots, brass sacrificing pots, and antik lamps. here is a stocking of calves heads and feets for single ladies and amateurs travelling. also old coppers and candlesticks; with nola jugs, etruscan saucers, and much more intellectual minds articles; all entitling him to learned man's inspection to examine him, and supply it with illustrious protection, of which he hope full and valorous satisfaction. "n. b.--he make all the old thing brand new for gentlemans who has collections, and wishes to change him. he have also one manner quite original for make join two sides of different monies; producing one medallion, all indeed unique, and advantage him to sell by exportation for strange cabinets and museums of the exterior potentates." v. t. sternberg. _american names._--in the journal of thomas moore, lately published in lord john russell's memoirs of the poet, is the following passage, under date of october , : "some traveller in america mentions having met a man called romulus riggs; whether true or not, very like their mixture of the classical and the low." the name was borne by a very respectable man, who, in the year , was in partnership with his brother remus riggs, as a broker in georgetown, in the district of columbia. romulus, who survived his brother, afterwards became an eminent merchant in philadelphia, where he died a few years ago. uneda. philadelphia. _rulers of the world in ._--perhaps the following table, which i have recently met with in a foreign journal, may be thought of sufficient interest to make a note of. in these unsettled times, and in case of a general war, how much might it be changed! there are at present eighty-three empires, monarchies, republics, principalities, duchies, and electorates. there are six emperors, including his sable highness, faustin i. of st. domingo; sixteen kings, numbering among them jamaco, king of all the mosquitoes, and also those of dahomey and the sandwich islands; five queens, including ranavalona of madagascar, and pomare of the society islands; eighteen presidents, ten reigning princes, seven grand dukes, ten dukes, one pope, two sultans, of borneo and turkey; two governors, of entre rios and corrientes; one viceroy, of egypt; one shah, of persia; one imaun, of muscat; one ameer, of cabul; one bey, of tunis; and lastly; one director, of nicaragua. w. w. malta. { } _revocation of the edict of nantes._--the immense loss sustained by france in all her great interests, as affecting her civil and religious liberties, her commerce, trade, arts, sciences, not to speak of the unutterable anguish inflicted upon hundred of thousands of individuals (among whom were the writer's maternal ancestors,--their name, courage), by the revocation of the edict of nantes, has lately called into action the pens of some industrious and talented men of letters, among whom m. weiss is one of the most meritorious. his interesting work, i observe, is about to receive an english dress. in the shape of a note through your medium, in order that the translator may avail himself of information which, possibly, may not have reached him, it should be known that mr. william jones, one of the highly respected and accomplished _employés_ of the british museum, has written a letter to the _journal des débats_ (inserted in its number of nov. , and signed with his name), containing farther information of a painfully-absorbing nature, from documents in the museum, respecting the _dragonnades_, and the sufferings and persecutions of a french pastor. john macray. oxford. * * * * * queries. derivation of silo. can you or any of your correspondents inform me what is the derivation of the word _silo_? for many years after the colony of new south wales was founded, it was almost wholly dependent upon the mother country for such supplies of grain, &c. as were necessary for the life and health of its inhabitants; and, consequently, store ships were regularly despatched from our shores to sydney. it happened however that, in consequence of wrecks and other disasters, the colonists were, on more than one occasion, reduced to the greatest distress, and starvation almost began to stare them in the face. under these circumstances, one of the early governors of sydney, to prevent the recurrence of famine, gathered a large supply of corn and deposited it in granaries which he had excavated out of the solid rock at the head of the bay, near the mouth of the paramatta river. these were termed _silos_ or _siloes_: they were hermetically sealed up, and from time to time the old corn was exchanged for new. the supply of corn in these remarkable storehouses is still kept up; nor as late as the time of my departure from those colonies last year, did i hear of any intention of discontinuing this old custom. now the termination of this word in _o_ marks it as spanish; and accordingly, on reference to baretti's dictionary of that language, i find the word "silo, a subterraneous granary." but, sir, this discovery only raises another question, and one which i wish much to see solved. a spanish substantive must be for the most part the name of something existing at some time or other in spain. _when_, therefore, did such granaries exist in spain, _in what part_ of the country, and _under what circumstances_? augustus strong. walcot rectory, bath. * * * * * minor queries. _handwriting._--i should be much obliged if any of your correspondents could inform me (and that soon) whether there be published, in english, french, german, or spanish (though it is most desired in english), a manual giving a standard alphabet for the various kinds of writing now in use, viz. english hand, engrossing, italian, german text, &c., with directions for teaching the same; in fact, a sort of writing-master's key: and if so, what is its title, and where it can be procured. a friend believes to have seen such a work advertised in _the athenæum_ (probably three or four years ago), but has no recollection of the name. e. b. _rev. joshua brooks_.--can any of your numerous readers inform me as to the early history of the late rev. joshua brooks, who was for many years chaplain of the collegiate church, manchester, and who died in ? c. ( .) "_new universal magazine._"--i wish to know the time of the commencement and termination of the _the new universal magazine, or lady's polite instructor_. a few volumes are in the british museum. vol. vi. is for july to january . d. _francis browne._--anthony browne, first viscount montague, married, secondly, magdalen, daughter of lord dacre of gillesland, from whom descended (amongst others) sir henry browne of kiddington. this sir henry married twice: his second wife was mary anne, daughter of sir p. hungate; by her he had issue sir peter browne, who died of wounds at naseby. sir peter married margaret, daughter of sir henry knollys, and had two sons, henry and _francis_. did this francis browne ever marry? and if so, whom, and when, and where? newburiensis. _advent hymn._--why is this hymn not included amongst those at the end of the book of common prayer? might it not be added to those already given for the other festivals of the church, &c.? it { } would be an advantage in those churches where the prayer book psalms are used, and might avoid the necessity of having separate psalm and hymn books; a custom much to be objected to, differing as they do in different churches, as well as preventing strangers from taking part in them. willo. _milton's correspondence._--has any english translation of milton's _latin familiar correspondence_ been published; and if so, when and by whom? cranston. "_begging the question._"--will any correspondent explain this phrase, and give its origin? carnatic. _passage of cicero._--i lately met with a writer of some deep learning and research, who, amongst other topics, entered into the subject of musical inflection by orators, &c. now, unfortunately, the title and preface of the book is absent without leave, nor is there any heading to it, so i can do no more than say, the author refers to a passage in these words: "cicero declares that only three tones or variations of sound, or interval, were used in speaking in his time; whereas now our preachers, orators, and elocutionists take in a range of eight at least." will some indulgent reader of "n. & q." tell me where such a passage occurs? semi-tone. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _goldsmith's "haunch of venison._"--what is the name in this poem beginning with h, which goldsmith makes to rhyme with "beef?" the metre requires it to be a monosyllable, but there is no name that i have ever heard of that would answer in this place. is the h a mistake for k, which would give a well-known irish name? j. s. warden. [a variation in the aldine edition gives the line-- "there's coley and williams, and howard and hiff." mr. bolton corney, in his unrivalled edition of goldsmith's _poetical works_, , has furnished the following note:--"_howard_=h. howard? author of _the choice spirits museum_, ; _coley_=colman, says horace walpole; _h--rth_=hogarth? a surgeon of golden square; _hiff_=paul hiffernan, m.d., author of _dramatic genius_, &c." mr. peter cunningham, in his forthcoming edition of _goldsmith_, will probably tell us more. * * * * * replies. school libraries. (vol. viii., pp. . . .) when i mentioned the above subject in "n. & q.," i admit that my meaning may have taken too wide a signification. i, however, wrote advisedly, my object being to draw the attention of those schools that were in fault, and in the hope of benefiting those that desired to do more. i suppose i must exonerate tonbridge, therefore, from any aspersion; and as it appears they are well provided, from bacon and newton to _punch_ and the _family friend_, i am at a loss to know how i can be of service. of the defects in popular education i am as sensible as the rest of the multitude appear to be, and my particular view of the case would, i fear, be too lengthy a subject for these columns. it is quite clear, however, that education is partial, and in some sort a monopoly; its valuable branches being altogether out of the reach of more than half the population, and the staple industry of the people not sufficiently represented,--as, for instance, the steam-engine. in them there is not sufficient concentration, if i may use the term, of instruction; and the requirements of many arts and trades insufficiently carried out; the old schools and old colleges much too classical and mathematical. if this position is untrue, no popular scheme can be adopted at present; but it appears more than probable that before long the subject will be brought before the house of commons, and education made accessible to all. as to the money for the purpose, the country will never grudge that. the obstacle appears to lie more in persuading the endless religious sects into which we are divided to shake hands over the matter. at present my only desire is, that boys at public schools should have plenty of books, being assured that reading while we are young leaves a very strong and permanent impression, and cannot be estimated too highly; besides which, if a youth has access to works suited to his natural bent, he will unconsciously lay in a store of valuable information adapted to his future career. weld taylor. when i was at the college school, gloucester, in , there was a considerable library in a room adjoining the upper school. i never knew the books used by the boys, though the room was unlocked: in fact, it was used by the upper master as a place of chastisement; for there was kept the block (as it was called) on which the unfortunate culprits were horsed and whipped. the library, no doubt, contained many valuable and excellent works; but the only book of which i know the name as having been in it (and that { } only by a report in the newspapers of the day) was oldham's _poems_, which, after a fire which occurred in the school-room, was said to have been the only book returned of the many which had been taken away. p. h. fisher. stroud. in knight's _life of dean colet_ ( vo., london, ), founder of st. paul's school, there is a catalogue of the books in the library of the school at the date specified. the number of the volumes is added up at the end of the catalogue, in ms., and the total amount is volumes. the latest purchases bear the date of , and are:--pierson (sic) _on the creed_, greenwood's _english grammar_, and terentius _in usum delphini_. the books for the most part are of a highly valuable and standard character. does the library still exist? have many additions been made to it up to the present time? and is there a printed catalogue of it? j. m. oxford. * * * * * trench on proverbs. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the error, which luther was the first to fall into, in departing from the anciently received version of ps. cxxvii. ., mendelsohn adopted; but no translator of eminence has followed these two hebraists; although some critics have been carried away by their authority to the proper jewish notion of "gain," and not sleep, being the subject. luther's version--"denn seinen freunden gibt er _es_ schlafend"--was certainly before the revisers of our authorised version of james i.; but was rejected, i consider, as ungrammatical and false: _ungrammatical_, because the transitive verb "give" (_gibt_) has no accusative noun; and _false_, because he supplies, without authority, the place of the missing noun by the pronoun "it" (_es_), there being no antecedent to which this _it_ refers. mendelsohn omits the _it_ in his hebrew comment, supplied however unauthorisedly by mr. margoliouth in his translation of such comment. but mendelsohn introduces the "_es_" (it), in his german version (berlin, , dedicated to ramler), without however any authority from the hebrew original of this psalm. he is therefore at variance with himself. and, farther, he has omitted altogether the important word [hebrew: kein] (_so_ or _thus_), rendered "_denn_" (for) by luther. as to the "unintelligible authorised version," i must premise that no version has yet had so large an amount of learning bestowed on it as the english one; indeed it has fairly beaten out of the field all the versions of all other sections of christians. the difficulty of the english version arises from its close adherence to the oriental letter; but if we put the scope of this psalm into the vernacular, such difficulty is eliminated. solomon says, in this psalm: "without jehovah's support, my house will fall: if he keep this city, the watch, with its early-risings, late-resting, and ill-feeding, is useless: _thus he_ (by so keeping or watching the city himself) _gives sleep to him whom he loves_." the remainder of the psalm refers to the increase of population as jehovah's gift, wherein solomon considers the strength of the city to consist. the words in italics correspond precisely in sense with those of the authorised version--"_for_ so he giveth his beloved sleep;" and the latter is supported fully by all the ancient versions, and, as far as i can at present ascertain, by all the best modern ones. t. j. buckton. lichfield. what is there _unintelligible_ in the authorised translation of psalm cxxvii. ., "he giveth his beloved sleep?" it is a literal translation of three very plain words, of the simplest grammatical construction, made in accordance with all the ancient versions. a difficulty there does indeed exist in the passage, viz. in the commencing word [hebrew: kn]; but this word, though capable of many _intelligible_ meanings, does not enter into the present question. since the great majority of critics have been contented to see no objection to the received translations, it is perfectly allowable to maintain that the proposed rendering makes, instead of removing, a difficulty, and obscures a passage which, as generally understood, is sufficiently lucid. hengstenberg's difficulty is, that the subject is not about the _sleep_, but the _gain_. but is not sleep a gain? can we forget the [greek: hupnou dôron] of homer? that is, sufficient, undisturbed sleep, rest. hengstenberg's remark, that all, even the beloved, must labour, is a mere truism. the psalmist evidently opposes excessive and over-anxious labours, interfering with natural rest, to ordinary labour accompanied with refreshing sleep. the object of his censure is precisely the [greek: merimna] which forms the subject of our lord's warning; who censures not due care and providence, but over-anxiety. burkius rightly remarks, that [hebrew: shn'] is antithetical to _surgere, sedere, dolorum_. hammond observes, with far more clearness and good sense than hengstenberg, "for as to the former of these, wicked men that incessantly moil, and cark, and drudge for the acquiring of it, and never enjoy any of the comforts of this life, through the vehement pursuit of riches, are generally frustrated and disappointed in their aims: whereas, on the contrary, those who have god's blessing thrive insensibly, become very prosperous, _and yet never lose any sleep in the pursuit of it_." bishop horne agrees; his remarks having evident reference to hammond's. so bishop { } horsley, more briefly, but with his usual force: "you take all this trouble for your security in vain, whilst he gives his beloved sleep." dr. french and mr. skinner adhere to the same sense in their translation, and pertinently refer to psalms iii. and iv., in which the psalmist, though beset by enemies, lies down and takes his rest, defended by god his keeper. so far, indeed, from seeing anything unintelligible, i see no obscurity, either of expression or connexion, in this view, but very great obscurity in the double ellipsis now proposed. in the received translation we have a transitive verb, and a noun, obviously its accusative, according to the natural sequence and simple construction of the hebrew language. in the proposed rendering we must understand an accusative case after _giveth_ (i.e. _bread_, as rosenmüller and others observe), and a particle before _sleep_. the transitive verb has no subject; the noun nothing to govern it. we must guess at both. as for the alleged instances of ellipses, i maintain they are not analogous. i cannot call to mind any which are; and if any of your correspondents would show some they would do good service. hengstenberg's examples of [hebrew: tsrb], [hebrew: bqr], &c. are surely not in point. we have a similar ellipsis, often used in idiomatic english, _morning_, _noon_, and _night_; but who would say _sleep_, instead of _in sleep_, or _while asleep_? the ellipses in the psalms, in the songs of degrees themselves, are very numerous, but they are of a different nature; and neither the position nor the nature of the word [hebrew: shn'] warrants that now defended, as far i can remember. may i remark, by the way, that the psalm falls rather into three strophes than into two. the first speaks of the raising up of the house, and of the city (an aggregation of houses), protected by the almighty. the last is in parallelism to the first, though, as often happens, expanded; and speaks of the raising up of the family, and of the family arrived at maturity, the defenders of the city, through the same protecting providence. the central portion is the main and cardinal sentiment, viz. the vanity of mere human labour, and the peace of those who are beloved of god. john jebb. there is a proverb which foretells peril to such as interpose in the quarrels of others. but as neither mr. trench, nor e. m. b., nor mr. margoliouth, have as yet betrayed any disposition to quarrel about the question in dispute, a looker-on need not be afraid of interposing. the query, about the solution of which they differ, is the proper mode of rendering the last clause of v. . ps. cxxvii. in our liturgy and bible it is rendered, "_for_ so he giveth his beloved sleep;" of which e. m. b. says, "it seems to me to be correct;" though he justly observes that "he will give" would be more close. mr. trench appears to have rendered it, "he giveth his beloved _in their_ sleep." mr. margoliouth says "the words should be, he will give to his beloved _whilst he_ [the beloved] _is_ asleep." in each case the italics, as usual, designate words not existing in the hebrew text. when expositors would get through a difficult passage, their readers have, not unfrequently, the vexation of finding that a word of some importance has been ignored. such has been the case here with the little word [hebrew: kn], which introduces the clause. its ordinary meaning is _so_; and the office of the word _so_, in such a position, is to lead the remind to revert to what has been previously said, as necessary to the proper application of what follows. now, the psalmist's theme was the vanity of all care and labour, unless the lord both provide for and watch over his people; _for_ so he will give his beloved sleep--that happy, confiding repose which the solicitude of the worldly cannot procure. this is, surely, intelligible enough and even if [hebrew: kn] may be translated _for_ (which noldius, in his _concordantia particularum_, affirms that it here may, adducing however but one dubious instance of its being so used elsewhere, viz. jeremiah xiv. .), or if the various reading, [hebrew: ky], be accepted, which would mean _for_, our version of the clause will be quite compatible with either alteration. in this concentrated proposition are contained, the mode of giving, _so_; the character of the recipient, _his beloved_; and we reasonably expect to be next told what the lord will give, and the text accordingly proceeds to say, _sleep_. whereas, if either mr. trench's or mr. margoliouth's version of the clause could properly be accepted, the gift would remain entirely unmentioned; after attention had been called to the giver, to his mode of giving, and to the recipient who might expect his bounty. but whilst mr. trench is constrained to interpolate _in their_, apparently unconscious that the hebrew requires _beloved_ to be in the singular number, mr. margoliouth translates [hebrew: shn'] as if it were a participle, which luther seems also to have heedlessly done. yet unless [hebrew: shn'] be a noun, derived with a little irregularity from [hebrew: yshn], _he slept_, it has nothing to do with sleep. it cannot be the participle of [hebrew: yshn], for that verb has a participle in the usual form, not wanting the initial [hebrew: y], which occurs in several places in the old testament, and is used by mendelsohn in the very sentence mr. margoliouth has quoted from that jewish expositor. the critic who will not acknowledge [hebrew: shn'] to be a noun in this clause, is therefore tied up to translating it as either the participle or the preterite of [hebrew: shn'], _to change_, or _to repeal_, and would thus make the clause really unintelligible. henry walter. { } n. b. inquires, whether the translation of psalm cxxvii. . adopted by mr. trench has the sanction of any version but that of luther. i beg leave to inform him that the passage was translated in the same manner by coverdale: "for look, to whom it pleaseth him he giveth it in sleep." de wette also, in modern times, has "giebt er seinen geliebten im schlafe." vatablus, in his annotations, approves of such a rendering: "dabit in somno dilectis suis." it has also been suggested in the notes of several modern critics. not one of the ancient versions sanctions this translation. the sense of the passage will be much the same whichever of these translations be adopted. but the common rendering appears to me to harmonise best with the preceding portion of it. s. d. * * * * * major andrÉ. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the following extracts and cuttings from newspapers, relative to the unfortunate major andré, may interest your correspondent serviens. i believe i have some others, which i will send when i can lay my hand upon them. i inclose a pencil copy of the scarce print of a sketch from a pen-and-ink drawing, made by andré himself on oct. , , of his crossing the river when he was taken: "_visit to the grave of andré._--we stopped at piermont, on the widest part of tappan bay, where the hudson extends itself to the width of three miles. on the opposite side, in full view from the hotel, is tarrytown, where poor andré was captured. tradition says that a very large white-wood tree, under which he was taken, was struck by lightning on the very day that news of andré's death was received at tarrytown. as i sat gazing on the opposite woods, dark in the shadows of moonlight, i thought upon how very slight a circumstance often depends the fate of individuals and the destiny of nations. in the autumn of , a farmer chanced to be making cider at a mill on the east bank of the hudson, near that part of haverstraw bay called 'mother's lap.' two young men, carrying muskets, as usual in those troubled times, stopped for a draught of sweet cider, and seated themselves on a log to wait for it. the farmer found them looking very intently on some distant object, and inquired what they saw. 'hush, hush!' they replied; 'the red coats are yonder, just within the lap,' pointing to an english gun-boat, with twenty-four men, lying on their oars. behind the shelter of a rock, they fired into the boat, and killed two persons. the british returned a random shot; but ignorant of the number of their opponents, and seeing that it was useless to waste ammunition on a hidden foe, they returned whence they came with all possible speed. this boat had been sent to convey major andré to the british sloop-of-war vulture, then lying at anchor off teller's point. shortly after andré arrived, and finding the boat gone, he, in attempting to pass through the interior, was captured. had not those men stopped to drink sweet cider, it is probable that andré would not have been hung; the american revolution might have terminated in quite a different fashion; men now deified as heroes might have been handed down to posterity as traitors; our citizens might be proud of claiming descent from tories, and slavery have been abolished eight years ago, by virtue of our being british colonies. so much may depend on a draught of cider! but would england herself have abolished slavery had it not been for the impulse given to free principles by the american revolution? probably not. it is not easy to calculate the consequences involved even in a draught of cider, for no fact stands alone; each has infinite relations. a very pleasant ride at sunset brought us to orange town, to the lone field where major andré was executed. it is planted with potatoes, but the plough spares the spot on which was once his gallows and his grave. a rude heap of stones, with the remains of a dead fir tree in the midst, are all that mark it; but tree and stones are covered with names. it is on an eminence commanding a view of the country for miles. i gazed on the surrounding woods, and remembered that on this selfsame spot, the beautiful and accomplished young man walked back and forth, a few minutes preceding his execution, taking an earnest farewell look of earth and sky. my heart was sad within me. our guide pointed to a house in full view, at half a mile's distance, which he told us was at that time the head-quarters of general washington. i turned my back suddenly upon it. the last place on earth where i would wish to think of washington is at the grave of andré. i know that military men not only sanction but applaud the deed; and, reasoning according to the maxims of war, i am well aware how much can be said in his defence. that washington considered it a duty, the discharge of which was most painful to him, i doubt not. but, thank god, the instincts of any childhood are unvitiated by any such maxims. from the first hour i read of the deed, until the present day, i never did, and never could, look upon it as otherwise than cool, deliberate murder. that the theory and practice of war commends the transaction, only serves to prove the infernal nature of war itself.... a few years ago, the duke of york requested the british consul to send the remains of major andré to england. at that time two thriving firs were found near the grave, and a peach-tree; which a lady in the neighbourhood had planted there, in the kindness of her heart. the farmers who came to witness the interesting ceremony generally evinced the most respectful tenderness for the memory of the unfortunate dead, and many of the children wept. a few idlers, educated by militia trainings and fourth of july declaration, began to murmur that the memory of general washington was insulted by any respect shown to the remains of andré; but the offer of a treat lured them to the tavern, where they soon became too drunk to guard the character of washington. it was a beautiful day, and these disturbing spirits being removed, the impressive ceremony proceeded in solemn silence. { } the coffin was in good preservation, and contained all the bones, with a small quantity of dust. the roots of the peach-tree had entirely interwoven the skull with their fine network. his hair, so much praised for its uncommon beauty, was tied, on the day of his execution, according to the fashion of the times. when his grave was opened, half a century afterwards, the riband was found in perfect preservation, and sent to his sister in england. when it was known that the sarcophagus containing his remains had arrived in new york, for london, many ladies sent garlands and emblematic devices, to be wreathed around it, in memory of the 'beloved and lamented andré.' in their compassionate hearts, the teachings of nature were unperverted by maxims of war, or that selfish jealousy which dignifies itself with the name of patriotism. blessed be god, that custom forbids women to electioneer or fight. may the sentiment remain till war and politics have passed away! had not women and children been kept free from their polluting influence, the medium of communication between earth and heaven would have been completely cut off. at the foot of the eminence where the gallows had been erected, we found an old dutch farm-house, occupied by a man who witnessed the execution, and whose father often sold peaches to the unhappy prisoner. he confirmed the account of andré's uncommon personal beauty, and had a vivid remembrance of the pale but calm heroism with which he met his untimely death."--from miss child's _letters from new york_. "_andré._--at the little town of tappan, the unfortunate major andré, condemned by the council of war as a spy, was executed and buried. his remains were disinterred a few years ago, by order of the english government, carried to england, and, if i mistake not, deposited in westminster abbey; whilst the remains of general frazer, who fell like a hero, at the head of the king's troops, lie without a monument in the old redoubt near still water. the tree that grew over andré's grave was likewise sent to england; and, as i was told, planted in the king's garden, behind carlton palace."--duke of weimar's _travels_. "_disinterment of major andré_.--this event took place at tappan on friday, th inst., at one p. m., amidst a considerable concourse of ladies and gentlemen that assembled to witness this interesting ceremony. the british consul, with several gentlemen, accompanied by the proprietor of the ground and his labourers, commenced their operations at eleven o'clock, by removing the heap of loose stones that surrounded and partly covered the grave. great caution was observed in taking up a small peach-tree that was growing out of the grave, as the consul stated his intention of sending it to his majesty, to be placed in one of the royal gardens. considerable anxiety was felt lest the coffin could not be found, as various rumours existed of its having been removed many years ago. however, when at the depth of three feet, the labourers came to it. the lid was broken in the centre, and had partly fallen in, but was kept up by resting on the skull. the lid being raised, the skeleton of the brave andré appeared entire; bone to bone, each in its place, without a vestige of any other part of his remains, save some of his hair, which appeared in small tufts; and the only part of his dress was the leather string which tied it. "as soon as the curiosity of the spectators was gratified, a large circle was formed; when mr. eggleso, the undertaker, with his assistants, uncovered the sarcophagus, into which the remains were carefully removed. this superb depository, in imitation of those used in europe for the remains of the illustrious dead, was made by mr. eggleso, of broadway, of mahogany; the pannels covered with rich crimson velvet, surrounded by a gold bordering; the rings of deep burnished gold; the pannel also crimson velvet, edged with gold; the inside lined with black velvet; the whole supported by four gilt balls. "the sarcophagus, with the remains, has been removed on board his majesty's packet; where, it is understood, as soon as some repairs on board are completed, an opportunity will be afforded of viewing it."--from the _new york evening post_ of aug. . "the remains of the lamented major andré have (as our readers already know) been lately removed from the spot where they were originally interred in the year , at tappan, new york, and brought to england in the phæton frigate by order of his royal highness the duke of york. yesterday the sarcophagus was deposited in front of the cenotaph in westminster abbey, which was erected by his late majesty to the memory of this gallant officer. the reinterment took place in the most private manner, the dean of westminster superintending in person, major-gen. sir herbert taylor attending on the part of his royal highness the commander-in-chief and mr. locker, secretary to greenwich hospital, on behalf of the three surviving sisters of the deceased."--from newspaper of which the name and date have not been preserved. g. c. with many thanks for the obliging replies to my query for information concerning this gentleman, i would desire to repeat it in a more specific form. can none of your readers inform me whether there do not remain papers, &c. of or concerning major andré, which might without impropriety be at this late day given to the world; and if so, by what means access could be had thereto? are there none such in the british museum, or in the state paper offices? my name and address are placed with the editor of this journal, at the service of any correspondent who may prefer to communicate with me privately. serviens. major andré occupied dr. franklin's house when the british army was in philadelphia in and . when it evacuated the city, andré carried off with him a portrait of the doctor, which has never been heard of since. the british officers amused themselves with amateur theatricals at the south street theatre in southwark, then the only one in philadelphia, theatres being prohibited in the city. the tradition here is, that andré painted the scenes. they were { } destroyed with the theatre by fire about thirty-two years ago. m. e. philadelphia. * * * * * passage in whiston. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the book for which j.t. inquires is: "the important doctrines of original sin, justification by faith and regeneration, clearly stated from scripture and reason, and vindicated from the doctrines of the methodists; with remarks on mr. law's late tract on new birth. by _thomas_ whiston, a.b. printed for john whiston, at the boyle's head, fleet street. pp. ." i do not know who the author was. perhaps a son of the celebrated _william_ whiston, six of whose works are advertised on the back of the title-page; and whose _memoirs_, lond. , are "sold by mr. whiston in fleet street." if the passage cited by j. t. is all that taylor says of thomas whiston, it conveys an erroneous notion of his pamphlet, which from pp. . to . is occupied by the question of regeneration. i think his doctrine may be shortly stated thus: regeneration accompanies the baptism of adults, and follows that of infants. in the latter case, the time is uncertain; but the fact is ascertainable by the recipients becoming spiritually minded. afterwards he says: "i cannot dismiss this subject without observing _another sense of regeneration_ in the gospel. however, _this makes no alteration in the doctrine i have before established_; because, with us, regeneration and new birth are terms that bear the same exact meaning. what i before delivered of the spiritual new birth or regeneration is strictly true, though the word regeneration _is sometimes used in another sense_. it is not to be there understood of a spiritual or figurative birth, but of a literal and actual revival of the body from corruption. but _this is not that new birth we have before inquired after_, but only the assured and certain consequence of our preserving ourselves to the end in that spiritual state or birth we have entered into in this world. that i do not represent the sense of the word regeneration unfairly, may be gathered from matt. xix. ., rightly pointed and distinguished: "'and jesus said unto them, verily i say unto you, that ye which have followed me (in the _regeneration_, when the son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory), ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of israel.' here regeneration _is not to be understood in the same sense as the new birth or regeneration mentioned by our saviour_ (john iii.), from whence the new birth is to be derived and stated; but, as i before observed, must be referred to a literal restoration to life, _i. e_. either to the general resurrection, or rather to the millennium, when christ is to reign upon earth over the saints for a thousand years, after the dissolution of the present form of it. i make no doubt that this latter opinion is the genuine sense of the text i have quoted from st. matthew; and consequently, that regeneration, _in this passage_, is to be applied to the first resurrection of the dead, or to the supposed millennium."--pp. , . the above will show that thomas whiston did not "_maintain_ that regeneration is a literal and physical being born again," in the sense which the passage quoted by j. t. conveys. i have not seen taylor's work with the date . as the name is common, and the pamphlets and sermons of that time on original sin are innumerable, many taylors may have written besides the one mentioned by [greek: halieus]. j. t.'s taylor cannot be excused even on the ground of having read only a part of the book he misrepresented: for he refers to p. ., from which he must have seen that thomas whiston there explained only an isolated passage. h. b. c. garrick club. * * * * * helmets. (vol. viii., p. .) the following observations upon the helmet, by stephen martin leake, esq., garter, may be acceptable to your querist s. n. "the helmet, called _galea_ by the greeks, _cassis_ by the romans, is called _helm_ (which signifies the head) by the germans; whence the french _heaume_, and our _helmet_. it is of great account with the germans: the helm and crest deriving their use from tournaments, whence arms took their origin; and this being with them the most essential mark of noblesse, neither the germans nor french allow a new made gentleman to bear a helmet, but only a wreath of his colours; and when he is a gentleman of three descents, to bear a helmet with three barrs for his three descents (menestrier, _abrégé méthodique des armoiries_, , p. .; _origine des ornemens des armoiries_, p. .). _tymbre_ is the general word used for the casque or helm by the french. menestrier, in his _origine des ornemens des armoiries_, p. ., says the modern heralds observe three things with regard to the _tymbre_: the matter, the form, and the situation. that kings should have their helmets of gold open, and in full front; princes and lords of silver, and somewhat turned with a certain number of barrs, according to their degree; gentlemen to have their helmets of steel, and in profile. colombiere assigns a knight a helmet bordered with silver, barons with gold, counts and viscounts the like, and the barrs gold; marquisses the helm same, and damasked with gold; dukes and princes the gold helmet, damasked. and as to the barrs, new gentlemen without any; gentlemen of three descents, three barrs; knights and ancient gentlemen, five; barons seven; counts and viscounts nine; marquisses eleven. but moreau, who first propagated these inventions (_origine des ornemens des armoiries_, p. .), assigns to an emperor or king eleven, a prince or duke nine, a marquis and count seven, a baron five: whence it seems there is no { } certain rule or uniform practice observed herein, unless in the situation of the helmet, wherein both the germans and french account it more noble to bear an open helmet than a close one; but these are novel distinctions. anciently, the helmets were all turned to the right, and close; and it is but some years since, says menestrier (_abrégé méthodique_, , p. .), that they began to observe the number of grilles or barrs, to distinguish the different degrees. but however ingenious these inventions are, it is certain that they are useless (as gold and silver helmets would be) because every rank of nobility is distinguished by the coronet proper to his degree. whatever honour may be attributed to the helmet, the use of it with the arms is but modern; and upon the coins of kings and sovereign princes, where they are chiefly to be met with, the helmets are barred, and either full or in profile, as best suited the occasion; and upon the garter plates of christian duke of brunswick ( ), gustavus adolphus king of sweden ( ), and charles count palatine of the rhine ( and ), they are full fronted with seven barrs. "in great britain we have but four kinds of helmets, according to the four different degrees in the state--the king, the nobility, knights, and gentry. the sovereign helmet full fronted, having seven barrs or guards, visure without any bever; the nobilities the same, but half turned to the right, and usually showing four barrs; the knight's helmet full fronted, with the bever turned up; and the gentleman's in profile, the bever or visor close; using steel helmets for all as the only proper metal for a helmet common to all. foreigners condemn us for attributing that helmet to a knight, which they give to a king; and more proper, says mackensie, for a king without guard-visure than for a knight (_science of heraldry_, p. .), because knights are in danger, and have less need to command. but it must be observed, the knight's helmet has a visor, and no barrs; the sovereign's barrs, because no visor. and this kind of helmet, with barrs instead of a visor, seems to have been contrived for princes and great commanders, who would have been incommoded by the visor, and too much exposed without anything, therefore had barrs: whereas knights being, according to mackensie, in more danger and having less need to command, had their helmet for action; and are represented with the bever up, ready to receive the king or general's command. as to the resemblance of the one to the other, both being in full front, the connexion was not anciently so remote as seems at this day. knighthood is the first and most ancient military honour, and therefore at this day sovereign princes and knights are the only two honours universally acknowledged. knighthood is the source of all honours, and of all military glory, and an honour esteemed by and conferred upon kings; without which they were heretofore thought incomplete, and could not confer that honour on others, no more than ordination could be conferred by one unordained: so that there was a very near connexion between sovereignty and knighthood. and besides, the propriety of the open helmet with a visor for a knight, and the helmet guard-visure for a king, the latter is more ornamental, especially if, according to the modern practice, the barrs are gold. as the king's helmet is without a visor, and barred, so is that of the nobility in imitation of it, but turned to the right as a proper distinction as, in like manner, that of the gentry differs from the knights. as there are in fact but two orders of men, nobility of which the king is the first degree, and gentry of which knights are the first, so they are by this means sufficiently distinguished according to their respective orders and degrees: the first order distinguished by the barred helmet, the gentry by the visored helmet with proper differences of the second degrees of each class from the first; and all other distinctions more than this are unnecessary and useless. "the helmet does not seem to have been formerly used but in a military way, and affairs of chivalry. i do not find any helmets upon the monuments of our kings of england, nor upon other ancient monuments, nor upon any of the great seals, coins, or medals. upon the plates of the knights of the garter at windsor, all degrees used the old profile close helmet till about , some few excepted; and soon after, the helmet with barrs came into fashion, and was used for all degrees of nobility, and it has continued ever since; and the same has been used for all degrees of nobility upon the plates of the knights of the bath, those that are knights only using a knight's helmet. and the same may be observed in sir edward walker's _books of the nobility from the restoration to the revolution_, wherein all degrees have the helmet turned towards the right, showing four barrs; the sovereign's being full with seven barrs." g. * * * * * hampden's death. (vol. viii., p. .) "on the st of july, , the corpse of john hampden was disinterred by the late lord nugent for the purpose of settling the disputed point of history as to the manner in which the patriot received his death-wound. the examination seems to have been conducted after a somewhat bungling fashion for a scientific object, and the facts disclosed were these: 'on lifting up the right arm we found that it was dispossessed of its hand. we might therefore naturally conjecture that it had been amputated, as the bone presented a perfectly flat appearance, as if sawn off by some sharp instrument. on searching under the cloths, to our no small astonishment we found the hand, or rather a number of small bones, inclosed in a separate cloth. for about six inches up the arm the flesh had wasted away, being evidently smaller than the lower part of the left arm, to which the hand was very firmly united, and which presented no symptoms of decay further than the two bones of the forefinger loose. even the nails remained entire, of which we saw no appearance in the cloth containing the remains of the right hand.... the clavicle of the right shoulder was firmly united to the scapula, nor did there appear any contusion or indentation that evinced symptoms of any wound ever having been inflicted. the left shoulder, on the contrary, was smaller and sunken in, as if the clavicle had been displaced. to { } remove all doubts, it was adjudged necessary to remove the arms, which were amputated with a penknife (!). the socket of the left (_sic_) arm was perfectly white and healthy, and the clavicle firmly united to the scapula, nor was there the least appearance of contusion or wound. the socket of the right (_sic_) shoulder, on the contrary, was of a brownish cast, and the clavicle being found quite loose and disunited from the scapula, proved that dislocation had taken place. the bones, however, were quite perfect.' these appearances indicated that injuries had been received both in the hand and shoulder, the former justifying the belief in sir robert pye's statement to the harleys, that the pistol which had been presented to him by sir robert, his son-in-law, had burst and shattered his hand in a terrible manner at the action of chalgrave field; the latter indicating that he had either been wounded in the shoulder by a spent ball, or had received an injury there by falling from his horse after his hand was shattered. of these wounds he died three or four days after, according to sir philip warwick. according to clarendon, 'three weeks after being shot into the shoulder with a brace of bullets, which broke the bone.' the bone, however, was not found broken, and the 'brace of bullets' is equally imaginary." this account is from a newspaper cutting of _the news_, august , . w. s. northiam. * * * * * peter allan. (vol. viii., pp. . .) peter allan deserves more than a brief notice. his history is so full of romance, the relics of his name and fame are so many, and he is withal so little known, that i presume i may on this occasion trespass on more than the ordinary space allotted to a "minor," but which should be a "major" query. peter allan was born at selkirk (?) in the year . his parents were peasants, and peter in early life became valet to mr. williamson, brother of sir hedworth williamson. he afterwards became gamekeeper to the marquis of londonderry, and in that capacity acquired a reputation as an unerring shot, and a man of unusual physical strength and courage. he afterwards married, and became a publican at whitburn, and in the course of few years purchased a little property, and occupied himself in the superintendence of dock works and stone quarries. in this latter capacity he acquired the skill in quarrying, on which his fame chiefly rests. having a turn for a romantic life, he conceived the strange project of founding a colony at marsden, a wild, rocky bay below the mouth of the tyne, five miles from sunderland, and three from south shields. the spot chosen by peter as his future home had been colonised some years before by one "jack the blaster," who had performed a series of excavations, and amongst them a huge round perforation from the high land above to the beach below, through which it is said many a cargo has passed ashore without being entered in the books of the excise. here the cliff is formed of hard magnesian limestone, and rises perpendicularly from the beach more than a hundred feet. when peter set to work, the only habitable portions were two wild caves opening to the sea, into which at high tide the breakers tumbled, and where during rough weather it was impossible to continue with safety. on the face of the rock peter built a homestead of timber, and set up farm and tavern. in the rock itself he excavated fifteen rooms, to each of which he gave an appropriate name; the most interesting are the "gaol room," the "devil's chamber," the "circular room," the "dining room," and the "ball room." the height of the entire excavation is twenty feet, its breadth thirty, and its length, from the ball room to the cottage, one hundred and twenty. several parts of the cave are lighted by windows hewn in the face of the rock, and these give the cave a picturesque appearance as viewed frown the beach below. in addition to these labours, peter took possession of a huge table-rock, which stands some distance from the cliffs opposite to the grotto. by dint of extraordinary exertions he excavated a passage from the land side of this rock through its substance to the surface, and by placing scaling ladders against its face, made provision for ascent and descent at high water. the three-quarters of an acre of surface he colonised with rabbits, and built a shanty for himself and companions, where they dwelt for some time thinning the wild fowl with their deadly shots, and raising many an echo with their shouts of revelry. to describe the strange scene presented by the grotto itself, the farm-buildings on the face of the cliff, the huge table-rock and flagstaff, the many quaint blocks, pillars and wild escarpments, and the numerous domestic animals, such as mastiffs, pigs, ravens, and goats, all congregated together in a small bay, and literally separated from the world by the barren waste land above, and the huge cliffs and restless sea below, would be beyond the scope of "n. & q.," though it is worth a note in passing, that for the tourist a visit to marsden would be highly remunerative. peter allan endured many hardships in his cave at marsden. he was accused of smuggling, and annoyed by the excise. he and his family were once shut in for six weeks by the snow, during the whole of which time it was impossible for any human being to approach them. yet in spite of many hardships, peter reared in the grotto a family of eight children, three daughters and five sons, all of whom are living and prospering in the world. the grotto is still kept by his widow, his { } eldest son william, and one daughter, assisting mrs. allan in the management the son william is an experienced blaster, and occupies himself in excavations and improvements; the daughter, a brunette, is a first-rate shot, and a girl of extraordinary spirit and gaiety. she is the grace darling of the neighbourhood, and both her and her mother have saved many lives by their dexterity in boating and extraordinary courage. peter himself was a bold, determined, and honest man, fond of a joke, and passionately devoted to bees, birds, pigs, and dogs, many of whom (pigs especially) used to follow him to shields and sunderland, when he went thither. after twenty-two years' possession of the caverns, the proprietor of the adjoining land served him with a process of ejectment; peter refused to leave the habitation which he had formed by twenty years' unremitting toil, and which he had actually won from the sea, without encroachment on an inch of the mainland. after a tedious law-suit, judgment was given in his favour, but he had to pay costs. the anxieties of this lawsuit broke his heart, and he never recovered either health or spirits. he died on the st of august, , in the st year of his age, leaving his wife and eight children to lament him. he was buried in whitburn churchyard, and over his grave was placed a stone with the inscription: "the lord is my rock and my salvation." numerous memorials of peter exist at the grotto, and in the neighbourhood of marsden. particulars of these and other matters touching this romantic history, may be obtained in no. . of _summer excursions to the north_, published by ward, of newcastle; and in a paper entitled _a visit to marsden rocks_, contributed by myself to the _peoples illustrated journal_, no. xiv. shirley hibberd. * * * * * "could we with ink," etc. (vol. viii., pp. . . .) i think that your well-read correspondent j. w. thomas will agree with me that the _bonâ fide_ authorship of the beautiful lines alluded to must be ascertained, not by a single expression, but by the whole of the charming poem. the striking expression of mohammed, quoted by j. w. thomas, is quite common amongst the easterns even at the present day. i remember, when at malta, in march, , whilst walking in company of the most accomplished arabian of the day, the conversation turned upon a certain individual who had since acquired a most unenviable notoriety in the annals of british jurisprudence, my companion abruptly turned upon me, whilst at the shore of the mediterranean, and said, in his fascinating arabic, "behold this great sea! were all its water turned into ink, it would be insufficient to describe the villany of the individual you speak of." rabbi mayir ben isaac's poem corresponds not merely in a single expression, but in every one. the chaldee hymn has the ink and ocean, parchment and heavens, stalks and quills, mankind and scribes, &c. pray do me the favour to insert the original lines. i assure you that they are well worthy of a place in "n. & q." here they are: [hebrew: gbwran `almiyn leiyh wla' sipeiq priyshwta':] [hebrew: gwiyl 'ilw rqiy`eiy qny kal chwrshata':] [hebrew: dywo 'ilw yameiy wkal meiy kniyshwta':] [hebrew: dayreiy 'ar`a' sapreiy wrashmeiy rashwata':] moses margoliouth. wybunbury. in the _des knaben wunderhorn_ there is something of the same idea, though not quite to the same purpose: "und wenn der himmel papyrige wär, und e jede sterne schryber wär, und jedere schryber hat siebesiebe hand, ei schriebe doch alli mir liebi kesend! dursli und babeli." g. h. r. * * * * * what day is it at our antipodes? (vol. viii., p. .) this question was asked by h., and at p. . an answer to it was undertaken by este. but, probably from over-anxiety to be very brief, este was betrayed into a most strange and unaccountable misstatement, which ought to be set right before the conclusion of the volume; since, if correctness be generally desirable in all communications to "n. & q.," it is absolutely indispensable in professed answers to required information. este says: "a person sailing to our antipodes westward will lose twelve hours; by sailing thither eastward he will gain twelve hours." this is quite correct. but if one person lose twelve, and another gain twelve, the manifest difference between them is twenty-four; and yet este goes on to say: "if both meet together at the same hour, say eleven o'clock, the one will reckon a.m., the other p.m." this is the misstatement. no two persons, by any correct system of reckoning, could arrive at a result which would imply a physical impossibility; and it is needless to say that the concurrence of a.m. and p.m. at the same time and place would come under that designation. what este should have said is, that both persons meeting { } together on the same day, if it be reckoned monday by the one, it will be reckoned tuesday by the other. they may differ as to monday or tuesday, but they cannot rationally differ as to whether it is day or night. it may be added that, no matter where these two persons might meet, whether at the antipodes or at any other place, still, upon comparing their journals, there would always appear a day's difference between them; and if they were to keep continually sailing on, one always towards the west, and the other always towards the east, every time they might meet or cross each other, they would increase the difference between them by an additional day. whence it follows, that if two ships were to leave england on the same day, one sailing east by the cape of good hope, and the other west by cape horn, returning home respectively by the opposite capes; and if both were to arrive again in england at the same time, there would be found in the reckoning of the eastern vessel two entire days more than in that of the western vessel. nor would this difference be merely theoretic or imaginary; on the contrary, it would be a real and substantial gain on the part of the eastern vessel: her crew would have consumed two whole rations of breakfast, dinner, and supper, and swallowed two days' allowance of grog more than the other crew; and they would have enjoyed two nights more sleep. but all this is not an answer to h's question; what he wants to know is whether the day at the antipodes is twelve hours in advance or in arrear of our day and, whichever it is, why is it? but here h. is not sufficiently explicit. his question relates to a practical fact, and therefore he should have been more particular in designating the exact habitable place to which it referred. our antipodes, strictly speaking, or rather the antipodal point to greenwich observatory, is ° of east (or west) longitude, and ° ' &c. of south latitude. but this is not the only point that differs by exactly twelve hours in time from greenwich; all places lying beneath the meridian of °, "our periæci" as well as "our antipodes," are similarly affected, and to them the same question would be applicable. h. is right, however, in assuming that, with respect to that meridian, the decision must be purely arbitrary. it is as though two men were to keep moving round a circle in the same direction, with the same speed, and at diametrically opposite points; it must be an arbitrary decision which would pronounce that either was in advance, or in arrear, of the other. regarding, then, the meridian of ° as the neutral point, the most rational system, so far as british settlements are concerned, is to reckon longitude both ways, from ° to °, east and west from greenwich; and to regard all west longitude as in arrear of british time, and all east longitude as in advance of it. and this is the method practised by modern navigators. it is not, however, in obedience to any preconceived system, but by pure accident, that our settlements in australia and new zealand happen to be in accordance with this rule. the last-named country is very close upon the verge of eastern longitude, but still it is within it, and its day is rightly in advance of our day. but the first settlers to botany bay, in , were actually under orders to go out by cape horn, and were only forced by stress of weather to adopt the opposite course by the cape of good hope. had they kept to their prescribed route, there cannot be a doubt that the day of the week and month in australia would now be a day later than it is. the best proof of the truth of this assertion is, that a few years afterwards a missionary expedition was sent out to otaheite, with respect to which a precisely similar accident occurred; they could not weather cape horn, and were forced to go round, some twice the distance out of their way, by the cape of good hope; consequently they carried with them what may be called the eastern day, and since then that is the day observed at otaheite, although fully two hours within the western limit of longitude. from this cause an actual practical anomaly has recently arisen. the french authorities in tahiti, in accordance with the before-mentioned rule, have arranged their day by _western longitude_; consequently, in addition to other points of dissent, they observe the sabbath and other festivals one day later than the resident english missionaries. i have extended this explanation to a greater length than i intended, but the subject is interesting, and not generally well understood; to do it justice, therefore, is not compatible with brevity. much of what i have said is doubtless already known to your readers; nevertheless i hope it may be useful in affording to h. the information he required, and to este more fixed notions on the subject than he seems to have entertained when he wrote the answer referred to. a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _aceto-nitrate of silver._--i have collected together several ounces of aceto-nitrate of silver that has been used to excite waxed paper (iodized by mr. crookes' method), and should be glad to know whether it can be used again for the same purpose. john leachman. [the aceto-nitrate _may_ be used, but in our own practice we do not do so. it is apt to give an unpleasant brownish colour. the solutions of silver, { } whether used for albumenising or otherwise, being reduced to a state of chloride by the addition of common salt so long as any precipitate is formed: fine silver may then be readily obtained by heating a crucible, the chloride consisting of three-fourths of pure metal. it is a false economy to use dirty or doubtful solutions, and by adopting the above course the pecuniary loss is very trifling. our ordinary stoves will not always give a sufficient heat, but any working jeweller or chemist having the ordinary furnace would accomplish it.] _on the restoration of old collodion._--many plans have been suggested for the restoration of collodion when it has lost its sensitiveness by age. in the last number of the _photographic journal_, p. ., mr. crookes proposes "to remove the free iodine from the collodion by means of a piece of pure silver. for two ounces of liquid i should recommend a sheet of stout silver foil, about two inches long and half an inch broad. it will require to remain in contact with the collodion for about two days, or even longer if the latter be very dark-coloured; and in this case it will sometimes be found advantageous to clean the surface of the silver, as it becomes protected with a coating of iodide, by means of cyanide of potassium or hyposulphite of soda. "when thus renovated, the collodion will be found as sensitive and good as it was originally." this plan is certainly more simple than any that has yet been recommended. the action of the silver being its mere combination with the free iodine, thereby producing the reduction of the collodion to its original colourless condition, i would venture to put this question to mr. crookes (to whom the readers of "n. & q." are already under great obligations): does he consider that it is the mere presence of free iodine which causes the want of sensitiveness in the collodion? this is all which appears to be accomplished by the process which mr. crookes recommends. now, as one who has had some experience, both in the manufacture and uses of collodion, such a view does not agree with my practice and observation. occasionally, upon sensitising collodion, i have found it assume a deep sherry colour a few hours after being made. this must have depended upon the free iodide it contained, and yet such collodion has worked most admirably. i have now before me a large body of collodion almost red, and which has been made some three or four months; yet the last time i used this, about a week since, it was just as good as when it was first made. undoubtedly collodion does more or less deteriorate with age; but here i would observe, that there is an immense difference in the different manufactures of collodion, and which can be ascertained by use only, and not by appearance. but mr. hennah, who has had much practical experience, recommends the collodion to be made sensitive merely by the iodide of potassium; and he said, "if it did not work quite clearly and well, a little tincture of iodine brought it right." here, then, is added the very thing which mr. crookes proposes to abstract. again, mr. crookes considers the free iodine to be the cause of the colouring of the collodion; will he then kindly explain its _modus operandi_? as he has on several occasions given your readers the benefit of his great chemical knowledge, i trust they may be favoured by him with a solution of these difficulties, which have puzzled an amateur. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _admissions to inns of court_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following particulars may be of service to your correspondent who requires information upon the subject of the matriculations at the inns of court. the books of lincoln's inn, which record the calls to the bar and other proceedings of the society, commence in the second year of the reign of henry vi., . those of the inner temple, which contain the admittances in , and the calls to the bar in ; of the middle temple, which contain a regular series of admissions and calls, about the year ; and of gray's inn, about the year . the earlier records of gray's inn were destroyed by fire, but the harleian ms. no. ., in the british museum, contains: an alphabetical list of gentlemen admitted to that society, with the dates of their admission, from to . table of the admittances into gray's inn, declaring the names of the gentlemen, the town and country whence they came, and the day, month, and year when admitted, from the year to . arms and names of noblemen and knights admitted to the said society. an alphabetical list of all persons called to the bar by the said society. the lansdowne ms. no. ., which is also in the british museum, contains: names of benchers, associates, utter barristers, &c. of lincoln's inn, and the same of the inner temple; and of the students of the several inns of court, apparently about the end of the reign of elizabeth. jas. whishaw. gower street. the ms. harl. . contains the admissions to gray's inn. g. steinman steinman. _inedited lyric by felicia hemans_ (vol. viii., p. .)--a surviving relative of the authoress in question begs to answer to the correspondent of "n. & q." who has produced this lyric from an imperfect ms. original, that the piece has not remained inedited, but is to be found in the several complete editions of mrs. hemans's works published by blackwood. the playful signature of the letter alluded to, as well as the subject of the lyric, it may be added, was suggested by some conversation respecting the fanciful creatures of { } fairy-land, with whose ideal queen the authoress affected sportively to identify herself, and hence signed the little poem, produced rather as a _jeu d'esprit_ than anything else, "mab." in its subsequently corrected form, as admitted in the editions of her works, it is here subjoined: _water lilies: a fairy song._ "come away, elves! while the dew is sweet, come to the dingles where fairies meet; know that the lilies have spread their bells o'er all the pools in our forest dells; stilly and lightly their vases rest on the quivering sleep of the water's breast, catching the sunshine through the leaves that throw to their scented bosoms an emerald glow; and a star from the depths of each pearly cup, a golden star, unto heav'n looks up, as if seeking its kindred where bright they lie, set in the blue of the summer sky. come away, under arching boughs we'll float, making those urns each a fairy boat; we'll row them with reeds o'er the fountains free, and a tall flag-leaf shall our streamer be. and we'll send out wild music so sweet and low, it shall seem from the bright flower's heart to flow; as if 'twere a breeze with a flute's low sigh, or water-drops train'd into melody, come away! for the midsummer sun grows strong, and the life of the lily may not be long." anon. _derivation of britain_ (vol. viii., p. .).--since my last reference to this matter (vol. viii., p. .) i find that the derivation of the name of _britain_ from _barat-anach_ or _brat-anach_, a land of tin, originated in conjecture with bochart, an oriental scholar and french protestant divine in the first half of the seventeenth century. it certainly is a very remarkable circumstance that the conjecture of a frenchman as to the origin of the name of _britain_ should have been so curiously confirmed, as has been shown by dr. hincks, through an assyrian medium. g. w. stansted, montfichet. _derivation of the word celt_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if c. r. m. has access to a copy of the latin vulgate, he will find the word which our translators have rendered "an iron pen," in the book of job, chap. xix. v. ., there translated _celte_. not having the book in my possession, i will not pretend to give the verse as a quotation.[ ] t. b. b. h. [footnote : . stylo ferreo, et plumbi laminâ, vel _celte_ sculpantur in silice?] "_kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira_" (vol. viii., p. .).--i happen to have by me a transcript of the record in which this word occurs; and it is followed immediately by another almost equally astounding, which f. j. g. should, i think, have asked one of your correspondents to translate while about the other. the following is the word: _arademaravasadeloovaradooyou_. they both appear to be names of estates. h. m. peckham. _cash_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in _the adventures of the gooroo paramartan_, a tale in the tamul language, accompanied by a translation and a vocabulary, &c., by benjamin babington london, , is the following: "fanam or casoo is unnecessary, i give it to you gratis." to which the translator subjoins: "the latter word is usually pronounced _cash_ by europeans, but the tamul orthography is used in the text, that the reader may not take it for an english word." "christmas-boxes are said to be an ancient custom here, and i would almost fancy that our name of box for this particular kind of present, the derivation of which is not very easy to trace in the european languages, is a corruption of buckshish, a gift or gratuity, in turkish, persian, and hindoostanee. there have been undoubtedly more words brought into our language from the east than i used to suspect. _cash_, which here means small money, is one of these; but of the process of such transplantation i can form no conjecture."--heber's _narrative of a journey through the upper provinces of india_. vol. i. p. . angelo, in his _gazophylaceum linguæ persarum_, gives a persian word of the same signification and sound, as italicè _cassa_, latinè _capsa_, gallicè _caisse_. bibliothecar. chetham. "_antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi_" (vol. viii., p. ., &c.).--the authority of fuller ought, i think, to be sufficient to establish that this saying was bacon's own and not a quotation. fuller thus introduces it: "as _one_ excellently observes, 'antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi,'" &c., giving the remainder of the paragraph from the _advancement of learning_; and refers in a note to sir frances bacon's _advancement of learning_ (_holy and profane state_, ch. vi.). e. s. t. t. _caves at settle, yorkshire_ (vol. viii., p. .).--brigantia will find a very circumstantial and interesting account of these caves, and their romano-british contents, in vol. i. of mr. roach smith's _collectanea_. g. j. de wilde. _character of the song of the nightingale_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., pp. . .).--one poet, not so well known as he deserves, has escaped the observation of those who have contributed to your valuable pages the one hundred and seventy-five epithets which others of his craft have applied to the "midnight minstrel." i allude to the rev. f. w. faber, in his poem of the _cherwell water lily_. this poem his now become scarce, so i send you the lines to which i refer, as the "summary of epithets" which they contain, as { } well as their intrinsic beauty, render them worthy of notice: "i heard the raptured nightingale, tell from yon elmy grove, his tale of jealousy and love, in thronging notes that seem'd to fall, as faultless and as musical, as angels' strains above. so sweet, they cast on all things round, a spell of melody profound: they charm'd the river in his flowing, they stay'd the night-wind in its blowing, they lull'd the lily to her rest, upon the cherwell's heaving breast." to those interested in this subject, so full of historical and classical, as well as poetical associations, i would mention that a late master of caius college, cambridge, the rev. dr. davy, printed some years since, for private circulation, a small pamphlet entitled _observations on mr. fox's letter to mr. grey_, in which he refutes that eminent statesman's theory of the _merry_ note of the nightingale. this pamphlet is so full of elegance and classical research, that it is much to be regretted, not only that it has never been published, but that it is the _only work_ of the learned author--the friend and associate of porson, of parr, and of maltby. i possess a presentation copy, which, as only a very few copies were printed, i would gladly lend to any of your readers interested in this curious and long-pending controversy. norris deck. cambridge. add to the already long list, this from spenser: "that blessed bird, that spends her time of sleep in songs and plaintive pleas, the more t'augment the memory of his misdeed that bred her woe." and this exquisite little song, written by i know not whom, but set to music by thomas bateson in : "the nightingale, as soon as april bringeth unto her rested sense a perfect waking, while late bare earth proud of her clothing springeth, sings out her woes, a thorn her song-book making; and mournfully bewailing, her throat in tunes expresseth, while grief her heart oppresseth, for tereus' force o'er her chaste will prevailing." h. gardiner. _inscriptions in books_ (vol. viii., p. . &c.).--john bostock, sometime abbat of st. alban's, gave some valuable books to the library of gloucester hall, oxford, with these lines in the commencement: "quem si quis rapiat raptìm, titulumve retractet, vel judæ laqueum, vel furcas sentiat. amen." anon. _door-head inscription_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a friend has kindly sent me an improved version of the inscription over the gate of the apostolical chancery, which, with his permission, i beg to forward to you:-- "fide deo, dic sæpe preces, peccare caveto, sis humilis, pacem dilige, magna fuge, multa audi, dic pauca, tace abdita, scito minori parcere, majori cedere, ferre parem, propria fac, persolve fidem, sis æquus egenis, parta tuere, pati disce, memento mori." h. t. ellacombe. _fogie_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in the citadel of plymouth, some twenty or twenty-five years since, there was a band of old soldiers (principally men of small stature) who went by this name. they were said to be the only men acquainted with all the windings and outlets of the subterranean passages of this fortification. the cognomen "old fogie" is in this neighbourhood frequently applied to old men remarkable for shrewdness, cunning, quaintness, or eccentricity. this use of the term is evidently figurative, borrowed from its application to veteran soldiers. cannot some of the military correspondents of "n. & q." give the origin of the word? isaiah w. n. keys. plymouth. _sir w. hewet_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. griffith will find in thoresby's _ducatus leodinensis_, p. . (whittaker's edit.), a pedigree of the family of osborne, which gives two generations previous to edward osborne, who married ann hewet, namely,-- richard osborne, who married elizabeth, daughter of ---- fyldene, by whom he had richard, who married jane, daughter of john broughton of broughton, esq., and sister and heir to edward and lancelyn broughton. sir edward osborne, knight, citizen, and lord mayor of london ( ), who died in , married ann, daughter and sole heir of sir william hewet, lord mayor of london, , by whom he had sir hewet osborne, born , died . sir edward had a second wife, margaret, daughter of ----, who died in . there is a note at the bottom of the page, quoted from a ms. in the college of arms, e . fol. ., "that this descent was registered the th march, , when hewet osborne was the age of one year and ... days." edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton in lindsey. _ladies' arms borne in a lozenge_ (vol. viii., pp. . . . .).--the difference between the fusil and the lozenge is well known to all heralds, though coach-painters and silversmiths do not { } always sufficiently describe it. if broctuna, however, be a _practical_ herald, he must often have experienced the difficulty of placing impalements or quarterings correctly, even on a lozenge. on the long and narrow fusil it would be impossible. when the fusil, instead of being a mere heraldic bearing, has to be used as the shape of a shield for the actual use of the painter or engraver, it must of necessity be widened into the lozenge; and as the latter is probably only the same distaff with little more wool upon it, there seems no objection to the arrangement. broctuna is too good an antiquary not to know on recollection that the "vyings of widows" had little to do with funeral arrangements in those days. procrustes, the herald, came down at all great funerals, and regulated everything with just so much pomp, and no more, as the precise rank of the deceased entitled him to. p. p. had not the smallest intention of giving broctuna offence by pointing out what seems a fatal objection to his theory. hugh clark, a well-known modern writer upon heraldry, gives the following definition of the word lozenge: "lozenge, a four-cornered figure, resembling a pane of glass in old casements: some suppose it a physical composition given for colds, and was invented to reward eminent physicians." plutarch says, in the _life of theseus_, that at megara, an ancient town of greece, the tombstones, under which the bodies of the amazons lay, were shaped after that form, which some conjecture to be the cause why ladies have their arms on lozenges. ruby. _the crescent_ (vol. viii., p. .).--be so good as to insert in "n. & q.," for the information of j. w. thomas, that the iceni (a people of england, whose territory consisted of the counties of norfolk, suffolk, essex, &c.) struck coins both in gold and silver; having on their reverses crescents placed back to back generally, except where a rude profile is on a few of them. two of the gold coins have fallen into my possession; one of which, found at oxnead in this county, i supplied to the british museum some years since. twelve of the silver coins are figured on a plate in part lvii. of the _numismatic chronicle_. mr. thomas observing (at p. .) he has no work on numismatics, induces me to make this communication to him through your very useful and instructive publication. goddard johnson. norfolk. _abigail_ (vol. iv., p. . vol. v., pp. . . .).--the inquiry suggested in the first of the above references, "whence, or when, originated the application of abigail, as applied to a lady's maid?" has not yet, to my mind, been satisfactorily answered. it occurs to me that it may have been derived from the notorious abigail hill, better known as mrs. masham, a poor relative of sarah duchess of marlborough, and by her introduced to a subordinate place about the person of queen anne. she rapidly acquired sufficient influence to supplant her benefactress. the intrigues of the tory party received sufficient furtherance from this bedchamber official to effect ultimately the downfall of the whig ministry; and the use of the term by dean swift, of which your original querist mr. warden speaks, would suffice to give currency and to associate the name of so famous an _intriguante_ with the office which she filled. it must be matter of opinion whether the dean (as mr. w. thinks) employed the term as _not new in those_ days, or as one which had _taken_ so rapidly in the current conversation of the day, as to require but his putting it in print to establish it in its new sense so long as the language shall be spoken or written. balliolensis. _handbook to the library of the british museum_ (vol. viii., p. .).--neither lord seymour, nor mr. bolton corney, nor mr. richard sims, can with justice claim originality in the suggestion carried out by the latter gentleman in the publication of his _handbook to the library of the british museum_. in my own collection is a book entitled,-- "a critical and historical account of all the celebrated libraries in foreign countries, as well ancient as modern, with general reflections on the choice of books," &c.... "a work of great use to all men of letters. by a gentleman of the temple. london, printed for j. jolliffe, in st james's street, mdccxxxix." in the preface to which work the author says: "it will be highly useful to such noblemen and gentlemen as visit foreign countries, _by instructing them in the manner of perusing whatever is curious in the vatican and other famous libraries_." and in which he promises that-- "if it should meet with the approbation of the public, he (the author) will proceed with the _libraries of these kingdoms_," &c. f. seymour haden. chelsea. _the arms of richard, king of the romans_ (vol. viii., pp. . .). with every respect for such heraldic authorities as mr. gough and mr. lover, i think the question as to whether the so-called bezants in the arms of richard, king of the romans, referred to his earldom of poictou or of cornwall, inclines in favour of the former: for instance, in he granted to the { } monks of okebury a release of suit and service within his manor of wallingford, which charter has a seal appended bearing an impress of the earl armed on horseback, with a _lion rampant crowned_ on his surcoat, inscribed "sigillum richardi comitis cornubiæ." now this inscription seems to identify the lion as pertaining to the earldom of cornwall; surely, if the bezants represented this earldom, they would not have been omitted on his seal as _comes cornubiæ_. again, a very high heraldic authority, one of deep research, mr. j. r. planché, gives this opinion on the subject: "the border bezantée, or talentée, of richard, king of the romans, is no representation of coins but of peas (_poix_), being the arms of poitiers or poictou (menestrier, _orig._, p. .), of which he was earl, and not of his other earldom of cornwall, as imagined by sandford and others. the adoption of bezants as the arms of cornwall, and by so many cornish families on that account, are all subsequent assumptions derived from the arms of earl richard aforesaid, the peas having been promoted into bezants by being gilt, and become identified with the cornish escutcheon as the garbs of blundeville are with that of chester, or the coat of cantelupe with that of the see of hereford."--_the pursuivant at arms_, p. . a simple query then would seem to settle this matter. is any instance known of bezants occurring as the arms of cornell previous to the time of earl richard, or earlier than the commencement of the thirteenth century? norris deck. cambridge. _greek and roman fortifications_ (vol. viii., p. .).--j. h. j. will find some information on this subject in fosbroke's _grecian and roman antiquities_ (longman, ). john scribe. _osbernus filius herfasti_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reply to the query of mr. sansom, "whether osborn de crespon, the brother of the duchess of normandy, had a brother of the same name?" i beg to reply that there appears to be distinct evidence that he had; for in a grant of lands by richard ii., duke of normandy, who died in , to the monks of st. michael, there are, along with the signatures of his son richard and several other witnesses, those of _osbernus frater comitissæ_, and _osbernus filius arfast_ (_lobineau_, tom. ii. p. .). one of those may probably have become abbot of s. evroult. no doubt mr. sansom is well aware that one of the same family was osborn, bishop of exeter. he was a son of osborn de crespon, and brother of the earl of hereford, premier peer of england. in he forbad the monks to be buried in the cloisters of their monasteries; but they resisted his injunction, and, on an appeal to the pope, obtained a decision against him (_mabillon_). for an eulogium on him see godwin, _de presul. angl_. he died in , and was buried in the cathedral at exeter. i would observe that the ancient orthography of the name is osbern, which was continued for many centuries, and may even now be seen in maidwell church, northamptonshire, on the monument of lady gorges, the daughter of sir john osbern, who died in . omicron. i think there can be little doubt that herfastus "the dane" was the father of gunnora, wife of rich. i., duke of normandy; of aveline, wife of osbernus de bolebec, lord of bolbec and count of longueville; and of weira, wife of turolf de pont audomere. the brother of these three sisters was another herfastus, abbot of st. evrau; who was the father of osbernus de crepon, steward of the household, and sewer to the conqueror. h. c. c. _devonianisms_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent mr. keys is at a loss for the origin of the word _plum_, as used in devonshire. surely it is the same word as _plump_, although employed in a somewhat different sense. _plum_ or _plump_, as applied to a bed, would certainly convey the idea of softness or downiness. as to the employment of the word as a verb, i conceive that it is analogous to an expression which i have often heard used by cooks, in speaking of meat or poultry, "to plump up." a cook will say of a fowl which appears deficient in flesh, "it is a young bird; it will plump up when it comes to the fire." a native of devonshire would simply say, "it will plum." as to the word _clunk_, it is in use throughout cornwall in the sense of "to swallow," and is undoubtedly celtic. on referring to le gonidec's _dictionnaire celto-breton_, i find "_lonka_, or _lounka_, v.a. _avaler_." i have neither a welsh dictionary nor one of the ancient cornish language at hand, but i have no doubt that the same word, with the same signification, will be found in both those dialects of the celtic, probably with some difference of spelling, which would bring it nearer to the word _clunk_. it is not wonderful that a word, the sound of which is so expressive of the action, should have continued in use among an illiterate peasantry long after the language from which it is derived was forgotten; but many pure celtic words, which have not this recommendation, are still in common use in cornwall, and a collection of them would be highly interesting. could not some of your antiquarian correspondents in the west, mr. boase of penzance for example, furnish such a list? i will mention one or two words which i chance to remember: _mabyer_, a chicken, breton _mab_, a son, _iar_, a hen; _vean_, little, breton _vihan_. { } to persons acquainted with the welsh or breton, the names of places in cornwall, though sometimes strangely corrupted, are almost all significant. the dialect of celtic spoken in cornwall appears to have approached more closely to the latter than to the former of these tongues; or perhaps, speaking more correctly, it formed a connecting link between them, as cornwall itself lies about midway between wales and brittany. edgar macculloch. guernsey. _gentile names of the jews_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the names of rothschild, montefiore, and davis are family names, and not _noms de guerre_. it is possible that the honoured names of rothschild and montefiore date from a purchase by some one of their ancestry of _gentile castles or lands_, and with it the purchase right of name. davis is legitimately jewish, but probably the gentile name of davis cannot boast of its pure source, and no doubt where gentile pedigree loses trace, jewish descent commences, either by a left-handed jew connexion with a gentile fair one, or a renegade ancestry. israel ben isaac. red lion square. _longevity_ (vol. viii., p. .).--on october , judy, a slave, died on the plantation of edmund b. richardson, in bladen county, north carolina, aged years. she was one of eight slaves who nearly sixty years ago were the first settlers on the plantation, where she died. of the seven others, one died over years of age, another , and a third ; two are living, one and the other over years of age. within five miles of the place where judy died, william pridgen lived, who died about five years ago, aged years. david kennison, a soldier of the revolution, died near albany (n. y.) on the th of february, , aged years. m. e. philadelphia. _reversible names_ (vol. viii., p. .).--emme might have been added to your correspondent's list, a female name which, when first known in england, was spelt as above written, and not emma, as at the present time. in an old book i have seen the name and its meaning thus recorded,--in english, _emme_; in french, _emme, bonne nourrice_. i must beg to differ in opinion from your correspondent, even with his epicene restriction, who states "that _varium et mutabile semper femina_ only means that whatever reads backwards and forwards, the same is _always feminine_." if m. will take the trouble to look in boyle's _court guide_ for , p. ., he will find the name of a late very distinguished general officer, sir burges camac. a wealthy branch of this family is now established in the united states, and one of its members bears the name of camac camac. i am unable to give m. another instance, and doubt if one can be easily found where the christian and surnames of a gentleman are alike, and both reversible. w. w. malta. _etymology of eve_.--only one instance of a reversible name seems to me at present among the _propria quæ maribus_, and that is bob. as, however, the name of our universal mother has been brought forward, you will, perhaps, allow me to transcribe the following remarkable etymology: "omnes nascimur ejulantes, ut nostram miseriam exprimamus. masculus enim recenter natus dicit a; foemina vero e; dicentes e vel a quotquot nascuntur ab eva. quid est igitur _eva_ nisi _heu ha_? utrumque dolentis est interjectio doloris exprimens magnitudinem. hinc enim ante peccatum virago, post peccatum _era_ meruit appellari.... mulier autem ut naufragus, cum parit tristitiam habet," &c.--_de contemptu mundi_, lib. i. c. ., à lothario, diacono cardinali, s.s. sergii et bacchi, editus, qui postea innocentius papa iii. appellatus est. balliolensis. _manifesto of the emperor nicholas_ (vol. viii., p. .).--allow me to correct a gross error into which i have been led, by an imperfect concordance, in hastily concluding that the words "in te domine speravi, non confundar in æternum," were not in the psalms, as i have found them in the vulgate, psalms xxxi. . and lxxi. . t. j. buckton. lichfield. _binometrical verse_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in answer to these inquiries, the copyright of this united hexameter and pentameter belongs to mr. de la pryme, of trin. coll., cambridge, who is also the author of another line which is both an alcaic and sapphic: "quando nigrescit sacra latro patrat." x. _gale of rent_ (vol. viii., p. .).--gale [_gavel_, sax., a rent or duty,] a periodical payment of rent. the latin form of the word is _gabellum_, and the french _gabelle_. (see wharton's _law lexicon_.) [greek: halieus]. dublin. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. _the history of millwall, commonly called the isle of dogs, including notices of the west india docks and city canal, and notes on poplar, blackwall, limehouse,_ { } _and stepney_, by b. h. cowper, is unquestionably one of the most carefully compiled, and judiciously arranged, little topographical works, which we have ever been called upon to notice. the intelligent m.p. who is recorded to have asked a witness before a select committee for the _precise_ locality of the isle of dogs, and to have been satisfied with the answer "between london bridge and gravesend," may, if inclined to pursue his inquiries, find its history told most fully and most agreeably in the little volume now before us. in our number for the st of may last, we called attention to, and spoke in terms of fitting approbation of, the first part of _the english bible_; containing the old and new testaments, according to the authorised version; newly divided into paragraphs, with concise introductions to the several books, and with maps and notes illustrative of the chronology, history, and geography of the holy scriptures; containing also the most remarkable variations of the ancient versions, and the chief results of modern criticism. part ii., comprising _exodus_ and _leviticus_, is now before us, and exhibits the same merits as its predecessor. mr. miller, of chandos street, who during the past year added to the value of the monthly catalogues by the addition to each of them of several pages of literary and bibliographical miscellanies, has just collected these into a little volume, under the title of _fly leaves, or scraps and sketches, literary, bibliographical, and miscellaneous_, which may find a fitting place beside davis's _olio_, and other works of that class. we regret to learn, as we do from the _literary gazette_ of saturday last, that the trustees of the british museum, in defiance of the earnest recommendation of the society of antiquaries and of the archæological institute, and with a total disregard of the feelings and opinions of those best qualified to advise them upon the subject, have declined to purchase the faussett collection of early antiquities, and consequently will lose the fairford collection offered to them as a free gift by mr. wylie: so that the enlightened foreigner, who visits this great national establishment, and admiring its noble collections of greek, roman, egyptian, and assyrian antiquities, asks, "but where are your own national antiquities?" must still be answered, "we have not got one!" they certainly do manage these things better in france and denmark. our readers, we have no doubt, shared the regret with which we read the advertisement in our columns last week from the rev. dr. hincks, who, from the want of encouragement, and in the face of peculiarly adverse circumstances, is compelled to withdraw from the field of assyrian discovery; and who is advertising for some competent person who will work out what he has in progress. although assyrian literature may at present be discouraged by the church and neglected by the universities, there can be little doubt that it must ere long assume a very different position: and we therefore trust that some means may yet be taken to prevent dr. hincks' withdrawal from a field of study in which he has been so successful. as we have deviated from our usual course in noticing subjects advertised in our pages, we take the opportunity of calling the attention of our antiquarian friends to the advertisement from the rev. g. cumming on the subject of the casts now making from the runic monuments in the isle of man. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. isaac taylor's physical theory of another life. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: bristol drollery. . holborn drollery. . hick's grammatical drollery. . oxford jests. cambridge jests. wanted by _c. s._, . gloucester green, oxford. * * * * * mudie's british birds. bohn. . nd volume. waverley. st edition. wanted by _f. r. sowerby_, halifax. * * * * * dr. h. more's philosophical works lond. . folio. hircher's musurgia universalis. romæ, . toms in . folio. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. * * * * * ormerod's cheshire, parts ii. and x. small paper. hemingway's chester. parts i. and iii. large paper. wanted by _t. hughes_, . paradise row, chester. * * * * * aaron hill's plain dealer. edinburgh miscellany. edinb. . wanted by _f. dinsdale_, leamington. * * * * * laderchii annales ecclesiastici. tom. folio. romæ, - . the bible in shorthand, according to the method of mr. james weston, whose shorthand prayer book was published in the year . a copy of addy's copperplate shorthand bible, london, , would be given in exchange. loescher, de latrociniis, quÆ in scriptores publicos solent committere hÆretici. to. vitemb. . loescher, acta reformationis. schramm, dissert. de librorum prohibitorum indicibus. to. helmst. . jamesii specimen corruptelarum pontific. to. lond. . macedo, diatribe de cardinalis bonÆ erroribus. wanted by _rev. richard gibbings_, falcarragh, letterkenny, co. donegal. * * * * * notices to correspondents. no. .--_on saturday, january , , the opening number of our_ new volume _will contain numerous interesting papers by many of our most distinguished contributors._ _we are compelled to postpone until next week our usual_ notices to correspondents. index to volume the eighth.--_this is in a very forward state, and will, we trust, be ready for delivery with_ no. . _on the_ _st of january_. _errata._--vol. viii., p. . col. . l. ., for "nearly" read "near;" p. . col. . l. ., for "severn" read "levern," and (in three places) for "maywell" read "maxwell;" p. . col. . l. ., for "leaman" read "seaman;" p. . l. . from the bottom, for "sine angulus" read "sine angulis;" p. . col. . l. ., after "richard" insert "son of," and l. ., after "he" insert "(the father)." "notes and queries" _published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ { } * * * * * cheap edition of the lives of the queens. notice. with the magazines, on the st of january, will be published, beautifully printed in post vo., embellished with fourteen portraits, including that of the author, price s. d. elegantly bound, the first volume of a new and cheap edition of the lives of the queens of england. by agnes strickland. this new and cheap edition, embellished with portraits of every queen, engraved from the most authentic sources, and combining all other late improvements, will be regularly published and completed in eight monthly volumes post octavo: containing from to pages each, price only s. d. per volume, handsomely bound: and those who may desire to obtain copies on the day of publication, are requested to send their orders immediately to their respective booksellers. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street, london; and to be had of all booksellers. * * * * * bohn's standard library for january. goethe's novels and tales, containing the elective affinities, the sorrows of werther, the german emigrants, the good women, and a nouvelette. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for january. addison's works, with the notes of bishop hurd. in vols. vol. i. with portrait and eight engravings on steel. post vo., cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classic library for january. the works of tacitus, literally translated with notes. in two volumes. vol. i. containing the annals. post vo., cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * christmas volume of bohn's illustrated library. mary howitt's pictorial calendar of the seasons; exhibiting the pleasures, pursuits, and characteristics of country life, for every month in the year; and embodying the whole of aikin's calendar of nature. illustrated with upwards of one hundred engravings on wood. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for december. gibbon's roman empire, with variorum notes, including, in addition to the author's own, those of guizot, wenck, and other foreign scholars. edited by an english churchman. in six volumes. vol. i. price s. d. *** this edition contains every line and every letter of the original work, without the slightest abridgment or mutilation. the additional notes and illustrations are extensive, and wherever gibbon's religious views are opposed, as they often are, both sides of the argument are given unflinchingly. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * price ½d. sewed, chambers's edinburgh journal.--part cxx. for january. w. & r. chambers, london and edinburgh. * * * * * just published, price s. d. cloth, gilt. martin luther's spiritual songs. translated by r. massie, esq., of eccleston. london: hatchard & son. chester: prichard, roberts, & co. * * * * * cassell's illustrated family paper. price one penny. no. . was ready for delivery december . , of no. . have been sold in little more than a week. it contains eight pages the same size as the "illustrated london news," and filled with numerous highly-finished engravings. j. cassell, ludgate hill. order of any bookseller in the united kingdom. * * * * * the sacred garland, or the christian's daily delight. "pluck a flower." a new edition of the above excellent and popular work will shortly be published in large type, crown vo., and may be obtained of any respectable bookseller in town or country. milner & sowerby, halifax. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s. notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo.; pp. ; plates ; price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign; the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on reflecting and solar microscopes; eye-pieces; micrometers, &c. also, edited by the same, price s., english patents; being a register of all those granted in the arts, manufactures, chemistry, &c., during the first forty-five years of this century. whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * approved educational works for schools and families. allen and cornwell's grammar. with very copious exercises, and a systematic view of the formation and derivation of words, together with anglo-saxon, latin, and greek lists, which explain the etymology of above , english words. fifteenth edition, s., red leather; s. d., cloth. grammar for beginners. twenty-second edition, s. cloth, d. sewed. also, the young composer; or, progressive exercises in english composition. part i., comprising sentence-making, variety of expression, and figurative language; together with appendices on punctuation and the use of capitals. by james cornwell, ph. d. fifteenth edition. s. d. cloth. also, a key to the young composer. with hints as to the mode of using the book. price s. also, select english poetry. edited by the late dr. allen. seventh edition, price s. also, dr. allen's eutropius. with a complete dictionary and index of proper names. new edition, price s. also, a school geography. by james cornwell, ph. d. fifteenth edition. s. d.; or with thirty maps on steel, s. d. also, by the same, a school atlas. consisting of thirty beautifully executed maps on steel. s. d. plain, s. coloured. "characterised by perspicuity, accuracy, careful and truly scientific arrangement, and unusual condensation. in the hands of a good teacher, these cannot but be highly efficient school-books. the qualities we now indicate have secured to them extensive use, and dr. cornwell is now sure of a general welcome to his labours, a welcome which the intrinsic excellence of such books as these cannot but command."--_christian times._ london: simpkin, marshall, & co.; hamilton, adams, & co. edinburgh: oliver & boyd; w. p. kennedy. * * * * * second edition, in cloth, s.; by post, s. d.; pp. . welsh sketches. third (and last) series. by the author of "proposals for christian union." contents: . edward the black prince. . owen glendower, prince of wales. . mediæval bardism. . the welsh church. "abounds with the results of antiquarian researches, conducted in a patient and intelligent spirit; and really forms an important contribution to popular literature."--_chester courant._ "will be read with great satisfaction, not only by all sons of the principality, but by all who look with interest on that portion of our island in which the last traces of our ancient british race and language still linger."--_notes and queries._ london: j. darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. { } * * * * * surrey archÆological society. president.--his grace the duke of norfolk. gentlemen desiring to join the society, are informed that copies of the rules, list of members (upwards of ), and forms of application for admission, may be obtained from the honorary secretary. £ s. annual subscription composition for life on and after january , , an entrance fee of s. will be required, from which those members who join the society during the present month will be exempt. george bish webb, honorary secretary. . addison road north, notting hill. * * * * * to antiquaries and secretaries of public institutions. the rev. j. g. cumming, m.a., f.g.s., vice-principal of king william college, castletown, who is engaged in the preparation of a work on the monumental remains of the isle of man, is superintending the labours of an italian artist in taking casts of the most beautiful and important runic crosses, to be placed in the insular museum at the college: parties desiring duplicates may obtain full particulars of cost, &c. by application as above. * * * * * assyrian language. rev. dr. e. hincks would dispose of a number of books and mss. connected with the assyrian language, and would also give viva voce instruction therein to a gentleman who may be willing to devote himself to this important study; and who, from his age, antecedents, and present position, may appear to him likely to succeed in it. apply to him at the rectory, killyleagh, co. down, before the st of january. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross. hatcham, surrey. * * * * * the most comfortable new year's present is heal & son's eider down quilt. it is the warmest, the lightest, and the most elegant covering, suitable for the bed, the couch, or the carriage; and for invalids, its comfort cannot be too highly appreciated. it is made in three varieties, of which a large assortment can be seen at their establishment. list of prices of the above, together with the catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * christmas presents.--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty, to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and, by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * queenwood college, near stockbridge, hants. _principal_--george edmondson. _mathematics and natural philosophy._--dr. thos. a. hirst, of the universities of marburg and berlin. _chemistry_--dr. h. debus, late assistant in the laboratory of professor bunsen, and chemical lecturer in the university of marburg. _classics and history._--mr. john s. mummery, l.c.p. _modern languages and foreign literature._--mr. john haas, from m. de fellenberg's institution, hofwyl, switzerland. _geodesy._--mr. richard p. wright. _painting and drawing._--mr. richard p. wright. _english, and junior mathematics._--frederick iliff, m.a., late scholar of trinity college, cambridge, and m.c.p. ditto.--mr. william singleton. _music._--mr. william cornwall. terms. for boys under years of age l. per ann. " from to " " above " for further information see prospectus, to be had of the principal. the first session of commences on the th of january. * * * * * prince of wales's sketch-box.--containing colours, pencils, &c., with printed directions, as now used by the royal family. price s. miller's. artist's colour manufacturer, . long acre, london; and at her majesty's steam colour and pencil works, pimlico. * * * * * spectacles.--every description of spectacles and eye-glasses for the assistance of vision, adapted by means of smee's optometer: that being the only correct method of determining the exact focus of the lenses required, and of preventing injury to the sight by the use of improper glasses. bland & long. opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * to artists, engravers, printsellers, etc. this day, vo., s. d. the laws of artistic copyright, and their defects. for the use of artists, sculptors, engravers, printsellers, &c. by d. roberton blaine, esq., of the middle temple, barrister-at-law. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * works by edward jesse, esq. now ready. jesse's country life. third edition. fcap. vo. s. ii. jesse's natural history. seventh edition. fcap. vo. s. iii. jesse's favourite haunts. with twenty woodcuts. post vo. s. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * fraser's magazine for january, price s. d., or by poet s., contains: the birth of the year. by frederick tennyson. the decline and fall of the corporation of london.--i. the constitution. dr. véron's memoirs. general bounce; or, the lady and the locusts. by the author of "digby grand." chaps. i. and ii. lord palmerston and the presbytery of edinburgh. the freight of the jacobina. a visit to the hospital for sick children. the principle of the grecian mythology; or, how the greeks made their gods. young germany. cambridge life according to c. a. bristed. with notes by p. jenkinson. gallinaceana. a few words on irish antiquities. derbyism. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, fcap vo., s. d. cloth, vol. i. of the poetical works of john dryden, with historical and illustrative notes and biographical memoir, containing new facts and several original letters of the poet, now published for the first time, being the commencement of a new and annotated edition of the english poets. by robert bell. to be continued in monthly volumes, price s. d. each, in cloth. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * now ready, vols. iii. and iv. (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a, volume three, -- . volume four -- . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one -- . volume two -- . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * lincoln's one hundredth catalogue of books. w. s. lincoln, cheltenham house, westminster road, london, has just issued his one hundredth catalogue (for january, ) of cheap second-hand english, foreign, classical, and miscellaneous books: a copy of which he will send gratis and post free to any gentleman in town or country who applies for the same. { } * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * solicitors' & general life assurance society, . chancery lane, london. * * * * * _subscribed capital, one million._ * * * * * this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.-- each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d.. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * policy holders in other companies and intending assurers generally, are invited to examine the rates, principles, and progress of the scottish provident institution, the only society in which the advantages of mutual assurance can be secured by moderate premiums. established . number of policies issued , , assuring upwards of two and a half millions. full reports and every information had (free) on application. *** policies are now issued free of stamp duty; and attention is invited to the circumstance that premiums payable for life assurance are now allowed as a deduction from income in the returns for income tax. george grant. resident sec. london branch, . moorgate street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites. gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * photography. a complete set of apparatus for l. s., containing an expanding camera, with warranted double achromatic adjusting lenses, a portable stand, pressure frame, levelling stand, and baths, complete. portrait lenses of double achromatic combination, from l. s. d. landscape lenses, with rack adjustment, from s. a guide to the practice of this interesting art, s., by post free, s. d. french polished mahogany stereoscopes, from s. d. a large assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same in daguerreotype, calotype, or albumen, at equally low prices. achromatic microscopes. beautifully finished achromatic microscope, with all the latest improvement and apparatus, complete from l. s., at c. baker's. optical and mathematical instrument warehouse, . high holborn (opposite day & martin's). * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory. charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. { } * * * * * literary gift books. the following may now be had:-- i. byron's poetical works. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. ii. byron's poetical works. complete in one volume, with portrait and vignette. s. iii. byron's poetical works. in eight pocket volumes. s. iv. byron's childe harold. illustrated by a portrait of ada and vignettes. s. d. v. byron's life and letters. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. vi. byron's life and letters. complete in one volume, with portraits and vignette. s. vii. crabbe's life and poems. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. viii. crabbe's life and poems. complete in one volume, with portrait and vignettes. s. d. ix. bishop heber's indian journals. vols. s. x. bishop heber's poems. with portrait. s. d. xi. milman's poetical works. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. xii. milman's works of horace. illustrated with vignettes by scharf. s. xiii. milman's life of horace. with woodcuts. s. xiv. lockhart's ancient spanish ballads. s. d. xv. lockhart's life of robert burns. s. xvi. croker's boswell's johnson. complete in one volume. portraits. s. xvii. rejected addresses. with portrait and woodcuts. s. xviii. allan cunningham's poems and songs. with woodcuts. s. d. xix. sir humphry davy's consolations. with woodcuts. s. xx. sir humphry davy's salmonia. with woodcuts. s. xxi. hallam's literary essays and characters. s. xxii. book of common prayer. with woodcuts, initials, and coloured borders. s. xxiii. southey's book of the church. s. xxiv. wilkinson's ancient egyptians. with woodcuts. vols. s. xxv. bray's life of stothard. illustrated with portrait, and woodcuts. s. xxvi. the family arabian nights. illustrated with woodcuts by harvey. s. xxvii. james' fables of Æsop. with woodcuts by tenniel. s. d. xxviii. essays from "the times." s. xxix. the fairy ring. with woodcuts by richard doyle. s. d. xxx. jesse's country life. with woodcuts. s. xxxi. jesse's natural history. with woodcuts. s. * * * * * john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxvii. advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the nd, and bills for insertion by the th, of january. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * dr. smith's school history of greece. now ready, with woodcuts, mo., s. d. a school history of greece: with supplementary chapters on the literature, art, and domestic manners of the greeks. by dr. wm. smith, editor of the "dictionary of greek and roman antiquities," &c. john murray, albemarle street: and walton & maberly, upper gower street and ivy lane. * * * * * wilkinson's ancient egyptians. now ready, with woodcuts. vols. post vo. s. the ancient egyptians: a popular account of their manners and customs, revised and abridged from his larger work. by sir j. gardner wilkinson. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * this day, a new edition, with an index, fcap. vo., s. handbook of familiar quotations, chiefly from english authors. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * robertson's church history. now ready, vol. vo., s. the history of the christian church to the pontificate of gregory the great. a manual for general readers as well as for students in theology. by rev. james c. robertson, m.a., vicar of beakesbourne. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * milman's life and works of horace. this day, with woodcuts, vo., s., bound. life of horace. by the rev. h. h. milman, dean of st. paul's. also, uniform with the above, vo., s. the works of horace. edited by dean milman, and illustrated by engravings of coins, gems, statues, &c., from the antique. "not a page can be opened where the eye does not light upon some antique gem. mythology, history, art, manners, topography, have all their fitting representatives. it is the highest praise to say, that the designs throughout add to the pleasure with which horace is read."--classical museum. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the family arabian nights. now ready, a new and beautiful edition, with woodcuts by harvey, one volume, royal vo., price one guinea. the arabian nights' entertainment. translated by edward william lane, esq., author of the "modern egyptians," &c. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * this day, vols. fcap. vo., s. once upon a time. by charles knight. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london: and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page on portraits of distinguished men, by lord braybrooke story of a relic illustration of chaucer, no. ii: complaint of mars and venus charles the first and bartolomeo della nave's collection of pictures, by sir f. madden minor notes:--nonsuch palace--ferrar and benlowes-- traditions from remote periods through few links-- longevity--emendation of a passage in virgil--poems discovered among the papers of sir k. digby-- matter-of-fact epitaph queries:-- ancient danish itinerary: prol in angliam, by r. j. king chiming, tolling, and peal-ringing of bells, by rev. a. gatty mazer wood: gutta percha, by w. pinkerton minor queries:--paul pitcher night--disinterment for heresy--"just notions," &c.--pursuits of literature-- satirical medal--matthew's mediterranean passage--inscription on an oak board--expressions in milton--saints' days--chepstow castle--the wilkes mss. and "north briton"--"o wearisome condition of humanity!"--epitaph in hall's "discovery" minor queries answered:--canon and prebendary-- what amount of property constitutes an esquire?-- cromwell family--daughters of the sixth earl of lennox--wife of joseph nicholson--six abeiles-- southey--epigram against burke--knight's hospitallers replies:-- mesmerism, by dr. maitland lord howard of effingham iovanni volpe, by william hughes replies to minor queries:--sir andrew chadwick-- manuscript of bede--closing of rooms on account of death--enigmatical epitaph on rev. j. mawer-- haybands in seals--notes on newspapers--duncan campbell--christmas-day--ms. sermons by jeremy taylor--dryden's absolom and achitophel--rev. w. adams--duchess of buckingham--"go the whole hog"--lord bexley's descent from cromwell-- morse and ireton families--the countess of desmond-- aristophanes on the modern stage--denarius philosophorum--on a passage in the tempest-- meaning of waste-book--arthur's seat and salisbury craigs--meaning of "harrisers" &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. on portraits of distinguished englishmen. in submitting to you the following brief observations, it is neither my wish nor intention to undervalue or disparage the labours of horace walpole, and granger, and pennant, and lodge, and the numerous writers who have followed in their train, and to whom we are so much indebted for their notices of a great variety of original portraits of distinguished englishmen, which still adorn the mansions of our aristocracy, and are found in the smaller collections throughout the realm. but i may be permitted to express my surprise and regret that in this age of inquiry no general catalogue of these national treasures should ever have been published. it is true that the portraits, as well as the other objects of attraction in our royal palaces, have been described in print with tolerable accuracy, and some good accounts are to be met with of the pictures at woburn, and blenheim, and althorpe, and many of the residences of the nobility which can boast their local historian. we are, however, in most cases obliged to content ourselves with the meagre information afforded by county topography, or such works as the _beauties of england_, _neale's country seats_, and unsatisfactory guide-books. no one, then, can doubt that such a compilation as i am advocating would prove a most welcome addition to our increasing stock of historical lore, and greatly assist the biographer in those researches upon which, from no sufficient materials being at hand, too much time is frequently expended without any adequate result. a catalogue would also tend to the preservation of ancient portraits, which, by being brought into notice, would acquire more importance in the estimation of the possessors; and in the event of any old houses falling into decay, the recorded fact of certain pictures having existed there, would cause them to be inquired after, and rescue them from destruction. opportunities would likewise be afforded of correcting misnomers, and testing the authenticity of reputed likenesses of the same individual; further, the printed lists would survive after all the family traditions had been forgotten, and passed away with the antiquated housekeeper, and her worn-out inventory. the practice, too, of inscribing the names of the artist and person represented on the backs of the frames, would probably be better observed; and i may mention as a proof of this precaution being necessary, the instance of a { } baronet in our day having inherited an old house full of pictures, which were _one and all_ described, in laconic and most unsatisfactory terms, as "_portraits of ladies and gentlemen unknown_." the losses of works of art and interest by the lamentable fires that have occurred so frequently within the memory of man, may furnish a further motive for using every endeavour to preserve those pictures that remain to us; but probably a far greater number have perished from damp or neglect, and a strange combination of mischief and ignorance. let us hope that in this respect the times are improving. for one, i cannot consent to the wanton destruction of a single portrait, though horace walpole assures us-- "that it is almost as necessary that the representations of men should perish and quit the scene to their successors, as it is that the human race should give place to rising generations; and, indeed, the mortality is almost as rapid. portraits that cost twenty, thirty, sixty guineas, and that proudly take possession of the drawing-room, give way in the next generation to the new married couple, descending into the parlour, where they are slightly mentioned as my _father_ and _mother's_ pictures. when they become my _grandfather_ and _grandmother_, they mount to the two pair of stairs, and then, unless dispatched to the mansion-house in the country, or crowded into the housekeeper's room, they perish among the lumber of garrets, or flutter into rags before a broker's shop at the seven dials."--_lives of the painters_, vol. iv. pp. , . i am tempted to add, that many years ago i saw a large roll of canvass produced from under a bed at a furniture shop in "hockley in the hole," which, when unfolded, displayed a variety of old portraits, that had been torn out of their frames, and stowed away like worn-out sail-cloth; the place was so filthy that i was glad to make my escape without further investigation, but i noticed a whole-length of a judge in scarlet robes, and i could not help reflecting how much surprised the painter and the son of the law whom he delineated would have been, could they have anticipated the fate of the picture. having made these remarks, i am not unaware how much easier it is to point out a grievance than to provide a remedy; but perhaps some of your readers more conversant with such matters, may form an opinion whether it would answer to any one to undertake to compile such a catalogue as i have described. though much would remain to be done, a great deal of information is to be gleaned from printed works, and doubtless lists of portraits might be in many instances procured from the persons who are fortunate enough to possess them. it should also be remembered that amongst the mss. of sir william musgrave in the british museum, there are many inventories of english portraits, affording a strong presumption that he may once have meditated such a publication as i have pointed out. but, whether we are ever to have a catalogue or not, some advantage may arise from the discussion of the subject in "notes and queries;" and if it should lead to the rescue of a single portrait from destruction, we shall have advanced one step in the right direction. braybrooke. audley end, march . * * * * * story of a relic. p. c. s. s. found, some days ago, the following curious story in a rare little portuguese book in his possession, and he now ventures to send a translation of it to the "notes and queries." the work was printed at vienna in , and is an account of the embassy of fernando telles da sylva, conde de villa mayor, from the court of lisbon to that of vienna, to demand in marriage, for the eldest son of king pedro ii. of portugal, the hand of the archduchess maria anna of austria. it was written by father francisco da fonseca, a jesuit priest, who accompanied the ambassador in quality of almoner and confessor, and is full of amusing matter, particularly in reference to the strange opinions concerning our laws, government, and religion, which the worthy padre appears to have picked up during his short stay in england. the original of the annexed translation is to be found at pp. , , . § . of fonseca's narrative. "as we are now upon the subject of miracles wrought by relics in vienna, i shall proceed to relate another prodigy which happened in the said city, and which will greatly serve to confirm in us those feelings of piety with which we are wont to venerate such sacred objects. the count harrach, who was greatly favoured by the duke of saxony, begged of him, as a present, a few of the many relics which the duke preserved in his treasury, assuredly less out of devotion than for the sake of their rarity and value. the duke, with his usual benignity, acceded to this request, and gave orders that sundry vials should be dispatched to the count, filled with most indubitable relics of our lord, of the blessed virgin, of the apostles, of the innocents, and of other holy persons. he directed two lutheran ministers to pack these vials securely in a precious casket, which the duke himself sealed up with his own signet, and sent off to vienna. on its arrival there, it was deposited in the chapel of the count, which is situated in the street called preiner. the count immediately informed the bishop of the arrival of this treasure, and invited him to witness the opening of the casket, and to attend for the purpose of verifying its contents. accordingly the bishop came, and on opening the casket, there proceeded from it such an abominable stench, that no man could endure it, infecting, as it did, the whole of the chapel. the bishop thereupon ordered all the vials to be taken out, and carefully examined one by one, hoping to ascertain the cause of this strange incident, which did not long remain a mystery, for they soon { } found the very vial from which this pestilent odour was issuing. it contained a small fragment of cloth, which was thus labelled, '_ex caligis divi martini lutheri_,' that is to say, '_a bit of the breeches of saint martin luther_,' which the aforesaid two lutheran ministers, by way of mockery of our piety, had slily packed up with the holy relics in the casket. the bishop instantly gave orders to burn this abominable rag of the great heresiarch, and forthwith, not only the stench ceased, but there proceeded from the true relics such a delicious and heavenly odour as perfumed the entire building." * * * * * illustrations of chaucer, no. ii. _complaint of mars and venus._ i am not aware that the obvious astronomical allegory, which lurks in chaucer's "complaint of mars and venus," has been pointed out, or that any attempt has been made to explain it. in tyrwhitt's slight notice of that poem, prefixed to his glossary, there is not the most remote hint that he perceived its astronomical significance, or that he looked upon it in any other light than "that it was intended to describe the situation of _some_ two lovers under a veil of mystical allegory." but, as i understand it, it plainly describes an astronomical conjunction of the planets mars and venus, in the last degree of taurus, and on the th of april. these three conditions are not likely to concur except at very rare intervals--it is possible they may have been only theoretical--but it is also possible that they may have really occurred under chaucer's observation; it might therefore well repay the labour bestowed upon it if some person, possessed of time, patience, and the requisite tables, would calculate whether any conjunction, conforming in such particulars, did really take place within the latter half of the fourteenth century: if it was considered worth while to search out a described conjunction years before christ, in order to test the credibility of chinese records, it would surely be not less interesting to confirm the accuracy of chaucer's astronomy, of his fondness for which, and of his desire to bring it forward on all possible occasions, he has given so many proofs in his writings. the data to be gathered from the little poem in question are unfortunately neither very numerous nor very definite; but i think the following points are sufficiently plain. st. the entrance of mars into the sign taurus (_domus veneris_), wherein an assignation has been made between him and venus: "that mars shall enter as fast as he may glide, in to her _next palais_ to abide, walking his course 'till she had him ytake, and he prayed her to hast her for his sake." nd. the nearly double velocity in apparent ecliptic motion of venus as compared with mars: "wherefore she spedded as fast in her way almost in one day as he did in tway." d. the conjunction: "the great joy that was betwix hem two, when they be mette, there may no long tell. there is no more--but into bed they go." th. the entrance of the sun into taurus, as indicated in the unceremonious intrusion of phebus into venus' chamber; which, as though to confirm its identity with taurus, "depainted was with white _boles_ grete;" whereupon mars complains: "this twelve dayes of april i endure through jelous phebus this misaventure." (it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader of chaucer, that in the poet's time the sun would enter taurus on the th of april.) "now flieth venus in to ciclinius tour, with void corse, for fear of phebus light." these two lines, so obscure at first sight, afford, when properly understood, the strongest confirmation of the astronomical meaning of the whole; while, by indicating the conjunction on the last degree of taurus, they furnish a most essential element for its identification. i confess that this "ciclinius" gave me a good deal of trouble; but, taking as a guide the astronomical myth so evident throughout, i came to the conviction that "ciclinius" is a corruption, and that chaucer wrote, or intended to write, cyllenius--a well-known epithet of _mercury_, and used too in an astronomical sense by virgil, "_ignis coeli cyllenius_." now _the sign gemini_ is also "_domus mercurii_;" so that when venus fled into the tour of cyllenius, she simply slipped into the next door to her own house of taurus--leaving poor mars behind to halt after her as he best might. th. mars is almost stationary: "he passeth but a sterre in daies two." there still remain one or two baffling points in the description, one of which is the line-- "fro venus valanus might this palais see," which i am convinced is corrupt: i have formed a guess as to its true meaning, but it is not as yet fully confirmed. the other doubtful points are comprised in the following lines, which have every appearance of significance; and which, i have not the least doubt, bear as close application as those already explained: but, as yet, i must acknowledge an inability to understand the allusions. after venus has entered gemini-- "within the gate she fled into a cave: dark was this cave and smoking as the hell; nat but two paas within the gate it stood, _a natural day in darke i let her dwell_." a. e. b. leeds, march . { } * * * * * charles the first and bartolomeo della nave's collection of pictures. among some miscellaneous papers in a volume of the birch mss. in the british museum (add. . fol. .) is preserved a curious document illustrative of the love of charles i. for the fine arts, and his anxiety to increase his collection of paintings, which, as it has escaped the notice of walpole and his annotators, i transcribe below. "charles r. "whereas wee vnderstand that an excellent collection of paintings are to be solde in venice, whiche are knowen by the name of bartolomeo della nave his collection, wee are desirous that our beloved servant mr. william pettye, should goe thither to make the bargayne for them, wee our selues beinge resolved to goe a fourthe share in the buyinge of them (soe it exceed not the s[=o]me of eight hundred powndes sterlinge), but that our name be concealed in it. and if it shall please god that the same collection be bought and come safelye hither, then wee doe promise in the word of a kinge, that they shall be divyded with all equallitye in this maner, vid^t. that, they shall be equallie divyded into fower partes by some men skillfull in paintinge, and then everie one interested in the shares, or some for them, shall throwe the dice severallye, and whoesoever throwes moste, shall chose his share first, and soe in order everye one shall choose after first, as he castes most, and shal take their shares freelye to their owne vses, as they shall fall vnto them. in wittnes whereof wee haue sett our hande, this eight daye of july, in the tenth year of our reigne, ." the individual employed by charles in this negotiation is the same who collected antiquities in greece for the earl of arundel. he was vicar of thorley, in the isle of wight, and is believed to have been the uncle of the celebrated sir william petty, ancestor of the marquis of lansdowne. it would be curious to learn the particulars of the "bargayne" made by him, and how the pictures were disposed of after their arrival in england. were the warrant and privy seal books of the period (still remaining among the exchequer records) easily accessible, no doubt some information on these points might be gained. that this collection of bartolomeo della nave was a celebrated one, we have the testimony of simon vouet, in a letter to ferrante carlo, written from venice, august , , in which he speaks of it as a "studio di bellissime pitture" (bottari, _lettere pittoriche_, vol. i. p. .: milano, ): and that it came over to england, is asserted repeatedly by ridolfi, in his _vite degli illustri pittori veneti_, the first edition of which appeared at venice in . he mentions in this work several paintings which were in della nave's collection, and which it may be interesting to refer to here, in case they are still to be traced in england. in vol. i. p. . (i quote the padua edition of ) is noticed a painting by vincenzio catena, representing judith carrying the head of holofernes in one hand, and a sword in the other. in the same volume, p. ., a portrait of zattina by palma il vecchio, holding in her hand "una zampina dorata;" and at p. . several sacred subjects by titian among which is specified one of the virgin surrounded by saints, and another of the woman taken in adultery, with "multi ritratti" by the same. again, at p. ., a head of a lady, supposed to be the mother of the artist nadelino da murano, one of the most talented pupils of titian; and at p. . a painting by andrea schiavone, and some designs of parmigiano. in vol. ii. p. . are mentioned two paintings by battista zelotti from ovid's fables; and at p. . a picture of the good samaritan, by jacopo da ponte of bassano. for these references to bottari and ridolfi, i own myself indebted to mr. william carpenter, the keeper of the department of engravings in the british museum; and, probably, some of your readers may contribute further illustrations of bartolomeo della nave's collection of pictures, and of the purchase of them by charles i. i do not find this purchase noticed in vanderdort's list of charles's pictures, published by walpole in . f. madden. * * * * * minor notes. _nonsuch palace._--our antiquarian friends may not be aware that traces of this old residence of elizabeth are still to be seen near ewell. traditions of it exist in the neighbourhood and hansetown, and elizabethan coins are frequently dug up near the foundations of the "banquetting house," now inclosed in a cherry orchard not far from the avenue that joins ewell to cheam. in a field at some distance is an old elm, which the villagers say once stood in the court-yard of the kitchen. near this is a deep trench, now filled with water, and hedged by bushes, which is called "diana's dyke," now in the midst of a broad ploughed field, but formerly the site of a statue of the grecian goddess, which served as a fountain in an age when water-works were found in every palace-garden, evincing in their subjects proofs of the revival of classical learning. the elm above-mentioned measures thirty feet in the girth, immediately below the parting of the branches. its age is "frosty but kindly;" some two or three hundred summers have passed over its old head, which, as yet, is unscathed by heavens fire, and unriven by its bolt. the ground here swells unequally and artificially, and in an adjoining field, long called, no one knew why, "the conduit field," pipes that brought the water to the palace have lately been found, and may be seen intersected by the embankments of the epsom railway. the avenue itself is one of the old approaches to the palace, and was the scene of a skirmish during the civil wars. { } your readers may, perhaps, forget that this palace was the scene of the fatal disgrace of young essex. george w. thornbury. _ferrar and benlowes._--the preface to that very singular poem, _theophila: love's sacrifice_. lond. , by edw. benlowes, contains a passage so closely resembling the inscription "in the great parlour" at little gidding (peckard's _life of nic. ferrar_, p. ), that the coincidence cannot have been accidental, and, if it has not been elsewhere pointed out, may be worth record. as the inscription, thought not dated, was set up during the life of ferrar, who died in , the imitation was evidently not _his_. only so much of the inscription is here given as is requisite to show the parallel. "he who (by reproof of our errors, and remonstrance of that which is more perfect) seeks to make us better, is welcome as an angel of god: and he who (by a cheerful participation of that which is good) confirms us in the same, is welcome as a christian friend. but he who faults us in absence, for that which in presence he made show to approve of, doth by a double guilt of flattery and slander violate the bands both of friendship and charity." thus writes benlowes: "he who shall contribute to the improvement of the author, either by a prudent detection of an errour, or a sober communication of an irrefragable truth, deserves the venerable esteem and welcome of a good angel. and he who by a candid adherence unto, and a fruitful participation of, what is good and pious, confirms him therein, merits the honourable entertainment of a faithful friend: but he who shall traduce him in absence for what in presence he would seem to applaud, incurres the double guilt of flattery and slander: and he who wounds him with ill reading and misprision, does execution on him before judgement." g. a. s. _traditions from remote periods through few links_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the communication of h. j. b., showing how a subject of our beloved queen victoria can, with the intervention, as a lawyer would say, of "three lives," connect herself with one who was a liegeman of that very dissimilar monarch, richard iii., reminds me of a fact which i have long determined in some way to commit to record. it is this: my father, who is only sixty-eight years old, is connected in a similar mode with a person who had the plague during the prevalence of that awful scourge in the metropolis in the year , with the intervention of _one_ life only. my grandfather, john lower of alfriston, co. sussex, distinctly remembered an aged woman, who died at the adjacent village of berwick at about ninety, and who had, in her fourth year, recovered from that frightful disease. should it please providence to spare my father's life to see his eighty-third birthday, the recollections of three persons will thus connect events separated by a period of two centuries. i may take this opportunity of mentioning a fact which may interest such of the readers of "notes and queries" as are students of natural history. my grandfather, who was born in the year (being the son of henry lower, born on the night of the memorable storm of november, ), was among the very last of those who engaged in the sport of _bustard-hunting_ in the south downs. this bird has been extinct, on at least the eastern portion of that range, for upwards of a century. the sport was carried on by means of dogs which hunted down the poor birds, and the sticks of the human (or _in_human?) pursuers did the rest. my ancestor was "in at the death" of the last of the bustards, somewhere about , being then twelve years old. mark antony lower. lewes. _longevity._--some few years since i had occasion to search the parish registers of evercreech in somersetshire, in one of which i met with the following astounding entry:-- " . th dec., jane britton of evercriche, a maidden, as she afirmed of the age of years, was buried." i can scarcely believe my own note, made however, with the register before me. c. w. b. _the thirty-nine articles._--the following ms. note is in a copy which i have ( to. ): "sept. . . "memor. that mr. thomas king did then read publickly and distinctly, in a full congregation during the time of divine service, the nine and thirty articles of religion, and declare his assent and consent, &c., according as is required in the act of uniformity, in the parish church of ellesmere, in the presence of us, who had the said articles printed before us. e. kynaston. tho. eyton. ar. langford. will. swanwick." j. o. m. _emendation of a passage in virgil._--allow me to send you an emendation of the usual readings of the th line of the first georgic, which occurred to me many years ago, and which still appears to me more satisfactory than any which have hitherto been suggested. "ut, cum carceribus sese effudere quadrigæ, _ac sunt in spatio_,--_en_ frustra retinacula tendens, fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas." "when the chariots have passed the barriers, _and are now in the open course_,-- _lo_, the charioteer vainly pulling the reins, is carried along by the steeds." the usual readings are "addunt in spatio," or "addunt in spatia," which are difficult to be { } explained or understood. the emendation which i suggest is, i think, simple, easy, and intelligible; and i can imagine how the word "addunt" arose from the mistake of a transcriber, by supposing that the ms. was written thus:--ac[s]vnt, with a long [s] closely following the c, so as to resemble a d. scriblerus. _poems discovered among the papers of sir k. digby._--in page . of your current volume is a poem of which i am anxious to know the author: it is entitled the "houre-glasse." among the poems of amaltheus i have discovered one so like it, that it appears to be almost a translation. it is curious, and but little known, so that i trust you can find it a place in "notes and queries." "horologium pulverum, tumulus alcippi. perspicuo in vitro pulvis qui dividit horas dum vagus augustum sæpe recurrit iter, olim erat alcippus, qui gallæ ut vidit ocellos, arsit, et est cæco factus ab igne cinis.-- irrequiete cinis, miseros testabere amantes more tuo nulla posse quiete frui." h. a. b. _matter-of-fact epitaph._--may i venture to ask a place for the following very matter-of-fact epitaph in the english cemetery at leghorn? "amstelodamensis situs est hic burr. johannes, quatuor è lustris qui modò cratus erat: ditior anne auro, an meritis hoc nescio: tantas cæca tamen clotho non toleravit opes." which may be thus freely rendered: "here lie the remains of a dutchman named burr. john, who baffled at twenty the skill of his surgeon; whether greater his merits or wealth, i doubt which is, but clotho the blind couldn't bear such great riches." c. w. b. * * * * * queries. ancient danish itinerary: prol in angliam. an ancient scholiast on adam of bremen, "paululum adamo ratione ætatis inferior," according to his editor, joachim maderus, supplies us with a curious list of the stations in the voyages from ripa, in denmark, to acre, in the holy land. adam of bremen's _ecclesiastical history_ dates toward the end of the eleventh century, about . his text is as follows:-- "alterum (episcopatum) in ripa; quæ civitas alio tangitur alveo, qui ab oceano influit, et per quem vela torquentur in fresiam, vel in nostram saxoniam, vel certe in angliam." the scholiast has this note:-- "de ripa in flandriam ad _cuicfal_ velificari potest duobus diebus, et totidem noctibus; de cuicfal ad _prol in angliam_ duobus diebus et una nocte. _illud est ultimum caput angliæ versus austrum_, et est processus illuc de ripa angulosus inter austrum et occidentem. de prol in britanniam ad sanctum matthiam, uno die,--inde ad far, juxta sanctum jacobum tribus noctibus. inde leskebone duobus diebus inter austrum et occidentem. de leskebone ad narvese tribus diebus et tribus noctibus, angulariter inter orientem et austrum. de narvese ad arruguen quatuor diebus et quatuor noctibus, angulariter inter aquilonem et orientem. de arruguen ad barzalun uno die, similiter inter aquilonem et orientem. de barzalun ad marsiliam uno die et una nocte, fere versus orientem, declinando tamen parum ad plagam australem. de marsilia ad mezein in siciliam quatuor diebus et quatuor noctibus, angulariter inter orientem et austrum. de mezein ad accharon xiiii diebus et totidem noctibus, inter orientem et austrum, magis appropiando ad austrum." we may fairly consider that the stations marked in this itinerary are of great antiquity. "prol in angliam" is, no doubt, prawle point, in devonshire; a headland which must have been well known to the veneti long before the days of adam of bremen. its mention here is one among the many proofs of the early importance of this coast, the ancient "littus totonesium," the scene of one of marie's fabliaux, and of some curious passages in layamon's _brut_, which are not to be found in the poem of wace. i wish to ask,-- . is the word "prol" saxon or british, and what is its probable etymology? . where was "cuicfal in flandriam," from whence the voyage was made to prol? richard john king. * * * * * chiming, tolling, and peal-ringing of bells. some of your clerical readers, as well as myself, would probably be glad to have determined, what are the proper times and measures in which the bells of a church ought to be rung. there seems to be no uniformity of practice in this matter, nor any authoritative directions, by which the customs that obtain may be either improved or regulated. the terms chiming, tolling, and peal-ringing, though now generally understood, do not intelligibly apply to the few regulations about bells which occur in the canons. i believe that _chiming_ is the proper method of summoning the congregation to the services of the church: and _tolling_ certainly appears to be the most appropriate use of the bell at funerals. but chiming the bells is an art that is not recognised in the older rules respecting their use. for instance, the fifteenth canon orders that on wednesdays and fridays weekly, warning shall be given to the people that litany will be said, by _tolling of a bell_. and, on the other hand, though we toll at a funeral, the sixty-seventh canon enjoins that-- "after the party's death, there shall be rung no { } more but one short peal, and one other before the burial, and one other after the burial. the peal here alluded to does not of course mean what mr. ellacombe has so clearly described to be a modern peal, in vol. i., p. ., of "notes and queries;" but it would at least amount, i suppose, to _consonantia campanarum_, a ringing together of bells, as distinguished from the _toll_ or single stroke on a bell. horne tooke says: "the toll of a bell is its being _lifted up_ (_tollere_, to raise), which causes that sound we call its toll." the poet does not clear the ambiguity and confusion of terms, when he sings-- "faintly as _tolls_ the evening _chime_!" peals are not heard in london on sunday mornings, i believe; but in the country, at least hereabouts, they are commonly rung as the summons to church, ending with a few strokes on one bell; and then a smaller bell than any in the peal (the _sanctus_ bell of old, perhaps, and now sometimes vulgarly called "tom tinkler") announces that divine service is about to begin. the object of these remarks is to elicit clearly what is the right way of ringing the bells of a church on the several occasions of their being used. alfred gatty. ecclesfield. * * * * * mazer wood: gutta percha. in the _musæum tradescantianum, or a collection of rarities preserved at south lambeth, near london_, by john tradescant, , i find, amongst "other variety of rarities," "the plyable mazer wood, which, being warmed in water, will work to any form;" and a little farther on, in the list of "utensils and household stuffe," i also find "mazer dishes." in my opinion, it is more than a coincidence that doctor montgomery, who, in , received the gold medal of the society of arts for bringing gutta percha and its useful properties under the notice of that body, describes it in almost the same words that tradescant uses when speaking of the pliable mazer wood: the doctor says, "it could be moulded into any form by merely dipping it into boiling water." it is worthy of remark that tradescant, who was the first botanist of his day, seems to have been uncertain of the true nature of the "mazer wood," for he does not class it with his "gums, rootes, woods;" but, as before observed, in a heterogeneous collection which he styles "other variety of rarities." presuming, as i do, that this mazer wood was what we now term gutta percha, the question may be propounded, how could tradescant have procured it from its remote _locale_? the answer is easy. in another part of the _musæum tradescantianum_ may be found a list of the "benefactors" to the collection; and amongst their names occurs that of william curteen, esq. now this william curteen and his father sir william, of flemish descent, were the most extensive british merchants of the time, and had not only ships trading to, but also possessed forts and factories on, some of the islands of the eastern archipelago, the native _habitat_ of the sapotaceous tree that yields the gutta percha. curteen was a collector of curiosities himself, and no doubt his captains and agents were instructed to procure such: in short, a specimen of gutta percha was just as likely to attract the attention of an intelligent englishman at amboyna in the fifteenth century, as it did at singapore in the nineteenth. if there are still any remains of tradescant's collection in the ashmolean museum at oxford, the question, whether the mazer wood was gutta percha or not, might be soon set at rest; but it is highly probable that the men who ordered the relics of the dodo to be thrown out, showed but little ceremony to the mazer wood or dishes. a curious instance of a word, not very dissimilar to mazer, may be found in eric red's saga, part of the _flatö annals_, supposed to be written in the tenth century, and one of the authorities for the pre-columbian discovery of america by the icelanders. karlsefne, one of the heroes of the saga, while his ship was detained by a contrary wind in a norwegian port, was accosted by a german, who wished to purchase his, karlsefne's, broom. "'i will not sell it,' said karlsefne. 'i will give you half a mark in gold for it,' said the german man. karlsefne thought this a good offer, and thereupon concluded the bargain. the german man went away with the broom. karlsefne did not know what wood it was; but it was _mæsur_, which had come from wineland!" perhaps some reader may give an instance of mazer wood being mentioned by other writers; or inform me if the word mazer, in itself, had any peculiar signification. w. pinkerton. * * * * * minor queries. _paul pitcher night._--can any of the contributors to "notes and queries" throw light upon a curious custom, prevalent in some parts of cornwall, of throwing broken pitchers, and other earthen vessels, against the doors of dwelling-houses, on the eve of the conversion of st. paul, thence locally called "paul pitcher night?" on that evening parties of young people perambulate the parishes in which the custom is retained, exclaiming as they throw the sherds,-- "paul's eve, and here's a heave!" according to the received notions, the first "heave" cannot be objected to; but, upon its being repeated, the inhabitants of the house whose { } door is thus attacked may, if they can, seize the offenders, and inflict summary justice upon them; but, as they usually effect their escape before the door can be opened, this is not easily managed. query, can this apparently unintelligible custom have any reference to the st verse of the ixth chap. of st. paul's epistle to the romans: "hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"--the earthen fragments thus turned to dishonour being called "paul's pitchers." any more probable conjecture as to the origin or meaning of this custom, or any account of its occurring elsewhere, will greatly oblige f. m. (a subscriber). _disinterment for heresy._--a remarkable instance of disinterment on account of heresy is stated to have occurred a little before the reformation, in the case of one tracy, who was publicly accused in convocation of having expressed heretical tenets in his will; and, having been found guilty, a commission was issued to dig up his body, which was accordingly done. i shall be much obliged to any of your readers who will favour me with the date and particulars of this case. arun. _"just notions," &c._--at the end of the introduction of _the christian instructed in the principles of religion_, by w. reading, lond. , occur the following lines: (query, whether original, or, if not, from whence quoted?)-- "just notions will into good actions grow, and to our reason we our virtues owe; false judgments are the unhappy source of ill, and blinded error draws the passive will. to know our god, and know ourselves, is all we can true happiness or wisdom call." u. q. _pursuits of literature._--how came the author of the _pursuits of literature_ to be known? i have before me the th edition ( ); and in the preface to the fourth and last dialogue, the author declares that "_neither my name nor situation in life will ever be revealed_." he does not pretend to be the sole depository of his own secret; but he says again: "my secret will be for ever preserved, i _know_, under every change of fortune or of political tenets, while honour, and virtue, and religion, and friendly affection, and erudition, and the principles of a gentleman have binding force and authority upon minds so cultivated and dignified. when they fall, i am contented to fall with them." nevertheless, the author of the _pursuits of literature_ is known. how is this? s. t. d. _satirical medal._--i possess a medal whose history i should be glad to know. it is apparently of silver, though not ringing as such, and about an inch and a quarter in diameter. on the obverse are two figures in the long-waisted, full-skirted coats, cavalier hats, and full-bottomed wigs of, i presume, louis xiv.'s time. both wear swords; one, exhibiting the most developed wig of the two, offers a snuff-box, from which the other has accepted a pinch, and fillips it into his companion's eyes. the legend is "faites-vous cela pour m'affronter?" the mitigated heroism of this _query_ seems to be _noted_ on the reverse, which presents a man digging in the ground, an operation in which he must be somewhat hampered by a lantern in his left hand; superfluous one would deem (but for the authority of diogenes), as the sun is shining above his head in full splendour. the digger's opinion, that the two combined are not more than the case requires, is conveyed in the legend,-- "je cherche du courage pour mon maistre." the finding was curious. on cutting down an ash-tree in the neighbourhood of linton, cambridgeshire, in , a knob on its trunk was lopped off, and this medal discovered in its core! it was probably the cause of the excrescence, having been, perhaps, thrust under the bark to escape the danger of its apparently political allusion. the linton carrier purchased it for half-a-crown, and from him it passed in into hands whence it devolved to me. is anything known of this medal, or are any other specimens of it extant? i pretend to no numismatic skill, but to an unlearned mind it would seem to contain allusion to the insult which charles ii. and his government were supposed to submit to from louis xiv.; to be, in fact, a sort of metallic hb. some friend, i forget who, pronounced the workmanship dutch, which would, i think, favour the above theory. the figures are in bold and prominent relief, but to a certain degree rounded by wear, having been evidently carried in the pocket for a considerable time. g. w. w. _matthew's mediterranean passage._--i should be thankful for any information as to where the following work could be seen, and also respecting the nature of its contents. "somerset.--matthew's mediterranean passage by water from london to bristol, &c., and from lynne to yarmouthe. very rare, to. ." the above is quoted from thos. thorpe's cat., part iii., , p. ., no. . mercurii. _inscription on an oak board._--i have an old oak board, on which are carved the following lines in raised capital letters of an antique form, with lozenges between the words:-- "if . yov . wovld . know . my . name . or . who . i . was . that . did . the . same . loke . in . genesis . where . hee . doo . indight." { } the letters are two inches long, and a quarter of an inch high from the sunken face of the board, which is four feet long by ten inches wide. it has a raised rim or border round the inscription; which proves that it had not contained more lines than as above. it was found at hereford, in a county which still abounds in timbered houses, and it had been lately used as a weather-board. the legend was submitted to the late sir samuel meyrick of goderich court; who was of opinion, that it had formerly been over the chimney-piece or porch of some dwelling-house, and is a riddle involving the builder's or founder's name. if any of your readers can suggest the age and original use of this board, or explain the name concealed in the lines, it will oblige p. h. f. _expressions in milton._--allow me to ask some correspondent to give the meaning of the following expressions from the prose works of milton:-- "a toothless satire is as improper as a toothed sleck stone, and as bullish." "a toothed sleck stone," i take to mean a "jagged whetstone," very unfit for its purpose; but what is the force of the term "as bullish?" again: "i do not intend this hot seasons to _bid you the base_, through the wide and dusty champaign of the councils." the meaning i receive from this is, "i don't mean to carry you through the maze of the ancient councils of the church;" but i wish to know the exact force of the expression "to bid you the base?" r. (a reader). _saints' days._--the _chorea invita_ is not a very satisfactory explanation of st. vitus's dance; and though st. vitus is not in the roman martyrology of our day, yet he is in the almanacs of the fifteenth century, and probably earlier. the martyr vitus makes the th of june a red letter-day in the first almanac ever printed. who was st. vitus, and how did he give his name to the play of the features which is called his dance? again, the day before st. patrick is celebrated in ireland, st. patricius is celebrated in auvergne. can any identity be established? m. _chepstow castle._--in carlyle's _life of cromwell_, vol. i. pp. , ., there is a letter from cromwell, dated before pembroke, wherein he directs a major saunders, then quartered at or near brecon, to go to monmouthshire and seize sir trevor williams of llangevie, and mr. morgan, high sheriff of monmouth, "as," he writes, "they were very deep in the plot of betraying chepstow castle." carlyle has the following foot-note to the letter: "saunders by his manner of indorsing this letter seems to intimate that he took his two men; that he keeps the letter by way of voucher. sir trevor williams by and bye compounds as a delinquent, retires then into llangevie house, and disappears from history. of sheriff morgan, except that a new sheriff is soon appointed, we have no farther notice whatever." can any of your correspondents give me information in what work i can find a tolerably full account of this "betraying of chepstow castle?" and also of what place in the county was this morgan, sheriff of monmouth? danydd gam. _the wilkes mss. and "north briton."_--i inquired long since what had become of these mss., which miss wilkes bequeathed to peter elmsley, of sloane street, "to whose judgement and delicacy" she confided them,--meaning, i presume, that she should be content to abide by his judgement as to the propriety of publishing them, or a selection; but certainly to be preserved for the vindication of her father's memory; otherwise she would have destroyed them, or directed them to be destroyed. in these mss. were, i presume, in the possession of peter elmsley, principal of st. alban's hall, as he submitted the junius correspondence, through mr. hallam, to serjeant rough, who returned the letters to mr. hallam. where now are the original junius letters, and where the other mss.? the _athenæum_ has announced that the stowe mss., including the diaries and correspondence of george grenville, are about to be published, and will throw a "new light" on the character of john wilkes. i suspect any light obtained from george grenville will be very like the old light, and only help to blacken what is already too dark. i therefore venture to ask once again, where are the wilkes mss.? and can they be consulted? further, are any of your readers able and willing to inform us who were the writers of the different papers in the _north briton_, either first or second series? through "notes and queries" we got much curious information on this point with reference to the _rolliad_. w. m. s. "_o wearisome condition of humanity!_"--can any of your readers inform me in what "noble poet of our own" the following verses are to be found. they are quoted by tillotson in vol. ii. p. . of his works, in vols. fo. "o wearisome condition of humanity! born under one law, to another bound; vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity; created sick, commanded to be sound. if nature did not take delight in blood, she would have found more easy ways to good." q. bloomsbury. _places called "purgatory."_--the rev. wm. thornber, in his _history of blackpool in the fylde district of lancashire_, gives the following explanation of the name as applied to particular fields, houses, &c.:-- "the last evening in october (or vigil of all souls) { } was called the teanlay night; at the close of that day, till within late years, the hills which encircle the fylde shone brightly with many a bonfire, the mosses rivalling them with their fires kindled for the object of succouring their friends in purgatory. a field near poulton, in which this ceremony of the teanlays was celebrated (a circle of men standing with bundles of straw raised high on pitchforks), is named purgatory; and will hand down to posterity the farce of lighting souls to endless happiness from the confines of their prison-house: the custom was not confined to one village or town, but was generally practised by the romanists." it is certain that places may be found here and there in the county still going by the name of purgatory. can any of your correspondents throw further light on the matter, or tell us if the custom extended to other counties? p. p. _epitaph in hall's "discovery."_--the following epitaph occurs in _bishop hall's discovery of a new world, by an english mercury_, an extremely rare little volume, unknown to ames or herbert; and is, i should imagine, a satire on some statesman of the time. query, on whom? "_passenger._, "stay, reade, walke, here lieth andrew turnecoate, who was neither slave, nor soldier, nor phisitian, nor fencer, nor cobler, nor filtcher, nor lawier, nor usurer, but all; who lived neither in citty, nor countrie, nor at home, nor abroade, nor at sea, nor at land, nor here, nor elsewhere, but everywhere. who died neither of hunger, nor poyson, nor hatchet, nor halter, nor dogge, nor disease, but altogether. i., i. h., being neither his debtour, nor heire, nor kinsman, nor friend, nor neighbour, but all: in his memory have erected this, neither monument, nor tombe, nor sepulcher, but all; wishing neither evill nor well, neither to thee, nor mee, nor him, but all unto all."--p. . c. j. francis. * * * * * minor queries answered. _canon and prebendary._--what is the difference between a _canon_ and a _prebend_ or _prebendary_ in a cathedral, or a collegiate church establishment? w. j. [the distinction seems to be this, that a prebendary is one who possesses a prebend, which formerly a canon might or might not hold. subsequently, when canons received prebends for their support, the two classes became confounded; the one, however, is a name of office (_canon_), the other of emolument (_prebendary_). "une partie du clergé était toujours auprès de l'évêque, pour assister aux prières et à toutes les fonctions publiques. l'évêque consultait les prêtres sur toutes les affaires de l'église: et pour l'exécution il se servait des diacres et des ministres inférieurs. le reste du clergé était distribué dans les titres de la ville et de la campagne, et ne se rassemblait qu'en certaines occasions, d'où sont venus les synodes. de cette première partie de clergé sont venus les chanoines des cathédrales. il est vrai que du commencement on nommait clercs canoniques, tous ceux qui vivaient selon les canons, sous la conduite de leur évêque; et qui étaient sur le canon ou la matricule de l'église, pour être entretenus à ses dépens, soit qu'ils servissent dans l'église matrice, ou dans les autres titres. depuis, le nom de canonique ou chanoines fut particulièrement appliqué aux clercs, qui vivaient en commun avec leur évêque."--_institution du droit ecclésiastique_, par m. l'abbé fleury, ière partie, chap. xvii. so much for the origin of canons. as to prebendaries: "præbenda, est jus percipiendi reditus ecclesiasticos, ratione divini officii, cui quis insistit. alia est canonicatui annexa, alia sine ea confertur. _gl. in c. cum m. ferrariensis, . in verbo receperunt de constit._ "_præbendam, beneficium et titulum_ nihil reipsa interest: usu tamen loquendi in alia ecclesia vocatur præbenda, in alia beneficiam, seu titulus. _secund. pac. isag. decret. hoc tit._"--lib. . tit. xxviii. of the _aphorisms of canon law_, by arn. corvinus. _paris_, . in the _quare impedit_ of mallory, the distinction is thus expressed:-- "there is a difference taken between a _prebendary_ and a _canon_, for a prebendary is _a præbendo_ and _nomen facti_ in respect of the maintenance given to him: but _canonicus est nomen juris_; and in our usual translations a secular is translated to a regular, but not _e converso_, a regular to a secular, _palm _."--p. . sub titulo _advowson_.] _what amount of property constitutes an esquire?_--the practice of subjoining "esquire" to the names of persons has become so universal, that the real significance of the title is quite lost sight of. will some one of your correspondents inform me what amount of property really constitutes an esquire? w. l. [no fixed amount of property is a qualification for the title or rank of esquire. for the description of persons so entitled to be designated, see blackstone's _commentaries_, vol. i.; and the later the edition, the greater advantage w. l. will have in the notes and remarks of the latest law writers.] _cromwell family._--will some of your correspondents be so good as to inform me, to whom the children (sons and daughters) of oliver cromwell's daughter bridget were married, those by her first marriage with ireton as well as those by her second marriage with fleetwood. i can learn but the marriage of one: ireton's daughter bridget married a mr. bendyshe. m. a. c. [cromwell's daughter, bridget, who was relict of henry ireton, married charles fleetwood of armingland hall, norfolk, and stoke newington, middlesex: she died, , without any issue by fleetwood. see fleetwood's pedigree in no. ix. of the _bibl. topog. britannica_, pp. , . by her first husband, henry ireton, to whom she was married in , she had one son and four daughters, of whom a full account will be { } found in noble's _house of cromwell_, vol. ii. pp. - ., in which volume will be found an account of the family of fleetwood.] _daughters of the sixth earl of lennox._--j. w. wishes for information as to who married, or what became of the daughters and granddaughters of charles stuart, the sixth earl of lennox, and brother of darnley? [the brother of darnley (the husband of mary queen of scots) was charles, fifth earl of lennox, who left an only daughter, the interesting and oppressed lady arabella stuart, as every common peerage will state.] _wife of joseph nicholson._--any information as to who was the wife of joseph nicholson, who resided in london the latter part of the seventeenth century, would much oblige one of his descendants. he was second son of the rev. joseph nicholson, rector of plumland, cumberland, who was married to mary miser, of crofton. his eldest brother was dr. wm. nicholson, bishop of carlisle, afterwards bishop of derry, and died there . the bishop's nephew, rev. james nicholson, son of the above joseph, came to ireland as chaplain to his uncle, and became rector of ardrahan, co. galway, and died there about . andrew nicholson. [if our correspondent will refer to the title-page of the bishop's celebrated work, _the english, scotch, and irish historical libraries_, as well as to his correspondence with thoresby, the leeds antiquary, he will find his name spelt nicolson, without the letter _h_. this deserves to be noted, as there was another dr. william nicholson, consecrated bishop of gloucester, a.d. .] _six abeiles._--in mrs. barrett browning's beautiful poem, _rhyme of the duchess may_, the following lines occur: "six _abeiles_ i' the kirkyard grow, on the northside in a row." will you or some of your readers kindly inform me what _abeiles_ are. from the context, they would seem to be some kind of tree, but what tree i cannot discover. m. a. h. monkstown, co. cork, feb. . . [bailey, in his _dictionary_, says, "an abele-tree is a fine kind of white poplar." see also chambers' _cyclopædia_.] _southey._--there is a _jeu d'esprit_ attributed to southey, on the expedition of napoleon into russia, beginning,-- "buonaparte must needs set out on a summer's excursion to moscow," and ending,-- "but there's a place which he must go to, where the fire is red, and the brimstone blue, sacre-bleu, ventre-bleu, he'll find it hotter than moscow." i know this was printed, for i saw it when a boy. where can it be found? m. [see "the march to moscow," in southey's _poetical works_, p. ., edit. .] _epigram against burke._--can any reader supply me with some lines of great asperity against edmund burke, excited (i believe) by the unrelenting hostility exhibited by burke against warren hastings? the sting of the epigram is contained in the last line, which, alluding to the exemption of ireland from all poisonous reptiles, runs as follows:-- "and saved her venom to create a burke." and if the said lines shall be forthcoming, i should be glad also to be informed of their reputed author. a borderer. [the following epigram, thrown to burke in court, and torn by him to shreds, has been always attributed to mr. law (lord ellenborough), but erroneously:-- "oft have we wonder'd that on irish ground no poisonous reptile has e'er yet been found; reveal'd the secret stands of nature's work, she saved her venom to create a burke." the real author was one williams, notorious for his _nom de guerre_, anthony pasquin.--townsend's _history of twelve eminent judges_.] _knights hospitallers._--where may a correct list be found of the names of the several persons who held the appointment of master of the knights hospitallers in england, from the period of their first coming until the dissolution of their houses? s. p. o. r. [see dugdale's _monasticon anglicanum_, new edition, vol. vi. pp. - .] * * * * * replies. mesmerism. (vol. iii., p. .) i am much obliged to your correspondent a. l. r. for his kind notice of my pamphlet on mesmerism, and equally so to yourself for inserting it; because it gives me an opportunity of explaining to him, and others to whom i am personally unknown, and who are therefore not aware of my circumstances and movements, why the work was not continued without delay. in doing this i will try to avoid trespassing on your goodness by one word of needless egotism. in my preface i described my materials as a "number of fragments belonging to various ages and places," as "scattered facts and hints" which i had met with in books which were not suspected of containing such matter; and some of them books not likely to fall into the hands of anybody but a librarian, or at least a person having access to a public library. it may be easily understood that rough materials thus gathered were not fit for { } publication; and that, without the books from which they had been "noted" and "queried," they could not be made so: and if i had anticipated the course of events (notwithstanding an inducement which i will mention presently), i should not have thought of publishing a part i. but when i sent it to the press, i had no idea that i should ever return here, or be at an inconvenient distance from the libraries which were then within my reach, and open to my use. as it was, i regretted that i had done so, and felt obliged to hurry the pamphlet through the press, that i might pack up these papers, and many other things more likely to be hurt by carriage, for a residence an hundred miles off; and here they are _in statu quo_. i have not attempted to do any thing with them, not only because i have been very much occupied in other ways, but because i do not know that i could fit them for publication without referring to some books to which i have not access. at the same time i feel bound to add, that while i still think that some of the things to which i refer might be worth printing, yet i do not consider them so important as the matter which formed the subject of the part already published. i did think (and that was the inducement to which i have already referred) that it was high time to call the attention of disinterested and reflecting persons to the _facts_ alleged by mesmerists, and to the _names_ by which they are attested. i have the satisfaction of knowing that i have in some degree succeeded in this design. i may perhaps some day find a channel for publishing the fragments alluded to; but in the mean time, i shall be very glad if i can supply anything which your correspondent may think wanting, or explain anything unintelligible in what is published, if he will let me hear from him either with or without his name. i am sorry to ask for so much space, knowing how little you have to spare; but i cannot resist the temptation to offer an explanation, which will be so widely circulated, and among such readers as i know this will be, if you can find room for it. j. r. maitland. gloucester, march . * * * * * lord howard of effingham. (vol. iii., p. .) the following observations, though slight in themselves, may tend to show that charles lord howard of effingham, afterwards earl of nottingham, was, or professed to be, a protestant. st. on his embassy to spain, carte says (i quote from collins's _peerage_, vol. iv. p. .)-- "on friday the last of this month his catholick majesty ratified the peace upon oath in a great chamber of the palace.... it was pretended that the clergy would not suffer this to be done in a church or chapel where the neglect of reverence of the holy sacrament would give scandal." i presume the "neglect of reverence" was apprehended in the case of the english ambassador. nd. in fuller's _worthies_ (surrey), speaking of lord nottingham, it is said-- "he lived to be very aged, who wrote 'man,' (if not married) in the first of queen elizabeth, being an invited guest at the solemn consecration of matthew parker at lambeth; and many years after, by his testimony, confuted those lewd and loud lies which the papists tell of the nag's head in cheapside." rd. he was one of the commissioners on the trial of garnet and others; and told him, as he stood in a box made like a pulpit-- "sir, you have this day done more good in that pulpit wherein you now stand, than you have done in any other pulpit all the days of your life."--_archæologia_, vol. xv. his coffin-plate has been engraved somewhere, and, if his will exists, it might probably settle the question. q. d. _lord howard of effingham_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is some proof that he was a protestant in the letter of instructions to him from king james (_biog. brit._, p. .): "only we forewarn you, that in the performance of that ceremony, which is likely to be done in the king's (of spain) chapel, you have especial care that it be not done in the forenoon, in the time of mass, to the scandal of _our_ religion; but rather in the afternoon, at what time their service is more free from note of superstition." may lord effingham have changed his religion between the armada and his mission to spain? c. b. * * * * * iovanni volpe. (vol. iii., p. .) the volpes were an ancient, noble florentine family of the second class, some branches of which according to the usage of florence, changed their name, and adopted that of bigliotti. the object of the change was to remove the disqualification which attached to them, as nobles, of holding offices under the republic. in illustration of this singular practice, the following extracts may be cited: "le peuple nomma une commission pour corriger les statuts de la république, et réprimer par les lois l'insolence des nobles. une ordonnance fameuse, connue sous le nom _d'ordinamenti della giustizia_, fut l'ouvrage de cette commission. pour le maintien de la liberté et de la justice, elle sanctionna la jurisprudence la plus tyrannique, et la plus injuste. trente-sept familles, les plus nobles et les plus respectables de florence, furent exclus à jamais du priorat, sans qu'il leur fùt permis de recouvrer les droits de cité, en se { } faisant matriculer dans quelque corps de métier, ou en exerçant quelque profession.... les membres de ces trente-sept familles furent désignés, même dans les lois, par les noms de grands et de magnats; et pour la première fois, on vit un titre d'honneur devenir nonseulement un fardeau onéreux, mais une punition."--sismondi, _histoire des républiques italiennes_, tom. iv. pp. - .: paris, . "the people, now sure of their triumph, relaxed the ordinances of justice, and, to make some distinction in favour of merit or innocence, effaced certain families from the list of the nobility. five hundred and thirty persons were thus elevated, as we may call it, to the rank of commoners. as it was beyond the competence of the republic of florence to change a man's ancestors, this nominal alteration left all the real advantage of birth as they were, and was undoubtedly an enhancenent of dignity, though, in appearance, a very singular one. conversely, several unpopular commoners were ennobled in order to disfranchise them. nothing was more usual, in subsequent times, than such an arbitrary change of rank, as a penalty or a benefit. (messer antonio de baldinaccio degli adimari, tutto che fosse de più grandi e nobili, per grazia era misso tra 'l popolo.--_villani_, xii. c. .) those nobles who were rendered plebeian by favour, were obliged to change their name and arms."--hallam's _middle ages_, vol. i. p. - .: london, . "in the history of florentine families, a singular feature presents itself; by a practice peculiar to italy, nay, it is believed to florence, families, under certain circumstances, were compelled to change their arms and their surnames, the origin of which was as follows. after having long suffered the insolent factions of the great families to convulse the state, the middle classes, headed indeed by one of the nobles, by a determined movement, obtained the mastery. to organize their newly-acquired power, they instituted an office, the chief at florence during the republican era, that of gonfalonier of justice; they formed a species of national guard from the whole body of the citizens, who were again subdivided into companies, under the command of other officers of inferior dignity, also styled gonfaloniers (bannarets). as soon as any noble committed violence within the walls of the city, likely to compromise the public peace, or disturb the quiet of the state, the great bell at the palazzo vecchio raised its alarum, the population flew to arms, and hastened to the spot, where the gonfalonier of justice speedily found himself in a position, not merely to put an end to the disturbance, but even to lay siege to the stout massive fortresses which formed the city residences of the insolent and refractory offenders to which they then withdrew. but the reforming party did not stop there; by the new constitution, which was then introduced, the ancient noble families, termed by cotemporary historians 'i grandi,' and explained to include those only which had ever been illustrated by the order of knighthood, were all placed under a severe system of civil restrictions, and their names were entered upon a roll called the ordinances of justice; the immediate effect was that, losing all political rights, they were placed in a most disadvantageous position before the law. "by a remarkable species of democratic liberality, a man or a family might be emancipated from this position and rendered fit for office, born again as it were into a new political life, by renouncing their connections (consorteria) and changing their arms and surnames. they were then said to be made plebeian or popular (fatti di popolo). niebuhr has noticed the analogy of such voluntary resignation of nobility to the 'transitio ad plebem' of the romans. "this practice of changing arms and surnames originated from the ordinances of justice promulgated about that time, which expressly requires this as a condition to the enjoyment by any of the old families of popular rights. it gave rise to great varieties of surnames and armorial bearings in different branches of the same house. but it has nevertheless been noted that in all these mutations it was still the endeavour of the parties to retain as much as possible of the ancient ensigns and appellations, so that traces of descent and connexion might not in the progress of years be altogether obliterated. thus the cavalcanti took the name of cavallereschi, the tornaquinci that of tornabuoni. sometimes they obtained the object by a play upon the name itself thus; at other times by making a patronymic of the christian name of the first or some other favourite ancestor; thus a branch of the bardi assumed the name of gualterotti, and a branch of the pazzi that of accorri. sometimes they took their new name from a place or circumstance calculated to preserve the memory of their origin; thus the agolanti designated themselves fiesolani, the bostichi from the antiquity of their stock, buonantichi. in mutation of arms a similar object was borne in mind. thus the buondelmonti simply added to their ancient bearings a mountain az. and a cross gu. the baccelli, who were a branch of the mazzinghi, replaced the three perpendicular clubs, the ancient ensigns of the family, by two placed in the form of a cross. "as the object of these provisions was to discriminate for the future those of the ancient families who had acceded to the principles of the popular institutions from their more haughty kindred, who remained true to the defence of their feudal and aristocratical pretensions, the change either of arms or surname was not required if the whole family became converts to the new doctrines; for then there was no need of discrimination, and the law was not framed out of any dislike merely to particular ensigns, but only to the principles and opinions which they had up to a certain time been understood to represent."--_mazzinghi._ the identity of the volpes and bigliottis is attested by ancient sepulchral monuments of the family in santo spirito at florence. to mark the ancient origin, they retained or assumed the fox (_volpe_) as their arms. borghini, in his _discorsi_ (florence, - ), mentions the family as an instance of the name giving rise to the arms, and mentions sandro biglotti, , as the first who assumed the fox as his ensigns. the distinction and influence enjoyed at florence by the family is indicated by its having contributed ten gonfaloniers of justice to the republic; an office corresponding in rank with those of doge of venice { } and doge of genoa. details of several branches of the family will be found in _saggi istorici d'antichità toscane di lorenzo cantini_: firenze, . among the junta of twenty noblemen of venice, chosen in , on the discovery of the conspiracy of marino faliero, doge of venice, we find the name of "ser niccolò volpe":-- "questi [que' del consiglio de' dieci] elessero tra loro una giunta, nella notte, ridotti quasi sul romper del giorno, di venti nobili di vinezia de' migliori, de' piu savii, e de' piu antichi, per consultare, non pero che mettessero pallottola."--_vitæ ducum venetorum_,--though the title is in latin, the work is in italian,--published in muratori's _rerum italicarum scriptores_, tom. xii. p. . the following particulars are extracted from the _biographie universelle_:-- "ivo. biliotti, d'une famille patricienne de florence (qui avoit fourni dix gonfaloniers de justice à cette république, et placé ses armes sur les monnaies de l'état), fut un des derniers défenseurs de la liberté de sa patrie, et un des meilleurs capitaines de son temps. en , il defendit le fort de spello, en toscane, contre les troupes liguées du pape et de l'empereur charles quint. il obligea le prince d'orange, qui les commandait, à se retirer, et se distingua aussi au siége de florence. il passa au service de francois i^{er}, roi de france, avec de gondi et pierre de strozzi, ses parents, et fut tué au siége de dieppe. une partie de la famille biliotti, proscrite par les médicis, se refugia à avignon et dans le comtat venaissin, vers la fin du ^e siècle. le juillet, , le chef de cette maison, joseph joachim, marquis de biliotti, chevalier de st. louis, âgé de soixante-dix ans, aussi distingué par ses vertus que par sa naissance, fut la dernière victime du tribunal révolutionnaire d'orange, qui fut suspendu le lendemain de sa mort." the only particulars of iovanni volpe furnished by the gwerclas mss. are given in the annexed pedigree. the marriage of his daughter frances with my ancestor, richard hughes of gwerclas, arose from the latter (before his accession to the family estates and representation, consequent on the decease without issue--february , james i., - --of his elder brother, humffrey hughes, esq., of gwerclas, baron of cymmer-yn-edeirnion, high sheriff of merionethshire in ) having been secretary of the princely cliffords, earls of cumberland, to whom iovanni volpe had been physician. there can be little doubt that iovanni was descended from a branch of the italian volpes which had retained the ancient name; a supposition confirmed by the tradition of my family, and by the fact of the fox being assigned to his daughter frances as her arms, in an emblazoned genealogy of the house of gwerclas compiled in by the most accurate and eminent of welsh antiquaries, robert vaughan of hengwrt, esq. i may add, that among the gwerclas pictures are portraits of richard hughes and frances; the latter exhibiting in features an complexion the unmistakeable impress of italian lineage. william hughes. twyford, hants, march . . william wolpe. === arms, vert a fox | courant, proper. | | +--------------+ | john wolpe, _aliter_ vulp, "an italian === ---- ----, "descended doctor; was ffamous in queene eliza- | of the ffamily of the beth's tyme, went with george erle | monntaynes in yorkshire, of cumberland most of his sea | who keepe the name this voyages, and was with him at the | daye [ .]." takeing of portorico, in the indies." | | +--------------+ | richard evers ( st) === frances, "sole === ( nd) richard hughes, esq., "of the ffamily of | daughter." died | of gwerclas, co. merioneth, evers of coventry." | june, , | baron of cymmer-yn-edeirnion. | circa æt. . | married nov. . died | | march, , circa æt. . | | +------------+ +----------------+ | | martha, "only daughter." === richard lloyd humffrey hughes, esq. of born january, . | of vaerdre [in gwerclas, baron of cymmer- married, june, . /|\ edeirnion, co. yn-edeirnion, son and heir. merioneth]. high sheriff of merioneth- "had issue sonnes and daughters, now [ shire in . born april, ] liveing." aug. . buried at llangar in edeirnion, may, . | /|\ { } _giovanni volpe or master wolfe_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this person was certainly never "physician to queen elizabeth," but he may have received from her majesty the appointment of apothecary, as he did from her successor. on new-year's day, - , john vulp presented to the king "a box of indian plums," receiving in return oz. di. di. qr. of gilt plate; he is then named the last of five apothecaries who paid their votive offerings to royalty. (nichols's _progresses, &c. of king james i._, vol. i. p. .) in he had risen to be the king's principal apothecary, and by the name of john wolfgango rumlero received "for his fee by the year _li._," as appears by the abstract of his majesty's revenue attached to the pamphlet entitled _time brought to light by time_. from the name here given him, it may be conjectured that he was rather from germany than italy. however, he also went by the plain english name of master wolfe. he is thus alluded to in the epilogue to ben jonson's _masque of the metamorphosed gipsies_, when it was performed at windsor in september, :-- "but, lest it prove like wonder to the sight to see a gipsy, as an Æthiop, white, know that what dy'd our faces was an ointment made and laid on by master woolfe's appointment, the count lycanthropos." as he was a man of such prominence in his profession, probably many other notices of him might be collected if duly "noted" as they occur. j. g. n. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _sir andrew chadwick_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it was stated in evidence, in a trial at lancaster assizes, hilary term, , between law and taylor, plaintiffs, and duckworth and wilkinson, defendants, respecting the heirs at law of sir andrew chadwick, and their claim to his estates, that "ellis chadwick married in ireland a lady of fashion, who had some connexion with her late majesty queen anne, and had issue by her the late sir andrew chadwick. ellis, the father, dying in his son's infancy, about the year , his widow brought her son andrew over to england, where he was very early introduced at court, and being contemporary with the young duke of gloucester, became a great favourite with him, was knighted, and had divers preferments."--from the attorney-general's ms. brief. the latter part of this statement does not appear to confirm the supposition recorded by mr. j.n. chadwick. f. r. r. _manuscript of bede_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the volume in question is entered in the catalogue of thoresby's mss., no. . in the _ducatus leodiensis_, p. . d ed. . the greater part of these mss. came into the hands of ralph thoresby, jun., and, together with the coins, were disposed of by public auction in march, , by whiston bristow, sworn broker. the mss. were sold on the third day, but the volume containing bede does not appear among them. the opinion formed by j. m. of the age of this ms. is certainly erroneous, and being on _paper_ it is more probably of the _fifteenth_ than the _twelfth_ century. the period of william dadyngton, vicar of barton, might decide this. [mu]. _ms. of bede_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent will find a description of this ms. in the catalogue of thoresby's museum, at the end of his _ducatus leodiensis_, edit. , fol., p. . he will also, in thoresby's _correspondence_, , vo. vol. ii. p. ., see a letter from dr. john smith, the editor of bede's _history_, respecting this manuscript, the original of which letter is in my possession. after many dismemberments, what remained of thoresby's museum, including his manuscripts, was sold in london in march, , by auction. mr. lilly, the bookseller of pall mall, had a priced catalogue of this sale; and your correspondent, if anxious to trace the pedigree of his ms. further, can, i have no doubt, on application, get a reference made to that catalogue. i take the present opportunity of mentioning that, as mr. upcott's sale, when i became the purchaser of the thoresby papers, including his ms. diaries, his album, and upwards of letters to him, a very small number of which were printed in the collection, in two volumes, edited by mr. hunter, one of the diaries, from may , , to september , , which was sold with the lot, was after the sale found to be missing. it subsequently came into the hands of a london dealer, by whom it was sold to a yorkshire gentleman, as i understand, but whose name i have not yet been able to trace. should this meet his eye, i will venture to appeal to his sense of justice, entirely ignorant as i am sure he has been of the "pedigree," to use your correspondent's expression, of his ms., whether he will allow it to be longer separated from the series to which it belongs, and which is incomplete without it. i need hardly say, i can only expect to receive it on the terms of repaying the price paid for it, and which i should embrace with many thanks. jas. crossley. manchester, march . . [the following advertisement of the missing ms. appeared in the catalogue (no. ., ) of mr. c. j. hamilton, then of castle court, birchin lane, now residing in the city road, london:--"thoresby's (ralph, antiquary of leeds), _diary_ from may , , to september , , an original unpublished ms., containing much highly interesting literary information, with autograph on fly-leaf, thick vo., { } pages, vellum with tuck, closely written, price l. s. d." the purchaser was mr. wallbran, fallcroft, ripon, yorkshire.] _closing of rooms on account of death_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i am acquainted with a remarkable instance of this custom. a respectable farmer who resided in a parish in bedfordshire, adjoining that in which i am writing, died in ; leaving to his daughter the fine old manor-house in which he had lived for many years, and in which he died, together with about acres of land. the lady, with her husband, was then residing in a neighbouring village, where the latter rented a farm, which he has since given up, retaining the house; but she positively refused to remove to the manor-house, "because her father had died in it;" and as she still persists in her refusal, it is unoccupied to this day. for mr. ---- is not even permitted to let it, except a part, now tenanted by a valued friend of mine, which for many years has been let separately. the rooms and the furniture in them remain exactly as in the lifetime of the late occupant. the lady's husband, who farms the land attached to the house, is put to great inconvenience by living at a distance from it, but nothing will induce her to alter her determination. the facts i have related are notorious in the neighbourhood. arun. _enigmatical epitaph on rev. john mawer_ (vol. iii., p. .).--on reading to a lady the article on this subject in a late number, she immediately recollected, that about thirty years ago she had a governess of that name, the daughter of a clergyman in nottinghamshire, who often mentioned that they were descended from the _royal family of wales_, and that she had a brother who was named _arthur lewellyn tudor kaye mawer_. this anecdote will perhaps be of use in directing attention to cambrian pedigrees, and leading it from dr. whitaker's "old king cole" to "the noble race of shenkin." j. t. a. _haybands in seals_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the practice mentioned by mr. lower, of inserting haybands, or rather slips of rush, in the seals of feoffments, was common in all counties; and it certainly was not confined to the humbler classes. hundreds of feoffments of the fifteenth century, and earlier, have passed through my hands with the seals as described by mr. lower, relating to various counties, and executed by parties of all degrees. in these instances, a little blade of rush is generally neatly inserted round the inner rim of the impression, and evidently must have been so done while the wax was soft. in some instances, these blades of rush overlay the whole seal; in others, a slip of it is merely tied round the label. in delivering seisin under a feoffment, the grantor, or his attorney, handed over to the grantee, together with the deed, a piece of turf, or a twig, or something plucked from the soil, in token of his giving full and complete possession. i have generally supposed that these strips of rush were the tokens of possession so handed over, as part and parcel of the soil, by the grantor; and that they were attached to the seal, as it were, "in perpetuam rei memoriam." in default of better information, i venture to suggest this explanation, but will not presume to vouch for its correctness. l. b. l. _notes on newspapers_ (vol. iii., p. .).--john houghton, the editor of the periodical noticed by your correspondent, _a collection for the improvement of husbandry and trade_, was one of those meritorious men who well deserve commemoration, though his name is not to be found in any biography that i am acquainted with. he was an apothecary, and became a dealer in tea, coffee, and chocolate. he was in politics a loyalist, or tory, and was admitted a member of the royal society in - . he began to publish his _letters on husbandry and trade_ in . no. . is dated thursday, september , . the first collection ended june, , and consists of two vols. to. in november, , houghton determined to resume his old plan of publishing papers on husbandry and trade. his abilities and industry were warmly recommended by several members of the royal society: sir peter pott, john evelyn, dr. hugh chamberlain, and others. the recommendation is prefixed to the first number of this second collection. the first paper is dated wednesday, march , ; and the second wednesday, april , ; they were continued every succeeding wednesday. the concluding paper was published september , . there were numbers, in vols., of the folio papers. the last number contains an "epitome" of the vols. and a "farewell," which gives his reason for discontinuing the paper, and thanks to his assistants, "wishing that knowledge may cover the earth as the water covers the sea." a selection from these papers was published in , by richard bradley, f.r.s., in three vols. vo., to which a fourth was afterwards added in , vo. houghton also published _an account of the acres and houses, with the proportional tax, &c. of each county in england and wales_. lond. , on a broadside. also, _book of funds_, , to. _alteration of the coin, with a feasible method to it_ . to. james crossley. _duncan campbell_ (vol. i., p. .).--there seems to be no doubt that duncan campbell, whose life was written by defoe, was a real person. see _tatler_, vol. i. p. . edit. , vo.; _spectator_, no. .; wilson's _life of defoe_, vol. iii. p. . his house was "in buckingham court, over against old man's coffee house, at charing { } cross," and at another period of his life in monmouth court. he is reported to have amassed a large fortune from practising upon the credulity of the public, and was the grand answerer of "queries" in his day. defoe's entertaining pieces relating to him are evidently novels founded upon fact. jas. crossley. _christmas day_ (vol. iii., p. .).--julian i. has the credit of transferring the celebration of christ's birth from jan. th to dec. th; but mosheim considers the report very questionable (vol. i. p. . soames's edit.). bingham, in his _christian antiq._, devotes ch. iv. of book xx. to the consideration of this festival, and that of the epiphany; but does not notice the claim set up on behalf of julian i.; neither neander (vol. iii. pp. - . eng. translation). it would appear that the eastern church kept christmas on jan. th, and the western church on dec. th: at length, about the time of chrysostom, the oriental christians sided with the western church. bingham also cites augustine as saying that it was the current tradition that christ was born on the eighth of the kalends of january, that is, on the th of december. had, therefore, julian i. dogmatically fixed the th of december as the birthday of our saviour, it is scarcely possible to suppose that augustine, who flourished about half a century later, would allege current tradition as the reason, without any notice of julian. n. e. r. (a subscriber). [see tillemont's _histoire ecclésiastique_, tome i., note ., for a full discussion of this question. also mosheim's _de rebus christianorum ante constantinum commentarii_, sæculum primum, sec. .; and butler's _lives of the saints_, article christmas-day.] _christmas-day_ (vol. iii, p. .).--st. john of chrysostom, archbishop of nice (died a.d. ), in an epistle upon this subject, relates (tom. v. p. . edit. montf. paris, - ) that, at the instance of st. cyril of jerusalem (died a.d. ), st. julius (pope a.d. - ) procured a strict inquiry to be made into the day of our saviour's nativity, which being found to be the th dec., that day was thenceforth set apart for the celebration of this "festorum omnium metropolis," as he styles it. st. tilesphorus (pope a.d. - ), however, is supposed by the generality of ancient authorities to be the first who appointed the th dec. for that purpose. the point is involved in much uncertainty, but your correspondent may find all the information he seeks in _baronii apparatus ad annales ecclesiasticos_, fol., lucæ, , pp. . et seq.; and in a curious tract, entitled _the feast of feasts; or, the celebration of the sacred nativity of our blessed lord and saviour jesus christ; grounded upon the scriptures, and confirmed by the practice of the christian church in all ages_. to. oxf. . this tract is in the british museum. j. c. makes a tremendous leap in chronology when he asks "was it not either julius i. or ii.?" why the one died exactly years after the other! cowgill. _christmas day_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in a note to one of bishop pearson's sermons (_opera minora_, ed. churton) occurs the following passage from st. chrysostom:-- "[greek: para tôn akribôs tauta eidotôn, kai tên polin ekeinên] (sc. romam) [greek: oikountôn, pareilÊphamen tÊn hÊmeran. hoi gar ekei diatribontes anÔthen kai ek palaias paradoseÔs tautên epitelountes]," &c.--_homil. di. nat._ ii. . the remainder of the quotation my _note_ does not supply, but it may be easily found by the reference. the day, therefore, seems fixed by "tradition," and received both by the eastern and western church, and not on any dogmatical decision of the popes. r. w. f. _ms. sermons by jeremy taylor_ (vol. i., p. .).--coleridge's assertion, "that there is now extant in ms. a folio of unprinted sermons by jeremy taylor," must have proceeded from his wishes rather than his knowledge. no such ms. is known to exist; and such a discovery is, i believe, as little to be expected as a fresh play of shakspeare's. was it in the "lands of vision," and with "the damsel and the dulcimer," that the transcendental philosopher beheld it? jas. crossley. _dryden's absolom and achitophel_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the edition noticed by your correspondent, "printed and sold by h. hills, in blackfriars, near the water side, for the benefit of the poor," , vo., is a mere catch-penny. hills, the printer, was a great sinner in this way. i have roscommon's translation of horace's _art of poetry_, ; his _essay on translated verse_, ; mulgrave's _essay on poetry_, ; denham's _cooper's hill_, ; and many other poems, all printed by hills, on bad paper, and very incorrectly, from to , for sale at a low price. jas. crossley. _the rev. w. adams_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the age of mr. adams at his death was thirty-three. his tomb is in the churchyard of bonchurch--a simple coped coffin; but the cross placed upon it is, in allusion to his own beautiful allegory, slightly raised, so that its shadow falls-- "along the letters of his name, and o'er the number of his years." i have a pretty engraving of this tomb, purchased at bonchurch in , and your correspondent may perhaps be glad to adopt the idea for an illustration of the book he mentions. e. j. m. _duchess of buckingham_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i am much surprised at this question; i thought { } there were few ladies of the last century better known than catherine, daughter of james ii. (to whom he gave the name of darnley) by miss ledley, created countess of dorchester. lady catherine darnley was married first to lord anglesey, and secondly to sheffield duke of buckingham, by whom she was mother of the second duke of that name, who died in his minority, and the title became extinct. all this, and many more curious particulars of that extraordinary lady, may be found in the _peerages_, in _pope_, in _walpole's reminiscences_, and in park's edition of the _noble authors_. c. "_go the whole hog_" (vol. iii., p. .).--we learn from _men and manners in america_, vol. i. pp. , ., that _going the whole hog_ is the american popular phrase for radical reform, or democratical principle, and that it is derived from the phrase used by butchers in virginia, who ask their customer whether he will go the whole hog, or deal only for joints or portions of it. c. b. _lord bexley's descent from cromwell_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in answer to pursuivant's query, how were the families of morse and ireton connected? it appears that jane, only child of richard lloyd (of norfolk?), esq., by jane, second daughter of ireton, married, circa , nicholas or henry morse. but what appears to me most likely to have occasioned the report of lord bexley's connexion with the cromwell family is, that the late oliver cromwell, esq., of cheshunt, married miss mary morse in , which must have been not far from the period when lord bexley's mother, also a miss morse, was married to mr. vansittart. waylen. _morse and ireton families._--i have a small original portrait of general ireton by old stone; on the back of it is a card, on which is the following:-- "bequeathed by jane morse to her daughter ann roberts, this picture of her grandfather ireton. will dated jan. . - ." "anne roberts, wife of gaylard roberts, brother of christ^r roberts, father of j. r." in noble's _memoirs of the cromwell family_, vol. ii. p. ., the name is printed _moore_, evidently a mistake for _morse_:-- "jane, third daughter of general ireton, having married richard lloyd, esq., the issue of this marriage was jane, an only child, who married nicholas, or henry _moore_ [morse], esq., by whom she had four sons and three daughters." spes. _the countess of desmond_ (vol. ii., pp. . . . .).--touching this venerable lady, the following "note" may not be unacceptable. in the year , when making a tour in ireland, i saw an engraving at lansdowne lodge, in the county of kerry, the residence of mr. hickson, on which the following record was inscribed:-- "catherine fitzgerald, countess of desmond (from the original in the possession of the knight of kerry on panell). "she was born in ; married in the reign of edw. iv.; lived during the reigns of edw. v., rich. iii., hen. vii., hen. viii., edw. vi., mary, and elizabeth; and died in the latter end of james' or the beginning of charles i.'s reign, at the great age of years." on my return home i was much surprised and gratified to find in my own house, framed and glazed, a very clever small-sized portrait in crayon, which at once struck me a a fac-simile (or nearly so) of the engraving i had seen at lansdowne lodge. your correspondent c. in p. . appears very sceptical about this female methuselah! and speaks of a reputed portrait at windsor "as a gross imposition, being really that of an old man"-- "non nostrum tantus componere lites:" but i would remind your correspondent c. that such longevity is not impossible, and the traditions of the countess of desmond are widely diffused. the portrait in my possession is not unlike an old man; but old ladies, like old hen pheasants, are apt to put on the semblance of the male. a borderer. _aristophanes on the modern stage_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in reply to a query of our correspondent c. j. r., i beg leave to state, that, after having made inquiry on the subject, i cannot find that any of the comedies of aristophanes have ever been introduced upon the english stage, although i agree with him in thinking that some of them might be advantageously adapted to the modern theatre; and i am more confirmed in this opinion from having witnessed at the odéon in paris, some years since, a dramatic piece, entitled "les nuées d'aristophane," which had a great run there. it was not a literal translation from the greek author, but a kind of mélange, drawn from the clouds and plutus together. the characters of socrates and his equestrian son were very well performed; but the scenic accessories i considered very meagre, particularly the choral part, which must have been so striking and beautiful in the original of the former drama. upon my return to england i wrote to the then lessee of drury lane theatre, recommending a similar experiment on our stage from the free version by wheelwright, published some time before by the late d. a. talboys, of oxford. the answer i received was, that the manager had then too much on his hands to admit of his giving time to such an undertaking, which i still think might be a successful one (as is the case with the "antigone" { } of sophocles, so often represented at berlin), and such as to ensure the favourable attention of an english audience, particularly as the subject turns so much upon the danger and uselessness of the meteoric or visionary education, then so prevalent at athens. archÆus. dusseldorf, march . _denarius philosophorum_ (vol. iii., p. .).--bishop thornborough may have been thus styled from his attachment to alchemy and chemistry. one of his publications is thus entitled: "nihil, aliquid, omnia, in gratiam eorum qui artem auriferam physico-chymicè et pie, profitentur." oxon. . another part of his monumental inscription is singular. on the north side are, or were, these words and figures--"in uno, ^o ^a ^r --non spirans spero." "he was," says wood, "a great encourager of bushall in his searches after mines and minerals:" and richardson speaks of this prelate as-- "rerum politicarum potius quam theologicarum et artis chemicæ peritia clarus." j. h. m. _on a passage in the tempest_ (vol. ii., pp. . . . . .).--if you will allow me to offer a conjecture on a subject, which you may think has already been sufficiently discussed in your pages, i shall be glad to submit the following to the consideration of your readers. the passage in the _tempest_, act iii. scene ., as quoted from the first folio, stands thus: "i forget: but these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours most busie lest, when i do it." this was altered in the second folio to "most busie least, when i do it." instead of which theobald proposes,-- "most busyless, when i do it." but "busyless" is not english. all our words ending in _less_ (forming adjectives), are derived from anglo-saxon nouns; as love, joy, hope, &c., and never from adjectives. my conjecture is that shakespeare wrote-- "i forget: but these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labour's most business, when i do it." "most" being used in the sense of "greatest," as in _henry vi._, pt. i., act iv. scene ., (noticed by steevens):-- "but always resolute in most extremes." thus the change of a single syllable is sufficient to make good english, good sense, and good metre of a passage which is otherwise defective in these three particulars. it retains the _s_ in "labours," keeps the comma in its place, and provides that antecedent for "it," which was justly considered necessary by mr. singer. john taylor. . upper gower street. _meaning of waste-book_ (vol. iii., pp. , .).--richard dafforne, of northampton, in his very curious "merchant's mirrour, or directions for the perfect ordering and keeping of his accounts; framed by way of debitor and creditor after the (so tearmed) italian manner, containing rare questions, with their answers in the form of a dialogue; as likewise a waste book, with a complete journal and ledger thereunto appertaining;" annexed to malyne's _consuetudo vel lex mercatoria_, edit. , folio, gives rather a different explanation of the origin of the term "waste-book" to that contained in the answer of your last correspondent. "waste-book," he observes, "so called, because, when the matter is written into the journall, then is this book void, and of no esteeme, especially in holland; where the buying people firme not the waste-book, as here our nation doe in england." jas. crossley. _arthur's seat and salisbury craigs_ (vol. iii., p. .).--l. m. m. r. is informed that there is a tradition of king arthur having defeated the saxons in the neighbourhood of this hill, to the top of which he ascended for the purpose of viewing the country. in the _encyclopædia britannica_ we have another explanation also (_sub voce_), as follows:-- "arthur's seat is said to be derived, or rather corrupted, from a'rd seir, a 'place or field of arrows,' where people shot at a mark: and this not improperly; for, among these cliffs is a dell, or recluse valley, where the wind can scarcely reach, now called the hunter's bog, the bottom of it being a morass." the article concludes thus: "the adjacent crags are supposed to have taken their name from the earl of salisbury; who, in the reign of edward iii., accompanied that prince in an expedition against the scots." but query "a height of earth;" "earthes" (an old form of the genitive), or "airthes height," not unnaturally corrupted to "arthur's seat." w. t. m. edinburgh. _salisbury craigs._--craiglockhart hill and craigmillar castle, both in the neighbourhood of the craigs, are all so called from the henry de craigmillar, who built the castle (now in ruins) in the twelfth century. there is a charter in the reign of alexander ii., in , by william, son of henry de craigmillar, to the monastery of dunfermline, which is the earliest record of the castle. blowen. _meaning of "harrisers"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i am told that the practice which clericus rusticus { } speaks of, holds in yorkshire, but not the name. in devon a corn-field, which has been cut and cleared, is called an "arrish." a vacant stubblefield is so called during the whole of the autumn months. your correspondent suggests "arista;" can he support this historically? if not, it is surely far-fetched. let me draw attention to a word in our english bible, which has been misunderstood before now by readers who were quite at home in the original languages: "_earing nor harvest_" (genesis). without some acquaintance with the earlier forms of our mother tongue, one is liable to take _earing_ to mean the same as "harvest," from the association of _ears_ of corn. but it is the substantive from the anglo-saxon verb _erian_, to plough, to till: so that "earing nor harvest" = "sowing nor reaping." from _erian_ we may pass on to _arare_, and from that to _arista_: in the long pedigree of language they are scarcely unconnected: but the anglo-saxon is not _derived_ from the latin; they are, each in its own language, genuine and independent forms. but it is curious to see what an attraction these distant cousins have for one another, let them only come within each other's sphere of gravitation. in, yorkshire the verb _to earland_ is still a _living_ expression; and a yorkshireman, who has more saxon than latin in him, will not write "arable land," but "_ear_able land." a yorkshire clergyman tells me that this orthography has been perpetuated in a local act of parliament of no very ancient date. putting all these facts together, i am inclined to think that "arrish" must first mean "land for tillage;" and that the connexion of the word with "gleaning" or "gleaners" is the effect of association, and therefore of later date. but it must be observed, there is a difference between "arrish" and "harrisers." can it be shown that dorset-men are given to aspirating their words? besides this, there is a great difference between "arri_ss_ers" and "arri_sh_ers" for counties so near as dorset and devon. and again, while i am quite familiar with the word "arrish," i never heard "arrishers," and i believe it is unknown in devonshire. j. e. oxford. _harrisers or arrishers._--doubtless, by this time, some dozen devonshire correspondents will have informed you, for the benefit of clericus rusticus, that _arrishers_ is the term prevailing in that county for "stubble." the dorset harrisers are therefore, perhaps, the second set of gleaners, who are admitted to the fields to pick up from the stubble, or _arrishes_, the little left behind by the reapers' families. a third set of gleaners has been admitted from time immemorial, namely, the _anser stipularis_, which feeds itself into plump condition for michaelmas by picking up, from between the stubble, the corns which fell from the ears during reaping and sheaving. the devonshire designation for this excellent sort of poultry--known elsewhere as "stubble geese"--is "arrish geese." the derivation of the word must be left to a better provinial philologist than w. h. w. _chaucer's "fifty wekes"_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a. e. b.'s natural and ingeniously-argued conjecture, that chaucer, by the "_fifty wekes_" of the _knightes tale_, "meant to imply the interval of _a solar year_,"--whether we shall rest in accepting the poet's measure of time loosely and poetically, or (which i would gladly feel myself authorised to do) find in it, with your correspondent, an astronomical and historical reason,--is fully secured by the comparison with chaucer's original. the _theseus_ of boccaccio says, appointing the listed fight: "e termine vi sia a ciò donato d'un anno intero." to which the poet subjoins: "e così fu ordinato." see teseide, v. . a. l. x. _the almond tree, &c._ (vol. iii., p. .).--the allusions in hall's poem, stanzas iii. & v., refer to the fine allegorical description of human decrepitude in _ecclesiastes_, xii. , ., when "'the almond tree shall flourish' (_white hairs_), and 'the silver cord shall be loosed,' and 'the golden bowl broken,' and 'the mourners shall go about the streets.'" the pertinence of these solemn figures has been sufficiently explained by biblical commentators. it is to be presumed that the reference to a source so well known as the bible would have occurred at once to the querist, had not the allusions, in the preceding stanza, to the _heathen_ fable of medea, diverted his thoughts from that more familiar channel. v. belgravia. [similar explanations have been kindly furnished by s. c., hermes, p. k., r. p., j. f. m., j. d. a., and also by w. ( ), who refers to mead's _medica sacra_ for an explanation of the whole passage.] _st. thomas's onions_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in reference to the query, why is st. thomas frequently mentioned in connexion with onions? i fancy the reason to be this. there is a variety of the onion tribe commonly called _potato_ or _multiplying onion_. it is the rule to _plant_ this onion on st. thomas's day. from this circumstance it appears to me likely that this sort of onion may be so called, though i never heard of it before. they are fit for use as large hard onions some time before the other sort. j. wodderspoon. norwich, march . . { } _roman catholic peers_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the proper comment has been passed on the duke of norfolk, but not on the other two roman catholic peers mentioned by miss martineau. she names lord clifford and lord dormer as "having obtained entrance _at last_ to the legislative assembly, where their fathers sat and ruled when their faith was the law of the land." the term "fathers" is of course figuratively used, but we may conclude the writer meant to imply their ancestors possessing the same dignity of peerage, and enjoying, in virtue thereof, the right of "sitting and ruling" in the senate of their country. if such was the lady's meaning, what is her historical accuracy? the first lord dormer was created in the reign of james i., in the year ; and, dying the next year, never sat in parliament: and it has been remarked as a very singular fact that this barony had existed for upwards of two centuries before any of its possessors did so. but the first lord dormer, who sat in the house of lords, was admitted, not by the roman catholic relief act, but by the fact of his being willing to take the usual oaths: this was john, the tenth lord, who succeeded his half-brother in , and died without issue in . as for lord clifford of chudleigh, that family was not raised to the peerage until the year , in the reign of charles ii. j. g. n. _election of a pope_ (vol. iii., p. .).--probably t. refers to the (alleged) custom attendant upon the election of a pope, as part of the ceremony alluded to in the following lines in _hudibras_:-- "so, cardinals, they say, do grope at t'other end the new made pope" part i. canto iii. l. . [ mo. ed. of .] in the notes to the above edition (and probably to other of the old editions) your correspondent will find a detailed explanation of these two lines: i refer him to the work itself, as the "note" is scarcely fit to transcribe here. j. b. colman. _comets_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is a copious list of all the comets that have appeared _since the creation_, and of all that _will appear up to_ a.d. , in the _art de vérifier les dates_, vol. i. part i.; and vol. i. part ii. of the last edition. c. _camden and curwen families_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--h. c. will find, in harl. ms. . fo. ., a short pedigree of the family of nicholas culwen of gressiard and stubbe, in the county of lancaster, showing his descent from gilbert culwen or curwen (a younger brother of curwen of workington), who appears to have settled at stubbe about the middle of the fifteenth century. although this pedigree was recorded by authority of norroy king of arms, in , while camden held the office of clarenceux, it does not show any connexion with gyles curwen, who married a daughter and coheir of barbara, of poulton hall, in the county of lancaster, and whose daughter elizabeth was the wife of sampson camden of london, and mother of camden. nevertheless, it may possibly throw some light on the subject. if h. c. cannot conveniently refer to the harl. mss., i will with much pleasure send him a copy of this pedigree, and of another, in the same ms., fo. ., showing camden's descent from gyles curwen, if he will communicate his address to the editor of "notes and queries." llewellyn. _auriga_ (vol. iii., p. .).--that part of the roman bridle which went about the horse's ears (_aures_), was termed _aurea_; which, being by a well-known grammatical figure put for the whole head-gear of the horse, suggests as a meaning of _auriga_, "_is qui_ aureas agit, he who manages, guides, or (as we say) handles, the reins." pelethronius. ecclesfield hall. _straw necklaces_ (vol. i., p. ., &c.).--may not these be possibly only spenser's "rings of rushes," mentioned by him among other fragile ornaments for the head and neck? "sometimes her head she fondly would aguize with gaudy girlonds, or fresh flowrets dight about her necke, or rings of rushes plight." _f. q._ lib. ii. canto vi. st. . ache. _the nine of diamonds, called the curse of scotland_ (vol. i., pp. ., .).--the following explanation is given in a _classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue_, ; an ignoble authority, it must be admitted:-- "diamonds imply royalty, being ornaments to the imperial crown, and every ninth king of scotland has been observed for many ages to be a tyrant, and a curse to that country." j. h. m. "_cum grano salis_" (vol. iii., pp. . .).--i venture to suggest, that in this phrase the allusion is to a rich and unctuous morsel, which, when assisted _by a little salt_, will be tolerated by the stomach, otherwise will be rejected. in the same way an extravagant statement, when taken with a slight qualification (_cum grano salis_) will be tolerated by the mind. i should wish to be informed what writer first uses this phrase in a metaphorical sense--not, i conceive, any classical author. x. z. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. mr. rees of llandovery announces for publication by subscription (under the auspices of the welsh mss. society), a new edition of _the myvyrian archæology of wales_, with english translations and notes, { } nearly the whole of the historical portions of which, consisting of revised copies of achan y saint, historical triads, chronicles, &c. are ready for the press, having been prepared for the late record commission, by aneurin owen, esq., and since placed by the right hon. the master of the rolls at the disposal of the welsh mss. society for publication. as the first volume consists of ancient poetry from the sixth to the fourteenth centuries, much of which, from its present imperfect state, requires to be collated with ancient ms. copies of the poems, not accessible to the former editors; in order to afford more time for that most essential object, it is proposed to commence with the publication of the historical matter: while the laws of howel dda, having been recently published by the record commission, will not be included; by which means it is expected the original welsh text and english translations of the rest of the work can be comprised in four or five volumes, as the greatest care will be paid to the quantity of matter and its accuracy, as well as typographical excellence, so as to ensure the largest amount of information at the least expense. we need hardly say that this patriotic undertaking has our heartiest wishes for its success. the rev. j. forshall, one of the editors of the recently published _wickliffe bible_, has just edited, under the title of _remonstrance against romish corruptions in the church, addressed to the people and parliament of england in , ric. ii._, a most valuable paper drawn up by purvey, one of wickliffe's friends and disciples, for the king, lords, and commons, then about to assemble in parliament. as presenting a striking picture of the condition of the english church at the time, when combined efforts were first made with any zealousness of purpose for its amendment and reform; and affording a tolerably complete sketch of the views and notions of the wickliffite party on those points of ecclesiastical polity and doctrine, in which they were most strongly opposed to the then prevailing opinions; this publication is an extremely valuable contribution to the history of a period in our annals, which has scarcely yet received it due share of attention: while the great question which is agitating the public mind renders the appearance of purvey's tract at this moment peculiarly well-timed. mr. forshall has executed his task in a very able manner; the introduction is brief and to the purpose, and the short glossary which he has appended is just what it should be. the camden society has lately added a very important work to its list of intended publications. it is the _st. paul's domesday of the manors belonging to the cathedral in the year _, and is to be edited with an introduction and illustrative notes, by archdeacon hale. messrs. puttick and simpson ( . piccadilly) will sell, on monday next and four following days, a selection of valuable books, including old poetry, plays, chap-books, and drolleries, and some important mss. connected with english county and family history. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson ( . wellington street, strand) will sell on monday the valuable collection of english coins and medals of abraham rhodes, esq.; on wednesday and thursday, a valuable collection of engravings, drawings, and paintings, including a very fine drawing of torento by turner; and on friday and two following days, the valuable assemblage of greek, &c. coins and medals, including the residue of the syrian regal tetradrachms, recently found at tarsus in cilicia, the property of f. r. p. boocke, esq. books received.--_angels the ministers of god's providence. a sermon preached before the university of dublin on quinquagesima sunday, , by the rev. richard gibbings, m.a.--the legend of saint peter's chair, by anthony rich, jun., b.a._ a clever and caustic reply to dr. wiseman's attack on lady morgan, by a very competent authority--the learned editor of the _illustrated companion to the latin dictionary and greek lexicon_. dr. wiseman pronounced lady morgan's statement to be "foolish and wicked." mr. rich has shown that these strong epithets may more justly be applied to dr. wiseman's own "_remarks_."--_supplement to second edition of dr. herbert mayo's letters on the truths contained in popular superstitions_ may be best characterised in the writer's own words, as "a notice of some peculiar motions, hitherto unobserved, to the manifestation of which, an influence unconsciously proceeding from the living human frame is necessary," and a very startling notice it is. catalogues received.--williams and norgate's ( . henrietta street) catalogue no. . of foreign second-hand books, and books at reduced prices; w. nield's ( . burlington arcade) catalogue no. . of very cheap books; w. waller and son's ( . fleet street) catalogue, part . for , of choice books at remarkably low prices. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the patrician, edited by burke. vol. . historical register. january, . nos. . to . a mirror for mathematics, by robert farmer, gent. london, . mad. campan's french revolution (english translation). parry's arctic voyage. franklin's arctic voyage. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we this week have the pleasure of presenting our readers with an extra eight pages, rendered necessary by our increasing correspondence. if each one of our readers could procure us one additional subscriber, it would enable us to make this enlargement permanent, instead of occasional._ e. n. w. _a ring which had belonged to mary queen of scots, very similar to that which_ e. n. w. _possesses, was exhibited some years since. a friend, on whose judgment we place great reliance, is of the opinion that the cutting on_ e. n. w.'s _ring is modern. could not_ e. n. w. _exhibit it at the society of antiquaries? mr. akerman, the resident secretary would take charge of it for that purpose._ lammer beads. _justice to_ mr. blowen _requires that we should explain that his article in_ no. . _was accidentally inserted after he had expressed his wish to withdraw it, in consequence of_ mr. way's _most satisfactory paper in_ no. . e. m. "god tempers the wind," &c. _much curious illustration of this proverb, of which the french version occurs in gruter's_ florilegium, _printed in , will be found in_ "notes and queries," vol. i., pp. . . . . . e. m. "vox populi vox dei" _were the words chosen by archbishop mepham for his sermon, when edw. iii. was called to the throne. see_ "notes and queries," vol. i., pp. . . . _for further illustrations_. { } s. wmsn. _the proposed short and true account of zacharie boyd would be acceptable._ h. n. e. _lord rochester wrote a poem of seventeen stanzas upon_ nothing. _the latin poem on the same subject, to which_ h. n. e. _refers, is probably that by passerat, inserted by dr. johnson in his_ life of rochester. k. r. h. m. _received._ o. s. _st. thomas à watering's was close to the second milestone on the old kent road. see cunningham's_ handbook of london, _s.v._ borrow's translations. norvicensis _and_ e. d. _are thanked for their replies, which had been anticipated. the latter also for his courteous offer._ j. m. (tavy), _who is certainly our fourth correspondent under that signature (will he adopt another, or shall we add_ ( .) _to his initials?), is thanked. his communications shall appeal in an early number._ replies received.--_st. graal--moths called souls--rack--lines on woman's will--odour from the rainbow--almond tree--in memoriam--gig's hill--comets--language given to man--the whole hog--monosyllables--mistletoe--head of the saviour--snail-eating--coverdale or tindal's bible--dutch church--post-office--drachmarus--quebecca's epitaph--meaning of "strained"--by-the-bye--gloves--tradesmen's signs--old hewson--slums--morganatic marriages--quinces--sir john vaughan--commoner marrying a peeress--pilgrim's road--herbert's memoirs._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvendors. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * cheap foreign books. williams and norgate's catalogues of second-hand books, each stamp: _a._ theology. _b._ classics.--philology, archæology; ancient history; roman law. _c._ scientific books.--medicine, anatomy, chemistry; natural history and philosophy. d. german book circular, no. . . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * c. hamilton's catalogue no. . will be ready april , consisting of a remarkably cheap class of old books and tracts, in various languages, particularly interesting at the present crisis, and purchased within the last few days. it consists of works on catholicism, history, biography, &c. &c.; including some very interesting tracts relating to ireland and scotland, collected by the distinguished reverend charles leslie, author of "snake in the grass," &c. forwarded on receipt of postage stamp. no. . anderson's buildings, city road, nearly opposite the new congregational church. late of bridge place. * * * * * valuable books, county mss., cabinet snuff boxes, very fine china vase, paintings, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on monday, march , and four following days, a collection of valuable books, from the library of a gentleman, books of prints, picture galleries, voyages and travels, &c., chiefly in fine condition, many in choice old calf gilt and russia bindings; also numerous curious books, poetry, plays, chap-books, and several valuable mss., particularly a collection relative to the family and possessions of sir ed. coke, valuable mss. relating to yorkshire, very large collection of mss. connected with various english counties, &c. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * the london homoeopathic hospital, . golden-square: founded by the british homoeopathic association, and supported by voluntary contributions. patroness--h. r. h. the duchess of cambridge. vice-patron--his grace the duke of beaufort, k.g. treasurer--john dean paul, esq. (messrs. strahan and co., strand). the annual festival in aid of the funds of the charity, and in commemoration of the opening of the first homoeopathic hospital established in london, will be held at the albion tavern, aldersgate-street, on thursday, the th of april next, the anniversary of the birth of samuel hahnemann: the most noble the marquis of worcester, m.p., v.p., in the chair. stewards. f. m. the marquis of anglesey rt. hon. the earl of chesterfield rt. hon. the earl of essex rt. hon. viscount sydney rt. hon. lord gray the viscount maldon the lord francis gordon the lord clarence paget, m.p. the lord alfred paget, m.p. the lord george paget, m.p. culling charles smith, esq. marmaduke b. sampson, esq. f. foster quin, esq., m.d. nathaniel barton, esq. j. askew, esq. h. banister, esq. h. bateman, esq. capt. branford, r.n. f. blake, esq. h. cameron, esq. capt. chapman, r.a., f.r.s. h. cholmondeley, esq. j. b. crampern, esq. col. disbrowe w. dutton, esq. ed. esdaile, esq. w. m. fache, esq. fr. fuller, esq. h. goez, esq. j. gosnell, esq. g. hallett, esq. e. hamilton, esq., m.d. j. huggins, esq. p. hughes, esq. j. p. knight, esq., r.a. j. kidd, esq. t. r. leadam, esq. t. r. mackern, esq. v. massol. esq., m.d. j. mayne, esq., m.d. j. b. metcalfe, esq. c. t. p. metcalfe, esq. s. t. partridge, esq., m.d. t. piper, esq. w. piper, esq. r. pope, esq. h. reynolds, esq. a. robinson, esq. h. rosher, esq. c. j. sanders, esq. w. scorer, esq. rittson southall, esq. t. spicer, esq. j. smith, esq. c. snewin, esq. c. trueman, esq. t. uwins, esq., r.a. w. watkins, esq. j. wisewould, esq. d. w. witton, esq. s. yeldham, esq. j. g. young, esq. the responsibility of stewards is limited to the dinner ticket, s., and gentlemen who will kindly undertake the office are respectfully requested to forward their names to any of the stewards; or to the hon. secretary at the hospital. . golden-square. ralph buchan, hon. sec. * * * * * now ready, fcap. vo., price s. d. a third series of plain sermons, addressed to a country congregation. by the late rev. edward blencowe, curate of teversal, notts, and formerly fellow of oriel college, oxford. also, a new edition of the first series, and a second edition of the second series, price s. d. each. "their style is simple; the sentences are not artfully constructed; and there is an utter absence of all attempt at rhetoric. the language is plain saxon language, from which 'the men on the wall' can easily gather what it most concerns them to know."--_theologian._ also, vols. mo., sold separately, s. each, sermons. by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. "sermons of a high and solid character--earnest and affectionate."--_theologian._ "plain and practical, but close and scholarly discourses."--_spectator._ london: george bell, . fleet street. { } * * * * * [illustration] committee for the repair of the tomb of geoffrey chaucer. john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a. william richard drake, esq., f.s.a. thomas w. king, esq., f.s.a. sir frederick madden, k.h. john gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a. samuel shepherd, esq., f.s.a. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a. the tomb of geoffrey chaucer in westminster abbey is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay. a sum of one hundred pounds will effect a perfect repair. the committee have not thought it right to fix any limit to the contribution; they themselves have opened the list with a subscription from each of them of five shillings; but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them. subscriptions have been received from the earls of carlisle, ellesmere, and shaftesbury, viscounts strangford and mahon, pres. soc. antiq., the lords braybrooke and londesborough, and many other noblemen and gentlemen. subscriptions are received by all the members of the committee, and at the union bank, pall mall east. post-office orders may be made payable at the charing cross office, to william richard drake, esq., the treasurer, . parliament street, or william j. thomas, esq., hon. sec., . holy-well street, millbank. * * * * * now ready, the second edition, price s., illustrated by numerous examples of rare and exquisite greek and roman coins, executed by a new process in exact fac-simile of the originals, and in their respective metals. ancient coins and medals; an historical account of the origin of coined money, the development of the art of coining in greece and her colonies, its progress during the extension of the roman empire, and its decline as an art with the decay of that power. by h. n. humphreys. "it is needless to remark how desirable an addition such a work as this must be to the library of the historian, the classical scholar, and the clergyman, no less than to the artist."--_daily news._ grant and griffith, corner of st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * archÆological institute.--the volumes of the transactions at the norwich and lincoln meetings are on delivery, at the office of the society, . suffolk street. directions regarding their transmission to members in the country should be addressed to george vulliamy, esq., secretary. the salisbury volume, published by mr. bell, . fleet street, is nearly ready. subscribers' names received by the publisher. price s. the oxford volume is ready for press. all members desirous that the series of annual volumes should be continued are requested to send their names to the publisher, mr. parker, . strand, or to the secretary of the institute. the journal, no. ., commencing vol. viii., will be issued in a few days to all members not in arrear of their subscriptions, which may be remitted to edward hawkins, esq., treasurer, by order on the charing cross post office, or to messrs. coutts, bankers of the institute. . suffolk street, pall-mall, march , . * * * * * new theological journal. on the th instant was published, no. i., price s., of the theological critic; a quarterly journal. edited by the rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. this journal will embrace theology in its widest acceptation, and several articles of each number will be devoted to biblical criticism. contents:-- . newman's ninth lecture. . galatians iii. . . cardinal bessarion. . lepsius on biblical chronology. . the ministry of the body. . romans xiv. . is the beast from the sea the papacy? . modern infidelity: miss martineau and mr. atkinson. . st. columban and the early irish missionaries. . dr. bloomfield and mr. alford. . "things old and new." rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * just published, vol. vo. s. d. an argument for the royal supremacy. by the rev. sanderson robins, m.a. also, recently, by the same, some reasons against the revival of convocation. vo. s. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * this day is published, price s. the legend of st. peter's chair, by anthony rich, b.a. "legend, which means that which ought to be read, is, from the early misapplication of the term by impostors, now used by us as if it meant--that which ought to be laughed at."--_tooke's diversion of purley._ c. westerton, hyde park corner, and all booksellers. also the fourth edition, price s., of lady morgan's letter to cardinal wiseman. * * * * * in anticipation of easter. the subscriber has prepared an ample supply of his well-known and approved surplices, from s. to s., and various devices in damask communion linen, well adapted for presentation to churches. illustrated priced catalogues sent free to the clergy, architects, and churchwardens by post, on application to gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page two chancellors, by edward foss illustrations of chaucer, no. iii. folk lore:--cure of hooping cough--charms from devonshire--lent lilies--oak webs, &c. the threnodia carolina of sir thomas herbert, by bolton corney minor notes:--shakspeare's venus and adonis--moorfields in charles ii.'s time--derivation of yankee--a word to literary men queries: poems of john seguard of norwich, by sir f. madden epitaph on the countess of pembroke minor queries:--the vellum-bound junius--what is a tye?--"marriage is such a rabble rout"--arms of robert nelson--knebsend or nebsend, co. york --moore's almanack--archbishop loftus--matrix of monastic seal--syriac scriptures and lexicon-- villiers duke of buckingham--porci solidi-pedes-- the heywood family--was charles ii. ever in wales?--dog's head in the pot--"poor alinda's growing old" minor queries answered:--who was the author of "the modest enquiry, &c."?--william penn's family --deal, dover, and harwich--author of broad stone of honour--pope joan--the well o' the world's end--sides and angles--meaning of ratche --"feast of reason," &c.--tu autem replies:-- barons of hugh lupus edmund prideaux and the first post-office lady jane of westmoreland replies to minor queries:--ulm manuscript--father maximilian hell--meaning of "strained" as used by shakspeare--headings of chapters in english bibles miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. two chancellors. although neither your readers nor i are politicians enough to interfere in the changes proposed with reference to the office of lord chancellor, i doubt not that some of them, now the subject is on the _tapis_, may feel interested in a fact connected with it, which our ancient records disclose: namely, that on one occasion there were _two chancellors_ acting at the same time for several months together, and both regularly appointed by the king. it is an unique instance, occurring in the reign of edward iv.: the two chancellors being thomas rotheram, bishop of lincoln, and john alcock, bishop of rochester. the former received the great seal in may, , in the fourteenth year of the reign, and without any doubt continued chancellor till the king's death; and yet, from april to september in the following year, the latter was also addressed by the same title. during that interval of five months, there are numerous writs of privy seal addressed by the king to both, in which each of them is styled "our chancellor." this curious circumstance may be thus accounted for. king edward had for some time been contemplating an invasion of france; and when his preparations were completed (about april), as he required his chancellor, bishop rotheram, to attend him on the expedition, it became necessary to provide some competent person to transact the business of the chancery in his absence. on previous occasions of this nature, it had been usual to place the seal that was used in england, when the king was abroad, in the hands of the master of the rolls, or some other master in chancery, with the title of keeper: but, for some unexplained reason (perhaps because bishop alcock was a man whom the king delighted to honour), this prelate was dignified with the superior designation, although bishop rotheram still retained it. the voyage being delayed from april to july, during the whole of that period, each being in england, both acted in the same character; privy seals, as i have said, being sent to both, and bills in chancery being addressed also to bishop alcock as chancellor. rotheram was with the king in france as his chancellor, and is so described on opening the negotiation in august, which led to the discreditable peace by which edward made himself a pensioner to the french king. no privy seals were addressed to alcock after september ; which may therefore be considered the close of this double chancellorship, and the date of bishop rotheram's return to england. who knows whether the discovery of this ancient authority may not suggest to our legislators the division of the title between two possessors { } with distinct duties, in the same manner that two chief justices were substituted in the reign of henry iii. for one chief justiciary? the immediate interest of this fact has prompted me to anticipate its appearance in the volumes of my work, which you have been kind enough to announce as being in the press. edward foss. * * * * * illustrations of chaucer, no. iii. "now flieth venus in to ciclinius tour. * * * * * * "alas, and there hath she no socour, for she ne found ne sey no maner wight. * * * * * * "wherefore her selven for to hide and save, within the gate she fledde in to a cave. * * * * * * "now god helpe sely venus alone, but as god wold it happed for to be, that while the weping venus made her mone, ciclinius riding in his chirachee, _fro venus valanus might this palais see;_ and venus he salveth and maketh chere, and her receiveth as his frende full dere." _complaint of mars and venus._ having in my last communication (vol. iii., p. .) shown cause for the alteration in the foregoing quotation of ciclinius into cyllenius, i shall now endeavour to interpret the line in italics, which in its present shape is utterly without meaning. whatever word _valanus_ may be supposed to represent, whether a proper or a common name, still the construction of the whole line is evidently corrupt. taking valanus, in the first place, as a proper name, the most probable original would be valens; for the connexion of which with mercury we must refer to cicero (_de nat. deor._ iii. .), where mention is made of it in these words:-- "alter (mercurius) _valentis_ et phoronidis filius, is qui sub terris habetur idem trophonius." here the identification with trophonius strikes us at once as affording a clue to the cave into which venus fled, giving great probability to valens as the true solution of chaucer's meaning. but if we receive it as such, the following hypothesis becomes necessary, viz., that chaucer imagined a _double impersonation_ of mercury--one absent, the other present,--one sidereal, the other mythological,--one cyllenius, the other valens. when venus first enters mercury's "palais," she "_ne found ne sey no maner wight_." this signifies the absence from home of _cyllenius_, who was abroad upon "his chirachee" in attendance upon the sun; and here again is an instance of the nice astronomical accuracy of chaucer. it was impossible that the _planet_ mercury could be in the sign gemini, because his greatest elongation, or apparent distance from the sun, does not exceed degrees; so that the sun having but just entered taurus, mercury could not be in gemini. neither could venus see valens (the other impersonation of mercury), because of his concealment in the cave; but when she entered the cave, then she was welcomed and received by him. now, to render the text conformable with this interpretation, some alteration in the construction is necessary, as indeed it must be in any attempt to render the passage intelligible. taking, away the word "fro," and transposing "might" to the other side of "valanus," the lines would stand thus,-- "---- it happed for to be that, while the weping venus made her mone, (cyllenius riding in his chirachee) venus might valens in this palais see; and venus he salveth and maketh chere and her receiveth as his frende full dere!" on the other supposition of "valanus" being a common name, to which a capital letter has been prefixed in mistake, then the only word for which it would appear to be a probable substitution would be "vallum," in the sense of a border or rampart; but the application would be so far-fetched that i shall not attempt it, especially as i look upon the explanation afforded by "valens" as most probably the true one. a. e. b. leeds, march . . * * * * * folk lore. _cure of hooping cough._--there is a superstition in cheshire that hooping cough may be cured by holding a toad for a few moments with its head within the mouth of the person affected. i heard only the other day of a cure by this somewhat disagreeable process; the toad was said to have caught the disease, which in this instance proved fatal to it in a few hours. a. h. h. _charms from devonshire._--the following charms were obtained from an old woman in this parish, though probably they are all known to you already: (_a._) _for a scald or burn._ "there were three angels came from the east and west, one brought fire and another brought frost, and the third it was the holy ghost. out fire, in frost, in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost. amen." (_b._) _for a sprain._ "as our blessed lord and saviour jesus christ was riding into jerusalem, his horse tripped and sprained his leg. our blessed lord and saviour blessed it, and said, 'bone to bone, and vein to vein, o vein, turn to thy rest again!' m. n. so shall thine, in the name," &c. { } (_c._) _for stopping blood._ "our blessed saviour was born in bethlehem and baptized in the river jordan. 'the waters were wild and rude. the child jesus was meek, mild, and good.' he put his foot into the waters, and the waters stopped, and so shall thy blood, in the name," &c. (d.) _for the tooth-ache._ "all glory! all glory! all glory! be to the father, and to the son, and to the holy ghost. "as our lord and saviour jesus christ was walking in the garden of gethsamene, he saw peter weeping. he called him unto him, and said, peter why, weepest thou? peter answered and said, lord, i am grievously tormented with pain, the pain of my tooth. our lord answered and said, if thou wilt believe in me, and my words abide with thee, thou shalt never feel any more pain in thy tooth. peter said, lord, i believe, help thou my unbelief. in the name, &c. "god grant m. n. ease from the pain in his teeth." (_e._) _for fits._--go into a church at midnight and walk three times round the communion table. this was done in this parish a few years since. (_f._) an inhabitant of this parish told me that his father went into lydford church, at twelve o'clock at night, and cut off some lead from every diamond pane in the windows with which he made a heart, to be worn by his wife afflicted with "_breastills_," i.e. _sore breasts_. (_g._) the skin cast by a snake is very useful in extracting thorns, &c. from the body, but, unlike i other remedies, it is repellent, not attractive; hence it must always be applied on the opposite side to that on which the thorn entered. in some cases where the skin has been applied on the same side, it has forced the thorn completely through the hand. _lent lilies.--oak webs, &c._--in this part of cornwall, the native yellow narcissus, known in most counties, and in the books, as _daffodils_ (the "daffy down dilly" of your correspondent, vol. iii. p. .), are called only by the name of _lent lilies_, or simply _lents_, and are commonly sold by the poor children, frequently in exchange for _pins_. the pleasing name reminds one of michaelmas daisy (_chrysanthemum_), christmas rose (_helleborus niger_), and the beautiful pasque flower (_anemone pulsatilla_). the common beetle called cockchafer is here known only as the _oak-web_, and a smaller beetle as _fern-web_. it seems hard to guess why they should be named _web_ (which in anglo-saxon means _weaver_), as they do not, i think, form any cocoon. h. g. t. launceston. * * * * * the threnodia carolina of sir tho. herbert. the _threnodia carolina_ of sir thomas herbert is a jewel of historical composition, and i am persuaded that a new edition of it, if formed on a collation of the best manuscripts, and illustrated by extracts from the principal historians of the same period, would not only be received by the public with thanks, but with expressions of surprise that so rare a treasure should have been suffered to remain in such comparative obscurity. there are four manuscripts of the work in public libraries, two of which i am enabled to describe. . the harleian ms. in the british museum, no. . this ms. is in folio. the preliminary leaves have the notes marked , , --the second being in the handwriting of sir william dugdale. the narrative occupies thirty-six pages, with interlinear corrections and additions. this ms. does not contain the words _this brief narrative_, &c. nor the letter dated the d nov. . "threnodia carolina." ( ) "this book contains s^r tho. herberts memoirs being the original in his own hand sent to s^r w^m dugdale in ." ( ) "a true and perfect narrative of the most remarkable passages relating to king charles the first of blessed memory, written by the proper land of s^r thomas herbert baronet, who attended upon his ma^{tie} from newcastle upon tine, when he was sold by the scotts, during the whole time of his greatest afflictions, till his death and buriall; w^{ch} was sent to me s^r will^m dugdale knight, garter principall king of armes, in michaellmasse terme a^o. , by the said s^r thomas herbert, from yorke, where he resideth." "veritas odium parit." ( ) "court passages in the two last yeares of the raigne of king charles the first, during y^e time of his affliction." . the harleian ms. in the british museum, no. . this ms. is in small folio. it was formerly in the possession of peter le neve, norroy. a preliminary leaf has the subjoined attestation by sir william dugdale. the narrative is much more ample and circumstantial than in the former ms., but it is not all in the handwriting of sir thomas herbert. the letter dated november , and the relations of huntington, cooke, and firebrace, are added in the handwriting of dugdale; also, the names of persons who corresponded with charles i. while he was a prisoner in the isle of wight. the passages transcribed by the rev. alfred gatty appear in this ms.--also in the edition of . the edition of is a _verbatim_ reprint of the first and second articles of that of . it was edited by mr. george nicol. "carolina threnodia." "this booke containeth a large answer to a short letter sent by s^r will^m dugdale kn^t (garter; principall king of armes) unto s^r thomas herbert baronet, { } residing in the citty of yorke. by w^{ch} letter he did desire the sayd s^r thomas herbert to informe him of such materiall passages, as he had observed touching the late king charles the first (of blessed memory) during the time that he the sayd s^r thomas did attend him in person; b^t for the two last yeares of his afflicted life." the other mss. alluded to are preserved in the ashmolean museum at oxford. the most important is no. ., which is minutely described in the admirable catalogue compiled by mr. black. a transcript of the _threnodia carolina_ by ant. à wood, also in the ashmolean museum, is recorded by huddesford. as there were two _recensions_ of the narrative, i have added a specimen of each of the harleian mss., which may serve as a clue to the nature of other copies, whether in public libraries, or in private hands. "the lords ordered a girdle or circumscription of capitall letters to be cutt in lead and putt about the coffin. being onely these wordes king charles . the kings body was then brought from the chamber to saint georges hall. whence after a little pause, it was w^{th} a slow pase & much sorrow carrye'd by those gentlemen that were in mourninge: the lords in blacks following the royall corpes & many gentlemen after them, and their attendants."--threnodia carolina, p. . harleian ms. . "the girdle or circumscription of capitall letters in lead putt about the coffin had onely these words. king-charles. . the kings body was then brought from his bed-chamber, downe into s^t georges-hall; whence after a little stay, itt was with a slow and solemn pace (much sorrow in most faces discernable) carryed by gentlemen that were of some quallity and in mourning. the lords in like habitts followed the royall corps. the governor, and severall gentlemen, and officers, and attendants came after."--carolina threnodia, p. . harleian ms. . bolton corney. _sir thomas herbert's memoirs of charles i._--the question suggested by mr. gatty's first note upon this subject was one of some importance, viz., whether the original ms. in the possession of his friend contained anything of sir thomas herbert's not hitherto published? there is no doubt that the "memoir of the two last years of king charles i." was written by sir thomas herbert, after his retirement to his native city of york, at the request of the author of the _athenæ oxonienses_, who made use of nearly the whole of it in compiling that great work, adapting different portions to his biographical notices of the persons to whom they principally related. the notices of colonel joyce and colonel cobbet are chiefly composed of extracts from herbert's memoir; whilst under the name of herbert himself not more than about one-third of his own communication will be found. the first edition of the _athenæ_ was not published until , several years after sir thomas herbert's death; and the memoir in a complete form, with the title of _threnodia carolina_, did not appear until the year , when it was published by dr. charles goodall, physician to the charter house, together with other tracts relating to charles i. this is doubtless the volume described by mr. bolton corney (vol. iii., p. .), who will, i hope, favour your readers with the information requested by mr. gatty (p. .). the memoir, as published in by g. and w. nicol, booksellers, pall mall, professes to be a faithful reprint of the former edition of . the commencing and concluding paragraphs in this reprint are precisely the same as those transcribed by mr. gatty's friend from the ms. in his possession. his idea, that an incorrect copy of his ms. was improperly obtained, and published in , seems to be without foundation. [delta]. * * * * * minor notes. _shakspeare's venus and adonis._--the following extract from an advertisement in the _st. james's chronicle_, april , , is worth a note as illustrative of the altered value of the book referred to:-- "if any person is possessed of an impression of shakspeare's _venus and adonis_, to. printed by richard field for john harrison, , and will bring it to mr. thomas longman, bookseller, in paternoster row, he will receive one guinea for it." malone gave l. for the copy in his collection in the bodleian. j. f. m. _moorfields in charles ii.'s time._--i copy this from _the new help to discourse_, published about : "two gentlemen of stepney going homewards over moor-fields, about twelve of the clock at night, were staid by an impertinent constable with many frivolous questions, more by half to show his office than his wit; one whereof was, if they were not afraid to go home at that time of the night? they answered, 'no.' 'well,' said he, 'i shall let you pass at this time; but if you should be knockt on the lead before you get home, you cannot but report that there was a good watch kept in moor-fields." blowen. _yankee, derivation of._--the word _yankee_ is nothing more than the word _english_ so transformed by the imperfect pronunciation of the natives of massachusets--_yenghis_, _yanghis_, _yankies_. the orthography of this much-used epithet, which is not given, we believe, in any english or american work, was communicated to m. philarète { } charles by one of the best-informed men of that province. "le mot yankee, appliqué aujourd'hui comme sobriquet aux populations agricoles et commerçantes du nord, n'est autre que le mot _english_ transformé par la prononciation défectueuse des indigènes du massachusets: _yenghis_, _yanghis_, _yankies_. nous tenons de l'un des hommes les plus instruit de la province cette curieuse étymologie, que ne donne aucun ouvrage americain ou anglais. les anglais, quand ils se moquent des _yankies_, se moquent d'eux-mèmes."--philarète charles, "les americains," in _revue des deux mondes_, may , . j. m. _a word to literary men_ (vol. iii., p. .).--perhaps mr. kenneth r. h. mackenzie will allow me to add the following as a _rider_ to his suggestion:-- "even after all the labours of the prussian scholars," says dr. arnold, "much remains to be done towards obtaining a complete knowledge of the number, and still more of the value, of the greek mss. now existing in europe. it is not easy to know how many mss. of any given writer are extant, where they are to be found, and, above all, whether from their age and character they are worth the trouble of an exact collation. a labour of this kind cannot be accomplished by individuals; but the present spirit of liberal co-operation, which seems to influence literary as well as scientific men throughout europe, renders its accomplishment by the combined exertions of the scholars of different countries by no meals impracticable. it would be exceedingly convenient to possess an alphabetical list of all the extant greek and latin writers, with a _catalogue raisonnée_ of the mss. of each; and if such a work were attempted, there is little doubt, i imagine, that in point of number a very large addition would be made to the stock of mss. already known. what the result might be in point of value is another question; still it is desirable to know what we have to trust to; and when we have obtained a right estimate of our existing resources in manuscripts, we shall then be better able to judge what modern criticism will have to do from its own means towards bringing the text of the ancient writers to the greatest possible state of perfection."--preface to _thucydides_, vol. iii. page iv. d edit. m. n. * * * * * queries. poems of john seguard of norwich. in the _letters on the british museum_, (referred to vol. iii., p. .), at p. . is given a short latin poem, which the writer states he "found among the manuscripts;" and adds, "it was written by john seward in the time of henry v., who conquered charles vi. of france." the poem is as follows: "ite per extremam tanaim, pigrosque triones, ite per arentem lybiam, superate calores solis, et arcanos nili deprendite fontes, herculeumque sinum, bacchi transcurrite metas, angli juris erit quicquid complectitur orbis. anglis rubra dabunt pretiosas æquora conchas, indus ebur, ramos panchaia, vellera seres, dum viget henricus, dum noster vivit achilles; est etenim laudes longe transgressus avitas." if these lines are compared with the contemporary leonine verses in praise of henry v., preserved in ms. cott. cleop. b. i. f. . beginning: "ad salvatoris laudes, titulos et honores." their great superiority, in point of latinity, will be perceived, and this query forthwith arises: who was john seward? in reply to this, the following information has been collected. the name of the author was not _seward_, but _seguard_. he is not mentioned by leland, but bale calls him "insignis sui temporis rhetor ac poeta;" and states further, that in the city of norwich, "non sine magno auditorum fructu, bonas artes ingenue profitebatur." he then gives a list of his writings, among which is a work on prosody, entitled _metristenchiridion_, addressed to richard courtney, bishop of norwich, who held the see only from sept. to sept. , and therefore composed during that interval. he notices also a tract _de miseria hominis_, together with _carmina diversi generis_ and _epistolæ ad diversos_; all of which, he says, he himself saw in manuscripts in merton college, oxford, and in the royal library of edward vi. pits, the next authority in point of date, chiefly follows bale in his account of john seguard; but adds, "equestris ordinis in anglia patre natus," and among his writings inserts one not specified by bale, _de laudibus regis henrici quinti, versu_. tanner copies the first of these statements, yet, singular enough, omits all notice of the poem on henry v., the very one, apparently, cited in the _letters on the british museum_. but there are further difficulties. it was natural to suppose, that the ms. seen by bale in the royal library would be there still; and tanner unhesitatingly refers to the volume marked a. xxii. art. ., as the one which contained the poem _de miseria hominis_, noted by bale. on looking, however, at this manuscript, it became apparent that both bale and tanner are in error in ascribing this poem to seguard. the handwriting is of the early part of the thirteenth century, and consequently full a century and a half before the norwich poet was born! at the conclusion is this note, by the same hand: "hos versus, sicut nobis quidam veridicus retulit, segardus junior de sancto audomaro composuit." the writer here named is not mentioned in fabricius, nor in the _histoire littéraire de la france_. besides the ms. in merton college, oxford, referred to by bale, which still exists there under the signature q. . ., i find another in bernard's _catt._ { } _mss. angliæ_, , vol. ii. p. ., among the manuscripts of sir henry langley of shropshire, "no. . jo. segnard [_read_ seguard] poemata." i would therefore close these remarks by requesting attention to the following queries:-- . as blomefield is silent on the subject, is anything more known respecting the biography of john seguard? . can a list be obtained of the contents of the merton manuscript? . what became of the langley ms., and where is it at present? . in what manuscript of the british museum is the poem on henry v. contained? f. madden. p.s. since i wrote the above, i have found in the sale catalogue of the towneley library, , pt. i. lot .: "_seguardi opuscula._ manuscript on vellum. this volume contains several treatises not mentioned by bale or pits." it was purchased by mr. laing for l. s. may i, therefore, add one more query? . can the present owner of this ms. (which is probably the same as the langley copy) furnish a note of its contents? f. m. * * * * * epitaph on the countess of pembroke. who was the writer of the oft-quoted lines, "underneath this marble (sable) hearse," &c. intended, as all know, for an epitaph on mary sidney, afterwards countess of pembroke, but not inscribed upon any monumental stone? they are almost universally attributed to ben jonson, and are included amongst his poems. but this is not conclusive evidence, as we also there find the epitaph on drayton, which was written by quarles. in aubrey's ms. _memoires of naturall remarques in wilts_, these verses are said to have been "made by mr. willi[=a]. browne, who wrote the pastoralls, and they are inserted there." mr. britton, in his _life of aubrey_ (p. .), adds: "it is essential to observe, that aubrey is not alone in stating them to be by browne; for, in his note upon the subject, he left a blank for the latter's christian name, 'william,' which was filled up by evelyn when he perused the manuscript. indeed, evelyn added as a further note, '_william_, governor to the now earl of oxford.'" but these lines are not to be found in browne's _pastorals_. in book ii., song ., there is an epitaph, but which bears little resemblance to the one in question. it concludes with the following conceit: "if to the grave there ever was assign'd one like this nymph in body and in minde, we wish here in balme, not vainely spent, to fit this maiden with a monument, for brass, and marble, were they seated here, would fret, or melt in tears, to lye so near." addison, in _the spectator_, no. ., speaks of this epitaph as "written by an uncertain author." this was not more than seventy-five or eighty years after jonson's death. in the lives of the sidneys, and in ballard's _memoirs of celebrated ladies_ ( ), no author is mentioned; but the latter speaks of the epitaph as likely to be more lasting than marble or brass. to the six lines which generally stand alone, the following are added in the two last-mentioned works: "marble pyles let no man raise, to her name, for after daies, some kind woman, born as she, reading this like niobe, shall turn marble, and become, both her mourner and her tomb." these are also given by brydges in his _peers of james ii._, but they are not in jonson's works. did they originally form part of the epitaph, or are they the production of another and later author? that this epitaph should be attributed to jonson, may possibly have arisen from the following lines being confounded with it. jacob, in his _english poets_, says-- "to show that ben was famous at _epigram_, i need only transcribe the epitaph he wrote on the lady elizabeth l. h.: "underneath this stone doth lie as much virtue as could die, which when alive did harbour give to as much beauty as could live. j. h. m. bath. * * * * * minor queries. _the vellum-bound junius._--mr. cramp, in his late publication, _junius and his works_, conjectures that the printer having bound a copy of _junius_ for and under the direction of the writer of the letters, followed the pattern in the binding of other copies; and this, he says, "will account for similar copies having been found in the libraries of so many persons, which from time to time has occasioned so much speculation." with mr. cramp's conjecture i do not concern myself; but i should be much obliged if he would inform me, through your journal, in what libraries, and where, these many vellum-bound copies have been found, and where i can find the speculations to which they have given rise. v. b. _the vellum-bound junius._--some years ago, on reading the private letters of junius, addressed to h. s. woodfall, and printed by g. woodfall, , i was particularly struck by those of no. . and ., wherein he states a desire to have one set of his letters (which were published d march, , by woodfall) _bound in vellum_. constantly bearing in mind the fact of the vellum copy, i invariably examined all the book { } catalogues that came in my way for it. at last the long-wished-for object appeared in the stowe sale, and i immediately gave my agent instruction to purchase the book for me, and he might offer as much as l.: he bid l., and then it was intimated that it was no use to go on; that fifty guineas would not purchase it, or any other sum. query, has this volume been in any other sale? if not, it certainly connects the buckingham family with junius, though it does not prove the author. w. d. haggard. [the stowe copy of junius, it appears, was bought by mr. rodd for l., no doubt upon commission.] _what is a "tye?"_--in essex, many parishes have a place called "the tye," which i believe is always an out-lying place where three roads meet. in an old map i have seen one place now called "tye" written "dei." is it where a cross once stood, and tye a corruption of dei? forby, in his _east anglian vocabulary_, mentions it, but cannot make it out. a. holt white. _"marriage is such a rabble rout."_--in d'israeli's _curiosities of literature_, moxon's edition, in vol. p. ., or ed. edited by his son, vol. i. p. ., under the head "a literary wife," are the lines-- "marriage is such a rabble rout, that those that are out, would fain get in; and those that are in, would fain get out:" quoted from chaucer. i have heard these lines quoted as being from _hudibras_: as i cannot trace them in my editions of chaucer of butler, perhaps some of your readers can tell me where i can find them? s. wmson. _arms of robert nelson._--can any of the numerous readers and correspondents of "notes and queries" describe the _armorial bearings_ of _robert nelson, esq._, the author of the _companion for the festivals and fasts of the church of england_? he was buried in the burying-ground in lamb's conduit fields, january, . g. f. _knebsend or nebsend, co. york._--query, whereabouts in the county of york is this place? i believe that one of the above is the way of spelling, but at any rate they have the same sound. j. n. c. _moore's almanack._--can any of your correspondents inform me as to the history of _moore's almanack_? what is the date of its first appearance? was francis moore a real personage, or merely a myth? h. p. w. temple. _archbishop loftus._--i shall be deeply obliged to any of your correspondents who will inform me whether, and _where_, any diary or private memoranda are known to exist of adam loftus, who was archbishop of dublin nearly forty years, from to , lord chancellor of ireland, and the first provost of trinity college, dublin. he was an ancestor of the viscount loftus, and of the marquess of ely. henry cotton. thurles, ireland, march . _matrix of monastic seal._--a brass matrix has fallen into my hands of a period certainly not much anterior to the revolution. device, the virgin and child, their heads surrounded with nimbi; the former holds in her right hand three lilies, the latter a globe and cross. the legend is: "* sig[=il] . mon . [=b] . [=m] . de . prato . alias . de . bono . nvncio." in the field, a shield charged with three lions passant. can any correspondent aid me in assigning it rightly? there was an abbey of st. mary de pratis at leicester (vide _gent. mag._, vol. xciii. p. .); and there is a church dedicated to "st. mary in the marsh at norwich." in a recent advertisement i find a notice of scipio ricci, bishop of pistoia and prato, so that the appellation is not very uncommon. e. s. taylor. _syriac scriptures and lexicon._--what edition of the peschito-syriac version of the old and new testaments, respectively, is considered the best? also, what syriac lexicon stands highest for value and accuracy? t. tn. _villiers duke of buckingham._--there is a tradition in portsmouth, that in the evening preceding his assassination, villiers duke of buckingham killed a sailor. is there any authority for this? e. d. _porci solidi-pedes._--can any of your readers inform me if any pigs with single hoofs are in existence in any county in england? they are mentioned in a letter from sir thomas browne to dugdale the antiquary. j. s. p. (a subscriber). _the heywood family._--i am anxious to know if thomas heywood, the dramatist, was in any way related to nathaniel heywood or oliver heywood, the celebrated nonconformist ministers in the seventeenth century? could any of your correspondents give me information on this point? h. a. b. trin. coll. camb. _was charles ii. ever in wales?_--there is a tradition amongst the inhabitants of glamorganshire, that, after his defeat at the battle of worcester, charles come to wales and staid a night at a place called llancaiach vawr, in the parish of gelligaer. the place then belonged to a colonel pritchard, an officer in the parliamentary army; and the story relates that he made himself known to his host, and threw himself upon his generosity for safety. the colonel assented to his staying for { } _one_ night only, but went away himself, afraid, as the story goes, that the parliament should come to know he had succoured charles. i know that llancaiach was a place of considerable note long after that, and that an old farmer used to say he had heard tile story from his father. the historians, i believe, are all silent as to his having fled to wales between the time of his defeat at worcester and the time he left the country. davydd gam. [some accounts state that charles i. was entertained by colonel prichard, when that monarch, travelling through wales, lost his way between tredegar and brecknock. (see lewis's _topographical dictionary of wales_, art. "gellygaer.")] _dog's head in the pot._--"thomas johnson, citizen and haberdasher of london, by will, dated d sept. , gave s. d. annually to the highways between barkway and dogshed-in-the-pot, otherwise called horemayd." the dogshed-in-the-pot here mentioned was, as i infer, a public-house in the parish of great or little hormead in hertfordshire, by the side of the road from barkway to london. in akerman's _tradesmen's tokens current in london_ i find one (numbered ) of the "dogg's-head-in-the-potte" in old street, having the device of a dog eating out of a pot; and the token of oliver wallis, in red cross street (no. ., a.d. ), has the device of a dog eating out of a three-legged pot. in april, , hayward brothers (late r. henly and co.), wholesale and manufacturing builders ironmongers, . blackfriars road, and . and . union street, borough, london (who state their business to have been established ), put forth an advertisement headed with a woodcut of a dog eating out of a three-legged pot. can any of your readers elucidate this sign of the "dog's-head-in-the pot?" c. h. cooper. cambridge, may . . _"poor allinda's growing old."_--charles ii., to vex the duchess of cleveland, caused will legge to sing to her-- "poor allinda's growing old, those charms are now no more." (see lord dartmouth's note in _burnet_, vol. i. p. . ed. .) let me ask, through "notes and queries," dr. rimbault, mr. chappell, or any readers, where are these verses to be found? p. cunningham. * * * * * minor queries answered. _who was the author of "the modest enquiry, &c."?_--there is an anonymous tract, entitled _a modest enquiry, &c._, ( to. london, ), on the question of st. peter's ever having been at rome: proving, in so far as a negative in the case can be proved, in the most logical, full, clear, and satisfactory manner, that--_he never was at rome_; and _never was, either nominally or otherwise, bishop_ _of the church there_: and showing the grounds for the contrary assertion to be altogether baseless and untrue; being a tissue of self-contradicting forgeries and frauds, invented long subsequently to the time, evidently for the sole purpose of justifying the papal pretensions of succession and derivation from the apostle; as those, and all its other claims, are founded alone upon that fact, and must stand or fall with it. the inquiry is conducted throughout with evidence of great acquaintance with scripture and much theological learning (though the writer states himself to be a layman), without the least undue pretension, and with the most perfect temperateness and impartiality. the work would seem now well worth reprinting in a cheap and popular form. who was the author? m. [in francis peck's _catalogue of discourses in the time of king james ii._, no. ., the name of henry care is given as the author. a list of his other works may be found in watt's _bibliotheca_.] _william penn's family._--can any of your correspondents inform me to whom his eldest surviving son (william) was married, and also to whom the children of the said son were married, as well as those of his daughter letitia (mrs. aubrey), if she had any? this son and daughter were william penn's children by his first marriage with miss springett. a. u. c. [william penn, eldest son (of william penn by miss springett), had two children, gulielma maria, married to charles fell, and william penn of the rocks in sussex, who by his first wife, christian forbes, had a daughter and heir, married to peter gaskell. mrs. aubrey was living in . our correspondent may also be referred to mr. hepworth dixon's recently published _william penn, an historical biography_.] _deal, dover, and harwich._--where do the following lines come from? "deal, dover, and harwich, the devil gave with his daughter in marriage; and, by a codicil to his will, he added helvoet and the brill." j. h. l. [francis grose, in his _collection of proverbs_, speaks of them as "a satirical squib thrown at the innkeepers of those places, in return for the many impositions practised on travellers, as well natives as strangers. equally applicable to most other sea-ports."] _author of broad stone of honour._--who is the author of the _broad stone of honour_, of which mention is made in the _guesses at truth_, st series, p. ., &c., and in the _ages of faith_, p. ., works of some interest in reference to the papal discussions which are raging at present? nemo. [kenelm m. digby is the author of the _broad stone of honour_.] { } _pope joan._--can any information be procured as to the origin of the game called pope joan, and (what is of more importance) of the above title, whether any such personage ever held the keys of st peter and wore the tiara? if so, at what period and for what time, and what is known of her personal history? nemo. [that _papissa joanna_ is merely a fictitious character, is now universally acknowledged by the best authorities. "clearer confirmations must be drawn for the history of pope joan, who succeeded leo iv. and preceded benedict iii., than many we yet discover, and he wants not grounds that doubts it." so thought sir thomas browne, in his _vulgar errors_, b. vii. ch. . gibbon, too, rejects it as fabulous. "till the reformation," he says, "the tale was repeated and believed without offence, and joan's female statue long occupied her place among the popes in the cathedral of sienna. she has been annihilated by two learned protestants, blondel and bayle; but their brethren were scandalized by this equitable and generous criticism. spanheim and l'enfant attempted to save this poor engine of controversy, and even mosheim condescends to cherish some doubt and suspicion."--_the decline and fall of the roman empire_, chap. xlix. spanheim's work, _joanna papissa restituta_, was printed at leyden in .] _the well o' the world's end._--i am very anxious to find out, whether there still exists in print (or if it is known to any one now alive) an old scotch fairy tale called "the weary well at the world's end?" charles kirkpatrick sharpe, esq., who is unhappily dead lately, knew the story and meant to write it down; but he became too infirm to do so, and though many very old people in the hilly districts of lammermoor and roxburghshire remember parts of it, and knew it in their youth, i cannot find one who knows it entirely. l. m. m. r. [some references to the story alluded to by our correspondent will be found in dr. leyden's valuable introduction to _the complaynt of scotland_; and the story itself in chambers's admirable collection of scottish folk lore, _popular rhymes of scotland_, p. . of the third edition, which form vol. vii. of the _select writings of robert chambers_.] _sides and angles._--what is the most simple and least complicated method of determining the various relations of the sides and angles of the acute and obtuse-angled triangles, without the aid of trigonometry, construction, or, in fact, by any method except arithmetic? f. g. f. st. andrew's. [the relations of sides and angles cannot be obtained without trigonometry in some shape. a very easy work has lately been published by mr. hemming, in which there is as little as possible of technical trigonometry.] _meaning of ratche._--in john frith's _antithesis_, published in , he says: "the pope and bishops hunt the wild deer, the fox, and the hare, in their closed parks, with great cries, and horns blowing, with hounds and _ratches_ running." i should be glad to have the word _ratches_ satisfactorily explained. h. w. [from a note by steevens on the line in _king lear_ (boswell's _shakspeare_, vol. x. p. .), it appears that the late mr. hawkins, in his notes to _the return from parnassus_, p. ., says, "that a _rache_ is a dog that hunts by scent wild beasts, birds, and even fishes, and that the female of it is called a _brache_:" and in _magnificence_, an ancient interlude of morality, by skelton, printed by rastell, no date, is the following line: "here is a leyshe of ratches to renne an hare." in a following note, mr. tollet, after saying "what is here said of a _rache_, might, perhaps, be taken from holinshed's _description of scotland_, p. .," proceeds, "the females of all dogs were once called _braches_; and ulitius upon gratius observes, 'racha saxonibus canem significabat unde scoti hodie _rache_ pro cane foemina habent, quod anglis est _brache_.'"] _"feast of reason," &c._--seeing your correspondents ask where couplets are to be found, i venture to ask whence comes the line-- "the feast of reason and the flow of soul." i have often heard it asked, but never answered. h. w. d. [it will be found in pope's _imitations of horace_, book ii. satire i.: "there st. john mingles with my friendly bowl the feast of reason and the flow of soul."] _tu autem._--in page . of "hertfordshire," in fuller's _worthies_, there is a story of one alexander nequam, who, wishing to become a monk of st. alban's, wrote thus to the abbot thereof: "si vis, veniam. sin autem, tu autem." to which the abbot replied: "si bonus sis, venias. si nequam, nequaquam." can any of your readers inform me of the meaning of "tu autem" in the first line? as i have been long puzzled. this puts me in mind of a form which there was at ch. ch., oxford, on "gaudy" days. some junior students went to the "high table" to say a latin grace, and when they had finished it, they were dismissed by the dean saying "tu autem;" on which, i remember, there was invariably a smile pervading the faces of those present, even that of the dean himself, as no one seemed to know the meaning of the phrase. i believe that it was in my time an enigma to all. can any of your ingenious readers solve me this? h. c. k. ----rectory, hereford. [pegge in his _anonymiana_, cent. iv. sect. . says, "at st. john's college, cambridge, a scholar, in my time, read some part of a chapter in a latin bible; and after he had read a short time, the president, or { } the fellow that sat in his place cried, _tu autem_. some have been at a loss for the meaning of this; but it is the beginning of the suffrage, which was supposed to follow the reading of the scripture, which the reading scholar was to continue by saying _miserere mei, domine_. but at last it came to mean no more than to be a cue to the reader to desist or give over."] * * * * * replies. barons of hugh lupus. (vol. iii., pp. . .) the inquiry of p., in p. ., seems to indicate an impression that all the witnesses to the charter of hugh lupus to chester abbey were barons of the palatinate, but only a few of them were such, the rest being of england generally. the original barons of the palatinate were clearly distinguishable by possession of privileges confirmed to them by a well-known charter of earl ranulph iii.; and all the norman founders of their baronies will be found, under cestrescire, in domesday, as tenants in capite, from the earl palatine, of lordships within the lyme of his county. _bigod de loges_ (one of the subjects of p.'s inquiry) will not bear this test, unless he was identical with bigot, norman lord of the manors afterwards comprised in aldford fee, which is not known to have been the case. for this last-named bigot, whose lands descended through the alfords to arderne, reference may be made to the _history of cheshire_, i. xxix., ii. . _william malbanc_, the other subject of inquiry, who has eluded m. j. t.'s searches, is easily identified. he was the norman baron of nantwich, the willelmus malbedeng of the _domesday survey_ (vol. i. p. . col. .), and the name is also written thus in the copy of h. lupus's charter referred to, which was ratified under inspection by guncelyn de badlesmere, justiciary of chester in edw. i. the charter, with badlesmere's attestation prefixed, will be found in leycester's _cheshire antiquities_, p. ., and in ormerod's _hist. of cheshire_, vol. i. p. . in the latter work, in vol. iii., the inquirer will also find an account of william malbedeng or malbanc, his estates, his descendant coheirs, and their several subdivisions, extending from p. . to p. ., under the proper head of nantwich or _wich malbanc_, a still existing palatine barony. lancastriensis. your correspondent m. j. t. says it appears from-- "_the ms. catalogue_ of the norman nobility before the conquest, that robert and roger de loges possessed lordships in the districts of coutances in normandy." will he be so good as to say what _ms. catalogue_ he refers to? he seems to speak of _the ms._ _catalogue_ of norman nobility as if it were some well-known public and authentic record. q. g. * * * * * edmund prideaux and the first post-office. (vol. iii., p. .) in a recent number of "notes and queries" (which, by the way, i have only recently become acquainted with) i saw the queries of your correspondent g. p. p. upon the above subject, and having some time ago had occasion to investigate it, i accumulated a mass of notes from various sources,--and these i send you, rough and unpolished as they are, in the hope that in the absence of better information, they may prove to be acceptable. herodotus (viii. .) mentions the existence of a method of communication among the persians, by means of horsemen placed at certain distances. in the close and misæ rolls (_temp. king john et post_) payments are recorded for nuncii who were charged with the carriage of letters. in , edward iv., during his war with scotland, established horse riders at _posts_ twenty miles apart, by which letters were conveyed two hundred miles in two days (gale's _hist. croyland_); and the scottish parliament issued an ordinance for facilitating the expedition of couriers throughout the kingdom. carriers of letters also existed in england about this time, for in a letter from sir j. paston, written in , we are informed that "courby, the carrier, hath had d. for the third hired horse," for a journey from norwich to london and back. (fenn's _paston letters_, to. vol. v. p. .) in , letters reached edinburgh on the fourth day from their despatch from london. (sadler's _letters and negociations_.) in , the rate to be charged for post-horse hire was fixed by statute ( & edw. vi. cap. .) at one penny per mile. in (according to camden), thomas randolph was appointed the first chief postmaster of all england. james i. established (date unknown) the office of foreign postmaster, which was first held by mathewe le questor. in , charles i. appointed william frizell and thomas witherings (in reversion) to the sole management of the foreign post-office. and at this date it seems a regular home post was also carried on, as appears by the following entry from the corporation books of great yarmouth:--" . agreed, june , with the postmaster of ipswich to have quarterly s. paid him for carrying and bringing letters to and from london to yarmouth for the vse of the towne." in , charles i. issued a proclamation for the establishment of "a running post or two, to { } run night and day between edinburgh and scotland and the city of london, to go thither and come back again in six days:" branch posts were also to be established with all the principal towns on the road: the rates of postage were fixed at d. under miles; d. for miles; d. beyond; and d. to scotland. this is conclusive evidence that a regular post-office establishment existed nearly ten years _before prideaux had anything to do with the post-office_. in , a proclamation was issued by the long parliament, by which the offices of foreign and inland postmaster (then held by witherings) were sequestrated into the hands of one philip burlamachy, a city merchant. soon after this we find a committee of the commons, with "master edmund prideaux" for chairman, inquiring into the matter. in , a resolution of the commons declared that "edmund prideaux, esq., a member of the house," was "constituted master of the posts, messengers, and couriers." in prideaux established a weekly conveyance to every part of the kingdom; and also appears to have introduced other judicious reforms and improvements,--indeed he seems to have been the rowland hill of those days; but he has not the slightest claim to be considered as the "inventor of the post-office." the mistake may have arisen from a misapprehension of the following statement frown blackstone: "prideaux first established a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation, _thereby saving to the public the charge of maintaining postmasters_, to the amount of l. per annum." i have not been able to obtain any particulars of prideaux's personal history. mercurii. jememutha magna. _edmund prideaux and the first post-office._--see the appendix to the report of the secret committee of the house of commons on the detaining and opening of letters at the post-office, , which contains copies of numerous documents furnished by mr. lechmere and sir francis palgrave. arun. [we avail ourselves of this opportunity of inserting the following extract from mr. rowland hill's _post-office reform; its importance and practicability_, p. . of the third edition, published in , as it shows clearly the use which mr. rowland hill made of the story in his great work of postage reform; and that miss martineau had clearly no authority for fathering the story in question upon that gentleman:-- "coleridge tells a story which shows how much the post-office is open to fraud, in consequence of the option as to pre-payment which now exists. the story is as follows:-- 'one day, when i had not a shilling which i could spare, i was passing by a cottage not far from keswick, where a letter-carrier was demanding a shilling for a letter, which the woman of the house appeared unwilling to pay, and at last declined to take. i paid the postage, and when the man was out of sight, she told me that the letter was from her son, who took that means of letting her know that he was well; the letter was _not to be paid for_. it was then opened and found to be blank!'[ ] "this trick is so obvious a one that in all probability it is extensively practised."] [footnote : _letters, conversations, and recollections of s. t. coleridge_, vol. ii. p. .] the quotations of your correspondent g. p. p., from polwhele's _cornwall_, relate to the same individual, and a more general construction must, i think, be put upon the expression "our countryman," than that it inferred a native of the county. the family of prideaux was one of great antiquity, and originated in cornwall (their first seat being at prideaux castle there), and had estates there in the time of the above edmund. his father, sir edmund prideaux, of netherton (the first baronet), studied the law in the inner temple, where he became very eminent for his skill and learning. he is stated to have raised a large estate in the counties of devon and cornwall. he married * * *; secondly, catherine, daughter of piers edgecombe, of mount edgecombe, esq., by whom he had two sons, sir peter his successor, and edmund, the subject of your correspondent's queries, who is thus described in prince's _worthies of devon_, p. .:-- "this gentleman was bred to the law, and of so great a reputation, as well for zeal to religion as skill in the law, it is not strange he was chosen a member of that which was called the long parliament, wherein he became a very leading man; for, striking in with the prevailing party of those times (though he never joined with them in setting upon the life of his sovereign), he grew up to great wealth and dignity. he was made commissioner of the great seal [ . rushworth, vol. iii. p. .], worth l. a-year and by ordinance of parliament practised within the bar as one of the king's counsel, worth l. per annum. after that he was attorney general, _worth what he pleased to make it_ [!!], and then _postmaster general_ ... from all which rich employments he acquired a great estate, and among other things purchased the _abbey of ford_, lying in the parish of thorncombe, in devonshire, where he built a noble new house out of the ruins of the old," &c. prideaux cannot be called the inventor of the post-office, although to him may be attributed the extension of the system. the first inland letter office, which, however, extended to some of the principal roads only, was established by charles i. in , under the direction of thomas witherings, who was superseded in . on the breaking out of the civil war, great confusion was occasioned in the conduct of the office, and about that time prideaux's plan seems to have been conceived. { } he was chairman of a committee in for considering the rates upon inland letters; and afterwards ( ) appointed postmaster, in the execution of which office he first established a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation. prior to this, letters were sent by special messengers, or postmasters, whose duty it was to supply relays of horses at a certain mileage. (_blackstone_, book i. c. . s. .) i am unable to discover when edmund prideaux died; but it appears that either he, or one of his descendants, took part in the rising of the duke of monmouth in the west of england, upon which occasion the "great estate" was found of great service in providing a bribe for lord jeffreys. in the life of lord jeffreys, annexed to the _western martyrology; or, bloody assizes_ ( th ed. . london, ), it is said that "a western gentleman's purchase came to fifteen or sixteen hundred guineas, which my lord chancellor had." and rapin, vol. ii. p. ., upon the authority of echard, iii. p. ., states that in one mr. prideaux, of ford abbey, somerset, gave jeffreys l. [probably misprint for l.] "to save his life." i think it likely that your correspondent may find further information upon the subject of this note, in the _life of dr. humphrey prideaux, dean of norwich_ (born , died ), published in . j. b. colman. eye, march . . polwhele was clearly wrong in designating edmund prideaux, the attorney-general, a cornishman, as he belonged to the family long seated in devonshire, and was fourteenth in descent from hickedon prideaux, of orcharton, in that county, second son of nicholas, lord of prideaux, in cornwall, who died in . the four queries of g. p. p. may be more or less fully answered by reference to prince's _worthies of devon_, ed. , p. .; and an excellent history of the post-office in the _penny magazine_ for , p. . is it too much to ask of your correspondent, who writes from putney under my initials, that he will be so good as to change his signature? i think that i have strong reasons for the request, but i will only urge that i was first in the field, under the designation which he has adopted.[ ] j. d. s. [footnote : [would j. d. s. no , and j. d. s. no. , add the final letter of their respective names, _h n s y_, or whatever it may be, the difficulty may probably be avoided. we have now so many correspondents that coincidence of signature can scarcely be avoided.]] * * * * * lady jane of westmoreland. (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .) _jane_, countess of henry neville, _fifth_ earl of westmoreland, was daughter of sir roger cholmley, of kinthorpe and roxby, co. york. (_vis. york. harl. ms._ . _fol._ .) she is often confused with his other wife, anne manners, and also with her own sister, margaret gascoigne, both in the neville and cholmley pedigrees as _printed_. (burke's _extinct baronetage_, art. _cholmley_, and _extinct peerage_, art. _neville_.) but while the manners pedigree in collins's _peerage_ (by longmate, vol. i. p. .), as cited by q. d., removes the former difficulty, that of gascoigne is disposed of by the cholmley pedigree in harl. ms. above quoted, as well as by that (though otherwise very incorrect) in charlton's _whitby_, book iii. pp. , . ., and by the gascoigne pedigree in whitaker's _richmondshire_, vol. i. p. . thus we possess _legal and cotemporary_ evidence who jane, countess of _henry_, _fifth_ earl of westmoreland, really was, without any authentic obstacle or unremoveable contradiction to its reception, viz. that she was a _cholmley_. but i conceive your correspondent's identification is _totally_ erroneous. it is true he only puts an hypothesis on the subject; but this hypothesis has no solid foundation. in the first place, henry, fifth earl of westmoreland, died in ; and all authorities seem to agree that his first wife was anne manners, and his second cholmley's daughter. thus, if either of his countesses were living in , it must have been the _latter_, by which means all chance of appropriation is removed from manners to cholmley. but i shall now give reasons for contending that neither of these ladies was your correspondent's countess of westmoreland, by referring him ( ndly) to longmate's _collins's peerage_, vol. i. p. ., where he will find that _jane_, daughter of henry howard, the talented and accomplished earl of surry, married charles neville, _sixth_ earl of westmoreland. he has evidently passed her over, through seeing her called _anne_ in the neville pedigrees: "anne" and "jane" being often mutually misread in old writing, from the cross upon the initial letter of the last name. i offer it to your correspondent's consideration, whether his "jane, countess of westmoreland," was not wife of the said charles neville, _sixth_ earl of westmoreland, who was attainted eliz. ( - ). his date is evidently most favourable to this view. it is true the attainder stands in the way; but if even this affords an obstacle, the next candidate for appropriation would be jane _cholmley_. assuming, however, that your correspondent allows this lady as a candidate for the appropriation, her pedigree corroborates the claim. i have found, by long and minute observation, that hereditary talent, &c. usually descends by the _mesmeric_ { } tie of affection and favoritism, from fathers to the eldest daughter, and from mothers to the eldest son; and the pedigree of _jane_, countess of charles, _sixth_ earl of westmoreland, stands thus:-- edward stafford, duke of buckingham; great, good, and accomplished, and fell a victim to envy.== | ---------------------------------- | _ st dau._ elizabeth, wife of thomas howard, third duke of norfolk. == | --- | _ st son._ henry howard, earl of surry, the poet; great, good, and accomplished, and fell a victim to envy == as physical heir of his mat. grandfather. | ------- | _ st dau._ jane, wife of charles neville, sixth earl of westmoreland (and qu. the authoress in question?). besides being eldest daughter of the celebrated poet, the said jane, countess of westmoreland, was sister of henry howard, the learned earl of northampton, her father's younger son--(some younger son, like eldest daughters, generally inheriting, physically, in some prominent feature, from the father). william d'oyly bayley. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _ulm manuscript_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--in addition to the information supplied by mr. foss, it may be mentioned that this manuscript is so called from having been referred to by griesbach as the _codex ulmensis apud gerbert_. this takes us to the _iter alemannicum, italicum et gallicum_ of martin gerbert, published in , at p. . of which work he informs us, that in the year this manuscript was preserved at ulm in the library of the family of krafft, which consisted of volumes, printed and manuscript. of its history from this period till it came into bishop butler's hands, i am ignorant. its reference at present in the british museum is _mss. add._ , . [mu]. _father maximilian hell_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a querist is in conscience bound to be a respondent; i therefore hasten to tell you that dr. watt (_biblioth. britan._ iv. magnetism, animal) should have written _hell_ instead of _hehl_. it was that eminent astronomer, maximilian _hell_, who supposed that magnets affected the human frame, and, at first, approved of mesmer's views. the latter was at vienna in ; and perhaps got some parts of his theory from father hell, of whom he was afterwards jealous, and therefore very abusive. the life of hell in dr. aikin's _general biography_ is an unsatisfactory compilation drawn up by mr. w. johnston, to whom we are indebted for the current barbarism _so-called_. in that account there is not one word on hell's _treatise on arti__ficial magnets_, vienna, ; in which the germ of animal magnetism may probably be found. engastrimythus. _meaning of "strained" as used by shakspeare_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the context of the passage quoted by l. s. explains the sense in which shakspeare used the word "strain'd:" "_portia._ then _must_ the jew be merciful. _shylock._ on what _compulsion_ must i? tell me that. _portia._ the quality of mercy is not strain'd," &c. that is, there is nothing forced, nothing of compulsion in the quality of mercy. johnson gives: "to strain, to force, to constrain." q. d. l. s. will find his difficulty solved by johnson's dictionary (a work to which he himself refers), if he compares the following quotation with portia's reply to shylock:-- "he talks and plays with fatima, but his mirth is forced and strained," &c. egduf. [we have also to thank, for replying to this query, our correspondents r. f., r. t. g. h., p. k., j. h. kershaw, c. m., y., e. n. w., c. d. lamont, and also mr. snow, who remarks that "actresses rarely commence this speech satisfactorily, or give, or seem to feel, the point of contrast between the _must_ and _no must_, the _compulsion_ and _no compulsion_. in fact, the whole of it is usually mouthed out, without much reference to shylock or the play, as if it had been learned by rote from a school speech-book. hazlitt says, in his _characters of shakspeare's plays_, 'the speech about mercy is very well, but there are a thousand finer ones in shakspeare.'"] _headings of chapters in english bibles_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the summaries of the contents of each chapter, as found in the authorised editions of our english bible, were prefixed by miles smith, bishop of gloucester, one of the original translators, who also wrote the preface, and, in conjunction with bishop bilson, finally reviewed the whole work. your correspondent will find full answers to his other queries in stackhouse and tomlins; in johnson's _history of english translations_, &c.; and in t. h. horne's _introduction_. cowgill. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the author of _the history of the church of rome to the end of the episcopate of damasus_, a.d. , which has just been published by messrs. longman, well remarks, "that he is not aware that there is any account of the church of rome, framed on the simple and obvious principle of merely collecting and arranging the testimony of history with regard to facts, and so presented to the reader as that he should leave a right to believe that when he has read what is before him, he { } has learnt all that is to known. this is strange, considering the points at issue, and the extent, duration, and intensity of the controversies which have been carried on between that church and the rest of christendom." it is indeed strange, and it happens fortunately, looking at the all-important question which now agitates the public mind, that the subject should have engaged for some years the attention of a learned, acute, and laborious scholar like mr. shepherd, so that he is enabled to put forth the result of his inquiries upon this interesting topic at this moment. mr. shepherd's book is indeed a startling one: and when we tell our readers that he "has proved, or, to say the least, has given such indications as will lead to the proof that some documents which have been quoted as authorities in the history of the early christian church, are neither genuine nor authentic;" that he has pretty well resolved st. cyprian into a purely mythic personage; and shown that all the letters in his works passed between imagined or imaginary correspondents,--we think we are justified in pronouncing his _history of the church of rome_ a work calculated to excite the deepest interest in all who peruse it (and by the omission of all long quotations in the learned languages, it is adapted for the perusal of all), to exercise great influence on the public mind, and to awaken a host of endeavours to combat and overthrow arguments which appear to us, however, to be irresistible. the council of the shakspeare society has just issued to the members the first volume for the present year. it contains _two historical plays on the life and reign of queen elizabeth, by thomas heywood_, which are very ably edited, with an introduction and notes, by mr. collier; and we have no doubt will be very acceptable; first, from the interest of the plays themselves, the second of which appears to have been extremely popular; and, lastly, as a further instalment towards a complete collection of heywood's dramatic works. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell on tuesday and wednesday next a valuable portion of the library of a gentleman, including the late charles mathews' copy of the second shakspeare; a valuable series of works on annuities, &c.; and another on the history and antiquities of london. books received.--_supplement on the doctrine and discipline of the greek church._ we characterised mr. appleyard's interesting little volume, entitled, _the greek church_, as historical rather than doctrinal. the title of this supplement shows that it expressly supplies the very material in which the original work was deficient.--_archæologia cambrensis, new series, no. vi._ a very good number of this record of the antiquities of wales and its marches, and in which are commenced two series of papers of great interest to the principality: one on the architectural antiquities of monmouthshire, by mr. freeman; the other on the poems of taliessin, by mr. stephens. catalogues received.--w. brown's ( . high holborn) catalogue part . of valuable second-hand books, ancient and modern;--cole's ( . great turnstile, holborn) list no. . of very cheap books; b. quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue no. . of antiquarian, historical, heraldic, numismatic, and topographical books; charles skeet's ( . king william street, strand) list no. . of miscellaneous books just purchased. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. wood's athenÃ�, by bliss. vol. . to. dibdin's typographical antiquities. vols. . and . to. nichols' literary anecdotes. vol. . vo. . mede's works, by worthington. . fol. vol. . dodd's catholic church history. vol. . fol. edition. warburton's (bishop) works. to. edition. vol. . a mirror for mathematics, by robert tanner, gent. london, . *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are reluctantly compelled, by want of room, to postpone until next week_ mr. singer's _paper on a passage in shakspeare's_ anthony and cleopatra; _one by_ mr. dawson turner _on the authors of the rolliad; and many other interesting communications._ cromwell's devlings with the devil. s. h. h. _is thanked for the curious ms. he has forwarded upon this subject, which shall appear next week, when the original shall be carefully returned. we should be glad to see the other paper referred to by_ s. h. h. a. l. _is thanked. the only reason for the non-appearance of any of his communications is, that they were not sent_ separately, _and we have not had time to make a selection. we take this opportunity of again begging correspondents who write to us on several subjects to oblige us by writing on separate papers; and_ (_which does not refer to_ a. l.) _by writing_ plainly, _more particularly_ proper names _and_ quotations. k. r. h. m. _received._ nocab _has our very best thanks for his kind letter, and his endeavours to increase our circulation. we are endeavouring to arrange for a permanent enlargement of our paper, and propose shortly to make use of_ nocab's _communication and valuable hint._ sing's _reminder, that saturday last, the th of march, was "the centenary anniversary of the death of captain coram, the worthy founder of the foundling," reached us too late for us to call attention to it._ mr. a. j. dunkin's _communication on the subject of his proposed_ monumenta anglicana _shall have our early attention._ kerriensis _is thanked for several interesting communications of which we propose to make an early use._ _will_ l. m. m. r. _send his address? the book he wants has been reported to the publisher._ replies received.--_mathew's med. passage--san grail--nettle in. &c.--the tanthony--treatise by engelbert--circulation of the blood--sir a. chadwick--rowley powley--langholme fair--epitaph on a turncoat--gig hill--damasked linen--endeavour--meaning of strained--rack--daughter of james ii.--snail-eating--munchausen's travels--mitre, &c.--cloven tongues--"going the whole hog"--expression in milton--haybands in seals--king john at lincoln--handbell--vineyards--mazer wood._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c. are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. _errata._--p. , col. . l. , for _hanse town_ read _hamlet_; p. , col. . l. , for "_cr_atus" read "_n_atus"; p. , col. . l. . for "cou_n_t" read "cou_r_t"; p. , col. . l. , for "_t_edley" read "_s_edley," col. . l. , for "tant_us_" read "tant_as_." { } * * * * * on the st of march was commenced the publication of a national illustrated library, in monthly volumes, each containing three hundred and twenty pages, and from thirty to a hundred engravings, price half-a-crown, beautifully bound. * * * * * the age in which we live is essentially of a _practical_ character, and the predominant principle influencing all classes is a marked desire for _cheapness_. cheapness, however, is too often found without excellence, and hence this proposition to supply a deficiency at present existing in the popular literature of this country. for some time past the projectors of the present undertaking have felt interested in watching the result of an experiment simultaneously made by the london, edinburgh, and dublin book trades; and, having seen that cheap, and occasionally indifferent literature, "got up" in a most inferior manner, _will sell_, they feel assured that good and judiciously selected works, having the additional advantage of copious illustration, being produced with the utmost attention to general excellence, and published at the moderate price fixed upon, cannot fail to secure extensive patronage from the reading public. the principle upon which they can undertake to supply good books at a low rate is, that being themselves the _actual producers_, they are enabled to save the public the expense of all _intermediate profit_. as a practical explanation of the above views, three sample volumes of the "national illustrated library" were published on the st of march. it will be observed that these volumes are widely different in character, in order that the public may form some idea of the extent and variety of the series generally. afterwards, one volume will be issued monthly. each volume will contain at least crown octavo pages, illustrated according to the requirements of the subject-matter, by from to illustrations, and will be _strongly bound_ in ornamental cloth boards. thus, for s. a year, in the course of a short period, a library of great extent and interest may be formed, which shall furnish materials for instruction and amusement during the course of a long life. the chief advantages which this series of works will present over all others--more especially the closely printed double column editions, and the new fashioned, though equally objectionable, shilling books, with their numerous errors, thin paper, and flimsy binding, are the following:-- . a carefully revised text. . judicious explanatory foot notes. . engravings really illustrating the text. . a new and legible type. . good paper and printing. . strong neat binding. in carrying out their undertaking it will be the endeavour of the projectors to bestow upon half-crown volumes for the _many_ the same typographical accuracy, and the same artistic ability, hitherto almost exclusively devoted to high-priced books for the _few_. supported by the co-operation of the reading public, no pains will be spared to provide every english home with a complete treasury of knowledge and entertainment in the volumes of the "national illustrated library." * * * * * the following are the volumes which appeared on the st of march, boswell's life of dr. johnson, vol. i. the book of english songs. the buried city of the east--nineveh. * * * * * office of the illustrated london news, . strand. * * * * * just published, no. vii., price s. d., imperial to. details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples, by j. k. colling, architect.--contents: eastern side of altar screen, beverley minster; details from ditto; our compartment of nave, austrey church, warwickshire; clerestory and aisle windows from ditto; buttresses from ditto. (continued monthly.) george bell, fleet street. * * * * * just published, new edition, to cloth, price s. illustrations of the remains of roman art in cirencester, the site of antient corinium. by professor buckman, f.l.s., &c., and c. h. newmarch. esq. containing plates by de la motte, of the magnificent tessellated pavements discovered in august and september, , with copies of the grand heads of ceres, flora, and pomona, reduced by the talbotype from fac-simile tracings of the original; together with various other plates and numerous wood engravings. cirencester: baily and jones; london: george bell, fleet street. * * * * * hardwick's history of the articles. in vo., s. d., a history of the articles of religion; to which is added a series of documents, from a.d. to a.d. ; together with illustrations from contemporary sources. by charles hardwick, m. a., fellow of st. catherine's hall, cambridge, and whitehall preacher. rivingtons, st. paul's churchyard, and waterloo place; and deighton, cambridge. * * * * * second edition, now ready, price s. d., the nuptials of barcelona: a tale of priestly frailty and spanish tyranny. by r. n. dundbar. "this work is powerfully written. beauty, pathos, and great powers of description are exhibited in every page. in short, it is well calculated to give the author a place among the most eminent writers of the day."--_sunday times._ saunders and otley, publishers, conduit street. { } * * * * * new books and new editions. yeast: a problem. reprinted, with additions and alterations, from fraser's magazine. s. * * * * * history of mohammedanism and its sects. by w. cooke taylor, ll.d. third and cheaper edition. s. * * * * * gregory of nazianzum: a contribution to the ecclesiastical history of the fourth century. by professor ullmann. translated by g. v. cox, m.a. s. * * * * * the philosophy of living. by herbert mayo, m.d., late senior surgeon to the middlesex hospital. third and cheaper edition, with additions. s. * * * * * chemistry of fire, air, earth, and water: an essay, founded upon lectures delivered before the queen. by t. griffiths, professor of chemistry in st. bartholomew's hospital. with numerous illustrations, second edition. s. d. * * * * * de obligatione conscientiÃ� prÃ�lectiones decem oxonii in schola theologica habitÃ�. a roberto sanderson, s. theologicæ ibidem pofessore regio. edited for the syndics of the cambridge university press. with english notes, including an abridged translation, by w. whewell, d.d., master of trinity college. s. * * * * * the early progress of the gospel: being the hulsean lectures for . by w. g. humphry, b.d., examining chaplain to the lord bishop of london. vo. * * * * * lectures on the characters of our lord's apostles. by a country pastor. s. d. by the same author, lectures on scripture revelations respecting good and evil angels. s. d. view of the scripture revelations respecting a future state. s. * * * * * laws of ecclesiastical polity. by richard hooker. the first book. s. d. the present reprint was proposed by the editor--a master in a large public school--with a view of reading it with his boys. there is, so far as he is aware, no english book in common use in schools which at all sets forth the distinctions of laws and the foundations on which their authority is based; and perhaps none could be found better calculated to meet this want than that which is here offered. * * * * * brampton rectory; or, the lesson of life. second edition. s. d. by the same author, s. d. compton merivale: another leaf from the lesson of life. london: john w. parker, west strand. * * * * * just published, price d., the april no. of the british controversialist. contents: the art of reasoning:-- the doctrine of the syllogism. controversy:-- is mesmerism true? was oliver cromwell a first-rate general, a great statesman, and a sincere man? the r. c. hierarchy, ought it to be interdicted? have the working classes been benefited by machinery? societies section:-- the art of public speaking reports of lectures and meetings. the inquirer:-- questions requiring answers. answers to questions. french without a master. german and italian grammars. chemistry. astronomy. improvement of the memory, &c. the young student and writer's assistant:-- essays and exercises. notices of books. _"it is unique in its design, able in its execution, and vast and noble in its object."--leamington courier._ houlston & stoneman, and all booksellers. * * * * * just published, in one volume, post vo., price s. d. cloth, remonstrance against romish corruptions in the church: addressed to the people and parliament of england in , ric. ii. now for the first time published. edited by the rev. j. forshall, f.r.s., &c., formerly fellow of exeter college, oxford. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * just published, in one large volume, vo. price s. cloth. the history of the church of rome, to the end of the episcopate of damasus, a.d. . by edward john shepherd, a.m. rector of luddesdown. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * thomas wright, esq., f.s.a. this day is published, in vo's, vo., narratives of magic and sorcery. by thomas wright, esq., f.s.a., author of "england under the house of hanover, illustrated by the caricatures and satires of the day." richard bentley, new burlington street, (publisher in ordinary to her majesty) * * * * * this day, crown vo cloth, price s. d. london as it is to-day, where to go, and what to see during the great exhibition. with a map and engravings on wood. the crystal palace, its origin, history, and construction. no. i. price ½d. to be completed in numbers. london: h. g. clarke & co., . exeter change. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. valuable new principle. payment of premiums may be occasionally suspended without forfeiting the policy, on a new and valuable plan, adopted by this society only, as fully detailed in the prospectus. a. scratchley, m.a., actuary and secretary; author of "industrial investment and emigration; being a second edition of a treatise on benefit building societies, &c." price s. d. london: j. w. parker, west strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page on two passages in "all's well that ends well," by s. w. singer george herbert and the church of leighton bromswold folk lore:--sacramental wine--"snail, snail, come out of your hole"--nievie-nick-nack records at malta on an ancient ms. of "bedæ historia ecclesiastica" minor queries:--the potter's and shepherd's keepsakes-- writing-paper--little casterton (rutland) church--the hippopotamus--specimens of foreign english--st. clare--dr. dodd--hats of cardinals and notaries apostolic--baron munchausen's frozen horn--contracted names of places queries:-- bibliographical queries enigmatical epitaph shakspeare's "merchant of venice" minor queries:--was lord howard of effingham a protestant or a papist?--lord bexley: how descended from cromwell--earl of shaftesbury--family of peyton--"la rose nait en un moment"--john collard the logician--traherne's sheriffs of glamorgan-- haybands in seals--edmund prideaux, and the first post-office--william tell legend--arms of cottons buried in landwade church--sir george buc's treatise on the stage--a cracowe pike--st. thomas of trunnions--paper mill near stevenage-- mounds, munts, mounts--church chests--the cross-bill--iovanni volpe--auriga--to speak in lutestring--"lavora, come se tu," &c.--tomb of chaucer--family of clench replies:-- cranmer's descendants dutch popular song-book, by j. h. van lennep barons of hugh lupus shakspeare's "antony and cleopatra" "sun, stand thou still upon gibeon!" replies to minor queries:--ulm manuscript--harrison's chronology--mistletoe on oaks--swearing by swans--jurare ad caput animalium--ten children at a birth--richard standfast--"jurat, crede minus"-- rab surdam--the scaligers--lincoln missal-- by-and-bye--gregory the great--true blue-- drachmarus--the brownes of cowdray, sussex-- red hand--anticipations of modern ideas by defoe-- meaning of waste-book--deus justificatus-- touchstone's dial--ring dials--cockade--rudbeck's atlantica, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. on two passages in "all's well that ends well." among the few passages in shakspeare upon which little light has been thrown, after all that has been written about them, are the following in act. iv. sc. . of _all's well that ends well_, where bertram is persuading diana to yield to his desires: "_bert._ i pr'ythee, do not strive against my vows: i was compell'd to her; but i love thee by love's own sweet constraint, and will for ever do thee all rights of service. _dia._ ay, so you serve us, till we serve you: but when you have our roses, you barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves, and mock us with our bareness. _bert._ how have i sworn? _dia._ 'tis not the many oaths that make the truth; but the plain single vow, that is vow'd true. what is not holy, that we swear not by, but take the highest to witness: then, pray you, tell me, if i should swear by jove's great attributes, i love'd you dearly, would you believe my oaths, when i did love you ill? this has no holding, to swear by him _whom i protest to love_, that i will work against him." read--"_when_ i protest to _love_." it is evident that diana refers to bertram's double vows, his marriage vow, and the subsequent vow or _protest_ he had made not to keep it. "if i should swear by jove i loved you dearly, would you believe my oath when i loved you ill? this has no consistency, to swear by _jove_, when secretly i protest to _love_ that i will work against him (_i.e._ against the oath i have taken to jove)." bertram had _sworn by the highest_ to love his wife; in his letter to his mother he says: "i have wedded her, not bedded her, and sworn to make the _not_ eternal:" he secretly _protests to love_ to work against his sacred oath; and in his following speech he says: "be not so cruel-holy, love is holy." he had before said: "----do not strive against my vows: i was compell'd to her; but i love thee by love's own sweet constraint:" clearly indicating that this must be the true sense of the passage. by printing _when_ for _whom_, and _love_ with a capital letter, to indicate the personification, all is made clear. { } after further argument from bertram, diana answers: "i see that men _make ropes in such a scarre_ that we'll forsake ourselves." this rowe altered to "make _hopes_ in such _affairs_," and malone to "make _hopes_ in such _a scene_." others, and among them mr. knight and mr. collier, retain the old reading, and vainly endeavour to give it a meaning, understanding the word _scarre_ to signify a _rock_ or _cliff_, with which it has nothing to do in this passage. there can be no doubt that "make _ropes_" is a misprint for "make _hopes_," which is evidently required by the context, "that we'll forsake ourselves." it then only remains to show what is meant by _a scarre_, which signifies here _anything that causes surprise or alarm_; what we should now write _a scare_. shakspeare has used the same orthography, _scarr'd_, i.e. _scared_, in _coriolanus_ and in _winter's tale_. there is also abundant evidence that this was its old orthography, indicative of the broad sound the word then had, and which it still retains in the north. palsgrave has both the noun and the verb in this form: "_scarre_, to _scar_ crowes, espouventail." and again, "i _scarre_ away or feare away, as a man doth crowes or such like; je escarmouche." the french word might lead to the conclusion that _a scarre_ might be used for _a skirmish_. (see cotgrave in v. escarmouche.) i once thought we should read "in such a _warre_," _i.e._ conflict. in minshen's _guide to the tongues_, we have: "to scarre, videtur confictum ex _sono_ oves vel aliud quid abigentium et terrorem illis incutientium. gall. _ahurir_ ratione eadem:" vi. _to feare, to fright_. objections have been made to the expression "make hopes;" but the poet himself in _king henry viii._ has "more than i dare _make faults_," and repeats the phrase in one of his sonnets: surely there is nothing more singular in it than in the common french idiom, "_faire des espérances_." s. w. singer. * * * * * george herbert and the church at leighton bromswold. (vol. iii., p. .) i have great pleasure in laying before your readers the following particulars, which i collected on a journey to leighton bromswold, undertaken for the purpose of satisfying the query of e. h. if they will turn to _a priest to the temple_, ch. xiii., they will find the points to which, with others, my attention was more especially directed. leighton church consists of a western tower, nave, north and south porches and transepts, and chancel. there are no aisles. as prebendary of the prebend of leighton ecclesia in lincoln cathedral, george herbert was entitled to an estate in the parish, and it was no doubt a portion of the increase of this property that he devoted to the repairing and beautifying of the house of god, then "lying desolate," and unfit for the celebration of divine service. good izaak walton, writing evidently upon hearsay information, and not of his own personal knowledge, was in error if he supposed, as from his language he appears to have done, that george herbert almost rebuilt the church from the foundation, and he must be held to be incorrect in describing that part of it which stood as "so decayed, so _little_, and so useless." there are portions remaining earlier than george herbert's time, whose work may be readily distinguished by at least four centuries; whilst at one end the porches, and at the other the piscina, of early english date, the windows, which are of different styles, and the buttresses, afford sufficient proofs that the existing walls are the original, and that in size the church has remained unaltered for ages. as george herbert new roofed the sacred edifice throughout, we may infer this was the chief structural repair necessary. he also erected the present tower, the font, put four windows in the chancel, and reseated the parts then used by the congregation. except a western organ gallery erected in , two pews underneath it, and one elsewhere, these parts, the nave and transepts, remain, in all probability, exactly as george herbert left them. the seats are all uniform, of oak, and of the good old open fashion made in the style of the seventeenth century. they are so arranged, both in the nave and in the transepts, that no person in service time turns his back either upon the altar or upon the minister. (see "notes and queries," vol. ii., p. .) the pulpit against the north, and the reading-desk, with clerk's seat attached, against the south side of the chancel-arch, are both of the same height, and exactly similar in every respect; both have sounding-boards. the font is placed at the west end of the nave, and, together with its cover, is part of george herbert's work; it stands on a single step, and a drain carries off the water, as in ancient examples. the shallowness of the basin surprised me. a vestry, corresponding in style to the seats, is formed by a wooden inclosure in the south transept, which contains "a strong and decent chest." until the erection of the gallery, the tower was open to the nave. the chancel, which is raised one step above the nave, is now partly filled with high pews, but, as arranged by the pious prebendary, it is believed to have contained only one low bench on either side. the communion table, which is elevated by three steps above the level of the chancel, is modern, as are also the rails. there is a double early english piscina in the south wall, and an ambry in the north. a plain cross of the seventeenth century crowns the eastern gable of the chancel externally. no doubt there were originally "fit and proper { } texts of scripture everywhere painted;" but, if this were so, they are now concealed by the whitewash. such are not uncommon in neighbouring churches. no "poor man's box conveniently seated" remains, but there are indications of its having been fixed to the back of the bench nearest to the south door. the roof is open to the tiles, being, like the seats, gothic in design and of seventeenth century execution. the same may be said of the tower, which is battlemented, and finished off with pinnacles surmounted by balls, and has a somewhat heavy appearance. but it is solid and substantial, and it is evident that no expense was spared to make it--so far as the skill of the time could make it--worthy of its purpose and of the donor. there are five bells. no. . has the inscription: "ihs nazarenvs rex ivdeorvm fili dei miserere mei : george woolf vicar : i : michell : c : w : w : n. ." nos. . . and . contain the alphabet in lombardic capitals; but the inscription and date on each of them,-- "thomas nobbis made me "-- show that they are not of the antiquity which generally renders the few specimens we have of alphabet bells so peculiarly interesting, but probably they were copied from the bells in the more ancient tower. no. . has in lombardic capitals the fragment-- "esme: ccatherina," and is consequently of ante-reformation date. the porches are both of the early english period, and form therefore a very noticeable feature. on the external walls are several highly ornamented spouts, upon some of which crosses are figured, and upon one with the date " " i discovered three crests; but as i could not accurately distinguish what they were intended to represent, i will not run the risk of describing them wrongly. the wivern, the crest of the herberts, did not appear; nor, so far as i could learn, does the fabric itself afford any clue to him who was the principal author of its restoration. the view from the tower is extensive, and, from the number of spires that are visible, very pleasing: fifteen or sixteen village churches are to be seen with the naked eye; and i believe that ely cathedral, nearly thirty miles distant, may be discovered with the aid of a telescope. arun. * * * * * folk lore. _sacramental wine._--in a remote hamlet of surrey i recently heard the following superstition. in a very sickly family, of which the children were troubled with bad fits, and the poor mother herself is almost half-witted, an infant newly born seemed to be in a very weakly and unnatural state. one of the gossips from the neighbouring cottages coming in, with a mysterious look said, "sure, the babby wanted _something_,--a drop of the sacrament wine would do it good." on surprise being expressed at such a notion, she added "oh! they often gives it." i do not find any allusion in brand's _antiquities_ to such popular credence. he mentions the superstition in berkshire, that a ring made from a piece of silver collected at the communion (especially that on easter sunday) is a cure for convulsions and fits. albert way. "_snail, snail, come out of your hole_" (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent s. w. singer has brought to my recollection a verse, which i heard some children singing near exeter, in july last, and noted down, but afterwards forgot to send to you:-- "snail, snail, shut out your horns; father and mother are dead: brother and sister are in the back yard, begging for barley bread." geo. e. frere. perhaps it would not be uninteresting to add to the records of the "snail-charm" (vol. iii, p. .), that in the south of ireland, also, the same charm, with a more fanciful and less threatening burden, was used amongst us children to win from its reserve the startled and offended snail. we entreated thus:-- "shell a muddy, shell a muddy, put out your horns, for the king's daughter is comings to town with a red petticoat and a green gown!" i fear it is impossible to give a clue as to the meaning of the form of invocation, or who was the royal visitor, so nationally clothed, for whose sake the snail was expected to be so gracious. f. j. h. _nievie-nick-nack._--a fire-side game, well known in scotland; described by jamieson, chambers, and (last, though not least) john m^ctaggart. the following version differs from that given by them:-- "nievie, nievie, nick, neck, whilk han will thou tak? tak the richt, or tak the wrang, i'll beguile thee if i can." it is alluded to by sir w. scott, _st. ronan's_, iii. .; _blackwood's magazine_, august, , p. . rabelais mentions _à la nicnoque_ as one of the games played by guargantua. this is rendered by urquhart _nivinivinack: transl._, p. . jamieson (_supp. to scot. dict._, sub voce) adds: "the first part of the word seems to be from _neive_, { } the fist being employed in the game. shall we view _nick_ as allied to the e. _v._ signifying 'to touch luckily'?" now, there is no such seeming derivation in the first part of the word. the _neive_, though employed in the game, is not the object addressed. it is held out to him who is to guess--the conjuror--_and it is he who is addressed_, and under a conjuring name. in short (to hazard a wide conjecture, it may be), he is invoked in the person of nic neville (_neivie nic_), a sorcerer in the days of james vi., who was burnt at st. andrew's in . if i am right, a curious testimony is furnished to his quondam popularity among the common people: "from that he past to sanctandrois, where a notable sorceres callit _nic neville_ was condamnit to the death and brynt," &c. &c.--_the historie and life of king jame the sext_, p. . edin. . bannatyne club ed. j. d. n. n. * * * * * records at malta. let me call _your_ attention, as well as that of your readers (for good may come from both), to an article in the december no. of the _archæological journal_, , entitled "notice of documents preserved in the record office at malta;" an article which i feel sure ought to be more publicly known, both for the sake of the reading world at large, and the high character bestowed upon the present keeper of those records, m. luigi vella, under whose charge they have been brought to a minute course of investigation. there may be found here many things worthy of elucidation; many secret treasures, whether for the archæologist, bibliopole, or herald, that only require your widely disseminated "brochure" to bring nearer to our own homes and our own firesides. it is with this view that i venture to express a hope, that a _précis_ of that article may not be deemed irregular; which point, of course, i must leave to your good judgment and good taste to decide, being a very tyro in archæology, and no book-worm (though i really love a book), so i know nothing of _their_ points of etiquette. at the same time i must, in justice to mr. a. milward (the writer of the notice, and to whom i have not the honour of being known), entreat his pardon for the plagiarism, if such it can be called, having only the common "reciprocation of ideas" at heart; and remain as ever an humble follower under captain cuttle's standard. one corporal whip. prÉcis of _documents preserved in record office, malta_. six volumes of records, parchment, consisting of charters from sovereigns and princes, grants of land, and other documents connected with the order of st. john from its establishment by pope pascal ii., whose original bull is perfect. two volumes of papers connected with the island of malta before it came into the possession of the knights, from year to beginning of sixteenth century. a book of privileges of the maltese, compiled about years ago. several volumes of original letters from men of note: among whom we may mention, viceroys of sicily, sovereigns of england. one from the pretender, dated , from rome; three from charles ii., and one from his admiral, john narbrough. numerous processes of nobility, containing much of value to many noble families; of these last, mr. vella has taken the trouble of separating, all those referring to any english families. also a volume of fifteenth century, containing the accounts of the commanderies. this is a continuation of an older and still more interesting volume, which is now in the public library. for further particulars, see _archælogical journal_, december, , p. . * * * * * on an ancient ms. of "bedÆ historia ecclesiastica." some gentleman connected with the cathedral library of lincoln may possibly be able to give me some information respecting a ms. copy of the _historia ecclesiastica_ of beda in my possession, and of which the following circumstances are therein apparent:--it is plainly a ms. of great antiquity, on paper, and in folio. on a fly-leaf it has an inscription, apparently of contemporaneous date, and which is repeated in a more modern hand on the next page with additions, as follows: "hunc librum legavit will[=m]s dadyngton qu^odam vicarius de barton sup humbre ecclie lincoln ut e[=e]t sub custodia vicecancellarii." then follows:-- "script[=u] p manus nic[=o]i belytt vicecancellarii iiii^{to} die m[=e]sis octob^r anno dni milles[=i]mo q[=u]icentessimo decimoqu[=i]to et lr[=a] dñicalius g et anno pp henrici octavi sexto." in the hand of john, father of the more celebrated ralph thoresby, is added: "nunc e libris jo[/h]is thoresby de leedes emp. executor^{bus} tho. dñi fairfax, ." through what hands it may have passed since, i have no means of knowing; but it came into mine from mr. j. wilson, . great may's buildings, st. martin's lane, london, in whose catalogue for december, , it appeared, and was purchased by me for l. s. there it is conjectured to be of the twelfth century, and from the character there is no reason to doubt that antiquity. it is on paper, and has been ill-used. it proceeds no farther than into lib. v. c. xii., otherwise, from the beginning complete. the different public libraries of the country abound in mss. of this book. it is probable { } that, under the civil commotions in the reign of charles i. the ms. in my possession came into the hands of general fairfax, and thence into those of john thoresby: so that no blame can possibly attach to the present, or even some past, generations, of the curators of any library, whether cathedral or private. it is, at all events, desirable to trace the pedigree of existing mss. of important works, where such information is attainable. perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to inform me what became of the library of ralph thoresby; for into his possession, there can be little doubt, it came from his father. j. m. * * * * * minor notes. _the potter's and shepherd's keepsakes._--in the cabinet of a lover of _folk-lore_ are two quaint and humble memorials by which two "inglorious miltons" have perpetuated their affection, each in characteristic sort. the one was a potter; the other, probably, a shepherd. the "pignus amoris" of the former is a small earthenware vessel in the shape of a book, intended apparently to hold a "nosegay" of flowers. the book has yellow clasps, and is authentically inscribed on its sides, thus: "the. love. is. true. that. i. owe. you. then. se. you. bee. the. like. to. mee. (_on the other side._) "the. gift. is. small. good. will. is. all. jeneuery. y^e day. ." the shepherd's love gift is a wooden implement, very neatly carved, and intended to hold knitting-needles. on the front it has this couplet: "when this yov see. remember mee. mw. (_on one side._) mw. ." to an uninformed mind these sincere records of honest men seem as much "signs of the times" as the perfumed sonnets dropped by expiring swains into the vases of "my lady betty," and "my lady bab," with a view to publication. h. g. t. _writing-paper._--i have long been subject to what, in my case, i feel to be a serious annoyance. for the last twenty years i have been unable to purchase any letter-paper which i can write upon with comfort and satisfaction. at first, i was allowed to choose between plain and hot-pressed; but now i find it impossible to meet with any, which is not glazed or smeared over with some greasy coating, which renders it very disagreeable for use with a common quill--and i cannot endure a steel pen. my style of writing, which is a strong round roman hand, is only suited for a quill. can any of your correspondents put me in the way of procuring the good honest letter-paper which i want? i have in vain applied to the stationers in every town within my reach. would any of the paper-mills be disposed to furnish me with a ream or two of the unglazed, plain, and unhotpressed paper which i am anxious to obtain? whilst i am on this subject, i will take occasion to lament the very great inferiority of the paper generally which is employed in printing books. it may have a fine, glossy, smooth appearance, but its texture is so poor and flimsy, that it soon frays or breaks, without the greatest care; and many an immortal work is committed to a miserably frail and perishable material! a comparison of the books which were printed a century ago, with those of the present day, will, i conceive, fully establish the complaint which i venture to make; and i would particularly remark upon the large bibles and prayer books which are now printed at the universities for the use of our churches and chapels, which are exposed to much wear and tear, and ought, therefore, to be of more substantial and enduring texture, but are of so flimsy, brittle, and cottony a manufacture, that they require renewing every three or four years. "laudator temporis acti." _little casterton (rutland) church._--within the communion rails in the church of little casterton, rutland, there lies in the pavement (or did lately) a stone, hollowed out like the basin or drain of a piscina, which some church-hunters have supposed to be a piscina, and have noticed as a great singularity. the stone, however, did not originally belong to this church; it was brought from the neighbouring site of the desecrated church of pickworth, by the late reverend richard twopeny, who held the rectory of little casterton upwards of sixty years; he had long seen it lying neglected among the ruins, and at length brought it to his own church to save it from destruction. it may be interesting to some of your readers to learn that in the chancel of little casterton are monumental brasses of an armed male and a female figure, the latter on the sinister side, with the following inscription in black letter:-- "hic jacet d[=n]s thomas burto[=n] miles quondam d[=u]s de tolthorp ac ecclesiæ.... patronus qui obiit kalendas augusti.... d[=n]a margeria uxor ejus sinistris quor[um], a[=i]abus ppicietur deus amen." r. c. h. _the hippopotamus_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i can refer your correspondent l. (vol. ii, p. .) to one more example of a greek writer using the word [greek: hippopotamos], viz., the hieroglyphics of horapollo nilous, lib. i. . (i quote from the edition by a. t. cory. pickering, ): { } "[greek: adikon de kai achariston, hippopotamou onuchas duo, katô blepontas, graphousin]." he there mentions the idea of the animal contending against his father, &c.; and as he flourished in the beginning of the fifth century, it is probable that he is the source from which damascius took the story. i have in my cabinet a large brass coin of the empress ptacilia severa, wife of philip, on which is depicted the hippopotamus, with the legend saecvlares. avgg., showing it to have been exhibited at the sæcular games. e. s. taylor. _specimens of foreign english._--several ludicrous examples have of late been communicated (see vol. ii., pp. . .), but none, perhaps, comparable with the following, which i copied about two years since at havre, from a polyglot advertisement of various local regulations, for the convenience of persons visiting that favourite watering-place. amongst these it was stated that-- _"un arrangement peut se faire avec le pilote, pour de promenades à rames."_ of this the following most literal version was enounced,-- "one arrangement can make himself with the pilot for the walking with _roars_" (sic). albert way. _st. clare._--in the interesting and amusing volume of _rambles beyond railways_, m. w. wilkie collins has attributed the church of st. cleer in cornwall, with its well and ruined oratory, to st. clare, the heroic virgin of assisi; but in the elegant and useful _calendar of the anglican church_, the same church is ascribed to st. clair, the martyr of rouen. my own impression is, that the latter is correct; but i note the circumstance, that some of your readers better informed than myself, may be enabled to answer the query, which is the right ascription? when mr. collins alluded to the fate of bishop hippo, devoured by rats, i presume he means bishop hatto, commemorated in the "legends of the rhine." beriah botfield. norton hall, feb. . . _dr. dodd._--on the th february, , dr. dodd was inducted to the vicarage of wing, bucks, on the presentation of the earl of chesterfield. on the th february, , he was arrested for forging the earl's bond. dr. dodd never resided at wing; but, during the short period he held the living, he preached there four times. the tradition of the parish is, that on those occasions he preached from the following texts; all of them remarkable, and the second and fourth especially so with reference to the subsequent fate of the unhappy man, whose feelings they may reasonably be supposed to embody. the texts are as follows:-- _corinthians_ xvi. . "if any man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be anathema maran-atha." _micah_ vii. . "rejoice not against me, o mine enemy; when i fall, i shall arise; when i sit in darkness, the lord shall be a light unto me." _psalm_ cxxxix. , . "o lord, thou hast searched me and known me. thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought afar off." _deuteronomy_ xxviii. , , . "and among these nations thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but the lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: in the morning thou shalt say, would god it were even! and at even thou shalt say, would god it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see." q. d. _hats of cardinals and notaries apostolic_ (vol. iii. p. .).--an instance occurs in a ms. in this college (l. . p. .) circa temp. hen. viii., of the arms of "doctor willm. haryngton, prothonotaire apostolik," ensigned with a black hat, having three tassels pendant on each side: these appendages, however, are somewhat different to those attached to the cardinal's hat, the cords or strings not being _fretty_. i have seen somewhere a series of arms having the same insignia; but, at present, i cannot say where. thos wm. king, york herald. college of arms, feb. . . _baron munchausen's frozen horn._-- "till the holy ghost came to thaw their memories, that the words of christ, like the voice in plutarch that had become frozen, might at length become audible."--hammond's _sermons_, xvii. these were first published in . e. h. _contracted names of places._--kirton for crediton, devon; wilscombe for wiveliscombe, somersetshire; brighton for brighthelmstone, sussex; pomfret for pontefract, yorkshire; gloster for gloucester. j. w. h. * * * * * queries. bibliographical queries. (_continued from_ vol. iii., p. .) ( .) is there any valid reason for not dating the publication of some of gerson's treatises at cologne earlier than the year ? and if good cause cannot be shown for withholding from them so high a rank in the scale of typographic being, must we not instantly reject every effort to extenuate marchand's obtuseness in asserting with reference to ulric zell, "on ne voit des éditions de ce zell qu'en ?" (_hist. de l'imp._, p. .) { } schelhorn's opinion as to the birthright of these tracts is sufficient to awaken an interest concerning them, for he conceived that they should be classed among the earliest works executed with cut moveable characters. (_diat. ad card. quirini lib._, p. . cf. seemiller, i. .) so far as i can judge, an adequate measure of seniority has not been generally assigned to these zellian specimens of printing, if it be granted "coloniam agrippinam post moguntinenses primùm recepisse artem." (meerman, ii. .) this writer's representation, in his ninth plate, of the type used in , supplies us with ground for a complete conviction that these undated gersonian manuals are at least as old as the _augustinus de singularitate clericorum_. but why are they not older? is there any document which has a stronger conjectural claim? van de velde's _catalogue_, tome i. gand, , contains notices of some of them; and one volume before me has the first initial letter principally in blue and gold, the rest in red, and all elaborated with a pen. the most unevenly printed, and therefore, i suppose, the primitial gem, is the _tractatus de mendicitate spirituali_, in which not only rubiform capitals, but whole words, have been inserted by a chirographer. it is, says van de velde, (the former possessor,) on the fly-leaf, "sans chiffres et réclames, en longues lignes de lignes sur les pages entières." the full stop employed is a sort of twofold, recumbent, circumflex or caret; and the most eminent watermark in the paper is a unicorn, bearing a much more suitable antelopian weapon than is that awkwardly horizontal horn prefixed by dr. dibdin to the oryx in profile which he has depicted in plate vi. appertaining to his life of caxton: _typographical antiquities_, vol. i. ( .) wherein do the ordinary _hymni et sequentiæ_ differ from those according to the use of sarum? whose is the oldest _expositio_ commonly attached to both? and respecting it did badius, in , accomplish much beyond a revision and an amendment of the style? was not pynson, in , the printer of the folio edition of the hymns and sequences entered in mr. dickinson's valuable _list of english service-books_, p. .; or is there inaccuracy in the succeeding line? lastly, was the titular woodcut in julian notary's impression, a.d. (dibdin, ii. .), derived from the decoration of the _hymnarius_, and the _textus sequentiarum cum optimo commento_, set forth at delft by christian snellaert, in ? from the first page of the latter we receive the following accession to our philological knowledge: "diabolus dicitur a _dia_, quod est duo, et _bolos_ morsus; quasi dupliciter mordens; quia lædit hominem in corpore et anima." ( .) ( .) in what edition of the salisbury missal did the amusing errors in the "ordo sponsalium" first occur; and how long were they continued? i allude to the husband's obligation, "to haue and to holde fro thys day _wafor beter_ for wurs," &c., and to the wife's prudential promise, "to haue et to holde _for thys day_." ( .) are there any vellum leaves in any copy in england of the folio impression very beautifully printed _en rouge et noir_ "in alma parisiorum academia," die x. kal. april, ? ( .) on the th of last month (jan.) somebody advertised in "notes and queries" for _foxes and firebrands_. in these days of trouble and rebuke, when (if we may judge from a recent article savouring of neal's second volume) it seems to be expected that english gentlemen will, in a magazine that bears their name, be pleased with a réchauffé of democratic obloquy upon the character of the great reformer of their church, and will look with favour upon _canterburies doome_, would it not be desirable that robert ware's (and nalson's) curious and important work should be republished? if a reprint of it were to be undertaken, i would direct attention to a copy in my possession of "the third and last part," lond. , which has many alterations marked in ms. for a new edition, and which exhibits the autograph of henry ware. ( .) was cohausen the composer of "clericus deperrucatus; sive, in fictitiis clericorum comis moderni seculi ostensa et explosa vanitas: cum figuris: autore annoeo rhisenno vecchio, doctore romano-catholico," printed at amsterdam, and inscribed to pope benedict xiii.? one of the well-finished copperplates, page ., represents "_monsieur l'abbé prenant du tabac_." ( .) where can a copy of the earliest edition of the _testamentum xii. patriarcharum_ be found? for if one had been easily obtainable, grabe, cave, oudin, and wharton (_ang. sac._ ii. .) would not have treated the third impression as the first; and let it be noted by the way that "clerico _elichero_" in wharton must be a mistake for "clerico _nicolao_." moreover, how did the excellent fabricius (_bibl. med. et inf. latin._, and also _cod. pseudepig. v. t._, i. .) happen to connect menradus moltherus with the _editio princeps_ of ? it is certain that this writer's letter to secerius, accompanying a transcript of bishop grossetête's version, which immediately came forth at haguenau, was concluded "postridie non. januar. m.d.xxxii." ( .) ( .) who was the bibliopolist with whom originated the pernicious scheme of adapting newly printed title-pages to books which had had a previous existence? sometimes the deception may be discerned even at a glance: for example, without the loss of many seconds, and by the aspect of a single letter, (the long s,) we can perceive the falsehood of the imprint, "parisiis, apud paul mellier, ," together with "s.-clodoaldi, è typographeo belin-mandar," grafted upon tome i. { } of the benedictine edition of s. gregory nazianzen's works, which had been actually issued in . very frequently, however, the comparison of professedly different impressions requires, before they can be safely pronounced to be identical, the protracted scrutiny of a practised eye. an inattentive observer could not be conscious that the works of sir james ware, translated and improved by harris, and apparently the progeny of the year , (the only edition, and that but a spurious one, recorded in watt's _bibliotheca britannica_,) have been skilfully tampered with, and should be justly restored--the first volume to , the second to . ( .) we must admit that a bookseller gifted with mature sapience will very rarely, or never, be such an amateur in expensive methods of bamboozling, as to prefer having recourse to the title-page expedient, if he could flatter himself that his purpose would be likely to be effected simply by _doctoring the date_; and thus a question springs up, akin to the former one, how great is the antiquity of this timeserving device? at this moment, trusting only to memory, i am not able to adduce an instance of the depravation anterior to the year , when dr. james's _bellum papale_ was put forth in london as a new book, though in reality there was no novelty connected with it, except that the last in (the authentic date) had been compelled by penmanship to cease to be a dead letter, and to germinate into a . ( .) if neither the judicious naturalisation of a title-page, nor the dexterous corruption of the year in which a work was honestly produced, should avail to eliminate "the stock in hand," _res ad triarios rediit_--there is but one contrivance left. this is, to give to the ill-fated hoard _another name_; in the hope that a proverb properly belonging to a rose may be superabundantly verified in the case of an old book. what anglo-saxon scholar has not studied "_divers ancient monuments_," revived in ? and yet perhaps scarcely any one is aware that the appellation is entirely deceptive, and that no such collection was printed at that period. the inestimable remains of Ælfric, edited by l'isle in , and then entitled, "_a saxon treatise concerning the old and new testament_," together with a reprint of the "_testimonie of antiquitie_," (sanctioned by archbishop parker in ,) had merely submitted to substitutes for the first two leaves with which they had been ushered into the world, and after fifteen years the unsuspecting public were beguiled. when was this system of misnomers introduced? and can a more signal specimen of this kind of shamelessness be mentioned than that which is afforded by the fate of thorndike's _de ratione ac jure finiendi controversias ecclesiæ disputatio_? so this small folio in fours was designated when it was published, lond. ; but in it became _origines_ _ecclesiasticæ_; and it was metamorphosed into _restauratio ecclesiæ_ in . ( .) dr. dibdin (_typ. antiq._ iii. .) has thus spoken of a quarto treatise, _de autoritate, officio, et potestate pastorum ecclesiasticorum_:-- "this very scarce book is anonymous, and has neither date, printer's name, nor place; but being bound up with two other tracts of berthelet's printing _are my reasons_ for giving it a place here." the argument and the language in this sentence are pretty nearly on a par; for as misery makes men acquainted with dissimilar companions, why may not parsimony conglutinate heterogeneous compositions? i venture to deny altogether that the engraved border on the title-page was executed by an english artist. it seems rather to be an original imitation of holbein's design: and as regards the date, can we not perceive what was meant for a modest " " on a standard borne by one of the boys in procession? in simler's gesnerian _bibliotheca_ simon hess (let me reiterate the question, who was he?) is registered as the author; and of his work we read, "liber impressus in germania." this observation will determine its locality to a certain extent; and the tractate may be instantly distinguished from all others on the same subject by the presence of the following alliterative frontispiece:-- "primus papa, potens pastor, pietate paterna, petrus, perfectam plebem pascendo paravit. posthabito plures populo, privata petentes, pinguia pontifices, perdunt proh pascua plebis." r. g. * * * * * enigmatical epitaph. in the church of middleton tyas, in the north riding of the county, there is the following extraordinary inscription on the monument of a learned incumbent of that parish:-- "this monument rescues from oblivion the remains of the rev. john mawer, d.d., late vicar of this parish, who died nov. th, , aged . the doctor was descended from the royal family of mawer, and was inferior to none of his illustrious ancestors in personal merit, being the greatest linguist this nation ever produced. he was able to write and speak twenty-two languages, and particularly excelled in the eastern tongues, in which he proposed to his royal highness frederick prince of wales, to whom he was firmly attached, to propagate the christian religion in the abyssinian empire,--a great and noble design, which was frustrated by the death of that amiable prince." whitaker, after giving the epitaph verbatim in his _history of richmondshire_, vol. i. p. ., says: "this extraordinary personage, who may seem to have been qualified for the office of universal interpreter to all the nations upon earth, appears, { } notwithstanding, to have been unaware that the christian religion, in however degraded a form, has long been professed in abyssinia. with respect to the royal line of mawer i was long distressed, till, by great good fortune, i discovered that it was no other than that of old king coyl." as i happen to feel an interest in the subject which disinclines me to rest satisfied with the foregoing hasty--not to say flippant explanation of the learned historian, i am anxious to inquire whether or not any reader of the "notes and queries" can throw light on the history, and especially the genealogy, of this worthy and amiable divine? while i have reason to believe that dr. mawer was about the last person in the world to have composed the foregoing eulogy on his own character, i cannot believe that the allusion to illustrious ancestors "is merely a joke," as whitaker seems to imply; while it is quite certain that there is nothing in the inscription to justify the inference that the deceased had been "unaware that the christian religion" had "long been professed in abyssinia:" indeed, an inference quite the reverse would be quite as legitimate. j. h. rotherfield, feb. . . * * * * * shakspeare's "merchant of venice" (act iv. sc. .). in the lines-- "the quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven, upon the place beneath." what is the meaning of the word "strained?" the verb _to strain_ is susceptible of two essentially different interpretations; and the question is as to which of the two is here intended? on referring to johnson's dictionary, we find, amongst other synonymous terms, _to squeeze through something; to purify by filtration; to weaken by too much violence; to push to its utmost strength_. now, if we substitute either of the two latter meanings, we shall have an assertion that "mercy is not weakened by too much violence (or put to its utmost strength), but droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven," &c., where it would require a most discerning editor to explain the connexion between the two clauses. if, on the other hand, we take the first two meanings, the passage is capable of being understood, if nothing else. beginning with _to squeeze through something_; what would present itself to our ideas would be, that "mercy does not fall in one continuous stream (as would be the case, if _strained_) on one particular portion of the earth, but expands into a large and universal shower, so as to spread its influence over the entire globe." this, however, though not absurd, is, i fear, rather forced. to come to the second explanation of _to purify_, which in my opinion is the most apt, i take it that shakspeare intended to say, that "mercy is so pure and undefiled as to require no cleansing, but falls as gently and unsullied as the showers from heaven, ere soiled by the impurities of earth." with these few remarks, i shall leave the matter in the hands of those whose researches into the english language may have been deeper than my own, with a hope that they may possess time and inclination to promote the elucidation of a difficulty in one of the most beautiful passages of our great national bard; a difficulty, by the way, which seems to have escaped the notice of all the editors and commentators. l. s. * * * * * minor queries. _was lord howard of effingham, who commanded in chief against the spanish armada, a protestant or a papist?_--on the one hand, it is highly improbable that queen elizabeth should employ a popish commander against the spaniards. . the silence of dr. lingard and other historians is also negatively in favour of his being a protestant. but, on the other hand, it has been repeatedly asserted, in both houses of parliament, that he was a papist. . it is _likely_, because his _father_ was the eldest son by his second wife of thomas, second duke of norfolk, and was created baron howard of effingham by queen mary. . whatever his own religion may have been, he was contemporary with his cousin, philip, earl of arundel, whom camden calls the champion of the catholics, and whose _violence_ was the cause of his perpetual imprisonment. . the present lord effingham has recently declared that by blood he was (had always been?) connected with the roman catholics. under these and _other_ circumstances, it is a question to be settled by _evidence_. c. h. p. brighton. _lord bexley--how descended from cromwell?_--in the notice of the late lord bexley in _the times_, it is stated that he was _maternally_ descended from oliver cromwell, the protector, through the family of cromwell's son-in-law, ireton. burke, in his _peerage_, mentions that henry vansittart, father of lord bexley, was governor of bengal (circa ), and that he married amelia morse, daughter of nicolas morse, governor of madras. it would therefore appear that this said nicolas morse was a descendant of general ireton. i wish to ascertain if this assumption be correct; and, if correct, when and how the families of morse and ireton became connected? if any of your correspondents can furnish information on this { } subject, or acquaint me where i can find any account or pedigree of the morse family, i shall feel much indebted to them. pursuivant. _earl of shaftesbury._--i have read with great interest lord shaftesbury's letter to le clerc, published in no. . may i ask your correspondents janus dousa and professor des amories van der hoven, whether the remonstrants' library of amsterdam contains any papers relating to the first earl of shaftesbury, which might have been sent by the third earl to le clerc; and whether any notices or traditions remain in amsterdam of the first lord shaftesbury's residence and death in that city? any information relative to the first earl of shaftesbury will greatly oblige. ch. _family of peyton._--admiral joseph peyton [post-captain, december , --admiral, --ob. ] was admiral's first captain in the fleet under darby, at the relief of gibraltar, . he was son of commodore edward peyton [post-captain, april , ], who is supposed to have gone over from england, and settled in america, and there to have died. i should be very glad of further particulars of these persons. are my dates correct? how is this branch of the family (lately represented by john joseph peyton, esq., of wakehurst, who married a daughter of sir east clayton east, bart., and died in , leaving four children minors) connected with the baronets peyton, of iselham, or dodington? who was the father of the above commodore? it may aid the inquiry to mention that this branch is related to the grenfell family: william peyton, second son of the above admiral joseph, having married a first cousin of pascoe grenfell, esq., m.p. for great marlow (who died in ). ache. "_la rose nait en un moment._"--i wish to learn the name of the author of the following verses, and where they are to be found. any of your correspondents who can inform me shall receive my sincere thanks:-- "la rose nait en un moment, en un moment elle est flêtrie; mais ce que pour vous mon coeur sent, ne finira qu'avec ma vie." t. h. k. malew, man. _john collard the logician._--could any of your correspondents tell me where i could find any account of _john collard_, who wrote three treatises on logic:--the first, under the name of _n. dralloc_ (his name reversed), _epitome of logic_, johnson, st. paul's church yard, ; in his own name, _essentials of logic_, johnson, ; and in , the _praxis of logic_. he is mentioned as _dralloc_ by whately and kirwan; but nobody seems to have known him as _collard_ but levi hedge, the american writer on that subject. i made inquiry, some forty years ago, and was informed that he lived at birmingham, was a chairmaker by profession, and devoted much of his time to chemistry; that he was known to and esteemed by dr. parr; and that he was then dead. at the close of his preface to his _praxis_ he says,-- "and let me inform the reader also, that this work was not composed in the pleasant tranquillity of retirement, but under such untoward circumstances, that the mind was subject to continual interruptions and vexatious distraction." then he adds,-- "i have but little doubt but this _praxis_ will, at some future period, find its way into the schools; and though critics should at present condemn what they have either no patience or inclination to examine, i feel myself happy in contemplating, that after i am mouldered to dust, it may assist our reason in this most essential part." b. g. feb. . . _traherne's sheriffs of glamorgan._--could any of your readers tell me where i might see a copy of _a list of the sheriffs of county glamorgan_, printed (privately?) by rev. j. m. traherne? i have searched the libraries of the british museum, the athenæum club, and the bodleian at oxford, in vain. edmond w. _haybands in seals._--i have, in a small collection of sussex deeds, two which present the following peculiarity: they have the usual slip of parchment and lump of wax pendant from the lower edge, but the wax, instead of bearing an armorial figure, a merchant's mark, or any other of the numerous devices formerly employed in the authentication of deeds instead of one's chirograph, has neatly inserted into it a small wreath composed of two or three stalks of grass (or rather hay) carefully plaited, and forming a circle somewhat less in diameter than a shilling. the deeds, which were executed in the time of henry the seventh, relate to the transfer of small landed properties. i have no doubt that this diminutive _hayband_ was the distinctive mark of a grazier or husbandman who did not consider his social status sufficient to warrant the use of a more regular device by way of seal. i have seen a few others connected with the same county, and, if i recollect rightly, of a somewhat earlier date. i shall be glad to ascertain whether this curious practice was in use in other parts of england. m. a. lower. lewes. _edmund prideaux, and the first post-office._--polwhele, in his _history of cornwall_, says, p. .: "to our countryman edmund prideaux we owe the regular establishment of the post-office." { } he says again, p. .: "edmund prideaux, attorney-general to oliver cromwell, and _inventor_ of the post-office." now the edmund spoken of as attorney-general, was of ford abbey, in devonshire, and second son of sir edmund prideaux, of netherton, in the said county, therefore could not be one of the cornish branch. query no. . who was the edmund prideaux, his countryman, that regularly established the post-office? query no. . how were letters circulated before his time? query no. . was edmund prideaux the attorney-general, the inventor of the post-office, as he states; if not, who was? query no. . has any life of edmund prideaux as attorney-general been published, or is any account of him to be found in any work? g. p. p. _william tell legend._--could any of your readers tell me the true origin of the william tell apple story? i find the same story told of-- ( .) egil, the father of the famous smith wayland, who was instructed in the art of forging metals by two dwarfs of the mountain of kallova. (depping, _mém. de la société des antiquaires de france_, tom. v. pp. . .) ( .) saxo grammaticus, who wrote nearly a century before tell, tells nearly the same story of one toko, who killed harold. ( .) "there was a souldier called pumher, who, daily through witchcraft, killed three of his enemies. this was he who shot at a pennie on his son's head, and made ready another arrow to have slain the duke remgrave (? rheingraf), who commanded it." (reginald scot, .) ( .) and adam bell, clym of the clough, and william of cloudeslie. g. h. r. _arms of cottons buried in landwade church, &c._ (vol. iii., p. .).--will jonathan oldbuck, jun., oblige me by describing the family coat-armour borne by the cottons mentioned in his note? it may facilitate his inquiry, in which, by the way, i am much interested. r. w. c. _sir george buc's treatise on the stage._--what has become of this ms.? sir george buc mentions it in _the third university of england_, appended to stowe's _annals_, ed. , p. .-- "of this art [the dramatic] have written largely _petrus victorius_, &c.--as it were in vaine for me to say anything of the art; besides, that _i have written thereof a particular treatise_." if this manuscript could be discovered, it would doubtless throw considerable light upon the elizabethan drama. edward f. rimbault. _a cracowe pike_ (vol. iii., p. .).--since i sent you the query respecting a _cracowe pike_, i have found that i was wrong in supposing it to be a weapon or spear: for _cracowe pikes_ was the name given to the preposterous "piked shoes," which were fashionable in the reign of richard ii., and which were so long in the toes that it was necessary to tie them with chains to the knee, in order to render it possible for the wearer to walk. stowe, in his _chronicle_, tells us that this extravagant fashion was brought in by anne of bohemia, queen of richard ii. but why were they called _cracowe_ pikes? i. h. t. _st. thomas of trunnions._--who was this saint, and why is he frequently mentioned in connexion with onions? "nay softe, my maisters, by _saincte thomas of trunions_, i am not disposed to buy of your _onions_." _apius and virginia_, . "and you that delight in trulls and minions, come buy my four ropes of hard _s. thomas's onions_." _the hog hath lost his pearl_, . "buy my rope of onions--white _st. thomas's onions_," was one of the cries of london in the seventeenth century. edward f. rimbault. _paper-mill near stevenage_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in your number for december , , one of your correspondents, referring to bartholomeus _de prop. rerum_, mentions a paper-mill near stevenage, in the county of hertford, as being probably the earliest, or one of the earliest, established in england. i should feel much obliged if your correspondent, through the medium of your pages, would favour me with any further particulars on this subject; especially as to the site of this mill, there being no stream within some miles of stevenage capable of turning a mill. i have been unable to find any account of this mill in either of the county histories. hertfordiensis. _mounds, munts, mounts._--in the parish register of maresfield in sussex, there is an entry recording the surrender of a house and three acres of land, called the "mounds," in , to the use of the parish; and in the churchwardens' accounts at rye, about the same time, it is stated that the church of rye was entitled to a rent from certain lands called "mounts." in jevington, too, there are lands belonging to the earl of liverpool called munts or mounts, but whether at any time belonging to the church, i am unable to say. any information as to the meaning of the word, or account of its occurring elsewhere, will much oblige r. w. b. _church chests._--a representation of two knights engaged in combat is sometimes found on ancient church chests. can any one explain the meaning of it? examples occur at harty chapel, kent, and burgate, suffolk. the former is mentioned in the _glossary of architecture_, and described as a carving: the latter is painted only, { } and one of the knights is effaced: the other is apparently being unhorsed; he wears a jupon embroidered in red, and the camail, &c., of the time of richard ii.: a small shield is held in his left hand: his horse stoops its head, apparently to water, through which it is slowly pacing. is this a subject from the legend of some saint, or from one of the popular romances of the middle ages? are any other examples known? c. r. m. _the cross-bill._--is "the legend of the cross-bill," translated from julius mosen by longfellow, a genuine early tradition, or only a fiction of the poet? . is the cross-bill considered in any country as a sacred bird? and was it ever so used in architectural decoration, illumination, or any other works of sacred art? . what is the earliest record on evidence of the cross-bill being known in england? h. g. t. launceston. _iovanni volpe._--can any of your readers supply a notice of iovanni volpe, mentioned in a ms. nearly cotemporary to have been "an italian doctor, famous in queen elizabeth's time, who went with george earl of cumberland most of his sea voyages, and was with him at the taking of portorico?" another ms., apparently of the date of james i., describes him as "physician to queen elizabeth." he had a daughter, frances, widow of richard evers, esq. ("of the family of evers of coventry"), who married, d november, , richard hughes, esq., then a younger son, but eventually representative, of the ancient house of gwerclas and cymmer-yn-edeirnion, in merionethshire, and died th june, . m. n. o. _auriga._--how comes the latin word auriga to mean "a charioteer?" varro. _to speak in lutestring._-- . philo-junius--that is, junius himself--in the th letter, writes: "i was led to trouble you with these observations by a passage which, _to speak in lutestring_, i met with this morning, in the course of my reading." had the expression in italics been used before by any one? . in the th letter, addressed to the duke of grafton, junius asks: "is the union of _blifil_ and _black george_ no longer a romance?" what part of that story is here referred to? varro. "_lavora, come se tu," &c._--in bohn's edition of jeremy taylor's _holy living and dying_, i observe in the notes several italian sentences, mostly couplets or proverbs. one peculiarly struck me: and i should feel obliged if any of your readers could tell me whence it was taken, name of author, &c. the couplet runs thus (vide p. . of the work):-- "lavora, come se tu avessi a camper ogni hora: adora, come se tu avessi a morir allora." indeed it would not be amiss, if _all_ the notes were marked with authors' names or other reference, as i find some few of the latin quotations as well as the greek, and _all_ the italian ones, require a godfather. w. h. p. _tomb of chaucer._--are any of the existing english families descended from the poet chaucer? if so, might they not fairly be applied to for a contribution to the proposed restoration of his tomb? his son thomas chaucer left an heiress, married to de la pole, duke of suffolk; but i have not the means of ascertaining whether any of their posterity are extant. c. r. m. _family of clench._--can any of your readers supply me with the parentage and family of _bruin clench_ of st. martin's in the fields, citizen of london? he married catharine, daughter of william hippesley, esq., of throughley, in edburton, co. sussex; and was living in . his christian name does not appear in the pedigrees of the clinche or clench family of bealings and holbrook, co. suffolk, in the _heralds' visitations_, in the british museum. his daughter married roger donne, esq., of ludham, co. norfolk, and was the maternal grandmother of the poet cowper. c. r. m. * * * * * replies. cranmer's descendants. (vol. iii., p. .) your correspondent may be interested to know, that sir anthony chester, bart., of chichley, co. bucks, married, may , , mary, dau. of samuel cranmer, esq., alderman of london, and sister to sir cæsar cranmer, kt., of ashwell, bucks. this samuel cranmer was traditionally the last male heir of the eldest of cranmer's sons; his descent is, i believe, stated in general terms in the epitaphs of lady chester, at chichley, and sir cæsar cranmer, at ashwell. he was a great london brewer by trade, and married his cousin mary (sister of thomas wood, bishop of coventry and lichfield, and sir henry wood, bart., of the board of green cloth), dau. of thomas wood, esq., of hackney, by his wife ---- cranmer. they had only two children, and it would appear from harleian ms. no. . fo. ., which omits all mention of sir cæsar, that he died in his father's lifetime, and that lady chester was sole heiress to this branch of the cranmers. there are two brief pedigrees i have seen of these cranmers, one in harl. ms. . above { } mentioned, the other in philipot's _catalogue of knights_; but neither of them goes so far as to connect them with the archbishop, or even with the nottinghamshire family; for they both begin with samuel cranmer's grandfather, who is described of alcester, co. warwick. now the connexion is certain: could one of your readers supply me with the wanting links? is it possible that they omit all mention of the archbishop on account of the prejudice mentioned by your correspondent; being able to supply the three generations necessary to gentility without him? i am obliged to write without any books of reference, or i would have consulted the epitaphs in question again. r. e. w. i am afraid that my quotations from memory, in my letter of saturday, were _not exactly correct_; for on examining lipscomb's _buckinghamshire_ to-day, i find that it is stated (vol. iv. pp. - .) on the monument of samuel cranmer at _astwood bury_, that he was "descended in a direct line from richard cranmer, elder brother to thomas, archbishop of canterbury;" and that it was found, on an inquisition held on april , , that his son and heir cæsar cranmer (called on the monument "sir cæsar wood at^e cranmer, kt.") was his heir at six years of age. this cæsar was knighted by charles ii., and died unmarried; so that his sister, lady chester, was evidently the representative of this branch of the cranmer family. now, with regard to this statement on the monument, in the first place it is discrepant with lady chester's epitaph at chichley, which (lipscomb's _bucks_, vol. iv. p. .) expressly declares that she derived her descent from the archbishop. in the next place it appears from thoroton's _notts_, that the archbishop had no elder brother named richard. his elder brother's name was john; who by joan, dau. of john frechevill, esq., had two sons, thomas and _richard_. could this be the richard alluded to? in the third place, in neither of the pedigrees alluded to is there given any connexion with the family of cranmer of aslacton. and, lastly, it is opposed to the uniform tradition of the family. now, if any of your readers can clear up this difficulty, or will refer me to any other pedigree of the cranmers, i shall feel extremely obliged to him. with the exception of the points now noticed, my former letter was perfectly correct, and may be relied on in every respect. i may mention that these cranmers were from warwickshire. the monument states that samuel cranmer was born at "aulcester" in that county, "about the year ." r. e. w. * * * * * dutch popular song-book. (vol. iii., p. .) the second edition of the song-book mentioned by the hermit of holyport must have been published between and , as the many popular works printed for s. and w. koene may testify. in they lived on the linde gracht, but shifted afterwards their dwelling-place to the boomstraat. for the above information--about a trifle, interesting enough to call a _hermit_ from his _memento-mori_ cogitations--i am indebted to the kindness of mr. j. j. nieuwenhuyzen. but, alas! what can i, the man with a _borrowed name_ and borrowed learning, say in reply to the first query of the busy anchorite? he will believe me, when i tell his reverence that i am _not_ janus dousa. what's in the name, that i could choose it? must i confess? a token of grateful remembrance; the only means of making myself known to a british friend of my youth, but for whom i would perhaps never have enjoyed mr. hermit's valuable contributions--the medium, in short, of being recognised incognito. will this do? or must i say, copying a generous correspondent of "notes and queries,"--spare my blushes, i am j. h. van lennep. amsterdam, feb. . . * * * * * barons of hugh lupus. (vol. iii., p. .) your correspondent p. asks for information respecting the families and descendants of william malbank and bigod de loges, two of the barons of hugh lupus, earl of chester, whose signatures are affixed to the charter of foundation of st. werburgh's abbey at chester. of the descendants of william malbank i can learn nothing; but it appears from the ms. catalogue of the norman nobility before the conquest, that roger and robert de loges possessed lordships in the district of coutances in normandy. one at least, roger, must have accompanied the conqueror to england (and his name appears in the roll of battle abbey as given by fox), for we find that he held lands in horley and burstowe in surrey. his widow, gunuld de loges, held the manor of guiting in gloucestershire of king william; and in the year she gave two hides of land to the monastery of gloucester to pray for the soul of her husband. roger had two sons, roger and bigod, or, as he is sometimes called, robert. the former inherited the lands in surrey. one of his descendants (probably his great-grandson) was high sheriff of surrey and sussex in the years , , and . his son roger de loges owned lands and tenements in horley, called la bokland, which he sold to the abbot of { } chertsea. his successor, john de logge of burstowe, witnessed in the tenth year of edward ii. a deed relating to the transfer of land in hadresham, surrey. the name became gradually corrupted to lodge. to return to the subject of inquiry, bigod de loges-- "held five tenements in sow of the earl of chester, by the service of conducting the said earl towards the king's court through the midst of the forest of cannock, meeting him at rotford bridge upon his coming, and at hopwas bridge on his return. in which forest the earl might, if he pleased, kill a deer at his coming, and another at his going back: giving unto loges each time he should so attend him a barbed arrow. hugo de loges granted to william bagot all his lands in sow, to hold of him the said hugo and his heirs, by the payment of a pair of white gloves at the feast of st. michael yearly."--dugdale. bigod de loges had two sons, hugo and odardus: "odardus de loges was infeoffed by ranulphus de meschines, earl of chester, in the baronies of stanyton, wigton, doudryt, waverton, blencoyd, and kirkbride, in the county of cumberland; and the said odardus built wigton church and endowed it. he lived until king john's time. henry i. confirmed the grant of the barony to him, by which it is probable that he lived a hundred years. he had issue adam. adam had issue odard, the lord, whose son and heir, adam the second, died without issue, and odard the fourth likewise," &c.--denton's _ms._ of the branch settled in staffordshire and warwickshire-- "hugo de loges married, tempo richard i., margerie, daughter and heiress of robert de brok. by this marriage hugo became possessed of the manor of casterton in warwickshire. he was forester of cannock chace. he had issue hugo de loges, of chesterton, whose son and heir, sir richard de loges, died st of edward i. sir richard had issue two sons, richard and hugo. the eldest, richard of chesterton, left issue an only daughter, elizabeth, married to nicholas de warwick. the issue of this marriage was john de warwick, whose daughter and heiress, eleonora, married sir john de peto, and brought the manor of chesterton into that family."--dugdale. m. j. t. * * * * * shakspeare's "antony and cleopatra." (vol. iii., p. .) the scene in _antony and cleopatra_ contains two expressions which are in _henry viii._-- "learn this, silius." "learn this, brother."--_hen. viii._ "the captain's captain." "to be her mistress' mistress, the queen's queen."--_hen. viii._ the first of these passages is in a scene in _henry viii._, which mr. hickson gives to fletcher (and of which, by-the-bye, it may be observed, that, like the scene in _antony and cleopatra_, it has nothing to do with the business of the play). the other is in a scene which he gives to shakspeare. but, perhaps, there may be doubts whether rightly. i am exceedingly ignorant in fletcher; but here is a form of expression which occurs twice in the scene, which, i believe, is more conformable to the practice of fletcher:-- "_a_ heed was in his countenance." "and force them with _a_ constancy." there is very great stiffness in the versification: one instance is quite extraordinary: "yet i know her for a spleeny lutheran; and not wholesome to our cause, that she should lie i' the bosom of our hard rul'd king." there is great stiffness and tameness in the matter in many places. lastly, what mr. hickson hopes he has taken off shakspeare's shoulders, the compliments to the queen and the king, is brought in here most forcedly:-- "she (_i.e._ a. boleyn) is a gallant creature, and complete in mind and feature. i persuade me, from her will fall some blessings to this land, which shall in it be memoriz'd." but there is also the general question, whether, either upon _à priori_ probability, or inferences derived from particular passages, we are bound to suppose that the two authors wrote scene by scene. shakspeare might surely be allowed to touch up scenes, of which the mass might be written by fletcher. as to the dates, mr. collier is persuaded that _henry viii._ was written in the winter of - . the accession of james was in march, . mr. collier thinks that the compliments to queen elizabeth were not written in her lifetime. he thinks that, even in the last year of her long reign, no one would have ventured to call her an "aged princess," though merely as a way of saying that she would have a long reign; and he says, there is not the slightest evidence that the compliment to king james was an interpolation. but surely it is strong evidence that if there is no interpolation, this passage-- "as when the bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix," afterwards-- "when heav'n shall call her from this cloud of darkness," and then, after disposing of the king-- "she shall be to the happiness of england an aged princess . . . . . . . . . would i had known no more--but she must die; she must--the saints must have her yet a virgin," &c. { } would be ridiculous. all that can be said is, that either way it is partly ridiculous to make it a matter of prophecy and lamentation that a human being must, sometime or other, die. but it is very difficult to conceive that the compliments to elizabeth should have been written after her death. fletcher, born in , did not, in mr. dyce's opinion, bring out anything singly or jointly with beaumont till or . the irrelevant scenes, like that of ventidius, are introduced with two objects--one to gain time, the other for the sake of naturalness: of the latter of which there are two instances in _macbeth_; one where the king talks of the swallows' nests: the other, relating to the english king touching for the evil, seems remarkably suited to the mind of shakspeare. c. b. * * * * * "sun, stand thou still upon gibeon!" (josh. x. .) (vol. iii., p. .) the observations of i. k. upon this passage have obviously proceeded from a praiseworthy wish to remove what has appeared to some minds to be inconsistent with that perfect truth which they expect to be the result of divine inspiration. i. k. doubtless believes that god put it into the heart of joshua to utter a command for the miraculous continuance of daylight. but why should he expect the inspiration to extend so far as to instruct joshua respecting the manner in which that continuance was to be brought about? joshua was not to be the worker of the miracle. it was to be wrought by him who can as easily stop any part of the stupendous machinery of his universe, as we can stop the wheels of a watch. joshua was left to speak, as he naturally would, in terms well fitted to make those around him understand, and tell others, that the sun and moon, whom the defeated people notoriously worshipped, were so far from being able to protect their worshippers, that they were made to promote their destruction at the bidding of joshua, whom god had commissioned to be the scourge of idolaters. and when the inspired recorder of the miracle wrote that "the sun stood still," he told what the eyes saw, with the same truth as i might say that the sun _rose_ before seven this morning. inspiration was not bestowed to make men wise in astronomy, but wise unto salvation. those who think that the inspired penman should have said "the earth stood still," in order to give a perfectly true account of the miracle, have need to be told, or would do well to remember, that the stopping of the diurnal revolution of the earth, in order to keep the sun and moon's apparent places the same, would not involve a cessation of its motion in its orbit, still less a cessation of that great movement of the whole solar system, by which it is now more than conjectured that the sun, the moon, and the earth are all carried on together at the rate of above miles in an hour; so that to say "the earth stood still" would be liable to the same objection, viz., that of not being astronomically true. i. k. carries his notion of the "inseparable connexion" of the sun "with all planetary motion" too far, when he supposes that a stoppage of the sun's motion round its own axis would have any effect on our planet. the note he quotes from kitto's _pictorial bible_ is anything but satisfactory; and that from mant is childishly common-place. good old scott adverts with propriety to the creator's power to keep all things in their places, when the earth's revolution was stopped; but when he endeavoured to illustrate it by the little effect of a ship's _casting anchor when under full sail_, he should have consulted his friend newton, who would have stopped such an imagination. another commentator, holden, has argued, in spite of the hebrew, that "in the midst of heaven" cannot mean mid-day, having made up his mind that the moon can never be seen at that hour! such helpers do but make that difficult which, if received in its simplicity, need neither perplex a child nor a philosopher. h. w. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _ulm manuscript_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the late bishop butler's collection of manuscripts is in the british museum. i send you a copy of the bishop's own description of the ms. (which should be called the _st. gall ms._), from the printed catalogue, which was prepared for a sale by auction, previous to the negociation with the trustees for the purchase of the collection for the nation. "acta apostolorum. epistolæ pauli et catholicæ cum apocalypsi. latinè. sæculi ix. upon vellum. to. the date of this most valuable and important manuscript is preserved by these verses: 'iste liber pauli retinet documenta sereni hartmodus gallo quem contulit abba beato, si quis et hunc sancti sumit de culmine galli hunc gallus paulusque simul dent pestibus amplis.' which i thus have tried to imitate: thys boke conteynes the doctrynes of seynct paull, hartmodus thabbat yeve yt to seynct gall; gyf any tak thys boke from hygh seynct gall, seynct gall appall hym and seynct paull hym gall. hartmodus was abbot of st. gall in the grisons from a.d. to . the ms. therefore may be earlier than the former, but cannot be later than the latter date. { } this ms. is of the very highest importance. it contains the celebrated passage of st. john thus: 'quia tres sunt, qui testimonium dant, spliritus, aqua, et sanguis, et tres unum sunt. sicut in coelo tres sunt, pater, verbum, et spiritus, et tres unum sunt.' this most important word _sicut_ clearly shows how the disputed passage, from having been a gloss crept into the text. and on the first page prior to the seven catholic epistles is the prologue of st. jerome, bearing his name in uncials, which porson and other learned men think spurious. see porson's _letters to travis_, p. ."--bp. butler's manuscript catalogue. h. foss. rotherhithe, jan. . . _harrison's chronology_ (vol. iii., p. .).--to the querist on william harrison all lovers of bibliography are under obligations. at oxford, amid the bodleian treasures, he could not have had many questions to ask: at thurles the case may be much otherwise, and he is entitled to a prompt reply. after examining the _typographical antiquities_ of ames and herbert, and various bibliographical works, relying also on my own memory as a collector of books for more than thirty years, i may venture to assert that the _chronology_ of w. harrison has never been printed. i can further assert that no copy of the work is recorded in the _catalogi librorum manuscriptorum angliæ et hiberniæ_, oxoniæ, . the best account of harrison is given by bishop tanner, in his _bibliotheca britannico-hibernica_. wood, however, should be consulted. with reference to the events of his life, it is important to observe that the date of his letter to sir william brooke, which may be called an autobiography in miniature, is . assuming that this question could not escape the notice of other contributors, i had made no researches with a view to answer it, and shall be happy to remedy the defects of this scrap at a future time. bolton corney. _mistletoe on oaks_ (vol. ii., pp. , .).--is it ever found now on _other_ trees? sir thos. browne (_vulg. err._ lib. ii. cap. vi. § .) says, "we observe it in england very commonly upon _sallow_, _hazell_, and oake." by-the-bye, dr. bell (p. .) seems to adopt the belief, which it is browne's object in the section referred to above to refute, viz., that "misseltoe is bred upon trees, from seeds which birds let fall thereon." have later observations shown that it was browne himself who was in error? ache. _swearing by swans_ (vol. iii., p. .).--an instance of the cognate custom of swearing by pheasants is given by michelet, _précis de l'histoire moderne_ (pp. , .). on the taking of constantinople by the turks,-- "l'europe s'émut enfin: nicholas v. prêcha la croisade.... à lille, le duc de bourgoyne fit apparaître, dans un banquet, l'image de l'eglise désolée et, selon les rites de la chevalerie, jura dieu, la vierge, les dames, et _le faisan_, qu'il irait combattre les infidèles." ( .) it seems, however, that in spite of all these formalities, the oath did not sit very heavily on the conscience of the taker: for we are told immediately after that-- "cette ardeur dura peu.... le duc de bourgoyne resta dans ses états." michelet gives, as his authority, olivier de la marche, t. viii. _de la collection des mémoires rélatifs à l'hist. de france_, edit. de m. petitot. x. z. _jurare ad caput animalium_ (vol. ii., p. ; vol. iii., p. .).--schayes, a belgic writer (in _les pays bas avant et durant la domination romaine_, vol. ii. p. . et seq.), furnishes references to two councils, in which this mode of swearing was condemned, viz. concil. aurelianense (orleans), a.d. , and concil. liptinense (liptines or lestines), . on the indiculus paganiarum of the latter he subjoins the commentaries of des roches (_anc. mém. de l'acad. de brux._), de meinders (_de statu relig. sub carolo m._, p. .), d'eckart (_francia orient_, lib. i. p. .), de canciani (_de legibus barbaror._, tom. iii. p. .). the enquirer may also consult riveli opera on the decalogue; petiti, _observ. miscell._ lib. iv. c. .: "defenditur socrates ab improba lactantii calumnia et de ejus jusjurando per _canem_:" and alex. ab alexandro, _geniales dies_, lib. v. c. . i may avail myself of this opportunity of noticing the misprint in p. ., _v_ezron for _p_ezron. t. j. _ten children at a birth_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--we are indebted to the obliging courtesy of the editor of the _leeds mercury_ for the following extract from that paper of the th october, :-- "a letter from sheffield, dated october , says, 'this day one ann birch, formerly of derby, who came to work at the silk-mills here, was delivered of ten children; nine were dead, and one living, which, with the mother, is likely to do well.'" our informant adds-- "i never heard of any silk-mills at sheffield. if there was a medical society in sheffield then, its records might be examined." can our correspondent n. d. throw any further light upon this certainly curious and interesting case? _richard standfast_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this divine is buried in christ church, bristol; having been rector of that church for the long space of fifty-one years. there is a monument erected to his memory in the above-mentioned building, with the following inscription:-- { } "near this place lieth the body of richard standfast, master of arts, of sidney college in cambridge, and chaplain-in-ordinary to his majesty king charles i., who for his loyalty to the king and stedfastness in the established religion, suffered fourteen years' sequestration. he returned to his place in bristol at the restoration of king charles ii., was then made prebendary of the cathedral church of bristol, and for twenty years and better (notwithstanding his blindness) performed the offices of the church exactly, and discharged the duties of an able, diligent, and orthodox preacher. he was rector of christ church upwards of fifty-one years, and died august , in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and in the year of our lord . he shall live again." the following additional lines, composed by himself, were taken down from his own mouth two days before his death; and are, according to his own desire, inscribed on his tomb:-- "jacob was at bethel found, and so may we, though under ground. with jacob there god did intend, to be with him where'ver he went, and to bring him back again, nor was that promise made in vain. upon which words we rest in confidence that he which found him there will fetch us hence. nor without cause are we persuaded thus, for where god spake with him, he spake with us." besides the work your correspondent mentions, he wrote a book, entitled a _caveat against seducers_. j. k. r. w. feb. . . "_jurat, crede minus_" (vol. iii., p. .).--this epigram was quoted by sir ed. coke on the trial of henry garnet. the author i cannot tell, but f. r. r. may be glad to trace it up thus far. j. bs. _rab surdam_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--may not "rab surdam" be the ignorant stone-cutter's version of "resurgam?" m. a. h. _the scaligers_ (vol. iii., p. .).--everything relating to this family is interesting, and i have read with pleasure your correspondent's communication on the origin of their armorial bearings. i am, however, rather surprised to observe, that he seems to take for granted the relationship of julius cæsar scaliger and his son joseph to the lords of verona, which has been so convincingly disproved by several writers. the world has been for some time pretty well satisfied that these two illustrious scholars were mere impostors in the claim they made, that joseph scaliger's letter to janus dousa was a very impudent affair. if your correspondent has met with any new evidence in support of their claim, it would gratify me much if he would make it known. who would not derive pleasure from seeing the magnificent boast of joseph proved at last to have been founded in fact: "ego sum septimus ab imperatore ludovico et illustrissimâ hollandiæ comite margareta: septimus item a mastino tertio, ut et magnus rex franciscus, literarum parcus." and scioppius's parting recommendation-- "quid jam reliquum est tibi, nisi ut nomen commutes et ex scalifero fias furcifer?"--_scaliger hypobolimaeus. mogunt._, , to., p. . b. deprived of its force and stringency? i fear, however, that this is not to be expected. it is impossible to read joseph scaliger's defence of his own case in the rejoinder to scioppius, _confutatio fabulæ burdonum_, without observing that the author utterly fails in connecting niccolo, the great-grandfather of joseph, with guglielmo della scala, the son of can grande secundo. and yet such is the charm of genius, that the _confutatio_, altogether defective in the main point as a reply, will ever be read with delight by succeeding generations of scholars. james crossley. manchester, feb. , . _lincoln missal_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it is clear that one of the most learned ritualists, mr. maskell, did not know of a manuscript of the lincoln use, else he would have noted it in his work, _the ancient liturgy of the british church_, where the other uses of salisbury, york, bangor, and hereford, are compared together. in his preface to this work (p. ix.) he states-- "it has been doubted whether there ever was a lincoln use in any other sense than a different mode and practice of chanting." mr. peacock would probably find more information in the _monumenta ritualia_, to which mr. maskell refers in his preface. n. e. r. (a subscriber.) _by and bye_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent s. s., in support of his opinion that _by the bye_ means "by the way," suggests that _good bye_ may mean "bon voyage." i must say the commonly received notion, that it is a contraction of "god be wi' ye," appears to me in every way preferable. i think that in the writers of the elizabethan age, every intermediate variety of form (such as "god b' w' ye," &c.) may be found; but i cannot at this moment lay my hand on any instance. in an ingenious and amusing article in a late number of the _quarterly_, the character of different nations is shown to be indicated by their different forms of greeting, and surely the same may be said of their forms of taking leave. the english pride themselves, and with justice, on being a peculiarly religious people: now, applying the above test,--as the frenchman has his _adieu_, the italian his _addio_, the portuguese his _addios_, and the spaniard his "vaya usted con _dios_,"--it is to be presumed { } that the englishman, also, on parting from his friend, will commit him to the care of providence. on the other hand, it must be admitted that the germans, who, as well as the english, are supposed to entertain a deeper sense of religion than many other nations, content themselves with a mere "lebe-wohl." i should be obliged if some one of your readers will favour me with the forms of taking leave used by other nations, in order that i may be enabled to see whether the above test will hold good on a more extensive application. x. z. _gregory the great._--this is clearly a mere slip of the pen in lady morgan's pamphlet. i i think it may confidently be asserted that gregory vii. has not been thus designated habitually at any period. r. d. h. _true blue_ (vol. iii., p. .)--"the earliest connexion of the colour blue with truth" (which inquiry i cannot consider as synonymous with the original query, vol. ii., p. .) is doubtless to be traced back to one of the typical garments worn by the jewish high priest, which was (see godwyn's _moses and aaron_, london, , lib. i. chap. .) "a robe all of blew, with seventy two bels of gold, and as many pomegranates, of blew, purple, and scarlet, upon the skirts thereof." he says that "by the bells was typed the sound of his (christ's) doctrine; by the pomegranates the sweet savour of an holy life;" and, without doubt, by "the blew robe" was typified the immutability and truthfulness of the person, mission, and doctrine of our great high priest, who was clothed with truth as with a garment. the great antitype was a literal embodiment of the symbolic panoply of his lesser type. blowen. _drachmarus_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent has my most cordial thanks both for his suggestion, and also for his conjecture. . perhaps you will kindly afford me space to say, that the name of drachmarus occurs in a well-written ms. account of bishop cosin's controversy, during his residence in paris, with the benedictine prior robinson, concerning the validity of our english ordination: in the course of which, after stating the opinion of divers of the fathers, that the keys of order and jurisdiction were given john xx., "quorum peccata," &c., cosin adds: "i omit hugo cardinalis, the ordinary gloss, _drachmarus_, scotus, as men of a later age (though all, as you say, of your church) that might be produced to the same purpose." i should here perhaps state, that no letter of prior robinson's is extant in which any mention is made either of drachmarus or of druthmarus. . before my query was inserted, it had not only occurred to me as probable that the transcriber might have written drachmarus in mistake for druthmarus, but i had also consulted such of druthmar's writings as are found in the _bibl. patr._ i came to the conclusion, however, that a later writer than christian druthmar was intended. _my_ conjecture was, that drachmarus must be a second name for some known writer of the age of the schoolmen, just as _carbajulus_ may be found cited under the name of _loysius_, or _loisius_, which are only other forms of his christian name, _ludovicus_. j. sansom. _the brownes of cowdray, sussex._--e. h. y. (vol. iii., p. .) is wrong in assigning the title of lord _mountacute_ to the brownes of cowdray, sussex. in & phil. and mary, sir antony browne (son of the master of the horse to henry viii.) was created viscount _montague_ (collins). when curate of eastbourne, in which parish are situated the ruins of their ancestral hall of cowdray, i frequently heard the village dames recite the tales of the rude forefathers of the hamlet respecting the family. they relate, that while the great sir antony (temp. hen. viii.) was holding a revel, a monk presented himself before the guests and pronounced the curse of fire and water against the male descendants of the family, till none should be left, because the knight had received and was retaining the church-lands of battle abbey, and those which belonged to the priory of eastbourne. within the last hundred years, destiny, though slow of foot, has overtaken the fated race. in one day the hall perished by fire, and the lord by water, as mentioned by e. h. y. the male line being extinct, the estate passed to the sister of lord montague. this lady was married to the late w. s. poyntz, esq., m.p. the two sons of mr. and mrs. poyntz were drowned at bognor, and the estate a second time devolved on the female representatives. these ladies, still living, are the marchioness of exeter, the countess spencer, and the dowager lady clinton. the estate passed by purchase into the hands of the earl of egmont. the old villagers, the servants, and the descendants of servants of the family, point to the ruins of the hall, and religiously cling to the belief that its destruction and that of its lords resulted from the curse. it certainly seems an illustration of archbishop whitgift's words to queen elizabeth: "church-land added to an ancient inheritance hath proved like a moth fretting a garment, and secretly consumed both: or like the eagle that stole a coal from the altar, and thereby set her nest on fire, which consumed both her young eagles and herself that stole it." e. rds. queen's col., birm., feb. . . _red hand_ (vol. ii., p. ., _et antè_).--a correspondent, arun, says, "your correspondents would confer a heraldic benefit if they would { } point out other instances, which i believe to exist, where family reputation has been damaged by similar ignorance in heraldic interpretation." i have always thought this ignorance to be universal with the country people in england: i could mention _several instances_. first, when i was a boy at school i was shown the hatchments in wateringbury church, in kent, by my master, and informed that sir thomas styles had murdered some domestic, and was consequently obliged to bear the "bloody hand:" and lastly, and lately, at church-gresley, in derbyshire, at the old hall of the gresley family, i was shown the marble table on which sir roger or sir nigel gresley had cut up, in a sort of greenacre style, his cook; for which he was obliged to have the bloody hand in his arms, and put into the church on his tomb. h. w. d. _anticipations of modern ideas by defoe_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the two tracts mentioned by your correspondent r. d. h., and which he states he has often sought in vain, namely, _augusta triumphans_, london, , vo., and _second thoughts are best_, london, , vo., are to be found in the _selection from defoe's works_ published by talboys in vols. mo. in . they are both indisputably by defoe, and contain, as your correspondent observes, many anticipations of modern improvements. i may mention that there is a tract, also beyond doubt by defoe, on the subject of london street-robberies, which has never yet been noticed or attributed to him by any one. it is far more curious and valuable than _second thoughts are best_, and is perfectly distinct from that tract. it gives a history, and the only one i ever yet met with, written in all defoe's graphic manner, of the london police and the various modes of street robbery in the metropolis, from the time of charles ii. to , and concludes by suggestions of effectual means of prevention. it is evidently the work of one who had lived in london during the whole of the period. the title is-- "an effectual scheme for the immediate preventing of street robberies, and suppressing all other disorders of the night, with a brief history of the night houses, and an appendix relating to those sons of hell called incendiaries. humbly inscribed to the right honourable the lord mayor of the city of london. london: printed for j. wilford, at the three flower de luees, behind the chapter house in st. paul's church yard. . (price s.) vo., pages ." i have also another tract on the same subject, which has not been noticed by defoe's biographers, but which i have no hesitation in ascribing to him. it is curious enough, but not of equal value with the last. the title is-- "street robberies considered. the reason of their being so frequent, with probable means to prevent 'em. to which is added, three short treatises: . a warning for travellers; with rules to know a highwayman and instructions how to behave upon the occasion. . observations on housebreakers. how to prevent a tenement from being broke open. with a word of advice concerning servants. . a caveat for shopkeepers: with a description of shoplifts, how to know 'em, and how to prevent 'em: also a caution of delivering goods: with the relation of several cheats practised lately upon the publick. written by a converted thief. to which is prefix'd some memoirs of his life. _set a thief to catch a thief._ london: printed for j. roberts, in warwick lane. price s. (no date, but circ. .) vo., pages ." james crossley. _meaning of waste-book_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the _waste-book_ in a counting-house is that in which all the transactions of the day, receipts, payments, &c., are entered miscellaneously as they occur, and of which no account is immediately taken, no value immediately found; whence, so to speak, the mass of affairs is undigested, and the wilderness or _waste_ is uncultivated, and without result until entries are methodically made in the day-book and ledger; without which latter appliances there would, in book-keeping, be _waste_ indeed, in the worst sense of the term. the word _day-book_ explains itself. the word _ledger_ is explained in johnson's and in ash's _dictionary_, from the dutch, as signifying a book that lies in the counting-house _permanently in one place_. the etymology there given also explains why certain lines used in fishing-tackle, by old isaak walton, and by his disciples at the present day, are called _ledger-lines_. it, however, does not seem to explain the phrase _ledger-lines_, used in music; namely, the term applied to those short lines added above or below the staff of five lines, when the notes run very high or very low, and which are exactly those which are not _permanent_. here the french word _léger_ tempts the etymologist a little. robert snow. _deus justificatus_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there is no doubt that this work was written by henry hallywell, and not by cudworth. dr. worthington, whose intercourse with the latter was of the most intimate kind, and who would have been fully aware of the fact had he been the author, observes, in a letter not dated, but written circ. september, , addressed to dr. more, and of which i have a copy now before me: "i bought at london mr. hallywell's _deus justificatus_. methinks it is better written than his former letter. he will write better and better." in a short account of hallywell, who was of the school of cudworth and more, and whose ms. correspondence with the latter is now in my possession, in wood's _fasti_, vol. ii. p. . edit. bliss, wood, "amongst several things that he hath published," enumerates five only, but does not give the _deus justificatus_ amongst them. it { } appears (wood's _athenæ_, vol. iv. p. .) that he was ignorant who the author of this tract was. it is somewhat singular that the mistake in ascribing _deus justificatus_ to cudworth should have been continued in kippis's edition of the _biographia britannica_. it was so ascribed to him, first, as far as i can find, by a writer of the name of fancourt, in the preface to his _free agency of accountable creatures examined_, london, , vo. on his authority it was included in the list of cudworth's works in the _general dictionary_, , folio, vol. iv. p. ., and in the _biographia britannica_, , vol. iii. p. ., and in the last edition by kippis. birch, in the mean time, finding, no doubt, on inquiry, that there was no ground for ascribing it to cudworth, made no mention of it in his accurate life prefixed to the edition of the _intellectual system_ in . hallywell, the author, deserves to be better known. in many passages in his works he gives ample proof that he had fully imbibed the lofty platonism and true christian spirit of his great master. james crossley. _touchstone's dial_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . .).--i am gratified to find that my note on "touchstone's dial" has prompted mr. stephens to send you his valuable communication on these old-fashioned chronometers. the subjoined extract from _travels in america in the year_ , by thomas ashe, esq., is interesting, as it shows that "ring-dials" were used as common articles of barter in america at the commencement of the present century:-- "the storekeepers on the alleghany river from above pittsburg to new orleans are obliged to keep every article which it is possible that the farmer and manufacturer may want. each of their shops exhibits a complete medley: a magazine, where are to be had both a needle and an anchor, a tin pot and a large copper boiler, a child's whistle and a piano-forte, a _ring-dial_ and a clock," &c. j. m. b. _ring dials_.--i was interested with the reference to _pocket sun-dials_ in "notes and queries," pp. . . because it re-furnished an opportunity of placing in print a scrap of information on the subject, which i neglected to embrace when i first read mr. knight's note on the passage in shakspeare. about seventy years ago these small, cheap, brass "ring-dials" for the pocket were manufactured by the gross by a firm in sheffield (messrs. proctor), then in milk street. i well remember the workman--an old man in my boyhood--who had been employed in making them, as he said, "in basketsful;" and also his description of the _modus operandi_, which was curious enough. they were of different sizes and prices, and their extreme rarity at present, considering the number formerly in use, is only less surprising than the commonness of pocket-watches which have superseded them. i never saw but one of these cheapest and most nearly forgotten horologia, and which the old brass-turner, as i recollect, boasted of as "telling the time true to a quarter of an hour!" d. sheffield, jan. . . _cockade_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the query of a. e. has not yet been satisfactorily answered; nor can i pretend to satisfy him. but as a small contribution to the history of the decoration in question, i beg to offer him the following definition from the _dictionnaire étymologique_ of roquefort, vo., paris, :-- "cocarde, touffe de rubans que sous louis xiii. on portoit sur le feutre, et qui imitoit la crête du coq." if this be correct, apodliktes (p. .) must be mistaken in attributing so recent an origin to the cockade as the date of the hanoverian succession. the truth is, that from the earliest period of heraldic institutions, colours have been used to symbolise parties. the mode of wearing them may have varied; and whether wrought in silk, or more economically represented in the stamped leather cockade of our private soldier, is little to the purpose. it will, however, hardly be contended that our present fashion at all resembles "la crête du coq." f. s. q. "the ribband worn in the hat" was styled "a favour" previous to the scotch covenanters' nick-naming it a cockade. allow me to correct apodliktes (p. .): "the black _favour_ being the hanoverian badge, the white _favour_ that of the stuarts." the knots or bunches of ribbons given as favours at marriages, &c., were not invariably worn in the hat as a cockade is, but it was sometimes (see hudibras, pt. i. canto ii. line .) "wore in their hats like wedding garters." there is a note on this line in my edition, which is the same as j. b. colman refers to for the note on the frozen horn (p. .). blowen. _rudbeck's atlantica--grenville copy--tomus i sine anno._ . . (vol. iii., p. .).--has any one of these three copies a separate leaf, entitled "ad bibliopegos?"--not one of them. (neither has the king's (george iii.) copy, nor the sloane copy, both in the museum.) has the copy with the date , "testimonia" at the end?--the testimonia are placed after the dedication, before the text (they are inlaid). they occupy fifteen pages. have they a separate _title_ and a separate sheet of _errata_?--neither the one nor the other. is there a duplicate copy of this separate title at the end of the preface?--no. (the copy with the date has at the end testimonia filling eight pages, with a separate title, and a leaf containing three lines of errata.) tomus ii. .--how many pages of { } testimonia are there at the end of the preface?--thirty-eight pages. (in george iii.'s copy the testimonia occupy forty-three pages.) is there in any one of these volumes the name of any former owner, any book number, or any other mark by which they can be recognised; for instance, that of the duke de la vallière?--no. not in mr. grenville's, nor in george iii.'s, nor in the sloane's; this last has not the third volume. henry foss. _scandal against queen elizabeth_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it is a tradition in a family with which i am connected, that queen elizabeth had a son, who was sent over to ireland, and placed under the care of the earl of ormonde. the earl, it will be remembered, was distantly related to the queen, her great-grandmother being the daughter of thomas, the eighth earl. papers are said to exist in the family which prove the above statement. j. bs. _private memoirs of queen elizabeth._--the curious little volume mentioned by mr. roper (vol. iii., p. .), is most probably the book alluded to by j. e. c., p. . i possess a copy of much later date ( ). it is worthy of note, that the narrative is headed _the earl of essex; or, the amours of queen elizabeth_; while the title-page states, _the secret history of the most renown'd q. elizabeth and earl of essex_. i think it can scarcely be said to be _corroborative_ of the "scandal" contained in mr. ives's ms. note, or that in burton's _parliamentary diary_, cited by p. t., vol. ii. p. . whitaker, in his _vindication of mary q. of scots_, has displayed immense industry and research in his collection of charges against the private life of elizabeth, but makes no mention of these reports. e. b. price. _bibliographical queries_ (no. .), _monarchia solipsorum_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent asks, can there be the smallest doubt that the veritable inventor of this satire upon the jesuits was their former associate, jules-clement scotti? having paid considerable attention to the writings of scotti, inchofer, and scioppius, and to the evidence as to the authorship of this work, i should, notwithstanding niceron's authority, on which your correspondent seems to rely, venture to assert that the claim made for scotti, as well as that for scioppius, may be at once put aside. no two authors ever more carefully protected their literary offspring, numerous as they were, by the catalogues and lists of them which they published or dispersed from time to time, than these two writers. in them every tract is claimed, however short, which they had written. scotti published one in , five years after the publication of the _monarchia solipsorum_; and i have a letter of his, of the same period, containing a list of his writings. scioppius left one, dated , now in ms. in the laurentian library with his other mss., and which carefully mentions every tract he had written against the jesuits. the _monarchia solipsorum_ does not appear in the lists of these two writers; and no good reason can be assigned why it should not, on the supposition of its being written by either of them. if not in those which were published, it certainly would not have been omitted in those communicated to their friends, not jesuits, or which were found amongst their own mss. then, nothing can be more distinct than the style of scotti, of scioppius, and that of the author, whoever he was, of the _monarchia_. the much-vexed spirit of the bitterest of critics would have been still more indignant if one or two of the passages in this work could ever, in his contemplation, have been imputed to his pen. it is in this case, as in most other similar ones, much easier to conclude who is not, than who is the author of the book in question. the internal evidence is very strong in favour of inchofer. it was published with his name in , seven years only after the date of the first edition; and the witnesses are many among his contemporaries, who speak positively to his being the author. further, there is no great dissimilarity in point of style, and i have collected several parallel expressions occurring in the _monarchia_ and inchofer's other works, which very much strengthen the claim made on his behalf, but which it is scarcely necessary to insert here. in my opinion, he is the real author. the question might, i have no doubt, be finally set at rest by an examination of his correspondence with leo allatius, which is, or was, at all events, in the vatican. james crossley. manchester, feb. , . _touching for the evil_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it was one of the proofs against the duke of monmouth, that he had touched for the evil when in the west; and i have seen a handbill describing the cures he effected. it was sold at sir john st. aubyn's sale of prints at christie's some few years since. h. w. d. "_talk not of love_" (vol. iii., pp. . .).--in answering the query of a. m. respecting this pleasing little song, your correspondents have neglected to mention that the earliest copy of it, _i.e._ that in johnson's _scots musical museum_, has _two_ additional stanzas. this is important, because, from no. . of burns's _letters to clarinda_, it appears that the concluding lines were supplied by burns himself to suit the music. he remarks that-- "the latter half of the first stanza would have been worthy of sappho. i am in raptures with it." { } mrs. mac lehose (_clarinda_) was living in , in the eightieth year of her age. edward f. rimbault. _did st. paul's clock strike thirteen?_ (vol. iii., p. .).--yes: but it was not then at st. paul's; for i think st. paul's was then being rebuilt. the correspondent to the _antiquarian repertory_ says: "the first time i heard it (the circumstance) was at windsor, before st. paul's had a clock, when the soldier's plea was said to be that tom of westminster struck thirteen instead of twelve at the time when he ought to have been relieved. it is not long since a newspaper mentioned the death of one who said he was the man." about the beginning of the eighteenth century this bell was removed to st. paul's, &c.--can any of the readers of the "notes and queries" supply the newspaper notice above referred to. the above was written in . the clock tower in which the bell was originally (and must have been when the sentinel heard it) was removed in . john francis. [the story is given in walcott's _memorials of westminster_ as being thus recorded in _the public advertiser_ of friday, nd june, :--"mr. john hatfield, who died last monday at his house in glasshouse yard, aldersgate, aged years, was a soldier in the reign of william and mary, and the person who was tried and condemned by a court martial for falling asleep on his duty upon the terrace at windsor. he absolutely denied the charge against him, and solemnly declared that he heard st. paul's clock strike thirteen, the truth of which was much doubted by the court because of the great distance. but whilst he was under sentence of death, an affidavit was made by several persons that the clock actually did strike thirteen instead of twelve; whereupon he received his majesty's pardon. the above his friends caused to be engraved upon his plate, to satisfy the world of the truth of a story which has been much doubted, though he had often confirmed it to many gentlemen, and a few days before his death told it to several of his neighbours. he enjoyed his sight and memory to the day of his death."] _defence of the execution of mary queen of scots_ (vol. iii., p. .).--among the benefits conferred by "notes and queries" upon the literary world, is the information occasionally afforded, in what libraries, public and private, very rare books are deposited. mr. collier expresses his thanks to mr. laing for sending to him a very rare volume by kyffin. had i seen his "extracts from the registers of the stationers' company," i should have had much pleasure in furnishing him with extracts, from another copy in the chetham library, of the tract he has described. the rev. t. corser possesses the same author's _blessedness of britain_. his other works are enumerated by watt, and should be transferred to a bibliotheca cambrensis. t. j. _metrical psalms, &c._ (vol. iii., p. .).--arun may find all the information he seeks by consulting a treatise of _heylin's_ on the subject of the metrical version of the psalms, published by dr. rich. watson, under the title of _the deduction_, vo. lond. . together with this treatise, two letters from bishop _cosin_ to watson are published; in the latter of which, towards the end, the following paragraph occurs:-- "the singing psalms are not adjoined to our bibles, or to our liturgy, by any other authority than what the company of stationers for their own gain have procured, either by their own private ordinances among themselves, or by some order from the privy council in queen elizabeth's time. authority of convocation, or of parliament, such as our liturgy had, never had they any: only the queen, by her letters patent to the stationers, gave leave to have them printed, and allowed them (did not command them) to be sung in churches or private houses by the people. when the liturgy was set forth, and commanded to be used, these psalms were not half of them composed: no bishop ever inquired of their observance, nor did ever any judge at an assize deliver them in his charge: which both the one and other had been bound to do, if they had been set forth by the same authority which the liturgy was. besides you may observe, that they are never printed with the liturgy or bible, nor ever were; but only bound up, as the stationers please, together with it," &c. j. sansom. _aristophanes on the modern stage_ (vol. iii., p. .)--molière has availed himself in the comedy of the _bourgeois gentilhomme_ very liberally of the comedy of the _clouds_. the lesson in grammar given to monsr. jourdain is nearly the same as that which socrates gives to strepsiades. w. b. d. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the last number of the _gentleman's magazine_ contains a very important paper upon the limited accessibility of the state paper office to literary inquirers, and the consequent injury to historical literature. but not only is the present system illiberal; it seems that it has been determined by the lords of the treasury that the historical papers anterior to shall be transferred from the state paper office to the new record office, which is now rising rapidly on the rolls estate. under present circumstances, this is a transfer from bad to worse. our contemporary shows the absurdity and injustice to literature of such a determination in a very striking manner. we cannot follow him through his proofs, but are bound as the organ of literary men to direct attention to the subject. it is most important to every one who is interested--and who is not?--in the welfare of historical literature. { } the _unpublished manuscripts on church government_ by archbishop laud, stated to have been prepared for the education of prince henry, and subsequently presented to charles i., which we mentioned in our sixty-ninth number, was sold by messrs. puttick and simpson, on the th ultimo, for twenty guineas. and here we may note that in the collection of autographs sold by the same auctioneers on friday last, among other valuable articles was a letter of burke, dated rd oct. , from which we quote the following passage, which will be read with interest at the present time, and furnishes some information respecting cardinal erskine--the subject of a recent query:--"i confess, i would, if the matter rested with me, enter into much more distinct and avowed political connections with the court of rome than hitherto we have held. if we decline them, the bigotry will be on our part and not on that of his holiness. some mischief has happened, and much good has, i am convinced, been prevented by our unnatural alienation. ... with regard to monsignor erskine, i am certain that all his designs are formed upon the most honourable and the most benevolent public principles." one of the most interesting lots at the sale was a proclamation of the "old pretender," dated rome, dec. , given "under our sign manual and privy seal," the seal having the inscription "jacobus iii. rex," which fetched eleven pounds. we believe there are few libraries in this country, however small, in which there is not to be found one shelf devoted to such pet books on natural history as white's _selborne_, the _journal of a naturalist_, and waterton's _wanderings_. the writings of mr. knox are obviously destined to take their place in the same honoured spot. actuated with the same love of nature, and gifted with the same power of patient observation as white, he differs from him in the wider range over which he extends his observation, and in combining the ardour of the sportsman with the scientific spirit of inquiry which distinguishes the naturalist. in his _game birds and wild fowl: their friends and their foes_, which contains the result of his observations and experience, not only on the birds described in his title-page, but on certain other animals supposed, oftentimes most erroneously, to be injurious to their welfare and increase--we have a work which reflects the highest credit upon the writer, and can scarcely fail to accomplish the great end for which mr knox wrote it, that of "adding new votaries to a loving observation of nature." books received.--_desdemona, the magnifico's child_; the fourth of mrs. cowden clarke's stories of _the girlhood of shakspeare's heroines_, is devoted to the history of "a maid that paragons description and wild fame." _gilbert's popular narrative of the origin, history, progress, and prospects of the great industrial exhibition of , by peter berlyn_,--a little volume apparently carefully compiled from authentic sources of information upon the several points set forth in its ample title-page. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. wilson's ornaments of churches considered. theobald's shakspeare restored. celebrated trials, vols. vo., . vol . ossian, vols. mo. miller, . vol. . howitt's rural life of england. mo. . vol. . sharon turner's anglo-saxons. last edition. chambers's scottish biography, vols. vo. the lady's poetical magazine, or beauties of british poetry, vol. . london, . burnet's history of the reformation. folio. vol. . passeri, istoria delle pitture in majolica. pesaro, ; or any other edition. naval chronicle, any or all of the odd books of the first vols. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _although we have this week enlarged our paper to pages, we are compelled to solicit the indulgence of many correspondents for the postponement of many interesting_ notes, queries, _and_ replies. c. h. p. _will find his query inserted. it was in type last week, but only postponed from want of room. we have omitted his comment called for by the omission of the words "fleet against the."_ w. s. _the fine lines commencing,--_ "my mind to me a kingdom is, such perfect joy therein i find:" _were written by lovelace._ f. b. relton. _the satyr_ on the jesuits _was written by john oldham, and originally published in ._ salopian. _the tragedy of_ the earl of warwick _or_ the king and subject, _was translated from the french of de la harpe by paul heffernan._ cam. _it appears from brayley's_ londiniana, iv. . _on the authority of strype's_ stow. b. i. p. ., _that sir baptist hicks, afterwards viscount campden, was the son of robert hicks, a silk mercer, who kept a shop in cheapside, at soper's lane end, at the white bear. see also cunningham's_ handbook of london, _art._ hicks' hall. o. p. _the lines--_ "had cain been scot, god would have chang'd his doom, not forc't him wander, but confin'd him home." _are from cleveland's_ rebell scott, _and would be found at p. of cleveland's poems, ed. ._ h., _who asks whether any friend living in london would consult books for him at the british museum, and let him know the result, had better specify more particularly what is the information he requires._ rusticus _will find the information he seeks in a biographical dictionary under the name_ sarpi. l. j. _blackstone_ (book iv. cap. .; vol. iv. p. . ed ) _supposes that pressing a mute prisoner to death was gradually introduced between edw. iii and hen. iv. as a species of mercy to the delinquent, by delivering him sooner from his torment._ replies received. _"love's labour's lost"--election of a pope--umbrellas--signs on chemists' bottles--christmas day--four events--a coggeshall job--denarius philosophorum--days of the week--hugh peters--sun, stand thou still--master john shorne--boiling to death--wages in the last century--crossing rivers on skins--election of a pope--origin of harlequins--thomas may--prince of wales' motto--ten commandments--tract on the eucharist._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. { } * * * * * new books. just published by smith, elder, and co. i. the stones of venice. volume the first, the foundations. by john ruskin, esq., author of "seven lamps of architecture," "modern painters," &c. imp. vo. with plates and numerous woodcuts, l. s. in embossed cloth. ii. military memoirs of lieut.-col. james skinner, c.b., commanding a corps of irregular cavalry in the hon. east india company's service. by j. baillie fraser, esq., vols. post vo. with portraits, s. cloth. iii. the british officer; his position, duties, emoluments, and privileges. by j. h. stocqueler. vo. s. cloth extra. iv. rose douglas; or, the autobiography of a minister's daughter. vols. post vo. s. cloth. v. a trip to mexico; or, recollections of a ten months' ramble in - . by a barrister. post vo. s. cloth. london: smith, elder, and co., . cornhill. edinburgh: oliver and boyd. dublin: j. m^cglashan. * * * * * in anticipation of easter. the subscriber has prepared an ample supply of his well known and approved surplices, from s. to s., and various devices in damask communion linen, well adapted for presentation to churches. illustrated priced catalogues sent free to the clergy, architects, and churchwardens by post, on application to gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire. * * * * * second edition, now ready, price s. d. the nuptials of barcelona.--a tale of priestly frailty and spanish tyranny. by r. n. dunbar. "this work is powerfully written. beauty, pathos, and great powers of description are exhibited in every page. in short, it is well calculated to give the author a place among the most eminent writers of the day."--_sunday times._ saunders & otley, publishers, conduit street. * * * * * just published, foolscap vo. price s. d. the calendar of the anglican church illustrated. with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names, or whose images are most frequently met with in england; the early christian and medieval symbols; and an index of emblems. with numerous woodcuts. "it is perhaps hardly necessary to observe that this work is of an archæological, not of a theological character; the editor has not considered it his business to examine into the truth or falsehood of the legends of which he narrates the substance; he gives them merely as legends, and in general so much of them only as is necessary to explain why particular emblems were used with a particular saint, or why churches in a given locality are named after this or that saint."--_preface._ john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * the family almanack and educational register for the year of our lord . containing, in addition to the usual contents of an almanack, a list of the foundation and grammar schools in england and wales; together with an account of the scholarships and exhibitions attached to them. post vo. s. london: john henry parker, . strand. * * * * * just published, imperial to., price s. d. outline sketches of old buildings in bruges. by e. s. cole. plates. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * in a few days, royal vo., cloth, price s. the seven periods of english church architecture. defined and illustrated by edmund sharpe, m.a., architect, m.i.b.a. an elementary work showing at a single glance the different changes through which our national architecture passed, from the heptarchy to the reformation. twelve steel engravings and woodcuts. each period, except the first, is illustrated by portions of the interior and the exterior of one of our cathedral churches of corresponding date, beautifully engraved on steel, so presented as to enable the student to draw for himself a close comparison of the characteristic features which distinguish the architecture of each of the seven periods, and which are of so striking and simple a nature as to prevent the possibility of mistake. the first, or saxon period, contains so few buildings of interest or importance, as to render its comparative illustration unnecessary, if not impossible. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just ready, vo., cloth, price s. a table of anti-logarithms. containing to seven places of decimals, natural numbers, answering to all logarithms from to ; and an improved table of gauss's logarithms, by which may be found the logarithm to the sum or difference of two quantities where logarithms are given: preceded by an introduction, containing also the history of logarithms, their construction, and the various improvements made therein since their invention. by herschell e. filipowski. second edition, revised and corrected. the publisher, having purchased the copyright and stereotype plates of these tables, (published a few months ago at l. s.,) is enabled to offer a corrected edition at the above reduced price. _testimonial of augustus de morgan, esq._ "i have examined the proofs of mr. filipowski's table of anti-logarithms and of gauss's logarithms, and also the plan of his proposed table of annuities for three lives, constructed from the carlisle table. "the table of anti-logarithms is, i think, all that could be wished, in extent, in structure, and in typography. for its extent it is unique among modern tables. of accuracy i cannot speak, of course; but this being supposed, i have no hesitation in recommending it without qualification. "the form in which gauss's tables are arranged will be a matter of opinion. i can only say that mr. filipowski's table is used with ease, as i have found upon trial; and that its extent, as compared with other tables, and particularly with other five-figure tables, of the same kind, will recommend it. i desire to confine myself to testifying to the facility with which this table can be used: comparison with other forms, as to relative facility, being out of the question on so short a trial. "on the table of annuities for three lives, there is hardly occasion to say anything. all who are conversant with life contingencies are well aware how much it is wanted. a. de morgan." george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * choice engravings, drawings, and paintings. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . picadilly, on thursday next, march , and following day, a collection of choice engravings, mostly of the english school, the property of a gentleman, comprising choice proofs of woollett; a series of the works of joshua reynolds, all brilliant proofs; müller's madonna di san sisto, a very early proof; charles ii. by farthorne, extra rare, a splendid proof; and many other choice proofs of the works of english and foreign artists. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * this day is published, part i., to., price s. illustrations of medieval costumes in england, collected from mss. in the british museum, bibliothèque de paris, &c. by t. a. day and j. b. dines. to be completed in six monthly parts. london: t. bosworth, . regent street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, august . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page high church and low church concluding notes on several misunderstood words, by the rev. w. r. arrowsmith sneezing an omen and a deity, by t. j. buckton abuses of hackney coaches shakspeare correspondence, by c. mansfield ingleby, thomas falconer, &c. minor notes:--falsified gravestone in stratford churchyard--barnacles in the river thames--note for london topographers--the aliases and initials of authors--pure--darling's "cyclopædia bibliographica" queries:-- delft manufacture, by o. morgan minor queries:--the withered hand and motto "utinam"--history of york--"hauling over the coals"--dr. butler and st. edmund's bury--washington--norman of winster--sir arthur aston--"jamieson the piper"--"keiser glomer"--tieck's "comoedia divina"--fossil trees between cairo and suez: stream like that in bay of argastoli--presbyterian titles--mayors and sheriffs--the beauty of buttermere--sheer hulk--the lapwing or peewitt (vanellus cristatus)--"could we with ink," &c.--launching query--manliness minor queries with answers:--pues or pews--"jerningham" and "doveton" replies:-- battle of villers en couché, by t. c. smith, &c. snail-eating, by john timbs, &c. inscription near cirencester, by p. h. fisher, &c. curious custom of ringing bells for the dead, by the rev. h. t. ellacombe and r. w. elliot who first thought of table-turning? by john macray scotchmen in poland anticipatory use of the cross, by eden warwick photographic correspondence:--glass chambers for photography--dr. diamond's replies--trial of lenses--is it dangerous to use the ammonio-nitrate of silver? replies to minor queries:--burke's marriage--the house of falahill--descendants of judas iscariot--milton's widow--whitaker's ingenious earl--are white cats deaf?--consecrated roses--the reformed faith--house-marks--trash--adamsoniana--portrait of cromwell--burke's "mighty boar of the forest"--"amentium haud amantium"--talleyrand's maxim--english bishops deprived by queen elizabeth--gloves at fairs--st. dominic--names of plants--specimens of foreign english, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. high church and low church. _a universal history of party; with the origin of party names_[ ] would form an acceptable addition to literary history: "n. & q." has contributed towards such a work some disquisitions on our party names _whig_ and _tory_, and _the good old cause_. such names as _puritan_, _malignant_, _evangelical_[ ], can be traced up to their first commencement, but some obscurity hangs on the mintage-date of the names we are about to consider. as a matter of fact, the distinction of _high church_ and _low church_ always existed in the reformed english church, and the history of these parties would be her history. but the _names_ were not coined till the close of the seventeenth century, and were not stamped in full relief as party-names till the first year of queen anne's reign. in october, , anne's first parliament and convocation assembled: "from the deputies in convocation at this period, the appellations _high church_ and _low church_ originated, and they were afterwards used to distinguish the clergy. it is singular that the bishops[ ] were ranked among { } the low churchmen (see burnet, v. .; calamy, i. .; tindal's _cont._, iv. .)"--lathbury's _hist. of the convocation_, lond. , p. . mr. lathbury is a very respectable authority in matters of this kind, but if he use "originated" in its strict sense, i am inclined to think he is mistaken; as i am tolerably certain that i have met with the words several years before . at the moment, however, i cannot lay my hands on a passage to support this assertion. the disputes in convocation gave rise to a number of pamphlets, such as _a caveat against high church_, lond. , and _the low churchmen vindicated from the unjust imputation of being no churchmen, in answer to a pamphlet called "the distinction of high and low church considered:_" lond. , vo. dr. sacheverell's trial gave additional zest to the _dudgeon ecclesiastick_, and produced a shower of pamphlets. i give the title of one of them: _pulpit war, or dr. s----l, the high church trumpet, and mr. h----ly, the low church drum, engaged by way of dialogue_, lond. , vo. to understand the cause of the exceeding bitterness and virulence which animated the parties denominated _high church_ and _low church_, we must remember that until the time of william of orange, the church of england, _as a body_--her sovereigns and bishops, her clergy and laity--comes under the _former_ designation; while those who sympathised with the dissenters were comparatively few and weak. as soon as william was head of the church, he opened the floodgates of puritanism, and admitted into the church what previously had been more or less external to it. this element, thus made part and parcel of the anglican church, was denominated _low church_. william supplanted the bishops and clergy who refused to take oaths of allegiance to him as king _de jure_; and by putting puritans in their place, made the latter the dominant party. add to this the feelings of exasperation produced by the murder of charles i., and the expulsion of the stuarts, and we have sufficient grounds, political and religious, for an irreconcilable feud. add, again, the reaction resulting from the overthrow of the tyrannous hot-bed and forcing-system, where a sham conformity was maintained by coercion; and the _church-papist_, as well as the _church-puritans_, with ill-concealed hankering after the mass and the preaching-house, by penal statutes were forced to do what their souls abhorred, and play the painful farce of attending the services of "the establishment." a writer in a _high church_ periodical of (prefacing his article with the passage from proverbs vi. .) proceeds: "the old way of attacking the church of england was by mobs and bullies, and hard sounds; by calling _whore_, and _babylon_, upon our worship and liturgy, and kicking out our clergy as _dumb dogs_: but now they have other irons in the fire; a new engine is set up under the cloak and disguise of _temper, unity, comprehension, and the protestant religion_. their business now is not to storm the church, but to _lull it to sleep_: to make us relax our care, quit our defences, and neglect our safety.... these are the politics of their popish fathers: when _they_ had tried all other artifices, they at last resolved to sow schism and division in the church: and from thence sprang up this very generation, who by a fine stratagem endeavoured to set us one against the other, and they gather up the stakes. _hence the distinction of high and low church._"--_the scourge_, p. . in another periodical of the same date, in the dedication "to the most famous university of oxford," the writer says: "these enemies of our religious and civil establishment have represented you as instillers of _slavish doctrines and principles_ ... if to give to god and cæsar his due be such tow'ring, and _high church_ principles, i am sure st. peter and st. paul will scarce escape being censured for _tories_ and _highflyers_."--_the entertainer_, lond. . "if those who have kept their first love, and whose robes have not been defiled, endeavour to stop these innovations and corruptions that their enemies would introduce, they are blackened for _high church papists_, favourers of i know not who, and fall under the public resentment."--_ib._ p. . i shall now give a few extracts from _low church_ writers (quoted in _the scourge_), who thus designate their opponents: "a pack or party of scandalous, wicked, and profane men, who appropriate to themselves the name of _high church_ (but may more properly be said to be jesuits or papists in masquerade), do take liberty to teach, preach, and print, publickly and privately, sedition, contentions, and divisions among the protestants of this kingdom."--_motives to union_, p. . "these men glory in their being members of the _high church_ (popish appellation, and therefore they are the more fond of that); but these pretended sons are become her persecutors, and they exercise their spite and lies both on the living and the dead."--_the snake in the grass brought to light_, p. . { } "our common people of the _high church_ are as ignorant in matters of religion as the bigotted papists, which gives great advantage to our jacobite and tory priests to lead them where they please, or to mould them into what shapes they please."--_reasons for an union_, p. . "the minds of the populace are too much debauched already from their loyalty by seditious arts of the _high church faction_."--_convocation craft_, p. . "we may see how closely our present _highflyers_ pursue the steps of their popish predecessors, in reckoning those who dispute the usurped power of the church to be hereticks, schismaticks, or what else they please."--_ib._ p. . "all the blood that has been spilt in the late unnatural rebellion, may be very justly laid at the doors of the _high church clergy_."--_christianity no creature of the state_, p. . "we see what the _tory priesthood_ were made of in queen elizabeth's time, that they were ignorant, lewd, and seditious: and it must be said of 'em that they are true to the stuff still."--_toryism the worst of the two_, p. . "_the tories_ and _high church_, notwithstanding their pretences to loyalty, will be found by their actions to be the greatest rebels in nature."--_reasons for an union_, p. . sir w. scott, in his _life of dryden_, lond. , observes that-- "towards the end of charles the second's reign, the _high-church-men_ and the catholics regarded themselves as on the same side in political questions, and not greatly divided in their temporal interests. both were sufferers in the plot, both were enemies of the sectaries, both were adherents of the stuarts. alternate conversion had been common between them, so early as since milton made a reproach to the english universities of the converts to the roman faith daily made within their colleges: of those sheep-- 'whom the _grim wolf_ with privy paw daily devours apace, and nothing said.'" _life_, rd edit. , p. . i quote this passage partly because it gives sir walter's interpretation of that obscure passage in _lycidas_, respecting which i made a query (vol. ii., p. .), but chiefly as a preface to the remark that in james ii.'s reign, and at the time these party names originated, the roman catholics were in league with the puritans or _low church_ party against the high churchmen, which increased the acrimony of both parties. in those days religion was politics, and politics religion, with most of the belligerents. swift, however, as if he wished to be thought an exception to the general rule, chose one party for its politics and the other for its religion. "swift carried into the ranks of the whigs the opinions and scruples of a _high church_ clergyman... such a distinction between opinions in church and state has not frequently existed: the _high churchmen_ being usually _tories_, and the _low church_ divines universally _whigs_."--scott's _life_, nd edit.: edin. , p. . see swift's _discourse of the contests and dissensions between the nobles and commons of athens and rome:_ lond. . in his quaint _argument against abolishing christianity_, lond. , the following passage occurs: "there is one advantage, greater than any of the foregoing, proposed by the abolishing of christianity: that it will utterly extinguish parties among us by removing those factious distinctions of _high_ and _low church_, of _whig_ and _tory_, presbyterian and church of england." scott says of the _tale of a tub:_ "the main purpose is to trace the gradual corruptions of the church of rome, and to exalt the english reformed church at the expense both of the roman catholic and presbyterian establishments. it was written with a view to the interests of the _high church_ party."--_life_, p. . most men will concur with jeffrey, who observes: "it is plain, indeed, that swift's _high church_ principles were all along but a part of his selfishness and ambition; and meant nothing else, than a desire to raise the consequence of the order to which he happened to belong. if he had been a layman, we have no doubt he would have treated the pretensions of the priesthood as he treated the persons of all priests who were opposed to him, with the most bitter and irreverent disdain."--_ed. rev._, sept. . the following lines are from a squib of eight stanzas which occurs in the works of jonathan smedley, and are said to have been fixed on the door of st. patrick's cathedral on the day of swift's instalment (see scott, p. .): "for _high churchmen_ and policy, he swears he prays most hearty; but would pray back again to be a dean of any party." this reminds us of the vicar of bray, of famous memory, who, if i recollect aright, commenced his career thus: "in good king charles's golden days, when loyalty no harm meant, a zealous _high churchman_ i was, and so i got preferment." how widely different are the men we see classed under the title _high churchmen!_ evelyn and walton[ ], the gentle, the christian; the arrogant swift, and the restless atterbury. it is difficult to prevent my note running beyond the limits of "n. & q.," with the ample { } materials i have to select from; but i cannot wind up without a _definition_; so here are two: "mr. thelwall says that he told a pious old lady, who asked him the difference between _high church_ and _low church_, 'the high church place the church alcove christ, the low church place christ above the church.' about a hundred years ago, that very same question was asked of the famous south:--'why,' said he, 'the high church are those who think highly of the church, and lowly of themselves; the low church are those who think highly of themselves, and lowly of the church."--rev. h. newland's _lecture on tractarianism_, lond. , p. . the most celebrated high churchmen who lived in the last century, are dr. south, dr. samuel johnson, rev. wm. jones of nayland, bp. horne, bp. wilson, and bp. horsley. see a long passage on "high churchmen" in a charge of the latter to the clergy of st. david's in the year , pp. . . see also a charge of bp. atterbury (then archdeacon of totnes) to his clergy in . jarltzberg. [footnote : there is a book called _history of party, from the rise of the whig and tory factions chas. ii. to the passing of the reform bill_, by g. w. cooke: lond. - , vols. vo.; but, as the title shows, it is limited in scope.] [footnote : see haweis's _sermons on evangelical principles and practice_: lond. , vo.; _the _true_ churchmen ascertained; or, an apology for those of the _regular_ clergy of the establishment, who are sometimes called _evangelical_ ministers: occasioned by the publications of drs. paley, hey, croft; messrs. daubeny, ludlam, polwhele, fellowes; the reviewers, &c._: by john overton, a. b., york, , vo., nd edit. see also the various memoirs of whitfield, wesley, &c.; and sir j. stephens _essays_ on "the clapham sect" _and_ "the evangelical succession."] [footnote : it is not so very "singular," when we remember that the bishops were what lord campbell and mr. macauley call "_judiciously_ chosen" by william. on this point a cotemporary remarks, "some steps have been made, and large ones too, towards _a scotch_ reformation, by suspending and ejecting the chief and most zealous of our bishops, and others of the higher clergy; and by advancing, upon all vacancies of sees and dignities, ecclesiastical _men of notoriously presbyterian, or, which is worse, of erastian principles_. these are the ministerial ways of undermining episcopacy; and when to the _seven notorious_ ones shall be added more, upon the approaching deprivation, they will make a majority; and then we may expect the new model of a church to be perfected." (somers' _tracts_, vol. x. p. .) until atterbury, there were few high church bishops in queen anne's reign in . burnet singles out the bishop of chester: "for he seemed resolved to distinguish himself as a zealot for that which is called _high church_."--_hist. own time_, vol. iv. p. .] [footnote : of izaak walton his biographer, sir john hawkins, writing in , says, "he was a friend to a hierarchy, or, as we should now call such a one, a _high churchman_."] * * * * * concluding notes on several misunderstood words. (_continued from_ vol. vii., p. .) not being minded to broach any fresh matter in "n. & q.," i shall now only crave room to clear off an old score, lest i should leave myself open to the imputation of having cast that in the teeth of a numerous body of men which might, for aught they would know to the contrary, be as truly laid in my own dish. in no. ., p. ., i affirmed that the handling of a passage in _cymbeline_, there quoted, had betrayed an amount of obtuseness in the commentators which would be discreditable in a third-form schoolboy. to substantiate that assertion, and rescue the disputed word "britaine" henceforth for ever from the rash tampering of the meddlesome sciolist, i beg to advertise the ingenuous reader that the clause,-- "for being now a favourer to the britaine," is in apposition with _death_, not with posthumus leonatus. in a note appended to this censure, referring to another passage from l. l. l., i averred that mr. collier had corrupted it by chancing the singular verb _dies_ into the plural _die_ (this too done, under plea of editorial licence, without warning to the reader), and that such corruption had abstracted the true key to the right construction. to make good this last position, two things i must do first, cite the whole passage, without change of letter or tittle, as it stands in the folios ' and ' ; next, show the trivial and vulgar use of "contents" as a singular noun. in folio ' , thus: "_qu._ nay my good lord, let me ore-rule you now; that sport best pleases that doth least know how. where zeale striues to content, and the contents dies in the zeale of that which it presents: their forme confounded, makes most forme in mirth when great things labouring perish in their birth." act iv. p. . with this the folio ' exactly corresponds, save that the speaker is _prin._, not _qu_.; _ore-rules_ is written as two words without the hyphen, and _strives_ for _striues_. i have been thus precise, because criticism is to me not "a game," nor admissive of cogging and falsification. i must now show the hackneyed use of _contents_ as a singular noun. an anonymous correspondent of "n. & q." has already pointed out one in _measure for measure_, act iv. sc. .: "_duke_. the _contents_ of this is the returne of the duke." another: "this is the _contents_ thereof."--calvin's nd _sermon upon job_, p. ., golding's translation. another: "after this were articles of peace propounded, y^e _contents_ wherof was, that he should departe out of asia."--the st _booke of justine_, fol. ., golding's translation of justin's _trogus pompeius_. another: "plinie writeth hereof an excellent letter, the _contents_ whereof is, that this ladie, mistrusting her husband, was condemned to die," &c.--_historicall meditations_, lib. iii. chap. xi. p. . written in latin by p. camerarius, and done into english by john molle, esq.: london, . another: "the _contents_ whereof is this."--_id._, lib. v. chap. vi. p. . another: "therefore george, being led with an heroicall disdaine, and nevertheless giuing the bridle beyond moderation to his anger, vnderstanding that albert was come to newstad, resolued with himselfe (without acquainting any bodie) to write a letter vnto him, the _contents_ whereof was," &c.--_id._, lib. v. chap. xii. p. . if the reader wants more examples, let him give himself the trouble to open the first book that comes to hand, and i dare say the perusal of a dozen pages will supply some; yet have we two editors of shakspeare, johnson and collier, so unacquainted with the usage of their own tongue, and the universal logic of thought, as not to know that a word like _contents_, according as it is understood collectively or distributively, may be, and, as we have just seen, in fact is, treated as a singular or plural; that, i say, _contents_ taken severally, every _content_, or in gross, the whole mass, is respectively plural or singular. it was therefore optional with shakspeare to employ the word either as a singular or plural, but not in the same sentence to do both: here, however, he was tied { } to the singular, for, wanting a rhyme to _contents_, the nominative to _presents_ must be singular, and that nominative was the pronoun of _contents_. since, therefore, the plural _die_ and the singular _it_ could not both be referable to the same noun _contents_, by silently substituting _die_ for _dies_, mr. collier has blinded his reader and wronged his author. the purport of the passage amounts to this: the _contents_, or structure (to wit, of the show to be exhibited), breaks down in the performer's zeal to the subject which it presents. johnson very properly adduces a much happier expression of the same thought from _a midsummer night's dreame_: "_hip._ i love not to see wretchedness o'ercharged; and duty in his service perishing." the reader cannot fail to have observed the faultless punctuation of the folios in the forecited passage, and i think concur with me, that like many, ay, most others, all it craves at the hands of editors and commentators is, to be left alone. the last two lines ask for no explanation even to the blankest mind. words like _contents_ are by no means rare in english. we have _tidings_ and _news_, both singular and plural. mr. collier himself rebukes malone for his ignorance of such usage of the latter word. if it be said that these two examples have no singular form, whereas _contents_ has, there is _means_, at any rate precisely analogous. on the other hand, so capricious is language, in defiance of the logic of thought, we have, if i may so term it, a merely auricular plural, in the word _corpse_ referred to a single carcase. i should here close my account with "n. & q." were it not that i have an act of justice to perform. when i first lighted upon the two examples of _chaumbre_ in udall, i thought, as we say in this country, it was a good "fundlas," and regarded it as my own property. it now appears to be but a waif or stray; therefore, _suum cuique_, i cheerfully resign the credit of it to mr. singer, the rightful proprietary. proffering them for the inspection of learned and unlearned, i of course foresaw that speedy sentence would be pronounced by that division, whose judgment, lying ebb and close to the surface, must needs first reach the light. i know no more appropriate mode of requiting the handsome manner in which mr. singer has been pleased to speak of my trifling contributions to "n. & q.," than by asking him, with all the modesty of which i am master, to reconsider the passage in _romeo and juliet_; for though his substitution (_rumourers_ vice _runawayes_) may, i think, clearly take the wall of any of its rivals, yet, believing that juliet invokes a darkness to shroud her lover, under cover of which even the fugitive from justice might snatch a wink of sleep, i must for my own part, as usual, still adhere to the authentic text. w. r. arrowsmith. p. s.--in answer to a bloomsbury querist (vol. viii., p. .), i crave leave to say that i never have met with the verb _perceyuer_ except in hawes, _loc. cit._; and i gave the latest use that i could call to mind of the noun in my paper on that word. unhappily i never make notes, but rely entirely on a somewhat retentive memory; therefore the instances that occur on the spur of the moment are not always the most apposite that might be selected for the purpose of illustration. if, however, he will take the trouble to refer to a little book, consisting of no more than pages, published in , and entitled _a panoplie of epistles, or a looking-glasse for the unlearned_, by abraham flemming, he will find no fewer than nine examples, namely, at pp. . . . . . . (twice in the same page) . . it excites surprise that the word never, as far as i am aware, occurs in any of the voluminous works of sir thomas more, nor in any of the theological productions of the reformers. with respect to _speare_, the orthography varies, as _spere_, _sperr_, _sparr_, _unspar_; but in the prologue to _troilus and cressida_, _sperre_ is theobald's correction of _stirre_, in folios ' and ' . let me add, what i had forgotten at the time, that another instance of _budde_ intransitive, to bend, occurs at p. . of _the life of faith in death_, by samuel ward, preacher of ipswich, london, . also another, and a very significant one, of the phrase to _have on the hip_, in fuller's _historie of the holy warre_, cambridge, : "arnulphus was as quiet as a lambe, and durst never challenge his interest in jerusalem from godfrey's donation; as fearing to _wrestle_ with the king, who _had him on the hip_, and could out him at pleasure for his bad manners."--book ii. chap. viii. p. . in my note on the word _trash_, i said (somewhat too peremptorily) that _overtop_ was not even a hunting term (vol. vii., p. .). at the moment i had forgotten the following passage: "therefore i would perswade all lovers of hunting to get two or three couple of tryed hounds, and once or twice a week to follow after them a train-scent; and when he is able to _top_ them on all sorts of earth, and to endure heats and colds stoutly, then he may the better relie on his speed and toughness."--_the hunting-horse_, chap. vii. p. ., oxford, . * * * * * sneezing an omen and a deity. in the _odyssey_, xvii. - ., we have, imitating the hexameters, the following passage: "thus penelope spake. then quickly telemachus _sneez'd_ loud, _sounding around all the building_: his mother, with smiles at her son, said, swiftly addressing her rapid and high-toned words to eumæus, { } 'go then directly, eumæus, and call to my presence the strange guest. see'st thou not that my son, _ev'ry word i have spoken hath sneez'd at_?[ ] thus portentous, betok'ning the fate of my hateful suitors, all whom death and destruction await by a doom irreversive.'" dionysius halicarnassus, on homer's poetry (s. .), says, sneezing was considered by that poet as a good sign ([greek: sumbolon agathon]); and from the anthology (lib. ii.) the words [greek: oude legei, zeu sôson, ean ptarêi], show that it was proper to exclaim "god bless you!" when any one sneezed. aristotle, in the problems (xxxiii. .), inquires why sneezing is reckoned a god ([greek: dia ti ton men ptarmon, theon hêgoumetha einai]); to which he suggests, that it may be because it comes from the head, the most divine part about us ([greek: theiotatou tôn peri hêmas]). persons having the inclination, but not the power to sneeze, should look at the sun, for reasons he assigns in problems (xxxiii. .). plutarch, on the dæmon of socrates (s. .), states the opinion which some persons had formed, that socrates' dæmon was nothing else than the sneezing either of himself or others. thus, if any one sneezed at his right hand, either before or behind him, he pursued any step he had begun; but sneezing at his left hand caused him to desist from his formed purpose. he adds something as to different kinds of sneezing. to sneeze twice was usual in aristotle's time; but once, or more than twice, was uncommon (prob. xxxiii. .). petronius (_satyr_. c. .) notices the "blessing" in the following passage: "giton collectione spiritus plenus, _ter_ continuo ita sternutavit, ut grabatum concuteret. ad quem motum eumolpus conversus, _salvere_ gitona _jubet_." t. j. buckton. birmingham. [footnote : the practice of snuff-taking has made the _sneezing_ at anything a mark of contempt, in these degenerate days.] * * * * * abuses of hackney coaches. [the following proclamation on this subject is of interest at the present moment.] by the king. a proclamation to restrain the abuses of hackney coaches in the cities of london and westminster, and the suburbs thereof. charles r. whereas the excessive number of hackney coaches, and coach horses, in and about the cities of london and westminster, and the suburbs thereof, are found to be a common nuisance to the publique damage of our people by reason of their rude and disorderly standing and passing to and fro, in and about our said cities and suburbs, the streets and highways being thereby pestred and made impassable, the pavements broken up, and the common passages obstructed and become dangerous, our peace violated, and sundry other mischiefs and evils occasioned: we, taking into our princely consideration these apparent inconveniences, and resolving that a speedy remedy be applied to meet with, and redress them for the future, do, by and with the advice of our privy council, publish our royal will and pleasure to be, and we do by this our proclamation expressly charge and command, that no person or persons, of what estate, degree, or quality whatsoever, keeping or using any hackney coaches, or coach horses, do, from and after the sixth day of november next, permit or suffer the said coaches and horses, or any of them, to stand or remain in any the streets or passages in or about our said cities either of london or westminster, or the suburbs belonging to either of them, to be there hired; but that they and every of them keep their said coaches and horses within their respective coach-houses, stables, and yards (whither such persons as desire to hire the same may resort for that purpose), upon pain of our high displeasure, and such forfeitures, pains, and penalties as may be inflicted for the contempt of our royal commands in the premises, whereof we shall expect a strict accompt. and for the due execution of our pleasure herein, we do further charge and command the lord mayor and aldermen of our city of london, that they in their several wards, and our justices of peace within our said cities of london and westminster, and the liberties and suburbs thereof, and all other our officers and ministers of justice, to whom it appertaineth, do take especial care in their respective limits that this our command be duly observed, and that they from time to time return the names of all those who shall wilfully offend in the premises, to our privy council, and to the end they may be proceeded against by indictments and presentments for the nuisance, and otherwise according to the severity of the law and demerits of the offenders. given at our court at whitehall the th day of october in the th year of our reign. god save the king. london: printed by john bell and christopher barker, printers to the king's most excellent majesty, . * * * * * pepys, in his _diary_, vol. i. p. ., under date th november, , says: "to mr. fox, who was very civil to me. notwithstanding this was the first day of the king's { } proclamation against hackney coaches coming into the streets to stand to be hired, yet i got one to carry me home." t. d. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _passage in "the tempest," act i. sc. ._-- "the sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, but that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, dashes the fire out." "the manuscript corrector of the folio ," mr. collier informs us, "has substituted _heat_ for 'cheek,' which is not an unlikely corruption, a person writing only by the ear." i should say very unlikely: but if _heat_ had been actually printed in the folios, without speculating as to the probability that the press-copy was written from dictation, i should have had no hesitation in altering it to _cheek_. to this i should have been directed by a parallel passage in _richard ii._, act iii. sc. ., which has been overlooked by mr. collier: "methinks, king richard and myself should meet with no less terror _than the elements_ _of fire and water, when their thundering shock_ _at meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven_." commentary here is almost useless. every one who has any capacity for shakspearian criticism must feel assured that shakspeare wrote _cheek_, and not _heat_. the passage i have cited from _richard ii._ strongly reminds me of an old lady whom i met last autumn on a tour through the lakes of cumberland, &c.; and who, during a severe thunderstorm, expressed to me her surprise at the pertinacity of the lightning, adding, "i should think, sir, that so much water in the heavens would have put all the fire out." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _the case referred to by shakspeare in hamlet_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "if the water come to the man."--_shakspeare._ the argument shakspeare referred to was that contained in plowden's report of the case of hales _v._ petit, heard in the court of common pleas in the fifth year of the reign of queen elizabeth. it was held that though the wife of sir james hale, whose husband was _felo-de-se_, became by survivorship the holder of a joint term for years, yet, on office found, it should be forfeited on account of the act of the deceased husband. the learned serjeants who were counsel for the defendant, alleged that the forfeiture should have relation to the act done in the party's lifetime, which was the cause of his death. "and upon this," they said, "the parts of the act are to be considered." and serjeant walsh said: "the act consists of three parts. the first is the imagination, which is a reflection or meditation of the mind, whether or no it is convenient for him to destroy himself, and what way it can be done. the second is the resolution, which is the determination of the mind to destroy himself, and to do it in this or that particular way. the third is the perfection, which is the execution of what the mind has resolved to do. and this perfection consists of two parts, viz. the beginning and the end. the beginning is the doing of the act which causes the death; and the end is the death, which is only the sequel to the act. and of all the parts, the doing of the act is the greatest in the judgment of our law, and it is, in effect, the whole and the only part the law looks upon to be material. for the imagination of the mind to do wrong, without an act done, is not punishable in our law; neither is the resolution to do that wrong which he does not, punishable; but the doing of the act is the only point the law regards, for until the act is done it cannot be an offence to the world, and when the act is done it is punishable. then, here, the act done by sir james hale, which is evil and the cause of his death, is the throwing of himself into the water, and death is but a sequel thereof, and this evil act ought some way to be punished. and if the forfeiture shall not have relation to the doing of the act, then the act shall not be punished at all, for inasmuch as the person who did the act is dead, his person cannot be punished, and therefore there is no way else to punish him but by the forfeiture of those things which were his own at the time of the act done; and the act was done in his lifetime, and therefore the forfeiture shall have relation to his lifetime, namely, to that time of his life in which he did the act which took away his life." and the judges, viz. weston, anthony brown, and lord dyer, said: "that the forfeiture shall have relation to the time of the original offence committed, which was the cause of the death, and that was, the throwing himself into the water, which was done in his lifetime, and this act was felony."----"so that the felony is attributed to the act, which act is always done by a living man and in his lifetime," as brown said; for he said, "sir james hale was dead, and how came he to his death? it may be answered, by drowning. and who drowned him? sir james hale. and when did he drown him? in his lifetime. so that sir james hale being alive, caused sir james hale to die; and the act of the living man was the death of the dead man. and then for this offence it is reasonable to punish the living man who committed the offence, and not the dead man. but how can he be said to be punished alive when the punishment comes after his death? sir, this can be done no other way but by devesting out of him, from the time of the act done in his life, which was the cause of his death, the title and property of those things which he had in his lifetime." the above extract is long, but the work from which it is taken can be accessible to but very few { } of your readers. let them not, however, while they smile at the arguments, infer that those who took part in them were not deservedly among the most learned and eminent of our ancient judges. thomas falconer. temple. _shakspeare suggestion_.-- "these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours; most busy--less when i do it." _tempest_, act iii. sc. . i fear your readers will turn away from the very sight of the above. be patient, kind friends, i will be brief. has any one suggested-- "most busy, least when i do"? the words in the folio are "most busy _lest_, when i do it." the "it" seems mere surplusage. the sense requires that the thoughts should be "most busy" whilst the hands "do least;" and in shakspeare's time, "lest" was a common spelling for _least_. icon. _shakspeare controversy._--i think the shakspeare notes contained in your volumes are not complete without the following quotation from _the summer night_ of ludwig tieck, as translated by mary maynard in the _athen._ of june , . puck, in addressing the sleeping boy shakspeare, says: "after thy death, i'll raise dissension sharp, loud strife among the herd of little minds: envy shall seek to dim thy wondrous page, but all the clearer will thy glory shine." ceridwen. * * * * * minor notes. _falsified gravestone in stratford churchyard._--the following instance of a recent forgery having been extensively circulated, may lead to more careful examination by those who take notes of things extraordinary. the church at stratford-upon-avon was repaired about the year ; and some of the workmen having their attention directed to the fact, that many persons who had attained to the full age of man were buried in the churchyard; and, wishing "for the honour of the place," to improve the note-books of visitors, set about manufacturing an extraordinary instance of longevity. a gravestone was chosen in an out-of-the-way place, in which there happened to be a space before the age ( ). a figure was cut in this space, and the age at death then stood . the sexton was either deceived, or assented to the deception; as the late vicar, the rev. j. clayton, learned that it had become a practice with him (the sexton) to show strangers this gravestone, so falsified, as a proof of the extraordinary age to which people lived in the parish. the vicar had the fraudulent figure erased at once, and lectured the sexton for his dishonesty. these facts were related to me a few weeks since by a son of the late vicar. and as many strangers visiting the tomb of shakspeare "made a note" of this falsified age, "n. & q." may now correct the forgery. robert rawlinson. _barnacles in the river thames._--in porta's _natural magic_, eng. trans., lond. , occurs the following curious passage: "late writers report that not only in scotland, but also in the river of thames by london, there is a kind of shell-fish in a two-leaved shell, that hath a foot full of plaits and wrinkles: these fish are little, round, and outwardly white, smooth and beetle-shelled like an almond shell; inwardly they are great bellied, bred as it were of moss and mud; they commonly stick in the keel of some old ship. some say they come of worms, some of the boughs of trees which fall into the sea; if any of them be cast upon shore they die, but they which are swallowed still into the sea, live and get out of their shells, and grow to be ducks or such like birds(!)." it would be curious to know what could give rise to such an absurd belief. speriend. _note for london topographers._-- "the account of mr. mathias fletcher, of greenwich, for carving the anchor shield and king's arms for the admiralty office in york buildings, delivered nov. , , and undertaken by his majesty's command signified to me by the hon. samuel pepys, esq., secretary for the affairs of the admiralty: £ s. d. "for a shield for the middle of the front of the said office towards the thames, containing the anchor of lord high admiral of england with the imperial crown over it, and cyphers, being foot deep and foot broad, i having found the timber, &c. "for the king's arms at large, with ornaments thereto, designed for the pediment of the said front, the same being in the whole foot long and foot high, i finding timber, &c. --------- £ " extracted from rawlinson ms. a. , fol. . j. yeowell. _the aliases and initials of authors._--it has often occurred to me that it would save much useless inquiry and research, if a tolerable list could be collected of the principal authors who have published their works under assumed names or initials: thus, "r. b. robert burton," _nathaniel crouch_, "r. f. scoto-britannicus," _robert fairley_, &c. the commencement of a new volume of { } "n. & q." affords an excellent opportunity for attempting this. if the correspondents of "n. & q." would contribute their mites occasionally with this view, by the conclusion of the volume, i have little doubt but a very valuable list might be obtained. for the sake of reference, the whole contributions obtained could then be amalgamated, and alphabetically arranged. perthensis. _pure._--in visiting an old blind woman the other day, i was struck with what to me was a peculiar use of the word _pure_. having inquired after the dame's health, and been assured that she was much better, i begged her not to rise from the bed on which she was sitting, whereupon she said, "thank you, sir, i feel quite _pure_ this morning." oxoniensis. oakridge, gloucestershire. _darling's "cyclopædia bibliographica._"--the utility of mr. darling's _cyclopædia bibliographica_ is exemplified by the solution conveyed under the title "crellius," p. , of the following difficulty expressed by dr. hey, the norrisian professor (_lectures_, vol. iii. p. .): "paul crellius and john maclaurin seem to have been of the same way of thinking with john agricola. nicholls, on this article [eighth of the thirty-nine articles], refers to paul crellius's book _de libertate christiana_, but i do not find it anywhere. a speech of his is in the _bodleian dialogue_, but not this work." similar information might have been received by your correspondent (vol. vii., p. .), who inquired whether huet's _navigations of solomon_ was ever published. in the cyclopædia reference is made to two collections in which this treatise has been inserted, _crit. sac_., viii.; _ugolinus_, vii. . with his usual accuracy, mr. darling states there are additions in the _critici sacri_ printed at amsterdam, - , as huet's treatise above referred to is not in the first edition, london, . bibliothecar. chetham. * * * * * queries. delft manufacture. i am extremely desirous of obtaining some information respecting the dutch manufactories of enamelled pottery, or delft ware, as we call it. on a former occasion, by your connexion with the _navorscher_, you were able to obtain for me some very valuable and interesting information in reply to some question put respecting the dutch porcelain manufactories. i am therefore in hopes that some kind correspondent in holland will be so obliging as to impart to me similar information on this subject also. i should wish to know-- when, by whom, at what places, and under what circumstances, the manufacture of enamelled pottery was first introduced into holland? whether there were manufactories at other towns besides delft? whether they had any distinctive marks; and, if so, what were they? whether there was more than one manufactory at delft; and, if so, what were their marks, and what was the meaning of them? whether any particular manufactories were confined to the making of any particular sort or quality of articles; and, if so, what were they? whether any of the manufactories have ceased; and, if so, at what period? also, any other particulars respecting the manufactories and their products that it may be possible to communicate through the medium of a paper like "n. & q." octavius morgan. * * * * * minor queries. _the withered hand and motto "utinam."_--at compton park, near salisbury, the seat of the penruddocke family, there is a three-quarter length picture, in the velasquez style, of a gentleman in a rich dress of black velvet, with broad lace frill and cuffs, and ear-rings, probably of the latter part of queen elizabeth's reign. his right hand, which he displays somewhat prominently, is _withered_. the left one is a-kimbo, and less seen. in the upper part of the painting is the single latin word "utinam" (o that!). there is no tradition as to who this person was. any suggestion on the subject would gratify j. _history of york._--who is the author of a _history of york_, in vols., published at that city in by t. wilson and r. spence, high ousegate? i have seen it in several shops, and heard it attributed to drake; and obtained it the other day from an extensive library in bristol, in the catalogue of which it is styled drake's _eboracum_. several allusions in the first volume to his work, however, render it impossible to be ascribed to him. it is dedicated to the right honourable sir william mordaunt milner, of nunappleton, bart., who was mayor at the time. r. w. elliot. clifton. _"hauling over the coals."_--what is the origin and meaning of the phrase, "hauling one over the coals;" and where does it first appear? faber. _dr. butler and st. edmund's bury._--can any of your readers give me any information respecting the mr. or dr. butler, of st. edmund's bury, referred to in the extracts from the _post boy_ and gough's _topography_, quoted by mr. ballard in vol. vii., p. .? buriensis. _washington._--anecdotes relative to general washington, president of the united states, { } intended for a forthcoming work on the "homes of american statesmen," will be gratefully received for the author by joseph stansbury. . parliament street. _norman of winster._--can any of your correspondents afford information bearing on the family of norman of winster, county of derby? "john norman of winster, county of derby, married, in or , to jane (_maiden name_ particularly wanted). the said j. norman married again in , to mary" (maiden name wanted also). i shall be particularly obliged to any one affording such information. w. _sir arthur aston._--i shall be much obliged, should any of your very numerous correspondents be able to inform me in which part or parish, of the county of berkshire, the celebrated cavalier sir arthur aston resided _upon his return_ from the foreign wars in which he had been for so many years engaged; and _previously_ to the rupture between charles i. and the houses of parliament. i believe one of his daughters, about the same period, married a gentleman residing in the same county: also that george tattersall, esq., of finchampstead, a family of consideration in the same county of berkshire, was a near relative. chartham. _"jamieson the piper."_--i am anxious to ascertain who was the author of the above ditty; it was very popular in aberdeenshire about the beginning of this century. the scene, if i remember rightly, is laid in the parish of forgue, in aberdeenshire. possibly some of the members of the spalding club may be able to enlighten me on the subject. bathensis. _"keiser glomer."_--i have a danish play entitled _keiser glomer, frit oversatte af det kyhlamske vech c. bredahl_: kiobenhavn, . it is a mixture of tragedy and farce: the former occasionally good, the latter poor buffoonery. in the notes, readings of the old ms. are referred to with apparent seriousness; but _gammel gumba's saga_ is quoted in a manner that seems burlesque. i cannot find the word "kyhlam" in any dictionary. can any of your readers tell me whether it signifies a real country, or is a mere fiction? the work does not read like a translation; and, if one, the number of modern allusions show that it is not, as it professes to be, from an ancient manuscript. m. m. e. _tieck's comoedia divina._--i copied the following lines six years ago from a review in a munich newspaper of batornicki's _ungöttliche comödie_. they were cited as from tieck's suppressed (zurückgezogen) satire, _la comödie divina_, from which batornicki was accused of plundering freely, thinking that, from its variety, he would not be detected: "spitzt so hoch ihr könnt euer ohr, gar wunderbare dinge kommen hier vor. gott vater identifieirt sich mit der kreatur, denn er will anschauen die absolute natur; aber zum bewustseyn kann er nicht gedeihen, drum muss er sich mit sich selbst entzweien." i omitted to note the paper, but preserved the lines as remarkable. i have since tried to find some account of _la divina comedia_, but in vain. it is not noticed in any biography of tieck. can any of your readers tell me what it is, or who wrote it? m. m. e. _fossil trees between cairo and suez_--_stream like that in bay of argastoli._--can any of your readers oblige me by stating where the best information may be met with concerning the very remarkable fossil trees on the way from cairo to suez? and, if there has yet been discovered any other stream or rivulet running from the ocean into the land similar to that in the bay of argastoli in the island of cephalonia? h. m. _presbyterian titles_ (vol. v., p. .).--where may be found a list of "the quaint and uncouth titles of the old presbyterians?" p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _mayors and sheriffs._--can you or any of your readers inform me which ought to be considered the principal officer, or which is the most important, and which ought to have precedence of the other, the mayor of a town or borough, or the sheriff of a town or borough? and is the mayor merely the representative of the town, and the sheriff of the queen; and if so, ought not the representative of majesty to be considered more honourable than the representative of merely a borough; and can a sheriff of a borough claim to have a grant of arms, if he has not any previous? a subscriber. nottingham. _the beauty of buttermere._--in an article contributed by coleridge to the _morning post_ (vid. _essays on his own times_, vol. ii. p. .), he says: "it seems that there are some circumstances attending her birth and true parentage, which would account for her striking superiority in mind and manners, in a way extremely flattering to the prejudices of rank and birth." what are the circumstances alluded to? r. w. elliot. clifton. _sheer hulk._--living in a maritime town, and hearing nautical terms frequently used, i had always supposed this term to mean an old vessel, { } with sheers, or spars, erected upon it, for the purpose of masting and unmasting ships, and was led to attribute the use of it, by sir w. scott and other writers, for a vessel totally dismasted, to their ignorance of the technical terms. but of late it has been used in the latter sense by a writer in the _united service magazine_ professing to be a nautical man. i still suspect that this use of the word is wrong, and should be glad to hear on the subject from any of your naval readers. i believe that the word "buckle" is still used in the dockyards, and among seamen, to signify to "bend" (see "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .), though rarely. j. s. warden. _the lapwing or peewitt_ (_vanellus cristatus_).--can any of your correspondents, learned in natural history, throw any light upon the meaning in the following line relative to this bird?-- "the blackbird far its hues shall know, as _lapwing_ knows the vine." in the first line the allusion is to the berries of the hawthorn; but what the _lapwing_ has to do with the _vine_, i am at a loss to know. having forgotten whence i copied the above lines, perhaps some one will favor me with the author's name. j. b. whitborne. _"could we with ink," &c._--could you, or any of your numerous and able correspondents, inform me who is the _bonâ fide_ author of the following lines?-- "could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the heavens of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of god above, would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky." naphtali. _launching query._--with reference to the accident to h.m.s. cæsar at pembroke, i would ask, is there any other instance of a ship, on being launched, stopping on the ways, and refusing to move in spite of all efforts to start her? a. b. _manliness._--query, what is the meaning of the word as used in "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. ., col. . l. . anonymous. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _pues or pews._--which is the _correct_ way of spelling this word? what is its derivation? why has the form _pue_ been lately so much adopted? omega. [the abuses connected with the introduction of pues into churches have led to an investigation of their history, as well as to the etymology of the word. hence the modern adoption of its original and more correct orthography, that of _pue_; the dutch _puye_, _puyd_, and the english _pue_, being derived from the latin _podium_. in vol. iii., p. ., we quoted the following as the earliest notice of the word from the _vision of piers plouman_: "among wyves and wodewes ich am ywoned sute yparroked in _pues_. the person hit knoweth." again, in _richard iii._, act iv. sc. .: "and makes her _pue-fellow_ with others moan."--in decker's _westward hoe_: "being one day in church, she made mone to her _pue-fellow_."--and in the _northern hoe_ of the same author: "he would make him a _pue-fellow_ with lords."--see a paper on _the history of pews_, read before the cambridge camden society, nov. , .] _"jerningham" and "doveton."_--who was the author of _jerningham_ and _doveton_, two admirable works of fiction published some twelve or fifteen years ago? they are equal to anything written by bulwer lytton or by james. j. mt. [the author of these works was mr. anstruther.] * * * * * replies. battle of villers en couchÉ. (vol. viii., p. .) i possess a singular work, consisting of a series of _poetical sketches_ of the campaigns of and , written, as the title-page asserts, by an "officer of the guards;" who appears to have been, from what he subsequently states, on the personal staff of his royal highness the late duke of york. this work, i have been given to understand, was suppressed shortly after its publication; the ludicrous light thrown by its pages on the conduct of many of the chief parties engaged in the transactions it records, being no doubt unpalatable to those high in authority. from the notes, which are valuable as appearing to emanate from an eye-witness, and sometimes an actor in the scenes he describes, i send the following extracts for the information of your correspondent; premising that the letter to which they are appended is dated from the "camp at inchin, april , ." "as the enemy were known to have assembled in great force at the camp de cæsar, near cambray, prince cobourg requested the duke of york would make a _reconnoissance_ in that direction: accordingly, on the evening of the rd, major-general mansel's brigade of heavy cavalry was ordered about a league in front of their camp, where they lay that night at a farm-house, forming _part_ of a detachment under general otto. early the next morning, an attack was made on the french drawn up in front of the village of villers en couchée (between le cateau and bouchain) by the th regiment of light dragoons, and two squadrons of austrian hussars: they charged the enemy with such velocity and force, that, darting through their cavalry, they dispersed a line of infantry formed in their rear, forcing them also to retreat { } precipitately and in great confusion, under cover of the ramparts of cambray; with a loss of men, and three pieces of cannon. the only british officer wounded was captain aylett: sixty privates fell, and about twenty were wounded. "though the heavy brigade was formed at a distance under a brisk cannonade, while the light dragoons had so glorious an opportunity of distinguishing themselves, there are none who can attach with propriety any blame on account of their unfortunate delay; for which general otto was surely, as having the command, alone accountable, and not general mansel, who acted at all times, there is no doubt, according to the best of his judgment for the good of the service. "the duke of york had, on the morning of the th, observed the left flank of the enemy to be unprotected; and, by ordering the cavalry to wheel round and attack on that side, afforded them an opportunity of gaining the highest credit by defeating the french army so much superior to them in point of numbers. "general mansel rushing into the thickest of the enemy, devoted himself to death; and animated by his example, that _very_ brigade performed such prodigies of valour, as must have convinced the world that britons, once informed _how to act_, justify the highest opinion that can possibly be entertained of their native courage. could such men have _ever_ been willingly _backward_? certainly not. "general mansel's son, a captain in the rd dragoon guards, anxious to save his father's life, had darted forwards, and was taken prisoner, and carried into cambray. since his exchange, he has declared that there was not, on the th, _a single french soldier_ left in the town, as chapuy had drawn out the whole garrison to augment the army destined to attack the camp of inchi. had that circumstance been fortunately known at the time, a detachment of the british army might easily have marched along the chaussée, and taken possession of the place ere the republicans could possibly have returned, as they had in their retreat described a circuitous detour of some miles." mr. simpson will perceive, from the above extracts, that the brilliant skirmish of villers en couché took place on april th; whereas the defeat of the french army under chapuy did not occur until two days later. a large quantity of ammunition and thirty-five pieces of cannon were then captured; and although the writer does not mention the number who were killed on the part of the enemy, yet, as he states that chapuy and near of his men were made prisoners, their loss by death was no doubt proportionately large. the th hussars have long borne on their colours the memorable words "villers en couché" to commemorate the daring valour they displayed on that occasion. t. c. smith. in cruttwell's _universal gazetteer_ ( ), this village, which is five miles north-east of cambray, is described as being "remarkable for an action between the french and the allies on the th of april, ." the following officers of the th regiment of light dragoons are there named as having afterwards received crosses of the order of maria theresa for their gallant behaviour, from the emperor of germany, viz.: "major w. aylett, capt. robert pocklington, capt. edw. michael ryan, lieut. thos. granby calcraft, lieut. wm. keir, lieut. chas. burrel blount, cornet edward gerald butler, and cornet robert thos. wilson." d. s. * * * * * snail-eating. (vol. viii., p. .) the surrey snails referred to by h. t. riley, are thus mentioned by aubrey in his account of box hill: "on the south downs of this county (surrey), and in those of sussex, are the biggest snails that ever i saw, twice or three times as big as our common snails, which are the bavoli or drivalle, which mr. elias ashmole tells me that the lord marshal brought from italy, and scattered them on the downs hereabouts, and between albury and horsley, where are the biggest of all." again, aubrey, in his _natural history of wiltshire_, says: "the great snailes on the downes at albury, in surrey (twice as big as ours) were brought from italy by * * * earle marshal, about ."--aubrey's _history_, p. ., edited by john britton, f.s.a., published by the wiltshire topographical society, . the first of these accounts, from aubrey's _surrey_, i have quoted in my _promenade round dorking_, nd edit. , p. ., and have added in a note: "this was one of the earls of arundel. it is probably from this snail account that the error, ascribing the planting of the box (on box hill) to one of the earls of arundel, has arisen. the snails were brought thither for the countess of arundel, who was accustomed to dress and eat them for a consumptive complaint." when i lived at dorking ( - ) a breed of large white snails was found on box hill. john timbs. mr. h. t. riley is informed that the breed of white snails he refers to is to be plentifully found in the neighbourhood of shere. i have found them frequently near the neighbouring village of albury, on st. martha's hill, and i am told they are to be met with in the lanes as far as dorking. i have always heard that they were imported for the use of a lady who was in a consumption; but who this was, or when it happened, i have never been able to ascertain. nedlam. the breed of large white snails is to be found all along the escarpment of the chalk range, and is { } not confined to surrey. it is said to have been introduced into england by sir kenelm digby, and was considered very nutritious and wholesome for consumptive patients. about the end of the last century i was in the habit of collecting a few of the common garden snails from the fruit-trees, and taking them every morning to a lady who was in a delicate state of health; she took them boiled or stewed, or cooked in some manner with milk, making a mucilaginous drink. e. h. i have somewhere read of the introduction of a foreign breed of snails into cambridgeshire, i forget the exact locality, for the table of the monks who imported them; but unfortunately it was before i commenced making "notes" on the subject, and i have not been able to recollect where to find it. seleucus. * * * * * inscription near cirencester. (vol. viii., p. .) this inscription is not "in earl bathurst's park," as your correspondent a. smith says, but is in oakley woods, situated at some three or four miles' distance from cirencester, and being separated and quite distinct from the park; nor is the inscription correctly copied. rudder, in his new _history of gloucestershire_, , says: "concealed as it were in the wood stands alfred's hall, a building that has the semblance of great antiquity. over the door opposite to the south entrance, on the inside, is the following inscription in the saxon character and language [of which there follows a copy]. over the south door is the following latin translation: "'foedus quod Ælfredus & gythrunus reges, omnes _anglia sapientes, & quicunq_; angliam in_c_olebant orientalem, ferierunt; & non solum de seipsis, verum etiam de nat_i_s suis, ac nondum in lucem editis, quotquot misericordiæ divinæ aut regiæ vel_i_nt esse participes jurejurando sanxerunt. "'primò ditionis nostræ fines ad t_h_amesin evehunt_u_r, inde ad leam usq; ad fontem ejus; t_u_m recta ad bedfordiam, ac deniq; per usam ad viam vetelin_g_ianam.'" i copy from rudder, with the stops and contracted "et's," as they stand in his work; though i think the original has points between each word, as marked by a. smith. the omissions and mistakes of your correspondent (which you will perceive are important) are marked in italics above. rudder adds,-- "behind this building is a ruin with a stone on the chimney-piece, on which, in ancient characters relieved on the stone, is this inscription: 'in . mem . alfredi . reg . restavr . ano . do . .' "it would have been inexcusable in the topographer to have passed by so curious a place without notice; but the historian would have been equally culpable who should not have informed the reader that this building is an excellent imitation of antiquity. the name, the inscription, and the writing over the doors, of the convention between the good king and his pagan enemies, were probably all suggested by the similarity of _achelie_, the ancient name of this place, to _Æcglea_, where king alfred rested with his army the night before he attacked the danish camp at ethandun, and at length forced their leader godrum, or guthrum, or gormund, to make such convention." it is many years since i saw the inscription, and then i made no note of it; but i have no doubt that rudder has given it correctly, because when i was a young man i was intimately acquainted with him, who was then an aged person; and a curious circumstance that occurred between us, and is still full in my memory, impressed me with the idea of his great precision and exactness. i would remark on the explanation given by rudder, that the _iglea_ of asser is supposed by camden, gibson, gough, and sir richard colt hoare to be _clayhill_, eastward of warminster; and _ethandun_ to be _edington_, about three miles eastward of westbury, both in wilts. asser says that, "in the same year," the year of the battle, "the army of the pagans, departing from chippenham, as had been promised, went to _cirencester_, where they remained one year." on the signal defeat of guthrum, he gave hostages to alfred; and it is probable that, if any treaty was made between them, it was made immediately after the battle; and not that alfred came from his fortress of _Æthelingay_ to meet guthrum at cirencester, where his army lay after leaving chippenham. if the treaty was made soon after the battle, it might have been at alfred's hall near cirencester, especially if _hampton_ (minchinhampton in gloucestershire), which is only six miles from oakley wood, be the real site of the great and important battle, as was, a few years since, very plausibly argued by mr. john marks moffatt, in a paper inserted, with the signature "j. m. m.," in brayley's _graphic and historical illustrator_, p. . _et seq._, . the mention of rudder's history brings to my mind an inscription over the door of westbury court, which i noticed when a boy at school, in the village of westbury in this county. this mansion was taken down during the minority of maynard colchester, esq., the present owner of the estate. rudder, in his account of that parish, has preserved the inscription-- "d. o. m. n. m. m. h. e. p. n. c." he reads the first three letters "deo optimo maximo," and says the subsequent line contains the initials of the following hexameter: "nunc mea, mox hujus, et postea nescio cujus," { } alluding to the successive descent of property from one generation to another. perhaps one of your readers may be enabled to tell me whether the above line be original, or copied, and from whom. p. h. fisher. stroud. the agreement referred to is no other than the famous treaty of peace between alfred and guthrun, whose name, by the substitution of an initial "l." for a "g.," among various other inaccuracies for which your correspondent is perhaps not responsible, has been disguised under the form of "lvthrvnvs." the inscription itself forms the commencement of the treaty, which is stated, in turner's _anglo-saxons_, book iv. ch. v., to be still extant. it is translated as follows, in lambard's [greek: archaionomia], p. .:-- "foedus quod aluredus & gythrunus reges ex sapientum anglorum, atque eorum omnium qui orientalem incolebant angliam consulto ferierunt, in quod præterea singuli non solum de se ipsis, verum etiam de natis suis, ac nondum in lucem editis (quotquot saltem misericordiæ divinæ aut regiæ velint esse participes), jurarunt. "primo igitur ditionis nostræ fines ad thamesim fluvium evehuntor: inde ad leam flumen profecti, ad fontem ejus deferuntor: tum rectà ad bedfordiam porriguntor, ac denique per usam fluvium porrecti ad viam vetelingianam desinunto." another translation will be found in wilkins's _leges anglo-saxonicæ_, p. ., and the saxon original in both. as to the boundaries here defined, see note in spelman's _alfred_, p. . at cirencester guthrun remained for twelve months after his baptism, according to his treaty with alfred. (see _sim. dunelm. de gestis regum anglorum_, sub anno .) j. f. m. * * * * * curious custom of ringing bells for the dead. (vol. viii., p. .) w. w., alluding to such a custom at marshfield, massachusets, asks "if this custom ever did, or does now exist in the mother country?" the curiosity is that your worthy querist has never heard of it! dating from _malta_, it may be he has never been in our _ringing island_: for it must be known to every englishman, that the custom, varying no doubt in different localities, exists in every parish in england. the _passing bell_ is of older date than the canon of our church, which directs "that when any is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and the minister shall not then slack to do his duty. and after the party's death, if it so fall out, then shall be rung no more than one short peal." it is interesting to learn that our colonists keep up this custom of their mother country. in this parish, the custom has been to ring as quickly after death as the sexton can be found; and the like prevails elsewhere. i have known persons, sensible of their approaching death, direct the bell at once to be tolled. durand, in his _rituals of the roman church_, says: "for expiring persons bells must be tolled, that people may put up their prayers: this must be done twice for a woman, and thrice for a man." and such is still the general custom: either before or after the _knell_ is rung, to toll three times _three_, or three times _two_, at intervals, to mark the sex.[ ] "defunctos plorare" is probably as old as any use of a bell; but there is every reason to believe that-- "the ringing of bells at the departure of the soul (to quote from brewster's _ency._) originated in the darkest ages, but with a different view from that in which they are now employed. it was to avert the influence of demons. but if the superstition of our ancestors did not originate in this imaginary virtue, while they preserved the practice, it is certain they believed the mere noise had the same effect; and as, according to their ideas, evil spirits were always hovering around to make a prey of departing souls, the tolling of bells struck them with terror. we may trace the practice of tolling bells during funerals to the like source. this has been practised from times of great antiquity: the bells being muffled, for the sake of greater solemnity, in the same way as drums are muffled at military funerals." h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. at st. james' church, hull, on the occurrence of a death in the parish, a bell is tolled quickly for about the space of ten minutes; and before ceasing, nine knells given if the deceased be a man, six if a woman, and three if a child. as far as i have been able to ascertain, the custom is now almost peculiar to the north of england; but in ancient times it must have been very general according to durandus, who has the following in his _rationale_, lib. i. cap. . .: "verum aliquo moriente, campanæ debent pulsari; ut populus hoc audiens, oret pro illo. pro muliere quidem bis, pro eo quod invenit asperitatem.... pro viro vero ter pulsator.... si autem clericus sit, tot vicibus simpulsatur, quot ordines habuit ipse. ad ultimum vero compulsari debet cum omnibus campanis, ut ita sciat populus pro quo sit orandum."--mr. strutt's _man. and cust._, iii. . { } also a passage is quoted from an old english homily, ending with: "at the deth of a manne three bellis shulde be ronge, as his knyll, in worscheppe of the trinetee; and for a womanne, who was the secunde persone of the trinetee, two bellis should be rungen." in addition to the intention of the "passing-bell," afforded by durandus above, it has been thought that it was rung to drive away the evil spirits, supposed to stand at the foot of the bed ready to seize the soul, that it might "gain start." wynkyn de worde, in his _golden legend_, speaks of the dislike of spirits to bells. in alluding to this subject, wheatly, in his work on the book of common prayer, chap. xi. sec. viii. ., says: "our church, in imitation of the saints of former ages, calls in the minister, and others who are at hand, to assist their brother in his last extremity." the th canon enjoins that, "when any one is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and the minister shall not then slack to do his duty. and after the party's death, if it so fall out, there shall be rung _no more than one short peal_." several other quotations might be adduced (vid. brand's _antiq._, vol. ii. pp. , . from which much of the above has been derived) to show that "one short peal" was ordered only to be rung after the reformation: the custom of signifying the sex of the deceased by a certain number of knells must be a relic, therefore, of very ancient usage, and unauthorised by the church. r. w. elliot. clifton. [footnote : this custom of three tolls for a man, and two for a woman, is thus explained in an ancient homily on trinity sunday:--"at the deth of a manne, three bells should be ronge as his knyll in worship of the trinitie. and for a woman, who was the second person of the trinitie, two bells should be ronge."] * * * * * who first thought of table-turning? (vol. viii., p. .) respecting the origin of this curious phenomenon in america, i am not able to give your correspondent, j. g. t. of hagley, any information; but it may interest him and others among the readers of "n. & q." to have some account of what appears to be the first recorded experiment, made in europe, of table-moving. these experiments are related in the supplement (now lying before me) to the _allgemeine zeitung_ of april , by dr. k. andrée, who writes from bremen on the subject. his letter is dated march , and begins by stating that the whole town had been for eight days preceding in a state of most peculiar excitement, owing to a phenomenon which entirely absorbed the attention of all, and about which no one had ever thought before the arrival of the american steam-ship "washington" from new york. dr. andrée proceeds to relate that the information respecting table-moving was communicated in a letter, brought through that ship, from a native of bremen, residing in new york, to his sister, who was living in bremen, and who, in her correspondence with her brother, had been rallying him about the american spirit-rappings, and other yankee humbug, as she styled it, so rampant in the united states. her brother instanced this table-moving, performed in america, as no delusion, but as a fact, which might be verified by any one; and then gave some directions for making the experiment, which was forthwith attempted at the lady's house in bremen, and with perfect success, in the presence of a large company. in a few days the marvellous feat, the accounts of which flew like wildfire all over the country, was executed by hundreds of experimenters in bremen. the subject was one precisely adapted to excite the attention and curiosity of the imaginative and wonder-loving germans; and, accordingly, in a few days after, a notice of the strange phenomenon appeared in _the times_, in a letter from vienna, and, through the medium of the leading journal, the facts and experiments became rapidly diffused over the world, and have been repeated and commented upon ten thousand fold. as the experiment and its results are now brought within the domain of practical science, we may hope to see them soon freed from the obscurity and uncertainty which still envelope them, and assigned to their proper place in the wondrous system of "him, in whom we live, and move, and have our being." john macray. oxford. * * * * * scotchmen in poland. (vol. vii., pp. . .) "religious freedom was at that time [the middle of the sixteenth century] enjoyed in poland to a degree unknown in any other part of europe, where generally the protestants were persecuted by the romanists, or the romanists by the protestants. this freedom, united to commercial advantages, and a wide field for the exercise of various talents, attracted to poland crowds of foreigners, who fled their native land on account of religious persecution; and many of whom became, by their industry and talents, very useful citizens of their adopted country. there were at cracow, vilna, posen, &c., italian and french protestant congregations. a great number of scotch settled in different parts of poland; and there were scotch protestant congregations not only in the above-mentioned towns, but also in other places, and a particularly numerous one at kieydany, a little town of lithuania, belonging to the princes radziwill. amongst the scotch families settled in poland, the principal were the bonars, who arrived in that country before the reformation, but became its most zealous adherents. this family rose, by its wealth, and the great merit of several of its members, to the highest dignities of the state, but became extinct during the seventeenth century. there are even now in poland many families of scotch descent belonging to the class of nobles; as, for instance, { } the haliburtons, wilsons, ferguses, stuarts, haslers, watsons, &c. two protestant clergymen of scotch origin, forsyth and inglis, have composed some sacred poetry. but the most conspicuous of all the polish scotchmen is undoubtedly dr. john johnstone [born in poland , died ], perhaps the most remarkable writer of the seventeenth century on natural history. it seems, indeed, that there is a mysterious link connecting the two distant countries; because, if many scotsmen had in bygone days sought and found a second fatherland in poland, a strong and active sympathy for the sufferings of the last-named country, and her exiled children, has been evinced in our own times by the natives of scotland in general, and by some of the most distinguished amongst them in particular. thus it was an eminent bard of caledonia, the gifted author of _the pleasures of hope_, who, when 'sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime,' has thrown, by his immortal strains, over the fall of her liberty, a halo of glory which will remain unfaded as long as the english language lasts. the name of thomas campbell is venerated throughout all poland; but there is also another scotch name [lord dudley stuart] which is enshrined in the heart of every true pole."--from count valerian krasinski's _sketch of the religious history of the sclavonic nations_, p. .: edinburgh, johnstone and hunter, . j. k. * * * * * anticipatory use of the cross. (vol. vii., pp. . .) i think the writer of "communications with the unseen world" would have some difficulty in referring to the works on which he based the statement that "it was a tradition in mexico that when that form (the cross) should be victorious, the old religion should disappear, and that a similar tradition attached to it at alexandria." he doubtless made the statement from memory, and unintentionally confounded two distinct facts, viz. that the mexicans worshipped the cross, and had prophetic intimations of the downfall of their nation and religion by the oppression of bearded strangers from the east. the quotation by mr. peacock at p. ., quoted also in purchas' _pilgrims_, vol. v., proves, as do other authorities, that the cross was worshipped in mexico prior to the spanish invasion, and therefore it was impossible that the belief mentioned by the writer, &c. could have prevailed. on the first discovery of yucatan,-- "grijaha was astonished at the sight of large crosses, evidently objects of worship."--prescott's _mexico_, vol. i. p. . mr. stephens, in his _central america_, vol. ii., gives a representation of one of these crosses. the cross on the temple of serapis, mentioned in socrates' _ecc. hist._, was undoubtedly the well-known _crux ansata_, the symbol of life. it was as the latter that the heathens appealed to it, and the christians explained it to them as fulfilled in the death of christ. mr. peacock asks for other instances: i subjoin some. in _india_.--the great pagoda at benares is built in the form of a cross. (maurice's _ind. ant._, vol. iii. p. ., city, tavernier.) on a buddhist temple of cyclopean structure at mundore (tod's _rajasthan_, vol. i. p. .), the cross appears as a sacred figure, together with the double triangle, another emblem of very wide distribution, occurring on ancient british coins (camden's _britannica_), central american buildings (norman's _travels in yucatan_), among the jews as the shield of david (brucker's _history of philosophy_), and a well-known masonic symbol frequently introduced into gothic ecclesiastical edifices. in _palestine_.-- "according to r. solomon jarchi, the talmud, and maimonides, when the priest sprinkled the blood of the victim on the consecrated cakes and hallowed utensils, he was always careful to do it in the form of a _cross_. the same symbol was used when the kings and high priests were anointed."--faber's _horæ mosaicæ_, vol. ii. p. . see farther hereon, deane on _serpent worship_. in _persia_.--the trefoil on which the sacrifices were placed was probably held sacred from its cruciform character. the cross ([+]) occurs on persian buildings among other sacred symbols. (r. k. porter's _travels_, vol. ii.) in _britain_.--the cross was formed by baring a tree to a stump, and inserting another crosswise on the top; on the three arms thus formed were inscribed the names of the three principal, or triad of gods, _hesus_, _belenus_, and _taranis_. the stone avenues of the temple at classerniss are arranged in the form of a cross. (borlase's _antiquities of cornwall_.) in _scandinavia_.--the hammer of thor was in the form of the cross; see in herbert's _select icelandic poetry_, p. ., and laing's _kings of norway_, vol. i. pp. . ., a curious anecdote of king hacon, who, having been converted to christianity, made the sign of the cross when he drank, but persuaded his irritated pagan followers that it was the sign of thor's hammer. the figure of thor's hammer was held in the utmost reverence by his followers, who were called the children of thor, who in the last day would save themselves by his mighty hammer. the fiery cross, so well known by scott's vivid description, was originally the hammer of thor, which in early pagan, as in later christian times, was used as a summons to convene the people either to council or to war. (herbert's _select icelandic poetry_, p. .) eden warwick. birmingham. { } * * * * * photographic correspondence. _glass chambers for photography._--i am desirous to construct a small glass chamber for taking portraits in, and shall be much obliged if you can assist me by giving me instructions how it should be constructed, or by directing me where i shall find clear and sufficient directions, as to dimensions, materials, and arrangements. is it essential that it should be all of violet-coloured glass, ground at one side, as that would add a good deal to the expense? or will white glass, with thin blue gauze curtains or blinds, answer? probably a full answer to this inquiry, accompanied with such woodcut illustrations as would be necessary to render the description complete, and such as an artificer could work by, would confer a boon on many amateur photographers, as well as your obliged servant, c. e. f. [in the construction of a photographic house, we beg to inform our correspondent that it is by no means needful to use entirely violet-coloured glass, but the roof thereof exposed to the rays of the sun should be so protected; for although the light is much subdued, and the glare so painful to the eyes of the sitter is taken away, yet but few of the actinic rays are obstructed. it has been proposed to coat the interior with smalt mixed with starch, and afterwards varnished; but this does not appear to have answered. calico, both white and coloured, has also been used, but it is certainly not so effectual or pleasant. upon the whole, we think that the main things to attend to are, firmness in its construction, so as to avoid vibration; ample size, so as to allow not only of room for the operator, but also for the arrangements of background, &c., and the sides to open so as to allow a free circulation of air; blinds to be _applied at such spots only_ as shall be found requisite. adjoining, or in one corner, a small closet should be provided, admitting only yellow light, which may be effectually accomplished by means of yellow calico. a free supply of water is indispensable, which may be conveyed both to and from by means of the gutta percha tubing now in such general use. we apprehend, however, that the old proverb, "you must cut your coat according to your cloth," is most especially applicable to our querist, for not only must the house be constructed according to the advantages afforded by the locality, but the amount of expense will be very differently thought of by different persons: one will be content with any moderate arrangement which will answer the purpose, where another will be scarcely satisfied unless everything is quite of an _orné_ character.] _dr. diamond's replies._--i am sorry i have not before replied to the queries of your correspondent w. f. e., contained in vol. viii., p. .; but absence from home, together with a pressure of public duties here, has prevented me from so doing. st. no doubt a _small_ portion of nitrate of potash is formed when the iodized collodion is immersed in the bath of nitrate of silver, by mutual decomposition; but it is in so small a quantity as not to deteriorate the bath. nd. i believe collodion will keep good much longer than is generally supposed; at the beginning of last month i obtained a tolerably good portrait of mr. pollock from some remains in a small bottle brought to me by mr. archer in september ; and i especially notice this fact, as it is connected with the first introduction of the use of collodion in england. generally speaking, i do not find that it deteriorates in two or three months; the addition of a few drops of the iodizing solution will generally restore it, unless it has become rotten: this, i think, is the case when the gun cotton has not been perfectly freed from the acid. the redness which collodion assumes by age, may also be discharged by the addition of a few drops of liquor ammoniæ, but i do not think it in any way accelerates its activity of action. rd. "washed ether," or, as it is sometimes called, "inhaling ether," has been deprived of the alcohol which the common ether contains, and it will not dissolve the gun cotton unless the alcohol is restored to it. i would here observe that an excess of alcohol (spirits of wine) thickens the collodion, and gives it a mucilaginous appearance, rendering it much more difficult to use by its slowness in flowing over the glass plate, as well as producing a less even surface than when nearly all ether is used. a collodion, however, with thirty-five per cent. of spirits of wine, is very quick, allowing from its less tenacious quality a more rapid action of the nitrate of silver bath. th. cyanide of potassium has been used to re-dissolve the iodide of silver, but the results are by no means so satisfactory; the cost of pure iodide of potassium bought at a _proper market_ is certainly very inconsiderable compared to the disappointment resulting from a false economy. h. w. diamond. surrey county asylum. _trial of lenses._--when you want to try a lens, first be sure that the slides of your camera are correctly constructed, which is easily done. place at any distance you please a sheet of paper printed in small type; focus this on your ground glass with the assistance of a magnifying-glass; now take the slide which carries your plate of glass, and if you have not a piece of ground glass at hand, insert a plate which you would otherwise excite in the bath after the application of collodion, but now _dull_ it by touching it with putty. observe whether you get an equally clear and well-focussed picture on this; if you do, you may conclude there is no fault in the construction of your camera. having ascertained this, take a chess-board, and place the pieces on the row of squares which run { } from corner to corner; focus the middle one, whether it be king, queen, or knight, and take a picture; you will soon see whether the one best in the visual focus is the best on the picture, or whether the piece one or more squares in advance or behind it is clearer than the one you had previously in focus. the chess-board must be set square with the camera, so that each piece is farther off by one square. to vary the experiment, you may if you please stick a piece of printed paper on each piece, which a little gum or common bees'-wax will effect for you. in taking portraits, if you are not an adept in obtaining a focus, cut a slip of newspaper about four inches long, and one and a half wide, and turn up one end so as it may be held between the lips, taking care that the rest be presented quite flat to the camera; with the help of a magnifying-glass set a correct focus to this, and afterwards draw in the tube carrying the lenses about one-sixteenth of a turn of the screw of the rackwork. this will give a medium focus to the head: observe, as the length of focus in different lenses varies, the distance the tube is moved must be learned by practice. w. m. f. _is it dangerous to use the ammonio-nitrate of silver?_--some time ago i made a few ounces of a solution of ammonio-nitrate of silver for printing positives; this i have kept in a yellow coloured glass bottle with a ground stopper. i have, however, been much alarmed, and refrained from using it or taking out the stopper, lest danger should arise, in consequence of reading in mr. delamotte's _practice of photography_, p. . (vide "ammonia solution"): "if any of the ammonio-nitrate dries round the stopper of the bottle in which it is kept, the least friction will cause it to explode violently; it is therefore better to keep none prepared." as in pouring this solution out and back into the bottle, of course the solution will dry around the stopper, and, if this account is correct, may momentarily lead to danger and accident, i will feel obliged by being informed by some of your learned correspondents whether any such danger exists. hugh henderson. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _burke's marriage_ (vol. vii., p. .).--burke married, in , the daughter of dr. nugent of bath. (see _nat. cycl., s.v._ "burke.") p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _the house of falahill_ (vol. vi., p. .).--as i have not observed any notice taken of the very interesting query of aberdoniensis, regarding this ancient baronial residence, i may state that there is a falahill, or falahall, in the parish of heriot, in the county of edinburgh. whether it be the falahill referred to by nisbet as having been so profusely illuminated with armorial bearings, i cannot tell. possibly either messrs. laing, wilson, or cosmo innes might be able to give some information about this topographical and historical mystery. stornoway. _descendants of judas iscariot_ (vol. viii., p. .).--there is a collection of traditions as to this person in extracts i have among my notes, which perhaps you may think fit to give as a reply to mr. creed's query. it runs as follows: "on dit dans l'anjou et dans le maine que judas iscariot est né à sablé; là-dessus on a fait ce vers: 'perfidus judæus sabloliensis erat.' "les bretons disent de même qu'il est né au normandie entre caen et rouen, et à ce propos ils recitent ces vers. 'judas étoit normand, tout le monde le dit-- entre caen et rouen, ce malheureux naquit. il vendit son seigneur pour trente mares contants. au diable soient tous les normands.' "on dit de même sans raison que judas avoit demeuré à corfou, et qu'il y est né. pietro della valle rapporte dans ses _voyages_ qu'étant à corfou on lui montra par rareté un homme que ceux du pays assuroient être de la race du traître judas--quoiqu'il le niât. c'est un bruit qui court depuis long tems en cette contrée, sans qu'on en sache la cause ni l'origine. le peuple de la ville de ptolemaïs (autrement de l'acre) disoit de même sans raison que dans une tour de cette ville on avoit fabriqué les trente deniers pour lesquelles judas avoit vendu nôtre seigneur, et pour cela ils appelloient cette tour la _tour maudite_." this is taken from the second volume of _menagiana_, p. . j. h. p. leresche. manchester. _milton's widow_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the information once promised by your correspondent cranmore still seems very desirable, because the statements of your correspondent mr. hughes are not reconcilable with two letters given in mr. hunter's very interesting historical tract on milton, pages - ., to which tract i beg to refer mr. hughes, who may not have seen it. these letters clearly show that richard minshull, the writer of them, had only _two aunts_, neither of whom could have been mrs. milton, as she must have been if she was the daughter of the writer's grandfather, randall minshull. probably this elizabeth died in infancy, which the wistaston parish register may show, and which register would perhaps also show (supposing milton took his wife from wistaston) the wanting marriage; or if mrs. milton was of the stoke-minshull family, that parish register would most likely { } disclose his third marriage, which certainly did not take place sooner than . garlichithe. _whitaker's ingenious earl_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it was a frequent saying of lord stanhope's, that he had taught law to the lord chancellor, and divinity to the bishops; and this saying gave rise to a caricature, where his lordship is seated acting the schoolmaster with a rod in his hand. e. h. _are white cats deaf?_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in looking up your numbers for april, i observe a minor query signed shirley hibberd, in which your querist states that in all white cats stupidity seemed to accompany the deafness, and inquires whether any instance can be given of a white cat possessing the function of hearing in anything like perfection. i am myself possessed of a white cat which, at the advanced age of upwards of seventeen years, still retains its hearing to great perfection, and is remarkably intelligent and devoted, more so than cats are usually given credit for. its affection for persons is, indeed, more like that of a dog than of a cat. it is a half-bred persian cat, and its eyes are perfectly blue, with round pupils, not elongated as those of cats usually are. it occasionally suffers from irritation in the ears, but this has not at all resulted in deafness. h. _consecrated roses_ (vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. viii., p. .).--from the communication of p. p. p. it seems that the origin of the consecration of the rose dates so far back as , and was "en reconnaissance" of a singular privilege granted to the abbey of st. croix. can your correspondent refer to any account of the origin of the consecration or blessing of the sword, cap, or keys? g. _the reformed faith_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i must protest against this term being applied to the system which henry viii. set up on his rejecting the papal supremacy, which on almost every point but that one was pure popery, and for refusing to conform to which he burned protestants and roman catholics at the same pile. it suited cobbett (in his _history of the reformation_), and those controversialists who use him as their text-book, to confound this system with the doctrine of the existing church of england, but it is to be regretted that any inadvertence should have caused the use of similar language in your pages. j. s. warden. _house-marks_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it appears to me that the _house-marks_ he alluded to may be traced in what are called _merchants' marks_, still employed in marking bales of wool, cotton, &c., and which are found on tombstones in our old churches, _incised_ in the slab during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and which till lately puzzled the heralds. they were borne by merchants who had no arms. e. g. ballard. _trash_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the late mr. scatchard, of morley, near leeds, speaking in hone's _table book_ of the yorkshire custom of _trashing_, or throwing an old shoe for luck over a wedding party, says: "although it is true that an old shoe is to this day called 'a trash,' yet it did not, certainly, give the name to the nuisance. to 'trash' originally signified to clog, encumber, or impede the progress of any one (see todd's _johnson_); and, agreeably to this explanation, we find the rope tied by sportsmen round the necks of fleet pointers to tire them well, and check their speed, is hereabouts universally called 'trash cord,' or 'dog trash.' a few miles distant from morley, west of leeds, the 'boggart' or 'barguest,' the yorkshire brownie is called by the people the _gui-trash_, or _ghei-trash_, the usual description of which is invariably that of a shaggy dog or other animal, _encumbered_ with a chain round its neck, which is heard to rattle in its movements. i have heard the common people in yorkshire say, that they 'have been _trashing_ about all day;' using it in the sense of having had a tiring walk or day's work. "east of leeds the 'boggart' is called the _padfoot_." g. p. _adamsoniana_ (vol. vii., p. .).--michel ada_n_son (not ada_m_son), who has left his name to the gigantic baobab tree of senegal (_adansonia digitata_), and his memory to all who appreciate the advantages of a natural classification of plants--for which jussieu was indebted to him--was the son of a gentleman, who after firmly attaching himself to the stuarts, left scotland and entered the service of the archbishop of aix. the _encyclopædia britannica_, and, i imagine, almost all biographical dictionaries and similar works, contain notices of him. his devoted life has deserved a more lengthened chronicle. seleucus. your correspondent e. h. a., who inquires respecting the family of michel adamson, or michael adamson, is informed that in france, the country of his birth, the name is invariably written "ada_n_son;" while the author of _fanny of caernarvon, or the war of the roses_, is described as "john ada_m_son." both names are pronounced alike in french; but the difference of spelling would seem adverse to the supposition that the family of the botanist was of scottish extraction. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _portrait of cromwell_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the portrait inquired after by mr. rix is at the british museum. being placed over the cases in the long gallery of natural history, it is extremely difficult to be seen. john bruce. { } _burke's "mighty boar of the forest"_ (vol. iii., p. .; vol. iv., p. .).--it is not, i hope, too late to notice that burke's description of junius is an allusion neither to the _iliad_, xiii. ., nor to psalm lxxx. - ., but to the _iliad_, xvii. - . i cannot resist quoting the lines containing the simile, at once for their applicability and their own innate beauty: "[greek: ithusen de dia promachôn, sui eikelos alkên] [greek: kapriôi, host' en oressi kunas thalerous t' aizêous] [greek: rhêidiôs ekedassen, elixamenos dia bêssas.] [greek: Ôs huios telamônos]." w. fraser. tor-mohun. "_amentium haud amantium_" (vol. vii., p. .).--the following english translation may be considered a tolerably close approximation to the alliteration of the original: "of dotards not of the doting." it is found in the dublin edition of _terence_, published by j. a. phillips, . c. t. r. mr. phillips, in his edition, proposes as a translation of this passage, "of _dotards_, not of the _doting_." whatever may be its merits in other respects, it is at all events a more perfect alliteration than the other attempts which have been recorded in "n. & q." erica. warwick. when i was at school i used to translate the phrase "amentium haud amantium" (ter. _andr_., i. . .) "_lunatics, not lovers_." perhaps that may satisfy fidus interpres. [pi]. [beta]. a friend of mine once rendered this "_lubbers, not lovers_." p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _talleyrand's maxim_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--young's lines, to which z. e. r. refers, are: "where nature's end of language is declined, and men talk only to conceal their mind." with less piquancy, but not without the germ of the same idea, dean moss (ob. ), in his sermon _of the nature and properties of christian humility_, says: "gesture is an artificial thing: men may stoop and cringe, and bow popularly low, and yet have ambitious designs in their heads. and _speech is not always the just interpreter of the mind_: men may use a condescending style, and yet swell inwardly with big thoughts of themselves."--_sermons_, &c., , vol. vii. p. . cowgill. _english bishops deprived by queen elizabeth_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--the following particulars concerning one of the marian bishops are at a. s. a.'s service. cuthbert scot, d.d., sometime student, and, in , master of christ's church college, cambridge, was made vice-chancellor of that university in - ; and had the temporalities of the see of chester handed to him by queen mary in . he was one of cardinal pole's delegates to the university of cambridge, and was concerned in most of the political movements of the day. he, and four other bishops, with as many divines, undertook to defend the principles and practices of the romish church against an equal number of reformed divines. on the th of april he was confined, either in the fleet prison or the tower, for abusive language towards queen elizabeth; but having by some means or other escaped from _durance_, he retired to louvain, where he died, according to rymer's _foedera_, about . t. hughes. chester. _gloves at fairs_ (vol. vii., _passim._).--to the list of markets at which a glove was, or is, hung out, may be added newport, in the isle of wight. but a query naturally springs out of such a note, and i would ask, why did a glove indicate that parties frequenting the market were exempt from arrest? what was the glove an emblem of? w. d--n. as the following extract from gorr's _liverpool directory_ appears to bear upon the point, and as it does not seem to have yet attracted the attention of any of your correspondents, i beg to forward it:-- "its (_i.e._ liverpool's) fair-days are th july and th nov. ten days before and ten days after each fair-day, a hand is exhibited in front of the town-hall, which denotes protection; during which time no person coming to or going from the town on business connected with the fair can be arrested for debt within its liberty." i have myself frequently observed the "hand," although i could not discover any appearance of a fair being held. r. _st. dominic_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent bookworm will find in any chronology a very satisfactory reason why machiavelli could not reply to the summons of benedict xiv., unless, indeed, the pope had made use of "the power of the keys," to call him up for a brief space to satisfy his curiosity. j. s. warden. _names of plants_ (vol. viii., p. .).--ale-hoof means useful in, or to, ale; ground-ivy having been used in brewing before the introduction of hops. "the women of our northern parts" (says john gerard), "especially about wales or cheshire, do tunne the herbe ale-hoof into their ale ... being tunned up in ale and drunke, it also purgeth the head from rhumaticke humours flowing from the brain." from the aforesaid tunning, it was also called tun-hoof (_world of words_); and in gerard, tune-hoof. { } considering what was meant by lady in the names of plants, we should refrain from supposing that _neottia spiralis_ was called the lady-traces "sensu obsc.," even if those who are more skilled in such matters than i am can detect such a sense. i cannot learn what a lady's _traces_ are; but i suspect plaitings of her hair to be meant. "upon the spiral sort," says gerard, "are placed certaine small white flowers, _trace_ fashion," while other sorts grow, he says, "spike fashion," or "not _trace_ fashion." whence i infer, that in his day _trace_ conveyed the idea of spiral. a. n. _specimens of foreign english_ (vol. iii. _passim._).--i have copied the following from the label on a bottle of _liqueur_, manufactured at marseilles by "l. noilly fils et c^{ie}." the english will be best understood by being placed in juxtaposition with the original french: "le vermouth est un vin blanc légèrement amer, parfumé avec des plantes aromatiques bienfaisantes. "cette boisson est tonique, stimulante, fébrifuge et astringente: prise avec de l'eau elle est apéritive et raffraichissante: elle est aussi un puissant préservatif contre les fièvres et la dyssenterie, maladies si fréquentes dans les pays chauds, pour lesquels elle a été particulièrement composée." "the wermouth is a brightly bitter and perfumed with aromatical and good vegetables white wine. "this is tonic, stimulant, febrifuge and costive drinking; mixed with water it is aperitive, refreshing, and also a powerful preservative of fivers and bloody-flux; those latters are very usual in warmth countries, and of course that liquor has just been particularly made up for that occasion." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _blanco white_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--your correspondent h. c. k. is right in his impression that the sonnet commencing "mysterious night! when our first parents knew," &c. was written by blanco white. see his _life_ ( vols., chapman, ), vol. iii. p. . j. k. r. w. _pistols_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in strype's life of sir thomas smith, _works_, oxon. , mention is made of a statute or proclamation by the queen in the year , which refers to that of hen. viii. c. ., alluded to by your correspondent j. f. m., and in which the words _pistol_ and _pistolet_ are introduced: "the queen calling to mind how unseemly a thing it was, in so quiet and peaceable a realm, to have men so armed; ... did charge and command all her subjects, of what estate or degree soever they were, that in no wise, in their journeying, going, or riding, they carried about them privily or openly any dag, or pistol, or any other harquebuse, gun, or such weapon for fire, under the length expressed by the statute made by the queen's most noble father.... [excepting however] noblemen and such known gentlemen, which were without spot or doubt of evil behaviour, if they carried dags or pistolets about them in their journeys, openly, at their saddle bows," &c. here the _dag_ or _pistolet_ seems to answer to our "revolvers," and the _pistol_ to our larger horse-pistol. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _passage of thucydides on the greek factions_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if l., or any of your readers, will take the trouble to compare the passage quoted, and the one referred to by him, in the following translation of smith, with sir a. alison's supposititious quotation[ ] (vol. vii., p. .), they will find that my inquiry is still unanswered. the passage quoted by l. in greek is, according to smith: "prudent consideration, to be specious cowardice; modesty, the disguise of effeminacy; and being wise in everything, to be good for nothing." the passage not quoted, but referred to by l., is: "he who succeeded in a roguish scheme was wise; and he who suspected such practices in others was still a more able genius."--vol. i. book iii. p. . to.: london, . in this "counterfeit presentment of two brothers," l. may discern a family likeness; but my inquiry was for the identical passage, "sword and poniard" included. if l. desires to find greek authority for the general sentiment only, i would refer him to passages, equally to sir a. alison's purpose, in _thucydides_, iii. ., viii. .; _herodotus_, iii. .; plato's _republic_, viii. ., and aristotle's _politics_, v. . . i beg to thank l. for his attempt, although unsuccessful. t. j. buckton. birmingham. [footnote : _europe_, vol. ix. p. ., mo.] _the earliest mention of the word "party"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in a choice volume, printed by "ihon day, dwelling over aldersgate, beneath st. martines," , i find the word occurring thus: "the _party_ must in any place see to himselfe, and seeke to wipe theyr noses by a shorte aunswere."--_a discovery and playne declaration of the holy inquisition of spayne_, fol. . permit me to attach a query to this. am i right in considering the above-mentioned book as rare? i do so on the assumption that "ihon day" is _the_ day of black-letter rarity. r. c. warde. kidderminster. { } _creole_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it is curious to observe how differently this word is applied by different nations. the english apply it to white children born in the west indies; the french, i believe, exclusively to the mixed races; and the spanish and portuguese to the blacks born in their colonies, never to whites. the latter, i think, is the true and original meaning, as its primary signification is a _home-bred_ slave (from "criar," to bring up, to nurse), as distinguished from an imported or purchased one. j. s. warden. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. we have before us a little volume by mr. willich, the able actuary of the university life assurance society, entitled _popular tables arranged in a new form, giving information at sight for ascertaining, according to the carlisle table of mortality, the value of lifehold, leasehold, and church property, renewal fines, &c., the public funds, annual average price and interest on consols from to ; also various interesting and useful tables, equally adapted to the office and the library table_. ample as is this title-page, it really gives but an imperfect notion of the varied contents of this useful library and writing-desk companion. for instance, table viii. of the miscellaneous tables gives the average price of consols, with the average rate of interest, from to ; but this not only shows when consols were highest and when lowest, but also what administration was then in power, and the chief events of each year. we give this as one instance of the vast amount of curious information here combined; and we would point out to historical and geographical students the notices of chinese chronology in the preface, and the tables of ancient and modern itinerary measures, as parts of the work especially deserving of their attention. in short, mr. willich's _popular tables_ form one of those useful volumes in which masses of scattered information are concentrated in such a way as to render the book indispensable to all who have once tested its utility. _mormonism, its history, doctrines, and practices_, by the rev. w. sparrow simpson, is a small pamphlet containing the substance of two lectures on this pestilent heresy, delivered by the author before the kennington branch of the church of england young men's society, and is worth the attention of those who wish to know something of this now wide-spread mania. _on the custom of borough-english in the county of sussex_, by george r. corner, esq. this well-considered paper on a very curious custom owes its origin, we believe, to a query in our columns. we wish all questions agitated in "n. & q." were as well illustrated as this has been by the learning and ingenuity of mr. corner. _a narrative of practical experiments proving to demonstration the discovery of water, coals, and minerals in the earth by means of the dowsing fork or divining rod, &c., collected, reported, and edited_ by francis phippen. a curious little pamphlet on a _fact_ in natural philosophy, which we believe no philosopher can either understand or account for. serials received.--_murray's railway reading: history as a condition of social progress_, by samuel lucas. an able lecture on an interesting subject.--_the traveller's library_, no. .: _twenty years in the philippines_, by de la gironière. one of the best numbers of this valuable series.--_cyclopædia bibliographica_, part xi., august. this eleventh part of mr. darling's useful catalogue extends from james ibbetson to bernard lamy.--_archæologia cambrensis, new series, no. xv._: containing, among other papers of interest to the inhabitants of the principality, one on the arms of owen glendwr, by the accomplished antiquary to whom our readers were indebted for a paper on the same subject in our own columns. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. sowerby's english botany, with or without supplementary volumes. dugdale's england and wales, vol. viii. london, l. tallis. lingard's history of england. second edition, , th and following volumes, in boards. long's history of jamaica. life of the rev. isaac milles. . sir thomas herbert's threnodia carolina: or, last days of charles i. old edition, and that of by nicol. sir thomas herbert's travels in asia and africa. folio. letters of the herbert family. bishop mosley's vindication. to. . life of admiral blake, written by a gentleman bred in his family. london. mo. with portrait by fourdrinier. oswaldi crollii opera. genevæ, . mo. unheard-of curiosities, translated by chilmead. london, . mo. beaumont's psyche. second edition. camb. . fol. memoirs of the rose, by mr. john holland. vol. mo. . literary gazette, to . athenÆum, commencement to . a narrative of the holy life and happy death of mr. john angier. london, . moore's melodies. th edition. wood's athenÆ oxonienses (ed. bliss). vols. to. - . the complaynts of scotland. vo. edited by leyden. . shakspeare's plays. vol. v. of johnson and steevens's edition, in vols. vo. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. mr. g. furrian_'s offer is declined with thanks_. e. w., _who inquires respecting the letters_ n _and_ m _in the book of common prayer, is referred to_ vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . . t. _and other correspondents who have written on the subject of collodion are informed that we shall next week publish a farther communication from_ dr. diamond _upon this point_. addendum.--vol. viii., p. ., add to end of query on fragments in athenæus, "d'israeli's _cur. lit._, bailey's _fragmenta comicorum_." _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. to vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. { } * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq.; t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * la lumiere; french photographic journal. the only journal which gives weekly all the principal photographic news of england and the continent; with original articles and communications on the different processes and discoveries, reports of the french academy of sciences, articles on art, reviews, &c. published every saturday at paris, . rue de la perle. terms, s. per annum in advance. all english subscriptions and communications to be addressed to the english editor, . henman terrace, camden town, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, , paternoster row, london. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c. may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * wanted, for the ladies' institute, . regent street, quadrant, ladies of taste for fancy work,--by paying s. will be received as members, and taught the new style of velvet wool work, which is acquired in a few easy lessons. each lady will be guaranteed constant employment and ready cash payment for her work. apply personally to mrs. thoughey. n.b. ladies taught by letter at any distance from london. * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures_:-- cure, no. . of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefit from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, without which none is genuine. { } * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley,) of saturday, july , contains articles on agriculture, history of scottish agricultural college examination papers annuals, new azaleas, to propagate books noticed brick burning, a nuisance cabbages, club in calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural carrot rot, by dr. reissek carts _v._ waggons cedar, gigantic cockroaches, to kill cycas revoluta, by mr. ruppen drainage bill, london forests, royal fruits, wearing out of ---- disease in stone, by m. ysabeau fumigator, geach's, by mr. forsyth guano, new source of honey, thin horticultural society horticultural society's garden machine tools manures, concentrated ---- liquid, by mr. bardwell marvel of peru mechi's (mr.) gathering mirabilis jalapa new forest plant, hybrid potatoes, bahama potato disease ---- origin of poultry, metropolitan show of races, degeneracy of roses, tea ---- from cuttings soil and its uses, by mr. morton strawberry, nimrod, by mr. spencer truffles, irish vegetables, lists of violet, neapolitan waggons and carts wax insects (with engraving) * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price _s_. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and, by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * alphabets. shaw's handbook of mediÆval alphabets and devices. , to., fine plates printed in colours (published at s.), cloth, s. silvestre, alphabet-album, folio, paris, , large beautiful plates (published at francs), half morocco, s. alphabets of all the oriental and occidental languages, leipsig, , royal vo., s. also an extensive collection of works on diplomatics, mediæval charters, &c., by astle, montfaucon, mabillon, and rodriguez, on sale by bernard quaritch, second-hand foreign bookseller, . castle street, leicester square. *** b. q.'s monthly catalogues are sent gratis for a year on prepayment of a shilling in postage stamps. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine and historical review for august, contains the following articles:-- . state papers of the reign of henry viii. . madame de longueville. . the prospero of "the tempest." . letter of major p. ferguson during the american war. . wanderings of an antiquary: bramber castle and the sussex churches, by thomas wright, f.s.a. (with engravings). . st. hilary church, cornwall (with an engraving). . benjamin robert haydon. . the northern topographers--whitaker, surtees, and raine. . passage of the pruth in the year . . early history of the post-office. . correspondence of sylvanus urban: a peep at the library of chichester cathedral--christ's church at norwich--rev. wm. smith of melsonby--godmanham and londesborough. with reviews of new publications, a report of the meeting of the archæological institute at chichester and of other antiquarian societies, historical chronicle, and obituary. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, - . volume four, - . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, - . volume two, - . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, respectfully informs the clergy, architects, and churchwardens, that he replies immediately to all applications by letter, for information respecting his manufactures in church furniture, robes, communion linen, &c., &c., supplying full information as to prices, together with sketches, estimates, patterns of materials, &c., &c. having declined appointing agents, mr. french invites direct communications by post, as the most economical and satisfactory arrangement. parcels delivered free by railway. * * * * * this day is published, price d. observations on some of the manuscript emendations of the text of shakspeare. by j. o. halliwell, esq., f.r.s. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * this day is published, in vo., with fac-simile from an early ms. at dulwich college, price s. curiosities of modern shakspearian criticism. by j. o. halliwell, esq., f.r.s. john russell smith, . soho square, london./ * * * * * just published, price s. d. per dozen, or nicely bound in cloth, s. each. mormonism: its history, doctrines, and practices. by the rev. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. (late scholar and librarian of queens' college, cambridge; curate of st. mark's, kennington.) a. m. pigott, aldine chambers, paternoster row; and . kennington gate, london. * * * * * just published, fcap. vo., price s. in cloth. sympathies of the continent, or proposals for a new reformation. by john baptist von hirscher, d.d., dean of the metropolitan church of freiburg, breisgau, and professor of theology in the roman catholic university of that city. translated and edited with notes and introduction by the rev. arthur cleveland coxe, m.a., rector of st. john's church, hartford, connecticut, u. s. "the following work will be found a noble apology for the position assumed by the church of england in the sixteenth century, and for the practical reforms she then introduced into her theology and worship. if the author is right, then the changes he so eloquently urges upon the present attention of his brethren ought to have been made _three hundred years ago_; and the obstinate refusal of the council of trent to make such reforms in conformity with scripture and antiquity, throws the whole burthen of the sin of schism upon rome, and not upon our reformers. the value of such admissions must, of course, depend in a great measure upon the learning, the character, the position, and the influence of the author from whom they proceed. the writer believes, that questions as to these particulars can be most satisfactorily answered."--_introduction by arthur cleveland coxe._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, august , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "obscurity and uncertainty": 'uncertainly' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page a word to the literary men of england, by k. r. h. mackenzie the essay on satire, by bolton corney macklin's ordinary and school of criticism, by dr. e. f. rimbault "love's labour's lost" notes on newspapers, by h. m. bealby mr. gough's translation of the history of the bible minor notes:--origin of harlequins--monosyllables-- the breeches, or geneva bible--etymology of mushroom--curious fact in natural history--hudibras in --the great exhibition queries:-- the ten commandments, by rev. a. gatty minor queries:--was hugh peters ever on the stage?-- english synonymes--christmas day--a coggeshall job--"saffron walden, god help me"--t. gilburt on clandestine marriages--father hehl, and cahagnet-- roman catholic bishops in ireland--derivation of the word fib--thomas may, the author of the supplement to lucan--bunting's irish melodies--rudbeck, campi elysii--prince of wales' motto--borrow's danish ballads--head of the saviour--lines on english history--the sword flamberg--denarius philosophorum--"sees good in everything"--oxford friar's voyage to the north pole--roman catholic church--cor linguæ, &c. replies:-- cardinal's monument booty's case the conquest, by c. h. cooper descent of henry iv., by j. b. colman replies to minor queries:--chauncy--entwysel-- "pretended" reprint of ancient poetry--lights on the altar--cognation of the jews and lacedæmonians-- queen mary's lament--tandem d. o. m. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. a word to the literary men of england. "_twenty scholars in seven years might retrieve the worst losses we experience from the bigotry of popes and califs._ i do not intend to assert that every herculanean manuscript might, within that period, be unfolded; but the three first legible sentences might be; which is quite sufficient to inform the intelligent reader whether a farther attempt on the scroll would repay his trouble. _there are fewer than thirty greek authors worth inquiring for; they exist, beyond doubt, and beyond doubt they may, by attention, patience, and skill, be brought to light._ * * with a _smaller_ sum than is annually expended on the appointment of some silly and impertinent young envoy, we might restore _all_, or _nearly all_ those writers of immortal name, whose disappearance has been the regret of genius for four entire centuries. in my opinion, a _few thousand pounds_, laid out on such an undertaking, would be laid out as creditably as on a persian carpet or a turkish tent."--landor's _imaginary conversations--southey and porson--works_, vol. i. p. . i call upon the literary men of england, upon the english government, and upon the public, to set the example in a glorious expedition, which, even in this age of wonders, is one of no little importance and magnitude. i conjure them to bear in mind the words i have placed at the head of this article,--the opinion of one of our best and most delightful authors. this opinion mr. landor, veiled under the eidolon of porson, i feel assured, does not hold alone; i believe it to be engraven on the "red-leaved tablets" of the hearts of many more learned and more distinguished scholars than myself, who am but as the trumpet which is to rouse the friends of classical literature to action; as the bell which awakens the reaper to his abundant harvest: but i will sustain, that on none of them is it cut more deeply or more inextinguishably than on mine. i propose that the friends of classical, scandinavian, and oriental literature form themselves into an association for the rescue of the many ancient mss. in the greek, latin, anglo-saxon, norwegian, zend, sanscrit, hebrew, abyssinian, ethiopian, hindostanee, persian, syriac, arabic, armenian, coptic, turkish, and chinese languages:--that application be made to government for the pecuniary furtherance of this enterprise;--and that the active co-operation of all foreign literary men be secured.[ ] thus a careful and untiring search may be entered upon in all the regions of the earth where any mss. are likely to be found, and the recovery or loss of the many inestimable authors of antiquity be made certain. let the libraries of europe be examined strictly and inquisitorially (and this will not be a heavy expense), and the new accessions to classical literature printed, the mss. { } which present themselves of already known authors carefully examined, and the variations to the received text marked. how much this is wanted we experience in the corruptions of sophocles, Æschylus, thucydides, plato, and aristoteles! in this way much that is valuable may be recovered; much that is matter of discussion set at rest. let me instance the babrian fables, and the discovery of mr. harris at alexandria; who, it was remarked to me, might have discovered the whole, instead of a part, had proper hands unfolded the mummy. on the advantages of this search, it were useless to expatiate: every one is sensible of it, and, sooner or later, it _must_ occur. let us not allow our grandchildren to surpass us in everything, but let us set about this ourselves. monstrous as the idea seems, it is simple of execution. i will not take up the space so kindly afforded me by the editor of "notes and queries" with speculation. the association should be composed of a literary section and a business section: the first to be under the administration of a president and an efficient board of examiners, to look into literary matters, and examine and appoint the proper officers of the investigation parties; which parties must be composed of clever, adventurous, hardy, and adroit men, obtaining the assistance of the natives wherever they may be carrying on their researches; the second section to be under the direction of a chairman and finance committee, to which the officers of the subordinate departments render their accounts. i know not whether more will be required of me on this subject; very likely not: but i reserve much that i could say, until that time. i have now only to thank the editor for inserting this long, but i will not say, wholly uninteresting proposal. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. february . . [footnote : i need not remind you how favourable an opportunity is presented by this year.] * * * * * the essay on satire. dryden, as sir walter scott observes, left a name in literature "second only to those of milton and shakspere"; but, popular as his writings were, he gave no collective edition of his poetical or dramatic works. the current editions of his poems may therefore be open to censure, both on the score of deficiency and redundancy--and such i believe to be the fact. an _essay on satire_, itself a coarse satire, has been ascribed to him for more than a century on dubious authority, and the correctness of this ascription has been properly suggested as a question for examination. we have to decide on the credibility of two opposite statements, as made in the publications about to be enumerated:-- . "the works of john sheffield, earl of mulgrave, marquis of normanby, and duke of buckingham. london: printed for john barber, . º. vols." . "the works of john sheffield, earl of mulgrave, marquis of normanby, and duke of buckingham. printed for john barber, alderman of london, . small º. vols." . "original poems and translations, by john dryden, esq. london: printed for j. and r. tonson, . º. vols." in the two former publications, the poem appears as the entire composition of the noble author, and is said to have been "written in the year ." in the latter publication it appears without date, and is said to be "by mr. dryden and the earl of mulgrave." the publications were posthumous, and as the editors afford no explanation of the point in dispute, we must consult the reputed authors. in the year , as an advertisement to _king arthur_, a dramatic opera, dryden printed a catalogue of his "plays and poems in quarto," in order to prevent future mis-ascriptions. the catalogue comprises ten poems, but no _essay on satire_. the publisher of _king arthur_ was mr. jacob tonson. in , the earl of mulgrave published, anonymously, through the agency of mr. joseph hindmarsh, an _essay upon poetry_. it contains these lines:-- "the laureat here may justly claim our praise, crown'd by _mac-fleckno_ with immortal bays; though prais'd and punish'd for another's rimes, his own deserve that glorious fate sometimes, were he not forc'd to carry now dead weight, rid by some lumpish minister of state." in , mr. tonson published _poems by the earl of roscommon_; and added thereto the _essay on poetry_, "with the leave and with the corrections of the author." the lines shall now be given in their amended state, as they appear in that volume, with the accompanying notes:-- "the _laureat_[ ] here may justly claim our praise, crown'd by _mack-fleckno_[ ] with immortal bays; tho' _prais'd_ and _punish'd_ once for other's[ ] rhimes, his own deserve as great applause sometimes; yet _pegasus_[ ], of late, has born _dead weight_, rid by some _lumpish_ ministers of state." next to dryden and the earl of mulgrave, as authorities on this question, comes the elder jacob tonson. both writers were contributors to his _poetical miscellanies_. in he published _poems on various occasions, etc. by mr. john dryden_. the volume has not the _essay on satire_. the same { } tonson, as we have just seen, gave currency to the assertion that dryden was "ignorant of the whole matter." to this display of contemporary evidence must be added the information derivable from the posthumous publications enumerated in the former part of this article. the publication of was made by direction of the duchess of buckingham. the couplet, "tho' prais'd," &c., and the appended note, were omitted. in mr. alderman barber republished the volumes "with several additions, and without any castrations," restoring the couplet and note as they were printed in . in the _original poems_ of dryden, as collectively published in , the joint authorship is stated without a word of evidence in support of it. if we turn to the earlier writers on dryden, we meet with no facts in favour of his claim to the poem in question. anthony à wood says, "the earl of mulgrave was generally thought to be the author." this was written about . the reverend thomas birch, a man of vast information, repeated this statement in . neither congreve nor giles jacob allude to the poem. the witnesses on the other side are, . the publisher of the _state poems_. . dean lockier. and . the reverend thomas broughton. the _state poems_, in which the essay is ascribed to dryden, may be called a surreptitious publication: it carries no authority. the testimony of lockier, which is to the same effect, was never published by himself. it was a scrap of conversation held thirty years after the death of dryden, and reported by another from memory. the reverend thomas broughton, who asserts the joint authorship of the poems, cites as his authority the _original poems_, &c. now kippis assures us that he edited those volumes. on the question at issue, he could discover no authority but himself! dryden _may_ have revised the _essay on satire_. is that a sufficient reason for incorporating it with his works? do we tack to the works of pope the poems of wycherly and parnell? we have authority for stating that pope revised the _essay on poetry_. is it to be added to the works of pope? be it as it may, the poem was published, in substance, six years before pope was born! as the evidence is very brief, there can be no necessity for recapitulation; and i shall only add, that if about to edit the poetical works of dryden, i should reject the _essay on satire_. bolton corney. [footnote : mr. _dryden_.] [footnote : a famous satyrical poem of his.] [footnote : a copy of verses called, _an essay on satyr_, for which mr _dryden_ was both applauded and beaten, tho' not only innocent but ignorant, of the whole matter.] [footnote : a poem call'd, _the hind and panther_.] * * * * * macklin's ordinary and school of criticism. mr. george wingrove cooke, in his valuable work, _the history of party_ (vol. iii, p. .), gives an admirable sketch of the life of edmund burke. speaking of his early career, and of the various designs which he formed for his future course, we are told that "at _macklin's debating society_ he made the first essay of his powers of oratory." mr. cunningham, in his _handbook for london_, speaks of macklin delivering lectures on elocution at pewterer's hall (p. .), and of his residence in tavistock row, covent garden (p. .); but he does not mention _macklin's debating society_. i imagine that by this "debating society" is meant an _ordinary and school of criticism_, which that eminent actor established in the year , in the piazza, covent garden. mr. w. cooke, in his _life of macklin_, , p. ., says-- "what induced him [macklin] to quit the stage in the full vigour of fame and constitution, was one of those schemes which he had long previously indulged himself in, of suddenly making his fortune by the establishment of a tavern and coffee-house in the piazza, covent garden; to which he afterwards added a school of oratory, upon a plan hitherto unknown in england, founded upon the greek, roman, french, and italian societies, under the title of _the british inquisition_." the first part of this plan (the public ordinary) was opened on the th of march, ; and an amusing account of its operations may be found in angelo's _pic nic_, p. . the second part of "macklin's mad plan," as it was then termed, "the british inquisition," commenced proceedings on the st of november in the same year; and here, according to the first advertisement, "such subjects in arts, sciences, literature, criticism, philosophy, history, politics, and morality, as shall be found useful and entertaining to society, will be lectured upon and freely debated." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * "love's labour's lost (act ii. scene .). "it is odd that shakspeare should make dumain inquire after rosaline, who was the mistress of biron, and neglect katharine, who was his own. biron behaves in the same manner.--perhaps _all_ the ladies wore masks.--steevens. "they certainly did."--malone. "and what if they did?"--query. in what possible way can the circumstance of the ladies _wearing masks_ lessen the inconsistency pointed out by steevens? rosaline has been immediately singled out by her former admirer-- "did i not dance with you in brabant once?" --a circumstance quite inconsistent with uncertain identity afterwards. but if the gentlemen really did mistake the identity of their ladies, boyet's answers must have misled them into a similar mistake in _their names_: so that the natural consequence would have been, that each lover would afterwards address his { } poetical effusion _nominally_ to the wrong lady! which does not appear to have been the case. therefore, even if the masking be admitted, it can in no way lessen the inconsistency of the cross questions, which to me appears to have arisen from a most palpable instance of clerical or typographical transposition. steevens was on the right scent, although he rejected it in the same breath, when he said,-- "no advantage would be gained by _an exchange of names_, because the last speech is determined to biron by maria, who gives a character of him after he has made his exit." this is a good reason against a transposition in the _male_ names, but it is none whatever against the same occurrence in the ladies' names; and consequently it is there that the true solution of the difficulty must be sought. if we admit that a substitution may have occurred, of "rosaline" for "katharine," in boyet's answer to dumain, and _vice versâ_ in his answer to biron, all difficulty disappears at once. the completeness with which the idea of transposition not only accounts for the existence of the error, but at the same time suggests the manner in which it may be corrected, ought of itself to secure its reception, even if it were not corroborated in a very singular way by the following collateral circumstance. it may be observed that boyet points out two of the ladies, not only by name, but also by styling them "heirs;" one of falconbridge, the other of alençon. now in their previous descriptions of their respective lovers, one of the ladies (maria) says she had met longaville at a marriage of a "falconbridge;" another lady (katharine) says she had met dumain at "duke alençon's." when, therefore, we find that boyet, in reply to longaville's question, designates _maria_ as "heir of falconbridge," it is in direct analogy that he should, in answer to dumain's question, designate _katharine_ as "heir of alençon;" but, in consequence of the transposition of names, boyet appears, as the text now stands, to confer that designation, not upon katharine, but upon rosaline, whom biron had met at brabant! there can be no doubt, therefore, that the names of katharine and rosaline have been transposed _contrary to the author's intention_, and the only wonder is--not that such a very commonplace error should have been committed--but that it should have been suffered to remain through so many editions up to the present time. a. g. b. leeds, feb. . . * * * * * notes on newspapers. i send you the following, as a help to "materials for a satisfactory history of newspapers," alluded to in the last volume of "notes and queries," p. . i have in my possession some old newspapers, ranging from to , entitled _a collection for improvement of husbandry and trade_, edited by john houghton, f.r.s., st. bartholomew lane, behind the royal exchange, london. the size is a small folio, published weekly, generally every friday. it was carried on for some time merely as a single leaf, with no advertisements. in this form, the editor says-- "these papers are d. each here, and anybody may have them by the post. but where that is thought too much, it may be eased by ten or twelve obliging themselves constantly to take them from a bookseller, coffee-man, or some other, who may afford to pay a carrier, and sell them there for d., or at most d.; or carriers themselves may gain well, if they'll serve the country gentlemen. and any such bookseller, coffee-man, or carrier, that will apply themselves to me, shall have good encouragement, with liberty to return those that won't sell." ultimately the editor determined on admitting advertisements. he then doubled the size of his paper, making it two leaves instead of one. in reference to this increased size he says,-- "my collection i shall carry on as usual. this part is to give away; and those who like it not, may omit the reading. i believe it will help on trade, particularly encourage the advertisers to increase the vent of my papers. i shall receive all sorts of advertisements, but shall answer for the reasonableness of none; unless i give thereof a particular character, on which (as i shall give it) may be dependence, but no argument that others deserve not as well." "i am inform'd that great numbers of gazettes are each time printed, which makes them the most universal intelligencers; but i'll suppose mine their first handmaid, because it goes (tho' not so thick, yet) to most parts. it's also lasting, to be put into volumes with indexes; and particularly there shall be an index of all the advertisements, whereby, for ages to come, they may be useful. i have publish'd on the subject of husbandry and trade, two quarto volumes, three folio volumes, with the great sheet of taxes, acres, houses, &c.; and am weekly carrying on this paper, which may be brought to anybodies house within the bills of mortality, or penny post, for one penny the week; and anywhere else in england (where enough will encourage a bookseller or carrier). the volumes may be had from most booksellers of england, scotland, or ireland." the collection, which the editor will carry on as usual, refers to the single sheet. the gazette must have been the london gazette. in what sort of way the editor could suppose that advertisements could be useful for ages to come, we, in this age of enlightenment and knowledge, are at a loss to conceive. the great sheet of taxes, acres, houses, &c., i have, and may give you an account of its contents at some future time. the first page { } of the paper was always devoted to a letter from the editor's own pen on husbandry, trade, chemistry, domestic cookery, and a variety of other topics. the editor appears to have been a spirited man, who collected with great care and diligence a great variety of facts whereby to interest his readers. the advertisements are very curious, specimens of which i will give you in another communication. each paper contains the weekly prices of wheat, rye, barley, malt, oats, horse beans, peas, coals, hops, hay, tallow, and wool, in all the counties of england and wales; the prices of provisions in london; also a weekly statement of wind and weather; the number of deaths, and their causes; the number of christenings and burials, specifying how many of each sex. the editor often concludes a column of information by stating, "this is all i see useful to posterity." he not only appears to have been a man of an active mind, but also a very kind man; for he says to those who advertise in his paper for situations, &c., that "if they apply themselves to me, i'll strive to help them." he appears also to have kept a shop, or at least to have traded in certain articles: for in one of his papers is this advertisement:-- "in my first volume of , i publish'd my own selling of chocolate, and have sold in small quantities ever since: i have now two sorts, both made of the best nuts, without spice or perfume; the one s., and the other s. the pound; and i'll answer for their goodness. if i shall think fit to sell any other sorts, i'll give notice. john houghton." by this advertisement we get at the date when the paper was first published. h. m. bealby. north brixton. * * * * * mr. gough's translation of the history of the bible. the original work is thus described by brunet, in his _manuel_, paris, , vol. ii. p. .: "histoire du vieux et du nouveau testament (par dav. martin), enrichie de plus de fig. anvers (antwerp), p. mortier, , vol. gr. in fol." this work is usually called _bible de mortier_. it is not a difficult book to be met with, but the price varies considerably according to the state of the plates. h. f. _mr. gough's translation of the history of the bible_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a friend has furnished me with the following extract from the _manuel du libraire_ of m. j. c. brunet in reply to my inquiry who was the author of the original history. it is taken from tom. i. p. . "histoire du v. et du n. testament (par dav. martin), enrichie de plus de fig. anvers (antwerp.), p. mortier, , vol. gr. in fol." m. brunet informs us that copies of these volumes are valued by the state of the plates; one of which, in the apocalypse, having been broken, was mended with nails, which marked the impression, and gave the distinction of copies before or with the nails. as there can be no doubt but that most booksellers take in your useful publication, one of them may be induced to inform the undersigned if he has a copy for sale, and the price. j. m. gutch. worcester. * * * * * minor notes. _origin of harlequins._--in a note to his translation of priscus' "history of the embassy sent to attila by theodosius the younger" (_hist. civiliz._ app. iii. vol. ii. p. ., bogue's edit. european library), m. guizot remarks, alluding to the appearance of zercho, a moor, at attila's feast: "is it not singular to find an harlequin at the court of attila? yet such is the origin of these buffoons. the colour of the black slaves, the strangeness of their face and manners, caused them to be sought after as excellent ministers of mirth; to complete the singularity, zercho asks his wife at the hands of attila, closely paralleling harlequin demanding columbine." is this account of the origin of harlequins generally acquiesced in? i should be obliged by any early notice of the character of harlequin, and his introduction on the english or any foreign stage. e. l. n. _monosyllables_.--among the many correspondents who have sent you specimens of monosyllabic poetry, i have seen no one who has quoted this very singular passage from phineas fletcher's _purple island_. it is _far more striking_ than anything you have yet inserted on this subject. canto i. stanza . "new light new love, new love new life hath bred; a life that lives by love, and loves by light; a love to him to whom all loves are wed; a light to whom the sun is darkest night: eye's light, heart's love, soul's only life he is; life, soul, love, heart, light, eye, and all are his; he eye, light, heart, love, soul; he all my joy and bliss." in seventy words only _one_ of more than a syllable; the alliteration in the second line is likewise noticeable. h. a. b. trin. col., cambridge. _the breeches, or geneva bible_ (vol. iii, p. .).--i have before me a copy of christopher barkar's edition of the "breeches" bible, , small folio, in which, on the fly-leaf, is the following interesting note in the handwriting of the late francis douce:-- "it is generally conceived that the peculiarity, 'and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches,' belongs exclusively to this bible, but it is a mistake. the saxon version of Ælfric has, { } '_and sewed fig-leaves, and worked them_ weed-breech, _or cloaths for the breech._' wicliffe also translates 'and maden hem _breechis_;' and it is singular that littleton, in his excellent _dictionary_, explains _perizomata_, the word used in the vulgate, by _breeches_. in the manuscript french translation of petrus comestor's _commentary on the bible_, made by guiars des moulins in the th century, we have 'couvertures tout autres-sint comme unnes petites _braies_.'" edward f. rimbault. _etymology of mushroom._--in the sixteenth century this word appears generally to have been spelt _mushrump_. nares, in his valuable _glossary_, gives an instance from marlow's play of _edward the second_, ; but there is an earlier example in robert southwell's _spirituall poems_, : "he that high growth on cedars did bestow, gave also lowly _mushrumps_ leave to growe." it is also spelt _mushrump_ in cockeram's _dictionary_, . these instances may possibly lead to a correct etymology of the word. edward f. rimbault. _curious fact in natural history._--there is in the brazils a popular superstition to this effect. there is a tree called japécarga, which is said to grow out of the body of the insect called cigara. this is a very large tree, and the cigara is an insect which makes an incessant chirping on the tree, and, as the saying goes, chirps till it bursts. when the insect dies, the tree is said to grow out of it, the roots growing down the legs. my explanation is this: the insect feeds on the seeds of the japécarga, and occasionally, under advantageous circumstances, some of the seeds germinate, and cause the death of the insect, the tree shooting up through the softest part, the back, and the rootlets making their way down the only outlets, the legs. i wish to know whether any similar fact in natural history has been noticed, and if not, how is it accounted for, since i can vouch for the skin of the insect having been found with the tree growing out of its back, and the roots growing down through the legs. john manley. pernambuco. _hudibras in ._--on the back of the oldest register of the parish of syston, leicestershire, is the following memorandum:-- "july th, . borrow'd then of mr. hesketh _hudibrass_ in parts, w^{ch} i promise to return upon demand; witness my hand, john kilby." a pretty strong proof of the value and interest of this work about a century and a half ago. arun. _the great exhibition._--it is well known that the vineyards of switzerland have been long protected from hail by means of upright poles having copper wire attached to them, termed "paragrêles," distant from each other from to feet. the formation of hail is an effect of which electricity is the cause, and the cloud being deprived of this agent by the conductors, descends in the shape of rain. mr. john murray, f.s.a., f.l.s., &c., in his work on switzerland, speaks very decidedly of their utility. has then this ingenious contrivance been considered with reference to the protection of the great exhibition and its valuable, or rather invaluable, contents? or why is it deemed inapplicable to the purpose? c. t. * * * * * queries. the ten commandments. everybody can see that the first commandment is directed against polytheism, and the second against idolatry; and most people know that the church of rome differs from the church of england in joining these two into one commandment, and dividing the tenth into two commandments, so as to make up the full number, ten. this point of difference betwixt the two churches must necessarily have been the subject of much dispute. there must be plausible reasons on both sides for every commandment in the anglican ritual being different from its correspondent on the roman tables: and the settlement of this question must properly belong to the theologian, since holy scripture only mentions how many divine commandments there are (exodus, xxxiv. .; deuteronomy, iv. ., x. .), without authoritatively separating them. will any one kindly inform me where this question may be found fully discussed; and where mention is made of the earliest known divisions of the law? also, i should be glad to know how the jews at the present day divide the commandments; and whether there is any record or tradition of there ever having been discussions in their church upon this very interesting and no less important matter? alfred gatty. ecclesfield. * * * * * minor queries. _was hugh peters ever on the stage?_--in a pamphlet entitled _arbitrary government displayed to the life, in the illegal transactions of the late times under the tyrannick usurpation of oliver cromwell_, ed. , p. ., we are informed that hugh peters, after he had been expelled the university of cambridge, went to london, and enrolled himself as player in shakspeare's company, "in which he usually performed the part of clown." is there any other authority for this statement? edward f. rimbault. _english synonymes._--what are the books of best authority for the _synonymes_ of the english language? a foreigner. { } _christmas day._--which of the popes fixed dogmatically the th of december as the birthday of our saviour? was it not either julius i. or ii.? and what grounds had he for his decision? j. c. _a coggeshall job._--"_saffron walden, god help me._"--has the old saying of "a coggeshall job" occupied the attention of your readers? and why is it that many of the mendicants who ramble the county of suffolk in search of relief, when asked where they come from, reply in a pitiful tone, "saffron walden, god help me." j. c. easton. _t. gilburt on clandestine marriages._--i have a ms. against the validity of clandestine marriages, dated from oxford, june rd, , signed t. gilburt. it is a learned and argumentative treatise on this subject. it is entitled: "an argument against the validitie of clandestine marriages in the sight of god. sent with a letter to a person of qualitie desiring my judgment in y^e case wherein he was too nearly concerned." i am anxious to know who this t. gilburt may have been. w. f. _father hehl, and cahagnet._--if any of your numerous readers can say where any account of father hehl, who in discovered animal magnetism, may be found; and whether such a person as m. l. alph. cahagnet is _living_ in paris or elsewhere, whether he is a doctor or pharmacien, what his age may be, and whether the persons whose letters are given in his book, _arcanes de la vie future dévoilés_, are real or imaginary beings, they will greatly comfort engastrimythus. _roman catholic bishops in ireland._--can any of your readers refer me to any printed or manuscript account of the appointment of roman catholic bishops in ireland by the stuart family subsequent to the death of james ii., containing names, dates, &c.? drumlethglas. _derivation of the word fib._--can any of your readers suggest a proper derivation of this word? old bailey, to whom a reference would occasionally save many doubts and inquiries, connects it with "fable." johnson says nothing as to the etymology, but explains it as "a cant word among children;" while, at the same time, he inserts it on the authority of pope and arbuthnot. in reading the works of that very learned and instructive author, samuel werenfels, i was struck with a passage in his _diatribe de meteoris_, p. . (amstel. wetstein, ), which seemed to furnish a probable solution of the question:--"propter abusum nominis phoebi evenit, ut omnes qui, altius in oratione, quam decet, se extollere volunt, gallis hodiernis [greek: phoibologein] phoebum loqui, _parler_ _phebus_, dicantur." so far as the sound is concerned, this seems a nearer approximation to "fib" than the word "fable." the sense, too, is not _very_ remote from the accepted one of "_talking fibs_." query, as to this conjecture? c. h. p. brighton, feb. . . _thomas may, the author of the supplement to lucan._--who was this thomas may? to an elzevir edition of lucan, , amsterdam, "accuranto cornelio schrevelio," there is added "supplementum lucani libri septem; authore thoma maio, anglo." in the preface it is stated, "supplementum lucani ab anglo quodam antehâc seorsim editum, et huic materiæ aptissimum adjunximus, ne quid esset quod hic desideraretur." in the fourth book of this _supplement_, cato is represented as soliloquising before his death as follows:-- "quam diversa, inquit, restant post funera sortes! credo equidem, divine plato, te dogmata vera hæc ipsum docuisse deum. deus ipse sequendam (aut natura homines ratioque innata fefellit) proposuit virtutem, et præmia debita justis hæc quonian justos injusta potentia fraudat sæpius in terris, et gens humana rebellat solvere post mortem justissimus ipse tenetur." the famous soliloquy in addison's _cato_ seems to resemble this, in its general tone of thought. in a former passage occur these lines:-- "solatia sola hæc, quod meliore frui post mortem lumine sperat. immortalem animam spes hæc probat." the idea is similar to that contained in-- "else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, this longing after immortality?" addison seems to me to have had may's description of cato's death in his mind, when he wrote the soliloquy. j. h. l. _bunting's irish melodies._--this admirable musical scholar many years since promised a new edition of the first two volumes of his _irish airs_. is there any hope of this being soon accomplished? george stephens. stockholm. _rudbeck, campi elysii._--a copy of this work is said to exist in sherard's[ ] _collection_, in the botanical garden, oxford. it must have been acquired _before_ . (see _bibliotheca banksiana_, iii. .) vol. i.--the title and some following leaves are written. does any note exist as to _who_ copied these leaves, or _when_, or _where_? is any name of any former owner written on the book-back, title, or elsewhere; or is it known when it was purchased, or at what price? { } does any library-mark, auction-number, or other identifying signature occur? is it quite complete at the end, or is anything missing after page .? does the whole consist of figures, or have some leaves an introduction, text, or corrections, &c.? vol. ii.--does anything in this volume illustrate any of the above questions? a swedish bibliognost. stockholm. [footnote : sherard, .] _prince of wales' motto_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the query of effessa is one of great interest to us "taffies," but i wish to add the following to it. is there any foundation for the idea, which we so strenuously maintain, that "_ich dien_" is a misspelled edition of "_eich dyn_," "behold the man:" and that the motto was bestowed on edward of carnarvon in consequence of his royal father having learned these two welsh words, and made use of them when he presented his infant to the assembled tribes as a prince who could "speak no word of english?" seleucus. _borrow's danish ballads._--the singular author of _lavengro_, mr. geo. borrow, some years ago published certain translations of danish or other northern ballads, with which i have never been able to meet. can you or any of your readers furnish me with the title of the book and publisher's name? my curiosity respecting it has again been aroused somewhat strongly by the account in _lavengro_ of the way in which he began to study danish. it might afford a good lesson to all _young_ "philologers." i presume that, at the mature age of "notes and queries," commonplace compliments as to its usefulness and high general value, begin to be very stale; but i cannot close without a hearty "god speed" to you in your labours. bruno. _head of the saviour._--can any of your readers give me some information about an engraving of our saviour, which may just now be seen in many of the london print-shops? it represents the side-face, and is said to be a fac-simile of a likeness engraved on an emerald by order of some roman emperor, and which served as the ransom of some other famous person (who, i quite forget). is this really the truth? p. m. m. _lines on english history._--_the sword flamberg._--i shall be greatly obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me where i can procure a copy of some lines on english history, commencing: "william the norman conquers england's state-- in his own forest rufus meets his fate," &c. they are said to be written by a roman catholic gentleman named chaloner. i also wish to know something about the old german sword called the "flamberg." i have seen it represented as twisted like a column of flame, and should like to know its history, and whether there was any allusion in it to the flaming sword that kept the gate of paradise. mention is made of it by körner in his poem, "männer und buben:" "stosst mit an mann für mann wer den flamberg schwingen kann." can your correspondents tell me, also, whether there is such a phrase, expressive of the place where four roads met, as a "four warnt way," and whence its origin, and how properly spelt? an english mother. _denarius philosophorum._--can you inform me what the inscription "denarius philosophorum" means, on bishop thornborough's monument in worcester cathedral? d. y. _"sees good in everything."_--where does the line, "sees good in everything, and god in all." come from? d. y. christchurch, oxford. _oxford friar's voyage to the north pole._--in a book i have, entitled _prospects of the most famous parts of the world_, date , occurs the following: "towards the north pole we have gained, more in proportion, as far as nova zembla, and the sea is known to be navigable to the st degree: whether the rest be land or not it never yet appeared to any (as i heare of) but an oxford friar by a magique voyage. he reports of a black rock just under the pole, and an isle of pygmies; other strange miracles, to which, for my part, i shall give little credit till i have better proof for it than the devil's word." query, who was the friar? and where is the account of his voyage to be found? j. y. r. _roman catholic church._--the rev. j. m. neale has just published an appendix to his _introduction to the history of the holy eastern church_, containing a list of all the sees in that communion, with the names of the present possessors. can any of your correspondents inform me where i can meet with a similar notitia of the sees in the roman catholic church? e. h. a. [the _almanach du clergé de france_ contains a catalogue of roman catholic bishops throughout the world, complied from documents furnished by the congregation de propaganda fide of rome.] _cor linguæ._--may i ask who is the author of the following epigram, quoted by coke on the trial of garnet? "cor linguæ foederat naturæ sanctio, veluti in quodam certo connubio; ergo cum dissonent cor et locutio, sermo concipitur in adulterio." j. bs. { } _bishop hooper's godly confession, &c._--being engaged in editing bishop hooper's works, and finding myself impeded by want of the original edition of his _godly confession and protestation of the christian faith_, printed at london by john day, , i am induced to seek your assistance, and to ask whether you can inform me where a copy of the above work may be found? (the rev.) charles nevinson. browne's hospital, stamford. _extradition, ignore, diamagnetism._--in pursuance of my note to you regarding the definition of words in science and literature which may have sprung up of late years, will you allow me to quote, as instances in the latter department, the two words "extradition" and "ignore?" . is the following a correct definition of "extradition," viz., "the surrender by a state, of a political refugee, at the request of a foreign power?" . is the etymology of the word made up of "extra" and "ditio" put for "deditio," a giving up or surrendering? does "ignore" mean to "treat as non-existent;" and are there no other words in the language which express exactly the meaning conveyed by these two? in science, i would ask, is "diamagnetism" correctly explained by terming it "the property of any substance whereby it turns itself, when freely suspended, at right angles to the magnetic meridian." p. s. _cinquante lettres d'exhortation._--can any of your readers inform me who is the author of the following work?-- "cinquante lettres d'exhortation et de consolation sur les souffrances de ces derniers tems, et sur quelques autres sujets; écrites à diverses personnes par mons. d. v. b. pendant ses exils et ses prisons, en france; et depuis que par ordre du roi, il s'est retiré en hollande. la haye, , vo." the copy which i have seen is lettered on the back "beringke-lettres;" but i can find no account of any person of that name at all likely to have written the letters, nor any authority for ascribing their authorship to a person of that name. tyro. dublin. _old tract on the eucharist._--can any of your readers tell me the name of the author of the following tract?-- "a full view of the doctrines and practices of the ancient church, relating to the eucharist. lond. ." wishing to procure a copy, i have asked several booksellers, but without success. it has been most strongly recommended by a writer of the present day. abhba. * * * * * replies. cardinal's monument. (vol. iii., p. .) your correspondent and querist, j. d. a., asks for some information respecting the coat of arms surmounted by a cardinal's hat, sculptured and affixed to one of the pillars of the south transept in st. saviour's church, southwark. i send in reply an extract from a now scarce book, arthur tiler's _history and antiquities of st. saviour's_, , with which all the later historians of the church agree:-- "anno . hen. iv. "the whole church was new built about this time; henry beaufort (second son of john of gaunt, duke of lancaster, son of edward iii.), cardinal of st. eusebius, and bishop of winchester from the year to the time of his death in , might have contributed towards the building, being a man of great wealth, for which he was called the rich cardinal, _as the arms of the beauforts are carved in stone on a pillar in the south cross aisle; and by the remaining sculpture on each side it appears to be done for strings pendant from a cardinal's hat placed over them_. the arms are quarterly france and england, a border compone argent and azure." when the transepts were rebuilt, some years since, the cardinal's hat, which till that time was nearly defaced, was then restored, and the coat of arms newly emblazoned. w. b. . winchester place, st. saviour's, southwark. [g. a. s. and james h. smith have forwarded similar replies.] with reference to the query of j. d. a. (p. . antè), it would appear that the cardinal's hat, but with a difference in the number of rows of tassels, is sometimes seen on the monuments of men who never were raised to that dignity. in the cathedral of st. canice, kilkenny, are two monuments placed there during the rule of the confederate catholics, viz., that of james cleere, "protonotarius et rector ecclesiæ d. joannis dioecesis oporiensis," who died a.d. , nov. ; and david rothe, intrusive roman catholic bishop of ossery, who died some years after--on both of which the arms of the individual are surmounted by a cardinal's hat. it is quite certain that neither of these ecclesiastics had a right to this distinction _as cardinals_. for the right of bishops and prothonotaries to wear hats or caps of the same shape as the cardinals, with their colours and peculiarities, see _glossary of heraldry_ (oxford), under "cap-cardinals." any further examples will oblige j. graves. kilkenny, feb. . . the cardinal's hat, with arms beneath, on a pillar near the poet gower's monument, in st. saviour's, southwark, refers directly to the beneficence of that busy cardinal and very remarkable man, { } cardinal beaufort, bishop of winchester, and who in that capacity resided in the adjoining palace; indirectly it refers to the marriage of james v. of scotland with jane beaufort, the cardinal's niece: and it is something to the honour of st. mary overies, (the church in question,) to add that it was within its walls that the ceremony took place. besides gower, the parish registers state that edmond shakspeare ob. (one of the brothers of the great dramatist), john fletcher ob. , and philip massinger ob. . (see mr. knight's _old england_, eng. . p. .) blowen. a cardinal's hat is differenced by colour and the number of its tassels, not by its shape, which is the same for all clergymen. thus, for simple priests, a black hat, with one tassel on either side; for a bishop, a green hat with three tassels; for a cardinal, a crimson hat with five or seven tassels. what the reason may be for the variation in the number of the tassels amongst cardinals, i should be glad to learn. w. d-n. in ciaconius (_vitæ et res gestæ pontificum_, rome, ), there is a list of all the cardinals created up to that date, with their armorial bearings; and the only instances of france and england quarterly (which is, no doubt, what is intended), are those of cardinal beaufort, bishop of winchester, and cardinal hallum, bishop of salisbury. i can find no mention anywhere of the family of cardinal hallum, or hallam; and should be glad to know who he was descended from, and why he had those arms assigned to him by ciaconius, who is tolerably correct. a. w. m. * * * * * booty's case. (vol. iii., p. .) i cannot refer demonologist to an _authentic_ report of booty's case, but i believe none is more so, than that in kirby's _wonderful and eccentric museum_, vol. ii. p. . the following extract is given from the journal of mr. spinks:-- "friday, th may, . we had the observation of mr. booty this day. captain barrisby, captain bristowe, captain brown, i, and mr. ball, merchant, went on shore in captain barnaby's boat, to shoot rabbits upon stromboli; and when we had done we called all our men together by us, and about half an hour and fourteen minutes after three in the afternoon, to our great surprise, we all of us saw two men come running towards us with such swiftness that no living man could run half so fast as they did run, when all of us heard captain barnaby say, 'lord bless me, the foremost is old booty, my next-door neighbour;' but he said he did not know the other that run behind: he was in black clothes, and the foremost was in grey. then captain barnaby desired all of us to take an account of the time, and put it down in our pocket-books, and when we got on board we wrote it in our journals; for we saw them into the flames of fire, and there was a great noise which greatly affrighted us all; for we none of us ever saw or heard the like before. captain barnaby said he was certain it was old booty, which he saw running over stromboli and into the flames of hell. it is stated that captain barnaby told his wife, and she told somebody else, and that it was afterward told to mrs. booty, who arrested captain barnaby in a thousand pound action, for what he had said of her husband. captain barnaby gave bail to it, and it came on to a trial in the court of king's bench, and they had mr. booty's wearing apparel brought into court, and the sexton of the parish, and the people that were with him when he died; and we swore to our journals, and it came to the same time within two minutes; ten of our men swore to the buttons on his coat, and that they were covered with the same sort of cloth his coat was made of, and so it proved. the jury asked mr. spinks if he knew mr. booty. he answered, 'i never saw him till he ran by me on the burning mountain.'" the chief justice from april, , to february, , was sir robert wright. his name is not given in the report, but _the judge_ said-- "lord have mercy upon me, and grant that i may never see what you have seen: one, two, or three may be mistaken, but thirty never can be mistaken. so the widow lost her suit." an action for slander of a deceased husband, brought by the widow, and the defendant held to bail, is a remarkable beginning. the plea of justification, that booty ran into hell, is hardly supported by evidence that he ran into the flames at stromboli. the evidence was, that the defendant _said_ that one of the two runners was booty; it does not appear that the other witnesses knew him. the witnesses must have kept a good look to observe the buttons of booty's coat when he ran more than twice as fast as any living man could run. finally, as the time of the death and the observation "came to the same within two minutes," and stromboli is about ° east of gravesend, booty must have run to hell before he died. i have no doubt that "the case is well known in the navy." the facts are of the sort usually reported to the marines; but the law such as was unknown before & vict. c. . h. b. c. u. u. club, feb. . * * * * * the conquest. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .) i question the position of s. k., that the phrase "post conquestum" is used in the deed he cites (vol. ii., p. .) for the accession of the king. "post conquestum" was, in records and deeds, applied with more or less frequency to all our kings, from edward iii. to henry viii. to show this i give the following references to the pages of madox's _formulare anglicanum_:-- { } edward iii. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . richard ii. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . henry iv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . henry v. . . . . . . . . . . . henry vi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . edward iv. . . . . . . . . . . richard iii. . . . . henry vii. . . . . . . . . . henry viii. . . . . . . i believe "post conquestum" was also applied to edward v.; but the records and deeds of his short reign are necessarily but few. i conjecture that the use of the term "post conquestum" thus originated. as we had kings of england of the name of edward before the conquest, edward the first was distinguished from these monarchs by being styled "king edward, the son of king henry" (his father was called "king henry, the son of king john"). in like manner, edward ii. was distinguished from his father by being called "king edward, the son of king edward;" but edward iii. could not thus be distinguished from his father; he was therefore called king edward iii.; but, as there were kings edward _before_ the conquest, the third was qualified by the addition of the phrase in question, "post conquestum." to richard ii. generally, and to his successors up to henry viii. either generally or occasionally, the same phrase, "post conquestum," was also applied; but, if we except edward iv. and v., this phrase was not at all required, or applicable in their cases, inasmuch as no king of england _before_ the conquest was named either richard or henry. c. h. cooper. cambridge, feb. . . * * * * * descent of henry iv. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .) upon the deposition of richard ii., th september, , henry iv., then duke of lancaster, claimed the crown in the following terms: "in the name of the fader, sonne, and holy ghost, i, henry of lancastre, chalenge this rewme of ynglonde and the croune, with all the membres and the appurtenances, als i that am descendit be ryght lyne of the blode comyng fro the gude lord king henry thirde, and thorghe that ryght that god of his grace hath sent me with helpe of my kyn and of my friendes to recover it: the which rewme was in poynt to be ondone for defaut of governance, and undoying of the gude lawes." rapin observes upon this (vol. i. p. .):-- "it was not without reason that he affected to make use of obscure expressions, which left undetermined the foundation upon which he built his pretended right. if he seemed to derive his title from henry iii. rather than from edward iii., his grandfather, it was because there was a rumour that edmund, earl of lancaster, surnamed crouch-back, was eldest son of henry iii.; but by reason of his deformity edward i., his younger brother, was placed on the throne. according to this supposition, the duke would have made the ignorant believe he could ground his title upon being son of blanch of lancaster, granddaughter of edmund crouch-back, and heiress of that family. but as he was sensible everybody could not be imposed upon by so gross a forgery, he added certain expressions, intimating that he built his right also upon the service he had just done the state. this is the meaning of the claim, expressed in such obscure terms. as it was resolved to adjudge the crown to the duke, the parliament took care not to examine his claim too closely, but were very willing to suppose it uncontestable. thus, without any regard to the just rights of the earl of march, it was decreed that henry should be proclaimed king, which was done that very day," &c. it would seem, however, that henry was to a certain extent compelled to make his claim to the crown in the form he did (hales, _hist. c. l._ c. .), notwithstanding his desire to do so as a conqueror. (seld. _tit. hon._ l. .) j. b. colman. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _chauncy--entwysel._--to a dry genealogical query (vol. iii., p. .), your readers will wish me to reply as briefly as possible. f. r. r. will find that sir h. chauncy's statement is borrowed from weever. the latter founded his statement, that "wilfred entwysel was the last heir of his house," on the authority of dalton, norroy; but this statement, as your correspondent has shown, and as other evidence would prove, is not well-founded. it may be assumed that sir bertyne entwysel did not leave issue, _male_, by lucy his wife, the daughter of sir john ashton, of ashton-under-lyne, as leland speaks of a daughter only, "of whom master bradene, of northamptonshire, is descended." his connexion with lancashire is shown by his epitaph, and by our finding his name as a witness to a lancashire charter. the alliance which he formed may be urged as a further proof. leland's expression, that "he came into england," may imply that sir bertyne remained in france discharging the duties of his office, from the period of the battle of agincourt, where he { } signally distinguished himself, until his services were again called for in the wars of the roses. j. h. m. _"pretended" reprint of ancient poetry_, in j. taylor's catalogue of (vol. ii., p. .), replied to by cato (vol. ii., p. .).--my attention has been drawn to the above, wherein doubts have been raised as to the existence of a volume supposed to be unique; and criticisms follow on my note, which records the fact, that "only two copies were reprinted." cato has already stated that the reprinting the two copies was at the expense of the late rev. peter hall; and one copy produced at his sale twenty shillings: the other copy bore the impress of mr. davidson, a highly respectable printer; and that only two copies were reprinted, one of which came direct to me from the rev. peter hall. this copy was purchased from me by an eminent statesman, who has formed one of the finest libraries in the kingdom. james taylor, formerly of blackfriars road. newick, jan. . . _lights on the altar._--i would refer your correspondent d. sholbus (vol. ii., p. .) to one of the canons published under king edgar, about the year . lambard's latin version of the ordinance is as follows:-- "semper in ecclesia lumen ardeat dum missa decantetur." ([greek: archaionomia], ed. wheloc. p. . cantab. . compare cressy's _church history of brittany_, p. . a.d. .) r. g. _cognation of the jews and lacedæmonians_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i should occupy too much space in your interesting publication were i to give a list of the critics or ethnographers who have commented on this passage, and shall therefore be content to mention some of the most important works which may afford sufficient information, or at least enable your correspondent to pursue the inquiry farther. calmet's _dissertation sur la parenté des juifs et des lacédémoniens_, which is included in his dissertations, paris, , in vols. to, and also in his _commentaires_.--stillingfleet's _origines sacræ_, book iii., c. ., who admits the probability that the spartans had relation to abraham, as deriving from phaleg, from whom abraham came. this appears to have been intended by the expressions of josephus, [greek: ex henos genous kai ek tês pros abramon oikeiotêtos] (book xii. c. iv.); but the versions, and most critics, interpret the words in the th chap. of maccabees, [greek: ek genous abraam], as implying that they came from abraham: see selden, _de synedriis_, l. ii. c. iii. s.v.--the rev. charles forster's _historical geography of arabia_, part i. sect. vi., in which he discusses "the vestiges of arab colonies, and maintains the arabo-abrahamic origin of the greeks."--stephanus morinus, in _diss. de cognatione lacedæmoniorum et hebræorum_ (inter dissertationes viii. dordraci, , vo.) your correspondent, who, in vol. ii., p. ., requests to be supplied with "a list of all the theories and publications respecting the ten tribes commonly called the lost tribes," will probably be satisfied with that furnished by basnage's _history of the jews_, in which, however, he overlooks the theory of olaus rudbeckius, filius, that they are to be found neither in asia, nor africa, nor america, but in lapland! the same author, in a treatise _de ave selau, cujus mentio fit numer._ xi. ., endeavours to establish an analogy between the hebrew and gothic languages. t. j. _queen mary's lament_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the following copy of verses, written by this beautiful and unfortunate princess, during her confinement in fotheringay castle, was presented to the public by the kindness of a very eminent and liberal collector:-- "que suis-je helas? et de quoi sert la vie? j'en suis fors qu'un corps privé de cueur; un ombre vayn, un objet de malheur, qui n'a plus rien que de mourir en vie. plus ne me portez, o enemys, d'envie, qui n'a plus l'esprit à la grandeur, j'ai consommé d'excessive douleur, voltre ire en bref de voir assouvie. et vous amys qui m'avez tenu chere, souvenez-vous que sans cueur, et sans santey, je ne scaurois auqun bon oeuvre faire. souhaitez donc fin de calamitey, et que _sus bas_ étant assez punie, j'aie ma part en la joie infinie." the verses are written on a sheet of paper, by mary herself, in a large rambling hand. the following literal translation of them was made by a countrywoman of mary's, a lady in beauty of person and elegance of mind by no means inferior to that accomplished and unfortunate princess: "alas, what am i? and in what estate? a wretched corse bereaved of its heart, an empty shadow, lost, unfortunate: to die is now in life my only part. foes to my greatness, let your envy rest, in me no taste for grandeur now is found; consum'd by grief, with heavy ills oppress'd, your wishes and desires will soon be crown'd. and you, my friends, who still have held me dear, bethink you, that when health and heart are fled, and ev'ry hope of future good is dead, 'tis time to wish our sorrows ended here; and that this punishment on earth is given, that my pure soul may rise to endless bliss in heaven." immediately before her execution she repeated the following latin prayer, composed by herself, { } and which has been set to a beautiful plaintive air, by dr. harington of bath: "o domine deus speravi in te! o care mi jesu, nunc libera me! in durâ catenâ, in miserâ poenâ desidero te! languendo, gemendo, et genuflectendo, adoro, imploro, ut liberes me!" it may be thus paraphrased: "in this last solemn and tremendous hour, my lord, my saviour, i invoke thy power! in these sad pangs of anguish and of death, receive, o lord, thy suppliant's parting breath! before thy hallowed cross she prostrate lies, o hear her prayers, commiserate her sighs! extend thy arms of mercy and of love, and bear her to thy peaceful realms above." _anecdotes of some distinguished persons_, vo. london, , vol. i. p. . h. e. _tandem d. o. m._ (vol. iii., p. .)--i would suggest that this inscription might be resolved into "tandem deus otia misit," a thanksgiving for the fulfilment of some oft-made prayer or long-cherished hope; the idea--if i am right in my conjecture--having probably been taken from the th line of virgil's st eclogue-- "o melibæe! deus nobis hæc otia fecit." any accounts that remain of the great carthaginian captain's cornish namesake, may perhaps tend to show that he had preferred the "otium cum dignitate" of literary leisure to the turmoil of the battle of life, and to the use of the _harness_, whether civil or military, that it had forced him to wear. c. forbes. temple. [j. v. s. suggests, "may it not in its complete state be 'tandem deo, optimo et maximo,' and its translation, 'when all is done, let praise be to god most mighty and most beneficent?'" and x. z. says, "possibly, 'tandem desiderato opere mactus'--not, i think, a very choice specimen of latinity, but perhaps good enough for a fly-leaf."] _tandem d. o. m._ (vol. iii., p. .).--is not d. o. m. the common abbreviation for "deo optimo maximo?" and so the whole phrase an acknowledgment by the painful (and probably pious) collector of the most interesting library referred to, of his thanks to god on having "_at length_" obtained possession of some long-coveted folio, or vainly-sought-for edition? j. eastwood. ecclesfield. _d. o. m._--i am emboldened by the query respecting "tandem d. o. m. (vol. iii., p. .) to ask, what is the solution of d. o. m.? on the head of a tombstone, the inscription is frequent on the continent. i am aware that it is interpreted "deo optimo maximo" when occurring in the dedication of a church; but it appears on a tomb to supply the place of our m.s., or the d. m. of the romans. can any of your readers give me the true meaning? it must be well known, i should think, to all who have studied inscriptions. as i am indebted to faber marinus for an excuse for putting this query, it is only courteous to suggest a solution to his d. o. m.--may it be "datus omnino musis?" [greek: Ôô.] * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. to such of our readers, and we believe they form neither the least numerous nor the least intelligent portion of our friends, who consider the columns which we devote to _folk lore_ among the most interesting parts of our paper, we recommend an attentive perusal of a little work, which has just reached a second edition, and which is calculated to invest with fresh interest that very curious subject. we allude to dr. herbert mayo's volume _on the truths contained in popular superstitions, with an account of mesmerism_. dr. mayo's object is "to exhibit in their true light the singular natural phenomena by which old superstition and modern charlatanism have in turn profited,--to indicate their laws, and to develope their theory"--and he does this in a way to excite the reader's deepest attention, and to convince him that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in his philosophy. _daily steps towards heaven, or practical thoughts on the gospel history, and especially on the life and teaching of our lord jesus christ. for every day in the year, according to the christian seasons, with titles and characters of christ, and a harmony of the four gospels_, is the ample and descriptive title of a small devotional volume, which has been received with such favour by all classes of churchmen as to have passed through two large editions in little more than a twelve-month; which is better testimony to its merits than any we could give. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell on monday next, and the five following days, a valuable collection of books, from the library of a gentleman in the country, among which will be found some curious early english tracts relating to the church, and some scarce poetical pieces. messrs. puttick and simpson, of . piccadilly, will sell on monday, and five following days, the valuable library of the late rev. george innes, head master of the king's school, warwick; together with the library of a clergyman. books received.--_dr. pusey's letter to the lord bishop of london, in explanation of some statements contained in a letter by the rev. w. dodsworth._ _directions for the preservation of english antiquities, especially those of the first three periods._ by j. y. akerman. this little tract, which is illustrated with numerous woodcuts, has been prepared by the secretary of the society of antiquaries, in a cheap form (it is sold { } for a penny!), that by its wide circulation, especially among agricultural labourers, it may be the means of preserving many remains of interest. is it too much to ask those who approve of mr. akerman's object to assist in its circulation; and to further that object by depositing any articles which it may be the means of rescuing from destruction either in the british museum, or the museum of the society of antiquaries. catalogues received.--b. quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) cheap book circular, and catalogue of books in all languages; j. russell smith's ( . old compton street, soho) catalogue of ancient manuscripts on vellum and paper; deeds, charters, and other documents relating to english families and counties; hebrew manuscripts, autograph letters, &c. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. comenii (joan. amos) unius necessarii, amst. , to. ---- de independentiÂ, amst. , mo. ---- raymondi sebundi theologia naturalis, amst. , mo. ---- de regul fidei, amst., , mo. ---- de natura caloris et frigoris, amst., , mo. (comenii (j. a.) sed anon.) cartesius cum su philosophi eversus, mo. ripamontii (jos.) historia mediolanensis, mediol., , vols. fol. maresii (saml.) antirrheticon contra j. a. comenium, groning, to. erasti (thomÆ) de auro potabili, basil, , vo. ---- disputationes de medicina philippi paracelsi, parts, to., basil, . varro (terent.) de lingu latin cum notis g. scioppii, ingolds., , vo. epistola nobilissimi et literatissimi viri (i.e. danl. eremitÆ) patavio ad gasparem scioppium romam scripta, , to. macri (nicodemi) cum nicolao crasso disceptatio de parÆnesi cardinalis baronii ad rempub. venetam, venet., , vo. pompomatii (petri) operum nomenclator ex bibliothec jo. bourdelotii, paris, , vo. liceti (fortun.) de propriorum operum historia, patav. , to. scaligeri (jul. cÆs.) oratio de optimo dicendi genere contra erasmum, lutet., , vo. puteani (erycii) pompa prosphonetica, lovan., , vo. wottoni (hen.) epistola de gaspare scioppio, amberg., , vo. lavandÆ (eugenii) grammaticus pÆdicus, , mo. ---- grammaticus palÆphatius, , mo. ---- notÆ astrum inextinctum, , vo. spectator newspaper, no. . for sept. th, . (ten shillings will be given for a clean copy.) gretser (jacobus) opera omnia de sancta cruce accurate recognita multis partibus locupletata et uno in volumine edita. folio, ingolst. . michael drayton's works, vols. vo. . *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. m. a. h. "_a skeleton in every house._" _this saying doubtless had its origin in an italian story. see our second vol.,_ p. . l. j., _who inquires about the name_ rotten row, _is referred to our second vol._, p. . j. n. chadwick. "_a rowland for an oliver_" _is explained in our second vol._, p. ; _and "as lazy as ludlam's dog," which is a kindred proverb, to his "lazy as hall's dog," in_ vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. . m. r. _the royal arms from william the conqueror (?) to the time of henry ii. were two lions passant gardant; but henry ii., on his marriage with eleanor, added her arms, a lion passant gardant, to his own; making the three lions, which have continued to the present day to be the insignia of england. see parker's_ glossary of heraldry. charles h. markham. _the figures on the chemist's bottles are the signs denoting the seven planets, which the alchemist formerly employed in common with the astrologer. see a curious article entitled_ astrology and alchemy _in the_ quarterly review, vol. xxi. pp. . _et seq._ varro _is right in his conjecture; and thanked for his kindness and good wishes. will he not unmask?_ replies received. _waste-book--fronte capillatâ--north side of churches--"talk not of love"--sixes and sevens--george herbert at leighton bromswold--scandal against queen elizabeth--aver--anticipations of modern ideas--scaligers--snail, snail--nettle in--cushion dance--shakspeare's captious--sun, stand thou still--barons of hugh lupus--predeceased and designed--the spider and the fly--crede quod habes--culprits torn by horses--"antony and cleopatra"--ballad editing--by hook or by crook--blunder--true blue--steele's birth-place--machell's mss.--sir andrew chadwick--gray's elegy--crossing rivers on skins--passage in tennyson--jurare ad caput--lines on woman--chapters in english bibles--dozen of bread--cum grano salis--warming-pans--langholme fair--the fir cone._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. _errata._--no. . p. . col. . l. ., for "_paternoster_, i.e." read "_paternostreè_"; and in some copies of no. , in the last stanza of the digby poems, "pa_w_ and ma_w_" had not been corrected, as they should have been, to "pa_n_ and ma_n_." * * * * * the advertiser is desirous of meeting with a situation as amanuensis, or reader to a gentleman; or as secretary, or librarian, either to a society, or a private gentleman: or any other situation where literary tastes and knowledge are required. unexceptionable reference given. address mr. d. stevens, church street, godalming. * * * * * everything for the toilet at mechi's manufactory, . leadenhall street.--superior hair, nail, tooth, shaving, and flesh brushes, clothes and hat brushes, combs, washing and shaving soaps. various nail and corn instruments, razors, razor strops and paste and shaving powder, ladies' and gentlemen's dressing-cases, with or without fittings, in russia leather, mahogany, rosewood and japan ware, ladies' companions and pocket-books, elegantly fitted, also knitting-boxes, envelope cases, card cases, note and cake baskets, beautiful inkstands, and an infinity of recherche articles not to be equalled. * * * * * published this day, mo., cloth, s. the dialect and folk-lore of northamptonshire. a glossary of northamptonshire provincialisms; collection of fairy legends, popular superstitions, ancient customs, proverbs, &c. by thomas sternberg. london: j. russell smith, . old compton street, soho. * * * * * foreign literature. d. nutt begs to call the attention of the public to his establishment for the sale of foreign books, both old and new, in various languages, and in every department of literature. his stock is one of the largest of its kind in london, and is being continually augmented by weekly importations from the continent. he has recently published the following catalogues, either of which may be had gratis, and forwarded anywhere by post upon receipt of four stamps:--classical and philological books; miscellaneous german books and elementary works; theological, philosophical, and oriental books. . strand (opposite arundel street), removed from fleet street. { } * * * * * in the press. the third and fourth volumes of the judges of england. by edward foss, f.s.a. comprehending the period from edward i. to richard iii., to . lately published, price s. volumes i. and ii. of the same work; from the conquest to the end of henry iii., to . london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * arnold's demosthenes, with english notes. in mo., price s. d. the oration of demosthenes on the crown, edited, from the best text, with english notes, and grammatical references. by the rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivington's, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same editor (with english notes): . the olynthiac orations of demosthenes. s. . the ajax of sophocles. s. . the philoctetes of sophocles. (in the press.) * * * * * horÆ vacivÆ. just published, in fcap. mo. (printed by c. whittingham, chiswick), price s. d. bound in cloth, a thought book--horÆ vacivÆ; or, a thought book of the wise spirits of all ages and all countries, fit for all men and all hours. collected, arranged, and edited by james elmes, author of "memoirs of sir christopher wren," &c. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * just published, in vols. vo. price s., cloth, the saxons in england: a history of the english commonwealth till the period of the norman conquest. by john m. kemble, m.a., f.c.p.s. "the work throughout conveys a clearer idea of the life and character of the saxons in england than anything we have met with elsewhere. * * * this account of the saxons in england will indicate its historical and archæological value; but these are not its only uses. the lawyer will find in its pages the germs of our common law, especially relating to land; and the ethnologist or political philosopher will meet with much assistance in his inquiries into the early social condition of mankind."--_spectator._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * will be published, in vo., price s. d., march st, the numismatist: a monthly publication, exclusively devoted to the familiar illustration of the science of numismatography, or that branch of antiquarian research which relates to ancient coins and medals. by maximilian borrell. london john hearne, . strand; rollin, . rue vivienne, paris; bailliere, new york. * * * * * sowerby's english botany. now ready, vol. iv. price l. s. cloth boards. vols. i. ii. and iii., price l. s. d. each, and cases for binding the vols. always on hand. *** subscribers who may desire to complete their copies can do so from the stock of the second edition, at re-issue price. to be had of mr. sowerby, . mead place, lambeth; and of all booksellers. * * * * * dr. pusey's defence, of his own principles: a letter to the bishop of london in explanation of some statements contained in a letter by the rev. w. dodsworth. by the rev. e. b. pusey, d.d. third and cheaper edition. mo. pp. . s. also now ready, vo., price s. dr. pusey's renewed explanations, in consequence of the rev. w. dodsworth's comments on the above. oxford: john henry parker, and . strand, london. * * * * * the family almanack and educational register for the year of our lord . containing, in addition to the usual contents of an almanack, a list of the foundation and grammar schools in england and wales; together with an account of the scholarships and exhibitions attached to them. post vo. s. london: john henry parker, . strand. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for march contains among others the following articles:--the state paper office (being the first of a series of papers on the present state of english historical literature).--newly discovered poems by bishop hall.--saint francis and the franciscans.--the glossary of architecture.--the story of nell gwyn, chapter iii. (being part of an original work by peter cunningham, esq., f. s. a., now in course of publication in the magazine).--nineveh and persepolis restored (with engravings).--the character of socrates.--baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities of scotland (with engravings).--seize quartiers of queen anne.--notes of the month.--review of new works.--full reports of the society of antiquarians and other archæological societies.--historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the duke of newcastle, the countess of warwick, lord viscount alford, field-marshal grosvenor, william holmes, esq., george taylor, esq., of witton, &c., &c.--price s. d. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * this day, part , price s. plain; s. d. tinted, proofs, large paper, s. the churches of the middle ages. by henry bowman and jospeh s. crowther, architects, manchester. contents: st. stephen's, etton, northamptonshire.--south elevation. st. peter's, threekingham, lincolnshire.--belfry windows and lower lucarnes, n. e. and w. sides of spire: lower lucarnes s. side of spire, and st, nd, and rd tier of spire lights: inner south doorway and north doorway: mouldings, full size. st. andrew's, heckington, lincolnshire.--north doorway, nave piers and archmouldings. caps and bases, nave, transept, choir and tower arches. to be completed in twenty parts, each containing plates, imperial folio. "we can hardly conceive anything more perfect. we heartily recommend this series to all who are able to patronize it."--_ecclesiologist._ london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * this day, no. ., price s. d., details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples. by james k. colling, architect. contents: doorway from etton church, yorkshire. priest's doorways from denton church, norfolk, and higham ferrers church, northamptonshire. window from frampton church, lincolnshire. tracery and groining from beverley minster. one compartment of nave and label terminations from st. mary's church, beverley. { } * * * * * this day is published, for march, , number nineteen of john miller's catalogue of books, old and new, on sale at . chandos street, trafalgar square. this series of catalogues for , contains no. . books on architecture, painting, and fine arts generally, heraldry, family history, poetry, and the drama. no. . classics, coins, ireland, language, phrenology, sports and games. no. . bibles and bible prints, manuscripts, banking & currency, london, shakspeare, history, chronicles and divinity. no. . 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[price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page burton's "anatomy of melancholy," by dr. e. f. rimbault "[greek: aiôn]," its derivation william lyons, bishop of cork, cloyne, and ross curious marriage agreement ancient american languages, by k. r. h. mackenzie conduitt and newton, by bolton corney minor notes:--the music in middleton's tragi-comedy of the "witch"--mr. macaulay and sir archibald alison in error--"paid down upon the nail"--corpulence a crime--curious tender--the year --a significant hint queries:-- literary queries, by the rev. r. bingham minor queries:--hunter of polmood in tweed-dale-- dinteville family--eastern practice of medicine-- sunday--three picture queries--"cutting off with a shilling"--inman or ingman family--constable of masham--fading ink--sir ralph killigrew minor queries with answers:--pepys--"retainers to seven shares and a half"--madden's "reflections and resolutions proper for the gentlemen of ireland"-- king edward i.'s arm--elstob, elizabeth--monumental brasses in london replies:-- rapping no novelty: and table-turning, by wm. winthrop, &c. general whitelocke, by j. s. harry, &c. "man proposes, but god disposes," by j. w. thomas, &c. napoleon's spelling, by h. h. breen memoirs of grammont, by w. h. lammin the myrtle bee, by charles brown celtic etymology photographic correspondence:--improvements in the albumenized process--mr. crookes on restoring old collodion--photographic queries replies to minor queries:--london fortifications-- burke's domestic correspondence--battle of villers-en-couché--"i could not love thee, dear, so much"--sir charles cotterell--muffins and crumpets-- "clunk"--picts' houses--tailless cats--"cock-and-bull story"--market crosses--"largesse"--awkward, awart, awalt--morgan odoherty--black rat--blue bells of scotland--grammars, &c. for public schools--warville miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * bohn's standard library for march. cowper's complete works, edited by southey: comprising his poems, correspondence, and translations; with memoir. illustrated with fifty fine engravings on steel, after designs by harvey. to be completed in vols. vol. iii., continuation of memoir and correspondence. post vo., cloth, s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for march. addison's works, with the notes of bishop hurd. in four volumes. with portrait and engravings on steel. vol. ii. post vo., cloth, s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for march. athenÆus. the deipnosophists, or the banquet of the learned, translated by c. d. yonge, b.a., with an appendix of poetical fragments rendered into english verse by various authors, and general index. complete in vols. vols. ii. and iii. post vo. cloth, s. each. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for march. mudie's british birds, or history of the feathered tribes of the british islands. fifth edition, revised by w. c. l. martin, esq. complete in vols. post vo. illustrated with plates, containing figures of birds, and additional plates of eggs. cloth, s. per volume; or, with the plates coloured, s. d. per vol. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for march. ingulph's chronicle of the abbey of croyland, with the continuations by peter of blois and other writers. translated, with notes and an index, by h. t. riley, b.a. complete in vol. post vo. cloth s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * to book-buyers.--just published, gratis, part xiii., catalogue of second-hand books in the various classes of english literature (including numerous illustrated works) in excellent condition and at very low prices. w. j. crawford (successor to the late j. dowding), . newgate street, london. *** if required by post, a stamp to be forwarded. * * * * * valuable books, for sale by thomas kerslake, bookseller, bristol. art union journal, complete from the beginning to dec. . very fine plates. to. l. s. chalmers's british poets. royal vo., vols., bds., uncut. l. s. chalmers's biographical dictionary. vo., vols., bound in , half vell., l. s. a circulating library, including works of marryatt, d'israeli, blessington, hooke, &c., &c., &c., and others of the best modern novels, mostly in good half-binding, being vols., besides vols. of broken sets, l. s. o'conor (c., d.d.), rerum hibernicarum scriptores. to., vols., fine set, russia, extra gilt, gilt edges, l. s. dryden's works, by scott, . post vo., vols., half calf, neat, l. s. geological transactions, - . many coloured plates. to., vols., calf, neat, l. s. manning and bray's surrey. vols., half russia, l. s. murchison's silurian system. to., vols., with the large separate map. l. s. nichols's literary anecdotes, and illustrations, - . vo., vols., in , calf extra, gilt, a very handsome set with uncut edges, l. s. paxton's magazine of botany. coloured plates, and above wood engravings. royal vo., vols., complete, handsomely bound, half morocco, gilt edges. l. s. piranesi opere, about , plates, atlas folio, a complete set, bound in vols., half russia, gilt, guineas. quarterly review, to , with indexes. vo., vols., half calf, neat, uniform, l. s. retrospective review. vols., half morocco, neat, l. s. smith's catalogue of painters, with supplement, - . royal vo., vols., l. s. strype's works. vo., vols., calf extra, gilt, uniform, a beautiful set. l. s. *** it will be necessary to order direct from the advertiser. the net cash prices being fixed, there can be no commission nor discount to booksellers or agents. thomas kerslake, bristol. * * * * * { } the first volume is now ready, with portrait of miss burney, price s., of a cheap edition of madame d'arblay's diary and correspondence. including the period of her residence at the court of queen charlotte. to be completed in seven monthly volumes, price only s. each, elegantly bound, embellished with portraits. "miss burney's work ought to be placed beside boswell's 'life,' to which it forms an excellent supplement."--_times._ "madame d'arblay lived to be a classic. her diary is written in her best manner. it ought to be consulted by every person who wishes to be well acquainted with the history of our literature and our manners."--_edinburgh review._ published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * notice. pepys' diary and correspondence. the new and improved library edition of this popular work, in vols. demy vo., price s. d. per vol., illustrated with portraits and other plates, and with numerous additional letters, notes, &c. &c. edited by lord braybrooke, is now ready. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * notice. burke's peerage and baronetage. the greatly improved and corrected edition for , is now ready. orders received by all booksellers. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for march contains the following articles:-- lord john russell's life of fox. grotius on war and peace. rhine-land and its romance. paula and eustochium. the oxford septuagint. monuments of the english republican refugees at vevays. cervantes and his writings. the new patron saint of amiens. ruined cities in america. with correspondence of sylvanus urban, notes of the month, historical and miscellaneous reviews, reports of archæological societies, historical chronicle, and obituary; including memoirs of viscount beresford, hon. dr. clive, gen. sir thomas bradford, rev. dr. f. a. cox, rev. william jay, b. l. vulliamy, esq., &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * now publishing, in six volumes, octavo (containing , pages), price l. s. cloth. matthew henry's commentary on the old and new testaments. to which is prefixed a life of the author, with introductory remarks, &c. also, four of his sermons, viz. i. a sermon on family religion.--ii. how to begin every day with god.--iii. how to spend every day with god.--iv. how to close every day with god. an invaluable present from a parent to his family on their settling in life. london: p. p. thoms, warwick square. sold by all booksellers. * * * * * annotated edition of the english poets. by robert bell. in monthly volumes, s. d. each in cloth. this day, the second volume, s. d., of the poetical works of john dryden, with historical and illustrative notes. by robert bell. already published, s. d. each, poetical works of john dryden, vol. i., with memoir, containing new facts and original letters of the poet. poetical works of the earl of surrey, of minor contemporaneous poets, and of sackville, lord buckhurst. with notes and memoirs. on the st of april, poetical works of william cowper, vol. i. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, vo., s. the mediterranean: a memoir. physical, historical, and nautical. by rear-admiral w. h. smyth, d.c.l., foreign secretary of the royal society. by the same author, two volumes, vo., with numerous illustrations. l. s. cycle of celestial objects. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * fraser's magazine for march, price s. d., or by post s., contains: the plurality of worlds. villemain's memoirs. a day's curling. gallinaceana. -- peacocks and guinea fowls. a pageant which meant something. general bounce: or, the lady and the locusts. by the author of "digby grand." chaps. v. and vi. the british jews:--a letter to the editor. sinope after the battle. the decline and fall of the corporation of london.--iii. the corporation as suitors, justices, and judges. beaumarchais. researches in dutch literature.--no. ii. oxford reform and oxford professors. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * second hand books.--a list of valuable second-hand books in theology, political economy, history, and miscellaneous and classical literature, selected from his very extensive stock, gratis, on receipt of one stamp for postage. w. heath, . new oxford street, near the british museum. * * * * * discount to schools and booksellers. in order to meet the increasing demand for educational works, varty & owen beg to announce that they will allow to all schools and booksellers, _ per cent. discount_ on orders from the list just issued of school books and tablet lessons of which they are the publishers--provided the amount of such orders be not less than l. _nett._ they will also allow _per cent. discount_ on all orders for their maps, atlases, pictures, diagrams, &c., to the same amount: or orders may be given including both classes of publications _not less than_ l. _nett._ at the respective rates of discount; but they must be accompanied by a money order on the charing cross post-office, payable to varty & owen, educational depository, . strand, london. * * * * * new educational works. by charles baker. _for secular instruction._ reading without spelling, second edition, d. the circle of knowledge, gradation i., third edition, d. ditto, manual edition, for pupil teachers, &c., s. d. the circle of knowledge, gradation ii., third edition, d. ditto. manual edition, for pupil teachers, &c., s. d. the circle of knowledge, gradation iii., third edition, s. d. ditto, manual edition, for pupil teachers, &c., s. d. manual for collective teaching, no. i., objects, d. _scriptural series._ the book of bible history, gradation i., second edition, d. the book of bible history, gradation ii., second edition, d. the book of bible history, gradation iii., second edition, s. d. the bible class book, with notes and poems, pp. , s. d. bible exercises on the tabular view, d. the book of bible characters. third edition, s. the book of bible geography. third edition, s. the book of bible events, fourth edition, with chart, s. _tablet lessons._ (metal frames may be had for each set of tablet lessons.) circle of knowledge, gradation i., sheets, large type, s. circle of knowledge, gradation ii., sheets, large type, s. circle of knowledge, gradation iii., sheets, large type, s. bible history, gradation i., oblong quarto, s. fifty-six tablet lessons on bible chronology, s. d. class lessons on the tabular view, large type, s. d. _charts._ tubular view of the old testament, on rollers, s. tabular chart of the gospels, &c., on rollers, s. a chart of bible chronology, on rollers, s. full allowance made to schools. london: varty & owen, educational depository, . strand, and may be had of all booksellers and stationers. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d. published quarterly. retrospective review (new series): consisting of criticism upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, march , ._ * * * * * notes. burton's "anatomy of melancholy." in this age of "new editions," it is a wonder that no one has favoured the public with a reprint, with notes _variorum_, of this celebrated english classic. dr. dibdin, in a note to his edition of more's _utopia_, vol. ii. p. ., says: "whoever will be at the trouble of consulting part ii, sect. iv. memb.. i. subsect. . of the last folio edition of burton [ ], will see how it varies from the first folio of ; and will, in consequence, regret the omission of the notice of these variations in the octavo editions of burton recently published." the octavo editions here referred to are those of and ; the latter, i believe, edited by edward du bois. the folio of is, in all probability, an exact reprint of that of , which certainly differs considerably from those of an earlier date. henry cripps, the publisher of the edition of , has the following notice: "_to the reader._ be pleased to know (courteous reader) that since the last impression of this book, the ingenuous author of it is deceased, leaving a copy of it exactly corrected, with several considerable additions by his own hand. this copy he committed to my care and custody, with directions to have those additions inserted in the next edition; which, in order to his command and the publicke good, is faithfully performed in this last impression. h. c." modern writers have been deeply indebted to old robert burton; but he, in his turn, was equally indebted to earlier writers. dr. dibdin remarks: "i suspect that burton, the author of the _anatomy of melancholy_, was intimately acquainted with boiastuan's book as translated by alday; for there are passages in burton's 'love melancholy' (the most extraordinary and amusing part of his work), which bear a very strong resemblance to many in the 'gests and countenances ridiculous of lovers,' at p. of boiastuan's _theatre, or rule of the world_." the title of the curious book mentioned in this extract is-- "theatrum mundi. theatre, or rule of the world: wherein may bee seene the running race and course of everie mannes lyfe, as touching miserie and felicitie: whereunto is added a learned worke of the excellencie of man. written in french by peter boiastuan. translated by john alday. printed by thomas east, for john wright, vo. ." but burton was more indebted to another work, very similar in title and matter to his own; i mean dr. bright's curious little volume, of which i transcribe the title-page in full: "a treatise of melancholy: contayning the causes thereof, and reasons of the strange effects it worketh in our minds and bodies; with the phisicke cure, and spirituall consolation for such as have thereto adjoyned afflicted conscience. the difference betwixt it and melancholy, with diverse philosophical discourses touching actions, and affections of soule, spirit, and body: the particulars whereof are to be seene before the booke. by t. bright, doctor of phisicke. imprinted at london by john windet, sm. vo. ." it has been remarked that burton does not acknowledge his obligations to bright. this, however, is not strictly true, as the former acknowledges _several quotations_ in the course of his work. it would certainly be desirable, in the event of a new edition of the _anatomy_, that a comparison of the two books should be made. as a beginning towards this end, i subjoin a table of the contents of bright's _treatise_, with a notice of some similar passages in burton's _anatomy_, arranged in parallel columns. i may just add, that bright's _treatise_ consists of pages, exclusive of a dedication "to the right worshipful m. peter osborne," &c. (dated from "little s. bartlemews by smithfield, the of may, "); and an address "to his melancholick friend m." all that is known of his biography has been collected by the rev. joseph hunter, and communicated to the last edition of wood's _athenæ oxonienses_, vol. ii. p. . _note_. bright's "treatise of melancholy," | burton's "anatomy of melancholy," . | edit. . | _the contentes of the booke according | _parallel sections._ to the chapters._ | | . how diversely the word melancholy | definition of melancholy: name, is taken. | difference. | . the causes of natural melancholy, | the causes of melancholy. and of the excesse thereof. | | . whether good nourishment | customs of dyet, delight, appetite, breede melancholy, by fault of the | accessity: how they cause body turning it into melancholy: | or hinder. and whether such humour is found | in nourishments, or rather is made | of them. | | . the aunswere to objections | dyet rectified in substance. made against the breeding of | melancholicke humour out of | nourishment. | | . a more particular and farther | answere to the former objections. | | . the causes of the increase and | immediate cause of these precedent excesse of melancholicke humour. | symptomes. | . of the melancholicke excrement. | of the matter of melancholy. | . what burnt choller is, and | the causes thereof. | | . how melancholie worketh | symptomes or signes in the fearful passions in the mind. | mind. | . how the body affecteth the | of the soul and her faculties. soule. | | . objections againste the manner | how the body affecteth the | soule, with answere thereunto. | | . a farther answere to the | former objections, and of the simple | facultie of the soule, and onely | organicall of spirit and body. | | . how the soule, by one simple | facultie, performeth so many and | diverse actions. | | { } . the particular answeres to | the objections made in the th | chapter. | | . whether perturbations rise | division of perturbations. of humour or not, with a division | of the perturbations. | | . whether perturbations which | are not moved by outward occasions | rise of humour or not: and | how? | | . how melancholie procureth | sorrow, fear, envy, hatred, malice, feare, sadnes, despaire, and such | anger, &c. causes. passions. | | . of the unnaturall melancholie | symptomes of head-melancholy. rising by adjustion: how | it affecteth us with diverse passions.| | . how sickness and yeares | continent, inward, antecedent, seeme to alter the mind, and the | next causes, and how the body cause: and how the soule hath | works on the mind. practise of senses separated from | the body. | | . the accidentes which befall | an heap of other accidents causing melancholie persons. | melancholy. | . how melancholie altereth | distemperature of particular the qualities of the body. | parts. | . how melancholie altereth | those actions which rise out of the | braine. | | . how affections be altered. | | . the causes of teares, and | their saltnes. | | . why teares endure not all | the time of the cause: and why in | weeping commonly the finger is | put in the eie. | | . of the partes of weeping: | why the countenance is cast down, | the forehead lowreth, the nose | droppeth, the lippe trembleth, &c. | | . the causes of sobbing and | sighing: and how weeping easeth | the heart. | | . how melancholie easeth | both weeping and laughing, with | the reasons why. | | . the causes of blushing and | causes of these symptomes [_i.e._ bashfulness, and why melancholie | bashfulness and blushing]. persons are given therunto. | | . of the naturall actions altered | by melancholie. | | . how melancholie altereth | symptomes of melancholy the naturall workes of the body: | abounding in the whole body. juice and excrement. | | . of the affliction of conscience | guilty conscience for offence for sinne. | committed. | . whether the afflicted conscience | be of melancholie. | | . the particular difference betwixt | how melancholy and despair melancholie and the afflicted | differ. conscience in the same | person. | | . the affliction of mind: to | passions and perturbations of what persons it befalleth, and by | the mind; how they cause what means. | melancholy. | . a consolation to the afflicted | conscience. | | . the cure of melancholie; | cure of melancholy over all the and how melancholicke persons | body. are to order themselves in actions | of minde, sense, and motion. | | . how melancholicke persons | perturbations of the mind are to order themselves in their | rectified. affections. | | . how melancholicke persons | dyet rectified; ayre rectified, &c. are to order themselves in the rest | of their diet, and what choice they | are to make of ayre, meate, and | drinke, house, and apparell. | | . the cure by medicine meete | of physick which cureth with for melancholicke persons. | medicines. | . the manner of strengthening | correctors of accidents to procure melancholicke persons after | sleep. purging: with correction of some | of their accidents. | edward f. rimbault. * * * * * "[greek: aiôn]," its derivation. as the old postulate respecting the etymology of this important word, from [greek: aeiôn], however superficial, is too attractive to be surrendered, even in the present day, by some respectable authorities, the judgment of your classical correspondents is requested, as to the accuracy of the more philosophical origin of the term which has been adopted by commentators of unquestionable erudition and undisputed eminence. the rule by which those distinguished scholars, lennep and scheidius, determine the etymology of [greek: aiôn], is as follows: "nomina in [greek: ôn] desinentia, formata ab aliis nominibus, _collectiva_ sunt, sive _copiam_ earum rerum, quæ _primitivo_ designantur notant--ut sunt [greek: dendrôn], a [greek: dendron], arboretum; [greek: elaiôn], olivetum, ab [greek: elaion]; [greek: rhodôn], rosetum, a [greek: rhodon] (also the nouns [greek: ankôn, agôn, akremôn, bonbôn, paiôn, ploutôn, pôgôn, chitôn]).--nempe formata videntur hæc nomina in [greek: ôn], a genitivis pluralibus substantivorum. genitivus singularis horum nominum, in [greek: ônos], contractione sua, hanc originem satis videtur demonstrare." in immediate reference to the word [greek: aiôn], they say: "[greek: aiôn], Ævum, Æternitas. nomen ex eo genere, quod natura sua _collectionem_ et _multitudinem_ rerum notat; ut patet ex terminatione [greek: ôn]. quemadmodum in voce [greek: aei], vidimus eam esse translatam eximie ad significationem _temporis_, ab illa flandi, spirandive, quæ est in origine [greek: aô]; sic in nostro [greek: aiôn] eadem translationis ratio locum habet; ut adeo quasi _temporum collectionem_, vel _multitudinem_ significet. a qua denuo significatione propriâ profectæ sunt eæ, quibus vel _ævum_, vel _æternitatem_, vel _hominis ætatem_ descripsere veteres. formata (vox) est a nomine inusitato [greek: aios], vel [greek: aïos], quod ab [greek: aïs], cujus naturam, in voce [greek: aei], expossi. cæterum, a græco nostro [greek: aiôn], interposito digammate Æolico, ortum, est [greek: aiwôn], et hinc lat. ævum." as then it is impossible to place [greek: aiôn], whose genitive is [greek: aiônos], in the same category with the derivatives from [greek: ôn], the participle present of [greek: eimi], whose genitive is [greek: ontos]; and as, secondly, this derivation places the word out of the range of the collective nouns so declined, which are derived from other nouns, as this appears to be, can the real etymology of the word [greek: aiôn], and its derivatives, remain any longer a matter of question and debate? c. h. p. * * * * * william lyon, bishop of cork, cloyne, and ross. it is very generally believed that dr. william lyon (not lyons, as he is sometimes called) was originally in the navy; that having distinguished himself in several actions against the spaniards, he was promised by queen elizabeth the first crown appointment that should be vacant; and that this happening to be the see of cork, he was appointed to it. this is mentioned in other works as well as in mr. crofton croker's very agreeable _researches in the south of ireland_, p. .; and i have more than once heard it given as a remarkable instance of church preferment. { } sir james ware informs us that bishop lyon was vicar of naas in , vicar of brandanston in , and chaplain to lord grey, who was sent to ireland as lord deputy in september, . this is inconsistent with the statement, that queen elizabeth took him from the quarter-deck to make him a bishop, inasmuch as he was in holy orders, and in possession of preferment in ireland, nearly ten years before he was raised to the highest order in the ministry. if, therefore, he was ever distinguished for gallantry in naval warfare, it must have been before ; for we have no reason to suppose that the rev. george walker, the hero of londonderry, had him as an example. but, as no action with the spaniards could have taken place prior to , how is this to be reconciled with the common account, that his gallantry against them attracted the notice of the queen? in a miscellaneous compilation, entitled _jefferson's selections_ (published in york in , and indebted for its information about lyon to an old newspaper, which gave oral tradition as its sole authority), we are told that his picture, in the captain's uniform, the left hand wanting a finger, is still to be seen in the bishop's palace at cork. the picture is there, and represents him certainly as wanting a finger; he is dressed, however, not in a captain's uniform, but in a very scholar-like black gown. i know not how mr. croker could have given the year as the date of his appointment to the see of cloyne, for we learn from ware, who is no mean authority, that he was first appointed to the see of ross in ; that the sees of cork and cloyne were given to him _in commendam_ in (as is recorded in the consistorial court of cork), and that the three sees were formally united in his person in . in he was appointed one of the commissioners to consider the best means of peopling munster with english settlers, and of establishing a voluntary composition throughout that province in lieu of cess and taxes; this does not look as if he had been an illiterate captain of a ship, or one of those "rude-bred soldiers, whose education was at the musket-mouth." in fact, ware does not seem to have considered him remarkable for anything except such qualities as well became his order. and we have the high testimony of archbishop bramhall (quoted by ware), that "cork and ross fared the best of any bishoprick in that province, a very good man, bishop lyon, having been placed there early in the reformation." abhba. * * * * * curious marriage agreement. the original of the following paper is in existence in this city: "to mrs. deborah leaming. "madam.--seeing i, jacob sprier, have addressed myself to you upon the design of marriage, i therefore esteem it necessary to submit to your consideration some particulars, before we enter upon that solemn enterprise which may either establish our happiness or occasion our inquietude during life, and if you concur with those particulars, i shall have great encouragement to carry my design into execution; and since happiness is the grand pursuit of a rational creature, so marriage ought not to be attempted short of a prospect of arriving thereat; and in order thereto (should we marry) i conceive the following rules and particulars ought to be steadily observed and kept, viz.: " st. that we keep but one purse: a severance of interest bespeaking diffidence, mistrust, and disunity of mind. " nd. that we avoid anger as much as possible, especially with each other; but if either should be overtaken therewith, the other to treat the angry party with temper and moderation during the continuance of such anger; and afterwards, if need require, let the matter of heat be coolly discussed when reason shall resume its government. " rd. as we have different stocks of children to which we are and ought to be strongly attached by ties of nature, so it's proper when such children or any of them need correction, it be administered by the party from whom they have descended; unless, in the opinion of both parties, it shall be thought necessary to be otherwise administered for the children's good. " th. that no difference or partiality be made with respect to such children who live with us in point of common usage touching education, food, raiment, and treatment, otherwise than as age, circumstance, and convenience may render it necessary, to be agreed upon between us, and grounded upon reason. " th. that civility, courtesy, and kind treatment be always exercised and extended towards such child or children that now is or hereafter may be removed from us. " th. that we use our mutual endeavours to instruct, counsel, improve, admonish, and advise all our children, without partiality, for their general good; and that we ardently endeavour to promote both their temporal and eternal welfare. " th. that each of us use our best endeavours to inculcate upon the minds of our respective stocks of children a venerable and honourable opinion of the other of us; and avoid as much as possible any insinuation that may have a different tendency. " th. that in matters where either of us is more capable of judging than the other of us, and best acquainted therein, that the person so most capable of judging, and best acquainted, do follow his or her own judgment without control, unless the other shall be able to give a sufficient reason to the contrary; then, and in such case, the same to be conclusive; and that we do adhere to each other in things reasonable and expedient { } with a mutual condescension, and also advise with and consult each other in matters of importance. " th. that if any misunderstanding should arise, the same be calmly canvassed and accommodated between ourselves, without admitting the interposition of any other, or seeking a confident to either to reveal our mind unto, or sympathise withal upon the occasion. " th. that no suspicious jealousies of any kind whatever be harboured in our breasts, without absolute or good circumstantial evidence; and if conceived upon proof or strong presumption, the same to be communicated to the suspected person, in temper and moderation, and not told to another. " th. that we be just, chaste, and continent to each other; and should either prove otherwise, that then we separate, notwithstanding the most solemn ties to the contrary, unless it shall suit the injured party to forgive the injury and continue the coverture; and in case of separation, each of us to keep such share of wealth as we were possessed of when are came together, if it remains in the same state, as to quantum; but if over or under, then in proportion to what we originally had. " th. that we neither give into, nor countenance any ill advisers who may have a design to mar our happiness, and sow discord between us. " th. that in matters of religious concernment, we be at liberty to exercise our sentiments freely without control. " th. that we use our mutual endeavours to increase our affection, cultivate our harmony, promote our happiness, and live in the fear of god, and in obedience to his righteous laws. " th. that we use the relatives of each other with friendly kindness; and that the same be extended to our friends and benefactors, mutually, without grudging. " th. that the survivor of us endeavour, after the death of either of us, to maintain the reputation and dignity of the deceased, by avoiding levity of behaviour, dissoluteness of life and disgraceful marriage; not only so, but that such survivor persevere in good offices to the children of the deceased, as a discreet, faithful, and honourable survivor ought to do. " th. that in case jacob sprier, after trial, shall not think it for his interest, or agreeable to his disposition, to live at the plantation where deborah leaming now resides, then, and in such case, she to remove with him elsewhere upon a prospect promising to better his circumstances or promote his happiness, provided the landed interest of the said deborah's late husband be taken proper care of for the benefit of her son christopher. " th. that the said jacob sprier be allowed from time to time to purchase such books from our joint stock as he shall think necessary for the advantage and improvement of himself and our children jointly, or either of them, without grudging. " th. that the said jacob sprier do continue to keep elisha hughes, and perform his express agreement to him according to indenture already executed, and discharge the trust reposed in him the said sprier by the another of the said elisha, without grudging or complaint. " th. and as the said deborah leaming, and the said jacob sprier, are now something advanced in years and ought to take the comfort of life as free from hard toil as convenience will admit, therefore neither of them be subject thereunto unless in case of emergence, and this exemption to be no ways censured by each other, provided they supervise, contrive, and do the light necessary services incumbent on the respected heads of a family, not omitting to cultivate their minds when convenience will admit. " st. that if anything be omitted in the foregoing rules and particulars, that may conduce to our future happiness and welfare, the same to be hereafter supplied by reason and discretion, as often as occasion shall require. " nd. that the said jacob sprier shall not upbraid the said deborah leaming with the extraordinary industry and good economy of his deceased wife, neither shall the said deborah leaming upbraid the said jacob sprier with the like extraordinary industry and good economy of her deceased husband, neither shall anything of this nature be observed by either to the other of us, with any view to offend or irritate the party to whom observed; a thing too frequently practised in a second marriage, and very fatal to the repose of parties married. "i, deborah leaming, in case i marry with jacob sprier, do hereby promise to observe and perform the before-going rules and particulars, containing twenty-two in number to the best of my power. as witness my hand, the th day of decem'r, : (signed) "deborah leaming. "i, jacob sprier, in case i marry with deborah leaming, do hereby promise to observe and perform the before-going rules and particulars, containing twenty two in number, to the best of my power. as witness my hand, the th day of december, : (signed) "jacob sprier." oldbuck. philadelphia. * * * * * ancient american languages. (_continued from_ vol. vi., pp. , .) since communicating to you a short list of a few books i had noted as having reference to this obscure subject, i have stumbled over a few others which bear special reference to the quichua: and of which i beg to send you a short account, which may be worthy a place in your valuable pages. the first work upon the quichua language, of which i find mention, is a grammar of the peruvian indians (_gramatica ó arte general de la lengua de los indios del perù_), by the brother domingo de san thomas, published in valladolid in , and republished in the same year with an appendix, being a vocabulary of the quichua. the demand for the first edition appears to have been considerable; or, what is more likely, from the extreme rarity of the work, the careful author { } suppressed or called in the first edition, in order to add, for the benefit of his purchasers, the vocabulary which he had found time to prepare within the year. the work of san thomas seems to have glutted the market for some twenty years; for we do not find that any one made a collection of words or grammatical forms until the year , when antonio ricardo published a kind of introduction to the quichua, having sole reference to that language, without anything more than an explanation in spanish.[ ] this work, like that of his predecessor, was immediately remodelled and re-published in a very much extended form in the same year. ricardo's books are amongst the first printed in that part of america. diego de torres rubio is the next writer of whom i am cognizant. he published at seville, in , a grammar and vocabulary of the quichua; the subject still continuing to attract attention. still, as was to be expected, the quichua language was of more consequence to the spaniards of peru. no doubt, therefore, that father juan martinez found a ready sale for his vocabulary, published at los reyes in . indeed, the subject is now attracting the attention of the eminent diego gonzalez holguin, who published first a new grammar (_gramatica nuevu_) of the quichua and inca dialect, in four books, at the press of francisco del canto, in los reyes, ; and second, a vocabulary of the language of the whole of peru (_de todo el perù_), in the same year and at the same press. it is worthy to remark, as confuting somewhat fully the assertion of prescott (_conquest of peru_, v. ii. p. .), that the spanish name of ciudad de los reyes ceased to be used in speaking of lima "within the first generation," that the books of ricardo, holguin, and huerta (of whom presently) are all stated to have been printed in the ciudad de los reyes, though the latest of these appeared in . in , however, to confine myself strictly to the bibliographical inquiry suggested by the heading of my article, a method and vocabulary of the quichua did appear from canto's press, dated lima,--a corruption, as is well known, of the word _rimac_. that, however, the castilian name should be employed later, is curious. at any rate, it occurs for the last time on the title of a work printed by the same printer, canto, in ; and written by don alonso de huerta, the old title being adhered to, probably from some cause unknown to us, but possibly in consequence of old aristocratic opinions and prejudices in favour of the spanish name. that the name of lima had obtained considerably even in the time of the conquerors, mr. prescott has sufficiently proved; but as an official and recognised name it evidently existed to a later period than the historian has mentioned. the work of torres rubio, already mentioned, was reprinted in lima by francisco lasso in . from this time forward, the subject of the native language of peru seems to have occupied the attention of many writers. a quarto grammar was published by diego de olmos in of the indian language, as the quichuan now came to be called. eleven years later, we find fernando de carrera, curate and vicar of san martin de reque, publishing an elaborate word bearing the following title: "arte de la lengua yunga de los valles del obispado de truxillo; con un confesonario y todas las oraciones cotidianas y otras cosas: lima, por juan de contreras, , mo." grammars and methods here follow thick and fast. a few years after carrera's book, in , comes don juan roxo mexia y ocon, _natural de cuzco_, as he proudly styles himself with a method of the indian language: and after a few insignificant works, again another in , by estevan sancho de melgar. the most common works on the quichua are the third and fourth editions of torres rubio, published at lima in the years and . of these two works done with that care and evident pleasure which jesuits always, and perhaps only, bestow upon these difficult by-roads of philology, i need say no more, as they are very well known. before i close this communication, allow me to suggest to the readers and contributors to the truly valuable "n. & q.," that no tittle of knowledge concerning these early philological researches ought to be allowed to remain unrecorded; and with the position which the "n. & q." occupies, and the facilities that journal offers for the preservation of these stray scraps of knowledge, surely it would not be amiss to send them to the editor, and let him decide as he is very capable of doing, as to their value. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. february . . [footnote : arte y vocabulario de la lengua, uamada quichua. en la ciudad de los reyes, , vo.] * * * * * conduitt and newton in the prospectus of a new _life_ of sir isaac newton, by sir david brewster, it is stated that in examining the papers at hurstbourne park, the seat of the earl of portsmouth, the discovery had been maple of "copious materials which mr. conduit had collected for a life of newton, _which had never been supposed to exist_." about the year i consulted the principal biographers of newton--conduitt, fontenelle, birch, philip nichols, thomas thomson, biot, { } brewster--and i have ever since believed that such materials _did exist_. we are assured by mr. edmund turnor, in the preface to his _history of grantham_, printed in , which work is quoted in the prospectus, that the manuscripts at hurstbourne park then chiefly consisted of some pocket-books and memorandums of sir isaac newton, and "the information obtained by mr. conduitt for the purpose of writing his life." moreover, the collections of mr. conduitt are repeatedly quoted in that work as distinct from the memoirs which were sent to m. de fontenelle. i shall give another anecdote in refutation of the statement made in the prospectus, albeit a superfluity. in the author of _the seasons_ republished his _poem to the memory of sir isaac newton_, with the addition of the lines which follow, and which prove that he was aware of the task on which mr. conduitt was then occupied. the lines, it should be observed, have been omitted in all the editions printed since . "this, conduitt, from thy rural hours we hope; as through the pleasing shade, where nature pours her every sweet, in studious ease you walk; the social passions smiling at thy heart, that glows with all the recollected sage." the _pleasing shade_ indicates the grounds of cranbury-lodge, in hampshire, the seat of mr. conduitt--whose guest the poet seems previously to have been. some inedited particulars of the life of mr. conduitt, drawn from various sources, i reserve for another occasion. bolton corney. * * * * * minor notes. _the music in middleton's tragi-comedy of the "witch."_--joseph ritson, in a letter addressed to j. c. walker (july, ), printed in pickering's edition of ritson's _letters_ (vol. ii. p. .) has the following passage:-- "it may be to your purpose, at the same time, to know that the songs in middleton's _witch_, which appear also to have been introduced in _macbeth_, beginning, 'hecate, hecate, come away,' and 'black spirits and white,' have (as i am informed) been lately discovered in ms. with the complete harmony, as performed at the original representation of these plays. you will find the words in a note to the late editions of shakspeare; and i shall, probably, one of these days, obtain a sight of the musick." the ms. here mentioned was in the collection of the late mr. j. stafford smith, one of the organists of the chapel royal. at the sale of this gentleman's valuable library it passed, with many other treasures of a similar nature, into my possession, where it now remains. edward f. rimbault. _mr. macaulay and sir archibald alison in error._--how was it that mr. macaulay, in two editions of his _history_, placed the execution of lord russell on tower hill? did it not take place in lincoln's inn fields? and why does sir a. alison, in the volume of his _history_ just published, speak of the children of catherine of arragon? and likewise inform us that locke was expelled from cambridge? was he not expelled from the university of oxford? abhba. "_paid down upon the nail._"--the origin of this phrase is thus stated in the _recollections of o'keefe_ the dramatist: "an ample piazza under the exchange [in limerick] was a thoroughfare: in the centre stood a pillar about four feet high, and upon it a circular plate of copper about three feet in diameter: this was called _the nail_, and on it was paid the earnest for any commercial bargains made; which was the origin of saying, 'paid down upon the nail.'" but perhaps the custom, of which mr. o'keefe speaks, was common to other ancient towns? abhba. _corpulence a crime._--mr. bruce has written, in his _classic and historic portraits_, that the ancient spartan paid as much attention to the rearing of men as the cattle dealers in modern england do to the breeding of cattle. they took charge of firmness and looseness of men's flesh; and regulated the degree of fatness to which it was lawful, in a free state, for any citizen to extend his body. those who dared to grow too fat, or too soft for military exercise and the service of sparta, were soundly whipped. in one particular instance, that of nauclis, the son of polytus, the offender was brought before the ephori, and a meeting of the whole people of sparta, at which his unlawful fatness was publicly exposed; and he was threatened with perpetual banishment if he did not bring his body within the regular spartan compass, and give up his culpable mode of living; which was declared to be more worthy of an ionian than a son of lacedæmon. w. w. _curious tender._-- "if any young clergyman, somewhat agreeable in person, and who has a small fortune independent, can be well recommended as to strictness of morals and good temper, firmly attached to the present happy establishment, and is willing to engage in the matrimonial estate with an agreeable young lady in whose power it is immediately to bestow a living of nearly l. per annum, in a very pleasant situation, with a good prospect of preferment,--any person whom this may suit may leave a line at the bar of the union coffee house in the strand, directed to z. z., within three days of this advertisement. the utmost secrecy and honour may be depended upon."--_london chronicle_, march, . e. h. a. { } _the year ._--this year commenced and will terminate on a sunday. in looking through the almanac, it will be seen that there are _five sundays in five months_ of the year, viz. in january, april, july, october, and december; five _mondays_ in january, may, july, and october; five _tuesdays_ in january, may, august, and october; five _wednesdays_ in march, may, august, and november; five _thursdays_, in march, june, august, and november; five _fridays_ in march, june, september, and december; five _saturdays_ in april, july, september, and december; and, lastly, fifty-three _sundays_ in the year. the age of her majesty the queen is thirty-five, or seven times five; and the age of prince albert the same. last christmas having fallen on the sunday, i am reminded of the following lines: "lordings all of you i warn, if the day that christ was born fall upon a sunday, the winter shall be good i say, but great winds aloft shall be; the summer shall be fine and dry. _by kind skill, and without loss,_ _through all lands there shall be peace._ good time for all things to be done; but he that stealeth shall be found soon. what child that day born may be, a great lord he shall live to be." w. w. malta. _a significant hint._--the following lines were communicated to me by a friend some years ago, as having been written by a blacksmith of the village of tideswell in derbyshire; who, having often been reproved by the parson, or ridiculed by his neighbours, for drunkenness, placed them on the church door the day after the event they commemorate: "ye tideswellites, can this be true, which fame's loud trumpet brings; that ye, to view the cambrian prince, forsook the king of kings? that when his rattling chariot wheels, proclaim'd his highness near, ye trod upon each others' heels, to leave the house of prayer. be wise next time, adopt this plan, lest ye be left i' th' lurch; and place at th' end of th' town a man to ask him into church." it is said that, on the occasion of the late prince of wales passing through tideswell on a sunday, a man was placed to give notice of his coming, and the parson and his flock rushed out to see him pass at full gallop. e. p. paling. chorley. * * * * * queries. literary queries. mr. richard bingham will feel grateful to any literary friend who may be able to assist him in solving some or all of the following difficulties. . where does panormitan or tudeschis (_commentar. in quinque libros decretalium_) apply the term nullatenenses to titular and utopian bishops? see _origines ecclesiasticæ_, . . . . in which of his books does john bale, bishop of ossory, speaking of the monks of bangor, term them "apostolicals?" see ibid., . . . . where does erasmus say that the preachers of the roman church invoked the virgin mary in the beginning of their discourses, much as the heathen poets were used to invoke their muses? see ibid., . . .; and _ferrarius de ritu concionum_, l. i. c. xi. . bona (_rer. liturg._, l. ii. c. ii. n. .) speaks of an epistle from athanasius to eustathius, where he inveighs against the arian bishops, who in the beginning of their sermons said "_pax vobiscum!_" while they harassed others, and were tragically at war. but the learned bingham ( . . .) passes this by, and leaves it with bona, because there is no such epistle in the works of athanasius. where else? how can bona's error be corrected? or is there extant _in operibus athanasii_ a letter of his to some other person, containing the expressions to which bona refers? . in another place (_rer. liturg._, l. ii. c. . n. .) bona refers to tom. iii. p. . of an _auctor antiquitatum liturgicarum_ for certain _formulæ_; and joseph bingham ( . . .) understands him to mean _pamelius_, whose work does not exceed two volumes. neither does pamelius notice at all the _first of the two formulæ_, though he has the second, or nearly the same. how can this also be explained? and to what work, either anonymous or otherwise, did bona refer in his expression "auctor antiquitatum liturgicarum?" . in which old edition of _gratiani decretum_, probably before the early part of the sixteenth century, can be found the unmutilated glosses of john semeca, surnamed teutonicus? and especially the gloss on _de consecrat., distinct._ . c. ., where he says that even in his time ( ?) the custom still prevailed in some places of giving the eucharist to babes? see _orig. ecclesiast._, . . . . joseph bingham ( . . .) finds fault with baronius for asserting that pope symmachus anathematized the emperor anastasius, and asserts that instead of _ista quidem ego_, as given by baronius and binius, in the epistle of symmachus, ep. vii. al. vi. (see also labbe and cossart, t. iv. p. .), the true reading is _ista quidem nego_. how can this be verified? the epistle is not extant either in crabbe or merlin. is the argument { } of j. b. borne out by any good authority, either in manuscript or print? mr. bingham will feel further obliged if the replies to any or all of these queries be forwarded direct to his address at . gloucester place, portman square, london. * * * * * minor queries. _hunter of polmood in tweed-dale._--where can the pedigree of the hunters of polmood, in peebleshire, be seen? hufreer. _dinteville family._--of the family of dinteville there were at this time, viz. , two knights of the order of st. john of jerusalem. st. _pierre de dinteville_, commander of troyes, and seneschal of his order; son of claude de dinteville, seigneur de polisi and chevets in burgundy, and his wife jeanne de la beaume, daughter of the lord of mont st. sorlin. the other was nephew to the _pierre_ above mentioned, son of his younger brother gaucher, lord of polisi, &c.; and his wife, anne du plessis d'ouschamps. his name was _louis de dinteville_: he was born june , ; was commander of tupigni and villedieu, and died at malta, july , ; leaving a natural son, maria de dinteville, abbé of st. michael de tonnerre, who was killed in paris by a pistol-shot in . the brother of this chevalier louis, _jean_, seign. of polisi, &c., was _ambassador_ in england, and died a cripple a.d. . query, which was the "dominus" of the king's letter? anon. _eastern practice of medicine._--i shall feel indebted to any correspondent who will refer me to some works on the theory and practice of medicine as pursued by the native practitioners of india and the east generally? c. clifton barry. _sunday._--when and where does sunday begin or end? t. t. w. _three picture queries._-- . kugler (_schools of painting in italy_, edited by sir charles eastlake, nd edit., , part ii. p. .), speaking of leonardo da vinci's cartoon, representing the victory of the florentines in over nicolo picinnino, general of the duke of milan, and which has now perished, says: "rubens copied from leonardo's, a group of four horsemen fighting for a standard: this is engraved by edelingk, and is just sufficient to make us bitterly deplore the loss of this rich and grand work." does this picture exist? does edelingk's engraving state in whose possession it was then? . where can i find any account of a painter named st. denis? from his name and style, he appears to have been french, and to have flourished subsequently to . . titian painted charles iii., duke of bourbon and constable of france, who was killed may , , at the siege of rome. where is this picture? it is said to have been engraved by nörsterman. where may i see the engraving? arthur paget. "_cutting off with a shilling._"--this is understood to have arisen from the notion that the heir could not be utterly disinherited by will: that something, however small, must be left him. had such a notion any foundation in the law of england at any time? j. h. chateau. philadelphia. _inman or ingman family._--the family of inman, ionman, or ingman, variously spelt, derive from john of gaunt. this family was settled for five successive generations at bowthwaite grange, netherdale or nithisdale, co. york, and inter-married with many of the principal families of that period. alfred inman married amelia, daughter of owen gam. who was owen gam? arthur inman married cecilia, daughter of llewellyn clifford. who was llewellyn clifford? not mentioned in the clifford peerage. perhaps mr. hughes, or some other correspondent of "n. & q.," may know, and have the kindness to make known his genealogical history. this family being strong adherents of the house of lancaster, raised a troop in the royal cause under the duke of newcastle, at the fatal battle of marston moor, where several brothers were slain, the rest dispersed, and the property confiscated to cromwell's party about - . any genealogical detail from public records prior to that period, would be useful in tracing the descent. sir william de roas de ingmanthorpe was summoned to parliament in the reign of edw. i. this ingmanthorpe, or inmanthorpe (spelt both ways), is, according to thoresby, near knaresborough on the nidd. query, was this person's name inman from his residence, as usual at that period? arms: vert, on a chevron or, three roses gules, slipped and leaved vert. crest, on a mount vert, a wyvern ppr. ducally gorged, and lined or. motto lost. a subscriber. southsea. _constable of masham._--alan bellingham of levins, in westmoreland, married susan, daughter of marmaduke constable of masham, in yorkshire, before the year . i should be very much obliged to any of your genealogical readers, if they can inform me who was marmaduke constable of masham; to which { } family of constable he belonged; and where i could find a pedigree of his family. comes stabuli. malta. _fading ink._--i have somewhere seen a receipt for an ink, which completely fades away after it has been written a few months. will some chemical reader kindly refer me to it? c. clifton barry. _sir ralph killigrew._--who was sir ralph killigrew, born _circa_ . i should be very much obliged to be referred to a good pedigree of the killigrew family of the above period. patonce. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _pepys._--i have lately acquired a collection of letters between pepys and major aungier, sir isaac newton, halley, and other persons, relating to the management of the mathematical school at christ's hospital; and containing details of the career of some of the king's scholars after leaving the school. the letters extend from to ; and are the original letters received by pepys, with his drafts of the answers. they are loosely stitched, in order of date, in a thick volume, and are two hundred and upwards in number. are these letters known, and have they ever been published or referred to? a. f. b. diss. [it is a singular coincidence that we should receive the communication of a. f. b. on the day of the publication of the new and much improved library edition of pepys's _diary_. would our correspondent permit us to submit his collection to the editor of pepys, who would no doubt be gratified with a sight of it? we will guarantee its safe return, and any expenses incurred in its transmission. on turning to the fourth volume of the new edition of the _diary_, we find the following letter (now first published) from dr. tanner, afterwards bishop of st. asaph, to dr. charlett, dated april , :--"mr. pepys was just finishing a letter to you last night when i gave him yours. i hear he has printed some letters lately about the abuses of christ's hospital; they are only privately handed about. a gentleman that has a very great respect for mr. pepys, saw one of them in one of the aldermen's hands, but wishes there had been some angry expressions left out; which he fears the papists and other enemies of the church of england will make ill use of." is anything known of this "privately printed" volume? in the life of pepys ( th edit., p. xxxi.), mention is made of his having preserved from ruin the mathematical foundation at christ's hospital, which had been originally designed by him.--ed.] "_retainers to seven shares and a half._"--can any reader of "n. & q.," conversant with the literature of the seventeenth century, furnish an explanation of this phrase? it occurs in the preface to _steps to the temple, &c._, of richard crashaw (the nd edit., in the savoy, ), addressed by "the author's friend" to "the learned reader," and is used in disparagement of pretenders to poetry. the passage runs thus: "it were prophane but to mention here in the preface those under-headed poets, retainers to seven shares and a half; madrigal fellows, whose only business in verse is to rime a poor sixpenny soul, a subburb sinner into hell," &c. h. l. [the performers at our earlier theatres were distinguished into whole shares, three-quarter sharers, half sharers, seven-and-a-half sharers, hired men, &c. in one scene of the _histriomastic_, , the dissolute performers having been arrested by soldiers, one of the latter exclaims, "come on, players! now we are the sharers, and you the hired men;" and in another scene, clout, one of the characters, rejects with some indignation the offer of "half a share." gamaliel ratsey, in that rare tract, _ratseis ghost_, , knights the principal performer of a company by the title of "sir three shares and a half;" and tucca, in ben jonson's _poetaster_, addressing histrio, observes, "commend me to seven shares and a half," as if some individual at that period had engrossed as large a proportion. shakspeare, in _hamlet_, speaks of "a whole share" as a source of no contemptible emolument, and of the owner of it as a person filling no inferior station in "a cry of payers." in _northward ho!_ also, a sharer is noticed with respect. bellamont the poet enters, and tells his servant, "sirrah, i'll speak with none:" on which the servant asks, "not a player?" and his master replies: "no, though a sharer bawl: i'll speak with none, although it be the mouth of the big company." the value of a share in any particular company would depend upon the number of subdivisions, upon the popularity of the body, upon the stock-plays belonging to it, upon the extent of its wardrobe, and the nature of its properties.--see collier's _english dramatic poetry_, vol. iii. p. .] _madden's "reflections and resolutions proper for the gentlemen of ireland."_--this work, by the rev. samuel madden, was first published in dublin in , and was reprinted at the expense of the late mr. thomas pleasants, in one vol. vo., pp. , dub. . i possess two copies of the original edition, likewise in one vol. vo., pp. , and i have seen about a dozen; and yet i find in the preface to the reprint the following paragraph: "the very curious and interesting work which is now reprinted, and intended for a wide and gratuitous circulation, is also of uncommon rarity; there is not a copy of it in the library of trinity college, or in any of the other public libraries of this city, which have been searched on purpose. (one was purchased some { } years ago for the library of the royal dublin society, if i mistake not, for l. s., or rather more.) the profoundly learned vice-provost, doctor barrett, never met with one; and many gentlemen well skilled in the literature of ireland, who have been applied to for information on the subject, are even unacquainted with the name of the book." of dr. madden, known as "premium" madden, few memorials exist; and yet he was a man of whom johnson said, "his was a name ireland ought to honour." the book in question does not appear to be of "uncommon rarity." is it considered by competent judges of "exceeding merit?" i would be glad to know. abhba. [probably, from this work having appeared anonymously, it was unknown to the writers of his life in chalmers' and rose's _biographical dictionaries_, as well as to mr. nichols, when he wrote his account of dr. madden in his _literary anecdotes_, vol. ii. p. . a volume containing the _reflections and resolutions_, together with the author's tragedy, _themistocles_, , and his tract, _a proposal for the general encouragement of learning in dublin college_, , is in the grenville collection in the british museum. this volume was presented by dr. madden to philip, earl of chesterfield, as appears from the following ms. note on a fly-leaf: "to his excellency the right hon. philip earl of chesterfield, lord lieutenant of ireland, these tracts, writ (how meanly soever) with a real zeal for the service of that country, are most humbly presented by the author, his most obedient humble servant."] _king edward i.'s arm._--fuller, speaking of the death and character of king edward i., winds up with these words: "as the arm of king edward i. was accounted the measure of a yard, generally received in england; so his actions are an excellent model and a praiseworthy platform for succeeding princes to imitate."--_church history_, b. iii., a.d. . query, is there historical proof of this statement of "honest tom?" he gives no reference apparently considering the fact too well established to require any. j. m. b. [ask that staunch and sturdy royalist, peter heylin, whether old tom is not sometimes more facetious than correct; and whether, in the extract given above, we should not read _richard i._ for edward i. in knyghton's _chronicle_, lib. ii. cap. viii. sub hen. i., we find, "mercatorum falsam ulnam castigavit adhibita brachii sui mensura." see also william of malmsbury in vita hen. i., and spelm. hen. i. apud wilkins, ., who inform us, that a new standard of longitudinal measure was ascertained by henry i., who commanded that the ulna, or ancient ell, which answers to the modern yard, should be made of the exact length of his own arm.] _elstob, elizabeth._--can any of your numerous correspondents state where that celebrated saxon linguist, mrs. elizabeth elstob, was buried? in chambers's _biographical illustrations of worcestershire_, she is said to have been buried at saint margaret's, westminster; but after every inquiry, made many years since of the then worthy churchwarden of the parish, our researches were in vain, for there is no account of her sepulture in the church or graveyard. j. b. whitbourne. [most of the biographical notices of mrs. elizabeth elstob state that she was buried at st. margaret's, westminster. we can only account for the name not appearing in the register of that church, from her having _changed her name_ when she opened her school in worcestershire, as stated, on the authority of mr. geo. ballard, in nichols's _literary anecdotes_, vol. iv. p. . ballard's correspondence is in the bodleian.] _monumental brasses in london._--can any of your correspondents favour me with a list of churches in london, or within a mile of the same, containing monumental brasses? i know of st. helen's, bishopsgate, only. j. w. brown. [as our young crypto-antiquary dates his letter from crosby hall, he will probably find in its library the following works to assist him in his researches:--_list of monumental brasses in england_ (rivington), _manual for the study of monumental brasses_ (parker), and sperling's _church walks in middlesex_ (masters). two are noticed in waller's _monumental brasses_, fol., , viz. dr. christopher urswick, in hackney church, a.d. , and andrew evyngar and wife, in all-hallows barking church. if we mistake not, there is one in st. faith's, near st. paul's.] * * * * * replies. rapping no novelty; and table-turning. (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., pp. . . .) "there is a curious criminal process on record, manuscript , noticed by voltaire as in the library of the king of france, which was founded upon a remarkable set of visions said to have occurred to the monks of orleans. "the illustrious house of st. memin had been very liberal to the convent, and had their family vault under the church. the wife of a lord of st. memin, provost of orleans, died, and was buried. the husband, thinking that his ancestors had given more than enough to the convent, sent the monks a present, which they thought too small. they formed a plan to have her body disinterred, and to force the widower to pay a second fee for depositing it again in holy ground. "the soul of the lady first appeared to two of the brethren, and said to them, 'i am damned, like judas, because my husband has not given sufficient.' they hoped to extort money for the repose of her soul. but the husband said, 'if she is really damned, all the money in the world won't save her,' and gave them nothing. perceiving their mistake, they declared she appeared again, saying she was in _purgatory_, and { } demanding to be disinterred. but this seemed a curious request, and excited suspicion, for it was not likely that a soul in purgatory would ask to have the body removed from holy ground, neither had any in purgatory ever been known to desire to be exhumed. "the soul after this did not try _speaking_ any more, but haunted everybody in the convent and church. brother peter of arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. he said to it, 'if thou art the soul of the late madame de st. memin, strike four knocks,' and the four knocks were struck. 'if thou art damned, strike six knocks,' and the six knocks were struck. 'if thou art still tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six more times,' and the six knocks were heard still more distinctly. 'if we disinter thy body, wilt thou be less damned, certify to us by five knocks,' and the soul so certified. this statement was signed by twenty-two cordeliers. the father provincial asked the same questions and received the same answers. the lord of st. memin prosecuted the father cordeliers. judges were appointed. the general of the commission required that they should be burned; but the sentence only condemned them to make the 'amende honorable,' with a torch in their bosom, and to be banished." this sentence is of the th of february, . vide abbé langlet's _history of apparitions_. from the above extract, and from what your correspondents mr. jardine and r. i. r. have written, it is satisfactorily shown that rapping is no novelty, having been known in england and france some centuries ago. mr. jardine has given us an instance in , and leads us to suppose that it was the earliest on record. i now give one as early as ; and it would be interesting to know if the monks of orleans were the first to have practised this imposition, and to have been banished for their deception and fraud. william winthrop. malta. in ammianus marcellinus, lib. xxix. cap. i. p. . of a paris edition, , two persons, patricius and hilarius, charged with disseminating prophecies injurious to the emperor valens, were brought before a court of justice, and a tripod, which they were charged with using, was also produced. hilarius then made the following acknowledgment: "construximus, magnifici judices, ad cortinæ similitudinem delphicæ, diris auspiciis, de laureis virgulis infaustam hanc mensulam quam videtis; et imprecationibus carminum secretorum, choragiisque multis ac diuturnis ritualiter consecratam movimus tandem; movendi autem, quoties super rebus arcanis consulebatur, erat institutio talis. collocabatur in medio domûs emaculatæ odoribus arabicis undique, lance rotunda pure superposita, ex diversis metallicis materiis fabrefacta; cujus in ambitu rotunditatis extremo elementorum viginti quatuor scriptiles formæ incisæ perite, dijungebantur spatiis examinate dimensis. hac linteis quidam indumentis amictus, calciatusque itidem linteis soccis, torulo capiti circumflexo, verbenas felicis arboris gestans, litato conceptis carminibus numine præscitionum auctore, cærimoniali scientia perstitit; cortinulis pensilem anulum librans, sartum ex carpathio filo perquam levi, mysticis disciplinis initiatum: qui per intervalla distincta retinentibus singulis litteris incidens saltuatim, heroos efficit versus interrogationibus consonos, ad numeros et modos plene conclusos; quales leguntur pythici, vel ex oraculis editi branchidarum. ibi tum quærentibus nobis, qui præsenti succedet imperio, quoniam omni parte expolitus fore memorabatur et adsiliens anulus duas perstrinxerat syllabas, [greek: theo] cum adjectione litteræ postrema, exclamavit præsentium quidem, theodorum præscribente fatali necessitate portendi." in lib. xxxi. cap. ii. p. . of same edition, a method of prognostication by the alami is described; but there is no mention of tables there. the historian only says: "rectiores virgas vimineas colligentes, easque cum incantamentis quibusdam secretis præstituto tempore discernentes, aperte quid portendatur norunt." h. w. the mention of table-turning by ammianus marcellinus reminds me of a curious passage in the _apologeticus_ of tertullian, cap. xxiii., to which i invite the attention of those interested in the subject: "porro si et magi phantasmata edunt et jam defunctorum infamant animas; si pueros in eloquium oraculi elidunt; si multa miracula circulatoriis præstigiis ludunt; si et somnia immittunt habentes semel invitatorum angelorum et dæmonum assistentem sibi potestatem, _per quos_ et capræ et _mensæ divinare consueverunt_; quanto magis," &c. here table divination by means of angels and demons seems distinctly alluded to. how like the modern system! the context of this passage, as well as the extract itself, will suggest singular coincidence between modern and ancient pretensions of this class. b. h. c. * * * * * general whitelocke. (vol. viii., pp. . .) much interesting information concerning general whitelocke, about whose conduct some difference of opinion appears to exist, will be found in the rev. erskine neale's _risen from the ranks_ (london, longmans, ); but neither the date nor the place of his death is there given. the reverend writer's account of the general's conduct is not at all favourable. after alluding to him as "a chief unequal to his position," he says: "john whitelocke was born in the year , and received his early education in the grammar school at marlborough. his father was steward to john, fourth earl of aylesbury; and the peer, in { } acknowledgment of the faithful services of his trusted dependent, placed young whitelocke at lochee's military academy, near chelsea. there he remained till , when, the earl's friendly disposition remaining in full force, and the youth's predilection for a military career continuing unabated, an ensigncy was procured him, through lord aylesbury's intervention, in the th regiment of foot."--_risen from the ranks_, p. . through the influence of his brother-in-law, general brownrigge, whitelocke's promotion was rapid; and in he was gazetted commander-in-chief of an expedition destined for the recapture of buenos ayres. his conduct during this expedition became the subject of a court-martial; he was found guilty, sentenced to be cashiered, and declared to be "totally unfit to serve his majesty in any military capacity whatever." judging from the evidence adduced, the conduct of the commander-in-chief was totally unworthy of the flag under which he served, and highly calculated to arouse the indignation of the men whom he commanded; and for some considerable time, whenever the soldiers met together to take a friendly glass, the toast was, "success to _grey hairs_, but bad luck to _white-locks_!" on the whole, the rev. e. neale's account seems to be quite impartial; and most persons, after reading the evidence of the general's extremely vacillating conduct, will be inclined to agree with him in awarding this unfortunate officer the title of the "flincher-general at buenos ayres." james spence harry. i have only just seen your correspondent's reply (vol. ix., p. .) respecting general whitelocke. he is right in stating that the general resided at clifton: he might have added, as late as ; but he had previously, for time, lived at butcombe court, somersetshire. there is an anecdote still rife in the neighbourhood, that when whitelocke came down to see the house before taking it, he put up at an inn, and after dinner asked the landlord to take a glass of wine with him. upon announcing, however, who he was, the landlord started up and declared he would not drink another glass with him, throwing down at the same time the price of the bottle, that he might not be indebted to the general. respecting the story of the flints, it is said that he desired them to be taken out of the muskets, wishing that the men should only use their bayonets against the enemy. ardelio. i remember well that soon after the unsuccessful attack of general whitelocke upon buenos ayres, it was stated that the flints had been taken out of the muskets of some of our regiments because they were quite raw troops, and the general thought that they might, from want of knowledge and use of fire-arms, do more mischief to themselves than to the enemy, and that they had better trust to the bayonet alone. the consequence was, that when they entered the streets of the town, they found no enemy in them to whom they could apply the bayonet. the inhabitants and troops were in the strong stone houses, and fired on and killed our men with perfect impunity, as not a shot could be fired in return: to surrender was their only chance of life. a reference to a file of newspapers of that date (which i am too lazy to make myself) will show whether this was understood at the time to be a fact or not. j. ss. in the _autobiography of b. haydon_ (i think vol. i.), he mentions that as he was passing through somersetshire on his way from plymouth to london, he saw general whitelocke. a reference to the passage may interest g. l. s. w. denton. the following charade was in vogue at the time of whitelocke's death: "my first is an emblem of purity; my second is that of security; my whole forms a name which, if yours were the same, you would blush to hand down to posterity." j. y. * * * * * "man proposes, but god disposes." (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .) . if your correspondent h. p. will again examine my communication on this subject, he will find that i have _not_ overlooked the view which attributes the _de imitatione_ to john gerson, but have expressly referred to it. . if gerson _was_ the author, this will not prove that in quoting the proverb in question, piers ploughman quoted from the _de imitatione_, as h. p. supposes. the dates which i gave will show this. the _vision_ was written about a.d. , whereas, according to du pin, john gerson was born december , , took a prominent part in the council of constance, , and died in . of the latin writers of the fifteenth century, mosheim says: "at their head we may justly place john gerson, chancellor of the university of paris, the most illustrious ornament that this age can boast of, a man of great influence and authority, whom the council of constance looked upon an its oracle, the lovers of liberty as their patron, and whose memory is yet precious to such among the french clergy as are at all zealous for the maintenance of their privileges against papal despotism."--_ecc. hist._, cent. xv. ch. ii. sec. . . gerson was not a benedictine monk, but a parisian curé, and canon of notre dame: "he was made curate (_curé_, parson or rector) of st. john's, in greve, on the th of march, , and { } continued so to , when in a sedition raised by the partizans of the duke of burgundy, his house was plundered by the mob, and he obliged to fly into the church of notre dame, where he continued for some time concealed."--du pin, _history of the church_, cent. xv. ch. viii. it is said that the treatise in question first appeared-- "appended to a ms. of gerson's _de consolatione theologiæ_, dated . this gave rise to the supposition that he was the real author of that celebrated work; and indeed it is a very doubtful point whether this opinion is true or not, there being several high authorities which ascribe to him the authorship of that book."--knight's _penny cyclopædia_, vol. vi. art. "gerson." was there then _another_ john gerson, a monk, and abbot of st. stephen, between and , to whom, as well as to the above, the _de imitatione_ has been ascribed? this, though not impossible, appears extremely improbable. is h. p. prepared with evidence to prove it? du pin, in the chapter above quoted, farther says, in speaking of the _de imitatione christi_: "the style is pretty much like that of the other devotional books of thomas à kempis. nevertheless, in his lifetime it was attributed to st. bernard and gerson. the latter was most commonly esteemed the author of it in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. afterwards some mss. of it were found in italy, where it is attributed to one gerson or gessen, to whom is given the title of _abbot_. perhaps gersen or gessen are only corruptions of the name of gerson. notwithstanding, there are two things which will hardly let us believe that this was gerson's book; one, that the author calls himself a monk, the other, that the style is very different from that of the chancellor of paris. all this makes it difficult to decide to which of these three authors it belongs. we must leave thomas à kempis in possession of what is attributed to him, without deciding positively in his favour." j. w. thomas. dewsbury. this saying is quoted twice, as follows, in _the chronicle of battel abbey from to _, translated by mr. lower, vo., london, : "thus, '_man proposes, but god disposes_,' for he was not permitted to carry that resolution into effect."--p. . "but, as the scripture saith, '_man proposes, but god disposes_,' so christ suffered not his church to want its ancient and rightful privileges."--p. . mr. lower says in his preface, p. x.: "of the identity of the author nothing certain can be inferred, beyond the bare fact of his having been a monk of battel. a few passages would almost incline one to believe that abbot odo, who was living at the date of the last events narrated in the work, and who is known to have been a literary character of some eminence, was the writer of at least some portions of the volume." it is stated at the beginning to be in part derived from early document and traditional statements. e. j. m. hastings. * * * * * napoleon's spelling. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the question as to napoleon's spelling may seem, at first sight, to be one of little importance; and yet, if we will look at it aright, we shall find that it involves many points of interest for the philosopher and the historian. during a residence of some years in france, i had heard it remarked, more than once, by persons who appeared hostile to the napoleon dynasty, that its great founder had, in his bulletins and other public documents, shown an unaccountable ignorance of the common rules of orthography: but i had never seen the assertion put forth by any competent writer until i met with the remarks of macaulay, already quoted by me, vol. viii., p. . in reply to my inquiry as to the authority for this statement, your correspondent c. has readily and kindly furnished a passable from bourrienne's _mémoires_, in which it is alleged that napoleon's "orthographe est en général _extraordinairement estropiée_." from all this it must be taken for granted, as, indeed, it has never been denied, that napoleon's spelling is defective; but the question to be considered is, whether that defectiveness was the effect of ignorance or of design. that it did not arise from ignorance would seem probable for the following reasons. napoleon received his education chiefly in france; and it is to be presumed that the degree of instruction in grammar, orthography, &c., _ordinarily_ bestowed on educated frenchmen, was not withheld from him. to say the least of it, he was endued with sufficient intelligence to acquire an _ordinary_ knowledge of such matters. nay more: he was a man of the highest order of genius. between the possession of genius, and a knowledge of orthography, there is, i admit, no necessary connexion. the humblest pedagogue may be able to spell more correctly than the greatest philosopher. but neither, on the other hand, does genius of any kind necessarily preclude a knowledge of spelling. while still a young man, napoleon wrote several works in french, such as the _souper de beaucaire_, the _mémoire sur la culture du mûrier_, &c. some of the manuscripts of these writings must be still extant; and a comparison of the spelling of his unpretending youth, with that of his aspiring { } manhood, would show at once whether the "_orthographe extraordinairement estropiée_" of his later productions was the result of habit or design. the orthography of the french language is peculiarly intricate; and it is no uncommon thing to meet with educated men in that country who are unable to spell with accuracy. that napoleon may have been in a similar predicament, would not be surprising; but that it should be said of the most _extraordinary_ man of the age, that his spelling is _extraordinairement estropiée_, seems inexplicable upon any fair supposition, except that he accounted the rules of spelling unworthy the attention of any but copyists and office drudges; or (which is more probable) that he wished this extraordinary spelling to be received as an indication of the great rapidity with which he could commit his thoughts to paper. henry h. breen. * * * * * memoirs of grammont. (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .) there appearing to be a strong feeling that a correct edition of these _memoirs_ should be published, with the present inaccurate notes thoroughly revised, i send you a few notes from a collection i have made on the subject. the proper orthography of the name is "gramont," and the family probably originally came from spain. matta's friend, the marquis de sevantes, asserts the fact; and it is corroborated by the fact, that on the occasion of the marshal de grammont's demanding the hand of the infanta maria theresa for louis xiv., the people cried, "viva el marescal de agramont, que es de nuestro sangue!" and the king of spain said to the marshal after the presentation of his sons, the counts de guiche and de louvigny, "teneis muy buenos y lindos hijos y bien se hecha de ver que los agramonteses salen de la sangue de espana." the grammont family had been so enriched and ennobled by its repeated marriages with the heiresses of great families, that, like many noble houses of our own times, members of it hardly knew their own correct surname: thus, in the famous declaration of the parliament of paris against the peers in , on the subject of the caps, it was said: "the grammonts have determined on their armorial bearings, and hold to those of the house of aure. the count de grammont said one day to the marshal, what arms shall we use this year?" the grammonts in the male line are descended from sancho garcia d'aure, viscount de l'arboust. menaud d'aure, his lineal representative, married claire de grammont, sister and heiress of jean, seigneur de grammont, and daughter of francis, seigneur de grammont, and catherine d'andoins his wife. menaud d'aure is the ancestor who is disguised in the _memoirs_ as "menaudaure" and "menodore;" and in the notes, coupled with "la belle corisande," they are styled two of the ancestresses of the family celebrated for their beauty. philibert, who was styled philibert de grammont and de toulongeon, count de grammont and de guiche, viscount d'aster, captain of fifty men at arms, governor and mayor of bayonne, seneschal of bearne, married on aug. , , diana, better known as "la belle corisande" d'andouins, viscountess de louvigny, dame de lescun, the only daughter of paul viscount de louvigny; who, although a huguenot, was killed at the siege of rouen, fighting under the command of the duke de guise. they had two children: antoine, subsequently the first duke, and catherine, who married francois nompar de chaumont, count de lauzun, the ancestor of the celebrated duke de lauzun, who was first introduced at court by his relative the marshal de grammont. this philibert, count de grammont, was killed at the siege of la fere in aug. . the connexion between his widow, the fair corisande, and henry iv., was subsequent to the count's death. the duchy peerage was created on dec. , . antoine, the first duke, married, firstly, on sept. , , louise, eldest daughter of the marshal de roquelaure; she died in , leaving antoine, subsequently the marshal duke de grammont, and roger, count de louvigny, killed in a duel in flanders on march , . the duke de grammont married, secondly, on march , , claude, eldest daughter of louis de montmorency, baron de boutteville; and had henri, count de toulongeon, who died unmarried on sept. , ; philibert, the celebrated chevalier de grammont, who was born in ; and three daughters. the marshal de grammont was one of the most celebrated men of the court of louis xiv.: he was a favourite both of richelieu and mazarin, and married a niece of the former; and, as a wit, was not inferior to his brother the chevalier. he sided with the court during the wars of the fronde; whilst the chevalier in the first instance joined the prince of condé, probably from their mutual connexion with the montmorency family. the marshal died at bayonne, on july , , aged seventy-four years, leaving four children, of whom the count de guiche and the princess de monaco are well known. the chevalier de grammont received his outfit from his mother, and joined the army under prince thomas of savoy, then besieging trin in piedmont, which was taken on sept. , . the notes to the _memoirs_ say may , ; but that { } was a former siege by the french, then under the command of the cardinal de la vallette. probably this will be as much as you can afford space for at present, and i will therefore reserve any farther communications for a future number. w. h. lammin. fulham. * * * * * the myrtle bee. (vol. viii., p. .) ere venturing an opinion as to the exact size of the above, as compared with the golden-crested wren, i should much like to ascertain where i am likely to meet with a faithful specimen of the latter? the myrtle bee is about half the size of the common wren, certainly not larger: and i always took it for granted, the bird derived its name from its diminutiveness and the cover it frequented. i cannot say the bird was generally known in the neighbourhood, having only met with it when in company with sportsmen, in a description of country little frequented by others. i originally obtained the name when a boy from a deceased parent whom i accompanied out shooting; and for a succession of years the bird was familiar to me, in fact, to all sportsmen of that period who shot over the immediate locality; we all knew it, although its name was seldom mentioned. in fact, it never induced a thought beyond--"confound the bees, how they bother the dogs"--or some such expression. i am unacquainted with the dartford warbler (_sylvia provincialis_, gmel.); but the description as quoted by mr. salmon from yarrell's _hist. of british birds_, , vol. i. p. . et seq., differs from the myrtle bee. the warbler is said to haunt and build among furze on commons, and flies with jerks; whereas i never met with the myrtle bee among furze, neither does it fly with jerks: on the contrary, its short flight is rapid, steady, and direct. the description of the warbler appears to agree with a small bird well known here as the furze chat, but which is out of all proportion as compared with the myrtle bee. as regards the query touching the possibility of my memory being treacherous respecting the colour of the bird, after a lapse of twenty-five years, more faith will be placed therein on my stating that i am an old fly-fisher, making my own flies: and that no strange bird ever came to hand without undergoing a searching scrutiny as to colour and texture of the feathers, with the view of converting it to fishing purposes. no such use could be made of the bee. in a former number i described the tongue of the myrtle bee as round, sharp, and pointed at the end, appearing capable of penetration. i beg to say that i was solely indebted to accident in being able to do so, viz. the tongue protruded beyond the point of the bill, owing to the pressure it received in my dog's mouth; the dog having brought it out enveloped in dead grass, from the foot of the myrtle bush. charles brown. * * * * * celtic etymology. (vol. ix., p. .) mr. crossley seems to confine the word _celtic_ to the irish branch of that dialect. my notion of the words _iosal_ and _iriosal_ is taken from the highland gaelic, and the authorised version of the bible in that language. let celtic scholars who look to the sense of words in the _four_ spoken languages, decide between us. there can be no doubt of the meaning of the two words in the gaelic of job v. . and ps. iv. . in welsh, and (i believe) in bas-breton, there is no word similar to _uim_ or _umhal_, in the senses of _humus_ and _humilis_, to be found. in gaelic _uir_ is more common than _uim_, and _talamh_ more common than either in the sense of _humus_; and in that of _humble_, _iosal_ and _iriosal_ are much more common than _umhal_. it is certain that latin was introduced into ireland before it reached the highlands, and christianity with it; and therefore, as this word is not found in one branch of the celtic at all, and is not a very common word in another, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it is of latin origin. the sense which mr. crossley declares to be the only sense of _iosal_ and _iriosal_, is precisely that which is the nearest to the original meaning of _low_, and _low as the earth_; and this is also the sense which _humilis_ always bears in classical latin, though christianity (which first recognised _humility_ as a virtue, instead of stigmatising it as a meanness) attached to it the sense which its derivatives in all modern romance languages, with the exception of italian, exclusively bear. now mr. crossley has omitted to notice the fact that _umhal_ in gaelic, and, i believe, _umal_ in irish, have not the intermediate sense of _low_ and _cringing_, but only the christian sense of _humble_, as a virtuous attribute. it seems natural that if _uim_ and _umal_ were radical words, the latter would bear the some relation to _uim_, in every respect, which _humilis_ does to _humus_, its supposed derivative. but unless _humus_ be derived from [greek: chamai] (the root of [greek: chthôn] and [greek: chthamalos]), how does mr. crossley account for the _h_, which had a sound in latin as well as _horror_ and _hostilis_, both of which retain the aspirate in english, though they lose it in french? if mr. crossley will tell me why _horreur_ and _hostile_ have no aspirate in french, i will tell him why _heir_, _honour_, and _humour_ have none in english, though _humid_ (which is as closely connected with _humour_, as _humidus_ is with _humor_) retains the aspirate. { } these celtic etymologies, however, though amusing, do not touch the main point, which is simply this: the usual mode of pronouncing the word _humble_ in good english society. what that is, seems to be so satisfactorily shown by your correspondent s. g. c., vol. viii., p. ., that all farther argument on the subject would be superfluous. e. c. h. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _improvements in the albumenized process._--your expectation of being soon able to announce the successful manufacture of a new negative calotype paper, will, i am sure, be gladly received by many photographers, and especially by those who, like me, have been subjected to much disappointment with turner's paper. for one sheet that has turned out well, at least half-a-dozen have proved useless from spottiness, and some sheets do not take the iodizing solution evenly, from an apparent want of uniformity in the texture of the paper, which causes the solution to penetrate portions the moment it is laid on the solution. undoubtedly, when it does succeed, it is superior to whatman's, but this is not enough to compensate for its extreme uncertainty. in dr. diamond's directions for the calotype, he gave a formula for the addition of bromide of potassium to the iodide of potassium, but did not speak with much certainty as to the proportions. will he kindly say whether he has made farther trials; and if so, whether they confirm the proportions given by him, or have led him to adopt any change in this respect? and will he likewise say whether the iodizing solution which he recommends for turner's paper, is suitable also to whatman's? in albumenizing paper, i have not found it desirable to remove the paper very slowly from the solution. whenever i have done so, it has invariably dried with waves and streaks, which quite spoiled the sheet. a steady motion, neither too slow nor too quick, i have found succeed perfectly, so that i now never spoil a sheet. i have used the solution with less albumen than recommended by dr. diamond. my formula has been.-- albumen oz. water oz. muriate ammon. grs. common salt grs. and this, i find, gives a sufficient gloss to the paper; but that of course is a matter of taste. i have not either found it essential to allow the paper to remain on the solution three minutes or longer, as recommended by dr. diamond. with canson paper, either negative or positive, a minute and a half has been sufficient. i have used two dishes, and as soon as a sheet was removed, drained, and replaced, i have taken the sheet from the other dish. in this way i found that each sheet lay on the solution about one and a half minutes, and with the assistance of a person to hang and dry them (which i have done before a fire), i have prepared from forty to forty-five sheets in an hour, requiring of course to be ironed afterwards. i have tried a solution of nitrate of silver of thirty grains to one ounce of distilled water, to excite this paper, and it appears to answer just as well as forty grains. i send you two small collodion views, takes by me and printed on albumenized paper prepared as mentioned, and excited with a -grain solution of nitrate of silver. is there any certain way of telling the right side of canson paper, negative and positive? on the positive paper on one side, when held in a particular position towards the light, shaded bars may be observed; and on this side, when looked _through_, the name reads right. is this the right or the wrong side? c. e. f. since i wrote to you last, i have tried a solution of twelve grains only of nitrate of silver to the ounce of distilled water, for the paper albumenized, as mentioned in my letter of the th of february, and have found it to answer perfectly. the paper i used was _thin_ canson, floated for one minute exactly on the solution; but i have no doubt the thick canson will succeed just as well; and here i may observe that i have never found any advantage in allowing the paper to rest on the solution for three or four minutes, as generally recommended, but the contrary, as the paper, without being in the least more sensitive, becomes much sooner discoloured by keeping. my practice has been to float the thin canson about half a minute, and the thick canson not more than a minute. c. e. f. _mr. crookes on restoring old collodion._--i am happy to explain to your correspondent what i consider to be the _rationale_ of the process. the colour which iodized collodion assumes on keeping, i consider to be entirely due to the gradual separation of iodine from the iodide of potassium or ammonium originally introduced. there are several ways in which this may take place; if the cotton on paper contain the slightest trace of nitric acid, owing to its not being _thoroughly_ washed (and this is not as easy as is generally supposed), the liberation of iodine in the collodion is certain to take place a short time after its being made. it is possible also that there may be a gradual decomposition of the zyloidin itself, and consequent liberation of the iodide by this means, with formation of nitrate of potassa or ammonia; but the most probable cause i consider to be the following. the ether gradually absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere, being converted into acetic acid; this, by its superior affinities, reacts on the iodide present, converting it into acetate, with liberation of hydriodic acid; while this latter, under the influence of the atmospheric oxygen, is very rapidly converted into water and iodine. i am satisfied by experiment that this is one of the causes of the separation of iodine, and i think it is the only one, for the following reason; neither bromised nor chlorised collodion undergo the slightest change of colour, however long they may be kept. now, if the former agencies were at work, there is no reason why bromine should not be liberated from a bromide as well as iodine from an iodide; but on the latter { } supposition, could take place, the affinities of acetic acid being insufficient to displace hydrobromic acid. a great many experiments which i tried last autumn, for the express purpose of clearing up this point, have convinced me that, _cæteris paribus_, the addition of free iodine to the iodizing solution, tends to diminish the sensitiveness of the subsequently formed iodide of silver. on paper, this diminution of sensitiveness is attended with some advantages, so that at present i hardly know whether to introduce the free iodine or not; but in collodion, as far as my experience goes, i see no reason for retaining it; on the contrary, everything seems to be in favour of its removal. i can hardly imagine that the increased sensitiveness mentioned by mr. hennah is really due to the free iodine which he introduces. such a result being so contrary to all my experience, i would venture to suggest that there must be some other cause for its beneficial action; for instance, commercial iodide of potassium is generally alkaline, owing to impurities present; the tincture of iodine in this case would render the collodion neutral, and unless a very large excess of iodine were introduced, its good effects would be very apparent. this, however, involving the employment of impure chemicals, is a very improbable explanation of a phenomenon observed by so excellent an operator as mr. hennah: there is most likely some local cause which would be overlooked unless expressly searched for. with regard to the point, whether the free iodine is the _sole_ cause of the deterioration of old collodion, i should say decidedly not, at least in a theoretical view; the liberation of free iodine necessitates some other changes in the collodion, and the result must be influenced by these in one way or another, but practically i have as yet found nothing to warrant the supposition that they perceptibly interfere with the sensitiveness of the film. in the above i have endeavoured as much as possible to avoid technicalities, in order to make it intelligible to amateurs; but if there be any part which may be considered obscure, on its being pointed out to me, i will endeavour to solve the difficulty. william crookes. hammersmith. _photographic queries._-- . would you, sir, or dr. diamond (dr. mansell is too far off), be kind enough to inform your readers whether dr. mansell's process, recommended in no. ., is equally applicable to _inland_ as to sea-side operations; or must we, in the one case, follow dr. diamond, and in the other dr. mansell, and thus be compelled to prepare two sets of papers? . dr. mansell recommends, as a test for the iodized paper, a _strong_ solution of bichloride of mercury; may we ask _how strong_? . mr. sisson's developing fluid has undergone so many changes, and has been so much written about, that we are at a loss to discover or to determine whether it has been at length settled, in the mind of the inventor, that it will do equally well for negatives as for positives. four photographic readers. [ . both papers are equally available for both purposes. in actual practice we have not ourselves experienced any difference in their results. . it is quite immaterial. a drachm of bichloride dissolved in one ounce of spirits of wine will cause a cloudiness and a precipitate, if a very few drops are added to the tested water. . in general the salts of iron are more adapted for positives, and weak pyrogallic acid solutions for negatives; say one and a half grain of pyrogallic acid, twenty minims of glacial acetic acid, and an ounce of distilled water.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _london fortifications_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in last week's number is an inquiry as to "london fortifications" in the time of the commonwealth. there is a map by vertue, dated , in a folio _history of london_; there is one a trifle smaller, copied from the above; also one with page of description, _gentleman's magazine_, june, . i subscribed to a set of twenty etchings, published last year by mr. p. thompson of the new road; they are very curious, being facsimiles of a set of drawings done by a capt. john eyre of oliver cromwell's own regiment, dated . the drawings are now i believe in the possession of the city of london. a constant reader. [the drawings referred to by our correspondent are, we hear, by competent judges regarded as _not genuine_. such also, we are told, is the opinion given of many drawings ascribed to hollar and captain john eyre, which have been purchased by a gentleman of our acquaintance, and submitted by him to persons most conversant with such drawings. query, are the drawings purporting to be by captain john eyre, drawings of the period at which they are dated?] _burke's domestic correspondence_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reference to a query in "n.& q." relative to unpublished documents respecting edmund burke, i beg to inform your correspondent n. o. that i have no doubt but that some new light might be thrown on the subject by an application to mr. george shackleton, ballitore, a descendant of abraham shackleton, burke's old schoolmaster, who i believe has a quantity of letters written to his old master abraham, and also to his son richard, who had burke for a schoolfellow, and continued the friendship afterwards, both by writing and personally. when richard attended yearly meetings in london, he was always a guest at beaconsfield. burke was so much attached to richard, that on one of these visits he caused shackleton's portrait to be painted and presented it to him, and it is now in the possession of the above family. i have no doubt but that an application to the above gentleman would produce some testimony. f. h. { } _battle of villers-en-couché_ (vol. viii. _passim_).--a good account of this celebrated engagement, with several authentic documents relating to what happened on the occasion, will be found in that very interesting little work, _risen from the ranks_, by the rev. e. neale (london, longmans, ). james spence harry. "_i could not love thee, dear, so much_" (vol. ix., p. .).--these lines are from an exquisite _morceau_ entitled _to lucasta, on going to the wars_, by the gay, gallant, and ill-fated cavalier, richard lovelace, whose undying loyalty and love, and whose life, and every line that he wrote, are all redolent of the best days of chivalry. they are to be found in a mo. volume, _lucasta_, london, . the entire piece is so short, that i venture to subjoin it: "tell me not, sweet, i am unkinde, that from the nunnerie of thy chaste breast and quiet minde, to warre and armes i flie. "true, a new mistresse now i chase, the first foe in the field; and with a stronger faith imbrace a sword, a horse, a shield. "yet this inconstancy is such, as you too shall adore; i could not love thee, deare, so much, loved i not honour more." to the honour of kent be it remembered that lovelace was cantianus. [we are also indebted for replies to e. l. holt white, geo. e. frere, e. c. h., j. k. r. w., h. j. raines, m.d., f. j. scott, w. j. b. smith, e. s. t. t., c. b. e., f. e. e., &c. "lovelace (says wood) made his amours to a gentlewoman of great beauty and fortune, named lucy sacheverel, whom he usually called lux casta; but she, upon a strong report that he was dead of his wound received at dunkirk (where he had brought a regiment for the service of the french king), soon after married."--wood's _athenæ oxonienses_, vol. iii. p. .] _sir charles cotterell_ (vol. viii., p. .).--sir charles cotterell, the translator of _cassandra_, was master of the ceremonies to charles ii.; which office he resigned to his son in , and died about . i cannot say where he was buried. i am in possession of a copy of-- "the memorialls of margaret de valoys, first wife to henry the fourth, king of france and navarre; compiled in french by her own most delicate and royal hand, and translated into english by robert codrington, master of arts: london, printed by r. h. ." it is dedicated to "to the true lover of all good learning, the truly honourable sir charles cotterell, knight, master of the ceremonies," &c. on the fly-leaf of it is written, "frances cottrell, her booke, given by my honor'd grandfather sir cha. cottrell." this edition is not mentioned by lowndes; he only speaks of one of the date of , with a title slightly different. c--s. t. p. _muffins and crumpets_ (vol. ix., p. ).--crumpet, according to todd's _johnson_, is derived from a.-s. [anglo-saxon: crompeht], which boswell explains, "full of crumples, wrinkled." perhaps muffin is derived from, or connected with, the following: "mofflet. _moffletus._ mofletus panis delicatioris species, qui diatim distribui solet canonicis præbendariis; tolosatibus _pain moufflet_, quasi _pain molet_ dictus; forte quod ejusmodi panes singulis diebus coquantur, atque recentes et teneri distribuantur."--_du cange._ the latter part of the description is very applicable to this article. under _panes præbendarii_, du cange says, "innoc. cironus observat ejusmodi panes præbendarios dici, et in tolosano tractu _moufflets_ appellari." (see "n. & q," vol. i., pp. . . .) zeus. todd, for the derivation of crumpet, gives the saxon [anglo-saxon: crompeht]. to _crump_ is to eat a hard cake (halliwell's _archaisms_). perhaps its usual accompaniment on the tea-table may be indebted for its name to its muff-like softness to the touch before toasting. mackenzie walcott, m.a. "_clunk_" (vol. viii., p. .).--the scotch, and english, _clunk_ must have different meanings: for jamieson defines the verb _to clunk_ "to emit a hollow and interrupted sound, as that proceeding from any liquid confined in a cask, when shaken, if the cask be not full;" and _to guggle_, as a "straight-necked bottle, when it is emptying;" and yet i am inclined to believe that the word also signifies _to swallow_, as in england. in the humorous ballad of "rise up and bar the door," _clunk_ seems to be used in the sense of to swallow: "and first they eat the while puddins, and then they eat the black; the gudeman said within himsel, the deil _clunk_ ower ai that." that is, may you swallow the devil with the black puddings, they perhaps being the best to the good man's taste. true, i have seen the word printed "clink," instead of _clunk_ in this song; but erroneously i think, as there is no signification of _clink_ in jamieson that could be appropriately used by the man who saw his favourite puddings devoured before his face. to _clink_, means to "beat smartly", to "rivet the point of a nail," to "propagate scandal, or any rumour quickly;" none of which significations could be substituted for _clunk_ in the ballad. henry stephens. _picts' houses_ (vol. viii., p. .).--such buildings underground as those described as picts' { } houses, were not uncommon on the borders of the tweed. a number of them, apparently constructed as described, were discovered in a field on the farm of whitsome hill, berwickshire, about forty years ago. they were supposed to have been made for the detention of prisoners taken in the frays during the border feuds: and afterwards they were employed to conceal spirits, smuggled either across the border, or from abroad. henry stephens. _tailless cats_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the tailless cats are still procurable in the isle of man, though many an unfortunate pussey with the tail cut off is palmed off as genuine on the unwary. the real tailless breed are rather longer in the hind legs than the ordinary cat, and grow to a large size. p. p. though not a manx man by birth, i can assure your correspondent shirley hibberd, that there is not only a species of tailless cats in the isle of man, but also of tailless barn-door fowls. i believe the latter are also to be found in malta. e. p. paling. chorley. "_cock-and-bull story_" (vol. v., pp. . .).--dr. maitland, in his somewhat sarcastic remarks respecting "cock-and-bull stories," extracted from mr. faber's work, has, no doubt, given a true account of the "cock on the church steeple, as being symbolical of a doctor or teacher." still i cannot see that this at all explains the expression of a "cock-and-bull story." will dr. maitland be so good as to enlighten me on this point? i. r. r. _market crosses_ (vol. v., p. .).--does not the marriage at the market cross allude simply to the civil marriages in the time of the commonwealth, not alluding to any religious edifice at all? an inspection of many parish registers of that period will, i think, prove this. i. r. r. "_largesse_" (vol. v., p. .).--the word _largesse_ is not peculiar to northamptonshire: i well remember it used in essex at harvest-time, being shouted out at such time through the village to ask for a gift, as i always understood. a. b. may be referred to _marmion_, canto i. note . i. r. r. _awkward, awart, awalt_ (vol. viii., p. .).--when fat sheep roll over upon their backs, and cannot get up of themselves, they are said to be lying _awkward_, in some places _awalt_, and in others _awart_. is _awkward_, in this sense, the same word that treated by h. c. k.? s. _morgan odoherty_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reference to the remarks of mr. j. s. warden on the morgan odoherty of blackwood's _magazine_, i had imagined it was very generally known by literary men that that _nom de guerre_ was assumed by the late captain hamilton, author of the _annals of the peninsular campaigns_, and other works; and brother of sir william hamilton, professor of logic in the university of edinburgh. i had never heard, until mentioned by mr. warden, that dr. maginn was ever identified with that name. s. _black rat_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to the question of mr. shirley hibberd, whether the original rat of this country is still in existence, i may mention, that in the agricultural districts of forfarshire, the black rat (_mus rattus_) was in existence a few years ago. on pulling down the remains of an old farm-steading in , after the building of a new one, they were there so numerous, that a greyhound i had destroyed no fewer than seventy-seven of them in the course of a couple of hours. having used precautions against their lodgment in the new steading, under the floors, and on the tops of the party walls, they were effectually banished from the farm. henry stephens. _blue bells of scotland_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent [old english w]. of philadelphia is in error in supposing that the beautiful song, "blue bells of scotland," was any reference to bells painted blue. that charming melody refers to a very common pretty flower in scotland, the _campanula latifolia_ of linnæus, the flowers of which are drooping and bell-shaped, and of a blue colour. henry stephens. _grammars, &c. for public schools_ (vol. ix., p. ., &c.).--pray add to the list a latin grammar, under the title of _the common accidence improved_, by the rev. edward owen, rector of warrington, and for fifty years master of the grammar school founded in that town, under the will of sir thomas boteler, on april , . i believe it was first published in , but the copy now before me is of an edition printed in ; and the preface contains a promise (i know not whether afterwards fulfilled) of the early publication of the rules, versified on the plan of busbey and ruddiman, under the title of _elementa latina metrica_. j. f. m. _warville_ (vol. viii., p. .).--as regards the letter _w_, there is a distinction to be made between proper names and other words in the french language. the exclusion of that letter from the alphabet is sufficient proof that there are no words of french origin that begin with it; but the proper names in which it figures are common enough in recent times. of these, the greater number have been imported from the neighbouring countries of germany, switzerland, and { } belgium: and some too are of local origin or formation. in the latter category is the name of _warville_, which is derived from ouarville, near chartres, where brissot was born in . between the french _ouar_ and our "war," there is a close similarity of sound; and in the spirit of innovation, which characterised the age of brissot, the transition was a matter of easy accomplishment. hence the _nom de guerre_ of warville, by which he was known to his cotemporaries. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. _the camden society_ has just issued a volume of domestic letters, which contain much curious illustration of the stirring times to which they refer. the volume is entitled _letters of the lady brilliana harley, wife of sir robert harley, of brampton bryan, knight of the bath, with introduction and notes_, by the rev. t. t. lewis. the writer, lady brilliana, was a daughter of sir edward conway, afterwards baron conway, and is supposed to have been born whilst her father was lieut.-governor of the "brill." the earlier letters ( - ) are addressed to her husband, the remainder ( - ) to her son edward, during his residence at oxford. the appendix contains several documents of considerable historical interest. _elements of jurisprudence_, by c. j. foster, m.a., professor of jurisprudence at university college, london, is an able and well-written endeavour to settle the principles upon which law is to be founded. believing that law is capable of scientific reduction, professor foster has in this little work attempted, and with great ability, to show the principles upon which he thinks it must be so reduced. mr. croker has reprinted from _the times_ his correspondence with lord john russell on some passages of moore's _diary_. in the postscript which he has added, explanatory of mr. moore's acquaintance and correspondence with him, mr. croker convicts moore, by passages from his own letters, of writing very fulsomely _to_ mr. croker, at the same time that he was writing very sneeringly _of_ him. a three days' sale of very fine books, from the library of a collector, was concluded on wednesday the nd ult. by messrs. sotheby and wilkinson, at their house in wellington street. the following prices of some of the more rare and curious lots exhibit a high state of bibliographical prosperity, notwithstanding the gloomy aspect of these critical times:--lot , biographie universelle, fine paper, vols., l.; lot , donne's poems, a fine large copy, l. s.; lot , drummond of hawthornden's poems, l.; lot , book of christian prayers, known as queen elizabeth's prayer book, l.; lot , a fine copy of coryat's crudities, l. s.; lot , breydenbach, sanctarum peregrinationum in montem syon, first edition, l. s.; lot , the book of fayttes of armes and chyvalry, by caxton, with two leaves in fac-simile, l.; lot , chaucer's works, the edition of , l. s.; lot , dugdale's warwickshire, l. s.; lot , a gorgeous oriental manuscript from the palace of tippoo saib, enriched with large paintings, full of subject, l.; lot , horæ virginis mariæ, a charming flemish manuscript, with exquisite illuminations of a high class, l.; lot , milton's minor poems, first edition, l. s.; lot , navarre nouvelles, fine paper, l. s.; lot , fenton's certaine tragicall discourses, first edition, l.; lot , gascoigne's pleasauntest workes, fine copy, l.; lot , horæ virginis mariæ, beautifully printed upon vellum, by kerver, l.; lot , latimer's sermons, daye, , l.; lot , milton's comus, first edition, l. s.; lot , milton's paradise lost, first edition, l. s. d.; lot , the shah nameh, a fine persian manuscript, l. s. d.; lot , froissart chroniques, first edition, l. s.; lot , a fine copy of gough's sepulchral monuments, five vols., l.; lot , the original edition of holinshed's chronicles, l. s.; lot , lancelot du lac, chevalier de la table ronde, petit, , l.; lot , the original edition of laud's book of common prayer, l. s.; lot , meliadus de leonnoys, a romance of the round table, l.; lot , a superb copy of montfaucon's works, with the la monarchie française, l.; lot , works of sir thomas more, with the rare leaf, l. s.; lot , shakspeare's life of sir john oldcastle, l.; lot , a midsomer night's dream ( ), l. s.; lot , shakspeare's comedies, fine copy of the second edition, l.; lot , the celebrated letter of cardinal pole, printed on large paper, of which two copies only are known, l.; lot , purchas, his pilgrimes, five vols., a fine copy, with the rare frontispiece, l. s. the lots produced , l. s. d. books received.--_dante translated into english verse_, by j. c. wright, m.a., with thirty-four engravings on steel, after flaxman. this new volume of bohn's _illustrated library_ is one of those marvels of cheapness with which mr. bohn ever and anon surprises us.--_curiosities of bristol and its neighborhood_, nos. i.-v., is a sort of local "n. & q," calculated to interest not bristolians only.--_poetical works of john dryden_, edited by robert bell, vol. ii., forms the new volume of the _annotated edition of the english poets.--the carafas of maddaloni: naples under spanish dominion_, the new volume of bohn's _standard library_, is a translation from a german work of considerable research by alfred reumont. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. schiller's poems, translated by merivale. s. n. coleridge's biographia literaria. ---- essays on his own times. ---- poems. vol. ---- confessions of an inquiring spirit. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. { } particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: percy society's publications. nos. xciii. and xciv. wanted by _g. j. hargreaves_, stretford, near manchester. * * * * * scrapbook of literary varieties, and mirror of instruction, &c. prose, verse, and engravings. lacy, . st. paul's churchyard. vo. pp. wanted by _rev. g. t. driffield_, bow, middlesex. * * * * * cambridge installation ode, , by chr. wordsworth. to. edition. kitchener's economy of the eyes. part ii. brown's anecdotes of dogs. ---------------- of animals. wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. * * * * * masterman ready. vol. i. first edition. swift's works. vol. xiii. london, . wanted by _w. h. bliss_, hursley, winchester. * * * * * notices to correspondents. f. t. _the characteristic description of_ the weekly pacquet, _by the author of the continuation of sir james mackintosh's_ history of england, _seems perfectly just. we had marked for quotation, as a sample of its virulent tone, "the ceremony and manner of baptizing antichrist," in no. ., p. .; but we found its ribaldry would occupy too much of our valuable space, and after all would perhaps not elicit one protestant clap of applause even at exeter hall._ john weston. _the insertion of paginal figures to the advertisement pages of "n. & q." was considered at the time the change was made, when it was hinted to us that many of our subscribers would wish to retain those pages. we may probably dispense them in our next volume._ foreigner. _the canon inquired after will be found to be the th of the "constitutions and canons ecclesiastical, a.d. ." its partial observance complained of by our correspondent has been of late years frequently discussed in the various church periodicals and newspapers, especially in the_ british magazine, vols. xviii., xix., _and_ xx. _see also the official judgment of the bishop of london on this canon in his_ charge _of _, p. . primers of the reign of elizabeth.--_with reference to the article under this heading in last week's number, we have been reminded that the_ liturgies and private prayers _put forth by authority during the reign of elizabeth, which were reprinted by the_ parker society, _have been sold by that society to mr. brown, of old street, and may be purchased of him at a very moderate price. the introductions contain much valuable information._ comus. _we cannot learn that there is an edition of_ locke on the understanding _epitomised published at oxford. there is one in the_ london catalogue, _published some years ago by whittaker and co., price s. d., which may perhaps still be had._ a borderer. _our correspondent_ mr. c. mansfield ingleby _wishes to address a letter to_ a borderer; _how will it reach him?_ francis beaufort. biblia sacra latina, _two volumes in one, printed by r. rodt and b. richel circa , folio, was bought by thorpe for l. s. at the sale of the duke of sussex's library._ clericus rusticus _asks "whence the term 'mare's nest,' and when first used?"_ hugh henderson (glasgow). _it is not needful to use any iodide of silver in the iodizing of collodion, or to make any change in the ordinary -grain solution bath. the sensitizing fluid recommended by_ dr. diamond _is all that is required._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up. price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * choice and valuable books. messrs. upham & beet (late rodwell) having recently made great addition to their extensive stock of books in all languages, beg respectfully to invite an inspection of them. catalogues are now ready, and will be sent by post on receipt of two stamps. . new bond street, corner of maddox street. * * * * * great truths for thoughtful hours. (preliminary essay.) human happiness. by c. b. adderley, esq., m.p.--"labour, if it were unnecessary to the _existence_, would be necessary to the _happiness_ of men."-- mo. s. d. "reminds us of the best works of coleridge."--_baptist magazine._ "a charming little manual of wisdom and philosophy."--_church and state gazette._ "the most philosophical precision, logical sequence, and language the most perspicuous and chaste."--_commonwealth._ no i. the paternal character of god. by the rev. george gilfillan, dundee. s. d. blackader & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * just ready, in fcap. vo., with six etchings, designed by gillray, now first added, price s. the poetry of the anti-jacobin; comprising the celebrated political and satirical poems, ballads, songs, parodies, and jeux d'esprit of the rt. hon. g. canning, earl of carlisle, marquis wellesley, rt. hon. j. h. frere, g. ellis, w. gifford, rt. hon. w. pitt, and others. with explanatory notes, the originals of the parodies, a history of the work, and a complete list of the authors. by charles edmonds. second edition, considerably enlarged. g. willis, great piazza, covent garden. * * * * * church reform. * * * * * cheap high-class weekly newspaper. this day is published, price ½d. the courier, and church reform gazette; containing the whole of the ecclesiastical, political, and general news of the week, advocating a thorough conservative reformation in the church, the reform of our social laws, and the most determined opposition to popery and infidelity. the country edition of the courier, containing the latest intelligence, will be despatched by the friday evening mails, so as to be received in all parts of the kingdom on saturday morning. churchmen, your hearty support is absolutely requisite to enable us to bring about the second reformation. _advertisement terms._--five lines and under, half-a-crown; and sixpence per line afterwards. london: hope & co., . great marlborough street. * * * * * bank of deposit. no. . pall mall east, and . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. _established_ a.d. . investment accounts may be opened daily, with capital of any amount. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectus and forms sent free on application. * * * * * in vol., etchings by the author, and woodcuts, price s. legends of the madonna; so represented in the fine arts. forming the third series of "sacred and legendary art." by mrs. jameson. in the same series. new editions, price s. each. legends of the monastic orders, and-- legends of the saints and martyrs. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * in one volume, medium vo., price s. thesaurus of english words and phrases, classified and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas, and assist in literary composition. by p. m. roget, m.d., f.r.s. second edition. *** several thousand words and phrases, not contained in the first edition, have now been added; many improvements have been made in the arrangement of the expressions; and the whole work has undergone careful revision with the view of increasing its general utility. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete lists of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son. . st. paul's churchyard, london; 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the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerrotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists. . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g.f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, prices, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other traveller requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior level, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | transcriber's note: italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline characters_. greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildes~. hebrew transliterations appear | | like #this#. | | archaic spellings have been retained. | | some hyphenation inconsistencies retained. | | superscript contractions indicated as s^r | | page numbers have been retained. indicated as {page} | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . . {price threepence. {stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. page notes:-- dr. whichcote and lord shaftesbury, by s. w. singer the rebel notes on the hippopotamus folk lore:--northamptonshire charms for wens, cramp, tooth-ache, west or sty, &c. brasichellen and serpilius, by j. sansom queries:-- sir george buc, by rev. t. corser cosas de españa carter's drawings of york cathedral, by j. britton minor queries:--"imprest" and "debenture"--cosen's mss.--barclay's argenis--clergy sold for slaves-- meaning of pallet--tobacco in the east--stephanus brulifer replies:-- asinorum sepultura pope felix replies to numismatic queries "as lazy as ludlum's dog" replies to minor queries:--lord john townshend--when easter ends--holdsworth and fuller--gookin--"brozier"--symbols of four evangelists--catacombs and bone-houses--tace latin for candle--members for durham--"a frog he would," &c.--cavell--to endeavour ourselves--three dukes--christabel--derivation of "trianon" miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. dr. whichcote, michael aynsworth, and lord shaftesbury. not less remarkable and interesting than the publication of dr. whichcote's sermons by the noble author of the _characteristics_, is a posthumous volume (though never designed for the press) under the following title:-- "several letters written by a noble lord to a young man at the university. "quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem testa diu.--_hor. epist._ ii. . "printed for j. roberts, near the oxford arms, in warwick lane, . vo." the young man was michael aynsworth, of university college, oxford, afterwards vicar of cornhampton, in hampshire, and master of the free school there. he was a native of dorsetshire; his father, who was in narrow circumstances, living near wimborne st. giles's, the seat of lord shaftesbury, by whom the son seems to have been nobly patronised, on account of his inclination to learning and virtuous disposition. the published letters are only _ten_ in number; but i have an accurate manuscript transcript of _fifteen_, made from the originals by r. flexman (who had been a pupil of aynsworth) in . the transcriber's account is as follows:-- "after mr. aynsworth's death, these letters remained in the possession of his daughter, and at her decease passed into the the hands of the rev. mr. upton, the then vicar of cornhampton; by him they were lent to my brother john baker, of grove place, in hampshire, who lent them to me. it will be perceived that the ten printed letters are not given as they were written, every thing of a private nature being omitted, and passages only given of other letters, just as the editor judged proper." r. flexman has made some remarks illustrative of the letters at the end of his transcript, and added some particulars relating to lord shaftesbury. he justly says,-- "i think these letters will show his lordship in a more favourable light with respect to the christian religion than his _characteristics_, which, though they may be condemned on that account, will ever remain a lasting monument of the genius of the noble writer. it is certain, too, the friends of christianity are obliged to him for the publication of one of the best volumes of sermons that ever appeared in the english language. they are twelve in number, by dr. benjamin whichcote. these sermons (as well as the preface, which is admirable) breathe such a noble spirit of christianity, as i think will efface every notion that his lordship was an enemy to the christian religion. in this preface he calls dr. whichcote (from his pleading in defence of natural goodness) the 'preacher of good nature.'" what follows will, i think, be acceptable to your correspondents c h. and c. r. s. "i have heard that the way in which lord shaftesbury got possession of the manuscript sermons was this:--going one day to visit his grandmother, the countess dowager, widow of the first earl, he found her reading a manuscript; on inquiring what she was reading, she replied, that it was a sermon. his { } lordship expressed his surprise that she should take so much trouble as to read a manuscript sermon when there were such numbers in print. she said, she could find none so good as those she had in manuscript. lord shaftesbury then requested the favour of being allowed to peruse it, and having done so, he inquired of the countess if she had any more, as he should like to read them all if she had. having received and read them, he was so much pleased, that he resolved to print them; and having them prepared for the press, he published them with a preface recommending the sermons and highly praising the author." it appears that the sermons were prepared for the press, at lord shaftesbury's instance, by the rev. william stephens, rector of sutton, in surrey; but the fact of the preface being by himself rests on the undoubted evidence of his sister, lady betty harris (wife of james harris of salisbury, the author of _hermes_), who mentioned having written it from her brother's dictation, he being at that time too ill to write himself. the letters to michael aynsworth are very interesting, from their benevolent, earnest, and truly pious spirit, and might even now be read with advantage by a young student of theology: but, being very severe in many places upon the greater part of the body of the clergy _called_ the church of england, could have been by no means palatable to the high church party,-- "who no more esteem themselves a protestant church, or in union with those of protestant communion, though they pretend to the name of christian, and would have us judge of the spirit of christianity from theirs; which god prevent! lest men should in time forsake christianity through their means." the eleventh letter in the ms. is important on account of the observations it contains on the consequences which must inevitably arise from locke's doctrine respecting innate ideas. locke had been tutor both to lord shaftesbury and his father:-- "mr. locke, much as i honour him, and well as i know him, and can answer for his sincerity as a most zealous christian believer, has espoused those principles which mr. hobbes set on foot in the last century, and has been followed by the tindals and all the other free authors of our time. 'twas mr. locke that struck the home blow, (for hobbes' character and base slavish principles of government took off the poison of his philosophy), struck at all fundamentals, threw all _order_ and _virtue_ out of the world, and made the very _ideas_ of these (which are the same as those of god), unnatural and without foundation in our minds." it is remarkable that the volume of whichcote's sermons printed by lord shaftesbury should have been republished at edinburgh in , with a recommendatory epistle, by a presbyterian divine, dr. wishart, principal of the college of edinburgh. in the very neat reprint of the collected sermons given by dr. campbell and dr. gerard, in vols., vo., aberdeen, , prefixed to the third volume, we also find lord shaftesbury's preface. s. w. singer. mickleham, june . . * * * * * the rebel. sir,--the printed copy of a song which i inclose is believed, by those who are the best judges, to be the only copy, either printed or in manuscript, now in existence. that circumstance may, perhaps, render it acceptable to you: and i am not collector of curiosities, and i beg you would do what you please with it. the verses are plainly more modern than the motto: for there are, i think, two allusions to different plays of the immortal bard of stratford-on-avon. but perhaps you will think that he copied from it, as it is said he sometimes did from things not so good as his own. i do not believe, for my own part, that it was written till after the great rebellion. bishop christopherson, i take it, was a roman catholic, but resident in england, and we see that he wrote in english. the paper, you will observe, is foreign by the texture, as well as by the water-mark, which i cannot very well make out; but it seems to be a bust of somebody; while the type looks quite english, and therefore it is no proof that it was printed abroad. as i give you my real name, i hope you will not consider me as holding, or wishing to recommend, such opinions as are contained in the verses: and by way of protest, you will allow me to subscribe myself, your obedient servant, pacificus. "the rebel. "a new song, or balade, shewing the naughty conceits of traytours; that all loial and true-hearted men may know and eschew the same. "_they counte peace to be cause of ydelnes, and that it maketh men hodipekes and cowardes._"--bp. christopherson, _exh. ag. rebel._ . "tell me no more of peace-- 'tis cowardice disguised; the child of fear and heartless ease, a thing to be despised. "let daffodills entwine the seely shepherd's brow, a nobler wreath i'll win for mine, the lawrel's manly bough. "may-garlands fitter shew on swains who dream of love; and all their cherisance bestow upon the whining dove-- "i'll have no doves--not i-- their softness is disgrace; i love the eagle's lightning eye, that stares in phæbus' face. "i mark'd that noble thing { } bound on his upward flight, scatter the clouds with mighty wing, and breast the tide of light-- "and scorn'd the things that creep prone-visaged on the earth; to eat it's fruits, to play, to sleep, the purpose of their birth. "such softlings take delight in cynthia's sickly beam-- give me a heav'n of coal black night slash'd with the watch-fire gleam. "they doat upon the lute, the cittern and the lyre-- such sounds mine eare do little sute, they match not my desire. "the trumpet-blast--let it come in shrieks on the fitful gale, the charger's hoof beat time to the drum, and the clank of the rider's mail. "not for the heaps untold that swell the miser's hoard, i claim the birthright of the bold, the dowry of the sword-- "nor yet the gilded gem that coronets the slave-- i clutch the spectre-diadem that marshals on the brave. "for that--be sin and woe-- all priests and women tell-- be fire and sword--i pass not tho' this earth be made a hell. "above the rest to shine is all in all to me-- it is, unto a soul like mine, to be or not to be. "printed with permission of superiours: and are to be had of the printer, at his house hard by the sign of the squirrel, over-against the way that leadeth to the quay." p.s. query, what is a "hodipeke?" is it a "hypocrite?" and should not "phæbus," in the fourth verse, be "phoebus?" * * * * * the hippopotamus. the earliest mention of the hippopotamus is in herodotus, who in ii. . gives a detailed description of this inhabitant of the nile. he is stated by porphyry to have borrowed this description from his predecessor hecatæus (frag. . ap. _hist. gr. fragm._, vol. i. ed. didot). herodotus, however, had doubtless obtained his account of the hippopotamus during his visit to egypt. cuvier (_trad. de pline_, par grandsagne, tom. vi. p. .) remarks that the description is only accurate as to the teeth and the skin; but that it is erroneous as to the size, the feet, the tail and mane, and the nose. he wonders, therefore, that it should have been repeated, with few corrections or additions, by aristotle (_hist. an._, ii. . and .; viii. .) and diodorus (i. .). compare camus, _notes sur l'histoire des animaux d'aristote_, p. . none of the greek writers appear to have seen a live hippopotamus; nor is there any account of a live animal of this species having been brought to greece, like the live tiger which seleucus sent to athens. according to pliny (_h. n._, viii. .) and ammianus marcellinus (xxii. .), the romans first saw this animal in the celebrated edileship of Æmilius scaurus, b.c., when a hippopotamus and five crocodiles were exhibited at the games, in a temporary canal. dio cassius, however, states that augustus cæsar first exhibited a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus to the roman people in the year b.c. (li. .) some crocodiles and hippopotami, together with other exotic animals, were afterwards exhibited in the games at rome in the time of antoninus pius (a.d. - . see jul. capitolin. in _anton. pio_, c. .) and commodus, against his various exploits of animal warfare in the amphitheatre, slew as many as five hippopotami (a.d. - . see dio cass. lxxii. . and .; and gibbon, c. .). firmus, an egyptian pretender to the empire in the time of aurelian, a.d., once rode on the back of a hippopotamus (flav. vopiscus, in _firmo_, c. .): but this feat was probably performed at alexandria. the hippopotamus being an inhabitant of the upper nile, was imperfectly known to the ancients. fabulous anecdotes of its habits are recounted by pliny, _h. n._, viii. , ., and by Ælian, _de nat. an._, v. . vii. . achilles tatius, who wrote as late as the latter half of the fifth century of our era, says that it breathes fire and smoke (iv. .); while damascius, who was nearly his contemporary says that the hippopotamus is an unjust animal, and represents injustice in the hieroglyphic writing; because it first kills its father and then violates its mother (ap. phot. _bibl._ cod. ., p. ., b. . ed. bekker.). strabo (xv. .) and arrian (_ind._, c. .) say that the products of the indian rivers are similar to those of ethiopia and egypt, with the exception of the hippopotamus. they add, however, that according to onesicritus, even this exception did not exist: for that the hippopotamus was found in the rivers of india. the report of onesicritus was doubtless erroneous. herodotus, aristotle, and the other greek writers constantly call this animal ~hippos potamios~. the latin writers use the improper compound _hippo-potamus_; which, according to the ordinary rule of greek composition, means, not a _river-horse_, but a _horse-river_. the only greek writer in whom i have found the compound word ~hippopotamos~ is damascius, who wrote in the sixth century. achilles tatius, who lived about the same time, calls the animal ~hippos tou neilou~, which is, he says, its egyptian name. it seems probable that the word _hippopotamus_ is a roman corruption of the greek substantive and adjective, and { } is not a proper greek word. why this animal was called a horse is not evident. in shape and appearance it resembles a gigantic hog. buffon says that its name was derived from its _neighing_ like a horse (_quad._, tom. v., p. .). but query whether this is the fact? bochart (_hierozoicon_, p. ii., lib. v., c. , .) identifies the "behemoth" of job (c. .) with the hippopotamus, and the "leviathan" with the crocodile. this view seems to be generally adopted by modern commentators. (see winer, _bibl. real-wörterbuch_, art. "nilpferd.") a _historia hippopotami veterum critica_, by j. g. schneider, is appended to his edition of _artedi synonymia piscium_, p. . the accounts of the hippopotamus since the revival of letters, beginning with that published by federigo zerenghi, a neapolitan surgeon, in (see buffon), appear to have been all derived from dead specimens, or from the reports of travellers in africa. query, has there been a live hippopotamus in europe since the reign of commodus, with the exception of the young animal now in the zoological gardens in the regent's park? l. * * * * * folk lore. _folk lore of south northamptonshire._ _charming._--there are few villages in this district which are not able to boast a professor of the healing art, in the person of an old woman who pretends to the power of curing diseases by "charming;" and at the present day, in spite of coroners' inquests and parish officers, a belief in the efficacy of these remedies appears to be undiminished. two preliminaries are given, as necessary to be strictly observed, in order to ensure a perfect cure. first, that the person to be operated upon comes with a full and earnest belief that a cure _will_ be effected; and, secondly, that the phrases "please" and "thank you" do not occur during the transaction. the established formula consists in the charmer's crossing the part affected, and whispering over it certain mysterious words--doubtless varied according to the disorder, but the import of which i have never been able to learn; for as there is a very prevalent notion that, if once disclosed, they would immediately lose their virtue, the possessors are generally proof against persuasion or bribery. in some cases it is customary for the charmer to "bless" or hallow cords, or leathern thongs, which are given to the invalids to be worn round the neck. an old woman living at a village near brackley has acquired a more than ordinary renown for the cure of agues by this means. according to her own account, she received the secret from the dying lips of her mother; who, in her turn, is said to have received it from her's. as this old dame is upwards of ninety, and still refuses to part with her charm, the probability of it perishing with her, forms a constant theme of lamentation among her gossips. it must not be imagined that these ignorant people make a trade of their supposed art. on the contrary, it is believed that any offer of pecuniary remuneration would at once break the spell, and render the charm of no avail; and though it must be admitted that the influence and position naturally accruing to the possessor of such attributes, affords a sufficient motive for imposture, yet i think, for the most part, they may be said to be the dupes of their own credulity, and as fully convinced of their own infallibility as can be the most credulous of their admirers. the following are a few of the more common traditionary charms (used without having recourse to the charmer) at present current among the rural population of this district. _warts._--take one of the large black snails, which are to be found during summer in every hedgerow, rub it over the wart, and then hang it on a thorn. this must be done nine nights successively, at the end of which times the wart will completely disappear. for as the snail, exposed to such cruel treatment, will gradually wither away, so it is believed the wart, being impregnated with its matter, will slowly do the same. _wens._--after a criminal is dead, but still hanging, his hand must be rubbed thrice over the wen. (vide _brand_, vol iii. p. .) many persons are still living who in their younger days have undergone the ceremony, always, they say, attended with complete success. on execution days at northampton, numbers of sufferers used to congregate round the gallows, in order to receive the "dead-stroke," as it is termed. at the last execution which took place in that town, a very few only were operated upon, not so much in consequence of decrease of faith, as from the higher fee demanded by the hangman. _epistaxis._--for stopping or preventing bleeding at the nose, a toad is killed by transfixing it with some sharp pointed instrument, after which it is inclosed in a little bag and suspended round the neck. the same charm is also occasionally used in cases of fever. the following passage from sir k. digby's _discourse on sympathy_ (lond. ) may enlighten us as to the principle:-- "in time of common contagion, they use to carry about them the powder of a toad, and sometimes a living toad or spider shut up in a box; or else they carry arsnick, or some other venemous substance, which _draws unto it the contagious air_, which otherwise would infect the party." p. . _another for the same._--if it be a man who suffers, he asks a female to buy him a lace, (if a female she asks a man), without either giving money, saying what it is wanted for, or returning thanks when { } received. the lace so obtained must be worn round the neck for the space of nine days; at the expiration of which, it is said, the patient will experience no return of the disorder. _cramp._--we still retain such a high sense of the efficacy of the form of the cross, that in case of spasms, or that painful state of the feet in which they are said to "sleep," it is commonly used, under the impression that it mitigates, if not entirely allays, the pain. warts are also charmed away by crossing them with elder sticks: and a very common charm for the cramp consists in the sufferer's always taking care, when he pulls off his shoes and stockings, to place them in such a position as to form a resemblance to the "holy sign." another and very common charm resorted to for the cure of this painful disorder, consists in the wearing about the person the patella of a sheep or lamb, here known as the "cramp-bone." this is worn as near the skin as possible, and at night is laid under the pillow. one instance of a _human_ patella being thus used has come under my notice, but i believe this to be by no means common. _toothache._--few ailments have more charms for its cure than this. in point of efficacy none are reckoned better than a tooth taken from the mouth of a corpse, which is often enveloped in a little bag, and hung round the neck. a double nut is also sometimes worn in the pocket for the same purpose. _hooping-cough._--a small quantity of hair is taken frown the nape of the child's neck, rolled up in a piece of meat, and given to a dog, in the firm belief that the disease thereby becomes transferred to the animal. a friend informs me that the same charm is well known in gloucestershire. _rheumatism._--the right forefoot of a hare, worn constantly in the pocket, is considered a fine amulet against the "rheumatiz." _west._--in order to be rid of the painful tumour on the eyelid, provincially known as the _west_ or _sty_, it is customary for the sufferer, on the first night of the new moon, to procure the tail of a black cat, and after pulling from it one hair, rub the tip _nine_ times over the pustule. as this has a very cabalistic look, and is moreover frequently attended with sundry severe scratches, a gold ring is found to be a much more harmless substitute; and as it is said to be equally beneficial with the former, it is now more commonly used. this superstition is alluded to by beaumont and fletcher, _mad lovers_, v. .:-- "---- i have a _sty_ here, chilax. _chi._ i have no gold to cure it, not a penny." _thorn._--the following word charm is used to prevent a thorn from festering:-- "our saviour was of a virgin born, his head was crowned with a crown of thorn; it never canker'd nor fester'd at all, and i hope in christ jesus this never shaull [shall]." this will remind the reader of the one given by pepys, vol. ii. p. . t. s. * * * * * brasichellen and serpilius--expurgatory index. i have a note, and should be glad to put a query, on the subject of a small octavo volume, of which the title is, "indicis librorum expurgandorum, in studiosorum gratiam confecti, tomus primus; in quo quinquaginta auctorum libri præ cæteris desiderati emendantur. per fr. io. mariam brasichellensem, sacri palatii apostolici magistrum, in unum corpus redactus, et publicæ commoditati editus. superiorum permissu, romæ, ." speaking of this index, mendham says:-- "we now advance to perhaps the most extraordinary and scarcest of all this class of publications. it is the first, and last, and incomplete expurgatory index, which rome herself has ventured to present to the world, and which, soon after the deed was done, she condemned and withdrew.... after a selection of some of the rules in the last edition of the expurgatory index, the editor in his address informs the reader, that, understanding the expurgation of books to be not the least important part of his office, and wishing to make books more accessible to students than they were without expurgation, he had availed himself of the labours of his predecessors, and, adding his own, issued the present volume, intending that a second, which was in great readiness, should quickly follow; (but, alas! it was not allowed so to do). dated rome, from the apostolic palace, .... nothing more remains on the subject of this index, than to report what is contained in the inaccessible work of zobelius, _notitia indicis_, &c., but repeated from by struvius or ingler, his editor, in the _bibliotheca hist. lit._--that brasichellen or guanzellus was assisted in the work by thomas malvenda, a dominican; that another edition was printed at bergomi in ; that when a fresh one was in preparation at antwerp in , it was suppressed; and that, finally, the author, like montanus, found his place in a future index." the second volume promised never appeared. the work, however, became exceedingly scarce; which induced serpilius, a priest of ratisbon, in , to print an edition so closely resembling the original, as to admit of its being represented as the same. the imposition, however, being detected, another edition was prepared by hesselius, a printer of altorf, in ; and then the remaining copies of the former threw off their mask, and appeared with a new title-page as a second edition. the original and counterfeit editions of this peculiar work are sufficiently alike to deceive any person, who should not examine them in literal juxtaposition; but upon such examination, the deception is easily apparent. the one, however, may be fairly considered as a { } fac-simile of the other. (see the rev. joseph mendham's _literary policy of the church of rome exhibited_, &c., chap. iii. pp. - .) mendham adds, that "there is a copy of the original edition" of this index "in the bodleian library, oxford," presented to sir thomas bodley by the earl of essex, together with the belgic, portuguese, spanish and neapolitan indices, all which originally belonged to the library of jerom osorius, but had become part of the spoil of the expedition against cadiz in . i am acquainted with the bodleian copy of the original edition of this rare work; but i wish to put the query--where is a copy of the _counterfeit edition_ of serpilius to be seen, either with its original title-page, or as it appeared afterwards, when the mask was thrown off? i am not aware that any one of our public libraries (rich as several of them are in such treasures) contains a copy of this curious little impostor. j. sansom. . park place, oxford, may . . * * * * * queries sir george buc. can any of your readers inform me on what authority sir george buc, the poet, and master of the revels in the reign of james i., is recorded by his biographers to have been a native of lincolnshire, and to have died in ? in the _biogr. britann._, and repeated by chalmers, it is stated that he was born in lincolnshire, in the sixteenth century, descended from the bucs, or buckes, of west stanton and herthill, in yorkshire, and melford hall, in suffolk, and knighted by james i. the day before his coronation, july , . mr. collier, in his _annals of the stage_, vol. i., p. , says, that on the death of edmund tylney, in october, , he succeeded him as master of the revels, and wrote his treatise on the office of the revels prior to . he also says,-- "in the spring of , sir george buc appears to have been so ill and infirm, as to be unable to discharge the duties of his situation, and on the nd of may in that year, a patent was made out, appointing sir john astley master of the revels."--_biogr. britann._, p. . ritson says that he died in . chalmers supposed his death to have happened soon after , and states that he certainly died before august . my reason for making these inquiries is, that i have in my possession a to. manuscript volume, believed to be in the handwriting of this sir george buc, which is quite at variance with these statements in several particulars. the volume which is without a date in any part, and has only the initials of the author, is entitled _the famous history of saint george, england's brave champion. translated into verse, and enlarged. the three first chapters by g. b. his first edition._ it is extended to nineteen chapters, and comprehends also the histories of the other six champions, as well as that of st. george. it is contained in a thick to. volume of closely written pages, in russia, and was formerly in the collection of the duke of roxburghe, whose arms are on the sides; and afterwards in that of mr. heber. this ms. is entirely in the handwriting of sir george buc, as prepared by him for publication. the initials "g. b." correspond with those of his name, and the handwriting, having been compared, is found to be exactly similar to a ms. inscription, in sir george buc's handwriting, prefixed to a copy of his poem ~daphnis polustephanos~, to., , presented by him to lord chancellor ellesmere, and preserved at bridgewater house; a fac-simile of which is given by mr. collier in his privately printed catalogue of that library, p. . the volume commences with a sort of metrical preface, entitled _the muse's apologie_, in which he says,-- "consider that my muse is aged growne, whose pilgrimage to _seventy-six is knowne_." and again:-- "thy nimble steps to _norfolk_ none forbeare, i'm confident thou shalt be welcom'd there, where that thy autor _hee was bred and borne_, though to parnassus girles was never sworne." the work is dedicated "to the vertuous lady and his most honoured friend, the lady bacon, at readgrave hall, in suffolk, wife to s^r edmond bacon, prime baronett of england," commencing thus:-- "faire madam,--having nothing at present, i thought was fitt (_living at so far distance_) to present to y^r ladyship," &c. the distance here alluded to was probably caused by the author's residence in london at that time. this is followed by some lines "to the courteous reader," beginning,-- "some certaine gentlemen did mee ingage to publish forth this work, done in myne age that this, my aged act, it may survive my funerall and keep me still alive." and by others, entitled "the autor," signed "vale, g. b.;" after which are added the following lines:-- "some poets they are poore, and so am i, _except i bee reliev'd in chancery_; i scorne to begg, my pen nere us'd the trade, this book to please my friends is only made, which is performed by my aged quill, for to extend my country my good will. let not my country think i took this paynes in expectation of any gaines." we know from mr. collier's bridgewater catalogue, that sir george buc had been indebted to lord ellesmere for certain favours shown him, { } probably in some chancery suit, to which he here seems to allude, as if still suffering in his pocket from its ill consequences. my first quotation from the poem itself is one of some importance, as serving to show the probable time at which it was written. on the reverse of fol. ., at the commencement of the poem, an allusion is thus made to the destruction of troy:-- "and wasted all the buildings of the king, which unto priamus did glory bring, destroy'd his pallaces, the cittie graces, and all the lusters of his royall places, _just as noll cromewell in this iland did, for his reward at tiburne buried._" so also, again, on the reverse of fol. ., in reference to the abuses and profanations committed by cromwell's soldiery in st. paul's cathedral, he says:-- "pittie it were this faberick should fall into decay, derives its name from paul, _but yet of late it suffered vile abuses, was made a stable for all traytors' uses_, had better burnt it down for an example, as herostratus did diana's temple." and again, at the commencement of the eighth chapter, fol. .:-- "in this discourse, my muse doth here intend, the honor of saint patrick to defend, and speake of his adventrous accidents, of his brave fortunes, and their brave events, that if her pen were made of _cromwell's rump_, yet she should weare it to the very stump." at the end of the poem he again alludes to his great age, and to the time which had been occupied in writing it, and also promised, if his life should be prolonged, a second part, in continuation, which, however, appears never to have been accomplished:-- "my muse wants eloquence and retoricke, for to describe it more scollerlike, and doth crave pardon for hir bold adventure, when that upon these subjects she did enter. 'tis eight months since this first booke was begun, come, muse, breake off, high time 'tis to adone. travell no further in these martiall straines, till we know what will please us for our paines. i know thy will is forward to performe, what age doth now deny thy quill t' adorne, whose age is _seventy-sixe, compleat in yeares_, which in the regester at large appeares." &c. &c. &c. &c. cromwell died sept. . , and was interred in westminster abbey; but his bones were not removed and buried at tyburn till the th of january, ; very soon after which it is most probable that this poem was written. now if the author was, as he says, seventy-six at this time, he must have been born about or , which will rightly correspond with the account given by chalmers and others; and thus he would be about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age when he wrote his first poem of ~daphnis polustephanos~, and twenty-seven when he succeeded to the office of master of the revels. there appears to be no reason for supposing, with ritson, that _the great plantagenet_, which was the second edition of that poem, and published in , was done "by some fellow who assumed his name;" but that the variations, which are very considerable, were made by the author himself, and printed in his lifetime. the dedication to sir john finch, lord chief justice of the common pleas, signed "george buck," and written exactly in his style; the three sets of commendatory verses addressed to the author by o. rourke, robert codrington, and george bradley, not in the first edition of the poem "upon king henrie the second, the first plantagenet of england," &c., added to this impression; all tend to show that the author was then living in . we learn by the above quotations from his ms. poem, that his days were further prolonged till . perhaps some of your numerous readers may be able to discover some corroborative proofs of this statement from other sources, and will be kind enough to favour me, through your paper, with any evidence which may occur to then, bearing upon the subject of my inquiries. thomas corser. stand rectory. cosas de espaÑa. the things of spain are peculiar to a proverb, but they are not so exclusively national but we may find some connection with them in things of our own country. any information from readers of notes and queries, on a few spanish things which i have long sought for in vain, would prove most acceptable and useful to me. . in _catalogi librorum manuscriptorum, angliæ et hiberniæ_, &c., under "library of westminster abbey," at p. ., i find mentioned the following ms.: _una resposal del reverend padre thomaso cranmero_. it is not now in that library--is it in any other? i suppose it may be a translation, made by francisco dryander or enzinas, translator of the spanish new testament, , of--"an answer by the right rev. father in god, thomas, abp. of canterbury, unto a crafty and sophistical cavillation devised by stephen gardener," &c. dryander came to this country with bucer, recommended to cranmer by melancthon, and resided two months in the archbishop's house before he went to cambridge to lecture in greek. . ferdinando de tereda, a spanish protestant, came to this country in . the lord keeper williams took him into his house to learn spanish of him, in order to treat personally with the spanish ambassador about the marriage of prince charles and the infanta. at this instance, { } tereda translated the english liturgy into spanish ( ), and was repaid by presentation to a prebend at hereford. on the death of james, in , he left, as he says, the court, before the court left him, and retired to hereford. here he adds: "i composed a large volume _de monachatu_, in latin; another _de contradictionibus doctrinæ ecclesiæ romanæ_, in the same language; and a third, entitled _carrascon_, also in latin." in - he vacated his prebend, and went, i conjecture, to holland, where he printed _carrascon_ in _spanish_ ( ), being a selection from the latin. in the preface to this, which recently had been reprinted, he proposed to print the other works which he had prepared, if the spanish _carrascon_ brought him "good news." do his latin works exist either in print or in manuscript? . juan de nicholas y sacharles was another spanish protestant, who came to this country in . he translated the _bouclier de la foi_, by p. moulin, into spanish; he presented it, i conjecture in ms., to prince charles about the year . is such a ms. known to exist in any of our libraries? . the recent _history of spanish literature_, by george ticknor, has made us generally acquainted, that the author of the clever "dialogo de las lenguas," printed in _origines de la lengua española_ by gregorio mayans y siscar, was juan de valdes, to whom italy and spain herself owed the dawning light of the religious reformation which those countries received. spaniards well informed in their own literature have of course been long aware of the authorship of the "dialogo de las lenguas." but few even of them are aware that mayans y siscar could not, even at so late a period, venture to reprint the work, as it was written by juan de valdes. he suppressed various passages, for the inquisition was in his day too jealous and powerful for him to risk offence. notwithstanding, and as _una cosa de españa_, he printed a few copies privately, entire. expurgated books are always unsatisfactory mutilations. does any _manuscript_ of the "dialogo de las lenguas" exist in this country, in any public or private library? wn. * * * * * carter's drawings of york cathedral.--medal of stukeley. i shall be glad to ascertain, if possible, through the medium of your columns, who is now the possessor of a volume of elaborate _drawings of york cathedral_, which were made by the late john carter, f. s. a., for sir mark m. sykes, bart. mr. carter was paid a large sum on account of these drawings during the progress of his task, but after the death of the baronet, he demanded such an extravagant price that the executors declined to take the volume. at the sale of the artist's effects it was sold to sir gregory page turner, bart., for _l._ it again came to the hammer, and was purchased by john broadley, esq., at whose sale it was disposed of for _l._ i cannot ascertain the purchaser on the last occasion, and am very desirous to learn where the drawings are now to be found. the same artist also prepared a series of drawings illustrative of english costume from the earliest period. this volume was executed for thomas lister parker, esq., but, like the former, has passed into the custody of other persons, and i am now ignorant of its possessor. i have not yet received any reply to my inquiry in vol. i. p. ., respecting a large bronze medal of dr. stukeley, with a view of stonehenge on the reverse, evidently executed soon after his decease. i believe it to be unique, but should be glad to know if dies were ever engraved from this design. j. britton. burton street, june . . * * * * * minor queries. _"imprest" and "debenture."_--when a person fulfilling any employment under any of the government boards has occasion to draw "money on account," an "imprest," addressed to the pay-master under that board, is issued for the required sum; but when the final payment is made upon the "closing of the account," the "debenture" takes the place of the "imprest." out of what verbal raw material are these words manufactured? i know of no other use of the word "imprest" as a substantive; and though we see "debenture" often enough in railway reports, i cannot perceive the analogy between its meanings in the two cases. d. v. s. home, may . _cosin's mss._--basire, in his _brief of the life, &c. of bishop cosin_, appended to his _funeral sermon_ (lond. , p. .), after noticing several ms. works of cosin's, some of which have not yet seen the light, adds, "these remains are earnestly recommended to his pious executor's care for publication." can any of your correspondents kindly inform me, who are the lineal representatives of cosin's pious executor? basire mentions three "imperfect" works of bishop cosin's in manuscript: viz. _annales eccles._, _historia conciliorum_, _chronologia sacra_. is it known what has become of them? they appear to have fallen, with other mss., into the hands of his executor. j. sansom. _barclay's argenis._--what are the latest editions of this romance--the best, in cowper's opinion, ever written, which coleridge laments as being so little known, and which has been translated, i believe, { } into all the european languages? what are the principal as well as the latest _english_ translations? jartzberg. _clergy sold for slaves._--walker, in his _sufferings of the clergy_, says, "there was a project on foot to sell some of the most eminent" (of the masters of colleges, doctors in divinity, &c.) "to the turks for slaves; and a considerable progress was made in that horrid purpose." and, writing of dr. ed. layfield, under the head of "london cathedrals," walker again says, that "at last, in the company of others, he was clapt on shipboard under hatches;" and that "they were threatened to be sold slaves to the algerines, or to some of our own plantations." again, it is recorded in bishop cosin's life, that by his will "he gave towards the redemption of christian captives at algiers, _l._; towards the relief of the distressed loyal party in england, _l._:"--upon which i should be glad to put a query; viz., is there sufficient ground for supposing, that any of the loyal party were really sold for slaves during the rebellion? if otherwise, will cosin's bequest throw any light upon r. w. b.'s query, vol. i., p. .? j. sansom. _meaning of pallet._--about a mile from hume castle, on the scotch border, is a rock hill, which is called hume _pallet_. the only other name of the kind in this district is kilpallet, in the heart of the lammermuir hills, on the borders of berwickshire and east lothian. there was at this latter place once a religious house of some kind, and a burying ground, now hardly visible. what is the meaning of the word _pallet_? j. s. q. _tobacco in the east._--can any of your readers inform me whether tobacco is indigenous to any part of asia? also, whether the habit of smoking (opium or tobacco), now universal _over the east_, dates there from before the discovery of america? and if not, from what period? z. a. z. _stephanus brulifer._--can any of your correspondents kindly refer me to a library containing a copy of stephanus brulifer, in lib. iv. _sentent. seraphici doctoris bonaventuræ_, vo. basil. ? j. sansom. * * * * * replies. asinorum sepultura. to discover the origin of this phrase, your correspondent (vol. ii., p. - .) need not go further than to his bible. "sepultura asini sepelietur, putrefactus et projectus extra portas jerusalem."--_jerem._ xxii. .: cf. xxxvi. . with regard to the extract given by ducange, at the word "imblocatus," from a "vetus formula excommunicationis præclara," it is evident that the expressions,-- "sint cadavera eorum in escam volatilibus coeli, et bestiis terræ, et non sint qui sepeliant eos," have been derived from s. jerome's latin version from the hebrew of psal. lxxix. , .: "dederunt cadavera servorum tuorum escam volatilibus coeli; carnes sanctorum tuorum bestiis terræ. effuderunt sanguinem eorum quasi aquam in circuitu hierusalem, et non erat qui sepeliret."--vide jacobi fabri stapulensis _quincuplex psalterium_, fol. . b., paris, ; sabatier, tom. ii. p. . ib. . r. g. the use of this term in the denunciation against jehoiakim, more than six centuries b.c., and the previous enumeration of crimes in the nd chapter of jeremiah, would seem sufficiently to account for its origin and use in regard to the disposal of the dead bodies of excommunicated or notorious malefactors, by the earliest christian writers or judges. the hebrew name of the ass, says parkhurst, is "derived from its turbulence when excited by lust or rage;" and the animal was also made the symbol of slothful or inglorious ease, in the case of issachar, b.c. : genesis, xlix. . it is thus probable some reference to such characteristics of the brute and the criminal, rather than any mere general allusion to throwing the dead bodies of inferior or unclean animals (of which the dog was a more common type) under any rubbish beyond the precincts of the city, may have been intended, by specifying this animal in prescribing an ignominious sepulture. lamba. it can hardly have escaped the notice of your querist (although the instance is not one adduced by ducange), that the phrase, "burial of an ass" #kevurat chamor# for "no burial at all," is as old as the time of the prophet jeremiah. (vide chap. xxii. .) the _custom_ referred to being of religious origin, might lead us to the sacred books for the origin of the _phrase_ denoting it; and it seems natural for the christian writers, in any mention of those whose bodies, like that of jehoiakim, were for their sins deprived of the rites of sepulture, to use the striking phrase already provided for them in scripture; and as natural for that phrase to continue in use even after the somewhat more civilised custom of "imblocation" had deprived it of its original reference to "the dead body's being cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost." (jer. xxxvi. .) j. eastwood. this phrase is, i think, accounted for by the ass being deprived of interment in consequence of the uses made of its dead carcass. after a description of the adaptation of his bones to instrumental music, aldrovandus continues as follows:-- "de corio notissimum, post obitum, ne quid asini unquam { } _conquiescat_, foraminibus delacerari, indeque factis cribris, assiduæ inservire agitationi; unde dicebat apuleius: cedentes hinc inde miserum corium, nec cribris jam idoneum relinquunt. sed et albertus pollicetur asinorum corium non solum utile esse ad soleas calceorum faciendas, sed etiam quæ ex illa parte fiunt, in qua onera fuerunt, non consumi, etsi ille qui utitur, eis continuo peregrinando in lapidibus portaverit, et tandem ita indurare ut pedes sustinere nequeant."--_de quadruped._, p. . t. j. * * * * * pope felix. four popes of the name have filled the chair of st. peter. the first suffered martyrdom under aurelian. he is honoured with a festival at rome on the th may. the second also received the crown of martyrdom, under constantine. his festival is kept on the th july. the third is commemorated as a holy confessor on the th february. he was a collateral ancestor of pope st. gregory the great, who mentions him in his writings. gregory had three aunts by the father's side, who all became nuns. one of them, tarsilla, a lady of pious and beatified life, and of very advanced age, had one night a vision of pope felix, who was then dead. he seemed to point towards the mansions of eternal glory, and to invite her to enter. she soon after sickened, and her end visibly approached. while a number of her friends were standing around her couch, she suddenly exclaimed, looking upwards, "stand aside, stand aside, jesus is coming;" and with a look of ineffable love, she presently expired. this story is related by st. gregory. this pope is the best known of the four on account of his relationship to st. gregory. the fourth of the name was also a confessor. his festival occurs on the th january. j. a. s. edinburgh, may . . * * * * * replies to numismatic queries. i beg to offer the following remarks in reply to the numismatic queries of e. s. t. (vol. i., p. .):-- . i can only account for the macedonian coin being struck in lead, by supposing it to be the work of an ancient forger. . third brass coins of tiberius are not uncommon; i have one in my cabinet of the sort described. obv. head of tiberius, ti. caesar. divi. avg. f. avgvstvs; rev. the altar of lyons, rom. et. avg. . the coin of herennia etruscilla is probably a base or plated denarius, the silver having been worn off. silver coins sometimes acquire a black tarnish, so that they are not to be distinguished from brass without filing the edge, or steeping them in acid. if a genuine brass coin, it should have the s. c. for _senatus consultum_. . the coin of macrinus was struck at antioch in syria, of which famous city there exists a regular series of imperial coins from augustus to valerian. one in my possession has ~delta~ above the s. c., and ~epsilon~ below for ~dÊmarch. exousias~, _tribunitia potestate_. may not these be the letters described by e. s. t. as l. c.? j. c. witton. _coins of constantius ii._--can any numismatist kindly inform me by what marks the coins of constantius ii., the son of constantine the great, are distinguished from those of constantius gallus, his nephew? mr. akerman, in his _rare and inedited roman coins_, gives the following titles as common to both, but does not afford any rule for appropriating their coins:-- constantivs. nob. caes. fl. ivl. constantivs. nob. caes. d. n. constantivs. nob. c. d. n. constantivs. nob. caes. j. c. witton. * * * * * as lazy as ludlum's dog. (vol. i., p. .) i feel obliged by the extract from the _doctor_ given by j. m. b. (vol. i., p. .), though it only answers by a kind of implication the query i proposed. that implication is, that, instead of ludlum and his dog being personages of distinction in their own way and in their own day, the proverb itself is merely one framed on the principle of alliteration, and without precise or definite "meaning." this is very full of meaning, as anyone may convince himself by observing the active energy of every muscle of all dogs in the act of barking. what can typify "laziness" more emphatically than a dog that "lays him[self] down to bark?" a _jingle_ of some kind is essential to a proverb. if a phrase or expression have not this, it never "takes" with the masses; whilst, having this, and being capable of any possible and common application, it is sure to live, either as a proverb or a "saw," as the case may be. alliteration and rhyme are amongst the most frequent of these "jingles;" and occasionally a "pun" supplies their place very effectively. we find these conditions fulfilled in the proverbs and saws of every people in the eastern and western world, alike in the remotest antiquity and in our own time. but are they therefore "without meaning?" do not these qualities help to give them meaning, as well as to preserve them through their long and varied existence? but there is another principle equally essential to the constitution of a legitimate and lasting proverb; or rather two conjointly, _metre_ { } and _euphony_. these may be traced in the proverb as completely as in the ballad; and precisely the same contrivances are employed to effect them in both cases where any ruggedness in the natural collocation of the words may present itself. for instance, change in the accent, the elision or the addition of a letter or syllable, the lengthening of a vowel, transposition, and a hundred other little artifices. the euphony itself, though sometimes a little imperfect, is also studied with the same kind of care in the older and purer proverbs of all languages. attention to metre and euphony will generally enable us to assign, amongst the forms in which we pick up and note any particular proverb, the original and legitimate one; especially when combined with brevity and "pith." as a case in point, our friend ludlum will serve our purpose for comparison. who does not see at a glance, taking account of the principles which govern the construction of a proverb, that the sheffield version, as i gave it, _must be_ more genuine than southey's version, quoted by j. m. b.? besides this, i may add, that a friend, whose early days were spent in sheffield, has told, me (since the query was proposed) that he has heard his mother tell some legend of "the fat miss ludlum." after all, therefore, the proverb may be founded on a fat old maid and her fat poodle. i can hardly, then, deem my inquiry answered. j. m. b. quotes two others from the _doctor_; one for the purpose, as would appear by his marking the words, to illustrate the alliterative principle. the following are variations which i have heard:--"as proud as the cobbler's dog, that took [or _as_ took--the most general vernacular form, for the sake of euphony] the wall of a dung-cart, and got crushed for his pains." "as queer as dick's hatband as went nine times round and wouldn't tie." on these i will only remark, that few persons would pronounce dung-cart as j. m. b. implies, even for alliteration; and, indeed, when so even marked to the eye, it is not without an effort that we can read accordingly. as to dick's hatband, it is expressed in a peculiarly clumsy and round-about manner by southey. one word more. j. m. b. quotes as a _proverb_--one of those without meaning--"as busy as batty;" and says, "no one knows who batty was." surely, the inference that batty was not a real personage in some distant age--that he was a mere myth--must be a _non sequitur_ from the premises before us. perhaps mr. batty was a person of notable industry--perhaps remarkable for always beings in a "fluster"--perhaps the rural paul pry of his day and district. he has left, too, a large progeny; whether as regards the name alone, or whichever of the characters he bore. this jingle upon words partakes largely of the character of the _pun_. it, however, reminds me of a mode of speech which universally prevailed in the north of lincolnshire thirty years ago, and which probably does so yet. a specimen will explain the whole:--"i'm as throng as throng." "he looks as black as black." "it's as wet as wet." i have heard this mode used so as to produce considerable emphasis; and it is more than possible, that some of the jingles have thus originated, and settled into proverbs, now without any obvious meaning, but originally very forcible ones. d. v. s. shooter's hill, may . * * * * * replies to minor queries. _lord john townshend's poetical works_ (vol. ii., p. .)--were never, i believe, collected, nor indeed distinctly known, though they well deserve to be. he told me himself that he wrote "jekyl," in what is called _the rolliad_; and he mentioned some other of his contributions; but i did not _make a note_, and regret that i can say no more. mr. rogers or lord lansdowne might. c. _when easter ends._--mr. h. edwards, in this day's number (no. ., p. .), asks when easter ends. i fancy this question is in some degree answered by remarking, that it, together with other festivals of the church, viz. the nativity, &c., are celebrated for eight days, which is the octave. the reason, says wheatley, of its "being fixed to eight days, is taken from the practice of the jews, who, by god's appointment, observed the greater festivals, some of them for seven days, and one, the feast of tabernacles, for eight days. and therefore the primitive christians lengthened out their higher feast to eight days." if this be true, easter will end on the conclusion of the sunday after easter day; but whether our present parliament is sufficiently catholic to admit this, in the interpretation of the act, is questionable. in the spanish church easter continues till the feast of whitsuntide is past; and during this period all fasts are forbidden. the romish church has ten high festivals having octaves. i trust this slight sketch may in some way help mr. edwards to a conclusion. r. j. s. _when does easter end?_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the case stated, at o'clock on the night of easter sunday. c. _holdsworth and fuller._--in a. b. r.'s communication (vol. i., p. .) some symptoms of inaccuracy must be noted before a satisfactory reply can be given to his query. . he has erred in adopting the spelling of holdsworth's name (viz. { } holsworth) which appears in the title-page of _the valley of vision_. . this work is very incorrectly styled "the sermon," inasmuch as it consists of twenty-one sermons. . my copy bears date , not . . if holdsworth's hand was "legible only to himself," we may sincerely commiserate the misfortune of his nephew, dr. richard pearson, who had to prepare for the press folio pages of his _prælectiones theologicæ_, &c.: lond. . . there is not the smallest reason for thinking it "probable" that dean holdsworth "preached other men's sermons." respecting our great caroline divines it would seldom have been right to say-- "quos (harpyiarum more) convectare juvat prædas, et vivere rapto." now, as to what dr. holdsworth really wrote, and with regard to that for which he is not responsible, it is to be observed, that he was so averse to the publication of any of his works, that he printed but a single sermon (on psalm cxliv. .), and that not until he had been three times urged to the task by his royal master king charles i. the pagination of this discourse is quite distinct from that of the twenty unauthentic sermons which follow it in the quarto volume, and which commence at signature b. these are thus described by dr. pearson, _ad lectorem_: "cæteræ quæ prostant anglicè venales, à prædone illo stenographico tam laceræ et elumbes, tam miserè deformatæ sunt, ut parum aut nihil agnoscas genii et spiritûs holdsworthiani." r. g. _gookin_ (vol. i., pp. , , .).--vincent gookin was nominated by cromwell one of the six representatives of ireland in the barebones parliament; and he was returned for bandon and kinsale (which together sent one member) in each of the three subsequent cromwellian parliaments. lord orrery, writing to the duke of ormond, june , , speaks of captain robert gooking, as one of the chief persons in the west of cork county, and describes him as rich and having good brains, loyal, and ready to fight against french or irish, as every thing he has depends on his new title. (orrery's _state letters_, ii. p. . dublin edition.) a little further on (p. .), lord orrery names the same robert gooking as recommended by the chief gentlemen in the west of cork to be captain of a troop of horse in the militia. ch. "_brozier_" (vol. i., p. .), "_sock_," "_tick._"--i well remember the phrase, "brozier my dame," signifying to "eat her out of house and home." i had forgotten that a boy at eton was "brozier," when he had spent all his pocket-money. as a supplemental note, however, to lord braybrooke's remarks upon this latter signification, i would remind old etonians of a request that would sometimes slip out from one in a "broziered" state, viz. that a schoolfellow would _sock_ him, _i.e._ treat him to _sock_ at the pastrycook's; and this favour was not unfrequently granted _on tick, i.e._ on credit with the purveyor of sweets. in reply to your noble correspondent's query, i beg to say that halliwell, in his _dictionary of archaic and provincial words_, both spells and defines thus: "brosier. a bankrupt. _chesh._" mr. h. says no more; but this seems to decide that the word does not exclusively belong to eton. i could have fancied that on such classic ground it might possibly have sprung from ~brôskô~, fut. ~-sô~, _to devour_. is _sock_ only a corruption of _suck_, indicating a lollipop origin? or what is its real etymological root? richardson most satisfactorily says, that to "go on _tick_" is to give a note or _ticket_ instead of payment. alfred gatty. ecclesfield, may . . this eton phrase, the meaning of which is very correctly explained lord braybrooke (vol. i., p. .), appears to be connected with the cheshire provincialism, which is thus interpreted in wilbraham's _cheshire glossary_:-- "'brosier, _s._ a bankrupt.' it is often used by boys at play, when one of them has nothing further to stake." the noun _brosier_, as mr. wilbraham indicates, seems to be derived from the old word _brose_, or, as we now say, _bruise_. a _brosier_ would therefore mean a broken-down man, and therefore a bankrupt. the verb _to brosier_, as used at eton, would easily be formed from the substantive. in the mediæval latin, _ruptura_ and _ruptus_ were used to signify _bankruptcy_ and a _bankrupt_. see duncange, _gloss._ in vv. etoniensis. the word _brozier_, or (as i always heard it pronounced) _brosier_, does not, or did not exclusively belong to eton. it was current at hackney school, an establishment formerly on the site of the present infant orphan asylum, and had the precise meaning attributed to it by lord braybrooke. it was used both as a verb and as a substantive, but of its origin and etymology i am ignorant. the last master of hackney school was the rev. dr. heathcote, who died, i believe, about . the schoolhouse was a very large and a very old building. may i take this opportunity of asking if anything is known of its history? there was a tradition prevalent among the boys, that it had been an hospital in the time of the plague. i recollect there was another singular word current at hackney, viz. "buckhorse," for a smart box on the ear. { } c. m. [buckhorse was a celebrated bruiser, whose name has been preserved in this designation of a blow, in the same way as that of his successor "belcher" has been in that of the peculiar style of silk handkerchief which he always wore.] _symbols of four evangelists._--among the several replies to jartzberg's query (vol. i., p. .), i do not observe any notice of sir t. brown's account of the symbols of the four evangelists. i will therefore copy part of a note i have on the subject, though see it is unfortunately without any other reference than the _name_ of the author. after giving _jonathan's_ opinion of the four principal or legionary standards among the israelites, sir t. brown adds: "but abenegra and others, besides the colours of the field, do set down other charges,--in reuben's, the form of a man or mandrake,--in that of judah, a lion,--in ephraim's, an ox; in dan's, the figure of an eagle. and thus, indeed, the four figures in the banners of the principal squadrons of israel are answerable unto the church in the vision of ezekiel, every one carrying the form of all these.... and conformable hereunto, the pictures of the evangelists (whose gospels are the christian banners) are set forth with the addition of a man or angel, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. and these symbolically represent the office of angels and ministers of god's will, in whom is required, understanding as in a man, courage and vivacity as in a lion, service and ministerial officiousness as in the ox, expedition or celerity of execution as in the eagle." j. sansom. _catacombs and bone-houses_ (vol. i. p. .).--part i. of a _history of the hundred of rowell_ by paul cypher (published by j. ginns, rowell,) has recently fallen in my way, and as i understand the writer is a medical gentleman residing in the village (or town), i condense from the account of the "bone caverns," p. - ., such particulars as may answer the query of rev. a. gatty. the number of skeletons, as is asserted by those who have taken the trouble to calculate, is , . the vault in which they are deposited is a long cryptiform structure, with a low groined roof, and the bones are carefully packed in alternate strata of skulls, arms, legs, and so forth. they seem to have been discovered by a gravedigger about years since. nothing is known with certainty respecting the date of this vast collection. some conjecture that the remains here deposited are the consequence of a sanguinary battle in very early times, and profess to discover peculiarities in the osseous structure, showing a large proportion of the deceased to have been natives of a distant land; that all were in the prime of life; and that most of the skulls are fractured, as though with deadly weapons. others, again, say they are the remains of the slain at naseby. "i have examined carefully and at leisure the crania, and can discover none but the mesobreginate skulls common to these islands.... i have discovered more than one skull, in which the alveolar sockets were entirely absorbed,--an effect of age rarely produced under eighty years, i should imagine. and as to the marks of injury visible on some, they will be attributed, i think, by the impartial observer, rather to the spade and foot of the sexton, than the battle-axe and stout arm of the ancient briton." as to the supposition that these relics were brought from naseby, it is sufficient to observe that the number of the slain in that engagement did not exceed one thousand. "that most of these bodies were lying in the earth for a number of years is proved, i think, by these several circumstances: first, a careful examination of the interior of many of the skulls, shows that roots have vegetated within them, the dry fibres of which i have often observed; next, the teeth are nearly all absent, and it is notoriously one of the first effects of inhumation upon the osseous system, by which the teeth are loosened; and lastly, we have two sources from which bodies may have been exhumed and reinterred beneath the mother church; and those are the chapel of the virgin and that moiety of the original graveyard, which has evidently at some long distant time, been taken from the church." human bones have been dug up in front of jesus hospital, to the south-east of the church-yard. at the eastern extremity of the cavern is a rude sketch apparently intended to represent the resurrection. arun. _tace latin for a candle_ (vol. i., p. ).--i am not aware of "tace is latin for a candle" in any earlier book than swift's _polite conversation_; but it must have been threadbare in his time, or he would not have inserted it in that great collection of platitudes:-- "_lord smart._ well, but after all, tom, can you tell me what is latin for a goose? "_neverout._ o, my lord, i know that; why, brandy is latin for a goose, and _tace_ is latin for a candle." h. b. c. _members for durham--why none prior to_ - (vol. ii., p. .).--because durham was an episcopal palatine, which had jurisdictions, and even, in olden times, a parliament of its own. several bills were brought in between and , to give m.p.'s to both county and city; but an act was only passed in the latter year. the first writ was moved, it is said, in ; but the first return is dated in whitworth, . (oldfield's _parl. hist._, iii. .) c. "_a frog he would_," _&c._--i am in my sixth decade, and pretty far on in it too; and i can recollect this jingle as long as i can recollect anything. it formed several stanzas (five or six at least), and had { } its own tune. there was something peculiarly attractive and humorous to the unformed ear and mind in the ballad, (for as a ballad it was sung,) as i was wont to hear it. i can therefore personally vouch for its antiquity being half a century. but, beyond this, i must add, that my early days being spent in a remote provincial village (high up the severn), and the ballad, as i shall call it, being _universally known_, i cannot help inferring that it is of considerable antiquity. anything of then recent date could hardly be both generally known and universally popular in such a district and amongst such a people. whether it had a local origin there or not, it would be difficult to say but i never heard it spoken of as having any special application to local persons or affairs. of course there are only two ways of accounting for its popularity,--either its application, or its jingle of words and tune. if i may venture a "guess," it would be, that it had originally a political application, in some period when all men's minds were turned to some one great politico-religious question; and this, not unlikely, the period of the cavaliers and roundheads. we know how rife this kind of warfare was in that great struggle. or again, it might be as old as the reformation itself, and have a reference to henry the eighth and anna boleyn. "the frog he would a-wooing go, whether his mother would let him or no," would not inaptly represent the "wide-mouthed waddling frog" henry--"mother church,"--and the "gleesome anna" would be the "merry mouse in the mill." it may be worth the while of gentlemen conversant with the ballad literature and political squibs of both the periods here indicated, to notice any traces in other squibs and ballads of the same imagery that is employed in this. it would also be desirable, if possible, to get a complete copy of these verses. my own memory can only supply a part, or rather disjointed parts: but i think it probable that it may be easily obtained by persons resident in the counties bordering on north wales, especially in shropshire or herefordshire, and perhaps in cheshire or staffordshire. i should not have thought of troubling you with my own reminiscences as an answer to an antiquarian question, but for the fact that even these go further back than any information that has been sent you. t. s. d. shooter's hill, june . _cavell_ (vol. i., p. .).--to cast cavells, _i.e._ to cast lots, is in constant every-day use in northumberland. the teutonic derivation given is correct. w. _to endeavour ourselves--the homilies._--perhaps your correspondents g. p. (vol. i., p .), and c. i. r. (vol. i., p. ) may, from the following passages, conclude that "ourselves", is the object of the verb "endeavour." "he did this to this intent, 'that the whole clergy, in the mean space, might apply themselves to prayer, not doubting but that all his loving subjects would occupy themselves to god's honour, and so endeavour themselves that they may be more ready,'" &c. &c.--heylin, _hist. of the reform. from an act passed in edward vi.'s reign_, . "let us endeavour ourselves, both inwardly in our hearts, and also outwardly with our bodies, diligently to exercise this godly exercise of fasting."--_homily on fasting_ (end). "only show yourselves thankful in your lives, determine with yourselves to refuse and avoid all such things in your conversation as should offend his eyes of mercy. endeavour yourselves that way to rise up again, which way ye fell into the well or pit of sin."--_hom. on the resur._ (near the end). "from henceforth let us endeavour ourselves to walk in a new life."--_hom. of repentance_, pt. . (end). there are many other similar passages in the "homilies". i have also noticed the following latimer's sermons:-- "the devil, with no less diligence, endeavoureth himself to let and stop our prayers."--vol. i. p. . parker soc. edit. "every patron, when he doth not diligently endeavor himself to place a good and godly man in his benefice, shall make answer before god."--vol. ii. p. . "let them endeavour themselves." [i have forgotten the reference in this case, but it is in vol. i.] "how much, then, should we endeavour ourselves to make ready towards this day, when it shall not be a money matter, but a soul matter." (ii. p. ) as i am engaged on a work on the "homilies," i should feel very grateful for any allusions to them in writers between and , and for any notices of their being read in churches during that period. can any of your readers inform me where the fullest account may be found of the state of preaching in england prior to the reformation? thomas cox. preston, may . . _three dukes_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the verses themselves called them "three _bastard_ dukes;" but the only bastard duke i can find at that time was the duke of monmouth; all the other creations of the king's bastards were subsequent to that date. and even if, by poetical licence or courtly anticipation, they could be called _dukes_, they were all too young to have any share in such a fray. i must further observe, that _evelyn's diary_ is silent as to any such events, though he is, about that time, justly indignant at the immoralities of the court. the "park" referred to, but not named in the verses, is the { } disreputable place called "whetstone park," near holborn. c. _christabel_ (vol. i., p. .).--after a long hunt among manx and highland superstitions, i have just found that the passage i was in search of belongs to "the debateable land." "'reverend father,' replied magdalen, 'hast thou never heard that there are spirits powerful to rend the walls of a castle asunder when once admitted, which yet _cannot enter the house unless they are invited, nay, dragged over the threshold_? twice hath roland groeme been thus drawn into the household of avenel by those who now hold the title. let them look to the issue.'"--_the abbot_, chap. ., ad fin., _and note_. c. forbes. temple, april . _derivation of "trianon"_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent aredjid kooes is certainly right: trianon was the _name of a village_, which formerly stood on the site of these two chateaux. (see vatout, and all the histories of versailles.) i would take this occasion of suggesting, that it is essential to the value of your work that your correspondents should be careful not to _lead_ us astray by mere _guesses_. what authority has your correspondent j. k. r. w. (vol. ii., p. .) for asserting that "_trianon_ is a word meaning a _pavilion_?" and if, as i believe, he has not the slightest, i appeal to him whether it is fair to the public to assert it so confidently. c. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. we recently called attention to mr. colburn's new edition of _the diary and correspondence of john evelyn_. we have now to announce from the same publisher an inedited work by evelyn, entitled _the history of religion_, to be printed from the original ms. in the library at wotton. the work, which it is said contains a condensed statement and investigation of the natural and scriptural evidences, is the result of an endeavour on evelyn's part to satisfy himself amidst the startling manifestations of infidelity, fanaticism, and conflicting opinion by which he found himself surrounded. sir fortunatus dwarris has just put forth a privately printed letter to j. payne collier, esq., in which he endeavours to solve the great political query of george the third's time. his pamphlet is called _some new facts and a suggested new theory as to the authorship of the letters of junius_. sir fortunatus' theory, which he supports with a good deal of amusing illustration by way of proof, is, that junius, to use the language of mark tapley, was "a co.," "that the writer was one, but the abettors were many," that sir philip francis was the head of the firm, but that among the sleeping partners were lords temple, chatham, and george sackville, the three burkes, colonel barré, dyer, loyd, boyd, and others. it can scarcely be necessary to remind our archæological friends that the annual meeting of the institute at oxford will commence on tuesday next. the selection of oxford as the place of meeting was a most happy one, and from the preparations which have been made, both by the heads of houses and the managers of the institute, there can be little doubt of the great success of this oxford congress of archæologists. messrs. sotheby and co. will commence on monday, the th of this month, the sale of the second portion of the valuable stock of messrs. payne and foss, including an excellent collection of classics, philology, history, and belles lettres,--a recent purchase from the library of a well-known collector,--and about fifteen hundred volumes bound by the most eminent binders. the sale of this portion will occupy nine days. we have received the following catalogues:--john russell smith ( . old compton street), a rider catalogue of second-hand books; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue, no. . for , of books old and new; william heath's ( - / . lincoln's inn fields) select catalogue of second-hand books; and bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue no. . of books, comprising architecture, fine arts, dialects, and languages of europe and asia; and cole's ( . great turnstile) list no. xxvi. of very cheap second-hand books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) arcana of science. . andrew stewart's letters to lord mansfield on the douglas case. about . newman on the arians. lawson on the hebrews. westphalii monumenta inedita rer. germanicarum. bircherodius de cornibus et cornutis, to. hafniæ. _odd volumes._ the first volume of the works of alexander pope, esq. london, printed in the year . no publisher named. the third volume of the works of shakspeare, in ten vols. edinburgh, printed by marten and wotherspoon. . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. chaucer's tomb. _will_ j. w. p., _who has forwarded to us a contribution to the restoration of chaucer's monument, favour us with his name and address?_ title-page and index to volume the first. _the preparation of the index with that fulness which can alone render it useful, has taken more time than was anticipated. it will, however, be ready very shortly._ _covers for the first volume are preparing, and will be ready for subscribers with the title-page and index._ * * * * * new works in general literature { } * * * * * i. memoirs of the dukes of urbino ( to ). by james dennistoun, of dennistoun. with numerous portraits, plates, facsimiles, and woodcuts. vols. square crown vo. l. s. ii. sir roger de coverley. from "the spectator." with notes, &c., by w. h. willis; and twelve fine woodcuts from drawings by f. tayler. crown vo. s.; morocco, s. iii. mrs. jameson's sacred and legendary art; or, legends of the saints and martyrs. new edition, complete in one volume; with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. s. iv. mrs. jameson's legends of the saints and martyrs, as represented in the fine arts. with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. s. v. the church in the catacombs: a description of the primitive church of rome. by charles maitland. new edition, with woodcuts. vo. s. vi. mr. macaulay's history of england, from the accession of james ii. new edition. vols. i. and ii. vo. s. vii. john coad's memorandum of the sufferings of the rebels sentenced to transportation by judge jeffreys. square fcap. vo. s. d. viii. an introduction to english antiquities. intended as a companion to the history of england. by james eccleston. with many wood engravings. vo. s. ix. mr. a. rich's illustrated companion to the latin dictionary and greek lexicon. with about , woodcuts, from the antique. post vo. s. x. maunder's treasury of knowledge and library of reference: a compendium of universal knowledge. new edition. fcap. vo. s.; bound s. xi. maunder's biographical treasury; a new dictionary of ancient and modern biography; comprising about , memoirs. new edition, with supplement. fcap. vo. s.; bound, s. xii. maunder's scientific and literary treasury: a copious portable encyclopædia of science and the belles lettres. new edition. fcap. vo. s.; bound, s. xiii. maunder's historical treasury: comprising an outline of general history, and a separate history of every nation. new edition. fcap. vo. s.; bound, s. xiv. maunder's treasury of natural history, or, a popular dictionary of animated nature. new edition; with woodcuts. fcap. vo. s.; bound, s. xv. southey's common-place book. first series--choice passages, &c. second edition, with medallion portrait. square crown vo. s. xvi. southey's common-place book. second series--special collections. edited by the rev. j. w. warter, b.d., the author's son-in-law. square crown vo. s. xvii. southey's common-place book. third series--analytical readings. edited by mr. southey's son-in-law, the rev. j. w. warter, b.d. square crown vo. s. xviii. southey's common-place book. fourth and concluding series--original memoranda, &c. edited by the rev. j. w. warter, b.d., mr. southey's son-in-law. square crown vo. [nearly ready.] xix. southey's the doctor. &c. complete in one volume, with portrait, bust, vignette, and coloured plate. edited by the rev. j. w. warter, b.d., the author's son-in-law. square crown vo. s. xx. southey's life and correspondence. edited by his son, the rev. c. c. southey, m.a.; with portraits and landscape illustrations. vols. post vo. s. * * * * * london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * vol. ix.--no. .] saturday, january . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page our ninth volume notes:-- a strawberry-hill gem, by bolton corney the "ancren riwle," by sir f. madden order for the suppression of vagrancy, a.d. - , by john bruce letters of eminent literary men, by sir henry ellis burial-place of archbishop leighton, by albert way minor notes:--grammars, &c. for public schools--"to captivate"--bohn's edition of matthew of westminster--french season rhymes and weather rhymes--curious epitaph in tillingham church, essex queries:-- domestic letters of edmund burke minor queries:--farrant's anthem--ascension day custom--sawbridge and knight's numismatic collections--"the spire whose silent finger points to heaven."--lord fairfax--tailless cats-- saltcellar--arms and motto granted to col. william carlos--naval atrocities--turlehydes--foreign orders: queen of bohemia--pickard family--irish chieftains-- general braddock minor queries with answers:--lawless court, rochford, essex--motto on old damask--explanation of the word "miser"--"acis and galatea"--birm-bank-- general thomas gage replies:-- rapping no novelty, by rev. dr. maitland occasional forms of prayer, by john macray celtic and latin languages geometrical curiosity, by professor de morgan the black-guard, by p. cunningham the calves' head club, by edward peacock photographic correspondence:-- the calotype process--hockin's short sketch-- photographic society's exhibition replies to minor queries:--"firm was their faith," &c.--vellum-cleaning--wooden tombs--solar eclipse in the year --lines on woman--satin-- "quid facies," &c.--sotades--the third part of "christabel"--attainment of majority--lord halifax and mrs. c. barton--the fifth lord byron--burton family--provost hodgson's translation of the atys of catullus, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * the sacred garland, or the christian's daily delight. "pluck a flower." a new edition of the above excellent and popular work will shortly be published in large type, crown vo., and may be obtained of any respectable bookseller in town or country. milner & sowerby, halifax. * * * * * queenwood college, near stockbridge, hants. _principal_--george edmondson. _mathematics and natural philosophy_.--dr. thos. a. hirst, of the universities of marburg and berlin. _chemistry_--dr. h. debus, late assistant in the laboratory of professor bunsen, and chemical lecturer in the university of marburg. _classics and history._--mr. john s. mummery, l.c.p. _modern languages and foreign literature._--mr. john haas, from m. de fellenberg's institution, hofwyl, switzerland. _geodesy._--mr. richard p. wright. _painting and drawing._--mr. richard p. wright. _english, and junior mathematics._--frederick iliff, m.a., late scholar of trinity college, cambridge, and m.c.p. _ditto._--mr. william singleton. _music._--mr. william cornwall. terms. for boys under years of age l. per ann. " from to " " above " for further information see prospectus, to be had of the principal. the first session of commences on the th of january. * * * * * prince of wales's sketch-box.--containing colours, pencils, &c., with printed directions, as now used by the royal family. price s. miller's, artist's colour manufacturer, long acre, london: and at her majesty's steam colour and pencil works, pimlico. * * * * * christmas presents--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * do you bruise your oats yet? new oat crushers, l. s. d., ditto l. s. d.; chaff cutters, l. s. d., ditto l. s. d. mangles, l. s. d.; flour mills, l. s. d. mary wedlake & co., . fenchurch street. * * * * * surrey archÆological society. president.--his grace the duke of norfolk. gentlemen desiring to join the society, are informed that copies of the rules, list of members (upwards of ), and forms of application for admission, may be obtained from the honorary secretary. £. s. annual subscription composition for life on and after january , , an entrance fee of s. will be required, from which those members who join the society during the present month will be exempt. george bish webb, honorary secretary. . addison road north, notting hill. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic society.--the exhibition of photographs, daguerreotypes, &c., by the best british and foreign photographers, is now open daily at the rooms of the society of british artists, suffolk street, pall mall. members are admitted without payment. admission, one shilling. catalogues sixpence. roger fenton, _hon. sec._ th jan. . * * * * * physiognomy of insanity.--a series of photographic portraits from the life, by dr. hugh w. diamond, f.s.a., with brief medical notes. to be published in occasional parts, small quarto. s. highley, . fleet street. * * * * * will be published on the th instant, price d. no. i. of the liverpool photographic journal. conducted by the members of the liverpool photographic society. published by henry greenwood, . canning place, liverpool (by whom advertisements will be received) and may be had through all booksellers. * * * * * heal & son's eider down quilt is the warmest, the lightest and the most elegant covering for the bed, the couch, or the carriage; and for invalids, its comfort cannot be too highly appreciated. it is made in three varieties, of which a large assortment can be seen at their establishment. list of prices of the above, together with the catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * { } new works. the edinburgh review, no. cci., january, . vo., price s. contents: . lord john russell's memorials of mr. fox, and the rockingham papers. . the blind: their works and ways. . public works in the presidency of madras. . ecclesiastical economy. . education for the rich and poor. . thackeray's works. . the machinery of parliamentary legislation. . the ottoman empire. lord holland's memoirs of the whig party. edited by his son, henry edward lord holland. vol. ii. post vo. price s. d. memoirs, journal, and correspondence of thomas moore. edited by the right hon. lord john russell, m.p. with portraits and vignettes. vols. v. and vi., post vo., price s. letters of rachel lady russell. a new edition, including several unpublished letters; together with those edited by miss berry. with portraits, vignettes, and fac-simile. vols. post vo., price s. a defence of the "eclipse of faith." by its author; being a rejoinder to professor newman's "reply." post vo., price s. d. zohrab: or, a midsummer day's dream: and other poems. by william thomas thornton, author of "an essay on over-population," "a plea for peasant proprietors," &c. fcp. vo., price s. d. remains, legendary and poetical, of john roby, author of "traditions of lancashire." with a sketch of his literary life and character, by his widow. post vo. (_in january._) bowdler's family shakspeare. a new edition, in volumes for the pocket. vols. fcap. vo., price s. each. autobiography of b. r. haydon, historical painter. edited, and continued to his death, from his own journals, by tom taylor, m.a., of the inner temple, esq. second edition, with additions. vols. post vo., price s. d. maunder's biographical treasury. a new edition, thoroughly revised, and brought down to the year , by the insertion of numerous additional memoirs. fcap. vo. (_in january_.) sir james mackintosh's history of england, from the earliest times to the final establishment of the reformation. a new library edition, revised by the author's son. vols. vo., price s. mr. macaulay's critical and historical essays, contributed to the "edinburgh review." new editions, as follows: . library edition, vols. vo., price s. . complete in one volume, with portrait and vignette, square crown vo., price s.; calf, s. . another edition, in vols., fcap. vo., price s. a guide to geology. by john phillips, f.r.s., f.g.s. deputy reader in geology in the university of oxford, &c. new edition ( ), corrected to the present time; with plates. fcp. vo., price s. professor brande's dictionary of science, literature, and art. a new edition, corrected; with a supplement and woodcuts, vo. price l. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * archÆological works by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary of the society of antiquaries of london. an archÆological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. vol. vo., price s. cloth, illustrated by numerous engravings, comprising upwards of five hundred objects. a numismatic manual, vol. vo., price one guinea. *** the plates which illustrate this volume are upon a novel plan, and will, at a glance, convey more information regarding the types of greek, roman, and english coins, than can be obtained by many hours' careful reading. instead of a fac-simile engraving being given of that which is already an enigma to the tyro, the most striking and characteristic features of the coin are dissected and placed by themselves, so that the eye soon becomes familiar with them. a descriptive catalogue of rare and unedited roman coins, from the earliest period to the taking of rome under constantine paleologos. vols. vo., numerous plates, s. coins of the romans relating to britain. vol. vo. second edition, with an entirely new set of plates, price s. d. ancient coins of cities and princes, geographically arranged and described, containing the coins of hispania, gallia, and britannia, with plates of several hundred examples. vol. vo., price s. new testament, numismatic illustrations of the narrative portions of the.--fine paper, numerous woodcuts from the original coins in various public and private collections. vol. vo., price s. d. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. in vol. fcp. vo., with numerous wood engravings from the original coins, price s. d. cloth. contents:--section . origin of coinage--greek regal coins. . greek civic coins. . greek imperial coins. . origin of roman coinage--consular coins. . roman imperial coins. . roman british coins. . ancient british coinage. . anglo-saxon coinage. . english coinage from the conquest. . scotch coinage. . coinage of ireland. . anglo-gallic coins. . continental money in the middle ages. . various representatives of coinage. . forgeries in ancient and modern times. . table of prices of english coins realised at public sales. tradesmen's tokens, struck in london and its vicinity, from the year to inclusive. described from the originals in the collection of the british museum, &c. s. remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england. publishing in to., in numbers, at s. d. with coloured plates. a glossary of provincial words and phrases in use in wiltshire. mo., s. the numismatic chronicle is published quarterly. price s. d. each number. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * albemarle street. _january_, . mr. murray's forthcoming works. * * * * * i. murray's british classics. being a series of newly edited and beautifully printed demy octavo library editions of standard english authors, from the most correct text. vol. i. vo. s. d. (to be continued in monthly volumes.) (_this day._) ii. works of goldsmith, printed from the last editions revised by the author. new edition. edited by peter cunningham, f.s.a. vignettes. (to be completed in vols.) vol. i. vo. s. d. (forming the _st volume_ of murray's british classics.) (_ready._) iii. gibbon's roman empire: with notes by dean milman and m. guizot. new edition. most carefully compared, verified, and edited, by dr. william smith. maps. (to be completed in vols.) vol. i. vo. s. d. (forming the _ nd volume_ of murray's british classics.) (_on feb. nd._) iv. the treasures of art in great britain. being an account of the chief collections of paintings, sculptures, miniatures, &c., in england. by dr. waagen, director of the royal gallery of pictures at berlin. vols. vo. v. himalayan journals; or, the notes of an oriental naturalist in bengal, the sikhim and nepal himalayas, the khasia mountains, etc. by dr. joseph dalton hooker. with map, coloured plates, and woodcuts. vols. vo. vi. siluria; or, a view of the silurian and other primeval rocks, and their imbedded remains. by sir roderick murchison. with coloured map, numerous plates and woodcuts. vo. vii. history of latin christianity, and that of the popes. by rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. vols. vo. viii. sunlight through the mist: or, practical lessons drawn from the lives of good men. a sunday book for children. woodcuts, mo. s. d. (_ready._) ix. kugler's handbook of painting. (the german, dutch, french, and spanish schools.) edited by sir edmund head. with illustrations. vols. post vo. s. x. farini's history of the roman state. translated from the italian, by a lady, under the direction of the right hon. w. e. gladstone, m.p. vol. iv. (completing the work). vo. xi. history of yucatan, from its discovery to the close of the th century. by c. st. john fancourt, recently h.m. superintendent of the british settlements in the bay of honduras. with map. vo. (_uniform with prescott's mexico._) xii. the constitution of the united states compared with our own. by h. s. tremenheere. post vo. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, january_ , . * * * * * our ninth volume. the commencement of a new year, and of our ninth volume, imposes upon us the pleasant duty of wishing many happy returns of the season to all our friends, correspondents, and readers. those of the latter class, who have so earnestly impressed upon us the propriety and advisableness of placing our advertisements on the outside leaves of each number, will see that their wishes have at length been complied with. we trust they will be pleased with this change, and receive it as a proof of our readiness to attend to every reasonable suggestion for the improve of "notes and queries." we can assure them that it is no less our desire to do so than our interest. * * * * * notes. a strawberry-hill gem. "_pour qui se donne la peine de chercher, il y a toujours quelque trouvaille à faire, même dans ce qui a été le plus visité_.--henry patin. i take up a work of european celebrity, and reflect awhile on its bibliographic peculiarities--which may almost pass for romance. it is a _scottish_ work with regard to the family connexion of its author: it is an _irish_ work with regard to the place of his nativity. it is an _english_ work as to the scenes which it represents; a _french_ work as to the language in which it was written; a _dutch_ work as to the country in which it came to light. it was formerly printed anonymously: it has since borne the name of its author. it was formerly printed for public sale: it has been twice printed for private circulation. it was formerly classed as fiction: it is now believed to be history. but we have too many enigmas in the annals of literature, and i must not add to the number. the work to which i allude is the _mémoires du comte de grammont par le comte antoine hamilton_. the various indications of a projected re-impression of the work remind me of my _portefeuille hamiltonien_, and impose on me the task of a partial transcription of its contents. of the numerous editions of the _mémoires de grammont_ as recorded by brunet, renouard, or quérard, or left unrecorded by those celebrated bibliographers, i shall describe only four; which i commend to the critical examination of future editors: . "_mémoires de la vie du comte de grammont; contenant particuliérement l'histoire amoureuse de la cour d'angleterre, sous le regne de charles ii._ a cologne, chez pierre marteau, . ^o, pp. + . "avis du libraire.--il seroit inutile de recommander ici la lecture des mémoires qui composent ce volume: le titre seul de _mémoires du comte de grammont_ réveillera sans doute la curiosité du public pour un homme qui lui est déjà si connu d'ailleurs, tant par la réputation qu'il a sçu se faire, que par les différens portraits qu'en ont donnez mrs. de bussi et de st. evremont, dans leurs ouvrages; et l'on ne doute nullement qu'il ne reçoive, avec beaucoup de plaisir, un livre, dans lequel on lui raconte ses avantures, sur ce qu'il en a bien voulu raconter lui-même à celui qui a pris la peine de dresser ces mémoires. "outre les avantures du comte de grammont, ils contiennent particuliè[re]ment l'histoire amoureuse de la cour d'angleterre, sous le regne de charles ii; et, comme on y découvre quantité de choses, qui ont été tenues cachées jusqu'à présent, et qui font voir jusqu'à quel excès on a porté le déréglement dans cette cour, ce n'est pas le morceau le moins intéressant de ces mémoires. "on les donne ici sur une copie manuscrite, qu'on en a reçue de paris: et on les a fait imprimer avec le plus d'exactitude qu'il a été possible." the above is the _first_ edition. the imprint is fictitious. it was much used by the elzévirs, and by other dutch printers. the second edition, with the same imprint, is dated in (cat. de guyon de sardière, no. .). the third edition was printed at rotterdam in . the _avis_ is omitted in that edition, and in all the later impressions which i have seen. its importance as a history of the publication induces one to revive it. there is also an edition printed at amsterdam in (cat. de lamy, no. .); and another at la haye in (cat. de rothelin, no. *). brunet omits the edition of . renouard and quérard notice it too briefly. . "_memoires du comte de grammont, par monsieur le comte antoine hamilton. nouvelle edition, augmentée d'un discours préliminaire mêlé de prose et de vers, par le même auteur, et d'un avertissement contenant quelques anecdotes de la vie du comte hamilton._ a paris, chez la veuve pissot, quay de conti, à la croix d'or. ." ^o. pp. + . "avertissement. le public a fait un accueil si favorable à ces _mémoires_, que nous avons crû devoir en procurer une nouvelle edition. outre les avantures du comte de grammont, très-piquantes par elles-mêmes, ils contiennent l'histoire amoureuse d'angleterre sous le regne de charles ii. ils sont d'ailleurs écrits d'une maniére si vive et si ingénieuse, qu'ils ne laisseroient pas de plaire infiniment, quand la matiére en seroit moins interessante. "le héros de ces _mémoires_ a trouvé dans le comte hamilton un historien digne de lui. car on n'ignore plus qu'ils sont partis de la même main à qui l'on doit encore d'autres ouvrages frappés au même coin. "nous avons enrichi cette edition d'un discours mêlé de prose et de vers, où l'on exagére la difficulté qu'il y a de bien répresenter le comte de grammont. on reconnoîtra facilement que ce discours est du même auteur que les _mémoires_, et qu'il devoit naturellement en { } orner le frontispice. au reste il ne nous appartient point d'en apprécier le mérite. nous dirons seulement que des personnes d'un goût sûr et délicat le comparent au _voyage de chapelle_, et qu'ils y trouvent les mêmes graces, le même naturel et la même légereté. "il ne nous reste plus qu'à dire un mot de m. hamilton lui-même, auteur de ces mémoires, et du discours qui les précede. "antoine hamilton dont nous parlons, étoit de l'ancienne et illustre maison de ce nom en ecosse. il nâquit en irlande. il eut pour pére le chevalier georges hamilton, petit-fils du duc d'hamilton, qui fut aussi duc de châtelleraud en france. "sa mére étoit madame marie butler, soeur du duc d'ormond, viceroi d'irlande, et grand maître de la maison du roi charles. "dans les révolutions qui arrivérent du tems de cromwel, ils suivirent le roi et le duc d'yorck son frére qui passérent en france. ils y amenérent leur famille. antoine ne faisoit à peine que de naître. "lorsque le roi fut rétabli sur son trône, il ramena en angleterre les jeux et la magnificence. on voit dans les mémoires de grammont combien cette cour étoit brillante; la curiosité y attira le comte de grammont. il y vit mademoiselle d'hamilton, il ne tarda pas à sentir le pouvoir de ses charmes, il l'épousa enfin; et c'est la tendresse qu'_antoine_ avoit pour sa soeur, qui l'engagea à faire plusieurs voyages en france, où il étoit élevé, et où il a passé une partie de sa vie. "m. antoine hamilton étant catholique, il ne put obtenir d'emploi en angleterre; et rien ne fut capable d'ébranler ni sa religion, ni la fidélité qu'il devoit à son roi. "le roi jaques étant monté sur le trône, il lui donna un regiment d'infanterie en irlande et le gouvernement de limeric. mais ce prince, ayant été obligé de quitter ses etats le comte hamilton repassa avec la famille royale en france. c'est-là et pendant le long séjour qu'il y a fait, qu'il a composé les divers ouvrages qui lui ont acquis tant de réputation. il mourut à s. germain le avril . dans de grands sentimens de piété, et après avoir reçu les derniers sacremens. il étoit âgé alors d'environ ans. il a mérité les regrets de tous ceux qui avoient le bonheur de le connoître. né sérieux, il avoit dans l'esprit tous les agrémens imaginables; mais ce qui est plus digne de louanges, à ces agrémens, qui vent frivoles sans la vertu, il joignoit toutes les qualitéz du coeur." if the above _avertissement_ first appeared in , which i have much reason to conclude, this is certainly a very important edition. the biographical portion of the advertisement is the foundation of the later memoirs of hamilton. in the moréri of , we have it almost _verbatim_, but taken from the _oeuvres du comte antoine hamilton_, . neither brunet, nor renouard, nor quérard notice the edition of . the copy which i have examined has the book-plate g. iii. r. . "_memoires du comte de grammont, par le c. antoine hamilton_. ." [de l'imprimerie de didot, rue pavée, .] ^o. i. partie, pp. + . ii. partie, pp. + . this edition has the same _avertissement_ as that of . the imprint is m.dcc.lx. the type resembles our small pica, and the paper has the water-mark _auvergne_ . at the end of the second part appears, _de l'imprimerie de didot, rue pavée_, . this must be m. françois didot of paris. i find the same colophon in the _bibliographie instructive_, - . v. . this very neat edition has also escaped the aforesaid bibliographic trio! . "_memoires du comte de grammont, par monsieur le comte antoine hamilton_. _nouvelle edition_, _augmentée de notes et d'eclaircissemens necessaires, par m. horace walpole_. imprimée à strawberry-hill. ." ^o, pp. + . portraits. [dedication.] "À madame.... "l'éditeur vous consacre cette édition, comme un monument de son amitié, de son admiration, et de son respect; à vous, dont les grâces, l'esprit, et le goût retracent au siècle présent le siècle de louis quatorze et les agrémens de l'auteur de ces mémoires." such are the inscriptions on the _strawberry-hill gem_. much has been said of its brilliancy--and so, for the sake of novelty, i shall rather dwell on its flaws. the volume was printed at the private press of m. horace walpole at strawberry-hill, and the impression was limited to one hundred copies, of which thirty were sent to paris. so much for its attractions--now for its flaws. in reprinting the dedication to madame du deffand, i had to insert _eight_ accents to make decent french of it! the _avis_ is a mere medley of fragments: i could not ask a compositor to set it up! the _avertissement_ is copied, without a word of intimation to that effect, from the edition of . the notes to the _épître_ are also copied from that edition, except _l'abbé de chaulieu_; and two of the notes to the memoirs are from the same source. the other notes, in the opinion of sir william musgrave, are in part taken from an erroneous printed _key_. where are the _éclaircissements_? i find none except a list of proper names--of which about one-third part is omitted! in quoting brunet, i have used the fourth edition of the _manuel du libraire_, - ; in quoting renouard, i refer to the _avis_ prefixed to the _oeuvres du comte antoine hamilton_, ; in quoting quérard, to _la france littéraire_, - . the other references are to sale catalogues. the titles of the books described, and the extracts, are given _literatim_, and, except as above noted, with the same accentuation and punctuation. to revert to the question of a new edition: i should prefer the french text, for various reasons, to any english translation that could be made. that of abel boyer is wretched burlesque! the chief requirements of a french edition would be, a collation of the editions of and --the rectification of the names of persons { } and places--a revision of the punctuation--and a strict conformity, as to general orthography and accentuation, with the _dictionnaire de l'académie française_, as edited in . the substance of the _avis_ of might be stated in a preface; and the _avertissement_ of , a clever composition, would serve as an introduction and memoir of the author. those who doubt its value may consult the _grand dictionnaire historique_, and the _biographie universelle_. as one hundred and sixty persons are noticed in the work, brevity of annotation is very desirable. it would require much research. the manuscript notes of sir william musgrave would, however, be very serviceable--more so, i conceive, than the printed notes of m. horace walpole. as the indications of a projected re-impression may be fallacious, i shall conclude with a word of advice to inexperienced collectors. avoid the _jolie édition_ printed at paris by f. a. didot, _par ordre de monseigneur le comte d'artois_, in . it is the very worst specimen of editorship. avoid also the london edition of . the preface is a piratical pasticcio; the verbose notes are from the most accessible books; the portraits, very unequal in point of execution, i believe to be chiefly copies of prints--not _d'après des tableaux originaux_. the most desirable editions are, . the edition of ; . that of , as a _curiosity_; . that edited by m. renouard, paris, , ^o. vols.; . that edited by m. renouard in , ^o. with eight portraits. the latter edition forms part of the _oeuvres du comte antoine hamilton_ in vols. it seldom occurs for sale. bolton corney. * * * * * the "ancren riwle." the publication of this valuable semi-saxon or early english treatise on the duties of monastic life, recently put forth by the camden society, under the editorship of the rev. james morton, is extremely acceptable, and both the society and the editor deserve the cordial thanks of all who are interested in the history of our language. as one much interested in the subject, and who many years since entertained the design now so ably executed by mr. morton, i may perhaps be allowed to offer a few remarks on the work itself, and on the manuscripts which contain it. mr. morton is unquestionably right in his statement that the latin ms. in magdalen college, oxford, no. ., is only an abridged translation of the original vernacular text. twenty-three years ago i had access to the same ms. by permission of the rev. dr. routh, the president of magdalen college, and after reading and making extracts from it[ ], i came to the same conclusion as mr. morton. it hardly admits, i think, of a doubt; for even without the internal evidence furnished by the latin copy, the age of the manuscripts containing the early english text at once set aside the supposition that simon of ghent (bishop of salisbury from to ) was the original author of the work. the copy in corpus christi college, cambridge, i have not seen, but of the three copies in the british museum i feel confident that the one marked cleopatra c. vi. was actually written before bishop simon of ghent had emerged from the nursery. this copy is not only the oldest, but the most curious, from the corrections and alterations made in it by a somewhat later hand, the chief of which are noticed in the printed edition. the collation, however, of this ms. might have been, with advantage, made more minutely, for at present many readings are passed over. thus, at p. ., for _unweote_ the second hand has _congoun_; at p. ., for _herigen_ it has _preisen_; at p. ., for _on cheafle_, it reads _o muþe_, &c. the original hand has also some remarkable variations, which would cause a suspicion that this was the first draft of the author's work. thus, at p. ., for _scandle_, the first hand has _schonde_; at p. ., for _baldeliche_ it reads _bradliche_; at p. ., for _nout for_, it has _anonden_, and the second hand _aneust_; at p. ., for _sunderliche_ it reads _sunderlepes_, &c. all these, and many other curious variations, are not noticed in the printed edition. on the fly-leaf of this ms. is written, in a hand of the time of edward i., as follows: "_datum abbatie et conventui de leghe per dame m. de clare._" the lady here referred to was doubtless maud de clare, second wife of richard de clare, earl of hereford and gloucester, who, at the beginning of the reign of edward i., is known to have changed the augustinian canons of leghe, in devonshire, into an abbess and nuns of the same order; and it was probably at the same period she bestowed this volume on them. the conjecture of mr. morton, that bishop poore, who died in , might have been the original author of the _ancren riwle_, is by no means improbable, and deserves farther inquiry. the error as to simon of ghent is due, in the first place, not to dr. smith, but to richard james (sir robert cotton's librarian), who wrote on the fly-leaves of all the mss. in the cottonian library a note of their respective contents, and who is implicitly followed by smith. wanley is more blamable, and does not here evince his usual critical accuracy, but (as remarked by mr. morton) he could only have looked at a few pages of the work. the real fact seems to be that simon of ghent made the abridged latin version of the seven books of the _riwle_ now preserved in magdalen college, and this supposition may well enough be reconciled with the words of leland, who says of him,-- "edidit inter cætera, libros _septem_ de vita solitaria, { } ad virgines tarentinas, duriæ cultrices."--_comment_., p. . a second copy of the latin version was formerly in the cottonian collection (vitellius e. vii.), but no fragment of it has hitherto been recovered from the mass of burnt crusts and leaves left after the fire of . i am happy, however, to add, that within the last few months, the manuscript marked vitellius f. vii., containing a french translation of the _riwle_, made in the fourteenth century (very closely agreeing with the vernacular text), has been entirely restored, except that the top margins of the leaves have been burnt at each end of the volume. this damage has, unfortunately, carried away the original heading of the treatise, and the title given us by smith is copied partly from james's note. this copy of the french version appears to be unique, and is the more interesting from its having a note at the end (now half obliterated by the fire), stating that it belonged to eleanor de bohun, duchess of gloucester, whose motto is also added, "_plesance. m [mil]. en vn_." the personage in question was eleanor, daughter of humphrey de bohun, earl of hereford, and wife of thomas of woodstock, who ended her days as a nun in the convent at barking in . is any other instance known of the use of this motto? before i conclude these brief remarks, i may mention a _fifth_ copy of the _ancren riwle_, which has escaped the notice of mr. morton. it is buried in the enormous folio manuscript of old english poetry and prose called the vernon ms., in the bodleian library, written in the reign of richard ii., and occurs at pp. ^b.-- . in the table of contents prefixed to this volume it is entitled "the roule of reclous;" and although the phraseology is somewhat modernised, it agrees better with the ms. cleopatra c. vi, than with nero a. xiv., from which mr. morton's edition is printed. this copy is not complete, some leaves having been cut out in the sixth book, and the scribe leaves off at p. . of the printed edition. it is very much to be wished that mr. morton would undertake the task of editing another volume of legends, homilies, and poems, of the same age as the _ancren riwle_, still existing in various manuscripts. one of the homilies, entitled "sawles warde," in the bodley ms. ., cott. ms. titus d. xviii., and old royal ms. a. xxvii., is very curious, and well deserves to be printed. f. madden. british museum. [footnote : at p. viii. of mr. morton's preface, for "yerze" (eye), my extracts read "yze."] * * * * * order for the suppression of vagrancy, a.d. - . at a time when the question of "what is to be done with our vagrant children?" is occupying the attention of all men of philanthropic minds, it may be worth while to give place in your pages to the following order addressed by the lord mayor of london to his aldermen in - , which applies, amongst other things, to that very subject. it will be seen that some of the artifices of beggary in that day were very similar to those with which we are now but too familiar. the difference of treatment between vagrant children over and under nine years of age, is worthy of observation. "by the mayor. "forasmuch as of late the constables of this city have neglected to put in execution the severall wholsome laws for punishing of vagrants, and passing them to the places of their last abode, whereby great scandall and dishonour is brought upon the government of this city; these are therefore to will and require you, or your deputy, forthwith to call before you the several constables within your ward, and strictly to charge them to put in execution the said laws, or to expect the penalty of forty shillings to be levyed upon their estates, for every vagrant that shal be found begging in their several precincts. and to the end the said constables may not pretend ignorance, what to do with the several persons which they shal find offending the said laws, these are further to require them, that al aged or impotent persons who are not fit to work, be passed from constable to constable to the parish where they dwel; and that the constable in whose ward they are found begging, shal give a passe under his hand, expressing the place where he or she were taken, and the place whither they are to be passed. _and for children under five years of age, who have no dwelling, or cannot give an account of their parents, the parish where they are found are to provide for them; and for those which shall bee found lying under stalls, having no habitation or parents (from five to nine years old), are to be sent to the wardrobe house_[ ], _to be provided for by the corporation for the poore; and all above nine years of age are to be sent to bridewel._ and for men or women who are able to work and goe begging with young children, such persons for the first time to be passed to the place of their abode as aforesaid; and being taken againe, they are to be carryed to bridewel, to be corrected according to the discretion of the governours. _and for those persons that shal be found to hire children, or go begging with children not sucking, those children are to be sent to the several parishes wher they dwel, and the persons so hiring them to bridewel, to be corrected and passed away, or kept at work there, according to the governour's discretion._ and for al other vagrants and beggars under any pretence whatsoever, to be forthwith sent down to bridewel to be imployed and corrected, according to the statute laws of this commonwealth, except before excepted; and the president and governours of bridewel are hereby desired to meet twice every week to see to the execution of this precept. _and the steward of the workehouse called the wardrobe, is { } authorised to receive into that house such children as are of the age between five and nine, as is before specified and limited_; and the said steward is from time to time to acquaint the corporation for the poor, what persons are brought in, to the end they may bee provided for. dated this four and twentyeth day of january, . sadler." john bruce. [footnote : i suppose this to have been the ancient building known by the name of the royal, or the tower royal, used for a time as the queen's wardrobe. it will be seen that it was occupied in as a workhouse.] * * * * * letters of eminent literary men. sir, i send you, as a new year's gift for your "n. & q.," transcripts of half-a-dozen letters of eminent literary men, specimens of whose correspondence it will do your work no discredit to preserve, yours faithfully, henry ellis. british museum, dec. , . i. _dean swift to_ * * * * * * *. [ms. addit., brit. mus., , . _orig_.] belcamp, mar. th. sir, riding out this morning to dine here with mr. grattan, i saw at his house the poor lame boy that gives you this: he was a servant to a plow-man near lusk, and while he was following the plow, a dog bit him in the leg, about eleven weeks ago. one mrs. price endeavored six weeks to cure him, but could not, and his master would maintain him no longer. mr. grattan and i are of opinion that he may be a proper object to be received into dr. stephen's hospital. the boy tells his story naturally, and mr. grattan and i took pity of him. if you find him curable, and it be not against the rules of the hospitall, i hope you will receive him. i am, sir, your most humble servt. jonath. swift. ii. _the rev. thomas baker to mr. humphry wanley_. [harl. ms. , art. . _orig_.] cambridge, oct. th [ ]. worthy sir i am glad to hear mrs. elstob is in a condition to pay her debts, for me she may be very easy: tho' i could wish for the sake of the university (tho' i am no way engaged, having taken up my obligation) that you could recover the book, or at least could find where it is lodged, that mr. brook may know where to demand it. this, i presume, may be done. if you have met with books printed by guttenberg, you have made a great discovery. i thought there had been none such in the world, and began to look upon fust as the first printer. i have seen the bishop of ely's catholicon (now with us), which, for aught i know, may have been printed by guttenberg; for tho' it be printed at ments, yet there is no name of the printer, and the character is more rude than fust's tullie's offices, whereof there are two copies in and , the first on vellum, the other on paper. may i make a small enquiry, after the mention of so great a name as guttenberg? i remember, you told me, my lord harley had two copies of edw. the sixth's first common prayer book. do you remember whether either of them be printed by grafton, the king's printer? i have seen four or five editions by whitchurch, but never could meet with any by grafton, except one in my custody, which i shall look upon to be a great rarity, if it be likewise wanting to my lord's collection. it varies from all the other copies, and is printed in . all the rest, i think, in . one reason of my enquiry is, because i want the title, for the date is at the end of the book, and indeed twice; both on the end of the communion office, and of the litany. but i beg your pardon for so small an enquiry, whilst you are in quest of guttenberg and nic. jenson. my business consists much in trifles. i am, sir, your most ob. humble servant, tho. baker. to the worthy mr. wanley, at the riding hood shop, the corner of chandois and bedford streets, covent garden, london. a note in wanley's hand says, "mrs. elstob has only paid a few small scores." iii. _extract of a letter from wm. bickford, esq., to the rev. mr. amory of taunton, dated dunsland, march_ , . [ms. addit., brit. mus., , fol. .] i cannot forbear acquainting you of a very curious passage in relation to charles the second's restoration. sir wm. morrice, who was one of the secretaries of state soon after, was the person who chiefly transacted that affair with monk, so that all the papers in order to it were sent him, both from king charles and lord clarendon. just after the thing was finished, lord clarendon got more than of these letters and other papers from morrice under pretence of finishing his history, and which were never returned. lord somers, when he was chancellor, told morrice's grandson that if he would file a bill in chancery, he would endeavour to get them; but young morrice having deserted the whig interest, was { } prevailed upon to let it drop. this i know to be fact, for i had it not only from the last-mentioned gentleman, but others of that family, especially a son of the secretaries. as soon as i knew this, i took the first opportunity of searching the study, and found some very curious letters, which one time or other i design to publish together with the account of that affair. my mother being niece to the secretary, hath often heard him say that charles the second was not only very base in not keeping the least of the many things that he had promised; but by debauching the nation, had rendered it fitt for that terrible fellow (meaning the duke of york) to ruin us all, and then monk and him would be remembred to their infamy. (_to be continued._) * * * * * burial-place of archbishop leighton. on a visit this autumn with some friends to the picturesque village and church of horsted-keynes, sussex, our attention was forcibly arrested by the appearance of two large pavement slabs, inserted in an erect position on the external face of the south wall of the chancel. they proved to be those which once had covered and protected the grave of the good archbishop leighton, who passed the latter years of his life in that parish, and that of sir ellis leighton, his brother. on inquiry, it appeared that their remains had been deposited within a small chapel on the south side of the chancel, the burial-place of the lightmaker family, of broadhurst, in the parish of horsted. the archbishop retired thither in , and resided with his only sister, saphira, widow of mr. edward lightmaker. broadhurst, it may be observed, is sometimes incorrectly mentioned by the biographers of archbishop leighton as a parish; it is an ancient mansion, the residence formerly of the lightmakers, and situated about a mile north of the village of horsted. there it was that leighton made his will, in february, ; but his death occurred, it will be remembered, in singular accordance with his desire often expressed, at an inn, the bell, in warwick lane, london. the small chapel adjacent to the chancel, and opening into it by an arch now walled up, had for some time, as i believe, been used as a school-room; more recently, however, either through its becoming out of repair, or from some other cause, the little structure was demolished. the large slabs which covered the tombs of the good prelate and his brother were taken up and fixed against the adjoining wall. the turf now covers the space thus thrown into the open churchyard; nothing remains to mark the position of the graves, which in all probability, ere many years elapse, will be disturbed through ignorance or heedlessness, and the ashes of leighton scattered to the winds. in times when special respect has been shown to the tombs of worthies of bygone times, with the recent recollection also of what has been so well carried out by mr. markland in regard to the grave of bishop ken, shall we not make an effort to preserve from desecration and oblivion the resting-place of one so eminent as leighton for his learning and piety, so worthy to be held in honoured remembrance for his high principles and his consistent conduct in an evil age? albert way. * * * * * minor notes. _grammars, &c. for public schools._--would it not be desirable for some correspondents of "n. & q." to furnish information respecting grammars, classics, and other works which have been written for the various public schools? such information might be useful to book collectors; and would also serve to reflect credit on the schools whose learned masters have prepared such books. my contribution to the list is small: but i remember a valuable greek grammar prepared by the rev. ---- hook, formerly head master of the college school at gloucester, for the use of that establishment; as also a peculiar english grammar prepared by the rev. r. s. skillern, master of st. mary de crypt school, in the same place, for the use of that school. i also possess a copy ( ) of the _romanæ historiæ anthologia_, for the use of abingdon school, and _moses and aaron, or the rites and customs of the hebrews_ ( ), both by thos. godwin, though the latter was written after he ceased to be master of the schools. p. h. fisher. stroud. "_to captivate._"--moore, in his journal, speaking of the americans (january th, ), says: "they sometimes, i see, use the word _captivate_ thus: 'five or six ships captivated,' 'five or six ships captivated.'" originally, the words _to captivate_ were synonymous with _to capture_, and the expression was used with reference to warlike operations. to captivate the affections was a secondary use of the phrase. the word is used in the original sense in many old english books. it is not used so now in the united states. uneda. philadelphia. _bohn's edition of matthew of westminster._--under the year a.d. , the translator informs us that "hirenes and _his_ son constantine became emperors." such an emperor is not to be found { } in the annals of constantinople. if mr. yonge, who shows elsewhere that he has read gibbon, had referred to him on this occasion, he would probably have found that the empress irene, a name dear to the reverencers of images, was the person meant. the original latin probably gives no clue to the sex; but still this empress, who is considered as a saint by her church, notwithstanding the deposition and blinding of her own son, was not a personage to be so easily forgotten. j. s. warden. _french season rhymes and weather rhymes.--_ "a la saint-antoine ( th january) les jours croissent le repas d'un moine." "a la saint-barnabé ( th june) la faux au pré." "a la sainte-cathérine ( th november) tout bois prend racine." "passé la saint-clément ( rd november) ne sème plus froment." "si l'hiver va droit son chemin, vous l'aurez à la saint-martin." ( th nov.) "s'il n'arreste tant ne quant, vous l'aurez à la saint-clément." ( rd nov.) "et s'il trouve quelqu' encombrée, vous l'aurez à la saint-andré." ( th nov.) ceyrep. _curious epitaph in tillingham church, essex.--_ "hic jacet humfridus carbo, carbone notandus non nigro, creta sed meliora tua. claruit in clero, nulli pietate secundus. cælum vi rapuit, vi cape si poteris. ob^t. mar. . Æt. ." which has been thus ingeniously paraphrased by a friend of mine: "here lies the body of good humphry cole, tho' black his name, yet spotless is his soul; but yet not black tho' carbo is the name, thy chalk is scarcely whiter than his fame. a priest of priests, inferior was to none, took heaven by storm when here his race was run. thus ends the record of this pious man; go and do likewise, reader, if you can." c. k. p. newport, essex. * * * * * queries. domestic letters of edmund burke. in the curious and able article entitled "the domestic life of edmund burke," which appeared in the _athenæum_ of dec. th and dec. th (and to which i would direct the attention of such readers of "n. & q." as have not yet seen it), the writer observes: "there is not in existence, as far as we know, or have a right to infer from the silence of the biographers, one single letter, paper, or document of any kind--except a mysterious fragment of one letter--relating to the domestic life of the burkes, until long after edmund burke became an illustrious and public man; no letters from parents to children, from children to parents, from brother to brother, or brother to sister." and as edmund burke was the last survivor of the family, the inference drawn by the writer, that they were destroyed by him, seems, on the grounds which he advances, a most reasonable one. but my object in writings is to call attention to a source from which, if any such letters exist, they may yet possibly be recovered; i mean the collections of professed collectors of autographs. on the one hand, it is scarcely to be conceived that the destroyer of these materials for the history of the burkes, be he who he may, can have got _all_ the family correspondence into his possession. on the other, it is far from improbable that in some of the collections to which i have alluded, some letters, notes, or documents may exist, treasured by the possessors as mere autographs; but which might, if given to the world, serve to solve many of those mysteries which envelope the early history of edmund burke. the discovery of documents of such a character seems to be the special province of "n. & q.," and i hope, therefore, although this letter has extended far beyond the limits i originally contemplated, you will insert it, and so permit me to put this query to autograph collectors, "have you any documents illustrative of the burkes?" and to add as a note, "if so, print them!" n. o. * * * * * minor queries. _farrant's anthem._--from what source did farrant take the words of his well-known anthem, "lord, for thy tender mercies' sake?" c. f. s. _ascension day custom._--what is the origin of the custom which still obtains in st. magnus and other city churches, of presenting the clergy with ribbons, cakes, and silk staylaces on ascension day? c. f. s. _sawbridge and knight's numismatic collections._--in snelling's tract on _pattern pieces for english gold and silver coins_ ( ), p. ., it is stated, in the description of a gold coin of elizabeth, that it is "unique, formerly in the collection of thomas sawbridge, esq., but at present in the collection of thomas knight, esq., who purchased the whole cabinet."--can any of your readers inform me who this mr. knight was, and whether his collection is still in existence; or if it was dispersed, when, and in what manner? i am not aware of any sale catalogue under his name. j. b. b. _"the spire whose silent finger points to heaven."_--i have met with, and sometimes quoted, this line. { } who is its author, and in what poem does it occur? j. w. t. dewsbury. _lord fairfax._--in the _peerage of scotland_ i find this entry: "fairfax, baron, charles snowdon fairfax, , baron fairfax, of cameron; suc. his grandfather, thomas, ninth baron, . his lordship resides at woodburne, in maryland, united states." fairfax is not a scotch name. and i can find no trace of any person of that family taking a part in scotch affairs. _cameron_ is, i suppose, the parish of that name in the east of fife. i wish to ask, st. for what services, or under what circumstances, the barony was created? ndly. when did the family cease to possess land or other property in scotland, if they ever held any? rdly. is the present peer a citizen or subject of the united states? if so, is he known and addressed as _lord_ fairfax, or how? thly. has he, or has any of his ancestors, since the recognition of the united states as a nation, ever used or applied for permission to exercise the functions of a peer of scotland, _e.g._ in the election of representative peers? thly. if he be a subject of the united states, and have taken, expressly or by implication, the oath of citizenship (which pointedly renounces allegiance to our sovereign), how is it that his name is retained on the roll of a body whose first duty it is to guard the throne, and whose existence is a denial of the first proposition in the constitution of his country? perhaps uneda, w. w., or some other of your philadelphia correspondents, will be good enough to notice the third of these queries. w. h. m. _tailless cats._--a writer in the _new york literary world_ of feb. , , makes mention of a breed of cats destitute of tails, which are found in the isle of man. perhaps some generous manx correspondent will say whether this is a fact or a jonathan. shirley hibberd. _saltcellar._--can any of your readers gainsay that in saltcellar the cellar is a mere corruption of _salière_? a list of compound words of saxon and french origin might be curious. h. f. b. _arms and motto granted to col. william carlos._--can any reader of "n. & q." give the _date_ of the grant of arms to col. william carlos (who assisted charles ii. to conceal himself in the "royal oak," after the battle of worcester), and specify the exact terms of the grant? [mu]. _naval atrocities._--in the article on "wounds," in the _encyc. brit._, th edition, published , the author, after mentioning the necessity of a surgeon's being cautious in pronouncing on the character of any wound, adds that "this is particularly necessary on board ship, where, as soon as any man is pronounced by the surgeon to be mortally wounded, he is forthwith, while still living and conscious, thrown overboard," or words to this effect, as i quote from memory. that such horrid barbarity was not practised in , it is needless to say; and if it had been usual at any previous period, smollett and other writers who have exposed with unsparing hand all the defects in the naval system of their day, would have scarcely left this unnoticed when they attack much slighter abuses. if such a thing ever occurred, even in the worst of times, it must have been an isolated case. i have not met elsewhere with any allusion to this passage, or the atrocity recorded in it, and would be glad of more information on the subject. j. s. warden. _turlehydes._--during the great famine in ireland land in , it is said that-- "the people in their distress met with an unexpected and providential relief. for about the th june, a prodigious number of large sea fish, called turlehydes, were brought into the bay of dublin, and cast on shore at the mouth of the river dodder. they were from thirty to forty feet long, and so bulky that two tall men placed one on each side of the fish could not see one another."--_the history and antiquities of the city of dublin from the earliest accounts_, by walter harris, , p. . this account is compiled from several records of the time, some of which still exist. as the term _turlehydes_ is not known to irish scholars, can any of the readers of "n. & q." say what precise animal is meant by it, or give any derivation or reference for the term? u. u. dublin. _foreign orders--queen of bohemia._--it is well known that in some foreign orders the decorations thereof are conferred upon ladies. can any of your correspondents inform me whether the order of the annunciation of sardinia, formerly the order of the ducal house of savoy, at any time conferred its decorations upon ladies; and whether the princess elizabeth, afterwards queen of bohemia, ever had the decoration of any foreign order conferred upon her? in a portrait of her she is represented with a star or badge upon the upper part of the left arm. s. e. g. _pickard family._--is the _pickard_, or _picard_, family, a branch of which is located in yorkshire, of norman origin? if so, who were the _first settlers_ in england; and also in what county are they most numerous? one of the family. bradford. { } _irish chieftains._--some account of the following, _historical reminiscences of o'byrnes, o'tooles, o'kavanaghs, and other irish chieftains_, privately printed, , is requested by john martin. woburn abbey. _general braddock._--can any of your readers furnish me with information relative to this officer? his disastrous expedition against fort du quesne, and its details, are well known; but i should like to know something more of his previous history. walpole gives an anecdote or two of him, and mentions that he had been governor of gibraltar. i think too he was of irish extraction. is there no portrait or engraving of braddock in existence? serviens. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _lawless court, rochford, essex._--a most extraordinary custom exists, in a manor at rochford, in the tenants holding under what is called the "lawless court." this court is held at midnight, by torch-light, in the centre of a field, on the first friday after the th sept., and is presided over by the steward of the manor, who, however, appoints a deputy to fulfil this part of his duty. the tenants of the manor are obliged to attend to answer to their names, when called upon, under pain of a heavy fine, or at all events have some one there to respond for them. all the proceedings are carried on in a whisper, no one speaking above that tone of voice; and the informations as to deaths, names, &c. are entered in a book by the president with a piece of charcoal. i may add, the business is not commenced until a cock has crowed three times, and as it is sometimes a difficult matter to get chanticleer to do his duty, a man is employed to crow, whose fee therefor is s. now morant, in his _history of essex_, merely cursorily mentions this most singular custom, and has nothing as to its antiquity or origin; i should therefore feel much obliged for any information concerning it. russell gole. [the singular custom at rochford is of uncertain origin: in old authors it is spoken of as belonging to the manor of rayleigh. the following account of "the lawless court," at that place, is printed by hearne from the dodsworth mss. in the bodleian, vol. cxxv.:--"the manor of raylie, in essex, hath a custome court kept yearly, the wednesday nexte after michael's day. the court is kept in the night, and without light, but as the skye gives, att a little hill without the towne, called the king's hill, where the steward writes only with coals, and not with inke. and many men and mannors of greate worth hold of the same, and do suite unto this strange court, where the steward calls them with as low a voice as possibly he may; giving no notice when he goes to the hill to keepe the same court, and he that attends not is deepely amerced, if the steward will. the title and entry of the same court is as followeth, viz.: 'curia de domino rege, dicta _sine lege_, tenta est ibidem, per ejusdem consuetudinem, ante ortum solis, luceat nisi polus, seneschallus solus, scribit nisi colis. clamat clam pro rege in curia _sine lege_: et qui non cito venerit citius poenitebit: si venerit cum lumine errat in regimine. et dum sine lumine capti sunt in crimine, curia sine cura jurata de injuria tenta est die mercuriæ prox. post festum s. michaelis.'" weever, who mentions this custom, says, that he was informed that "this servile attendance was imposed, at the first, upon certaine tenants of divers mannors hereabouts, for conspiring in this place, at such an unseasonable time, to raise a commotion."] _motto on old damask._--can your correspondents furnish an explanation of the motto herewith sent? it is taken from some damask table napkins which were bought many years back at brussels; not at a shop in the ordinary way, but privately, from the family to whom they belonged. i presume the larger characters, if put together, will indicate the date of the event, whatever that may be, which is referred to in the motto itself. the motto is woven in the pattern of the damask, and consists of the following words in uncials, the letters of unequal size, as subjoined: "signum pacis datur loricÆ." the larger letters being iumcidulic. if the u's are taken as two v's, and written thus x, it gives the date mdcclxiii. perhaps this can be explained. h. [the chronogram above, which means "the signal of peace is given to the warrior," relates to the peace proclaimed between england and france in the year . this event is noticed in the _annual register_, and in most of our popular histories. keightley says, "the overtures of france for peace were readily listened to; and both parties being in earnest, the preliminaries were readily settled at fontainebleau (nov. rd). in spite of the declamation of mr. pitt and his party, they were approved of by large majorities in both houses of parliament, and a treaty was finally signed in paris, feb. , ." the napkins were probably a gift, on the occasion, to some public functionary. for the custom of noting the date of a great event by chronograms, see "n. & q.," vol. v., p. .] { } _explanation of the word "miser."_--can any of your readers explain how and when _miser_ came to get the meaning of an avaricious hoarding man? in spenser's _faerie queene_, ii. l. ., it is used in its nearly primary sense of "wretch:" "vouchsafe to stay your steed for humble _miser's_ sake." again, _faerie queene_, ii. . .: "the _miser_ threw himself, as an offall, straight at his foot in base humility." in milton's _comus_, which was written about fifty years after the first three books of the _faerie queene,_ the present signification of the word is complete: "you may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps of _miser's_ treasure by an outlaw's den, and tell me it is safe, as bid one hope danger will sink on opportunity," &c. j. d. gardner. bottisham. [the modern restricted use of the word _miser_ is subsequent to shakspeare's time for in part i. _king henry vi._, act v. sc. ., "decrepit _miser_! base ignoble wretch!" steevens says has no relation to avarice, but simply means a _miserable_ creature. so in the interlude of _jacob and esau_, : "but as for these _misers_ within my father's tent." again, in lord stirling's tragedy of _croesus_, : "or think'st thou me of judgement too remiss, a _miser_ that in miserie remains." otway, however, in his _orphan_, published in , uses it for a covetous person: "though she be dearer to my soul than rest to weary pilgrims, or to _misers_ gold, rather than wrong castalio, i'd forget thee." so also does pope: "no silver saints by dying _misers_ given, here brib'd the rage of ill-requited heaven." _"acis and galatea."_--is there any good evidence in support of the commonly received opinion that the words to handel's _acis and galatea_ were written by gay? hawkins merely states that they "are said to have been written by mr. gay." i have no copy of burney at hand to refer to; but i find the same statement repeated by various other musical historians, without, however, any authority being given for it. the words in question are not to be found among the _poems on several occasions_, by mr. john gay, published in by tonson and others. have they ever been included in any collective edition of his works? g. t. reading. [in the musical catalogue of the british museum, compiled by thomas oliphant, esq., it is stated that the words to _acis and galatea_ "are said to be written, but apparently partly compiled, by john gay." this serenata is included among gay's _poems_ in dr. johnson's edition of the _english poets_, , as well as in chalmers's edition of , and in the complete edition of _british poets_, edinburgh, .] _birm-bank._--the bank of a canal opposite to the towing-path is called the _birm-bank_. what is the derivation of this? uneda. philadelphia. [the word _birm_ seems to have the same meaning as berme (fr. _berme_), which, in fortification, denotes a piece of ground of three, four, or five feet in width, left between the rampart and the moat or foss, designed to receive the ruins of the rampart, and prevent the earth from filling the foss. sometimes it is palisaded, and in holland is generally planted with quickset hedge.] _general thomas gage._--this officer commanded at boston at the breaking out of the revolution, and served under general braddock. where can i find any details of the remainder of his history? serviens. [an interesting biographical account of general gage is given in the _georgian Æra_, vol. ii. p. .] * * * * * replies. rapping no novelty. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the story referred to is certainly a very curious one, and i should like to know whether it is exactly as it was told by baxter, especially as there seems to be reason for believing that de foe (whom on other grounds one would not trust in such a matter) did not take it from the work which he quotes. perhaps if you can find room for the statement, some correspondent would be so good as to state whether it has the sanction of baxter: "mr. baxter, in his _historical discourse of apparitions_, writes thus: 'there is now in london an understanding, sober, pious man, oft one of my hearers, who has an elder brother, a gentleman of considerable rank, who having formerly seemed pious, of late years does often fall into the sin of drunkenness; he often lodges long together here in his brother's house, and whensoever he is drunk and has slept himself sober, something knocks at his bed's head, as if one knocked on a wainscot. when they remove his bed it follows him. besides other loud noises on other parts where he is, that all the house hears, they have often watched him, and kept his hands lest he should do it himself. his brother has often told it me, and brought his wife, a discreet woman, to attest it, who avers moreover, that as she watched him, she has seen his shoes under the bed taken up, and nothing visible to touch them. they brought the man himself to me, and when we asked { } him how he dare sin again after such a warning, he had no excuse. but being persons of quality, for some special reason of worldly interest i must not name him.'"--de foe's _life of duncan campbell_, nd ed. p. . after this story, de foe says: "another relation of this kind was sent to dr. beaumont (whom i myself personally knew, and which he has inserted in his account of genii, or familiar spirits) in a letter by an ingenious and learned clergyman of wiltshire," &c. but he does not say that the story which he has already quoted as from baxter stands just as he has given it, and with a reference to baxter, in beaumont's _historical, physiological, and theological treatise of spirits_, p. . of course one does not attach any weight to de foe's saying that he knew dr. beaumont "personally," but does anybody know anything of him? nearly four years ago you inserted somewhat similar inquiry about this duncan campbell, but i believe it has not yet been answered. s. r. maitland. * * * * * occasional forms of prayer. (vol. viii., p. .) from a volume of forms of prayer in the library of sir robert taylor's institution, i send you the following list, as supplementary to mr. lathbury's. this volume forms part of a collection of books bequeathed to the university by the late robert finch, m.a., formerly of baliol college: a form of prayer for a general fast, &c. to. london. . in both the morning and evening services of this form "a prayer for the reformed churches" is included, which is omitted in all the subsequent forms. this is a copy of it: "_a prayer for the reformed churches._ "o god, the father of mercies, we present our supplications unto thee, more especially on behalf of our reformed brethren, whom, blessed be thy name, thou hast hitherto wonderfully supported. make them perfect, strengthen, 'stablish them: that they may stand fast in the liberty wherewith christ hath made them free, and adorn the doctrine of god our saviour in all things. preserve the tranquillity of those who at present enjoy it: look down with compassion upon such as are persecuted for righteousness' sake, and plead thy cause with the oppressors of thy people. enlighten those who are in darkness and error; and give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth: that all the ends of the world may remember themselves, and be turned unto the lord; and we all may become one flock, under the great shepherd and bishop of our souls, jesus christ, our only mediator and advocate. amen." form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . a prayer to be used on litany days before the litany, and on other days immediately before the prayer for all conditions of men, in all cathedral, collegiate, and parochial churches and chapels, &c., during his majesty's present indisposition. . the following ms. note is inserted in the handwriting of mr. finch, father of the gentleman who bequeathed the collection: "mrs. finch accompanied my father (rev. dr. finch, rector of st. michael's, cornhill) to the cathedral, where he had a seat for himself and his lady assigned him under the dome, as treasurer to the society for promoting christian knowledge, the original patrons of the charity schools. mrs. f. was so fortunate as to obtain a seat in the choir, and saw the procession from the choir gate. myself and robert saw the cavalcade (which was extremely grand, and continued for the space of more than three hours, both houses of parliament with their attendants preceding their majesties) from mrs townsend's house in fleet street."--april , . form of prayer and thanksgiving for the king's recovery. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form of prayer and thanksgiving for many signal and important victories. . form, &c. fast. . form of prayer and thanksgiving for the victory of the nile, &c. . form of prayer and thanksgiving for the victory over the french fleet, aug. . . form of prayer and thanksgiving for the safe delivery of h. r. h. the princess of wales, and the birth of a princess. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form and thanksgiving for the harvest. . form and thanksgiving for putting an end to the war. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form of prayer and thanksgiving for lord nelson's victory. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. thanksgiving for the peace. . form, &c. thanksgiving for the peace. . john macray. oxford. * * * * * { } celtic and latin languages. (vol. viii., p. .) there was a query some time ago upon this subject, but though it is one full of interest to all scholars, i have not observed any notes worth mentioning in reply. the connexion between these two languages has only of late occupied the attention of philologers; but the more closely they are compared together, the more important and the more striking do the resemblances appear; and the remark of arnold with regard to greek literature applies equally to latin, "that we seem now to have reached that point in our knowledge of the language, at which other languages of the same family must be more largely studied, before we can make a fresh step in advance." but this study, as regards the comparison of celtic and latin, is, in england at least, in a very infant state. professor newman, in his _regal rome_, has attention to the subject; but his induction does not appear sufficiently extensive to warrant any decisive conclusion respecting the position the celtic holds as an element of the latin. pritchard's work upon the subject is satisfactory as far as it goes, but both these authors have chiefly confined themselves to a tabular view of celtic and latin words; but it is not _merely_ this we want. what is required is a critical examination into the comparative structure and formal development of the two languages, and this is a work still to be accomplished. the later numbers of bopp's _comparative grammar_ are, i believe, devoted to this subject, but as they have not been translated, they must be confined to a limited circle of english readers, and i have not yet seen any reproduction of the views therein contained in the philological literature of england. as the first step to considerations of this kind must be made from a large induction of words, i think, with your correspondent, that the pages of "n. & q." might be made useful in supplying "links of connexion" to supply a groundwork for future comparison. i shall conclude by suggesting one or two "links" that i do not remember to have seen elsewhere. . is the root of _felix_ to be found in the irish _fail_, _fate_; the contraction of the dipththong _ai_ or _ê_ being analogous to that of _amaïmus_ into _amêmus_? . is it not probable that _avernus_, if not corrupted from [greek: aornos], is related to _iffrin_, the irish _inferi_? this derivation is at any rate more probable than that of grotefend, who connects the word with [greek: acherôn]. . were the _galli_, priests of cybele, so called as being connected with fire-worship? and is the name at all connected with the celtic _gal_, a flame? the word _gallus_, a gaul, is of course the same as the irish _gal_, a stranger. t. h. t. * * * * * geometrical curiosity. (vol. viii., p. .) mr. ingleby's question might easily be the foundation of a geometrical paper; but as this would not be a desirable contribution, i will endeavour to keep clear of technicalities, in pointing out how the process described may give something near to a circle, or may not. when a paper figure, bent over a straight line in it, has the two parts perfectly fitting on each other, the figure is _symmetrical_ about that straight line, which may be called an _axis of symmetry_. thus every diameter of a circle is an axis of symmetry: every regular oval has two axes of symmetry at right angles to each other: every regular polygon of an _odd_ number of sides has an axis joining each corner to the middle of the opposite sides: every regular polygon of an _even_ number of sides has axes joining opposite corners, and axes joining the middles of opposite sides. when a piece of paper, of any form whatsoever, rectilinear or curvilinear, is doubled over any line in it, and when all the parts of either side which are not covered by the other are cut away, the unfolded figure will of course have the creased line for an axis of symmetry. if another line be now creased, and a fold made over it, and the process repeated, the second line becomes an axis of symmetry, and the first perhaps ceases to be one. if the process be then repeated on the first line, this last becomes an axis, and the other (probably) ceases to be an axis. if this process can be indefinitely continued, the cuttings must become smaller and smaller, for the following reason. suppose, at the outset, the boundary point nearest to the intersection of the axes is distant from that intersection by, say four inches; it is clear that we cannot, after any number of cuttings, have a part of the boundary at less than four inches from the intersection. for there never is, after any cutting, any approach to the intersection except what there already was on the other side of the axis employed, before that cutting was made. if then the cuttings should go on for ever, or practically until the pieces to be cut off are too small, and _if this take place all round_, the figure last obtained will be a good representation of a circle of four inches radius. on the suppositions, we must be always cutting down, at all parts of the boundary; but it has been shown that we can never come nearer than by four inches to the intersection of the axes. but it does not follow that the process _will_ go on for ever. we may come at last to a state in which both the creases are axes of symmetry at once; and then the process stops. if the paper had at first a curvilinear boundary, properly chosen, and if the axes were placed at the proper angle, it would happen that we should arrive at a { } _regular_ curved polygon, having the two axes for axes of symmetry. the process would then stop. i will, however, suppose that the original boundary is everywhere rectilinear. it is clear then that, after every cutting, the boundary is still rectilinear. if the creases be at right angles to one another, the ultimate figure may be an irregular polygon, having its four quarters alike, such as may be inscribed in an oval; or it may have its sides so many and so small, that the ultimate appearance shall be that of an oval. but if the creases be not at right angles, the ultimate figure is a perfectly regular polygon, such as can be inscribed in a circle; or its sides may be so many and so small that the ultimate appearance shall be that of a circle. suppose, as in mr. ingleby's question, that the creases are not at right angles to each other; supposing the eye and the scissors _perfect_, the results will be as follows: first, suppose the angle made by the creases to be what the mathematicians call _incommensurable_ with the whole revolution; that is, suppose that no repetition of the angle will produce an _exact_ number of revolutions. then the cutting will go on for ever, and the result will perpetually approach a circle. it is easily shown that no figure whatsoever, except a circle, has two axes of symmetry which make an angle incommensurable with the whole revolution. secondly, suppose the angle of the creases commensurable with the revolution. find out the smallest number of times which the angle must be repeated to give an exact number of revolutions. if that number be even, it is the number of sides of the ultimate polygon: if that number be odd, it is the half of the number of sides of the ultimate polygon. thus, the paper on which i write, the whole sheet being taken, and the creases made by joining opposite corners, happens to give the angle of the creases very close to three-fourteenths of a revolution; so that fourteen repetitions of the angle is the lowest number which give an exact number of revolutions; and a very few cuttings lead to a regular polygon of fourteen sides. but if four-seventeenths of a revolution had been taken for the angle of the creases, the ultimate polygon would have had thirty-four sides. in an angle taken at hazard the chances are that the number of ultimate sides will be large enough to present a circular appearance. any reader who chooses may amuse himself by trying results from three or more axes, whether all passing through one point or not. a. de morgan. * * * * * the black-guard. (vol. viii., p. .) some of your correspondents, sir james e. tennent especially, have been very learned on this subject, and all have thrown new light on what i consider a very curious inquiry. the following document i discovered some years ago in the lord steward's offices. your readers will see its value at once; but it may not be amiss to observe, that the name in its present application had its origin in the number of masterless boys hanging about the verge of the court and other public places, palaces, coal-cellars, and palace stables; ready with links to light coaches and chairs, and conduct, and rob people on foot, through the dark streets of london; nay, to follow the court in its progresses to windsor and newmarket. pope's "link-boys vile" are the black-guard boys of the following proclamation. peter cunningham. at the board of green cloth, in windsor castle, this th day of may, . whereas of late a sort of vicious, idle, and masterless boyes and rogues, commonly called the black-guard, with divers other lewd and loose fellowes, vagabonds, vagrants, and wandering men and women, do usually haunt and follow the court, to the great dishonour of the same, and as wee are informed have been the occasion of the late dismall fires that happened in the towns of windsor and newmarket, and have, and frequently do commit divers other misdemeanours and disorders in such places where they resort, to the prejudice of his majesty's subjects, for the prevention of which evills and misdemeanours hereafter, wee do hereby strictly charge and command all those so called the black-guard as aforesaid, with all other loose, idle, masterless men, boyes, rogues, and wanderers, who have intruded themselves into his majesty's court or stables, that within the space of twenty-four houres next after the publishing of this order, they depart, upon pain of imprisonment, and such other punishments as by law are to be inflicted on them. (signed) ormond. h. bulkeley. h. brouncker. rich. mason. ste. fox. * * * * * the calves' head club. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the calves' head club existed much earlier than the time when their doings were commemorated in the _weekly oracle_ (vol. viii., p. .) of february , , or depicted in the print of (vol. viii., p. .). there is a pamphlet, { } the second edition of which was published in small to., in , entitled: "the secret history of the calves' head club, or, the republican unmasqu'd, wherein is fully shewn the religion of the calves-head heroes in their anniversary thanksgiving songs on the thirtieth of january, by their anthems," &c. &c. we are told in the latter part of the long title-page that the work was published "to demonstrate the restless, inplacable spirit of a certain party still among us," and certainly the statements therein, and more than all the anthems at the end, do show the bitterest hatred--so bitter, so intense and malignant, that we feel on reading it that there must be some exaggeration. the author professes to have at first been of opinion "that the story was purely contrived on purpose to render the republicans more odious than they deserv'd." whether he was convinced to the contrary by ocular demonstration he does not tell us, but gives us information he received from a gentleman-- "who, about eight years ago, went out of meer curiosity to see their club, and has since furnish'd me with the following papers. i was inform'd that it was kept in no fix'd house, but that they remov'd as they saw convenient; that the place they met in when he was with 'em was in a blind ally, about morefields; that the company wholly consisted of independents and anabaptists (i am glad for the honour of the presbyterians to set down this remark); that the famous jerry white, formerly chaplain to oliver cromwell, who no doubt on't came to sanctify with his pious exhortations the ribbaldry of the day, said grace; that after the table-cloth was removed, the anniversary anthem, as they impiously called it, was sung, and a calve's skull fill'd with wine, or other liquor, and then a brimmer went about to the pious memory of those worthy patriots that kill'd the tyrant, and deliver'd their country from arbitrary sway; and lastly, a collection made for the mercenary scribler, to which every man contributed according to his zeal for the cause, or the ability of his purse. "i have taken care to set down what the gentleman told me as faithfully as my memory wou'd give me leave; and i am persuaded that some persons that frequent the black boy in newgate street, as they knew the author of the following lines so they knew this account of the calves' head club to be true." the anthems for the years , , , , and , are given; but they are too long and too stupidly blasphemous and indecent to quote here. they seem rather the satires of malignant cavaliers than the serious productions of any puritan, however politically or theologically heretical. edward peacock. bottesford moors. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _the calotype process._--i have made any first essay in the calotype process, following dr. diamond's directions given in "n. & q.," and using turner's paper, as recommended by him. my success has been quite as great as i could expect as a novice, and satisfies me that any defects are due to my own want of skill, and not to any fault in the directions given. i wish, however, to ask a question as to iodizing the paper. dr. diamond says, lay the paper on the solution; then _immediately_ remove it, and lay on the dry side on blotting-paper, &c. now i find, if i remove immediately, the whole sheet of paper curls up into a roll, and is quite unmanageable. i want to know, therefore, whether there is any objection to allowing the paper to remain on the iodizing solution until it lies flat on it, so that on removal it will not curl, and may be easily and conveniently laid on the dry side to pass the glass rod over it. as soon as the paper is floated on the solution (i speak of turner's) it has a great tendency to curl, and takes some time before the expansion of both surfaces becoming equal allows it to lie quite flat on the liquid. may this operation be performed by the glass rod, without floating at all? photographers, like myself, at a distance from practical instruction, are so much obliged for plain and simple directions such as those given by dr. diamond, which are the result of experience, that i am sure he will not mind being troubled with a few inquiries relative to them. c. e. f. _hockin's short sketch._--mr. hockin is so well known as a thoroughly practical chemist, that it may suffice to call attention to the fact of his having published a little brochure entitled _how to obtain positive and negative pictures on collodionized glass, and copy the latter upon paper. a short sketch adapted for the tyro in photography._ as the question of the _alkalinity_ of the nitrate bath is one which has lately been discussed, we will give, as a specimen of mr. hockin's book, a quotation, showing his opinion upon that question: "_the sensitizing agent_, nitrate of silver in crystals, not the ordinary fused in sticks, is nearly always confessedly adulterated; it is thus employed: "_the silver or nitrate bath._--nitrate of silver five drachms, distilled water ten ounces; dissolve and add iodized collodion two drachms. "shake these well together, allow them to macerate twelve hours, and filter through paper. before adding the nitric acid, test the liquid with a piece of blue litmus paper; if it remain blue after being immersed one minute, add one drop of dilute nitric acid[ ], and test again for a minute; and so on, until a claret red is indicated on the paper. it is necessary to test the bath in a similar manner, frequently adding half a drop to a drop of dilute acid when required. this precaution will prevent the fogging due to alkalinity of the bath, so formidable an obstacle to young hands." [footnote : "dilute nitric acid.--water fifty parts, nitric acid one part."] _photographic society's exhibition._--the photographic society opened their first exhibition of { } photographs and daguerreotypes at the gallery of the society of british artists, in suffolk street, with a _soirée_ on tuesday evening last. notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, the rooms were crowded not only by members of the society, but by many of the most distinguished literary and scientific men of the metropolis. the queen and prince albert had, in the course of the morning, spent three hours in an examination of the collection; and the opinion they expressed, that the exhibition was one of great interest and promise, from the evidence it afforded of the extraordinary advance made by the art during the past year, and the encouragement it held out to the belief that far greater excellence might therefore still be looked for in it, was a very just one, and embodied that given afterwards by the most competent authorities. we have not room this week to enter into any details, but can confidently recommend our readers to pay an early visit to suffolk street. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _"firm was their faith," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--these lines are to be found in a poem called "morwennæ statio, hodie morwenstow," published by masters in , with the title of _echoes from old cornwall_, and written by the vicar of morwenstow. i agree with d. m. in the judgment he has announced as to their merits; but hitherto they have been but little appreciated by the public. a time will come however, when these and other compositions of the author will be better known and more duly valued by the english mind. saxa. these lines were written on "the minster of morwenna," may, , and appeared in the _british magazine_ under the anonymous name _procul_. of the eight stanzas of which the poem consists, p. m. has quoted the second. the second line should be read "wise _of_ heart," and the third "_firm_ and trusting hands." with your correspondent, i hope the author's name may be discovered. f. r. r. _vellum-cleaning_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the polytechnic institution there are specimens of old deeds, &c., on vellum and paper, beautifully cleaned and restored by mr. george clifford, . inner temple lane, temple, london. j. mck. shoreham. _wooden tombs_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the church at brading, isle of wight-- "there are some old tombs in the communion place, and in sir william oglander's chapel, or family burial-place, which is separated from the rest of the church by an oak screen. the most ancient legible date of these monuments is . two of them have full-length figures in armour of solid elm wood, originally painted in their proper colours, and gilt, but now disfigured by coats of dirty white."--barber's picturesque guide to the isle of wight, , pp. , . j. mck. shoreham. _solar eclipse in the year _ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the _transactions of the antiquarian society of scotland_, vol. ii. p. ., there are "observations on the norwegian expedition against scotland in the year ," by john dillon, esq.; and at pp. - , when speaking of the annular eclipse, he says: "the eclipse above mentioned is described to have occurred between these two dates [ th july and th august]. this being pointed out to dr. brewster, he had the curiosity to calculate the eclipse, when he found that there was an eclipse of the sun on th august, , and which was annular at ronaldsvo, in orkney, and the middle of it was twenty-four minutes past one." these "observations" contain much curious information; but are deformed by the author attempting to wrest the text of the norwegian writer (at p. . and in note i.) to suit an absurd crotchet of his own. having seen that essay in ms., i pointed out those errors; but instead of attending to my observations, he would not read them, and got into a passion against the friend who showed the ms. to me. j. mck. shoreham. _lines on woman_ (vol. viii., pp. . . &c.).--the lines on woman are, i presume, an altered version of those of barret (mrs. barrett browning?); they are the finale of a short poem on woman; the correct version is the following: "peruse the sacred volume, him who died her kiss betray'd not, nor her tongue denied; while even the apostle left him to his doom, she linger'd round his cross and watch'd his tomb." i would copy the whole poem, but fear you would think it too long for insertion. ma. l. [our correspondent furnishes an addition to our list of parallel passages. the lines quoted by w. v. and those now given by our present correspondent can never be different readings of the same poem. besides, it has been already shown that the lines asked for are from the poem entitled _woman_, by eaton stannard barrett (see antè, pp. . .).] _satin_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in a note just received by me from canton, an american friend of mine remarks as follows: "when you write again to 'n. & q.' you can say that the word _satin_ (vol. vii., p. .), like the article itself, is of chinese origin, and that other foreign languages, in endeavouring like the english to imitate the chinese _sz-tün_, have { } approximated closely to it, and to each other. of this the answers to the query given in the place referred to are a sufficient proof; fr. _satin_, w. _sidan_, &c. &c." i suspect that he is right, and that ogilvie and webster, whom you quote, have not got to the bottom of the word. i may add that the notion of my canton friend receives approval from a chinese scholar to whom i have shown the above extract. w. t. m. hong kong. _"quid facies," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "bierve, _n. maréchal_, _marquis de_, a frenchman well known for his ready wit and great facetiousness. he wrote two plays of considerable merit, _les réputations_ and _le séducteur_. he died at spa, , aged . he is author of the distich on courtezans: 'quid facies, facies veneris cum veneris ante? ne sedeas! sed eas, ne pereas per eas.'" --lemprière's _universal biography_, abridged from the larger work, london, . c. forbes. temple. _sotades_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent charles reed says that sotades was a roman poet b.c.; and that to him we owe the line, "roma tibi subito," &c. sotades was a native of maroneia in thrace, or, according to others, of crete; and flourished at alexandria b.c. (smith's _dictionary of biography_, clinton, f. h., vol. iii. p. .). we have a few fragments of his poems, but none of them are palindromical. the authority for his having written so, is, i suppose, martial, epig. ii. . .: "nec retro lego sotaden cinædum." zeus. _the third part of "christabel"_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--has the _irish quarterly review_ any other reason for ascribing this poem to maginn than the common belief which makes him the sole and original morgan odoherty? if not, its evidence is of little value, as, exclusive of some pieces under that name which have been avowed by other writers, many of the odoherty papers contain palpable internal evidence of having been written by a scotchman, or at least one very familiar with scotland, which at that time he was not; even the letter accompanying the third part of _christabel_ is dated from glasgow, and though this would in itself prove nothing, the circumstances above mentioned, as well as dr. moir's evidence as to the time when maginn's contributions to _blackwood_ commenced, seems strongly presumptive against his claim. some of the earliest and most distinguished writers in _blackwood_ are still alive, and could, no doubt, clear up this point at once, if so inclined. j. s. warden. _attainment of majority_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in my last communication upon this subject i produced undeniable authority to prove that the law did not regard the fraction of a day; this, i think, a. e. b. will admit. the question is, now, does the day on which a man attains his majority commence at six o'clock a.m., or at midnight? we must remember that we are dealing with a question of _english_ law; and therefore the evidence of an english decision will, i submit, be stronger proof of the latter mode of reckoning than the only positive proof with which a. e. b. has defended ben jonson's use of the former, viz. _roman_. in a case tried in michaelmas term, , chief justice holt said: "it has been adjudged that if one be born the st of february at eleven at night, and the last of january in the twenty-first year of his age at one o'clock in the morning, he makes his will of lands and dies, it is a good will, for he was then of age."--_salkeld_, .; _raymond_, , ; _siderfin_, . in this case, therefore, the testator was accounted of age forty-six hours before the completion of his twenty-first year. now, the law not regarding the fraction of a day, the above case, i submit, clearly proves that the day, as regards the attainment of majority, began at midnight. russell gole. _lord halifax and mrs. c. barton_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in answer to j. w. j.'s query, i beg to state that i have in my possession a codicil of mrs. conduit's will in her own hand, dated th of january, . this document refers to some theological tracts by sir isaac newton, in his handwriting, which i have. on referring to the pedigree of the barton family, i find that colonel robert barton married catherine greenwood, whose father lived at rotterdam, and was ancestor of messrs. greenwood, army agents. his issue were major newton barton, who married elizabeth ekins, mrs. burr, and catherine robert barton. i find no mention of colonel noel barton. the family of ekins had been previously connected with that of barton, alexander ekins, rector of barton segrave, having married jane barton of brigstock. the writer of this note will be obliged if j. w. j., or any correspondent of "n. & q.," will inform him if anything is known respecting an ivory bust of sir isaac newton, executed by marchand or marchant, which is said to have been an excellent likeness. s. x. [the ivory bust referred to by our correspondent is, we believe, in the british museum.] _the fifth lord byron_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i cannot but think that mr. hasleden's memory has deceived him as to the "wicked lord" having { } settled his estates upon the marriage of his son; how is this to be reconciled with the often published statement, that the marriage of his son with his cousin juliana, daughter of the admiral, and aunt of the late and present lords, was made not only without the consent, but in spite of the opposition, of the old lord, and that he never forgave his son in consequence? j. s. warden. _burton family_ (vol. iv., pp. . .).--in connexion with a query which was kindly noticed by mr. algor of sheffield, who did not however communicate anything new to me, i would ask who was samuel burton, esq., formerly sheriff of derbyshire; whose death at sevenoaks, in october, , i find recorded in the obituary of the _gentleman's magazine_ for that year? i am also desirous to ascertain who was sir francis cavendish burton of st. helens, whose daughter and heiress, martha, married richard sikes, esq., ancestor of the sikes's of the chauntry house near newark. she died since . both samuel burton and mrs. sikes were related to the burtons of kilburn, in the parish of horsley, near derby, to whom my former query referred. e. h. a. _provost hodgson's translation of the atys of catullus_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in answer to mr. gantillon's inquiry for the above translation, i beg to state that it will be found appended to an octavo edition of hodgson's poem of _lady jane grey_. in the same volume will be found, i believe (for i have not the work before me), some of the modern latin poetry respecting which balliolensis inquiries. the justly admired translation of _edwin and angelina_, to which the latter refers, was by hodgson's too early lost friend lloyd. the splendid pentameter is slightly misquoted by balliolensis. it is not-- "poscimus in _terris_ pauca, nec illa diù." but-- "poscimus in _vitâ_," &c. thomas russell potter. wymeswold, loughborough. _wylcotes' brass_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i should hardly have supposed that any difficulty could exist in explaining the inscription: "in · on · is · all." to me it appears self-evident that it must be-- "in one (god) is my all." h. c. c. _hoby, family of; their portraits, &c_. (vol. viii., p. .).--i would refer j. b. whitborne to _the antiquities of berkshire_ (so miscalled), by elias ashmole; where, in treating of bisham, that learned antiquary has given the inscriptions to the hoby family as existing _and legible in his time_. it does not appear that sir philip hoby, or hobbie, knight, was ever of the privy council; but, in , one of the gentlemen of the privy chamber to king henry viii. (which monarch granted to him in - the manor of willoughby in edmonton, co. middlesex), sir thomas hoby, the brother, and successor in the estates of sir philip, was, in , ambassador to france; and died at paris july in the same year (not ), aged thirty-six. the coat of the hobys of bisham, as correctly given, is "argent, within a border engrailed sable, three spindles, threaded in fesse, gules." a grant or confirmation of this coat was made by sir edward bysshe, clarenceux, to peregrine hoby of bisham, berks, natural son of sir edward hoby, nov. , . the bisham family bore no crest nor motto. h. c. c. _the keate family_ (vol. viii., pp. . .)--should the query of g. b. b. not be sufficiently answered by the extract from mr. burke's _extinct and dormant baronetcies of england_ relating to the keate family, as i have a full pedigree of that surname, i may perhaps be able, on application, to satisfy him with some genealogical particulars which are not noticed in mr. burke's works. h. c. c. _sir charles cotterell_ (vol viii., p. .).--sir charles cotterell, the translator of _cassandra_, died in . (see fuller's _worthies_, by nuttall, vol. ii. p. .) [greek: halieus]. dublin. _huc's travels_ (vol. viii., p. .).--not having seen the _gardener's chronicle_, in which c. w. b. says the travels of messrs. huc and gabet in thibet, tartary, &c. are said to be a pure fabrication, concocted by some parisian _littérateur_, i cannot know what degree of credit, if any, is to be given to such a statement. all i wish to communicate at present for the information of your querist c. w. b. is this, that i have read an account and abstract of messrs. huc and gabet's _travels_ in one of the ablest and best conducted french reviews, _la revue des deux mondes_; in which not the least suspicion of fabrication is hinted, or the slightest doubt expressed as to the genuineness of these _travels_. mr. princep, also, in his work on thibet, tartary, &c. quotes largely from huc's travel's, and avails himself extensively of the information contained in them with reference to buddhism, &c. should the writer in the _gardener's chronicle_ have it in his power to _prove_ the _travels_ to be a fabrication, he will confer a benefit on the world of letters by unmasking the fabricator. j. m. oxford. _pictures at hampton court palace_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reply to [phi].'s question when the review of the th light dragoons by king { } george iii., after the prince of wales assumed the command of that regiment, i beg to state that the prince entered the army as brevet-colonel, nov. , ; that the regiment received the title of "the prince of wales's own regiment of light dragoons" on michaelmas day, : that the regiment was stationed in the south of england and in the vicinity of london for many years, from to inclusive; and that king george iii. repeatedly reviewed it, accompanied by the queen and the royal family. that the prince of wales was appointed colonel-commandant of the corps in , and succeeded sir w. a. pitt as colonel of it in july , . that the regiment was reviewed on hounslow heath by the king in august, ; and the prince of wales (who commanded it in person) received his majesty's orders to convey his majesty's approbation of its excellent appearance and performance. perhaps the picture by sir william beechey was painted in , and not . i did not find the catalogue at hampton court free from errors, when i last visited the palace in october, . m. a. pembroke college, oxon. _john waugh_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--does karleolensis know whether john waugh, son of waugh, bishop of carlisle, was married, and to whom? farther information of the above family would be most acceptable, and thankfully acknowledged, by george waugh, of the family of the waughs of oulton and lofthouse, yorkshire. exeter. _daughters taking their mothers' names_ (vol. viii., p. .).--when buriensis asks for instances of this, and mentions "alicia, daughter of ada," as an example, is he not mistaking, or following some one else who has mistaken, the _gender_ of the parent's name? _alicia fil. adæ_ would be rendered "alice fitz-adam," unless there be anything in the context to determine the gender otherwise. j. sansom. "_service is no inheritance_" (vol. viii., p. .).--this proverbial saying has evidently arisen from the old manorial right, under which the lord of the manor claimed suit and service and fealty before admitting the heir to his inheritance, or the purchaser to his purchase. on which occasion, the party admitted to the estate, whether purchaser or heir, "fecit fidelitatem suam et solvit relevium;" the relief being generally a year's rent or service. anon. _sir christopher wren and the young carver_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if your correspondent a. h. has not already appropriated the anecdote here alluded to, i think i can confidently refer him to any biographical notice of grindling gibbons--to whom the story of the "sow and pigs" relates. gibbons was recommended to sir christopher by evelyn, i think; but not having "made a note of it," i am not sure that it is to be found in his _diary_.[ ] if there be any monograph life of gibbons, it can scarcely fail to be found there. m. ( ) [footnote : see evelyn's _diary_, vol. ii. pp. , ., edition .--ed.] _souvaroff's despatch_ (vol. viii., p. ).--souvaroff's doggerel despatch from ismail, immortalised by byron, is, as usual, misspelt and mistranslated. allow me to furnish you with what i have never yet seen in english, a correct version of it: "slava bogou, slava vam; krépost vziala, ee ya tam." "glory to god, glory to you, the fortress is taken, and i am there." dmitri andrÉef. _detached church towers_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the lists i have seen no mention is made of the fine tower of west walton church, which stands at a distance of nearly twenty yards from the body of the church. w. b. d. lynn. _queen anne's motto_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the historical society of pennsylvania is in possession of an english coat of arms, painted on wood in the time of queen anne, having "anna r." at the top, and the motto _semper eadem_ on the scroll below. it probably was in one of the philadelphia court-rooms, and was taken down at the revolution. uneda. philadelphia. _lawyers' bags_ (vol. vii. _passim_).--the communication of mr. kersley, in p. ., although it does not support the inference which col. landman draws, that the colour of lawyers' bags was changed in consequence of the unpopularity which it acquired at the trial of queen caroline, seems to show that _green_ was at one time the colour of those professional pouches. the question still remains, when and on what occasion it was discontinued; and when the purple, and when the crimson, were introduced? when i entered the profession (about fifty years ago), no junior barrister presumed to carry a bag in the court of chancery, unless one had been presented to him by a king's counsel; who, when a junior was advancing in practice, took an opportunity of complimenting him on his increase of business, and giving him his own bag to carry home his papers. it was then a distinction to carry a bag, and a proof that a junior was rising { } in his profession. i do not know whether the same custom prevailed in the other courts. causidicus. in this city (philadelphia) lawyers formerly carried green bags. the custom has declined of late years among the members of the legal profession, and it has been taken up by journeymen boot and shoe makers, who thus carry their work to and from the workshop. a green bag is now the badge of a cordwainer in this city. [old english w]. philadelphia. _bust of luther_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. j. g. fitch asks for information respecting a bust of luther, with an inscription, on the wall of a house, in the dom platz at frankfort on the maine. i have learned, through a german acquaintance, who has resided the greater part of his life in that city, that the effigy was erected to commemorate the event of luther's having, during a short stay in frankfort, preached near that spot; and that the words surrounding the bust were his text on the occasion. he adds that luther at no period of his life "lived for some years" at frankfort, as stated by mr. fitch. alfred smith. _grammar in relation to logic_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--h. c. k.'s remarks are of course indisputable. but it is a mistake to suppose that they answer my query. in fact, had your correspondent taken the trouble to consider the meaning of my query, he could not have failed to perceive that the explanation i there gave of the function of the conjunction _in logic_, is the same as his. my query had sole reference _to grammar_. i would also respectfully suggest that anonymous correspondents should not impute "superficial views," or any other disagreeable thing, to those who stand _confessed_, without abandoning the pseudonym. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. mr. timbs announces for publication by subscription, _curiosities of london: exhibiting the most rare and remarkable objects of interest in the metropolis_. mr. timbs states, the authorities for his work have been four-and-twenty years in collection; and that the utmost pains has been taken to verify names, dates, and circumstances, so as to insure accuracy. in this labour the author has been aided by the communications of many obliging friends, as well as by his own recollection of nearly fifty years' changes in the aspects of "opulent, enlarged, and still increasing london." it is proposed to publish by subscription _the visitation of the county of northumberland_, taken by richard st. george, esq., norroy king of arms, and henry st. george, esq., blue mantle pursuivant of arms, a.d. . to be printed in tables on folio, with the arms engraved on wood, price one guinea; or large paper, royal folio, two guineas; or large paper with the arms emblazoned (of which only the number subscribed for will be done), five guineas. subscribers' names will be received by mr. john gray bell, no. . bedford street, covent garden. the first number of the _antiquities of shropshire_, by the rev. r. w. eyton, has just been issued for the sake of determining the author's doubts as to whether there is any general wish for such a publication. should the answer be in the negative, the author will neither forget his obligation to present subscribers, nor the explanation which he will farther owe them if the work be discontinued. the work will extend at least to five volumes, or twenty parts, and, according to the present plan, will be completed in not less than five years. any subscriber will be at liberty to withdraw his name, by giving notice to that effect within one month after the publication of any fourth part, or completed volume. three hundred copies of part i. have been printed, but the number of the future parts will be limited to those subscribed for within the next three months. _the surrey archæological society_ propose holding the inaugural general meeting of the society in southwark early in the month of february, and to exhibit upon the occasion a collection of such objects of antiquarian interest relating to surrey as may be contributed for that purpose. parties are invited to favour the society with the loan of such objects. books received.--_a peep at the pixies, or legends of the west_, by mrs. bray: written for the entertainment of a family circle, these amusing records of the doings of the little people will find favour with all lovers of folk lore.--_ada's thoughts, or the poetry of youth_, may be commended for its natural, simple, yet elevated tone.--_essay on human happiness_, by c. b. adderley, m.p.; the first of a series of _great truths for thoughtful hours_. a set of little books similar in object and design to pickering's well-known series of _small books on great subjects_.--_beauties of byron, verse and prose._ this selection, made for murray's _railway reading_, will be acceptable to many who would object to place the collected edition of the noble bard's writings in the hands of the younger members of their family.--_speeches on parliamentary reform_, by the right hon. t. b. macaulay. this new number of longman's _traveller's library_ is well-timed, and very acceptable. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. isaac taylor's physical theory of another life. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: sandy's christmas carols, ancient and modern. vo. . junius discovered, by p. t. published about . wanted by _william j. thoms_, . holywell street, millbank, westminster. { } gallery of portraits. published by charles knight, under the superintendence of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. no. xliii. (december, ), containing adam smith, calvin, mansfield. wanted by _charles forbes_, . elm court, temple. bristol drollery. . holborn drollery. . hicks's grammatical drollery. . oxford jests. cambridge jests. wanted by _c. s._, . gloucester green, oxford. mudie's british birds. bohn. . nd volume. waverley. st edition. wanted by _f. r. sowerby_, halifax. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _among other interesting communications intended for our present number, but which we have been compelled by want of space to postpone until next week, are_ mr. gutch_'s paper on_ griffin and his fidessa, mr. d'alton_'s on_ james ii.'s irish army list, _and_ dr. diamond_'s on_ the advantages of small photographs. cestriensis. _we have a letter for this correspondent; where shall it be sent?_ eirionnach. _the letter for this correspondent has been forwarded._ w. j. l. _the_ merry llyd _or_ hewid _has already formed the subject of some notices in our columns: see_ vol. i., pp. . .; vol. vi., p. . _we should be glad to have any satisfactory explanation of the origin and antiquity of the custom._ j. e. (sampford) _is informed that there is no charge for the insertion of queries, &c. will he oblige us by describing the communications to which he refers?_ f. s. a., _who asks the origin of_ tick, _is referred to_ vol. iii., pp. . . . ignorant. _the_ staffordshire knot _is the badge or cognizance of the earls of stafford: see_ vol. viii., p. . j. s. a. _will find the information he desires respecting the_ extraordinary north briton _in a valuable communication from_ mr. crossley, "n. & q.," vol. iii., p. . index to volume the eighth.--_this is in a very forward state, and will, we trust, be ready for delivery with_ no. . _on the_ _st of january._ "notes and queries," vols. i. to vii., _price three guineas and a half.--copies are being made up and may be had by order._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for january (being the first part of a new volume) contains the following articles:-- . the princess (afterwards queen) elizabeth a prisoner at woodstock. . on supposed apparitions of the virgin mary; and particularly at la salette. . sir walter raleigh at sherborne. . manners and morals of the university of cambridge during the last century. . english sketches by foreign artists--max schlesinger's saunterings in and about london. . richard baxter's pulpit at kidderminster (with a plate). . cambridge improvements, . . the toxaris of lucian. correspondence of sylvanus urban: english physicians in russia--knights banneret--sir constantine phipps and sir william phips--diaries of dr. stukeley, &c. with notes of the month; historical and miscellaneous reviews; reports of antiquarian and literary societies; historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of the queen of portugal, the duke of beaufort, the countess of newburgh, lord cloncurry, rear-adm. pasco, bickham escott, esq., wm. gardiner, esq., mrs. opie, mr. jas. trubshaw, c.e., mr. samuel williams, &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * just published, price s. d., sewed, a lecture on the genius, life and character of william shakspeare, delivered to the mutual improvement society of welford, by frederick cox, esq., one of the vice-presidents of the society. george bell, london. t. c. browne, leicester. * * * * * just published, mo., s. janus, lake poems, &c., and other poems, by david holt. london: w. pickering, piccadilly; and george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * demy vo., s.; cloth gilt, s. the history of millwall, commonly called the isle of dogs; including notices of the west india docks and city canal, and notes on poplar, blackwall, limehouse, and stepney. by b. h. cowper. r. gladding, . & . whitechapel road. * * * * * to artists, engravers, printsellers, etc. this day, vo., s. d. the laws of artistic copyright, and their defects. for the use of artists, sculptors, engravers, printsellers, &c. by d. roberton blaine, esq., of the middle temple, barrister-at-law. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * works by edward jesse, esq. now ready. jesse's country life. third edition. fcap. vo. s. ii. jesse's natural history. seventh edition. fcap. vo. s. iii. jesse's favourite haunts. with twenty woodcuts. post vo. s. john murray, albermarle street. * * * * * just published.--a catalogue of valuable books, including a portion of the library of the right hon. warren hastings, now on sale by thomas kerslake, bookseller, bristol. (franked for one postage stamp.) * * * * * views in london. stereoscopes and stereoscopic pictures. bland & long, . fleet street, opticians and philosophical instrument makers, invite attention to their stock of stereoscopes of all kinds, and in various materials; also, to their new and extensive assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same, in daguerreotype, on paper, and transparent albumen pictures on glass, including views of london, paris, the rhine, windsor, &c. these pictures, for minuteness of detail and truth in the representation of natural objects, are unrivalled. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. *** "familiar explanation of the phenomena" sent on application. * * * * * pulleyn's compendium. one volume, crown vo., bound in cloth, price s. the etymological compendium; or, portfolio of origins and inventions: relating to language, literature, and government. architecture and sculpture. drama, music, painting, and scientific discoveries. articles of dress, &c. titles, dignities, &c. names, trades, professions. parliament, laws, &c. universities and religious sects. epithets and phrases. remarkable customs. games, field sports. seasons, months, and days of the week. remarkable localities, &c. &c. by william pulleyn. the third edition, revised and improved, by merton a. thoms, esq. "the additions to this book indicate the editor to be his father's own son. he deals in folk lore, chronicles old customs and popular sayings, and has an eye to all things curious and note-worthy. the book tells everything."--_gentleman's magazine._ "the book contains a vast amount of curious information and useful memoranda."--_literary gazette._ "an invaluable manual of amusement and information."--_morning chronicle._ "this is a work of great practical usefulness. it is a _notes and queries_ in miniature.... the revision which the present edition of it has undergone has greatly enhanced its original value."--_era._ london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * now ready, mr. dod's peerage, &c. new edition for ; thoroughly revised, with many improvements. peerage, baronetage, knightage, &c., for (fourteenth year): by charles r. dod, esq., author of "the parliamentary companion," "electoral facts," &c. fcp. vo., handsomely bound in cloth, gilt. whittaker & co., ave-maria lane. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, prices, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other traveller requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skillfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photography. a complete set of apparatus for l. s., containing an expanding camera, with warranted double achromatic adjusting lenses, a portable stand, pressure frame, levelling stand, and baths, complete. portrait lenses of double achromatic combination, from l. s. d. landscape lenses, with rack adjustment, from s. a guide to the practice of this interesting art, s., by post free, s. d. french polished mahogany stereo-scopes, from s. d. a large assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same in daguerreotype, calotype, or albumen, at equally low prices. achromatic microscopes. beautifully finished achromatic microscope, with all the latest improvement and apparatus, complete from l. s., at c. baker's. optical and mathematical instrument warehouse, . high holborn (opposite day & martin's). * * * * * important sale of rare books, books of prints, and illuminated manuscripts. messrs. s. leigh sotheby & john wilkinson, auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, january , , and three following days, at o'clock precisely, an important collection of rare books, books of prints, illuminated and historical manuscripts, from the library of a distinguished amateur, deceased:--comprising, the grand work on egypt, executed under the munificent direction of napoleon i., the original edition on vellum paper, vols. the beautiful and interesting series of picturesque voyages by nodier, taylor, and de cailleux; barker, webb et berthélot, histoire naturelle des iles canaries, a magnificent work, in vols. with exquisitely coloured plates; algérie. historique, pittoresque et monumentale, vols. in ; le vaillant, histoire naturelle des oiseaux, on vellum paper, the plates beautifully coloured, vols.; melling, voyage pittoresque de constantinople, vols. in ; montfaucon, antiquité expliquée, avec supplément et les monumens de la monarchie françoise, vols., a most beautiful copy, in morocco, of the best edition, on large paper; sebæ rerum naturalium thesaurus, vols., an exceedingly choice copy in rich french morocco; museum worsleyanum, vols., on large paper; shaw, illuminated ornaments, on large paper, the plates exquisitely illuminated in gold and colours; beroalde de verville, le moyen de parvenir, a very fine copy of the rarest elzevir edition; cieza, historie del peru, - , rare; boccaccio, il decamerone, ven. , extremely rare; consolat dels fets maritims, very rare; denyaldi, rollo northmanno-britannicus, fine copy, and very scarce; henninges, theatrum genealogicum, vols. in ; le merre, recueil des notes concernant les affaires du clergé de france, vols., a beautiful copy; mandeville, le grande lapidaire, , an extremely rare edition; renversement de la morale chrétienne, rare; verheiden in classem xerxis hispani oratio, very rare; rare works relating to england; books of emblems; a curious and interesting volume in german, giving an account of the crusades against the turks by the christians, printed by bämler. in ; some highly interesting historical and other manuscripts; finely illuminated horæ and missals; and an interesting fragment in the autograph of rousseau. to be viewed two days prior, and catalogues had; forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * { } books suitable for christmas presents, published by mr. john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. the book of common prayer. with fifty illustrations, from designs by ancient and modern artists. selected by the rev. h. j. rose and rev. j. w. burgon. in one handsome volume, vo. the prayer-book is printed in very large type, with the rubrics in red. elegantly bound in antique calf, with vermillion edges, l. s. daily church services. in one portable volume, containing the prayers and lessons for daily use; or, the course of scripture readings for the year, authorised by the church. also, a table of the proper lessons for sundays and holydays, with references to the pages. price s. d., bound; or s. in hayday's morocco. this volume will be found equally useful to those who read the church service at home, as for those who use it at church, as the lessons and services for every day are distinctly marked, forming a very suitable book for a present. it is also kept by any respectable bookseller in a variety of elegant bindings. of the imitation of christ. four books. by thomas à kempis. a new edition, revised, handsomely printed in fcap. vo., with vignettes and red floriated borders taken from the ancient mss. cloth, s. also in antique calf binding, vermillion edges, s. d. the calendar of the anglican church illustrated. with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names, or whose images are most frequently met with in england; the early christian and mediæval symbols: and an index of emblems. with numerous woodcuts, fcap. vo., s. d.; or bound in antique calf. s. a history of the church of england, to the revolution of . by the late rev. j. b. s. carwithen, b.d. a new edition, edited by the rev. w. r. browell, m.a., vols. small vo., s. the pilgrim's progress. by john bunyan. a new edition, adapted by the rev. j. m. neale, m.a., for the use of children of the church of england. fcap. vo., handsomely bound in gilt cloth, with woodcuts, s. d. tracts for the christian seasons. first series. four vols., cloth, s. tracts for the christian seasons. second series. four vols., cloth, s. sermons for the christian seasons. a series of plain sermons for sunday reading. four vols., fcap. vo., s. a plain commentary on the gospel of st. matthew, with numerous illustrations. fcap. vo., s. d. wilson's sacra privata. from the original mss. second edition. fcap. vo., antique cloth, red edges, s.; antique calf, red edges, s. the psalter and the gospel. the life, suffering, and triumph of our blessed lord, revealed in the book of psalms. fcap. vo., uniform with the plain commentary on the four holy gospels. s. a selection of the most striking of the parallel passages contained in the psalter and the gospel. scotland and the scottish church. by the rev. henry caswall, m.a., vicar of figheldean, wilts; author of "america and the american church." &c. &c., and a proctor in convocation for the diocese of salisbury. fcap. vo., s. a short explanation of the nicene creed, for the use of persons beginning the study of theology. by a. p. forbes, d.c.l., bishop of brechin. fcap vo., cloth, s. ten sermons in illustration of the creed. by the rev. w. g. tupper, warden of the house of charity, soho; and late scholar of trinity college, oxford. fcap. vo., cloth, s. "in his 'sermons on the creed,' mr. tupper has condensed, with much painstaking, and an evident sense of deep responsibility, the dogmatic teaching of the church."--_christian remembrancer._ a new edition of daily steps towards heaven. a small pocket volume, containing a few practical thoughts on the gospel history; with texts for every day in the year, commencing with advent. fifth edition. in roan binding, gilt edges, s. d. descriptions of canaan; being an account of the mountains, rivers, and towns of the holy land. by the rev. c. p. wilbraham. fcap. vo., with map, cloth, s. *** this manual is particularly adapted to the use of parochial schools. * * * * * tales and stories for christmas. old christmas. a tale. mo. d. the singers of the sanctuary, and the missionary. two tales. by the author of "angels' work." mo. s. d. angels' work; or, the choristers of st. mark's. second edition. s. ann ash; or, the history of a foundling. a narrative founded on fact. by the author of "charlie burton," "the broken arm," &c. mo. s. kenneth; or, the rear guard of the grand army. by the author of "scenes and characters," "kings of england," "heir of redclyffe," &c. second edition. fcap. vo. s. speculation a tale. by the rev. w. e. heygate. fcap. vo. s. pastor of welbourne and his flock. mo. s. little mary. third edition. mo. s. henry vernon; or, the little anglo-indian. a new edition. mo. s. ada's thoughts; or, the poetry of youth. fcap. vo., cloth, gilt edges, s. d. (just ready.) * * * * * small books for presents. the practical christian's library: a series of cheap publications for general circulation. s. d. learn to die (sutton) private devotions (spinckes) the imitation of christ (à kempis) manual of prayer for the young (ken) the golden grove (taylor) life of ambrose bonwicke life of bishop bull (nelson) companion to the prayer book selections from hooker (keble) practical christian (sherlock). part i. s.; part ii. s.; vol. learn to live (sutton) doctrine of the english church (heylin) holy living (bp. taylor) holy dying (bp. taylor) tracts on the church (jones of nayland) the figurative language of holy scripture (jones of nayland) confessions of st. augustine exposition of the catechism (nicholson) thoughts on religion (pascal) wilson on the lord's supper wilson's sacra privata little books for presents, selected from the parochial tracts. s. d. words of advice and warning, limp baptism, limp the chief truths, limp the church service, limp the holy catholic church, limp tracts on the ten commandments, limp confirmation, limp the lord's supper, limp meditation and payer, limp tracts for female penitents, limp tracts on the prayer book, cloth daily office for the use of families, roan tales and allegories, illustrated, cloth, gilt parochial tales, cloth, gilt tracts for cottagers, cloth, gilt devotions for the sick, cloth * * * * * the penny post for is now ready, bound in cloth, lettered, with frontispiece, price s. d. * * * * * john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, september . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page extinct volcanos and mountains of gold in scotland thomas blount, author of "fragmenta antiquitatis," &c., by j. b. whitborne "give him a roll."--a plea for the horse, by c. forbes dream testimony, by c. h. cooper shakspeare correspondence minor notes:--epitaph from stalbridge--curious extracts: dean nowell: bottled beer--a collection of sentences out of some of the writings of the lord bacon--law and usage--manichæan games --bohn's hoveden--milton at eyford house queries:-- earl of leicester's portrait, early use of tin st. patrick--maune and man, by j. g. cumming passage in bingham, by richard bingham minor queries:--"terræ filius"--daughter pronounced dafter--administration of the holy communion --love charm from a foal's forehead--a scrape--"plus occidit gula," &c.--anecdote of napoleon--canonisation in the greek church--binometrical verses--dictionary of english phrases --lines on woman--collections for poor slaves-- the earl of oxford and the creation of peers-- "like one who wakes," &c. minor queries with answers:--glossarial queries --military knights of windsor--"elijah's mantle" replies:-- milton and malatesti, by s. w. singer attainment of majority john frewen "voiding knife," "voider," and "alms-basket," by w. chaffers the letter "h" in humble school libraries, by mackenzie walcott, m.a., &c. dr. john taylor portrait of sir anthony wingfield, by john wodderspoon, &c. barnacles photographic correspondence:--precision in photographic processes--tent for collodion--mr. sisson's developing solution--mr. stewart's pantograph replies to minor queries:--george browne of shefford--wheale--sir arthur aston--"a mockery," &c.--norman of winster--arms of the see of york--roger wilbraham esq.'s, cheshire collection --pierrepont--passage in bacon--monumental inscription in peterborough cathedral--lord north-- land of green ginger--sheer, and shear hulk-- serpent with a human head--"when the maggot bites"--definition of a proverb--gilbert white of selborne, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. extinct volcanos and mountains of gold in scotland. it is by some supposed that the hill of noth, in the parish of rhynie, aberdeenshire, had at one time been a volcano in full operation: others, again, maintain that the scoria found on and in the neighbourhood are portions of a vitrified fort, which had at one time stood on its summit. i am not aware that the matter has been investigated since our advancement in the science of geology has enabled us to have a more intimate knowledge of these things than formerly. the last statistical account of scotland has suffered severely in its aberdeenshire volume, in consequence of the temporary deposition of the "seven strathbogie clergymen." the accounts of their several parishes were written by parties only newly come to reside in them, and who appear to have taken little interest in it; and rhynie is one of these. those who argue for its having been a volcano, say that it is very possible that there may at one time have been an electric or magnetic chain connecting it with subterranean fire in some other quarter of the world; and that by some convulsion of nature, the spinal cord of its existence had been broken, and life became extinct. this hypothesis has been acted on, in accounting for the earthquakes which occur at comrie in perthshire. the great storm which devastated the princely estates of earl goodwin in kent (circa anno ), and now so well known to mariners as the goodwin sands, is also said to have laid waste the parish of forvie, in aberdeenshire. on the occasion of the great earthquake at lisbon in , a flock of sheep were drowned in their cot in the neighbourhood of lossiemouth, near elgin, by the overflowing of the tide, although far removed from ordinary high-water-mark. assuming this mountain to have been a volcano, are there any others in great britain? while on the subject of mountains in that quarter, there is another which also demands attention for quite a different reason, the hill of dun-o-deer, in the parish of insch: a conical hill of no great elevation, on the top of which stand the remains of a vitrified fort { } or castle, said to have been built by king gregory about the year , and was used by that monarch as a hunting-seat and where, combining business with pleasure, he is said to have meted out even-handed justice to his subjects in the garioch. it has long been the popular belief that this hill contains gold; and that the teeth of sheep fed on it assume a yellower tinge, and also that their fat is of the same colour. notwithstanding this, no attempt at scientific investigation has ever been made. the operations on the line of the great north of scotland railway, now in progress in the immediate neighbourhood, may possibly bring something to light. this line passes for many miles through a country particularly rich in recollections of the "olden time"--cairns, camps, old chapels, druidical circles, sculptured stones, &c. and where ancient coins, battle-axes of all the three periods, urns and elf-arrow heads, roman armour, &c., have been disinterred by the ordinary labours of the field. within a short distance of its route lies the hill of barra, where the famous battle was fought, anno , between the "bruce" and the "comyn;" the bass at inverary, the hill of benachie, with the remains of a fortification on its summit, said to have been erected by the picts; the field of harlaw, famed in song, where the battle was fought in , in which donald of the isles was defeated. there are many traditional ballads and stories relating to benachie and noth. there is a ballad called "john o'benachie" and another, "john o'rhynie, or jock o'noth" and they do not appear in any collection of ancient ballads i have seen. it is said that long "before king robert rang," two giants inhabited these mountains, and are supposed to be the respective heroes of the two ballads. these two sons of anak appear to have lived on pretty friendly terms, and to have enjoyed a social crack together, each at his own residence, although distant some ten or twelve miles. these worthies had another amusement, that of throwing stones at each other; not small pebbles you may believe, but large boulders. on one occasion, however, there appears to have been a coolness between them; for one morning, as he of noth was returning from a foraging excursion in the district of buchan, his friend of benachie, not relishing what he considered an intrusion on his legitimate beat, took up a large stone and threw at him as he was passing. noth, on hearing it rebounding, coolly turned round, and putting himself in a posture of defence, received the ponderous mass on the sole of his foot: and i believe that the stone, with a deeply indented foot-mark on it, is, like the bricks in jack cade's chimney, "alive at this day to testify." legendary lore and fabulous ballads aside, it would indeed be strange if something interesting to the antiquary does not turn up in such a mine as this. it is curious, however, that in all the operations antecedent to covering great britain with, as it were, a network of iron, so very few discoveries should have been made of any importance, either to the antiquary or geologist. abredonensis. * * * * * thomas blount, author of "fragmenta antiquitatis," etc. being on a visit to some friends on the confines of the county of salop, bordering on herefordshire, i took the opportunity long cherished of visiting the spot where lie the remains of the author of _boscobel; fragmenta antiquitatis, or ancient tenures of land, and jocular customs of manors, &c._, and copied the following inscription from his monument, in the chancel of the ancient church of orleton in the latter county. i believe it has never been published; and although neither note nor query is connected with it, it may serve to fill up a corner in your valuable miscellany, and thus preserve from the oblivion of a retired country church, a memorial of one well known to the antiquarian world of literature. it is on a brass plate inserted in a stone monument against the wall of the chancel: "d.o.m. hic seminatur corpus animale spiritale resurrecturum thomÆ blount. de orleton in agro herefordiensi armigeri, ex interiori templo londini j cti. viri priscis moribus avitæ fidei, vitæ integerrimæ, pietatis solidæ, fidelitatem, dilectionem, amorem, charitatem, in principem, suos, amicos, omnes, illibate coluit. uxorem duxit annam filiam eadmundi church armigeri e maldoniâ east saxonum. unicâ corporis prole. (elizabetha) mentis multiplici (libris utilissimis) familiam propagavit, perennavit famam. requiem, lector, si fas ducis, huic apprecare et melior abi. obiit decembris , . Ætatis . ---- pientissima coniunx moerens posuit." the village of orleton is celebrated for a very large annual fair, which occurs on april ; and a saying is connected therewith: "that the cuckoo always comes on orleton fair-day;" which has doubtless arisen from the circumstance, that this "messenger of spring" generally arrives in this country by that day. j. b. whitborne. * * * * * { } "give him a roll."--a plea for the horse. we learn, from the comedy of the _the clouds_, that the athenians were accustomed to refresh their horses after a race by allowing then to roll on the ground; for pheidippides, the wild young man of the play, who spent much of his own time and of his father's money on the "turf," and who is shown in the opening scene fast asleep in bed, dreaming of his favourite amusement, says very quietly, "[greek: apage ton hippon exalisas oikade] [ ]-- an order which he had probably often given to his groom at the hippodrome, the newmarket or ascot of athens. i have often seen racing, i have often seen hunters brought home after a hard day's work, and i have read of forced marches, &c. made by cavalry and artillery; but never yet have i heard of an english houyhnhnm, either at home or abroad, who was invited to refresh himself after his labours, civil or military, classically, with a _roll_. dobbin, that four-footed ofellus, "rusticus, abnormis sapiens, crassâque minervâ," whenever he has the luck to spend his summer sunday's _otium cum dignitate_ in a paddock, invariably indulges in a baker's dozen, without waiting for an invitation to do so, and without saying "with your leave" or "by your leave." they ordered this matter better in africa some fifty years ago, and i hope they still continue so to order it. by one of the stipulations of the hollow peace of amiens, the colony of the cape of good hope was restored by great britain to the batavian republic, which immediately appointed mr. j. a. de mist its commissary-general, and despatched him to receive the ceded territory from the hands of the english, to instal the new governor, general j. w. janssens, into his high office, and to reorganise the constitution of the colony. having fulfilled these duties, mr. de mist determined to make a tour of inspection, and he accordingly travelled _on horseback_ nearly english miles through the interior. among his suite was a dr. lichtenstein, the physician and _savant_ of the party, who afterwards published an account of the expedition. the extract that i am about to make from his work may at first sight appear unnecessarily long; but i wish the "courteous reader" to bear in mind that i do not cite it for the sake of parading a long rambling comment on five short words of aristophanes, but for that of bringing forward additional evidence, to prove that a dry roll may occasionally be of as much service in recruiting the strength and spirits of that noble animal, the horse, when jaded by violent exertion or long-protracted toil, as our english nostrums, a warm mash or a bottle of water. dr. lichtenstein says,-- "our road led us soon again over the vogel river and here we were obliged to supply ourselves with water for the whole day, since not a drop was to be met with again till the melk river, a distance of ten hours [ = english miles]. when we had filled our vessels, and our cattle had drunk plentifully, we proceeded on our way. "it is difficult for an european to form an idea of the hardships that are to be encountered in a journey over such a dry plain at the hottest season of the year. all vegetation seems utterly destroyed; not a blade of grass, not a green leaf, is anywhere to be seen; and the soil, a stiff loam, reflects back the heat of the sun with redoubled force; a man may congratulate himself that, being on horseback, he is raised some feet above it. nor is any rest from these fatigues to be thought of, since to stop where there is neither shade, water, or grass, would be only to increase the evil, rather than to diminish it. "yet the african horses are so well accustomed to hardships, although they have in fact much less innate strength than the european, that it is incredible what a length of way they will go, in the most intense heat, without either food or drink. it is, however, customary for the riders to dismount at intervals, when the saddles are taken off, and the animals are suffered to roll upon the ground and stretch out their limbs for a short time. this they do with evident delight, and after they have well rolled, stretched, and shaken themselves, they rise up and go on as much refreshed as if they had had food and drink given them. on arriving at a farm, the invitation of the host, who comes immediately to the door, is, 'get off, sir, and let him roll.' a slave then appears, takes the horse, and leads him backwards and forwards for a few minutes, to recover his breath, and he is then unsaddled and left to roll. "these rollings were then the only refreshment we could offer our horses, and both they and their riders were, when towards evening they arrived at the melk river, exceedingly exhausted."--_travels in southern africa in the years - _. by henry lichtenstein, doctor in medicine and philosophy, &c. &c. translated from the original german by anne plumptre: london, henry colburn, ; vol. i. chap. xxv. c. forbes. temple. * * * * * dream testimony. on saturday the th of july, , the dead body of a young woman was discovered in a field at littleport, in the isle of ely. the body has not yet been identified, and there can be little doubt that the young woman was murdered. at the adjourned inquest, held on the th of august, before mr. william marshall, one of the coroners for the isle, the following extraordinary evidence was given: "james jessop, an elderly, respectable-looking labourer, with a face of the most perfect stolidity, and { } who possessed a most curiously-shaped skull, broad and flat at the top, and projecting greatly on each side over the ears, deposed: 'i live about a furlong and a half from where the body was found. i have seen the body of the deceased. i had never seen her before her death. on the night of friday, the th of july, i dreamt three successive times that i heard the cry of murder issuing from near the bottom of a close called little ditchment close (the place where the body was found). the first time i dreamt i heard the cry it woke me. i fell asleep again, and dreamt the same again. i then woke again, and told my wife. i could not rest; but i dreamt it again after that. i got up between four and five o'clock, but i did not go down to the close, the wheat and barley in which have since been cut. i dreamt once, about twenty years ago, that i saw a woman hanging in a barn, and on passing the next morning the barn which appeared to me in my dream i entered, and did find a woman there hanging, and cut her down just in time to save her life. i never told my wife i heard any cries of murder, but i have mentioned it to several persons since. i saw the body on the saturday it was found. i did not mention my dream to any one till a day or two after that. i saw the field distinctly in my dream and the trees thereon, but i saw no person in it. on the night of the murder the wind lay from that spot to my house.' "rhoda jessop, wife of the last witness, stated that her husband related his dreams to her on the evening of the day the body was found." in mr. john hill burton's _narratives from criminal trials in scotland_, is a chapter entitled "spectral and dream testimony," to which the above evidence will be a curious addition. c. h. cooper. cambridge. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _"priam's six-gated city," &c._--in the prologue to troilus and cressida occurs-- " . . . priam's six-gated city, dardan and tymbria, ilias, chetas, trojan, and antenorides, with massy staples, and corresponsive and fulfilling bolts." what struck me here was the omission of the only gate of troy really known to fame, _the scæan_, which looked on the tomb of the founder laomedon; before which stood hector, "full and fixed," awaiting the fatal onslaught of achilles; where achilles, in turn, received his death-wound from the shaft of paris; and through which, finally, the wooden horse was triumphantly conveyed into the doomed city. the six names are shown to be taken by shakspeare in part from caxton, and in part from lydgate: and in knight's edition we are told that they are "pure inventions of the middle age of romance-writers." let us examine this assertion. the names are to be found pretty nearly as above, but with one important difference, in dares' _history of the trojan war_. my authority is ruæus, the delphine editor of virgil (see his note at _Æn._ ii. .). now dares (perhaps the oldest of the profane writers whom we know) was a phrygian, who took part in the trojan war, and wrote its history in greek: and the greek original was still extant in the time of Ælian, from a.d. to . of this, now lost, a latin translation still survives, by some attributed to cornelius nepos, and by some regarded as spurious; but, either way, its date must be long antecedent to "the middle age of romance-writers." it was doubtless from this latin history that caxton or lydgate, or both, derived directly or indirectly the names they adopted; and yet it is to be noted that they give respectively the names of _chetas_ and _cetheas_ to one of their gates, and omit the well-known _scæan_, which dares expressly mentions; for i presume that no principle of philology will sanction the identification of _scæan_ with either of the terms used by these two writers. i have trespassed somewhat on your space, but let me hope the subject may be farther elucidated. the points i wish to put forward are, shakspeare's omission of the scæan gate, and the proposition by knight (for a proposition it is, though in a participular form), that these six names are "pure inventions of the middle age of romance-writers." w. t. m. hong kong. _on the word "delighted" in "measure for measure," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--inasmuch as the controversy respecting this word seems to be over, and no one of the critics and commentators on shakspeare's text appears to have the slightest clue to the real meaning and derivation, i will enlighten them. but, first, i must say, i am surprised that dr. kennedy should (though he has certainly hit on the right meaning) be unable to give a better account of the word than that in vol. ii., pp. . . and as to the passage quoted (vol. ii., p. ) by mr. singer from sidney's _arcadia_, i beg to inform him that the word _delight_, which occurs therein, is a misprint for _daylight_! we find, in the latin, the substantive _deliciæ_, delight, pleasure, enjoyment; and the adjective (derived from the same root, and _guiding us to the original meaning of the substantive_) _delicatus_, which amongst other meanings, has that of tender, soft, gentle, delicate, dainty. as the early english scholars were not very particular about the _form_ of the words they introduced from the latin, or indeed of those which were purely english, for they changed them at their pleasure,--and that this is the case, i presume no one at all versed in the literature of the time of henry viii. will dispute,--it requires no great exertion of fancy to believe, that, finding { } the substantive _deliciæ_ englished _delight_, they rendered the adjective _delicatus_ delighted. the _fact_ that they _did_ use the words _delight_ and _delicate_ as synonymous, is proved by a passage in "a boke named the _gouernour_ deuised by syr thomas elyot, knyght, londini, ;" in which, at folio ., p. ., we find titus, the son of vespasian, who was ordinarily termed "the delight of mankind," called "the delicate of the world." we are therefore to conclude that the words _delicate_ and _delighted_ were used indifferently by writers of the age of shakspeare, as well as by those previous to him, to express the same thing; and that by the phrase "delighted spirit" in _measure for measure_, "delighted beauty" in _othello_, "delighted gifts" in _cymbeline_, we are to understand, exquisitely tender, delicate, or precious. i cannot agree with dr. kennedy that _deliciæ_, _delicatus_ come from _deligere_ rather than _delicere_; since, if my memory does not deceive me, the former is as often, if not oftener, used by good writers to express to drive away, to upset, to remove from, or detach--as to select or choose--which is the only meaning the word has akin to _deliciæ_; whereas _delicere_ is actually used by one of the earlier latin poets for to delight. the word _dainty_, i may inform dr. kennedy, is from the obsolete french _dein_ or _dain_, delicate; which probably came from the still older teut. _deinin_, _minuta_ (vid. schilter). h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * minor notes. _epitaph from stalbridge._--the following epitaph from the churchyard of stalbridge, dorsetshire, may perhaps be thought worthy of preservation, if it be not a hackneyed one: "so fond, so young, so gentle, so sincere, so loved, so early lost, may claim a tear: yet mourn not, if the life, resumed by heaven, was spent to ev'ry end for which 'twas given. could he too soon escape this world of sin? or could eternal life too soon begin? then cease his death too fondly to deplore, what could the longest life have added more?" c. w. b. _curious extracts.--dean nowell--bottled beer._--i was somewhat hasty in assuming (see vol. vii., p. .) that bottled beer was an unknown department in early times, as the following extract will show. it is from fuller's _worthies of england_, under "lancashire," the subject of the notice being no less a person than the grave divine alexander nowell, dean of st. paul's, author of the catechism, whose fondness for angling is also commemorated by izaak walton. fuller, having noticed the narrow escape which nowell had from arrest by some of bishop bonner's emissaries in queen mary's reign, having had a hint to fly whilst fishing in the thames, "whilst nowell was catching of fishes, bonner was catching of nowell," proceeds to say,-- "without offence it may be remembered that, leaving a bottle of ale, when fishing, in the grass, he found it some days after no bottle, but a gun, such the sound at the opening thereof: and this is believed (casualty is the mother of more inventions than industry[ ]) the original of bottled ale in england."--nuttall's edit., vol. ii. p. . balliolensis. [footnote : fuller might have quoted the greek proverb, [greek: tuchê technês esterxe kai technê tuchês.]] _a collection of sentences out of some of the writings of the lord bacon_ (i. . edit. montagu), with the ensuing exceptions, is taken out of the _essays_, and in regular order: no. . p. . of the same volume. no. . p. . no. . p. . no. . p. . no. . my reference is illegible: the words are,--"men seem neither well to understand their riches nor their strength: of the former they believe greater things than they should; and of the latter, much less. and from hence, certain fatal pillars have bounded the progress of learning." no. . pp. . . . no. . p. . no. . p. . no. . vol. vi., p. . the charge of owen, &c. nos. , . vol. vii., p. . the speech before the summer circuits, . s. z. z. s. _law and usage._--in _the times_ of september , the turkish correspondent writes as follows: "mahmoud pasha declared in the divan of the th that 'he would divorce his wife, but would not advise a dishonourable peace with russia.' this is an expression of the strongest kind in use amongst the turks." it is worth a note that, in spite of polygamy and divorce, a common proverb is monogamic, and divorce is spoken of as the greatest of unlikelihoods. m. _manichæan games._--take any game played by two persons, such as draughts, and let the play be as follows: each plays his best for himself, and follows it by playing the worst he can for the other. thus, when it is the turn of the white to play, he first plays the white as well as he can; and then the black as badly (for the other player) as he can. the black then does the best he can with the black, and follows it by the worst he can { } do for the white. of course, by separating the good and evil principles, four persons might play. m. _bohn's hoveden._--by way of expressing my sense of obligation to mr. bohn and his editors for the _antiquarian library_, perhaps you will suffer me to point out what appears to be an inaccuracy in the translation of roger de hoveden's _annals_? at p. . of vol. ii., the word _suuelle_ (as it appears to stand in the original text) is translated into _swale_: but surely no other place is here meant than the church of st. mary's at _southwell_[ ] (or _suthwell_, _sudwell_, _suwell_, or _suell_, as variously spelt, but never _swale_), in nottinghamshire. i would also notice a trifling error (perhaps only a misprint) at p. .; where we are informed in a note, that the galilee of durham cathedral is at the _east_ end, whereas its real position is at the _west_. j. sansom. oxford. [footnote : the seal of the vicars of southwell, ann. , had in its circumference the words "commune sigillum vicariorum suuell."--vid. thoroton's _nottinghamshire, north muskham_, ed. , vol. iii. p. .] _milton at eyford house, gloster._--in the british museum (says wilson in his description of christ's college, cambridge) is the original proclamation for milton's appearance after the restoration. where was he secreted? i find this note in my book:--at eyford house, gloucestershire, within two miles of stow-on-the-wold, on the road to cheltenham, a spring of beautiful water is called "milton's well," running into a tributary of the thames. the old house, &c., at the time would be out of the way of common information. p. j. * * * * * queries. earl of leicester's portrait, . there is at penshurst, among many other interesting memorials of the dudleys, an original portrait of elizabeth's earl of leicester, with the following painted upon it: "robert, e. of leicester, stadtholder of holland, a.d. ." after this comes the ragged staff, but without its usual accompaniment, the bear. under the staff follow these enigmatical lines, which i request any of your correspondents to translate and explain. i send you a translation in rhyme; i should thank them the more if they would do the same: as to explanation, the longer the better. "principis hic baculus, patriæ columenque, decusque, hoc uno, ingratos quo beet, ipse miser." this ragged staff by leicester's potent hand, brought succour, safety, to this threaten'd land: one thing alone embitters every thought, he to ungrateful men these blessings brought. now for a word of commentary: and first as to "stadtholder of holland, a.d. ." the good woman who showed the picture informed us that it was painted by order of the stadtholder, and presented to leicester; if so, there would have been a _jussu provinciarum foederatarum depictus_, or something of that sort; but no such compliment was to be expected from the dutch, for they hated him, complained of his conduct, memorialised the queen against him: see the pamphlets in the british museum, to. , c. . a. . but though it was most unlikely that the dutch or their stadtholder should have presented this picture to leicester, it well accorded with leicester's vanity and presumption, and still more with that vanity and presumption as displayed in his conduct as commander-in-chief of the forces in holland, to call himself _the stadtholder_, and to order his painter to put that title under his portrait. the verses may now be referred to in support of this view of the subject. leicester therein represents himself as unhappy, because he had bestowed blessings on the ungrateful dutch. in conclusion, take the following full-length portrait of leicester's indignation (_leicester, a belgis vituperatus, loquitur_): "this ragged staff my resolution shows, to save my queen and holland from their foes: still deeply seated in my heart remains one cause, one fruitful cause, of all my pains; 'tis base ingratitude--'tis holland's hate. my presence sav'd that country, chang'd its fate. but the base pedlars gain'd my sov'reign's ear, and at my counsels and my courage sneer; they call me tyrant, breaker of my word, fond of a warrior's garb without his sword. a servile courtier, saucy cavalier, bold as a lion when no danger's near, they say i seek their country for myself, to fill my bursting bags with plunder'd pelf; they say with goose's, not with eagle's wing, i wish to soar, and make myself a king. dutchmen! to you i came, i saw, i sav'd: where'er my staff, my bear, my banner wav'd, the daunted spaniard fled without a blow, and bloodless chaplets crown'd my conquering brow. dutchmen! with minds more stagnant than your pools, (but in reproachful words more knaves than fools), you will not see, nor own the debt you owe to him who conquers a retreating foe. such base ingratitude as this alloys my triumph's glory, and my bosom's joys." v. t. tunbridge wells. * * * * * { } early use of tin. mr. layard, in his work upon nineveh and babylon, in reference to the articles of bronze from assyria now in the british museum, states, that the _tin_ used in the composition was probably obtained from phoenicia; and, consequently, that _that_ used in the assyrian bronze may actually have been _exported_ nearly _three thousand_ years ago from the british isles. the assyrians appear to have made an extensive use of this metal; and the degree of perfection which the making of bronze had then reached, clearly shows that they must have been long experienced in the use of it. _they_ appear to have received what they used from the phoenicians. _when_ and _by whom_ was tin first discovered in our island? were the _celtic tribes_ acquainted with it _previously_ to the arrival of the phoenicians upon our shores? it is said that the phoenicians were indebted to the tyrian hercules for their trade in tin; and that this island owed them its name of _baratanac_, or britain, the land of tin. was the _tyrian hercules_, or, as he was afterwards known and worshipped, as the melkart of tyre, and the moloch of the bible, was _he_ the _merchant-leader_ of the first band of phoenicians who visited this island? _when_ did _he_ live? g. w. stansted, montfichet. * * * * * st. patrick--maune and man. amongst the many strange derivations given of the name of mona or man (the island), i find one in an old unpublished ms. by an unknown author, of the date about , noticed by feltham (_tour through the isle of man_, p. .), on which i venture to ground a query. the name of the island is there said to have been derived from maune, the name of the great apostle of the mann, before he received that of patricius from pope celestine. now if st. patrick ever had the name maune, he could not have given it to the island, which was called mona, monabia, and menavia, as far back as the days of cæsar, tacitus, and pliny. i have not access to any life of st. patrick in which the name maune occurs; but in the _penny cyclopædia_, under the head "patrick," i find it said, "according to nennius, st. patrick's original name was maur," and i find the same stated in rose's _biographical dictionary_. but the article in the latter is evidently taken from the former, and i suspect the mau_r_ may in both be a misprint for mau_n_.[ ] can "n. & q." set me right, or give me any information likely to solve the difficulty? i may as well notice here that amongst the many ways in which the name of this island has been pronounced and spelt, that of _maun_ seems to have prevailed at the period of the norwegian occupation. on a runic monument at kirk michael, we have it very distinctly so spelt. with regard to the name mona, applied both to man and anglesea, i have little doubt we may find its root in the sanscrit _man_, to know, worship, &c., whence we have manu the son of brahma, menu, menes, minos, moonshee, and monk. the name mona would seem to have been applied to both islands, as being specially the habitation of the druids, whose name probably came either from the celtic _trow-wys_, wisemen, or the saxon _dru_, a soothsayer, very close in signification to the sanscrit _mooni_, a holy sage, learned person. as connected with this idea i may ground another query: might not these two monas, the abode of piety and wisdom, be the true, [greek: makarôn nêsoi], the _fortunatæ insulæ_ of the ancients? j. g. cumming. castletown. [footnote : in _monumenta historica britannica_ the passage reads "quia _maun_ prius vocabatur." in a note from another ms. the word is spelt _mauun_.--ed.] * * * * * passage in bingham. mr. richard bingham, whose new and improved edition of his ancestor's works is now printing at the oxford university press, would feel sincerely obliged to any literary friend who should become instrumental in discovering the following passage from one of the sermons of augustine: "non mirari debetis, fratres carissimi, quod inter ipsa mysteria de mysteriis nihil diximus, quod non statim ea, quæ tradidimus, interpretati sumus. adhibuimus enim tam sanctis rebus atque divinis honorem silentii." joseph bingham (b. x. ch. v. s. .) cites those words as from "serm. i., inter . a sirmondo editos," which corresponds with serm. v. according to the benedictine edition, paris, -- , tom. v. p. .; but no such words occur in that sermon. the passage is daggered by grishovius, who first gave the citations at length; neither has mr. r. bingham hitherto been able to meet with it, though a great many similar desiderata in former editions he has discovered and corrected. an answer through "n. & q." will oblige; still more so if sent direct to his present address, . gloucester place, portman square, london. mr. bingham would also be glad to be informed where athanasius uses the term [greek: diakonos], generally for any minister of the church, whether deacon, presbyter, or bishop? joseph bingham (b. ii. ch. xx. s. .) cites the tract _contra gentes_, but the expression is not there. { } the earlier a reply comes the more acceptable will it be. . gloucester place, portman square. * * * * * minor queries. _"terræ filius."_--when was the last "terræ filius" spoken at oxford; and what was the origin of the name? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _daughter pronounced dafter._--in the verney papers lately printed by the camden society is a letter from a mistress wiseman, in which she spells _daughter_ "daftere." it is evident that she pronounced the _-augh_ as we do in laughter. is this pronunciation known to prevail anywhere at the present day? c. w. g. _administration of the holy communion._--which side, _north_ or _south_, is the more correct for the priest to commence administering the holy sacrament of the lord's supper? give the authority or reasons in support of your opinion. i cannot find any allusion in hook's _church dictionary_, or in wheatly's _common prayer_; and i have seen some clergymen begin one end, some the other. clericus (a.). _love charm from a foal's forehead._--i have searched some time, but in vain, in order to find out what the _lump_ or _love charm_, taken out of a foal's forehead, was called. virgil mentions it in _Æneid_, lib. iv. ., where dido is preparing her funeral pile, &c.: "quæritur et nascentis equi de fronte revulsus, et matri præreptus, _amor_." tacitus also makes mention of it continually. i have no doubt but that through your interesting and learned columns i shall obtain an answer. it was not _philtrum_. h. p. _a scrape._--what is the origin of the expression "getting into a scrape?" y. b. n. j. _"plus occidit gula," &c._--can any of your correspondents direct me where the following passage is to be found?-- "plus occidit gula, quam gladius." t. _anecdote of napoleon._--i remember to have heard of a young lady, one of the _detenus_ in france after the peace of amiens, having obtained her liberation through a very affecting copy of verses of her composition, which, by some means, came under the notice of napoleon. the emperor was so struck with the strain of this lament, that he forwarded passports, with an order for the immediate liberation of the fair writer. can any of your correspondents verify this anecdote, and supply a copy of the verses? balliolensis. _canonisation in the greek church._--does the greek church ever now canonise, or add the names of the saints to the calendar? if so, by whom is the ceremony performed? antony close. woodhouse eaves. _binometrical verses._--who made the following verse?-- "quando nigrescit nox, rem latro patrat atrox." it is either hexameter or pentameter, according to the scansion? c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _dictionary of english phrases._--is there in english any good dictionary of phrases similar to the excellent _frasologia italiana_ of p. daniele? g. k. _lines on woman._--w. v. will be glad to know if any of the correspondents of "n. & q." can tell where the following lines are to be found?-- "not she with traitrous kiss her master stung, not she denied him with unfaithful tongue; _she_, when apostles fled, could danger brave, last at his cross, and earliest at his grave." _collections for poor slaves._--i have met with the following memorandum in a parish register, and have seen notices of similar entries in others: " . collected for the redemption of poor slaves in turkey, the sum of s. d." can you refer me to the king's letter authorising such collections to be made? w. s. northiam. [some information upon this point will be found in "n. & q.," vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p .] _the earl of oxford and the creation of peers._--where will be found the answer made by the earl of oxford when impeached in the reign of queen anne for creating in one day twelve peers? s. n. _"like one who wakes," &c._--can any of your readers supply the authorship and connexion of the following lines?-- "like one who wakes from pleasant sleep, unto the cares of morning." c. w. b. _bells at berwick-upon-tweed._--can any one favour me with a parallel or similar case, in respect to bells, to what i recently met with at berwick-upon-tweed? the parish church, which is the only one in the town, and a mean structure of cromwell's time, is without either tower or { } bell; and the people are summoned to divine service from the belfry of the town-hall, which has a very respectable steeple. indeed, so much more ecclesiastical in appearance is the town-hall than the church, that (as i was told) a regiment of soldiers, on the first sunday after their arrival at berwick, marched to the former building for divine service, although the church stood opposite the barrack gate. my kind informant also told me that he found a strange clergyman one sunday morning trying the town-hall door, and rating the absent sexton; having undertaken to preach a missionary sermon, and become involved in the same mistake as the soldiers. but more curious still was the news that there is a meeting-house in berwick belonging to the anti-burghers, who are dissenters from the church of scotland, which has a bell, for the ringing of which, as a summons to worship, barrington, bishop of durham, granted a licence, which still exists. i was not aware that bishops either had, or exercised, the power of licensing bells; but my informant will, i doubt not, on reading this, either verify or correct the statement. at the time when the bell was licensed, the congregation were in communion with the church of scotland. alfred gatty. _the keate family, of the hoo, herts._--i shall be obliged to any of your readers for information respecting the _sir jonathan keate, bart._, of the hoo, hertfordshire, who was living in the year ; also for any particulars respecting his family? i especially desire to know what were his relations to the religious parties of the time, as i have in my possession the journal of a nonconformist minister, who was his domestic chaplain from to . g. b. b. cambridge. _divining-rod._--can any of the correspondents of "n. & q." supply instances of the use of the divining-rod for finding water? i know several circumstances which might incline one, in these table-turning days, to inquire seriously whether there be any truth in the popular notion. g. w. skyring. _medal and relic of mary queen of scots._--i have in my possession a medal, the size of a crown piece, of base metal, with perhaps some admixture of silver. on one side of this are the arms of scotland with two thistles, and the legend-- maria et henricus dei gratia r: et r: scotorum, and the reverse, a yew-tree with a motto of three words, of which the last seems to be vires, the date , and the legend-- exurgat deus et dissipantur inimici. associated with this for a very considerable period has been a small wooden cross, which is said to have been made from the yew-tree under which mary and darnley had been accustomed to meet. i have been told that there is some farther tradition or superstition connected with these relics: if there be, i shall be glad to be informed of it, or of any other particulars concerning them. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _bulstrode's portrait._--prefixed to a copy in my possession of _essays upon the following subjects: . generosity, &c._, by whitelock bulstrode, esq., vo. lond. , there is a portrait of the author, bearing this note in ms.: "this scarce portrait has sold for l." it is engraved by cole from a picture by kneller, in oval with armorial bearings below, and is subscribed "anno salutis , ætatis ." i am at a loss to suppose it ever could have fetched the price assigned to my impression by its previous owner, and should feel obliged if any of your correspondents would state whether, from any peculiar circumstances, it may have become rare, and so acquired an adventitious value. it does not appear to have been known to granger. while the two names are before me, i venture to inquire how the remarkable interchange occurred between that of _whitelock bulstrode_ the essayist, and _bulstrode whitelock_ the memorialist, of the parliamentary period. was there any family connexion? balliolensis. _the assembly house, kentish town._--can any of your antiquarian correspondents give me a clue as to the date, or probable date, of the erection of this well-known roadside public-house (i beg pardon, tavern), which is now being pulled down? i am desirous of obtaining some slight account of the old building, having just completed an etching, from a sketch taken as it appeared in its dismantled state. possibly some anecdotes may be current regarding it. i learn from a rare little tome, entitled _some account of kentish town_, published at that place in , and written, i believe, by a mr. elliot, that the assembly house was formerly called the black bull. the writer of this query asked "one of the oldest inhabitants," who was seated on a door-step opposite the house, _his_ opinion concerning its age: considering a little, the old gentleman seriously said he thought it might be two or three _thousand_ years at least! this opinion i am afraid to accept as correct, and i would therefore seek, through the medium of "n. & q.," some information which may be more depended upon. w. b. r. camden new town. _letters respecting hougomont._--could any reader of "n. & q." kindly furnish the undersigned with certain letters, which have recently { } appeared in _the times_, on "the defence of hougomont?" such letters, extracted, would be of much service to him, as they are wanted for a specific purpose. the letters from saturday, sept. , _inclusive_, are _already_ obtained: but the letters on the subject previous to that date are wanting, and would greatly favour, if it were possible to have them, aran. swillington. _peter lombard._--mr. hallam, in his _literature of europe_ (vol. i. p. .), says, on the authority of meiners (vol. iii. p. .): "peter lombard, in his _liber sententiarum_, the systematic basis of scholastic theology, introduces _many_ greek words, and explains them rightly." having, however, examined this work for the purpose of ascertaining peter lombard's knowledge of greek, i must, out of regard to strict truth, deny the statement of meiners; for only one greek word in greek letters is to be found in the _liber sententiarum_, and that is [greek: metanoia]: and so far frown peter explaining this word rightly, he says, 'poenitentia dicitur a puniendo" (lib. iv. dist. xiv.); an etymological notion which caused luther to think wrongly of the nature of repentance, till he learnt the meaning of the greek word, which he received with joy as the solution of one of his greatest difficulties in romanism. i do not consider the introduction of such latinized church words as _ecclesia_, _episcopus_, _presbyter_, or even _homoöusius_, as evincing any knowledge of greek on the part of peter lombard, wherein he appears to have been lamentably deficient, as the great teacher and authority for centuries in christian dogmatics. your correspondents will greatly oblige me by showing anything to the contrary of my charge against peter lombard of being ignorant of greek. t. j. buckton. birmingham. _life of savigny._--is there in french or english any life or memoir of savigny? c. h. _picture by hogarth._--some years since a gentleman purchased at bath the first sketch of a picture said to be by hogarth, of "fortune distributing her favours." shortly afterwards a gentleman called on the purchaser of it, and mentioned to him that he knew the finished painting, and that it was in the panelling of some house with which he was acquainted. i am desirous of finding out for the family of the purchaser, who died recently, st, whether there is any history that can be attached to this picture and ndly, to discover, if possible, in whose possession, and where, the finished painting is preserved. j. k. r. w. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _glossarial queries._--in a subsidy roll of edward i., in an enumeration of property in the parish of skirbeck, near boston, lincolnshire, upon which a _ninth_ was granted to the king, i find the following articles and their respective value. what were they?-- " alece, s. bacell cum arment. s." in the taxation of _leake_ i find-- " hocast[=r]. s." in that of _leverton_-- " hocast[=r]. s." in _butterwick_-- " pull. d." in _wrangle_-- " stag[=g]. s." pishey thompson. stoke newington. [it is very desirable that in all cases querists desirous of explanations of words, phrases, or passages, should give the context. _alece_, were it not for the price, one would render "herrings;" but the price, s., forbids such interpretation. perhaps _alece_ is a misreading for _vacce_, cows; which might well occur in a carelessly written roll temp. edward i. _bacell cum arme[=n]t_. is _bacellus cum armamentis_, one ass (or pack-horse) with its furniture. _hocast[=r]_. is _pigs_. "hogaster, porcellus."--du cange. _pull_. (i.e. _pullulus_), colt. _stag[=g]_., a yearling ox.] _military knights of windsor._--i shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who will furnish some account, or refer me to any work in which notices may be found of this foundation, its statutes, mode of appointment, endowments, &c.? up to the reign of william iv. they were known, i believe, as poor knights of windsor. y. b. n. j. [consult ashmole's _history of the order of the garter_, pp. - ., edit. . among the birch and sloane mss. in the british museum are the following articles: no. . statutes for the poor knights of windsor, eliz. orders and rules for the establishment and good government of the said thirteen poor knights. the queen's majestie's ordinances for the continual charges. no. . articles of complaint exhibited by the poor knights (to the knights of the garter) against the dean and canons. the dean and canons' answer to the poor knights' second replication. the complaint of the poor knights to king richard ii. a petition of the poor knights to the king and parliament for a repeal of the act of incorporation, a. edw. iv. the petition of the poor knights of windsor to george ii., jan. , . this petition was drawn up by mr. fortescue, { } afterwards master of the rolls. the poor knights' rejoinder to their former petition. the memorial of the poor knights to john willes, esq., attorney-general. another petition to j. willes, esq. copy of an indenture between queen elizabeth and the dean and chapter of lands, to the value of l. a year and upwards, for the maintenance of the poor knights, eliz. orders and rules for the establishment and good government of the said thirteen poor knights. the case of the poor knights (printed), with several other papers relating to them.] _"elijah's mantle."_--who was the author of _elijah's mantle_? and are there any grounds for ascribing it to canning? w. fraser. tor-mohun. [this poem was attributed to canning, as noticed by mr. bell, in his _life of george canning_, p. . he says, "mr. canning's reputation was again put into requisition as sponsor for certain verses that appeared at this time in the public journals. the best of these is a piece called _elijah's mantle_."] * * * * * replies. milton and malatesti. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .) when i gave some account of _la tina_ of antonio malatesti, and its dedication to milton, two years since, i was not aware that it had been printed, as i had no other edition of gamba's _serie dell' edizioni de' testi di lingua_, than the first printed in . that account was derived from the original ms. which formerly passed through my hands. i fear that my friend mr. bolton corney will be disappointed if he should meet with a copy of the printed book, for the ms. contained no other dedication than the inscription on the title-page, of which i made a tracing. it represents an inscribed stone tablet, in the following arrangement: "la tina equiuoci rusticali di antonio malatesti c[=o]- posti nella sua villa di taiano il settembre dell' l'anno, . sonetti ciquanta dedicati all' ill^{mo} signore et padrone oss^{mo} il signor' giouanni milton nobil' inghilese." i copied at the time eight of these equivocal sonnets, and in my former notice gave one as a specimen. they are certainly very ingenious, and may be "graziosissimi" to an italian ear and imagination; but i cannot think that the pure mind of milton would take much delight in obscene allusions, however neatly wrapped up. milton seems to have dwelt with pleasure on his intercourse with these witty, ingenious, and learned men, during his two-months' sojourn at florence; and it is remarkable that nicolas heinsius has spoken of the same men, in much the same terms, in his dedication to carlo dati of the second book of his _italici componimenti_: "sanctum mehercules habebo semper jo. bapt. donij memoriam, non tam suo nomine (et si hoc quoque) aut quod frescobaldos, cavalcantes, gaddios, cultellinos, alios urbis vestræ viros precipuos mihi conciliarit, quorum amicitiam feci hactenus, et faciam porrò maximi, quam quod tibi me conjunxerit, mi date; cujus opera in notitiam, ac familiaritatem plurimorum apud vos hominum eximiorum mox irreperem." and, after mentioning others, he adds: "quid de valerio chimentellio, homine omni literatura perpolita, dicam? quid de joanne pricæo? qui ingens civitati vestræ ornamentum ex ultima nuper accessit britannia." one feels some decree of disappointment at not meeting here with the name of milton. of the distinguished men mentioned by milton, some interesting notices occur in that curious little volume, the _bibliotheca aprosiana_. benedetto buommattei and carlo dati are well known from their important labours; and of the others there are scattered notices in _rilli notizie degli uomini illustre fiorentine_, and in _salvini fasti consolari dell' accademia fiorentina_. i have an interesting little volume of latin verses by jacopo gaddi, with the following title _poetica jacobi gaddii corona e selectis poematiis, notis allegoriis contexta_, bononiæ, , to. there is a good deal of ingenious and pleasing burlesque poetry extant by antonio malatesti. i have before mentioned his _sphinx_: of this i have a dateless edition, apparently printed about the middle of the last century at florence: the title is _la sfinge enimmi del signor antonio malatesti_. commendatory verses are prefixed by chimentelli, coltellini, and galileo galilei. the last, from the celebrity of the writer, may deserve the small space it will occupy in your pages. it is itself an enigma: "del signor galileo galilei sonetto. mostro son' io più strano, e più difforme, che l'arpià, la sirena, o la chimera; nè in terra, in aria, in acqua è alcuna fiera, ch' abbia di membra così varie forme. parte a parte non hô che sia conforme, più che s' una sia bianca, e l' altra nera; spesso di cacciator dietro hô una schiera, che de' miei piè van ritracciando l' orme. nelle tenebre oscure è il mio soggiorno; che se dall' ombre al chiaro lume passo, tosto l' alma da me sen fugge, come sen fugge il sogno all' apparir del giorno, e le mie membra disunito lasso, e l' esser perdo con la vita, è l nome." { } three more sonnets by this illustrious man are printed by salvini in his _fasti_, of which he says: "i quali esendo parto di si gran mente, mi concederà la gloria il benigno lettore, che io, ad honore della toscana poesia, gli esponga il primo alla publica luce." dr. fellowes was not singular in confounding dati and deodati; it has been done by fenton and others: but that dr. symmons, in his _life of milton_ (p. .), should transform _la tina_ into a _wine-press_, is ludicrously amusing. _la tina_ is the rustic mistress to whom the sonnets are supposed to be addressed; and every one knows that _rusticale_ and _contadinesca_ is that naïve and pleasing rustic style in which the florentine poets delighted, from the expressive nature of the patois of the tuscan peasantry; and it might have been said of malatesti's sonnets, as of another rustic poet: "ipsa venus lætos jam nunc migravit in agros verbaque aratoris rustica discit amor." i may just remark that the _clementillo_ of milton should not be rendered _clementini_, but _chimentelli_. as rolli tells us,-- "clementillus fu quel dottore _valerio chimentelli_ di cui leggesi una vaghissima cicalata nel sesto volume delle prose fiorentine." s. w. singer. mickleham. * * * * * attainment of majority. (vol. viii., pp. . .) i greatly regret that there should be anything in the matter or manner of my query on this subject to induce mr. de morgan to reply to it more as if repelling an offence, than assisting in the investigation of an interesting question on a subject with which he is supposed to be especially conversant. i can assure him that i had no other object in writing _ninth_ numerically instead of literally, or in omitting the words he has restored in brackets, or in italicising two words to which i wished my question more particularly to refer, than that of economising space and avoiding needless repetition; and in the use of the word "usage" rather than "law," of which he also complains, i was perhaps unduly influenced by the title of his own treatise, from which i was quoting. but however i may have erred from exact quotation, it is manifest i did not misunderstand the sense of the passage, since mr. de morgan now repeats its substance in these words,-- "i cannot make out that the law ever recognised a day of twenty-four hours, beginning at any hour except midnight." this is clearly at direct issue with ben jonson, whose introduced phrases, "pleaded nonage," "wardship," "pupillage," &c., seem to smack too much of legal technology to countenance the supposition of poetic license. but had i not accidentally met with an interesting confirmation of ben jonson's law of usage, or usage of law, i should not have put forth my query at all, nor presumed to address it to professor de morgan; my principal reason for so doing being that the interest attaching to discovered evidence of a forgotten usage in legal reckoning, must of course be increased tenfold if it should appear to have been unknown to a gentleman of such deep and acknowledged research into that and kindred subjects. in a black-letter octavo entitled _a concordancie of yeares_, published in and for the year , and therefore about the very time when ben jonson was writing, i find the following in chap. xiii.: "the day is of two sorts, natural and artificiall: the natural day is the space of hours, in which time the sunne is carried by the first mover, from the east into the west, and so round about the world into the east againe." "the artificiall day continues from sunne-rising to sunne-setting: and the artificiall night is from the sunne's setting to his rising. and you must note that this natural day, according to divers, hath divers beginnings: as the romanes count it from mid-night to mid-night, because at that time our lorde was borne, being sunday; and so do we account it for fasting dayes. the arabians begin their day at noone, and end at noone the next day; for because they say the sunne was made in the meridian; and so do all astronomers account the day, because it alwayes falleth at one certaine time. the umbrians, the tuscans, the jewes, the athenians, italians, and egyptians, do begin their day at sunne-set, and so do we celebrate festivall dayes. the babylonians, persians, and bohemians begin their day at sunne-rising, holding till sunne-setting; _and so do our lawyers count it in england_." here, at least, there can be no supposition of dramatic fiction; the book from which i have made this extract was written by arthur hopton, a distinguished mathematician, a scholar of oxford, a student in the temple; and the volume itself is dedicated to "the right honourable sir edward coke, knight, lord chiefe justice of england," &c. a. e. b. leeds, sept. . * * * * * john frewen. (vol. viii., p. .) he is supposed to have been the son of richard frewen, of earl's court in worcestershire, and was born either at that place or in its immediate vicinity in the early part of the year . richard frewen purchased the presentation to northiam rectory, in sussex, of viscount montague, and presented john frewen to it in nov. ; and { } he continued to hold that living till his death, which took place at the end of april, . he was buried in the chancel of his own church, may nd; and a plain stone on the floor, with an inscription, marks the place of his interment. he was a learned and pious puritan divine, and wrote: . "certaine fruitfull instructions and necessary doctrine meete to edify in the feare of god." , mo. . "certaine fruitfull instructions for the generall cause of reformation against the slanders of the pope and league, &c." , small to. . he edited and wrote the preface to-- "a courteous conference with the english catholickes romane, about the six articles administered unto the seminarie priestes, wherein it is apparently proved by theire own divinitie, and the principles of their owne religion, that the pope cannot depose her majestie, or release her subjects of their alleageance unto her, &c.; written by john bishop, a recusant papist." . small to. . "certaine sermons on the , , , , , , and verses of the eleventh chapter of s. paule his epistle to the romanes." , mo. . "certaine choise grounds and principles of our christian religion." , mo. . a large unpublished work in ms. entitled "grounds and principles of christian religion," left unfinished (probably age and infirmity prevented him from completing it): it consisted of seven books, of which two only (the fourth and fifth, of and folio pages respectively) have been preserved. john frewen had three wives, and by each of the first two several children, of whom the following lived to grow up, viz. by eleanor his first wife, ( .) accepted frewen, archbp. of york; ( .) thankful f., purse bearer and secretary of petitions to lord keeper coventry; ( .) john f., rector of northiam; ( .) stephen f., alderman of the vintry ward, london; ( .) mary, wife of john bigg of newcastle-upon-tyne; ( .) joseph f. by his second wife, helen, daughter of ---- hunt, j. f. had ( .) benjamin, citizen of london; ( .) thomas f.; ( .) samuel, joseph, thomas, and samuel joined cromwell's army for invading ireland; and one of them (captain frewen) fell at the storming of kilkenny; another of them died at limerick of the plague, which carried off general freton; the other (thomas) founded a family at castle connel, near limerick. john frewen's _sermons_ in are in some respects rare; but the following copies are extant, viz. one in the bodleian at oxford; one in the university library at cambridge; one in possession of mr. frewen at brickwall, northiam; and one sold by kerslake of bristol, for s. d., to the rev. john frewen moor, of bradfield, berks. if r. c. warde, of kidderminster, has a copy which he would dispose of, he may communicate with t. f., post-office, northiam, who would be glad to purchase it. j. f. * * * * * "voiding knife," "voider," and "alms-basket." (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. viii., p. .) in later times (the sixteenth century) the good old custom of placing an _alms-dish_ on the table was discontinued, and with less charitable intentions came the less refined custom of removing the broken victuals after a meal by means of a _voiding-knife_ and _voider_: the latter was a basket into which were swept by a large wand, usually of wood, or _voiding-knife_, as it was termed, all the bones and scraps left upon the trenchers or scattered about the table. thus, in the old plays, _lingua_, act v. sc. .: "enter gustus with a _voiding-knife_;" and in _a woman killed with kindness_, "enter three or four serving men, one with a _voider_ and _wooden knife_ to take away." the voider was still sometimes called the _alms-basket_, and had its charitable uses in great and rich men's houses: one of which was to supply those confined in gaols for debt, and such prisoners as had no means to purchase any food. in green's _tu quoque_, a spendthrift is cast into prison; the jailer says to him: "if you have no money, you had best remove into some cheaper ward; to the twopenny ward, it is likeliest to hold out with your means; or, if you will, you may go into the _hole_, and there you may feed for nothing." to which he replies: "ay, out of the _alms-basket_, where charity appears in likeness of a piece of stinking fish." even this poor allowance to the distressed prisoners passed through several ordeals before it came to them; and the best and most wholesome portions were filched from the _alms-basket_, and sold by the jailers at a low price to people out of the prison. in the same play it is related of a miser, that-- "he never saw a joint of mutton in his own house these four-and-twenty years, but always cozened the poor prisoners, for he brought his victuals out of the _alms-basket_." in the ordinances of charles ii. (_ord. and reg. soc. ant._ .), it is commanded-- "that no gentleman whatsoever shall send away my meat or wine from the table, or out of the chamber, upon any pretence whatsoever; and that the gentlemen-ushers take particular care herein, that all the meate that is taken off the table upon trencher-plates be put into a basket for the poore, and not undecently eaten by any servant in the roome; and if any person shall presume to do otherwise, he shall be prohibited { } immediately to remaine in the chamber, or to come there again, until further order." the _alms-basket_ was also called a _maund_, and those who partook of its contents _maunders_. w. chaffers. old bond street. * * * * * the letter "h" in humble. (vol. viii., p. .) the recent attempt to introduce a mispronunciation of the word _humble_ should be resisted by every one who has learned the plain and simple rule of grammar, that "_a_ becomes _an_ before a vowel or a silent _h_." that the rule obtained a considerable time ago, we have only to look into the book of common prayer to prove, where the congregation are exhorted to come "with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart," and i believe it will be admitted that the compilers of that work fully understood the right pronunciation. it may assist to settle the question by giving the etymology of the word _humble_. it is derived from the celtic _uim_, the ground, latin _humus_. _umal_ in celtic is humble, lowly, obedient; and the word signifies the bending of the mind or disposition, just as a man would kneel or become prostrate before a superior. fras. crossley. in the course of a somewhat long life i have resided in the north of england, in the west, and in london, upwards of twenty years each, and my experience is directly the reverse of that of mr. dawson. i have very rarely heard the _h_ omitted in _humble_, and when i have heard it, always considered a vulgarity. the _u_ at the beginning of a word is always aspirated. i believe the only words in which the initial _h_ is not pronounced are derived from the latin. if that were the general rule, which, however, it is not, as in _habit_, _herb_, &c., still, where _h_ precedes _u_, it would be pronounced according to the universal rule for the aspiration of _u_. e. h. _the letter "h" to be passed unsounded in those words which are of latin origin._--try it: "ha! 'tis a horrible hallucination to grudge our hymns their halcyon harmonies, when in just homage our rapt voices rise to celebrate our heroes in meet fashion; whose hosts each heritage and habitation, within these realms of hospitable joy, protect securely 'gainst humiliation, when hostile foes, like harpies, would annoy. habituated to the sound of _h_ in history and histrionic art, we deem the man a homicide of speech, maiming humanity in a vital part, whose humorous hilarity would treat us, in lieu of _h_, with a supposed hiatus." * *. * * * * * school libraries. (vol. viii., p. .) i have great pleasure in removing from the mind of your correspondent an erroneous impression which must materially affect his good opinion of a school to which i am sincerely attached. he asks if in any of the public schools there are libraries of books giving general information accessible to the scholars. now my information only refers to one, that of eton. there is a library at eton consisting of some thousand volumes, filled with books of all kinds, ancient and modern, valuable and valueless. it is open to the first in the school on payment of eighteen shillings per annum, and on their refusal the option of becoming subscribers descends to the next in gradation. the list, however, is never full. the money collected goes to the support of a librarian, and to buy pens, ink, and paper, and the surplus (necessarily small) to the purchase of books. the basis of the library is the set of delphin classics, presented by george i. the late head master (now provost) has been a most munificent contributor; prince albert has also presented several valuable volumes. whenever the prince has come to eton he has always visited the library, and taken great interest in its welfare; and on his last visit said to the provost that he should be quite ready and willing to obey the call whenever he was asked to lay the first stone of a museum in connexion with the library. etonensis. the free grammar school at macclesfield, cheshire, has always had a library. it _did_ contain some rare volumes of the olden time; it was at various times more or less supported by a small payment from the scholars. some years since mr. osborn, the then head master, solicited subscriptions from former pupils, and with some success. of the present state of the school library i know nothing. edward hawkins. at winchester there are libraries for the commoners and scholars containing books for general reading: they are under the several charge of the commoner-prefects and the prefect of library, who lend them on application to the juniors. mackenzie walcott, m.a. christ's hospital has a library such as inquired after by mr. weld taylor. the late mr. thackeray, of the priory, lewisham (who died about two years ago), bequeathed to this school his valuable library of books on general literature for the use of the boys. previously to this bequest the collection of books was small. n. * * * * * { } dr. john taylor. (vol. i., p. .) my attention has been caught by some remarks in the early volumes of your work upon my learned ancestor dr. john taylor, minister at norwich, and subsequently divinity tutor at warrington. whatever opinion may have been attributed to dr. parr concerning dr. taylor, this i know, that on revisiting norwich he desired my father (the dr.'s grandson) to show him the house inhabited by him while he was the minister of the octagon chapel. dr. parr looked serious and solemn, and in his usual energetic manner pronounced, "he was a _great_ scholar." dr. john taylor was buried at kirkstead[ ], lancashire, where his tomb is distinguished by the following simple inscription: "near to this place lies interr'd what was mortal of iohn taylor, d.d. reader, expect no eulogium from this stone. enquire amongst the friends of learning, liberty, and truth; these will do him justice. whilst taking his natural rest, he fell asleep in jesus, the th of march, , aged ." the following inscription, in latin, was composed by dr. parr for a monumental stone erected by grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the octagon chapel, norwich: "joanni taylor, s.t.p. langovici nato albi ostii in agro cumbriensi bonis disciplinis instituto norvici ad exequendum munus pastoris delecto a.d. . rigoduni quo in oppido senex quotidie aliquid addiscens theologiam et philosophiam moralem docuit mortuo tert. non. mart. anno domini mdcclxi. Ætat. lxvi. viro integro innocenti pio scriptori græcis et hebraicis litteris probe erudito verbi divini gravissimo interpreti religionis simplicis et incorruptæ acerrimo propugnatori nepotes ejus et pronepotes in hac capella cujus ille fundamenta olim jecerat monumentum hocce honorarium poni curaverunt." s. r. [footnote : his first appointment, as minister of the gospel, was at kirkstead chapel.] * * * * * portrait of sir anthony wingfield. (vol. viii., p. .) it is most likely that q., who inquired relative to a picture of sir anthony wingfield, may occasionally meet with an engraving of this worthy, though the depository of the original portrait is unknown. the tale told horace walpole by the housekeeper at the house of the nauntons at letheringham, suffolk, is not correct. sir anthony was a favourite of the monarch, and was knighted by him for his brave conduct at terouenne and tournay. a private plate of sir anthony exists, the original portrait from which it was taken being at letheringham at the time the engraving was made. the position of the hand in the girdle only indicates the fashion of portraiture at the time, and is akin to the frequent custom of placing one arm a-kimbo in modern paintings. the query of your correspondent opens a tale of despoliation perhaps unparalleled even in the days of iconoclastic fury, and but very imperfectly known. the estate of letheringham devolved, about the middle of the last century, upon william leman, esq., who, being obliged to maintain his right against claimants stating they descended from a branch of the naunton family who had migrated into normandy at the end of the preceding century, was placed in a position of considerable difficulty to defend his occupation of the house and lands. i will not say by whom, but in down came the residence in which the author of the well-known _fragmenta regalia_ had resided, and, what is far worse, the priory church, which, after the dissolution, was made parochial, and which was filled with tombs, effigies, and brasses to members of the family--bovilles, wingfields, and nauntons--was also levelled with the ground. it was stated at the time that the sacred edifice had only become dilapidated from age, and that the parishioners were therefore obliged to do something. what _was done_, however, was no re-edification of the fabric, but its entire destruction, and the erection of a new church. fortunately, horace walpole saw the edifice before the contractor for the new building had cast his "desiring eyes" upon it, and has recorded his impressions in one of his letters. more fortunate still, the late mr. gough and mr. nichols visited it, and the former employed the well-known topographical draughtsman, the late james johnson of woodbridge, suffolk, to copy some of the effigies, which were afterwards engraved and inserted in the second volume of the _sepulchral monuments_. the zeal of johnson, however, led him to preserve, by his minute delineation, not only _every_ monument (only two, i think, are given by gough), but also the interior and exterior of the church, with the { } position of the tombs. the interior view may be seen among craven ord's drawings in the library of the british museum; and i am happy to say i possess johnson's original sketches of all the monuments, and of the exterior of the building. a fair idea of the extent of the destruction may be gained by the mention of the fact, that six hundred-weight of alabaster effigies were beaten into powder, and sold to line water-cisterns. some of the figures were rescued by the late dr. w. clubbe, and erected into a pyramid in his garden at brandeston vicarage, with this inscription: "_fuimus._ indignant reader, these monumental remains are not (as thou mayest suppose) the ruins of time, but were destroyed in an irruption of the goths so late in the christian era as the year . _credite posteri._" john wodderspoon. norwich. william naunton, son and heir of thomas naunton (temp. hen. vii.), and margery, daughter and heiress of richard busiarde, married elizabeth, daughter of sir anthony wingfield. their only child, henry naunton, was the father of two sons, viz. robert the _secretary_ (temp. james i.), whose son died unmarried, and daughter, married to paul viscount bayning, died without issue; and william naunton (fil. ^s). his son and heir, who married a coke, had one daughter, theophila, married to william leman (ancestor of the family whose great estates are in search of an owner): their only issue, theophila, married thomas rede, who thereby became possessed of letheringham in suffolk, and the whole of the naunton property. his estates went to his son robert, who, dying without issue in , left them much diminished to his nephew, the rev. robert rede cooper, second son of the rev. samuel lovick cooper and sarah leman, youngest daughter, and eventually heiress, of the above thomas rede. the rev. robert rede rede (for he assumed that name) died a few years ago possessed of ashmans park, suff., which was independent of the naunton property, and of certain heir-looms, the sole remains of the great estates of the "nauntons of letheringham," which continue in the possession of the descendants of that family. it is at _ashmans_ that the portrait inquired for by your correspondent q. will probably be found. whether that estate has already been sold by the daughters of the late possessor (four co-heiresses) i am unable to say. h. c. k. * * * * * barnacles. (vol. viii., p. .) in reference to the article on the barnacle bird in "n. & q." as above, i send you a paper which i lately put in our local journal (_the tralee chronicle_), containing a collection of notices of the curious errors and _gradual_ correction of them, on the subject of the barnacle. i fear it may be long for your columns, but don't know how to shorten it; nor can i well omit another amusing notice of the subject, to which, since i published it, an intelligent friend called my attention; it is from the _memoirs of lady fanshaw_:-- "when we came to calais, we met the earl of strafford and sir kenelm digby, with some others of our countrymen; we were all feasted at the governor's of the castle, and much excellent discourse passed; but, as was reason, most share was sir kenelm digby's, who had enlarged somewhat more in extraordinary stories than might be averred, and all of them passed with great applause and wonder of the french then at table; but the concluding one was--that barnacles, a bird in jersey, was first a shell-fish to appearance, and from that sticking upon old wood, became in time a bird. after some consideration, they unanimously burst out into laughter, believing it altogether false, and, to say the truth, it was the only thing true he had discoursed with them!--that was his infirmity, tho' otherwise a person of most excellent parts, and a very free bred gentleman."--lady fanshaw's _memoirs_, pp. - . a. b. r. belmont. as a tail-piece to the curious information communicated respecting these strange creatures in vol. i., pp. . . . ., vol. viii., pp. . ., may be added an advertisement, extracted from the monthly compendium annexed to _la belle assemblée_, or bell's _court and fashionable magazine_, for june, , in the following terms: "wonderful natural curiosity, called the goose tree, barnacle tree, or tree bearing geese, taken up at sea, on the th of january, , by captain bytheway, and was more than twenty men could raise out of the water, which may be seen at the exhibition rooms, spring gardens, from ten o'clock in the morning till ten at night, every day. admission, one shilling; children half-price. "the barnacles which form the present exhibition, possess a neck upwards of two feet in length, resembling the windpipe of a chicken; each shell contains five pieces, and notwithstanding the many thousands which hang to eight inches of the tree, part of the fowl may be seen from each shell. sir robert moxay, in the wonders of nature and art, speaking of this singularly curious production, says, in every shell he opened he found a perfect sea-fowl, with a bill like that of a goose, feet like those of water-fowl, and the feathers all plainly formed. "the above wonderful and almost indescribable curiosity, is the only exhibition of the kind in the world." [mu]. * * * * * { } photographic correspondence. _precision in photographic processes._--i have for a long period observed, and been much annoyed at the circumstance, that many of your photographic correspondents are very remiss when they favour you with recipes for certain processes, in not stating the specific gravity of the articles used; also, in giving the quantities, in not stating if it is by weight or measure. to illustrate my meaning more fully, i will refer to vol. viii., p. ., where a correspondent, in his albumen process, adds "chloride of barium, ¼ dr." now, as this article is prepared and sold both in crystals and in a liquid state, it would be desirable to know which of the two is meant before his disciples run the risk of spoiling their paper and losing their time. how easy would it be to prefix the letter _f_ where fluid oz., dr., or other quantity is meant. trusting that this hint may in future induce your correspondents to be as explicit as possible on all points, believe me to be an amateur photographer. _tent for collodion._--as i have frequently benefited from the hints of your correspondents, i in my turn hasten to communicate a very simple plan i have contrived for a portable tent for the collodion process, in the hope it may be found to answer with others as well as it has done with me: it is as follows. round the legs of my camera stand (a tripod one) i have made a covering for two of the sides, of a double lining of glazed yellow calico, with a few loops at the foot to stake to the ground; the third side is made of thick dark cloth, much wider and larger than to cover the side, which is fastened at one leg of the stand to the calico. the other side is provided with loops to fasten to corresponding buttons on the other leg, and by bending on my knees i can easily pull the dark cloth over my head and back, fasten the loops to the buttons, and then i can perfectly perform any manipulation required, without the risk of any ray of white light entering; and certainly nothing can be more _portable_. the simplicity of the thing makes any farther description of it unnecessary, to say nothing of your valuable space. jan. _mr. sisson's developing solution._--the rev. mr. sisson, in a letter i received from him a few days ago, stated that he had been trying, at the recommendation of a gentleman who had written to him upon the subject, a stronger developing solution than that the formula for which he published some time back in your pages, and that it gave splendid positive pictures with very short exposure in the camera. since i received his letter i have been able to corroborate his testimony in favour of the stronger solution, and have much pleasure in sending you the formula for the benefit of your readers. it is this: ½ drachms of protosulphate of iron in five ounces of water, drachm of nitrate of lead, letting it settle for some hours; pour off the clear liquid, and then add to it drachms of acetic acid. j. leachman. . compton terrace, islington. _mr. stewart's pantograph._--will some of your photographic readers, who may know the proper size of mr. stewart's pantograph, give a detailed description of it? we should have focal length of lens, size of box, and the length of the sliding, parts of it. cannot the lens be made fast in the middle of the box, provided the frames can be adjusted for different-sized pictures? r. elliott. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _george browne of shefford_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i observe that in your interesting publication you have inserted the query which i sent you long since. a somewhat similar query of mine has already appeared, and been answered by your correspondents h. c. c. and t. hughes; the latter stating that my particulars are not strictly correct, inasmuch as the individual styled by me as "sir george browne, _bart._," was in reality simple "george browne, _esq._" i admit this error; but if i was wrong, mr. hughes was so too, for george browne's wife was eleanor, and _not_ elizabeth, blount, as appears by his affidavit in the state paper office, wherein he deposes that he "had by _ellinor_, his late wife, deceased daughter of sir richard blount, eight sons, namely, george, richard, anthony, john, william, henry, francis, and robert, and seven daughters." the sons are thus disposed of: . george, created k. b. at the coronation of charles ii.; married elizabeth englefield; had issue two daughters; died . . richard, a captain in the king's army, , and was dead in . . anthony, who was "preferred to the trade of a m_a_rchant," . . john, a page to prince thomas, uncle to the duke of savoy; created bart. ; married mrs. bradley; had issue. . william, had a "reversion of a copyhold in shefford." . henry, died unmarried, ; buried at shefford. . francis, nine years old in ; and . robert, four years old in . in that year ( ) henry, francis, and robert were living with their guardian, mr. { } libb, of hardwick, oxon; and soon afterwards we find them placed under the care of a clergyman at appleshaw. but here we seem to lose sight of them altogether. mr. hughes says that the only sons who married were george, the heir, and john, the younger brother; but we have no evidence of this; and as it is probable that some of the others, namely, richard, anthony, william, francis, and robert, married, i wish to procure proof either that they did or did not. if any of these married, i wish to know which of them, to whom, and when and where. perhaps some of your correspondents can tell me where richard, anthony, and william resided, and what became of francis and robert after they had left their tutor, the minister of appleshaw. newburiensis. _wheale_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--since this word is once more brought forward in "n. & q." (vol. viii., p. .), i will answer the query respecting it. i was prepared to do so shortly after it first appeared, but i had reason to expect a reply from one more conversant with such archaisms. if the querist, or either respondent, had examined the context, he could not have failed to discover a clue to the meaning, as the words "gall of dragons" instead of "wine," and "wheale" instead of "milk," are evidently translations of sound expressions in the preface of pope sixtus (or xystus) v., to his edition of the vulgate. the words there are "fel draconum pro vino, pro lacte sanies obtruderetur." wheale more commonly signified, in later times, a pustule or boil; but it is from the ang.-sax. _hwele_, putrefaction. the bad taste of such language is too manifest to require farther comment. if i were disposed to conclude with a query, i might ask where q. found that _wheale_ ever meant _whey_? w. s. w. middle temple. _sir arthur aston_ (vol. viii., p. .).--he was appointed governor of reading, november , ; that his relative, geo. tattershall, esq., was of stapleford, wilts, and only purchased the estate, west court in finchampstead, which went, on the marriage of his daughter, to the hon. chas. howard, fourth son of the earl of arundel, and was sold by him. a reader. _"a mockery," &c._ (vol. viii., p. ).--thomas lord denman is the author of the phrase in question. that noble lord, in giving his judgment in the case of o'connell and others against the queen, in the house of lords, september , , thus alluded to the judgment of the court of queen's bench in ireland, overruling the challenge by the traversers to the array, on account of the fraudulent omission of fifty-nine names from the list of jurors of the county of the city of dublin: "if it is possible that such a practice as that which has taken place in the present instance should be allowed to pass without a remedy (and no other remedy has been suggested), trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, will be _a delusion, a mockery, and a snare_." see clark and finnelly's _reports of cases in the house of lords_, vol. xi. p. . c. h. cooper. cambridge. _norman of winster_ (vol. viii., p. ).--i do not know if w. is aware that there was a family of norman who was possessed of a share of the manor of beeley, in the parish of ashford, derbyshire, which came from the savilles, the said manor having been purchased by wm. saville, esq., . a reader. _arms of the see of york_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--thoroton has a curious note on this subject in his _history of nottinghamshire_ (south muskham, in the east window of the chancel), from which it would appear that neither thoroton himself, nor his after-editor thoresby, could be aware of the change that had taken place. the note, however, may help to complete the _catena_ of those incumbents of the see of york who (prior to cardinal wolsey) bore the same arms as the see of canterbury: "there are the arms of the see of _canterbury_, impaling _arg. three boars' heads erased and erected sable_, booth, i doubt mistaken for the arms of _york_, as they are with archbishop lee's again in the same window; and in the hall window at _newstede_ the see of _canterbury_ impales _savage_, who was archbishop of _york_ also, but not of _canterbury_ that i know of."--vol. iii. p. ., ed. notts, . can any of your antiquarian contributors say why the sees of canterbury and york bore originally the same arms? had it any relation to the struggle for precedence carried on for so many years between the two sees? j. sansom. mr. waller, in his volume on _monumental brasses_, in describing that of william de grenfeld, archbishop of york, says: "the arms of the two archiepiscopal sees were formerly the same, and continued to be so till the reformation, when the pall surmounting a crozier was retained by canterbury, and the cross keys and tiara (emblematic of st. peter, to whom the minster is dedicated), which until then had been used only for the church of york, were adopted as the armorial bearings of the see." to the word "tiara" he appends a note: "or rather at this period a regal crown, the tiara having been superseded in the reign of henry viii." { } he gives no authority for the statement, but the note appears contradictory, and implies two changes in the first to the cross-keys and tiara, which may corroborate the notion of its having been adopted by cardinal wolsey; secondly, the substitution of the crown for the tiara. can this be proved? f. h. _roger wilbraham, esq.'s, cheshire collection_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it is probable these mss. are still at the family seat of the wilbrahams, delamere lodge, northwitch. when ormerod published his _history of cheshire_, in , they were in the custody of the family. he says (vol. iii. p. .): "in the possession of the family is a curious series of journals commenced by richard wilbraham of nantwich, who died in , and continued regularly to the time of his great-great-grandson, who died in . as a genealogical document, such a memorial is invaluable; and it contains many curious incidental notices of passing events, and of minute particulars relating to the town of nantwich, of whose rights the wilbrahams of townsend were the never-failing and active guardians." j. yeowell. _pierrepont_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a descendant thanks c. j. the information wanted is parentage and descent of john pierrepont of wadworth, who in a family mem. by his great-great-granddaughter is called "uncle to evelyn, earl of p." any information respecting john pierrepont or his descendants through margaret stevens will much oblige. a. f. b. diss. _passage in bacon_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the notes on bacon's essay ii. "on death," there appears the following: "in the passage of juvenal, the words are 'qui spatium vitæ,' and not 'qui finem vitæ,' as quoted by lord bacon. length of days is meant." his lordship's memory and _ear_ too certainly misled him with respect to the _wording_, but he has correctly given us the _sense_. juvenal has been arguing (l. iv. sat. x.) on the vanity of earthly blessings, so called, in quite a philosophic way; it is hardly possible to suppose him closing his sermon with-- "fortem posce animum, mortis terrore carentem, qui spatium vitæ extremum inter munera ponat naturæ, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores, nesciat irasci, cupiat nihil, et potiores herculis ærumnas credat, sævosque labores, et venere, et coenis, et plume sardanapali." if by _spatium_ he meant "length;" but how apt and beautiful in lord bacon's sense! a note on the passage in the var. ed. of has "qui sciat _mortem_ munus aliquod naturæ esse." emmanuel cantab. _monumental inscription in peterborough cathedral_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in consequence of the very curious notes communicated by h. thos. wake, i would beg to draw that gentleman's attention to the very important ms. collections of bp. white kennet on the subject of this cathedral in the lansd. mss., british museum, to which i shall be happy to give him the references in a private letter, if he will favour me with his address. e. g. ballard. _lord north_ (vol. vii., p. ).--i feel much obliged to your correspondent c. for his courtesy in replying to my inquiry concerning this nobleman. his remembrance of the personal appearance of george iii., and his remarks on the subject, are in my opinion conclusive; but the appearance of the statement in the _life of goldsmith_ was such as to provoke inquiry. may i ask our correspondent c. (who appears to be acquainted with the north genealogy) whether a sister of the premier north, by the some mother, was not alive some years after the year ? collins records the birth of an infant daughter, but the fact is overlooked in modern peerages. observer. _land of green ginger_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--mr. frost, in his _history_, p. ., &c., has shown many instances of alteration in the names of streets in hull from the names of persons, as from aldegate to scale lane, from schayl, a dutchman; and mr. richardson has made it most probable that the designation "land of green ginger" took place betwixt and . it has occurred to me, that a family of the dutch name of lindegreen (green lime-trees) resided at hull within the last fifty years or more. now the "junior" of this name would be called in dutch "lindegroen jonger," which may have originated the corruption "land o' green ginger." this conjecture would amount to solution of the question, if the lindegreens had about years ago any property or occupation in this lane. the dutch had necessarily much intercourse with hull: one of their imports was the lamprey, chiefly as bait for turbot, cod, &c. obtained in the ouse near the mouth of the derwent; which fish was conveyed in boats in ouse water, and was kept alive and lively by means of poles made to revolve in these floating fish-ponds, as i was informed by an alderman prior to the reform of that ancient borough. but lamprey has now either migrated, or been exterminated by clearing the ouse of stones[ ], or by the excessive cupidity of the fisherman or gastronomer. t. j. buckton. birmingham. [footnote : the petromyzon by attaching itself to a stone forms a drill, by which it furrows the shoal for the deposit of its spawn.] { } _sheer, and shear hulk_ (vol. vii., p. .)--a _sheer_ hulk is a mere hulk, simply the hull of a vessel unfurnished with masts and rigging. a _shear_ hulk, on the contrary, is the hull of a vessel fitted with _shears_ (so termed from their resemblance to the blades of a pair of shears when opened), for the purpose of masting and dismasting other vessels. the use of the word _buckle_, in the signification of bend, is exceedingly common both among seamen and builders. for its use among the former i can vouch; and among the latter, see the evidence at the coroner's inquest on the late melancholy and mysterious accident at the crystal palace. w. pinkerton. ham. _serpent with a human head_ (vol. iv., p. .).--the following passage from gervasius tilberiensis (_otia imperialia_, lib. i sect. .) shows that the idea of the serpent which tempted eve, having a woman's head, was current in the time of bede. i having not had an opportunity of finding whereabouts in bede's writings the passage quoted by gervasius occurs: "nec erit omittendum, quod ait beda, loquens de serpente qui evam seduxit: 'elegit enim diabolus quoddam genus serpentis foemineum vultum habentis, quia similes similibus applaudunt, et movit ad loquendum linguam ejus." c. w. g. _"when the maggot bites"_ (vol. viii., p .).--an anon correspondent asks for a note to explain the origin of the saying that thing done on the spur of the moment is done "when the maggot bites." perhaps the best explanation is that afforded in the following passage from swift's _discourse on the mechanical operation of the spirit_: "it is the opinion of choice _virtuosi_ that the brain is only a crowd of little animals with teeth and claws extremely sharp, and which cling together in the contexture we behold, like the picture of hobbes's leviathan; or like bees in perpendicular swarm on a tree; or like a carrion corrupted into vermin, still preserving the shape and figure of the mother animal: that all invention is formed by the morsure of two or more of these animals upon certain capillary nerves which proceed from thence, whereof three branches spring into the tongue and two into the right hand. they hold also that these animals are of a constitution extremely cold: that their food is the air we attract, their excrement phlegm. and that what we vulgarly call rheums, and colds, and distillations, is nothing else but an epidemical looseness to which that little commonwealth is very subject from the climate it lies under. farther, that nothing less than a violent heat can disentangle these creatures from their hamated station in life; or give them vigour and humour, to imprint the marks of their little teeth. that if the morsure be hexagonal, it produces poetry; the circular gives eloquence. if the bite hath been conical, the person whose nerve is so affected shall be disposed to write upon politics; and so of the rest." j. emerson tennent. _definition of a proverb_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the proverb, "wit of one man, the wisdom of many," has been attributed to lord john russell: i think in a recent number of the _quarterly review_. the foundation was laid most probably by bacon: "the genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs." it may not be perhaps generally known to your readers, that in a small volume, called _origines de la lengua espanola, &c., por don gregorio mayans y siscar, bibliothecario del rei nuestro señor_, en madrid, año , will be found a numerous collection of spanish proverbs. a ms. note in my copy has a note, stating that the ms. made for mayans, from the original, in the national library at madrid, is now in the british museum, additional mss., no. . the work is divided into dialogues; and in the copy in question are some remarks by a spanish gentleman, i fear too long for your pages: but i send you an english version by a friend, of one of the couplets in the dialogues, "diez marcos tengo de oro:" "ten marks of gold for the telling, and of silver i have nine score, good houses are mine to dwell in, and i have a rent-roll more: my line and lineage please me: ten squires to come at my call, and no lord who flatters or fees me, which pleases me most of them all." john martin. woburn abbey. _gilbert white of selborne_ (vol. viii., p. .).--oriel college, of which gilbert white was for more than fifty years a fellow, some years since offered to have a portrait of him painted for their hall. an inquiry was then made of all the members of his family; but no portrait of any description could be found. i have heard my father say that gilbert white was much pressed by his brother thomas (my grandfather) to have his portrait painted, and that he talked of it; but it was never done. a. holt white. _"a tub to the whale"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the appendix b. to sir james macintosh's _life of sir thomas more_ is the following passage: "the learned mr. douce has informed a friend of mine, that in sebastian munster's _cosmography_ there is a cut of a ship, to which a whale was coming too close for her safety; and of the sailors throwing a tub { } to the whale, evidently to play with. the practice of throwing a tub or barrel to a large fish, to divert the animal from gambols dangerous to a vessel, is also mentioned in an old prose translation of the _ship of fools_. these passages satisfactorily explain the common phrase of throwing a tub to a whale." sir james macintosh conjectures that the phrase "the tale of a tub" (which was familiarly known in sir thomas more's time) had reference to the tub thrown to the whale. c. h. cooper. cambridge. _the number nine_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the property of numbers enunciated and illustrated by mr. lammens resolves itself into two. . if from any number above nine be subtracted the number expressed by writing the same digits backwards, the remainder is divisible by nine. . if the number nine measure a given number, it measures the sum of its digits. as the latter is proved in most elementary books on algebra, i confine my proof to the former. let the number in question be-- _a__ + _a__ . + _a__ . ^ + ... + _a__{_n_- } . ^{_n_- } + _a__{_n_} . ^{_n_} then _a__{_n_} + _a__{_n_- } . + _a__{_n_- } . ^ + ... + _a__ . ^{_n_- } + _a__ . ^{_n_} is "the same number written backwards." the difference is-- (_a__{_n_} - _a__ )( ^{_n_} - ) + (_a__{_n_- } - _a__ )( ^{_n_- } - ) . + ... + (_a__{_n_/ + } - _a__{_n_/ - })( ^ - ) . ^{_n_/ - } if _n_ be even, but + (_a__{(_n_+ )/ } - _a__{(_n_- )/ })( - ) . ^{(n- )/ } if _n_ be odd. and every term of this difference, as involving a factor of the form ( - ^{_n_}), is divisible by ; and therefore the difference is divisible by . c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _the willingham boy._--abredonensis will find full information on all the points he appears from your notices to correspondents (vol. viii., p. .) to have inquired after in-- "prodigium willinghamense, or authentic memoirs of the life of a boy born at willingham, near cambridge, with some reflections on his understanding, strength, temper, memory, genius, and knowledge, by thos. dawkes, surgeon." w. p. _unlucky days_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the latin verses contained in the old spanish breviary, adverted to by w. pinkerton, bear a close resemblance to those which are to be found in the red book of the irish exchequer. the latter form part of a calendar which is supposed to have been written either during the reign of john or henry iii. a similar calendar, with like verses, has been printed by the archæological society, dublin. as the lines in the red book vary in some respects from those which have appeared in "n. & q.," i have taken the liberty of inclosing a transcript of them. "_january._ prima dies mensis, et septima truncat ut ensis. _february._ quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia fortem. _march._ primus mandantem, dirumpit quarta bibentem. _april._ denus et undenus, est mortis vulnere plenus. _may._ tertius occidit, et septimus hora relidit. _june._ denus pallescit, quindenus federa nescit. _july._ terdecimus mactat, julii denus labefactat. _august._ prima necat fortem, perditque secunda choortem. _september._ tertia septembris, et denus fert mala membris. _october._ tertia cum dena, clamat sit integra vena. _november._ scorpius est quintus, et tertius est nece cinctus. _december._ septimus exanguis, virosus denus ut anguis." james f. ferguson. dublin. _rhymes on places_ (vol. vii. _passim_.).--midlothian: "musselboro' was a boro', whan edinboro' was nane; an musselboro' 'll be a boro', whan edinboro's gane." w. t. m. hong kong. cambridgeshire folks say,-- "hungry hardwick, greedy toft, hang-up kingston, caldecott[ ] naught." p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. [footnote : pronounced _cawcote_.] _quotation wanted_ (vol. vi., p. .).--see byron's _dream_, stanza ii. v. .: "she was his life, the ocean to the river of his thoughts." p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _lamech_ (vol. vii., p. .).--for "lamech," see mr. browne's excellent _ordo sæclorum_, ch. vii. § ., --a book deserving to be much more widely known. s. z. z. s. _muggers_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the names _muggers_ and _potters_, betokening dealers in mugs and pots, are, in the north of england, applied indiscriminately to hawkers of earthenware, whether of gipsy blood or not. indeed, the majority are evidently not gipsies. t. d. ridley. * * * * * { } miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. we have received from messrs. williams and norgate copies of the first number of two new german periodicals, with which, when they know their nature, some of our readers may desire better acquaintance. our antiquarian friends, for instance, may be glad to know, that the opening number of one of these, the _anzeige für kunde des deutschen vorzeit, organ des germanischen museums_ (which is to appear monthly), contains, among other articles of antiquarian interest, notes on the earliest known ms. of the nuremburg chronicle, and on an early ms. of the nibelungen; notice of an original letter of pirkheimer, relative to the wars of maximilian against the swiss; and also of a remarkable, and hitherto unknown, old copper-plate engraving on six sheets by an unknown artist, apparently of the school of martin schon, illustrative of that campaign; and an account of an early miscellaneous ms., in which is a list of masons' marks. the second is one which will interest all lovers of folk lore. it is edited by j. w. wolf, and entitled _zeitschrift für deutsche mythologie und sittenkunde_, and numbers among its contributors, w. grimm, nordnagel, kuhn, and many other good men and true, who have devoted their talents to the study of popular antiquities. we hope shortly to find room for a specimen or two of the "old world" stories and customs which they have here recorded. books received.--_a guide containing a short historical sketch of lynton and places adjacent in north devon, including ilfracombe_, by t. h. cooper: a well-timed guide to the most picturesque portion of one of the most beautiful parts of north devon, pleasantly interlarded with scraps of folk lore and historical anecdote.--in bohn's _standard library_, we have a farther issue of miss bremer's works, comprising _a diary_; _the h---- family_; _axel and anna_, and other tales: and the second volume of mr. hickie's translation of _the comedies of aristophanes_ forms the issue for the present month of the same publisher's _classical library_.--mr. darling proceeds with great regularity in the publication of his _cyclopoedia bibliographica_, of which we have received no. xii., which extends from bernard lancy to martin madan.--_the irish quarterly review_, no. xi. for september, contains, among other articles of general interest, such as those on _french social life and fashion in poetry, and the poets of fashion_, a farther portion of the amusing anecdotical paper, entitled _the streets of dublin_. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the builder, no. . oswalli crollii opera. mo. geneva, . gaffarell's unheard-of curiosities. translate by chelmead. london, mo. . beaumont's psyche. nd edit. folio. camb. . the monthly army list from to inclusive. published by hookham and carpenter, bond street. square mo. jer. collier's ecclesiastical history of england. folio edition. vol ii. london labour and the london poor. proceedings of the london geological society. prescott's history of the conquest of mexico. vols. london. vol. iii. mrs. ellis's social distinctions. tallis's edition. vols. ii. and iii. vo. pamphlets. junius discovered. by p. t. published about . reasons for rejecting the evidence of mr. almon, &c. . another guess at junius. hookham. . the author of junius discovered. longmans. . the claims of sir p. francis refuted. longmans. . who was junius? glynn. . some new facts, &c., by sir f. dwarris. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. g. t. (reading). _we are happy to be able to assure our correspondent that that venerable antiquary_ john britton _is still among us, and, when we last saw him, as hale as his best friends could wish._ h. h. r. _will find in our earlier volumes several notes on the subject of his query._ w. m. _the line_-- "incidis in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim," _is from_ lib. v. . _of the_ alexandreis _of philip gualtier: and not_ tempora, _but_ "omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis," _is from a poem by matthew borbonius in the_ delitiæ poetarum germanorum, vol. i. p. . h. c. c. _will this correspondent favour us with his address in exchange for that of_ newbury, _which we have, and who wishes to correspond with him?_ j. o. _may we insert the interesting reply sent by this correspondent, or is it his wish that we should forward it?_ w. s. f. _will find an interesting article on the loss of gray's original ms. from la grande chartreuse, in our_ first volume, p. . j. m. g. _is not the translation of_ the ode, _spoken of in the article alluded to as being by james hay beattie, the one respecting which our querist inquires?_ f. m. (a maltese). . _we should recommend our correspondent to make his gun cotton with the nitrate of potash and sulphuric acid, as originally recommended in_ "n. & q.," _taking care that they are both thoroughly incorporated before the addition of the cotton. much vexation often occurs in consequence of the various strengths of nitric acid. but the gun cotton can now be procured at some of the photographic houses quite as reasonably as it can be prepared._ . _acetic acid is added to the pyrogallic acid to prevent its too rapid decomposition, and to facilitate the more easy flowing of the fluid over the plate. but the more acetic acid is used, the more slow will be the development._ . _is not the cracking of the albumen the result of the climate of malta?_ f. (manchester). _we do not think that you can do better than adopt strictly the mode of obtaining positives recommended by_ mr. pollock, _and which we printed some time since; or that pursued by_ dr. diamond, _which we have in type, but have been compelled to postpone until next week._ a. b. c. _having ourselves practised the_ paper process, _according to the directions given in our first number for the present year (with the correction of using the gallic acid, which, as stated in a subsequent number, was by accident omitted), we would advise our correspondent to adhere _strictly_ to those rules rather than any other with which we have since become acquainted. we are of opinion that sufficient care is very rarely used in the preparation of the iodized paper, and upon which all future success must depend._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * { } indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes, best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j.b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * { } murray's railway reading. just ready, with woodcuts, fcap. vo., s. the guillotine. an historical essay. by the right hon. john wilson croker. reprinted from "the quarterly review." the former volumes of this series are-- lockhart's ancient spanish ballads. hollway's month in norway. lord campbell's life of lord bacon. wellington. by jules maurel. dean milman's fall of jerusalem. life of theodore hook. lord mahon's story of joan of arc. hallam's literary essays and characters. the emigrant. by sir f. b. head. wellington. by lord ellesmere. music and dress. by a lady. layard's popular account of nineveh. bees and flowers. by a clergyman. lord mahon's history of the "forty-five." essays from "the times." giffard's deeds of naval daring. the art of dining. oliphant's journey to nepaul. the chace, the turf, and the road. by nimrod. james' fables of Æsop. to be followed by beauties of byron: prose and verse. a second series of essays from "the times." the ancient egyptians. by sir j. g. wilkinson. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * completion of the work.--on the th september, cloth s.; by post, s. d., pp. .--welsh sketches, third (and last) series. by the author of "proposals for christian union." contents:-- . edward the black prince. . owen glendower, prince of wales. . mediæval bardism. . the welsh church. london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services. responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale. musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and, by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * to numismatists, &c.--for sale, on moderate terms, a considerable portion of the celebrated french work entitled tresor de numismatique et de glyptique published under the superintendence of mm. paul delaroche, henriquel dupont, and charles lenormant; parts. paris, . royal folio, eight bound and seven unbound, in good condition, price fifteen guineas. for farther particulars, apply to mr. george bell, . fleet street, where the work may be seen. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic camera for sale.--to be disposed of, a photographic camera, with combination achromatic lenses, and apparatus for the daguerreotype and collodion processes. price l. s. apply to e. flower, . gell street, sheffield. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley,) of saturday, september , contains articles on agricultural college examinations anacharis alsinastrum, by mr. marshall antwerp, effect of the winter at arachis, oil of ash tree, leaves of books noticed bossiæas burnturk farm, noticed calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural cider apple trees cineraria, culture of climate of antwerp ---- of india (with engraving) college (agr.) examinations conifers, new applications of leaves of, by m. seemann coppice, how to prepare for fruit trees dahlias at surrey show drainage discussion evergreens at antwerp, effect of the winter on gomphrena amaranthus grass land, to improve ground nuts gymnopsis uniserialis henderson's (messrs. e. g.) nursery hop mould india, climate of (with engraving) leaves of the ash tree leschenaultia formosa manure, saw-dust as, by mr. mackenzie manuring, liquid martin doyle milk preserving, by mr. symington newcastle farmers' club nuts, ground onions, by mr. symons orchard houses pig breeding farm, by mr. hulme pine wool, by m. seemann plants, variegated, by mr. mackenzie ---- vitality of ---- new plums, dowling's potato sets, dried, by mr. goodiff radish, black spanish reaping machines sawdust as manure, by mr. mackenzie sobralia fragrans steam culture stock, does live, pay? by mr. mechi ---- value of, in the united states, by mr. shechan village excursions * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * best history of france. price s. cloth, lettered. bonnechose's history of france, translated by w. robson, translator of michaud's "history of the crusades." "this work is in general use in all the french schools, and the french academy have recently decreed the author the first montyon prize." london: george routledge & co., farringdon street. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d., the second volume of miss agnes strickland's life of mary queen of scots, forming the fourth volume of her lives of the queens of scotland, and english princesses connected with the regal succession. with a portrait of mary at the age of twenty-five, from the original painting presented by herself to sir henry curwen of workinton hall. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, september . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "what were they?": 'what where they' in original. page , in the two expressions after "let the number in question be" the final superscript (n) was printed as a subscript generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page the state prison in the tower, by william sidney gibson inedited letter from henry viii. of england to james v. of scotland, by thos. nimmo handbook to the library of the british museum, by bolton corney folk lore:--derbyshire folk lore--weather superstitions --weather rhymes, &c.--folk lore in cambridgeshire rapping no novelty, by d. jardine minor notes:--bond a poet--the late harvest --misquotation--epitaph in ireland--reynolds (sir joshua's) baptism--tradescant queries:-- grammar in relation to logic, by c. mansfield ingleby the coronet [crown] of llewelyn ap griffith, prince of wales minor queries:--monumental brass at wanlip, co. leicester, and sepulchral inscriptions in english --influence of politics on fashion--rev. w. rondall --henry, third earl of northumberland--"when we survey," &c.--turnbull's continuation of robertson --an heraldic query--osborn filius herfasti-- jews in china--derivation of "mammet"--non-recurring diseases--warville--dr. doddridge-- pelasgi--huc's travels--the mousehunt--lockwood, the court jester--right of redeeming property minor queries with answers:--dictionary of zingari --sir robert coke--regium donum--who was the author of "jerningham" and "doveton?" --alma mater replies:-- alexander clark amcotts pedigree, by w. s. hesleden sir ralph winwood, by the rev. w. sneyd trench on proverbs, by the rev. m. margollouth, &c. on palindromes, by charles reed, &c. replies to minor queries:--the claymore-- temple lands in scotland--lewis and sewell families--pharaoh's ring--"could we with ink," &c.--"populus vult decipi"--red hair--"land of green ginger"--"i put a spoke in his wheel" --pagoda--passage in virgil--to speak in lute-string --dog latin--longevity--definition of a proverb--ireland a bastinadoed elephant--ennui --belle sauvage--history of york--encore-- "hauling over the coals"--the words "cash" and "mob"--ampers and--the keate family, of the hoo, herts--hour-glasses--marriage of cousins --waugh, bishop of carlisle--marriage service-- hoby, family of--cambridge graduates--"i own i like not," &c.--"topsy turvy"--"when the maggot bites," &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. the state prison in the tower. a paragraph has lately gone the round of the newspapers, in which, after mentioning the alterations recently made in the beauchamp tower and the opening of its "written walls" to public inspection, it is stated that this tower was formerly the place of confinement for state prisoners, and that "sir william wallace and queen anne boleyn" were amongst its inmates. now, i believe there is no historical authority for saying that "the scottish hero" was ever confined in the tower of london; and it seems certain that the unfortunate queen was a prisoner in the royal apartments, which were in a different part of the fortress. but so many illustrious persons are known to have been confined in the beauchamp tower, and its walls preserve so many curious inscriptions--the undoubted autographs of many of its unfortunate tenants--that it must always possess great interest. speaking from memory, i cannot say whether the building known as the beauchamp (or wakefield) tower was even in existence in the time of edward i.; but my impression is, that its architecture is not of so early a time. it is, i believe, supposed to derive its name from the confinement in it of thomas de beauchamp, earl of warwick, in . of course it was not the only place of durance of state prisoners, but it was the prison of most of the victims of tudor cruelty who were confined in the tower of london; and the walls of the principal chamber which is on the first storey, and was, until lately, used as a mess-room for the officers, are covered in some parts with those curious inscriptions by prisoners which were first described in a paper read before the society of antiquaries in , by the rev. j. brand, and published in the thirteenth volume of _the archæologia_. mr. p. cunningham, in his excellent _handbook_, says: "william wallace was lodged as a prisoner on his first arrival in london in the house of william de leyre, a citizen, in the parish of all hallows staining, at the end of fenchurch street." { } mr. cunningham, in his notice of the tower, mentions wallace first among the eminent persons who have been confined there. the popular accounts of the tower do the like. it was about the feast of the assumption (aug. ) that wallace was taken and conducted to london; and it seems clear that he was forthwith imprisoned in the citizen's house: "he was lodged," says stow, "in the house of william delect, a citizen of london, in fenchurch street. on the morrow, being the eve of st. bartholomew ( rd aug.), he was brought on horseback to westminster ... the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of london accompanying him; and in the great hall at westminster ... being impeached," &c. the authorities cited are, adam merimuth and thomas de la more. his arraignment and condemnation on the vigil of st. bartholomew are also mentioned by matthew westminster, p. . neither these historians, or stow or holinshed, afford any farther information. the latter chronicler says that wallace was "condemned, and thereupon hanged" (_chron._, fol., , vol. ii. p. .). he was executed at smithfield; and it is not improbable that, if, after his condemnation, he was taken to any place of safe custody, he was lodged in newgate. the following entry of the expenses of the sheriffs attending his execution is on the chancellor's roll of edw. i. in the british museum: "et in expen[=s] [=t] misis [=f]cis [crossed p] eos[=d] vice^{tes} [crossed p] willo le walleys scoto lat^one predone puplico utlagato inimico et rebellione [rx] qui in contemptu [rx] [crossed p] scociam se regem scocie falso fec[=a]t n[=o]iare [=t] [=t] ministros [rx] in [crossed p]t[=i]bus scocie in[=t]fecit at[crossed q] dux^t excercit[=u] hostili[=t] contr^a reg[=e] [crossed p] judici[=u] cu[=r] [rx] apud west[=m] dist^ahendo suspendendo decollando e[=j] viscera concremando ac e[=j] corpus q^arterando cu[=j] cor[crossed p]is quar[=t]ia ad iiij majores villas scocie t^asmittebantur hoc anno.... _£_xj s. xd." the day of the trial, august , is generally given the date of his execution. it therefore appears that the formidable scot never was a prisoner in the tower. the unfortunate queen anne boleyn occupied the royal apartments while she was a prisoner in the tower. from speed's narrative, it appears that she continued to occupy them after she was condemned to death. on may ( ) she was (says stow) "arraigned in the tower on a scaffold made for the purpose in the king's hall; and after her condemnation, she was conveyed to ward again, the lady kingston, and the lady boloigne her aunt, attending on her." on may , the unfortunate queen was led forth to "the green by the white tower" and beheaded. in the record of her trial before the duke of norfolk, lord high steward (see _report of deputy keeper of public records_), she is ordered to be taken back to "the king's prison within the tower;" but these are words of form. the oral tradition cannot in this case be relied upon, for it pointed out the martin tower as the place of her imprisonment because, as i believe, her name was found rudely inscribed upon the wall. the beauchamp tower seems to have been named only because it was the ordinary state prison at the time. the narrative quoted by speed shows, however, that the place of her imprisonment was the queen's lodging, where the fading honours of royalty still surrounded anne boleyn. william sidney gibson. newcastle-upon-tyne. * * * * * inedited letter from henry viii. of england to james v. of scotland. i lately transcribed several very interesting original manuscripts, chiefly of the seventeenth century, but some of an earlier date, and now send you a literal specimen of one evidently belonging to the sixteenth century; although, notwithstanding the day of the month is given, the year is not. if you think it worthy of a place in your very excellent publication, you are quite at liberty to make use of it, and i shall be happy to send you some of the others, if you choose to accept them. they chiefly relate to the period when the duke of lauderdale was commissioner for scotch affairs at the english court; and one appears to be a letter addressed by the members of the scottish college at paris to james i. on the death of his mother. thos. nimmo. right excellent right high and mighty prince, our most dereste brother and nephew, we recommende us unto you in our most hertee and affectuous maner by this berer, your familyar servitor, david wood. we have not only receyved your most loving and kinde let^s declaring how moch ye tendre and regarde the conservation and mayntennance of good amytie betwene us, roted and grounded as well in proximitie of blood as in the good offices, actes, and doyngs shewed in our partie, whiche ye to our greate comforte afferme and confesse to be daylly more and more in your consideration and remembraunce (but also two caste of fair haukes, whiche presented in your name and sent by youe we take in most thankfull parte), and give youe our most hertie thanks for the same, taking greate comforte and consolacion to perceyve and understande by your said letters, and the credence comitted to your said familyar servitor david wood, which we have redd and considered (and also send unto youe with these our letters answer unto the same) that ye like a { } good and uertuous prince, have somoche to herte and mynde the god rule and order uppon the borders (with redresse and reformacion of such attemptats as have been comytted and done in the same), not doubting but if ye for your partie as we intende for ours (doe effectually persiste and contynue in so good and uertuose purpose and intente), not only our realmes and subjectts shall lyue quyetly and peasably without occasion of breche, but also we their heddes and gouernors shall so encrease and augment our syncere love and affec[=o]n as shall be to the indissoluble assurammente of good peace and suretie to the inestimable benefit, wealth, and comoditie of us our realmes and subjectts hereafter. right excellent right high and mightie prynce, our most derest brother and nephew, the blessed trynytie have you in his government. given under our signet at yorke place besides westminster, the th day of december. your lovyng brother and uncle, henry viii. [this letter, which is not included in the _state papers_, "king henry viii.," published by the record commissioners, was probably written on the th december, - , as in the fourth volume of that collection is a letter from magnus to wolsey, in which he says, p. .: "davy wood came hoome about the same tyme, and sithenne his hider comming hath doone, and continually dooth myche good, making honourable reaport not oonly to the quenes grace, but also to all other. he is worthy thankes and gramerces." this david wod, or wood, was a servant of the queen, margaret of scotland.] * * * * * handbook to the library of the british museum. in the _report_ of the royal commissioners on the british museum, printed in , we read-- "we are of opinion that, with reference to such a measure as the one now suggested [giving information to persons at a distance as to the existence of works in the library], and to other measures and regulations generally affecting the use of the library, it is desirable to prepare and publish a compendious _guide to the reading-room_, as described and _suggested_ by lord seymour at q. ." the reference is erroneous. at q. . there is not a word on the subject! at q. . we read-- "(_lord seymour_--to antonio panizzi, esq.) you have heard also _some witnesses_ state that it would be a great advantage to those who frequent the reading-room if they had put into their hands some short printed guide to the reading-room, to tell them what books of reference there were, and to tell them how they were to proceed to get books, and other information, from the want of which they state they have been at a great loss? (_mr. panizzi._) i do not believe that it is often the case that persons are at a loss for want of such a guide, but _it might be done_," etc. now, the suggestion of a _short printed guide to the reading-room_ was evidently considered as of some importance. the principle of suum cuique is also of some importance. we observe that lord seymour the examiner ascribes the suggestion to _some witnesses_--but lord seymour the reporter claims the credit of it for himself! it is the after-thought of his lordship of which i have to complain. if we turn to the evidence, it will appear that mr. peter cunningham suggested a printed "catalogue of the books in the reading-room," q. .--i must now speak of myself. when summoned before the commissioners as a witness, i took with me the printed _directions respecting the reading-room_ for the express purpose of pointing out their inconsistency and insufficiency, and of advocating the preparation of a guide-book. i cannot repeat my arguments. it would occupy too much space. i can only refer to the questions - . the substance is this:--i contended that every person admitted to the reading-room should be furnished with instructions _how to proceed_--instructions as to the _catalogues which he should consult_--and instructions for _asking for the books_. on that evidence rests my claim to the credit of having suggested a _guide to the reading-room_. its validity shall be left to the decision of those who venerate the motto of tom hearne--suum cuique. the trustees of the british museum seem to have paid no attention to the recommendation of the royal commissioners. they issue the same _directions_ as before. _after_ you have obtained admission to the reading-room, you are furnished with instructions as to the mode of obtaining it!--but you have no guide to the numerous catalogues. what mr. antonio panizzi, the keeper of the department of printed books, says _might be done_, mr. richard sims, of the department of manuscripts, says _shall be done_. his _handbook to the library of the british museum_ is a very comprehensive and instructive volume. it is a triumphant refutation of the opinions of those who, to the vast injury of literature, and serious inconvenience of men of letters, slight common sense and real utility in favour of visionary schemes and pedantic elaboration. there is no want of precedents for a work of this class, either abroad or at home. as to the public library at paris--i observe, in my own small collection, an _essai historique sur la bibliothèque du roi_, par m. le prince; a _histoire du cabinet des médailles_, par m. marion du mersan; a _notice des estampes_, par m. duchesne, &c. for a precedent at home, i shall refer to the _synopsis of the contents of the british museum_. the _first_ edition of that interesting work, with the { } valued autograph of _g. shaw_, is now before me. it is dated in . i have also the _sixtieth_ edition, printed in this year. i cannot expect to see a sixtieth edition of the _handbook_, but it deserves to be placed by the side of the _synopsis_, and i venture to predict for it a wide circulation. bolton corney. * * * * * folk lore. _derbyshire folk lore._--many years ago i learned the following verses in derbyshire, with reference to magpies: "one is a sign of sorrow; two are a sign of mirth; three are a sign of a wedding; and four a sign of a birth." the opinion that a swarm of bees settling on a dead tree forebodes a death in the family also prevails in derbyshire. in that county also there is an opinion that a dog howling before a house is an indication that some one is dying within the house; and i remember an instance where, as i heard at the time, a dog continued howling in a street in front of a house in which a lady was dying. it is also a prevalent notion that if the sun shines through the apple-trees on christmas day, there will be an abundant crop the following year. i never heard the croaking of a raven or carrion crow mentioned as an indication of anything, which is very remarkable, as well on account of its ill-omened sound, as because it was so much noticed by the romans. s. g. c. _weather superstitions._--if it rains much during the twelve days after christmas day, it will be a wet year. so say the country people. "if there is anything in this, will be a wet year, for it has rained _every_ day of the twelve." so wrote i under date january . no one, i think, will deny that for once the shaft has hit the mark. r. c. warde. kidderminster. _weather rhymes, &c._--the following are very common in northamptonshire: "rain before seven, fine before eleven." "fine on friday, fine on sunday. wet on friday, wet on sunday." "the wind blows cold on burton hold (wold). can you spell _that_ with four letters? i can spell _it_ with two." burton hold, or wold, is near burton latimer. b. h. c. _folk lore in cambridgeshire_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the custom referred to by mr. middleton, of ringing the church bell early in the morning for the gleaners to repair to the fields, and again in the evening for their return home, is still kept up not only at hildersham, but also in most of the villages in this neighbourhood. i have heard this "gleaners' bell" several times during this present autumn; the object of course being to give all parties a fair and equal chance. upon one occasion, where the villages lie rather close together, i heard four of these bells sounding their recall from different church towers; and as i was upon an eminence from whence i could see the different groups wending their way to their respective villages, it formed one of the most striking pastoral pictures i have ever witnessed, such, perhaps, as england alone can furnish. norris deck. cambridge. * * * * * rapping no novelty. it may be interesting to the believers in modern miracles to learn that at all events "rapping" is no new thing. i now send you the account of an incident in the sixteenth century, which bears a strong resemblance to some of those veracious narrations which have enlightened mankind in the nineteenth century. rushton hall, near kettering in northamptonshire, was long the residence of the ancient and distinguished family of treshams. in the reign of queen elizabeth, the mansion was occupied by sir thomas tresham, who was a pedant and a fanatic; but who was an important character in his time by reason of his great wealth and powerful connexions. there is a lodge at rushton, situate about half a mile from the old hall, now in ruins; but covered all over, within and without, with emblems of the trinity. this lodge is known to have been built by sir thomas tresham; but his precise motive for selecting this mode of illustrating his favourite doctrine was unknown until it appeared from a letter written by himself about the year , and discovered in a bundle of books and papers inclosed, since , in a wall in the old mansion, and brought to light about twenty years ago. the following relation of a "rapping" or "knocking" is extracted from this letter: "if it be demanded why i labour so much in the trinity and passion of christ to depaint in this chamber, this is the principal instance thereof; that at my last being hither committed[ ], and i usually having my servants here allowed me, to read nightly an hour to me after supper, it fortuned that fulcis, my then servant, reading in the _christian resolution_, in the treatise of _proof that there is a god, &c._, there was upon a wainscot table at that instant three loud knocks { } (as if it had been with an iron hammer) given; to the great amazing of me and my two servants, fulcis and nilkton." d. jardine. [footnote : this refers to his commitments for recusancy, which had been frequent.] * * * * * minor notes. _bond a poet, , o.s._--in the _perfect diurnall_, march , , we have the following curious notice: "upon the meeting of the house of lords, there was complaint made against one bond, a poet, for making a scandalous letter in the queen's name, sent from the hague to the king at york. the said bond attended upon order, and was examined, and found a delinquent; upon which they voted him to stand in the pillory several market days in the new palace (yard), westminster, and other places, and committed him to the gatehouse, besides a long imprisonment during the pleasure of the house: and they farther ordered that as many of the said letter as could be found should be burnt." his recantation, which he afterwards made, is in the british museum. e. g. ballard. _the late harvest._--in connexion with the present late and disastrous harvest, permit me to contribute a distich current, as an old farmer observed to-day, "when i was a boy:" "when we carry wheat o' the fourteenth of october, then every man goeth home sober." meaning that the prospect of the "yield" was not good enough to permit the labourers to get drunk upon it. r. c. warde. kidderminster. _misquotation._--in an article entitled "popular ballads of the english peasantry," a correspondent of "n. & q." (vol. v., p. .) quotes as "that spirit-stirring stanza of _immortal john_," the lines: "jesus, the name high over all," &c. these lines were not written by _john_, but by _charles wesley_. here is the proof: st. a hymn of which the stanza quoted is the first, appears (p. .) in the _collection of hymns_ published by john wesley in ; but in the preface he says, "but a small part of these hymns are of my own composing." nd. in his _plain account of christian perfection_, he says: "in the year , my brother printed two volumes of _hymns and sacred poems_. as i _did not see them_ before they were published, there were some things in them which i did not approve of; but i quite approved of the main of the hymns on this head."--_works_, vol. xi. p. ., mo. ed. . rd. the lines quoted by your correspondent form the ninth stanza of a hymn of twenty-two stanzas (which includes the six in john wesley's _collection_), written "after preaching (in a church)," and published in "_hymns and sacred poems_. in two volumes. by charles wesley, m.a., student of christ church, oxford. bristol: printed and sold by felix farley, ." a copy is in my possession. the hymn is no. .; and the stanza referred to will be found in vol. i. p. . j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _epitaph in ireland._--the following lines were transcribed by me, and form part of an epitaph upon a tombstone or mural slab, which many years past was to be found in (if i mistake not) the churchyard of old kilcullen, co. kildare: "ye wiley youths, as you pass by, look on my grave with weeping eye: waste not your _strenth_ before it blossom, for if you do _yous_ will _shurdley_ want it." j. f. ferguson. dublin. _reynolds (sir joshua's) baptism._--i have been favoured by the incumbent of plympton s. maurice with a copy of the following entry in the register of baptisms of that parish, together with the appended note; which, if the fact be not generally known, may be of interest to your correspondent a. z. (vol. viii., p. .) as well as to others among the readers of "n. & q.": " . joseph, son of samuel reynolds, clerk, baptised july the th." on another page is the following memorandum: "in the entry of baptisms for the year , the person by mistake named _joseph_, son of samuel reynolds, clerk, baptized july th, was _joshua_ reynolds, the celebrated painter, who died february , ." samuel reynolds, the father, was master of plympton grammar school from about to , in which year he died. during that period his name appears once in the parish book, in the year , as "minister for the time being" (not incumbent of the parish): the rev. geo. langworthy having been the incumbent from to , both inclusive. query, was sir joshua by mistake _baptized joseph_? or was the mistake made after baptism, in _registering the name_? j. sansom. oxford. _tradescant._--the pages of "n. & q." have elicited and preserved so much towards the history of john tradescant and his family, that the accompanying extract from the register of st. nicholas cole abbey, in the city of london, should have a place in one of its numbers: " . _marriages._--john tradeskant of lambeth, co. surrey, and hester pooks of st. bride's, london, maiden, married, by licence from mr. cooke, oct. ." { } this lady erected the original monument in lambeth churchyard upon the death of her husband in . she died . g. * * * * * queries. grammar in relation to logic. dr. latham (_outlines of logic_, p. ., , and _english language_, p. ., nd edition) defines the conjunction to be a part of speech that connects _propositions_, not _words_. his doctrine is so palpably and demonstrably false, that i am somewhat at a loss to understand how a man of his penetration can be so far deceived by a crotchet as to be blind to the host of examples which point to the direct converse of his doctrine. let the learned doctor try to resolve the sentence, _all men are either two-legged, one-legged, or no-legged_, into three constituent propositions. it cannot be done; _either_ and _or_ are here conjunctions which connect words and not propositions. in the example, _john and james carry a basket_, it is of course quite plain that the _logic_ of the matter is that _john carries one portion of the basket, and james carries the rest_. but to identify these two propositions with the first mentioned, is to confound grammar with logic. the former deals with the method of expression, the latter with the method of stating (in thought) and syllogising. to take another example, _charles and thomas stole all the apples_. the fact probably was, that charles' pockets contained some of the apples, and thomas' pockets contained all the rest. but the business of grammar in the above sentence is to regulate the _form_ of the expression, not to reason upon the _matter_ expressed. a little thought will soon convince any person accustomed to these subjects that _conjunctions always connect words, not propositions_. the only work in which i leave seen dr. latham's fundamental error exposed, is in boole's _mathematical analysis of logic_; the learned author, though he seems unsettled on many matters of logic and metaphysics, has clearly made up his mind on the point now under discussion. he says: "the proposition, every animal is _either_ rational _or_ irrational, cannot be resolved into, _either_ every animal is rational, _or_ every animal is irrational. the former belong to pure categoricals, to latter to hypotheticals [query _disjunctives_]. in _singular_ propositions such conversions would seem to be allowable. this animal is _either_ rational _or_ irrational, is equivalent to, _either_ this animal is rational, _or_ it is irrational. this peculiarity of _singular_ propositions would almost justify our ranking them, though truly universals, in a separate class, as ramus and his followers did."--p. . this certainly seems unanswerable. if dr. latham is a reader of "n. & q.," i should be glad if he would give his reasons for adhering to his original doctrine in the face of such facts as those i have instanced. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * the coronet [crown] of llewelyn ap griffith, prince of wales. a notice, transferred to _the times_ of the th instant from a recent number of _the builder_, on the shrine of edward the confessor, after mentioning that "to this shrine edward i. offered the scottish regalia and the coronation chair, which is still preserved," adds, "alphonso, about , offered it the golden coronet of llewelyn, prince of wales, and other jewels." who was alphonso? and would the contributor of the notice favour the readers of "n. & q." with the authority _in extenso_ for the offering of this coronet? the period assigned for the offering is certainly too early; llewelyn ap griffith, "the last sovereign of one of the most ancient ruling families of europe" (_hist. of england_, by sir james mackintosh, vol. ii. p. .), having been slain at builth, dec. , . warrington (_hist. of. wales_, vol. ii. p. .), on the authority of rymer's _foedera_, vol. ii. p. ., says: "upon stripping llewelyn there were found his privy seal; a paper that was filled with dark expressions, and a list of names written in a kind of cypher;" omitting, it will be observed, any reference to llewelyn's coronet. that monarch's crown was probably obtained and transmitted to edward i. on the capture, june , , or shortly after, of his brother david ap griffith, lord of denbigh, who had assumed the welsh throne on the demise of llewelyn; the princess catherine, the daughter and heir of the latter, and _de jure_ sovereign princess of wales, being then an infant. warrington states (vol. ii. p. .) that when david was taken, a relic, highly venerated by the princes of wales, was found upon him, called _crosseneych_, supposed to be a part of the real cross brought by st. neots into wales from the holy land; and he adds that, besides the above relic, which was voluntarily delivered up to edward by a secretary of the late prince of wales, "the crown of the celebrated king arthur, with many precious jewels, was about this time presented to edward," citing as his authorities _annales waverleienses_, p. .; rymer's _foedera_, vol. ii. p. . there are some particulars of these relics in the _archæologia cambrensis_; but neither that periodical, nor the authorities referred to by warrington, are at the moment accessible to me. cambro-briton. * * * * * { } minor queries. _monumental brass at wanlip, co. leicester, and sepulchral inscriptions in english._--in the church of wanlip, near this town, is a fine brass of a knight and his lady, and round the margin the following inscription, divided at the corners of the slab by the evangelistic symbols: "here lyes thomas walssh, knyght, lorde of anlep, and dame kat'ine his wyfe, whiche in yer tyme made the kirke of anlep, and halud the kirkyerd first, in wirchip of god, and of oure lady, and seynt nicholas, that god haue yer soules and mercy, anno dni mill[=m]o ccc^{mo} nonagesimo tercio." mr. bloom states, in his _mon. arch. of great britain_, p. ., that-- "there are, perhaps, no sepulchral inscriptions in that tongue (english) _prior to the fifteenth century_; yet at almost the beginning of it, some are to be met with, and they became more common as the century drew to a close." is there any monumental inscription in english, earlier than the above curious one, known to any of your correspondents? william kelly. leicester. _influence of politics on fashion._--can any one of the numerous readers of "n. & q." explain the meaning of the following passage of the note of p. . of alison's _history of europe_, th edition?-- "a very curious work might be written on the influence of political events and ideas on the prevailing fashions both for men and women; there is always a certain analogy between them. witness the shepherd-plaid trousers for gentlemen, and coarse shawls and muslins worn by ladies in great britain during the reform fervour of - ." henri van laun. king william's college, isle of man. _rev. w. rondall._--can any of your correspondents give information respecting the rev. william rondall, vicar of blackhampton, devonshire ( ), who translated into english a portion of the writings of the learned erasmus? historicus. _henry, third earl of northumberland._--the above nobleman fell on the battle field of towton (yorkshire), th march, , and was interred in the church of st. denys, or dionisius, in york, where his tomb, denuded of its brass, is still pointed out. pray does an account exist, in any of our old historians, as to the removal of the body of the above nobleman from that dread field of slaughter to his mansion in walmgate in the above city, and of his interment, which doubtless was a strictly private one? again, does any record exist of the latter event in any book of early registers belonging to the above church? doubtless many readers of "n. & q." will be able to answer these three queries. m. aislabie denham. piersebridge, darlington. _"when we survey," &c._--where are the following lines to be found? "when we survey yon circling orbs on high, say, do they only grace the spangled sky? have they no influence, no function given to execute the awful will of heaven? is there no sympathy pervading all between the planets and this earthly ball? no tactile intercourse from pole to pole, between the ambient and the human soul? no link extended through the vast profound, combining all above, below, around?" alledius. _turnbull's continuation of robertson._--some years ago, a continuation of robertson's work on _scottish peerages_ was announced by mr. turnbull, advocate of edinburgh.--i shall be glad to be informed whether it as published; and by whom or where. fecialis. _an heraldic query._--will any one of your contributors from lancashire or cheshire, who may have access to ancient ordinaries of arms, whether in print or in manuscript, favour me by saying whether he has ever met with the following coat: per _pale_, argent and sable, a fess embattled, between three falcons counterchanged, belled or? it has been attributed to the family of thompson of lancashire, by captain booth of stockport, and an heraldic writer named saunders; but what authority attaches to either i am not aware. is it mentioned in corry's _lancashire_? heraldicus. _osborn filius herfasti._--were osborn, son of herfast, abbot of s. evroult, and osborn de crepon (filius herfasti patris gunnoris comitissæ), _brothers_? or were there two herfasts? j. sansom. _jews in china._--a colony of jews is known to exist in the centre of china, who worship god according to the belief of their forefathers; and the aborigines of the northern portion of australia exercise the rite of circumcision. can these colonists and aborigines be traced to any of the nations of the lost tribes? historicus. _derivation of "mammet."_--the rev. b. chenevix trench, in his book on the _study of words_, th edition, p. ., gives the derivation of the old english word _mammet_ from "mammetry or mahometry," and cites, in proof of this, capulet calling his daughter "a whining _mammet_." now johnson, { } in his _dictionary_, the folio edition, derives _mammet_ from the word _maman_, and also from the word _man_; and mentions shakspeare's "this is no world to play with _mammets_, or to tilt with lips."--_henry iv._ (first part), act ii. sc. . as both dr. johnson, the rev. ch. trench, and many others, agree that _mammet_ means "puppet," why not derive this word from the french _marmot_, which means a puppet.--can any of the readers of the "n. & q." give me a few examples to strengthen my supposition? henri van laun. king william's college, isle of man. _non-recurring diseases._--among the many diseases to which humanity is subject, there are some which we are all supposed to have once, and but once, in our lifetime. is this an unquestioned fact? and if so, has anything like a satisfactory explanation of it been offered? [hebrew: p]. _warville._--there being no _w_ in the french language, whence did brissot de warville derive the latter word of his name? uneda. philadelphia. _dr. doddridge._--a poem entitled "to my wife's bosom," and beginning "open, open, lovely breast, let me languish into rest!" occasionally appears with the name of the rev. dr. doddridge as the author. is it his? m. e. philadelphia. _pelasgi._--in an article which appeared some time ago in hogg's _instructor_, thomas de quincey, speaking of the pelasgi, characterises them as a race sorrowful beyond conception.--what is known of their history to lead to this inference? t. d. ridley. west hartlepool. _huc's travels._--i was lately told, i think on the authority of a writer in the _gardener's chronicle_, that the travels of messrs. huc and gabet in thibet, tartary, &c., was a pure fabrication, concocted by some parisian _littérateur_. can any of your readers confirm or refute this statement? c. w. b. _the mousehunt._--i should feel much obliged to any reader of "n. & q." who would refer me to any mention of in print, or give me any information from his own personal experience, respecting a small animal of the weasel tribe called the mousehunt, an animal apparently but little known; it is scarcely half the size of the common weasel, and of a pale mouse-colour. it is said to be well known in suffolk, whence, however, after some trouble, i have been unsuccessful in obtaining a specimen; young stoats or weasels having been sent me instead of it. i could not find a specimen in the british museum. some years ago i saw two in glamorganshire; one escaped me; the other had been killed by a ferret, but unfortunately i neglected to preserve it. near the same spot last year a pair of them began making their nest, but being disturbed by some workmen employed in clearing out the drain in which they had ensconced themselves, were lost sight of and escaped. mr. colquhoun, in _the moor and the loch_, ed. , says: "the english peasantry assert that there are two kinds of weasel, one very small, called a 'cane,' or 'the mousekiller.' this idea, i have no doubt, is erroneous, and the 'mousekillers' are only the young ones of the year, numbers of these half-grown weasels appearing in summer and autumn." the only description i have met with in print is in _bell's life_ of dec. , , where "scrutator," in no. . of his letters "on the management of horses, hounds, &c.," writes: "i know only of one species of stoat, but i have certainly seen more than one species of weasel.... there is one species of weasel so small that it can easily follow mice into their holes; and one of these, not a month ago, i watched go into a mouse's hole in an open grass field. seeing something hopping along in the grass, which i took for a large long-tailed field mouse, i stood still as it was approaching my position, and when within a foot or two of the spot on which i was standing, so that i could have a full view of the animal, a very small weasel appeared, and quickly disappeared again in a tuft of grass. on searching the spot i discovered a mousehole, in which mr. weasel had made his exit." w. r. d. salmon. _lockwood, the court jester._--in some _ms._ accounts temp. edw. vi., mary, and elizabeth, now before me, payments to "lockwood, the king's jester," or "the queen's jester, whose name is lockwood," are of almost annual occurrence. he appears to have travelled about the country like the companies of itinerant players. are any particulars known respecting him, and where shall i find the best account of the ancient court jesters? i am aware of douce's work, and the memoirs of will. somers, the fool of henry viii. william kelly. leicester. _right of redeeming property._--in some country or district which i have formerly visited, there exists, or did recently exist, a right of redeeming property which had passed from its owner's hands, somewhat similar to that prescribed to the jews in leviticus xxvi. . &c., and analogous to the custom in brittany, with which sterne's beautiful story has made us { } familiar. can you help me to remember where it is? c. w. b. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _dictionary of zingari._--can you direct me to a glossary or dictionary of this language? i have seen borrow's _lavengro_, and am not aware whether either of his other works contains anything of the sort. i should imagine it cannot be a perfect language, since the rommanies located in our locality invariably use the english articles and pronouns; but knowing nothing more of it than what i glean from casual intercourse, i am unable to decide to my own satisfaction. r. c. warde. kidderminster. [a dictionary of the zincali will be found in the first three editions of the following work: _the zincali; or, an account of the gypsies of spain_; with an original collection of their songs and poetry, and a copious dictionary of their language. by george borrow, vols., . this dictionary is omitted in the fourth edition of ; but some "specimens of gypsy dialects" are added. our correspondent may also be referred to the two following works, which appear in the current number of quarritch's catalogue: "pott, die zigeuner in europa und asien, vol. i. einleitung und grammatik, ii. ueber gaunersprachen, wörterbuch and sprachproben, vols. vo. sewed, s. halle, - ." "rotwellsche grammatik oder sprachkunst; wörterbuch der zigeuner-sprache, parts in , mo. half-bound morocco, s. d. frankfurt, ."] _sir robert coke._--of what family was sir robert coke, referred to in _granger_, vol. iii. p. ., ed. , as having collected a valuable library bestowed by george, first earl of berkeley, on sion college, london, the letter of thanks for which is in collins? t. p. l. manchester. [sir robert coke was son and heir to sir edward coke, lord chief justice of the kings bench. the cokes had been settled for many generations in the county of norfolk. camden has traced the pedigree of the family to william coke of doddington in norfolk, in the reign of king john. they had risen to considerable distinction under edward iii., when sir thomas coke was made seneschal of gascoigne. from him, in the right male line, was descended robert coke, the father of sir edward. see campbell's _lives of chief justices_, vol. i. p. .] _regium donum._--what is the origin and history of the "regium donum?" henri van laun. king william's college, isle of man. [in the year , charles ii. gave to sir arthur forbes the sum of l., to be applied to the use of the presbyterian ministers in ireland. he professed not to know how to bestow it in a better manner, as he had learnt that these ministers had been loyal, and had even suffered on his account; and as that sum remained undisposed of in "the settlement of the revenue of ireland," he gave it in his charity to them. this was the origin of the _regum donum_. as the dissenters approved themselves strong friends to the house of brunswick, george i., in , wished too to reward them for their loyalty, and, by a retaining fee, preserve them stedfast. a considerable sum, therefore, was annually lodged with the heads of the presbyterians, independents, and baptists, to be distributed among the necessitous ministers of their congregations.] _who was the author of "jerningham" and "doveton?"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. anstruther begs to decline the compliment; perhaps the publisher of the admirable _history of the war in affghanistan_ can find a head to fit the cap. oswestry. [on a reference to our note-book, we find our authority for attributing the authorship of these works to mr. anstruther is the _gentleman's magazine_ for september, , p. . in the review of _doveton_ the writer says, "there is in it a good deal to amuse, and something to instruct, but the whole narrative of _mr. anstruther_ is too melodramatic," &c. however, as he declines the compliment, perhaps some of our readers will be able to find the right head to fit the cap.] _alma mater._--in ainsworth's _latin dictionary_ i observed he limits the use of that expression to cambridge. i have been accustomed to see it used for oxford, or any other university. what is his reason for applying it to cambridge alone? ma. l. [bailey, too, in his _dictionary_, applies the epithet exclusively to cambridge, _alma mater cantabrigia_: so that it seems to have originated with that university. it is now popularly applied to oxford, and other universities, by those who have imbibed the milk of learning from these places. the epithet has lately been transplanted to the united states of america.] * * * * * replies. alexander clark. (vol. viii., p. .) in communicating a few particulars about alexander clark, i must disappoint your correspondent perthensis; _my_ subject answering in no respect to peter buchan's "drucken dominie," the author of the _buttery college_. alexander clark, who has fallen in my way, belongs to the class of "amiable enthusiasts;" a character i am somewhat fond of, believing that in any pursuit a dash of the latter quality is essential to success. clark was by profession a gardener; and as my friends in the north always seek to localise their worthies, i venture to assign him to annandale. my first acquaintance with him arose from his { } _emblematical representation_ falling into my hands; and, pursuing my inquiries, i found this was but one of some half-dozen visionary works from the same pen. in his _view of the glory of the messiah's kingdom_, we have the origin of his taking upon himself the prophetic character; it is entitled: "a brief account of an extraordinary revelation, and other things remarkable, in the course of god's dealings with alexander clark, gardener at dumcrief, near moffat, anandale, in the year ." "in the month of august, ," says he, "at a certain time when the lord was pleased to chastise me greatly in a bed of affliction, and in the midst of my great trial, it pleased the almighty god wonderfully to surprise me with a glorious light round about me; and looking up, i saw straight before me a glorious building in the air, as bright and clear as the sun: it was so vastly great, so amiable to behold, so full of majesty and glory, that it filled my heart with wonder and admiration. the place where this sight appeared to me was just over the city of edinburgh; at the same instant i heard, as it were, the musick bells of the said city ring for joy." from this period, clark's character became tinged with that enthusiasm which ended in his belief that he was inspired; and that in publishing his-- "signs of the times: showing by many infallible testimonies and proofs out of the holy scripture, that an extraordinary change is at hand, even at the very door,"-- he was merely "emitting what he derived directly, by special favour, from god!" "the spirit of god," he says on another occasion, "was so sensibly poured out upon me, and to such a degree, that i was thereby made to see things done in secret, and came to find things lost, and knew where to go to find those things which were lost!" this _second sight_, if i may so call it, set our author upon drawing aside the veil from the prophetic writings; and his view of their mystical sense is diffused over the indigested and rambling works bearing the following titles: "a view of the glory of the messiah's kingdom." . "remarks upon the accomplishment of scripture prophecy." "a practical treatise on regeneration." . "the mystery of god opened," &c. edinburgh. . "an emblematical representation of the paradise of god, showing the nature of spiritual industry in the similitude of a garden, well ordered, dressed, and kept, with sundry reflections on the nature of divine knowledge, ." in his _address to the friendly society of gardeners_, clark gives some account of his worldly condition; of his early training in religious habits; his laborious and industrious devotion to his profession, with which he seems to have been greatly enamoured, although poorly paid, and often in straits. subsequently to the great event of his life--his vision--our subject appears to have come south, and to have been in the employment of lord charles spencer at hanworth in middlesex. like most of the prophets of his day, clark was haunted with the belief that the last day was approaching; and considering himself called upon to announce to his acquaintance and neighbours that this "terrible judgment of god was at hand," he got but contempt and ridicule for his pains:--more than that, indeed, for those raising the cry that he was a madman, they procured the poor man's expulsion from his situation. under all these discouraging circumstances, he maintained his firm conviction of the approaching end of time: so strongly was his mind bent in this direction, that "i opened the window of the house where i then was," says he, "thinking to see christ coming in the clouds!" "i was three days and three nights that i could not eat, drink, nor sleep; and when i would close my eyes, i felt something always touching me; at length i heard a voice sounding in mine ears, saying 'sleep not, lest thou sleep the sleep of death:' and at that i looked for my bible, and at the first opening of it i read these words, which were sent with power, 'to him that overcometh,'" &c. poor clark, like his prototype thomas newans, laboured hard to obtain the sanction of the hierarchy to his predictions: "i desire no man," he says, "to believe me without proof; and if the reverend the clergy would think this worth their perusal, i would very willingly hear what they had to say either for or against." the orthodoxy of the "reverend the clergy" was not, however, to be moved; and alexander clark and his books now but serve the end of pointing a moral. with more real humility and less presumption, there was much that was good about him; but letting his heated fancies get the better of the little judgment he possessed, our _amiable enthusiast_ became rather a stumbling-block than light to his generation. j. o. * * * * * amcotts pedigree. (vol. viii., p. .) although i may not be able to furnish your inquirer with full pedigree of this family, my notes may prove useful in making it out. from a settlement after marriage in , of vincent amcotts of laughton, in the county of lincoln, gentleman, i find his wife's name to be amy; but who she was is not disclosed. it appears she survived her husband, and was his { } widow and relict and executrix living in . their eldest daughter elizabeth married john sheffield, esq., of croxby, and i have noted three children of theirs, viz. vincent, who died s.p.; christopher, who, with margaret, his wife, in sold the croxby estate; and sarah. what farther as to this branch does not appear, although my next vincent amcotts may be, and probably was, a descendant. this vincent amcotts was of harrington, in the county of lincoln, esq.; and who, from his marriage settlement dated may and , , married elizabeth, the third of the four daughters of john quincy of aslackby, in the county of lincoln, gentleman: and i find the issue of this marriage to be charles amcotts of kettlethorpe, in the county of lincoln, esq., who died in s.p.; anna maria, whom married wharton emerson; elizabeth, who died previous to her brother charles; and frances, who married the rev. edward buckworth of washingborough, in the county of lincoln, clerk, doctor of laws. after the death of charles amcotts, we find wharton emerson at kettlethorpe, having assumed the name of amcotts: he was created a baronet in , the title being limited in remainder to the eldest son of his daughter elizabeth. sir wharton amcotts married a second wife, amelia campbell, by whom he had a daughter, but what became of her does not appear. elizabeth, the daughter and heir of sir wharton amcotts by his first wife anna maria amcotts, married in john ingilby, esq., of ripley, who in the next year was created a baronet: and they appear to have had eleven children, viz. john charles amcotts, the present sir william amcotts ingelby, in whom both titles are vested, elizabeth, augusta, anna maria, and ann; which last three died in infancy; diana, vincent bosville, who died at a year old, and julia and constance. thus far my notes extend. w. s. hesleden. barton-upon-humber. * * * * * sir ralph winwood. (vol. viii., p. .) i have an original letter of sir ralph winwood's in french, addressed "a monsieur mons^r charles huyghens, secrétaire du conseil d'estat de mess^{rs} les estats à la haye," which, as it may possibly be interesting to your correspondent h. p. w. r., i here transcribe: "mons^r.--vos dernières m'ont rendu tesmoignage de vostre bonn' affection en mon endroict. car je m'asseure que vous n'eussiez jamais recommendé vostre filz à ma protection si mon nom n'eust esté enregistré au nombre de vos meilleurs et plus affectionnés amys. je m'en vay, dans peu de jours, trouver sa ma^{té} en son retour d'escoce, et j'espere sur la fin du moys de ^{bre} de me rendre à ma maison à londres. sur ce temps-là, s'il vous plaira d'envoyer v^{re} filz vers moy, il sera le bien venu. son traittement rendra tesmoinage de l'estime que je fais de vostre amitié. de vous envoyer des nouvelles, ce seroyt d'envoyer _noctuas athenas_. tout est coÿ icy. la mort de concini a rendu la france heureuse. mais l'italie est en danger d'estre exposée à la tirannie d'espagne. je vous baise les mains, et suis, mons^r, vostre plus affectionné servit^r, rodolphe winwood. "de londres, le ^{me} de juillet." the year is not indicated, but the allusion to the death of concini (the celebrated maréchal d'ancre, who was assassinated by order of louis xiii.) proves that this letter was written in , and very shortly before the death of the writer, which occurred on the th of october in that year. m. charles huyghens, to whom the letter is addressed, was probably the father of constantine huyghens, the dutch poet-politician, who was secretary and privy counsellor to the stadtholders frederick henry, and william i. and ii., and who, not improbably, was the son here mentioned as recommended to the protection of sir r. winwood, and who, at that date, would have been twenty-one years of age. constantine was himself the father of the still more celebrated christian huyghens, the astronomer and mathematician. the seal on the letter, which is in excellent preservation, is a shield bearing the following arms: . and . a cross botonné, . and . three fleurs-de-lis. w. sneyd. denton. * * * * * trench on proverbs. (vol. viii., p. .) i hope that neither mr. trench nor his critic e. m. b. will consider me interfering by my making an observation or two on the correct rendering of the latter part of ps. cxxvii. . mr. trench is perfectly correct by supposing an ellipsis in the sentence alluded to, and the words [hebrew: ytn lydydw shn'] should have been translated, "he will give to his beloved whilst he [the beloved] is asleep." the translation of the authorised version of that sacred affirmation is unintelligible. mr. trench has the support of luther's version, which has the sentence thus: "seinen freunden giebt er es schlafend." the celebrated german jewish translator of the old testament agrees with mr. trench. the following is dr. zunz's rendering: "das giebt er seinem liebling im schlaf." { } the following is the hebrew annotation in the far-famed moses mendelsohn's edition of the book of psalms: [hebrew: ytnhw hqb-h lydydw 'shr hw' chpts bw b`wdnw yshn wbly mrchh:] "the holy and blessed one will give it to his beloved, in whom he delights, whilst he is yet asleep and without fatigue." i need not adduce passages in the hebrew psalter, where such ellipsises do occur. e. m. b. evidently knows his hebrew bible well, and a legion of examples will immediately occur to him. moses margoliouth. wybunbury, nantwich. if e. m. b. will refer to hengstenberg's _commentary on the psalms_, he will find that mr. trench is not without authority for his translation of ps. cxxvii. . i quote the passage from thompson and fairbairn's translation, in clark's _theological library_, vol. iii. p. .: "[hebrew: shn'] for [hebrew: shnh] is not the accusative, but the preposition is omitted, as is frequently the case with words that are in constant use. for example, [hebrew: bqr, `rb], to which [hebrew: shnh] here is poetically made like. the exposition _he gives sleep_, instead of _in sleep_, gives an unsuitable meaning. for the subject is not about the sleep, but the gain." c. i. e. winkfield. has the translation of ps. cxxvii. ., which mr. trench has adopted, the sanction of any version but that of luther? n. b. * * * * * on palindromes. (vol vii., p. . &c.) several of your correspondents have offered notes upon these singular compositions, and agricola de monte adduces "[greek: nipson anomÊmata, mÊ monan opsin]" as an example. as neither he nor mr. ellacombe give it as found _out_ of this country, allow me to say that it was to be seen on a benitier in the church of notre dame at paris. if it were not for the substitution of the adjective [greek: monan] for the adverb [greek: monon], the line would be one of the best specimens of the recurrent order. i notice that a correspondent (vol. vii., p. .) describes the palindrome as being universally _sotadic_. now, this term was only intended to apply to the early samples of this fanciful species of verse in latin, the production sotades, a roman poet, b.c. the lines given by boeoticus (vol. vi., p. .), "roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor?" owe their authorship to his degraded muse, and many others which would but pollute your pages. the hexameter "sacrum pingue," &c. given by [omega]. [phi]. (vol. vi., p. .), is to be found in misson's _voyage to italy_, copied from an old cloister wall of santa maria novella at florence. these ingenious verses are leoline[ ], and it is noted that "the sacrifice of cain was not a living victim." i have seen it stated that the english language affords but _one_ specimen of the palindrome, while the latin and greek have many. the late dr. winter hamilton, the author of _nugæ literariæ_, gives this solitary line, which at the best is awkwardly fashioned: "lewd did i live & evil did i dwel." is any other known? some years since i fell in with that which, after all, is the most wonderful effort of the kind; at least i can conceive of nothing at all equal to it. it is to be found in a poem called [greek: poiêma karkinekon], written in ancient greek by a modern greek called ambrosius, printed in vienna in , and dedicated to the emperor alexander. it contains lines, every one of which is literal palindrome. i have some hesitation in giving even a quotation; and yet, notwithstanding the forced character of some of the lines, your readers will not fail to admire the classic elegance of this remarkable composition. "[greek: eu elisabet, alla t' ebasileue.] [greek: elabe ta kaka, kai akaka katebale.] [greek: areta pêgase de sa gê patera.] [greek: sômati sô phene phene phôs itamôs.] [greek: su dê hêrôs hoios ô rhôs hoios hôrê hêdus:] [greek: noi su laôi alaôi alusion.] [greek: neme êthê laôi tôi alêthê emen.] [greek: su eso ethnei ekei entheos eus.] [greek: hô rhôs ele ti su lusiteles ôrô.] [greek: alla ta en nôi bale, labôn nea t' alla] [greek: sôtêr su eso ô elee thee leô, hos eus rhêtôs] [greek: son hade sôtêra idia rhêtôs edanos.]" charles reed. paternoster row. [footnote : leo was a poet of the twelfth century.] here is a palindrome that surrounds a figure of the sun in the mosaic pavement of sa. maria del fiori at florence: "en giro torte sol ciclos et rotor igne." could any of your correspondents translate this enigmatical line? mosaffur. e. i. club. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the claymore_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i believe there is no doubt that the true scottish claymore is the heavy two-handed sword, examples of which are preserved at dumbarton castle, and at { } hawthornden, and respectively attributed to william wallace, and to robert the bruce. the latter is a very remarkable specimen, the grip being formed either of the tusk of a walrus or of a small elephant, considerably curved; and the guard is constructed of two iron bars, terminated by trefoils, and intersecting each other at right angles. the blade is very ponderous, and shorter than usual in weapons of this description. the claymore of modern times is a broadsword, double or single-edged, and provided with a basket hilt of form peculiar to scotland, though the idea was probably derived from spain. swords with basket hilts were commonly used by the english cavalry in the reigns of charles i. and ii., but they are always of a different type from the scotch, though affording as complete a protection to the hand. i possess some half-dozen examples, some from gloucestershire, which are of the times of the civil wars. there are many swords said to have been the property of oliver cromwell; one is in the united service museum: all that i have seen are of this form. w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _temple lands in scotland_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent abredonensis, upon a reference to the undernoted publications, will find many interesting particulars as to these lands, viz.: . "templaria: papers relative to the history, privileges, and possessions of the scottish knights templars, and their successors the knights of saint john of jerusalem, &c. edited by james maidment. sm. to. - ." . "abstract of the charters and other papers recorded in the chartulary of torphichen, from to ; with an introductory notice and notes, by john black gracie. sm. to. ." . "notes of charters, &c., by the right hon. thomas earl of melrose, afterwards earl of haddington, to the vassals of the barony of drem, from to ; with an introductory notice, by john black gracie. sm. to. ." . "fragmenta scoto-monastica: memoir of what has been already done, and what materials exist, towards the formation of a scottish monasticon; to which are appended, sundry new instances of goodly matter, by a delver in antiquity (w. b. turnbull). vo. ." the "introductory notices" prefixed to nos. . and . give full particulars of the various sales and purchases of the superioritus, &c., by mr. gracie and others. t. g. s. edinburgh. _lewis and sewell families_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent may obtain, in respect to the lewis family, much information in the _life and correspondence of matthew gregory lewis_, two vols. vo., london, , particularly at pp. . and . of vol. i. he will there find that matthew lewis, esq., who was deputy secretary of war for twenty-six years, married frances sewell, youngest daughter of the right hon. sir thos. sewell; that lieut.-gen. whitelocke and gen. sir thos. brownrigg, g.c.b., married the other two daughters of sir thos. sewell; and that matthew gregory lewis, who wrote the _castle spectre_, &c., was son of matthew lewis, esq., the deputy secretary of war. with regard to the sewell family. the right hon. sir thos. sewell, who was master of the rolls for twenty years, died in ; and there is, i believe, a very correct account of his family connexions in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , p. . he died intestate, and his eldest son, thos. bailey heath sewell, succeeded to his estate of ottershaw and the manors of stannards and fords in chobham, surrey. this gentleman was a magistrate for the county of surrey; and in the spring of , when this country was threatened by both foreign and domestic enemies, he became lieut.-col. of a regiment of light dragoons (fencibles), raised in surrey (at richmond) by george lord onslow, lord-lieut. of the county, in which he served six years, till the government not requiring their services they were disbanded. lieut.-col. sewell died in , and was buried in the church at chobham, where there is a monument to his memory. of his family we have not farther knowledge than that he had a son, thos. bermingham heath sewell, who was a cornet in the nd light dragoons, and lieutenant in the th dragoon guards during the war of the french revolution. the _history and antiquities of surrey_, by the rev. owen manning and wm. bray, in three vols. folio, , has in the third volume much concerning the sewell family. d. n. _pharaoh's ring_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the mention of the ring conferred on, or confided to, joseph by the pharaoh of egypt, as stated in genesis xli. ., reminds me of a ring being shown to me some years ago, which was believed by its then possessor to be the identical ring, or at all events a signet ring of the very pharaoh who promoted joseph to the chief office in his kingdom. it was a ring of pure gold, running through a hole in a massive wedge of gold, about the size, as far as i recollect, of a moderate-sized walnut. on one of its faces was cut the hieroglyphic (inclosed as usual with the names of egyptian kings in an oval), as i was assured, of the king, the friend of joseph, as was generally supposed by the readers of hieroglyphics: i pretend to no knowledge of them myself. the possessor of the ring, who showed it to me, was mr. sams, one of the society of friends, a bookseller at darlington. since railroads have { } whirled me past that town, i have lost my means of periodical communication with him. he had, not long before i saw him last, returned from the holy land, where he assured me he had visited every spot that could be identified mentioned in the new testament. he had also been some time in egypt, and had brought home a great quantity of egyptian antiquities. the lesser ones he had in the first floor of a carver and gilder's in great queen street, between the freemason's tavern and lincoln's inn fields. he was then anxious that these should be bought for the british museum, and i think that at his request i wrote to the earl of aberdeen to mention this, and that the answer was that there was already so large a collection in the museum, that more, as they must most of them be duplicates, would be of no use. what has become of them i know not. i was told that a number of his larger antiquities, stone and marble, were for some time placed on waterloo bridge, that being a very quiet place, where people might view them without interruption. i did not happen to be in london that season, and therefore did not see them. j. ss. [the whole of mr. sams's collection of egyptian antiquities were bought by joseph mayer, esq, f.s.a., of liverpool, about two years ago, to add to his previous assemblage of similar monuments, and are placed by him, with a very valuable collection of mediæval antiquities, in the egyptian museum, . colquitt street, liverpool. the small charge of sixpence for each visit opens the entire collection to the public; but it is a lamentable fact, that the curiosity or patriotism of the inhabitants does not cover mr. mayer's expenses by a large annual amount.] _"could we with ink,"_ &c. (vol. iii., pp. . . . .).--have not those correspondents who have answered this query overlooked the concluding verse of the gospel according to st. john, of which it appears to me that the lines in question are an amplification without improvement? mahomet, it is well known, imitated many parts of the bible in the koran. e. g. r. _"populus vult decipi"_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii, p. .).--as an illustration of this expression the following anecdote is given. when my father was about thirteen years old, being in london he was, on one occasion in company with dr. wolcot (peter pindar), who, calling him to him, laid his hand on his head, and said, "my little boy, i want you to remember one thing as long as you live--the people of this world love to be cheated." uneda. philadelphia. _red hair_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--it is frequently stated that the turks are admirers of red hair. i have lately met with a somewhat different account, namely, that the turks consider red-haired persons who are fat as "first-rate" people, but those who are lean as the very reverse. m. e. philadelphia. _"land of green ginger"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the authority which i am able to afford mr. richardson is simply the tradition of the place, which i had so frequently heard that i could scarcely doubt the truth of it; this i intended to be deduced, when i said i did not recollect that the local histories gave any derivation, and that it was the one "generally received by the inhabitants." to any mind the solution brought forward by mr. buckton (vol. viii., p. .) carries the greatest amount of probability with it of any yet proposed; and should any of your correspondents have the opportunity of looking through the unpublished history of hull by the rev. de la pryme, "collected out of all the records, charters, deeds, mayors' letters, &c. of the said town," and now placed amongst the lansdowne mss. in the british museum, i am inclined to think it is very likely it would be substantiated. in mr. frost's valuable work on the town, which by the way proves it to have been "a place of opulence and note at a period long anterior to the date assigned to its existence by historians," he differs materially from mr. richardson, in considering that hollar's plate was "engraved about the year ," not in as he states. there is also another which appeared between the time of hollar and gent, in meisner's _libellus novus politicus emblematicus civitatum_, published in , which though not "remarkable for accuracy of design," is well worthy of notice. it bears the title "hull in engellandt," and also the following curious inscriptions, which i copy for the interest of your readers: "carcer nonnunquam firmum propugnaculum. noctua clausa manet in carcere firmo; insidias volucrum vetat enim cavea." "wann die eull eingesperret ist, schadet ihr nicht der feinde list, der kefig ist ihr nicht unnütz, sondern gibt wieder ihr feind schütz." these lines refer to a curious engraving on the left side of the plan, representing an owl imprisoned in a cage with a quantity of birds about, endeavouring to assail it. r. w. elliot. clifton. _"i put a spoke in his wheel"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--does not this phrase mean simply interference, either for good or evil? i fancy the metaphor is really derived from putting the bars, or spokes, into a capstan or some such machine. a number { } of persons being employed, another puts his spoke in, and assists or hinders them as he pleases. can a _stick_ be considered a _spoke_ before it is put into its place, in the nave of the wheel at least? we often hear the observation, "then i put in my spoke," &c. in the relation of an animated discussion. may i venture to suggest a pun on the preterite of the verb _to speak_? g. william skyring. _pagoda_ (vol. viii., p. .).--may not the word _pagoda_ be a corruption of the sanscrit word "bhagovata," sacred? bishop of brechin. dundee. _passage in virgil_ (vol. viii., p. .).--on this part of johnson's letter, mr. croker observes: "i confess i do not see the object, nor indeed the meaning, of this allusion." the allusion is to eclogue viii. .: "nunc scio, quid sit amor: duris in cotibus illum aut tmarus, aut rhodope, aut extremi garamantes, nec generis nostri puerum nec sanguinis, edunt." as the shepherd in virgil had found love to be not the gentle being he expected, but of a savage race--"a native of the rocks"--so had johnson found a patron to be "one who looked with unconcern on a man struggling for life," instead of a friend to render assistance. supposing johnson's estimate of lord chesterfield's conduct to be correct, i cannot help thinking the allusion to be eminently happy. j. kelway. _to speak in lutestring_ (vol. viii., p. .).--_lutestring_, or _lustring_, is a particular kind of silk, and so is _taffeta_; and thus the phrase may be explained by shakspeare's _love's labour's lost_, act v. sc. .: "taffeta phrases, silken terms precise." junius intended to ridicule such kind of affectation by persons who were, or ought to have been, grave senators. j. kelway. _dog latin_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a facetious friend, alluding particularly to law latin with its curious abbreviations, says that it is so called because it is _cur-tailed_! j. kelway. _longevity_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i recollect seeing an old sailor in the town of larne, county antrim, ireland, in the year - , of the name of philip lake, aged , who was said to have been a cabin boy in lord anson's vessel, in one of his voyages. if any of your correspondents can furnish the registry of his death it would be interesting. fras. crossley. mary simondson, familiarly known as "aunt polly," died recently at her cottage near shippensburg, pennsylvania, at the advanced age of years. m. e. philadelphia. _definition of a proverb_ (vol. viii., p. .)--c. m. ingleby inquires the source of the following definition of proverb, viz. "the wisdom of many, and the wit of one." "to lord john russell are we indebted for that admirable definition of a proverb: 'the wisdom,' &c."--see notes to rogers's _italy_, . the date is added since, in an edition of ; this remark makes no part of the note on the line, "if but a sinew vibrate," &c. q. t. _ireland a bastinadoed elephant_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i venture to suggest whether this expression may not be something more than a bull, as [old english w]. inclines to call it. if any one will look at a physical map of ireland at some little distance, a very slight exercise of the "mind's eye" will serve to call up in the figure of that island the shape of a creature kneeling and in pain. lough foyle forms the eye; the coast from bengore head to benmore head the nose or snout; belfast lough the mouth; the coast below donaghdee the chin; county wexford the knees. the rest of the outline, according to the imagination of the observer, may assume that of an elephant, or something, perhaps, "very like a whale." some fanciful observation of this kind may have suggested the otherwise unaccountable simile to curran. polonius. _ennui_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--the meaning of this admirable word is best gleaned from its root, viz. _nuit_. it is somewhat equivalent to the greek [greek: agrupnia], and signifies the sense of weariness with doing nothing. it gives the lie to the _dolce far niente_: vide ps. cxxx. ., and job vii. , . _ennui_ is closely allied to our _annoy_ or _annoyance_, through _noceo_, _noxa_, and their probable root _nox_, [greek: nux.] it is precisely equivalent to the latin _tædium_, which may be derived from _tæda_, which in the plural means a torch, and through that word may have a side reference to night, the _tædarum horæ_: cf. ps. xci. . the subject is worthy of strict inquiry on the part of comparative philologists. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _belle sauvage_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your philadelphian correspondent asks whether blue bell, blue anchor, &c., are corruptions of some other emblem, such as that which in london transformed _la belle sauvage_ into the _bell savage_. this is not the fact. the bell savage on ludgate hill was originally kept by one isabella savage. a cotemporary historian, writing of one of the leaders in a rebellion in the days of queen { } mary, says, "he then sat down upon a stone opposite to bell savage's inn." james edmeston. homerton. _history of york_ (vol. viii., p. .).--there is a _history of york_, published in by wilson and spence, described to be an abridgment of drake, which is in three volumes, and may be a later edition of the same work to which mr. elliot alludes. f. t. m. . cannon street. _encore_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if a. a. knows the meaning of "this french word" i am a little surprised at his query. perhaps he means to ask why a french word should be used? it probably was first used at concerts and operas (_ancora_ in italian), where the performers and even the performances were foreign, and so became the fashion. pope says: "to the same notes thy sons shall hum or snore, and all thy yawning daughters cry _encore_." it was not, i think, in use so early as shakspeare's time, who makes bottom anticipate that "the duke shall say, let him roar _again_, let him roar _again_," where the jingle of "encore" would have been obvious. it is somewhat curious that where we use the french word _encore_, the french audiences use the latin word "bis." c. _"hauling over the coals"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this saying i conceive to have arisen from the custom prevalent in olden times, when every baron was supreme in his own castle, of extracting money from the unfortunate jews who happened to fall into his power, by means of torture. the most usual _modus operandi_ seems to have been roasting the victims over a slow fire. every one remembers the treatment of isaac of york by front-de-boeuf, so vividly described in sir walter scott's _ivanhoe_. although the practice has long been numbered amongst the things that were, the fact of its having once obtained is handed down to posterity in this saying, as when any one is taken to task for his shortcomings he is _hauled over the coals_. john p. stilwell. dorking. _the words "cash" and "mob"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. fox was right: _mob_ is not genuine english--teste dean swift! a lady who was well known to swift used to say that the greatest scrape she ever got into with him was by using the word _mob_. "why do you say that?" he exclaimed in a passion; "never let me hear you say that again!" "why, sir," she asked, "what am i to say?" "the rabble, to be sure," answered he. (sir w. scott's _works of swift_, vol. ix.) the word appears to have been introduced about the commencement of the eighteenth century, by a process to which we owe many other and similar barbarisms--"beauties introduced to supply the want of wit, sense, humour, and learning." in a paper of _the tatler_, no. ., much in the spirit, and possibly from the pen, of swift, complaint is made of the "abbreviations and elisions" which had recently been introduced, and a humorous example of them is given. by these, the author adds, "consonants of most obdurate sound are joined together without one softening vowel to intervene; and all this only to make one syllable of two, directly contrary to the example of the greeks and romans, and a natural tendency towards relapsing into barbarity. and this is still more visible in the next refinement, which consists in pronouncing the first syllable in a word that has many, and dismissing the rest. thus we cram one syllable and cut off the rest, as the owl fattened her mice after she had bit off their legs to prevent their running away; and if ours be the same reason for maiming our words, it will certainly answer the end, for i am sure no other nation will desire to borrow them." i have only to add (see _blackwood's magazine_, vol. ii., ) that "mob is _mobile_." _cash_ appears to be from the french _caisse_, a chest, cash. j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _cash_ is from the french _caisse_, the moneychest where _specie_ was kept. so _caissier_ became "cashier," and _specie_ "cash." _mob_, swift tells us (_polite conversation_, introd.), is a contraction for _mobile_. clericus rusticus has not, i fear, johnson's _dictionary_, where both these derivations are given. c. _ampers &._ (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. viii. _passim_).--mr. ingleby may well ask what "and-per-se-and" can mean. the fact is, this is itself a corruption. in old spelling-books, after the twenty-six letters it was customary to print the two following symbols with their explanations &c. et cetera. & (per se), and. children were taught to read the above "et-cee, et cetera" and "et-per-se, and." such, at least, was the case in a dublin school, some ninety years ago, where my informant, now many years deceased, was educated. as _se_ was not there pronounced like _cee_, but like _say_, there was no danger of confounding the two names. in england, where a different pronunciation of the latin word prevailed, such confusion would be apt to occur; and hence, probably, english teachers substituted _and_ for _et_; from which, in course of time, the other corruptions mentioned by mr. lower were developed. e. h. d. d. { } _the keate family, of the hoo, herts_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following account is taken from burke's _extinct and dormant baronetcies of england_, lond. : "william keate of hagbourne, in berkshire, left five sons. the second son, ralph keate of whaddon, in wiltshire, married anne, daughter of john clarke, esq., of ardington, in berkshire, and had with other issue gilbert keate, esq., of london, who married, first, john, daughter of niclolas turbervile, esq. of crediton, in devon, and, secondly, elizabeth, daughter of william armstrong, esq., of remston, notts, and by her had another son, jonathan keate, esq., of the hoo, in the county of hertford, which estate he acquired with his first wife, susannah daughter of william, and sister and heir of thomas hoo, of the hoo and kimpton, both in hertfordshire. mr. keate was created a baronet by king charles ii., th june, . sir jonathan was sheriff of the county of hertford, charles ii., and knight of the same shire in parliament, in the thirtieth of the same reign. by his first wife he had issue, gilbert hoo, his heir, jonathan, susan, elizabeth: all died _sine prole_. he married, secondly, susanna, daughter of john orlebar, citizen of london, but by her had no issue. he died th september, . the baronetcy became extinct in the person of sir william keate, d.d., who died th march, ." [greek: halieus] _hour-glasses_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the church of wiggenhall, st. mary the virgin, the iron frame of an hour-glass, affixed to a wooden stand, immediately opposite the pulpit, still remains. w. b. d. an iron hour-glass stand still remains near the pulpit in the church of ashby-folville, in this county (leicester). it is fixed to the wall containing the staircase to the rood-loft. in the old church of anstey, recently pulled down and rebuilt, was an ancient hour-glass stand, consisting of a pillar of oak, about four feet high, the top of which is surmounted by a light framework of wood for the reception of the hour-glass. this specimen is preserved in the museum of this town. william kelly. _marriage of cousins_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if there is any foundation for such a statement as is contained in the query of j. p. relative to the marriage of cousins, it consists rather in the marriage of first cousins once removed than of second cousins. it will be seen that the latter relationship belongs to the same generation, but it is not so with the former, which partakes more of the nature of uncle and aunt with nephew and niece. w. sloane sloane-evans. cornworthy vicarage, totnes. there is no legal foundation for the statement that marriage with a second cousin is valid, and with a first cousin invalid. the following quotation from burn's _ecc. law_ by phill., vol. ii. p. ., will probably be considered to explain the matter: "by the civil law first cousins are allowed to marry, but by the canon law both first and second cousins (in order to make dispensations more frequent and necessary) are prohibited; therefore, when it is vulgarly said that first cousins may marry, but second cousins cannot, probably this arose by confounding these two laws, for first cousins may marry by the civil law, and second cousins cannot by the canon law." j. g. exon. _waugh, bishop of carlisle_ (vol. viii., p. .), was the son of thomas and margaret waugh, of appleby, in westmoreland; born there nd february, ; educated at appleby school; matriculated at queen's college, oxford, th of april, ; took his degree of m.a. the th of july, ; and elected fellow on the th of january following. he married elizabeth, widow of the rev. mr. fiddes, rector of bridewell, in oxford, who was the only surviving child of john machen, esq., of ----, in the county of oxford, by whom he left son, john waugh, afterwards chancellor of the diocese of carlisle. karleolensis. _marriage service_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have been many years in holy orders, and have always received the fee together with the ring on the prayer book, as directed in the rubric. the ring i return to the bridegroom to place upon the bride's finger; the fee (or offering) i deposit in the offertory basin, held for that purpose by the clerk, and on going to the chancel (the marriage taking place in the body of the church) lay it on the altar. note.--in the parish in which i first ministered, the marriages had always been commenced in the body of the church, as directed; in the second parish in which i ministered, that custom had only been broken by the present incumbent a few years since. a rector. i have seen the rubric carried out in this particular, in st. mary's church, kidderminster. cuthbert bede, b.a. _hoby, family of_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in answer to mr. j. b. whitborne, i beg to state that the rev. sir philip hoby, baronet, was in the early part of the last century chancellor of the archdiocese of dublin. he was an intimate friend of archbishop cobbe, and there is a picture of him in canonicals at newbridge, co. dublin. t. c. _cambridge graduates_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent will find a list of b.a.'s of cambridge university from the years to in add. ms. ., british museum. glaius. { } _"i own i like not," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--the lines-- "i own like not johnson's turgid style," &c. are by peter pindar, whose works i have not, and so cannot give an exact reference. the extract containing them will be found in chambers' _cyclopædia of english literature_, vol. ii. p. . p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _"topsy turvy"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this is ludicrously derived, in _roland cashel_, p. ., from _top side t'other way_. p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _"when the maggot bites"_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--another illustration of this phrase may be found in swift (introduction to _tale of a tub_): "the two principal qualifications (says he) of a fanatic preacher are, his inward light, and his head full of _maggots_; and the two different fates of his writings are to be burnt or worm-eaten." the word _maggot_ is sometimes used for the whim or crotchet itself; thus butler: "to reconcile our late dissenters, our brethren though by different venters; unite them and their different _maggots_, as long and short sticks are in faggots."--_hudibras_, part iii. canto . so also it is used by samuel wesley (father of the founder of the methodists) in his rare and facetious volume entitled _maggots, or poems on several subjects never before handled_, mo., . william bates. birmingham. _"salus populi," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--the saying "salus populi supreme lex" is borrowed from the model law of cicero, in his treatise _de legibus_, iii. . it is made one of the duties of the consuls, the supreme magistrates, to regard the safety of the state as their highest rule of conduct: "regio imperio duo sunto; iique præeundo, judicando, consulendo prætores, judices, consules appellantor. militiæ summum jus habento, nemini parento: _ollis salus populi suprema lex esto_." the allusion appears to be to the formula used by the senate for conferring supreme power on the consuls in cases of emergency: "dare operam, ne quid respublica detrimenti caperet." (see sallust, _bell. cat._ c. .) l. aristotle regards the safety of the citizens as the great end of law (see his _ethics_, b. i. ch. .); and cicero (_de finibus_, lib. ii. c. .) lays down a similar principle. b. h. c. _theodoro paleologus_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the inscription referred to was printed in _archæologia_, vol. xviii., and with some account of the paleologi to which a querist was referred in "n. & q.," vol. v., p. . (see also pp. . .). it is astonishing how much will be found in that "californian mine," if the most excellent indices of the several volumes are only consulted. your correspondent could in the present case have pointed out the errors of the inscription already in print had the indices to "n. & q." attracted him. j. _worm in books_ (vol. viii., p. ).--in reply to alethes i beg to acquaint him that i have tried various means for destroying the worm in old books and mss., and the most effectual has been the chips of russia leather; indeed, in but one instance have i known them fail. newburiensis. _the porter family_ (vol. viii., p. .).-- . the reason of the word _agincourt_ being placed above the inscription in bristol cathedral is, that the porter family were descendants of sir william porter who fought at agincourt. . charles lempriere porter was the son of dr. porter. . this family was descended from endymion porter of classic and loyal memory.[ ] j. r. w. bristol. [footnote : [the biographical notices of endymion porter are extremely scanty. can our correspondent furnish any particulars respecting him?--ed.]] _buckle_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this word is in common use by the artizans who work upon sheet-iron, to denote the curl which a sheet of iron acquires in passing through a pair of rollers. the word has been derived from the french _boucle_, a curl. the shoe-buckle has got its name from its curved form. in the days in which every man in this country, who was in easy circumstances, wore a wig, it was well known that to put a wig in _buckle_, meant to arrange its curls in due form. "when hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend the wretch, who living sav'd a candle's end: should'ring god's altar a vile image stands, belies his features, nay, extends his hands; that live-long wig which gorgon's self might own, eternal _buckle_ takes in parian stone."--pope, _moral essays_, epistle iii. n. w. s. _the "forlorn hope"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this is no quotation; but the expression arose in the army from its leader or captain, who, being often a disappointed man, or one indifferent to consequences, now ran the "forlorn hope" either of ending his days or obtaining a tomb in westminster abbey. from the captain, after a time, the term descended to all the little gallant band. in no part of our community will you find such { } meaning expressions (often very slang ones) used as in the army. a lady, without hearing anything to shock "ears polite," might listen to the talk of a mess table, and be unable to understand clearly in what the conversation consisted. "he is gone to the bad"--meaning, he is ruined. "a wigging from the office" (a very favourite expression)--a reprimand from the colonel. "wigging" naturally arising from tearing the hair in anger or sorrow, and the office of course substituting the place from whence it comes for the person who sent it. besides may others, _quæ nunc_, &c. a dragoon. _nightingale and thorn_ (vol. iv., p. ., &c.).-- "if i had but a pottle of sack, like a sharp prickle, to knock my nose against when i am nodding, i should sing like a nightingale."--fletcher, _the lover's progress_, act iii. sc. . w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _burial in unconsecrated ground_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--the following curious entry occurs in the parish register of pimperne, dorset: "anno . vicesimo quinto octobris. "peregrinus quidam tempore pestes in communi campo mortuus eodem loco quo inventus sepultus." there was a pestilence in england in . in sixteen thousand persons died of the plague at lyons. w. e. i do not know whether the case recorded in _london labour and the london poor_, vol. i. p. .--by the way, is that work ever to be completed, and how far has it gone?--of a man buried at the top of a house at foot's cray, in kent, has been noticed by any correspondent. p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _sangaree_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i take it that the word ought to be spelled _sansgris_, being derived from the french words _sans_, without, and _gris_, tipsy, meaning a beverage that would not make tipsy. i have been a good deal in the french island of martinique, and they use the term frequently in this sense as applied to a beverage made of white wine ("vin de grave"), syrup, water, and nutmeg with a small piece of fresh lime-skin hanging over the edge of the glass. a native of martinique gave me this as the derivation of the word. the beverage ought not to be stirred after the nutmeg is put in it, as the fastidious say it would spoil the flavour. t. b. _point of etiquette_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the title _miss_, without the christian name, belongs to the eldest unmarried daughter of the representative of the family only. if he have lost his own children, his brother is _heir presumptive_ merely to the family honours; and can neither assume nor give to his daughter the titles to which they are only expectants. the matter becomes evident, if you test the rule by a peerage instead of a squirage. even the eldest daughter of a baronet or landed gentleman loses her title of miss, when her brother succeeds to the representation, provided he have a daughter to claim the title. p. p. _etymology of "monk" and "till," &c._ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--will you allow me one word on these two cases? _monk_ is manifestly a greek formative from [greek: monos], and denotes a _solitaire_. the proposed derivation of _till_, from _to-while_, is not new; but still clearly mistaken, inasmuch as the word _till_ is found in scotch, swedish, norwegian, danish, and others of the family. a word thus compounded would be of less general use. besides which, _to-while_ would scarcely produce such a form as _till_; it would rather change the _t_ into an aspirate, which would appear as _th_. b. h. c. _forrell_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent t. hughes derives this word (applied in devonshire, as he tells us, to the cover of book) from _forrell_, "a term still used by the trade to signify an inferior kind of vellum." is it not more natural to suppose it to be the same word which the french have made _fourreau_, a cover or sheath? (see du cange, vv. _forellus, forrellus_.) j. h. t. dublin. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii. _passim_).--there is a library at wimborne minster, in the collegiate church, which, on my visit two years since, appeared to contain some valuable volumes, and was neglected and in very bad condition. [theta]. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. dr. lardner has just published the third and concluding course of his _handbook of natural philosophy and astronomy_. the subjects treated of in the present volume are _meteorology and astronomy_, and they are illustrated with thirty-seven lithographic plates, and upwards of two hundred engravings on wood. the work was undertaken with the very popular object of supplying the means of acquiring a competent knowledge of the methods and results of the physical sciences, without any unusual acquaintance with mathematics; and in the methods of demonstration and illustration of this series of treatises, that principle has as far as possible, been adopted so that by means of the present volumes, persons who have not even a superficial knowledge of geometry and algebra may yet acquire with great facility a considerable acquaintance with the sciences of which they treat. the present volume contains a very elaborate index, which, { } combined with the analytical tables of contents, give to the entire series all the usefulness of a compendious encyclopædia of natural philosophy and astronomy. _willich's income tax tables, fourth edition, - _, price _one florin_, show at one view the amount of duty at the various rates fixed by the late act, and are accompanied by a variety of statistical information, tending to show that the wealth of the nation has increased in as great, if not a greater, ratio, than the population. the price at which the work is issued serves to lead our attention to a little pamphlet, published at sixpence, or _mils_, by mr. robert mears, entitled _decimal coinage tables for simplifying and facilitating the introduction of the proposed new coinage_. _the ecclesiastical history of england and normandy by ordericus vitalis, translated with notes, and the introduction of guizot_, by thomas forrester, m.a. vol. i., is a new volume of the interesting series of translations of the early _church historians of england_ publishing by mr. bohn, to which we propose calling the especial attention of our readers at some future period. the importance which our french neighbours attach to the writings of ordericus vitalis is shown by the fact that the french historical society, after publishing a translation, are now issuing an edition of the original text, from a laborious collation of the best mss., under the editorship of m. auguste le prevost. the present translation is based upon that edition. we have on several occasions called the attention of our readers to the collection of proclamations in the possession of the society of antiquaries, and to the endeavours making by that learned body to secure as complete a series as possible of these valuable but hitherto little used materials for english history. some contributions towards this object have, we believe, been the results of our notices; and we have now to state, that at the opening meeting on thursday the th, it was announced that william salt, esq., f.s.a., had presented to the library two volumes of proclamations of the reigns of elizabeth and james i. great as is the pecuniary value of this munificent donation, it is far exceeded by its importance in filling up a large gap in the existing series. a _catalogue raisonnée_ of the whole collection is in preparation by robert lemon, esq., of the state paper office, a gentleman well qualified for the task, and its early publication may, we trust, be received as an evidence of the beneficial influence which the society of antiquaries is hereafter destined to exercise on the historical literature of england. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. whittingham's poets. illustrated edition. ford's handbook of spain. st edition. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the hive. vols. london, . the friends. vols. london, . london magazine. to . wanted by _j. dinsdale_, leamington. * * * * * dillwin's british coniferÆ. to. coloured plates. london. . (scioppius) scaliger hypobolymÆus, h.e. elenchus epistolæ josephi burdonis pseudo-scaligeri de vetustate et splendore gestis scaligeri. to. mainz, . wanted by _williams and norgate_, henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * boydell's shakspeare, with the subscriber's medal accompanying it. carpenter's general and comparative physiology. vo. barretti's english and italian dictionary. vols. vo. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. * * * * * astro-meteorologica: or aphorisms and discourses of the bodies celestial, by the rev. john goad. london. folio. . astro-meteorologica sana. by the same author. . leyden's poetical works. vol. vo. london. . wanted by _rev. w. ewart_, pimperne, blandford, dorset. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _in consequence of the vast number of_ replies to minor queries _waiting for insertion, we have been obliged to postpone many interesting papers which are in type and our_ notices to correspondents. "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half_.--_copies are being made up and may be had by order._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d., cloth. elementary mechanics. designed chiefly for the use of schools. by harvey goodwin, m.a., late fellow and mathematical lecturer of gonville and caius college. cambridge: john deighton. london: george bell. * * * * * just ready. fly-leaves, or scraps and sketches: literary, bibliographical, and miscellaneous: consisting of essays on antiquarian and bibliographical subjects, memorials of old london, choice specimens of ancient poetry, chiefly from unpublished mss.; with numerous bibliographical notices of rare books reprinted from "miller's london librarian", in a neat volume. fcap. vo. cloth, lettered, price s. d. john miller, . chandos street. * * * * * dowsing fork or divining rod. just published, price s., by post s. d. a narrative of practical experiments, proving to demonstration the discovery of water, coal, and minerals by means of the dowsing fork or divining rod, as successfully practised in somersetshire and other places. collected, reported, and edited by francis phippen, thirty-four years an occasional contributor to the london "observer" newspaper. london: robert hardwicke, , carey street, lincoln's inn. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d. [greek: dÊmosthenous o peri tÊs parapresbeias logos.] demosthenis de falsa legatione. by richard shilleto, m.a., trinity college, cambridge. second edition, carefully revised. cambridge: john deighton. london: george bell. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d. an elementary treatise on plane co-ordinate geometry. by rev. w. scott, m.a., mathematical lecturer and late fellow of sidney sussex college, cambridge. cambridge: john deighton. london: george bell, fleet street. * * * * * { } now ready, royal mo., pp. ., with a plan showing the localities of the london libraries, and ground plan of the libraries in the british museum, cloth, s. handbook to the library of the british museum: containing a brief history of its formation, and of the various collections of which it is composed: descriptions of the catalogues in present use; classed lists of the manuscripts, &c.; and a variety of information indispensable for the "readers" at that institution. with some account of the principal libraries in london. by richard sims, of the department of manuscripts; compiler of the "index to the heralds' visitations." london: john russell smith, . soho square. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each. through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * just published, price s. the stereoscope, considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision. an essay, by c. mansfield ingleby, m.a., of trinity college, cambridge. london: walton & maberley, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. cambridge: j. deighton. also, by the same author, price s., remarks on some of sir william hamilton's notes on the works of dr. thomas reid. "nothing in my opinion can be more cogent than your refutation of m. jobert."--_sir w. hamilton._ london: john w. parker, west strand. cambridge: e. johnson. birmingham: h. c. langbridge. * * * * * views in london. stereoscopes and stereoscopic pictures. bland & long, . fleet street. opticians and philosophical instrument makers, invite attention to their stock of stereoscopes of all kinds, and in various materials: also, to their new and extensive assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same, in daguerreotype, on paper, and transparent albumen pictures on glass, including views of london, paris, the rhine, windsor, &c. these pictures, for minuteness of detail and truth in the representation of natural objects, are unrivalled. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. *** "familiar explanation of the phenomena" sent on application. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes. best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * retrospective review (new series), consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious useful and valuable old books. vol. i. pp. . cloth, s. d. part v., price s. d., published quarterly, is now ready. john russell smith, . soho square. * * * * * bohn's british classics.--under the above title is this day commenced a new series (which has long been in preparation), uniform in size and price with the standard library. it will comprise full and complete editions of the great authors of our literature, including especially those which at present exist only in scarce or expensive editions. among the early volumes will be gibbon's decline and fall of the roman empire, with variorum notes, comprising not only all those given in the original quarto edition, but also the notes of guizot, wenck, and other foreign editors, as well as whatever has been derived from the later researches of niebuhr, layard, &c. a portrait of the author and plates, whenever essential as illustrations, will be added, on the same plan as the recent edition of southey's cowper published in the standard library. although it is deemed expedient to enter on a new series under the title of british classics, to enable the publisher, without farther delay, to fructify a long cherished scheme, the standard, scientific, antiquarian, illustrated, classical, philological, and ecclesiastical libraries will be continued with undiminished attention. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for december. gibbon's roman empire, with variorum notes, including, in addition to the author's own, those of guizot, wenck, and other foreign scholars. edited by an english churchman. in six volumes. vol. i. price s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's standard library for december. danubian provinces.--ranke's history of servia, and the servian revolution. with an account of the insurrection in bosnia. translated by mrs. kerr. to which is added, the slave provinces of turkey, from the french of cyprien robert, and other recent sources. post vo., cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, . , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for december. justin, cornelius nepos, and eutropius. literally translated, with notes and a general index to the three authors. by the rev. j. s. watson, m.a. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for december. pictorial handbook of london, comprising its antiquities, architecture, arts, manufacture, trade, social, literary, and scientific institutions, exhibitions, and galleries of art; together with some account of the principal suburbs and most attractive localities. illustrated with engravings on wood, by branston, jewitt, and others; and a very large and complete map, engraved by lowry. post vo. cloth. s. this volume, of which the former editions were published by mr. weale at s., contains above pages, and is undoubtedly the cheapest five shilling volume ever produced. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * { } photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. , class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * solicitors' & general life assurance society, . chancery lane, london. _subscribed capital, one million._ this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * { } on thursday, the th of january, , will be published, price twopence, the first of a series of works, entitled orr's circle of the sciences; consisting of short treatises on the fundamental principles and characteristic features of scientific and practical pursuits. with numerous illustrative engravings on wood. messrs. w. s. orr & co. have to announce the early publication, in weekly numbers, of a series of short treatises, which will include every useful and attractive section of human acquirement, whether scientific, practical, or descriptive; and which will be issued at a price so moderate as to place them within the reach of every member of the community. although every subject will be treated in a philosophic spirit, yet it will not be forgotten that the work is designed for popular use; and therefore the editor and the various contributors will endeavour to clothe the whole series, and the scientific treatises especially, in simple language, so as to render them easy introductions to practical studies. to carry the design into effect, assistance has been obtained from eminent scientific men: and the editor has the satisfaction of announcing among the contributors to the first year's volumes the names of professor owen, of the royal college of surgeons; sir william jardine, bart.; professors ansted and tennant, of king's college; the rev. walter mitchell, of st. bartholomew's hospital; and professor young, examiner in mathematics at the university of london. every confidence, therefore, may be placed in the publication, as regards its soundness of principle, its extent of information, and its accordance with the results of the latest researches and discoveries. during the first year either three or four volumes will be completed. the respective subjects will not be issued in consecutive weeks; but the paging of each series will be continuous:--so that the whole, when collected at the end of the year, will form separate volumes, with title-pages, prefaces, tables of contents, indices--each volume being a distinct work on natural philosophy, on the two great divisions of natural history, and on the mathematical sciences. the "circle of the sciences" will thus, by the aid of copious analytical indices, combine all the advantages of an encyclopædia, as a work of reference, without the irksome repetition which alphabetical arrangements necessarily involve. * * * * * on the st of december an introductory treatise, "on the nature, connection, and uses of the great departments of human knowledge." will be issued; but the publication of the work itself will not commence until january, . "orr's circle of sciences" can be supplied by every bookseller in the kingdom; of whom a detailed prospectus, containing specimen page and list of subjects, may be had. london: w. s. orr & co., amen corner, paternoster row. * * * * * just published, sewed in wrapper, price s. the british almanac for . the companion to the almanac. sewed in wrapper, price s. d. the british almanac and the companion together, in cloth boards, lettered, price s. contents of companion for . part i. . on a decimal coinage. . census of great britain, . . baths and wash-houses. . financial improvement. . new customs tariff. . ireland: in prospects. . fluctuations of the funds. . average prices of corn, &c. part ii. . abstracts of public acts. . abstracts of parliamentary documents. . chronicle of the session of parliament. . private bills of the session of parliament. . public petitions, - . . public improvements, with woodcuts. . chronicle of occurrences, - . . necrological table of literary men, artists, &c. london: charles knight, . fleet street; and sold by all booksellers in the united kingdom. * * * * * now ready, the second edition, in vo., price s. d. grounds for laying before the council of king's college, london, certain statements contained in a recent publication, entitled theological essays, by the rev. f. d. maurice, a.m., professor of divinity in king's college. by r. w. jelf, d.d., principal of the college. oxford & london: john henry parker. london: rivingtons, waterloo place. * * * * * on the th of november was published, part i. for advent, price s., second series of sermons for the christian seasons. the first series is now complete, in four volumes, fcap. vo., price s., containing plain practical sermons for every sunday and holy-day throughout the year. oxford & london: john henry parker. * * * * * this day, vo., price s. the institutes of justinian. a new edition, with english introduction, translation, and notes. by thomas c. sandars, m.a., late fellow of oriel college, oxford. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * literary curiosities (sent free by post).--bartholomew fair in edward the second's reign: bartholomew fair in charles the first's reign; and the dagonising of bartholomew fair in . three rare and curious broadsides, price s. three proclamations against stage players, issued in the reigns of charles the first and george the second; and a broadside of a robbery of shakepearian relics from charlecote house. s. gleanings from the earliest and rarest newspapers, with a facsimile of a very curious, droll, and interesting newspaper of king charles's reign. d. *** apply by letter inclosing payment in postage stamps to mr. j. h. fennell, warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * publications of the oxford university press for . * * * * * sixty sermons, preached upon several occasions. by george smallridge, d.d., some time bishop of bristol, and dean of christ church, oxford. a new edition. two vols. vo., price s., in cloth. observations on our lord's conduct as a divine instructor, and on the excellence of his moral character. by william newcome, d.d., late archbishop of armagh. a new edition. vo., price s., in cloth. the two books of common prayer, set forth by authority of parliament in the reign of king edward the sixth. compared with each other, and edited, by edward cardwell, d.d., principle of st. alban hall. third edition. vo., price s., in cloth. xenophontis historia grÆca, ex recensione et cum annotationibus ludovici dindorfii. edito secunda, auctior et emendatior. vo., price s. d., in cloth. a treatise on the differential calculus, and its applications to algebra and geometry: founded on the method of infinitesimals. by bartholomew price, m.a., fellow and tutor of pembroke college, oxford. vo., price s. d., in cloth. dr. chandler's critical history of the life of david. a new edition, in one volume. vo., price s. d., in cloth. bulstrode whitelock's memorials of the english affairs, from the beginning of the reign of charles i. to the restoration of charles ii. a new edition, in four volumes vo., price s., in cloth. catalogi codicum manuscriptorum bibliothecÆ bodleianÆ. pars prima recensionem codicum græcoreum continens. confecit henricus coxe., a.m., hypo-bibliothecarius. to., price l. s., in cloth. socratis scholastici ecclesiastica historia, edited robertus hussey, s.t.b., historiæ ecclesiasticæ professor regius. three volumes vo., price l. s. d., in cloth. the rubric in the book of common prayer, and the canons of the church of england, so far as they relate to the parochial clergy, considered in a course of visitation charges. to which are added, three discourses on preaching. by thomas sharp, d.d. new edition. vo., price s., in cloth. the third part of the ecclesiastical history of john, bish p of ephesus (the syriac text), now first edited, by william cureton m.a., f.r.s. to., price l. s. d., in cloth. clinton's epitome of the civil and literary chronology of rome and constantinople, from the death of augustus to the death or heraclius, edited by the rev. c. j. clinton. vo., cloth, s. harpocrationis lexicon in decem oratores atticos ex recensione gulielmi dindorfii. two volumes vo., cloth, s. may's (thomas, secretary for the parliament) history of the (long) parliament of england, which began november , , with a short necessary view of some precedent years. a new edition. vo., cloth, s. d. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; and e. gardner . paternoster row. * * * * * { } privately printed books, sold by john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * these works are printed in quarto, uniform with the club-books, and the series is now completed. their value chiefly consists in the rarity and curiosity of the pieces selected, the notes being very in number. the impression of each work is most strictly limited. * * * * * i. morte arthure: the alliterative romance of the death of king arthur; now first printed, from a manuscript in the library of lincoln cathedral. seventy-five copies printed. l. *** a very curious romance, full of allusions interesting to the antiquary and philologist. it contains nearly eight thousand lines. ii. the castle of love: a poem, by robert grosteste, bishop of lincoln; now first printed from inedited mss. of the fourteenth century. one hundred copies printed. s. *** this is a religious poetical romance, unknown to warton. its poetical merits are beyond its age. iii. contributions to early english literature, derived chiefly from rare books and ancient inedited manuscripts from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. seventy-five copies printed. *** out of print separately, but included in the few remaining complete sets. iv. a new boke about shakespeare and stratford-on-avon, illustrated with numerous woodcuts and facsimiles of shakespeare's marriage bond, and other curious articles. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. v. the palatine anthology. an extensive collection of ancient poems and ballads relating to cheshire and lancashire: to which is added the palatine garland. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. vi. the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, illustrated by reprints of very rare tracts. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. contents:--harry white his humour, set forth by m. p.--comedie of the two italian gentlemen--tailor's travels from london to the isle of wight, --wyll bucke his testament--the booke of merry riddles, --comedie of all for money, --wine, beere, ale, and tobacco, --johnson's new booke of new conceits, --love's garland, . vii. the yorkshire anthology.--an extensive collection of ballads and poems, respecting the county of yorkshire. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. *** this work contains upwards of pages, and includes a reprint of the very curious poem, called "yorkshire ale," , as well as a great variety of old yorkshire ballads. viii, ix. a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, printed in two volumes, quarto (preface omitted), to range with todd's "johnson," with margins sufficient for insertions. one hundred and twelve copies printed in this form. l. s. x. some account of a collection of several thousand bills, accounts, and inventories, illustrating the history of prices between the years and , with copious extracts from old account-books. eighty copies printed. l. s. xi. the poetry of witchcraft, illustrated by copies of the plays on the lancashire witches, by heywood and shadwell, viz., the "late lancashire witches," and the "lancashire witches and tegue o'divelly, the irish priest." eighty copies printed. l. s. xii. the norfolk anthology, a collection of poems, ballads, and rare tracts, relating to the county of norfolk. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiii. some account of a collection of antiquities, coins, manuscripts, rare books, and other reliques, illustrative of the life and works of shakespeare. illustrated with woodcuts. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiv. some account of the mss. preserved in the public library, plymouth; a play attributed to shirley, a poem by n. breton, and other micellanies. eighty copies printed. l. s. *** a complete set of the fourteen volumes, l. a reduction made in favour of permanent libraries on application, it being obvious that the works cannot thence return into the market to the detriment of original subscribers. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "santa maria novella at florence": 'santa marca novella' in original. page , "templaria ... sm. to. - .": 'sm. vo.' in original. page , "brief history of its formation": 'formatiom' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page peter brett richard's "guide through france," by weld taylor women and tortoises weather rules, by w. winthrop occasional forms of prayer, by rev. thomas lathbury minor notes:--chair moving--epitaph on politian in the church of the annunciation at florence-- epitaph in torrington churchyard, devon--the early delights of philadelphia--misapplication of terms--"plantin" bibles in --ancient gold collar found in staffordshire queries:-- pictures in hampton court palace minor queries:--helmets--the nursrow--city bellmen--pope's elegy on an unfortunate lady-- "too wise to err, too good to be unkind"--passage in the "christian year"--david's mother--emblems --"kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira" --"quid facies," &c.--will of peter the great-- h. neele, editor of shakspeare--ms. by rubens on painting--peter allan--haschisch or indian hemp --crieff compensation--admission to lincoln's inn, the temple, and gray's inn--orders for the household of lord montagu minor queries with answers:--cateaton street-- portrait of lee, inventor of the stocking-frame-- cocker's arithmetic--lyke porch or litch porch-- henry burton--british mathematicians--"les lettres juives" replies:-- attainment of majority lord halifax and mrs. catherine barton milton's widow, by t. hughes anticipatory use of the cross, by j. w. thomas and eden warwick decorative pavement tiles from caen, by albert way and gilbert j. french mottos of the emperors of germany photographic correspondence:--simplicity of calotype process--albumized paper--new developing mixture--queries on the albumenized process replies to minor queries:--poems in connexion with waterloo--richard oswald--grammont's marriage--life--muscipula--berefellarii--harmony of the four gospels--picts' houses and argils --boswell's "johnson"--pronunciation of "humble" --continuation of robertson--nostradamus-- quantity of words--"man proposes, but god disposes" --polarised light miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. peter brett. your correspondent t. k. seems to think that scotchmen, and scotch subjects, have an undue prominence in "n. & q.:" let me therefore introduce to your readers a neglected _irishman_, in the person of peter brett, the "parish clerk and schoolmaster of castle-knock." this worthy seems to have been a great author, and the literary oracle of the district over which he presided, and exercised the above-named important functions. his _magnum opus_ appears to have been his _miscellany_; a farrago of prose and verse, which, to distinguish it from the herd of books bearing that title, is yclept, _par excellence_, brett's _miscellany_. when mr. brett commenced to enlighten the world, and when his candle was snuffed out, i know not. my volume of the above work purports to be the fifth: "containing above a hundred useful and entertaining particulars, divine, moral, and historical; chiefly designed for the improvement of youth, and those who have not the opportunity of reading large volumes. interspersed with several entertaining things never before printed. dublin, ." the parish clerk's _bill of fares_ is of the most seductive kind. under all the above heads he has something spicy to say, either in prose or verse; but the marrow of the book lies in the preface. to say that a man, holding the important offices of parish clerk and schoolmaster, could be charged with conceit, would be somewhat rash; if, therefore, in remarking upon the rare instance of a parish clerk becoming an author, he lets out that "whatever cavillers may say about his performance, they must admit his extensive reading, and the great labour and application the concoction of these books has cost him," he is but indulging in a feeling natural to a man of genius, and a pardonable ebullition of the _amour propre_. mr. brett seems to have been twitted with the charge of taking up authorship as a commercial spec; he sullenly admits that his book-making leaves him something, but nothing like a recompense, and draws an invidious comparison between one counsellor harris and himself; the { } former having received l. per annum for collecting materials for the _life of king william iii._, while he, the schoolmaster of castle-knock, scarcely gets salt to his porridge for his _collections and observations for perpetuating the honour and glory of the king of kings_. peter farther boasts that these his volumes "contain the juice and marrow of many excellent and learned authors, but compacted after such an ingenious manner, that the learned would find it a great difficulty to show in what authors they are to be found!" a plan for which, i think, the learned would award him the _birch_. mrs. brett is no less a genius than her husband; and she takes advantage of the publication of the _miscellany_, to stick the following little bill upon the back of the title: "ann brett, wife of the said peter, at the sign of the _shroud_ in christ church lane, opposite to the church, makes and sells all sorts of shrouds, draws all sorts of patterns, does all manner of pinking, and teaches young misses reading and writing, arithmetic, and plain work. the dublin society," she adds, "was pleased to honour her with a handsome present for her curious performance with the pen." j. o. * * * * * richard's "guide through france." (translated from the french on the th edition. paris: audin, . quai des augustins.) as we are not supposed to be sensible of our own failings, i should much wish to know whether any english-french exists equal to some french-english i know of, and inclose a specimen. mr. p. chasles has played the critic so well with the english tongue, that perhaps he can find us a few specimens. without doubt, it will be a wholesome correction to the malaprop spirit if she is shown up a little; and i regret extremely that mr. p. chasles was not invited to correct the proofs of the _itinéraire de france_. here we are posting with m. richard: "the courier à franc-étrier cannot use bridle of their own, they must not outrun the postilion who leads them, and the post master if they might arrive at, without their postillion, must not give them horse before this last is come. the supply-horses, according to the number of persons, shall be put to carriages as much as the disposition of the vehicles will admit. for example, three horses shall be put to cabriolets, and till six to the berline, but as it should not be possible, to put a horse en arbalête (cross-bow) without notable accidents, either to caleches with two horses or to the limonieres; they shall be obliged to pay the charge for supply horse." here we are in a steamer, p. .: "the sea is smooth, the sky pure, the air calm, everything promises a happy navigation, our boat is in a very favourable position in the middle of the seine, on the right hand the hills of honfleur, on the left the coast of ingouville, let us pause a little more on these shores we are going to leave: behold on the east the fortifications of havre, small seats! clusters of trees! this is the village of l'eure threatened by the sea of an entire destruction. we must not pass over this green hill so delightful to view, standing on the opposite shore seamen would not forgive my silence, among these high trees stands a chapel dedicated to notre-dame-de-grace. ingouville is of , inhabitants, among which a great many englishmen live there as in their own country, having their particular churchyard, physicians, and many occasions of hearing from england, which they can perceive from their pavilions. the traveller can go to elbeuf by land or water. the lover of the scenes of nature will enjoy very romantical prospects, a new kind of view will strike his sight, a long train of rocks called d'orival, the most part steep, covered with evergreen trees, which seem shoot out, with difficulty, of their craggings." he tells us soissons (p. .) "has a college, a pretty theatre, and a bishoprick-sec, from the cradle of christianity into the gauls." at coulommières (seine et marne), "the sciences are not cultivated, but the inhabitants know pretty well how to play at nine pins." at fontaines les cornues, "the inhabitants of paris with a small expense can procure to himself a scenery scarecely to be found in the other quarter of the globe!" at chatillion-sur-seine, "the streets are neat and well aired." at arles, p. ., a head of a goddess carved in marble: "the way in which the neck and left shoulder are ended, points out that the head is _related_ to a figure in drapery cut in another block." "the merchant of bordeaux is distinguished by his noble easy and pompous manner, he makes himself easily forgiven a sort of boasting, which is the foible of the country." how the ladies bathe at mont d'or, p. .: "at five in the morning bathing begins. two hardy highlanders go and fetch in a kind of deal boxes the fashionable lady, who when in town never quits her bed-down before noon, the annuitant, the rich man, are all brought in the same manner in these boxes. it is one of the most pleasant bathing establishments; it offers a peristyle, a small resting-room, a warming-place for linen, with partitions to prevent its mixture." the work consists of mortal pages though i am bound to say a portion here and there is respectably written. weld taylor. * * * * * women and tortoises. i had intended sending you a paper on bishop taylor's _similes_, with illustrative notes on some passages in his works; but i soon found that your utmost indulgence could not afford me a tithe of { } the space i would require. instead, therefore, send you an illustration of a single simile, as it is short, and not the least curious in the lot: "all _vertuous women_, _like tortoises_, carry their house on their heads, and their chappel in their heart, and their danger in their eye, and their souls in their hands, and god in all their actions."--_life of christ_, part i. s. ii. . "_phidias made the statue of venus at elis with one foot upon the shell of a tortoise_, to signify two great duties of a virtuous woman, which are to keep home and be silent."--_human prudence_, by w. de britaine, th edit.: dublin, , mo., p. . "vertuous women should keep house, and 'twas well performed and ordered by the greeks: ' . . . mulier ne qua in publicum spectandam se sine arbitro præbeat viro:' which made phidias, belike, at elis paint _venus treading on a tortoise_: a symbole of women's silence and housekeeping.... i know not what philosopher he was, that would have women come but thrice abroad all their time, to be _baptized_, _married_, _and buried_; but he was too straitlaced."--burton's _anat. mel._, part iii. sec. . mem. . subs. . "_apelles us'd to paint a good housewife upon a snayl_; which intimated that she should be as slow from gadding abroad, and when she went she shold carry her house upon her back: that is, she shold make all sure at home. now, to a good housewife, her house shold be as the sphere to a star (i do not mean a _wandring_ star), wherin she shold twinckle as a star in its orb."--howell's _parly of beasts_: lond. , p. . the last passage reminds us of the fine lines of donne (addressed to _both_ sexes): "be then thine own home, and in thyself dwell; inn anywhere; and seeing the _snail_, which everywhere doth roam, carrying his own home still, still is at home, follow (for he is easy-paced) this _snail_: be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail." eirionnach. * * * * * weather rules. (vol. vii., pp. . . . .) j. a., jun., being desirous of forming a list of weather rules, i send the following, in the hope that they may be acceptable to him, and interesting to those of your readers who have never met with the old collection from which they are taken. _english._ in april, dove's-flood is worth a king's good. winter thunder, a summer's wonder. march dust is worth a king's ransom. a cold may and a windy, makes a fat barn and findy. _spanish._ april and may, the keys of the year. a cold april, much bread and little wine. a year of snow, a year of plenty. a red morning, wind or rain. the moon with a circle brings water in her beak. bearded frost, forerunner of snow. neither give credit to a clear winter nor cloudy spring. clouds above, water below. when the moon is in the wane do not sow anything. a red sun has water in his eye. red clouds in the east, rain the next day. an eastern wind carrieth water in his hand. a march sun sticks like a lock of wool. when there is a spring in winter, and a winter in spring, the year is never good. when it rains in august, it rains wine or honey. the circle of the moon never filled a pond, but the circle of the sun wets a shepherd. _italian._ like a march sun, which heats but doth not melt. dearth under water, bread under snow. young and old must go warm at martlemas. when the cock drinks in summer, it will rain a little after. as mars hasteneth all the humours feel it. in august, neither ask for olives, chesnuts, nor acorns. january commits the fault, and may bears the blame. a year of snow, a year of plenty. _french._ when it thunders in march, we may cry alas! a dry year never beggars the master. an evening red, and a morning grey, makes a pilgrim sing. january or february do fill or empty the granary. a dry march, a snowy february, a moist april, and a dry may, presage a good year. to st. valentine the spring is a neighbour. at st. martin's winter is in his way. a cold january, a feverish february, a dusty march, a weeping april, a windy may, presage a good year and gay. w. winthrop. malta. * * * * * occasional forms of prayer. i now send you a list of occasional forms of prayer in my own possession, in the hope that the example may be followed by other individuals. a fourme to be used in common prayer table twise a weke, and also an order of publique fast to be used every wednesday, &c. during this time of mortalitie, &c. london, . this was the first published occasional form of the reign of elizabeth. { } a fourme to be used in common prayer every sunday, wednesday, and friday throughout the whole realme: to excite and stirre up all godly people to pray for the preservation of those christians and their countreys that are now invaded by the turke in hungary or elsewhere. set fourthe by the reverend father in god, matthew, archbishop of cantaburie. imprinted by richarde jugge and john cawood. to. there is no date; but it is ascertained that this form was put forth in the year . the order of prayer and other exercises upon wednesdays and fridays, &c. to. christopher barker. . this was put forth in consequence of an earthquake. prayers. . they consist of "a prayer for all kings," &c., "a prayer for the queene," &c., and "a prayer in the parliament onely." they are appended to _treasons of pary_, forming part of the volume. an order for prayer and thanksgiving for the safety of her majesty. . certaine prayers set forth by authoritie to be used for the prosperous successe of her majesties forces and navy. to. the deputies of christopher barker, . an order for prayer and thanksgiving (necessary in these dangerous times) for the safety of her majestie and the realme. to. the deputies of c. barker. _no date._ an order for publike prayers within the province of canterbury. no date. by the queen's printer. prayers for the queen's safe deliverance, london, . form of prayer, &c. nov. . london, . the original edition. form of prayer, &c., nov. . london, . form, &c. for the th of august, being the day of his highnesse's happy deliverance from the earle of gowry. london, . form, &c. fast during the plague. . the "prayer for the parliament" appears for the first time in this form. form, &c. fast. war and pestilence. . form, &c. fast. war. . forme of prayer, &c. for averting god's heauy visitation, &c. . this is the form which was attacked by burton and prynne, and on which a charge was raised against laud. form, &c. fast. plague. form, &c. fast. war. oxford, . this is the form authorised by charles i. to be used at the commencement of the war. it is frequently alluded to by the parliamentary writers of the period. the house of commons had ordered a monthly fast, and charles commanded that the second friday in every month should be set apart for the same purpose. this form was to be used on such occasions. form, &c. fast. oxford, . the same as the preceding, but a different edition, one being in black-letter, the other in roman. both were printed in oxford, and in the same year. a collection of prayers and thanksgivings used in his majesties chapel and in his armies, upon occasion of the late victories against the rebels. oxford, . this was reprinted at york in . the cavaliers' new common prayer booke, unclasp't. reprinted at london, with some briefe and necessary obseruations to refute the lyes and scandalls that are contained in it. . this is a reprint of the preceding form, with a scurrilous preface and observations. the prayers are given as they stand in the royal form, but with parenthetical sentences of a most abusive character after almost every paragraph. thus, after the clause, "pity a despised church," the authors add, "you mean the prelates and their hierarchy." after the next clause, "and a distracted state," they add, "made so by your wicked party." in one of the thanksgivings, after "glory be to god," we have, "your mock prayers defraud him of his glory." then, after the words "we praise thee, we bless thee," &c., from the communion office, we have, "softly, lest you want breath, and thank the old common prayer book for that." private forms for these sad times. oxford, . a form of thanksgiving, to be used the seventh day of september, thorowout the diocese of lincoln, and in the jurisdiction of westminster. this remarkable form has no date, but it was put forth by williams, then bishop of lincoln and dean of westminster, in the year . the house of commons had ordered a day of thanksgiving; but they were greatly offended with williams, on account of this form, and, instead of going to st. margaret's church as usual, where it was ordered to be read, they attended divine service, after their own fashion, in the chapel of lincoln's inn. a supply of prayers for the ships of this kingdom that want ministers to pray with them agreeable to the directory, &c. london. published by authority. a presbyterian form, and the only one ever published by men who decried all forms. it was put forth, as the preface admits, because the sailors clung to the book of common prayer. prayers to be used in the armies. . a form of prayer used at his majesties chapel at the hague. . prayers for those who mourn, &c. . form of common prayer, to be used on the thirtieth of january, &c. . this form differs materially from that subsequently put forth by convocation, with the revised prayer book of . there was also another form still earlier, in the year , in which some singular and obnoxious petitions relative to charles i. were found. { } a form of prayer with thanksgiving, to be used on the th of may, . the original edition. it differs from that which was sanctioned by convocation and published in . form of prayer, &c. june . fast during a dearth. . form, &c. fast during a sickness. . form, &c. fast, to implore a blessing on the naval forces. april , . form, &c. thanksgiving for victory by naval forces. july , . form, &c. fast, on occasion of the fire of london, . form, &c. thanksgiving for victories at sea. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. . form, &c. fast. dublin, . form, &c. fast. dublin, . to seek reconciliation with god, and to implore him that he would infatuate and defeat the counsels of the papists our enemies. by the lord lieutenant. form, &c. fast. . form, &c. thanksgiving. . for the discovery of treason. form, &c. thanksgiving. . form of prayer with thanksgiving for th may, . first edition of this reign. it was altered by the authority of the crown. form of prayer, &c. january , . first edition of this reign. form of prayer, &c. february , . the accession service of james ii. a form or order of thanksgiving, to be used, &c. in behalf of the king, the queen, and the royal family, upon occasion of the queen's being with child. . this form was the occasion of much comment at the time. a form of prayer with thanksgiving, &c., for the birth of the prince. . a form, &c. fast. . a form, &c. fast. . a form, &c. fast. . a form, &c. fast. . thanksgiving on the accession of george i. thomas lathbury. bristol. * * * * * minor notes. _chair moving._--recent occurrences made me look back at glanvill's _blow at modern sadducism_, and i observed that in his account of the "dæmon of tedworth," who was supposed to haunt the house of mr. mompesson, and who was the original of addison's "drummer," it is stated that on the th november, , "in the sight and presence of the company, the chairs walked about the room," p. . n. b. _epitaph on politian in the church of the annunciation at florence._-- "politianus in hoc tumulo jacet angelus, unum qui caput, et linguas (res nova) tres habuit."--from _travels of sir john reresby_. y. b. n. j. [the following translation of this epitaph is given in the _ency. britannica_, but it is there stated to be in st. mark's, florence: "here lies politian, who, things strange indeed, had, when alive, three tongues, and but one head."] _epitaph in torrington churchyard, devon._-- "she was--my words are wanting to say what. think what a woman should be--she was that." which provoked the following reply: "a woman should be both a wife and mother, but jenny jones was neither one nor t'other." balliolensis. _the early delights of philadelphia._--in gabriel thomas's _description of the settlement of philadelphia_ occurs the following passage: "in the said city are several good schools of learning for youth, for the attainment of arts and sciences, also reading and writing. here is to be had, on any day in the week, cakes, tarts, and pies; we have also several cook-shops, both roasting and boiling, as in the city of london: happy blessings, for which we owe the highest gratitude to our plentiful provider, the great creator of heaven and earth." is not this a superb jumble? a leguleian. _misapplication of terms._--_legend_ is a thing "to be read" (_legendum_), but it is often improperly applied to traditions and _oral_ communications. of this there have been some instances in "n. & q." one has just turned up, vol. v., p. .: "i send you these legends _as i have heard them from the lips_ of my nurse, a native of the parish." j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _"plantin" bibles in ._--while looking over the "stackhouse library" (see "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. .), i observed on the fly-leaf of an hebrew bible, (a. in catalogue), a short ms. memorandum, which i think worth preserving. it ran as follows: _£_ s. d. "plantin heb. bible, interlineing costes plantin in octavo buxtorf's biblia in two vols. hebw bible, to. vols. inne ^o vols. " r. c. warde. kidderminster. _ancient gold collar found in staffordshire._--it may probably interest some of your readers to { } know that a very ancient golden collar was lately found in the village of stanton, staffordshire, which is about three miles north of ashbourne. a labourer digging up a field, which had not been ploughed or dug up in the memory of man, turned up the collar, which, being curled up at the time, sprang up, and the labourer taking it for a snake, struck it out of his way with his spade: the next morning it was discovered not to be a snake. unfortunately the blow had broken off a small piece at one end. the collar is now in the possession of the person with whom the curate of stanton lodges. the description given to me is, that it is about two feet long, and formed of three pieces of gold twined together, and, with the above exception, in a very good state of preservation. i hear that there is a similar collar in the british museum, that was found in ireland, but none that was found in england; and that the authorities of the museum have been informed of this collar, but have taken no steps to obtain possession of it. s. g. c. [our correspondent is under an erroneous impression as to gold torques not being found in england. several are figured in the _archæologia_, and we have some reason to believe that the torque now described, and of which we should be glad to receive any farther particulars, resembles one which formed part of the celebrated polden find described by mr. harford in the fourteenth volume of the _archæologia_, and figured at p. .; and also that found at boyton in suffolk in , and engraved in the _archæologia_, vol. xxvi. p. .--ed.] * * * * * queries. pictures in hampton court palace. there are two or three of these concerning which i should be obliged to any reader of your publication who would satisfy my queries. no. ., "the battle of forty," by p. snayers. this seems a kind of _combat à outrance_ of knights _armés de pied en cap_. where can i find any account or detail of it? no. ., "mary of lorraine, mother of mary queen of scots." this is a very pleasing picture, in good preservation, and as it was not in its present position two years ago, i conclude it has recently been added. she was ninth child of claude de lorraine, first duc de guise, born in , and married in to james v. of scotland, and she died in the forty-fifth year of her age, th june, . there are the arms of the guise family in the right-hand corner, with a date of . pray by whom was it painted, and where can find any notices respecting it? no. ., "george iii. reviewing the th light dragoons, commanded by the prince of wales." this picture was considered the _chef d'oeuvre_ of sir william beechey, and was painted in ; and it has been supposed the likeness of the duke of york was the best taken of that prince. could any reader inform me on what day this review took place?[ ] when one sees a picture of shakspeare, no. ., and more especially in the palace of his cotemporary sovereigns, one is naturally led to inquire into its authenticity. i am therefore desirous to obtain some information relative to it. in "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. ., you had several correspondents inquiring concerning the custom of royalty dining in public: perhaps it may interest them to know that there are two very attractive pictures of this ceremony in this collection, numbered and : the first is of charles i. and henrietta maria; the other frederick v., count palatine and king of bohemia, who married elizabeth, daughter of james i. these two pictures are by van bassen, of whom, perhaps, some correspondent may be enabled to give an account. [phi]. richmond, surrey. [footnote : george iii. had one or two copies of this picture taken for him; and there is a curious circumstance relative to one of these, which lady chatterton mentions in her _home sketches_, published in three vols. vo., : "in one respect the picture (which george iii. gave to lord sidmouth, and which the latter had put up at the stone lodge in richmond new park) differs from the original at hampton court: it is singular enough that in this copy the figure of the prince is omitted, _which was done by the king's desire_, and is a striking and rather comical proof of the dislike which he felt towards his son. when the prince became king, he dined here, and remarked to lord sidmouth that his portrait had been omitted, and hinted that it ought to be restored. this, however, was evaded, and the copy remains in its original state."--vol. i. pp. , .] * * * * * minor queries. _helmets._--what is the antiquity of the practice of placing helmets over the shields of armorial bearings; and what are the varieties of helmets in regard to the rank or degree of persons? s. n. _the nursrow._--what is the origin of the word _nursrow_, a name applied by plott, in his _history of staffordshire_, to the shrew mouse, and by the common people in cheshire at the present day to the field-mouse; or rather, perhaps, indiscriminately to field and shrew mice? n. r. _city bellmen._--when were city bellmen first established? by whom appointed? what were their duties? what and how were they paid? what have been their employment and duties down to the present day? crito. { } _pope's elegy on an unfortunate lady._--in the new editions of pope's _works_, in course of publication, edited by mr. carruthers, inverness, it is conjectured that the poet threw "ideal circumstances" into his most pathetic and melodious elegy, and "when he came to publish his letters, put wrong initials, as in other instances, to conceal the real names" (pope's _poet. works_, ingram, cook, and co., vol. ii. p. .). the initials are mrs. w., niece of lady a. i have always thought that a clue might be obtained to the name of this lady, by following up the hints in pope's printed correspondence. mrs. or miss w. is mentioned or alluded to by craggs and pope, in connexion with the characters in the _rape of the lock_. one suggests the other. inquiry should be directed to the families of fernor of tusmore, lord petre, and sir george brown. but i have heard a tradition in a catholic family in the north of england that the lady was a blount; probably one of the blounts of soddington, or of some one of the numerous branches of that ancient family. an inquirer. _"too wise to err, too good to be unkind."_--in what author may this passage be found? "too wise to err, too good to be unkind." e. p. h. clapham. _passage in the "christian year."_--in the beautiful lines on confirmation in this work, the following verse occurs: "steady and pure as stars that beam in middle heaven, all mist above, seen deepest in the frozen stream:-- such is their high courageous love." i should be grateful for an explanation of the _third_ line. a. a. d. _david's mother._--i used to think it was impossible to ascertain from the old testament the name of david's mother. in the _genealogies recorded in the sacred scriptures_, by j. s. (usually assumed to stand for john speed, the historian and geographer), the name of the psalmist's mother is given "nahash." can this be made out satisfactorily? will the text sam. xvii. ., as compared with chron. ii. ., warrant it? y. b. n. j. _emblems._--can any of your readers inform me what are the emblematic meanings of the different precious stones, or of any of them? or in what work i shall find them described? n. d. _"kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira."_--in an appeal to the privy council from madras, the above unparalleled long word occurs as the descriptions of an estate. i believe that its extreme length and unpronounceable appearance is without an equal. can any of your readers acquainted with indian literature translate it? if so, it would greatly oblige f. j. g. _"quid facies," &c._--i have lately met with the following curious play on words in an old ms. book. can any of your correspondents give any account of it? "quid facies, facies veneris si veneris ante? ne pereas, per eas; ne sedeas, sed eas!" balliolensis. _will of peter the great._--m. lamartinière, in a french pamphlet on the eastern question, gives a document in several articles containing advice with respect to the policy of his successors on the throne of russia, in which he advises her to make great advances in the direction of constantinople, india, &c., and advocates the partition of poland. upon what authority does this document rest? and who is m. lamartinière? r. j. allen. _h. neele, editor of shakspeare._--in the preface to _lectures on english poetry, being the remains of the late henry neele_ (lond. ), mention is made of a new edition of shakspeare's dramatic works, "under the superintendence of mr. neele as editor, for which his enthusiastic reverence for the poet of 'all time' peculiarly fitted him, but which, from the want of patronage, terminated after the publication of a very few numbers." these very few numbers must have appeared about - ; yet the answer to my repeated inquiries after them in london is always "we cannot hear of them." can any one give me farther information?--from the _navorscher_. j. m. _ms. by rubens on painting._--may i inquire of m. philarÈte chasles whether he ever saw or heard of a manuscript said to be written in latin by rubens, and existing in the _bibliothèque nationale_ at paris? one or two fragments have occasionally been quoted: i think one may be found in sir joshua reynolds' _discourses_, and the same is used by burnet in his work on painting; but no authority is given as to the source of the information.[ ] if such a work can be found, it would confer a great boon upon the profession of the fine arts, if it were brought to light without delay. weld taylor. [footnote : [this may probably be rubens's ms. album, of which an account is given in vertue's _anecdotes of painting_, vol. ii. pp. , .--ed.]] _peter allan._--will some correspondent of "n. & q." afford information as to the exact date and place of birth of the celebrated peter allan, whose cave at sunderland is regarded as one of the principal curiosities of the north of england? { } what is known of his general history; and is any member of his family now living? e. c. _haschisch or indian hemp._--i have been for some time trying to procure some of the _haschisch_, or indian hemp, about which dr. moreau has published such an amusing book, _du haschisch et de l'aliénation mentale_, par. .--can any of your readers tell me where i can get any? the narcotic effects of the common hemp plant are well known in our country districts: where, under its ironical alias _honesty_, the dried stalk is often smoked, but the tropical variety appears to be infinitely more powerful in its operation. v. t. sternberg. _crieff compensation._--during the rebellion in , the village of crieff, perthshire, was burnt by the highland army, on account of the attachment of its inhabitants to the royal cause. it has been stated that, some years ago, the descendants of the sufferers received from government a sum equivalent to a certain proportion of the loss which had been sustained. is there any official record in reference to this compensation? d. _admission to lincoln's inn, the temple, and gray's inn._--have there ever been published, or do there exist anywhere in mss., lists of the persons who have been from time to time matriculated as students of those inns of court? a publication of them would be of the greatest value to the biographical department of literature. g. _orders for the household of lord montagu._--the second viscount montagu, grandson and heir of anthony browne, created viscount in , ob. , compiled a detailed code of regulations for his family, thus entitled: "a booke of orders and rules established by me, anthony, viscount mountague, for the better direction and government of my howsholde and family, together with the generall dutyes and charges apperteyninge to myne officers and other servantes. anno d[=n]i ." has this curious illustration of ancient domestic manners ever been published? albert way. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _cateaton street._--i am anxious to ascertain the meaning and derivation of this word: the london cateaton street, i believe, is changed into gresham street. i have lately learnt that there is a cateaton street in liverpool also. etymo. [cateaton street, or "catteten street," says stow, "is a corruption of catte street, which beginneth at the north end of ironmonger lane, and runneth to the west end of st. lawrence church." in , this street was renamed gresham street.] _portrait of lee, inventor of the stocking-frame._--in hatton's _history of london_ (published in ), it is stated that a picture (by balderston) of lee, the inventor of the stocking-frame, hung in the hall of the framework knitters' company. the inquirer wishes to ascertain whether the picture is yet in existence or not; and, if still in existence, where it can be seen. m. e. [in cunningham's _handbook of london_, p. ., s. v. _weavers' hall, basinghall street_, is a quotation from the _quarterly review_ for january, , in which the picture is spoken of as then existing in the stocking weavers' hall.] _cocker's arithmetic_ (vol. iv., pp. . .).--some correspondence appears in "n. & q." about the first edition of "old cocker." i should be glad to ascertain the date of the latest edition. tyro. [the british museum contains the following editions of cocker's _arithmetic_:--the th, lond. ; the th, perused and published by john hawkins (with ms. notes), lond. ; st, lond. ; th, corrected by geo. fisher, lond. . watt notices one revised by j. mair, edinb. . in professor de morgan's _arithmetical books_, p. ., where a full history of cocker's book is given, mention is made of an edinburgh edition, , and a glasgow edition of .] _lyke porch or litch porch._--what is the proper name for the porch found, not unfrequently, at the churchyard gate under which the body was, i believe, supposed to rest before the funeral? is it _lyke_ or _litch_? the derivation may be different in different parts of england, as they were originally saxon or danish. _lüg_ dan., _lyk_ dutch, and _leiche_ ger., are all different forms of the same word. the first two approach nearer to _lyke_, the latter to _litch_. j. h. l. [in most works on ecclesiastical architecture it is called _lich-gate_, from anglo-saxon _lich_, a corpse: hence _lich-field_, the field of dead bodies. in the _glossary of architecture_ we read "_lich-gate_, or corpse-gate, _leichengang_, germ., from the ang.-sax. _lich_, a corpse, and _geat_, a gate; a shed over the entrance of a churchyard, beneath which the bearers sometimes paused when bringing a corpse for interment. the term is also used in some parts of the country for the path by which a corpse is usually conveyed to the church."] _henry burton._--henry burton was born in ; studied at oxford, and was at one time minister of st. matthew, friday street. in , he drew upon himself the vengeance of the star-chamber, by two discourses in which he severely inveighed against the bishops. for this offence he was fined, deprived of his ears, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. he was liberated by { } the parliament in , and died in . what theological works did he write?--from the _navorscher_. dionysius. [burton's pen was so prolific, that we cannot find room for a list of his works; and must refer dionysius to the bodleian catalogue, where they fill nearly a column, and to watt's _bibliotheca_, s.v.] _british mathematicians._--i am anxious to learn if there is any book which contains an account of the lives and works of eminent british arithmeticians and mathematicians? euclid. [consult the following:--_biographia philosophica_: being an account of the lives, writings, and inventions of the most eminent philosophers and mathematicians, by benjamin martin: london, , vo. there is also a chronological table of the most eminent mathematicians affixed to john bossut's _general history of mathematics_, translated from the french by john bonnycastle: london, , vo. some notices of our early english mathematicians will also be found in the _companion to the almanac_ for , and in the _magazine of popular science_, nos. . . and .] _"les lettres juives."_--will any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of _lettres juives_? the first volume of my edition, in eight volumes mo., has the portrait of jean batiste b., marquis de ----, né le juin, . j. r. sunderland. ["par le marquis d'argens," says barbier.] * * * * * replies. attainment of majority. (vol. viii., pp. . .) in replying to professor de morgan's last communication on this subject, it may be as well, in order to avoid future misunderstanding, to revert briefly to my original question. i pointed out ben jonson's assertion, through a character in one of his plays, that about the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was the custom to regard the legal rights of majority as commencing with six o'clock a.m., and i asked to have that assertion reconciled with our present commencement at midnight, and with the statement that the latter is in accordance with the old reckoning. thus i started with the production of affirmative evidence, to rebut which i cannot find, in the replies of professor de morgan, any negative evidence stronger than his individual opinion, which, however eminent in other respects, has undoubtedly the disadvantage of being two hundred years later than the contemporary evidence produced by me. i afterwards cited arthur hopton as authority that lawyers in england, in his time, did make use of a day which he classifies as that of the babylonians; but inasmuch as he apparently restricts its duration to twelve hours, whereas all ancient writers concur in assigning to the babylonians a day of twenty-four hours, there is evidently a mistake somewhere, attributable either to hopton or his printers. this mistake may have arisen either from a misprint, or from a transposition of a portion of the sentence. the supposition of a misprint is favoured by the circumstance that hopton was, at the time, professing to describe natural days of _twenty-four_ hours; of these there are four great classes of commencement, from the four principal quarters of the day; viz. from midnight, from mid-day, from sun-setting and from sun-rising. hopton had already assigned three of them to different nations, and the fourth he had properly assigned, so far as its commencement at sunrise was concerned, to the babylonians. what, then, can be more probable than that he intended this day also, like the rest, to be of twenty-four hours' duration; and that the words "holding till sun-setting" ought, perhaps, to have been printed "holding till sun-_rising_?" this way of reconciling seeming anomalies, by the supposition of probable misprints, receives great encouragement in the occasional occurrence of similar mistakes in the most carefully printed modern books. i lately noticed, while reading sir james ross's _southern voyage of discovery_, a work printed by the admiralty, and on which extraordinary typographical care had been bestowed, the following, at page . of vol. ii.: "it was full moon on the th of september, at · a.m." but the context shows that "full moon" ought to have been printed _new moon_, and that " · a.m." outlet to be · p.m.: and what renders these two mistakes the more remarkable is, that they have no sort of connexion, nor is the occurrence of the one in any way explanatory of the other. now, the misprint of "sun-setting" for _sun-rising_, which i am supposing in hopton's book, would be much more likely of occurrence than these, because these form part of a series of carefully examined data from which a scientific deduction is to be drawn, while hopton's is a mere loose description. and, moreover, a twenty-four hour day, commencing and ending with _sunrise_, does not, after all, appear to be so wholly unknown to english law as prof. de morgan supposes, since sir edward coke, to whom the professor especially refers, describes such a day in these words: "dies naturalis constat ea horis et continet diem solarem et noctem; and therefore in inditements for burglary and the like, we say in nocte ejusdem diei. iste dies naturalis est spatium in quo sol progreditur ab oriente in occidentem et ab occidente iterum in orientem." { } but there is another way of reconciling the discrepancy--hopton may not have intended the words "holding till sun-setting" to apply to the babylonians, but only to "the lawyers in england," whose day, he says, _commenced_ at the same time as the babylonian day. the transposition of the words in question to the end of the sentence would give such a meaning, viz. "the babylonians begin their day at sun-rising, and so do our lawyers count it in england, holding till sun-setting." altered in this way, the latter clause does not necessarily apply to the babylonians. here again we have a lawyers' day almost verbally identical with one assigned to them by sir edward coke: "dies artificialis sive solaris incipit in ortu solis et desinit in occasu, and of this the law of england takes hold _in many cases_." nor does lord coke strengthen or vary his description in the least, when speaking of the day commencing at midnight; he uses again the same expression with regard to it, "the egyptians and romans from midnight, and so doth the law of england _in many cases_." hence the authority of chief justice coke, is at best only neutral; for who will undertake to prove to which of these classes of "many cases" lord coke meant to assign the attainment of majority? in support of ben jonson's testimony, it may be urged that the midnight initial of the day was itself derived by us from the romans; and it is nearly certain that _they_ did not perform any legal act, connected with birthday, until the commencement of the _dies solis_. a proof of this may be observed in the discussion by aulus gellius (_noct. attic._, iii. .) as to which day, the preceding or the following, a person's birth, happening in the night, was to be attributed. he quotes a fragment from varro,-- "homines qui ex media nocte ad proximam mediam noctem his horis xxiv nati sunt, uno die nati dicuntur." on which gellius remarks: "from these words it may be observed that the arrangement of (birth) days was such, that to any person born after sunset, and before midnight, the day from which that night had proceeded should be the birthday; but to any person born during the last six hours of the night, the day which should succeed that night must be the birthday." this explanation might seem almost purposely written in reply to some such difficulty as occurred to professor de morgan (_antè_, p. .), when he remarks that, if birthday were to be confined to daylight, "a child not born by daylight would have no birthday at all!" but since it was notorious amongst the romans that the civil day began at midnight, such a _quæri solitum_ as this could never have been mooted, if the birthday observance had not been known and acknowledged to have a different commencement. in continuation of the same subject, gellius proceeds to quote another passage from varro, which i shall also repeat, not only as furnishing still farther proof that the romans did not regard the night as forming any part of the birthday, but also as affording an opportunity of recording an opinion as to the interpretation of varro's words, which, in this passage, do not appear to have ever been properly understood. after stating that many persons in umbria reckon from noon to noon as one and the same day, varro remarks: "quod quidem nimis absurdum est; nam qui calendarum hora sexta natus est apud umbros, dies ejus natalis videri debebit et calendarum dimidiatus, et qui est post calendas dies ante horam ejusdem diei sextam." now why should _beginning one's birthday at noon_ appear so absurd to varro? simply because the hours of the night were not then supposed to be included in the birthday at all, and therefore varro could not _realize_ the idea of a birthday continued through the night. he says that, according to the umbrian reckoning, a person born on any day _after_ the point of noon, would have only half a birthday on that day; and for the other half, he would have to take the forenoon of the following day. varro had no notion of joining the afternoon of one day to the forenoon of another, because he looked upon the unbroken presence of the sun as the very essence of a natal day. nothing can be plainer than that this was the true nature of the absurdity alluded to; but it would not suit the prejudices of the commentators, because it would compel them to admit that _sexta hora must have been in the afternoon_, in opposition to their favourite dogma that it was always in the forenoon. for if varro had intended to represent sexta hora in the _forenoon_, he would have said that the other half-day must be taken from the _after_noon of the _pridie_, instead of saying, as he does say, that it must be taken from the _fore_noon of the _postridie_ of the calends. consequently, varro means by "qui calendarum hora sexta natus est," a person born in the sixth hour of the day of the calends; the sixth hour being that which immediately succeeded noon--the _media hora_ of ovid. but what varro more immediately means by it is, not any particular point of time, but generally any time _after noon_ on the day of the calends. that the true position of _sexta hora_, when implying duration, was in the afternoon, has long been a conviction of mine; and i have elsewhere produced undeniable evidence that it was so { } considered by ancient authors. but this passage from varro is a new and hitherto unnoticed proof, and certainly it ought to be a most convincing one, because it seems impossible to give varro's words a rational meaning without the admission of this hypothesis, while with it everything is clear and consistent. the commentators, driven by the necessity i have just pointed out, either to admit the afternoon position of _sexta hora_, or to abstain from reading it as a _space_ of time, have attempted to force a meaning by reading _sexta hora_ in its other sense, an absolute mathematical point, the _punctus ipse_ of noon. in so doing they have not scrupled to libel varro's common sense; they represent his idea of the absurd to consist in the embarrassment that would be caused by the birth occurring at the critical moment of change,--split as it were _upon the knife-edge of noon_; so that, in the doubt that would arise as to which day it should belong, it must be attributed partly to both! this interpretation is so monstrous, and so evidently wide of the meaning of the words, that its serious imputation would scarcely be believed, if it were not embalmed in the delphin edition of aulus gellius, where we read the following footnote referring to the _argumentum ad absurdum_ of varro: "infirmum omnino argumentum, et quod perinde potest in ipsum varronem retorqueri. quid enim? si quis apud romanos calendis hora vi. noctis fuerit natus, nonne pariter dies ejus natalis videri debebit, et partim calendarum, et partim ejus dici qui sequetur?" it is not worth while to inquire what may have been the precise dilemma contemplated by the writer of this note, since most certainly it is not a reflex of varro's meaning. the word _dimidiatus_ is completely cushioned, although gellius himself has a chapter upon it a little farther on in the same volume. the anomaly that amused varro was the necessity of piecing together two halves not belonging to the same individual day and with the hiatus of a night between them; a necessity that would assuredly appear most absurd to one who had no other idea of birthday than the twelve consecutive hours of artificial day, which he would call "the natural day." this proneness of the romans to look upon the _dies solis_ as the only effective part of the twenty-four hours, is again apparent in their commencement of horary notation at sunrise, six hours later than the actual commencement of the day. and in our own anomalous repetition of twice twelve, we may still trace the remains of the twelve-hour day; we have changed the initial point, but we have retained the measure of duration. it is, however, certain that the two methods of reckoning time continued for a long time to exist contemporaneously. hence it became necessary to distinguish one from the other _by name_, and thus the notation from midnight gave rise, as i have remarked in one of my papers on chaucer, to the english idiomatic phrase "of the clock;" or the reckoning of the clock, commencing at midnight, as distinguished from roman equinoctial hours, commencing at six o'clock a.m. this was what ben jonson was meaning by attainment of majority at _six o'clock_, and not, as professor de morgan supposes, "probably a certain sunrise." actual sunrise had certainly nothing to do with the technical commencement of the day in ben jonson's time. for convenience sake, six o'clock had long been taken _as conventional sunrise all the year round_; and even amongst the romans themselves, equinoctial hours were frequently used at all seasons. actual sunrise, in after times, had only to do with "hours inequall," which are said to have fallen into disuse, in common life, so early as the fifth or sixth century. i trust i may now have shown reasonable grounds for the belief that ben jonson may, after all, have had better authority than his license as a dramatic poet, for dating the attainment of majority at six o'clock a.m.; and that nothing short of contemporary evidence directly contradictory of the custom so circumstantially alluded to by him, ought to be held sufficient to throw discredit upon it. it is one of the singular coincidences attending the discussion of this matter by gellius, that, at the conclusion of the chapter i have been expatiating upon, he should cite the authority of virgil; observing that the testimony of _poets_ is very valuable upon such subjects, even when veiled in the obscurity of poetic imagery. a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * lord halifax and mrs. catherine barton. (vol. viii., p .) your correspondent prof. de morgan has so ingeniously analysed the facts, which he already possesses, bearing on the connexion of sir isaac newton's niece with lord halifax, and her designation in the _biographia britannica_, that i am tempted to furnish him with some additional evidence. this question of mrs. catherine barton's widowhood has often been canvassed by that portion of her relatives who do not possess the custody of sir isaac newton's private letters. the montagues had a residence in the village of bregstock in northamptonshire, where the bartons lived. the bartons were a family of good descent, and had long been lessees of the crown with the montagues for lands near braystock. there were several colonel bartons, whose respective ages and relationship can best be { } exhibited by a short pedigree. thomas barton had two sons, thomas and robert. robert (born in , and who died in ) married hannah smith, newton's half-sister, by whom he had hannah (born ), catherine (born , died ), colonel robert (born ). thomas (born in , died in ) married alice palmer, by whom he had thomas, who married mary dale, by whom he had thomas (d. s. p.), colonel matthew (born ), colonel noel (born , died ). thomas had a second son, geoffrey, who married elizabeth ----, by whom he had charles (born ), cutts (born ), catherine (born ), montague (born ), and others. in a family paper written by a granddaughter of colonel noel barton, at her mother's dictation, it is stated that colonel matthew married a relative of sir isaac newton, and was comptroller of the mint; but this paper is not very correct in its other statements. on the other hand, a connexion of the family who signs himself h. in an old number of the _gentleman's magazine_, says of newton: "he had a half-sister, who had a daughter, to whom he gave the best of educations, the famous witty miss barton, who married mr. conduit of the mint." mr. conduit writes, that his wife lived twenty years before and after her marriage with sir issac. i had always thought that catherine barton's brother robert had died too early to attain the rank of colonel. in the british museum, in the register, there is an account of a sermon preached at the funeral of robert barton in the year . i could not find the sermon. the famous duchess of marlborough thus satirises mouse montague: "he was a frightful figure, and yet pretended to be a lover; and followed several beauties, who laughed at him for it." it is worth mentioning that colonel noel barton died in london in , while in attendance on his patron lord gainsborough, soon after he had been appointed governor of the leeward islands. this was the year before lord halifax's _life_ was written, and possibly might have been the cause of the designation "widow" being applied to catherine barton by mistake. whatever the connexion of this lady with lord halifax may have been, it does not seem to have given any offence to her relatives. you will observe that geoffrey barton names his sons charles and montague, and his daughter catherine. charles afterwards received the rectory of st. andrew's holborn from the family of montague; and cutts was dean of bristol under bishop montague. and montague obtained preferment from mr. conduit. neither the family of montague, nor that of barton, seem to have thought the connexion discreditable. moreover, the births of these children of geoffrey barton, a clergyman, occurred at the very period when the name of catherine should have been most distasteful, had the intimacy been dishonourable. mr. conduit died in the year , and mrs. conduit in the year ; and catherine conduit did not become lady lymington till . probably both mr. and mrs. conduit made wills. have they been examined at doctors' commons? j. w. j. * * * * * milton's widow. (vol. viii., pp. . . . . . .) it is pleasing to find so much interest excited among the readers of "n. & q." relative to the parentage of this lady; and we may fairly hope that the spirit of research which has thus been awakened, will not die away until the last spark of error and mystery has been extinguished. t. l. p. has favoured us with quotations from a little pamphlet, entitled _historical facts connected with nantwich and its neighbourhood_. now, after giving this work a most careful perusal, i cannot but think that the title of the book is, in this instance at least, a misnomer. the authoress, for it was written by a lady long resident in the vicinity, has evidently wrought upon the foundations of others; and taking the veteran ormerod as a sufficient authority, has given full vent to her imagination, and pictured, with "no 'prentice hand," the welcome visits of milton to stoke hall, a place which, in all probability, was never once honoured with the presence of this great man. there is no evidence whatever adduced to give even the semblance of colour to this unfortunate error; whereas, on the side of the wistaston family, the proofs of its identity as the family of mrs. milton are numerous and, to my notion, incontrovertible. as if, indeed, to give us "confirmation sure" of the truth of this position, our old friend cranmore starts up, "like a spirit from the vasty deep," and, after an absence of many months from our ranks, pays off his ancient score by producing the evidence he so long ago promised us. from it we gather that thomas paget, the father, named his _cousin_ minshull, apothecary in manchester, overseer of his will; and that his son, nathan paget, eighteen years afterwards, names in his will john goldsmith and elizabeth milton as _his cousins_, and makes bequests to them accordingly. now, it so happens that thomas, son of richard minshull of wistaston, was an _apothecary_, and that he settled in _manchester_, and thereupon founded the family of minshull of manchester. this { } gentleman was doubtless the _cousin_ referred to in the will of the elder paget. it farther happens, that thomas minshull, the grandfather of this manchester apothecary, married a daughter of goldsmith of nantwich. the john goldsmith of the middle temple would then doubtless be the nephew or grand-nephew of this lady, and in either case a _cousin_ of thomas minshull of manchester, and of elizabeth minshull of wistaston. this is another, if not a completing link in the genealogical chain, and convinces me, now more than ever, of the correctness of my conclusions. i may add that the whole of the deeds referred to by mr. singer are now in the safe and worthy keeping of mr. j. fitchett marsh of warrington; and that they are published _in extenso_, together with a valuable essay on their historical importance by their present possessor, in the first volume of _miscellanies_ issued by the chetham society. t. hughes. * * * * * anticipatory use of the cross. (vol. viii., pp. . .) i am not sure that any of your correspondents have noticed the resemblance between the letter t t, especially in some of its ancient forms, and the form of the cross. in the greek, etruscan, and samaritan forms of this letter, we have representations of the three principal forms which the cross has assumed: [tau cross], +, ×. it is also remarkable that in ezekiel ix. . .: "set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry," &c., the word rendered "mark" is [hebrew: t\dagesh\w] (_tau_), the name of the hebrew letter answering to the above: and as the samaritan alphabet, which the present hebrew characters have superseded, was then in use, it is highly probable that the "mark" referred to in ezekiel's vision was the samaritan _tau_, as seen on ancient hebrew shekels, resembling a st. andrew's cross. a circumstance relating to the paschal sacrifice mentioned by justin martyr, in his conference with trypho the jew, and which he asserts without contradiction from his learned opponent, is worthy of a note: "this lamb, which was to be roasted whole, was a symbol of the punishment of the cross, which was inflicted on christ, [greek: to gar optômenon probaton, k.t.l.] for the lamb which was roasted was so placed as to resemble the figure of a cross; with one spit it was pierced longitudinally, from the tail to the head; with another it was transfixed through the shoulders, so that the forelegs became extended."--vid. just. martyri _opera_, edit. oberther, vol. ii. p. . your correspondent h. n. appears to have fallen into several errors, which (having appeared in "n. & q.") ought not to pass unnoticed. . he confounds the basilica with the cruciform cathedral, and with "the plan of the roman forum." basilica (from gr. [greek: basilikê], a royal dwelling) was the name given by the romans to those public edifices in which justice was administered and mercantile business transacted. several of these buildings, or the remains of them, still exist in rome, each forum probably having had its basilica. vitruvius, who constructed one at fanum, says it ought to be built "on the warm side of the forum, that those whose affairs call them thither might confer without being incommoded by the weather." yet h. n. says: "the basilica seems to have originally been the architectural plan of the roman forum." the most perfect specimen of the antique basilica is that discovered at pompeii, on the south side of the form and at right angles with it. by consulting a good plan of pompeii, or glancing at a plan of its basilica, any one may see that it was not cruciform, but "in the form of a long parallelogram," with a central space and side porticoes, answering to the nave and aisles of a church. the early christians adopted the basilica form for their churches: those built in the form of a greek or latin cross are of much later date. yet h. n.'s learned friend exclaims, when viewing the temple of muttra, "here is the cross! the basilica carried out with more correctness of order and symmetry than in italy!" . h. n. assumes that the jews practised crucifixion as a punishment, and "may have imitated the assyrians, as crucifixion may have been adopted long before that of christ and the two thieves (qy. robbers)." crucifixion appears to have been in use from a very remote period, but was never adopted by the jews. the romans, who with all their greatness were an atrociously cruel people, employed it as the peculiar and appropriate punishment of delinquent slaves. christ was "crucified under pontius pilate," the roman procurator of judea, at a time when that country had become subject to the romans, and its rulers could say, "it is not lawful for us to put any man to death." . when h. n. refers to "the advocates of conversion and their itinerant agents," it is difficult to perceive exactly what he intends, except "to hint a fault and hesitate dislike." but before a writer undertakes to cast a reflection on those great societies who have been labouring--not by coercion, but by instruction and persuasion, by the circulation of the scriptures and the preaching of the gospel--to substitute christianity for idolatry among those who are under the government of great britain, he should well understand the grounds of his censures, so as to be able "to explain to the conversionists that, unless this doctrine be openly refuted, the missionaries may in truth be fighting their own shadow." { } how then has h. n. explained the doctrine which they are to refute--the meaning of the "cross and basilica" in india? the only witness in proof of it has disappeared "by falling into a volcanic crater." he himself professes to be quite ignorant of cathedral architecture and the english government, and english gentlemen generally, who have shamefully secreted such a treasure, are equally ignorant. why had they not consulted the living church of hindooism, and shown it a little sympathy and respect with a view to getting enlightened? whereas "the little they do know is derived from books." farther, "the elder civilians, men of ability, classical scholars, and first-rate asiatic linguists," when assembled in that very building, though they descanted on the sanctity of the place, "not one of them knew nor remarked the 'cross and basilica.'" and when visiting the great temple of benares, h. n. does not recollect that the cross was either noticed to him or by him. it may be true that when the hindoo "system of government existed in efficiency, there was neither crime nor punishment"--a shadowy tradition, i presume, of the state of innocence! it may also be true that "the mythology of the nile agrees with that of the ganges." but it would not follow that the cross is a myth derived from the mysteries of egypt or the astronomy of india. it would still remain an unquestionable fact, that the cross, for ages an instrument of ignominious torture under pagan rome, only ceased to be so when christianity had won its way through all ranks of society up to the imperial throne; then its employment was abolished by constantine, partly from the humanising influence of the new faith, and partly out of reverence to him who had suffered on it for the world's redemption. the anticipations of christianity supplied by paganism, of which krishna "burnishing the head of the serpent" is a striking example, may be easily accounted for, and their source pointed out. as a corruption of the earliest revelation, paganism contains, as might be expected, a portion of truth blended with much error. indeed, it would be no difficult task to prove that classical and oriental mythology is in some sense, and to a great extent, the shadow of biblical truth. what then? in endeavouring to supplant idolatry in the roman empire, were the apostles and first preachers of christianity merely "fighting their own shadow?" they recognised those truths which even heathens admit, but opposed and overthrew the accumulated errors of ages. yet there were some even then who condemned the preaching of the cross as "foolishness," till success demonstrated its wisdom. lastly, h. n., having "travelled much in this country and on the continent," is convinced "that superstition prevails comparatively _less_ in asia than in europe," and that "the pages of 'n. & q.' abundantly corroborate the opinion." this is far more startling than the discovery of the "cross and basilica" at muttra. to admit it, however, would require us to disregard the testimony of a cloud of witnesses, and to ignore all our former reading. the vast systems of asiatic superstition, it seems, are less objectionable than our own folk lore; the tremendous shades of brahma and budhu, of juggernaut and the goddess kali, with their uncouth images and horrid worship, are harmless when compared with puck, the pixies, and robin goodfellow; and caste, suttee, and devil-worship[ ] are evils of less magnitude than cairns, kist-vaens, and cromlechs. the mental balance must be peculiarly constructed that could lead to such a decision. certainly h. n. is no rhadamanthus. "dat veniam corvis, vexat censure columbas." the appeal to "n. & q." in corroboration of his opinion forms a pleasant and suitable conclusion of the whole: for while in india superstition still undeniably lives and "prevails," it is one special object of "n. & q." to embalm the remains of local superstitions in great britain that have either breathed their last, or are _in extremis_; to collect the relics of long-departed superstitions that were once vigorous and rampant in our island, but are now in danger of being lost and forgotten. their very remnants and vestiges have become so rare that they are unknown to the great mass of the community; and the learned, therefore, especially those versed in ethology, are urged to hunt them out wherever they exist in the different districts of the country, before they fall into utter oblivion. j. w. thomas. dewsbury. [footnote : for proof of the existence of devil-worship, see _yakkun nottanawa_, a cingalese poem, translated by john callaway, printed for the oriental translation fund: j. murray, .] i would beg to suggest to h. n. that if his friend count venua saw in the hindoo temple at muttra both the form of a perfect cross and of a "basilica, carried out with more correctness of order and symmetry than in italy," he must have been so totally ignorant of early architecture as to make his observations quite worthless, since there is no more similitude between the cruciform church and the basilica than there is between two parallel lines (=) and two lines crossing each other at right angles (+). "the precise shape of the cross on the temple of serapis" can only be inferred from the words of the historian cited, and the inference therefrom is strong that it was the _crux ansata_. eden warwick birmingham. * * * * * { } decorative pavement tiles from caen. (vol. viii., p. .) the tiles presented, in , to mr. charles chadwick, of mavesyn-ridware, staffordshire, are preserved in the church at that place. they form two tablets affixed to the wall in the remarkable sepulchral chapel arranged and decorated, at a great cost, by the directions of that gentleman towards the close of the last century, when the greater portion of the church was rebuilt. the north chapel, or aisle, containing the tombs of the mavesyns and the ridwares, the ancient lords of the estates which descended to mr. chadwick, was preserved; and here are to be seen two cross-legged effigies, a curious incised portraiture on an altar-tomb, representing sir robert mavesyn, , with other incised slabs and interesting memorials; to which were added, by mr. chadwick, a series of large incised figures, which surround the chapel. these last are not shown in the view given in shaw's _history of staffordshire_, vol. ii. p. ., having been executed since the publication of that work; and it is stated that they were engraved by the parish clerk under mr. chadwick's direction, being intended to pourtray the successive lords of the place from the norman times to the sixteenth century, each in the costume of his period. there are also numerous atchievements and other decorations attached to the walls; amongst these are the pavement tiles from caen, one of which bore the same arms as are assigned to the family of malvoisin-rosny, and on that account probably mr. chadwick placed these relics from normandy amongst the enrichments of his mausoleum. in regard to mr. boase's first inquiry, "who was charles chadwick, esq.?" it may suffice to cite the detailed account of the family given by shaw, and the short notice of that gentleman which will be found in the _history of staffordshire_, vol. ii. p. . on a visit to mavesyn-ridware in , i was struck with the appearance of these tiles; their design and fashion at once recalled those from caen with which i had been familiar in normandy. having ascertained their origin, i took occasion to state the fact of their preservation at this church in the "notes on decorative tiles," communicated to mr. parker by me, and given in the fourth edition of his useful _glossary of architecture_, in : see p. . it should be observed that the number of tiles composing the two tablets now to be seen is forty; whilst the number, as stated _gent. mag._, vol. lix. part i. p. ., and in a second letter from mr. barrett, in vol. lx. part ii. p. ., not cited by mr. boase in his query, is twenty. mr. boase is probably aware that the sixteen tiles from the great guard chamber at caen, which supplied the subject of mr. j. major henniker's memoir, were presented by him to the society of antiquaries of london, and are now in their museum, as noticed in the catalogue, compiled by myself, p. . a coloured drawing of an heraldic pavement at caen, taken about , is preserved in a volume of the great collection formed by m. de gaignieres, and bequeathed by gough to the bodleian library. it comprises chiefly drawings of french sepulchral monuments, arranged by localities; and there is one volume, entitled _recueil de tapisseries, d'armoiries et de devises_, in which may be found the interesting memorial of this decorative pavement of tiles, which was destroyed during the fury of the revolution. albert way. charles chadwick, esq., of healy hall, lancashire, and mavesyn-ridware, in the county of stafford, to whom the monks of st. stephen, at caen, presented, in the year , a series of encaustic tiles with heraldic devices taken from the floor of the (so called) "great guard chamber of the palace of the dukes of normandy," died in . i infer that the tiles were brought to the lancashire residence of mr. chadwick because the description and the drawing for the engraving were both supplied to the _gentleman's magazine_ by a lancashire antiquary, thomas barnett, of hydes cross, manchester: but as the descendants of mr. chadwick no longer reside in lancashire, the hall being occupied by a woollen manufacturer, i have been unable to obtain any information respecting the tiles, though long desirous to do so. i direct attention to another series of the same tiles, sixteen in number, which were presented to the society of antiquaries through the president, the earl of leicester, in , by john henniker, esq., m.a., f.r.s., s.a., and m.p., who afterwards took the additional name of major. this gentleman received the tiles from his brother, captain henniker, then resident at caen; and in he published an interesting account of them with engravings, entitled _two letters on the origin, antiquity, and history of norman tiles stained with armorial bearings_ (london, john bell, strand). the engravings both in this volume and in the _gentleman's magazine_ are indifferently executed, and too small in scale to be of use. mr. henniker describes the colours of his tiles to be "yellow and brown," while mr. barnett states that the tiles in mr. chadwick's possession were "light grey and black;" a curious discrepancy, seeing that in all other respects they were exactly similar. these tiles are of so much heraldic and antiquarian interest that if either set could be made available for the purpose, it is very desirable that they be engraved of full size, and printed by the modern easy process to imitate the colours. gilbert j. french. * * * * * { } mottos of the emperors of germany. (vol. viii., p. .) with your permission i shall enlarge the list of mottos of the german emperors, as well by commencing with the germano-frankish era as by supplying those omitted in the series given by mr. joshua g. fitch. my authorities are reusneri _symbola imperatoria tribus classibus cæs. rom. italic., c. r. græcorum, c. r. germanico_; and sadeler, _symbola divina et humana pontificum, imperatorum, regum_, &c.: caroli magni. . _christus regnat, vincit, triumphat._ ludovici pii. . _omnium rerum vicissitudo._ lotharii i. . _ubi mel, ibi fel._ ludovici ii. . _par sit fortuna labori._ caroli ii. (calvi.) . _justitiam injustitia parit._ caroli iii. (crassi.) . _os garrulum intricat omnia._ arnulphi. . _facilis descensus averni._ ludovici iii. . _multorum manus, paucorum consilium._ othonis magni. _aut mors aut vita decora._ othonis iii. _unita virtus valet._ henrici ii. (claudi.) _ne quid nimis._ friderici i. (Ænobarbi.) _aliud. qui nescit dissimulare nescit imperare._ friderici ii. _minarum strepitus, asinorum crepitus._ the following is the correct reading of the words given in vol. viii., p. .: _cumplurium triariorum ego strepitum audivi._ adolphi. _animus est qui divites facit._ alberti i. _aliud. quod optimum idem jucundissimum._ henrici vii. _aliud. fide et consilio._ ludovici iv. _sola bona quæ honesta._ _aliud. deo et cæsari._[ ] caroli iv. _optimum aliena insania frui._ _aliud. nullius pavet occursum._ wenceslai. _morosophi moriones pessimi._ _aliud. tempestati parendum._ sigismundi. _aliud. sic cedunt munera fatis._ alberti ii. _aliud. fugam victoria nescit._ friderici iii. _rerum irrecuperabilium foelix oblivio._ _aliud. a. e. i. o. u._ that these vowels are supposed to signify "austriæ est imperare orbi universo" has already been communicated in "n. & q." reusner has given then another interpretation "aquila electa iuste vincit omnia." "aliud. hic regit, ille tuetur. leges et arma in promptu habes, illæ regunt, hæc tuentur imperium. a justiniano habet," &c.--sadeler, p. . maximiliani i. _aliud. in manu dei regis est [cor]._ _aliud. per tot discrimina._ caroli v. _aliud. nondum in auge [sol]._ _aliud. fundatori quietis [laurea]._ ferdinandi. _fiat justitia aut pereat mundus._ _aliud. a. i. p. q. n. s. i. a._ "accidit in puncto quod non speratur in anno; temporis in puncto qui sapit, ille sapit." maximiliani ii. _comminuam vel extinguam._ (_puta semiplenam turcarum lunulam._) rudolphi ii. _aliud. ex voluntate dei omnia._ _aliud. sic ad astra._ _aliud. tu ne cede malis._ in reusner's work the mottos are accompanied by copious and erudite comments; and in sadeler's by engravings also; the devices or achievements of distinguished men, denominated in the italian language _imprese_, and in the latin _symbola heroica_. bibliothecar. chetham. [footnote : "symbolum [aquila solem contrà tuens] quo jam se non tantum adversario opponit sed cum deo parum modestè ponit. est quidem aquila jovi sacra ut ad fabulas rem revolvamus. sed absit mihi omnis cum deo comparatio."--sadeler, p. .] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _simplicity of calotype process._--the session of the photographic society was commenced with a paper from our original correspondent, dr. diamond, under the above title. our journal having led to such facilities of question and answer, has induced many of our readers to ask upon several points additional instructions, some of which we have ourselves thought might have been made more clear and having written to dr. diamond he has promised us a revised copy for our next number. replying to some of our querists, he says, "the plain photographic facts are correct; but i wrote the paper on the morning of the day on which the society met, and was not aware it was to be printed in the _journal_ until i received my copy." _albumenized paper._--as my only object writing on this subject was to communicate to others the plan which _i_ had found _in practice_ most successful, i think it necessary to correct some points of misapprehension which it is evident your correspondent k. n. m. has fallen into, vol. viii., p. . in the process i recommended, the paper, if cockled up, readily becomes flat and even if kept in a portfolio or any similar receptacle; and as i _never float_ my paper to sensitize it, i have not the inconvenience of the silver solution becoming spoiled by particles of the albumen. the grains to the ounce for the solution i do not find more extravagant when applied, as i have indicated, with a glass rod, than one of grains to the ounce when the paper is floated, because in the former case i use only just enough to cover the paper, viz. forty-five minims to a half-sheet of { } canson's paper, and there is no loss from any portion adhering to the dishes, evaporation, or filtering. this is far more than would be imagined when only a sheet or two of paper is required at one time. lastly, with regard to the _strokes_ being visible after printing the positive, i do not find them so in general, though occasionally such a thing does happen when sufficient care has not been taken in the preparation; but i find striæ quite as visible on two positives prepared by dr. diamond himself, which he kindly gave me: however, i will forward a sample of my paper for your judgment, and also a portion for k. n. m. if he will take the trouble of trying the same. geo. shadbolt. _new developing mixture._--having for some months past used the following developing mixture, and finding it very bright and easily applied, i beg to offer it to your notice. it does not cost more than three farthings per ounce, and therefore may be worth the consideration of beginners. i do not know a better where the metallic appearance is not desired. no. . pyrogallic acid grains. glacial acetic acid drachm. water oz. no. . protosulphate of iron grains. nitric acid drops. water oz. to six drachms of no. . add two of no. . i pour it on, but do not return it to the bottle, as it is apt to spoil if so used. t. l. merritt. _queries on the albumenized process._--allow me to put a few questions through your valued paper. in the albumen process on glass, messrs. ross and thomson, in thornthwaite's _guide_, recommend drops of sat. solution of iodized potassa to each egg. now is it meant _ten drops_, or _ten minims_? if the former, a drop varies with the bottle and quantity of liquid in it; and ten drops are nearly half the bulk of ten minims, generally speaking. then as to the egg: an egg in this country is only at most [drachm]; in england an egg appears twice as large.--could you state the general bulk of an egg in england, and to what quantity by bulk or weight of albumen the drops or minims are to be applied? when i say an egg is only [drachm], i mean the white of one. a subscriber. bombay. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _poems in connection with waterloo_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a correspondent of the _naval and military gazette_ of november , , signing himself "m.a., pem. coll., oxford," has pointed out an error into which i had fallen "respecting the elm-trees at and connected with waterloo." i certainly was given to understand, when i received the monody, that it was written by the public orator on the death of his son _who fell at waterloo_: whereas it clearly appears by the obituary in the _gentleman's magazine_, that _ensign william crowe_, first battalion, th foot, _son of the public orator_ at oxford, _was killed at the attack_ upon new orleans jan. , . i hasten to acknowledge my mistake, though i am glad that the two copies of verses found place in your columns. braybrooke. _richard oswald_ (vol. viii., p. .)--your querist will find many letters to and from him in franklin's _memoirs_. he was for some years a merchant in the city of london. in he purchased the estate of auchincruive, in the county of ayr, and died there in . no memoir of him has ever been published. he was for many years an intimate friend of lord shelbourne, who sent him to paris in , and again in , to negotiate with franklin, with whom he had been for some time acquainted. during the seven years' war he acted as commissary-general to the allied armies under the duke of brunswick, who said of him in the official despatches, that "england had sent him commissaries fit to be generals, and generals not fit to be commissaries." j. h. e. _grammont's marriage_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in one of the notes to grammont, originally, i believe, introduced by sir w. scott in his edition, but which appears at p. . of bohn's reprint, we are told on the authority of the _biographia gallica_, vol. i. p. .: "the famous count grammont was thought to be the original of _the forced marriage_. this nobleman, during his stay at the court of england, had made love to miss hamilton, but was coming away from france without bringing matters to a proper conclusion. the young lady's brothers pursued him, and came up with him near dover, in order to exchange some pistol shot with him. they called out, 'count grammont, have you forgot nothing at london?' 'excuse me,' answered the court guessing their errand, 'i forgot to marry your sister; so lead on, and let us finish that affair.'" my object in this communication is to supply an omission in mr. steinman's very interesting notes, who does not show, as he might have done, how the letters of m. de comminges prove the truth of this story. for, from the passage quoted by mr. steinman from the letter to the king, dated dec. - , , it is evident that the count was about on that day to leave england "without bringing matters to a proper conclusion;" while that he married the lady within a day or { } two of that date may fairly be inferred from the announcement on aug. -sept. , , that "madame la comtesse de grammont accoucha hier au soir d'un fils." mr. steinman's omission was probably intentional; i have supplied it in the hope that the date and place of the marriage may now be ascertained, and for the purpose of expressing my hope that we shall soon be favoured by mr. steinman's return to this subject. horace walpole, jun. _life_ (vol. vii., p. .).--let me give a. c. the testimony of two poets and a philosopher in support of the "general feeling" about the renewal of life, which will surely bear down the authority of three writers mentioned by him. cowper's notion may be gathered from the couplet: "so numerous are the follies that annoy the mind and heart of every sprightly boy." kirke white must have had a similar idea: "there are who think that childhood does not share with age the cup, the bitter cup, of care; alas! they know not this unhappy truth, that every age and rank is born to ruth." the next four lines may also be attentively considered. i quote from his "childhood," one of his earliest productions by the way--but what production of his was not early? still more decidedly, however, on the point speaks cicero (_de senectute_): "si quis deus mihi largiatur ut ea hâc ætate repuerescam, et in cunis vagiam, _valde recusem_." the following passage is also at a. c.'s service, provided you can find space for it, and there are "no questions asked" as to its whereabouts: "i have heard them say that our childhood's hours are the happiest time of our earthly race; and they speak with regret of their summer bowers, and the mirth they knew in the butterfly chase; and they sorrow to think that those days are past, when their young hearts bounded with lightsome glee, when, by none of the clouds of care o'ercast, the sun of their joy shone cheerily. but, oh! they surely forget that the boy may have grief of his own that strikes deep in his heart; that an angry frown, or a broken toy, may inflict for a time a cureless smart; and that little pain is as great to him as a weightier woe to an older mind. aye! the harsh reproof, or unfavoured whim, may be sharp as a pang of a graver kind. then, how dim-sighted and thoughtless are those, who would they were frolicsome children and free; they should rather rejoice to have fled from the woes that hung o'er them once so heavily. in misfortune's rude shocks the practised art of _the man_ may perchance disclose relief; but _the child_, in his innocence of heart, will bow 'neath the stroke of a trifling grief." w. t. m. hong kong. _muscipula_ (vol. viii., p. .--_the name lloyd._--besides the translation of this poem by dr. hoadly, of which a note in dodsley informs us that the author, holdsworth, said it was "exceedingly well done," i have before me another, printed in london for r. gosling, , with an engraved frontispiece, illustrative of the triumphant reception of taffy's invention. the depredations of the mouse are illustrated in the various figures around, as cheeses burrowed through, even the invasion of a sleeping welshman's very [greek: erkos odontôn], &c. the title is, _the mouse-trap, a poem done from the original latin in milton's stile_: "ludus animo debet aliquando dari, ad cogitandum melior ut redeat tibi"--_phæd._ both translations are in blank verse, but that of the latter is very _blank_ indeed, and possesses little in common with milton's _style_, except the absence of rhyme. it thus begins: "the british mountaineer, who first uprear'd a mouse-trap, and engoal'd the little thief, the deadly wiles and fate inextricable, rehearse, my muse, and, oh! thy presence deign, auxiliar phoebus, mortal foe to mice: whence bards in ancient times thee smintheus term'd," &c. muscipula must have made some sensation to have been translated by two different persons. _welsh rabbits_, and their supposed general fondness for _cheese_, have furnished many a joke at the expense of the inhabitants of the principality. among others the following quiz may not be out of place on the famous cambro-britannic name of lloyd: "two gibbets dejected, ll a cheese in full view, o a toaster erected y and a cheese cut in two, d." ballard mss. in the bodleian, vol. xxix. p. . balliolensis. _berefellarii_ (vol. viii., p. .).--m. philarÈte chasles has misrepresented john jebb's query and conjecture about _berefellarii_ (vol. vii., p. .). he never spoke of these officers as "_half ecclesiastics_ (!), dirty, shabby, ill-washed attendants." they were priests of an inferior grade, answering to the minor canons of cathedrals, and superior to the vicars choral, who were also called _personæ_ and _rectores chori_. he has far too great a respect for collegiate foundations to use such opprobrious terms when speaking of any class of ministers of divine service. the only conjecture j. jebb made was, that the word might possibly have been a corruption (arising from incorrect writing) of _beneficiarii_, which is continually used abroad for the inferior clergy of collegiate churches, though not common in { } england. it is just _possible_, though not very probable, that this somewhat foreign word was misread, and gave rise to a blundering corruption conveying ludicrous ideas, the "turpe nomen" alluded to by the archbishop of york tempore ric. ii. the conjectural derivation of the word from anglo-saxon words was not my own, but that of a subsequent correspondent. it is just one of those conjectures which, like that of "mazarinæus," may be quite as likely to be false as true. i could suggest twenty that would be quite as likely; such as _bier-followers_ (attenders on funerals, as did the clerks and inferior clergy in cathedrals), or _bury fellows_ (query, burying fellows), or _beer fellows_ (like the _beerers_ in dean aldrich's famous catch), or _belly fillers_, &c., or lastly, some corruption of _beverly_ itself. _barefellows_ is as likely as any. still i cannot think that these functionaries were low or contemptible. their position corresponded to a very honourable status in cathedral churches. john jebb. _harmony of the four gospels_ (vol. viii., pp. . .)--i am greatly obliged to mr. hardwick, mr. buckton, and j. m. for their valuable and satisfactory replies to my query. to the list of those harmonies published since the reformation, may be added that of john hind, , under the title of "the storie of stories, or the life of christ, according to the foure holy evangelists: with a harmonie of them, and a table of their chapters and verses, collected by johan hind. london, printed by miles flesher, ." it is dedicated to the "lady anne twisden," with whom, and her son the learned sir roger twisden, this john hind, "a german gentleman of mecklenburgh, a most religious honest knowing man, lived above thirty years," &c. surely doddridge's _family expositor_ should be added to the list. z. . _picts' houses and argils_ (vol. viii., p. .).--malte-brun, in his _universal geography_, english translation, vol. vi. p. ., has a passage in his description of russia which applies to this matter. the steppes of nogay lie immediately to the north of the peninsula of the crimea, both being included in the russian government of taurida, and both countries were formerly inhabited by the cimbri or cimmerians. malte-brun says: "the colonists are in many places ill provided with timber for building; they live under the ground, and the hillocks, which are so common in the country, and which served in ancient times for graves or monuments of the dead, are now converted into houses, the vaults are changed into roofs, and beneath them are subterranean excavations. kurgan is the tartar name for these tumuli; they are scattered throughout new russia; they were raised at different times by the different people who ruled over that region. the kurgans are not all of the same kind; some are not unlike the rude works of the early hungarians, others are formed of large and thin stones, like the scandinavian tombs. it is to be regretted that the different articles contained in them have been only of late years examined with care." this does not establish the identity of the argil and kurgan, but i think it shows more particular information is likely to be met with on the subject. m. malte-brun, vol. vi. p. ., in his description of turkey, mentions a curious town on the hills of the strandschea, a little to the west of constantinople. it is called indchiguis, and is inhabited by troglodytes; its numerous dwellings are cut in solid rocks, stories are formed in the same manner, and many apartments that communicate with each other. w. h. f. _boswell's "johnson"_ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "crescit, occulto velut arbor ævo, fama marcelli: micat inter omnes julium sidus, velut inter ignes luna minores."--hor. _carm._ i. xii. - . f. c. has overlooked the _point_ of boswell's remark, viz. that johnson had been "inattentive to metre." c. forbes. temple. _pronunciation of "humble"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i venture once more to trespass on your pages, in the hope of helping to settle the right pronunciation of _humble_. in the controversy respecting it, the derivation of the word should not be overlooked, as it is a most important point; for i consider that the improper use of the _h_ has arisen from people not knowing from whence the word was taken. now, as i am of opinion that it will go far to prove that the _h_ should be silent in _humble_, by giving a list of the radical words in the english language in which that letter is silent, and their derivations, i beg to do so: premising that they are derived from the celtic language, in which the _h_ is not used in the same manner that it is in other languages: _heir_, from _oigeir_, i. e. the young man who succeeds to a property: the word is pronounced _air_. _honest_, from _oinnicteac_, i. e. just, liberal, generous, kind. _honour_, from _onoir_, i. e. praise, respect, worship. _hour_, from _uair_, pronounced _voir_, i. e. time present, a period of time, any time. _humble_, from _umal_, i. e. lowly, obedient, submissive. _humour._ the derivation of this word is obscure, but in the sense of _mirth_ it may be derived from _uaim-mir_, i. e. loud mirth, gaiety. the compounds formed from these words have the _h_ silent; and every other word beginning with { } that letter should have it fully sounded. such being my practice, i cannot be accused of cultivating the _heapian dialect_, which i hold to be equally abominable with the improper use of the letter _h_. fras. crossley. may not the following be the true solution of the question? all _existing_ humility is either pride or hypocrisy; pride aspirates the _h_, hypocrisy suppresses it. i always aspirate. m. _continuation of robertson_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the supplementary volume proposed by mr. turnbull, which is wanted extremely, was never published, owing to the fact that eighty subscribers could not be found to indemnify him for the expense of printing. g. _nostradamus_ (vol. vii., p. .).--my edition of _nostradamus_, (described in "n. & q.," vol. iv., p. .), has the quotation in question; but the first line has "le sang du juste," not "le sang du jusse." the ed. of is undoubtedly genuine. besides the twelve centuries of prophecies, it contains "presages tirez de ceux faits par m. nostradamus," and fifty-eight "prédictions admirables pour les ans courans en ce siècle, recueillies des mémoires de feu m. nostradamus," with a dedication to henry iv. of france, "par vincent seve, de beaucaire, mars, ." r. j. r. _quantity of words_ (vol. viii., p. .).--anti-barbarus need not say we always pronounce candace long, for i have never heard it otherwise than short. labbe says it should be short, and classes it with short terminations in _[)a]cus_; but i am not aware that there is any poetical authority for it. _canace_ and _canache_ are both short in ovid; all which may have helped to the inference for _cand[)a]ce_. facciolati has an adjective _cand[)a]cus_, to which i refer your correspondent. w. hazel. _"man proposes, but god disposes"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this saying is older than the age of thomas à kempis, who was born about a.d. . it probably originated in two passages of holy scripture, on one or both of which it may have been an ancient comment: "hominis est animam præparare, et domini gubernare linguam." "cor hominis disponit viam suam, sed domini est dirigere gressus ejus."--proverbs xvi. . . the sentiment in both is the same, and their pith is given in a still more brief and condensed form in our own proverb. it is remarkable that while dr. a. clarke, in his notes on proverbs xvi., has quoted it without reference to its authorship in the edition of stanhope's version of _de imitatione christi_, which i happen to have, it is not to be found; but its place (according to your correspondent's reference) is occupied by the _two texts_ above quoted. the work referred to is asserted by some to have been only translated or transcribed by à kempis, and written by john gerson, chancellor of the university of paris, a great theologian, who died in . be that as it may, i can assure your correspondent a. b. c. that the saying in question _did not_ originate with the author of that work. in piers ploughman's _vision_, written a.d. , it is thus introduced: "and _spiritus justitiæ_ shall juggen, wol he nele he (_will he nil he!_) after the kynges counseil, and the comune like. and _spiritus prudentiæ_, in many a point shall faille, of that he weneth will falle, if his wit ne weere. wenynge is no wysdom, ne wys ymaginacion. _homo proponit, et deus disponit_, and governeth alle good vertues." vol. ii. p. ., ll. - . ed. london: w. pickering, . in the same way the author frequently introduces latin texts from the bible, and other books of authority and devotion. in the notes the editor generally refers to the place from whence the quotation is taken; but as there is no reference in connexion with the present passage, i infer that he was not aware of its source. j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _polarised light_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i am unable to furnish h. c. k. with knowledge from the fountain-head touching this phenomenon. on referring, however, to a little work, much valued in my boyish days, i find it thus mentioned: "the blue light of the sky is completely polarised at an angle of seventy-four degrees from the sun, in a plane passing through the sun's centre."--p. . _newtonian philosophy_, by tom telescope: tegg, lond. . surely the herschels mention this. r. c. warde. kidderminster. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the attempt to establish a _surrey archæological society_ has at length proved successful. upwards of one hundred and seventy members have already joined the society. the duke of norfolk has accepted its presidency, and the earl of ellesmere, the bishop of winchester, and lord viscount downe, are among the number of its vice-presidents. the society has good work before it, and we trust will set about it in a way to { } secure the success which we wish it. the honorary secretary and treasurer is george bish webb, esq., of . addison road north, notting hill; from whom gentlemen desirous of enrolling themselves as members may obtain copies of the prospectus, rules, &c. of the society. the mention of one county society seems to call attention to another, namely, the _somersetshire archæological and natural history society_, the volume of whose proceedings for is now before us, and affords satisfactory proof that the zeal and energy of its members, of which it numbers nearly five hundred, are by no means diminished. the papers and the illustrations of the volume are highly creditable to all concerned. the want of a collection of the early antiquities of this country has long been the greatest reproach which foreigners have been able to make against the british museum. an opportunity of removing this has lately presented itself by an offer to the trustees of the well-known and probably unique collection, _the faussett museum_. strange to say, that offer was declined: but, as a communication from the society of antiquaries strongly urging the propriety of a reconsideration of this decision--so that an opportunity which may never recur may not be lost--has been addressed to the trustees, we still hope that _the faussett museum_ will yet fill the empty cases at great russell street, and form, as it is well calculated to do, the nucleus of a national collection of our own national antiquities. we understand mr. wylie has most liberally offered to present his valuable fairford collections to the museum, if the faussett collection is secured for it. books received.--_the life and works of william cowper_, by robert southey, vol. i. this, the first volume of a new edition, which will be comprised in eight instead of fifteen volumes--cost twenty-eight instead of seventy-five shillings, and yet contain additional plates and matter,--is the new issue of bohn's _standard library_.--_the laws of artistic copyright and their defects_, by d. r. blaine, esq. a little volume well calculated to instruct artists, sculptors, engravers, printsellers, &c., so that they may clearly understand their rights, their remedies for the infringement of those rights, and the proper mode of transferring their property.--_the attic philosopher in paris, being the journal of a happy man_, forms no. li. of longman's _traveller's library_, and is a fit companion to the _confessions of a working man_, by the same author, emile souvestre, published in the same series a few months since.--_apuleius: metamorphoses, or golden ass, and other works._ a new translation, to which are added a metrical version of cupid and psyche, and mrs. tighe's psyche, is the new volume of bohn's _classical library_.--_handbook to the library of the british museum, &c._, by richard sims. after the notice of this useful little volume taken by mr. bolton corney in our last number, we may content ourselves with expressing our hope that the trustees, whose desire it must be to facilitate in every way the use of the museum library, will avail themselves of the earliest opportunity of marking their approval of this able attempt on the part of one of their officers--a junior though he be--to promote so important an object. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: nichols' literary anecdotes, and the continuation. the hive. vols. london, . the friends. vols. london, . london magazine. to . wanted by _f. dinsdale_, leamington. * * * * * joseph mede's works. jones's (of nayland) sermons, by walker. vols. vo. plain sermons. vols. vo. death-bed scenes. best edition. rose's (h. j.) sermons. wilberforce's life. vols. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. * * * * * hutchins's dorsetshire. last edition. wanted by _james dearden_, upton house, poole. * * * * * clarendon's history of the rebellion. folio. oxford, . vol. i. wanted by _rev. john james avington_, hungerford. * * * * * recollections and reflections during the reign of george iii., by john nicholls. vols. vo. london, ridgway, . wanted by _g. cornewall lewis_, kent house, knightsbridge. * * * * * an examination of the charters and statutes of trinity college, dublin (with the postscript), by george miller, d.d., f.t.c.d. dublin, . a [first] letter to the rev. dr. pusey, in reference to his letter to the lord bishop of oxford, by george miller, d.d. london, . wanted by _rev. b. h. blacker_, . pembroke road, dublin. * * * * * dillwin's british coniferÆ. to. coloured plates. london, . (scioppius) scaliger hypobolymÆus, h. e. elenchus epistolæ josephi burdonis pseudo-scaligeri de vetustate et splendore gestis scaligeri. to. mainz, . wanted by _williams and norgate_, henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * notices to correspondents. Æstimator _is informed that a new edition of sir r. philips's_ million of facts _has just been published_. n. e. h. _will find a full history of cocker's_ arithmetic _in de morgan's_ books of arithmetic. c. e. c. (reading). _the volume in question is lyte's translation of dodoens'_ historie of plantes. t. c. b. _defoe's_ de jure divino _was first published in folio, _. _see wilson's_ life, vol. ii. p. . _et seq._ x. y. z. _is our correspondent sure that a clergyman on being inducted is locked up in the church and obliged to toll the bell himself?_ p. m. hart _will find the line_, "men are but children of a larger growth," _in dryden's_ all for love. s. s. (andover). _we do not believe that mr. brayley ever published any more than the first volume of his_ graphic and historical illustrator. c. h. (cambridge) _is referred to_ "n. & q.," vol. i., pp. . . . . ., _for the history of the proverbial saying_, "god tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. 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without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, geology or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * just published, price s. the stereoscope, considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision. an essay, by c. mansfield ingleby, m.a., of trinity college, cambridge. london: walton & maberley, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. cambridge: j. deighton. also, by the same author, price s., remarks on some of sir william hamilton's notes on the works of dr. thomas reid. 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"love the truth and peace."--zech. viii. . oxford & london: john henry parker. * * * * * now ready, fcap. vo., price s., advent readings from the fathers. selected from the library of the fathers. uniform with the lent readings. oxford & london: john henry parker. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d., the third edition, with a preface in reply to mr. maurice's letter. grounds for laying before the council of king's college london, certain statements contained in a recent publication, entitled. "theological essays, by the rev. f. d. maurice, m.a., professor of divinity in king's college." by r. w. jelf, d.d., principal of the college and canon of christ church. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * now ready, price one shilling. the national miscellany.--vol. ii., no. ii. for december. . our national gallery and its prospects. . wallachia and moldavia. . the national drama. . kaiserswerth and the protestant deaconesses. . the well of clisson. . proverbial philosophy, or old saws with a new edge. . the interesting pole--concluded. . discovery of america in the tenth century. . magazines. . notices--landmarks of history. arnold's poems. also, volume i. containing the first six numbers, in handsome cloth binding, gilt edges, price s. at the office, a. exeter street. strand, london. * * * * * robert cocks & co.'s new musical publications. octavo editions of the oratorios.--messiah, from mozart's score, with an appendix and other additions., by john bishop. s. d. the creation, uniformly with "messiah," also by john bishop, s. d. samson, by dr. clarke, s. theory of music.--works of dr marx.--a syllabus of the contents of the universal school of music, and the school of composition, with critical notices, may be had, gratis and postage free, on application to robert cocks & co. the blackbird quadrilles. by ricardo linter. piano solo, s.: duet, s. "another of the admired sets by the author of the canary quadrilles and the goldfinch quadrilles, elegantly composed, as they are happily conceived." new quadrilles.-the nice young maiden's and the nice young bachelor's quadrilles by stephen glover. also, by the same distinguished composer, the gipsy quadrilles, with cherry ripe, the gipsy's life, i'd be a butterfly, &c.; the great globe, osborne, eugenie, mamma's and papa's quadrilles, s. each set: duets, s. each. london robert cocks & co., publishers to the queen. to be had of all music sellers. * * * * * bartholomew fair, from the reign of edward the second to that of charles the first. price s. proclamations against stage players. issued in the reign of charles the first and george the second; and a broadside respecting shakspearian relics at charlecote house. s. pleasant gleanings from the most ancient newspapers, with a facsimile of a very curious, droll, and interesting newspaper of king charles's reign. d. sent free by post. apply by letter, inclosing payment in postage stamps to mr j. h. fenell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * mr. bartlett's new work. on december th, super-royal vo., price s., neatly bound, the pilgrim fathers; or, the founders of new england in the reign of james i. by w. h. bartlett, author of "forty days in the desert," &c. with twenty-eight illustrations in steel, and numerous woodcuts. arthur hall, virtue & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * new work by rev. dr. cumming. on december th, in fcap., price s. d., cloth, christ our passover. by rev. john cumming, d.d. uniform with the "finger of god." arthur hall, virtue & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * new work by the author of "mary powell." this day is published, price s. d., cloth, antique, cherry and violet; a tale of the great plague. uniform with "edward osborne." &c. arthur hall, virtue & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * on december th, in post vo., price s., cloth, gilt, autobiography of william jerdan with his literary, political, and social reminiscences and correspondence, during the last forty years. volume iv., completing the work, with a portrait of sir e. b. lytton, and view of knebworth. arthur hall, virtue & co. . paternoster row. * * * * * new and cheaper edition, complete in vol., medium vo., handsomely bound and gilt. price l. s. pilgrimages to english shrines. by mrs. s. c. hall. with notes and illustrations. by f. w. fairholt, f.s.a. arthur hall & virtue co., . paternoster row. * * * * * price s., or, post free, s. d. in stamps. pantomime budgets: contains notes and queries on things in general, and taxation in particular. cross & son, . holborn. * * * * * just published, no. ii., for december, price three halfpence, of the church of the people. a monthly journal of literature, science, the fine arts, &c. devoted to the religious, moral, physical, and social elevation of the great body of the people. contents: a story that has truth in it.--chapter ii. the strength and the weakness of numbers. the chinese revolution. the church--what is it? "sitting under mr. ----." northern worthies.--no. i. gilpin. intelligence. poetry. enigma. reviews. miscellaneous. correspondence. george bell. fleet street, london: and all booksellers. * * * * * { } privately printed books, sold by john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * these works are printed in quarto, uniform with the club-books, and the series is now completed. their value chiefly consists in the rarity and curiosity of the pieces selected, the notes being very few in number. the impression of each work is most strictly limited. * * * * * i. morte arthure: the alliterative romance of the death of king arthur; now first printed, from a manuscript in the library of lincoln cathedral. seventy-five copies printed. l. *** a very curious romance, full of allusions interesting to the antiquary and philologist. it contains nearly eight thousand lines. ii. the castle of love: a poem, by robert grosteste, bishop of lincoln; now first printed from inedited mss. of the fourteenth century. one hundred copies printed. s. *** this is a religious poetical romance, unknown to warton. its poetical merits are beyond its age. iii. contributions to early english literature, derived chiefly from rare books and ancient inedited manuscripts from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. seventy-five copies printed. *** out of print separately, but included in the few remaining complete sets. iv. a new boke about shakespeare and stratford-on-avon, illustrated with numerous woodcuts and facsimiles of shakespeare's marriage bond, and other curious articles. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. v. the palatine anthology. an extensive collection of ancient poems and ballads relating to cheshire and lancashire; to which is added the palatine garland. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. vi. the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, illustrated by reprints of very rare tracts. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. contents:--harry white his humour, set forth by m. p.--comedie of the two italian gentlemen--tailor's travels on london to the isle of wight, --wyll bucke his testament--the booke of merry riddles, --comedie of all for money, --wine, beere, ale, and tobacco, --johnson's new booke of new conceites, --love's garland, . vii. the yorkshire anthology.--an extensive collection of ballads and poems, respecting the county of yorkshire. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. *** this work contains upwards of pages, and includes a reprint of the very curious poem, called "yorkshire ale," , as well as a great variety of old yorkshire ballads. viii, ix. a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, printed in two volumes, quarto (preface omitted), to range with todd's "johnson," with margins sufficient for insertions. one hundred and twelve copies printed in this form. l. s. x. some account of a collection of several thousand bills, accounts, and inventories, illustrating the history of prices between the years and , with copious extracts from old account-books. eighty copies printed. l. s. xi. the poetry of witchcraft, illustrated by copies of the plays on the lancashire witches, by heywood and shadwell, viz., the "late lancashire witches," and the "lancashire witches and tegue o'divelly, the irish priest." eighty copies printed. l. s. xii. the norfolk anthology, a collection of poems, ballads, and rare tracts, relating to the county of norfolk. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiii. some account of a collection of antiquities, coins, manuscripts, rare books, and other reliques, illustrative of the life and works of shakespeare. illustrated with woodcuts. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiv. some account of the mss. preserved in the public library, plymouth: a play attributed to shirley, a poem by n. breton, and other miscellanies. eighty copies printed. l. s. *** a complete set of the fourteen volumes, l. a reduction made in favour of permanent libraries on application, it being obvious that the works cannot thence return into the market to the detriment of original subscribers. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street. in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "les lettres juives.": 'juices' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page party-similes of the seventeenth century:--no. . "foxes and firebrands." no. . "the trojan horse" testimonials to donkeys, by cuthbert bede, b.a. longevity in cleveland, yorkshire, by william durrant cooper rev. josiah pullen folk lore:--ancient custom in warwickshire-- nottinghamshire customs minor notes:--a centenarian couple--"veni, vidi, vici"--autumnal tints--variety is pleasing-- rome and the number six--zend grammar--the duke's first victory--straw paper--american epitaph queries:-- laurie (?) on currency, &c. "donatus redivivus" minor queries:--henry scobell--the court house --ash-trees attract lightning--symbol of sow, &c. --passage in blackwood--rathband family-- encaustic tiles from caen--artificial drainage-- storms at the death of great men--motto on wylcotes' brass--"trail through the leaden sky," &c.-- lord audley's attendants at poictiers--roman catholic bible society minor queries with answers--"vox populi vox dei"--"lanquettes cronicles"--"our english milo"--"delights for ladies"--burton's death --joannes audoënus--hampden's death replies:- "pinece with a stink," by w. pinkerton, &c. monumental brasses abroad, by josiah cato milton's "lycidas," by c. mansfield ingleby school libraries, by weld taylor and g. brindley acworth cawdray's "treasurie of similies," and simile of magnetic needle, by rev. e. c. harington, &c. "mary, weep no more for me," by j. w. thomas photographic correspondence:--clouds in photographs --albumenized paper--stereoscopic angles --photographic copies of mss. replies to minor queries:--lord cecil's "memorials" --foreign medical education--encyclopædias --pepys's grammar--"antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi"--napoleon's spelling--black as a mourning colour--chanting of jurors--aldress--huggins and muggins--camera lucida--"when orpheus went down"--the arms of de sissone--oaths of pregnant women--lepel's regiment--editions of the prayer book prior to --creole--daughter pronounced "dafter"--richard geering--island miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. party-similes of the seventeenth century--no. i. "foxes and firebrands." no. ii. "the trojan horse." with englishmen, at least, the seventeenth was a century pre-eminent for quaint conceits and fantastic similes: the literature of that period, whether devotional, poetical, or polemical[ ], was alike infected with the universal mania for strained metaphors, and men vied with each other in giving extraordinary titles to books, and making the { } contents justify the title. extravagance and the far-fetched were the gauge of wit: donne, herbert, and many a man of genius foundered on this rock, as well as cowley, who acted up to his own definition: "in a true piece of wit _all things_ must be, yet all things there agree; as in the _ark_, join'd without force or strife, all creatures dwelt--all creatures that had life." it is not, however, for the purpose of illustrating this mania that i am about to dwell on the two similes which form the subject of my present note: i selected them as favourite party-similes which formed a standing dish for old anglican writers; and also because they throw light on the history of religious party in england, and thus form a suitable supplement to my article on "high church and low church" (vol. viii., p. .). as the object of the church of england, in separating from rome, was the _reformation_, not the _destruction_ of her former faith, by the very act of reformation she found herself opposed to two bodies; namely, _that_ from which she separated, and the ultra-reformers or puritans, who clamoured for a _radical_ reformation. taking these as the scylla and charybdis--the two extremes to be avoided--the anglican church hoped to attain the safe and golden mean by steering between these opposites, and find, in this _via media_ course, the path of truth. accordingly, her divines abound with warnings against the aforesaid scylla and charybdis, and with exhortations to cleave to the middle line of safety. acting on the proverb that _extremes meet_, they were ever drawing parallels between their two opponents. on the other hand, the puritans stoutly contended that _they_ were the true middle-men; and in their turn traced divers similarities and parallels betwixt "popery and prelacy," the "mass book and service book."[ ] without farther preface, i shall give the title of a curious work, which will tell its own story: "_foxes and firebrands_; or _a specimen of the danger and harmony of popery and separation_. wherein is proved from undeniable matter of fact and reason, that separation from the church of england is, in the judgment of papists, and by experience, found the most compendious way to introduce popery, and to ruine the protestant religion: '_tantum religio potuit suadere malorum._'" a work under this title was published, if i mistake not, in london in by dr. henry nalson; in , robert ware reprinted it with a second part of his own; and in he added a _third_ and last part in mo., uniform with the previous volume.[ ] in the epist. ded. to part ii. the writer says of the church of england: "the papists on the one hand, and the puritans on the other, did endeavour to sully and bespatter the glory of her reformation: the one taxing it with innovation, and the other with superstition." the preface to the third part declares that the object of the whole work is "to reclaim the most haggard papists" and puritans. wheatly, in treating of the state service for the th of may, remarks: "the papists and sectaries, like sampson's foxes, though they look contrary ways, do yet both join in carrying fire to destroy us: their end is the same, though the method be different."--_rational illust. of the book of common prayer_, rd edit., london, , folio. the following passage occurs in _a letter to the author of the vindication of the clergy_, by dr. eachard, london, : "i have put in hard, i'll assure you, in all companies, for two or three more: as for example, _the papist and the puritan being tyed together like sampson's foxes_. i liked it well enough, and have beseeched them to let it pass for a phansie; but i could never get the rogues in a good humour to do it: for they say that _sampson's foxes_ have been so very long and so very often tied together, that it is high time to part them. it may be because something very like it is to be found in a printed sermon, which was preached thirty-eight years ago: it is no flam nor whisker. it is the forty-third page upon the right hand. yours go thus, viz. _papist and puritan, like sampson's foxes, though looking and running two several ways, yet are ever joyned together the tail._ my author has it thus, viz. _the separatists and the romanists consequently to their otherwise most distant principles do fully agree, like sampson's foxes, tyed together by the tails, to set all on fire, although their faces look quite contrary ways._"--p. . it would be easy to multiply passages in which this simile occurs; but what i have given is { } suffcient for my purpose, and i must leave room for "the trojan horse."[ ] i must content myself with giving the title of the following work, as i have never met with the book itself: _the trojan horse, or the presbyterian government unbowelled_, london, . in a brochure of primate bramhall's, entitled "a faire warning for england to take heed of the presbyterian government.... also the sinfulnesse and wickednesse of the _covenant_, to introduce that government upon the church of england." the second paragraph of the first page proceeds: "but to see those very men who plead so vehemently against all kinds of tyranny, attempt to obtrude their own dreames not only upon their fellow-subjects, but upon their sovereigne himself, contrary to the dictates of his own conscience, contrary to all law of god and man; yea to compell forreigne churches to dance after their pipe, to worship that counterfeit image which they feign to have fallen down from jupiter, and by force of arms to turne their neighbours out of a possession of above years, to make roome for their _trojan horse_ of ecclesiastical discipline (a practice never justified in the world but either by the turk or by the pope): this put us upon the defensive part. they must not think that other men are so cowed or grown so tame, as to stand still blowing of their noses, whilst they bridle them and ride them at their pleasure. it is time to let the world see that _this discipline_ which they so much adore, is _the very quintessence of refined popery_." my copy of this tract has no place or date: but it appears to have been printed at the hague in . it was answered in the same year by "robert baylie, minister at glasgow," whose reply was "printed at delph." as the tide of the time and circumstance rolled on, this simile gained additional force and depth; and to understand the admirable aptitude of its application in the passage i shall next quote, a few preliminary remarks are necessary. there was always in the church of england a portion of her members who could not forget that the puritans, though external to her communion, were yet fellow protestants; that they differed not in kind, but in degree--and that these differences were insignificant compared with those of rome. at the same time, they reflected that perhaps the church of england was not exactly in the middle, and that she would not lose were she to move a little nearer the puritan side. accordingly, various attempts were made to enlarge the terms of her communion, and eject from her service-book any lingering "relics of popery" which might offend the weaker brethren yclept the puritans: thus to make a grand comprehension creed--a church to include all protestants. this was tried in james i.'s reign at the savoy conference; but in spite of baxter's strenuous efforts and model prayer-book, it was a failure. even archbishop sancroft was led to attempt a similar comprehensive scheme, so terrified was he at the dominance of the roman church in the second james's reign: however, william's accession, and his becoming a nonjuror, crossed his design. in , tillotson, burnet, and a number of william's "latitudinarian" clergy made a bold push for it. a comprehension bill actually passed the house of lords, but was thrown out by the commons and convocation. from william's time toleration and encouragement were extended to all save "popish recusants;" so that there were a large number in the church of england ready to assist their comrades _outside_ in breaking down her fences. the high churchmen, however, as may be guessed, would not sit tamely by, and see the leading idea of the anglican church thrown to the winds, her _via media_ profaned, her park made a common, and her distinctive doctrines and fences levelled to the ground. what _their_ feelings were, may be gathered from this indignant invective: "the most of the inconveniences we labour under to this day, owe their original to the weakness of some and to the cowardice of others of the clergy. for had they stood stiff and inflexible at first against the encroachments and intrigues of a puritanical faction, like a threefold cord, we could not have been so easily shattered and broken. the dissenters, as well skilled in the art of war, have besieged the church in form: and at all periods and seasons have raised their batteries, and carried on their saps and counter-scarps against her. they have left no means unessayed or practised, to weaken her. and when open violence has been baffled, and useless, _stratagem_ and contrivance have supplied what force could never effect. hence it is, that under the cant of _conscience_ and _scruple_, they have feigned a compliance of embracing her communion; if such and such ceremonies and rules that then stood in force could be omitted, or connived at: and having once broke ground on her discipline, they have continued to carry on their trenches, and had almost brought the _great comprehension-horse_ within our walls; whilst the _complying_, or the _moderate_ clergy (as they are called), like the infatuated _trojans_, helped forward the _unwieldy machine_; nor were they aware of the danger and destruction that might have issued out of him."--_the entertainer_, london, , p. .[ ] { } i shall but add a postscript to my former note. in "n. & q." (vol. viii., p. .), a number of pamphlets on high church and low church are referred to. a masterly sketch of the two theories is given at pp. , . of mr. kingsley's _yeast_, london, . jarltzberg. [footnote : dr. eachard, in his work on _the grounds and occasions of the contempt of the clergy and religion inquired into_, london, , after ably showing up the pedantry of some preachers, next attacks the "indiscreet and horrid metaphor mongers." "another thing that brings great disrespect and mischief upon the clergy ... is their packing their sermons so full of similitudes" (p. .). eachard has a museum of curiosities in this line. _the puritan pulpit_, however, far outstrips even the incredible nonsense and irreverence which he adduces. let any one curious in such matters dip into a collection of scotch sermons of the seventeenth century. sir w. scott, in some of his works, has endeavoured to give a faint idea of the extraordinary way in which passages of holy scripture were applied in the same century. i have a very curious _book of soliloquies_, which unfortunately wants the title-page. from internal evidence, however, it appeals to have been written in ireland in the seventeenth century: the writer signs himself "p. p." the editor of this little mo., in "an epistle to the reader," after reprehending "the wits of our times" for "quibbling and drolling upon the bible," says immediately after:--"this author's _innocent abuse of scripture_ is so far from countenancing, that it rather shames and condemns that licentious and abominable practice. nor can we admit of the most useful allusions without that harmless (nay helpful and advantageous) [greek: katachrêsis], or abuse here practised: wherein the words are indeed used to another, but yet to a holy end and purpose, besides that for which they were at first instituted and intended." the most reverend of our readers must need smile, were i to give a specimen of this "innocent abuse." while noticing the false wit which passed current in that century, we must not forget that the same age produced a south and a butler: and that in beauty of simile, few, if any, surpass bishop jeremy taylor.] [footnote : an analysis of the "divers pamphlets published against the book of common prayer" would make a very curious volume. take a passage from the _anatomy of the service book_, for instance: "the cruellest of the american savages, called the mohaukes, though they fattened their captive christians to the slaughter, yet they eat them up at once; but the service-book savages eat the servants of god by piece-meal: keeping them alive (if it may be called a life) _ut sentiant se mori_, that they may be the more sensible of their dying" (p. .). sir walter scott quotes a curious tract in _woodstock_, entitled _vindication of the book of common prayer against the contumelious slanders of the fanatic party terming it_ "porridge." the author of this singular and rare tract (says sir w.) indulges in the allegorical style, till he fairly hunts down the allegory. the learned divine chases his metaphor at a very cold scent, through a pamphlet of his mortal quarto pages.--see a _parallel of the liturgy with the mass book, breviary, &c._, by robert baylie. , to.] [footnote : [see "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. .--ed.]] [footnote : see grey's _hudibras_, dublin, , vol. ii. p. ., vol. i. pp. , ., where allusions both to "the trojan mare" and tying "the fox tails together" occur. butler was versed in the controversies of his day, and, moreover, loved to satirise the metaphor mania by his exquisitely comic similes.] [footnote : let any one interested in the history of comprehension refer to the proceedings relative to the formation of the "evangelical alliance." jeremy collier gives a curious parallel:--"lord burleigh, upon some complaint against the liturgy, bade the dissenters draw up another, and contrive the offices in such a form as might give general satisfaction to their brethren. upon this overture the first classis struck out their lines, and drew mostly by the portrait of geneva. this draught was referred to the consideration of a second classis, who made no less than _six hundred_ exceptions to it. the third classis quarrelled with the corrections of the second, and declared for a new model. the fourth refined no less upon the third. the treasurer advised all these reviews, and different committees, on purpose to break their measures and silence their clamours against the church. however, since they could not come to any agreement in a form for divine service, he had a handsome opportunity for a release: for now they could not decently importune him any farther. to part smoothly with them, he assured their agents that, when they came to any unanimous resolve upon the matter before them, they might expect his friendship, and that he should be ready to bring their scheme to a settlement." collier's _hist._, vol. viii. p. . see cardwell's _hist. of the conference connected with the revision of the book of common prayer_, london, , vo. see also _quarterly review_, vol. . pp. - ., no. c. jan. . the present american prayer book is formed on the comprehension scheme. last year pickering published a _book of common prayer of the church of england, adapted for general use in other protestant churches_, which is well worth referring to. those who wished to "comprehend" at the roman side of the _via media_ were very few. elizabeth and laud are the most prominent instances. charles i., and afterwards the nonjurors, had schemes of communion with the greek church. a _history of comprehension_ would involve a historical notice of the thirty-nine articles, and the plan of comprehension maintained by some to be the intention of their framers. it should include also distinctive sketches of the classes formerly denominated _church papists_ and _church puritans_.] * * * * * testimonials to donkeys. the following extract from an article on "angling in north wales," which appeared in _the field_ newspaper of october nd, contains a specimen of an entirely original kind of testimonial, which seems to me worthy of preservation in "n. & q.'s" museum of curiosities: "beguiled by the treacherous representations of a certain mr. williams, and the high character of his donkeys, i undertook the ascent of dunas bran, and poked about among the ruins of crow castle on its summit, where i found nothing of any consequence, except an appetite for my dinner. the printed paper which mr. williams hands about, deploring the loss of his 'character,' and testifying to the wonderful superiority of all his animals, is rather amusing. mr. williams evidently never had a donkey 'what wouldn't go.' this paper commences with an affidavit from certain of the householders and _literati_ of llangollen, that he 'had received numerous testimonials, all of which we are sorry to say _has_ been lost.' those preserved, however, and immortalised in print, suffice to establish mr. williams' reputation: "mr. w. and his son and daughter bear testimony to the civility and attention of mr. williams _and_ his donkeys. "s. p., esquire, attended at the haud hotel, th june, , and engaged four of mr. williams' donkeys for the use of a party of ladies, who expressed themselves highly gratified. the animals were remarkably tractable, and void of stupidity. "mrs. d. a. b. visited valle crucis abbey on the back of mr. williams' ass, and is well satisfied. "sept. . . this is to certify that lady marshall is to donkeys very partial, and no postilion in a car, shall ever more her drive o'er all the stones; on 'jenny jones' she'll ride while she's alive!" those who have visited malvern will remember the vast quantity of donkeys who rejoice in the cognomen of "the royal moses." their history is as follows:--when the late queen dowager was at malvern, she frequently ascended the hills on donkey-back; and on all such occasions patronised a poor old woman, whose stud had been reduced, by a succession of misfortunes, to a solitary donkey, who answered to the name of "moses." at the close of her visit, her majesty, with that kindness of heart which was such a distinguishing trait in her character, not only liberally rewarded the poor old woman, but asked her if there was anything that she could do for her which would be likely to bring back her former prosperity. the old woman turned the matter over in her mind, and then said, "please your majesty to give a name to my donkey." this her majesty did. "moses" became "the royal moses;" every body wanted to ride him; the old woman's custom increased, and when the favoured animal died (for he is dead) he left behind him a numerous family, all of whom called after their father, "the royal moses." cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * longevity in cleveland, yorkshire. a cursory conversation with a lady in her eighty-fifth year, now living at skelton in cleveland, in the north riding of yorkshire, when she { } deprecated the notion that she was one of the _old_ inhabitants, led me to inquire more particularly into the duration of life in that township. the minister, the rev. w. close, who has been the incumbent since the year , and who has had the duties to perform, and the registers to keep, therefore, from about the period of the act which required the age to be stated, now forty years ago, was most willing to give me aid and extracts from the burial register, from the commencement of to august, , during which period persons were buried. the extracts show these extraordinary facts. out of the persons buried in that period, no less than , or nearly one-third, attained the age of . of these two, viz. mary postgate, who died in , and ann stonehouse, who died in , attained respectively the ages of . nineteen others were years of age and upwards, viz. one was , one was , one was , four were , one was , five were , three were , and three were . between the ages of and there died , of whom thirty-nine were and upwards, and seventy were under ; and between the ages of and there died , of whom sixty-five were years and upwards, and sixty-eight were between and . in one page of the register containing eight names, six were above , and in another five were above . in this parish of skelton there is now living a man named moon, years old, who is blind now, but managed a small farm till nearly or quite ; and a blacksmith named robinson cook, aged , who worked at his trade till may last. in the chapelry of brotton, which adjoins skelton township, and has been also under the spiritual charge of mr. close, the longevity is even more remarkable. out of persons buried since the new register came into force in , down to st october, , no less than , or more than one-third, attained the age of . one betty thompson, who died in , was ; nineteen were more than , of whom one was , two were , three were , one was , four were , five were , and three were ; there were forty-four who died between and years old, of whom nineteen were and upwards, and twenty-five were between and ; and there were fifty-seven who died between the ages of and , of whom no less than thirty-one were and upwards. the average of the chapelry is increased from the circumstance that sixteen bodies of persons drowned in the sea in wrecks, and whose ages were not of course very great, are included in the whole number of burials. that celibacy did not lessen the chance of life, was proved by a bachelor named simpson, who died at , and his maiden sister at . i am told that the neighbouring parish of upleatham has also a high character for longevity, but i had not the same opportunity of examining the register as was afforded me by mr. close. and now for a query. what other, if any district in the north or south, will show like or greater longevity? william durrant cooper. * * * * * rev. josiah pullen. every oxford man regards with some degree of interest that goal of so many of his walks, joe pullen's tree, on headington hill. so at least it was in my time, now some thirty years since. perhaps the following notices of him, who i suppose planted it, or at all events gave name to it, may be acceptable to your oxford readers. they are taken from that most curious collection (alas! too little known) the pocket-books of tom hearne, vol. liii. pp. - ., now in the bodleian: "jan. , - . last night died mr. josiah pullen, a.m., minister of st. peter's in the east, and vice-principal of magdalen hall. he had also a parsonage in the country. he was formerly domestick chaplain to bishop sanderson, to whom he administered the sacrament at his death. he lived to a very great age, being about fourscore and three, and was always very healthy and vigorous. he was regular in his way of living, but too close, considering that he was a single man, and was wealthy. he seldom used spectacles, which made him guilty of great blunders at divine service, for he would officiate to the last. he administered the sacrament last christmas day to a great congregation at st. peter's, which brought his illness upon him. he took his b.a. degree may , . he became minister of st. peter's in the east anno , which was the year before dr. charlett was entered at oxford."--p. . "jan. , friday. this day, at four in the afternoon, mr. pullen was buried in st. peter's church, in the chapel at the north side of the chancell. all the parishioners were invited, and the pall was held up by six heads of houses, though it should have been by six masters of arts, as dr. radcliffe's pall should have been held up by doctors in physic, and not by doctors of divinity and doctors of law."--p. . dr. radcliffe's funeral had taken place in the preceding month. in nichols's _literary anecdotes_, vol. iv. p. ., is the following epitaph of pullen, drawn up by mr. thomas wagstaffe: "hic jacet reverendus vir josia pullen, a.m. aulæ magd. annos vice principalis, necnon hujusce ecclesiæ pastor annos. obiit ^o decembris, anno domini , ætatis ." from the notice of thomas walden, in johnson's _lives of the poets_, it appears that yalden was a pupil of pullen. (see also walton's _life of sanderson_, towards the end.) i hope this may elicit some farther account of a man whose name has survived so long in oxford memory. { } as to the tree, i have some recollection of having heard that it had a few years ago a narrow escape of being thrown down, sometime about the vice-chancellorship of dr. symons, who promptly came forward to the rescue. was it ever in such peril? and, if so, was it preserved? balliolensis. * * * * * folk lore. _ancient custom in warwickshire._--in sir william dugdale's _diary_, under the year , is noted the following: "on all hallow even, the master of the family antiently used to carry a bunch of straw, fired, about his corne, saying, 'fire and red low, light on my teen low.'" can any of your readers learned in ancient lore explain the custom and the meaning of the couplet, well as its origin? does it now at all prevail in that county? j. b. whitborne. _nottinghamshire customs._-- . the th of may is observed by the notts juveniles not only by wearing the usual piece of oak-twig, but each young loyalist is armed with a nettle, as coarse as can be procured, with which instrument of torture are coerced those unfortunates who are unprovided with "royal oak," as it is called. some who are unable to procure it endeavour to avoid the penalty by wearing "dog-oak" (maple), but the punishment is always more severe on discovery of the imposition. . on shrove tuesday, the first pancake cooked is given to chanticleer for his sole gratification. . the following matrimonial custom prevails at wellow or welley, as it is called, a village in the heart of the county. the account is copied from the _notts guardian_ of april , : "wellow. it has been a custom from time immemorial in this parish, when the banns of marriage are published, for a person, selected by the clerk, to rise and say 'god speed them well,' the clerk and congregation responding, amen! owing to the recent death of the person who officiated in this ceremony, last sunday, after the banns of marriage were read, a perfect silence prevailed, the person chosen, either from want of courage or loss of memory, not performing his part until after receiving an intimation from the clerk, and then in so faint a tone as to be scarcely audible. his whispered good wishes were, however, followed by a hearty amen, mingled with some laughter in different parts of the church." i do not know whether any notices of the above have appeared in "n. & q.," and send to inquire respecting . and . whether a similar custom holds elsewhere; and whether . has any connexion with the disused practice of cock-shying? furvus. * * * * * minor notes. _a centenarian couple._--the obituary of _blackwood's magazine_ for august, , contains the following: "lately, in campbell, county virginia, mr. chas. layne, sen., aged years, being born at albemarle, near buckingham county, . he has left a widow aged years, and a numerous and respectable family down to the fourth generation. he was a subject of four british sovereigns, and a citizen of the united states for nearly forty-eight years. until within a few years he enjoyed all his faculties, and excellent health." the above extract is followed by notices of the deaths of anne bryan, of ashford, co. waterford, aged ; and wm. munro, gardener at rose hall, aged . cuthbert bede, b.a. _"veni, vidi, vici."_--to these remarkable and well-known words of the roman general, i beg to forward two more sententious despatches of celebrated generals: _suwarrow._ "slava bogu! slava vam! krepost vzala, yiatam." "glory to god and the empress! ismail's ours." it is also stated, i do not know on what authority, that the old and lamented warrior, sir charles napier, wrote on the conquest of scinde, "peccavi." perhaps some of your correspondents could add a few more pithy sentences on a like subject. g. lloyd. dublin. _autumnal tints._--scarce any one can have failed to notice the unusual richness and brilliance of the autumnal tints on the foliage this year. i have more particularly remarked this in clydesdale, the lake districts of cumberland and westmoreland, and in somersetshire and devonshire. can any of the contributors to "n. & q." inform me if attributable to the extraordinary wetness of the season? r. h. b. _variety is pleasing._--looking over my last year's note-book, i find the following _morceau_, which i think ought to be preserved in "n. & q.:" "nov. , . observed in the window of the shakspeare inn a written paper running thus: 'to be raffled for: the finding of moses, and six fat geeze(!!). tickets at the bar.'" r. c. warde. kidderminster. _rome and the number six._--it has been remarked lately in "n. & q." that in english history, the reign of the second sovereign of the same name has been infelicitous. i cannot turn to the { } note i read, and i forget whether it noticed the remarks in aubrey's _miscellanies_ (london, vo., ), that "all the _second_ kings since the conquest have been unfortunate." it may be worth the while to add (what is remarked by mr. matthews in his _diary of an invalid_), that the number _six_ has been considered at rome as ominous of misfortune. tarquinius sextus was the very worst of the tarquins, and his brutal conduct led to a revolution in the government; under urban the sixth, the great schism of the west broke out; alexander the sixth outdid all that his predecessors amongst the tarquins or the popes had ventured to do before him; and the presentiment seemed to receive confirmation in the misfortunes of the reign of his successor pius vi., to whose election was applied the line: "semper sub sextis perdita roma fuit." w. s. g. newcastle-on-tyne. _zend grammar._--the following fragment on zend grammar having fallen in my way, i inclose you a copy, as the remarks contained in it may be of service to oriental scholars. i am unable to state the author's name, although i suspect the ms. to be from a highly important quarter. the subject-matter, however, is sufficiently important to merit publication. "the _zend_, of disputed authenticity, and the _asmani zuban_, a notoriously fictitious tongue, compared." "it is well known that sanscrit words abound in _zend_; and that some of its inflexions are formed by the rules of the vyacaran or _sanscrit_ grammar. "it would therefore seem quite possible that by application of these rules a grammar might be written of the _zend_. would such a composition afford any proof of the disputed point--the authenticity of the _zend_? "i think it would not, and support my opinion by reasons founded on the following facts. "the _asmani zuban_ of the desstù is most intimately allied to persian. it is, in fact, fabricated out of that language, as is shown by clear internal evidence. now the grammatical structure of this fictitious tongue is identical with that of persian: and hence by following the rules of persian grammar, a grammar of the _asmani zuban_ might be easily framed. but would this work advance the cause of forgery, and tend to invest it with the quality of truth? no more, i answer, and for the same reason, than is a grammar of the _zend_, founded on the vyacaran, to be received in proof of the authenticity of that language." kenneth r. h. mackenzie. _the duke's first victory._--perhaps it may interest the future author of the life of the duke of wellington to be informed of his _first victory_. it was not in india, as commonly supposed, but on donnybrook road, near dublin, that his first laurels were won. this appears from the _freeman's journal_, september th, , where we learn that in consequence of a wager between him and mr. whaley of guineas, the hon. arthur wesley walked from the five-mile stone on donnybrook road to the corner of the circular road in leeson street, in fifty-five minutes, and that a number of gentlemen rode with the walker, whose horses he kept in a tolerable smart trot. when it is recollected that those were irish miles, even deducting the distance from leeson street to the castle, whence the original measurements were made, this walk must be computed at nearly six english miles. omicron. _straw paper._--various papers manufactured of straw are now in the market. the pen moves so easily over any and all of them, that literary men should give them a trial. as there seems considerable likelihood of this manufacture being extensively introduced, on account of the dearness of rags, &c., it is to be hoped that it will not be _improved_ into the resemblance of ordinary paper. time was when ordinary paper could be written on in comfort, but that which adulterated falstaff's sack spoiled it for the purpose, and converted it into limed twigs to catch the winged pen. m. _american epitaph_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following lines are to be seen on a tombstone in virginia: "my name, my country, what are they to thee? what whether high, or low, my pedigree? perhaps i far surpassed all other men: perhaps i fell behind them all--what then? suffice it, stranger, that thou see'st a tomb, thou know'st its use; it hides--no matter whom." w. w. malta. * * * * * queries. laurie (?) on currency, etc. i have before me a bulky volume, apparently unpublished, treating of currency and of many other politico-economical affairs; the authorship of which i am desirous of tracing. if any reader of "n. & q." can assist my search i shall feel greatly obliged to him. this volume extends to closely printed pages, and is altogether without divisions either of book, chapter, or section. it has neither title-page, conclusion, imprint, or date; and my copy seems to consist of revises or "clean sheets" as they came from the press. the main gist of the work is thus described, apparently by the author himself, in a ms. note which occupies the place of the title-page: "it is here meant to show that in civilised nations money is an emanating circulable wealth and power, { } without which individuals cannot go on in improvement on independent principles. it resolves wealth into the forms most conducive to this object, and prepares for the highest services both individuals and communities." the book, however, is extremely discursive, and no small portion of it is devoted to foreign politics. thus, of the "eastern question," the author disposes in this fashion: "austria, to answer its destination, ought to comprise wallachia, bessarabia, moldavia, and, following the line of demarcation drawn by the danube, the whole territory at its debouchment.... turkey cannot regard the sacrifices proposed as of much importance, when such security as that now in contemplation could be obtained. the whole strength of her immense empire is at present drained to support her contest on this very barrier with russia. but that barrier, it is evident, would this way be effectually secured: for austria has too many points of importance to protect, to dream of creating new ones on this feeble yet extended confine of her domains."--pp. , . from internal evidence, the book appears to have been written between and . it is printed in half-sheets, from sig. a to sig. b, and three half-sheets are wanting, viz. e, q, and r. in place of the last two, the following ms. note is inserted: "the speculations in the two following sheets included views that related to the disorganised state of turkey, and the unhappy dependence of the bourbon family; which are now, from the changes which have taken place, altogether unfit for publication." the sole indication of the authorship which i have observed throughout the volume lies in the following foot-note, at p. .: "this is all that seems to be necessary to say on the subject of education. in a treatise published by me a few years ago, entitled _improvements in glasgow_, i think i have exhausted," &c.[ ] the only treatise with such a title which i find in watt's _bibliotheca britannica_ is thus entered: "laurie, david. proposed improvements in glasgow. glasg., , vo.--hints regarding the east india monopoly, . s." my _queries_ then are these: . is anything known of such a treatise on "circulable wealth," &c., as that which i have named? . is any biographical notice extant of the "david laurie" mentioned by watt? i may add that the volume in question was recently purchased along with about other pamphlets and books, chiefly on political economy: all of which appear to have formerly belonged to the late lord bexley, and to have been for the most part collected by him when chancellor of the exchequer. e. old trafford, near manchester. [footnote : i find no mention of mr. laurie, or of his "improvements in glasgow," in cleland's _annals of glasgow_, published in , nor is he mentioned in mr. mcculloch's _literature of political economy_.] * * * * * "donatus redivivus." can you, or any of your correspondents, give me any information relative to the history or authorship of the following pamphlet?-- "donatus redivivus: or a reprimand to a modern church-schismatick, for his revival of the donatistical heresy of rebaptization, in defiance to the judgment and practice of the catholick church, and of the church of england in particular. in a letter to himself. london, ." the same tract (precisely identical, except in the title-page) is also to be found with the following title: "rebaptization condemned. wherein is shown, . that to rebaptize any person that was once baptiz'd, even by laymen, in the name of the sacred trinity, is contrary to the practice of the catholick church in all ages. . that it is repugnant to the principles and practice of the church of england. . the pernicious consequences of such a practice. by the author of plain dealing, or separation without schism," &c. london, . i am aware that, according to dr. watt, the author of _plain dealing_ was charles owen, d.d., but he makes no mention of _donatus redivivus_, and i am unable to discover any account of dr. charles owen or his writings elsewhere. there appears to have been a reply to _donatus redivivus_, purporting to be from the pen of a mrs. jane chorlton. this i have never seen, and have only learned of its existence from a subsequent pamphlet with the following title: "the amazon disarm'd: or, the sophisms of a schismatical pamphlet, pretendedly writ by a gentlewoman, entituled an answer to donatus redivivus, exposed and confuted; being a further vindication of the church of england from the scandalous imputation of donatism or rebaptization. london, ." the dedication of this last tract begins as follows: "to the reverend mr. l--ter, and the demi-reverend mr. m--l--n. "gentlemen, "this letter belongs to you upon a double account, as you were the chief actors in the late rebaptizaton, and are the supposed vindicators of it, in the answer to donatus: a treatise writ in defence of the sentiments of the church, which you father upon a dissenting minister, and disingenuously point out to mr. o----n by name," &c. the point which i wish particularly to ascertain is, whether dr. charles owen was really the { } author of either of the tracts i have mentioned; and if so, who he was, and where i can find an account of him and his writings. [greek: halieus]. dublin. * * * * * minor queries. _henry scobell._--henry scobell, compiler of a well-known collection of acts, was for several years clerk to the long parliament. i should be glad to learn what became of him after the dissolution of that assembly. a leguleian. _the court house._--this place is situated in painswick, in gloucestershire, and has been described to me as an old out-of-the-way place. where can i meet with a full description of it? is the tradition that a king--supposed to be either the first or second charles--ever slept there true? f. m. _ash-trees attract lightning._--is it true that ash-trees are more attractive to lightning than any others? and the reason, because the surface of the ground around is drier than round other trees? c. s. w. _symbol of sow, &c._--a sow suckled by a litter of young pigs is a common representation carved on the bosses of the roofs of churches. what is this symbolical of? f. g. c. ottery st. mary. _passage in blackwood._-- "i sate, and wept in secret the tears that men have ever given _to the memory of those that died before the dawn_, and by the treachery of earth our mother."--_blackwood's magazine_, december, , p. ., rd line, second column. will some of your readers give information respecting the above words in italic? d. n. o. _rathband family._--can any of your readers assist me in distinguishing between the several members of this clerical family, which flourished during the period of the commonwealth, and immediately preceding? from palmer's _nonconformist mem._ (vol. i. p. .), there was a mr. william rathband, m.a., ejected from southwold, a member of oxford university, who was brother to mr. rathband, sometime preacher in the minster of york, and son of an old nonconformist minister, mr. w. rathband, who wrote against the brownists.--i should feel obliged by any information which would identify them with the livings they severally held. oliver. _encaustic tiles from caen._--in the town of caen, in normandy, is an ancient gothic building standing in the grounds of the ancient convent of the benedictines, now used as a college. this building, which is commonly known as the "salle des gardes de guillaume le conquerant," was many years ago paved with glazed emblazoned earthenware tiles, which were of the dimensions of about five inches square, and one and a quarter thick; the subjects of them are said to be the arms of some of the chiefs who accompanied william the conqueror to england. some antiquaries said these tiles were of the age of william i.; others that they could only date from edward iii. i find it stated in the _gentleman's magazine_ for march, , vol. lix. p. ., that twenty of the tiles above spoken of were taken up by the benedictine monks, and sent as a present to charles chadwick, esq., healey hall, lancashire, in . the rest of the tiles were destroyed by the revolutionists, with the exception of some which were fortunately saved by the abbé de la rue and m. p. a. lair, of caen. what i wish to inquire is, firstly, who was charles chadwick, esq.? and secondly, supposing that he is no longer living, which i think from the lapse of time will be most probable, does any one know what became of the tiles which he had received from france in ? george boase. p.s.--the _gentleman's magazine_ gives a plate of these tiles, as well as a plate of some others with which another ancient building, called "grand palais de guillaume le conquerant," was paved. alverton vean, penzance. _artificial drainage._--can any of your correspondents refer me to a work, or works, giving a history of draining marshes by machines for raising the water to a higher level? windmills, i suppose, were the first machines so used, but neither beckmann nor dugdale informs us when first used. i have found one mentioned in a conveyance dated , but they were much earlier. any information on the history of the drainage of the marshes near great yarmouth, of which dugdale gives passing notice only, would also be very acceptable to me. e. g. r. _storms at the death of great men._--your correspondent at vol. vi., p. ., mentions "the storms which have been noticed to take place at the time of the death of many great men known to our history." a list of these would be curious. with a passing reference to the familiar instance of the crucifixion, as connected with all history, we may note, as more strictly belonging to the class, those storms that occurred at the deaths of "the great marquis" of montrose, st may, ; cromwell, rd september, ; elizabeth gaunt, who was burnt rd october, , and holds her reputation as the last female who suffered death for a political offence in england; and napoleon, th may, ; as well as that which solemnised { } the burial of sir walter scott, th september, . w. t. m. hong kong. _motto or wylcotes' brass._--in the brass of sir john wylcotes, great tew church, oxfordshire, the following motto occurs: "in . on . is . al." i shall feel obliged if any one of your numerous correspondents will enlighten my ignorance by explaining it to me. w. b. d. lynn. _"trail through the leaden sky," &c._-- "trail through the leaden sky their bannerets of fire." where is this line to be found, as applied to the spirits of the storm? r. c. warde. kidderminster. _lord audley's attendants at poictiers._--according to the french historian froissart, four knights or esquires, whose names he does not supply, attended the brave lord audley at the memorable battle of poictiers, who, some english historians say, were sir john delves of doddington, sir thomas dutton of dutton, sir robert fowlehurst of crewe (all these places being in cheshire), and sir john hawkstone of wrinehill in staffordshire; whilst others name sir james de mackworth of mackworth in derbyshire, and sir richard de tunstall _alias_ sneyde of tunstall in staffordshire, as _two of such knights or esquires_. the accuracy of froissart as an historian has never been questioned; and as he expressly names only _four_ attendants on lord audley at the battle of poictiers, it is extremely desirable it should be ascertained if possible which of the six above-named knights really were the companions of lord audley froissart alludes to; and probably some of your learned correspondents may be able to clear up the doubts on the point raised by our historians. t. j. worcester. _roman catholic bible society._--about the year , or , a roman catholic bible society was established in london, in which mr. charles butler, and many other leading gentlemen, took a warm part. how long did it continue? why was it dissolved? did it publish any annual _reports_, or issue any book or tract, besides an edition of the new testament in ? where can the fullest account of it be found? will any gentleman be kind enough to _sell_, or even to _lend_, me blair's _correspondence on the roman catholic bible society_, a pamphlet published in , which i have not been able to meet with at a bookseller's shop, and am very desirous to see. henry cotton. thurles, ireland. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _"vox populi vox dei."_--lieber, in the last chapter of his _civil liberty_, treating of this dictum, ascribes its origin to the middle ages, acknowledging, however, that he is unable to give anything very definite. sir william hamilton, in his edition of the _works_ of thomas reid, gives the concluding words of hesiod's _works and days_ thus: "the word proclaimed by the concordant voice of mankind fails not; for in man speaks god." and to this the great philosopher adds: "hence the adage (?), 'vox populi vox dei.'" the sign of interrogation is sir william hamilton's, and he was right to put it; for whatever the psychological connexion between hesiod's dictum and v. p. v. d. may be, there is surely no historical. "vox populi vox dei" is a different concept, breathing the spirit of a different age. how far back, then, can the dictum in these very words be traced? does it, as lieber says, originally belong to the election of bishops by the people? or was it of crusade origin? america begs europe to give her facts, not speculation, and hopes that europe will be good enough to comply with her request. europe has given the serious "v. p. v. d." to america, so she may as well give its history to america too. americus. [as this query of americus contains some new illustration of the history of this phrase, we have given it insertion, although the subject has already been discussed in our columns. the writer will, however, find that the earliest known instances of the use of the sayings are, by william of malmesbury, who, speaking of odo yielding his consent to be archbishop of canterbury, a.d. , says: "recogitans illud proverbium, _vox populi vox dei_;" and by walter reynolds, archbishop of canterbury, who, as we learn from walsingham, took it as his text for the sermon which he preached when edward iii. was called to the throne, from which the people had pulled down edward ii. americus is farther referred to mr. g. cornewall lewis' _essay on the influence of authority in matters of opinion_ (pp. , ., and the accompanying notes) for some interesting remarks upon it. see farther, "n. & q.," vol. i., pp. . . .; vol. iii., pp. . .] _"lanquettes cronicles."_--of what date is the earliest printed copy of these chronicles? the oldest i am acquainted with is , in quarto (continued up to by bishop cooper). is this edition rare? r. c. warde. kidderminster. [the earliest edition is that printed by t. berthelet, to., . the first two parts of this chronicle, { } and the beginning of the third, as far as the seventeenth year after christ, were composed by thomas lanquet, a young man of twenty-four years of age. owing to his early death, bishop cooper finished the work; and his part, which is the third, contains almost thrice as much as lanquet's two parts, being taken from achilles pyrminius. when it was finished, a surreptitious edition appeared in , under the title of lanquet's _chronicle_; hereupon the bishop protested against "the vnhonest dealynge" of this book, edited by thomas crowley, in the next edition, entitled cooper's _chronicle_, "printed in the house late thomas berthelettes," . the running title to the first and second parts is, "lanquet's chronicle;" and to the third, "the epitome of chronicles." the other editions are, "london, ," to., and "london, ," to. we should think the edition of rare: it was in the collections of mr. heber and mr. herbert. in this work the following memorable passage occurs, under the year :--"one named johannes faustius fyrste founde the crafte of printynge in the citee of mens in germanie."] _"our english milo."_--bishop hall extols in his _heaven upon earth_ the valour of a countryman in a spanish bull-fight (see p. ., collected ed. _works_, ). of whom does he speak? r. c. warde. kidderminster. [if we may offer a conjecture, in the passage cited the bishop seems to refer to that "greatest scourge of spain" sir walter raleigh, and not so much to a bull-fight as to the spanish armada. the bishop is prescribing expectation as a remedy for crosses, and says, "is it not credible what a fore-resolved mind can do--can suffer? could our english milo, of whom spain yet speaketh, since their last peace, have overthrown that furious beast, made now more violent through the rage of his baiting, if he had not settled himself in his station, and expected?" sir walter's "fore-resolved and expectant mind" was shown in the publication of his treatise, _notes of directions for the defence of the kingdom_, written three years before the spanish invasion of .] _"delights for ladies."_--i lately picked up a small volume entitled-- "delights for ladies; to adorn their persons, tables, closets, and distillatories, with beauties, bouquets, perfumes, and waters. reade, practise, and censure." london, robert young. . who is the author of this interesting little work? some one has written on the fly-leaf, "see douce's _illustrations of shakspeare_, vol. i. p. ., where there is a reference to this curious little book;" but as i cannot readily lay my hand on douce, i will feel obliged for the information sought for from any of your valued correspondents. george lloyd. dublin. [the author was sir hugh plat, who, says harte, "not to mention his most excellent talents, was the most ingenious husbandman of the age he lived in. in a word, no man ever discovered, or at least brought into use, so many new sorts of manure." the _delights for ladies_ first appeared in , and passed through several editions. douce merely quotes this work. plat was the author of several other works: see watt and lowndes.] _burton's death._--did burton, author of _anatomy of melancholy_, commit suicide? c. s. w. [the supposition that robert burton committed suicide originated from a statement found in wood's _athenæ_, vol. ii. p. . (bliss). wood says, "he, the said r. burton, paid his last debt to nature in his chamber in christ church, at or very near that time which he had some years before foretold from the calculation of his own nativity; which, being exact, several of the students did not forbear to whisper among themselves that, rather than there should be a mistake in the calculation, he sent up his soul to heaven through a slip about his neck."] _joannes audoënus._--i shall be obliged by any notices of the personal or literary history of john owen, the famous latin epigrammatist, in addition to those furnished by the _athenæ oxonienses_. wood remarks, that "whereas he had made many epigrams on several people, so few were made on or written to him. among the few, one by stradling, and another by dunbar, a scot," i have met with one allusion to him among the epigrams of t. bancroft, to., lond. , signat. a .: "_to the reader._ reader, till martial thou hast well survey'd, or owen's wit with jonson's learning weighed, forbeare with thanklesse censure to accuse my writ of errour, or condemne my muse." as translators of audoënus, wood mentions, in , joh. vicars, usher of christ's hospital school, as having rendered some select epigrams, and thomas beck six hundred of owen's, with other epigrams from martial and more, under the title of _parnassi puerperium_, vo., lond. . in addition to these i find, in a catalogue of lilly, king street, covent garden, no. ., : "hayman, robert. certaine epigrams out of the first foure bookes of the excellent epigrammatist master john owen, translated into english at harbor grace in bristol's hope, anciently called newfoundland, to., unbound; a rare poetical tract, , s. d." balliolensis. [the personal and literary history of john owen (_audoënus_) is given in the _biographia britannica_, vol. v., and in chalmers' and rose's biographical dictionaries.] _hampden's death._--was the great patriot hampden actually slain by the enemy on chalgrove field? or was his death, as some have asserted, { } caused by the bursting of his own pistol, owing to its having been incautiously overcharged? t. j. worcester. [see the _gentleman's magazine_ for may, , p. ., for "a true and faithfull narrative of the death of master hambden, who was mortally wounded at challgrove fight, a.d. , and on the th of june." from this narrative we learn, that whilst hampden was fighting against prince rupert at chalgrove field, he was struck with two carbine-balls in the shoulder, which broke the bone, and terminated fatally.] * * * * * replies. "pinece with a stink." (vol. viii., pp. . .) i would not have meddled with this subject if r. g., getting on a wrong scent, had not arrived at the very extraordinary conclusion that bramhall meant a "pinnace," and an "offensive composition well known to sailors!" the earliest notice that i have met with of the _pinece_ in an english work, is in the second part of the _secrets of maister alexis of piemont_, translated by w. warde, lond. . there i find the following secrets--worth knowing, too, if effective: "_against stinking vermin called punesies._--if you rub your bedsteede with squilla stamped with vinaigre, or with the leaves of cedar tree sodden in oil, you shall never feel punese. also if you set under the bed a payle full of water the puneses will not trouble you at all." butler, in the first canto of the third part of _hudibras_, also mentions it thus: "and stole his talismanic louse-- his flea, his morpion, and punaise." if the querist refers to his french dictionary he will soon discover the meaning of _morpion_ and _punaise_--the latter without doubt the _pinece_ of bishop bramhall. cotgrave, in his _french-english dictionary_, london, , defines _punaise_ to be "the noysome and stinking vermin called the bed punie." it may be bad taste to dwell any longer on this subject; but as it illustrates a curious fact in natural history, and as it has been well said, that whatever the almighty has thought proper to create is not beneath the study of mankind, i shall crave a word or two more. the _pinece_ is not originally a native of this country; and that is the reason why, so many years after its first appearance in england, it was known only by a corruption of its french name _punaise_, or its german appellation _wandlaus_ (wall-louse). penny, a celebrated physician and naturalist in the reign of henry vii., discovered it at mortlake in rather a curious manner. mouffet, in his _theatrum insectorum_ (lond. ), thus relates the story: "anno , dum hæc pennio scriptitaret, mortlacum tamesin adjacentem viculum, magna festinatione accersebatur ad duas nobiles, magno metu ex cimicum vestigiis percussas, et quid nescio contagionis valde veritas. tandem recognita, ac bestiolis captis, risu timorem omnem excussat." mouffet also tells us that in his time the insect was little known in england, though very common on the continent, a circumstance which he ascribes to the superior cleanliness of the english: "munditiem frequentemque lectulorum et culcitrarem lotionem, cum galli, germani, et itali minus curant, pariunt magis hane pestem, angli autem munditei et cultus studiosissimi rarius iis laborant." ray, in his _historia insectorum_, published in , merely terms it the _punice_ or wall-louse; indeed, i am not aware that the modern name of the insect appears in print previous to , when one southal published _a treatise of buggs_. southal appears to have been an illiterate person; and he erroneously ascribes the introduction of the insect into this country to the large quantities of foreign fir used to rebuild london after the great fire. the word _bug_, signifying a frightful object or spectre, derived from the celtic and the root of _bogie_, bug-aboo, bug-bear--is well known in our earlier literature. spenser, shakspeare, milton, beaumont and fletcher, holinshed and many others, use it; and in matthew's _bible_, the fifth verse of the ninety-first psalm is rendered: "thou shalt not nede to be afraid of any bugs by night." thus we see that a real "terror of the night" in course of time, assumed, by common consent, the title of the imaginary evil spirit of our ancestors. one word more. i can see no difficulty in tracing the derivation of the word _humbug_, without going to hamburg, hume of the bog, or any such distant sources. in grose's _dictionary of the vulgar tongue_, i find the word _hum_ signifying deceive. peter pindar, too, writes writes: "full many a trope from bayonet and drum he threaten'd but behold! 'twas all a hum." now, the rustic who frightens his neighbour with a turnip lanthorn and a white sheet, or the spirit-rapping medium, who, for a consideration, treats his verdant client with a communication from the unseen world, most decidedly humbugs him; that is, hums or deceives him with an imaginary spirit, or bug. w. pinkerton. ham. i take it that the editor of archbishop bramhall's _works_ was judicious in not altering the { } word _pinece_ to _pinnace_, as an object very different from the latter was meant; _i. e._ a _cimex_, who certainly _revenges_ any attack upon his person with a _stink_. _pinece_ is only a mistaken orthography of _punese_, the old english name of the obnoxious insect our neighbours still call a _punaise_ (see cotgrave _in voce_). florio says "cimici, a kinde of vermine in italie that breedeth in beds and biteth sore, called punies or wall-lice." we have it in fitting company in _hudibras_, iii. .: "and stole his talismanic louse, his flea, his morpion, and punese." this is only one more instance of the danger of altering the orthography, or changing an obsolete word, the meaning of which is not immediately obvious. the substitution of _pinnace_ would have been entirely to depart from the meaning of the archbishop. s. w. s. * * * * * monumental brasses abroad. (vol. vi., p. .) a recent visit to the cathedral of aix-la-chapelle enables me to add the following notes to the list already published in "n. & q." the brasses are five in number, and are all contained in a chapel on the north-west side of the dome: . arnoldus de meroide, , is a mural, rectangular plate ( ' · " × ' · "), on the upper half of which are engraved the virgin and child, to whom an angel presents a kneeling priest, and st. bartholomew with knife and book. . johannes pollart, , is also mural and rectangular ( ' · ½" × ' · "), but is broken into two unequal portions, now placed side by side. the upper half of the larger piece has the following engraving:--in the centre stands the virgin, wearing an arched imperial crown. angels swing censers above her head. st. john baptist, on her right hand, presents a kneeling priest in surplice and alb; and st. christopher bears "the mysterious child" on her left. the lower half contains part of the long inscription which is completed on the smaller detached piece. . johannes et lambertus munten, . this is likewise mural and rectangular ( ' · ½" × ' · "). it is _painted_ a deep blue colour, and has an inscription in gilt letters, at the foot of which is depicted an emaciated figure, wrapped in a shroud and lying upon an altar-tomb: large worms creep round the head and feet. . johannes paiel, . mural, rectangular ( ' · " × ' · ¼"). this is _painted_ as the last-mentioned plate, and represents the virgin and child in a flaming aureole. her feet rest in a crescent, around which is twisted a serpent; on her right hand stand st. john baptist and the holy lamb, each bearing a cross; and to her left is st. mary magdalene, who presents a kneeling priest. . henricus de .... this is on the floor in front of the altar-rails, and consists of a rectangular plate ( ' · " × ' · "), on which is represented an angel wearing a surplice and a stole semée of crosses fitcheé, and supporting a shield bearing three fleurs-de-lis, with as many crosses fitchée. a partially-effaced inscription runs round the plate, within a floriated margin, and with evangelistic symbols at the corners. in the centre of the choir of cologne cathedral lies a _modern_ rectangular brass plate ( ' · " × ' · ") to the memory of a late archbishop, ferdinandus augustus, . beneath a single canopy is a full-length picture of the archbishop in eucharistic vestments (the stole unusually short), a pall over his shoulders, and an elaborate pastoral staff in his hand. josiah cato. kennington. * * * * * milton's "lycidas." (vol. ii., p. .; vol. vi., p. .) your correspondent jarltzberg, at the first reference, asks for the sense of the passage,-- "besides what the grim wolf with privy paw daily devours apace, and nothing sed: but that two-handed engine at the door stands ready to smite once, and smite no more." my own view of this passage strongly testifies against the interpretation of another passage at the second reference. the _two-handed engine_, i am positive, is st. michael's sword. farther on in the poem the bard addresses the angel st. michael (according to warton), who is conceived as guarding the mount from enemies with a drawn sword, for in this form i apprehend does tradition state the vision to have been seen; and he bids him to desist from looking out for enemies towards the coast of spain, and to "look homeward," at one of his own shepherds who is being washed ashore, in all probability upon this very promontory. milton elsewhere (_par. lost_, book vi. .) speaks of the "huge two-handed sway" of this sword of st. michael; and here, in _lycidas_ he repeats the epithet to identify the instrument which is to accomplish the destruction of the wolf. st. michael's sword is to smite off the head of satan, who at the door of christ's fold is, "with privy paw," daily devouring the hungry sheep. note here that, according to some theologians, the archangel michael, in prophecy, means christ himself. (see the authorities quoted by heber, _bampton lectures_, iv. note _l_, p. .) hence it is his business to preserve _his own_ sheep. in the apocalypse the final blow of st. michael's (or christ's) two-edged sword, which { } is to cleave the serpent's head, is made a distinct subject of prophecy. (see rev. xii. - .) while on this subject allow me to ask, can a dolphin waft? can a shore wash? c. mansfied ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * school libraries. (vol. viii., pp. . .) in returning thanks to those of your correspondents who replied to my query, i ought, perhaps, to have begged to learn such of our public schools that were _without_ libraries, as the best means of obtaining for them bequests or gifts that would form a nucleus of a good library. for example, a correspondent informs me that the governors of queen elizabeth's grammar school, wimborne, dorset, are laying by l. a year towards the purchase of books for that purpose: that having no library at present, there now is a favourable opportunity for either a gift or a bequest: but i should in any case prefer a selection of works likely to prove readable for young people, as history, biography, travels, and the popular works of science. i can quite imagine that eton, winchester, westminster, harrow, shrewsbury, and other similar great schools, would have such libraries, but these are not half the number of our public foundations; the wealthy schools above mentioned, and the rich men's children who go to them, would be in a sad plight indeed were they not amply provided for in such matters. but there are others whose mission is not less important, perhaps more so; and on this head none would be better pleased than i to find i laboured under an "erroneous impression," as remarked by etonensis. the english public appeared to have an "erroneous impression" that they were better provided with books than any other people a short time ago, till it was disproved when the agitation respecting parochial libraries was set on foot, the facts appearing on the institution of the marylebone public library. it has been shown that in france and germany the public libraries, and the volumes in them, far exceed any that we possess; a strange fact, when we are better provided with standard authors than any other language in the world. i should much wish these brief parallels answered. the city of lyons has a magnificent public library of , vols., open to all; how many has her rival manchester? boulogne has a public library of , vols.; how many has southampton? from the obliging notices of correspondents in "n. & q.," we have had several articles on parochial libraries, and the sum of the whole appears to be most miserable; surely some bad system has prevailed either in not having proper places for them, or in some other fault. in one place the resident clergyman sells them: surely if they were combined under some enlarged plan, people desirous of making bequests or gifts would do so very willingly when they knew they would be cared for and made use of; for it is probably the case that private libraries are more numerous here than abroad, and that there are altogether more books in the country. i am told by a correspondent that in his time there were no books at christ's hospital, therefore the bequest made is, i presume, a late one; and if such is the case, it will be a favourable opportunity for the governors of that school to enlarge the collection and make it available to the scholars. if, therefore, our schools are no better provided than our public libraries, the inquiry may be of service; but if they are, it cannot do harm to know their condition. it is true i have heard of but one public school hitherto that has no library and wants one, but i shall remain unsatisfied till other returns make their appearance in "n. & q." or privately, when, if it should appear i have taken a wrong opinion, i shall be as please as anybody else to find myself mistaken. weld taylor. bayswater. in answer to your correspondent mr. weld taylor's query on this subject, may i be allowed to say that at tonbridge school, where i was educated, there is a very good general library, consisting of the best classical works in our own language, travels, chronicles, histories, and the best works of fiction and poetry, and i believe all modern periodicals. this library is under the care of the head boy for the time being, and he, with the other monitors, acts as librarian. books are given out, i believe, daily; the library is maintained by the boys themselves, and few leave the school without making some contribution to its funds, or placing some work on its shelves. the head master, the rev. dr. welldon, approves of all books before they are added to the library. there is also what is called the "sunday library," consisting of standard works of theology and church history, and other works, chiefly presented by the head and other masters, to induce a taste for such reading. i am sorry that mr. weld taylor should have to complain of the _general_ ignorance of public schoolboys; but i know i may on behalf of the head boy of tonbridge say, he will be happy to acknowledge any contribution from mr. weld taylor, which he may be disposed to give, towards the removal of this charge. g. brindley acworth. star hill, rochester. { } * * * * * cawdray's "treasurie of similies," and simile of magnetic needle. (vol. viii., p. .) there can be no doubt as to the authorship of the _store-house of similies_. the work is now before me, and the title-page is as follows: "a treasurie or store-house of similies; both pleasaunt, delightfull, and profitable for all estates of men in generall: newly collected into heades and common places. by robert cawdray. london: printed by thomas creede, ." the only reference to his life, which i can find, is in "the epistle dedicatorie;" and two ancestors of mine, "sir john harington, knight, and the worshipful james harington, esquire, his brother," in which, when assigning his reasons for the "dedication," he says: "calling to mind (right worshipfuls) not only the manifold curtesies and benefits, which i found and received, now more than thirty years ago, _when i taught the grammar schoole at okeham in rutland_, and sundry times since, of the religious and virtuous lady, lucie harington," &c. the "dedication" is subscribed "robert cawdray." cawdray was also the author of a work _on the profit and necessity of catechising_, london, , vo. e. c. harington. the close, exeter. * * * * * the "epistle dedicatorie," as well as the title-page, appears to be wanting in j. h. s.'s copy of robert cawdray's _store-house_, which was "printed by thomas creede, london, ." from this we find that it was dedicated to "his singular benefactors, sir john harington, knight, as also to the worshipfull james harington, esquire, his brother," whose "great kindness and favourable good will (during my long trouble, and since)" the author afterwards "calls to mind," and also the "manifold curtesies and benefites which i found and received, now more than thirtie years agoe (when i taught the grammar school at okeham in rutland, and sundrie times since) of the religious and vertuous lady, _lucie harington_ your worship's mother, and my especial friend in the lord." would this be the "lady, a prudent woman," who "had the princess elizabeth committed to her government" (vide fuller's _worthies_, rutlandshire)? j. h. s.'s query recalls two examples of the "magnetic needle simile" (vol. vi. and vii. _passim_), which cawdray has garnered in his _store-house_, and which fact would probably account for their appearance in many sermons of the period, as the book being expressly intended to "lay open, rip up, and display in their kindes," "verie manie most horrible and foule vices and dangerous sinnes of all sorts;" and the "verie fitte similitudes" being for the most part "borrowed from manie kindes and sundrie naturall things, both in the olde and new testament," and being as the writer says "for preachers profitable," would find a place on many a clerical shelf; and its contents be freely used to "learnedly beautifie their matter, and brauely garnish and decke out" their discourses. i fear that i have already encroached too much on your valuable space, but send copies for use at discretion. in the first, the "sayler's gnomon" is used as an emblem of the constancy which ought to animate every "christian man;" and in the second, of steadfastness amidst the temptations of the world. i shall be glad to know more of cawdray than the trifles i have gathered from his book: "euen as the sayler's gnomon, or rule, which is commonly called the mariner's needle, doth alwayes looke towards the north poole, and will euer turne towards the same, howsoeuer it bee placed: which is maruellous in that instrument and needle, whereby the mariners doo knowe the course of the windes: euen so euerie christian man ought to direct the eyes of his minde, and the wayes of his heart, to christ; who is our north poole, and that fixed and constant north starre, whereby we ought all to bee governed: for hee is our hope and our trust; hee is our strength, whereupon wee must still relie." "like as the gnomon dooth euer beholde the north starre, whether it be closed and shutte uppe in a coffer of golde, siluer, or woode, neuer loosing his nature: so a faithfull christian man, whether hee abound in wealth, or bee pinched with pouertie, whether hee bee of high or lowe degree in this worlde, ought continually to haue his faith and hope surely built and grounded uppon christ: and to haue his heart and minde fast fixed and settled in him, and to follow him through thicke and thinne, through fire and water, through warres and peace, through hunger and colde, through friendes and foes, through a thousand perilles and daungers, through the surges and waues of enuie, malice, hatred, euill speeches, rayling sentences, contempt of the worlde, flesh, and diuell: and, euen in death itselfe, bee it neuer so bitter, cruell, and tyrannicall; yet neuer to loose the sight and viewe of christ, neuer to giue ouer our faith, hope, and trust in him." sigma. stockton. * * * * * robert cawdray, the author of _a treasurie or store-house of similes_, was a nonconformist divine of learning and piety. having entered into the sacred function about , he was presented by secretary cecil to the rectory of south luffenham in rutlandshire. after he had been employed in the ministry about twenty years, he was cited before bishop aylmer and other high commissioners, and charged with having omitted parts of the book of common prayer in public worship, { } and with having preached against certain things contained in the book. having refused, according to strype, to take the oath to answer all such articles as the commissioners should propose, he was deprived of his ministerial office. mr. brook, however, in his _lives of the puritans_, states that though he might at first have refused the oath, yet that he afterwards complied, and gave answers to the various articles which he proceeds to detail at length. he was cited again on two subsequent occasions; and, on his third appearance, being required to subscribe, and to wear the surplice, he refused, and was imprisoned, and ultimately deprived. he applied to lord burleigh to intercede on his behalf, and his lordship warmly espoused his cause, and engaged attorney morrice to undertake his defence, but his arguments proved ineffectual. mr. cawdray, refusing to submit, was brought before archbishop whitgift, and other high commissioners, may , , and was degraded and deposed from the ministry and made a mere layman. the above account is abridged from brook's _lives of the puritans_, london, , pp. - . [greek: halieus]. dublin. p. s. besides the _treasurie of similies_, i find the following work under his name in the bodleian catalogue: "a table alphabeticall; conteyning and teaching the true writing and vnderstanding of hard vsuall english wordes, borrowed from the hebrew, greeke, latine, or french, &c. london. vo. ." * * * * * the title of this work is-- "a treasurie or store-house of similies; both pleasant, delightfull, and profitable for all estates of men in generall: newly collected into heades and common places. by robert cawdray. thomas creed, london, , to." cawdray was rector of south luffenham, in rutland; and was deprived by bishop aylmer for nonconformity in . he appealed to the court of exchequer, and his case was argued before all the judges in . a report of the trial is in coke's _reports_, inscribed "de jure regis ecclesiastico." there is a life of cawdray in brook's _lives of the puritans_ (vol. i. pp. - .), which contains an interesting account of his examination before the high commission, extracted from a ms. register. notices of him will also be found in neal's _puritans_, (vol. i. pp. . .); and heylin's _history of the presbyterians_, (fol. p. .). john i. dredge. * * * * * "mary, weep no more for me." (vol. viii., p. .) for the following information respecting the author, and the original, i am indebted to the _lady's magazine_ of , from which i copied it several years ago. mr. joseph lowe, born at kenmore in galloway, , the son of a gardener, at fourteen apprenticed to a weaver, by persevering diligence in the pursuit of knowledge, was enabled in to enter himself a student in divinity in the university of edinburgh. on his return from college he became tutor in the family of a gentleman, mr. mcghie of airds, who had several beautiful daughters, to one of whom he was attached, though it never was their fate to be united. another of the sisters, mary, was engaged to a surgeon, mr. alexander miller. this young gentleman was unfortunately lost at sea, an event immortalised by _mary's dream_. the author was unhappy in his marriage with a lady of virginia, whither he had emigrated, and died in . this poem was originally composed in the scottish dialect, and afterwards received the polished english form from the hand of its author. "mary's dream. "the lovely moon had climb'd the hill, where eagles big aboon the dee, and, like the looks of a lovely dame, brought joy to every body's ee: a' but sweet mary deep in sleep, her thoughts on sandy far at sea; a voice drapt saftly on her ear-- 'sweet mary, weep nae mair for me!' "she lifted up her waukening een, to see from whence the sound might be, and there she saw young sandy stand, pale, bending on her his hollow ee. 'o mary dear, lament nae mair! i'm in death's thraws aneath the sea: thy weeping makes me sad in bliss, sae mary, weep nae mair for me! "'the wind slept when we left the bay, but soon it waked and raised the main; and god he bore us down the deep-- wha strave wi' him, but strave in vain. he stretch'd his arm and took me up, tho' laith i was to gang but thee: i look frae heaven aboon the storm, sae mary, weep nae mair for me! "'take aff thae bride-sheets frae thy bed, which thou hast faulded down for me, unrobe thee of thy earthly stole-- i'll meet in heaven aboon wi' thee.' three times the gray cock flapp'd his wing, to mark the morning lift his ee; and thrice the passing spirit said, 'sweet mary, weep nae mair for me!'" j. w. thomas. dewsbury. * * * * * { } photographic correspondence. _clouds in photographs_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent on this subject may easily produce clouds on paper negatives by drawing in the lights on the back with common writing ink. there is usually some tint printed with all negatives, therefore the black used will stop it out. it is at the same time unfair and untrue to the art, because clouds cannot be represented in the regular mode of practice. if they appear, as they do sometimes by accident, it is well to leave them; but in no art is any trick so easily detected as in photography, and it cannot add to any operator's credit in expertness to practise them. w. t. _albumenized paper._--in a late number of "n. & q." you published an account of albumenizing paper for positives by mr. shadbolt. having considerable experience in the manipulation of photographical art, i have bestowed great pains in testing the process he recommends; and, i regret to say, the results are by no means satisfactory. i well know the delicacy which is required in applying the albumen _evenly_ to the surface of the paper, and am therefore not surprised to find that each of his "longitudinal strokes" remains clearly indicated, thereby entirely destroying the effect of the picture. he also advises that the paper should not be afterwards _ironed_, as it is apt to produce flaws and spots on the albumenized surface; and he believes that the chemical action of the nitrate of silver alone is sufficient to coagulate the albumen, without the application of heat. this i have found _in practice_ to be incorrect: for when i have excited albumenized paper, to which a sufficient heat has not been applied, i have invariably observed that a portion of the albumen becomes detached into the silver solution, making it viscid, and favouring its decomposition. consequently, the sheets _last_ excited seldom retain their colour so long as those which are first prepared. but even laying aside the question of the coagulation of the albumen, the paper, unless it is ironed, remains so "cockled up," that it is not only unsightly, but very difficult to use. -grain solution of nitrate of silver (i presume to the ounce) is also recommended. in a late number, i find dr. diamond uses a -grain solution with perfect success; and my own experience enables me to verify this formula as being sufficiently powerful:--no additional intensity of colour being obtained by these strong solutions, it is a mere waste of material. therefore i think your correspondent fails in effecting either economy of material or time. however painful it may be to me to offer remarks at variance with the opinions of your kind and intelligent correspondents, yet i consider it a duty that yourself and readers should not be misled, and so interesting and elegant an art as photography brought into disrepute by experiments which, however well intentioned, plainly indicate a want of experience. k. n. m. [mr. shadbolt's scientific acquirements appeared to us to demand that we should give insertion to his plan of albumenizing paper: although we felt some doubts whether it did not contain the disadvantages which our correspondent now points out. we had met with such complete success in following out the process recommended by dr. diamond in our th number, that we did not think it advisable to make any alteration. for our own experience has shown us the wisdom, in photography as in other matters, of holding fast that which is good.--ed.] _stereoscopic angles._--notwithstanding the space you have devoted to this subject, i find little practical information to the photographer: will you therefore allow me to presume to offer you my mode, which, regardless of all scientific rules, i find to be perfectly successful in obtaining the desired results? my focussing-glass is ruled with a few perpendicular and horizontal lines with a pencil, and i also cross it from corner to corner, which marks the centre of the glass. these lines always allow me to place my camera level, because the perpendicular lines being parallel with any upright line secures it. having taken a picture, i note well the spot of some object near the centre of the picture: thus, if a window or branch of a tree be upon the spot where the lines cross [cross lines], i remove the camera in a straight line about one foot for every ten yards distance from the subject, and bring the same object to the same spot: i believe it is not very important if the camera is moved more or less. this may be known and practised by many of your friends; but i am sure others make a great difficulty in effecting those satisfactory results which, as i have shown, may be so easily obtained. h. w. d. _photographic copies of mss._--i am glad to find from your notices to correspondents in vol. viii., p. ., that the applicability of photography to the copying of mss., or printed leaves, is beginning to excite attention. the facility and cheapness of thus applying it (as i have been informed by a professional photographer) is so great, that i have no doubt but that we shall shortly have it used in our great public libraries; so as to supersede the present slow, expensive, and uncertain process of copying by hand. and it is in order to help to bring about so desirable a state of things, that i send these few lines to your widely-circulated journal. m. d. * * * * * { } replies to minor queries. _lord cecil's "memorials"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--cecil's "first memorial" is printed in lord somers's _tracts_. it appears that primate ussher, and, subsequently, sir james ware and his son robert, had the benefit of extracts from lord burleigh's papers. mr. bruce may find the "examination" of the celebrated faithfull comine, and "lord cecyl's letters," together with other interesting documents, entered among the clarendon mss. in _pars altera_ of the second volume of _catal. lib. manuscr. angl. et hib._, oxon. . r. g. _foreign medical education_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in addition to the previous communications on this subject, i beg to refer your correspondent medicus to mr. wilde's _austria; its literary, scientific, and medical institutions, with notes on the state of science, and a guide to the hospitals and sanitary institutions of vienna_, dublin: curry and co., . j. d. mck. _encyclopædias_ (vol. viii., p. .).--surely there must be many persons who sympathise with encyclopÆdicus in wishing to have a work _not_ encumbered and swollen by the heavy and bulky articles to which he refers: perhaps there may be as many as would make it worth the while of some publisher to furnish one. of course copyright, and all sorts of rights, must be respected but that being done, there would be little else to do than to cut out and wheel away the heavy articles from a copy of any encyclopædia, and put the rest into the hands of a printer. the residuum (which is what we want) would probably be to a considerable extent the same. when necessary additions had been made, the work would still be of moderate size and price. n. b. _pepys's grammar_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i am unable to answer mr. keightley's query, not having the slightest knowledge of short-hand; but i always understood that the original spelling of every word in the _diary_ was carefully preserved by the gentleman who decyphered it. no estimate, however, of pepys's powers of writing can be formed from the hasty entries recorded in his short-hand journal, and, as i conceive, they derive additional interest from the quaint terms in which they are expressed. braybrooke. _"antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi"_ (vols. ii. and iii. _passim_).--the following instances of this thought occur in two writers of the seventeenth century: "those times which we term vulgarly they old world, were indeed the youth or adolescence of it ... if you go to the age of the world in general, and to the true length and longevity of things, we are properly the older cosmopolites. in this respect the cadet may be termed more ancient than his elder brother, because the world was older when he entered into it. nov. , ."--howell's _letters_, th edit.: london, , p. . butler, in his _character_ of "an antiquary," observes: "he values things wrongfully upon their antiquity, forgetting that the most modern are really the most ancient of all things in the world; like those that reckon their pounds before their shillings and pence, of which they are made up."--thyer's edit., vol.ii. p. . jarltzberg. _napoleon's spelling_ (vol. viii., p. ).--the fact inquired after by henry h. breen is proved by the following extract from the _mémoires_ of bourrienne, napoleon's private secretary for many years: "je préviens une fois pour toutes que dans les copies que je donnerai des écrits de bonaparte, je rétablirai l'orthographe, qui est en général _si extraordinairement estropiée_ qu'il serait ridicule de les copier exactement."--_mém._ i. . c. _black as a mourning colour_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mourning habits are said first to appear in england in the time of edward iii. chaucer and froissart are the first who mention them. the former, in _troylus and creseyde_, says: "creseyde was in widowe's habit _black_." again: "my clothes everichone shall _blacke_ ben, in tolequyn, herte swete, that i am as out of this world gone." again, in the _knights tale_, palamon appeared at a funeral "in clothes _black_ dropped all with tears." froissart says, the earl of foix clothed himself and household in _black_ on the death of his son. at the funeral of the earl of flanders black gowns were worn. on the death of king john of france, the king of cyprus wore black. the very mention of these facts would suggest that black was not then universally worn, but being gradually adopted for mourning. b. h. c. _chanting of jurors_ (vol. vi., p. .).--no answer has yet been given to j. f. f.'s query on this, yet the expression "to chant" was not an unusual one, if we may believe lord stratford: "they collected a grand jury in each county, and proceeded to claim a ratification of the rights of the crown. the gentlemen on being empanelled informed that the case before them was irresistible, and that no doubts could exist in the minds of reasonable { } men upon it. his majesty was, in fact, indifferent whether they found for him or no. 'and there i left them,' says strafford, '_to chant_ together, as they call it, over their evidence.' the counties of roscommon, sligo, and mayo instantly found a title for the king." this extract is from a very eloquent article on lord strafford in the _british critic_, no. lxvi. p. . w. fraser. tor-mohun. _aldress_ (vol. v., p. .).--your correspondent cowgill gives an instance of the use of this obsolete word in an epitaph in st. stephen's, norwich, and asks where else it may be met with. i have just found it in a manuscript diary, under date , and also as used in the same city: "a speech made after mr. mayor mingay's dinner. "master mayor of norwich; an it please your worship you have feasted us like a kinge. god bless the queen's grace. we have fed plentifully, and now whilom i can speak plain english, i heartily thank you master mayor, and so do we all. answer, boys, answer! your beere is pleasant and potent, and soon catches us by the caput and stops our manners, and so huzza for the queen's majesty's grace, and all her bonny brow'd dames of honour! huzza for master mayor and our good dame mayoress, the alderman and his faire _aldress_; there they are, god save them and all this jolly company. to all our friends round country who have a penny in their purse, and an english heart in their bodies, to keep out spanish dons and papists with their faggots to burn our whiskers. shove it about. twirl your cup-cases, handle your jugs, and huzza for master mayor and his good dame!" how long is it since the ladies of our civic dignitaries relinquished the distinction here given to one of their order? what was the cup-case? charles reid. paternoster row. _huggins and muggins_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the edition of mallet's _northern antiquities_, edited by j. a. blackwell, esq., and published by bohn (_antiquarian library_, ), the following conjectural etymology of the words huggins and muggins is given by the editor in a note on the word _muninn_, in the glossary to the prose edda: "we cannot refrain for once from noticing the curious coincidence between the names of odin's ravens, hugin and munin--mind and memory--and those of two personages who figure so often in our comic literature as messrs. huggins and muggins. _huggins_, like _hugh_, appears to have the same root as _hugin_, viz. _hugr_, mind, spirit; and as mr. muggins is as invariably associated with mr. huggins, as one of odin's ravens was with the other (as mind is with memory), the name may originally have been written _munnins_, and _nn_ changed into _gg_ for the sake of euphony. should this _conjecture_, for it is nothing else, be well founded, one of the most poetical ideas in the whole range of mythology would, in this plodding, practical, spilling-jenny age of ours, have thus undergone a most singular metamorphosis." jno. n. radcliffe. dewsbury. _camera lucida_ (vol. viii., p. .).--with my camera lucida i received a printed sheet of instructions, from which the following extract is made, in answer to caret: "those who cannot sketch comfortably, without perfect distinctness of both the pencil and object, must observe, that the _stem_ should be drawn out to the mark d, for all distant objects, and to the numbers , , , , &c. for objects that are at the distances of only , , , or feet respectively, the stem being duly inclined according to a mark placed at the bottom; but, after a little practice, such exactness is wholly unnecessary. the farther the prism is removed from the paper, that is, the longer the stem is drawn out, the larger the objects will be represented in the drawing, and accordingly the less extensive the view. "the nearer the prism is to the paper, the smaller will be the objects, and the more extensive the view comprised on the same piece of paper. "if the drawing be two feet from the prism, and the paper only one foot, the copy will be half the size of the original. if the drawing be at one foot, and the paper three feet distant, the copy will be three times as large as the original: and so for all other distances." t. b. johnston. edinburgh. _"when orpheus went down"_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--this seems to be rightly attributed to dr. lisle. see dodsley's _collection of poems_, vol. vi. p. . ( ), where it is stated to have been imitated from the spanish, and set to music by dr. hayes. it is not quite correctly given in "n. & q." j. kelway. _the arms of de sissone_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i beg to refer j. l. s. to _histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de france, &c._, tom. viii. p. ., paris, ; and also to _livre d'or de la noblesse_, p. ., paris, . clericus (d). _oaths of pregnant women_ (vol. v., p. .).--women of the humbler classes in the british islands appear to have an objection, when pregnant, to take an oath. i have not observed any attempt to explain or account for this prejudice. the same objection exists among the burmese. indeed, pregnant women there are, by long-observed custom, absolved from taking an oath, and affirm to their depositions, "remembering their pregnant condition." the reason of this is as follows. the system of budhism, as it prevails in the indo-chinese countries, consists essentially in the negation of a divine providence. the oath of budhists is an imprecation of evil on the swearer, { } addressed to the innate rewarding powers of nature, animate and inanimate, if the truth be not spoken. this evil may be instantaneous, as sudden death from a fit, or from a flash of lightning; the first food taken may choke the false swearer; or on his way home, a tiger by land, or an alligator by water, may seize and devour him. i have known an instance of this occur, which was spoken of by hundreds as a testimony to the truth of the system. now it is supposed by budhists that even an unconscious departure from truth may rouse jealous nature to award punishment. in the case of pregnant women this would involve the unborn offspring in the calamity. hence women in that condition do not take an oath in burmah. ph. rangoon. _lepel's regiment_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. k. may rest assured that no trace can now be discovered of a regiment thus named, which existed in the year . i have searched the lists of cavalry and infantry regiments at the battle of almanza, fought april th of that year, and do not find this regiment mentioned. may i substitute for "lepel's" regiment, "pepper's" regiment? the colonelcy of that corps, now the th royal irish hussars, became vacant by the fall of brigadier-general robert killigrew at almanza, and it was immediately conferred on the lieutenant-colonel of the corps, john pepper, who held it until march , . g. l. s. _editions of the prayer book prior to _ (vol. vi., pp. . ; vol. vii. _passim_).--i have recently met with the following editions, which have not, i think, been yet recorded in your pages: . folio, london. . to. barker and bill. . vo. london, duporti, latin. the first and third are in mr. darling's _encyc. bibl._, see columns , ; the second i saw at mr. straker's, adelaide street, strand. will some of your readers kindly tell me in what edition of the prayer book the "prayers at the healing" are last met with? i have them in a latin prayer book, mo. london, .[ ] w. sparrow simpson. [footnote : it appears from a note in pepys's _diary_, june , , that the library of the duke of sussex contained four several editions of the book of common prayer, all printed after the accession of the house of hanover, and all containing, as an integral part of the service, "the office for the healing."--ed.] _creole_ (vol. vii., p. . vol. viii., p. .).--i have never met with any satisfactory explanation of the origin of this word; its meaning has undergone various modifications. at first it was limited in its application to the descendants of europeans born in the colonies. by degrees it came to be extended to all classes of the population of colonial descent and now it is indiscriminately employed to express things as well as persons, of local origin or growth. we say a _creole_ negro, as contra-distinguished from a negro born in africa or elsewhere; a _creole_ horse, as contra-distinguished from an english or an american horse; and we speak "creole" when we address the uneducated classes in their native jargon. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _daughter pronounced "dafter"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this pronunciation is universal in north cornwall and north-west devonshire. j. r. p. _richard geering_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if y. s. m. will favour me with the parentage of "richard geering, one of the six clerks in chancery in ireland," i shall be better able to judge whether he was of the family of geering, gearing, or geary, of south denchworth in the co. of berks, of which family i have a pedigree. i can also supply their coat of arms and crest. any information of the geerings, ancestors of the said richard, the chancery clerk, will be acceptable to your occasional correspondent h. c. c. if this richard geering is related to the geerings of south denchworth, in berkshire, i refer y. s. m. to clare's _hundred of wanting_, parker, oxford, . the geerings bought the manor of viscount cullen. it was formerly in the possession of the hydes: several of the geering monuments are in the church. their arms, or, on two bars gules six mascles of the field, on a canton sable a leopard's face of the first. the geerings were long tenants of a part of the estate which they purchased; they are extinct in the male line. a grandson, john bockett, esq. (by the female line), of the last heir, possessed a small farm in the parish which was sold by him some years ago. the manor now belongs to worcester college, oxford, who purchased it of gregory geering, gent., in . the name is spelt gearing and geary in the early registers. the books in the small study (mentioned in "n. & q." some time ago) were given by gregory geering, esq., mr. ralph kedden, vicar of denchworth, and mr. edward brewster, stationer, of london, most of which are attached by long chains to the cases. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. _island_ (vol. viii., p. .).--h. c. k. is quite right in saying that the _s_ has been inserted in this word: not, however, as he thinks, "to assimilate { } the saxon and french terms," but from a fancied french or latin derivation, just as _rime_ is spelt _rhyme_, because it was fancied that it came from [greek: rhuthmos]; and as critics and editors will print _coelum_ instead of _cælum_, contrary to all authority, because they have taken it into their heads that it comes from [greek: koilon]. we have also _spright_, _impregnable_, and other misspelt words, for which it is difficult to assign a reason. but i think h. c. k. is altogether mistaken in connecting the a.-s. _ig_ (pr. _ee_), an island, with _eye_. it is evidently one of the original underived nouns of the teutonic family, being _ig_ a.-s., _ey_ icel., whence _ö_ swed., _ö_ or _öe_ dan., and which also appears in the german and dutch _eiland_; while in the words for _eye_ the _g_ is radical, as _eage_ a.-s., _auga_ icel., _auge_ germ., _oog_ dutch. t. k. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. whittingham's poets. illustrated edition. ford's handbook of spain. st edition. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: boydell's shakspeare, with the subscriber's medal accompanying it. carpenter's general and comparative physiology. vo. baretti's english and italian dictionary. vols. vo. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. * * * * * astro-meteorologica: or aphorisms and discourses of the bodies celestial, by the rev. john goad. london. folio. . astro-meteorologica sana. by the same author. london. . leyden's poetical works. vol. vo. london. . wanted by _rev. w. ewart_, pimperne, blandford, dorset. * * * * * wellington dispatches. vols. vols. ii., iii., and index. (the full price will be given.) southey's doctor. vols. iii. and iv. patrick's mensa mystica. strickland's queens of england. vols. iii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., and x. wanted by _a. holden_, bookseller, exeter. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are this week unavoidably compelled to omit our usual_ notes on books _and_ notices to correspondents. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * fourth edition of ruins of many lands. notice.--a fourth and cheaper edition, revised and considerably enlarged, of mr. michell's "ruins of many lands," with portrait, cloth, price s. d. this edition contains remarks on layard's latest discoveries at nineveh, and treats of nearly all the ruins of interest now in the world. london: william tegg & co., . queen street cheapside. * * * * * to old book and music collectors. a catalogue of rare, curious, and valuable second-hand books, and a list of music, gratis and post free on application to w. brough, . paradise street, birmingham. books of every description purchased. * * * * * ormerod's history of cheshire (wanting parts ii. & x.), eight parts folio, plates (nine wanting), sewed, l. s. w. brough, . paradise street, birmingham. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * policy holders in other companies, and intending assurers generally, are invited to examine the rates, principles, and progress of the scottish provident institution, the only society in which the advantages of mutual assurance can be secured by moderate premiums. established . number of policies issued , , assuring upwards of two and a half millions. full reports and every information had (free) on application. *** policies are now issued free of stamp duty; and attention is invited to the circumstance that premiums payable for life assurance are now allowed as a deduction from income in the returns for income tax. george grant, resident sec. london branch, . moorgate street. * * * * * leeds library. librarian.--wanted, a gentleman of literary attainments, competent to undertake the duties of librarian in the leeds library. the institution consists of about proprietary members, and an assistant librarian is employed. the hours of attendance required will be from a.m. to p.m. daily, with an interval of two hours. salary l. a year. applications, with certificates of qualifications, must be sent by letter, post paid, not later than st december next, to abraham horsfall, esq., hon. sec., . park row, leeds. * * * * * book varnish (rowbotham's).--this truly wonderful varnish for restoring old bindings, and giving them a freshness equal to new, is applied with a piece of sponge, and dries instantly. (see "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .) may be had of j. rowbotham, india-rubber bookbinder, . castle street, two doors east of berners street, oxford street, in bottles s. each, or by order of any bookseller or druggist. a list of prices for india-rubber bookbinding may be had on application. * * * * * price s. d., cloth lettered, sanitary economy: its principles and practice; and its moral influence on the progress of civilisation. w. & r. chambers, . bride court passage, fleet street, london, and . high street, edinburgh; and sold by all booksellers. * * * * * spectacles.--every description of spectacles and eye-glasses for the assistance of vision, adapted by means of smee's optometer: that being the only correct method of determining the exact focus of the lenses required, and of preventing injury to the sight by the use of improper glasses. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * views in london. stereoscopes and stereoscopic pictures. bland & long, . fleet street, opticians and philosophical instrument makers, invite attentions to their stock of stereoscopes of all kinds, and in various materials; also, to their new and extensive assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same, in daguerreotype, on paper, and transparent albumen pictures on glass, including views of london, paris, the rhine, windsor, &c. these pictures, for minuteness of detail and truth in the representation of natural objects, are unrivalled. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. *** "familiar explanation of the phenomena" sent on application. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes. best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * { } early in december, in small to., elegantly printed on toned paper, and appropriately bound, price s., an illustrated edition of tupper's proverbial philosophy. the designs by c. w. cope, r.a., j. c. horsley, r.a., john tenniel, edwin h. corbould, g. dodgson, edward duncan, birket foster, john gilbert, j. godwin, william harvey, w. l. leitch, f. r. pickersgill, and joseph severn. the ornamental initials and vignettes by henry noel humphreys. london: thomas hatchard, . piccadilly. * * * * * illustrated present books. just published, gray's elegy written in a country churchyard. illustrated on every page with engravings on wood from drawings by birket foster, george thomas, and a lady. crown vo. handsomely bound in blue cloth, or in enamelled boards, price s. d. *** a few copies will be bound in extra morocco by mr. hayday. just ready, the wanderings of persiles and sigismunda: a northern story. by miguel de cervantes saavedra. translated from the spanish by a lady. illustrated with a portrait of cervantes. fcap. vo., old style, price s. d. "this romance was the last work of cervantes. the dedication to the count de lemos was written the day after he had received extreme unction."--_extract from preface._ just published, price s. d., photographic album. part v. containing four pictures: portskewit. by roger fenton. the fisherman's daughter. by joseph cundall. salisbury cathedral. by russell sedgfield. banks of the coquet. by philip delamotte. parts i. ii. iii. and iv. are now reprinted. now ready, photographic views of constantinople. twenty views of the most important buildings, taken by james robertson, esq. imperial folio, half-bound morocco, price l. s. d. just published, price s., photographic studies. part ii. by george shaw, esq., of queen's college, birmingham. the forest at noon. tangled boughs. "bald with dry antiquity." solitude. part i. is now reprinted. part iii. is in preparation. just published, fcap. vo. cloth, price s. d., the practice of photography: a manual for students and amateurs. by philip h. delamotte, f.s.a. illustrated with a picture taken by the collodion process. *** this manual contains much practical information. now ready, price s., photographic pictures. by hugh owen, esq., of bristol. ivy bridge, devon. the harvest field. a river bank. woods in spring. part ii. is just ready. joseph cundall, . new bond street. sold also by sampson low & son, . ludgate hill. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * "the empire," london newspaper, one of the largest in europe, is published every saturday, by j. livesey, crane court, fleet street, and can be had of all news vendors throughout the country. "the empire" contains a larger miscellany of foreign, colonial, metropolitan, and provincial news, and more original articles and contributions than almost any other paper in the kingdom, and its circulation is already superior to that of two-thirds of the london weekly press. "the empire" advocates a complete remodelling, by a new reform bill, of the representative system; the abolition of the present panic-producing currency restrictions; the development of colonial enterprise and prosperity; the reform of metropolitan city abuses; and the protection of provincial interests from the despotism of the centralisation system. provincial readers will find in "the empire" a constant discussion of questions immediately interesting to themselves, and a large selection of news from their respective localities. literary articles and critical notices of scientific improvements, and of public works at home and abroad, are supplied to "the empire" by the ablest writers and highest authorities of the day. * * * * * fine art distribution. as an appropriate accompaniment to a paper which circulates in all parts of the british empire,--a copy of the magnificent equestrian portrait of her majesty, by count d'orsay, three feet by two feet, value one guinea, will be presented to each subscriber for three months, commencing from the present month, november. terms:--per copy, d.; three months, s. d.; six months, s.; one year, s. advertisements inserted on moderate terms. orders for "the empire" may be sent to mr. robert harvey, no. . crane court, fleet street, london, or may be given to any news vendor in town or country. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and causon frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * { } solicitors' & general life assurance society. . chancery lane, london. _subscribed capital, one million._ this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill. secretary. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * achilles life insurance company.-- . cannon street, city.--the advantages offered by this society are security, economy and lower rates of premium than most other offices. no charge is made for policy stamps or medical fees. policies indisputable. loans granted to policy-holders. for the convenience of the working classes, policies are issued as low as l., at the same rates of premium as larger policies. prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained on application to hugh b. taplin, secretary. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison. managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks. dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites. gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; 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from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * { } bohn's extra volumes. grammont's memoirs of the court of charles ii. to which is added the personal history of charles, and the boscobel tracts; with fine portrait of nell gwynne. post vo. cloth. price s. d. count hamilton's fairy tales; with portrait. post vo., cloth. price s. d. rabelais' works: the best translations. with additional notes by the celebrated john wilkes. complete in vols. post vo., cloth. price s. d. henry g. bohn, york street, covent garden. * * * * * new volume of mr. arnold's tacitus. now ready, in mo., price s. cornelius tacitus, part ii. (books xi.--xvi. of the annales.) with english notes, translated from the german of dr. karl nipperdey (with additions), by the rev. henry browne, m.a., canon of chichester. (forming a new volume of arnold's "classics.") rivingtons, waterloo place: of whom may be had, with english notes, by the late rev. t. k. arnold, . tacitus, part i. (annales, books i.-vi.) s. . thucydides, book i. s. d. (the second book in the press.) * * * * * just published, price s. the stereoscope, considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision. an essay, by c. mansfield ingleby, m.a., of trinity college, cambridge. london: walton & maberley, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. cambridge: j. deighton. also, by the same author, price s., remarks on some of sir william hamilton's notes on the works of dr. thomas reid. "nothing in my opinion can be more cogent than your refutation of m. jobert."--_sir w. hamilton._ london: john w. parker, west strand, cambridge: e. johnson. birmingham: h. c. langbridge. * * * * * albemarle street,_november, _. mr. murray's forthcoming works. i. dr. waagen's treasures of art in great britain; being an account of the chief collections of paintings, sculptures, mss., miniatures, &c., in this country. vols. vo. ii. handbook of architecture. by james fergusson. being a concise and popular account of the different styles prevailing in all ages and countries of the world. with a description of the most remarkable buildings. with illustrations. vo. iii. kugler's history of painting. 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[price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page notes on grammont, by g. steinman steinman change of meaning in proverbial expressions, by thos. keightley extracts from colchester corporation records, by jas. whishaw convocation in the reign of george ii., by w. fraser parallel passages, by harry leroy temple shakspeare correspondence, by j. o. halliwell minor notes:--local rhymes, kent--samuel pepys's grammar--roman remains--to grab-- curfew at sandwich--ecclesiastical censure--the natural history of balmoral--shirt collars queries:-- "days of my youth" minor queries:--randall minshull and his cheshire collections--mackey's "theory of the earth"-- birthplace of king edward v.--name of infants-- geometrical curiosity--denison family--"came" --montmartre--law of copyright: british museum --veneration for the oak--father matthew's chickens--pronunciation of bible and prayer book proper names--mss. of anthony bave--return of gentry, temp. hen. vi.--taylor's "holy living"-- captain jan dimmeson--greek and roman fortification --the queen at chess--vida on chess minor queries with answers:--thornton abbey-- bishop wilson's "sacra privata"--derivation of "chemistry"--burning for witchcraft--the small city companies--rousseau and boileau--bishop kennett's ms. diary replies:-- milton's widow, by s. w. singer oaths, by honoré de mareville, &c. comminatory inscriptions in books, by philarète chasles liveries worn, and menial services performed, by gentlemen, by j. lewelyn curtis female parish clerks poetical epithets of the nightingale, by w. pinkerton photographic correspondence:--photographic exhibition --how much light is obstructed by a lens? --stereoscopic angles--to introduce clouds replies to minor queries:--death of edward ii.-- luther no iconoclast--rev. urban vigors--portrait of baretti--passage in sophocles--brothers of the same name--high dutch and low dutch--translations of the prayer book into french--divining-rod --slow-worm superstition--ravailliac--lines on the institution of the garter--passage in bacon --what day is it at our antipodes?--calves' head club--heraldic query--the temple lands in scotland--sir john vanbrugh--sir arthur aston-- nugget miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. notes on grammont. agreeing with mr. peter cunningham (vide _history of nell gwyn_), that a new edition of grammont is much wanted, i beg to avail myself of your pages, and to offer a few remarks and notes which i have made in reference to that very entertaining work for the consideration of a future annotator. of the several maids of honour mentioned therein i will begin with those of the queen. they are miss stewart, miss "warminster," miss bellenden, miss bardon, miss de la garde, miss wells, miss livingston, miss fielding, and miss boynton. the names of miss stewart (frances theresa), miss boynton (catherine), miss wells (winefred), and miss warmistre are found among the original six, appointed on the queen's marriage, may , . the affiliation and marriages of the first two have been well ascertained, but miss warmistre's birth is yet open to some conjecture, whilst her marriage, like miss wells's parentage, is wholly unknown. horace walpole, on the authority of the last earl of arran, of the butler family, has confounded her with mary, one of the daughters of george kirke, esq., a groom of the bedchamber to charles i., by mary his wife, daughter of aurelian townsend, esq., "the admired beauty of the tymes," on whose marriage at christ church, oxford, february , - , "the king gave her." she herself was maid of honour to the duchess of york in , and the year following left the court, we may believe, under the same circumstances as miss warmistre, more than ten years before, had quitted it: after being the mistress of sir thomas vernon, the second baronet of hodnet in shropshire, she became his wife, and ended her life in miserable circumstances at greenwich in . " , august, dame mary, relict of sir thomas vernon, carried away."--burial register of greenwich church. she was sister to diana, the last de vere, earl of oxford's, countess, a lady of as free a morality { } as herself and as her mother, and second wife of sir thomas, whose first lady, elizabeth cholmondley, died in june, . sir thomas died february , - , leaving by her three children, sir richard, the last baronet, henrietta, and diana, who all died unmarried. a portrait of lady vernon, by sir peter lely, has been engraved in mezzotinto by browne, and lettered "mary kirk, lady vernon, maid of honour to queen catherine." another portrait (?) has been engraved by scheneker for harding's _grammont_, . a third portrait was purchased at the strawberry hill sale, by mr. rodd of little newport street, for l. s. a portrait of the countess of oxford is or was at mr. drummond's of great stanmore. it was bequeathed to his family by charles, first duke of st. alban's, who was her ladyship's son-in-law. of mrs. anne kirke, who was "woman to the queen" henrietta maria, there are several portraits. granger records: "madam kirk. vandyck p. gaywood f. h. sh. "madam anne kirk. vandyck p. browne, large h. sh. mezz." these engravings are most probably from the same painting--the fine whole-length exhibited last year among the collection of pictures by ancient masters in pall mall: "madam kirk, sitting in a chair, hollar, f. h. sh." he also mentions her miniature at burghley. there is at wilton a splendid painting by vandyck of mrs. kirk, seated with the countess of morton, lady anne keith, eldest daughter of george, fifth earl mareschal, and wife of william douglass, seventh earl of morton, k.g. she was governess to the princess henrietta. this painting has been engraved by grousvelt. there is another engraving from the first-named vandyck by beckett. of lady vernon and her mother there is to be found mention, in the secret service expenses of charles ii. and james ii., lately printed. the elder lady on her husband's death (he was buried in the cloisters of westminster abbey, april , ) seems to have had a pension of l. per annum. the younger was the recipient, on two occasions, of l. "bounty" only. mrs. kirke and her daughter diana are unfavourably alluded to by mrs. grace worthley, a lady of the same class, who will not "be any longer a laughing-stock for any of mr. kirk's bastards" (vide letter to her cousin lord brandon, september , , _diary of henry sidney, earl of romney_, i. pp. xxxiii. xxxiv.). and again, the same lady, in another letter, speaks of "the common countess of oxford and her adulterous bastards" (_ibid._). mr. jesse's quotation from "queries and answers from garraway's coffee house" (vide _the court of the stewarts_, vol. ii. p. .) may be here reproduced in support of the epitaph which this angry lady has been pleased to assign the countess, who, it would seem, had robbed her, well born and well married, of her noble keeper "the handsome sidney:" "_q._ how often has mrs. kirk sold her daughter di. before the lord of oxford married her? _a._ ask the prince and harry jermyn." the following curious extract from one of the heber mss. at hodnet has been kindly furnished me by charles cholmondeley, esq., of the ivy house, wisbeach, co. cambridge, to whom the ms. belongs: "h----, "sir thomas the second baronet's death is mentioned in lady rachael russell's letters. his second wife was one of king charles's beauties, but the account in granger of her is not correct, as it appears that she lived some time with sir thomas, as mistress, before their marriage. he left her in great distress, as the profits of the estate were embezzled by attorneys and stewards. the following is a copy from a letter from her to one squibb, an attorney who had the management of the estate: 'sir, 'when you were last here you were pleased to say that in some little time i should be payd some money. i have had with me my woman's husband y^t did serve mee about two yeares since; and hee is soe impatient for what i owe her y^t hee will staye noe longer. it is given me to understand i must goe to prison or paye part of w^t i owe him. things fly to a great violence, and if you thinke it will bee for the credit or advantage of my childerne y^t such an afront should come to mee, is the question. i have nothing to depend on but w^t must come from the estate of sir richard vernon. how i have been used by the trustees you are noe stranger to. i am now forced to live on charity, and i grow every day more and more weary of it. for my childern's sake i remain in england, or else i would seeke my fortune elsewhere. pray to take this into consideration, and see w^t can be done. 'i am, sir, y^r most humble serv^t, 'vernon. 'p.s.--if you can, pray doe mee y^e favour to send mee by to-morrow at one of y^e cloke, twenty shillings, to pay for wood, or i must sit w^{th}oute fyer; y^t will be ill for a person confined to the house.'" it is not certain whether it is to "mistris kirke," lady vernon's mother, that charles i. refers in his letter addressed to colonel whaley on the day of his escape from hampton court, november , , but it is very likely to have been so. there was a mistress (anne) kirke, sworn in a dresser to queen henrietta maria in easter week, (vide _strafford papers_, vol. ii. p. .), whose full-length portrait by vandyke has been frequently engraved, by browne, garwood, hollar, beckett, &c.; and this lady may be the "mrs. anne kirke, unfortunately drowned near london bridge," who was buried in westminster abbey, july , . { } in westminster abbey was buried, may , , "mr. kirk's daughter." captain george kirke married there, february , - , mary cooke. george kirke, esq., died jan. , - , and was buried in the abbey cloisters (mon. inscr.); and mrs. mary kirke died december , , and was also buried there (m. i.). we may presume that all these kirkes were of the same family. having now clearly released the annotator from all farther interference with mary kirke's private history, and having excluded her handsome face from any future illustrated edition of grammont, i must leave him to deal with miss warmistre. it seems most probable that dr. thomas warmistre, dean of worcester, who died october , , was her father, as he is known to have been a royalist. his will, as it is not to be found at doctors' commons, must be sought for at worcester. his brother gervais was a married man, but his effects, unfortunately for our inquiries, were administered to at doctors' commons, august , . that warmistre was her right name is proved by lord cornbury's letter to the duchess of bedford, june , (warburton's _rupert_, vol. iii. pp. - .). her portrait is at hengrave hall, suffolk, and has been engraved by scriven for carpenter's _grammont_, . lord cornbury's letter contradicts grammont's statement, that miss boynton and miss wells came in on a removal, for they were of the original six maids of honour. among these is named a miss price (henrietta maria), who we may suppose a sister to the duchess of york's miss price, one of grammont's most conspicuous heroines; and if so, when i come to speak of the duchess's maids of honour, her parentage will be proved. of miss carey, rejoicing in the prefix of simona, the sixth of the queen's original maids of honour, we have no farther occasion to speak. in the queen appears to have had four maids of honour only, the places vacated by miss stewart's and miss warmistre's marriages being unoccupied. this state of affairs leads me to doubt whether miss bellenden ever held the appointment. mademoiselle bardon, grammont admits, was not actually a maid of honour, and mademoiselle de la garde certainly never was. lord braybrooke has suggested to me, with some show of reason, that the first may be the "mrs. baladine" who held a place of less emolument (that of dresser, probably) in the duchess of york's household, and who left in the middle of the quarter, between michaelmas and christmas, (vide _household book of james duke of york at audley end_), as if she had the prudence "de quitter la cour avant que d'en être chassée." "la désagréable bardon" may have been a daughter, or some other near relation, to claudius bardon, mentioned in the secret service expenses of charles ii. mademoiselle de la garde was appointed a dresser to the queen on her marriage (vide lord cornbury's letter), and continued in this office till , when she died. her father, charles peliott baron de la garde, or her brother, if she had one, was a groom of the privy chamber to queen catherine in , and her mother dresser to the duchess of york in (_duke of york's household book_). mary her sister, who became the wife of sir thomas bond of peckham, co. surrey, baronet, comptroller of the household to queen henrietta maria, was a lady of the privy chamber to the same queen. of mademoiselle i may add, that she married mr. gabriel silvius, carver to the queen, in (compare first and second editions of _angliæ notitia_, ); and of her husband, in addition to the particulars already stated by the annotators, that he received the honour of knighthood january , - , married a second wife (a fact overlooked by the annotators, including mr. cunningham), viz. anne, daughter of the hon. william howard, a younger son of thomas first earl of berkshire, at westminster abbey, november , , went the same year to the hague as master of the household to the prince of orange (evelyn), became privy purse to james ii. (_the british compendium, or rudiments of honour_), died at his house in leicester fields, january, - , and was buried in the church of st. martin. it was his second wife, and widow, who died october , . if, as it is possible, miss bellenden did hold the appointment of maid of honour to the queen, she must have replaced miss stewart or miss warmistre; and if miss livingston and miss fielding held like appointments, one of the two must have replaced her, and they, again, must have removed from the court before . i am not at present able to say who those three ladies were. before bringing this paper to a conclusion, i must be permitted to refer mr. cunningham to five letters, written by count de comminges, the french ambassador in london, and printed lord braybrooke in his appendix to pepys, which mr. c. has very unaccountably overlooked when settling the chronology of grammont. the first, to m. de lionne, dated "londres, janvier - , - ," announces the arrival of the chevalier the day before "fort content de son voyage. il a été ici reçu le plus agréablement au monde. il est de toutes les parties du roi." the second, to louis xiv., dated "décembre - , ," informs the king of the chevalier's joy at being allowed to return to france, and of his intention to leave england in four days. he also informs louis that he believes the chevalier will see the court of france in company of "une belle { } angloise." a postscript, dated "décembre - ," says that the king of england, for certain stated reasons, has persuaded the chevalier to remain a day longer; and, farther, "il laisse ici quelques autres dettes, qu'il prétend venir recueillir quand il se déclarera sur le sujet de mille hamilton, qui est si embrouillé que les plus clairvoyans n'y voyent goutte." the third, dated "mai - , ," is also to the king of france, and speaks of the chevalier's wife, "madame sa femme." the next letter is addressed to m. de lionne, and dated "aout , septembre , ." it contains this important intelligence: "madam la comtesse de grammont accoucha hier au soir d'un fils beau comme la mère, et galant comme le père." the last letter, dated "octobre , novembre , ," and addressed to the same m. de lionne, commences as follows: "le comte de grammont est parti aujourd'hui avec sa femme." these several letters, all important to the annotators of grammont, give the precise dates of the chevalier's first visit to the court of charles ii., and of his departure, and settle the date of his marriage within a few days. this event must have taken place in december, . mrs. jameson and mr. cunningham place it in . on another occasion i will return to this subject. g. steinman steinman. * * * * * change of meaning in proverbial expressions. i entirely agree with g. k. (vol. viii., p. .) respecting the original sense of "putting a spoke in one's wheel." it surely meant to aid him in constructing the wheel, say of his fortune. as the true sense of this expression seems to have been retained in america when lost in its birthplace, so ireland has retained that of another which has changed its sense here. by "finding a mare's nest" is, i believe, meant, fancying you have made a great discovery when in fact you have found nothing. i certainly remember the late earl grey using it in that sense in his place in parliament. but how does this accord with the following place in beaumont and fletcher? "why dost thou laugh? what mare's nest hast thou found?"--_bonduca_, act v. sc. . on which, rather to my surprise, mr. dyce has no note. now in ireland, when a person is seen laughing immoderately without any apparent cause, it is usual to say, "o, he has found a mare's nest, and he's laughing at the eggs." this perfectly agrees with the above passage from _bonduca_, and is doubtless the original sense and original form of the adage. there is another of these proverbial expressions which, i think, has also lost its pristine sense. by "tread on a worm and it will turn" is usually meant that the very meekest and most helpless persons will, when harshly used, turn on their persecutors. but the poor worm does, and can do, no such thing. i therefore think that the adage arose at the time when _worm_ was inclusive of snake and viper, and that what was meant was, that as those that had the power to avenge themselves when injured would use it, so people should be cautious how they provoked them. i am confirmed in this view by the following passage in the _wallenstein's tod_ of schiller, act ii. sc. .: "doch einen stachel gab natur dem wurm, dem willkür übermüthig spielend tritt." thos. keightley. * * * * * extracts from colchester corporation records. i inclose you some rather curious extracts from the corporation books of colchester, which i made a few years since, during an investigation of some of the charities of that ancient borough. jas. whishaw. "the informac[=o]n of richard glascock of horden-of-the-hill, in the county of essex, cordwayner, aged twenty-four yeeres or thereabouts, taken upon oath the ^{th} of june, , before jno. furlie, gent., mayor of the towne of colchester. "the informant saieth, that upon the lord's daie, the fower and twentieth daie of may last, that w^m beard of horden abovesaid, did cut off the taile of the catt of thomas burgis of fanies pishe, and margaret, the wife of the s^d tho^s burgis, after the catt's taile was cutt off, came home, and seeing that her catt's taile had bin cutt off she enquired who had done it, and being told that the s^d w^m beard had done it, she s^d she would be even w^{th} him before he went out of towne. "richard glascock." "the informac[=o]n of h^y potter, aged twenty yeeres or thereabouts, of horden abovesaid, lynnen weaver, taken upon oath the day and yeere abovesaid. "this informant saieth, that y^e s^d fower and twentieth daie of may the taile of the catt of the s^d thomas burgis being cutt off by the s^d w^m beard, and y^e s^d margaret the wife of the s^d tho^s burgis haveing bin told that the s^d w^m beard had done it, she p^rsentlie told the s^d beard she would be even with him before he went out of towne, and flewe in his face, and said she would give him something before he went out of her howse. and this informant saieing, good woman, i hope you will give him noe poyson, and she replyed, he would not be soe foolish as to take any thinge of her, but she would be even w^{th} him before he went out of towne." "henry potter." "the informac[=o]n of r^d spencer, aged thirtie yeeres or thereabouts, servant to capt^n thomas caldwell, taken upon oath the day and yeere aforesaid. "this informant saieth, that the before-named w^m beard being very sicke and in a strange distemper, and { } haveing heard that margaret, the wife of the before-named thomas burgis, had threatened him, did suspect the s^d w^m beard might be bewitched or ill dealt w^{th}, did cut off some of his haire off from his head, and did wind it up together and put it into the fire, and could not for a good while make it burne, untill he tooke a candle and put under it or into it, and then w^{th} much adoe it did burne, and after it was burnt y^e s^d beard laie still, and before it was burnt he was in such a distemper that three men could hardlie hold him into his bed. "richard spencer. "his + mark." * * * * * convocation in the reign of george ii. one hears it so often repeated, that convocation was finally suppressed in , in consequence of the accusations brought by the lower house against bishop hoadley, that it seems worth while noting in correction of this, that though no licence from the crown to make canons has ever been granted since that time, yet that convocation met and sat in , and again for some sessions in the spring of , when several important subjects were brought before it; among which was the very interesting question of curates' stipends, in these words: "viith. that much reproach is brought upon the beneficed, and much oppression upon the unbeneficed, clergy, by curates accepting too scanty salaries from incumbents." and which was really the last subject that was ever brought before convocation. on jan. , , it was unanimously agreed, that "the motion made by the archdeacon of lincoln concerning ecclesiastical courts and clandestine marriages, the qualifications of persons to be admitted into holy orders, and the salaries and titles of curates," should be "reduced into writing, and the particulars offered to the house at their next assembly." but in the next session, on march , , the prolocutor, dr. lisle, was afraid to go on with the business before the house, and after "speaking much of a _præmunire_," and "echoing and reverberating the word from one side of good king henry's chapel to the other," the whole was let drop; and convocation was fully consigned to the silence and the slumber of a century. the whole of these transactions are detailed in a scarce pamphlet, _a letter to the rev. dr. lisle, prolocutor of the lower house_, by the archdeacon of lincoln (the venerable g. reynolds). w. fraser. tor-mohun. * * * * * parallel passages. (vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) . "when she had passed it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music."--longfellow's _evangeline_, part i. i. "when she comes into the room, it is like a beautiful air of mozart breaking upon you."--thackeray "on a good-looking young lady." (quoted in _westminster review_, april .) . "two stars keep not their motion in one sphere."--whence? "we are the twin stars, and cannot shine in one sphere. when he rises i must set."--congreve, _love for love_, act iii. sc. . . "et ce n'est pas toujours par valeur et par chasteté que les hommes sont vaillants et que les femmes sont chastes."--de la rochefoucauld, _max._ i. "yes, faith! i believe some women are virtuous, too; but 'tis as i believe some men are valiant, through fear."--congreve, _love for love_, act iii. sc. . . "mais si les vaisseaux sillonnent un moment les ondes, la vague vient effacer aussitôt cette légère marque de servitude, et la mer reparait telle qu'elle fut au premier jour de la création."--_corinne_, b. i. ch. . "such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now!"--byron, _childe harold_. . "il est plus honteux de se méfier de ses amis que d'en être trompé."--de la rochefoucauld, _max._ lxxxiv. "better trust all, and be deceived, and weep that trust, and that deceiving, than doubt one heart that, if believed, had blessed thy life with true believing! "oh! in this mocking world, too fast the doubting fiend o'ertakes our youth: better be cheated to the last, than lose the blessed hope of truth!"--mrs. butler (fanny kemble). . in "n. & q.," vol. iv., p. ., i cited, as a parallel to shelley, the following from southey's _doctor_, vol. vi. p. .: "the sense of flying in our sleep might, he thought, probably be the anticipation or forefeeling of an unevolved power, like an aurelia's dream of butterfly motion." in spicer's _sights and sounds_ ( ), p. ., is to be found a poem professing to have been "dictated by the spirit of robert southey," on march , , the fourth stanza of which runs as follows: "the soul, like some sweet flower-bud yet unblown, lay tranced in beauty in its silent cell: the spirit slept, but dreamed of worlds unknown, _as dreams the chrysalis within its shell_, ere summer breathes its spell." what inference should be drawn from this coincidence for or against the reality of the "spiritual dictation?" harry leroy temple. * * * * * { } shakspeare correspondence. _shakspeare's works with a digest of all the readings_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--i am exceedingly obliged to your correspondent este for his suggestions, and need not say that any sincere advice will be most respectfully considered. in the second volume of my folio edition of shakspeare, i am partially endeavouring to carry out the design to which he alludes, by giving a digest of all the readings up to the year . how is it possible to carry out his wish farther with any advantage? i should feel particularly thankful for a satisfactory reply to the following questions in relation to this important subject:-- . as many copies of the first and other folio editions, as well as nearly all the copies of the same quarto editions, differ from each other, how are these differences to be treated? what copies are to be taken for texts, and how many copies of each are to be collated? . are such books as beckett, jackson and others, to be examined? if not, are _any_ conjectural emendations of the last and present centuries to be given? where is the line to be drawn? a mere selection is valueless, or next to valueless; because, setting aside the differences in opinion in such matters, we want to know what conjectures are new, and which are old? . are the various readings suggested in periodicals to be given? . can any positive and practical rules be furnished, likely to render such an undertaking useful and successful? j. o. halliwell. * * * * * minor notes. _local rhymes, kent._-- "between wickham and welling there's not an honest man dwelling; and i'll tell you the reason why, because shooters' hill's so nigh." unless this is preserved in "n. & q." it will probably be forgotten with the highwaymen, whose proceedings at shooters' hill, no doubt, originated it. g. w. skyring. _samuel pepys's grammar._--i have lately been looking over the _diary_ of this very clever person, and i confess it has surprised me to find him, a graduate of cambridge, and, in fact, i may say a man of letters, constantly employing such vulgar bad grammar as "he _do_ say," and such like. i am the more surprised when, on looking at his letters, even the familiar ones to his cousin roger and to w. hewer, i can find nothing of the kind, they being as grammatical and as well written as any of the time. my hypothesis is--lord braybrooke can correct me if i am wrong--that pepys, writing his _diary_ in short-hand, used one and the same character for all the persons of the present tense of _do_, and that the decypherer did not attend to this circumstance. in his letter to col. legge (vol. v. p. .), pepys writes "his r. h. _does_ think," &c., which in the _diary_ would surely be "his r. h. _do_ think," &c. in a similar way i would account for the use of _come_ instead of _came_ in the _diary_, as there is nothing of the kind in the letters. should i be right, i may have rendered a slight service to the memory of an able and worthy man. thos. keightley. _roman remains._--in wright's _celt, roman, and saxon_, p. ., a curious roman altar, dedicated to silvanus, "ab aprum eximiæ forme captum," is mentioned as found at durham. it was found in the wild district to the west, in the neighbourhood of stanhope in weardale, and is preserve in the rectory house there. p. ., figure a. this armilla (?) was not found in northumberland, but in sussex, together with several others of the same form, a torques and celts. w. c. trevelyan. wallington. _to grab._--a very popular writer has lately rightly denounced the use of this word as a vulgarism. like many other monosyllables used by our working classes, it may plead antiquity in extenuation of its vulgarity. it has been derived from the welsh word _grabiaw_, to grasp, and in ancient times was one of our "household words." the retention by a tailor of a portion of the cloth delivered to him, although it had been a usage from time immemorial, might have been considered by our forefathers as a _grabbage_: we now call it _cabbage_. n. w. s. _curfew at sandwich._--sometime back it was stated that the curfew at sandwich had been discontinued. it has been resumed in consequence of the opposition made by the inhabitants. the same occurred about twenty years ago. (from information on the spot.) e. m. _ecclesiastical censure._--ecclesiastical censure was often used in the middle ages to enforce civil rights, specially that of the exemption of the clergy from the judgment of a lay tribunal. the following instance thereof is new to me. i have copied it from "collectanea gervasii holles," vol. i. p. ., lansdowne ms. ., in the british museum: "ex archis linc. a^o . "the major and burgesses of grimesby hanged a preist for theft called richard of notingham. hereupon y[=e] b^p sendes to y[=e] abbott of wellow to associate to himselfe twelue adjacent chapleins to examine y[=e] cause, and in st. james his church excommunicates all y^t had any hand in it of whatsoever condition they were, y[=e] king, queen, and prince of wales excepted; { } and y[=e] b^p himselfe did excommunicate them in y[=e] cathedral church of lincolne, y[=e] fifth of y[=e] ides of aprill following." edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton-in-lindsey. _the natural history of balmoral._--dr. william macgillivray, professor of civil and natural history in the marischal college of aberdeen, and who died there sept. , , left an unpublished ms. on "the natural history of balmoral and its neighbourhood." this work has been purchased from his executors by his royal highness prince albert; and is to be printed for the use of her majesty and the royal family, and for circulation among their august relatives. it was the last work on which the distinguished author was engaged, and was only completed a short time previous to his death. it also contains some curious speculations regarding several plants and herbs of that alpine district, and their uses in a medicinal and domestic point of view, as known to the ancient caledonians and picts. altogether it is a most interesting work. w. _shirt collars._--in hone's _every-day book_, vol. ii. p. ., i find the following, which i think is after the present ridiculous fashion of wearing shirt collars, viz. so tight round the neck, and so stiff, that it is a wonder there are not some serious accidents. these collars, at present worn by the fast young men of the day, are called "the piccadilly three-folds." now, if this goes on until they get to a "nail in depth, and stiffened with yellow starch, and _double wired_," i think it will only be proper to put a heavy tax upon them. "_piccadilly._--the picadil was the round hem, or the piece set about the edge or skirt of a garment, whether at top or bottom; also a kind of _stiff collar_, made in fashion of a band, that went about the neck and round about the shoulders: hence the term 'wooden piccadilloes' (meaning the pillory) in _hudibras_; and see nares' _glossary_, and blount's _glossographia_. at the time that ruffs and picadils were much in fashion, there was a celebrated ordinary near st. james's, called _piccadilly_: because, as some say, it was the outmost, or skirt-house, situate at the hem of the town: but it more probably took its name from one higgins, a tailor, who made a fortune by picadils, and built this with a few adjoining houses. the name has by a few been derived from a much frequented shop for the sale of these articles; this probably took its rise from the circumstance of higgins having built houses there, which however were not for selling ruffs; and indeed, with the exception of his buildings, the site of the present piccadilly was at that time open country, and quite out of the way of trade. at a later period, when burlington house was built, its noble owner chose the situation, then at some distance from the extremity of the town, that _none might build beyond_ him. the ruffs formerly worn by gentlemen were frequently _double wired_, and _stiffened_ with _yellow starch_: and the practice was at one time carried to such an excess, that they were limited by queen elizabeth '_to a nayle of a yeard in depth_.' in the time of james i., they still continued of a preposterous size: so that, previous to the visit made by that monarch to cambridge in , the vice-chancellor of the university thought fit to issue an order, prohibiting 'the fearful enormity and excess of apparel seen in all degrees, as, namely, _strange piccadilloes_, vast bands, huge cuffs, shoe roses, tufts, locks, and tops of hair, unbeseeming that modesty and carriage of students in so renowned a university.'" it is scarcely to be supposed that the ladies were deficient in the size of their ruffs, &c. i must conclude this in the words of the immortal poet: " . . . . new fashions, though they be never so ridiculous, nay, let them be unmanly, yet are followed." h. e. * * * * * queries. "days of my youth." the following lines are understood to have been written by the late mr. st. george tucker of virginia, u. s. any information in support of this opinion, or, if it be unfounded, in disproof of it, is requested by t. days of my youth. days of my youth! ye have glided away, hairs of my youth! ye are frosted and gray; eyes of my youth! your keen sight is no more; cheeks of my youth! ye are furrow'd all o'er; strength of my youth! all your vigour is gone; thoughts of my youth! all your visions are flown! days of my youth! i wish not your recall, hairs of my youth! i'm content you should fall; eyes of my youth! ye much evil have seen; cheeks of my youth! bathed in tears have you been; thoughts of my youth! ye have led me astray; strength of my youth! why lament your decay! days of my age! ye will shortly be past; pains of my age! yet awhile can ye last; joys of my age! in true wisdom delight; eyes of my age! be religion your light; thoughts of my age! dread not the cold sod, hopes of my age! be ye fix'd on your god!--st. george tucker, judge. * * * * * minor queries. _randall minshull and his cheshire collections._--of what family was randall minshull, who, in the addenda to gower's _sketch for a history of_ { } _cheshire_, p. ., is stated to have professedly made a collection for the _antiquities of cheshire_ by the desire of lord malpas? and where is such collection at the present time to met with? cestriensis. _mackey's "theory of the earth."_--i have a small pamphlet entitled, "a new theory of the earth and of planetary motion; in which it is demonstrated that the sun is vicegerent of his own system. by sampson arnold mackey, author of _mythological astronomy_ and _urania's key to the revelations, &c._ norwich, printed for the author." there is no date on the title-page, but a notice on the second page indicates . the book is extraordinary, and shows great astronomical and philological attainments, with some startling facts in geology, and bold theories as to the formation of the earth. i have endeavoured to procure the other two works of which mr. mackey is said to be the author, and also some account of him, but without success. i can hardly suppose that a writer of so much ability and learning can be unknown, and shall feel much obliged by any information as to him or his writings. j. ward. coventry. _birthplace of king edward v._--can you give me any information as to the exact birthplace of this monarch? hume (vol. ii. p. .) merely says that he was born while his mother was in sanctuary in london, and his father was a fugitive from the victorious earl of warwick. commynes (book iii. chap. .) also says that she took refuge "es franchises qui sont à londres," and "y accoucha d'ung filz en grant povreté." chastellain, at p. . of his _chronique_, says: "elle alla à saincte-catherine, une abbeye, disoient aucuns: aucuns autres disoient à vasemonstre (westminster), lieu de franchise, qui oncques n'avoit esté corrompu." i should be glad to have some more definite information on this point, if any of your readers can supply it. a leguleian. _name of infants._--in scotland there is a superstition that it is unlucky to tell the name of infants before they are christened. can this be explained? r. j. a. _geometrical curiosity._--take half a sheet of note-paper; fold and crease it so that two opposite corners exactly meet; then fold and crease it so that the remaining two opposite corners exactly meet. armed with a fine pair of scissors, proceed now to repeat both these folds alternately without cessation, taking care to cut off quite flush and clear all the overlappings on both sides after each fold. when these overlappings become too small to be cut off, _the paper is in the shape of a circle_, _i. e._ the ultimate intersection of an infinite series of tangents. perhaps professor de morgan will give the _rationale_ of this procedure. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _denison family._--can any correspondent of "n. & q." inform me how the denisons of denbies, near dorking, in surrey, and the denisons of ossington, in nottinghamshire, were related? who was mr. robert denison of nottingham, who took a very active part in politics at the commencement of the french revolution? his wife had a handsome legacy from a rich old lady, one mrs. williams, of whom i would much like to know something farther. e. h. a. _"came."_--in pegge's _anecdotes of the english language_, p. ., we read: "the real preterit of the saxon verb _coman_, is _com_. _came_ is therefore a violent infringement, though it is impossible to detect the innovator, or any of his accomplices." when was the word _came_ introduced into our language? early instances of its use would be very welcome. h. t. g. hull. _montmartre._--by some this name is derived from _mons martis_; by others from _mons martyrum_. which is the more satisfactory etymology, and upon what authority does it rest? henry h. breen. st. lucia. _law of copyright: british museum._--observing that the _new_ law of copyright, which was passed and came into operation on the st of july, , _expressly repeals_ all of the statutes previously existing on that subject, i am anxious to know, through the medium of "n. & q.," if the british museum authorities can claim and enforce the delivery of any book, _although not entered on the books of stationers' hall_, which may have been printed and published _before_ the passing of the said act of . if so, then what is the state of the act or statute which bears upon that particular privilege? j. a. glasgow. _veneration for the oak._--the oak--"the brave old oak"--has been an object of veneration in this country from the primæval to the present times. the term _oak_ is used in several places in scripture, but nowhere does it appear to refer to the oak as we know it--_our indigenous oak_. the _oak_, under which god appeared to abraham, bears apparently a resemblance to the _tree of life_ of the assyrian sculptures; and, perhaps, the _zoroastrian_ { } _homa_, or sacred tree, and the _sacred tree of the hindus_; and the same may yet be found in the _british oak_. is there a botanical affinity between these trees? are they all _oaks_? was the _tree of life_, as described in the bible, an _oak_? g. w. stansted, montfichet. _father matthew's chickens._--can any of your correspondents explain why grouse in scotland are sometimes called "father matthew's chickens?" m. r. g. _pronunciation of bible and prayer book proper names._--i feel sure that many of your clerical correspondents would feel much obliged by any assistance that might be forwarded them through the medium of your columns respecting the correct pronunciation of those proper names which occur during divine service: such as sabaoth, moriah, aceldama, sabacthani, abednego, and several others of the same class.--the opinions already given in publications are so contradictory, that i have been induced to ask you to insert this query. w. sloane sloane-evans. cornworthy vicarage, totnes. _mss. of anthony bave._--i possess a volume of ms. sermons, treatises, and memorandums in the autograph of one anthony bave, who appears, from the doctrines broached therein, to have been a moderate puritan. what is known concerning him? it is a book i value much from the beauty of the writing and the vigorous style of the discourses. r. c. warde. kidderminster. _return of gentry, temp. hen. vi._--in what collection, or where, can the return of gentry of england th henry vi. be seen or met with? glaius. _taylor's "holy living."_--in pickering's edition of this work (london, ), _some_ of the quotations are placed in square brackets (_e. g._ on p. xii.); and _some_ of the paragraphs have an asterisk prefixed to them (as on p. .). why? a. a. d. _captain jan dimmeson._--can any one give me some information about him? i find his name on a pane of glass, with the date of , in the vicinity of windsor. i had not an opportunity to obtain a copy of some words that were painted on the glass, beneath a fine flowing sea with a ship in full sail upon its bosom. f. m. _greek and roman fortification._--where can i obtain an account of greek and roman fortification? i am surprised to find that smith's _classical dictionary_ has no article upon that subject. j. h. j. _the queen at chess._--in the old titles of the men at chess, the queen, who does all the hard work, was called the prime minister, or grand vizier. when did the change take place, and who thought of giving all the power to a woman? truly in the game "woman is the head of the man," reversing the just order. c. s. w. _vida on chess._--i have had in my possession for more than five years a translation of vida on _chess_. it is in the handwriting of a celebrated poet of the last century; but whether a mere transcript or a version of his own, is more than i can affirm. now, i shall feel obliged by any information on the subject, whether positive or negative, and transcribe the exordium with that view. it is not the version which was made by george jeffreys, and revised by _alexander pope_[ ]: "vida's scacchis, or chess." "armies of box that sportively engage, and mimick real battels in their rage, pleas'd i recount; how smit with glory's charms, two mighty monarchs met in adverse arms, sable and white: assist me to explore, ye serian nymphs, what ne'er was sung before." bolton corney. [footnote : the only one which i have seen.] * * * * * minor queries with answers. _thornton abbey._--can any of your readers give me some information respecting an old and ruinous building called "thornton abbey," situate about ten miles from grimsby, lincolnshire, and also about two miles from the river humber? victor. grimsby. [tanner states, the house was called thorneton curteis, and torrington. it was founded by william le gros, earl of albemarle, and lord of holderness, about the year , for austin canons, and was dedicated to the virgin mary. dugdale says, that when first founded it was a priory, and the monks were introduced from the monastery of kirkham; but was changed into an abbey by pope eugenius iii., a.d. . though henry viii. suppressed the abbey, he reserved the greater part of the lands to endow a college, which he erected in its room, for a dean and prebendaries, to the honour of the holy and undivided trinity. from the remains it must have been a magnificent building. originally it consisted of an extensive quadrangle, surrounded by a deep ditch, with high ramparts, and built in a style adapted for occasional defence. to the east of the gateway are the remains of the abbey church. the chapter-house, part of which is standing, was of an octangular shape, and highly decorated. on the south of the ruins of the church is a building, now occupied as a farm-house, which formerly was the residence of the abbots. it was afterwards the seat of edward { } skinner, esq., who married ann, daughter of sir william wentworth, brother to the unfortunate earl of strafford. the estate was purchased from one of the skinner family by sir richard sutton, bart.; it is now in the possession of lord yarborough. in taking down a wall in the ruins of the abbey, a human skeleton was found, with a table, a book, and a candle-stick. it is supposed to have been the remains of the fourteenth abbot, who, it is stated, was for some crime sentenced to be immured--a mode of capital punishment not uncommon in monasteries. four views of the abbey are given in allen's _history of lincolnshire_, vol ii., and some farther notices of its ancient state will be found in dugdale's _monasticon_, vol. vi. pl. i. p. .; tanner's _notitia_, lincolnshire, lxxvii.; and _beauties of england and wales_, vol. ix. p. .] _bishop wilson's "sacra privata."_--in the new edition of this work, p. ., there is given a table of "the collects, with their tendencies." under the head of fasting, references are made to the first sunday in lent, _and the tenth and twenty-third after trinity_.--there must be some mistake in this, as the last two collects refer to prayer. this for your correspondent mr. denton, to whom i understand the church is indebted for the redintegration of the good bishop's journal. a. a. d. [we have submitted the above to the rev. william denton, who expresses his obligations to a. a. d. for pointing out the error, which seems to have escaped the notice of all the previous editors of the _sacra privata_. the second edition is now at press, and, if not too late, the correction will be made. mr. denton doubts whether the list after all is the bishop's; but thinks it was only copied by him from some work. can any one point out the source? it is singular that another mistake of the bishop's should have escaped the notice of all previous editors, namely, the tendency of the collect for whit-sunday being described as _humiliation_ instead of _illumination_.] _derivation of "chemistry."_--are there any historical reasons for deriving the word _chemistry_ from _chemi_, the name of egypt, as is done by bunsen and others? t. h. t. [dr. thomson, the writer of the article "chemistry" in the _encyclopædia britannica_, thus notices this derivation: "the generally received opinion among alchymistical writers was, that chemistry originated in egypt; and the honour of the invention has been unanimously conferred on hermes trismegistus. he is by some supposed to be the same person with chanaan, the son of ham, whose son mizraim first occupied and peopled egypt. plutarch informs us that egypt was sometimes called _chemia_: this name is supposed to be derived from chanaan. hence it was inferred that chanaan was the inventor of _chemistry_, to which he affixed his own name. whether the hermes of the greeks was chanaan, or his son mizraim, it is impossible to decide; but to hermes is assigned the invention of _chemistry_, or _the art of making gold_, by almost the unanimous consent of the adepts." dr. webster says, "the orthography of this word has undergone changes through a mere ignorance of its origin, than which nothing can be more obvious. it is the arabic _kimia_, the occult art or science, from _kamai_, to conceal. this was originally the art or science now called alchemy; the art of converting baser metals into gold." webster says the correct orthography is _chimistry_.] _burning for witchcraft._--when and where was the last person burned to death for witchcraft in england? w. r. [we believe the last case of burning for witchcraft was at bury st. edmunds in , tried by sir matthew hale, although some accounts state that the victims, amy duny and rose callender, were executed. in the same year alice hudson was burnt at york for having received s. at a time from his satanic majesty. the last case of burning in scotland was in sutherland, a.d. : the judge was captain david ross, of little dean. at glarus, in ireland, a servant girl was burnt so late as . the last authenticated instance of the swimming ordeal occurred in , and is quoted by mr. sternberg from a _northampton mercury_ of that year:--"a poor woman named sarah bradshaw, of mears ashby, who was accused of being a witch, in order to prove her innocence, submitted to the ignominy of being dipped, when she immediately sunk to the bottom of the pond, which was deemed to be an incontestable proof that she was no witch!"] _the small city companies._--where does the fullest information appear respecting their early condition, &c.? herbert's work only occasionally refers to them, and i am aware of many incidental notices of them in histories of london, &c.; but it does not amount to much, and i should be glad to know if there is no fuller account of them. the companies of pewterers or bakers, for example. b. [beside the incidental notices to be found in stow, maitland, and seymour, our correspondent must consult the harleian mss.; and if he will turn to the index volume at p. ., he will find references to the following companies:--bakers', drapers', painters', stainers', pinners', scriveners', skinners', wax-chandlers', wharfingers', weavers', and other miscellaneous notes relating to the city of london generally.] _rousseau and boileau._--are there any full and complete english translations of rousseau's _confessions_ and boileau's _satires_? alledius. [the following translations have been published:--_the confessions of j. j. rousseau_, in two parts, london, mo., five vols., ; boileau's _satires_, vo., : see also his _works_ made english by mr. ozell and others, two vols. vo., london, - , and three vols. vo., london, .] _bishop kennett's ms. diary._--where is bishop kennett's ms. diary, from which his often-cited description of dean swift is taken, to be found? { } sir walter scott (swift's _works_, vol. xvi. p. .) says "it was formerly in the possession of lord lansdowne, and is now in the british museum." i have never been able to find it. f. b. [the _diary_ here referred to by sir walter scott will be found at p. . in lansdowne ms. ., which forms the third and last volume of bishop kennett's "materials for an ecclesiastical history of england."] * * * * * replies. milton's widow. (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . . . .) it may be worth recording, that among the ms. papers of the late james boswell, which were i believe sold by auction by messrs. sotheby and co., there was the office copy and probate of the will of milton's widow. she was described as elizabeth milton of namptwich, widow; and it was dated the th of august, . in the will she bequeathed all her effects, after the payment of her debts, to be divided between her nieces and nephews in namptwich; and named as her executors, samuel acton and john allcock, esqs. probate was granted to john allcock, october , . beside this, there was a bond or acquittance, dated from richard mynshull, described of wistaston in cheshire, frame-work knitter, for _l_. received of mrs. elizabeth milton in consideration of a transfer to her of a lease for lives, or ninety-nine years, of a messuage at brindley in cheshire, held under sir thomas wilbraham. there were also receipts or releases from milton's three daughters, anne milton, mary milton, and deborah clarke (to the last of which abraham clarke was a party): the first two dated feb. , ; the last, march in the same year; for l. each, received of elizabeth milton their step-mother in consideration of their shares of their father's estate. the sums were, with the consent of christopher milton and richard powell, both described of the inner temple, to be disposed of in the purchase of rent-charges or annuities for the benefit of the said daughters. two of these documents appear to be now in the possession of your correspondents mr. marsh and mr. hughes; but i have met with no mention hitherto of the destination of the others. these may seem trifling minutiæ to notice, but nothing can fairly be considered unimportant which may lead to the elucidation of the domestic history of milton. s. w. singer. mickleham. * * * * * oaths. (vol. viii., p. .) there can be no doubt that, as your correspondent suggests, the judicial oath was originally taken without kissing the book, but with the form of laying the right hand upon it; and, moreover that this custom is of pagan origin. amongst the greeks, oaths were frequently accompanied by sacrifice; and it was the custom to lay the hands upon the victim, or upon the altar, thereby calling to witness the deity by whom the oath was sworn. so juvenal, _sat._ xiv. .: "falsus erit testis, vendet perjuria summa exigua, et cereris tangens aramque pedemque." christians under the later roman emperors adopted from the greeks a similar ceremony. in the well-known case of omychund _v._ barker, heard in michaelmas term, , and reported in atk. ., the solicitor-general quoted a passage from selden, which gives us some information on this point: "mittimus hic, principibus christianis, ut ex historiis satis obviis liquet, solennia fuisse et peculiaria juramenta, ut per vultum sancti lucæ, per pedem christi, per sanctum hunc vel illum, ejusmodi alia nimis crebra: _inolevit hero tandem, ut quemadmodum pagani sacris ac mysteriis aliquo suis aut tactis aut præsentibus jurare solebant, ita solenniora christianorum juramenta fierent, aut tactis sacrosanctis evangeliis, aut inspectis, aut in eorum præsentia manu ad pectus amota, sublata aut protensa_; atque is corporaliter seu personaliter juramentum præstari dictum est, ut ab juramentis per epistolam, aut in scriptis solummodo præstitis distingueretur, inde in vulgi passim ore." lord coke tells us, in the passage quoted at p. ., that this was called the corporal oath, because the witness "toucheth with his hand some part of the holy scripture;" but the better opinion seems to be, that it was so called from the ancient custom of laying the hands upon the _corporale_, or cloth which covered the sacred elements, by which the most solemn oath was taken in popish times. as to the form of kissing the book, i am inclined to think that it is not of earlier date than the latter part of the sixteenth century, and that it was first prescribed as part of the ceremony of taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. in the _harl. misc._, vol. vi. p. . (edit. ), is an account of the trial of margaret fell and george fox, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance, followed by "an answer to bishop lancelot andrewe's sermon concerning swearing." at p ., fox brings forward instances of conscientious scruples among christians in former times, respecting the taking of oaths. he says: "did not the pope, when he had got up over the churches, give forth both oath and curse, with bell, { } book, and candle? and was not the ceremony of his oath, to lay three fingers a-top of the book, to signify the trinity; and two fingers under the book, to signify damnation of body and soul if they sware falsely? and was not there a great number of people that would not swear, and suffered great persecution, as read the _book of martyrs_ but to bonner's days? and it is little above an hundred years since the protestants got up; and they gave forth the oath of allegiance, and the oath of supremacy: the one was to deny the pope's supremacy, and the other to acknowledge the kings of england; _so we need not tell to you of their form, and show you the ceremony of the oath; it saith_, '_kiss the book_;' and the book saith 'kiss the son,' which saith 'swear not at all.'" still the laying of the hand on the book seems to have been an essential form; for, during the trial, when the oath was offered to margaret fell, "the clerk held out the book, and bid her pull off her glove, and lay her hand on the book" (_h. m._, p. .). and directly after, when the oath had been read to fox, the following scene is described: "'give him the book,' _said they_; and so a man that stood by him held up the book, and said, 'lay your hand on the book.' "_geo. fox._ 'give me the book in my hand.' which set them all a-gazing, and as in hope he would have sworn." and it appears from the case of omychund v. barker, that, at that time, the usual form was by laying the right hand on the book, and kissing it afterwards ( atk. .). it seems not improbable that paley's suggestion, in his _moral philosophy_, vol. i. p. . ( th edit.), may be correct. he says: "the kiss seems rather an act of reverence to the contents of the book, as, in the popish ritual, the priest kisses the gospel before he reads it, than any part of the oath." the query respecting the welsh custom i must leave to those who are better informed respecting the judicial forms of that country; merely suggesting whether the practice alluded to by your correspondent may not originally have had a meaning similar to that of the three fingers on the book, and two under, as described by fox in the passage above quoted. erica. warwick. in the bailiwick of guernsey the person sworn lifts his right hand, and the presiding judge, who administers the oath, says "vous jurez par la foi et le serment que vous devez à dieu que," &c. oaths of office, however, are taken on the gospels, and are read to the person swearing by the greffier, or clerk of the court. the reason of this difference may be accounted for by the fact that the official oaths, as they now exist, appear to have been drawn up about the beginning of the reign of james i., and that in all probability the form was enjoined by the superior authority of the privy council. which of the two forms was generally used before the reformation, i have not been able to discover; but in an account of the laws, privileges, and customs of the island, taken by way of inquisition in the year , but more fully completed and approved in the year , it appears that the juries of the several parishes were sworn "sur sainctes evangiles de dieu par eulx et par chacun d'eulx corporellement touché,"--"par leurs consciences sur le peril de la dampnation de leurs ames." i remember to have seen men from some of the baltic ports, when told to lift their right hands to be sworn, double down the ring finger and the little finger, as is done by bishops in the roman catholic church when giving the benediction. in france the person making oath lifts his right hand. the oath is administered by the presiding judge without any reference to the deity, but the person who swears is required to answer "je le jure." i observed that in britanny, when the person sworn was ignorant of the french language, the answer was "va doué," which, i believe, means in the breton dialect, "by god." in the ecclesiastical court of guernsey i have seen the book presented to the person swearing open at one of the gospels; but in the royal court the book is put into the right hand of the party making oath, shut. in either case it is required that the book should be kissed. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. * * * * * comminatory inscriptions in books. (vol. viii., pp. . .) many inscriptions, comminatory or exhortatory, written in books and directed to readers, have been commemorated in "n. & q." towards the beginning of the present century, the most common epigram of the kind in the french public schools was the following elegant motto, with its accompanying illustration: "aspice _pierrot_ pendu, quota librum n'a pas rendu!" poor pierrot is exhibited in a state of suspension, as hanging from the inverted letter l ([gamma]), which symbolises the fatal tree. comminatory and exhortatory cautions not to soil, spoil, or tear books and mss. occur so frequently in the records of monastic libraries, that a whole album could easily be filled with them. the coquettish bishop, venantius fortunatus, has a distich on the subject. another learned goth, theud-wulf, or theodulfus, charlemagne's _missus dominicus_, { } recommends readers a proper ablution of their hands before turning the consecrated leaves: "utere me, lector, mentisque in sede locato; cumque librum petis hinc, sit tibi _lota_ manus!"--_saith library._ less lenient are the imprecations commemorated by don martenne and wanley. the one inscribed on the blank leaf of a sacramentary of the ninth century is to the following effect: "si quis eum (librum) de monasterio aliquo ingenio non redditurus, abstraxerit, cum juda proditore, annâ et caïphâ, portionem æternæ damnationis accipiat. amen! amen! fiat! fiat!"--_voyage littéraire_, p. . that is fierce and fiery, and in very earnest. a ms. of the bodleian bears this other inscription, to the same import: "liber sanctæ mariæ de ponte roberti. qui eum abstulerit aut vendiderit ... aut quamlibet ejus partem absciderit, sit anathema maranatha." canisius, in his _antiquæ lectiones_ (i. ii. p. . .), transcribes another comminatory distich, copied from a ms. of the saint gall library: "auferat hunc librum _nullus hinc_, omne per ævum, cum gallo partem quisquis habere cupit!" such recommendations are now no longer in use, and seem rather excessive. but whoever has witnessed the extreme carelessness, not to say improbity, of some of the readers admitted into the public continental libraries, who scruple not to soil, spoil, and even purloin the most precious and rare volumes, feels easily reconciled to the _anathema maranatha_ of the ninth and tenth centuries. p.s.--excuse my french-english. philarÈte chasles, mazarinæus. paris, palais de l'institut. * * * * * liveries worn, and menial services performed, by gentlemen. (vol. vi., p. .) however remarkable the conduct of the rustic esquire of downham may appear in the present duly, when he accepted and wore the livery of his neighbour the knight-baronet of houghton tower, it was a common practice for gentlemen of good birth and estate to accept and wear, and even to assume without solicitation, upon state occasions, the livery of an influential neighbour, friend, or relation, in testimony of respect and affection for the giver of the livery. thus it appears in the diary of nicholas assheton that, in , to the court at mirescough "cooz assheton came with his gentlemanlie servants as anie was there," and that the retinue of menial servants in attendance upon sir richard houghton was graced by the presence of more than one country gentleman of good family. baines, in his _history of lancashire_, vol. ii. p. ., also relates concerning humphrey chetham, that-- "in he was nominated to serve the office of sheriff of the county, and discharged the duties thereof with great honour, several gentlemen of birth and estate attending and wearing his livery at the assizes, to testify their respect and affection for him." evelyn, in his _diary_, gives a similar account of the conduct of "divers gentlemen and persons of quality" in the counties of surrey and sussex: " . my father was appointed sheriff for surrey and sussex before they were disjoyned. he had servants in liverys, every one livery'd in greene sattin doublets. divers gentlemen and persons of quality waited on him in the same garbe and habit, which at that time (when thirty or forty was the the usual retinue of the high sheriff) was esteemed a great matter. nor was this out of the least vanity that my father exceeded (who was one of the greatest decliners of it); but because he could not refuse the civility of his friends and relations, who voluntarily came themselves, or sent in their servants." the practice of assuming the livery of a relation or friend, and of permitting servants also to wear it, appears to have existed in england in the time of richard ii., and to have had the personal example of this sovereign to support it. he seems, however, to have thereby excited the disapprobation of many of his spiritual and temporal peers. i produce the following passage with some hesitation, because it is by no means certain that any one of the liveries thus assumed by richard was a livery of cloth: " ^{th} richard ii. a.d. - . "richard count d'arundell puis le comencement de cest present parlement disoit au roy, en presence des achevesques de canterbirs et d'everwyk, le duc de gloucestr', les evesques de wyncestre et saresbirs, le count de warrewyk et autres.... "item [=q] le roy deust porter la livere de coler le duc de guyene et de lancastr'. "item [=q] gentz de retenue de roi portent mesme la livere.... "a qei [=n]re s[=r] le roi alors respondi au dit count ... [=q] bientot apres la venue son dit uncle de guyene quant il vient d'espaign darrein en engleterre [=q] mesme [=n]re s[=r] le roi prist le coler du cool mesme son uncle et mist a son cool demesne et dist q'il vorroit porter et user en signe de bon amour d'entier coer entre eux auxi come il fait les liveres ses autres uncles. "item (quant au tierce) [=n]re s[=r] le roi disoit [=q] ceo fuist de counge de luy et de sa volunte [=q] gentz de sa retenue portent et usent mesme la livere de coler."--_rolls of parliament_, vol. iii. p. . "richard earl of arundel, after the commencement of this present parliament, said to the king in the presence of the archbishops of canterbury and of york, { } the duke of gloucester, the bishops of winchester and salisbury, the earl of warwick, and others.... "item. that the king uses to wear the livery of the collar of the duke of guienne and of lancaster. "item. that persons of the retinue of the king wear the same livery. "to which our lord the king then answered to the said earl.... "that soon after the coming of his said uncle of guienne, when he came from spain last into england, that himself our lord the king took the collar from the neck of the same his uncle and put it on his own neck, and said that he vowed to wear and to use it in sign of good love of whole heart between them also, as he did the liveries of his other uncles. "item (as to the third). our lord the king said that it was by leave from him, and by his wish, that persons of his retinue wear and use the same livery of the collar." this practice of one of our early sovereigns seems to afford a precedent for the mode in which divers gentlemen and persons of quality voluntarily showed civility towards richard evelyn, and for that in which several gentlemen of birth and estate testified their respect and affection for humphrey chetham. nicholas assheton also appears to have the support of this royal precedent in so far as relates to his accepting and wearing the livery of a friend and neighbour; and the custom of his day evidently lends its sanction to his forming, upon a state occasion, one of the body of menial servants in attendance upon sir richard houghton, when he went to meet the king. another passage in the _rolls of parliament_ seems to afford a respectable civic precedent for the services performed by nicholas assheton and other liveried gentlemen, when they waited at the lords' table at houghton tower: " ^{th} edward iii. a.d. . "a [=n]re seigneur le roy et a son conseil monstre richard de bettoyne de loundres, qe come au coronement [=n]re seigneur le roy [=q] ore est il adonge meire de loundres fesoit l'office de botiller ove ccc e lx vadletz vestutz d'une sute chescun portant en sa mayn un coupe blanche d'argent come autres meirs de loundres ountz faitz as coronementz des [crossed p]genitours nostre seigneur le roy dont memoire ne court pars et le fee q appendoit a cel jorne c'est asavoir un coupe d'or ove la covercle et un ewer d'or enamaille lui fust livere [crossed p] assent du counte de lancastre et d'autres grantz qu'adonges y furent du conseil nostre seigneur le roy [crossed p] la mayn sire ro[/b]t de wodehouse et ore vient en estreite as viscountes de londres hors del chekker de faire lever des biens et chateux du dit richard xx/iiii ix_li._ xiis. vid. pur le fee avant dit dont il prie qe remedie lui soit ordeyne. "et le meire et citoyens d'oxenford ount [crossed p] point de chartre q'ils vendront a londres l'encorronement d'eyder le meire de loundres pur servir a la fest et toutz jours l'ount usee. et si i plest a [=n]re seigneur le roy et a son conseil nous payerons volonters la fee issent qe nous soyons descharges de la service."--_rolls of parliament_, vol. ii. p. . "to our lord the king and to his council sheweth richard de bettoyne of london, that whereas at the coronation of our lord the king that now is, he their mayor of london performed the office of butler with three hundred and sixty valets clothed of one suit each, bearing in his hand a white cup of silver, as other mayors of london have done at the coronations of the progenitors of our lord the king, whereof memory runneth not, and the fee which appertained to this day's work, that is to wit, a cup of gold with the cover, and a ewer of gold enamelled, were delivered to him by assent of the earl of lancaster, and of the other grandees who then there were of the council of our lord the king, by the hand of sire robert de wodehouse, and now comes in estreat to the viscounts of london out of the checquer, to cause to take the goods and chattels of the said richard, eighty-nine pounds twelve shillings and sixpence, for the fee aforesaid, whereof he prays that remedy be ordained to him. "and the mayor and citizens of oxford have, by point of charter, that they shall come to london to the coronation, to help the mayor of london to serve at the feast, and always have so done. and if it please our lord the king and his council, we will pay willingly the fee, provided that we be discharged of the service." there can be little doubt that the citizens of oxford bore their own travelling expenses; and it seems probable that the citizens of london and oxford bore the cost of the three hundred and sixty suits of clothes and three hundred and sixty silver cups; but this is scarcely sufficient to account for their willingness to pay a sum of money equivalent to about fifteen hundred pounds in the present day, in order to be relieved from the honourable service of waiting clothed in uniform, each with a silver cup in his hand, helping the mayor of london to perform the office of butler at coronation feasts. however this may be, it is still somewhat remarkable that, in the seventeenth century, nicholas assheton of downham, esq., and other gentlemen of lancashire, upon a less important occasion than a coronation feast, dressed in the livery of sir richard houghton and voluntarily attended, day after day, at the lords' table at houghton tower, and served the lords with biscuit, wine, and jelly. j. lewelyn curtis. * * * * * female parish clerks. (vol. viii., p. .) the cases of rex _v._ stubbs and olive _v._ ingram, mentioned in the following extracts from prideaux's _guide to churchwardens_, p. ., may be of service: "generally speaking, all persons _inhabitants_ of the parish are liable to serve the office of churchwarden, { } and from the cases of rex _v._ stubbs ( t. r. .; bott. .), in which it was held that a woman is not exempt from serving the office of overseer of the poor, and olive _v._ ingram ( str. .), in which it was held that she may be a parish sexton, there may, perhaps, be some ground for contending a woman is not exempt from this duty." russell gole. a few years ago (she may still be so) there was a gentlewoman the parish clerk of some church in london; perhaps some of your readers may be able to say where: a deputy officiated, excepting occasionally. but many such instances have occurred. in a note in prideaux's _directions to churchwardens_ (late edition), the following references are given as to the power of women to fill parochial and other such offices: rex _v._ stubbs, t. r. .; olive _v._ ingram, strange, . h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. i beg to inform y. s. m. that when i went to reside near lincoln in , a woman was clerk to the parish of sudbrooke, and died in that capacity a very few years after. i do not remember her name at this moment, but i could get all particulars if required on my return to sudbrooke holme. rich. ellison. balmoral hotel, broadstairs, kent. i am able to mention another instance of a woman acting as parish clerk at ickburgh, in the county of norfolk. it is the parish to buckenham hall, the seat of the honourable francis baring, near thetford. a woman there has long officiated as parish clerk, and still continues acting in that capacity. f. r. i beg to refer y. s. m. to the following passage madame d'arblay's _diary_, vol. v. p. .: "there was at collumpton only a poor wretched ragged woman, a female clerk, to show us this church: she pays a man for doing the duty, while she receives the salary in right of her deceased husband!" m. l. g. at misterton, near crewkerne, in somersetshire, mary mounford was clerk for more than thirty years. she gave up the office about the year , and is now in beaminster union, just eighty-nine years old. herbert l. allen. * * * * * poetical epithets of the nightingale. (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .) to the one hundred and ten epithets poetically applied to the nightingale and its song, collected by mr. bede, permit me to add sixty-five more. _azure-crested._ cowper. _bewailing._ drummond. _chaunting._ skelton. _chaste poet._ grainger. _dappled._ anon.[ ] _darling._ carey. _daulian minstrel._ herrick. _delightful._ shelley. _dusky-brown._ trench. _early._ c. smith. _elegiac._ dibdin. _enamoured._ shelley. _fabled._ byron. _fair._ smart. _greeful._[ ] lodge. _gurgling._ lloyd. _hallow'd._ moore. _hundred-throated._ tennyson. _invisible._ hurdis. _lesbian._ bromley. _love-learned._ thomson. _love-sick._ warton. _loud-complaining._ gibbons. _lulling._ anon.[ ] _lute-tongued._ anon.[ ] _mellow._ strangford. _midnight minstrel._ logan. _moody._ hurdis. _nightly._ bidlake. _pandionian._ drummond. _panged._ hood. _pitiful._ herrick. _plaintful._ drummond. _quavering._ poole. _querulous._ kennedy. _rapturous._ southey. _rural._ dryden. _sable._[ ] drummond. _sadly-pleasing._[ ] anon. _secret._ shelley. _sely._ chaucer. _sequestered._ j. montgomery. _shy._ dallas. _silver-tuned._ carey. _simple._ derrick. _sobbing._ planché. _soft-tuned._ whaley. _solitary._ bowring. _sorrow-soothing._ shaw. _sprightly._ elton. _sweet-breasted._ beaumont and fletcher. _sweet-tongued._ anon.[ ] _sylvan syren._ pattison. _tearful._ potter. _tenderest._ wiffen. _thracian._ lewis. _transporting._ hurdis. _unadorned._ hurdis. _unhappy._ croxall. _watchful._ philips. _witching._ proctor. _woodland._ smith. _wretched._ shirley. _wronged._ p. fletcher. _yearly._ drayton. _young._ lewis. the character of the mere song alone has been described in the following terms: _melodious lay._ potter. _lofty song._ yalden. _a storm of sound._ shelley. _impressive lay._ merry. _swelling slow._ kirk white. _tremulously slow._ c. smith. _wild melody._ shelley. _thick melodious note._ lloyd. _hymn of lore._ logan. _melting lay._ henley. _harmonious woe._ pomfret. _well-tuned warble._ shakspeare. { } _luscious lays._ warton. _sadly sweet._ potter. _varied strains._ pope. _thick-warbled notes._ milton. w. pinkerton. ham. [footnote : blackwood's mag., jan. .] [footnote : "i regard the prettie, greeful bard with tearfull, yet delightfull, notes complaine."--_heliconia._ [footnote : lays of the minnesingers.] [footnote : weekly visitor, july, .] [footnote : "night's sable birds, which plain when others sleep."--_thaumantia._] [footnote : evening elegy.--_poetical calendar._] [footnote : harleian miscellany, vol. viii.] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _photographic exhibition._--we understand that the photographic society has made arrangements for an exhibition of photographs in the metropolis during the months of january and february next. the exhibition will not be confined to the works of native photographers, but will comprise specimens of the most eminent foreign artists, who have been specially invited to contribute. from the advances which have been made in this favourite art, even since the recent exhibition in the rooms of the society of arts, we may confidently anticipate that the display on the present occasion will be one of the highest interest. _how much light is obstructed by a lens?_--can any of your scientific correspondents furnish me with an approximation to the quantity of light which is transmitted through an ordinary double achromatic lens, say of ross, voightlander, or any other celebrated maker? lux. _stereoscopic articles._--i cannot agree to my opponent's assumed amendment (?) (vol. viii., p. .) _space_, for the simple reason that it would be virtually abandoning the whole of the points in dispute between us; when farther discussion and more mature consideration, only tend to convince me more firmly of the correctness of the propositions i have advocated, viz.: st. that circumstances _may_ and _do_ arise in which a better result is obtained in producing stereographs, when the chord of the angle of generation is more or less than ½ inches. nd. that the positions of the camera should _not_ be parallel but radial. i certainly thought that i had, as i intended, expressed the fact that i treat the cameras _precisely as two eyes_, and moreover i still contend that they should be so treated; my object being to present to each eye _exactly such a picture and in such a direction as would be presented under certain circumstances_. the plane of delineation being a flat, instead of a curved surface, has nothing whatever to do with this point, because the curves of the retinas are not portions of one curve having a common centre, but each having its own centre in the axis of the pupil. that a plane surface for receiving the image is not so good as a spherical one would be, is not disputed; but this observation applies to photographs _universally_, and is only put up with as the lesser of two evils. a plane surface necessarily contracts the field of view to such a space as could be cut out of the periphery of a hollow sphere, the versed sine of which bears but a small ratio to its chord. there is another misunderstanding into which my opponent has fallen, viz. the part of the object to be delineated, which should form the centre of radiation, is not the most contiguous visible point, but the most remote principal point of observation. i perceive that this is the case from two illustrations he was kind enough to forward me, being stereographs of a [t-square] square, placed with the points of junction towards the observer, and the tail receding from him; and in one case the angle of the square is made the centre of radiation, and while its distance from the camera is only six feet, the points of delineation are no less than three feet apart. to push an argument to the extreme to test its value, is quite right; but this goes far beyond the extreme, if i may be allowed such a very hibernian expression. no object, however minute, can be clearly seen if brought nearer to the eyes than a certain point, because it will be what is technically called out of focus. it is true that this point differs in different individuals, but the _average distance_ of healthy vision is inches. now, adopting mr. merritt's own standard of ½ inches between the eyes, it is clear that supposing the central point had been rightly selected, the distance between the cameras was _only double_ what might have been taken an extreme distance. it is scarcely necessary to suggest what a person devoid of taste (in which category i am no doubt included) might do in producing monstrosities by adopting the radial method, as such an one is not very likely to produce good results at all. i now address myself to another accusation. it is quite true that i am unacquainted with the _scholastic dogmas_ of perspective, but equally true that i am familiar with _the facts_ thereof, as any one must be who has studied optical and geometrical science generally; and while i concur in the propositions as enunciated for a one-eyed picture, i by no means agree to the assumption that the "vanishing points," in the two stereographs taken radially with the necessary precautions, "would be so far apart, that they could not in the stereoscope flow into one;" on the contrary, direct experiment shows me, what reason also suggests, that they do flow into one as _completely as in nature when viewed by both eyes_. i put the proposition thus, because i do not hesitate to avow that in nature, as interpreted by binocular vision, these points do not _absolutely_, but only approximately, flow _into one_; otherwise one eye would be as effective as two. i have not the smallest objection to my views being considered "false to art," as, alas! her fidelity to nature is by no means beyond suspicion. { } lastly, as to the model-like appearance of stereographs taken at a large angle, for the fact i need only refer the objector to most of the beautiful foreign views now so abundant in our opticians' shops: for the reason, is it not palpable that increasing the width of the eyes is analogous to decreasing the size of the object? and if naturally we cannot "perceive at one view three sides of a cake, two heads of a drum, nor any other like absurdity," it is only because we do not use objects sufficiently _small_ to permit us to do so. even while i am writing this, i have before me a small rectangular inkholder about ¼ inches square, and distant from my eyes about one foot, in which the very absurd phenomenon complained of does exist, the front, top, and _both_ sides being perfectly visible at once: and being one of those obstinate fellows who will persist in judging personally from experience if possible, i fear i shall be found incorrigible on the points on which your correspondent has so kindly endeavoured to enlighten me. geo. shadbolt. _to introduce clouds_ (vol. viii., p. .) as desired by your correspondent [greek: s]., the negative must be treated in the sky by solution of cyanide of potassium laid on in the form desired with a camel's hair pencil. this discharges a portion of the reduced silver, and allows the light to penetrate; but great care is required to stop the action by well washing in water before the process has gone too far. white clouds are produced by painting them in with a black pigment mixed in size. geo. shadbolt. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _death of edward ii._ (vol. viii., p. .).--p. c. s. s. has noticed with considerable surprise the very strange assertion of mr. c. m. ingleby with reference to the murder of edward ii. at berkeley castle, viz. that "echard and rapin are silent, both as to the event and the locality." if mr. ingleby will again refer to echard (vol. i. p. ., edit. ) and to rapin (vol. iii. p. ., edit. ), he will perceive that the two historians record "both the event and the locality." mr. ingleby did not perhaps consider that the transaction in question took place during the reign of edward iii.; and is, therefore, not to be sought for at the close of that of edward _ii._ (where probably mr. c. m. ingleby looked for it), but among the occurrences in the time of edward _iii._ mr. c. m. ingleby will assuredly find it there, not only in echard and rapin, but in every other history of england since the date of the "event." p. c. s. s. _luther no iconoclast_ (vol. viii., p. .).--an occasional contributor wishes the editor to note down this query. what could have led your correspondent j. g. fitch to use so peculiarly inappropriate a synonym for martin luther as "the great iconoclast?" has he any historical evidence for luther's breaking a single image? it is not to defend luther, but to point out a defect in his teaching, as it is regarded by the adherents of other protestant churches, that dr. maclaine has said, in his note on book iv. ch. i. § . of mosheim: "it is evident, from several passages in the writings of luther, that he was by no means averse to the use of images, but that, on the contrary, he looked upon them as adapted to excite and animate the devotion of the people." mosheim, and merle d'aubigné, and probably any other historian of the reformation in germany, may be cited as witnesses for the notorious fact, that carlstadt excited the citizens of wittemberg to break the images in their churches when luther was concealed in the castle of wartburg, and that he rebuked and checked these proceedings on his return. see mosheim, as cited before, or d'aubigné, book ix. ch. vii. and viii. h. w. _rev. urban vigors_ (vol. viii., p. .).--my great-great-grandmother was a sister of bishop vigors, who was consecrated to the see of leighlin and ferns, march , . he, i know, was a near relative of the rev. urban vigors. an urban vigors of ballycormack, co. wexford, also married my great-great-aunt, a miss thomas, sister of vigors thomas, esq., of limerick. i should, equally with your correspondent y. s. m., wish to know any particulars of the "vigors" family; and should be delighted to enter into correspondence with him. w. sloane sloane-evans. cornworthy vicarage, totnes. _portrait of baretti_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reply to mr. g. r. corner's query regarding sir joshua reynolds' picture of baretti, i can give him the information he requires. this very interesting portrait is now at my brother's, holland house, kensington. my late father, lord holland, had a pretty picture of the late lord hertford's mother (i believe), or some near relation of his. not being connected with that family, my father offered it to lord hertford, leaving it to his lordship to give him such picture as he might choose in exchange. some time afterwards this portrait of baretti was sent, and was much prized and admired. it represents baretti reading a small book, which he holds close to his face with both hands; he is in a white coat, and the whole carries with it a certainty of resemblance. this occurred about twenty-five years ago. perhaps it may interest your readers to learn that our distinguished { } painter, watts, painted for my brother, lord holland, a portrait of another distinguished italian, mr. panizzi, and pendant to the former. he is represented leaning forward and writing, and the likeness is very striking. c. fox. addison road. _passage in sophocles._--in vol. viii., p. ., appears an article by mr. buckton, in which he quotes the following conclusion of a passage in sophocles: "[greek: hotôi phrenas] [greek: theos agei pros atan;] [greek: prassein d' oligoston chronon ektos atas.]" this, [greek: petrôi stathmên harmozôn], he translates,-- "whose mind the god leads to destruction; _but that he_ (_the god_) practises this a short time without destroying such an one." but for the italics it might have been an oversight: they would seem to imply he has some authority for his translation. i have no edition of sophocles by me to discover, but surely no critical scholar can acquiesce in it. the only _active_ sense of [greek: prassein] i remember at the moment is _to exact_. it surely should be translated, "_and he, whom the god so leads to_ [greek: atê], _fares_ a _very_ short time without it." the best translation of [greek: atê] is, perhaps, _infatuation_. moreover, how is the above translation reconciled with the very superlative [greek: oligoston]? m. _brothers of the same name_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it is not unusual in old pedigrees to find two brothers or two sisters with the same christian name; but it is unusual to find more than two living at the same time with only one christian name between them: this, however, occurs in the family of gawdy of gawdy hall, norfolk. thos. gawdy married three wives, and by each had a son thomas. the eldest was a serjeant-at-law, and died in . the second was a judge of the queen's bench, and died in november, or . the third is known as sir francis gawdy, chief justice of the common pleas; but he also was baptized by the name of thomas. lord coke, who succeeded him as chief justice, says (co. lit. . a.): "if a man be baptized by the name of thomas, and after at his confirmation by the bishop he is named john, he may purchase by his name of confirmation; and this was the case of sir francis gawdie, late c. j. of c. b., whose name of baptism was thomas, and his name of confirmation francis; and that name of francis, by the advice of all the judges in anno henry viii. ( - ), he did bear and after used in all his purchases and grants." the opportunity afforded by the roman catholic church of thus changing the baptismal name may help to account for this practice, which probably arose from a desire to continue the particular name in the family. if one of two sons with the same name of baptism died in childhood, the other continued the name: if both lived, one of them might change his name at confirmation. there is no name given at confirmation according to the form of the church of england. f. b. _high dutch and low dutch_ (vol. viii., p. .).--considerable misapprehension appears to have arisen with regard to these expressions, from the fact of the german word _deutsch_ being sometimes erroneously understood to mean dutch. but german scholars very well know that in germany nothing is more common than to speak of _hoch deutsch_ and _nieder deutsch_ (high german and low german), as applied respectively to that language when grammatically spoken and correctly pronounced, and to the bad grammar and worse pronunciation indulged in by many of the provincials, and also by the lower class of people in some of the towns where high german is supposed to prevail. thus, for examples dresden is regarded as the head-quarters of _hoch deutsch_, because there the language is spoken and pronounced with the most purity: berlin, also, as regards the well-educated classes, boasts of the _hoch deutsch_; but the common people (das volk) of the prussian capital indulge in a dialect called _nieder deutsch_, and speak and pronounce the language as though they were natives of some remote province. now, the instance of berlin i take to be a striking illustration of the meaning of these expressions, as both examples are comprised in the case of this city. the german word for "german" is _deutsch_; for "dutch" the german is _holländisch_; and i presume it is from the similarity of _deutsch_ and _dutch_ that this common error is so frequently committed. for the future let it be remembered, that _dutch_ is a term which has no relation whatever to german; and that "high german" is that language spoken and written in its purity, "low german" all the dialects and mispronunciations which do not come up to the standard of correctness. james spence harry. . arthur street. _translations of the prayer book into french_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--besides the editions already mentioned, a to. one was published at london in , printed by r. everingham, and sold by r. bentley and m. magnes. prefixed to it is the placet of the king, dated th october, , with the subsequent approbation of stradling, chaplain to gilbert (sheldon), bishop of london, dated th april, . it seems ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .) that a { } copy is in the british museum; one is also in my possession. i presume that there were other editions between the years and . h. p. _divining-rod_ (vol. viii., p. .).--for a full account of the divining rod see _la physique occulte, ou traité de la baguette divinatoire, &c._, par père l. de vallemont, a work by no means uncommon, having passed through several editions. mine is "à paris, chez jean boudot, avec priv. , in ^o. avec figures," with the addition of a "traité de la connoissance des causes magnétiques, &c., par un curieux." a cornish lady informs me that the cornish miners to this day use the divining-rod in the way represented in fig. . of the above-mentioned work. r. j. r. in the st number of the _monthly magazine_, dated march st, , there is a letter to the editor from w. partridge, dated boxbridge, gloucester, giving several instances of his having successfully used the divining-rod for the purpose of discovering water. he says the gift is not possessed by more than one in two thousand, and attributes the power to electricity. those persons in whose hands it will work must possess a redundancy of that fluid. he also states that metals are discovered by the same means. k. b. _slow-worm superstition_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the belief that the slow-worm cannot die until sunset prevails in dorsetshire. in the new forest the same superstition exists with regard to the brown adder. walking in the heathy country between beaulieu and christ church i saw a very large snake of this kind, recently beaten to death by the peasant boys, and on remarking that the lower jaw continued to move convulsively, i was told it would do so "till the moon was up." an aged woman, now deceased, who had when young been severely bitten by a snake, told me she always felt a severe pain and swelling near where the wound had been, on the anniversary of the occurrence. is this common? and can it be accounted for? w. e. pimperne, dorset. _ravailliac_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the destruction of the pyramid erected at paris upon the murder of henry iv., is mentioned by thuanus, _hist._, lib. . cap. . in your correspondent's query, _thesaur._ is, i presume, misprinted for thuan. b. j. _lines on the institution of the garter_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a. b. r. says, "as also from the proverbial expression used in scotland, and to be found in scott's _works_, of 'casting a leggin girth,' as synonymous with a female 'faux pas.'" i may mention to your correspondent (if he is not already aware) that the expression is taken from allan ramsay's continuation of _christ's kirk on the green_ (edit. leith, , vol. p. .): "or bairns can read, they first maun spell, i learn'd this frae my mammy; and _coost a legen girth_ mysell, lang or i married tammie." and is explained by the author in a note, "like a tub that loses one of its bottom hoops." in the west of scotland the phrase is now restricted to a young woman who has had an illegitimate child, or what is more commonly termed "a misfortune," and it is probable never had another meaning. _legen_ or _leggen_ is not understood to have any affinity in its etymology to the word _leg_, but is _laggen_, that part of the staves which projects from the bottom of the barrel, or of the child's _luggie_, out of which he sups his oatmeal _parritch_; and the _girth_, _gird_, or hoop, that by which the vessel at this particular place is firmest bound together. burns makes a fine and emphatic use of the word _laggen_ in the "birthday address," in speaking of the "royal lasses dainty" (_cunninghame_, edit. , vol. ii. p. .): "god bless you a', consider now, ye're unco muckle dantet: but ere the course o' life be thro' it may be bitter santet. an i hae seen their coggie fou, that yet hae tarrow't at it; but or the day was done, i trow, the _laggen_ they hae clautet." which means, that at last, whether through pride, hunger, or long fasting, the appetite had become so keen, that all, even to the last particle of the _parritch_, was _clautet_, _scartit_, or scraped from the bottom of the _coggie_, and to its inmost recesses surrounded by the _laggen girth_. of the motto of the garter, "honi soit qui mal y pense," i have heard a burlesque translation known but to few, in "_honeys sweet quo' mally spence_," synonymous with proverbs, chap. ix. verse : "stolen waters are sweet, and bread _eaten_ in secret is pleasant." g. n. _passage in bacon_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i had, partly from inadvertence, and partly from a belief that a tautology would be created by a recurrence to the idea of death, after the words "mortis terrore carentem," in the preceding line, understood the verse in question to mean, "which regards length of life as the last of nature's gifts." on reconsideration, however, i do not doubt that the received interpretation, which makes _spatium extremum_ equivalent to _finem_, is the correct one. l. _what day is it at our antipodes?_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a person sailing to our antipodes westward will lose twelve hours; by sailing thither eastward he will gain twelve hours. if { } both meet at the same hour, say eleven o'clock, the one will reckon a.m., the other p.m. este. _calves' head club_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in hone's _every day book_, vol. ii. pp. , , ., some more information is given on the interesting event referred to in the note made by mr. e. g. ballard. a print is given of the scene; and the obnoxious toasts are also quoted; they are: "the pious memory of oliver cromwell;" "damn--n to the race of the stuarts;" "the glorious year ;" "the man in the mask," &c. the print is dated , which proves that the meeting at which the disturbance arose was not the first which had taken place. s. a. s. bridgewater. _heraldic query_ (vol. viii., p. .).--although a. was killed in open rebellion, i think his armorial bearings were not forfeited unless he was subsequently attainted by act of parliament; and even in that case it is possible that the act contained a provision that the penalty should not extend to the prejudice of any other person than the offender. assuming that a. was not attainted, or that the consequences of his attainder were thus restricted to himself, or that his attainder has been reversed, it is clear that his lawful posterity are still entitled to his arms, notwithstanding the acceptance by his grandson c. of a new grant, which obviously could no more affect the title to the ancient arms than the creation of a modern barony can destroy the right of its recipient to an older one. the descendants of c. being thus entitled to both coats, could, i imagine, without difficulty obtain a recognition of their right; and i think they might either use the ancient arms alone, or the ancient and the modern arms quarterly, precedence being given to the former. the proper course would be to seek the licence of the crown for the resumption of the ancient surname, as well as of the arms. such permission would, i apprehend, be now conceded, even though it should appear that the arms were really forfeited. henry gough. emberton, bucks. _the temple lands in scotland_ (vol. viii., p. .).--these lands, or a portion of them, were acquired, and afterwards transferred by sale, to mr. gracie, by james maidment, esq., the eminent scottish antiquary, who, in - , privately printed-- "templaria: papers relative to the history, privileges, and possessions of the scottish knights templars, and their successors, the knights of st. john of jerusalem, with notes," &c. this will no doubt contain all that your correspondent abredonensis could desire upon the subject, provided he can obtain it; for the work, professing to be printed by the author for presents, is confined to twenty-five copies, and must therefore be rare. in was published by stevenson, edinburgh, an _historical account of linlithgowshire_, by the late john penney.[ ] this is edited by mr. maidment, and contains a chapter entitled an "account of the transmission of the united estates of the templars and hospitallers, after the dissolution of the order in the reign of queen mary;" and although the object of the editor is to notice the charters connected with linlithgowshire, the book contains a sketch of the general history of the lands in question, abridged from the _templaria_. j. o. [footnote : query the late george chalmers.] _sir john vanbrugh_ (vol. viii., p. . &c.).--in _an account of the life and death of mr. matthew henry_, published in the year , his biographer having related that he was chosen a minister of a congregation of dissenters in the city of chester, and that he went there to reside on the first day of june, , goes on to state (p. .): "that city was then very happy in several worthy gentlemen that had habitations there; they were not altogether strangers to mr. henry before he came to live among them, but now they came to be his very intimate acquaintance; some of these, as alderman mainwaring and mr. vanbrugh, father to sir john vanbrugh, were in communion with the church of england, but they heard mr. henry on the week-day lectures, and always treated him with great and serious respect." this evidence serves to show that a mr. vanbrugh, who was living in chester in , was the father of sir john vanbrugh. i have been told that in former times there was a sugar-bakery at chester. did the father of sir john vanbrugh carry on that business at chester during any period of his residence there? n. w. s. _sir arthur aston_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reference to the query of your correspondent chartham, i take leave to refer him to playfair's _baronetage_, vol. ii. p. ., where a pedigree of that ancient family is inserted. in p. . is a note, by which it appears that the said sir arthur aston had a daughter elizabeth, born in russia, and married to james thompson of joyce grove in berkshire. in addition thereto, i recollect seeing the copy of a deed of sale, dated april, , by which it appears that nicholas hercy, of nettlebed, in co. oxon., sold to james thompson of wallingford, in co. berkshire, "joys grove," in nettlebed aforesaid; and there is united with the same james thompson, apparently as a trustee, "george tattersall the younger, of finchampstead in said co. of berkshire." { } i also take leave to refer your correspondent to lysons's _environs of london_, vol. ii. p. ., under head of "fulham," where it is stated that sir arthur aston's father resided in that parish. an antiquary. _nugget_ (vol. viii., p. .).--colonel mundy, in _our antipodes_, says that the word _nugget_ was, before the days of gold digging, used by the farmers of australia to express a small thick bullock, such as our english farmers would call a lumpy one, or a little great one. a. h. white. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. ford's handbook of spain. st edition. cotton's fasti ecclesiÆ hiberniÆ. parts iii., vi., vii., and viii. torriano piazza universale di proverbi italiani. london, . folio. bibliotheca topographica britannica. vol. ix. encyclopÆdia britannica. th edition. vol. xxii., part . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest prices, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: wellington dispatches. vols. vols. ii., iii., and index. (the full price will be given.) southey's doctor. vols. iii. and iv. patrick's mensa mystica. strickland's queens of england. vols. iii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., and x. wanted by _a. holden_, bookseller, exeter. * * * * * two dialogues in the elysian fields, between card. wolsey and card. ximenes. to which are added historical accounts of wolsey's two colleges and the town of ipswich. by joseph grove. london, . vo. wanted by _w. s. fitch_, ipswich. * * * * * addison's works. first edition. jones' (of nayland) works. vols. vo. wilkinson's ancient egypt. vols. iv. and v. byron's life and letters. vols. vo. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. * * * * * kant's logic, translated by john richardson. historic certainties by aristarchus newlight. songs--"the boatmen shout." attwood. "ah! godan lor felicita" (faust). spohr. wanted by _c. mansfield ingleby_, birmingham. * * * * * chapman's architecturiÆ navales mercaturiÆ. . folio. published in sweden. wanted by _robert stewart_, bookseller, paisley. * * * * * the spectator, printed by alex. lawrie & co., london, . vols. i., ii., iii., vi., vii., and viii. wanted by _j. t. cheetham_, firwood, chadderton, near oldham. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we beg to call the special attention of such of our readers as are autograph collectors to the advertisement which appears in the present number, descriptive of certain family and historical papers, which have been missed within the last twelve months from the proper custody, and shall only be too glad to hear that by so doing we have at all contributed to their recovery._ books wanted. _so many of our correspondents seem disposed to avail themselves of our plan of placing the booksellers in direct communication with them, that we find ourselves compelled to limit each list of books to two insertions. we would also express a hope that those gentlemen who may at once succeed in obtaining any desired volumes will be good enough to notify the same to us, in order that such books may not unnecessarily appear in such list even a second time._ st. john's, _who asks about the_ stafford knot, _will see by our last number, p._ ., _that it is the badge or cognizance of the earls of stafford._ mr. van laun's _query as to the derivation of_ huguenot _is anticipated in our_ th vol., p. . _will the note there given help him to a satisfactory solution?_ the testament of the twelve patriarchs, .--_the loan of this volume is offered by_ t. d. _to the correspondent who advertised for it some time since in our columns._ amicus veritatis, _who inquires respecting_ cleanliness is next to godliness, _is referred to our_ th vol., p. ., _for its probable origin._ e. g. ballard. _the curious tenure of being the king's_ vautrarius, _kindly forwarded by this correspondent, is already printed in blount's_ fragmenta antiquitates, p. ., _ed._ . c. e. f. _we would strongly recommend our correspondent to adopt the paper process described by_ dr. diamond _in our first number for the present year (with correction of using the gallic acid, which, as stated in a subsequent number, was by accident omitted). recent experience has more than ever convinced us that if the method there laid down be_ strictly _followed, the photographer will not meet with failures._ an amateur (helston). mr. lyte _is at present abroad, or we are sure he would readily answer the query of our correspondent, as to whether the chloride of barium recommended by him at p. ., and the nitrate of lead at p. ., are to be the crystallised or liquid preparations._ an amateur photographer (manchester). _if you will transmit us a specimen of the failures which you mention, especially of the waved appearance, we will do the best to answer your queries: it is impossible otherwise satisfactorily to do so._ m. a. _always use your hyposulphite of soda_ saturated; _it does not reduce the tone of pictures near so much as when it is used dilute._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss. f.s.a. volume three, - . volume four, - . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, - . volume two, - . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * mo., cloth, with frontispiece, s. d. the vicar and his duties: being sketches of clerical life in a manufacturing town parish. by the rev. alfred gatty. "as much a true effigy, though taken with pen and ink, as if mr. gatty had put that capital parish priest, the vicar of leeds, before his camera. to the many friends of dr. hook this little volume will be deeply interesting."--_notes and queries._ "it unites the merit of lively and faithful sketching, sound principles, and popular style."--_churchman's magazine._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * supplement to dr. oliver's monasticon dioecesis exoniensis. in the press, and will be published, in vol. folio, price s. d. a supplement to the monasticon dioecesis exoniensis. being a collection of records and instruments further illustrating the ancient conventual, collegiate, and eleemosynary foundations in the counties of devon and cornwall. by george oliver, d.d. to correspond exactly in size, paper, and type with the original work, and to contain a large folding map of the diocese of exeter at the time of the dissolution of monasteries. when published, the price will be raised. subscribers' names received by a. holden, bookseller, exeter. * * * * * { } xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases. passepartoutes. best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * heal and son's eider down quilts are made in three varieties--the bordered quilt, the plain quilt, and the duvet. the bordered quilt is in the usual form of bed quilts, and is a most elegant and luxurious article. the plain quilt is smaller, and useful as an extra covering on the bed, or as a wrapper in the carriage, or on the couch. the duvet is a loose case filled with eider down as in general use on the continent. lists of prices and sizes sent free by post, on application to heal & son's bedding factory, . tottenham court road. * * * * * leeds library. librarian.--wanted a gentleman of literary attainments, competent to undertake the duty of librarian in the leeds library. the institution consists of about proprietary members, and an assistant librarian is employed. the hours of attendance required will be from a.m. to p.m. daily, with an interval of two hours. salary l. a year. applications, with certificates of qualifications, must be sent by letter, post paid, not later then st december next, to abraham horsfall, esq., hon. sec., . park row, leeds. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for november contains the following articles-- . sir walter raleigh at sherborne. . the pariah girl, a poem: by the rev. john mitford. . cotele, and the edgecumbes of the olden time, by mrs. bray, part ii. . the annals of appetite: soyer's pantropheon. . notes on mediæval art france and germany, by j. g. waller: mayence, heidelberg, basle, and strasburg. . remarks on the white horse of saxony and brunswick, by stephen martin leake, esq., garter. . the campaigns of - in flanders and holland. correspondence of sylvanus urban: counsels' fees and lawyers' bills; shops in westminster hall; the family of phipps; mr. john knill of st ive's; antiquity of the mysterious word "wheedle." with notes of the month; historical and miscellaneous reviews; reports of the archæological societies of wales, newcastle-upon-tyne, wiltshire, somersetshire, suffolk, and essex; historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of earl brownlow, lord anderson, right hon. sir frederick adam, adm. sir charles adam, james dodsley cuff, esq., mr. adolphus asher, leon jablonski, &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * will be ready in november, turner and girtin's picturesque views sixty years since. edited by thomas miller, esq., author of "rural sketches," &c. with thirty engravings of the olden time, from drawings by j. m. w. turner and t. girtin, portraits, &c. handsomely bound, price one guinea. hogarth, haymarket, london. * * * * * fourth edition of ruins of many lands. notice.--a fourth and cheaper edition, revised and considerably enlarged, of mr. michell's "ruins of many lands," with portrait, cloth, price s. d. this edition contains remarks on layard's latest discoveries at nineveh, and treats of nearly all the ruins of interest now in the world. london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * to book collectors.--just published. t. millard's catalogue of , volumes of second-hand books. catalogues gratis, and post free. n.b. libraries purchased or exchanged. a discount of d. in the s. allowed on all new books. ency. britt., th edit., by napier, gs.; another, th edit., calf, gs.; ency. met., last edit., hf. clf., gs.; penny cyclo., vols., hf. clf. gs.; illustrated london news, to end of , cloth, gs.; stafford gallery collection of pictures, vols. fol., mor. elegant, gs.; rose's biographical dictionary, vols. vo. cloth, new, l. s., &c.-- . newgate street, city, london. * * * * * twelfth public drawing.--the fifteenth purchase of land having just been made for the conservative land society, consisting of a mansion and part of seventy-four acres at st. margaret's on the banks of the thames, opposite richmond gardens, close to three stations on the south-western railroad, it has been resolved that the twelfth public drawing shall take place at freemason's hall, at o'clock in the evening, on thursday, november the th, viscount ranelagh in the chair. on this occasion, shares will be added to the order of rights for priority of selection on the society estates, namely, by drawing, and by seniority of date of membership. all shares taken prior to the final numbers being placed in the wheel, will be included in this drawing. charles lewis gruneisen, secretary. * * * * * { } indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * solicitors' & general life assurance society. . chancery lane, london. _subscribed capital, one million._ this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society. where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * achilles life insurance company,-- . cannon street, city.--the advantages offered by this society are security, economy, and lower rates of premium than most other offices. no charge is made for policy stamps or medical fees. policies indisputable. loans granted to policy-holders. for the convenience of the working classes, policies are issued as low as l., at the same rates of premium as larger policies. prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained on application to hugh b. taplin, secretary. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites. gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * { } arnold's second hebrew book. in mo., price s. the second hebrew book: containing the book of genesis, with syntax, vocabulary, and grammatical commentary. by the late rev. t. k. arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge; and the rev. h. browne, m.a. canon of chichester. rivingtons, waterloo place; of whom may be had, the first hebrew book: on the plan of "henry's first latin book." s. d. * * * * * heraldic illustrations, &c. by a. p. harrison. the following works illustrative of english history, genealogy, &c., may be had of the author and designer, no. . gilbert street, grosvenor square, at the prices set against the respective works. copies will be forwarded, post free, on receipt of a post office order for the amount. i. roll of arms granted by henry iii. as hereditary bearings to the nobility. price, in colours, l. s. d. emblazoned in gold, l. s. ii. roll of arms granted by edward i. as hereditary bearings to the knights companions at the siege of karlaverock, a.d. . price, in colours, s. d. emblazoned in gold, s. iii. roll of arms granted by richard ii. to his nobility, a.d. . price, in colours, l. s. d. emblazoned in gold, l. s. iv. roll of arms of all the knights of the garter from their installation plates at st. george's chapel, windsor castle, &c. price, in colours, l. s. emblazoned in gold, l. v. facsimile of magna charta, with arms of the barons. vi. genealogy of sovereigns of england from egbert, with their arms, &c. price coloured, s. emblazoned in gold, l. s. d. vii. facsimiles of the warrant for the execution of mary queen of scots and of king charles i. price, on parchment, s. d. each. on vellum paper, s. d. each. * * * * * science of archery, showing its affinity to heraldry, &c. by a. p. harrison, author of "treatise on the formation of the english constitution," &c. vo. price s. d. a. p. harrison, . gilbert street, grosvenor square * * * * * price ½d. chambers's edinburgh journal. no. . saturday, nov. , . contents: the sea-side resorts of the londoners. a few jottings about maps. trouble-the-house: a legend of livonia. present aspects of life assurance. poetry of trees. alligators of the valley of the amazon. miscellanea. w. & r. chambers, . bride court passage, fleet street, london; and . high street, edinburgh. and sold by all booksellers. * * * * * to autograph and manuscript collectors and others. the following documents and letters are missing within the last twelve months:-- letters from mathew hutton to the duke of somerset, describing the three daughters of lord winchelsea, enigmatically, as three books. dated august, . letters from beau nash as to ladies c. and h. finch. dated august and september, . letter from w. edwards to mathew hutton. dated burly, december th, . letters containing a proposal of marriage from the duke of somerset to lady c. finch. dated . letter from the duke of somerset to the earl of winchelsea on the same subject. letters between lord granville and the duke of somerset, as to titles on the death of the duke's grandson. dated november and december, . autograph notes from george iii. to charles, earl of egremont, on public business. dated and . letter of lord lyttleton to the earl of egremont, inclosing complimentary verses to lady egremont. dated january st, . a particular of the duchess of somerset's debts. dated october th, . holograph letter from charles ii. to the countess of northumberland, proposing the marriage of his son george with her grand-daughter, the percy heiress. letter from lord hertford to his father, consenting to marry. the commencement of a letter of lord nelson's, &c. &c. any information relative to the above will be thankfully received and a liberal reward paid on restoration of the papers. apply to messrs. rymer, a. murray, & rymer, no. . whitehall, london. * * * * * this day is published, a catalogue of a very choice and valuable collection of books, ancient and modern, in the english and foreign languages, and books of prints, in very fine condition, also some beautifully illuminated manuscripts upon vellum, including a most splendid vellum ms. of the latin bible, in two very large volumes folio, written circa ; also a richly illuminated copy of ferdosi's shah nameh, in persian, with thirty-seven beautiful paintings:--principally bound by the best binders, derome, bozerian, kalthoeber, walther, lewis, clarke, bedford, riviere, aitken, &c.: selected from the libraries of the rev. dr. hawtrey, provost of eton; very rev. dr. butler, dean of peterborough, formerly head master of harrow; right hon. warren hastings, formerly governor-general of india; rev. r. j. coates, sopworth house, gloucestershire, collected by him during the last sixty years, with great taste and judgment, regardless of expense; s. freeman, esq., fawley court (built by inigo jones), henley-on-thames; john miller, esq., of lincoln's inn; and various other libraries sold in london and the country, with some private purchases. now on sale at the prices affixed, by joseph lilly, . king street, covent garden, london. this valuable catalogue will be forwarded to any gentleman inclosing two postage stamps to prepay it. it may also be seen attached to the "gentleman's magazine" for november. *** such a catalogue of rare, valuable and choice books, in fine condition, has not been published for some years. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d. [greek: demosthenous o peri tÊs parapresbeias logos.] demosthenes de falsa legatione. by richard shilleto, m.a., trinity college, cambridge. second edition, carefully revised. cambridge: john deighton. london: george bell. * * * * * this day is published. price s. d. an elementary treatise on plane co-ordinate geometry, by rev. w. scott, m.a., mathematical lecturer and late fellow of sidney sussex college, cambridge. cambridge: john deighton. london: george bell, fleet street. * * * * * just published, price s. the stereoscope, considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision. an essay, by c. mansfield ingleby, m.a., of trinity college, cambridge. london: walton & maberley, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. cambridge: j. deighton. also, by the same author, price s., remarks on some of sir william hamilton's notes on the works of dr. thomas reid. "nothing in my opinion can be more cogent than your refutation of m. jobert."--_sir w. hamilton._ london: john w. parker, west strand. cambridge: e. johnson. birmingham: h. c. langbridge. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, september . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page our shakspearian correspondence notes:-- mr. pepys and east london topography, &c. picts' houses in aberdeenshire folk lore:--legends of the county clare--devonshire cures for the thrush heraldic notes:--arms of granville--arms of richard, king of the romans shakspeare correspondence, by j. o. halliwell and thos. keightley minor notes:--longfellow's poetical works--sir walter raleigh--curious advertisement--gravestone inscription--monumental inscription queries:-- sir philip warwick seals of the borough of great yarmouth, by e. s. taylor minor queries:--hand in bishop canning's church --"i put a spoke in his wheel"--sir w. hewit-- passage in virgil--fauntleroy--animal prefixes descriptive of size and quality--punning devices --"pinece with a stink"--soiled parchment deeds --roger wilbraham, esq.'s, cheshire collection --cambridge and ireland--derivation of celt-- ancient superstition against the king of england entering or even beholding the town of leicester --burton--the camera lucida--francis moore-- waugh, bishop of carlisle--palace at enfield-- "solamen miseris," &c.--soke mills--second wife of mallet minor queries with answers:--books burned by the common hangman--captain george cusack-- sir ralph winwood replies:-- books chained to desks in churches, by j. booker, &c. epitaphs by cuthbert bede, b.a., &c. parochial libraries "up, guards, and at them!" by frank howard photographic correspondence:--mr. muller's process --stereoscopic angles--ammonio-nitrate of silver replies to minor queries:--sir thomas elyot-- judges styled "reverend"--"hurrah" and other war-cries--major andré--early edition of the new testament--ladies' arms borne in a lozenge --sir william hankford--maullies, manillas--the use of the hour-glass in pulpits--derivation of the word "island"--a cob-wall--oliver cromwell's portrait--manners of the irish--chronograms and anagrams--"haul over the coals,"--sheer hulk-- the magnet--fierce--connexion between the celtic and latin languages--acharis, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * our shakspearian correspondence. we have received from a valued and kind correspondent (not one of those emphatically good-natured friends so wittily described by sheridan) the following temperate remonstrance against the tone which has distinguished several of our recent articles on shakspeare:-- _shakspeare suggestions_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).-- "most busy, when least i do." i am grateful to a. e. b. for referring me to the article on "shakspeare criticism" in the last number of _blackwood's magazine_. it is a very able paper, and worthy of general attention. i ought to add some few explanatory observations upon the subject of my former communication, but the tone of a. e. b.'s comments forbids me to proceed with the discussion; the more especially as my suggestion has been made a reason for introducing into your pages comments which seem to me to be altogether unwarrantable upon other portions of the article in blackwood. whoever may be the writer of that article--i do not know--he needs no other defence than a reference to his paper. it is not on his account that i venture to allude to this subject; it is rather on yours, mr. editor, and with a view to the welfare of your paper. i cannot think that you or it will be benefited by converting conversational gossip about shakspeare difficulties into "a duel in the form of a debate," seasoned with sarcasm, insinuation, and satiric point. this is not the kind of matter one expects to find in "n. & q." neither do i think your pages should be made a vehicle for "showing up" such of "the herd of menstrual aristarchi" as chance to differ in opinion from some of your smart and peremptory, but not unfrequently inaccurate and illiberal correspondents. i know that you yourself are in this respect much in the power of your contributors. probably you were as ignorant of the existence of the article in blackwood as i was.[ ] it is now brought { } before your notice, and i invite you to look at it, and judge for yourself whether a. e. b. has treated you, your paper, or the writer of that very excellent article, with common fairness in the remarks to which i allude. i make these observations on two grounds: first, as one who has many reasons for being anxious for the prosperity of "n. & q.;" and secondly, because i know it to be the opinion of several of your earliest and warmest friends, that there is a tendency in some of your shakspeare contributors to indulge in insinuation, imputation of motives, and many other things which ought never to appear in your pages. we lately observed, with deep regret, that you were misled (not by a. e. b.) into the insertion of unjustifiable insinuations, levelled against a gentleman whom we all know to be a man of the highest personal honour. the questions which are mooted in your pages ought to be discussed with the mutual forbearance and enlarged liberality which are predominant in the general society of our metropolis; not with the keen and angry partizanship which distinguishes the petty squabbles of a country town. icon. our readers know that we ourselves recently noticed the tendency of too many of our correspondents to depart from the courteous spirit by which the earlier communications to this journal were distinguished. the intention we then announced of playing the tyrant in future, and exercising with greater freedom our "editorial privilege of omission," we now repeat yet more emphatically. icon well remarks that we are much in the power of our contributors. indeed we are more so than even he supposes. an article on the _notes and emendations_ which lately appeared in our columns concluded, in its original form, with an argument against their genuineness, based on the use of a word unknown to shakspeare and his cotemporaries. this appeared to us somewhat extraordinary, and a reference to richardson's excellent dictionary proved that our correspondent was altogether wrong _as to his facts_. we of course omitted the passage; but we ought not to have received a statement founded on a mistake which might have been avoided by a single reference to so common a book. again, at p. . of the present volume, another correspondent, after pointing out some coincidences between the old emendator and some suggested corrections by z. jackson, and stating that mr. collier never once refers to jackson, proceeds: "mr. singer, however, talks familiarly about jackson, in his _shakspeare vindicated_, as if he had him at his fingers' ends; and yet, at p. ., he favours the world with an _original_ emendation (viz. 'he did _behood_ his anger,' _timon_, act iii. sc. .), which, however, will be found at page . of jackson's book." now, after this, who would have supposed that, as we learn from mr. singer, "mr. ingleby has founded his charge on such slender grounds as one cursory notice of jackson at p. . of my book, where i mentioned him merely on the authority of mr. collier." and who that knows mr. singer will doubt the truth of his assertion, that he has not even seen jackson's book for near a quarter of a century, and that he had not the slightest reason to doubt that the conjecture of _behood_ for _behave_ was his own property?[ ] but there is another gentleman who, although he has never whispered a remonstrance to us upon the subject, has even more grounds of complaint than mr. singer, for the treatment which he has received in our columns; we mean our valued friend and contributor mr. collier, who we feel has received some injustice in our pages. but the fact is that, holding, as we do unchanged, the opinion which we originally expressed of the great value of the _notes and emendations_--knowing mr. collier's character to be above suspicion--and believing that the result of all the discussions to which the _notes and emendations_ have given rise, will eventually be to satisfy the world of their great value,--_we_ have not looked so strictly as we ought to have done, and as we shall do in future, to the tone in which they have been discussed in "n. & q." and here let us take the opportunity of offering a few suggestions which we think worthy of being borne in mind in all discussions on the text of shakspeare, whether the object under consideration be what shakspeare actually wrote, or what shakspeare really meant by what he did write. first, as to this latter point. some years ago a distinguished scholar, when engaged in translating göthe's _faust_, came to a passage involved in considerable obscurity, and which he found was interpreted very differently by different admirers of the poem. unable, under these circumstances, to procure any satisfactory solution of the poet's meaning, the translator applied to göthe himself, and received from him the candid reply which we think it far from improbable that shakspeare himself might give with reference to many passages in his own writings,--"that { } he was very sorry he could not assist him, but he really did not know exactly what he meant when he wrote it." we doubt not some of our contributors could supply us with many similar avowals. this opinion will no doubt offend many of those blind worshippers of shakspeare, who will not believe that he could have written a passage which is not perfect, and who, consequently, will not be satisfied with any note, emendation, or restoration which does not make the passage into which it is introduced "one entire and perfect chrysolite." but this is unreasonable. we have direct evidence of the imperfect character of much that shakspeare wrote. when told that shakspeare had never blotted a line, ben jonson--no mean critic, and no unfriendly one--wished he had "blotted a thousand." would rare ben have uttered such a wish ignorantly and without cause? we believe the existence of such defects in the writings of shakspeare, as they were left by him. it follows, therefore, that in our opinion shakspeare is under great obligations to the undeservedly-abused commentators.[ ] it would be strange indeed, when we consider how many men of genius and learning have busied themselves to illustrate his writings, if none of them should have caught any inspiration from his genius. we believe they have done so. we believe theobald's "babbled o' green fields" to be one of many instances in which, with reference to some one particular passage, the scholiast has proved himself worthy of and excelling his author. yes, shakspeare, the greatest of all uninspired writers, was but mortal; and his worshippers would sometimes do well bear in mind that their golden image had but feet of clay. [footnote : we had not seen this very able article until our attention was called to it by this letter. we regret that the author of it was not aware of what had been written in "n. & q." on many of the points discussed by him. such knowledge might have modified some of his views.] [footnote : on this point we would call especial attention to mr. halliwell's communication on the _difficulty of avoiding coincident suggestions on the text of shakspeare_, which will be found in our present number.] [footnote : one of the most specious arguments which have been advanced against the genuineness of the _notes and emendations_ is, that they agree in many instances with readings which had been suggested many years before the discovery of the ms. notes. of course it is obvious that, wherever the readings are right, they must do so; and these coincidences serve to satisfy us of the correctness of both.] * * * * * notes. mr. pepys and east london topography, etc. in "n. & q." (vol. i., p. .) there appeared an article upon the isle of dogs, &c., which spoke of the neglected topography of the east of london, and requested information on one or two points. having felt much interested in this matter, i have endeavoured to obtain information by personal investigation, and send you the following from among a mass of notes:-- . _isle of dogs._ in a map drawn up in by robert adams, engraved in , this name is applied to an islet in the river thames, still in part existing, at the south-west corner of the peninsula. from this spot the name appears to have extended to the entire marsh. . _dick shore_, limehouse. this is now called _duke shore_, fore street. in gascoyne's map of stepney, , it is called _dick shoar_. since that time _dick_ has become a _duke_. mr. pepys would find boats there now if he visited the spot. . mr. pepys, in his _diary_ of mar. , , speaks of "the great breach," near limehouse. the spot now forming the entrance to the city canal or south dock of the west india dock company was called "the breach," when the canal was formed. . july , . mr. pepys speaks of the _ferry_ in the isle of dogs. this ferry is named as a horse-ferry by norden in the _britanniæ speculum_, (ms.). the ferry is still used, but only seldom as a horse-ferry. . oct. , . mr. p. mentions captain marshe's, at limehouse, close by the lime-house. there is still standing there a large old brick house, which may be the same; and the lime-kiln yet exists, for, as norden says, "ther is a kiln contynually used." . sept. , . mr. p. speaks of a discovery made "in digging the late docke." this discovery consisted of nut trees, nuts, yew, ivy, &c., twelve feet below the surface. johnson no doubt told him the truth. the same discovery was made in , in digging the brunswick dock, also at blackwall, and elsewhere in the neighbourhood. this very week (aug. , ) i procured specimens of several kinds of wood, with land and freshwater shells, from as great a depth in an excavation at the west india docks; the wood from a bed of peat, the shells from a bed of clay resting upon it. there exists an ancient house at the dock which mr. p. visited, and which is probably the same. other illustrations of the _diary_ from this quarter might be adduced; let these, however, suffice as a specimen. it may probably be new to most of your readers, as it is to me, that an ancient house in blackwall (opposite the artichoke tavern) is said to have been the residence of sebastian cabot at one time, and at another that of _sir walter raleigh_. whether the tradition be true or not, the house is very curious, and worth a visit, if not worthy of being sketched and engraved to preserve its memory. perhaps the photograph in this case could be applied. it is not impossible that sir john de pulteney or poultney, to whom the manor of poplar was granted in the th of edward iii., resided on this spot. my reasons for thinking it are--this fact, which connects him with the neighbourhood; and the inference from two other facts, viz. that the house in which sir john resided in town was { } called _cold harbour_, and that _cold harbour_ is here also to be found. sir john pulteney is thus connected with both the places known by this name. i would give my name in verification, but you have it, as you should have the names and addresses of all your correspondents. b. h. c. poplar. * * * * * picts' houses in aberdeenshire. a short time ago, one of those remarkable remains of a very remote antiquity, and called by the country-people picts' houses, yird, eirde, or erde houses, was discovered by mr. douglass, farmer, culsh, in the parish of tarland, aberdeenshire, near his farm-steading, on the property of our noble premier. it is a subterranean vault, of a form approaching the semicircular, but elongated at the farther end. its extreme length is thirty-eight feet; its breadth at the entrance a little more than two feet, gradually widening towards the middle, where the width is about six feet, and it continues at about that average. the height is from five and a half to six feet. the sides are built with stones, some of them in the bottom very large; the roof is formed of large stones, six or seven feet long, and some of them weighing above a ton and a half. they must have been brought from the neighbouring hill of saddle-lick, about two miles distant, being of a kind of granite not found nearer the spot. the floor is formed of the native rock (hornblende), and is very uneven. when discovered it was full of earth, and in the process of excavation there was found some wood ashes, fragments of a glass bottle, and an earthenware jar (modern), some small fragments of bones, and one or two teeth of a ruminant animal, and the upper stone of a querne (hand-corn-mill, mica schist), together with a small fragment, probably of the lower stone. but, alas! there were no hieroglyphics or cuneiform inscriptions to assist the antiquary in his researches. these underground excavations have been found in various parishes in aberdeenshire, as well as in several of the neighbouring counties. in the parish of old deer, about fifty years ago, a whole village of them was come upon; and about the same time, in a den at the back of stirlinghill, in the parish of peterhead, one was discovered which contained some fragments of bones and several flint arrow-heads, and battle-axes in the various stages of manufacture. in no case, however, have any of those previously discovered been of the same magnitude as the one described above. they were generally of from twelve to fifteen feet in length, and from three to four feet in height, and some only six feet in length, so that this must have been in its day (when?) a rather aristocratic affair. have any similar excavations been found in england? the earliest mention of the parish of tarland, of which there is any account, is in a charter granted by moregun, earl of mar, to the canons of st. andrews, of the church of s. machulnoche (s. mochtens, bishop and confessor) of tharuclund, with its tithes and oblations, its land and mill, and timber from the earl's woods for the buildings of the canons, a.d. - ; and a charter of king william the lion, and one of eadward, bishop of aberdeen, both of same date, confirming the said grant. abredonensis. * * * * * folk lore. _legends of the county clare._--how fuen-vic-couil (fingall) obtained the knowledge of future events.--once upon a time, when fuen-vic-couil was young, he fell into the hands of a giant, and was compelled to serve him for seven years, during which time the giant was fishing for the salmon which had this property--that whoever ate the first bit of it he would obtain the gift of prophecy; and during the seven years the only nourishment which the giant could take was after this manner: a sheaf of oats was placed to windward of him, and he held a needle before his mouth, and lived on the nourishment that was blown from the sheaf of corn through the eye of the needle. at length, when the seven years were passed, the giant's perseverance was rewarded, and he caught the famous salmon and gave it to fuen-vic-couil to roast, with threats of instant destruction if he allowed any accident to happen to it. fuen-vic-couil hung the fish before the fire by a string, but, like alfred in a similar situation, being too much occupied with his own reflections, forgot to turn the fish, so that a blister rose on the side of it. terrified at the probable consequences of his carelessness, he attempted to press down the blister with his thumb, and feeling the smart caused by the burning fish, by a natural action put the injured member into his mouth. a morsel of the fish adhered to his thumb, and immediately he received the knowledge for which the giant had toiled so long in vain. knowing that his master would kill him if he remained, he fled, and was soon pursued by the giant breathing vengeance: the chace was long, but whenever he was in danger of being caught, his thumb used to pain him, and on putting it to his mouth he always obtained knowledge how to escape, until at last he succeeded in putting out the giant's eyes and killing him; and always afterwards, when in difficulty or danger, his thumb used to pain him, and on putting it to his mouth he obtained knowledge how to escape. compare this legend with the legend of ceridwen, hanes taliessin, _mabinogion_, vol. iii. pp. , ., the coincidence of which is very curious. where also did shakspeare get the { } speech he makes one of the witches utter in _macbeth_: "by the _pricking of my thumbs_, something wicked this way comes." francis robert davies. _devonshire cures for the thrush._--"take three rushes from any running stream, and pass them separately through the mouth of the infant: then plunge the rushes again into the stream, and as the current bears them away, so will the thrush depart from the child." should this, as is not unlikely, prove ineffectual, "capture the nearest duck that can be met with, and place its mouth, wide open, within the mouth of the sufferer. the cold breath of the duck will be inhaled by the child, and the disease will gradually, and as i have been informed, not the less surely, take its departure." t. hughes. chester. * * * * * heraldic notes. _arms of granville._--the meaning of the peculiar bearing which, since the thirteenth century, has appertained to this noble family, has always been a matter of uncertainty to heraldic writers: it has been variously blazoned as a clarion, clavicord, organ-rest, lance-rest, and sufflue. the majority of heralds, ancient and modern, term it a clarion without quite defining what a clarion is: that it is meant for a musical instrument (probably a kind of hand-organ), i have very little doubt; for, in the woodcut mrs. jameson gives in her _legends of the madonna_ (p. .) of piero laurati's painting of the "maria coronata," the uppermost angel on the left is represented as carrying an instrument exactly similar to this charge as it is usually drawn. the date of this painting is . this is probably about the date of the painted glass window in the choir of tewkesbury abbey church, where robert earl of gloucester bears three of these clarions on his surcoat; and upon a careful examination of these, i was convinced that they were intended to represent instruments similar to that carried by the angel in laurati's painting. _arms of richard, king of the romans._--this celebrated man, the second son of king john, earl of cornwall and poictou, was elected king of the romans at frankfort on st. hilary's day (jan. th) . his earldom of cornwall was represented by--argent, a lion rampant gules crowned or; his earldom of poictou by a bordure sable, bezantée, or rather of peas (_poix_) in reference to the name _poictou_; and as king of the romans he is said to have borne these arms upon the breast of the german double-headed eagle displayed sable, which represented that dignity. i do not recollect having seen them under this last form, but i have "made a note of" several other variations i have met with:-- . in dorchester church, oxfordshire, in painted glass: argent, a lion rampant, gules crowned or, within a bordure sable bezantée. . on the seal of a charter granted by the earl to the monks of okeburry: a lion rampant crowned. no bordure. . on an encaustic tile in the old singing-school at worcester: a lion rampant _not_ crowned, with a bordure bezantée. another tile has the eagle, single-headed, displayed. . encaustic tiles at woodperry, oxfordshire: a row of tiles with the lion rampant, apparently within a bordure, but without the bezants; followed by another row which has the eagle displayed, but not double-headed. . on an encaustic tile at hailes abbey, gloucestershire, founded by him: the double-headed eagle only, _countercharged_. . on a tile in the priory church of great malvern: the double-headed eagle displayed, within a circular bordure bezantée. . on a tile which i have seen, but cannot just now recollect where: the double-headed eagle, bezantée, without any bordure. * * * * * a curious instance of ex-officio arms added to the paternal coat, occurs on the monument of dr. samuel blythe, at the east end of st. edward's church, cambridge. he was master of clare hall, and in this example his paternal arms--argent, a chevron gules, between three lions rampant sable--occupy the lower part of the shield, being divided at the fess point by something like an inverted chevron, from the arms of clare hall, which thus occupy the upper half of the shield. the date is . is this way of dividing the arms a blunder of the painter's, or can any of your readers point out a similar instance? norris deck. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _difficulty of avoiding coincident suggestions on the text of shakspeare._--a correspondent in vol. viii., p. ., is somewhat unnecessarily severe on mr. collier and mr. singer, for having overlooked some suggestions in jackson's work: the enormous number of useless conjectures in that publication rendering it so tedious and unprofitable to consider them attentively, the student is apt to think his time better engaged in investigating other sources of information. i think, therefore, little of mr. collier overlooking the few coincident suggestions in jackson, which are smaller in number than i had anticipated; the real cause for wonder consisting in the ignoring so many conjectures that have been treated of years ago, often at great length, by some of the { } most distinguished critics this country has produced. generally speaking, however, there is in these matters such a tendency for reproduction, i should for one hesitate to accuse any critic of intentional unfairness, merely because he puts forth conjectures as new, when they have been previously published; and i have found so many of my own attempts at emendation, thought to be original, in other sources, that i now hesitate at introducing any as novel. these attempts, like most others, have only resulted occasionally in one that will bear the test of examination after it has been placed aside, and carefully considered when the impression of novelty has worn off. i think we may safely appeal to all critics who occupy themselves much with conjectural criticism, and ask them if time does not frequently impair the complacency with which they regard their efforts on their first production. vol. viii., p. ., contains more instances of coincident suggestions, r. h. c. indulging in two conjectures, both supported very ably, but in the perfect unconsciousness that the first, _rude day's_, was long since mentioned by mr. dyce, in his _remarks_, , p. ., and that the second, the change of punctuation in _all's well that ends well_, is the reading adopted by theobald, and it is also introduced by mr. knight in the text of his "national edition," p ., and has, i believe, been mentioned elsewhere. it may be said that this kind of repetition might be obviated by the publication of the various readings that have been suggested in the text of shakspeare, but who is there to be found quixotic enough to undertake so large and thankless a task, one which at best can only be most imperfectly executed: the materials being so scattered, and often so worthless, the compiler would, i imagine, abandon the design before he had made great progress in it. no fair comparison can be entertained in this respect between the text of shakspeare and the texts of the classic authors. what has happened to r. h. c., happens, as i am about to show, to all who indulge in conjectural criticism. any reader who will take a quantity of disputed passages in shakspeare, and happens to be ignorant of what has been suggested by others, will discover that, in most of the cases, if he merely tries his skill on a few simple permutations of the letters, he will in one way or another stumble on the suggested words. let us take, for example, what may be considered in its way as one of the most incomprehensible lines in shakspeare--"will you go, _an-heires_?" the last word being printed with a capital. running down with the vowels from _a_, we get at once an apparently plausible suggestion, "will you go _on here_?" but a little consideration will show how extremely unlikely this is to be the genuine reading, and that mr. dyce is correct in preferring _mynheers_--a suggestion which belongs to theobald, and not, as he mentions, to hanmer. but what i maintain is, that _on here_ would be the correction that would occur to most readers, in all probability to be at once dismissed. mr. collier, however, says "it is singular that nobody seems ever to have conjectured that _on here_ might be concealed under _an-heires_;" and it would have been singular had this been the case, but the suggestion of _on here_ is to be found in theobald's common edition. oddly enough, about a year before mr. collier's volume appeared, it was again suggested as if it were new. let us select a still more palpable instance (_measure for measure_, act ii. sc. .): "if this law hold in vienna ten years, i'll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a _bay_." if this reading be wrong, which i do not admit, the second change in the first letter creates an obvious alteration, _day_, making at least some sort of sense, if not the correct one. some years ago, i was rash enough to suggest _day_, not then observing the alteration was to be found in pope's edition, and mr. collier has fallen into the same oversight, when he gives it as one of the corrector's new emendations. i regard these oversights as very pardonable, and inseparable from any extensive attempt to correct the state of the text. all shakspearian conjectures either anticipate or are anticipated. mr. dyce being _par excellence_ the most judicious verbal critic of the day, it will scarcely be thought egotistical to claim for myself the priority for one of his emendations--"_avoid thee_, friend," in the _few notes_, p. ., a reading i had mentioned in print before the appearance of that work. this is merely one of the many evidences that all verbal conjecturers must often stumble on the same suggestions. even the ms. corrector's alteration of the passage is not new, it being found in pope's and in several other editions of the last century; another circumstance that exhibits the great difficulty and danger of asserting a conjecture to be absolutely unknown. j. o. halliwell p.s. the subject is, of course, capable of almost indefinite extension, but the above hasty notes will probably occupy as much space as you would be willing to spare for its consideration. _alcides' shoes._--there is merit, in my opinion, in elucidating, if it were only a single word in our great dramatist. even the attempt, though mayhap a failure, is laudable. i therefore have made, and shall make, hit or miss, some efforts that way. for example, i now grapple with that very odd line-- "as great alcides' shoes upon an ass."--_king john_, act ii. sc. . out of which no one has as yet extracted, or i think ever will extract, any good meaning: _argal_, { } it is corrupt. now it appears to me that the critic who proposed to read _shows_, came very near the truth, and would have hit it completely if he had retained _alcides'_, for it is the genitive with _robe_ understood. to explain: austria has on him the "skin-coat" of coeur-de-lion, and blanch cries,-- "o! well did he become that lion's robe, that did disrobe the lion of that robe." "it lies," observes the bastard, "it lies as sightly on the back of him (_austria_) as great alcides' (_robe_) shows upon an ass:-- but, ass, i'll take that burden from your back," &c. were it not that _doth_ is the usual word in this play, i might be tempted to read _does_. in reading or acting, then, the _cæsura_ should be made at _alcides'_, with a slight pause to give the hearer time to supply _robe_. i need not say that the robe is the lion's skin, and that there is an allusion to the fable of the ass. now to justify this reading. our ancestors knew nothing of our mode of making genitives by turned commas. they formed the gen. sing., and nom. and gen. pl., by simply adding _s_ to the nom. sing.; thus king made _kings_, _kings_, _kings_ (not _king's_, _kings_, _kings'_), and the context gave the case. if the noun ended in _se_, _ce_, _she_, or _che_, the addition of _s_ added a syllable, as _horses_, _princes_, &c., but it was not always added. shakspeare, for example, uses _lucrece_ and _cockatrice_ as genitives. i find the first instances of such words as _james's_, &c., about the middle of the seventeenth century, but i am not deeply read in old books, so it may have been used earlier. in foreign words like _alcides_, no change ever took place; it was the same for all numbers and cases, and the explanation was left to the context. here are a couple of examples from shakspeare himself: "my fortunes every way as fairly ranked-- if not with vantage--as demetrius."--_midsummer night's dream_, act i. sc. . "to brutus, to cassius. burn all. some to decius house, and some to cascas; some to ligarius. away! go!"--_julius cæsar_, act iii. sc. . all here are genitives, as well as _cascas_. if any doubt, brutus and cassius, we have just been told, "are rid like madmen through the gates of rome," so _they_ could not be burned. i say now, _judicet lector_! i must not neglect to add that there was another mode of forming the genitive, namely, by the possessive pronoun, as _the king his palace_. "a fly that flew into my _mistress_ her eye," is the title of one of carew's poems. thos. keightley. * * * * * minor notes. _longfellow's poetical works._--one of the best printed editions of longfellow's _poetical works_ which has appeared in england is ushered in by "an introductory essay" by the rev. g. gilfillan, a.m. i had lived in hopes, through each successive edition, that either the good taste of the publishers would strike out the preface entirely, or the amended taste of its author curtail some of its redundancies. as neither has been the case, but the th edition of the book now lies before me, i beg to offer the following examples: . of ancient history: "his [longfellow's] ornaments, unlike those of the _sabine_ maid, have not crushed him." . of modern history--_dickens a poet_: "a prophet may wrap himself up in austere and mysterious solitude: a poet must come 'eating and drinking.' thus came shakspeare, dryden, burns, scott, göthe; and thus have come in our day, _dickens_, hood, and longfellow." is the song of "the ivy green" in _pickwick_ sufficient to justify this appellation? i do not remember any other "poem" by charles dickens. . of metaphors. out of sixteen pages it is difficult to make a selection, but the following are striking: "if not a prophet, _torn by a secret burden, and uttering it_ in wild tumultuous strains,... he has found inspiration ... in the legends of other lands, whose _native vein_, in itself exquisite, has been _highly cultivated_ and _delicately cherished_." "excelsion," we are told, "is one of those happy thoughts which seem to drop down, like fine days, from some serener region, or _like moultings of the celestial dove_, which _meet instantly the ideal_ of all minds, _and run on afterwards_, and for ever, _in the current of the human heart_." does not this almost come up to lord castlereagh's famous metaphor? it certainly goes beyond mr. gilfillan's own praise of longfellow, whose sentiment is described as "never false, nor strained, nor mawkish. it is _always mild_,... and _sometimes_ it _approaches the sublime_." mr. g. goes one step farther. w. w. northamptonshire. _sir walter raleigh._--i find the following remonstrance in defence of this distinguished man, against the imputation of hume, in a letter addressed by dr. parr to charles butler: "why do you follow hume in representing raleigh as an infidel? for heaven's sake, dear sir, look to his preface to his _history of the world_; look at his _letters_, in a little mo., and here, but here only, you will find a tract [entitled the sceptic], which led hume to talk of raleigh as an unbeliever. it is an epitome of the principles of the old sceptics; and to me, who, like dr. clarke and mr. hume, am a reader { } of sextus empiricus, it is very intelligible. indeed, mr. butler, it is a most ingenious performance. but mark me well: it is a mere _lusus ingenii_." mr. butler appends this note: "mr. fox assured the reminiscent, that either he, or mrs. fox to him, had read aloud the whole, with a small exception, of sir walter raleigh's history."--butler's _reminiscences_, vol. ii. p. . balliolensis. _curious advertisement._--the following genuine advertisement is copied from a recent number of the _connecticut courant_, published at hartford in america: "julia, my wife, has grown quite rude, she has left me in a lonesome mood; she has left my board, she has took my bed, she has gave away my meat and bread, she has left me in spite of friends and church, she has carried with her all my shirts. now ye who read this paper, since she cut this reckless caper, i will not pay one single fraction for any debts of her contraction. levi rockwell. east windsor, conn. aug. , ." g. m. b. _gravestone inscription._--i send an inscription on a gravestone in northill churchyard, bedfordshire, which is now nearly obliterated, given me by the rev. john taddy: "life is a city full of crooked streets, death is the market-place where all men meets. if life were merchandise which men could buy, the rich would only live, the poor would die." julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. _monumental inscription._-- "here lyeth the body of the most noble elizabeth, daughter of john of gaunt, duke of lancaster, own sister to king henry the fourth, wife of john holland, earl of huntingdon and duke of exeter, after married to sir john cornwall, knight of the garter, and lord fanhope. she died the th year of henry the sixth, anno domini ." the above is on a monument in burford church, in the county of salop, and will perhaps be interesting to your correspondent mr. hardy. burford church, in which there are several other interesting monuments, is situated in the luxuriant valley of the teme, about eight miles south-east of ludlow. a salopian. * * * * * queries. sir philip warwick. "a discourse of government, as examined by reason, scripture, and the law of the land. written in , small vo.: london, ." "memoirs of the reign of king charles i., &c., vo.: london, ." to one or the other of these publications there was prefixed a preface which, as giving offence to the government, was suppressed. i agree with mr. bindley, who says (writing to mr. granger), "the account you have given in your books of the _suppressed preface_ to sir philip warwick's _memoirs_, is an anecdote too curious not to make one wish it _authenticated_."--_letters to mr. granger_, p. . the statement of granger is adopted also by the edinburgh editor of the _memoirs_ in (query, sir w. scott?), who says in his preface, "these memoirs were first published by the learned dr. thomas smith, a nonjuring divine, distinguished by oriental learning, and his writings concerning the greek church. the learned editor added a preface so much marked by his political principles, that he was compelled to _alter and retrench it_, for fear of a prosecution at the instance of the crown."--_preface_, p. ix. so far as concerns the _memoirs_. but in a note prefixed to a copy of the _discourse of government_, now in the bodleian among malone's books, and in his handwriting, it is stated,-- "this book was published by dr. thomas smith, the learned writer concerning the greek church. the preface, not being agreeable to the court at the time it was published (the th year of william iii.), was suppressed by authority, but is found in this and a few other copies. granger says (vol. iv. p. ., vol. v. p. ., new edit.) that this preface by dr. smith was prefixed to sir p. w.'s _memoirs of charles i._; but this is a mistake. whether smith was the editor of the _memoirs_ i know not.--edmond malone." the obnoxious preface is assigned to the _discourse of government_ also, by a writer in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , p. ., where is a portrait of warwick, and a notice of his life. the edinburgh editor of the _memoirs_ gives the _original preface_ of that work, which presents nothing at which exception could be taken. but as my copy of the _discourse_ is one of the few which (according to malone) retains the address of "the publisher to the reader," i transcribe the following passages, which perhaps will sufficiently explain the suppression in : "as to the disciples and followers of buchanan, hobbs and milton, who have exceeded their masters in downright impudence, scurrility, and lying, and the new modellers of commonwealths, who, under a zealous pretence of securing the rights of a _fancied original contract_ against the encroachments of monarchs, are sowing the seeds of eternal disagreements, confusions, { } and bloody wars throughout the world (for the influence of evil principles hath no bounds, but, like infectious air, spreads everywhere), the peaceable, sober, truly christian, and church-of-england doctrine contained in this book, so directly contrary to their furious, mad, unchristian, and fanatical maxims, it cannot otherwise be expected but that they will soon be alarmed, and betake themselves to their usual arts of slander and reviling, and grow very fierce and clamorous upon it. whatever shall happen," &c. subsequently the author is spoken of as "a gentlemen of sincere piety, of strict morals, of a great and vast understanding, and of a very solid judgement; a true son of the church of england, and _consequently a zealous asserter and defender of the truly christian and apostolical doctrine of non-resistance_; always loyal and faithful to the king his master in the worst of times," &c. after these specimens, there will be little difficulty, i think, in determining that granger was mistaken in describing the preface to the _memoirs_ as that which was suppressed, and that it was the publisher's "address to the reader" of the _discourse_ which incurred that sentence. dr. thomas smith appears to have edited both works; and in the same address informs us of other works of warwick in "divinity, philosophy, history, especially that of england, practical devotion, and the like. this i now publish [the _discourse_] was written in the year (and designed as an appendix to his _memoirs of the reign of king charles the first_, of most blessed memory, which hereafter may see the light, when more auspicious times shall encourage and favour the publication), which he, being very exact and curious in his compositions, did often refine upon," &c. it may be well to inquire whether any of these theological or philosophical lucubrations are yet extant. was sir philip connected at all with dr. smith, or was he descended from arthur warwick, author of _spare minutes_? balliolensis. * * * * * seals of the borough of great yarmouth. i shall be exceedingly obliged by any explanatory remarks on the following list of seals:-- . oval (size . in. by . ). the angel gabriel kneeling before a standing figure of the virgin, and holding a scroll, on which is inscribed ave maria. legend: * [cross] s. hos * pitalis * ier * ne * nach. yarmouth was anciently called gernemutha, or iernemutha; and ives attributes this seal to yarmouth, though both the legend and the workmanship have a decidedly foreign appearance. can any more satisfactory locality be assigned it? . circular ( in. in diameter). three fishes naiant (the arms of yarmouth), within a bordure of six cusps. legend: saal d' asai d' grant garnamvt. workmanship of about the fourteenth century; use unknown; but it has been employed for sealing burgess letters for many years past, until . can it have reference to the staple? (vid. statutes at large, anne; ed. iii. stat. .; ed. iii. cap. .; ric. ii. cap. .) . circular (size . in. diameter). on an escutcheon a herring hauriant; the only instance of this bearing in connection with yarmouth. legend: s. offic : corrotulat : Í : nove : iernmuth. of this seal nothing whatever is known. its workmanship is of the fifteenth century. the suggested extension of the legend is "sigillum officii contrarotulatoris"--in nova jernemutha, or in _nave_ jernemuthe. but was yarmouth ever called _nova gernemutha_? or what was the office alluded to? the above are required for a literary purpose; and as speedy an answer as possible would much oblige me. e. s. taylor. * * * * * minor queries. _hand in bishop canning's church._--in bishop canning's church, wilts, is a curious painting of a hand outstretched, and having on the fingers and thumb several inscriptions in abbreviated latin. can any correspondent tell me when and why this was placed in the church; and also the inscriptions which appear thereon? russell gole. _"i put a spoke in his wheel."_--what is the meaning of the phrase, "i put a spoke in his wheel?" in april last, a petition was heard in the rolls court on the part of the trustees of manchester new college, praying that they might be allowed to remove that institution to london; and a single trustee was heard against such removal. one of the friends of the college was on this occasion heard to remark, "the removal to london was going on very smoothly, and it would have been done by this time, if this one trustee had not _put his spoke in the wheel_:" meaning, that the conscientious scruple of this trustee was the sole _impediment to the movement_. is this the _customary_ and proper mode of using the phrase; and, if so, how can putting a spoke to a wheel impede its motion? on the other hand, having heard some persons say that they had always understood the phrase to denote affording _help_ to an undertaking, and confidently allege that this must be the _older_ and { } more correct usage, for "what," say they, "is a wheel without spokes?" i inquired of an intelligent lady, of long american descent, in what way she had been accustomed to hear the phrase employed, and the answer was "certainly as a help: we used to say to one who had anything in hand of difficult accomplishment, 'do not be faint-hearted, i'll give you a spoke.'" dr. johnson, in the folio edition of his _dictionary_, , after defining a spoke to be the "bar of a wheel that passes from the nave to the felly," cites: " . . . . all you gods, in general synod, take away her power, break all the _spokes_ and fellies to her wheel, and bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven."--_shakspeare_. g. k. _sir w. hewit._--at p. . of mr. thoms's recent edition of pulleyn's _etymological compendium_, sir w. hewit, the father-in-law of edward osborne, who was destined to found the ducal family of leeds, is said to have been "a pin-maker." some other accounts state that he was a clothworker; others again, that he was a goldsmith. which is correct; and what is the authority? and where may any pedigree of the osborne family, _previous to edward_, be seen? h. t. griffith. _passage in virgil._--dr. johnson, in his celebrated letter to lord chesterfield, says, in reference to the hollowness of patronage: "the shepherd, in virgil, grew at last acquainted with love; and found him a native of the rocks." to what passage in virgil does johnson here refer, and what is the point intended to be conveyed? r. fitzsimons. dublin. _fauntleroy._--in binns' _anatomy of sleep_ it is stated that a few years ago an affidavit was taken in an english court of justice, to the effect that fauntleroy was still living in a town of the united states. can any of your correspondents refer me to the circumstance in question? c. clifton barry. _animal prefixes, descriptive of size and quality._--will somebody oblige me by pointing out in the modern languages any analogous instances to the greek [greek: bon], english _horse_-radish, _dog_-rose, _bull_-finch, &c.? c. clifton barry. _punning devices._--sir john cullum, in his _hist. of hawsted_, st edit. p. ., says that the seal of sir william clopton, knight, t. hen. vii., was "a ton, out of which issues some plant, perhaps a _caltrop_, which might be contracted to the first syllable of his name." this appears to be too violent a contraction. can any of your readers suggest any other or closer analogy between the name and device? buriensis. "_pinece with a stink._"--in archbishop bramhall's _schism guarded_ (written against serjeant) there is a passage in which the above curious expression occurs, and of which i can find no satisfactory, nor indeed any explanation whatever. the passage is this (_works_, vol. ii. p. ., edit. ox.): "but when he is baffled in the cause, he hath a reserve,--that venerable bede, and gildas, and foxe in his acts and monuments, do brand the britons for wicked men, making them 'as good as atheists; of which gang if this dinoth were one,' he 'will neither wish the pope such friends, nor envy them to the protestants.' "what needeth this, when he hath got the worst of the cause, to defend himself like a _pinece with a stink_? we read no other character of dinoth, but as of a pious, learned, and prudent man." can any of your readers furnish an explanation? r. blakiston. _soiled parchment deeds._--having in my possession some old and very dirty parchment deeds, and other records, now almost illegible from the accumulation of grease, &c., on the surface of the skins, i am desirous to know if there be any "royal road" to the cleansing and restoration of these otherwise enduring mss.? t. hughes. chester. _roger wilbraham, esq.'s cheshire collection._--can any of your correspondents say where the original collection made by the above-named gentleman, or a copy of them, referred to in dr. foote gower's _sketch of the materials for a cheshire history_, may now be met with? cestriensis. _cambridge and ireland._--in the first volume of the _pictorial history of england_, p. ., it is stated that-- "martin skins are mentioned in _domesday book_ among the commodities brought by sea to chester; and this appears from other authorities to have been one of the exports in ancient times from ireland. notices are also found of merchants from ireland _landing at cambridge_ with cloths, and exposing their merchandise to sale." the authority quoted for this statement is turner, vol. iii. p. . on referring to turner's _anglo-saxons_, i find it stated: "we read of merchants from ireland _landing at cambridge_ with cloths, and exposing their merchandise to sale." mr. turner refers to gale, vol. ii. p. . i do not know to what work mr. turner refers, unless to gale's _rerum anglicarum scriptores { } veteres_; on examining this i can find no passage at the page and volume indicated, on the subject. can any of your readers state where it is to be found? it appears remarkable that the merchants from ireland should land at the inland town of cambridge, and it seems a probable conjecture that cambridge is a mistake for cambria. william of malmesbury speaks of a commerce between ireland and the neighbourhood of chester, and it seems much more probable that the merchants of ireland landed in wales than in cambridge. john thrupp. _derivation of celt._--what is the proper derivation of the word _celt_, as applied to certain weapons of antiquity? a good authority, in dr. smith's _dictionary of greek and roman antiquities_, p. ., obtains the term from-- "celtes, an old latin word for a chisel, probably derived from cælo, to engrave." mr. wright (_the celt, roman, and saxon_, p. .) says that hearne first applied the word to such implements in _bronze_, believing them to be "roman _celtes_ or chisels;" and that-- "subsequent writers, ascribing these instruments to the britons, have retained the name, forgetting its origin, and have applied it indiscriminately, not only to other implements of bronze, but even to the analogous instruments of _stone_." and he objects to the term "as too generally implying that things to which it is applied are celtic." on the other hand, dr. wilson (_prehistoric annals_, p. .) prefers to retain the word, inasmuch as the welsh etymologists, owen and spurrell, furnish an ancient cambro-british word _celt_, a flint stone. m. worsaae (_primeval antiq._, p. .) confines the term to those instruments of bronze which have a hollow socket to receive a wooden handle; the other forms being called paalstabs on the continent. it seems clear that there is no connexion between this word and the name of the nation (_celtæ_); but its true origin may perhaps be elicited by a little discussion in the pages of "n. & q." c. r. m. _ancient superstition against the king of england entering or even beholding the town of leicester._--the existence of a superstition to this effect is recorded in rishanger's _chronicle_, and also, as i am informed, in that of thomas wikes; but this i have not at present an opportunity of consulting. rishanger's words are: "rex [henricus iii.] autem, capta norhamptun., leycestr. tendens, in ea hospitatus est, quam nullus regni præter eum etiam videre, prohibentibus quibusdam superstitiose, præsumpsit."--p. . it is also mentioned by matthew of westminster. (vide bohn's edition, vol. ii. p. .) the statement, that no king before henry iii. had entered the town, is however incorrect, as william the conqueror and king john are instances to the contrary. can any of your correspondents explain the origin of this superstition, or favour me with any farther notices respecting it? it is not unworthy of observation that very many of the royal personages who have visited leicester, have been either unfortunate in their lives, or have met with tragical deaths. we may, however, hope, for the credit of the town, that their misfortunes may be attributed to other causes, rather than to their presence within its time-hallowed walls. wm. kelly. leicester. _burton._--is there any family of this name who can make out a descent from, or connexion with, a mr. john burton, alderman of doncaster, who died ? c. j. _the camera lucida._--i should feel much obliged to any reader of "n. & q." who would be kind enough to answer the following questions, and refer me to any work treating of the handling and management of the camera lucida. i have one made by king of bristol, and purchased about thirty years ago: it draws out, like a telescope, in three pieces, each six inches long; and at full length will give a picture of the dimensions of twenty inches by twelve. the upper piece is marked from above downwards, thus: at two inches below the lens, " ;" at an inch below that point, " ;" at half an inch lower, " ;" at half an inch lower still, " ;" half an inch below the point " ," a " " is marked; and half an inch below the " ," there is a " ;" at seven-eighths below this last, "d" is marked. what reference have these nicely graduated points to the distance of an object from the instrument? do the figures merely determine the size of the picture to be taken? how is one to be guided in their use and application to practice? caret. _francis moore._--francis moore was born at bakewell about the year , and was proctor of lichfield cathedral at the time of the great rebellion. i am anxious to know who were his parents, and what their place of abode. edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton-in-lindsey. _waugh, bishop of carlisle._--what were the family arms of dr. john waugh, bishop of carlisle, who died october , ? was he of a scotch family, and are any of his descendants now living? rufus. _palace at enfield._--we read that there was formerly a royal palace at enfield in middlesex, ten miles north from london; and one room still { } remains in its original state. can you, or any of your subscribers, inform me whereabouts in the town it is situated? also, the date of erection of the church? hazelwood. _"solamen miseris," &c._--please to state in what author is the following line? no one knows. "solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris." a constant reader. _soke mills._--correspondents are requested to communicate the names of "soke" or manorial mills, to which the suit is still enforced. s. m. _second wife of mallet._--the second wife of mallet was lucy elstob, a yorkshire lady, daughter of a steward of the earl of carlisle. can any of your readers inform me at what place in yorkshire her father resided, and where the marriage with mallet in took place? she survived her husband, and lived to the age of eighty years. where did she die, and what family did mallet leave by his two wives? f. leamington. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _books burned by the common hangman._-- "historia anglo-scotica: or an impartial history of all that happen'd between the kings and kingdoms of england and scotland from the beginning of the reign of _william the conqueror_ to the reign of queen elizabeth, &c., by james drake, m.d., vo., london, ." of this work it is said, in a note in the _catalogue_ of geo. chalmers' library (fourth day's sale, sept. , ), that-- "on june , , the scotch parliament ordered this book to be burned by the hands of the common hangman, and that the magistrates of edinburgh should see it carried into effect at eleven o'clock on the following day." will any correspondent of yours furnish me with some notice of dr. drake, the author, and also explain the ground of offence upon which his book was condemned? i confess to be unable to discover anything to offend; neither, as it seems, could mr. surtees, for he says: "i quote drake's _historia anglo-scotica_, , a book which, for what reason i never could discover, was ordered to be burned by the common hangman."--_history of durham_, vol. iv. p. . note _l_. any notices of books which have been signalised by being subjected to similar condemnation, would much interest me, and perhaps others of your readers. balliolensis. [the ground of offence for burning the _historia anglo-scotica_ is stated in _the acts of the parliaments of scotland_, vol. xi. p. ., viz.: "ordered, that a book published by the title of _historia anglo-scotica_, by james drake, m.d., and dedicated to sir edward symour containing many false and injurious reflections upon the sovereignty and independence of this crown and nation, be burnt by the hand of the common hangman at the mercat cross of edinburgh, at eleven o'clock to-morrow (july , ), and the magistrates of edinburgh appointed to see the order punctually executed." it would appear from the dedication prefixed to this work, that drake merely pretended to edit it, for he says, that "upon a diligent revisal, in order, if possible, to discover the name of the author, and the age of his writing, he found that it was written in, or at least not finished till, the time of charles i." but he says nothing more of the ms., nor how it came into his hands. a notice of dr. drake is given in chalmers's _biographical dictionary_, and in the preface to _the memorial of the church of england_, edit. , which was also burnt by the common hangman in . see "n. & q.," vol. iii., p. .] _captain george cusack._--it appears by an affidavit made by a mr. thomas nugent in the year , and now of record in the exchequer record office, dublin, that-- "he, being on or about the th of september preceding in london, was by one mr. patrick dowdall desired to goe along with him to see one george cusack, then in prison there for severall hainous offences alleadged to have beene by him committed, which he could not do by reason of other occasions; but having within two or three days afterwards mett with mr. dowdall, was told by him that he had since their last meeting seene the said cusack in prison (being the marshalsea in southwark) with bolts on, and that none of cusack's men who were alsoe in prison were bolted:" that on the th of november cusack was still in restraint, and not as yet come to his trial: "that there were _bookes written of the said cusack's offences_, which he heard cryed about in the streets of london to be sold, and that y^e generall opinion and talke was that the said cusack should suffer death for his crimes." by a fragment of an affidavit made by a mr. morgan o'bryen, of the middle temple, london, it appears that this man was a captain george cusack, who, i presume, was a pirate. may i take leave to ask, are the above-mentioned books in existence, and where are they to be found? james f. ferguson. dublin. [in the british museum is the following pamphlet:--"the grand pyrate: or the life and death of captain george cusack, the great sea-robber, with an accompt of all his notorious robberies both at sea and land; together with his tryal, condemnation, and execution. taken by an impartial hand." london, , pp. . to.] _sir ralph winwood._--i am particularly desirous of obtaining some information respecting { } sir ralph winwood, private secretary to james i., and should feel much obliged if any of your numerous correspondents would favour me with anything they may know concerning him, or with the titles of any works in which his name is mentioned. h. p. w. r. [biographical notices of sir ralph winwood will be found in _biographia britannica_, supplement; lloyd's _state worthies_; wood's _athenæ_; granger and chalmers' biographical dictionaries. sir f. drake's voyage, by t. maynarde, is dedicated to him. letters to him from sir thomas roe, in , , are in the british museum, add. ms. . fol. . . . and a letter to him from sir dudley carlton will be found in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lvii. p. . the diaries of the time of james i. may also be consulted; a list of them is given in "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .] * * * * * replies. books chained to desks in churches. (vol. viii., p. .) the authority for this ancient custom appears to be derived from an act of the convocation which assembled in . strype informs us (_annals_, vol. i. c. .) that at this convocation the following injunctions were given: "first, that a catechism be set forth in latin, which is already done by mr. dean of paul's [dean nowell], and wanteth only viewing. secondly, that certain articles [the thirty-nine articles], containing the principal grounds of christian religion, be set forth much like to such articles as were set forth a little before the death of king edward, of which articles the most part may be used with additions and corrections as shall be thought convenient. thirdly, that to these articles also be adjoined the _apology_, writ by bishop jewell, lately set forth after it, hath been once again revised and so augmented and corrected as occasion serveth. that these be joined in _one_ book; and by common consent authorised as containing true doctrine, and be enjoined to be taught the youth in the universities and grammar schools throughout the realm, and also in cathedral churches, and collegiate, and in private houses: and that whosoever shall preach, declare, write, or speak anything in derogation, depraving or despising of the said book, or any doctrine therein contained, and be thereof lawfully convicted before any ordinary, &c., he shall be ordered as in case of heresy, or else shall be punished as is appointed for those that offend and speak against the book of common prayer, set forth in the first year of the queen's majesty's reign that now is: that is to say, he shall for the first offence forfeit marks; for the second offence, marks; and for the third offence, all his goods and chattels, and shall suffer imprisonment during life." it is probable that this book found a place in churches as affording a standard of orthodoxy easy of reference to congregations in times not sufficiently remote from the reformation, to render the preaching of romish doctrines unlikely. this, if the surmise be correct, would be emphatically to bring the officiating minister to book. in prestwich church, the desk yet remains, together with the "book of articles," bound up as prescribed with jewel's _apology_ (black-letter, ), but the chain has disappeared. the neighbouring church of bingley has also its desk, to which the chain is still attached; but the "book of articles" has given place to some more modern volume. john booker. prestwich. mr. simpson will find some account of the _paraphrase of erasmus_ so chained (of which he says he cannot recal an instance) at vol i., p. ., and vol. v., p. . the following list (remains of which more or less perfect, with chains appended, are still extant) will probably be interesting to many of your readers: "_books chayned in the church, th april, ._ dionisius carthusian vpon the new testament, in two volumes. origen vpon st. paules epistle to the romanes. origen against celsus. lira vpon pentathucke of moses. lira vpon the kings, &c. theophilact vpon the new testam^t. beda vpon luke and other p^{ts} of the testam^t. opuscula augustini, thome x. augustini questiones in nou[=u] testament[=u]. the paraphrase of erasmus. the defence of the apologye. prierius postill vpon the dominicall gospells." from ecclesfield church accounts. j. eastwood. in malvern abbey church is a copy of dean comber's _companion to the temple_, chained to a desk, and bearing a written inscription to the effect that it should never be removed out of the church; but should remain chained to its desk for ever, for the use of any parishioner who might choose to come in and read it there. n. b. i have mislaid my copy of this inscription: and should feel greatly obliged to any of your correspondents who may be residing in or near great malvern, for a transcript of it. as it may be thought somewhat long for your pages, perhaps some correspondent would kindly copy it out for me, and inclose it to rev. h. t. griffith, hull. university club. * * * * * epitaphs. (vol. vii. _passim._) a goodly collection of singular epitaphs has appeared in "n. & q."; but i believe it yet lacks { } a specimen of the following tomfoolery--an initial epitaph. green, in his _history of worcester_, gives the following inscription from a monument under the north-west window of st. andrew's church in that city: "short of weight. h l t b o r w i h o a j r a d a ." green adds the following explanation of this riddle: "in _full measure_ it would have stood thus: 'here lieth the body of richard weston, in hopes of a joyful resurrection. anno domini . aged .'" richard weston was a baker, and the "short of weight" gives the clue to the nature of his dealings, and also to the right reading of the epitaph. the following is from ombersley churchyard, worcestershire: "sharp was her wit, mild was her nature; a tender wife, a good humoured creature." from the churchyard of st. john, worcester: "honest john's dead and gone." from the churchyard of cofton hackett, worcestershire, are the two following: "here lieth the body of john galey, sen., in expectation of the last day. what sort of man he was that day will discover. he was clerk of this parish fifty-five years. he died in , aged ." the next is also to a galey. your correspondent pictor (vol. viii., p. .) gives the same epitaph, slightly altered, as being at wingfield, suffolk: "pope boldly asserts (some think the maxim odd), an honest man's the noblest work of god. if this assertion is from error clear, one of the noblest works of god lies here." from alvechurch, worcestershire; to a man and wife: "he, an honest, good-natured, worthy man; she, as eminent for conjugal and maternal virtues during her marriage and widowhood, as she had been before for amiable delicacy of person and manners." the following, which is probably not to be surpassed, appeared in one of the earliest numbers of _household words_. it is from the churchyard of pewsey, wiltshire: "here lies the body of lady o'looney, great-niece of burke, commonly called the sublime. she was bland, passionate, and deeply religious: also, she painted in water-colours, and sent several pictures to the exhibition. she was first cousin to lady jones: and of such is the kingdom of heaven." cuthbert bede, b.a. if epitaphs of recent date are admitted in "n. & q.," perhaps the following, upon an editor, which lately appeared in the _halifax colonist_, may not be out of place in your publication: "here _lies_ an editor! _snooks_ if you will; in mercy, kind providence, let him _lie still_. he _lied_ for his living: so he lived, while he _lied_, when he could not _lie longer_, he _lied_ down, and died." w. w. malta. "here lies a wife, a friend, a mother, i believe there never was such another; she had a head to earn and a heart to give, and many poor she did relieve. she lived in virtue and in virtue died, and now in heaven she doth reside. yes! it is true as tongue can tell, if she had a fault, it was loving me too well. and when i am lying by her side, who was in life her daily pride, tho' she's confined in coffins three, she'd leave them all and come to me!" the above lines, written on a tablet in a church at exeter, were composed by mr. tuckett, tallow-chandler, to the memory of his wife. an old subscriber of "n. & q." thinks this epitaph more strange and curious than any which has yet appeared in the columns of that valuable publication. anon. * * * * * parochial libraries. (vol. vii., p. .) i copy the following from the fly-leaf of _a treatise of ecclesiastical benefices and revenues_, by the learned father paul, translated by tobias jenkins, vo., westminster, : "bibliotheca de bassingbourn in com. cant. dono dedit edvardus nightingale de kneeseworth armiger filius et hares fundatoris. feb. ^{mo}, ^{to}." how the volume got out of the library i know not: it was purchased some years since at a sale in oxford. y. b. n. j. to the list of parochial libraries allow me to add that of denchworth, near wantage, berks. in a small apartment over the porch, the _parvise_, i recollect, some years since, to have seen a very fair collection of old divinity, the books being, all of them, confined by chains, according to the ancient usage, an instance of which i never saw elsewhere. { } at st. peter's church, tiverton, there is also a collection of books, mostly the gift of the newtes, richard (rejected in and restored in ), and john his son, rectors of the portions of tidcombe and clare in that church. the books are preserved in a room over the vestry. balliolensis. another _venerable_ archdeacon now living permitted the churchwardens of swaffham to give him a fine copy of cranmer's bible belonging to the church library. s. z. z. s. add to the list finedon, in northamptonshire, where there is a collection of upwards of volumes in the parvise over the porch. e. h. a. * * * * * "up, guards, and at them!" (vol. v., p. .; vol. viii., pp. . .) the authority for the duke of wellington having used these words at the battle of waterloo is capt. batty, of the grenadier guards, in a letter written a few days after the battle, published in booth's _battle of waterloo_, and illustrated by george jones, esq., r.a., who is believed to have superintended the whole publication. i append the extract:-- "upon the cavalry being repulsed, the duke himself ordered our second battalion to form line with the third battalion, and, after advancing to the brow of the hill, to lie down and shelter ourselves from the fire. here we remained, i imagine, near an hour. it was now about seven o'clock. the french infantry had in vain been brought against our line and, as a last resource, buonaparte resolved upon attacking our part of the position with his veteran imperial guard, promising them the plunder of brussels. their artillery and they advanced in solid column to where we lay. the duke, who was riding behind us, watched their approach; and at length, when within a hundred yards of us, exclaimed 'up, guards, and at them again!' never was there a prouder moment than this for our country or ourselves," &c.--second letter of capt. batty, grenadier guards, dated june , , from the village of gommignies; his first letter being dated bavay, june , . this circumstantial account, written so few days after the battle, detailing affirmatively the command to the guards as heard by one of themselves, will probably countervail the negative testimony of c. as derived from the duke's want of recollection: as well as the "goodly botherby's" of mr. cuthbert bede. as an instance of the duke's impressions of the battle, i may add, that he stated that there was _no smoke_, though mr. jones told me, that when he was on the ground two days afterwards the smoke was still hanging over it. frank howard. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mr. muller's process._--mr. sisson inquires for any one's experience in the use of the above formula, and i beg to say i remember when it was published i tried it, but gave it up. it is an excellent plan, but requires improvement. the following were my objections: if the objects are not well illuminated by the sun, the image is not sharp. the skies taken are singularly the reverse of the iodide-of-potash method, as they are almost transparent. the solutions of iron are a constant trouble by precipitating. it has the same disadvantages as other modes on paper from inequality in the strength of the image. the photographic _pons asinorum_ appears however to be got over by the process, viz. taking the picture at once in the camera, and it is very possible that it can be made perfect. a small quantity of chromate of potash, about one grain to three ounces of solution of iodide of iron, gives a little more force to the picture. i find the nitrate of lead a very useful salt in iodizing paper. six grains of the salt to the ounce of water, and tincture of iodine added till a pale yellow, will give additional sensitiveness to iodized paper, if the sheets are floated upon the solution. this will shorten the time in the camera nearly five minutes; but it requires care, as it is apt to solarize. a weak solution of iodide of iron has also the same effect, and, if blotted off at once, it will not blacken by the use of gallic acid. weld taylor. bayswater. _stereoscopic angles._--when i last addressed you, i fancied i should set the stereoscopic-angle question at rest. it appears, however, that mr. g. shadbolt is unconvinced, and as i alone (to the best of my knowledge) have defined and solved the problem in relation to this subject, you will perhaps allow me to offer a few words in rejoinder to mr. s.'s arguments which, had that gentleman thought more closely, would not have been advanced. this is also requisite, because, from their speciousness, they are likely to mislead such as take what they read for granted. mr. s. says that when the stereographs are placed at the same distance from the eyes as the focal length of the lens, that ¼ inches is the best space for the cameras to be apart; and that were this space increased, the result would be as though the pictures were taken from models. to this i reply, that the only correct space for the cameras to be apart is ½ inches (_i. e._ the space usually found to be from pupil to pupil of our eyes), and this under every circumstance; and that any departure from this must produce error. as to the model-like appearance, i cannot see the reason of { } it. next mr. shadbolt says, and rightly, that when the pictures are seen from a less distance than the focal length of the lens, they appear to be increased in bulk. but the "obvious remedy" i pronounce to be wrong, as it must produce error. the remedy is nevertheless obvious, and consists in placing the stereographs at the same distance from the eyes as the focal length of the lens. but, if this cannot be done, it were surely better to submit to some trifling exaggeration than to absolute deformity and error. mr. s. says also, that as we mainly judge of distance, &c. by the convergence of the optic axis of our eyes (query, how do persons with only one eye judge?), so, in short or medium distances, it were better to let the camera radiate from its centre to the principal object to be delineated. the result of this must be error, as the following illustration will show. let the sitter (for it is especially recommended in portraits) hold before him, horizontally, and in parallelism with the picture, a ruler two feet long; and let planes parallel to the ruler pass through the sitter's ears, eyes, nose, &c. the consequence would be that the ruler, and all the other planes parallel to it, would have two vanishing points, and all the features be erroneously rendered. this, to any one conversant with perspective, should suffice. but, as all are not acquainted with perspective, perhaps the following illustration may prove more convincing. suppose an ass to stand facing the observer; a boy astride him, with a big drum placed before him. now, under the treatment recommended by mr. g. shadbolt, both sides of the ass would be visible; both the boy's legs; and the drum would have two heads. this would be untrue, absurd, ridiculous, and quite as wonderful as mr. fenton's twelve-feet span view from across the thames. once more, and i shall have done with the present arguments of mr. g. shadbolt. he says that the two pictures should have exactly the same range of vision. this i deny: for, were it so, there would be no stereoscopic effect. let the object be a column: it is evident that a tangent to the left side of the column from the right eye, could not extend so far to the left as a tangent to the left side of the column from the left eye, and _vice versâ_. and it is only by this difference in the two pictures (or, in other words, the range of vision) that our conceptions of solidity are created. this is not exactly the test to suit the views of mr. shadbolt, as i am quite aware; but i chose it for its simplicity, and because it will bear demonstration; and my desire has been to elicit truth, and not to perpetuate error. in conclusion, i beg to refer mr. g. shadbolt to my definition and solution of the stereoscopic problem--which i then said i _believed_--but which i now unhesitatingly _assert_ to be correct. t. l. marriott. _ammonio-nitrate of silver._--the inability of your correspondent philo-pho. to form the ammonio-nitrate of silver from a solution of nitrate of silver, which has been used to excite albumenized paper, is in all probability owing to the presence of a small quantity of nitrate of ammonia, which has been imparted to the solution by the paper. salts of ammonia form, with those of silver, double salts, from which the oxide of silver is not precipitated by the alkalies. i cannot however explain how it was that the solution had lost none of its silver, for the paper could not in such case have been rendered sensitive. j. leachman. . compton terrace, islington. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _sir thomas elyot_ (vol. viii., p. .).--particulars respecting this once celebrated diplomatist and scholar may be collected from bernet's _hist. reformation_, ed. , i. .; strype's _ecclesiastical memorials_, i. . ., append. no. lxii.; ellis's _letters_, ii. .; _archæologia_, xxxiii.; wright's _suppression of monasteries_, .; _lelandi encomia_, .; leland's _collectanea_, iv. - .; _retrospective review_, ii. .; _privy purse expenses of princess mary_, . .; chamberlain's _holbein heads_; smith's _autographs_; fuller's _worthies_ (cambridgeshire); wood's _athenæ oxonienses_, i. .; lysons' _cambridgeshire_, . the grant of carlton cum willingham in cambridgeshire to sir thomas elliot and his wife is enrolled in the exchequer (_originalia_, hen. viii., pars . rot. . vel .); and amongst the inquisitions filed in that court is one taken after his death (_cant. and hunt._, vel hen. viii.). i believe it will be found on investigation, that sir richard elyot (the father of sir thomas) was of wiltshire rather than of suffolk. see leland's _collectanea_, iv. . n., and an inquisition in the exchequer of the date of or hen. viii. thus described in the calendar: "de manerio de wanborough com. wiltes proficua cujus manerii ricardus eliot percepit." c. h. cooper. cambridge. _judges styled "reverend"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--as it is more than probable that your pages may in future be referred to as authority for any statement they contain, especially when the fact they announce is vouched by so valued a name as that of my friend york herald, i am sure that he will excuse me for correcting an error into which he has fallen, the more especially as lord campbell is equally mistaken (_lord chancellors_, i. .). york herald states, that "anthony fitz-herbert was appointed chief justice of the common { } pleas in , and died in henry viii." fitz-herbert was never _chief justice_. he was made a judge of the common pleas in ; and so continued till his death at the time mentioned, . during that period, the office of chief justice of the common pleas was successively held by sir thomas brudenell till , by sir robert norwich till , and then by sir john baldwin, who was chief justice at the time of fitz-herbert's death. william rastall (afterwards judge), in the early part of his career, joined his father in the printing business, and there are several books with his imprimatur. it was during that time probably that he formed the table to the _natura brevium_ of anthony fitz-herbert, mentioned in the title-page to york herald's volume. edward foss. _"hurrah" and other war-cries_ (vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. viii., pp. . .).--_hurrah_ is the war-cry of many nations, both in the army and navy. the dutch seem to have adopted it from the russians, _poeta invito_, as we see in the following verses of staring van den willenborg: "is 't hoera? is 't hoera? wat drommel kan 't u schelen? brul, smeek ik, geen kozakken na! als fredrik's batterijën spelen-- als willem's trommen slaan blijv' neêrland's oorlogskreet: 'val aan!' waar jong en oud de vreugd der overwinning deelen, bij quatre-bras' trofee, blijve ons gejuich _hoezee_!" accept or reject this doggerel translation: "is it hurrah? is it hurrah? what does that concern you, pray? howl not like cossacks of the don! but, when frederic's batteries pour-- when william's drums do roar-- holland's war-cry still be 'fall on!' when old and young raise the victor's song, at quatre-bras' trophy, let _huzzah_ our joy-cry be!" _hoera_ (hurrah) and _hoezee_ (huzza), then, in the opinion of staring, and indeed of many others, have not the same origin. some have derived _hoezee_ from _haussé_, a french word of applause at the hoisting (fr. _hausser_) of the admiral's flag. bilderdijk derives it from hussein, a famous turkish warrior, whose memory is still celebrated. dr. brill says, "_hoezee_ seems to be only another mode of pronouncing the german _juchhé_." van iperen thinks it taken from the jewish shout, "hosanna!" siegenbeek finds "the origin of _hoezee_ in the shout of encouragement, 'hou zee!' (hold sea)." dr. jager cites a flemish author, who says "that this cry ('hou zee,' in french, _tiens mer_) seems especially to belong to us; since it was formerly the custom of our seamen always 'zee te houden' (to keep the sea), and never to seek shelter from storms." dr. jager, however, thinks it rather doubtful "that our _hoezee_ should come from 'hou zee,' especially since we find a like cry in other languages." in old french _huz_ signified a cry, a shout; and the verb _huzzer_, or _hucher_, to cry, to shout; and in dutch _husschen_ had the same meaning.--from the _navorscher_. _major andré_ (vol. viii., p. ).--the sisters of major andré lived until a comparatively very recent date in the circus at bath, and this fact may point serviens to inquiries in that city. t. f. in reply to serviens's query about major andré, i beg to inform him that there is a good picture of the major by sir joshua reynolds in the house of mrs. fenning, at tonbridge wells, who, i have no doubt, would be enabled to give him some particulars respecting his life. w. h. p. _early edition of the new testament_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the book, about which your correspondent a. boardman inquires, is an imperfect copy of tyndale's _version of the new testament_: probably it is one of the _first edition_; if so, it was printed at antwerp in ; but if it be one of the second edition, it was printed, i believe, at the same place in . those excellent and indefatigable publishers, messrs. bagster & sons, have within the last few years reprinted both these editions; and if your correspondent would apply to them, i have no doubt but they will be able to resolve him on all the points of his inquiry. f. b----w. _ladies' arms borne in a lozenge_ (vol. vii., p. . vol. viii., pp. . .).--as this question is still open, i forward you the translation of an article inserted by me in the first volume of the _navorscher_. lozenge-formed shields have not been always, nor exclusively, used by ladies; for, in a collection of arms from to (see _descriptive catalogue of impressions from scottish seals_, by laing, edinburgh) are many examples of ladies' arms, but not one in which the shield has any other form than that used at the time by men. in england, however, as early as the fourteenth century, the lozenge was sometimes used by ladies, though perhaps only by widows. nisbet (_system of heraldry_, ii. .) mentions a lozenge-formed seal of johanna beaufort, queen dowager of scotland, attached to a parchment in ; while her arms, at an earlier period, were borne on a common shield (_gent. mag._, april, ). in france the use of the lozenge for ladies was very general; yet in the great work of flacchio (_généalogie de la maison de la tour_) are found several hundred examples of ladies' arms on oval { } shields; and in _vredii genealogia comitum flandriæ_ (p. .), on shields rounded off below. on the other hand, lozenges have sometimes been used by men: for instance, on a seal of ferdinand, infant of spain, in vredius, l. c. p. .; also on a dollar of count maurice of hanau, in kohler's _müntzbelustig_. . see again the arms of the count of sickingen, in siebmacher, suppl. xi. . so much for the use of the lozenge. most explanations of its origin appear equally far-fetched. that of menestrier, in his _pratique des armoires_ (p. .), seems to me the least forced. he derives the french name _lozange_ from the dutch _lofzang_: "in holland," he says, "the custom prevails every year, in may, to affix verses and _lofzangen_ (songs of praise) in lozenge-formed tablets on the doors of newly-made magistrates. young men hung such tablets on the doors of their sweethearts, or newly-married persons. also on the death of distinguished persons, lozenge-shaped pieces of black cloth or velvet, with the arms, name, and date of the death of the deceased, were exhibited on the front of the house. and since _there is little to be said of women, except on their marriage or death, for this reason has it become customary on all occasions to use for them the lozenge-shaped shield_." in confirmation of this may be mentioned, that formerly _lozange_ and _lozanger_ were used in the french for _louange_ and _louer_; of which menestrier, in the above-quoted work (p. .), cites several instances. besides the conjectures mentioned by h. c. k. and broctuna, may be cited that of laboureur: who finds both the form and the name in the greek word [greek: oxugônios] (_ozenge_ with the article, _l'ozenge_); and of scaliger, who discovers _lausangia_ in _laurangia_, _lauri folia_. see farther, bernd. _wapenwesen_, bonn, . john scott. norwich. _sir william hankford_ (vol. ii., p. . &c.).--your learned correspondent mr. edward foss proves satisfactorily that sir w. gascoigne was not retained in his office of chief justice by king hen. v. but mr. foss seems to have overlooked entirely the devonshire tradition, which represents sir william _hankford_ (gascoigne's successor) to be the judge who committed prince henry. risdon (_v_. bulkworthy, _survey of devon_, ed. , p. .), after mentioning a chapel built by sir w. hankford, gives this account of the matter: "this is that deserving judge, that did justice upon the king's son (afterwards king henry v.), who, when he was yet prince, commanded him to free a servant of his, arraigned for felony at the king's bench bar; whereat the judge replied, he would not. herewith the prince, enraged, essayed himself to enlarge the prisoner, but the judge forbad; insomuch as the prince in fury stept up to the bench, and gave the judge a blow on the face, who, nothing thereat daunted, told him boldly: 'if you will not obey your sovereign's laws, who shall obey you when you shall be king? wherefore, in the king's (your father's) name, i command you prisoner to the king's bench.' whereat the prince, abashed, departed to prison. when king henry iv., his father, was advertised thereof (as fast flieth fame), after he had examined the circumstances of the matter, he rejoiced to have a son so obedient to his laws, and a judge of such integrity to administer justice without fear or favour of the person; but withal dismissed the prince from his place of president of the council, which he conferred on his second son." risdon makes no mention of sir w. hankford's being retained in office by king henry v. but at p. ., _v._ monkleigh, he gives the traditional account of hankford's death (anno ), which represents the judge, in doubt of his safety, and mistrusting the sequel of the matter, to have committed suicide by requiring his park-keeper to shoot at him when under the semblance of a poacher: "which report (risdon adds) is so credible among the common sort of people, that they can show the tree yet growing where this fact was committed, known by the name of hankford oak." j. sansom. _mauilies, manillas_ (vol. vii., p. .).--w. h. s. will probably find some of the information which he asks for in _two essays on the ring-money of the celtæ_, which were read in the year to the members of the royal irish academy by sir william betham, and in some observations on these essays which are to be found in the _gentleman's magazine_ of that year. during the years , , and , there were made at birmingham or the neighbourhood, and exported from liverpool to the river bonney in africa, large quantities of _cast-iron_ rings, in imitation of the _copper_ rings known as "manillas" or "african ring-money," then made at bristol. a vessel from liverpool, carrying out a considerable quantity of these cast-iron rings, was wrecked on the coast of ireland in the summer of . a few of them having fallen into the hands of sir william betham, he was led to write the _essays_ before mentioned. the making of these cast-iron rings has been discontinued since the year , in consequence of the natives of africa refusing to give anything in exchange for them. from inquiry which i made in birmingham in the year , i learnt that more than tons of these cast-iron rings had been made in that town and neighbourhood in the year , for the african market. the captain of a vessel trading to africa informed me in the same year that the black despot, who then ruled on the banks of the river bonney, had threatened to mutilate, in a way which i will not describe, any one who should be detected in landing these counterfeit rings within his territories. n. w. s. { } _the use of the hour-glass in pulpits_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent a. w. s. having called attention to the use of the hour-glass in pulpits (vol. vii., p. .), i beg to mention two instances in which i have seen the stands which formerly held them. the first is at pilton church, near barnstaple, devon, where it still (at least very lately it did) remain fixed to the pulpit; the other instance is at tawstock church (called, from its numerous and splendid monuments, the westminster abbey of north devon), but here it has been displaced, and i saw it lying among fragments of old armour, banners, &c., in a room above the vestry. they were similar in form, each representing a man's arm, cut out of sheet iron and gilded, the hand holding the stand; turning on a hinge at the shoulder it lay flat on the panels of the pulpit when not in use. when extended it would project about a yard. balliolensis. george poulson, esq., in his _history and antiquities of the seignory of holderness_ (vol. ii. p. .), describing keyingham church, says that-- "the pulpit is placed on the south-east corner; beside it is an iron frame-work, used to contain an hour-glass." edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton-in-lindsey. _derivation of the word "island"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent c. gives me credit for a far greater amount of humour than i can honestly lay claim to. he appears (he must excuse me for saying so) to have scarcely read through my observations on the derivation of the word _island_, which he criticises so unmercifully; and to have understood very imperfectly what he has read. for instance, he says that my "derivation of _island_ from _eye_, the visual orb, because each are (_sic_) surrounded by water, seems like banter," &c. had i insisted on any such analogy, i should indeed have laid myself open to the charge; but _i did nothing of the kind_, as he will find to be the case, if he will take the trouble of perusing what i wrote. my remarks went to show, that, in the a.-s. compounded terms, _ealond_, _igland_, &c., from which our word _island_ comes, the component _ea_, _ig_, &c., does not mean _water_, as has hitherto been supposed to be the case, but an _eye_; and that on this supposition alone can the simple _ig_, used to express an _island_, be explained. will c. endeavour to explain it in any other way? throughout my remarks, the word _isle_ is not mentioned. and why? simply because it has no immediate etymological connexion with the word _island_, being merely the french word naturalised. the word _isle_ is a simple, the word _island_ a compound term. it is surely a fruitless task (as it certainly is unnecessary for any one, with the latter word ready formed to his hand in the saxon branch of the teutonic, and, from its very form, clearly of that family), to go out of his way to torture the latin into yielding something utterly foreign to it. my belief is, that the resemblance between these two words is an accidental one; or, more properly, that it is a question whether the introduction of an _s_ into the word _island_ did not originate in the desire to assimilate the saxon and french terms. h. c. k. _a cob-wall_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a "cob" is not an unusual word in the midland counties, meaning a lump or small hard mass of anything: it also means a blow; and a good "cobbing" is no unfamiliar expression to the generality of schoolboys. a "cob-wall," i imagine, is so called from its having been made of heavy lumps of clay, beaten one upon another into the form of a wall. i would ask, if "gob," used also in devonshire for the stone of any fruit which contains a kernel, is not a cognate word? w. fraser. tor mohun. _oliver cromwell's portrait_ (vol. vi. _passim_).--in reference to this query, the best portrait of oliver cromwell is in the baptist college here, and guineas have been refused for it. i am not aware if it is the one alluded to by your correspondents. the picture is small, and depicts the protector _without_ armour: it is by cooper, and was left to its present possessors by the rev. andrew gifford, a baptist minister, in . two copies have been made of it, but the original has never been engraved; from one of the copies, however, an engraving is in process of execution, after the picture by mr. newenham, of "cromwell dictating to milton his letter to the duke of savoy." the likeness of cromwell in this picture is taken from one of the copies. the original is not allowed to be taken from off the premises on any consideration, in consequence of a dishonest attempt having been made, some time ago, to substitute a copy for it. bristoliensis. _manners of the irish_ (vol. viii., pp. . .)--a slight knowledge of gaelic enables me to supply the meaning of some of the words that have puzzled your irish correspondents. _molchan_ (gaelic, _mulachan_) means "cheese." "deo gracias, is smar in doieagh." i take to mean "thanks to god, god is good." in gaelic the spelling would be--"is math in dia." a roman catholic celt would often hear his priest say "deo gratias." the meaning of the passage seems to be pretty clear, and may be rendered thus:--the irish farmer, although in the abundant enjoyment of { } bread, butter, cheese, flesh, and broth, is not only not ashamed to complain of poverty as an excuse for non-payment of his rent, but has the effrontery to thank god, as if he were enjoying only those blessings of providence to which he is justly entitled. w. c. argyleshire. _chronograms and anagrams_ (vol. viii., p. .).--perhaps the most extraordinary instance to be found in reference to chronograms is the following: "chronographica gratulatio in felicissimum adventum serenissimi cardinalis ferdinandi, hispaniarum infantis, a collegio soc. jesu. bruxellæ publico belgarum gaudio exhibita." this title is followed by a dedication to s. michael and an address to ferdinand; after which come one hundred hexameters, _every one of which is a chronogram_, and each chronogram gives the same result, viz. . the first three verses are,-- "angele cælivogi michaël lux unica cætus. pro nutu succincta tuo cui cuncta ministrant. sidera quique polo gaudentia sidera volvunt." the last two are,-- "vota cano: hæc levibus quamvis nunc inclyte princeps. versiculis inclusa, fluent in sæcula centum." all the numeral letters are printed in capitals, and the whole is to be found in the _parnassus poeticus societatis jesu_ (francofurti, ), at pp. - . of part i. in the same volume there is another example of the chronogram, at p. ., in the "septem mariæ mysteria" of antonius chanut. it occurs at the close of an inscription: "statuam hanc--ex voto ponit fernandus tertius augustus." the date is . "henriot, an ingenious anagrammatist, discovered the following anagram for the occasion of the th: 'napoleon bonaparte sera-t-il consul à vie, la [le] peuple bon reconnoissant votera oui.' there is only a trifling change of _a_ to e."--_gent. mag._, aug. , p. . the following is singular: "quid est veritas? = vir qui adest." i add another chronogram "by godard, upon the birth of louis xiv. in , on a day when the eagle was in conjunction with the lion's heart:" "exoriens delphin aquila cordisque leonis congressu gallos spe lætitiaque refecit." b. h. c. _"haul over the coals"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this appears to mean just the same as "roasting"--to inflict upon any one a castigation _per verbum_ and in good humour. _to cover over the coals_ is the same as to cower over the coals, as a gipsy over a fire. thus hodge says of gammer gurton and tib, her maid: "'tis their daily looke, they cover so over the coles their eies be bleared with smooke." _to carry coals to newcastle_ is well understood to be like giving alms to the wealthy; but viewed in union with the others would show what a prominent place coals seem to have in the popular mind. b. h. c. poplar. _sheer hulk_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this phrase is certainly correct. _sheer_ = mere, a hulk, and nothing else. thus we say _sheer_ nonsense, _sheer_ starvation, &c.; and the song says: "here a _sheer hulk_ lies poor tom bowling, the darling of our crew," &c. the etymology of _sheer_ is plainly from _shear_. b. h. c. poplar. _the magnet_ (vol. vi. _passim_).--this was used by claudian apparently as symbolical of venus or love: "mavors, sanguinea qui cuspide verberat urbes, et venus, humanas quæ laxat in otia curas, aurati delubra tenent communia templi, effigies non una deis. sed ferrea martis forma nitet, venerem _magnetica gemma figurat_."--claud. _de magnete._ b. h. c. poplar. _fierce_ (vol. viii., p. .).--oxoniensis mentions a peculiar use of the word "fierce." an inhabitant of staffordshire would have answered him: "i feel quite _fierce_ this morning." w. fraser. tor-mohun. _connexion between the celtic and latin languages_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent m. will find some curious and interesting articles on this subject in vol. ii. of _the scottish journal_, edinburgh, , p. . _et infra_. duncan mactavish. lochbrovin. _acharis_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a mistake, probably, for _achatis_, a latinised form of _achat_, a bargain, purchase, or act of purchasing. the passage in dugdale seems to mean that "ralph wickliff, esq., holds two-thirds of the tithes of certain domains sometime purchased by him, { } formerly at a rental of s., now at nothing, because, as he says, they are included in his park." j. eastwood. _henry, earl of wotton_ (vol. viii., p. .).--philip, first earl of chesterfield, had a son henry, lord stanhope, k.b., who married catherine, the eldest daughter and co-heir of thomas, lord wotton, and had issue one son philip, and two daughters, mary and catherine. lord stanhope died s. p. nov. , . his widow was governess to the princess of orange, daughter of charles i., and attending her into holland, sent over money, arms, and ammunition to that king when he was distressed by his rebellious subjects. for such services, and by reason of her long attendance on the princess, she was, on the restoration of charles ii. (in regard that lord stanhope, her husband, did not live to enjoy his father's honours), by letters patent bearing date may , charles ii., advanced to the dignity of countess of chesterfield for life, as also that her daughters should enjoy precedency as earl's daughters. she took to her second husband john poliander kirkhoven, lord of kirkhoven and henfleet, by whom she had a son, _charles henry_ kirkhoven, the subject of the query. this gentleman, chiefly on account of his mother's descent, was created a baron of this realm by the title of lord wotton of wotton in kent, by letters patent bearing date at st. johnstone's (perth) in scotland, august , , and in september, , was naturalised by authority of parliament, together with his sisters. he was likewise in created earl of _bellomont_ in ireland, and, dying without issue, left his estates to his nephew charles stanhope, the younger son of his half-brother the earl of chesterfield, who took the surname of wotton. this information is principally from collins, who quotes "ec. stem. per vincent." i have consulted also bank's _dormant baronage_, burke's _works_, and sharpe's _peerage_. broctuna. bury, lancashire. _anna lightfoot_ (vol. vii., p. .).--an account of "the left-handed wife of george iii." appeared in sir richard phillips' _monthly magazine_ for or , under the title of (i think) "hannah lightfoot, the fair quaker." alexander andrews. _lawyers' bags_ (vol. viii., p. .).--previous correspondents appear to have established the fact that green was the orthodox colour of a lawyer's bag up to a recent date. may not the change of colour have been suggested by the sarcasms and jeers about "green bags," which were very current during the proceedings on the bill of pains and penalties, commonly known as the _trial_ of queen caroline, some thirty years ago? the reports of the evidence collected by the commission on the continent, was laid on the table in a _sealed green bag_, and the very name became for a time the signal for such an outcry, that the lawyers may have deemed it prudent to strike their colours, and have recourse to some other less obnoxious to remark. balliolensis. _"when orpheus went down"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reply to the query of g. m. b. respecting "when orpheus went down," i beg to say that the author was the rev. dr. lisle (most probably the bishop of st. asaph). the song may be found among ritson's _english songs_. when it was first published i have not been able to ascertain, but it must have been in the early part of the last century, as the air composed for it by dr. boyce, most likely for vauxhall, was afterwards used in the pasticcio opera of _love in a village_, which was brought out in . c. oldenshaw. leicester. _muffs worn by gentlemen_ (vol. vi. _passim_; vol. vii., p. .).--in lamber's _travels in canada and the united states_ ( ), vol. i. p. ., is the following passage: "i should not be surprised if those _delicate young soldiers_ were to introduce muffs: they were in general use among the men under the french government, and are still worn by two or three old gentlemen." uneda. philadelphia. _wardhouse, and fisherman's custom there_ (vol. viii., p. .).--wardhouse or wardhuuse, is a port in finland, and the custom was for the english to purchase herrings there, as they were not permitted to fish on that coast. in _trade's increase_, a commercial tract, written in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, the author, when speaking of restraints on fishing on the coasts of other nations, says: "certain merchants of hull had their ships taken away and themselves imprisoned, for fishing about the wardhouse at the north cape." w. pinkerton. ham. _"in necessariis unitas," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--the sentence, "in necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas," may be seen sculptured in stone over the head of a doorway leading into the garden of a house which was formerly the residence of archdeacon coxe, and subsequently of canon lisle bowles, in the close at salisbury. it is quoted from melancthon. the inscription was placed there by the poet, and is no less the record of a noble, true, and generous sentiment, than of the discriminating taste and feeling of him by whom it was thus appreciated and honoured. { } would that it might become the motto of _all_ our cathedral precincts! w. s. northiam. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. _the botany of the eastern borders, with the popular names and uses of the plants, and of the customs and beliefs which have been associated with them_, by george johnson, m.d. this, the first volume of _the natural history of the eastern borders_, is a book calculated to please a very large body of readers. the botanist will like it for the able manner in which the various plants indigenous to the district are described. the lover of old world associations will be delighted with the industry with which dr. johnson has collected, and the care with which he has recorded their popular names, and preserved the various bits of folk lore associated with those popular names, or their supposed medicinal virtues. the antiquary will be gratified by the bits of archæological gossip, and the biographical sketches so pleasantly introduced; and the general reader with the kindly spirit with which dr. johnson will enlist him in his company-- " . . . unconstrain'd to rove along the bushy brakes and glens among." marry, it were a pleasant thing to join the _berwickshire natural history club_ in one of their rambles through the eastern borders. mr. bohn has just added to his _antiquarian library_ a volume which will be received with great satisfaction by all who take an interest in the antiquity of egypt. it is a translation by the misses horner of dr. lepsius' _letters from egypt, ethiopia, and the peninsula of sinai, with extracts from his chronology of the egyptians, with reference to the exodus of the israelites, revised by the author_. dr. lepsius, it may be mentioned, was at the head of the scientific expedition appointed by the king of prussia to investigate the remains of ancient egyptian and ethiopian civilisation, still in preservation in the nile valley and the adjacent countries; and in this cheap volume we have that accomplished traveller's own account of what that expedition was able to accomplish. we are at length enabled to answer the query which was addressed to us some time since on the subject of the continuation of mr. maccabe's _catholic history of england_. the third volume is now at press, and will be issued in the course of the next publishing season. books received.--_a letter to a convocation-man concerning the rights, powers, and privileges of that body, first published in . edited, with an introduction and notes_, by the rev. w. fraser, b.c.l. this reprint of a very rare tract will no doubt be prized by the numerous advocates for the re-assembling of convocation, who must feel indebted to mr. fraser for the care and learning with which he has executed his editorial task.--_a collection of curious, interesting, and facetious epitaphs, monumental inscriptions, &c._, by joseph simpson. we think the editor would have some difficulty in authenticating many of the epitaphs in his collection, which seems to have been formed upon no settled principle.--_the physiology of temperance and total abstinence, being an examination of the effects of the excessive, moderate, and occasional use of alcoholic liquors on the healthy human system_, by dr. carpenter: a shilling pamphlet, temperately written and closely argued, and well deserving the attention of all, even of the most temperate. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the monthly army list from to inclusive. published by hookham and carpenter, bond street. square mo. jer. collier's ecclesiastical history of england. folio edition. vol. ii. london labour and the london poor. lowndes' bibliographer's manual. pickering. proceedings of the london geological society. prescott's history of the conquest of mexico. vols. london. vol. iii. mrs. ellis's social distinction. tallis's edition. vols. ii. and iii. vo. history and antiquities of newbury. vo. . pages. two copies. vancouver's survey of hampshire. hemingway's history of chester. large paper. parts i. and iii. correspondence on the formation of the roman catholic bible society. vo. london, . athenÆum journal for . pamphlets. junius discovered. by p. t. published about . reasons for rejecting the evidence of mr. almon, &c. . another guess at junius. hookham. . the author of junius discovered. longmans. . the claims of sir p. francis refuted. longmans. . who was junius? glynn. . some new facts, &c., by sir f. dwarris. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. replies. _we have again to beg those correspondents who favour us with_ replies _to complete them by giving the volume and page of the original_ queries. _this would give little trouble to each correspondent, while its omission entails considerable labour upon us._ w. c. "when greeks join'd greeks" _is from lee's alexander the great_. a constant reader. _the contractions referred to stand for_ pence _and_ farthings. c. w. (bradford). _we can promise that if the book in question is obtained, our correspondent shall have the reading of it._ photographic correspondence. _we hope next week to lay before our readers_ dr. diamond'_s process for printing on albumenized paper. we shall also reply to several photographic querists._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * { } indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . 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"counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodised collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j.b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; 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george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates. cases. passepartoutes. best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas, silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * { } just published, price fourpence, or sent free on receipt of six postage stamps, fennell's shakspeare repository, no. iii. containing the following interesting articles, viz. discovery of some of shakspeare's manuscripts, with extracts therefrom; shakspearian deeds and other relics; shakspeare's knowledge of geography and the classics vindicated from hypercritical and pedantic commentators; curious old song, by john grange; notes on the tempest, gentlemen of verona, and merry wives of windsor; shakspeare and bartholomew fair; dr. william kenrick's lectures on shakspeare, &c. &c. no. i. of the shakspeare repository may be had, price sixpence, or sent free on receipt of six postage stamps. no. ii., price fourpence, or six postage stamps; or nos. i. ii. and iii. sent free on receipt of eighteen stamps. address, james h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * murray's handbooks for travellers. a new and cheaper issue. handbook--travel talk. s. d. handbook--belgium and the rhine. s. handbook--switzerland, savoy, and piedmont. s. d. handbook--north germany, holland, belgium, and the rhine. s. handbook--south germany and the tyrol. s. handbook--france and the pyrenees. s. handbook--spain, andalusia, etc. s. handbook--north italy and florence. s. handbook--central italy, tuscany, and the papal states. s. handbook--central italy and rome. (just ready.) handbook--south italy and naples. s. handbook--egypt and thebes. s. handbook--denmark, norway, and sweden. s. handbook--russia and finland. s. handbook--greece and ionian islands. (nearly ready.) john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, cloth, pages, vo., price s. d., the new volume of the british controversialist: containing able debates on many of the most important questions of the day, and a section which might be denominated "notes and queries for the people." "contains a large amount of sound and very useful information."--_eclectic review._ "it is full of intelligence and instruction."--_papers for the schoolmaster._ london: houlston & stoneman, paternoster row, and all booksellers. * * * * * just out, price s. a letter to a convocation man, concerning the rights, powers, and privileges of that body, first published in . edited, with an introduction and notes, by the rev. william fraser, b.c.l., curate of tor-mohun. "no reader on the subject of convocation can any longer allow his library to be without this very valuable and, until now, extremely scarce pamphlet."--_western courier._ also, price s., the constitutional nature of the convocations of the church of england. by the rev. william fraser, b.c.l. "this pamphlet has met with approval from several quarters; we must take it then as representing the opinions of a considerable number of convocation students."--_synodalia._ london: j. masters. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * a descriptive catalogue of a general collection of ancient and modern gems, cameos, as well as intaglios. by james tassie, modeller. arranged and described by r.e. raspe, and illustrated with copper-plates. vols. to., london, , boards, in first-rate condition, scarce, l. s. d. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, - , volume four, - . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, - , volume two, - . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * murray's railway reading. just ready, with woodcuts, fcap. vo., s. the guillotine. an historical essay. by the right hon. john wilson croker. reprinted from "the quarterly review." the former volumes of this series are-- lockhart's ancient spanish ballads. hollway's month in norway. lord campbell's life of lord bacon. wellington. by jules maurel. dean milman's fall of jerusalem. life of theodore hook. lord mahon's story of joan of arc. hallam's literary essays and characters. the emigrant. by sir f. b. head. wellington. by lord ellesmere. music and dress. by a lady. layard's popular account of nineveh. bees and flowers. by a clergyman. lord mahon's history of the "forty-five." essays from "the times." giffard's deeds of naval daring. the art of dining. oliphant's journey to nepaul. the chace, the turf, and the road. by nimrod. james' fables of Æsop. to be followed by beauties of byron: prose and verse. a second series of essays from "the times." the ancient egyptians. by sir j. g. wilkinson. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london: and published by george bell, of no. fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, september , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "molchan ... means cheese": 'chuse' in original, corrected by a correspondent in issue . p. . page , "cower over the coals": 'lower' in original, corrected by errata in issue . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page notes:-- lord halifax and mrs. catherine barton, by professor de morgan dr. parr on milton parts of mss., by john macray william blake folk lore:--legends of the county clare--the seven whisperers italian-english, german-english, and the refugee style, by philarète chasles shakspeare correspondence, by thos. keightley, &c. minor notes:--decomposed cloth--first and last --cucumber time--ms. sermons of the eighteenth century--boswell's "johnson"--stage coaches-- antecedents--the letter x--a crow-bar queries:-- minor queries:--bishop grehan--doxology-- arrow-mark--gabriel poyntz--queen elizabeth's and queen anne's motto, "semper eadem"--bees --nelly o'brien and kitty fisher--"homo unius libri"--"now the fierce bear," &c.--prejudice against holy confirmation--epigram on macadam --jane scrimshaw--the word "quadrille"--the hungarians in paules--ferns wanted--craton the philosopher--the solar annual eclipse in the year --d'israeli: how spelt?--richard oswald-- cromwell's descendants--letter of archbishop curwen to archbishop parker minor queries with answers:--margaret patten-- etymology of "coin"--inscription at aylesbury-- "guardian angels, now protect me," &c.--k. c. b.'s --danish and swedish ballads--etymology of "conger"--"si vis me flere, dolendum est primum tibi" replies:-- medal and relic of mary queen of scots, by john evans, &c. early use of tin.--derivation of the name of britain pictorial editions of the book of common prayer yew-trees in churchyards, by fras. crossley, &c. osborn family inscriptions on bells, by w. sparrow simpson and j. l. sisson ladies' arms borne in a lozenge the myrtle bee, by c. brown captain john davis, by bolton corney photographic correspondence:--clouds in photographs --"the stereoscope considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision"--muller's processes--positives on glass replies to minor queries:--peculiar ornament in crosthwaite church--nursery rhymes--milton's widow--watch-paper inscriptions--poetical tavern signs--parish clerks' company--"elijah's mantle" --histories of literature--birthplace of general monk--books chained to desks in churches, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. lord halifax and mrs. catherine barton. those who have written on the life of newton have touched with the utmost reserve upon the connexion which existed between his half-niece catherine barton, and his friend charles montague, who died earl of halifax. they seem as if they were afraid that, by going fairly into the matter, they should find something they would rather not tell. the consequence is, that when a writer at home or abroad, voltaire or another, hints with a sneer that a pretty niece had more to do with newton's appointment to the mint than the theory of gravitation, those who would like to know as much as can be known of the whole truth find nothing in any attainable biography except either total silence or a very awkward and hesitating account of half something. on looking again into the matter, the juxtaposition of all the circumstances induced in my mind a strong suspicion that mrs. c. barton was _privately married_ to lord halifax, probably before his elevation to the peerage, and that the marriage was no very great secret among their friends. as yet i can but say that the hypothesis of a private marriage is, to me, the most probable of those among which a choice must be made: farther information may be obtained by publication of the case in "n. & q.," the most appropriate place of deposit for the provisional result of unfinished inquiries. charles montague (born april, , died may , ) made acquaintance with newton when both were at trinity college in and . newton was nineteen years older than montague, and had been twelve years lucasian professor. at the beginning of their friendship, the lucasian professor must be called the patron of the young undergraduate, who was looking for a fellowship with the intention of taking orders, a design which he did not find sufficient encouragement to abandon until after he had sat in the convention. by , the rising politician had become the patron of the author of the _principia_, who in that { } year or the next became an aspirant for public employment. the friendship of newton and montague lasted until the death of the latter, interrupted only by a coolness (on newton's side at least) in , arising out of a suspicion in newton's mind that montague was not sincere in his intentions towards his friend. catherine barton (born , died ) was the daughter of robert barton and newton's half-sister, hannah smith (baily's _flamsteed, supplement_, p. .). lieut.-col. barton, usually called her husband, was her brother. the pedigrees published by turnor recognise this fact: swift distinctly states it, and rigaud proves it in various ways in letters to baily, which lately passed through my hands on their way to the observatory at greenwich. the mistake ought never to have been made, for _mrs. c. barton_ (as she was usually denominated) must, according to usage, have been reputed single so long as her christian name was introduced. mrs. c. barton married mr. conduitt, then or afterwards newton's assistant, and his successor: this marriage probably took place in , the year in which newton introduced conduitt into the royal society. among the turnor memorials of newton, now in possession of the royal society, is a watch leaving the inscription "mrs. c. conduitt to sir isaac newton, january, ." this date cannot be correct, for swift in , halifax in , flamsteed in , and monmort in , call her barton: all but flamsteed were intimate acquaintances. any one who looks at the inscription will see that it is not as old as the watch: it is neither ornamented nor placed in a shield or other envelope, while the case is beautifully chased, and has an elaborate design, representing fame and britannia examining the portrait of newton. moreover, "mrs. conduitt" would never have described herself as "mrs. c. conduitt." montague was not, so far as usual accounts state, what even in our day would be called a libertine. he married the countess of manchester (the widow of a relative) before his entry into public life, and was deeply occupied in party politics and fiscal administration. i am told that davenant impugns his morals: this may be the exception which proves the rule; some of the lampoons directed against the whig minister are preserved, and these do not attack his private character in the matter under allusion, so far as i can learn. all the cotemporary evidence yet adduced as to the relation between lord halifax and catherine barton, is contained in one sentence in the _life_ of the former, two codicils of his will, and one allusion of flamsteed's. the _life_, with the will attached, was appended to two different publications of the works of halifax, in and . the passage from the _life_ is as follows (p. .): "i am likewise to account for another omission in the course of this history, which is that of the death of the lord _halifax's_ lady; upon whose decease his lordship took a resolution of living single thence forward, and cast his eye upon the widow of one colonel _barton_, and neice to the famous sir _isaac newton_, to be super-intendent of his domestick affairs. but as this lady was young, beautiful, and gay, so those that were given to censure, pass'd a judgment upon her which she no ways merited, since she was a woman of strict honour and virtue; and tho' she might be agreeable to his lordship in every particular, that noble peer's complaisance to her, proceeded wholly from the great esteem he had for her wit and most exquisite understanding, as will appear from what relates to her in his will at the close of these memoirs." this sentence is an insertion (the _first_ omission is as far back as p. .). it speaks of mrs. c. barton as if she were dead: and it is worthy of note that this lady, who lived to communicate to fontenelle materials for his _éloge_ of newton, had excellent opportunity, had it pleased her, to have contradicted or varied any part of the account given by halifax's biographer; and this without appearing. the actual communication made to fontenelle by her husband, mr. conduitt, is in existence, and was printed by mr. turnor; it contains no allusion to the subject. farther, it appears by the biographer's account that she had passed as a widow, which is not to be wondered at: the _colonel_ barton who was the son of circumstances, must have been created before her brother (who died in ) attained such rank, perhaps before he entered the army at all. the will gives very different evidence from that for which it is subpoenaed: it is dated april , . in the first codicil (dated april , ) lord halifax leaves mrs. barton all his jewels and l. "as a small token," he says, "of the great love and affection i have long had for her." in a second codicil (dated february , ) the first codicil is revoked, and the bequest is augmented to l., the rangership, lodge, and household furniture of bushey park, and the manor of apscourt, for her life. these are given, says lord halifax, "as a token of the sincere love, affection, and esteem, i have long had for her person, and as a small recompense for the pleasure and happiness i have had in her conversation." in this same codicil "mrs. catherine barton" is described as newton's niece, and l. is left to newton "as a mark of the great honour and esteem i have for so great a man." the concluding sentence of the codicil is as follows: "and i strictly charge and command my executor to give all aid, help, and assistance to her in possessing and enjoying what i have hereby given her; and also { } in doing any act or acts necessary to transfer her an annuity of two hundred pounds _per annum_, purchased in sir isaac newton's name, which i hold for her in trust, as appears by a declaration of trust in that behalf." this codicil immediately became the subject of remark, and the terms of it seem to have been understood as they would be now. flamsteed, writing in july, (halifax died in may), says: "if common fame be true, he died worth , l.; out of which he gave mrs. barton, sir i. newton's niece, for her _excellent conversation_ [the italics are baily's, the original, i suppose, underlined], a curious house, l. with lands, jewels, plate, money, and household furniture, to the value of , l. or more." i pay no attention to the statement that (_biogr. brit._, montague, note bb.) lord halifax was disappointed in a second marriage. it amounts only to this, that lord shaftsbury, having a certain lady in his heart and in his eye, was afraid he had a rival, and described the person talked of in terms which make it pretty certain that halifax was intended. but it by no means follows that because a certain person is "talked of" for a lady, and a lover put in fear by the rumour, the person is really a rival: and not even a biographer would have shown himself so unfit for a novelist as to have drawn such a conclusion, unless he had been biassed by the wish to show that halifax was attached to another than mrs. barton. it must of course be supposed that the introduction of montague to newton's niece was a consequence of his acquaintance with newton, and took place in or near , when newton came to london, where his niece soon began to reside with him. and since, in , the connexion, whatever it was, had been of long standing, we may infer that it had probably commenced in . the case is then as follows. montague received into his house, as "superintendent of his domestic affairs" after the death of his wife, the niece of his old and revered friend newton, a conspicuous officer of the crown, a member of parliament, and otherwise one of the most famous men living. this niece had been partly educated by newton; she had lived in his house; we know of no other protector that she could have had, in london; and the supposition that she left any roof except newton's to take shelter under that of montague, would be purely gratuitous. she was unmarried, beautiful, and gay; and probably not so much as, certainly not much more then, twenty years old. a handsome annuity was bought for her in newton's name, and held in trust by halifax: if it had been bought _by newton_, conduitt would have mentioned it in his list of the benefactions which newton's relatives received from him, especially after the publicity which it had obtained from halifax's will. that she did not tenant the housekeeper's room while the friends of halifax were round his table, may be inferred from the epigrams, poor as they are, which were made in her honour as a celebrated beauty and wit, in a collection of verses (reprinted in dryden's _miscellanies_) on the best known toasts of the day. halifax bequeathed her a provision which might have suited his widow, in terms which must have been intended to show that she had been either his wife or his mistress; while in the same document he brought prominently forward his respect for newton, the fact of her being newton's niece, and the annuity which he had bought for her in newton's name. an uncontradicted paragraph in the life of halifax, published immediately after the will, and evidently not intended to bring forward any fact not perfectly well known, records her residence in the house of that nobleman and the consequent rumours concerning her character, affirms that she was a virtuous woman, and refers to the will to prove it: though the will denies it in the plainest english, on any supposition except that of a private marriage. finally, the lady married a respectable man after the death of lord halifax, and lived with him in the house of her illustrious uncle. that she was either the wife or the mistress of halifax, i take to be established; it is the natural conclusion from the facts above stated, all made public during her life, all left uncontradicted by herself, by her husband, by her daughter, by lord lymington her son-in-law, and by the uncle who had stood to her in the place of a father. it is impossible that newton could have been ignorant that his niece was living in montague's house, enjoyed an annuity bought in his own name, and was regarded by the world as the mistress of his friend and political patron. the language of the codicil shows that, be the nature of the connexion what it might, halifax meant to tell the world that it might be proclaimed in all its relation to the name of newton. to those who cannot, under all the circumstances, believe the connexion to have been what is called platonic, the probability that there was a private marriage is precisely the probability that newton would not have sanctioned the dishonour of his own niece: and even if the connexion were only that of friendship, newton must have sanctioned the appearance and the forms of a dishonourable intimacy: the co-habitation, the settlement, and the defiance of opinion. now there is no reason to suppose of newton that he would be a party to either proceeding, which would not apply as well to any man then alive: to locke, for instance. looking at the morals of the day, we are by no means justified in throwing off at once, with disgust, the bare idea of the possibility of a distinguished philosopher consenting to an illicit intercourse between his friend and his niece: we are bound, { } in discussing probabilities, to distinguish from . but, even putting out of view the purity of newton's private life, and of the lives of his most intimate friends, there is that in the weaker part of his character which is of itself almost conclusive. right or wrong, newton never faced opinion. as soon as he found that publication involved opposition, from that time forward he published only with the utmost reluctance, and under the strongest persuasions; except when, as in the case of some of his theological writings, he confided the manuscript to a friend, to be anonymously published abroad. the _principia_ was extorted from him by the royal society; the first publication on fluxions was under the name of wallis; the _optics_ were delayed until the death of hooke; the first appearance against leibnitz was anonymous; the second originated in a hint from the king. this morbid fear, which is often represented as modesty, would have made him, had he acted a part with regard to his niece which he could not avow, conduct it with the utmost reserve. the philosopher who would have let the theory of gravitation die in silence rather than encounter the opposition which a discovery almost always creates, would not have allowed his _name_ to be connected with the annuity which was the price of his niece's honour, or which carried all the appearance of it, even supposing him base enough to have connived at the purchase. and in such a case, halifax would have taken care to respect the secrecy which he would have known to have been essential to newton's comfort: he would not have published to the world that his mistress was newton's niece, and that newton was a party to a settlement upon her. there seems to me, about the codicil as it stands, a declaration that the connexion with newton's niece was such as, if people knew all, newton might have sanctioned. and the supposition of a private marriage, generally understood among the friends of the parties, seems to me to make all the circumstances take an air of likelihood which no other hypothesis will give them: and this is all my conclusion. if there were a marriage, the most probable reason for the concealment was, that it was contracted at a time when the birth and station of mrs. barton would have rendered her production at court as the wife of montague an impediment to his career. he was raised to the peerage in , and as the connexion was of long standing in , it may well be supposed that it commenced at the time when (in his own opinion at least) his prospects of such elevation might have been compromised by a decided misalliance. the lower the tone of morals, the greater the ridicule which attaches to unequal _marriages_. montague, though of noble family, was the younger son of a younger son, and not rich: it was common among the tories to sneer at him as a _parvenu_. he had made his first appearance in the great world as the husband of a countess-dowager, and it may be that the _parvenu_ was weak enough to shrink from producing, as his second wife, a woman of very much lower rank, the granddaughter of a country clergyman, and the daughter of a man of no pretension to station. that mr. macaulay has not underrated the position of the country clergy, is known to all who have dipped into the writings of the seventeenth century. it is not, however, necessary to explain why the supposed marriage should have been private. as the world is constituted, no rules of inference can be laid down in reference to the irregular relations of the sexes. with reference to the insinuation that newton owed his official position rather to his niece than to his ability, it can be completely shown that, on the worst possible supposition, the office in the mint could have had nothing to do with mrs. c. barton. newton was appointed to the lower office (the _wardenship_) in march, - , when the young lady was not sixteen years old, and before she could have been a resident under her uncle's roof. the state of the coinage had caused much uneasiness; it was one of the difficulties, and its restoration was one of the successes, of the day. the best scientific advice was taken: locke, newton, and halley were consulted, and all were placed in office nearly at the same time; newton in the london mint, halley in the chester mint, locke in the council of trade. neither locke nor halley had any nieces. before newton's appointment there was some negociation of a public character: the wardenship was not vacant, and the government seems to have tried to induce newton to take something subordinate. march , newton wrote to halley, in reference to a current rumour,--"i neither put in for any place in the mint, nor would meddle with mr. hoar's [the comptroller's] place, were it offered me." on the th, montague informs newton that he is to have the _wardenship_, vacant by the removal of mr. overton to the customs. four years afterwards, when the great operation on the coinage, by many declared impracticable, had completely succeeded, newton, a principal adviser and the principal administrator, obtained the mastership in the course of promotion. montague was raised to the peerage in the following year, and mainly, as the patent states, for the same service. so that, though montague was the patron as to the wardenship, yet scientific assistance was then so sorely needed, that no hypothesis relative to any niece would be necessary to explain the phenomenon of newton's appointment: while, as to the mastership it may almost be said that montague was more indebted to newton for his peerage, than newton to montague for that promotion which any minister must, under the circumstances, have granted. { } in no account of newton that i ever read is it stated that mrs. barton was an intimate friend of swift, probably through halifax. having been told that there is frequent mention of her in swift's _journal to stella_, i examined that series and the rest of the correspondence, in which her name occurs about twenty times. one letter from herself, under the name of conduitt (november , ), is indorsed by the dean, "my old friend mrs. barton, now mrs. conduitt," and establishes the identity of swift's friend with newton's niece: otherwise, it proves nothing here. the other points to be noticed are as follows. , september , november , march ; , april , july , october and , swift visited or dined with mrs. barton at her _lodgings_. he was also at this time on good terms with halifax, and dined with him november , , and with mrs. barton on november . according to the idiom of the day, _lodgings_ was a name for every kind of residence, and even for the apartments of a guest in the house of his host. for anything to the contrary in the mere word, the lodgings might have been in the house of lord halifax, or of newton himself. but, on the other hand, the future dean, much as he writes to stella of every kind of small talk, never mentions halifax and mrs. barton together, never makes the slightest allusion to either in connexion with the other, though in one and the same letter he minutes his having dined with halifax on the th, and with mrs. barton on the th. there must have been intentional suppression in this. all the world knew that there was some _liaison_ between the two; yet when swift ( , nov. ) records his having been "teased with whiggish discourse" by mrs. barton, he does not even drop a sarcasm about her politics having been learnt from halifax. this is the more remarkable as the two seem to have been almost the only persons who are mentioned as talking whiggery to him. to this list, however, may be added lady betty germain, well known to the readers of swift's poetry, who joined mrs. barton in inflicting the vexation, and at whose house the conversation took place. it thus appears that mrs. barton was received in a manner which shows that she was regarded as a respectable woman. the suppression on the part of swift may indicate respect for his two friends (that he highly respected mrs. barton appears clear), and observance of a convention established in their circle. but perhaps it is rather to be attributed to his own position with respect to stella, which was certainly peculiar, though no one can say what their understanding was at the date of the journal. this journal came again into swift's hands before it was published; so that we can only treat it as containing what he finally chose to preserve. allusions may have been struck out. there is another point which our modern manners will not allow to be very closely handled in print, but on which i am disposed to lay some stress. on september , , and april , , swift visited mrs. barton at her lodgings. on each of these occasions she regaled him with a good story, which there is no need to repeat: there is no harm in either, and they are far from being the most singular communications which he made to stella; but they go beyond what, even in that day, will be considered as the probable conversation of a maiden lady of thirty-one, with a bachelor man of the world of forty-three. but they by no means exceed what we know to be the license then taken by married women; and swift's tone with respect to the stories, combined with his obvious respect for mrs. barton, may make any one lean to the supposition that he believed himself to be talking to a married woman. the reserve of swift puts us quite at fault as to the locality of mrs. barton's _lodgings_. they may have been in lord halifax's house; but if not, it requires some supposition to explain why they were not in that of newton, with whom she had lived, and with whom she certainly lived after the death of halifax. perhaps, when farther research is made in such directions as may be indicated by the only unreserved statement of the existing case which has ever been printed, the conclusion i arrive at, as to me the _most probable_, may either be reinforced, or another substituted for it. be this as it may, such points as i have discussed, relating to such men as newton, will not remain in abeyance for ever, let biographers be as timid as they will. a. de morgan. * * * * * dr. parr on milton. amongst my autographs i find the inclosed letter frown dr. parr. it is written upon a half-sheet of paper, and in a very cramp and illegible hand. to whom it is addressed, or when written, i am unable to say. as it relates to the opinions held by milton, perhaps you may think it worth insertion in your work, particularly as milton has been the subject of some papers in "n. & q." lately. w. m. f. _copy of letter from dr. parr, without date or address._ dear sir, i send you johnson's _life of milton_. my former feelings again return upon me, that johnson did not mean to affirm that milton prayed not upon any occasion or in any manner; but that he was engaged in no visible worship; that he prayed at no stated time; that he had not what we may call any regular return of family or private devotion. pray read the sequel. that he lived without prayer can hardly be affirmed, this { } surely is decided in my favour: it may wear the appearance of contradiction to the former passage, that omitting public prayer he omitted all; in truth, the expression just quoted is too peremptory and too general. but the sense of johnson cannot be mistaken, if you attend to the different views he had in each sentence; and i repeat my former assertion, that johnson did not think milton destitute of a devout spirit, or totally negligent of prayer in some form or other. yours, very truly and respectfully, j. parr. * * * * * parts of mss. as an instance of the unfortunate dispersion of the parts of valuable mss. through different countries, occasioned probably, in the case now to be mentioned, by public convulsions and the wild fury of revolutionary mobs in france, will you afford me space to quote an interesting description of a ms. from the catalogue of a library to be sold at paris in december next? the mss. and printed books in this library belonged to the eminent bookseller j. j. de bure, whose ancestor was the distinguished and well-known bibliographer guillaume de bure. the publicity given to descriptions like the present through the medium of "n. & q." may ultimately lead, on some occasions, to the scattered volumes being brought together again, either by way of purchase, or in exchange for other works. john macray. oxford. _"catalogue des livres rares et précieux, manuscrits et imprimés, de la bibliothèque de feu m. j. j. de bure, ancien libraire du roi et de la bibliothèque royale, etc._ "no. . le second livre des commentaires de la guerre gallèque, par caius julius cæsar, traduict en françois. in- , mar. noir, avec des fermoirs en argent. "manuscrit sur vélin. "l'ouvrage ne porte pas de titre; on lit seulement sur le plat du volume, tomus secundus, et au verso du feuillet; c'y commence le second livre des commentaires de la guerre gallèque. "ce manuscrit a été fait pour françois i^{er}; le chiffre de ce prince se trouve au premier feuillet. le vol. se compose de feuillets de texte, et de feuillets de table. l'ecriture est très-belle, et paraît être de l'un des meilleurs calligraphes de l'époque de francois i^{er}; beaucoup de mots sont en or et en azur. "on remarque miniatures, médaillons d'empereurs et d'autres personnages romains, figures d'engins ou machines de guerre, et fleurons; en tout peintures. "ce n'est point, à proprement parler, une traduction des commentaires. l'auteur suppose, dans le préambule de cette partie de l'ouvrage, que francis i^{er} au _commencement du moys d'auguste, l'an , allant courir le cerf en la fourest de byevre, y fait la rencontre de césar_. "de là, il établit un dialogue entre les deux personnages. françois i^{er} s'enquiert des circonstances de la guerre des gaules, et césar lui en donne les détails tels qu'ils out été écrits par lui-même. "on ne présente malheureusement ici qu'un tome ii. le tome i. est au musée britannique: on le trouve indiqué sous le no. . dans le _catalogue of the harleian mss. in the british museum_, london, , tome iii. in folio. ce tome i. est décrit dans l'ouvrage de m. waagen, _kunstwerke and künstler in england und paris_, berlin, , tome i. p. . "le tome iii. était à vendre dans ces dernières années, au prix de francs, chez m. techener (_bulletin du bibliophile_, année , no. . et p. .); nous ne savons où il est actuellement. "notre volume est le plus précieux des trois. il l'emporte sur les deux autres par le nombre des peintures (le tome i. n'en a que , et le tome iii. seulement ) et par l'intérêt qu'offrent ces peintures elles-mêmes. "la première, charmante miniature en camaïeu gris et or, représente françois i^{er} à cheval, courant le cerf; la dernière montre la prise du cerf. "parmi les autres sujets, également traités en grisaille, on remarque plusieurs batailles entre les romains et les gaulois, rendues dans leurs divers détails avec une finesse admirable d'exécution. mais ce qui, par-dessus tout, donne un prix infini à ce manuscrit, ce sont sept portraits, en médaillons, qui reproduisent les traits de quelques hommes de guerre du temps de françois i^{er}. ils sont peints avec une vérité et une délicatesse vraiment merveilleuses; des noms romains, qui figurent dans les commentaries de césar, sont écrits à côté des portraits; les noms véritables ont été tracées au-dessous, mais un peu plus tard, et par une main différente. voici ces noms:-- " ^o. _quintus pedius_, le grand-maistre de boisy, âgé de ans; ^o. _le fiable divitiacus d'autun_, l'amiral de boisy, seigneur de bonivet, âgé de ans; ^o. _quintus titurius sabinus_, odet de fones (foix), sieur de lautrec, âgé de ans; ^o. _iccius_, le mareschal de chabanes, seigneur de la palice, âgé de ans; ^o. _lucius arunculeius cotta_, anne de montmorency, âgé de ans, et depuis connestable de france; ^o. _publ. sextius baculus_, le mareschal de fleuranges, seigneur de la marche (mark), premier seigneur de sédan, âgé de ans; ^o. _publius crassus_, le sieur de tournon, qui fust tué à la bataille de pavie, âgé de ans. "la plupart des miniatures du volume sont signées g., . la perfection qui les distingue les avait d'abord fait attribuer au célèbre miniaturiste _guilo clovio_; maintenant on croit pouvoir affirmer qu'elles appartiennent à un peintre nommé godefroy. il se trouve à la bibliothèque de l'arsenal une traduction française des triomphes de pétrarque, avec des miniatures qui sont incontestablement de la même main et de la même époque. or, l'une de ces miniatures est signée _godefroy_. "on peut voir le rapprochement que fait entre les deux manuscrits m. waagen, dans l'ouvrage cité ci-dessus, tome iii. p. . il ne saurait, du reste, y avoir aucun doute sur le nom de l'artiste, lorsqu'on lit dans le _bulletin du bibliophile_ (pages déjà citées) que { } plusieurs des miniatures du tome iii. sont signées _godofredi pictoris_, . "ce précieux manuscrit ne sera pas vendu; il a été légué par m. de bure au département des manuscrits de la bibliothèque impériale." * * * * * william blake. (_continued from_ p. .) i venture to send you another note regarding william blake, claiming for that humble individual the honour of being the pioneer in the establishment of charity-schools in britain, from which department of our social system who can calculate the benefits accrued, and constantly accruing, to this country! we look in vain through the _silver drops_ of william blake for any record of an existing institution, such as he would have his "noble ladies" rear at highgate. among the many incentives he uses to prompt the charitable, we do not find him holding up for their example any model (unless it be "old sutton's brave hospital"); in all his amusing "charity-school sticks," his tone is that of a man trying to persuade people that the thing he proposes is feasible. "some of them," says the sanguine blake, "have scarce faith enough to believe in the success of this great and good design. nay, your brother cornish himself," continues he, in addressing one of his ladies, although full of good works, "would have persuaded me to lay it down" upon the ground of its impracticability. the language of blake is everywhere advocating this "_new_ way of charity." "if it be _new_," says he to an objector, "the more's the pity;" and, with reference to the possibility of failure, he would thus shame them into liberality. speaking of his "fine, handsome, and well cloathed boys; not too fine, because they are the ladies'!" our enthusiast adds to this _soft sawdur_: "but now, if a year or two hence they should be grown, which god forbid! poor ragged, half-starved, and no cloaths, country folks would say, who ride or go that way, were there not good ladies enough in and about london to maintain _one_ little school?" here then is _primâ facie_ evidence, i think, that my subject, poor crazy william blake, was the originator of one of the greatest social improvements of modern times. the charity-school movement had obtained a strong hold upon the public mind early in the past century; but although i have sought for the name of blake through many books professing to give an account of the early history of such institutions, i have not yet met with the slightest allusion to him, his school, or his _silver drops_. the superficial inquirer into the history of english charity-schools will be told that the honour of the first erecting such, and caring for destitute children, is popularly considered due to the parishes of st. botulph, aldgate, and st. margaret's, westminster: and if he would farther satisfy himself upon that point, he will see it claimed by the first named; a slab in front of their schools, adjoining the royal mint, bearing an inscription to the purport that it was the first protestant charity-school, erected by voluntary contributions in . if it comes to the earliest london school for poor children, perhaps the catholics take the lead; for we find that it was part of the tactics of the jesuits, in the reign of james ii., to promote their design of subverting the protestant religion by infusing their romish tenets into the minds of the children of the poor by providing schools for them in the savoy and westminster. blake says, with reference to this movement: "that the scheme he was engaged upon was a good work, because it will in some measure stop the mouths of papists, who are prone to say, where are your works, and how few are your hospitals, and how small is your charity, notwithstanding your great preaching?" a remarkable little book, and a very fit companion for the _silver drops_ of william blake, to which it bears a striking similarity, is the _pietas hallensis_ of dr. franck. in this, the german divine relates, in a style which bears more than an accidental resemblance to the work of the covent garden philanthropist, how, little by little, by importunity and perseverance, he nursed his own charitable plans, of a like kind, into full life and vigour; and both drs. woodward and kennett endorse and command the "miraculous footsteps of divine providence" in the labours of dr. franck. "could we," says dr. kennett, "trace the obscurer footsteps of our own charity-schools, the finger of god would be as evidently in them." why the bishop of peterborough should be ignorant of these earlier efforts to the same end in his own country, is somewhat marvellous. franck began his charitable work at glaucha in ; while blake was labouring to establish his highgate school in . that franck should know nothing about our pioneer in charitable education, is probable enough; but that the english divines i have mentioned, with wodrow, gillies, and a host of others, should be unaware that the proceedings at halle were only the counterpart of those done fourteen years before by blake in their own land, is certainly surprising, and affords another proof of the proneness of britons to extol everything foreign to the neglect of what is native and at their own doors. perhaps some of your readers will think i over-estimate the importance of the question, whether the charity-school movement is of british or foreign growth; or whether the honour of its application to the poor (for all _charity_-schools are not for such) belongs to my subject william blake, or { } some other philanthropic individual; if such there be, let them repair to our metropolitan cathedral on the day of the annual assemblage of the london charity children: and if, on contemplating the spectacle which will there meet their eye, they do not think it an object of interest to discover who, as dr. kennett says, "first cast in the _salt_ at the fountain-head to heal the _waters_, and broke the ground that was before barren," i pity them. in concocting this note, i have had before me the following: . lysons's _environs of london_, , where will be found a short notice of blake. the author, following gough, makes my subject a madman, and says his scheme "failed after laying out l. upon it." . _sermon preached for charity-schools_, by dr. kennett, . . _sermons of dr. smalridge and t. yulden_, and . these divines give the precedence to westminster school, "erected ." . _wodrow's letters_, edited by dr. mccrie, vols., edin. . . _pietas hallensis_: or an abstract of the marvellous footsteps of divine providence, in the building of a very large hospital, or rather a spacious college, for charitable and excellent uses; and in the maintaining of many orphans, and other poor people therein at glaucha, near halle in prussia, related by the rev. a. h. franck, parts, mo., london, - . let the curious reader compare this with blake's book. j. o. * * * * * folk lore. _legends of the county clare._--about nine miles westward from the town of ennis, in the midst of some of the wildest scenery in ireland, lies the small but very beautiful lake of inchiquin, famous throughout the neighbouring country for its red trout, and for being in winter the haunt of almost all the various kinds of waterfowl, including the wild swan, that are to be found in ireland, while the woods that border one of its sides are amply stocked with woodcocks. at one extremity of the lake are the ruins of the castle of inchiquin, part of which is built on a rock projecting into the lake, there about one hundred feet deep, and this legend is related of the old castle:--once upon a time, the chieftain of the quins, whose stronghold it was, found in one of the caves (many of which are in the limestone hills that surround the lake) a lady of great beauty, fast asleep. while gazing on her in rapt admiration she awoke, and, according to the customs of the heroic age, soon consented to become his bride, merely stipulating that no one bearing the name of o'brien should be allowed to enter the castle gate: this being agreed to, the wedding was celebrated with all due pomp, and in process of time one lovely boy blessed their union. among the other rejoicings at the birth of an heir to the chief of the clan, a grand hunting-match took place, and the chase having terminated near the castle, the chieftain, as in duty bound, requested the assembled nobles to partake of his hospitality. to this a ready assent was given, and the chiefs were ushered into the great hall with all becoming state; and then for the first time did their host discover that one bearing the forbidden name was among them the banquet was served, and now the absence of the lady of the castle alone delayed the onslaught on the good things spread before them. surprised and half afraid at her absence, her husband sought her chamber: on entering, he saw her sitting pensively with her child at the window which overlooked the lake; raising her head as he approached, he saw she was weeping, and as he advanced towards her with words of apology for having broken his promise, she sprang through the window with her child into the lake. the wretched man rushed forward with a cry of horror: for one moment he saw her gliding over the waters, now fearfully disturbed, chanting a wild dirge, and then, with a mingled look of grief and reproach, she disappeared for ever! and the castle and the lordship, with many a broad acre besides, passed from the quins, and are now the property of the o'briens to this day; and while the rest of the castle is little better than a heap of ruins, the fatal window still remains nearly as perfect as when the lady sprang through it, an irrefragable proof of the truth of the legend in the eyes of the peasantry. francis robert davies. _the seven whisperers._--i have been informed by an old and trustworthy servant that about twenty years ago, as he was walking one clear starlight night with two other persons, they heard, for the space of several minutes, high up in the air, beautiful sounds like music, which gradually died away towards the north. he spoke of it as an occurrence not very uncommon, and said it was always called "the seven whisperers." on inquiry i found the name well known amongst the poorer classes. is it not an electrical phenomenon? metaouo. essex. * * * * * italian-english, german-english, and the refugee style. (vol. vii., p. .) every one has admired the odd bits of italian-english which "n. & q." lately published, a true { } philological curiosity. such queer medleys have been the result whenever two opposite idioms have been thrown together and unskilfully stirred up. very few foreigners indeed, sclavonic nations being excepted, and particularly the russians, write french tolerably well. the present lord mahon and lady montaigne, in an excellent _essay on marriage_, are exceptions to the rule. voltaire used to say,-- "faites tous vos vers à paris; et n'allez pas en allemagne!" and very right he was. his kingly disciple committed more than once such irish rhymes as these: "je vais cueillir dans leurs sentiers (des muses) de fraîches et charmantes roses; et je dédaigne les lauriers, en exceptant les lauriers _sauces_." forgetting the difference of pronunciation between the soft _s_ of _rose (roze)_ and the lisping sound of the _c_ in _sauce (sôss)_. as i have not by me the ponderous and voluminous works of the poetical monarch, i may have altered some of the words of the quotation; but the rhymes _sauce_ and _rose_ i aver to be true to the primitive copy. even protestant refugees, born of french parents, brought up amongst their co-religionists and countrymen, wrote a strange gibberish, often ungrammatical, always unidiomatic, of which traces may be found even in basnage and ancillon. a recent french theologian, the clever author of a life of spinosa, written in germany and published in paris with some success, has such expressions as these: "les villes protestantes preferent la liberté avec calvin que la tyrannique concorde avec luther."--_hist. crit. du rationalisme_, p. . "et ailleuz: stuttgard dontil etait conservateur de la bibliothèque."-_ib_. and m. amand saintes is a frenchman, and a most erudite man. the celebrated frau bettina von arnim, who dared to translate into english and to print in berlin (apud trowitzsch and son, ), under the new title of _diary of a child_, her own untranslateable letters to göthe, had at least the very good excuse of her nationality for her peculiar english, the choicest, funniest, maddest, and saddest english ever penned on this planet or in any other, and of which i hope "n. & q." will accept some small specimens, taken at random among thousands such. to begin with the opening address: "_to the english bards_. "gentlemen!--the noble cup of your mellifluous tongue so often brimmed with immortality, here filled with odd but pure and fiery draught, do not refuse to taste if you relish its spirit to be homefelt, though not home-born." "bettina arnim." we will next pass to the "preamble": "the translating of göthe's correspondence with a child into english was generally disapproved of. previous to its publication in germany, the well-renowned mrs. austin, by regard for the great german poet, proposed to translate it; but after having perused it with attention, the literate and the most famed bookseller of london thought unadvisable the publication of a book that in every way widely differed from the spirit and feelings of the english, and therefore it could not be depended upon for exciting their interest. mrs. austin, by her gracious mind to comply with my wishes, proposed to publish some fragments of it, but as no musician ever likes to have only those passages of his composition executed that blandish the ear, i likewise refused my assent to the maiming of a work, that not by my own merit, but by chance and nature became a work of art, that only in the untouched development of its genius might judiciously be enjoyed and appraised." our next and last is taken from p. .: "from those venturesome and spirit-night-wanderings i came home with garments wet with melted snow; they believed i had been in the garden. when night i forgot all; on the next evening at the same time it came back to my mind, and the fear too i had suffered; i could not conceive, how i had ventured to walk alone on that desolate road in the night, and to stay on such a waste dreadful spot; i stood leaning at the court gate; to-day it was not so mild and still as yesterday; the gales rose high and roared along; they sighed up at my feet and hastened on yonder side, the fluttering poplars in the garden bowed and flung off their snow-burden, the clouds drove away in a great hurry, what rooted fast wavered yonder, and what could ever be loosened, was swept away by the hastening breezes." (!!!). p. s.--excuse my french-english. philarÈte chasles, mazarianæus paris, palais de l'institut. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _meaning of "delighted" in some places of shakspeare._--i am sorry to be obliged to differ so often in opinion with h. c. k., but as we are both, i trust, solely actuated by the love of truth, he no doubt will excuse me. my difference now with him is about "_delighted_ spirit," by which he understands the "tender _delicate_ spirit," while i take it to be the "_delectable_" or "_delightful_ spirit." as i think this is founded on the latin, i beg permission to quote the following portion of my note on jug. ii. . in my edition of sallust: "_incorruptus_, [greek: aphthartos] , _i. e._ incapable of dissolution, the _incorruptibilis_ of the fathers of the church. in imitation probably of the greek verbal adjective in [greek: tos], as [greek: hairetos], [greek: streptos], etc., the latins, especially sallust, sometimes used the past part. as equivalent to an adj. in _bilis_: comp. xliii, .; lxxvi. .; xci. .; cat. i. ., { } 'non _exorato_ stant adamante viæ;' propert. iv. . ., 'mare scopulis _inaccessum_;' plin. _nat. hist._, xii. . it is in this sense that _flexus_ is to be understood in virg. _Æn._, v. ." the same employment of the past part. is frequent in our old english writers, and i rather think that they adopted it from the latin. the earliest instance which i find in my notes is from golding, who renders the _tonitrus et inevitabile fulmen_ of ovid (_met._ iii. .): "with dry and dreadful thunderclaps and lightning to the same, of deadly and _unavoided_ dint." in milton i have noticed the following participles used in this sense: _unmoved_, _abhorred_, _unnumbered_, _unapproached_, _dismayed_, _unreproved_, _unremoved_, _unsucceeded_, _preferred_. but as milton was addicted to latinising, i will give some examples from shakspeare himself: "now thou art come unto a feast of death a terrible and _unavoided_ danger."--_ hen. vi._, act iv. sc. . "we see the very wreck that we must suffer, and _unavoided_ the danger now, for suffering so the causes of our wreck."--_rich. ii._, act ii. sc. . "all _unavoided_ is the doom of destiny."--_rich. iii._, act iv. sc. . "inestimable stones, _unvalued_ jewels."--_ib._, act i. sc. . "tell them that when my mother went with child of that _insatiate_ edward."--_ib._, act iii. sc. . "i am not glad that such a sore of time should seek a plaster by _contemned_ revolt."--_king john_, act v. sc . "the murmuring surge that on the _unnumber'd_ idle pebbles chafes."--_lear_, act iv. sc. . "o, _undistinguished_ space of woman's will."--_ib._ i could give instances from spenser and even from pope, but shall only observe that when we say "an _undoubted_ fact" we mean an _indubitable_ one. thos. keightley. p.s.--i am not disposed to quarrel with h. c. k.'s derivation of _awkward_ (vol. viii., p. .), but i must observe that the more exact correlative of _toward_ seems to be _wayward_. the anglo-saxons appear to have pronounced their [gh] as _g_; but after the conquest it was pronounced hard in some cases, and so _wayward_ and _awkward_ may have the same origin. _shakspeare portrait._--can any of your correspondents state whether the sign of shakspeare, said to have been painted at a cost of l., and which in graced a tavern then in drury lane, called "the shakspeare," and in that year was taken down and removed into the country, and used for a similar purpose, still exists, add where? and is the artist who painted such known? charlecott. _"taming of the shrew."_--i cannot help thinking that christopher sly merely means that he is fourteenpence on the score for _sheer_ ale,--nothing but ale; neither bread nor meat, horse housing, or bed. he has _drunk_ the entire amount, and glories in his iniquity, like a true tippler. g. h. k. _lord bacon and shakspeare._--can any of those correspondents of "n. & q." who have devoted attention to the lives of two of england's greatest worthies, francis bacon and william shakspeare, account for the extraordinary fact that, although these two highly gifted men were cotemporaries, no mention of or allusion to the other is to be found in the writings of either? bacon was born in , and died in ; shakspeare, who was born in , and died ten years before the great chancellor, not only loved "to suck the sweets of sweet philosophy," but breathes throughout every page of his wondrous writings a spirit of philosophy as profound as his imagination is unlimited; yet nowhere, it is believed, can he be traced as making the slight allusion to the great father of modern philosophy. bacon, on the other hand, whom one can scarcely suppose to have been ignorant of the writings of the dramatist, but who indeed may rather be believed to have known him personally, seems altogether to ignore his existence, or the existence of any of his matchless works. as the solution of this problem could not but throw much light on that most interesting subject,--the history of the minds of shakespeare and bacon,--i venture to throw it out as a fit subject for the research of some of your contributors versed in the writings of these great spirits of their own age, no less than of all time. theta. * * * * * minor notes. _decomposed cloth._--in mr. wright's valuable work on _the celt, the roman, and the saxon_, p. ., is mentioned the discovery at york of a roman coffin, in which were distinctly visible "the colour, a rich purple," as well as texture of the cloth with which the body it had contained had been covered. i should think that the colour observed was not that of the ancient dye, but rather was caused by phosphate of iron, formed by the combination of iron contained in the soil or water, with phosphoric acid, arising from the decomposition of animal matter. it may often be observed in similar cases, as about animal remains found in bogs, and about ancient leather articles found in { } excavations, especially when any iron is in contact with them, or in the soles of shoes or sandals studded with nails. w. c. trevelyan. wallington. _first and last._--there cannot be two words more different in meaning than these, and yet they are both used to express the same sense! of two authors equally eminent, one shall write that a thing is of the _first_ and the other of the _last_ importance, though each means the _greatest_ or _utmost_. how is this? to me _first_ appears preferable, though _last_ may be justifiable. being on the subject of words, i am reminded of _obnoxious_, which is applied in the strangest ways by different authors. it is true that the roman writers used _obnoxius_ in various senses; but it does not seem so pliable or smooth in english. generally it is held to indicate _disagreeable_ or _inimical_, though our dictionaries do not admit it to have either of those meanings! a. b. c. _cucumber time._--this term, which the working-tailors of england use to denote that which their masters call "the flat season," has been imported from a country which periodically sends many hundreds of its tailors to seek employment in our metropolis. the german phrase is "die saure gurken zeit," or pickled gherkin time. a misunderstanding of the meaning of the phrase may have given rise to the vulgar witticism, that tailors are vegetarians, who "live on cucumber" while at play, and on "cabbage" while at work. n. w. s. _ms. sermons of the eighteenth century._--having lately become possessed, at the sale of an an old library, of some ms. sermons by the rev. j. harris, rector of abbotsbury, dorset, from the year to , i shall be happy to place them in the hands of any descendant of that gentleman. w. ewart. pimperne, dorset. _boswell's "johnson."_--in vol. v. p. . of _my_ favourite edition, and p. . of the edition in one volume, johnson, writing to brocklesby, under date sept. , , calls windham "inter stellas luna minores." boswell, in a note, says, "it is remarkable that so good a latin scholar as johnson should have been so inattentive to the metre, as by mistake to have written _stellas_ instead of _ignes_." now, with all due deference, a captain of native infantry ventures to suggest that both _stellas_ and _ignes_ are wrong, and that johnson was thinking of the noble opening of horace's th epode: "nox erat, et coelo fulgebat _luna_ sereno, _inter minora_ sidera." f. c. bangalore. _stage coaches._--it occurs to me as highly desirable that, before the recollection of the old stage coach has faded from the memory of all but the oldest inhabitant, an authentic statement should be placed on record of the length of the stages, and the speed that was obtained, by this mode of conveyance, in which england was for so many years without a rival. the speed of mail coaches is, i believe chronicled in the british almanac of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge; but their speed, if i mistake not, was surpassed by that of the "rival," which travelled (from monmouth, i think) to london after the opening of the great western railway. could any of your correspondents favour us with the time-bill of that coach, detailing the length of the several stages, and the time of performance? it would also be interesting to chronicle the period during which this rivalry with the railway was maintained. geo. e. frere. _antecedents._--the word "antecedents," as a plural, and in the sense attached to it by the french, is not to be found in any english dictionary that i have the means of consulting. and yet it seems now to be commonly used as an english expression, even by some of our best writers. when was this word first imported, and by whom? i have just met with an instance of it in jerdan's _autobiography_, vol. i. p. .: "i got him (hammon), with a full knowledge of his antecedents, into the employment of a humane and worthy wine merchant of bordeaux." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _the letter x._--the letter x on brewers' casks is probably thus derived: _simplex_ = single x, or x. _duplex_ = double x, or xx. _triplex_ = treble x, or xxx. this was suggested by owen's _epigram_, lib. xii. .: "laudatur vinum _simplex_, cervisia _duplex_, est bona duplicitas, optima simplicitas." b. h. c. _a crow-bar._--in johnson's _dictionary_ the explanation given of this word is "piece of iron used as a lever to force open doors, as the latins called a hook _corvus_." in walters' _english and welsh dictionary_, the first part of which was published about the year , this word is printed "_croe_-bar." is it probable that the word _crow_ has been derived front the camb.-brit. word _cro_, a curve? and that the name has been given from the circumstance of one end of a crow-bar being curved for the purpose of making it more efficient as lever? n. w. s. * * * * * { } minor queries. _bishop grehan._--i want any information obtainable with reference to a roman catholic bishop in ireland named grehan; his christian name, family, date of his bishopric, and name of it. where can i find such particulars? o. l. r. g. _doxology._--in his "christmas caroll" to the tune of "king solomon," old tusser has the following: "to god the son and holy ghost, let man give thanks, rejoice, and sing, from world to world, from coast to coast, for all good gifts so many ways, that god doth send. let us in christ give god the praise, till life shall end!" query, is this the origin of our own doxologies? l. a. m. great yarmouth. _arrow-mark._--on an ancient pump of wood, extracted from the poltimore mine in north devon, i perceive a deeply cut arrow-mark. what is the inference as to the age of this relic from the mark referred to? the fragment is that of a large oak tree hollowed out, and now decomposing from exposure after its long burial. j. r. p. _gabriel poyntz._--there is a portrait here inscribed "gabriel poyntz, an. domini , ætatis suæ :" and having a coat of arms painted on it, barry of eight, or and gules, with a crest very indistinct; but apparently a lion's head, and the motto "clainte refrainte." can any of your correspondents inform me of the meaning of this motto, and the language in which it is expressed; and also what the crest is? g. poyntz was of south okendon in essex, and there is an account of his family in morant's _essex_; from which it appears that he was descended from the family of poyntz of tockington in _gloucestershire_, of which there is an account in atkins' gloucestershire. he was afterwards knighted.--any information as to him, in addition to that which is contained in morant, would be very acceptable. s. g. c. bradley, ashbourne. _queen elizabeth's and queen anne's motto, "semper eadem."_--upon what occasion, and by what authority was the motto "semper eadem" used as the royal motto in the reign of elizabeth? the authority for queen anne's motto has been afforded by your correspondent g. (vol. viii., p. .); though he has not fully answered the original query (vol. viii., p. .), as the motto in question was signified to the public in the _london gazette_, dec. - , ; was ordered to be _continued_ in , and to be _discontinued_ (by an order in council) on the accession of the house of hanover in , when the old motto "dieu et mon droit" was resumed. z. z. z. _bees._--in these parts the increase of the apiary is known by the three following names:--the first migration from the parent hive is (as all your country readers are aware) a _swarm_; the next is called a _cast_; while the third increase, in the same season, goes under the name of a _cote_. perhaps some one will kindly inform me if these names are common in other parts of england; and if there are any other local designations for the different departures of these insect colonists. john p. stilwell. dorking. _nelly o'brien and kitty fisher._--perhaps some of the readers of "n. & q." can tell me where information is to be found respecting these two celebrated women, who have been immortalised by sir joshua reynolds, and whose portraits are sometimes to be met with. "cleopatra dissolving the pearl" is a portrait of kitty, and he probably introduced them both into some of his fancy pictures. as i happen to possess a good portrait of one of them, i should like to know something of their history. cantab. university club. _"homo unius libri."_--to whom does this saying ing originally belong? the _british critic_ gives it to st. thomas aquinas: "when asked on one occasion who is in the way to become learned, he answered, 'whoever will content himself with the reading of a single book."--_the british critic_, no. lix. p. . w. fraser. tor-mohun. _"now the fierce bear," &c._--can any of your readers inform me who is the author of the following lines? "now the fierce bear and leopard keen, all perished as they ne'er had been; oblivion's their best home. . . . . there is an oath on high, that ne'er on brow of mortal birth, shall blend again the crowns of earth." [theta]. _prejudice against holy confirmation._--i have found among my rural parishioners an idea very prevalent, that it is wrong, or at least highly improper, for a married woman to become a candidate for, or to receive holy confirmation; and this quite apart from any sectarian views on the matter. i should like to know if any of my { } clerical brethren have noticed the same superstition as i must call it. labourers' wives in some cases have at once stated their being married as a valid objection; and in others their husbands, although churchmen, have at once entered their _veto_ on their being confirmed. can it arise from any vague reminiscence of the practical rule of the church of england on the subject, which has been so long ignored? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _epigram on macadam._--who was the author of the following epigram? "my essay on roads, quoth macadam, lies there, the result of a life's lucubration; but does not the title page look rather bare? i long for a latin quotation. "a delphin edition of virgil stood nigh, to second his classic desire; when the road-maker hit on the shepherd's reply, '_miror magis_,' i rather _add_-mire." [old english w. n.] _jane scrimshaw._--can any of your numerous correspondents inform me if there is any other biographical notice of jane scrimshaw, who attained the advanced age of , and resided for upwards of eighty years in the merchant taylors' almshouse, near little tower hill, than that recorded in caulfield's _memoirs of remarkable characters_? j. t. m. _the word "quadrille."_--may i trouble some kind reader to give me the origin, derivation, full and literal meaning, and the several senses, in their regular succession, of the above word _quadrille_? there seems to be much uncertainty attached to the word. veritatis amicus. oxon. _the hungarians in paules._--perhaps some of the ingenious contributors to "n. & q." may be able to assist p. c. s. s. to explain the following passage in the dedication of a rare little book _dekker's dreame_ (lond. to. ). it is inscribed:-- "to the truly accomplished gentleman, and worthy deserver of all men's loves, master endymion porter. sir, if you aske why, from the heapes of men, i picke you out only to be that _murus ahæneus_ which must defend me, lett me tell you (what you knowe allready) that bookes are like the hungarians in paules, who have a priviledge to holde out their turkish history for anie one to reade. they beg nothing: the texted past-bord talkes all--and if nothing be given, nothing is spoken, but god knowes what they thinke!" an explanation of the above passage is very earnestly desired by p. c. s. s. _ferns wanted._--specimens of the following rare ferns are much wanted to complete a collection:--_woodsia ilvensis_, _woodsia alpina_, _cystopteris montana_, _lastrea cristata_, _lastrea recurva_, _lastrea multiflora_, _asplenium alterniflorum_, _trichomanes speciosum_. the undersigned will feel very much obliged to any charitable person, residing near the _habitat_ of any of the above-mentioned ferns, who would take the trouble to forward to him, if not a root, at least a specimen for drying, he need scarcely say that any expenses will be most cheerfully defrayed. henry cooper key. stretton rectory, near hereford. _craton the philosopher._--two of the figures on the brass font in the church of st. bartholomew at liège are superscribed johannes evangelista et craton philosophus.--can any reader of "n. & q." say if anything is known about the latter, who is represented as being baptized by the evangelist? r. h. c. _the solar annual eclipse in the year ._--in the norwegian account of haco's expedition against scotland, a.d. , published in the original islandic from the flateyan and frisian mss., with a literal english version by the rev. james johnstone, i read as follows: "while king haco lay in ronaldsvo, a great darkness drew over the sun; so that only a little ring was bright round the sun, and it continued so for some hours."--p. . king haco, according to the account, left bergen on his expedition "three nights before the 'selian' vigils ... with all his fleet," and, "having got a gentle breeze, was two nights at sea when he reached that harbour of shetland called breydeyiar sound (bressay sound, i presume) with a great part of his navy." here he remained "near half a month, and from thence sailed to the orkneys; and continued some time at elidarwick, which is near kirkwall.... after st. olave's wake (july , o. s.) king haco, leaving elidarwick, sailed south before the mull of ronaldsha, with all the navy;" and being joined by ronald from the orkneys, with the ships that had followed him, he "led the whole armament into ronaldsha, which he left upon the vigil of st. lawrence (july , o. s.)." now i wish to know, . on what day in august this eclipse took place, the day of the week, commencement of the eclipse, &c. . whether any cotemporary, or other writer besides the icelandic historian, has recorded this eclipse? s. fitzroy street. _d'israeli--how spelt?_--caucasus is so fortunate as to possess all the acknowledged works of d'israeli the elder, as published by himself. in the title-page of every one of them, the name { } of the elegant and accomplished author is spelt (as above) _with_ an apostrophe. in the late edition of his collected works, by his no less accomplished son, the name is printed _without_ the apostrophe. indeed the name so appears in all the works of mr. d'israeli the younger; a practice which he seems to have taken up even in the lifetime of his father, who spelt it differently. can any of your readers inform caucasus of the reason of this difference, and of the authority for it, and which is the correct mode? he has vainly sought for information in the heralds' visitation books for buckinghamshire, preserved in the british museum. caucasus. _richard oswald._--could any of your correspondents give me any information respecting mr. richard oswald, the commissioner who negociated the treaty of at paris, with franklin, and his other colleagues, representing the united states? is there any obituary or biographical notice of him in existence? l. _cromwell's descendants._--oliver cromwell's daughter bridget was baptized august , ; married to ireton january , - ; a widow nov. , ; married to general fleetwood, lord president in ireland, before ; died at stoke, near london, .--can any of your correspondents furnish the date of this lady's marriage with fleetwood; also, a list of her children and grandchildren by fleetwood? it is supposed that captain fleetwood's daughter, _i. e._ the general's granddaughter, married a berry. erin. _letter of archbishop curwen to archbishop parker._--in _the hunting of the romish fox_, collected by sir james ware, and edited by robert ware ( vo., dublin, ), there is a long account of an image of the saviour which, to the astonishment of the good people of dublin, and by the contrivance of one father leigh, sweated blood in the year . it is added, at p. .: "the archbishop of dublin wrote _this relation and to this effect_, to his brother, archbishop of canterbury matthew parker, who was very joyful at the receipt thereof, by reason," &c. the whole chapter in which this occurs is stated to be "taken out of the lord cecil's _memorials_." can any of your readers give me assistance in finding these _memorials_, or this letter to archbishop parker, or a copy of it? i intended to have made it an object of inquiry and search in dublin, but i have been prevented accomplishing my design of visiting that country. perhaps some of your irish readers may be able to help me. john bruce. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _margaret patten._--i have just seen a curious old picture, executed at least a century ago, and which was lately found amongst some family papers. it is a half-length of an old woman in homely looking garments; a dark blue stuff gown, the sleeves partially rolled up, and white sleeving protruding from under, not unlike the fashion of to-day; a white and blue checked apron; around her neck a white tippet and a handkerchief, on her head a "mutch," or close linen cap, and a lace or embroidered band across her forehead to hide the absence of hair. she holds something undistinguishable in one hand. the picture is about × inches, and is done on glass, evidently transferred from an engraving on steel. the colours have been laid on with hand, and then, to preserve and make an opaque back, it has received a coating of plaster of paris; altogether in its treatment resembling a coloured photograph. by-the-bye, i am sorry i could not get a copy (photographic) of it, or that would have rendered intelligible what i fear my lame descriptions cannot. beneath the figure is the following inscription: "margaret patten, born in the parish of lochnugh, near pairsley in scotland, now liveing in the work house of st. marg^{ts}, westminsster, aged ." there is no date appended. the word "lochnugh" in the inscription is evidently spelt from the scotch pronunciation of lochwinnoch, near paisley. i should be very glad if any of your readers or correspondents in london could ascertain if the name, &c. is to be found in the records of st. margaret's, westminster, and also give me some facts as to the history of this poor old scotch woman, left destitute so far from home and kindred. if it can be authenticated, it will make another item for your list of longevals. james b. murdoch. glasgow. [in the board-room of the workhouse of st. margaret's, westminster, is a portrait of margaret patten, which corresponds with the picture just described, and bears the following inscription: "margaret patten, aged : the gift of john dowsell, william goff, matthew burnett, thomas parker, robert wright, john parquot, overseers, anno ." margaret patten was buried in the burial-ground of what was then called the broadway church, now christ church, and there is a stone on the eastern boundary wall inscribed, "near this place lieth margaret patten, who died june , , in the parish workhouse, aged ." in walcott's _memorials of { } westminster_, p. ., we are told "she was a native of lochborough, near paisley. she was brought to england to prepare scotch broth for king james ii., but, owing to the abdication of that monarch, fell into poverty and died in st. margaret's workhouse, where her portrait is still preserved. her body was followed to the grave by the parochial authorities and many of the principal inhabitants, while the children sang a hymn before it reached its last resting-place."] _etymology of "coin."_--what is the etymology of our noun and verb _coin_ and _to coin_? i do not know if i have been anticipated, but beg to suggest the following:--_coin_, a piece of cornered metal; _to coin_, the act of cornering such block of metal. in cornwall, the blocks of tin, when first run into moulds from the smelting furnace, are _square_; and when the metal is to be fined or assayed, the miner's phrase is, that it is to be _coined_; for the _corners_ of the moulded block are _cut off_, and subjected to the _assay_; and the decree of fineness proved is stamped on the now cornerless block--thereafter called a _coin of tin_. it is, i conceive, by no means a violent supposition that such _coins of tin_ were current as money very many ages before either silver, gold, copper, bronze, lead, tin, or any other metal moulded, stamped, engraved, or fashioned into such coins as we now know had come into use. we know to what far-back ages the finding of tin carries us, its find being entirely confined to cornwall; its presence near the surface in an ore readily reduced and easily melted making its reduction into the metallic state possible in the very rudest state of society and of the arts. c. d. lamont. greenock. [see dr. richardson for the following derivation:--"fr. _coigner_, it. _cuniare_, sp. _cunar_, _acuñar_, to wedge, and also to coin. menage and spelman agree from the latin _cuneus_. '_cuneus_; sigillum ferreum, quo nummus _cuditur_; a forma dictum: atque inde _coin_ quasi _cune_ pro monetâ.' an iron seal with which metal is stamped; so called from the shape. and hence money is called _coin_ (q. _cune_, wedge).--_spelman._" the rev. t. r. brown, in an unpublished _dictionary of difficult etymology_[ ], suggests the following:--"fr. _coign_, a coin, stamp, &c.; gaelic, _cuin_, a coin. probably from the sanscrit _kan_, to shine, desire, covet; _kanaka_, gold, &c. the hebrew _ceseph_, money, coin, is derived in like manner from the verb _casaph_, to desire, covet. the other meaning attached to the french word _coign_, viz. a wedge, appears to be derived from quite a different root."] [footnote : this useful work makes two volumes vo.: but how is it the learned vicar of southwick printed only _nine_ copies? was he thinking of the sacred _nine_?] _inscription at aylesbury._--in the north transept of st. mary's church, aylesbury, occurs the following curious inscription on a tomb of the date of : "yf, passing by this place, thou doe desire to knowe what corpse here shry'd in marble lie, the somme of that whiche now thou dost require this slender verse shall sone to thee descrie. "entombed here doth rest a worthie dame, extract and born of noble house and bloud, her sire, lord paget, hight of worthie fame whose virtues cannot sink in lethe floud. two brethern had she, barons of this realme, a knight her freere, sir henry lee, he hight, to whom she bare three _impes_, which had to name, john, henry, mary, slayn by fortune spight, first two being yong, which cavs'd their parents mone, the third in flower and prime of all her yeares: all three do rest within this marble stone, by which the fickleness of worldly joyes appears. good frend sticke not to strew with crimson flowers this marble stone, wherein her cindres rest, for sure her ghost lives with the heavenly powers, and guerdon hathe of virtuous life possest." can any of your readers give me any other instances of children being called _imps_? and also tell me wherefore the name was given them? and how long it continued in use? t. w. d. brooks. cropredy, banbury. [the inscription is given in lipscomb's _buckinghamshire_. horne tooke says _imp_ is the past participle of the a.-s. _impan_, to graft, to plant. mr. steevens (note on _ henry iv._, act v. sc. .) tells us, "an _imp_ is a shoot in its primitive sense, but means a son in shakspeare." in hollinshed, p. ., the last words of lord cromwell are preserved, who says, "and after him that his sonne prince edward, that goodlie _impe_, may long reign over you." the word _imp_ is perpetually used by ulpian fulwell, and other ancient writers, for progeny: "and were it not thy royal _impe_ did mitigate our pain." again, in the _battle of alcazar_, : "amurath, mighty emperor of the east, that shall receive the _imp_ of royal race." see other examples in todd's johnson and dr. richardson's dictionaries. shakspeare uses the word only in jocular and burlesque passages, which, says nares, is the natural course of a word growing obsolete.] _"guardian angels now protect me," &c._--i remember john wesley, and also his saying the "devil should not have the best tunes." there was a pretty love-song, a great favourite when i was a boy: "guardian angels, now protect me, send to me the youth i love." the music of which wesley introduced to his congregation as a hymn tune. the music i have, and i shall be glad if any of your correspondents { } can oblige me with the first verse of this love-song; i only recollect the above lines. william gardiner. leicester. [the following is the song referred to by our correspondent: _the forsaken nymph._ "guardian angels, now protect me, send to me the swain i love; cupid, with thy bow direct me; help me, all ye pow'rs above. bear him my sighs, ye gentle breezes, tell him i love and i despair, tell him for him i grieve, say 'tis for him i live; o may the shepherd be sincere! "through the shady grove i'll wander, silent as the bird of night, near the brink of yonder fountain, first leander bless'd my sight. witness ye groves and falls of water, echos repeat the vows he swore: can he forget me? will he neglect me? shall i never see him more? "does he love, and yet forsake me, to admire a nymph more fair? if 'tis so, i'll wear the willow, and esteem the happy pair. some lonely cave i'll make my dwelling, ne'er more the cares of life pursue; the lark and philomel only shall hear me tell, what bids me bid the world adieu."] _k. c. b.'s._--i observe that in the _london gazette_ of january , , which regulates the existing order of the bath, it is commanded by the sovereign that "there shall be affixed in the church of st. peter at westminster escutcheons and banners of the arms of each k. c. b." has this command been regularly fulfilled on the creation of each k. c. b.? i believe that on each creation fees are demanded by the heralds' college, for the professed purpose of exemplifying the knight's arms, and affixing his escutcheon; but i never remember to have seen the escutcheons in westminster abbey. tewars. [the order _never_ was fulfilled. if the knights were entitled to armorial bearings, no fees whatever were demanded by or paid to the heralds' college. the statutes of were, however, abrogated and annulled by the statutes of , and the banners are not required to be suspended in the abbey. the erection of the banners and plates, however, rested with the officers of the order, and the heralds' college had nothing to do with the matter.] _danish and swedish ballads._--what are the best and most recent collections of ancient danish and swedish ballad poetry? j. m. b. [we believe the best and most recent collection of danish ballads is the edition of _udvalgte danske viser fra middelalderen_, by abrahamson, nyerup, rabbek, &c., in five small vo. volumes, copenhagen, . the best swedish collection was _svenska folk-visor fran forteden_, collected and edited by geijer and afzelius, and published at stockholm, ; but the more recent collection published by arwidson in is certainly superior. it is in three octavo volumes, and is entitled _svenska fornsänger. en samling of kämp-visor, folk-visor, lekar och dansar, samt barn- och vall-sänger_.] _etymology of "conger."_--what is the etymology of the word _conger_, as applied to the larger kind of deep sea eels by our fishermen (who, be it remarked, never add eel. _conger-eel_ is entirely used by shore-folk)? i imagine that it may be traced from the danish _kongr_, a king, or kings; for being the greatest of eels, the fishermen, whose nets he tore, and whose take he seriously reduced, might well call him in size, in strength, and voracity--_kongr_, the king. c. d. lamont. greenock. [todd and webster derive it from the latin _conger_ or _congrus_; gr. [greek: gongros], formed of [greek: graô], to eat, the fish being very voracious; it. _gongro_; fr. _congre_.] _"si vis me flere, dolendum est primum tibi."_--this is, i think, the ordinary form of a saying cited somewhere by goldsmith, who calls it "so trite a quotation that it almost demands an apology to repeat it." whence comes it originally? i am unable to give the exact reference to the passage in goldsmith, but in his _citizen of the world_, letter rd, he has a cognate idea: "as in common conversation the best way to make the audience laugh is by first laughing yourself, so in writing," &c. w. t. m. hong kong. [horace, _de arte poetica_, .] * * * * * replies. medal and relic of mary queen of scots. (vol. viii., p. .) i possess a cast of this medal as described by your correspondent w. fraser, but which is a little indistinct in some of the letters of its inscriptions. the yew-tree represented on it is generally supposed to be that which stood at cruikston castle nearly paisley; and its motto "vires" may perhaps have been intended to denote its natural strength and durability. the date of the medal being , and mary's marriage with lord darnly having taken place on july , , the yew-tree may have been introduced to commemorate some incident of their courtship, and gives likelihood to the common tradition. i once had a small box composed partly of its wood, and of { } that of the "torwood oak" near stirling, which was presented to me about thirty-five years ago by an aged lady, whose property it had been for a long time previously, and who placed much value on it as a relic. though visiting cruikston castle in early life, i never heard of there being any feeling of "superstition" connected with such little objects as the crosses, &c. which were long made from the wood of the yew-tree. they are all, i think, to be viewed simply as curiosities associated with the historical interest of the place, and similar examples are to be found among our people in the numerous _quaichs_ (drinking-cups) and other articles which have been formed from the "torwood oak" that protected the illustrious sir william wallace from his enemies; from his oak at elderslie, said to have been planted by his hand, two miles to the west of paisley; and lately from such scraps of the old oaken rafters of the glasgow cathedral as could be obtained in the course of its modern repairs. as respects the yew-tree immediately concerned, some notices of its remains may be found in a work entitled _the severn delineated_, by charles taylor, glasgow, , at page . the author, who was a very curious local antiquary, died in , aged forty-two. as his book is now scarce, i may be excused from subjoining rather a long extract, but which also throws some light on other particulars of this subject: "retreating from househill (a seat in the vicinity) to cruikston castle, the country is rich, and the scenery delightful. the castle itself might be the subject of volumes, as it has been the theme of many a poet, and the subject of many a painter's pencil. its name is known all over the world, or may be so, from the circumstance of its once having been the residence of mary queen of scots and henry lord darnly; and though the famed yew-tree decks not now the 'hallowed mould,' as the poet expresses himself, 'is there an eye that tearless could behold this lov'd retreat of beauty's fairest flower?' about three years ago a large fragment fell from the south wing of this ruin, despite of all the attention sir john maywell paid to keep it up. the founder of this castle was one de croc; hence the name crockston, crocston, or cruikston. this family (says crawfurd), failing in ane heiress, she was married to sir alexander stewart of torbolton, second son to walter, the second of that name, great stewart of scotland, and of this marriage are descended the families of darnly and lorn." cruikston is now the property of sir john maywell of nether pollock. of the trunk of the once-- " . . . . . green yew, the first that met the royal mary's view; when bright in charms the youthful princess led the graceful darnly to her throne and bed."-- lady maywell ordered to be made by an ingenious individual, at pollockshaws, an exact model of the castle, and some table and other utensils, which are still in preservation at pollock. before its removal, many are the snuff-boxes, toddy ladles, &c. that have been made of it, and are still in preservation by the curious. the following couplet, composed by the late mr. w. craig, surgeon, is inscribed on one of these ladles, which has seen no little service: "near cruikston castle's stately tower, for many a year i stood; my shade was of the hallow'd bower; where scotland's queen was woo'd." another medal of queen mary's, of considerable size, of which i have seen a cast many years since, contained the following inscriptions: "o god graunt patience in that i suffer vrang." the reverse has in the centre: "quho can compare with me in grief, i die and dar nocht seek relief." with this legend around: "hourt not the [heart symbol] quhais [heart whose] joy thou art." "they all appear [says mr. pinkerton] to have been done in france by mary's directions, who was fond of devices. her cruel captivity could not debar her from intercourse with her friends in france; who must with pleasure have executed her orders as affording her a little consolation." g. n. mr. fraser's supposed medal is a ryal (or possibly a ¾ ryal) of mary and henry, commonly known as a cruickstown dollar; from the idea that the tree upon them is a representation of the famous yew-tree at cruickstown castle. it appears, however, from the ordinance for coining these pieces, that the tree is a "palm-tree crowned with a shell paddock (lizard) creeping up the stem of the same." the motto across the tree is "dat gloria vires." (see lindsay's _scotch coinage_, p. .) john evans. * * * * * early use of tin.--derivation of the name of britain. (vol. viii., p. .) the reply of dr. hincks appears to require the following. while seeking information upon the first of these matters, i took up one of my old school-books, and at the foot of a page found the following note: "britannia is from _barat-anac_, the land of tin." i do not recollect to have seen it elsewhere; but it appeared to me so apt and correct that i adopted it at once. that the shirutana of the egyptian inscriptions, { } or shairetana, will be found to be the same people as the cirátas of the hindu puranas, i have little doubt. cirátas is there applied as a name to the people who were afterwards known to us as the phoenicians; but that either the shirutana or the cirátas will be found to have discovered britain, though they may have given it a name, i do not expect. the cirátas were a people of a later age to that of the first inhabitants of britain. the first inhabitants of britain i call the celtæ, as i know no other name for them; but there seems reason for thinking that this island was visited by an earlier tribe, though probably they were of the same race. the origin of the cirátas and first inhabitants of britain is this:--a powerful monarchy appears to have been established at the earliest dawn of history in the country we now call persia, long before there was any assyrian government, and under this monarchy that country was the true centre of population, of knowledge, of languages, and of arts. three distinct races of men appear to have migrated in different directions from this their common country. one of these divides into two parts, one proceeding to the west, the other to the south-east of the place where the division took place. the western party passed through asia minor, and also by the north of the black sea, carrying with it all that was then known of the different arts and sciences, until we find the descendants at this day in the british isles. the south-eastern party, also, continued its progress to the part now known to us as india, where its descendants may be found at this day. long after the settlement in india, various tribes, all proceeding from it, migrated from that country to the parts now known to us as egypt and syria; and one of these tribes was the cirátas. that the cirátas, shirutana, or phoenicians, call them as you may, were the first who passed the pillar of hercules in ships on their way to obtain tin here at first-hand, is almost certain; and that the western party, as described above, had broken ground to supply it long before their customers came for it, is scarcely less so. they all had a common origin, and used nearly the same language, religion, and laws. my query has brought out a highly satisfactory elucidation of the origin of the term _britain_; and this, looking at the position in which that term stood on the day the last number of "n. & q." was published is by no means a slight acquisition. i now leave it. g. w. stansted, montfichet. * * * * * pictorial editions of the book of common prayer. (vol. vii., pp. . . .; vol. viii., p. .) the following list may prove an acceptable addition to those already printed in your pages. some of your correspondents perhaps will make it more complete: . oxford. vo. plates by john sturt. . london. vo. forty-four plates, with no engraver's name. . oxford. vo. plates by sturt. . london. vo. ruled with double red lines. plates by sturt. lowndes speaks of a large paper impression in quarto of this same edition: "the volume consists of one hundred and sixty-six plates, besides twenty-two containing dedication, table, &c. prefixed is a bust of king george i.; and facing it, those of the prince and princess of wales. sturt likewise published a set of fifty-five historical cuts for common prayer in small vo." . london. vo. with old version of the psalms; and forty-four curious plates, including gunpowder treason, the martyrdom of charles i., and restoration of charles ii. (booksellers' catal.) . london. published by j. good and e. harding, with plates after stothard by bartolozzi and others (lowndes). lowndes also mentions "illustrations to the book of common prayer by richard westall, london, , vo. (proofs) to.," and "twelve illustrations to ditto, engraved by john scott, from designs by burney and thurston, royal vo." i have reserved for more particular description two editions in my own possession:--one is a small vo., ruled with red lines: "in the savoy, printed by the assignees of john bill and christopher barker, printers to the king's most excellent majesty, ." it contains fifty-nine plates: these are identical with those in the _antiquitates christianæ_, or bishop taylor's _life of christ_, and cave's _lives of the apostles_ (folio editions), which, if i mistake not, were engraved by william faithorn. the act of uniformity is given in black-letter. the ordinal is wanting. the three state services are not enumerated in the table of contents, but are added at the end of the book. the old version of the psalms (with its usual quaint title), a tract of pp., is appended: "london: printed by thos. newcomb for the company of stationers, ." the other edition is a mo.: "london, printed by charles bill and the executrix of thomas newcomb deceased, printers to the queen's most excellent majesty, " (ruled with red lines). in the frontispiece is represented a female figure kneeling with a prayer book open before her: an angel { } in the air holds a scroll, on which is inscribed, "the liturgy of the church of england, adorned with fifty-five historical cuts, p. la vergne del., m. van der gucht sc." beneath the picture, "sold by robt. whitledge at the bible in ave maria lane, near stationers' hall." some of the cuts are very curious, as no. ., which represents the devil (adorned with a crown, sceptre, and tail) standing on the top of a high conical rock, and our blessed lord at a little distance from him. the appearance and attitude of the apostles are somewhat grotesque. one of the best is st. philip (no. .), who is represented as a wrinkled, bearded old man, contemplating a crucifix in his hand. no. . is a picture of guy fawkes approaching the parliament house, with a lantern in his hand. a large eye is depicted in the clouds above, which sheds a stream of light on the hand of the conspirator. no. . is "the martyrdom of king charles i." no. . "the restoration of monarchy and king charles ii." a number of cavaliers on horseback, with their conical hats and long tresses, occupy the foreground of this picture; the army appears in the background. this is the last, though the scroll advertises fifty-five cuts. the prefaces and calendar are printed in very small bad type. the four state services are enumerated in the table of contents. after the state services follow, "at the healing;" the thirty-nine articles, and a table of kindred and affinity. this edition neither contains the ordinal nor a metrical version of the psalms. notwithstanding the date on the title-page, _king george_ is prayed for throughout the book, except in the service "for the eighth day of march," when queen anne's name occurs. of the modern pictorial editions of the book of common prayer may be mentioned that of charles knight "illustrated by nearly seven hundred beautiful woodcuts by jackson, from drawings by harvey, and six illuminated titles; with explanatory notes by the rev. h. stebbing," royal vo., london, ; reprinted in . that of murray, "illuminated by owen jones, and illustrated with engravings from the works of the great masters," royal vo., london, ; reprinted in in med. vo. that of whittaker in mo. and vo., "with notes and illuminations." the last, and by far the best, pictorial edition is that of j. h. parker of oxford, "with fifty illustrations; selected from the finest examples of the early italian and modern german schools, by the rev. h. j. rose and rev. j. w. burgon." jarltzberg. * * * * * yew-trees in churchyards. (vol. viii., p. .) this has long been to me a vexed question, and i fear that none of your correspondents have given a satisfactory answer. i have seen in london sprigs of yew and palm willow offered for sale before palm sunday. at this period they may, i think, be always found in covent garden market. i saw them last year also in the greengrocers' shops at brighton. to me these are evident traces of an old custom of using the yew as well as the willow. the origin is to be found in the jewish custom of carrying "branches of palm-trees, and boughs of _thick trees_, and willows from the brook" (leviticus xxiii. , .). wordsworth alludes to this in his sonnet on seeing a procession at chamouny: "the hebrews thus carrying in joyful state thick boughs of palm and willows from the brook, march'd round the altar--to commemorate how, when their course they from the desert took, guided by signs which ne'er the sky forsook, they lodged in leafy tents and cabins low, green boughs were borne." in _a voyage from leith to lapland_, , vol. i. p. ., there is an account of the funeral of the poet oehlenschläger. the author states,-- "the entire avenue was strewn, according to the old scandinavian custom, with evergreen boughs of fir, and bunches of fir and box, mingled in some instances with artificial flowers. it is customary at all funerals to strew evergreens before the door of the house where the body lies, but it is only for some very distinguished person indeed they are strewn all the way to the burial place." forby, in his _east anglican vocabulary_, says it is a superstitious notion that-- "if you bring yew into the house at christmas amongst the evergreens used to dress it, you will have a death in the family before the end of the year." i believe the yew will be found generally on the south side of the church, but always near the principal entrance, easy of access for the procession on palm sunday, and perhaps for funerals, and that it was used as a substitute for the palm, and coupled with "the willow from the brook," hence called the palm willow. a holt white. p. s.--i cannot agree with your correspondent j. g. cumming, that the yew is one of "our few evergreens." i doubt our having in england any native evergreen but the holly. the etymology of the name of the yew-tree clearly shows that it was not planted in churchyards as an emblem of evil, but one of immortality. the name of the tree in celtic is _jubar_, pronounced _yewar_, _i. e._ "the evergreen head." the town of { } newry in ireland took its name from two yew-trees which st. patrick planted: _a-niubaride_, pronounced _a-newery_, _i. e._ "the yew-trees," which stood until cromwell's time, when some soldiers ruthlessly cut them down. in the note by mr. j. g. cumming, a derivation is evidently required for the english word _yeoman_, which he suggests is taken from "yokeman." yeoman is from _e[=o]_, pronounced _yo_, _i. e._ free, worthy, respectable, as opposed to the terms _villein_, serf, &c.; so that yeoman means a freeman, a respectable person. fras. crossley. * * * * * osborn family. (vol. viii., p. .) mr. h. t. griffith asks where may any pedigree of the _osborne_ family, previous to edward osborne, the ancestor of the dukes of leeds, be seen. in reply, i am in possession of large collections relating to the norman osbornes, from whom i have reasons to believe him to have been descended. those osbornes can be proved to have been settled in certain of the midland counties of england from the time of the attainder and downfall of the son of william fitzosborne, earl of hereford and premier peer, down to a comparatively late period. a branch of them was possessed of the manor of kelmarsh in northamptonshire; and their pedigree, beginning in , may be seen in whalley's _northamptonshire_: but this is necessarily very imperfect, on account of the author's want of access to documents which have subsequently been opened to the public. i may here notice that an inexcusable error has been committed and repeated in several of the collections of records published by the parliamentary commission, who have, in numerous instances, and without any warrant, interpreted _osb._ of the mss. as "osbert." thus they have deprived _fitzosborne_, bishop of exeter (a.d. ), of some of his manors, and within his own diocese, and conferred them on _osbert the bishop_, although there never was a bishop of that name in england. i took the liberty of pointing out this error to one of the chief editors concerned in these works; but as he has taken no notice of my observations, i must infer that he thinks it most prudent to excite no farther inquiry. the _osborns_, now so numerous in london, appear to have come from the danish stem from which the norman branch was originally derived. their number, which has increased even beyond the ordinary ratio of the population, may perhaps be dated from the wife of one of them who (temp. jac. i.) had twenty-four sons, and was interred in old st. paul's. i shall be very happy to afford any assistance in my power to the gentleman who has occasioned these remarks. omicron. * * * * * inscriptions on bells. (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. viii., pp. . .) many thanks are due to your correspondent cuthbert bede, b.a., for his interesting series of inscriptions on bells. the following are, i think, sufficiently curious to be added to your collection:-- rouen cathedral: "in the steeple of the great church, in the citie of roane in normandy, is one great bell with the like inscription." [like, that is, to the inscription at st. stephen's, westminster: see "n. & q." vol. viii., p. .] "je suis george de ambois, qui trente-cinque mille pois; mes luis qui me pesera, trente-six mille me trouvera." "i am _george of ambois_, thirtie-five thousand in pois; but he that shall weigh me, thirty-six thousand shall find me."--weever, _fun. mon_., edit. fol. , p. . st. matthew, great milton, oxfordshire: . "i as treble begin. . "i was third ring. . (great bell) "i to church the living call, and to the grave do summons." inscription suggested as being suitable for six bells, in the _ecclesiologist_ (new series), vol. i. p. .: . "ave pater, rex, creator: . ave fili, lux, salvator: . ave pax et charitas. . ave simplex, ave trine; . ave regnans sine fine, . ave sancta trinitas." inscriptions are often to be found in lombardic characters, and on bells of great antiquity. can any of your ecclesiological correspondents furnish me with the date of the earliest known example? w. sparrow simpson. on bells in southrepps church, norfolk: "tuba ad juditium. campana ad ecclesiam, ." "miserere mei jhesus nazarenus rex judæorum." j. l. sisson. * * * * * ladies' arms borne in a lozenge. (vol. viii., pp. . . . .) i broached a theory with a concluding remark that it would give me great pleasure to see one more reasonable take its place. i fear that, if all your readers anxious to clear up an obscure point in an interesting science take no more trouble than p. p., we shall find ourselves no { } nearer our object in the middle of your eightieth volume than we are now in your eighth. what p. p. is pleased to term the "routine" reason is after all but one among many, and is not better substantiated than some of the others quoted by me; for though the lozenge has a "supposed" resemblance to the distaff or fusil, heraldically it is but a supposed one, and by most writers the difference is very distinctly indicated. boyer says: "a fusil is a bearing in heraldry made in the form of a spindle, with its yarn or thread wound about it. _fusils are longer than lozenges_, and taper or pointed at both ends." the same author thus describes a lozenge: "a rhimbus, in geometry, is a figure of four equal and parallel sides, but not rectangular." robson says: "fusil, a kind of spindle used in spinning. its formation should be particularly attended to, _as few painters or engravers make a sufficient distinction between the fusil and lozenge_." nisbet describes a lozenge to be-- "a figure that has equal sides and unequal angles, as the quarry of a glass window placed erect pointways." he adds: "the latins say, 'lozengæ factæ sunt ad modum lozangiorum in vitreis.' heralds tell us that their use in armories came from the pavement of marble stones of churches, fine palaces and houses, cut after the form of lozenges, which pavings the french and italians call loze and the spaniards _loza_." sylvester de petra-sancta of the lozenge says much the same: "scutulas oxigonias scu acutangulus erectas, et quasi gradiles, referri debere ad latericias et antiquas domus olim, viz. nobilium quia vulgus, et infamiæ sortis homines, intra humiles casus, vet antra inhabitantur." of the fusil nisbet writes: "the fusil is another rhombular figure like the lozenge, but more long than broad, and its upper and lower points are more acute than the two side points." he adds that: "chassanus and others make their sides round, as in his description of them: 'fusæ sunt acutæ in superiore et inferiore partibus, et rotundæ ex utroque latere;' which description has occasioned some english heralds, when so painted or engraven, to call them millers' picks, as sir john boswell, in his _concords of armory_, and others, to call them weavers' shuttles." menestrier says of lozenges: "lozange est une figure de quatre pointes, dont deux sont un peu plus étendues que les autres, et assise sur une de ces pointes. c'est le rhomb des mathématiciens, et les quarreaux des vitres ordinaires en ont la figure." of fusils: "fusées sont plus étendues en longue que les lozanges, et affilées en point comme les fuseaux. elles sont pièces d'architecture où l'on se sert pour ornement de fusées et de pesons." the celebrated _boke of st. albans_ ( ) thus describes the difference between a lozenge and fusil: "knaw ye y^e differans betwix ffusillis and losyng. wherefore it is to be knaw that ffusillis ar euermore long, also fusyllis ar strattyr ouerwart in the baly then ar mascules. and mascules ar larger ou'wartt in the baly, and shorter in length than be fusyllis." the mascle is afterwards explained to be the lozenge pierced. again: "and ye most take thys for a general enformacion and instruccion that certanli losyng eu'more stand upright ... and so withowte dowte we have the differans of the foresayd signes, that is to wete of mascules and losynges." dallaway, an elegant writer on heraldry, says: "of the lozenge the following extraordinary description is given in a ms. of glover, 'lozenga est pars vitri in vitrea fenestra.' but it may be more satisfactory to observe that the lozenge, with its diminutive, are given to females instead of an escocheon for the insertion of their armorial bearings, one of which is supposed to have been a cushion of that shape, and the other is evidently the spindle used in spinning; both demonstrative of the sedentary employments of women. on a very splendid brass for eleanor, relict of thomas of woodstocke, who died , she is delineated as resting her head upon two cushions, the upper of which is placed lozenge-wise."--p. . the above is taken from his _miscellaneous observations on heraldic ensigns_, the following from the body of his great work: "females being heirs, or conveying feodal lordships to their husbands, had, as early as the thirteenth century, the privilege of armorial seals. the variations were progressive and frequent; at first the female effigy had the kirtle or inner garment emblazoned, or held the escocheon over her head, or in her right hand; then three escocheons met in the centre, or four were joined at their bases, if the alliance admitted of so many. dimidiation, accollation, and impalement succeeded each other at short intervals. but the modern practice of placing the arms of females upon a lozenge appears to have originated about the middle of the fourteenth century, when we have an instance of five lozenges conjoined upon one seal; that of the heir female in the centre impaling the arms of her husband, and surrounded by those of her ancestors."--p. . i think this quotation from so learned a writer goes far towards settling the whole question. i confess myself willing to have my theory placed second to this, while i must discard the "distaff" { } notion, unless better substantiated than by the french saying from their salique law, which i here give for p. p.'s information: "nunquam corona a lance transibit ad fusum." i am willing to admit the antiquity of this notion; for while the shape of the man's shield is traced by sylvanus morgan to adam's spade, he takes the woman's from eve's spindle! "when adam delved, and eve span, who was then the gentleman?" in geoffry chaucer's time the lozenge appears to have been an ornament worn by heralds in their dress or crown. in describing the habit of one, he says: "they crowned were as kinges with crowns wrought full of lozenges and many ribbons and many fringes." as for the difference between the lozenge and fusil, i could multiply opinions and examples, but hope those given will be sufficient. i cannot conclude these few hasty remarks without expressing a wish that one of your correspondents in particular would take up this subject, to handle which in a masterly manner, his position is a guaranty of his ability. i refer to the gentleman holding the office of york herald. broctuna. bury, lancashire. * * * * * the myrtle bee. (vol. viii., p. .) from a very early period, and throughout life, i have been accustomed to shooting, and well remember the bird in question, but whether the term was local or general, i am unable to state, never having met with it save in one locality; and many years have elapsed since i saw one, although in the habit of frequenting the neighbourhood where it was originally to be seen. i attribute its disappearance to local causes. i met with it during a series of years, ending about twenty-five years since, at which period i lost sight of it. it was to be met with during the autumn and winter in bogs scattered over with bog myrtle, on chobham and the adjacent common; i never met with it elsewhere. it is solitary. i am unacquainted with its food, and only in a single instance had i ever one in my hand. its tongue is pointed, sharp, and appearing capable of penetration. its colour throughout dusky light blue, slightly tinged with yellow about the vent. tail about one inch, being rather long in proportion to the body, causing the wings to appear forward, with a miniature pheasant-like appearance as it flew, or rather darted, from bush to bush, with amazing quickness, its wings moving with rapidity, straight in its flight, keeping near the ground, appearing loth to wing, never passing an intervening bush if ever so near; and i never saw one fly over eight or ten yards, and never wing a second time, which induced our dogs (using a sporting phrase) to puzzle them, causing a belief that they were in most instances trodden under the water and grass in which the myrtle grew, and which nothing but a dog could approach. i never saw one sitting or light on a branch of the myrtle, but invariably flying from the _base_ of one plant to that of another. i am not aware that any cabinet contains a preserved specimen, or that the bird has ever been noticed by any naturalist as a british or foreign bird. should w. r. d. s. covet farther information as to the probable cause of its disappearance, and my never having met with it elsewhere, perhaps he will favour me with his address. i cannot think the bird extinct. c. brown. egham, surrey. * * * * * captain john davis. (vol. viii., p. .) the earliest memoir of captain john davis, the celebrated arctic navigator, is that given by the reverend john prince in his danmonii orientales illustres, _or the worthies of devon_, exeter, , folio. it is, however, erroneous and defective in important particulars, and has misled some eminent writers, as campbell, eyriès, barrow, &c. despite the assertions of master prince, i _question_ if captain davis married a daughter of sir john fulford; i am _sure_ he was not the first pilot who conducted the hollanders to the east-indies; i am sure the journal of the voyage is not printed in hakluyt; i am sure the narrative of his voyage with sir edward michelborne is neither dedicated to the earl of essex nor printed in hakluyt; i am sure he did not write the _rutter, or brief directions for sailing into the east-indies_; i am sure he wrote two works of which prince says nothing; i am sure he did not make _five_ voyages to the east-indies; and i am sure, to omit other oversights, that he did not "return home safe again." to the latter point i shall now confine myself. in king james, regardless of the charter held by the east-india company, granted a license to sir edward michelborne, one of his gentlemen-pensioners, to discover and trade with the "countries and domynions of cathaia, china, japan," &c. this license, preserved in the rolls-chapel, is dated the twenty-fifth of june. on the fifth of december sir edward set sail from cowes with the tiger, a ship of tons, and a pinnace--captain davis being, as i conceive, the _second_ in command. in december , being near the island of bintang, they fell in with a junk of tons, carrying ninety japanese, most of them { } "in too gallant a habit for saylers:" in fact, they were pirates! the unfortunate result shall now be stated in the words of the _pirate_ michelborne: "vpon mutuall courtesies with gifts and feastings betweene vs, sometimes fiue and twentie or sixe and twentie of their chiefest came aboord: whereof i vould not suffer aboue sixe to have weapons. their was neuer the like number of our men aboord their iunke. i willed captaine john dauis in the morning [the twenty-seventh of december] to possesse himselfe of their weapons, and to put the companie before mast, and to leave some guard on their weapons, while they searched in the rice, doubting that by searching and finding that which would dislike them, they might suddenly set vpon my men, and put them to the sword: as the sequell prooued. captaine dauis being beguiled with their humble semblance, would not possesse himselfe of their weapons, though i sent twice of purpose from my shippe to will him to doe it. they passed all the day, my men searching in the rice, and they looking on: at the sunne-setting, after long search and nothing found, saue a little storax and beniamin: they seeing oportunitie, and talking to the rest of their companie which were in my ship, being neere to their iunke, they resolued, at a watch-word betweene them, to set vpon vs resolutely in both ships. this being concluded, they suddenly killed and droue ouer-boord, all my men that were in their ship; and those which were aboord my ship sallied out of my cabbin, where they were put, with such weapons as they had, finding certaine targets in my cabbin, and other things that they vsed as weapons. my selfe being aloft on the decke, knowing what was likely to follow, leapt into the waste, where, with the boate swaines, carpenter and some few more, wee kept them vnder the halfe-decke. at their first comming forth of the cabbin, they met captain dauis comming out of the gun-roome, whom they pulled into the cabbin, and giuing him sixe or seuen mortall wounds, they thrust him out of the cabbin before them. his wounds were so mortall, that he dyed assoone as he came into the waste."--purchas, i. . bolton corney. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _clouds in photographs._--i wish one of your photographic correspondents would inform me, how _clouds_ can be put into photographs taken on paper? mr. buckle's photographs all contain _clouds_? [sigma]. "_the stereoscope considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision_" is the title of a small pamphlet written by a frequent contributor to this journal, mr. c. mansfield ingleby, in which he has "attempted to sketch out such modifications of the theory of double vision as appear to him to be entailed on the rationale of the stereoscope." the corroboration thus indirectly afforded to the principles of sir william hamilton's _philosophy of perception_ has induced mr. ingleby to dedicate his word to that distinguished metaphysician. the essay will, we have no doubt, be perused with great interest by many of our photographic friends, for whose gratification we shall borrow its concluding paragraph. "in conclusion we must not forget to acknowledge our obligations to the photographic art, not merely as one of the most suggestive results of natural science, but as a means of the widest and soundest utility. to antiquaries the services of photography have a unique value, for, by perpetuating in the form of negatives those monuments of nature and art which, though exempt from common accident, are still subject to gradual decay from time, it places in the hands of us all microscopically exact antitypes of objects which, from change or distance, are otherwise inaccessible. to the artist they afford the means of facilitating the otherwise laborious, and often mechanical, task of drawing in detail from nature and from the human figure. "to the physician, to the naturalist, and to the man of science, the uses of photography are various and important, and already the discoveries which have been directly due to this modern art are of stupendous utility. "to the metaphysician, its uses may be sufficiently gleaned from the applications considered in the preceding pages. but to all these classes of men the photographic art derives its chief glory from its application to the stereoscope; and if, for elucidating the principles of vision by means of this application, we have in any degree given a stimulus to the practice and improvement of the photographic processes, our pains have been happily and fruitfully bestowed." _muller's processes._--would you inform me, through the medium of "n. & q.," what manufacture of paper is best adapted to the two processes of mr. muller? i have tried several: with some i find that the combination of their starch with the iodide of iron causes a dark precipitate upon the face of the paper; and with those papers prepared with size, there appears to me great difficulty (in his improved process after the paper is moistened with aceto-nitrate of silver) to procure an equal distribution of the iodide over its surface, as it invariably dries or runs off parts of the paper, or is repelled by spots of size on the paper when dipped in the iodide of iron bath.--a reply to the foregoing question would greatly oblige a constant reader. essex. _positives on glass._--sometimes, when your sitter is gone, and you hold your portrait up to the light to examine its density, you find in the face and other parts which are dark, so viewed, minute _transparent_ specks, scarcely bigger than a pin's point. when the picture is backed with black lacquer, you have consequently small _black_ spots, which deform the positive, especially when viewed through a lens of short focus. a friend of mine { } cures this defect very easily. after having applied the amber varnish, he stops out the spots with a little oil-paint that matches the lights of the picture; of course the paint is put upon the varnished side of the glass. when the paint is dry, the black lacquer is carried over the whole as usual. t. d. eaton. norwich. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _peculiar ornament in crosthwaite church_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i am exceedingly obliged to cheverells for his reply to any query. i am sorry to say that i failed to make a note of the number of the circles; but, as far as i can remember, there are six windows in each aisle, so in all there would be twenty-four, each window having two carved upon it, one on the right jamb without, and the other on the left within. r. w. elliot. clifton. _nursery rhymes_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i would suggest to l. that a consideration of _rhymes_ may sometimes indicate, by the change in the pronunciation, the antiquity of the verse e.g., "hush aby, baby, on the green _bough_, when the wind blows the cradle will _rock_, and when the bough breaks," &c. here, according to modern pronunciation, the rhymes of the first couplet are imperfect, so that it was probably composed in the saxon era, or while the word _bough_ was still pronounced _bog_ or _bock_. j. r. _milton's widow_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., pp. . . .).--reading up my arrears of "n. & q.," which a long absence from england has caused to accumulate, i find frequent inquiries made for some information which i once promised, relative to milton's widow. i fear that your correspondents on this subject have formed an exaggerated idea of the importance of the expected note, and that they will see but a "ridiculus mus" after all. as i have no means at hand at the present moment wherewith to attempt to elucidate the minshull genealogy, i shall content myself by simply sending my original notes, namely, brief abstracts of the wills of thomas and nathan paget preserved at doctors' commons. thomas paget, minister of the gospel at stockport, in cheshire, makes his will may , ; mentions his three daughters dorothy, elizabeth, and mary; and leaves estates at different places in shropshire to his two sons, dr. nathan and thomas, whom he appoints his executors. he entreats _his cousin minshull, apothecarie in manchester_, to be overseer of his will, which was proved october , . [i have before (vol. v., p. .) shown the connexion between the pagets and manchester.] nathan paget, doctor in medicine, will dated january , , was then living in the parish of st. stephen's, coleman street, london, leaves certain estates, and his house in london where he resided, to his brother thomas paget, clerk. bequests to his cousin john goldsmith of the middle temple, gent., and _his cousin elizabeth milton_, to the society of physicians, and the poor of the parish of st. stephen's. will proved january , . i have omitted to note _what_ the bequests were. i will only add, that some time ago i dropped my _alias_ of cranmore, and have occasionally appeared in your sixth volume as arthur paget. _watch-paper inscriptions_ (vol. viii., p. .).---i recollect, when at school, having an old silver watch with the following printed lines inside the case: "time is--the present moment well employ; time was--is past--thou canst not it enjoy; time future--is not, and may never be; time present--is the only time for thee." jno. d. allcroft. _poetical tavern signs_ (vol. viii., p. .).--may i add to those mentioned by your correspondent mr. warde, one at chatham. on the sign-board is painted "an arm embowed, holding a malt-shovel," underneath which is written,-- "good malt makes good beer, walk in, and you'll find it here." g. brindley acworth. star hill, rochester. at a small inn in castleton, near whitby, the sign represents robin hood and little john in their usual forest costume, and underneath appear the following doggerel lines: "to gentlemen and yeomen good, come in and drink with robin hood; if robin hood is not at home, come in and drink with little john." f. m. _parish clerks' company_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the hall is in silver street, wood street; the beadle is mr. bullard, no. . grocers' hall court, poultry. if the circulars of the company were attended to, a great service would be rendered to the public; but as there are about one hundred and sixty churches in the metropolis, the chance of a parish clerk finding any particular marriage, &c. is, at the best, but as one to one hundred and sixty. besides this, the parish registers are generally in the custody of the clergyman, and it is therefore feared that the searches are but too often { } neglected, unless the reward is sufficiently tempting to induce the loss of time and the probability of an unsuccessful examination. john s. burn. "_elijah's mantle_" (vol. viii., p. .).--james sayers, esq., a solicitor of staple inn, was the author of this beautiful poem, and he was also the reputed author of some of gilray's best caricatures. suum cuique. _histories of literature_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in addition to the works of hallam, maitland, and berrington mentioned by you, i would recommend your correspondent ilmonasteriensis to procure an _anonymous_ publication, entitled _an introduction to the literary history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries_, london, , vo. it is a much neglected work, replete with interesting information relative to the state of literature during the dark ages. i observe a copy in calf, marked s. d. in a bookseller's catalogue published lately in this city. t. g. s. edinburgh. _birthplace of general monk_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i regret to find i am in error in saying that lysons positively assigns landcross as monk's birthplace in the _magna britannia_. the mistake is of slight import as respects the query, but accuracy in citing authorities is at least desirable, and ought (in common justice) to be ever most scrupulously regarded. "general monk _appears_ to have been a native of this village; he was baptised at lancras, december , ," is, i find, the actual passage, the substance of which (writing in germany, far from any means of reference), at the time believed i was more correctly quoting. f. kyffin lenthall. reform club. _books chained to desks in churches_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in the library of st. walburg's church at zutphen, consisting chiefly of bibles and other latin works, the books are fastened to the desks by iron chains. this was done, it is said, to prevent the evil one from stealing them, a crime of which he had been repeatedly guilty. the proof of this is found in the stone-floor, where his foot-marks are impressed, and still show the direction of his march: they also teach us the important fact, that the feet of his tenebrious majesty are very like those of a large dog, and do not, as is generally supposed, resemble those of a horse.--from the _navorscher_. l. v. h. in the chancel of leyland church, lancashire, are four folio books chained to a window seat which makes a sloping desk for them: they are foxe's _martyrs_ and jewell's _apology_, both in black-letter, title-pages torn, and much worn; and a _preservative against popery_, in vols., dated . p. p. a copy of the bible was formerly affixed by a chain in wimborne minster, dorset, but has been removed to a certain library. the covers of a book are chained to a desk in the church of kettering; the book itself is gone. b. h. c. in the parish church of borden, near sittingbourne, kent, a copy of _comber on the common prayer_ is chained to a stand in the chancel. esta. _pedigree indices_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if captain wishes to make a search for a pedigree in the libraries at cambridge, he will learn from the mss. catalogue of in which of the libraries ms. volumes of heraldry and genealogy ought to be found; he should then apply, either through some master of arts, or with a proper letter of introduction in his hand, to the librarian for leave to search the volumes. he will find that generally every facility is afforded him which the safe keeping of historical evidences allows. he will do well to select term-time for the period of making a search; and before seeking admission to a college librarian, it will be found convenient to both parties for him to give a day's notice, by letter or card, to the librarian, who has often occupations and engagements that cannot always be got rid of at the call of a chance visitor. cantab. there are not any published genealogical tables showing the various kindred of william of wykeham or sir thomas white similar to those contained in the _stemmata chicheliana_. a few descents of kindred of sir thomas white may be seen in ashmole's _history of berkshire_, vols. vo. g. _portrait of hobbes_ (vol. viii. p .).--i have an etching (size about ½ in. by ½ in.) inscribed: "vera et viva effigies thomÆ hobbes, malmesburiensis." and under this: "i. bapt. caspar pinxit; w. hollar fecit aqua forti, ." it is a half-length portrait, and represents hobbes uncovered, with his hands folded in his robe; and is without any arch or other ornament. did caspar paint more than one portrait of hobbes? is this the one mentioned by hollar, in his letter dated , quoted by mr. singer. wm. mccree. _tenets or tenents_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--were there two editions of the _vulgar errors_ published in the same year, ? for my copy, "printed by t. h. for edward dod, and { } are to be sold in ivie lane, ," and which i have always supposed to be of the first edition, has "tenents," very distinctly, on the title-page. on the fly-leaf, opposite to the title-page, is the approbation of john downame, dated march , , and commencing thus: "i have perused these learned animadversions upon the common tenets and opinions of men," &c. h. t. g. hull. _door-head inscriptions_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .; vol. viii., pp. . .).--over a house in hexham, in the street called gilligate, is the following inscription: "c. d. . j. d. reason doth wonder, but faith he tell can, that a maid was a mother, and god was a man. let reason look down, and faith see the wonder; for faith sees above, and reason sees under. reason doth wonder what by scripture is meant, which says that christ's body is our sacrament: that our bread is his body, and our drink is his blood, which cannot by reason be well understood; for faith sees above, and reason below, for faith can see more than reason doth know." ceyrep. the following is reported to have been inscribed by the pope ( ) over the gate of the apostolical chancery: "fide deo--dic sæpe preces--peccare caveto-- sit humilis--pacem delige--magna fuge-- multa audi--dic pauca--tace secreta--minori parcito--majori cedito--ferto parem. propria fac--non differ opus--sis æquas egeno-- parta tuere--pati disce--memento mori." h. t. ellacombe. _hour-glass stand_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., pp. . . .).--there is an hour-glass stand attached to the right-hand side of the pulpit of edingthorpe church, norfolk. the date of the pulpit is . i. l. s. _bulstrode whitlock and whitelocke bulstrode_ (vol. viii., p. .).--bulstrode whitlock was the son of sir james whitlock, kt., by elizabeth, daughter of edward bulstrode, of hedgley-bulstrode, in the county of buckingham; and whitelocke bulstrode was the son of sir richard, eldest son of the above-mentioned edward bulstrode. (see _lives of the lords chancellors, &c_., by an impartial hand, vol. ii p. .; and chalmers's _biographical dictionary_.) [greek: halieus]. dublin. _movable metal types anno _ (vol. vii., p. .).--although i am not able to give any information concerning sister margarite, or the convent at mur, i yet may observe, st, that the last three letters of the legend - - k can hardly refer to laurens janzroon coster, for his name in was never spelt with k, but always with c; and, besides, if a proper name be here intended, it will certainly be that of the binder. ndly, that in the catalogue of the haarlem city library, from p. . to ., mention is made of six works, which, though bearing no date, were, it is more than probable, printed with movable metal types before . one of these, _aelii donati grammaticæ latinæ fragmenta duo_, was printed before , and the writer of the catalogue adds in his notes: "ipsos typos, quibus hæ lamellæ sunt excusæ, fuisse _mobiles_, cum nonnullæ literæ inversæ evidenter testantur, tum omnium expertissimorum typographorum reique typographicæ peritissimorum arbitrûm, qui has lacinias contemplati sunt, unanima et constans affirmavit sententia. quin et _fusos_ eos esse perhibuerunt plurimi, et in his koningius, magno quamvis studio negaverat typorum ligneorum mobilium acerrimus propugnator meermannus." from the _navorscher_. constantee. _oaken tombs_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--in the chancel of brancepeth church, co. durham, are oaken effigies of a lord and lady neville, of which the following is a description. the figure of the man is in a coat of mail, the hands elevated with gauntlets, wearing his casque, which rests on a bull's or buffalo's head, a collar round his neck studded with gems, and on the breast a shield with the arms of neville. the female figure has a high crowned bonnet, and the mantle is drawn close over the feet, which rest on two dogs couchant. the tomb is ornamented with small figures of ecclesiastics at prayer, but is without inscription. leland (_itin._, i. .) says: "in the paroche church of saint brandon, at branspeth, be dyvers tumbes of the nevilles. in the quire is a high tumbe, of one of them porturid with his wife. this neville lakkid heires male, wherapoan great concertation rose betwixt the next heire male, and one the gascoynes." cuthbert bede, b.a. _stafford knot_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it was the badge or cognisance of the house of stafford, earls of stafford. henry gough. emberton, bucks. _hand in bishop's cannings church_ (vol. viii., p. .).--see an article on this "manus meditationis," with a copy of the inscription, in the _ecclesiologist_, vol. v. p. . henry gough. emberton, bucks. _arms of richard, king of the romans_ (vol. viii, p. .).--i think it might be proved that the border refers not to poitou (which is represented { } by the crowned lion), but to cornwall, the ancient feudal arms of which are _sable, fifteen bezants_, referring, as it would seem, to its metallic treasures. see an article on the numerous arms derived from those of this richard, in the appendix to mr. lower's _curiosities of heraldry_. henry gough. emberton, bucks. _burial in an erect position_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--so ben jonson was buried at westminster, probably on account of the large fee demanded for a full-sized grave. it was long supposed by many that the story was invented to account for the smallness of the gravestone; but the grave being opened a few years ago, the dramatist's remains were discovered in the attitude indicated by tradition. henry gough. emberton, bucks. in the _ingoldsby legends_, vol. i. p. ., we have: "no!--tray's humble tomb would look but shabby 'mid the sculptured shrines of that gorgeous abbey. besides, in the place they say there's not space to bury what wet-nurses call 'a babby.' even 'rare ben jonson,' that famous wight, i am told, is interr'd there bolt upright, in just such a posture, beneath his bust, as tray used to sit in to beg for a crust." is there any authority for the statement? erica. _wooden effigies_ (vol. viii., p. .).--these are by no means uncommon, though it is to be feared that many have perished within comparatively recent times. in the church of clifton reynes, bucks, there are wooden effigies of two knights of the reynes family with their wives. henry gough. emberton, bucks. _wedding divination_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following mediæval superstition may be quoted as a pretty exact parallel of the _wedding divination_ alluded to by oxoniensis. it is from wright's selection of latin stories of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, harl. ms. .:-- "vidi in quibusdam partibus, quando mulieres nubebant, et de ecclesiâ redibant, in ingressu domus in faciem corum frumentum projiciebant, clamantes: 'abundantia! abundantia!' quod gallicè dicitur _plentè_, _plentè_; et tamen plerumque, antequam annus transiret, pauperes mendici remanebant et abundantià omni bonorum carebant." h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _old fogie_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if it will throw any additional light on the controversy as to "fogie," i may add that for a long period of years i have heard it applied only to the discharged invalided pensioners of the army. on a late queen's birthday review on the _green_, the boys and girls were in ecstasies at seeing the "old fogies" dressed out in new suits. it is very often spoken derisively to a thick-headed stupid person, but which cannot determine accurately its primary signification. g. n. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the noble president of the society of antiquaries is fast bringing to completion the cheaper and revised edition of his _history of england from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles_, - . the sixth volume, which is now before us, embraces the eventful six years - , which saw the commencement of the great struggle with america, which ended in the independence of the united states. in this, as in his preceding volumes, the new materials which lord mahon has been so fortunate as to collect from the family papers of the representatives of the political leaders of the period, and which he has inserted in his appendix, contribute very materially to the value and importance of his history. _cheshire; its historical and literary associations, illustrated in a series of biographical sketches;_ and _the cheshire and lancashire historical collector_, a small vo. sheet originally issued every month, but now every fortnight, in consequence of increase of materials, and the great encouragement which the undertaking has received, are two contributions towards cheshire topography, local history, bibliography, &c., for which the good men of the palatinate are indebted to the zeal of mr. t. worthington barlow, of the society of gray's inn. it is always a subject of gratification to us when we see cheap yet handsome reprints of our standard authors; for no better proof can be given of the increase among us not only of a reading public, but of a public who are disposed to read well. it is therefore with no small pleasure that we have received from mr. routledge copies of his five shilling edition of _the canterbury tales, by geoffrey chaucer, from the text, and with the notes and glossary of thomas tyrwhitt, condensed and arranged under the text_. it is obvious that considerable labour has been taken by the editor in its preparation, for he has not contented himself with merely transferring the contents of tyrwhitt's notes and glossary to their proper places beneath the text; but has availed himself of the labours of messrs. craik, saunders, sir h. nicolas, and our able correspondent a. e. b., to give completeness to what is a very useful edition of old dan chaucer's masterpiece. we have to thank the same publisher for a corresponding edition of spenser's _faerie queene_; so that no lover of those two glorious old poets need any longer want a cheap and compact edition of them. books received.--_history of the guillotine, revised from the quarterly review_, by the right hon. j. w. croker, which forms the new part of murray's _railway { } reading_, is not only valuable as a _précis_ of all that is known upon this very obscure subject, but for all its illustration of the difficulty of arriving at historical truth.--_a love story; being the history of the courtship and marriage of dr. dove of doncaster_, that delightful episode in southey's most delightful book, _the doctor_, forms part l. of longman's _traveller's library_.--_the first italian book_ appears a very successful attempt on the part of signor pifferi and mr. dawson w. turner to furnish a companion to the _first french book_ of that accomplished scholar, the late rev. t. k. arnold. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. torriano piazza universale di proverbi italiani. london, . folio. bibliotheca topographica britannica. vol. ix. encyclopÆdia britannica. th edition. vol. xxii., part . examiner (newspaper), no. , february , . william shakspeare: a biography, by charles knight (first edition). *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: chapman's architecturiÆ navales mercaturiÆ. . folio. published in sweden. wanted by _robert stewart_, bookseller, paisley. * * * * * two dialogues in the elysian fields, between card. wolsey and card. ximenes. to which are added historical accounts of wolsey's two colleges and the town of ipswich. by joseph grove. london, . vo. wanted by _w. s. fitch_, ipswich. * * * * * addison's works. first edition. jones' (of hoyland) works. vols. vo. wilkinson's ancient egypt. vols. iv. and v. byron's life and letters. vols. vo. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. * * * * * kant's logic, translated by john richardson. historic certainties by aristarchus newlight. songs--"the boatmen shout." attwood. "ah! godan lor felicita" (faust). spohr. wanted by _c. mansfield ingleby_, birmingham. * * * * * the spectator, printed by alex. lawrie & co., london, . vols. i., ii., iii., vi., vii., and viii. wanted by _j. t. cheetham_, firwood, chadderton, near oldham. * * * * * oxford almanack for . amoenitates academicÆ. vol. i. holmiæ, . brourÆ hist. nat. jamaicÆ. london, . folio. ammanus i. stirpes rariores. petrop. . philosophical transactions for . annals of philosophy for january, . a poem upon the most hopeful and ever-flourishing sprouts of valour, the indefatigable centrys of the physic garden. poem upon mr. jacob bobart's yewmen of the guards to the physic garden, to the tune of "the counter-scuffle." oxon. . the above two ballads are by edmund gayton. wanted by _h. t. bobart_, ashby-de-la-zouch. * * * * * peyran's coptic lexicon. mure on the calendar and zodiacs of ancient egypt. gladwin's persian moonshee. to. jones's classical library (the vo. edition). the volume containing herodotus, vol. i. the chronicles of london. . wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _owing to the length of_ professor de morgan's _very interesting article and the number of our advertisements, we have enlarged our present number to thirty-two pages._ books wanted. _so many of our correspondents seem disposed to avail themselves of our plan of placing the booksellers in direct communication with them, that we find ourselves compelled to limit each list of books to two insertions. we would also express a hope that those gentlemen who may at once succeed in obtaining any desired volumes will be good enough to notify the same to us, in order that such books may not unnecessarily appear in such list even a second time._ _the letters for_ a. z., mr. demayne, mr. f. crossley, &c., _have been duly forwarded._ x. y. z. _we have no doubt the early numbers of_ the press _may be procured on application to the publisher of that paper._ f. m. _the passage in_ king john, "my face so thin that in my ear i dare not stick a rose, lest men should say, see where threefarthings goes!" _contains an allusion to the_ very thin _silver threefarthing pieces, coined by elizabeth, which bore a rose. in boswell's shakspeare_ (ed. ), vol. xv. p. ., _will be found nearly two pages of illustrative notes._ a constant reader _is informed that the line_ "men are but children of a larger growth" _is from dryden's_ all for love. j. l. (islington). dr. diamond _informs us that he procured his naphtha from messrs. simpson and maule, of kennington, but he would not advise the use of varnish so made. it is apt to dry up in round spots, and which sometimes print from the negative. he also adds, that one ounce of the collodio-amber varnish as recommended by him will, with care, from its great fluidity and ready-flowing qualities, effectually varnish upwards of thirty glass negatives of the quarter plate size: thus the real expense is very inconsiderable._ f. s. a. _photography is perfectly applicable to the copying of mss. or printed leaves, either smaller, of the same size, or larger than the original, the only requisite beyond a good lens being a camera of sufficient length for a long focus. a plain surface exposed in front of a lens requires a range behind it of the same distance to produce an equal size copy; a magnified image being produced by a nearer approach to the lens, and a smaller the farther the object is distant. prints are often copied by mere contact, without the use of any lens whatever. as a brother f. s. a.,_ dr. diamond _will be happy to give you some personal instructions as to your requirements._ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half.--copies are being made up and may be had by order._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * photographic paper.-- negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chanbers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * on the st november, pp. crown to., price threehalfpence. the church of the people. a monthly journal of literature, science, the fine arts, &c., &c., devoted to the religious, moral, physical, and social elevation of the working classes. under the superintendence of a committee. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * { } the gentleman's magazine for november contains the following articles:-- . sir walter raleigh at sherborne. . the parish girl, a poem: by the rev. john mitford. . cotele, and the edgcumbes of the olden time, by mrs. bray, part ii. . the annals of appetite: soyer's pantropheon. . notes on mediæval art in france and germany, by j. g. waller: mayence, heidelberg, basle, and strasburg. . remarks on the white horse of saxony and brunswick, by stephen martin leake, esq., garter. . the campaigns of - in flanders and holland. correspondence of sylvanus urban: counsels' fees and lawyers' bills: shops in westminster hall: the family of phipps: mr. john knill of st. ive's: antiquity of the mysterious word "wheedle." with notes of the month: historical and miscellaneous reviews; reports of the archæological societies of wales, newcastle-upon-tyne, wiltshire, somersetshire, suffolk, and essex; historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of earl brownlow, lord anderson, right hon. sir frederick adam, adm. sir charles adam, james dodsley cuff, esq., mr. adolphus asher, leon jablonski, &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * volume i. is now ready, price only s., of the cheap re-issue of evelyn's diary and correspondence. new, revised, and enlarged edition, comprising all the important additional notes, letters, and other illustrations. to be completed in four monthly volumes, price only s. each bound. printed uniformly with the last edition of pepys's "diary." "we rejoice to welcome this beautiful and compact edition of evelyn: one of the most valuable and interesting works in the language, now deservedly regarded as an english classic."--_examiner._ published for henry colburn, by his successors hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * just published, price s. the stereoscope, considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision. an essay, by c. mansfield ingleby, m.a., of trinity college, cambridge. london: walton & maberley, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. cambridge: j. deighton. also, by the same author, price s., remarks on some of sir william hamilton's notes on the works of dr. thomas reid. "nothing in my opinion can be more cogent than your refutation of m. jobert."--_sir w. hamilton._ london: john w. parker. west strand. cambridge: e. johnson. birmingham: h. c. langbridge. * * * * * leeds library. librarian.--wanted a gentleman of literary attainments, competent to undertake the duties of librarian in the leeds library. the institution consists of about proprietary members, and an assistant librarian is employed. the hours of attendance required will be from a.m. to p.m. daily, with an interval of two hours. salary l. a year. applications, with certificates of qualifications, must be sent by letter, post paid, not later than st december next, to abraham horsfall, esq., hon. sec., . park row, leeds. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals; and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * hamilton's modern instructions for singing. s. hamilton's modern instructions for the pianoforte. forty-sixth edition. s. hamilton's dictionary of musical terms. forty-second edition. s. clarke's catechism of the rudiments of music. thirtieth edition. s. "these works are all favorites with professors, because they are favourites with the pupils. few know how to write a book of instruction; but hamilton did, because he knew thoroughly well how to teach. the extreme popularity of these works (as may be noticed from the number of editions they have passed through) has called forth many imitations; but everybody will like the original, or prototype, rather than the copy. the dictionary is famous as the most copious and correct extant; and the little catechism is as clever as it is unpretentious."--vide _reading mercury_, oct. . robert cocks & co., new burlington street, london. * * * * * library of an eminent scholar.--six days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on monday, november th, and five following days, a large collection of valuable books, the library of an eminent scholar deceased, consisting of historical and critical works in various languages, classics, scientific works, books of prints, &c. the whole in choice condition. catalogues will be sent on application (if in the country on receipt of six stamps). * * * * * to collectors of autographs and mss.--the following documents are missing, viz. some family papers relative to the second marriage of the duke of somerset in ; other letters on the death of the duke's grandson; autograph notes of george iii. to charles, earl of egremont, in and ; a letter of charles ii.; a particular of the duchess of somerset's debts, ; commencement of a letter of lord nelson; a letter of lord lyttleton, with complimentary verses, dated jan. , , &c. any information relating to the preceding will be thankfully received, and a liberal reward paid on restoration of the papers. apply to messrs. puttick & simpson. auctioneers of literary property, . piccadilly. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes, best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * solicitors' & general life assurance society, . chancery lane, london. _subscribed capital, one million._ this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the amount assured, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * achilles life insurance company,-- . cannon street, city.--the advantages offered by this society are security, economy, and lower rates of premium than most other offices. no charge is made for policy stamps or medical fees. policies indisputable. loans granted to policy-holders. for the convenience of the working classes, policies are issued as low as l., at the same rates of premium as larger policies. prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained on application to hugh b. taplin, secretary. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other traveling requisites. gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers. , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases. , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers. l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * { } cheap books on sale at williams and norgate's . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * just completed, in vols. to. with prolegomena and indexes. published in germany at - / thalers or l., offered for l. s. suidÆ lexicon. grÆce et latine. post gaisfordium recensuit et annotatione critica instruxit godofredus bernhardy. complete with a new prolegomena and indexes just published. having purchased a number of copies of the above work, we are enabled to offer them so long as the present stock lasts, for ready money at l. s. stitched, or strongly half bound in morocco or russia, for l. s. just completed, stout vols. and index volume. notitia dignitatvm et administrationvm omnivm tam civilivm qvam militarivm in partibvs orientis et occidentis. recensvit commentariis indiceqve illvstravit edvardvs bocking. vol. i., pages, and engravings; vol. ii. pages, and engravings; index, pages. this work, just published at - / thalers or l. s. in germany, we offer--as long as our present stock shall last--for s. only. just published, vols. vo., price s. grammatica celtica. e monumentis vetustis tam hibernicæ linguæ quam britannicæ dialecti cambricæ, cornicæ, armoricæ, nec non e gallicæ priscæ reliquiis. construxit t. c. zeuss. vols. vo. s. just published in one volume, pages, royal vo., price s. lexicon etymologicum linguarum romanarum, italicÆ, hispanicÆ, gallicÆ. etymologisches wörterbuch der romanischen sprachen, von fried. diez. pages, royal vo. s. ducange. glossarium mediæ et infimæ latinitatis, c. suppl. d. carpentieri et additamentis adelungii et aliorum, digessit o. henschel. vols. to. paris, - . (pub. at l. s.) l. hutten (ulr. v.) opera quæ extant omnia.--des deutschen ritters ulrich von hutten sämmtliche werke mit einleitung, anmerkungen, &c. herausg. v. e. muench. vols. vo. - . (pub. at l.) s. ---- vol. vi. epistolæ obscurorum virorum. vo. (pub. at s.) s. bartsch. le peintre-graveur. complete. volumes vo. vienne, - . fine paper, uncut. for l. cash. ***this celebrated work has long been out of print, and copies fetch at sales from l. to l. a few copies only remain at the above price. niebur's lectures on the french revolution.--geschichte des zeitalters der revolution. vols. vo. published at s. offered for s.; or cloth, s. charles v. correspondence. - , edited from the originals in the archives royales and the bibliothèque de bourgogne at bruxelles, by dr. k. lanz. one thousand and nine original letters, - . vols. vo. leipzig, - . (published at s.) s. goethe's correspondence with a child; together with the diary of a child, by bettina v. arnim, translated into english by herself. vols. vo. plates. . (published at s.) s. d. english and scotch ecclesiastical history. de ecclesiasticÆ britonum scotorumque historiÆ, fontibus disseruit carol. guil. schoell (assistant preacher, german church, savoy). royal vo. s. the hungarian language. just published, vo., cloth boards, price s. csink's complete practical grammar of the hungarian language, with exercises, selections from the best authors, and vocabularies; to which is added a historical sketch of hungarian literature. a stout vo. volume of about pages, beautifully printed. williams & norgate's foreign book circular, no. .--theology, classics, german and french literature. european and oriental linguistic books. 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( th thousand.) fcp. vo. s. john murray. albemarle street. * * * * * in small vo., price s. d. salem redeemed; or, the year of jubilee; a lyrical drama, in three acts. by edmund peel, esq., author of the "fair island," "judge not," and other poems. rivingtons, waterloo place. * * * * * arnold's demosthenes, with english notes. in mo., price s. d. the oration of demosthenes on the crown, edited, from the best text, with english notes, and grammatical references. by the rev. thomas kerchiever arnold, m.a., late rector of lyndon, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, waterloo place. of whom may be had, by the same editor (with english notes): . the olynthiac orations of demosthenes. s. . the philippic orations of demosthenes. s. * * * * * on the st of january, , will be commenced the new annotated edition of the english poets; by robert bell, author of "the history of russia," "lives of the english poets," &c. to be published in monthly volumes, fcap. vo., price s. d. each, combining those features of research, typographical elegance, and economy of price, which the present age demands. the text will be carefully collated, and accompanied by biographical, critical, and historical notes. each poet will be independent of the rest; chronological sequence will not be observed in the issue of the works, but will be adjusted by general title-pages on the completion of the series. the series will commence with the works of dryden, the first volume of which will appear on the st of january, ; to be followed on the st of february by a poet of an earlier period. the introductory volume, containing a sketch of the history of english poetry, will be published in the course of the year. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * { } privately printed books, sold by john russell smith. . soho square, london. these works are printed in quarto, uniform with the club-books, and the series is now completed. their value chiefly consists in the rarity and curiosity of the pieces selected, the notes being very few in number. the impression of each work is most strictly limited. i. morte arthure: the alliterative romance of the death of king arthur; now first printed, from a manuscript in the library of lincoln cathedral. seventy-five copies printed. l. *** a very curious romance, full of allusions interesting to the antiquary and philologist. it contains nearly eight thousand lines. ii. the castle of love: a poem, by robert grosteste, bishop of lincoln; now first printed from inedited mss. of the fourteenth century. one hundred copies printed. s. *** this is a religious poetical romance, unknown to warton. its poetical merits are beyond its age. iii. contributions to early english literature, derived chiefly from rare books and ancient inedited manuscripts from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. seventy-five copies printed. *** out of print separately, but included in the few remaining complete sets. iv. a new boke about shakespeare and stratford-on-avon, illustrated with numerous woodcuts and facsimiles of shakespeare's marriage bond, and other curious articles. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. v. the palatine anthology. an extensive collection of ancient poems and ballads relating to cheshire and lancashire; to which is added the palatine garland. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. vi. the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, illustrated by reprints of very rare tracts. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. contents:--harry white his humour, set forth by m. p.--comedie of the two italian gentlemen--tailor's travels from london to the isle of wight, --wyll bucke his testament--the booke of merry riddles, --comedie of all for money, --wine, beere, ale, and tobacco, --johnson's new booke of new conceites, --love's garland, . vii. the yorkshire anthology.--an extensive collection of ballads and poems, respecting the county of yorkshire. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. *** this work contains upwards of pages, and include a reprint of the very curious poem, called "yorkshire ale," , as well as a great variety of old yorkshire ballads. viii, ix. a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, printed in two volumes, quarto (preface omitted), to range with todd's "johnson," with margins sufficient for insertions. one hundred and twelve copies printed in this form. l. s. x. some account of a collection of several thousand bills, accounts, and inventories, illustrating the history of prices between the years and , with copious extracts from old account-books. eighty copies printed. l. s. xi. the poetry of witchcraft, illustrated by copies of the plays on the lancashire witches, by heywood and shadwell, viz., the "late lancashire witches." and the "lancashire witches and tegue o'divelly, the irish priest." eighty copies printed. l. s. xii. the norfolk anthology, a collection of poems, ballads, and rare tracts, relating to the county of norfolk. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiii. some account of a collection of antiquities, coins, manuscripts, rare books, and other reliques, illustrative of the life and works of shakespeare. illustrated with woodcuts. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiv. some account of the mss. preserved in the public library, plymouth; a play attributed to shirley, a poem by n. breton, and other miscellanies. eighty copies printed. l. s. *** a complete set of the fourteen volumes, l. a reduction made in favour of permanent libraries on application, it being obvious that the works cannot thence return into the market to the detriment of original subscribers. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page notes on midland county minstrelsy, by c. clifton barry comet superstitions in the old english word "belike" druses, by. t. j. buckton folk lore:--legends of the county clare shakspeare correspondence, by thomas keightley, &c. death on the fingers minor notes:--on a "custom of y^e englyshe"--epitaph at crayford--the font at islip--"as good as a play" queries:-- lovett of astwell oaths the electric telegraph minor queries:--queries relating to the porter family--lord ball of bagshot--marcarnes--the claymore--sir william chester, kt.--canning on the treaty of between the netherlands and great britain--ireland a bastinadoed elephant--memorial lines by thomas aquinas--"johnson's turgid style"--meaning of "lane," &c.--theobald le botiller--william, fifth lord harrington--singular discovery of a cannon-ball--scottish castles--sneezing-- spenser's "fairy queen"--poema del cid--the brazen head minor queries with answers:--"the basilics"--fire at houlton--michaelmas goose replies:-- portraits of hobbes and letters of hollar, by s. w. singer parochial libraries, by the rev. thos. corser battle of villers en couché, by h. l. mansel, b.d., &c. attainment of majority, by russell gole and professor de morgan similarity of idea in st. luke and juvenal photographic correspondence:--mr. sisson's developing fluid--dr. diamond's process for albumenized paper--mr. lyte's new process replies to minor queries:--derivation of the word "island"--"pætus and arria"--"that swinney"--the six gates of troy--milton's widow--boom--"nugget" not an american term--soke mill--binometrical verse--watch-paper inscription--dotinchem--reversible names and words--detached church towers--bishop ferrar--"they shot him by the nine stone rig"--punning devices--ashman's park--"crowns have their compass," &c.--ampers and--throwing old shoes for luck--ennui miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. notes on midland county minstrelsy. it has often occurred to me that the old country folk-songs are as worthy of a niche in your mausoleum as the more prosy lore to which you allot a separate division. why does not some one write a minstrelsy of the midland counties? there is ample material to work upon, and not yet spoiled by dry-as-dust-ism. it would be vain, perhaps, to emulate the achievements of the scottish antiquary; but surely something might be done better than the county _garlands_, which, with a few honorable exceptions, are sad abortions, mere channels for rhyme-struck editors. there is one peculiarity of the midland songs and ballads which i do not remember to have seen noticed, viz. their singular affinity to those of scotland, as exhibited in the collections of scott and motherwell. i have repeatedly noticed this, even so far south as gloucestershire. of the old staffordshire ballad which appeared in your columns some months ago, i remember to have heard two distinct versions in warwickshire, all approaching more or less to the scottish type: "hame came our gude man at e'en." now whence this curious similarity in the vernacular ideology of districts so remote? are all the versions from one original, distributed by the wandering minstrels, and in course of time adapted to new localities and dialects? and, if so, whence came the original, from england or scotland? here is a nut for dr. rimbault, or some of your other correspondents learned in popular poetry. another instance also occurs to me. most of your readers are doubtless familiar with the pretty little ballad of "lady anne" in the _border minstrelsy_, which relates so plaintively the murder of the two innocent babes, and the ghostly retribution to the guilty mother. other versions are given by kinloch in his _ancient scottish ballads_, and by buchan in the _songs of the north_, the former laying the scene in london: "there lived a ladye in london, all alone and alonie, she's gane wi' bairn to the clerk's son, down by the green-wood side sae bonny." { } and the latter across the atlantic: "the minister's daughter of new york, hey with the rose and the lindie, o, has fa'en in love wi' her father's clerk, a' by the green burn sidie, o." a warwickshire version, on the contrary, places the scene on our own "native leas:" "there was a lady lived on lea, all alone, alone o, down the greenwood side went she, down the greenwood side, o. "she set her foot all on a thorn[ ], down the greenwood side, o, there she had two babies born, all alone, alone o. "o she had nothing to lap them in, all alone, alone o, but a white appurn and that was thin, down the greenwood side, o," &c. here there are no less than four versions of the same ballad, each differing materially from the other, but all bearing unmistakeable marks of a common origin. it would be interesting to know the process by which this was managed. c. clifton barry. [footnote : in one of the scottish ballads the same idea is more prettily expressed "leaned until a brier."] * * * * * comet superstitions in . from the th of august to the present time that brilliant comet, which was first seen by m. klinkerfues, at göttingen, on the th of june last, has been distinctly visible here, and among the ignorant classes its appearance has caused no little alarm. the reason of this we shall briefly explain. during the past fifty-five years the maltese have grievously suffered on three different occasions; firstly, by the revolution of , which was followed by the plague in ; and lastly, by the cholera in . in these visitations, all of which are in the recollection of the oldest inhabitants, thirty thousand persons are supposed to have perished. mindful as these aged people are of these sad bereavements, and declaring as they do that they were all preceded by some "curious signs" in the heavens which foretold their approach, men's minds have become excited, and, reason as one may, still the impression now existing that some fatal harm is shortly to follow will not be removed. a few of the inhabitants, more terrified than their neighbours, have fancied the comet's tail to be a fiery sword, and therefore predict a general war in europe, and consequent fall of the ottoman empire. but as this statement is evidently erroneous, we still live in great hopes, notwithstanding all previous predictions and "curious signs," that the comet will pass away without bringing in its train any grievous calamity. by the following extracts, taken from some leading journals of the day, it will be seen that the maltese are not alone in entertaining a superstitious dread of a comet's appearance. the americans, prussians, spaniards, and turks come in the same list, which perhaps may be increased by your correspondents: "the madrid journals announce that the appearance of the comet has excited great alarm in that city, as it is considered a symptom of divine wrath, and a presage of war, pestilence, and affliction for humanity."--vide _galignani's messenger_ of august , . "the entire appearance (of the comet) is brilliant and dazzling; and while it engrosses the attention and investigation of the scientific, it excites the alarm of the superstitious, who, as in ancient times, regard it as the concomitant of pestilence and the herald of war."--vide new york correspondence of _the sun_, aug. , . "the splendid comet now visible after sun-set on the western horizon, has attracted the attention of every body here. the public impression is, that this celestial phenomenon is to be considered as a sign of war; and their astrologers, to whom appeal is made for an interpretation, make the most absurd declarations: and i have been laughed at by very intelligent turks, when i ventured to persuade them that great nature's laws do not care about troubles here below."--vide turkish correspondence of _the herald_, aug. , . "the comet which has lately been visible has served a priest not far from warsaw with materials for a very curious sermon. after having summoned his congregation together, although it was neither sunday nor festival, and shown them the comet, he informed them that this was the same star that had appeared to the magi at the birth of our saviour, and that it was only visible now in the russian empire. its appearance on this occasion was to intimate to the russian eagle, that the time was now come for it to spread out its wings, and embrace all mankind in one orthodox and sanctifying church. he showed them the star now standing immediately over constantinople, and explained that the dull light of the nucleus indicated its sorrow at the delay of the russian army in proceeding to its destination."--vide berlin correspondence of _the times_. w. w. malta. * * * * * the old english word "belike." the word _belike_, much used by old writers, but now almost obsolete, even among the poor, seems to have been but very imperfectly understood--as far as regards its original meaning and derivation. most persons understand it to be equivalent, or nearly so, to _very likely_, _in all likelihood_, _perhaps_, or, ironically, _forsooth_; and in that { } opinion they are not far wrong. it occurs in this sense in numerous passages in shakspeare; for instance: "some merry mocking lord, _belike_."--_love's labour's lost._ "o then, _belike_, she was old and gentle."--_henry v._ "_belike_, this show imports the argument."--_hamlet._ such also was johnson's opinion of the word, for he represents it to be "from _like_, as by _likelihood_;" and assigns to it the meanings of "probably, likely, perhaps." however, i venture to say, in opposition to so great an authority, that there is no immediate connexion whatever between the words _belike_ and _likely_, with the exception of the accidental similarity in the syllable _like_. we find three different meanings attached to the same form _like_ in english, viz. _like_, similis; _to like_, i. e. to be pleased with; and the present word _belike_, whose real meaning i propose to explain. the first is from the a.-s. _lic_, _gelic_; low germ. _lick_; dutch _gelyk_; dan. _lig_ (which is said to take its meaning from _lic_, a corpse, _i. e._ an essence), which word also forms our english termination -_ly_, sometimes preserving its old form _like_; as _manly_ or _manlike_, _godly_ or _godlike_; a.-s. _werlic_, _godlic_; to which the teut. adjectival termination _lich_ is analogous. the second form, _to like_, i. e. to be pleased with, is quite distinct from the former (though it has been thought akin to it on the ground that _simili similis placet_); and is derived from the a.-s. _lician_, which is from _lic_, or _lac_, a gift; low germ. _licon_; dutch _lyken_. the third form, the compound term _belike_ (mostly used adverbially) is from the a.-s. _licgan_, _belicgan_, which means, to lie by, near, or around; to attend, accompany; low germ. and dutch, _liggen_; germ. _liegen_. in the old german, we have _licken_, _ligin_, _liggen_--_jacere_; and _geliggen_--_se habere_; which last seems to be the exact counterpart of our old english _belike_; and this it was which first suggested to me what i conceive to be its true meaning. we find the simple and compound words in juxtaposition in _otfridi evang._, lib. i. cap. . . in vol. i. p. . of schilter's _thes. teut._: "thoh er nu biliban si, farames thoh thar er si zi thiu'z nu sar giligge, thoh er bigraben ligge." "etsi vero is (lazarus) jam mortuus est, eamus tamen ubi is sit, quomodo id jam se habeat (quo in statu sint res ejus), etiamsi jam sepultus jaceat." on which schilter remarks: "zi thiu'z nu sar giligge quomodo se res habeat, hodie _standi_ verbo utimur,--wie es stehe, zustehe." we thus see that the radical meaning of the word _belike_ is to lie or be near, to attend; from which it came to express the _simple condition_, or _state of a thing_: and it is in this latter sense that the word is used as an adverbial or rather an interjectional expression, when it may be rendered, _it may be so_, _so it is_, _is it so_, &c. sometimes ironically, sometimes expressing chance, &c.; in the course of time it became superseded by the more modern term _perhaps_. instances of similar elliptical expressions are common at the present day, and will readily suggest themselves: the modern _please_, used for entreaty, is analogous. it is not a little singular that this account of the word _belike_ enables us to understand a passage in _macbeth_, which has been unintelligible to all the commentators and readers of shakspeare down to the present day. i allude to the following, which stands in my first folio, act iv. sc. ., thus: " . . . . what i am truly is thine, and my poor countries, to command: whither indeed before they heere approach, old seyward, with ten thousand warlike men, already at a point, was setting foorth: now we'll together, and the chance of goodnesse be like our warranted quarrel." now it is not easy to see why malcolm should wish that "chance" should "be _like_," i. e. similar to, their "warranted quarrel;" inasmuch as that quarrel was most unfortunate and disastrous. chance is either fortunate or unfortunate. the epithet _just_, which might apply to the quarrel in question, is utterly irreconcilable with _chance_. still this sense has pleased the editors, and they have made "of goodnesse" a precatory and interjectional expression. surely it is far more probable that the poet wrote _belike_ (_belicgan_, _geliggen_) as one word, and that the meaning of the passage is simply "may good fortune attend our enterprise." mr. collier's old corrector passes over this difficulty in silence, doubtless owing to the circumstance that the word was well understood in his time. i have alluded to the word _like_ as expressive in the english language of three distinct ideas, and in the a.-s. of at least four; is it not possible that these meanings, which, as we find the words used, are undoubtedly widely distinct, having travelled to us by separate channels, may nevertheless have had originally one and the same source? i should be glad to elicit the opinion of some one of your more learned correspondents as to whether the unused hebrew [hebrew: yln] may not be that source. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * { } druses. comparing the initiatory undertaking or covenant of the druses, as represented by col. churchill in his very important disclosures (_lebanon_, ii. .), with the original arabic, and the german translation of eichhorn (_repertorium für bibl. und morgenland_, lib. xii. .), i find that the following additions made by col. churchill (or de sacy, whom he follows) are not in the arabic, but appear to be glosses or amplifications. for example: "i put my trust and confidence in our lord hakem, the one, the eternal, without attribute and without number." "that in serving him he will serve no other, whether past, present, or to come." "to the observance of which he sacredly binds himself by the present contract and engagement, should he ever reveal the least portion of it to others." "the most high, king of kings, [the creator] of the heaven and the earth." "mighty and irresistible [force]." col. churchill, although furnishing the amplest account which has yet appeared of the druse religion, secretly held under the colour of mahometanism, has referred very sparingly to the catechisms of this sect, which, being for the especial instruction of the two degrees of monotheists, constitute the most authentic source of accurate knowledge of their faith and practices, and which are to be found in the original arabic, with a german translation in eichhorn's _repertorium_ (xii. . .). in the same work (xiv. ., xvii. .), bruns (kennicott's colleague) has furnished from abulfaragius a biography of the hakem; and adler (xv. .) has extracted, from various oriental sources, historical notices of the founder of the druses. the subject is peculiarly interesting at the present juncture, as it is probable that the chinese religious movement, partaking of a peculiar kind of christianity, may have originated amongst the druses, who appear from col. churchill to have been in expectation of some such movement in india or china in connexion with a re-appearance of the hakem. t. j. buckton. birmingham. * * * * * folk lore. _legends of the county clare._--_how ussheen_ (_ossian_) _visited the land of_ "_thiernah ogieh_" (_the country of perpetual youth_).--once upon a time, when ussheen was in the full vigour of his youth, it happened that, fatigued with the chace, and separated from his companions, he stretched himself under a tree to rest, and soon fell asleep. "awaking with a start," he saw a lady, richly clothed and of more than mortal beauty, gazing on him; nor was it long until she made him understand that a warmer feeling than mere curiosity had attracted her; nor was ussheen long in responding to it. the lady then explained that she was not of mortal birth, and that he who wooed an immortal bride must be prepared to encounter dangers such as would appal the ordinary race of men. ussheen, without hesitation, declared his readiness to encounter any foe, mortal or immortal, that might be opposed to him in her service. the lady then declared herself to be the queen of "thiernah ogieh," and invited him to accompany her thither and share her throne. they then set out on their journey, one in all respects similar to that undertaken by thomas the rhymer and the queen of faerie, and having overcome all obstacles, arrived at "the land of perpetual youth," where all the delights of the terrestrial paradise were thrown open to ussheen, to be enjoyed with only one restriction. a broad flat stone was pointed out to him in one part of the palace garden, on which he was forbidden to stand, under penalty of the heaviest misfortune. one day, however, finding himself near the fatal stone, the temptation to stand on it became irresistible, and he yielded to it, and immediately found himself in full view of his native land, the existence of which he had forgotten from the moment he had entered the kingdom of thiernah ogieh. but alas! how was it changed from that country he had left only a few days since, for "the strong had become weak," and "the brave become cowards," while oppression and violence held undisputed sway through land. overcome with grief, he hastened to the the queen to beg that he might be restored to his country without delay, that he might endeavour to apply some remedy to its misfortunes. the queen's prophetic skill made her aware of ussheen's transgression of her commands before he spoke, and she exerted all her persuasive powers to prevail upon him to give up his desire to return to erin, but in vain. she then asked him how long he supposed he had been absent from his native land, and on his answering "thrice seven days," she amazed him by declaring that three times thrice seven years had elapsed since his arrival at the kingdom of thiernah ogieh; and though time had no power to enter that land, it would immediately assert its dominion over him if he left it. at length she persuaded him to promise that he would return to his country for only one day, and then come back to dwell with her for ever; and she gave him a jet-black horse of surpassing beauty, from whose back she charged him on no account to alight, or at all events not to allow the bridle to fall from his hand. she farther endued him with wisdom and knowledge far surpassing that of men. having mounted his fairy steed, he soon found himself approaching his former home; and as he journeyed he met a man { } driving before him a horse, across whose back was thrown a sack of corn: the sack having fallen a little to one side, the man asked ussheen to assist him in balancing it properly; ussheen instantly stooped from his horse, and catching the sack in his right hand, gave it such a heave that it fell over on the other side. annoyed at his mistake, he forgot the injunctions of his bride, and sprung from his horse to lift the sack from the ground, letting the bridle fall from his hand at the same time: instantly the horse struck fire from the ground with his hoofs, and uttering a neigh louder than thunder, vanished; at the same instant his curling locks fell from ussheen's head, darkness closed over his beaming eyes, the more than mortal strength forsook his limbs, and, a feeble helpless old man, he stretched forth his hands seeking some one to lead him: but the mental gifts bestowed on him by his immortal bride did not leave him, and, though unable to serve his countrymen with his sword, he bestowed upon them the advice and instruction which flowed from wisdom greater than that of mortals. francis robert davies. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _on "run-awayes" in romeo and juliet._-- "gallop apace, you fiery-footed steedes, towards phoebus' lodging such a wagoner as phaeton would whip you to the west, and bring in cloudie night immediately. spred thy close curtaine, love-performing night, that run-awayes eyes may wincke, and romeo leape to these armes, vntalkt of and vnseene." your readers will no doubt exclaim, is not this question already settled for ever, if not by mr. singer's substitution of _rumourer's_, at least by that of r. h. c., viz. _rude day's_? i must confess that i thought the former so good, when it first appeared in these pages, that nothing more was wanted; yet this is surpassed by the suggestion of r. h. c. as conjectural emendations, they may rank with any that shakspeare's text has been favoured with; in short, the poet might undoubtedly have written either the one or the other. but this is not the question. the question is, did he write the passage as it stands in the first folio, which i have copied above? subsequent consideration has satisfied me that he did. i find the following passage in the _merchant of venice_, act ii. sc. .: "---- but come at once, for the close night doth play the run-away, and we are staid for at bassanio's feast." is it very difficult to believe that the poet who called the departing _night_ a _run-away_ would apply the same term to the _day_ under similar circumstances? surely the first folio is a much more correctly printed book than many of shakspeare's editors and critics would have us believe. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. the word "_clamour" in "the winter's tale_."--mr. keightley complains (vol viii., p. .) that some observations of mine (p. .) on the word _clamour_, in _the winter's tale_, are precisely similar to his own in vol. vii., p. . had they been so in reality, i presume our editor would not have inserted them; but i think they contain something farther, suggesting, as they do, the a.-s. origin of the word, and going far to prove that our modern _calm_, the older _clame_, the shakspearian _clamour_, the more frequent _clem_, chaucer's _clum_, &c., all of them spring from the same source, viz. the a.-s. _clam_ or _clom_, which means a band, clasp, bandage, chain, prison; from which substantive comes the verb _clæmian_, to clam, to stick or glue together, to bind, to imprison. if i passed over in silence those points on which mr. keightley and myself agreed, i need scarcely assure him that it was for the sake of brevity, and not from any want of respect to him. i may remark, by the way, on a conjecture of mr. keightley's (vol. vii., p. .), that perhaps, in _macbeth_, act v. sc. ., shakspeare might have written "till famine _clem_ thee," and not, as it stands in the first folio, "till famine _cling_ thee," that he is indeed, as he says, "in the region of conjecture:" _cling_ is purely a.-s., as he will find in bosworth, "_clingan_, to wither, pine, to cling or shrink up; marcescere." h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _three passages in "measure for measure._"--h. c. k. has a treacherous memory, or rather, what i believe to be the truth, he, like myself, has not a complete shakspeare apparatus. collier's first edition surely cannot be in his library, or he would have known that warburton, long ago, read _seared_ for _feared_, and that the same word appears in lord ellesmere's copy of the first folio, the correction having been made, as mr. collier remarks, while the sheet was at press. i however assure h. c. k. that i regard his correction as perfectly original. still i have my doubts if _seared_ be the poet's word, for i have never met it but in connexion with hot iron; and i should be inclined to prefer _sear_ or _sere_; but this again is always physically _dry_, and not metaphorically so, and i fear that the true word is not to be recovered. i cannot consent to go back with h. c. k. to the anglo-saxon for a sense of _building_, which i do not think it ever bore, at least not in our poet's time. his quotation from the "jewel house," &c. is not to the point, for the context shows that "a building word" is a word or promise that will { } set me a-building, _i. e._ writing. after all i see no difficulty in "the _all-building_ law;" it means the law that builds, maintains, and repairs the whole social edifice, and is well suited to angelo, whose object was to enhance the favour he proposed to grant. again, if h. c. k. had looked at collier's edit., he would have seen that in act i. sc. ., _princely_ is the reading of the second folio, and not a modern conjecture. if he rejects this authority, he must read a little farther on _perjury_ for _penury_. as to the italian _prenze_, i cannot receive it. i very much doubt shakspeare's knowledge of italian, and am sure that he would not, if he understood the word, use it as an adjective. mr. collier's famed corrector reads with warburton _priestly_, and substitutes _garb_ for _guards_, a change which convinces me (if proof were wanting) that he was only a guesser like ourselves, for it is plain, from the previous use of the word _living_, that _guards_ is the right word. thos. keightley. _shakspeare's works with a digest of all the readings_ (vol. viii., pp. , .).--i fully concur with your correspondent's suggestion, and beg to suggest to mr. halliwell that his splendid monograph edition would be greatly improved if he would undertake the task. as his first volume contains but one play (_tempest_), it may not be too late to adopt the suggestion, so that every variation of the text (in the briefest possible form) might be seen at a glance. este. * * * * * death on the fingers. "isaac saith, i am old, and i know not the day of my death (_gen._ xxvii. .); no more doth any, though never so young. as soon (saith the proverb) goes the _lamb's_ skin to the market as that of the _old sheep_; and the hebrew saying is, there be as many _young_ skulls in golgotha as _old_; young men _may_ die (for none have or can make any agreement with the grave, or any covenant with death, _isa._ xxviii. . .), but old men _must_ die. 'tis the grant statute of heaven (_heb._ ix. .). _senex quasi seminex_, an old man is half dead; yea, now, at fifty years old, we are accounted three parts dead; this lesson we may learn from our fingers' ends, the dimensions whereof demonstrate this to us, beginning at the end of the little finger, representing our childhood, rising up to a little higher at the end of the ring-finger, which betokens our youth; from it to the top of the middle finger, which is the highest point of our elevated hand, and so most aptly represents our middle age, when we come to our [greek: akmê], or height of stature and strength; then begins our declining age, from thence to the end of our forefinger which amounts to a little fall, but from thence to the end of the thumb there is a great fall, to show, when man goes down (in his old age) he falls fast and far, and breaks (as we say) with a witness. now, if our very fingers' end do read us such a divine lecture of mortality, oh, that we could take it out, and have it perfect (as we say) on our fingers' end, &c. "to old men death is _præ januis_, stands before their door, &c. old men have (_pedem in cymbâ charonis_) one foot in the grave already; and the greek word [greek: gêrôn] (an old man) is derived from [greek: para to eis gên oran], which signifies a looking towards the ground; decrepit age goes stooping and grovelling, as groaning to the grave. it doth not only expect death, but oft solicits it."--christ. ness's _compleat history and mystery of the old and new test._, fol. lond. , chap. xii. p. . from _the barren tree_, a sermon on luke xiii. ., preached at paul's cross, oct. , , by thos. adams: "our bells ring, our chimneis smoake, our fields rejoice, our children dance, ourselues sing and play, _jovis omnia plena_. but when righteousnesse hath sowne and comes to reape, here is no haruest; [greek: ouk euriskô], i finde none. and as there was neuer lesse wisdome in greece then in time of the seven wise men, so neuer lesse pietie among vs, then now, when vpon good cause most is expected. when the sunne is brightest the stars be darkest: so the cleerer our light, the more gloomy our life with the deeds of darkness. the cimerians, that live in a perpetuall mist, though they deny a sunne, are not condemned of impietie; but anaxogoras, that saw the sunne and yet denied it, is not condemned of ignorance, but of impietie. former times were like leah, bleare-eyed, but fruitful; the present, like rachel, faire, but barren. we give such acclamation to the gospell, that we quite forget to observe the law. as vpon some solenne festivall, the bells are rung in all steeples, but then the clocks are tyed vp: there is a great vntun'd confusion and clangor, but no man knowes how the time passeth. so in this vniuersall allowance of libertie by the gospell (which indeed rejoyceth our hearts, had we the grace of sober vsage), the clocks that tel vs how the time passes, truth and conscience, that show the bounded vse and decent forme of things, are tyed vp, and cannot be heard. still _fructum non invenio_, i finde no fruits. i am sorry to passe the fig-tree in this plight: but as i finde it, so i must leave it, till the lord mend it."--pp. , ., to. lond. . balliolensis. * * * * * minor notes. _on a "custom of y^e englyshe._"--when a more than ordinarily doubtful matter is offered us for credence, we are apt to inquire of the teller if he "sees any green" in our optics, accompanying the query by an elevation of the right eyelid with the forefinger. now, regarding this merely as a "fast" custom, i marvelled greatly at finding a similar action noted by worthy master blunt, as conveying to his mind an analogous meaning. i can scarcely credit its antiquity; but what other meaning can i understand from the episode he { } relates? he had been trying to pass himself off as a native, but-- "the third day, in the morning, i, prying up and down alone, met a turke, who, in italian, told me--ah! are you an englishman, and with a _kind of malicious posture laying his forefinger under his eye_, methought he had the lookes of a designe."--_voyage in the levant, performed by mr. henry blunt_, p. .: lond. . --a silent, but expressive, "posture," tending to eradicate any previously formed opinion of the verdantness of mussulmans! r. c. warde. kidderminster. _epitaph at crayford._--i send the following lines, if you think them worthy an insertion in your epitaphiana: a friend saw them in the churchyard of crayford, kent. "to the memory of peter izod, who was thirty-five years clerk of this parish, and always proved himself a pious and mirthful man. "the life of this clerk was just three score and ten, during half of which time he had sung out amen. he married when young, like other young men; his wife died one day, so he chaunted amen. a second he took, she departed,--what then? he married, and buried a third with amen. thus his joys and his sorrows were treble, but then his voice was deep bass, as he chaunted amen. on the horn he could blow as well as most men, but his horn was exalted in blowing amen. he lost all his wind after threescore and ten, and here with three wives he waits till again the trumpet shall rouse him to sing out amen." tradition reports these verses to have been composed by some curate of the parish. quÆstor. _the font at islip._-- "in the garden is placed a relic of some interest--the font in which it is said king edward the confessor was baptised at islip. the block of stone in which the basin of immersion is excavated, is unusually massy. it is of an octangular shape, and the outside is adorned by tracery work. the interior diameter of the basin is thirty inches, and the depth twenty. the whole, with the pedestal, which is of a piece with the rest, is five feet high, and bears the following imperfect inscription: 'this sacred font saint edward first _receavd_, from womb to grace, from grace to glory went, his virtuous life. to this _fayre_ isle _beqveth'd_, _prase_ ... and to _vs_ but lent. let this remaine, the trophies of his fame, a king baptizd from hence a saint became.' "then is inscribed: 'this fonte came from the kings chapel_l_ in islip.'"--extracted from the _beauties of england and wales_, title "oxfordshire," p. . in the gardens at kiddington there-- "was an old font wherein it is said edward the confessor was baptized, being brought thither from an old decayed chapel at islip (the birth-place of that religious prince), where it had been put up to an indecent use, as well as the chapel."--extracted from _the english baronets, being a historical and genealogical account of their families_, published . the viscounts montague, and consequently the brownes of kiddington, traced their descent from this king through joan de beaufort, daughter of john of gaunt, duke of lancaster. c. b. "_as good as a play._"--i note this very ordinary phrase as having royal origin or, at least, authority. it was a remark of king charles ii., when he revived a practice of his predecessors, and attended the sittings of the house of lords. the particular occasion was the debate, then interesting to him, on lord roos' divorce bill. w. t. m. hong kong. * * * * * queries. lovett of astwell. it is stated in all the pedigrees of this family which i have seen, that thomas lovett, esq., of astwell in northamptonshire, who died in , married for his first wife elizabeth, daughter (burke calls her "heir," _extinct baronetage_, p. .) of john boteler, esq., of woodhall watton, in hertfordshire. the pedigree of the botelers in clutterbuck's _hertfordshire_ (vol. ii. p. .) does not notice this marriage, nor is there any distinct allusion to it in the wills of either family. thomas lovett's will, dated th november, , and proved on the following th january, does not contain the name of boteler. (_testamenta vetusta_, vol. ii. p. .) his father thomas lovett, indeed, in his will dated th october, henry vii., and proved th january, (_test. vetust._, vol. ii. p. .), bequeaths to isabel lovett and margaret, his daughters, "cl. which john boteler oweth me," but he refers to no relationship between the families. again, "john butteler, esquier," by his will, dated th september, , and proved at lambeth th july, , appoints "his most gracious maister, maister thomas louett," to be supervisor of his will, and bequeaths to him "a sauterbook as a poore remembraunce;" but he alludes to no marriage, nor does he mention a daughter elizabeth. this john boteler is said by clutterbuck to have married three wives: . katherine, daughter of thomas acton; . margaret, daughter of henry belknap, who died th august, ; . dorothy, daughter of william tyrrell, esq., of gipping in suffolk: the last-mentioned was the mother of his heir, sir philip boteler, kt.; but i can nowhere find who was the mother of the son richard, and the daughters mary and joyce mentioned in his will, { } or of thomas lovett's wife. i cannot help fancying that elizabeth lovett was his only child by one of his wives, and was perhaps heir to her mother. can one of your contributors bring forward any authority to confirm or disprove this conjecture? whilst i am speaking of the lovett pedigree, i would also advert to two other contradictions in the popular accounts of it. that most inaccurate of books, betham's _baronetage_, vol. v. p. ., says, giles pulton, esq., of desborough, married anne, daughter of thomas lovett, esq., of astwell: the same author, vol. i. p. ., calls her catherine; which is correct? neither anne nor catherine is mentioned in thomas lovett the elder's will (_test. vetust._, vol. ii. p. ). again, betham, burke, and bridges (_history of northamptonshire_, "astwell") have rolled out thomas lovett into two persons, and in fact have made him appear the son of his second wife joan billinge, who was not the ancestress of the lovetts of astwell at all. nor was it possible she could be; for thomas lovett, in his will, dated , speaks of her as "joan, my wife, late the wife of john hawys, one of the justices of the common pleas." now this john hawys was living in , and lovett's son and heir, thomas, was seventeen years old in . the abstract of lovett's will in the _test. vetust._, calling thomas lovett the younger "my son and heir by the said joan my wife," must therefore be manifestly incorrect. i will not apologise for the minuteness of this account, as i believe the correction of detail in published pedigrees to be one of the most valuable features of "n. & q.;" but i am almost ashamed of the length of my communication, which i hope some of your readers may throw light upon. tewars. * * * * * oaths. the very remarkable distinction between the manner in which english and welsh witnesses take the book at the time when they are sworn, has often struck me. an english witness always takes the book with his fingers under, and his thumb at the top of the book. a welsh witness, on the contrary, takes it with his fingers at the top, and his thumb under the book. how has this singular difference arisen? i am inclined to suggest that originally the oath was taken by merely laying the hand on the top of the book, without kissing it. lord coke ( _inst._ .) says, "it is called a corporal oath, because he toucheth with his hand some part of the holy scripture." and jacob (_l. d._, "oath"), says it is so called "because the witness, when he swears, _lays his right hand upon_, and toucheth the holy evangelists." and lord hale ( _h. p. c._ .) says, "the regular oath, as is allowed by the laws of england, is 'tactis sacrosanctis dei evangeliis'," and in case of a jew, "tacto libro legis mosaicæ:" and, if i rightly remember, the oath as administered in the latin form at oxford concludes: "ita te deus adjuvet, tactis sacrosanctis christi evangeliis." in none of these instances does kissing the book appear to be essential. whereas the present form used in the courts is, "so help you god, kiss the book;" but still the witness is always required to touch the book with his hand, and he is never permitted to hold the book with his hand in a glove. when then did the practice of kissing the book originate? and how happens it that the welsh and english take the book in the hand in the different manners i have described? c. s. g. * * * * * the electric telegraph. powerful as this extraordinary agent has become, and incalculably useful as its operation is now found to be, it would appear that the principle of the electric telegraph and its _modus operandi_, almost identically as at present, were known and described upwards of a century ago. on the occasion of a late visit to robert baird, esq., of auchmeddan, at his residence, cadder house, near glasgow, my attention was called by that gentleman to a letter initialed c. m., dated renfrew, feb. , , and published that year in the _scots magazine_, vol. xv. p. ., where the writer not only suggests electricity as a medium for conveying messages and signals, but details with singular minuteness the method of opening and maintaining lingual communication between remote points, a method which, with only few improvements, has now been so eminently successful. it is usual to attribute this wonderful discovery to the united labours of mr. w. f. cooke and professor wheatstone, but has any one acknowledged the contribution of c. m., and can any of the learned correspondents of "n. & q." inform me who he was? inquirendo. glasgow. * * * * * minor queries. _queries relating to the porter family._--above the inscription on the tablet erected by a devoted friend to the memory of this highly-gifted family in bristol cathedral, is a medallion of a portcullis surrounded by the word agincourt, and surmounted by the date .--what connexion is there between agincourt[ ] and the porter family? { } did sir r. k. porter write on account of sir john moore's campaign in the peninsula?--what is the title of the book, and where can it be procured?[ ] who was charles lempriere porter (who died feb. , , aged thirty-one), mentioned on the porter tombstone in st. paul's churchyard at bristol?--who was phoebe, wife of dr. porter, who died feb. , , aged seventy-nine, and whose name also occurs on this stone? did this family (which is now supposed to be extinct) claim descent from endymion porter, the loyal and devoted adherent of king charles the martyr? d. y. n. [footnote : it refers to sir robert ker porter's third great battle-piece, agincourt: which memorable battle took place october , . sir robert presented it to the city of london, and it is still in the possession of the corporation: it was hung up in the guildhall a few years since.] [footnote : in , sir r. k. porter accompanied sir john moore's expedition to the peninsula, and attended the campaign throughout, up to the closing catastrophe of the battle of corunna. on his return to england, he published anonymously, _letters from portugal and spain, written during the march of the troops under sir john moore_, , vo.--ed.] _lord ball of bagshot._--coryat, in his _crudities_, vol. ii. p. ., edit. , tells us that at st. gewere, near ober-wesel-- "there hangeth an yron collar fastened in the wall, with one linke fit to be put upon a man's neck, without any manner of hurt to the party that weareth it. "this collar doth every stranger and freshman, the first time that he passeth that way, put upon his neck, which he must weare so long standing till he hath redeemed himself with a competent measure of wine." coryat submitted himself to the collar "for novelty sake," and he adds: "this custome doth carry some kinde of affinity with certain sociable ceremonies that wee have in a place of england, which are performed by that most reuerend lord _ball_ of bagshot, in hampshire, who doth with many, and indeed more solemne, rites inuest his brothers of his vnhallowed chappell of basingstone (basingstoke?) (as all our men of the westerne parts of england do know by deare experience to the smart of their purses), to these merry burgomaisters of saint _gewere_ vse to do." will any of your readers state whether the custom is remembered in hampshire, and afford explanation as to the most rev. lord ball? the writers that i have referred to are silent, and i do not find mention of the custom in the pages of mr. urban. j. h. m. _marcarnes._--in guillim's _display of heraldry_ ( th edit., london, ), sect. . chap. v. p. ., occurs the following description of a coat of arms: "_marcarnes_, vaire, a pale, sable." there is no reference to a heralds' visitation, or to the locality in which resided the family bearing this name and coat. it is only mentioned as an instance among many others of the pale in heraldry. i have searched many heraldic books, as well as copies of heralds' visitations, but cannot find the name elsewhere. will any herald advise me how to proceed farther in tracing it? g. r. m. _the claymore._--what is the original weapon to which belongs the name of claymore (_claidh mhor_)? is it the two-handed sword, or the basket-hilted two-edged sword _now_ bearing the appellation? is the latter kind of sword peculiar to scotland? they are frequently to be met with in this part of the country. one was found a few years since plunged up to the hilt in the earth on the cotswold hills. it was somewhat longer than the highland broadsword, but exactly similar to a weapon which i have seen, and which belonged to a lowland whig gentleman slain at bothwell bridge. if these swords be exclusively scottish, may they not be relics of the unhappy defeat at worcester? francis john scott. tewkesbury. _sir william chester, kt._--it is said of this gentleman in all the baronetages, that "he was a great benefactor to the city of london in the time of edward vi., and that he became so strictly religious, that for a considerable time before his death he retired from all business, entered himself a fellow-commoner at cambridge, lived there some years' and was reputed a learned man." did he take any degree at cambridge, and to what college or hall did he belong? must there not be some records in the university which will yield this information? i observe the "graduati cantabrigienses" only commence in in the printed list; but there must be older lists than this at cambridge. collins mentions that he was so conspicuous in his zeal for the reformed religion, that he ran great risk of his life in queen mary's reign, and that one of his servants was burnt in smithfield. can any one inform me of his authority for this statement? tewars. _canning on the treaty of between the netherlands and great britain._--when and under what circumstances did canning use the following words?-- "the results of this treaty [of between england and holland, to regulate their respective interests in the east indies] were an admission of the principles of free trade. a line of demarcation was drawn, separating our territories from theirs, and ridding them of their settlements on the indian continent. all these objects are now attained. we have obtained sincapore, we have got a free trade, and in return we have given up bencoolen." where are these words to be found, and what is the title of the english paper called by the { } french _courier du commerce_?--from the _navorscher_. l. d. s. _ireland a bastinadoed elephant._--"and ireland, like a bastinadoed elephant, kneeled to receive her rider." this sentence is ascribed by lord byron to the irish orator curran. diligent search through his speeches, as published in the united states, has been unsuccessful in finding it. can any of your readers "locate it," as we say in the backwoods of america? a bastinado properly is a punishment inflicted by beating the soles of the feet: such a flagellation could not very conveniently be administered to an elephant. the figure, if used by curran, has about it the character of an elephantine bull. [old english w] philadelphia. _memorial lines by thomas aquinas._-- "thomas aquinas summed up, in a quaint tetrastic, twelve causes which might found sentences of nullity, of repudiation, or of the two kinds of divorce; to which some other, as monkish as himself, added two more lines, increasing the causes to fourteen, and to these were afterwards added two more. the former are [here transcribed from] the note: 'error, conditio, votum, cognatio, crimen, cultûs disparitas, vis, ordo, ligamen, honestas, si sis affinis, si forte cöire nequibis, si parochi, et duplicis desit præsentia testis, raptave si mulier, parti nec reddita tutæ; hæc facienda vetant connubia, facta retractant.'"--from _essay on scripture doctrines of adultery and divorce_, by h. v. tabbs, vo.: lond. . the subject was proposed, and a prize of fifty pounds awarded to this essay, by the society for propagating christian knowledge in the diocese of st. david's in . this appears to me to have been a curious application of its funds by such a society. can any of your readers explain it? balliolensis. "_johnson's turgid style_"--"_what does not fade_?"--can any of your readers tell me where to find the following lines? "i own i like not johnson's turgid style, that gives an inch th' importance of a mile," &c. &c. and "what does not fade? the tower which long has stood the crash of tempests, and the warring winds, shook by the sure but slow destroyer, time, now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base," &c. &c. a. f. b. _meaning of "lane," &c._--by what process of development could the anglo-saxon _laen_ (_i. e._ the english word _lane_, and the scottish _loaning_) have obtained its present meaning, which answers to that of the _limes_ of the roman _agrimensores_? what is considered to be the english measurement of the roman _juger_, and the authorities for such measurement? what is the measurement of the anglo-saxon _hyde_, and the authorities for such measurement? h. _theobald le botiller._--what theobald le botiller did rose de vernon marry? see vernon, in burke's _extinct peerage_; butler, in lynch's _feudal dignities_; and the nd butler (ormond), in lodge's _peerage_. y. s. m. _william, fifth lord harrington._--did william, fifth lord harrington, marry margaret neville (see burke's _extinct peerage_) or lady catherine courtenay? the latter is given in burke's _peerage and baronetage_, in sir john harrington's pedigree. y. s. m. _singular discovery of a cannon-ball._--a heavy cannon-shot, i should presume a thirty-two pound ball, was found embedded in a large tree, cut down some years since on the estate of j. w. martin, esq., at showborough, in the parish of twyning, gloucestershire. there was never till quite lately any house of importance on the spot, nor is there any trace of intrenchments to be discovered. the tree stood at some distance from the banks of the avon, and on the other side of that river runs the road from tewkesbury through bredon to pershore. the ball in question is marked with the broad arrow. from whence and at what period was the shot fired? francis john scott. tewkesbury. _scottish castles._--it is a popular belief, and quoted frequently in the _statistical account of scotland_, and other works referring to scottish affairs, that the fortresses of edinburgh castle, stirling castle, dumbarton castle, blackness castle, were appointed by the articles of union between england and scotland to be kept in repair and garrisoned. can any of your readers refer to the foundation for this statement? for no reference in to be found to the subject in the articles of union. scrymzeour. edinburgh. _sneezing._--concerning _sneezing_, it is a curious circumstance that if any one should sneeze in company in north germany, those present will say, "your good health;" in vienna, gentlemen in a _café_ will take off their hats, and say, "god be with you" and in ireland paddy will say, "god bless your honour," or "long life to your honour." i understand that in italy and spain similar expressions are used and i think i remember { } hearing, that in bengal the natives make a "salam" on these occasions. there is also, i believe, a popular idea among some of sneezing having some connexion with satanic agency; and i lately met with a case where a peculiar odour was invariably distinguishable by two sisters, on a certain individual violently sneezing. i shall be very much obliged if any of your readers can furnish me with any facts, theories, or popular ideas upon this subject. medicus. _spenser's "fairy queen."_--allow me to employ an interval of leisure, after a visit to the remains of kilcolman castle, in inquiring whether any of your irish readers can afford information respecting the existence of the long missing books of the _fairy queen_? mrs. hall, in her work on ireland (vol. i. pp. , .), says that-- "more than mere rumour exists for believing that the lost books have been preserved, and that the ms. was in the possession of a _captain garrett nagle_ within the last forty years." w. l. n. buttevant, co. cork. _poema del cid._--is there any edition of the _poema del cid_ besides the one published by sanchez (_poesias castellanas anteriores al siglo xv._), and reprinted by ochoa, and appended likewise to an edition of ochoa's _tesoro de los romanceros_, &c., published at barcelona in ? i shall feel obliged by being referred to an edition in a detached form, with glossary and notes, if such there be. j. m. b. _the brazen head._--as upon two former occasions, through the useful and interesting pages of "n. & q.," have been enabled to obtain information which i could procure in no other way, i am glad to have an opportunity of recording the obligations i myself, like many more, am under to "n. & q.," and to some of your talented and kindly correspondents. being anxious still farther to trespass upon your space, i take this opportunity of alike thanking you and them.--could any reader of "n. & q." inform me whether more than two numbers of _the brazen head_ were ever published? through the great courtesy of talented correspondent of "n. & q." from worcester, i have the first two; but i am anxious, for a literary purpose, to _ascertain_ whether the publication was continued after. a. f. a. w. * * * * * minor queries with answers. "_the basilics._"--what is the manuscript called the "basilics" in the following passage, which occurs in a cotemporary ms., "memoirs of the life of the right hon. john lord scudamore, viscount sligo in ireland," in the library of p. howard, esq., at corby castle? is it known where it is now preserved? have these memoirs been printed? lord s. was born in , and was ambassador to france when this circumstance occurred. "there having been intelligence given to his excellence by that renowned person, and his then great acquaintance, mons. grotius, lieger in paris for the crown of sweden, of a very valuable manuscript of many volumes, being the body of the civil law in greek, commonly called the 'basilics,' in the hands of the heirs of the famous lawyer lately deceased, petrus faber,--desirous to enrich his country with this treasure, he transacted and agreed with the possessors for the price of it, which was no less than l. but when it should have been delivered, and the money was ready to be paid down, cardinal richelieu (the great french minister of state at that time) having notice of the transaction interposed, and forbad the going on upon the contract, as thinking it would have been a diminution to their nation to permit such a prize to come into the hands of strangers, and by their charge and labour be communicated to the world." w. c. trevelyan. wallington. [basilica is a name given to a digest of laws commenced by the emperor basilius in the year , and completed by his son leo the philosopher in the year , the former having carried the work as far as forty books, and the latter having added twenty more, in which state it was published. the complete edition of charles annibal fabrot, which appeared at paris in , proved of great service to the study of ancient jurisprudence. it is contained in seven volumes folio, and accompanied with latin version of the text, as well as of the greek scholia subjoined. see a valuable article on the greek texts of the roman law, in the _foreign quarterly review_, vol. vii. p. .--the ms. "memoirs of the hon. john lord scudamore" seem to have been used by matthew gibson in his _view of the ancient and present state of the churches of door, horne-lacy, and hempsted, with memoirs of the scudamore family_, to., , as the substance of the passage quoted by our correspondent is given at p. . of that work.] _fire at honiton._--i am solicitous to learn the particulars of a fire which occurred at honiton, in devonshire, in the year , when the chapel and school-house were burned down, and the former thereupon rebuilt by _collections_ under a _brief_. in a review of mr. digby wyatt's "industrial arts of the nineteenth century" (in the _athenæum_ for june th of the current year), reference is made by mrs. treadwin of exeter to "_a book_ mentioning two great fires which occurred in and in honiton," but it is not stated who was the _author_ of that book. { } can you or any of your readers furnish me with the _title_ of the book intended, or direct me to any other sources of information on the subject of the honiton fires? s. t. [notices of fires at honiton occur in the following works:--_the wisdom and righteousness of divine providence._ a sermon preached at honiton on occasion of a dreadful fire, st august, , which consumed houses, a chapel, and a meeting-house. by r. harrison, to. .--shaw, in his _tour to the west of england_, p. ., mentions a dreadful fire, th july, , which reduced three parts of the town to ashes.--lysons' _devonshire_, p. ., states that honiton has been visited by the destructive calamity of fire in , , , and . the last-mentioned happened on the st august, and was the most calamitous; houses were burnt down, and the steeple of allhallows chapel, with the school, were destroyed. the damage was estimated at above , l.] _michaelmas goose._--the following little inconsistency in a commonly-received tradition has led me, at the request of a large party of well-read and literary friends, to request your solution of the difficulty in an early number of your paper. it is currently reported, and nine men in ten will tell you, if you ask them the reason why goose is always eaten on the th sept., michaelmas day, that queen elizabeth was eating goose when the news of the destruction of the invincible armada was brought, and she immediately put down her knife and fork, and said, "from this day forth let all british-born subjects eat goose on this day." now in creasy's _battles_ it is stated that the spanish fleet was destroyed in the month of july. how could it then be the th of sept. when the news of its defeat reached her majesty? if any of your readers can solve this seeming improbability be will greatly oblige michaelmas day. [although it may be difficult to show how it is that the custom of eating goose has in this country been transferred to michaelmas day, while on the continent it is observed at martinmas, from which practice the goose is often called _st. martin's bird_, it is very easy to prove that there is no foundation for the tradition referred to by our correspondent. for the following extract from stow's _annales_ (ed. howes), p. ., will show that, so far from the news of the defeat of the armada not reaching elizabeth until the th of september, public thanksgivings for the victory had been offered on the th of the preceding month: "on the th of august, m. nowell, deane of paules, preached at paules crosse, in presence of the lord maior and aldermen, and the companies in their best liveries, moving them to give laud and praise unto almightie god, for the great victorie by him given to our english nation, by the overthrowe of the spanish fleete."] * * * * * replies. portraits of hobbes and letters of hollar. (vol. viii., p. .) although i cannot answer the question of sir walter trevelyan, the following notices respecting the portraits of the philosopher of malmesbury may not be unacceptable to him and to those who hold this distinguished man's memory in high respect. that admirable gossip, john aubrey, who lived in habits of intimacy with hobbes, has left us such a lively picture of the man, his person, and his manners, as to leave nothing to desire. in reading it we cannot but regret that aubrey had not been a cotemporary of our great poet, about whom he has been only able to furnish us with some hearsay anecdotes. aubrey tells us that-- "sir charles scarborough, m.d., physician to his royal highness the duke of york, much loved the conversation of hobbes, and hath a picture of him (drawne about ), under which is this distich: 'si quæris de me, mores inquire, sed ille qui quærit de me, forsitan alter erit.'" "in their meeting (_i. e._ the royal society) at gresham college is his picture drawne by the life, , by a good hand, which they much esteeme, and several copies have been taken of it." in a note aubrey says: "he did me the honour to sit for his picture to jo. baptist caspars, an excellent painter, and 'tis a good piece. i presented it to the society twelve years since." in other places he tells us: "amongst other of his acquaintance i must not forget mr. samuel cowper (cooper), the prince of limners of this last age, who drew his picture as like as art could afford, and one of the best pieces that ever he did which his majesty, at his returne, bought of him, and conserves as one of his greatest rarities in his closet at whitehall." in a note he adds: "this picture i intend to be borrowed of his majesty for mr. loggan to engrave an accurate piece by, which will sell well both at home and abroad." again he says: "mr. s. cowper (at whose house hobbes and sir william petty often met) drew his picture twice: the first the king has; the other is yet in the custody of his (cooper's) widowe; but he (cowper) gave it indeed to me (and i promised i would give it to the archives at oxon), but i, like a fool, did not take possession of it, for something of the garment was not quite finished, and he died, i being then in the country." { } this picture is, i believe, now in my possession. it is a small half-length oil painting, measuring about twelve inches by nine. hobbes is represented at an open arch or window, with his book, the leviathan, open before him; the dress is, as aubrey states, unfinished, and beneath is the remarkable inscription,-- "aut ego insanio solus: aut ego solus non insanio." it represents the philosopher at an advanced age, and is conformable in every respect to the following description of his person: "in his old age he was very bald, yet within dore he used to study and sit bareheaded, and said he never tooke cold in his head, but that the greatest trouble was to keepe off the flies from pitching on the baldness. his head was of a mallet forme, approved by the physiologers. his face not very great, ample forehead, yellowish-red whiskers, which naturally turned up; belowe he was shaved close, except a little tip under his lip; not but that nature would have afforded him a venerable beard, but being mostly of a cheerful and pleasant humour, he affected not at all austerity and gravity, and to look severe. he considered gravity and heavinesse of countenance not so good marks of assurance of god's favour, as a cheerful charitable, and upright behaviour, which are better signes of religions than the zealous maintaining of controverted doctrines. he had a good eie, and that of a hazel colour, which was full of life and spirit, even to his last; when he was in discourse, there shone (as it were) a bright live coale within it. he had two kinds of looks; when he laught, was witty, and in a merry humour, one could scarce see his eies; by and by, when he was serious and earnest, he opened his eies round his eie-lids: he had middling eies, not very big nor very little. he was six foote high and something better, and went indifferently erect, or rather, considering his great age, very erect." aubrey was one of the patrons of hollar, of whom he has also given us some brief but interesting particulars. the two following letters, which were transcribed by malone when he contemplated a publication of the aubrey papers, deserve preservation; indeed, one of them relates immediately to the subject of this notice: "sir, "i have now done the picture of mr. hobbes, and have showed it to some of his acquaintance, who say it to be very like; but stent has deceived me, and maketh demurr to have it of me; as that at this present my labour seemeth to be lost, for it lyeth dead by me. however, i returne you many thankes for lending mee the principall, and i have halve a dozen copies for you, and the painting i have delivered to your messenger who brought it to mee before. "your humble servant, "w. hollar. "the st of august, ." "[for mr. aubrey.] "sir, "i have beene told this morning that you are in town, and that you desire to speak with mee, so i did presently repaire to your lodging, but they told mee that you went out at o'clock that morning, and it was past then. if i could know certaine time when to finde you i would waite on you. my selve doe lodge without st. clement's inne back doore; as soon as you come up the steps and out of that doore is the first house and doore on the left hand, two paire of staires into a little passage right before you; but i am much abroad, and yet enough at home too. "your most humble servant, w. hollar. "if you had occasion to aske for mee of the people of the house, then you must say the frenchman limmner, for they know not my name perfectly, for reasons sake, otherwise you may goe up directly." this minute localising of one of the humble workshops of this admirable artist may not be unacceptable to mr. peter cunningham for some future edition of his very interesting _handbook of london_. it may not be amiss to add that hollar died on the th of march , in the seventieth year of his age and that he was buried in st. margaret's churchyard, westminster, near the north-west corner of the tower, but without stone to mark the spot. s. w. singer. mickleham. * * * * * parochial libraries. (vol. viii., p. .) in the vestry of the fine old priory church at cartmel, in lancashire, there is a good library, chiefly of divinity, consisting of about three hundred volumes, placed in a commodious room, and kept in nice order. this small but valuable collection was left to the parish by thomas preston, of holker, esq. there is another in the vestry of the church at castleton, in derbyshire; or rather in a room built expressly to contain then, adjoining the vestry. they were left to the parish by the rev. james farrer, m.a., who had been vicar of castleton for about forty-five years, and consist of about two thousand volumes in good condition, partly theological and partly miscellaneous, about equally divided, which are lent to the parishioners at the discretion of the vicar. mr. farrer left behind him a maiden sister, and a brother-in-law mr. hamilton, who resided in bath; the former of whom erected the room containing the books, and a vestry at the same time and both considerably augmented the number of volumes, and made the library what it now is. under the chancel of the spacious and venerable parish church of halifax, in yorkshire, are some large rooms upon a level with the lower part of the churchyard, in one of which is contained a good library of books. robert clay, d.d., vicar of halifax, who died april , , was buried in this library, which he is said to have built. { } in the rectory house at whitchurch, in shropshire, built by richard newcome, d.d., rector of that place, and afterwards bishop of st. asaph, there is a valuable library left as an heirloom by the bequest of jane, countess dowager of bridgewater; who, in the year , having purchased from his executors the library of the reverend clement sankey, d.d., rector of whitchurch, for l., left it for ever for the use of the rectors for the time being. the number of the volumes was : amongst which are a fine copy of walton's _polyglott bible_, some of the ancient fathers, and other valuable theological works. this collection has been subsequently increased by a bequest from the late rev. francis henry, earl of bridgewater (of eccentric memory), rector of whitchurch, who by his will, dated in , gave the whole of his own books in the rectory house at whitchurch, to be added to the others, and left also the sum of l. to the rector to be invested in his name, and the dividends thereof expended by him, together with the money arising from the sale of his lordship's wines and liquors in his cellars at whitchurch, in the purchase of printed books for the use of the rectors of that parish for the time being. the same noble earl presented to the rector of middle, in the county of salop, a small collection of books towards founding a library there: and bequeathed by his will the sum of l., to be applied, under the direction of the rector of middle for the time being, for augmenting this library. he also left a farther sum of l. to be invested in the name of the rector; and the dividends thereof expended by him in the purchase of books for the continual augmentation of the library, in the same manner as he had done at whitchurch. it is to this earl of bridgewater that we are indebted not only for those valuable works the _bridgewater treatises_, but also for large bequests of money and landed property to the trustees of the british museum, for the purchase of manuscripts, in addition to those from his own collection, which he had already bequeathed to the same institution. thos. corser. stand rectory. * * * * * battle of villers en couchÉ. (vol. viii., pp. . .) i am in a position to furnish a more complete account of this skirmish, and of the action of april , in which my grandfather, general mansel, fell, from a copy of the _evening mail_ of may , , now in the possession of j. c. mansel, esq., of cosgrove hall, northamptonshire. your correspondent mr. t. c. smith appears to have been misinformed as to the immediate suppression of the _poetical sketches_ by an officer of the guards, as i have seen the _third edition_ of that work, printed in . "_particulars of the glorious victory obtained by the english cavalry over the french under the command of general chapuis, at troisoille, on the th of april, ._ "on the th, according to orders received from the committee of public safety, and subsequently from general pichegru, general chapuis, who commanded the camp of cæsar, marched from thence with his whole force, consisting of , infantry, cavalry, and seventy-five pieces of cannon. at cambray he divided them into three columns; the one marched by ligny, and attacked the redoubt at troisoille, which was most gallantly defended by col. congreve against this column of , men. the second column was then united, consisting of , men, which marched on the high road as far as beausois, and from that village turned off to join the first column; and the attack recommenced against col. congreve's redoubt, who kept the whole at bay. the enemy's flank was supported by the village of caudry, to defend which they had six pieces of cannon, infantry, and cavalry. during this period gen. otto conceived it practicable to fall on their flank with the cavalry; in consequence of which, gen. mansel, with about men--consisting of the blues, st and rd dragoon guards, th dragoon guards, and st dragoons, th and th dragoons, with gen. dundas, and a division of austrian cuirassiers, and another of archduke ferdinand's hussars under prince swartzenburg--after several manoeuvres, came up with the enemy in the village of caudry, through which they charged, putting the cavalry to flight, and putting a number of infantry to the sword, and taking the cannon. gen. chapuis, perceiving the attack on the village of caudry, sent down the regiment of carabineers to support those troops; but the succour came too late, and this regiment was charged by the english light dragoons and the hussars, and immediately gave way with some little loss. the charge was then continued against a battery of eight pieces of cannon behind a small ravine, which was soon carried; and, with equal rapidity, the heavy cavalry rushed on to attack a battery of fourteen pieces of cannon, placed on an eminence behind a very steep ravine, into which many of the front ranks fell; and the cannon, being loaded with grape, did some execution: however, a considerable body, with gen. mansel at their head, passed the ravine, and charged the cannon with inconceivable intrepidity, and their efforts were crowned with the utmost success. this event decided the day, and the remaining time was passed in cutting down battalions, till every man and horse was obliged to give up the pursuit from fatigue. it was at the mouth of this battery that the brave and worthy gen. mansel was shot: one grape-shot entering his chin, fracturing the spine, and coming out between the shoulders; and the other breaking his arm to splinters; his horse was also killed under him, his brigade-major payne's horse shot, and his son and aide-de-camp, capt. mansel, wounded and taken prisoner; and it is since known that he was taken into { } arras. the french lost between , and , men killed; we took prisoners. the loss in tumbrils and ammunition was immense, and in all fifty pieces of cannon, of which thirty-five fell to the english; twenty-seven to the heavy, and eight to the light cavalry. thus ended a day which will redound with immortal honour to the bravery of the british cavalry, who, assisted by a small body of austrians, the whole not amounting to , gained so complete a victory over , men in sight of their _corps de reserve_, consisting of men and twenty pieces of cannon. had the cavalry been more numerous, or the infantry able to come up, it is probable few of the french would have escaped. history does not furnish such an example of courage. "the whole army lamented the loss of the brave general, who thus gloriously terminated a long military career, during which he had been ever honoured, esteemed, and respected by all who knew him. it should be some consolation to those he has left behind him, that his reputation was as unsullied as his soul was honest; and that he died as he lived, an example of true courage, honour, and humility. on the th general mansel narrowly escaped being surrounded at villers de couché by the enemy, owing to a mistake of general otto's aide-de-camp, who was sent to bring up the heavy cavalry: in doing which he mistook the way, and led them to the front of the enemy's cannon, by which the rd dragoon guards suffered considerably."--extract from the _evening mail_, may , . from the above extract, compared with the communication of mr. smith (vol. viii., p. .), it appears that the th light dragoons were engaged in both actions, that of villers en couché on april , and that of troisoille (or cateau) on the th. in the statement communicated by mr. simpson (_ibid._ p. .), there appears to be some confusion between the particulars of the two engagements. h. l. mansel, b.d. st. john's college, oxford as the action at villers en couché has lately been brought before your readers, allow me to direct your correspondent to the _journals and correspondence of sir harry calvert_, edited by sir harry verney, and just published by messrs. hurst and co.,--a book which contains a good deal of valuable information respecting a memorable campaign. sir harry calvert, under the date of the th of april, , thus describes the action at villers en couché: "since tuesday, as i foresaw was likely, we have been a good deal on the _qui vive_. on wednesday morning we had information that the enemy had moved in considerable force from the camp de césar, and early in the afternoon we learned that they had crossed the selle at saultzoir, and pushed patrols towards quesnoy and valenciennes. the duke [of york] sent orders to general otto, who had gone out to cambray on a reconnoitring party with light dragoons and hussars, to get into the rear of the enemy, find out their strength, and endeavour to cut them off. the enemy retired to villers en couché that night, but occupied saultzoir and haussy. otto, fielding their strength greater than he expected, about , , early in the evening sent in for a brigade of heavy cavalry for his support, which marched first to fontaine antarque, and afterwards to st. hilaire; and in the night he sent for a farther support of four battalions and some artillery. unfortunately he confided this important mission to a hussar, who never delivered it, probably having lost his way, so that, in the morning, the general found himself under the necessity of attacking with very inferior numbers. however, by repeated charges of his light cavalry, he drove the enemy back into their camp, and took three pieces of cannon. he had, at one time, taken eight; but the enemy, bringing up repeated reinforcements of fresh troops, retook five. "our loss i cannot yet ascertain, but i fear the th light dragoons have suffered considerably. two battalions of the enemy are entirely destroyed." the especial bravery of the troops engaged on the th, which is another subject noticed by your correspondent bibliothecar. chetham. prompted the following entry on his journal by sir harry calvert: "april .--the enemy made a general attack on the camp of the allies. on their approaching the right of the camp, the duke of york directed a column of heavy cavalry, consisting of the regiment of zedwitsch cuirassiers, the blues, royals, st, rd, and th dragoon guards, to turn the enemy, or endeavour to take them in flank, which service they performed in a style beyond all praise, charging repeatedly through the enemy's column, and taking twenty-six pieces of cannon. the light dragoons and hussars took nine pieces on the left of the duke's camp." sir harry verney has printed in an appendix his father's well-considered plans for the defence of the country against the invasion anticipated in . j. b. * * * * * attainment of majority. (vol. viii., pp. . . .) the misunderstanding which has arisen between professor de morgan and a. e. b. has proceeded, it appears, from the misapplication of the statement of the latter's authority (arthur hopton) to the question at issue. where hopton says that our lawyers count their day from sunrise to sunset, he, i am of opinion, merely refers to certain instances, such as distress for rent: "a man cannot distrain for rent or rent-charge in the night (which, according to the author of _the mirror_, is after sunset and before sunrising)."--_impey on distress and replevin_, p. . in common law, the day is now supposed among lawyers to be from six in the morning to seven at night for service of notices; in chancery till eight at night. and a service after such times at night { } would be counted as good only for the next day. in the case of liffin _v._ pitcher, _dowl. n. s._ ., justice coleridge said, "i am in the habit of giving twenty-four hours to plead when i give one day." thus it will be perceived that a lawyer's day is of different lengths. with regard to the time at which a person arrives at majority, we have good authority in support of professor de morgan's statement: "so that full age in male or female is twenty-one years, which age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a person's birth, who till that time is an infant, and so styled in law."--blackstone's _commentaries_, vol. i. p. . there is no doubt also that the law rejects fractions of a day where it is possible: "it is clear that the law rejecteth all fractions of days for the uncertainty, and commonly allows him that hath part of the day in law to have the whole day, unless where it, by fraction or relation, may be a prejudice to a third person."--sir o. bridgm. l. and in respect to the present case it is quite clear. in the case of reg. _v._ the parish of st. mary, warwick, reported in the _jurist_ (vol. xvii. p. .), lord campbell said: "in some cases the court does not regard the fraction of a day. where the question is on what day a person came of age, the fraction of the day on which he was born and on which he came of age is not considered." and farther on he says: "it is a general maxim that the law does not regard the fraction of a day." russell gole. i only treat misquotation as an _offence_ in the old sense of the word; and courteously, but most positively, i deny the right of any one who quotes to omit, or to alter emphasis, without stating what he has done. that a. e. b. did misunderstand me, i was justified in inferring from his implication (p. . col. ) that i made the day begin "a minute after midnight." arthur hopton, whom a. e. b. quotes against me (but the quotation is from chapter xiv., not xiii.), is wrong in his law. the lawyers, from coke down to our own time, give both days, the natural and artificial, as legal days. see coke littleton (index, _day_), the current commentators on blackstone, and the usual law dictionaries. nevertheless, this discussion will serve the purpose. no one denies that the day of majority now begins at midnight: no one pretends to prove, by evidence of decisions, or opinion of writers on law, that it began otherwise in . how then did ben jonson make it begin, as clearly a. e. b. shows he does, at six o'clock (meaning probably a certain sunrise)? hopton throws out the natural day altogether in a work on chronology, and lays down the artificial day as the only one known to lawyers: it is not wonderful that jonson should have fallen into the same mistake. a. de morgan. * * * * * similarity of idea in st. luke and juvenal. (vol. viii., p. .) i send, as a pendant to mr. weir's lines from juvenal, the following extract from cicero: "sed in eâ es urbe, in quâ hæc, vel plura, et ornatiora, _parietes ipsi loqui_ posse videantur."--cic. _epist._, . vi. .: torquato, pearce's mo. edition. most, if not all, of the readers of "n. & q." are i believe, pleased by having their attention drawn to parallel passages in which a similarity of idea or thought is found. let us adopt for conciseness the term "parallel passages" (frequently used in "n. & q."), as embracing every kind of similarity. contributions of such passages to "n. & q." would form a very interesting collection. i should be particularly pleased by a full collection of parallel passages from the scriptures and ancient and modern literature, and especially shakspeare. (see mr. buckton's "shakspearian parallels," _antè_, p. .) to prevent sending passages that have been inserted in "n. & q.," every note should refer to the note immediately preceding. i send the following parallel passages with some hesitation, because i have not my volumes of "n. & q." at hand, to ascertain whether they have already appeared, and because they are probably familiar to your readers. i do not, however, send them as novelties, but as a contribution to the collection which i wish to see made: "[greek: apo de tou mê echontos kai ho echei arthêsetai ap' autou.]"--_matt._ xxv. ., _luke_ xix. . "nil habuit codrus. quis enim hoc negat? et tamen illud perdidit infelix totum nihil."--_juvenal_, i. iii. . the rich man says: "[greek: psuchê, echeis polla agatha keimena eis etê polla; anapauou, phage, pie, euphrainou]."--_luke_ xii. . "lo, this is the man that took not god for his strength but trusted unto the multitude of his riches."--_ps._ lii. . "for he hath said in his heart, tush, i shall never be cast down there shall no harm happen unto me."--_ps._ x. ., &c. (see _obadiah_ v. .: "who shall bring me down to the ground?") so niobe boasts: "felix sum, quis enim hoc neget? felixque manebo. hoc quoque quis dubitet? tutam me copia fecit. major sum quam cui possit fortuna nocere."--ovid, _met._ vi. . { } "[greek: ti de blepeis to karphos to en tôi ophthalmôi tou adelphou sou, tên de en tôi sôi ophthalmôi dokon ou katanoeis]."--_matt._ vii. . "cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis, cur in amicorum vitiis tam cernis acutum, quam aut aquila, aut serpens epidaurius?"--hor. _serm._ i. iii. . "[greek: hê nux proekopsen, hê de hêmera êngiken]."--_rom._ xiii. . "[greek: all' iomen; mala gar nux anetai, enguthi d' êôs]."--hom. _iliad_, x. . f. w. j. brighton. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mr. sisson's developing fluid._--since i sent you the new formula for mr. sisson's positive developer, which you published in vol. viii., p. ., mr. sisson has written to me to say that if, instead of the acetic acid, you add two drachms of formic acid, the new agent proposed by mr. lyte, you certainly obtain the sweetest-toned positives he has ever seen. the pictures, he says, come out very quickly with it indeed; and with a small lens in a sitting-room he can in about ten seconds obtain the most wonderful detail. every wrinkle in the face, and ladies' lace ribbons or cap-strings, he says, come out beautifully. the formula then, as improved by mr. sisson, is-- water oz. protosulphate of iron ½ drs. nitrate of lead dr. formic acid drs. perhaps you will give your readers the benefit of it in your next number. having tried it myself, i think they will be delighted with the beautiful white silvery tone, without any metallic reflection, produced in pictures developed with it. j. leachman. . compton terrace, islington. _dr. diamond's process for albumenized paper._--photographers are under many obligations to dr. diamond, particularly for the valuable information communicated through "n. & q.," and his obligingness in answering inquiries. i make no doubt he will readily reply to the following questions, suggested by his late letter on the process for printing on albumenized paper. will the solution of forty grains of common salt and forty grains of mur. amm., _without the albumen_, be found to answer for ordinary positive paper (say canson's, turner's, or whatman's)? and, in that case, may it be applied with a brush? will the forty-grain solution of nit. sil. (without amm.) answer for paper so prepared? and may this also be applied with a brush? should the positives be printed out very strongly? and how long should they remain in the _saturated_ bath of hypo.? is not the use of sel d'or subject to the objection that the pictures with which it is used are liable to fade in time? dr. diamond says that pictures produced by the use of amm. nit. of silver are not to be depended on for permanency. if this be so, it is very important it should be known, as the use of amm. nit. is at present generally recommended and adopted. c. e. f. _mr. lyte's new process._--although i presume it is none of your affair what is said or done in "another place," will you kindly ask mr. lyte for me, if he will be so good as to explain the discrepancy which appears between his "new processes," as given in the journal of the photographic society of sept. , and "n. & q." of sept. ? in the former he says, for sensitizing, take (amongst other things) iodide of ammonia grains: in "n. & q.," on the contrary, what would seem to be the same receipt, or intended as the same, gives the quantity of this salt one fourth less, grains--a vast difference. again, in the developing solution the quantity of formic acid is _double_ in your paper what it is in the journal. i should not have trespassed on your space, but would have written to mr. lyte directly, except from the fear that some other unfortunate practitioner may have stumbled over the same impediment as i have done, and may not have had courage to make the inquiry. s. b. [having forwarded this communication to mr. lyte, we have received from that gentleman the following explanations of his process, &c.] the process which was published in the _photographic journal_ was, i am sorry to say, not quite correct in its proportions, on account of a mistake in inclosing the wrong letter to the editor; but the mistake will, i trust, be rectified by another communication which i have now sent. the whole of the formulæ, however, as given in "n. & q.," are quite correct. let me now, however, trespass on your pages by a few more answers to several other querists, and which at the same time may be acceptable to some of your readers. . the developing agents which are made with iron are very applicable as baths to immerse the plate in; and the formic acid, from its powerful deoxidizing property, renders the iron salt more stable during long use and exposure to the air. . in coating paper with albumen, if the upper edge of the paper be sufficiently turned back, and the paper be forced down sufficiently on to the surface of the albumen, no bubbles will form; and { } the operator will not be troubled with the streaks so often complained of. . no time can possibly be fixed for the exposure of the positive to the action of the hypo.; and to produce the best effects, the positive must be continually watched, both while printing and while in the hypo. . no hot iron should be applied to the positive after being printed, but the picture should be allowed to dry spontaneously. . the developing agent with the pyrogallic and formic acids will keep good a very long time, longer, i think, than that in which acetic acid is used, but cannot be used as a dipping bath. . i find the formic acid which i obtain from different chemists rather variable in its strength. what i use is rather below the average strength, so that in general about six drachms of the commercial acid will suffice where i use one ounce; but the excess seems to produce no bad result. . a great advantage of the pyrogallic developer which i recommend, is that of its being able to be diluted to almost any extent, with no other result than simply making the development slower. another point is also worthy of notice, viz. a method by which even a very weak positive on glass may be converted into a very strong negative. i take a saturated solution of bichloride of mercury in hydrochloric acid, and add of this one to six parts of water. this i pour over the collodion plate, and watch it till the whitening process is quite complete. having well washed the surface with water, i pour over it a solution of iodide of potassium, very weak, not more than two or three grains to the ounce of water. the effect of this is to turn the white parts to a brilliant yellow, quite impervious to actinic rays. this process is only applicable to weak negative or instantaneous pictures, as, if used on a picture of much intensity, the opacity produced is too great. by using, however, instead of the iodide of potassium, a weak solution of ammonia, as recommended by mr. hunt, a less degree of intensity may be produced again a less intensity by hyposulphate of soda and a less degree again, but still a slight darkening, by pouring on the bichloride and pouring it off at once before the whitening commences. i thus can tell the exact degree of negative effect in any picture of whatever intensity. the terchloride of gold is most uncertain in its results, at any rate i find it so. i must again beg you to excuse the great length of my communication, and hope it will be of service to my fellow photographers. f. maxwell lyte. florian, torquay. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _derivation of the word "island_" (vol. viii., p. .).--i have received through the kindness of hensleigh wedgwood, esq., a copy of the _philological journal_ for feb. , , in which my late observations on the etymology of the word _island_ are shown to be almost identical with his own, published more than two years ago, even the minutest particulars. his own surprise on seeing my remarks must have been at least as great as my own, on learning how singularly i had been anticipated; and those of your readers who will refer to the number of the journal in question, will be doubtless as much surprised as either of us. this coincidence suggests two things: first, the truth of the etymology in question, secondly, the excellency of that spirit which (as in this instance) "thinketh no evil;" and, in so close a resemblance of ideas as that before us, rather than at once start a charge of plagiarism, will believe that it is possible for two persons, with similar habits of thought, to arrive at the same end, and that, too, by singularly identical means, when engaged on one and the same subject. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. "_pætus and arria_" (vol. viii., p. .).--as i have not observed a reply to the query respecting the author of _pætus and arria_, a tragedy, i beg to state that the work was not written by a gentleman of the university of cambridge, but by mr. nicholson, son of mr. nicholson, a well-known and highly respectable bookseller in cambridge, in the early part of the present century. the young man, who, besides being unfailing in his attention to business, had a literary turn, and was attached to the fine arts, died in the prime of life. after his death, the poor father, with tears in his eyes, presented me with a copy of the tragedy. i am glad to record this testimony to the character of persons well known to me during several years. [greek: martus pistos]. "_that swinney_" (vol. viii, p. .).--i am well pleased with the manner in which t. s. j. has unearthed "that swinney," if indeed, as is very probable, sidney swinney really was the man who interfered with _the great unknown_. it may not be impertinent to state that sidney swinney, who was of clare hall, cambridge, became b.a. in , m.a. in , and d.d. (_per saltum_) in . it may also be worth noting that a george swinney, of the same college, became b.a. in , and m.a. in . this _george_ swinney _may_ have been _sidney_ swinney's son, or his near relation; and _may_ have been the man who went to lord g. sackville in july, ; but i think this not likely. i will only observe farther that, in the "graduati cantabrigienses," { } the names are spelled _swiney_; but changes of this kind, by the parties themselves, are by no means uncommon. the question, whether swinney had ever _before_ spoken to lord g. sackville, remains unanswered, although junius most probably made a mistake in that matter. valentine weston. _the six gates of troy_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the passage of dares relative to the gates of troy describes the deeds of priam on succeeding to the throne: "priamus ut ilium venit, minime moram fecit, ampliora moenia exstruxit, et civitatem munitissimam reddidit.... regiam quoque ædificavit, et ibi jovi statori aram consecravit. hectorem in pæoniam misit, ilio portas fecit, quarum hæc sunt nomina: antenorea, dardania, ilia, scæa, thymbræa, trojana. deinde, postquam ilium stabilitum vidit, tempus expectavit."--chap. . it will be observed that these six names correspond with the six names in shakspeare, except that shakspeare, following some ignorant transcriber, substitutes _chetas_ for _scæan_. the work, consisting of forty-four short chapters, which has come down to us under the title of _de excidio trojæ historia_, by dares phrygius, is a pseudonymous production, which cannot be placed earlier than the fifth or sixth century. see the preface to the edition of dederick, bonnæ, ; or the article "dares," by dr. schmitz, in dr. smith's _dictionary of greek and roman biography_. other writers spoke of _four_ gates of troy. (see heyne, _exc._ xiv. _ad Æn._ ii.) l. _milton's widow_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., pp. . . .).--having noticed several queries and replies in your pages concerning the family of the poet milton's third wife, i beg to give the following extracts from a pamphlet printed by pullan of chester so recently as , entitled _historical facts connected with nantwich and its neighbourhood_: "in that same year ( ), milton was received at _stoke hall as the husband of elizabeth minshull_, _the grand-daughter of geoffrey minshull_."--p. . "not far from the hall, where milton was _once a welcome visitor_, stands the yew tree house." there can be little doubt the author of the pamphlet referred to derived the information on which those statements were made from an _authentic source_; and if so, it seems pretty clear, the _elizabeth minshull_ whom milton married was _grand-daughter of geoffrey minshull of stoke hall_. t. p. l. manchester. _boom_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--the bittern is not an uncommon bird in some parts of wales, where it is very expressively called _aderyn-y-bwn_ (the boom-bird), or _bwmp-y-gors_ (boom of the fen): the _w_ is pronounced as double _o_. w. r. d. s. "_nugget_" _not an american term_ (vol. vii. _passim_).--it is a mistake in our correspondent to suppose that the word "nugget" was used in california by american "diggers" to denominate a lump of gold. that word was never heard of in this country until after the discoveries in australia. it is not used now in california, "lump" is the proper term; and when a miner accumulates a quantity, he boasts of his "pile," or rejoices in the possession of a "pocket full of rocks." [old english w]. philadelphia. _soke mill_ (vol. viii., p. .).--suit is not now enforced to the king's mills in the manor of wrexham, in the county of denbigh, but the lessee of the manorial rights of the crown receives a payment at the rate of threepence per bushel for all the malt ground in hand-mills within the limits of the manor. taffy. _binometrical verse_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this verse appeared in the _athenæum_ (sept. , , no. , p. .), given by one correspondent as having been previously forwarded by another; but it does not appear to have been previously published. m. _watch-paper inscription_ (vol. viii., p. .).--twenty-five years ago this inscription was set to music, and was popular in private circles. the melody was moderately good, and the "monitory pulse-like beating" of course was acted, perhaps over-acted, in the accompaniment. i am not sure it was printed, but the fingers of young ladies produced a great many copies. your correspondent's version is quite accurate, and i think he must have heard it sung, as well as read it. _segnius irritant_, &c. is not true of what is read as opposed to what is heard with music. m. _dotinchem_ (vol. viii., p. .).--dotinchem appears to be the place which is called _deutichem_ in the map of the netherlands and belgian, published by the useful knowledge society in , and _deutekom_ in the map of the kingdom of the netherlands, published by the same society in . moreri spells the name _dotechem_, _dotekom_, and _dotekum_. it is situated on the yssel, south-east of doesburg. b. j. _reversible names and words_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i cannot call to mind any such _propria mascula_: but i think i can cast a doubt on your correspondent's crotchet. surely our _civic_ authorities (not even excepting the _mayor_) are veritable males, though sometimes deserving the _sobriquet_ of "old women." surveyors, builders, carpenters, { } and bricklayers are the only persons who use the _level_. on board ship, it is the males who professionally attend at the _poop_. our foreign-looking friend _rotator_, at once suggestive of certain celebrated personages in the lower house, is by termination masculine; and such members, in times of political probation, never fail to show themselves _evitative_ rather than plucky. but some words are reversible in sense as well as in orthography. if a man _draw_ "on" me, i should be to blame if at least i did not _ward_ "off" the blow. whom should we _repel_ sooner than the _leper_? who will _live_ hereafter, if he be a doer of _evil_? we should always seek to _deliver_ him who is being _reviled_. even shakspeare was aware of the fact, that it is a _god_ who breeds magots in a dead _dog_ (vide _hamlet_). "cum multis aliis." the art of composing palindromes is one, at least, as instructive as, and closely allied to, that of _de_-ciphering. if any one calls the compositions in question "trash," i cannot better answer than in palindrome, _trash? even interpret nineveh's art!_ for the deciphering of the cuneiform character is both a respectable and a useful exercise of ingenuity. the english language, however, is not susceptible of any great amount of palindromic compositions. the latin is, of all, the best adapted for that fancy. i append an inscription for a hospital, which is a paraphrase of a verse in the psalms: "acide me malo, sed non desola me, medica." i doubt whether such compositions should ever be characterised by the term _sotadic_. sotadic verses were, i believe, restricted to indecent love-songs. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _detached church towers_ (vol. vii. _passim_; vol. viii., p. .).--at morpeth, in northumberland, the old parish church stands on an eminence at the distance of a mile from the town. in the market-place is a square clock tower, the bells in which are used for ordinary parochial purposes. at kirkoswald, in cumberland, where the church stands low, the belfry has been erected on an adjoining hill. e. h. a. _bishop ferrar_ (vol. viii., p. .).--bishop ferrar, martyred in queen mary's reign, was not of the same family with the ferrers, earl of derby and nottingham. was your correspondent led to think so from the fact of the martyr having been originally a bishop of the isle of man? a lineal descendant of the martyr. cambridge. "_they shot him by the nine stone rig_" (vol. viii., p. .).--this fragmentary ballad is to be found in the _border minstrelsy_. it was contributed by r. surtees of mainsforth, co. durham, and described by him as having been taken down from the recitation of anne douglas, an old woman who weeded in his garden. it is however most likely that it is altogether factitious, and mr. surtees' own production, anne douglas being a pure invention. the ballad called "the fray of haltwhistle," a portion of which, "how the thirlwalls and the ridleys a'," &c., is interwoven with the text in the first canto of _marmion_, is generally understood to have been composed by mr. surtees. he, however, succeeded in palming it upon scott as a genuine old ballad; and states that he had it from the recitation of an ancient dame, mother of one of the miners of alston moor. scott's taste for old legends and ballads was certainly not too discriminating, or he would never have swallowed "the fray of haltwhistle." perhaps he suspected its authenticity, for he says of it: "scantily lord marmion's ear could brook the harper's barbarous lay." t. d. ridley. _punning devices_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the th volume of surtees' _history of durham_, p. ., there is an account of the orchard chamber in sledwish hall: "in the centre is a shield of the arms of clopton; being two coats quarterly, a lion rampant and a cross _pattée fitchée_; over all, a crescent for difference.[ ] on two other shields, impressed from one mould, are the initials e. c., the date , and a _tun_ with a rose _clapt on_."[ ] old grumbleum. [footnote : this note says the arms are reversed, being impressed from a mould.] [footnote : "the crest of clopton is a falcon _clapping_ his wings, and rising from a tun; and i verily believe the rose _clapt on_ to be the miserable quibble intended."] _ashman's park_--_wingfield's portrait_ (vol. viii., p. .).-could any correspondent in suffolk inform me if ashman's park has been sold; and if the pictures are anywhere to be found, especially that of sir anthony wingfield? the communication of h. c. k. relative to the above subject is very interesting. q. "_crowns have their compass_," _&c._ (vol. iv., p. .).--in the well-known lines attributed to shakspeare, and quoted in the above volume, the third stands thus: "of more than earth can earth make none partaker." i find that quarles has borrowed this in his _emblems_, book i. emblem vi.: "of more than earth can earth make none possest." henry h. breen. st. lucia. { } _ampers_ & (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. viii., pp. . . .).--allow me to thank both [phi]. and mr. henry walter for their replies to my query; but i am unhappily no wiser than mr. lower was after [phi].'s first response. what on earth "et-per-se" or "and-per-se-and" can mean, i am at a loss to imagine. why should _et_ be called "_et_ by itself?" until this query is answered, i am as much in the dark as ever. while i am upon the matter, i would farther ask this mysterious _ampers and_, "who gave thee that name?" may it find a proxy to answer for it! c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. the origin of this expression is, explained in vol. ii., p. . with regard to the orthography of the word, it seems to me that, if the etymon be followed, it ought to be written _and-per-se-and_; if the pronunciation, _ampussy and_. l. _throwing old shoes for luck_ (vol. vii., p. .).--there is an old rhyme still extant, which gives an early date to this singular custom: "when britons bold, wedded of old, sandals were backward thrown, the pair to tell, that, ill or well the act was all their own." an octogenarian of my acquaintance informs me that he heard himself thus anathematised when, leaving his native village with his bride, he refused to comply with the extortionate demands of an irish beggar: "then it's bad luck goes wid yer, for my shoe i toss, an ye niver come back, 'twill be no great loss." charles reed. _ennui_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it is a curious fact that in _english_, properly so called, we have no word to express this certainly un-english sensation, which we are obliged to borrow from our friends across the channel. _they_ repay themselves with "comfortable," which is quite as characteristically wanting in their vocabulary: so they lose nothing by the exchange. were we disposed to supply the gaps in our language, by using our own native words (which is much to be desired), we might find a sufficient (and i believe the only) synonyme in the bedfordshire folk-word _unked_: at any rate, it is near enough for us, for we neither require the word nor the feeling it is meant to designate. e. s. taylor. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. ford's handbook of spain. vol. i. austin cheironomia. rev. e. irving's orations on death, judgment, heaven, and hell. thomas gardener's history of dunwich. marsh's history of hursley and baddesley. about . vo. two copies. nicephorus catena on the pentateuch. procopius gazÆus. watt's bibliographia britannica. parts v. and vi. carlyle's chartism. crown vo. nd edition. the builder, no. . oswalli crollii opera. mo. geneva, . gaffarell's unheard-of curiosities. translated by chelmead. london. mo. . pamphlets. junius discovered. by p. t. published about . reasons for rejecting the evidence of mr. almon, &c. . another guess at junius. hookham. . the author of junius discovered. longmans. . the claims of sir p. francis refuted. longmans. . who was junius? glynn. . some new facts, &c., by sir f. dwarris. . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: pointer's britannia romana. oxford, . pointer's account of a roman pavement at stunsfield, oxon. oxford, . roman stations in britain. london, . a survey of roman antiquities in some midland counties. london, . wanted by _rev. j. w. hewett_, bloxham, banbury. * * * * * theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . g. macropedii, hecastus, fabula. antwerp, . vo. g. macropedii, fabulÆ comicÆ. tom. vo. utrecht, . wanted by _william j. thoms_, . holywell street, millbank, westminster. * * * * * indications of spring, by robt. marsham, esq., f.r.s. the village curate, by hurdis. calendar of flora, by stillingfleete. wanted by _j. b. whitborne_, . russell terrace, leamington. * * * * * notices to correspondents. books wanted. _we believe that gentlemen in want of particular books, either by way of loan or purchase, would find great facilities in obtaining them if their names and addresses were published, so that parties having the books might communicate directly with those who want them. acting on this belief, we shall take advantage of the recent alteration in the law respecting advertisements, and in future, where our correspondents desire to avail themselves of this new arrangement, shall insert their names and addresses--unless specially requested not to do so._ all communications _should be addressed to the editor_, _to the care of_ mr. bell, . fleet street. _they should be_ distinctly _written_; _and care should be taken that all quotations are copied with accuracy_: _and in all cases of references to books the editions referred to should be specified_. _every distinct subject should form a separate communication_; _all inquiries respecting communications forwarded for insertion should specify the subjects of such communications_. arterus (dublin) _has not replied to our inquiry as to the book from which he has transcribed the latin verses which form the subject of his query_. our prospectus _has been reprinted at the suggestion of several correspondents_, _and we shall be happy to forward copies to any friends who may desire to assist us by circulating them_. semper paratus. _we cannot afford the information desired. out correspondent would probably be more successful on application to the editor of the paper referred to._ { } j. r. (bangor), _who inquires respecting_ vox populi vox dei, _is informed that the proverb is found in_ william of malmesbury; _and is referred for its history to_ "n. & q." vol. i., pp. . . .; vol. iii., pp. . .; _and m. cornewall lewis'_ essay on the influence of authority in matters of opinion, p. . s. a. s. _is thanked. his hint will not be lost sight of._ a. z. _we have received a_ pedigree of the reynolds family _for this correspondent; where shall it be sent_? _we are compelled to postpone until next week our_ notes on books, _and_ replies _to several other correspondents_. "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half_.--_copies are being made up and may be had by order._ "notes and queries," _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley.) of saturday, october , contains articles on agriculture, swiss, by mr. brown agricultural progress ---- statistics aphides, to kill, by mr. creed asparagus, french berberry blight birds, instinct of, by the rev. f. f. statham books noticed bouyardias, scarlet british association calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural camellia culture charlock corn averages and rents, by mr. willich cuttings, to strike diastema quinquevulnerum draining clay fibre, woody fork, mr. mechi's steel forking machine hedges, ornamental hitcham horticultural society holly tree, by mr. brown machines, forking manure, liquid, and irrigation, by mr. mechi national floricultural society nectarine, stanwick, by mr. cramb nymphæa gigantea, by m. van houtte peas, late pig farming plants, woody fibre of ---- striking bedding ---- new poultry shows rents, and corn averages, by mr. willich rye-grass, italian sinodendron cylindricum (with engraving) statistics, agricultural steam culture village horticultural society ward's (mr.) garden warrea quadrata wheat, seed ---- sowing wheel, when is it a lever winter, tokens of woody fibre the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * photography.--crystallised nitrate of silver, s. per oz. in bottle. all other photographic chemicals at greatly reduced prices, and labelled with tests. orders addressed prepaid to john thomas, . chapel street, brixton road, surrey, delivered free within ten miles. not a shop. list sent on receipt of stamp. * * * * * cyanogen soap for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label pasted round each pot, bearing this signature and address:-- richard w. thomas, chemist, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals, . pall mall, and may be procured of all respectable chemists in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard, and messrs. barclay & co., farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * a small quantity of black prepared paper, for taking off monumental brasses, is required by a gentleman. address, stating quantity and price, to h. d., . esher street, kennington lane. * * * * * just published, price fourpence, or sent free on receipt of six postage stamps, fennell's shakspeare repository, no. iii. containing the following interesting articles, viz. discovery of some of shakspeare's manuscripts, with extracts therefrom; shakspearian deeds and other relics, shakspeare's knowledge of geography and the classics vindicated from hypercritical and pedantic commentators; curious old song, by john grange; notes on the tempest, gentlemen of verona, and merry wives of windsor; shakspeare and bartholomew fair; dr. william kenrick's lectures on shakspeare, &c. &c. no. i. of the shakspeare repository may be had, price sixpence, or sent free on receipt of six postage stamps. no. ii. price fourpence, or six postage stamps; or nos. i. ii. and iii. sent free on receipt of eighteen stamps. address, james h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * just out, price s. a letter to a convocation man, concerning the rights powers, and privileges of that body, first published in . edited, with an introduction and notes, by the rev. william fraser, b.c.l., curate of tor-mohun. "no reader on the subject of convocation can any longer allow his library to be without this very valuable and, until now, extremely scarce pamphlet."--_western courier._ also, price s. the constitutional nature of the convocations of the church of england. by the rev. william fraser, b.c.l. "this pamphlet has met with approval from several quarters; we must take it then as representing the opinions of a considerable number of convocation students."--_synodalia._ london: j. masters. * * * * * restoration of the beauchamp tower. to be published by subscription, with the sanction and under the immediate patronage of general viscount combermere, g.c.b., g.c.h., constable of the tower of london. a series of drawings, to illustrate the heraldry, inscriptions, and devices carved on the walls of the beauchamp tower of the tower of london by political and other prisoners during the eventful time of the th and th centuries, with descriptive and historical letter-press. price to subscribers, s. subscribers names received, up to the nd of october, by w. r. dick, clerk of the works, tower of london. a list of subscribers will be given at the end of the work. * * * * * mo., cloth, with frontispiece, s. d. the vicar and his duties: being sketches of clerical life in a manufacturing town parish. by the rev. alfred gatty. "as much a true effigy, though taken with pen and ink, as if mr. gatty had put that capital parish priest, the vicar of leeds, before his camera. to the many friends of dr. hook this little volume will be deeply interesting."--_notes and queries._ "it unites the merit of lively and faithful sketching, sound principles, and popular style."--_churchman's magazine._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * achilles life insurance company,-- . cannon street, city.--the advantages offered by this society are security, economy, and lower rates of premium than most other offices. no charge is made for policy stamps or medical fees. policies indisputable. loans granted to policy-holders. for the convenience of the working classes, policies are issued as low as l., at the same rates of premium as larger policies. prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained on application to hugh b. taplin, secretary. * * * * * { } indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates. cases. passepartoutes. best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas, silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodised collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * { } archÆological works by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary of the society of antiquitaries of london. * * * * * an archÆological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. vol. vo., price s. cloth, illustrated by numerous engravings, comprising upwards of five hundred objects. a numismatic manual. vol. vo., price one guinea. *** the plates which illustrate this volume are upon a novel plan, and will, at a glance, convey more information regarding the types of greek, roman, and english coins, than can be obtained by many hours' careful reading instead of a fac-simile engraving being given of that which is already an enigma to the tyro, the most striking and characteristic features of the coin are dissected and placed by themselves, so that the eye soon becomes familiar with them. a descriptive catalogue of rare and unedited roman coins, from the earliest period to the taking of rome under constantine paleologos. vols. vo., numerous plates, s. coins of the romans relating to britain. vol. vo. second edition, with an entirely new set of plates, price s. d. ancient coins of cities and princes, geographically arranged and described, containing the coins of hispania, gallia, and britannia, with plates of several hundred examples. vol. vo., price s. new testament, numismatic illustrations of the narrative portions of the.--fine paper, numerous woodcuts from the original coins in various public and private collections. vol. vo., price s. d. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. in vol. fcp. vo., with numerous wood engravings from the original coins, price s. d. cloth. contents:--section . origin of coinage--greek regal coins. . greek civic coins. . greek imperial coins. . origin of roman coinage--consular coins. . roman imperial coins. . roman british coins. . ancient british coinage. . anglo-saxon coinage. . english coinage from the conquest. . scotch coinage. . coinage of ireland. . anglo-gallic coins. . continental money in the middle ages. . various representatives of coinage. . forgeries in ancient and modern times. . table of prices of english coins realised at public sales. tradesmen's tokens, struck in london and its vicinity, from the year to inclusive. described from the originals in the collection of the british museum, &c. s. remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england. publishing in to., in numbers, at s. d. with coloured plates. a glossary of provincial words and phrases in use in wiltshire. mo., s. the numismatic chronicle is published quarterly. price s. d. each number. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * published by george bell, . fleet street, london. short meditations for every day in the year. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vols. fcap. vo., large type, s. cloth; s. morocco. "remarkable for the freshness and vigour which are maintained throughout."--_christian remembrancer._ "all church people will hail with heartfelt welcome this beautifully printed edition of a work, the christian piety and spiritual powers of which have been already fully appreciated and deeply felt by thousand of pious and intelligent readers."--_church sunday school magazine._ the christian taught by the church's services. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. new edition, in vols. fcap. vo., large type, fine paper, s. calf, old style, s. "the plan is exceedingly good; the seasons of the christian year are admirably marked by suitable contemplations."--_christian remembrancer._ holy thoughts and prayers: arranged for daily use on each day of the week, according to the stated hours of prayer. new edition, with additions, mo., cloth, s.; calf, gilt edges, s. "well arranged ... and from its ecclesiastical and devotional tone, is a valuable companion, especially for those whose occupation gives them opportunity for frequent religious exercises."--_christian remembrancer._ a companion to the altar. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d. mo., cloth, s.; calf, gilt edges, s. "it has been reprinted for reasons which are well stated by the author in his original advertisement ( ):--'i have interwoven as many scriptural phrases as in the course of my reading i could find applicable to the subject. i have carefully avoided all rapturous expressions which can only suit a few persons, and have endeavoured to express myself in such a manner as may suit a young beginner in religion, as well as a greater proficient.'"--_extract from preface._ the church sunday school hymn book. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d. large paper, cloth, s. d.; calf, s. d. *** for cheap editions of the above five books see list of the devotional library. verses for holy seasons. by c. f. h., author of "moral songs," "the baron's little daughter," "the lord of the forest and his vassals," &c. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. third edition, cloth, s.; morocco, s. d. "an unpretending and highly useful book, suggestive of right thoughts at the right season."--_english journal of education._ sermons, suggested by the miracles of our lord and saviour jesus christ. by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. vols. fcap. vo., s. cloth. vol. ii. may be had separately, to complete sets. these sermons, preached every evening during lent, are published by request. five sermons; preached before the university of oxford. third edition, cloth, s. a letter to his parishioners on the use of the athanasian creed. by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. sixth edition, price d., or s. the dozen. london: george bell. * * * * * murray's handbooks for travellers in italy. the following are now ready. handbook for north italy.--being a guide to sardinia, lombardy, venice, parma, piacenza, modena, lucca, florence, and tuscany, as far as the val d'arno. with maps and plates. post vo. s. ii. handbook for central italy. part i.--being a guide to southern tuscany and the papal states. with maps and plans. post vo. s. iii. handbook for central italy, part ii.--being a guide to rome and its environs. with plan, post vo. (nearly ready.) iv. handbook for southern italy.--being a guide to the continental portion of the two sicilies, including naples, pompeii, herculaneum, vesuvius, bay of naples, &c. with map and plans. post vo. s. v. handbook to the italian schools of painting--from the german of kugler. with illustrations from the old masters. post vo. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxvi., is published on saturday, october th. contents: i. the institute of france. ii. murder of thomas a becket. iii. the dauphin in the temple. iv. the holy places. v. diary of casaubon. vi. electro-biology and mesmerism. vii. life of haydon. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, murray's modern domestic cookery book. a new and cheaper edition, most carefully revised and improved. with woodcuts. price five shillings, strongly bound. *** of this popular work more than , copies have been sold. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * completion of the work. cloth s.: by post, s. d., p. .--welsh sketches, third (and last) series. by the author of "proposals for christian union."--contents: . edward the black prince. . owen glendower, prince of wales. . mediæval bardism. . the welsh church. "will be read with great satisfaction, not only by all sons of the principality, but by all who look with interest on that portion of our island in which the last traces of our ancient british race and language still linger."--_notes and queries._ london: james darling. . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street. in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid--saturday, october , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "take its meaning from lic": 'form lic' in original page , "a biography of the hakem": 'hamsah, the hakem' in original, corrected by errata in issue . page , "dated renfrew, feb. , ": ' ' in original, corrected by errata in issue . page , "all other photographic chemicals": 'other' repeated in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page notes on newspapers: "the times," daily press &c., by h. m. bealby "in quietness and confidence shall be your strength," by joshua g. fitch binders of the volumes in the harleian library french verse, by thos. keightley a spanish play-bill, by william robson shakspeare correspondence, by robert rawlinson, c. mansfield ingleby, &c. minor notes:--injustice, its origin--two brothers of the same christian name--female parish clerk queries:-- descendants of milton an anxious query from the hymmalayas minor queries:--"de la schola de sclavoni"--mineral acids--richard geering--stipendiary curates--our lady of rounceval--roden's colt--sir christopher wren and the young carver--vellum cleaning--dionysia in boeotia--poll tax in --thomas chester bishop of elphin, --rev. urban vigors--early english mss.--curing of henry iv.--standard of weights and measures--parish clerks' company--orange blossom--mr. pepys his queries--foreign medical education minor queries with answers:--chandler, bishop of durham--huggins and muggins--balderdash--lovell, sculptor--st. werenfrid and butler's "lives of the saints" replies:-- sir w. hankford--gascoigne's tomb, by mr. foss, &c. translation of the prayer book into french praying to the west jacob bobart, by dr. e. f. rimbault early use of tin.--derivation of the name of britain, by the rev. dr. hincks and fras. crossley yew-trees in churchyards, by j. g. cumming, wm. w. king, &c. stars are the flowers of heaven, by w. fraser books burned by the common hangman, by john s. burn, &c. photographic correspondence:--stereoscopic angles--mr. pumphrey's process for securing black tints in positives replies to minor queries:--baskerville the printer--lines on woman--haulf-naked--cambridge and ireland-- autobiographical sketch--archbishop chichely--"discovery of the inquisition"--divining rod--"pinece with a stink"-- longevity--chronograms--heraldic notes--christian names-- "i put a spoke in his wheel"--judges styled reverend--palace at enfield--sir john vanbrugh--greek inscription on a font--"fierce"--giving quarter--sheriffs of glamorganshire-- "when the maggot bites"--connexion between the celtic and latin languages--bacon's essays, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. notes on newspapers: "the times," daily press, etc. a newspaper, rightly conducted, is a potent power in promoting the well-being of universal man. it is also a highly moral power--for it quickens mind everywhere, and puts in force those principles which tend to lessen human woe, and to exalt and dignify our common humanity. the daily press, for the most part, aims to correct error--whether senatorial, theological, or legal. it pleads in earnest tones for the removal of public wrong, and watches with a keen eye the rise and fall of great interests. it teaches with commanding power, and makes its influence felt in the palace of the monarch, as well as through all classes of the community. it helps on, in the path of honorable ambition, the virtuous and the good. it never hesitates or falters, however formidable the foe. it never crouches, however injurious to itself the free and undisguised utterance of some truths may be. it is outspoken. when the nation requires them, it is bold and fearless in propounding great changes, though they may clash with the expectations of a powerful class. it heeds the reverses to which a nation is subjected, and turns them to good account. it does not abuse its power, and is never menaced. it is unshackled, and therefore has a native growth. it looks on the movements of the wide world calmly, deliberately, and intelligently. we believe the independency of the daily press can never be bribed, or its patronage won by unlawful means. its mission is noble, and the presiding sentiment of the varied intellect employed upon it is "the greatest good to the greatest number." it never ceases in its operations. it is a perpetual thing: always the same in many of its aspects, and yet always new. it is untiring in its efforts, and unimpeded in its career. we look for it every day with an unwavering confidence, with an almost absolute certainty. power and freshness are its principal characteristics; and with these it combines a healthy tone, a fearless courage, and an invincible determination. that it has its imperfections, we do not deny--and what agency is { } without them? it is not free from error, and no estate of the realm can be. the purity of the public press will be increased as christianity advances. there is no nation in the world which can boast of a press so moral, and so just, as the daily newspaper press of great britain. the victories it achieves are seen and felt by all: and when compared with the newspaper press of other countries, it has superior claims to our admiration and regard. taking _the times_ as the highest type of that class of newspapers which we denominate the daily press, these remarks will more particularly apply. the history of such a paper, and its wonderful career, is not sufficiently known, and its great commercial and intellectual power not adequately estimated. the extinction of such a journal (could we suppose such a thing,) would be a public calamity. its vast influence is felt throughout the civilised world; and we believe _that_ influence, generally speaking, is on the side of right, and for the promotion of the common weal. it is strange that such an organ of public sentiment should have been charged with the moral turpitude of receiving bribes. that it should destroy its reputation, darken its fair fame, and undermine the very foundation of its prosperity, by a course so degrading, we find it impossible to believe. we feel assured it is far removed from everything of the kind: that its course is marked by great honesty of purpose, and its exalted aim will never allow it to stoop to anything so beneath the dignity of its character, and so repugnant to every sense of rectitude and propriety. it is no presumption to assert that, under such overt influences, it remains unmoved and immovable; and to reiterate a remark made in the former part of this article, "its independency can never be bribed, or its patronage won by unlawful means." looking at it in its colossal strength, and with its omnipotent power (for truth is omnipotent), it may be classed, without any impropriety, among the wonders of the world. allow me to give to the readers of "n. & q." the following facts in connexion with _the times_, and on the subject of newspapers generally. they are deserving of a place in your valuable journal. there were sold of _the times_ on nov. , , containing an account of the duke of wellington's funeral, , copies: these were worked off at the rate of from , to , an hour. _the times_ of jan. , , with an account of the funeral of lord nelson, is a small paper compared with _the times_ of the present day. its size is nineteen inches by thirteen: having about eighty advertisements, and occupying, with woodcuts of the coffin and funeral car, a space of fifteen inches by nine. nearly fifty years have elapsed since then, and now the same paper frequently publishes a double supplement, which, with the paper itself, contains the large number of about , advertisements.[ ] , copies of _the times_ were sold when the royal exchange was opened by the queen; , at the close of rush's trial. , the circulation of _the times_ was under , a day; now its average circulation is about , a day, or , , annually.[ ] the gross proceeds of _the times_, in , was about , l. a year: and, from an article which appeared twelve months ago in its columns, it now enjoys a gross income equal to that of a flourishing german principality. we believe we are correct when we assert, that there were sold of the _illustrated london news_, with a narrative of the duke's funeral (a double number), , copies. one newsman is said to have taken quires double number, or quires single number: making , double papers, or , single papers (twenty-seven papers being the number to a quire), and for which he must have paid l.[ ] it is a remarkable fact, that manchester, with a population of , , has but three newspapers; liverpool, with , , eleven; glasgow, with , , sixteen; dublin, with but , , no less than twenty-two. the largest paper ever known was published some years ago by brother jonathan, and called the _boston notion_. the head letters stand two inches high; the sheet measures five feet ten inches by four feet one inch, being about twenty-four square feet; it is a double sheet, with ten columns in each page; making in all eighty columns, containing , , letters, and sold for ½d. in the good old times, one of the earliest provincial newspapers in the southern part of the kingdom was printed by a man named mogridge, who used to insert the intelligence from yorkshire under the head "foreign news." it is curious to search a file of old newspapers. it is seldom we have the opportunity of doing so, because we rarely preserve them in consecutive order. it is easy to keep them, and would repay the trouble, and their value would increase as years rolled on. such reading would be very interesting, and more so than we can at all imagine. it is a history of every day, and a record of a people's sayings and doings. it throws us back on the past, and makes forgotten times live again. some of the early volumes of _the times_ newspaper, for instance, would be a curiosity in their { } way. we should read them with special interest, as reflecting the character of the age in which they appeared, and as belonging to a series exercising a mighty influence in moulding and guiding the commercial and political opinions of this great nation. the preservation of a newspaper, if it be but a weekly one, will become a source of instruction and amusement to our descendants in generations to come. h. m. bealby. north brixton. [footnote : the largest number of advertisements in one paper with a double supplement was in june last, , .] [footnote : the quantity of paper used for _the times_ with a single supplement is reams, each ream weighing lbs., or tons weight of paper; with a double supplement, reams.] [footnote : during the week of the duke's funeral, there were issued by the stamp office to the newspaper press more than , , of stamps.] * * * * * "in quietness and confidence shall be your strength." there is an old house in the "dom platz," at frankfort, in which luther lived for some years. a bust of him in relief is let into the outer wall; it is a grim-looking ungainly effigy, coarsely coloured, and of very small pretensions as a work of art; but evidently of a date not much later than the time of the great iconoclast. round the figure, the following words are deeply cut: "in silentio et in spe, erit fortitudo vestra." can any of your readers tell me whether any particular circumstance of luther's life led him to adopt this motto, or otherwise identified it with his name; or whether the text was merely selected by some admirer after his death, to garnish this memorial? in either case it is not uninteresting to notice, that this passage of scripture has been employed more than any other as the watchword of that religious movement in the english church which we are accustomed to associate with oxford and the year . it forms the motto on the title-page of the _christian year_; it has been very conspicuous in the writings of many eminent defenders of the same school of theology, and it is thus alluded to by dr. pusey in the preface to that celebrated sermon on the eucharist, for which he received the university censure: "since i can now speak in no other manner, i may in this way utter one word to the young, to whom i have heretofore spoken from a more solemn place; i would remind them how almost prophetically, sixteen years ago, in the volume which was the unknown dawn and harbinger of the re-awakening of deeper truth, this was given as the watchword to those who should love the truth, 'in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.' there have been manifold tokens that patience is the one great grace which god is now calling forth in our church," &c. i will not here inquire which of the two great religious revolutions i have mentioned has been more truly characterised by the spirit of this beautiful and striking text, but perhaps some of your readers will agree with me in thinking that the coincidence is at least a note-worthy one; and not the less so, because it was probably undesigned. joshua g. fitch. * * * * * binders of the volumes in the harleian library. in dr. dibdin's _bibliographical decameron_, , vol. ii. p. ., he thus introduces the subject: "the commencement of the eighteenth century saw the rise and progress of the rival libraries of harley and sunderland. what a field, therefore, was here for the display of the bibliopegistic art! harley usually preferred red morocco, with a broad border of gold, and the fore-edges of the leaves without colour or gilt. generally speaking, the harleian volumes are most respectably bound; but they have little variety, and the style of art which they generally exhibit rather belongs to works of devotion." in a note on the above passage, dibdin adds: "i have often consulted my bibliomaniacal friends respecting the name of the binder or binders of the harleian library. had bagford or wanley the chief direction? i suspect the _latter_." if dr. dibdin and his "bibliomaniacal friends" had not preferred the easy labour of looking at printed title-pages to the rather more laborious task of examining manuscripts, they might readily have solved the query thus raised by referring to wanley's _autograph diary_, preserved in the lansdowne collection, nos. , , which proves that the binders employed by lord oxford were christopher chapman of duck lane, and thomas elliot. very many entries occur between january - and may , relative to the binding both of manuscripts and books in morocco and calf; and it appears, in regard to the former material, that it was supplied by lord oxford himself. some of these entries will show the jealous care exercised by honest humphrey wanley over the charge committed to him. " th january, - . this day having inspected mr. elliot's bill, i found him exceedingly dear in all the work of morocco, turkey, and russia leather, besides that of velvet. " th january, ----. mr. elliot the bookbinder came, to whom i produced the observations i made upon his last bill, showing him that (without catching at every little matter) my lord might have had the same work done as well and cheaper, by above l. he said that he could have saved above eight pounds in the fine books, and yet they should have looked well. that he now cannot do them so cheap as he rated them at; that no man can do so well as himself, or near the rates i set against his. but, upon the whole, said he would write to my lord upon the subject. " th july, . mr. elliot having clothed the codex avrevs in my lord's morocco leather, took the same from hence this day, in order to work upon it with his best tools; which, he says, he can do with much more convenience at his house than here. " th january, - . mr. chapman came, and received three books for present binding. and upon { } his request i delivered (by order) six morocco skins to be used in my lord's service. he desires to have them at a cheap price, and to bind as before. i say that my lord will not turn leather-seller, and therefore he must bring hither his proposals for binding with my lord's morocco skins; otherwise his lordship will appoint some other binder to do so. " th september, . mr. elliot brought the parcel i last delivered unto him, but took one back to amend a blunder in the lettering. he said that he has used my lord's doe-skin upon six books, and that they may serve instead of calf; only the grain is coarser, like that of sheep, and this skin was tanned too much. " rd december, . mr. chapman came, but i gave him no work; chiding him for being so slow in my lord's former business, which he had frequently postponed, that he might serve the booksellers the sooner." [mu]. * * * * * french verse. in the _diary of t. moore_ i lately read, with some surprise, the following passages: "attended watchfully to her [mdlle duchesnois] recitative, and find that in nine verses out of ten 'a cobbler there was, and he lived in a stall' is the tune of the french heroics."--april , . "two lines i met in athalie; how else than according to the 'cobbler there was,' &c., can they be repeated? 'n'a pour servir sa cause et venger ses injures, ni le coeur assez droit, ni les mains assez pures.'"--may , . now, if this be the mode of reading these lines, i confess all my ideas are erroneous with respect to french poetry. i have always considered that though hemistichs and occasionally whole lines occur in it, which bear a resemblance to the spanish versos de arte mayor, the anapæstic measure of "a cobbler" is quite foreign to it. i may, however, be mistaken; and it is in the hope of eliciting information on the subject that i send these few remarks to "n. & q." should it appear that i am not wrong, i will on a future occasion endeavour to develop my ideas of the french rhythm; a subject that i cannot recollect to have seen treated in a satisfactory manner in any french work. bishop tegnér, the poet of sweden, seems also to have differed in opinion with moore respecting the rhythm of french poetry, for he compares it to the dancing of a deaf man, who forms his steps accurate, but who does not keep time. both are alike mistaken, in my opinion; and their error arises from their judging french poetry by rules that are foreign to it. the rhythm of french verse is peculiar, and differs from that of any other language. thos. keightley. * * * * * a spanish play-bill. though not much a frequenter of theatres of late, i was recently induced, by the flourishing public announcements, to go to drury lane theatre; with the chance, but scarcely in the hope, of seeing what i never yet have seen, a perfect othello. alas! echo still answers _never yet_. but yours are not the pages for dramatic criticism. as my bill lay before me, i could not help thinking what an execrably bad taste our modern managers show in the extravagant and ridiculous announcement of the splendour of the _star_ you come to contemplate! if mr. brooke have great merit, he needs not all this sound of trumpets; if he have it not, he is only rendered the more contemptible by it. i have some of the play-bills of john kemble's last performances before me, and there is none of this fustian: the fact, the performance, and the name are simply announced. if our taste improves in some respects, it does not in this; it is a retrogression--a royal theatre sinking back into the booth of a fair. shakspeare's and byron's texts have been converted into the showman's explanations of panoramas: to what vile uses they may be next applied, there is no guessing. poor shakspeare! how i have pitied him, and you too, mr. editor, as i have seen him for so many months undergoing the operation of the _teazle_ in "n. & q.!" i hope there will be soon an end of this "skimble stuff," "signifying nothing." but my observation upon the drury lane play-bill reminded me of one i have in my common-place book; and, as a correspondent and reader of "n. & q.," i think it my duty to send it: _a spanish play-bill, exhibited at seville_, . "to the sovereign of heaven--to the mother of the eternal world--to the polar star of spain--to the comforter of all spain--to the faithful protectress of the spanish nation--to the honour and glory of the most holy virgin mary--for her benefit, and for the propagation of her worship--the company of comedians will this day give a representation of the comic piece called-- nanine. the celebrated italian will also dance the fandango, and the theatre will be respectably illuminated." william robson. stockwell. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _the meteorology of shakspeare._--a treatise might be written on meteorology, and might be illustrated entirely by passages taken from the writings of "the world's greatest poet." "n. & q." may not be the fitting medium for a lengthened treatise, but it is the most proper depository of a few loose notes on the subject. { } those who study shakspeare should, to understand him, thoroughly study nature at the same time: but to our meteorology. recent observers have classified clouds as under: ______________________________________________________________ |howard's latin | foster's english | local names. | |nomenclature. | names. | | |_______________|_____________________|______________________| |cumulus. | stackencloud. | woolbag. | |cirrus. | curlcloud. | goatshair, grey | |stratus. | fallcloud. | marestails. | |nimbus. | raincloud. | | |_______________|_____________________|______________________| there are composite forms of cloud, varieties of the above, which need not be noticed here. the cumulus is the parent cloud, and produces every other form of cloud known, or which can exist. mountain ranges and currents of air of unequal temperatures may produce visible vapour, but not true cloud. _cumulus._ this cloud is always formed at "the dew point." the vapour of the lower atmosphere, at this elevation, is condensed, or rendered visible. in fog the dew point is at the surface of the earth; in summer it may be several thousands of feet above. the cumulus cloud forms from below. the invisible vapour of the lower atmosphere is condensed, parts with its thousand degrees of latent heat, which rush upwards, forcing the vapour into the vast hemispherical heaps of snowy, glittering clouds, which, seen in midday, appear huge mountains of clouds; the "cloud-land" of the poet, floating in liquid air. the cumulus cloud is ever changing in form. cumulating from a level base, the top is mounting higher and higher, until the excessive moisture is precipitated in heavy rain, hail, or thunder showers. the tops of the cumulus, carried away by the upper equatorial currents, form the cirrus clouds, which clouds must be frozen vapour, as they are generally from twenty to thirty thousand feet above the level of the sea. the base of the cumulus is probably never more, in england, than five thousand feet high, rarely this. the _nimbus_ is the _cumulus_ shedding its vapour in rain; and the _stratus_ is the partially exhausted and fading nimbus. poets in all ages have watched the clouds with interest; and shakspeare has not only correctly described them, but has, in metaphor, used them in some of his sublimest passages. ariel will "ride on the curled clouds" to prospero's "strong bidding task" that is, ride on the highest cirrus cloud, in regions impassable to man. how admirably the raining cumulus (nimbus cloud) is described in the same play: "_trinculo._ here's neither bush[ ] nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing. i hear it sing i' the wind: yond' same black cloud, yond' huge one, looks like a foul[ ] bumbard that would shed his liquor ... ... yond' same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls." hamlet points to a changing cumulus cloud, when he says to polonius, "do you see that cloud, that almost in shape like a camel?" "_pol._ by the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. _ham._ methinks it is like a weasel. _pol._ it is back'd like a weasel. _ham._ or like a whale? _pol._ very like a whale." but the finest cloud passage in the whole range of literature is contained in _antony and cleopatra_, painting, as it does, the fallen and wasting state of the emperor (act iv. sc. .): "_ant._ eros, thou yet behold'st me? _eros._ ay, noble lord! _ant._ sometime we see a cloud that's dragonish: a vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion, a tower'd citadel, a pendant rock, a forked mountain, or blue promontory with trees upon't, that nod unto the world, and mock our eyes with air. thou hast seen these signs: they are black vesper's pageants. _eros._ ay, my lord. _ant._ that which is now a horse, even with a thought, the rack dislimns; and makes it indistinct, as water is in water. _eros._ it does, my lord. _ant._ my good knave, eros, now thy captain is even such a body: here i am antony; yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave." those who wish to understand this sublime passage must watch a bank of cumulus clouds at the western sky on a summer's evening. the tops of the clouds must not be more than five or ten degrees above the apparent horizon. there must also be a clear space upwards, and the sun fairly set to the last stages of twilight. it will then be comprehended as to what is meant by "black vesper's pageants," and warton and knight will no more mislead by their note. it is only at "black vespers" that such a pageant can be seen, when the liberated heat of the cumulus cloud is forcing the vapour into the grand or fantastic shapes indicated to the poet's eye and mind. how truly does antony read his own condition in the changing and perishable clouds. shakspeare names or alludes to the clouds in more than one hundred passages, and the form of cloud is ever correctly indicated. who does not remember the { } passages in _romeo and juliet_? much more might be written on this subject. robert rawlinson. [footnote : _bush_, not brush, as misprinted in knight's edition.] [footnote : _foul._ surely this ought to be _full_. a foul bumbard might be empty. "foulness" and "shedding his liquor" are not necessarily contingent; but fulness and overflowing are. a _full_ vessel, shaken, cannot choose "but shed his liquor."] * * * * * at the hull meeting of the british association, mr. russell, farmer, kilwhiss, fife, read a paper on "the action of the winds which veer from the south-west to west, and north-west to north." this he wound up by a reference to shakspeare, which may be worthy of _noting_: "in concluding, i cannot help remarking that this circuit of the wind from sw. by w. to nw. or n., from our insular position, imparts to our climate its fickleness and inconstancy. how often will our brightest sky become suffused by the blackest vapours on the slightest breach of sw. wind, and the clouds will then disappear as speedily as they formed, when the nw. upper current forces their stratum of moist air to rise and mingle with the dryer current above. i do not know who first noticed and recorded this change of the wind from sw. to nw., but the regularity of the phenomenon must teach us that the law which it obeys is part of a grand system, and invites us to trace its action. i do not think it will be out of place to point out the fact that the great english poet seems to have been quite familiar with this feature of our weather, not only in its most striking manifestations in the autumn and winter months, to which he especially refers, but even in its more pleasant aspects of summer. shakspeare likens the wind in this shifting to an individual who pays his addresses in succession to two fair ones--first he wooes the north, but in courting that frigid beauty a difference takes place, whereupon he turns his back upon her and courts the fair south. you will observe the lines are specially applied to the winter season-- 'and more inconstant than the wind, who wooes even now the frozen bosom of the _north_, and, being anger'd, puffs away from thence, turning this _face_ to the dew-dropping _south_.' --i am not aware that the philosophic truth contained in these lines has ever before been pointed out. the beautiful lines which the poet, in his prodigality, put into the mouth of one of his gay frolicsome characters, the meaning of them he no doubt thought might have been understood by every one; but his commentators do not seem to have done so. in some editions turning his _side_ has been put for _face_, which is feeble and unmeaning. and i do not think the recent emendation by mr. collier on the text is any improvement, where _tide_ is substituted for _face_, which impairs both the beauty and harmony of the metaphor." anon. * * * * * _a word for "the old corrector."_--allow me, as an avowed enemy to "the old corrector's" _novelties_, render "the great unknown" one act of justice. i am convinced there are but two practically possible hypotheses, on which to account for the ms. emendations: either the emendations were for the most part made from some authoritative document, or they are parts of a modern fabrication. no third supposition can be reasonably maintained. mr. knight's view, for example, gives no account of the _immense_ number of coincidences with the conjectural emendations of the commentators. whichever of the two hypotheses be the true one, i need hardly say that mr. collier's name is a sufficient guarantee for all honorable dealing, so far as he is connected with the ms. corrections. permit me farther to do an act of justice to mr. collier himself. in my note on a passage in _the tempest_, i stated that _mr. collier_ had overlooked a parallel passage in _richard ii._ it was i who had overlooked mr. collier's supplemental note. however, i must add, that how mr. collier could persuade himself to print _heat_ for "cheek," in his "monovolume edition," after he had seen the passage in _richard ii._, is utterly beyond my power of comprehension. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * minor notes. _injustice, its origin._--in looking through a file of papers a few days since, i met with the following as being the origin of this term, and would ask if it is correct? "when nushervan the just was out on a hunting excursion, his companions, on his becoming fatigued, recommended him to rest, while they should prepare him some food. there being no salt, a slave was dispatched to the nearest village to bring some. but as he was going, nushervan said, 'pay for the salt you take, in order that it may not become a custom to rob, and the village ruined.' they said, 'what harm will this little quantity do?' he replied, the _origin of injustice_ in the world was at first small, but every one that came added to it, until it reached its present magnitude.'" w. w. malta. _two brothers of the same christian name._--an instance of this occurs in the family of croft of croft castle. william croft, esq., of croft castle, had issue sir richard croft, knight, his son and heir, the celebrated soldier in the wars of the roses, and richard croft, esq., second son, "who, by the description of richard croft the younger, received a grant of lands" in . (_retrospective review_, nd series, vol. i. p. .) tewars. _female parish clerk._--in the parish register of totteridge appears the following: " , march . buried, elizabeth king, widow, for forty-six years clerk of this parish, in the ninety-first year of her age."--_burn on parish registers_, . is there any similar instance on record of a woman being a parish clerk? y. s. m. * * * * * { } queries. descendants of milton. it is well known that the issue of the poet became extinct in , unless they survived in the descendants of caleb clarke, the only son of milton's third daughter, deborah. caleb clarke went out to madras, and was parish clerk at fort st. george from to . in addition to a daughter, who died in infancy, he had two sons, abraham and isaac; of neither of whom is anything known, except that the former married a person of the same surname as himself; and had a daughter mary, baptised in . sir james mackintosh made some ineffectual attempts to trace them, and came to the conclusion that they had migrated to some other part of india. i am perhaps catching at a straw: but it is possible there may be something more than a coincidence in the name of _milton clark_, who is spoken of in the fourth chapter of the _key to uncle tom's cabin_ as brother to lewis clark, the original of the character of george harris. perhaps some of your transatlantic friends can inform us: st. whether there is, or has been, in use any system of assigning names to slaves, which would account for their bearing the christian and surname of their owners or other free men, and thus lead to the inference that there has been some free man of the name of milton clark. nd. whether there is any family in america of the name of clark, in which milton, or even abraham or isaac, is known to have been adopted as a christian name; and, if so, whether there is any tradition in the family of migration from india. j. f. m. * * * * * an anxious query from the hymmalayas. i was honoured, a few days ago, with a communication from india, which contains a query that is out of my power to answer. but being very solicitous to do my best towards affording the desired information, i bethought myself of sending the letter, _in extenso_, for insertion in your very valuable and exceedingly useful miscellany. i venture to think that you will agree with me, that the interesting nature of the communication entitles it to a place in "n. & q." as the letter speaks for itself, i shall say no more about it, but proceed to transcribe the greatest part of it at once. "landour academy, may th, . "rev. m. margoliouth, "sir,--i do not know in what terms to apologise to you for this communication, especially as it may entail trouble on you, which can result in my advantage alone. "i am a jew, believing that jesus is the messiah; and i trust this will induce you to assist me in my search after some of my relations whom i believe to be in england. "i wrote to dr. adler, chief rabbi of the jews in england, some years ago, but his information was limited to some distant connexions, the davises, isaacs, and lewises, who still professed judaism. subsequent inquiries discovered two uncles of mine, charles lewes and mordan lewes, in london, who informed me that my grandfather, isaac levi, was for ten years a clergyman of the church of england, and had congregation at lynn, in norfolk, and that he had published a tract against judaism. beyond this i can get no farther information: my uncles are either too poor or unwilling to prosecute their inquiries any farther. could you ascertain for me whether my grandfather left any family, and if any member is still alive? my object is to discover their existence, and to renew a correspondence which has been interrupted for more than forty years. "i am the grandson of isaac levi, for many years dead, reader of a congregation of jews in london; my father, benjamin levi, is still alive, and is with me. i keep a school at landour, in the hymmalayas, in the north-western provinces of india. i have been led to write to you after reading your _pilgrimage to the land of my fathers_, and seeing in it that you are the author of a work entitled _the jews in great britain_, which i have not seen, and concluding from this that if any one can obtain information you can. "i send this letter to messrs. smith and elder, booksellers, of cornhill, london, with a request to send it to you through your publisher, mr. r. bentley," &c. &c. i do not feel justified in publishing the last two paragraphs in my correspondent's letter, and have therefore omitted them. i shall feel extremely obliged to any of the readers of "n. & q." who could and would help me to answer the anxious query from the hymmalayas. m. m. wybunbury, nantwich. * * * * * minor queries. "_de la schola de sclavoni._"--on a large marble slab at north stoneham, near southampton, is the following, inscription: año dni mcccclxxxi sepvltvra de la schola de sclavoni." is this the burial-place of the family of one of the foreign merchants settled in this country, and can any of the correspondents of "n. & q." give any information about it? john s. burn. _mineral acids._--as it is generally supposed that these powerful solvents were not known anterior to circiter a.d. , i should be glad to learn what opinion is entertained by the learned concerning { } the death of the prophet haken al mokannah. this person is said to have disappeared in , or of the hejrah, by casting himself into a barrel of corrosive fluids, which dissolved his body. is it not the best supposition, that this story was supposed by khondemir and others, in more advanced ages of science, to account for the fact of his having disappeared, and of his real fate having never been ascertained? i have never seen this apparent anticipation of chemical discoveries animadverted on. a. n. _richard geering._--wanted, arms, pedigree, and particulars of the family of richard geering, one of the six clerks in chancery in ireland from march to april . one of his daughters, prudence, married, in , charles coote, esq., m.p., and by him was mother of the last earl of bellamont. another daughter, susannah, was wife of mr. charles wilson; who was, it is believed, a connexion of the family of ward of newport, in shropshire. any information about mr. wilson's ancestry would be very acceptable. y. s. m. _stipendiary curates._--what is the earliest mention of stipendiary curates in our ecclesiastical establishment? and what other national churches have priests placed in a corresponding position? berosus. _our lady of rounceval._--can you or any of your correspondents furnish me with particulars of our lady of rounceval? a. j. dunkin. _roden's colt._--a lady of a certain age is said in common parlance to be "forty, save one, the age of roden's colt." what can nimrod tell us touching this proverbialised animal? r. c. warde. kidderminster. _sir christopher wren and the young carver._--a reader has a floating notion in his head of having once read in the _literary gazette_ a strange story of a country boy going to town to seek employment as a carver or sculptor; of his being accosted by sir christopher wren, and offering to carve for him a sow and pigs, &c. can any correspondent have pity on him, and tell him where to find the tale? a. h. _vellum cleaning._--are there not preparations in use for cleaning the backs of old vellum-bound books without destroying the polish? how made, or where procurable? j. f. m. _dionysia in boeotia._--can any of your readers refer me to a passage in any ancient author in which this supposed town is mentioned? dumersan refers to diodorus siculus as his authority for its existence, but my search in that author has been vain, and i am not alone in that respect. augustus langdon. bloomsbury. _poll tax in ._--i find in somers' _tracts_, nd ed. vol. iv. p. .: "the copy of an order agreed upon in the house of commons upon friday, th june, wherein every man is rated according to his estate, for the king's use." is there on record the return made to this order; and where may it be consulted? tewars. _thomas chester, bishop of elphin, ._--this prelate, who was the second son of sir william chester, kt., lord mayor of london in , by his first wife elizabeth, daughter of thomas lovett, esq., of astwell in northamptonshire, is said by anthony à wood (_athenaæ oxon._, ed. bliss, vol. ii. p. .) to have "given way to fate at killiathar in that city, in the month of june in ." the calendars of the will office of the prerogative court of canterbury do not contain his name; can any of your irish contributors inform me whether his will was proved in ireland? i should be glad to know, too, what will offices exist in ireland, and from what period they date their commencement. he is said to have married ----, daughter of sir james clavering, kt., of axwell park in northumberland: does any pedigree of the claverings supply this lady's christian name? his eldest brother, william chester, esq., married his cousin-german judith, daughter and co-heiress of anthony cave, esq., of chichley hall, bucks, and was ancestor to the extinct family of the baronets of that name and place. bishop chester died _s. p._ tewars. _rev. urban vigors._--amongst the chaplains of king charles i., was there one of the name of vigors, the rev. urban vigors of taunton? any particulars of him will be acceptable. y. s. m. _early english mss._--what is the earliest document, of any historical import to this country, now existing in ms.? t. hughes. _curing of henry iv._--the best account of the curing of hen. iv. from the leprosy: vide lambard's _dictionary_, p. . a. j. dunkin. _standard of weights and measures._--i would gladly learn something of the system of weights and measures in other countries, and particularly whether in england and america there exists for this object any government inspection; and if so, how this is executed? a list of works on this subject would be most welcome. i am acquainted only with the works of ravon, _fabrication des poids et mesures_, paris, , and of tarbé, _poids, mesures et vérification_, both found in the _encyclopédie roret_; and the _vollständige darstellung_ { } _des masz- and gewicht-systems in grossherzogthum hessen_, by f. w. grimm, darmstadt, .--from the _navorscher_. [phi]. [phi]. _parish clerks' company._-- "in making searches in registers of parishes within the bills of mortality, a facility is afforded by the company of parish clerks; by paying a fee of about two guineas, a circular is sent to all the parish clerks, with the particulars of information required: the registers are accordingly searched, and the result communicated to the clerk of the company." the above i give from burn's _history of parish registers_, p. . note, published in . is this the case at present and if so, what is the direction of the clerk of the company? i wish this system existed in oxford. y. s. m. _orange blossom._--can any reader of "n. & q." inform me why the flowers of the orange blossom are so universally used in the dress of a bride? and from what date they have been so used? augusta. _mr. pepys his queries._--i cannot say that i met with pepys as fielding did shakspeare, in a _journey from this world to the next_; but i met with seven of his queries among the rawlinson mss. in the bodleian, addressed to sir william dugdale, a name dear to all orthodox antiquaries. it would appear the secretary to the admiralty felt the want of a "medium of inter-communication" in his day. here are his queries: . whether any foreigners are to be found in our list of english admirals? . the reason or account to be given of the place assigned to our admirals in the act of precedence? . whether any of the considerable families of our nobility or gentry have been raised by the sea? . some instances of the greatest ransoms heretofore set upon prisoners of greatest quality. . the descent and posterity of sir francis drake; and what estate is now in the possession of any of his family derived from him. . who sir anthony ashby was? . what are and have been generally the professions, trades, or qualifications, civil or military, that have and do generally raise families in england to wealth and honour in church and state? j. yeowell. . burton street. _foreign medical education._--can any contributor direct me to any sources of information on the regulations concerning medical instruction and medical degrees in the principal universities on the continent? medicus. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _chandler, bishop of durham._--lord dover, in the second volume of his edition of walpole's _letters to sir horace mann_, p. ., in a note, thus speaks of this prelate: "a learned prelate and author of various polemical works, he had been raised to the see of durham in , as it was then said, by symoniacal means." can any of your readers inform me where i can obtain evidence of the symoniacal means by which _it is said_ this bishop obtained the bishopric of durham? one would scarcely think so cautious a man as lord dover would refer to the imputation, without some evidence on which his lordship could rely. mr. surtees, in his _history of the bishops of durham_, makes no allusion to the symoniacal means by which chandler obtained his promotion to the see of durham. he gives a list of the bishop's printed works, amongst which is a "charge to the grand jury of durham concerning engrossing of corn, &c., ." can you, or any of your readers, inform me where this pamphlet is to be met with? for i am curious to know how a bishop could make a _charge_ to a grand jury. there must surely be some mistake in the title of the pamphlet. fra. mewburn. darlington. [the charge of simony is loosely noticed by shaw in his _history of staffordshire_, vol. i. p. . he says, "edward chandler was translated from lichfield and coventry to durham in ; and it was then _publicly said_ that he gave l. for that opulent see." to this chalmers, in his _biog. dict._, adds, "which is scarcely credible." the charge by the bishop is in the british museum: it is entitled, "a charge delivered to the grand jury at the quarter-sessions held at durham, july , , concerning engrossing of corn and grain, and the riots that have been occasioned thereby." to., durham.] _huggins and muggins._--can any of your readers assign the origin of this jocular appellation? i would hazard the conjecture, that it may be corruption of _hogen mogen_, high mightinesses, the style, i believe, of the states-general of holland; and that it probably became an expression of contempt in the mouths of the jacobites for the followers of william iii., from whence it has passed to a more general application. f. k. bath. [hugger-mugger, says dr. richardson, is the common way of writing this word, from udal to the present time. no probable etymology, he adds, has yet been given. sir john stoddart (_ency. metropolitana_, vol i. p. .) has given a long article on this word, which concludes with the following remarks:--"the last etymology that we shall mention is from the dutch title, { } _hoog moogende_ (high mightinesses), given to the states-general, and much ridiculed by some of our english writers; as in _hudibras_: 'but i have sent him for a token to your low-country, _hogen mogen_.' it has been supposed that _hugger-mugger_, corrupted from _hogen mogen_, was meant in derision of the secret transactions of their mightinesses; but it is probable that the former word was known in english before the latter, and upon the whole it seems most probable that _hugger_ is a mere intensitive form of _hug_, and that _mugger_ is a reduplication of sound with a slight variation, which is so common in cases of this kind."] _balderdash._--what is the meaning and the etymology of "balderdash?" w. fraser. tor-mohun. [skinner suggests the following etymology: "balderdash, _potus mixtus_, credo ab a.-s. _bald_, audax, _balder_, audacior vel audacius, et nostro _dash_; _miscere_, q.d. _potus temere mixtus_." dr. jamieson explains it as "foolish and noisy talk. islandic, _bulldur_, stultorum balbuties." dr. ogilvie, however, has queried its derivation from the "spanish _balda_, a trifle, or _baldonar_, to insult with abusive language; welsh, _baldorz_, to prattle. mean, senseless prate; a jargon of words; ribaldry; anything jumbled together without judgment."] _lovell, sculptor._--what is known of this artist? that he was in advance of the age he flourished in is evinced by his beautifully executed engravings in _love's sacrifice_ (fol. lond. ), which for delicacy of work are far beyond anything of the period. r.c. warde. kidderminster. [is the name lovell, or loisell? for we find that strutt, in his _dictionary of engravers_, vol. ii. p. ., speaks of "p. loisell having affixed some slight etchings, something in the style of gaywood (if i mistake not), to benlowe's _theophilia_, _or love's sacrifice_."] _st. werenfrid and butler's_ "_lives of the saints._"--one of your correspondents will perhaps explain the cause of an omission in butler's _lives of the saints_. the life of st. werenfrid, whose anniversary is the th of august, is abstracted, vol. iii. p. . his name occurs in the table of contents: and pages and , where the life should have appeared, are wanting; still page follows correctly in type, so that the former must have been reprinted _after_ the castration of the leaf. was the saint deemed unworthy of the place which had been allotted to him? j. h. m. [in the best edition of butler's _lives_ ( vols., - ), the life of st. werenfrid is given on nov. . he is honored in holland on the th of august; and his life appears in _britannia sancta_ on that day, but in the bollandists on the th of august.] * * * * * replies. sir w. hankford-gascoigne's tomb. (vol. viii., p. .) on reading mr. sansom's letter, it occurred to me that i had seen a different account of the master being shot by his park-keeper; and on search i found the following in hale's _p. c._ p. ., which i send, as it may tend to clear up the question: "in the case of sir william hawksworth, related by baker in his _chronicle of the time of edward iv._, p. . (_sub anno_ ), he being weary of his life, and willing to be rid of it by another's hand, blamed his parker for suffering his deer to be destroyed; and commanded him that he should shoot the next man that he met in his park that would not stand or speak. the knight himself came in the night into the park, and being met by the keeper, refused to stand or speak. the keeper shot and killed him, not knowing him to be his master. this seems to be no felony, but excusable by the statute of _malefactores in parcis_." this account varies from ritson's in the name "hawksworth" instead of "hankford," and the date instead of . it seems plain that lord hale had no idea that the person shot was a judge: and possibly the truth may be, that it was a descendant of the judge that was shot. even if hankford's death were in , as stated by risdon, the traditional account that he caused his own death "in doubt of his safety" does not seem very probable, as henry v. came to the throne in - . probably some of your readers may be able to clear up the matter. i was at harewood the other day, and examined a tomb there alleged to be that of the c.-j. gascoigne. in the centre of the west end of the tomb is a shield: first and fourth, five fleurs-de-lys (france); second and third, three lions passant gardant (england).--may i ask how these arms happen to be on this tomb? there are several other shields on the tomb, but all are now undistinguishable except one; which appears to be a bend impaling a saltire, as far as i can make it out: the colours are wholly obliterated. the head of the figure has not a coif on it, as i should have anticipated; but a cap fitting very close, and a bag is suspended from the left arm.--is it known for certain that this is c.-j. gascoigne's tomb? s. g. c. harrogate. * * * * * mr. sansom need not have been very much surprised that i should have omitted noticing a tradition concerning sir william hankford, when i was merely rectifying an error with reference to sir william gascoigne. that i have not overlooked entirely "the devonshire tradition, which represents sir william hankford to be the judge { } who committed prince henry," may be seen in _the judges of england_, vol. iv. p. ., wherein i show the total improbability of the tale. and my disbelief in the story of hankford's death, and its more probable application to sir robert danby, is already noticed in "n. & q.," vol. v., p. . edward foss. * * * * * translation of the prayer book into french. (vol. vii., p. .) in answer to some of the questions proposed by o. w. j. respecting the prayer book translated into french, i am able to give this information. a copy of a french prayer book is to be found in the bodleian library (douce coll.), which is very probably the first edition of the translation. a general account of this book may be gained from strype's _mem. eccl. k. ed. vi._ (vol. iii. p. . ed. ); also strype's _mem. abp. cranmer_ (b. ii. c. . sub fin. and c. ., and app. . and .); also collier's _eccl. hist._, vol. ii. p. . from these sources we may conclude that a translation of the first book of _k. ed. vi._ was begun very soon after its publication in england, at the instigation of pawlet (at that time governor of calais), with the sanction of the king and the archbishop "for the use of the islands of guernsey and jersey, and of the town and dependencies of calais;" but it does not seem to have been completed before the publication of the second book took place, and so the alterations were incorporated into this edition. the translator was "françoys philippe, a servant of the lord chancellor" (thos. goodrick, bishop of ely), as he styles himself. the printer's name is gaultier. it was put forth in . there is still extant an "order in council" for the island of jersey, dated april , , commanding to "observe and use the service, and other orders appertaining to the same, and to the ministration of the sacraments, set forth in the booke sent to you presentlye." it is uncertain what the book here referred to was, whether a translation or a copy of the english liturgy. there are copies extant of another liturgy put forth in , purporting to be "newly translated at the command of the king." the printer's name is jehan bill, of london. the name of john bill appears also as king's printer in the english authorised edition of . another was published in , by jean dunmore and octavien pulleyn. the edition of , published by _erringham_ (everingham) and r. bentley, has the sanction of k. charles ii. appended to it. numerous editions have since been published, varying in many important points (even of doctrine) from one another, and from their english original. there is now no authorised edition fit for general use; the older translations having become too antiquated by the variations in the french language to be read in the churches. m. a. w. c. * * * * * praying to the west. (vol. viii., p. .) although going over old ground, yet, if it be permitted, i would note a curious coincidence connected with this far-spread veneration for the west. as mentioned by g. w., the puranas point to the "sacred isles of the west" as the elysium of the ancient hindûs, "the white islands of the west." the celtæ of the european continent believed that their souls were transported to england, or some islands adjacent. (see _encyclopédié méthodique_, art. "antiquités," vol. i. p. .) the celtic elysium, "flath-innis," a remote island of the west, is mentioned by logan in his _celtic gaël_, vol. ii. p. ., who no doubt drew his information from the same source as professor rafinesque, whose observations on this subject i transcribe, viz.: "it is strange but true, that, throughout the earth, the place of departed souls, the land of spirits, was supposed to be in the west, or at the setting sun. this happens everywhere, and in the most opposite religions, from china to lybia, and also from alaska to chili in america. the instances of an eastern paradise were few, and referred to the eastern celestial abode of yore, rather than the future abode of souls. the ashinists, or essenians, the best sect of jews, placed paradise in the western ocean; and the id. alishe, or elisha of the prophets, the happy land. jezkal (our ezekiel) mentions that island; the phoenicians called it alizut, and some deem madeira was meant, but it had neither men nor spirits! from this the greeks made their elysium and tartarus placed near together, at first in epirus, then italy, next spain, lastly in the ocean, as the settlers travelled west. the sacred and blessed islands of the hindus and lybians were in this ocean; wilford thought they meant the british islands. pushcara, the farthest off, he says, was iceland, but may have meant north america. "the lybians called their blessed islands 'aimones;' they were the canaries, it is said, but likely the atlantides, since the atlantes dwelt in the aimones," &c. and farther he says, the gauls had their cocagne, the saxons their cockaign, cocana of the lusitanians,-- "a land of delight and plenty, _which is proverbial to this day_! by the celts it was called 'dunna feadhuigh,' a fairy land, &c. but all these notions have earlier foundations, since the english druids put their paradise in a remote island in the west, called { } 'flath-innis,' the flat island", &c.--_american nations_, vol. ii. p. . _et infra_. the coincidence then is this. the same veneration for the west prevails among many of our indian tribes, who place their paradise in an island beyond the great lake (pacific), and far toward the setting sun. there, good indians enjoy a fine country abounding in game, are always clad in new skins, and live in warm new lodges. thither they are wafted by prosperous gales; but the bad indians are driven back by adverse storms, wrecked on the coast, where the remains of their canoes are to be seen covering the strand in all directions. i cannot refrain from adding here another coincidence connected with futurity. the above idea of sailing to the indian paradise, though prevalent, is not general; for instance, the minnetarees and mandans believed that to reach paradise the souls of the departed had to pass over an extremely narrow bridge, which was done safely by the good indians, but the bad ones slipped off and were buried in oblivion. (see long's _expedition to the rocky mountains_, vol. i. p. .) the chepewa crosses a river on a bridge formed by the body of a large snake (see long's _expedition to st. peter's river_, vol. i. p. .); and in the same volume it is stated that the dacota, or sioux, believe they must pass over a rock with a sharp edge like a knife. those who fall off go to the region of evil spirits, where they are worked, tormented, and frequently flogged unmercifully. now, this bridge for gaining paradise is just the alsirat of the mahomedans; i think it will be found in the _bibliothèque orientale_ of d'herbelot; at all events it is mentioned in the preliminary discourse to sale's _koran_. sale thinks mahomet borrowed the idea from the magians, who teach, that on the last day all mankind must pass over the "pûl chînavad" or "chînavar," _i.e._ "the straight bridge." farther, the jews speak of the "bridge of hell," which is no broader than a thread. according to m. hommaire de hell, the kalmuck alsirat is a bridge of iron (or causeway) traversing a sea of filth, urine, &c. when the wicked attempt to pass along this, it narrows beneath them to a hair's breadth, snaps asunder, and thus convicted they are plunged into hell. (_travels in the steppes of the caspian, &c._, p. .) having already trespassed most unconscionably, i forbear farther remark on these coincidences, except that such ideas of futurity being found amongst nations so widely separated, cannot but induce the belief of a common origin, or at least of intimate communication at a former period, and that so remote as to have allowed time for diverging dialects to have become, as it were, distinct languages. a. c. m. exeter. * * * * * jacob bobart. (vol. viii., p. .) the completion of a laborious literary work has taken my attention away from the "n. & q." for some weeks past, otherwise i should sooner have given mr. bobart the following information. the engraving of old jacob bobart by w. richardson is _not_ of any value, being a copy from an older print. query if it is not a copy of the very rare engraving by loggan and burghers? the original print of the "founder of the physick garden," "d. loggan del., m. burghers sculp., ," which mr. bobart wishes to procure, may be purchased of a. e. evans, . strand, for l. s. d. i also learn from mr. evans' invaluable _catalogue of engraved british portraits_ (an octavo of pages, lately published), that there exists a portrait of bobart, "the classical alma mater coachman of oxford," whole length, by dighton, . the same catalogue also contains other portraits of the bobarts. since my last communication on the present subject, i find the following memorandums in one of my note-books, which possibly may be unknown to your correspondent; they relate to mss. in the british museum. add. ms. . contains folio drawings of various rare plants, the names of which are added in the autograph of jacob bobart the elder. sloane ms. . contains some letters from jacob bobart to sir hans sloane, - ; also one from anne bobart, dated . sloane ms. . contains a catalogue of plants and seeds saved at oxford, by mr. bobart, - . sloane ms. ., consisting of scientific letters addressed to mr. petiver, contains one from jacob bobart, and another from tilleman bobart. the latter has a letter dated "blenheim, feb. , - ," to some person unknown, in sloane ms. . _tilleman_ bobart appears to have been employed in laying out the park and gardens at the duke of marlborough's magnificent seat at blenheim. a member of his original papers and receipts were lately disposed of by auction at messrs. puttick and simpson's. (see the sale catalogue of july , , lot .) edward f. rimbault. * * * * * early use of tin.--derivation of the name of britain. (vol. viii., p. .) many questions are proposed by g.w., to which it is extremely improbable that any but a conjectural answer can ever be given. that tin was in common use years ago, is certain. probably evidence may be obtained, if it have not been so { } already, of its use at a still earlier period; but it is unlikely that we shall ever know who first brought it from cornwall to asia, and used it to harden copper. it is, however, a matter of interest to trace the mention of this metal in the ancient inscriptions, egyptian and assyrian, which have of late years been so successfully interpreted. mistakes have been made from time to time, which subsequent researches have rectified. it was thought for a long time that a substance, mentioned in the hieroglyphical inscriptions very frequently, and in one instance said to have been procured from babylon, was _tin_. this has now been ascertained to be a mistake. mr. birch has proved that it was _lapis lazuli_, and that what was brought from babylon was an artificial blue-stone in imitation of the genuine one. i am not aware whether the true hieroglyphic term for _tin_ has been discovered. mention was again supposed to have been made of _tin_ in the annals of sargon. a tribute paid to him in his seventh year by pirhu (pharaoh, as col. rawlinson rightly identifies the name; not pihor, boccharis, as i at one time supposed), king of egypt, tsamtsi, queen of arabia, and idhu, ruler of the isabeans, was supposed to have contained tin as well as gold, horses, and camels. this, however, was in itself an improbable supposition. it is much more likely that incense or spices should have been yielded by the countries named than tin. at any rate, i have recently identified a totally different word with the name of tin. it reads _anna_; and i supposed it, till very lately, to mean "rings." i find, however, that it signifies a metal, and that a different word has the signification "rings." when assur-yuchura-bal, the founder of the north-western palace at nimrúd, conquered the people who lived on the banks of the orontes from the confines of hamath to the sea, he obtained from them twenty talents of silver, half a talent of gold, one hundred talents of _anna_ (tin), one hundred talents of iron, &c. his successor received from the same people all these metals, and also copper. it is already highly probable, and farther discoveries may soon convert this probability to certainty, that the people just referred to (whom i incline strongly to identify with the _shirutana_ of the egyptian inscriptions) were the merchants of the world before tyre was called into existence; their port being what the greeks called seleucia, when they attempted to revive its ancient greatness. it is probably to them that the discovery of britain is to be attributed; and it was probably from them that it received its name. in g. w.'s communication, a derivation of the name from _barat-anac_, "the land of tin," is suggested. he does not say by whom, but he seems to disclaim it as his own. i do not recollect to have met with it before; but it appears to me, even as it stands, a far more plausible one than _bruit-tan_, "the land of tin:" the former term being supposed to be celtic for _tin_, and the latter a termination with the sense of _land_: or than _brit-daoine_, "the painted (or separated) people." i am, however, disposed to think that the name is not of phoenician origin, but was given by their northern neighbours, whom i have mentioned as their predecessors in commerce. these were evidently of kindred origin, and spoke a language of the same class; and i think it all but certain, that in the assyrian name for tin (_anna_) we have the name given to it by this people, from whom the assyrians obtained it. "the land of tin" would be in their language _barat_ (or probably _barit_) _anna_, from which the transition to britannia presents no difficulty. i assume here that _b-r-t_, without expressed vowels, is a phoenician term for "land of." i assume it on the authority of the person, whoever he may be, that first gave the derivation that g. w. quotes. i have no phoenician authority within reach: but i can readily believe the statement, knowing that _banit_ would be the assyrian word used in such a compound, and that _n_, _r_, and _b_ are perpetually interchanged in the semitic languages, and notoriously so in this very root. _ummi banitiya_, "of the mother who produced me," is pure assyrian; and so would _banit-anna_, "the producer of tin," be; all names of lands being feminine in assyrian. it would be curious if the true derivation of the world-renowned name of britain should be ascertained for the first time through an assyrian medium. edw. hincks. killyleagh, down. * * * * * as there are several queries in the note of g. w. which the celtic language is capable of elucidating, i beg to offer a few derivations from that language. britain is derived from _briot_, painted, and _tan_, a country--_i. e._ "the country of the painted people." it is a matter of history, that the people of britain dyed their bodies with various colours. _tin_ is from the celtic _tin_, to melt readily, to dissolve. it is also called _stan_: latin, _stannum_. hercules is from the phoenician or celtic, _earr-aclaide_, pronounced _er-aclaie,_ i. e. the noble leader or hero. melkarthus is derived from _mal-catair_, pronounced _mal-cahir_, i. e. the champion or king of the city (of tyre). moloch cannot be identical with the tyrian hercules, as moloch was the god of fire: probably a name for the sun, from the celtic _molc_, i. e. fire. fras. crossley. * * * * * { } yew-trees in churchyards. (vol. viii., p. .) whilst offering a solution to the query of r. c. warde, as to the placing yew-trees in churchyards, i am obliged to differ from him _toto coelo_, by considering the derivation of the name of the plant itself, though i must candidly confess that the solution of the query and the derivation of the word are my own. _yew_ is ancient british, and signifies _existent_ and enduring, having the same root as _jehovah_; and _yew_ is welsh for _it is_, being one of the forms of the third person present indicative of the auxiliary verb _bód_, to be. hence the yew-tree was planted in churchyards, not to indicate _death_, despair, but _life_, hope and assurance. it is one of our few evergreens, and is the most enduring of all, and clearly points out the christian's hope in the immortality of the soul: _resurgam_. whilst on the word _yew_, i may perhaps observe that i am hardly inclined now (though i once was so) to derive from it, as the author of the _etymological compendium_ does, the name _yeoman_: i think that yeoman is not _yew_-man, "a man using the yew-bow," but _yoke_-man, a man owning as much land as a _yoke_ of oxen could plough in a certain time. j. g. cummings. the following extract frown the _handbook of english ecclesiology_, p. ., may be of some assistance to your correspondent: "yew. these were planted generally to the south of the church, to supply green for the decoration of churches at the great festivals; this tree being an emblem of immortality. it is a heathen prejudice which regards it as mournful. it is not probable yews were used as palms; the traditional name given to the withy showing that this was used in the procession on that festival." william w. king. instead of troubling you with a particular answer to mr. warde's inquiry, let me refer him to the _forest trees of britain_, by the rev. c. a. johns, p . _et seq._, where, among many other curious and interesting facts, he will find the various reasons assigned by different authors, ancient and modern, for the plantation of yew-trees in churchyards. i do not find, however, that the origin ingeniously assigned by mr. warde is among the number. [phi]. i have always supposed, but i know not upon what authority, that the custom of planting yew-trees in churchyards originated in the idea of supplying the yeomen of the parish with bows, in the good old archery days. ignoramus. * * * * * stars are the flowers of heaven. (vol. vii. _passim._) i sent a note to "n. & q" some time ago, expressing my conviction that the original _locale_ of this beautiful idea was in st. chrysostom. but, as i could not then give a reference to the passage which contained it, my suggestion was of course not definite enough to call for attention. i am now able to vindicate to the "golden-mouthed" preacher of antioch this expression of poetic fancy, the origination of which has excited, and deservedly, so much inquiry among the readers of "n. & q." it occurs in homily x., "on the statues," delivered at antioch. i transcribe the passage from the translation in _the library of the fathers_: "follow me whilst i enumerate the meadows, the gardens, the flowering tribes; all sorts of herbs and their uses, their odours, forms, disposition; yea, but their very names; the trees which are fruitful and the barren; the nature of metals; that of animals, in the sea or on the land; of those that swim and those that traverse the air; the mountains, the forests, the groves; _the meadow below and the meadow above_; _for there is a meadow on the earth_, _and a meadow too in the sky_, the various flowers of the stars; the rose below, and the rainbow above!... contemplate with me the beauty of the sky; how it has been preserved so long without being dimmed, and remains as bright and clear as if it had been only fabricated to-day; moreover the power of the earth, how its womb has not become effete by bringing forth during so long a time!" &c. homily x., "on the statues," pp. - . w. fraser. tor-mohun. p.s.--are the following lines, which contain this idea, and were copied long ago from the poet's corner of a provincial paper, with the title of "the language of the stars, a fragment," worth preserving? "the stars bear tidings, voiceless though they are: 'mid the calm loveliness of the evening air, as one by one they open clear and high, and win the wondering gaze of infancy, they speak,--yet utter not. fair heavenly flowers strewn on the floor-way of the angels' bowers! 'twas his own hand that twined your chaplets bright, and thoughts of love are in your wreaths of light, unread, unreadable by us;--there lie high meanings in your mystic tracery; silent rebukings of day's garish dreams, and warnings solemn as your own fair beams." * * * * * books burned by the common hangman. (vol. viii., p. .) your correspondent balliolensis should remember that at the time dr. drake published his { } _historia anglo-scotica_, , there were no bounds to the angry passions and jealousies evoked by the discussion of the projected union; consequently, what may appear to as in the present day an insufficient reason for the treatment the book met with in the northern metropolis, wore a very different aspect to the scots, who, under the popular belief that they were to _be sold_ to their enemies, saw every movement with distrust, and tortured everything said or written on this side the tweed, upon the impending question, to discover an attack upon their national independence, their church, and their valour. looking at dr. drake's book, then, for the data upon which it was condemned, we find that it opens with a prefatory dedication to sir e. seymour, one of queen anne's commissioners for the union, and a high churchman, wherein the author distinctly ventures a blow at presbytery when he says to his patron: "the languishing oppressed church of scotland is not without hopes of finding in you hereafter the same successful champion and restorer that her sister of england has already experienced." he farther calculated upon sir edward inspiring the neighbouring nation "with as great a respect for the generosity of the english as they have heretofore had to dread their valour." now the scots neither acknowledged the episcopacy which seymour is here urged to press upon them, nor had they any such slavish fear of the vaunted english prowess with which dr. drake would have them intimidated; without going farther, therefore, into the book, it appears to me that the scots parliament had a right to consider it written in a bad spirit, and to pacify the people by condemning it. defoe, in his _history of the union_ (g. chalmers' edition, london, ), says: "one dr. drake writes a preface to an abridgment of the _scots history_, wherein, speaking something reflecting upon the freedom and independence of scotland, the scots parliament caused it to be burned by the hangman in edinburgh." in his _northern memoirs_, , oldmixon observes: "they (the jacobites) therefore put dr. drake, author of the _high church memorials_, upon publishing an antiquated scotch history, on purpose to vilify the whole nation in the preface, and create more ill blood. this had the desired effect. the scots parliament highly resented the affront, and ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman at edinburgh." d'israeli, in his _calamities of authors_, has the following interesting notice of drake: "i must add one more striking example of a political author in the case of dr. james drake, a man of genius and an excellent writer. he resigned an honorable profession, that of medicine, to adopt a very contrary one, that of becoming an author by profession for a party. as a tory writer he dared every extremity of the law, while he evaded it by every subtlety of artifice; he sent a masked lady with his mss. to the printer, who was never discovered; and was once saved by a flaw in the indictment, from the simple change of an _r_ for a _t_, or _nor_ for _not_, one of those shameful evasions by which the law, to its perpetual disgrace, so often protects the criminal from punishment. dr. drake had the honor of hearing himself censured from the throne, of being imprisoned, of seeing his _memorials of the church of england_ burned at (the royal exchange) london, and his _hist. angl. scot._ at edinburgh. having enlisted himself in the pay of the booksellers, among other works, i suspect, he condescended to practise some literary impositions; for he has reprinted father parsons famous libel against the earl of leicester, under the title of _secret memoirs of robert dudley, e. of l._, , with a preface pretending it was printed from an old ms." the same instructive writer adds: "drake was a lover of literature; he left behind him a version of herodotus, and a system of anatomy, once the most popular and curious of its kind. after all this turmoil of his literary life, neither his masked lady nor the flaws in his indictments availed him; government brought a writ of error, severely prosecuted him; and abandoned, as usual, by those for whom he had annihilated a genius which deserved a better fate, his perturbed spirit broke out into a fever, and he died raving against cruel persecutors, and patrons not much more humane." another book before me, and one which shared the fate of drake's in edinburgh, is _the superiority and direct dominion of the imperial crown of england over the crown and kingdom of scotland, the true foundation of a compleat union reasserted_; to. london, . this had appeared the year before, but was reproduced to answer the objections to it from the other side. it was written by william attwood, esq. if it required a nice discrimination to discover the offence of drake, there was no such dubiety about this book, which goes the whole length of scottish vassalage; and mr. attwood would lead us to believe that he knocks over the arguments of hodges and anderson[ ] for scottish independence with as much ease as he would ninepins. { } unfortunately these subjects are again forced upon us, and a reference to some of the books i have cited will enable gentlemen who are curious upon the point to judge for themselves in the matter of the present agitation of "justice to scotland." j. o. [footnote : jas. hodges, a scotch gentleman, who supported the independency in a work entitled _war betwixt the two kingdoms considered_, for which, says attwood, "he had scots punds given him for nothing but begging the question, and bullying england with the terror of her arms." "an historical essay, showing that the crown of scotland is independent; wherein the gross errors of a late book, entitled 'the superiority and direct dominion,' &c., and some other books for that purpose, are exposed by jas. anderson, a.m., writer to his majesty's signet," edin. . for this work anderson received the thanks of the scottish parliament, as well as some pecuniary reward. (chalmers' _life of ruddiman_.) the authors of these books having made out a case which was adopted as the national one, it is nowise surprising that they should hand over drake and attwood to the hangman for attempting to demolish it.] on may , , m. claude's account of the massacre of st. bartholomew was burnt in the old exchange, "so mighty a power and ascendant here had the french ambassador." (evelyn's _memoirs_.) john s. burn. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _stereoscopic angles._--as i presume that mr. t. l. merritt is, like myself, only desirous of arriving at truth, i beg to offer the following reply to his last communication (vol. viii., pp. - .), in which he misinterprets some observations of mine upon the subject in question. with regard to the distance quoted by me of ¼ inches, i look upon it as the same thing as intended by mr. merritt--that is, the _average_ distance between the centres of the eyes; and it amounts simply to a difference of _opinion_ between us; but, so far as that point is concerned, i am quite ready to adopt ½ inches as a standard, although i believe that the former is nearer the truth: however, i require more than a mere _assertion_ that "the _only_ correct space for the cameras to be apart is ½ inches, and this under every circumstance, and that _any_ departure from this _must_ produce error." i quote verbatim, having merely italicised three words to point my meaning more clearly. an object being feet distant, and another at feet from the observer, a line between the eyes will subtend a very _much larger_ angle in the former than in the latter instance: hence the inclination of the axes of the eyes is the chief criterion by which people with the usual complement of those useful organs judge of proximity: but if half a dozen houses are made to appear as if or feet distant (by means of the increase of the angle between the points of formation of the pictures), while the angle which each picture subtends is relatively small; it is clear that both eyes will see in relief at a short distance half a dozen houses in a space not large enough for a single brick of one of them, and, _consequently_, _the view will appear as if taken from a model_. mr. merritt will object that an erroneous effect is produced; if he will refer to my statement (vol. viii., p. .), he will find that it is precisely what i admitted; and he appears to have overlooked the _proviso_ attached to my next observation (judging by his comment thereon), so i shall make no farther remark upon that point, beyond inquiring why the defect he is content to put up with is called a _trifling exaggeration_, while that which is less offensive to me is designated as _absolute deformity_ and error? persons with one eye are _not good judges_ of distance, and this may be easily tested thus:--close one eye, and endeavour to dip a pen in an inkstand at some little distance not previously ascertained by experiment, with both eyes open; it will be found far less easy than would be imagined. one-eyed people, from habit, contrive to judge of distance mainly by _relative position_, and by moving the head _laterally_ cause a change therein: to them, all pictures are, to an extent, stereoscopic. i am really amazed that my advocacy of the radial, instead of the parallel, position of the cameras should have been so misunderstood. surely, it cannot be seriously asserted that the former will produce _two_ vanishing points, and the latter only one? and as to the supposition connected with the boy, the ass, and the drum, a camera that would produce the effect of showing both sides of the ass, both legs of the boy, and both heads of the drum, _with a movement of only ½ inches_, whether radially or parallel, would indeed be a curiosity. but if the motion of the camera extended over a space sufficiently large to exhibit the phenomena alluded to, then it would confirm what i have before advanced, viz. present the idea of a _small model_ of the objects, which could be so placed as to show naturally these very effects. that the axes of the eyes are inclined when viewing objects, is readily proved thus:--let a person look across the road at any object--say a shop-window; but stand so that a _lamp-post near him_ shall intervene, and be in a _direct line_ between the observer's nose and the object viewed. if he be requested to observe the post instead of the distant object, the pupils of his eyes will be seen to approach one another; and on again looking to the distant object, will instantly recede. the _range_ of vision is another point that appears to be misunderstood, as we are differing about words instead of facts. the column is an illustration that will _exactly_ suit my views; for i call the _range_ of vision the same if taken from side to side of the column, although it is perfectly true that the tangents to the two eyes differ by the angle they subtend: but certainly mr. wilkinson's case (vol. viii., p. .) of seven houses and five bathing-machines in one picture, and five houses and eight machines in the other, illustrates an instance where the range of vision is not the same; but i contend that the stereoscopic effect is then _confined_ to five { } houses and five machines, otherwise mr. wilkinson's supposititious case (_ibid._), of all machines in one, and all houses in the other, might be considered as stereoscopic. in concluding this very lengthened and, i fear, tedious reply, i beg to assert that i am most willing to recant any proposition i may have put forth, if _proved_ to be erroneous; but i must have proof, not mere assertion. and farther, my willing thanks are always tendered to any one kind enough to correct an error. geo. shadbolt. _mr. pumphrey's process for securing black tints in positives._--the importance that appears to be attached by some of thy correspondents to the stereoscopic appearance of photographs, induces me to call the attention of those who may not have noticed it to the fact that, as all camera pictures are monocular, they are best seen by closing one eye, and then they truly represent nature; and the effect of distance (which so often appears wanting in photographs) is given with marvellous effect, so well indeed as to render the use of a stereoscope unnecessary. like other photographers, i have been long seeking for a method, easy, cheap, and certain, for obtaining the black tints that are so highly prized by many in the french positives; and having at last attained the object of my search, i lose no time in laying it before my fellow-operators. i obtain these results with a twenty-grain solution of nitrate of silver, a fact that will, i think, commend the plan to most operators. thou wilt be able to judge of the result from the inclosed specimen.[ ] i use canson's paper, either albumenized or plain (but the former is far preferable). if albumen is used, i dilute it with an equal measure of water, and add half a grain of common salt (chloride of sodium) to each ounce of the mixture. this is applied to the paper with a soft flat brush, and all bubbles removed, by allowing a slender stream of the mixture to flow over its surface: it is then hung up to dry, and afterwards the albumen is coagulated with a hot iron. if the paper is used plain, a solution of common salt (half a grain to one ounce of water) is placed in a shallow tray, and the paper floated on its surface for a minute, and then hung up to dry. excite, in either case, with an ammonio-nitrate of silver solution (twenty grains to one ounce of water), by floating the paper, prepared side downwards, for one minute, and hang up to dry. print tolerably strongly, and the proof will be of a reddish-brown. fix in tolerably strong solution of hypo. sodæ (i never weigh my hypo., so cannot give the proportion), that either has been in use some time, or else, if new, has been nearly saturated with darkened chloride of silver. when fixed, remove the proofs into another vessel of the same solution of hypo., to which has been added chloride of gold and acetic acid. the way i do this is to dissolve one drachm of chloride of gold in two and a half ounces ( minims) of water. of this i take twenty minims (which will contain one grain au cl_ ) and forty minims of acetic acid (beaufoy's) for every dozen proofs (of the size of × in.), that i mean to operate on, and having mixed the gold and acetic acid with the solution of hypo., place the proofs in it till they attain the desired colour: they are then to be washed and dried in the usual way. knowing that so cheap and easy a process for obtaining these tints would have been a great boon to me a short time since, i lose no time in communicating this to the readers of "n. & q." i shall feel a pleasure in explaining the plan more in detail to any photographer who may feel disposed to drop me a line. william pumphrey. osbaldwick, near york. [footnote : the specimens forwarded by mr. pumphrey are most satisfactory.--ed.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _baskerville the printer_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reply to mr. elliott's inquiry, i beg to say that baskerville the printer was merely named as one who had directed his interment in unconsecrated ground. the exact place of his burial was not deemed a point of importance, but it having been questioned, i am able to state that the spot was correctly described by me. nichols, in his _literary anecdotes_ (vol. viii. p. .), tells us that "baskerville was buried in a tomb of masonry, in the shape of a cone, _under a windmill_ in his garden; on the top of this windmill, after it fell into disuse, he had erected an urn, and had prepared an inscription," of which mr. elliott has given a portion. in his will, dated january , , he directs his body "to be buried in a conical building heretofore used as a _mill_, which i have lately raised higher, and painted and prepared for it." it seems somewhat surprising that one, who shocked even john wilkes as "a terrible infidel," should have printed a most beautiful folio bible, at an expense of l., and three or more editions of the book of common prayer. still more, in , he tells walpole that he had a grant from the university of cambridge to print their vo. and mo. common prayer books, and that for this privilege he laboured under heavy liabilities to the university. baskerville doubtless regarded these books with a tradesman's eye, indifferent to the subjects of the works issued from his press, provided they sold. it would, however, be very unjust to this admirable printer to name him without praise for the distinguished beauty of his typography: it was clear and elegant, and he { } was most curious in the choice both of his paper and ink. j. h. m. _lines on woman_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the four beautiful lines which w. v. cites are the conclusion of a poem entitled "woman," written by eton barrett. about the close of the last century, eton barrett and his younger brother richard barrett were at a private school on wandsworth common. my brothers and i were their schoolfellows. the barretts were irish boys; i think (but i speak very doubtfully) from cork. eton barrett was a boy of more than ordinary talent. he was a genius among the lesser lights around him. i remember his writing a play with prologue and epilogue, which was performed before the master and his family, &c., with so much success, that the master prohibited any future dramatic performances, fearing, that he might incur blame for encouraging too much taste for the theatre. our master gave up his school before the year . eton barrett, a great many years ago, published a little volume of poems, of which "woman" was one. i do not remember that i ever met him since our school-days. i have heard that he adopted tory politics in ireland, and that his brother attached himself to o'connell, and conducted some newspaper; but this is mere report. allow me to take this opportunity for observing, that many of the communications to "n. & q.," such as those in which matters of fact are stated, ought, it may justly be urged, to be authenticated by the signature of the contributor. i feel the truth of this so strongly, that, though i do not sign my name, yet i have thought it right to make myself known to you, so that you know the person who contributes under the signature f. w. j. _haulf-naked_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the manor house of halnaker, adjoining walberton and goodwood, is thus spoken of by dallaway in his _hist. of sussex_, "rape of chichester," p. .:--"halnaker, called in _domesday_ 'halneche,' and in writings of very ancient date halnac, halnaked, and halfnaked." then follows a short description of the old manor-house. it has been lately visited by the archæological association, under the direction of lord talbot de malahide; and it is probable that the industrious antiquaries of sussex will soon give us a more detailed account of it in their next volume of _transactions_. m. ( .) _cambridge and ireland_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the story of irish merchants _landing_ at cambridge is "very like a whale," "touched upon the deserts of bohemia." i think, however, that i can trace the source of this glaring and oft-repeated error, as there really exists a documentary connexion between irish cloth and the town of cambridge. referring to a collection of notes on the ancient commerce and manufactures of ireland, which i have lately made, i find--cited as an instance of the general use of irish cloth in england at an early period--that henry iv., in , gave a royal grant of tolls, for the purpose of paving the town of cambridge; in which, among other articles, irish cloth is taxed at the rate of twopence per hundred. the grant, "de villa cantabrigiæ paveanda," will be found in rymer's _foedera_. w. pinkerton. ham. _autobiographical sketch_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the fragments found by cheverells are parts of _the library of useless knowledge_, by athanasius gasker, esq., f.r.s., &c.: london, w. pickering, . h. j. _archbishop chichely_ (vol. viii., p. ).--the statute book of all souls college; robert hoveden's _life of chichely_; and the respective lives by arthur duck and o. l. spencer, have all been examined for the date of henry chichely's birth, but without success. the most probable conjecture is, that he was born in ; since in (see his "letter to pope eugenius," printed in the appendix to spencer's _life_) he describes himself as having either completed or entered upon his eightieth year. edward f. rimbault. "_discovery of the inquisition_" (vol. viii., p. .).--it is a mistake to suppose that all john day's publications are rare. montanus's _discovery and playne declaration of sundry subtill practices of the holy inquisition of spayne, newly translated_, to., , is not uncommon. herbert and heber possessed copies; and a copy sold at saunders's in for five shillings. my own copy (a remarkably fine one) cost sixteen shillings at evans's in . the edition of , containing some additions, is of greater rarity. edward f. rimbault. _divining rod_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the first edition of his _mathematical recreations_, hutton laughed at the divining rod. in the interval between that and the second edition, a lady made him change his note, by using one before him at woolwich. hutton had the courage to publish the account of the experiment in the second edition (vol. iv. pp. - .), after the account he had previously given. by a letter from hutton to bruce, printed in the memoir of the former which the latter wrote, it appears that the lady was lady milbanke. m. "_pinece with a stink_" (vol. viii, p. .).--archbishop bramhall's editor should have spelled the first word _pinnace_, and then your correspondent mr. blakiston could easily have understood the { } allusion. in speaking of the offensive composition, well known to sailors, the word _revenge_, and not _defend_, was used by bramhall. r. g. _longevity_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i do not think any of your correspondents has noticed the case of john whethamstede, abbot of st. albans, who wrote a chronicle of the period between and : "he was ordained a priest in , and died in , when he had been eighty-two years in priest's orders, and was above one hundred years old." surely this is a case sufficiently authenticated for your more sceptical readers. (henry's _history of great britain_, nd ed., lond. , vol. x. p. .) tewars. _chronograms_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the following additional specimen of this once popular form of numerical puzzle is not, i think, unworthy a corner in "n. & q." on the upper border of a sun-dial, affixed to the west end of nantwich church, cheshire, there appeared, previous to its removal about , the undermentioned inscription: "honor domino pro pace popvlo svo parta." now, seeing that nantwich was, during the civil dissensions which culminated in the murder of charles i., a rampant hot-bed of anarchy and rebellion, we should hardly be prepared for such a complete repudiation of those principles as is conveyed in the line before us, did we not know that the same anxiety to get rid of the "bare-bones" incubus universally prevailed. the numerals, it will be seen, make up the number , which was the year of the coronation of king charles ii.; and, no doubt, also the year in which the dial in question was erected. t. hughes. chester. _heraldic notes_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the bearing of the arms of clare hall by dr. blythe is not strictly correct, because, with the exception of the three principal kings of arms, the earl marshal, the master of ordnance, and a few others especially, arms of office do not exist in england. the general mode of bearing them is by impalement, giving the preference (dexter) to the arms of dignity. in the example under notice, the arms of dignity or office are borne upon a _pile_, which has somewhat the appearance of an inverted chevron. it is not at all a common mode of bearing additions; but i remember one case, viz. the grant by king henry viii. to the seymours, after his marriage to lady jane, of the lions of england on a pile. broctuna. bury, lancashire. _christian names_ (vol. vii. _passim_).--may i be permitted to correct one or two errors in mr. bates's note on this subject, vol. vii. p. .? the person described as a "certain m. l-p. saint-florentin" was no less a person than the duke de la vrillière, who filled several important offices during the reign of louis xv. the allusion in the epigram to his "trois noms" has no reference to his _names_, whether christian or patronymic, in the sense in which the question has been discussed in "n. & q.," but to the three _titles_ which he successively bore as a public man. he commenced his career as m. de phélippeaux; was afterwards created comte de saint-florentin, and sometime before his death was raised to the dignity of duke de la vrillière. my authority for this statement is the cotemporary work, _les mémoires secrets de bachaumont_, where, under date of december, , the epigram is thus introduced, with a variation in the first line: "un autre plaisant a fait d'avance l'épitaphe de m. le duc de la vrillière. elle roule sur ses trois noms différents de phélippeaux, saint-florentin, et la vrillière: 'ci-git, malgré son rang, un homme fort commun, ayant porté trois noms, et n'en laissant aucun.'" the sense being, that his titles had been his only distinction, and that even they had not been sufficient to rescue his character from obscurity and contempt. however "applicable" this epigram may be to the bearers or borrowers of three names, it will be some comfort to them to know that its point was not directed against them, but against a class of men of much higher pretensions, of one of whom it has been said: "_he left the name_, at which the world grew pale, to point a moral, or adorn a tale." henry h. breen. st. lucia. "_i put a spoke in his wheel_" (vol. viii., p. .).--if g.k., being wronged, should cherish the unchristian spirit of revenge, let him playfully insert a spoke in the wheel of his friend's tandem, as it bowls along behind a pair of thorough-bred tits, with twelve months' hard condition upon old oats in them. by simply putting a spoke in the wheel of the waggon employed in the removal of the manchester college to london, one trustee opposed a decided "impediment to the movement" of that institution. w. c. p. s.--allow me to point out a misprint at vol. viii., p. , "manners of the irish:" for _chuse_ read _cheese_. _judges styled reverend_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--with respect to the error into which i was led in making anthony fitzherbert _chief_ justice of the common pleas, i beg to express my thanks for our good friend's correction. my statement { } was founded on the authority of the visitation-book of the county of derby, a.d. , in which anthony fitzherbert is "chief justice of ----;" and, as the question of his rank as a judge was not one at the moment of communicating my note, i made no farther inquiry. i find, however, upon reference to vincent's _collections for derbyshire_, that anthony fitzherbert is styled, in a very good pedigree of his family, "unus justiciariorum de co[=i] banco." had i turned to dugdale's _origines juridiciales_, the error might have been avoided. thos. w. king (york herald). _palace at enfield_ (vol. viii., p. .).--queen elizabeth, in the early part of her reign, frequently kept her court at enfield. her palace was the manor-house, near the church, of which little now remains. in lysons' time ( ) it had been in a great measure rebuilt, and divided into tenements. he adds, "the part which contains the _old room_ is in the occupation of mrs. perry." when i saw this room, about twenty years ago, it was in its original state, with oak panels and a richly ornamented ceiling. the chimney-piece was supported by columns of the ionic and corinthian order, and decorated with the cognizances of the rose and portcullis, and the arms of france and england quartered, with the garter and the royal supporters. underneath was this motto, "sola salus servire deo, sunt cætera fraudes." in the garden was a magnificent tree, a cedar of libanus, which was pointed out to me as having been planted by queen elizabeth. but upon this point tradition was at fault. in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , p. ., may be seen an account of this remarkable cedar, which was planted by dr. robert uvedale, the botanist, a tenant of the manor-house in . the church at enfield does not date farther back than the middle of the fifteenth century. the devices of a rose and ring, which occur over the arches of the nave, seen also upon the tower of hadley church, with the date , "supposing it to have been, as is very probable," says lysons, "a punning cognizance adopted by one of the priors of walden, to which monastery both churches belonged, will fix the building of the present structure at enfield to the early part of the fifteenth century." edward f. rimbault. _sir john vanbrugh_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--are not your correspondents on the wrong scent as regards the birthplace of sir john vanbrugh? in the memoir prefixed to the collection of his _plays_, vols. mo., , it is said: "sir john vanbrugh, an eminent dramatic writer, son of mr. giles vanbrugh of london, merchant, was born in the parish of st. stephen's, walbrook, in . the family of vanbrugh were for many years merchants of great credit and reputation at antwerp, and came into england in the reign of queen elizabeth, on account of the persecution for religion." mr. cunningham (_handbook of london_, p. .) speaks of _william_ vanderbergh, the supposed father of sir john, as residing in lawrence-poultney lane in . he refers to strype's map of walbrook and dowgate wards, and _a collection of the names of the merchants living in and about the city of london_, mo. . the writer of the notice of sir john vanbrugh in chambers' _cyclopædia of english literature_, vol. i. p. ., says: "vanbrugh was the son of a successful sugar-baker, who rose to be an esquire, and comptroller of the treasury chamber, besides marrying the daughter of sir dudley carlton. it is doubtful whether the dramatist was born in the french bastile, or the parish of st. stephen's, walbrook. the time of his birth was about the year , when louis xiv. declared war against england. it is certain he was in france at the age of nineteen, and remained there some years." the family vault of the vanbrughs is certainly in st. stephen's church, walbrook, where sir john was buried on the th of march, . edward f. rimbault. _greek inscription on a font_ (vol. viii., p. .).---this query has already been answered and illustrated in vol. vii., pp. . . .; but the following passage may be of interest, as affording instances of the same inscription in france, and pointing out the probable source of its usage, viz. from the ancient greek metropolitan church at constantinople: "st. mémin est une abbaye célèbre sous l'ancien nom de micy, sur la rivière de loire, proche d'orléans. il y a dans l'église de ce monastère un benétier de forme ronde, avec cette inscription grecque gravée sur le bord du bassin, [greek: nipson anomÊma mÊmonan opsin]. la même chose est à paris, au benétier de st. etienne d'egrès, et aussi autrefois à celui de sainte sophie à constantinople."--_voyages liturgiques de france, par le sieur moleon_, p. ., vo. . it may be added (on cole's authority, vol. xxxv. f. b.) that the same inscription is inscribed round a large silver basin used formerly at the master's table on festival days, in trinity college hall, cambridge; and i have also seen it on a sliver-gilt rose-water basin, introduced at the banquets given by the master of magdalene college in the same university. [mu]. "_fierce_" (vol. viii., p. .).--in this part of the country the words _pert_, pronounced "peart," and _pure_, bear the same meaning, of well in health and spirits. francis john scott. tewkesbury. { } _giving quarter_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it must be observed that the older form of the expression is "keeping quarter:" "that every one should kill the man he caught, to _keep no quarter_."--_drayton in richardson._ now very obvious application of the word _quarter_, instanced by todd, is to signify the proper station or appointed place of any one. "they do best who, if they cannot but admit love, yet make it _keep quarter_, and sever it wholly from their serious affairs."--bacon's _essays_. to keep quarter, then, is to keep within measure, within the limits or bounds appointed by some paramount consideration; and hence, as in the following passage from shakspeare (where it is clumsily interpreted amity or companionship), the word is used as synonymous with terms or conditions: "friends all but now, in quarter and in terms like bride and groom divesting them for bed, and then but now swords out and tilting one at other's breast." in the same sense clarendon speaks of "offering them _quarter_ for their lives if they would give up the castle," _i. e._ offering them conditions for their lives on their performing their part of the bargain. again, in a passage of swift, cited by todd: "mr. wharton, who detected some hundred of the bishop's mistakes, meets with very ill quarter from his lordship," _i. e._ meets with very ill conditions of treatment from him. finally, _to give quarter_ in the military sense is to give conditions absolutely, as opposed to the unmitigated exercise of the victor's power, and, as the most important of all conditions, to spare life. h. w. _sheriffs of glamorganshire_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the list of the glamorganshire sheriffs here inquired for was not printed by mr. traherne, but by the rev. h. h. knight, m.a., of neath, and of nottage court, in glamorganshire: it is a little pamphlet in a paper cover. tewars. "_when the maggot bites_" (vol. viii., p. .).--a correspondent asks why a thing done on the spur of the moment is said to be done "when the maggot bites." it signifies rather doing a thing when the fancy takes one. when a person acts from no apparent motive in external circumstances, he is said to have a maggot in his head, to have a bee in his bonnet or, in french, "avoir des rats dans la tête;" in platt-deutsch, to have a mouse-nest in his head, the eccentric behaviour being attributed to the influence of the internal irritation. h. w. _connexion between the celtic and latin languages_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent m. will find much valuable information on this subject in a work entitled _thoughts on the origin and descent of the gael_, by james grant, esq., advocate: edinburgh, constable & co., . francis john scott. tewkesbury. _bacon's essays_ (vol. viii., p. .).--bacon's essay vii.: "optimum elige," &c. pythagoras, in _plutarch de exilio_.--essay xv.: "dolendi modus," &c. plin., lib. viii. ep. . fin. c. p. e. "_exiguum est._" _&c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--"exiguum est ad legem bonum esse." vide _senec. de ira_, ii. . c. p. e. _muffs worn by military men on a march_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the year the duke of nevers was despatched by henry iv. with all speed to a place called bully, in order to cut off the retreat of the duke of guise, lately defeated near bures. sully speaks of him thus: "the duke of nevers, the slowest of men, began by sending to make choice of the most favourable roads, and marched with a slow pace towards bully, with his hands and his nose in his muff, and his whole person well packed up in his coach."--_memoirs of sully_, vol. i. p. ., english edit., edinburgh, . francis john scott. tewkesbury. "_earth says to earth_" (vol. vii., pp. . .).--a fac-simile of these lines, discovered in the chapel of the guild of the holy cross at stratford-on-avon (with many other curious plates), may be seen in fisher's _illustrations of the paintings_, &c., edited by j. g. nichols, esq., and published in , and afterwards continued. erica speaks of "weaver's" account. unless this is a misprint for "wheler's" (_account of stratford-on-avon_), perhaps he will oblige me with the full title of weaver's work. este. _poetical tavern signs_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i would add the following sign-inscription to those noted by r. c. warde. it was on the walls of a tavern half-way up richmond hill, three miles south of douglas, isle of man, kept by a man of the name of abraham lowe: "i'm abraham lowe, and half-way up the hill, if i were higher up, what's funnier still, i should be belowe. come in and take your fill of porter, ale, wine, spirits, what you will. step in, my friend, i pray no farther go; my prices, like myself, are always low." j. g. c. _unkid_ (vol. viii., p. .).--is not the word _hunks_, so common in people's mouths,--_an old hunks_, an old miser or miserable wretch, to be referred to the same derivation as _unkid_, _hunkid_? f. b--w. { } _camera lucida_ (vol. viii., p. .).--caret will find dr. wollaston's description of his invention, the "camera lucida," in the th volume of _nicholson's journal_. m. c. m. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. messrs. macmillan of cambridge have commenced the publication of a series of theological manuals by _a history of the christian church_ (_middle age_), by charles hardwick, m.a.; which, although written for this series, claims to be regarded as an integral and independent treatise on the mediæval church. the work, which extends from the time of gregory the great to , when luther, having been extruded from those churches that adhered to the communion of the pope, established a provisional form of government, and opened a fresh era in the history of europe, is distinguished by the same diligent research and conscientious acknowledgment of authorities which procured for mr. hardwick's _history of the articles of religion_ such a favourable reception. the work is illustrated by four maps, which have been especially constructed for it by mr. a. keith johnston. the amiable and accomplished author of _proposals for christian union_, and of _welsh sketches_, has just issued the third and concluding series of his little volumes on welsh history, civil and ecclesiastical. we have no doubt that the eight chapters of which it consists, and in which he treats of edward the black prince, owen glyndwr, prince of wales, mediæval bardism, and the welsh church, will be read with great satisfaction, not only by all sons of the principality, but by all who look with interest on that portion of our island in which the last traces of our ancient british race and language still linger. books received.--_the journal of sacred literature_, no. ix. for october, continues to put forth strong claims to the support of those who have a taste for pure biblical literature. from the address of its new editor, it would seem not to be so well known as the object for which it is established plainly deserves.--_cyclopædia bibliographica_, part xiii. for october, continues its useful course. every succeeding number only serves to prove how valuable the work will be when completed.--_the shakspeare repository_, edited by j. h. fennell, no. iii., is well worth the attention of our numerous shakspearian readers. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. ford's handbook of spain. vol. i. austin cheironomia. rev. e. irving's orations on death, judgement, heaven, and hell. thomas gardener's history of dunwich. marsh's history of hursley and baddesley. about . vo. two copies. nicephorus catena on the pentateuch. procopius gazÆus. watt's bibliographia britannica. parts v. and vi. maxwell's digest of the law of intestates. carlyle's chartism. crown vo. nd edition. the builder, no. . oswalli crollii opera. mo. geneva, . gaffarell's unheard-of curiosities. translated by chelmead. london. mo. . beaumont's psyche. nd edit. folio. camb., . pamphlets. junius discovered. by p. t. published about . reasons for rejecting the evidence of mr. almon, &c. . another guess at junius. hookham. . the author of junius discovered. longmans. . the claims of sir p. francis refuted. longmans. . who was junius? glynn. . some new facts, &c., by sir f. dwarris. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names and addresses._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. books wanted.--_we believe that gentlemen in want of particular books, either by way of loan or purchase, would find great facilities in obtaining them if their names and addresses were published, so that parties having the books might communicate directly with those who want them. acting on this belief, we shall take advantage of the recent alteration in the law respecting advertisements, and in future, where our correspondents desire to avail themselves of this new arrangement, shall insert their names and addresses_--_unless specially requested not to do so_. j. n. radcliffe. _we shall be glad to receive the legendary lore mentioned by our correspondent._ rev. h. g. _your letter has been forwarded to_ a. f. b. (diss). s. z. z. s. _we have a letter waiting for this correspondent; how can we forward it?_ c. e. f. _warm water and a few small shot will thoroughly cleanse the bottles in which collodion has been kept._ an amateur experimentalist. _formerly the pint used in the compounding of medicines, chemicals, &c. consisted of sixteen fluid ounces, weighing one pound avoirdupois weight. now the imperial pint of twenty ounces is in general use. the troy and apothecaries' ounce are the same, and contain forty grains more than the avoirdupois ounce. in making collodion, take any quantity of ether, and dissolve the gun cotton in it; if too thick, it may always be reduced by the addition of more ether. uniodized collodion may be bought quite as cheap as it may be made; and it generally has the advantage of having been made in a large body, and allowed time to settle, whereby the clear portion only is more easily decanted off for sale._ _having active professional duties, it has been only at his leisure that_ dr. diamond _has been enabled to give his attention to photography, which has been the main cause of the delay complained of; but the delay will prove an advantage, for such important improvements are almost daily taking place in the art that works published a short time since are becoming comparatively useless._ hugh henderson. _ st, black japan varnish is very improper for your positive pictures; it often cracks, and is long in drying. black lacquer varnish, procurable at strong's, the varnish makers in long acre, is the best we have been able to procure. nd, the solution for development will keep any length of time; you may use it by dipping or otherwise_. w.c., _who recommends the use of a plate glass bath enveloped in gutta percha, is informed that we have had such a bath in use for many months, and it answers our purpose exceedingly well_. abraham. _as we have often said before, we think that a good lens requires no "actinic" focus to find. in a properly constructed lens the chemical and visual foci are identical; and we would ourselves not be troubled with the use of one in which they differed. our advertising columns will point out to you where such a lens man be procured. we believe, where there is a difference between the two foci, chemical and visual, that other distortions also take place, accounting for some of the unpleasant effects complained of in photography._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday_, _so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels_, _and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes. best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at mcmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * now ready, price s. d. by post, s. the practice of photography. a manual for students and amateurs. by philip delamotte, f.s.a. illustrated with a photographic picture taken by the collodion process. this manual contains much practical information of a valuable nature. joseph cundall, . new bond street. * * * * * { } murray's handbooks for travellers in italy. the following are now ready. handbook for north italy.--being a guide to sardinia, lombardy, venice, parma, piacenza, modena, lucca, florence, and tuscany as far as the val d'arno. with maps and plans. post vo. s. ii. handbook for central italy. part i.--being a guide to southern tuscany and the papal states. with maps and plans. post vo. s. iii. handbook for central italy. part ii.--being a guide to rome and its environs. with plan, post vo. (nearly ready.) iv. handbook for southern italy.--being a guide to the continental portion of the two sicilies, including naples, pompeii, herculaneum, vesuvius, bay of naples, &c. with map and plans. post vo. s. v. handbook to the italian schools of painting. from the german of kugler. with illustrations from the old masters. post vo. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * daily church services in one portable volume, containing the prayers and lessons for daily use, or the course of scripture readings for the year, authorised by the church. also a table of the proper lessons for sundays and holydays, with references to the pages. price s. d. bound, or s. in hayday's morocco. this book is also kept by any respectable bookseller in a variety of elegant bindings. oxford & london: j. h. parker. * * * * * the national miscellany, no. vi., october. contents. . cyphers. . roman london. . the table-turner outdone. . turkey--its past and present. . a string of facts about siam. . symbolic jewellery. . tanglewood tales, for girls and boys. . a few notes from cairo. price one shilling. london: john henry parker. * * * * * just published in fcp. vo., illustrated with wood-engravings by jewitt. price s. cloth. scotland and the scottish church, by the rev. henry caswall, m.a., vicar of figheldean, wilts, author of "america and the american church," &c. john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * now ready price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale. musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank. westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and, by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale. . old bond street. * * * * * fifth edition, s. history of the church of england. by thomas vowler short, d.d., lord bishop of st. asaph. by the same author, what is christianity? cheaper edition. s. d. john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * cheaper edition, two volumes octavo, s. system of logic. by john stuart mill. by the same author, principles of political economy. third edition. two volumes octavo, s. john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * foolscap octavo, s. d. goethe's opinions on the world, mankind, literature, science, and art. translated by otto wenckstern. john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * book auction rooms, . piccadilly. established . puttick and simpson beg to announce that their season for sales of literary property will commence on wednesday next, october . in addressing executors and others entrusted with the disposal of libraries, and collections (however limited or extensive) of manuscripts, autographs, prints, pictures, music, musical instruments, objects of art and vertu, and works connected with literature, and the arts generally, would suggest a sale by auction as the readiest and surest method of obtaining their full value; and they flatter themselves that the central situation of their premises (near st. james's church), their extensive connexion of more than half a century's standing, and the careful circulation of their catalogues in all parts of the country, and occasionally throughout europe and america, are advantages that will not be unappreciated. messrs. p. & s. will also receive small parcels of books or other literary property, and insert them in occasional sales with property of a kindred description, thus giving the same advantages to the possessor of a few lots as to the owner of a large collection. *** libraries catalogued, arranged, and valued for the probate or legacy duty, or for public or private sale. * * * * * library, bookcase, fire-proof safe, &c. six days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on wednesday, october th, and five following days, sunday excepted, a large and valuable collection of books, from several private libraries, consisting of standard works, english and foreign, in most departments of literature: amongst which are, manning and bray's history of surrey, vols.; clutterbuck's history of hertfordshire, vols.; polwhele's history of devon, vols.; stowe's london, by strype, vols., best edition; vesputius' neue unbekanthe landte, , rare; ludolphus de suchen de terra sancta, editio princeps, rare; shakspeare's works, second edition , third edition ; holy bible. macklins's splendid edition, vols., half russia; d'oyley and mants' commentary, vols.; penny cyclopædia, vols., calf extra; the separate and collected works of many popular authors; law books; a few curious broadsides; some interesting heraldic and genealogical collections; about vols. of novels and romances; a few engravings; a set of raphael's cartoons, framed; a neat mahogany bookcase; fire-proof safe; curious antique guipure lace; and other valuable miscellaneous property. catalogues will be sent on application: if in the country, on receipt of six stamps. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, october . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "entered upon his eightieth year": 'eighteenth' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | transcriber's note: italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline characters_. greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildes~. hebrew transliterations appear | | like ¤this¤. irish is indicated thus: +irish+. diacritical | | marks over characters are bracketed: [=x] indicates a macron | | over the letter, [(x] indicates a breve. archaic spellings | | have been retained. | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october . . [price fourpence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page the scottish national records patrick carey inedited lyric by felicia hemans, by weld taylor "green eyes," by harry leroy temple shakspeare correspondence, by samuel hickson, &c. minor notes:--monumental inscriptions--marlborough at blenheim--etymology of "till," "until" --dog-whipping day in hull--state queries:-- polarised light. minor queries:--"salus populi," &c.--dramatic representations by the hour-glass--john campbell of jamaica--hodgkins's tree, warwick--the doctor--english clergyman in spain--caldecott's translation of the new testament--westhumble chapel--perfect tense--la fleur des saints-- oasis--book reviews, their origin--martyr of collet well--black as a mourning colour--the word "mardel," or "mardle," whence derived?-- analogy between the genitive and plural--ballina castle--henry i.'s tomb--"for man proposes, but god disposes"--garrick street, may fair--the forlorn hope--mitred abbot in wroughton church, wilts--reynolds' portrait of barretti--crosses on stoles--temporalities of the church--etymology of "the lizard"--worm in books minor queries with answers:--siller gun of dumfries --margery trussell--caves at settle, yorkshire-- the morrow of a feast--hotchpot--high and low dutch--"a wilderness of monkies"--splitting paper--the devil on two sticks in england replies:-- stone pillar worship and idol worship, by william blood, &c. "blagueur" and "blackguard" by philarète chasles harmony of the four gospels by c. hardwick, t. j. buckton, chris. roberts, &c. small words and low words, by harry leroy temple a chapter on rings anticipatory use of the cross.--ringing bells for the dead photographic correspondence:--stereoscopic angles replies to minor queries:--berefellarii--"to know ourselves diseased," &c.--gloves at fairs-- "an" before "u" long--"the good old cause" --jeroboam of claret, &c.--humbug--"could we with ink," &c.--"hurrah!"--"qui facit per alium facit per se"--tsar--scrape--baskerville-- sheriffs of glamorganshire--synge family--lines on woman--lisle family--duval family miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. the scottish national records. the two principal causes of the loss of these records are, the abstraction of them by edward i. in , and the destruction of a great many others by the reformers in their religious zeal. it so happens that up to the time of king robert bruce, the history is not much to be depended on. a great many valuable papers connected with the ancient ecclesiastical state of scotland were carried off to the continent by the members of the ancient hierarchy, who retired there after the reformation. many have, no doubt, been destroyed by time, and in the destruction of their depositories by revolutions and otherwise. that a great many are yet in existence abroad, as well as at home, which would throw great light on scottish history, and which have not yet been discovered, there is no doubt, notwithstanding the unceremonious manner in which many of them were treated. at the time when the _literati_ were engaged in investigating the authenticity of ossian's _poems_ (to go no farther back), it was stated that there was in the library of the scotch college at douay a gaelic ms. of several of the poems of great antiquity, and which, if produced, would have set the question at rest. on farther inquiry, however, it was stated that it had been torn up, along with others, and used by the students for the purpose of kindling the fires. it is gratifying to the antiquary that discoveries are from time to time being made, of great importance: it was announced lately that there had been discovered at the treasury a series of papers relating to the rebellion of - , consisting chiefly of informations of persons said to have taken part in the rising; and an important mass of papers relative to the rebellion of - . there has also been discovered at the chapter house at westminster, the correspondence between edward i., edward ii., and their lieutenants in scotland, aymer de valance, earl of pembroke, john, earl of warren, and hugh cressingham. the letters patent have also been found, by which, in , william lamberton, bishop of st. andrew's, testified his having come into the peace of the king of england, and { }found himself to answer for the temporalities of his bishopric to the english king. stray discoveries are now and then made in the charter-rooms of royal burghs, as sometime ago there was found in the town-house of aberdeen a charter and several confirmations by king robert bruce. the ecclesiastical records of scotland also suffered in our own day; the original charters of the assembly from to were presented to the library of sion college, london wall, london, in , by the honorable archibald campbell (who had been chosen by the presbyters as bishop of aberdeen in ), under such conditions as might effectually prevent them again becoming the property of the kirk of scotland. their production having been requested by a committee of the house of commons, the records were produced and laid on the table of the committee-room on the th of may, . they were consumed in the fire which destroyed the houses of parliament on the th of october of the same year. it was only after , and on the breaking up of the feudal system, when men's minds began to calm down, that any attention was paid to scottish antiquities. indeed, previous to that period, had any one asked permission to examine the charter chests of our most ancient families, purely for a literary purpose, he would have been suspected of maturing evidence for the purpose of depriving them of their estates. no such objection now exists, and every facility is afforded both the publishing clubs and private individuals in their researches. much has been done by the abbotsford, bannatyne, maitland, roxburgh, spalding, and other clubs, in elucidating scottish history and antiquities, but much remains to be done. "if it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly," as every day lost renders the attainment of the object more difficult; and it is to be hoped that these clubs will be supported as they deserve.[ ] the student of scottish history will find much useful and important information in robertson's _index of charters_; sir joseph ayloffe's _calendars of ancient charters_; _documents and records illustrative of the history of scotland_, edited by sir francis palgrave, ; jamieson's _history of the culdees_; toland's _history of the druids_; balfour's _history of the picts_; chalmers' _caledonia_; stuart's _caledonia romana_; _history of the house and clan mackay_; _the genealogical account of the barclays of ury for upwards of years_; gordon's _history of the house of sutherland_; m'nicol's _remarks on johnson's journey to the western isles_; kennedy's _annals of aberdeen_; dalrymple's _annals_, &c. &c. abredonensis. [footnote : see _scottish journal_, edinburgh, , p. ., for a very interesting article on the early records of scotland.] * * * * * patrick carey. looking over evelyn's _diary_, edited by mr. barry, to., nd edit., london, , i came upon the following. evelyn being at rome, in , says: "i was especially recommended to father john, a benedictine monk and superior of the order for the english college of douay; a person of singular learning, religion, and humanity; also to mr. patrick cary, an abbot, brother to our learned lord falkland, a witty young priest, who afterwards came over to our church." it immediately occurred to me, that this "witty young priest" might be sir walter scott's _protégé_, and the author of "_triviall poems and triolets_, written in obedience to mrs. tomkins' commands by patrick carey, aug. , ," and published for the first time at london in , from a ms. in the possession of the editor. sir walter, in introducing his "forgotten poet," merely informs us that his author "appears to have been a gentleman, a loyalist, a lawyer, and a rigid high churchman, if not a roman catholic." in the first part of this book, which the author calls his "triviall poems," the reader will find ample proof that his character would fit the "witty young priest" of evelyn; as well as the gentle blood, and hatred to the roundheads of sir walter. as a farther proof that patrick carey the priest, and patrick the poet, may be identical, take the following from one of his poems, comparing the old church with the existing one: "our church still flourishing w' had seene, if th' holy-writt had euer beene kept out of laymen's reach; but, when 'twas english'd, men halfe-witted, nay, woemen too, would be permitted, t' expound all texts and preach." the second part of carey's poetical essays is entitled "i will sing unto the lord," and contains a few "triolets;" all of an ascetic savour, and strongly confirmatory of the belief that the author may have taken the monastic vow: "worldly designes, feares, hopes, farwell! farwell all earthly joyes and cares! on nobler thoughts my soule shall dwell; worldly designes, feares, hopes, farwell! att quiett, in my peaceful cell, i'le thincke on god, free from your snares; worldly designes, feares, hopes, farwell! farwell all earthly joys and cares. * * * * * pleasure att courts is but in show, with true content in cells wee meete; yes (my deare lord!) i've found it soe, noe joyes but thine are purely sweete!" the quotation from the psalms, which forms the title to this second part, is placed above "a helmet and a shield," which sir walter has transferred { }to his title. this "bears what heralds call a cross anchorée, or a cross moline, with a motto, _tant que je puis_." with the exception of the rose beneath this, there is no identification here of patrick carey with the falkland family. this cross, placed before religious poems, may however be intended to indicate their subjects, and the writer's profession, rather than his family escutcheon; although that may be pointed at in the rose alluded to, the falklands bearing "on a bend three roses of the field." j. o. ["ah! you do not know pat carey, a younger brother of lord falkland's," says the disguised prince charles to dr. albany rochecliffe in sir walter scott's _woodstock_. so completely has the fame of the great lord falkland eclipsed that of his brothers, that many are, doubtless, in the same blissful state with good dr. rochecliffe, although _two_ editions of the poet's works have been given to the world. in , mr. john murray published the poems of carey, from a collection alleged to be in the hands of a rev. pierrepont cromp, apparently a fictitious name. in , sir walter scott, ignorant, as he confesses himself, at the time of an earlier edition, edited once more the poems, employing an original ms. presented to him by mr. murray. in a note in _woodstock_, sir walter sums up the information he had procured concerning the author, which, scanty as it is, is not without interest. "of carey," he says, "the second editor, like the first, only knew the name and the spirit of the verses. he has since been enabled to ascertain that the poetic cavalier was a younger brother of the celebrated henry lord carey, who fell at the battle of newberry, and escaped the researches of horace walpole, to whose list of noble authors he would have been an important addition." the first edition of the poems appeared under the following title, _poems from a manuscript written in the time of oliver cromwell_, to. , _s._ _d._: murray. it contains only nine pieces, whereas the present edition contains thirty-seven.--ed.] * * * * * inedited lyric by felicia hemans. a short time since i discovered the following in the handwriting of mrs. hemans, and it accompanied an invitation of a more prosaic description to a gentleman of her acquaintance, and a relative of mine, now deceased. i thought it worth preserving, in case any future edition of her works appeared; but the th, th, and th lines are defective, from the seal, or some other accident, having torn them off, and one is missing. and though perhaps it would not be difficult to restore them, yet i have not ventured to do so myself. the last two lines appear to convey a melancholy foreboding of the poet's sad and early fate. can any one restore the defective parts? weld taylor. bayswater. _water lilies._ come away, puck, while the dew is sweet; come to the dingle where fairies meet. know that the lilies have spread their bells o'er all the pools in our mossy dells; stilly and lightly their vases rest on the quivering sleep of the waters' breast, catching the sunshine thro' leaves that throw to their scented bosoms an emerald glow; and a star from the depth of each pearly cup, a golden star! unto heaven looks up, as if seeking its kindred, where bright they lie, set in the blue of the summer sky. .... under arching leaves we'll float, .... with reeds o'er the fairy moat, .... forth wild music both sweet and low. it shall seem from the rich flower's heart, as if 'twere a breeze, with a flute's faint sigh. cone, puck, for the midsummer sun uproars strong, and the life of the lily may not be long.--mab. * * * * * "green eyes." having long been familiar with only one instance of the possession of eyes of this hue--the well-known case of the "_green-eyed_ monster jealousy,"--and not having been led by that association to think of them as a beauty, i have been surprised lately at finding them not unfrequently seriously admired. _ex. gr.:_ "_victorian._ how is that young and _green-eyed_ gaditana that you both wot of? _don carlos._ ay, soft _emerald_ eyes!" * * * * * _victorian._ a pretty girl: and in her tender eyes, just that soft shade of _green_ we sometimes see in evening skies." longfellow's _spanish student_, act ii. sc. . mr. longfellow adds in a note: "the spaniards, with good reason, consider this colour of the eye as beautiful, and celebrate it in a song; as, for example, in the well-known villancico: 'ay ojuelos verdes, ay los mis ojuelos, ay hagan los cielos que de mi te acuerdes! * * * * * tengo confianza, de mis verdes ojos.'" böhl de faber, _floresta_, no. . i have seen somewhere, i think in one of the historical romances of alexander dumas (père), a popular jingle about "la belle duchesse de nevers, aux yeux verts," &c. and lastly, see _two gentlemen of verona_, act iv. sc. ., where the ordinary text has: "her eyes are grey as glass, and so are mine." here "the ms. corrector of the folio converts 'grey' into '_green_:' 'her eyes are _green_ as { } _grass;_' and such, we have good reason to suppose, was the true reading." (collier's _shakspeare notes and emendations_, p. .) the modern slang, "do you see anything _green_ in my eye?" can hardly, i suppose, be called in evidence on the question of beauty or ugliness. is there any more to be found in favour of "_green eyes_?" harry leroy temple. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _on the death of falstaff_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the remarks of your correspondents j. b. and nemo on this subject are so obvious, and i think i may also admit in a measure so just, that it appears to me only respectful to them, and to all who may feel reluctant to give up theobald's reading, that i should give some detailed reason for dissenting from their conclusion. in the first place, when falstaff began to "play with flowers and smile upon his fingers' ends," it was no far-fetched thought to place him in fancy among green fields; and if the disputed passage were in immediate connexion with the above, the argument in its favour would be stronger. but, unfortunately, mrs. quickly brings in here the conclusion at which she arrives: "i knew there was but one way; _for_," she adds, as a farther reason, and referring to the physical evidences upon his frame of the approach of death, "his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze." we can hardly imagine him "babbling" at this moment. "how now, sir john, quoth i;" she continues, apparently to rouse him: "what, man! be of good cheer. _so_ [thus roused] 'a cried out--god, god, god! three or four times: now, i to _comfort_ him," &c. does this look as though he were in the happy state of mind your correspondents imagine? i take no account of his crying out of sack and of women, &c., as that might have been at an earlier period. at the same time it does not follow, had shakspeare intended to replace him in fancy amid the scenes of his youth, that he should have talked of them. a man who is (or imagines he is) in green fields, does not talk about green fields, however he may enjoy them. both your correspondents seem to anticipate this difficulty, and meet it by supposing falstaff to be "babbling snatches of hymns;" but this i conceive to be far beyond the limits of reasonable conjecture. in fact, the whole of their very beautiful theory rests upon the very disputed passage in question. at an earlier period apparently, his mind did wander; when, as mrs. quickly says, he was "rheumatick," meaning doubtless _lunatic_, that is, delirious; and then he talked of other things. when he began to "fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers' ends," though for a moment he might have fancied himself even "in his mother's lap," or anything else, he was clearly past all "babbling." in saying this, i treat falstaff as a human being who lived and died, and whose actions were recorded by the faithfullest observer of nature that ever wrote. samuel hickson. _passage in "tempest."--_ "thy banks with pioned and twilled brims, which spongy april at thy best betrims, to make cold nymphs chaste crowns." _tempest_, act iv. sc. . the above is the reading of the first folio. _pioned_ is explained by mr. collier, "to dig," as in spenser; but mr. halliwell (_monograph shakspeare_, vol. i. p. .) finds no authority to support such an interpretation. mr. collier's anonymous annotator writes "tilled;" but surely this is a very artificial process to be performed by "spongy april." hanmer proposed "peonied;" heath, "lilied;" and mr. halliwell admits this is more poetical (and surely more correct), but appears to prefer "twilled," embroidered or interwoven with flowers. a friend of mine suggested that "lilied" was peculiarly appropriate to form "cold nymphs chaste crowns," from its imputed power as a preserver of chastity: and in mr. halliwell's folio, several examples are quoted from old poets of "peony" spelt "piony;" and of both _peony_ and _lily_ as "defending from unchaste thoughts." surely, then, the reading of the first folio is a mere typographical error, and _peonied_ and _lilied_ the most poetical and correct. este. * * * * * minor notes. _monumental inscriptions_ (vol. viii., p. . &c.).--i have never seen the monumental inscription of theodore palæologus accurately copied in any book. when in cornwall lately, i took the trouble to copy it, and as some of your readers may like to see the thing as it is, i send it line for line, word for word, and letter for letter. it is found, as is well known, in the little out-of-the-way church of st. landulph, near saltash. "here lyeth the body of theodoro paleologus of pesaro in italye, descended from ye imperyail lyne of ye last christian emperors of greece being the sonne of camilio, ye so[=n]e of prosper the sonne of theodoro the sonne of iohn, ye sonne of thomas, second brother to constantine paleologus, the th of that name and last of yt lyne yt raygned in constantinople, untill subdewed by the turkes, who married with mary ye daughter of william balls of hadlye in souffolke gent, & had issue children, theodoro, iohn, ferdinando, maria & dorothy, and departed this life at clyfton ye th of january, ." ed. st jackson. { } _marlborough at blenheim._--extract from a ms. sermon preached at bitton (in gloucestershire?) on the day of the thanksgiving for the victory near hochstett, anno . (by the reverend thomas earle, afterwards vicar of malmesbury?) "and so i pass to the great and glorious occasion of this day, wh gives us manifold cause of praise and thanksgiving to almighty god for ... mercies and deliverances. for ye happy success of her majesty's arms both by land and sea [under the] duke of marlborough, whose fame now flies through the world, and whose glorious actions will render his name illustrious, and rank him among the renowned worthies of all ages. had that threatning bullet, wh bespattered him all over with dirt, only that he might shine the brighter afterwards; had it, i say, took away his life, he had gone down to the grave with the laurels in his hand." is this incident of the bullet mentioned in any of the cotemporary accounts of the battle? e. _etymology of "till," "until."_--many monosyllables in language are, upon examination, found to be in reality compounds, disguised by contraction. a few instances are, _non_, lat. ne-un-(us); _dont_, fr. de-unde; _such_, eng. so-like; _which_, who-like. in like manner i believe _till_, to-while, and _until_, unto-while. now _while_ is properly a substantive, and signifies _time_, corresponding to _dum_, lat., in many of its uses, which again is connected with _diu_, _dies_, both which are used in the indefinite sense of _a while_, as well as in the definite sense of _a day_. _adesdum_, come here a while; _interdum_, between whiles. if ~te~ (gr.) is connected with this root, then ~este~, to-while, till. lawrence minot says, "_to time_ (till) he thinks to fight." _dum_ has the double meaning of _while_ and _to-while_. e. s. jackson. _dog-whipping day in hull._--there was some time since the singular custom in hull, of whipping all the dogs that were found running about the streets on october ; and some thirty years since, when i was a boy, so common was the practice, that every little urchin considered it his duty to prepare a whip for any unlucky dog that might be seen in the streets on this day. this custom is now obsolete, those "putters down" of all boys' play in the streets--the new police--having effectually stopped this cruel pastime of the hull boys. perhaps some of your readers may be able to give a more correct origin of this singular custom than the one i now give from tradition: "previous to the suppression of monasteries in hull, it was the custom for the monks to provide liberally for the poor and the wayfarer who came to the fair, held annually on the th of october; and while busy in this necessary preparation the day before the fair, a dog strolled into the larder, snatched up a joint of meat and decamped with it. the cooks gave the alarm; and when the dog got into the street, he was pursued by the expectants of the charity of the monks, who were waiting outside the gate, and made to give up the stolen joint. whenever, after this, a dog showed his face, while this annual preparation was going on, he was instantly beaten off. eventually this was taken up by the boys; and, until the introduction of the new police, was rigidly put in practice by them every th of october." i write this on october , : and so effectually has this custom been suppressed, that i have neither seen nor heard of any dog having been this day whipped according to ancient custom. john richardson. . savile street, hull. _state_: _hamlet_, act i. sc. .--professor wilson proposed that in the "high and palmy _state_ of rome," _state_ should be taken in the sense of _city_: "write henceforth and for ever _state_ with a towering capital. state, properly republic, here specifically and pointedly means reigning city. the ghosts walked in the city, not in the republic."--vide "dies boreales," no. iii., _blackwood_, august, . query, has this reading been adopted by our skilled shakspearian critics? coleridge uses _state_ for _city_ in his translation of _the death of wallenstein_, act iii. sc. .: "what think you? say, shall we have the _state_ illuminated in honour of the swede?" j. m. b. * * * * * queries. polarised light. during the last summer, while amusing myself with verifying a statement of sir d. brewster respecting the light of the rainbow, viz. that it is polarised in particular planes, i observed a phenomenon which startled me exceedingly, insamuch as it was quite new to me at the time; and not withstanding subsequent enquiries, i cannot find that it has been observed by any other person. i found that _the light of the blue sky is partially polarised_. when analysed with a nichols prism, the contrast with the surrounding clouds is very remarkable; so much so, indeed, that clouds of extreme tenuity, which make no impression on the unassisted eye, are rendered plainly visible. the most complete polarisation seems to take place near the horizon; and, when the sun is near the meridian, towards the west and east. the depth of colour appears to be immaterial, as far as i have been able to ascertain with an instrument but rudely constructed for the purpose. the light is polarised in planes passing through the { } eye of the observer, and arcs of great circles intersecting the sun's disc. from the absence (so far as i am aware) of all mention of this remarkable fact in works on the subject, i am led to conclude that it is something new; should this, however, turn out otherwise, i shall be obliged by a reference to any author who explains the phenomenon. the greater intensity towards the horizon would point to successive refractions as the most probable theory. h. c. k. * * * * * minor queries. _"salus populi," &c._--what is the origin of the saying, "salus populi suprema lex?" e. m. _dramatic representations by the hour-glass._--i have seen it stated (but am now unable to trace the reference) that, in the infancy of the drama, its representations were sometimes regulated by the hour-glass. does the history of the art, either among the greeks or the romans, furnish any well authenticated instance of this practice? henry h. breen. st. lucia. _john campbell of jamaica._--i shall be very much obliged if any of your readers can give me any information respecting john campbell, esq., of gibraltar, trelawny, jamaica, who died in january, , at clifton (i believe), but to whose memory a monument was erected in bristol cathedral by his widow. i should be glad to know her maiden name, and whether he left any surviving family? also how he was related to a family _going by the name_ of hanam or hannam, who lived at arkindale, yorkshire, about one hundred years before the date of his decease; he appears, too, to have had some connexion with a person named isaac madley, or bradley, and through his mother with the turners of kirkleatham. this inquiry is made in the hope of unravelling a genealogical difficulty which has hitherto baffled all endeavour to solve it. d. e. b. leamington. _hodgkins's tree, warwick._--in the plan of warwick, drawn on speed's map of that county, is a tree at the end of west street, called on the plan "hodgkins's tree:" against this tree is represented a gun, pointed to the left towards the fields.--can any of your readers furnish the tradition to this tree pertaining? o. l. r. g. _the doctor, &c._, p. ., one volume edition.--the sentence in the garamna tongue, if anagrammatised into "you who have written madoc and thalaba and kehama," would require a _k_ to be substituted for an _h_ in _whehaha_. query, is this the proper mode of interpretation, or is there a misprint? _saheco_, p. .--what name are these composite initials meant to represent? the others are easily deciphered. should we read _saneco_=sarah nelson coleridge? j. m. b. _english clergyman in spain._--i am anxious to discover the capacity in which a certain clergyman was present with the english army in spain early in the eighteenth century (probably with lord peterborough's expedition). can any readers of "n. & q." refer me to any book or record from which i can obtain this information? d. y. _caldecott's translation of the new testament._--i have a translation of the new testament by a mr. john caldecott, printed and sold by j. parry and son, chester, dated . it is entitled _holy writings of the first christians, called the new testament_ (the text written from the common version, but altered by comparing with the greek), with notes. i shall be glad to know who mr. caldecott was or is? and whether the edition appeared under the auspices of any society or sect of christians? s. a. s. bridgewater. _westhumble chapel._--there is a ruin of a chapel in the hamlet of westhumble, in mickleham, surrey. at what time was it built? to what saint consecrated? and from what cause was it allowed to fall into its present ruinous and desecrated condition? j. p. s. _perfect tense._--in albités' "companion" to _how to speak french_, one of the first exercises is to turn into french the following phrase, "i have seen him yesterday." i should be much obliged to mr. j. s. warden (to whom all readers of "n. & q." stand so greatly indebted for his excellent article on "will and shall"), if he would state the rule for the use of the perfect tense in english in respect to specified time, and the _rationale_ involved in such rule. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _la fleur des saints._--to molière's _le tartufe_ (act i. sc. .) occur the following lines: "le traitre, l'autre jour, nous rompit de ses mains un mouchoir qu'il trouva dans une _fleur des saints_, disant que nous mêlions, par un crime effroyable, avec la sainteté les parures du diable." can any of your readers inform me what _fleur des saints_ was? was it a book? if so, what were its contents? c. p. g. _oasis._--can any correspondent inform me of the correct quantity of the second syllable of this word? in smith's _geographical dictionary_ it is marked long, while andrews' _lexicon_ gives it { } short, neither of them giving any reason for their respective quantities. t. _book reviews, their origin._--dodsley published in _the public register, or the weekly magazine_. under the head of "records of literature," he undertook to give a compendious account of "whatever works are published either at home or abroad worthy the attention of the public." was this _small_ beginning the origin of our innumerable reviews? w. cramp _martyr of collet well._--one james martyr, in , bought of george lake the seat called collet well, in the parish of otford. can any reader of "n. & q." tell from what family this martyr sprang, and what their armorial bearings are? q. m. s. _black as a mourning colour._--can any of your correspondents kindly inform me when black was first known in england, as the colour of mourning robes? we read in _hamlet_: "'tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, nor customary suits of solemn black, that can denote me truly." w. w. malta. _the word "mardel," or "mardle," whence derived?_--it is in common use in the east of norfolk in the sense of _to gossip_, thus "he would _mardel_ there all day long," meaning, waste his time in gossiping. j. l. sisson. _analogy between the genitive and plural._--in a note by rev. j. bandinel, in mr. christmas' edition of pegge's _anecdotes of the english language_, , the question is asked at p. .: "why is there such an analogy, in many languages, between the genitive and the plural? in greek, in latin, in english, and german, it is so. what is the cause of this?" can you point me to any work where this hint has been carried out? h. t. g. hull. _ballina castle._--where can i see a view of ballina castle, in the county of mayo? and what is the best historical and descriptive account of that county, or of the town of castlebar, or other places in the county? o. l. r. g. _henry i.'s tomb._--lyttleton, in his _history of england_, quoting from an author whose name i forget, states that no monument was ever erected to the memory of this king in reading abbey. man, on the contrary, in his _history of reading_, without quoting his authority, states that a splendid monument was erected with recumbent figures of henry and adelais, his second wife; which was destroyed by the mistaken zeal of the populace during the reformation. which of these statements is the true one? and if man's be, on what authority is it probably founded? pembrokiensis. _"for man proposes, but god disposes."_--this celebrated saying is in book i. ch. xix. of the english translation of _de imitatione christi_, of which hallam says more editions have been published than of any other book except the bible.--can any of your correspondents tell me whether the saying originated with the author, thomas a. kempis? a. b. c. _garrick street, may fair._--in hertford street, may fair, there is fixed in the wall of a house (no. .) a square stone on which is inscribed: "garrick street, january , ." i shall be glad to know the circumstances connected with this inscription, which is not in any way alluded to in the works descriptive of london to which i have referred. c. i. r. _the forlorn hope._--the "forlorn hope" is the body of men who volunteer first to enter a besieged town, after a breach has been made in the fortifications. that i know: but it is evidently some quotation, and if any of your readers should be able to give any information as to its origin, and where it is to be found, i should, as i said before, be much obliged. fenton. _mitred abbot in wroughton church, wilts._--not very long ago, while this church was under repair, there was discovered on one of the pillars, behind the pulpit, a fresco painting of a mitred abbot. i have corresponded with the rector on the subject, but unfortunately he kept no drawing of it; and all the information he is able to afford me is, that "the vestments were those ordinarily pourtrayed, with scrip, crosier," &c. such being the case, i have troubled "n. & q." with this query, in the hope that some one may be able to give me farther information as to date, name, &c. russell gole. _reynolds' portrait of barretti._--can any of your correspondents inform me where the portrait of barretti, by sir joshua reynolds, now is? geo. r. corner. _crosses on stoles._--when were the three crosses now usually embroidered on priests' stoles in the roman catholic church introduced? were they used in england before the reformation? in sepulchral brasses the stoles, although embroidered and fringed, and sometimes also enlarged at the ends, are (so far as i have observed) without the crosses. if used, what was their form? h. p. { } _temporalities of the church._--is there any record existing of a want of money for the maintenance of the clergy, or for other pious uses, in any part of the world before the establishment of the christian religion under constantine? or of any necessity having arisen for enforcing the payment of tithes or offerings by ecclesiastical censures during that period? h. p. _etymology of "the lizard."_--what is the etymology of the name "the lizard," as applied in our maps to that long low green point, stretching out into the sea at the extreme south of england? my idea of the etymology would be (judging from the name and pronunciation of a small town in the immediate neighbourhood of the point) _lys-ard_, from two celtic words: the first, _lys_, as found in the name _lismore_, and others of a like class in ireland and the highlands of scotland; the second _ard_, a long point running into the sea. in cornwall, to my ear, the name had quite the celtic intonation _l[=y]s-[=a]rd_; not at all like _l[(i]z[=a]rd_, as we would speak it, short. c. d. lamont. greenock. _worm in books._--can you or any of your numerous correspondents suggest a remedy for the worm in old books and mss.? i know of a valuable collection in the muniment room of a nobleman in the country, which is suffering severely at the present time from the above destructive agent; and although smoke has been tried, and shavings of russia leather inserted within the pages of the books, the evil still exists. as this question has most likely been asked before, and answered in your valuable little work, i shall be obliged by your pointing out in what volume it occurs, as i have not a set by me to refer to and thus save you the trouble. alethes. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _siller gun of dumfries._--can any of your readers tell me the history of the "siller gun of dundee" [dumfries], and give me an account of the annual shooting for it? o. l. r. g. [the siller gun of dumfries is a small silver tube, like the barrel of a pistol, but derives great importance from its being the gift of james vi., that monarch having ordained it as a prize to the best marksman among the corporations of dumfries. the contest was, by royal authority, licensed to take place every year; but in consequence of the trouble and expense attending it, the custom has not been so frequently observed. whenever the festival was appointed, the th of june, during the long reign of george iii., was invariably chosen for that purpose, being his majesty's birthday. the institution itself may be regarded as a memorial of the _waponshaw_, or showing of arms, the shooting at butts and bowmarks, and other military and gymnastic sports, introduced by our ancestors to keep alive, by competition and prizes, the martial ardour and heroic spirit of the people. in archery, the usual prize to the best shooter was a silver arrow: at dumfries the contest was transferred to fire-arms. see the preface to the _siller gun_, a poem in five cantos, by john mayne, .] _margery trussell._--margery, daughter and coheiress of roger trussell, of macclesfield, married edmund de downes (of the old cheshire family of downes of taxall, shrigley, &c.) in the fourth year of edward ii. query, what arms did she bear? and were the trussells of macclesfield of the same family as that which, in consequence of a marriage with an heiress of mainwaring, settled at warmineham, in the reign of edward iii., and whose heiress, in later times, married a de vere, earl of oxford? w. sneyd. denton. [in the harleian ms. . fol. . is a long and curious pedigree of the trussells and their intermarriage with the mainwarings, in the person of sir william trussell, lord of cubbleston, with maud, daughter and heiress of sir warren mainwaring. the arms are: argent a fret gu. bezanté for trussell. the same arms are found on the window of the church of warmineham in cheshire. these would consequently be the arms of margery, daughter of roger trussell. the arms originally were: argent a cross formée flory gu.; but changed on the marriage of sir william trussell of mershton, co. northampton, with rose, daughter and heiress to william pantolph, lord of cubbleston, who bore, argent a fret gu. bezanté.] _caves at settle, yorkshire._--being engaged on antiquarian investigations, i have found it necessary to refer to some discoveries made in the caves at settle in yorkshire, of which my friends in that county have spoken. now, i cannot find any printed account. i have referred to all the works on the county antiquities, and particularly to mr. phillips's book lately published (which professes to describe local antiquities), but in vain. i cannot find any notice of them. it is very likely some one of your better-informed readers may be able to assist me. brigantia. battersea. [see two letters by charles roach smith and joseph jackson in _archæologia_, vol. xxix. p. ., on the "roman remains discovered in the caves near settle in yorkshire." our correspondent has perhaps consulted the following work:--_a tour to the caves in the environs of ingleborough and settle, in the west riding of yorkshire_, vo. .] _the morrow of a feast._--it appears from the papers, that the presentation of the civic functionaries to the cursitor baron at westminster, took place on sept. . pray is this the _morrow_ of st. michael, as commonly supposed? does not the analogy of "morrow of all souls" (certainly the { } same day as all souls day, _i. e._ nov. ) point out that the morrow of st. michael is the th, _i. e._ michaelmas day. that _morrow_ was anciently equivalent to morning, we may infer from the following passages: "upon a morrow tide."--gower, _conf. am._, b. iii. "tho' when appeared the third morrow bright, upon the waves," &c. spenser's _fairy queen_, ii. xii. . "good morrow."--_passim._ r. h. [is not our correspondent confounding the morrow of _all saint_s, which the nd of november certainly is, with the morrow of _all souls_? sir h. nicolas, in his most useful _chronology of history_, says most distinctly:--"the morrow of a feast is the day following. thus, the feast of st. peter ad vincula is the st of august, and the morrow of that feast is consequently the nd of august."--p. .] _hotchpot._--will you kindly tell me what is the derivation of the local term _hotchpot_, and when it was first used? m. g. b. [the origin of this phrase is involved in some obscurity. jacob, in his _law dictionary_, speaks of it as "from the french," and his definition is _verbatim_ that given in _the termes of the law_ (ed. ), with a very slight addition. blackstone (book ii cap. .) says, "which term i shall explain in the very words of littleton: 'it seemeth that this word _hotchpot_ is in english a pudding; for in a pudding is not commonly just one thing alone, but one thing with other things together.' by this housewifely metaphor our ancestors meant to inform us that the lands, both those given in frankmarriage, and those descending in fee-simple, should be mixed and blended together, and then divided in equal portions among all the daughters."] _high and low dutch._--is there any essential difference between high and low dutch; and if there be any, to which set do the dutchmen at the cape of good hope belong? s. c. p. [high and low dutch are vulgarisms to express the german and the dutch languages, which those nations themselves call, for the german _deutsch_, for the dutch _holländisch_. the latter is the language which the dutch colonists of the cape carried with them, when that colony was conquered by them from the portuguese; and has for its base the german as spoken before martin luther's translation of the bible made the dialect of upper saxony the written language of the entire german empire.] _"a wilderness of monkeys."_--would you kindly inform me where the expression is to be found: "i would not do such or such a thing for a wilderness of monkeys?" c. a. ripley. ["_tubal._ one of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey. "_shylock._ out upon her! thou torturest me, tubal: it was my turquoise; i had it of leah, when i was a bachelor: i would not have given it for _a wilderness of monkies_."--_merchant of venice_, act iii. sc. .] _splitting paper._--could any of your readers give the receipt for splitting paper, say a bank-note? in no book can i find it, but i believe that it is known by many. h. c. liverpool. [paste the paper which is to be split between two pieces of calico; and, when thoroughly dry, tear them asunder. the paper will split, and, when the calico is wetted, is easily removed from it.] _the devil on two sticks in england._--who is the author of a work, entitled as under? "the devil upon two sticks in england; being a continuation of le diable boiteux of le sage. london: printed at the logographic press, and sold by t. walter, no. . piccadilly; and w. richardson, under the royal exchange, ." it is a work of very considerable merit, an imitation in style and manner of le sage, but original in its matter. it is published in six volumes vo. william newman. [william coombe, esq., the memorable author of _the diaboliad_, and _the tour of dr. syntax in search of the picturesque_.] * * * * * replies. stone pillar worship and idol worship. (vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) _stone pillar worship._--sir j. e. tennent inquires whether any traces of this worship are to be found in ireland, and refers to a letter from a correspondent of lord roden's, which states that the peasantry of the island of inniskea, off the coast of mayo, hold in reverence a stone idol called _neevougi_. this word i cannot find in my irish dictionary, but it is evidently a diminutive, formed from the word _eevan_ (io[.m]ai[.g]), image, or idol: and it is remarkable that the scriptural hebrew term for idol is identical with the irish, or nearly so--¤'wn¤ (_eevan_), derived from a root signifying _negation_, and applied to the vanity of idols, and to the idols themselves. i saw at kenmare, in the county of kerry, in the summer of , a water-worn fragment of clay slate, bearing a rude likeness to the human form, which the peasantry called _eevan_. its original location was in or near the old graveyard of kilmakillogue, and it was regarded with reverence as the image of some saint in "the ould auncient times," as an "ould auncient" native of tuosist (the lonely place) informed me. in the same immediate neighbourhood is a gullaune (+gallán+), or stone pillar, at which the peasantry used "to give { } rounds;" also the curious small lakes or tarns, on which the islands were said to move on july , st. quinlan's [kilian?] day. (see smith's _history of kerry_.) however, such superstitious usages are fast falling into desuetude; and, whatever may have been the early history of eevan, it is a sufficient proof of no vestige of stone pillar worship remaining in tuosist, that, to gratify the whim of a young gentleman, some peasants from the neighbourhood removed this stone fragment by boat to kenmare the spring of , where it now lies, perched on the summit of a limestone rock in the grounds of the nursery-house. j. l. dublin. _idol worship._--the islands of inniskea, on the north-west coast of ireland, are said to be inhabited by a population of about four hundred human beings, who speak the irish language, and retain among them a trace of that government by chiefs which in former times existed in ireland. the present chief or king of inniskea is an intelligent peasant, whose authority is universally acknowledged, and the settlement of all disputes is referred to his decision. occasionally they have been visited by wandering schoolmasters, but so short and casual have such visits been, that there are not ten individuals who even know the letters of any language. though nominally roman catholics, these islanders have no priest resident among them, and their worship consists in occasional meetings at their chief's house, with visits to a holy well. here the absence of religion is filled with the open practice of pagan idolatry; for in the south island a stone idol, called in the irish _neevougi_, has been from time immemorial religiously preserved and worshipped. this god, in appearance, resembles a thick roll of homespun flannel, which arises from a custom of dedicating a material of their dress to it whenever its aid is sought: this is sewed on by an old woman, its priestess, whose peculiar care it is. they pray to it in time of sickness. it is invoked when a storm is desired to dash some helpless ship upon the coast; and, again, the exercise of its power is solicited in calming the angry waves to admit of fishing. such is a brief outline of these islanders and their god; but of the early history of this idol no authentic information has yet been obtained. can any of your numerous readers furnish an account of it? william blood. wicklow. * * * * * "blagueur" and "blackguard." (vol. vii., p. .) i cannot concur in opinion with sir emerson tennant, who thinks he has a right to identify the sense of our low word _blagueur_ with that of your lower one, _blackguard_. i allow that there some slight similitude of pronunciation between the words, but i contend that their sense is perfectly distinct, or, rather, wholly different; as distant, in fact, as is the date of their naturalisation in our respective idioms. your _blackguard_ had already won a "local habitation and a name" under the reigns of pope and his immediate predecessor dryden. of all living unrespectable characters our own _blagueur_ is the youngest, the most innocent, and the shyest. he is entirely of modern growth. he has but lately emerged from the soldier's barracks, the suttler's shop, and the mess-room. as a prolific tale-teller he amused the leisure hours of superannuated sergeants and half-pay subalterns. ten or twelve years ago he had not yet made his appearance in plain clothes; he is now creeping and winding his way with slow and sure steps from his old haunts into some first-rate coffee-houses and shabby-genteel drawing-rooms, which carlyle calls _sham gentility_. he bears on his very brow the newest _flunky-stamp_. the poor young fellow, after all, is no villain; he has no kind of connexion with the horrid rascal sir emersom tennent alludes to--with the _blackguard_. that he is a boaster, a talker, an idiot, a nincompoop; that he scatters "words, words, words," as polonius did of old; that he is bombastic, wordy, prosy, nonsensical, and a fool, no one will deny. but he is no rogue, though he utters rogueries and drolleries. no one is justified in slandering him. the _blackguard_ is a dirty fellow in every sense of the word--a _gredin_ (a cur), the true translation, by-the-bye, of the word _blackguard_. voltaire, who dealt largely in billingsgate, was very fond of the word _gredin_: "je semble à trois gredins, dans leur petit cerveau, que pour être imprimés et reliés en veau," &c. the word _blagueur_ implies nothing so contemptuous or offensive as the word _blackguard_ does. the emptiness of the person to whom it applies is very harmless. its etymon _blague_ (bladder, _tobacco-bag_), the pouch, which smoking voluptuaries use to deposit their tobacco, is perfectly symbolic of the inane, bombastic, windy, and long-winded speeches and sayings of the _blagueur_. every french commercial traveller, buss-tooter, and parisian jarvy is one. when he deports himself with modesty, and shows a gentlemanly tact in his peculiar avocation, we call him a _craqueur_ (a cracker). "ancient pistol" was the king of _blagueurs_; falstaff, of _craqueurs_. i like our _baron de crac_, a native of the land of white-liars and honey-tongued gentlemen (gascony). the genus _craqueur_ is common here: as it shoots out into a thousand branches, shades, varieties, and modifications, judicial, political, poetical, and so on, it would be { } quite out of my province to pursue farther the description of _blagueur_-land or _blarney_-land. p.s.--excuse my french-english. philarÈte chasles, mazarinæus. paris, palais de l'institut. * * * * * harmony of the four gospels. (vol. viii., p. .) in answer to z. i may state that the first attempt of this kind is attributed to tatian. eusebius, in his _ecc. hist._ (quoted in lardner's _works_, vol. ii. p. . ed. ), says, he "composed i know not what--harmony and collection of the gospels, which he called ~dia tessarôn~." eusebius himself composed a celebrated harmony, of which, as of some others in the sixteenth and two following centuries, there is a short account in michaelis's _introduction to the new test._, translated by bishop marsh, vol. iii. part i. p. . the few works of the same kind written in the early and middle ages are noticed in horne's _introduct._, vol. ii. p. . about the year , juvencus, a spaniard, wrote the evangelical history in heroic verse. of far greater merit were the four books of augustine, _de consensu quatuor evangeliorum_. after a long interval, ludolphus the saxon, a carthusian monk, published a work which passed through thirty editions in germany, besides being translated into french and italian. some years ago i made out the following list of harmonies, diatessarons, and synoptical tables, published since the reformation, which may in some measure meet the wish of your correspondent. it is probably incomplete. the dates are those of the first editions. |osiander, . | büsching, . |jansenius, . | macknight, . |chemnitz, . | bertlings, . |lightfoot, . | griesbach, . |cradock, . | priestley (greek), . |richardson, .| priestley (eng.), . |sandhagen, . | newcome (greek), . |le clerc, . | newcome (eng.), . |whiston, . | white, . |toinard, . | de wette, . |rein rus, . | thompson, r., . |bengelius, . | chambers, . |hauber, . | thompson, c., . |doddridge, . | warner, . |pilkington, .| carpenter, . |michaelis, . | j. m. cranwell, near bath. tatian wrote his ~euangelion dia tôn tessarôn~ as early as the year . it is no longer extant, but we have some reason for believing that this harmony had been compiled in an unfriendly spirit (theodoret, _hæret. fabul._, lib. i. c. .). tatian was followed by ammonius, whose ~harmonia~ appeared about ; and in the next century by eusebius and st. ambrose, the former entitling his production ô~peri tês tôn euangeliôn diaphônias~, the latter _concordia evangelii mattæi et lucæ_. but by far the ablest of the ancient writings on this subject is the _de consensu evangelistarum_ of st. augustine. many authors, such as porphyry, in his ~kata christianôn logoi~, had pointed with an air of triumph to the seeming discrepancies in the evangelic records as an argument subversive of their claim to paramount authority ("hoc enim solent quasi palmare suæ vanitatis objicere, quod ipsi evangelistæ inter seipsos dissentiant."--lib. i. c. .). in writing these objections st. augustine had to handle nearly all the difficulties which offend the microscopic critics of the present day. his work was urged afresh upon the notice of the biblical scholar by gerson, chancellor of the university of paris, who died in . the _monotessaron, seu unum ex quatuor evangeliis_ of that gifted writer will be found in du pin's edition of his _works_, iv. . sq. some additional information respecting harmonies is supplied in ebrard's _wissenschaftliche kritik der evangelischen geschichte_, pp. . sq. francfurt a. m., . c. hardwick. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. seiler says (_bibl. herm._, part ii. c. . s. .) that "the greater part of the works on the harmony of the gospels are quite useless for our times, as their authors mostly proceed on incorrect principles." he refers only to the chief of them, namely: osiander, . | macknight, . jansen, - . | bengel, . chemnitz, . | büsching, . lightfoot, . | bertlings, . van til, . | priestley, . lamy, . | schutte, . le roux, . | stephan, . le clerc, . | michaelis in his new test. may, . | rullmann, . von canstein, - .| griesbach, - . rus, - . | white, . hauber. | de wette, . for other harmonies, see mr. horne's _bibliog. index_, p. . heringa considers that the following writers "have brought the four evangelists into an harmonious arrangement, namely: hesz, . | stronck, . bergen .| townsend, . and especially as to the sufferings and resurrection of christ: voss, . | michaelis (translated by duckett, ). iken, . | cremer, . t. j. buckton. birmingham. { } ammonius, an egyptian christian nearly cotemporary with origen (third century), wrote a harmony of the four gospels, which is supposed to be one of those still extant in the _biblioth. max. patrum_. but whether the larger harmony in tom. ii. part ., or the smaller in tom. iii., is the genuine work is doubted. see a note to p. . of reid's _mosheim's ecclesiastical history_, vol. edition: london, simms and mcintyre, . chris. roberts. bradford, yorkshire. * * * * * small words and low words. (vol. ii., pp. . . .; vol. iii., p. .) a passage in churchill, and one in lord john russell's _life of moore_, have lately reminded me of a former note of mine on this subject. the structure of churchill's second couplet must surely have been suggested by that of pope, which formed my original text: "conjunction, adverb, preposition, join to add new vigour to the nervous line:-- in monosyllables his thunders roll,-- he, she, it, and, we, ye, they, fright the soul." _censure on mossop._ moore, in his journals, notes, on the other side of the question, conversation between rogers, crowe, and himself, "on the beauty of monosyllabic verses. 'he jests at scars,' &c.; the couplet, 'sigh on my lip,' &c.; 'give all thou canst,' &c. &c., and many others, the most vigorous and musical, perhaps, of any." (lord john russell's _moore_, vol. ii. p. .) the frequency of monosyllabic lines in english poetry will hardly be wondered at, however it may be open to such criticisms as pope's and churchill's, when it is noted that our language contains, of monosyllables formed by the vowel _a_ alone, considerably more than ; by the vowel _e_, about ; by the vowel _i_, nearly ; by the vowel _o_, rather more than ; and by the vowel _u_, upwards of ; a calculation entirely exclusive of the large number of monosyllables formed by diphthongs. i hardly know whether the following "literary folly" (as "d'israeli the elder" would call it, see _curiosities of lit._ sub tit.), suggested by dipping into the above monosyllabical statistics, will be thought worthy to occupy a column of "n. & q." however, it may take its chance as a supplementary note, without farther preface, under the none, for want of a better, of _univocalic verses_: _the russo-turkish war._ _a._ wars harm all ranks, all arts, all crafts appal: at mars' harsh blast arch, rampart, altar fall! ah! hard as adamant, a braggart czar arms vassal-swarms, and fans a fatal war! rampant at that bad call, a vandal-band harass, and harm, and ransack wallach-land! a tartar phalanx balkan's scarp hath past, and allah's standard falls, alas! at last. _the fall of eve._ _e._ eve, eden's empress, needs defended be; the serpent greets her when she seeks the tree. serene she sees the speckled tempter creep; gentle he seems--perversest schemer deep-- yet endless pretexts, ever fresh, prefers, perverts her senses, revels when she errs, sneers when she weeps, regrets, repents she fell; then, deep-reveng'd, reseeks the nether hell! _the approach of evening._ _i._ idling i sit in this mild twilight dim, whilst birds, in wild swift vigils, circling skim. light winds in sighing sink, till, rising bright, night's virgin pilgrim swims in vivid light! _incontrovertible facts._ _o._ no monk too good to rob, or cog, or plot. no fool so gross to bolt scotch collops hot. from donjon tops no oroonoko rolls. logwood, not lotos, floods oporto's bowls. troops of old tosspots oft, to sot, consort. box tops, not bottoms, schoolboys flog for sport. no cool monsoons blow soft on oxford dons, orthodox, jog-trot, book-worm solomons! bold ostrogoths of ghosts no horror show. on london shop fronts no hop-blossoms grow. to crocks of gold no dodo looks for food. on soft cloth footstools no old fox doth brood. long-storm-tost sloops forlorn work on to port. rooks do not roost on spoons, nor woodcocks snort, nor dog on snowdrop or on coltsfoot rolls, nor common frog concocts long protocols. _the same subject continued._ _u._ dull, humdrum murmurs lull, but hubbub stuns. lucullus snuffs up musk, mundungus shuns. puss purrs, buds burst, bucks butt, luck turns up trumps; but full cups, hurtful, spur up unjust thumps. although i am the veritable k. i. p. b. t. of the former notes, i sign myself now, in accordance with more recent custom, harry leroy temple. * * * * * a chapter on rings. (vol. vii. _passim._) the scriptures prove the use of rings in remote antiquity. in gen. xli., joseph has conferred on him the king's ring, an instance more ancient than prometheus, whom fables call the inventor of the ring. therefore let those who will hold, with pliny and his followers, that its use is more recent than homer. the greeks seem to have derived the custom of wearing it from the east, and italy from the greeks. juvenal and persius refer to { } rings which were worn only on birthdays. clemens alexandrinus recommends a limit within which the liberty of engraving upon them should be restrained. he thinks we should not allow an idol, a sword, a bow, or a cup, much less naked human figures; but a dove, a fish, or a ship in full sail, or a lyre, an anchor, or fishermen. by the dove he would denote the holy spirit; by the fish, the dinner which christ prepared for his disciples (john xxi.), or the feeding of thousands (luke ix.); by a ship, either the church or human life; by a lyre, harmony; by an anchor, constancy; by fishermen, the apostles or the baptism of children. it is a wonder he did not mention the symbol of the name of christ (~chi-rho~), the cross which is found on ancient gems, and noah's ark. rings were worn upon the joints and fingers, and hence clement says a man should not wear a ring upon the joint (_in articulo_), for this is what women do, but upon the little finger, and at its lowest part. he failed to observe the roman custom of wearing the ring upon the finger of the left hand, which is nearest the heart, and which we therefore term the ring-finger. and macrobius says, that when a ring fell from the little finger of avienus' right hand, those who were present asked why he placed it upon the wrong hand and finger, not on those which had been set apart for this use. the reasons which are given for this custom in macrobius were often laughed at by h. fabricius ab aquapendente, viz. that it is stated in anatomical works, that "a certain nerve which rises at the heart proceeds directly to that finger of the left hand which is next the little finger," for nothing of the sort, he said, existed in the human body. the ring distinguished the free-born from the servile, who, however, sometimes obtained the _jus annuli_, or privilege of the ring. it was used as a seal, a pledge, and a bond. women, when betrothed, received rings; and the virgin and martyr agnes, in ambrose, says, "my lord jesus christ hath espoused me with his ring." theosebius also, in photius, says to his wife, "i formerly gave to thee the ring of union, now of temperance, to aid thee in the seemly custody of my house." he advisedly speaks of that _custody_, for the lady of the house in plautus says, "obsignate cellas, referte annulum ad me: ego huc transeo." wives generally used the same seals as their husbands: thus cicero (_ad attic._ xi. ) says, "pomponia, i believe, has the seals of what is sealed." sometimes, however, they used their own. touching the marriage ring, of what style and material it was, and whether formerly, as now, consecrated by prayers to god. its pattern appears to have been one which has gone out of use, viz. right hands joined, such as is often observed on ancient coins. tacitus (_hist._ i. ll.) calls it absolutely _dextras_, right hands. among us it was called a faith (_una fede._ comp. eng. "plight my _troth_"), and not without precedent, for on the coins of vitellius, &c. right hands thus joined bear the motto _fides_. an esteemed writer (nider), in his _formicarium_, mentions a rustic virgin who desired to find a material ring as a token of her espousal "_in signum christiferæ desponsationis_," and found a ring of a white colour, like pure silver, upon which two hands were engraved where it was united. it was formerly customary to bless a crown or a ring by prayers. the form of consecration used by the priest is thus given in ancient liturgies: "bene [symbol, cross] die domine, annulum istum et coronam istam, ut sicut annulus circundat digitum hominis, et corona caput, ita gratia spiritus sancti circundet sponsum et sponsam, ut videant filios et filias usque tertiam et quartam generationem: qui collaudent nomen viventis atque regnantis in secula seculorum. amen." for the crown, see is. lxii. . (e. v. lxi. .). the words of agnes above cited have reference to giving the right hand and a pledge. these particulars are from the _symbol. epist. liber_ of laurentius pignorius, patar. ; where, in ep. i. and xix., many other references are to be found. b. h. c. * * * * * anticipatory use of the cross.--ringing bells for the dead. (vol. viii., pp. . .) i trust that the following information may be acceptable to you and the authors of two interesting papers in "n. & q." (vol. viii., pp. - .), viz. "anticipatory use of the cross," and "curious custom of ringing bells for the dead." when encamped, in or , near the town (not the cantonment) of muttra, on the river jumna, a place of celebrated sanctity as the scene of the last incarnation of vishnoo, the protective deity or myth of the hindoos, an italian gentleman of most polished manners, speaking english correctly and with fluency, was introduced to me. he travelled under the name of count venua, and was understood to be the eldest son of the then prime minister of sardinia. the count explained to me that his favourite pursuit was architecture, and that he preferred buildings of antiquity. i replied, that while breakfast was preparing i could meet his wishes, and led him to a large hindoo edifice close by (or rather the remains), which a mogul emperor had partially destroyed and thereby desecrated, the place having since been occasionally used by the townspeople as a cattle-shed, or for rubbish. the count, not deterred by heaps of cattle-dung, paced the dimensions, gazed on the solidity of the { } stone masonry, approved of the construction and shape of the arched roof, pointed out the absence of all ornament excepting a simple moulding or two as architectural lines, and then broke out into enthusiastic admiration. "the most beautiful building! the greatest wonder of the world! shame on the english government and english gentlemen for secreting such a curiosity! here is the cross! the basilica carried out with more correctness of order and symmetry than in italy! the early christians must have built it! i will take measurements and drawings to lay before the cardinals!" i was never more surprised, and assured the count that i was unacquainted with the cathedral buildings of europe, and i believed english gentlemen generally to be as ignorant as myself. i could not but acknowledge that the local governments had, as it seemed to him, evinced but little sympathy with hindooism; and that whatever might be european policy in respect to religion, the east india company might have participated in the desire which prevails in europe to develop ancient customs, and the reasons of those customs. it might be presumed that we should then have contemplated this specimen of architecture with a knowledge of its original purposes, and the history of its events, had the governor-general communicated his wish, and with due courtesy and disinterestedness invited the learned persons and scholars at the colleges of muttra and benares to assist such inquiries. it is but little the english now know of the hindoo organisation, and the little they do know is derived from books not tested nor acknowledged by such learned persons. i assisted count venua as far as i was able, for i rejoiced at his intention to draw the minds of the _literati_ of italy to the subject. sad to say, the count was some time after killed by falling into a volcanic crater in the eastern isles! i may here mention that i first saw the old building in , when a youthful assistant to the secretary of a revenue commission. the party, during the inclement month of september, resided in one of the spacious houses at muttra, which pious hindoos had in past times erected for the use of pilgrims and the public. the old temple (or whatever it might have been) was cleaned out for our accommodation during the heat of the day, as it then was cooler than the house. the elder civilians were men of ability, classical scholars, and first-rate asiatic linguists. they descanted on the mythological events which renders "brij," or the country around muttra, so holy with the hindoos, but not one of them knew nor remarked the "cross and basilica." in youth, the language assigned to flowers appeared to me captivating and elegant, as imparting the finer feelings and sympathies of our nature. in maturer age, and after the study of the history of the customs of mankind, symbols and emblems seemed to me an universal language, which delicately delineated the violent passions of our kind, and transmitted from generation to generation national predilections and pious emotions towards the god of creation. that mythology should so generally be interpreted theism, and that forms or ceremonials of worship should be held to limit and define belief in creed, may, in my apprehension, be partly traceable to the school-book lamprière's _classical dictionary_. you or your correspondents may attribute it to other and truer causes. the rose, the thistle, the shamrock, the leek, the lion, the unicorn, the harp, &c. are familiar examples of national emblems. the ivy, the holly, and the mistletoe are joined up with the christmas worship, though probably of druidical origin. the assyrian sculptures present, under the "joronher," or effulgence, a sacred tree, which may assimilate with the toolsu and the peepul tree, held in almost equal veneration by the hindoos. the winged lions and bulls with the heads of men, the angels and cherubim, recall to mind passages of scriptural and pagan history. the sciences of astronomy and mathematics have afforded myths or symbols in the circle, the crescent, the bident, the trident, the cross, &c. the translators of the cuneiform inscriptions represent crucifixion as the common punishment for rebellion and treason. the jews may have imitated the assyrians, as crucifixion may have been adopted long before that of christ and the two thieves (qy. robbers). the mahomedans, who have copied the jews in many practices and customs, executed gang robbers or daccorts by suspending the criminals from a tree, their heads and arms being tied to the branches, and then ripping up the abdomen. i myself saw in oude an instance of several bodies. it may be inferred, then, that the position of the culprits under execution was designated by crucifixion. the hindoos mildly say that when their system of government existed in efficiency there was neither crime nor punishment. to the examples mentioned by your correspondent, i admit that the form of the cross, as now received, may be derived from that of christ, discovered on mount calvary in a.d. constantine, in a.d., adopted it as a standard in labarum. other nations have attached staves to eagles, dragons, fish, &c. as standards and therefore, construing "crux ansata" literally, the ensign of constantine might be formed by attaching a staff to the divine glory represented in the egyptian paintings and assyrian sculptures. i should be glad to learn the precise shape of the cross on the temple of serapis. if it be the emblem of life or the creative power, then the mythology of the nile agrees with that of the { } ganges. if it be the symbol of life, or rather of a future state after judgment, then the religious tenets and creed of muttra should be elucidated, examined, and refuted by the advocates of conversion and their itinerant agents. moore's _hindoo pantheon_ (though the author had at bombay, as a military officer, little opportunity of ascertaining particulars of the doctrine) sufficiently treats, under the head of the "krishna," the subject so as to explain to the conversionists, that unless this doctrine be openly refuted, the missionaries may in truth be fighting their own shadow. the basilica seems to have originally been the architectural plan of the roman forum, or court of justice. the christians may have converted some of these edifices into churches; otherwise the first churches seem to have been in the form of a long parallelogram, a central nave, and an aisle on each side, the eastern end being rounded, as the station of the bishop or presbyter. the basilica, or cathedral, was probably not introduced until the eighth century, or later. i have not just now access to the works of tod and maurice. the former, i doubt not, is correct in respect to the temple of mundore, but i believe the latter is not so in regard to benares. the trident, like that of neptune, prevails in the province of benares; and when it, in appropriate size, rises in the centre of large tanks, has a very solemn effect. i, a great many years ago, visited the chief temple of benares, and do not recollect that the cross was either noticed to me or by me. this, i think, was the only occasion of observing the forms of worship. there is no fixed service, no presiding priest, no congregation. the people come and go in succession. i then first saw the bell, which, in size some twenty-five pounds weight, is suspended within the interior. each person, at some period of his devotion, touched the tongue of the bell as invocation or grace. the same purpose is obtained by hindoos, and particularly the men of the fighting classes, previously to commencing a cooked dinner, by winding a large shell, which gives a louder sound than a horn. the native boys however, on hearing it, exclaim in doggerel rhyme, which i translate, "the shell is blown, and the devil is flown." fear seems so much the parent of superstition, that i attribute this saying to the women, who, as mothers, have usually a superstitious dread not only of evil spirits, but also of the evil eye of mortals towards their young ones. when, some twenty years ago, i was told by a kentish countryman that the church bell was tolled to drive away evil spirits from a departing soul, i supposed the man to be profanely jocose; but since then i have travelled much in this country and on the continent, and have seen enough to satisfy me that superstition prevails comparatively less in asia than in europe and the pages of "n. & q." abundantly corroborate the opinion. h. n. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _stereoscopic angles._--i am concerned that my definition and solution of stereoscopic angles (a misnomer, for it should be _space_) in "n. & q.," with subsequent illustrations, have not satisfied mr. shadbolt, as i am thus obliged to once more request room in your pages, and this time for a rather long letter. when i asserted that my method is the only correct one, it behoved me to be prepared to prove it, which i am, and will now do. it seems that mr. shadbolt has not a knowledge of perspective, or, with a little reflection and trifling pains in linear demonstration on paper, he might have convinced himself of the accuracy of my method. it were well, then, to inform mr. shadbolt, that in perspective, planes parallel to the plane of delineation (in this case, the glass at back of camera) have no vanishing points; that planes at right angles to plane of delineation have but one; and that planes oblique have but one vanishing point, to the right or left, as it may be, of the observer's eye. this premised, let the subject be a wall feet in length, with two abutments of one foot in front and five feet in projection, and each placed five feet from the central point of the wall, which is to have a plinth at its base, and a stone coping at top. on a pedestal four feet high, two feet wide, and six feet long, exactly midway betwixt the abutments, let an ass be placed, a boy astride him, a bag drawn before the boy, who holds up a long stick in line with the ass, &c., that is, facing the observer. the right distance for the observer's place is feet. if the cameras be placed two inches and a half apart, on one line parallel to the wall, the stereographs will be in true perspective for the _two_ eyes, that is, all the planes at right angles to the plane of delineation will have _two_ vanishing points, which, being merely two inches and a half apart, will, in the stereoscope, flow easily into one opposite the eye; whilst the plinth, coping, and all lines parallel to them, will be perfectly horizontal; and the two pictures would create in the mind just such a conception as the same objects would if seen by the eyes naturally. this would be stereoscopic, true to nature, true to art, and, i affirm, correct. now, let the same subject be treated by professor wheatstone's method, when the cameras would be eighteen feet apart. situated thus, if placed on one line, and that parallel to the wall, the extreme end at the right could not be seen by the camera at the left, and _vice versâ_; so that they { } must radiate from the centre when the glass at back of camera would be oblique to the wall, and the plinth, coping, top and bottom of pedestal, would have _two_ vanishing points, at opposite sides of the centre, or observer's eye; both sides of the ass, both the legs of boy, and two heads to the drum would be visible; whilst the two sides of pedestals would have each a vanishing point, serving for all lines parallel to them. but these vanishing points would be so far apart that they could not, in the stereoscope, flow into one: the result would be, that the buttresses would be wider at back than in front, as would also the pedestal, while the stick held by the boy would appear like _two_ sticks united in front. this would be untrue to nature, false to art, preposterously absurd, and i pronounce it to be altogether erroneous. this being the case with a long distance, so must it be with shorter distances, modified in exact proportion to the diminution of space between the cameras, &c. for, let the object be a piece of wood three feet long, four inches wide, and six inches deep, with a small square piece one inch and six inches high, placed upright exactly on a line from end to end of the three feet (that is, one at each end) and midway between the sides. let this arrangement be placed across another piece of wood three or four feet long, which will thus be at right angles to the piece at top. by my method all will be correct--true to nature and to art, and perfectly stereoscopic: whilst by the radial method (recommended by mr. shadbolt), with two feet space for cameras, there would be the top piece divided at the farther end, where there would be two small upright pieces instead of one; and this because the two vanishing points could not, in stereoscope, flow into one: whilst the lower piece of wood would have two vanishing points at opposite sides. this, then, being untrue to nature, untrue in art, in short, a most absurd misrepresentation, i pronounce to be utterly wrong. i have made the space two feet between cameras in order to show how ridiculous those pictures might become where there is an absence of taste, as, by such a person, two or ten feet are as likely to be taken as any less offensively incorrect. as regards range of vision, i apologise to mr. shadbolt for having misconceived his exact meaning, and say that i perfectly agree with him. with respect to the "trifling exaggeration" i spoke of, allow me to explain. for the sake of clearness, i denominate the angle formed from the focal point of lens, and the glass at back of camera, the angle of delineation; the said glass the plane of delineation and the angle formed by the stereograph to the eye, the stereoscopic angle. it must be borne in mind that the stereoscopic angle is that subtended by one stereograph and the eye. i find by experiments that the angle of delineation is very often larger than the stereoscopic angle, so that the apparent enlargement spoken of by mr. shadbolt does not often exist; but if it did, as my vision (though excellent) is not acute enough to discover the discrepancy, i was content. i doubt not, however, under such circumstances, mr. shadbolt would prefer the deformities and errors proved to be present, since he has admitted that he has such preference. i leave little doubt that, if desirable, the stereoscopic angle, and that of delineation, could be generally made to agree. as to the means by which persons with two eyes, or with only one eye, judge of distance, i say not one word, that being irrelevant to this subject. but that the axes of the eyes approximate when we view objects nearer and nearer cannot be doubted, and i expressed no doubt; and it appears to me very probable that on this fact mr. shadbolt founds his conclusion that the cameras should radiate. this, however, ought not to be done for the reasons i have assigned. it will not do to treat the cameras as two eyes, and make them radiate because our eyes do; for it must be remembered that light entering the eyes is received on curved--whilst when it enters the cameras it falls on flat surfaces, occasioning very different results. and if this be maturely considered by mr. shadbolt, i believe his opinion will be greatly altered. as to the model-like appearance, i cannot yet understand exactly why it should exist; but of this i am certain, the eyes naturally do not perceive at one view three sides of a cake (that is, two sides and the front), nor two heads to a drum, nor any other like absurdity; so that i perceive no analogy between this model-like appearance and natural vision, as stated to be the case by mr. shadbolt. to confirm, practically, the truth of my illustrative proofs, i will send you next week some glass stereographs, to be placed at mr. shadbolt's disposal, if he likes, and you will be so kind as to take charge of them. t. l. merritt. maidstone. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _berefellarii_ (vol. vii., p. .).--john webb mentions the _berefellarii_ as a distinct kind of mongrel dependents or half-ecclesiastics of the middle ages, dirty, shabby, ill-washed attendants, whose ragged clothes were a shame to the better sort of functionaries. he gave excellent and just reasons for his opinion, and a very probable construction of the sense of the word. but the etymon he proposes is rather unsatisfactory. anglo-saxonism is a very good thing; simplicity and common sense are very good things too. may not { } _berefellarius_, the dirty raggamuffin with tattered clothes, be good monkish latin for _bare-fell_ (i.e. _bare-skin_), or rather _bare-fellow_? the most natural metamorphosis imaginable. _bere_ is the old orthoepy of _bare_; and every one knows that in london (east) a fell_ow_ naturally becomes a fell_ar_. p.s.--excuse my french-english. philarÈte chasles, mazarinæus. paris, palais de l'institut. _"to know ourselves diseased," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "to know ourselves diseased is half our cure." this line is from young's _night thoughts_, night th, line . j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _gloves at fairs_ (vol. viii., p. .).--as an emblem of power and an acknowledgment of goodness, "saul set up a hand" after his victory over the amalekites, sam. xv. ., (taylor's _hebrew concordance_, in voce ¤ydh¤), sam xviii. ., isaiah lvi. . the ph[oe]nician monuments are said to have had sculptured on them an arm and _hand held up_, with an inscription graven thereon. (see gesenius and lee.) if, as stated by your correspondents in the article referred to, the glove at fairs "denotes protection," and indicates "that parties frequenting the fair are exempt from arrest," it is at least a remarkable coincidence. the phoenicians were the earliest merchants to the west of england that we have any account of; can any connexion be traced historically between the phoenician traffic and the modern practice of setting up a hand, or glove, at fairs? i well remember the feelings of awe and wonder with which i gazed when taken in childhood to see "the glove brought in" and placed over the guildhall of my native city (exeter) at the commencement of "lammas fair." has the glove been associated with this fair from its commencement? and if not, how far back can its use be traced? the history of the fair is briefly this: it existed before the norman conquest, and was a great mart of business; the tolls had belonged to the corporation, but king john took one-half, and gave them to the priory of st. nicholas. henry viii. sold the fair with the priory; and anno second and third of philip and mary it was made over to the corporation, who have ever since been lords of the fair. (izacke's _memorials_, p. .; oliver's _history of exeter_, pp. . ., &c.) j. w. thomas. dewsbury. i may add that at barnstaple, north devon, the evening previous to the proclamation of the fair, a large glove, decked with dahlias, is protruded on a pole from a window of the quay hall, the most ancient building in the town, which remains during the fair, and is removed at its termination. may not the outstretched glove signify the consent of the authorities to the commencement and continuance of the festivities, &c., and its withdrawal a hint for their cessation? i may add also that on the morning of proclaiming the fair, the mayor and corporation meet their friends in the council chamber, and partake of spiced toast and ale. drofsniag. _"an" before "u" long_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the custom of writing _an_ before _u_ long must have arisen and become established when _u_ had its primitive and vowel sound, nearly resembling that of our _oo_, a sound which it still has in several languages, but seems to have lost in ours. the use of _an_ before _u_ long, was _then_ proper; habit and precedent will account for its retention by many, after the reason for it has ceased, and when its use has become improper. but although the custom is thus accounted for, there exists no satisfactory reason for its continuance, and i am sorry to learn from your correspondent that it is "increasingly prevailing." j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _"the good old cause"_ (vol. viii, p. .).--d'israeli, in _quarrels of authors_, under the head of "martin mar-prelate," has the following remarks on the origin and use of the expression, "the good old cause:" "it is remarkable that udall repeatedly employed that expression, which algernon sidney left as his last legacy to the people, when he told them he was about to die for 'that _old cause_, in which i was from my youth engaged.' udall perpetually insisted on '_the cause_.' this was a term which served at least for a watch-word: it rallied the scattered members of the republican party. the precision of the expression might have been difficult to ascertain; and, perhaps, like every popular expedient, varied with 'existing circumstances.' i did not, however, know it had so remote an origin as in the reign of elizabeth; and suspect it may still be freshened up and varnished over for any present occasion." henry h. breen. st. lucia. the following curious paragraph in the _post boy_, june - , , seems to have been connected with the jacobites: "there are lately arrived here the dublin plenipo's. all persons that have any business concerning the good old cause, let 'em repair to jenny man's coffee house at charing cross, where they may meet with the said plenipo's every day of the week except sundays, and every evening of those days they are to be spoke with at the kit-cat club." e. g. ballard. _jeroboam of claret, &c._ (vol vii., p. .).--is a _magnum_ anything more than a bottle larger { } than those of the ordinary size, and containing about two quarts; or a _jeroboam_ other than a witty conceit applied to the old measure _joram_ or _jorum_, by some profane _wine-bibber_? h. c. k. _humbug_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the real signification of the word _humbug_ appears to me to lie in the following derivation of it. among the many issues of base coin which from time to time were made in ireland, there was none to be compared in worthlessness to that made by james ii. from the dublin mint; it was composed of anything on which he could lay his hands, such as lead, pewter, copper, and brass, and so low was its intrinsic value, that twenty shillings of it was only worth twopence sterling. william iii., a few days after the battle of the boyne, ordered that the crown piece and half-crown should be taken as one penny and one halfpenny respectively. the soft mixed metal of which that worthless coining was composed, was known among the irish as _uim bog_, pronounced _oom-bug_, _i.e._ soft copper, _i.e._ worthless money; and in the course of their dealings the modern use of the word _humbug_ took its rise, as in the phrases "that's a _piece of uimbog_ (humbug)," "don't think to _pass off_ your _uimbug_ on me." hence the word _humbug_ came to be applied to anything that had a specious appearance, but which was in reality spurious. it is curious to note that the very opposite of _humbug_, _i.e._ false metal, is the word _sterling_, which is also taken from a term applied to the _true_ coinage of the realm, as _sterling_ coin, _sterling_ truth, _sterling_ worth, &c. fras. crossley. _"could we with ink," &c._ (vol. viii., pp. , .).-if rabbi mayir ben isaac is the _bonâ fide_ author of the lines in question, or the substance of them, then the author of the _koran_ has been indebted to him for the following passage: "if the sea were ink, to write the words of my lord, verily the sea would fail before the words of my lord would fail; although we added another sea unto it as a farther supply."--_al koran_, chap. xviii., entitled "the cave," translated by sale. the question is, did rabbi mayir ben isaac, author of the chaldee ode sung in every synagogue on the day of pentecost, flourish before or since the mohamedan era? j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _"hurrah!"_ (vol. viii., pp. , , .).--it would almost deem that we are never to hear the last of "hurrah! and other war-cries." your correspondents t. f. and sir j. emerson tennent appear to me to have made the nearest approach to a satisfactory solution of the difficulty; a step farther and the goal is won--the object of inquiry is found. i suppose it will be admitted that the language which supplies the _meaning_ of a word has the fairest claim to be considered its _parent_ language. what, then, is the meaning of "hurrah," and in whet language? as a reply to this query, allow me to quote a writer in _blackwood's magazine_, april , p. . "'hurrah!' means _strike_ in the tartar language."--note to art. "amulet bek." so then, according to this respectable authority, the end of our shouts and war-cries is, that we have "caught a tartar!" again, in _blackwood_, , vol. i. p. ., we read: "he opened a window and cried 'hourra!' at the signal, a hundred soldiers crowded into the house. mastering his fury, the czar ordered the young officer to be taken to prison."--art. "romance of russian history." thus, in describing the "awful pause" on the night preceding the russian attack on ismail, then in possession of the turks, lord byron says: "a moment--and all will be life again! the march! the charge! the shouts of either faith! hurra! and allah! and--one instant more-- the death-cry drowning in the battle's roar." _works_, p. . col. . j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _"qui facit per alium facit per se"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--"qui facit per alium, est perinde ac si faciat per seipsum," is one of the maxims of boniface viii. (_sexti decret._, lib. v. tit. ., de reg. jur. c. .; _böhm. corp. jur. can._, tom. ii. col. .), derived, according to the glossary (vid. in _decret._, ed. fol., par. ), from the maxim of paulus (_digest_, lib. . tit. ., de div. reg. jur. . .), "quod jussu alterius solvitur, pro eo est quasi ipsi solutum esset." e. m. _tsar_ (vol. viii., pp. , .).--is not _tsar_ rather cognate with the heb. (¤sar¤), a leader, commander, or prince? this root is to be found in many other languages, as arabic, persian; latin _serro_. gesenius gives the meaning of the word (¤sarah¤), to place in a row, to set in order; to be leader, commander, prince. if _tsar_ have this origin, it will be synonymous with _imperator_, emperor. b. h. c. _scrape_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i do not know when this word began to be used in this sense. shakspeare says "ay, there's the _rub:_" an analogous phrase, which may throw light upon the one "to get into a scrape." both are metaphors, derived from the unpleasant sensations produced by rubbing or grazing the skin. the word _pinch_ is, on the same principle, used for difficulty; and the lat. _tribulatio_=trouble, and its synonym in gr., ~thlipsis~, have a similar origin and application. { } "to get into a scrape" is, therefore, to get into trouble. b. h. c. _baskerville_ (vol. viii., p. .).--among the _articles_ consumed at mr. ryland's at birmingham, was the body of the late mr. baskerville, who by his will ordered that he should be buried in his own house, and he was accordingly interred there. a stone closet was erected in it, where he was deposited in a standing posture. the house was afterwards sold with this express condition, that it should remain there."--account of the birmingham riots in , from the _historical magazine_, vol. iii., where it is said the house was burned on friday afternoon, july ." b. h. c. a great-uncle of mine owned the baskerville property (he, baskerville, was buried in his own grounds) at the time of the church and king riot in ; but it was the recent growth of the town that occasioned the disinterment. r. _sheriffs of glamorganshire_ (vol. iii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent tewars is certainly wrong in ascribing to the rev. h. h. knight the list of glamorganshire sheriffs inquired for by edmund w. it is true this gentleman printed a list of them many years after the former, which was privately printed by the rev. j. m. traherne, and subsequently published a _cardiff guide_, by mr. bird of cardiff. i have seen both copies, and the latter may doubtless yet be seen upon application to mr. bird. i have also seen the more recent list by my learned friend the rector of neath. bibliothecar. chetham. _synge family--sub voce carr pedigree_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--has the statement made by gulielmus, as to the origin of the name of synge, ever appeared in print before? and if so, where? i have long been curious to identify the individual whose name underwent such a singular change, and to ascertain if he really was a chantry priest as reported. was he george synge, the grandfather of george synge, bishop of cloyne, born ? of what family was mary paget, wife of the rev. richard synge, preacher at the savoy in ? the name appears to have been indifferently spelt, sing, singe, and synge. and i believe an older branch than the baronet's still exists at bridgenorth, writing themselves sing. the punning motto of this family is worth noticing: "celestia canimus." arthur paget. _lines on woman_ (vol. viii., p. ).--your correspondent f. w. j. has occasioned me some perplexity in tracing the quotation which he refers to vol. viii., p. ., but which is really to be found at p. . he appears to have fallen into this error by mistaking the number on the right hand for the paging on the left. as accuracy in these matters is essential in a publication like "n. & q.," he will excuse me for setting him right. the name of the author of the poem of "woman" was not eton barrett, but eaton stannard barrett. he was connected with the press in london. your correspondent is correct in stating that the barretts were from cork. eaton stannard barrett was a man of considerable ability. he published several works anonymously, all of which acquired celebrity; but i believe the poem of "woman," published by mr. colburn, was the only work to which he attached his name. he was the author of the well-known political satire called _all the talents_; of the mock romance of _the heroine_, in which the absurdities of a school of fiction, at that time in high favour, are happily ridiculed; and of a novel which had great success in its day, and is still to be found in some of the circulating libraries, called _six weeks at long's_. eaton stannard barrett died many years ago in the prime of his life and powers. his brother, richard barrett, is still living, and resides in the neighbourhood of dublin. he is the author of some controversial and political pamphlets, of which the principal were _irish priests_, and _the bible not a dangerous book_. he afterwards conducted _the pilot_ newspaper, established for the support of mr. o'connell's policy in ireland, and was one of the persons who suffered imprisonment with mr. o'connell, and who were designated in the irish papers as the "martyrs." robert bell. _lisle family_ (vol. vii., p. . _et ante_).--r. h. c. will find in berry's _hampshire genealogies_ ( vol. folio, london, ) a pedigree of the lisles he alludes to as being buried at thruxton, hampshire. the shield, lisle impaling courtenay, on the altar tomb there would appear to belong to sir john lisle, kt., who married joan, daughter of john courtenay, earl of exeter. arthur paget. _duval family_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if h. will have the kindness to address himself to me either personally or by letter, i shall be happy to give him any information i can, derived from old family documents in my possession, respecting the duval family and the walls of the south of ireland. c. a. duval. . george st., manchester. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and old volumes wanted to purchase. examiner (newspaper), no. , february , . william shakspeare: a biography, by charles knight (first edition). marsh's history of hursley and baddesley. about . vo. two copies. letters, stating particulars and lowest prices, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * { } particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and names and addresses are given for that purpose: oxford almanack for . am[oe]nitates academicÆ. vol. i. holmiæ, . brourÆ hist. nat. jamaicÆ. london, . folio. ammanus i. stirpes rariores. petrop. . philosophical transactions for . annals of philosophy for january, . a poem upon the most hopeful and ever-flourishing sprouts of valour, the indefatigable centrys of the physic garden. poem upon mr. jacob bobart's yewmen of the guards to the physic garden, to the tune of "the counter-scuffle." oxon. . the above two ballads are by edmund gayton. wanted by _h. t. bobart_, ashby-de-la-zouch. * * * * * peyran's coptic lexicon. mure on the calendar and zodiacs of ancient egypt. gladwin's persian moonshee. to. jones's classical library (the vo. edition). the volume containing herodotus, vol. i. the chronicles of london. . wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. * * * * * a register of elections, by h. s. smith, of leeds (published in parts). james' naval history. vols. iii., iv., and v. vo. -vol. edition by bentley. wanted by _mr. j. howes_, stonham-aspall, suffolk. * * * * * monuments and genii of st. paul's and westminster abbey, by g. l. smith. london. j. williams. . vol. i. wanted by _charles reed_, paternoster row. * * * * * dr. pettingall's tract on jury trial, . wanted by _mr. t. stephens_, merthyr tydfil. * * * * * history of the old and new testament, by prideaux. vol. i. - . historical memoirs of queens of england, by hannah lawrence. vol. ii. bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers. jardine's naturalist's library. first edition. all except first volumes. peter simple. illustrated edition. saunders and otley. vols. ii. and iii. history and antiquities of somersetshire, by rev. w. phelps, . all except parts i., ii., iii., v., vi., vii., and viii. wanted by _john garland_, solicitor, dorchester. * * * * * roman stations in britain. london, . a survey of roman antiquities in some midland counties. london, . wanted by _rev. j. w. hewett_, bloxham, banbury. * * * * * indications of spring, by robt. marsham, esq., f.r.s. the village curate, by hurdis. calendar of flora, by stillingfleete. wanted by _j. b. whitborne_, . russell terrace, leamington. * * * * * notices to correspondents. books wanted. _so many of our correspondents seem disposed to avail themselves of our plan of placing the booksellers in direct communication with them, that we find ourselves compelled to limit each list of books to two insertions. we would also express a hope that those gentlemen who may at once succeed in obtaining any desired volumes will be good enough to notify the same to us, in order that such books may not unnecessarily appear in such list even a second time._ p. g. _we are not in a position to answer_ p. g.'s_inquiries. why not try one of the series and judge for yourself?_ a german investigator, _who states that some important moves towards the "flying by man" have lately been made upon the continent, and who inquires "what noblemen or gentlemen would be likely to foster similar researches in this country," should rather address himself to some of the journals devoted to mechanical science._ sciolus. _the author of_ doctor syntax _was the well-known_ william coombe, _a curious list of whose works will be found in the_ gentleman's magazine _for may, , p. ._ charles demayne. _we have a letter for this correspondent; where shall it be sent?_ erica _will find his illustration of campbell's_ like angel visits _anticipated in our_ st vol. j. n. c. (king's lynn). _we have one or two replies on the same subject already in the printer's hands._ a. j. v. (university club) _will find his query respecting_ solamen miseris, &c. _in_ vol. viii., p. ., _and an answer respecting_ tempora mutantur _in_ p. . _our correspondent_ c. e. f. (p. .) _is informed_-- . _that both the solutions of the muriate salts and the nitrate of silver may be used in the manner he proposes; but a portion of sugar of milk, mannite, or grape sugar, as has been previously recommended, much accelerates the process._ . _the positives should be printed about one-third deeper than is required, and they should remain in the hypo. bath until the mottled appearance is removed, which is visible when held up against the light and they are looked through: at first the positive often assumes a very unpleasant red colour; this gradually disappears by longer immersion, when the proofs may be removed at the point of tint required, remembering that they become rather darker when dry, especially if ironed, and which is generally desirable, especially if the print is rather pale._ . _the sel d'or does not seem to have the destructive effect which the chloride of gold has, and if the chemicals are entirely removed, in all probability they are quite permanent. those which we have seen printed several months since appear to have suffered no change. pictures produced by the ammonio-nitrate are most uncertain. there are few who have not had the mortification to see some of their best productions fade and disappear. a learned professor, about eighteen months since, sent us a picture so printed "as something to work up to;" a few yellowish stains are now all that remains on the paper._ * * * * * "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half.--copies are being made up and may be had by order._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * edited for the syndics of the cambridge university press. this day, vols. vo., _s._ grotius de jure belli et pacis; accompanied by and abridged translation of the text. by w. whewell, d.d., master of trinity college, and professor of moral philosophy in the university. with the notes of the author, barbeyrac and others. also, vo., _s._ grotius on the rights of war and peace. an abridged translation. by dr. whewell. london: j. w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, small octavo, _s._ _d._ phraseological and explanatory notes on the hebrew text of the book of genesis. by theodore preston, m.a. fellow of trinity college, cambridge. london john w. parker & son. cambridge j. deighton. * * * * * this day, octavo, _s._ _d._ cicero pro milone. with a translation of asconius' introduction, marginal analysis, and english notes. edited for the syndics of the cambridge university press. by the rev. j. s. purton, m.a., president and tutor of st. catharine's hall. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * just published, price _s._ the stereoscope. considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision. an essay, by c. mansfield ingleby, m.a., of trinity college, cambridge. london walton & maberley, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. cambridge: j. deighton. also, by the same author, price _s._, remarks on some of sir william hamilton's notes on the works of dr. thomas reid. "nothing in my opinion can be more cogent than your refutation of m. jobert,"--_sir w. hamilton._ london: john w. parker, west strand. cambridge: e. johnson. birmingham: h. c. langbridge. * * * * * ( ) w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites. gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes. best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at m'millan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas, silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, _l._, _l._, and _l._ thermometers from _s._ each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * old church psalmody; a manual of good and useful tunes, either old or in old style. edited by rev. w. h. havorgal, m.a. organ score, _s._; single parts, _s._ _d._ each voice (post free). the editor has no pecuniary interest in this work, his sole object being to assist the publisher in bringing forward good music, and to inculcate sound taste respecting it. london: joseph hart, . hatton garden. a classified list (the most extensive of any house in the trade) of christmas anthems, carols, &c., for choirs or private practice, forwarded, post free, by joseph hart, . hatton garden. * * * * * in the press. in vol. folio, price _s._ _d._ supplement to the monasticon dioecesis exoniensis. being a collection of records and instruments further illustrating the ancient conventual, collegiate, and eleemosynary foundations in the counties of devon and cornwall. by george oliver, d.d. to correspond exactly in size, paper, and type with the original work, and to contain a large folding map of the diocese of exeter at the time of the dissolution of monasteries. when published the price will be raised. subscribers' names received by a. holden, bookseller, exeter. * * * * * completion of the work. cloth _s._ by post, _s._ _d._, pp. .--welsh sketches, third (and last) series. by the author of "proposals for christian union."--contents . edward the black prince. . owen glendower, prince of wales. . mediæval bardism. . the welsh church. "will be read with great satisfaction, not only by all sons of the principality, but by all who look with interest on that portion of our island in which the last traces of our ancient british race and language still linger."--_notes and queries._ london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * solicitors' & general life assurance society, , chancery lane, london. _subscribed capital, one million._ this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premium paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * saunders & otley's publications. the floral language interpreted. eleventh edition, coloured plate, silk binding, a beautiful gift book, the language of flowers. by the editor of the "forget me not." dedicated to the duchess of kent (by permission). by mrs. jameson. fourth edition, vols., with designs by the author, characteristics of women. by the author of "legends of the madonna," &c. "truly delightful volumes--the most charming of all the works of a charming writer."--_blackwood._ lives of celebrated female sovereigns. vols. by the same author. turning in all its branches. a complete and practical guide to this beautiful science, entitled the handbook of turning. with numerous plates, price _s._ _d._ bound, and post free. for writers of fiction, poems, dramas, pamphlets, sermons, essays, etc., how to print and when to publish. advice to authors, inexperienced writers, and possessors of manuscripts, on the efficient publication of books intended for general circulation or private distribution, sent post free to orders enclosing twelve stamps, addressed to saunders & otley, publishers, conduit street, hanover square. * * * * * literary and scientific proceedings. the proprietors of the liverpool general review and local advertiser have made arrangements to report the proceedings of the various literary and scientific societies in liverpool, including the following: historic society of lancashire and cheshire. liverpool architectural and archæological society. liverpool photographic society. liverpool polytechnic society. liverpool literary and philosophical society. liverpool chemists' association. occasional reports will also be given of lectures delivered before the collegiate, mechanics', and other institutions. the review, thus devoting itself to subjects of scientific and literary interest, will, no doubt, prove acceptable to members of kindred societies throughout the kingdom; and will be supplied on the undermentioned terms:-- unstamped, _s._ _d._ per annum. stamped, _s._ per annum. published every wednesday. may be had through all booksellers and newsmen, or forwarded from the office, . church street, liverpool. * * * * * ( ) indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures_:-- cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july , . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. _s._ _d._; lb. _s._ _d._; lb. _s._; lb. _s._; super-refined, lb. _s._; lb. _s._ the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodised collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * cyanogen soap for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label pasted round each pot, bearing this signature and address:-- richard w. thomas, chemist, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals, . pall mall, and may be procured of all respectable chemists in pots at _s._, _s._, and _s._ _d._ each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard, and messrs. barclay & co., farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission _d._ a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for _s._ photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street. london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell. esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq.; t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring _l_., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price _s._ _d._, second edition with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * achilles life insurance company,-- . cannon street, city.--the advantages offered by this society are security, economy, and lower rates of premium than most other offices. no charge is made for policy stamps or medical fees. policies indisputable. loans granted to policy-holders. for the convenience of the working classes, policies are issued as low as _l._ at the same rates of premium as larger policies. prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained on application to hugh b. taplin, secretary. * * * * * { } new publications. elizabeth barrett browning's poetical works. third edition. with numerous additions and corrections. vols. _s._ sketches of the hungarian emigration into turkey. by a honved. fcap. _s._ the turks in europe: a sketch of manners and politics in the ottoman empire. by bayle st. john. post vo. _s._ _d._ cranford. by the author of "mary barton." second edition. fcap. _s._ _d._ the diary of martha bethune baliol, from to . post vo. _s._ chamois hunting in the mountains of bavaria. by charles boner. with illustrations. vo. _s._ narrative of a mission to central africa, performed in the years - , under the orders and at the expense of her majesty's government. by the late james richardson. vols. _s._ language as a means of mental culture and international communication; or, manual of the teacher and the learner of languages. by c. marcel, knt., l.h., french consul at----. vols. _s._ niebuhr's life and letters. with selections from his minor writings. edited and translated by susanna winkworth. with essays on his character and influence, by the chevalier bunsen, and professors brandis and loebell. second edition. vols. vo. _s._ alton locke: tailor and poet. by the rev. charles kingsley. third edition. _s._ the life of bernard palissy, of saintes. by henry morley. vols. _s._ thomas carlyle's works. the life of john sterling. second edition. post vo. _s._ _d._ sartor resartus; or, the life and opinions of herr teufelsdrokh. third edition. post vo. _s._ _d._ latter-day pamphlets. post vo. _s._ oliver cromwell's letters and speeches. with elucidations and connecting narrative. third edition. in vols. post vo. _l._ _s._ the life of schiller. new edition, with portrait. small vo. _s._ _d._ past and present. second edition. post vo. _s._ _d._ lectures on heroes and hero-worship. fourth edition. small vo. _s._ the french revolution. a history. third edition. vols. post vo. _l._ _s._ _d._ critical and miscellaneous essays. third edition. vols. post vo. _l._ _s._ translation of goethe's wilhelm-meister. second edition. vols. small vo. _s._ london: chapman & hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * on the first of november, , will be published, no. i., containing sixteen pages, crown quarto, price three halfpence, of the church of the people, a monthly journal of literature, science, the fine arts, &c., devoted to the religious, moral, physical, and social elevation of the great body of the people. this periodical, projected and conducted by a committee of clergy and laity, in the heart of the manufacturing districts, is intended to express the sympathies of earnest churchmen towards both their brethren in the faith, and their fellow-men in general. designed to avoid unreality, lukewarmness, and dry dogmatism, as well as compromise and controversy--and not unmindful of things temporal, whilst chiefly directed to things eternal--it is hoped that it may assist to refresh the faithful, correct the erring, and win the unbeliever. a trial is respectfully requested for it, and that at once. it is a work of love, not of lucre; and, as such, is commended to the brotherhood. it will be eminently fitted for parochial distribution and, by god's blessing, may do its part towards removing english heathenism. *** suggestions and communications, written in a plain, earnest, and attractive style, are respectfully requested, and may be addressed to the editors of "the church of the people," care of mr. sowler, st. ann's square, manchester, to whom books for review, and advertisements, may be sent. london: george bell, . fleet street. manchester: t. sowler, st. ann's square; a. heywood, oldham street; j. heywood, deansgate. * * * * * bohn's standard library for november. cowper's complete works, edited by southey; comprising his poems, correspondence, and translations with a memoir of the author. illustrated with fifty fine engravings on steel, after designs by harvey. to be completed in vols. vol. i. containing memoir. post vo., cloth. _s._ _d._ henry g. bohn, . . & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for november. apuleius, the works of, comprising the metamorphoses, or golden ass; the death of socrates; florida; and his defences, or essay on magic. a new and literal translation. to which added, a metrical version of cupid and psyche; and mrs. tighe's psyche, a poem in six cantos. fine frontispiece. post vo., cloth. _s._ henry g. bohn, . . & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's ecclesiastical library for november. socrates, his ecclesiastical history, in continuation of eusebius, with the notes of valesius. post vo., cloth. _s._ henry g. bohn, , , . york street, covent garden. * * * * * will be published, november rd, the british almanac for . sewed in wrapper, price _s._ the companion to the almanac. sewed in wrapper, price _s._ _d._ the british almanac and the companion together, in cloth boards, lettered, price _s._ _extracts from reviews, ._ "first in years, repute, and high utility must be placed 'the british almanac and companion.'"--_spectator._ "'the british' still maintains its place as foremost among almanacs."--_athenæum._ "for twenty-six years mr. knight has given the almanac a 'companion'--one always brimful of information and useful knowledge."--_the builder._ "the 'british almanac and companion' maintains its reputation as being the very best work of the kind published."--_the atlas._ london: charles knight, . fleet street. and sold by all booksellers in the united kingdom. * * * * * just published, fcap. vo., _s._, cloth, truth spoken in love; or, romanism and tractarianism refuted by the word of god. by the rev. h. h. beamish, a.m., minister of trinity chapel, conduit street. london. john f. shaw, southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * new work by dr. cumming. just published, uniform with "voices of the night." benedictions: or, the blessed life. by the rev. john cumming, d.d. fcap. vo., _s._, cloth. london: john f. shaw, southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * this day is published, fcp. vo., _s._ cloth. manna in the house; or daily expositions of the gospel of st. luke, specially adapted for the use of families. by the rev. barton bouchier, m.a., curate of cheam. also may be had, the gospels of st. matthew and mark, vols., _s._ _d._; or in vol. _s._ cloth. for the convenience of purchasers, it is also published in parts, price _s._ john f. shaw, southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * now ready, post vo., cloth, price _s._ _d._ curiosities of london life; or phases, physiological and social, of the great metropolis. by c. m. smith, author of "the working man's way in the world." may be had at all the libraries. just published, post vo., cloth, price _s._ the working man's way in the world, or the auto-biography of a journeyman printer. london: w. & f. g. cash, . bishopsgate street without. * * * * * standard books cheap--now ready, part ix. of henry c. stroud's catalogue of second-hand books in theology and miscellaneous literature, the sciences, classics, &c. also parts vii. and viii., containing an interesting collection of scarce old books on astrology, curious recipes, facetiæ, the drama, old plays, songs, &c. forwarded gratis on application. . blackfriars road, london. { } "mr. murray's meritorious series."--_the times._ now ready, complete in parts. post vo., _s._ _d._ each. murray's home and colonial library. forming a compact and portable work, the bulk of which does not exceed the compass of a single shelf, or of one trunk, suited for all classes and all climates. _contents of the series._ the bible in spain. by george borrow. journals in india. by bishop heber. egypt and the holy land. by irby and mangles. the siege of gibraltar. by john drinkwater. morocco and the moore. by drummond hay. the amber witch. cromwell and bunyan. by robert southey. new south wales. by mrs. charles meredith. life of drake. by john barrow. the court of pekin. by father ripa. the west indies. by m. g. lewis. sketches of persia. by sir john malcolm. the french in algiers. the fall of the jesuits. bracebridge hall. by washington irving. a naturalists's voyage round the world. by charles darwin. life of condé. by lord mahon. the gypsies of spain. by george borrow. typee and omoo. by herman melville. livonian tales. by a lady. the church missionary in canada. by the rev. j. abott. sale's brigade in afghanistan. by rev. g. r. gleig. letters from madras. by a lady. highland sports. by charles st. john. pampas journeys. by sir francis head. the siege of vienna. translated by lord ellesmere. gatherings from spain. by richard ford. sketches of german life during the war of liberation. story of the battle of waterloo. by rev. g. r. gleig. a voyage up the amazon. by w.h. edwards. the wayside cross. by captain milman. a popular account of india. by rev. charles acland. the british army at washington. by rev. g. r. gleig. adventures in mexico. by george f. ruxton. portugal and galicia. by lord carnarvon. life of lord clive. by rev. g. r. gleig. bush life in australia. by h. w. haygarth. autobiography of henry steffens. tales of a traveller. by washington irving. lives of the british poets. by thomas campbell. historical essays. by lord mahon. stokers and pokers. by author of "bubbles." the lybian desert. by bayle st. john. letters from sierra leone. by a lady. life of sir thomas munro. by rev. g. r. gleig. memoirs of sir fowell buxton. by his son. ife of goldsmith. by washington irving. *** subscribers should complete their copies of the above series without delay, as after december the issue of the separate parts will be discontinued. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * markham's popular school histories. new and cheaper editions. markham's history of england. ( th thousand.) with woodcuts. mo. _s._ strongly bound. ii. markham's history of france. ( th thousand.) with wood-cuts. mo. _s._ strongly bound. iii. markham's history of germany ( th thousand.) with woodcuts mo. _s._ strongly bound. also, just ready, uniform with the above, a school history of greece. by dr. wm. smith. with woodcuts. mo. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxvi., is published this day. contents: i. the institute of france. ii. murder of thomas a becket. iii. the dauphin in the temple. iv. the holy places. v. diary of casaubon vi. electro-biology, mesmerism, and table-turning. vii. life of haydon. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * mr. hallam's historical works. this day is published, history of europe during the middle ages. by henry hallam, esq. tenth and revised edition, incorporating the supplemental notes. vols. vo _s._ also, hallam's constitutional history of england, from the accession of henry vii. to the death of george ii. sixth edition. vols. vo. _s._ ii. hallam's introduction to the literary history of europe, during the th, th, and th centuries. third edition. vols. vo. _s._ iii. hallam's literary essays and character: selected from the above work, for popular circulation. ( th thousand.) fcp. vo. _s._ john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * crabb's dictionary. the fifth edition, corrected, enlarged, and brought down to the present time, by the rev. henry davis, m.a., illustrated with engravings. crown vo. cloth price _s._ a dictionary of general knowledge, comprising an explanation of words and things connected with literature and science, &c., by george crabb, a.m. london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * cheap and popular editions of standard authors. abercrombie's intellectual powers. _s._ _d._ abercrombie on the moral feelings. _s._ davy's salmonia. _s._ davy's consolations in travel. _s._ rev. george crabbe's life. _s._ coleridge's table-talk. _s._ coleridge's greek classic poets. _s._ _d._ bell on the hand, _s._ _d._ layard's popular account of nineveh. _s._ wilkinson's popular account of the ancient egyptians. (shortly.) jesse's gleanings in natural history. _s._ _d._ jesse's scenes and occupations of country life. (shortly.) philosophy in sport. _s._ _d._ somerville's physical sciences. _s._ _d._ somerville's physical geography. _s._ james' edition of Æsop's fables. _s._ _d._ heber's poetical works. _s._ _d._ rejected addresses. _s._ byron's poetical works. vols. _s._ _d._ each. mahon's history of england. vols. _s._ each. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * murray's railway reading. this day, with woodcuts, fcap. vo., _s._ history of the guillotine. by the right hon. john wilson croker. reprinted, with additions, from "the quarterly review." the last volume published, contained-- ancient spanish ballads: historical and romantic. by j. g. lockhart. to be followed by-- a popular account of the ancient egyptians. by sir j. g. wilkinson. with woodcuts. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, october , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page curious old pamphlet errata in printed bibles impossibilities of history unregistered proverbs, by c. mansfield ingleby mr. justice talfourd, by h. m. bealby and t. j. buckton the screw propeller ancient chattel-property in ireland, by james f. ferguson bishop atterbury minor notes:--"milton blind"--hydropathy--cassie--the duke of wellington--romford jury--edward law (lord ellenborough), chief justice--chamisso--dates of maps--walton--whittington's stone on highgate hill--turkey and france queries:-- a female aide-major minor queries:--"chintz gowns"--"noctes ambrosianæ"--b. simmons--green stockings--nicholas kieten--warwickshire badge--armorial--lord brougham and horne tooke--rileys of forest hill--fish "lavidian"--"poeta nascitur, non fit"--john wesley and the duke of wellington--haviland-- byron--rutabaga--a medal--the black cap--the aboriginal britons minor queries with answers:--"gossip"--humphry repton-- "oriel"--"orchard"--"peckwater"--richard iii.--binding of old books--vessel of paper replies:-- king james's irish army list, , by john d'alton quotations wanted, by g. taylor, &c. oaths, by james f. ferguson, &c. remuneration of authors, by alexander andrews occasional forms of prayer, by the rev. w. sparrow simpson, &c. photographic correspondence:-- photographic query--improvement in collodion--printing positives--photographic excursions replies to minor queries:--"to garble"--"lyra apostolica"-- john bale, bishop of ossory--burial in an erect posture-- "carronade"--"largesse"--precious stones--"a pinch of snuff"--darwin on steam--gale of rent--cobb family--"aches" --"meols"--polygamy--wafers miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. in consequence of the advertisement duty having been taken off, the customary charges for advertisements in "the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette" have been reduced. advertisements appear in both editions without extra charge. s. d. space of four lines and under (body type) each additional line up to twenty from the official stamp returns published april , , it appears that during the three preceding years, , , and , the stamps supplied to each of the undermentioned journals gave them an average sale of-- gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette era wesleyan times magnet examiner mark lane express evening mail field morning herald daily news guardian economist british banner record watchman nonconformist spectator st. james's chronicle morning post sun morning chronicle britannia express leader herapath's journal john bull globe weekly news united service gazette railway times atlas standard naval and military gazette patriot gardeners' and farmers' journal office for advertisements and communications, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * second-hand books.--gratis and post free, a new catalogue of good and cheap books, on sale by sotheran & co., . strand (opposite somerset house). libraries purchased. * * * * * this day, cheaper edition, two volumes, fcap. vo., s., friends in council. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * the camden society for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the annual general meeting will be held at the freemason's tavern, great queen street, lincoln's inn fields, on tuesday, may , at four o'clock. lord braybrooke, the president, in the chair. william j. thoms, secretary. * * * * * the following are the publications of the society which have been issued during the past year:-- i. promptorium parvulorum: tom. ii. edited by albert way, esq., m.a., f.s.a. ii. regulÆ inclusarum: the ancren rewle. a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the th century. edited by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. iii. letters of the lady brilliana harley: - . edited by the rev. t. t. lewis, m.a. iv. the household roll of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, edw. i. vol. i. edited by the rev. john webb, m.a., f.s.a. * * * * * the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due on the st of may. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or to messrs. nichols, no. . parliament street, westminster; by whom the subscriptions are received. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * smee's binocular perspective photographs.--a full account of the mode of taking these extraordinary likenesses in "smee on the eye," just published, price s. horne, thornthwaite & wood, . newgate street, london. * * * * * { } the quarterly review, no. clxxxviii., is published this day. contents: i. laurence sterne. ii. sacred geography. iii. the whig party. iv. the russian empire. v. criminal law digest. vi. the turks and the greeks. vii. treasures of art in britain. viii. new reform bill. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * north british review. no. xli. may. price s. contents. i. the plurality of worlds. ii. british and continental characteristics. iii. the union with england and scottish nationality. iv. christianity in the second century, and the christian evidences. v. the art of education. vi. ruskin and architecture, past, present, and future. vii. professor forbes and mr. lloyd in scandinavia. viii. auguste comte and positivism. edinburgh: w. p. kennedy. london: hamilton, adams, & co. dublin: j. mcglashan. * * * * * sir archibald alison's new history. the history of europe, from the fall of napoleon to the accession of louis napoleon, in five vols. vo. price s. each. vols. i. and ii. are published. the third volume, to be published in may, will contain: asia minor, greece, turkey, in --the greek revolution, battle of navarino, and establishment of greek independence--the war between russia and turkey, - --france to the revolution of , &c. &c. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * miss strickland's scottish queens. this day is published, a second edition of vols. i. and ii. of lives of the queens of scotland, and english princesses connected with the regal succession of great britain. by agnes strickland. the volumes published contain:-- . life of margaret tudor, magdalene of france, and mary of lorraine. . continuation of mary of lorraine, margaret douglas, countess of lennox. . and . life of mary stuart. price s. d. each, with portraits and historical vignettes. the fifth volume will be published early in summer. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * murray's british classics.--the new volume of this series of standard editions of english authors, contains the third volume of cunningham's edition of goldsmith's works, and is now published; and the fourth volume, completing the work, will be ready early in may. albemarle street, _april th, _. * * * * * recent publications of the cambridge antiquarian society. quarto series. evangelia augustini gregoriana. by the rev. j. goodwin, b.d. s. an historical inquiry touching st. catherine of alexandria, illustrated by a semi-saxon legend. by the rev. c. hardwick, m.a. s. octavo series. i. anglo-saxon legends of st. andrew and st. veronica. by c. w. goodwin, m.a. s. d. ii. græco-egyptian fragment on magic. by c. w. goodwin, m.a. s. d. iii. ancient cambridgeshire. by c. c. babington, m.a. s. d. reports and communications, nos. i. and ii. s. each. index to baker manuscripts. s. d. j. deighton: macmillan & co., cambridge. john w. parker & son, and george bell, london. * * * * * bohn's standard library for may. locke's philosophical works, containing the "essay on the human understanding," the "conduct of the understanding," &c., with preliminary discourse and notes, by j. a. st. john, esq. in two volumes. with portrait. vol. i. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for may. addison's works, with the notes of bishop hurd. with portrait and engravings on steel. vol. iii. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for may. catullus, tibullus and the vigil of venus. a literal prose translation. to which are added metrical versions by lamb, grainger, and others. with frontispiece. post vo. cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's ecclesiastical library for may. theodoret and evagrius. histories of the church, from a.d. to a.d. , and from a.d. to a.d. . translated from the greek, with general index. post vo. cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * just published, in vo., with views, price, in cloth, s. d.; or, large paper (royal vo.), price, in cloth, s. descriptive and historical notices of northumbrian castles, churches, and antiquities. by william sidney gibson, esq., f.s.a.--third series: comprising visits to naworth castle, lanercost priory, and corby castle, in cumberland: the ruined monasteries of brinkburn, jarrow, and tynemouth; bishop middleham, and the town of hartlepool; newcastle-on-tyne, and durham cathedral. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * now ready, in mo., price s. morocco, its present state: a chapter of mussulman civilisation. by xavier durrieu. forming part of the "traveller's library." london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * just published, in fcp. vo., price, in cloth, s. the statistical companion for : exhibiting the most interesting facts in moral and intellectual, vital, economical, and political statistics, at home and abroad. compiled by t. c. banfield, esq. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete list of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale. messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, april , ._ notes. curious old pamphlet. grubbing among old pamphlets, the following has turned up: "a fragment of an essay towards the most ancient histories of the old and new worlds, connected. intended to be carried on in four parts or Æras. that is, from the creation of all things to the time of the deluge: thence to the birth of abraham: from that period to the descent of jacob and his family into egypt: and, lastly, to the time of the birth of moses. attempted to be executed in blank verse, vo. pp. . printed in the year ." this miltonic rhapsody supposes adam, when verging on his nine hundreth year, to have assembled his descendants to a kind of jubilee, when sacrifices, and other antediluvian solemnities, being observed, "seth, the pious son of his comfort, gravely arose, and, after due obedience to the first of men, humbly beseeched the favour to have their memories refreshed by a short history of the marvellous things in the beginning." then adam thus:--hereupon the anonymous author puts into the mouth of the great progenitor of the human race a history of the creation, in blank verse, in accordance with the mosaic and orthodox account. concluding his revelations without reference to the fall, seth would interrogate their aged sire upon what followed thence, when adam excuses himself from the painful recital by predicting the special advent in after times of a mind equal to that task: "but of this fall, this heart-felt, deep-felt lapse, this paradise thus lost, no mortal man shall sing which lives on earth. far distant hence in farther distant times, fair liberty shall reign, queen of the seas, and lady of the isles; nay, sovereign of the world's repose. and peace! in her a mighty genius shall arise, of high ethereal mould, great in renown, sublime, superior far to praise of sublunary man--or fame herself. though blind to all things here on earth below, the heav'ns of heav'ns themselves shall he explore, and soar on high with strong, with outstretched wings! there sing of marvels not to be conceived, express'd, or thought by any but himself!" this curious production is avowedly from the other side of the tweed, and i would ask if its paternity is known to any of your antiquarian correspondents there or here. the fragment is preceded by a very remarkable preface, containing "some reasons why this little piece has thus been thrown off in such a loose and disorderly manner;" among which figure the desire "to disperse a parcel of them gratis,--because they are, perhaps, worth nothing; that nobody may pay for his folly but himself; that, if his fragment is damned, which it probably may be, he will thenceforth drop any farther correspondence with adam, noah, abraham, &c.; and, lastly, that he may be benefited by the criticisms upon its faults and failings, while he himself lurks cunningly behind the curtain. but if, after all," says the facetious author, "this little northern urchin shall chance to spring forward under the influence of a more southern and warmer sun, the author will then endeavour to bring his goods to market as plump, fresh, and fair as the soil will admit." i presume, however, the public did not call for any of the farther instalments promised in the title. j. o. * * * * * errata in printed bibles. mr. d'israeli, in his _curiosities of literature_, has an article entitled "the pearl bibles and six thousand errata," in which he gives some notable specimens of the blunders perpetrated in the printing of bibles in earlier times. the great demand for them prompted unscrupulous persons to supply it without much regard to carefulness or accuracy; and, besides, printers were not so expert as at the present day. "the learned ussher," mr. d'israeli tells us, "one day hastening to preach at paul's cross, entered the shop of one of the stationers, as booksellers were then called, and inquiring for a bible of the london edition, when he came to look for his text, to his astonishment and his horror he discovered that the verse was omitted in the bible! this gave the first occasion of complaint to the king, of the insufferable negligence and incapacity of the london press; and first bred that great contest which followed between the university of cambridge and the london stationers, about the right of printing bibles." even during the reign of charles i., and in the time of the commonwealth, the manufacture of spurious bibles was carried on to an alarming extent. english bibles were fabricated in holland for cheapness, without any regard to accuracy. twelve thousand of these ( mo.) bibles, with notes, were seized by the king's printers as being contrary to the statute; and a large impression of these dutch-english bibles were burned, by order of the assembly of divines, for certain errors. the pearl ( mo.) bible, printed by field, in , contains some scandalous blunders;--for instance, romans, vi. .: "neither yield ye your members as instruments of _righteousness_ unto sin"--for _unrighteousness_. cor. vi. .: "know ye not that { } the unrighteous _shall inherit_ the kingdom of god?"--for _shall not inherit_. the printer of miles coverdale's bible, which was finished in , and of which only two perfect copies, i believe, are known to exist--one in the british museum, the other in the library of the earl of jersey--deserves some commendation for his accuracy. at the end of the new testament is the following solitary erratum: "a faute escaped in pryntyng the new testament. upon the fourth leafe, the first syde in the sixth chapter of s. mathew, 'seke ye first the kingdome of heaven,' read, 'seke ye first the kingdome of god.'" abhba. * * * * * impossibilities of history. "that unworthy hand." i am not aware that the fact of cranmer's holding his right hand in the flames till it was consumed has been questioned. fox says: "he stretched forth his right hand into the flames, and there held it so stedfast that all the people might see it burnt to a coal before his body was touched."--p. . ed. milner, london, , vo. or, as the passage is given in the last edition,-- "and when the wood was kindled, and the fire began to burn near him, he put his right hand into the flame, which he held so stedfast and immovable (saving that once with the same hand he wiped his face), that all men might see his hand burned before his body was touched."--_acts and monuments_, ed. , vol. viii. p. . burnet is more circumstantial: "when he came to the stake he prayed, and then undressed himself: and being tied to it, as the fire was kindling, he stretched forth his right hand towards the flame, never moving it, save that once he wiped his face with it, till it was burnt away, which was consumed before the fire reached his body. he expressed no disorder from the pain he was in; sometimes saying, 'that unworthy hand;' and oft crying out, 'lord jesus, receive my spirit.' he was soon after quite burnt."--_hist. of the reformation_, vol. iii. p. ., ed. . hume says: "he stretched out his hand, and, without betraying either by his countenance or motions the least sign of weakness, or even feeling, he held it in the flames till it was entirely consumed."--hume, vol. iv. p. . it is probable that hume believed this, for while burnet states positively as a fact, though only inferentially as a miracle, that "the heart was found entire and unconsumed among the ashes," hume says, "it was pretended that his heart," &c. i am not about to discuss the character of cranmer: a timid man might have been roused under such circumstances into attempting to do what it is said he did. the laws of physiology and combustion show that he could not have gone beyond the attempt. if a furnace were so constructed, that a man might hold his hand in the flame without burning his body, the shock to the nervous system would deprive him of all command over muscular action before the skin could be "entirely consumed." if the hand were chained over the fire, the shock would produce death. in this case the fire was unconfined. whoever has seen the effect of flame in the open air, must know that the vast quantity sufficient entirely to consume a human hand, must have destroyed the life of its owner; though, from a peculiar disposition of the wood, the vital parts might have been protected. the entire story is utterly impossible. may we, guided by the words "as the fire was kindling," believe that he _then_ thrust his right hand into the flame--a practice i believe not unusual with our martyrs, and peculiarly suitable to him--and class the "holding it till consumed" with the whole and unconsumed heart? i may observe that in the accounts of martyrdoms little investigation was made as to what was possible. burnet, describing hooper's execution, says, "one of his hands fell off before he died, with the other he continued to knock on his breast some time after." this, i have high medical authority for saying, could not be. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * unregistered proverbs. in mr. trench's charming little book on _proverbs_, nd ed., p. ., he remarks: "there are not a few (proverbs), as i imagine, which, living on the lips of men, have yet never found their way into books, however worthy to have done so; either because the sphere in which they circulate has continued always a narrow one, or that the occasions which call them out are very rare, or that they, having only lately risen up, have not hitherto attracted the attention of any one who cared to record them. it would be well, if such as take an interest in the subject, and are sufficiently well versed in the proverbial literature of their own country to recognise such unregistered proverbs when they meet them, would secure them from that perishing, which, so long as they remain merely oral, might easily overtake them; and would make them at the same time, what all _good_ proverbs ought certainly to be, the common heritage of all." "_note._--the pages of the excellent _notes and queries_ would no doubt be open to receive such, and in them they might be safely garnered up," &c. i trust this appeal of mr. trench's will be at once responded to by both the editor and correspondents of this periodical. with the former { } must rest the responsibility of withholding from reproduction any proverbs, which though sent him as novelties, may be already registered in the recognised collections. mr. trench's first contribution to this _bouquet_ of the wild flowers of proverbial lore is the following, from ireland: "'_the man on the dyke always hurls well._' the looker on," says mr. trench in explanation, "at a game of hurling, seated indolently on the wall, always imagines that he could improve on the strokes of the actual players, and if you will listen to him, would have played the game much better than they, a proverb of sufficiently wide application."--p. . each proverb sent in should be accompanied with a statement of the class among whom, or the locality in which, it is current. the index to "n. & q." should contain a reference to every proverb published in its pages, under the head of _unregistered proverbs_, or _proverbs_ only. correspondents should bear in mind the essential requisite of a proverb, _currency_. curt, sharp sayings might easily be multiplied; what is wanted, however, is a collection of such only as have that prerequisite of admission into the ranks of recognised proverbs. and while contributors should not lose sight of "the stamp of merit," as that which renders the diffusion of proverbs beneficial to mankind, still they should not reject a genuine proverb for want of that characteristic, remembering that,-- "'tween man and man, they weight not every stamp; though light, take pieces for the _figure's_ sake." and that the mere _form_ of a proverb often affords some indication of its age and climate, even where the _matter_ is spurious. i have a large ms. collection of english proverbs by me, from which i doubt not i shall be able to extract some few which have never yet been admitted into any published collection. of these at some future time. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. [we shall be happy to do all in our power to carry out this very excellent suggestion.--ed. "n. & q."] * * * * * mr. justice talfourd. the noble sentiments uttered by justice talfourd in his last moments gave a charm to his sudden death, and shed a hallowed beauty about the painfully closing scenes of this great man. i want them to have a niche in "n. & q.," and along with them a passage from his beautiful tragedy of _ion_, which may be considered as a transcript of those thoughts which filled his mind on the very eve of quitting the high and honourable duties of his earthly course. it forcibly illustrates the loving soul, the kind heart, and the amiable character of this deeply lamented judge. after speaking of the peculiar aspect of crime in that part of the country where he delivered his last charge, he goes on to say: "i cannot help myself thinking it may be in no small degree attributable to that separation between class and class, which is the great curse of british society, and for which we are all, more or less, in our respective spheres, in some degree responsible, and which is more complete in these districts than in agricultural districts, where the resident gentry are enabled to shed around them the blessings resulting from the exercise of benevolence, and the influence and example of active kindness. i am afraid we all of us keep too much aloof from those beneath us, and whom we thus encourage to look upon us with suspicion and dislike. even to our servants we think, perhaps, we fulfil our duty when we perform our contract with them--when we pay them their wages, and treat then with the civility consistent with our habits and feelings--when we curb our temper, and use no violent expressions towards them. but how painful is the thought, that there are men and women growing up around us, ministering to our comforts and necessities, continually inmates of our dwellings, with whose affections and nature we are as much unacquainted as if they were the inhabitants of some other sphere. this feeling, arising from that kind of reserve peculiar to the english character, does, i think, greatly tend to prevent that mingling of class with class, that reciprocation of kind words and gentle affections, gracious admonitions and kind inquiries, which often, more than any book-education, tend to the culture of the affections of the heart, refinement and elevation of the character of those to whom they are addressed. and if i were to be asked what is the great want of english society--to mingle class with class--i would say, in one word, the want is the want of sympathy." act i. sc. . after clemanthe has told ion that, forsaking all within his house, and risking his life with strangers, he can do but little for their aid, ion replies: "it is little: but in these sharp extremities of fortune, the blessings which the weak and poor can scatter have their own season. 'tis a little thing to give a cup of water; yet its draught of cool refreshment, drain'd by fever'd lips, may give a shock of pleasure to the frame more exquisite than when nectarean juice renews the life of joy in happiest hours. it is a little thing to speak a phrase of common comfort, which, by daily use, has almost lost its sense; yet, on the ear of him who thought to die unmourn'd, 'twill fall like choicest music; fill the glazing eye with gentle tears; relax the knotted hand to know the bonds of fellowship again; and shed on the departing soul a sense, more precious than the benison of friends about the honour'd death-bed of the rich, { } to him who else were lonely, that another of the great family is near and feels." the analogy is as beautiful as it is true. h. m. bealby. north brixton. before this talented judge was advanced to the bench, he amused himself and instructed his clients by occasional _metrical_ notes, of which the annexed is a specimen. to make it intelligible to those whom it may _not_ concern, i must add an explanation by the attorney in the suit, who has obligingly placed the learned serjeant's notes at my disposal. this gentleman says: "these notes are in the margin of a brief held by the serjeant as leading counsel in an action of ejectment brought against a person named rock, in . in converting into rhyme the evidence of the witness hopkins, as set out in the brief, he has adhered strictly to the statements, whilst he has at the same time seized the prominent points of the testimony as supporting the case." john hopkins will identify the spot, unless his early sports are quite forgot, and from his youngest recollection show the house fell down some forty years ago. and then--a case of adverse claim to meet, show how the land lay open to the street; and there the children held their harmless rambles, till robert woolwich built his odious shambles, and never did the playmates fear a shock, from anything so hateful as a _rock_. perhaps the above may elicit from other quarters similar contributions; indeed, any memorial of the friend of charles lamb must be precious to the muse. t. j. buckton. lichfield. * * * * * the screw propeller. in , when the steam engine, only recently improved by watt, was merely applied to the more obvious purposes of mine drainage and the like, darwin, in his _botanic garden_, wrote-- "soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam! afar drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car." and in an appended note prophecies that the new agent might "in time be applied to the rowing of barges, and the moving of carriages along the road." the ingenious chronicler of the "loves of the plants," however, was in no doubt, when he wrote, aware of the experiments of d'auxiron, perier, and de jouffroy; those prosecuted at dalswinton and in america were some years later, about - i think. but in another and less widely known poem by the same author, the _temple of nature_, published in , there occurs a very complete anticipation of one of the most important applications of science to navigation, which may prove as novel and striking to some of your readers as it did to me. it is, indeed, a remarkable instance of scientific prevision. in a note to line , canto ii. of the poem, the author sets out with, "the progressive motion of fish beneath the water is produced principally by the undulation of their tails;" and after giving the _rationale_ of the process, he goes on to say that "this power seems to be better adapted to push forward a body in the water than the oars of boats;" concluding with the query, "might not some machinery resembling the tails of fish be placed behind a boat so as to be moved with greater effect than common oars, by the force of wind or steam?" anon. * * * * * ancient chattel-property in ireland. the memoranda roll of the exchequer, & edward ii., membrane ., contains a list of the chattel-property of richard de fering, archbishop of dublin, which had been sold by master walter de istelep, the custos of said see, for the sum of l. s. ¾d. sterling, consisting, amongst other things, of-- iij affr', price xijs. xiij bobus, iiij_li_. vs. xlvij acr' warrectan' & rebinand' ibidem, lxxs. vjd. ij carucis cum apparatu, iiijs. v crannoc' frumenti ad semen & liberationes famulorum ibidem sibi venditis per predictum custodem, xxijs. vjd. xj crannoc', iij bussellis aven', xxxixs. iijd. iij carucis cum apparatu, vjs. the chattel-property of sir james delahyde is set forth upon the memoranda roll & rich. ii., mem. . _dorso_, and is as follows: "unu' collobiu' de rubio scarleto duplucat' c[=u] panno rubio, unu' collobiu' duplex de sanguineto et bukhorn', unu' collobi[=u] duplex, de sanguineto et nigro, unu' gip' de serico auro int'text furrat' c[=u] menivero, unu' gyp' de rubio et nigro furrat' cu' calibir', unu' gyp' furrat cu' grys, unu' paltok' de nigro serico, unu' paltok de nigro panno, unu' paltok' de nigro bustian, duo cap'icia, una' pec' de rubio wyrset, unam pec' de nigro wyrset, una' pec' panni linei vocat' westenale, quinq; pec' aule pro camera & aula, tres curtynis c[=u] uno celuro de rubio wyrset, quinq; mappas, duas pelves c[=u] lavatorio & quatuor p'ia secular'." upon the attainder of william fytzhenry of dublin, "capytayn," in the reign of edward vi., it was found by inquisition that he had "unum torquem aureum ponder' septem uncias d[=i]," put in pledge for l., and worth l. sterling. in this reign "quinque vasa vocat' fyrkyns de prunis" each worth s. d.; a firkin of wine, s., "a fyrkyn de aceto," s. d.; "quinque tycks", worth s. d. each; and "duas duodenas cultellorum," worth s., { } were brought to dublin from st. mallow in brittany. in this reign also "grossos arbores," near drogheda, were valued at l.; "porcos" were worth s.; "modios frumenti" worth s.; and "lagenas butteri," s. during this reign a sum of l. was paid out of the treasury to sir william seyntloo, for the purpose of fortifying, &c. the castle of dyngham, called "the governor of offayley," of which sum he paid to matthew lynete, the clerk of the ordnance,-- for the hire of carts from dublin to the forte, th december, s. ½d. ster. other carts from dublin to the sayd forte, th march, edw. vi., s. the carters that came from dublin to the forte, th january and th april, edw. vi., for the hire of cartes by the space of dayes, s. d. in the edward vi. the goods of thomas rothe of kilkenny, merchant, which were seized by a searcher at waterford, consisted of " pecias auri vocat' crussades," and "un' wegge argenti ponderant' xvj uncias argenti precij cujuslibet uncie, s." in the same year the property of andrew tyrrell, a merchant of athboy, consisted of-- unam fardellam sive paccam, containing _sterling._ unam peciam de lychefeldkerfeys, price s. unam peciam de greneclothe l. di' duoden' pellium vocat' red leese s. d. duoden' de orphell skynnes s. d. duoden' de rosell gyrdels s. sex libr' de brymstone s. dudoen' de playng cardes s. un' gross' de fyne knyves s. libr' cerici voc' sylke l. s. d. un' gross' de red poynts [ s. or s.] un' duoden' de pennars [ s. or s.] sex libr' de bykeres s. pynnes d. sex rubeas crumenas s. un' bagam de droggs s. un' burden' de stele s. sex boxes de comfetts s. duoden' de lokyng glasses d. un' bolte de threde s. d. duas fyrkins de soketts s. duas duoden' de combes d. lb. of packethrede d. doz. of great bells d. one payre of ballaunce d. one piece of red cloth l. in queen mary's time, in ireland, a yard of black velvet was valued at s. sterling; a yard of purple-coloured damask, at s. d. sterling; and a yard of tawny-coloured damask, at s. sterling. the foregoing have been taken from the ancient records of the irish exchequer. james f. ferguson. dublin. * * * * * bishop atterbury. i have observed in some former numbers of "n. & q.," that an interest has been manifested in regard to the writings, and especially to the letters, of this prelate. it may therefore be interesting to your readers to be informed, that an original painting, and perhaps the only one, of the bishop, is preserved at trelawny house in cornwall; and from its close resemblance to the engraved portrait which is found in his works, i have no doubt it is that from which that likeness was taken. there are also several letters in the handwriting of bishop atterbury among the documents preserved in the collection at that ancient mansion. that this portrait and the letters should be preserved at trelawny, is explained by the fact, that before his elevation to the episcopal bench, dr. atterbury was chaplain to bishop trelawny. j. c. lines by bishop atterbury on mr. harley being stabbed by guiscard: "devotum ut cordi sensit sub pectore ferrum, immoto harlæus saucius ore stetit. dum tamen huic læta gratatur voce senatus, confusus subito pallor in ore sedet. o pudor! o virtus! partes quam dignus utrasque sustinuit, vultu dispare, laude pari." i found these lines written on the back of an odd volume of atterbury's _sermons_. most likely they have already appeared in print. e. h. a. * * * * * minor notes. "_milton blind._"--a little poem bearing this title, and commencing,-- "though i am old and blind," is said to have been included in an edition of the poet's works recently published at oxford. it was written by miss lloyd, a lady of this city, a short time ago. uneda. philadelphia. _hydropathy._--for a long time, i believe in common with many others, i have imagined that the water cure is of late origin, and that we are indebted for it to germany, to which we look for all novel quackeries (good and bad) in medicine and theology. this belief was put to flight a short time ago by a pamphlet which i discovered among others rare and curious. it is entitled _curiosities of common water, or the advantages thereof in preventing and curing many distempers_. the price of the pamphlet was one shilling, and the author rejoices in the name of john smith. after his name follows a motto, the doctrine of which it { } is the duty of all licensed to kill according to law strenuously to protest against both by argument and practice: "that's the best physick which doth cure our ills without the charge of pothecaries pills." e. w. j. crawley. _cassie._--mr. m. a. lower (a correspondent of "n. & q."), in his _essays on english surnames_ (see vol. ii. p. .), quotes from a brochure on scottish family names. he seems, from a footnote, to be in difficulty about the word _cassie._ may i suggest to him that it is a corruption of "causeway?" the "causeway" is, in scotch towns, an usual name for a particular street; and of a man's surname, his place of residence is a most common source of derivation. w. t. m. _the duke of wellington._--lord de grey, in his _characteristics of the duke of wellington_, pp. , ., gives the following extract from the despatches published by colonel gurwood, and refers to vol. viii. p. . "it would undoubtedly be better if _language_ of this description were never used, and if officers placed as you were could correct errors and neglect in _language, which should not hurt the feelings_ of the person addressed, and without vehemence." compare this passage with the following advice which don quixote gives to sancho panza before he sets off to take possession of his government: "al che has de castigar con obras, no trates mal con palabras, pues le basta al desdichado la pena del suplicio sin la anadidura de las malas rezones."--part ii. ch. xlii. see translation of _don quixote_ by jarvis, vol. iv. b. iii. ch. x. p. .[ ] the very depreciatory terms in which the emperor napoleon used to speak of the duke of wellington as a general is well known. the following extract from forsyth's _napoleon at st. helena and sir hudson lowe_, appears to me worthy of being brought under the notice of the readers of "n. & q.:" "after the governor had left the house (upon the death of napoleon he had gone to the house of the deceased with major gorrequer to make an inventory of and seal up his papers), count montholon called back major gorrequer to ask him a question, and he mentioned that he had been searching for a paper dictated to him by napoleon a long time previously, and which he was sorry he could not find, as it was a _eulogium on the duke of wellington_, in which napoleon had spoken in the highest terms of praise of the military conduct of the duke."--see vol. iii. p. . j. w. farrer. [footnote : jarvis translates the passage in _don quixote_,--"him you are to punish with deeds, do no evil; intreat with words, for the pain of the punishment is enough for the wretch to bear, without the addition of ill-language."] _romford jury._--the following entry appears on the court register of the romford petty sessions (in havering liberty) for the year , relating to the trial of two men charged with an assault on andrew palmer. as a curious illustration of the manner in which justice was administered in country parts in "the good old times," i think it may be interesting to the readers of "n. & q." "the jury could not for several hours agree on their verdict, seven being inclinable to find the defendants guilty, and the others not guilty. it was therefore proposed by the foreman to put twelve shillings in a hat, and hustle most heads or tails, whether guilty or not guilty. the defendants, therefore, were acquitted, the chance happening in favour of not guilty." e. j. sage. _edward law (lord ellenborough), chief justice._--j. m.'s quotation of the song in the _supplement to the court of sessions garland_ (vol. ix., p. .), reminds me of the lines on mr. law's being made chief justice: "what signifies now, quirk, quibble, or flaw, since _law_ is made _justice_, seek justice from _law_." w. collyns. drewsteignton. _chamisso._--chamisso, in his poem of "the three sisters," who, crushed with misery, contended that each had the hardest lot, has this fine passage by the last speaker: "in one brief sentence all my bitter cause of sorrow dwells--thou arbiter! oh, pause ere yet thy final judgment thou assign, and learn my better right--too clearly proved. four words comprise it--i was never loved: the palm of grief thou wilt allow is mine." "he knew humanity--there can be no grief like that grief. death had bereaved one sister of her lover--the second mourned over her fallen idol's shame--the third exultingly says,-- 'have they not lived and loved?'" the above is written in a beautiful italian female hand on the fly-leaf-of the _basia_, . e. d. _dates of maps._--it is very much to be wished that map-makers would always affix to their maps the date of their execution; the want of this in the maps of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge has often been an annoyance to me, for it frequently happens that one or both of two maps including the same district are without date, { } and when they differ in some of the minor details, it requires some time and trouble to find, from other sources, which is the most modern, and therefore likely to be the most accurate. j. s. warden. _walton._--the following cotemporary notice of the decease and character of honest isaac's son, is from a ms. diary of the rev. john lewis, rector of chalfield and curate of tilbury: " , dec. . mr. canon walton of polshott died at salisbury; he was one of the members of the clergy club that meets at melksham, and a very pious, sober, learned, inoffensive, charitable, good man." e. d. _whittington's stone on highgate hill._--it is well that there is a "n. & q." to record the removal and disappearance of noted objects and relics of antiquity, as one after another disappears before the destroying hand of time, and more ruthless and relentless spirit of enterprise. i have to ask you on the present occasion to record the removal of whittington's stone on highgate hill. i discovered it as i strolled up the hill a few days since. i was informed that it was removed about a fortnight since, and a public-house is now being built where it stood. tee bee. _turkey and france._--the following fact, taken from the foreign correspondence of _the times_, may suitably seek perpetuity in a corner of "n. & q." "i wish to mention a curious fact connected with the port of toulon, and with the long existing relations between france and turkey, and which i have not seen mentioned, although it is recorded in the municipal archives of this town. in the year , the sultan, selim ii., at the request of the king of france, sent a large army and fleet to his assistance, under the command of the celebrated turkish admiral barbarossa, who, according to the record, was the grandson of a french renegade. this army and fleet occupied the town and port of toulon at the express wish of francis i., from the end of september , to the end of march . and on this day, the last of march , a french army and fleet has sailed from the same port of toulon to succour the descendant of the sultan selim in his distress. what a remarkable example of the rise and fall of empires!" it will not invalidate the force of the foregoing extract to state, that selim ii. did not become sultan until , and that it must have been his father suleyman (whom he succeeded) who came to the rescue of france in . the same turkish fleet was afterwards nearly annihilated by the venetians in , at the battle of lepanto. geo. dymond. * * * * * queries. a female aide-major. the following is an extract from the letter of the french general, custine, to the national convention, june , : "my morality is attacked; it is found out that i have a _woman_ for my aide-de-camp. without pretending to be a joseph, i know too well how to respect myself, and the laws of public decency, ever to render myself guilty of such an absurdity. i found in the army a woman under the uniform of a volunteer bombardier, who, in fulfilling that duty at the siege of liege, had received a musket-ball in the leg. she presented herself to the national convention, desired to continue her military service, and was admitted to the honours of the sitting. she was afterwards sent by you, representatives, to the minister of war, who gave her the rank of aide-major to the army. on my arrival here, the representatives of the people, commissioners with this army, had dismissed her. her grief was extreme; and the phrenzy of her imagination, and her love for glory, would have carried her to the last extremity. i solicited the representatives of the people to leave her that rank which her merit and wounds had procured her; and they consented to it. this is the truth. she is not my aide-de-camp, but _attached to the staff as aide-major_. since that time i have never had any public or private conversation with her."--from the _political state of europe_, , p. . can any of your readers furnish me with the name and history of this french heroine? james. philadelphia. * * * * * minor queries. "_chintz gowns._"--tuesday, jan. , : "two ladies were convicted before the lord mayor, in the penalty of l., for wearing chintz gowns."--_gentleman's magazine_, vol. xxxviii. p. . can any other instances be given? investigator. "_noctes ambrosianæ._"--can any one inform me why the celebrated "noctes ambrosianæ" of blackwood's _magazine_ has never been printed in a separate form in this country (i understand it has been so in america)? i should think few republications would meet with a larger sale. s. wmson. _b. simmons._--will you permit me to ask for a little information respecting b. simmons? i believe he was born in the county of cork: for he has sung, in most bewitching strains, his return to his native home on the banks of the funcheon. he was the writer of that great poem on the "disinterment of napoleon," which appeared in _blackwood_ some years ago. he was a regular { } poetical contributor to its pages for many years. he held a situation in the excise office in london, and died there i believe in july, . what manner of man was he; young or old, married or single? any information respecting such a child of genius and of song must be interesting to those who have ever read a line of his wondrous poems. to what other periodicals did he contribute? ith. _green stockings._--is the custom of sending a pair of green stockings to the eldest unmarried daughter of a family, upon the occasion of the marriage of a younger sister, of english, irish, or scottish origin? l. a. _nicholas kieten._--in the thirteenth century, "there was a giant in holland named nicholas kieten, whose size was so prodigious, that he carried men under his arms like little children. his shoe was so large, that four men together could put their feet in it. children were too terrified to look him in the face, and fled from his presence." so says our author; but he does not give the dimensions of kieten. may not such a real giant, in the thirteenth century, have laid the foundation of the fabulous stories of giants that have for so many years been the favourite romances of the nursery? kieten appears to be the type of the giants of our modern pantomimes. will he serve as a key, to disclose the origin of these marvellous stories and captivating absurdities? timon. _warwickshire badge._--will you permit me to ask, through your journal, if any of your readers can inform me whether the proper warwickshire badge is "the antelope" or "the bear and ragged staff?" the former is borne by the th regiment of the line, they being the royal first warwickshire. the latter is borne by the th regiment of militia, they being the first warwickshire. this latter badge is also borne by the retainers of the earls of warwick and leicester; which latter county would seem to lay as much claim to the bear and ragged staff as warwick does. the county cannot well have both, or either; this makes me think that the bear and ragged staff is not a _county_ badge, but pertains more properly to the earl of warwick. antiquary. _armorial._--will any correspondent oblige me with the names to the following coats: . arg., three hares (or conies) gu. . arg., on a bend engrailed vert, between two bucks' heads cabossed sable, attired or, three besants; a canton erminois. . quarterly, per fesse indented sable and or. . per pale sable and or, a cheveron between three escallop shells, all counterchanged. . gu., a lion rampant arg. glover's _ordinary of arms_ would, i think, answer the above query; and if any of your _numerous_ readers, who possess that valuable work, would refer to it in this case, they would be conferring a favour on your constant subscriber, cid. would any correspondent help me to the solution of the following case?--a. was the _last_ and _only_ representative of an ancient family; he left at his decease, some years ago, a daughter and heiress who married b. can the issue of b. (having no arms of their own) _legally_ use the arms, quarterings, crest, and motto of a., without a license from the heralds' college? cid. _lord brougham and horne tooke._--in lord brougham's _statesmen of the time of george iii._, he says of mr. horne tooke: "thus he (h. t.) would hold that the law of libel was unjust and absurd, because _libel_ means a little book." can any of the readers of "n. & q." say on what occasion tooke maintained this strange doctrine, or where his lordship obtained his information that tooke did maintain it? q. bloomsbury. _rileys of forest hill._--can any of your correspondents inform me relative to the arms and motto of the rileys of (forest hill) windsor, berks, their descent, &c.? j. m. r. _fish "lavidian."_--in some ancient acts of parliament mention is made of a fish called "lavidian," and from the regulations made concerning it, it appears to have been of such small size as to be capable of being caught in the meshes of an ordinary net. but i cannot find that this name is contained in any of the books of natural history, written by such authors as gesner or rondeletius. is it at this time a common name anywhere? or can any of your readers assist in determining the species? j. c. "_poeta nascitur, non fit._"--can any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of the well-known saying-- "poeta nascitur, non fit"? i have more than once seen it quoted as from horace, but i have never been able to find it in any classical author whose works i have examined. cicero expresses a similar sentiment in his oration for the poet archias, cap. viii.: "atqui sic a summis hominibus eruditissimisque accepimus, ceterarum rerum studia, et doctrina, et præceptis, et arte constare: poëtam natura ipsa valere, et mentis viribus excitari, et quasi divino quodam spiritu inflari." j. p. boston, u.s.a. { } _john wesley and the duke of wellington._--it has always been understood that the property bequeathed to the colleys, who in consequence took the surname of wesley, afterwards altered to wellesley, was offered to and declined by the father of john wesley, who would not allow his son to accept the condition, a residence in ireland, and the being adopted by the legatee. has there been a relationship ever proved between the founder of the methodists and the victor of waterloo? prestoniensis. _haviland_--can any of your plymouth correspondents give any information, as tombs, in memory of persons of the name of haviland, havilland, or de havilland, existing in the churches of that place, of a date prior to a.d. ? mention is made of such tombs as existing in a letter of that date in my possession. also, in what chronicle or history of the conquest of england, mention is made of a sieur de havilland, as having accompanied duke william from normandy on that occasion? d. f. t. _byron._--will you kindly inform me, through the medium of your "n. & q.," whence the line "all went merry as a marriage bell" (in byron's _childe harold_) is derived? c. b. "_rutabaga._"--what is the etymology of the word _rutabaga_? i have heard one solution of it, but wish to ascertain whether there is any other. the word is extensively used in the united states for swedish turnips or "swedes." luccus. _a medal._--a family in this city possesses a silver medal granted to joseph swift, a native of bucks county, pennsylvania, by the university of oxford or of cambridge, of which the following is a description. it is about two inches in diameter; on the face are the head and bust of queen anne in profile, with an inscription setting forth her royal title, and on the reverse a full-length figure of britannia, with ships sailing and men ploughing in the background, and this motto, "compositis venerantur annis." the date is mdccxiii. an explanation of the object of the medal is desired. oldbuck. philadelphia. _the black cap._--can any of your antiquarian legal readers inform me of the origin of the custom of the judges putting on a black cap when pronouncing sentence of death upon a criminal? i can find no illustration of this peculiar custom in blackstone, stephens, or other constitutional writers. f. j. g. _the aboriginal britons._--a friend of mine wants some information as to the history, condition, manners, &c. of the britons, prior to the arrival of the romans. what work, accessible to ordinary readers, supplies the best compendium of what is known on this subject? the fullest account of which i have, just now, any recollection, is contained in milton's _history of england_, included in an edition of milton's _prose works_, three vols. folio, amsterdam, . is milton's _history_ a work of any merit or authority? h. martin. halifax. * * * * * minor queries with answers. "_gossip._"--this word, in its obsolete sense, according no doubt to its saxon origin, means a sponsor, one who answers for a child in baptism, a godfather. its modern acceptation all know to be widely different. can any of your correspondents quote a passage or two from old english authors, wherein its obsolete sense is preserved? n. l. j. [the word occurs in chaucer, _the wyf of bathes prologue_, v. .: "and if i have a _gossib_, or a friend, (withouten gilt) thou chidest as a frend, if that i walke or play into his hous." and in spenser, _faerie queene_, b. i. c. .: "one mother, when as her foole-hardy child did come too neare, and with his talons play, halfe dead through feare, her little babe reuil'd, and to her _gossips_ gan in counsell say." master richard verstegan is more to the point: "our christian ancestors, understanding a spiritual affinity to grow between the parents and such as undertooke for the child at baptisme, called each other by the name of _godsib_, which is as much as to say, that they were _sib_ together, that is, _of kin_ together through god. and the child, in like manner, called such his god-fathers, or god-mothers."--_restitution of decayed intelligence_, ch. vii. a quotation or two from that delightful old _gossip_, mr. pepys, will show its use in the middle of the seventeenth century: "lord's day. with my wife to church. at noon dined nobly, ourselves alone. after dinner, my wife and mercer by coach to greenwich, to be _gossip_ to mrs. daniel's child. my wife much pleased with the reception she had, and she was godmother, and did hold the child at the font, and it is called john."--_diary_, may , . "lord's day. my wife and i to mr. martin's, where i find the company almost all come to the christening of mrs. martin's child, a girl. after sitting long, till the church was done, the parson comes, and then we to christen the child. i was godfather, and mrs. holder (her husband, a good man, i know well) and a pretty lady that waits, it seems, on my lady bath at whitehall, her name mrs. noble, were godmothers. after the christening comes in the wine { } and sweetmeats, and then to prate and tattle, and then very good company they were, and i among them. here was mrs. burroughs and mrs. bales (the young widow whom i led home); and having staid till the moon was up, i took my pretty _gossip_ to whitehall with us, and i saw her in her lodging."--_ibid._, dec. , .] _humphry repton._--to snatch from utter oblivion the once highly reputed humphry, the king of landscape gardeners, to whom many of our baronial parks owe much of their picturesque beauty, and who, by the side of sir joseph paxton, would now most duly have taken knightful station in these go-ahead days, i ask, in what publication was it, that in , or thereabouts, being an indefatigable attendant at all exhibitions and sales of art, he, the said humphry, was accustomed (as well able he was) to enlighten the public upon what was passing in matters of art now nearly three quarters of a century ago? was it the _bee_? again, did he not, at his death, leave two large volumes for publication, entitled _recollections of my past life_? where are these? inquest. [the ms. collection of the late humphry repton, containing interesting details of his public and private life, has been used by mr. loudon in his biographical notice of repton prefixed to the last edition of _the landscape gardening_, vo., . mr. loudon states that 'these papers were left as a valued memorial for his children: it may be imagined, therefore, that they contain details of a private nature, which would be found devoid of interest to the world. mr. repton, indeed, possessed a mind as keenly alive to the ludicrous, as it was open to all that was excellent, in the variety of characters with whom his extensive professional connexions brought him acquainted; and he did not fail to observe and note down many curious circumstances and traits of character, in themselves highly amusing, but, for obvious reasons, unfit subjects for publication. not one taint of satire or ill-nature, however, ever sullied the wit which flowed spontaneously from a mind sportive sometimes even to exuberance." his artistic critiques will be found in the following works: _the bee_: or, a critique on the exhibition of paintings at somerset house, , vo. _variety_: a collection of essays, , mo. _the bee_: a critique on the shakspeare gallery, , vo. _odd whims_: being a republication of some papers in variety, with a comedy and other poems, vols. mo., .] "_oriel._"--i should be glad if any of your correspondents could inform me of the origin of the term _oriel_, as applied to a window? it is not, i believe, necessarily to the east. t. l. n. jamaica. [_oriol_, or _oriel_, is a portico or court; also a small room near the hall in monasteries, where particular persons dined. (blount's _glossog._) du cange says, "_oriolum_, porticus, atrium;" and quotes matthew paris for it. supposed by some to be a diminutive from _area_ or _areola_. "in modern writings," says nares, "we meet with mention of _oriel_ windows. i doubt the propriety of the expression; but, if right, they must mean those windows that project like a porch, or small room. at st. albans was an _oriel_, or apartment for persons not so sick as to retire to the infirmary. (fosbroke's _brit. monachism_, vol. ii. p. .) i may be wrong in my notion of _oriel_ window, but i have not met with ancient authority for that expression. cowel conjectured that _oriel_ college, in oxford, took its name from some such room or portico. there is a remarkable portico, in the farther side of the first quadrangle, but not old enough to have given the name. it might, however, be only the successor of one more ancient, and more exactly an _oriel_." for articles on the disputed derivation of this term, which seems involved in obscurity, see parker's _glossary of architecture_; a curious paper by mr. hamper, in _archæologia_, vol. xxiii.; and _gentleman's magazine_ for nov. , p. ., and march, , p. .] "_orchard._"--professor martyn, in his notes on virgil's _georgics_, seems to be of opinion that the english word "orchard" is derived from the greek [greek: orchatos], which homer uses to express the garden of alcinous; and he observes that milton writes it _orchat_, thereby corroborating this impression. is the word spelt according to milton's form by any other writers? n. l. j. [it is spelt _orchat_ by j. philips, _cider_, book i.: ----"else false hopes he cherishes, nor will his fruit expect th' autumnal season, but in summer's pride, when other orchats smile, abortive fail."] "_peckwater._"--why is the quadrangle at christ church, in oxford, called "peckwater?" n. l. j. [the peckwater quadrangle derives its name from an ancient hostle, or inn, which stood on the south-west corner of the present court; and was the property of ralph, the son of richard peckwater, who gave it to st. frideswide's priory, th henry iii.; and about the middle of the reign of henry viii., another inn, called vine hall, was added to it; which, with other buildings, were reduced into a quadrangle in the time of dean duppa and dr. samuel fell. the two inns were afterwards known by the name of vine hall, or peckwater's inn; and by this name were given to christ church, in , by henry viii.] _richard iii._--what became of the body after the battle of bosworth field? was it buried at leicester? a. briton. athenæum. [after the battle of bosworth field, the body of richard iii. was stript, laid across a horse behind a pursuivant-at-arms, and conducted to leicester, where, after it had been exposed for two days, it was buried with little ceremony in the church of the grey friars. in burton's ms. of the history of leicester, we read that, "within the town was a house of franciscan or grey friars, built by simon montfort, earl of { } leicester, whither (after bosworth field) the dead body of richard iii., naked, trussed behind a pursuivant-at-arms, all dashed with mire and blood, was there brought and homely buried; where afterward king henry vii. (out of royal disposition) erected for him a fair alabaster monument, with his picture cut out, and made thereon."--quoted in nichols's _leicestershire_, vol. i. p. .: see also pp. . .] _binding of old books._--i shall feel obliged to any of your readers who will tell me how to polish up the covers of old books when the leather has got dry and cracked. bookbinders use some composition made of glair, or white of egg, which produces a very glossy appearance. how is it made and used? and how do they polish the leather afterwards? is there any little work on book-binding? cpl. [take white of an egg, break it with a fork, and, having first cleaned the leather with dry flannel, apply the egg with a soft sponge. where the leather is rubbed or decayed, rub a little paste with the finger into the parts affected, to fill up the broken grain, otherwise the glair would sink in and turn it black. to produce a polished surface, a hot iron must be rubbed over the leather. the following is, however, an easier, if not a better, method. purchase some "bookbinders' varnish," which may be had at any colour shop; clean the leather well, as before; if necessary, use a little water in doing so, but rub quite dry with a flannel before varnishing; apply your varnish with wool, lint, or a very soft sponge, and place to dry.] _vessel of paper._--when i was at school in the north of ireland, not very many years ago, a piece of paper, about the octavo size, used for writing "exercises," was commonly known amongst us as a vessel of paper. can any of your correspondents tell me the origin of the phrase; and whether it is in use in other localities? abhba. [lemon, in his english _etymology_, has the following remarks on this phrase:--"_vessel of paper_: the etymology of this word does not at first sight appear very evident; but a derivation has been lately suggested to me, which seems to carry some probability with it; viz. that _a vessel of paper_ may have derived its appellation from _fasciculus_, or _fasciola_; quasi _vassiola_; a vessel, or small slip of paper; a little winding band, or swathing cloth; a garter; a _fascia_, a small narrow binding. the root is undoubtedly _fascis_, a bundle, or anything tied up; also, the fillet with which it is bound."] * * * * * replies. king james's irish army list, . (vol. ix., pp. , .) my collections are arranged for illustrating, in the manner alluded to in the above notice, upwards of four hundred families. in tyrconnel's _horse_, i find a dominick _sheldon_, lieut.-colonel. his name appears in the "establishment" of - for a pension of l. early in the campaign, he was actively opposed to the revolutionary party in down and antrim; and was afterwards joined in an unsuccessful negotiation for the surrender of derry. at the battle of the boyne he commanded the cavalry, and in a gallant charge nearly retrieved the day, but had two horses shot under him. when tyrconnel left ireland for france, to aid the cause of the stuarts, he selected this colonel as one of the directory, who were to advise the young duke of berwick, to whom tyrconnel had committed the command of the irish army, and who was afterwards so distinguished in the wars of the brigades abroad. after the capitulation of limerick in , sarsfield, then the beloved commander of the last adherents of the cause of the royal exile, intrusted to colonel sheldon the care of embarking all who preferred a foreign land to the new government; and king james (for, in justice to my subject, i must still style him _king_) especially thanked him for his performance of that duty. when his own regiment was brigaded in france, it was called, _par excellence_, "the king's regiment;" and dominick sheldon, "an englishman," was gazetted its colonel. the successes of his gallant band are recorded, in , at the confluence of the mincio and the po; in , against the imperialists under visconti, when he was wounded; in the army of the rhine, and at the battle of spire within the same year, &c. he appears, throughout his career, an individual of whom his descendants should be proud; but i cannot discover the house of this _englishman_. in the outlawries of , he is described on one as "of the city of dublin," on another, as "of pennyburn mill, co. derry." no other person of his name appears in my whole _army list_; although the "diary" preserved in the _harleian miscellany_ (old edit., vol. vii. p. .) erroneously suggests a subaltern of his name. in the titular court of st. germains, two of the name of sheldon were of the board of green cloth. dr. gilbert sheldon was archbishop of canterbury in the middle of the seventeenth century; and the sheldons are shown by burke to be still an existing family at brailes house in warwickshire, previously in oxfordshire, and _semble_ in staffordshire. i have made application on the subject to mr. sheldon of brailes house, the more confidently as the christian name of "ralph" is frequent in the pedigree of that family, and colonel dominick sheldon had a brother ralph; but mr. sheldon could not satisfy me. one of the adventurers or soldiers in cromwell's time, in ireland, was a william sheldon; who, on the restoration, in the royal policy of that day, obtained a patent for the lands in tipperary, which { } the usurping powers had allotted for him by certificate. could colonel dominick have been his relative? i pray information on this subject, and any others connected with the _army list_, with any documentary assistance which, or the inspection of which, the correspondents of "n. & q." may afford me; and such services will be thankfully acknowledged. if i were aided with such by them, and by the old families of ireland, the work should be a gem. john d'alton. . summer hill, dublin. * * * * * quotations wanted. (vol. ix., pp. , .) "the knights are dust, their good swords are rust, their souls are with the saints, we trust." this seems to be an imperfect recollection of the concluding lines of a short poem by coleridge, entitled "the knight's tomb." (see _poems_ of s. t. coleridge: moxon, , p. .) the correct reading is as follows: "the knight's bones are dust, and his good sword rust; his soul is with the saints, i trust." g. taylor. your correspondent's mutilated version i have seen on a china match-box, in the shape of a crusader's tomb. c. mansfield ingleby. "of whose omniscient and all-spreading love." these lines are also coleridge's (_poems_, &c., p. ., edit. ). he afterwards added the following note on this passage: "i utterly recant the sentiment contained in the lines-- of whose omniscient and all-spreading love aught to _implore_ were impotence of mind; it being written in scripture, '_ask_, and it shall be given you!' and my human reason being, moreover, convinced of the propriety of offering _petitions_, as well as thanksgivings, to deity.--s. t. c., ." h. g. t. weston-super-mare. the line quoted (p. .) as having been applied by twining to pope's _homer_, is from _tibullus_, iii. . . p. j. f. gantillon "a fellow feeling makes us wond'rous kind," is to be found in the epilogue written and spoken by garrick on quitting the stage, .[ ] a parallel passage appears in _troilus and cressida_, act iii. sc. .: "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin." newburiensis. the following lines, and the accompanying paraphrase, probably those inquired after by x. y., are in davison's _poems, or a poetical rhapsody_ (p. ., th impression, ), where they form the third "device." i do not know who the writer was. "quid plumâ lævius? pulvis. quid pulvere? ventus. quid vento? mulier. quid muliere? nihil." "dust is lighter than a feather, and the wind more light than either; but a woman's fickle mind more than a feather, dust, or wind." f. e. e. the lines quoted by l. are the first two (a little altered) in the opening stanza of a ballad entitled _the berkshire lady_. the correct version (i speak on the authority of a copy which i procured nearly thirty years ago in the great ballad-mart of those days, the seven dials) is,-- "bachelors of every station, mark this strange but true relation, which in brief to you i bring; never was a stranger thing." the ballad is an account of "love at first sight," inspired in the breast of a young lady, wealthy and beautiful of course, but who, disdaining such adventitious aids, achieves at the sword's point, and covered with a mask, her marriage with the object of her passion. it is much too long, and not of sufficient merit, for insertion in "n. & q." f. e. e. [footnote : [see "n. & q.," vol. iii., p. .]] * * * * * oaths. (vol. viii., no. , .; vol. ix., p. .) i am extremely obliged to your several correspondents who have replied to my query. i now send you "a remarkable case," which occurred in , and throws considerable light upon the subject. dr. owen, vice-chancellor of oxford, being a witness for the plaintiff in a cause, refused to be sworn in _the usual manner, by laying his right hand upon the book, and by kissing it afterwards_; but he caused the book to be held open before him, and he raised his right hand; whereupon the jury prayed the direction of the court whether they ought to weigh such evidence as strongly as the evidence of another witness. glyn, chief justice, answered them, that in his opinion he had taken { } as strong an oath as any other of the witnesses; but he added that, if he himself were to be sworn, he would lay his right hand upon the book itself (_il voilt deponer sa maine dexter sur le liver mesme_). colt _v._ dutton, siderfin's _r._ . this case shows that the usual practice at the time it was decided was, not to take the book in the hand, but to lay the hand upon it. now, if a person laid his hand upon a book, which rested on anything else, he most probably would lay his fingers upon it, and, if he afterwards kissed it, would raise it with his fingers at the top, and his thumb under the book; and possibly this may account for the practice i mentioned of the welsh witnesses, which, like many other usages, may have been once universally prevalent, but now have generally ceased. with regard to kissing the book, so far from assuming that it was essential, i stated that "in none of these instances does kissing the book appear to be essential." indeed, as, "upon the principles of the common law, there is no particular form essential to an oath to be taken by a witness; but as the purpose of it is to bind his conscience, every man of every religion should be bound by that form which he himself thinks will bind his own conscience most" (per lord mansfield, chief justice, atcheson _v._ everitt, cowper's _r._ .), the form of the oath will vary according to the particular opinion of the witness. lord mansfield, in the case just mentioned, referred to the case in siderfin, and stated that "the christian oath was settled in very ancient times;" and it may, perhaps, be inferred that he meant that it was so settled in the form there mentioned; but, as he inaccurately translates the words i have given thus, "if i were sworn, _i would kiss the book_," it may be doubtful whether he did not consider kissing the book as a part of the form of the oath so settled. i cannot assent to the opinion of paley, that the term _corporal_, as applied to oath, was derived from the corporale--the square piece of linen on which the chalice and host were placed. the term doubtless was adopted, in order to distinguish some oaths from others; and it would be very strange if it had become the invariable practice to apply it to all that large class of oaths, in every civil and criminal tribunal, to which it did not apply; and when it is remembered that in indictments (which have ever been construed with the strictest regard to the truth of the statements contained in them) this term has always been used where the book has been touched, and where the use of the term, if incorrect, would inevitably have led to an acquittal, no one i think can doubt that paley is in error. in addition to the authorities i before referred to, i may mention that puffendorff clearly uses the term in the sense i attributed to it; and so does mr. barbeyrac, in his note to "corporal oath," as used by puffendorff, where he says: "juramentum corporale, or, as it is called in the code, juramentum _corporaliter_ præstitum;" and then refers to a rescript of alexander, where the terms used are "jurejurando _corporaliter_ præstito." (puffendorff, _law of nature and nations_, lib. iv. ss. . and ., pp. . and .: london, .) and it seems very probable that the term came to us from the romans; and as it appears from the books, referred to in the notes to s. ., that there were some instances in which an oath had been taken by proxy, it may, perhaps, be that the term _corporal_ was originally used to distinguish such oaths as were taken by the party himself from such as were taken by proxy. the word corporale plainly is the "_corporale_ linteum," on which the sacred elements were placed, and by which they were covered; and no doubt were so used, because it covered or touched what was considered to be the very body of our blessed lord. in fact, the term is the same, whether it be applied to oath or cloth; and when used with oath, it is used in the same sense as our immortal bard uses it in "corporal suffering" and "corporal toil." s. g. c. as the various forms in which oaths have been administered and taken is a question not altogether devoid of interest, i would wish to add a few words to what i have already written upon this subject. the earliest notice of this ceremony is probably that which is to be found in genesis xxiv. , .: "and abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had. put, i pray thee, _thy hand under my thigh_; and i will make thee swear," &c. that at a very early period the soldier swore by his sword, is shown by the anglo-norman poem on the conquest of ireland by henry ii., published by thomas wright, esq.: london, , p. .: "morice par sa espé ad juré, n' i ad vassal si osé." in a charter of the thirteenth century, made by one hugh de sarnefelde to the abbey of thomascourt in dublin, of a certain annuity, we find the passage: "et sciendum quod jam dictus adam de sarnefelde _affidavit in manu_ magistri roberti de bedeford pro se et heredibus suis quod fideliter et absque omni fallacia persolvent, etc. redditum prenominatum." and such clauses are probably of frequent occurrence in ancient charters. the expression "affidavit in manu" may be perhaps explained by referring to the mode in which the oath of homage was accustomed to be taken. this form, as it was of old time observed in england, is, i presume, { } fully described in other publications; but as many of the most valuable of the ancient public records of ireland have been, and are still, in a sadly neglected state, it is not probable that the following description of the manner in which certain of the irish chieftains in the time of richard ii. performed their homage to thomas earl of nottingham, his deputy, has been hitherto printed: "gerraldus o'bryn predictus zonam, glaudium et capitium ipsius a se amovens, et genibus flexis ad pedes dicti domini comitis procedit, ambas manus suas palmis [adgremium] junctis erigens, et inter manus dicti domini comitis crectas tenens, protulit hec verba in lingua hibernicana," &c.--_inquisition deposited in the exchequer record office, dublin; james i._ no. . james f. ferguson. dublin. * * * * * remuneration of authors. (vol. viii., p. .) some time ago i suggested, in the columns of "n. & q.," a collection which might prove interesting, of the remuneration received by authors for their works, sending my first instalment thereof. a correspondent (w. r.) has since contributed to the stock; and i now beg to add a few more cases which have lately occurred to me. in the instances of plays, &c., i have confined myself to the sums paid for the copyright; any remuneration accruing to the author from the performance, a share of the profit, benefit, &c. &c. being too diffuse to bring into a tabular form; and, in the case of works published while that servile system was in vogue, i have not attempted to record the amounts paid for dedications by the inflated "patrons," nor even those raised by subscription, except in one or two cases, where such was (which was rarely the case) a genuine transaction: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- title of work. |author. |price. |publisher. |authority. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- _phædra_ |edmund smith | l. |lintot. |dr. johnson. _the wanderer_ |savage | l. s. | -- |ditto. _beggar's opera_ |gay | l. | -- |spence. poems |ditto | l. |subscription|dr. johnson. translation of eight |w. broome | l. |paid by pope|ditto. books of the _odyssey_,| | | | and all the notes. | | | | ditto of four books of |fenton | l. |ditto |ditto. ditto | | | | edition of shakspeare |pope | l. s.|tonson |ditto. _amynta and theodora_ |mallet | l. |vaillant. |ditto. _the poor gentleman_ |g colman, sen.| l. | -- |r. b. peake. _who wants a guinea?_ |ditto | l. | -- |ditto. _tales from shakspeare_|charles lamb | l. | -- |himself. |mary lamb | | | contributions for two |charles lamb | l. | -- |t. moore, years to the _london | | | | lord j. magazine._ | | | | russell. the king of prussia's |thos. holcroft| l. | -- |galt. works, translation of | | | | _exchange no robbery_ |theodore hook | l. | -- |r. h. d. | | | | barham. _sayings and doings_ |ditto | l. |colburn |ditto. ( st series) | | | | _ditto_ ( nd series) |ditto | l. |ditto |ditto. | | l. | | | | l. | | _ditto_ ( rd series) |ditto | l. |ditto |ditto. _births, marriages, and|ditto | l. |ditto |ditto. deaths_ | | | | editorship of colburn's|ditto | l. per |ditto |ditto. _new monthly_ | | annum. | | _rejected addresses_ |j. and h. | l. |murray |h. smith. | smith |after th| | | | edition | | _country cousins_ } | | |paid for by |} _a trip to paris_ } |james smith. | l. |c. matthews |}himself. _air ballooning_ } | | |for his ent-|} _a trip to america_} | | |ertainments.| alexander andrews. * * * * * occasional forms of prayer. (vol. viii., p. .) the list of occasional forms of prayer, recently contributed to your pages by the rev. thomas lathbury, contained no less than forty-eight items. all the forms which he enumerates, with one exception, are earlier than the year . using the same limitation of date, i send you herewith a farther list of such occasional forms: all these are to be found in the british museum, and the press-marks by which they are designated in the catalogue are here added. the present list comprises fifty-one items, all of them, i think, different from those which have been already mentioned. unless otherwise stated, the copies of the forms here referred to are printed at london, and they are for the most part in black-letter, without pagination. a psalme and collect of thankesgiving, not unmeet for the present time [_i.e._ after the defeat of the spanish armada]. . ( . c.) { } an order for prayer and thanksgiving (necessary to be used in these dangerous times) for the safetie and preservation of her majestie and this realm. . a revision of the form first issued in . ( . c.) . certain prayers collected out of a form of godly meditations ... to be used at this time in the present visitation of god's heavy hand, &c. with the order of a fast to be kept every wednesday. . ( . c.) thanksgiving, august ; being the day of his highnesse's happy deliverance from the trayterous and bloody attempt of the earle of gowry and his brother, with their adherents. . ( . c.) forme of common prayer, together with an order of fasting: for the averting of god's heavy visitation upon many places of this kingdom [two editions, the second with a few ms. notes]. . ( . d.) . and ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. march , . ( . d. .) . prayer for safety and preservation of his majestie and this realm. . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. safe delivery of the queen. . fol. ( . e.) . thanksgiving. safe child-bearing of the queene's majestie. . fol. ( . e.) . thanksgiving. november , . ( . c.) thanksgiving. november , . ( . d. .) . prayer for the king's majestie, in the northern expedition. . fol. ( . e.) . a form of thanksgiving to be used september , , thorowout the diocese of lincoln, and in the jurisdiction of westminster. (?) ( . c.) thanksgiving. march , . ( . d. .) . prayer for the king's majestie, in his expedition against the rebels of scotland. . fol. ( . e.) . fast, february , , for a blessing on the treaty now begunne. ( . d. .) . thanksgiving for the late defeat given unto the rebells at newarke (and a prayer for the queene's safe delivery). . oxford, fol. ( . e.) . prayer to be used upon january , , in london and westminster, &c.; and upon the nd of the said moneth in the rest of england and wales. ( . d. .) . prayer on june and june , (as in the last form). ( . d. .) . fast. july , , in london, &c. ( . d. .) . prayer. april , . ( . c.) fast. november , . ( . d. .) . prayer for king. . ( . c.) thanksgiving. july , . victories over the rebels. ( . d. .) . prayers ... during this time of public apprehension from the danger of invasion. . ( . c.) additional prayers to be used, together with those appointed in the service for november , . ( . d. .) . fast. march , . preservation of his majestie's sacred person, and the prosperity of his arms in ireland, &c. ( . d. .) . fast. june and june , . to implore success in the war declared against the french king. ( . d. .) . thanksgiving: success towards the reducing of ireland. october , . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. november , . ( . d. .) . a prayer for the king, to be used instead of that appointed for his majestie's present expedition. . ( . d. .) . a prayer for the king, to be constantly used while his majesty is abroad in the wars. . ( . d. .) . fast. april , . ( . d. .) . two editions. thanksgiving. success in ireland. november , . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. october and november , . for the signal victory vouchsafed to the fleet. ( . d. .) . prayer, during the time of their majesties' fleet being at sea. . ( . d. .) . fast. april , . ( . d. .) . prayer. may , , and second wednesday of every month following, &c. ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. november and november , . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. december and december , . ( . d. .) . prayers to be used during the queen's sickness, &c. . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. april , . ( . d. .) . fast. june , . ( . d. .) . prayer. december and december , . ( . d. .) . fast. june . ( . d. .) . form of prayer to be used yearly on september , , for the dreadful fire of london. ( . d. .) . fast. april , . ( . d. .) . thanksgiving. december , . ( . d. .) . fast. april , . ( . d. .) . it would occupy more space than "n. & q." can afford to complete the list up to the present time. in the british museum catalogue alone, between the years and , there are about forms of prayer; and, between and , about more. let me, before leaving the subject, draw the attention of your readers to the following extract from straker's (adelaide street, west strand) _catalogue of books_, printed in , pp. .: article " . common prayer. forms of prayer, an extensive collection of, issued by authority, on public occasions; such as war and peace, plague and pestilence, earthquakes, treason and rebellion, accession of kings, birth of princes, &c. &c., from a.d. to a.d. , consisting of in manuscript and printed, together ; many of which are of the greatest scarcity, with a detailed catalogue of the collection, l. s. - [_sic_]. "the late j. w. niblock, d.d., f.s.a., was actively engaged for upwards of _thirty years_, (with { } great trouble and expense) in forming this exceedingly interesting and valuable collection for his projected work, to be entitled 'formÆ precum, or national state prayers, issued by authority, on fast and thanksgiving days, and other public occasions, from the reformation to the present time,' those in manuscript are copied with great care from the originals in public libraries and private collections." this important collection may possibly be unknown to some of your readers who take an interest in matters liturgical. w. sparrow simpson. having made it a point, for some years past, to preserve at least one copy of each occasional form of prayer, and wishing to comply with mr. lathbury's request, i send a list of those in my own possession. form and thanksgiving for delivery of the queen, and birth of a prince. . form and thanksgiving for preservation of the queen "from the atrocious and treasonable attempt against her sacred person." . form and thanksgiving for abundant harvest. . form and thanksgiving for delivery of the queen, and birth of a princess. . form and thanksgiving for delivery of the queen, and birth of prince. . form and thanksgiving for victories in the sutledge. . form and thanksgiving, for delivery of the queen, and birth of a princess. . form for relief from dearth and scarcity. . form for removal of dearth and scarcity. fast. . form and thanksgiving for abundant harvest. . form and thanksgiving for delivery of the queen, and birth of a princess. . form for maintenance of peace and tranquillity. . form for removal of disease. . form and thanksgiving for removal of disease. . form and thanksgiving for delivery of the queen, and birth of a prince. . abhba. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _photographic query._--given the diameter and focal length of a simple achromatic lens; at what distance from it must a diaphragm of given diameter be placed to give the best possible image? o. _improvement in collodion._--as there are many photographers who are not members of the photographic society, and who do not see the journal published by that body, a statement of what i think will be found a very material improvement in the manufacture of collodion may not be unacceptable to the readers of "n. & q." to five drachms of pure _washed_ ether, add one drachm alcohol ° over proof, and dissolve therein sufficient soluble cotton to make it of the consistence of oil (the exact quantity must depend rather upon the dexterity of the operator, as the thicker it is the more difficult to use) then add twenty minims of chloroform, dropping in the latter, which will fall to the bottom, but is readily dissolved on shaking the mixture for a few minutes. to two drachms of the same alcohol add the iodizing material preferred, and mix with the other ingredients. the above will be found to flow very evenly smoothly over the plate; is tough, intense, and _structureless_ in appearance. i have not yet determined what is the best iodizing mixture, but at present i prefer iodide of potassium _alone_, if pure, and twenty grains to the ounce of alcohol is the proportion i generally adopt; thus having five grains in each ounce of collodion. lastly, as regards the soluble cotton, i cannot find any better material than that produced according to the formula published by mr. hadow, in the march number of the _photographic journal_, thus: "take of nit. potash, five parts; sulphuric acid, ten parts; water, one part; _all by weight_. add the water to the nitrate of potash, and then the acid, and immediately immerse as much cotton wool as can be thoroughly saturated by the mixture, leaving it in for _at least_ ten minutes, and wash with a great abundance of water. the object of adding the cotton immediately that the acid has been mixed with the nitrate of potash, is to expose it to the action of the chemicals while they are at a temperature of from ° to °. for farther particulars on this head, i must refer to mr. hadow's paper. geo. shadbolt. [this application is not a novelty to us: dr. diamond has for some time added a small portion of his amber varnish (which is prepared from chloroform) to his collodion, and with satisfactory results. it is a pity that so admirable a varnish is not to be procured at the generality of photographic warehouses. we have never yet been able to procure any which will bear comparison with some which dr. diamond was good enough to prepare for us.--ed. "n. & q."] _printing positives._--i will venture to assure amateur that,--if he will follow dr. diamond's formula for albumenizing canson paper, either positive or negative, viz., chloride of sodium (salt) grs. chloride of ammonium grs. water oz. albumen, or the white of one egg, which is near enough for the purpose oz. and will excite this paper by floating it for about two minutes on a solution of nitrate of silver twenty grains to the ounce, distilled water,--provided his chemicals are good, he will obtain perfectly satisfactory results. let his fixing bath be a saturated solution of hypo. soda, and if newly made let him, as recommended by dr. diamond, add grains of chloride of silver to every ounces of the solution. the addition of a grain of sel d'or to every ounces of solution will greatly improve the tones of colour; and if, after some { } time, the positives become more of a brown tint than he likes, let him add a small quantity of sel d'or, half a grain to a bath of from to ounces, and he will find the dark tints restored. i inclose a copy of the print of "horse-shoeing," obtained precisely by the method described. it is rather overprinted; but if amateur will give you his address, and you will forward it to him, it will show him what tones of colour and depth may be procured by following the foregoing directions. c. e. f. _photographic excursions._--a few fellows of the society of antiquaries have formed themselves into a photographic club for the purpose of making periodical excursions into the country, and so securing accurate views of the objects of antiquarian interest in the different localities they may visit. as it is intended that a copy of every photograph so taken shall be deposited in the portfolios of the society, the advantages likely to result from this little reunion, both to the society of antiquaries and to archæology generally, are very obvious. * * * * * replies to minor queries. "_to garble_" (vol. ix., pp. . .).--i venture, with deference, to express a doubt as to whether e. s. t. t. has correctly defined either the former or the present meaning of the verb _to garble_, when he says "it meant a selection of the good and the discarding of the bad parts of anything: its present meaning is exactly the reverse of this." the statutes referred to by your correspondent, the first enacting that no bow staves shall be sold ungarbled, and the second imposing a penalty on the sale of spices and drugs not garbled, appear to me to indicate the former meaning of the word to have been the selection (picking out) of the _bad_ and the discarding of it. experience shows that in all operations, involving the separation of objects worthless and of value, such as weeding, sifting, and winnowing, the former is removed from the latter and discarded. this view of the case seems to be supported by the fact of the dust and dross sifted from spices being called "garbles." the weeder removes weeds from flowers or plants, the garbler removes garbles from spices and bad bow staves from amongst good ones. richardson's _dictionary_ contains the following notes under the head _garble_: "fr. _grabeler_; it. _garbellare_. cotgrave says, grabeller, to garble spices, &c., (and hence) also to examine precisely, sift nearly, look narrowly, search curiously into." after giving some examples of its use, richardson says: "as usually applied in england, to garble is to pick out, sift out what may serve a particular purpose, and thus destroy or mutilate the fair character of the whole." to go no farther, the reports of the parliamentary debates, when a "blue book" happens to furnish matter for discussion, amply confirm richardson's definition, that _to garble_ is to pick out what may serve a purpose. in this sense, however, e. s. t. t. must admit that it would be as much garbling to quote all the _good_ passages of a work as to quote all the bad ones. may we not then assume the present meaning of the word _garble_ to be this--to quote passages with the view of conveying an impression of the ability or intention of a writer, which is not warranted by the general scope of the work? c. ross. _"lyra apostolica_" (vol. ix., p. .).--there is, i believe, a slight inaccuracy in the rotation of the names given at the above page as the writers in the _lyra apostolica_. they go in alphabetical order, thus [alpha], bowden; [beta], froude; [gamma], keble; [delta], newman; [epsilon], wilberforce; [zeta], williams. b. r. a. y. the poems signed [zeta]. were written by _williams_, not by _wilberforce_. can you explain the meaning of the motto on the title-page-- "[greek: gnoien d', hôs dê dêron egô polemoio pepaumai]"? m. d. [this motto is from homer, _iliad_, xviii. . its literal translation is, they (the enemy) shall know that it was i who have long kept away from the war," and, by implication, that i have now returned to it; even i, the great hero achilles; for he is the taunting speaker. had it not been for my absence, he intimates, the trojans had not gained so many and great victories. we must leave our correspondent to apply this homeric verse to the protestant dark ages of the georgian era, and to the theological movement of .] _john bale, bishop of ossory_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a catalogue, professing to be a complete one, of this over-ardent reformer's voluminous works, with a portrait, may be seen in holland's _heroölogia anglica_, fol. - . there are some curious notices concerning him in blomefield's _history of norwich_ (fol. ), pp. , , ., where reference is also made to his brother robert as a learned man and great writer. william matthews. cowgill. _burial in an erect posture_ (vol. viii., pp. . . . . .; vol. ix., p. .).--how strange it is that all of us should have forgotten charlemagne. when his tomb at aix-la-chapelle was opened by the emperor frederic barbarossa in , "he found the body of charlemagne, not reclining in his coffin, as is the usual fashion of the dead, but seated in his throne, as one alive, clothed in the imperial robes, bearing the sceptre in his hand, and on his knees a copy of the gospels." (see murray's { } _handbook to belgium_.) the throne in which the body was seated, the sarcophagus (of parian marble, the work of roman or greek artists, ornamented with a fine bas-relief of the rape of proserpine) in which the feet of the dead king were placed, are still preserved in the cathedral, where i saw them last year, together with some portions of the robes, and some curious ancient embroidery: these last are not usually exhibited to strangers. w. sparrow simpson. "_carronade_" (vol. ix., p. .).--"the folk story," as to the derivation of this word (if such a comparatively modern invention deserves such an epithet, for the carron works, i believe, did not exist a hundred years ago) is quite correct. this gun is said to have been invented in ireland by general melville; but having been perfected at carron, it thence took its name. landmann (no mean authority at the beginning of this century), in his _questions and answers on artillery_, says: "the carronade takes its name from being first made at carron." h. t. ellacombe. "_largesse_" (vol. v., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--the use of this word is not confined to essex and northamptonshire, but extends also to norfolk. it is met with in many parishes in the western division of norfolk: where, at the time of harvest, after accompanying the last load of corn home with the procession of the "harvest lady," it is customary that the labourers on the several farms should go round their respective parishes, and collect various sums of money, under the name of _largesse_, at the houses of the chief inhabitants, whether lay or clerical. few were to be met with who refused this species of "black mail" thus levied on them; doubtless regarding it as one out of many means of testifying their thankfulness to the "lord of the harvest" for "filling their mouth with good things," and giving them an abundance of "corn and wine and oil." [sigma]. this word is of common occurrence in suffolk during the shooting season, where sportsmen are affrays greeted with it, for a donation, by the labourers on the land where game is sought for. n. l. j. _precious stones_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., pp. . . .).--as the titles of so many works on this subject have been already given in your pages, perhaps i may be of some service to your correspondents in farther completing the list, and referring them to the following in my own collection: on the origin of gems, by the hon. robert boyle: london, mo. the mirror of stones, in which the nature, generation, &c., of more than jewels, &c., are distinctly described by camillus leonardus, mo.: london, . a treatise on diamonds and pearls, by david jeffries, nd edit., vo.: london, . [this work, which was very scarce, has been recently reprinted by e. lumley for s.] traité des pierres précieuses et des pierres fines, par l. dutens, mo.: london, paris, and florence. [reprinted, with additions, in "les oeuvres mélés de dutens:" génève, vo., .] a treatise on diamonds and precious stones, by john mawe, nd edit.: london, vo., . a memoir of the diamond, by john murray, f.s.a., &c., mo.: london, . besides these may be consulted, the treatise of gemma, _delle gemme pretiose_, vols. to., a ponderous map of obsolete puerilities; the _minéralogie_ of m. de bomare; the _crystallographie_ of m. romé delisle; the essay of wallerius, _de lapidum origine_; the learned researches of bergman, _sur les pierres précieuses_, &c. i may add, that a practical work on the nature and value of precious stones, comprehending the opinions and superstitions of the ancients respecting them, together with an essay upon engraved gems, an account of celebrated collections and specimens, &c., is much wanted, and would probably be well received. william bates. birmingham. "_a pinch of snuff_" (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--this work is correctly attributed to benson e. hill, esq. the companion volume, _a paper of tobacco_, of which f. r. a. speaks in just terms of commendation, was the production of mr. w. a. chatto, the ingenious author of a _history of playing cards_, &c. his son, mr. thomas chatto, from whom i received this information, is a bookseller, at no. . museum street, bloomsbury: where i hope his civility, and anxiety to serve his visitors, will ensure the success he merits. william bates. birmingham. _darwin on steam_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the lines in question are not cited quite correctly by uneda. they run as follows: "soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam, afar drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; or on wide-waving wings expanded bear, the flying-chariot through the fields of air." they occur in the first part of the _botanic garden_, p. ., nd edit., to., london, . l. ( ) [we are also indebted to j. k. r. w. and other correspondents for similar replies.] _gale of rent_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the word _gale_ is used in the west of philadelphia in the sense of an instalment. thus, if land is { } bought to be paid for in annual sums, one of these is called a yearly gale. i have supposed, i cannot now say why, that this was an irish expression. uneda. _cobb family_ (vol. ix., p. ).--i have much reason to believe that mr. arthur paget will find a clue to his inquiries in the following particulars extracted from documents in my possession. the estate of st. katharine's hall, or st. kattern's, near bath, belonged to the family of blanchard; and in the property passed to the family of parry of st. kattern's by marriage with the heiress of the blanchards, who is thus described: "thomas parry, and querinah his wife, niece and heiress-at-law of william blanchard, who was only son and heir of henry blanchard, and querinah his wife," [only child of john curle, esq.]. in thomas parry devised the estate to his son john parry, who was the rector of sturmer, co. essex; and by his will [may, ] his property went to his sisters, elizabeth knight, querinah cobb, and hannah parry. elizabeth married, aug. , henry knight of lansdown, near bath. querinah married, nov. , william milles cobb, of ringwood, gentleman, third son of christopher cobb, merchant, and sarah his wife. i have in my possession some portraits of the blanchard, curle, and parry families; two by sir peter lely, which may afford mr. paget farther evidence of the consanguinity of richard cobb, esq., and the cobbs of ringwood. j. knight. aylestone. on the principle that every little helps, and out of gratitude for cranmore's assistance in the milton-minshull controversy, i would offer the following suggestions, which may haply serve as finger-posts to direct him on his way. william cobb, esq., of adderbury, oxon, immediate ancestor of the baronets of that name and place, derived from the cobbs of sandringham, in the hundred of freebridge, norfolk. blomefield's _history_ of the latter county might be consulted with advantage. the cobbs of adderbury bore "sable, a chevron argent between three dolphins naiant embowed or, a chief of the last." randle holme, in his _academy of armory_, , gives the following as the arms of cobb,--"per chevron sable and gules, two swans respecting each other and a herring cobb argent." thomas cobb, of otterington, yorkshire, a loyal subject of king charles i., compounded for his estates in the sum of l. there is a brass in sharnbrook church, bedfordshire, commemorating william cobbe, who died in , alice his wife, a son thomas, and other children. t. hughes. chester. "_aches_" (vol. ix., p. .).--i am not aware of any rhyme which fixes the pronunciation of _aches_ in the time of shakspeare, but i think the following quite as decisive: "_of the fallacie in the accent or pronunciation._--the fallacie of the accent is, when a false thing is affirmed under colour of pronouncing it as another thing that is true. for example: 'where no _ache_ is, there needs no salve; in the gout there is no h, therefore, in the gout, there needs no salve.'" _the elements of logicke_, by peter dumoulin. translated out of the french copie by nathanael de-lawne, with the author's approbation: london, , mo. "_anthony._ thou bleedest apace. _scarus._ i had a wound here that was like a t; but now 'tis made an h." _ant. and cleop._, act iv. sc. . see also on the "aitch" question, _letters of an irish student_, vol. i. p. ., london, ; and _the parlour window_, by the rev. edward mangin, p. ., london, . h. b. c. u. u. club. "_meols_" (vol. vii., pp. . .).--there is an extensive parish called north _meols_ (the favourite watering-place of southport being within it) in the sandy district to the south of the estuary of the ribble, in lancashire. prestoniensis. _polygamy_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the practice of monogamy had been established among the jews before the christian era, as is shown by various expressions in the new testament; but their law (like that of other oriental nations) still permitted polygamy, and they were expressly prohibited by an enactment of the emperor theodosius, of the year , from marrying several wives at the same time (cod. . . .); so that the practice was not then extinct among them. monogamy was the law and practice of all the greek and italian communities, so far back as our accounts reach. there is no trace of polygamy in homer. even in the incestuous marriages supposed by him in the mythical family of Æolus, the monogamic rule is observed, _odyssey_, x. . the roman law recognised monogamy alone, and hence polygamy was prohibited in the entire roman empire. it thus became practically the rule of christians, and was engrafted into the canon law of the eastern and western churches. l. _wafers_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have in my possession a volume of original italian letters, addressed to a venetian physician (who appears to have been eminent in his profession), michael angelo rota, written during the early part of the seventeenth century. many of these letters have been sealed with red wafers, still adhering to the { } paper, and precisely similar to those now in use. the earliest of the letters which i have found sealed is dated april, , which is seventeen years earlier than the earliest known instance, mentioned by beckmann (_history of inventions_, bohn's edit., vol. i. p. .), of a letter sealed with a wafer. walter sneyd. denton. i have before me a reprieve from the council, dated in , sealed with a wafer, and am certain that i have earlier instances, had i time at this moment to look them up. l. b. l. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the northern antiquaries set their brethren in this country a noble example. every year sees one or more of them engaged in the production of carefully-edited volumes of early scandinavian history. we have now to record the publication, by professor munch, of the old norse text of _kong olaf tryggvesön's saga_ from a ms. in the library at stockholm which has not hitherto been made use of; and also, by the same gentleman, in conjunction with his friend professor unger, of an edition of the _saga olafs konungs ens helga_, from the earliest ms. in the library at stockholm. each work is introduced by a preface of great learning, and illustrated by a large body of valuable notes. those who have shared our regret, that the brilliant notices of books which occasionally appear in the columns of _the times_ should be presented in a form which scarcely admits of their being preserved, and also our satisfaction when mr. murray put forth his selection from them under the title of _essays from the times_, will be glad that the same publisher has issued in his _railway reading_ a second series of them, comprising fourteen articles. we may remind all lovers of beautiful illustrations of mediæval art, that messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell by auction on monday next the entire stock of the magnificent publications of mr. henry shaw, f.s.a., whose _dresses and decorations of the middle ages_ are a type of the whole. such an opportunity of securing copies at a reasonable rate will never occur again. while on the subject of sales, we may mention that messrs. puttick and simpson announce a sale of _photographs_. this is the first instance; but we may be sure, with the growing taste for these accurate and, in many cases, also artistic transcripts of nature, every season will see many similar sales. at the anniversary of the society of antiquaries on monday last, admiral smyth moved a vote of thanks to mr. bruce, on his retirement from the treasurership, for his zeal and indefatigable exertions in that office. the manner in which the gallant admiral's remarks were received showed, first, that the reforms advocated by mr. bruce now meet the general approval of the society; and secondly, that the warmth of feeling which they had called forth on both sides has entirely disappeared. books received.--_condé's history of the arabs in spain, translated from the spanish_, by mrs. jonathan foster, in three volumes, vol. i. mr. bohn deserves the best thanks of all lovers of history for this english translation--the first which has ever been made--of the admirable work of condé. it is one of the most important volumes which he has published in his _standard library.--the diary and letters of madame d'arblay_, vol. ii. the second volume of this amusing, gossiping, and egotistical work, comprises the period - .--_pantomime budgets, &c._, a clever pamphlet in favour of prepaid taxation.--_john penry, the pilgrim martyr_, - , by john waddington. a violent anti-church biography of penry, whose share in the marprelate controversy mr. waddington disbelieves on very insufficient grounds. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. lingard's england. foolscap vo. . vols. i. to v., and x. and xi. the works of dr. jonathan swift. london, printed for c. bathurst, in fleet street, . vol. vii. (vol. vi. ending with "verses on the death of dr. swift," written in nov. .) byron's works. vol. vi. of murray's edition. . the volume of the london polyglott which contains the prophets. imperfection in other parts of no consequence. carlisle on grammar schools. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. two copies. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: any of the occasional sermons of the rev. charles kingsley, of eversley, more particularly the mission of the church to the labouring classes, and clothes cheap and nasty, by parson lot. wanted by _h. c. cowley_, melksham, wilts. the numbers of the british and colonial quarterly review, published in , by smith and elder, cornhill, containing a review of a work on graduated, sliding-scale, taxation. also any work of the french school on the same subject, published from down to the end of the revolution. wanted by _r. j. cole_, . furnival's inn. brevint's christian sacrament and sacrifice, th edition, . rivingtons. wanted by _s. hayward_, bookseller, bath. j. g. agardh, species, genera et ordines algarum. royal vo. london - . lacroix, diff. et integ. calculus. last edition. wanted by the _rev. frederick smithe_, churchdown, gloucester. admiral napier's revolution in portugal. moxon, dover street. wanted by _hugh owen, esq._, bristol. platonis opera omnia (stallbaum). gothæ et erfordiæ, sumptibus guil. hennings, ; published in jacobs and rost's bibliotheca græca. vol. iv. sect. ., containing menexenus, lysis, hippias uterque, io. wanted by the _rev. g. r. mackarness_, barnwell rectory, near oundle. { } ancient commerce of hindostan, forming vol. vii. of "maurice's indian antiquities, ." wanted by the _rev. h. atlay, b.-casterton, stamford_. bishop o'brien's ten sermons on justification. wanted by _lieut. bruce_, royal horse artillery, chatham. latimer's sermons. published by the parker society. vol. i. wanted by _mr. j. g. nichols_, . parliament street. plans or maps of ancient london, and representations of remarkable and interesting objects connected therewith--large size (such as old st. paul's, paul's cross, old london bridge, &c.). a copy of no. . (or early number) of "the times" newspaper. a copy of one of the "broadsheets" issued during the plague. wanted by _mr. joseph simpson_, librarian, literary and scientific institution, islington, london. * * * * * notices to correspondents. sigma. _the rev. richard warner, the historian of bath, we believe, is still living, and is rector of chadfield, wilts, and chelwood, somersetshire._ f. s. a. _the origin as well as the demolition of castell dinâs, bran, near llangollen, have baffled our topographical antiquaries. for some notices of this fortress consult pennant's_ tour in wales, p. ., edit. (_with a plate of it_); _leland's_ itinerary, vol. v. p. .; _and_ beauties of england and wales, vol. xviii. p. . rustica. _the dutch gothic church_, noticed in the times _of the th inst., is in austin friars_. j--g. _we did not succeed in getting the book._ neison on railway accidents _is published in the_ journal of the statistical society _for december, , and may be had of parker, strand_. b. t. a. _the line_ "england, with all thy faults i love thee still," _is by cowper_ (the task, book ii.). rev. j. j. _we fear some injustice was done--unintentionally, but fear also that it is now too late to remedy it._ inquirer (birmingham). _some of our correspondents have met with great success from mr. crookes' process; but we are bound to say that it has not been universal._ g. w. e. _recommends that in immersing a collodion plate it should first be inserted horizontally, and then transversely in the nitrate of silver bath, as a sure means of avoiding spots_. _he is informed that if the edges of his glass are roughed, it will greatly tend to the adhesion of the collodion. the nitrate of silver bath, used for exciting collodion plates, is not available for exciting albumenized paper or any other purpose._ h. c. c. _ . the addition of cyanide of potassium to the sensitive collodion not only prevents its decomposition, but appears to add to its general good qualities. . protosulphate of iron mixed with your nitrate bath is quite fatal. . good pictures are constantly taken when the temperature is below sixty; though there is no doubt all chemical action is quicker in warm weather._ b. (manchester). _see_ "n. & q.," no. , _october , _. w. beatson. _there are difficulties in the way of such an exchange of photographic pictures, which are very difficult to overcome. at present we believe the photographic society, with the aid of an energetic council, have been unable to effect this, even to a limited extent._ erratum.--vol. ix., p. . col. . line , _for_ - _read_ - . our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price_ s. d., _cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price_ l. s.--_for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography, instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post. s. d. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross. featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * { } sale of photographic pictures, landscape camera by horne & co.; prints and drawings. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, early in may, an important collection of photographic pictures by the most celebrated artists and amateurs; comprising some _chefs d'oeuvre_ of the art, amongst which are large and interesting views taken in paris, rouen, brussels, switzerland, rome, venice, various parts of england and scotland. rustic scenes, architectural subjects, antiquities, &c. also, some interesting prints and drawings. catalogues will be sent on application (if at a distance, on receipt of two stamps.) * * * * * sale of the rev. g. s. faber's library.--mr. white has received instructions to sell by auction in the house no. . north bailey (next door to the exhibition room), durham, on tuesday, may th, and three following days, the extensive and valuable library of the late rev. g. s. faber, prebendary of salisbury, and master of sherburn hospital, durham, consisting of editions of the fathers, works on divinity, general literature, &c. catalogues are now ready, and may be had of messrs. f. & j. rivington, no. . waterloo place, pall mall, and of mr. s. low, . fleet street, london; messrs. blackwood & sons, edinburgh; of mr. andrews, bookseller, durham, and of the auctioneer. catalogues will be forwarded by post by mr. andrews, bookseller, durham, on receipt of two postage stamps. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial; signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the under-signed members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, y. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. no. . pall mall east, and . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. _established_ a.d. . investment accounts may be opened daily, with capital of any amount. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses and forms sent free on application. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * london homoeopathic hospital. . golden square, founded by the british homoeopathic association, october , ; opened for the reception of patients, april , . _patroness._ her royal highness the duchess of cambridge. _president._ field-marshal the marquis of anglesey, k.g., g.c.b. _vice-presidents._ his grace the archbishop of dublin. his grace the duke of beaufort. right hon. the earl of essex. right hon. the viscount sydney. right hon. the lord gray. the viscount maldon. lord francis gordon. captain lord c. paget, r.n., m.p. captain lord a. paget, m.p colonel lord g. paget, m.p. colonel wyndham. f. foster quin, esq., m.d. marmaduke b. sampson, esq. _treasurer._ sir john dean paul, bart., . strand. * * * * * a conversazione (instead of the annual dinner), in aid of the funds of this hospital, will be held at the hanover square rooms, on tuesday evening, may , at eight o'clock. tickets may be had at the hospital, . golden square of messrs. aylott & jones, paternoster row; mr. bailliere, . regent street; mr. headland, . princes street, hanover square; mr. leath, vere street, cavendish square, and st. paul's churchyard; mr. walker, conduit street; mr. james epps, great russell street, bloomsbury square, and broad street, city; mr. turner, piccadilly, manchester; mr. thompson, liverpool; and at all the homoeopathic chemists and booksellers. single tickets, s. d.; family tickets to admit four, l. s. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page "shakspeare's rime which he made at the mytre," by dr. e. f. rimbault rous, the sottish psalmist, provost of eton college: and his will, by the rev. h. t. ellacombe original english royal letters to the grand masters of malta, by william winthrop disease among cattle, by thos. nimmo popiana, by harry leroy temple hampshire folk lore, by eustace w. jacob the most curious book in the world minor notes:--baptism, marriage, and crowning of geo. iii.--copernicus--first instance of bribery amongst members of parliament--richard brinsley sheridan--publican's invitation--bishop burnet again!--old custom preserved in warwickshire--english diplomacy v. russian queries:-- ancient tenure of lands, by a. j. dunkin owen rowe the regicide writings of the martyr bradford, by the rev. a. townsend minor queries:--courtney family--"the shipwrecked lovers"-- sir john bingham--proclamation for making mustard--judges practising at bar--celebrated wagers--"pay me tribute, or else----"--"a regular turk"--benj. rush--per centum sign-- burial service tradition--jean bart's descent on newcastle-- madame de staël--honoria, daughter of lord denny--hospital of john of jerusalem--heiress of haddon hall--monteith-- vandyking--hiel the bethelite--earl of glencairn--willow bark in ague--"perturbabantur," &c. minor queries with answers:--seamen's tickets--bruce, robert--coronation custom--william warner--"isle of beauty"--edmund lodge--king john replies:-- has execution by hanging been survived? by william bates coleridge's christabel, by c. mansfield ingleby general whitelocke photographic correspondence:--gravelly wax negatives-- photographic experience replies to minor queries:--turkish language--dr. edward daniel clarke's charts of the black sea--aristotle on living law--christ's or cris cross row--titles to the psalms in the syriac version--"old rowley"--wooden effigies--abbott families miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * mr. ruskin's new work. now ready, in crown vo., with plates, price s. d. cloth, lectures on architecture and painting. by john ruskin, author of "the stones of venice," "modern painters," "seven lamps of architecture," &c. london: smith, elder, & co., . cornhill. * * * * * government inspection of nunneries. this day, in fcp. vo., price s. d. (post free, s.), quicksands on foreign shores! this work, which is the production of a lady, and revised by a prelate highly distinguished in the world of letters, ought to be in the hands of every protestant and catholic in the kingdom. blackader & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * morell.--russia and england, their strength and weakness. by john reynell morell. pp., mo. sd., price s. whitty.--the governing classes of great britain: political portraits. by edward m. whitty. pp., mo. sd., price s. d. trÜbner & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * now ready, no. vii. (for may), price s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * no. ii. of john russell smith's old book circular is published this day; containing choice, useful, and curious books at very moderate prices. it may be had gratis on application, or sent by post on receipt of a postage label to frank it. j. r. smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species. british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal_. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * johnston's maps of the war, engraved from entirely new drawings, and containing the latest and most accurate information. i. the black sea, caucasus, crimea, &c., with large plans of sevastopol, and the positions of the ships and batteries, seen from h.m.s.f. "retribution." the bosphorus and beicos bay. ii. the danubian principalities, and adjoining countries from vienna to constantinople, and map of central europe, from st. petersburg to cairo. iii. the baltic sea and german ocean, with enlarged plans of cronstadt, sveaborg, revel, port baltic, and gulf of riga. price, coloured. s. each, by post, s. d.; or the three by post, s. d. edinburgh: w. & a. k. johnston, geographers and engravers to the queen: and all booksellers. * * * * * photographic pictures, landscape camera by horne & co.: a new transit instrument by troughton & sims: also prints and drawings, and a collection of paintings, chiefly english historical portraits. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on thursday, may , and following day, an important collection of photographic pictures by the most celebrated artists and amateurs; comprising some _chefs d'oeuvre_ of the art, amongst which are large and interesting views taken in paris, rouen, brussels, switzerland, rome, venice, various parts of england and scotland, rustic scenes, architectural subjects, antiquities, &c. also, some interesting prints and drawings, early proofs of landseer's works. catalogues will be sent on application (if at a distance, on receipt of two stamps). * * * * * { } new works to be published in may. * * * * * i. the third volume of the history of europe, from the fall of napoleon to the accession of louis napoleon. by sir archibald alison, bart. contents:--asia minor, greece, turkey, in . the greek revolution, battle of navarino, and establishment of greek independence. the war between russia and turkey, - . france to the revolution of , &c. ii. narrative of a journey through syria and palestine in and . by lieutenant van de velde, late of the dutch royal navy. in vols. vo., with map of the author's route, plan of jerusalem, and other illustrations. iii. history of the propagation of christianity among the heathen since the reformation. by the rev. w. brown, m.d., secretary of the scottish missionary society. third edition, brought down to the present time, in vols. vo. iv. the second volume. history of the byzantine and greek empires. by george finlay, esq. containing: from to the storming and sack of constantinople by the crusaders in . from to the siege and capture of constantinople by the turks under mohammed in . * * * * * now published, professor johnston's chemistry of common life. vol. i. price s. with illustrations, engraved on wood by branston, &c. to be completed in two volumes. * * * * * the black sea. the fourth edition of mr. oliphant's russian shores of the black sea. in octavo, with engravings on wood, an enlarged map of the crimea, and map of the author's route. price s. * * * * * history of the french protestant refugees, from the revocation of the edict of nantes. by charles weiss, professor of history at the lycée bonaparte. translated, with the assistance of the author, by frederic hardman. demy vo., price s. * * * * * the physical atlas of natural phenomena. by alexander keith johnston, f.r.s.e., f.r.g.s., f.g.s., &c. a new and carefully revised edition, in which subjects not overtaken in the first edition will be supplied, and the whole work brought into accordance with the present state of information. to be completed in twelve parts, imperial folio, price s. each. prospectuses may be had of all booksellers. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * as secretary or amanuensis. a gentleman who is quite conversant with the french, german, and italian languages, and well acquainted with botany and entomology, is desirous of obtaining some permanent employment. the most satisfactory references as to competency and respectability of family and connexions can be given. address, f. g. h., care of mr. newman, printer, . devonshire street, bishopsgate street. * * * * * new piano music.--"the celebrated composer, theodore oesten.--it is always with particular pleasure we direct our attention to those subjects which are interesting to our fairer readers--such, for instance, as the musical topics of the day. every fair pianiste is acquainted with the name of theodore oesten; every piano is loaded with his gay and beautiful productions. who does not know, or, knowing, does not admire, his 'valse elegante?' who is insensible to his beautiful interpretation of küchen's 'cradle song' (schlummerlied), or his very many elegant transpositions for the pianoforte, as 'rousseau's dream,' beethoven's admired 'adelaide,' and his very remarkable arrangement of our glorious national anthem 'god save the queen'--all of them worthy (and that is not to say a little) of the popular arranger of the charming 'when the swallows hasten home.' the singular merits of theodore oesten have not escaped the vigilant eye of her majesty's music publishers, the messrs. robert cocks & co. having secured, as we are informed, the exclusive copyright of his works for this country."--vide _globe_, th april, . london: . new burlington street. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. 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"this number is the most equal and most readable of the new series."--_economist._ "the westminster review seems to be in a rising way.... of the eight articles four are of immediate interest."--_daily news._ "the paper on cotemporary literature concludes a volume of more than average interest."--_oxford chronicle._ "schamyl, a paper of remarkable interest."--_commonwealth._ london: john chapman, . strand. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, may , ._ notes. "shakspeare's rime which he made at the mytre." in the third volume of mr. collier's valuable _history of dramatic poetry_ (p. .) is the following passage, which forms part of a note: "mr. thorpe, the enterprising bookseller of bedford street, is in possession of a ms. full of songs and poems, in the handwriting of a person of the name of richard jackson, all copied prior to the year , and including many unpublished pieces, by a variety of celebrated poets. one of the most curious is a song in five seven-line stanzas, thus headed 'shakspeare's rime, which he made at the mytre in fleete streete.' it begins 'from the rich lavinian shore;' and some few of the lines were published by playford, and set as a catch." in mr. thoms' _anecdotes and traditions_ (published by the camden society) is a story of the celebrated dr. john wilson, to which the editor has appended an interesting note, adding: "wilson was the composer of a glee for three voices, published in playford's _musical companion_, where the words are attributed to shakspeare; and the supposition that they were really written by him having been converted into a certainty, by their appearing with shakspeare's name to them in the ms. collection of poetry, copied prior to by richard jackson," &c. mr. thoms then prints the "rime," not inappropriately calling it "a song for autolycus," with this remark: "my late respected friend mr. douce once told me, that some musical friend at chichester, i think the organist, possessed a copy of this song, with an additional verse." mr. thoms' version of "shakspeare's rime" was inserted (probably by our worthy editor himself?) in the first volume of "n. & q." (p. .) with a view of obtaining the additional stanza; a desideratum which i am now enabled to supply. the following copy has _two_ additional stanzas, and is transcribed from a ms. collection of songs, with the music, written in the early part of the reign of james i. the ms. was formerly in the possession of mr. j. s. smith, the learned editor of _musica antiqua_. i. "from the fair lavinian shore, i your markets come to store; marvel not, i thus far dwell, and hither bring my wares to sell; such is the sacred hunger of gold. then come to my pack, while i cry, what d'ye lack, what d'ye buy? for here it is to be sold. ii. "i have beauty, honour, grace, virtue, favour, time and space, and what else thou wouldst request, e'en the thing thou likest best; first, let me have but a touch of thy gold, then come too lad, thou shalt have what thy dad never gave; for here it is to be sold. iii. "though thy gentry be but young, as the flow'r that this day sprung, and thy father thee before, never arms nor scutcheon bore; first let me have but a catch of thy gold, then, though thou be an ass, by this light thou shalt pass for a knight; for here it is to be sold. iv. "thou whose obscure birth so base, ranks among the ignoble race, and desireth that thy name, unto honour should obtain; first let me have but a catch of thy gold, then, though thou be an ass, by this light, thou shalt pass for a knight; for here it is to be sold. v. "madam, come see what you lack? here's complexion in my pack; white and red you may have in this place, to hide an old ill-wrinkled face: first, let me have but a catch of thy gold, then thou shalt seem, like a wench of fifteen, although you be threescore and ten years old." that this song enjoyed extensive popularity in the latter half of the seventeenth century, is evinced by the number of printed copies. it is found in playford's _select ayres and dialogues_, ; in dr. wilson's _cheerfull ayres and ballads_, ; in playford's _catch that catch can_, ; and in many subsequent collections of a similar kind. but in none of these works is the name of the writer of the words given; and all the copies are deficient of the _third_ and _fourth_ stanzas. the point of the satire conveyed in these stanzas was lost after the reign of james i., which may account for their omission. "shakspeare's rime," being associated with wilson's music, is of some importance towards settling the point of authorship. in i printed a little pamphlet with the following title: "who was _jack wilson_, the singer of shakspeare's stage? an attempt to prove the identity of this { } person with john wilson, doctor of musick, in the university of oxford, a.d. ." it would be out of place here to dwell upon this publication, suffice it to say, that all the information i have since collected, tends to confirm the hypothesis advanced. one extract from this _brochure_ will show the connexion that existed between shakspeare and wilson: "wilson was the composer of four other shakspearian lyrics, a fact unknown to mr. collier, when he wrote the article in the _shakspeare papers_: 'where the bee sucks,' 'full fathom five,' 'lawn as white as driven snow,' and 'from the fair lavinian shore.' they are all printed in the author's _cheerfull ayres or ballads_, oxford, . we have now evidence from this work, that wilson was the _original_ composer of the music to _one_ of shakspeare's plays. he says in his preface, 'some of these ayres were _originally_ composed by those whose names are affixed to them, but are here placed as being _new set_ by the author of the rest. the two songs, 'where the bee sucks,' and 'full fathom five,' have appended to them the name of 'r. johnson,' who, upon this evidence, we may undoubtedly conclude was the _original_ composer of the music in the play of the _tempest_. the song 'lawn as white as driven snow,' from the _winter's tale_, has the name of 'john wilson' attached to it, from which it is equally certain that he was its _original_ composer. in my own mind, the circumstances connected with the shakspearian lyrics in this book are almost conclusive as to the identity of john wilson the _composer_ with john wilson the _singer_. unless the composer had been intimately acquainted with the theatre of shakspeare's day, it is not likely that he would have remembered, so long after, the name of one of its composers. nor is it likely, being so well acquainted with the _original_ composers of the shakspearian drama, and so anxious as he appears to have been to do justice to their memory, that he would have omitted informing us, who was the _original_ composer of the song in the _winter's tale_, had it been any other than himself. the _winter's tale_ was not produced before or , at which period wilson was sixteen or seventeen years old, an age quite ripe enough for the production of the song in question." a reviewer of my little publication in the _athenæum_ (nov. , ) makes the following remark: "let us observe, in conclusion, that dr. rimbault is better read in jack wilson than ben jonson, or we should never have seen mr. shakspeare's 'rime' at the 'mitre,' in fleet street, seriously referred to as a genuine composition. it is a mere clumsy adaptation, from ben's interesting epigram 'inviting a friend to supper.'" it is really too bad to be charged with ignorance _unjustly_. i have on my shelves the works of glorious ben, three times over: in folio - ; in folio, ; and in nine volumes octave (gifford's edition), ; all of which i will freely give to the "reviewer," if he can prove that _one line_ of "shakspeare's rime at the mytre" is taken from the aforesaid epigram. i heartily agree with him in admiration of jonson's spirited imitation of martial, which i have transcribed as a pleasant relish towards digesting these rambling remarks: "inviting a friend to supper. "to-night, grave sir, both my poor house and i do equally desire your company: not that we think us worthy such a guest, but that your worth will dignify our feast, with those that come; whose grace may make that seem something, which else could hope for no esteem. it is the fair acceptance, sir, creates the entertainment perfect, not the cates. yet shall you have, to rectify your palate, an olive, capers, or some better salad, ushering the mutton; with a short-legg'd hen, if we can get her, full of eggs, and then, limons, and wine for sauce: to these, a coney is not to be despair'd of for our money; and though fowl now be scarce, yet there are clerks, the sky not falling, think we may have larks. i'll tell you of more, and lie, so you will come: of partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some may yet be there; and godwit if we can; knat, rail, and ruff too. howsoe'er my man shall read a piece of virgil, tacitus, livy, or of some better book to us, of which we'll speak our minds, amidst our meat; and i'll profess no verses to repeat; to this if aught appear, which i not know of, that will the pastry, not my paper, show of. digestive cheese, and fruit there sure will be; but that which most doth take my muse and me, is a pure cup of rich canary wine, which is the mermaid's now, but shall be mine; of which had horace or anacreon tasted, their lives, as do their lines, till now had lasted. tobacco, nectar, or the thespian spring, are all but luther's beer, to this i sing, of this we will sup free, but moderately, and we will have no pooly', or parrot by; nor shall our cups make any guilty men: but at our parting, we will be, as when we innocently met. no simple word, that shall be utter'd at our mirthful board, shall make us sad next morning; or affright the liberty, that we'll enjoy to-night." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * rous, the scottish psalmist, provost of eton college: and his will. looking over some back numbers of "n. & q.," i see an inquiry (vol. v., p. .) after francis rous. g. n. will find an account of him in chalmers's _biographical dictionary_, gathered out of wood's _athenæ_; noble's _memoir of cromwell_, vol. i. { } p. ; lysons' _environs of london_, vol. ii.; _granger_, vol. iii. in his will, a copy of which lies before me, proved feb. , , he speaks of "a youth in scotland, his grandson," and "as the heir of idleness abhorring to give him an estate, but wishing he might be a useful member of christ and the commonwealth, he desires his executors to give him l. a year so long as he shall be in preparation towards a profession, and as many of his books as may be fit for him." i shall be much obliged if any correspondent can find out anything farther about the said "youth in scotland?" h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. p.s.--why should not "n. & q." be the publisher of any curious old wills, which might interest the general reader? allow me to suggest a corner for _testamenta vestusta_. i will begin by sending a copy of the will of francis rous. this my last will and testament, i, francis rous, provost of eaton college, wrote and made march th, . forasmuch as to put houses in order before our departure is pleasing to the god of order, i do dispose of my affairs and estates in manner following: there is a youth in scotland concerning whom (because they call him my grandson) it is perchance expected that i should do some great matters for him; but his father marrying against my will and prohibition, and giving me an absolute discharge before the marriage under his hand, not to expect anything from me if he did marry contrary to my prohibition, i hold myself discharged from the father, and consequently from the son of that father, the son having no interest in me but by the father. and i hold it a good example, for the benefitt of the commonwealth, that matters of discouragement should be put upon such marriages, being assured that their parents will not disinheritt or lessen them, especially if they have but one son, and that which solomon saith is to be considered--an understanding servant shall have rule over a son that maketh ashamed, and both that[ ], and his son, and his son in scotland have both made ashamed, the one in his match, the other by a sad mischief of dangerous consequence and fatal; and though his mother is bound to maintain him, yet because i wish he might be a useful member of christ and the commonwealth, towards which i think she is not well able to give him an answerable education, i have in this my will taken course for a competent maintenance for him towards a profession, and in it utterly abhorring to give him an estate, as the heir of idleness. wherefore to the fore-mentioned purpose, i desire my executor to give him l. a year, so long as he shall be in preparation towards a profession, or shall really and seriously be in the practice of it; and as many of my books as may be fitt for him in the profession he shall undertake, and shall not be given to pembroke college, i desire my executor to give unto him: but if he, or a guardian, or any other, shall sue or implead, or call my executor into question to his trouble or cost, i leave it to my executor's choice whether he will pay his maintenance of l. per annum, or any part of it. i give to mr. ellford, my pastor at acton, l. i give l. per annum for ever to be disposed of in buying bibles, catechisms, or for encouraging poor children to learn to read and answer in catechising in the parish of dittisham, in the county of devon, the place of my nativity and baptism, which sum shall be bestowed according to the direction of the minister there for the time being; and to the present minister i give l. i give to the poor of acton each five shillings; i give to the poor of westminster, kensington, knightsbridge, half a year's rent of that which they used to receive. i give mr. bartlett of windsor l. i appoint l. to be lent to my nephew william rous, which he must pay by l. a year to my nephew richard rous, his son. i give thomas rous, of king's college, l. for two years. i give eliz. rous, of penrose in cornwall, l. i give anthony rous at eaton school, l. a year for seven years. i give to my niece rudyard, and her sisters skelton and dorothy, each l. i give to margaret baker l. i give to a poor xtian woman in dartmouth, mrs. adams, l. to robert needler i give a black suit and cloak; the like to william grantham and l. to my niece portman, now in my house, i give l. to my other friends of more ability, i leave it to my executor to give such memorials as he shall think fitt. to the poor of eaton i give l. to each of my servants that are with me at any decease i give black suits and l.; and to peter fluellen, who is now endeavouring to get a place of removal, l. i give to thomas rolle of eaton, and robert yard, each l. i give to christian, now the wife of mr. johnson, l. i give to the young winnington of eaton, l. i give l. per annum out of the parsonage or tythe of great brookeham in surrey, to maintain two schollars in pembroke college in oxford. i also give l. per annum unto one schollar more in the same college, out of a tenement in the manor of wootton in cornwall, during two lives of two bigfords, and after their decease out of a tenement of mine in cowkberry, in devon, for ever. the scholars to be chosen are to be poor, { } not having l. a year, apt to learning, and to be of the posterity of myself or my brother robert, richard, or arthur rous, or of my sister nicholl, or my sister upton; and if no such shall be tendered, then they are to be chosen out of the two highest forms in eaton college. i give power to my executor to choose them during his life, and desire him, with the advice of my dear kinsman, mr. ambrose upton, prebend of xt church in oxford, to settle and order all things for the sure and usefull continuance of their allowances to schollars so qualified as before and of good conversation, and that they study divinity, and some time before they be batchelors of arts, they make good proof of their studying divinity, and that they continued in their several places but _seven years_, and then others to be chosen in their rooms. what shall be above l. per annum arising out of the tythe of brookham declaro, and above all rates and taxes, i give unto the minister of that parish; and i give the parsonage to my respected kinsman samuel rous, esq., of that parish, yet so, that if he die before my executor, my executor shall present during his life, and after it shall go to the heirs of the said samuel rous, it being to be hoped that their dwelling be there they will be carefull for their own souls. i do make and constitute my dear kinsman anthony rous, esq., of wootton, in the county of cornwall, commonly called or known by the name of colonel rous, to be my whole and sole executor. and i give and bequeath to him all my lands, tenements, my interest in the parsonage of great brookham in surrey, all my leases, chattels, plate, money, and other goodly whatsoever, as also my copyholds, which shall, according to custom, be made over to him in acton or branford, hoping that he will faithfully dispose them according to my will and intention made known to him; and i give him l., and lend him l. more for seven years, which he may bestow in defence of himself as to law suits, if any be brought as concerning my estate, or if there shall be none to bestow, in some charitable use as he shall think fitt. i desire my body may be interred and put to rest in the chapple of eaton college, a place that hath my dear affections and prayers that it may be a flouring nursery of piety and learning to the end of the world. and for a profession of any faith, i refer myself to the works which i not long since published in one volume, wherein i have professed a right and saving faith, and hope to continue therein until faith shall be swallowed up of sight, laying hold of the free grace of god in his beloved son as my only title to eternity, being confident that his free grace, which took me up lying in the blood of irregeneration, will wash away the guilt of that estate, and all the cursed fruits of it by the pretious blood of his son, and will wash away the filth of it by the spirit of his son, and so present me faultless before the presence of god's glory with joy. (signed) francis rous. the right honorable francis rous, esq., acknowledged this to be his last will and testament, the th day of april, [ ], in the presence of me, abel borsett, endorsed, upon a paper wherein the original will was folded and sealed up, thus, viz., "my last will, attested by mr. humphreys and mr. borsett." this will was proved at london the th day of february, in the year of our lord god , before the judges for probate of wills and granting administrations lawfully authorised, by the oath of collonell anthony rouse, esq., the sole and only executor named in the said will, to whom administration of all and singular the goods, chattels, and debts of the said deceased was granted and committed. [footnote : this appears to be an error.] [footnote : it should doubtless be .] * * * * * original english royal letters to the grand masters of malta. (_concluded from_ vol. ix., p. .) no. xi. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most illustrious and most high prince, the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--greeting: it having appeared to us a matter of interest, not only to ourselves, but likewise to the whole christian world, that we also should keep in the mediterranean sea a certain number of galleys ready to afford prompt aid to our neighbours and allies against the frequent insults of the barbarians and turks, we lately caused to be constructed two galleys, one in genoa, and the other in the port of leghorn; in order to man these, we directed a person well acquainted with such affairs to be sent, as to other parts, so also to the island of malta, subject to the rule of your highness, in order to _buy slaves and procure other necessaries_. he having purchased some slaves, it has been reported to us that your highness' collector of customs demanded five pieces of gold of malta money per head before they could be permitted to embark, under the title of toll; at which proceeding we were certainly not a little astonished, it appearing to us a new proceeding, and one contrary to custom, especially it being well known to us that our neighbours and allies, the kings of france and spain, are never accustomed to pay anything under the title of toll { } for the slaves which they cause yearly to be transported from your island. we therefore beg your highness, by the good and long friendship existing between us, to grant to us the same privilege in _regard to this kind of commerce_ within the territories of your highness, as is enjoyed by both our said neighbours and allies, which although it ought to be conceded to us simply on account of our mutual friendship and our affection towards your highness and the illustrious order of malta, still we shall receive so gratefully, that if at any time we can do anything to please your highness, we shall be always ready to do it, with all attention, and most willingly. in the meantime we heartily recommend your highness and all the members of the illustrious order of malta, as well as all your affairs, to the divine keeping. given from our palace of westminster on the th day of february, in the year of our lord , and of our reign the th. your highness' good cousin and friend, charles rex. no. xii. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most eminent prince, the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--greeting: most eminent prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. the military order over which your eminence most worthily presides, having always used its power to render the navigation of the sea safe and peaceable for christians, we in no way doubt that our ships of war, armed for the same purpose, will receive from your eminence every office of friendship. we therefore are desirous of signifying to your eminence by these our letters that we have sent a squadron of our royal fleet to the mediterranean sea under the command of sir john narbrough, knight, to look after the safety of navigation and commerce, and to oppose the enemies of public tranquillity. we therefore amicably beseech your eminence that if ever the above-named admiral narbrough, or any of our ships cruising under his flag, should arrive at any of your eminence's ports or stations, or in any place subject to the order of malta, that they may be considered and treated as friends and allies, and that they may be permitted to purchase with their money, and at just prices, and to export provisions and munitions of war, and whatever they may require, which, on similar occasions, we will abundantly reciprocate to your eminence and to your most noble order. in the mean time we heartily recommend your eminence to the safeguard of the most high and most good god. given from our palace of whitehall the last day of november, . your highness' cousin and friend, charles rex. no. xiii. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most eminent prince the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend. most eminent prince, our cousin and well-beloved friend--greeting: although we in no way doubt of the sincere readiness of your eminence and of your holy order of malta to do everything which might be known to be expedient for our interests, still we could not read your eminence's letters under date of th march last, in which such readiness is fully set forth, without the greatest pleasure. our affection is sharpened and excited by the mention of the good will of our predecessors, the kings of great britain, evinced in every age towards your most illustrious order, which, as your eminence in your said letters so honourably commemorates, so will we studiously endeavour to imitate, and even to surpass. from our admiral, sir john narbrough, knight, and also from other parties, we have heard with how much benignity your eminence lately received him, and caused him and the other officers of our fleet to be supplied with what was requisite for our ships of war, which we consider not less worthy of the piety and valour of your order than of our friendship; and we on our part, on opportunity presenting itself, will be careful to abundantly reciprocate by every kind of good offices. it remains to recommend your eminence and the whole of your holy order militant to the safeguard of the god of hosts. given from our palace of whitehall the th day of may, . your eminence's good cousin and friend, charles rex. no. xiv. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most eminent prince the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--greeting: most eminent prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. we know not how it came to pass that our admiral in the mediterranean sea, sir john narbrough, knight, should have given such cause of complaint as mentioned in your eminence's letters addressed to us under date of the th of april, as to have refused to give the usual salute to the city { } of malta, unless, perhaps, he had thought something had been omitted on the part of the maltese which he considered due to our dignity, and to the flag of our royal fleet. be it, however, as it may, your eminence may be persuaded that it is our fixed and established intention to do and perform everything both ourselves and by our officers amply to show how much we esteem the sacred person of your eminence and the order of malta. in order, therefore, that it should already appear that we do not wish greater honour to be paid to any prince than to your eminence and to your celebrate order, we have directed our above-mentioned admiral to accord all the same signs of friendship and good will towards your eminence's ports and citadels as towards those of the most christian and catholic kings; and we no way doubt your order will equally show that benevolence towards us which it is customary to show to the above-mentioned kings, or to either of them. it only remains to us to heartily recommend your eminence and all your military order to the safeguard of the most high and most good god. given from our palace of whitehall on the st day of june, . your eminence's good cousin and friend, charles rex. no. xv. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most eminent prince the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--greeting: most eminent prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. not only by the letters of sir john narbrough, knight, whom we appointed in right and power to be the admiral of our fleet in the mediterranean sea, but also from other sources, we have heard how benignantly your eminence, both by command and example, and all the sacred order of malta, have treated him and the other commanders of our ships, so much so that they could not have been better at home, and in our dockyards, than in your port of malta. this is, indeed, a sign of great friendship, and the more so that our kingdoms and seas are so far distant from the usual navigation of the sacred order of malta, that few occasions could be expected to offer themselves to us of reciprocating the friendship of your eminence. some other mode, therefore, must be sought by which we may testify our gratitude and affection towards your eminence and the other members of your most sacred order, to do which we shall willingly embrace and studiously search after every opportunity which may offer. in the mean time we heartily recommend your eminence and all your military order to the safeguard of the most high and most good god. given from our palace of whitehall the th day of january, - . your eminence's good cousin and friend, charles rex. no. xvi. charles the second by the grace of god, of greet britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most eminent prince the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend. most eminent prince, our most dear cousin and friend. our well-beloved and faithful sir john narbrough, knight, latterly admiral of our fleet in the mediterranean sea, conveyed to us your eminence's letters written under date of the th of april last, which being most full indeed of affection and gratitude on your part, we received and perused with equal feelings and satisfaction. the acknowledgments of benefits conferred by us, which your eminence so frequently expresses, causes us also to return similar thanks to your eminence and to the whole of your sacred order, for all those offices of humanity and courtesy with which you assisted our above-mentioned admiral and other our ships stationed in that sea, of which we shall always preserve the memory indelibly engraved in our hearts. it is equally a source of pleasure to us that our arms have been of help to your eminence and to your order; and if the expedition had been of no other benefit, we consider it ample compensation in having restored to their homes so many persons celebrated through the whole christian and infidel world who were recovered from the power and chains of the barbarians. may your eminence continue to desire that we should freely divide the glory of rendering peaceful the mediterranean sea with the illustrious order of malta! may the most good and great god sustain and preserve your eminence with all your religious order! given from our palace of whitehall the th day of october, . your eminence's good cousin and friend, charles rex. no. xvii. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most eminent prince the lord nicholas cotoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--greeting: most eminent prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. the thanks which your eminence, by your { } letters written under date of the th of august last, returns to us on account of the fifty knights of your order liberated by our assistance from the slavery of the barbarians, could hardly be more acceptable to us than the prayers adjoined in the above-mentioned letters for the liberation from the slavery of the algerines of another member of your holy order, the german, john robert a. stael. we in consequence, in order that we my not appear to be wanting either in the will or in affection towards your eminence, have communicated our orders to our well-beloved and faithful subject, sir john narbrough, knight, commanding our fleet in those seas, that if the city of algiers should be constrained to agree to a treaty of just peace and submission by the force of our arms, assisted by divine help, he should use every effort in his power, so that the liberty of the said john robert a. stael be obtained. your eminence is already well aware of the fidelity and zeal of our above-mentioned admiral, and we have no doubt that he will willingly and strenuously observe our orders on that head. it remains for us to heartily recommend your eminence and the whole of your military order to the safeguard of the most high and most good god. given from our palace of whitehall the nd day of november, in the year of our lord . your eminence's good cousin and friend, charles rex. william winthrop. la valetta, malta. * * * * * disease among cattle. for some years past, a great many cattle have died from a disease of the lungs, for which i believe no effectual antidote has been discovered. this fact having been mentioned to a german in london, who had formerly been a _rossarzt_ or veterinary surgeon in the prussian army, he stated that he had known a similar disease to prevail in germany; and that by administering a decoction of _erica communis_ (common heath), mixed with tar, the progress of the disease had in many instances been arrested. in order, therefore, that the british farmer may obtain the benefit of this gentleman's experience, and that he may receive all manner of justice, i beg leave to send you a literal copy of the recipe which he was kind enough to give _pro bono publico_. "remedy against the present disease among cattle. "taken erika communis, and boiled it into water of such quantity, that the water after boiling coloured like beer; generally of a pinte of water ¼--½ lb. erika communis, and boiling to hours. after it is be done, filled the fluids trough a seive in ather boiler, and mixed the same with / part of common tear. in order to make a good composition from it, you must boiling the tear and the fluide to a second time of -- hour's and much storret. after then the medecin is to by ready. "everry cattle sicke or well must you giving of three times to day, everry time one pot from the said mixture, which you have befor keapet a little warm but not to much heat. keepet werry much from the fluide of erika communis not mixed with tear, and give to drinke the cattle a much as possible. everry cattle liked to drinke such fluide. "becom's the tongue stick, black pumpels, or becom's the mouth and palatt red and sort, washe it out with a softe brush deyed in a mixture as follow described: one part of hony, parts of vinaigre, parts of water, and one half part of burned and grinded allumn. "becom's the cattle in the legs, generally in the klawes, washed the sores with cold water, that you mixed once white vitriol, and once burned allumn of a pint of water, -- times to day, and keepet the cattle everry time day's and night's in the open air of meadows or lots. everry cattle become's in the first time that it is driven out the stables to the green feeding of meadow's, &c. a little sickness, generally a little diarrhae, and this is a remedy against the disease as before stated. "if you continnuit with the firste remedy, you should findet that the cattle becom's a verry slight influence of the said disease." thos. nimmo. * * * * * popiana. i. in roscoe's edition of _pope_, vol. iv. p. ., is this epitaph: "well then, poor g---- lies underground, so there's an end of honest jack: so little justice here he found, 'tis ten to one he'll ne'er come back." this must have been running in goldsmith's heed when he wrote: "here lies poor ned purdon, from misery freed, who long was a bookseller's hack: he led such a damnable life in this world, i don't think he'll wish to come back." ii. epigram on the feuds between handel and bononcini: "strange! all this difference should be, 'twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee!" the various editors print only these two lines. where have i seen it printed as follows, in _six_ lines; and whence came the other four?[ ] { } "some say, that signior bononcini compared to handel's a mere ninny; others aver, that to him handel is scarcely fit to hold a candle: strange that," &c. iii. in "n. & q.," vol. i., p. ., the following passage occurs: "in the imitation of the _second satire, book i._ of horace, _only to be found in modern editions_, there is an allusion to 'poor e----s,' who suffered by 'the fatal steel' for an intrigue with a royal mistress." query, in _what_ modern editions is this imitation found? i have searched most of them (including the last, and by no means the worst, by mr. robert carruthers) in vain. iv. it has always seemed to me desirable that a perfect edition of an author like pope, whose pages teem with proper names frequently repeated, and personal allusions, should be furnished with an index _nominum propriorum_, which would enable the reader to refer in a moment to the exact whereabouts of the line wanted. i once took the trouble to make such an index to pope for my own use, and add one word of it as a specimen: granville's moving lays _past._ i. granville commands, &c. _wind. for._ granville could refuse to sing, what muse for " granville sings, or is it " granville of a former age, surrey the " granville's verse recite, the thoughts of god let " granville's myra die, till _epist. to jervas_ granville the polite _prol. to sat._ is this a hint worthy the notice of mr. croker, mr. p. cunningham, or mr. john murray, whose joint labours promise us a new edition of pope? v. roscoe and croly give _four_ poems on _gulliver's travels_. why does mr. carruthers leave out the _third_? his edition appears to contain (besides many additions) all that all previous editors have admitted, with the exception of this _third_ gulliver poem, the sixteen additional verses to mrs. blount on leaving town, the verses to dr. bolton, and a fragment of eight lines (perhaps by congreve); which last three are to be found in warton's edition. harry leroy temple. garrick club. [footnote : these lines are quoted in the fourth edition of the _ency. britan._, art. bononcini, and are said to have been written by swift. only the last two lines, however, are given in scott's edition of his _works_.--ed.] * * * * * hampshire folk lore. _churching._--a woman in this village, when going to church for the first time after the birth of her child, keeps to the same side of the road, and no persuasions or threats would induce her to cross it. she wears also upon that occasion a pair of new boots or shoes, so that the mothers of large families patronise greatly the disciples of st. crispin. i should much like to know if this twofold superstition is prevalent, and how it first originated. _bees._--there is not one peasant i believe in this village, man or woman, who would sell you a swarm of bees. to be guilty of selling bees is a grievous omen indeed, than which nothing can be more dreadful. to barter bees is quite a different matter. if you want a hive, you may easily obtain it in lieu of a small pig, or some other equivalent. there may seem little difference in the eyes of enlightened persons between selling, and bartering, but the superstitious beekeeper sees a grand distinction, and it is not his fault if you don't see it too. when a hive swarms, it is customary to take the shovel from the grate, and the key from the door, and to produce therewith a species of music which is supposed to captivate and soothe the winged tribe. if the bees do not settle on any neighbouring tree where they may have the full benefit of the inharmonious music, they are generally assailed with stones. this is a strange sort of proceeding, but it is orthodox, and there is nothing the villagers despise more than modern innovations of whatever kind. _charming._--as regards charming, the wife of the village innkeeper who preceded the present one (she now rests in the churchyard), used to whisper away burns. her form of words, if she had any, is unknown. the mind has great influence upon the body, and the doctor knows it, or he would not give his nervous lady patients so many boxes of bread pills, and sleeping draughts in the shape of vials filled with savoury rum-punch. doubtless this good woman cured her patients by acting on their imaginations. if the agency of imagination is an incorrect supposition, i see but one way of accounting for the curative powers of whispering, namely, by means of animal magnetism. i trust your medical readers do not question the curative powers of animal magnetism in certain cases; if they do, i would recommend them to read a work entitled _human magnetism, its claim to dispassionate inquiry_, by w. newnham, esq., m.r.s.l. it is published by john churchill, princes street, soho. eustace w. jacob. crawley. * * * * * the most curious book in the world. the following account of this truly wonderful specimen of human patience and skill is from a rough copy that i took some years ago. i regret that i cannot give any reference, as i made no note of my authority, which has now escaped my { } recollection. but that is of little consequence, as the book is well known to bibliographists. perhaps the most singular bibliographic curiosity is that which belonged to the family of the prince de ligne, and is now in france. it is entitled _liber passionis domini nostri jesu christi, cum characteribus nulla materia compositis_. this book is neither written nor printed! the whole letters of the text are cut out of each folio upon the finest vellum; and being interleaved with blue paper, is read as easily as the best print. the labour and patience bestowed in its completion must have been excessive, especially when the precision and minuteness of the letters are considered. the general execution, in every respect, is indeed admirable; and the vellum is of the most delicate and costly kind. rodolphus ii. of germany offered for it, in , , ducats, which was probably equal to , at this day. the most remarkable circumstance connected with this literary treasure is, that it bears the royal arms of england; but it cannot be traced to have ever been in this country. i now offer this notice, in the hope that the readers of "n. & q." may supply farther particulars; such as the time of its commencement or completion, and also whether it is still in france. with respect to the arms of england, which yet present a puzzle to all antiquaries, i beg to submit a conjecture. i think it was intended as a present to our henry viii., when he was in such high favour at rome, for his _defence of the seven sacraments_, that leo x. conferred on him the title of "fidei defensor," and which all our sovereigns have subsequently retained. but when he threw off the papal authority, declared himself supreme head of the church, and proceeded to confiscate its property, the intention of presentation was abandoned. this is at least plausible, as i do not mean that it was _originally_ designed for a present to "bluff harry," because it was produced before he was born. but the arms were a work for any time; and i think they were executed just before his rupture with the pope was known. to pay him a compliment afterwards from any part of catholic europe was, of course, out of the question. c. b. a. * * * * * minor notes. _baptism, marriage, and crowning of geo. iii._-- "died at his palace at lambeth, aged seventy-five, the most reverend thomas secker, ll.d., lord archbishop of canterbury. his grace was many years prebendary of durham, seventeen years rector of st. james', westminster, consecrated bishop of bristol in , and in was translated to the see of oxford. in he resigned the rectory of st. james, on his succeeding bishop butler in the deanery of st. paul's; and on the death of archbishop hutton in , was immediately nominated to the metropolitan see, and confirmed at bow church, on the th of april in that year, archbishop of canterbury. his grace was rector of st. james's when our present sovereign was born at norfolk house, and had the honour to baptize, to marry, and crown his majesty and his royal consort, and to baptize several of their majesties' children."--from _pennsylvania chronicle_, oct. , . m. r. f. pennsylvania. _copernicus._--the inscription on the tomb of the celebrated copernicus, in the cathedral church at thorn, in prussian poland, supposed to have been written by himself, deserves a place in "n. & q." "non parem _pauli_ gratiam requiro, veniam _petri_ neque posco; sed quam in crucis ligno dederat latroni sedulus oro." fitzroy. _first instance of bribery amongst members of parliament._--the following extract from parry's _parliaments and councils of england_, deserves, i think, a corner in "n. & q.," especially at the present day: " , a. r. , may .--thomas long, 'a very simple man and unfit' to serve, is questioned how he came to be elected. he confesses that he gave the mayor of westbury and another four pounds for his place in parliament. they are ordered to repay this sum, to appear to answer such things as should be objected against them in that house, and a fine of twenty pounds is to be assessed on the corporation and inhabitants of westbury, for their scandalous attempt." abhba. _richard brinsley sheridan._--in the "life of sheridan," by g. g. s., prefixed to his _dramatic works_, published by bohn in , is the following passage (p. .): "at the age of twenty-nine he had achieved a brilliant reputation, _had gained an immense property_, and was apparently master of large resources." and in an essay lately published, entitled _richard brinsley sheridan_, by george gilfillan, is this statement: "young sheridan had no patrimony, _not a shilling_, indeed, _all his life that he could call his own_." which of these two contradictory accounts is true? in the _life_ by g. g. s. are two glaring slips of the pen or of the press; at p. . it is said that sheridan was born in the year ( ?), and at p. . that _the duenna_ was brought out on the st of november, ( ?). william duane. philadelphia. { } _publican's invitation._--amongst various other ingenious contrivances adopted by the proprietors of the _rosoglio_ houses (anglicè, dram-shops) in valetta, to attract the custom and patronage of the gallant red-jackets that swarm in our streets at this time, one individual has put forth and distributed among the soldiers the following puzzle, which i send for the amusement of your readers. a very little study will suffice to master the mysterious document. "the publican's invitation. here's to pand's pen. dasoci. alhou rinha? r. m. (les smirt) ha! n. d. f. unlet fri. ends. hipre! ign. beju! standk. indan! devil's peako! f. n. (one.)" john o' the ford. malta. _bishop burnet again!_--the following anecdote occurs in mrs. thistlethwaite's _memoirs and correspondence of dr. henry bathurst, lord bishop of norwich_, p. .: "i have heard my father mention the following anecdote of my grandfather, benjamin bathurst, esq., and the duke of gloucester (queen anne's son), during their boyhood. my grandfather and the duke were playfellows; and the duke's tutor was dr. burnet. one day, when the doctor went out of the room, the duke having as usual courted him, and treated him with obsequious civility, young bathurst expressed his surprise that his royal highness should treat a person, whom he disliked as much as he did the doctor, with so much courtesy and kindness. the duke replied, 'do you think i have been so long a pupil of dr. burnet's without learning to be a hypocrite?'" j. y. _old custom preserved in warwickshire._--there is a large stone a few miles from dunchurch, in warwickshire, called "the knightlow cross." several of lord john scott's tenants hold from him on the condition of laying their rent before daybreak on martinmas day on this stone: if they fail to do so, they forfeit to him as many pounds as they owe pence, or as many white bulls with red tips to their ears and a red tip to their tail as they owe pence, whichever he chooses to demand. this custom is still kept up, and there is always hard riding to reach the stone before the sun rises on martinmas day? l. m. m. r. _english diplomacy_ v. _russian_.--a friend of sir henry wotton's being designed for the employment of an ambassador, came to eton, and requested from him some experimental rules for his prudent and safe carriage in his negociations; to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible aphorism,--that, to be in safety himself, and serviceable to his country, he should always, and upon all occasions, speak the truth (it seems a state paradox). "for," says sir henry wotton, "_you shall never be believed_; and by this means your truth will secure yourself, if you shall ever be called to any account; and 'twill also put your adversaries (who will still hunt counter) to a loss in all their disquisitions and undertakings." (_reliquiæ wottonianæ_.) alpha. * * * * * queries. ancient tenure of lands. (vol. ix., pp. . .) the following paragraphs, containing both notes and queries, will doubtless interest your readers at the last kent assizes held at maidstone (march, ) a case was tried by a special jury, of whom the writer was one, before mr. baron parke; plaintiffs, "the earl of romney and others," trustees under an act of parliament to pay the debts of the borough of queenborough, county kent; defendants, "the inclosure commissioners of england and wales." tradition relates that edward iii. was so pleased with his construction of the castle of queenborough, that he complimented his consort by not only building a town, but creating a borough[ ], which he named after her honour.[ ] the case, in various shapes, has been before the law courts for some time, and was sent to these kent assizes to ascertain whether queenborough was either a manor or a reputed manor. in the course of the trial baron parke said, that, in despite of the statute _quia emptores_, he should rule that manors could be created when they contained the essentials. my first query is, therefore, have any manors been created in england since the passing of that statute? in my _history of deptford_ i have alluded to the manor of hatcham as one of the last manors i supposed to have been created. the inclosure commissioners, as the defendants, had been prayed by the leeze-holders[ ] of { } queenborough to inclose sundry lands called queenborough common; such inclosure was opposed by the trustees, who claimed under the act of parliament which constituted their existence to be in the position of the mayor[ ], &c., and thus, if they were the lords of the manor, to have a veto upon the inclosure of the waste. the plaintiffs relied very much upon the following fact, which i here embalm as a _note_, and append thereon a _query_:--during the mayoralty of mr. greet[ ], a gentleman who died in , a turbot was caught by a dredger on the queenborough oyster-grounds: this unlucky fish was immediately pounced upon by the queenborough officials, and seized for the mayor's behoof as his perquisite, _à la_ sturgeon. query, a like instance? the jury, after two days' long sitting, decided that queenborough was neither a manor nor a reputed manor. a. j. dunkin. dartford. [footnote : _parliamentary history_, .--on wednesday, dec. , , an attempt was made to disfranchise queenborough: the then member, mr. garland, suddenly and jocularly moved the speaker that we give not any legacies before the speaker was dead. this pleasant conceit so took with the house, as, for that time, queenborough was reprieved, but was voted for the future to be dismembered, and to be added to the county.--ap. burton i. cxi. _archæological mine_, i. . queenborough was one of the victims included in schedule a of the act of parliament known as "the reform bill."] [footnote : in our own day cove has been called queenstown in honour of queen victoria.] [footnote : _leeze-holders_, a right of turning on the coming or leeze (_celtic_, leswes) twenty-four sheep, which of late years, by a bye-law, has been arranged to substitute either two horses or three bullocks. a leeze is supposed to contain about seven acres of land of herbage. the common consists of about acres, including roads.] [footnote : see hogarth's visit, &c. to queenborough. a hearty laugh will repay the trouble. the mayor was then a thatcher: the room remains as it did in hogarth's day; and as queenborough was then, so it is now, one long street without any trade.] [footnote : of mr. greet's mayoralty many humorous tales are told: he was at times popular, but towards the close of his reign most decidedly the reverse. at his funeral the dredgers, &c. threw halfpence into his grave to pay his passage to the lower regions. he, one day, _ex officio_, sentenced a pilferer to a flogging at the cart's tail, and as executioners did not volunteer, he took off his coat, and himself applied the cat to the bare back of the culprit from one end of the street to the other. mr. greet was one of the best friends queenborough ever had. after his death it plunged deeply into debt, had its paraphernalia and books seized and sold by the sheriff, and now all its property is in the hands of trustees to pay its debts, whilst its poor-rates are, a witness, a late mayor said, nine shillings in the pound. the debt was originally , l.; but as no interest has been paid thereon, it is now , l. the trustees have received about , _l_., but this sum has been melted in subsequent litigation; for queenborough men are mightily fond of supporting the law courts.] * * * * * owen rowe the regicide. mark noble, in his _lives of the regicides_, says that owen rowe was descended from sir thomas rowe, lord mayor of london in . in the additional manuscripts (british museum), . p. ., is a coat in trick: argent, on a chevron azure, three bezants between three trefoils per pale gules and vert, a martlet sable for difference; crest, a roe's head couped gules, attired or, rising from a wreath; and beneath is written, "coll. row, coll. of hors and futt." these arms i imagine to have been the regicide's. if so, he was a fourth son. query, whose? the hackney parish register records, that on nov. , , captain henry rowe was buried from mr. simon corbet's, of mare street, hackney. how was he related to colonel owen rowe? i should feel particularly obliged to any correspondent who could furnish me with his descent from sir thos. rowe. according to mr. lysons (_environs of london_, vol. iv. p. .), the daughter of mr. rowland wilson, and widow of dr. crisp, married colonel rowe; adding in a note, that he _supposes_ this colonel rowe to have been colonel owen rowe, the regicide. the same statement is found in hasted's _history of kent_ (edit. ), vol. i. p. . i should be glad of some more certain information on this point; also, what issue owen rowe left, if any, besides two daughters, whose marriages are recorded in the hackney register. i am likewise anxious to learn whether there exist any lineal descendants of this family of rowe, which had its origin in kent; and thence branching off in the sixteenth century, settled and obtained large possessions in shacklewell, walthamstow, low layton, higham hill, and muswell hill. through females, several of our nobility are descended from them. tee bee. * * * * * writings of the martyr bradford. the second and concluding volume of bradford's writings, which i am editing for the parker society, is about to be concluded. bradford's _treatise against the fear of death, with sweet meditations on the felicity of the life to come and the kingdom of christ_, was printed by powell without a date, by singleton without a date, and by wolf ,--the last two editions being mentioned by herbert, the first of powell by dibdin from herbert's ms. additions. if any of your readers could inform me where a copy of any one of these editions is to be found, it would greatly oblige. i have also never met, after some years' inquiry, with the edition of bradford's _letter on the mass_, printed by waldegrave, edinburgh. some of the early editions of bradford's writings are very rare. i possess his _examinations_, griffith, ; and _meditations_, hall, ; both of which are scarce: as also the only copy i have ever seen (though imperfect) of the first edition of his _sermon on repentance_, evidently printed in . his _complaint of verity_ is of extraordinary rarity. the only copy i am aware of is possessed { } by the rev. t. corser, of stand, manchester; and was purchased (i believe) at mr. bright's sale for l. i should be obliged to any one who would supply me with any information about early editions of bradford's writings. every one is familiar with the story that bradford, on seeing a criminal pass to execution, said, "there goes john bradford but for the grace of god." can any one inform me of any early printed authority for that story? a. townsend. weston lane, bath. [in the british museum are the following works by john bradford, bound in one volume, press-mark , c.:--_the hvrte of hering masse_; also two notable sermons, the one of _repentance_, and the other of the _lord's supper_, lond. . on the fly-leaf is written, "a copy of bradford's _hurte of hearyng masse_, printed for h. kirham, , b. l., was in mr. jolley's sale, feb. . this edition by william copland for william martyne without date is scarcer, and i believe earlier.--r. h. barham."] * * * * * minor queries. _courtney family._--i throw an apple of discord to your heraldic, genealogical, and antiquarian, readers. was there originally more than one family of courtnay, courtney, courtenay, courteney, courtnaye, courtenaye, &c. which is right, and when did the family commence in england, and how branch off? if your readers can give no information, who can? s. a. oxford. "_the shipwrecked lovers._"--can you give me any account of the following tragedy, where the scene of it is laid, &c.? it is printed along with some poems, and appears never to have been acted. the name of the piece is _the shipwrecked lovers_, a tragedy in five acts, by james templeton, dublin, mo., . i regret that i am unable to give any account of the author, but perhaps some of your irish readers may be able to do this. sigma. _sir john bingham._--in burke's _peerage and baronetage_, article "lucan," it is stated that this gentlemen was high in rank in king james's army at the battle of aughrim, and turned the fortune of the day in favour of william by deserting, with his whole command, at the crisis of the battle. a late number of the _dublin university magazine_ repeats this story on the authority of mr. burke, and it would therefore be satisfactory to know where the latter found a statement affecting so much the honour of the family in question, one of the first in my native county. the dates of sir john's birth and marriage are not given, but the ages of several of his children are known, and from them it follows that, supposing the father of the first lord lucan not to have married till the mature age of fifty-five or sixty, he was barely of age at the time of the battle, therefore not likely to have been high in command. my countrymen are too much inclined, like the french, to attribute their disasters to treachery, or to any cause but the equal numbers and courage, and superior discipline, of their adversaries: but they have never done so to less purpose than when they ascribe the loss of that battle to a man who was in all probability not born in , and must in any case have been a mere boy at the time. no peerage that i have met with gives the date of his birth, which would at once settle the question. it seems most unlikely, if such were actually the case, that the family, on attaining the peerage, should have revived the title of the gallant sarsfield (whose representatives they were), and thus challenged public attention, always on the alert on such points in ireland, to their alleged dishonour and betrayal of the cause for which he fought and fell. j. s. warden. _proclamation for making mustard._--did queen elizabeth issue a proclamation for "the right of making mustard?" and if so, what was the language of such proclamation? an admirer. _judges practicing at the bar._--a curious disquisition has run through "n. & q." on the relinquishment of their sees by bishops, but i do not see that any of them are shown to have officiated as parish priests after quitting the episcopate. not that this is the point i wish now to put before you and your readers, but i want information on a somewhat kindred subject. in craik's _romance of the peerage_ there occurs: "percy's leading counsel upon this occasion was mr. sergeant (afterwards sir francis) pemberton, who subsequently rose to be first a puisne judge, and then chief justice of the king's bench, was thence transferred to the chief justiceship of the common pleas, and after all ended his days a practitioner at the bar."--vol. iv. p. . note. pemberton, it appears, was dismissed from the common pleas in ; he was counsel for the seven bishops in , as was also another displaced judge, sir creswell leving, or levinge, who was superseded in . are these the only two instances of judges, _qui olim fuere_, practising at the bar? if not, are they the latest? and farther, if not the latest, does not etiquette forbid such practice now? w. t. m. hong kong. _celebrated wagers._--i should be glad if any correspondent will point out any remarkable { } instances of the above. the ordinary channels for obtaining such information i am of course acquainted with. c. clifton barry. "_pay me tribute, or else_----."--in mr. bunn's late work, _old england and new england_, i find this note: "we all remember the haughty message of the ruler of a certain province to the governor of a neighbouring one, 'pay me tribute, or else----;' and the appropriate reply, 'i owe you none, and if----.'" not being of the totality reminiscent, may i beg for enlightenment? the anecdote sounds well, and i am therefore curious to know who the governors and what the provinces? w. t. m. hong kong. "_a regular turk._"--we often hear of people bad to manage being "regular turks." when did the phrase originate? though not a journal for politics, "n. & q." will no doubt breathe a wish for the present sultan to be, in the approaching warfare, "a regular turk." prestoniensis. _benjamin rush._--i found the following in an old paper: "edinburgh, june , . yesterday benjamin rush, of the city of philadelphia, a. m., and gustavus richard brown, of maryland, were admitted to the honour of a degree of doctors of physic, in the university of this place, after having undergone the usual examinations, both private and public. the former of whom was also presented some time before with the freedom of this city." the benjamin rush here referred to subsequently became quite eminent as a physician. he took an active part in the struggle between the american colonies and the mother country, and was one of the signers of the declaration of independence. one of his sons was the american minister to london a few years since. can any of your readers inform me why the freedom of edinburgh was conferred upon him? in he could not have been over twenty-five years of age. inquirer. _per centum sign._--will you kindly inform me why the symbol % means per centum: viz. %, %, &c.? james mills. _burial service tradition._--about forty years ago, a young man hung himself. when his body was taken to the church for interment, the clergymen refused reading the burial service over him; his friends took him to another parish, and the clergyman of that place refused also; they then removed him to an adjoining one, and the clergyman received him and buried him. the last clergyman said, if any friend of the deceased had cut off his right hand, and laid it outside the coffin, no clergyman then could refuse legally receiving and burying the corpse. query, is this true? may i ask your readers for an answer, as it will oblige many friends. the above happened in derbyshire. s. adams, curate. _jean bart's descent on newcastle._--i find no notice, either in sykes's _local records_, or in richardson's _local historian's table-book_, of the descent made on newcastle in by the celebrated jean bart, whom the dutch nicknamed "de fransch duyvel." somewhere or other i have seen it stated that he returned to france with an immense booty. perhaps some of your north country correspondents can tell us whether any record of his visit exists in the archives of the corporation of newcastle or elsewhere? william brockie. russell street, south shields. _madame de staël._--in _three months in northern germany_, p. ., , the following, passage occurs among some corrections of the mistakes of madame de staël: "she knew the language imperfectly, read little, and misrepresented the gossip which she heard, either from carelessness or misunderstanding. when she censures fichte, who she says had received no provocation from nicolai, for helping schlegel to write a dull book against him when he was too old to reply, she must have been ignorant of the fact, that nicolai lived and wrote many years after the publication; and that, whether provoked or not, it is far from dull." i cannot find any mention of this dispute in madame de staël's _de l'allemagne_, and shall be glad if any of your readers can direct me to the passage in her works, and also to the joint work of schlegel and fichte. r. a. ox. and c. club. _honoria, daughter of lord denny._--i should be extremely obliged to any of your correspondents if they could give me the date of the death of honoria, daughter and heiress of edward, lord denny, who was married to james hay, afterwards earl carlisle, on the th of january, . she had issue james, second earl of carlisle, who died in . as james hay, then baron hay of sawley, married his second wife (lucy, daughter of henry, earl of northumberland) in november , the time of the first lady hay's death is fixed between and . augustus jessopp. n.b.--"bis dat qui cito dat." rectory, papworth st. agnes. _hospital of john of jerusalem._--is there any book or manuscript relating to the proceedings of the hospital of st. john of jerusalem in england, { } which enters so fully into particulars as to give the names of the members of the society and its officers about the year ? c. f. k. _heiress of haddon hall._--any one who visits haddon hall in derbyshire, the property of the duke of rutland, is shown a doorway, through which the heiress to this baronial mansion eloped with (i think) a cavendish some centuries ago. i have been informed that in a recent restoration of bakewell church, which is near haddon hall, the vault which contained the remains of this lady and her family was accidentally broken into, and that the bodies of herself, her husband, and some children, were found decapitated, with their heads under their arms; moreover, that in all the coffins there were dice. my informant had read an authenticated account of this curious circumstance, which was drawn up at the time of the discovery, but he could not refer me to it, and it is very possible that either his memory or mind may have failed as to the exact facts. at any rate they are worth embalming, i think, in the pages of "n. & q." if any correspondent will kindly supply both "chapter and verse." alfred gatty. _monteith._--there is a peculiar style of silver bowl, of about the time of queen anne, which is called a monteith. why is it so designated? and to what particular use was it generally applied? p. _vandyking._--in a letter from secretary windebanke to the lord deputy wentworth (_strafford papers_, vol. i. p. .), p. c. s. s. notices this phrase, "pardon, i beseech your lordship the over-free censure of your _vandyking_." what is the meaning of this term, which p. c. s. s. does not find in any other writing of the period? had the _costume_, so usual in the portraits by vandyke, become proverbial so early as , the date of windebanke's letter? p. c. s. s. _hiel the bethelite._--what is the meaning of the th verse of the th chapter of the st book of kings? in one of huddlestone's notes to toland's _history of the druids_, he quotes the acts of hiel the bethelite, therein mentioned, as an instance of the druidical custom of burying a man alive under the foundations of any building which was to be undertaken? l. m. m. r. _earl of glencairn._--could you or any of your readers inform me of any particulars concerning the earl of glencairn, who, with a sister, is said to have fled from scotland about , or rather later, and to have concealed himself in devonshire, where his sister married, , one john lethbridge, and had issue? was this sister called grace? within late years they were spoken of by the very old inhabitants of okehampton, devon, and stories of the coroneted clothes, &c. were current. lodbrok. _willow bark in ague._--i have seen recently some notices of the use of willow bark in ague. will some kind correspondent inform me and others interested in the subject, where the information is to be found? e. c. _"perturbabantur," &c._--can any of your readers give the whole of the poem, of which the first two lines are-- "perturbabantur constantinopolitani, innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus"? these lines are singularly applicable at the present moment. i am also desirous of knowing the history of this poem. p. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _seamen's tickets._--from an old paper, : "feb. . died at her house in chapel street, near ratcliff highway, aged , margaret mckennow, who kept a lodging-house in that neighbourhood many years, and dealt in seamen's tickets. she is said to have died worth upwards of l., and just after she expired twenty-nine quarter guineas were found in her mouth." what are seamen's tickets? w. d. r. philadelphia. [the system of paying seamen with tickets instead of cash caused great discontent during the reign of charles ii., and, from the frequent notices respecting it in pepys's _diary_, seems to have given our diarist great trouble. on november , , he says: "sir g. carteret did give us an account how mr. holland do intend to prevail with the parliament to try his project of discharging the seamen all at present by ticket, and so promise interest to all men that will lend money upon them at eight per cent. for so long as they are unpaid, whereby he do think to take away the growing debt which do now lie upon the kingdom for lack of present money to discharge the seamen." these tickets the poor fellows sold at half price to usurers, mostly jews; and to so great an extent was the system carried, that in the year there was a floating debt due to these usurers of ten millions paid by harley from a fictitious fund formed by the government.] _bruce, robert._--can you tell me the name of the author of the following little work? it is small, and contains pages, and is entitled: "the acts and life of the most victorious conqueror robert bruce, king of scotland. wherein also are contained the martial deeds of the valiant princes edward bruce, sir james douglas, earl thomas randal, walter stewart, and sundry others. to which is added a glossary, explaining the difficult { } words contained in this book, and that of wallace. glasgow: printed by mr. a. carmichael and a. miller. mdccxxxvii." james p. bryce. [this work is by john barbour (sometimes written barber, barbere, and barbare), an eminent scottish metrical historian. it has been said that he received his education at the abbey of aberbrothock, where he took orders, and obtained a living near aberdeen. dr. henry supposes barbour to have become archdeacon of aberdeen in . it is probable he died towards the close of . his poem has passed through several editions, and is considered of high historical value. the earlier editions are those of edinburgh, , , mo. in , pinkerton published "the first genuine edition from a ms. dated , with notes and a glossary." the best edition, however, is that by dr. jamieson, with notes, and life of the author, edinb. to. .] _coronation custom._--at the coronations of henry iv. and richard iii. a ceremony was performed which seems to indicate some idea of the elective sovereignty in england. the archbishop stood at each of the four corners of the dais in succession, and asked from thence the consent of the assembled commons (heylin, _reform._, st edit., p. .). did this ever take place at the coronation of english monarchs whose succession was not disputed? j. h. b. [in after times this ceremony seems to be that called "the recognition." sandford, speaking of the coronation of james ii., says, "the archbishop of canterbury standing near the king, on the east side of the theatre, his majesty, attended as before, rose out of his chair, and stood before it, whilst the archbishop, having his face to the east, said as follows: 'sirs. i here present unto you king james, the rightful inheritor of the crown of this realm; wherefore all ye that are come this day to do your homage, service, and bounden duty, are ye willing to do the same?' from thence the said archbishop, accompanied with the lord keeper, the lord great chamberlain, the lord high constable, and the earl marshal (garter king of arms going before them), proceeded to the south side of the theatre, and repeated the same words; and from thence to the west, and lastly to the north side of the theatre, in like manner: the king standing all this while by his chair of state, toward the east side of the theatre, and turning his face to the several sides of the theatre, at such time as the archbishop at every of them spake to the people. at every of which the people signified their willingness and joy by loud acclamations."] _william warner._--where can any account be found of warner the poet, the author of _albion's england_? i. r. r. [some account of william warner will be found in wood's _athenæ oxonienses_. vol. i. pp., - . (bliss); also in percy's _reliques of ancient english poetry_, vol. ii. p. ., edit. . from the register of amwell, in herts, it appears that he died there march , - , "soddenly in the night in his bedde, without any former complaint or sicknesse;" and that he was "a man of good yeares and honest reputation; by his profession an attorney at the common please."--scott's _amwell_, p. . note.] "_isle of beauty._"--who was the author of "isle of beauty?" i always thought thomas haynes bayly, but some say lord byron. not knowing mrs. bayly's immediate address, i send this query. i much regret not asking her when i sent my volume of poems, with view of poor bayly's grove, cheltenham. l. m. thornton. . philip street, bath. [the "isle of beauty" is by thomas haynes bayly, and is given among his _songs, ballads, and other poems_, edited by his widow, vol. i. p. . edit. .] _edmund lodge._--can you give me the date of the death of edmund lodge, the herald? i suppose there will be some account of him in the obituary of the _gentleman's magazine_, to which i wish to refer. was he a descendant of the rev. edmund lodge, the predecessor of dawes in the mastership of queen elizabeth's grammar school at newcastle-upon-tyne? e. h. a. [edmund lodge died january , . an account of him is given in the _gentleman's magazine_ for april, , p. .] _king john._--baines, in his _history of liverpool_, p. ., says king john "was at lancaster on the th february , and at chester on the th february following." what route did he take from the first to the second-named town, and what was the object of his visit? prestoniensis. [upon reference to the introduction to the _patent rolls_, it appears that john was at lancaster from monday the st to sunday th, from monday th to wednesday st march at chester, on thursday nd at middlewich, friday the rd at newcastle-under-lyne, and from the th to the th at milburn.] * * * * * replies. has execution by hanging been survived? (vol. ix., pp. . .) the copious notes of your correspondents on this subject have only left the opportunity for a few stray gleanings in the field of their researches, which may, however, not prove uninteresting. the compiler of a curious mo. (_a memorial for the learned_, by j. d., gent., london, ) records, among "notable events in the reign of henry vi.," that,-- "soon after the good duke of gloucester was secretly murthered, five of his menial servants, viz. sir roger chamberlain, knt., middleton, herber, { } artzis, esq., and john needham, gent., were condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; and hanged they were at tyburn, let down quick, stript naked, marked with a knife to be quartered; and then the marquess of suffolk brought their pardon, and delivered it at the place of execution, and so their lives were saved."--p. . the following document from the patent rolls of the forty-eighth year of the reign of king henry iii. (skin .) affords conclusive evidence of the affirmative: "rex omnibus, etc. salutem. quia inetta de balsham pro receptamento latronum et imposito nuper per considerationem curie nostre suspendio adjudicata, et ab horâ nonâ diei iune usque post ortum solis diei martis sequen. suspensa, viva evasit, sicut ex testimonio fide dignorum accipimus. nos, divinæ charitatis intuitu, pardonavimus eidem inetta sectam pacis nostre que ad nos pertinet pro receptamento predicto, et firmam pacem nostrum ei inde concedimus. in cujus, etc. teste rege apud cantuar. xvi^o. die augusti. "convenit cum recordo laur. halsted, deput. algern. may. mil." plot, in his _natural history of staffordshire_, p. ., quotes this pardon, and suggests that possibly "she could not be hanged, upon account that the larynx, or upper part of her windpipe, was turned to bone, as fallopius (_oper._, tom. i., _obs. anat._, tract. .) tells us he has sometimes found it, which possibly might be so strong, that the weight of her body could not compress it, as it happened in the case of a swiss, who, as i am told by the rev. mr. obadiah walker, master of university college, was attempted to be hanged no less than thirteen times, yet lived notwithstanding, by the benefit of his windpipe, that after his death was found to have turned into a bone; which yet is still wonderful, since the circulation of the blood must be stopt, however, unless his veins and arteries were likewise turned to bone, or the rope not slipt close." besides the account of anne green, denham, in the th book of his _physico-theology_, quotes the following instance from rechelin (_de aere et alim. defect._, cap. vii.),-- "of a certain woman hang'd, and in all appearance dead, who was nevertheless restored to life by a physician accidentally coming in, and ordering a plentiful administration of the spirit of sal ammoniac." (see also _the uncertainty of the signs of death, and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections demonstrated_, mo., london, .) a paragraph, stating that fauntleroy, the notorious forger, had survived his execution, and was living abroad, has more than once gone the round of the newspapers. it is sometimes added that his evidence was required in a chancery suit,--absurdly enough, as, if not _actually_, he was at least _legally_ dead. the story of brodie, executed october, , for an excise robbery at edinburgh, is probably familiar to most. the self-possession and firmness with which he met his fate was the result of a belief in the possibility of his resuscitation: "it is a curious fact, that an attempt was made to resuscitate brodie immediately after the execution. the operator was degravers, whom brodie himself had employed. his efforts, however, were utterly abortive. a person who witnessed the scene, accounted for the failure by saying that the hangman, having been bargained with for a short fall, his excess of caution made him shorten the rope too much at first, and when he afterwards lengthened it, he made it too long, which consequently proved fatal to the experiment."--_curiosities of biography_, vo., glasgow, . there is a powerfully-written story in _blackwood's magazine_, april, , entitled "le revenant," in which a resuscitated felon is supposed to describe his feelings and experience. the author, in his motto, makes a sweeping division of mankind:--"there are but two classes in the world--those who are _hanged_, and those who are _not hanged_; and it has been my lot to belong to the former." many well-authenticated cases might still be adduced; but enough at least has now probably been said upon the subject, to show the possibility of surviving the tender mercies of professor calcraft and his fraternity. william bates. birmingham. in atkinson's _medical bibliography_, a. and b., under the head "bathurst rodolphus," is the following: "nuremberg, to., . on a maid who recovered after being hanged. "this is the remarkable case of elizabeth gren, whom bathurst and dr. willis restored after being executed, _i. e._ hanged, for infanticide. 'vena incisa refocillata est.' "these poor creatures are seldom considered as maids, after being hanged for infanticide. a similar recovery also happened to a man who had been executed for murder at york. my father had the body for public dissection. whether the law then required the body to be hung for one hour or not, i cannot say; but i well remember my father's observation, that it was a pity the wretch had ever been restored, as his morals were by no means improved. hanging is therefore by no means a cure for immorality, and it will be needless (in any of us) trying the experiment'--p. . h. j. sheffield. there is a record of a person being alive immediately after hanging, in the _local historian's table-book_, vol. ii. pp. , ., and under the date may , . it is there stated, ewan macdonald, a recruit in general guise's regiment of { } highlanders, then quartered in newcastle-upon-tyne, murdered a cooper named parker, and was executed on september , pursuant to his sentence. he was only nineteen years of age, and at the gallows endeavoured to throw the executioner off the ladder. the statement concludes with--"his body was taken to the surgeons' hall and there dissected;" and the following is appended as a foot-note: "it was said that, after the body was taken to the surgeons' hall, and placed ready for dissection, the surgeons were called to attend a case at the infirmary, who, on their return, found macdonald so far recovered as to be sitting up. he immediately begged for mercy; but a young surgeon, not wishing to be disappointed of the dissection, seized a wooden mall, with which he deprived him of life. it was farther reported, as the just vengeance of god, that this young man was soon after killed in the stable by his own horse. they used to show a mall at the surgeons' hall, as the identical one used by the surgeon." robert s. salmon. newcastle-on-tyne. the case of anne green is attested by a _third_ witness: "in december, , he was one of the persons concerned in recovering anne green to life, who was hanged at oxford on the th, for the supposed murther of her bastard child."--"memoir of sir william petty, knt.," prefixed to _several essays on political arithmetic_, p. ., th edit., london, . cpl. * * * * * coleridge's christabel. (vol. vii., pp. . ; vol. viii., pp. . .) mr. j. s. warden might well express astonishment at the rash and groundless statement in "blackwood" (dec. ), that the third part of christabel which dr. maginn sent to that magazine in "perplexed the public, _and pleased even coleridge_." how far the "discerning public" were imposed upon i know not; the following extract will show how far the poet-philosopher was "pleased" with the parody. "if i should finish 'christabel,' i shall certainly extend it, and give new characters, and a greater number of incidents. this the 'reading public' require, and this is the reason that sir walter scott's poems, though so loosely written, are pleasing, and interest us by their picturesqueness. if a genial recurrence of the ray divine should occur for a few weeks, i shall certainly attempt it. i had the whole of the two cantos in my mind before i began it; certainly the first canto is more perfect, has more of the true wild weird spirit than the last. i laughed heartily at the continuation in 'blackwood,' which i have been told is by maginn. it is in appearance, and in appearance _only_, a good imitation. i do not doubt but that it gave more pleasure, and to a greater number, than a continuation by myself in the spirit of the two first (_sic_) cantos (_qu._ would give)."--_letters, &c._, moxon, , vol. i. pp. - . c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * general whitelocke. (vol. ix., p. .) general whitelocke being on a visit to aboyne castle, in this county, the seat of the late marquis of huntley, then earl of aboyne, and a public market being held in the neighbourhood, the earl, the general, and some other visitors, were seen sauntering amongst the cattle and the tents of the fair. amongst the attenders of the country markets at that period was a woman of the name of tibby masson, well known in this city for her masculine character and deeds of fearlessness. tibby had accompanied her husband, who was a soldier, to south america; and, along with him, had been present at the unfortunate siege of buenos ayres; and, as a trophy of her valour, she brought with her an enormous-sized silver watch, which she declared she had taken from the person of a spanish officer who lay wounded in the neighbourhood of the city after the engagement. tibby was standing by her "sweetie" (confectionary) stall in the aboyne market when the earl and whitelocke, and the other gentlemen, were passing, and she at once recognised her old commander. they stopped, and the general tasted some of her "sweeties," and saucily declared that they were abominably bad. upon which tibby immediately retorted: "they are a great deal better than the timmer (wooden) flints that you gave our soldiers at bonny's airs." on hearing this, the consternation of whitelocke and his friends can more easily be imagined than described. they all fled from the field with the utmost rapidity, leaving tibby completely victorious; and the general, so far as is known, never again visited aberdeenshire. b. b. aberdeen. i have not access to a file of newspapers, but have been frequently told by an old pensioner, who served under general whitelocke: "we marched into _bowsan arrys_ (as he pronounced buenos ayres) without ere a flint in our muskets." l. g. the subjoined charade, which i have seen years ago, is perhaps preferable: "my first is an emblem of purity, my next against knaves a security; my whole is a shame to an englishman's name and branded will be to futurity." { } i have also seen a sort of parody upon the above applied to waterloo: "my first, tho' it's clear, will oft troubl'd appear, my next's an amusement so clever; my whole is a name, recorded by fame, to the glory of england for ever." m. j. c. if the _jeu d'esprit_ on the above name be worthy of preservation, the more correct version of it is as follows: "my first is the emblem of purity, my second is used for security; my whole is a name, which, if i had the same, i should blush to hand down to futurity." the authorship was ascribed (i believe with truth) to a lady of the name of belson. m. ( ) the following is the correct version: "my first is an emblem of purity, my second the means of security; my whole is a name, which, if mine were the same, i should blush to hand down to futurity." n. l. j. general whitelocke died at clifton, in his house in princes buildings. anon. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _gravelly wax negatives._--the only remedy i am acquainted with is to use the paper within twenty-four hours after excitement. i have tried the methods of messrs. crookes, fenton, and how; in every case i was equally annoyed with gravel, if excited beyond that time; in fact, i believe all the good wax negatives have been taken within twelve hours. the rev. wm. collings, who has produced such excellent wax negatives, in. × (several were sent to the late exhibition of the photographic society), informs me the above is quite his experience, and that he excites his papers for the day early in the morning. the cause lies, i believe, in the fault of homogeneity of the waxed paper, arising from unevenness in the structure of the paper exaggerated by the transparency of the wax, partly, perhaps, from a semi-crystallizing of the wax in cooling, and also from its being adulterated with tallow, resin, &c. as a consequence of this, the paper is filled with innumerable hard points; the iodizing and exciting solutions are unequally absorbed, and the actinic influence acting more on the weak points, produces under gallic acid a speckled appearance, if decomposition has gone to any length in the exciting nitrate by keeping. the céroléine process, by its power of penetrating, will, i hope, produce an homogeneous paper, and go far to remove this annoyance. in answer to a former query by mr. hele, whatman's paper of is lightly sized, and not hard rolled, so that twenty minutes' washing in repeated water sufficed to remove the iodide of potassium, and if long soaked the paper became porous, often letting the gallic acid through in the development. i have lately been trying turner's and sandford's papers; they require three or four hours' repeated washing to get rid of the salts, being very hard rolled. many negatives on turner's paper, especially if weak, exhibit a structural appearance like linen, the unequal density gives almost exactly the same gravelly character as wax, as the positive i inclose, taken from such a negative, shows. not only ought collodion to be "structureless," as mr. shadbolt well expresses it, but likewise all the other substrata of iodide of silver. t. l. mansell. guernsey. _photographic experience._--the plan proposed by dr. mansell, in the last number of "n. & q.," for comparison of photographic experiences, will, i am sure, prove of much practical advantage and i therefore lose no time in filling up the table published in your paper: . eight minutes' exposure. . south wales. . mr. talbot's original receipt. . turner. . / inch. . inches. . inches. focal length, inches. maker, ross. i would also suggest that the character of the object copied should be included in the above table. my answer supposes a light-coloured building, of an ordinary sandstone colour. a view comprising foliage would require a much longer time for its full development. in working on the sea-coast, i find that the dark slate rocks of north cornwall require an exposure in the camera half as long again as the blue mountain limestone cliffs of south wales, which abound in actinic power. j. d. llewelyn. pen-ller-gaer. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _turkish language_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent hassan, who would much gratify our friends the turks if he would spell his signature with one _s_ only, will find the object of his inquiry in a little book just published by clowes, military publisher, charing cross, _turkish and english words and phrases, for the use of the british army and navy in the east_, price s. the pronunciation is given in the roman character, and according to the plainest english rules. osmanli. _dr. edward daniel clarke's charts of the black sea_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a reply respecting these important charts, and their value, was given by the first lord of the admiralty in the house of commons on march , in consequence of an inquiry made by mr. french. sir james graham { } is stated by _the times_ of the following day to have said on that occasion: "the charts alluded to by the hon. gentleman were most valuable, and had been made use of; but subsequent observations, and farther surveys, had in a great measure superseded them at the present time." ellum. _aristotle on living law_ (vol. ix., p. ).--your correspondent h. p. asks where aristotle says that a judge is a living law, as the law itself is a dumb judge. the first part of this antithesis is in _eth. nic._, v. . § .: "[greek: ho gar dikastês bouletai einai hoion dikaion empsuchon.]" "the judge wishes to be justice incarnate." your correspondent, however, probably had in his mind the passage of cicero, _de leg._, iii. .: "videtis igitur, magistratûs hanc esse vim, ut præsit, præscribatque recte et utilia et conjuncta cum legibus;--vereque dici, magistratum legem esse loquentem, legem autem mutum magistratum." the commentators compare an antithetical sentence attributed to simonides,--that a picture is a silent poem, and that a poem is a speaking picture. l. _christ's or cris cross row_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the alphabet. see _the romish beehive_, .: "in bacon's _reliques of_ +---+ _rome_, p. ., describing the hallowing of churches, | a | among other ceremonies is the following: 'there | b | must be made in the +-----+ c +-----+ pavement of the | d e f g h i k | church a crosse +-----+ l +-----+ of ashes and sand wherein | m | the whole alphabet, or christ's crosse, shall | o | be written in greek and latin letters.' | p | | q | "sir thos. more, in | r | his works, p. . h, says, 'crosse rowe was printed | s | on cards for learners.' i first went to school | t | at a dame's, and had a horn-book (as it was | v | called), in which was the alphabet in a form | u | something like that here given, and the dame | w | called me and other beginners to learn our | x | 'cris cross row;' at that time the term was | y | used, that is, about seventy years since." | z | +---+ goddard johnson. _titles to the psalms in the syriac version._--mr. t. j. buckton (vol. ix., p. .) observes, in reference to the superscription [hebrew: lmntsch bngynt], "for the chief performer on the neginoth," that "the syriac and arabic versions omit this superscription altogether, from _ignorance_ of the musical sense of the words." and lower down he speaks as if [hebrew: nchylwt] were expressed in the syriac by the word "church." i do not question the accuracy of mr. b.'s renderings of the hebrew words, for they have been admitted for centuries; but i wish to observe that the translator of the syriac should not be lightly charged with ignorance of hebrew, as i can testify from an extensive acquaintance with that venerable version. i therefore cannot allow that the words were omitted by the translator for that reason. besides, whenever he found a word untranslateable, he transferred it as it was. nor do i admit that _nehiloth_, in psalm v., is translated by the term "church." and this leads me to remark, what seems to have been overlooked by most writers, viz. that the syriac version _omits_ uniformly the titles of the psalms as they are found in hebrew[ ]. the inscriptions contained in the common editions of these psalms form no part of the translation. one of them refers to the destruction of jerusalem by titus! they are not always the same. i am acquainted with at least _three different sets_ of these headings contained in the syriac mss. in the british museum. erpenius omitted them altogether in his edition of the psalter, and dathe's follows his; for which very substantial reasons are given by him in the "præf. ad lect." of his _psalterium syriacum_, pp. , ., halæ, . b. h. c. [footnote : except the words "of david:" i am not sure about these.] "_old rowley_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the nickname of "old rowley," as applied to charles ii., seems to be derived from roland, and has reference to the proverbial saying, "a roland for an oliver;" the former name being given to charles, in contradistinction to the protector's name of oliver. roland and oliver were two celebrated horses, or, as some say, two pages of charlemagne possessing equal qualities and hence, "i'll give you a roland for your oliver" was tantamount to "i'll give you as good as you send."[ ] n. l. j. [footnote : [see "n. & q.," vol. ii., p. .]] _wooden effigies_ (vol.ix., p. .).--i beg to refer your readers to two figures which are in excellent preservation, and i am not aware that they have ever obtained public notice. in the church at boxted, near sudbury, suffolk, which is the burial-place of the ancient family of poley of boxted hall, are, with several other interesting monuments, the effigies of william poley and alice shaa, his wife. he is in armour, with a beard, and the lady in the dress of her day, with a long pendant from her girdle, having suspended a small thick book and the arms of poley impaling shaa on the cover. at her feet a greyhound to fill up the space, in consequence of the lady being short, and their heads on the same line. there is an inscription in relief on the cushion on which the lady rests her head, which states that he died th december, , and the lady march , { } . the figures rest on a tomb of masonry, and fill the recess of a window, with iron railing to protect them. their are painted black, so that the nature of the wood is not apparent. alice shaa was the only daughter and heiress of her father, and the eldest son of this william and alice was sir john poley, knt. (see morant's _essex_, vol. i. pp. . . &c.) r. a. melford. _abbott families_ (vol. ix., pp. . &c.).--mr. adams having very satisfactorily afforded the required information concerning samuel abbott, i shall still feel very greatly obliged if any other gentleman can throw any light upon the archbishop's descendants, especially sir maurice's sons and their issue. i have in my possession an old will of an ancestress, sealed with the crest of bartholomew barnes, of london, merchant, whose daughter was second wife and mother to sir maurice's children, viz., bartholomew, george, edward, and maurice. did any of them leave a son called james, born about or ? i. t. abbott. darlington. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. every reader of the _archæologia_ knows so well the great value of the papers contained in it (too few in number) by the rev. john webb, that he will be sure that any work edited by that gentleman will be edited with diligence, intelligence, and learning. such is the _roll of the household expenses of richard de swinfield, bishop of hereford, during part of the years and _, which he has just edited for the camden society, in a manner every way worthy of his reputation, which is that of one of the best antiquaries of the day. the present volume contains only the roll, its endorsement, and an appendix of contemporary and explanatory documents, the whole being richly annotated by the editor. another volume will contain his introduction, glossary, &c. on its completion we shall again call attention to a work which is so creditable both to mr. webb and to the camden society. the third volume of the cheap and handsome library edition of _the works of oliver goldsmith_, edited by peter cunningham, f.s.a., which forms a portion of _murray's british classics_, contains i. _the bee_; ii. _essays_; iii. _unacknowledged essays_; and iv. _his prefaces, introductions, &c._ our photographic friends will be glad to hear that a new edition of professor hunt's _manual of photography_ has just been issued, in which the author, besides including all the most recent improvements, the process of photographic etching, &c., has taken the opportunity of making such alterations in the arrangements of the several divisions of the subject, as have enabled him to place the various phenomena in a clearer view. while on the subject of scientific publications, we notice the very able volume just issued by professor beale, _the microscope, and its application to clinical medicine_. though addressed more particularly to medical practitioners, it contains so much valuable instruction with respect to the management of the microscope generally, as to render it a valuable guide to all who are engaged in microscopic investigations. dr. latham will lecture on thursday next at the beaumont institution, mile end road, _on the various families of mankind in the russian and turkish empires_. the lecture is for the benefit of the colet schools of the very poor district of st. thomas, stepney. books received.--_the statistical companion for _, by t. c. banfield, esq., is a most valuable compendium of a mass of statistical evidence gathered from parliamentary blue books, and other authentic sources, thus supplying in one small volume the results of many very large ones.--_addison's works, by bishop hurd_. vol. iii. of this cheap and neatly-printed edition (which forms a part of bohn's series of _british classics_) contains addison's papers from _the spectator_.--_lives of the queens of england_, by agnes strickland, vol. v., contains the biographies of anne of denmark, henrietta maria, and catherine of braganza.--_poetical works of john dryden_, edited by robert bell, vol. iii. this is the concluding volume of dryden in mr. bell's _annotated edition of the english poets_.--_cyclopædia bibliographica_, part xx. the first division of this most useful library companion is fast drawing to a close, the present part extending from vance (william ford) to wilcocks (thomas).--_the retrospective review_, no. vii., contains some amusing articles on ancient paris, davies the epigrammatist, the turks in the seventeenth century, astrology, &c. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the advancement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, or a description of machines and models, &c., contained in the repository of the society of arts, &c. by william bailey, registrar of the society, . a register of the premiums and bounties given by the society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, from the original institution in the year to inclusive. printed for the society by james phillips. . wanted by _p. le neve foster_, . upper grove lane, camberwell. scott's poetical works. vo. . vol. i., or the "minstrelsy," of that date. southey's brazil. to. vols. ii. and iii. salazar, historia de la conquista de mexico. fol. or . percy society's publications, and . ( l. will be given for them.) wanted by _j. r. smith_, . soho square. essays and sketches of life and character, by a gentleman who recently left his lodgings. london, . memoir of sheridan, by the late professor smyth. leeds, . mo. wanted by _john martin_, librarian, woburn abbey. { } the following works of symon patrick, late lord bishop of ely, &c.:-- sermon at the funeral of mr. john smith. . divine arithmetic, sermon at the funeral of mr. samuel jacomb, june , . angliÆ speculum, sermon at the fast, april , . sermon at covent garden, advent sunday, . sermon on st. peter's day, with enlargements. . sermon on st. mark's day. . fast sermon before the king and queen, april , : prov. xiv. . exposition of the ten commandments. . discourse concerning prayer. the pillar and ground of truth. to. . examination of bellarmine's second note of the church, viz. antiquity. to. . examination of the texts which papists cite out of the bible to prove the supremacy of st. peter, &c. . answer to a book entitled "the touchstone of the reformed gospel." . a private prayer to be used in difficult times. a thanksgiving for our late wonderful deliverance. . wanted by the _rev. alexander taylor_, . blomfield terrace, paddington. archÆologia, numbers or volumes, from vol. xxv. to vol. xxix. inclusive. wanted by _james dearden_, upton house, poole, dorset. the artifices and impositions of false teachers, discovered in a visitation sermon. vo. london, . the church of england not superstitious--showing what religions may justly be charged with superstition, pp. , vo. london. . physica aristotelica moderna accommodata in usum juventutis academicÆ. auctore guilelmo taswell. vo. lond., . antichrist revealed among the sect of quakers. london, . the above were written by wm. taswell, d.d., rector of newington. surrey, &c. miscellanea sacra; containing the story of deborah and barak; david's lamentations over saul and jonathan; a pindaric poem; and the prayer of solomon at the dedication of the temple, to., by e. taswell. london, . the usefulness of sacred music, chron. . . . ., by wm. taswell. a.m., rector of wootton-under-edge, gloucestershire. vo. london, . commerce of the united states and west indies, by the hon. littleton w. tazewell. london, . wanted by _r. jackson_, . northampton place, old kent road. liber precum. . liber precum. . liber precum. . ch. ch. oxford. liturgia. . eton prayers. . enchiridion precum. . enchiridion precum. . liber precum. . worcester college, oxford. wanted by _rev. j. w. hewett_, bloxham, banbury. * * * * * notices to correspondents. balliolensis. _we think the article in question has recently been reprinted. if not, which we will ascertain, we shall be glad to receive it._ g. b. a. _is thanked. his reply has been anticipated._ abhba. _for explanation of the monogram of the parker society, see_ vol. vii., p. . i. r. r. embost, _with hunters, refers to a deer that has been so hard chased that she foams at the mouth_.--stound, _in spenser, is explained in the glossary, as space, moment, season, hour, time_.--yarke _is to make ready, or prepare_.--crampette, _in heraldry, is the chape at the bottom of the scabbard of a sword, to prevent the point from protruding. it is a badge borne by the earl de la warr._--_an_ ambry, _in old customs, was a place where arms, plate, and vessels of domestic use were kept; probably a corruption of almonry_.--gispen _is a pot or cup made of leather_, "_gyspen potte_, pot de _cuir_." _palsgrave. in use at winchester school, according to kennett._--_the item in the newcastle accounts, "paid for cowllinge of bartye allyson, the fool," may mean, for habiting him in a friar's cowl._--clito, _or_ clitones, _says du cange, "nom modo regum primogenitos, quod vult spelmanus, sed universim filios omnes, appellarunt anglo-saxones, tanquam_ [greek: kleitous], _id est_, inclytos, claros."--sollerets _are pieces of steel, which formed part of the armour for the feet_. a young photographer _must clearly see (what we ought not to have to repeat) that we cannot recommend particular houses for photographic apparatus. our advertising columns furnish all such queries with ample replies._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price_ s. d., _cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price_ l. s.--_for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s. per post, s. d. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. no. . pall mall east, and . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. _established_ a. d. . investment accounts may be opened daily, with capital of any amount. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses and forms sent free on application. * * * * * hope life office: incorporated under act of parliament. guarantee fund , l. life assurance, endowments, annuities, and honesty guarantee bonds, at moderate and just premiums. by order, h. c. eiffe, general manager. . princes street, bank. * * * * * chubbb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete lists of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * the st. margaret's estate, richmond.--this magnificent mansion and picturesque park at st. margaret's, opposite richmond gardens, may be viewed daily, between the hours of and o'clock (sundays excepted), by cards only, to be had of the executive committee of the conservative land society. cards will be forwarded on application to charles lewis gruneisen, sec. offices, . norfolk street, strand, april , . * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale. messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be purchased in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * library of valuable books. mr. bentley will sell by auction, in the lecture room of the natural history society, at worcester, on tuesday, the rd day of may, , at eleven o'clock, a valuable library of rare and choice books, including one copy of the first folio edition of shakspeare, london, , and two varying copies of the second folio, london, , with many valuable black-letter books in divinity and history. catalogues may be had at the office of the auctioneer, . foregate street, worcester, one week previous to the sale. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto. in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * heal & son's spring mattresses.--the most durable bedding is a well-made spring mattress; it retains its elasticity, and will wear longer without repair than any other mattress, and with _one_ french wool and hair mattress on it is a most luxurious bed. heal & son make them in three varieties. for price of the different sizes and qualities, apply for heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads and priced list of bedding. it contains designs and prices of upwards of bedsteads, and prices of every description of bedding, and is sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "the last day of november, .": ' ' in original. page , "(afterwards sir francis)": 'aftewards' in original. "p. .": 'p. .' in original (reference checked). generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * volume fifth january--june, index to the fifth volume. * * * * * a. a. on welsh names blaen, . abbot (abp.), his letters to the clergy, . aberdeen banking company, . aberdoniensis on the black book of paisley, . abigail or handmaid, . . . abraham-men explained, . absalom's hair, . a. (c.) on scottish regalia, . a. (c. t.) on troilus and cressida, . acworth queries, . adair (john), particulars of, . adams (rev. t.), his to. sermons, . . addison and his hymns, . . admonition to the parliament, . . a. (e.) on meaning of chatterbox, . Ægrotus on the monuments of de la beche family, . ---- number of the children of israel, . ---- petition respecting the duke of wellington, . ---- porson's derivation of donkey, . ---- junius, . ---- sword swallowing, . ---- autobiography of timour, . a. (e. h.) on gregentius and the jews, . ---- longevity and rejuvenescency, . ---- notices of j. scandret, . ---- sir edw. seawards narrative, . ---- notices of general wolfe, . a. (f.) on the number of the children of israel, . ---- english translation of the canons, . ---- "quid est episcopus," . ---- "wise above that which is written," . a. (f. r.) on advocate, junius' correspondent, . ---- mr. samuel johnson, . a. (f. s.) on marlborough th november custom, . ---- mary queen of scots, and bothwell's confession, . ---- the reed family, . a. (g. b.) on acworth queries, . agmond on key experiments, . ---- omens from young lambs, . ---- instances of longevity, . agrippa on the archbishop of spalatro, . a. (g. s.) on the arms of allen of rossull, . ague, charm for, . ai, the diphthong, . ajax on maps of africa, . . ---- dr. donne's manuscripts, . ---- works on ecclesiastical geography, . a. (j. h.) on the virtuosi, or st. luke's club, . a. (j. s.) on cuddy the ass, . ---- a custom on valentine's day, . a. (j. t.) on the black rood in scotland, . a. (j. y.) on remains of horses and sheep in churches, . akerman (j. y.) on the broad arrow, . albans (st.) william, the abbot, . albion on wycherley's verses on plowden, . aldress, the use of the word, . aldus, inscription on his sanctum, . aleclenegate, its meaning, . algor (john) on old books with new titles, . allcroft (j. d.) on foundation stones, . allen (e.) on the word blaen, . allen (j. f.) on the stature of q. elizabeth, . allens of rossull, their arms, , . all-fours, its meaning, . almas cliffe, near harrowgate, , . [greek: alphred] on rhymes connected with places, . alterius orbis papa, its origin, . altron on newton, cicero, and gravitation, . a. (m.) on johnson's house, bolt court, . ---- the music caused by cracked glass, . amanuensis on barnard's church music, . ---- finsbury manor, . ---- the king's standard, . amateur (an) on musical writers, . ambassadors addressed as peers, . . ambassadors, foreign, . . amber witch, its authenticity, . . ambree (mary), notices wanted, . amicus on "inveni portum," . amyclæ, the burghers of, . an, the article, when prefixed, . . analysis defined, . anderson's annals of the english bible noticed, . anecdote of a noble lord, . angel-beast, nature of the game, . anon. on large families, . ---- queries in walton's angler, . anramenii (sampson) on the burial law, . ---- a great man who could not spell, . anstis on the antiquity of seals, the ms., . antiquaries temp. elizabeth, . antiquarius on cromwell's skull, . apple sauce with pork, when first used, . apple trees, blessing them, . arable land, the rental of, in , . aram (eugene), the murderer of d. clarke, . arc de aubouin, its meaning, . . archæologia cambrensis, on the reprint of vol. i., . . archer rolls, and master of archery, . arciacon, the god, . arkwright, origin of the name, . . armiger's crest, query respecting, . armorial bearings, parliamentary papers on, . arms of royalty in churches, . arncliffe on eagles' feathers, . arrow head, or broad arrow, . . arthur (king), his second exhumation . . arun on the meaning of hoo, . ash (dr. john), his early history, . . ashmole (elias) and the tradescants, . . astrologer royal, a nominal post, . athenian oracle and gazette, notice of, . audley family, the present representative, . aue trici and gheeze ysenoudi, . augmentation office, . augustine (st.), his confessions, &c., . ---- his six treatises on music, . author (a small) on the calamities of authors, . authors, a new calamity of, . . avis aux réfugiez, its authorship, . a. (w.) on cooper's miniature of cromwell, . a. (w. p.) on the cromwell family, . ---- london genealogical society, . azores, origin of the name, . . b. b. on mary fann, . ---- the seed of st. john's fearn, . ---- pope and flatman, . ---- tregonwell frampton, . b. (a) on notices of st. botolph, . ---- cromwell's burial place, . ---- lancashire may-day custom, . ---- largesse, . babington (anthony), tract relating to, . . bachelor (an old) on cold pudding settling love, . bachelors' buttons . bacon, learned men of this name, . . bacon (lord), poet referred to by him, . badges of noblemen in the th century, . b. (a. e.) on a passage in goldsmith, . ---- halliwell's annotated shakspeare, . ---- reply to mr. hickson's objections, . ---- readings in shakspeare, . . . . . ---- the meaning and origin of era, . ---- the pendulum demonstration, . ---- "asters with trains of fire," . ---- shakspeare's sickle or sheckel, bagshaw (sir edward), notices of, . . bagster's english version of the polyglott, . bailey (miss), the song, . . ballads, northern, . balliolensis on lord king, the sclaters, &c., . . ---- burial of sir john moore, . ---- corrupted names, . ---- ralph winterton, . balmerino (lord arthur) his letters, . banning or bayning family, . banyan-day explained, . baptisteries anciently outside the church, . { }barbarian defended, . barnacles, meaning of the term, . . . barnard's church music, . . baronets, ladies so styled, . baron's hearse, inquiry respecting, . . barrière (m.) and the quarterly review, . . . barrister, its derivation, . bartholomew (st.), notice of, . . . bartlett (a. d.) on the dodo, . baskerville the printer, . . . basnet family, . bastard (thomas), his epigrams, . bastides, . . . batavus on shield of hercules, . bates (wm.) on cane decane, . ---- ground ice, . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- hoax on sir walter scott, . battle of neville's cross, a poem, . bavius on cane decane, &c., . bauderich and bells, . baxter (richard), notices of, . . . ---- heavy shove, . . . ---- pulpit. . . ---- (w. h.) on rhymes on places, . b. (b.) on astrologer royal, . ---- a smart saying of baxter, . ---- bee park, . ---- johnson's house, bolt court, . ---- the bowyer bible, . ---- the convertibility of grin and gin, . ---- milton's rib bone, . ---- london street characters, . ---- on misappropriated quotations, . ---- the derivation of caul, . ---- the antiquity of vanes, . ---- st. wilfrid's needle in yorkshire, . b. (c.) on abigail, . ---- song of miss bailey, . ---- arrangement of books, . ---- queen brunéhaut, . . ---- epigram on burnet(?), . ---- the word couch, . ---- johnny crapaud, . ---- fern storms, . ---- meaning of groom, . ---- l'homme de ans, . ---- juby issham, . ---- moravian hymns, . ---- newton, cicero, and gravitation, . ---- optical phenomenon, . ---- st. paul's quotation of heathen writers, . ---- derivation of poison, . ---- dutch commentary on pope, . ---- salting of infants, . ---- meaning of theodoneum, . ---- age of trees, . ---- deep wells, . ---- new zealand legend, . b. (c. c.) on dr. w. warren's tract on cambridge, . b. (c. h.) on few descents through long periods, . b. (c. w.) on the value of solidus gallicus, . ---- the authorship of black gowns and red coats, . ---- verses in latin prose, . ---- corrupted names of places, . ---- archaic and provincial words, . ---- ralph winterton, . beauclerk (lady diana), noticed, . . bealby (h. m.), notices of richard baxter, . bede's chair in jarrow church, . bede (cuthbert) on the article an, . ---- absalom's hair, . ---- baxter's pulpit, . . ---- bede's chair in jarrow church, . ---- body and soul, . ---- cleopatra playing at billiards, . ---- giving cheese at a birth, . ---- archaic and provincial words, . ---- nightingale and thorn, . ---- dedication stone at jarrow church, . bede (cuthbert) on exterior stoups, . bedell (bishop), his device, . b. (e.) on lines on dr. fell, . ---- general urmston, . b. (e. d.) on the butts family, . bee-park, what? . . bee superstitions, . . bee (tee) on british ambassadors, . ---- johnson's house, bolt court, . ---- duchess of lancaster, . ---- bishop of london's house, . b. (e. h.) on bishops vacating their sees, . ---- the meaning of sleekstone, . ---- statute of limitations abroad, . beholden, its derivation, . bell, superstition respecting the passing, . bells, terms in change ringing, . benbow on 'prentice pillars, . bengal civilian (an old) on "son of the morning," . benmohel (n. l.) on rehetour and moke, . béocera gent, were they irish? . . . bequest, curious one at eardisland, . berkeley (john lord), was he bishop of ely? . . berkeley (bp.), his reference to a nobleman, . . b. (e. t.) on legend of st. kenelm, . beware the cat, inquiry after, . b. (f. c.) on the book of jasher, . b. (g.) on the east wind on candlemas-day, . b. (g. m.) on jacobite toast, . b. (h.) on "the delicate investigation," . b. (h. a.) on sterne's letter from paris, . bible, latin hexameters on the books of, . bibliophilus (periergus) on passage in hamlet, . bibliophilus (n. p.) on the author of avis aux réfugiez, . bibliothecar. chetham. on carling sunday, &c., . ---- dutch chronicle of the world, . ---- the doctrine of the resurrection, . bibliotheca literaria, contributors to, . bible, correction in the cambridge edition, . bible, lines on, attributed to byron, . . biblicus on the apocalypse, . bibliography, historical, . bigot, its derivation, . . bilson (arnold), who was his wife? . biographical dictionary a desideratum, . bishops vacating their sees, . . bishopsgate, bishop of london's palace in, . . birmingham antiquities, . b. (j.) on market crosses, . ---- movable pulpit at norwich, . ---- portrait of charles mordaunt, . b. (j. n.) on st. bartholomew, . ---- gospel oaks, . b. (j. o.) on the last lay of petrarch's cat, . b. (j. s.) on the last of the palæologi, . bill of fare at a christening, , . black book of scone, . black gowns and red coats, a satire, . . blackwell (dr. elizabeth), . blackwell (w.), on the knollys family, . blaen, a welsh prefix, . . . blakloanæ hæresis, . b. (l. c.) on boy bishop at eton, . blessing by the hand, . blink (g.) on corrupted names of places, . blindman's holiday, origin of the term, . blind taught to read by carved letters, . bloomerism in the th century, . b. (m. w.) on baxter's shove, . ---- the death-watch, . ---- dr. johnson a prophet, . ---- monument to mary queen of scots, . ---- corrupted names of places, . ---- portrait of john rogers, . ---- tortoiseshell tom cat, . b. (n.) on optical phenomenon, . bn. (r.) on lossius' annotationes scholasticæ, . boar's-head wrestled for, . boase (john j. a.) on bronze medals, . boeoticus on hair cut off, an antidote, . ---- punch and judy, . bogatzky's golden treasury noticed, . bohun's historical collections, . . boiling to death as a punishment, . . . . boleyn (anne), her burial-place, . bolingbroke, origin of the name, . [greek: bolis] on wyle cop, . bonaparte and lord whitworth, . bonds of clearwell and redbrook, . boniface, on apple sauce with pork, . bookbuyers, hints to, . booker (john) on burials in woollen, . book-keepers, hints to, . books, mechanical arrangement of, . . books, notices of new-- ackerman's remains of pagan saxondom, . african wanderings, . alfred (king), his complete works, . . allen's battles of the british navy, . andersen's danish fairy legends, . anti-jacobin poetry, . antiquarian etching club, publications of, . archæologia cambrensis for january, . aunt effie's rhymes for little children, . beechy's literary works of sir joshua reynolds, . book of familiar quotations, . brande's dictionary of science, . bridgewater treatises, . brown's grammar of english grammars, . browne's (sir thomas) works, by wilkin, . . bruce's letter to lord viscount mahon, . buckley's translation of the trent canons, . burke's works and correspondence, . . burton's narratives from criminal trials, . cavendish's life of wolsey, . carlisle (earl of), lectures on popular education, . child's play, seventeen drawings by e. v. b., . chronicle of the grey friars (camden soc.), . cicero's orations, translated, . clarke's viola the twin and imogen the peerless, . coins of the ancient duchies of brabant and limberg, . colquhoun's history of magic, . cunningham's story of nell gwyn, . deeds of naval daring, . delapierre's macaronéana, . dumas' pictures and travels in france, . eaton's rome in the nineteenth century, . french in england, . fuller's (andrew), works, . gibbings (rev. r.), "were heretics ever burned at rome?" . { }gosse's popular british ornithology, . grimm's household stories, . ---- deutsches wörterbuch, . halliwell on the emendation in cymbeline, . hervey's pathway of the fawn, . holcroft (thomas), his memoirs, . hook (theodore), sketch of, . home truths for home peace, . huc's travels in tartary and china, . . humboldt's travels, . hunter's robin hood, . james' fables of Æsop, . joceline's mother's legacie, . kidd's london journal, . lamartine's history of monarchy in france, . lebahn's henry von eichenfels, . legal iambics in prose, . london library catalogue, . longstaffe's richmondshire, . macaulay's essays on addison and horace walpole, . mackay's memoirs of popular delusions, . maitland's (dr.) eight essays on various subjects, . marquardsen's ueber haft und bürgschaft bei den angelsachsen, . marsden's lectures on archæology, . men of the time in , . michaud's history of the crusaders, . moore's history of british ferns, . murray's official handbook of church and state, . ---- readings for the rail, . myrtle's home and its pleasures, . neander's general history, vol. vi., . newman's regal rome, . oersted on the soul in nature, . pindar's odes translated, . reynolds' (sir joshua) works, . roffe's essay upon shakspeare, . rose on the affghans, ten tribes, &c., . smith's dictionary of ancient geography, . sugden (sir edw.), shall we register our deeds? . tapping's rhymed chronicle of edw. manlove, . taylor's emphatic new testament, . thorpe's ancient laws and institutes of england, . trench on the study of words, . tymms' handbook of bury, . vasa (gustavus), history of, . washington (gen.), life by c. w. upham, . woman's journey round the world, . worsaae's danes and norwegians, . wylie's fairford graves, . books, old, with new titles, . . boorde (andrew), latin song by, . [greek: borias] on "cease, rude boreas," . borough-english, the custom of, . borrow's muggletonians, . borrowing days explained, . . boston and bunker's hill, . bosquecillo on wedding-rings, . ---- viego, on weather prophecy, . ---- sir walter raleigh's ring, . botfield (beriah) on caxton memorial, . bothwell's burial place, . botolph (st.), particulars of, . . . bough-house explained, . bourne's (vincent) epilogus in eunuchum terentii, . bow bells, born within the sound of, . . . . bowdler's family shakspeare, cheap edition suggested, . bowyer bible, inquiry after, . . . boy bishop at eton, . . b. (p.) on the author of character of a true churchman, . ---- the author of god's love, &c., . b. (r.) on angel-beast; cleek; longtriloo, . braem's mémoires touchant le commerce, . . . bransby (rev. james), notice of, . brallaghan, or the deipnosophists, . brasses of abbot kirton, . bray (anna eliza) on countess of desmond, . braybrooke (lord) on the derivation of brozier, . ---- bonaparte and lord whitworth, . ---- a portrait of the countess of desmond, . ---- traditions of remote periods, . ---- john of padua, . ---- mary howe, . ---- a curious instance of female fecundity, . ---- latin hexameters on the bible, . ---- memoria technica for shakspeare's plays, . ---- gen. james wolfe, . breen (henry h.) on epigram on la bruyère, . ---- quotation, "felix natu," &c., . ---- the derivation of garrat, . ---- the birthplace of the empress josephine, . ---- idées napoléoniennes, . ---- the phrase "martin-drunk," . ---- derivation of martinique, . . ---- the mistral, . ---- a passage in pope's imitation of horace, . ---- "quid non fecerunt barbari," . breezes of gas works, why so called, . breton (nicholas), poem by, . b. (r. h.) on scotch tokens, . brigadier-general, letter to, . . bridgeman (bp.), notices of, . . bridger (charles) on autobiography of w. oldys, . british museum, additions to the mss., . brito on the birthplace of st. patrick, . brittany, history of, containing genealogies, . . broctuna on merchant adventurers, . brogue and fetch, irish words, . bronze medals, . brown (wm.) jun. on the book of jasher, . browne (t. r.) on the patriarch job, . . brozier, its derivations, . b. (r. s.) on the arms of roberson, . bruce (john) on age of trees, . ---- count königsmark, . bruce (king robert), his watch, . . bruné (queen), notice of, . . . bruno on the words fell and rigg, . bruyère (la), epigram on, . b. (r. w.), custom on st. crispin's day, . ---- on wassailing orchards in sussex, . b. (s. e.) on the discovery of gravitation, . b. (t.) on poem on the burning of the houses of parliament, . b. (t. j.) on origin of paper, . bt. (j.) on meaning of knarres, . b. (t. w.) on hippopotamus, behemoth, . buchanan and voltaire, . buckton (t. j.) on carmen perpetuum, . ---- greek names of fishes, . ---- hell paved with skulls of priests, . ---- the number seven, . building sites mysteriously changed, . . bull, a blunder, explained, . bull, its meaning, . bull the barrel, its meaning, . . bullen family, . . burial, law respecting, . . . . burial without religious service, . . buriensis on aleclenegate, . ---- bough-house, . ---- whipping a husband, . ---- the origin of gospel oaks, . ---- deaths from fasting, . ---- emblems of a saint, . ---- spectral coach and horses, . ---- plague stones, . ---- the origins of the name rotten row, . ---- suffolk newspapers, . ---- noblemen's badges in the th century, . burnet (bp.), epigram on, . . burnet (gilbert), the correspondent of hutcheson, . burnomania, its author, . . burr (margaret), notices of, . burton (thomas), founder of loughborough school, . burtt (joseph) on bills for printing and binding the king's book, . bush, burning the, . bush (charles), collections of charters, &c., . butler (rev. a.), inscription on his monument, . butterworth & co., letter respecting a pretended reviewer, . butts family, notices of, . buzz, its meaning, . . b. (w.) on sir edward bagshaw, . ---- the meaning of stoke, . ---- st. ulrich's, augsburg, . b. (w. h.) on an inscription on george inn, . b. (w. j.) on general index to critical review, . b. (w. m.) on the surname bywater, . byrom's paraphrase on motto of "n. & q.," . byron (lord), ivory medallion of, . ---- siege of corinth, . bywater, its earliest use, . c. c. on m. barrière and the quarterly review, . ---- cibber's lives of the poets, . . ---- cuddy, the ass, . ---- eliza fenning, . ---- traditions through few links, . . ---- royal library, . ---- the two königsmarks, . . ---- the word devil, . ---- wearing gloves in presence of royalty, . ---- the meaning of stoke, . ---- ornamental hermits, . ---- the meaning of knarres, . ---- lines by lord palmerston, . ---- mispronounced names of places, . ---- the derivation of sept, . ---- the meaning of groom, . ---- on surnames, . ---- algernon sydney, . ---- line on franklin, . ---- "up, guards, and at them!" . ---- sir gammer vangs, . c. (a.) on clapper gate, . ---- family likenesses, . ---- isle of man folk lore, . ---- oath of a pregnant woman, . ---- twittens, . cabal, its early uses, . . cæsarius arelatensis noticed, . cagots, notices of, . . caldoriana societas, inquiry respecting, . cambrian literature, . camden, german poet quoted by him, . camden's poem on the marriage of thames and isis, . camera (de) on the meaning of emayle, . ---- the meaning of penkenol, . ---- scologlandis and scologi, . campkin (henry) on cowley and his monument, . { }campkin (henry) on "the man in the almanack," . canon ebor. on three estates of the realm, . canongate marriages, . canons, the english translation of them, . . . cantor on collar of ss, . capital punishment, mitigation of, . carbo on the etymology of poison, . cards, old playing, . ---- prohibited to apprentices, . ---- south sea playing, . carew (sir george), his pedigree, . carl on white-livered knight, . carling sunday, . carmarthen, its derivation, . caroline (queen), suppression of her trial, . . carrs or calves in esdras v. ., . caspar on reason and understanding, . cat island, why so called? . catholic communion, essay towards a proposal for, its authorship, . . cato (josiah) on glass-making in england, . catterick for cattraeth, . caul, its derivation, . caxton coffer, . . ---- memorial, . c. (b.) on whiting's watch, . c. (b. n.) on london street characters, . c. (c. c.) on the seventh son, . c. (c. c. c.) on learned man referred to by rogers, . "cease, rude boreas," its author, . ceyrep on buro, berto, beriora, . ---- st. christopher, . ---- ms. de humilitate, . ---- monastic establishments in scotland, . ---- the ring finger, . . ---- serjeants' rings, . ---- birthplace of st. patrick, . ---- the site of twyford, . ---- the number seven, . ---- spy wednesday, . c. (f. g.) on the cromwell family, . c. (g. a.) on arc de arbouin, . ---- the arms of an armiger, . ---- cure for hooping cough, . ---- land holland, . ---- nelson family, . ---- the miller's melody, . ---- terre isaac, . ---- hendurucus du booys, and helena leonora de sieveri, . ---- the tradescants, . c. (h.) de croix on errors of poets, . ---- the hymns of the moravians, . chadwick (john norse) on wrestling for boar's head, . ---- meaning of hyrne, . ---- grants made by hen. viii. and edw. vi., . ---- parish registers, . ---- postman and tubman of the exchequer, . ---- spy wednesday, . chantrey's sleeping children, . . . chaplains to the forces, a list wanted, . charing cross, its derivation, . charles i., his supposed executioner, . charlton (edward), lines on english history, . ---- a description of the sea-serpent, . ---- suicides buried in cross-roads, . ---- nashe's terrors of the night, . ---- twyford, . chasseurs britanniques, . chatterbox, its meaning, . chaucer, lines on, . . . chaucer (philo.) on flemish proverb quoted by chaucer, . ---- gabriel harvey's notes on chaucer, . c. (h. b.) on "o leoline! be absolutely just," . ---- london street characters, . c. (h. b.) on "preached in a pulpit," . ---- moravian hymns, . ---- mitigation of capital punishment, . ---- popular stories of the english peasantry, . cheese given at a birth, . cheke (sir john), notices of, . . cheke's clock, notices of, . chelwoldesbury, its derivation, . . cheshire cat, to grin like, . chettle's tragedy, hoffman, source of the plot, . chevalier st. george, notices of, . children, large numbers by one mother, . . . . . . . children of israel, the number constituting the exodus, . . china, various styles of old, . cholera and the electrometer, . christopher (st.) and the doree, . christopher (st.), representations of, . . . . . . christopher (st.), governor in , . chronogram on sherborne school, . chronograms, . chronological institute, . . . . chronological new testament, editor of the, on a new arrangement of the old testament, . ---- keseph's bible, . church, its derivation, . . . . churchill, the poet, . . churching of women, . churchman, character of a true, its author, . . c. (i.) on the use of the hyphen, . cibber's lives of the poets, the original prospectus, . . . . cilgerran castle, records relating to, . cimmerii, cimbri, . . c. (j.) on allens of rossull, . c. (j. b.) on the meaning "to be a deacon," . c. (j. g.) on plague stones, . c. (j. l.) on slick or sleek stones, . c. (j. n.) on boiling to death, . ---- meaning of knarres, . ---- mispronounced names of places, . ---- lines on dr. fell, . ---- the meaning of lode, . clapper-gate, its meaning, . clare, earls of, notices of, . clark (charles) on stearne's witchcraft, &c., . clarendon, satirical verses on his downfall, . clay (c. j.) on bishop bridgeman, . claypole (mrs.), cromwell's daughter, her marriage, . . cleke, nature of the game, . clement and thomas (ss.), customs on their days, . clement's inn, custom at, . cleopatra playing at billiards, . clergyman, can he marry himself? . . clerical members of parliament, . . clericus on clerical members of parliament, . ---- on monody on sir john moore, . clericus d. on the device of bishop bedell, . ---- a work by olivarius, . ---- epigram on queen elizabeth, . cleveland (duchess of) and the cow-pox, . clinthe or clent in cowbage, . . . c. (m.) on the author of "the last links are broken," . coal, the use of prohibited, . . cock and bull story explained, . . cochrane (mr. j. g.), his death, . cock lane ghost, goldsmith on the, . cockle, the order of the, . coe (james) on education under elizabeth, . coenen (j. f. l.) on braem's ms. mémoires, . coffins for general use, . coinage of richard iii., . coins of edward iii., . coke, its pronunciation, . . cokely on the age of trees, . coleman, epigram on, . . coleridge and plato, . . ---- on reason and understanding, . . ---- christabel, note on, . ---- friend, allusion in, . . . collars of ss., . . . . . . . collier (j. payne) on an admonition to the parliament, . ---- his folio shakspeare, . ---- passage in troilus and cressida, . ---- passage in all's well that ends well, . collins (mortimer) on amyclæ, . ---- the word analysis, . ---- eustacius monachus, . ---- the chronologic institute, . collins, the poet, notices of him, . ---- ode on the music of the grecian theatre, . collis (thomas) on remains of horses and sheep in churches, . ---- dr. stukeley's ms. of boston, . collyns (william) on bee superstitions, &c., . ---- grimsdyke, in devon, . colman (george), his song "unfortunate miss bailey," . . colman (j. b.) on boiling to death as a punishment, . . ---- burials in woollen, . ---- the essex broad oak, . ---- serjeants' rings and mottoes, . ---- plague stones, . ---- deferred executions, . ---- the song winifreda, . combe (wm.), his portrait, . combe's works, list of, . . commas inverted to indicate quotations, . commemoration of founders, office for, . . commerce, works on the history of, . . . compositions during the protectorate, . . computatio eccles. anglic., quoted by burnet, . concert bill, an old one, . conscience, anecdote of the force of, . constant reader on a clergyman marrying himself, . ---- "then comes the reckoning," . cooper (c. h.) on ben jonson's adopted sons, . ---- commemoration of benefactors, . ---- rents of assize, . ---- llandudno, or the great orme's head, . ---- king's college chapel windows, . ---- derivation of bigot, . ---- sir thomas frowyk, . ---- john goldesborough, . ---- george trehern, . ---- corrupted names of places, . ---- list of prothonotaries, . ---- the derivation of lode, . ---- ancient timber town-halls, . ---- whipping of princes by proxy, . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- serjeants' rings and mottoes, . . ---- the song yankee doodle, . cooper (wm. durrant), paraphrase on the lord's prayer, . copeman (t.) on borough-english, . copenhagen, royal society of antiquaries of, . corner (geo. r.) on men of kent, . corney (bolton) on the caxton coffer, . . ---- derivation of news, . ---- "litera scripta manet," . ---- history of commerce, . ---- liability to error, . ---- quarter waggoner, . { }corney (bolton) on shakspeare and the english press, . ---- authorship of "thirty days hath september," . ---- sweet willy o, . ---- vellum-bound books, . ---- james wilson, m.d., . . cornish (james) on epigram on coleman, . ---- latin verse on franklin, . ---- moravian hymns, . ---- a correction in goldsmith's traveller, . ---- the origin of the term tripos, . ---- macaronic poetry, . ---- mother damnable, . ---- junius rumours, . ---- anagram on voltaire, . cornwall and phoenicia, ancient connexion of, . cosin's history of transubstantiation, note on, . cotton (archdeacon) on expurgated quaker bible, . cou-bache, its meaning, . . . . couched, to couch, its early use, . . count cagliostro, its author, . county boundaries, antiquity of, . cousinship, mode of computing, . coverdale (bp.), original title-page of his bible, . . . coverley (sir roger de), his descent, . covines, notices of, . cowgell on the word aldress, . ---- ancient ink, . ---- learned men of the name of bacon, . ---- st. christopher, . ---- second exhumation of king arthur, . ---- paring the nails, . ---- the rabbit as a symbol, . ---- sterne in paris, . ---- the origin of surnames, . cowley and his monument, . ---- prose works, . crabis, its meaning, . . cramp (wm.), on the verb "to commit" used in junius, . ---- junius and the quarterly review, . cranes in storms, custom of, . cranmore on bailey's definition of thunder, . ---- bishop bridgeman, . ---- hieroglyphics of vagrants, . ---- slang dictionaries, . ---- rev. john paget, . ---- poem on burning the houses of parliament, . ---- epitaph in braunston churchyard, . ---- tregonwell frampton, . crapaud (johnny), when first applied to the french, . . . crawfurd of kilburnie, lines on, . . crawfurd (thomas), notices of, . . c. (r. c.) on bastard's epigrams, . ---- bishops vacating their sees, . ---- the surname devil, . ---- son of the conqueror and walter tyrrel, . ---- rhymes on names of places, . ---- "wise above that which is written," . crispin (st.), the observance of his day in sussex, . critical review, general index to, . cromwell (oliver), his burial-place, . . . ---- notices of his family, . . . ---- the whale and the storm, . ---- was he cup-bearer to charles i.? . ---- cooper's miniature of, . . . . . . . . ---- skull preserved as a relic, . . . . crooked-billet, legend respecting, . crosby (james) on bishop kidder's autobiography, . cross neytz explained, . cross on counsels' briefs, . crosses and crucifixes, their early use, . . crossley (francis) on the french genders, . ---- the old scots march, . crossley (james) on edmund bohun, . ---- bohun's historical collections, . ---- cibber's lives of the poets, . ---- franklin's tract on liberty and necessity, . ---- goldsmith's pamphlet on the cock lane ghost, . ---- goldsmith's history of mecklenburgh, . ---- goldsmith's poetical dictionary, . ---- johnson's contributions to baretti's introduction, . ---- daniel de foe, . ---- howard's conquest of china, . ---- history of faction, . ---- poems in the spectator, . ---- goodwin's six booksellers' proctor non-suited, . ---- newtonian system, . ---- de foe's pamphlet on the septennial bill, . ---- settle's female prelate, . ---- sterne's confirmation of witchcraft, . ---- the author of theophania, . ---- witchcraft, mrs. hickes and her daughter, . crow, as used by queen elizabeth, . crown jewels in holt castle, . croyland, motto of the abbot, . . c. (r. w.) definition of proverb, . ---- the derivation of martinique, . c. (s.) on the ruthven family, . c. (s. f.) on the satire black gowns and red coats, . c. (t.) on arnold bilson's wife, . ---- a quotation from dryden, . ---- the meaning of soud in shakspeare, . cuddy, the ass, origin of, . . cumming (sir alexander) and the cherokees, . . cunningham (peter) on the author of hudibras at ludlow castle, . curling, origin of the game, . . curse of scotland, . cursitor barons, list wanted, . cursitor (carolus) on junius and quarterly review, . curtis (j. lewelyn) on passage from dover to calais, . cuttle (captain) on two quotations, . c. (w.) on letter to a brigadier-general, . ---- on burning fern bringing rain, . c. (w. a.) on "arborei foetus alibi," &c., . ---- the meaning of crabis, . ---- welsh names blaen, . c. (w. g.) on the drink called whit, . c. (w. h.) on blindman's holiday, . c. (w. j.) on guanahani, or cat island, . ---- the derivation of martinique, . c. (w. r.), a note on henry iii., . cynthia's dragon yoke, its source, . . d. d. on chantrey's marble children, . ---- the rev. barnabas oley, . ---- gabriel hounds, . ---- tenor bell of margate, . ---- the meaning of moke, . ---- will-o'-the-wisp, . delta. on the meaning of cou-bache, . ---- the derivations of haberdasher, . delta. ( ) on phelps's gloucestershire collections, . d. (a. a.) on bagster's english version, . ---- dr. evans' sketch, . ---- the word quack, . ---- on the saying "up guards, and at them!" . ---- white livers, . ---- buzz, to empty the bottle, . ---- moravian hymns, . ---- number of the children of israel, . ---- book of jasher, . ---- melody of the dying swan, . ---- hieroglyphics of vagabonds, . ---- "the bright lamp in kildare's holy fane," . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- stone-pillar worship, . ---- shakspeare, tennyson, &c., . ---- showing the white feather, . ---- sneezing, . d'alton (john) on banning family, . ---- the basnet family, . ---- edward bagshaw, . ---- the jenings family, . ---- salusbury welsh pedigree book, . ---- the term milesian, . ---- spanish vessels wrecked on the irish coast, . d. (a. o. o.) on anstis' manuscript, . ---- a gold bonbonnière, . ---- poniatowski gems, . . damnable (mother), notices of, . . . danes in england, . darnell (sir john), notices of, . . . daundelyon (john), notice of, . . davis (sir john), his epitaph, . davis's worlde's hydrographical description, . dawson (rev. wm.), his ancestry, . dayesman, its meaning, . d. (c.) on the substitution of i for j, . d. (c. de) on many children at a birth, . ---- the family of grey, . . ---- sir roger de coverley, . ---- old sir ralph vernon, . d. (c. e.) on the surname arkwright, . ---- countess of desmond, . ---- large families, . ---- mary queen of scots, . ---- algernon sydney, . d. (c. h.) on bishops at hampton court controversy, . ---- burial without religious service, . ---- dr. toby matthew's consecration, . ---- mormonism and spalding's romance, . d. d., the title explained, . d. (e.) on rev. dr. thomas adams, . ---- anonymous catalogue of pictures, . ---- the descendants of john rogers, . ---- john daundelyon, . ---- dean swift's snuff-box, . ---- epitaph at king's stanley, . ---- a mother of twenty-seven children, . d. (e.) on moravian hymns, . ---- notices of john winterton, . deacons, its meaning as used by foxe, . . death, symbolism of, . death-watch, . . de clares family, . . . . dodo, existing specimens of the, . . deep wells noticed, . de foe (daniel), his descendants, . . de foe's pamphlet on the septennial bill, . degrees, american, how obtained, . ---- french and italian, how obtained, . de humilitate, a ms., . de la beche family, monuments of, . . delamere (lord), ballad of, . . delighted, its meaning in shakspeare, . desmond, the old countess of, . . . . . . . . devil, its etymology, . . ---- persons bearing this name, . . ---- praying to the, . . { }d. (e. w.) on a clergyman marrying himself, . d. (g. t.) on quotation from cox's satire, . d. (h. g.) on birthplace of bishop hoadley, . ---- trinity chapel, knightsbridge, . ---- lines in gloucester cathedral, . ---- frith the martyr and dean comber, . ---- general wolfe, . . dial mottoes, &c., . ---- at karlsbad, . ---- at kirk-arbory, isle of man, . ---- on mont cenis, . dialects, provincial, . . . dictionary of archaic and provincial words suggested, . . . . . ---- of hackneyed quotations, . dido and Æneas, by porson, . digitalis on the ring finger, . diotrophes, was he bishop of corinth? . dixon (heptworth) on notices of algernon sydney, . d. (j.) on duchess of lancaster, . ---- monton in pembroke, . d. (m.) on a notice of john wiggan, . dn. (w.) on crosses and crucifixes, . ---- the word deacons, as used by foxe, . ---- three quotations wanted, . ---- wiggan or utiggan, . d. (o. c.) on authenticated instances of longevity, . dodo queries, . doncaster tune, its author, . donkey, its derivation, . . . donne (dr.), his manuscripts, . d. (o. t.) on baudrand's dictionary, . ---- inscription on rev. a. butler, . ---- willson's life of grostete, . dover to calais, passage temp. edw. iii., . dray, its meaning, . dredge (john i.) on torshel's harmony, . drury (robert), who was he? . dryden on the age of the oak, . d. (p.) on the word shunt, . d. (q.) on a custom at clement's inn, . d. (t.) on modern names of places, . ---- pure rain water, . ---- the crooked billet, . ---- lucky omens, . ---- the hour and the man, . ducks and drakes, . dulcarnon, the phrase "i am at dulcarnon," . . . dun, its meaning, . dundrah castle, inscription on the doorway, . dunton (john), his literary projects, . dutch chronicle of the world, . . d. (w. b.) on mexican grammars, . d. (w. w.) on couplet "'twas they unsheath'd," &c., . durfey (thomas), portrait of, . d. (w. s.) on passage in troilus and cressida, . dyson (t.) on horn-blowing, . ---- the dissolution of monasteries, &c., . dyson's collection of proclamations, . . e. e. on edwards of essex, . eagles' feathers, tradition respecting, . . east wind on candlemas day, . eastwood (j.) on the surname arkwright, . ---- the derivation of barrister, . ---- st. christopher, . ---- erasmus' paraphrase, . ---- lines on the lay of the last minstrel, . ---- on passages in nashe's terrors of the night, . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- speculum christianorum, . ebff. (j.) on merchant adventurers, . eblanensis, on testaments in the polynesian language, . e. (c. p.) on passages in jeremy taylor, . . ednowain ap bradwin, . edward the confessor, drawing of his shrine, . edmeston (james) on moravian hymns, . ---- motto on a chimney-piece, . edwards of essex, noticed, . edwards (henry) on the cross on counsels' briefs, . ---- notices of sir john fenner, . ---- story of ginevra, . ---- the seventh son of a seventh son, . effigies, cross-legged, . . egypt, language of ancient, . e. (h. f.) on the symbol of the pelican, . e. (h. n.) on anecdote of a clergyman and noble lord, . ---- author of le blason des couleurs, . e. (h. t.) on abp. abbot's letters to the clergy, . ---- inquiry respecting henry isaac, . e. (h. t.) on bawderich and bells, . ---- the poet gay and his relatives, . eirionnach on brogue and fetch, . ---- irish language in the west indies, . ---- pagoda and joss-house, . ---- stilts used by the irish, . e. (j.) on family of bullen, . ---- "from the sublime to the ridiculous," &c., . ---- nuremberg token, or counter, . ---- rents of assize, . ---- robert recorde, . ---- serjeants' rings, . e. (j. c.) on the formation of ground ice, . e. (k.) on friday at sea, . e. (k. p. d.) on archaic and provincial words, . ---- death from fasting, . ---- st. wilfrid's needle, . ---- will-o'-the-wisp, . ellacombe (h. t.) on parish registers, . ---- on smyth's mss. of gloucestershire, . elginensis on the author of burnomania, . ---- trial of queen caroline, . ---- lothian's scottish historical maps, . eliminate, its meaning, . elizabeth (queen), education in her time, . ---- her stature, . ---- lines on, . ---- was she dark or fair? . . ---- equestrian figure of, . elliot (r. w.) on a recess in trumpington church, . ellis (sir henry) on the introduction of stops, . elm at hampstead, . elsevier on aue trici and gheeze ysenoudi, . ---- rev. john paget, . elvan, meaning of the word, . emaciated monumental effigies, . . . . . english history, lines on, . epigram on queen elizabeth, . epitaph in braunston churchyard, . ---- in st. giles's, cripplegate, . ---- in st. giles's, norwich, . ---- in st. gregory's, sudbury, . ---- on joe miller, . ---- at king's stanley, . ---- at low moor, yorkshire, . epitaph on sir thomas overbury, . epitaphs, enigmatical, . . er. on diotrephes being a bishop, . era, meaning and origin of, . . erasmus, epigram on, . ---- paraphrase, . erica on countess of desmond, . ---- john of padua, . ---- the unicorn, . ernencin, its meaning, . erroll (earl of), his privileges, . . . . error, liability to, . eryx on calves or carrs, . ---- the ring finger, . escubierto, capateiro da bandarra on, . escutcheon at fawsley, northamptonshire, . . esquires of the martyred king, . essex broad oak, . . . essex folk-lore, . este on the grave of cromwell, . ---- definition of a proverb, . ---- blessing by the hand, . ---- house at welling, . ---- tombstone cut by baskerville, . ---- indian jugglers, . ---- "posie of other men's flowers," . ---- separation of sexes in churches, . eupator on cosin's history of transubstantiation, . eustachius monachus, was he in guernsey, . evans (dr.), his sketch of denominations, . evans (john) on mother damnable, . evans (lewis) on collars of ss., . . e. (w.) on prayers for the fire of london, . e. (w. m. r.) on the expenses of king john in england, . e. (w. w.) on king robert bruce's watch, . executions deferred, . exeter controversy, what? . . . exon. on gospel oaks, . ---- the origin of valentines, . exoniensis on deaths from fasting, . f. f. on mallet's death and burial, . . f. [symbol: hand] on german poet quoted by camden, . ---- story of ginevra, . ---- robin of doncaster, . f. (a.) on the mistletoe, . faber on gospel oaks, . faction, the history of, its author, . . fairfax family mansion, . fairies in ireland, . fairlop oak, . . . family likenesses, . . . . . . fanshaw (miss), her enigmas, . . . farewell (lady), notices of, . farnham on the two gilberts de clare, . fasting, deaths from, . . . . . faun (mary), her ancestry, . f. (e.) on lines on dr. fell, . fell (dr. john), lines on, . . . . fenner (sir john) noticed, . fenning (eliza), documents relating to, . . . fenton (john) on dutch chronicle of the world, . fern bringing rain when burnt, . . . . fernseed, superstitions respecting, . . . ferrarius (faber) on wiggan or utiggan, . f. (g.) on an early notice of general wolfe, . f. (h.) on passage in hamlet, . ---- dyson's collection of proclamations, . fides carbonarii, origin of the phrase, . . { }figg (william) on plate in lewes castle, . finsbury manor, and the lord mayor, . fire unknown, . fishermen's superstitions, . fishes, greek names of, . fitch (joshua g.) on st. paul quoting heathen writers, . ---- "history teaching by examples," . fitzgerald (p.) on the old countess of desmond, . f. (j.) on fairest attendant of the scottish queen, . f. (j. f.) on the execution of charles i., . ---- dean swift's library, . ---- grimsdyke, . ---- papers of perjury, . ---- the meaning of stoke, . f. (j. g.) on poems in the spectator, . ---- the university hood, . flanagan on the round towers of ireland, . flemish illustrations of english literature, . ---- problem quoted by chaucer, . florence (ambrose) on white livers, . ---- on deferred executions, . florence on ornamental and experimental hermits, . fluxions, query on the controversy about, . folk lore, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ---- cornish, . . ---- devonshire superstitions, . . . ---- essex, . ---- herefordshire, . ---- isle of man, . ---- kacouss people, . ---- suffolk, . ---- sussex, . ---- worcestershire, . ---- proposals for a pilgrimage in search of, . folk-lorist on new year's rain, and saxon spell, . font, a silver royal, . forbes (c.) on ambassadors addressed as peers, . ---- the abbot of croyland's motto, . ---- infantry firing, . ---- ducks and drakes, . ---- the meaning of "bull the barrel," . ---- the lines "o leoline," &c., . ---- nightingale and thorn, . ---- the meaning of sleek stone, . forbes (robert), notices of, . force of love, a dramatic poem, . foss (edward) on collar of ss., . ---- cursitor barons, . ---- sir john darnall, . ---- the rev. john paget, . ---- sir gilbert gerard, . fouché's memoirs, . foundation stones, . fox (george), his portrait, . fox (major-gen.) on cooper's miniature of cromwell, . ---- on lady diana beauclerk, . frampton (tregonwell), notice of, . . france, the imperial eagle of, . ---- the mutability of, inquiry after, . franciscus on alterius orbis papa, . ---- a monumental inscription of john caxton, . ---- the nelson family, . ---- roman funeral pile, . ---- the introduction of stops, . francklin (john fairfax) on rental of arable land in , . franklin (dr.), his tract on liberty and necessity, . ---- latin verse on, . . . . ---- and wedderburn, epigram on, . fraser (w.) on bull, a blunder, . ---- chantrey's sleeping children, . ---- paring the nails, . ---- friday at sea, . ---- frightened out of his seven senses, . ---- old shoes thrown for luck, . ---- the title d.d., . ---- the author of the lass of richmond hill, . ---- rhymes connected with places, . ---- three estates of the realm, . frebord explained, . . . . free towns in england, . . . french dates, . ---- language, the genders of, . ---- revolution, episode of the, . ---- revolutions foretold, . . frescheville (john lord), notice of, . friday at sea, . . . . friends, a member of the society of, on instances of longevity, . frith the martyr, and dean comber, . frog, a live one used for medical purposes, . frost (john) on the origin of curling, . frowyck (mr.), a lawyer, . . frozen sounds and sir j. mandeville, . f. (r. s.) on king robert bruce's watch, . ---- canongate marriages, . ---- indignities on the bodies of suicides, . . ---- praying to the devil, . ---- extraordinary births, . ---- the fernseed charm, . ---- customs at sneezing, . ---- the order of the cockle, . ---- the early use of ruffles, . ---- slavery in scotland, . ---- the death of lord soulis, . ---- long meg of westminster, . f. s. a. (an) on cold pudding settling love, . fuller (dr. thomas), his autograph, . f. (w. e.) on a sign "we three," . fy. (s.) on the rev. t. adams, . ---- on the author of "the retired christian," . g. g. on list of chaplains to the forces, . ---- sir john darnall, . ---- the garter bestowed on the earl of moira, . ---- marches and lord marchers of wales, . ---- on princes of wales and earls of chester, . ---- the last of the palæologi, . ---- john le neve, . ---- battle of neville's cross, . ---- serjeants' rings, . gamma on lines on chaucer, . [symbol] on general james wolfe, . gabriel hounds, a species of bird, . . gamble (rev. j.), notice of, . gamecock on the white feather, . game feathers protracting death, . . ganganelli's bible, . garlands hung up in churches, . garrot, its derivation, . garsecg, its derivation, . garth (sir samuel), his birthplace, . . gat-toothed explained, . gatty (alfred) on "born within the sound of bow-bells," . ---- cooper's miniatures of crowmwell, . ---- london street characters, . ---- junius and the quarterly review, . ---- law respecting burial, . . ---- mr. mompesson, . ---- origin of terms in change-ringing, . ---- placing snuff on a corpse, . ---- salting a new-born infant, . ---- sterne at sutton on the forest, . gatty (margaret) on paper of the present day, . gay, the poet, his family, . . g. (b.) on cooper's miniature of cromwell, . ---- on portrait of wolfe, . g. (c.) on sir alexander cumming and the cherokees, . ---- market crosses, . g. (c. w.) on beocherie, _alias_ parva hibernia, . ---- bee-park, . ---- st. botulph, . ---- the derivation of donkey, . ---- ballad of lord delamere, . ---- ballad of ashwell thorpe, . ---- john ap rice's register, . ---- king's college chapel windows, . ---- queries respecting legal worthies, . ---- mires, somerlayes, and wyned, . . g. (e.) on a couplet of campbell's, . ---- the author of life of bishop ken, . g. (e. a.) on family of bullen, . ---- heraldic mss. of st. george garter, . gee-ho, its etymology, . genealogical queries, . genealogical society of london, . . geneviève (st.), church of, at paris, . geography, works on ecclesiastical, . . . george garter (sir henry st.), his heraldic mss., . . . . george inn, wansted, inscription on, . german's lips, meaning of the phrase, . geronimo on the singing of swans, . gerrard (sir gilbert), when did he die? . . g. (g. e.) on a weather prophecy, . g. (g. j. r.) on plague stones, . ---- miniature of cromwell, . ---- scologlandis and scologi, . g. (h.) on the authorship of nimrod, . g. (h. h.) on "experto crede roberto," . ghost, evidence of one not received, . g. (h. w.) on mummy wheat, . gibbons (orlando), his portrait, . gibson (wm. sidney) on isabel, queen of man, . gilberts de clare, notices of, . . gill (thomas), the blind man, . gill (thomas h.) on st. paul quoting aristotle, . ---- epitaph in st. giles', cripplegate, . ---- the exeter controversy, . ---- milton indebted to tacitus, . ginevra, her dramatic story, . . . gipsies in shinar, . g. (j.) on bishop of london's palace in bishopsgate, . ---- parish registers, . ---- rents of assize, . g. (j. d.) on ganganelli's bible, . ---- the pope's eye, . g. (j. m.) on cowley's prose works, . ---- joceline's mother's legacie, . g. (l.) on gospel oaks, . ---- classical quotations in grotius, . ---- traditions from remote periods, . glass, cracked, sometimes musical, . glass-making in england, . . . g. (l. b.) on a letter to a brigadier-general, . gloucester cathedral, lines on whispering gallery, . glover (edw. o.) on portrait of wolfe, . gloves worn in presence of royalty, . . goblin, its derivation, . god's love, and other poems, its authorship, . . godwin (j.) on wallington's journal, . goldesborough (john), notices of, . . goldsborough (mr.), a prothonotary, . goldseer (t.) on customs of st. clement's and st. thomas' days, . ---- the exclusion of mistletoe from churches, . goldsmith on the cock lane ghost, . goldsmith's deserted village, on a passage in, . ---- history of mecklenburg, . ---- poetical dictionary, . ---- traveller, a curious blunder in, . . { }gomer on the cimmerii, . gondomar (count), notices of, . goodluck on the curse of scotland, . goodwin's six booksellers' proctor non-suited, . gore (lady), brass of, . . gorgeous, its derivation, . gospel oaks, their origin, . . . . . gossip, its derivation, . gough's camden, the irish portion, . goujere, or fiend, . g. (r.) on roman index expurgatorius, . ---- french revolutions foretold, . ---- the king's booke, . ---- fides carbonarii, . grandfather, a proof of a man being his own, . grantham altar case, . graves (james) on pedigree of richard earl of chepstow, . ---- the irish portion of gough's camden, . ---- richard earl of chepstow, . ---- book of nicholas leigh, . graves, whipping, the custom, . . grayan (a.) on the first paper mill, . ---- lady arabella stuart, . ---- oliver cromwell, &c., . ---- "thirty days hath september," . great man who could not spell, . greek epigram imitated, . ---- names of places, modern, . . . greek referred to by jeremy taylor, . gregentius and the jews, . gresfordite (a quondam) on plague stones, . grey, family of, . . griffin on dial motto at karlsbad, . ---- on tonson and the westminsters, . grimesdyke, . . . . grin and gin, their convertibility, . grisly, its meaning, . groom, its meaning, . . . . . grostete (bishop), life by willson, . grotius, classical quotations in, . grubb (francis f.) on the royal "we," . g. (t.) on the age of foreign trees, . guide-books, foreign, . guildhalls in england, . gunpowder mills, when first erected, . guy (thomas), his descendants, . guzman, the english, . g. (w.) on covines, . ---- eugene aram, . ---- herschel anticipated, . g. (w. s.) on ivory medallion of lord byron, . ---- ancient custom on interment . ---- the authorship of "oh nanny," . ---- perpetual lamp, . h. h. on a poem by nicholas breton, . ---- sir george carew, . ---- grinning like a cheshire cat, . ---- gospel trees, . ---- on the inventor of spectacles, . ---- play of pompey the great, . ---- presbyterian oath, . haberdasher, its derivation, . . haggard (w. d.) on medals of william iii. and grindval, . hair cut off, an antidote, . h. (a. j.) on admonition to parliament, . ---- the introduction of stops, . halfpenny, an emblematical, . hall (bishop), his resolutions of conscience, . halliwell (j. o.) on ms. shakspeare emendations, . ham on the author of carmen perpetuum, &c., . hamilton, william, second duke of, . hammack (james t.) on foreign guide-books, . handel, autograph music by, . . handel's organ at the foundling hospital, . handwriting, hints on, . hankford (sir wm.), his suicide, . . hardwick hall, inscription at, . harries (john), bishop of wales, . harrison (john branfill) on fees for inoculation, . ---- queen elizabeth's crow, . ---- proverbial philosophy, . hart, the actor, . . hart (w. h.) on antony hungerford, . harvey (gabriel), notes on chaucer, . h. (a. w.) on house at welling, . hawkins (edw.) on bill of fare, and storm, . ---- quotation from burns, . hayes (sir james), his _diving_ success, . hayward (john), a prothonotary, . h. (c.) on st. botulph, . ---- the early use of pandecte, . h. (c. e.) morwenstow, on goujere, . hebrews xiii. . mistranslated, . h. (e. c.) on maps of africa, . hedgeland (philip) on lent crocking, . helena leonora de sieveri, . hell-rake, its meaning, . . hendurucus du booys, . henry iii. of england, notices of, . . hercules' shield, drawing of, . hermes on the lines "o leoline!" . ---- pasquinades, . hermit at hampstead on shakspeare's seal, . hermits, ornamental and experimental, . . . herschel anticipated, . hewett's memoirs of rustat, review of, . hexameter poem on english counties, . . h. (f.) on monument to mary queen of scots, . h. (f. j.) on plague-stones, . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- the silent woman, . h. (g.) of s. on almas-cliffe, . h. (h.) on family likenesses, . h. (h. e.) on locke's quotation of gray, . h. (h. f.) on the countess of desmond, . ---- old irish tales, . ---- forged papal seal, . hh. (f.) on bastides, . ---- eliza fenning, . h. (h. t.) on massacre of welsh bards, . hibberd (shirley) on kissing under the mistletoe, . ---- the fairlop oak, . ---- the meaning of jemmy, . ---- fairies in iceland, . ---- notices of sally lunn, . hicks (mrs.), her execution for witchcraft, . . hickson (samuel), on queen brunehilda, . ---- mr. collier's folio shakspeare, &c., . ---- passage in shakspeare, "as stars with trains," &c., . ---- passage in the tempest, "the rack," . ---- passage in measure for measure, . hieroglyphics of vagrants and criminals, . . . . higgins (godfrey), answer to his work, . h. (i. j. h.) on history of brittany, . ---- lord marchers of wales, . ---- john harries, bishop of wales, . ---- the phrase "no great shakes," . ---- the pole family, . hippopotamus, behemoth, . h. (j.) on sir alexander cumming, . ---- king street theatre, . ---- on old books and new titles, . ---- the number of surnames, . ---- ground ice, . ---- movable organs and pulpits, . h. (j. w.) on the chevalier st. george, . hoadley (bishop), his birthplace, . hoare (henry), notices of, . hobbard de hoy, . hobbes' leviathan, frontispiece, . hoffman's horæ belgicæ, . . hogs norton, where pigs play upon the organs, . . holbein (hans), his sepulture, . holy land, pilgrimages to the, . . holywood (john), the mathematician, . . homer, notes on, . . . hoo, its meaning, . hood, origin of the university, . hooper (richard) on the exeter controversy, . ---- morell's edition of Æschylus, . ---- mss. of dr. whitby, . hooping cough, cure for the, . . hopton (arthur), quotation from, . horn-blowing at nottingham, . . hornchurch; wrestling for the boar's head, . . horses and sheep, remains of, in churches, . . horses' tails, on docking, . horton (mary), particulars of, . hour and the man, origin of the phrase, . howard's conquest of china, the ms. of, . . . howard (sir george), his descent, . howe (mary), notices of, . . h. (r.) on flanagan and the round towers, . ---- papal seal, . h. (r.) on the red book of the irish exchequer, . ---- reprint of vol. i. of archæologia cambrensis, . ---- the thistle of scotland, . ---- irish academy home, grafton street, . ---- the derivation of yankee, . h. (r. c.) on meaning of sleck stone, . ---- the meaning of delighted, . ---- plate in lewis castle, . ---- monuments of de la beche family, . h. (r. d.) on latin verse on franklin, . ---- ballad on the rising of the vendée, . h. (s.) on eustache de noble, . ---- the invasion of britain, . hs. on "corruptio optimi fit pessima," . h. (t.) on life of st. werburgh, . h. (t. g.) on hereditary standard bearer, . ---- "row the boat, norman," . h. (t. h.) on salmon fisheries, . huant le puisné, painter, . hudibras, the author at ludlow castle, . huff (mother), notices of, . humboldt's cosmos, . humphrey (laurence), his prefatory dissertation to junius' homer, . hungerford (anthony), his family, . huntyng of the romish fox, . hussey (rev. arthur) on shakspeare's "we three," . h. (w.) on casper ziegler and the diaconate, . ---- duchess of lancaster, . ---- the moon and her influences, . hypadidasculus on robert forbes, . hyphenated title, . hyrne, meaning of, . hyta, was he a spaniard or a moor? . i. i. often substituted for j., . i. (b. r.) on lines on the bible, . { }i. (b. r.) on "preached from a pulpit," &c., . ---- quarter waggoner, . ice, ground, how formed, . . . i. (c. m.) on birmingham antiquities, . ---- the derivation of bigot, . ---- coleridge's friend, . ---- inscription at dundrah castle, . idées napoléoniennes, . . i. (g.) on richard of cirencester's de situ britanniæ, . i. (l.) on the precedency of the sheriff over the lord lieutenant, . ---- the separation of sexes in public worship, . incognitus on coffins for general use, . indagator on smothering hydrophobic patients, . ---- mutabilitie of france, . infanticide, how punished, . infantry firing, . ingleby (c. mansfield) on coleridge's friend, . ---- coleridge's statement of reason and understanding, . ---- the death-watch, . ---- essex superstitions, . ---- the meaning of all-fours, . ---- strange opinions of great divines, . ---- optical phenomena, . ink used in ancient manuscripts, . . inoculation, fees for, . inquirer on ben jonson's adopted sons, . inquisitiones post mortem, . interments, ancient custom on, . inundations and their phenomena, . invasion of britain, . inveni portum, a couplet, . . inveruriensis on the earl of errol, . irene (st.) and the island of santorin, . . irish, ancient custom in crowning their kings, . irish academy house, grafton street, . ---- language in the west indies, . ---- names corrupted, . ---- queries, . . ---- tales, old, . ---- titles of honour, . isaac (henry), particulars of, . isaac, mentioned in doomsday, notices wanted, . isabel, queen of the isle of man, . . issham (juby), a ballad by, . . j. j. on valentine's day, . ---- "which are the shadows?" . jackson (ed. s.) on a new biographical dictionary, . ---- a ballad, "a captain bold of halifax," . ---- the templars, . ---- "'tis twopence now," &c., . ---- the legend of st. christopher, . ---- newton, cicero, and gravitation, . jackson (john c.) on sir wm. stanley, . jacobite toast by john byrom, . jacobus on mother shipton, . james i., bill for printing and binding "the king's book," . . jardine (d.) on count königsmark and the duchess of somerset, . ---- the expression "richly deserved," . jarltzberg on the legend of st. christopher, . ---- moravian hymns, . ---- the fish called vendace, . jarrow church, dedication stone at, . jasher, the book of, a forgery, . . . . jaydee on lines on chaucer, . ---- joe miller's remains, . jaytee on ancient guildhalls, . ---- town halls, . ---- on arms of thompson of lancashire, . j. (b.) on laud's letters and papers, . j. (d.) on "to commit," as used by junius, . jemmy, why a sheep's head so called, . jerome on correction in the english bible, . jersey, gold chair found in, . jesuitical books burnt at paris, . jesuits, puns on the word, . jewish months, latin hexameters on, . jewitt (l.) on plague stones, . ---- on quarter waggoner, . j. (f. w.) on the pelican as a symbol, . j. (g. r.) on nobleman alluded to by bishop berkeley, . j. (g. w.) on cromwell as cup-bearer to charles i., . ---- snooks, or sevenoaks, . j. (h.) on godfrey higgins's works, . j. (j. e.) on the meaning of penkenol, . j. (j. r.) on st. botolph, . ---- the etymology of buzz, . ---- the königsmarks, . j. (l.) on anthony babington, . ---- dr. sacheverell's derby sermon, . . job, the patriarch, a real character, . . . joceline's legacie, . . john (ap) on ednowain ap bradwen, . john, king of france, his expenses in england, . john of gaunt on ann stuart, . john of halifax, . . john of horsill, who was he? . john of padua, who was he? . . . johnson (dr.), contributions to baretti's introduction, . johnson (dr. samuel) a prophet, . johnson's house, bolt court, . . johnson (mr. samuel), notice of, . johnston (h.) on shakspeare, tennyson, and claudian, . jonathan, brother, origin of the term, . jones (e.) on the word shunt, . jonson (ben), his adopted sons, . . ---- the marriage of the earl of somerset, . josephine (empress), her birthplace, . . j. (t.) on the cholera and the electrometer, . jugglers (indian) noticed, . . junius and lord lyttleton, . junius' correspondent, the "advocate", . junius and the quarterly review, . . . ---- queries, . . . . . . ---- rumours, . . . . . ---- letters to wilkes, . ---- the vellum-bound, . . . junius querist on junius rumours, . juvenis on bow-bell and cockney, . ---- derivation of donkey, . j. (v. b.) on the vellum-bound junius, . . j. (w. a.) on lady farewell's funeral sermon, . ---- mistletoe on poplar trees, . ---- the origin of moles, . k. k. on banning or bayning family, . ---- on eagles' feathers, . k. (c.) on the derivation of binnacle, . kacouss people, folk lore of, . kellet (dr. edward) noticed, . . ken (bishop), life of j. l. anderdon, esq., . kenelm (st.), legend of, . . kentish men, and men of kent, . . ker (a.) on the birthplace of josephine, . kersley (t. h.) on genealogical history of brittany, . ---- dial mottoes, . ---- early use of the word cabal, . ---- the negro's triumph, . keseph's bible, . key experiments, . . . k. (f.) on general wolfe's monument, . k. (g. h.) on nuremberg token, . ---- the meaning of pimlico, . k. (h. c.) on curious bequest, . ---- note on coleridge's christabel, . ---- the pendulum demonstration, . ---- rent of assize, . ---- nuremberg token, . ---- pedigree of richard earl of chepstow, . . ---- the rector's chancel, . ---- wilkie's blind fiddler, . kidd (jos. a.) on marvell's life and works, . kidder (bishop), his autobiography, . . kidder (vincent), his ancestors, . king (lord), his inquiry answered by sclater, . king (philip s.) on johnny crapaud, . ---- fides carbonarii, . ---- episode of the french revolution, . ---- wearing gloves before royalty, . ---- martinique, why so called, . ---- the orthography of sobriquet, . ---- notices of the cagots, . ---- swearing on a skull, . king street theatre, where? . . kings, sainted and incorruptible, . king's college chapel windows, story respecting, . . king's standard in blazon, . king's stanley, epitaph at, . k. (j.) on the family of thomas burton, . ---- works of alexander neville, . ---- payments for destroying vermin, . ---- the correct spelling of wiclif, . knarres, its meaning, . . knight (joseph) on john rogers, . knights templars and freemasons, . . k. (n. o.) on "blam'd be the man," . knollys family, notices of, . . königsmark (count), notices of, . . . . . kt. on the old countess of desmond, . ---- frebord, . ---- english free-towns, . ---- the meaning of hell-rake, . ---- descendants of thomas guy, . ---- the descendants of john rogers, . ---- ancient timber town-halls, . ---- exterior stoups, . ---- the seventh son, . k. (w. h.) on the derivation of chelwoldesbury, . ---- cross-legged effigies, . ---- grimesdyke, . ---- sites of buildings mysteriously changed, . kyrle's tankard at balliol college, . l. l. on the age of trees, . ---- the mechanical arrangements of books, . ---- town-halls, . l. (a.) on "litera scripta manet," . lady (a) on bowdler's family shakspeare, . lady of the ring, its meaning, . lambert (general), account of his trial, . lambs, omens respecting, . lammin (w. h.) on sir edw. seaward's narrative, . ---- serjeants' rings and mottoes, . lamont (c. d.) on collecting folk-lore, . ---- traditions from remote periods, . { }lamp, perpetual, . . lancaster, duchess of, is the queen so called? . . lancastrian on the title duchess of lancaster, . lancastriensis on meaning of penkenol, . ---- the meaning of royd, . land holland or land molland, . largesse, still in use, . larking (lambert a.) on the meaning of theoloneum, . ---- on waller family, . larking (rev. l. b.) on caxton's birthplace, . lass of richmond hill, its author, . laud (abp.) and prynne, . laud's letters and papers, . lawrence (thomas) on "giving the sack," . ---- legend of theodoric, . ---- folk lore of the kacouss people, . ---- inscription at persepolis, . ---- whipping boys to royalty, . layard (a. h.), his ancestors, . l. (c. m.) on colonel or major-general lee, . l. (d. w.) on snuff-boxes and tobacco-pipes, . l. (e. a. h.) on st. augustine's confessions, &c., . ---- st. augustine's treatises on music, . ---- st. christopher and the doree, . ---- representations of st. christopher, . . ---- knights templars and freemasons, . le bailly (joseph adrien), notices of, . le blason des couleurs, author of, . lechlade (edwin) on johnson's house, bolt court, . lectures on ecclesiastes, specimen of style, . ledwich (dr.) misled gough in his edition of camden, . lee (colonel or major-general), date of his baptism, . l. (e. f.) on the parentage of bp. leslie, . ---- "poets beware," . ---- slavery in scotland, . legal worthies, queries respecting, . . leicestriensis on frebord, . ---- on rhymes on places, . leigh, the book of nicholas leigh wanted, . le neve (john), notices of, . le noble (eustache), his la pierre de touche politique noticed, . lent crocking at okehampton, . lenthall (f. kyffin) on speaker lenthall, . lenthall the speaker, notices of, . leslie, bishop of down, his parentage, . lesteras, its meaning, . letter to a brigadier-general, . leveridge (richard), painting of, . livers, white, superstition respecting, . . . . . lewis castle, monumental plate at, . . l. (f.) on spanish verses on the invasion, . l. (f. h.) on representations of st. christopher, . l. (g.) on general lambert, . l. (h.) on collar of ss., . ---- on hogs norton, . l. (h. b.) on hoffman, a tragedy, . l'homme de ans, . . liber conformitatum, various editions, . . library of george iii., . lindisfarne, its meaning, . littledale (richard f.) on derivation of cou-bache, . ---- the etymology of devil, . ---- on the expression white-livered, . ---- coinage of richard iii., . ---- sir thomas overbury's epitaph, . ---- a photographic query, . livy quoted by grotius, . l. (j.) on the lyte family, . ---- thomas crawford, . l. (j. h.) on churchill the poet, . ---- sir john cheke, . ---- moravian hymns, . ---- princes of wales and earls of chester, . ---- the execution of mrs. hickes, . ---- ralph winterton, . ---- the sclaters and dr. kellet, . llandudno on the great orme's head, . . . llewellyn on derivation of carmarthen, . ---- cilgerran castle, . ---- collars of ss., . ---- portrait of george fox, . l. (l. l.) on the book of jasher, . ---- grantham altar case, . ---- the last of the palæologi, . ln. (w. h.) on hart and bohun, . locke (john) his quotation from gray, . lode, its meaning, . . lollard, his burial, . london street characters, . . longevity, instances of, in shoreditch, . ---- of machell vivan, . ---- authenticated instances of, . . . . longtriloo, its derivation, . longueville, or yelverton mss., . lord's prayer, paraphrase on, . lossus (lucas), account of his works, . lothian's scottish historical maps, . . low (sampson), junr., on swift's lunatic asylum, . lower (mark antony) on abbot of croyland's motto, . ---- the early use of couched, to couch, . ---- english surnames, . . ---- etymology of lunhunter, . ---- vincent kidder, . ---- the dr. richard mortons, . l. (t. h.) on king's college chapel windows, . l. (t. i.) on weber's material media of music, . lucifer, palace of, milton's allusion to, . . luciferi, who was he? . lunhunter, its etymology, . lunn (sally), noticed, . . luther (martin), inscription by, . l. (w.) on the phrase "experto crede roberto," . ---- surnames, . l. (w. a.) on derivation of orlop, . l. (w. h.) on compositions during the protectorate, . l. (w. h.) on inquisitiones post mortem, . lyte family in somersetshire, . . m. m. on the origin of the name arkwright, . ---- hints to book buyers, . ---- english translation of the canons, . ---- epistola luciferi, . ---- handwriting, . ---- quotation from arthur hopton, . ---- john of halifax, . ---- latin names of towns, . ---- macaulay's ballad of naseby, . ---- indicating time in music, . ---- newton, cicero, and gravitation, . ---- newton's library, . ---- newtonian system, . ---- reeve and muggleton, . m. on unacknowledged quotations from scripture, . ---- villain and knave, . m. (dublin) on byron's paraphrase of the motto of "n. & q.," . ---- hexameter poem on english counties, . µ. on arabic inscriptions, . ---- satirical verses on clarendon's downfall, . ---- burning fern bringing rain, . ---- st. george heraldic mss., . ---- the ms. legend of st. molaisse, . m. (a.) on legend of st. kenelm, . m. (a. c.) on the orientals wearing spurs, . mac an bhaird on irish queries, . macaronic poetry, . . . macaulay's ballad of naseby, . mac cabe (w. b.) on boiling criminals to death, . macfarlane of that ilk, . mackenzie (kenneth r. h.), notes on homer, . . . madden (sir frederick) on longueville mss., . madox (thomas), the historiographer, . madrigal, meaning of, . . maheremium, its meaning, . maidstone parochial library, . maitland (dr. s. r.) on cock and bull stories, . ---- reichenbach's ghosts, . . mallett (david), his character, . ---- death and burial, . . malt, license to make in , . man in the almanack, its meaning, . . . manchester free library, . ---- the arms of, . . mancunium on dictionary of hackneyed quotations, . maps, correct ones a desideratum, . . . . ---- of africa, . . . marches of wales and lord marchers, . . . . margate tenor bell, . . margoliouth (moses) of wady mokatteb, . . mariconda on liber conformitatum, . ---- the pelican as symbolical, . market crosses, account of, . . markland (j. h.) on addison and his hymns, . ---- count königsmark, . mark's (st.), at venice, its treasury, . marlborough th november custom, . marriage tithe in wales, . . martial's distribution of hours, . martin-drunk, origin of the term, . martinique, its derivation, . . . . . marvell's life and works, . marybone on nightingale and thorn, . mary of guise, the elopement of her fairest attendant, . . mary queen of scots and bothwell's confession, . ---- her monument, . . mas, an abbreviation of master, . masks worn by women in theatres, . materre on schola cordis, . matron of ephesus, a dramatic poem, . matthew (bishop toby), his consecration, . maxwell (john), of terraughty and munches, . may butter, . may-day custom in lancashire, . m. (b.) on men of kent and kentish men, . mcc. on borrowing-days, . mcc. (j. b.) on boiling criminals to death, . ---- lollard's burial-place, . m. (c. h.) on an inscription by luther, . m. (c. r.) on cross-legged effigies, . { }m. (c. r.) on grimesdyke, . ---- monumental portraits, . m. (d.) on introduction of glass into england, . m. d. (an) on kissing under the mistletoe, . m. (e.) on the arms of the lyte family, . ---- royal arms in churches, . meath millers, their observance of st. martin's day, . medals of william iii. and grandval, . mediæval, or middle ages, defined, . meekins (dr. john), noticed, . meg, a roaring, its origin, . . meg (long) of westminster, . . m. (e. j.) on collar of ss., . memoria technica for the books of the bible, . ---- for the plays of shakspeare, . memoirs (new) of literature, its editor, . memory, artificial, . . . mendham (j.) on expurgatory index of rome, . merchant adventurers to spain, . . . mercurialis (dr. hieron), noticed, . merivale (h.) on burning jesuitical books, . merriman (bishop), notices of, . merry andrew, its early use, . merryweather (f. somner) on glass-making, . ---- blessing whilst sneezing, . ---- prohibitions to use coal, . ---- mesmer's portrait, . . . metaouo on london genealogical society, . ---- rhymes on places, . mewburn (f.) on sir samuel garth, . mexican grammar, . m. (f.) on the meaning of toady, . m (f. c.) on the queen of the isle of man, . m. (h.) on quotations wanted, . m. (h. s.) on notices of lord marchers, . micoenis on dr. john meekins, . middleton church, essex, its dedication, . middleton (countess of), notices of, . m. (i. j.) on junius' letters to wilkes, . milesian, the term explained, . . miller (joe), disinterment of his remains, . ---- epitaph on, by stephen duck, . miller (mr.) of craigentinny, . miller's melody, an old ballad, . . milton indebted to tacitus, . ---- epitaph in cripplegate church, . . ---- rib-bone, . minshull (r.), proposals for printing caxton's works, . mirabilis liber, quoted, . mires, explained, . misereres, their use, . miserrimus, notice of, . mistletoe, on its exclusion from churches, . ---- poplar trees, . . ---- origin of kissing under, . . ---- queries on, . mistral, its causes, . mitre, episcopal, why discontinued, . m. (j.) on an allusion in coleridge's friend, . ---- analysis of newton's principia, . ---- warton's note on aristotle's poetics, . m. (j.) on braem's memoirs, . . ---- symbolism of death, . ---- humboldt's cosmos, and nares' attempt, . ---- nobleman alluded to by bp. berkeley, . ---- portrait of mesmer, . ---- the old scots march, . m. (j.) on the broad arrow, . m. (j. f.) on the word pick in shakspeare, . m. (j. h.) on burial in unconsecrated ground, . ---- joseph adrien le bailly, . ---- sheriffs and lords lieutenant, . ---- the judge alluded to by south, . ---- objective and subjective, . m'l. (d. f.) on "which are the shadows?" . m. (l. m.) on "qui vult plene," &c., . m----n. on heraldical mss. of sir h. st. george garter, . . ---- poniatowski gems, . m. (o.) on dutch manufactures of porcelain, . mohun, the actor, . . moira (earl of) elected a knight of the garter, . . . moke explained, , . molaisse (st.), legend of, the ms., . moles, origin of, . mompesson (rev. wm.), notice of, . . monasteries &c. dissolved, notices of, . monton in pembroke, . moon and her influences, . ---- the first glance at a new, . moore (sir john), poem on, . . moravian hymns, . . . . . . . . mordaunt (charles), earl of peterborough, his portrait, . . morell's edition of Æschylus, . morgan (a. de) on the controversy about fluxions, . ---- francis walkinghame, . ---- notices of james wilson, m. d., . . mormonism and spalding's romance, . mortons, the dr. richard, notices of, . . mossom (bishop), notices of, . mother carey's chickens, noticed, . . motto at newcastle-upon-tyne, . . m. (p. m.) on provincial dialects, . ---- meaning of frebord, . m. (r. f.) on the ring finger, . ---- the sanctus bell, . m. (r. p.) on gold chair at jersey, . m. (s.) on a large family, . m. (t. c. m.) on bishop mossom, . mt. (j.) on seven queries, . much wenloch, inscription at, . muffs worn by gentlemen, . muggleton and reeve, notices of, . . . mull, a regular, origin of the expression, . mummy wheat, . . . mushroom, its etymology, . music, on indicating time in, . musical writers, notes on, . m. van maanen (j.) on dodo queries, . m. (w. b.) on banyan-day, . ---- friday at sea, . ---- mother carey's chickens, . m. (w. b.) on plague stones, . m. (w. t.) on queen elizabeth being dark or fair, . ---- "i do not know what the truth may be," . ---- hoax on sir walter scott, . ---- yankee doodle, . myfanwy, on learned men named bacon, . n. n. on the athenian oracle, . ---- gen. james wolfe, . ---- zachary pearce not a pupil of busby, . n. (a.) on ad viscum druidæ, . ---- quotation from st. austin, . ---- the amber witch, . ---- borrow's muggletonians, . ---- cæsarius arelatensis, . ---- the meaning of cagots, . ---- on catterich for cattraeth, . ---- cimmerii, cimbri, . ---- the word devil, . ---- the meaning of dulcarnon, . ---- the etymology of sept, . ---- the exeter controversy, . ---- the abbreviation of mas, . ---- reichenbach's ghosts, . ---- rex lucifer of milton, . ---- the sweet singers, . ---- the templars, . ---- verses in prose, . ---- the book of jasher, . ---- the escubierto, . ---- vikingr skotar, . nacar, its scientific appellation, . . nails, paring the, . . . names, corrupted christian, . ---- persistency of proper, . nares's attempt to prove a plurality of worlds, . narne; or pearle of prayer, . nash (beau) on the phrase "wild oats," . nashe's terrors of night, . . . national defences, unpublished work on, . n. (b.) on marriage of mrs. claypole, . ---- king street theatre, . n. (e.) on john adair's family, . ---- almas cliffe, . ---- artificial memory, . ---- chasseurs britanniques, . ---- miniature of cromwell, . ---- computing cousinship, . ---- rev. william dawson, . ---- sir john darnell, . ---- the earl of errol, . ---- occurrences under certain french dates, . ---- ancient trees, . ---- game of curling, . ---- names of places, . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- papers on armorial bearings, . ---- macfarlane of that ilk, . ---- old scots march, . . ---- constable of scotland, . ---- a man being his own grandfather, . ---- family likenesses, . ---- macaronic poetry, . ---- deaths from fasting, . ---- london genealogical society, . ---- scoto-gallicisms, . neck! a neck! a devonshire shout, . nedlam on collar of ss., . ---- game feathers, . ---- the phrase "and tye," . nelson (robert), notice of, . nelsons of chuddleworth, notices of, . . nelson's signal at trafalgar, . nemo on the meaning of madrigal, . neville (alex.), works of, . newbury, the history and antiquities of, . news, its derivation, . newton (sir isaac), and the law of gravitation, . . . ---- his library, . ---- principia, analysis of, . newtonian system, satirical pamphlet on, . . new year song in south wales, . n. (f.) on biblicus on the apocalypse, . ---- pilgrimages to the holy land, . n. (g.) on rouse, the scottish psalmist, . n. (g. m. t. r.) on bull the barrel, . nhrsl on monument to barbara mowbray, . ---- serpent with a human head, . nicæensis on lord say and printing, . nichols (john gough) on a baron's hearse, . ---- list of english sovereigns, . ---- punishment by boiling, . ---- general pardons, . ---- the fairest attendant of mary of guise, . ---- isabel, queen of the isle of man, . { }nigel, on dial mottoes, &c., . nightingale and thorn, . . . . nil nemini on the article an, . nimrod, a discourse of history and fable, . n. (j. g.) on the father of cardinal pole, . ---- numerous births by one mother, . ---- the bed of ware, . n. (n.) on greek epigram, . nocab on silver royal font, . norgate (f.) on publications of stuttgart society, . norman (louisa julia) on "he that runs may read," . northman on cheap maps, . ---- a roaring meg, . ---- maps of africa, . note on "inveni portum," . notes and queries, prefatory notice to vol. v. . ---- circulated in the celestial empire, . notte of imbercourt, surrey, . nouns printed with capitals, . november th custom at marlborough, . n. (q.) on political pamphlets, . n. (r.) on cooper's miniature of cromwell, . nuremberg token, . . . n. (v. d.) on rev. john paget, . n. (w.) on puritan antipathy to custard, . o. [omega]. on millers of meath, . oaks: the essex broad oak, . . . ---- hankford's oak, . ---- the shelton oak, . oasis, its proper pronunciation, . . oath of pregnant women, . oats, wild, origin of the phrase, . . obelisk between yarmouth and gorleston, . objective and subjective, . . o'connor (arthur), account of, . o. (c. r.) on an annotated copy of prynne's breviate by abp. laud, . offor (george) on bishop coverdale's bible, . . o. (geo.) on the earl of chepstow, . o'g. (t.) on the azores, . ---- the chamberlaine family, . ---- marriage at mrs. claypole, . ogle (o.) on the meaning of lesteras and emencin, . "oh nanny," authorship of the song, . . o. (j.) on burnomania, . ---- robert drury, . ---- thomas gill, the blind man, . ---- moravian hymns, . ---- the heavy shove, . o. (j. n.) on "stunt with false care," &c., . o. (j. s.) on friday at sea, . oldys (william), autobiography of, . oley (rev. barnabas) his family and will, . olivarius de prophetia, . . omens, lucky, . one-two-three on duchess of cleveland, . ---- documents relating to eliza fenning, . optical phenomenon, . . . o. (p.) van der chys, on coins of edward iii., . organs and pulpits moveable . . orkney, extermination of christians in, . orkneyinga saga, new edition announced, . orloff, or orlop, its derivation, . otway (thomas), unpublished song by, . owen (john), bishop of st. asaph, . oxford manual of brasses, corrected, . . oxoniensis on st. paul's quotation of heathen writers, . p. paget (rev. john), notices of, . . . . pagoda, joss-house, fetiche, . paisley, the black book of, . . palæologi, the last of the, . . . palmerston (lord), lines by, . pancakes on shrove tuesday, . pandecte, its early use, . . pantagruel on meaning of dray, . ---- numerous births by one mother, . pantheon at paris, its restoration, . papal seal, a forged one . . paper-mill, the first in england, . . paper of the present day, its inferiority, . paper, origin of the word, . pardons, general, . . parish registers, right of search, . . parker (j. h.) on english free towns, . ---- mediæval town-halls, . parliament house, poem on the burning, . . partrige (julius) on license to make malt, . ---- smyth's gloucester manuscripts, . pasquinades, . . passemer's antiquities of devonshire, . paterfamiliæ on cheap maps, . patrick (st.), his birthplace, . . . . paul hoste, . paul (st.), did he quote heathen writers? . . . p. (b.) on the authorship of epigram upon the letter h. . p. (c.) on churchill the poet, . p. (c. i.) on merchant adventurers to spain, . ---- arms of yarmouth, . p. (c. s.) on churching of women, . ---- hexameter on english counties, . p. (c. s. t.) on lines on crawfurd of kilbirnie, . ---- thomas crawfurd, . peacock (e) jun. on eagles' feathers, . ---- portrait of thomas percy, . pearce (zachary) not a pupil of busby, . peasantry, popular stories of the english, . . . peel (sir robert), his claims to the remembrance of literary men, . pelham a. (w.) on letters of arthur lord balmerino, . pelican, a symbol of the saviour, . . . . pemberton (oliver) on cromwell's burial-place, . pendulum demonstration, . . penkenol, its meaning, . . percy (mrs.), portrait of, . percy society, its dissolution, . percy (thomas), earl of northumberland, his portrait, . . peredur on charm for ague, . peregrine a. on pilgrimages to the holy land, . perez on johnny crapaud, . ---- mummy wheat . periwinkle explained, . perjury, papers of, . persepolitan inscription, . petheram (john) on wyld's great globe, . petrapromontoriensis on banking company in aberdeen, . ---- earl of errol . ---- emblematical halfpenny, . ---- mr. miller of craigentinny, . petrarch's cat, the last lay of, . petros on lines on elizabeth, . p. (g. p.) on the editor of prideaux's doctrine of conscience, . ---- the prideaux family, . ---- vol ii. of prestwich's respublica, . p. (h.) on marriage tithe in wales, . ph*** (c. p.) on bogatzky's golden treasury, . ---- coleridge and plato, . ---- nightingale and thorn, . ---- "wise above that which is written," . pharetram de tutesbit, . phelp's gloucestshire collections, . [phi] on whipping princes by proxy, . philobiblon on buchanan and voltaire, . photographic query, . p (h. t.) on cynthia's dragon-yoke, . pictorial proverbs, work on, . pictures, an anonymous catalogue of, . pignon, or piniwn, its derivation, . pilgrimages to the holy land, . pimlico, early notices of, . piscator, on meaning of barnacles, . p. (j.), jun. on the derivation of callis, . ---- key experiments, . ---- the descendants of rev. nathaniel spinckes, . ---- portrait of charles mordaunt, . p. (j.) on cromwell's skull, . p. (j. h.) on anne boleyn's burial-place, . p. (j. r.) on heraldical mss. of sir george garter, . p. (k. n.) on the meaning of lindisfarne, . plague stones, a list of, . . . , . . . plenius and his lyrichord, . pocock (franis) on monuments of de la beche family, . poetry, inedited, . . . poets, their errors, . poison, its etymology, . . pole family, particulars of, . . . political pamphlets wanted, . polwarth (r.) on sir walter raleigh's snuff-box, . polynesian new testaments, . pompey the great, its translators, . poniatowski gems . . . . pope, a dutch commentary on, . . ---- and flatman, . ---- imitation of horace, on a passage in, . pope's eye, its meaning, . porcelain, dutch manufactories of, . porcus on the phrase "please the pigs," . . portraits, the most correct catalogue , . postman and tubman of exchequer court, . p. (p.) on story of ginevra, . ---- arms of manchester, . ---- ornanental hermits, . ---- the fernseed charm, . ---- plague stones, . ---- general pardons, . ---- sir edward seaward's narrative, . ---- white livers, . prague, group at, . prayers for the fire of london, how long used, . precisian on the meaning of eliminate, . 'prentice pillars, anecdote respecting, . . presbyterian oath, whether now taken, . . presentiment, instances of, . prestwich's respublica, vol. ii. not published, . prianho and prideaux family, . price (r.) on the diphthong ai, . prideaux's doctrine of conscience, its editor? . prideaux family, . procurator on inscriptions at much wenlock and windsor, . protheroe (e. davis) on the meaning of groom, . prothonotaries from edw. iii., . . proverb, definition of a, . . { }proverbs: "cold pudding settles one's love," . . ---- "grin like a cheshire cat," . ---- "love me, love my dog," . ---- "please the pigs," . . . proverbs, national, . proverbial philosophy, . p. (r. s. v.) on sir william hankford, . prynne's breviate annotated by abp. laud, . p. (s. l.) on lines on crawfurd of kilburnie, . ---- milton's epitaph, . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- rev. nathaniel spinckes, . ---- lord king and the sclaters, . ---- the silent woman, . p. (s. r.) on cornish folk lore, . ---- antiquity of county boundaries, . ---- the meaning of maheremium, &c., . ---- the meaning of elvan, . ---- persistency of proper names, . p. (t. d.) on eliza fenning, . ---- bishop merriman, . p. (t. g.) on lothian's scottish historical maps, . p. (t. w.) on st. christopher, . punch and judy, . purcell (henry), portraits of, . puritan antipathy to custard, . q. q. on the derivation of barbarian, . ---- the derivation of charing, . ---- the meaning of bull, dayesman, and dun, . ---- the meaning of gee-ho, . ---- "o wearisome condition," . ---- spick and span new, . ---- the meaning of twises, . ---- the derivation of ramasshed, . ---- the derivation of sleeveless, . q. (f. s.) on the great bowyer bible, . ---- the meaning of restive, . q. (o. p.) on the five divines called smectymnus, . q. (q. q.) on the layard family, . q. (s.) on "venit ad euphratem," . quack, its derivation, . quarll (philip), its authorship, . quarter-waggoner, its meaning, . . . queen's supremacy, declaration concerning the, . quero, on camden's poem thamæ et isis, . questor on the use of the word reverend, . quidam on caldoriana societas, . quotation, misappropriated, . quotations: "ad viscem druidæ!" . ---- "after me the deluge," . ---- "and like unholy men," . ---- "blamed be the man," &c., . ---- "cane decane canis," . . ---- "carmen perpetuum," &c., . . ---- "chords that vibrate sweetest pleasures," . . ---- "coming events cast their shadows before," . ---- "corruptio optimi fit pessima," . ---- "crowns have their compass," . ---- "dress shows the man," . ---- "et corripuit fluxeum," . . ---- "eva stood and wept alone," . ---- "experto crede roberto," . . ---- "felix natu, felicior vitâ," &c., . ---- "for _they_, 'twas _they_, unsheath'd the ruthless blade," . . ---- "gutta cavat lapidem," &c., . ---- "he who runs may read," . . ---- "hell paved with skulls of priests," . ---- "history is philosophy teaching by example," . . ---- "inveni portum," . . . . ---- "i do not know what the truth may be," . . ---- "like a fair lily on a river floating," . ---- "litera scripta manet," . . . ---- "oh, woman! thou art born to bless," . . ---- "o juvenis frustra," &c., . ---- "o leoline! be absolutely just," . . . ---- "o wearisome condition," . ---- "poets beware, never compare," &c., . . ---- "posie of other men's flowers," . ---- "preached in a pulpit rather than a tub," . . ---- "quid est episcopus," . . . ---- "quod non fecerunt barbari," . . ---- "rack'd by pain, by shame confounded," . ---- "roses all that's fair adorn," . ---- "son of the morning," . ---- "stunt with false care," . . ---- "sum liber, et non sum liber," . ---- "the right divine of kings to govern wrong," . ---- "'tis tuppence now," &c., . ---- "the last links are broken," . ---- "then comes the reckoning," . ---- "'twas whisper'd in heaven," . . . ---- "who from the dark and doubtful love to run," . . . ---- "william and william," &c., . ---- "wise above that which is written," . . . quotations wanted from st. gregory and erasmus, . . ---- dictionary of hackneyed, . r. r. on "crowns have their compass," . ---- wallington's journal, . r. heraldic atchievement at fawsley, . r. (a. b.) on the old countess of desmond, . . ---- epitaph on voltaire, . rabbit, as a symbol, . . rack, as used by shakspeare, . radish feast at oxford, . r. (a. h.) on extermination of christians in orkney, . rain water a cure for sore eyes, . raleigh (descendant of sir w.) on raleigh's ring, . raleigh (sir walter) his ring, . ---- his snuff-box, . . ramasshed, its meaning, . rawlinson (robert) on dictionary of provincial words, . . ---- the man in th' almanack, . r. (c.) on the phrase "please the pigs," . r. (c. l.) on the term abigail, . ---- the article an, . ---- howard's conquest of china, . ---- history of commerce, . ---- melody of the dying swan, . ---- the derivation of poison, . ---- vikingr skotar, . r. (e. b.) on "poets beware," &c., . r. (e. c.) on the authorship of philip quarll, . recorde (robert) noticed, . rector's chancel explained, . r. (e. d.) on abednego seller, . red book of the irish exchequer, . redding (cyrus) on the count de vordac, . ---- ancient connexion of cornwall and phoenicia, . ---- mistranslation in thiers' consulship, . ---- spanish vessels wrecked on irish coast, . ---- the nacar, . reed family, notice of, . regalia, scottish, curious account of, . regedonum on notices of st. bartholomew, . . ---- on matthew walker, . ---- parish registers, . rehetour explained, . reichenbach's ghosts, . . . . relton (f. b.) on the chronological institute, . r. (e. m.) on birthplace of st. patrick, . rent of assize, . . . restive, its present misuse, . . resurrection, doctrine of, . retired christian, its authorship, . reverend, the title, when first used, . r. (f.) on serjeants' rings and mottoes, . r. (f. r.) on rev. john paget, . ---- the tonges of tonge, . r. (h. g.) on pharetram de tutesbit, . r. (h. w. g.) on margaret burr, . rhymes connected with places, . . . . . . . . riccioli's geographia et hydrographia recommended, . rice (john ap), his register, . richard de bury's philobiblon, . richard, earl of chepstow, his pedigree, . . . . richard fitzjohn, his mother, . richard of cirencester de situ britanniæ, . richard, son of the conqueror, his death, . richard (st.), notice of, . richards (george) on the term milesian, . "richly deserved," the expression, . rimbault (e. f.) on mary ambree, . ---- latin song by andrew boorde, . ---- anthony babington, . ---- ballad of lord delaware, . ---- barnard's church music, . ---- cards prohibited to apprentices, . ---- custom of women wearing masks, . ---- davies queries, . ---- portrait of thomas durfey, . ---- dyson's collection of proclamations, . ---- autograph music by handel, . ---- the birthplace of hans holbein, . ---- handel's organ at the foundling, . ---- the derivation of haberdasher, . ---- hart and mohun, . ---- the earliest use of ruffles, . ---- john of padua, . ---- richard leveridge's portrait, . ---- long meg of westminster, . ---- the meaning of madrigal, . ---- mallet's character and biography, . ---- the miller's melody, . ---- old playing cards, . ---- old scots march, . ---- old concert bill, . ---- portrait of henry purcell, . ---- portrait of orlando gibbons, . ---- ballad quoted by sir walter scott, . ---- serjeant trumpeter, . ---- speed's stonehenge, . ---- unpublished song by thomas otway, . ring (a) on the ring finger, . ring found in france, . . ---- finger, . . . . ---- ---- lost by a lady, . rix (s. w.) on blakloanæ hæresis, . ---- bohun's historical collections, . ---- the introduction of inverted commas, . r. (j.) _brompton_, on the word restive, . r. (j.) _cork_, on arthur o'connor, . ---- elegy on coleman, . ---- epigram on erasmus, . ---- foreign ambassadors, . ---- latin verse on franklin, . ---- the imperial eagle of france, . ---- fouché's memoirs, . ---- liber conformitatum, . ---- extraordinary births, . ---- the meaning of groom, . ---- on the pantheon at paris, . { }r. (j.) _cork_, on general wolfe, . . r. (j. c.) on english translations of the canons, . ---- the muggletonians, . ---- etymology of church, . ---- bishop kidder's autobiography, . ---- gat-tothed, . ---- quotation from st. gregory's homily, . ---- ecclesiastical geography, . ---- paper-making in england, . ---- "which are the shadows?" . r. (j. q.) on junius rumours, . ---- junius and the quarterly review, . r. (j. r.) on cock and bull story, . ---- a song, "not long ago i drank a full pot," . [rho]. ([lambda].) on "quod non fecerunt barbari," . r. (l. m. m.) on the black book of scone, . ---- portrait of mrs. percy, . ---- gipsies in shinar, . ---- the tune, "well bobbit, blanch of middleby," . r. (l. x.) on quotation from young, . r. (m. c.) on the pronunciation of oasis, . r. (m. t.) on sterne in paris, . roberson, arms of, . robin of doncaster, his epitaph, . robinson (j. b.) on burning the bush, . rechabite on an inscription on job, . ---- the use of misereres, . rock (d.) on miraeo's ecclesiastical geography, . ---- the existence of st. patrick, . rogers on the articles, reference in, . rogers (john), martyr, . . . . roman funeral pile, . . ---- index expurgatorius, . . rondeau (j. b.) on narne; or pearle of prayer, . rood, black, in scotland, . ross (c.) on the phrase "there is no mistake," . rotten row, origin of the name, . . rouse, the scottish psalmist, . "row the boat, norman," a song, . rowe (r. r.) on the radish feast at oxford, . royal "we," when first adopted, . royd, its meaning, . . . r. (r.) on devonshire superstition, . rt. on baskerville the printer, . ---- bow-bell as synonymous with cockney, . ---- brallaghan, or the deipnosophists, . ---- the poet collins, . ---- the custom of cranes in storms, . ---- french revolution foretold, . ---- "inveni portum," . ---- superstitious use of fernseed, . ---- "love me, love my dog," . ---- palace of lucifer, . ---- praying to the devil, . ---- pronunciation of coke and cowper, . ---- a custom at sneezing, . ---- lines on woman, . r. (t. k.) on livy quoted by grotius, . ruby on the word grisly, . ---- the expression "wild oats," . ruffles, when worn, . . . russell (f.) on dr. john ash, . rust, superstitious notion respecting, . rusticus on declaration of clergymen, . ruthven family, . r. (w.) on tortoiseshell tom cats, . s. s. on the author of the shadow of the tree of life, . ---- mummy wheat, . [sigma]. on a chimney-piece motto, . sack, giving the, origin of the phrase, . sacheverell (dr.), his derby sermon, . . s. (a. d. f. r.) on inscription over aldus' door, . s. (a. f.) on the derivation of beholden, . saint, emblems of an unknown, . salmon fisheries in olden time, . salmon (w. r. d.) on instance of longevity, . ---- periwinkle, . ---- persons of the name of devil, . salting a new-born infant, . . salusbury welsh pedigree book, . sanctus bell, . . sandys (charles) on men of kent, . sansom (j.) on the derivation of church, . ---- early instances of teaching the blind to read, . ---- esquires of the martyred king, . ---- the meaning of hell-rake, . ---- hair in seals, . ---- enigma on the letter i, . ---- sites of buildings mysteriously changed, . santorin, the island of, etymology of its name, . sarpedon on "the right divine of kings," &c., . sax on cromwell's skull, . ---- cynthia's dragon-yoke, . saxon spell, . saxonicus on ballad on shakspeare, . ---- the last slave sold in england, . say (lord) and printing, . sc. on inscription on a pair of spectacles, . scandret (rev. j.), notices of, . scott (george s.) on shrine of edward the confessor, . schola cordis, its authorship, . schypmen hall, london, . sclater's reply to lord king, . sclater family noticed, . . . s. (c. n.) on key experiments, . scologlandis and scologi, . . . scotland, thistle of, . scoto-gallicisms, . scot's philomythie, &c., . scots march, the old, . . . . . scott (sir walter), ballad quoted by him, . ---- hoax on, . . scottish monastic establishments, . . . scoundrel's dictionary, . scriptures, unacknowledged quotations from, . s. (d.) on young's narcissa, . s. (e.) on surnames, . s. (e. a.) on suwich priory, . ---- plate in lewes castle, . seals, hair in, . sea-serpent, description of, . seaward's (sir edw.) narrative, its authorship, . . . seleucus on deaths from fasting, . seller (abednego), notices of, . senses, seven, by taliesin, . sept, its etymology, . . september, thirty days hath, the antiquity of the lines, . . septimus on french and italian degrees, . serjeant trumpeter, his privileges, . serjeants' rings, . . . . . . serpent with a human head, . seth's pillars, . settle's female prelate, . seventh son of a seventh son, . . . seventh son, peculiar attributes of, . . sexes, their separation in churches, . . shadow of the tree of life, its author, . shadows, which are they? . . . shakes--"no great shakes" explained, . shakspeare and the english press, . ---- "as stars with trains of fire," . . . ---- ballad on, . . ---- manuscript emendations, . . ---- notes, . ---- readings in, . . . . . . . ---- seal, . . ---- tennyson and claudian, . . ---- passage in all's well that ends well, . . ---- ---- as you like it, . . ---- cymbeline, . ---- hamlet, . . . ---- king henry iv., . ---- measure for measure, . . . ---- merchant of venice, . ---- tempest, "the rack," . ---- troilus and cressida, . . . ---- twelfth night, "we three," . . sham abraham explained, . sheriff, his precedency over the lord lieutenant, . . shipton, mother, notices of, . shoes, thrown for luck, . s. (h. p.) on the meaning of royd, . s. (h. s.) on a work of pictorial proverbs, . shunt, a provincialism, . . sickle, or shekel, as used by shakspeare, . . sigma on moravian hymns, . ---- national proverbs, . ---- portrait of mesmer, . silent woman, origin of the sign, . . simmonds (w. stanley) on count gondomar, . simon of sudbury, archbishop of canterbury, . simonides on quaker bible, . simpson (w. sparrow) on churchyard well and bath, . ---- the author of the tune doncaster, . ---- commemoration of benefactors, . ---- curious inscription in winchester cathedral, . ---- ink used in ancient mss., . ---- autograph music by handel, . ---- autographs of weever and fuller, . ---- force of conscience, . ---- hoare's charity, . ---- epitaph in st. gregory's, sudbury, . ---- escutcheon at fawsley, . ---- an obelisk, . ---- moveable organs and pulpits, . ---- emaciated monumental effigies, . ---- a correction in the oxford manual, . ---- dedication of middleton church, . ---- muffs worn by gentlemen, . ---- inedited poetry, . . . ---- simon of sudbury, . ---- "speculum christianorum," &c., . ---- a suffolk legend, . ---- turner's romish fox, . singer (s. w.) on the meaning and origin of æra, . ---- the meaning of dulcarnon, . . ---- inveni portum, . ---- legend of st. kenelm, . ---- the poet referred to by bacon, . ---- man in the almanack, . ---- notes on books: humphrey's works, . ---- passage in cymbeline, . ---- passage in king henry iv., . ---- passage in measure for measure, . ---- passage in merchant of venice, . ---- tredescants and elias ashmole, . . sinaitic inscriptions, . s. (j.) on the great bowyer bible, . s. (j. d.) on deaths from fasting, . ---- passemer's antiquities of devonshire, . ---- the sclaters, . s. (j. j.) on list of english sovereigns, . ---- hieroglyphics of vagrants, . ---- plague stones, . { }s. (j. j.) on sainted kings incorruptible, . skull, swearing on, . . s. (l.) on an inscription on a sun-dial, . ---- scot's philomythie, . ---- translation of richard de bury's philobiblon, . slang dictionaries, . . slave, the last one sold in england, . slavery in scotland, when abolished, . . sleck stone, meaning of, . . . sleeveless, defined, . slings used by the early britons, . s. (m.) on the disuse of the episcopal mitre, . ---- sterne at paris, . ---- monastic establishments in scotland, . smectymnus, the five divines, . smintheus on a last ode by collins, . smirke (e.) on preaching from texts in cornwall, . ---- lord marchers of wales, . smirke (sydney) on inundations and their phenomena, . ---- shakspeare's seal, . smith (w. j. bernhard) on a case of longevity, . ---- waistcoats worn by women, . smith's sea grammar noticed, . smothering hydrophobic patients, . smyth (w. h.) on quarter waggoner, . smyth's mss. relating to gloucestershire, . . sneezing, customs observed at, . . . . sneyd (w.) on dean swift on herbert's travels, . ---- cases of longevity, . snooks, or sevenoaks, . snow (robert) on sun-dial motto, . snuff-boxes and tobacco-pipes, account of them, . snuff placed on a coffin, . sob on dr. elizabeth blackwell, . sobriquet, its orthography, . solidus gallicus, its value, . somerlayes explained, . song--"not long ago i drank a full pot," . soud, in shakspeare, its meaning, . soulis (lord), tradition of his death, . south (dr.) on the apocalypse, . ---- the judge alluded to by him, . southey (robert) on the hymns of the moravians, . south sea playing cards, . southamiensis on the evidence of a ghost, . ---- gospel trees, . sovereigns of england, on complete lists of, . . spalatro (abp. of) assists at an english consecration, . spanish verses on the invasion of england, . . ---- vessels wrecked on irish coast, . . s. (p. c. s.) on the countess of desmond, . ---- nouns printed with capitals, . spectacles, inscription on a pair, . ---- the inventor of, . spectator, authorship of poems in, . . . . spectral coach and horses, . speculum christianorum, &c., . . spedding (james) on death of sir g. gerrard, . speed's stonehenge, ms. of, . spes on antiquaries temp. elizabeth, . ---- arms of thompson, . ---- frebord, . ---- the word wyned, . spick and span new, . spinckes (nathaniel), his descendants, . . sports, the book of, inquiry after, . spurs, did the orientals wear them? . spy wednesday, its meaning, . . squire vernon's fox chase, a ballad, . s. (r.) on muggleton and reeve, . ---- squire vernon's fox chase, . s. (r. i.) on lines on dr. fell, . s. (r. j.) on essay to procure catholic communion, . ---- names of places, . ss. (j.) on burning fern bringing rain, . s. (s.) on catalogue of engraved portraits, . ---- chronogram over sherborne school, . ---- collar of ss., . ---- tandem d. o. m., . s. (s. s.) bishop hall's resolutions, . ---- the book of sports, . ---- family likenesses, . ---- hogs norton, . ---- the introduction of stops, . ---- quotation from crabbe, . s. (s. s.) on the etymology of mushroom, . ---- the derivation of stoke, . s. (t.) on the authorship of "god's love," &c., . ---- tudur aled's poems, . standard bearer in scotland, . stanley (sir wm.) date of his execution, . statute of limitations abroad, . stearne's confirmation of witchcraft, . . steinman (g. s.) on genealogical queries, . stephens (george) on the derivation of church, . ---- northern ballads, . ---- popular stories of the english peasantry, . stephen's lectures on chaucer, . sternberg (t.) on reichenbach's ghost stories, . ---- sterne in paris, . ---- popular stories of the english peasantry, . . sterne in paris, . . . ---- at sutton on the forest, . stewart (ann), particulars of, . s. (t. g.) on black book of paisley, . ---- paul hoste, . ---- monastic establishments in scotland, . stickle, its meaning, . still-born children, superstition respecting, . stilts used by the irish, . stoke, its meaning, . . . . stomachosus on nottingham horn-blowing, . stone-pillar worship in ireland, . . . stops, when first introduced, . . . . . storm in , . stoups, exterior, examples of, . . stuart (lady arabella), notices of, . stukeley (dr.), his boston mss., . stuttgart society, publications of, . subscriber (a) on dean swift's snuff-box, . sudlow (john) on south sea playing cards, . suffolk newspapers printed at bury, . suffragan bishops, . suicides buried in cross-roads, . ---- indignities on their bodies, . . sun-dial, inscriptions on, . . . surnames, their origin, . . . . . . suwich priory, particulars of, . s. (w.) on the audley family, . ---- ecclesiastical geography, . ---- epigram on franklin and wedderburn, . ---- vincent bourne's epilogus, . ---- "litera scripta manet," . ---- dr. hieron mercurialis, . ---- the medical use of live frogs, . ---- on mirabilis liber, . ---- the phrase "dress shows the man," . ---- "roses all that's fair adorn," . ---- virgil, georg. i. ., . swallows' nests, inquiry respecting, . swans, the singing of, . . . sweet singers, noticed, . s. (w. h.) in writers in bibliotheca literaria, . ---- nelson's signal, . ---- nuremberg token, . ---- the coin of vabalathus, . . swift's lunatic asylum, . swift (dean), sale of his library, . ---- remarks on herbert's travels, . ---- "a pinch from dean swift's snuff-box," . . sword swallowing, . s. (w. r. d.) on eleanor, lady of the ring, . s. (w. s.) on bow bell meaning cockney, . ---- clerical members of parliament, . ---- cure of hooping-cough, . ---- horæ belgicæ, . sydney (algernon), . . . . . sylva (m. a.) on lord wharton's bibles, . symbol on the rabbit as a symbol, . t. t. on the amber witch, . ---- the author of history is philosophy, &c., . ---- plenius and his lyrichord, . tabitha's dream, by christopher anstey, . tagart (edward) on rev. mr. gay, . tail on docking horses' tails, . talbot (peter), was he author of blakloanæ hæresis? . tandem d. o. m., . taprobane on a regular mull, . taylor (alex.) on the greek referred to by jeremy taylor, . taylor (e. s.) on burials in woollen, . ---- note on virgil, . ---- general pardons, . ---- the taylor family, . taylor (h. w. s.) on sailing on friday, . ---- motto at newcastle, . taylor (jeremy), on a passage in, . ---- a story by him, . taylors of worcester, notices of, . . t. (c.) on st. christopher, . ---- emaciated monumental effigies, . ---- english surnames, bolingbroke, . ---- motto on chimney-piece, . ---- the fallacy of traditions, . ---- 'prentice pillars, . ---- the various styles of old china, . ---- plague stones, . ---- presbyterian oath, . ---- the effects of the window-tax, . t. (c. b.) on sir john cheke, . . t. (dublin) on sir j. ware and st. patrick, . t. (e.) on portrait of william combe, . tecede on group at prague, . temple (harry leroy) on a passage in the giaour, . ---- irish titles of honour, . ---- the pronunciation of oasis, . ten commandments in ten lines, . tennent (sir j. emerson) on the early use of the cross and the crucifix, . ---- john holywood, the mathematician, . ---- st. irene and the island santorin, . ---- modern greek names of places, . ---- stone-pillar worship in ireland, . t. (e. s. t.) on under weigh or under way, . testament, new arrangement of the old, . { }tewars on notte of imbercourt, surrey, . ---- sons of the conqueror, . ---- mother of richard fitz-john, . ---- ladies styled baronets, . ---- sir george howard, . ---- mary horton, . ---- the waller family, . texas, plant in, . texts, preaching from in cornwall, . t. (g. a.) on whipping graves, . t. (g. e.) on "sum liber, et non sum," &c., . t. (g. w.) on equestrian figure of elizabeth, . ---- meaning of stickle, . [symbol] on the derivation of chelwoldesbury, . t. (h.) on inscription at hardwicke hall, . ---- the phrase german's lips, . theodoric, legend of, . theoloneum, what? . . . theophania, its author, . t. (h. g.) on chantrey's sleeping children, . ---- second exhumation of king arthur, . ---- the seventh son, . . thompsons of lancashire, their arms, . . thoms (w. j.) on flemish illustrations of early english literature, . thiers' consulship and empire, mistranslations in, . thorpe (ashwell), ballad of, . three estates of the realm, . . throw on the derivation of garseeg, . ---- on the walrus being found in the baltic, . thunder, bailey's definition of, . t. (h. w. s.) on sir richard pole, . tiberius, record at, . tilfordiensis on tilford oak, . tillotson (abp) on athanasian creed, . timour, autobiography of, . t. (j.) or lines on woman, . t. (j. e.) on the _diving_ success of sir j. hayes, . ---- dial motto on mont cenis, . t. (j. g.) on goblin. gorgeous, gossip, . t. (j. h.) on scologlandis and scologi, . t. (l.) on mediæval and middle ages, . t. (l. g.) on llandudno, or the great orme's head, . . t. (l. h. j.) on modern greek names of places, . ---- sir walter raleigh's snuff-box, . ---- punning the word jesuits, . ---- pasquinades, . ---- spanish verses on the invasion of england, . ---- general james wolfe, . t. (m.) on a theoloneum, . toady explained, . todd (dr. j. h.) on pandecte, . ---- philip twisden, bishop of raphoe, . ---- wady mokatteb, numb. xi. . . . tokens, scotch, of the th century, . tomkins (h. g.) on emaciated monumental figures, . ---- the slings of the early britons, . ---- swearing on a skull, . tonges of tonge, notices of, . tonna (l. h. j.) on william, abbot of st. albans, . tonson and the westminsters, . torshel's harmony of the bible, . . town-halls, mediæval, . . . . . tortoiseshell tom cats, . . towns, their latin names, . . toxophilus on archer rolls, . t. (p.) on cibber's lives of the poets, . ---- compositions during the protectorate, . ---- gospel oaks, . ---- the meaning of hyrne, . ---- on the meaning of cabal, . ---- the phrase rotten row, . ---- the introduction of stops, . t. (r.) on stone-pillar worship, . tradescant the younger, an englishman, . . traditions, the fallacy of many, . ---- through few links, , . . . . traherne (mr.), notices of, . . traveller on portrait of charles mordaunt, . trebor on welsh women's hats, . tredescants and elias ashmole, . . . trees, their age, . . . . . . . . . trenchard (sir john), his general pardon, . . trevelyan (w. c.) on the meaning of groom, . trinity chapel, knightsbridge, . tripos explained, . trumpington church, curious recess in, . . tudur aled's poems, . t. (w. g. t.) on the arms of sir roger wilcock, . twisden (philip), bishop of itaphoe, notice of, . twises, explained, . twittens, the meaning of, . t. (w. w. e.) on abraham-men, . ---- "cane decane canis," . ---- sir hobbard de hoy, . ---- a roaring meg, . ---- sir e. seaward's narrative, . t. (w. s.) on swallows' nests, . twyford, its site, . . tye, its meaning as used in sussex, . tyro on john lord berkeley, . ---- cynthia's dragon-yoke, . ---- gilbert burnet, . ---- portrait of mesmer, . ---- olivarius de prophetia, . u. ulrich (st.), trésor of the church of, . unicorn, its habits, . unicorn on brass of abbot kirton, . ---- brass of lady gore, . ---- archaic and provincial words, . ---- mother carey's chickens, . ---- enigmatical epitaphs, . ---- the grave-stones of joe miller, . ---- the age of trees, . ---- ground ice, . ---- new zealand legend, . uplondishe man on a bit o' fine writin', . urmston (gen. edward), noticed, . ursula on governor of st. christopher in , . ---- monumental effigies, . ---- john owen, bishop of st. asaph, . v. v. on plato's lines in antho. palat., . vabalathus, on the coins of, . . valentines, when first used, . valentine's day in devonshire, . . vanes, their antiquity, . vangs (sir gammer), story of, . v. (e.) on the derivation of tripos, . ---- spanish verses on the invasion, . vendace, the fish so called, . vermin, payments for destroying, . vernon (sir ralph), his longevity, . . verses in classical prose, . . v. (h. h. h.) on bishop coverdale's bible, . ---- marriage tithe in wales, . ---- arms of manchester, . vice. com. deputat. on sheriffs and lords lieutenant, . vikingr skotar, meaning of term, . . vincent (r.) on garlands in churches, . ---- the first glance at a new moon, . ---- superstitions respecting rust, . virgil, note on Æneid ii. - ., . ---- georg. i. ., . . . virtuosi, or st. luke's club, . vivan (machell), his longevity, . v. (j w.) on "o juvenis frustra" &c., . vokares on family likenesses, . voltaire, his name an anagram, . ---- epitaph on, . vordac, the count de, his death, . w. w. on the derivation of buzz, . ---- the first gunpowder mill, . w. (a.) on "gutta cavat lapidem," . ---- monumental plate at lewes castle, ---- latin hexameters on the bible, . wady mokatteb, . . . . w. (a. f. a.) on a ring found in france, . waissailing orchards in sussex, . waistcoats worn by women, . walcott (mackenzie) on ackerman's account of winchester college, . ---- "after me the deluge," . ---- boy bishop of eton, . ---- serjeants' rings, . ---- gen. james wolfe, . wales, princes of, charters concerning, . . walker (matthew), notice of, . walkinghame (francis), noticed, . walker family, notices of, . . wallington's journal, . . wallop, its meaning, . walrus, is it found in the baltic? . walter (henry) on coverdale's bible, . walton (s.) on algernon sydney, . ---- sir john trenehard, . walton's angler, queries on, . warde (h. corville) on john of horsill, . ---- the phrase "i am at dulcarnon," . warden (j. s.) on boston, and bunker's hill, . ---- the meaning of abigail, . ---- the derivation of barnacles, . ---- byron's siege of corinth, . ---- frozen sounds, . ---- line on franklin, . ---- women torn to pieces by cats, . ---- a quotation "eva stood and wept alone," . ---- st. richard, a saxon king . ---- death of richard, son of the conqueror, . ware, history of its large bed, . . warren (dr. w.), his tract on cambridge, . warton on aristotle's poetics, . way, or weigh, of a ship, . way (albert) on suffragan bishops, . ---- game feathers protracting death, . waylen (j.) on compositions under the protectorate, . w. (c.) on hewitt's memoirs of rustat, . ---- the meaning of royd, . ---- sir e. k. williams, . w. (c. j.) on portrait of countess of desmond, . w. (d.) on st. wilfrid's needle, . weather prophecy, . . weber on the material media of music, . wedding, ring, origin of, . weever's autograph, . well and bath at east dereham, . "well bobbit, blanch of middleby," an old tune, . welling, or welwyn, house at, . . wellington (duke of) and the phrase "up, guards, and at them!" . . ---- his using the phrase, "there is no mistake," . ---- petition for his recall, . . { }wellwisher on bachelors' buttons, . welsh bards, their massacre, . welsh song on the new year, . welsh women's hats, . w. (e. n.) on petition respecting the duke of wellington, . ---- serjeants' rings, . ---- treasury of st. mark's, &c., . werburgh (st.), bradshaw's life of, . w. (e. s. s.) on deaths from fasting, . ---- miss fanshawe's enigma, . ---- meaning of whallop, . wolfe (gen. james), notices of, . . . . . . . . . . w. (g.) on fairfax family mansion, . ---- gen. james wolfe, . w. (h.) on computatio eccles. anglic., . ---- epigram on dr. fell, . wharton (lord), his gift of bibles, . wharton (mrs.), the poetess, . wherland family, . whipping a husband, . whipping-boys for royalty, . . whistair (john c.) on plant in texas, . whit, the name of a drink, . whitborne (j. b.) on portrait of baskerville, . ---- engraved portraits, . ---- crown jewels kept at holt castle, . ---- martha, countess of middleton, . ---- miserrimus, . ---- dr. richard morton, . ---- kyrle's tankard at balliol college, . ---- ancient timber town-halls, . ---- the taylor family, . ---- william, second duke of hamilton, . whitby (dr.), manuscripts of, . white (a. holt) on essex broad oak, . ---- hornchurch, . ---- paring the nails, &c., . ---- algernon sidney, . ---- indignities on the bodies of suicides, . white feather, showing the, origin of, . . whiting's watch, . whole duty of man, its authorship, . wiclif, its correct orthography, . wiggan of utiggan, an oxford student, . . . wilcock (sir roger), his armorial ensigns, . wilfrid's (st.) needle in yorkshire, . . . william the conqueror, his sons, . . . williams (b.) on béocera gent, . . ---- the derivation of church, . ---- the name grimesdyke, . ---- kingswei, or kings-way, . william (c.) on epitaph at low moor, . williams (sir e. k.), his pedigree, . wilmot (sir j. e. eardley), letter to messrs. butterworth, . will o' wisp, his present location, . . wilson (arthur c.) on prohibiting the use of coal, . wilson (john), inquiry repecting, . . . . wiltoniensis on general wolfe, . ---- daniel de foe, . winchester cathedral, curious inscription in, . ---- college, account of in ackermann, . ---- trusty servant at, . window tax, its effects, . windsor town-hall, inscription on, . winifreda: steven's rural felicity, . winn (rowland) on existing specimen of the dodo, . winterton (ralph), notices of, . . . winwick, lancashire, origin of the name, . wiswould (s.) on fairlop oak, . ---- the birthplace of sir s. garth, . ---- mother huff and mother damnable, . ---- ten commandments in ten lines, . w. (j.) on american degrees, . w. (j. m.) on the rendering of hebrew x. . . w. (j. r.) on baxter's pulpit, . ---- on sons of the conqueror, . ---- sally lunn, . w. (j. s.) on dido and Æneas, . ---- a passage in the traveller, . w. (l.) on cromwell's skull, . winson (s.) on the authorship of count cagliostro, . w. (m. y. r.) on emaciated monumental effigies, . ---- town-halls, . ---- a trusty servant at winchester, . woollen, burials in, . . woolley (hannah), particulars of, . worsaae (j. a.), on bothwell's burial-place, . ---- the danes in england, . ---- note for, on fell and rigg, . w. (p.) on portrait of thomas percy, . w. (p. b.) on cambrian literature, . wright's history of ludlow, its completion, . w. (s.) on maps of africa, . ---- sinaitic inscriptions, . w. (t.) on dr. john ash, . w. (t. s.) on junius rumours, . w. (t. w.) on the wherland family, . w. (w.) on frontispiece to hobbes' leviathan, . ---- objective and subjective, . w. (w.) _malta_, on burning fern bringing rain, . ---- agnomen of brother jonathan, . ---- merchant adventurers to spain, . wycherley's verses on plowden, . wyld's great globe, . wyle cop, its meaning, . wyned waynescott, what? . . . x. x. on objective and subjective, . x. (x. g.) on "quid est episcopus," . x. (x. x.) on bloomerism in the th century, . y. y. on sun-dial inscription, . yankee doodle by t. l., . ---- not a national anthem, . yarmouth arms, . yarrell (wm.) on the derivation of azores, . ---- the death-watch, . ---- gabriel hounds, . ---- the meaning of lode, . ---- mother carey's chickens, . ---- mistletoe, . ---- nacar, . y. (e. h.) on the earls of clare, . ---- l'homme de ans, . ---- surnames, . ---- groom of the stole, . ---- "'twas whisper'd in heaven," . y. (j.) on the author of "a character of a true churchman," . ---- a bibliographical query, . ---- cole's orign of surnames, . ---- an unpublished work on national defences, . ---- john lord berkeley, bishop of ely, . ---- verstegan's account of a large family, . young's idea of christian love, translated, . young's (dr.) narcissa, . z. zealand (new), a legend of, . . zeus on fire unknown, . ziegler (caspar) and the diaconate, . z. (p.) on ancient egypt, . z. (x.) on cases of presentiment, . z. (x. y.) on history of commerce, . ---- eliza fenning, . ---- miniature of cromwell, . ---- breezes from gas works, . end of the fifth volume. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page arabian tales and their sources, by j. w. thomas la rochefoucauld, by j. macray shropshire ballad "of the benefit of the death of christ," by aonio paleario, by the rev. j. ayre minor notes:--stone chisels--acrostic--simmels--ogborne's history of essex--fleas and bugs--zeuxis and parrhasius-- cure for hydrophobia--the "fusion" queries:-- lyra's commentary, by edw. peacock minor queries:--barristers' gowns--"charta hen. . g. g. n. . q."--albany wallace--leslie and dr. middleton--star and garter, kirkstall--shrove tuesday--"tarbox for that"-- de gurney pedigree--"[greek: pistis]," unde deriv.--snush-- john bale, bishop of ossory--proxies for absent sponsors-- heraldic query--christmas ballad--hay-bread recipe--te deum--mary queen of scots at auchincas--right of refuge in the church porch--christopher lemying of burneston--ralph ashton the commander minor queries with answers:--roman roads in england-- inscription on the brass of sir g. felbridge--skipwith-- college battel--origin of clubs--royal arms in churches-- odd fellows--governor-general of india--precedence replies:-- marmortinto, or sand-painting, by john mummery o'brien of thosmond coronation stone polygamy, by t. j. buckton and the rev. a. gatty poetical tavern signs "behemoth," by c. h. cooper photographic correspondence:--photographic slides for the magic lantern--albumenized paper--mounting positives on cardboard--mr. lyte's collodion replies to minor queries:--burton's "anatomy of melancholy" --original royal letters to the grand masters of malta-- prince charles' attendants in spain--churchill's grave-- "cissle"--contributors to knight's "quarterly magazine"-- "la langue pandras"--cranmer bibles--voisonier--word-minting --fair rosamond--death-warnings in ancient families--poets laureate--brissot de warville--"branks"--theobald le botiller --lord harington--amontillado--"mairdill"--separation of the sexes in church--costume of the clergy not enarean, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * archÆology of the streets of dublin, and celtic records of ireland, etc. for the series of papers illustrating the above, see vols. i. ii. and iii. of the "irish quarterly review." price, bound, s. each. london: simpkin & co. dublin: w. b. kelly. * * * * * this day is published, history of the french protestant refugees, from the revocation of the edict of nantes. by charles weiss, professor of history in the lycée buonaparte. translated, with the assistance of the author, by frederick hardman. in demy octavo, price s. cloth. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * the black sea. the fourth edition of mr. oliphant's russian shores of the black sea, is now published. in vo., with engravings on wood, an enlarged map of the crimea, and map of the author's route, price s. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * russia and turkey. a french map of russia in europe, and turkey, comprising the baltic and black seas, with the adjacent countries, is now published. price s. in sheet, case s., per post d. additional. london: edward stanford, . charing cross, who will forward on application a list of maps of the seat of war. * * * * * baltic and black seas. the admiralty charts of these seas are now published. price, plain, s. d. each; 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"it will always deservedly maintain its high position, as the exponent of what greeks thought and wrote about and believed."--_pococke, india in greece._ whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * { } the edinburgh review, no. ccii., will be published on tuesday next. contents: i. mormonism. ii. john locke--his character and philosophy. iii. history of french protestant refugees. iv. moore's journal. v. the national gallery report. vi. recent italian autobiographies. vii. opinions of the judges on codification. viii. consumption of food in the united kingdom. london: longman & co. edinburgh: a. & c. black. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series): consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d.., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for april contains, among other articles:--the history of the protestant refugees in france. the positive philosophy of auguste comte. traits of the czars. pilgrimage to high places: einsiedlen in switzerland. moore and the right hon. john wilson croker. the table of precedency. the moscow septuagint. anecdotes of norden the topographer. ancient wedding ceremonies. the lord mayor's pageant of . emendation of a passage in coriolanus. with notes of the month, reviews of new publications, reports of archæological societies, &c. the obituary contains, memoirs of the marquess of londonderry, the bishop of salisbury, sir ralph lopes, bart.; sir john conroy, bart., capt. sir everard home, bart.; sir henry miers elliot, k.c.b.; colonel joliffe; rev. w. l. richards, d.d.; rev. r. jenkyns, d.d., dean of wells; rev. w. p. greswell; rev. w. h. dixon, f.s.a.; john martin the painter; robert alexander, esq.; thomas saunders, esq., f.s.a.; john fardell, esq., f.s.a.; henry belcher, esq., &c. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * price one shilling, the national miscellany for april contains: . the new civil service scheme. . the flaw in the column. . the labour parliament. . an avalanche on the great st. bernard. . mediæval london. . saturday night. . the weekly periodicals. . sea life and sea literature. . notices. . poetry. at the office, no. , exeter street, strand, london. * * * * * post free. the cattle upon a thousand hills. a list of great old english books for sale, by john tupling, . strand. * * * * * cheap books.--c. hill's catalogue, no. ., just published, including a long article on napoleon. sent free on application. . king street, holborn. * * * * * completion of a volume. now ready, volume i., price s. d., lardner's museum of science and art.--illustrated by engravings on wood. part i., price d. . the planets; are they inhabited globes? chap. i. . weather prognostics. . the planets. are they inhabited globes? chap. ii. . popular fallacies in questions of physical science. part ii., price d. . latitudes and longitudes. . the planets. are they inhabited globes? chap. iii. . lunar influences. . meteoric stones and shooting stars. chap i. part iii., price d. . railway accidents. chap. i. . the planets. are they inhabited globes? chap. iv. and last. . meteoric stones and shooting stars. chap. ii. . railway accidents. chap. ii. . light. "this serial, which will form quarterly eighteenpenny volumes, is, we are disposed to think, the best literary investment of a penny a week now extant."--_examiner._ "this series, besides affording popular but sound instruction on scientific subjects, with which the humblest man in the country ought to be acquainted, also undertakes that teaching of 'common things' which lord ashburton and every well-wisher of his kind are anxious to promote."--_times._ london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * smee's binocular perspective photographs.--a full account of the mode of taking these extraordinary likenesses in "smee on the eye," just published, price s. horne, thornthwaite & wood, . newgate street, london. * * * * * classical musical library.--subscribers are liberally supplied, on loan, with every description of new vocal and instrumental music, and have also at their disposal upwards of , volumes, including the standard operas, italian, german, french, and english songs, and all kinds of instrumental music. during the term of subscription, each subscriber has the privilege of selecting--for his own property--from , different pieces, guineas' worth of music. prospectuses forwarded free on application. jullien & co., . regent street. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, & . west strand. * * * * * this day is published, price s. cloth or gilt, s. d., embellished with numerous engravings, wanderings of an antiquary: chiefly upon the traces of the romans in britain. by thomas wright, esq., m.a., f.s.a. contents:-- . iron works of the forest of dean. . roman cities on the welsh borders. . verulamium. . anglo-saxon graves in kent. . sandwich, and rutupiæ. . the kentish coast. . pevensey. . potteries on the medway. . valley of maidstone. . hill entrenchments on the welsh borders. . from york to goodmanham. . isuriam or aldborough. . bramber castle and sussex churches. . bignor. . stonehenge. . old sarum. "got up with very good taste in style and matter. we recommend this excellent little book."--_dover chronicle._ "avoiding wild and speculative theories on the one hand, and aiming to further the purposes of pure history on the other."--_morning post._ "mr. wright conveys sound antiquaries information at every step in a pleasing and popular manner, which must render the volume a grateful companion to all who have not made our national ancient monuments a professed study: and even the experienced archæologist will often find unsuspected new views of old opinions which it may be at least wholesome to revise or reconsider."--_gentlman's magazine._ nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * second edition, price s. d. cloth, the antiquities of the christian church. translated and compiled from the works of augusti; with numerous additions from rheinwald, siegel, and others. by the rev. lyman coleman. second edition, price s. d. cloth, a history of the hebrew commonwealth. translated from the german of john jahn, d.d. with an appendix, containing the history of the jews to the reign of adrian, translated from basnage. by c. e. stowe, a.m. fourth edition, price s. cloth, biblical antiquities. by john jahn, d.d. translated from the latin, with additions and corrections. by t. c. upham, bowdoin college, united states. with map and three engravings. fourth edition ( pages), price s. cloth, lectures on christian theology. by george christian knapp, d.d., professor of theology in the university of halle. translated by leonard woods, jun., d.d., andover, u.s. ward & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * in vo., cloth lettered, price s. d., or free by post, s. gomer; or, a brief analysis of the language and knowledge of the ancient cymry. by john williams, a.m., oxon, archdeacon of cardigan. london: hughes & butler. . st. martin's-le-grand. * * * * * as secretary or amanuensis. a gentleman who is fully conversant with the french, german, and italian languages is desirous of obtaining some permanent employment. he can give satisfactory references as to competency and respectability of family and connexions. address. f. g. h., care of mr. newman, publisher, . devonshire street, bishopsgate street. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, april , ._ * * * * * notes. arabian tales and their sources. the arabians have been the immediate instruments in transmitting to us those oriental tales, of which the conception is so brilliant, and the character so rich and varied, and which, after having been the delight of our childhood, never lose entirely the spell of their enchantment over our maturer age. but while many of these tales are doubtless of arabian origin, it is not to be supposed that all are equally so. if we may believe the french translator of the _thousand and one tales_, that publication does not include the thirty-sixth part of the great arabian collection, which is not confined to books, but has been the traditional inheritance of a numerous class, who, like the minstrels of the west, gained their livelihood by reciting, what would interest the feelings of their hearers. this class of eastern story-tellers was common throughout the whole extent of mahomedan dominion in turkey, persia, and even to the extremity of india. the sudden rise of the saracen empire, and its rapid transition from barbarism to refinement, and from the deepest ignorance to the most extensive cultivation of literature and science, is an extraordinary phenomenon in the history of mankind. a century scarcely elapsed from the age of amrou, the general of caliph omar, who is said to have burned the great alexandrian library, to the period when the family of the abbasides, who mounted the throne of the caliphs a.d. , introduced a passionate love of art, science, and even poetry. the celebrated haroun al raschid never took a journey without at least a hundred men of science in his train. but the most munificent patron of arabic literature was al mamoun, the seventh caliph of the race of the abbasides, and son of haroun al raschid. having succeeded to the throne a.d. , he rendered bagdad the centre of literature: collecting from the subject provinces of syria, armenia, and egypt the most important books which could be discovered, as the most precious tribute that could be rendered, and causing them to be translated into arabic for general use. when al mamoun dictated the terms of peace to michael, the greek emperor, the tribute which he demanded from him was a collection of greek authors. the arabian tales had their birth after this period; and when the arabians had yielded to the tartars, turks, and persians, the empire of the sword. soldiers are seldom introduced; the splendours of the just caliph's reign are dwelt upon with fond remembrance; the style is that of a mercantile people, while riches and artificial luxuries are only rivalled by the marvellous gifts of the genii and fairies. this brilliant mythology, the offspring of the arabian imagination, together with the other characteristics of the arabian tales, has had an extensive influence on our own literature. many of these tales had found their way into our poetry long before the translation of the _arabian nights_; and are met with in the old _fabliaux_, and in boccacio, ariosto, and chaucer. but while these tales are arabian in their structure, the materials have been derived, not only from india, persia, and china, but also from ancient egypt, and the classical literature of greece. i shall content myself at present with adducing one example of such probable derivation from the source last mentioned. the stories to be compared are too long for quotation, which, as they are well known, will not be necessary. i shall therefore merely give, in parallel columns, the numerous points of resemblance, or coincidence, between the two. the arabian tale is that of "ali baba and the forty robbers;" the corresponding story will be found in herodotus, b. ii. c. cxxi.; it is that of rhampsinitus and the robbery of his royal treasury: the egyptian tale. . the king constructs a stone edifice for the security of his vast riches. . in the wall of this treasury is a stone so artfully disposed that a single person can move it, so as to enter and retreat without leaving any trace of his having done so. . two brothers become acquainted with the secret opening into the treasury, and enter it for the purpose of enriching themselves. . one of the brothers becomes rich by abstracting large sums of money from the royal treasury. . the other brother is caught in the snare which the king had laid within the treasury, for the detection and apprehension of the intruders. . at his own request the brother thus caught is beheaded by the other to avoid recognition, and to secure the escape of one. the dead body is hung from the wall of the treasury, for the purpose of discovering his accomplice. . the surviving brother, at his mother's earnest request, carries off the dead body, and brings it home on the back of one of his asses. . the king, unable to ascertain how his treasury had been entered, is enraged at the removal of the body, and alarmed at finding that some one who possesses the secret still survives. . the king has recourse to stratagem, for the purpose of detecting the depredator, but without success. . the surviving brother baffles the king's first attempt to detect him, by means of some asses, which, in the character of a wine-seller, he had loaded with wine-flasks, making the king's guards drunk, and leaving them all fast asleep. the arabian tale. . in a rock so steep and craggy that none can scale it, a cave has been hewn out, in which the robbers deposit their prodigious wealth. . in this rock is a door which opens into the cave, by means of two magical words, "open sesame;" and closes again in like manner by pronouncing the words "shut sesame." . two brothers become acquainted with the door of the cave, and the means of opening and shutting it; and they enter it for the purpose of enriching themselves. . ali baba, one of the two brothers, becomes rich by carrying off a great quantity of gold coin from the robbers' cave. . cassim, the other brother, is caught as in a snare, by forgetting, when in the cave, the magical words by which alone ran exit could be obtained. . cassim, in his attempt to escape, is killed by the robbers, and his dead body is quartered, and hung up within the door of the cave, to deter any who might be his accomplices. . ali baba, at the instance of cassim's widow, carries off his remains from the cave, and brings them home on the back of one of his asses. . the robbers, unable to guess how their cave had been entered, are alarmed at the removal of cassim's remains, which proves to them that some one who possesses the secret still survives. . the robbers have recourse to stratagem, for the purpose of discovering the depredator, but without success. . ali baba, assisted by his female slave, baffles the robber captain's first attempt upon him, by means of some oil in a jar, his men being concealed in the other jars, with which the captain, in the character of an oil-merchant, had loaded some asses: thus the latter, who thought his men asleep, finds them all dead. { } the egyptian tale. . in the darkness of the night, the surviving brother tells the king's daughter, whom her father had employed to detect him, the story of his exploits in baffling the guards and carrying off the body of his brother. . the king's daughter attempts to seize the brother, but he baffles her, by leaving in her hand a dead arm instead of his own. . the king, who admires the audacity and ingenuity of the surviving brother, offers him, by proclamation, pardon and reward; and, on his coming forward, gives him his daughter in marriage. the arabian tale. . in the dusk of the evening, baba mustapha relates to the two robbers in succession, who had been employed to detect ali baba, the story of his having sewed a dead body together; and, blindfold, himself conducts each of them to ali baba's door. . the two robbers successively mark the house of ali baba with chalk; but his female slave baffles them by putting a similar mark on the other houses, in consequence of which they are put to death instead of her master. . ali baba, saved from the robber captain's designs by the course and ingenuity of morgiana, his female slave, gives her freedom, and marries her to his son. here, then, are above a dozen striking coincidences in this one example; and they are given with but slight dislocation or transposition. other examples might be adduced, but i must reserve them for another communication. j. w. thomas. dewsbury. * * * * * la rochefoucauld. meeting occasionally, in reading new french works and journals, with sentiments and criticisms by eminent living writers on the characteristic peculiarities of some of the most distinguished french authors of the age of louis xiv. and subsequently, perhaps you will allow me to send you, from time to time, "notes" or extracts from the criticisms alluded to, in case you should be of opinion that they may be agreeable to some of your readers, who may not be aware of the healthier and more christian tone that now pervades one, at least, of the most influential organs of public opinion in france. let us begin with _la rochefoucauld_, as recently reviewed in the _journal des débats_. j. macray. oxford. _"la rochefoucauld._ "pourquoi la rochefoucauld m'inspire-t-il une répugnance invincible? pourquoi cette souffrance en le lisant? ah! le voici, je crois. la morale de la rochefoucauld c'est la morale chrétienne, moins, si je puis m'exprimer ainsi, le christianisme lui-même; c'est tout ce qui peut humilier et abattre le coeur dans la sévère doctrine de l'evangile, moins ce qui le relève; c'est toutes les illusions détruites sans les espérances qui remplacent les illusions. en un mot, dans le christianisme la rochefoucauld n'a pris que le dogme de la chute; il a laissé le dogme de la rédemption. en faisant briller un côté du flambeau, celui qui désenchante l'homme de lui-même, il éclipse l'autre, celui qui montre à l'homme dans le ciel sa force, son appui, et l'espoir d'une régénération. la rochefoucauld ne croit pas plus à la sainteté qu'à la sagesse, pas plus à dieu qu'à l'homme. le pénitent n'est pas moins vain à ses yeux que le philosophe. partout l'orgueil, partout le _moi_, sous la haire du trappiste, comme sous le manteau du cynique. "la rochefoucauld n'est chrétien que pour poursuivre notre pauvre coeur jusque dans ses derniers retranchemens; il n'est chrétien que pour verser son poison sur nos joies et sur nos rêves les plus chers.... que reste-t-il donc à l'homme? pour les âmes fortes, il ne reste rien qu'un froid et intrépide mépris de toutes choses, un sec et stoïque contentement à envisager le néant absolu; pour les autres, le désespoir ou les jouissances brutales du plaisir comme dernière fin de la vie! "et voilà ce que je déteste dans la rochefoucauld! cet idéal dont j'ai soif, il le détruit partout. ce bien, ce beau, dont les faibles images me ravissent encore sous la forme imparfaite de nos vertus, de notre science, de notre sagesse humaine, il le réduit à un sec intérêt."--s. de sacy, _journal des débats_, janv. . * * * * * shropshire ballad. your correspondent b. h. c. (vol. viii., p. .) gives, from recollection, a northamptonshire version of the old "ballad of sir hugh of lincoln." it reminded me of a similar, though somewhat varied, version which i took down, more than forty years ago, from the lips of a nurse-maid in shropshire. it may interest the author of _the celt, the roman, and the saxon_, to know that it was recited in the place of his birth. its resemblance to the ballad in percy's _reliques_ was my inducement to commit it to paper: it hails, it rains, in merry-cock land, it hails, it rains, both great and small, and all the little children in merry-cock land, they have need to play at ball. they toss'd the ball so high, they toss'd the ball so low, amongst all the jews' cattle and amongst the jews below. out came one of the jews' daughters dressed all in green. "come, my sweet saluter, and fetch the ball again." "i durst not come, i must not come, unless all my little playfellows come along, for if my mother sees me at the gate, she'll cause my blood to fall." she show'd me an apple as green as grass, she show'd me a gay gold ring, she show'd me a cherry as red as blood, and so she entic'd me in. she took me in the parlour, she took me in the kitchen, and there i saw my own dear nurse a picking of a chicken. she laid me down to sleep, with a bible at my head, and a testament at my feet; and if my playfellows come to quere for me, tell them i am asleep. s. p. q. * * * * * { } "of the benefit of the death of christ," by aonio paleario. the total, or almost total, disappearance of books at one time largely circulated, is a curious fact in the history of literature. one cause of it may be found in the efforts made by the church of rome to suppress those works which were supposed to contain unsound doctrine. "heretical books," says mr. t. b. macaulay, "were sought out and destroyed with unsparing rigour. works which were once in every house, were so effectually suppressed, that no copy of them is now to be found in the most extensive libraries. one book in particular, entitled _of the benefit of the death of christ_, had this fate. it was written in tuscan, was many times reprinted, and was eagerly read in every part of italy. but the inquisitors detected in it the lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone. _they proscribed it; and it is now as utterly lost as the second decade of livy._" this book was published without a name. but the author was aonio paleario. it was translated into various languages, as french, spanish, english, and possibly others; and within six years after its first appearance, , copies are said to have been circulated. a few years ago i was fortunate enough to meet with a copy of the english version, which was made from the french, not from the original. this copy was printed in , and was, according to the title-page, the fourth (english) edition. from it i edited the work, prefixing a short notice of the author, and verifying the references to the fathers. it was subsequently retranslated into italian, and has, i am informed, been much read in italy. some time after this publication, i became aware of the existence of a copy (in private hands) of the apparently first english edition, bearing the date of . this i was allowed to inspect: and i hope hereafter to put forth another edition, in which the text of this copy will be followed, and two or three inaccuracies which had crept into the former impression will be corrected. i was, however, ignorant that a single copy of the original italian existed; and all inquiry for it seemed to be vain. but one was near at hand, preserved with diligent care among the literary treasures of st. john's college, cambridge, by the authorities there, who were well aware of its rarity and value. by their obliging permission, i was a few days ago permitted to examine it. it is a small square mo., bound, in beautiful condition, measuring about ¼ inches by , and containing seventy-two pages. the following is the title-page: "trattato vtilissimo del beneficio di giesv christo crocifisso, verso i christiani. venetiis, apud bernardinum de bindonis. anno do. m.d.xxxxiii." from the date, it seems to be the first edition. there is an address "alli lettori christiani. "essendoci venuta alle mani un' opera delle piu pie e dotte, che a nostri tempi si siano fatte, il titolo della quale e, del beneficio di giesu christo crocifisso verso i christiani: ci e paruto a consolatione e utilita vostra darla [=i] istampa, e senza il nome dello scrittore, accioche piu la cosa vi muova, che l' autorita dell' autore." this most curious volume has been for upwards of a century in the library of st. john's college, as the following printed notice, pasted within the cover, will show: "in grati animi testificationem, ob plurima humanitatis officia, a collegio divi joannis evangelistæ apud cantabrigienses multifariam collata, librum hunc inter alios lectissimos eidem collegio legavit illustrissimus vir, dominicus antonius ferrari, j. u. d. neapolitanus, . "teste, "j. creyk." but this is not all. the college is happy enough to possess a copy of the rare french translation of the same book. this is somewhat larger in size than the original italian, and consists of sixty-four leaves. it contains, as will be seen by the title-page, some additional matter: "dv benefice de iesvs christ crvcifie, envers les chrestiens. traduict de vulgaire italien, en langage françoys. plus, vne traduction de la huytiesme homelie de sainct iean chrysostome, de la femme cananée: mise de latin en françoys. venez a moy vous tous qui trauaillez et estes chargez, et ie vous soulageray, ." there is an address by the french translator: "le traducteur a tous les chrestiens qui sont dessoubz le ciel, salut;" and at the end of the volume is a "traduction du psalme xxxiv." the french version is said to have been first published in . this therefore is not, it would seem, the earliest edition. this volume also, it may be added, was given to the college by ferrari. j. ayre. hampstead. * * * * * minor notes. _stone chisels._--i saw recently an oviform stone implement which had been found on the granite moors of north cornwall, and apparently had been used as a pickaxe in mining. the following notice shows that such implements were used by the ancient miners in the lake superior district: "the explorers are now much aided by these guiding features, also by pits, which indicate where an ancient race--probably the aztecs or toltecs--have carried on their superficial operations on the veins. some of those i saw were twenty or thirty feet deep, which { } must have been the result of much labour, considering their tools--_the only trace of which we find in the shape of oviformed stones, with a groove round the centre for the purpose of securing a handle_, then to be used as a hammer to shatter the vein-stone after it probably had been reduced by the action of fire and water on the calcareous matter entering into its composition. in favour of this conjecture, quantities of charcoal have been found in the bottom of some of these pits, which are almost effaced by the accumulation of timber decayed and foliage of ages past."--from a letter in the _mining journal_, jan. , . s. r. pattison. _acrostic._--i send you a very curious acrostic, copied from a monument in the church of st. germans, cornwall. you will perceive that it is in memory of "johannes glanvill, minister;" and it is surmounted with the arms of that ancient family: a. d. +-------------------------+ a. d. . | | . ^{to} | arms. | ^{mo} novemb^r | | octob^r natus est. +-------------------------+ denatus. i nditur in gelidum g regis hujus opilio bustu m, o mnibus irriguus l achrymis simul urbis et agr i. h ujus erit vivax a tque indelebile nome n, a rtibus et linguis n ecnon virtute probat i. n obis ille novæ v atem (pro munere) legi s n aviter et graviter i ucunde et suaviter egi t. e rgo relanguenti l icet eluctetur ab or e s piritus; æternum l ucebit totus ut aste r. w. d. f. walton. _simmels._--the vienna correspondent of _the times_, whose letter from "vienna, march th," appeared in that paper on friday the th, mentions a viennese loaf, the name of which so strongly resembles the _simmel_ of our ancestors as to deserve a note: "the viennese witlings, who are much inclined to abuse the hyperbole, affirm that a magnifying glass will soon be requisite in order to discover the whereabouts of the _semmeln_, the little wheaten loaves for which austria is famous." w. j. t. _ogborne's history of essex._--i lately fell in with (at a marine store-shop in somers town) some scattered materials in mrs. ogborne's handwriting for the above highly interesting but unfinished work. i have not yet sorted them, but i perceive that the mss. contain some information that was never published, relating to rochford hundred, &c. the shopkeeper stated that she had used the greater part of mrs. ogborne's papers as waste-paper, but i am not without hopes that she will find more. there is a letter from mr. leman of bath, which is published in the work. i am aware that mr. fossett has mrs. ogborne's mss.; but those now in my possession are certainly interesting, and might be, to some future historian of essex, even valuable. should i discover anything worth inserting in "n. & q." on examining the mss. i will send it. g. i. s. _fleas and bugs._--has the following explanation of an old saying ever been brought forward, and is it satisfactory? when a person is sent off "with a flea in his ear," the luckless applicant is peremptorily dismissed with an imperative "flee," with the word "flee" sounding in his ear, or, facetiously, "with a _flea_ in his ear." _apropos_ of proverbial domestic entomology, is there more than lies on the surface in the elegant simile "as snug as a bug in a rug?" a rough variety of dog was termed a "rug" in shakspeare's time; quartered on which, the insect might find good entertainment--a plentiful board, as well as a snug lodging. it appears, however, that the name has not long been applied to the _cimex_, so that the saying may be of greater antiquity, and relate to bugbears. c. t. _zeuxis and parrhasius._--in the preface to mr. grote's _history of greece_, there occurs the following passage: "if the reader blame me for not assisting him to determine this--if he ask me why i do not undraw the curtain, and disclose the picture?--i reply in the words of the painter zeuxis, when the same question was addressed to him on exhibiting his master-piece of imitative art: 'the curtain _is_ the picture.'" compare this with pliny, _nat. hist._ xxxv. . § .; from which it appears that parrhasius, not _zeuxis_, painted the curtain. arch. weir. _cure for hydrophobia._--a gentleman named monsell, who lived at kilrush in the county clare, possessed a cure for hydrophobia which was never known to fail. he required that the patient should be brought to him within nine days from the time of being bitten, and his first proceeding was to cause the person to look in a looking-glass or pail of water: if the patient bore that trial without showing any uneasiness, he declared that there was no doubt of his being able to effect a cure. he then retired to another room, leaving the patient alone for a short time; and when he returned, he brought two bits of cheese which he said contained the remedy, and caused the person to swallow them. he then desired that the patient should return home, and for nine days frequently drink a few sips of water; and also take opportunities to look at water or a looking-glass, so as to accustom the nerves to be under control. i knew a case of a peasant girl, who was bitten by a mad dog, and who had to be brought to him tied on a car, whom he cured. the dog, before he was killed, bit several valuable dogs, all of { } which had to be destroyed; he also bit two pigs, which, after showing most frightful symptoms of hydrophobia, had to be shot and their flesh burned. mr. monsell always refused to declare what his remedy was, "lest it might be used for anything but a human being." it would appear that in a great measure he worked on the imagination of his patients: still some other means may have been used, and, as he has been dead some time, it is to be hoped he did not let his secret die with him. he never would take any remuneration from those he cured, or their friends. i never heard any person in that part of the country express the least doubt of the efficacy of the remedy he used. francis robert davies. _the "fusion."_--is it generally known that there exists, between the two branches of the bourbons, a much nearer relationship than that which arises from their common descent from louis xiii.? the duchess de berri was niece to louis-philippe's queen: so that the duc de bordeaux and the comte de paris are second cousins. e. h. a. * * * * * queries. lyra's commentary. i possess a copy of the _textus biblie c[=u] glossa ordinaria nicolai de lyra postilla pauli brug[=e]sis additi[=o]ibus matthie thoring replicis_, in volumes folio, printed at basle in the years - . the binding is of oak boards and calf leather, stamped with a very spirited design composed of foliated borders, surrounding, on the right cover, six impressions from a die three inches high by one and three quarters wide, consisting of a narrow border enclosing a human figure, who bears in his left hand a knotted staff as high as himself, while in the right he holds a bag or scrip containing many balls (perhaps stones or fruit), which hangs over his shoulder. under the right arm he carries a sword, and on the wrist a wicker basket. the lower limbs of this strange being are clad in loose garments, like to a modern pair of trousers, with a large ragged hole on each knee. the feet are not seen, as he is behind a fence composed of interlaced branches of trees. to complete the picture, the head, which is much too large for the body, has no other covering but crisped hair. on the left cover are four impressions of a die three inches high by two wide, on which are six animals whose kinds it is difficult to determine with certainty; the two upper possibly may be horses, the middle a bird and a monkey, the lower a lion and a dog. the animals are separated from each other by a running pattern composed of branches, leaves, and flowers, and are surrounded by a frame, on which is the following in black-letter: "deus det nobis suam pacem et post mortem uitam eternam." the clasps have engraven on them, in the same character,-- "lib d[=n]s et m[=ge]r joannis vam mere." on the title-page, slightly varied in each volume, is the following inscription, in a hand not much later than the publication of the book: "liber m. joachimi moller ex testamento m. johan[=i]s vam mer optim et maximus deus illius anime misereatur. amen." i shall be much obliged to any one who will explain to me the figures on the cover, which, doubtless, have some legendary or symbolic meaning; and also give me any notes or references concerning either of the former possessors of the book, both of whom have, i believe, enriched it with manuscript notes. edward peacock. bottesford moors, messingham, kirton-in-lindsey. * * * * * minor queries. _barristers' gowns._--what is the meaning of the lapel, or piece which hangs from the back of the barristers' gown? has it any particular name? in shape it is very similar to the representations we see in pictures of the "cloven tongues." it is not improbable that it may be intended figuratively to bear reference to them. henry t. riley. "_charta hen. . g. g. n. . q._"--in cowell's _law dictionary_ (ed. ), under the word lusgul, i find the following reference: "charta hen. . g. g. n. . q." i should be much obliged to any person who would suggest for what "g. g. n. . q." stands. k. _albany wallace._--can any of your correspondents, familiar with the drama, tell me who this gentleman was? in , there appeared _the death of mary queen of scots_, an historic drama in five acts, by a. w., esq.: worthing, printed for the author by w. verrall. his name occurs again on the title-page of _the reigns of the stuarts in england dramatised. the first part of king james the first_, a play in five acts: london, printed by the author, at his private press, queen ann street, . i naturally turned up mr. martin's _privately printed books_, but neither our dramatist nor his press is there alluded to. touching the latter, mr. wallace says in his preface,-- "a certain picture was said by a connoisseur to be 'very well painted for a _gentleman!_' a species of { } negative praise which gave but little satisfaction to the artist. should the amateur printer, however, meet with as much, he will be very well contented. all he can himself say for his work is 'that it is legible;' and his type being of a pretty tolerable rotundity, he does not think it will need an additional pair of spectacles to be made out." i am farther desirous of knowing if, in pursuance of his plan, mr. wallace _dramatised_ any more of the stuarts? j. d. _leslie and dr. middleton._--in dr. mcneile's _lecture on the jews and judaism_, feb. , , the four rules given by leslie as a test of historical truth are thus quoted: " . that the matter of fact be such that men's outward senses, their ears and eyes, may be judges of it. " . that it be done publicly, in the face of the world. " . that not only public monuments be kept in memory of it, but also that some outward actions be statedly performed. " . that such observances be instituted, and do commence, from the time at which such matter of fact is done. "_it is said_ that dr. middleton endeavoured for twenty years to find out some pretended fact to which mr. leslie's four rules could be applied, but in vain." "it is said." where; when; by whom? h. b. c. u. u. club. _star and garter, kirkstall._--what is _now_ a large hotel, at kirkstall bridge, near to kirkstall abbey in yorkshire, was many years ago a mere village roadside hostel, under whose sign (the star and garter) was inscribed in greek capitals "[greek: to prepon]." how could such an inscription have got into such a place? could it have been the suggestion of some "learned clerke" of the neighbouring monastery, as more suited to the genius of the vicinity than the ordinary announcement of "good entertainment for man and horse?" j. l. s., sen. _shrove tuesday._--happening to be at newbury on shrove tuesday, i was struck with the tolling of the church bell as for a death, and, on inquiry, was informed that such was the custom of the place on this day. does such a custom exist anywhere else, and what is the origin of it? newburiensis. "_tarbox for that._"--on reading a book of funny stories some years ago in the british museum (a sort of _joe miller_ of charles ii.'s time), whenever any story was given that seemed "too good to be true," the anecdote ended with the words "tarbox for that." am i right in suspecting that this is equivalent to the expression, "tell that to the marines," so well known in our day? "tarbox" was probably a nickname for a bumpkin, or guardian of the tarbox, in which was kept the tar composition used for anointing sheep. can anybody suggest another solution of the meaning of this expression? henry t. riley. _de gurney pedigree._--can any of your readers inform me whether the following pedigree is correct, so far as it goes? . robert fitzhardinge = eva. | ------------------------- | | maurice robert = hawisia de gurney. | -------------------------------------- | | | . maurice = alice de henry.[ ] matthew = gaunt. | | ----------------------- | . robert de gurney.[ ] who was the father of simon de gaunt, bishop of salisbury in ? e. w. godwin. [footnote : first master of the hospital of st. mark in bristol.] [footnote : heir to maurice, his uncle.] "[greek: pistis]," _unde deriv._--scapula and hederic both give [greek: peithô] as the root; but by what process is [greek: pistis] so obtained? what objection is there to taking [greek: histêmi] as the root? whence [greek: ephistamai, epistas, pistos]. no doubt one of your learned readers will kindly aid the inquiry. [psi]. _snush._--when did this name cease to be used for _snuff?_ i think i have met with it as late as the reign of queen anne. i believe the scotch call snuff _snish_, or _snishen_. henry. t. riley. _john bale, bishop of ossory._--a _complete_ list of the works of this voluminous writer, giving the titles in full, will be thankfully acknowledged; also any facts as to his life, not generally known. there is a very imperfect list of bale's _works_ given in harris's _ware's bishops_, and most of the biographical dictionaries. james graves. kilkenny. _proxies for absent sponsors._--can any of your readers mention earlier instances than the following of the attendance of proxies on behalf of absent sponsors? "my daughter, elizabeth burrell, was born on thursday, th june, ... she was baptized on monday, th february. my brother, p. burrell (by wm. board, esq.), godfather, my lady gee (by my sister parker), and my niece jane burrell, godmothers."--"extracts from the journal and account-book of timothy burrell, esq., barrister-at-law of ockenden house, cuckfield" (_sussex archæological collections_, vol. iii. p. .). e. m. hastings. { } _heraldic query._--names of the families bearing the following coats of arms are requested: . ermine, on a chief sable, two griffins segreant combatant argent. _crest_, a demylyon affrontée or. . azure, a bend or, between three spear-heads argent. _crest_, an armed arm, embowed, grasping a broken spear. . barry of six or and sable (with quarterings). _crest_, on coil of rope a dog sable collared argent. e. d. _christmas ballad._--perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to throw some light upon the following verses, which are sung by the waits at christmas in the neighbourhood of falmouth: "twelve is twelve as goes to hell, eleven is eleven as goes to heaven, ten is the ten commandments, nine is nine so bright to shine, eight is the gable angels, seven is the seven stars of the sky, and six is the six bold waiters, five is the flamboys under the bough, and four is the gospel preachers; three of them is thrivers (shrivers?), two of them is lilywhite babes, and clothed all in green oh! and one is one, and all alone, and ever more shall be so." that the first line alludes to the fate of the twelfth apostle is evident. the meaning of the second, third, sixth, ninth, and last lines, is also apparent. the others i am quite at a loss to explain. c. m. g. _hay-bread recipe._--the query of your correspondent g. d. (vol. ix., p. .) has reminded me of a question which i wish to ask. by what chemical process may hay be converted into bread? e. w. j. _te deum._--we read frequently of this hymn being sung in the russian church after victories. can any of your correspondents inform me in what language it is used in the eastern churches? it is, i believe, generally admitted that it was originally composed in latin for the use of the western church; but if the emperor nicholas, in his famous manifesto (vide vol. viii., pp. . .), quotes from this hymn and not from the psalms, the one being quite as likely as the other, it would almost appear that the latin version is the one with which he is the most familiar. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. _mary queen of scots at auchincas._--auchincas is an interesting ruin on the bank of the evan in dumfriesshire, the residence of randolph, earl of murray, regent of scotland in . i have heard tradition to the effect that when mary queen of scots was fleeing towards england, she paused to rest here. can any of your readers confirm or contradict this tradition? and can any of them furnish farther particulars regarding the history of the same castle, in addition to those given in the ordinary gazetteers, and in black's _guide to moffat?_ annandale. _right of refuge in the church porch._--in one of j. h. parker's _parochial tales_, a custom is spoken of as existing at the present time in norfolk, by which every parishioner has a right to make the church porch his temporary home until he can find a lodging elsewhere. is this a fact? in the parish register of flamstead, herts, is an entry under the year , of the burial of a child and its father, "w^h bothe died in y^e church porche." cheverells. _christopher lemying of burneston._--the undersigned would be obliged to any of the readers of "n. & q." who would furnish him with the names of the children and grandchildren of christopher lemying of burneston, nigh lemying, in richmondshire, com. york, who lived about a.d. and ? and also with any information concerning the births and deaths of the same? the heralds' visitations for the seventeenth century would probably afford the information, but the writer has no access to them at present. c. p. l. _ralph ashton the commander._--your answer to my inquiry relative to "isabella, the wife of ralph the commander" (_ashton_, vol. ix., p. .), induced me to refer to the work you quoted, baines's _lancashire_; but in the list of her sons i did not find named one who is mentioned in the ancient document i have spoken of, namely, "_james_, the son of isabel, the wife of ralph the commander." did she survive her husband and marry a second time; and, if so, what was his name? i ask this because, probably, that would be the name of the son here alluded to. a reply to this query would oblige[ ] jaytee. [footnote : we cannot discover that elizabeth kaye, the wife of ralph the commander, married the second time. see burke's _extinct baronetcies_, pp. . ., ed. .--ed.] * * * * * minor queries with answers. _roman roads in england._--whose is the best treatise on the roman roads in england? prestoniensis. [although the credit and fidelity of richard of cirencester have frequently been attacked, still, as { } gibbon remarks, "he shows a genuine knowledge of antiquity very extraordinary for a monk of the fourteenth century." in , an edition was published in london, entitled _the description of britain_, translated from ricardus of cirencester, with the original treatise _de situ britanniæ_, with a map and a fac-simile of the ms., as well as a commentary on the itinerary. it has been reprinted in the _six old english chronicles_ in bohn's _antiquarian library_, but without the map. the itinerary contains eighteen journeys, which richard says he compiled from certain fragments written by a roman general, and from ptolemy and other authors. he mentions stations, while antoninus has only .] _inscription on the brass of sir g. felbrigge._--can any of your numerous correspondents afford me an explanation of the following fragment of an inscription from the brass of sir george felbrigge, playford, suffolk? each word is separated by the letter [old english m], and a demi-rose conjoined. the part enclosed in brackets is now lost, but was remaining in gough's time: "funda de per a dieu loange et dieu pur lalme de lui al [dieu quil est pete ei(t) ceste]." this is the order in which the words now stand; but as they are quite unintelligible, and the fillet shows evident signs of having been broken in several places, we may reasonably suppose that they were misplaced when the brass was moved from its original slab. the principal word, about which i am in difficulty, is _pete_. can it be the same as "pitië?" if so, i venture to suggest the following explanation, till some one may offer me a better: "... _fils_ de père _qui_ funda ceste _place_, à dieu est loange et qu'il eit pitië, _priez_ pur l'alme de lui à dieu." the words printed in italics are supplied to complete the sense. f. g. [perhaps the following words in italics may be supplied for those obliterated: "ceste _chaunterie estait_ fonde de part _de george felbrigge, ch^r._ a dieu _soit_ loange _et gloire_ ... priez pur l'asme de lui a dieu quil eit pite ..." the following notice of the destruction of this beautiful brass is given in davy's suffolk collections, add. mss. , . p. .: "the brass in memory of sir george felbrigge, which had for a long time been covered by the pews, was three or four years ago, in consequence of some repairs, uncovered, when the incumbent and his curate had it torn from the stone, and it was for some time lying in pieces at the mercy of any pilferer. mr. albert way, the director of the society of antiquaries in feb. , wrote to me, to ask what was become of the figure; and, in consequence, as i had not an opportunity of visiting the church myself, i wrote to mr. arthur biddell for information; and the following is a copy of his answer, dated feb. , : 'felbrigge's monument was removed, much against my wishes, from its former place in the n. e. corner of the church to the chancel under the communion table, where it is fixed; forming part of the pavement. the broken pieces of brass are again fixed in the stone; but so many of the pieces were long ago lost, and i think those which were lately separated from the stone are not placed in their original position: so, except the figure, there is little remains to convey an idea of the ornamental and beautiful work by which the figure was surrounded.'"] _skipwith._-- "'here lyeth the body of william skipwith, baronet, who deceased the th of february, , aged fifty-six years. he descended from sir henry skipwith of prestwould, in leicestershire, created baronet by king james i., was honoured with king charles i.'s commission for raising men against the usurping powers, and proved loyal to his king, so that he was deprived of his estate by the usurper, which occasioned his and his sons' death, except sir gray skipwith, grandfather of the abovesaid sir william skipwith, who was obliged to come to virginia for refuge, where the family hath continued ever since.' "inscription copied from tombstone of sir william, who lies buried at greencroft, near petersburg, virginia."--see _south. messenger_, vol. ix. p. . i should be obliged for information as to sir henry. t. balch. philadelphia. [sir henry skipwith was created a baronet dec. , , and in obtained, jointly with sir thomas walsingham, knt., a grant of lands in the counties of leicester, derby, &c.; in a grant of free-warren for his lands in leicestershire; in was high sheriff for the county; and in certain amerciaments against him on account of that office, which had been returned into the court of chancery, were certified to the court of exchequer. heartily espousing the cause of charles i., he was one of the commissioners of array for this county, and on may , , had the honour of entertaining his sovereign at cotes, after which he was fined l. by the parliamentary sequestrators. he was the last of the family who resided at cotes; and amongst his poems is "an elegy on the death of my never enough lamented master, king charles i." the others are chiefly of a melancholy turn. sir henry, his second son, died soon after his father, unmarried; whereupon his title and estate went to his next brother sir gray, who, after the death of the king, went with several other gentlemen, to avoid the usurpation, over to virginia, and there married, and left one son.--nichols's _leicestershire_, vol. iii. p. ., which also contains a pedigree of the family. consult also lloyd's _worthies_, p. .] _college battel._--what is the derivation of a word peculiar to the universities, _battels_: is it connected with _batten?_ s. a. [in todd's _johnson_ we read, "battel, from sax. [taelan] or [tellan], to count, or reckon, having the prefix _be_. the account of the expenses of a student in { } any college in oxford." in the _gent. mag._ for aug. , p. ., a correspondent offers the following probable etymology: "it is probably derived from the german _bezahlen_; in low german and dutch _bettahlen_; in welsh _talz_; which signifies to pay; whence may be derived likewise the english verb _to tale_, and the noun a _tale_, or _score_, if not the corrupted expressions _to tell_ or _number_, and _to tally_ or _agree_."] _origin of clubs._--can any of your correspondents inform me from whence the cognomen of "club" came to be applied to select companies, and which was the first society that bore that title? f. r. b. [club is defined by johnson to be "an assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions." the present system of clubs may be traced in its progressive steps from those small associations, meeting (as clubs of a lower grade still do) at a house of public entertainment; then we come to a time when the club took exclusive possession of the house, and strangers could be only introduced, under regulations, by the members; in the third stage, the clubs build houses, or rather palaces, for themselves. the club at the mermaid tavern in friday street was, according to all accounts, the first select company established, and owed its origin to sir walter raleigh, who had here instituted a meeting of men of wit and genius, previously to his engagement with the unfortunate cobham. this society comprised all that the age held most distinguished for learning and talent, numbering amongst its members shakspeare, ben jonson, beaumont and fletcher, selden, sir walter raleigh, donne, cotton, carew, martin, and many others. there it was that the "wit-combats" took place between shakspeare and ben johson, to which, probably, beaumont alludes with so much affection in his letter to the old poet, written from the country: "what things have we seen done at the mermaid! heard words that have been so nimble and so full of subtle flame, as if that every one from whom they came had meant to put his whole wit in a jest." ben jonson had another club, of which he appears to have been the founder, held in a room of the old devil tavern, distinguished by the name of the "apollo." it stood between the temple gates and temple bar. it was for this club that jonson wrote the "leges convivales," printed among his works.] _royal arms in churches._--when were the royal arms first put up in churches? are churchwardens compelled to place them over the chancel arch, or in any part of the building over which their jurisdiction extends? in a church without an heraldic coat of royal arms, can a churchwarden, or the incumbent _refuse_ legally to put up such a decoration, it being the gift of a parishioner? azure. [for replies to azure's first query, see our sixth volume _passim_. the articles at pp. . and . of the same volume incidentally notice his other queries.] _odd fellows._--what is the origin of odd fellowship? what gave rise to the title of odd fellows? are there any books published on the subject, and where are they to be had? is there any published record of the origin and progress of the manchester unity? c. f. a. w. [our correspondent should consult _the odd fellows magazine_, new series, published quarterly by order of the grand master and board of directors of the manchester unity of the independent order of odd fellows. we have only seen vols. i. to vii., which appeared between and . perhaps some of our readers may wish to know what is an odd fellow. take the following description of one as given in vol. iv. p. .: "he is like a fox for cunning; a dove for tameness; a lamb for innocence; a lion for boldness; a bee for industry; and a sheep for usefulness. this is an odd fellow according to odd fellowship."] _governor-general of india._--will some of your learned readers be good enough to inform me upon what authority the present governor-general of india is styled, in all official notices, "the most noble?" i have always understood the style of a marquis to be "most honorable." novice. [official notices from public departments are frequently incorrect in reference to the styles of persons. the style of a marquis is only _most honorable_, that of duke _most noble_.] _precedence._--supposing an earl's daughter marries a commoner, do her children by him take precedence as the earl's grandchildren? snob. [the children take only the precedence derived from their _paternal_ status.] * * * * * replies. marmortinto, or sand-painting. (vol. ix., p. .) mr. haas, a native of bibrach, in germany, was accustomed to lay claim to the invention of sand-painting; and would often with a little pride repeat to his friends the way in which it was first suggested to his mind. simply this:--once, while he was engaged ornamenting a plateau with an elaborate and rich design, king george iii. entered the apartment; and after having regarded the design and _modum operandi_ for some considerable time in silence, exclaimed, in an impatient manner, as if vexed that so much beauty should be so short-lived: "haas! haas! you ought to fasten it." from that moment, the artist turned his ingenuity to the subject: and how successfully, his pictures show. the remarks of f. c. h. as to the mode of painting are quite correct. the fixing of the { } sand was the last operation, inasmuch as i have heard of the artist's wrath visiting a poor pussy because she had shaken a picture, and thereby disturbed the sand not yet fixed. the secret died with him and a friend, a contemporaneous artist, to whom i believe he had communicated the secret; this friend's name i do not know. mr. haas painted landscapes, the friend painted cattle pieces. i have in my possession some of mr. haas' work. it is beautifully soft and quiet. the foliage is fine in the extreme, withal a rich depth of colouring. the welsh scenery he felt most at home in, he threw into it a spirit of repose: while it was bold, there was nothing harsh or offensive to the eye. i have tried many experiments with one of this pictures: amongst other things, i find the least moisture will remove the sand. mr. haas had a gallery in london for some time (i believe in regent street), where there were portraits done in sand. a portrait of himself was considered the gem of the pictures: such a vitality and delicacy of colouring did it possess. i mention this merely to show that sand could be applied to other branches of art besides landscapes. the history of the pictures at windsor castle is to be seen in one of the old _windsor guides_. mr. hans died at bibrach, where doubtless many of his pictures are. sand-paintings cannot last long; they have in themselves the element of their own destruction, "their rough surface," which very soon collects and retains the dust. i never heard of their being cleaned. john mummery. queenwood college, stockbridge, hants. * * * * * o'brien of thosmond. (vol. ix., p. .) in corroboration of my former suggestion, that nicholas thosmound of somersetshire was an o'brien of thomond, i beg to add some farther facts. cotemporary with him was william toutmound, who obtained in the sixth year of henry iv. a grant of the office (in england) of chief carpenter of the king for his life. this singular office, "capitalis carpentarius regis," must, i suppose, be called lord high carpenter of england, in analogy with the offices of steward, butler, &c. it is mentioned in the _calendar of patent rolls of england_ at the henry iv.; and in the same repository is mention of a grant long before by henry iii. of the land of tosmond in ireland, to a. r. tosmond (r standing, i presume, for "regi," for the irish toparchs were then thus designated by the english government). in this case then we have the letter _s_ used for _t_, as in the _inq. p. m._ of alicia, wife of the before-mentioned nicholas thosmound. in the _abbreviatio rotulorum originalium of england_, in edw. ii., is the expression "regalitatem de totamon," applied to the district of thomond in ireland. it seems not unlikely that the two cotemporary individuals mentioned above were sons or grandsons of turloch, or tirrèlagh, o'brien, sovereign of thomond from to , when he was supplanted by his nephew brien o'brien, ancestor of the marquis of thomond. for this turloch was in some favour with the government, by whom his distress was sometimes relieved. thus it appears from the printed calendar of irish chancery rolls, that a writ of _liberate_ issued in the th rich. ii. for the payment to him of forty marks; and again, rich. ii., of twenty marks, "ei concord. [p=] recompens. labor." he was much befriended by the earl of desmond, whose successor being high in favour with the kings henry v. and vi., obtained a large grant of land in the county of waterford, which he immediately conferred on the sons of turloch. yet some of those sons may, through his interest, have been established in england. it becomes, therefore, a matter of considerable interest to ascertain whether the _inq. p. m._ henry iv. contains any proof that nicholas thosmound was an o'brien. while on this subject, may i inquire the reason why the o'briens quarter with their own arms the bearing of three piles meeting in a point? these latter were the arms of the english baronial family of bryan, not at all connected with the irish family. i suspect the irish were late in their assumption of arms, and borrowed in many cases the arms of english families of nearly similar names. a. b. * * * * * coronation stone. (vol. ix., p. .) possibly the following authorities may tend to throw light upon the question started by your correspondent. in _ant. univ. hist._, vol. xvii. p. ., to. ed., london, , it is said: "st. austin tells us that some of the carthaginian divinities had the name of abaddires, and their priests that of eucaddires. this class, in all probability, was derived from the stone which jacob anointed with oil, after it had served him for a pillow the night he had his vision; for in the morning he called the place where he lay bethel. now it is no wonder this should have been esteemed as sacred, since god himself says, he was the god of bethel, the place where jacob anointed the pillar. from bethel came the bætylus of damascius, which we find called abaddir by priscian. this abaddir is the phoenician aban-dir, that is, the spherical stone, exactly answering to the description of the bætylus given us by damascius and others. the case seems to have been this; the canaanites of the neighbourhood first worshipped the individual stone itself, upon which jacob had poured { } oil; afterwards they consecrated others of that form, and worshipped them; which false worship was perpetuated even to the time of st. austin."--see note (n), _ant. univ. hist._, vol. i. p. . now if such stones were an object of worship among the phoenicians, nothing is more probable than that they should take such a stone along with them in their migrations to new settlements; and it may therefore well be that the phoenicians, who first settled in ireland, did bring such a stone with them; and hence possibly the tradition in question may have originated. there is abundant evidence that the phoenicians fled from palestine in very early times (_ant. univ. hist._, vol. iii. p. .), and probably some of the jews also about the time when samaria was taken; and there can be no doubt that some phoenicians, if not some jews, settled in these islands at a very remote period; and it is a very remarkable fact that the welsh spoken in north wales is said to be nearer to the old hebrew than any other existing language, and varying no more from it than the great length of time which has passed would lead any one to expect. (_ant. univ. hist._, vol. vi. p. . note.) it should seem that some at least of the bætyli were round, and of such a size that they might be carried about by their votaries either by hanging at the neck or in some other way (_ant. univ. hist._, vol. xvii. p. . _x._). but probably they were originally in the shape of a pillow. in gen. xxviii. ., it is said that jacob "took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it;" from which it is plain that the stone was not a sphere, but oblong and flat at the top and bottom; and probably not with square edges, as that would be most uncomfortable to lay the head upon.[ ] s. g. c. [footnote : query whether from these bætyli our ancestors derived the word _beetle_, which denotes a wooden maul or hammer for driving wedges. its head is about a foot long, flat at each end, and the rest round; so that it nearly resembles a pillow in shape, and the head, together with its handle, would well resemble a stone of similar shape suspended by a cord in the middle. bailey derives the word in this sense, and as denoting the insect, from sax. [bytel]. if a handle was ever put in a bætylus, which was of the form i have suggested, it would form an excellent instrument for driving wedges or the like.] thirty years ago, the coronation stone in westminster abbey stood under a very old chair; and was a bluish irregular block of stone, similar both in colour and shape to stepping-stones in the shallow rivers of the north of england. it is _now_ a very nice hewn block, nicely fitted into the frame under the seat of a renovated chair. it does not look at all like the old stone of former days. is the geological formation of the present block very difficult to ascertain? h. r. nÉe f. * * * * * polygamy. (vol. ix., p. .) in answer to the various queries of _stylites_ i have to observe: . that the jews do not at present, in any country, practise polygamy, it being contrary, not to the letter, but to the spirit of the law of moses, which nevertheless provides for cases where a man has two wives at the same time; the inconvenience of which practice is several times pointed out, and which was also inconsistent with the levirate law. (see jahn, § .; and the mishna, [hebrew: sdr nshym], which designates more wives than one [hebrew: tsrwt], _trouble, adversaries_.) . the practice was, however, allowed expressly to the jewish kings only, perhaps to the extent of _four_ wives, which is the rabbinic exposition, and coincides with the koran. . marriage being a civil contract in most heathen countries, as also amongst the jews and early christians, polygamy is not forbidden or allowed on religious grounds. marriage was included under the general head of covenants, [hebrew: ktwbwt], in the mishna. barbarous nations generally practised polygamy, according to tacitus (_germ._ .); excepting the germans, who, like the greeks and romans, "were content with a single wife," although some exceptions were found in this respect, _non libidine, sed ob nobilitatem_. . polygamy was not practised amongst the early christians, who followed the jews in this matter. . clement of alexandria (_stromata_, lib. iii. p. ., edit. ) says: "[greek: all' ho autos anêr kai kurios, palaia kainizôn, ou polugamian eti sunchôrei; tote gar apêtei ho theos, hote auxanesthai kai plêthunein echrên; monogamian de eisagei, dia paidopoiian, kai tên tou oikou kêdemonian, eis ên boêthos edothê hê gunê]." whence it appears that to have progeny and a helpmate at home were the objects proposed in matrimony, for which polygamy was unfavorable. he then remarks on the privilege conceded to some to form a second marriage, after the death of the first wife, which st. paul forbids to a bishop, who was to be, in the _modern_ sense of the word, a monogamist. two wives at the same time were wholly repugnant to jewish, as well as greek and roman, sentiment. ignatius (_ad polyc. ._) says it is _proper_ ([greek: prepei]) for married persons to unite under the bishop's advice, so that the marriage may be [greek: kata theon] and not [greek: kat' epithumian]; whence it is inferred that a marriage was { } valid in his time, although no religious sanction was obtained. it appears from our lord's remarks, matt. xix. ., mark x. ., that the consuetudinary law of marriage was not wholly abrogated, but was accommodated to the jews by the mosaic code. to understand this subject, therefore, the ancient usages and existing practices must be weighed, as well from ancient authors as from modern travellers. whence it appears that the contract of marriage, whereby a man received a wife in consideration of a certain sum of money paid to her father, contemplated progeny as its special object.[ ] in default of an heir the jew took a second wife, it being assumed that the physical defect was on the wife's part. if the second had no child he took a third, and in like default a fourth, which was the limit as understood by the rabbins, and is now the limit assigned by the mahometan doctors. but the mosaic law proceeded even beyond this, and allowed, on the husband's death, the right of _iboom_, usually called the levirate law, so that in case of there being _no_ child, some _one_ of the deceased's brothers had a right to take some _one_ of the deceased's wives: and their progeny was deemed by the mosaic code to be his deceased brother's, whose property indeed devolved in the line of such progeniture. it would appear that it was usual for the eldest brothers to marry, the younger brothers remaining single. this was a remnant, as modified by moses, of the custom of polyandry, several brothers taking one wife,--a sort of necessary result of polygamy, since the number of males and females born is equal in all countries, within certain limits of variation. the best authorities on this subject are the mishna, selden, du halde, niebuhr, süsmilch, and michälis, the last in dr. smith's translation, at the beginning of the nd volume. t. j. buckton. lichfield. [footnote : in the recent ceremony of the french emperor's marriage, money was presented to the bride.] stylites says, "on what ground has polygamy become forbidden among christians? i am not aware that it is directly forbidden by scripture." in reply to this i venture to say, that the divine will on this matter was sufficiently indicated at the creation, when one woman was appointed for one man, as expressed in gen. ii. ., and quoted by our lord, with the significant addition of the word _twain_: "they twain shall be one flesh" (matt. xix. .). _twain_, i.e. two; not twenty, nor any indefinite number. moreover, the law of nature speaks, in the nearly equal numbers of men and women that are born, or, as in this parish, by making the men the more numerous. but stylites starts a most interesting question in a practical point of view. it is admitted that the gospel is not very explicit respecting polygamy; and why so? possibly the gospel was purposely kept silent; and the church allowed some latitude in judgment upon a very difficult point, because it was foreseen that the custom of polygamy would prove one of the greatest obstacles to a reception of pure christianity. this difficulty is of constant occurrence in heathen lands at the present day. the christian missionary insists upon the convert abandoning all his wives, except the one whom he first married. this woman was probably childless; and because she was so, he formed other and _legal_ connexions. but before he can be received as a christian, he must dissolve all these later ties, and bastardise children who were innocently born in lawful wedlock. the conditions are very awful. an act of cruelty and injustice has to be performed by one who is on the point of entering the threshold of christianity! perhaps these considerations may serve to account for the comparative silence of the gospel upon a subject which seemed to require the expression of a direct command, whilst they will in no way obscure its universally-admitted meaning. alfred gatty. ecclesfield. * * * * * poetical tavern signs. (vol. ix., p. .) the subjoined lines address themselves to the traveller, as he looks on the sign of "the rodney's pillar" inn at criggirn, a hamlet on the borders of montgomeryshire and this county: "under these trees, in sunny weather, just try a cup of ale, however; and if in tempest or in storm, a couple then to make you warm; but when the day is very cold, then taste a mug a twelvemonth old." _reverse side._ "rest, and regale yourself: 'tis pleasant. enough is all the prudent need. that's the due of the hardy peasant, who toils all sorts of men to feed. "then 'muzzle not the ox when he treads out corn,' nor grudge honest labour its pipe and its horn." g. h. billington. the following, although not a _tavern_ sign, may be worth preserving. i saw it under a painting of an ox, which adorned a butcher's shop at ischl, in upper austria, a.d. : "der ochs besteht aus fleisch und bein zum laufen, darum kann ich das fleisch nicht ohne bein verkaufen." j. c. r. { } in the parlour of the "three pigeons," brentford, is an old painting, dated , representing a landlord attending to his guests seated at a table in the open air, with these lines above: "wee are new beginners, and thrive wee would faine; i am honest ralf of reading, my wife susand to name." wright, in his _historia histronica_, , tells us that-- "lowin (one of the original actors in shakspeare's plays), in his latter days, kept an inn, the 'three pigeons,' at brentford, where he died very old." at the "old parr's head," aldersgate street, was, in , a sign of an ancient gentleman, with these lines under: "your head cool, your feet warm; but a glass of good gin would do you no harm." the author of _tavern anecdotes_, mo., , records the following: _"rhyming host at stratford._ at the swan tavern, kept by lound, the best accommodation's found-- wine, spirits, porter, bottled beer, you'll find in high perfection here. if, in the garden with your lass, you feel inclin'd to take a glass, there tea and coffee, of the best, provided is for every guest; and, females not to drive from hence, his charge is only fifteen pence. or, if dispos'd a pipe to smoke, to sing a song, or crack a joke, you may repair across the green, where nought is heard, tho' much is seen: there laugh, and drink, and smoke away, and but a mod'rate reck'ning pay,-- which is a most important object, to every loyal british subject. in short, the best accommodation's found, by those who deign to visit lound." edward f. rimbault. . at a public-house near cambridge, known to the natives of cambridgeshire as "tew-pot house," formerly kept by one cooper, there used to be, i cannot say decidedly is, as i have not passed the place for ten years and more, the following: "rest, traveller, rest; lo! cooper's hand obedient brings two pots at thy command. rest, traveller, rest, and banish thoughts of care. drink to thy friends, and recommend them here." . the robin hood inscription is found, with a very little variation, in front of a public-house at cherryhinton, at the corner of the road to fulbourn, in this county. . who can forget the suggestion by walter scott, of "drink, weary traveller, drink and _pay_," as a motto for the public-house at flodden? (see lockhart's _life of scott_, cap. xxv.) i remember seeing the following in the parlour of a house at rancton, i believe in norfolk: "more beer score clerk for my my his do trust pay sent i i must have shall if i brewer what and and my."[ ] p. j. f. gantillon. [footnote : begin with the bottom word of the right-hand column and read upwards, treating the other columns in a similar way.] in deansgate, manchester, under an artistic representation of llangollen castle, is the following: "near the above place, in a vault, there is such liquor fixed, you'll say that water, hops, and malt were never better mixed." as a parallel to the case cited by newburiensis, i may mention the sign of the "brown cow," near the village of glodwick, oldham: "this cow gives such liquor, 'twould puzzle a viccar" [_sic_]. john scribe. the following verse from the sign-board of the bull inn at buckland near dover, may not be an uninteresting addition to your list of poetical tavern signs. "the bull is tame, so fear him not, all the while you pay your shot; when money's gone, and credit's bad, it's that which makes the bull run mad!" fras. brent. sandgate. at the red lion, stretton, near warmington: "the lion is strong, the cat is vicous[_sic_], my ale is good, and so is my liquors." e. p. paling. february , . at swainsthorpe, a village five miles from norwich, on the road to ipswich, is a public-house known as the "dun cow." under the portrait of the cow, in former days, stood the following couplet: "walk in, gentlemen; i trust you'll find the dun cow's milk is to your mind." { } whether it still remains i know not, as many years have gone by since i passed that way. t. b. b. h. * * * * * "behemoth." (vol. ix., p. .) hobbes's _behemoth_ forms the eighth tract in the collection relating to the civil wars by the baron maseres ( ), and occupies nearly pages. the baron, in his preface (pp. lxxviii., lxxix.) gives the following character of the work: "it is written in a very clear and lively style, and contains a great deal of curious historical matter concerning the rise and gradual increase of the pope's power over temporal princes: the prohibition of marriage in secular priests; the doctrine of transubstantiation; the institution of auricular confession to a priest; the institution of orders of preaching friars; and the institution of universities and schools of disputation; (all which institutions, he observes, had a tendency to increase the power of the pope, and were made for that purpose,) which is set forth in pp. , ., &c., to p. . and much other interesting matter, concerning the sentiments of the presbyterian ministers, the papists, the independents, and other sectaries. the pretensions made by them to spiritual power, and the nature of heresies and the history of them, is clearly and justly described in another part of it; over and above the narration of the several events of the civil war itself, which i believe to be faithful and exact in point of fact, though with a different judgment of mr. hobbes as to the moral merit of the persons concerned in producing them, from that which, i presume, will be formed by many of the readers of this history at this day; which difference of judgment between mr. hobbes and the present readers of this work, will be a necessary consequence, from mr. hobbes's having entertained two very important opinions concerning the nature of civil government in general, and of the monarchical government of england in particular, which in the present age are thought, by almost every englishman who has paid any attention to the subject, to be exceedingly erroneous." subjoined to his reprint of this tract, the baron has appended remarks on some particular passages therein, which appeared to him to contain erroneous opinions. c. h. cooper. cambridge. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _photographic slides for the magic lantern._--might not the collodion process be applied very usefully in the preparation of slides for the magic lantern? good slides are always expensive, owing, in great measure, to the accuracy required, where every defect will be magnified some hundred times. i would suggest that a photographic picture should be taken on the glass plate, and then varnished. the painter should then apply his colours to the _opposite_ side of the glass, using the photographic image as his outline. the colours would then be burnt in, and the varnish and collodion film cleared off. this plan would be especially useful when the photographic picture had been taken by the microscope. thos. scott, b.a. brighton. _albumenized paper._--if mr. hele will follow the directions contained in a paper of mine which you published in vol. ix., p. ., for albumenizing paper, i think he will have no reason to complain of waves, or streaks, or blotches, and will be saved the trouble of the damping process which he uses and recommends to others. ("n. & q.," vol. ix., p. .) i have done a considerable quantity of paper of canson, both positive and negative, and also of other makers, whatman, turner, sandford, and nash, and in all i have succeeded perfectly in obtaining an even coating of albumen. i am convinced from my own experience that the cause of waviness, &c., is due to raising the paper from the albumen _too slowly_. if the paper be snatched hastily from the solution, air bubbles no doubt will be formed; but if the paper be raised with a steady even motion, _not too slow_, the albumen will flow evenly from the paper, and it will dry with a perfectly even surface. mr. shadbolt is certainly mistaken in saying that positives printed from negatives will not stand a saturated solution of hypo. soda, unless they be printed so intensely dark that all traces of a picture by reflected light are obliterated. i have used nothing but a saturated solution for fixing my positives for a considerable time, and my experience agrees with that of other of your correspondents, that the picture is not as much reduced by a saturated solution as by a weaker one. by adding about one grain of sel d'or to every eight ounces of saturated solution, very rich black tones will be obtained. i inclose a specimen of what i have got in this way. c. e. f. [the specimen sent is most satisfactory; we wish that the locality of the view had been stated.--ed.] _mounting positives on cardboard._--in the absence of any other reply to j. l. s. (vol. ix., p. .), the following, as the method i always adopt, may serve his purpose. having cut the positive to the size required, and trimmed the edges, place it upon the cardboard to which it is intended to be attached, and carefully centre it; then with a pencil make a slight dot at each of the angles. remove the proof, and lay it _face downwards_ upon a piece of clean paper or a cloth, and with any convenient brush smear it evenly over with a paste made of arrowroot, taking care not to have more than just enough to cover it without leaving any patches. place it gently on the cardboard, holding it for the purpose by two _opposite_ angles, and with a silk handkerchief dab it gently, beginning in the middle, and work any little superfluity of the paste towards the edges, when it will be gradually pressed out. the whole may be placed in a press, or under a pile of books to dry. { } my object in using arrowroot is simply that of having a _pure starch_ without colour, and it serves as a size to the paper, which has lost that originally in it by the repeated washings, &c. the paste is made very thin, thus:--put a teaspoonful of arrowroot (not _heaped_) into a teacup with about two spoonfuls of cold water, and mix into a paste: then add _boiling_ water enough to fill the cup, and stir. many photographers merely attach the _edges_ of their pictures, but i prefer them to adhere all over. gum is fatal to the beauty of a photograph, unless it is previously re-sized. geo. shadbolt. _mr. lyte's collodion_ (vol. ix., p. .).--our readers may remember that in "n. & q.," feb. , mr. f. maxwell lyte furnished our readers with a detailed plan of his mode of preparing collodion. in that article, written from pau, that gentleman was so good as to promise us that when he had an opportunity he would send us a couple of specimens of his workmanship. he has more than fulfilled his promise, for we have received from him this week four photographs, which, for general beauty and minuteness of detail, cannot be surpassed. the subjects are, i. study of trees, no. .; ii. study of trees, no. . old pollard oak; iii. study of trees, peasants collecting leaves; iv. old church porch, morlâas, monogram of the eleventh century. mr. lyte, who is a first-rate chemist, has shown himself by these specimens to be also a first-rate practical photographer. from him, therefore, the art may look for much future progress. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _burton's "anatomy of melancholy"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--dr. rimbault may perhaps be interested in hearing that some years ago i urged upon two london publishers the desirableness of bringing out a new edition of burton's _anatomy of melancholy_, but they both declined to undertake the work. i then resolved to publish myself the _latter_ part of the work (on _religious melancholy_), and made known my intention in. "n. & q.," in the hope of obtaining some casual notes and observations; but in this also i was disappointed. as, however, my intention is only suspended for the present, not abandoned, i shall be obliged by any assistance that dr. rimbault, or any of your readers, can afford me. can any one correct the following list of editions of the _anatomy of melancholy_? . to. oxford. . fol. oxford. . fol. oxford. . fol. oxford. . fol. - . fol. . fol. london. . fol. . fol. . fol. . fol. vols. . vo. vols. . vo. vols. . vo. vols. . vo. vols. . vo. vols. . vo. . vo. if watt's _biblioth._ be correct, the _last_ folio edition was _not_ that of (see "n. & q.," vol. ix., p. .); but on this and other similar points i shall be glad to hear dr. rimbault's opinion. m. d. _original royal letters to the grand masters of malta_ (vol. viii., p. .).--when making out the list of english royal letters, which has already appeared in "n. & q.," we were not aware that any others besides those which we recorded at the time were to be found in the record office. since then dr. vella has examined other manuscript volumes, and, fortunately, brought to light nine more autograph letters, to which, according to their dates, we hope to call your attention hereafter. they are as follows: +-------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+ |writer. |date. |in what |to whom addressed. | | | |language | | | | |written. | | +-------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+ |charles ii. | th november, . |latin. |nicholas cotoner. | |ditto | th february, . |ditto. |ditto. | |ditto | th may, . |ditto. |ditto. | |ditto | th october, . |ditto. |ditto. | |ditto | nd november, . |ditto. |ditto. | |james ii.* | th august, . |ditto. |gregory caraffa. | |ditto | th day of jan. - . |ditto. |ditto. | |ditto | th april, . |ditto. |ditto. | |george i. | th may, . |ditto. |raymond perellos. | +-------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+ * the letters of james ii. are countersigned "comes de sunderland,"[ ] and that of george i. "i. stanhope." in our previous list an error occurred, which we would wish to correct. the last letter of henry viii. was addressed to the grand master pierre du pont, and not to nicholas cotoner, who ascended the maltese throne in . the translation of h. m.'s congratulatory letter to du pont, on his election, we trust you have already received. we referred in our former note to a letter of charles ii., under date of "the last day of november, ," and since that came to our observation we have seen an _exact copy_ bearing the autograph of the king. this circumstance leads us to inquire at what period, and with what english monarch, the custom of sending duplicate letters originated? in the time of james ii. it would appear to have been followed, as one of h. m.'s letters is thus marked in his own handwriting. we would state, before closing this note, that the letters of james ii. are the earliest in date of any english royal letters filed away at this island which are _countersigned, or bear the address_ of the grand master at the foot of the first page, on the left-hand side, as is customary in writing official letters to government officers at the present time. will any of your correspondents kindly inform us with what english monarch the custom { } originated of having his letters countersigned by a minister, and of placing the address within the letter, as is the case in those of james ii. to which we have just referred? william winthrop. la valetta, malta. [footnote : robert spencer, second earl of sunderland, k.g., was principal secretary of state during the latter years of charles ii. and the whole reign of james ii., and as such, when countersigning a royal letter, he placed at the end of his signature the letter p.] _prince charles' attendants in spain_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in a small to. ms. in my possession, entitled "a narrative of count gondomar's proceedings in england," is the following list of "the prince's servants" who accompanied him in his journey into spain: "_master of the horse_, lord andover. _master of the ward_, lord compton. _chamberlain_, lord carey. _comptroller_, lord vaughan. _secretary_, sir francis cottington. _gentleman of the bed-chamber_, sir robert carr. {sir william howard, {sir edmund verney, {sir william crofts, _gentlemen of the privy_ {sir richard wynne, _chamber_ {mr. ralph clare, {mr. john sandilaus, {mr. charles glemham. {mr. francis carew. _gentleman usher of the privy chamber_, sir john north. {mr. newton, _gentlemen ushers of the presence_ {mr. young, {mr. tyrwhitt. _grooms of the bed-chamber_, five. _pages_, three. _chaplains_, two." edward f. rimbault. _churchill's grave_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the fact that churchill's grave is at dover, is not an obscure one. it was visited by byron, who wrote a poem on the subject, which will be found in his _works_. this poem is remarkable, among other things, from the circumstance that it is written in avowed and serious imitation of the style of wordsworth. m. t. w. "_cissle_" (vol. ix., p. .).--if a. refers to forby's _vocabulary of east anglia_, he will find: "sizzle, _v._ to dry and shrivel up with hissing, by the action of fire or some greasy or juicy substance." c. r. m. _contributors to knight's "quarterly magazine"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i can answer one of e. h.'s inquiries. gerard montgomery was the assumed name of the rev. j. moultrie. it was originally adopted by him in that most brilliant of all school periodicals, _the etonian_, and the mask was thrown off in the list of contributors given at the end of the third volume. in _the etonian_ it was attached to "godiva," the poem which attracted the warm admiration of gifford of the _quarterly review_, a man not prodigal of praise, and the "godiva" of moultrie may still fearlessly unveil its charms beside the "godiva" of tennyson. his longest poem in knight's _quarterly_ was "la belle tryamour," which has since been republished in a volume of collected poems with his name to them, many of which are strikingly unlike it in character. the gay _etonian_ is now the vicar of rugby; and the story of his experiences has been told by himself with a singular charm in his "dream of a life." strange it is that the contributions of macaulay to knight's _quarterly magazine_ should not, ere now, have been reprinted. some few of them have been so, and are become familiar as household words on both sides of the atlantic. the others are as obscure as if still in manuscript. what does the public at large know of the "fragments of a roman tale," or the "scenes from athenian revels;" in which the future historian tried his powers as a romancer and a dramatist--in the one case bringing before us cæsar and catiline, in the other alcibiades and his comrades. there are essays too by macaulay in knight's _quarterly magazine_ of a lighter character than those in the _edinburgh review_, but not less brilliant than any in that splendid series which now takes rank as one of the most valuable contributions of the present age to the standard literature of england. it would not be one of the least weighty arguments against the extended law of copyright, which macaulay succeeded in passing, that the public is now deprived of the enjoyment of such treasures as these by the too nice fastidiousness of their author. as on two former occasions, we suppose that they are likely to be first collected in boston or new york, and that london will afterwards profit by the rebound. m. t. w. "_la langue pandras_" (vol. ii., pp. . .).--it is merely a conjecture, but may not the word _pandras_ be the second person singular in the future tense of a verb derived from the latin _pando_, "to open?" i am not aware of the existence of such a word as _pander_ in old french; but i believe that it was by no means an unusual practice among the writers of chaucer's time to adapt latin words to their own idiom. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. _cranmer bibles_ (vol. ix., p. .).--s. r. m. will be gratified to learn, that the death of mr. lea wilson has not, as he conjectures, led to the dispersion of the curious collection of cranmer bibles, which he had been at so much pains in forming, but to its being rendered more accessible. they were all purchased for the british museum. m. t. w. _voisonier_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a corruption of _vowsoner_, _i. e._ the owner of the _vowson_; this last { } word being anciently used for _advowson_, as may by seen by the glossary to robert of gloucester's _works_. c. h. i submit that this word means _advowsoner_, that is, "owner of the advowson." q. d. _word-minting_ (vol. ix., p. .).--to mr. melville's list of new words, you may add: _talented_ (yankee), _adumbrate_ (pedantic), _service_. the latter word is of very late importation from the french, within three years, as applied to the lines of steamers, or traffic of railways. it is an age of word-minting; and bids fair to corrupt the purity of the english language by the coinage of the slovenly writer, and adoption of foreign or learned words which possess an actual synonym in our own tongue. mr. melville deserves our thanks for his timely notice of such "contraband" wares. mackenzie walcott, m.a. your correspondent mr. melville will be surprised to learn that the words _deranged_, _derangement_, now so generally used in reference to a disordered intellect, or madness, are not to be found in any dictionary that i have seen. j. a. h. _fair rosamond_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the lines which your correspondent c. c. inquires for are from warner's _albion's england_, which first appeared in thirteen books in : "fair rosamond, surprised thus ere thus she did expect, fell on her humble knees, and did her fearful hands erect: she blushed out beauty, whilst the tears did wash her pleasing face, and begged pardon, meriting no less of common grace. 'so far, forsooth, as in me lay, i did,' quoth she, 'withstand; but what may not so great a king by means or force command?' 'and dar'st thou, minion,' quoth the queen, 'thus article to me?' . . . . . . . . . . with that she dashed her on the lips, so dyed double red: hard was the heart that gave the blow, soft were those lips that bled." j. m. b. _death-warnings in ancient families_ (vol. ix., pp. . . .).-- "as a peaksman, and a long resident in the isle of man, peveril was well acquainted with many a superstitious legend; and particularly with a belief, which attached to the powerful family of the stanleys, for their peculiar demon, a ban-shie, or female spirit, who was wont to shriek, 'foreboding evil times;' and who was generally seen weeping and bemoaning herself before the death of any person of distinction belonging to the family."--_peveril of the peak_, vol. ii. p. . j. m. oxford. _poets laureate_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent s. h. will find "an account of the origin, office, emoluments, and privileges of poet laureate" in a recent work entitled _the lives of the poets laureate, with an introductory essay on the title and office_, by w. s. austin, jun., and j. ralph (richard bentley, ). from _the memoirs of william wordsworth_, vol. ii. p. ., it would appear that there is a "very interesting literary essay on the laureates of england by mr. quillinan." in the year , it would appear that lord hardwicke, lord lieutenant of ireland, "offered to create a laureateship in ireland, with the same emoluments as the english one," if mr. moore would accept it. (_memoirs of tom moore_, vol. i. p. .) from mr. moore's letter to his mother, dated may , , we learn that-- "the manner in which mr. wickham communicated the circumstance to me would disgust any man with the least spirit of independence about him. i accordingly, yesterday, after the receipt of my father's letter, enclosed the ode on the birth-day, at the same time resigning the situation."--_memoirs of tom moore_, vol. i. pp. -- . leonard l. hartley. york. _brissot de warville_ (vol. ix., p. .).--since my last communication on the above subject, i have obtained _the life of j. p. brissot, &c., written by himself_, an vo. volume of pp. , published by debrett, london, . it is a translation, the original of which i have never seen. and if you do not think the subject exhausted, perhaps you will spare a few lines for his own account of his name. "the office of an attorney was my gymnasium; i laboured in it for the space of five years, as well in the country as in paris.... to relieve my weariness and disgust, i applied myself to literature and to the sciences. the study of the languages was, above all others, my favourite pursuit. chance threw in my way two englishmen, on a visit to my own country: i learned their language, and this circumstance decided my fate. it was at the commencement of my passion for that language that i made the metamorphosis of a diphthong in my name, which has been imputed to me as so great a crime; and, since i must render an account of every particular point, lest even the slightest hold against me should be afforded to malignity, i will declare the cause of the change in question. born the thirteenth child of my family, and the second of my brothers in it, i bore, for the purpose of being distinguished from them, according to the custom of beance, the name of a village in which my father { } possessed some landed property. this village was called ouarville, and ouarville became the name by which i was known in my own country. a fancy struck me that i would cast an english air over my name, and therefore i substituted, in the place of the french diphthong _ou_, the _w_ of the english, which has the same sound. since this nominal alteration, having put it as a signature to my published works and to different deeds, i judged it right to preserve it. if this be a crime, i participate in the guilt of the french _literati_, who, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, made no scruple whatsoever of _grecising_ or (if we may use the expressions) _latinising_ their appellations. _arouet_, to escape from a reproachful pun upon his name, changed it into that of _voltaire_. the _anglomania_ (if such it may be called) has occasioned me to alter mine; not, as it has been pretended, to draw in dupes, or to avoid passing for the son of my father, since i have perpetually borne, signed, and printed the name of my father after that second name which was given to me according to the custom of my country." there are many other interesting particulars, but the above is all that bears upon his adoption of the name warville, and will, perhaps, be considered pretty conclusive. n. j. a. "_branks_," (vol. ix., p. .).--in wodrow's _biographical collections_, vol. ii. p. ., under the date june , , will be found the following: "the session (of glasgow) appoint jorgs and _branks_ to be made for punishing flyters." i cannot at this moment refer particularly, but i know that the word is to be found in burns' _poems_ in the sense of a rustic bit or bridle. the term is still in use in the west of scotland; and country horses, within the memory of many, were tormented with the clumsy contrivance across their noses. with all its clumsiness it was very powerful, as it pressed on the nostrils of the animal: its action was somewhat like that of a pair of scissors. l. n. r. _theobald le botiller._ (vol. viii., p. .).--if mr. devereux refers to lynch on _feudal dignities_, p. ., he will find that theobald le botiller, called the second hereditary butler of ireland, was of age in , and died, not in , but in ; that he married roesia de verdon; that his eldest son and heir was theobald, third butler (grandfather of edmund, sixth butler, who was created earl of carrick), and that by the same marriage he was also the ancestor of the verdons of england and of ireland. now, in lodge's _peerage_ by archdall, , vol. iv. p. ., it is said that the wife of theobald, second butler, was joane, eldest sister and co-heir of john de marisco, a great baron in ireland; and thirdly, sir bernard burke, in his _extinct peerage_, makes his wife to be maud, sister of thomas à becket. which of these three accounts am i to believe? y. s. m. _lord harington (not harrington)_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in collins' _peerage_, by sir egerton brydges, ed. , i find that hugh courtenay, second earl of devon, born in , had a daughter catherine who married first, lord harington, and secondly, sir thomas engain. this evidently must have been john, second lord harington, who died in , and not william, fifth lord, as given in burke: the fifth lord was not born till after , and died in . y. s. m. _amontillado_ (vol. ix., p. .).--this wine was first imported into england about the year , and the supply was so small, that the entire quantity was only sufficient for the table of three consumers, who speedily became attached to it, and thenceforward drank no other sherry. one of these was his royal highness the late duke of kent; and another, an old friend of one who now ventures from a distant recollection to give an account of its origin. the winegrowers at xeres de la frontera had been obliged, in consequence of the increasing demand for sherry, to extend their vineyards up the sides of the mountains, beyond the natural soil of the sherry grape. the produce thus obtained was mixed with the fruit of the more genial soil below, and a very good sherry for common use was the result. when the french devastated the neighbourhood of xeres in , they destroyed many of the vineyards, and for a time put the winegrowers to great shifts. one house in particular was obliged to have recourse chiefly to the mountain grape for the support of its trade, and for the first time manufactured it without admixture into wine. very few butts of this produce would stand, and by far the greater portion was treated with brandy to make it saleable. the small quantity that resisted the acetous fermentation, turned out to be very different in flavour to the ordinary sherry wine, and it was sent over to this country under the name of amontillado sherry, from the circumstance of the grape having been grown on the mountains. the genuine wine is very delicate, with a peculiar flavour, slightly aromatic rather than nutty; and answers admirably to the improved taste of the present age. patonce. "_mairdil_" (vol. ix., p. .).--i have heard the word "maddle" often used in the west riding of yorkshire, in exactly the same sense as the word _mairdil_, as mentioned by mr. stephens. and in this part the work-people would use the word "muddle" in a similar sense. j. l. sisson. _separation of the sexes in church_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in many churches in lower brittany i observed that the women occupied the nave exclusively, the men placing themselves in the aisles. { } i speak, of course, of roman catholic churches; but i believe that in the protestant congregations in france, the rule of the separation of the sexes has always been observed. in the island of guernsey it has been usual, although the custom is now beginning to be broken through, for the men to communicate before the women. as the presbyterian discipline was introduced into that island from france and geneva, and prevailed there from the time of the reformation until the restoration of charles ii., it is probable that this usage is a remnant of the rule by which the sexes were separated during divine service. edgar macculloch. guernsey. _costume of the clergy not enarean_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a. c. m. has no other authority for calling the cassock and girdle of the clergy "effeminate," or "a relique of the ancient priestly predilection for female attire," than the contrast to the close-fitting skin-tight fashion adopted by modern european tailors; the same might be said of any flowing kind of robe, such as the eastern costume, or that of the english judges, which as nearly approaches to the cassock and cincture as possible. in a late number of the _illustrated london news_ will be found drawings from the new statues of the kings of england lately erected in the new houses of parliament: of, i think, twelve there represented, eight have a "petticoat-like cassock," or frock, and of course for convenience a girdle. can any of your correspondents inform us when the cassock was introduced as an ecclesiastical dress, whether it was then worn by persons of other vocations, and what was the ecclesiastical costume (if any) which it superseded? h. p. _inedited letter of lord nelson_ (vol. ix., p. .).--on behalf of the precious pages of "n. & q.," i beg leave to protest against printing as _inedited_ what a very slight degree of research would have found to have been long since published. the letter in question will be found in clarke and mcarthur's _life of nelson_, vol. ii. p. ., and in nicolas's _nelson despatches_, vol. vii. p. . i am induced to notice this especially, in the hope that mr. jacob, who promises us future communications of the same class, may previously satisfy himself that they are _inedited_. c. _views in london by canaletto_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reply to the inquiry of your correspondent gondola, with respect to views of london painted by canaletto, whose announcement of them he quotes, i beg to inform him that i have in my collection one of these views, "the thames from the temple gardens," in which it is curious to trace, in thames wherries, grave templars, and london atmosphere, the hand that was usually employed on gondolas, maskers, and italian skies. i believe that others of his london views are in the collections of the dukes of northumberland and buccleuch. edmund phipps. park lane. _richard geering_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i thank julia r. bockett for her reply, and if h. c. c. will send me a copy of the geering pedigree and arms, i shall feel much obliged, and should i succeed in discovering any particulars of _richard's_ ancestry, i shall willingly communicate the result to him. i have already sent you my name and address, but not for publication; and i added a stamped envelope, in case any person wished to communicate directly with me. i can have no objection to your giving my address privately to any one, but being "unknown to fame," i prefer retaining in your pages the _incognito_ i have assumed. i quite agree with the remarks of h. b. c. and mr. king, vol. viii., pp. . . y. s. m. _grafts and the parent tree_ (vol. vii., pp. . . . .).--i was equally surprised with h. c. k. at the dictum of mr. ingleby, that "grafts after some fifteen years wear themselves out," but the ground for such a belief is fairly suggested by j. g. (p. .), otherwise i am afraid the almost universal experience of orchardists would contradict mr. ingleby's theory. the "ross nonpareil," a well-known and valuable fruit, was, like the ribston pippin, singular to say, raised from normandy seed. the fact has been often told to me by a gentleman who died several years since, at a very advanced age, in the town of new ross, co. wexford. he perfectly remembered the original tree standing in the garden attached to the endowed school in that town, where it had been originally planted by sir john ivory, the son or grandson of a cromwellian settler, who raised it from seed, at the commencement of the eighteenth century; and who left his own dwelling-house in new ross to be a school, and endowed it out of his estates. the tree has long since decayed, but its innumerable _grafted_ successors are in the most flourishing condition. the flavour of this apple lies chiefly in its rind. y. s. m. _golden tooth_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i recollect very well, when a boy, trying to keep my tongue out of the cavity from whence a tooth had been extracted, in the hope of acquiring the golden tooth promised to me by my old nurse, and after several attempts having succeeded in refraining for four-and-twenty hours (the period required to elapse), and no gold tooth appearing, i well remember my disgust and disappointment. this { } folk lore (query _lure_) was, and i believe still is, in full force in the south of ireland, and probably elsewhere. y. s. m. _cambridge mathematical questions_ (vol. ix., p. .).--these are so far put forth "by authority" as the publication in the cambridge _calendar_, and the two local newspapers goes; a collection of the senate house papers for "honours" from to , has also been published, arranged according to subjects, by rev. a. h. frost, m.a., of st. john's college. p. j. f. gantillon. _lichfield bower or wappenschau_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in answer to mr. lamont's question, i have to inform him that in this city a similar _wappenschau_, or exhibition of arms, has been annually maintained, with a short intermission, from time immemorial. the court of array held on whit monday was anciently commenced, according to pitt, by the high constables of this city, attended by ten men with firelocks, and adorned with ribbons, preceded by eight morris-dancers, and a clown fantastically dressed, escorting the sheriff, town clerk, and bailiffs from the guildhall to the bower at greenhill, temporarily erected for their reception, where the names of all the householders and others of the twenty-one wards of the city were called to do suit and service to "the court of review of men and arms." the dozener, or petty constable of each ward, was summoned to attend, who with a flag joined the procession through his ward, when a volley was fired over every house in it, and the procession was regaled by the inhabitants with refreshments. those inhabitants who, on such summons, proceeded to the bower, were regaled with a cold collation. those who did not attend (for the names of each ward were called over) were fined one penny each. the twenty-one wards require a long day for this purpose, and it is concluded by a procession to the market-place, where the town clerk informs them that the firm allegiance of their ancestors had obtained grants to their city of valuable charters and immunities, and advises them to continue in the same course. the dozeners then deposit their flags under the belfry in the adjacent church of st. mary's. this ceremony still continues, with the exception of the armed men and the firing. t. j. buckton. lichfield. _anecdote of george iv._ (vol. ix., p. .).--in the letter supposed to be written by the late prince of wales when a child, i observe these words: "which have stolen from the old woman (the queen)." i think it more probable that the writer refers to mrs. schwellenberg, an old german lady, who came over with the late queen as a confidential domestic, and who would have such articles under her keeping. (see _diary of madame d'arblay_.) the transaction is a notable instance of the prince's forethought and liberality at an early age. w. h. _pedigree to the time of alfred_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--i beg to inform your correspondent s. d. that she will find a very interesting notice of the wapshot family in _chertsey and its neighbourhood_, by mrs. s. c. hall, . geo. bish webb. _tortoiseshell tom-cat_ (vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--i have certainly heard of tortoiseshell tom-cats; but never having seen one, i cannot affirm that any such exist. the fact of their rarity is undoubted; but i should like to be informed by w. r., or any other person who has paid particular attention to the natural history of this useful and much calumniated domestic animal, whether yellow female cats are not quite as uncommon as tortoiseshell males? honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the new edition of mr. smee's valuable little work on _the eye in health and disease_, is one to which we desire to direct the attention of all our readers, for the subject is one of great importance, and more especially to reading men. mr. smee has obviously devoted great attention to the various derangements to which this hardly-worked yet beautifully-delicate organ is liable; and his remarks cannot fail to prove of great service to those who require the assistance either of the oculist or the optician. to our photographic readers, the present reprint will be of especial interest for the very able paper "_on the stereoscope and binocular perspective_," which is appended to it. _the homeric design of the shield of achilles_, by william watkiss lloyd. a dissertation on a subject immortalised by the poetry of homer and the sculpture of flaxman, which will well repay our classical readers for the time spent in its perusal. _architectural botany, setting forth the geometrical distribution of foliage, flowers, fruit_, &c.--a separately published extract from mr. w. p. griffith's _ancient gothic churches_--is a farther endeavour on the part of the author to direct attention to the laws by which vegetable productions were created and imitated by the early architects, and thereby to contribute to securing greater beauty and precision on the part of their successors to the decoration of churches. books received.--_gibbon's decline and fall of the roman empire, with notes by milman and guizot, edited by_ dr. william smith. the second volume of this handsome edition, forming part of murray's _british classics_, extends from the reign of claudius to julian's victories in gaul.--_the archæologia cambrensis, new { } series, no. xvii._, has, in addition to an excellent article by mr. hartshorne on conway castle, a number of other papers on subjects connected with the principality.--_lives of the queens of england_, by agnes strickland, vol. iv., is entirely dedicated to glorious queen bess, of whom we think far more highly than her biographer.--_poetical works of william cowper_, edited by robert bell, vol. i. cowper is so great and deserved a favourite, that his works will probably be among the most popular portion of parker's _annotated edition of the english poets_.--_the journal of sacred literature_, new series, no. xi., april , contains thirteen various articles illustrative of the sacred writings, besides its valuable miscellaneous correspondence and intelligence.--_macaulay's critical and historical essays._ part ii. of the people's edition contains for one shilling some six or seven of these brilliant essays, including those on moore's byron, boswell's johnson, nugent's hampden, and burleigh.--the _cyclopædia bibliographica_, part xix. the first portion of this valuable work must be drawing rapidly to a close, as this nineteenth part extends to rev. r. valpy. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the works of dr. jonathan swift. london, printed for c. bathurst, in fleet street, . vol vii. (vol. vi. ending with "verses on the death of dr. swift," written in nov. .) byron's works. vol. vi. of murray's edition. . the volume of the london polyglott which contains the prophets. imperfection in other parts of no consequence. carlisle on grammar schools. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. two copies. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: penny cyclopÆdia. part . (for september, .) wanted by _a. baden, jun._, . old broad street. allister's paradigma chess openings. natt's sermons preached at st. sepulchre. armytage's (rev. j., of tidenham) sermons. mayhew's london life and labour. complete. nicholson's lectures on hezekiah. walton and cotton's angler. edited by sir h. nicolas. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. * * * * * the family instructor, by de foe. vols. . oxford, talboys. allan ramsay's tea-table miscellany. . the lady's poetical magazine, or beauties of british poets. vols. london, . the hive, vols., containing _first_ edition of vol. i. the hive. vol. iii. th edition. (edition in vols.) london magazine. vols. after the year . wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. * * * * * notices to correspondents. l. m. t. (bath) _is thanked; but _original poetry_ does not fall within the objects of_ "n. & q." dixon of beeston.--_our chester correspondent on this subject is thanked for his information. he no doubt will agree with us that it is not desirable to publish it, as it relates in some degree to one who need not be brought before the public._ annie (brixton) _will see in our_ first volume _a tolerably full history of what sterne has made world-renowned_--"god tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." electric telegraph.--c. w. f. _is thanked, and referred to our_ sixth volume, p ., _where he will see addison's notice of the electric telegraph; and to_ p. . _of the same volume for a valuable communication from_ mr. singer _on strada's_ sympathetic magnetic _telegraph_. one who has whistled at the plough.--_the three grains of pyrogallic acid to one drachm of acetic and one ounce of water. for the development of negatives, this may with benefit be diluted by using one third of this solution, two thirds of water._ _answers to many other correspondents (including photographic) are unavoidably deferred until next week._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price_ s. d., _cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price_ l. s.--_for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewett, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square, lists and designs gratis. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale. messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons," written across it. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * heal & son's spring mattresses.--the most durable bedding is a well-made spring mattress: it retains its elasticity, and will wear longer without repair than any other mattress, and with _one_ french wool and hair mattress on it is a most luxurious bed. heal & son make them in three varieties. for prices of the different sizes and qualities, apply for heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, and priced list of bedding. it contains designs and prices of upwards of bedsteads, and prices of every description of bedding, and is sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. * * * * * { } arundel society.--the publication of the fourth year ( - ), consisting of eight wood engravings by messrs. dalziel, from mr. w. oliver williams' drawings after giotto's frescos at padua, is now ready: and members who have not paid their subscriptions are requested to forward them to the treasurer by post-office order, payable at the charing cross office. john j. rogers, treasurer and hon. sec. . & . pall mall east. march, . * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; 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london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * grosjean's celebrated trowsers, s. per pair. . regent street. * * * * * surplices. gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, has prepared his usual large supply of surplices, in anticipation of easter. parcels delivered free at railway stations. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page folk lore in the reign of king james i. the ballad of sir hugh, &c. pennsylvanian folk lore: christmas county rhymes legends of the county clare: fuenvicouil (fingal) and the giant, by frances robert davies folk lore miscellanies:--yorkshire tradition--custom on st. thomas's day--custom on innocents' day--marriage custom at knutsford, cheshire--folk lore in hampshire--propitiating the fairies--cornish folk lore--king arthur in the form of a raven--st. clement's apple feast in staffordshire--new year's eve and new year's day minor notes:--carlist calembourg--jewish custom--lachlan macleane--german tree--the late duke queries:-- the story of crispin and crispianus, by j. davies devlin minor queries:--barrels regiment--okey the regicide--lady mason's third husband--creation of knights--martyn the regicide--history of the nonjurors--florin and the royal arms--a mistletoe query minor queries with answers:--sewell family--greek epigram--translations from Æschylus--prince memnon's sister--"oh! for a blast," &c.--robin hood's festival--church in suffolk replies:-- children called imps the divining rod change of meaning in proverbial expressions, &c. sneezing, by francis john scott, &c. books burned by the common hangman, by w. fraser, &c. jews in china, by t.j. buckton poetical tavern signs the curfew, by cuthbert bede, b.a. photographic correspondence:--photographic engraving--collodion negatives replies to minor queries:--"london labour and the london poor"--felicia hemans's inedited lyric--sir arthur aston--grammar in relation to logic--descendants of milton--pronunciation of bible names--henry i.'s tomb--bells at berwick-upon-tweed--return of gentry, temp. henry vi.--peter allan--burial in an erect posture--the word "mob"--gen. sir c. napier--to come--passage in sophocles--party-similes of the seventeenth century--judges styled reverend--veneration for the oak--rapping no novelty miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. folk lore in the reign of king james i. in turning over the pages of an old book of controversial divinity, i stumbled upon the following illustrations of folk lore; which, as well from their antiquity as from their intrinsic curiosity, seem worthy of a place in your columns. they make us acquainted with some of the usages of our ancestors, who lived in the remoter districts of england early in the reign of james i. the title of the volume in which they occur is the following: "the way to the true church; wherein the principall motives persuading to romanisme, and questions touching the nature and authoritie of the church and scriptures, are familiarly disputed ... directed to all that seeks for resolution; and especially to all his loving countrymen of lancashire, by john white, minister of god's word at eccles. folio. london, ." this, however, is described as being "the fifth impression;" the preface is dated oct. , ; so that we arrive at the conclusion that the usages and rhymes, to which i now desire to invite the attention of your readers, were current in the north-west districts of england more than two hundred and fifty years since. white is insisting upon "the prodigious ignorance" which he found among his parishioners when he entered upon his ministrations, and he proceeds thus to tell his own tale: "i will only mention what i saw and learned, dwelling among them, concerning the saying of their prayers; for what man is he whose heart trembles not to see simple people so far seduced that they know not how to pronounce or say their daily prayers; or so to pray that all that hear them shall be filled with laughter? and while, superstitiously, they refuse to pray in their own language with understanding, they speak that which their leaders may blush to hear. these examples i have observed from the common people." the creed. "creezum zuum patrum onitentem creatorum ejus anicum, dominum nostrum qui sum sops, virgini mariæ, crixus fixus, ponchi pilati audubitiers, morti { } by sonday, father a fernes, scelerest un judicarum, finis a mortibus. creezum spirituum sanctum, ecli catholi, remissurum, peccaturum, communiorum obliviorum, bitam et turnam again." the little creed. "little creed, can i need, kneele before our ladies knee; candle light, candles burne, our ladie pray'd to her deare sonne, that we might all to heaven come. little creed, amen." "this that followeth they call the 'white pater-noster:' "white pater-noster, saint peter's brother, what hast i' th' t'one hand? white booke leaves. what hast i' th' t'other hand? heaven yate keyes. open heaven yates, and steike [shut] hell yates: and let every crysome child creepe to its owne mother. white pater-noster, amen." "another prayer: "i blesse me with god and the rood, with his sweet flesh and precious blood; with his crosse and his creed, with his length and his breed, from my toe to my crowne, and all my body up and downe, from my back to my brest, my five wits be my rest; god let never ill come at ill, but through jesus owne will, sweet jesus, lord. amen." "many also use to weare vervein against blasts; and when they gather it for this purpose, firste they crosse the herbe with their hand, and then they blesse it thus: "hallowed be thou, vervein, as thou growest on the ground, for in the mount of calvary, there thou wast first found. thou healedst our saviour jesus christ, and staunchedst his bleeding wound; in the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, i take thee from the ground." these passages may be seen in the "preface to the reader," § ., no page, but on the reverse of sig. a . it might at first appear somewhat strange that these interesting remnants of early belief should have escaped the notice of your numerous correspondents, whose attention has for so long a period been directed to this inquiry: but this may be accounted for if we remember that the volume in which they occur is one which would seem, _primâ facie_, least likely to afford any such materials. it is one of those uninviting bulky folios of which the reigns of james and charles i. furnish us with so many specimens. here we might fairly expect to discover abundant illustrations of patristic and scholastic theology, of learning and pedantry, of earnest devotion, and ill-temper no less earnest; but nothing whereby to illustrate the manners or customs, the traditions, or the popular usages or superstitions, of the common people. this may be a hint for us, however, to direct our attention to a class of literature which hitherto has scarcely received the attention to which it would appear to be entitled; and i would venture to express my conviction, that if those who are interested in the illustration of our popular antiquities were to give a little of their time to early english theology, the result would be more important than might at first be anticipated. l. b. * * * * * the ballad of sir hugh, etc. the fact mentioned by your correspondent c. clifton barry, at p. ., as to the affinity of midland songs and ballads to those of scotland, i have often observed, and among the striking instances of it which could be adduced, the following may be named, as well known in northamptonshire: "it rains, it rains, in merry scotland; it rains both great and small; and all the schoolfellows in merry scotland must needs go and play at ball. "they tossed the ball so high, so high, and yet it came down so low; they tossed it over the old jew's gates, and broke the old jew's window. "the old jew's daughter she came out; was clothed all in green; 'come hither, come hither, thou young sir hugh, and fetch your ball again.' "'i dare not come, i dare not come, unless my schoolfellows come all; and i shall be flogged when i get home, for losing of my ball.' "she 'ticed him with an apple so red, and likewise with a fig: she laid him on the dresser board, and stickéd him like a pig. "the thickest of blood did first come out, the second came out so thin; the third that came was his dear heart's blood, where all his life lay in." i write this from memory: it is but a fragment of the whole, which i think is printed, with variations, in percy's _reliques_. it is also worthy of remark, that there is a resemblance also between the words which occur as provincialisms in the same district, and some of those which are used in scotland; e.g. _whemble_ or _whommel_ (sometimes not aspirated, and pronounced _wemble_), to turn upside down, as a dish. this word is scotch, although they do not pronounce the b any more than in _campbell_, which sounds very much like _camel_. b. h. c. * * * * * { } pennsylvanian folk lore: christmas. this anniversary holds the same rank in the middle, southern, and western states as thanksgiving day in the eastern states or new england, where, owing to the puritan origin of the bulk of the inhabitants, christmas is not much celebrated. in pennsylvania many of the usages connected with it are of german origin, and derived from the early settlers of the teutonic race, whose descendants are now a very numerous portion of the population. the christmas tree is thus devised: it is planted in a flower-pot filled with earth, and its branches are covered with presents, chiefly of confectionary, for the younger members of the family. when bed-time arrives on christmas eve, the children hang up their stockings at the foot of their beds, to receive presents brought them by a fabulous personage called _krishkinkle_, who is believed to descend the chimney with them for all the children who have been good during the previous year. the word _krishkinkle_ is a corruption of _christ-kindlein_, literally _christ-infant_, and is understood to be derived from the fact that a representation of the infant saviour in the manger formed part of the decorations prepared for the children at christmas. if the children have not been good during the year previous, instead of finding sugar-plums and other presents in their stockings on christmas morning, they discover therein a birch-rod. this is said to have been placed there by _pelsnichol_, or nicholas with the fur, alluding to the dress of skins in which he is said to be clad. some make _pelsnichol_ identical with _krishkinkle_, but the more general opinion is that they are two personages, one the rewarder of the good, the other the punisher of the bad. the functions ascribed to krishkinkle in pennsylvania are attributed to saint nicholas, or santa claus in the state of new york, first settled by the hollanders. the following poem, written by clement c. moore, ll.d., of new york, describes the performances of st. nicholas on christmas eve, and is equally applicable to our krishkinkle: "_a visit from st. nicholas._ 'twas the night before christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there. the children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; and mamma in her kerchief and i in my cap had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap, when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, i sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. away to the window i flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash; the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the lustre of day to the objects below; when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, with a little old driver so lively and quick, i knew in a moment it must be st. nick. more rapid than eagles his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted and call'd them by name, 'now, dasher! now, dancer! now, prancer! now, vixen! on, comet! on, cupid! on, dunder and blixen! to the top of the stoop[ ], to the top of the wall! now dash away! dash away! dash away all!' as dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, so up to the house-top the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of toys and st. nicholas too; and then in a twinkling i heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. as i drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney st. nicholas came with a bound. he was dress'd all in fur from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnish'd with ashes and soot. a bundle of toys he had flung on his back; and he look'd like a pedlar just opening his pack. his eyes, how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry! his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry; his droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow; the stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. he had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook, when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly. he was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and i laugh'd when i saw him, in spite of myself. a wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave me to know i had nothing to dread. he spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and fill'd all the stockings, then turn'd with a jerk; and laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. he sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle: but i heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, 'happy christmas to all, and to all a good night.'" uneda. philadelphia. [footnote : stoop means, in the language of the new yorkers, a portico.] * * * * * county rhymes. kent. "he that will not live long, let him dwell at murston, tenham, or tong." "dover, sandwich, and winchelsea, rumney and rye, the five ports be." cheshire. "chester of castria took the name, as if that castria were the same." { } lincolnshire--_stamford_. "doctrinæ studium, quod nunc viget ad vada boum, tempore venturo celebrabitur ad vada saxi." "science that now o'er oxford sheds her ray, shall bless fair stamford at some future day." wiltshire--_salisbury cathedral_. "as many days as in one year there be, so many windows in this church you see. as many marble pillars here appear, as there are hours through the fleeting year. as many gates as moons one here does view strange tale to tell, yet not more strange than true." _chippenham_--on a stone. "hither extendeth maud heath's gift, for where i stand is chippenham clift." surrey--_market house, farnham_. "you who do like me, give money to end me, you who dislike me, give as much to mend me." _woking_--_sutton_. "beastly 'oking--pretty sutton, filthy foxglove--bach'lors button." "'oking was--guildford is--godalming shall be." somersetshire. "stanton drew, a mile from pensford--another from chew." pembrokeshire. "once to rome thy steps incline, but visit twice st. david's shrine." "when percelty weareth a hat, all pembrokeshire shall weet of that." j. ebff. bolt court. * * * * * legends of the co. clare: fuenvicouil (fingal) and the giant. once upon a time, a scottish giant who had heard of fuenvicouil's fame, determined to come and see which of them was the stronger. now fuenvicouil was informed by his thumb of the giant's intentions, and also that on the present occasion matters would not turn out much to his advantage if they fought: so as he did not feel the least bit "blue-mowlded for the want of a batin'," like neal malone, he was at a loss what to do. oonagh, his wife, saw his distress, and soon contrived to find out the cause of it; and having done so, she assured him that if he would leave things to her management, and strictly obey her directions, she would make the giant return home faster than he came. fuenvicouil promised obedience; and, as no time was to be lost, oonagh commenced her preparations. she first baked two or three large cakes of bread, taking care to put the griddle (the iron plate used in ireland and scotland for baking bread on) into the largest. she then put several gallons of milk down to boil, and made whey of it; and carefully collected the curd into a mass, which she laid aside. she then proceeded to dress up fuenvicouil as a baby; and having put a cap on his head, tucked him up in the cradle, charging him on no account to speak, but to carefully obey any signs she might make to him. the preparations were only just completed, when the giant arrived, and, striding into the house, demanded to see fuenvicouil. oonagh received him politely; said she could not tell _any more than the child in the cradle_, where her husband then was; but requested the giant to sit down and rest, till fuenvicouil came in. she then placed bread and whey before him till some better refreshments could be got ready, taking care to give him the cake with the griddle in it, and serving the whey in a vessel that held two or three gallons. the giant was a little surprised at the _quantity_ of the lunch set before him, and proceeded to break a piece off the cake but in vain; he then tried to bite it, with as little success: and as to swallowing the ocean of whey set before him, it was out of the question; so he said he was not hungry, and would wait. he then asked oonagh what was the favourite feat of strength her husband prided himself upon. she could not indeed particularise any one, but said that sometimes fuenvicouil amused himself with squeezing water out of that stone there, pointing to a rock lying near the door. the giant immediately took it up; and squeezed it till the blood started from his fingers, but made no impression on the rock. oonagh laughed at his discomfiture, and said a child could do that, handing at the same time the lump of curds to "the baby." fuenvicouil, who had been attentively listening to all that was going on, gave the curd a squeeze, and some drops of whey fell from it. oonagh, in apparently great delight, kissed and hugged her "dear baby;" and breaking a bit off one of the cakes she had prepared, began to coax the "child" to eat a little bit and get strong. the giant amazed, asked, could that child eat such hard bread? and oonagh persuaded him to put his finger into the child's mouth, "just to feel his teeth;" and as soon as fuenvicouil got the giant's finger in his mouth, he bit it off. this was more than the giant could stand; and seeing that a child in the cradle was so strong, he was convinced that the sooner he decamped before fuenvicouil's return the better; so he hastened from the house, while oonagh in vain pressed him to remain; and never stopped till he returned to his own place, very happy at having escaped a meeting with fuenvicouil. frances robert davies. * * * * * { } folk lore miscellanies. _yorkshire tradition._--the following tradition of osmotherly, in yorkshire, was related to me as being current in that county. can you inform me if it is authentic? some years ago there lived in a secluded part of yorkshire a lady who had an only son named os or oscar. strolling one day with her child they met a party of gipsies, who were anxious to tell her the child's fortune. after being much importuned she assented to their request. to the mother's astonishment and grief they prognosticated that the child would be drowned. in order to avert so dreadful a calamity, the infatuated mother purchased some land and built a house on the summit of a high hill, where she lived with her son a long time in peace and seclusion. happening one fine summer's day in the course of a perambulation to have fatigued themselves, they sat down on the grass to rest and soon fell asleep. while enjoying this repose, a spring rose up from the ground, which caused such an inundation as to overwhelm them, and side by side they found a watery grave. after this had occurred, the people residing in the neighbourhood named it os-by-his-mother-lay, which has since been corrupted into osmotherly. r. w. carter. _custom on st. thomas's day_ (_dec. _).--at harvington, in worcestershire, it is the custom on st. thomas's day for persons (chiefly children) to go round the village begging for apples, and singing the following rhymes: "wissal, wassail through the town, if you've got any apples, throw them down. up with the stocking, and down with the shoe, if you've got no apples, money will do. the jug is white, and the ale is brown, this is the best house in the town." cuthbert bede, b.a. _custom on innocents' day_ (_dec. _).--at norton (near evesham) it is the custom on dec. to ring, first a muffled peal for the slaughter of the holy innocents, and then an unmuffled peal of joy for the deliverance of the infant christ. cuthbert bede, b.a. _marriage custom at knutsford, cheshire._--a singular but pleasing custom exists among the inhabitants of knutsford in cheshire. on the occasion of a wedding, when the bride has set out for the church, a relative invariably spreads on the pavement, which is composed of pebbles, before her house, a quantity of silver sand, there called "greet," in the form of wreaths of flowers, and writes, with the same material, wishes for her happiness. this, of course, is soon discovered by others, and immediately, especially if the bride or bridegroom are favorites, appear before most of the houses numerous flowers in sand. it is said that this custom arose from the only church they had being without bells, and therefore, to give notice of a wedding, they adopted it; and though now there are other churches and a peal of bells, they still adhere to the above method of communicating intelligence of such happy events. why sand should be used i have not been able to learn, and i should be much obliged for any information on the point, there being no sandpits in the locality of knutsford, or such like reason for its use. one circumstance i may mention connected with weddings there. on the return of the party from church, it is usual to throw money to the boys, who, of course, follow, and if this is omitted, the latter keep up a cry of "a buttermilk wedding." russell gole. _folk lore in hampshire._--in hampshire the country people believe that a healing power exists in the alms collected at the administration of the sacrament, and many of them use the money as a charm to cure the diseases of the body. a short time ago a woman came to a clergyman, and brought with her half-a-crown, asking at the same time for five "sacrament sixpences" in exchange. she said that one of her relations was ill, and that she wished to use the money as a charm to drive away the disease. this superstition may have arisen from the once prevalent custom of distributing the alms in the church to those of the poor who were present at the sacrament. i have heard that the negroes in jamaica attach the same "gifts of healing" to the consecrated bread, and often, if they can escape notice, will carry it away with them. as no account of this superstition seems to be recorded in "n. & q.," perhaps you would like to "make a note of it." f. m. middleton. _propitiating the fairies._--having some years since, on a sunday afternoon, had occasion to ride on horseback between two towns in the eastern part of cornwall, i met a christening party, also on horseback, headed by the nurse with a baby in her arms. making a halt as i approached her, she stopped me, and producing a _cake_, presented it to me, and insisted on my taking it. several years after, when in the isle of man, i had the opportunity of hearing an elderly person relate several pieces of folk lore respecting the witches and fairies in that island. it had been customary, within his recollection, for a woman, when carrying a child to be christened, to take with her _a piece of bread and cheese_, to give to the first person she met, for the purpose of _saving the child from witchcraft or the fairies_. another custom was that of the "queeltah," or salt put under the churn _to keep off bad people_. stale water was thrown on the plough "to keep it from the _little { } folks_." a cross was tied in the tail of a cow "to keep her from _bad bodies_." on may morning it was deemed of the greatest importance to avoid going to a neighbour's house for fire; a turf was therefore kept burning all night at home. flowers growing in a hedge, especially green or yellow ones, were good to keep off the fairies. and finally, the last cake was left "behind the turf-flag for the little people." j. w. thomas. dewsbury. _cornish folk lore: king arthur in the form of a raven._--in jarvis's translation of _don quixote_, book ii. chap. v., the following passage occurs: "'have you not read, sir,' answered don quixote, 'the annals and histories of england, wherein are recorded the famous exploits of king arthur, whom in our castilian tongue we always call king artus; of whom there goes an old tradition, and a common one all over that kingdom of great britain, that this king did not die, but that by magic art he was turned into a raven; and that, in process of time, he shall reign again, and recover his kingdom and sceptre; for which reason it cannot be proved, that, from that time to this, any englishman has killed a raven?'" my reason for transcribing this passage is to record the curious fact that the legend of king arthur's existence in the form of a raven was still repeated as a piece of folk lore in cornwall about sixty years ago. my father, who died about two years since at the age of eighty, spent a few years of his youth in the neighbourhood of penzance. one day, as he was walking along marazion green with his fowling-piece on his shoulder, he saw a raven at a distance and fired at it. an old man who was near immediately rebuked him, telling him that he ought on no account to have shot at a raven, for that king arthur was still alive in the form of that bird. my father was much interested when i drew his attention to the passage which i have quoted above. perhaps some of your cornish or welsh correspondents may be able to say whether the legend is still known among the people of cornwall or wales. edgar macculloch. guernsey. _st. clement's apple feast in staffordshire._--on the feast of st. clement's (nov. ) the children go round to the various houses in the villages to which they belong singing the following doggerel: "clemany! clemany! clemany mine! a good red apple and a pint of wine, some of your mutton and some of your veal, if it is good, pray give me a deal; if it is not, pray give some salt. butler, butler, fill your bowl; if thou fillst it of the best, the lord'll send your soul to rest; if thou fillst it of the small, down goes butler, bowl and all. pray, good mistress, send to me one for peter, one for paul, one for him who made us all, apple, pear, plum, or cherry, any good thing to make us merry; a bouncing buck and a velvet chair, clement comes but once a year; off with the pot and on with the pan, a good red apple and i'll begone." how the above came to be conglomerated i know not, as there seem to be at least three separate compositions pressed into st. clement's service. i shall be glad to know if any of your contributors can furnish farther illustrations of st. clement's apple feast. i believe, in worcestershire, st. catherine and st. clement unite in becoming the patrons on these occasions. g. e. t. s. r. n. _new year's eve and new year's day._--another german custom prevalent in philadelphia is the custom of celebrating the departure of the old year and the arrival of the new by discharges of fire-arms. as soon as the sun sets the firing commences, and it is kept up all night with every description of musket, fowling-piece, and pistol. it is called "firing out the old year" and "firing in the new year." uneda. philadelphia. * * * * * minor notes. _carlist calembourg._--the original of the french _jeu d'esprit_ in vol. viii., p. ., was a carlist calembourg circulated in the _salons_ about the middle of : "la nation n'aime pas louis-philippe mais en rit (henri)." there was another also very popular: "in travelling to bordeaux you must go to orleans." v. t. sternberg. _jewish custom._--in a recently published music-novel of some merit, called _charles auchester_, occurs the following: "'i shall treat him as my son, because he will indeed be my music-child, and no more indebted to me than i am to music, or than we all are to jehovah.' _'sir, you are certainly a jew, if you say jehovah_; i was quite sure of it before, and i am so pleased.'" there is a great error as to custom here, for the jews never attempt to pronounce the "four-lettered" name, and in reading and speaking always use instead adonai or elohim. and even converted jews retain for the most part the same habit. the writer of _charles auchester_ can only defend himself by the example of the writer of { } _ivanhoe_, who has made the same oversight; and a still more glaring one besides in making isaac the jew wish his daughter had been called benoni, _i.e._ the _son_ of sorrow. the vowel letters of jehovah are merely those of adonai, inserted by the massorites; but this is another subject. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _lachlan macleane._--this individual, whose claim to the authorship of junius has been lately revived, was in philadelphia ninety-five years ago, and his name figures there in the accounts of the overseers of the poor, under date of november , : "by cash received of james coultass, late sheriff, being a fine paid by laughlane mcclain for kissing of osborn's wife (after his commissions and writing bond were deducted) £ : : " this was in pennsylvania currency; but it was an expensive kiss even in that, being (besides the commissions and sheriff's charge for writing the bond) equivalent to sixty-four dollars and fifty cents of our present currency. m. e. philadelphia. _german tree._--the following extract concerning this accessory to christmas, which is now so popular, may perhaps be interesting at the present season. it is taken from the _loseley manuscripts_, edited by a. j. kempe, f.s.a., , p. . note. "we remember a german of the household of the late queen caroline, making what he termed a _christmas tree_ for a juvenile party at that festive season. the tree was a branch of some evergreen fastened on a board. its boughs bent under the weight of gilt oranges, almonds, &c.; and under it was a neat model of a farm-house, surrounded by figures of animals, &c., and all due accompaniments. the forming christmas trees is, we believe, a common custom in germany: evidently a remain of the pageants constructed at that season in ancient days." is this the first notice of a german tree in england? the adjunct of the farm-house seems now to be dispensed with in this country. zeus. _the late duke._--the following curious coincidence, which lately appeared in the _meath herald_, deserves transplanting to the literary museum of "n. & q.": "from the fact of the mornington family having been so connected by property, &c. with the parish of trim, in which town the late duke spent so many of his early days, and commenced his career in life by being elected, when scarcely twenty-one years of age, to represent the old borough of trim, the following coincidence is worth relating. on the news of the death of the duke reaching trim, the very rev. dean butler caused the chime of bells to be rung in respect to his memory; and the large bell, which was considered one of the finest and sweetest in ireland, hardly had tolled a second time for the occasion when it suddenly broke, became mute, and ceased to send forth its notes. whether this was to be attributed to neglect of the ringer, or regret for the great man of the age, it is hard to say; but, very odd as it may appear to be, on examining the bell, it was found to be cast by edmund blood, , the very year the duke was born. thus this fine bell commenced its career with the birth of the duke, and ceased to sound at his death. the parish of trim is now getting the bell recast, and the old metal is to be seen at mr. hodges, abbey street, dublin." j. yeowell. * * * * * queries. the story of crispin and crispianus. _a recitation for the th of october, and other convivial meetings of shoemakers._ "the crispin trade! what better trade can be? ancient and famous, independent, free! no other trade a brighter claim can find; no other trade display more share of mind! no other calling prouder names can boast,-- in arms, in arts,--themselves a perfect host! all honour, zeal, and patriotic pride; to dare heroic, and in suffering tried! but first and chief--and as such claims inspire-- our patron brothers, who doth not admire? crispin and crispianus! they who sought safety with us, and at the calling wrought: martyrs to truth, who in old times were cast lorn outcasts forth to labour at the _last_! mould the stout sole, sew with the woven thread, make the _good fit_, and win their daily bread. this was their strait and doing--this their doom; they sought our shelter, and they found a home! helpless and hapless, wandering to and fro, weary they came and hid them from the foe; two high-born youths, to holy things impell'd, hunted from place to place, though still they held their sacred faith, and died for it, and threw the glory of that death on all who made the shoe! "such is the story--so behaved our trade; and then the church its zealous homage paid, and made their death-day holy, as we see still in the calendar, and still to be! and long the shoemaker has felt the claim, and proved him joyful at such lofty fame; for theirs it was by more than blood allied, alike they worshipp'd, and alike they died! nor minded how the pagan nipp'd their youth-- they are not dead who suffer for the truth! the skies receive them, and the earth's warm heart in grateful duty ever plays its part, embalms their memory to all future time, and thus, in love, still punishes the crime; sees, though the corse be trampled to the dust, the murder'd dead have retribution just! { } "where are they now who wrought this fiendish wrong? we hate the actors, and have hated long. and where are they, the victims? always here; we feel their glory, and we hold it dear! oh yes, 'tis ours! that glory still is ours, and, lo! how breaks it on these festive hours; each heart is warm, each eye lit up with pride, 'tis sanction'd in our loves and sanctified! far o'er the earth--the christianised--where'er the saviour's name is hymn'd in daily prayer, the winds of heaven their memories tender waft, commix'd with all the sorceries of the _craft_. the little leather artizan--the boy to whom the shoe is yet but as a toy, a thing to smile and look at, ere the day severer task will make it one of _pay_ (a constant duty and a livelihood),-- he, the young crispin, emulous and good, is told of the prince martyrs--sometimes royal! (the trade, in its devotion, being so loyal, it fain would stretch the fact or trifle still, eager, as 'twere, to get on highest hill.) through the fair france, through germany, and spain, the blue-skied italy, the russias twain, and farther still, across the western main. there is the story known, engraft, 'tis true, with things, as often is, of weight undue; yet still's enough, when sifted to the most, to make the trade rejoice, and as a toast, now, as is wont, and ever to be given, hail to the memory of our friends in heaven! crispin and crispianus--they, the two, who, like ourselves, have made the boot and shoe!" the story as told in these verses is not exactly the same as the one current among the makers of the boot and shoe in our own island, an account in an old book called _the history of the gentle craft_ (the production, no doubt, of the well-known thomas delony) being the basis of the tradition as received now by the british shoemaker. in the _golden legende_, one of the earliest of our printed books, and in alban butler's _lives of the saints_, as compiled from the roman martyrologies, as also in the inscriptions of some pieces of ancient tapestry formerly belonging to the shoemakers' chapel in the cathedral of notre dame, paris, but, when i saw them, in one of the galleries of the louvre, is the like version as the one here given. the authority, too, of the church calendar of england, even as it still remains after the loppings of the reformation, is another corroboration that crispin and crispianus, brothers, were early martyrs to the christian faith, and through that chiefly honoured, and not because the one became a redoubted general and the other a successful suitor to the daughter of some all-potent emperor. in the delony version--itself, in every probability, a borrowing from the popular mind of the elizabethan period,--these things are put forth; while in trade paintings and songs the prince crispin is assumed to have a wife or sister, one can hardly tell which, in the person of a princess, the princess crispianus, and who figures as the patron of the women's branch of the shoemakers' art; crispin himself presiding over the coarser labour for the rougher sex. this artifice, if not purely historical, is at least very excusable, because so natural, seeing that the duplex principle has such an extensive range; that even the feet themselves come into the world in pairs, and so shoes must be produced after the same fashion--paired, as the shoemakers have done by their adored crispin and crispianus. it has now but to be stated that the writer of the foregoing lines (a long time now the common property of his fellow-workmen) and this present paragraph, has for many years contemplated the production of something, which might assume even the size of a book, in connexion with the various curious particulars which may be affiliated with this crispin story, and therefore would be glad to find some of the numerous erudite renders of "n. & q." helping his inquiries either through the medium of future numbers, or as might be addressed privately to himself, care of mr. clements, bookseller, . little pulteney street, regent street. j. davies devlin. * * * * * minor queries. _barrels regiment._--i suppose that to this regiment a song refers which has for its burden,-- "and ten times a day whip the barrels, and ten times a day whip the barrels, brave boys." i shall be very much obliged to any one who will tell me where i can find this song, or the circumstances or persons to which it refers. it was probably written about the year . e. h. _okey the regicide._--i should be much obliged for any information relative to the descendants of colonel john okey, the regicide, executed april , , o.s. e. p. h. clapham. _lady mason's third husband_.--secretary davison, in a letter dated london, rd december, , and addressed to lady mason, requests this lady "to join with his honour her husband" in standing sponsor with sir christopher hatton, or sir thomas skirley, to his son, born a few days before. sir john mason, second husband to lady mason, died in . who then was "this honour," her third? g. s. s. _creation of knights._--when were the following knights made?--sir william fleming, sir george barker, sir george hamilton, sir edward { } de carteret, sir william armourer:--the first by charles i.; the four following by charles ii. g. s. s. _martyn the regicide._--was martyn the regicide married or not? if married, is it known whether he had children? and if any of his children settled in ireland, and became possessed of property in that country? e. a. g. _history of the nonjurors._--what are the best authorities for the history of the nonjurors and their sufferings? of course, lathbury, hickes's _life of kettlewell_, &c. are well known. whence came their adopted motto: "cætera quis nescit?" any reader who would communicate any information on these points to c. r. would confer a favour. c. r. _florin and the royal arms._--what is the authority for placing the national arms (which are by royal proclamations ordered to be borne _quarterly_ in ratification of the respective unions, and to be borne under one imperial crown) in separate shields? they surely cannot with any heraldic propriety be so arranged. the absurdity was remarked in the reign of the georges, for by the separation of the coats the arms of the german dominions of george i. obtained the second place, viz. the dexter side, with france on the sinister, and ireland at the bottom or fourth place. mat o' the mint. _a mistletoe query._--why has mistletoe the privilege of allowing the fair sex to be kissed under its branches, on condition that a berry is plucked off at the time? and also, when was this first allowed?[ ] j. w. aston (late of trin. col.) [footnote : this query has been incidentally noticed in "n. & q.," vol. v., pp. . .--ed.] * * * * * minor queries with answers. _sewell family_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent d. n. states, that "nothing farther is known of the family of lieut.-col. sewell, who died in , than that he had a son thos. bailey heath sewell, cornet in nd light dragoons, and lieutenant th dragoon guards." had he referred to lodge's _peerage_, he would have found that the honorable harriet beresford, fourth daughter of the most rev. wm. beresford, lord archbishop of tuam, and first baron decies, married jan. , , thos. henry bermingham (not bailey) daly sewell, esq.; and died june , , having had three children, viz.: . thomas, formerly page of honour to the lord lieutenant of ireland, _circa_ , afterwards a pensioner of trin. coll. dublin, and subsequently lieutenant th light infantry; who died at landour, bengal, aug. , . . isabella, who married her cousin major marcus beresford, in october, ; and died in . . louisa, married to the hon. sir w. e. leeson, and died in or . will d. n. favour me with the dates of the birth and death of the late unfortunate, and, as i believe, ill-used lieut.-general john whitelocke, whom he mentions, with the localities where the birth and death occurred? g. l. s. [we have submitted our correspondent's communication to d. n., who has kindly forwarded the following reply: "my communication (vol. viii., p. .) i was aware was far from a perfect pedigree of the sewell family, and my object was to give such notices as might form an outline to be filled up by some one more competently informed. your correspondent g. l. s. has very well supplied the _cætera desunt_, where my information terminated with the appointment of cornet sewell to a lieutenancy in the th (royal irish) dragoon guards. in the london gazette , june , , he is inserted as 'mr. bermingham daly henry sewell' to be a cornet in the nd light dragoons; and as in filling up commissions much accuracy is always considered very essential, i am disposed to regard those christian names as correct. "there was a rev. george sewell, rector of byfleet, surrey, was he a brother of lieut.-col. sewell of the surrey light dragoons? "did the right hon. sir thomas sewell marry a second wife? for i find, in _the globe_ of october , : 'died, saturday, sept. , at twyford lodge, maresfield, sussex, in her seventy-eighth year, lady sewell, widow of the late right hon. sir thomas sewell, master of the rolls and privy councillor, &c.' now, in manning's _surrey_, vol. iii. p. ., it is stated that lieut.-col. sewell died in , in his fifty-eighth year, which would render it impossible for him to be the son of the above-named lady sewell. in horsfield's _sussex_, to., , vol. i. p. ., i find a william luther sewell, esq., who most probably was connected by the second marriage, residing at the above twyford lodge. "i regret that i cannot reply distinctly to the inquiries of g. l. s. respecting the late lieut.-general whitelocke. i have ineffectually searched all the various biographical dictionaries to that of the rev. h. j. rose in twelve volumes, , inclusive, without having found one that has taken the least notice of him. i had casually heard, some years since, that he had fixed his residence in somersetshire, and that he had died there; which i find confirmed by a paragraph in the _annual register_, vol. lxxvi. for (_chronicle_), p. ., which states that he died 'near bath,' in february, . with such scanty information on the required points, i would still refer g. l. s. to a work entitled _the georgian Æra_, in vols., london, ; where he will find, in vol. ii. p ., a short _military_ memoir of lieut.-general whitelocke, which is dispassionately and candidly written, and which accounts very reasonably for the inauspicious result of his military operations. there is one slight error in the account of _the georgian Æra_, viz. in the date of the { } _first_ appointment of mr. whitelocke to a commission in the army, which appears in the _london gazette_, no. . of december , , and runs thus: ' th foot, john whitelocke, gent., to be ensign _vice_ day."--i trust some reader of "n. & q." will furnish us with the dates of the birth and death of lieut.-general whitelocke, specifying when they took place, as desired by g. l. s., with an abridgment of deficient particulars in his history. d. n."] _greek epigram._--in the _bath chronicle_ of the th of november last, i find the following advertisement: "the clergyman of a town parish, in which are several crippled persons, at present unable to attend divine worship, will feel very grateful to any gentleman or lady who will give him an old bath chair for the use of these poor people; two blind men having offered, in this case, charitably to convey their crippled neighbours regularly to the house of god." surely this arrangement is not a new idea, and there is, if i mistake not, a greek epigram that records its success in practice several hundred years ago. can any of your readers, whose greek is less faded than mine, refer me to the epigram? geo. e. frere. [probably the following epigram is the one floating in the faded memory of our correspondent: [greek: philippou, hoi de isidÔrou.] [greek: pêros ho men guiois, ho d' ar' ommasin; amphoteroi de] [greek: eis hautous to tuchês endees êranisan,] [greek: tuphlos gar lipoguion epômadion baros airôn,] [greek: tais keinou phônais atrapon ôrthobatei,] [greek: panta de taut' edidaxe pikrê pantolmos anankê,] [greek: allêlois merisai toullipes eis eleon.] _anthologia, in usum scholæ westmonast._: oxon. , p. .] _translations from Æschylus._--whose translation of the tragedies of Æschylus is that which accompanies flaxman's compositions from the same? i ought to state that there is merely a line or two under each plate, to explain the subject of each composition, and that my copy is the unreduced size. h. kingston-on-thames. [the lines are taken from n. potter's translation of the tragedies of Æschylus, to., .] _prince memnon's sister._--who was prince memnon's sister, alluded to by milton in _il penseroso_? j. w. t. dewsbury. [dunster has the following note on this line:--"prince memnon's sister; that is, an ethiopian princess, or sable beauty. memnon, king of ethiopia, being an auxiliary of the trojans, was slain by achilles. (see virg. _Æn._ i. ., '_nigri_ memnonis arma.') it does not, however, appear that memnon had any sister. tithonus, according to hesiod, had by aurora only two sons, memnon and emathion, _theog._ . this lady is a creation of the poet."] _"oh! for a blast," &c._--who was the author of the couplet-- "oh! for a blast of that dread horn, on fontarabian echoes borne?" a. j. dunkin. [the lines-- "o for the voice of that wild horn, on fontarabia's echoes borne, the dying hero's call,"-- are by sir walter scott, and form part of those which excited the horror of the father of frank osbaldiston, when he examined his waste-book in search of _reports outward and inward_--corn debentures, &c. see _rob roy_, chap. ii. p. . ed. .] _robin hood's festival._--can any of your correspondents refer me to a good account of the festival of robin hood, which was so popular with our ancestors, that bishop latimer could get no one to come to hear him preach on that day? in the churchwardens' accounts of st. helens, abingdon, published in the first volume of the _archæologia_, there is an entry in of the sum of d. paid for "setting up robin hood's bower." r. w. b. [the best account of robin hood's festival on the first and succeeding days of may is given in _robin hood: a collection of all the ancient poems, songs, and ballads, relative to that celebrated outlaw_; [by joseph ritson], among the notes and illustrations in vol. i. pp. xcvii--cx. consult also _a lytell geste of robin hode_, by john matthew gutch, vol. i. pp. -- .; and george soane's _new curiosities of literature_, vol. i. pp. -- .] _church in suffolk._--in restoring a church in suffolk, apparently of the date of henry vii., except two norman doors, the walls were found full of norman mouldings of about , or not much after. will you kindly give me a list of the works where i may be likely to find an account of this original church? davy and jermyn's _suffolk_, in the british museum, says nothing about it. the two norman doors are universally admired, and the church is now norman still throughout. in the reconstruction of about , the two doors do not seem to have been in any way restored or meddled with. g. l. [our correspondent may probably find some account of this church either in suckling's _antiquities of suffolk_, to., vols., gage's _history of suffolk_ (thingoe hundred), to., or in h. jermyn's collections for a general history of suffolk, in the british museum, add. mss. -- .] * * * * * { } replies. children called imps. (vol. viii., p. .) "heere resteth the bodye of the noble impe, robert of duddeley, baron of denbigh, sonne of robert, earle of leicester, nephew and heire unto ambrose, earle of warwick, brethren, both sonnes of the mighty prince john, late duke of northumberland, that was cosin and heire to sir john grey, vicount l'isle, nephew and heire unto the lady margaret, countesse of shrewsbury, the eldest daughter and coheire of the noble earle of warr: sir richard beauchampe here interred; a childe of great parentage, but of farr greater hope and towardnesse, taken from this transitory unto everlasting life in his tender age, at wanstead in essex, on sunday, th of july, in the yeare of our lord god , being the th yeare of the happy raine of the most virtuous and godly princesse, queene elizabeth, and in this place layd up among his noble auncestors, in assured hope of the generall resurrection."--_lady's chapel, st. mary's church, warwick._ h. b. warwick. an inscription on a tomb at besford, near pershore, worcestershire, of the same period as that at aylesbury (mentioned by mr. brooks), contains also the word _imp_. the tomb at besford is a most singular one, consisting of two large folding doors fixed against the wall, their panels and the interior being painted over with figures and inscriptions. from the latter, which are of some length, the following extracts will be sufficient to illustrate the subject: "an _impe_ entombed heere doth lie." "... elder ... from christ to straie, when such an _impe_ foreshewes the waie." the old poetical word _sugared_, "noe sugred word," occurs in the inscription. the "impe" is supposed to be richard harewell, who died in , aged years, to whom a second monument, of alabaster (close by the former), was also erected; a rare circumstance, i should suppose. the harewells appear to have been a family at the time of the conquest; the two following lines are a part of one of the inscriptions: "of harewell's blodde ere conquest made, knowne to descende of gentle race." nash, in his _history of worcestershire_, makes mention of this singular monument, but is anything but correct in giving its inscriptions. cuthbert bede, b. a. t. w. d. brooks will find this word used by some modern authors to denote a child. in _moral and sacred poetry_, selected and arranged by the rev. t. willcocks and the rev. t. horton (devonport, w. byers, ), there is at p. . a piece by baillie, addressed "to a child," the first line of which runs thus: "whose _imp_ art thou, with dimpled cheek?" and in a poem by rogers, on the following page, the children of a gipsy are called _imps_. j. w. n. keys. plymouth. * * * * * the divining rod. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the inclosed extract from a letter which i have just received from a friend on the subject of the divining rod, will probably interest your readers as an answer to a query which appeared some weeks ago in your excellent work. you may entirely rely on the accuracy of the facts stated. j. a. h. "however the pretended effect of the divining rod may be attributed to knavery and credulity by philosophers who will not take the trouble of witnessing and investigating the operation, any one who will pay a visit to the mendip hills in somersetshire, and the country round their base, may have abundant proof of the efficacy of it. its success has been very strikingly proved along the range of the pennard hills also, to the south of the mendip. the faculty of discovering water by means of the divining rod is not possessed by every one; for indeed there are but few who possess it in any considerable degree, or in whose hands the motion of the rod, when passing over an underground stream, is very decided; and they who have it are quite unconscious of their capability until they are made aware of it by experiment. "i saw the operation of the rod, or rather of a fork, formed of the shoots of the last year, held in the hands of the experimentor by the extremities, with the angle projecting before him. when he came over the spot beneath which the water flowed, the rod, which had before been perfectly still, writhed about with considerable force, so that the holder could not keep it in its former position; and he appealed to the bystanders to notice that he had made no motion to produce this effect, and used every effort to prevent it. the operation was several times repeated with the same result, and each time under the close inspection of shrewd and doubting, if not incredulous, observers. forks of any kind of green wood served equally well, but those of dead wood had no effect. the experimentor had discovered water, in several instances, in the same parish (pennard), but was perfectly unaware of his capability till he was requested by his landlord to try. the operator had the reputation of a perfectly honest man, whose word might be safely { } trusted, and who was incapable of attempting to deceive any one--as indeed appeared by his open and ingenuous manner and conversation on this occasion. he was a farmer, and respected by all his neighbours. so general is the conviction of the efficacy of the divining rod in discovering both water and the ores of calamine or zinc all over the mendip, that the people are quite astonished when any doubt is expressed about it. the late dr. hutton wrote against the pretension, as one of many instances of deception founded upon gross ignorance and credulity; when a lady of quality, who herself possessed the faculty, called upon him, and gave him experimental proof, in the neighbourhood of woolwich, that water was discoverable by that means. this dr. hutton afterwards publicly acknowledged. "the above i suppose will suffice for your present purpose; i could, however, say a great deal more, for i wrote a very long account many years ago to our friend ----, of what i have now only briefly stated. that letter was treated by certain scientific friends of his with contempt; but when i afterwards saw poor dr. turner, he said he would go down to somerset to see it himself; but alas! he did not live to carry his intention into effect." * * * * * change of meaning in proverbial expressions, etc. (vol. viii., pp. , .) very hesitatingly i venture to express dissent from mr. keightley's ingenious suggestion of a change of meaning in the proverb "tread on a worm and it will turn." i support my dissent, however, by the following lines from shakspeare: "who 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting? not he that sets his foot upon her back. the smallest worm will turn, being trodden on; and doves will peck in safe-guard of their brood." third part of _king henry vi._, act ii. sc. . king henry says, withhold revenge, dear god! clifford replies, the lion, the bear, the serpent, the smallest worm, and doves, if injured, will make an effort at revenge or defence. it is clear that shakspeare uses the word _worm_ as meaning, not a venomous serpent, but the most defenceless of reptiles. again, i do not think that mr. keightley's quotation from schiller's _wallenstein's tod_ supports his view. i am not a german scholar, but i find that the translator of _wallenstein's tod_ (i believe lord ellesmere) has translated or paraphrased the lines quoted by mr. keightley as follows: "but nature gave the very worm a sting, when trampled on by man, to turn again." the sense of the passage (spoken by butler) requires that "wurm" should be understood to mean a harmless despised reptile, not a venomous serpent. it seems that schiller had shakspeare in his mind when he wrote the lines in question; indeed, they are almost a copy of shakspeare's line. i consider them as parallel passages. it may not be irrelevant to observe that _worm_ in some places still means a serpent; but i believe it has usually a prefix, as "hag-worm" in westmoreland and the west riding of yorkshire; so also in the latter "slow-worm" means a species of small snake or viper found on some of the moors. (for "slow-worm," see "n. & q.," vol. viii., pp. . and .) i have been told that "blind-worm" in surrey means a viper. i conclude with a query, does _wurm_ in modern german ever mean a serpent? f. w. j. "to put a spoke in one's wheel," is not singular in its _double entendre_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .). "there is no love lost between them" is in a similar predicament. we now speak of no love being lost between a. and b., when we would intimate that the warmth of their mutual affection may be accurately represented by ° fahrenheit. that this has not always been the meaning of the phrase, the following verse from the old ballad of _the children in the wood_ will testify: "sore sick he was, and like to die, no help that he could have; his wife by him as sick did lie, and both possess'd one grave. _no love between these two was lost_, each was to other kind; in love they lived, in love they died, and left two babes behind." r. price. st. ives. * * * * * sneezing. (vol. viii., p. .) a collection of "facts, theories, and popular ideas" upon this subject would fill a volume. i send, however, a few extracts, &c., which may interest your correspondent medicus: "et n'esternuay point regardant le soleil." "and did not sneeze as he looked upon the sun." ronsard, tom. v. p. ., quoted in southey's _common place book_, rd series, p. . here, not to sneeze appears to be looked on as an ill omen. ammianus has an epigram upon one whose nose was so long that he never heard it sneeze, and therefore never said [greek: zeu sôson], god bless.--_notes on the variorum plautus_ (ed. gronov., lugd. bat.), p. . { } athenæus, says potter in his _archæologia græca_, proves that the head was esteemed holy, because it was customary to swear by it, and adore as holy the sneezes that proceeded from it. and aristotle tells us in express terms that sneezing was accounted a deity: "[greek: ton ptarmon theon hêgoumetha]"--_archæol. græc._ ( th ed.), p. . "oscitatio in nixu letalis est, sicut sternuisse a coitu abortivum." quoted from pliny by aulus gellius, _noct. att._ iii. xvi. . erasmus, in his _colloquies_, bids one say to him who sneezes, "sit faustum ac felix," or "servet te deus," or "sit salutiferum" or "bene vertat deus." "quare homines sternutant? "respondetur, ut virtus expulsiva et visiva, per hoc purgetur, et cerebrum a sua superfluitate purgetur, etc. etiam qui sternutat frequenter, dicitur habere forte cerebrum."--_aristotelis problemata_: amstelodami, anno . query whether from some such idea of the beneficial effect of sneezing, arose the practice of calling for the divine blessing on the sneezer? when themistocles was offering sacrifice, it happened that three beautiful captives were brought him, and at the same time the fire burnt clear and bright, and a sneeze happened on the right hand. hereupon euphrantides the soothsayer, embracing him, predicted the memorable victory which was afterwards obtained by him, &c. there is also mention of this custom (the observation of sneezing) in homer, who has introduced penelope rejoicing at a sneeze of her son telemachus: "[greek: ouch horaas ho moi huios epeptaren]" sneezing was not always a lucky omen, but varied according to the alteration of circumstances--"[greek: tôn ptarmôn hoi men eisin ôphelimoi, hoi de blaberoi]," "some sneezes are profitable, others prejudicial"--according to the scholiast upon the following passage of theocritus, wherein he makes the sneezing of the cupids to have been an unfortunate omen to a certain lover: "[greek: simichida men erôtes epeptaron.]" if any person sneezed between midnight and the following noontide it was fortunate, but from noontide till midnight it was unfortunate. if a man sneezed at the table while they were taking away, or if another happened to sneeze upon his left hand, it was unlucky; if on the right hand, fortunate. if, in the undertaking any business, two or four sneezes happened, it was a lucky omen, and gave encouragement to proceed; if more than four, the omen was neither good nor bad; if one or three, it was unlucky, and dehorted them from proceeding in what they had designed. if two men were deliberating about any business, and both of them chanced to sneeze together, it was a prosperous omen.--_archæol. græc._ ( th ed.), pp. , . francis john scott. tewkesbury. the custom your correspondent medicus alludes to, of wishing a person "good health," after sneezing, is also very common in russia. the phrases the russians use on these occasions are--"to your good health!" or "how do you do?" j. s. a. old broad street. * * * * * books burned by the common hangman. (vol. viii., pp. . .) to the list of these literary _auto da fé's_ we may well add the burning of bishop burnet's famous _pastoral letter_, which was censured by the house of commons, january, , and was burned by the common hangman. the offence contained in it was the ascribing the title of william iii. to the crown of england to a right of conquest. a recollection of this gives additional point to the irony of atterbury in attacking wake: "william the conqueror is another of the pious patterns he recommends, 'who would suffer nothing,' he says, 'to be determined in any ecclesiastical causes without leave and authority first had from him.'... his present majesty is not william the conqueror; and can no more by our constitution rule absolutely either in church or state than he would if he could: his will and pleasure is indeed a law to all his subjects; not in a conquering sense, but because his will and pleasure is only that the laws of our country should be obeyed, which he came over on purpose to rescue, and counts it his great prerogative to maintain; and contemns therefore, i doubt not, such sordid flattery as would measure the extent of his supremacy from the conqueror's claim."--atterbury's _rights, powers, and privileges of convocation_, pp. -- . atterbury never misses a hit at burnet when he can conveniently administer one, and the bishop endeavours to smile even while he winces: "he writes with just and due respect of the king and the present constitution. this has come so seldom from that corner that it ought to be the more considered. i will not give that scope to jealousy as to suspect that this was an artifice; but accept it sincerely," &c.--the bishop of sarum's _reflections on the rights, powers, &c._. p. . w. fraser. tor-mohun. the following, may come under the list wanted by balliolensis: "the covenant itself, together with the act for erecting the high court of justice, that for subscribing the engagement, and that for declaring england a { } commonwealth, were ordered to be burned by the hands of the hangman. the people assisted with great alacrity on this occasion."--from hume, reign of charles ii., edit. london, , p. . on a copy of _la défense de la réformation, &c_., par i. claude, à la haye, , i noted the following about thirty years ago as a striking passage, but cannot now recollect from whence i took it. this book was condemned by the pope to be burned, on which circumstance the editor of an old edition of it very appositely observes: "books have souls as well as men, which survive their martyrdom, and are not burnt, but crowned by the flames that encircle them. the church of rome has quickly felt there was nothing combustible but the paper. the truth flew upward like the angel from manoah's sacrifice, untouched by the fire, and unsullied by the smoke, and found a safe refuge at the footstool of the god of truth." g. n. * * * * * jews in china. (vol. viii., p. .) the only people known as descendants of any of the ten tribes are the spomerim, or samaritans; whose chief peculiarity is, that they acknowledge as sacred only the five books of moses: for, although other books held sacred by the jews are known to them, such books are not written in the same ancient alphabetic character as those of the samaritan pentateuch. the ten tribes were then taken captive b.c. ( kings xvii. -- .). the inference is, therefore, that all the books, from joshua to malachi inclusive, had not been composed or admitted into the holy canon till after that date. the criterion then for ascertaining whether the chinese jews are descended from the ten tribes, appears to be their adherence to the pentateuch _alone_ as sacred. i. the chinese jews have not the ancient hebrew character, but the comparatively modern square chaldee one, as in our printed bibles. ii. gozani states that the jews of kaafung foo, in honan, had some traditions from the talmud. the mishnah, constituting the text of the talmud, is manifestly a compilation _subsequent_ to the closing of the jewish canon; the quotations from the books following those of moses being constantly in use therein. iii. on gozani mentioning jesus the messiah, the chinese jew said they had a knowledge of jesus the son of sirach. as, however, the book of the last-named writer is unknown in hebrew, gozani, who was ignorant of that language, may have mistaken him for jesus (=joshua) the son of nun, with which book the chinese jew was acquainted.[ ] in either case, _more_ books than the pentateuch were undoubtedly held sacred by these chinese jews; therefore the connexion with the ten tribes (house of israel), as distinct from the house of judah (the jews properly so called), cannot be inferred. the authorities for the samaritans are scaliger, ludolf, prideaux, jahn, huntington, winer, schnurrer, and kitto. for the eastern jews: josephus, peritsol, manasseh, basnage, büsching; fathers ricci, aleni, gozani, and other jesuits, in the _lettres édifiantes et curieuses_, vol. xviii.; and the _chinese repository_, vol. i. pp. . ., vol. iii. p. . circumcision is too general a practice in the hotter regions of the south and east, to permit such practice to be deemed proof of jewish descent, unless corroborated by other customs peculiar to the jews. besides the physiological characteristics of the native australians preclude us from deducing their natural descent from either the _jews_ or the ten tribes. t.j. buckton. lichfield. [footnote : the opprobrious name of christ amongst the jews is jesus son of sadta, which gozani may have mistaken for sirach; indeed,--the chinese pronunciation of hebrew is quite peculiar, as they cannot pronounce, for instance, the letters _b_, _r_, _th_, naming them respectively _p_, _l_, _z_.] * * * * * poetical tavern signs. (vol. viii., pp. . .) i made a note of the following specimen of poetical tavern sign, in one of mr. mark lemon's supplements to _the illustrated london news_ (dec. , ). i here transcribe it to add to mr. warde's collection: "the following is a literal copy of a sign conspicuously displayed in front of a small public-house in the village of folkesworth,[ ] near stilton, hunts. it contains as much poetry as, perhaps, the rustic folkesworth folks are worth; and doubtless they think it to be (in the stilton vernacular) 'quite the cheese:' [a rude figure of a fox.] 'i . ham . a . cunen . fox you . see . ther . his no . harme . atched to . me . it . is . my . mrs. wish . to . place . me here . to . let . you . no he . sels . good . beere.' "the captain rawlinson of the district has deciphered this inscription, and conjectures its meaning to be as follows: 'i am a cunning fox, you see; there is no harm attach'd to me; it is my master's wish to place me here, to let you know he sells good beer.'" cuthbert bede, b.a. [footnote : it was in the lane between folkesworth and the norman cross barracks, that borrow was first induced to try the gipsy life. (vide _lavengro_.)] { } bradford: "who lives here? who do you think? major lister: give him a drink. give him a drink--for why? because, when he's sweeping, he's always dry." "john thompson doth live here, he sweeps your chimney not too dear. and if your chimney should get on fire, he puts it out at your desire. sweep that chimney clean, and then come down and drink." the public-houses to which the above are appended are kept by sweeps. "call here, my boy, if you are dry. the fault's in you, and not in i. if robin hood from home is gone, step in and drink with little john." the name of the public-house is "the robin hood." over another tavern door i noticed the following very pithy and brief sentence: "tobacco given away to-morrow." charles willison. bradford, yorkshire. a sign at newhouse, a small public-house on dartmoor, hard by a rabbit-warren, on the roadside leading from moreton to tavistock, six miles from the former town. john roberts was the worthy landlord some considerable time since. it ran thus: "john roberts lives here, sells brandy and beer, your spirits to cheer; and should you want meat, to make up the treat, there be rabbits to eat." (a verbatim copy.) a swinging sign on the front of a public-house on the borders of dartmoor could once boast of like following quaint invitations. the side presented to view, prior to entering the wild waste, underneath a rude painting of a weary traveller in a storm, had the following rude couplet: "before the wild moor you venture to pass, pray step within and take a glass." the attempt at poetry on the reverse side, below a highly-coloured daub representing a christmas fire on the hearth, surrounded by a goodly band of jolly fellows, read thus: "now that the bleak moor you've safely got over, do stop a while, your spirits to recover." over the door of a spirit and beer shop at the lower end of market or high street, plymouth, may be seen the following very salutary aid disinterested piece of advice. it is printed in the triangle formed by the spread of a gigantic pair of compasses, which gives name to the house: "keep within compass, and then you'll be sure, to avoid many troubles, that others endure." the house is located near the quay; and it is devoutly to be wished that the jolly tars of the neighbourhood, who make it a constant place of resort, would profit by its wise counsel. h. h. h. there is (or was some two or three years since) at coopersale, in essex, a sign-board in front of the "queen victoria" (only a beer-house by the way), with these lines: "the queen some day, may pass this way, and see our tom and jerry; perhaps she'll stop, and stand a drop, to make her subjects merry." on the other side are some different lines, which i forget. alexander andrews. * * * * * . at overseal, leicestershire: "robin hood is dead and gone: pray call, and drink with little john." . the sign of "the bee hive," in birmingham and other places: "within this hive, we're all alive, good liquor makes us funny: if you are dry, step in and try, the flavour of our honey." . the sign of "the gate" (of frequent occurrence): "the gate hangs well, and hinders none; refresh and pay, and travel on." t. h. kersley, b.a. audlem, nantwich. in king street, norwich, at the sign of "the waterman," kept by a man who is a barber, and over whose door is the pole, are these lines: "roam not from pole to pole, but step in here; where nought exceeds the shaving, but the beer." j. l. s. there used to be at a small roadside inn, between wetherby and borobridge (yorkshire), at a place called ninivy, the following inscription; { } whether or not it is still in existence i cannot say: "at nineveh, where dwelt old toby, pray stop and drink before you go by." c. i. r. * * * * * the curfew. (vol. ii., pp. . . . .; vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. viii., p. .) the curfew is still rung at kidderminster at eight o'clock. it is the annual custom there, on a certain night, to continue the ringing for one hour, a sum of money having been left for that purpose as a thank-offering to god, for the curfew having been the means of saving a person from destruction. this person had lost his way on his return from bridgenorth fair, and when (as he afterwards discovered) on the point of falling from a great height, the sound of the kidderminster curfew caused him to retrace his steps and regain the road. a five o'clock morning bell is also rung at kidderminster. this and the curfew bell have been rung for many years past by "blind william," who, notwithstanding his total blindness, finds his way along the streets that lead from his house to the church, and gains the belfry with the greatest ease. so well is he acquainted with the path to church, that he may be seen to turn the corners of the streets in as decided a manner as if his wide-open eyes were endowed with sight; and, with similar facility, he unlocks the gates and church doors. it is curious to see him on the dark winter evenings, apparently guiding his steps by the light of a lanthorn, which he probably carries in order to prevent careless people, who are blessed with sight, from running against him. like most (if not all) blind people, he has an extraordinary ear for music, and will quickly reproduce on his violin any tune that may have caught his fancy. at this present festive period, a kidderminster christmas would lack one of its component parts, were blind willie and his fiddle not there to add to the harmony of the kindly season. during the month preceding christmas, he promenades the streets at untimely hours, and draws from his old fiddle all the music which it is capable of giving forth. indeed, blind willie may be considered (in kidderminster at least) as the harbinger of christmas, for he warns the inhabitants of its approach, long before the ordinary "waits" have taken their ordinary measures for the same purpose. and when christmas day is past and gone, he makes house-to-house visitation for the christmas-box which is to be the reward of his "early minstrelsy." the curfew is rung at bewdley in worcestershire. at durham the curfew is rung (on the great bell of the cathedral) at nine o'clock. it is therefore of the same use to the students of the university of durham as "tom" is to the students of the university of oxford, viz. it marks the closing of the college gates. cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _photographic engraving._--i inclose a copy of a little book for your inspection, which is remarkable only in this, that the illustrations are produced by photography. the general theory of the method is this: a piece of glass is covered with a uniform thin coating of some substance, so as to be opaque or semi-opaque (the substance should be light coloured), and a design is etched on it with a needle. from this _negative_ positive pictures are printed photographically. as to details, the prints of the mice (p. .) and the cat (p. .) are from a glass coated with iodized collodion rendered sensitive, exposed to faint light for a short time and developed. in this method, the glass should be heated; and the collodion _burnished_ with the hand, to make it adhere well.[ ] the owl (p. .) and the stork (p. .) are from a glass coated with iodized collodion "rendered sensitive" only, and not developed so as to be only semi-opaque. on this high lights were put with opaque white, and darks were etched out. this has the effect of a tinted lithograph, but requires much more care in printing than the former method, in order to hit the right tint; so much so, that i have usually printed the stork faintly so as not to show the "tint" at all. the frontispiece is from a paper negative, a method much more troublesome and tedious than either of the others, both in preparation of the negative and in printing. i have lately tried gilt glass to etch upon. this would be excellent, were it not most painful to the eyes. and more than two years ago, i prepared a negative by painting whites with water colour on transparent glass with moderate success. i have recently received from rome a positive printed from a negative on smoked glass, the subject being a mule's head. of all the methods i have tried, the best is the first mentioned; and it seems to me easier than any species of engraving. query, what is the best coating for the glass; and what will be the cost of printing on a great scale, as compared with woodcut, lithograph, &c.; in which must be included the cost of the skilled workman which will be saved by this method? hugh blackburn. [when we add that the work referred to is an edition of _the history of little downey_, that the prints in it are executed by a lady, and printed at home by the photographic process, and that a limited number of copies may be had on application to messrs. { } constable and co. of edinburgh, the sale being for the benefit of the glasgow ragged school, we have no doubt many of our readers will be glad to secure copies, and help to forward the good work which its publication is intended to promote.] [footnote : this method was suggested to me by professor maconochie, who indeed prepared the glass on which the mice were etched.] _collodion negatives._--allow me to communicate a sure and simple way of darkening collodion positives for printing. it was shown to me by a friend of mine; and not having seen it in your "n. & q.," i have undertaken to lay it before your readers, hoping that it may be found useful to many beginners. after having developed your picture, as a positive, with protosulphate of iron and nitric acid, wash it well from the developing fluid, and keep it on one end that all the water may drop from the plate. then take three parts of a concentrated solution of gallic acid, and one part of a nitrate of silver solution, grains to the ounce of water; mix together, and pour on the plate. the picture will gradually begin to blacken; and after half an hour or more, you will obtain a sufficient density for printing a positive on paper. every one who will take the trouble to try it will be sure to succeed. of all the ways to blackening a picture for printing i have tried, not excepting professor maconochie's method with chloride of gold and muriate of ammonia, the surest i find is the one which i have laid before you. just try it, and you will be glad with the result. f. m. (a maltese.) malta, valetta. * * * * * replies to minor queries. "_london labour and the london poor_" (vol. viii., p. .).--i beg to inform mr. gantillon that the above work is discontinued. the parts entitled "those that will work" and "those that cannot work" have been completed, and form a valuable book; but the discontinuance of the third part is no loss at all, for in commencing upon "those that will not work," mr. mayhew began with a history of prostitution in ancient and modern times, a subject which did not possess the novelty or originality of his other divisions, and consequently his readers fell off so fast that he was forced first to raise the price of, and afterwards to discontinue altogether, the publication. probably, if he had confined himself to treating the london prostitutes as he did the costermongers, the work would have been completed, and would then have formed a complete encyclopædia of london labour and the london poor. arthur c. wilson. brompton. _felicia hemans's inedited lyric_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent mr. weld taylor seems to possess the first rude draught of the following beautiful piece by felicia hemans, entitled, "the elfin call," a duet sung by miss a. williams and miss m. williams, miss messent and miss dolby, mrs. a. newton and miss lanza, miss cubitt and miss porter, mrs. aveling smith and miss sara flower, miss emma lucombe and miss eliza birch, miss turner and miss e. turner. the music by stephen glover: "come away, elves! while the dew is sweet, come to the dingles where fairies meet; know that the lilies have spread their bells o'er all the pools in our forest dells; come away, under arching bows we'll float, making each urn a fairy boat; we'll row them with reeds o'er the fountains free, and a tall flag-leaf shall our streamer be. and we'll send out wild music so sweet and low, it shall seem from the bright flower's heart to flow; as if 'twere a breeze with a flute's low sigh, or water-drops train'd into melody, and a star from the depth of each pearly cup, a golden star into heav'n looks up, as if seeking its kindred where bright they lie, set in the blue of the summer sky." j. yeowell. _sir arthur aston_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--though unable to inform chartham and a reader in what part of the co. of berks the above cavalier resided during the interval of time named by the former, i think i can state the connexion, by marriage only, between the tattersall and aston families: i believe it will be found that they were not "nearly related." thomas howard, fourth duke of norfolk, by his first wife, mary fitzalan, had philip (_jure matris_), earl of arundel, who died attainted, and was succeeded by thomas, created earl of norfolk. this last was father of henry frederick and grandfather of charles howard, of greystock castle, who married mary, eldest daughter and coheiress of george tattersall, of west court, finchampstead, and stapleford, co. wilts. charles howard, as above, was the fourth brother of henry, sixth duke of norfolk, which last was grandfather (through thomas, his son, of worksop) of mary howard, who married walter aston, fourth baron aston, of forfar, in scotland. h. c. c. i furnished a memoir of this famous soldier to the _gentleman's magazine_ in or . g. steinman steinman. _grammar in relation to logic_ (vol. viii., p. ).--mr. ingleby evidently has but a superficial view of this doctrine, which is not only dr. latham's, but one, i apprehend, pretty well known to every oxford undergraduate, viz. that, logically, _conjunctions connect propositions, not words_. by way of proving the falsity of it (which he says is demonstrable), he bids dr. latham "resolve this sentence: _all men are either two-legged, one-legged, or no-legged_:" and adds, "it cannot be done." i may inform him that the three categorical propositions, "a man is two-legged, or he is { } one-legged, or he is no-legged," connected by their several copulas, are equivalent to and co-extensive with the disjunctive proposition which he instances. mr. ingleby quotes boole's _mathematical (?) analysis of logic_ in support of his opinion; but, from the following specimen of that work, it does not appear to be much of an authority. the author says: "the proposition, every animal is either rational or irrational, cannot be resolved into, either every animal is rational or every animal is irrational. the former belongs to pure categoricals, the latter to hypotheticals." now the first sentence of this passage is an absurd truism; but the proposition in question can be resolved into--an animal is rational or it is irrational. again, "the former does _not_ belong to pure categoricals," it is simply disjunctive. mr. ingleby falls into the same error, and moreover seems not to be aware that a disjunctive proposition is at the same time hypothetical. logically speaking, a conjunction implies two propositions; and, strictly, connects propositions only. to say that conjunctions connect words, may be true in a certain sense; but it is a very superficial and loose mode of stating the matter. h. c. k. ----rectory, hereford. _descendants of milton_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have in the course of my life met with or heard of more than once or twice, people of the same names, and those very uncommon ones, who were in no way related to each other; nevertheless, i venture to tell your correspondent j. f. m. that about twenty years ago there was living the skipper of a coasting vessel, trading between bridport and london, named caleb clark. he or his family are probably living at bridport now. [greek: alpha]. _pronunciation of bible names_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the clerk of a retired parish in north-west devon, who had to read the first lesson always, used to make a hash of shadrac, meshac, and abednego; and as the names are twelve times repeated in the third chapter of daniel, after getting through them the first time, he called them "the aforesaid gentlemen" afterwards. w. collyns. harlow. _henry i.'s tomb_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i fancy that the much mooted question, as to the existence of a monumental tomb over the remains of king henry i. in reading abbey, may at once be set at rest by referring to tanner's _notitia monastica_, edit. , in the second column of p. .: where it is evident that a tomb and an effigy of king henry i. had once existed; that they had both fallen into decay; and that, in the time of king richard ii., the abbot of reading was required to repair both the tomb and the effigy of king henry the founder, who was there buried, within the space of one year, as the condition on which the charters were to be confirmed: "cart. & ric. ii. n. .; pat. ric. ii. p. . m. . pat. ric. ii. p. . m. .; pat. ric. ii. p. . m. . confirm. libertatum, modo abbas infra unum annum honeste repararet tumbam et imaginem _r. henrici_ fundatoris, ibidem humati." i. t. a. _bells at berwick-upon-tweed_ (vol. viii., p. .): _chandler, bishop of durham_ (vol. viii, p. .).--i may perhaps "kill two birds with one stone," by reminding messrs. gatty and newburn that the bishops of durham were formerly _princes of the palatinate_. it was probably in that capacity that bishop chandler delivered a charge to the grand jury, and bishop barington licensed a meeting-house bell. this latter prelate was, i believe, the last who exercised the functions of that high office. wm. hazel. _return of gentry, temp. henry vi._ (vol. viii., p. .).--the return of th henry vi. is printed in fuller's _worthies_, under each county. g. steinman steinman. i read in fuller's _worthies_, edit. nuttall, vol. i. p. .: "a later list might be presented of the english gentry towards the end of the reign of king henry viii." does this list exist in any of our record offices? and has it ever been printed? tewars. _peter allan_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent e. c. will find much interesting information respecting this person in an account of him reprinted from the _sunderland and durham county herald_, and published ( ) by vint and carr, sunderland, under the title of _marsden rock, or the story of peter allan, and marsden marine grotto_. he, his wife, eight children, and aged father and mother, are there described as being in a very flourishing condition: and (if i remember rightly) i saw them all, when i last visited the rock in . cuthbert bede, b.a. _burial in an erect posture_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following passage, which i quote from hearne's _collection of antiquarian discourses_, vol. i. p. ., may perhaps prove acceptable to cheverells, as showing (on traditional authority) that this mode of burial was anciently adopted in the case of captains in the army: "for them above the grounde buryed, i have by tradition heard, that when anye notable captayne dyed in battel or campe, the souldyers used to take his bodye, and to sette him on his feet _uprighte_, and put his { } launce or pike into his hand; and then his fellowe souldyers did by travell everye man bringe so muche earthe, and laye aboute him as should cover him, and mount up to cover the top of his pike." i have a very curious print in my possession, illustrating the manners and customs of the laplanders; and, amongst the rest, their modes of burial. in one case several bodies are represented standing in an upright posture, perfectly nude, with railings all round except in the front; and another, one body is represented in a similar condition, inclosed in a kind of sentry-box. r. w. elliott. clifton. _the word "mob"_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--roger north, speaking of the king's head, or green ribbon club, which was "a more visible administration, mediate, as it were, between his lordship (shaftsbury) and the greater and lesser vulgar, who were to be the immediate tools," says: "i may note that the rabble first changed their title, and were called _the mob_, in the assemblies of this club. it was their beast of burthen, and called first _mobile vulgus_, but fell naturally into the contraction of one syllable, and ever since is become proper english."--_examen_, part iii. ch. vii. p. . h. gardiner. _gen. sir c. napier_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i may state, for the instruction of officers who think study needless in their profession, that, having enjoyed the intimate friendship of sir c. napier for some time before he had the command in the midland district of england, i constantly found him engaged in inquiries connected with his profession. he was always in training. not long before this time he had returned from caen, in normandy, and he told me that when there he had surveyed the ground on which william the conqueror had acquired military fame before he made his descent on england, and his conclusion was that that conqueror was remarkably well instructed for his time in the art of war. he expressed his intention to write on this subject; but great events soon afterwards called him to india, which became the scene of his own mastery in military and civil command. t. f. _to come_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the lower saxon dialect, to come is _camen_, and the imperfect, as in gothic, _quam_. it would therefore seem that the english _came_ is not an innovation, but a partial restoration or preservation of a very ancient form. (see adelung's _wörterbuch_.) e. c. h. _passage in sophocles_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the italics were introduced to draw attention to the _new_ version which was adventured, "n. & q." being an excellent medium for such suggestions. sophocles having referred to "an illustrious saying of some one," and the old scholiast having furnished this saying, "[greek: hotan d' ho daimôn andri porsunêi kaka] [greek: ton noun eblapse prôton hôi bouleuetai]," it merely became necessary to compare the form which sophocles adopted to suit his metre with the words of this "illustrious saying," whence it appeared that-- [greek: hôi bouleuetai prassei d' oligoston chronon ektos atas]; and therefore i could not agree with the common version "and that he lives for a brief space apart from its visitation;" erroneous, as i submit, from the adoption of brunck's reading [greek: prassein], instead of reading, as i venture to do, with hermann, [greek: theos agei ... prassei d'], taking [greek: theos] as the nominative of both verbs. neither the oxford translation, edwards's, nor buckley's, renders [greek: oligoston] "_very_ brief," agreeably to the admonition of the old scholiast to the contrary. the word "practise" objected to is, i submit, derived from [greek: prassô], to act, through [greek: pragma], business, and [greek: praxis], practice, and is therefore the most appropriate english word, although the word "does" will furnish sophocles' meaning nearly as well. i shall, however, be most happy to submit to correction by any classical scholar. t. j. buckton. lichfield. _party-similes of the seventeenth century_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i must beg of you to contradict the loose statement of jarltzberg at p. . of this volume, "as to the object of the church of england in _separating from_ rome." now, the church of england did never _separate herself_ from _any_ christian church; the doctrine and discipline of the church of england is to be found in her book of common prayer. popes paul iv. and pius iv. offered to confirm this book, if queen elizabeth would acknowledge the pope's supremacy; and roman catholics in these realms habitually conformed to the worship of the church of england for the first _twelve years_ of queen elizabeth's reign, after which time they were prevented from doing so by the bull of pius v. (dated feb. , ), which excommunicated that sovereign. so romanists are the separatists, and not anglicans. thomas collis. _judges styled reverend_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--sir anthony fitzherbert was certainly not chief justice, yet in _a letter to a convocation man_ i find him so styled: "i must admit that it is said in the second part of rolle's _abridgment_, that the archbishop of canterbury { } was prohibited to hold such assemblies by fitzherbert, chief justice, because he had not the king's licence; but he adds that the archbishop would not obey it, and he quotes speed for it. i shall not consult that lame historian for a law-point, and it seems strange that rolle should cite him."--_l. c. m._, p. . i have not lately had an opportunity of looking into either rolle's _abridgment of cases_, or speed's _history of great britain_, but i am not able to discover to what event in any of henry viii.'s convocations allusion is here made. i am therefore led to think that fitzherbert must be a misprint, and that we should read in the above passage "fitz-peter," and that the following is the circumstance, in king john's reign, which is referred to by the author of the _letter_: "this year ( ), hubert, archbishop of canterbury, held a national synod at westminster, notwithstanding the prohibition of geoffrey fitz-peter, earl of essex, and chief justiciary of england."--collier's _ecclesiastical history_, vol. i. folio, p. . i shall be glad if any of your readers can throw farther light on the passage. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _veneration for the oak_ (vol. viii., p. .).--since my query upon this matter appeared, i find that mr. layard, in his work upon _nineveh and babylon_, at p. ., describes a cylinder of green felspar, which he believes to have been the signet of sennacherib, and upon which is engraved a rare mode of portraying the supreme deity, and a sacred tree, whose flowers are in this instance in the shape of an _acorn_. whence did the assyrians derive this veneration for a tree bearing acorns? did they derive this notion, as they did their tin, from celtic britain? i believe they did. g. w. stansted, montfichet. _rapping no novelty_ (vol. viii., p. .).--de foe, in his veracious _history of mr. duncan campbell_ ( nd ed., p. .), quotes a story of sprit-knocking from "the renowned and famous" mr. baxter's _history of apparitions_, prefacing it thus: "what in nature can be more trivial than for a spirit to employ himself in knocking on a morning at the wainscot by the bed's head of a man who got drunk over night, according to the way that such things are ordinarily explained? and yet i shall give you such a relation of this, that not even the most devout and precise presbyterian will offer to call in question." according to de foe, mr. baxter gave full credit to the story, adding many pious reflections upon the subject, and expressing himself "posed to think what kind of spirit this is." r. i. r. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: dr. h. more's philosophical works. lond. . folio. hircher's musurgia universalis. romæ, . toms. in . folio. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. * * * * * ormerod's cheshire. parts ii. and x. small paper. hemmingway's chester. parts i. and iii. large paper. wanted by _t. hughes_, . paradise row, chester. * * * * * aaron hill's plain dealer. edinburgh miscellany. edinb. . wanted by _f. dinsdale_, leamington. * * * * * laderchii annales ecclesiastici. tom. folio. romæ, - . the bible in shorthand, according to the method of mr. james weston, whose shorthand prayer book was published in the year . a copy of addy's copperplate shorthand bible, london, , would be given in exchange. loescher, de latrociniis, quÆ in scriptores publicos solent committere hÆretici. to. vitemb. . loescher, acta reformationis. schramm, dissert. de librorum prohibitorum indicibus. to. helmst. . jamesii specimen corruptelarum pontific. to. lond. . macedo, diatribe de cardinalis bonÆ erronibus. wanted by _rev. richard gibbings_, falcarragh, letterkenny, co. donegal. * * * * * notices to correspondents. a merry christmas to you all, gentle readers! _we trust that, in presenting you this week with the curious collection of_ folk lore _articles which is now before you, we have done that which will be agreeable to you._ a merry christmas to you all, kind friends and correspondents! _and_ thanks to you for your valuable co-operation. _may your christmas logs burn brightly on your hearths, and bright eyes and happy hearts surround you, at this "so hallowed and so gracious time!"_ _being anxious to make the present volume as complete as circumstances will admit by including within its pages, as far as practicable, all answers to the queries which have been propounded in it, we have this week omitted our usual_ notes on books, &c. _for the purpose of making room for the numerous_ replies _which we have in type._ e. c. h. _your friendly suggestion is a very valuable one. there are many difficulties in the way of carrying it out; but we do not despair of being enabled to surmount them in the course of another year or two, which we think will be time enough._ w. e. (pimperne). _your note has been forwarded._ g. c._'s reply to_ serviens _will appear next week; his query in the new volume._ j. d. l. (bristol). _the custom is almost universal. horsehoes were found nailed on the celebrated gates of somnauth._ e. h. d. d._'s wishes shall be attended to in our next._ photographer. _your complaint of the shortness of the notice of the proposed exhibition is one we have heard from several quarters. many will consequently be prevented sending in pictures for exhibition by the impossibility of printing them during the present unfavourable weather._ index to volume the eighth.--_this is in a very forward state, and will, we trust, be ready for delivery with_ no. . _on the st of january._ _errata._--vol. viii., p. ., for "not in the new testament" read "or of the new testament;" and for "read this with an accent on the antepenultima" read "read this with an accent on the penultima." "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * { } price one guinea, in massive carved covers; or s. bound, parables of our lord, illuminated in the missal style. by henry noel humphreys. by the same illuminator, price one guinea each, miracles of our lord. maxims and precepts of the saviour. book of ruth. record of the black prince. sentiments and similes of shakspeare. london: longman, brown, green,& longmans. * * * * * a new edition, in vols. vo., with maps, price s. mcculloch's dictionary, geographical, statistical, and historical, of the world. *** a new edition of mcculloch's dictionary of commerce will be ready in january. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * in vol. vo., price s. cloth; or half-russia s. mr. a. keith johnston's new dictionary of geography, descriptive, physical, statistical, and historical; forming a complete general gazetteer of the world. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * just published, in vo., price to the trade, s. d. the twelfth annual report of the registrar-general of births, deaths, and marriages, in england. london: published for h. m. stationery office by messrs. longman, brown, green, & longmans; of whom the previous reports (from the first to the eleventh inclusive) may still be had. * * * * * lately published, in vols. vo., price s. the saxons in england: a history of the english commonwealth till the period of the norman conquest. by john m. kemble, m.a. f.c.p.s. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * now ready, in post vo., price s. d. lectures on the true, the beautiful, and the good. by m. victor cousin. translated, with the author's approbation, from the new and greatly improved french edition, by o. w. wight, translator of cousin's "course of the history of modern philosophy." edinburgh: t. & j. clark. london: hamilton, adams, & co. * * * * * the sacred garland, or the christian's daily delight. "pluck a flower." a new edition of the above excellent and popular work will shortly be published in large type, crown vo., and may be obtained of any respectable bookseller in town or country. milner & sowerby. halifax. * * * * * cheap edition of the lives of the queens. notice.--with the magazines, on the st of january, will be published, beautifully printed in post vo., embellished with fourteen portraits, including that of the author, price s. d. elegantly bound. the first volume of a new and cheap edition of the lives of the queens of england. by agnes strickland. this new and cheap edition, embellished with portraits of every queen, engraved from the most authentic sources, and combining all other late improvements, will be regularly published and completed in eight monthly volumes post octavo; containing from to pages each, price only s. d. per volume, handsomely bound; and those who may desire to obtain copies on the day of publication, are requested to send their orders immediately to their respective booksellers. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street, london; and to be had of all booksellers. * * * * * chambers's journal of popular literature, science, and arts. the second series of chambers's edinburgh journal, will close with no. . on december , and the first number of a new periodical, with the above title, will be issued on saturday, th january, . resembling the existing work in its external form, the new one will exhibit such fresh features as will afford, it is hoped, a pledge of the wishes of messrs. chambers to adapt their efforts to the improving tastes of the age. in particular there will be presented a higher class of fiction, commencing with a tale of modern life, by mr. leitch ritchie, which will be continued in weekly chapters till completed; also a monthly review of the library and studio, in addition to a monthly record, still more carefully drawn up than formerly, of the progress of science and the useful arts. among expected contributions of importance, may be mentioned a series of articles on things as they are in america, by mr. william chambers, who is at present travelling in the united states and canada, for the purpose of personal inquiry observation. it will be the constant study of the editors to maintain in the new work all those general features which for twenty-two years have given their journal its extensive popularity--a cheerful light literature, comprehensive information, sound ethics, and enlightened views of a progressive social economy, without the admixture of controversial matter of any kind. issued in weekly numbers, at ½d. -------- monthly parts. at d. and ½d. -------- half-yearly volumes. at s. d. the second series of chambers's edinburgh journal will form complete work, in twenty handsome volumes, well adapted for popular as well as private libraries, for emigrants, and for presents; price l. s. in sheets, or l. s. bound in cloth. price of each volume separately, in cloth, s. d. published by w.& r. chambers, . bride passage, fleet street, london. and . high street. edinburgh; j. mcglashan, dublin; h. campbell, glasgow; and all booksellers. * * * * * this day, fourth and cheaper edition, vols. s. the heir of redclyffe. by the author of "henrietta's wish," "the kings of england," &c. london: john w. parker & son. west strand. * * * * * new and complete edition of mr. burke's works and correspondence. in vols. vo., price l. s. the works and correspondence of the right hon. edmund burke. this edition contains.-- . mr. burke's correspondence between the year and his decease in (first published from the original mss. in , by earl fitswilliam and sir richard bourke), containing numerous historical and biographical notes and original letters from the leading statesmen of the period, and forming an autobiography of this celebrated writer.-- . the works of mr. burke, as edited by his literary executor, the late bishop of rochester. (this edition includes the whole of the contents of the former editions published in vols., at the price of l. s.) rivingtons, waterloo place. * * * * * this day is published price s., elements of physical and classical geography, comprising the geography of the ancient world in so far as it is subservient to the understanding of the classics. with an introduction, containing-- . a popular account of the solar system, and suggestions as to the best mode of teaching geography.-- . an outline of the geological history of the globe.-- . a digest of all that is known of the properties and relations of the heavenly bodies, arranged in a tabular series. by professor pillans, of the university of edinburgh. william blackwood & sons. edinburgh and london. * * * * * heraldic illustrations, &c. by a. p. harrison. the following works illustrative of english history, genealogy, &c., may be had of the author and designer. no. . gilbert street. grosvenor square, at the prices set against the respective works. copies will be forwarded, post free, on receipt of a post office order for the amount. i. roll of arms granted by henry iii. as hereditary bearings to the nobility. price, in colours, l. s. d. emblazoned in gold, l. s. ii. roll of arms granted by edward i. as hereditary bearings to the knights companions at the siege of karlaverock, a.d. . price, in colours, s. d. emblazoned in gold, s. iii. roll of arms granted by richard ii. to his nobility, a.d. . price, in colours. l. s. d. emblazoned in gold, l. s. iv. roll of arms of all the knights of the garter from their installation plates at st. george's chapel, windsor castle, &c. price, in colours, l. s. emblazoned in gold, l. v. facsimile of magna charta, with arms of the barons. vi. genealogy of sovereigns of england from egbert, with their arms, &c. price, coloured, s. emblazoned in gold, l. s. d. vii. facsimiles of the warrant for the execution of mary queen of scots and of king charles i. price, on parchment, s. d. each. on vellum paper, s. d. each. * * * * * science of archery, showing its affinity to heraldry, &c. by a. p. harrison, author of "treatise on the formation of the english constitution," &c. vo. price s. d. a. p. harrison, . gilbert street, grosvenor square. * * * * * { } queenwood college, near stockbridge, hants. _principal_--george edmondson. _mathematics and natural philosophy._--dr. thos. a. hirst, of the universities of marburg and berlin. _chemistry._--dr. h. debus, late assistant in the laboratory of professor bunsen, and chemical lecturer in the university of marburg. _classics and history._--mr. john s. mummery, l. c. p. _modern languages and foreign literature._--mr. john haas, from m. de fellenberg's institution, hofwyl, switzerland. _geodesy._--mr. richard p. wright. _painting and drawing._--mr. richard p. wright. _english, and junior mathematics._--mr. william singleton. ditto.--mr. edwin coombes. _music._--mr. william cornwall. terms. for boys under years of age l. per ann. " from to " " above " for further information see prospectus, to be had of the principal. the first session of commences on the th of january. * * * * * christmas presents.--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist. c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * winter exhibition of photography.--an entirely new collection of photographic pictures, including mr. robertson's views of constantinople; m. martin's magnificent scenery among the glaciers of switzerland; and mr. delamotte's progress of the crystal palace at sydenham; is now open. admission d. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * prince of wales's sketch-box.--containing colours, pencils. &c., with printed directions, as now used by the royal family. price s. miller's, artist's colour manufacturer, . long acre, london; and at her majesty's steam colour and pencil works, pimlico. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * popular science. * * * * * new work by professor johnston. * * * * * the chemistry of common life. by james f. w. johnston, m.a. f.r.ss. l. & e., &c. author of "lectures on agricultural chemistry and geology," "a catechism of agricultural chemistry," &c. * * * * * it is the object of the author to exhibit in this work the present condition of chemical knowledge and mastered scientific opinion upon the subjects it treats of. the reader will not be surprised, therefore, should he find in it some things which differ from what is to be found in other popular works already in his hands, or on the shelves of his library. it will be issued in monthly numbers, in the following order: .--the air we breathe. the water we drink. .--the soil we cultivate. the plant we rear. .--the bread we eat. the beef we cook. .--the beverages we infuse. .--the sweets we extract. the liquors we ferment. .--the narcotics we indulge in. .--the odours we enjoy. the smells we dislike. .--what we breathe and breathe for. what, how, and why we digest. .--the body we cherish. the circulation of matter, a recapitulation. *** nos. & . are published, price sixpence each. * * * * * william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * surrey archÆological society. president.--his grace the duke of norfolk. gentlemen desiring to join the society, are informed that copies of the rules, list of members (upwards of ), and forms of application for admission, may be obtained from the honorary secretary. £ s. annual subscription composition for life on and after january , , an entrance fee of s. will be required, from which those members who join the society during the present month will be exempt. george bish webb, honorary secretary. . addison road north, notting hill. * * * * * to antiquitaries and secretaries of public institutions. the rev. j. g. cumming, m.a., f.g.s., vice-principal of king william college, castletown, who is engaged in the preparation of a work on the monumental remains of the isle of man, is superintending the labours of an italian artist in taking casts of the most beautiful and important runic crosses, to be placed in the insular museum at the college: parties desiring duplicates may obtain full particulars of cost, &c. by application as above. * * * * * assyrian language. rev. dr. e. hincks would dispose of a number of books and mss. connected with the assyrian language, and would also give _vivâ voce_ instruction therein to a gentleman who may be willing to devote himself to this important study: and who, from his age, antecedents, and present position, may appear to him likely to succeed in it. apply to him at the rectory, killyleagh, co. down, before the st january. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s. notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also in vo.; pp. ; plates ; price s., or coloured, s. a history of infusorial animalcules. living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign; the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on reflecting and solar microscopes; eye-pieces; micrometers, &c. also, edited by the same, price s., english patents; being a register of all those granted in the arts, manufactures, chemistry, &c., during the first forty-five years of this century. whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * the most comfortable christmas present is heal & son's eider down quilt. it is the warmest, the highest and the most elegant covering, suitable for the bed, the couch, or the carriage; and for invalids, its comfort cannot be too highly appreciated. it is made in three varieties, of which a large assortment can be seen at their establishment. list of prices of the above, together with the catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * solicitors' & general life assurance society, . chancery lane, london. * * * * * _subscribed capital, one million._ * * * * * this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurance may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * photography. a complete set of apparatus for l. s., containing an expanding camera, with warranted double achromatic adjusting lenses, a portable stand, pressure frame, levelling stand, and baths, complete. portrait lenses of double achromatic combination, from l. s. d. landscape lenses, with rack adjustment, from s. a guide to the practice of this interesting art, s., by post free, s. d. french polished mahogany stereoscopes, from s. d. a large assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same in daguerreotype, calotype, or albumen, at equally low prices. achromatic microscopes. beautifully finished achromatic microscope, with all the latest improvement and apparatus, complete from l. s., at c. baker's, optical and mathematical instrument warehouse, . high holborn (opposite day & martin's). * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post. s. d. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * views in london. stereoscopes and stereoscopic pictures. bland & long, . fleet street, opticians and philosophical instrument makers, invite attention to their stock of stereoscopes of all kinds, and in various materials; also, to their new and extensive assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same, in daguerreotype on paper, and transparent albumen pictures on glass, including views of london, paris, the rhine, windsor, &c. these pictures, for minuteness of detail and truth in the representation of natural objects, are unrivalled. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. *** "familiar explanation of the phenomena" sent on application. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites. gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * { } literary gift books. * * * * * the following may now be had:-- i. byron's poetical works. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. ii. byron's poetical works. complete in one volume, with portrait and vignette. s. iii. byron's poetical works. in eight pocket volumes. s. iv. byron's childe harold. illustrated by a portrait of ada and vignettes. s. d. v. byron's life and letters. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. vi. byron's life and letters. complete in one volume, with portraits and vignette. s. vii. crabbe's life and poems. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. viii. crabbe's life and poems. complete in one volume, with portrait and vignettes. s. d. ix. bishop heber's indian journals. vols. s. x. bishop heber's poems. with portrait. s. d. xi. milman's poetical works. with plates and vignettes. vols. s. xii. milman's works of horace. illustrated with vignettes by scharf. s. xiii. milman's life of horace. with woodcuts. s. xiv. lockhart's ancient spanish ballads. s. d. xv. lockhart's life of robert burns. s. xvi. croker's boswell's johnson. complete in one volume. portraits. s. xvii. rejected addresses. with portrait and woodcuts. s. xviii. allan cunningham's poems and songs. with woodcuts. s. d. xix. sir humphry davy's consolations. with woodcuts. s. xx. sir humphry davy's salmonia. with woodcuts. s. xxi. hallam's literary essays and characters. s. xxii. book of common prayer. with woodcuts, initials, and coloured borders. s. xxiii. southey's book of the church. s. xxiv. wilkinson's ancient egyptians. with woodcuts. vols. s. xxv. bray's life of stothard. illustrated with portrait, and woodcuts. s. xxvi. the family arabian nights. illustrated with woodcuts by harvey. s. xxvii. james' fables of Æsop. with woodcuts by tenniel. s. d. xxviii. essays from "the times." s. xxix. the fairy ring. with woodcuts by richard doyle. s. d. xxx. jesse's country life. with woodcuts. s. xxxi. jesse's natural history. with woodcuts. s. * * * * * john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxvii. advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the nd, and bills for insertion by the th, of january. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * dr. smith's school history of greece. now ready, with woodcuts, mo., s. d. a school history of greece: with supplementary chapters on the literature, art, and domestic manners of the greeks. by dr. wm. smith, editor of the "dictionary of greek and roman antiquities," &c. john murray, albemarle street; and walton & maberly, upper gower street and ivy lane. * * * * * wilkinson's ancient egyptians. now ready, with woodcuts. vols. post vo. s. the ancient egyptians: a popular account of their manners and customs, revised and abridged from his larger work. by sir j. gardner wilkinson. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * this day, a new edition, with an index, fcap. vo., s. handbook of familiar quotations, chiefly from english authors. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * robertson's church history. now ready, vol. vo., s. the history of the christian church to the pontificate of gregory the great. a manual for general readers as well as for students in theology. by rev. james c. robertson. m. a. vicar of beakesbourne. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * milman's life and works of horace. this day, with woodcuts, vo., s., bound. life of horace. by the rev. h. h. milman, dean of st. paul's. also, uniform with the above, vo., s. the works of horace. edited by dean milman, and illustrated by engravings of coins, gems, statues, &c., from the antique. "not a page can be opened where the eye does not light upon some antique gem. mythology, history, art, manners, topography, have all their fitting representatives. it is the highest praise to say, that the designs throughout add to the pleasure with which horace is read."--_classical museum._ john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the family arabian nights. now ready, a new and beautiful edition, with woodcuts by harvey, one volume, royal vo., price one guinea. the arabian nights' entertainment. translated by edward william lane, esq., author of the "modern egyptians," &c. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * this day, vols. fcap. vo., s. once upon a time. by charles knight. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page teaching a dog french, by arthur paget the religion of the russians leicestershire epitaphs, by william kelly longfellow's "reaper and the flowers" minor notes:--"receipt" or "recipe"--death of philip iii. of spain--churchwardens--epigram--oxford commemoration squib, --professor macgillivray--manifesto of the emperor nicholas queries:-- william cookworthy, the inventor of british porcelain, by j. prideaux catholic floral directories, &c. george alsop minor queries:--b. l. m.--member of parliament electing himself--"suaviter in modo, fortiter in re"--jacobite garters --daughters taking their mothers' names--general fraser--a punning divine--contango--pedigree to the time of alfred-- "service is no inheritance"--antiquity of fire-irons-- general wolfe at nantwich--"corporations have no souls," &c.--leeming family--ms. poems and songs--bishop watson minor queries with answers:--herbert's "memoirs of the last years of charles i."--"liturgy of the ancients"--"ancient hallowed dee"--who was true blue?--charge of plagiarism against paley--weber's "cecilia"--andrew johnson--ms. by glover--gurney's short-hand--spurious don quixote replies:-- pronunciation of hebrew names and words in the bible, by t. j. buckton, &c. lord halifax and mrs. catherine barton, by weld taylor inscriptions in books praying to the west "green eyes," by c. forbes, &c. the myrtle bee, by w. r. d. salmon tin milton's widow books chained to desks in churches--old parochial libraries the court-house, by p. h. fisher photography.--on the simplicity of the calotype process, by dr. diamond replies to minor queries:--belike--stage-coaches--birthplace of king edward v.--ringing church bells at death--what is the origin of "getting into a scrape?"--high dutch and low dutch--discovery of planets--gloves at fairs--awk--tenet-- lovett of astwell--irish rhymes--passage in boerhaave-- unkid--to split paper--la fleur des saints--dr. butler and st. edmund's bury, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. teaching a dog french. "n. & q." the other day (vol. viii., p. .) contained a curious tale of a cat: will you insert as a pendent the following one of a dog? the supposition that d. julio was some obnoxious frenchman protected by the government, seems necessary to account for the "teachyng a dogg frenche" in front of his door constituting such a dire offence. his name occurs, if i remember rightly, in dr. dee's _diary_ (cam. soc.), but i have not the book at hand to refer to. perhaps some of your correspondents may inform me who he was. the original is in the lansdowne ms. ( . no. .) in the british museum; and the fact of its being amongst lord burleigh's papers shows that the occurrence took place between and , the respective dates of his appointment as "l tresurer" and his death. arthur paget. * * * * * "_d. julio's abstract of the deposicons of ye witnesses sworne touching ye speches of john paget_. "to proue that one william (sic) paget, on the v^{th} day of this present moneth, being friday, betwixt viii and ix of the clocke at nyght, went vp and down teachyng a dogg frenche. " . m^{ris} karter, a jentilwoman borne, sayeth, that about the same tym, she did hear the said paget, that he wold teache his dogg to speak frenche. " . m^{ris} anne coot, a jentilwoman, affirmeth the same. " . one william poyser, yeoman, sayeth, that he harde paget saye that he wold make his dogg speake as good frenche as any of them. " . james hudson sayeth, that standing at his maisters doore he did hear paget speake to his dogg in a straunge language, but what language he knew not. " . edward, a grosser, is to be deposed that he harde paget say, i will teache my dogg to speake frenche, and was talking with his dogg in frenche. "to proue that the sayd paget did say, shortlye will come vnto the realme frenche dogges, i hope i shall see thame all rootted out. " . m^{ris} karter sayeth, she harde paget say, shortlie wil come vnto the realme frenche dogges, i hope i shall see thame all rootted out. { } " . m^{ris} anne coot affirmeth the same. " . william poyser sayeth, he harde paget say, within this week or two, there will come a great many frenche dogges. " . m^{ris} eleonore borgourneci vppon her othe affirmeth the same. " . the l maior writteth in his l[=r]e to my l tresurer that paget affirmeth before him that he wold the realme were ryd of all yll straungers, adding this qualification. [qualification not given.] "to proue the great assembly that was with paget, before d. julio came home to his howse. " . john polton saieth, when his maister came home there was about a hundreth persone of men, women, and chyldren, vp and downe there. " . james hudson sayeth, that he thinketh there was about ^{xx}iiii people assembled in the streett before this examinat his maister came home. " . richard preston sayeth, that there was in his iudgement aboue a hundred people in the streett before this deponets maister came home, and after his m^r came home the nomber of the people were greater. "to proue that the sayd paget did resiste to the constable when he came to apprehend him. " . william poyser sayeth, when the constable came to apprehende the sayd paget he kept the constable out with force, and sayd he should not enter on him. " . james hudson sayeth, paget wold not suffer the constable to entere vnto his howse, but sayd if any man will entere vnto this howse, yf it were not f^r felony or treason to apprehend him, he wold kill hym, yf he could, f^r he sayd his howse was his castell. " . richard preston sayeth, when the constable came to apprehende pagett, he hauing a bill or halberd in his hand, did keape him out of his howse, and sayd, he showld not enter except it were f^r felonye or treason, or that he brought my l maiors warrant." * * * * * the religion of the russians. public attention being very particularly directed towards the russian nation at the present time, a few remarks regarding some peculiarities in their manner of worship, &c., which probably are not generally known, may be interesting. i have been for some time past endeavouring to determine the exact nature of the homage the russians pay to the "gods"--whether they should be called _images_ or _pictures_? and whether the russians should be considered idolaters or not? whenever a russian passes a church, his custom is to cross himself (some do so three times, accompanying it with bowing). in every room in their houses an image (or picture) is placed in the east corner, before which they uncover their heads and cross themselves on entering. their churches are filled with these their representatives of the deity, and it is very curious to observe a devout russian kissing the toe of one, crossing himself before another, while to another he will in addition prostrate himself, even with his head to the ground; this latter is also very frequently done at intervals during the celebration of their services: but their churches are always open, so that if any one wants to pay devotion to a particular image (or picture) while no service is going on, he can do so. i understand that they consider they worship the deity through these representations. in the present day these gods are called _obraaz_, of which the literal translation is _image_. the old sclavonic word for them is _eekona_, which was formerly in general use, and has exactly the same meaning, answering to the greek word [greek: eikôn]. as far as i can make out, neither of these words can be translated _picture_; but i do not remember to have found this point touched upon in any books i i have read on russia or its religion; and hope, if any correspondent is able to give us farther information on the subject, he will do so. the russians also believe in relics, in their efficacy in healing diseases, working other miracles, &c. notwithstanding this, a very short time ago, a new relic was found in the south of russia, and a courier being immediately despatched with it to the emperor at st. petersburg; on his arrival, his imperial majesty (expecting some important news regarding his operations in the neighbourhood of turkey), when told his errand, exclaimed, "away with the relic! it is time to put an end to such nonsense." would that this were to be carried out! but their superstitions seem too deeply rooted to be done away with in a short time. j. s. a. * * * * * leicestershire epitaphs. having seen only one epitaph from this county among those which have appeared in "n. & q.," i annex a few specimens, which you may perhaps deem worth inserting in your pages. burbage: "these pretty babes, who we did love, departed from us like a dove; these babes, who we did much adore, is gone, and cannot come no more." hinckley: "my days on earth they were but few, with fever draughts and cordials few, they wasted like the morning dew." braunstone: "all triumph yesterday, to-day all terror! nay, the fair morning overcast ere even: nay, one short hour saw well and dead, war's mirror having death's swift stroke unperceived given." { } another: "an honest, prudent wife was she; and was always inclin'd a tender mother for to be, and to her neighbours kind." belgrave. this i quote from memory; it may not be verbally, but it is substantially correct: "laurance stetly slumbers here; he lived on earth near forty year; october's eight-and-twentieth day his soul forsook its house of clay, and thro' the pure ether took its way. we hope his soul doth rest in heaven. ." newtown linford, adjoining bradgate park. in this churchyard is a tombstone on which is engraved only the letters of the alphabet and the simple numerals. the story goes, that he who lies below, an illiterate inhabitant of the village in the last century, whose name, i believe, is now forgotten, being very anxious that, after death, a tombstone should be erected to perpetuate his memory, and being fearful that his relatives might neglect to do so, came to leicester to purchase one himself. seeing this stone in the mason's workshop (where it was used by the workmen as a pattern for the letters and figures), he bought it "a bargain," supposing it would serve his purpose as well as a new one, and after his decease it was placed at the head of his grave, where it now appears. all saints' churchyard, leicester. on two children of john bracebridge, who were both named john, and died infants: "both john and john soon lost their lives, and yet, by god, john still survives." throsby (_hist. of leic._) relates that bishop thurlow, at one of his visitations, had the words _by god_ altered to _thro' god_. william kelly. leicester. * * * * * longfellow's "reaper and the flowers." on looking over, a short time ago, a book of german songs, i was much struck by the similarity of thought, and even sometimes of expression, between the above piece from mr. longfellow's _voices of the night_, and a song by luise reichardt, a few verses of which i subjoin; as perhaps the song may not be known to some of your correspondents. "it is a favourite theme," as sir w. scott says, "of laborious dulness to trace such coincidences, because they appear to reduce genius of the higher order to the usual standard of humanity, and of course to bring the author nearer to a level with his critics." it is not, however, with the view of detracting from the originality of mr. longfellow, that these two small pieces are put side by side; for possibly the song alluded to was never seen by our transatlantic neighbour, but merely for the purpose of showing how the poets treat the same, and certainly not very novel subject. "der schnitter tod. (von luise reichartdt.) "es ist ein schnitter, der heisst tod, der hat gestalt vom höchsten gott. heut' wetzt er das messer, es schneid't schon viel besser, bald wird er drein schneiden, wir müssen's nur leiden. hüte dich, schön's blümelein! "was heut' noch grün und frisch dasteht, wird morgen schon hinweg gemäht; die edlen narzissen, die zierden der wiesen die schön' nyagnithen, die turkischen binden. hüte dich, schön's blümelein! "viel hundert tausend ungezählt, was nur unter die sichel fällt: ihr rosen, ihr lilien, euch wird er austilgen, auch die kaiserkronen wird er nicht verschonen, hüte dich, schön's blümelein! "trotz, tod! komm her, ich fürcht' dich nicht! trotz, eil daher in einem schnitt! werd' ich nur verletzet, so werd' ich versetzet, in den himmlischen garten, auf den wir alle warten, freue dich, schön's blümelein!" j. c. b. * * * * * minor notes. _"receipt" or "recipe."_--in one of mr. ryle's popular tracts, "_do you pray?_" wertheim and mackintosh: london, , occurs the following expression, p. .: "what is the best _receipt_ for happiness?" is the use of "receipt" for "recipe" to be admitted into the english language? w. e. _death of philip iii. of spain._--d'israeli, in his _curiosities of literature_, states to the effect that this kings fatal illness was induced by the overheating of a brazier, whereof state etiquette forbad the removal until the person in regular attendance should arrive. for this statement he quotes no authority, and consequently mr. bolton corney, in his _illustrations of the curiosities of literature_ ( nd ed., p. .), discredits the story. it is singular that mr. corney should have forgotten that the anecdote is given by the maréchal { } de bassompierre, who was at madrid at the time of the king's death; the maréchal's informant was the marquis de pobar, _who was present at the scene_. is not this sufficient? (see _mémoires de bassompierre_, under the date of th of march, , vol. i. p. . of the edition of cologne, .) c. v. _churchwardens._--in an old scrap-book in my possession, i met with the following, which, should you deem it of sufficient interest, i shall be glad to see inserted in "n. & q." the print appears to be about sixty or seventy years old, and evidently from a newspaper: "the institution of churchwardens is of remote antiquity, they having been first appointed at the african council, held under celestine and boniface, about the year of our lord . these officers have at different periods been distinguished by different appellations, _defensores_, _oeconomi_, and _præpositi ecclesiæ_, _testes synodales_, &c. in the time of edward iii. they were called church reves, as we read in chaucer: 'of church reves, and of testamentes, of contractes, and of lacke of sacramentes.' at this day they are called churchwardens; all those names being expressive of the nature of the office, which is to guard, preserve, and superintend the rights, revenues, buildings, and furniture of the church. in an old churchwarden's book of accounts, belonging to the parish of farringdon, in the county of berks, and bearing date a.d. , there is the form of admitting churchwardens into their office at that period, in the following words: 'cherchye wardenys, thys shall be your charge: to be true to god and to the cherche: for love nor for favor off no man wythin thys parriche to withold any ryght to the cherche; but to resseve the dettys to hyt belongythe, or else to go to the devell.'" your readers will observe that the last is a very summary kind of sentence. any farther information relating to the institution of churchwardens[ ] will be esteemed by j. b. whitborne. [footnote : on the institution of churchwardens consult burn's _ecclesiastical law_, tit. churchwardens; and the works noticed in "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .] _epigram._--in an old book i found this epigram, published in , more suitable perhaps for your columns during the excitement of the papal aggression than now: "on rome. "hate and debate rome through the world hath spread, yet roma, amor is, if backward read; then is it strange, rome hate should foster? no, for out of backward love, all hate doth grow." aliquis. edinburgh. _oxford commemoration squib_, .--the following _jeu d'esprit_ was circulated in oxford at the commemoration in ; it created a great sensation at the time, from its clever allusion to the political changes on the other side of the channel, and, i think, deserves to be rescued from oblivion by a place in the columns of "n. & q.:" "liberty! fraternity! equality! "citizen academicians, "the cry of reform has been too long unheard. our infatuated rulers refused to listen to it. the term of their tyranny is at length accomplished. the vice-chancellor has fled on horseback. the proctors have resigned their usurped authority. the scouts have fraternised with the friends of liberty. the university is no more. a republican lyceum will henceforth diffuse light and civilisation. the hebdomadal board is abolished. the legislative powers will be entrusted to a general convention of the whole lyceum. a provisional government has been established. the undersigned citizens have nobly devoted themselves to the task of administration. (signed) "citizen clough (_president of the executive council_). sewell. bossom (_operative_). john conington. wrightson." your academical readers will appreciate the signatures. tewars. _professor macgillivray._--the mention by w. (vol. viii., p. .) of this lamented naturalist's posthumous work, descriptive of the _natural history of balmoral_, and of its intended publication by prince albert, induces me to hope that you will give insertion to the following extract from professor macgillivray's _history of the molluscous animals of aberdeenshire_, &c., as showing the character of the man, and the spirit in which he prosecuted his researches. "the labour required for such an investigation cannot be at all appreciated by those who have not directed their energies towards such an object. the rocky coasts and sandy beaches of the sea, the valleys and hills of the interior, the pastures, mossy banks, thickets, woods, rocks, ruins, walls, ditches, pools, canals, rills, and rivers, were all to be assiduously searched. no collections of mollusca made in the district were known to me, nor do any of our libraries contain the works necessary to be consulted, although that of king's college supplies some of great value. in a situation so remote from the great centres of civilisation, the solution of doubts is often difficult of attainment, and there is always a risk of describing as new what may already have been entered into the long catalogue of known objects. but the pleasure of continually adding to one's knowledge, the sympathy of friends, the invigorating influence of the many ramblings required, the delight of aiding others in the same pursuits, and many other circumstances, amply suffice to carry one through greater difficulties than those alluded to, even should the sneers of the { } ignorantly-wise, or the frowns of the pompously-grave, be directed toward the unconscious wight, who, immersed in mud, gropes with the keenness of a money-gatherer, for the to them insignificant objects, which have exercised the wisdom and the providence of the glorious creator."--preface, p. . j. macray. _manifesto of the emperor nicholas._--some of the newspapers, having stated that the concluding latin words in this manifesto--"domine in te speravi, ne confundar in eternum"--are from the psalms, i beg to say that these words are not taken from the scriptures of either testament, nor from the apocrypha; but constitute the last verse of the "te deum," commencing, "we acknowledge thee to be the lord," and ending, "o lord, in thee have i trusted, let me never be confounded." it is usual to sing "te deum" after victories, but nicholas begins his song _before_ he achieves one: taking the _last_ verse _first_. t. j. buckton. lichfield. * * * * * queries. william cookworthy, the inventor of british porcelain. in endeavouring to revive the neglected memory of this good and great man, i have carefully looked over the chief periodicals of his day ( to ) with very little success; perhaps because those i have at command, the _gentleman's magazine_, _universal magazine_, and _universal museum_, were not those selected for his correspondence. if any of your readers can refer me to any papers or essays of his, or any details of the internal management of his china works, or of his public or private life, it will be doing me a great favour. what i have hitherto collected are chiefly fragmentary accounts of his life and character; general notices of his discovery of the china clay and stone, of the progress of his manufactory, and of his treatment of british cobalt ores; details of his experiments on the distillation of sea-water for use on ship-board; a treatise in detail on the divining rod; and several of his private letters, chiefly religious. most of these i have thrown out in print, under the title of _relics of william cookworthy, &c._, which i am desirous of making much more complete. j. prideaux. * * * * * catholic floral directories, etc. more than a year ago (vol. vi., p. .) i made a query respecting catholic floral directories, and two works in particular which were largely quoted in mr. oakley's _catholic florist_, lond. ; and i again alluded to them in vol. vii., p. ., but have not got any reply. the two works referred to, viz. the _anthologia borealis et australis_, and the _florilegium sanctorum aspirationum_, are not to be heard of anywhere (so far as i can see) save in mr. oakley's book. during the last year i have ransacked all the bibliographical authorities i could lay hold of, and made every inquiry after these mysterious volumes, but all in vain. the orthography and style of the passages cited are of a motley kind, and most of them read like modern compositions, though here and there we have a quaint simile and a piece of antique spelling. in fact they seem more like imitations than anything else; and i cannot resist the temptation of placing them on the same shelf with mcpherson's _ossian_ and the poems of rowley. in some places a french version of the _florilegium_ is quoted: even if that escaped one's researches, is it likely that two old english books (which these purport to be), of such a remarkable kind, should be unknown to all our bibliographers, and to the readers of "n. & q.," among whom may be found the chief librarians and bibliographers in the three kingdoms. is it not strange also that mr. oakley and his "compiler" decline giving any information respecting these books? i shall feel extremely obliged to any correspondent who will clear up this matter, and who will furnish me with a list of catholic floral directories. eirionnach. * * * * * george alsop. george alsop was ordained deacon - , priest , by henry king, bishop of chichester. he printed in -- "an orthodox plea for the sanctuary of god, common service, and white robe of the house. printed for the author, and sold by r. reynolds, at the sun and bible in the postern." it is a small vo. of eighty-six pages, exclusive of the dedication to the bishop of chichester, and an epistle to the reader, and has a portrait of the author by w. sherwin. can any of your readers give me any account of this george alsop, his preferment, if any, and the time of his death? he is, i feel persuaded, a different person from the author of _a character of maryland_, mo., . p. b. * * * * * minor queries. _b. l. m._--what is the meaning of the abbreviation b. l. m. in italian epistolary correspondence? i have reason to believe that it is used { } where some degree of acquaintance exists, but not in addressing an entire stranger. in a correspondence now before me, one of the writers, an italian gentleman, uses it in the subscription to _every one_ of his letters, _except the first_, thus: "ho l'honore d' essere col piu profondo rispetto b. l. m. il di lei umiliss. dev. servo." "frattanto la prego di volermi credere nella piu ampla estentione del termine b. l. m. il di lei ubb^o. ed obligato servitore." i need not add more examples. there is nothing in graglia's _collection of italian letters_ that explains it. j. w. t. dewsbury. _member of parliament electing himself._--in the biographical notices of the author of an _inquiry into the rise and growth of the royal prerogative in england_, , i find the following curious circumstances: "the writ for election (of a member for the county of bute) was transmitted to the sheriff, mr. mcleod bannatine, afterwards lord bannatine. he named the day, and issued his precept for the election. when the day of election arrived, mr. bannatine was the only freeholder present. as freeholder he voted himself chairman of the meeting; as sheriff he produced the writ and receipt for election, read the writ and the oaths against bribery at elections; as sheriff he administered the oaths of supremacy, &c., to himself as chairman; he signed the oaths as chairman and as sheriff; as chairman he named the clerk to the meeting, and called over the roll of freeholders; he proposed the candidate and declared him elected; he dictated and signed the minutes of election; as sheriff he made an indenture of election between himself as sheriff and himself as chairman, and transmitted it to the crown office." can any of your correspondents furnish me with a similar case? h. m. peckham. "_suaviter in modo, fortiter in re._"--this rule is strongly recommended by lord chesterfield in one of his letters, as "unexceptionably useful and necessary in every part of life." whence is it taken, and who is its author? j. w. t. dewsbury. _jacobite garters._--can any of your readers inform me of the origin of the "rebel garters," a pair of which i possess, and which have been carefully handed down with other stuart relics by my jacobin fathers? they are about feet long, and ¼ inch deep, of silk woven in the loom; the pattern consists of a stripe of red, yellow, and blue, once repeated, and arranged so that the two blue lines meet in the centre. at each end, for about six or seven inches, and at spaces set at regular intervals, these lines of colour are crossed, so as to form a check or tartan; the spaces corresponding with the words in the following inscription, and one word being allotted to each space: "_come lett us with one heart agree_" and it is continued on the other: "_to pray that god may bless p. c._" the tartan, however, does not appear to be the "royal stuart." probably they were distributed to the friends and adherents of poor prince charles edward, to commemorate some special event in his ill-fated career. but it would be interesting to know if many of them remain, and, if possible, their correct history. e. l. i. _daughters taking their mothers' names._--can any of your readers favour me with any instances, about the time of the first, second, and third edwards, of a daughter adding to her own name that of the mother, as alicia, daughter of ada, &c. buriensis. _general fraser._--have there been any _life_ or _memoirs_ ever published of general fraser, who fell in burgoyne's most disastrous campaign? if any such exist i should be glad to know of them. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _a punning divine._--wanted the whereabouts of the following sentence, which is said to be taken from a volume of sermons published during the reign of james i.: "this _dial_ shows that we must _die all_; yet notwithstanding, _all houses_ are turned into _ale houses_; our _cares_ into _cates_; our _paradise_ into a _pair o' dice_; _matrimony_ into a _matter of money_, and _marriage_ into a _merry age_; our _divines_ have become _dry vines_; it was not so in the days of _noah_,--o no!" w. w. malta. _contango._--a technical term in use among the sharebrokers of liverpool, and i presume elsewhere, signifying a sum of money paid for accommodating either a buyer or seller by carrying the engagement to pay money or deliver shares over to the next account-day. can your correspondents say from whence derived? agmond. _pedigree to the time of alfred._--wapshott, a blacksmith in chertsey, holds lands held by his ancestors temp. alfred (mcculloch's _highlands_, vol. iv. p. .). can this statement be confirmed in ? a. c. "_service is no inheritance._"--will you or any of your readers have the goodness to inform me { } what is the origin of the adage occurring twice in the _waverley novels_, thus: "service, i wot, is no inheritance now-a-days; some are wiser than other some," &c. (see _peveril of the peak_, chap. xiv.) and "ay, st. ronan's, that is a' very true,--but service is nae inheritance, and as for friendship it begins at hame."--_st. ronan's well_, chap. x. i have seen a stone in an old building in the north of scotland, with the following inscription, cut in letters of an ancient form: "be gude in office, or (or perhaps 'for,' part of the stone being here broken off) servitude is no inheritance to none." and i am curious to know the origin of this proverb, so similar to that put by sir walter scott in the mouths of two of his homely characters; the one english and the other scotch. an answer will very much oblige g. m. t. edinburgh. _antiquity of fire-irons._--in an old book, published , i met with the following couplet: "the burnt child dreads the fire; if this be true, who first invented tongs its fury knew." query, when were fire-irons first used? aliquis. _general wolfe at nantwich._--i observe in the pamphlet entitled _historical facts connected with nantwich and its neighbourhood_, lately referred to in "n. & q.," it is stated that according to local tradition general wolfe, the hero of quebec, may in his boyhood have lived in the yew tree house, near stoke hall. now as this brave warrior was a native of kent, it is scarcely probable he would have been a visitor at the house alluded to, unless he had relatives who resided there. is he known to have had any family connexion in that quarter, since the fact of his having had such, if established, would tend to confirm the traditionary statement respecting his domicile at the yew tree house? t. p. l. manchester. _"corporations have no souls," &c._--it was once remarked that public corporations, companies, &c. do harsh things compared with what individuals can venture to do, the fact being that they have neither noses to be pulled nor souls to be saved; you have no hold upon them either in this world or the next. b. _leeming family._--a member of the society of friends, named thomas leeming, lived at or near wighton in the wolds, in the east riding of yorkshire, between the years and . what were the dates of his birth and death? what were the names of his parents, his brothers, and his children? did any of them leave their native country? and how would a letter from the inquirer reach a descendant of the family, who could furnish farther information on the subject? an answer to the whole or part of the above queries will much oblige the undersigned. w. _ms. poems and songs._--in the third volume of mr. payne collier's invaluable _history of english dramatic poetry_, p. ., it is stated,-- "mr. thorpe, of bedford street, is in possession of a ms. full of songs and poems, in the handwriting of a person of the name of richard jackson, all copied prior to the year , and including many unpublished pieces by a variety of celebrated poets." can any of the contributors to "n. & q." oblige p. c. s. s. by informing him where this ms. now exists, and whether the whole, or any portion of it, has been published? p. c. s. s. _bishop watson._--in a lecture delivered by this bishop at cambridge, he gave the following quotation: "scire ubi aliquid invenire posses, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est." will any of your readers inform me whence the passage is taken? g. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _herbert's "memoirs of the last years of charles i."_--can any of your correspondents inform me under what title and at what date sir thomas herbert's _narrative of the last years of charles i._ was published? i have at present in my possession what appears to be the original ms., and am desirous of comparing it with the printed copy. the ms. bears the title of _carolina threnodia: a plain and very particular narrative of what happened in the last years of king charles the first_, by sir thomas herbert, an eye and ear witness. its opening pages contain a reference to other letters on the same subject of an earlier date (may and , ). were these letters ever published, under what title, and when? j. b. prestwich. [this work has already been incidentally noticed in our second volume, pp. . . and .; and in vol. iii., p. . two editions of herbert's memoirs have been published; the first in , and the second in . the edition of is the best, as it contains an "advertisement to the reader," and several documents omitted in the edition published by g. and w. nicol of pall mall in . the following is the title to it:-- "memoirs of the two last years of the reign of that unparallel'd prince, of ever-blessed memory, king charles i. by sir tho. herbert, major huntington, { } col. edw. coke, and mr. hen. firebrace. with the character of that blessed martyr, by the reverend mr. john diodati, mr. alexander henderson, and the author of the _princely pelican_. to which is added, the death-bed repentance of mr. lenthal, speaker of the long parliament; extracted out of a letter written from oxford, sept. . london: printed for robert clavell, at the peacock, at the west-end of st. paul's, ," the "advertisement to the reader" states that, "there having been of late years several memoirs printed and published relating to the life and actions of the royal martyr, king charles i., of ever-blessed memory, it was judged a proper and seasonable time to publish sir thomas herbert's _carolina threnodia_, under the title of his _memoirs_, there being contained in this book the most material passages of the two last years of the life of that excellent and unparallel'd prince, which were carefully observ'd and related by the author in a large answer of a letter wrote to him by sir william dugdale. in the same book is printed major huntington's relation made to sir william of sundry particulars relating to the king; as also colonel edw. coke's and mr. henry firebrace's narratives of several memorable passages observed by them during their attendance on him at newport, in the isle of wight, anno ' . all these were copied from a ms. of the right reverend the bishop of ely, lately deceased; and, as i am credibly informed, a copy of the several originals is now to be seen amongst the dugdale mss. in oxford library. to these memoirs are added two or three small tracts, which give some account of the affairs of those times, of the character of k. charles i., and of his just claim and title to his _divine meditations_. these having been printed anno , , , and very scarce and difficult to procure, were thought fit to be reprinted for publick service. as to the letter which gives an account of mr. lenthal's carriage and behaviour on his death-bed, it was printed anno , and the truth of it attested by the learned dr. dickenson, now living in st. martin's lane.... this i thought fit to advertise the reader of, by way of introduction, that he might be satisfied of the genuineness of the respective pieces, and thereby be encouraged to peruse them with confidence and assurance."] "_liturgy of the ancients._"--who was the author of a thin to. book entitled _the liturgy of the ancients represented, as near as may be, in english forms, &c._, "london, printed for the authour, ." he added to it "a proposal of a compleat work of charity." t. g. lomax. lichfield. [edward stephens is the author of this liturgy, who describes himself as "late of cherington, co. gloucester, sometime barrister-at-law of the hon. society of the middle temple, and since engaged, by a very special divine providence, in the most sacred employment." he farther informs us, that "when it pleased god to discharge him from the civil service, his first business in public was a gentle and tacit admonition of the neglect of the most solemn and peculiar christian worship of god in this nation; accompanied by such public acts in the very heart of the chief city, as made it a most remarkable witness and testimony against them who would not receive it, but rejected the counsel and favour of god towards them." stephens's liturgy has been republished by the rev. peter hall, in his _fragmenta liturgica_, vol. ii., who thus notices the author:--"stephens was the leader of a class by no means contemptible, though himself as odd a mixture of gravity and scurrility, learning and trifling, pietism that could stoop to anything, and liberalism that stuck at nothing, as english theology affords." some account of edward stephens will be found in leslie's _letter concerning the new separation_, ; and in _an answer to a letter from the rev. c. leslie, concerning what he calls the new separation_, . stephens advocated the practice of daily communion.] "_ancient hallowed dee._"--what is the historical, traditional, or legendary allusion in this epithet, bestowed by milton on the river dee? j. w. t. dewsbury. [dee's divinity was druidical. from the same superstition, some rivers in wales are still held to have the gift or virtue of prophecy. giraldus cambrensis, who wrote in , is the first who mentions dee's sanctity from the popular traditions. in spenser, this river is the haunt of magicians: "dee, which britons long ygone did call divine." and browne, in his _britannia's pastorals_, book ii. § ., says, "never more let holy dee, ore other rivers brave," &c. much superstition was founded on the circumstance of its being the ancient boundary between england and wales; and drayton, in his tenth song, having recited this part of its history, adds, that by changing its fords it foretold good or evil, war or peace, dearth or plenty, to either country. he then introduces the dee, over which king edgar had been rowed by eight kings, relating to the story of brutus. see more on this subject in warton's note to line . in milton's _lycidas_: "now yet where deva spreads her wizard stream." _who was true blue?_--in the churchyard of little brickhill, bucks, is a table monument bearing the following inscriptions: "here lieth y^e body of _true blue_, who departed this life january y^e th, - , aged . also y^e body of eleanor, y^e wife of _true blue_, who departed this life january st, - , ageed (sic) ." who was "true blue?" if it were not for his wife eleanor, one would take him to be some kin to "eclipse" or "highflyer." lysons makes no mention of such a person; nor, i am assured by a friend who has made the search for me, does lipscomb; although another friend referred me there under the conviction that he was not only named, but that his history was given. the kind { } of tombstone is sufficient to show that he was a person of some property, and yet he has not only no "esq." affixed to his name, but it is without the prefix "mr." one can scarcely doubt that the name is not a real one. browns, blacks, whites, and greens there are in abundance, but nobody ever heard of a "blue;" nor, so far as i know, did anybody ever christen his child "true." yet what could have been the incidents of a life that required the fiction to be carried even to the grave? g. j. de wilde. [the foregoing monumental inscription is given in lipscomb's _bucks_, vol. iv. p. ., to which is subjoined the following note:--"the singularity of this name has occasioned much curiosity; but no information can be obtained besides that of _true blue_ having been a stranger, who settled here, and acquired some property, which after his decease was disposed of. it has been conjectured that he lived here under a feigned name. one hercules true, about , kept a house at windsor, to which deer-stealers were accustomed to resort; and he uttered violent threats against a person, whose son, having been killed in attempting to resist the deer-stealers in the great park, thomas shemonds prosecuted the murderers, and true declared he would knock his brains out, and is believed to have afterwards absconded."] _charge of plagiarism against paley._--has any reply been made to the accusation against paley, brought forward some years ago in _the athenæum_? it was stated (and apparently proved) that his _natural theology_ was merely a translation of a dutch work, the name of whose author has escaped my recollection. i suppose the archdeacon would have defended this shameful plagiarism on his favourite principle of expediency. it seems to me, however, that it is high time that either the accusation be refuted, or the culprit consigned to that contempt as a man which he deserved as a moralist. fiat justitia. [we have frequently had to complain of the loose manner in which queries are sometimes submitted to our readers for solution. here is a specimen. the communication above involves two other queries, which should have been settled before it had been forwarded to us, namely, . in what volume of the _athenæum_ is the accusation against paley made? and, . what is the title of the dutch work supposed to be pirated? after pulling down six volumes of the _athenæum_, we discovered that the charge against paley appeared at p. . of the one for the year , and that the work said to be pirated was written by dr. bernard nieuwentyt of holland, and published at amsterdam about the year . it was translated into english, under the title of _the religious philosopher_, vols. vo., - . the charge against paley has been ably and satisfactorily discussed in the same volume of the _athenæum_ (see pp. . .), and at the present time we have neither "ample room nor verge enough" to re-open the discussion in our pages.] _weber's_ "_cecilia._"--can you inform me whether a work by gottfried weber, entitled _cecilia_, is to be had in english or in french? i find it constantly referred to in the said weber's work on the _theory of musical composition_, and in müller's _physiology_. for any information you can give me on the subject i shall feel much indebted. philharmonicus. dublin. [_cæcilia_ is a musical art journal published in germany, and is thus noticed at page . of warner's edition of godfrey weber's _theory of musical composition_:--"since we have been laid under great obligations to our distinguished mathematician and writer on acoustics, professor _w._ weber, for most interesting developments on all these points, which he has arranged into an article in the journal _cæcilia_, vol. xii., expressly for musicians and musical instrument manufacturers."] _andrew johnson._--in the character of samuel johnson, as drawn by murphy, there is the remark, "like his uncle andrew in the ring at smithfield, johnson, in a circle of disputants, was determined neither to be thrown or conquered." other allusions are made, in boswell's _life_, to this uncle having "kept the ring," but i cannot find out who he could have been. there was a noted bruiser, tom johnson; but certainly he was not the person in question. i shall be glad if any of your readers can inform me who this "uncle andrew" was, and what authority there is for believing that he was a pugilistic champion of note. pugillus. [in the _variorum boswell_, i. e. croker's ed., , p. ., pugillus will find a note by the editor, stating that dr. johnson told mrs. piozzi that his uncle andrew "for a whole year kept the ring at smithfield, where they wrestled and boxed, and never was thrown or conquered."] _ms. by glover._--can mr. bolton corney, or mr. r. sims, inform me whether the lansdowne ms. . is in glover's handwriting? h. m. [this volume (lansdowne, .) contains twenty-six articles in different hands. art. . contains _pedigrees by glover in his own hand_. see ms. harl. ., and an autograph letter in ms. cot., titus b. vii. fol. .] _gurney's short-hand._--can any of your correspondents inform me if there have been any alterations in this system of short-hand since ? also, if it be now much used? wm. o'sullivan. ballymenagh. [this well-known system of short-hand is certainly still in use,--in fact, is that employed at the present time by the gurneys, who are the appointed short-hand writers to the houses of lords and commons.] { } _spurious don quixote._--what english and french versions are there of the spurious continuation of _don quixote_ by avellaneda? v. t. sternberg. [a notice of the english translations is given in lowndes's _bib. man._, vol. i. p. ., art. cervantes. consult also ebert's _bibl. dict._, vol. i. p. ., for the french translations.] * * * * * replies. pronunciation of hebrew names and words in the bible. (vol. viii., p. .) your correspondent does not, of course, inquire what is the proper hebrew pronunciation of the several _letters_, but rather what is the accented syllable in each word. to pronounce in a manner nearly approaching to the hebrew might make the congregation stare, but would appear very pedantic to a learned ear. the safest mode is to examine the greek of the septuagint, or of the new testament (if the reader does not understand hebrew), and observe the place of the acute accent. on that place, if it be on the penultimate or antepenultimate, the accent should be laid in english. but if the accent be on the last syllable, though it is strictly right to place it there also in english, it is not worth while to do so, for fear of making hearers talk about a strange sound, instead of attending to the service. it will be safer to accent the penultimate in dissyllables, and the antepenultimate in trisyllables, which in the greek are acutitones; in fact, to pronounce, as all clergymen used to pronounce, until a pedantic and ignorant practice arose of lengthening, or rather accenting, every syllable in the penultimate, which had or was supposed to have a long quantity in greek. hence the comparatively new habit of pronouncing [greek: sabaôth], [greek: zaboulôn], [greek: sabachthani], [greek: akeldama], with a strong accent on the penultima; whereas the old-fashioned way of accenting the antepenultima makes no one stare, and is a much nearer approach to the true pronunciation. there is a curious inconsistency in the common way of reading, in english, [greek: samareia] and [greek: kaisareia]. samar[=i]a is decidedly a greek word; but yet, in this word, it is usual to accent the antepenultima. cesar[)e]a is decidedly a latin word græcised, and yet it is usual to read this with an accent on the penultima. i never observed any of those who read sabáoth, zabúlon, and sabachtháni, read either samaría or cesárea. the greek accents on hebrew words always accord, as hebraists know, with the tonic accent in that language. e. c. h. as a contribution to the desirable object of settling the pronunciation of the words mentioned, the following representation of their pronunciation in the originals is offered. the vowels are to be read as in italian, the _th_ as in english, and the _hh_ as _ch_ in german: hebrew. sabaoth = ts[)i]-v[=a]-['=o]th. hebrew. [the] moriah = [h[)a]m-]m['=o]-r[=i]-y['=a]h. syriac. aceldama = hh[)i]-k[')a]l-d[)i]-m['=a]. syro-chaldee. eli eli lamma sabachthani = [=e]-l['=i] [=e]l['=i] l[)a]m-m['=a] s[)a]-b[')a]hh-t[)a]-n['=i], as in matthew; or [)e]-l['=o]-h[=i], as in mark. chaldee. abednego = [)a]-véd n[)i]-g['=o]. the _conventional_ pronunciation given by walker is perhaps best adapted to english ears, which would be quite repulsed by an attempt to restore the ancient pronunciation of such familiar words, for instance, as jacob, isaac, job, and jeremiah. t. j. buckton. lichfield. * * * * * lord halifax and catherine barton. (vol. viii., pp. . .) one has some doubt, in reading professor de morgan's article on the above subject, what inference is to be drawn from it. if it is to prove a private marriage between halifax and mrs. barton, on the strength of the date on the watch at the royal society being falsified, it is a failure. i have examined that watch since professor de morgan published his note, and can testify most decidedly that, if anything, the inscription is older than the case, nor is there a vestige of anything like unfair alteration; and any one accustomed to engraving would arrive at the same conclusion. the outside case is beautifully chased in louis quatorze style: but the inner case, on which the inscription is graven, has no need of such elaborate work, nor is such work ever introduced on the inside of watches; they are invariably smooth. and all that is noticeable in the present instance is, that the writing has lost the sharpness of the graver by use, or returning it into its case; or more probably the case has not been used at all, being cumbersome and set aside as a curious work of art, which indeed it is. the date on the watch is , and professor de morgan states that mrs. barton was married in ; the watch therefore denies this; but when she married conduit ought, if possible, to be found out by register, which might prove the watch date untrue; but the watch declares she was mrs. conduit in . she was then of course twenty-eight years of age: thus we come to a { } plainer conclusion that when she lived with halifax, or whatever other arrangement they made, a position which is said to have occurred between and the time of halifax's death in , she was really mrs. conduit, and not catherine barton. and thus we are brought to think that if there is any private marriage in the case, it is between the lady and mr. conduit; at all events she went back to her husband, if the watch is true. as to an apology for newton, i look upon it in a very different light: first, i should say he had no clear right to interfere in the matter, as the lady was married; and supposing he had, he could have done no more than expostulate. he lived in a world of his own studies, and did not choose to be interrupted by quarrels and scandals. and it is certainly a proper addition to say, that the public morals of that age are not to be judged by the present standard. all these account very well for newton's silence on the subject; but to settle the matter, some search might be made in the registers of the parishes where they resided, in order that the subject may be fully explained. weld taylor. * * * * * inscriptions in books. (vol. viii. pp. . . .) in the famous _rouen missal_, called st. guthlac's book, is the following inscription in the handwriting of robert, bishop of london, and afterwards archbishop of canterbury, who was formerly head of the monastery of jumièges, to which the book belonged, and where, in , he died: "quem si quis vi vel dolo seu quoquo modo isti loco subtraxerit, animæ suæ propter quod fecerit detrimentum patiatur, atque de libro viventium deleatur, et cum justis non scribatur." john grollier had on all his books inscribed: "portio mea, domine, sit in terra viventium;" and underneath: "io. grollierii et amicorum." henry de rantzan wrote a decree for his library, of which here is the fulminatory clause: "libros partem ne aliquam abstulerit, extraxerit, clepserit, rapserit, concerpserit, corruperit, dolo malo, illico maledictus, perpetuo execrabilis, semper detestabilis, esto, maneto." see dibdin's bibliographical works. j. s. norwich. the two following are copied from the _originals_ written in the fly-leaf of brathwayte's _panedone, or health from helicon_, pub. , in my possession: . "whose book i am if you would know, in letters two i will you show: the first is j, the most of might, the next is m, in all men's sight; join these two letters discreetly, and you will know my name thereby. jas. morrey." . "philip morrey is my name, and with my pen i write the same; tho' had such pen been somewhat better, i could have mended every letter." cestriensis. on the fly-leaf of _theophila, or love's sacrifice_, a divine poem by e. b., esq., london, , i find the following rare morsel: "mr. james tinker, rector of st. andrews, droitwich. "father tinker, when you are dead, great parts a long wir you are fled, o that they wor conferred on mee, which would ad unto god's glory." the subject of the above laudation flourished in the early part of the last century. in a geneva bible, date : "thomas haud: his booke: god giue him grace theare on to looke: and if my pen it had bin better, i would haue mend it euery letter. ." r. c. warde. kidderminster. _german book inscription._--you have not yet, i think, had a german book-inscription: allow me to send you the following out of an old _faust_, bought last year at antwerp: "dieses buch ist mir lieb, wer es stielt ist ein dieb; mag er heissen herr oder knecht, hängen ist sein verdientes recht." underneath is the usual picture of the gallows-tree and its fruit. iseldunensis. * * * * * praying to the west. (vol. viii., p. . &c.) the setting sun and the darkness of evening has been immemorially connected with death, just as the rising orb and the light of morning with life. in sophocles (_oedipus rex_, .), pluto is called [greek: hesperos theos]; and the "oxford translation" has the following note on the line: "in lysia's oration against andocides is this passage: to expiate this pollution (the mutilation of the { } hermæ), the priestesses and priests _turning towards the setting sun, the dwelling of the infernal gods_, devoted with curses the sacrilegious wretch, and shook their purple robes, in the manner prescribed by that law, which has been transmitted from the earliest times."--mitford, _history of greece_, ch. xxii. liddell and scott consider [greek: erebos] (the nether gloom) to be derived from [greek: erephô], to cover; akin to [greek: eremnos], and probably also to hebrew _erev_ or _ereb_, our _eve_-ning; and mention as analogous the egyptian amenti, _hades_, from _ement_, the west. (wilkinson's _egyptians_, ii. . .) turning to the east on solemn occasions is a practice more frequently mentioned. there is an interesting note on the subject in the translation above quoted, at oedipus col., ., "[greek: choas cheasthai stanta pros prôtên heô]," and doubtless much more may be found in the commentators. the custom, as is well known, found its way into the christian church. "the primitive christians used to assemble on the steps of the basilica of st. peter, to see the first rays of the rising sun, and kneel, curvatis cervicibus in honorem splendidi orbis. (s. leo. serm. vii. _de nativ._) the practice was prohibited, as savouring of, or leading to, gentilism. (bernino, i. .)"--southey's _common-place book_, ii. . "the rule of orientation, though prescribed in the apostolic constitutions, never obtained in italy, where the churches are turned indiscriminately towards every quarter of the heaven."--_quarterly review_, vol. lxxv. p. . in the reformed church in england the custom is _recognised_, as far as the position of the material church goes. (see rubric at the beginning of the communion service.) "the priest shall stand at the _north side_ of the table;" but turning eastward at the creeds has no sanction that i know of, but usage. (compare wheatly _on the common prayer_, ch. ii. § ., ch. iii. § .; and williams, _the cathedral_ ("stanzas on the cloisters"), xxiv.-xxviii.) the _rationale_ of western paradise is given in the following extract, with which i will conclude: "when the stream of mankind was flowing towards the west, it is no wonder that the weak reflux of positive information from that quarter should exhibit only the impulses of hope and superstition. greece was nearly on the western verge of the world, as it was known to homer; and it was natural for him to give wing to his imagination as he turned towards the dim prospects beyond.... all early writers in greece believed in the existence of certain regions situated in the west beyond the bounds of their actual knowledge, and, as it appears, of too fugitive a nature ever to be fixed within the circle of authentic geography. homer describes at the extremity of the ocean the elysian plain, "where, under a serene sky, the favourites of jove, exempt from the common lot of mortals, enjoy eternal felicity." hesiod, in like manner, sets the happy isles, the abode of departed heroes, beyond the deep ocean. the hesperia of the greeks continually fled before them as their knowledge advanced, and they saw the terrestrial paradise still disappearing in the west."--cooley's _history of maritime discov_., vol. i. p. ., quoted in anthon's _horace_. a. a. d. * * * * * "green eyes." (vol. viii., p. .) in the edition of longfellow's _poetical works_ published by routledge, , the note quoted by mr. temple ends thus: "dante speaks of beatrice's eyes as _emeralds_ (_purgatorio_, xxxi. .). lami says, in his _annotazioni_, 'erano i suoi occhi d' un turchino verdiccio, simile a quel del mare.'" more in favour of "green eyes" is to be found in one of gifford's notes on his translation of the thirteenth satire of _juvenal_. the words in the original are: "cærula quis stupuit germani lumina."--_juv._ sat. xiii. . and gifford's note is as follows: "ver. ... and _eyes of sapphire blue_?]--the people of the south seem to have regarded, as a phenomenon, those blue eyes, which with us are so common, and, indeed so characteristic of beauty, as to form an indispensable requisite of every daphne of grub street. tacitus, however, from whom juvenal perhaps borrowed the expression, adds an epithet to _cærulean_, which makes the common interpretation doubtful. 'the germans,' he says (_de mor. ger._ .), 'have _truces et cærulei oculi_, fierce, lively blue eyes.' with us, this colour is always indicative of a soft, voluptuous languor. what, then, if we have hitherto mistaken the sense, and, instead of blue, should have said sea-green? this is not an uncommon colour, especially in the north. i have seen many norwegian seamen with eyes of this hue, which were invariably quick, keen, and glancing. "shakspeare, whom nothing escaped, has put an admirable description of them into the mouth of juliet's nurse: 'o he's a lovely man! an eagle, madam, hath not so _green_, so quick, so fair an eye, as paris hath.' "steevens, who had some glimpse of the meaning of this word, refers to an apposite passage in _the two noble kinsmen_. it is in Æmilia's address to diana: ' . . . . . . oh vouchsafe with that thy rare _green eye_, which never yet beheld things maculate,' &c. "it is, indeed, not a little singular, that this expression should have occasioned any difficulty to his commentators; since it occurs in most of our old poets; { } and drummond of hawthornden uses it perpetually. one instance of it may be given: 'when nature now had wonderfully wrought all auristella's parts, except her eyes: to make those twins, two lamps in beauty's skies, the counsel of the starry synod sought. mars and apollo first did her advise, to wrap in colours _black_ those comets bright, that love him so might soberly disguise, and, unperceived, wound at every sight! chaste phoeebe spake for purest _azure_ dyes; but jove and venus _green_ about the light, to frame, thought best, as bringing most delight, that to pined hearts hope might for aye arise. nature, all said, a paradise of _green_ placed there, to make all love which have them seen.'" gifford's _translation of juvenal and persius_, rd edition, . gifford's quotation from _romeo and juliet_ (errors excepted) is to be found in act iii. sc. . c. forbes. temple. "isabelle était un peu plus âgée que ferdinand. elle était petite, mais bien faite. ses cheveux, au moins très blonds, _ses yeux verts et pleins de feu_, son teint un peu olivâtre, ne l'empêchaient pas d'avoir un visage imposant et agréable. (_révolutions d'espagne_, tom. iv. liv. viii.; mariana, _hist. d'espagne_, tom. ii. liv. xxv.; _hist. de ferdinand et d'isabelle_, par m. l'abbé mignot, &c.)"--florian, gonzalve de cordoue, _précis historique sur les maures d'espagne_, quatrième époque, note _i_. e. j. m. hastings. * * * * * the myrtle bee. (vol. viii., pp. . .) allow me to thank c. brown for the reply he has sent to my inquiries on this subject. i shall certainly avail myself with pleasure of the permission he has given me to communicate with him by letter; but before doing so, i hope you will allow me to address him this note through the medium of your pages. the existence of the myrtle bee as a distinct species has been denied by ornithologists, and as i think the question is more likely to be set at rest by public than by private correspondence, i trust c. brown will not consider that i am presuming too much on his kindness if i ask him to send me farther information on the following points: what was the exact size of the bird in question which he had in his hand? what was its size compared with the golden-crested wren? was it generally known in the neighbourhood he mentions, and by whom was it known? by the common people as well as others? from what source did he originally obtain the appellation "myrtle bee," as applied to this bird? it has been suggested to me that the bird seen by c. brown may have been the dartford warbler (_sylvia provincialis_, gmel.), wings short, tail elongated (this, if the myrtle bee is the dartford warbler, would account for its "miniature pheasant-like appearance"); a bird which, as we are informed in yarrell's _hist. of british birds_, , vol. i. p. . _et seq._, haunts and builds among the furze on commons; flies with short jerks; is very shy; conceals itself on the least alarm; and creeps about from bush to bush. this description would suit the myrtle bee. not so the colour, which is chiefly greyish-black and brown; whereas the bird seen by your correspondent was "dusky light blue." nor again does the description of the dartford warbler, "lighting for a moment on the very point of the sprigs" of furze (vid. yarrell _ut sup._), coincide with the account of the bird seen by c. brown, who "never saw one sitting or light on a branch of the myrtle, but invariably flying from the base of one plant to that of another." in conclusion i would venture to ask whether your correspondent's memory may not have been treacherous respecting the colour of a bird which he has not seen for twenty-five years, and whether he has ever seen the dartford warbler on chobham or the adjacent commons? w. r. d. salmon. * * * * * tin. (vol. viii., pp. . .). the first mention i remember of the place from whence tin came, is in herodotus (lib. iii. c. .). he there says: "but concerning the extreme parts of europe towards the west, i am not able to speak certainly. for i neither believe that a certain river is called eridanus by the barbarians, which flows into a northern sea, and from which there is a report that the amber is wont to come, nor have i known (any) islands, being cassiterides ([greek: kassiteridas eousas]), from which the tin is wont to come to us. for, on the one hand, the very name eridanus proves that it is hellenic and not barbaric, but formed by some poet; and on the other, i am not able, though paying much attention to this matter, to hear of any one that has been an eye-witness that a sea exists upon that side of europe. but doubtless both the tin and the amber are wont to come from the extreme part of europe." [greek: kassiteros], according to damm, is so called because it is more ready to melt than other metals, i. e. [greek: kausiteros], from [greek: kaiô], to burn; this derivation agrees with that given by mr. crossley of tin, "from the celtic tin, to melt readily;" and it receives some support from hesiod (_d. g._ .), where he speaks of the earth burning and melting as tin or as iron, which is the hardest of metals. but i own i doubt this derivation. first, { } because it is quite clear to my mind that herodotus had no idea that it had a greek derivation. he assigns the greek origin of the word eridanus as a reason for disbelieving the statement as to it; and had he known that cassiteros had a like origin, it cannot be doubted that he would have assigned the same reason as to it likewise. instead of which he resorts to the fact that he could not obtain any authentic account of any sea on that side of europe, as a proof that the cassiterides did not exist. in truth, his assertion as to the greek origin of the one, coupled with the reason that is added, seems almost, if not quite, equivalent to a denial that the other had a greek origin. secondly, it is in the highest degree improbable that these islands should have received their name from the greeks, as it is contrary to all experience that a country should be named by persons ignorant of its existence. the names of places are either given to them by those who discover them, or the names by which they are called by their inhabitants are adopted by others. at the time cæsar invaded this island, there was a people whom he calls cassi (_cæs. de b. g._, lib. v. .), of whose prince camden says, "from the cassii their prince, cassivellaunus or cassibelinus, first took his name;" and he adds that "it seems very probable that cassivellaunus denotes as much as the prince of the cassii." (_camd. brit._, p. ., edit. .) according to which the word would be compounded of _cassi_ and _vellaunus_ or _belinus_; and this derivation is fortified by the word cunobelinus, which plainly is formed in a similar manner. now there is a celtic word, _tir_ or _ter_ (from which _terra_ is derived), and the welsh word _tir_ (which i have heard pronounced _teer_), all denoting land. if then this word be added to cassi, we have cassiter, that is, the land of the cassi, cassiland. and as we have england, scotland, and ireland, possibly the ancient inhabitants may have called their country cassiter; and as _chalybs_, steel, was so called both by the greeks and romans from the people that made it, so might tin be from the country where it was found. my derivation is conjectural, no doubt, and as such i submit it with great deference to the candid consideration of your readers. isaiah, who lived b.c. , mentions tin in i. . ezekiel, who lived b.c. , mentions tin xxii. . .; and xxvii. ., speaking of tyre, he says: "tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, _tin_, and lead, they traded in thy fairs." this passage clearly shows that, at the time spoken of by ezekiel, the trade in tin was carried on by the inhabitants of tarshish, whether that place designates carthage, or tartessus in spain, or not; and there can be little doubt that they brought the tin from england; and the addition of silver, iron, and lead, tends to strengthen this opinion. herodotus recited his history at the olympic games, b.c. ; and probably the same people traded in tin in his time as in the time of ezekiel. the hebrew word for tin is derived from a verb meaning "to separate," and seems to throw no light on the subject. s. g. c. * * * * * milton's widow. (vol. viii., pp. . . &c.) your correspondents mr. marsh and mr. hughes are entitled to an apology from me for having so long delayed noticing their comments on my communication on the above subject in vol. viii, p. ., which comments have failed in convincing me that i have fallen into the error they attribute to me, because it is manifest richard minshull of chester, son of richard of wistaston, the writer of the letter of may rd, , set forth in the rev. mr. hunter's _milton pamphlet_, pp. . and ., could only have been _fifteen_ years old when that letter was written, he having, as mr. hughes states, been born in , so that he must have been only three years the junior of his supposed niece, mrs. milton, then miss minshull, born in , according to mr. marsh's account of her baptism; and furthermore he, richard, son of the writer of the said letter, must be fairly presumed to have been married at the date of such letter, which he (the father) thus commences: "my love and best respects to you and my daughter [meaning no doubt his daughter-in-law], tendered with trust of your health." very unlikely language for a parent to address to his son, a boy of _fifteen_, on so important a subject as a family pedigree. if this youthful richard minshull really was mrs. milton's uncle, his brother randle minshull, her father, must have been very many years older than him, which was not very probable. i noticed in a recent number of your pages, with great satisfaction, a communication from cranmer, who has avowed himself to be your correspondent mr. arthur paget, for which, in common with mr. hughes and others, i feel very thankful to him, notwithstanding it falls short of connecting mrs. milton with richard minshull of wistaston, the holme correspondent of . that historians have been much misled in assuming that mrs. milton was a daughter of sir edward minshull of stoke, cannot, i think, be questioned; although it may be very fairly asked whether there were not other respectable minshull families living in the neighbourhood of wistaston, of which mrs. milton might have been a member, and yet allied to the paget and goldsmith families. garlichithe. { } mr. hughes is quite right, both in his facts, so far as they go, and in the inference he draws from them in confirmation of the now well ascertained identity of milton's widow with the daughter of randle mynshull of wistaston. his observations derive additional force from the fact, that two generations of minshull of wistaston married ladies of the name of goldsmith. thomas minshull, the great-grandfather of milton's widow, married ---- goldsmith of nantwich, as his son richard informed randal holmes, in a letter among the harl. mss., noticed by mr. hunter, and as pointed out by mr. hughes; but the writer of that letter also married a lady of the same name, elizabeth, daughter of nicholas goldsmith, of bosworth, in the county of leicester. the fact is worth noticing, though no very accurate estimate can be formed of the precise degree of relationship to be inferred from the title of "cousin" a couple of centuries ago. my authority is the cheshire visitation of - . several other ms. pedigrees are in existence; in some of which the lady's name is stated as ellen, instead of elizabeth, and her father's as richard instead of nicholas. thomas minshull of manchester, the uncle of milton's widow, deserves perhaps a passing word of notice, as having embalmed the mortal remains of humphrey chetham. j. f. m. warrington. our elegant poet fenton, having written a _life of milton_, and no doubt often visited his place of nativity (shelton, in the staffordshire potteries), he surely must have known _something_ respecting _milton's_ third wife's family, who lived only a few miles from thence; and if the fenton papers have, as is probable, been preserved by his family, some of whom i am informed still live in the neighbourhood of shelton, it is not unlikely they will throw some light on the family of the poet's widow. newington. * * * * * books chained to desks in churches--old parochial libraries. (vol. viii., p. .) on a recent visit to aberystwith, i walked to the mother church of llanbadarn, a fine old building, which i was glad to find, since a former visit, was undergoing important repairs in its exterior. while inspecting the interior, i requested the clerk to show me into the vestry, and upon inquiring if the church possessed any black-letter bible, foxe's _martyrs_, or any of those volumes which at the reformation were chained to the desks or pews, he opened a case in the vestry, in which i was sorry to observe many volumes, not of that early date, but about a century and a half old, yet valuable in their day as well as at present, in a sad dilapidated state, arising from the dampness of the room, which is without a fire-place. many of the volumes were the gift of a doctor fowle, with his autograph, stating that they were given as a lending library to the parishioners. the present incumbent is the rev. ---- hughes, a very excellent and zealous pastor, with the modern church in aberystwith annexed, who should this narrative meet his eye, or be communicated to him, might be induced to make inquiries into the losses which had taken place, and prevent farther dilapidations and decay, in what was no doubt, once considered a valuable acquisition to the inhabitants of the parish. permit me to add, that in a room over the entrance porch of that venerable saxon church st. peter in the east, at oxford, there is a large lending library for the use of the parishioners, largely contributed to by several of its recent and present zealous incumbent, and to which church so much has lately been done to remove former eye-sores, and to render it one of the most chastely decorated and best attended parish churches in the university. j. m. g. worcester. in an old ms. headed "articles, conditions, and covenants, upon which the provost and other officers of king's college in cambridge have admitted michael mills, schollar of the said college, to be keeper of the publick library of the said college." the seventh and last article is-- "for the rendering his business about the library more easy, each person that makes use of any book or books in the said library, is required to sett 'em up again decently, without entangling the chains; by which is signified to all concerned that no person whatsoever, upon any pretence, is permitted to carry any book out of the library to their chambers, or any otherwise to be used as a private book, it being against the statutes of our college in y^t case provided." under "orders for regulating the publick library of king's college," order iv.: "all the fellows and scholars, and all other persons allowed the use of the library, shall carefully set up those they use in their proper place, without entangling the chains." michael mills got king's in . t. h. l. in the church of wiggenhall, st. mary the virgin, the following books may be seen fastened by chains to a wooden desk in the chancel: foxe's _book of martyrs_, in three volumes, chained to the same staple; the book of homilies; the bible, with calendar in rubrics; and the works of bishop jewell, in one volume. the title-page is lost from all the above: in other respects they are in a fair state of preservation, considering their { } antiquity, of which their characters being old english, is a sufficient proof. w. b. d. at a _soirée_ recently held at crosby hall, there were exhibited by the churchwardens of st. benet's, gracechurch street, erasmus' _commentary on the gospels_ in english, with the chains annexed, by which they were fastened in the church. there are two volumes, in good preservation, and black letter. in minster church, near margate, kent, there is an oak cover to a bible chained to a desk, temp. henry viii. the whole of the letter-press has been taken away (by small pieces at a time) by visitors to this beautiful norman church. j. w. brown. at bromsgrove church, worcestershire, a copy of bishop jewel's sermon on cor. ix. . ( ) is chained to a small lectern. at suckley church, also in worcestershire, there is a black-letter copy of the homilies, . cuthbert bede, b.a. there is a copy of foxe's _monuments_ so chained in the chancel of luton church, bedfordshire. mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * the court-house. (vol. viii., p. .) this place is not "an old out-of-the-way place," as described to f. m., but stands in a paddock adjoining the churchyard, in the town of "painswick, in gloucestershire." it is a respectable old stone-built house in the elizabethan style; and stands on an eminence commanding a view of one of the pleasant valleys which abound in this parish. i do not know of, and do not believe that there is, any "full description of it." neither of the county histories, of atkyns ( ), rudder ( ), rudge ( ), or fosbrook ( ), mentions the court-house, though probably it is referred to by atkyns as "a handsome pleasant house adjoining the town, [then] lately the seat of mr. wm. rogers." if either charles i. or ii. slept there, it was doubtless king charles i., on the night of the th of september, , on which day he raised the siege of gloucester, and "thousands of the royalist army marched in the rain up painswick hill, on the summit of which they encamped in the ancient entrenchment of the part called spoonbed hill. on this hill, tradition says, as charles was sitting on a stone near the camp, one of the princes, weary of their present life, asked him 'when should they go home?' 'i have no home to go to,' replied the disconsolate king. he went on to painswick, and passed the night there."--_bibliotheca gloucestriensis_ (webb), introduction, p. ., referring to rudder (p. .) for the tradition as to the colloquy. the lodge, an old wooden house, in this parish more properly deserves the character of an "old out-of-the-way house." i remember it many years ago, when it contained a court, in which were galleries approached by stairs, and leading to the sleeping-rooms of the mansion; such as were formerly in the court-yard of the bull and mouth inn, london, and are now in the yard of the new inn, gloucester. p. h. fisher. stroud. * * * * * on the simplicity of the calotype process, by dr. diamond. (read before the photographic society, nov. , .) i feel that some few words are required to explain to the society the reasons which have induced me to call their attention to a branch of photography, which of all others has been dwelt upon most fully, and practised with such success by so many eminent photographers. the flourishing state of this society, which is constantly receiving an accession of new members, indicates the great number that have lately commenced the practice of photography, and to those i hope my observations will not prove unacceptable, because of all others the calotype process is undoubtedly the simplest, and the most useful; not only from that simplicity, but from its being available when other modes could not be used.[ ] i am also induced to urge on the attention of the society the advantages of this, one of the earliest processes, because i think that there has been lately such an eager desire for something new, that we all have more or less run away from a steady wish to improve if possible the original details of mr. fox talbot; and have been tempted to practise new modes, entailing much more care and trouble, without attaining a correspondingly favourable result. amongst antiquaries i have long noticed, that many who have especially studied one particular { } branch of archæology, think and speak slightingly of those departments in which they are not much interested. one fond of research in the early tumuli is esteemed to be a mere "pot and pan antiquary" by one who, in his turn, is thought to waste his time on "mediæval trash;" and this feeling pervades its many sections. i hope i shall not give offence in saying, that amongst photographers i have noticed somewhat of a similar spirit, namely, an inclination to value and praise a production, from the particular mode of operation adopted, rather than from its intrinsic merits. the collodion, the waxed paper, or the simple paper processes have merits pertaining to themselves alone; and those who admire each of these several processes are too apt to be prejudiced in favour of the works produced by them. before proceeding farther, permit me to observe, that if some of my remarks appear _too_ elementary, and _too_ well known by many assembled here, my reason for making them is, that i have myself experienced the want of _plain simple rules_, notwithstanding the many able treatises upon the subject which have already been written: i hope, therefore, i shall receive their pardon for entering fully into detail, because a want of success may depend upon what may appear most trivial. i think the greatest number of failures result from not having good iodized paper; which may be caused by . the quality of the paper; . the mode of preparing it; . the want of proper _definite_ proportions for a particular make of paper; because i find very different results ensue unless these things are relatively considered. i have not met with satisfactory results in iodizing the french and german papers, and the thick papers of some of our english makers are quite useless. turner's paper, of the "chafford mills" make, is greatly to be preferred, and therefore i will presume that to be used, and of a medium thickness. the great fault of turner's paper consists in the frequent occurrence of spots, depending upon minute portions of brass coming from the machinery, or from the rims of buttons left in the rags when being reduced to pulp, and thus a single button chopped up will contaminate a large portion of paper; occasionally these particles are so large that they reduce the silver solutions to the metallic state, which is formed on the paper; at other times they are so minute as to simply decompose the solution, and white spots are left, much injuring the effect of the picture. whatman's paper is much more free from blemishes, but it is not so fine and compact in its texture; the skies in particular exhibiting a minutely speckled appearance, and the whole picture admitting of much less definition.[ ] all papers are much improved by age; probably in consequence of a change which the size undergoes by time. it is therefore advisable that the photographer, when he meets with a desirable paper, should lay in a store for use beyond his immediate wants. it may not be inappropriate to mention here, in reference to the minuteness attainable by paper negatives, that a railway notice of six lines is perfectly legible, and even the erasure for a new secretary's name is discernible in the accompanying specimen, which was obtained with one of ross's landscape lenses, without any stop whatever being used, and after an exposure of five minutes _during a heavy rain_. the sky is scarcely so dense as could be desired, which will be fully accounted for by the dull state of the atmosphere during the exposure in the camera. having selected your paper as free from blemishes as possible, which is most readily ascertained by holding it up to the light (as the rejected sheets do perfectly well for positives, it is well to reject _all_ those upon which _any_ doubt exists), mark the smoothest surface;--the touch will always indicate this, but it is well at all times not to handle the surfaces of papers more than can be avoided. there is much difference in various individuals in this respect; some will leave a mark upon the slightest touch, whereas others may rub the paper about with perfect impunity. i prefer paper iodized by the single process; because, independently of the case and economy of time, i think more rapidity of action is attained by paper so treated, as well as that greater intensity of the blacks, so requisite for producing a clear picture in after printing. to do this, take sixty grains of nitrate of silver and sixty grains of iodide of potassium, dissolve each separately in an ounce of distilled water, mix and stir briskly with a glass rod so as to ensure their _perfect_ mixture; the precipitated iodide of silver will fall to the bottom of the vessel; pour off the fluid, wash once with a little distilled water, then pour upon it four ounces of distilled water, and add grains of iodide of potassium, which _should_ perfectly redissolve the silver and form a clear fluid. should it not (for chemicals differ occasionally in their purity), then a little more should be very cautiously added until the fluid is perfectly clear. the marked side of the paper should then be carefully laid upon the surface of this fluid in a proper porcelain or glass dish. then immediately { } remove it, lay it upon its dry side upon a piece of blotting-paper, and stroke it over once or twice with a glass rod; this as effectually expels all the particles of air as complete immersion; it is also more economical, and has the advantage of requiring much less time in the after-immersion in the hypo. when it is required to remove the iodide. either pin the paper up, or lay it down upon its dry side, and when it becomes tolerably dry (perfect dryness is not requisite), immerse it in common cold water for the space of four hours, changing the water during that time three or four times, so that all the soluble salts may be removed; often move the papers, so that when several sheets are together, one does not press so much upon another that the water does not equally arrive at all the surface. if this paper is well made, it is of a pale straw colour, or rather primrose, and perfectly free from unevenness of tint. it will keep good for several years; if, however, the soluble salts have not been _entirely_ removed, it attracts damp, and becomes brown and useless or uncertain in its application. some of our oldest and most successful operators still adhere to and prefer the iodized paper prepared by the double process, which certainly effects a saving in the use of the iodide of potassium. the following is the easiest way of so preparing it:--having floated your marked surface of the paper on a -grain solution of nitrate of silver, and dried it[ ], immerse it for minutes in a solution of iodide of potassium of grains to the ounce, when it immediately assumes the desired colour. it is then requisite, however, that it should undergo the same washing in pure water as the paper prepared by the single process. upon the goodness of your iodized paper of course depends your future success. although it is not requisite to prepare it by candle-light (which in fact is objectionable from your inability to see if the yellow tint is equally produced), i think it should not be exposed to too strong a light; and as the fly-fisher in the dull winter months prepares his flies ready for the approaching spring, so may the photographer in the dull weather which now prevails, with much advantage prepare his stock of iodized paper ready for the approach of fine weather.[ ] many other ways of iodizing paper have been recommended which have proved successful in different hands. dr. mansell, of guernsey, pours the iodide solution upon his paper, which previously has had all its edges turned up so as to resemble a dish; he rapidly pours it off again after it has completely covered the paper, and then washes it in three waters for only ten minutes in all: he considers that thereby none of the size of the paper is removed, and a more favourable action is obtained. in the experiments i have tried with the use of the air-pump, as recommended by mr. stewart, i have met with much trouble and little success; and i am inclined to attribute the very beautiful specimens which he has produced to his own good manipulation under a favourable climate.[ ] to excite the paper take drops (minims) of solution of aceto-nitrate of silver, and drops of saturated solution of gallic acid, mixed with drachms of distilled water. the aceto-nitrate solution consists of-- nitrate of silver grains. glacial acetic acid drachm. distilled water[ ] ounce. if the weather is warm, drops of gallic acid to the of aceto-nitrate will suffice, and enable the prepared excited paper to be kept longer. this exciting fluid may be applied either directly { } by means of the glass rod, or by floating, as before, and then the glass rod. but if floating is resorted to, then a larger quantity must be prepared. as soon as it is applied the paper should be blotted off by means of blotting-paper (which should never be used more than once in this way, although preserved for other purposes), and put into the dark frames for use.[ ] it is not requisite that the paper should be perfectly dry. this exciting should be conducted by a very feeble light; the paper is much more sensitive than is generally supposed; in fact, it is then in a state to print from by the aid of gas or the light of a common lamp, and very agreeable positives are so produced by this negative mode of printing. i would advise the aceto-nitrate of silver and the solution of gallic acid to be kept in two bottles with wooden cases differing in their shape, so that they may not be mistaken when operating, in comparative darkness. a ¼ of an ounce of gallic acid put into such a -ounce bottle, and _quite_ filled up with distilled water as often as any is used, will serve a very long time. i would also recommend that the paper should be excited upon the morning of the day upon which it is intended to be used; no doubt the longer it is kept, the less active and less certain it becomes. i have, however, used it successfully eight days after excitement, and have a good negative produced at that length of time. the general medium time of exposure required is five minutes. in the negatives exhibited, the time has varied from three minutes to eight, the latter being when the day was very dull. the pictures should be developed by equal quantities of the aceto-nitrate of silver and the saturated solution of gallic acid, which are to be mixed and immediately applied to the exposed surface. this may be done several hours after the pictures have been removed from the camera. care should be taken that the back of the picture does not become wetted, as this is apt to produce a stain which may spoil the printing of the positive. if upon the removal of the paper from the dark frame, the picture is very apparent, by first applying little gallic acid, and immediately afterwards the _mixed_ solutions, less likelihood is incurred of staining the negative, which will be more evenly and intensely developed. if a browning take place, a few drops of strong acetic acid will generally check it. should the picture be very tardy, either from an insufficient exposure, want of light, or other cause, a few drops of a solution of pyrogallic acid, made with grains to the ounce of water, and a drachm of acetic acid, will act very beneficially. it sometimes gives an unpleasant redness upon the surface, but produces great intensity upon looking through it. until the pyrogallic solution was added, there was scarcely anything visible upon the specimen exhibited, the failure having in the _first_ instance happened from the badness of the iodized paper. as soon as the picture is sufficiently developed it should be placed in water, which should be changed once or twice; after soaking for a short time, say half an hour, it may be pinned up and dried, or it may at once be placed in a solution almost saturated, or quite so, of hyposulphite of soda, remaining there no longer than is needful for the entire removal of the iodide, which is known by the disappearance of the yellow colour. when travelling it is often desirable to avoid using the hyposulphite, for many reasons (besides that of getting rid of extra chemicals), and it may be relied on that negatives will keep even under exposure to light for a very long time. i have kept some for several weeks, and i believe mr. rosling has kept them for some months. the hyposulphite, lastly, should be effectually removed from the negative by soaking in water, which should be frequently changed. some prefer to use the hypo, quite hot, or even boiling, as thereby the size of the paper is removed, allowing of its being afterwards readily waxed.[ ] i have always found that pouring a little boiling water upon the paper effectually accomplishes the object; some negatives will readily wax even when the size is not removed. a box iron very hot is best for the purpose; but the most important thing to attend to is that the paper should be perfectly dry, and it should therefore be passed between blotting-paper and well ironed before the wax is applied. negatives will even attract moisture from the atmosphere, and therefore this process should at all times be resorted to immediately before the application of the wax. some photographers prefer, instead of using wax, to apply a solution of canada balsam in spirits of turpentine. this certainly adds much to the transparency of the negative; and, in some instances, may be very desirable. even in so simple a thing as white wax, there is much { } variety; some forming little flocculent appearances on the paper, which is not the case with other samples. probably it may be adulterated with stearine, and other substances producing this difference. before concluding these remarks, i would draw attention to the great convenience of the use of a bag of yellow calico, made so large as to entirely cover the head and shoulders, and confined round the waist by means of a stout elastic band. it was first, i believe, used by dr. mansell. in a recent excursion, i have, with the greatest ease, been enabled to change all my papers without any detriment whatever, and thereby dispensed with the weight of more than a single paper-holder. the bag is no inconvenience, and answers perfectly well, at any residence you may chance upon, to obstruct the light of the window, if not protected with shutters. i would also beg to mention that a certain portion of the bromide of silver introduced into the iodized paper seems much to accelerate its power of receiving the green colour, as it undoubtedly does in the collodion. although it does not accelerate its _general_ action, it is decidedly a great advantage for foliage. its best proportions i have not been able accurately to determine; but i believe if the following quantity is added to the portion of solution of iodide of silver above recommended to be made, that it will approach very near to that which will prove to be the most desirable. dissolve separately thirty grains of bromide of potassium, and grains of nitrate of silver, in separate half-ounces of distilled water; mix, stir well, and wash the precipitate; pour upon it, in a glass measure, distilled water up to one ounce; then, upon the addition of grains of iodide of potassium, a clear solution will be obtained; should it not, a few more grains of the iodide of potassium will effect it. it may be well to add that i believe neither of the solutions is injured by keeping, especially if preserved in the dark. i would here offer a caution against too great reliance being placed upon the use of gutta-percha vessels when travelling, as during the past summer i had a bottle containing distilled water which came into pieces; and i have now a new gutta-percha tray which has separated from its sides. this may appear trivial, but when away from home the greatest inconvenience results from these things, which may be easily avoided.[ ] dishes of zinc painted or japanned on the interior surface answer better than gutta-percha, and one inverted within another forms, when travelling, an admirable lid-box for the protection of glass bottles, rods, &c. on the continent wooden dishes coated with shellac varnish are almost entirely used. [footnote : in a communication i formerly addressed to my friend the editor of "n. & q.," one of the arguments i used in favour of the collodion process was, that the operator was enabled at once to know the results of his attempts; and was not left in suspense concerning the probable success, as with a paper picture requiring an after development. i made that observation not only from the partial success which had then attended my own manipulations, but from the degree of success which was attained by the majority of my photographic friends. but that objection is now almost entirely removed by the comparative certainty to which the paper process is reduced.] [footnote : the effect was illustrated in two negatives of the same subject, taken at the same time, exhibited to the meeting, and which may now be seen at mr. bell's by those who take an interest in the subject.] [footnote : for this purpose, strips of wood from inch to ½ square will be found much more convenient to pin the paper to than the tape or string usually recommended. the pressure of a corner of the paper to the wood will render it almost sufficiently adherent without the pin, and do away with the vexation of corners tearing off.] [footnote : some difference of opinion seemed to exist at the reading of the paper, as to the propriety of preparing iodized paper long before it was required for use, and i have since received some letters from very able photographers who have attributed an occasional want of success to this cause. i have, however, never myself seen good iodized paper deteriorated by age. many friends tell me they have used it when several years old; and i can confirm this by a remarkable instance. on tuesday (dec. ) i was successful in obtaining a perfectly good negative in the usual time from some paper kindly presented to me by mr. mackinly, and which has been in his possession since the year . i should add, the paper bears the mark of "j. whatman, ," and has all the characters of turner's best photographic paper. it appears to be a make of whatman's paper which i have not hitherto seen, and, from its date, was evidently not made for photographic purposes.] [footnote : the paper may be iodized by pouring over it minims of the iodizing solution, and then smoothing it over with the glass rod. care must however be taken not to wet the back of the paper, as an unevenness of depth in the negative would probably be the result.] [footnote : much more attention should be paid to the purity of the distilled water than is generally supposed. in the many processes in which distilled water is used, there is none in which attention to this is so much required as the calotype process. i mention this from having lately had some otherwise fine negatives spoiled by being covered with spots, emanating entirely from impurities in distilled water purchased by me during a late excursion into the country.] [footnote : it is very requisite that the glasses of the frames should be thoroughly cleansed before the excited papers are put into them. although not perceptible to the eye, there is often left on the glass (if this precaution is not used) a decomposing influence which afterwards shows itself by stains upon the negative.] [footnote : if boiling water is carefully poured in the negative in a porcelain dish, it will frequently remove a great deal of colouring matter, thereby rendering the negative still more translucent. it is astonishing how much colouring matter a negative so treated will give out, even when to the eye it appears so clean as not to require it.] [footnote : mr. shadbolt suggested a remedy for the disasters referred to by dr. diamond with regard to the gutta-percha vessels. gutta-percha is perfectly soluble in chloroform. mr. shadbolt therefore showed that if the operator carries a small bottle of chloroform with him, he would be able to mend the gutta-percha at any moment in a few seconds. it was not necessary that the bottle should hold above half an ounce of chloroform.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _belike_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the reasoning by which h. c. k. supports his conjecture that "belike" in _macbeth_ is formed immediately by prefixing _be_ to a supposed verb, _like_, to lie, is ingenious, but far from satisfactory. in the first place, we never used _to like_ in the sense of _to lie_, the nearest approach to it is _to lig_. and in the next place, the verb to _like_, to please, to feel or cause pleasure, to approve or regard with approbation, as a consequential usage (agreeably to the dutch form of liicken (kilian), to _assimilate_), is common from our earliest writers. instances from robert of gloucester, chaucer, and north, with instances also of _mislike_, to displease, may be found in richardson and others in todd's _johnson_. now, when we have a word well established in various usage (as _like_, similis), from which other usages may be easily deduced, why not adopt that word as the immediate source, rather than seek for a new one? that _like_, now written _ly_, is from _lic_, a corpse, _i.e._ an essence, has, i believe, the merit of originality; so too, his notion that _corpse_ is an _essence_, and the more, as emanating from a rectory, which probably is not far removed frown a churchyard. h. c. k., it is very _likely_, is right in his conception that all his three _likes_ "have had originally one and the same source;" but he does not appear inclined to rest contented with the very sufficient one in our parent language, suggested by richardson (in his vo. dictionary), the gothic _lag-yan_; a.-s. _lec-gan_, or _lic-gan_, to lay or lie. i should interpret _belike_ (for so i should write it with h. c. k.) by "approve." q. bloomsbury. _stage-coaches_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following note may perhaps prove acceptable to g. e. f. the article from which it was taken contained, if i remember rightly, much more information upon the same subject: "the stage-coach 'wonder,' from london to shrewsbury, and the 'hirondelle' belonged to taylor of shrewsbury. the 'hirondelle' did miles in hours and minutes. one day a team of four greys did miles in minutes. the 'wonder' left { } lion yard, shrewsbury, one morning at o'clock, and was at islington at o'clock the same evening, being only hours on the road."--_the times_, july , . w. r. d. s. _birthplace of king edward v._ (vol. viii., p. .).-- " . in this year, the third day of november, queen elizabeth, being, as before is said, in westminster sanctuary, was lighted of a fair prince. and within the said place the said child, without pomp, was after christened, whose godfathers were the abbat and prior of the said place, and the lady scrope godmother."--fabian's _chronicle_, p. ., lond. . mackenzie walcott, m.a. fuller, in his _worthies_, vol. ii. p. ., says edward, eldest son of edward iv. and elizabeth his queen, was born in the sanctuary of westminster, november , . a. _ringing church bells at death_ (vol. viii., p. . &c.).--the custom of ringing the church bell, as soon as might be convenient after the passing of a soul from its earthly prison-house, in the manner described in "n. & q.," existed ten years ago in the parish of rawmarsh, in the west riding of yorkshire, and had existed there before i became its rector, twenty-two years ago. first a brisk peal was rung, if i mistake not, on one of the lighter bells, which was raised and lowered; then, upon the same, or some other of the lighter bells, the sex of the deceased was indicated by a given number of distinct strokes,--i cannot with certainty recall the respective numbers; lastly, the tenor bell was made to declare the supposed age of the deceased by as many strokes as had been counted years. john james. _what is the origin of "getting into a scrape?"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it may have been, first, a tumble in the mire; by such a process many of us in childhood have both literally and figuratively "got into a scrape." or, secondly, the expression may have arisen from the use of _the razor_, where to be shaved was regarded as an indignity, or practised as a token of deep humiliation. d'arvieux mentions an arab who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose rather to hazard his life, than allow the surgeon to take off his beard. when hanun had shaved off half the beards of david's servants, "david sent to meet them, because they were greatly ashamed: and the king said, 'tarry at jericho until your beards be grown, and then return'" ( sam. x. , .). the expedient of _shaving off the other half_ seems not to have been thought on, though that would naturally have been resorted to, had not the indignity of being rendered beardless appeared intolerable. under this figure the desolation of a country is threatened. "in the same day shall the lord shave with a razor that is hired, by them beyond the river, even by the king of assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, and it shall consume the beard" (isaiah vii. .). again, as a token of grief and humiliation: "then job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his beard," &c.--"there came fourscore men, having their heads shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves," &c. (jer. xli. .). or, thirdly, the allusion may be to the consequence of becoming infected with some loathsome cutaneous disease. "so satan smote job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. and he took him a potsherd to _scrape_ himself withal" (job ii. , .). j. w. t. dewsbury. _high dutch and low dutch_ (vol. viii., p. .).--nieder deutsch, or rather neder duitsch, is the proper name of the dutch language; at least it is that which the people of holland give to it. low german does not necessarily mean a vulgar patois. it is essentially as different a language from high german, or rather more so, as spanish is from portuguese. i believe german purists would point out holstein, hanover, brunswick (not dresden), as the places where german is most classically spoken. i wish one of your german (not anglo-german) readers would set us right on this point. the term dutch, as applied to the language of holland as distinguished from that of german, is a comparative modernism in english. high dutch and low dutch used to be the distinction; and when coverdale's _translation of the bible_ is said to have been "compared with the douche," german, and not what we now call dutch, is meant. deutsch, in short, or teutsch, is the generic name for the language of the teutones, for whom germani, or ger-männer, was not a national appellation, but one which merely betokened their warlike character. e. c. h. _discovery of planets_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i should wish to ask mr. h. walter, who has a learned answer about the discovery of planets, whether the idea which he there broaches of a lost world where sin entered and for which mercy was not found, be his own original invention, or whether he is indebted to any one for it, and if so, to whom? quÆstor. _gloves at fairs_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--this title has changed into a question of the open hand as an emblem of power. in addition to the instances cited by your correspondents, the following may be mentioned. the romans used the open hand as a standard. the kings of ulster adopted it as their peculiar cognizance; thence it was transferred to the shield of the baronets created knights of ulster by james i.; to many of whose families recent { } myths have in consequence attributed bloody deeds to account for the cognizance of the bloody hand. the holte family of aston hall, near this town, affords an instance of such a modern myth, which has, i think, already appeared in "n. & q." the subject of _modern myths_ would form a very interesting one for your pages. an open hand occurs on tombs in lycia. (fellowes' _lycia_, p. .) the turks and moors paint an open hand as a specific against the evil eye. (shaw's _travels in barbary_, p. .) the open hand in red paint is of common occurrence on buffalo robes among the tribes of north america, and is also stamped, apparently by the natural hand dipped in a red colour, on the monuments of yucatan and guatemala. (stephen's _yucatan_.) eden warwick. birmingham. _awk_ (vol. viii., p. .).--h. c. k. asks for instances of the usage of the word _awk_. he will find one in richardson's _dictionary_, and two of _awkly_: "the _auke_ or left hand."--holland's _plutarch_. "they receive her _aukly_, when she (fortune) presenteth herself on the _right_ hand."--_ibid._ "to undertake a thing _awkely_, or ungainly."--fuller's _worthies_. q. bloomsbury. _tenet_ (vol. viii., p. .) was used by hooker and hall, and is also found in state trial, hen. v., , of sir john oldcastle. sir thomas browne, though he writes _tenets_ in his title, has _tenent_ in c. i. of b. vii. but these variations may be generally placed to the account of the printers in those days. (see tenet, in richardson.) q. bloomsbury. _lovett of astwell_ (vol. viii., p. .).--since i wrote on this subject, i have consulted baker's excellent _history of northamptonshire_, and i find the pedigree (vol. i. p. .) fully bears out my strictures on betham and burke's account of thomas lovett, and his marriage with joan billinger. with regard to elizabeth boteler, mr. baker simply states that thomas lovett, esq., of astwell, married to his first wife elizabeth, daughter of john boteler, esq., of watton woodhall, herts; but i observe that (_idem._ vol. i. p. .) there is in wappenham church (the parish of which astwell is hamlet) a brass to the memory of "constance, late the wife of john boteler, esq., and sister to henry vere, esq., who died may , :" this lady, i conjecture, was the mother of elizabeth boteler, afterwards lovett; and her daughter must have been heir to her mother, as the arms of vere and green are quartered on her grandson thomas lovett's tombstone in the same church; as well as on another monument of the lovetts, the inscription of which is now obliterated. the pedigree of the botelers in clutterbuck (_herts_, vol. ii. p. .) does not give this marriage; but john boteler, esq., of watton woodhall, who was of full age in , and whose first wife elizabeth died oct. , , is said to have married to his second wife constance, daughter of ---- downhall of gedington, co. northamptonshire. can this be the lady buried at wappenham? she was the mother of john boteler, esq., watton woodhall, sheriff of herts and essex in ; therefore her daughter would not be entitled to transmit her arms to her descendants. or could the last-mentioned john boteler, who died in , have had another wife besides the three mentioned in clutterbuck? there can be no question that one of the two john botelers of watton woodhall married constance de vere, as the marriage is mentioned on the monument at wappenham. i hope some of your genealogical readers may examine this point. tewars. _irish rhymes_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in "the wish," appended to _the ocean_ of young (afterwards suppressed in his collected works, but quoted by dr. johnson), are the following rhymes: "oh! may i _steal_ along the _vale_ of humble life, secure from foes." and again: "have what i _have_, and live not _leave_." and yet again: "then leave one _beam_ of honest _fame_, and scorn the labour'd monument." and in his "instalment" (which shared the same fate as "the wish"): "oh! how i long, enkindled by the _theme_, in deep eternity to launch thy _name_." young was no "mil_a_sian:" so these rhymes go to acquit swift of the irishism attributed to him by cuthbert bede; as, taken in connexion with those used by pope and others, it is clear they were not uncommon or confined to the irish poets. at the same time, i cannot think them either elegant or musical, nor can i agree with one of your correspondents, that their occasional use destroys the sameness of rhyme. if poets were to introduce eccentric rhymes at pleasure, to produce variety, the shade of walker would i think be troubled sorely. alexander andrews. _passage in boerhaave_ (vol. vii., p. .).--as the passage is incorrectly given from memory, it { } is not easy to say where it is to be found. i venture, however, to lay before the foreign surgeon the following, from the _institutiones medicæ cæt. digestæ_, ab herm. boerhaave (vienna, ), p. .: "unde tamen mors senilis per has mutationes accidit inevitabilis, et ex ipsa sanitate sequens." and from ph. ambr. marhesz, prælectiones in h. boerh., _inst. med._ (vienna, ), vol. iii. p. .: "tum vivere cessat decripitus senex, sine morbo in mortem transiens, nisi senectutis vitium ineluctabile pro morbo habeas." see also § . possibly the required passage may be found in burton's _account of the life, &c. of dr. boerhaave_ (london, ). allow me, however, to quote the following from a discourse of joannes oosterdijk schacht (boerhaave's cotemporary), delivered by him september , , when he entered on the professorship at utrecht. from this it will appear that the words ascribed to boerhaave may be attributed to other learned men: "nemini igitur mirum videatur, si innumeris stipata malis superveniat senectus, quam nec solam nec morbis tantum comitatam obrepere, sed ipsam morbum esse, et olim vidit vetustas, et hodierna abunde docet experientia."--joann. oosterdijk schacht, _oratio inauguralis cæt._ (traj. ad rhenum, ). from the _navorscher_. l. d. r. ginnekin. _craton the philosopher_ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "at that time two brothers, who were extremely rich, sold their inheritance by the advice of crato the philosopher, and bought diamonds of singular value, which they crushed in the forum before all the people, thus making an ostentatious exhibition of their contempt for the world. st. john, happening to be passing through the forum, witnessed this display, and, pitying the folly of these misguided men, kindly gave them sounder advice. sending for crato their master, who had led them into error, he blamed the wasteful destruction of valuable property, and instructed him in the true meaning of contempt for the world according to christ's doctrine, quoting the precept of that teacher, his own master, when, in reply to the young man who inquired of him how he might obtain eternal life, he said, 'if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.' crato the philosopher, acknowledging the soundness of the apostle's teaching, entreated him to restore the jewels which had been foolishly crushed to their former condition. st. john then gathered up the precious fragments, and, while he held them in his hand, prayed for some time with his eyes raised to heaven. his prayer being concluded, and all the faithful present having said _amen_, the broken pieces of the jewels became so closely united, that there remained not the slightest appearance of any fracture. then crato the philosopher, with all his disciples, threw himself at the apostle's feet, believed, and were baptized; and crato, preaching openly the faith of the lord jesus, became a true philosopher. moreover, the two brothers who before destroyed their property to no purpose, now, in obedience to the evangelical precept, sold their jewels, and distributed the price in alms to the poor of christ. and a multitude of believers began to attach themselves to st. john, and to follow his steps."--_ordericus vitalis_, b. ii. ch. v. (mr. forrester's translation), bohn's edit., vol. i. pp. , . j. sansom. _the curfew_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--add to the already long list of places where the curfew bell is still rung the following: st. werburgh's (cathedral) chester, acton, audlem, nantwich, wybunbury; all in cheshire and adjoining parishes. madeley, staffordshire. in this place also (audlem) the very ancient custom of chiming at funerals is still maintained. t. h. kersley, b.a. audlem, nantwich. _thomas blount_ (vol. viii., p. .).--since forwarding the monumental inscription inserted as above, which makes this gentleman's death to take place on dec. , i find that sir william dugdale, with whom blount was on terms of intimacy, as he calls him "my very worthy friend," has the following notice of him in his _diary_ under the year : "december . mr. t. blount dyed, at orlton, herefordshire, of an apoplexie." thus making a difference of ten days, which is probably an error made by the engraver of the inscription. it may be interesting to know from the same authority, that mr. blount's chamber was in fig tree court, on the back side of the inner temple hall, london, his country residence being at orlton. from his correspondence with sir william, it appears that he rendered him much assistance in his works. j. b. whitborne. _pronunciations of "coke" and "cowper"_ (vols. iv. and v. _passim_; vol. vi., p. .).--so much, and so well to the purpose, has already been said in "n. & q.," in support of the averment that the former of these names was originally pronounced _cook_, that it may appear needless to adduce additional evidence; still, considering the source from which the testimony i am now bringing forward is derived, i think i may stand excused for recurring to the subject. it is from the court books of the manor of mitcham (the birthplace of sir edward coke), and from the parochial registers; in which, and, indeed, in all cotemporary records where sound was followed in the spelling, i find the name of this family written { } _cook_ or _cooke_. the great sir edward's own baptismal register is thus entered-- , feb. . "edward cooke genero." surely this is conclusive. the same pronunciation was vulgarly followed almost up to the present time. there must be many who remember at the norfolk elections the cry of "cook for ever," as well as that of the opposite political party who threw up their caps for _woodhouse_; for so _wodehouse_ was in like manner pronounced. again, the hobarts, another norfolk family, were always called _hubbarts_; and more anciently bokenham, _buckenham_, todenham, _tuddenham_, and others i could name, showing that in the norfolk dialect the usage was in pronunciation to soften the _o_. now as regards the sound of cowper, the same class of authorities, old deeds, court rolls, and parish registers, appears to lead to a different conclusion from that of your other correspondents. we have now no _cowper_ family of norfolk origin; of _coopers_ we have multitudes: the names of whose forefathers were written _couper_ or _cowper_; and if written as pronounced, the analogical inference is that the original pronunciation was _cowper_, cooper being merely the modern way of spelling; and curiously enough, the parish of _hoo_, in this county, is called and now usually spelt _how_. g. a. c. _unkid_ (vol. viii., p. .).--_unketh_, _uncouth_, are different writings of the same word. jamieson has _uncoudy_, which he explains, dreary; and _coudy_, i. e. couth, couthy, nearly allied to _cuth_, notus (see _couth_ (could), _uncouth_, _unketh_, in richardson; and _coudy_, _uncoudy_, in jamieson). lye has "_uncwid_, solitary; whence, perhaps, the not entirely obsolete _unkid_." grose also tells us that, in the north, _uncuffs_ and _uncuds_ mean news. it is very plain that these are all the same word, differently written and applied. q. bloomsbury. _to split paper_ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "procure two rollers or cylinders of glass, amber, resin, or metallic amalgam; strongly excite them by the well known means so as to produce the attraction of cohesion, and then, with pressure, pass the paper between the rollers; one half will adhere to the under roller, and the other to the upper roller; then cease the excitation, and remove each part."--from the _civil engineer and architect's journal_. a. h. b. _la fleur des saints_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the work which molière intended was in all probability the french translation of a spanish work entitled _flos sanctorum_. the author of it was alonso de villegas. it was first printed at toledo in , and an english version appeared at douay in . some idea of the contents may be gathered from the following title: _flos sanctorum, historia general de la vida, y hechos de jesu christo dios y señor nuestro; y de todos los santos, de que reza, y haze fiesta la iglesia catolica, &c._ my copy is the madrid edition of . c. hardwick. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. _dr. butler and st. edmund's bury_ (vol. viii., p. .).--could this have been dr. william butler, of eccentric memory, born at ipswich about , and buried in st. mary's church, cambridge, ? g. a. c. _major andré_ (vol. viii., p. .).--two nephews of major andré, sons of his sister, mrs. mills, are resident in norwich, both being surgeons there. perhaps, on application, your correspondent serviens would be able to obtain from them some serviceable information regarding this unfortunate officer. g. a. c. _wooden tombs and effigies_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the church of chew-magna, co. somerset, is the effigy of sir john hautville, cut (says collinson, vol. ii. p. .) in one solid piece of irish oak. he lies on his left side, resting on his hip and elbow, the left hand supporting his head. the figure is in armour, with a red loose coat without sleeves over it, a girdle and buckle, oblong shield, helmet, and gilt spurs. the right hand rests on the edge of the shield. this monument was brought many years ago from the neighbouring church (now destroyed) of norton hautville. sir john lived temp. henry iii. the popular story of him is that he was a person of gigantic strength, and that he carried, for a feat, three men to the top of norton church tower, one under each arm, and the third in his teeth! (collinson, vol. ii. p. .) j. e. j. _froissart's accuracy_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the accuracy of froissart as an historian has never been questioned, says t. j. this assertion ought not to pass without a note. if t. j. will look into hallam's _lit. of europe_, ch. iii., he will find that judicious and learned critic comparing froissart with livy for "fertility of historical invention," or, in other words, for his unhesitatingly supplying his readers with a copious and picturesque statement of the details of events, where they were palpably out of the reach of his knowledge. as a gleaner of chivalrous gossip, and a painter of national manners, froissart is perhaps unequalled. take up his account of a campaign on the scottish borders, and he relates the proceedings in his amusing style, as if he had been behind every bush with the scotch, and hunting for them in vain with every english banner. but if his accuracy be inquired into, he tells you that carlisle, which he calls cardoel en gales, is on { } the tyne, and was garrisoned in vain with "grand planté de galois," to prevent the scotch from passing the tyne under its walls (vol. i. ch. xviii. xix. xxi.). so much by way of note; but there is a query which i should be glad to see answered. bayle (art. froissart) quotes a german critic as affirming that in the lyons edition of froissart, by denys saulvage, : "omnia quæ aulæ gallicæ displicebant, deleta, vixque decimam historiæ partem relictam esse." does col. johnes notice this inaccuracy in the edition generally procurable? and does he state whether he saw, or consulted, or received any benefit from the existence of the ms. copy of froissart, once in the library of breslaw? henry walter. _nursery rhymes_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i fear j. r.'s anxiety to find a saxon origin to a nursery rhyme has _suggested_ unconsciously a version which does not otherwise exist. the rhyme in my young days used to be,-- "hushaby, baby, on the tree top, when the wind blows the cradle will rock." --a sufficient rhyme for the nursery. eden warwick. birmingham. "_hip, hip, hurrah!_" (vol. viii., pp. . .).-- sir j. emerson tennent, in answering mr. brent's observation at p. ., seems to have been fighting a shadow. upon reference to mr. chappell's _collection_, vol. ii. p. ., quoted by mr. brent, it appears that a note by dr. burney, in a copy of hawkins's _history of music_, in the british museum, is the authority for the reading: "hang up all the poor _hep_ drinkers, cries old sim, the king of skinkers." in the folio edition of ben jonson's _works_, published by thomas hodgkin, london, , in which the "leges convivales" are i believe for the first time printed, the verses over the door of the apollo are given, and the couplet runs: "hang up all the poor _hop_ drinkers, cries old sym, the king of skinkers." probably mr. chappell misread dr. burney's ms. note: at all events mr. brent's ingenious suggestion is without foundation. a. f. b. diss. _dodo_ (vol. vii., p. .).--dodo or doun bardolf married beatrix, daughter of william de warren of wormegay. she was a widow in , and remarried the famous hubert de burgh. anon. _oaths_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent assumes that the act of kissing the bible, or other book containing the holy gospels, by a judicial witness, is a part of the oath itself. is it such, or is it merely an act of reverence to the book? in support of the latter supposition, i would quote archdeacon paley, who says, that after repeating the oath,-- "the juror kisses the book; the kiss, however, seems rather an act of reverence to the contents of the book, as in the popish ritual the priest kisses the gospel before he reads it, than any part of the oath."--_mor. and pol. ph._, p. ., thirteenth edition. in none of the instances given by c. s. g. does kissing the book appear to be essential. does not this rather favour dr. paley's explanation? which, if it be correct, would, i think, afford grounds for concluding that the practice of kissing the book accompanied the taking of ancient oaths, and is not, as c. s. g. suggests, an addition of later times. again, may i bring forward the same authority in opposition to that quoted by your correspondent with reference to the origin of the term corporal oath: "it is commonly thought that oaths are denominated corporal oaths from the bodily action which accompanies them, of laying the right hand upon a book containing the four gospels. this opinion, however, appears to be a mistake, for the term is borrowed from the ancient usage of touching upon these occasions the _corporale_, or cloth, which covered the consecrated elements."--p. . r. v. t. mincing lane. the old custom of taking the judicial oath by merely laying the right hand upon the book, is undoubtedly, thinks erica, of pagan origin. in my humble opinion it is far too common with us to ascribe things to pagan origin. i would venture to assert that the origin of this form of judicial oath may be traced to deuteronomy xxi. - ., where at the sacrifice offered up in expiation of secret murder, the rulers of the city nearest the spot where the corpse was found were in presence of the corpse to wash their hands _over_ the victim, and say, "our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it." ceyrep. _mayors and sheriffs_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in answer to a subscriber, there can be little or no doubt, i consider, but that the mayor of a town or borough is the principal and most important officer, and ought to have precedence of a sheriff of a town or borough. by stat. & wm. iv. cap. . sec. ., it is enacted, "that the mayor for the time being of every borough shall, during the time of his mayoralty, have precedence in all places within the borough." as sheriffs of towns, and counties of towns, do not derive their appointments from the crown, but from the councils of their respective towns, &c. (see sec. . of the { } above act), i do not imagine that they can legally claim precedence of mayors, on the alleged ground of any "representation of majesty," in the face of the particular enactment above quoted; which, indeed, seems to me to give to the mayor within his own borough precedence of a high sheriff of a county, if present on any public occasion. i am not aware that the sheriff of borough, as such, can "_claim_ to have a grant of arms, if he has not any previous;" although i have no doubt he may readily obtain one, upon payment of the usual fees. c. j. _mousehunt_ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "a mousehunt is a little animal of the species of weasel; it has a very slender body, about the length of a rat, with a long hairy tail, bushy at the end; the back is of a reddish-brown colour, the hair long and smooth; the belly is white, as are also its feet; it runs very swiftly, swaying its body as it moves along from side to side. the head is short and narrow, with small ears, like those of a rat; the eyes are black, piercing, and very bright. their chief food is rats, mice, young chickens, little birds, and eggs. they frequent mole-hills, and are often caught in the traps set for the moles; they are destroyed by ferrets and dogs. these mousehunts live, for the most part, in holes beneath the roots of trees, or in old buildings." the above description of the mousehunt is given in _the history of a field-mouse_ by miss black. should it be thought of sufficient authority to deserve a place in "n. & q.," the coincidence which led "little downy" to be read to a little girl on the morning of nov. will amuse. e. b. r. _"salus populi," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--selden, in his _table talk_ (art. people), states, on what authority i know not, that this was part of the law of xii tables. e. s. t. t. _love charm from a foal's forehead_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the word which h. p. wants is _hippomanes_. the reference which the lexicons give is to aristotle's _history of animals_, viii. . . i shall be glad to have some of h. p.'s references to tacitus, as i cannot now call one to mind. in connexion with the subject, i should like to know if the white star, which used to be so fashionable on horses' foreheads, was always or generally produced artificially. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _land of green ginger_ (vol. viii., pp. . .). --so named, in all probability, from green ginger having been manufactured there. green ginger was one of the favourite conserve of our ancestors, and great quantities of it were made in this country from dried ginger roots. in an old black-letter work without date, but unmistakeably of the sixteenth century, entitled _the book of pretty c[=o]ceits, taken out of latine, french, dutch, and english_, there is a receipt "to make green ginger," commencing thus:--"take rases of cased ginger and use them in this sort." i need not quote the long-winded receipt. suffice it to say that dried ginger was placed in alternate layers with fine white sand, and the whole mass kept constantly wet until the ginger became quite soft. it was then washed, scraped clean, and put into sirup. there can be no greater difficulty in finding a derivation for the land of green ginger, than for pudding lane, or pie corner. w. pinkerton. ham. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the members of the _camden society_ have just received two volumes, with which we doubt not all will be well pleased. the first is a farther portion, namely, from m to r, of mr. way's most valuable edition of the _promptorium parvulorum_. a glance at the foot-notes, so rich in philological illustration, and a knowledge that mr. way's labours have been greatly impeded by his removal from london, where only he can meet with the authorities which he is obliged to consult, may well explain the delay which has taken place in its publication. but we doubt not that the camden council are justified in the hope which they have expressed that the favour with which the present portion is received, will encourage the editor to proceed with all possible dispatch to the conclusion of the work. rich, like the _promptorium_, in philological illustration, and of the highest value as a contribution to the social history of the thirteenth century, is the next work; and for which the camden members are indebted to the learned vicar of holbeach, the rev. james morton. _the ancren riwle; a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life_, which he has edited and translated from a semi-saxon ms. of the thirteenth century, is a work which many of our best scholars have long desired to see in print,--we believe we may add, that many have thought seriously of editing. the information to be derived from it, with regard to the state of society, the learning and manners, the moral and religious teaching, and the language of the period in which it was written, is so various and so important, that it is clear the camden society has done good service in selecting it for publication; while the manner in which it has been edited by mr. morton, and the translation and complete glossarial index with which he has enriched it, show that the council did equally well in their choice of an editor. the work does the highest credit both to that gentleman and to the camden society. mr bridger, of . keppel street, russell square, is desirous of making known to our readers that he is engaged in compiling a "catalogue of privately printed books in genealogy and kindred subjects," and to solicit information in furtherance of his design, { } more especially with regard to privately printed sheet pedigrees. the catalogue will be printed for private distribution, and he will be happy to give a copy to any one who may favour him with communications. books received.--as usual, we have a large item to enter under this head to the account of that enterprising caterer of good and cheap books, mr. bohn. we have two volumes of his _standard library_, namely, adam smith's _theory of moral sentiments; and dissertation on the origin of languages, with the biographical and critical memoir of the author_, by dugald stewart--and a work of greater present interest, though in itself of far less importance, namely, ranke's _history of servia_, and his _insurrection in bosnia, translated from the german_, by mrs. a. kerr, and the _slave provinces of turkey, chiefly from the french_ of m. cyprien robert, a volume which will be read with eagerness in the present condition of the political world. _justin, cornelius nepos, and eutropius, literally translated, with notes and a general index_, by the reverend j. selby watson, m.a., forms the new volume of the same publisher's _classical library_. mr. bohn has this month commenced a new series under the title of bohn's _british classics_. the first work is an edition of gibbon's _decline and fall_, with the notes of guizot, wenck, and other continental writers; and farther illustrations by an english churchman. in thus choosing gibbon, mr. bohn has not shown his usual tact. he may not mean his edition to be a rival to that published by mr. murray under the editorship of dean milman; but he will find much difficulty in dissuading the reading world that it is not so intended. we speak thus freely, because we have always spoken so freely in commendation of mr. bohn's projects generally.--_catalogue of my english library, collected and described_ by henry stevens, f.s.a., is a catalogue of the books essential to a good english library of about volumes, and such as mr. stevens, the indefatigable supplier of book rarities and book utilities to his american brethren, feels justified in recommending. it would be found so capital a hand-book to all classes, that we are sorry to see it is only printed for private distribution.--_the botanist's word-book_, by g. macdonald, esq., and dr. james allan. this little vocabulary of the terms employed in the science of botany, which may now almost be described as the science of long names, will be found most useful by all who pursue that fascinating study. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the friends. . vols. the edinburgh miscellany. . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: ormerod's cheshire. parts ii. and x. small paper. hemingway's chester. parts i. and iii. large paper. wanted by _t. hughes_, . paradise row, chester. * * * * * aaron hill's plain dealer. edinburgh miscellany. edinb. . wanted by _f. dinsdale_, leamington. * * * * * oxford almanack for . amoenitates academicÆ. vol. i. holmiæ, . ammanus l. stirpes rariores. petrop. . philosophical transactions for . annals of philosophy for january, . universal magazine for january, . springel and decandolle's botany. wanted by _mr. h. t. bobart_, ashby-de-la-zouch. * * * * * laderchii annales ecclesiastici. tom. folio. romæ, - . the bible in shorthand, according to the method of mr. james weston, whose shorthand prayer book was published in the year . a copy of addy's copperplate shorthand bible, london, , would be given in exchange. loescher, de latrociniis, quÆ in scriptores publicos solent committere hÆretici. to. vitemb. . loescher, acta reformationis. schramm, dissert. de librorum prohibitorum indicibus. to. helmst. . jamesii specimen corruptelarum pontific. to. lond. . macedo, diatribe de cardinalis bonÆ erroribus. wanted by _rev. richard gibbings_, falcarragh, letterkenny, co. donegal. * * * * * peck's (fr.) history of the stamford bull running. the case of mr. sam. bruckshaw considered. vo. or mo. wanted by _mr. j. phillips_, stamford. * * * * * recollections and reflections during the reign of george iii., by john nicholls. vols. vo. london, ridgway, . wanted by _g. cornewall lewis_, kent house, knightsbridge. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have this week the pleasure of again presenting our readers with a thirty-two page number, in consequence of the number of advertisements and the length of _dr. diamond's_ valuable paper. this latter we recommend to the attention of our antiquarian friends, who will find, as we have done, that the process is at once simple and certain, and one which may be mastered with very little trouble._ non-medicus. _your correction of an obvious blunder in the registrar-general's report is not fitted for our columns._ f. w. _the proverb_ good wine needs no bush _has reference to the practice which formerly prevailed of hanging a tuft of ivy at the door of a vintner, as we learn from_-- "now a days the good wyne needeth none ivye garland." _ritson, in a note on the epilogue to shakespeare's_ as you like it, _speaks of the custom as then prevalent in warwickshire, and as having given the name to the well-known_ bush inn _at bristol_. b. w. c. (barum). _the subject is under serious consideration, but the difficulties are greater than our friendly correspondent imagines._ j. d. les lettres cabalistiques _were written by m. d'argens, the author of_ les lettres juives _and_ les lettres chinoises. mr. j. a. dunkin, _of dartford, kent, would feel obliged with the loan of the following work_: memoirs of the origin of the incorporation of the trinity house of deptford strond. _it is not in the british museum._ folk lore.--_we propose next week to present our readers with a christmas number, rich in_ folk lore, _and other kindred subjects_. _many replies to correspondents are unavoidably postponed._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half.--copies are being made up and may be had by order._ * * * * * { } in small vo. volumes, neatly bound, the parlour bookcase. the volumes now ready are:-- vol. . sam slick the clockmaker. s. . ---- the attaché. s. . ---- letter bag of the great western. s. d. . captain marryat's monsieur violet. s. d. . ---- olla podrida. s. d. . mrs. trollope's domestic manners of america. s. d. . paddiana; or, irish life. s. d. . salad for the solitary. by an epicure. s. d. . robert chamber's history of scotland. s. d. . smith's traditions of the streets of london. s. d. . maxwell's wild sports of the west. s. d. . col. cunynghame's service in china. s. . fairholt's eccentric characters. s. d. . maxwell's czar, his court and people. s. d. . memoirs of theodore hook. s. . the hon. mrs. norton's undying one. s. d. . chalmeriana; or, colloquies with dr. chalmers. by j. j. gurney. s. d. . brace's home life in germany. s. to be followed by: a history of china.--mrs. sinnett's byeways of history.--beckford's italy, &c. richard bentley, new burlington street. * * * * * bentley's railway library. *** the works in this series are all copyright, and cannot be had in any other collection. the new volume, published on the th inst., contains, the two brothers. volumes already published: vol. . the comic english grammar. s. . notes on noses. s. . morier's adventures of martin toutrond. s. . the old sailor's "nights at sea." s. . border tales. by the author of "stories of waterloo." s. . col. cunynghame's great western republic. s. . albert smith's comic tales. s. . broad grins from china. s. . albert smith's life at home and abroad. s. . sketches of english character. by mrs. gore. s. . professor creasy's battle of waterloo. s. . emille carlen's brilliant marriage. s. . merrimee's colomba. a story of corsica. double vol. s. d. . merrimee's massacre of st. bartholomew. a chronicle of charles ix. double vol. s. . john drayton. the liverpool engineer. double vol. s. . stella and vanessa. a romance of the days of swift. double vol. s. . ned myers. by j. fenimore cooper. s. to be followed by basil. by wilkie collins. stanley thorn. by the author of "valentine vox." richard bentley, new burlington street. and to be had of all booksellers, and at all railway stations. * * * * * in imperial quarto, beautifully printed in colours, price s. half-bound morocco, atlas of classical geography. by a. keith johnston, f.r.s.e., &c., author of the "physical atlas," &c. with a complete index of places. by t. harvey, m.a. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. of whom may be had, an edition of the same work for the use of schools, strongly half-bound in octavo, price s. d. * * * * * in super-royal mo., illustrated by "phiz," price s. d. cloth; s. d. coloured, gilt edges. a peep at the pixies; or, legends of the west. by mrs. bray. author of "the life of stothard," "trelawny," &c. "mrs. bray's knowledge of the locality, her affection for her subject, her exquisite feeling for nature, and her real delight in fairy lore, have given a freshness to the little volume we did not expect. the notes at the end contain matter of interest for all who feel a desire to know the origin of such tales and legends."--_art journal._ grant & griffith, corner of st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * just published, fcap. vo., price s. cloth, anecdotes of the habits and instincts of birds, fishes, and reptiles. by mrs. r. lee, author of "the african wanderers," &c. illustrations by harrison weir. by the same author, anecdotes of the habits and instinct of animals. illustrations by h. weir. new edition, s. cloth. "amusing, instructive, and ably written."--_literary gazette._ "mrs. lee's authorities--to name only one, professor owen--are, for the most part, first-rate."--_athenæum._ grant & griffith, corner of st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * heal and son's eider down quilts are made in three varieties,--the bordered quilt, the plain quilt, and the duvet. the bordered quilt is in the usual form of bed quilts, and is a most elegant and luxurious article. the plain quilt is smaller, and is useful as an extra covering on the bed, or as a wrapper in the carriage, or on the couch. the duvet is a loose case filled with eider down as in general use on the continent. lists of prices and sizes sent free by post, on application to heal & son's bedding factory, . tottenham court road. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s. notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo.; pp. ; plates ; price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign; the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._" also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on reflecting and solar microscopes; eye-pieces; micrometers, &c. also, edited by the same, price s., english patents; being a register of all those granted in the arts, manufactures, chemistry, &c., during the first forty-five years of this century. whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * on th of december, price d.; stamped, d. the bibliographical miscellany, no. ii., contains a reprint of the very rare, and probably unique, tract of sir dudley digges on the north-west passage to india and china printed in , and is appended to john petheram's catalogue of old and new books (upwards of articles) for december, . john petheram, . high holborn. * * * * * sales by auction. this evening, at .--remainders of numerous magnificent illustrated books.--by southgate & barrett, at their rooms, . fleet street, this evening, december th, and following evenings (saturday and sunday excepted), at , roberts's holy land, egypt, nubia, &c.; digby wyatt's industrial arts of the nineteenth century (of both of which the lithographic stones will be destroyed during the progress of the sale); digby wyatt's metal work, and its artistic design; kirby wyatt's geometrical mosaics of the middle ages; darrell's china, india, and the cape, coloured and mounted; nash's mansions of england in the olden time; gruner's specimens of ornamental art; musée royal (picked proofs before the letters); richardson's studies from old english mansions; and a great number of books of prints by eminent artists will be sold in this sale. catalogues ( s. each, returnable to purchasers) will be forwarded to gentlemen sending their address. * * * * * this evening, at . first class english engravings.--by southgate & barrett, at their rooms, . fleet street, this evening, dec. , and following evenings, at , choice engravings, including all the best productions of sir edwin landseer, r.a.; comprising the stag at bay (both large and small), the cover hack, the drive, three sporting dogs, return from the warren, the mothers, complete sets of his etchings, and others; turner's dover and hastings; ansdell's just caught; the halt, and the combat; webster's rubber; etty's judgment of paris; harvey's bowlers, and first reading of the bible in old st. paul's; murillo's holy family; the rainbow, by constable; mated and checkmated, the duet, and other graceful compositions by frank stone; going with and against the stream, after jenkins; and numerous others. all in the finest possible states. * * * * * { } privately printed books, sold by john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * these works are printed in quarto, uniform with the club-books, and the series is now completed. their value chiefly consists in the rarity and curiosity of the pieces selected, the notes being very few in number. the impression of each work is most strictly limited. * * * * * i. morte arthure: the alliterative romance of the death of king arthur; now first printed, from a manuscript in the library of lincoln cathedral. seventy-five copies printed. l. *** a very curious romance, full of allusions interesting to the antiquary and philologist. it contains nearly eight thousand lines. ii. the castle of love: a poem, by robert grosteste, bishop of lincoln; now first printed from inedited mss. of the fourteenth century. one hundred copies printed. s. *** this is a religious poetical romance, unknown to warton. its poetical merits are beyond its age. iii. contributions to early english literature, derived chiefly from rare books and ancient inedited manuscripts from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. seventy-five copies printed. *** out of print separately, but included in the few remaining complete sets. iv. a new boke about shakespeare and stratford-on-avon, illustrated with numerous woodcuts and facsimiles of shakespeare's marriage bond, and other curious articles. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. v. the palatine anthology. an extensive collection of ancient poems and ballads relating to cheshire and lancashire; to which is added the palatine garland. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. vi. the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, illustrated by reprints of very rare tracts. seventy-five copies printed. l. s. contents:--harry white his humour, set forth by m. p.--comedie of the two italian gentlemen--tailor's travels from london to the isle of wight, --wyll bucke his testament--the booke of merry riddles, --comedie of all for money, --wine, beere, ale, and tobacco, --johnson's new booke of new conceites, --love's garland, . vii. the yorkshire anthology.--an extensive collection of ballads and poems, respecting the county of yorkshire. one hundred and ten copies printed. l. s. *** this work contains upwards of pages, and includes a reprint of the very curious poem, called "yorkshire ale," , as well as a great variety of old yorkshire ballads. viii, ix. a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, printed in two volumes, quarto (preface omitted), to range with todd's "johnson," with margins sufficient for insertions. one hundred and twelve copies printed in this form. l. s. x. some account of a collection of several thousand bills, accounts. and inventories, illustrating the history of prices between the years and , with copious extracts from old account-books. eighty copies printed. l. s. xi. the poetry of witchcraft, illustrated by copies of the plays on the lancashire witches, by heywood and shadwell, viz., the "late lancashire witches," and the "lancashire witches and tegue o'divelly, the irish priest." eighty copies printed. l. s. xii. the norfolk anthology, a collection of poems, ballads, and rare tracts, relating to the county of norfolk. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiii. some account of a collection of antiquities, coins, manuscripts, rare books, and other reliques, illustrative of the life and works of shakespeare. illustrated with woodcuts. eighty copies printed. l. s. xiv. some account of the mss. preserved in the public library, plymouth: a play attributed to shirley, a poem by n. breton, and other miscellanies. eighty copies printed. l. s. *** a complete set of the fourteen volumes, l. a reduction made in favour of permanent libraries on application, it being obvious that the works cannot thence return into the market to the detriment of original subscribers. * * * * * john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * { } new editions, etc. issued by h. washbourne & co., . ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * pictorial book of ancient ballad poetry of great britain, historical, traditional, and romantic, chronologically arranged, with introductory notices, historical and critical; together with a selection of modern imitations, and some translations, revised and enlarged. s. vo., roxburghe style, or vols. cloth. martin's illustrated milton's paradise lost. large engravings. imperial vo. l. s. d. half-bound morocco; l. s. morocco, elegantly gilt. *** another edition, large paper, imp. to. illustrated by martin's larger plates, good impressions, half-bound russia elegant, l. s. (only copies printed.) "he is more original, more self-dependent, than raffaele or michael angelo; they perfected the style of others--of massaccio and signorelli; martin borrowed from none."--_sir e. l. b. lytton._ * * * * * cheap, compact, and complete editions, octavo. spenser's works. portrait, &c. s. spectator, with portraits and lives of the authors. s. arabian nights' entertainments, by forster. s. percy's reliques of ancient english poetry. vols. fcap. vo., with illuminated titles, s. cloth; s. half-morocco; l. s. d. morocco antique. also, to match, ellis's specimens of early poets. vols. "washbourne's editions of percy and ellis are tempting books."--_gentleman's magazine._ massinger's works, by gifford. portrait, &c. s. boswell's life of dr. johnson, by malone. s. walton's lives of donne, wotton, hooker, herbert, &c. (major's). engravings, and notes. small vo., s. cloth; s. morocco, or calf antique; also l. p. crown vo., cloth, s. an enlarged edition, with , plates, vols. s. book of family crests, &c.; with upwards of , engravings, illustrative of the crests of nearly every family. "no wonder this book sells."--_spectator._ the best recommendation as to its correctness (in the main) is, that it has been used as a book of reference in the heralds' college. book of mottoes, with translations and bearers' names, cloth gilt, s. d. fourteenth edition, and th year of its publication, clark's introduction to heraldry. upwards of , plates, including the arms of numerous families, small vo. s. d.; correctly coloured, s.; or, s. d. on paper prepared for learners. "i do not think i can offer better information than will be found in clark's introduction to heraldry."--_basil montagu._ illustrated by portraits and engravings on copper and wood. butler's hudibras, by dr. nash, with some of gray's notes. vols. crown vo., s. herbert's poems and country parson, complete: s. d. cloth; s. morocco; s. antique morocco or calf. * * * * * *** please to note washbourne's editions. * * * * * this day, fourth and cheaper edition, in cloth and coloured, s. bible maps; an historical and descriptive atlas of scripture geography, wherein the ancient authorities are verified, and corrected from the information of modern travellers up to the present time. with copious index. by william hughes, f.r.g.s. london: j. w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors end gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * retrospective review (new series), consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious useful and valuable old books. vol. i. pp. . cloth, s. d. part v., price s. d., published quarterly, is now ready. john russell smith, . soho square. * * * * * price s., or, post free, s. d. in stamps. pantomime budgets: contains notes and queries on things in general, and taxation in particular. cross & son, . holborn. * * * * * christmas presents.--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, _c._ rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * in vol. vo., price s. d. cloth. memoirs of the life and writings of john pye smith, d.d., ll.d., &c., late theological tutor of the old college, homerton. by john medway. london: jackson & walford, . st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * in fcap. vo., price s. cloth. a biographical sketch of the rev. joseph gilbert. by his widow. with recollections of the discourses of his closing years, from notes at the time. by one of his sons. london: jackson & walford, . st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * in fcap. vo., with vignette, price s. cloth. scenes in other lands; with their associations. by john stoughton. london: jackson & walford, . st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * in fcap. vo., price s. d., sewed, a revised and cheaper edition of the age and christianity. by robert vaughan, d.d. london: jackson & walford, . st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * in fcp. vo., price s. cloth. prayers. chiefly adapted for times and occasions of personal trial. by john sheppard. london: jackson & walford, . st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * second edition, in fcap. vo., price s. cloth. the reunion and recognition of christians in the life to come. the right love of creatures and of the creator. christian conversation. in three essays. by john sheppard. london: jackson & walford, . st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * in square crown vo., price s.; or, s. bound in morocco. goldsmith's poetical works. edited by bolton corney. with engravings on wood, from designs by members of the etching club. "apart from the grace and beauty of the illustrations, it is by far the most correct and careful of the existing editions."--_forster's life of goldsmith._ london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * price one guinea, in massive carved covers; or s. bound, miracles of our lord, illuminated in the missal style. by henry noel humphreys. by the same illuminator, parables of our lord. maxims and precepts of the saviour. book of ruth. record of the black prince. sentiments and similes of shakspeare. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * { } solicitors' & general life assurance society, . chancery lane, london. subscribed capital, _one million_. this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day, between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at _s_., _s_., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * policy holders in other companies, and intending assurers generally, are invited to examine the rates, principles, and progress of the scottish provident institution, the only society in which the advantages of mutual assurance can be secured by moderate premiums. established . number of policies issued , , assuring upwards of two and a half millions. full reports and every information had (free) on application. *** policies are now issued free of stamp duty; and attention is invited to the circumstance that premiums payable for life assurance are now allowed as a deduction from income in the returns for income tax. george grant, resident sec. london branch, . moorgate street. * * * * * photography. a complete set of apparatus for l. s., containing an expanding camera, with warranted double achromatic adjusting lenses, a portable stand, pressure frame, levelling stand, and baths, complete. portrait lenses of double achromatic combination, from l. s. d. landscape lenses, with rack adjustment, from s. a guide to the practice of this interesting art, s., by post free. s. d. french polished mahogany stereoscopes, from s. d. a large assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same in daguerreotype, calotype, or albumen, at equally low prices. achromatic microscopes. beautifully finished achromatic microscope, with all the latest improvement and apparatus, complete from l. s., at c. baker's. optical and mathematical instrument warehouse, . high holborn (opposite day & martin's). * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * spectacles.--every description of spectacles and eye-glasses for the assistance of vision, adapted by means of smee's optometer: that being the only correct method of determining the exact focus of the lenses required, and of preventing injury to the sight by the use of improper glasses. bland & long. opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * prince of wales's sketch-box.--containing colours, pencils, &c., with printed directions, as now used by the royal family. price s. miller's, artist's colour manufacturer, . long acre, london; and at her majesty's steam colour and pencil works, pimlico. * * * * * { } books suitable for christmas presents, published by mr. john henry parker, oxford; and . strand london. * * * * * the book of common prayer. with fifty illustrations, from designs by ancient and modern artists. selected by the rev. h. j. rose and rev. j. w. burgon. in one handsome volume, vo. the prayer-book is printed in very large type, with rubrics in red. elegantly bound in antique calf, with vermillion edges, l. s. daily church services. in one portable volume, containing the prayers and lessons for daily use: or, the course of scripture readings for the year, authorised by the church. also, a table of the proper lessons for sundays and holydays, with references to the pages. price s. d., bound; s. in hayday's morocco. this volume will be found equally useful to those who read the church service at home, as for those who use it at church, as the lessons and services for every day are distinctly marked, forming a very suitable book for a present. it is also kept by any respectable bookseller in a variety of elegant bindings. of the imitation of christ. four books. by thomas à kempis. a new edition, revised, handsomely printed in fcap. vo., with vignettes and red florinted borders taken from the ancient mss. cloth, s. also in antique calf binding, vermillion edges, s. d. the calendar of the anglican church illustrated. with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names, or whose images are most frequently met with in england; the early christian and mediæval symbols; and an index of emblems. with numerous woodcuts. fcap. vo., s. d.; or bound in antique calf, s. a history of the church of england, to the revolution of . by the late rev. j. b. s. carwithen, b.d. a new edition, edited by the rev. w. r. browell, m.a., vols. small vo., s. the pilgrim's progress. by john bunyan. a new edition, adapted by the rev. j. m. neale, m.a., for the use of children of the church of england. fcap. vo., handsomely bound in gilt cloth, with woodcuts, s. d. tracts for the christian seasons. first series. four vols., cloth, s. tracts for the christian seasons. second series. four vols., cloth, s. sermons for the christian seasons. a series of plain sermons for sunday reading. four vols., fcap. vo., s. a plain commentary on the gospel of st. matthew. with numerous illustrations. fcap. vo., s. d. wilson's sacra privata. from the original mss. second edition. fcap. vo., antique cloth, red edges, _s_; antique calf, red edges, s. the psalter and the gospel. the life, suffering, and triumph of our blessed lord, revealed in the book of psalms. fcap. vo., uniform with the plain commentary on the four holy gospels. s. a selection of the most striking of the parallel passages contained in the psalter and the gospel. scotland and the scottish church. by the rev. henry caswall, m.a., vicar of figheldean, wilts; author of "america and the american church," &c. &c., and a proctor in convocation for the diocese of salisbury. fcap. vo., s. a short explanation of the nicene creed, for the use of persons beginning the study of theology. by a. p. forbes, d.c.l., bishop of brechin. fcap. vo., cloth s. ten sermons in illustration of the creed. by the rev. w. g. tupper, warden of the house of charity, soho; and late scholar of trinity college, oxford. fcap. vo., cloth, s. "in his 'sermons on the creed,' mr. tupper has condensed, with much painstaking, and an evident sense of deep responsibility, the dogmatic teaching of the church."--_christian remembrancer._ a new edition of daily steps towards heaven. a small pocket volume, containing a few practical thoughts on the gospel history: with texts for every day in the year, commencing with advent. fifth edition. in roan binding, gilt edges, s. d. descriptions of canaan; being an account of the mountains, rivers, and towns of the holy land. by the rev. c. p. wilbraham. fcap. vo., with map, cloth, s. *** this manual is particularly adapted to the use of parochial schools. * * * * * tales and stories for christmas. old christmas. a tale. mo. d. the singers of the sanctuary, and the missionary; two tales. by the author of "angels work." mo. s. d. angels' work; or, the choristers of st. mark's. second edition. s. ann ash; or, the history of a foundling. a narrative founded on fact. by the author of "charlie burton," "the broken arm," &c. mo. s. kenneth; or, the rear guard of the grand army. by the author of "scenes and characters," "kings of england," "heir of redclyffe" &c. second edition. fcap. vo. s. speculation a tale. by the rev. w. e. heygate. fcap. vo. s. pastor of welbourne and his flock. mo. s. little mary. third edition. mo. s. henry vernon; or, the little anglo-indian. a new edition. mo. s. ada's thoughts; or, the poetry of youth. fcap. vo., cloth, gilt edges, s. d. (just ready.) * * * * * small books for presents. the practical christian's library: a series of cheap publications for general circulation. s. d. learn to die (sutton) private devotions (spinckes) the imitation of christ (à kempis) manual of prayer for the young (ken) the golden grove (taylor) life of ambrose bonwicke life of bishop bull (nelson) companion to the prayer book selections from hooker (keble) practical christian (sherlock). part i. s. part ii. s.; vol. learn to live (sutton) doctrine of the english church (heylin) holy living (bp. taylor) holy dying (bp. taylor) tracts on the church (jones of nayland) figurative language of holy scripture (jones of nayland) confessions of st. augustine exposition of the catechism (nicholson) thoughts on religion (pascal) wilson on the lord's supper wilson's sacra privata * * * * * little books for presents, selected from the parochial tracts. s. d. words of advice and warning, limp baptism, limp the chief truths, limp the church service, limp the holy catholic church, limp tracts on the ten commandments, limp confirmation, limp the lord's supper, limp meditation and prayer, limp tracts for female penitents, limp tracts on the prayer book, cloth daily office for the use of families, roan tales and allegories, illustrated, cloth, gilt parochial tales, cloth, gilt tracts for cottagers, cloth, gilt devotions for the sick, cloth * * * * * the penny post for is now ready, bound in cloth, lettered with frontispiece, price s. d. * * * * * john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "the greek of the septuagint, or of the new testament": 'not of the new testament' in original, corrected by errata in issue . ibid., "it is usual to read this with an accent on the penultima": 'antepenultima' in original, corrected by errata in issue . page , "richard, son of the writer of the said letter" : 'son of' inserted by errata in issue . ibid., "he (the father) thus commences" : '(the father)' inserted by errata in issue . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page original royal letters to the grand masters of malta, by william winthrop penny sights and exhibitions in the reign of james i., by a. grayan the impossibilities of our forefathers parallel passages, by the rev. john booker astrology in america minor notes:--"hierosolyma est perdita"--quaint inscription in a belfry--the chronicles of the kings of israel and judah--the using a circumstance as a "peg," or "nail," to hang an argument on, &c.--turkish and russian grammars-- chronograms in sicily--stone pulpits--advertisements and prospectuses queries:-- english refugees at ypenstein minor queries:--petrarch's laura--"epitaphium lucretiæ"-- mcdowall family--arms of geneva--webb of monckton farleigh-- translation wanted--latin translation from sheridan, &c.-- gale of rent--arms of sir richard de loges--gentile names of the jews--henry, earl of wotton--kicker-eating--chadderton of nuthurst, co. lancashire--george, first viscount lanesborough, and sir charles cotterell--"firm was their faith," &c.--the mother of william the conqueror--pedigree of sir francis bryan minor queries with answers--"the whole duty of man"--"it rained cats and dogs and little pitchforks:" helter-skelter-- father traves--precise dates of births and deaths of the pretenders--clarence replies:-- mackey's "theory of the earth" sincere, simple, singular poetical tavern signs homo unius libri the forlorn hope, by w. r. wilde tieck's "comoedia divina" liveries worn by gentlemen photographic correspondence.--queries on dr. diamond's calotype process--albumenized paper replies to minor queries:--marcarnes--x on brewers' casks-- no sparrows at lindham--theobald le botiller--vault at richmond, yorkshire--lord audley's attendants at poictiers-- portraits at brickwall house--the words "mob" and "cash"-- english clergyman in spain--the cid--exterior stoups--green jugs used by the templars--"peccavi," i have scinde-- raffaele's "sposalizio"--early use of tin: derivation of the name of britain--unpublished epigram by sir walter scott-- derivation of the word "humbug"--bees--topsy turvy--parish clerks and politics, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. original royal letters to the grand masters of malta. (_continued from_ p. .) in my first communication i did myself the pleasure to send you a correct list of all the royal letters which had been sent by different english monarchs to the grand masters of malta, with their dates, the languages in which they were written, and stating to whom they were addressed. i now purpose to forward with your permission from time to time, literal translations of these letters, which mr. strickland of this garrison has kindly promised to give me. the subjoined are the first in order, and have been carefully compared, by dr. vella and myself, with the originals now in the record office. no. i. henry by the grace of god, king of england and france, defender of the faith, and lord of ireland, to the rev. father in christ, philip villiers de l'isle adam, grand master of the order of jerusalem. our most dear friend--greeting: the venerable and religious men, sir thomas docreus, prior of st. john's in this kingdom, and sir w. weston of your convent, turcoplerius, have lately delivered to us the epistle of your reverence, and when we had read it, they laid before us the commission which they had in charge, with so much prudence and address, and recommended to us the condition, well being, and honour of their order with so much zeal and affection, that they have much increased the good will, which of ourselves we feel towards the order, and have made us more eager in advancing all its affairs, so that we very much hope to declare by our actions the affection which we feel towards this order. and that we might give some proof of this our disposition, we have written at great length to his imperial majesty, in _favour of maintaining the occupation_ of malta, and we have given orders to our envoys there to help forward this affair as much as they are able. the other matters, indeed, { } your reverence will learn more in detail from the letters of the said prior. from our palace at richmond, eighth day of january, , your good friend, henry rex. no. ii. henry by the grace of god, king of england and france, defender of the faith, and lord of ireland, to the rev. father in christ, philip villiers de l'isle adam, grand master of the order of jerusalem. our most dear friend--greeting: by other of our letters we have commended to your reverence our beloved sir w. weston, turcoplerius, and the whole order of jerusalem in our kingdom; but since we honour the foresaid sir w. weston with a peculiar affection, we have judged him worthy that we should render him more agreeable and more acceptable to your reverence, by this our renewed recommendation; and we trust that you will have it the more easily in your power to satisfy this our desire, because, on account of the trust which you yourself placed in him, you appointed him special envoy to ourselves in behalf of the affairs of his order, and showed that you honoured him with equal good will. we therefore most earnestly entreat your reverence not to be backward in receiving him on his return with all possible offices of love, and to serve him especially in those matters which regard his office of turcoplerius, and his mastership. moreover, if any honours in the gift and disposal of your reverence fall due to you, with firm confidence we beg of you to vouchsafe to appoint and promote the foresaid sir william weston to the same, which favour will be so pleasing and acceptable to us, that when occasion offers we will endeavour to return it not only to your reverence, but also to your whole order. and may every happiness attend you. from our palace at windsor, first day of august, , your good friend, henry rex. no. iii. henry by the grace of god, king of england and france, defender of the faith, and lord of ireland, to the rev. father in christ, philip villiers de l'isle adam, grand master of the order of jerusalem. our most dear friend--greeting: ambrosius layton, our subject, and brother of the same order, has delivered to us your reverence's letter, and from it we very well understand the matters concerning the said order, which your reverence had committed to his charge to be delivered to us; but we have delayed to return an answer, and we still delay, because we have understood that a general chapter of your whole order will be held in a short time, to which we doubt not that the more prudent and experienced of the brethren of the order will come, and we trust that, by the general wish and counsel of all of you, a place may be selected for this illustrious order which may be best suited for the imperial support and advancement of the republic, and for the assailing of the infidels. when therefore your reverence shall have made us acquainted with the place selected for the said chapter, you shall find us no less prompt and ready than any other christan prince in all things which can serve to the advantage and support of the said order. from our palace at richmond, fourth day (month omitted), , your good friend, henry rex. that the subject of the above letters may be better understood, it may be necessary to state that l'isle adam was driven out of rhodes by the sultan solyman, after a most desperate and sanguinary struggle, which continued almost without intermission from the th of june to the th of december, . from this date to the month of october, , nearly seven years, the order of st. john of jerusalem had no fixed residence, and the grand master was a wanderer in italy, either in rome, viterbo, naples, or syracuse, while begging of the christian powers to assist him in recovering rhodes, or charles v. to give him malta as a residence for his convent. it was during this period that the above letters, and some others which i purpose sending hereafter, were written. william winthrop. * * * * * penny sights and exhibitions in the reign of james i. the following curious list may amuse some of your readers. i met with it among the host of panegyrical verses prefixed to master tom coryate's _crudities_, published in . even in those days it will be admitted that the english were rather fond of such things, and glorious will himself bears testimony to the fact. (see _tempest_, act ii. sc. .) the hexameter verses are anonymous; perhaps one of your well-read antiquaries may be able to assign to them the author, and be disposed to annotate them. i would particularly ask when was drake's ship broken up, and is there any date on the chair[ ] made from the wood, which is now to be seen at the bodleian library, oxford? "why doe the rude vulgar so hastily post in a madnesse to gaze at trifles, and toyes not worthy the viewing? { } and thinke them happy, when may be shew'd for a penny the fleet-streete mandrakes, that heavenly motion of eltham, westminster monuments, and guildhall huge corinæus, that horne of windsor (of an unicorne very likely), the cave of merlin, the skirts of old tom a lincolne, king john's sword at linne, with the cup the fraternity drinke in, the tombe of beauchampe, and sword of sir guy a warwicke, the great long dutchman, and roaring marget a barwicke, the mummied princes, and cæsar's wine yet i' dover, saint james his ginney-hens, the cassawarway[ ] moreover, the beaver i' the parke (strange beast as e'er any man saw), downe-shearing willowes with teeth as sharpe as a hand-saw, the lance of john a gaunt, and brandon's still i' the tower, the fall of ninive, with norwich built in an hower. king henries slip-shoes, the sword of valiant edward, the coventry boares-shield, and fire-workes seen but to bedward, drake's ship at detford, king richard's bed-sted i' leyster, the white hall whale-bones, the silver bason i' chester; the live-caught dog-fish, the wolfe, and harry the lyon, hunks of the beare garden to be feared, if he be nigh on. all these are nothing, were a thousand more to be scanned, (coryate) unto thy shoes so artificially tanned." in explanation of the last line, tom went no less than miles on one pair of soles, and on his return he hung up these remarkable shoes for a memorial in odcombe church, somersetshire, where they remained till . another "penny" sight was a trip to the top of st. paul's. (see dekker's _gul's horne book_, .) a. grayan. [footnote : the date to cowley's lines on the chair is .] [footnote : "an east indian bird at saint james, in the keeping of mr. walker, that will carry no coales, but eate them as whot as you will."] * * * * * the impossibilities of our forefathers. in turning over the pages of old authors, it is amusing to note how the _mountains_ of our primitive ancestors have become _mole-hills_ in the hands of the present generation! a few instances would, i think, be very instructive; and, to set the example, i give you the following from my own note-book. _the overland journey to india._--from the days of sir john mandeville, until a comparatively recent period, how portentous of danger, difficulty, and daring has been the "waye to ynde wyth the maruelyes thereof!" in _lingua, or the combat of the tongue_, by brewer, london, , originally published in , heursis complains that phantases had interrupted his cogitations upon three things which had troubled his brain for many a day: "_phant._ some great matters questionless; what were they? _heur._ the quadrature of the circle, the philosopher's stone, and the _next way to the indies_. _phant._ thou dost well to meditate on these things all at once, for they'll be found out altogether, _ad græcas calendas_." dr. robertson's _disquisition on the knowledge the ancients had of india_, shows that communications overland existed from a remote period; and we know that the east india company had always a route open for their dispatches on emergent occasions; but let the reader consult the _reminiscences_ of dr. dibdin, and he will find an example of its utter uselessness when resorted to in to apprize the home government of hostile movements on the part of an enemy. to show, however, in a more striking light, the difference between the "overland route" a century back, and that of , i turn up the _journal of bartholomew plaisted_: london, . this gentleman, who was a servant of the east india company, tells us that he embarked at calcutta in for england; and, after encountering many difficulties, reached dover _viâ_ bussorah, aleppo, and marseilles in twelve months! bearing this in mind, let the reader refer to the london daily papers of this eighth day of november, , and he will find that intelligence reached the city on that afternoon of the arrival at trieste of the _calcutta_ steamer, furnishing us with telegraph advices from-- bengal, oct. . days! bombay, oct. . days!! hong kong, sept. . days!!! rapid as this is, and strikingly as it exemplifies the gigantic appliances of our day, the cry of heursis in the play is still for the _next_, or a nearer _way to india_; and, besides the _ocean mail_, the magnificent sailing vessels, and the steamers of _fabulous_ dimensions said to be building for the cape route to perform the passage from london to calcutta in thirty days, we are promised the _electric telegraph_ to furnish us with news from the above-named ports in a less number of _hours_ than _days_ now occupied! { } we have thus seen that the impetus once given, it is impossible to limit or foresee where this tendency to knit us to the farthermost parts of the world will end! "steam to india" was nevertheless almost stifled at its birth, and its early progress sadly fettered and retarded by those whose duty it was to have fostered and encouraged it--i mean the east india company. from this censure of a body i would exclude some of their servants in india, and particularly a name that may be new to your readers in connexion with this subject, that of the late mr. charles p. greenlaw of calcutta, to whom i would ascribe all honour and glory as the great _precursor_ of the movement, subsequently so triumphantly achieved by the peninsular and oriental company. this gentleman, at the head of the east india company's marine establishment in bengal, brought all the enthusiasm of his character to bear upon the question of steam _viâ_ the red sea; and raised such an agitation in the several presidencies, that the _slow coach_ in leadenhall street was compelled to move on, and mr. greenlaw lived to see his labours successful. poor greenlaw was as deaf as a post, and usually carried on his arm a flexible pipe, with an ivory tip and mouth-piece, through which he received the communications of his friends. how often have i seen him, after an eloquent appeal on behalf of his scheme, hand this to the party he would win over to his views: and if the responses sent through it were favourable, he was delighted; but, if the contrary, his irascibility knew no bounds; and snatching his pipe from the mouth of the senseless man who could not see the value of "steam for india," he would impatiently coil it round his arm, and, with a recommendation to the less sanguine to give the subject the attention due to its importance, would whisk himself off to urge his point in some other quarter! i have already said that mr. greenlaw lived to see the overland communication firmly established; and his fellow citizens, to mark their high estimation of his character, and the unwearied application of his energies in the good cause, have embellished their fine "metcalfe hall" with a marble bust of this best of advocates for the interests of india. j. o. * * * * * parallel passages. (vol. viii., p. .) adopting the suggestion of f. w. j., i contribute the following parallel passages towards the collection which he proposes: . "and he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."--luke xii. . "non possidentem multa vocaveris recte beatum; rectius occupat nomen beati, qui deorum muneribus sapienter uti, duramque callet pauperiem pati; pejusque leto flagitium timet."--hor. _carm._, lib. iv. ode ix. . "for that which i do i allow not: for what i would that do i not; but what i hate that do i."--rom. vii. . "sed trahit invitam nova vis; aliudque cupido, mens aliud suadet. video meliora, proboque: deteriora sequor."--ovid, _metam._, lib. vii. - . "quæ nocuere sequar, fugiam quæ profore credam."--_hor._, lib. i. epist. viii. . . "without father, without mother, without descent," &c.--heb. vii. . "ante potestatem tullî atque ignobile regnum, multos sæpe viros, nullis majoribus ortos et vixisse probes," &c.--hor. _sat._ i. vi. . . "for i have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you."-- cor. vii. . "tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens."--hor. _carm._, lib. iii. ix. . "let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."-- cor. xv. . "convivæ certe tui dicunt, bibamus moriendum est."--senec. _controv._ xiv. . "be not thou afraid though one be made rich, or if the glory of his house be increased; for he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him."--ps. xlix. , . "how loved, how honoured once, avails thee not; to whom related, or by whom begot: a heap of dust alone remains of thee. 'tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be."--pope. "divesne, prisco natus ab inacho, nil interest, an pauper, et infima de gente sub divo moreris, victima nil miserantis orci."--hor. _carm._, lib. ii. iii. the following close parallelism between ben jonson and horace, though a little wide of your correspondent's suggestion, is also worthy of notice. i have never before seen it remarked upon. it would, perhaps, be more correct to describe it as a plagiarism than as a parallelism: "_mosca._ and besides, sir, you are not like the thresher that doth stand with a huge flail, watching a heap of corn, and, hungry, dares not taste the smallest grain, but feeds on mallows, and such bitter herbs; nor like the merchant, who hath filled his vaults with romagnia, and rich candian wines, yet drinks the lees of lombard's vinegar: you will lie not in straw, whilst moths and worms { } feed on your sumptuous hangings and soft beds; you know the use of riches."--ben johnson, _the fox_. "si quis ad ingentem frumenti semper acervum prorectus vigilet cum longo fuste, neque illinc audeat esuriens dominus contingere granum, ac potius foliis parcus vescatur amaris: si, positis intus chii veterisque falerni mille cadis--nihil est, tercentum millibus, acre potet acetum; age, si et stramentis incubet, unde-- octoginta annos natus, cui stragula vestis, blattarum ac tinearum epulæ, putrescat in arca."--hor. _sat._, lib. ii. iii. john booker. prestwich. * * * * * astrology in america. the six following advertisements are cut from a recent number of the _new york herald_: "madame morrow, seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and a descendant of a line of astrologers reaching back for centuries, will give ladies private lectures on all the events of life, in regard to health, wealth, love, courtship, and marriage. she is without exception the most wonderful astrologist in the world, or that has ever been known. she will even tell their very thoughts, and will show them the likenesses of their intended husbands and absent friends, which has astonished thousands during her travels in europe. she will leave the city in a very short time. . broome street, between cannon and columbia. gentlemen are not admitted." "madame la compt flatters herself that she is competent, by her great experience in the art of astrology, to give true information in regard to the past, present, and future. she is able to see clearly any losses her visitors may have sustained, and will give satisfactory information in regard to the way of recovery. she has and continues to give perfect satisfaction. ladies and gentlemen cents. . howard street." "mad. la compt has been visited by over two hundred ladies and gentlemen the past week, and has given perfect satisfaction; and, in consideration of the great patronage bestowed upon her, she will remain at . howard street for four days more, when she will positively sail for the south." "mrs. alwin, renowned in europe for her skill in foretelling the future, has arrived, and will furnish intelligence about all circumstances of life. she interprets dreams, law matters, and love, by astrology, books, and science, and tells to ladies and gentlemen the name of the persons they will marry; also the names of her visitors. mrs. alvin speaks the english, french and german languages. residence, . rivington street, up stairs, near the bowery. ladies cents, gentlemen dollar." "mrs. prewster, from philadelphia, tenders her services to the ladies and gentlemen of this city in astrology, love, and law matters, interpreting dreams, &c., by books and science, constantly relied on by napoleon; and will tell the name of the lady or gentleman they will marry; also the names of the visitors. residence, no. . great jones street, corner of the bowery. ladies cents, gentlemen dollar." "the celebrated dr. f. shuman, swede by birth, just arrived in this city, offers his services in astrology, physiognomy, &c. he can be consulted on matters of love, marriage, past, present, and future events in life. nativity calculated for ladies and gentlemen. mr. s. has travelled through the greater part of the world in the last forty-two years, and is willing to give the most satisfactory information. office, . chambers street, near greenwich." * * * * * minor notes. "_hierosolyma est perdita._"--whilst studying in germany, i remember seeing one day some jews in a great passion because a few little boys had been shouting "hep! hep!" on information i heard, that whenever the german knights headed a jew-hunt in the middle ages, they always raised the cry "hep! hep!" this is remembered even to the present day. henri van laun. king william's college, isle of man. _quaint inscription in a belfry._--i think the following unique piece of authorship deserves, for its quaint originality, a corner in "n. & q." it is copied from an inscription dated jan. , , in the belfry of the parish church of fenstanton, hunts: "january y^e , . hear was ten defran^t peals rung in minutes which is , changes by thouse, names who are under. . jn^o allin . jm^s brown . jno. cade . rob^t cole . will^m how." "all you young men y^t larn y^o ringen art, besure you see & will perform your part no musick with it can excell. nor be compared to y^e melodeus bells." perhaps i may as well add that this is a faithful copy of the original inscription, both in orthography and punctuation. w. t. watts. st. ives, hunts. _the chronicles of the kings of israel and judah._--after the many conjectures which have been formed respecting the [hebrew: spr dbry hymym] of the kings of israel and judah, allow me to suggest the probability of their bearing some resemblance to the records of the "wars" and "might" of the monarchs of assyria, recently brought to light by mr. layard. [hebrew: p]. _the using a circumstance as a "peg," or "nail," to hang an argument on, &c._--in the parliamentary debates we frequently read of one honorable member accusing another honorable member of dragging in a certain expression or quotation for the mere sake of hanging upon it some argument or observation apposite to his motion or resolution.--query, the origin of this term? my attention was drawn to it by reading the first lesson at morning prayer for th may, viz. ezra ix. ., where the expression means something to hold by, or some resting-place. in the following verse, the term is changed into "a wall," meaning some support or help. has this passage ever challenged the attention of any of your numerous readers, or can the common saying fairly be referred to it? anon. norwood. _turkish and russian grammars._--at the present moment it may be found interesting to make a note of it for "n. & q.," that the first { } turkish and russian grammars published in this country appeared at oxford; the turkish, by seaman, in , and the russian, by ludolf, in . both are written in latin. j. m. _oxford._ _chronograms in sicily._--after the opening of the gold mines at fiume-di-nisi, which are now being reworked, the messinese struck coins bearing the motto-- "ex visceribvs meis haec fvnditvr." giving xvicivmicvdiv. ? on a fountain near the church of st. francesco di paola: "d. o. m. imperante carlo vi., vicregente comite de palma, gubernante civitatem comite de wallis. p. p. p. vt actionibvs nostris ivste procedamvs." which gives vciiviivcdmv. . the death of charles, infanta of spain, is thus indicated: "filivs ante diem patrios inqvirit in annos." . g. e. t. s. r. n. _stone pulpits._--a complete list of _ancient_ stone pulpits in england and wales would be desirable. their positions should be specified; and whether in use or not, should be stated. i have seen the following: nantwich, cheshire; at the junction of north transept and chancel (not used). bristol cathedral; adjoining one of the north pillars of nave (not used). wolverhampton collegiate church; adjoining one of south pillars of nave (in use?) t. h. kersley, b.a. audlem, nantwich. _advertisements and prospectuses._--it is, i believe, the custom for the most part to make wastepaper of the advertisements and prospectuses that are usually stitched up, in considerable numbers, with the popular reviews and magazines. now, as these adventitious sheets often contain scraps and fragments of contemporaneous intelligence, literary and bibliographical, with occasional artistic illustrations, would it not be well to preserve them, and to bind them up in a separate form at the end of the year; connecting them with the particular review or magazine to which they belonged, but describing also the contents of the volume by a distinct lettering-piece? if the work of destruction of such frail, but frequently interesting records, should go on at the present rate, posterity will be in danger of losing many valuable data respecting the state of british literature at different periods, as depicted by a humbler class of documents, employed by it for the diffusion of its copious productions. john macray. * * * * * queries. english refugees at ypenstein. when i was at alkmaar about thirty years ago, i strolled to the neighbouring village of heilo, on the road to limmen, where i saw, surrounded by a moat, the foundations of the castle of ypenstein. a view of this once noble pile is to be found in the well-known work of rademaker, _kabinet van nederlandsche en kleefsche oudheden_. this place, as tradition tells, once witnessed the perpetration of a violent deed. when the son of the unfortunate charles i. was an exile in our country, this house ypenstein was occupied by a family of english emigrants, high in rank, who lived here for a while in quiet. how far these exiles were even here secure from the spies of cromwell appeared on a certain dark night, after a suspicious vessel had been seen from the village of egmond, when an armed band of the protector's puritans, led by a guide, marched over the heath to the house ypenstein, seized all the inhabitants, and carried them off, by the way they had come, to the coast, put them on board, and transported them most probably to england. in such secresy and silence was this violation of territory and the rights of hospitality perpetrated, that no one in the neighbourhood perceived anything of the occurrence, except a miller who saw the troop crossing the pathless heath in the direction of the coast, but could not conceive what had brought so many persons together in such a place at midnight. i would gladly learn whether anything is known of this transaction; and if so, where i may find farther particulars of this english family, their probable political importance, &c. to investigate the truth of this tradition, that we may acquit or convict the far-famed cromwell of so foul a crime, cannot certainly be untimely now that two celebrated learned men have undertaken to vindicate his memory.--from the _navorscher_. inquaeritor. * * * * * minor queries. _petrarch's laura._--mr. mathews, in his _diary of an invalid in italy, &c._, p. ., in speaking of the outrages and indignities which, during the revolution, were committed throughout france on the remains of the dead, and were amongst the most revolting of its horrors, mentions, on the authority of a fellow-passenger, an eye-witness, that the body of petrarch's laura had been seen exposed to the most brutal indignities in the streets of avignon. he told mr. mathews that { } it had been embalmed, and was found in a mummy state, of a dark brown colour. i have not met with any mention of these these circumstances elsewhere. laura is stated to have died of the plague (which seems to render it unlikely that her body was embalmed): and according to petrarch's famous note on his ms. of virgil, she was buried the same day, after vespers, in the church of the cordeliers. the date was april , . that church was long celebrated for her tomb, which contained also the body of hugues de sade, her husband. the edifice is stated to be ruined, its very site being converted into a fruit-garden; but the tomb is said to be still entire under the ground: and more than twenty years after the french revolution, a small cypress was pointed out as marking the spot where laura was interred. is the circumstance of the desecration of her tomb mentioned by any other writer? if it really took place, are we to conclude that the tree--if it still exists--marks only the place where she had been interred: for, that the body was rescued and recommitted to the tomb, can hardly be supposed? wm. sidney gibson. "_epitaphium lucretiæ._"--the following lines are offered for insertion, not because i doubt their being known to many of your readers, but with a view to ask the name of the author: "_epitaphium lucretiæ._ dum foderet ferro tenerum lucretia pectus sanguinis et torrens egrederetur: ait, 'accedant testes me non cessisse tyranno 'ante virum sanguis, spiritus ante deos.'" balliolensis. _mcdowall family._--more than a century ago there was a family (since extinct) of the name of mcdowall, in the county cavan, ireland, belonging to some branch of the ancient and noble scottish family of that name, who had migrated to these shores. perhaps some of your readers could inform me as to what branch they belonged, and when they settled in ireland, as also if there be any pedigree of them extant, as i am very anxious to learn something of them at all events? gulielmus. dublin. _arms of geneva._--will any of your correspondents oblige me with a technical blazon of the arms of the town of geneva? f. f. b. bury st. edmunds. _webb of monckton farleigh._--perhaps some reader of "n. & q." would be so good as to inform me what were the arms, crest, and motto of the webbs of monckton farleigh, co. wilts; also, if there be any pedigree of them extant, and where it is to be found; or otherwise would direct me what would be my best means to ascertain some account of that family, who are now represented by the duke of somerset? henri. dublin. _translation wanted._--can any of your correspondents inform me where i may meet with a translation by the rev. f. hodgson, late provost of eton, &c., of the _atys_ of catllus? p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _latin translation from sheridan, &c._--my treacherous memory retains one line only of each of two translations into latin verse, admirably done, of two well-known pieces of english poetry. the first from a song by sheridan, of the lines: "nor can i believe it then, till it gently press again." "conscia ni dextram dextera pressa premat." the second: "man wants but little here below, nor wants that little long." is thus rendered: "poscimus in terris pauca, nec illa diù." if in the circle of your correspondents the complete translations can be furnished, you will by their insertion, gratify other lovers of modern latin poetry besides balliolensis. _gale of rent._--i can imagine what is meant by a _gale of rent_, and be thankful i have not to pay one. but what is the origin of the term _gale_ as thus applied? y. b. n. j. _arms of sir richard de loges._--what were the arms borne by sir richard de loges, or lodge, of chesterton, in the county of warwick, temp. henry iv.? ln. _gentile names of the jews._--are the jews known to each other by their gentile names of rothschild, montefiore, davis, &c.? or are these only their _nommes de guerre_, assumed and abandoned at will on change of country? g. e. t. s. r. n. _henry, earl of wotton_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the editors of the _navorscher_ express their thanks to broctuna for his reply to their query, but hope he will kindly increase their debt of gratitude by elucidating three points which seem to them obscure: . which lord stanhope died childless? not henry, lord stanhope, for he (see p. .) left a son and two daughters; nor yet philip, for his widow had borne him daughters. or have we wrongly understood the letters _s. p._ to signify _sine prole_? . was it the earl of chesterfield, half-brother of charles henry van den kerckhove, or charles { } stanhope his nephew, who took the name of wotton? . knight's _national cyclopædia of useful knowledge_ (vol. xi. p. .) names james stanhope, earl stanhope, the eldest son of the hon. alexander stanhope, second son of philip stanhope, first earl of chesterfield. had the latter then, besides the above-named (see p. .) henry, lord stanhope, also other sons? _kicker-eating._--can any of your west yorkshire readers supply me with information relative to a practice which is said formerly to have prevailed at cleckheaton, of eating "kicker," or horseflesh? it is a fact that natives of that locality who come to reside at leeds are still subjected to the opprobrium of being _kicker-eaters_. h. w. _chadderton of nuthurst, co. lancashire._--when did the family of chadderton become extinct? had edmund chadderton, son and heir of george chadderton by jane warren of poynton, any descendants? and if so, what were their names and the dates of their respective births, marriages, and deaths? in short, any particulars relating to them down to the period of the extinction of this family would be most acceptable. j. b. _george, first viscount lanesborough, and sir charles cotterell._--g. s. s. begs to submit the following questions to the readers of "n. & q.:" when did george lane, first viscount lanesborough, in ireland, die? and when sir charles cotterell, the translator of _cassandra?_ where were they both buried? _"firm was their faith," &c._--who was the writer of those beautiful lines, of which the following, the only verse i remember, is a portion? "firm was their faith, the ancient bands, the wise in heart, in wood and stone, who rear'd with stern and trusting hands, the dark grey towers of days unknown. they fill'd those aisles with many a thought, they bade each nook some truth recall, the pillar'd arch its legend brought, a doctrine came with roof and wall!" and where can they be met with entire? p. m. _the mother of william the conqueror._--can you or any of your correspondents say which is right? in debrett's _peerage_ for the genealogy of the marchioness grey gives her descent from "rollo or fulbert, who was chamberlain to robert, duke of normandy; and of his gift had the castle and manor of croy in picardy, whence his posterity assumed their surname, afterwards written de grey. which rollo had a daughter arlotta, mother of william the conqueror." now history says that the mother of the conqueror was arlette or arlotte, the daughter of a tanner at falaise. we know how scrupulous the norman nobility were in their genealogical records; and likewise that in the lapse of time mistakes are perpetuated and become history. can history in this instance be wrong? and if so, how did the mistake arise? i shall feel obliged to any one who can furnish farther information on the subject. alpha. _pedigree of sir francis bryan._--this accomplished statesman, and ornament of henry viii.'s reign, married joan of desmond, countess dowager of ormonde, and died childless in ireland a.d. . query, did any cadet of his family accompany him to that country? i found a louis bryan settled in the county of kilkenny in elizabeth's reign, and suspect that he came in through the connexion of sir f. bryan with the ormonde family. any information as to the arms and pedigree of sir f. bryan will greatly oblige james graves. kilkenny. * * * * * minor queries with answers. "_the whole duty of man._"--of what nature is the testimony that this book was written by dorothy coventry, "the good lady pakington?" quÆsitor. [the supposition that lady packington was the author of _the whole duty of man_, arose from a copy of it in her handwriting having been found at westwood after her death. (aubrey's _letters_, vol. ii. p. .) but the strongest evidence in favour of lady packington is the following note: "oct. , . mr. thomas caulton, vicar of worksop, in nottinghamshire, in the presence of william thornton, esq., and his lady, mrs. heathcote, mrs. ashe, mrs. caulton, and john hewit, rector of harthill, declared the words following: 'nov. , . at shire-oaks, mrs. eyre took me up into her chamber after dinner, and told me that her daughter moyser, of beverley, was dead. among other things concerning the private affairs of the family, she told me who was the author of _the whole duty of man_, at the same time pulling out of a private drawer a ms. tied together, and stitched in vo., which she declared was the original copy written by lady packington her mother, who disowned ever having written the other books imputed to be by the same author, excepting _the decay of christian piety_. she added, too, that it had been perused in ms. by dr. covel, master of trinity college, cambridge, dr. stamford, prebendary of york, and mr. banks, rector of the great church at hull.' mr. caulton declared this upon his death-bed, two days before his decease. w. t. and j. h." this is quoted from the rev. w. b. hawkins's introduction to pickering's edition of ; and a similar account, with unimportant variations, is given in "n. & q.," vol. ii. p. .: see also vol. v., p. ., and vol. vi., p. .] { } _"it rained cats and dogs and little pitchforks."_--_helter-skelter._--what can be the origin of this saying? i can imagine that rain may descend with such sharpness and violence as to cause as much destruction as a shower of "pitchforks" would; but if any of your readers can tell me why heavy rain should be likened to "cats and dogs," i shall be truly obliged. many years ago i saw a most cleverly drawn woodcut, of a party of travellers encountering this imaginary shower; some of the animals were descending helter-skelter from the clouds; others wreaking their vengeance on the amazed wayfarers, while the "pitchforks" were running into the bodies of the terrified party, while they were in vain attempting to run out of the way of those which were threatening to fall upon their heads, and thus striking them to the ground. so strange an idea must have had some peculiar origin.--can you or your readers say what it is? m. e. c. p. s.--i find i have used a word above, of which every one knows the _signification_, "helter-skelter;" but i, for one, confess myself ignorant of its _derivation_. and i shall be glad to be informed on the subject. [as to the etymology of _helter-skelter_, sir john stoddart remarks, "the real origin of the word is obscure. if we suppose the principal meaning to be in the first part, it may probably come from the islandic _hilldr_ pugna; if in the latter part, it may be from the german _schalten_, to thrust forward, which in the dialect of the north of england means 'to scatter and throw abroad as molehills are when levelled;' or from _skeyl_, which in the same dialect is 'to push on one side, to overturn.'"] _father traves._--can any of your lancashire readers refer me to a source whence i might obtain information on matters pertaining to the life of one father travers [traves], the friend and correspondent of the celebrated martyr john bradford? as yet i have but met with the incidental mention of his name in the pages of fox, and in hollingworth's _mancuensis_, pp. , . a jesuit. [the name is spelt by fox sometimes traves and sometimes travers; but who he was there is no particular mention; except that it appears from bradford's letters that he was some friend of the family, and from the superscription to one of them, that he was the minister of blackley, near manchester, in which place, or near to which, bradford's mother must then have resided. strype says, he was a learned and pious gentleman, his patron and counsellor.--_mem. eccles._, vol. iii. part i. p. .] _precise dates of births and deaths of the pretenders._--will any one be so kind as to tell me the date of the birth and death of james viii. and his son charles iii. (commonly called prince charles edward stuart)? these dates are given so variously, that i am anxious to ascertain them correctly. l. m. m. r. [we believe the following to be the precise dates:--james viii., born june , ; died january , - . charles edward, born december , (sometimes printed as new style, dec. ); died january , .] _clarence._--whence the name of this dukedom? was the title borne by any one before the time of lionel, son of edward iii.? w. t. m. [the title clarence was, as we learn from camden (_britannia_, edit. gough, vol. ii. pp. , .), derived from the honour of clare, in suffolk; and was _first_ borne by lionel plantagenet, third son of edward iii., who married elizabeth de burgh, daughter and heir of william, earl of ulster, and obtained with her the honour of clare. he became, _jure uxoris_, earl of ulster, and was created, september , , duke of clarence.] * * * * * replies. mackey's "theory of the earth". (vol. viii., p. .) about the year , when the prosecutions for blasphemy were leading hundreds and thousands to see what could be said against christianity, with a very powerful bias to make the most of all that they could find, some friends of mine, of more ingenuity than erudition, strongly recommended to my attention the works of a shoemaker at norwich, named mackey, who they said was more learned than any one else, and had completely shown up _the thing_. it is worth a note that i perfectly remember the cause of their excitement to have been the imprisonment of the rev. robert taylor, for publishing various arguments against revelation. i examined several works of mackey's, and i have yet one or two bound up among my wonders of nature and art. as in time to come, when neither love nor money will procure a copy of these books, some tradition may set inquirers looking after them, perhaps it may be worth while to preserve a couple of extracts for the benefit of those who have the sense to hunt the index of "n. & q." before they give up anything. "the virgin andromeda, the daughter of _cepheus_ and _cassiopeia_, was the representative of palestina; a long, narrow, rocky strip of land; figuratively called the daughter of rocks and mountains; because it is a country abounding with rocks and stones. and the greeks, really supposing _cepha_, a rock or stone, to have been the young ladies father, added their sign of the masculine gender to it, and it became cepha-_us_. and mount cassius being its southern boundary was called _cassiobi_; from its being also the boundary of the _overflowed nile_, called obi, which the greeks { } softened into _cassiopeia_, and supposed it to have been her mother;..."--_mythological astronomy, part second_, norwich, , mo., p. xiii. "the story of abraham, notwithstanding all the endeavours of theologians to give it the appearance of the history of human beings, has preserved its mythological features with an outline and colouring, easily to be recognised by every son of _urania_ [ur of the chaldees is subsequently made to contain the root of _uranus_]. we have just seen that the egyptians have their harvest about the time which the sun _passes over_ the equator, and if we go back to the time of _abraham_ we shall find that the equator [perhaps he means equinox] was in _taurus_; the egyptians must, then, have had their harvest while the sun was in the bull; the bull was, therefore, in their figurative way of speaking, the father of harvest, not only because he ploughed the ground, but because the sun was there when they got in their harvest: thus the bull was doubly distinguished as their benefactor; he was now, more than ever, become the _bull of life_, i. e. he was not only called _abir_, the bull, but _abir-am_ or ab'-r-am, the _bull of life_,--the father of harvest. and as their harvest was originally under the direction of iseth, or isis, whatever belonged to harvest was _isiac_; but the bull, _abiram_, was now become the _father of isiac_! and to give this the appearance of a human descent, they added to abir, the masculine affix _ah_; then it became ab'-rh-am who was the father of isiac. and we actually find _this equivoque_ in the hebrew history of _abram_ whom the lord afterwards called _abraham_, who was the _father of isaac_, whose seed was to be countless as the sand on the sea-shore for multitude; even this is truly applied to _isiac_ the offspring of ab'-rh-am; for countless indeed are the offspring of the _scythe and sickle_! but if we allow _isiac_ to be a _real son of ab-rah-am_ we must enquire after his _mother_. during the time that the equator [perhaps he means the sun] is passing through the constellation of the bull in the spring, the bull would _rise in the east_ every morning in the harvest time, in egypt,--but in the _poetical language of the ancients_, it would be said that, when abir-am _consorts_ with _aurora_ he will produce _isiac_. but _aurora_ is well known to be the _golden splendour of the east_, and the brightness of the east is called _zara_, and the morning star is _serah_, in the eastern languages, and we find a similar change of sound in the name of isaac's mother, whom the lord would no longer call _sarai_ but sarah. _these_ are remarkable coincidences!"--_companion to the mythological astronomy_, norwich, , mo. pp. - . m. in answer to the inquiry respecting this singular man, i beg to say that i remember him between the years and , as a shoemaker in norwich. he was in a low rank of trade, and in poor circumstances, which he endeavoured to improve by exhibiting at private houses an orrery of his own making. he was recognised as a "genius;" but, as may be seen by his writings, had little reverence for established forms of belief. at the period of which i speak, which was soon after the publication of his first work, i knew but little of his mind, and lost sight of him altogether till about . then circumstances connected with my own line of study led me to call on him in doughty's hospital, norwich, an asylum for aged persons. i found him surrounded by astronomical apparatus, books, the tools of his former trade, and all kinds of strange litters. in the conversation that ensued, i learned much of the workings of his mind; though his high self-appreciation could not descend to unreserved converse with a woman. my object was, to ascertain by what steps he had arrived at his theory of the earth's motion, but i could gain nothing distinct. he mentioned the _asiatic researches_ as containing vast information on his peculiar subject; quoted latin, and i think greek, authors; and seemed to place great dependence on maurice and bryant; but, above all, on capt. wilford's _essays_. he showed me some elaborate calculations, at which he was then working and still fancied himself qualified, perhaps destined, to head a great revolution in the astronomical world. i cannot say how far his knowledge of geology went, as i am not well acquainted with that science. he had evidently read and studied deeply, but alone; his own intellect had never been brushed by the intellects and superior information of truly scientific men, and it appeared to me that a vast deal of dirt, real dirt, had accumulated in his mind. my visit disappointed and pained me, but he seemed gratified, and i therefore promised to call again, which i did, but he was not at home. i think this visit was soon after he had removed into the hospital, for i then purchased his last work, _the age of mental emancipation_, published , before he obtained that asylum. he died before , but i do not know the exact year. in any next visit to norwich, i will make inquiries on all points relating to mackey, of the very few persons now left who took interest in him, and i think i can find the printer of his last pamphlet. i have not the work mentioned in "n. & q.;" but, besides his last work, i have _the mythological astronomy of the ancients demonstrated_, which is partly in poetry. i have been obliged to write this note in the first person, as i can give only my own impressions respecting mackey; and i wish that ere this you may have received clearer information from more competent persons. if your querist have the _least grain_ of faith in the theory of mackey, i hope he will not let the subject drop, for i have long been deeply interested in it. f. c. b. diss. mackey, of whom your correspondent inquires, was an entirely self-educated man, but a learned shoemaker, residing in norwich. he devoted all his leisure time to astronomical, geological, and { } philological pursuits; and had some share in the formation of a society in his native town, for the purpose of debating questions relative to these sciences. i have understood that he was for some time noticed by a small portion of the scientific world, but afterwards neglected, as, from his own account, he appears also to have been by his literary fellow townsmen; and at last to have died in a norwich alms-house. this is but a meagre account of the man, but it is possible that i may be able to glean farther particulars on the subject; for a medical friend of mine, who some time ago lent me _mythological astronomy_, promised to let me see some papers in his possession relative to this learned shoemaker's career, and to a few of his unpublished speculations. when i have an opportunity of seeing these, i shall be glad to communicate to your correspondent through "n. & q." anything of interest. the title-page of _mythological astronomy_ runs thus: "the mythological astronomy of the ancients demonstrated by restoring to their fables and symbols their original meanings. by sampson arnold mackey, shoemaker. norwich: printed by r. walker, near the duke's palace. published may , , by s. a. mackey, norwich." the book contains a variety of subjects, but principally treats of the hindoo, greek, and roman mythology; and endeavours to deduce all the fables and symbols of the ancients from the starry sphere. it also contains a singular hypothesis of the author's upon the celebrated island of atlantis, mentioned by plato and other greek authors; and some very curious speculations concerning the doctrine of the change in the angle which the plane of the ecliptic makes with the plane of the equator. urania's _key to the revelations_ is bound up with the above work. i forgot to say that his _ancient mythology demonstrated_ is written in verse, and afterwards more fully explained by notes. his poetical abilities, however, neither suit the subject, nor are of a very high order. his prose is better, but here and there shows the deficiency of education. e. m. r. grantham. * * * * * sincere, simple, singular. (vol. viii., pp. . . .) when a hive of bees is taken, the practice is to lay the combs upon a sieve over some vessel, in only that the honey may drain out of the combs. whilst the combs are in the hive, they hang perpendicularly, and each cell is horizontal; and in this position the honey in the cells which are in the course of being filled does not run out; but when the combs are laid on the sieve horizontally, the cells on the lower side of the combs hang perpendicularly, and then the honey begins to run out of those that are not sealed up. the honey that so runs out is perfectly pure, and free from wax. the cells, however, that are sealed up with wax still retain their honey; and the ordinary process to extract it is to place the sieve with the combs upon it so near a fire as gradually to melt the wax, so as to let the honey escape. during this process, some portion of wax unavoidably gets mixed with the honey. here then we have two kinds of honey: one in a perfectly pure state, and wholly _sine cerâ_; the other in some degree impure, and mixed _cum cerâ_. can anything be more reasonable than to suppose that the former was called _sincerum mel_, just as we call it virgin honey? and this accords with ainsworth's derivation, "ex sine et cerâ: ut mel purum dicitur quod cerâ non est permixtum." if it be said that there is nothing to show that the old romans adopted the process i have described, i reply it is immaterial what process they followed in order to extract what would not flow out of itself; as whatever did flow out of itself would be _mel sine cerâ_. if such were the origin of the term, it is easy to see how appropriately, in a secondary sense, it would denote whatever was pure, sweet, unadulterated, and ingenuous. now if we apply this sense to the line: "sincerum est nisi vas quodcunque infundis acescit,"-- it will mean, "unless the vessel be sweet and pure, it will turn whatever you pour into it sour." this is the interpretation that has always hitherto been put upon the line; which is thus translated by tommaso gargallo, vol. iii. p. . edit. : "se non è puro il vase, ecco già guasto che che v' infondi." and by francis (vol. iv. p. ., th edit.):-- "for tainted vessels sour what they contain." the context shows that this is the correct translation, as _sincerum vas_ is obviously in opposition to "auriculas _collectâ sorde_ dolentes," in the preceding line. the line itself plainly refers to the well-known fact, that if wine or other liquor be poured into a foul vessel, it will be polluted by it. nor can i avoid noticing the elegant opposition, according to this construction, between the sweetness in _sincerum_, and the acidity in _acescit_. i also think that mr. inglesby's version cannot be correct for the following reason. cracks may exist in every part of a vessel alike; and as the part filled by the liquor is always many times greater than the remainder of the vessel, cracks would more frequently occur in the former; and, as where air can get in the liquor can get out, it { } is plain that in the majority of instances the liquor would run away instead of turning sour. now the line plainly contains a _general_ affirmative proposition that all liquor whatsoever will be turned sour, unless the vessel be _sincerum_; and therefore that version cannot be right which applies only to a few instances. "sincerum cupimus vas incrustare" is well rendered by gargallo (vol. ii. p. .): " . . . . insudiciar bramiamo anco il vase più puro;" and by francis (vol. iii. p. .): "and joy th' untainted vessel to begrime." the passage is well explained in the note to baxter's _hor._ (p. . edit. ): "incrustari vas dicitur cum aliquo vitioso succo illinitur atque inquinatur." and the passage in the th satire of lucilius shows that this is an accurate explanation: " . . . . . regionibus illis incrustatu' calix rutâ caulive bibetur." a practice, i rather think, prevails in some parts of england of rubbing the inside of a vessel with sweet herbs, in order to flavour cyder or other liquor. it appears from the same note: "fracta vasa et gypsare et pelliculare veteres consuevêre. gypsantur et pelliculantur vasa plena ad aëra et sordes excludendas. sincerum proprie mel sine cerâ, vel, quod magis huc pertinet, vas non ceratum: nam a ceraturâ odorem vel saporem trahit." if these passages show the practice of sealing vessels with wax, they also show that the wax was what affected the flavour of the liquor. mr. jeffcock plainly errs in saying that _simplex_ "does not mean without a fold, but once folded." in latin we have the series _simplex_, _duplex_, _triplex_, &c., corresponding precisely to the english _single_, _double_, _treble_, &c. and as _single_ denotes a thing without a fold, so does _simplex_. mr. jeffcock's derivation would make _simplex_ and _duplex_ mean the same thing. now _duplex_ does not mean twice folded, but double. nor can i think that _singulus_ can be "semel and termination." ainsworth derives it from the hebrew [hebrew: sglh], which denotes whatever is peculiar or singular. it occurs to me to suggest whether it may not be derived from _sine angulis_. the term denotes unity--one person, one thing. now the roman mark for one is a straight line, and that is "that which lies evenly between its extreme points;" it is emphatically a line without bend, angle, or turning--"linea sine angulis:" _angulus_, like its greek original, denoting any bend, whether made by a straight or curved line. though i cannot at this moment refer to any other latin words compounded of _sine_, we have in spanish _simpar_, without equal: _sinigual_, _sinjusticia_, _sinrazon_, _sinnumero_, _sinsabor_. the delight i take in endeavouring to attain the correct meaning of the classics will, i hope, form some apology for the length of this note. s. g. c. newcastle-upon-tyne. * * * * * poetical tavern signs. (vol. viii., p. .) in an old collection of tavern signs of the last century, among many others i find the following. on the sign of the "arrow," at knockholt, in kent,-- "charles collins liveth here, sells rum, brandy, gin, and beer; i made this board a little wider, to let you know i sell good cyder." on the sign of the "shoulder of mutton and cat," at hackney, in middlesex,-- "pray puss don't tear, for the mutton is so dear; pray puss don't claw, for the mutton yet is raw." on the sign of the "gate," at blean hill, in kent,-- "stop, brave boys, and _squench_ your thirst, if you won't drink, the horses must." on the sign of the "ship in distress," in middle street, brighton, sussex,-- "with sorrows i am compass'd round; pray lend a hand, my ship's aground." on the sign of the "waggon and horses," in black lion street, brighthelmstone,-- "long have i travers'd both far and near, on purpose to find out good beer, and at last i found it here." ruby. at a small way-side beer-shop in the parish of werrington in the county of devon, a few years since there was the following sign: "the lengdon inn, kept by m. vuller. gentlemen walk in and sit at your aise, pay for what you call for, and call for what you plaise; as tristing of late has been to my sorrow, pay me to-day and i'll tristee to-morrow." j. d. launceston. not far from kilpeck, herefordshire, i have seen a wayside public-house, exhibiting the sign of the "oak," under which is the following couplet: "i am an oak, and not a yew, so drink a cup with good john pugh." { } as "good john pugh" sold excellent cider, i did not repent complying with the injunction. w. j. bernhard smith. temple. this is at a roadside public-house near maidenhead, known by the sign of the "gate." it is thus: "this gate hangs high, it hinders none; drink hearty, boys, and travel on." i remember a sign near marlborough of the "red cow," and the landlord, being also a milkman, had inscribed under the rude drawing of a cow these lines: "the red cow gives good milk now." newburiensis. * * * * * homo unius libri. (vol. viii., p. .) i have not verified in the works of st. thomas this saying ascribed to him, but i subjoin a passage from bishop taylor, where it is quoted: "a river cut into many rivulets divides also its strength, and grows contemptible and apt to be forded by a lamb and drunk up by a summer sun; so is the spirit of man busied in variety, and divided in itself; it abates its fervour, cools into indifferency, and becomes trifling by its dispersion and inadvertency. aquinas was once asked, with what compendium a man might best become learned? he answered, _by reading of one book_; meaning that an understanding entertained with several objects is intent upon neither, and profits not." --_life of christ_, part ii. s. xii. . he also quotes ecclus (xi. .), st. gregory, st. bernard, seneca, quintillian, and juvenal to the same purpose. southey quotes part of this passage from bishop taylor (in the _doctor_) and adds: "lord holland's poet, the prolific lope de vega, tells us to the same purport. the _homo unius libri_ is indeed proverbially formidable to all conversational figurantes: like your sharpshooter, he knows his piece, and is sure of his shot." the truth of this dictum of st. thomas cannot be too much insisted on in this age of many books, which affords such incentives to literary dissipation and consequent shallowness. "an intellectual man, as the world now conceives of him, is one who is full of 'views,' on all subjects of philosophy, on all matters of the day. it is almost thought a disgrace not to have a view at a moment's notice on any question from the personal advent to the cholera or mesmerism. this is owing in a great measure to the necessities of periodical literature, now so much in request. every quarter of a year, every month every day, there must be a supply for the gratification of the public, of new and luminous theories on the subjects of religion, foreign politics, home politics, civil economy, finance, trade, agriculture, emigration, and the colonies. slavery, the gold fields, german philosophy, the french empire, wellington, peel, ireland, must all be practised on, day after day, by what are called original thinkers."--_dr. newman's disc. on univ. educ._, p. xxv. (preface). this writer follows up the subject very ably, and his remarks on that spurious philosophism which shows itself in what, for want of a better word, he calls "viewiness," are worth the attention of all _homines unius libri_. p.s.--as i think of it, i shall make a cognate query. some facetious opponent of the schoolmen fathered on st. thomas aquinas an imaginary work in sundry folio volumes entitled _de omnibus rebus_, adding an equally bulky and imaginary supplement--_et quibusdam aliis_. this is as often used to feather a piece of unfledged wit, as the speculation concerning the number of angels that could dance on the point of a needle, and yet i have never been able to trace out the inventor of these visionary tomes. eirionnach. * * * * * the forlorn hope. (vol. viii., p. .) my attention was directed to the consideration of this expression some years ago when reading in john dymmoks' _treatise of ireland_, written about the year , and published among the _tracts relating to ireland, printed for the irish archæological society_, vol. ii., the following paragraph: "before the vant-guard marched the _forelorn hope_, consisting of forty shott and twenty shorte weapons, with order that they should not discharge untill they presented theire pieces to the rebells' breasts in their trenches, and that sooddenly the short weapons should enter the trenches pell mell: vpon eyther syde of the vant-guarde (which was observed in the batle and reare-guarde) marched wings of shott enterlyned with pikes, to which were sent secondes with as much care and diligence as occasion required. the baggage, and a parte of the horse, marched before the battell; the rest of the horse troopes fell in before the _rearewarde_ except thirty, which, in the head of the _rearelorne hope_, conducted by sir hen. danvers, made the retreit of the whole army."--p. . the terms _rearelorne hope_ and _forlorne hope_ occur constantly in the same work, and bear the same signification as in the foregoing. remarking upon this circumstance to my friend the late dr. graves, he wrote the following notice of the word in the _dublin quarterly journal of medical science_, of which i was then the editor, in feb. : "military and civil writers of the present day seem quite ignorant of the true meaning of the words { } _forlorn hope_. the adjective has nothing to do with despair, nor the substantive with the 'charmer which lingers still behind;' there was no such poetical depth in the words as originally used. every corps marching in any enemy's country had a small body of men at the head (_haupt_ or _hope_) of the advanced guard; and which was termed the _forlorne hope_ (_lorn_ being here but a termination similar to _ward_ in _forward_), while another small body at the head of the rere guard was called the _rear-lorn hope_ (xx.). a reference to johnson's _dictionary_ proves that civilians were misled as early as the time of dryden by the mere sound of a technical military phrase; and, in process of time, even military men forgot the true meaning of the words. it grieves me to sap the foundations of an error to which we are indebted for byron's beautiful line: 'the full of hope, misnamed _forlorn_.'" w. r. wilde. dublin. * * * * * tieck's "comoedia divina." (vol. viii., p. .) the title-page of this work is: _comoedia divina, mit drei vorreden von peter hammer, jean paul, und dem herausgeber_, . the absence of publisher's name and place of publication leaves little doubt that the name w. g. h. gotthardt, and the date "basel, mai , ," are both fictitious. but for finding the passage cited by m. m. e. at p. ., i should have supposed that the munich critic had referred to some other book with the same title. no one who has read this can suppose it was written by tieck. the catholic-romantic school, of which he was the most distinguished member, furnishes the chief objects of the author's ridicule. novalis, görres, and f. schlegel are the most prominent; but at p. . is an absurd sonnet "an tieck." the _comoedia divina_ is a very clever and somewhat profane satire, such as voltaire might have written had he been a german of the nineteenth century. it opens with jupiter complaining to mercury of ennui (_eine langweilige existenz_), and that he is not what he was when young. mercury advises a trip to leipzig fair, where he may get good medical advice for his gout, and certainly will see something new. they go, and hear various dealers sing the catalogues of their goods. the lines quoted by m. m. e. are sung by a young man with a puppet-show and barrel-organ to the burden: "orgelum orgelei, dudeldum dudeldei." he exhibits things taken from the physics of oken, the metaphysics of schelling, and the æsthetics of görres. the whole of the song is good; and i quote one stanza as showing a sound appreciation of the current metaphysicians: "die intelligenz construirt sich in der zeit als object, und erkennt sich, und das ist gescheidt, denn aus diesen und andern constructuren entstehen lehrbücher und professuren." they visit the garret of herr novalis octavianus hornwunder, a maker of books to order upon every subject: they learn the mysteries of the manufacture. the scene is clever, but much of the wit is unappreciable as directed against productions which have not survived. jupiter, in compassion to hornwunder, changes him to a goose, immediately after which a bookseller enters, and, mistaking the gods for authors, makes them an offer of six dollars and twelve groschen the octavo volume, besides something for the kitchen. jupiter, enraged, changes him to a fox, which forthwith eats the goose "feathers and all." they then go to see the play of the fall of man (_der sündenfall_). the subject is treated after the manner of hans sachs, but with this difference, that the simple-minded old nuremberger saw nothing incongruous in making cain and abel say their catechism, and cain go away from the examination to fight with the low boys in the street; whereas the author of _der sündenfall_ is advisedly irreverent. another proof, if one were wanted, that he was not tieck. _die ungöttliche comödie_ is not by batornicki, but translated by him from the polish. in the preface he apologises for inelegant german, as that is not his native language; and i presume he is a pole, as he says the author's name is known among us (_unter uns_). as he calls it a poem (_dichtung_) the original is probably in verse. i think the munich critic could have seen only some extracts from the _comoedia divina_; for, so far from batornicki "plundering freely," i do not find any resemblance between the works except in the sole word _comoedia_. the _comoedia divina_ is a mockery, not political, but literary, and as such anti-mystic and conservative. _die ungöttliche comödie_ is wild, mystical, supernatural, republican, and communistic. it contains passages of great power, eloquence, and pathos. german critics are often prosy and inefficient, but not given to wilful misrepresentation or carelessness in examining the books they review. the writer in the munich journal must be held an exception. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * { } liveries worn by gentlemen. (vol. vi., p. .; vol. viii., p. .) the prevalence of the custom of the liveries of noble and other persons being worn by others than the retainers of the family, in the reigns of henry vi. and elizabeth, is exemplified by two documents preserved amongst the mss. of the corporation of this borough. the first, which is also curious as a specimen of the language of the period, is an award under the seal of margaret of anjou; under whom, as they had previously done under katherine, queen of henry v., the corporation farmed the bailiwick of the town: "margaret, by the grace of god, quene of england and of ffraunce and lady of irland, doughter of the kyng of sicile and jer[=l][=m]. be it knawen to all men to whom this p'sent writyng (endented) shall come, that whereas a certeyn co[=m]ission of my fuldoutfull lord was directed to c'teyn [p=]sones to enquere as well of yevyng of lyu'e, as of other diu's articles ... before the co[=m]issioners of the seyd co[=m]ission it was p'sented by william neuby and other of our te[=n][=n]tz of leycestre ... that c'teyn [p=]sones, in leycestre, had taken clothyng of diu'rez p'sones, ayenst the forme of the statut; that ys to wete, that some of hem had taken clothyng of the viscount beaumont, and some of s^r edward grey, lord fferrers of growby, and some of hem had taken clothyng of other diu'res [p=]sones, by cause of which p'sentement diu'res [p=]sones, some of the houshold of the seyd lord fferrers, and some of the clothing of the said lord, with other wele wilners to the said lord, as yet not to us knawen, by supportacon and favour, and for pleasance to the said lord, as we ben enfo'med ... betyn and sore woundetyn the said william neuby, and manesten to bete other of our te[=n][=n]tz of leycestre." ... she doth therefore "ordeyn, deme, and awarde" that the said lord ferrers pay c. marks to william neuby, that he "be goode lorde to the said william neuby; and to all other te[=n][=n]tz in our lordship of leycestre; and that the said lord shall not geve any clothyng or liue'y to any [p=]sone dwellyng within our said lordship," &c.... "yeven the xx day of may, the yere of the reign of my most douted lord kyng henr' the sext, xxvii." the above extracts show one of the evils to which the practice led; another, mentioned in the deed, was that of deerstealing. william newby was mayor of the town in , , and - . the second document is a curious letter from the mayor and some members of the corporation to george earl of huntington, lord-lieutenant of the county, and a frequent resident in the town, where a part of his mansion, called "lord's place," and in which james i. was entertained, still exists. the draft of this letter forms part of an interesting series of correspondence between the corporation and the earl, respecting the nomination of the parliamentary representatives of the town in . the earl recommended that mr. (afterwards sir) william herrick and mr. bromley should be chosen, and in strong language warned them against electing mr. george belgrave of belgrave (who had greatly offended him), as he hears "that belgrave still contineweth his great practising in labouring to be chosen;" and he adds, "goode mr. mayor, be carefull of this, as you and the rest will looke to make accompt of me." it appears that many members of the corporation were secretly favourable to mr. belgrave, and he was elected, as explained in the following letter: "right ho^e, oure humble dewties remeberd, &c., may yt please yo^r good lpp. to be c'tified, that upon tuesday morninge laste, being assembled for the choice of o^r burgesses, mr. george belgrave p'sented himselfe amongest us, in a blewe coat w^{th} a bull head, affirminge and protestinge he was yo^r l[=p]'s s'[=v]t, and that s^r henrie harrington, verye late the night before, had obteyned that favour of yo^r ho^r in his behalfe; and muche bemoned his former undewtifull cariage towards yo^r l[=p], w^{th} a remorsive remembrance of many most ho. favours receaved from yo^r l[=p] and yo^r house, towards his auncestors, him, and his; and, recommendinge his former suite to be one of oure burgesses, being demanded whether he had any letter from yo^r l[=p], answered, that this (poyntinge at his coat and cognizance) he hoped was a sufficient testimonie of y^r l[=p]'s favour towards him, and of his submission towards yo^r ho^r; and further, that it was so late before s^r henrie cold [p=]cure yo^r l[=p]'s said favour, as that you cold not well write, and, for the truth of the [p=]mises, he offered his corporal oathe. whereupon we, thinkinge all this to be true, made choyce of him, w^{th} mr. will[=m] herricke, to be o^r burgesses. and now, this evening, wee are credibly certified that y^r l[=p] hath geven him no suche entertaynem^t; and thus by his said lewde and most dishonest dealinge, being much abused, we thought it o^r dewties forthew^{th} to signifie the same unto yo^r l[=p], humbly cravinge yo^r l[=p]'s most ho^rable favor for some reformacon of this vile practize. and thus, w^{th} remembrance of oure dewties, wee humbly take o^r leaves. from leic^r, this xx^{th} day of october, . "youre honor's most humble to co[=m]aunde, signed by "will[=m] rowes, maior, robert heyricke," and ten others. an angry and characteristic reply from the earl follows, but with which, as it is printed in thompson's _history of leicester_ (p. .), i will not trespass upon your valuable space. it may be sufficient to say, that he tells the mayor that-- "notwithstanding this treacherous devise of that cunninge practisore, i feare it will appeare, upon due scanninge of this accydent, y^t there remaynes a false brother amongst you.... and as for y^e p'sone hymself whoe hathe thus shameleslye sought to dishonoure me and deceave you, i will, by the grace of god, take suche order as in honor and lawfullye i maye, bothe { } for y^e better unfouldinge of this, as also for suche punnyshm^t as the law will inflict." in pursuance of this determination, the earl exhibited an information against mr. belgrave in the star chamber. the subsequent proceedings which took place on the subject in parliament will be found noticed in d'ewes's _journal_, and quoted in thompson's _history of leicester_, pp. - . william kelly. leicester. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _queries on dr. diamond's calotype process._--would you kindly ask dr. diamond, to whom i should imagine all of us are more or less indebted, the following questions respecting the very valuable paper on the calotype in the last _photographic journal_? . as to the white spots which make their appearance in developing, on turner's paper especially, and which he says are owing to minute pieces of metal in the paper, what is the best way of hiding them in the negative, so that they may as little as possible injure the positive? i have suffered sadly from this cause; and have tried to stop them with ammonio-nitrate, which turns after a time to red, and stops the light effectually; but i should prefer some black colouring the strength of which one could measure by seeing its immediate effect. . and again, when one has black spots, what is the best means of lessening their intensity, if not of wholly removing them? [greek: phôtographos.] [where light spots occur in a negative, dr. diamond recommends, as the most effectual mode of stopping them, a little gamboge neatly applied with a camel-hair pencil. where a great intensity is desired, indian ink may be applied in the same manner, taking care in both cases to smooth off the edges with a dry brush. the cyanide of potassium applied in the same way, but _with very great care_, will remove the black spots. before it appears to have quite accomplished its object, a negative should be immersed in water, as its action is so energetic.] _albumenized paper._--i have followed dr. diamond's directions for albumenizing paper (thin canson negative) as accurately as i can, but i cannot prevent the albumen in drying, when pinned up, from forming into waves or streaks. this will be best understood from a specimen of a sheet which i inclose, and i shall be much obliged if you can tell me how this can be avoided. some albumenized paper which i have purchased is quite free from this defect, but being at a distance from london, it is both convenient and economical to prepare my own paper. c. e. f. [we would recommend our correspondent to remove his paper from the albumen still more slowly; and to take care not to draw it along, but so to lift it that the last corner is not moved until it is raised from the albumen. in pinning up be careful that the paper takes the inward curl, otherwise the appearances exhibited will be almost sure to take place. as the albumenizing liquid is of very trifling cost, we recommend the use of two dishes, as by that means a great economy of time is obtained.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _marcarnes_ (vol. viii., p. .).--can this curiously sounding name be an archaic form of mackarness, a name, i think, still borne by living persons? francis john scott. tewkesbury. _x on brewers' casks_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent b. h. c., though ingenious, is in error. the x on brewers' casks originated in the fact, that beer above a certain strength paid _s_. duty; and the x became a mark to denote beer of that better quality. the doubling and tripling of the x are nothing but inventions of the brewers to humbug the public. [hebrew: b]. [hebrew: d]. _no sparrows at lindham_ (vol. vii., p. .).--amongst the various responses in connexion with the queries given on the page above noted, communicated direct, the only one which i have thought worthy of insertion in my mss. is as follows: "as for there being no sparrows at lindham, it may be accounted for in the following legend:--a few years ago i was in that district when i heard some account of a person called 'tom of lindham;' who, by the way, was a curious personage, and performed some very extraordinary and out-of-the-way feats. at one time he was left at home to protect the corn from the _sparrows_; when, _to save trouble_, he got all of them into the barn, and put a _harrow_ into the window to keep them in; and so _starved_ (_i. e._ hungered) them to death." furthermore mr. whittaker kindly communicated of the above yorkshire worthy: "at the close of tom's life he took it into his head to make a road across a part of hatfield chase to his own dwelling; when, according to the legend, he employed supernatural aid: with this clause in the contract, that he, tom, should not inquire any particulars as to the character of his assistants or helpmates. one day, however, being more curious than prudent, he looked behind him; his workmen immediately disappeared, and tom of lindham was no more heard of. his road still remains in the state he left it." m. aislabie denham. piersebridge, near darlington, durham. _theobald le botiller_ (vol. viii., p. .).--theobald le botiller was an infant at his father's death, . he had livery in ; and in hen. iii., { } , married rohesia or rose de verdun, not _vernon_. she was so great an heiress that she retained her own name, and her posterity also bore it. she founded the abbey of grâce dieu, leicestershire, in ; and died - . her husband died in , leaving two sons: john de verdun, who inherited, and nicholas, who died in ireland without issue; and one daughter maud, who married john fitzalan, earl of arundel. walter devereux. hampton court palace. _vault at richmond, yorkshire_ (vol. viii., p. .).--touching the "vault," or underground passage, "that goeth under the river" of swale, from the castle of richmond to the priory of st. martin, every tradition, _i. e._ as to its whereabouts, is, i believe, now wholly lost. your querist, however, who seems to feel an interest in that beautiful and romantic portion of the _north countrie_, will perhaps welcome the following mythe, which is connected, it is possible, with the identical _vault_ which is depictured by speed in his _plan of richmond_. it was taken down from the lips of a great-grand-dame by one of her descendants, _both of whom are still living_, for the gratification of your present correspondent, who, like luther, "would not for any quantity of gold part with the wonderful tales which he has retained from his earliest childhood, or met with in his progress through life." but to my legend: once upon a time a man, walking round richmond castle, was accosted by another, who took him into a _vennel_, or underground passage, below the castle; where he beheld a vast multitude of people lying as if they were sleeping. a _horn_ and a _sword_ were presented to him: the horn to blow, and the sword to draw; in order, as said his guide, to release them from their slumbers. and when he had drawn the sword half out, the sleepers began to move; which frightened him so much, that he put it back into the sheath: when instantly a voice exclaimed, "potter! _potter thompson!_ if thou had either drawn the _sword_, or blown the _horn_, thou had been the luckiest man that ever was born." so ends the legend of the richmond sleepers and potter thompson; which, mayhap, is scarcely worth preserving, were it not that it has preserved and handed down the characteristic, or rather trade, cognomen and surname of its timorous at least, if not cowardly, hero. m. aislabie denham. piersebridge, near darlington, durham. _lord audley's attendants at poictiers_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a notice of the arguments in opposition to the statement, rested mainly on the grant of arms by john touchet, lord audley, to the descendant of sir james de mackworth, in consideration of his having been one of these esquires, occurs in blore's _rutland_, p. . and p. . and it appears to be satisfactorily shown by the grant itself, that it was not made on account of the services of sir james. j. p. jun. _portraits at brickwall house_ (vol. vii., p. .).--immerzeel says, in his _levens der kunstschilders_ (_lives of the painters_), vol. iii. pp. , .: "thomas van der wilt, born at piershil in the district of putten, was a disciple of verkolje at delft, where he also settled. he painted portraits, domestic scenes, &c., which were not free from stiffness. he also engraved in mezzotinto after brouwer, schalken, and others. his drawings were engraved by his son william, who died young." he was living in , and was probably grandson of a person of the same name who resided in at soetermeer near leyden, for in the register of the villages of rhynland are found: "jan thomas van der wilt and maritgen pietersdr, his wife, with thomas, maritgen, pieter, cornelis, grietge, jannetge, and ingethen, their children." the portrait painted by terburgh probably represents andries de graeff, who, in , is called by wagenaar, in his _vaderlandsche hist._ of that year (p. .), late burgomaster of amsterdam. it is then necessary to ascertain whether this late burgomaster died in . the family de graeff also resided at delft, where several of its members became magistrates. elsevir. the portrait of the old gentleman is, in my opinion, doubtless that of andries de graeff, who was elected burgomaster of amsterdam in , and filled the office several times afterwards, although after the year his name no more appears on the list of burgomasters, which can very well agree with the date of death ( ) on the portrait.--from the _navorscher_. a. j. van der aa. gorinchem. _the words "mob" and "cash"_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--clericus rusticus will find the origin and first introduction of the word _mob_ fully stated in trench's _lectures on the study of words_ (p. . fourth ed.). in addition to the quotations there made, clericus rusticus may refer to dryden's preface to _cleomenes_ ( ), to the th number of _the tatler_, written by swift (an. ), and to the dean's _introduction to polite conversation_. _cash._--what lord holland may have meant by a legitimate english word it is hard to say. dr. johnson derives it from the fr. _caisse_ (or _casse_), which cotgrave interprets "a box, a _case_, { } or chest; also, a merchant's _cash_ or counter." todd confirms the correctness of johnson's etymology by a usage in winwood's _memorials_; where the countess of shrewsbury is said to have , l. in her _cash_. and richardson farther confirms it by a quotation from sir w. temple; and one from sherwood, who explains _cashier_, "qui garde le _casse_ de l'argent de merchand;" and a merchant's _cash_, "_casse_ de merchand." q. bloomsbury. _english clergyman in spain_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the clergyman was perhaps attached to the army of england in spain, in the capacity of chaplain. i recommend a search for the record of his licence, which will very probably recite his appointment; and this record is most likely to be found with the proper officer of the diocese of london, in doctors' commons. i have seen one extraordinary discovery of information of the kind now sought by d. y., in this quarter; and d. y. will probably be so kind as to note his success in "n. & q.," if he obtains his information here or elsewhere. e. _the cid_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i find in the catalogue of my library, the greatest part of which was destroyed by fire in , amongst other books relating to _the cid_, the following: "romancero, e historia del muy valeroso cavallero el cid ruy diaz de bivar, en lenguaje antiguo, recopilado por juan de escobar. en esta ultima impression van añadidos muchos romances, que hasta aora no han sido impressos, ni divulgados, mo. con licençia. en pamplona, por martin de zavala, año ." "romancero e historia del mui valeroso cabellero el cid rui-diaz de vibar, en lenguage antiguo, recopilado por juan de escobar, neuva edicion, reformada sobre las antiguas, añadida e illustrada con varias notas y composiciones del mismo tiempo y asunto para su mas facil intelligencia, y adornada con un epitome de la historia verdadera del cid. por d. vicente gonçales del reguero. mo. con licencia, madrid, imprenta de cano, ." in thorpe's _catalogue_, , no. , is an edition, mo., segovia, . john adamson. _exterior stoups_ (vol. v., p. .; vol. vi., pp. . . . . . ., &c.).--having introduced this subject to "n. & q.," you will perhaps allow me to return to it, by adding to the list of churches where exterior stoups may be seen, the names of leigh and shrawley, worcestershire. a recent visit to these places made me aware of the existence of the stoups. that at leigh is in a shattered condition, and is on the south side of the western doorway: it is now covered in by a porch of later date. that at shrawley is on the eastern side of the south door, and is hollowed out within the top of a short column. shrawley church possesses many points of interest for the antiquary: among which may be mentioned, a norman window pierced through one of the buttresses of the chancel. among the noticeable things at leigh church is a rude sculpture of the saviour placed exteriorly over the north door of the nave, in a recess, with semicircular heading and norman pillars. the rector is gradually restoring this fine church. cuthbert bede, b.a. _green jugs used by the templars_ (vol. viii., p. .)--in clearing out the ground for the foundation of raymond buildings in gray's inn, about thirty years since, two earthen green jugs were dug up, which are preserved by the benchers as a memento of "the olden times." they will hold very little more than half a pint of liquor, are tall and of good proportions, but so small at the top as almost to preclude their being used to drink out of, and having a lip it is surmised that they held the portion assigned to each student, who was also supplied with a drinking horn. i have seen a jug of the same description in the possession of a gentleman in lincoln's inn, which he informed me was brought to light in excavating for the new hall. it is therefore probable that all the inns of court were accustomed to provide jugs of the same description. f. whitmarsh. _"peccavi," i have scinde_ (vol. viii, p. .).--your correspondent mr. g. lloyd, who says he does "not know on what authority" it is stated that "the old and lamented warrior, sir charles napier, wrote on the conquest of scinde, _peccavi_!" is informed that the sole author of the despatch was _mr. punch_. cuthbert bede, b.a. in a note touching these well-known words, mr. g. lloyd says, "it is also stated, i do not know on what authority, that the old and lamented warrior, sir charles napier, wrote on the conquest of scinde, _peccavi_!" the author of _democritus in london, with the mad pranks and comical conceits of motley and robin good-fellow_, thus alludes to this saying in that work. i presume he had good authority for so doing: _sir p_. "what exclaim'd the gallant napier, proudly flourishing his rapier! to the army and the navy, when he conquer'd scinde? '_peccavi!_'" a subscriber. _raffaelle's sposalizio_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .).--the reason why the ring is placed on { } the third finger of the right hand of the blessed virgin in raffaelle's "sposalizio" at milan, and in ghirlandais's frescoe of the same subject in the santa croce at florence, is to be found in the fact that the right hand has always been considered the hand of power or dignity, and the left hand of inferiority or subjection. a married woman always wears her ring on the third finger of the left hand to signify her subjection to her husband. but it has been customary among artists to represent the blessed virgin with the ring on the right hand, to signify her superiority to st. joseph from her surpassing dignity of mother of god. still she is not always represented so, for in beato angelico's painting of the marriage of mary and joseph she receives the ring on her left hand. see woodcut in mrs. jameson's _legends of madonna_, p. . in the marriage of the blessed virgin by vanloo, in the louvre, she also receives the ring on the left hand. giotto, taddeo gaddi, perugino, &c., have painted the "sposalizio," but i have not copies by me to refer to. ceyrep. _early use of tin._--_derivation of the name of britain_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--your correspondent g. w. having been unable to inform dr. hincks who first suggested the derivation of _britannia_ from _baratanac_ or _bratanac_, i have the pleasure to satisfy him on this point by referring him to bochart's _geographia sacra_, lib. i. c. xxxix. in that great storehouse of historical information, the memoirs of the academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres, there are some profound researches by melot and others, in which may be found answers to all the queries proposed by g. w. the islands, rivers, mountains, cities, and remarkable places of phoenician colonies, had even in the time of the habitation of the greeks and romans phoenician names, which, according to the spirit of the ancient languages of the east, indicated clearly the properties of the places which bore those names. see instances in bochart, _ubi supra_; sammes's _britannia antiqua illustrata, or the antiquities of ancient britain derived from the phoenicians_; and d'hancarville's preface to hamilton's _etruscan, &c. antiquities_. bibliothecar. chetham. _unpublished epigram by sir walter scott_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the following extract is from the _gentleman's magazine_, march, , p. .: "mr. j. lawrence of somers town observes: 'in the summer of the year i was on a visit at beaumont hall on the coast of essex, a few miles distant from harwich. it was then the residence of mr. canham.... i was invited to ascend the attics in order to read some lines, imprinted by a cowboy of precocious intellect. i found these in handsome, neatly executed letters, printed and burnished with leaf-gold, on the wall of his sleeping-room. they were really golden verses, and may well be styled pythagorean from their point, to wit: 'earth goes upon the earth, glittering like gold; earth goes to the earth sooner than 'twould; earth built upon the earth castles and towers; earth said to the earth, all shall be ours.' the curiosity of these lines so forcibly impressed them on my memory, that time has not been able to efface a tittle of them. _but from what source did the boy obtain them?_" permit me to repeat this query? j. r. m., m.a. _derivation of the word "humbug"_ (vol. viii. _passim_).--not being satisfied with any of the derivations of this word hitherto proposed in your pages, i beg to suggest that perhaps it may be traced to a famous dancing master who flourished about the time when the word first came into use. the following advertisement appeared in the _dublin freeman's journal_ in jan. : "_to the nobility._ "as monsieur humbog does not intend for the future teaching abroad after o'clock, he, at the request of his scholars, has opened an academy for young ladies of fashion to practise minuets and cotillions. he had his first assembly on friday last, and intends continuing them every friday during the winter. he does not admit any gentlemen, and his number of ladies is limited to ; and as mrs. humbog is very conversant in the business of the toilet table, the ladies may depend on being properly accommodated. mr. humbog having been solicited by several gentlemen, he intends likewise to open an academy for them, and begs that those who chuse to become subscribers will be so good as to send him their addresses, that he may have the honour of waiting upon them to inform them of his terms and days. mr. humbog has an afternoon school three times a week for little ladies and gentlemen not exceeding years of age. terms of his school are one guinea per month and one guinea entrance. any ladies who are desirous of knowing the terms of his academy may be informed by appointing mr. humbog to wait upon them, which he will do on the shortest notice. capel st. jan. ." omicron. _bees_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the midland counties the first migration of the season is _a swarm_, the second _a cast_, and the third _a spindle_. erica. _topsy turvy_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have always understood this to be a corruption of "topside t'other way," and i still think so. wm. hazel. _parish clerks and politics_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the excitement prevalent at the trial of queen caroline, i remember a choir, in a village not a hundred miles from wallingford, berks, singing { } with great gusto the st, th, th, and th verses of th psalm in tate and brady's new version. wm. hazel. _phantom bells--"the death bell"_ (vol. vii. passim).--i have never met, in any work on folk-lore and popular superstitions, any mention of that unearthly bell, whose sound is borne on the death-wind, and heralds his doom to the hearer. mickle alludes to it in his fine ballad of "cumnor halle:" "the _death-belle_ thrice was heard to ring, an aerial voice was heard to calle, and thrice the raven flapp'd its wing, arounde the towers of cumnor halle." and rogers, in his lines "to an old oak:" "there once the steel-clad knight reclined, his sable plumage tempest-tossed: and as the _death-bell_ smote the wind, from towers long fled by human kind, his brow the hero crossed." when ships go down at sea during a terrible tempest, it is said the "death-bell" is often distinctly heard amid the storm-wind. and in tales of what is called gothic superstition, it assists in the terrors of the supernatural. sir w. scott perhaps alluded to the superstition in the lines: "and the kelpie _rang_, and the sea-maid sang the dirge of lovely rosabelle." eirionnach. _porter family_ (vol. viii., p. .).--full particulars of the existing branch of this ancient family can be afforded by the rev. malcom macdonald of south end, essex, chaplain to lady tamar sharpe, the aunt and guardian of the representatives of sir r. k. porter. m. h. j. thavies inn. _the mitred abbot in wroughton church, wilts_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the figure was painted in fresco, not on a pillar, but on the spandril-space between two arches. the vestments, as far as i can make out, are an alb, a tunicle and a cope, and mitre. the hands do not appear to hold anything, and i see nothing to show it to represent a mitred abbot rather than a bishop. the colours of the cope and tunicle were red and green, the exterior of the cope and the tunicle being of one colour, the interior of the cope of the other. the figure was the only perfect one when i visited the church, and the rain was washing it out even as i sketched; but there had been one between every two arches, and there were traces of colour throughout the aisle, and the designs appeared to me unusually elegant. i believe my slight sketch to be all that now remains; and shall be glad to send a copy of it to your correspondent if he wishes for it, and will signify how i may convey it to him. _passage in virgil_ (vol. viii., p. .).--is this the passage referred to by doctor johnson? "nunc scio, quid sit amor: duris in cotibus illum aut tmarus, aut rhodope, aut extremi garamantes, nec generis nostri puerum, nec sanguinis, edunt." virgil: _bucolica_, ecl. viii. l. . "the shepherd in virgil grew at last acquainted with love, and found him a native of the rocks." dr. johnson found his reward not in vain solicitations to patrons, but in the fruits of his literary labours. the famous lines in spenser's "colin clout's come home again,"[ ] on the instability and hollowness of patronage, may occur to the reader: "full little knowest thou, that hast not tride, what hell it is in suing long to bide: to lose good days that might be better spent, to waste long nights in pensive discontent. to speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow, to feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow. to fret thy soul with crosses and with cares; to eat thy heart through comfortless despaires," &c. f. [footnote : in mother hubberd's tale.--ed.] _sir anthony fitzherbert, chief justice_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in "a letter to a convocation man," which was recently edited by a frequent contributor to your pages, the rev. w. fraser, b.c.l., and is favourably mentioned by you, i find the following sentence, declaring that sir anthony fitzherbert _was_ chief justice: "i must admit that it is said in the second part of rolle's _abridgment_, that the archbishop of canterbury was prohibited to hold such assemblies by fitzherbert, chief justice, because he had not the king's licence. but he adds that the archbishop would not obey it; and he quotes speed for it."--p. . of original pamphlet, and p. . of mr. fraser's reprint. mr. fraser merely refers to sir anthony fitzherbert as being made judge of the common pleas in , and does not enter into this question, which deserves investigation. m. w. r. "_to put a _spoke_ in his wheel_" (vol. viii., pp. . .).--w. c.'s answer to g. k.'s inquiry is so very facetious, that i must confess i do not understand it. as to the meaning of the expression, i think there can be no doubt. ainsworth interpreted "scrupulum injecisti mihi, spem meam remoratus es." in dutch, "een spaak in t'wiel steeken," is "to traverse, thwart, or cross a design." see sewel's _woordenboek_. the effect is similar to that of _spiking_ cannon. and it is not improbable that _spoke_, known by the { } ignorant to form part of the wheel, has been by them corrupted from _spike_: and that the act is, driving a _spike_ into the nave, so as to prevent the wheel from turning on its axle. q. bloomsbury. _ballina castle_ (vol. viii., p. .).--o. l. r. g. inquires about ballina castle, castlebar, and of the general history, descriptions, &c. of the co. mayo. in the catalogue of my manuscript collections, prefixed to my _annals of boyle, or early history of ireland_ (upwards of volumes), no. . purports to be "one volume vo., containing full compilations of records and events connected with the county of mayo, with reference to the authorities," and it has special notices of castlebar, cong, burrishoole, kilgarvey, lough conn, &c., and notes of scenery and statistics. i offered in the year to publish a history of the county if i was indemnified, but i did not succeed in my application. i have, of course, very full notices of the records, &c. of ballina, and the other leading localities of that interesting but too long neglected county, which i would gladly draw out and assign, as i would any other of my manuscript compilations, to any literary gentleman who would propose to prepare them for publication, or otherwise extract and report from them as may be sought. john d'alton. . summer hill, dublin. _mardle_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this is the correct spelling as fixed by halliwell. i should propose to derive it from a.-s. _mathelian_, to speak, discourse, harangue; or a.-s. _methel_, discourse, speech, conversation. (bosworth.) forby gives this word only with the meaning "a large pond;" a sense confined to suffolk. but his vocabulary of east anglia is especially defective in east norfolk words--an imperfection arising from his residence in the extreme west of that county. e. g. r. _charles diodati_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. singer mentions that dr. fellowes and others have confounded carlo dati, milton's florentine friend, with charles diodati, a schoolfellow (st. paul's, london) to whom he addresses an italian sonnet and two latin poems. charles diodati practised physic in cheshire; died . was this young friend of milton's a relative of giovanni diodati, who translated the bible into italian; born at lucca about ; became a protestant; died at geneva, ? ma. l. _longevity_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. murdoch's query relative to margaret patten reminds me of a print exhibited in the dublin exhibition, which bore the following inscription: "mary gore, born at cottonwith in yorkshire, a.d. ; lived upwards of one hundred years in ireland, and died in dublin, aged years. this print was done from a picture _taken_ (the word is torn off) when she was an hundred and forty-three. vanluych _pinxit_, t. chambers _del._" eirionnach. _"now the fierce bear," &c._ (vol. viii., p .).--the lines respecting which [greek: th.] requests information are from mr. keble's _christian year_, in the poem for monday in whitsun week. they are, however, misquoted, and should run thus "now the fierce bear and leopard keen are perish'd as they ne'er had been, oblivion is their home." g. r. m. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. as long as poetry of the highest order is appreciated in england, gray's _elegy written in a country churchyard_ will never want readers to pore over its beauties, or artists ready to dedicate their talents to its illustration. of the latter fact we have evidence in a new edition just issued by mr. cundall, which is illustrated on every page with engravings on wood from drawings by birkett foster, george thomas, and a lady. the artists have caught the spirit of the poet, and their fanciful creations have been transferred to the wood with the greatest delicacy by the engravers,--the result being a most tasteful little volume, which must take a foremost rank among the gift-books of the coming christmas. books received.--_smiths's dictionary of greek and roman geography, by various writers_, part viii., which extends from the conclusion of the admirable article on _etruria_ to _germania_, and includes _gallia cisalpina_ and _transalpina_, which scarcely required the initials (g. l.) to point out the accomplished scholar by whom they are written.--darlings _cyclopædia bibliographica_: parts xiv. and xv. extend from _o. m. mitchell_ to _platina or de sacchi_. the value of this analytical, bibliographical, and biographical library manual will not be fully appreciable until the work is completed.--_the national miscellany_, vol. i. the first volume of this magazine of general literature is just issued in a handsome form, suitable to the typographical excellence for which this well-directed and well-conducted miscellany is remarkable.--_remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england_, part viii.: containing bronze bucket, found at cuddesden, oxfordshire; and fibula, found near billesdon, leicestershire. we would suggest to mr. akerman that the bronze bucket is scarcely an example of an object of archæological interest, which requires to be drawn of the size of the original, and coloured from it: and that the value of his useful work would be increased by his adhering to his original arrangement, by which the illustrative letter-press appeared in the same part with the engraving to which it referred. * * * * * { } books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: oxford almanack for . amoenitates academicÆ. vol. i. holmiæ, . browne hist. nat. jamaicÆ. lond. . folio. ammanus l. stirpes rariores. petrop. . philosophical transactions for . annals of philosophy for january, . peshall's monumental inscriptions. universal magazine for january, . springel and decandolle's botany. dr. richardson's correspondence, by dawson turner. amherst's terrÆ filius, . wanted by _mr. h. t. bobart_, ashby-de-la-zouch. * * * * * laderchii annales ecclesiasticÆ. tom. folio. romæ, - . the bible in shorthand, according to the method of mr. james weston, whose shorthand prayer book was published in the year . a copy of addy's copperplate shorthand bible, london, , would be given in exchange. wanted by _rev. richard gibbings_, falcarragh, letterkenny, co. donegal. * * * * * peck's (fr.) history of the stamford bull running. the case of mr. sam. bruckshaw considered. vo. or mo. wanted by _mr. j. phillips_, stamford. * * * * * london magazine. vol. lxiv. to . nichols' literary anecdotes, and the continuation. wanted by _f. dinsdale_, leamington. * * * * * joseph mede's works. jones's (of nayland) sermons, by walker. vols. vo. plain sermons. vols. vo. death-bed scenes. best edition. rose's (h. j.) sermons. wilberforce's life. vols. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. * * * * * hutchins's dorsetshire. last edition. wanted by _james dearden_, upton house, poole. * * * * * clarendon's history of the rebellion. folio. oxford . vol. i. wanted by _rev. john james avington_, hungerford. * * * * * an examination of the charters and statutes of trinity college, dublin (with the postscript), by george miller, d.d., f.t.c.d. dublin, . a [first] letter to the rev dr. pusey, in reference to his letter to the lord bishop of oxford, by george miller, d.d. london, . wanted by _rev. b. h. blacker_, . pembroke road, dublin. * * * * * notices to correspondents. w. h. m. w. _the heralds' visitation for wiltshire in will be found in the british museum, harl. mss. and . see too sims's_ indexes to pedigrees, _&c._ ralpho's _communication should have been addressed to the writer, quoting the lines on which he comments_. gammer gurton's _suggestion is a very good one; and we can promise that our christmas eve number shall be rich in_ folk lore. g. s. m., _who desires information respecting the history of newspapers, their progress and statistics, is referred to f. k. hunt's_ fourth estate, a contribution towards a history of newspapers and of the liberty of the press, _ vols. vo., london, . several articles on the subject will be found in our own columns_. _if_ f. s. a. _applied to the proper authorities, we cannot doubt that the information he received is true_. j. w. n. k. _we have referred the descriptions of the pictures to one of the very highest authorities in london, who is of opinion that if the marks on the back_ are genuine, _they are the marks of the owner, not of the artist_. j. t. _the volume_ remarques de pierre motteux sur rabelais _is no doubt a translation of the notes which motteux inserted in the english version, of which the first three books were translated by urquhart, the other two by himself. this translation has, we think, been reprinted by bohn_. j. w. t. _the monastic work inquired after is noticed by another correspondent at_ p. . _of the present number_. dr. diamond on the simplicity of the calotype process _is, on account of its length from the many additions made to it, unavoidably postponed until next week_. t. l. (islington). _the ingredients referred to are all used by le gray, the originator of the waxed-paper process. they are supposed not only to increase the sensitiveness of the paper, but to add to its keeping qualities. we have no doubt that a letter addressed to the college of chemistry will find the gentleman to whom you refer._ d. g. (liverpool). _it would be not only difficult but more expensive to prepare your own sulphuric ether; but we again assure that the best is to be procured at from s. to s. per pound, and wholesale at considerably less. you may satisfy yourself by a reference to our advertising columns._ f. h. d. _albumenized paper will keep many days after it has been excited with a forty-grain solution of nitrate of silver. we have used whatman's and turner's papers twenty days old, and with perfectly satisfactory results. the thin canson is of all others most disposed to brown; but it is preferable to all others in use from the richness of the tints produced and its rapidity of printing._ _erratum._--vol. viii, p. . l. . from bottom, for "burnishing" read "bruising." "notes and queries" _is printed at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii. _price three guineas and a half.--copies are being made up and may be had by order._ * * * * * prince of wales's sketch-box.--containing colours, pencils. &c., with printed directions, as now used by the royal family. price s. miller's. artist's colour manufacturer, long acre, london; and at her majesty's steam colour and pencil works, pimlico. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * retrospective review (new series), consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful and valuable old books. vol. i. pp. . cloth, s. d. part v., price s. d., published quarterly, is now ready. john russell smith. . soho square. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * solicitors & general life assurance society. . chancery lane, london. * * * * * _subscribed capital, one million._ * * * * * this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty percent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting, on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_, or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day between the hours of and . at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * photographic society.--the council will open in the beginning of january, at the rooms of the society of british artists, in suffolk street, pall mall, an exhibition of photographs and daguerreotypes. coloured pictures will not be excluded. it is recommended that all pictures sent should be protected by glass. no picture will be exhibited unless accompanied by the name and address of the photographer or exhibitor, and some description of the process employed. pictures will be received at the rooms in suffolk street, from monday the th to monday the th december. further information may be obtained by application to the secretary, r. fenton, esq., . albert terrace, albert road, regent's park. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.-j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published: without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea: three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photography.--horne co's iodized collection, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * views in london. stereoscopes and stereoscopic pictures. bland & long, . fleet street, opticians and philosophical instrument makers, invite attention to their stock of stereoscopes of all kinds, and in various materials; also, to their new and extensive assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same, in dauguerreotype, on paper, and transparent albumen pictures on glass, including views of london, paris, the rhine, windsor, &c. these pictures, for minuteness of detail and truth in the representation of natural objects, are unrivalled. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street. london. *** "familiar explanation of the phenomena" sent on application. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen. . & . west strand. * * * * * amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s.__, s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. 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"a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london: and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "the turkish, by seaman": 'leaman' in original, corrected by errata in issue . page , "linea sine angulis": 'angulus' in original, corrected by errata in issue . page , "the abbey of grâce dieu, leicestershire": 'liecestershire' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . .. [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page illustrations of chaucer, no. vi. dutch folk-lore minor notes:--verses in pope: "bug" or "bee"-- rub-a-dub--quotations--minnis--brighton--voltaire's henriade queries:-- the blake family, by hepworth dixon minor queries:--john holywood the mathematician-- essay on the irony of sophocles--meaning of mosaic --stanedge pole--names of the ferret--colfabias-- school of the heart--milton and the calves-head club--david rizzio's signature--lambert simnel: was this his real name?--honor of clare, norfolk-- sponge--babington's conspiracy--family of sir john banks--meaning of sewell--abel represented with horns minor queries answered:--the fifteen o's--meaning of pightle--inscription on a guinea of george iii. --meaning of crambo replies:-- john tradescant probably an englishman, and his voyage to russia in , by s. w. singer the family of the tradescants, by w. pinkerton pope joan replies to minor queries:--robert burton's birthplace --barlaam and josaphat--witte van haemstede--the dutch church in norwich--fest sittings--quaker's attempt to convert the pope--the anti-jacobin-- mistletoe--verbum græcum--"après moi le déluge"-- eisell--"to-day we purpose"--modern paper--st. pancras --joseph nicolson's family--demosthenes and new testament--crossing rivers on skins--curious facts in natural history--prideaux miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. illustrations of chaucer, no. vi. unless chaucer had intended to mark with particular exactness the day of the journey to canterbury, he would not have taken such unusual precautions to protect his text from ignorant or careless transcribers. we find him not only recording the altitudes of the sun, at different hours, in words; but also corroborating those words by associating them with physical facts incapable of being perverted or misunderstood. had chaucer done this in one instance only, we might imagine that it was but another of those occasions, so frequently seized upon by him, for the display of a little scientific knowledge; but when he repeats the very same precautionary expedient again, in the afternoon of the same day, we begin to perceive that he must have had some fixed purpose; because, as i shall presently show, it is the repetition alone that renders the record imperishable. but whether chaucer really devised this method for the express purpose of preserving his text, or not, it has at least had that effect,--for while there are scarcely two mss. extant which agree in the verbal record of the day and hours, the physical circumstances remain, and afford at all times independent data for the recovery or correction of the true reading. the day of the month may be deduced from the declination of the sun; and, to obtain the latter, all the data required are, . the latitude of the place. . two altitudes of the sun at different sides of noon. it is not absolutely necessary to have any previous knowledge of the hours at which these altitudes were respectively obtained, because these may be discovered by the trial method of seeking two such hours as shall most nearly agree in requiring a declination common to both at the known altitudes. of course it will greatly simplify the process if we furthermore know that the observations must have been obtained at some determinate intervals of time, such, for example, as complete hours. now, in the prologue to the "canterbury tales" we know that the observations could not have been recorded except at complete hours, because the construction of the metre will not admit the supposition of any parts of hours having been expressed. we are also satisfied that there can be no mistake in the altitudes, because nothing can alter the facts, that an equality between the length of the shadow and the height of the substance can only subsist at an altitude of degrees; or that an altitude of degrees (more or less) is the nearest that will give the ratio of to between the shadow and its gnomon. { } with these data we proceed to the following comparison: _forenoon altitude_ °.|| _afternoon altitude_ °. || hour. declin. || hour. declin. xi a.m. ° ' n. || ii p.m. ° ' s. x " ° ' " || iii " ° ' n. ix " ° ' " || iv " ° ' " viii " impossible.|| v " impossible. here we immediately select "x a.m." and "iv p.m." as the only two items at all approaching to similarity; while, in these the approach is so near that they differ by only a single minute of a degree! more conclusive evidence therefore could scarcely exist that these were the hours intended to be recorded by chaucer, and that the sun's declination, designed by him, was somewhere about thirteen degrees and a half north. strictly speaking, this declination would more properly apply to the th of april, in chaucer's time, than to the th; but since he does not profess to critical exactness, and since it is always better to adhere to written authority, when it is not grossly and obviously corrupt, such mss. as name the th of april ought to be respected; but tyrwhitt's " th," which he states not only as the result of his own conjecture but as authorised by the "the best mss.," ought to be scouted at once. in the latest edition of the "canterbury tales" (a literal reprint from one of the harl. mss., for the percy society, under the supervision of mr. wright), the opening of the prologue to "the man of lawes tale" does not materially differ from tyrwhitt's text, excepting in properly assigning the day of the journey to "the eightetene day of april;" and the confirmation of the forenoon altitude is as follows: "and sawe wel that the schade of every tree was in the lengthe the same quantite, that was the body erecte that caused it." but the afternoon observation is thus related: "by that the manciple had his tale endid, the sonne fro the southe line is descendid so lowe that it nas nought to my sight, degrees nyne and twenty as in hight. _ten_ on the clokke it was as i gesse, for eleven foote, or litil more or lesse, my schadow was at thilk time of the yere, of which feet as my lengthe parted were, in sixe feet equal of proporcioun." in a note to the line "ten on the clokke" mr. wright observes, "_ten_. i have not ventured to change the reading of the harl. ms., which is partly supported by that of the lands. ms., _than_." if the sole object were to present an exact counterpart of the ms., of course even its errors were to be respected: but upon no other grounds can i understand why a reading should be preserved by which broad sunshine is attributed to ten o'clock at night! nor can i believe that the copyist of the ms. with whom the error must have originated would have set down anything so glaringly absurd, unless he had in his own mind some means of reconciling it with probability. it may, i believe, be explained in the circumstance that "ten" and "four," in horary reckoning, were _convertible terms_. the old roman method of naming the hours, wherein noon was the sixth, was long preserved, especially in conventual establishments: and i have no doubt that the english idiomatic phrase "o'clock" originated in the necessity for some distinguishing mark between hours "of the clock" reckoned from midnight, and hours of the day reckoned from sunrise, or more frequently from six a.m. with such an understanding, it is clear that _ten_ might be called _four_, and _four ten_, and yet the same identical hour to be referred to; nor is it in the least difficult to imagine that some monkish transcriber, ignorant perhaps of the meaning of "o'clock," might fancy he was correcting, rather that corrupting, chaucer's text, by changing "foure" into "ten." i have, i trust, now shown that all these circumstances related by chaucer, so far from being hopelessly incongruous, are, on the contrary, harmoniously consistent;--that they all tend to prove that the day of the journey to canterbury could not have been later than the th of april;--that the times of observation were certainly a.m. and p.m.;--that the "arke of his artificial day" is to be understood as the horizontal or azimuthal arch;--and that the "halfe cours in the ram" alludes to the completion of the last twelve degrees of that sign, about the end of the second week in april. there yet remains to be examined the signification of those three very obscure lines which immediately follow the description, already quoted, of the afternoon observation: "therewith the mones exaltacioun in mena libra, alway gan ascende as we were entryng at a townes end." it is the more unfortunate that we should not be certain what it was that chaucer really did write, inasmuch as he probably intended to present, in these lines, some means of identifying the year, similar to those he had previously given with respect to the day. when tyrwhitt, therefore, remarks, "in what year this happened chaucer does not inform us"--he was not astronomer enough to know that if chaucer had meant to leave, in these lines, a record of the moon's place on the day of the journey, he could not have chosen a more certain method of informing us in what year it occurred. but as the present illustration has already extended far enough for the limits of a single number of "notes and queries," i shall defer the { } investigation of this last and greatest difficulty to my next communication. a. e. b. leeds, april . * * * * * dutch folk-lore. . a baby laughing in its dreams is conversing with the angels. . rocking the cradle when the babe is not in it, is considered injurious to the infant, and a prognostic of its speedy death. . a strange dog following you is a sign of good luck. . a stork settling on a house is a harbinger of happiness. to kill such a bird would be sacrilege. . if you see a shooting star, the wish you form before its disappearance will be fulfilled. . a person born with a caul is considered fortunate. . four-leaved clover brings luck to the person who finds it unawares. . an overturned salt-cellar is a ship wrecked. if a person take salt and spill it on the table, it betokens a strife between him and the person next to whom it fell. to avert the omen, he must lift up the shed grains with a knife, and throw them behind his back. . after eating eggs in holland, you must break the shells, or the witches would sail over in them to england. the english don't know under what obligations they are to the dutch for this custom. please to tell them. . if you make a present of a knife or scissors, the person receiving must pay something for it; otherwise the friendship between you would be cut off. . a tingling ear denotes there is somebody speaking of you behind your back. if you hear the noise in the right one, he praises you; if on the left side, he is calling you a scoundrel, or something like that. but, never mind! for if, in the latter case, you bite your little finger, the evil speaker's tongue will be in the same predicament. by all means, don't spare your little finger! . if, at a dinner, a person yet unmarried be placed inadvertently between a married couple, be sure he or she will get a partner within the year. it's a pity it must be inadvertently. . if a person when rising throw down his chair, he is considered guilty of untruth. . a potato begged or stolen is a preservative against rheumatism. chestnuts have the same efficacy. . the nymphæa, or water-lily, whose broad leaves, and clear white or yellow cups, float upon the water, was esteemed by the old frisians to have a magical power. "i remember, when a boy," says dr. halbertsma, "that we were extremely careful in plucking and handling them; for if any one fell with such a flower in his possession, he became immediately subject to fits." . one of my friends cut himself. a manservant being present secured the knife hastily, anointed it with oil, and putting it into the drawer, besought the patient not to touch it for some days. whether the cure was effected by this sympathetic means, i can't affirm; but cured it was: so, don't be alarmed. . if you feel on a sudden a shivering sensation in your back, there is somebody walking over your future grave. . a person speaking by himself will die a violent death. . don't go under a ladder, for if you do you will be hanged. * a ? amsterdam. * * * * * minor notes. _verses in pope_--_"bug" or "bee."_--pope, in the _dunciad_, speaking of the purloining propensities of bays, has the lines: "next o'er his books his eyes began to roll, in pleasing memory of all he stole; how here he sipp'd, how there he plunder'd snug, and suck'd all o'er, like an industrious bug." in reading these lines, some time ago, i was forcibly struck with the incongruity of the terms "sipp'd" and "industrious" as applied to "bug;" and it occurred to me that pope may have originally written the passage with the words "free" and "bee," as the rhymes of the two last lines. my reasons for this conjecture are these: st. because pope is known to have been very fastidious on the score of coarse or vulgar expressions; and his better judgment would have recoiled from the use of so offensive a word as "bug." ndly. because, as already stated, the terms "sipp'd" and "industrious" are inapplicable to a bug. of the bug it may be said, that it "sucks" and "plunders;" but it cannot, with any propriety, be predicated of it, as of the bee, that it "sips" and is "industrious." my impression is, that when pope found he was doing too much honour to tibbald by comparing him to a bee, he substituted the word "bug" and its corresponding rhyme, without reflecting that some of the epithets, already applied to the one, are wholly inapplicable to the other. henry h. breen. st. lucia, march, . _rub-a-dub._--this word is put forward as an instance of how new words are still formed with a view to similarity of sound with the sound of what they are intended to express, by dr. francis lieber, in a "paper on the vocal sounds of laura bridgeman compared with the elements of phonetic language," and its authorship is assigned { } to daniel webster, who said in a speech of july , : "they have been beaten incessantly every month, and every day, and every hour, by the din, and roll, and _rub-a-dub_ of the abolition presses." dr. l. adds: "no dictionary in my possession has _rub-a-dub_; by and by the lexicographer will admit this, as yet, half-wild word." my note is, that though this word be not recognised by the dictionaries, yet it is by no means so new as dr. l. supposes; for i distinctly remember that, some four-and-twenty years ago, one of those gay-coloured books so common on the shelves of nursery libraries had, amongst other equally _recherché_ couplets, the following attached to a gaudy print of a military drum: "not a _rub-a-dub_ will come to sound the music of a drum:" --no great authority certainly, but sufficient to give the word a greater antiquity than dr. l. claims for it; and no doubt some of your readers will be able to furnish more dignified instances of its use. j. eastwood. ecclesfield. [to this it may be added, that _dub-a-dub_ is found in halliwell's _arch. gloss._ with the definition, "to beat a drum; also, the blow on the drum. 'the dub-a-dub of honour.' woman is a weathercock, p. ., there used metaphorically." mr. halliwell might also have cited the nursery rhyme: "sing rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub."] _quotations._-- . "in time the savage bull doth bear the yoke." quoted in _much ado about nothing_, act i. sc. . mr. knight (library edition, ii. .) says this line is from hieronymo, but gives no reference, and i have not found it. in a sonnet by thomas watson (a.d. - ) occurs the line (see ellis's _specimens_)-- "in time the bull is brought to bear the yoke." whence did shakspeare quote the line? . "_nature's mother-wit._" this phrase is found in dryden's "ode to st. cecilia," and also in spenser, _faerie queene_, book iv. canto x. verse . where does it first occur? . "the divine chit-chat of cowper." query, who first designated the "task" thus? charles lamb uses the phrase as a quotation. (see _final memorials of charles lamb_, i. .) j. h. c. adelaide, south australia. _minnis._--there are (or there were) in east kent seven commons known by the local term "minnis," viz., . ewell minnis; . river do.; . cocclescombe do.; . swingfield do.; . worth do.; . stelling do.; . rhode do. hasted (_history of kent_) says he is at a loss for the origin of the word, unless it be in the latin "mina," a certain quantity of land, among different nations of different sizes; and he refers to spelman's _glossary_, verbum "mina." now the only three with which i am acquainted, river, ewell, and swingfield minnis, near dover, are all on high ground; the two former considerably elevated above their respective villages. one would rather look for a saxon than a celtic derivation in east kent; but many localities, &c. there still retain british or celtic names, and eminently so the stream that runs through river and ewell, the dour or dwr, _unde_, no doubt, dover, where it disembogues into the sea. may we not therefore likewise seek in the same language an interpretation of this (at least as far as i know) hitherto unexplained term? in armorican we find "menez" and "mene," a mount. in the kindred dialect, cornish, "menhars" means a boundary-stone; "maenan" (brit.), stoney moor; "mynydh" (brit.), a mountain, &c. as my means of research are very limited, i can only hazard a conjecture, which it will give me much pleasure to see either refuted or confirmed by those better informed. a. c. m. _brighton._--it is stated in lyell's _principles of geology_, that in the reign of elizabeth the town of brighton was situated on that tract where the chain pier now extends into the sea; that in twenty-two tenements still remained under the cliffs; that no traces of the town are perceptible; that the sea has resumed its ancient position, the site of the old town having been merely a beach abandoned by the ocean for ages. on referring to the "attack of the french on brighton in ," as represented in the engraving in the _archæologia_, april , , i find the town standing _apparently_ just where it is now, with "a felde in the middle," but with some houses on the beach opposite what is not pool valley, on the east side of which houses the french are landing; the beach end of the road from lewes. a. c. _voltaire's "henriade."_--i have somewhere seen an admirable translation of this poem into english verse. perhaps you can inform me of the author's name. the work seems to be scarce, as i recollect having seen it but once: it was published, i think, about thirty years ago. (see _antè_, p. .) the house in which voltaire was born, at chatnaye, about ten miles from paris, is now the property of the comtesse de boigne, widow of the general de boigne, and daughter of the marquis d'osmond, who was ambassador here during the reign of louis xviii. the mother of the poet being on a visit with _the then_ proprietor (whose name i cannot recollect), was unexpectedly confined. there is a street in the village called the rue voltaire. the comtesse de boigne is my { } authority for the fact of the poet's birth having taken place in her house. a. j. m. alfred club. * * * * * queries. the blake family. the renowned admiral blake, a native of bridgewater, and possessed of property in the neighbourhood, left behind him a numerous family of brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces, settled in the county of somerset; to wit, his brothers humphrey, william, george, nicholas, benjamin, and alexander all survived him, as did also his sisters, mrs. bowdich, of chard, and mrs. smith, of cheapside, in london. his brother samuel, killed in an early part of the civil war, left two sons, robert and samuel, both of them honourably remembered in the will of their great uncle. can any of your readers, acquainted with somerset genealogies, give me any information which may enable me to make out the descent of the present families of blake, in that county, from this stock? there are at least two blake houses now in existence, who are probably of the blood of the illustrious admiral; the blakes of bishop's hall, near taunton, of which william blake, esq., a magistrate for the county, is the head; and the blakes of venue house, upton, near wiveliscombe, the representative of which is silas wood blake, son of dr. william blake, a bencher of the inner temple. these families possess many relics of the admiral--family papers, cabinets, portrait, and even estates; and that they are of his blood there are other reasons for believing; but, so far as i know, the line is not clearly traced back. in a funeral sermon spoken on the death of the grandfather of the present william blake, esq., of bishop's hall, i find it stated that-- "he was descended from pious and worthy ancestors; a collateral branch of the family of that virtuous man, great officer, and true patriot, admiral blake. his grandfather, the rev. malachi blake, a nonconformist minister, resided at blogden, four miles from taunton. this gentleman, by his pious labours, laid the foundation of the dissenting congregation at wellington, in the county of somerset. after the defeat of the duke of monmouth, to whose cause he had been friendly, he was obliged to flee from home, and went to london disguised in a lay-dress, with a tye-wig and a sword." this minister had three sons, john, malachi, and william; and it is from the last named that the blakes of bishop's hall are descended. but who was the father of malachi blake himself? he was probably a son or grandson of one of the admiral's brothers--but of which? permit me to add to this query another remark. i am engaged in writing a life of admiral blake, and shall be extremely grateful to any of your correspondents who can and will direct me, either through the medium of your columns or by private communication, to any new sources of information respecting his character and career. a meagre pamphlet being the utmost that has yet been given to the memory of this great man, the entire story of his life has to be built up from the beginning. fragments of papers, scraps of information, however slight, may therefore be of material value. a date or a name may contain an important clue, and will be thankfully acknowledged. of course i do not wish to be referred to information contained in well-known collections, such as thurloe, rushworth, whitelock, and the parliamentary histories, nor to the deptford mss. in the tower, the admiralty papers in the state paper office, or the ashmole mss. at oxford. i am also acquainted, of course, with several papers in the national collection of mss. at the british museum throwing light on the subject; but while these mss. remain in their present state, it would be very rash in any man to say what is _not_ to be found in them. should any one, in reading for his own purposes, stumble on a fact of importance for me in these mss., i shall be grateful for a communication; but my appeal is rather made to the possessors of old family papers. there must, i think, be many letters--though he was a brief and abrupt correspondent--of the admiral's still existing in the archives of old puritan families. these are the materials of history of which i am most in need. hepworth dixon. . st. john's wood terrace. * * * * * minor queries. _john holywood the mathematician._--is the birthplace of this distinguished scholar known? leland, bale, and pits assert him to have been born at halifax, in yorkshire; stanyhurst says, at holywood, near dublin; and according to dempster and mackenzie, at nithsdale, in scotland. edward f. rimbault. _essay on the irony of sophocles, &c._--who is the author of the _essay on the irony of sophocles_, which has been termed the most exquisite piece of criticism in the english language? is it cicero who says, "malo cum platone errare, quam cum aliis rectè sentire?" and who embodied the somewhat contradictory maxim,-- "amicus plato, sed magis amica veritas?" nemo. _meaning of mosaic._--what is the exact meaning and derivation of the word mosaic as a term in art? h. m. a. { } _stanedge pole._--can any one inform me in what part of yorkshire the antiquarian remains of stanedge pole are situated; and where the description of them is to be found? a. n. _names of the ferret._--i should be much obliged by any one of your readers informing me what peculiar names are given to the male and female ferret? do they occur any where in any author? as by knowing how the words are spelt, we may arrive at their etymology. t. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _colfabias._--can any of your learned correspondents furnish the origin and meaning of this word? it was the name of the _privy_ attached to the priory of holy trinity in dublin; and still is to be seen in old leases of that religious house (now christ church cathedral), spelled sometimes as above, and other times _coolfabioos_. the present dean and chapter are quite in the dark upon the subject. i hope you will be able to give us a little light from your general stock. a ch. ch. man. dublin. _school of the heart._--this work consists of short poems similar in character and merit to quarles's _emblems_, and adorned with cuts of the same class. i have at hand none but modern editions, and in these the production is ascribed to quarles. but montgomery, in his _christian poet_, quotes the _school of the heart_, without explanation, as the work of thomas harvey, . can any of your readers throw light on this matter? s. t. d. _milton and the calves-head club._--i quote the following from _the secret history of the calves-head club: or the republican unmasqu'd_, to., . the author is relating what was told him by "a certain active whigg, who, in all other respects, was a man of probity enough." "he further told me that milton, and some other creatures of the commonwealth, had instituted this club [the calves-head club], as he was inform'd, in opposition to bp. juxon, dr. sanderson, dr. hammond, and other divines of the church of england, who met privately every th of january; and though it was under the time of usurpation, had compil'd a private form of service for the day, not much different from what we now find in the liturgy." do any of milton's biographers mention his connexion with this club? does the form of prayer compiled by juxon, sanderson, and hammond exist? k. p. d. e. _david rizzio's signature._--can any reader of "notes and queries" furnish the applicant with either a fac-simile or a minute description of the signature and handwriting of david rizzio? the application is made in order to the verification of a most remarkable alleged instance of clairvoyance, recorded at large in a volume on that and its kindred subjects just published by dr. gregory of edinburgh. f. k. _lambert simnel--was this his real name?_--it occurs to me that we are not in possession of the real name of lambert simnel, the famous claimant of the crown of england. we are told that he was the son of a baker; and we learn from johnson's _dictionary_ that the word "simnel" signified a kind of sweet-bread or cake. now, considering the uncertainty and mutability of surnames in former times, i am led to suspect that "simnel" may have been a nickname first applied to his father, in allusion to his trade; and i am strengthened in my suspicion by not finding any such name as "simnel" in any index of ancient names. could any of your correspondents throw light on this question, or tell whether lambert left any posterity? t. _honor of clare, norfolk._--i have seen a letter, dated about , in the possession of a gentleman of this town, which alludes "_to his majesty's honor of clare_;" and i shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents can render me any information as to whether there are any documents relative to this "_honor_" in existence: and if so, where they are to be met with? for i much wish to be informed what fragments were made from _south green_ (a part of this town), which was held of the above mentioned "honor," and by whom made; and further, who is the collector of them at this period? j. n. c. _sponge._--when was the sponge of commerce first known in england? thudt. _babington's conspiracy._--miss strickland, in her life of queen elizabeth (_lives of the queens of england_, vol. vii. p. .), after describing the particulars of this plot, adds in a note,-- "after his condemnation, babington wrote a piteous letter of supplication to elizabeth, imploring her mercy for the sake of his wife and children."--rawlinson _mss._, oxford, vol. . no. . f. . a copy of a letter to which the description given by miss strickland would apply, has been lately found among some papers originally belonging to lord burleigh; and it would be very desirable to compare it with the letter said to be in the rawlinson collection. i have, however, authority for saying that the reference above quoted is incorrect. i should be very glad indeed to find whether the letter referred to by miss strickland is printed in any collection, or to trace the authority for the reference given in the _lives of the queens_. the ms. copies in the british museum are known. j. bt. _family of sir john banks._--r. h. wishes to be informed how many children were left by { } sir john banks, lord chief justice in charles i.'s reign: also, whether any one of these settled at keswick: and also, whether mr. john banks of that place, the philosopher, as he was called, was really a lineal descendant of sir john b., as he is stated to have been by the author of an old work on the lakes? r. c. h. h. _sewell, meaning of._--it is usual in some deer-parks in different parts of england, but more especially, as far as my own knowledge goes, in kent, for the keepers, when they wish to drive and collect the deer to one spot, to lay down for this purpose what they call _sewells_ (i may be wrong as to the orthography), which are simply long lines with feathers attached at intervals, somewhat after the fashion of the tails of kites. these "sewells," when stretched at length on the ground, the herd of deer will very rarely pass; but on coming up will check themselves suddenly when in full career, and wheel about. the same contrivance was in use in virgil's time for the same purpose, under the name of _formido_ (_geor._ iii. .):--"puniceæve agitant pavidos formidine pennæ." can any of your readers help me to the origin of the modern term _sewell_? h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _abel represented with horns._--in one of the windows of king's college chapel, the subject of which is the death of abel, the artist has given him a pair of _horns_. can any of your readers explain this? c. j. e. * * * * * minor queries answered. _the fifteen o's._--in the third part of the "sermon of good works" is this passage: "let us rehearse some other kinds of papistical superstitions and abuses; as of beads, of lady psalters and rosaries, _of fifteen oos_, of st. barnard's verses, of st. agathe's letters, of purgatory, of masses satisfactory, of stations and jubilees, of feigned relics, of hallowed beads, bells, bread, water, palms, candles, fire, and such other; of superstitious fastings, of fraternities, of pardons, with such like merchandise, which were so esteemed and abused to the prejudice of god's glory and commandments, that they were made most high and most holy things, whereby to attain to the eternal life, or remission of sin." i cite the above from the parker society's edition of archbishop cranmer's _miscellaneous writings and letters_, p. . it occurs also in professor corrie's edition of the _homilies_, p. . i shall be glad to be informed what is meant by the "fifteen oo's," or "fifteen o's" (for so they are spelt in the above edition of the _homilies_). c. h. cooper cambridge, april . . [the fifteen o's are fifteen prayers commencing with the letter o, and will be found in _horæ beatissime virginis marie, secundum usum ecclesiæ sarum_, p. . edit. .] _meaning of pightle._--as i dare say you number some suffolk men among your readers, would any of them kindly inform me the meaning and derivation of the word "pightle," which is always applied to a field adjoining the farm-houses in suffolk? philo-stevens. [phillips, in his _new world of words_, has "pigle or pightel, a small parcel of land enclosed with a hedge, which in some parts of england is commonly call'd a pingle."] _inscription on a guinea of george iii._--round the reverse of a guinea of george iii., , are the following initials:--"m. b. f. et h. rex--f. d. b. et l. d. s. r. i. a. t. et e." the earlier letters are sufficiently intelligible; but i should be glad to learn the meaning of the whole inscription. j. h. c. adelaide, south australia. [of the faith defender, of brunswick and lunenburg duke, of the holy roman empire arch-treasurer and elector.] _meaning of crambo._--sir thomas browne (_religio medici_, part ii. § . ed. ) says: "i conclude, therefore, and say, there is no happiness under (or, as copernicus will have it, above) the sun, nor any crambo in that repeated verity and burthen of all the wisdom of _solomon_, _all is vanity and vexation of spirit_." query, what is the meaning of _crambo_ here, and is it to be met with elsewhere with a similar meaning? j. h. c. adelaide, south australia. [the words "nor any crambo" mean that the sentiment expressed by solomon is a truth which cannot be too often repeated. crabbe says, "_crambo_ is a play, in rhyming, in which he that repeats a word that was said before forfeits something." in all the mss. and editions of the _religio medici_, , the words "nor any crambo," are wanting. see note on the passage in the edition edited by simon wilkin, f.l.s.] * * * * * replies. john tradescant probably an englishman, and his voyage to russia in . (vol. iii., pp. . . .) dr. rimbault justly observes that "the history of the tradescants is involved in considerable obscurity." he does not, however, seem to have been aware that some light has been thrown on that of the elder john tradescant by the researches of dr. hamel, in his interesting memoir published in the _transactions of the imperial academy of st. petersburg in _, with the following title:--"tradescant der Æltere in russland. der { } handelsverkehr zwischen england und russland in seiner entstehung," &c. dr. rimbault's note contains a good epitome of the most obvious english notices respecting the tradescants; but while correcting the errors of others, he has himself fallen into one important mistake, in stating that "old john tradescant died in ;" for that is the date of the death of his grandson, john, who died young. old john died in , leaving a son, also named john, who was born in , and died in , having survived his only son ten years; and, having no heir to his treasures, he had previously conveyed them, by deed of gift, to elias ashmole, who seems to have contrived to make himself agreeable to him by his pursuits as a virtuoso, and by his alchemical and astrological fancies. when dr. hamel was in england, i had the pleasure of indicating to him the site of "tradescant's ark" in south lambeth. it was situate on the east side of the road leading from vauxhall to stockwell, nearly opposite to what was formerly called spring lane. ashmole built a large brick house near that which had been tradescant's, out of the back of part of which he made offices. the front part of it became the habitation of the well-known antiquary, dr. ducarel. it still remains as two dwellings; the one, known as "turret house," is occupied by john miles thorn, esq., and the other, called "stamford house," is the dwelling of j. a. fulton, esq. in his indefatigable researches to elucidate the early intercourse between england and russia, dr. hamel's attention was accidentally called to the tradescants and their museum; and the following passage in parkinson's _paradisus terrestris_, p. . (art. "neesewort," then called _elleborus albus_), led to the discovery of a relation of old john's voyage to russia:-- "this (says parkinson) grows in many places in germany, and likewise in certain places in russia, in such abundance, that, according to the relation of that worthy, curious, and diligent searcher and preserver of all nature's rarities and varieties, my very good friend john tradescante, of whom i have many times before spoken, a moderately large ship (as he says) might be laden with the roots thereof, which he there saw on a certain island." the same notice, in other words, also occurs in parkinson's _theatrum_, p. . in searching among the mss. in the ashmolean museum, dr. hamel bore this passage in memory, and one ms., thus described in mr. black's excellent catalogue, no. ., xvi., contained confirmatory matter: "a voiag of ambassad undertaken by the right honnorabl s^r dudlie diggs, in the year ." "this curious narrative of the voyage round the north cape to archangel, begins with a list of the chief persons employed in the embassy, and contains observations of the weather, and on the commercial, agricultural, and domestic state of russia at that time. it is written in a rude hand, and by a person unskilled in composition. the last half page contains some chronological notes and other stuff, perhaps written by the same hand." thus far mr. black. the full title of the ms. is,-- "a viag of ambassad undertaken by the right honnorabl s^r dudlie diggs in the year , being atended on withe gentillmen, whiche beare the nam of the king's gentillmen, whose names be heere notted. on m. nowell, brother to the lord nowell, m. thomas finche, m. woodward, m. cooke, m. fante, and m. henry wyeld, withe every on of them ther man. other folloers, on brigges, interpreter, m. jams, an oxford man, his chaplin, on m. leake his secretary, withe scots; on captain gilbert and his son, withe on car, also m. mathew de quester's son, of filpot lane, in london, the rest his own retenant, some _whearof_ (_note on jonne an coplie wustersher men_) m. swanli of limhouse, master of the good ship called the dianna of newcastell, m. nelson, part owner of newe castell." dr. hamel says: "what the words in italics may signify is not quite clear, but that 'on jonne' must relate to tradescante himself. perhaps this passage may lead to the discovery that tradescant did not, as it has been conjectured, come from holland, but that he was a native of worcestershire. the name tradescant might be an assumed one (it was also written _tradeskin_, which might be interpreted _fellmonger_)." from documents in the archives at moscow, dr. hamel recovered the christian names, and a list of sir dudley digges' attendants in this voyage, which corresponds with that in the ms., thus:--_arthur_ nowell, _thomas_ woodward, _adam_ cooke, _joseph_ fante, _thomas_ leake, _richard_ james, _george_ brigges, _jessy_ de quester, _adam_ jones, _thomas_ wakefield, _john_ adams, _thomas_ crisp, _leonard_ hugh, and john coplie. this last must therefore have designated _john tradescant_ himself, who was certainly there. sir dudley digges, to whom tradescant seems to have attached himself in order to obtain knowledge of the plants and other natural curiosities of russia, was sent by king james i. to the czar michael fedorowitsch, who had in the previous year despatched an embassy to the king, principally to negotiate for a loan. this ambassador, wolünsky, returned at the same time, in another vessel accompanying that of sir dudley. dr. hamel in his memoir has given considerable extracts from the ms. narrative of the voyage, which show that tradescant was an accurate observer not only of objects connected with his studies of phytology and natural history, but of other matters. parkinson has justly styled him "a painful industrious searcher and lover of all natural varieties;" and elsewhere says: "my very { } good friend, john tradescantes, has wonderfully laboured to obtain all the rarest fruits hee can heare of in any place of christendome, turky, yea, or the whole world." the passages in the journal of his voyage, which prove it to be indubitably his, are numerous, but the one which first struck dr. hamel was sufficient; for in following the narrator on the dwina, and the islands there, and, among others, to rose island, he found this note, "helebros albus, enoug to load a ship." there are, however, others confirmatory beyond a doubt. parkinson, in his _paradisus terrestris_, p. ., has the following passage:-- "there is another (strawberry) very like unto this (the virginia strawberry, which carrieth the greatest leafe of any other except the bohemian), that john tradescante brought with him from brussels (l. russia) long ago, and in seven years could never see one berry ripe on all sides, but still the better part rotten, although it would flower abundantly every yeare, and beare very large leaves." tradescant mentions that he also saw strawberries to be sold in russia, but could never get of the plants, though he saw the berries three times at sir d. digges's table; but as they were in nothing differing from ours, but only less, he did not much seek after them. it is most probable that he brought seed, as he did of another berry, of which he sent part, he tells us, to his correspondent vespasian robin at paris. of a man to whom the merit is due of having founded the earliest museum of natural history and rarities of art in england, and who possessed one of the first, and at the same the best, botanic garden, every little particular must be interesting, and it would be pleasing to find that he was an englishman, and not a foreigner. the only ground for the latter supposition is, i believe, the assertion of anthony à wood, that he was a fleming or a dutchman. the name tradescant is, however, neither flemish nor dutch, and seems to me much more like an assumed english pseudonyme. that he was neither a dutchman nor a fleming will, i think, be obvious from the following passage in the narration of his travels: "also, i haue been tould that theare growethe in the land bothe tulipes and narsisus. by a brabander i was tould it, thoug by his name i should rather think him a holander. his name is jonson, and hathe a house at archangell. he may be eyther, for he [is] always dr[=u]ke once in a day." now, had tradescant himself been a fleming or a dutchman, he would at least have been able to speak decisively on this occasion; to say nothing of the vice of intemperance which he attributes to the natives of those countries. again, it is quite clear that this journal of travels was written by tradescant; yet that name does not appear either in the ms. or in the russian archives: but we have _john coplie_ in both, with the indication in the ms. that he was _a worcestershire man_. let us therefore, on these grounds, place him in the list of english worthies to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. but supposing _tradescant_ to have been his real name, it is quite evident that he travelled under the name of _john coplie_; and it is perhaps vain to speculate upon the reasons for the assumption of a pseudonyme either way. dr. richard james, who accompanied sir dudley digges as chaplain, appears, from turner's account of his mss., which are deposited in the bodleian, to have left behind him a ms. account of his travels in russia, in five sheets; but his ms. seems to have been lost or mislaid in that vast emporium, or we might have some confirmation from it respecting tradescant. south lambeth was in former times one of the most agreeable and salubrious spots in the vicinity of london, and at the time when tradescant first planted his garden he must have had another worthy and distinguished man for a neighbour, sir noel caron, who was resident ambassador here from the states of holland for twenty-eight years. his estate contained acres; he was a benefactor to the poor of his vicinity by charitable actions, some of which remain as permanent monuments of his benevolence, in the shape of almshouses, situate in the wandsworth road. the site of caron house is now possessed by henry beaufoy, esq., who has worthily emulated the deeds of his predecessor by acts of munificent benevolence, which must be fraught with incalculable good for ages yet to come. mr. beaufoy has, among his literary treasures, a very interesting collection of letters in ms., written in french, by sir noel caron to constantine huyghens, i think, which contain many curious illustrations of the events of that period. let us hope that time may bring to light further and more complete materials for the biography of these lambethan worthies, who have deserved to live in our memories as benefactors to mankind. s. w. singer. manor place, so. lambeth, may . . * * * * * the family of the tradescants. in chambers's _edinburgh journal_, no. ., new series, may be found an account of this family, written by myself; i hope to be excused when i say that it is the most accurate hitherto published. it gave me great pleasure to find that so distinguished an antiquary as dr. rimbault mainly corroborates the article alluded to; but i regret that i feel bound to notice a serious error into which that gentleman has fallen. dr. r. states that "old john tradescant died in the year ;" and in another place he states that-- { } "it was not the _youngest_ john tradescant that died in , but the _oldest_, the _grandfather_, the first of that name that settled in england." the conflicting accounts and confusion in the history of the tradescants, have no doubt arisen from the three, "grandsire, father, and son," having been all named john; consequently, for the sake of perspicuity, i shall adopt the plan of our worthy editor, and designate the tradescant who first settled in england, no. .; his son, who published the _musæum tradescantianum_, no. .; and the son of the latter, who "died in his spring," no. . now, to prove that it was the youngest of the tradescants, no. ., who died in , we have only to refer to the preface of the _musæum tradescantianum_, which was published in . there we find that tradescant no. . says that-- "about three years agoe (by the perswasion of some friends) i was resolved to take a catalogue of those rarities and curiosities, which my father had sedulously collected, and myself with continued diligence have augmented and hitherto preserved together." he then proceeds to account for the delay in the publication of the work in these words: "presently thereupon my _onely son_ died, one of my friends fell sick," &c. again, in ashmole's _diary_ we find the following entry: "_sept._ th, . young john tredescant died." and, further on, ashmole states that "he was buried by his grandfather, in lambeth churchyard." the word _by_, in the quotation, meaning, _by the side of_, _close by_ his grandfather. the burial register of lambeth parish gives the date of the interment, sept. , . ashmole's _diary_, as quoted by dr. rimbault, and the burial register also, give the date of the death of tradescant no. ., who survived his son ten years: the family then became extinct. ashmole, who became acquainted with the tradescants in , never mentions the grandfather (no. .), nor is his name to be found in the burial registry; and consequently the date of his death, as far as i have read, has always been set down as uncertain. there are other parish records, however, than burial registers; and i was well repaid for my search by finding, in the churchwardens' accounts of st. mary's, lambeth, the following entries: " . june . received for burial of jane, wife of john tradeskin, s." " - . item. john tradeskin; ye gret bell and black cloth, s. d." this last entry, in all probability, marks the date of the death of the first tradescant. assuming that it does, and as the engraving by hollar represents him as far advanced in years, his age did not exclude him from having been in the service of queen elizabeth, so much so as it would if he had died in . i read the line on the tombstone,-- "both gardeners to the rose and lily queen"-- as signifying that one of the tradescants had been gardener to elizabeth, the rose queen, and the other to henrietta, the lily queen. however, as that is little more than a matter of opinion, not of historical fact, it need not be further alluded to at present. i am happy to say, that i have every reason to believe that i am on the trace of new, curious, and indisputably authentic information respecting the tradescants. if successful, and if the editor will spare me a corner, i shall be proud to communicate it to the readers of "notes and queries." tradescant's house, and the house adjoining, where ashmole lived, previous to his taking possession of tradescant's house, after mrs. tradescant's death (see ashmole's _diary_), are still standing, though they have undergone many alterations. even there, the name of tradescant seems forgotten: the venerable building is only known by a _nick-name_, derived most probably from its antique chimneys. i had many weary pilgrimages before i discovered the identical edifice. i have not seen the interior, but am aware that there are some traces of ashmole in the house, but none whatever of tradescant in either house or garden. i had a conversation with the gardener of the gentleman who now occupies it: he appeared to have an indistinct idea that an adept in his own profession had once lived there, for he observed that, "if old what's-his-name were alive now, the potato disease could soon be cured." oh! what we antiquaries meet with! he further gave me to understand that "_furriners_ sometimes came there wishing to see the place, but that i was the only englishman, that he recollected, who expressed any curiosity about it." the _restorers_ of the tomb of the tradescants merely took away the old leger stone, on which were cut the words quoted by a. w. h. (vol. iii., p. .), and replaced it by a new stone bearing the lines quoted by dr. rimbault, which were not on the original stone (see aubrey's _surrey_), and the words-- "erected . repaired by subscription, ." but although the name of the childless, persecuted widow, hester tradescant, is not now on the tomb which she piously erected to the memories of her husband and son; still, on the west end of it, can be traced the form of a hydra tearing a human skull--fit emblem of the foul and vulture-like rapacity of elias ashmole. william pinkerton. dalmeny cottage, ham, surrey. { } * * * * * pope joan. (vol. iii., p. .) in reply to your correspondent nemo's query, whether any such personage as pope joan ever held the keys of st. peter, and wore the tiara? and if so, at what period, and for what time, and what is known of her personal history? i would remark that the story runs thus: that between the pontificates of leo iv., who died in the year , and of benedict iii., who died in , a female of the name of joan found means to cause herself to be elected pope, which post she held for a term of upwards of two years, under the title of joannes vii., according to sabellicus, or, according to platina, of joannes viii. she is generally said to have been an englishwoman, the daughter of a priest, who in her youth became acquainted with an english monk belonging to the abbey of fulda, with whom she travelled, habited as a man, to many universities, but finally settled at athens, where she remained until the death of her companion, and attained to a great proficiency in the learning common to the time. after this she proceeded to rome, and having by the talent she displayed in several disputes obtained the reputation of a learned divine, was, on the death of leo iv., elected to fill the pontifical chair. this position she held for upwards of two years, but soon after the expiration of that time was delivered of a child (but died during parturition), while proceeding in a procession between the coliseum and the church of st. clemente. the first mention of this story appears to have been made by marianus scotus, who compiled a chronicle at mayence, about two hundred years after the event is said to have occurred, viz. about . he was followed by sigebert de gemblours, who wrote about ; and also by martino di cistello, or polonus, who wrote about ; since when the story has been repeated by numberless authors, all of whom have, more or less, made some absurd additions. after the satisfactory proofs of the fictitious character of the story, which have been produced by the most eminent writers, both catholic and protestant, it may appear a work of supererogation to add anything on the point; yet it may perhaps be permitted to observe, that in the most ancient and esteemed manuscripts of the works of the authors above quoted, no mention whatever is made of the papissa giovanna, and its introduction must therefore have been the work of some later copyist. the contemporary writers, moreover, some of whom were ocular witnesses of the elections both of leo iv. and benedict iii., make no mention whatever of the circumstance; and it is well known that at athens, where she is stated to have studied, no such school as the one alluded to existed in the ninth century. the fact will not, i think, be denied that it was the practice of the chroniclers of the early ages to note down the greater portion of what they heard, without examining critically as to the credibility of the report; and the mention of a fact once made, was amply sufficient for all succeeding authors to copy the statement, and make such additions thereto as best suited their respective fancies, without making any examination as to the truth or probability of the original statement. and this appears to have been the case with the point in question: marianus scotus first stated, or rather some later copyist stated for him, the fact of a female pope; and subsequent writers added, at a later period, the additional facts which now render the tale so evidently an invention. r. r. m. _pope joan_ (vol. iii., p. .).--you have referred to sir thomas browne, and might have added the opinion of his able editor (_works_, iii. .), who says, "her very existence itself seems now to be universally rejected by the best authorities as a fabrication from beginning to end." on the other hand, old coryat, in his _crudities_ (vol. ii. p. .), has the boldness to speak with "certainty of her birth at a particular place,--viz. at mentz." mosheim tells us (vol. ii. p. .) that during the five centuries succeeding , "the event was generally believed." he quotes some distinguished names, as well among those who maintained the truth of the story as amongst those who rejected it as a fable. bayle may be included amongst the latter, who, in the third volume of his dictionary (article papesse), has gone deeply into the question. mosheim himself seems to leave it where sir roger de coverley would have done,--"much may be said on both sides." j. h. m. * * * * * replies to minor queries _robert burton, his birth-place_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--a friend who has just been reading the _anatomy of melancholy_, has referred me to the following passage, which seems to give conclusive testimony respecting the birth-place of burton:-- "such high places are infinite ... and two amongst the rest, which i may not omit for vicinities sake, oldbury in the confines of warwickshire, where i have often looked about me with great delight, at the foot of which hill i was born; and hanbury in staffordshire, contiguous to which is falde, a pleasant village, and an ancient patrimony belonging to our family, now in the possession of mine elder brother, william burton, esquire." [note on words "_i was born._" at lindley in lecestershire, the possession and dwelling place of ralph burton, esquire, my late { } deceased father.]--_anatomy of melancholy_, part ii. sec . mem. . ad fin. i knew of the following, but as it merely mentions lindley as the _residence_ of the family, it would not have answered dr. rimbault's query. "being in the country in the vacation time, not many years since, at lindly in lecestershire, my father's house," &c.--_ibid._ part ii. sec. . mem. . subs. . c. forbes. _barlaam and josaphat_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--i do not know of any english translation of this work. if any middle age version exists, it should be published immediately. a new and excellent _german_ one (by felix liebrecht, münster, ) has lately appeared, written, however, for romish purposes, as much as from admiration of the work itself. it would be well if some member of our own pure branch of the church catholic would turn his attention to this noble work, and give us a faithful but fresh and easy translation, with a literary introduction descriptive of all the known versions, &c.; and a chapter on the meaning and limits of the asceticism preached in the original. in this case, and if published _cheap_, as it ought to be, it would be a golden present for our youth, and would soon become once more a _folk-book_. the beautiful free _old norwegian_ version (written by king hákon sverresson, about a.d. ) mentioned in my last has now been published in christiania, edited by the well-known scholars r. keyser and c. r. unger, and illustrated by an introduction, notes, glossary, fac-simile, &c. (_barlaams ok josaphats saga._ vo. christiania, .) the editors re-adopt the formerly received opinion, that the greek original (now printed in boissonade's _anecdota græca_, vol. iv.) is not older than the eighth century, and was composed by johannes damascenus. but this must be decided by future criticism. george stephens. stockholm. _witte van haemstede_ (vol. iii., p. ).--it may be of use to the editors of the "navorscher" to know that _adrianus hamstedius_ became pastor of the dutch church in austin friars, london, in the year . he succeeded walterus delaenus, and resigned his office, one year after his appointment, in favour of petrus delaenus, probably a son of the before-named walterus. i cannot answer the question as to whether there still exist any descendants of _witte van haemstede_; but as late as , _hendrik van haemstede_ was appointed pastor to the dutch congregation in london. he held the office until the year , when henricus putman succeeded him. edward f. rimbault. _the dutch church in norwich_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the editors of the "navorscher" will find the early history of this church in strype's _annals of the reformation_; blomefield's _history of norwich_; and in burn's _history of the foreign refugees_. dr. hendrik gehle, the pastor of the dutch church in austin friars, who is also the occasional minister of the dutch church at norwich, would be the most likely person to furnish information as to its present state. edward f. rimbault. _fest sittings_ (vol. iii., p. .).--_festing_ is, i presume, without doubt, a saxon word. a "festing-man," among the saxons, was a person who stood as a surety or pledge for another. "festing-penny" was the money given as an earnest or token to servants when hired. in the word _sittings_ there _might_ be some reference to the _statute-sessions_, which were courts or tribunals designed for the settlement of disputes between masters and servants. r. vincent. _quakers' attempt to convert the pope_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i beg to refer b. s. s. to the _correspondance inédite de mabíllon et de montfaucon avec l'italie_ ... edited by m. valéry, paris, , vol. ii. p. . in a letter from the benedictine claude estiennot to dom. bulteau, dated rome, september , , he will read: "ce qu'on a dit ici des quakers d'angleterre n'est ni tout-à-fait vrai ni tout-à-fait faux. il est certain qu'il en est venu _un_ qui a fort pressé pour avoir une audience de sa sainteté et se promettait de le pouvoir convertir à sa religion; ou l'a voulu mettre an passarelli; monseigneur le cardinal howard l'a fait enfermer au couvent de saint-jean et paul et le fera sauver sans bruit pour l'honneur de la nation." c. p. ph****. _the anti-jacobin_ (vol. iii., p. .).--as you have so many articles in the _anti-jacobin_ owned, i may mention that no. , was written by mr. bragge, afterwards bathurst. when i was at oxford, or , it was supposed that the simile in _new morality_, "so thine own oak," was written by mr. pitt. c. b. _mistletoe_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "in a paper of tho. willisel's he names these following trees on which he found misseltoe growing, viz. oak, ash, lime-tree, elm, hazel, willow, white beam, purging thorn, quicken-tree, apple-tree, crab-tree, white-thorn." vide p. . _philosophical letters between the late learned mr. ray and several of his ingenious correspondents, &c._: lond. , vo. r. wilbraham falconer, m.d. bath. _verbum græcum._--the lines in vol. i., p. ., where this word occurs, are in a doggrel journal of his american travels, written by moore, and published in his _epistles, odes, and other poems_. they are introduced apropos to the cacophony of the names of the places which he visited. d. x. { } "_après moi le déluge_" (vol. iii, p. .).--this sentiment is to be found in verse of a greek tragedian, cited in sueton. _nero_, c. .: "[greek: emou thanontos gaia michthêtô puri.]" suetonius says that some one, at a convivial party, having quoted this line, nero outdid him by adding, _immo_ [greek: emou zôntos]. nero was not contented that the conflagration of the world should occur after his death; he wished that it should take place during his lifetime. dio cassius (lviii. .) attributes this verse, not to nero, but to tiberius, who, he says, used frequently to repeat it. see prov. (app. ii. .), where other allusions to this verse are cited in the note of leutsch. l. [we are indebted for a similar reply to c. b., who quotes the line from euripides, _fragm. inc._ b. xxvii.] "_après moi_," or "_après nous le déluge_" sounds like a modernisation of the ancient verse,-- "[greek: emou thanontos gaia michthêtô puri,]" the use of which has been imputed to the emperor nero. the spirit of madame de pompadour's saying breathes the same selfish levity; and it amounts to the same thing. but it merits remark that the words of metternich were of an entirely distinct signification. they did not imply that he _cared_ only for himself and the affairs of his own life; but that he anticipated the inability of future ministers to avert revolution, and _foreboded_ the worst. two persons may use the same words, and yet their sayings be as different as the first line of homer from the first of virgil. the omission of the french verb disguises the fact, that the one was said in the optative, and the other in the future indicative. a. n. _eisell_, the meaning of which has been much discussed in the pages of "notes and queries," is a word which seems to have been once the common term for vinegar. the _festival_ in the sermon for st. michael's day employs this term thus: "and other angellis with h[=i] (st. michael) shall brynge al the instrum[=e]tis of our lordis passyon, the crosse; the crowne; spere; nayles; hamer; sponge; _eyseel_; gall, scourges [=t] all other thynges y^t w[=e] atte cristis passyon."--rouen, a.d. , _fo._ cl. b. d. rock. "_to-day we purpose_" (vol. iii., p. ).--the verse for which your correspondent g. n. inquires, is taken from _isabella, or the pot of basil_, an exquisitely beautiful poem by keats, founded on one of boccaccio's tales. e. j. m. _modern paper_ (vol. iii., p. .).--cordially do i agree with every word of your correspondent laudator temporis acti, and especially as to the prayer-books for churches and chapels, printed by the universities. _experto crede_, no solicitude can preserve their "flimsy, brittle, and cottony" leaves, as he justly entitles them, from rapid destruction. might not the delegates of the university presses be persuaded to give us an edition with the morning and evening services printed on vellum, instead of the miserable fabric they now afford us? c. w. b. _st. pancras_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in breviar. rom. sub die xii maii, is the following brief notice of this youthful saint, whose martyrdom was also commemorated (sir h. nicolas' _chron. of hist._) on april and july : "pancratius, in phrygia nobili genere natus, puer quatordecim annorum roman venit diocletiano et maximiano imperatoribus: ubi à pontifice romano baptizatus, et in fide christiana eruditus, ob eamdem paulò post comprehensus, cùm diis sacrificare constanter renuisset, virili fortitudine datis cervicibus, illustrem martyrii coronam consecutus est; cujus corpus octavilla matrona noctu sustulit, et unguentis delibutum via aurelia sepelivit." amongst the reliques in the church of st. john of laterane, in the "the glorious mother-city of rome," onuphrius (de vii. urbis ecclesiis) and serranus (de ecclesiis urbis rom.), as quoted by wm. crashaw (temp. james i.), enumerate: "item. caput zachariæ prophetæ, et caput sancti pancratii de quo sanguis emanavit ad tres dies quum ecclesia lateranensis combusta fuit." cowgill. _joseph nicolson's family_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a. n. c. is justly corrected as to the insertion of the letter _h_ in dr. wm. nicolson's name, though it has been adopted by some of his family since. the mother of dr. wm. and joseph nicolson was mary brisco, of crofton; not mary miser. i find from _nichols' correspondence of dr. wm. nicolson_, that his brother joseph was master of the apothecaries' company in london. he died in may, . he lived in salisbury court, where it would appear the bishop resided at least on one occasion that he was in london. monkstown. _demosthenes and new testament_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the quotations from demosthenes, and many others more or less pointed, are to be found, as might be expected, in the well-known, very learned, and standard edition of the new testament by wetstein. c. b. _crossing rivers on skins_ (vol. iii., p. .).--to the _latin_ authors cited by janus dousa illustrating this practice, allow me to add the following from the greek. xenophon, in his _anabasis_, lib. iii. cap. v., so clearly exhibits the _modus operandi_, that i shall give a translation of the passage: "and while they were at a loss what to do, a certain rhodian came up and said, 'i am ready to ferry you over, o men! by heavy armed men at a { } time, if you furnish me with what i want, and will give me a talent as a reward.' and being asked of what he stood in need:--'i shall want,' said he, ' leathern bags; and i see here many sheep, and goats, and oxen, and asses; which, being flayed, and (their skins) inflated, would readily furnish a means of transport. and i shall require also the girths, which you use for the beasts of burden. and on these,' said he, 'having bound the leathern bags, and fastened them one to another, and affixing stones, and letting them down like anchors, and binding them on either side, i will lay on wood, and put earth over them. and that you will not then sink, you shall presently very clearly perceive; for each leathern bag will support two men from sinking, and the wood and earth will keep them from slipping." skins, or tent coverings, stuffed with hay, appear also to have been very generally used for this purpose (vid. id., lib. i. cap. v.). arrian relates (lib. v. exped. cap. .) that alexander used this contrivance for crossing the hydaspes: "[greek: autos de (alexandros)--agôn epi tên nêson kai tên akran, enthen diabainein ên egnôsmenon. kai entautha eplêrounto tês nuktos hai diphtherai tês karphês ek pollou êdê parenênegmenai, kai katerrhaptonto es akribeian.]" e. s. taylor. martham, norfolk. _curious facts in natural history_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is a parallel to the curious fact contributed by your brazilian correspondent in the "vegetable caterpillar" of new zealand. this natural rarity is described in angas's _savage life and scenes in australia and new zealand_, vol. i. p. .:-- "amongst the damp moss at the root of the _rata_ trees, in the shady forests not far from auckland, and also in various parts of the northern island, are found those extraordinary productions called vegetable caterpillars, the _hotete_ of the natives. in appearance, the caterpillar differs but little from that of the common privet sphinx-moth, after it has descended to the ground, previously to its undergoing the change into the chrysalis state. but the most remarkable characteristic of the vegetable caterpillar is, that every one has a very curious plant, belonging to the fungi tribe, growing from the _anus_; this fungus varies from three to six inches in length, and bears at its extremity a blossom-like appendage, somewhat resembling a miniature bulrush, and evidently derives its nourishment from the body of the insect. this caterpillar when recently found, is of the substance of cork; and it is discovered by the natives seeing the tips of the fungi, which grow upwards. they account for this phenomenon, by asserting that the caterpillar, when feeding upon the _rata_ tree overhead, swallows the seeds of the fungus, which take root in the body of the insect, and germinate as soon as it retreats to the damp mould beneath, to undergo its transformation into the pupa state. specimens of these vegetable caterpillars have been transmitted to naturalists in england, by whom they have been named _sphæria robertii_."--_savage life and scenes in australia and new zealand_, by g. f. angas: london, , vol. i. p. . i recently had several specimens of the insect, with its remarkable appendage, which had been brought from the colony by a relative. r. w. c. _prideaux_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the prideaux, who took part in the monmouth rebellion, was a son of sir edmund prideaux, the purchaser of ford abbey. (see birch's _life of tillotson_.) tillotson appears to have been a chaplain to sir e. prideaux at ford abbey, and a tutor to the young prideaux. k. th. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. our readers will probably remember that the result of several communications which appeared in our columns on the subject of the celebrated _treatise of equivocation_, found in the chambers of tresham, and produced at the trial of the persons engaged in the gunpowder plot, was a letter from a correspondent (j. b., vol. ii., p. .) announcing that the identical ms. copy of the work referred to by sir edward coke on the occasion in question, was safely preserved in the bodleian library. it was not to be supposed that a document of such great historical interest, which had been long sought after, should, when discovered, be suffered to remain unprinted; and mr. jardine, the accomplished editor of the _criminal trials_ (the second volume of which, it will be remembered, is entirely devoted to a very masterly narrative of the gunpowder plot), has accordingly produced a very carefully prepared edition of the tract in question; introduced by a preface, in which its historical importance is alone discussed, the object of the publication being not controversial but historical. "to obviate," says mr. jardine, "any misapprehension of the design in publishing it at a time when events of a peculiar character have drawn much animadversion upon the principles of the roman catholics, it should be stated that the _treatise_ would have been published ten years ago, had the inquiries then made led to its discovery; and that it is now published within a few weeks after the manuscript has been brought to light in the bodleian library." the work is one of the most important contributions to english history which has recently been put forth, and mr. jardine deserves the highest credit for the manner in which he was discharged his editorial duties. _horæ egyptiacæ, or the chronology of ancient egypt discovered from astronomical and hieroglyphical records, including many dates found in coeval inscriptions from the period of the building of the great pyramid to the times of the persians, and illustrative of the history of the first nineteen dynasties, &c._, by reginald stuart poole, is the ample title of a work dedicated to the duke of northumberland, under whose auspices it has been produced. the work, which is intended to explain the chronology and history of ancient egypt from its monuments, originally appeared in a series of { } papers in the _literary gazette_. these have been improved, the calculations contained in them subjected to the most rigid scrutiny; and when we say that in the preparation of this volume mr. poole has had assistance from mr. lane, mr. and mrs. lieber of cairo, dr. abbot of cairo, mr. birch of the british museum, professor airy, and, lastly, of sir gardener wilkinson, who, in his _architecture of ancient egypt_, avows that "he fully agrees with mr. poole in the contemporaneousness of certain kings, and in the order of succession he gives to the early pharaohs," we do quite enough to recommend it to the attention of all students of the history and monuments of ancient egypt. books received.--_plato translated by g. burges_, vol. . the new volume of bohn's classical library is in the fourth volume of the translation of plato, which, strange as it may sound to those of our readers who know anything of what is essential to a popular book in these days, has, we believe, been one of the most popular of the many cheap books issued by mr. bohn. how much the impression made on the public mind by the well-worn quotation, "plato, thou reasonest well," may have contributed to this result, we leave others to decide.--_what is the working of the church of spain? what is implied in submitting to rome? what is it that presses hardest upon the church of england? a tract by the rev. f. meyrick, m.a._ london: j. h. parker. these are three very important _queries_, but obviously not of a nature for discussion in notes and queries.--_the penny post_, i. to iv., _february to may_. the words "_thirtieth thousand_" on the title-page, show the success which has already attended this church penny magazine. catalogues received.--t. kerslake's ( . park street, bristol) catalogue of books lately bought; cole's ( . great turnstile) list no. xxxv. of very cheap books; c. hamilton's ( . anderson's buildings, city road) catalogue no. xlii. of a remarkably cheap miscellaneous collection of old books, tracts, &c.; g. johnston's ( . goodge street, tottenham court road) book circular. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. diana (antoninus) compendium resolutionem moralium. antwerp.-colon. - . passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. folio. basil, . cartari--la rosa d'oro pontificia. to. rome, . broemel, m. c. h., fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . the complaynt of scotland, edited by leyden. vo. edin. . thoms' lays and legends of various nations. parts i. to vii. mo. . l'abbÉ de saint pierre, projet de paix perpetuelle. vols. mo. utrecht, . chevalier ramsay, essai de politique, où l'on traite de la nécessité, de l'origine, des droits, des bornes et des différentes formes de la souveraineté, selon les principes de l'auteur de télémaque. vols. mo. la haye, without date, but printed in . the same. second edition, under the title "essai philosophique sur le gouvernement civil, selon les principes de fénélon," mo. londres, . pullen's etymological compendium, vo. cooper's (c. p.) account of public records, vo. . vol. i. lingard's history of england. sm. vo. . vols. x. xi. xii. xiii. miller's (john, of worcester coll.) sermons. oxford, (or about that year). wharton's anglia sacra. vol. ii. phebus (gaston, conte de foix), livre du deduyt de la chasse. turner's sacred history. vols. demy vo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. g. e. f. _will this correspondent oblige us with another copy of his query respecting the knapp family? the query to which he alludes came from a gentleman who has shown by his published works that he is both able and willing to search out information for himself. it is the more surprising, therefore, that he should have overlooked the very obvious source from which the information was eventually supplied._ _we are unavoidably compelled to omit from the present number our usual list of_ replies received. foreign churches. w. a. _thinks we should be doing a kindness to our foreign visitors by reminding them of the existence of the_ dutch church in austin friars, _and of the_ swedish church, prince's square, ratcliffe highway, _around which are yet flourishing some of the trees imported and planted by dr. solander._ mercurii _is thanked for his last packet. we shall make use of some parts of it when we return, as we purpose doing very shortly, to the proposed_ record of existing monuments. _we cannot trace the queries to which he refers. will he oblige us with copies of them?_ e. h. y. _will our correspondent say where we may address a communication to him?_ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each_. notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * just published, fcp. vo., cloth, with steel engraving, pricing s. d. the fairy godmother and other tales. by mrs. alfred gatty. "her love for fairy literature has led mrs. alfred gatty to compose four pretty little moral stories, in which the fairies are gracefully enough used as machinery. they are slight, but well written, and the book is altogether very nicely put out of hand."--_guardian._ london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, vo., price s. d. the theory of elliptic integrals, and the properties of surfaces of the second order, applied to the investigation of the motion of a body round a fixed point. by james booth, ll.d., f.r.s., &c., chaplain to the most honourable the marquess of lansdowne, and formerly principal of bristol college. london: george bell, fleet street. cambridge: john deighton. * * * * * in the press, volumes iii. and iv. of the judges of england. by edward foss, f.s.a. comprehending the period from edward i. to richard iii., to . lately published, price s. volumes i. and ii. of the same work; from the conquest to the end of henry iii., to . "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation; and such taste and judgement as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * { } [illustration] great exhibition. * * * * * central avenue. * * * * * an illustrated priced catalogue of church furniture contributed by gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, forwarded free by post on application. * * * * * parcels delivered carriage free in london, daily. * * * * * provident life office, . regent street. city branch: . royal exchange buildings. established . policy holders' capital, , , l. annual income, , l.--bonuses declared, , l. claims paid since the establishment of the office, , , l. _president._ the right honourable earl grey. _directors._ the rev. james sherman, _chairman._ henry blencowe churchill, esq., _deputy-chairman._ henry b. alexander, esq. george dacre, esq. william judd, esq. sir richard d. king, bart. the hon. arthur kinnaird thomas maugham, esq. william ostler, esq. apsley pellatt, esq. george round, esq. frederick squire, esq. william henry stone, esq. capt. william john williams. j. a. beaumont, esq. _managing director._ _physician_--john maclean, m.d. f.s.s., . upper montague street, montague square. nineteen-twentieths of the profits are divided among the insured. examples of the extinction of premiums by the surrender of bonuses. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | bonuses added date | sum | | subsequently, to be of | insured. | original premium. | further increased policy. | | | annually. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | £ |£ extinguished| £ | | ditto | | | ditto | ----------------------------------------------------------------- examples of bonuses added to other policies. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | total with additions, policy | date. | sum | bonuses | to be further no. | | insured. | added. | increased. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | £ | £ | £ | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained upon application to the agents of the office, in all the principal towns of the united kingdom, at the city branch, and at the head office, no. . regent street. * * * * * mr. murray's work on horace. this day is published, price s. original views of passages in the life and writings of the poet-philosopher of venusia: with which is combined an illustration of the suitability of the ancient epic and lyric styles to modern subjects of national and general interest. by john murray, m.a., royal gold medalist in "science and arts," by award of his majesty the king of prussia; first junior moderator in ethics and logic: ex-scholar and lay resident master of trinity college, dublin. dublin: hodges and smith, grafton street, booksellers to the university. london: simpkin, marshall, and co.; and all booksellers. * * * * * vols., post vo., cloth, s. an excursion to california over the prairie, rocky mountains, and great sierra nevada, with a stroll through the diggings and ranches of that country. by william kelly, j.p. "two pleasant, rattling, truth-like volumes, by an irish j.p., who appears to possess in perfection the fun, frolic, shrewdness, and adaptability to circumstances so remarkable among the better specimens of his countrymen.... the second volume is entirely devoted to the best description of california and its 'diggings,' its physical features, its agriculture, and the social condition of its motley population, which we have yet seen."--_morning advertiser._ london: chapman and hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * across the atlantic now ready, small vo., cloth, price s. across the atlantic. by the author of "sketches of cantabs." "a smart volume, full of clever observations about america and the americans, and the contrasts of trans-atlantic and cis-atlantic life."--_john bull._ "it is sensible as well as witty, accurate as well as facetious, and deserves to be popular."--_morning post._ london: earle, . castle street, oxford street. * * * * * m. lateur will sell at his house, . fleet street, on thursday, may , an interesting collection of autographs of distinguished literary and scientific persons, including poets, historian, clergy, royal and other personages, containing many scarce specimens. the whole in excellent condition. may be viewed the day previous and morning of sale, and catalogues had. * * * * * highly curious books, mss., engravings, and works on art. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on monday, may , and five following days, a most curious collection of books, the property of a gentleman, including works on animal magnetism, mesmerism, and mesmeric sleep; angels and their ministrations; apparitions, ghosts, hobgoblins, presentiments, second sight, and supernatural appearances; magical practices and conjuration; dæmonology, spectres, and vampires; popular superstitions, popish credulity, delusions, ecstacies, fanaticisms, and impostures; astrology, divination, revelations, and prophecies; necromancy, sorcery, and witchcraft; infatuation, diabolical possession, and enthusiasm; proverbs, old sayings, and vulgar errors; the household book of sir ed. coke, original ms.; early english poetry, ms. temp. james i.; grammatical treatises printed by w. de worde; facetiæ; works on marriage ceremonies, the intercourse of the sexes, and the philosophy of marriage; the plague; polygamy, prostitution and its consequences; meteors and celestial influences; miracles, monkish frauds and criminal excesses; phrenology and physiognomy, &c. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * just published, in vol. fcp. vo., price s., cloth. a treatise of equivocation. wherein is largely discussed the question whether a catholicke or any other person before a magistrate, being demanded upon his oath whether a prieste were in such a place, may (notwithstanding his perfect knowledge to the contrary) without perjury, and securely in conscience, answer no; with this secret meaning reserved in his mynde. that he was not there so that any man is bounde to detect it. edited from the original manuscript in the bodleian library, by david jardine, of the middle temple, esq., barrister at law. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "dutch folk-lore" (heading): 'folk-lorr' in original. page , "ashby-de-la-zouch" (contributor's address): 'ashley-de-la-zouch' in original. page , "the meaning of crambo": 'crambe' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page reprints of early bibles, by the rev. r. hooper, m.a. marriage licence of john gower, the poet, by w. h. gunner aska or asca legends of the county clare, by francis robert davies archaic words minor notes:--inscriptions on buildings--epitaphs--numbers-- celtic language--illustration of longfellow: "god's acre" queries:-- john locke minor queries:--"the village lawyer"--richard plantagenet, earl of cambridge--highland regiment--ominous storms--edward fitzgerald--boyle family--inn signs--demoniacal descent of the plantagenets--anglo-saxon graves--robert brown the separatist--commissions issued by charles i. at oxford minor queries with answers:--hogmanay--longfellow's "hyperion"--sir hugh myddelton--sangarede--salubrity of hallsal, near ormskirk, lancashire--athens--james miller replies:-- brydone, by lord monson coleridge's unpublished mss., by c. mansfield ingleby mr. justice talfourd and dr. beattie russian "te deum," by t. j. buckton, &c. artesian wells, by henry stephens, &c. dog-whippers cephas, a binder, and not a rock, by t. j. buckton, &c. whittington's stone photographic correspondence:--photographic experience-- conversion of calotype negatives into positives--albumenized paper replies to minor queries:--table-turning--female dress-- office of sexton held by one family--lyra's commentary-- blackguard--"atonement"--bible of --shrove tuesday-- milton's correspondence--"verbatim et literatim"--epigrams miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * on june , in one large volume, super-royal vo., price l. s. d. cloth lettered. cyclopÆdia bibliographica: a library manual of theological and general literature, and guide to books for authors, preachers, students and literary men, analytical, bibliographical, and biographical. by james darling. a prospectus, with specimens and critical notices, sent free on receipt of a postage stamp. london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * to literary men, publishers, and others. messrs. hopper & co., record agents, &c., beg to acquaint the literary world, that they undertake searches among, and transcripts from, the public records, or other ancient mss., translations from the norman-french, latin, and other documents, &c. *** mss. bought, sold, or valued. . southampton street, camden town. * * * * * the original quadrilles, composed for the piano forte by mrs. ambrose merton. london: published for the proprietor, and may be had of c. lonsdale, . old bond street; and by order of all music sellers. price three shillings. * * * * * now ready, no. vii. (for may), price s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * this day, with woodcuts, fcp. vo., s. the old printer and the modern press, in relation to the important subject of cheap popular literature. by charles knight. also, by the same author, vols. fcp. vo., s. once upon a time. "the old bees die, the young possess the hive."--_shakspeare._ "they relate to all manner of topics--old folks, old manners, old books; and take them all in all, they make up as charming a pair of volumes as we have seen for many a long day."--_fraser's magazine._ "'once upon a time' is worth possessing."--_examiner._ "this varied, pleasant, and informing collection of essays."--_spectator._ "mr. charles knight's entertaining little work is full of various knowledge agreeably told."--_quarterly review._ "this pleasant gallery of popular antiquarianism."--_john bull._ john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new work by sir david brewster. this day, fcp. vo., s. more worlds than one; the creed of the philosopher and the hope of the christian. by sir david brewster. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new work by dean milman. now ready, vols. i. to iii., vo., s. history of latin christianity, including that of the popes to the pontificate of nicholas v. by henry hart milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * art and artists in england. now ready, vols. vo., s. the treasures of art in great britain. being an account of the chief collections of paintings, sculptures, mss., &c., in this country. by dr. waagen, director of the royal gallery of pictures at berlin. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * murray's railway reading. now ready, vols. fcap. vo., s. essays from "the times:" being a selection from the literary papers which have appeared in that journal, reprinted by permission. contents: vol. i. nelson and lady hamilton. railway novels. louis-philippe and his family. john howard. drama of the french revolution. lord holland's reminiscences. robert southey. dean swift--stella and vanessa. reminiscences of coleridge. john keats. grote's history of greece. literature of the rail. vol. ii. lord coke. discoveries at nineveh. lord mansfield. lion hunting in africa. jeremy taylor. lord clarendon and his friends. john sterling. autobiography of a chartist. americans in england. francis chantrey. career of lord langdale. afghanistan. the greek revolution. dickens and thackeray. *** each volume may be had separately. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * { } just published, price s. to non-members. the twenty-seventh volume of the surtees society publications, being the pontifical of egbert, archbishop of york, a.d. - . now first published from a ms. of the tenth century in the imperial library, paris. the other publications of the society are as under: i. reginaldi monachi dunelmensis libellus de admirandis beati cuthberti virtutibus. s. ii. wills and inventories, illustrative of the history, manners, language, statistics, &c., of the northern counties of england, from the eleventh century downwards. [chiefly from the registry at durham.] s. iii. the towneley mysteries. s. iv. testamenta eboracensia; wills illustrative of the history, manners, language, statistics, &c., of the province of york, from downwards. s. v. sanctuarium dunelmense et sanctuarium beverlacense; or registers of the sanctuaries of durham and beverley. s. vi. the charters of endowment, inventories and account rolls of the priory of finchale, in the county of durham. s. vii. catalogi veteres librorum ecclesiÆ cathedralis dunelm. catalogues of the library of durham cathedral, at various periods, from the conquest to the dissolution, including catalogues of the library of the abbey of hulne, and of the mss. preserved in the library of bishop cosin, at durham. s. viii. miscellanea biographica. lives of oswin, king of northumberland; two lives of cuthbert, bishop of lindisfarne; and a life of eata, bishop of hexham. s. ix. historiæ dunelmensis scriptores tres. gaufridus de coldingham, robertus de graystanes, et willielmus de chambre, with the omissions and mistakes in wharton's edition supplied and corrected, and an appendix of original documents, in illustration of the text. s. x. rituale ecclesiÆ dunelmensis; a latin ritual of the ninth century, with an interlinear northumbro-saxon translation. s. xi. jordan fantosme's anglo-norman chronicle of the war between the english and the scots in and , with a translation, notes, &c., by francisque michel, f.s.a. london and edinburgh. s. xii. correspondence, inventories, account rolls, and law proceedings of the priory of coldingham. s. xiii. liber vitÆ ecclesiÆ dunelmensis; nec non obituaria duo ejusdem ecclesiæ. s. xiv. the correspondence of robert bowes, of aske, esq., ambassador of queen elizabeth to the court of scotland. s. xv. a description, or briefe declaration of all the ancient monuments, rites, and customs belonging to, or being within, the monastical church of durham, before the suppression. written in . s. xvi. anglo-saxon and early english psalter, now first published from mss. in the british museum. vol. i. s. xvii. the correspondence of dr. matthew hutton, archbishop of york. with a selection from the letters of sir timothy hutton, knt., his son, and matthew hutton, esq., his grandson. s. xviii. the durham household book; or, the accounts of the bursar of the monastery of durham from to . s. xix. anglo-saxon and early english psalter. vol. ii. s. xx. libellus de vita et miraculis s. godrici, heremitæ de finchale, auctore reginaldo monacho dunelmensi. s. xxi. depositions respecting the rebellion of , witchcraft, and other ecclesiastical proceedings, from the court of durham, extending from to the reign of elizabeth. s. xxii. the injunctions and other ecclesiastical proceedings of richard barnes, bishop of durham ( - ). s. xxiii. the anglo-saxon hymnarium, from mss. of the xith century, in durham, the british museum, &c. s. xxiv. the memoir of mr. surtees, by the late george taylor, esq. reprinted from the fourth volume of the history of durham, with additional notes and illustrations, together with an appendix, comprising some of mr. surtees' correspondence, poetry, &c. s. xxv. the boldon book, or survey of durham in . s. d. xxvi. wills and inventories, illustrative of the history, manners, language, statistics, &c., of the counties of york, westmoreland, and lancaster, from the fourteenth century downwards. (from the registry at richmond.) * * * * * published for the society by george andrews, bookseller, durham; whittaker & co., . ave maria lane, london; t. & w. boone, . new bond street, london; and william blackwood & sons, edinburgh; from whom they may be procured through any bookseller in town or country. * * * * * london homoeopathic hospital. * * * * * arrangement for _the conversazione_, at the hanover square rooms, on tuesday, may , . the rooms will be open at eight o'clock. a selection of music (by the band of the royal regiment of horse guards) will be performed during the evening. * * * * * in the rooms will be exhibited specimens of-- electroplate, by messrs. f. elkington. china and statuettes, by mr. alderman copeland. bronzes, by messrs. jackson & graham. fine arts in electroplating, metallurgy, &c., by mr. charles elkington & co. etruscan vases, by messrs. battam & co. papier maché, by messrs. jennens & bettridge. stamped leather, by mr. leake. lace, by m. brie. wax models, by m. montanari. artificial flowers, by mr. hill. leather carving, by mr. sandars. cromo-lithography, by messrs. hahnhart & son. porcelain and parian, by messrs. alcock. scientific models, by messrs. watkins & hill. and many other objects of novelty and interest. * * * * * fine arts. paintings.--by messrs. knight, r.a., uwins, r.a., cope, r.a., the late w. etty, r.a. and drawings by john hayter, hunt, d. cox, john lewis, bright, frederick tayler, collingwood smith, richardson, müller, vacher, d'egville, callam, rowbotham, &c., essex (enamels), faed (engravings), etc., etc. sculpture.--by messrs. behnes, calder marshall, matthew noble, &c., &c. microscopes.--by messrs. smith & beck, pillischer, topping, varly, salmon, ladd, and by members of the microscopic society. stereoscopes, daguerrotypes, and photographs.--by messrs. beard, bland, and long, claudet, dickenson, duppa, horne, thornthwaite & co., kilburn, ladd, laroche, mayall, pillischer, royal panopticon of art, and a variety of photographic drawings by eminent amateurs. tickets may be had at the hospital, . golden square; of messrs. aylott & jones, paternoster row; mr. bailliere, . regent street; mr. headland, . princes street, hanover square; mr. leath, vere street, cavendish square, and st. paul's churchyard; mr. walker, conduit street; mr. james epps, great russell street, bloomsbury square, and broad street, city; mr. turner, piccadilly, manchester; mr. thompson, liverpool; and at all the homoeopathic chemists and booksellers. single tickets, s. d.; family tickets to admit four, l. s. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, may , ._ notes. reprints of early bibles. in the authorities of the clarendon press put forth a quarto reprint, word for word, page for page, and letter for letter, of the _first_ large black-letter folio edition of , of the present authorised or royal version of the bible. so accurate was it, that even manifest errors of the press were retained. it was published that the reader might judge whether the original standard could still be exactly followed. it was accompanied by a collation with a _smaller_ black-letter folio of , in preference to the larger folio of that year, as no two copies (entire) of the latter could be found, all the sheets of which corresponded precisely: "many of these copies contain sheets belonging, as may clearly be proved, to editions of more recent date; and even those which appear to be still as they were originally published, are made up partly from the edition printed at the time, and partly from the remains of earlier impressions." now this is a most interesting subject to all lovers of our dear old english bible. it is supposed the translators revised their work for the edition (after two years); yet the collation with the _small_ folio of that year, shows little or no improvement, rather the contrary. i possess a small quarto edition of (black-letter, by barker), not mentioned by our more eminent bibliographers, which, while admitting the better corrections, adheres to the old folio, where the _small_ folio of unnecessarily deviates. it is certainly, i consider, a most valuable impression. i have lately purchased a magnificent copy of the _great_ folio of . it is in the original thick oak binding, with huge brass clasps, corners, and bosses; and appears to have been chained to a reading-desk. in collating it, i find a sheet or two in samuel and st. matthew most carefully supplied from an earlier impression. the titles both to the old and new testaments are exactly the same as those of the folio , with the exception of the date for . it has been gloriously used, and the imagination revels in the thought of the eyes and hearts that must have been blessed by its perusal. i am not sufficiently conversant with our earlier translations to identify, without reference, the sheets of the inserted edition, and i have not time to refer. i may only say that there is a most quaint woodcut of little david slinging a stone at the giant goliath. a slight collation of genesis shows me this large edition agrees in corrections with the small one the clarendon press authorities used, though my quarto differs, adhering, as i said before, more closely to the original standard of . i would put a query or two to your many readers. . was the great folio ever published entire, or are the sheets i have indicated supplied in every known copy, some from earlier, some from later, impressions? . is it an established fact, that the translators revised their work in ? . what is the small quarto of i have mentioned? lastly, would it not be an interesting enterprise to reprint our various translations of the holy volume in a cheap and uniform series, like the parker society published the liturgy? a society might be formed by subscription to support such an object. we might have coverdale's, matthews', cranmer's, taverner's, the geneva ( ), the bishops' (parker's, ), and the noble authorised (royal ), with their variations noted. i cannot see any harm would arise; and surely it might give an impulse to that noblest of all studies, the study of god's word. what grander volume for simplicity and elegance of language, for true anglo-saxon idiom, than our present venerated translation? what book that could interest more than cranmer's great bible of , from whence our familiar prayer-book version of the psalms is taken? it would give me heartfelt pleasure to contribute my humble efforts in such a cause. richard hooper, m.a. st. stephen's, westminster. * * * * * marriage licence of john gower the poet. the following special licence of marriage extracted from the register of william of wykeham, preserved in the registry at winchester, is a curious document in itself; but if, as there is much reason for supposing, the person on whose behalf it was granted was no less a man than the illustrious poet--the "moral gower"--the interest attached to it is very much enhanced: and for this reason i am desirous of giving it publicity through the columns of "n. & q."--a fit place for recording such pieces of information, relating to the lives of men eminent in the annals of literature. i have not been able to find any notice of the marriage of john gower in the books to which i have been able to refer; and, though it may be perhaps an event of little importance, it is one which a faithful biographer would never omit to mention. the document is as follows: "willelmus permissione divina wyntoniensis episcopus, dilecto in christo filio, domino willelmo, capellano parochiali ecclesiæ s. mariæ magdalenæ in suthwerk, nostræ diocesis, salutem, gratiam, et benedictionem. ut matrimonium inter joannem gower et agnetem groundolf dictæ ecclesiæ parochianos sine ulteriore bannorum editione, dumtamen aliud canonicum non obsistat, extra ecclesiam parochialem, in { } oratorio ipsius joannis gower infra hospicium cum in prioratu b. mariæ de overee in suthwerk prædicta situatum, solempnizare valeas licenciam tibi tenore præsentium, quatenus ad nos attinet, concedimus specialem. in cujus rei testimonium sigillum nostrum fecimus his apponi. dat. in manerio nostro de alta clera vicesimo quinto die mensis januarii, a.d. , et nostræ consecrationis mo." the connexion of the poet gower with the priory of st. mary overy is well known; as well as his munificence in contributing very largely to the reconstruction of the church of the priory, in which he also founded a chantry, and where his tomb still exists. it would appear from this document, that he actually resided within the priory. this marriage must have taken place late in his life. the year of his birth is unknown. he is said to have been somewhat older than chaucer, the date of whose birth is also uncertain; there being some grounds for assigning it to , others, perhaps more satisfactory, for fixing it . if the latter be correct, and if we allow for the disparity of age, we may suppose gower to have been somewhere between fifty-five and sixty years of age at the time of his marriage with agnes groundolf. w. h. gunner. winchester. [a reference to the will of gower, which is printed in todd's _illustrations of gower and chaucer_, p. . et seq., confirms the accuracy of our correspondent's inference, that this is the marriage licence of the poet, inasmuch as it shows that the christian name of gower's wife was agnes.--ed. "n. & q."] * * * * * aska or asca. throughout north america this dissyllable is found terminating names in localities, occupied at the present day by indian tribes speaking very different languages; and, in these languages, with the exception of such names, few analogous sounds exist. there are, besides, names terminating in _esco_, _isco_, _isca_, _escaw_, _uscaw_, which, perhaps, may be placed in the same category, being only accidental variations of _aska_, arising from a difference of ear in those who first heard them pronounced by a native tongue. are these names vernacular in any of the modern indian languages? and, if so, what is their real meaning? i propound these questions for solution by any of the gentlemen at fort chepewyan, norway house, &c. (since, no doubt, "n. & q." penetrates the far west as well as the far east), who may feel an interest in the subject. apparently, they have been imposed by a people who occupied the whole continent from sea to sea, as they occur from hudson's bay to yucatan, and from the pacific to the atlantic. were the american nations originally of one tongue? humboldt, du ponceau, and others have remarked that striking analogies of grammatical construction exist in all american languages, from the eskimo to the fuegian, although differing entirely in their roots. dr. prichard says,-- "there are peculiarities in the very nature of the american languages which are likely to produce great variety in words, and to obliterate in a comparatively short period the traces of resemblance."--_phys. hist._ &c., vol. v. p. . it may be only a curious coincidence, but it is undoubtedly true, that, with scarcely one exception, all names (we might almost say _words_) so terminating are more or less connected with water. the exception (if it really be one) is _masca_, which i have found among my old notes, followed by the word _montagne_; but nothing more, and i have forgotten all about it. for the rest, the varieties in isca, &c., spoken of before, are chiefly to be found in the northern countries, towards hudson's and james' bay, &c., where the present spoken languages are the eskimo or karalit, the cree, and the montagnard dialect of the algonkin, viz. agomisca, island in james' bay; meminisca, lake on albany river; nemiskau, a lake; pasquamisco, on james' bay; then, keenwapiscaw, lake; naosquiscaw, ditto; nepiscaw, ditto; camipescaw, ditto; caniapuscaw, ditto and river: the last five lie between the head waters of the saguenay and the bottom of james' bay. again, beginning at the extreme west, we find oonalaska, or agoun aliaska, or (according to the natives) nagoun alaska, an island abounding in fine springs and rivulets. nor should i omit another of the aleutian islands, called kiska. alaska, or aliaska, a peninsula. the language in these instances is a branch of the eskimo. athabaska (atapescow of malte-brun), lake and river. mckenzie says that the word means, in the knistenaux language, a flat, low, swampy country, liable to inundations (edit. to., p. .). here i repeat the question, is the word vernacular, or only adopted? in such vocabularies as i have seen, there is nothing bearing the slightest relationship to it. in one given by dr. latham (_varieties of man_, &c., pp. - .), water, in the chepewyan, is _tone_, and river, _tesse_. itaska, the small lake whence the mississippi has its origin. the languages prevalent in the adjacent country would be the sioux, and the chippeway branch of the algonquino. wapiscow, river. language, cree? nebraska, "the shallow river," said to be the name of the platte in the sioux language. mochasko, "always full;" another river so called in the sioux. query, are these two vernacular? watapan is river in that language. { } oanoska is a sioux word, meaning "the great avenue or stretch;" but whether it applies to a river i have forgotten. the quotation is from long's _expedit. to st. peter's river_, vol. i. p ., to which i have not access just now. atamaska and madagaska are two names of which i can give no account, for the same reason as stated above at maska. arthabaska is (or was) a very swampy township so named, lying south of the st lawrence. maskinonge (also the name of a fish) in which the sound occurs, although not as a termination, is a seigneurie on the north bank of the st lawrence, of which the part near the river is so low that it is inundated frequently. a river of the same name runs through this seigneurie. both the foregoing are in the country where the iroquois language prevailed. zoraska, or zawraska, name of a river somewhere between quebec and james' bay, of which i know nothing more, having only heard it spoken of by moose-hunters. probably it is in a country where the language would be the montagnard. yamaska, a river on the south side of the st. lawrence, having much marshy ground about it, particularly near its junction with the grand river. kamouraska, or camouraska, islands in the st. lawrence below quebec, taking their name from a seigneurie on the mainland; a level plain surrounded by hills, and dotted all over with mounds. bouchette says,-- "d'après la position, l'apparence, et l'exacte ressemblance de ces espèces d'îles en terre-firme avec celles de camouraska, entre lesquelles et le rivage le lit de la rivière est presqu'à sec à la marée basse, le naturaliste sera fortement porté à croire que ce qui forme à présent le continent était, à une époque quelconque, submergé par les vagues immenses du st laurent, et que les élévations en question formaient des îles, ou des rochers exposés à l'action de l'eau," &c.--_description de bas-canada, &c._, p. . there can be no doubt, if _aska_ relate to water, that this district is appropriately named. we may presume the language prevalent here to have been the algonquin, since the inhabitants, when first visited by europeans, were either the micmac or abenaqui, both tribes of that great family. still further eastward, flowing from lake temisconata into the river st. john, we find the madawaska, in a country where the language was either the abenaqui, or a dialect of the huron, said to be spoken by the melicite indians of the st. john. aska does not occur again in this part of north america, as far as i call ascertain; but on looking southward it does so, and under similar circumstances, viz. associated with water. tabasca, or tobasco (for it is written both ways), a country on the borders of yucatan, described by the conquerors as difficult to march through, on account of numerous pools of water and extensive swamps. clavigero says the present name was given by the spaniards; but i know of no spanish word at all resembling it, therefore presume they must have adopted the native appellation. the language was, and perhaps is, the maya. tarasca; name of a people inhabiting the country of mechouacan, celebrated for its numerous fountains of fine water. language appears to have been mexican. (see clavigero, vol. i. p. ., edit. to., cullen's _trans._; and dr. prichard's _phys. hist._, &c., vol. v. p. .) the mention of tarasca reminds one of tarascon, also written tarasca. two instances occur in the country of celtic gaul; both on rivers: the one on the rhone, the other on the arriège. having for the present finished with america, one is naturally led to inquire whether _asca_ occurs in other parts of the world, in like manner associated with water. before doing so, however, i would observe that thompson, in his _essay on etymologies_, &c., p. ., remarks that "the gothic termination _sk_, the origin of our _ish_, the saxon _isk_, signifying _assimilated_, _identified_, is used in all dialects, to the very shores of china," &c. he instances "tobolsk" and "uvalsk." if, then, it be true that _[=a]_ and _[=a]b_ are primitive sounds denoting water in many languages, may we not here have a combination of _[=a]_ and _sk_? but to proceed. malte brun mentions a city in arabia called "asca," one of the places sacked by the expedition under elius gallus (_précis de la géographie_, &c., vol. i. p. .). generally speaking, arabia is not abounding in waters; but that very circumstance renders celebrated, more or less, every locality where they do abound and are pure. the city, therefore, might have been notable for its walls and fountains of pure water. aska is the name of a river in japan, remarkable for its great depth, and for frequently changing its course (golownin, vol. iii. p. .). in north-eastern asia we find a river called after the tongouse, _tongousca_. query, tungouse-asca? and, following up thompson's examples before mentioned, we may name yakutsk, irkutsk, ochotsk, kamtchatka, &c., all intimately connected with water. then there is kandalask, a gulf of the white sea; tchesk, another; kaniska-zemblia, an island, &c. in spain, huesca is on the river barbato. the two gradiskas in hungary, &c. are the one on the sâve, the other on the lisonzo. zaleski (pereslav) is seated on a lake; but malte-brun says the name means "au-delà des bois." this may or may not be the case. the sound is here, and in connexion with water. pultusk is nearly surrounded by water, the narew. askersan, in sweden, stands on a lake. gascon, { } says rafinesque, means "beyond the sea" (_american nations_, &c., no. . p. .). madagascar. curious the similarity between this name of an island and the american names madagaska and madawaska. by the way, i forgot to notice of this last, that captain levinge, in his _echoes from the back woods_, &c., vol. i. p. ., derives it from madawas (micmac), a "porcupine;" whilst _the angler in canada_ (lanman), p. ., says that it means "never frozen," because part of the river never freezes. which is right? tcherkask. every one knows that the capital of the don cossacks is eminently a water city. according to pallas, the circassians (tcherkesses) once were located in the crimea. they may have extended their influence to the don, and the name in question may be a synthetic form of tcherkesse-aska. damasca (latinised damascus) is famed all over the east for its waters. the name of the ancient city was damas, "le demechk, ou chamel-dimichk, des orientaux" (malte-brun, viii. .). the modern city is said to be called damas, or i domeschk, though it seems more generally known as el sham. bryant says it was called by the natives _damasec_ and _damakir_, the latter meaning the city (caer?) of dams, or of adama (_mythology_, &c., vol. i. p. .). can it have once been adama, or dama-asca? in great britain we have rivers and lakes called severally esk, exe or isca, axe, and usk. axe seems to have been written _asca_ at one time; for lambarde gives ascanmynster as the saxon name of axminster. hence, also, we may infer that axholme island was once ascanholme. the exe was probably esk, _i.e._ water, or river: it certainly was uske. iska is the british isk latinised by ptolemy; for camden says exeter was called by the welsh _caerisk_, &c. usk or uske was written _osca_ by gyraldo camb. (see lambarde.) kyleska, or glendha, ferry in sutherlandshire. kyle-aska? kyles (ir.), a frith or strait. ask occurs frequently as the first syllable of names in england, and such places will be almost invariably found connected with water. camden mentions a family of distinguished men in richmondshire named aske, from whom perhaps some places derive their names, as _p. ex._ the askhams, askemoore, &c. askrigg, however, being in the neighbourhood of some remarkable waterfalls (camden), may have reference to them. now, from places let us turn to things, first noticing that _usk_, in modern welsh, means river. in irish, _uisce_ or _uiske_ is water. in hebrew and chaldee, _hisca_ is to wash or to drink. (see introduction to valancey's _irish dictionary_.) in the same we find _ascu_ (ancient irish), a water-serpent or dog; _iasc_, fish; _easc_ (irish), water, same as _esk_. chalmers, in "caledonia," &c., has easc or esc (gael.), water; _easc lan_ (gael.), the full water. askalabos (greek), a newt or water reptile; and asker, askard, askel, ask, and esk, in provincial english, a water-newt. (see _archaic dictionary_.) masca, the female sea-otter; so called by the russians. askalopas (greek), a woodcock or snipe, _i.e._ a swamp-bird. as i said before, there are few words in any of the indian languages of north america in which the sound _ask_ occurs; at least as far as my limited acquaintance with them goes. the only two i can quote just now are both in the chippeway. one only has direct reference to water; perhaps the other may indirectly. they are, _woyzask_, rushes, water-plants; _mejask_, herb, or grass. the only grass the forest indians are likely to be acquainted with is that growing in the natural meadows along the river banks, which are occasionally met with, and these in general are pretty swampy. we may wind up with our _cask_ and _flask_. i could have added much more, but fear already to have exceeded what might hope for admittance in your pages; therefore i will only say that, in offering these remarks, i insist on nothing, and stand ready to submit to any correction. a. c. m. exeter. * * * * * legends of the county clare. about two miles from the village of corofin, in the west of clare, are the ruins of the castle of ballyportree, consisting of a massive square tower surrounded by a wall, at the corners of which are smaller round towers: the outer wall was also surrounded by a ditch. the castle is still so far perfect that the lower part is inhabited by a farmer's family; and in some of the upper rooms are still remaining massive chimney-pieces of grey limestone, of a very modern form, the horizontal portions of which are ornamented with a quatrefoil ornament engraved within a circle, but there are no dates or armorial bearings: from the windows of the castle four others are visible, none of them more than two miles from each other; and a very large cromlech is within a few yards of the castle ditch. the following legend is related of the castle:--when the danes were building the castle (the danes were the great builders, as oliver cromwell was the great destroyer of all the old castles, abbeys, &c. in ireland),--when the danes were building the castle of ballyportree, they collected workmen from all quarters, and forced them to labour night and day without stopping for rest or food; and according as any of them fell down from exhaustion, his body was thrown upon the wall, which was built up over him! when { } the castle was finished, its inhabitants tyrannised over the whole country, until the time arrived when the danes were finally expelled from ireland. ballyportree castle held out to the last, but at length it was taken after a fierce resistance, only three of the garrison being found alive, who proved to be a father and his two sons; the infuriated conquerors were about to kill them also, when one of then proposed that their lives should be spared, and a free passage to their own country given them, on condition that they taught the irishmen how to brew the famous ale from the heather--that secret so eagerly coveted by the irish, and so zealously guarded by the danes. at first neither promises nor threats had any effect on the prisoners, but at length the elder warrior consented to tell the secret on condition that his two sons should first be put to death before his eyes, alleging his fear, that when he returned to his own country, they might cause him to be put to death for betraying the secret. though somewhat surprised at his request, the irish chieftains immediately complied with it, and the young men were slain. then the old warrior exclaimed, "fools! i saw that your threats and your promises were beginning to influence my sons; for they were but boys, and might have yielded: but now the secret is safe, your threats or your promises have no effect on me!" enraged at their disappointment, the irish soldiers hewed the stern northman in pieces, and the coveted secret is still unrevealed. in the south of scotland a legend, almost word for word the same as the above, is told of an old castle there, with the exception that, instead of danes, the old warrior and his sons are called pechts. after the slaughter of his sons the old man's eyes are put out, and he is left to drag on a miserable existence: he lives to an immense old age, and one day, when all the generation that fought with him have passed away, he hears the young men celebrating the feats of strength performed by one of their number; the old pecht asks for the victor, and requests him to let him feel his wrist; the young man feigns compliance with his request, but places an iron crow-bar in the old man's hand instead of his wrist; the old pecht snaps the bar of iron in two with his fingers, remarking quietly to the astounded spectators, that "it is a gey bit gristle, and has not much pith in it yet." the story is told in the second volume of chambers's _edinburgh journal_, first series, i think; but i have not the volume at hand to refer to. the similarity between the two legends is curious and interesting. francis robert davies. * * * * * archaic words. (vol. vii., p. ., &c.) the following list of words, which do not appear in mr. halliwell's _dictionary of archaic words_, may form some contribution, however small, to the enlargement of that and of some of our more comprehensive english dictionaries. it falls in with the desire already expressed in "n. & q.;" and, if the present paper seem worth inserting, may be followed by another. in some few cases, though the word does appear in mr. halliwell's columns, an authority is deficient; instances having as it were turned up, and in rather uncommon sources, which seemed occasionally worth supplying. it must be observed that the explanations given are, in some instances, mere conjectures, and await more certain and accurate interpretation. _aege_, age. _the festyvall_, fol. cxii. recto, edit. . _advyse_, to view attentively. strype's _memorials_, under mary, ch. xxviii. p. ., folio, or vol. iv. p. . edit. . _apause_, to check. foxe, _acts and monuments_, vii. .; and merchant's _second tale_, . _assemble_, to resemble. bale's _image of both churches_, part ii. p. ., edit. . _beclepe_, to embrace. _the festyvall_, fol. xxxvi. recto, edit. : "the ymage--becleped the knyght about the necke, and kyssed hym." _bluck_, ...(?) "so the true men shall be hunted and blucked."--_the festyvall_, fol. xxvi. recto. _boystously_, roughly. "salome--boystously handled our lady."--_the festyvall_, fol. lxvii. verso. _brince_, to introduce, hand out, _propino_. "luther first brinced to germany the poisoned cup of his heresies."--harding in bishop jewel's _works_, vol. iv. p. ., edit. oxford, . _bussing._ "without the blind bussings of a papist, may no sin be solved."--bishop bale's _image of both churches on the revelation_, ch. xiii. p. ., edit. cambridge, . _croked._ a curious application of this word occurs in _the festyvall_, fol. cxxviii. recto: "a croked countenance." _daying_, arbitration. jewel's _works_, i. . see dr. jelf's note, _in loc._ _dedeful_, operative? "this vertue is dedefull to all chrysten people."--_the festyvall_, fol. clxxii. recto. _do_, to do forth; meaning, to proceed with, to go on with, occurs in _the festyvall_. fol. viii. verso. _domageable_, injurious. _the festyvall_, fol. cxi. recto: "how domageable it is to them which use for to saye in theyr bargens and marchaundyses, makynge to the prejudyce--of their soules." _dyssclaunderer_, a calumniator. "to stone hym (stephen) to deth as for a dyssclaunderer."--_the festyvall_, fol. lxx. verso. _enclense_, to make clean. _the festyvall_, fol. lxxxviii. recto. _enforcement_, effort? erasmus' _enchiridion_, , rule iv. ch. xii. { } _engrease_, to overfeed. "riches, wherewithal they are fatted and engreased like swine."--foxe's _acts and monuments_, v. . edit. . _ensignement_, ... (?) _the festyvall_, fol. cliv. recto: "and whan all the people come so togyder at this ensignement." _entrecounter_, to oppose. brook's _sermon_, , quoted in foxe's _acts and monuments_, vol. viii. p. . _fele._ an application of this word may be quoted, partaking of a grecism, unless we mistake: "and whan the people _felte_ the smell therof."--_the festyvall_, fol. c. recto. _flytterynge_: "lyghtnynge, and not flytterynge."--_the festyvall_, fol. xliv. verso, edit. . novus. * * * * * minor notes. _inscriptions on buildings._--the following inscriptions are taken from buildings connected with the hospital of spital-in-the-street, co. lincoln. on the chapel: "fvi a^o d[=n]i } non fvi } dom dei & pavpervm. svm } qvi hanc devs hvnc destrvet." on the wall of a cottage, formerly one of the alms-houses: "deo et divitibvs. a^o d[=n]i ." on the wall of a building now used as a barn, but formerly the court-house, in which the quarter sessions for the parts of lindsey were formerly held, before their transfer to kirton in lindsey: "fiat ivstitia. ." "hÆc domvs dit, amat, pvnit, conservat, honorat, eqvitiam, pacem, crimina, jvra, bonos." l. l. l. _epitaphs._--the following specimen of rural monumental latin is copied from a tombstone in the churchyard of henbury, gloucestershire: "hic jacet requiesant in pace, henricus parsones. qui obtit xxv. die junes, anno dominii mdcccxlv, Ætatis suæ xx. cujus animia proprietur christus." the following is from the churchyard of kingston-seymour, somersetshire: "j. h. he was universally beloved in the circle of his acquaintance; but united in his death the esteem of all, namely, by bequeathing his remains." j. k. r. w. _numbers._--we occasionally see calculations of how often a given number of persons may vary their position at a table, and each time produce a fresh arrangement. i believe the result may be arrived at by progressive multiplication, as thus: twice --- giving for three persons changes. --- giving for four persons changes. --- giving for five persons changes. --- giving for six persons changes, and so on. probably also change-ringing is governed by the same mode of calculation. j. d. allcroft. celtic language.--as _fraus latet in generalibus_ in linguistics as in law, i beg to suggest that, instead of using the word _celtic_, the words _gaelic_, _cymbric_, _breton_, _armorican_, _welsh_, _irish_, &c. might be properly appropriated. the mother celtic is lost,--her remains are to be found only in the names of mountains, rivers, and countries; and our knowledge of this tongue is derived from an acquaintance with her two principal daughters, the gaelic and cymbric (=kymric). the gaelic tongue has been driven by germanic invasion into ireland (erse), and into the highlands of scotland (gaelic). the cymbric tongue first took refuge in belgium, known afterwards as breton, and still lives as welsh and bas-breton, which (and not the gaelic) is nearest of kin in some words to the latin and italian. to understand this subject, the profound induction of eichhoff must be studied carefully. t. j. buckton. lichfield. _illustration of longfellow_--"_god's acre._"--longfellow's very beautiful little poem, commencing: "i like that ancient saxon phrase, which calls the burial-ground god's acre." is doubtless familiar to all your readers. it may interest some of them to know, that the "ancient saxon phrase" has not yet become obsolete. i read the words "gottes acker," when at basle last autumn, inscribed over the entrance to a modern cemetery, just outside the st. paul's gate of that city. w. sparrow simpson. * * * * * { } queries. john locke. i shall be much obliged if any gentleman who has the power of access to the registers of wrington, somerset, or who may otherwise take an interest in the descent of john locke the philosopher, will kindly assist me to prove that the parents of that eminent man were as supposed to be in the accompanying pedigree. edmund keene of wrington, = mary, daughter of ... described as a widow, county somerset. | october , . (court roll.) _______________________|_________________________________ | | | : | | | | : ... = ... morris. | | | : /|\ | | | : edmund keene of = frances, john. richard agnes keene, = john locke wrington. yeoman.| daughter of (?). married : will dated | ... locke(?). at wrington,: september , | executrix july , : (in which | of her . : he mentions his | husband's will. : "loving brother | john locke the philosopher, peter locke." | baptized august , . who was he?) | _____________|_____________________ | | | | | samuel john, peter. sarah. mary, baptized at = john darbie of keene. baptized both baptized wrington, february , shirbourne, : october , october , , by her father's co. dorset, : . . will had lands at mercer. : : wrington and ley. (deed, august :________: will dat. august , , .) | . by which she frances keene. = joseph watkins devised her estate at (daughter of | of abingdon. wrington to her niece frances watkins samuel or john?) | of abingdon, widow, remainder to her | son joseph. died november , . | joseph watkins of clapton, middlesex, = magdalen, daughter of... gibbes. esq. /|\ i observe that in chalmers' dictionary the mother of locke is called anne, whereas, in the wrington register, i am informed that it appears as agnes,--" , july , (married) john locke and agnes keene." i believe, however, that in former days anne and agnes were not unfrequently confounded, so that the apparent discrepancy may not be material. the best evidence that is at present within my reach, in support of the connexion here given, is a letter from mrs. frances watkins, a daughter of either samuel or john keene, dated "abingdon, january, ," addressed to her son "joseph watkins, esq., at john's coffee house, cornhill, london," and from which i make the following extract for the information of those who may be disposed to look into this question. she says,-- "i am allied to mr. lock thus: his father and my grandmother were brother and sister, and his mother and my grandfather were also sister and brother, consequently my father and the great lock were doubly first cousins. my grandfather's sister and my grandmother's brother produced this wonder of the world. to make you more sensible of it, a lock married a keen, and a keen married a lock. my aunt keen was a most beautiful woman, as was all the family; and my uncle lock an extream wise man. so much for genealogy. my lord chancellor king was allied thus near. i forgett whether his mother was a keen or lock. i had this information from my aunt darby. mr. lock had no advantage in his person, but was a very fine gentleman. from foreign courts they used to write, 'for john lock, esq., in england.'" c. j. * * * * * minor queries. "_the village lawyer._"--can you inform me who is the author of that very popular farce, _the village lawyer_? it was first acted about the year . it has been ascribed to mr. macready, the father of mr. w. c. macready, the eminent tragedian. the real author, however, is said to have been a dissenting minister in dublin, and i would be obliged to any of your readers who could give me his name. sigma. _richard plantagenet, earl of cambridge._--in a note in the first volume of miss strickland's _lives of the queens of scotland_, she remarks that bourchier, earl of essex, "was near of kin to the royal family, being grand-nephew to richard, duke of york, father of edward iv., but did not share the blood of the heiress of march, _jane_ mortimer." i quote from memory, not having the book at hand; but allowing that jane for anne may be a slip of the pen, or a mistake of the press, where did miss strickland discover any second marriage of richard, earl of cambridge? all pedigrees of the royal family that i have seen agree in giving him only one wife, and in expressly stating her to be mother to isabel, countess of essex. j. s. warden. _highland regiment._-can any of your gaelic or military correspondents inform me whether it is at present the custom for the officers in the highland regiments to wear a dirk in addition to the broadsword? also whether the highland regiments were ever armed with broadswords, and { } whether their drill is different to that of the other troops of the line? i have somewhere heard it said that the th (an english regiment) were once armed with swords, whence their name of "the slashers?" is this the real origin of the name? and if not, what is? i should also like to know the origin of the custom of wearing undress _white_ shell jackets, which are now worn by the highlanders? arthur. _ominous storms._--a remark by a labouring man of this town (grantham), which is new to me, is to the following effect. in march, and all seasons when the judges are on circuit, and when there are any criminals to be hanged, there are always winds and storms, and roaring tempests. perhaps there are readers of "n. & q." who have met with the same idea. john hawkins. _edward fitzgerald_, born th january, , son of gerald, ninth earl of kildare, and brother of the celebrated "silken thomas," an ancestor of the duke of leinster, married mary, daughter and heiress of sir john leigh of addington, and widow of sir thomas paston (called improperly sir john). there are contradictory pedigrees of the leigh family in the _surrey visitations_, _e. g._ harl. mss. . and . could one of your correspondents oblige me with a correct pedigree of this mary leigh; she is sometimes called "mabel?" y. s. m. _boyle family._--allow me to repeat the query regarding richard boyle (vol. vii., p. .). richard boyle, appointed dean of limerick th feb. , and bishop of leighlin and ferns in , died in . roger boyle, the youngest brother of richard, was born in , and educated in trinity college, dublin, of which he became a fellow. on the breaking out of the rebellion of he went to england, and having become tutor to lord paulet, he continued in that family till the restoration, when he returned to ireland, and was presented with the rectory of carrigaline, diocese of cork. he was made dean of cork in , and promoted to the bishopric of down and connor th sept. . he was translated to clogher, st september, , and died th november, . the sister of these prelates was wife to the rev. urban vigors (vol. viii., p. .). they were near relatives of the great earl of cork, and many of their descendants have been buried in his tomb, in st. patrick's cathedral, dublin. i have not seen any reply to my query about mr. vigors. may i ask is there any list of the chaplains of king charles i.? y. s. m. _inn signs._--as the subject of inns is being discussed, can any of your readers tell the origin of "the green man and still?" and is there any foundation for a statement, that "the chequers" have been found on italian wine-shops, and were imported from egypt, having there been the emblem of osiris. s. a. oxford. _demoniacal descent of the plantagenets._--in "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. ., i asked for information as to the demoniacal ancestor of henry ii., confessing my own ignorance of the tradition. i received no answer, but was induced to inquire farther by a passage in the article on "a'becket" in the _quarterly review_, xciii. . "these words goaded the king into one of those paroxysms of fury to which all the earlier plantagenet princes were subject, and which was believed by them to arise from a mixture of demoniacal blood in their race." the following is from thierry, tom. iii. p. ., paris, : "l'on racontait d'une ancienne comtesse d'anjou, aieule du père de henri ii., que son mari ayant remarqué avec effroi, qu'elle allait rarement à l'église, et qu'elle en sortait toujours à la sacre de la messe, s'avisa de l'y faire retenir de force par quatre écuyers; mais qu'à l'instant de la consécration, la comtesse, jettant le manteau par lequel on la tenait, s'était envolée par une fenêtre, et n'avait jamais reparu. richard de poictiers, selon un contemporain, avait coutume de rapporter cette aventure, et de dire à ce propos: 'est-il étonnant que, sortis d'une telle source, nous vivions mal, les uns avec les autres? ce qui provient du diable doit retourner au diable.'" thierry quotes _brompton apud scriptores rerum francorum_, tom. xiii. p. .: "istud ricardus referre solebat, asserens de tali genere procedentes sese mutuo infestent, tanquam de diabolo venientes, et ad diabolum transeuntes." i shall be glad of any assistance in tracing the story up or down. h. b. c. u. u. club. _anglo-saxon graves._--the world is continually hearing now of researches in anglo-saxon graves. i beg to inquire whether anglo-saxon coins or inscriptions have been found in any of these, so as to identify them with the people to whom these interments are ascribed? or upon what other proof or authority these graves are so assigned to the anglo-saxons? h. e. _robert brown the separatist._--robert brown the separatist, from whom his followers were called "brownists." whom did he marry, and when? in the _biog. brit._ he is said to have been the son of anthony brown of tolthorp, rutland, esq. (though born at northampton, according to mr. collier), and grandson of francis brown, whom king henry viii., in the eighteenth year of his reign, privileged by charter to wear his { } cap in the royal presence. he was nearly allied to the lord treasurer cecil lord burleigh, who was his friend and powerful protector. burleigh's aunt joan, daughter of david cyssel of stamford (grandfather of the lord treasurer) by his second wife, married edmund brown. she was half-sister of richard cyssel of burleigh, the lord treasurer's father. what connexion was there between edmund brown and anthony brown of tolthorp? fuller (_ch. hist._, b. ix. p. .) says, he had a wife with whom he never lived, and a church in which he never preached. his church was in northamptonshire, and he died in northampton gaol in . from to he was master of st. olave's grammar school in southwark. g. r. corner. eltham. _commissions issued by charles i. at oxford._--in lord campbell's _lives of the chancellors_, vol. ii. p. ., it is stated that a commission was granted to lord keeper littleton to raise a corps of volunteers for the royal service among the members of the legal profession, "and that the docquet of that commission remains among the instruments passed under the great seal of king charles i. at oxford." p. c. s. s. is very desirous to know where a list of these instruments can be consulted? p. c. s. s. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _hogmanay._--this word, applied in scotland to the last day of the year, is derived by jamieson (i believe, but have not his _dictionary_ to refer to) from the greek [greek: hagia mênê]. can any of your correspondents north of the tweed, or elsewhere, give the correct source? w. t. m. hong kong. [our correspondent is probably not aware that brand, in his _popular antiquities_, vol. i. pp. - . (bohn's edit.), has devoted a chapter to this term. among other conjectural etymologies he adds the following: "we read in the _scotch presbyterian eloquence displayed_, that it is ordinary among some plebeians in the south of scotland to go about from door to door on new year's eve, crying _hagmena_, a corrupted word from the greek [greek: agia mênê] _i. e._ holy month. john dixon, holding forth against this custom once, in a sermon at kelso, says: 'sirs, do you know what hagmane signifies? it is, _the devil be in the house!_ that's the meaning of its _hebrew_ original,' p. . bourne agrees in the derivation of hagmena given in the _scotch presbyterian eloquence displayed_. 'angli,' says hospinian, '_haleg-monath_, quasi sacrum mensem vocant.' _de origine ethn._, p. ." see also an ingenious essay on hagmena in the _caledonian mercury_ for jan. , , from which the most important parts have been extracted by dr. jamieson in his art. "hogmanay."] _longfellow's "hyperion."_--can any of your readers tell me why that magnificent work of longfellow's, which though in prose contains more real poetry than nine-tenths of the volumes of verse now published, is called _hyperion_? mordan gillott. [hyperion is an epithet applied to apollo, and is used by shakspeare, _hamlet_, act i. sc. .: "hyperion to a satyr." warburton says, "this similitude at first sight seems to be a little far-fetched, but it has an exquisite beauty. by the satyr is meant pan, as by hyperion _apollo_. pan and apollo were brothers, and the allusion is to the contention between those gods for the preference in music." steevens, on the other hand, believes that shakspeare "has no allusion in the present instance, except to the beauty of apollo, and its immediate opposite, the deformity of a satyr." hyperion or apollo is represented in all the ancient statues as exquisitely beautiful, the satyrs hideously ugly.] _sir hugh myddelton._--where was sir hugh myddleton buried? and has a monument been erected to his memory? i have searched several encyclopædias and other works, but they make no mention of his place of sepulture. hughson, i think, states it to be st. matthew's, friday street; but i believe this is not correct. j. o. w. [there is a statue of sir hugh myddelton, by carew, in the new royal exchange. see cunningham's _handbook of london_, from which work we learn (p. .) that "the register of st. matthew's, friday street, abounds in entries relating to the family of sir hugh myddleton." cunningham does not mention his burial-place; but in the pedigree of the family given in lewis's _history of islington_, it is stated that he was buried in the churchyard of st. matthew, london.] _sangarede._--the expression "sangarede," or "sangared," occurs in two ancient wills, one dated , in which the testator bequeathed-- "to the sepulkyr lyght vi hyves of beene to pray ffor me and my wyffe in y^e comon _sangered_."--_lib. fuller_, f. . in the other, dated , this passage occurs: "i wyll y^t ione my wyff here a yeere daye for me yeerly terme of her lyfe in the church of mendlshm, and after here decesse y^e towne of mendelyshm here a _sangarede_ for me and my wyfe in the church of mendlshm perpetually." i should be much obliged if you or one of your correspondents could furnish me with an intimation of the meaning of the term. laicus. [sangared, _i. e._ the chantry, or chanting, from the saxon _sangere_, a singer.] _salubrity of hallsal, near ormskirk, lancashire._--between the th of february and the th of { } may, , ten persons died in this parish whose ages, as recorded on their tombs in the order of their departure, were , , , , , , , , , . this year must have been a fatal one to old people. can any of the correspondents of "n. & q." tell anything about the season? w. j. bootle. [the beginning of the year was unusually severe; in february, ice covered the ground so completely, that people skaited through the streets and roads; and in march, easterly winds prevailed with extraordinary violence. for the verification of these facts, consult the meteorological diaries in the _gentleman's magazine_ of the above period.] _athens._--what is the origin of the term "violet-crowned city," as applied to athens? macaulay uses the expression in his _history of england_, but does not state how it was acquired. e. a. t. [the ancient greeks and romans, at their festive entertainments, wore garlands of flowers, and the violet was the favourite of the athenians, than whom no people were more devoted to mirth, conviviality, and sensual pleasure. hence the epithet was also given to venus, [greek: kupris iostephanos], as in some verses recorded by plutarch, in his _life of solon_. aristophanes twice applies the word to his sybarite countrymen: _equites_, v. ., and _acarn._ i. .] _james miller._--who was miller, mentioned by warburton as a writer of farces about ? i. r. r. [james miller, a political and dramatic writer, was born in dorsetshire in . he received his education at wadham college, oxford; and while at the university, wrote a satiric piece called _the humours of oxford_, which created him many enemies, and hindered his preferment. he also published several political pamphlets against sir robert walpole; and also the tragedy of _mahomet_, and other plays. he died in .] * * * * * replies. brydone. (vol. ix., pp . . . .) traveller having honoured me by alluding to a little work of mine, written thirty-five years ago, i may perhaps be permitted to correct a few errors (trifling, because personal) in his notice. my affinity was that of a cousin, not uncle, to the late lord my predecessor. i never had the military rank assigned to me, but was at the time like traveller himself, a "youngster" freshly emancipated from oxford to the continent: and had little more pretension in printing the extracts from my journal, than to comply with the kind wishes of many friends and relatives. but to pass to what is more important, the character of brydone, at the time i speak of there were no useful _handbooks_ in existence; and tourists took for the purpose such volumes of travels as they could carry. brydone, for this, was unfit. the french criticism (quoted vol. ix., .) rightly says, that he sacrificed truth to piquancy in his narrations. still it is a heavy charge to suspect so gross a deviation, as that of inventing the description of an ascent which he never accomplished; especially when the ascent is a feat not at all difficult. the evidence for this disbelief must be derived from a series of errors in the account, which i do not remember to have observed while reading him on the spot. the charitable supposition of mr. macray, that he mistook the summit, is hardly compatible with so defined a cone as that of etna; but all must agree with his just estimate of that description, and which the _biographie universelle_ itself terms "chef d'oeuvre de narration." brydone, no doubt, is as unsafe for the road as he is amusing for the study, and perhaps from that very reason. monson. gatton park. * * * * * coleridge's unpublished mss. (vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., p. .; vol. viii., p. .) when i sent you my note on this subject at the last of the above references, i had not read _letters, conversations, and recollections of s. t. coleridge_, moxon, . the subjoined extracts from that work confirm that note, vol. i, pp. . . . august , . coleridge: "i at least am as well as i ever am, and my regular employment, in which mr. green is weekly my amanuensis, [is] the work on the books of the old and new testaments, introduced by the assumptions and postulates required as the preconditions of a fair examination of christianity as a scheme of doctrines, precepts, and histories, drawn or at least deducible from these books." january, . coleridge: "in addition to these ---- of my great work, to the preparation of which more than twenty years of my life have been devoted, and on which my hopes of extensive and permanent utility, of fame, in the noblest sense of the word, mainly rest, &c. of this work, &c., the result must finally be revolution of all that has been called _philosophy_ or metaphysics in england and france since the era of the commencing predominance of the mechanical system at the restoration of our second charles, and with the present fashionable views, not only of religion, morals, and politics, but even of the modern physics and physiology.... of this work, something more than a volume has been { } dictated by me, so as to exist fit for the press, to my friend and enlightened pupil, mr. green; and more than as much again would have been evolved and delivered to paper, but that for the last six or eight months i have been compelled to break off our weekly meeting," &c. vol. ii. p. . editor: "the prospectus of these lectures (viz. on philosophy) is so full of interest, and so well worthy of attention, that i subjoin it; trusting that the lectures themselves will soon be furnished by, or under the auspices of mr. green, the most constant and the most assiduous of his disciples. that gentleman will, i earnestly hope--_and doubt not_--see, _feel_, the necessity of giving the whole of his great master's views, opinions, and anticipations; not those alone in which he more entirely sympathises, or those which may have more ready acceptance in the present time. he will not shrink from the great, the _sacred duty_ he has voluntarily undertaken, from any regards of prudence, still less from that most hopeless form of fastidiousness, the wish to conciliate those who are never to be conciliated, _inferior minds_ smarting under a sense of inferiority, and the imputation _which they are conscious is just_, that but for him _they_ never could have been; that distorted, dwarfed, changed, as are all his views and opinions, by passing _athwart_ minds with which they could not assimilate, they are yet almost the only things which give such minds a _status_ in literature." how has mr. green discharged the duties of this solemn trust? has he made any attempt to give publicity to the _logic_, the "great work" on _philosophy_, the work on the old and new testaments, to be called _the assertion of religion_, or the _history of philosophy_, all of which are in his custody, and of which the first is, on the testimony of coleridge himself, a finished work? we know from the _letters_, vol. ii. pp. . ., that the _logic_ is an essay in three parts, viz. the "canon," the "criterion," and the "organon;" of these the last only can be in any respect identical with the _treatise on method_. there are other works of coleridge missing; to these i will call attention in a future note. for the four enumerated above mr. green is responsible. he has lately received the homage of the university of oxford in the shape of a d.c.l.; he can surely afford a fraction of the few years that may still be allotted to him in re-creating the fame of, and in discharging his duty to, his great master. if, however, he cannot afford the time, trouble, and cost of the undertaking, i make him this public offer; i will, myself, take the responsibility of the publication of the above-mentioned four works, if he will entrust me with the mss. the editor will, i doubt not, be good enough to forward to the learned doctor a copy of the number in which this appeal is published. c. manfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * mr. justice talfourd and dr. beattie. (vol. ix., p .) there is so much similarity of character, in respect of sympathy for the humbler position and the well-being of others, between this lamented judge and that of the professor who is depicted by his biographer in the following extract, that i hope you will agree with me in thinking it worthy of being framed, and hung up as a companion-sketch in your pages: "as a professor, not his own class only, but the whole body of students at the university, looked up to him with esteem and veneration. the profound piety of the public prayers, with which he began the business of each day, arrested the attention of the youngest and most thoughtless; the excellence of his moral character; his gravity blended with cheerfulness, his strictness joined with gentleness, his favour to the virtuous and diligent, and even the mildness of his reproofs to those who were less attentive, rendered him the object of their respect and admiration. never was more exact discipline preserved than in his class, nor ever anywhere by more gentle means. his sway was absolute, because it was founded in reason and affection. he never employed a harsh epithet in finding fault with any of his pupils; and when, instead of a rebuke which they were conscious they deserved, they met merely with a mild reproof, it was conveyed in such a manner as to throw not only the delinquent, but sometimes the whole class into tears. to gain his favour was the highest ambition of every student; and the gentlest word of disapprobation was a punishment, to avoid which, no exertion was deemed too much. his great object was not merely to make his pupils philosophers, but to render them good men, pious christians, loyal to their king, and attached to the british constitution; pure in morals, happy in the consciousness of a right conduct, and friends to all mankind." this is the language of dr. beattie's biographer, who knew him intimately. cowper, the poet, thus writes of him to the rev. w. unwin, from a knowledge of his works: "i thanked you in my last for johnson; i now thank you with more emphasis for beattie--the most agreeable and amiable writer i ever met with--the only author i have seen whose critical and philosophical researches are diversified and embellished by a poetical imagination, that makes even the driest subject, and the leanest, a feast for an epicure in books. he is so much at his ease too, that his own character appears in every page; and, which is rare, we see not only the writer, but the man; and that man so gentle, so well-tempered, so happy in his religion, and so humane in his philosophy, that it is necessary to love him, if one has any sense of what is lovely."--_life of dr. beattie_, by sir william forbes, bart. j. m. oxford. * * * * * { } russian "te deum." (vol. ix., p. .) the following is a translation of this greek doxology, as contained in the prayer-book of the greek church, under the title '[greek: hôrologion to mega, benatiai, tupog. nikulaou glukê], , p. .: . glory to thee, the giver of light. . glory to god on high, and on earth peace, good-will towards men. . we praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory; . o lord king, heavenly god, father almighty, o lord, only begotten son jesus christ, and holy spirit. . o lord god, lamb of god, son of the father, that taketh away the sin of the world; have mercy upon us, thou that takest away the sins of the world. . accept our prayer; thou that sittest at the father's right hand, have mercy on us: . for thou only art holy; thou only, lord jesus christ, art in the glory of god the father. amen. . day by day i bless thee, and i praise thy name for ever, and for all eternity. . vouchsafe, lord, this day to keep me sinless. . blessed art thou, lord, the god of our fathers; and praised and glorified be thy name for ever. amen. . lord, let thy mercy be on us, as we trust in thee. . blessed art thou, lord; teach me thy statutes. . lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another. . i said, lord be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for i have sinned against thee. . lord, i fly to thee; teach me to do thy will, for thou art my god; . for with thee is a well of life, in thy light shall we see light. . extend thy mercy to them that know thee. . o holy god, holy strength, holy immortal, have mercy on us. amen. verses . to . are identical with the _gloria in excelsis_, or the angelic hymn, sung at the conclusion of the lord's supper in the anglican church, but which commences the mass in the romish church. it is of great antiquity, being attributed to telesphorus, a.d. , and is found in the _apostolic constitutions_, vii. c. . verses , . . are the same as in the latin _te deum_. verse . is from psalm cxix. . verse . is from psalm xc. . verse . is from psalm xli. . verse . is from psalm cxliii. , . verse . is from psalm xxxvi. . verse . is from psalm xxxvi. . t. j. buckton. lichfield. in answer to your correspondent honorÉ de marevelle's query regarding the _te deum_ as sung in russia, i beg to inform him that in whatever language the emperor nicholas is most familiar with this hymn, it is sung in all their churches in sclavonic, which is only intelligible to the priests and a _very small_ number of the laity, the mass of the people being quite ignorant of this old language. all the services in russian churches are performed in sclavonic. the _old_ testament is not permitted to be read by the people in modern russ, by command of the emperor; it is circulated sparingly in sclavonic, which is of course useless to most of the people, for the reason named above. the _new_ testament is, however, allowed to circulate in modern russ, and not _half_ the population read that, perhaps not more than a third. with regard to their images or pictures (alluded to by me in vol. viii., p. .), i had not only perused the works mentioned by g. w. (vol. ix., p. .) before i wrote about the russian religion, &c., but several other works besides.[ ] having been in the country for some little time, and paid some attention to the subject, i was certainly surprised to find little, if any, mention made of their manner of worship or superstitious customs in dr. blackmore's works, and wished to contribute my mite towards giving your readers some information as to the state of this semi-civilised race. from _translations of russian works_ you can glean nothing but what the russian government chooses, as every work goes through a severe censorship before it is allowed to be printed for circulation; and if there is anything in it that is not liked, it is not permitted to be published unless those parts are suppressed. it is perhaps only partially known that there is some difficulty in getting english books and newspapers into russia, as all must go through the censor's office. _the times_ (which is however all but, if not quite, prohibited at st. petersburg, and has been so a long time), _punch_, and other of our papers, possess a ludicrous appearance after having passed through the hands of the worthies in the censor's office, sometimes there being very little left of them to read. whilst writing about images, i omitted to name one or two other circumstances that have come under my own notice, showing still farther the superstitious veneration in which they are held by the russians. in the case of a house on fire, one of the inmates, with his head uncovered, carries the image three times round the burning house, under the { } belief that it will cause the fire to cease, never attempting to put it out by any other means. at moscow there is a very noted image of the virgin mary; it is deposited in a recess at one side of an archway leading to the kremlin. every person passing through this archway is _obliged_ to uncover his head. i had to do so whenever i passed through. the belief of the efficacy of this image in healing diseases is universal. when any person is ill, by paying the priests handsomely, they will bring it with great pomp, in a carriage and four horses, to the sick person's house, who _must_ recover, or else, if death ensues, they say it is _so fated_. instances of other images in various parts of the empire, some believed to have fallen from heaven, might be multiplied to any extent. i mention these to show that, whatever these representations of the deity may be called, i had not written unadvisedly previously, as might be surmised by g. w.'s remarks. everybody must deplore the wretched condition of these people; and the czar, well knowing their superstitious ideas, works upon their fanatical minds with such letters as we all have had the sorrow of seeing a specimen of in _the times_ of to-day.[ ] j. s. a. may , . [footnote : owing to an error in my original ms., or of the printers, they were called _the "gods,"_ instead of _their gods_, answering to the ancient _penates_.] [footnote : vide nicholas to the commandant of odessa.] * * * * * artesian wells. (vol. ix., p. .) your correspondent stylites is strongly advised not to set about making, or rather endeavouring to make, a well of this description till he has been well advised of the feasibility of the scheme in his particular locality. the old adage will apply in this case, "ex quovis ligno," &c. it is not everywhere that an artesian well can be obtained with any depth of bore; that is, a well which shall bring its water to or above the surface of the ground. but if, on sufficient knowledge of the mineralogical structure of the country, it be declared that a well of the true artesian sort cannot be obtained, stylites should dig his well, say fifteen or twenty feet deep, and "stein" it, and then bore in search of a spring, unless a sufficient supply is already obtained from the surface drainage. a moderate outlay in this way, unless the impervious stratum be of very great thickness indeed, will generally bring up water, with a natural tendency to rise within reach of a common pump, or of a well-bucket at the least. but it may still happen that the water of the bore has not this natural tendency. in that case the sinking of the well may be continued till the water is reached, and a sufficient depth of reservoir obtained at the bottom. m. ( ) as practical answers to the inquiries of stylites on this subject, i have to say, that common wells are preferable to artesian in all cases where abundance of water is obtained at a depth not exceeding thirty feet. i need not tell stylites that the common sucking-pump will not draw up water from a depth exceeding thirty feet. the convenience of common wells is one reason why artesian ones are not universally adopted; and a greater reason is that artesian wells are very much more expensive to make than common ones. when artesian wells are preferable to common ones is, when water cannot be obtained at a depth beyond the reach of the force-pump. two of my friends have made artesian wells; one a mill-spinner at dundee, at a time when that town was very ill supplied with water. he sunk a well feet in depth and found no water. a bore was then made through trap rock for upwards of feet, and water was found in abundance on reaching the underlying sandstone. the water ultimately reached near to the top of the well. the other well was made by a bleacher in the neighbourhood of lisburn in ireland. all the surface springs in his bleaching-grounds, which are extensive, did not supply a sufficient quantity for his purposes. the subsoil being boulder clay, he had to bore through it to about feet before the water was met with; when it rose as near the top of the bore as to permit the use of a common pump being worked by power. the theory of the action of artesian wells has been explained by mr. buckton (vol. ix., p. .), but i have no hesitation in telling stylites that he will find water almost anywhere in this country by means of an artesian bore. henry stephens. * * * * * dog-whippers. (vol. ix., p. .) the following notes may contain information for your correspondent c. f. w. on the subject of dog-whippers. richard dovey, of farmcote in shropshire, in the year , charged certain cottages with the payment of eight shillings to some poor man of the parish of claverley, who should undertake to awaken sleepers, and _whip dogs from the church_ during divine service. ten shillings and sixpence per annum is now paid for the above service. john rudge by his will, dated in , gave five shillings a quarter to a poor man to go about the parish church of trysull, in staffordshire, during sermon, to keep people awake, and _keep dogs out of the church_. this sum is still paid for that purpose. at chislet, in kent, is a piece of land called "dog-whipper's marsh," about two acres, out of { } which the tenants pay ten shillings a year to a person for _keeping order in the church_ during divine service. there is an acre of land in the parish of peterchurch, herefordshire, appropriated to the use of a person for _keeping dogs out of the church_. in the parish of christchurch, spitalfields, there is a charity fund called "cat and dog money," the interest on which is now divided annually amongst six poor widows of weavers of the names of fabry or ovington. there is a tradition in the parish that this money was originally left for the support of cats and dogs, but it is more probable that it was originally intended, as in the cases above mentioned, to "whip dogs and cats" out of the church during divine service, and that on the unforeseen increase in the fund after a lapse of years, it became appropriated in the present way. this money was the subject of a chancery suit in the last century, and the decree therein directed the present division. many of your readers will call to mind the yelp of some poor cur who had strolled through the open door of a country church on some sultry day, and been ejected by the sexton. i myself have often listened to the pit-a-pat in the quiet aisle, and i once remember a disturbance in church caused by the quarrel of two dogs. such scenes, and the fact that dogs were considered unclean animals, most likely gave rise to the occupation of dog-whipper as a function of the sexton. it will also be remembered that some dogs cannot forbear a howl at the sound of certain musical instruments; and besides the simple inconvenience to the congregation, this howl may have been considered a manifestation of antipathy to holy influences, as the devil was supposed to fear holy water. landseer's well-known picture of "the free church" proves to us that amongst the highland shepherds the office does not now at least exist: and amongst other instances of the regular attendance at church of these "unclean animals," i know one in wales where a favourite dog always accompanied his master to church, and stood up in the corner of the pew, keeping watch over the congregation with the strictest decorum. a notary. that persons bearing an office described by such a name were attached to great houses in the sixteenth century, is clear from the well-known passage in _the two gentlemen of verona_, act iv. sc. ., where launce says,-- "i, having been acquainted with the smell before, knew it was crab; and goes me to the _fellow that whips the dogs_: 'friend,' quoth i, 'you mean to whip the dog?' 'ay, marry do i,' quoth he," &c. w. b. r. derby. * * * * * cephas, a binder, and not a rock. (vol. ix., p. .) i hope you will allow me to give a few reasons for dissenting from mr. margoliouth. i will promise to spare your space and avoid controversy. . the hebrew word _caphis_ is only to be found in hab. ii. . hence it has been regarded as of somewhat uncertain signification. however, by comparison with the syrian verb [hebrew: kps] (_c'phas_), we infer that it may denote that which _grasps_, _gathers_, or _holds together_; it is therefore not synonymous with [greek: deô], which is to _bind_, and is used in matt. xvi. . . proper names from the hebrew, chaldee, and syriac, are generally written in greek, with the terminations of that language, as _e. g._ jesus, john, james, thomas, judas, &c., and these terminations are _added_ to the radical letters of the name, which are all retained. it is easy to see that _caphis_ would become _caphisus_, while _cepho_ (syriac for _rock_) would become _cephas_, just as _ehudo_ (syriac, _jude_) becomes _judas_. . still less likely would the name _caphis_ be to lose a radical in its transfer to the syriac, where cephos is represented by _cepho_, without _s_. . the paronomasia exhibited in the latin, "tu es _petrus_, et super hanc _petram_," also appears both in the greek and the syriac. . the difference of gender between the words _petrus_ and _petra_, moreover, is preserved in the syriac and appears in the greek. . the figure of binding and loosing (v. .) is one which was common to the three languages, greek, chaldee, and syriac, in all of which it denotes "to remit or retain" sins, "to confirm or abolish" a law, &c. . the occurrence of this figure in ch. xviii. ., where the reference is not special to peter, but general to all the apostles. (compare john xx. .) . the syriac uniformly translates the name peter by cepho (_i. e._ cephas), except once or twice in peter's epistles. this at least indicates their view of its meaning. on the whole i see no reason to suppose that cephas means anything but _stone_; certainly there is much less reason for the proposed signification of _binder_. in john i. ., the clause which explains the name cephas is absent from the syriac version in accordance with the regular and necessary practice of the translators to avoid tautology: "thou shalt be called _stone_; which is by interpretation _stone!_" (see the _journal of sacred literature_ for january last, p. ., for several examples of this.) there is here surely sufficient reason to account for the omission of this clause, which, it { } appears, is supported by universal ms. authority, as well as by that of the other versions. b. h. c. the paronomasia of _kipho_ (=rock) was made in the syro-chaldaic tongue, the vernacular language of our lord and his disciples. the apostle john, writing in greek (i. .), explains the meaning of _kipho_ ([greek: kêphas]) by the usual greek phrase [greek: ho hermêneuetai petros], which phrase was necessarily omitted in the syriac version, where this word _kipho_ was significant, in the original sense, as used by our lord, and therefore needed no such hermeneutic explanation. had our lord spoken in greek, and had the name [greek: kêphas] been _idem sonans_ with [hebrew: kpys] (hab. ii. .)--which, however, is not the case,--some slender support might have been thereby afforded to mr. margoliouth's argument; but as he admits that our lord did _not_ speak in the greek tongue, such argument falls to the ground as void of all probability. t. j. buckton. lichfield. * * * * * whittington's stone. (vol. ix., p. .) the disappearance of this celebrated memorial of a questionable legend, seems to have been satisfactorily accounted for. the newspapers inform us that it has been taken to a mason's yard for the purpose of reparation. those who lament the removal of the stone on which, as they imagine, the runaway apprentice sat listening to the bells of cheap, will perhaps be surprised to hear that the object of their regret is at least the _third_ of the stones which have successively stood upon the spot long since the days of whittington. . in a learned and interesting paper communicated to the pages of _sylvanus urban_ (g. m. dec. ) by t. e. t. (a well-known and respected local antiquary, who will yet, it is sincerely hoped, enrich our libraries with a work on the ancient history of the northern suburbs, a task for which he is pre-eminently qualified), it is shown that in all probability the site in question was once occupied by a wayside cross, belonging to the formerly adjacent lazar-house and chapel of st. anthony. a certain engraving of , mentioned by mr. t., and which is now before me, represents a small obelisk or pyramid standing upon a square base, and surmounted by a cross, apparently of iron. the stone (popularly regarded as the original) was removed in by "one s----," the surveyor of the roads. having been broken, or as another account states, sawn in two, the halves were placed as curb-stones against the posts on each side of queen's head lane in the lower street. (nelson's _hist. of islington_, , p. .; _gent. mag._, sept. and oct. , pp. . .; lewis's _hist. of islington_, , p. .) in _adams's picturesque guide to the environs of london_, by e. l. blanchard (a recent but dateless little work, which i chanced to open at a book-stall a day or two ago), the present queen's head tavern in the lower street is mentioned as containing certain relics of its predecessor, "with the real whittington stone (it is said) for a threshold." . shortly after the removal of this supposed "original," a new memorial was erected, with the inscription "whittington's stone." this was, for some cause, removed by order of the churchwardens in may, . . in his second edition, , nelson says, "the present stone was set up in , by the trustees of the parish ways." this is the stone which has lately been removed. h. g. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _photographic experience._--i send you the rev. w. le mottée's and mine: w. le m. . minutes' exposure. . sea-side. {_iod._--double iod. sol. from gr. n. a. to oz. . {_exc._-- [minim] gr. a. n. a. [minim] g. a. aq. drs. {_dev._-- ^o gr. a. n. a. and g. a. part. æq. ^o g. a. . turner. . / inch. . inches. . diam. lens in. foc. length parallel rays ¾ in. maker, slater. picture ½ x ½. t. l. m. . minutes. . sea-side. {_iod._ . {_exc._ as le m. {_dev._ . turner. . / inch. . - / inches. . diam. lens ¼ in. foc. length ½ in. maker, slater. picture ½ x ¼. i have given the development according to the plan usually followed, for the sake of comparison; but where it is desirable to work out the shadows fully, it is far better to give longer exposure in the camera (three times that above given), and develop with gallo-nitrate of the strength used to excite, finishing with gallic acid. the time varies with the subject; a cottage among trees requiring to minutes. almost all the statements i have seen, giving the time, do so absolutely; it is well to remind photographers, that these convey no _information whatever_, unless the focal length for parallel rays, and the diameter of the diaphragm, are also given: the time, in practice as well as in theory, varying (_cæteris paribus_) directly as the { } square of the former, and inversely as the square of the latter; and, without these corrections, the results of one lens are not comparable with those of another. when shall we get a good structureless paper? the _texture_ of turner's, especially his new paper, is a great defect; and its skies are thin, _very_ inferior to the dense velvety blacks obtained with whatman's of old date--a paper now extinct, and one which, unfortunately for us, it seems impossible to reproduce. t. l. mansell. guernsey. _conversion of calotype negatives into positives._--at the second meeting of the british association at york, professor grove described a process by which a negative calotype might be converted into a positive one, by drawing an ordinary calotype image over iodide of potassium and dilute nitric acid, and exposing to a full sunshine. not being able to find the proportions in any published work, can any of your numerous readers give me the required information; and whether the photograph should be exposed in its damp state, or allowed to dry? g. grantham. _albumenized paper._--mr. spencer, in the last number of the _photographic journal_, in describing a mode of preparing albumenized paper, states he has never found it necessary to iron it, as the silver solution coagulates the albumen the moment it comes in contact with it, "and i fancy makes it print more evenly than when heat has been employed." but mr. spencer uses a nitrate of silver solution of or grains to the ounce, while dr. diamond recommends grains. now as it is very desirable to get rid of the ironing if possible, my query is, will the -grain solution coagulate the albumen so as to do away with that troublesome process? p. p. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _table-turning_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the following conclusions, from an _exposé_ of the laws of nature relating to this subject, have been submitted to the world, at the end of a series of articles in the _revue des deux mondes_, by m. babinet, of the french institute: " ^o. que tout ce qui est raisonnablement admissible dans les curieuses expériences qui ont été faites sur le mouvement des tables où l'on impose les mains, est parfaitement explicable par l'énergie bien connue des mouvemens naissans de nos organes, pris à leur origine, surtout quand une influence nerveuse vient s'y joindre et au moment où, toutes les impulsions étant conspirantes, l'effet produit représente l'effet total des actions individuelles. " ^o. que dans l'étude consciencieuse de ces phénomènes mécanico-physiologiques, il faudra écarter toute intervention de force mystérieuse en contradiction avec les lois physiques bien établies par l'observation et l'expérience. " ^o. qu'il faudra aviser à populariser, non pas dans la peuple, mais bien dans la classe éclairée de la société, les principes des sciences. cette classe si importante, dont l'autorité devrait faire loi pour toute la nation, s'est déjà montrée plusieurs fois au-dessous de cette noble mission. la remarque n'est pas de moi, mais au besoin je l'adopte et la défends: 'si les raisons manquaient, je suis sûr qu'en tout cas, les exemples fameux ne me manqueraient pas!' comme le dit molière. il est à constater que l'initiative des réclamations en faveur du bon sens contre les prestiges des tables et des chapeaux a été prise par les membres éclairés du clergé de france. " ^o. enfin, les faiseurs des miracles sont instamment suppliés de vouloir bien, s'ils ne peuvent s'empêcher d'en faire, au moins ne pas les faire absurdes. imposer la croyance à un miracle, c'est déjà beaucoup dans ce siècle; mais vouloir nous convaincre de la réalité d'un miracle ridicule, c'est vraiment être trop exigeant!"--_revue des deux mondes_, janvier , . j. m. oxford. _female dress_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have dresses from to the present time, two or three years only missing, from pocket-books, which i have carefully arranged and had bound in a volume. on referring to it i find that hoops ceased after , excepting for court days. the ladies at that time wore large hats, the same shape young people and children have at the present day. powder went out at the time of the scarcity, patches before hoops, and high-heeled shoes when short waists came in fashion. i have a small engraving of their majesties, attended by the lord chamberlain, &c., together with the princess royal, prince edward, and the princess elizabeth, in their boxes at the opera in the year . the queen in a very large hoop, each with their hair full powdered; and the celebrated mademoiselle theodore, in the favourite comic ballad called "les petits reins," the same year, with a large hoop, hair well powdered, a little hat at the back of her head with long strings, very short petticoats, and shoes with buckles. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. _office of sexton held by one family_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a search into parish registers would, i think, show that the office of clerk was often a hereditary one. in worcestershire, for example, the family of rose at bromsgrove, and the family of osborne at belbroughton, have supplied hereditary clerks to those parishes through many generations. in the latter case, also, the trade of a tailor has also been hereditary to an osborne, in conjunction with his duties as clerk. the mr. tristram, who was the patron of the living of belbroughton (afterwards sold to st. john's college, oxford), states, in a letter to the bishop (lyttelton), that the osbornes were tailors in belbroughton in the reign of henry viii. they are tailors, as well as clerks, to this day, but they can trace their descent to a period of more than { } three centuries before henry viii. the office of parish clerk and sexton has also been hereditary in the parishes of hope and king's norton, worcestershire. cuthbert bede, b. a. _lyra's commentary_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the human figure described by edward peacock as impressed on one cover of his curious old copy of the _textus biblie_, &c., has no glory round the head, or over it, by his account. this would warrant the conclusion that it was not intended for any saint, or it might almost pass for a st. christopher. but i believe it is meant as emblematic of a christian generally, in his passage through this life. i suspect that what mr. peacock speaks of as a "fence composed of interlaced branches of trees," is intended to represent waves of water by undulating lines. the figure appears to be wading through the waters of the tribulations of this life, by the help of his staff, just as st. christopher is represented. this may account for the loose appearance of his nether habiliments, which are tucked up, so as to leave the knees bare. the wallet is a very fit accompaniment for the pilgrim's staff. the wicker basket holds his more precious goods; but, to show the insecurity of their tenure, the pilgrim has a sword ready for their defence. it is not so easy to account for the animals on the other cover. my conjecture is, that at least the four lower ones are meant for the emblematic figures of the four evangelists. the bird may be the eagle, the monkey the man; the dog may, on closer scrutiny, be found to look something like the ox or calf; and the lion speaks for itself. but i can attempt no explanation of the upper figures, which mr. peacock says "may be horses." i should much like to see drawings of the whole, both human and animal, having a great predilection for studying such puzzles. but if the above hints prove of any service, it will gratify f. c. husenbeth, d.d., compiler of the _emblems of saints_. _blackguard_ (vol. vii., p. . vol. viii., p. .).--many contributions towards the history of this word have appeared in the pages of "n. & q." may i forward another instance of its being in early use, although not altogether in its modern acceptation? a copy of a medical work in my possession (a mo., printed in , and in the original binding) has fly-leaves from some _printed_ book, as is often the case in volumes of that date. these fly-leaves seem to be part of some descriptive sketches of different classes of society, published towards the early part of the seventeenth century; and some of your readers may be able to identify the work from my description of these of sheets. no. . is headed "an unworthy judge;" . "an unworthy knight and souldier;" . "a worthy gentleman;" . "an unworthy gentleman," &c. at p ., no. ., occurs "a bawde of the blacke guard," with her description in about sixteen lines. she is said to be "well verst in the black art, to accommodate them of the black guard: a weesel-look't gossip she is in all places, where herr mirth is a bawdy tale," and so on. judging from these fly-leaves, the work from which they have been taken appears to have been an octavo or small quarto. "finis" stands on the reverse of the leaf whence my extract is copied. jaydee. another instance of the use of the word _black-guard_, in the sense given to it in "n. & q." (vol. ii., pp. . .), is to be found in burton's _anatomy of melancholy_, part i. sect. ., "a digression of the nature of spirits, bad angels, or devils, &c.," in a passage, part of which is given as a quotation. "generally they far excel men in worth, as a man the meanest worme;" though some of then are "inferior to those of their own rank in worth, as the _black-guard_ of a prince's court, and to men again, as some degenerate, base, rational creatures are excelled of brute beasts." the edition of burton i quote from is . c. de d. "augustus cæsar on a time, as he was passing through rome, and saw certain strange women lulling apes and whelps in their arms: 'what!' said he; 'have the women of these countries none other children?' so may i say unto you [dr. cole], that make so much of gerson, driedo, royard, and tapper: have the learned men of your side none other doctors? for, alas! these that ye allege are scarcely worthy to be allowed amongst the _black guard_."--bp. jewel's _works_ (p. s. ed.), vol. i. p. . this is, i think, an earlier example than any that has yet been given in "n. & q." w. p. storer. olney, bucks. "_atonement_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the word [greek: katallagê], used by Æschylus and demosthenes, occurs cor. v. ., rom. xi. . v. . the word _atonement_ bears two senses: the first, _reconciliation_, as used by sir thomas more, shakspeare, beaumont and fletcher, and bishops hall and taylor; the second, _expiation_, as employed by milton, swift, and cowper. in the latter meaning, we find it in numbers, and other books of the old testament, as the translation of [greek: hilasma]. waterland speaks of "the doctrine of expiation, atonement, or satisfaction, made by christ in his blood" (_disc. of fundamentals_, vol. v. p. .). barrow, secker, and beveridge use the word _atone_ or _atonement_ in this combined sense of the term. r. gloucester, chaucer, and dryden expressly speak "at one," in a similar way; and, { } not to multiply passages, we may merely cite tyndal: "there is but one mediator, christ, as saith st. paul, tim. ii., and by that word understand an _atone-maker_, a peace-maker, and bringer into grace and favour, having full power so to do."--_expos. of tracy's testament_, p. ., camb. . mackenzie walcott, m.a. as a contribution towards the solution of j. h. b.'s query, i send you the following extracts from richardson's _dictionary_: "and like as he made the jewes and the gentiles _at one_ between themselves, even so he made them both _at one_ with god, that there should be nothing to break the _atonement_; but that the thynges in heaven and the thynges in earth shoulde be ioyned together as it were into _one_ body."--_udal_, _ephesians_, c. ii. "paul sayth, tim. ij., 'one god, one mediatour (that is to say, aduocate, intercessor, or an _atonemaker_) betwene god and man: the man christ jesus, which gaue himself a raunsom for all men."--tyndal, _workes_, p. . i am unacquainted with the work referred to in the first extract. the second is from _the whole works of w. tindal, john frith, and dr. barnes_ [edited by foxe], lond. . the title of the work which contains the passage is, _the obedience of a christian man, set forth by william tindal_, , oct. . [greek: halieus]. dublin. _bible of _ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reference to the monogram inquired after in this query, i think i have seen it, or one very similar, among the "mason marks" on strasburg tower, which would seem a place of freemason pilgrimage: for the soft stone is deeply carved in various places within the tower with such marks as this, together with initials and dates of visit. i have also marks very similar from the stones of the tower of the pretty little cathedral of freiburg, briesgau. i should incline to think it a masonic mark, and not that of an engraver on wood, or of a printer. a. b. r. belmont. _shrove tuesday_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the bell described as rung on shrove tuesday at newbury, was no doubt the old summons which used to call our ancestors to the priest to be shrived, or confessed, on that day. it is commonly called the "pancake bell," because it was also the signal for the cook to put the pancake on the fire. this savoury couplet occurs in _poor robin_ for : "but hark, i hear the pancake bell, and fritters make a gallant smell." the custom of ringing this bell has been retained in many parishes. it is orthodoxly rung at ecclesfield from eleven to twelve a.m. plenty of information on this subject may be found in brand's _popular antiquities_. alfred gatty. _milton's correspondence_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a translation of milton's latin familiar correspondence, made by john hall, esq., of the philadelphia bar, now a presbyterian clergyman at trenton, n.j., was published about eighteen or twenty years ago in this city. uneda. philadelphia "_verbatim et literatim_" (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent l. h. j. tonna, in proposing for the latter part of the above phrase the form _ad literam_, might as well have extended his amendment, and suggested _ad verbum et literam_; for i should imagine there is quite as little authority for the word _verbatim_ being used in the latin language, as for that of _literatim_. vossius is an authority for the latter; but can any of your correspondents oblige me by citing one for the former, notwithstanding its frequent adoption in english conversation and writings? neither _verbatim_ nor _literatim_ will be found in riddle. n. l. j. _epigrams_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the epigram, "how d.d. swaggers, m.d. rolls," &c., was written by horace smith, and may be found in the _new monthly magazine_ for , in the article called "grimm's ghost. letter xii." uneda. philadelphia. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. in days like these, when so many of our new books are but old ones newly dressed up, a work of original research, and for which the materials have been accumulated by the writer with great labour and diligence, deserves especial commendation. of such a character is the _catholic history of england; its rulers, clergy, and poor, before the reformation, as described by the monkish historians_, by bernard william maccabe, of which the third volume, extending from the reign of edward martyr to the norman conquest, has just been published. the volumes bear evidence in every page that they are, as the author describes them, "the results of the writing and research of many hours--the only hours for many years that i had to spare from other and harder toils." himself a zealous and sincere follower of the "ancient faith," mr. maccabe's views of the characters and events of which he is treating, naturally assume the colouring of his own mind: many, therefore, will dissent from them. none of his readers will, however, dissent from bestowing upon his work the praise of being carefully compiled and most originally written. none will deny the charm with which mr. maccabe has invested his history, by his admirable mode of making the old monkish writers tell their own story. { } we some time since called the attention of our readers to a new periodical which had been commenced at göttingen, under the title of _zeitschrift für deutsche mythologie und sittenkunde_, under the editorship of t. w. wolf. we have since received the nd, rd, and th parts of it from messrs. williams and norgate, and hope shortly to transfer from its pages to our columns a few of the many curious illustrations of our own folk lore, with which it abounds. books received.--_the works of john locke_, vol. i., _philosophical works, with a preliminary essay and notes_, by j. a. st. john, is the first volume of a collected edition of the writings of this distinguished english philosopher, intended to form a portion of bohn's _standard library_.--_the diary and letters of madame d'arblay_, vol. iv., - . worth more than its cost for its pictures of fox, burke, wyndham, &c., and hastings' impeachment.--_a poet's children_, by patrick scott. a shilling's worth of miscellaneous poems from the pen of this imaginative but somewhat eccentric bard.--_points of war, i. ii. iii. iv._, by franklin lushington. mr. lushington is clearly an admirer of tennyson, and has caught not a little of the mannerism and not a few of the graces of his great model. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the following works of symon patrick, late lord bishop of ely, &c.:-- a prayer for perfecting our late deliverance. . a prayer for charity, peace, and unity, chiefly to be used in lent. a prayer for the king's success in ireland. . a letter to the clergy of the diocese of ely, at his primary visitation. . the dignity of the christian priesthood, delivered to his clergy at his fourth triennial visitation. . an exhortation to the clergy before his fifth triennial visitation. . with a discourse on rev. xvi. ., upon occasion of the late terrible storm of wind. an exhortation at his sixth triennial visitation. . wanted by the _rev. alexander taylor_, . blomfield terrace, paddington. archÆologia, vol. iii. wanted by the _rev. g. h. dashwood_, stow bardolph, burnham market, norfolk. the hundred and ten considerations of signior john valdesso, translated by nich. farrer. oxford, ; or the later edition of . wanted by _mr. j. g. nichols_, . parliament street. archbishop lawrence's examination of griesbach's systematic classification of mss. wanted by _longman & co._, paternoster row. poems on several occasions, by william broome, ll.d. london, - . vo. assize sermon, by the same, on ps. cxxii. . to. . sermon, by the same, on tim. ii. , . vo. . wanted by _t. w. barlow_, st. james' chambers, manchester. osw. crollius's admonitory preface, in english, london, , vo. ---- the mysteries of nature. london, . vo. ---- on signatures. london, . folio. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. warren's collection of glees. wanted, to perfect the set, nos. . . . . and to inclusive. any one possessing the above, or a portion of them, may hear of a purchaser, upon application at novello's sacred music warehouse, . dean street, soho square. * * * * * notices to correspondents. eden warwick. _the paragraph respecting the crystal palace has already appeared in our columns._ sigma. _how can we forward a letter to this correspondent?_ enquirer. _our correspondent's query is not apparent. the rolls house and chapel, in chancery lane, never "reverted to their original use," that is, as a house of maintenance for converted jews._ j. g. t. _for the origin of bands worn by clergymen, lawyers, and others, see our second volume_, pp. . . . "vita crucem," &c. _we have to apologise for having mislaid the copy of the following distich, requesting a translation as well as the authorship of it:_ "vita crucem, et vivas, hominem si noscere velles, quis, quid, cur, cujus passus amore fuit." _which may be literally translated, _"shun the cross, that you may live, if you would know him aright, who and what he was, why and for love of whom he suffered."_ these lines seem to be a caveat against the adoration of the material cross, and were probably composed during the domination of the fanatics in cromwell's time, when that redoubtable goth, master william dowsing, demolished whatever was inscribed with the cross, whether of brass, marble, or other material.--our correspondent will find the line, _"a falcon towering in his pride of place,"_ in _macbeth_, act ii. sc. ._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * on the st of june, and on the first day of every month, will be published, price sixpence, the journal of progress: an advocate of advanced views in social, moral, industrial, and political economy; and record of statistics. this journal is projected, and will be supported, by persons devoted to the practical objects which chiefly affect the welfare of society. it will also be sent regularly to every member of parliament. george bell, publisher, . fleet street, london. order of all booksellers and newsmen. * * * * * now ready, crown vo. a new edition, in large type, of the sacred garland, or, the christian's daily delight. "pluck a flower." price s. cloth lettered: s. full calf: s. morocco elegant. upwards of , copies of this book in a smaller form have been sold. milner & sowerby, halifax. * * * * * messrs. trÜbner & co. have just published whitty.--the governing classes of great britain: political portraits. by edward m. whitty. foolscap vo., price s. d. morell.--russia and england, their strength and weakness. by john reynell morell. foolscap vo., price s. trÜbner & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * { } bohn's standard library for june. cowper's complete works, edited by southey; comprising his poems, correspondence, and translations; with memoir. illustrated with fifty fine engravings on steel, after designs by harvey. to be completed in eight volumes. vol. iv. conclusion of memoir and correspondence, with general index to same. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for june. defoe's works, edited by sir walter scott. vol. i. containing the life, adventures, and piracies of captain singleton, and the life of colonel jack. with fine portrait of defoe. post vo. cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for june. india, pictorial, descriptive, and historical, from the earliest times to the present. illustrated by upwards of one hundred fine engravings on wood, and map of hindoostan. post vo. cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for june. ordericus vitalis: his ecclesiastical history of england and normandy, translated with notes and the introduction of guizot, by t. forester, m.a. vol. iii. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn. , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's philological library for june. logic, or the science of inference, a popular manual, by j. devey. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for june. the elegies of propertius, the satyricon of petronius arbiter, and the kisses of johannes secundus, literally translated, and accompanied by poetical versions, from various sources: to which are added, the love epistles of aristÆnetus, translated by r. brinsley sheridan and h. halhed. edited by walter k. kelly. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * norway. a road book for tourists in norway, with hints to english sportsmen and anglers, by thomas forester, esq. post vo. limp cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * w. s. lincoln & son, caxton house, blackfriars road, london (removed from westminster road), will forward gratis and post free to all applicants, their june catalogue of cheap english and foreign second-hand books. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s. notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * dr. de jongh's light brown cod liver oil. prepared for medicinal use in the loffoden isles, norway, and put to the test of chemical analysis. the most effectual remedy for consumption, asthma, gout, chronic rheumatism, and all scrofulous diseases. approved of and recommended by berzelius, liebig, woehler, jonathan pereira, fouquier, and numerous other eminent medical men and scientific chemists in europe. specially rewarded with medals by the governments of belgium and the netherlands. has almost entirely superseded all other kinds on the continent, in consequence of its proved superior power and efficacy--effecting a cure much more rapidly. contains iodine, phosphate of chalk, volatile acid, and the elements of the bile--in short, all its most active and essential principles--in larger quantities than the pale oils made in england and newfoundland, deprived mainly of these by their mode of preparation. a pamphlet by dr. de jongh, with detailed remarks upon its superiority, directions for use, cases in which it has been prescribed with the greatest success, and testimonials, forwarded gratis on application. the subjoined testimonial of baron liebig, professor of chemistry at the university of giessen, is selected from innumerable others from medical and scientific men of the highest distinction: "sir,--i have the honour of addressing you my warmest thanks for your attention in forwarding me your work on the chemical composition and properties, as well as on the medicinal effects, of various kinds of cod liver oil. "you have rendered an essential service to science by your researches, and your efforts to provide sufferers with this medicine in its purest and most genuine state, must ensure you the gratitude of every one who stands in need of its use. "i have the honor of remaining, with expressions of the highest regard and esteem, "yours sincerely, "dr. justus liebig." "giessen, oct. . . "to dr. de jongh at the hague." sold wholesale and retail, in bottles, labelled with dr. de jongh's stamp and signature, by ansar, harford, & co., . strand, sole consignees and agents for the united kingdom and british possessions; and by all respectable chemists and venders of medicine in town and country, at the following prices:--imperial measure, half-pints, s. d.; pints, s. d. * * * * * on st june will be published, part i., price s. miscellanea graphica: a collection of ancient mediæval and renaissance remains, in the possession of the lord londesborough. illustrated by f. w. fairholt, f.s.a., &c. the work will be published in nine quarterly parts, of royal to. size, each part containing four plates, one of which will be in chromo-lithography, representing jewellery, antique plate, arms, and armour, and miscellaneous antiquities. london: chapman & hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * just published, in vols. vo., price l. in sheets. origines kalendariÆ italicÆ; nundinal calendars of ancient italy; nundinal calendar of romulus; calendar of numa pompilius; calendar of the decemvirs; irregular roman calendar, and julian correction. tables of the roman calendar, from u.c. of varro b.c. to u.c. a.d. . by edward greswell. b.d., fellow of corpus christi college, oxford. oxford: at the university press. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; and gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * just published, vo., price s. d. preliminary address of the origines kalendariÆ italicÆ, lately published at the oxford university press. with some further observations. by edward greswell, b.d., fellow of corpus christi college, oxford. john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. cambridge: j. deighton. * * * * * just published, vo., price s. in sheets. theodoreti episcopi cyri ecclesiasticæ historiæ libri quinque cum interpretatione latina et annotationibus henrici valesii. recensuit thomas gaisford, s. t. p., Ædis christi decanus necnon linguæ græcæ professor regius. oxonii: e typographeo academico. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; and gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * just published, vo., price s. d. in sheets. synodus anglicana. by edmund gibson, d.d., afterwards bishop of london. edited by edward cardwell, d.d., principal of st. alban's hall. oxford: at the university press. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; and gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travellers' requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * { } collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * important sale by auction of the whole of the remaining copies of that splendid national work, known as "finden's royal gallery of british art," the engraved plates of which will be destroyed during the progress of the sale, and in the presence of the purchasers. southgate & barrett have received instructions from mr. hogarth, of the haymarket, to sell by public auction at their fine art and book auction rooms, . fleet street, london, on wednesday evening, june th, and following evenings, the whole of the remaining copies of the very celebrated work, known as finden's royal gallery of british art, consisting of a limited number of artists' and other choice proofs, and the print impressions, which are all in an exceedingly fine state. the work consists of plates, the whole of which are engraved in line by the most eminent men in that branch of art, and the pictures selected will at once show that the great artists--turner, eastlake, landseer, stanfield, webster, roberts, wilkie, maclise, mulready, and more than thirty other british masters, are represented by the works which established and upheld them in public favour, and by themes which appeal to universal sympathy and happiest affections, or which delineate the peculiar glories of our country, and commemorate its worthiest and most honourable achievements. the attention of the public is also particularly directed to the fact that all the engraved plates from which the impressions now offered have been taken, will be destroyed in the presence of the purchasers, at the time of sale. by thus securing the market from being supplied with inferior impressions at a future time, and at a cheaper rate, the value of the existing stock will be increased, and it will become the interest of all who wish to possess copies of these eminent works of art, at a reduced price, to purchase them at this sale, which will be the only opportunity of obtaining them. under these circumstances, therefore, southgate & barrett presume to demand for this sale the attention of all lovers of art--the amateur, the artist, and the public:--believing that no opportunity has ever offered so happily calculated to promote taste and to extend knowledge, while ministering to the purest and best enjoyments which the artist conveys to the hearts and homes of all who covet intellectual pleasures. framed copies of the work can be seen at mr. hogarth's, . haymarket; messrs. lloyd, brothers, & co., . ludgate hill; and at the auctioneers, . fleet street, by whom all communications and commissions will be promptly and faithfully attended to. *** catalogues of the entire sale will be forwarded on receipt of postage stamps. * * * * * sale by auction of the stocks of extremely valuable modern engravings, the engraved plates of which will be destroyed in the presence of the purchasers at the time of sale. southgate & barrett beg to announce that they will include in their sale by auction of "finden's royal gallery," and other valuable works of art of a similar character, to take place at their fine art and book auction rooms, . fleet street, london, on wednesday evening, june th, and seventeen following evenings (saturdays and sundays excepted), the whole of the stocks of proofs and prints of the following highly important engravings, published by mr. hogarth and messrs. lloyd & co. "ehrenbreitstein," painted by j. m. w. turner, r. a., engraved by john pye. "ecce homo," from the picture by correggio, engraved by g. t. doo. "the dame school," painted by t. webster, r. a., engraved by l. stocks. "eton montem," two views illustrative of, from pictures by evans of eton, engraved by charles lewis. "portrait of mrs. elizabeth fry," engraved by samuel cousins, a.r.a., from a picture by george richmond. "portraits of eminent persons," by george richmond and c. baugniet. "portrait of w. c. macready, esq., as werner," painted by d. maclise, r. a., engraved by sharpe. flowers of german art, a series of plates by the most eminent engravers. cranstone's fugitive etchings, plates. turner and girtin's river scenery, plates. "cottage piety," painted by thomas faed, engraved by henry lemon (unpublished). "see saw," painted by t. webster, r. a., engraved by holl (unpublished). "village pastor," painted by w. p. frith, r. a., engraved by holl. "the immaculate conception," painted by guido, engraved in line by w. h. watt. "harvey demonstrating to charles the first his theory of the circulation of the blood," painted by hannah, engraved by lemon. "the origin of music," painted by selous, engraved by wass. "the first step," painted by faed, engraved by sharpe. "the prize cartoons," published by messrs. longmans & co. and numerous other highly interesting and valuable works of art. all the engraved plates of the above-mentioned engravings will be destroyed in the presence of the purchasers at the time of sale, which will thereby secure to the purchasers the same advantages as are mentioned in the advertisement given above, of the sale of the remaining copies of "finden's royal gallery." framed impressions of each of the plates can be seen at mr. hogarth's, . haymarket; at messrs. lloyd, brothers, & co., . ludgate hill; and at the auctioneers, . fleet street, by whom all communications and commissions will be promptly and faithfully attended to. *** catalogues of the entire sale will be forwarded on receipt of postage stamps. * * * * * the very extensive, highly important, and extremely choice stock of modern english and foreign engravings, water-colour drawings, and expensive books of prints, of mr. hogarth of the haymarket. southgate & barrett will sell by auction at their fine art and book auction rooms, . fleet street, on wednesday evening, june th, and seventeen following evenings (saturdays and sundays excepted), in the same sale as the "finden's royal gallery of british art," this extremely valuable and highly interesting stock. amongst the engravings will be found in the best states of artists' and other choice proofs, nearly all the popular plates that have been published during the last quarter of a century; also an important collection of foreign line engravings in the best states; a large variety of portraits and other subjects after sir joshua reynolds, some very rare; an extensive series of prints by hogarth, in early proofs, and with curious variations; a most complete series of artists' proofs of the works of george cruikshank, including nearly all his early productions, many unique; a number of scarce old prints, and a series in fine states by sir robert strange. the stock is peculiarly rich in the works of j. m. w. turner, r. a., and comprises artists' proofs and the choicest states of all his important productions, and matchless copies of the england and wales and southern coast. the collection of high-class water-colour drawings consists of examples of the most eminent artists (particularly some magnificent specimens by j. m. w. turner), as well as a great variety of the early english school, and some by the ancient masters; also a most interesting collection by members of the sketching society. of the modern school are examples by-- absolon | lewis, j. austin | liverseege barrett | maclise cattermole | muller collins | nesfield fielding, c. | prout holland | tayler, f. hunt | uwins landseer, e. | webster leslie | wilkie catalogues of the entire sale will be forwarded on receipt of postage stamps, and all communications and commissions promptly and faithfully attended to. . fleet street, london. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. no. . pall mall east, and . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. _established_ a.d. . investment accounts may be opened daily, with capital of any amount. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison. managing director. prospectuses and forms sent free on application. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett. watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete lists of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes arec best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * ross & sons' instantaneous hair dye, without smell, the best and cheapest extant.--ross & sons have several private apartments devoted entirely to dyeing the hair, and particularly request a visit, especially from the incredulous, as they will undertake to dye a portion of their hair, without charging, of any colour required, from the lightest brown to the darkest black, to convince them of its effect. sold in cases at s. d., s. d., s., s., and s. each case. likewise wholesale to the trade by the pint, quart, or gallon. address, ross & sons, . and . bishopsgate street, six doors from cornhill, london. * * * * * heal & son's spring mattresses.--the most durable bedding is a well-made spring mattress; it retains its elasticity, and will wear longer without repair than any other mattress, and with _one_ french wool and hair mattress on it is a most luxurious bed. heal & son make them in three varieties. for prices of the different sizes and qualities, apply for heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, and priced list of bedding. it contains designs and prices of upwards of bedsteads, and prices of every description of bedding, and is sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale.--messers. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that the ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , article numbers, "and so on": 'and so one' in original. page , article athens, "some verses recorded by plutarch": 'versus' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page a leader from a foreign newspaper: the new russian manifesto the launch of the "prince royal" in "notes and queries on the ormulum, by dr. monicke" the legend of the seven sisters minor notes:--coincidences--the english liturgy-- "to jump for joy"--"what is truth?"--abolition of government patronage minor queries:--"one new year's day"--greek denounced by the monks--pliny's dentistry--j. farrington, r.a.--henry crewkerne of exeter--dr. johnson--latin "dante"--ralph bosvill, of bradbourn, kent--major-general wolfe--custom at university college, oxford--"old dominion"--"wise men labour," &c. minor queries with answers:--dame hester temple--samuel white--heralds' college--pope replies:-- blanco white's sonnet, by s. w. singer goloshes consonants in welsh, by thomas o'coffey, &c. songs of degrees (ascents), by t. j. buckton the screw propeller amontillado sherry recent curiosities of literature roland the brave, by f. m. middleton, &c. photographic correspondence:-- recovery of silver replies to minor queries:--ashes of "lignites"--old rowley-- "bachelors of every station"--mousehunt--value of money in the seventeenth century--grammars for public schools--classic authors and the jews--hand-bells at funerals--"warple-way"-- medal of chevalier st. george--shakspeare's inheritance-- cassock--tailless cats--names of slaves--heraldic--solar annual eclipse of --brissot de warville--"le compère mathieu"--etymology of "awkward"--life and death--shelley's "prometheus unbound"--"three crowns and a sugar-loaf"-- stanza in "childe harold"--errors in punctuation--waugh of cumberland--"could we with ink," &c. miscellaneous:-- books and old volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * now ready, no. vii. (for may), price s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * no. ii of john russell smith's old book circular is published this day: containing choice, useful, and curious books at very moderate prices. it may be had gratis on application, or sent by post on receipt of a postage label to frank it. j. r. smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * this day, fcp. vo., s. dante's divine comedy.--the first part.--hell. translated in the metre of the original, with notes, by thomas brooksbank, m.a., cambridge. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, vo., s. a dialogue on the plurality of worlds: being a supplement to the essay on that subject. also, vo., s. of the plurality of worlds: an essay. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, seventh and cheaper edition, with numerous illustrations, s. d. domesticated animals. by mary roberts. by the same author, third edition, with illustrations, s. d., gilt edges. wild animals. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * arundel society.--the publication of the fourth year ( - ), consisting of eight wood engravings by messrs. dalziel, from mr. w. oliver williams' drawings after giotto's frescos at padua, is now ready; and members who have not paid their subscriptions are requested to forward them to the treasurer by post-office order, payable at the charing cross office. john j. rogers, treasurer and hon. sec. . & . pall mall east. march, . * * * * * works just published by john henry jackson. * * * * * now ready, second thousand, post vo., cloth, s. gratitude: an exposition of the rd psalm. by the rev. john stevenson, vicar of patrixbourne-with-bridge, canterbury; author of "christ on the cross," and "the lord our shepherd." in fcp. vo., second thousand, price s. d. redeeming love. by w. b. mackenzie, m.a., incumbent of st. james', holloway. in fcp. vo., cloth, with portrait, s. d. the bud of promise: memoir of eliza h. m. groeme. by the rev. d. pitcairn, author of "perfect peace," &c. in fcp. vo., with engraving, price s. d. hester fleming: the good seed, and its certain fruit. by mrs. ward. in fcp. vo., with portrait, twenty-fourth thousand, s. d. perfect peace. letters memorial of the late j. w. hawell. by the rev. d. pitcairn. in mo., third thousand, cloth, s. d. married life: its duties, trials, and joys. by w. b. mackenzie, m.a. by the same author, in mo., cloth, price s. d. the dwellings of the righteous. publishing monthly, d.; quarterly parts, s. bible characters. five numbers already published. by w. b. mackenzie, m.a. in mo., eleventh thousand, price twopence. poor letter "h;" its use and abuse, addressed to the million. by the hon. h. h. in mo., price twopence. true courtesy; its want and value; a chapter for all. by sir john courteous, kt. london: john henry jackson, . paternoster row. * * * * * { } church reform league.--founded for the purpose of effecting a thorough conservative reformation in the government of the church. gentlemen willing to co-operate are requested to communicate with charles hope, esq., . lansdowne road north, kensington park, notting hill, london. * * * * * church reform.--every alternate tuesday is published, price sixpence stamped, the courier and church reform gazette, advocating an immediate reformation in the church. for the bill of the reform league see "the courier." office, . great marlborough street. * * * * * review of the publishing system.--for the above see no. . of "the courier and church reform gazette." every author should read it. office, . great marlborough street. * * * * * just published, price s. d. erastianism and the church of england since the reformation. by the rev. j. r. pretyman, late vicar of aylesbury, bucks. london: hope & co., . great marlborough street. * * * * * important to authors.--new publishing arrangements. hope & co., publishers, . great marlborough street, london, charge no commission for publishing works printed by them until the author has been refunded his original outlay. they would also state that they print in the first style, greatly under the usual charges; while their publishing arrangements enable them to promote the interests of all works entrusted to their charge. estimates, and every particular, furnished gratuitously in course of post. * * * * * hope & co. have just published. . the history of england, in rhyme, from the conquest to the reformation. price s. . chapters for school reading and home thoughts; a sequel to the "village school reading book." by the authoress of the "village schoolmistress' assistant." price s., or s. per dozen. . sacred history, with a compendium of ecclesiastical history, from the death of christ to the accession of constantine. edited by the rev. j. c. chambers. price s. . thoughts on self-culture. addressed to women. by maria g. grey, and her sister emily shirreff, authors of "passion and principle," and "letters from spain and barbary." second edition. price s. d. . new system of fixing artificial teeth. illustrated. by a. fitzpatrick, surgeon-dentist, . lower grosvenor street. price s. this work has been pronounced by the press as the best popular exposition of the art of dentistry, and mr. fitzpatrick as one of the ablest practitioners of the day. london: hope & co., . great marlborough street. * * * * * library of valuable books. mr. bentley will sell by auction, in the lecture room of the natural history society, at worcester, on tuesday and wednesday, the th and st days of may, (instead of tuesday the rd, as previously announced), commencing each morning at eleven o'clock, a valuable library of rare and choice books, including one copy of the first folio edition of shakspeare, london, , and two varying copies of the second folio, london, , with many valuable black-letter books in divinity and history. catalogues may be had at the office of the auctioneer, . foregate street, worcester, one week previous to the sale. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * just published, price s., or free by post for stamps, a memoir of the poet dr. william broome, the friend and assistant of pope. by t. w. barlow, esq., f.l.s. london: kent & co. manchester: burge. * * * * * musings of a musician. by henry c. lunn. just published, a new edition, whole cloth, boards, gilt, price s. this entertaining work consists of a series of popular sketches, illustrative of musical matters and musical people. "they can scarcely fail to be appreciated even by the most unmusical reader..."--_westminster review._ "these musings give us the impression of versatile ingenuity, and what is better, ingenuousness on the part of the writer."--_athenæum._ london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street (publishers to the queen); simpkin, marshall, & co.; whittaker & co.; and all booksellers and musicsellers. * * * * * the favourite ballads of the season are john parry's sweet vesper bells of ancona, illustrated, s. d.; and have still some kind word for me, s. franz abt's may song, s.; morning, s. d.; evening s.; and the earth it loves rain, s. kucken's the star, s.; sweet may, s.; and his celebrated song, the tear, s. pressel's a youth from the summit, s., and when two fond hearts, s. cherry's the dreams of youth, illustrated, s. d., and like the song of birds, illustrated, s. d. eliza cook's song of the sailor boy, music by rodwell, s. harper's truth in absence, s. miss fricker's fading away, s. barker's the lime blossoms, illustrated, s. d.; and glover's (s.) annie o' the banks o' dee, illustrated, s. d., &c. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street, music publishers to the queen. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possesion of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depostories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * ross & sons' instantaneous hair dye, without smell, the best and cheapest extant.--ross & sons have several private apartments devoted entirely to dyeing the hair, and particularly request a visit, especially from the incredulous, as they will undertake to dye a portion of their hair, without charging, of any colour required, from the lightest brown to the darkest black, to convince them of its effect. sold in cases at s. d., s. d., s., s., and s. each case. likewise wholesale to the trade by the pint, quart, or gallon. address, ross & sons, . and . bishopsgate street, six doors from cornhill, london. * * * * * one thousand bedsteads to choose from.--heal & son's stock comprises handsomely japanned and brass-mounted iron bedsteads, children's cribs and cots of new and elegant designs, mahogany, birch, and walnut-tree bedsteads, of the soundest and best manufacture, many of them fitted with furnitures, complete. a large assortment of servants' and portable bedsteads. they have also every variety of furniture for the complete furnishing of a bed room. heal & son's illustrated and priced catalogue of bedsteads and bedding, sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, may , ._ notes. a leader from a foreign newspaper: the new russian manifesto. mention was recently made, in vol. ix., p. ., of the valuable character of many of the leading articles in the continental journals, and a wish expressed that translations of them were more frequently communicated in our own papers to english readers. the great newspapers of this country are too rich in varied talent and worldwide resources of their own, to make it worth their while in ordinary times to pay much attention to information and disquisition from foreign politicians, on subjects of the day; but the infinite importance to england, and to the world, of the present warlike struggle, renders it a matter of corresponding weight to know how far the foreign press, in the great centres of movement and intelligence, stand affected to great britain. perhaps, therefore, as a specimen of this kind of writing, you will for once admit, among your varied contents, the following article from the _kölnische zeitung_ of may : "while in england, as a preparation for war, a day of humiliation and prayer is held, on which the clergy exhort the people to look into their own breasts, and to discover and forsake those sins which might provoke god's punishments; while the most powerful nation of the world commences war by humbling itself before god, on the part of russia a new manifesto appears, the arrogance of which can scarcely be exceeded by anything human. the czar speaks as if he were the representative of god upon earth. his affair is god's affair. he carries on war for god, and for his only begotten son, jesus christ our saviour. god is for him, who can be against him! "such a document has not proceeded from the cabinet of any european power since the middle ages. it exceeds all which even russian diplomacy has accomplished, in its zeal for christianity, during the last century. for it is worthy of notice that nowhere is religion so much publicly talked about, as in the place where least of it remains, among the higher classes in st. petersburgh. religion there is _inter instrumenta regni_. when catherine ii. permitted her husband peter iii. to be imprisoned, in order to rob him of his throne and life, the cause of this was communicated to the russian people on july , , as follows:--'first of all, the foundation of your orthodox greek religion has been shaken and its principles are drawing near to a total overthrow; so that we ought to dread exceedingly lest we should see a change in the true ruling faith transmitted from antiquity in russia, and a foreign religion introduced.' so wrote catherine ii., 'the greatest of the queens, and of the ----,' the friend of voltaire, the greatest lady-freethinker of her age. but she wrote still farther:--'secondly, the honour of russia as a state, which has been brought to the highest pinnacle of her victorious arms with the loss of so much blood, is actually trodden under foot through the newly-concluded peace _with her bitterest enemy_.' and who is this bitterest enemy of the orthodox russia? the king of prussia, frederick ii.! yes, the king of prussia was once declared to be the bitterest enemy of orthodox russia; and nothing stands in the way but at some future time he may again be declared to be so, just as at the decree of the incorporation of the provinces of preutzen and posen. the politicians of st. petersburgh know that the russian people, living on in animal dulness, are susceptible of no other intellectual impression except a religious one; and so without reflection, the cross is torn from the high altar, and used as a military signal. religion was employed as a pretext, in order to lead the unhappy poles step by step into ruin; and russia was just so employed in turkey, when the 'heathen' undertook to disturb her in her christian work. rise up, therefore, orthodox nation, and fight for the true christian faith! "we know not whether such a manifesto is sufficient to lead the russians willingly, like a devoutly believing flock, in the name of jesus christ to the battle-field; and to perish in a war projected for a worldly purpose, to obtain the inheritance of the 'sick man.' but we do know that the manifesto will make no one believe throughout civilised europe in russia's holy views. nations which have learned to think cannot help immediately perceiving the contradiction which prevails in this manifesto. first of all the struggle is represented as religious, and immediately after as political. 'england and france' it says, 'make war on russia, in order to deprive her of a part of her territory.' the only logical connexion between the two modes of statement consists in the words--'their object is to cause our fatherland to descend from the powerful position to which the hand of the almighty has raised it.' and thereupon is mentioned 'the holy purpose which has been assigned to russia by divine providence.' and this holy purpose has been no secret for a long time. 'according to the design of providence,' wrote peter the great, 'the russian people are called to universal dominion over europe for the future.' "such a future cannot longer be averted from europe, except by common efforts. prussia has come to an understanding, as to the object in view, with the other powers; and when an object or purpose is sought to be attained, the means must also be provided. to make an impression by words and peaceful means, is quite out of the question, after this imperial pastoral letter, which proclaims war in the name of god and of jesus christ. force can only he repelled by force. it was not our wish to compel our government prematurely. with reference to prussia's position, the warlike interference of our troops was not desired until england and france had concluded a firm alliance between themselves, and with turkey; and had commenced the war in earnest. now, when all this has taken place, and the thunder of cannon is roaring over sea and land; now, when austria, which conceals within herself so many more dangers, prepares, with manly determination, to advance; what excuse can prussia { } have, called upon by right to the leadership; what excuse can she make to herself for remaining behind? in the vienna protocol of april , prussia has pledged herself, beyond what we could have dared to hope, towards the western powers: in the treaty with austria of april , prussia has bound herself, in certain eventualities that may occur at any moment, to a warlike support of austria. is it not, therefore, high time for prussia to arouse herself from her lethargy, in order to undertake the support contracted for by treaty? if history teaches anywhere an evident lesson, prussia will find it in her own past history. once before prussia promised to help austria, and was not able to perform her engagement. all the misfortune by which we were attacked in is to be ascribed to prussia not having completed her preparations in , and to her not appearing in the field before the battle of austerlitz. it was reported lately to be the saying of a brave general, that when he heard the enemies' batteries firing, it always seemed to him that he heard his own name called out. does not prussia also hear her own name loudly pronounced, in those cannon-shots fired off in the baltic and black sea for the public law of nations by europe's brave champions? by what means did the great elector establish the honour of the prussian name, except by bravely taking the field, as a model of german princes, against the superior force of louis xiv.? the policy, to which the prussian government has again pledged itself, will be unanimously approved of by the prussian people. the abuse which russia has made of the name of religion can deceive none, but such as are willing to be deceived. catholic christendom, with the pope and the dignitaries of the catholic church in england and france at its head, have declared which side in this struggle is right, and which is wrong; and righteousness is god's earthly name! not less have the noblest and most pious protestants loudly raised their voices as witnesses to the truth, and against the common oppressor of _every_ christian church, even his own; religion, called upon for aid, denies it to russia; and political science has long since pronounced her judgment, that russia's superiority must be put an end to by a general opposition. if prussia would but seize the opportunity, and proceed in the same path with austria, russia's ambition might be tamed by united europe in one successful campaign. now is the favourable moment for prussia; and if it is not taken advantage of, generations unborn may have cause to rue it." alpha. * * * * * the launch of the "prince royal" in . october , , mr. phineas pette commenced the "prince royal," which was launched in . the keel of this "most goodly shippe for warre" was feet long, and the cross-beam feet in length, and she carried three score and four pieces of great ordnance, and was of the burden of tons. on the th of may, , the king presided at the trial of pette at woolwich for insufficiency, during which pette sat on his knees, "baited by the great lord (northampton) and his bandogs;" and after the ship had been inspected by the king and his party, mr. pette was acquitted of the charges brought against him. the prince visited the ship on the th of january, , th of april, th of june, and again the following day, with the king, and on the th of september it was launched. it is stated that the garnishing of the ship began between easter and michaelmas, and that the number of nobles, gentry, and citizens, resorting continually to woolwich to see it, was incredible. on the th of september, divers london maids, with a little boy with them, visited the ship; the boy fell down into the hold, and died the same night from the effects of his fall, being the first accident during the building. about the middle of the month, the ship being ready to be placed on the ways, twelve choice master carpenters of his majesty's navy were sent for from chatham to assist in "her striking and launching;" on the th she was safely set upon her ways, and on the th was visited by the french ambassador. preparations were made in the yard for the reception of the king, queen, royal children, ladies, and the council; and on the evening of the rd, a messenger was sent from theobalds, desiring the ship to be searched, lest any disaffected persons might have bored holes privily in her bottom. on monday th, the dock gates were opened; but the wind blowing hard from the south-west, it proved a very bad tide. the king came from theobalds, though he had been very little at ease with a scouring, taken with surfeiting by eating grapes, the prince and most of the lords of the council attending him. the queen arrived after dinner, and the lord admiral gave commandment to heave taught the crabs and screws, though pette says he had little hope to launch by reason the wind overblew the tide; "yet the ship started and had launched, but the dock gates pent her in so straight, that she stuck fast between them, by reason the ship was nothing lifted by the tide, as we expected she would; and the great lighter, by unadvised counsel, being cut off the stern, the ship settled so hard upon the ground, that there was no possibility of launching that tide; besides which there was such a multitude of people got into the ship, that one could scarce stir by another." "the king was much grieved at the frustrate of his expectation," and returned to greenwich at five o'clock with the queen and her train; the prince staid a good while after conferring with the lord admiral and mr. pette, and then rode off to greenwich, with a promise to return shortly after midnight. the night was moonlight, but shortly after midnight became very stormy, which mr. pette says made him "doubt that there were { } some indirect working among our enemies to dash our launching." the prince however arrived at the yard, went on board a little before two a. m., when the word being given to get all taught, the ship went away without any straining of screws or tackles, till she came clear afloat in the middle of the channel. he then describes the christening of her by the prince, by the name of the "prince royal"; and while warping to her mooring, his royal highness went down to the platform of the cock-room, where the ship's beer stood for ordinary company, and there finding an old can without a lid, drew it full of beer himself, and drank it off to the lord admiral, and caused him with the rest of the attendants to do the like. the hawsers laid ashore for landfasts had been treacherously cut, but without doing any injury to the ship. the prince left for greenwich at nine a. m. j. h. p. * * * * * "notes and queries on the ormulum, by dr. monicke" (_programm der handels-lehranstalt zu leipzig_, ). under the above title, dr. monicke has published what are considered by a foreign critic some valuable observations on the admirable oxford edition (by dr. meadows white) of _the ormulum_, an anglo-saxon work, now first edited from the original ms. in the bodleian library. the attention of the readers of "n. & q.," who are occupied in the study of the anglo-saxon, with its cognate dialects, and direct descendant, will be doubly attracted by a title with which they are so familiar, and which is associated with some of the happiest and most peaceful moments of their life. the title of the essay (which i have not yet seen, and which appears to be written in english) seems to be entirely the choice of the author, and must be somewhat flattering to the editor of the original "n. & q." j. m. oxford. [we have received, with something like a sense of neglected duty, this notice of _the ormulum, now first edited from the original manuscript in the bodleian; with notes and a glossary by robert meadows white, d.d., late fellow of st. mary magdalene college, and formerly professor of anglo-saxon in the university of oxford_, vols. vo. the fact is, we have long intended to call attention to this book, alike creditable to the scholastic acquirements of dr. white, and to the authorities of the oxford press; but have from week to week postponed doing so, that we might enter at some length into the history of _the ormulum_, and a notice of the labour of its editor. in the mean time dr. white's labours have received from foreign scholars that recognition which his countrymen have been too tardy in offering.--ed. "n. & q."] * * * * * the legend of the seven sisters. will the editor of "n. & q.," or any of his correspondents, kindly inform me of the true circumstances from which the following legend has sprung? the locality which was the scene of the tragedy is the little village of ballybunion, situated within a few miles of kerry head. the scenery around is of the wildest and most striking description. frowning, rugged cliffs, rising abruptly out of the water to the height of over one hundred feet, and perforated with numerous caves, into which the ocean rushes with fearful fury in winter,--for it is a stormy coast, and rarely does a month pass without beholding some dead, putrified body washed ashore; while inland, a barren, uncultivated plain, consisting mostly of bog, stretches away to nearly the foot of the reeks, which, looming in the distance, seem to rear their giant masses even to the sky, and form, as it were, an impenetrable barrier between the coast and the interior. on the brink of one of those precipices we have mentioned, there stands the ruins of a castle, seemingly of great antiquity. nothing now remains but the basement storey, and that seems as if it would be able to withstand the war of winds and waves for hundreds of years longer. according to the legend, this castle was inhabited by a gallant chieftain at the period of the incursions of the danes, and who was the father of seven blooming daughters. he was himself a brave warrior, animated with the greatest hatred against the ostmen, who, at that period, were laying every part of erin waste. his sword never rested in its sheath, and day and night his light gallies cruised about the coast on the watch for any piratical marauder who might turn his prow thither. one day a sail was observed on the horizon; it came nearer and nearer, and the pirate standard was distinguished waving from its mast-head. immediately surrounded by the irish ships, it was captured after a desperate resistance. those that remained of the crew were slaughtered and thrown into the sea, with the exception of the captain and his six brothers, who were reserved for a more painful death. conveyed to the fortress, their wounds were dressed, and they were allowed the free range of the castle. here, gradually a love sprung between them and the seven irish maidens, who yielded to their ardent protestations, and agreed to fly with them to denmark. everything was arranged for the voyage, and one fearfully stormy night in winter was chosen for the attempt. not a single star shone in the sky, the cold blast came sweeping from the ocean, the rain fell in torrents, and the water roared and raged with terrific violence amid the rocky caverns. escaping down from the battlement by a rope-ladder, they discovered to their horror, that on reaching the ground they were surrounded by armed men. not a word was uttered; but they { } well knew into whose hands they had fallen. conducted again within the fortress, they found themselves face to face with their injured father. one deadly glance of hatred he cast on the prisoners, and, muttering some few words to one of his attendants, he pointed towards his daughters. the man, on receiving the command, recoiled a few paces, transfixed with horror; and then he advanced nearer, and seemed as if remonstrating with him. but the parent's face assumed an absolutely demoniac expression; and more peremptorily repeating his order, he stalked out of the room. and now commenced a fearful scene. the lovers were torn from each other's arms, and the women were brought forth again. the storm had grown more violent, and the spray was dashing far over the cliff, whilst the vivid flashes of lightning afforded a horrible illumination to the dreary scene. proceeding along the brink of the precipice, they at length came to a chasm which resembled somewhat the crater of a volcano, as it was completely closed, with the exception of the opening at the top, and one small aperture below, through which the sea rushed with terrible violence. the rolling of the waters sounded fearfully on the ear of those around, and now at length the sisters divined their fate. one by one they were hurled into the boiling flood: one wild shriek, the billows closed again, and all was over. what the fate of their lovers was, the legend says not. the old castle has crumbled into ruins--the chieftain sleeps in an unknown grave, his very name forgotten; but still the sad ending of the maidens is remembered, and even unto this day the cavern is denominated the "cave of the seven sisters." such is the above legend as it still exists amongst the peasantry, and any of your contributors would extremely oblige by informing me of the name of the irish leader. george of munster. queen's college, cork. * * * * * minor notes. _coincidences._-- "jejunus raro stomachus vulgaria temnit."--hor. _sat._ . "a hungry dog eats dirty pudding." "dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt."--hor. _sat._ . "he misses one post, and runs his head against t'other." "[greek: chelidôn ear ou poiei]."--arist. _eth._, i. . "one swallow don't make a summer." j. h. b. _the english liturgy._-- "it is deserving of notice, that although dr. beattie had been brought up a member of the presbyterian church of scotland, and regularly attended her worship and ordinances when at aberdeen, he yet gave the most decided preference to the church of england, generally attending the service of that church when anywhere from home, and constantly when at peterhead. he spoke with enthusiasm of the beauty, simplicity, and energy of the english liturgy, especially of the litany, which he declared to be the finest piece of uninspired composition in any language." _life of dr. beattie_, by sir w. forbes, bart., vol. iii. p. . note. j. m. oxford. "_to jump for joy._"--this expression, now most often used figuratively, was probably in the olden time a plain and literal description of an actual fact. the _anglo-norman poem on the conquest of ireland by henry ii._, descriptive of events which occurred at the close of the twelfth century, informs us (at p. .) that one of the english knights, named maurice de prendergast, being desirous of returning with his followers to wales, was impeded in his march by "les traitres de weyseford;" and that this so much provoked him, that he tendered his services to the king of ossory, who-- "de la novele esteit heistez, e de joie saili à pés." this expression, "saili à pés," is translated in the glossary "rose upon feet;" but the more correct rendering of it appears to me to be that of jumping or dancing for joy. james f. ferguson. dublin. "_what is truth?_"--bacon begins his "essay of truth" (which is dated ) with these words: "what is truth? said jesting pilate, and would not stay for an answer. certainly, there be that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting freewill in thinking, as well as in acting." there is a similar passage in bishop andrews's sermon _of the resurrection_, preached in : "pilate asked, _quid est veritas?_ and then some other matter took him in the head, and so up he rose, and went his way, before he had his answer; he deserved never to find what truth was. and such is our seeking mostwhat, seldom or never seriously, but some question that comes cross our brain for the present, some _quid est veritas_? so sought as if that we sought were as good lost as found. yet this we would fain have so for seeking, but it will not be." perhaps bacon heard the bishop preach (the sermon was at whitehall); and if so, the passage in andrews will explain the word "jesting" to mean, not scoffing, but asking without serious purpose of acquiring information. j. a. h. _abolition of government patronage._--the following passage, from dr. middleton's _dedication of the life of cicero_ to lord keeper hervey, is { } interesting as showing the enlightened sentiments of an eminent scholar a hundred years ago when addressing a minister of the crown: "human nature has ever been the same in all ages and nations, and owes the difference of its improvements to a difference only of culture, and of the rewards proposed to its industry; where these are the most amply provided, there we shall always find the most numerous and shining examples of human perfection. in old rome, the public honours were laid open to the virtue of every citizen; which, by raising them in their turns to the commands of that mighty empire, produced a race of nobles superior even to kings. this was a prospect that filled the soul of the ambitious and roused every facility of mind and body to exert its utmost force; whereas, in modern states, men's views being usually confined to narrow bounds, beyond which they cannot pass, and a partial culture of their talents being sufficient to procure everything that their ambition can aspire to, a great genius has seldom either room or invitation to stretch itself to its full size." alpha. oxford. * * * * * minor queries. "_one new year's day._"--an old lady used to amuse my childhood by singing a song commencing-- "one new year's day, as i've heard say, dick mounted on his dappled grey," &c. the rest i forget, but i should be glad to know if it is extant, and what is known of its origin, &c. g. william skyring. somerset house. _greek denounced by the monks._-- "almost the time (a.d. ) when the monks preached in their sermons to the people to beware of a new tongue of late discovered, called the greek, and the mother of all heresies."--_foreign quarterly_ for october, , no. . p. . can any of your readers give references to such passages in monkish sermons? cpl. _pliny's dentistry._--as your journal has become the repository of so many novel and interesting _facts_, i trust that the following data will be found acceptable to the readers of "n. & q." having had occasion, of late, to look over the works of pliny, i was struck with the extent to which this ancient naturalist and philosopher has carried his researches on the above subject; as, in some editions, the index of the article dentes occupies several closely-printed columns. he recommends tooth-powder (_dentifricia_) of hartshorn, pumice-stone, burnt nitre, _lapis arabus_, the ashes of shells, as well as several ludicrous substances, in accordance with the mystic prejudices of the age. amongst the remedies for fixing (_firmare_) teeth, he mentions _inula_, _acetum scillinum_, _radix lapathi sativi_, vinegar; and loose teeth are to be fixed by _philidonia_, _veratrum nigrum_, and a variety of other remedies, amongst which some are most rational, and tend to prove that more attention was paid to the physiological (_hygeistic_) department relating to that portion of the human body than we have been hitherto aware of, as even the most recent works on dentistry do not mention these facts. george hayes. conduit street. _j. farrington, r.a._--having recently met with some views by j. farrington, r.a., without a description of the locality, i shall be obliged by your insertion of a query respecting information of what views were executed by this painter, with their localities, in or about the year . as i am informed that those above referred to belong to this neighbourhood, and therefore would be invested with interest to me, i could ascertain their locality with precision. john nurse chadwick. king's lynn. _henry crewkerne, of exeter_, "captain of dragoons, descended from crewkerne, of crewkerne, in devonshire," died at carlow in feb. - . was he descended from crewkerne of chilhay, dorset? his pedigree would be very acceptable. y. s. m. _dr. johnson._--johnson says somewhere that he never was in a tight place but once, and that was when he had a mad bull by the tail. had he held on, he said he would have been dragged to death over a stubble field; while if had not held on, the bull would have gored him to death. now my query is, what did dr. johnson do, hold on or let go? g. m. b. _latin "dante."_--is there not a literal latin _prose_ translation of dante, somewhat rhythmical? has not stillingfleet cited it in the _origines_? if so, where is its _corpus_? and in what form, ms. or printed? of metrical latin versions there are several beside those of the jesuit carlo d'aquino and piazza. the query is as to the prose? philip aske. _ralph bosvill, of bradbourn, kent_, clerk of the court of wards, married first, anne, daughter of sir richard clement, and widow of john castillon, by whom he had five children. he married secondly, benedicta skinner, by whom he had six children. this i have taken from the _visitations of kent_. in harl. ms. . , he is said to have had another son ralph, "slain in ireland." this ralph was his son, and i wish to discover by which wife, as the entry above-mentioned in the { } mss. is of a much later date than the body of it. he had, i think, two other sons at least, who are not in the books, namely, godfrey and william. the name is sometimes called "boswell." was the younger ralph's wife, mary, daughter of alveray copley of batley? y. s. m. _major-general wolfe._--the following ms. is advertised for sale. is anything known concerning it? "a copy of orders written by major-general woolfe; an important unpublished historical ms. this valuable collection commences with 'general orders to be observed by a regiment on their arrival in scotland, .' at p. . begin 'orders by major-general woolfe in america: halifax, april , .' they continue dated from louisburg, point orleans, montmorenci, cape rouge, &c., to the last, which is dated on board the sutherland, off st. nicholas, sept. th, the day before the scaling the heights of abraham; no doubt the last issued by woolfe, as on that day ( th) he fell in battle. there is no clue in the ms. to its compiler; it consists of pages to., beautifully written, with ms. plan of order of battle, of the army commanded by general woolfe in america, . it is believed that no printed copy exists of these valuable papers, which are of the highest importance to the historian, as a slight extract will show. small to., calf. 'sept. . the sutherland, at anchor off st. nicholas:--the enemies' forces are not divided; great scarcity of provisions in the camp, and universal discontent amongst the canadians. the second officer in command is gone to montreal or st. john's, which gives reason to think that governor amherst is advancing into that colony. a vigorous blow struck by the army at this juncture might determine the fate of canada. our troops below are ready to join us; all the light infantry and tools are embarked at the point of levi, and the troops will land where the enemy seems least to expect it.'" j. balch. philadelphia. _custom at university college, oxford._--what is the origin of the following custom observed at this college? on every easter sunday the representation of a tree, dressed with evergreens and flowers, is placed on a turf, close to the buttery, and every member there resident, as he leaves the hall, after dinner, chops at the tree with a cleaver. the college-cook stands by holding a plate, in which the master deposits half a guinea, each fellow five shillings, and the other members two shillings and sixpence each; this custom is called "chopping at the tree." when was this custom instituted, and to what circumstance are we to attribute its origin? who presented to the chapel of this college the splendid eagle, as a lectern, which forms one of its chief ornaments? was it presented by dr. radcliffe, or does it date its origin from the happy reign of queen mary? m. a. "_old dominion._"--it is stated in a newspaper that the term "old dominion," generally applied here to the state of virginia, originated from the following facts. during the protectorate of cromwell the colony of virginia refused to acknowledge his authority, and sent to flanders for charles ii. to reign over them. charles accepted, and was about to embark, when he was recalled to the throne of england. upon his accession, as a reward for her loyalty, he allowed the colony to quarter the arms of england, ireland, and scotland, as an independent member of the "old dominion;" whence the term. what truth is there in this story? penn. "_wise men labour_," _&c._-- on the fly-leaf of sir roger twysden's copy of stow's _annales_ are the following, lines, dated : "wise men labour, good men grieve, knaves devise, and fooles believe; help, lord! and now stand to us, or fooles and knaves will quite undoe us, or knaves and fooles will quite undoe us." from whence are these lines taken? l. b. l. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _dame hester temple._--"lady temple lived to see seven hundred of her own descendants: she had thirteen children." i have extracted this "sea-serpent" from an extract in burke from _fuller's worthies_, but i am unable to refer to the original for confirmation of this astounding fact; if true it is wonderful. y. s. m. [fuller's amusing account of dame hester temple will be found in his _worthies of buckinghamshire_, vol. i. p. . edit. . he says: "dame hester temple, daughter to miles sands, esq., was born at latmos in this county, and was married to sir thomas temple, of stow, baronet. she had four sons and nine daughters, which lived to be married, and so exceedingly multiplied, that this lady saw seven hundred extracted from her body. reader, i speak within compass, and have left myself a reserve, having bought the truth hereof by a wager i lost. besides, there was a new generation of marriageable females just at her death; so that this aged vine may be said to wither, even when it had many young boughs ready to knit. "had i been one of her relations, and as well enabled as most of them be, i would have erected a monument for her--thus designed. a fair tree should have been erected, the said lady and her husband lying at the bottom or root thereof; the heir of the family should have ascended both the middle and top bough thereof. on the right hand hereof her younger sons, { } on the left her daughters, should, as so many boughs, be spread forth. her grandchildren should have their names inscribed on the branches of those boughs; the great-grandchildren on the twigs of those branches; and the great-great-grandchildren on the leaves of those twigs. such as survived her death should be done in a lively green, the rest (as blasted) in a pale and yellow fading colour. "pliny, lib. vii. cap. . (who reports it as a wonder worthy the chronicle, that chrispinus hilarus, _prælatâ pompâ_, 'with open ostentation,' sacrificed in the capitol seventy-four of his children and children's children attending on him,) would more admire, if admitted to this spectacle. "vives telleth us of village in spain, of about an hundred houses, whereof all the inhabitants were issued from one certain old man who lived, when as that village was so peopled, so as the name of propinquity, how the youngest of the children should call him, could not be given.[ ] 'lingua enim nostra supra abavum non ascendit;' ('our language,' saith he, meaning the spanish, 'affords not a name above the great-grandfather's father'). but, had the offspring of this lady been contracted into one place, they were enough to have peopled a city of a competent proportion though her issue was not so long in succession, as broad in extent. "i confess very many of her descendants died before her death; in which respect she was far surpassed by a roman matron, on which the poet thus epitapheth it, in her own person[ ]: '_viginti atque novem, genitrici callicrateæ,_ _nullius sexus mors mihi visa fuit._ _sed centum et quinque explevi bene messibus annos,_ _in tremulam baculo non subeunte manum._' 'twenty-nine births callicrate i told, and of both sexes saw none sent to grave, i was an hundred and five winters old, yet stay from staff my hand did never crave.' thus, in all ages, god bestoweth personal felicities on some far above the proportion of others. the lady temple died a.d. ."] [footnote : in comment upon th chapter of lib. xv. de civitate dei.] [footnote : ausonius, epitaph. heröum, num. .] _samuel white._--in bishop horsley's _biblical criticism_, he refers several times to a samuel white, whom he speaks of in terms of contempt, and calls him, in one place, "that contemptible ape of grotius;" and in another, "so dull a man." query, who was this mr. white, and what work did he publish? i. r. r. [samuel white, m.a., was a fellow of trinity college, cambridge, and chaplain to the earl of portland. his work, so severely criticised by bishop horsley, is entitled _a commentary on the prophet isaiah, wherein the literal sense of his prophecies is briefly explained_: london, to., . in his dedication he says: "i have endeavoured to set in a true light one of the most difficult parts of holy scripture, following the footsteps of the learned grotius as far as i find him in the right; but taking the liberty to leave him where i think him wide of the prophet's meaning."] _heralds' college._--are the books in the heralds' college open to the public on payment of reasonable fees? y. s. m. [the fee for a search is s.; that for copying of pedigrees is s. d. for the first, and s. for every other generation. a general search is l. s. the hours of attendance are from ten till four.] _pope._--where, in pope's works, does the passage occur which is referred to as follows by richter in his _grönlandische prozesse_, vol. i.? "pope vom menschen (eigentlich vom manne) sagt, 'er tritt auf, um sich einmal umzusehen, und zu sterben.'" a. e. aberdeen. ["awake my st. john! leave all meaner things to low ambition, and the pride of kings. let us (since life can little more supply _than just to look about us, and to die_) expatiate free o'er all this scene of man."--_essay on man_, epist. i. l. - .] * * * * * replies. blanco white's sonnet. (vol. vii., pp. . .) this sonnet first appeared in _the bijou_, an annual published by pickering in . it is entitled: "night and death. _a sonnet: dedicated to s. t. coleridge, esq._ _by his sincere friend joseph blanco white._ mysterious night, when the first man but knew thee by report, unseen, and heard thy name, did he not tremble for this lovely frame, this glorious canopy of light and blue? yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, hesperus, with the host of heaven came, and lo! creation widen'd on his view. who could have thought what darkness lay concealed within thy beams, o sun? or who could find, whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal'd, that to such endless orbs thou mad'st us blind? weak man! why to shun death this anxious strife? if _light_ can thus deceive, wherefore not _life_?" in a letter from coleridge to white, dated nov. , , he thus speaks of it: "i have now before me two fragments of letters _begun_, the one in acknowledgment of the finest and most graceful sonnet in our language (at least it is only in milton's and wordsworth's sonnets that i { } recollect any rival, and this is not my judgment alone, but that of the man [greek: kat' exochên philokalon], john hookham frere), the second on the receipt of your 'letter to charles butler,'" &c. in a subsequent letter, without date, coleridge thus again reverts to the circumstance of its having been published without his or white's sanction: "but first of your sonnet. on reading the sentences in your letter respecting it, i stood staring vacantly on the paper, in a state of feeling not unlike that which i have too often experienced in a dream: when i have found myself in chains, or in rags, shunned, or passed by, with looks of horror blended with sadness, by friends and acquaintance; and convinced that, in some alienation of mind, i must have perpetrated some crime, which i strove in vain to recollect. i then ran down to mrs. gillman, to learn whether she or mr. gillman could throw any light on the subject. neither mr. nor mrs. gillman could account for it. i have repeated the sonnet often, but, to the best of my recollection, never either gave a copy to any one, or permitted any one to transcribe it; and as to publishing it without your consent, you must allow me to say the truth: i had felt myself so much flattered by your having addressed it to me, that i should have been half afraid that it would appear to be asking to have my vanity tickled, if i had thought of applying to you for permission to publish it. where and when did it appear? if you will be so good as to inform me, i may perhaps trace it out: for it annoys me to imagine myself capable of such a breach of confidence and of delicacy." in his journal, october [ ?], blanco white says: "in copying out my 'sonnet on night and death' for a friend, i have made some corrections. it is now as follows: 'mysterious night! when our first parent knew thee from report divine, and heard thy name, did he not tremble for this lovely frame, this glorious canopy of light and blue? yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, hesperus with the host of heaven came, and lo! creation widen'd in man's view. who could have thought such darkness lay conceal'd within thy beams, o sun! or who could find, whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood reveal'd, that to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind! why do we then shun death, with anxious strife? if light can thus deceive, wherefore not life?'" s. w. singer. * * * * * goloshes. (vol. ix., p. .) this word, seleucus says, "is of course of american derivation." by no means: it is found in german, _gallosche_ or _gallusche_; and in french, _galoche_ or _galloche_. the word itself most likely comes to us from the french. the dictionaries refer to spenser as using it under the form _galage_; and it occurs written _galege_, _galosh_, _calosh_, &c. the french borrowed the term from the latin _gallicæ_; but the romans first derived the idea and the thing itself from gaul, _gallicæ_ denoting gallic or gaulish shoes. cicero speaks of the _gallicæ_ with contempt.--"cum calceis et toga, nullis nec _gallicis_ nec lacerna;" and again, "cum _gallicis_ et lacerna cucurristi" (_philip._ ii. .). blount, in his _law dictionary_ ( ), gives the following, which refers to one very early use of the term in this country: "galege (_galiciæ_), from the french _galloches_, which signified of old a certain shoe worn by the gauls in foul weather, _as at present the signification with us does not much differ_. it is mentioned edw. iv. cap. ., and & hen. viii. cap. ." therefore the thing itself and the word were known among us before america was discovered. as it regards the latin word _gallicæ_, i only know of its use by cicero, tertullian, and a. gellius. the last-named, in the _noctes atticæ_, gives the following anecdote and observations relating to this word. t. castricius, a teacher of rhetoric at rome, observing that some of his pupils were, on a holiday, as he deemed, unsuitably attired, and shod (_soleati_) with _gallicæ_ (_galloches_, _sabots_, wooden shoes or clogs), he expressed in strong terms his disapprobation. he stated it to be unworthy of their rank, and referred to the above-cited passage from cicero. some of his hearers inquired why he called those _soleati_ who wore goloshes (_gallicæ_) and not shoes (_soleæ_). the expression is justified by a statement which sufficiently describes the goloshes, viz., that they call _soleæ_ (shoes) all those which cover only the lower portions of the foot, and are fastened with straps. the author adds: "i think that _gallicæ_ is a new word, which was begun to be used not long before cicero's time, therefore used by him in the second of the _antonians_. 'cum gallicis,' says he, 'et lacerna cucurristi.' nor do i read it in any other writer of authority, but other words are employed." the romans named shoes after persons and places as we do: for examples, see dr. w. smith's _dictionary of greek and roman antiquities_, sub voc. "calceus." b. h. c. poplar. this word is not of american derivation. in the _promptorium parvulorum_ we find,-- "galache or galoche, undersolynge of manny's fote." mr. way says in his note: "the galache was a sort of patten, fastened to the foot by cross latchets, and worn by men as early as the { } time of edward iii. allusion is made to it by chaucer, 'ne were worthy to unbocle his galoche.'--_squires tale_, , ." among many other quotations mr. way gives the following: "to geten hym gilte spores, or galoches y-couped."--_piers ploughman_, , . and in the _wardrobe book of prince henry_, a.d. , are mentioned-- " pair of golossians, s.; gold buckles with pendants and toungs to buckle a pair of golosses."--_archæol._ xi. . nares says: "galage. a clown's coarse shoe from _galloche_, a shoe with a wooden sole, old french, which itself is supposed to be from _gallica_, a kind of shoe mentioned by cicero, _philip._ ii. ., and a. gellius, xiii. . if so, the word has returned to the country whence it was first taken, but i doubt much of that derivation; by the passages referred to in the above authors, it seems more likely that the _gallica_ was a luxurious covering, than one so very coarse as the galloche. perhaps the _caliga_, or military strong boot of the romans, from which caligula was named, may be a better origin for it. the word _galloche_ is now naturalised among us for a kind of clog, worn over the shoes." see also richardson's _dictionary_, s. v. "galoche." zeus. seleucus need not have gone quite so far as to "the tribe of north american indians, the goloshes," or to america at all, for his derivation. if he will look in his french dictionary he will find,-- "_galoche_ (espèce de mule que l'on porte par dessus les souliers), galoshoe." i quote from boyer's _dictionnaire royal_, edit. . cole, in his english dictionary, , has-- "_galeges_, _galages_, _galloches_, _galloshoes_, fr., wooden shoes all of a piece. with us outward shoes or cases for dirty weather, &c." c. de d. * * * * * consonants in welsh. (vol. ix., p. .) for the gratification of your correspondent j. m., i give you the result of an enumeration of the _letters_ and _sounds_ in three versions of the hundredth psalm in welsh, and three corresponding versions of it in english. . from the authorised translations of the bible, welsh and english. . the metrical version of tate and brady, and that of archdeacon prys. . dr. watts's metrical version and a welsh imitation of it. _letters in three welsh versions._ _bible._ _prys._ _watts._ consonants vowels --- --- --- apparent excess of } consonants in welsh } _letters in three english versions._ _bible._ _tate & brady._ _watts._ consonants vowels --- --- --- apparent excess of } consonants in english } _sounds in three welsh versions._ _bible._ _prys._ _watts._ consonants vowels --- --- --- real excess of consonants} in welsh } _sounds in three english versions._ _bible._ _tate & brady._ _watts._ consonants vowels --- --- --- real excess of consonants} in english } from this analysis it appears that the excess of consonant _letters_ over vowels is, in english, ; and in welsh, , a little more than one-half. the excess of consonant _sounds_ is, in english, ; in welsh, , considerably less than one-fourth. this result might readily have been anticipated by anybody familiar with the following facts: . on examining lists of the elementary sounds of both languages, it will be found that the welsh has a greater number of vowels than the english, and the english a greater number of consonants than the welsh. . welsh diphthongs are much more numerous than english. . in english, _three_ vowels only constitute words in themselves (_a_, article; _i_, pronoun; _o_, interjection), and each is used only in one sense. in welsh, _five_ of the vowels (_a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _y_) are words; and they are used in at least a dozen different significations. _a_, besides being an affirmative and interrogative adverb, answers to the english _and_, _as_, _with_, _will go_. . diphthongs forming distinct words are much more numerous in welsh than in english. the following occur: _ai_, _a'i_ (=_a ei_), _a'u_, _ei_, _eu_, _ia_, _ïe_, _i'w_, _o'i_, _o'u_, _ow_, _[^w]y_, _yw_. . in welsh there are no such clusters of consonants as occur in the english words _arched_ { } (pronounced _artsht_), _parched_, _scorched_, _marched_, _hinged_ (_hindzhd_), _singed_, _cringed_, _fringed_, _purged_ (_purdzhd_), _charged_ (_tshardzhd_), _scratched_, &c. &c. from the difficulty encountered in pronouncing some of these combinations, arise the vulgar errors heard in some parts of the country: _burstis_ for _bursts_, _castis_ for _casts_. three consonants are very rarely thus crushed together in welsh,--four, never. . the welsh, to avoid an unpleasant hiatus, often introduce a consonant. hence we have _y_ or _yr_, the; _a_ or _ac_, and; _a_ or _ag_, as; _na_ or _nac_, not; _na_ or _nag_, than; _sy_ or _sydd_, is; _o_, from, becomes _odd_; _i_, to, becomes _idd_. i cannot call to mind more than one similar example in english, _a_ or _an_; and its existence is attributable to the superfluity of consonants, _n_ being _dropped_ in _a_, not _added_ in _an_. the mystery of the consonants in the swearing welshman's mouth (humorously described by messrs. chambers) is difficult of explanation. the words usual in welsh oaths afford no clue to its solution; for the name of the deity has two consonants and one vowel in english, while it has two vowels and one consonant in welsh. another name invoked on these occasions has three consonants and two vowels in english, and one of the vowels is usually elided; in welsh it has three vowels and three consonants, and colloquially the middle consonant is dropped. the welsh borrow a few imprecatory words from the english, and in appropriating them they _append the vowel termination_ o _or_ io. prejudice or imagination, therefore, seems to have had something to do in describing poor taffy's profanities. in conclusion, i may add that the hundredth psalm was chosen for analysis without a previous knowledge that it would present a greater excess of consonants (letters or sounds) in english than in welsh. i do not believe two chapters from the bible can be produced, which will show an opposite result. gwilym glan tywi. there is no _k_ in the welsh alphabet, a circumstance which reduces the consonants to twenty; while a farther reduction is made by the fact that _w_ and _y_ are _always_ vowels in welsh, instead of being only occasionally so, as in english. j. m. will therefore find that the welsh alphabet contains but eighteen consonants and seven vowels, twenty-five letters in all. this, however, i imagine, is not the point on which he wishes for information. if a stranger glances at a page of welsh without being aware that _y_ and _w_ are, strictly speaking, vowels, he will of course naturally conclude that he sees an over proportion of consonants. hence, probably, has arisen the very general idea on the subject, which is perhaps strengthened by the frequent occurrence of the double consonants _ll_ and _dd_, the first of which is but a sign, standing for a peculiar softening of the letter; and the latter for _th_ of the english language. such an idea might perhaps be conveyed by the following instances, taken at random: _dywyll_, _dydd_, _gwyddna_, _llwyn_, _gwyrliw_, &c. but it will be dispelled by an orthography adapted to the pronunciation; thus _dou-ill_[ ], _deeth_, _goo-eeth-na_, _lloo-een_, _gueer-leeoo_. j. m. will be interested to know that the welsh language can furnish almost unexampled instances of an accumulation of vowels, such as that furnished by the word _ieuainc_, young men, &c.; but above all by the often-quoted _englyn_ or stanza on the spider or silkworm, which, in its four lines, _does not contain a single consonant_: "o'i wi[^w] wy i weu ê â,--a'i weau o'i wyau e weua: e weua ei [^w]e aia, a'i weau yw ieuau iâ." seleucus. in reply to j. m. i beg to ask who ever before heard that consonants "cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded?" and how could the writer in chambers's _repository_ possibly know that the drunken welshman cursed and swore in _consonants_? there is scarcely a more harshly-sounding word in the welsh language--admitted by a clever and satirical author to have "the softness and harmony of the italian, with the majesty and expression of the greek"--than the term _crack_, adopted from the dutch. there is no welsh monosyllable that contains, like the saxon _strength_, seven consonants with only one vowel. there is no welsh proper name, like rentzsch, the watchmaker of regent street, that contains six consonants in succession in one syllable; and yet the welsh have never accused their _younger_ sister with the use of consonants which "cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded." but if the welsh language, with "its variety, copiousness, and even harmony, to be equalled by few, perhaps excelled by none," has no instance of six consonants in succession, it has one of six vowels in succession, _gwaewawr_, every one of which requires, according to the peculiarity of its pronunciation, a separate inflection of the voice. j. m. may be assured that the remark of the writer in question is only one of those pitiful "cracks" which flippant authors utter in plain ignorance of cymru, cymraeg, and cymry. cymro. marlbro. i think the following _englyn_ or epigram on a silkworm, which is composed entirely of vowels, will satisfy your correspondent. i have seen it in some book, the name of which i forget. it { } must be borne in mind that _w_ is a vowel in welsh, and is sounded like _oo_ in _boot_. "o'i wiw [^w]y i weu ê â a'i weau o'i wyau e weua; e' weua ei [^w]e aia'. a'i weau yw ieuau iâ." "i perish by my art; dig my own grave; i spin my thread of life; my death i weave." thomas o'coffey. [footnote : the _dou_ to be pronounced as in _douglass_.] * * * * * songs of degrees (ascents). (vol. ix., pp. . .) the analysis of the word [hebrew: hama`alwot] (_the steps_), confining ourselves to sensible objects, shows, first, the preposition [hebrew: `al], _over_ (=_up_ + _on_); and, secondly, [hebrew: ma`alah], the _chamber-over_. (neh. ix. ., xii. .; jos. x. .; sam. ix. .; am. ix. .; ps. civ. .) the translators of the authorised version, in using the word "degrees," intended probably to convey the notion of _rank_; but the modern mixed-mathematical ideas lead us of this day rather to think of geographical, barometrical, &c. degrees. that _steps_ is the word most accordant with the ancient notions is evident from the concurrence of the greek, latin, syriac, arabic, and ethiopic versions, as also from the chaldee targum, alluded to by j. r. g., which has the inscription [chaldee: shyr' d't'mr `al maswqiyn dtchwoma'], "a song called 'over the _steps_ of the deep'" (deut. viii. .; ex. xv. .). the root of this moral is [hebrew: `lch], in the hebrew and its cognates, and the primitive notion is _to ascend_; from which is formed in arabic [(arabic)], _adscendit in tectum_; in syriac [(syriac)], _contignatio superior, coenaculum_ (jud. iii. - .; luc. xxii. .); and the chaldee [chaldee: `aliyt], _pars domus superior, cubiculum, sive coenaculum superius_, græc. [greek: huperôon] (dan. vi. .). see shaw's _itinerary_, pp. - . the [hebrew: m] prefixed is the _participial_ form of the verb, equivalent to the termination _ing_ in english; and converts the verb also into a verbal noun, conveying the generalised idea of a class of _actions_; and thereby the steps, [hebrew: hm`lwt], _the steppings upward_, literally, which means "the ascents," or "the ascendings." the ascent by fifteen steps of the rabbins is probably equally apocryphal with the quotations from st. matthew and st. james (ix. p. .); for the same reason (ex. xx. .) which forbad the ascending the altar by steps, would apply still more strongly to the supposed "fifteen steps leading from the atrium israelis to the court of the _women_."[ ] although the ground-plans of the temples are well known, their elevations are involved in doubt. your journal would not afford me sufficient space for an _excursus_ to establish the suggestion, _not_ assertion, that i have adventured as to the _domestic_ use of the alphabetic and degree psalms, but there is negative evidence that these psalms were _not_ used in the jewish liturgy. i will only refer you to lightfoot's ninth volume (pitman's edition), where the psalms used, and indeed the whole service of the jews, is as clearly set forth as the greek service is in the liturgies of basil and chrysostom. t. j. buckton. lichfield. [footnote : "eadem ratio, ab honestate ducta, eandem pepererat apud romanos legem. gellius ex fabio pictore, _noct. attic._, lib. x. c. ., de flamine diali: scalas, nisi quæ græcæ adpellantur, eas adscendere ei plus tribus gradibus religiosum est. servius ad _Æneid_, iv. . apud veteres, flaminicam plus tribus gradibus, nisi græcas scalas, scandere non licebat, ne ulla pars pedum ejus, crurumve subter conspiceretur; eoque nec pluribus gradibus, sed tribus ut adscensu duplices nisus non paterentur adtolli vestem, aut nudari crura; nam ideo et scalæ græcæ dicuntur, quia ita fabricantur ut omni ex parte compagine tabularum clausæ sint, ne adspectum ad corporis aliquam partem admittant."--rosenmüller on exod. x. . the ascent to the altar, fifteen feet high, was by a gangway, [hebrew: kbsh].] * * * * * the screw propeller. (vol. ix., p. .) anon. is clearly mistaken in thinking that, when darwin says that "the _undulating_ motion of the tail of fishes might be applied behind a boat with greater effect than common oars," he had any idea of a screw propeller. he meant not a _rotatory_, but, as he says, an "undulating" motion, like that of the fish's tail: such as we see every day employed by the boys in all our rivers and harbours, called _sculling_--that is, driving a boat forward by the rapid lateral right and left impulsion of a single oar, worked from the stern of the boat. it was the application of steam to some such machinery as this that darwin seems to have meant; and not to the special action of a _revolving cut-water screw_. i avail myself of this occasion to record, that about the date of darwin's publication, or very soon after, the very ingenious earl stanhope not only thought of, but actually employed, the identical screw propeller now in use in a vessel which he had fitted up for the purpose; and in which, by his invitation, i, and several other gentlemen, accompanied him in various trips backwards and forwards between blackfriars and westminster bridges. the instrument was a long iron axle, { } working on the stern port of the vessel, having at the end in the water a wheel of inclined planes, exactly like the flyer of a smoke-jack; while, inboard, the axle was turned by a crank worked by the men. the velocity attained was, i think, said to be four miles an hour. i am sorry that i am not able to specify the exact date of this experiment, but it must have been between and . what lord stanhope said about employing steam to work his machine, i do not clearly recollect. he entered into a great many details about it, but i remember nothing distinctly but the machine itself. c. * * * * * amontillado sherry. (vol. ix., pp. . .) the wines of xérès consist of two kinds, viz. sweet and dry, each of which is again subdivided into two other varieties. amontillado sherry, or simply amontillado, belongs to the latter class, the other description produced from the dry wine being sherry, properly so called, that which passes in this country generally by that name. these two wines, although differing from each other in the peculiarities of colour, smell, and flavour, are produced from the same grape, and in precisely a similar manner; indeed, it frequently happens that of two or more _botas_, or large casks, filled with the same _moùt_ (wort or sweet wine), and subjected to the same manipulation, the one becomes amontillado, and the other natural sherry. this mysterious transformation takes place ordinarily during the first, but sometimes even during the second year, and in a manner that has hitherto baffled the attempts of the most attentive observer to discover. natural sherry has a peculiar aromatic flavour, somewhat richer than that of its brother, the amontillado, and partakes of three different colours, viz. pale or straw, golden, and deep golden, the latter being the description denominated by us brown sherry. the amontillado is of a straw colour only, more or less shaded according to the age it possesses. its flavour is drier and more delicate than that of natural sherry, recalling in a slight degree the taste of nuts and almonds. this wine, beings produced by a phenomenon which takes place it is imagined during the fermentation, is naturally less abundant than the other description of sherry, and there are years in which it is produced in very small quantities, and sometimes even not at all; for the same reason it is age for age dearer also. the word "amontillado" signifies like or similar to montilla, _i. e._ the wine manufactured at that place. montilla is situated in upper andalusia, in the neighbourhood of cordouc, and produces an excellent description of wine, but which, from the want of roads and communication with the principal commercial towns of spain, is almost entirely unknown. the two sweet wines of xérès are the "paxarite," or "pedro ximenès," and the "muscatel." the first-named is made from a species of grape called "pedro ximenès," sweeter in quality than that which produces the dry sherry, and which, moreover, is exposed much longer to the action of the sun previous to the process of manufacture; its condition when subjected to the action of the pressers resembling very nearly that of a raisin. fermentation is in this case much more rapid on account of the saccharine nature of the _moùt_ or wort. in flavour it is similar to the fruit called "pedro ximenès," the colour being the same as that of natural sherry. muscate wine is made from the grape of that name, and in a manner precisely similar to the paxarite. the wine produced from this grape is still sweeter than the pedro ximenès, its taste being absolutely that of the muscat grape. in colour also it is deeper; but the colour of both, like that of the two dry wines, increases in proportion to their age, a circumstance exactly the reverse of that which takes place in french wines. german sherry wines are capable of preservation both in bottles and casks for an indefinite period. in one of the _bodegas_ or cellars belonging to the firm of m. p. domecq, at xérès, are to be seen five or six casks of immense size and antiquity (some of them, it is said, exceeding a century). each of them bears the name of some distinguished hero of the age in which it was produced, wellington and napoleon figuring conspicuously amongst others: the former is preserved exclusively for the taste of englishmen. the history of sherry dates, in a commercial point of view, from about the year only. before this period it is uncertain whether it possessed any existence at all; at all events it appears to have been unknown beyond the immediate neighbourhood in which it was produced. it would be difficult, perhaps, to say by whom it was first imported: all that can be affirmed with any degree of certainty is, that a frenchman, by name pierre domecq, the founder of the house before mentioned, was among the earliest to recognise its capabilities, and to bring it to the high state of perfection which it has since attained. in appreciation of the good service thus rendered to his country, ferdinand vii. conferred upon this house the right exclusively to bear upon their casks the royal arms of spain. this wine, from being at first cultivated only in small quantities, has long since grown into one of the staple productions of the country. in the neighbourhood of xérès there are at present under cultivation from , to , _arpents_ of vines; these produce annually from , to , _botas_, equal to , or , hogsheads. in gathering the { } fruit, the ripest is invariably selected for wines of the best quality. the wines of xérès, like all those of the peninsula, require the necessary body or strength to enable them to sustain the fatigue of exportation. previous, therefore, to shipment (none being sold under four to five years of age), a little _eau de vie_ (between the fiftieth and sixtieth part) is added, a quantity in itself so small, that few would imagine it to be the cause of the slight alcoholic taste which nearly all sherries possess. in consequence of the high price of the delicious wines, numerous imitations, or inferior sherries, are manufactured, and sold in immense quantities. of these the best are to be met with at the following places: san lucar, porto, santa maria, and even malaga itself. the spurious sherry of the first-named place is consumed in larger quantities, especially in france, than the genuine wine itself. one reason for this may be, that few vessels go to take cargoes at cadiz; whilst many are in the habit of doing so to malaga for dry fruits, and to seville for the fine wool of estremadura. san lucar is situated at the mouth of the guadalquiver. w. c. * * * * * recent curiosities of literature. (vol. ix., p. .) mr. thackeray's work, _the newcomes_, would, if consulted by your correspondent, furnish him with farther examples. for instance, colonel newcome's christian name is stated (pp. . .) to be thomas: at p. . he is designated col. j. newcome. the letter addressed to him (p. .) is superscribed "major newcome," although at p. . he is styled "colonel." at p. . mention is made of "mr. shaloo, the great irish patriot," who at p. . becomes "mr. shaloony," and at p. . relapses into the dissyllabic "shaloo." clive newcome is represented (p. .) as admiring his youthful mustachios, and mr. doyle has depicted him without whiskers: at p. . ethel, "after mr. clive's famous mustachios made their appearance, rallied him," and "asked him if he was (were?) going into the army? she could not understand how any but military men could wear mustachios." on this the author remarks, three lines farther on: "if clive had been in love with her, no doubt he would have sacrificed even those beloved _whiskers_ for the charmer." at p. . the rev. c. honeyman is designated "a.m.," although previously described a master of arts of oxford, where the masters are styled "m.a." in contradistinction to the masters of arts in every other university. cambridge masters frequently affix m.a. to their names, but i never heard of an instance of an oxonian signing the initials of his degree as a.m. apropos of oxford, i recently met the following sentence at p. . of _verdant green_: "although pronounced by mrs. toosypegs, his nurse, to be 'a perfect progidye,' yet we are not aware that his _début_ on the stage of life, although thus applauded by such a _clacqueur_ as the indiscriminating toosypegs, was announced to the world at large by any other means than the notices in the county papers." if the author ever watched the hired applauders in a parisian theatre, he would have discerned among them _clacqueuses_ as well as _clacqueurs_. juverna, m.a. * * * * * roland the brave. (vol. ix., p. .) in justification of dr. forbes' identifying roland the brave with the hero of schiller's ballad, ritter toggenburg, i beg to refer your correspondent x. y. z. to _deutsches sagenbuch, von l. bechstein_, leipzig, , where (p. .) the same tale is related which forms the subject of mrs. hemans' beautiful ballad, only with this difference, that there the account of roland's death entirely agrees with schiller's version of the story, whereas the english poet has adopted the general tradition of roland's fall at roncesvalles. most of the epic poems of the middle ages in which roland's death is recorded, especially the different old french _chansons de roland ou de roncevaux_, an icelandic poem on the subject, and stricker's middle-high german lay of roland, all of them written between a.d. and --agree in this, that after roland's fall at roncesvalles, and the complete rout of the heathen by charlemagne, the latter returns home and is met--some say at aix-la-chapelle, others at blavie, others at paris--by alda or alite, olivier's sister, who inquires of him where roland, her betrothed, is. on learning his fate she dies on the spot of grief. according to monk conrad (about a.d. ), alda was roland's wife. see _ruolandes liet, von w. grimm_, göttingen, , pp. -- . the legend of rolandseck, as told by bechstein from rhenish folk lore, begins thus: "es sasz auf hoher burg am rhein hoch über dem stromthal ein junger rittersmann, roland geheiszen, (manche sagen roland von angers, neffe karls des groszen), der liebte ein burgfräulein, hildegunde, die tochter des burggrafen heribert, der auf dem nahen schlosz drachenfels sasz," &c. here the question is left open whether the hero of the story was roland the brave, or some other knight of that name. the latter seems the more probable, as roland's fall at roncesvalles is one of the chief subjects of mediæval poetry, whereas the death of knight roland in sight of { } nonnenwerth on the rhine, forms the very pith of the german local legend. from certain coincidences, however, it was easy to blend the two stories together into one, as was done by mrs. hemans. as to schiller, we may suppose that he either followed altogether a different legend, or, perhaps to avoid misconception, substituted another name for that of knight roland, similar to what he has done in other instances. r. r. canterbury. i think your correspondent x. y. z. is mistaken in attributing to mrs. hemans the lines on the "brave roland." in mr. campbell's _poems_ he will find some stanzas which bear a striking resemblance to those he has quoted. i subjoin those stanzas to which x. y. z. has referred: "the brave roland! the brave roland! false tidings reach'd the rhenish strand that he had fall'n in fight; and thy faithful bosom swoon'd with pain, o loveliest maiden of allemayne! for the loss of thine own true knight. "but why so rash has she ta'en the veil, in yon nonnenwerder's cloisters pale, for her vow had scarce been sworn, and the fatal mantle o'er her flung, when the drachenfels to a trumpet rung, 'twas her own dear warrior's horn! . . . . . . "she died! he sought the battle plain; her image fill'd his dying brain, when he fell and wish'd to fall: and her name was in his latest sigh, when roland, the flower of chivalry, expired at roncevall." x. y. z. seems also to have forgotten what mr. campbell duly records, viz. that roland used to station himself at a window overlooking "the nun's green isle;" it being after her decease that he met his death at roncevall, which event, by the way, is alluded to by sir w. scott in _marmion_, canto vi.: "oh, for a blast of that dread horn, on fontarabian echoes borne, that to king charles did come; when roland brave, and olivier, and every paladin and peer, at roncesvalles died!" h. b. f. the legends of roland, the nephew of charlemagne, are very numerous and vary much from each other. the orlando of pulci has a very different history from the orlando of bojardo and ariosto. the legend of "rolandseck and the nonnenwerth," which has been adopted by campbell, not mrs. hemans, and charmingly set to music by mrs. arkwright, is well known on the rhine. there are two poems on the legend in simrock's _rheinsagen_ ( mo., bonn, ), one by the editor, and another by august kopisch. they exactly accord with campbell's poem. the legend of ritter toggenburg resembles that of roland in many particulars, but it is not the same, and it belongs to another locality, to kloster fischingen, and not to nonnenwerth. "roland the brave" appears in all the later editions of campbell's _poems_. simrock's _rheinsagen_ is one of the most delightful handbooks that any one can take through the romantic region which the poems (partly well selected by the editor, and partly as well written by himself) describe. e. c. h. the author of the beautiful lines which are quoted by your correspondent x. y. z., is campbell, not mrs. hemans. the poet, in the fifth stanza of his ballad, tells how the unfortunate roland, on finding that hildegund had taken the veil, was accustomed to sit at his window, and "sad and oft" to look "on the mansion of his love below." "there's yet one window of that pile, which he built above the nun's green isle; thence sad and oft look'd he (when the chant and organ sounded slow) on the mansion of his love below, for herself he might not see. "she died! he sought the battle plain, her image fill'd his dying brain, when he fell and wish'd to fall; and her name was in his latest sigh, when roland, the flower of chivalry, expired at roncevall." f. m. middleton. scott has, in _marmion_,-- "when roland brave, and olivier, and every paladin and peer, at roncesvalles died!" i quote from memory, and have not the poem. f. c. b. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _recovery of silver._--as many correspondents of "n. & q." have asked how to recover the silver from their nitrate baths when deteriorated or spoiled, perhaps the following hints may be acceptable to them. let them first precipitate the silver in the form of a chloride by adding common salt to the nitrate solution. let them then filter it, and it may be reduced to its metallic state by either of the three following methods. . by adding to the wet chloride at least double its volume of water, containing one-tenth part of sulphuric acid; plunge into this a thick piece of zinc, and leave it here for four-and-twenty hours. the chloride of silver will be reduced by the formation of { } chloride and sulphate of zinc, and of pure silver, which will remain under the form of a blackish powder, which is then to be washed, filtered, and preserved for the purpose of making nitrate of silver. . the chloride of silver which is to be reduced is put into a flask with about twice its volume of a solution of caustic potash (of one part of caustic potash to nine of water), in which a small portion of sugar has been dissolved. let it boil gently. the operation is complete when the blackish powder which results from this process, having been washed in several waters, is entirely soluble in nitric acid, which is easily ascertained by experimenting on a small quantity. this powder is to be preserved in the same way as the former for the purpose of converting it into nitrate of silver. . the metallic silver is obtained in the form of a button, by mixing thoroughly parts of dried chloride of silver, parts of chalk or whitening, and parts of charcoal. this mixture is to be exposed in a crucible to a fierce red heat for at least half an hour. when completely cold the crucible is broken, and a button of pure silver is the result. the first two processes are those which i should most strongly recommend to your correspondents. n. c. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _ashes of "lignites"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--rusticus is obliged to the editor for so soon giving a reply to his query; but seems convicted of being a bad penman, like many other rustics. for the strange word, respecting which he asked for information, having seen it used in a newspaper, was not _lignites_ but _liquites_. rusticus could have guessed that the ashes of _lignites_ were but wood-ashes under a pedantic name; but a term which looks, to a rustic, as if chemists meant to persuade him to burn his beer for a valuable residuum, is more perplexing. rusticus. _old rowley_ (vol. ix., p. ., &c.).--the late sir charles bunbury, who was long the father of the jury, and considered as an oracle in all matters relating to it, told me, many years ago, that charles ii. was nicknamed "old rowley" after a favourite stallion in the royal stud so called; and he added, that the same horse's appellation had been ever since preserved in the "rowley mile," a portion of the race-course still much used, and well-known to all frequenters of newmarket. braybrooke. "_bachelors of every station_" (vol. ix., p. .) is the beginning of the _berkshire lady_, an old ballad nearly extinct, and republished by me some years ago in the form of a small pamphlet, which sold rapidly. if i can procure one, it shall be forwarded to mr. bell. the story is a true one, and related to a daughter of sir william kendrick's, who succeeded him, and was possessor of calcot place in the parish of tylehurst, and to benjamin child, esq., whom she met at a marriage feast in the neighbourhood. a wood near calcot is where the party met to fight the duel in case mr. child rejected the proposals of marriage made to him by miss kendrick. i had the account from an old man between eighty and ninety years of age, clerk of the parish; and my friend miss mitford agreed with me in the accuracy of the story: she had it from the late countess dowager of macclesfield, an old lady celebrated for her extensive and accurate knowledge of legendary lore. in opening a vault in st. mary's, reading, last year, her coffin was found entire, with this inscription: "frances child, wife of benjamin child. esq., of calcot, and first daughter of sir benjamin kendrick, bart. died feb. , , aged . the lady of berks." another coffin,-- "benjamin child, esq., died nd may, , aged years." julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. _mousehunt_ (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., pp. . . .).--in vol. ix., p. ., the _natural history of quadrupeds_, by james h. fennell, is quoted; where, speaking of the beech marten (_alias_ mousehunt), he says: "in selkirkshire it has been observed to descend to _the shore_ at night time to feed upon mollusks, particularly upon the large basket mussel (_mytilus modiolus_)." in p. , i ventured to state that mr. fennell must have been a better naturalist than geographer, as selkirkshire was well known to be an inland county nowhere approaching the sea by many miles. i added, that i hoped, for mr. fennell's sake, that _selkirkshire_ was either a misprint or a misquotation. in p. . mr. archibald fraser, woodford, not choosing to exonerate mr. fennell by either of my suggestions, prefers, as a staunch, but i think rather an inconsiderate friend and champion, to _vindicate_ the paragraph as it stands, by candidly admitting that if the word _beach_ had been used, it would certainly have referred to the sea; but that the word _shore_ applies to rivers as well as seas. and he goes back as far as spenser to find an instance of its use, as applied to the banks of the river nile. i will not agree that this use is nearly obsolete, but give him the full value of his quotation from spenser. but what does he say to the _habitat_ of the _mytilus modiolus_, which the mousehunt goes { } to the _shore_ to feed upon. i quote from _rees' cyclopædia_, voce "mytilus:" "modiolus. shell smooth and blackish, obtuse at the smaller end, and rounded at the other; one side near the beaks is angular. two varieties are noticed by lister. it _inhabits_ the european, american, and indian _seas_, adhering to fuci and zoophytes; is six or seven inches long, and about half as broad: the fish is red or orange, and eatable." j. s.s. _value of money in the seventeenth century_ (vol. ix. p. .).--say, in his _political economy_ (prinsep's translation, i. .), has furnished a comparative statement, the result of which is, that the _setier_ of wheat, whose relative value to other commodities has varied little from down to the present time, has undergone great fluctuations, being worth-- a. d. gr. of pure silver. a. d. ditto. a. d. ditto. a. d. ditto. whence it may be inferred that l. in , , and did not vary much from its value at the present time, _such value being measured in silver_. but as the value of all commodities resolves itself ultimately into the cost of labour, the rate of wages at these dates, in the particular country or part of a country, must be taken as the only safe criterion. thus, if labour were d. per diem in , and is d. at this time, _l_. in is equivalent to l. (only half as much) now. but, on the contrary, as the cost of production of numerous articles by machinery, &c. has been _by so much_ reduced, the power of purchase now, as compared with , of l., is _by so much_ increased. the article itself must determine by how much. the question put by c. h. is too general to admit of a positive solution; but should he specify the commodity and place of investment in the seventeenth century and to-day of the l., our statistics might still be at fault, and deny us even a proximate determination of his inquiry. even his l., which he may consider a fixed measure of value, or _punctum comparationis_, is varying in value (=power of purchase) daily, even hourly, as regards almost every exchangeable product. tooke _on prices_ is a first-rate authority on this subject. t. j. buckton. lichfield. _grammars for public schools_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--pray add this little gem to your list, now scarce: "the gate of tongues unlocked and opened, or else a seminarie or seed plot of all tongues and sciences, that is, a short way of teaching and thorowly learning, within a yeare and a half at the farthest, the latin, english, french, and any other tongue, together with the ground and foundation of arts and sciences, comprised under an hundred titles and periods. in latine first, and now as a token of thankfulnesse brought to light in latine, english, and french, in the behalfe of the most illustrious prince charles, and of british, french, and irish youths. by the labour and industry of john anchoran, licentiate of divinity, london, ." our british youths of those days seem to have been _apt scholars_. i. t. abbott. darlington. _classic authors and the jews_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--any edition of the _historiæ augustæ scriptores sex_, containing an index, ought to supply b. h. c. with a few additional references. see, for instance, the index to the bipont edition, vols. vo., [mdcclxxxvii], under the words "judæi," "judaicus," "moses." c. forbes. temple. _hand-bells at funerals_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--a few years ago i happened to arrive at the small sea-port of roscoff, near the ancient cathedral town of st. pol de léon in britanny, on the day appointed for the funeral of one of the members of a family of very old standing in that neighbourhood. my attention was attracted by a number of boys running about the streets with small hand-bells, with which they kept up a perpetual tinkling. on inquiring of a friend of mine, a native of the place, what this meant, he informed me that it was an old custom in britanny--but one which in the present day had almost fallen into disuse--to send boys round from door to door with bells to announce when a death had occurred, and to give notice of the day and the hour at which the funeral was to take place, begging at the same time the prayers of the faithful for the soul of the deceased. the boys selected for this office are taken from the most indigent classes, and, on the day of the funeral, receive cloaks of coarse black cloth as an alms: thus attired, they attend the funeral procession, tinkling their bells as they go along. edgar macculloch. guernsey. "_warple-way_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the communications of your correspondents (vol. ix., p. .) can scarcely be called answers to the questions put. i find, in holloway's _dictionary of provincialisms_, vo., , that a ridge of land is called, in husbandry, a _warp_. it is defined to be a quantity of land consisting of ten, twelve, or more ridges; on each side of which a furrow is left, to carry off the water. again, in halliwell's _dictionary of archaic and provincial words_, two volumes, , it will be { } found that _warps_ are distinct pieces of ploughed land, separated by furrows. i think i here give the derivation and meaning, and refer to the authority. if the derivation be not here given, then i would refer to the saxon word _werpen_, meaning "to cast." across marshy grounds, to this day, are seen ridges forming foot-paths, with a furrow on each side. a ridge of this sort would formerly be, perhaps, a _warple-way_. or perhaps a path across an open common field, cast off or divided, as halliwell mentions, by warps, would be a _warple-way_. viator. _wapple-way_, or, as on the borders of surrey and sussex it is called, _waffel-way_: and the gate itself, _waffel-gate_. if it should appear, as in the cases familiar to me, these waffel-ways run along the borders of shires and divisions of shires, such as _hundreds_, i would suggest that they were military roads,--the derivation _waffe_ (ger.), weapon. h. f. b. _medal of chevalier st. george_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--with reference to the observations of your correspondents a. s. and h., i would beg to observe that, some time ago, i gave to the museum at winchester a medal struck on the occasion of the marriage of prince james f. e. stuart and m. clementina sobieski: on the obverse is a very striking head and bust of clementina, with this inscription: "clementina, m. britan., fr., et hib. regina." on the reverse is clementina, driving an ancient chariot towards the colosseum, with this inscription: on the top-- "fortunam causamque sequor." at the bottom-- "deceptis custodibus. mdccxix." this latter inscription refers to her escape from innspruck, where the princess and her suite had been detained by the emperor's orders. this marriage, to prevent which so many efforts were made, prolonged for eighty-eight years the unfortunate house of stuart. e. s. s. w. _shakspeare's inheritance_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--probably the following extracts from littleton's _tenures in english, lately perused and amended_ ( ), may tend to a right understanding of the meaning of _inheritance_ and _purchase_--if so, you may print them: "tenant in fee simple is he which hath lands or tenement to hold to him and his heires for ever: and it is called in latine _feodum simplex_; for _feodum_ is called inheritance, and _simplex_ as much to say as lawful or pure, and so _feodum simplex_ is as much to say as lawfull or pure inheritance. for if a man will purchase lands or tenements in fee simple, it behoveth him to have these words in his purchase, to have and to hold unto him and to his heires: for these words (his heires) make the estate of inheritance, _anno_ _henrici_ . fol. .; for if any man purchase lands in these words, to have and to hold to him for ever, or by such words, to have and to hold to him and to his assigns for ever; in these two cases he hath none estate but for terme of life; for that, that he lacketh these words (his heires), which words only make the estate of inheritance in all feoffements and grants." "and it is to be understood that this word (_inheritance_) is not only understood where a man hath lands or tenements by descent of heritage, but also every fee simple or fee taile that a man hath by his purchase, may be said inheritance; for that, thus his heires may inherite them. for in a writ of right that a man bringeth of land that was of his own purchase, the writ shall say, _quam clamat esse jus et hæreditatem suam_, this is to say, which he claimeth to be his right and his inheritance." "also _purchase_ is called the possession of lands or tenements that a man hath by his deed or by his agreement, unto which possession he commeth, not by descent of any of his ancestors or of his cosins, but by his own deed." j. bell. cranbroke, kent. _cassock_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--a note in whalley's edition of _ben jonson_ has the following remark on this word: "_cassock_, in the sense it is here used, is not to be met with in our common dictionaries: it signifies a soldier's loose outward coat, and is taken in that acceptation by the writers of jonson's times. thus shakspeare, in _all's well that ends well:_ 'half of the which dare not shake the snow from their _cassocks_.'" this is confirmed in the passage of _jonson_, on which the above is a note. "this small service will bring him clean out of love with the soldier. he will never come within the sign of it, the sight of a _cassock_."--_every man in his humour_, act ii. sc. . the cassock, as well as the gown and band, seem to have been the usual attire of the clergy on all occasions in the last century, as we find from the paintings of hogarth and the writings of fielding, &c. when did this custom cease? can any reader of "n. & q." supply traditional proof of clergymen appearing thus apparelled in ordinary life? e. h. m. l. _tailless cats_ (vol. ix., p. .).--on the day on which this query met my eye, a friend informed me that she had just received a letter from an american clergyman travelling in europe, in which he mentioned having seen a tailless cat in scotland, called a manx cat, from having come { } from the isle of man. this is _not_ "a jonathan." perhaps the isle of man is too small to swing long-tailed cats in. uneda. philadelphia. mr. t. d. stephens, of trull green, near this town, has for some years had and bred the manx tailless cat; and, i have no doubt, would have pleasure in showing them to your correspondent shirley hibberd, should he ever be in this neighbourhood. k. y. taunton. a friend of mine, who resided in the park farm, kimberley, had a breed of tailless cats, arising from the tail of one of the cats in the _first instance_ having been cut off; many of the kittens came tailless, some with half length; and, occasionally, one of a litter with a tail of the usual length, and this breed continued through several generations. g. j. _names of slaves_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i can answer the first of j. f. m.'s queries in the affirmative; it being common to see in virginia slaves, or free people who have been slaves, with names acquired in the manner suggested: _e. g._ "philip washington," better known in jefferson county as "uncle phil.," formerly a slave of the washingtons. a large family, liberated and sent to cape palmas, bore the surname of "davenport," from the circumstance that their progenitor had been owned by the davenports. in fact, the practice is almost universal. but fancy names are generally used as first names: _e. g._ john randolph, peyton, jefferson, fairfax, carter, &c. a fine old body-servant of col. willis was called "burgundy," _shortened_ into "uncle gundy." so that "milton," in the case mentioned, may have been merely the homage paid to genius by some enthusiastic admirer of that poet. j. balch. philadelphia. _heraldic_ (vol. ix., p. .).--on the brass of robert arthur, st. mary's, chartham, kent, are two shields bearing a fess engrailed between three trefoils slipped: which may probably be the same as that about which loccan inquires, though i am unable to tell the colours. there are two other shields bearing, two bars with a bordure. the inscription is as follows: "hic iacet d[=n]s robertus arthur quondam rector isti' eccli[=e] qui obiit xxviii^o die marcii a^o d[=n]i mill[=o] cccc^oliiii^o. cui' a[=i]e ppiciet' de' am[=e]." f. g. _solar annual eclipse of _ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. tytler, in the first volume of his _history of scotland_, mentions that this eclipse, which occurred about p.m. on sunday, august , , has been found by calculation to have been actually central and annular to ronaldsvoe, in the orkneys, where the norwegian fleet was then lying: a fine example, as he justly adds, "of the clear and certain light reflected by the exact sciences on history." s. asks, is this eclipse mentioned by any other writer? as connected with the norwegian expedition, it would seem not; but matthew of westminster (vol. ii. p. ., bohn's edit.) mentions it having been seen in england, although he places it erroneously on the th of the month. j. s. warden. _brissot de warville_ (vol. ix., p. .).--brissot's _mémoires_ is a very common book in the original, and has gone through several editions. the passage quoted by n. j. a. was only an impudent excuse for an impudent assumption. brissot, in his early ambition, wished to pass himself off as a gentleman, and called himself _brissot de warville_, as danton did d'anton, and robespierre de robespierre; but when these worthies were endeavouring to send _m. de warville_ to the scaffold as an aristocrat, he invented this fable of his father's having some landed property at _ouarville en beauce_ (not beance), and that he was called, according to the custom of the country, from this place, where, it seems, he was put out to nurse. when the dread of the guillotine made _m. de warville_ anxious to get rid of his aristocratic pretensions, he confessed (in those same _mémoires_) that his father kept a cook's shop in the town of chartres, and was so ignorant that he could neither read nor write. i need not add, that his having had a landed property to justify, in any way, the son's territorial appellation, was a gross fiction. c. "_le compère mathieu_" (vol. vi., pp. . . .).--on the fly-leaf of my copy (three vols. mo., londres, ) of this amusing work, variously attributed by your correspondents to mathurin laurent and the abbé du laurens, is written the following note, in the hand of its former possessor, joseph whateley: "ecrit par diderot, fils d'un coutelier: un homme très licentieux, qui écrit encore plusieurs autres ouvrages, comme la religieuse, les bijoux méchant (_sic_), &c. il jouit un grand rôle après dans la révolution. "j. w." by the way, a. n. styles it "a not altogether undull work." may i ask him to elucidate this phrase, as i am totally at a loss to comprehend its meaning. "not undull" must surely mean _dull_, if anything. the work, however, is the reverse of dull. william bates. birmingham. _etymology of "awkward"_ (vol. viii., p. .--h. c. k. has probably given the true derivation of this word, but he might have noticed the { } singularity of one anglo-saxon word branching off into two forms, signifying different ways of acting wrong; one, _awkward_, implying ignorance and clumsiness; the other, _wayward_, perverseness and obstinacy. that the latter word is derived from the source from which he deduces _awkward_, can, as i conceive, admit of no doubt. j. s. warden. _life and death_ (vol. ix., p. .).--what is death but a sleep? we shall awake refreshed in the morning. thus psalm xvii. .; rom. vi. . for the full meanings, see these passages in the original tongues. sir thomas browne, whose _hydriotaphia_ abounds with quaint and beautiful allusions to this subject, says, in one place, "sleep is so like death, that i dare not trust him without my prayers:" and he closes his learned treatise with the following sentence: "to live indeed is to be again ourselves; which being not only a hope, but an evidence in noble believers, it is all one to lie in st. innocent's churchyard as in the sands of egypt; ready to be anything in the ecstasy of being ever, and as content with six feet as the moles of adrianus." "tabesne cadavera solvat, an rogus, haud refert."--_lucan._ how fine also is that philosophical sentiment of lucan: "victurosque dei celant, ut vivere durent, felix esse mori." can any of your correspondents say in what work the following analogous passage occurs, and who is the author of it? the stamp of thought is rather of the philosophic pagan than the christian, though the latinity is more monkish than classic: "emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum, nihil curo." j. l. dublin. these notes remind my parishioners of an epitaph on a child in morwenstow churchyard: "those whom god loves die young! they see no evil days; no falsehood taints their tongue, no wickedness their ways! "baptized, and so made sure to win their blest abode; what could we pray for more? they die, and are with god!" r. h. morwenstow. _shelley's "prometheus unbound"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i offer a conjecture on the meaning of the obscure passage adduced by j. s. warden. it seems that shelley intended to speak of that peculiar feeling, or sense, which affects us so much in circumstances which he describes. with the slight alterations indicated by italics, his meaning i think will be apparent; though in his hurry, or inadvertence, he has left his lines very confused and ungrammatical. "who made that sense which, when the winds of spring _make_ rarest visitation, or the voice of one beloved _is_ heard in youth alone, fills the faint eyes with falling tears," &c. f. c. h. "_three crowns and a sugar-loaf_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the latter was perhaps originally a mitre badly drawn, and worse copied, till it received a new name from that it most resembled. the proper sign would be "the three crowns and a mitre," equivalent to "the bishop's arms:" if franche was in the diocese of ely, or bristol, the reference would be clearer. similar changes are known to have happened. g. r. york. to the inquiry of cid, as to the meaning of the above sign of an inn, i answer that there can be little doubt that its original meaning was the pope's tiara. f. c. h. _stanza in "childe harold"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i fear that, considering lord byron's cacography and carelessness, a reference to his ms. would not mend the matter much; as, although the stanza undoubtedly contains some errors due to the printer or transcriber for the press, the obscurity and unconnected language are his lordship's own, and nothing short of a complete recast could improve it materially: however, to make the verses such as byron most probably wrote them, an alteration of little more than _one letter_ is required. for "wasted," read "washed;" to supply the deficient syllable, insert "yet" or "still" after "they," and remove the semicolon in the next line from the middle to the end of the verse. then the stanza runs thus: "thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee; assyria, greece, rome, carthage, where are they? thy waters wash'd them while they yet were free, and many a tyrant since their shores obey, the stranger, slave, or savage--their decay has dried up realms to deserts," &c. the sentiment is clear enough, although not well expressed; and the use of the present tense, "obey," for "have obeyed," is not at all warranted by the usage of our language. in plain prose, it means-- "thy waters washed their shores while they were independent, and do so still, although many a race of tyrants has successively reigned over them since then: their decay has converted many fertile regions to wildernesses, but thou art still unchanged." not having your earlier volumes at hand, i cannot be sure that these conjectures of mine are original (the correction in the punctuation of the fourth line certainly is not), and have only to request the { } forbearance of any of your correspondents whose "thunder" i may have unwittingly appropriated. j. s. warden. _errors in punctuation_ (vol. viii., p. .).--every one must agree with r. h. c. as to the importance of correct punctuation; and it may easily be supposed how it must puzzle readers of works whose language is in great part obsolete, to meet with mistakes of this kind, when we find modern writers frequently rendered almost unintelligible by similar errors. to take those whose works have, perhaps, been oftener reprinted than any others of this century, byron and scott, the foregoing passage in _childe harold_ is a signal instance; and as another, the sonnet translated by byron from vittorelli, has only had corrected in the very latest editions, an error in the punctuation of the first two lines which rendered them a mystery to those who did not understand the original, as printed on the opposite page. in note to the th canto of _marmion_, every edition, british or foreign, down to the present day, punctuates the last two or three lines as follows: "a torquois ring;--probably this fatal gift is, with james's sword and dagger, preserved in the college of heralds, london." sir walter is thus made to express a doubt, which he never intended, as to the ring being there. a comma after "ring," another after "gift," and the omission of the dash, will restore the true meaning of the sentence. j. s. warden. _waugh of cumberland_ (vol. ix., p. .).--john waugh (d.c.l., feb. , )--born and educated at appleby, fellow of queen's college, oxford; rector of st. peter's, cornhill; prebendary of lincoln; dean of gloucester,--was consecrated to the see of carlisle oct. , : he died oct. , and was buried in the church of st. peter, cornhill. he bore for arms: arg., on a chevron engrailed gules, three bezants. mackenzie walcott, m.a. _"could we with ink," &c._ (vol. viii. _passim_).--perhaps one more communication may find admission on the above interesting lines. i received from a clerical friend, many years ago, a version of them, which differs considerably from that given in "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. . the variations i have marked by italics: "could _you_ with ink the ocean fill, _were the whole world_ of parchment made, were every _single stick_ a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of god _alone_, would drain the ocean dry, nor could the _earth_ contain the _scroll_, though stretch'd from sky to sky." my friend did not profess to know who wrote these lines; but he understood that they were an attempt to render in english verse a sublime passage of the great st. augustin. it is highly probable that this eminent father was the original author of the passage. it is extremely like one of his grand conceptions; but i have hitherto searched his voluminous works for it in vain. f. c. h. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the hundred and ten considerations of signior john valdesso, translated by nich. farrer. oxford, ; or the later edition of . wanted by _mr. j. g. nichols_, . parliament street. archbishop lawrence's examination of griesbach's systematic classification of mss. wanted by _longman & co._, paternoster row. poems on several occasions, by william broome, ll.d. london, - . vo. assize sermon, by the same. on ps. cxxii. . to. . sermon, by the same, on tim. ii. , . vo. . wanted by _t. w. barlow_, st. james' chambers, manchester. osw. crollius's admonitory preface, in english. london, . vo. ------ the mysteries of nature. london. . vo. ------ on signatures. london, . folio. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. warren's collection of glees. wanted, to perfect the set, nos. . . . . and to inclusive. any one possessing the above, or a portion of them, may hear of a purchaser, upon application at novello's sacred music warehouse, . dean street, soho square. ---- the following works of symon patrick, late lord bishop of ely, &c.:-- sermon at the funeral of mr. john smith, . divine arithmetic, sermon at the funeral of mr. samuel jacomb, june , . angliÆ speculum, sermon at the fast, april , . sermon at covent garden, advent sunday, . sermon on st. peter's day, with enlargements. . sermon on st. mark's day, . fast sermon before the king and queen, april , : prov. xiv. . exposition of the ten commandments, . discourse concerning prayer. the pillar and ground of truth, to. . examination of bellarmine's second note of the church, viz., antiquity. to. . examination of the texts which papists cite out of the bible to prove the supremacy of st. peter, &c. . answer to a book entitled "the touchstone of the reformed gospel." . a private prayer to be used in difficult times. a thanksgiving for our late wonderful deliverance, . wanted by the _rev. alexander taylor_, . blomfield terrace, paddington. { } the advancement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, or a description of machines and models, &c., contained in the repository of the society of arts, &c. by william bailey, registrar of the society, . a register of the premiums and bounties given by the society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, from the original institution in the year to inclusive. printed for the society by james phillips. . wanted by _p. le neve foster_, . upper grove lane, camberwell. scott's poetical works. vo. . vol. i., or the "minstrelsy," of that date. southey's brazil. to. vols. ii. and iii. salazar, historia de la conquista de mexico. fol. or . percy society's publications, and . ( l. will be given for them.) wanted by _j. r. smith_, . soho square. archÆologia, numbers or volumes, from vol. xxv. to vol. xxix. inclusive. wanted by _james dearden_, upton house, poole, dorset. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have been induced, by the number of articles we have in type writing for insertion, to omit our usual_ notes on books, &c. agmond. cecil _was written by mrs. gore_. f. m. m. balaam box _has long been used in blackwood as the name of the depository of rejected articles. the allusion is obvious._ h. m. h. _will find all the information he can desire respecting_ the gentlemen at arms, _in pegge's_ curialia; _thiselton's memoir of that corps, published in ; or, better still, curling's_ account of the ancient corps of gentlemen at arms, vo. . j. c. k. _the coin is a very common penny of henry iii., worth ninepence, or a shilling at most._ balliolensis. _porson's jeu d'esprit is reprinted in the_ facetiæ cantabrigienses ( ). p. . enquirer. _a triolet is a stanza of eight lines, in which, after the third the first line, and after the sixth the first two lines, are repeated, so that the first line is heard three times: hence the name. it is suited for playful and light subjects, and is cultivated by the french and germans. the volume of_ patrick carey's trivial poems and triolets, _edited by sir walter scott, in , from a ms. of , is an early instance of the use of the term_. a. b. m. _the line referred to_--"pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war"--_is from_ othello, _act iii. sc. _. jarltzberg. _has not our correspondent received a note we inclosed to him respecting_ the circle of the seasons? old mortality's _offer of a collection of epitaphs is declined with thanks. we have now waiting for insertion almost as many as would fill a cemetery._ abhba. _the proverb "mad as a march hare" has appeared in our_ fourth volume, p. .--_also, in the same volume_, p. . _&c., will be found several articles similar to the one forwarded on "bee superstitions."_ f. (oxford.) _the extract forwarded from southey's_ common place book _is a copy of the title-page of the anonymous work required_. h. c. m. _the date of the earliest coroner's inquest, we should think, cannot be ascertained. the office of coroner is of so great antiquity that its commencement is not known. it is evident that coroners existed in the time of alfred, for that king punished with death a judge who sentenced a party to suffer death upon the coroner's record, without allowing the delinquent liberty to traverse._ (bac. on gov. .; vin. abr. .) _this officer is also mentioned by athelstan in his charter to beverly_ (dugd. monast. .). i. r. r. _henry machyn was a citizen and merchant-tailor of london from a.d. to . see a notice of him prefixed to his_ diary, _published by the camden society_.----_an account of john stradling, the epigrammatist, will be found in wood's_ athenæ (bliss), vol. ii. p. .----_hockday, or hokeday, is a high-day, a day of feasting and mirth, formerly held in england the second tuesday after easter, to commemorate the destruction of the danes in the time of ethelred._----_for notices of george wither in the_ gentleman's mag., _see_ vol. lxxxvi. pt. ii. . .; vol. lxxxvii. pt. i. .; vol. lxxxviii. pt. i. .----_an interesting account of the_ paschal _eggs is given in hone's_ every-day book, vol. i. p. ., vol. ii. pp. . .; _and in brand's_ popular antiquities.----_marvell's reference is probably to charles gerard, afterwards created baron gerard of brandon, gentleman of the bed-chamber to charles ii., and captain of his guards._ w. s. _the lens is certainly very good; you should practise to obtain an accurate focus on the ground glass. an experienced hand will often demonstrate how much the actual sharpness of a picture depends upon nice adjustment of the focus; for though the picture looks pretty, it is not sharp in detail._ photo. _we hope shortly to be enabled to report upon the new paper manufacturing by mr. saunders for photographic purposes._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photographic apparatus.--mr. john j. griffin has now ready an entirely new catalogue of photographic apparatus and chemicals at reduced prices; embracing an account of every article required for the processes on silver, paper, and glass, with estimates of the cost of complete sets for home use and for travellers. postage fourpence. john j. griffin, f.c.s., chemist and optician, . finsbury square, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co's iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c., used in this beautiful art.-- . & . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by. j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * to photographers, daguerreotypists, &c.-- instantaneous collodion (or collodio-iodide silver). solution for iodizing collodion. pyrogallic, gallic, and glacial acetic acids, and every pure chemical required in the practice of photography, prepared by william bolton, operative and photographic chemist, . holborn bars. wholesale dealer in every kind of photographic papers, lenses, cameras, and apparatus, and importer of french and german lenses, &c. catalogues by post on receipt of two postage stamps. sets of apparatus from three guineas. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * { } imperial life insurance company. . old broad street, london. instituted . ---- samuel hibbert, esq., _chairman_. william r. robinson, esq., _deputy-chairman_. ---- the scale of premiums adopted by this office will be found of a very moderate character, but at the same time quite adequate to the risk incurred. four-fifths, or per cent. of the profits, are assigned to policies _every fifth year_, and may be applied to increase the sum insured, to an immediate payment in cash, or to the reduction and ultimate extinction of future premiums. one-third of the premium on insurances of l. and upwards, for the whole term of life, may remain as a debt upon the policy, to be paid off at convenience; or the directors will lend sums of l. and upwards, on the security of policies effected with this company for the whole term of life, when they have acquired an adequate value. security.--those who effect insurances with this company are protected by its subscribed capital of , l., of which nearly , l. is invested, from the risk incurred by members of mutual societies. the satisfactory financial condition of the company, exclusive of the subscribed and invested capital, will be seen by the following statement: on the st october, , the sums assured, including bonus added, amounted to £ , , the premium fund to more than , and the annual income from the same source, to , insurances, without participation in profits, may be effected at reduced rates. samuel ingall, actuary. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.-d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ) sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * chubb's fire-proof safes and locks.--these safes are the most secure from force, fraud, and fire. chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. complete lists, with prices, will be sent on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. no. . pall mall east, and . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. _established_ a.d. . investment accounts may be opened daily, with capital of any amount. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison. managing director. prospectuses and forms sent free on application. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett. watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * as secretary or amanuensis. a gentleman who is quite conversant with the french, german, and italian languages, and well acquainted with botany and entomology, is desirous of obtaining some permanent employment. the most satisfactory references as to competency and respectability of family and connections can be given. address, f. g. h., care of mr. newman, printer, . devonshire street, bishopsgate street. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale.--messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical professions, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . . [price sixpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page the rolliad, by sir walter c. trevelyan, &c. note on palamon and arcite folk lore:--"snail, snail, come out of your hole"--the evil eye--"millery, millery, dousty-poll," &c.--"nettle in, dock out" the scaligers, by waldegrave brewster inedited ballad on truth, by k. r. h. mackenzie minor notes:--ayot st. lawrence church--johannes secundus--parnel--dr. johnson--the king's messengers, by the rev. w. adams--parallel passages--cause of rarity of william iv.'s copper coinage--burnett--coleridge's opinion of defoe--miller's "philosophy of modern history"--anticipations of modern ideas or inventions--"sun, stand thou still upon gibeon!"--langley's polidore vergile, &c. queries:-- bibliographical queries shakspeare's "antony and cleopatra" green's "groathsworth of witte," by j. o. halliwell minor queries:--fronte capillatâ--prayer of bishop of nantes--advantage of a bad ear--imputed letters of sullustius or sallustius--rev. w. adams--mr. beard, vicar of greenwich--goddard's history of lynn--sir andrew chadwick--sangaree--king john at lincoln--canes lesi--headings of chapters in english bibles--abbot eustacius and angodus de lindsei--oration against demosthenes--pun--sonnet (query by milton?)--medal given to howard--withers' devil at sarum--election of a pope--battle in wilshire--colonel fell--tennyson's "in memoriam"--magnum sedile--ace of diamonds: the earl of cork--closing of rooms on account of death--standfast's cordial comforts--"predeceased" and "designed"--lady fights at atherton, &c. replies:-- the episcopal mitre and papal tiara, by a. rich, jun., &c. dryden's essay upon satire, by j. crossley foundation-stone of st. mark's at venice histoire des sévarambes touching for the evil, by c. h. cooper replies to minor queries:--forged papal bulls-- obeism--pillgarlick--hornbooks--bacon--lachrymatories --scandal against queen elizabeth--meaning of cefn--portrait of archbishop williams--sir alexander cumming--pater-noster tackling--welsh words for water--early culture of the imagination--venville--cum grano salis--hoops--cranmer's descendants--shakspeare's use of the word "captious"--boiling to death--dozen of bread--friday weather--saint paul's clock--lunardi--outline in painting--handbell before a corpse--brandon the juggler--"words are men's daughters"--"fine by degrees, and beautifully less"--"the soul's dark cottage"--"beauty retire"--mythology of the stars--simon bache--thesaurarius hospitii--winifreda--queries on costume--antiquitas sæcula juventus mundi--lady bingham--proclamation of langholme fair, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. the rolliad. ( d ed., .) finding that my copy of _the rolliad_ ("notes and queries," vol. ii., p. .) contains fuller information regarding the authors than has yet appeared in your valuable periodical, i forward you a transcript of the ms. notes, most of which are certified by the initial of dr lawrence, from whose copy all of them were taken by the individual who gave me the volume. w. c. trevelyan. wallington, morpeth. * * * * * advertisement. dr. lawrence. advertisement to th edition. do. explanation of frontispiece and title. do. dedication. do. rollo family. e. t. and r. "this was the piece first published, and the origin of all that followed." extract from dedication. fitzpatrick. "the title of these verses gave rise to the vehicle of criticisms on _the rolliad_."--l. _criticisms._ no. . ellis. the passage in p. , from "his first exploit" to "what it loses in sublimity," "inserted by dr. l. to preserve the parody of virgil, and break this number with one more poetical passage."--l. no. . ellis. "this vehicle of political satire not proving immediately impressive, was here abandoned by its original projector, who did not take it up again till the second part."--l. no. . dr. lawrence. verses on mr. dundas by g. ellis. . richardson. . fitzpatrick. . dr. lawrence. . do. . do. . fitzpatrick. . richardson. . do. . fitzpatrick. . dr. lawrence. . do. { } _the french inscriptions by ellis._ part ii. no. . ellis . do. . richardson. . do. . fitzpatrick. . r----d. . dr. lawrence. the passage commencing "the learned mr. daniel barrington," to "drawing a long bow," "inserted by r----d under the verbal suggestions of dr. lawrence." the rose. dr. lawrence. the lyars. fitzpatrick. margaret nicholson. lines - , by dr. lawrence; the rest by a. (adair.) charles jenkinson. ellis. jekyll. lines . to ., "inserted by tickle;" . to end, "altered and enlarged by tickle;" the rest by lord j. townsend. (at the end of jekyll is the note which i have already sent to the "notes and queries," vol. ii, p. .--w. c. t.) _probationary odes._ preliminary discourse. g. ellis or tickle. q. thoughts on ode-writing. tickle. recommendatory testimonies. tickle. "i believe all the testimonies are his, unless the last be by lord john townsend."--l. warton's ascension. tickle. laureat election. richardson. "the first suggestion of the vehicle for probationary odes for the laureatship came (as i understood, for i was not present) from the rev. dudley bate."--l. irregular ode. tickle. ode on new year. ellis. ode no. . dudley bate. . richardson. . anonymous, communicated by tickle. . anonymous. . "brummell." "some slight corrections were made by l., and one or two lines supplied by others."--l. . tickle. "the first draft of this ode was by stratford canning, a merchant in the city; but of his original performance little or nothing remains except five or six lines in the third stanza."--l. . "pearce, (i believe) brother-in-law of dudley bate."--l. . "boscawen, (i believe) afterwards of the victualling office, communicated by tickle."--l. . lord john townsend,--"three or four lines in the last stanza, and perhaps one or two in some of the former, were inserted by tickle."--l. . "anonymous, sent by the post."--l. . "the rev. o'byrne. 'this political parson's a *b'liever! most odd! he b'lieves he's a poet, but don't b'lieve in god!'--_sheridan._ * dr. o'b. pronounces the word believe in this manner." . fitzpatrick. . dr. lawrence. . genl. burgoyne. . r----d. . richardson. . ellis. . address. dr. lawrence. for "william york" read "william ebor." pindaric ode. dr lawrence. . the prose and proclamation, "by tickle or richardson."--l. table of instructions. tickle or richardson. _political miscellanies._ to the public. r----d. odes to w. pitt. fitzpatrick. my own translation, prefixed to ode nd. dr. lawrence. the statesmen. r----d. rondeau. dr. lawrence. in the third rondeau, for "pining in his spleen" read "moving honest spleen."--l. all the rondeaus are by dr. l. the delavaliad. richardson. epigrams. tickle and richardson. lord graham's diary. "tickle, i believe."--l. lord mulgrave's essays. ellis. anecdotes of pitt. g. ellis. a tale. sheridan. morals. richardson. dialogue. lord john townsend. prettymania. _epigrams._ no. . dr. lawrence. " . do. " . do. " . do. _foreign epigrams._ no. . ellis. " . rev. o'byrne. " . do. " . do. " . do. " . dr. lawrence. " . do. " . do. " . do. " . do. " . tickle. " . do. "most of the english epigrams unmarked are by tickle, some by richardson, d. bate, r----d, and others."--l. advertisement extraordinary. dr. lawrence. paragraph office. do. pitt and pinetti. "ellis, i believe."--l. the westminster guide. genl. burgoyne. a new ballad. lord j. townsend or tickle. { } epigrams on sir elijah impey. r----d. ---- by mr. wilberforce. ellis. original letter. a. (adair.) congratulatory ode. courtenay. ode to sir elijah impey. "anonymous--i believe l. j. townsend."--l. song, to tune "let the sultan saladin." r----d. a new song, "billy's budget." fitzpatrick. epigrams. r----d. ministerial facts. "ld. j. townsend, i believe."--l. journal of the right hon. h. dundas. to end of march th. tierney. march th and th. dr. lawrence. march th. tierney. march th and th. c. grey. march th. tierney. "this came out in numbers, or rather in continuations, in the newspaper."--l. incantation. fitzpatrick. translations. "tickle, richardson, r----d, and others."--l. * * * * * the "memoranda" &c., respecting _the rolliad_, at vol. ii., p. ., recalled to my recollection a "note" made several years back; but the "query" was, where to find that note? however, i made a mental note, "when found," to forward it to you, and by the merest chance it has turned up, or rather, out; for it fell from within an old "common place book," when--i must not take credit for being in search of it, but, in fact, in quest of another note. should you consider it likely to interest either your correspondents, contributors, or readers, you are much welcome to it; and in that case, to have troubled you with this will not be regretted by c. w. stoke, bucks. _the rolliad._--(_memorandum in sir james mackintosh's copy of that work._) "bombay, rd june, . "before i left london in february last, i received from my old friend, t. courtenay, esq., m.p., notes, of which the following is a copy, giving account of the authors of _the rolliad_, and of the series of political satires which followed it:-- extract from dedication. fitzpatrick. nos. . . g. ellis. no. . dr. lawrence. no. . j. richardson. no. . fitzpatrick. nos. . . . dr. lawrence. no. . fitzpatrick. nos. . . j. richardson. no. . fitzpatrick. nos. . . dr. lawrence. part ii. nos. . . g. ellis nos. . . j. richardson. no. . fitzpatrick. no. . read. no. . dr. lawrence. _political eclogues._ rose. fitzpatrick. the lyars. do. margaret nicholson. r. adair. c. jenkinson. g. ellis. jekyll, lord j. townsend and tickell. _probationary odes._ no. . tickell. . g. ellis. . h. b. dudley. . j. richardson. . j. ellis. ?g. . unknown. . (mason's). do. . brummell. . sketched by canning, the eton boy, finished by tickell. . pearce. ? . boscawen. . lord j. townsend. . unknown. mr. c. believes it to be mrs. debbing, wife of genl. d. . rev. mr. o'byrne. . fitzpatrick. . dr. lawrence. . genl. burgoyne. . read. . richardson. . g. ellis. . do. . do. "if ever my books should escape this obscure corner, the above memorandum will interest some curious collector. "james mackintosh. "the above list, as far as it relates to richardson, is confirmed by his printed life, from which i took a note at lord j. townsend's four days ago. "j. mackintosh. nov., ." * * * * * note on palamon and arcite. it has probably often been remarked as somewhat curious, that chaucer, in describing the arrival of palamon and arcite at athens, mentions the day of the week on which it takes place: "and in this wise, these lordes all and some, ben on the sonday to the citee come," &c. nothing seems to depend on their coming on one day of the week rather than on another. in reality, however, this apparently insignificant circumstance is astrologically connected with the issue of the contest. palamon, who on the morning of the following day makes his prayer to venus, succeeds at last in winning emelie, though arcite, who commends himself to mars, conquers him in the tournament. the prayers of both are granted, because both address themselves to their tutelary deities at hours over which these deities respectively preside. in order to understand this, we must call to mind the astrological explanation { } of the names of the days of the week. according to dio cassius, the egyptians divided the day into twenty-four hours, and supposed each of them to be in an especial manner influenced by some one of the planets. the first hour of the day had the prerogative of giving its name, or rather that of the planet to which it was subject, to the whole day. thus, for instance, saturn presides over the first hour of the day, which is called by his name; jupiter over the second, and so on; the moon, as the lowest of the planets, presiding over the seventh. again, the eighth is subject to saturn, and the same cycle recommences at the fifteenth and at the twenty-second hours. the twenty-third hour is therefore subject to jupiter, and the twenty-fourth to mars. consequently, the first hour of the following day is subject to the sun, and the day itself is accordingly dies solis, or sunday. precisely in the same way it follows that the next day will be dies lunæ; and so on throughout the week. to this explanation it has been objected that the names of the days are more ancient than the division of the day into twenty-four parts; and joseph scaliger has attempted to derive the names of the days from those of the planets, without reference to this method of division. his explanation, however, which is altogether geometrical, inasmuch as it depends on the properties of the heptagon, seems quite unsatisfactory, though selden appears to have been inclined to adopt it. at any rate, the account of the matter given by dio cassius has generally been accepted. to return to chaucer: theseus, as we know, had erected in the place where the tournament was to be held three oratories, dedicated to mars, to venus, and to diana. on the day after their arrival, namely, on monday, palamon and arcite offered their prayers to venus and mars respectively, and emelie, in like manner, to diana. of palamon we are told that-- "he rose, to wenden on his pilgrimage unto the blisful citherea benigne" two hours before it was day, and that he repaired to her temple "in hire hour." in the third hour afterwards, "up rose the sonne, and up rose emelie and to the temple of diane gan hie." her prayer also was favourably heard by the deity to whom it was addressed; the first hour of monday (the natural day beginning at sunrise) being subject to luna or diana. the orisons of palamon were offered two hours earlier, namely, in the twenty-third hour of sunday, which is similarly subject to venus, the twenty-fourth or last hour belonging to mercury, the planet intermediate between venus and the moon. it is on this account that palamon is said to have prayed to venus in her hour. arcite's vows were made later in the day than those of palamon and emelie. we are told that "the nexte hour of mars following this," (namely after emelie's return from the temple of diana) "arcite unto the temple walked is of fierce mars." the first hour of mars is on monday, the fourth hour of the day; so that as the tournament took place in april or may, arcite went to the temple of mars about eight or nine o'clock. it may be well to explain the word "inequal" in the lines-- "the thridde hour inequal that palamon began to venus temple for to gon, up rose the sonne, and up rose emelie." in astrology, the heavens are divided into twelve houses, corresponding to a division of the ecliptic into twelve equal parts, the first of which is measured from the point of the ecliptic which is on the horizon and about to rise above it, at the instant which the astrologer has to consider, namely, the instant of birth in the case of a nativity, or that in which a journey or any other enterprise is undertaken. the hours inequal here spoken of similarly correspond to a division of the ecliptic into twenty-four parts, so that each house comprehends the portions of the ecliptic belonging to two of these hours, provided the division into houses is made at sunrise, when the first hour commences. it is obvious that these astrological hours will be of unequal length, as equal portions of the ecliptic subtend unequal angles at the pole of the equator. with regard to the time of year at which the tournament takes place, there seems to be an inconsistency. palamon escapes from prison on the rd of may, and is discovered by theseus on the th. theseus fixes "this day fifty wekes" for the rendezvous at athens, so that the tournament seems to fall in april. chaucer, however, says that-- "gret was the feste in athenes thilke day, and eke the lusty seson of that may made every wight to be, in swiche pleasance," &c. why the rd of may is particularly mentioned as the time of palamon's escape, i cannot tell: there is probably some astrological reason. the mixture of astrological notions with mythology is curious: "the pale saturnus the colde" is once more a dweller on olympus, and interposes to reconcile mars and venus. by his influence arcite is made to perish after having obtained from mars the fulfilment of his prayer-- "yeve me the victorie, i axe thee no more." [epsilon]. * * * * * folk lore. "_snail, snail, come out of your hole._"--in surrey, and most probably in other counties where { } shell-snails abound, children amuse themselves by charming them with a chant to put forth their horns, of which i have only heard the following couplet, which is repeated until it has the desired effect, to the great amusement of the charmer. "snail, snail, come out of your hole, or else i'll beat you as black as a coal." it is pleasant to find that this charm is not peculiar to english children, but prevails in places as remote from each other as naples and silesia. the silesian rhyme is: "schnecke, schnecke, schnürre! zeig mir dein viere, wenn mir dein viere nicht zeigst, schmeisz ich dich in den graben, fressen dich die raben;" which may be thus paraphrased: "snail, snail, slug-slow, to me thy four horns show; if thou dost not show me thy four, i will throw thee out of the door, for the crow in the gutter, to eat for bread and butter." in that amusing folk's-book of neapolitan childish tales, the _pentamerone_ of the noble count-palatine cavalier giovan-battista basile, in the seventeenth tale, entitled "la palomma," we have a similar rhyme: "jesce, jesce, corna; Ça mammata te scorna, te scorna 'ncoppa lastrico, che fa lo figlio mascolo." of which the sense may probably be: "peer out! peer out! put forth your horns! at you your mother mocks and scorns; another son is on the stocks, and you she scorns, at you she mocks." s. w. singer. _the evil eye._--this superstition is still prevalent in this neighbourhood (launceston). i have very recently been informed of the case of a young woman, in the village of lifton, who is lying hopelessly ill of consumption, which her neighbours attribute to her having been "_overlooked_" (this is the local phrase by which they designate the baleful spell of the _evil eye_). an old woman in this town is supposed to have the power of "ill-wishing" or bewitching her neighbours and their cattle, and is looked on with much awe in consequence. h. g. t. "_millery! millery! dousty-poll!_" &c.--i am told by a neighbour of a cruel custom among the children in somersetshire, who, when they have caught a certain kind of large white moth, which they call a _miller_, chant over it this uncouth ditty:-- "millery! millery! _dousty_-poll! how many sacks hast thou stole?" and then, with boyish recklessness, put the poor creature to death for the imagined misdeeds of his human namesake. h. g. t. _"nettle in, dock out."_--sometime since, turning over the leaves of clarke's _chaucer_, i stumbled on the following passage in "troilus and cressida," vol. ii. p. .:-- "thou biddest me that i should love another all freshly newe, and let creseidé go, it li'th not in my power levé brother, and though i might, yet would i not do so: but can'st thou playen racket to and fro, _nettle' in dock out_, now this now that, pandare? now foulé fall her for thy woe that care." i was delighted to find the charm for a nettle sting, so familiar to my childish ear, was as old as chaucer's time, and exceedingly surprised to stumble on the following note:-- "this appears to be a proverbial expression implying inconstancy; but the origin of the phrase is unknown to all the commentators on our poet." if this be the case, chaucer's commentators may as well be told that children in northumberland use friction by a dock-leaf as the approved remedy for the sting of a nettle, or rather the approved charm; for the patient, while rubbing in the dock-juice, should keep repeating,-- "nettle in, dock out, dock in, nettle out, nettle in, dock out, dock rub nettle out." the meaning is therefore obvious. troilus is indignant at being recommended to forget this cressida for a new love, just as a child cures a nettle-sting by a dock-leaf. i know not whether you will deem this trifle worth a corner in your valuable and amusing "notes." * * * * * the scaligers. "lo primo tuo rifugio e 'l primo ostello sarà la cortesia del gran lombardo, che _'n su_ la scala porta il santo uccello." dante, _paradiso_, xvii. . the scaligers are well known, not only as having held the lordship of verona for some generations, but also as having been among the friends of dante in his exile, no mean reputation in itself; and, at a later period, as taking very high rank among the first scholars of their day. to which of them the passage above properly belongs--whether to can grande, or his brother bartolommeo, or even his father alberto, commentators are by no means agreed. the question is argued more largely than conclusively, both in the notes to lombardi's edition, and also in ugo foscolo's _discorso nel testo di dante_. perhaps the following may be a contribution to the evidence in favour of can grande. after { } saying, in a letter, in which he professes to give the history and origin of his family,-- "prisca omnium familiarum scaligeræ stirpis insignia sunt, aut _scala singularis_, aut canes utrinque scalæ innitentes." joseph scaliger adds-- "denique principium veronensium progenitores eadem habuerunt insignia: _donec_ in eam familiam alboinus et _canis magnus_ aquilam imperii cum scala primum ab henrico vii^o, deinde à ludovico bavaro acceptam nobis reliquerunt." alboinus, however, who received this grant upon being made a lieutenant of the empire, and having the signory of verona made hereditary in his family, only bore the eagle "_in quadrante scuti_." "sed canis magnus, cum eidem à cæsare ludovico bavaro idem privilegium confirmatum esset, totum scutum aquilâ occupavit, _subjectâ alitis pedibus scalâ_." can grande, then, was surely the first who carried the "santo uccello" _in su_ la scala; and his epithet of grande would also agree best with dante's words, as neither his father nor brothers seem to have had the same claim to it. i would offer a farther remark about this same title or epithet can grande, and the origin of the scala or ladder as a charge upon the shield or coat of this family. cane would at first sight appear to be a designation borrowed from the animal of that name. there would be parallels enough in italy and elsewhere, as the ursini, lewis the lion (viii. of france), our own coeur de lion, and harold harefoot. dante, too, refers to him under the name "il veltro," _inferno_, canto . l. . but joseph scaliger, in the letter to which i referred before, gives the following account of it:-- "nomen illi fuerat _franscisco_, à sacro lavacro, _cani_ à gentilitate, _magno_ à merito rerum gestarum. neque enim _canis_ ab illo _latranti animali_ dictus est, ut recte monet jovius, sed quod linguâ windorum, unde principes veronenses oriundos vult, _cahan_ idem est, quod linguâ serviana _kral_, id est rex, aut princeps. nam in gente nostrâ multi fuerunt canes, mastini, visulphi guelphi."--p. . this letter consists of about pages, and stands first in the edition of . it is addressed "ad janum dousam," and was written to vindicate his family from certain indignities which he conceived had been put upon it. sansovino and villani, it appears, had referred its origin to mastin ii., "qui," to use scaliger's version of the matter,-- "qui primus dictator populi veronensis perpetuus creatus est, quem et _auctorem_ nobilitatis scaligeræ et _scalarum_ antea _fabrum_ impudentissime nugantur hostes virtutis majorum nostrorum." it was bad enough to ascribe their origin to so recent a date, but to derive it from a mere mechanic was more than our author's patience could endure. accordingly he is not sparing of invective against those who so disparage his race. _vappa_, _nebulo_, and similar terms, are freely applied to their characters; _invidia_, [greek: kakoêtheia], &c., to their motives. the following is a specimen of the way he handles them:-- "dantes poëta illustrissimum christianissimorum regum franciæ genus à laniis parisiensibus deducit, utique tam vere, quam ille tenebrio nostrum à scalarum fabro: quas mirum, ni auctor generis _in suspendium eorum parabat_, quos vaticinabatur illustri nobilitate suæ obtrectaturos." now the charge of a ladder upon their shield was certainly borne by the several branches of this family long before any of them became masters of verona; and i should suggest that it originated in some brilliant escalade of one of the first members of it. thus, of course, it would remind us all of perhaps the earliest thing of the kind--i mean the shield and bearings of eteoclus before thebes: "[greek: eschêmatistai d' aspis ou smikron tropon;] [greek: anêr d' hoplitês klimakos prosambaseis] [greek: steichei pros echthrôn purgon, ekpersai thelôn.]" sept. c. thebas, . waldegrave brewster. h----n, jan. . . * * * * * inedited ballad on truth. i send you herewith a copy of an ancient ballad which i found this day while in search of other matters. i have endeavoured to explain away the strange orthography, and i have conjecturally supplied the last line. the ballad is unhappily imperfect. i trust that abler antiquaries than myself will give their attention to this fragmentary poem. "a balade of trouthe. (harl. mss. no. . folio .) "what more poyson . than ys venome. what more spytefull . than ys troozte.[ ] where shall hattred . sonere come. than oone anothyr . that troozte showthe. undoyng dysplesure . no love growthe. and to grete[ ] men . in especyall. troozte dare speke . lest[ ] of all. "and troozte . all we be bound to. and troozte . most men now dothe fle.[ ] what be we then . that so do. be we untrewe . troozte saythe ee.[ ] but he y^t tellethe troozte . what ys he. a besy foole . hys name shalle ronge.[ ] or else he hathe an euyle tonge. { } "may a tong . be trew and evyle. trootze ys good . and evyle ys navtze.[ ] god ys trootze . and navzt ys y^e devyle. ego sum veritas . o^r[ ] lord tavzt.[ ] at whyche word . my conceyt lavzt.[ ] to se[ ] our lorde . yff[ ] foly in hym be. to use troozt . that few doth but he. "to medyle w^t trouthe[ ] . no small game. for trouthe told . of tyms ys shent. and trouthe known . many doth blame. when trouthe ys tyrned . from trew intent. yet trouthe ys trouthe . trewly ment.[ ] but now what call they trouthe . trow ye. trowthe ys called colored honestè. "trouthe . ys honest without coloure. trouthe . shameth not in no condycyon. of hymself . without a trespasowre. by myst and knowne . of evyle condycyon. but of trouthe thys ys y^e conclusyon. surely good ordre there ys brokyne. where trouthe may not . nor dare be spokyne.[ ] "trouthe many tyms ys cast. out of credence . by enformacyon. yet trouthe crepthe[ ] out at last. and ovyr mastrythe cavylacyon.[ ] that i besech cryst . every nacyon. may use trouthe . to god and man. * * that he * not * syn * * ." * * * * * * i would fill up the lacuna-- "now that he do not syn . we can." perhaps, i repeat, some more able antiquaries will give their attention to this, and satisfy me on the _points_ of punctuation, date, &c. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. [footnote : truth, i presume, is meant, though it does not seem to agree with the context, which is pure nonsense in its present condition.] [footnote : great.] [footnote : least.] [footnote : flee.] [footnote : yea.] [footnote : ring, i fancy.] [footnote : naught.] [footnote : our.] [footnote : taught.] [footnote : laughed.] [footnote : see.] [footnote : if.] [footnote : here the orthography changes.] [footnote : meant.] [footnote : i think there must be some allusion here, which can only be arrived at by knowing the date of its composition.] [footnote : an elision for creepeth; possibly an intermediate etymological state of _creeps_.] [footnote : from "to cavil."] * * * * * minor notes. _ayot st. lawrence church_ (vol. iii., pp. . .). ayot st. lawrence, herts, is another deserted church, like that of landwade,--in fact a ruin, with its monuments disgracefully exposed. i was so astonished at seeing it in , that i would now ask the reason of its having been allowed to fall into such distress, and how any one could have had the power to build the present greek one, instead of restoring its early decorated neighbour. i did not observe the ft. in. effigy alluded to in _arch. journ._ iii. ., but particularly noted the elegant sculpture on the chancel arch capital. i would suggest to mr. kelke, that the incumbents of parishes should keep a separate register, recording _all_ monuments, &c. as they are put up, as existing, or as found in ms. church notes, or published in county histories. in the majority of parishes the trouble of so doing would be trifling, and to many a pleasant occupation. a. c. _johannes secundus_--_parnel_--_dr. johnson._--in dr. johnson's _life of parnel_ we find the following passage:-- "i would add that the description of _barrenness_, in his verses to pope, was borrowed from secundus; but lately searching for the passage which i had formerly read, i could not find it." i will first extract parnel's description, and then the passage of secundus; to which, i suppose, dr. johnson referred. "this to my friend--and when a friend inspires, my silent harp its master's hand requires, shakes off the dust, and makes these rocks resound, for fortune placed me in unfertile ground; far from the joys that with my soul agree, from wit, from learning--far, oh far, from thee! here moss-grown trees expand the smallest leaf, here half an acre's corn is half a sheaf. here hills with naked heads the tempest meet, rocks at their side, and torrents at their feet; or lazy lakes, unconscious of a flood, whose dull brown naiads ever sleep in mud." secundus in his first epistle of his first book (edit. paris, p. .), thus writes:-- "me retinet salsis infausta valachria terris, oceanus tumidis quam vagus ambit aquis. nulla ubi vox avium, pelagi strepit undique murmur, coelum etiam largâ desuper urget aquâ. flat boreas, dubiusque notus, flat frigidus eurus, felices zephyri nil ubi juris habent. proque tuis ubi carminibus, philomena canora, turpis in obscoenâ rana coaxat aquâ." varro. _the king's messengers, by the rev. w. adams._--ought it not to be remarked, in future editions of this charming and highly poetical book (which has lately been translated into swedish), that it is grounded on one of the "examples" occurring in _barlaam and josaphat_?" in the third or fourth century, an indian prince names josaphat was converted to christianity by a holy hermit called barlaam. this subject was afterwards treated of by some alexandrian priest, probably in the sixth century, in a beautiful tale, legend, or spiritual romance, in greek, and in a style of great ease, beauty, warmth, and colouring. the work was afterwards attributed to johannes damascenus, who died in . in this half-asiatic christian prose epic, barlaam employs a number of even then ancient folk-tales and fables, spiritually interpreted, in josaphat's conversion. it is on the fifth of these "examples" that mr. adams has built his richly-glittering fairy palace. _barlaam and josaphat_ was translated into almost { } every european dialect during the middle age, sometimes in verse, but usually in prose, and became an admired folk-book. among the versions lately recovered i may mention one into old-swedish (a shorter one, published in my _old-swedish legendarium_, and a longer one, not yet published); and one in old-norwegian, from a vellum ms. of the thirteenth century, shortly to appear in christiania. george stephens. stockholm. _parallel passages._--under "parallel passages" (vol. ii., p. .) there occur in two paragraphs--"_there is an acre sown with royal seed,_" concluding with "_living like gods, to die like men,_" from jeremy taylor's _holy dying_; and from francis beaumont-- "_here's an acre sown indeed_ _with the richest royalest seed._ . . . . . . _though gods they were, as men they died._" which of these twain borrowed the "royal seed" from the other, is a manner of little moment; but the correspondence of living as gods, and dying as men, both undoubtedly taken from holy scripture; the phrase occurring in either testament: "i have said, ye are gods ... but ye shall die like men" (psalm lxxxii. , .); quoted by our saviour (john, x. .): "jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, i said, ye are gods?" j. g. m. hallamshire. _cause of rarity of william iv.'s copper coinage._--the copper coinage of william iv. is become so scarce, that possibly a doubt may some day arise, whether any but a very limited issue of it was ever made; it may be well, therefore, to introduce a _note_ on the cause of its disappearance, while the subject is comparatively recent. when the copper coins of the last reign appeared, a slight tinge in the colour of the metal excited the suspicion of those accustomed to examine such things, that it contained gold, which proved to be the fact; hence their real value was greater than that for which they passed current, and they were speedily collected and melted down by manufacturers, principally, i believe, as an alloy to gold, whereby every particle of that metal which they contained was turned to account. i have been told that various birmingham establishments had agents in different parts of the country, appointed to collect this coinage. r. c. h. _burnet._--in the list of conflicting judgments on burnet, quoted by your correspondents (vol. i., pp. . . . . .), i find no reference to the opinion of his contemporary, bishop nicolson. that writer takes a somewhat partial view of the character and merits of the historian, and canvasses, by anticipation, much of what has been urged against him by our more modern critics. but, as the weight of authorities already cited appears to militate against burnet, i am induced to send you some of bishop nicolson's remarks, for the sake of those readers who may not have immediate access to them. i quote from his _english historical library_, nd edition, p. .: "in the months of december and january in the year following ( ), the historian (g. burnet) had the thanks of both houses of parliament for what he had already done; and was desired to proceed to the finishing of the whole work, which was done accordingly. this historian gives a punctual account of all the affairs of the reformation, from its first beginning in the reign of henry viii., till it was finally completed and settled by queen elizabeth, a.d. . and the whole is penned in such a masculine style as becomes an historian, and such as is this author's property in all his writings. the collection of records which he gives in the conclusion of each volume are good vouchers of the truth of all he delivers (as such) in the body of his history; and are much more perfect than could reasonably be expected, after the pains taken, in queen mary's days, to suppress everything that carried the marks of the reformation upon it. the work has had so much justice done it, as to meet with a general acceptance abroad, and to be translated into most of the european languages; insomuch that even the most piquant of the author's enemies allow it to have a _reputation firmly and deservedly established_. indeed, some of the french writers have cavilled at it; but the most eminent of them (m. varillas and m. le grand) have received due correction from the author himself." henry h. breen. st. lucia, dec. . _coleridge's opinion of defoe._--wilson, in his _memoirs of the life and times of defoe_, vol. ii. p. ., having quoted the opinion of the editor of cadell's edition of _robinson crusoe_,--"that defoe wanted many of those qualities, both of mind and manner, which fitted steele and addison to be the inimitable _arbitri elegantiarum_ of english society, there can be no doubt,"--coleridge wrote in the margin of his copy, "i doubt this, particularly in respect to addison, and think i could select from defoe's writings a volume equal in size to addison's collected papers, little inferior in wit and humour, and greatly superior in vigor of style and thought." ts. _miller's "philosophy of modern history."_--in the memoir, chiefly autobiographical, prefixed to the last edition (published by mr. bohn, - ) of this most able and interesting work, we find the following words, p. xxxv.: "in the preceding period of my lecturing, i collected a moderate audience [seldom exceeding ten persons] in the law school [his friend, alexander knox, being always one], sufficient to encourage me, or at least to permit me, to persevere, but not to animate my exertions by publicity. but as i was approaching the sixteenth century, the number of my hearers { } increased so much, that i was encouraged to remove to the examination hall, from which time my lectures attracted a large portion of public attention, strangers forming a considerable portion of the auditory." it is worthy of remark, in connexion with this production of a highly-gifted scholar and divine, whose name does honour to trinity college, dublin, that dr. sullivan's _lectures on the constitution and laws of england_, which have since deservedly acquired so much fame, were delivered in presence of only _three_ individuals, dr. michael kearney and two others--surely no great encouragement to irish genius! in fact, the irish long seemed unconscious of the merits of two considerable works by sons of their own university,--hamilton's _conic sections_ and sullivan's _lectures_; and hesitated to praise, until the incense of fame arose to one from the literary altars of cambridge, and an english judge, sir william blackstone, authorised the other. in the memoir to which i have referred, we find a complete list of the many publications which dr. miller, "distinguished for his services in theology and literature," sent forth from the press. we are likewise informed that there are some unpublished letters from hannah more, alexander knox, and other distinguished characters, with whom dr. miller was in the habit of corresponding. abhba. _anticipations of modern ideas or inventions._--in vol. iii., pp. . ., are two interesting instances of this sort. in wilson's _life of defoe_, he gives the titles of two works which i have often sought in vain, and which he classes amongst the writings of that voluminous author. they run thus: "_augusta triumphans_, or the way to make london the most flourishing city in the universe. i. by establishing a university where gentlemen may have an academical education under the eye of their friends [_the london university anticipated_]. ii. to prevent much murder, &c., by an hospital for foundlings. iii. by suppressing pretended madhouses, where many of the fair sex are unjustly confin'd while their husbands keep mistresses, and many widows are lock'd up for the sake of their jointures. iv. to save our youth from destruction by suppressing gaming tables, and sunday debauches. v. to avoid the expensive importation of foreign musicians by promoting an academy of our own, [_anticipation of the royal academy of music_], &c. &c. london: t. warner. . vo." "_second thoughts are best_; or a further improvement of a late scheme to prevent street robberies, by which our streets will be so strongly guarded and so gloriously illuminated, that any part of london will be as safe and pleasant at midnight as at noonday; and burglary totally impracticable [_a remarkable anticipation of the present state of things in the principal thoroughfares_]. with some thoughts for suppressing robberies in all the public roads of england [_rural police anticipated_]. humbly offer'd for the good of his country, submitted to the consideration of parliament, and dedicated to his sacred majesty geo. ii., by andrew moreton, esq. [supposed to be an assumed name; a common practice of de foe's]. london. w. meadows, ." r. d. h. "_sun, stand thou still upon gibeon!_"--the above text is often quoted as not being in accordance with the present state of our astronomical knowledge, and many well-known commentators on the bible have adopted the same opinion. i find kitto, in the _pictorial bible_, characterising it as "an example of those bold metaphors and poetical forms of expression with which the scriptures abound." scott (edit. ) states that "it would have been improper that he (joshua) should speak, or that the miracle should be recorded according to the terms of modern astronomy." mant (edit. ) says: "it is remarkable that the terms in which this event is recorded do not agree with what is now known rewarding the motion of the heavenly bodies." is it certain that joshua's words are absolutely at variance and irreconcileable with the present state of astronomical knowledge? astronomers allow that the sun is the centre and governing principle of our system, and that it revolves on its axis. what readier means, then, could joshua have found for staying the motion of our planet, than by commanding the revolving centre, in its inseparable connexion with all planetary motion, to stand still? i. k. _langley's polidore vergile._--at the back of the title of a copy of langley's _abridgement of polidore vergile_, vo., lond. , seen by hearne in , was the following ms. note: "at oxforde, the yere , browt down to seynbury by john darbye, pryse d. when i kept mr. letymer's shype i bout thys boke when the testament was obberagatyd that shepe herdys myght not red hit. i prey god amende that blyndnes. wryt by robert wyllyams, kepynge shepe uppon seynbury hill." at the end of the dedication to sir ant. denny is also written: "robert wyllyams boke, bowgyt by john darby at oesforth, and brot to seynbury." the seynbury here mentioned was doubtless saintbury in gloucestershire, on the borders of worcestershire, near chipping campden, and about four miles distant from evesham. p. b. _luther and ignatius loyola._--a parallel or counterpoising view of these two characters has been quoted in several publications, some of recent date; but in all it is attributed to a wrong source. mr. m^cgavin, in his _protestant_, letter cxl., (p. , ed. ); mr. overbury, in his _jesuits_ (lond. ), p. ., and, of course, the authority from which he borrows, poynder's _history of the jesuits_; and dr. dowling's _romanism_, p. . { } (ed. new york, )--all these give, as the authority for the contrasted characters quoted, damian's _synopsis societatis jesu_. nothing of the kind appears _there_; but in the _imago primi sæculi soc. jesu_, , it will be found, p. . the misleader of these writers seems to have been villers, in his _prize essay on the reformation_, or his annotator, mills, p. . novus. p.s. (vol. ii., p. .).--the lines quoted by dr. pusey, i have some notion, belong to a romish, not a socinian, writer. _winkel._--i thought, some time since, that the places bearing this name in england, were taken from the like german word, signifying _a corner_. i find, on examination, that there is a village in rhenish prussia named "winkel." it seems that charlemagne had a wine-cellar there; so that that word is no doubt taken from the german words _wein_ and _keller_, from the latin _vinum_ and _cella_. aredjid kooez. _foreign renderings._--in addition to those given, i will add the following, which i once came across at salzburg: "george nelböck recommande l'hôtel aux _trois alliés_, vis-à-vis de la maison paternelle du célèbre mozart, lequel est nouvellement fourni et offre tous les comforts à mrs. les voyageurs." translated as follows: "george nelböck begs leave to _recommand_ his hotel to the three allied, situated _vis-à-vis_ of the birth house of mozart, which offers all comforts to the _meanest_ charges." also the following: "m. reutlinger (of frankfort on main) _takes_ leave to _recommande_ his well furnished magazine of all kind of travelling-luggage and _sadle_-works." aredjid kooez. _samuel johnson--gilbert wakefield._--whoever has had much to do with the press will sympathise with mr. charles knight in all that he has stated ("notes and queries," vol. iii., p. .) respecting the accidental--but not at first discovered--substitution of _modern_ for _moderate_. if that word _modern_ had not been detected till it was too late for an explanation on authority, what strange conjectures would have been the consequence! happily, mr. knight was at hand to remove that stumbling-block. i rather fancy that i can rescue samuel johnson from the fangs of gilbert wakefield, by the supposition of an error of the press. in , wakefield published an edition of gray's _poems_, with notes; and in the last note on gray's "ode on the death of a cat," he thus animadverts on dr. johnson:-- our critic exposes himself to reproof from the manner in which he has conveyed his severe remark: _show a rhyme is sometimes made_. the omission of the relative, a too common practice with our writers, is an impropriety of the grossest kind: and which _neither gods or men_, as one expresses himself, nor any language under heaven, can endure." now in dr. johnson's _life of gray_, we find this sentence:-- "in the first stanza 'the azure flowers that blow' show resolutely a rhyme is sometimes made when it cannot easily be found." my notion is, that the word _how_ has been omitted in the printing, from the similarity of blow, show, how; and thus the sentence will be-- "_the azure flowers that blow_ show how resolutely a rhyme is sometimes made when it cannot easily be found." but gilbert wakefield was a critic by profession, and apparently as great in english as he was in greek. varro. _passage in gray's elegy._--i do not remember to have seen noted the evident lucretian origin of the verse-- "for them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, nor busy housewife ply her evening care; no children run to lisp their sire's return, or climb his knees the envied kiss to share." compare lucretius, lib. . v. .: "at jam non domus accipiet te læta; neque uxor optima, nec dulces occurrent oscula nati præripere, et tacitâ pectus dulcedine tangent." echo. * * * * * queries. bibliographical queries. (_continued from_ vol. iii., p. .) ( .) does any one now feel inclined to vindicate for inchofer, scioppius, bariac, or contarini, the authorship of the _monarchia solipsorum_? notwithstanding the testimony of the venice edition of , as well as the very abundant evidence of successive witnesses, in favour of the first-named writer, (whose claim has been recognised so lately as the year , by the _indice ultimo_ of madrid), can there be the smallest doubt that the veritable inventor of this satire upon the jesuits was their former associate, jules-clement scotti? for the interpretation of his pseudonyme, "lucius cornelius europæus," see niceron, _mém._ xxxix. - . ( .) mr. cureton (_ant. syr. vers. of ep. of s. ignat._ preface, p. ii., lond. ) has asserted that-- "the first epistles published, bearing the name of st. ignatius--one to the holy virgin, and two to the apostle st. john, in latin,--were printed in the year . three years later there appeared an edition of eleven epistles, also in latin, attributed to the same { } holy martyr. but nearly seventy years more elapsed before any edition of these epistles in greek was printed. in , val. paceus published twelve," &c. two connected queries may be founded upon this statement:--( .) is not mr. cureton undoubtedly in error with respect to the year ? for, if we may believe orlandi, maittaire, fabricius (_b. g._), and ceillier, the three latin epistles above named had been set forth previously at cologne, in . ( .) by what mysterious species of arithmetic can it be demonstrated that "nearly _seventy_ years" elapsed between and ? the process must be a somewhat similar one to that by which "a.d. " is made equivalent to "five-and-_twenty_ years after the council of nice." (pref., p. xxxiv.) in the former instance "_seventy_" is hardly a literal translation of bishop pearson's "_sexaginta_:" but whether these miscalculations have been already adverted to, and subsequently amended, or not, i cannot tell. ( .) in the same preface (p. xxiv.) a very strange argument was put forward, which, as we may learn from the last _quarterly review_, p. ., where it is satisfactorily refuted, has been since repeated by mr. cureton. he maintains that the syriac text of the ignatian epistles cannot be an epitome, because that "we know of no instances of such abridgment in any christian writer." to commence with the west,--is not mr. cureton acquainted with the manner in which rufinus dealt with the _history_ of eusebius? have we here no specimens of abbreviation; no allusion in the prologue to "omissis quæ videbantur superflua?" has mr. c. never looked into that memorable combination of the independent works of three contemporaries, entitled _historia tripartita?_ and, not to wander from the strictest bounds of bibliography, will any one presume to boast of having a copy of this book printed prior to that now near me, (a spectacle which de bure could never get a sight of), "per iohannem schüszler regie vrbis augustensis ciuem," anno ? but let us go to the east in search of compendiums. did not theodorus lector, early in the sixth century, reduce into a harmony the compositions of socrates, sozomen, and theodoret? how does assemani speak of the first two parts of the ecclesiastical history of zacharias rhetor, supposed to have been written _in syriac_, about the year ? "prima est _epitome_ socratis, altera theodoreti." (_biblioth. orient._, tom. ii. cap. vii.) on this occasion, manifestly, ancient records are encountered in an abridged syriac form; a circumstance which will not strengthen the curetonian theory relative to the text of the ignatian epistles. again, bearing in mind the resemblance that exists between passages in the interpolated epistles and in the apostolic constitutions, with the latter of which the _didascalia_ of ignatius seems to have been commingled, let us inquire, did not dr. grabe, in his _essay upon the doctrine of the apostles_, published in , unanswerably prove that the _syriac_ copy of this _didascalia_ was much more contracted than the _arabic_ one, or than the _greek_ constitutions of the apostles? is it not true that extracted portions of these constitutions are found in some old ms. collections of canons? has not cotelier furnished us with an "_epitome_," compiled by metaphrastes from clementine counterfeits, concerning the life of s. peter? and, to descend from the tenth to the sixteenth century, are we not indebted to carolus capellius for an "_epitome apostolicarum constitutionum, in creta insula repertarum_," to., ingolstad. ? ( .) when mr merryweather (vol. iii., p. .) was seeking for monastic notices of extreme longevity, did he always find it feasible to meet with ingulphus's history of croyland abbey "_apud wharton, anglia sacra_, ?" and if it be not enough to have read an account of an ecclesiastic who is said to have attained to the delectable age of years, is it not questionable that anything will suffice except it be the narrative of the _seven sleepers_? the third "lectio" relating to these champions of christendom, as it is given in a vatican ms., makes the period of their slumber to have been about years. who was the author of that finely-printed and illustrated quarto volume, the _sanctorum septem dormientium historia, ex ectypis musei victorii expressa_, published, with the full approbation of the censors, romæ, ? "obscurus esse gestio" is his declaration about himself (p. .). has he remained incognito? r. g. * * * * * shakspeare's "antony and cleopatra." the first scene of the third act of shakspeare's play of "antony and cleopatra," at first sight, appears to be totally unconnected with what goes before and what follows. it may be observed that the dramas founded on the roman history are much more regular in their construction than those founded on the english history. indeed, with respect to the drama in question, i am not aware of any scene, with the exception of that i have mentioned, which does not bear more or less on the fortunes of the personages from whom the play derives its name. hence i am led to conjecture that the dramatist here alludes to some event of the day, which was well known to his audience. the speech of ventidius seems to point to something of the kind: "o silius, silius! i have done enough: a lower place, note well, may make too great an act: for learn this, silius; better leave undone, than by our deed acquire too high a fame, when him we serve's away," &c. some of your numerous readers will doubtless { } be able to inform me whether there is any instance in the annals of that age of an inferior officer outshining his superior, and being cashiered or neglected in consequence. malone assigns to the play the date of . x. z. * * * * * greene's "groatsworth of witte." the interesting article by the hermit of holyport, on the early german translation of greene's _quip for an upstart courtier_, will, i am sure, be read with attention by all lovers of our early literature. my object in addressing you on the subject is to draw the attention of your foreign correspondents, and perhaps the notice of your new contemporary, to the great importance of discovering whether the _groatsworth of witte_ was also translated into german. the earliest edition i have seen is that of , but it was printed as early as ; and i have long been curious to ascertain whether the remarkable passage respecting shakspeare has descended to us in its genuine state. in the absence of the english edition of , this information might be obtained from a translation published before . perhaps, however, some of your readers may be able to point out the existence of an earlier edition. i have sought for that of for several years without any success. j. o. halliwell. * * * * * minor queries. _fronte capillatâ._--the following lines recurred to my memory after reading in your last number the translation of the epigram by pasidippus in the article on "fronte capillatâ," &c.; it is many years since i read them, but have forgotten where. can you or any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of them? "oh! who art thou so fast proceeding, ne'er glancing back thine eyes of flame? known but to few, through earth i'm speeding, and opportunity's my name. "what form is that, that scowls beside thee? repentance is the form you see; learn then the fate may yet betide thee, she seizes them, who seize not me." henry m. burt. gibson square, feb. . . _prayer of bishop of nantes._--in allison's _history of the french revolution_, ed. , at page . vol. i., there occurs the following passage: "the bishop of nancy commenced, as customary, with the prayer: 'receive, o god, the homage of the clergy, the respects of the noblesse, and the humble supplications of the tiers etat.'" this formula was, the historian tells us, received with a storm of disapprobation by the third order. will any of your contributors be so obliging as to inform me where the form of prayer spoken of as _customary_ is to be found? j. m. liverpool. _advantage of a bad ear._--can any of your readers supply the name of the man of mark in english history, who says "he encouraged in himself a bad ear, because it enabled him to enjoy music he would not have enjoyed without?" i have looked through the lives of lord herbert of cherbury, hampden, hobbes, andrew marvell, and fletcher of saltoun, without finding it; though it is possible it may be in some of these after all. the list given will point to the kind of personage in question. tn. _imputed letters of sullustius or sallustius_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i am sorry to say that the printer has completely spoiled my query, by printing _sullustius_ instead of _sallustius_ throughout the whole article. i subjoin a few more particulars concerning them. in the edition printed at cambridge ( to. ), and published under the auspices of the learned wasse, they are included. they are there entitled _orationes ad c. cæsarem, de republica ordinanda_. cortius rejects them, and de brosses accepts them. douza, crispinus, perizonius, clericus, &c., all speak in favour of their authenticity. allen does not mention them, and anthon rejects them entirely. with these additional hints i doubt not but that some of your obliging correspondents will be able to give me a reply. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. _rev. w. adams._--when did mr. adams, the accomplished author of the _sacred allegories_, die? this is unaccountably omitted in the "memoir" prefixed to the collected edition of his _allegories_ (london, rivingtons, ). can any characteristic anecdote be related of him, suitable for giving _point_ to a sketch of his life for foreign readers? george stephens. stockholm. _mr. beard, vicar of greenwich._--any information relating to "mr. beard, vicar of greenwich," who, in the year , was recommended by loftus, archbishop of armagh, and brady, bishop of meath, as a proper person to be preferred to the bishopric of kildare, will be very acceptable to-- spes. _goddard's history of lynn._--it has been always understood that mr. guybon goddard (who was recorder of this borough in or thereabouts) collected a quantity of materials for a history of lynn, and that in or an offer to purchase them was made by the corporation to his son, thomas goddard, but it seems without success. the fact of such materials having been { } collected is recognised by goddard's brother-in-law, sir wm. dugdale (who refers to it in some part of his works), as also by parkin, in his _history of freebridge and king's lynn_, p. ., where he is called a curious collector of antiquities. my query is, can any of your correspondents inform me where this collection can be met with? john nurse chadwick. _sir andrew chadwick._--it is stated that on the th jan. - , sir andrew chadwick, of st. james's, westminster, was knighted by queen anne for some service done to her, it is supposed for rescuing her when thrown from her horse. can any of your correspondents inform me if such was the fact, and from what source they derive their information? john nurse chadwick. king's lynn. _sangaree._--your periodical having been the means of eliciting some interesting particulars respecting the origin of the word _grog_, perhaps you will allow me to claim a similar distinction for the word _sangaree_. you are aware that this word is applied, in the west indies, to a beverage composed of madeira wine, syrup, water, and nutmeg. the french call it _sangris_, in allusion, it is supposed, to the colour of the beverage, which when mixed has the appearance, as it were, of grey blood _(sang gris)_: but as there is reason to believe that the english were the first to introduce the use of the thing, they having been the first to introduce its principal ingredient, madeira wine, i am disposed to look upon _sangaree_ as the original word, and _sangris_ as nothing more than a corruption of it. can any of your readers (among whom i trust there are many retired west india planters) give the etymology of this word? henry h. breen. st. lucia, dec. . _king john at lincoln._--matthew paris, under the year , gives an account of king john's visiting lincoln to meet william, king of scots, and to receive his homage: "ubi rex johannes, [he says] contra consilium multorum, intravit civitatem intrepidus, quod nullus antecessorum suorum attentare ausus fuerat." my query is, what were they afraid of? c. w. b. _canes lesi._--may i also put a question with respect to an ancient tenure in dorsetshire, recorded by blount, edit. , p. .: "juliana, &c., tenuit dimidiam hidam terræ, &c., per serjantiam custodiendi _canes_ domini regis _lesos_, si qui fuerint, quotiescunque dominus rex fugaverit in forestâ suâ de _blakemore_: et ad dandum unum denarium ad clancturam parci domini regis de _gillingham_." blount's explanation of _canes lesos_, is "leash hounds or park hounds, such as draw after a hurt deer in a leash, or liam;" but is there any reason why we should not adopt the more simple rendering of "hurt hounds;" and suppose that dame juliana was matron of the royal dorset dog hospital? ducange gives no such word as _lesus_; neither does he nor any authority, to which i have access, help me to understand the word _clanctura_. i trust, however, that some of your correspondents will. c. w. b. _headings of chapters in english bibles._--the arguments or contents which are prefixed to each chapter of our english bibles seem occasionally to vary; some being more full and comprehensive than others. when and by whom were they compiled? what authority do they possess? and where can we meet with any account of them? liturgicus. _abbot eustacius and angodus de lindsei._--can any of your learned readers inform me in what reign an abbot _eustacius_ flourished? he is witness to a charter of ricardus de lindsei, on his granting twelve denarii to st. mary of _greenfeld_, in lincolnshire: there being no date, i am anxious to ascertain its antiquity. he is there designated "_eustacius abbe flamoei_." also witnessed by willo' decano de hoggestap, roberto de wells, eudene de bavent, radulpho de neuilla, &c. the latter appears in the doomsday book. the charter is to be found among ascough's col., b. m. i should also be glad to know whether the christian name _angodus_ be german, norman, or saxon. angodus de lindsei grants a carrucate of land in hedreshille to st. albans, in the time of the conqueror. if this person assumed the name of _lindsei_ previous to the doomsday inquisition, ought not his name to have appeared in the doomsday book,--he who could afford to make a grant of acres of land to the abbey of st. albans? j. l. _oration against demosthenes._--mr. harris of alexandria made a discovery, some years ago, of a fragment of an oration against demosthenes. can you, or any of your kind correspondents, favour me with an account of it? i cannot recall the particulars of the discovery, but i believe the oration, with a _fac-simile_, was privately printed. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. _pun._--c. h. kenyon (vol. iii., p. .) asks if milton could have seriously perpetrated the pun "each tome a tomb." i doubt whether he intended it for a pun. but his query induces me to put another. whence and when did the aversion to, and contempt for, a pun arise? is it an offshoot from the reformation? our catholic fellow-countrymen surely felt no such aversion; for the claim which they make of supremacy for { } their church is based upon a pun, and that a very sorry one. a. r. _sonnet (query by milton?)_ (vol. iii., p. .).--may i inquire from your correspondent whether he possesses the book, _a collection of recente and witty pieces by several eminente hands_, london, , from which this sonnet is stated to be extracted. the lines look suspiciously modern, and i should, before making any further observations upon them, be glad to be assured of their authenticity through the medium of your pages. jas. crossley. _medal given to howard._--hepworth dixon, in his _life of howard_, mentions a russian general bulgarhow, who was presented by his countrymen with a gold medal, as "one who had deserved well of his country." the general's reply stated that _his_ services to mankind reached his own country only; but there _was_ a man whose extraordinary philanthropy took in all the world,--who had already, with infinite toil and peril, extended his humanity to all nations,--and who was therefore alone worthy of such a distinction; to him, his master in benevolence, he should send the medal! and he did so. can any of your readers inform me who now possesses this medal, and where it is to be found? w. a. _withers' devil at sarum_.--where is withers' _devil at sarum_, mentioned in hudibras, to be met with? it is not in any of his collected works that i have seen. james waylen. _election of a pope._--i have read somewhere that some cardinals assembled in a water-closet in order to elect a pope. can any of your readers refer me to any book where such a fact is mentioned? t. _battle in wiltshire_.--a pamphlet dated (in ms.) dec. . , describes an engagement as taking place in wiltshire between rupert and skippon. if this be so, how comes it to pass that not only the general histories are silent as to the event, but that even the newspapers omit it? we know that rupert was at the sack of cirencester, in february, - ; and cirencester is on the borders of wiltshire: but is there any authority for the first-mentioned visit to this county, during the period from the affair at brentford to the taking of cirencester? james waylen. _colonel fell_.--can you inform me who are the representatives or descendants of lieut.-colonel robert edward fell, of st. martin's in the fields, london, where he was living in the year ? he was the great-grandson of thomas fell, of swarthmore hall, co. lancaster, esq., chancellor of the duchy of lancaster during the commonwealth, whose widow married george fox, founder of the quakers. de h. _tennyson's "in memoriam."_--perhaps some of your readers may be able to explain the reference in the following verse, the first in this beautiful series of poems: "i held it truth, with him who sings to one clear harp in divers tones, that men may rise on stepping-stones of their dead selves to higher things." the following stanza, also in the poem numbered ., much needs interpretation: "or cooled within the glooming wave,-- and last, returning from afar, _before the crimson-circled star_ _had fallen into her father's grave._" w. b. h. manchester. _magnum sedile._--can any of your correspondents throw light on the singular arched recesses, sometimes (though rarely) to be found on the south side of chancels, west of the sedilia. the name of _magnum sedile_ has been given to them, i know not on what authority; but if they were intended to be used as stalls of dignity for special occasions, they would hardly have been made so wide and low as they are generally found. a good example occurs at fulbourn, cambridgeshire,--certainly not monumental; and another (but more like a tomb) at merton, near oxford, engraved in the _glossary of architecture_. why should they not have been intended for the holy sepulchre at easter? as i am not aware that these were necessarily restricted to the north side. is there any instance of a recess of this kind on the south side, and an easter sepulchre on the north, in the same church? c. r. m. _ace of diamonds--the earl of cork._--in addition to the _soubriquets_ bestowed upon the nine of diamonds of "the curse of scotland," and that of "the grace card," given to the six of hearts (vol. i., pp. . .), there is yet another, attached to the ace of diamonds, which is everywhere in ireland denominated "the earl of cork," the origin of which i should be glad to know. e. s. t. _closing of rooms on account of death._--in the _spectator_, no. ., july, , one of addison's papers on sir roger de coverley, the following passage occurs: "my friend, sir roger, has often told me with a good deal of mirth, that at his first coming to his estate he found three parts of his house altogether useless; that the best room in it had the reputation of being haunted, and by that means was locked up; that noises had been heard in his long gallery, so that he could not get a servant to enter it after eight o'clock at night; that the door of one of his chambers was nailed up, because there went a story in the family that a butler had formerly hanged himself in it; and that his mother, who lived to a great age, had shut up half the rooms in the house, in which either her husband, a son, { } or daughter had died. the knight seeing his habitation reduced to so small a compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his own house, upon the death of his mother ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcised by his chaplain, who lay in every room one after another, and by that means dissipated the fears which had so long reigned in the family." the practice of shutting up rooms in which members of the family had died was retained up to the end of the last century. i learn from a friend that, in a country house in the south of england, his mother's apartment, consisting of a sitting-room, bed-room, and dressing-room, was closed at her death in . the room in which his grandfather had died in was likewise closed. these four rooms were kept locked up, with the shutters shut, till the year , when the next owner came into possession, who opened them, and caused them to be again used. probably other cases of the same sort may be known to your correspondents, as having occurred in the last century; but the custom appears to be now extinct. l. _standfast's cordial comforts._--i have lately procured a copy of an interesting book, entitled "a little handful of cordial comforts: scattered throughout several answers to sixteen questions and objections following. by richard standfast, m.a., rector of christ church in bristol, and chaplain in ordinary to king charles ii. sixth edition. bristol, . mo. pp. ." can any of your readers give me further particulars of mr. standfast, or tell me where to find them? in what year was the work first published? it was reprinted in bristol in , "for mr. standfast smith, apothecary, great-grandson of the author." has any later edition appeared? abhba. _"predeceased" and "designed."_--j. dennistoun, in his _memoirs of the dukes of urbino_, ii. p. ., says-- "his friend the cardinal had lately predeceased him." can any of your readers give me an instance from any one of our standard classical authors of a verb active "to decease"? the same author uses the word _designed_ several times in the sense of _designated_. i should be glad of a few authorities for the use of the word in this sense. w. a. _lady fights at atherton._--a poem, published in , in honour of the king's successes in the west, has the following reference to a circumstance connected with fairfax's retreat at atherton moor: "when none but lady staid to fight." i should be glad to learn to what this refers, and whether or not the real story formed the basis of de foe's account of the fighting lady at thame, laid about the same period, viz. the early part of the year . james waylen _sketches of civil war garrisons, &c._--during the civil war, sketches and drawings were, no doubt, made of the lines drawn about divers garrisons. some few of these have from time to time appeared as woodcuts: but i have a suspicion that several remain only in ms. still. if any of your readers can direct me to any collection of them in the british museum or oxford, they would shorten a search that has long been made in vain. james waylen. _"jurat? crede minus:" epigram._--can any of your learned readers inform me by whom the following epigram was written? i lately heard it applied, in conversation, to the jesuits, but i think it is of some antiquity:-- "jurat? crede minus: non jurat? credere noli: jurat, non jurat? hostis ab hoste cave." f. r. r. _meaning of gulls._--what is the origin of the word "gulls," as applied in wensleydale (north york) to hasty-pudding, which is a mixture of oatmeal and milk or water boiled? d. . _the family of don._--can any of your correspondents furnish me with information regarding the family of don, of pitfichie, near monymusk, aberdeenshire; or trace how they were connected with the dons of newton don, roxburghshire? a. a. abridge. _wages in the last century._--i should like to have any particulars of the price of labour at various periods in the last century, especially the wages of domestic servants. may i be permitted to mention that i am collecting anecdotes of the manners and customs, social and domestic, of our grandfathers, and should be much obliged for any curious particulars of their ways of living, their modes of travelling, or any peculiarities of their daily life? i am anxious to form a museum of the characteristic curiosities of the century; its superstitions, its habits, and its diversions. a. a. abridge. _woman, lines on._--can any of your correspondents inform me who was the author of the following lines:-- "she was ---- but words would fail to tell her worth: think what a woman ought to be, and she was that." they are to be found on several tombstones throughout the country. scrutator. { } * * * * * replies. the episcopal mitre and papal tiara. (vol. iii., p. .) in answer to the question of an "inquirer" respecting the origin of the peculiar form and first use of the episcopal mitre, i take the liberty of suggesting that it will be found to be of oriental extraction, and to have descended from that country, either directly, or through the medium of other nations, to the ecclesiastics of christian rome. the writers of the romish, as well as reformed churches, now admit, that most, if not all, of the external symbols, whether of dress or ceremonial pageantry, exhibited by the roman catholic priesthood, were adopted from the pagans, under the plea of being "indifferent in themselves, and applicable as symbolical in their own rites and usages" (marangoni, _delle cose gentili e profane trasportate nel uso ed ornamento delle chiesi_); in the same manner as many romish customs were retained at the reformation for the purpose of inducing the papists to "come in," and conform to the other changes then made (southey, _history of the church_). thus, while the disciples of dr. pusey extract their forms and symbols from the practices of papal rome, the disciples of the pope deduce theirs from the practices of pagan rome. with this preface i proceed to show that the episcopal _mitre_ and the papal _tiara_ are respectively the copies each of a distinct head-dress originally worn by the kings of persia and the conterminous countries, and by the chiefs of their priesthood, the magi. the nomenclature alone indicates a foreign extraction. it comes to us through the romans from the greeks; both of which nations employed the terms [greek: mitra], lat. _mitra_, and [greek: tiara], lat. _tiara_, to designate two different kinds of covering for the head in use amongst the oriental races, each one of a distinct and peculiar form, though as being foreigners, and consequently not possessing the technical accuracy of a native, they not unfrequently confound the two words, and apply them indiscriminately to both objects. strictly speaking, the greek [greek: mitra], in its primitive notion, means a long _scarf_, whence it came to signify, in a secondary sense, various articles of attire composed with a scarf, and amongst others the oriental _turban_ (herod. vii. .). but as we descend in time, and remove in distance from the country where this object was worn, we find that the romans affixed another notion to the word, which they used very commonly to designate the asiatic or phrygian cap (virg. _Æn._ iv. .; servius, l.c.); and this sense has likewise been adopted in our own language: "that paris now with his unmanly sort, with _mitred_ hat."--surrey, virgil, _Æn._ iv. thus the word _mitra_ in its later usage came to signify a _cap_ or _bonnet_, instead of a turban; and it is needless to observe that the priests of a religion comparatively modern, when they adopted the term, would have taken it in the sense which was current at their own day. now, though the common people were not permitted to wear high bonnets, nor of any other than a soft and flexible material, the kings and personages of distinction had theirs of a lofty form, and stiffened for the express purpose of making them stand up at an imposing elevation above the crown of the head. in the national collection at paris there is preserved an antique gem, engraved by caylus (_recueil d'antiq._, vol. ii. p. .), on which is engraved the head of some oriental personage, probably a king of parthia, persia, or armenia, who wears a tall upstanding bonnet, _mitred_ at the top exactly like a bishop's, with the exception that it has three incisions at the side instead of a single one. these separate incisions had no doubt a symbolical meaning amongst the native races, although their allusive properties are unknown to us; but it is not an unwarrantable inference, nor inconsistent with the customs of these nations as enduring at this day, to conclude that the numbers of one, two, or three, were appropriated as distinctions of different degrees in rank; and that their priests, the magi, like those of other countries where the sovereign did not invest himself with priestly dignities, imitated the habiliments as they assumed the powers of the sovereign, and wore a bonnet closely resembling his in form and dignity, with the difference of one large _mitre_ at each side, in place of the three smaller ones. if this account be true respecting the origin of the mitre, it will lead us by an easy step to determine the place where it was first used--at antioch, the "queen of the east," where, as we are told in the acts of the apostles, the followers of christ were first called "christians;" thus indicating that they were sufficiently numerous and influential to be distinguished as a separate class in that city, while those in rome yet remained despised and unknown. antioch was the imperial residence of the macedonian dynasty, which succeeded alexander, who himself assumed the upright bonnet of the persian king (arrian. iv. .), and transmitted it to his successors, who ruled over syria for several hundred years, where its form would be ready at hand as a model emblematic of authority for the bishop who ruled over the primitive church in those parts. the tiara of the popes has, in like manner, an eastern origin; but instead of being adopted by them directly from its native birth-place, it descended through etruria to the pagan priesthood of ancient rome, and thence to the head of the roman catholic church. the [greek: tiara] of the greeks, and _tiara_ of the latins, expresses the cloth cap or _fez_ of the parthians, persians, armenians, &c., { } which was a low scull-cap amongst the commonalty, but a stiff and elevated covering for the kings and personages of distinction (xen. _anab._ ii. , .). this imposing tiara is frequently represented on ancient monuments, where it varies in some details, though always preserving the characteristic peculiarity of a tall upright head-dress. it is sometimes truncated at its upper extremity, at others a genuine round-topped bonnet, like the phrygian cap when pulled out to its full length, and stiffened so as to stand erect--each a variety of form peculiar to certain classes or degrees of rank, which at this period we are not able to decide and distinguish with certainty. but on a bas-relief from persepolis, supposed to have belonged to the palace of cyrus, and engraved by ferrario (_costume dell' asia_, vol. iii. tav. .), may be seen a bonnet shaped very much like a beehive, the exact type of the papal tiara, with three bands (the _triregno_) round its sides, and only wanting the cross at the summit, and the strawberry-leaved decoration, to distinguish it from the one worn by pio nono: and on a medal of augustus, engraved on a larger scale in rich's _companion to the latin dictionary_, art. tutulus, we find this identical form, with an unknown ornament of the top, for which the popes substituted a cross, reappearing on the skull of a pagan priest. i may add that the upright tiaras represented on works of ancient art, which can be proved, or are known to be worn by royal personages, are truncated at the summit; whence it does not seem an improper inference to conclude that the round and conical ones belonged to persons inferior to the kings alone in rank and influence, the magi; which is the more probable, since it is clear that they were adopted by the highest priests of two other religions, those of pagan and of christian rome. if space admits, i would also add that the official insignia and costume of a cardinal are likewise derived from the pagan usages of greece. amongst his co-religionists he is supposed to symbolize one of the apostles of christ, who went forth ill clothed and coarsely shod to preach the gospel; whereas, in truth, his comfortable hat, warm cloak, and showy stockings, are but borrowed plumage from the ordinary travelling costume of a greek _messenger_ ([greek: apostolos]). the sentiment of travelling is always conveyed in the ancient bas-reliefs and vase paintings by certain conventional signs or accessories bestowed upon the figure represented, viz., a broad-brimmed and low-crowned hat ([greek: petasos], lat. _petasus_), with long ties (_redimicula_) hanging from its sides, which served to fasten it under the chin, or sling it behind at the nape of the neck when not worn upon the head; a wrapping cloak ([greek: himation], lat. _pallium_) made of coarse material instead of fine lamb's wool; and a pair of stout travelling boots laced round the legs with leathern thongs ([greek: endromides]), more serviceable for bad roads and rough weather than their representatives, red silk stockings. all these peculiarities may be seen in the following engravings (winhelm. _mon. ined. tratt., prelim._, p. xxxv.; id., tav. .; _rich's companion_, art. "ceryx" and "pallium"). i regret that the nature of your publication does not admit the introduction of woodcuts, which would have enabled me to present your readers with the best of all demonstrations for what i advance. in default of that i have endeavoured to point out the most compendious and accessible sources where the figures i refer to may be seen in engravings. but if any reader of "notes and queries" should not have an opportunity of consulting the books cited, and is desirous of pursuing the investigation to satisfy himself, i would willingly transmit to him a drawing of the objects mentioned through mr. bell, or any other channel deemed more convenient. a. rich, junr. _the episcopal mitre_ (vol. iii., p. .)--godwyn, in his _moses and aaron_, london, , b. i., c. ., says that-- "a miter of fine linnen sixteene cubits long, wrapped about his head, and a plate of purple gold, or holy crowne, two fingers broad, whereon was graven holinesse to the lord, which was tied with a blew lace upon the forefront of the miter," was that "which shadowed and signified the kingly office of our saviour christ," in the apparel of the jewish high priest, and ordered (lev. xvi. .): and again, in his _romanæ historiæ anthologia_, oxford, , lib. iii. sec. . cap. ., he says that the "_mitra_ did signifie a certaine attire for women's heads, as a coife or such like." for further illustration see virgil's _Æneid_, lib. iv. l. .: "mæoniâ mentum mitrâ crinemque madentem." again, lib. ix. l. .: "et tunicæ manicas et habent redimicula mitræ." during the ennobling of the clergy by the roman emperors, in the seventh and eighth centuries, a crown was found necessary, and anciently cardinals wore mitres; but, at the council of lyons, in , they were appointed to wear hats. blowen. _the episcopal mitre_ (vol. iii., p. .).--an inquirer will find much curious matter respecting the mitre, collected both from classical writers and antiquaries, in _explications de plusieurs textes difficiles de l'ecriture par le r. p. dom._ [_martin_], to., à paris, . to any one ambitious of learnedly occupying some six or seven columns of "notes and queries" the ample foot references are very tempting; i content myself with transcribing two or three of the entries in the index: _"mitre des anciens, leur nature, et leur forme; était la { } marque du sacerdoce; se portait ordinairement à la tête, et quelquefois aux mains. forme des mitres dans leur origine, et dans les tems postérieurs,_" &c. this dissertation, which is illustrated by several plates, will repay for the time spent in reading it. i presume inquirer is acquainted with godwyn's _moses and aaron_, where he will find something. w. dn. _episcopal mitre._--the origin of the peculiar form of the episcopal mitre is the cloven tongues which descended on the apostles on the day of pentecost, with the gift of the holy spirit. of this the mitre is an emblem. l. m. m. r. * * * * * dryden's essay upon satire. (vol. ii., pp. . .) the query proposed by your correspondent, as to the authorship of the _essay on satire_, is a very interesting one, and i am rather surprised that it has not yet been replied to. in favour of your correspondent's view, and i think it is perhaps the strongest argument which can be alleged, is dean lockier's remark:-- "could anything be more impudent than his (sheffield's) publishing that satire, for writing which dryden was beaten in rose alley (and which was so remarkably known by the name of the 'rose alley satire') as his own? indeed he made a few alterations in it, but these were only verbal, and generally for the worse."--spence's _anecdotes_, edit. singer, p. . dean lockier, it must be observed, was well acquainted with dryden from to the time of his death; and appears to speak so positively that he would seem to have acquired his knowledge from dryden's own information. his first introduction to that great poet arose from an observation made in dryden's hearing about his mac fleckno; and it is therefore the more likely that he would be correctly informed as to the author's other satires. dean lockier was, it may be added, a good critic; and his opinions on literary subjects are so just, that it is to be regretted we have only very few of them. i confess i do not attach much weight to the argument arising from the lines on the earl of mulgrave himself contained in the poem. to transfer suspicion from himself, in so general a satire, it was necessary to include his own name amongst the rest; but, though the lines are somewhat obscure, it is, after all, as respects him, compared with the other persons mentioned, a very gentle flagellation, and something like what children call a make-believe. indeed rochester, in a letter to his friend henry saville ( st nov. ), speaks of it as a panegyric. on the other hand, mulgrave expressly denied dryden's being the author, in the lines in his _essay on poetry_,-- "tho' praised and punished for another's rhymes." and by inference claimed the poem, or at least the lines on rochester, as his own. dryden, in the preface to his virgil, praises the _essay on poetry_ in the highest terms; but says not a word to dispute mulgrave's statement, though he might then have safely claimed the _essay on satire_, if his own; and though he must have been aware that, by his silence, he was virtually resigning his sole claim to its authorship. it was subsequently included in mulgrave's works, and has ever since gone under the joint names of himself and dryden. on the question of internal evidence critics differ. your correspondent can see in it no hand but dryden's; while malone will scarcely allow that dryden made even a few verbal alterations in it (life, p. .); and sir walter scott is not inclined to admit any further participation on the part of the great poet than "a few hints for revision," and denies its merit altogether--a position in which i think very few, who carefully peruse it, will agree with him. i am disposed to take a middle course between your correspondent and dryden's two biographers, and submit that there is quite sufficient internal evidence of joint ownership. i cannot think such lines as-- "i, who so wise and humble seem to be, now my own vanity and pride can't see;" or,-- "i, who have all this while been finding fault, e'en with my master who first satire taught, and did by that describe the task so hard, it seems stupendious, and above reward." or,-- "to tell men freely of their foulest faults, to laugh at their vain deeds and vainer thoughts:" would proceed from dryden, while it is to be noticed that the inharmonious rhymes "faults" and "thoughts" were favourites of mulgrave, and occur twice in his _essay on poetry_. neither can i doubt that the verses on shaftesbury,--the four "will any dog;" the four "for words and wit did anciently agree," the four "mean in each action;" the two "each pleasure has its price"--are dryden's additions, with many others, which a careful reader will instantly appropriate. i can find no sufficient authority for the statement of malone and sir w. scott, that pope revised the _essay on satire_. it is well known he corrected that on poetry. jas. crossley. manchester, feb. . . { } * * * * * foundation-stone of st. mark's at venice. (vol. iii., p. .) i recollect having seen the stone in question in the collection of the late mr. douce, in whose possession it had been for some years before his communication of it to the society of antiquaries. it is quite evident that he was satisfied of its authenticity, and it was most probably an accidental purchase from some dealer in antiquities, who knew nothing about it. i happen to know that it remained in the hands of sir henry ellis at the time of mr. douce's death, and your correspondent h. c. r. will most probably find it among the other collections of mr. douce now in the museum at goodrich castle. the doubt expressed by your correspondent is evidently founded upon the engraving and accompanying paper in the th volume of the _archæologia_; and as it conveys such a grave censure of the judgment of the director of the council and secretaries of the antiquarian society, it appears to me that it is incumbent upon him to satisfy his doubts by seeing the stone itself, and, if he should be convinced of his error, to make the _amende honorable_. it is to be regretted that he did not state "the points which have suggested this notion of its being a hoax." for my own part, i cannot see the motive for such a falsification; and if it is one, it is the contrivance of some one who had more epigraphic skill than is usually found on such occasions. there is nothing in the objection of your correspondent as to the size and form of the stone which would have any weight, and it is not necessary to suppose that it "must have been loose in the world for years." on pulling down the old church, the foundation-stone in which this was imbedded may have been buried with the rubbish, and exhumed in comparatively recent times. it had evidently fallen into rude and ignorant hands, and suffered by being violently detached from the stone in which it was imbedded. every one who knew the late mr. douce must have full confidence in his intimate knowledge of mediæval antiquity, and would not easily be led to imagine that he could be deceived on a point like this; but are we to presume, from a vague _idea_ of your correspondent's, that the executive body of the society of antiquaries would fail to detect a forgery of this nature? s. w. s., _olim_ f. s. a. _foundation-stone of st. mark's, venice_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this singular relic is now preserved in the "doucean museum," at goodrich court, herefordshire, with the numerous objects of art and antiquities bequeathed by mr. douce to the late sir samuel meyrick. i believe that nothing can now be ascertained regarding the history of this stone, or how it came into the possession of mr. douce. sir samuel enumerates it amongst "miscellaneous antiquities," no. ., in his interesting inventory of this collection, given in the _gentleman's magazine_, feb., , p. . the doucean museum comprises, probably, the finest series of specimens of sculpture in ivory existing in any collection in england. the limoges enamels are also highly deserving of notice. albert way. * * * * * histoire des sÉvarambes. (vol. iii., pp. . and .) i am not sufficiently familiar with vossius or his works to form any opinion as to the accuracy of the conclusion which mr. crossley has arrived at. there is at least much obscurity in the matter, to which i have long paid some little attention. my copy is entitled,-- "the history of the sevarambians: a people of the south continent. in _five_ parts. containing an account of the government, &c. translated from the memoirs of capt. _siden_, who lived fifteen years amongst them. lond. ." ( vo. pp. xxiii. and .) i have given this to show how it differs from that spoken of by mr. c. as being in _two_ parts, by capt. thos. _l_iden, and not a reprint, but a translation from the french, which lowndes says was "considerably _altered_ and _enlarged_." if this be so, we can hardly ascribe to vossius the edition of . the preface intimates that the papers were written in latin, french, italian, and dutch, and placed in the editor's hands in england, on his promising to methodise them and put them all into one language; but i do not observe the slightest allusion to the work having previously appeared either in english or french, although we find that barbier, in his _dict. des anon._, gives the french edit. pt. paris, ; pt. paris, et , vols. mo.; nouvelle edit. amsterdam, , vols. mo.; and ascribes it to denis vairasse d'alais. there is a long account of this work in _dict. historique_, par marchand: à la haye, , fo. sub. nom., allais, as the author, observing-- "il y a diversité d'opinions touchant la langue en laquelle il a été écrit ou composé." the earliest he mentions is the english one of , and an edition in the french, "à paris, ;" which states on the title, _traduit de l'anglois_, whereas the second part is "imprimée à paris _chez l'auteur_, ," from which marchand concludes that allais was the writer, adding,-- "on n'a peut-être jamais vu de fiction composée avec plus d'art et plus d'industrie, et il faut avouer { } qu'il y en a peu où le vraisemblable soit aussi ingénieusement et aussi adroitement conservé." wm. taylor, of norwich, writes to southey, asking,-- "can you tell me who wrote the _history of the sevarambians_? the book is to me curious. wieland steals from it so often, that it must have been a favourite in his library; if i had to impute the book by guess, i would fix on maurice ashby, the translator of xenophon's _cyropædia_, as the author." to which southey replies,-- "of the sevarambians i know nothing!" (see _gent. mag._ n.s. xxi. p. .) sir w. scott, in his _memoirs of swift_, p. . (edit. ), speaking of _gulliver's travels_, says-- "a third volume was published by an unblushing forger, as early as , without printer's name, a great part of which is unacknowledged plunder from a work entitled _hist. des sévarambes_, ascribed to mons. alletz, suppressed in france and other catholic kingdoms on account of its deistical opinions." it would seem from this, that sir walter was not aware of the english work, or knew much of its origin or the author. f. r. a. _histoire des sévarambes._--the second edition of gulliver's travels, entitled _travels into several remote nations of the world, by lemuel gulliver_, vols. vo., london, , is accompanied with a spurious third volume, printed at london in the same year, with a similar title-page, but not professing to be a second edition. this third volume is divided into two parts: the first part consists, first, of an introduction in pp. ; next, of two chapters, containing a second voyage to brobdingnag, which are followed by four chapters, containing a voyage to sporunda. the second part consists of six chapters, containing a voyage to sevarambia, a voyage to monatamia, a voyage to batavia, a voyage to the cape, and a voyage to england. the whole of the third volume, with the exception of the introduction and the two chapters relating to brobdingnag, is derived from the _histoire des sévarambes_, either in its english or french version. l. * * * * * touching for the evil. (vol. iii., pp. . .) there is ample evidence that the french monarchs performed the ceremony of touching for the evil. in a ms. in the university library, cambridge[ ], is this memorandum:-- "the kings of england and _fraunce_ by a peculiar guift cure the king's evill by touching them with their handes, and so doth the seaventh sonne."--_ant. miraldus_, p. . fuller intimates that st. louis was the first king of france who healed the evil. "so witnesseth andrew chasne, a french author, and others."[ ] speaking of the illness of louis xi., "at forges neere to chinon," in march, , philip de commines says: "after two daies he recovered his speech and his memory after a sort: and because he thought no man understood him so wel as my selfe, his pleasure was that i should alwaies be by him, and he confessed himselfe to the officiall in my presence, otherwise they would never have understood one another. he had not much to say, for he was shriven not long before, because the kings of fraunce use alwaies to confesse themselves when they touch those that be sick of the king's evill, which he never failed to do once a weeke. if other princes do not the like, they are to blame, for continuall a great number are troubled with that disease."[ ] pierre desrey, in his _great chronicles of charles viii._, has the following passage relating to that monarch's proceedings at rome in january, - :-- "tuesday the th, the king heard mass in the french chapel, and afterwards touched and cured many afflicted with the king's evil, to the great astonishment of the italians who witnessed the miracle."[ ] and speaking of the king at naples, in april, , the same chronicler says:-- "the th of april, the king, after hearing mass in the church of the annonciada, was confessed, and then touched and cured great numbers that were afflicted with the evil--a disorder that abounded much all over italy--when the spectators were greatly edified at the powers of such an extraordinary gift. * * * * * "on easter day, the th of april, the king was confessed in the church of st. peter, adjoining to his lodgings, and then touched for the evil a second time."[ ] fuller, in remarking upon the cure of the king's evil by the touch of our english monarchs, observes:-- "the kings of france share also with those of england in this miraculous cure. and laurentius reports, that when francis i., king of france, was kept prisoner in spain, he, notwithstanding his exile and restraint, daily cured infinite multitudes of people of that disease; according to this epigram: _'hispanos inter sanat rex chæradas, estque_ _captivus superis gratus, ut antè fuit.'_ 'the captive king the evil cures in spain: dear, as before, he doth to god remain.' "so it seemeth his medicinal quality is affixed not { } to his prosperity, but person; so that during his durance, he was fully free to exercise the same."[ ] cavendish, relating what took place on cardinal wolsey's embassy to francis i., in , has the following passage:-- "and at his [the king's] coming in to the bishop's palace [at amiens], where he intended to dine with my lord cardinal, there sat within a cloister about two hundred persons diseased with the king's evil, upon their knees. and the king, or ever he went to dinner, provised every of them with rubbing them and blessing them with his bare hands, being bareheaded all the while; after whom followed his almoner distributing of money unto the persons diseased. and that done, he said certain prayers over them, and then washed his hands, and so came up into his chamber to dinner, where as my lord dined with him."[ ] laurentius, cited by fuller in the page already given, was, it seems, physician in ordinary to king henry iv. of france. in a treatise entitled _de mirabili strumarum curatione_, he stated that the kings of england never cured the evil. "to cry quits with him," dr. w. tucker, chaplain to queen elizabeth, in his _charismate_, denied that the kings of france ever originally cured the evil "but _per aliquam propaginem_, 'by a sprig of right,' derived from the primitive power of our english kings, under whose jurisdiction most of the french provinces were once subjected."[ ] louis xvi., immediately after his coronation at rheims, in , went to the abbey of st. remi to pay his devotions, and to touch for the evil. the ceremony took place in the abbey park, and is thus described in a paper entitled _coronation of the kings of france prior to the revolution_, by charles white, esq.:-- "two thousand four hundred individuals suffering under this affliction, having been assembled in rows in the park, his majesty, attended by the household physicians, approached the first on the right. the physician-in-chief then placed his hand upon the patient's head, whilst a captain of the guards held the hands of the latter joined before his bosom. the king, with his head uncovered, then touched the patient by making the sign of the cross upon his face, exclaiming, 'may god heal thee! the king touches thee.' the whole two thousand four hundred having been healed in a similar manner, and the grand almoner having distributed alms to each in succession, three attendants, called _chefs de goblet_, presented themselves with golden salvers, on which were three embroidered napkins. the first, steeped in vinegar, was then offered to the king by monsieur; the second, dipped in plain water, was presented by the count d'artois; and the third, moistened with orange water, was banded by the duke of orleans."[ ] the power of the seventh son to heal the evil (mentioned in the ms. i have cited) is humourously alluded to in the _tatler_ (no. .). i subjoin the passage, which occurs in a letter signed "d. distaff." "_tipstaff_, being a seventh son, used to cure the _king's evil_; but his rascally descendants are so far from having that healing quality, that by a touch upon the shoulder, they give a man such an ill habit of body, that he can never come abroad afterwards." i imagine that by the seventh son is meant the seventh son of a seventh son. c. h. cooper. cambridge, feb. . . p.s. since the above was written, i have observed the following notice of the work of laurentius in southey's _common place book_, th series, . (apparently from a bookseller's catalogue): "laurentius (and.) de mirabili strumas sanandi vi. solis galliæ regibus christianissimis divinitas concessa, (_fine copy_,) s. paris, . "this copy possesses the large folded engraving of henry iv., assisted by his courtiers in the ceremony of curing the king's evil." [footnote : _dd._ . . fo. b.] [footnote : fuller, _church history_, edit. , i. .] [footnote : danett's translation. edit. , p. .] [footnote : monstrelet edit. , ii. .] [footnote : ibid. .] [footnote : fuller, _church history_, edit. , i. .] [footnote : cavendish, _life of wolsey_, edit. singer, , vol. i. p. .] [footnote : fuller, _church history_, edit. , i. pp. , .] [footnote : _new monthly magazine_, vol. liii. p. .] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _forged papal bulls_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in your number, th dec., j. e. inquires where is the instrument for counterfeiting the seal of the pope's bulls, which was dredged up from the ruins of old london bridge. it is in my possession, and your correspondent will find an account of it, with woodcuts of the instrument itself and the seal, in the _proceedings of the archæological association_, th feb. . geo. r. corner. eltham. _obeism._--as your correspondent t. h. (vol. iii., p. .) desires "any information" on the subject of _obeism_, in the absence of more and better, i offer my mite: that in the early part of this century it was very common among the slave-population in the west indies, especially on the remoter estates--of course of african origin--not as either a "religion" or a "rite," but rather as a superstition; a power claimed by its professors, and assented to by the _patients_, of causing good or evil to, or averting it from them; which was of course always for a "consideration" of some sort, to the profit, whether honorary, pecuniary, or other, of the dispenser. it is by the pretended influence of certain spells, charms, ceremonies, amulets worn, or other such incantations, as practised with more or less diversity by the adepts, the magicians and conjurers, the "false prophets" of all ages and countries. { } on this matter, a curious phenomenon to investigate would be, the process by which the untonsured neophyte is converted into the bonneted doctor; the progress and stages of his mind in the different phases of the practice; how he begins by deceiving himself, to end in deceiving others; the first uninquiring ignorance; the gradual admission of ideas, what he is taught or left to imagine; the faith, of what is fancied to be so, the mechanical belief; then the confusion of thought from the intrusion of doubt and uncertainty; the adoption of some undefined notions; and, finally, actual unbelief; followed by designed and systematic injustice in the practice of what first was taken up in sincerity, though even this now perhaps is not unmixed with some fancy of its reality. for this must be the gradation more or less gone through in all such things, whether obeism, fetichism, the evil eye, or any sort of sorcery or witchcraft, in whatever variousness of form practised; cheats on the one hand, and dupes on the other the _primum mobile_ in every case being, some shape or other of _gain_ to the practitioner. it seems, however, hardly likely that obeism should now be "rapidly gaining ground again" there, from the greater spread of christianity and diffusion of enlightenment and information in general since the slave-emancipation; as also from the absence of its feeding that formerly accompanied every fresh importation from the coast: as, like mists before the mounting sun, all such impostures must fade away before common sense, truth, and facts, whenever these are allowed their free influence. the conclusion, then, would rather be, that obeism is on the decline only more apparent, when now seen, than formerly, from its attracting greater notice. m. _obeahism._--in answer to t. h.'s query regarding obeahism, though i cannot answer his question fully, as to its origin, &c., yet i have thought that what i can communicate may serve to piece out the more valuable information of your better informed correspondents. i was for a short time in the island of jamaica, and from what i could learn there of obeahism, the power seemed to be obtained by the obeah-man or woman, by working upon the fears of their fellow-negroes, who are notoriously superstitious. the principal charm seemed to be, a collection of feathers, coffin furniture, and one or two other things which i have forgotten. a small bundle of this, hung over the victim's door, or placed in his path, is supposed to have the power of bringing ill luck to the unfortunate individual. and if any accident, or loss, or sickness should happen to him about the time, it is immediately imputed to the dreaded influence of obeah! but i have heard of cases where the unfortunate victim has gradually wasted away, and died under this powerful spell, which, i have been informed by old residents in the island, is to be attributed to a more natural cause, namely, the influence of poison. the obeah-man causes a quantity of _ground glass_ to be mixed with the food of the person who has incurred his displeasure; and the result is said to be a slow but sure and wasting death! perhaps some of your medical readers can say whether an infusion of _powdered glass_ would have this effect. i merely relate what i have been told by others. while speaking of the superstition of the negroes, i may mention a very curious one, very generally received and universally believed among them, called the _rolling calf_, which, if you wish, i will give you an account of in my next. d. p. w. _pillgarlick_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . .).--it seems to me that the passage quoted from skelton by f. s. q. completely elucidates the meaning of this word. let us premise that, according to all principles of english etymology, _pill-garlick_ is as likely to mean "the pillar of garlick" as to be a syncopated form of "_pill'd garlick_." now we see from skelton's verse that in his time the peeling of garlick was proverbially a degraded employment--one which was probably thrust off upon the lowest inmate of the servants' hall, in an age when garlick entered largely into the composition of all made dishes. the disagreeable nature of the occupation is sufficient to account for this. accordingly we may well suppose that the epithet "a poor pill-garlick" would be applied to any person, in miserable circumstances, who might be ready to undertake mean employment for a trifling gratuity. this, i think, satisfactorily answers the original question, "whence comes the expression?" the verse quoted by f. s. q. satisfactorily establishes the orthography, viz., pi_ll_ garlick. a query of some interest still remains--in what author do we first find the compound word? r. d. h. _pillgarlick_ (vol. iii., p. .).--that _to pill_ is merely another form of the word _to peel_, appears from the book of genesis, c. xxx., v. , : "and jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree: and _pilled_ white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. and he set the rods which he had _pilled_ before the flocks," &c. on first seeing your correspondent's query, it occurred to me that perhaps "poor pillgarlick" was in some way akin to "pillicock," of whom edgar, in _king lear_, records that "pillicock sat on pillicock's hill;" but the connexion between these two worthies, if any, i confess myself quite unable to trace. i conceive that pillgarlick means "peeler of garlick," _i.e._ scullion; or, to borrow a phrase from a witness in a late case at the middlesex sessions, { } which has attracted some attention, "a person in a low way of life." the passage from skelton, cited by your correspondent f. s. q., may, i think, be explained thus: the will is so powerful in man's moral constitution, that the reason must content itself with an inferior place (as that of a scullion compared with that of the master of the house); or if it attempts to assert its proper place, it will find it a hopeless endeavour--as hopeless as that of "rosting a stone." x. z. _hornbooks_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--in answer to mr. timbs, i send you the following particulars of a _hornbook_ in the british museum, which i have this morning examined. it is marked in the new catalogue (press mark , a. .). it contains on one side the "old english alphabet"--the capitals in two lines, the small letters in one. the fourth line contains the vowels twice repeated (perhaps to _doubly_ impress upon the pupil the necessity of learning them). next follow, in two columns, our ancient companions, "ab, eb, ib," &c., and "ba, be, bi," &c. after the formula of exorcism comes the "lord's prayer" (which is given somewhat differently to our present version), winding up with "i. ii. iii. iiii. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x." on the other side is the following whimsical piece of composition:-- _"what more could be wished for, even by a literary gourmand under the tudors, than to be able to read and spell; to repeat that holy charm before which fled all unholy ghosts, goblins, or even the old gentleman himself to the very bottom of the red sea, and to say that immortal prayer, which secures heaven to all who _ex animo_ use it, and those mathematical powers, by knowing units, from which spring countless myriads."_ now for my "query." can any of your correspondents oblige me with the probable date of this _literally_ literary treasure, or refer me to any source of information on the subject? kenneth r. h. mackenzie. _bacon_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the explanation given in a former number from old verstegan, of the original meaning of the family name of bacon, and the application of the word to the unclean beast, with the corroboration from the pages of collins's _baronetage_, is very interesting. the word, as applied to the salted flesh of the _dead_ animal, is another instance of the introduction of a foreign term for a _dead_ animal, in opposition to the anglo-saxon name of the living animal. it was used in this sense in france at a very early period; and ampère, in his _histoire littéraire de la france avant le ième siècle_, iii. ., mentions the word among other instances of gallicisms in the latin of the carolingian diplomas and capitularies, and quotes the capitularies of charles the fat. _bacco, porc salé,_ from the _vulgar_ word _bacon_, _jambon_. the word was in use as late as the seventeenth century in dauphiné, and the bordering cantons of switzerland, and is cited in the _moyen de parvenir_, ch. . the passage is curious, as it would seem to intimate that lord bacon was one of the personages introduced in that very extraordinary production of the rabelaisian school. i have frequently heard the word employed by the country people in the markets of geneva. j. b. d. _lachrymatories_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--in illustration of the question as to the _probable_ use of those small vases so commonly found in sepulchral monuments, i extract the following from _wayfaring sketches among the greeks and turks_. d edit. introduction, pp. , . london: chapman, . "the poorest of the sepulchres is certain to contain (in greece) at least a few of these beautiful vases, the lachrymatories, &c. * * * * * when found in the graves of females, their form would generally seem to indicate that they had been used for containing scents, and other requisites of the toilet; in one that was found not long since, there was a preparation evidently (?) of rouge or some such paint for the face, &c., _the mark left by the pressure of two fingers of a small hand was distinctly visible_ (?)." to me, ignorant as i am of antiquarian matters, this sounds very curious; and i send it you in case you may find it worthy of insertion, as provocative of discussion, and with the utilitarian idea that _i_ may gain some information on the subject. c. d. hamont. greenock, jan. . . _scandal against queen elizabeth_ (vol. iii., p. .).--an intercepted letter, apparently from a popish priest, preserved among the venetian correspondence in the state paper office, gives the following account of the death-bed of the queen; which, as illustrative of the observations of your correspondent cudyn gywn, may not be uninteresting:-- "london, martii, . "about dayes synce dyed the countess of notingham. the queene loved the countess very much, and hath seemed to take her death very heavelye, remayning euer synce in a deepe melancholye, w^{th} conceipte of her own death, and complayneth of many infirmyties, sodainlye to haue ouertaken her, as impost[=u]mecoñ in her head, aches in her bones, and continuall cold in her legges, besides notable decay in iudgem^t and memory, insomuch as she cannot attend to any discourses of governm^t and state, _but delighteth to heare some of the merry tales, and such like, and to such is uery attentiue;_ at other tymes uery impatient, and testye, so as none of the counsayle, but the secretary, dare come in her presence." may we not class this story of her majesty's { } predilection for the hundred merry tales among the "black relations of the jesuits?" spes. _meaning of cefn._--what is the meaning of the welsh word "cefn" used as prefix? josephus. . the first meaning of the word "cefn" is, "the back;" _e.g._ "cefn dyn," "the back of a man." . it also signifies "the upper part of the ridge of some elevated and exposed land." as a prefix, its meaning depends upon the fact whether the word attached to it be an adjective or a substantive. if an adjective be attached, it has the _second_ signification; _i.e._ it is the upper part of some exposed land, having the particular quality involved in the adjective, such as, "cefndu," "cefngwyn," "cefncoch," the black, white, or red headland. when a substantive is attached, it has the _first_ signification; _i.e._ it is the _back_ of the thing signified by the substantive; such as, "cefnllys," the back of the court. e. l. _portrait of archbishop williams_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is a portrait of this prelate in the library of the dean and chapter of westminster, in the cloisters. the greater part of the archbishop's library was given to this library, but only one volume of it seems to have been preserved. it is of this library the remark is made in j. beeverell, _délices de la grande bretagne_, p. ., mo., : "il se trouve dans le cloistre une bibliothèque _publique_, qui s'ouvre soir et matin pendant les séances des cours de justice dans westminstre." [mu]. _sir alexander cumming_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in answer to an inquiry relative to sir alexander cumming, of culter, i may refer to the _scottish journal_ (menzies, edin. ) _of topography, antiquities, traditions, &c._, vol. ii. p. ., where an extract from a ms. autobiography of the baronet is given. the work in which this occurs is little known; but, as a repertory of much curious and interesting information, deserved a more extensive circulation than it obtained. it stopped with the second volume, and is now somewhat scarce, as the unsold copies were disposed of for waste paper. _pater-noster tackling_ (vol. iii., p. .).--_pater-noster fishing-tackle_, so called in the shops, is used to catch fish (perch, for instance) which take the bait at various distances between the surface and the bottom of the water. accordingly, hooks are attached to a line at given intervals throughout its length, with leaden shots, likewise regularly distributed, in order to sink it, and keep it extended perpendicularly in the water. this regularity of arrangement, and the resemblance of the shots to _beads_, seems to have caused the contrivance to have been, somewhat fancifully, likened to a _chaplet_ or _rosary_. in a rosary there is a bead longer than the rest, for distinction's sake called the _pater-noster_; from whence that name applies to a rosary; and, therefore, to anything likened to it; and, therefore, to the article of _fishing-tackle_ in question. the word _pater-noster_, i.e. _pater-noster-wise_, is an heraldic term (_vide_ ash's _dictionary_), applied to _beads_ disposed in the form of a cross. robert snow. _welsh words for water_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "it is quite surprising," says sharon turner (_trans. of the royal society of literature_, vol. i. pt. i. p. .), "to observe that, in all the four quarters of the world, many nations signify this liquid by a vocable of one or more syllables, from the letter m." he mentions the hebrew word for it, _mim_; in africa he finds twenty-eight examples, in asia sixteen, in south america five, in north america three, in europe three; and elsewhere, in canary islands one, in new zealand one. he adds-- "we trace the same radical in the welsh _more_, the sea, and in the latin _mare, humor, humidus._[ ] "all these people cannot be supposed to have derived their sound from each other. it must have descended to them from some primitive source, common to all." from the expression used by j. w. h., "the connexion of the welsh _dwr_ with the greek [greek: hudôr] is remarkable," he appears not to have known that vezron found so many resemblances in the doric or laconic dialect, and the celtic, that he thereupon raised the theory that the lacedæmonians and the celts were of the same--the titanic--stock. t. j. [footnote : he may have added the armoric or breton _mor_, _mar_; and the irish _muir_, _mara_.] _early culture of the imagination_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the germ of the thought alluded to by mr. gatty is as ancient as the time of plato, and may be found in the _republic_, book ii. c. . if this will aid mr. gatty in his research, it is gladly placed at his disposal by kenneth r. h. mackenzie. january . . _venville_ (vol. iii., p. .).--r. e. g. inquires respecting the origin of this word, as applied to certain tenants round dartmoor forest. the name is peculiar to that district, and is applied chiefly to certain _vills_ or villages (for the most part also parishes), and to certain tenements within them, which pay fines to the lord of lidford and dartmoor, viz. the prince of wales, as duke of cornwall. the fines are supposed to be due in respect either of rights of common on the forest, or of trespasses committed by cattle on it; for the point is a _vexata quæstio_ between the lord and tenants of dartmoor and the tenants of the venville lands, which lie along the boundaries of it. { } in the accounts rendered to the lord of these fines, there was a distinct title, headed _"fines villarum"_ when these accounts were in latin; and i think it cannot be doubted that the lands and tenures under this title came to be currently called _finevill_ lands from this circumstance. hence fenvill, fengfield, or venvill; the last being now the usual spelling and pronunciation. r. e. g. may see a specimen of these accounts, and further observations on them, in mr. rowe's very instructive _perambulation of dartmoor_, published a year or two ago at plymouth. e. s. _cum grano salis_ (vol. iii., p. .) simply means, with a grain of allowance; spoken of propositions which require qualification. the cambridge man's explanation, therefore, does not suit the meaning. i have always supposed that salis was added to denote a small grain. i find in forcellini that the romans called a small flaw in crystals _sal_. c. b. _hoops_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the examples given in johnson's article _farthingale_ will sufficiently answer the question. farthingales are mentioned in latimer with much indignant eloquence: "i trow mary had never a verdingale." if the question had been, not whether they were in use as early as , but whether they were in use in , perhaps there would have been more difficulty, for they do not appear in hollar's dresses, . c. b. _cranmer's descendants_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it may be of some interest to c. d. f. to be informed, that the newspapers of the time recorded the death of mr. bishop cranmer of wivelescombe, co. somerset, on the th april, , at the age of eighty-eight. he is said to have been a direct descendant of the martyred archbishop, to whose portraits he bore a strong personal resemblance. j. d. s. _shakspeare's use of the word "captious"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--why may not the word have the same meaning as it has now? a _captious_ person is not primarily a deceitful person, but either one who catches at any argument to uphold his own cause, or, more generally, one who catches or cavils at arguments or expressions used by another, and fastens a frivolous objection on them; one who takes exception to a point on paltry and insufficient grounds: "yet in this captious and intenible sieve i still pour in the waters of my love." _i.e._ yet into this sieve, which catches at, and yet never holds them, i still pour the waters of my love. there seems to me a double meaning of the word _captious_, indicating an under-current of thought in the author; first, the literal sense, then the inferential: "this sieve catches at and seems as if it would intercept the waters of my love, but takes me in, and disappoints me, because it will not uphold them." the objection to explaining _captious_ by simply _fallacious_, is that the word means this by inference or consequence, rather than primarily. because one who is eager to controvert, _i.e._ who is captious, generally, but not always, acts for a sophistical purpose and means to deceive. cicero, i believe, uses _fallax_ and _captiosus_ as distinct, not as synonymous, terms. e. a. d. _boiling to death_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "impoysonments, so ordinary in italy, are so abominable among english, as hen. . it was made high treason, though since repealed; after which the punishment for it was to be put alive in a caldron of water, and there boiled to death: at present it is felony without benefit of clergy."--chamberlayne's _state of england_,--an old copy, without a title-page. judging from the list of bishops and maids of honour, i believe the date to be . wedsecnarf. _dozen of bread_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the duchess of newcastle says of her _nature's picture_: "in this volume there are several feigned stories, &c. also there are some morals and some dialogues; but they are as the advantage loaf of bread to the baker's dozen." . wedsecnarf. _friday weather_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a very old friend of mine, a shropshire lady, tells me that her mother (who was born before ) used to say that friday was always the fairest, or the foulest, day of the week. wedsecnarf. _saint paul's clock_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in reply to mr. campkin's query, i send you the following extract from easton's _human longevity_ (london, ): "james hatfield died in , aged . was formerly a soldier: when on duty as a centinel at windsor, one night, at the expiration of his guard, he heard st. paul's clock, london, strike _thirteen_ strokes instead of twelve, and not being relieved as he expected he fell asleep; in which situation he was found by the succeeding guard, who soon after came to relieve him; for such neglect he was tried by a court-martial, but pleading that he was on duty his legal time, and asserting, as a proof, the singular circumstance of hearing st. paul's clock strike thirteen strokes, which, upon inquiry, proved true--he was in consequence acquitted." j. b. colman. _lunardi_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i remember seeing lunardi's balloon pass over the town of ware, previous to its fall at standon. i have seen the _moonstone_ described by your correspondent c. j. f., but all that i can remember of an old song on the occasion is. "they thought it had been the man in the moon," alluding to the men in the fields, who ran away frightened. but a servant girl had { } the courage to take the rope thrown out by lunardi, and was well rewarded. it caused a great sensation, and many of the principal inhabitants of ware and wadesmill assembled with lunardi at the feathers inn, at the latter place. j. taylor. newick, sussex. _outline in painting_.--j. o. w. h. (vol. i., p. .) and h. c. k. (vol. iii., p. .) are earnestly referred, for resolution of their doubts, to the work by mr. ruskin, in vols. large vo., entitled _modern painters_, by a _graduate of oxford_, published by smith and elder, . robert snow. _handbell before a corpse_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent [hebrew: b]. has too inconsiderately dismissed the query which he has undertaken to answer touching the custom of ringing a handbell in advance of a funeral procession. he says, "i have never considered it as anything but _a cast of the bell-man's office_, to add more solemnity to the occasion." the custom is _invariably_ observed throughout italy, and is common in france and spain. i have witnessed at least some hundreds of funerals in various cities and villages of piedmont, sardinia, tuscany, the roman states, naples, elba, and sicily; and in malta; yet never knew i one without the handbell. its _object_, as first explained to me in florence, is to clear the way for the procession; to remind passengers and loiterers to take off their hats; and to call the pious to their doors and windows to gaze upon the emblems of mortality, and to say a prayer for the repose of the departed soul. nocab. _brandon the juggler_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent t. cr. is referred to scot's _discoverie of witchcraft_, p. . (edit. ) for a notice of this person and his pigeon. jas. crossley. "_words are men's daughters_" (vol. iii., p. .).--this line is taken from dr. madden's _boulter's monument_ (dublin, , vo.), a poem which was revised by dr. johnson, but to which little attention has been paid by his biographers. mr. croker observes (edit. of boswell, , p. . note)-- "dr. madden wrote very bad verses. the few lines in boulter's monument which rise above mediocrity may be attributed to johnson." those who take the trouble to refer to the poem itself, will, notwithstanding mr. croker's hasty criticism, find a great many fine and vigorous passages, in which the hand of johnson is clearly distinguishable, and which ought not to be allowed to remain unnoticed. perhaps on a future occasion i may, in support of this opinion, give some specimens from the poem. the line as to which t. j. inquires,-- "words are men's daughters, but god's sons are things,"-- and which is in allusion to genesis vi. . ., is, i entertain no doubt, one of dr. johnson's insertions. jas. crossley. "_fine by degrees, and beautifully less_" (vol. iii., p. .).--this line is from prior's "henry and emma," a poem, upon the model of the "nut-brown maid." i copy part of the passage in which it occurs, for the sake of any of your readers who may be lovers of _context_, and may not have the poem at hand to refer to. "_henry_ [addressing emma]. "vainly thou tell'st me what the woman's care shall in the wildness of the woods prepare; thou, ere thou goest, unhappiest of thy kind, must leave the habit and the sex behind. no longer shall thy comely tresses break in flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck; or sit behind thy head, an ample round, in graceful braids with various ribbon bound: no longer shall the bodice aptly lac'd from thy full bosom to thy slender waist, that air and harmony of shape express, fine by degrees, and beautifully less: nor shall thy lower garments' artful plait, from thy fair side dependent to thy feet, arm their chaste beauties with a modest pride, and double every charm they seek to hide." c. forbes. temple, feb. . [we are also indebted for replies to this query to robert snow, fras. crossley, a. m., j. j. m., a. h., s. t., e. s. t. t., v., w. k., r. b., and other correspondents. c. h. p. remarks: "pope, who died in , twenty-three years after prior, evidently had this line in view when he wrote as follows:-- "'ladies, like variegated tulips, show; 'tis to their changes half their charms they owe; fine by defect, and delicately weak, their happy spots the nice admirer take.'" and j. h. m. tells us, "the late lord ellenborough applied the line somewhat ignobly, when speaking of bristles, in a dispute between two brushmakers."] _"the soul's dark cottage"_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the couplet "effaress" inquires for, is to be found in waller's poems. it is a production of his later years, and occurs in the epilogue to his "poems of divine love," and "of the fear of god," &c., thus:-- "the soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, lets in new light through chinks that time has made, stronger by weakness, wiser, men become, as they draw nigh to their eternal home. leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, that stand upon the threshold of the new." { } there is another couplet worth citing-- "the seas are quiet, when the winds give o'er; so calm are we, when passions are no more." how different were the effusions of waller's earlier muse! in the year , humphrey mosley published "_poems, &c_., written by mr. ed. waller, of beaconsfield, esquire, lately a member of the honourable house of commons." the title-page also states that-- "all the lyrick poems in this booke were set by mr. henry lawes of the king's chappell, and one of his majesties private musick." it is not a little remarkable that the same publisher, in the same year, should have also given to the world the first edition of that precious volume--milton's _minor poems_; and, in the advertisement prefixed, he thus adverts to the circumstance:-- "that incouragement i have already received from the most ingenious men, in their clear and courteous entertainment of _mr. waller's_ late choice peeces, hath onece more made me adventure into the world, presenting it with these _ever-green and not to be blasted laurels_." had humphrey mosley any presentiment of the deathless fame of milton? s. w. singer. _"the soul's dark cottage," &c_. (vol. iii., p. .).--this admired couplet can never escape recollection. it was written by waller. from the tenor of some preceding lines, and the place which the verses occupy in the edition of , they must be among the latest of his compositions. bolton corney. [a. h. h., r. b., c. j. r., h. g. t., and other friends have replied to this query. the rev. j. sansom points out a kindred passage in his poem of _divine love_, canto vi. p. .: "the soul contending to that light to fly from her dark cell," &c. h. g. sends a beautiful parallel passage from fuller (_holy state life of monica_): "drawing near her death, she sent most pious thoughts as harbingers to heaven, and her soul saw a glimpse of happiness through the chinks of her sickness-broken body." and j. h. m. informs us that amongst duke's poems is a most flattering one addressed to waller, evidently allusive to the lines in question.] "_beauty retire_" (vol. iii., p. .).--the lines beginning "beauty retire," which pepys set to music, taken from the second part of the _siege of rhodes_, act iv. scene ., are printed in the th volume of the _memoirs_, p. ., rd edition. i believe the music exists in the pepysian library, but any of the fellows of magdalene college could ascertain the fact. braybrooke. _mythology of the stars_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i would here add to my recommendation of captain smyth's _celestial cycle_ (_antè_, p. .), that soon after it appeared it obtained for its author the annual gold medal of the royal astronomical society; and that it is a book adapted to the exigencies of astronomers of all degrees, from the experienced astronomer, furnished with every modern refinement of appliances and means of observation, to the humbler, but perhaps no less zealous beginner, furnished only with a good pair of natural eyes, aided, on occasion, by the common opera-glass. such an observer, if he goes the right way to work, will make sure of a high degree of entertainment and instruction, and may reasonably hope to light on a discovery or two, worthy, even in the present day, of being recorded. robert snow. _simon bache_ (vol. iii., p. .).--_thesaurarius hospitii_.--the office of "thesaurarius hospitii," about which a. w. h. inquires, means, i believe, "treasurer of the household." in chauncy's _hertfordshire_, vol. ii. p. ., the inscription on simon bache is given in the same terms as by your correspondent. the learned author then gives, at p. ., the epitaph on another monument also in knebworth church, erected to the memory of john hotoft, in which occur these two lines: "hospitii regis qui thesaurarius olim henrici sexti merito pollebat honore." at p. . of the same volume, sir henry chauncy speaks of the same john hotoft as an eminent man, and sheriff of the county, and adds: "he was also treasurer of the king's household afterwards; he dyed and was buried in the chancel of this church, where his monument remains at this day." who simon bache was, or how he came to be buried at knebworth, i cannot tell. the name of "bach" occurs in chauncy several times, as that of mayors and assistants, at hertford, between and . j. h. l. _winifreda_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it may perhaps interest lord braybrooke and j. h. m. to know, that i have in my possession the copy of dodsley's _minor poems_, which belonged to john gilbert cooper, and which was bought at the sale of his grandson, the late colonel john gilbert-cooper-gardiner. the song of "winifreda" is at page . of the th volume; and a manuscript note, in the handwriting of the son of the author of _letters concerning taste_, states it to have been written "by john gilbert cooper." the _praise_ bestowed by cooper on the poem, and which j. h. m. conceives to militate against his claim to the composition, is obviously intended to apply to the _original_, and not to cooper's elegant translation. a. newark. _queries on costume_ (vol. iii., p. .).--addison's paper in the _spectator_, no. ., seems to be { } conclusive that hooped petticoats were not in use so early as the year . the anecdote in connection with the subject related in wilson's _life of de foe_, has always appeared to me very questionable, not only on that consideration, but because charles was at the time a fine tall young man of more than twenty-one years of age, and at the only period that he could have been in the neighbourhood referred to, he was on horseback and attended by at least two persons, who were also mounted. neither can the circumstances related be at all reconciled with the particulars given by clarendon and subsequent writers, who have professed to correct the statements of that historian by authority. j. d. s. _antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--permit me again to express my opinion, with due deference to the eminent authorities cited in your pages, that the comprehensive words of lord bacon, "antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi," were not borrowed from any author, ancient or modern. but it would be a compliment which that great genius would have been the first to ridicule, were we to affirm that no anterior writer had adopted analogous language in expressing the benefits of "the philosophy of time." on the contrary, he would have called our attention to the expressions of the egyptian priest addressed to solon, (see a few pages beyond the one referred to in his _advancement of learning_): "ye grecians are ever children, ye have no knowledge of antiquity nor antiquity of knowledge." the words of bacon to me appear to be a condensation of the well-known dialogue in plato's _timæus_, above quoted, as will, i hope, appear in the following paraphrase: "apud vos propter inundationes ineunte modò sæculo nihil scientiarum est augmentationis. quoad nos _juventus mundi_ ac terræ aegyptiacæ, quâ nulla hominum exitia fuerunt, progrediente tempore, _antiquitas_ fit _sæculi_, et antiquissimarum rerum apud nos momumenta servantur." t. j. _lady bingham_ (vol. iii., p. .).--lady bingham, whose daughter, afterwards lady crewe, was unsuccessfully courted by sir symonds d'ewes (for which see his autobiography), was sarah, the daughter of john heigham, esq., of gifford's hall in urekham brook, suffolk, of the same family with sir clement heigham, knt., of barrow, suffolk, speaker of the house of commons. she was married by banns at st. olave's, hart street, jan. , , to sir richard bingham, knt., of co. dorset. she married, secondly, edward waldegrave, esq., of lawford, essex, to whom she was second wife, and by him had jemima, afterwards lady crewe. edward waldegrave, married to his first wife, elizabeth, daughter of bartholomew averell, of southminster, essex, had by her an only daughter, anne, who married drew, afterwards sir drew drury, bart., of riddlesworth, norfolk. he, edward waldegrave, was descended from a younger branch of the family of waldegrave, of smallbridge, in the parish of bures, suffolk, from whence descends the present earl waldegrave. lady bingham lies buried in the chancel of lawford church, where a stone in the floor states her age to have been sixty-nine, and that she was buried sept. . . there is also another stone in the floor for edward waldegrave, esq., who married dame sarah bingham, by whom he had one daughter, jemima, who was married to john stearne (a mistake evidently for stene, the seat of james lord crewe). edward waldegrave was buried feb. , , aged about sixty-eight. the large monument in lawford church is for the father of this edward waldegrave, who died in . d. a. y. _proclamation of langholme fair_ (vol. iii., p. .).--monkbarns wishes the meaning of the choice expressions in the proclamation. they may be explained as follows:--_hustrin_, hustling, or riotously inclined, being so consonanted to make it alliterate with _custrin_, spelt by jamieson, _custroun_, and signifying a pitiful fellow. chaucer has the word _truston_ in this sense. _land-louper_, one who runs over the country, a vagabond. _dukes-couper_ i take to be a petty dealer in ducks or poultry, and to be used in a reproachful sense, as we find "pedlar," "jockey," &c. _gang-y-gate swinger_, a fighting man, who goes swaggering in the road (or _gate_); a roisterer who takes the wall of every one. _swing_ is an old word for a stroke or blow. _durdam_ is an old word meaning an uproar, and akin to the welsh word _dowrd_. _urdam_ may be a corruption of _whoredom_, but is more probably prefixed to the genuine word as a co-sounding expletive. _brabblement_ seems to be a derivative from the scotch verb "bra," to make a loud and disagreeable noise (see jamieson); and _squabblement_ explains itself. _lugs_, ears; _tacked_, nailed; _trone_, an old word, properly signifying the public weighing-machine, and sometimes used for the pillory. _a nail o' twal-a-penny_ is, of course, a nail of that size and sort of which twelve are bought for a penny. _until he down of his hobshanks, and up with his muckle doubs_, evidently means, until he goes down on his knees and raises his hands. _hobshanks_ is, i think, still in common use. of _doubs_ i can give no explanation. w. t. m. edinburgh, jan. th. _burying in church walls_ (vol. iii., p. .).--to { } the examples mentioned by n. of tombs in church walls, may be added the remarkable ones at bottisham, cambridgeshire. there are several of these in the south aisle, with arches _internally and externally_: the wall between resting on the coffin lid. they are, of course, coeval with the church, which is fine early decorated. they are considered, i believe, to be memorials of the priors of anglesey, a neighbouring religious house. they will, no doubt, be fully elucidated in the memoir of bottisham and anglesey, which is understood to be in preparation by members of the cambridge antiquarian society. at trumpington, in the same county, is a recessed tomb of decorated date, in the south wall of the chancel, externally. c. r. m. _defender of the faith_ (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., pp. . .).--should not king edward the confessor's claim to _defend the church as god's vicar_ be added to the several valuable notices in relation to the title _defender of the faith_, with which some of your learned contributors have favoured us through your pages? according to hoveden, one of the laws adopted from the anglo-saxons by _william_ was: "rex autem atque vicarius ejus ad hoc est constitutus, ut regnum terrenum, populum dei, et super omnia _sanctam ecclesiam_, revereatur et ab injuriatoribus _defendat_," &c. which duty of princes was further enforced by the words-- "illos decet vocari reges, qui vigilant, _defendunt_, et regunt ecclesiam dei et populum ejus, imitantes regem psalmographum," &c.--vid. _rogeri de hoveden annal._, par. post., §. regis officium; ap. rerum anglicarum scriptores post bedam, ed. francof. , p. . conf. prynne's _chronol. records_, ed. lond. , tom i. p. . this law appears always to have been received as of authority after the conquest; and it may, perhaps, be considered as the first seed of that constitutional church supremacy vested in our sovereigns, which several of our kings before the reformation had occasion to vindicate against papal claims, and which henry viii. strove to carry in the other direction, to an unconstitutional excess. j. sansom. _sauenap, meaning of_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the word probably means a _napkin_ or _pinafore_; the two often, in old times, the same thing. the cornish name for _pinafore_ is _save-all_. (see halliwell's _arch. dict._) i need not add that _nap_, _napery_, was a common word for linen. george stephens. stockholm. _sir thomas herbert's memoirs_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the memoirs of charles i. by sir thomas herbert were published in . i transcribe the title from a copy in my possession:-- "memoirs of the two last years of the reign of that unparall'd prince, of ever blessed memory, king charles i. by sir tho. herbert, major huntingdon, col. edw. coke, and mr. hen. firebrace, _etc_. london, rob. clavell, , vo." the volume, for a publication of that period, is of uncommon occurrence. it was printed, as far as above described, "from a _manuscript_ of the right reverend the bishop of ely, lately deceased." the remainder of the volume consists of reprinted articles. bolton corney. _robert burton_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the supposition that the author of the _anatomy of melancholy_ was born at fald, staffordshire, instead of lindley, leicestershire, seems probable from the fact, that in an edition of the _history of leicestershire_, by his brother william, i find that the latter dates his preface "from falde, neere tutbury, staff., oct. . ." in this work, also, under the head "lindley," is given the pedigree of his family, commencing with "james de burton, squier of the body to king richard the first;" down to "rafe burton, of lindley, borne ; died march, ;" leaving "robert burton, bachelor of divinity and student of christ church, oxon; author of the _anatomy of melancholy_; borne of febr. ;" and "william burton, author of this work (_history of leicestershire_), borne of aug. , now dwelling at falde, ann. ." t. t. leicester. _drachmarus_ (vol. iii., p. .).--if your correspondents (nos. and .) who have inquired for a book called _jartuare_, and for a writer named "drachmarus," would add a little to the length of their questions, so as not by extra-briefness to deaden the dexterity of conjecturers, perhaps they might be nearer to the reception of replies. many stranger things have happened than that _drachmarus_ should be renovated by the context into christian _druthmar_. _averia_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i have long desired to know the exact meaning of _averia_, but i have not met with a good explanation until lately. it is clear, however, from the following legal expression, "_nullus distringatur per averia carucæ._" _caruca_ is the french _charrue_, and therefore _averia_ must mean either cart-horses or oxen which draw the plough. p. _dragons_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i think the _draco_ of the crusaders' times must have been the _boa constrictor_. if you will look into st. jerome's _vitas patrum_, you will find that he mentions the trail of a "draco" seen in the sand in the desert, which appeared as if a _great beam_ had been dragged along. i think it not likely that a crocodile would have { } ventured so far from the banks of the nile as to be seen in the desert. p. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the members of the percy society have just received the third and concluding volume of _the canterbury tales of geoffrey chaucer, a new text, with illustrative notes, edited by thomas wright, esq_. it is urged as an objection to tyrwhitt's excellent edition of the _canterbury tales_, that one does not know his authority for any particular reading, inasmuch as he has given what he considered the best among the different mss. he consulted. mr. wright has gone on an entirely different principle. considering the harleian ms. (no. .) as both "the oldest and best manuscript he has yet met with," he has "reproduced it with literal accuracy," and for the adoption of this course mr. wright may plead the good example of german scholars when editing the _nibelungen lied_. that the members of the society approve the principle of giving complete editions of works like the present, has been shown by the anxiety with which they have looked for the completion of mr. wright's labours; and we doubt not that, if the council follow up this edition of the _canterbury tales_ with some other of the collected works which they have announced--such as those of hoccleve, taylor the water poet, &c.--they will readily fill up any vacancies which may now exist in their list of members. mr. parker has just issued another handsome, and handsomely illustrated volume to gladden the hearts of all ecclesiologists and architectural antiquaries. we allude to mr. freeman's _essay on the origin and development of window tracery in england_, which consists of an improved and extended form of several papers on the subject of tracery read before the oxford architectural society at intervals during the years and . to those of our readers who know what are mr. freeman's abilities for the task he has undertaken, the present announcement will be a sufficient inducement to make them turn to the volume itself; while those who have not yet paid any attention to this interesting chapter in the history of architectural progress, will find no better introduction to the study of it than mr. freeman's able volume with its four hundred illustrations. mr. foss has, we hear, gone to press with two additional volumes of his _judges of england_, which will carry his subject down to the end of the reign of richard iii. _the athenæum_ of saturday last announces that the remaining stowe mss., including the unpublished diaries and correspondence of george grenville, have been bought by mr. murray, of albemarle street, from the trustees of the duke of buckingham. the correspondence will form about four volumes, and will be ready to appear among our next winter's novelties. the grenville diary reveals, it is said, the secret movements of lord bute's administration--the private histories of wilkes and lord chatham--and the features of the early madness of george iii.; while the correspondence exhibits wilkes, we are told, in a new light--and reveals (what the stowe papers were expected to reveal) something of moment about junius; so that we may at length look for the solution of this important query. messrs. puttick and simpson ( . piccadilly) will sell, on monday and tuesday next, a collection of choice books, mostly in beautiful condition. among the more curious lots are, an unpublished work of archbishop laud, on _church government_, said to have been presented to charles i. for the instruction of prince henry; and an unique series of illustrations for scotland, consisting of several thousand engravings, and many interesting drawings and autographs. we have received the following catalogues:--bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue (no. .) of books in european and oriental languages and dialects, fine arts, antiquities, &c.; waller and son's ( . fleet street) catalogue of autograph letters and manuscripts, english and foreign, containing many rare and interesting documents. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. conder's provincial coins. publisher's name i cannot recollect. historical register for st february, , price _ d_. no. .; also for d february, , price _ d_. no. ., and subsequent numbers till its discontinuation. published by wallbridge, . catherine street, strand. lullii (raymondi) opera, mogunt, vols. fol., - . liceti (fortunii) de quÆsitis per epistolas, bonon. tom. to., - . scalichii sive scaligeri (pauli) opera, basil, , to. ---- occulta occultorum, vienn. , to. ---- satirÆ philosophicÆ, regiom. , vo. ---- miscellaneorum, colon. , to. ---- de vita ejus et scriptis, to., ulmæ, . responsa juris consultorum de origine gente et nomine pauli scaligeri, colon. , to. scaligeronum annales, colon. sine anno in mo. scaligeri (jos.) mesolabium, ludg. bat. . fol. grubinii (oporini) amphotides scioppianÆ, paris, , vo. cardani (hieron) opuscula medica et philosophica, basil, , vols. vo. ---- contradicentium medicorum, lugd. , to. ---- theonoston, rom. , to. ---- de immortalitate animorum, ludg. , mo. ---- de malo medendi usu, venet. , mo. campanellÆ (thomÆ) philosophia sensibus demonstrata, neap., , to. gassendi (petri) epistolica exercitatio, in qu principia rob. fluddi medici deteguntur, paris, , vo. scioppii (gasp.) elogia scioppiana, papiæ, , to. ---- de august dom^s austriÆ origine, const., , mo. ---- observationes linguÆ latinÆ, francof., , vo. naudÆi (gab.) gratiarum actio in collegio patav., venet., , vo. ---- instauratio tabularii reatini, romæ, , to. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. j. e., _the price of_ "notes and queries" _is_ d. _per number. there was an extra charge for the index; and no. . was a double number, price_ d. _the taking of the index was, as lubin log says, "quite optional."_ { } philo-stevens. _we do not know of any memoir of the late mr. price, the editor of warton's_ history of english poetry. _there is not certainly one prefixed to any edition of warton. mr. price was a thorough scholar, and well deserving of such a memorial._ e. s. t. _only waiting for an opportunity of using them._ martin family (of wivenhoe). clericus, _who sought for information respecting this family, may, by application to our publisher, learn the address of a gentleman who has collected evidence of their pedigree._ de navorscher. _mr. nutt, of . strand, is the london agent for this interesting work, of which we have received the january and february numbers._ _our_ monthly part _for_ february, _price_ s. d., _will be ready on wednesday next._ replies received. _salisbury craigs_--_shaking hands_--_robert burton_--_ulm ms._--_metrical psalms_--_booty's case_--_language given to man_--_eisel_--_lammer beads_--_tradescant_--_munchausen_--_sixes and sevens_--_under the rose, &c. (from ache)_--_waste book_--_cracowe pike_--_gloves_--_descent of henry iv._--_lord howard of effingham_--_lincoln missal_--_prayer at the healing_--_hats of cardinals_--_aver_--_st. paul's clock._ note and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. _erratum._--no. . p. . l. ., for _a_ read _an_. * * * * * an unpublished ms. of archbishop laud on church government, and very choice books, mahogany glazed book-case, two fine marble figures, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on monday, february th, and following day, a collection of very choice books in beautiful condition, books of prints, picture galleries, a fine set of curtis' botanical magazine; a beautiful series of pennant's works, in russia; musée française and musée royal, morocco; annual register, whole-bound in calf, and numerous other valuable books, many in rich bindings. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * highly interesting autograph letters. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on friday, february th, a highly interesting collection of autograph letters, particularly letters of modern poets, crabbe, byron, &c.; some very rare documents connected with the scottish history; an extraordinary declaration issued by james iii., the old pretender; and many others of equal consequence. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * valuable library, late the property of the rev. george innes, head master of the king's school, warwick, deceased. six days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on monday, march rd, and five following days, the valuable library of the late rev. george innes, consisting of theology; greek and latin classics; the works of standard historians, poets and dramatists; a complete set of the gentleman's magazine to ; a few county histories, all in good condition, many handsomely bound. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * sowerby's english botany. now ready, vol. iv. price l. s. cloth boards. vols. i. ii. and iii., price l. s. d. each, and cases for binding the vols. always on hand. *** subscribers who may desire to complete their copies can do so from the stock of the second edition, at re-issue price. to be had of mr. sowerby, . mead place, lambeth; and of all booksellers. * * * * * whitaker's clergyman's diary and ecclesiastical calendar for , containing a diary with the lessons, collects, and directions for public worship, with blank spaces for memoranda for every day in the year, the sundays and other holidays being printed in red. the ecclesiastical calendar contains a list of all the bishops, deans, archdeacons, canons, prebendaries, and other dignitaries of the united church of england and ireland, arranged under their respective dioceses. the bishops and other dignitaries of the colonial church, the scottish and american episcopal churches; statistics of the roman catholic and greek churches, the various bodies of dissenters, religious societies in connexion with the church, with their income and expenditure; directions to candidates for holy orders, curates, and newly-appointed incumbents; the universities, heads of houses, prizes, &c. the miscellaneous part contains complete lists of both houses of parliament, the ministry, judges, &c., tables of the revenue, taxes, wages, &c., with a variety of matter useful to all clergymen, the whole forming a complete and convenient clergyman's pocket book. price, in cloth, s., or with a tuck as a pocket book, roan, s., or in morocco, s. d. "it appears to be exceedingly well got up, and to contain all that a clergyman or churchman can desire."--_guardian._ "well arranged, and full of useful matter."--_john bull._ "the most complete and useful thing of the kind."--_christian remembrancer._ oxford: john henry parker; and . strand, london. * * * * * committee for the repair of the tomb of geoffrey chaucer. john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a. william richard drake, esq., f.s.a. thomas w. king, esq., f.s.a. sir frederick madden, k.h. john gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a. samuel shepherd, esq., f.s.a. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a. the tomb of geoffrey chaucer in westminster abbey is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay. a sum of one hundred pounds will effect a perfect repair. the committee have not thought it right to fix any limit to the contribution; they themselves have opened the list with a subscription from each of them of five shillings; but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them. subscriptions have been received from the earls of carlisle, ellesmere, and shaftsbury, viscounts strangford and mahon pres. soc. antiq., the lords braybrooke and londesborough, and many other noblemen and gentlemen. subscriptions are received by all the members of the committee, and at the union bank, pall mall east. post-office orders may be made payable at the charing cross office, to william richard drake, esq., the treasurer, . parliament street, or william j. thoms, esq., hon. sec., . holy-well street, millbank. { } * * * * * now ready, in pages, demy mo., with a pictorial view and ground plan of the great exhibition building, and view of the birmingham exposition. _price, in fancy binding, s. d., or post free, s._ dedicated to his royal highness price albert gilbert's popular narrative of the origin, history, progress, and prospects of the great industrial exhibition, ; with a guide to the future rules and arrangements. by peter berlyn. * * * * * published by james gilbert, . paternoster row, london. _orders received by all booksellers, stationers, and newsvendors_. * * * * * just published, no. ., price s. d., details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples. by james k. colling, architect. contents: archway from bishop burton church and corbel from wawn church, yorkshire. font from bradfield church, norfolk. nave arches, st. mary's church, beverley. clerestory windows from ditto. one compartment of nave and label terminations from ditto. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * archÆological institute.--the volume of transactions of the lincoln meeting, to which subscribers for the year are entitled, is ready for delivery, and may be obtained, on application at the office of the society, . suffolk street, pall mall. directions regarding transmission of copies to country members should be addressed to george vulliamy, esq., secretary. the norwich volume is also completed, and will be forthwith delivered. it is requested that all arrears of subscription may be remitted without delay to the treasurer, edward hawkins, esq. the journal, no. ., commencing vol. viii., will be published at the close of march, and forwarded, postage free, to all members not in arrear of their contributions. the salisbury volume is nearly ready for delivery. subscribers' names received by the publisher, george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * the devotional library, edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. just published. the history of our lord and saviour jesus christ. with suitable meditations and prayers. by william reading, m.a. (reprinted from the edition of .) mo. cloth, price _ s._ also, devout musings on the book of psalms, part . psalms lxxvi. to cx. price s. cloth; and vol. i., containing parts . and ., price s. d. cloth. leeds: richard slocombe. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * foreign literature. d. nutt begs to call the attention of the public to his establishment for the sale of foreign books, both old and new, in various languages, and in every department of literature. his stock is one of the largest of its kind in london, and is being continually augmented by weekly importations from the continent. he has recently published the following catalogues, either of which may be had gratis, and forwarded anywhere by post upon receipt of four stamps:--classical and philological books; miscellaneous german books and elementary works; theological, philosophical, and oriental books. . strand (opposite arundel street), removed from fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. contents, "groatsworth of witte": 'groathsworth' in original ('groatsworth' twice in article). pages & , "the lyars": 'lyan' in original. page , "margaret nicholson": 'magaret' in original. page , "which is similarly subject to venus": 'smilary' in original. page , "the first two parts of the ecclesiastical history": 'patts' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | transcriber's note: italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline characters_. greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildes~. overlines indicating abbreviations | | are shown like this, d[=n]e, meaning a line over the letter n. | | archaic spellings and hyphenation inconsistencies have been | | left as originally printed. | +----------------------------------------------------------------+ { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page poetical epithets of the nightingale, by cuthbert bede, b.a. on a passage in orosius, by e. thomson notes on several misunderstood words, by rev. w. r. arrowsmith a work on the macrocosm dr. south's latin tract against sherlock, by james crossley shakspeare correspondence, by c. mansfield ingleby, s. singleton, &c. minor notes:--robert weston--sonnet on the rev. joseph blanco white--english and american booksellers --odd mistake--thomas shakspeare--early winters queries:-- satirical playing cards, by t. j. pettigrew movable metal types anno , by george stephens portraits at brickwall house minor queries:--christian names--lake of geneva --clerical portrait--arms: battle-axe--bullinger's sermons--gibbon's library--dr. timothy bright --townley mss.--order of st. john of jerusalem --consecrated roses, swords, &c.--west, kipling, and millbourne--font inscriptions--welsh genealogical queries--the butler and his man william--longhi's portraits of guidiccioni--sir george carr--dean pratt--portrait of franklin--"enquiry into the state of the union" minor queries with answers:--bishop of oxford in --roman inscription found at battle bridge-- blow-shoppes--bishop hesketh--form of prayer for prisoners replies:-- edmund spenser, and spensers, or spencers, of hurstwood, by j. b. spencer, &c. throwing old shoes for luck, by john thrupp orkneys in pawn hogarth's pictures, by e. g. ballard and w. d. haggard phantom bells and lost churches photographic notes and queries:--photographic collodion--filtering collodion--photographic notes --colouring collodion pictures--gutta percha baths replies to minor queries:--pilgrimages to the holy land--"a letter to a convocation man"--king robert bruce's coffin-plate--eulenspiegel or howleglas --sir edwin sadleir--belfry towers separate from the body of the church--god's marks--"the whippiad" --the axe that beheaded anne boleyn, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. poetical epithets of the nightingale. having lately been making some research among our british poets, as to the character of the nightingale's song, i was much struck with the great quantity and diversity of epithets that i found applied to the bird. the difference of opinion that has existed with regard to the quality of its song, has of course led the poetical adherents of either side to couple the nightingale's name with that very great variety of adjectives which i shall presently set down in a tabular form, with the names of the poetical sponsors attached thereto. and, in making this the subject of a note, i am only opening up an old query; for the character of the nightingale's song has often been a matter for discussion, not only for poets and scribblers, but even for great statesmen like fox, who, amid all the anxieties of a political life, could yet find time to defend the nightingale from being a "most musical, most melancholy" bird. coleridge's onslaught upon this line, in his poem of "the nightingale," must be well known to all lovers of poetry; and his re-christening of the bird by that epithet which chaucer had before given it: "'tis the _merry_ nightingale, that crowds, and hurries, and precipitates, with fast thick warble, his delicious notes, as he were fearful that an april night would be too short for him to utter forth his love-chant, and disburthen his full soul of all its music!" the fable of the nightingale's origin would, of course, in classical times, give the character of melancholy to its song; and it is rather remarkable that Æschylus makes cassandra speak of the _happy_ chirp of the nightingale, and the chorus to remark upon this as a further proof of her insanity. (shakspeare makes edgar say, "the _foul fiend_ haunted poor tom in the voice of a nightingale."--_king lear_, act iii. sc. .) tennyson seems to be almost the only poet who has thoroughly recognised the great variety of epithets that may be applied to the nightingale's song, through the very opposite feelings which it { } seems to possess the power to awaken. in his _recollections of the arabian nights_, he says,-- "the living airs of middle night died round the bulbul as he sung; not he; but something which possess'd the darkness of the world, _delight_, _life_, _anguish_, _death_, _immortal love_, ceasing not, mingled, unrepress'd, apart from place, withholding time." again, in the _in memoriam_: "wild bird! whose warble, liquid, sweet, rings eden through the budded quicks, oh, tell me where the senses mix, oh, tell me where the passions meet, "whence radiate? _fierce extremes_ employ thy spirit in the dusking leaf, and _in the midmost heart of grief thy passion clasps a secret joy_." with which compare these lines in _the gardener's daughter_: "yet might i tell of meetings, of farewells,-- of that which came between, more sweet than each, in whispers, like the whispers of the leaves that tremble round a nightingale--_in sighs which perfect joy, perplexed for utterance, stole from her sister sorrow_." but the most singular proof that, i think, i have met with, concerning the diversity of opinion touching the song of the nightingale, is to be found in the following example. when shelley (_prometheus unbound_) is describing the luxurious pleasures of the grove of daphne, he mentions (in some of the finest lines he has ever written) "the _voluptuous_ nightingales, sick with sweet love," to be among the great attractions of the place: while dean milman (_martyrs of antioch_), in describing the very same "dim, licentious daphne," is particular in mention that everything there "ministers _voluptuous_ to man's transgressions" (even including the "winds, and flowers, and waters"); everything, in short, "_save thou_, sweet _nightingale!_" the question is indeed a case of "fierce extremes," as we may see by the following table of epithets, which are taken from the british poets only: _amorous._ milton. _artless._ drummond of hawthornden. _attick_ ("attica aedon"). gray. _beautiful._ mackay. _charmer._ michael drayton, philip ayres. _charming._ sir roger l'estrange. _cheerful._ philip ayres. _complaining._ shakspeare. _conqueror._ ford _dainty._ carshaw, giles fletcher. _darkling._ milton. _dear._ ben jonson, drummond of hawthornden. _deep._ mrs. hemans. _delicious._ crashaw, coleridge. _doleful._ shakspeare. _dusk._ barry cornwall. _enchanting._ mrs. t. welsh. _enthusiast._ crashaw. _evening._ chaucer. _ever-varying._ wordsworth. _fervent._ mrs. hemans. _fond._ moore. _forlorn._ shakspeare, darwin, hood. _full-hearted._ author of _the naiad_ ( ). _full-throated._ keats. _gentle._ _the spanish tragedy_, dunbar (laureate to james iv. scot.), mrs charlotte smith. _good._ chaucer, ben jonson. _gushing._ campbell. _hapless._ milton. _happy._ keats, mackay. _harmless._ crashaw, browne. _harmonious._ browne. _heavenly._[ ] chaucer, dryden, wordsworth. _holy._ campbell. _hopeful._ crashaw. _immortal._ keats. _joyful._ moore. _joyous._ keble. _lamenting._ shakspeare, michael drayton, drummond of hawthornden. _light-foot._ crashaw. _light-winged._ keats. _liquid._ milton, bishop heber, tennyson. _listening._ crashaw, thomson. _little._ james i. scot., philip ayres, crashaw. _lone._ beattie, mrs. hemans, miss london, mrs. fanny kemble, milman. _lonely._ countess of winchilsea ( ), barry cornwall. _loud._ shelley. _loved._ mason. _lovely._ bloomfield. _love-lorn._ milton, scott, collins. _lowly._ mrs. thompson. { } _lusty._ chaucer. _melancholy._ milton, milman. _melodious._ chris. smart, ld. lyttelton, southey. _merry._ _red book of ossory_, fourteenth century (quoted in "n. & q.," vol. ii., no. .), chaucer, dunbar, coleridge. _minstrel._ mrs. charlotte smith. _modest._ keble. _mournful._ shakspeare, theo. lee, pope, lord thurlow, byron. _musical._ milton. _music-panting._ shelley. _new-abashed._[ ]chaucer. _night-warbling._ milton, milman. _pale._ author of _raffaelle and fornarina_ ( ). _panting._ crashaw. _passionate._ lady e. s. wortley. _pensive._ mrs. charlotte smith. _piteous._ ambrose philips. _pity-pleading_ (used ironically). coleridge. _plaintive._ lord lyttelton, thomson, keats, hood. _pleasant._ an old but unknown author, quoted in todd's _illustrations to gower and chaucer_, p. ., ed. . _poor._ shakspeare, ford. _rapt._ hon. julian fane ( ). _ravished._ lilly. _responsive._ darwin. _restless._ t. lovell beddoes (in _the bride's tragedy_, ). _richly-toned._ southey. _sad._ milton, giles fletcher, drummond of hawthornden, graves, darwin, collins, beattie, byron, mrs. hemans, mrs fanny kemble, hood, t. l. beddoes. _shrill._ chaucer, crashaw. _silver-sounding._ richard barnfield. _single._[ ] southey. _skilled._ ford. _sleepless._[ ] atherstone. _sober-suited._ thomson. _soft._ milton, james i. scot., crashaw, mrs. charlotte smith, byron. _solemn._ milton, otway, graingle. _sole-sitting._ thomson. _sorrowing._ shakspeare. _soul-entrancing._ bishop heber. _supple._ crashaw. _sweet._ chaucer, james i. scot., milton, spenser, crashaw, drummond, richard barnfield, ambrose philips, shelley, cowper, thomson, young, darwin, lord lyttelton, mrs. charlotte smith, moore, coleridge, wordsworth, l. e. l., milman, hood, tennyson, p. j. bailey, kenny, hon. j. fane. _sweetest._ milton, browne, thomson, turnbull, beattie. _sweet-voiced._ wither. _syren._ crashaw. _tawny._ cary. _tender._ crashaw, turnbull. _thrilling._ hon. mrs. wrottesley ( ). _tuneful._ dyer, grainger. _unseen._ byron. _vaunting._ bloomfield. _voluptuous._ shelley. _wakeful._ milton, coleridge. _wailing._ miss landon. _wandering._ mrs. charlotte smith, hon. mrs. wrottesley. _wanton._ coleridge. _warbling._ milton, ford, chris. smart, pope, smollett, lord lyttelton, jos. warton, gray, cowper. _welcome._ wordsworth. _wild._ moore, tennyson, j. westwood ( ). _wise._ waller. _wondrous_. mrs. fanny kemble. in addition to these epithets, others might be added of a fuller character; such as "queen of all the quire" (chaucer), "night-music's king" (richard barnfield, ), "angel of the spring" (ben jonson), "_music's best seed-plot_" (crashaw), "best poet of the grove" (thomson), "sweet poet of the woods" (mrs. charlotte smith), "dryad of the trees" (keats), "sappho of the dell" (hood); but the foregoing list of simple adjectives (which doubtless could be greatly increased by a more extended poetical reading) sufficiently demonstrates the popularity of the nightingale as a poetical embellishment, and would, perhaps, tend to prove that a greater diversity of epithets have been bestowed upon the nightingale than have been given to any other song-bird. cuthbert bede, b.a. [footnote : the epithets "heavenly," "holy," "solemn," &c., represent the nightingale's song, as spoken of by keats, as the bird's "plaintive _anthem_;" by mackay, as its "_hymn_ of gratitude and love;" and by moore also, in his account of the vale of cashmere, as "the nightingale's _hymn_ from the isle of chenars." in _a proper new boke of the armony of byrdes_ (quoted by dibdin, _top. antiq._, iv. .), of unknown date, though probably before , the nightingale is represented as singing its te deum: "tibi cherubin et seraphin full goodly she dyd chaunt, with notes merely incessabile voce proeclamant."] [footnote : chaucer (_troilus and creseide_) imagines the nightingale to "stint" at the beginning of its song, and to be frightened at the least noise.] [footnote : this, and the epithets of "sole-sitting" and "unseen," refer to the nightingale's love of solitary seclusion.] [footnote : "he slep no more than doth the nightingale." chaucer, _cant. pil._] * * * * * on a passage in orosius. in king alfred's version of orosius, book ii. chap. iv. p. ., barrington, we have an account of an unsuccessful attempt made by one of cyrus the great's officers to swim across a river "mid twam tyncenum," with two _tynkens_. what was a _tyncen_? that was the question nearly a hundred years ago, when barrington was working out his translation; and the only answer to be found then was contained in the great dictionary published by lye and manning, but is not found now in dr. bosworth's second edition of his dictionary: "tynce, _a tench_." how the persian nobleman was to be supported by two little fishes, which were more likely to land their passenger at the bottom of the river than on the opposite bank, we are left to guess. but, before we proceed with the experiment, let us see that we have got the fishes. that tench was in the gyndis we have no authority for denying; but, if its anglian or saxon name was such as the dictionary exhibits, we have no trace of it { } in the text of alfred; for under no form of declension, acknowledged in grammar, will _tynce_ ever give _tyncenum_. we have no need, then, to spend time in calculating the chance of success, when we have not the means of making the experiment. as either _tync_ or _tynce_ would give _tyncum_, not _tyncenum_, the latter must come out of _tyncen_ (query, _tynkin_ or _tunkin_, a little tun, a barrel, or a cask?). such was the form in which the question presented itself to my mind, upon my first examination of the passage three or four years ago, but which was given up without sufficient investigation, owing to an impression that if such had been the meaning, it was so simple and obvious that nobody could have missed it. an emergency, which i need not explain here, has within these few days recalled my attention to the subject; and i have no reason to be ashamed, or to make a secret, of the result. _tyncen_, the diminutive of _tunne_, is not only a genuine anglo-saxon word, but the type of a class, of whose existence in that language no saxonist, i may say no teutonist, not even the perspicacious and indefatigable jacob grimm himself, seems to be aware. the word is exactly analogous to ger. _tönnchen_, from _tonne_, and proves three things:-- . that our ancestors formed diminutives in _cen_, as well as their neighbours in _ken_, _kin_, _chen_; . that the radical vowel was modified: for _y_ is the _umlaut_ of _u_; . that these properties of the dialect were known to alfred the great when he added this curious statement to the narrative of orosius. e. thomson. * * * * * notes on several misunderstood words. (_continued from_ p. .) _imperseverant_, undiscerning. this word i have never met with but twice,--in shakspeare's _cymbeline_, with the sense above given; and in bishop andrewes' sermon preached before queen elizabeth at hampton court, a.d. , in the sense of unenduring: "for the sodomites are an example of impenitent wilful sinners; and lot's wife of _imperseverant_ and relapsing righteous persons."--_library of ang.-cath. theology_, vol. ii. p. . _perseverant_, discerning, and _persevers_, discerns, occur respectively at pp. . and . of hawes's _pastime of pleasure_ (percy society's edition). the noun substantive _perseverance_=discernment is as common a word as any of the like length in the english language. to omit the examples that might be cited out of hawes's _pastime of pleasure_, i will adduce a dozen other instances; and if those should not _be enough_ to justify my assertion, i will undertake to heap together two dozen more. mr. dyce, in his _critique of knight and collier's shakspeare_, rightly explains the meaning of the word in _cymbeline_; and quotes an example of _perseverance_ from _the widow_, to which the reader is referred. mr. dyce had, however, previously corrupted a passage in his edition of rob. greene's _dramatic works_, by substituting, "perceivance" for _perseverance_, the word in the original quarto of the _pinner of wakefield_, vol. ii. p. .: "why this is wondrous being blind of sight, his deep _perseuerance_ should be such to know us." i subjoin the promised dozen: "for his dyet he was verie temperate, and a great enemie of excesse and surfetting; and so carelesse of delicates, as though he had had no _perseuerance_ in the tast of meates," &c.--"the life of ariosto," sir john harington's translation of _orlando furioso_, p. . "in regarde whereof they are tyed vnto these duties: first by a prudent, diligent, and faithfull care to obserue by what things the state may be most benefited; and to haue _perseuerance_ where such marchandize that the state most vseth and desireth may be had with greatest ease," &c.--_the trauailer_, by thomas palmer: london, . "there are certain kinds of frogs in egypt, about the floud of nilus, that have this _percewerance_, that when by chance they happen to come where a fish called varus is, which is great a murtherer and spoiler of frogs, they use to bear in their mouths overthwart a long reed, which groweth about the banks of nile; and as this fish doth gape, thinking to feed upon the frog, the reed is so long that by no means he can swallow the frog; and so they save their lives."--"the pilgrimage of kings and princes," chap. xliii. p. . of lloyd's _marrow of history_, corrected and revised by r. c., master of arts: london, . "this fashion of countinge the monthe endured to the ccccl yere of the citie, and was kepte secrete among the byshops of theyr religion tyl the time that c. flauius, p. sulpitius auarrio, and p. sempronius sophuilongus, then beinge consuls, against the mynde of the senatours disclosed all their solemne feates, published th[=e] in a table that euery man might haue perseuera[=u]ce of them."--_an abridgemente of the notable worke of polidore vergile, &c._, by thomas langley, fol. xlii. "and some there be that thinke men toke occasion of god to make ymages, whiche wylling to shewe to the grosse wyttes of men some _perceiueraunce_ of hymselfe, toke on him the shape of man, as abraham sawe him and jacob also."--_id._, fol. lxi. in this passage, as in others presently to be alleged, "notification" seems to be the drift of the word. "of this vnreuerent religi[=o], mahomete, a noble ma[=n]e, borne in arabie, or, as some report, in persie, was authour: and his father was an heathen idolater, and his mother an ismaelite; wherfore she had more _perceuerance_ of the hebrues law."--_id._, fol. cxlii. "where all feelyng and _perseuer[=a]ce_ of euill is awaie, nothyng there is euill or found a misse. as if a manne { } be fallen into a sound slepe, he feleth not the hardenesse or other incommoditie of his cabon or couche."--"the saiynges of publius, no. .," _the precepts of cato, &c., with erasmus annotations_: london, . "wherfore both philip and alexander (if ye dead haue anie _perceuerance_) woulde not that the rootes (rooters) out of them and theyre issue, but rather that the punnishers of those traitors, should enioye the kingdom of macedone."--"the xvi booke of justine," fol. ., golding's translation of the _abridgement of the historyes of trojus pompeius_: london, . "and morouer bycause his setting of vs here in this world is to aduaunce vs aloft, that is, to witte to the heauenly life, whereof he giueth vs some _perceyuerance_ and feeling afore hande."--io. calvin. "sermon xli., on the tenth chap. of job," p. ., golding's translation: london, . "and so farre are wee off from being able to atteine to such knowledge through our owne power, that we flee it as much as is possible, and blindfold our own eyes, to the intent we might put away all _perceyuerance_ and feeling of god's judgement from vs."--_id._, "sermon xlii.," p. . "for (as i haue touched already) god of his goodnesse doth not vtterly barre vs from hauing any _perceyuerance_ at all of his wisdome: but it behoueth vs to keepe measure."--_id._, "sermon xliii.," p. . i shall not cite any more from golding, but simply observe that the word occurs again and again in his translations. the remaining three examples exhibit the noun in a somewhat different sense, viz. "notification," or "means of discerning:" "the time most apt in all the yeare, and affoording greatest _perseuerance_ for the finding out of the heads of wells and fountaines, are the moneths of august or september."--_the first booke of the countrie farme_, p. ., by stevens and liebault, translated by svrflet, and edited by g. markham: london, . "he may also gather some _perceiuerance_ by the other markes before specified; that is to say, by the prints of his foote vpon the grasse, by the carriages of his head, his dung, gate," &c.--_id._, booke vii. p. . "and this lyfe to men is an high _perseveraunce_, or a lyght of faythe wherby they shall be saved." "god's promises," by john bale; dodsley's _old plays_ (collier's edition), vol. i. part ii. act i. by-the-bye, as a specimen of the value of this edition, take the following passage of this very play: "o perfyght keye of david, and hygh scepture of the kyndred of jacob; whych openest and no man _speareth_, that speakest and no man openeth."--act vii. p. . on the word _speareth_ the commentator treats his reader to a note; in which he informs him that _speareth_ means "asketh," and in proof of this cites one passage from chaucer, and two from douglas's _virgil_. it might almost appear to be upbraiding the reader with stupidity to mention that _speareth_ signifieth "bolteth, shutteth;" and that "speaketh" is a misprint for _speareth_. this verb was a favourite with bale. one word more closes my budget for the present. _more_, a root. still in use in gloucestershire, once of frequent occurrence. to the examples alleged by richardson, in his _dictionary_, add the following: "i se it by ensaunple in somer tyme on trowes; ther some bowes ben leved, and some bereth none, there is a meschief in the _more_ of swiche manere bowes." _the vision of piers ploughman_, edited by thomas wright, vol. ii. p. . at p. . you find the sentiment in latin: "sicut cum videris arborem pallidam et marcidam, intelligis quod _vitium habet in radice_"--"a meschief in the _more_." the glossary of the editor is silent. "it is a ful trie tree, quod he, trewely to telle; mercy is the _more_ therof, the myddul stok is ruthe; the leves ben lele wordes, the lawe of holy chirche; the blosmes beth buxom speche, and benigne lokynge; pacience hatte the pure tree," &c. _id._, vol. ii. p. . "it groweth in a gardyn, quod he, that god made hymselve, amyddes mannes body, the _more_ is of that stokke, herte highte the herber, that it inne groweth." _id._, vol. ii. p. . there should not be any comma, or other stop, at body, because the sense is--"the root of that stock is amid man's body." mr. wright's glossary refers to these last two instances as follows: "_more_ (a.-s.) , ., the main or larger part, body (?)" at p. . we meet with the word again: "on o _more_ thei growed." and again, at p. .: "and bite a-two the _mores_." may i, in passing, venture to inquire of the editor on what authority he explains _waselede_ (p. .) to be "the pret. of _waselen_ (a.-s.) to become dirty, dirty oneself?" "this troilus withouten rede or lore, as man that hath his joies eke forlore, was waiting on his lady evermore, as she that was sothfast croppe and _more_, of all his lust or joyes here tofore." chaucer's _troilus and creseide_, b.v. { } afterwards, in the same book, a few stanzas further on, he joins "crop" and "root" together. "last of all, if these thinges auayle not the cure, i do commend and allow above all the rest, that you take the iuyce of celendine rootes, making them cleane from the earth that doth vse to hang to the _moores_."--_the booke of falconrie_, by george turbervile, , p. . "chiefely, if the _moare_ of vertue be not cropped, but dayly rooted deepelyer."--_the fyrste booke of the nobles or of nobilitye_, translated from laurence humfrey. the next and last example from the "second booke" of this interesting little volume i will quote more at large: "aristotle mencioneth in his politikes an horrible othe vsed in certaine states, consistinge of the regimente of fewe nobles, in maner thus: i will hate the people, and to my power persecute them. which is the _croppe_ and _more_ of al sedition. yet too much practised in oure liues. but what cause is there why a noble man should eyther despise the people? or hate them? or wrong them? what? know they not, no tiranny maye bee trusty? nor how yll gard[=e] of c[=o]tinuance, feare is? further, no more may nobilitie misse the people, then in man's body, the heade, the hande. for of trueth, the common people are the handes of the nobles, sith them selues bee handlesse. they labour and sweate for them, with tillinge, saylinge, running, toylinge: by sea, by l[=a]d, with h[=a]ds, w't feete, serue them. so as w'oute theyr seruice, they nor eate, nor drink, nor are clothed, no nor liue. we reade in ye taleteller esope, a doue was saued by the helpe of an ant. a lyon escaped by the benefit of a mowse. we rede agayne, that euen ants haue theyr choler. and not altogether quite, the egle angered the bytle bee." the reader will notice in this citation another instance of the verb _miss_, to dispense with. i have now done for the present; but should the collation of sundry passages, to illustrate the meaning of a word, appear as agreeable to the laws of a sound philology, as conducive to the integrity of our ancient writers, and as instructive to the public as brainspun emendations, whether of a remote or modern date, which now-a-days are pouring in like a flood--to corrupt long recognised readings in our idolised poet shakspeare, in order to make his phraseology square with the language of the times and his readers' capacities--i will not decline to continue endeavours such as the present essay exhibits with a view to stem and roll back the tide. w. r. arrowsmith. broad heath, presteign, herefordshire. * * * * * a work on the macrocosm. i intended to have contributed a series of papers to "n. & q." on the brute creation, on plants and flowers, &c.; and in a note on the latter subject i promised to follow it up. however, as circumstances have changed my intentions, i think it may be well to mention that i have in hand a work on macrocosm, or world of nature around us, which shall be published in three separate parts or volumes. the first shall be devoted to the brute creation; the second shall be an herbal, with a calendar of dedicated flowers prefixed; the third shall contain chapters on the mineral kingdom: in the last i shall treat of the symbolism of stones, and the superstitions respecting them. i purpose in each case, as far as possible, to go to the fountain-head, and shall give copious extracts from such writers as st. ildefonso of toledo, st. isidore of seville, vincent of beauvais, st. basil, origen, epiphanius, and the christian fathers. as the work i have sketched out for myself will require time to mature, i shall publish very shortly a small volume, containing a breviary of the former, which will give some idea of the manner in which i shall treat the proposed subject. many correspondents of "n. & q." have evinced great interest in the line i intend to enter upon. (see vol. i., pp. . .; vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., pp. . . . .) their queries have produced no satisfactory result. i myself made a query in my "chapter on flowers," some months ago, respecting catholic floral directories, and two works in particular, about which i was most anxious, and which were quoted in _the catholic florist_, london, , and i have received no answer. mr. oakley, indeed, wrote to me to say that he "only edited it, and wrote a preface," and that he forwarded my query "to the compiler:" the latter personage, however, has not favoured me with a reply. in spite of all these discouragements, i have taken the step of bringing my contemplated work before the readers of "n. & q.," and i shall gratefully acknowledge any communications relative to legends, folk-lore, superstitions, symbolism, &c. bearing on the subjects proposed. as i intend inserting a bibliographical list of the chief works which come under the scope of each volume, i might receive much valuable assistance on this point, especially as regards oriental and other foreign books, which might escape my researches. as regards the brute creation, i have gotten, with the kind assistance of the editor of "n. & q.," hildrop's famous reply to father bougeant; and i have sent to germany for dr. kraus's recent work on the subject. eirionnach. * * * * * dr. south's latin tract against sherlock. none of south's compositions are more striking or characteristic than his two english tracts against sherlock, his _animadversions on sherlock's vindication of the trinity_, - , to., { } and his _tritheism charged on sherlock's new notion of the trinity_, , to. for caustic wit and tremendous power of vituperation, i scarcely know any controversial works which surpass, or even equal them. south looked upon sherlock with profound scorn as a sciolist, and hated him most cordially as a heretic and a political renegade. he accordingly gives him no quarter, and seems determined to draw blood at every stroke. mrs. sherlock is of course not forgotten, and one of the happiest passages in the _tritheism charged_ is the well-known humorous illustration of socrates and xantippe, p. . it is somewhat curious that, notwithstanding these two works of south have attracted so much notice, it seems to be quite unknown that he also published a latin tract against sherlock, in further continuation of the controversy, in which the attack is carried on with equal severity. the title of the tract in question is, _decreti oxoniensis vindicatio in tribus ad modestum ejusdem examinatorem modestioribus epistolis a theologo transmarino_. excusa anno domini , to., pp. . the tract, of which i have a copy, is anonymous, but it is ascribed to south in the following passages in _the agreement of the unitarians with the catholic church_, part i. , to., which is included in vol. v. of the to. _unitarian tracts_, and evidently written by one who had full information on the subject. his expressions (p. .) are--"dr. south, in his latin letters, under the name of a transmarine divine;" and a little further on, "dr. south, in two (english) books by him written, and in three latin letters, excepts against this (sherlock's) explication of the trinity." in confirmation of this ascription, i may observe that the latin tract is contained in an extensive collection of the tracts in the trinitarian controversy formed by dr. john wallis, which i possess, and in which he has written the names of the authors of the various anonymous pieces. he took, as is well known, a leading part in the controversy, and published himself an anonymous pamphlet (not noticed by his biographers), also in defence of oxford decrees. on the title-page of the latin tract he has written "by dr. south." i have likewise another copy in a volume which belonged to stephen nye, one of the ablest writers in the controversy, and who ascribes it in the list of contents in the fly-leaf, in his handwriting, to dr. south. these grounds would appear to be sufficient to authorise our including this tract in the list of south's works, though, from the internal evidence of the tract itself alone, i should scarcely have felt justified in ascribing it to him. jas. crossley. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _parallel passages._-- "you leaden messengers, that ride upon the violent wings of fire, fly with false aim; _move_ the _still-piecing_ air, that sings with piercing,--do not touch my lord!" _all's well that ends well_, act iii. sc. . "the elements, of whom your swords are tempered, may as well _wound_ the loud winds, or with bemock'd at stabs kill the _still-closing_ waters, as diminish one dowle that's in my plume." _the tempest_, act iii. sc. . there can be little doubt that the clever corrector of mr. collier's folio had the last of these passages in view when he altered the word _move_ of the first, into _wound_ of the second: but in this instance he overshot the mark, in not perceiving the nice and subtle distinction which exists between them. the first implies possibility: the second impossibility. in the second, the mention of, to "wound the loud wind, or kill the still-closing water," is to set forth the absurdness of the attempt; but in the first passage there is a direct injunction to a possible act: "fly with false aim, move the still-piecing air." to say "_wound_ the still-piecing air" would be to direct to be done, in one passage, that which the other passage declares to be absurd to expect! if it were necessary to disturb _move_ at all, the word _cleave_ would be, all to nothing, a better substitution than _wound_. whether the annotating of mr. collier's folio be a real or a pseudo-antique, it is impossible to deny that its executor must have been a clever, as he was certainly _a slashing_ hitter. it cannot, therefore, be wondered that he should sometimes reach the mark: but that these corrections should be received with that blind and superstitious faith, so strangely exacted for them, can scarcely be expected. indeed, it is to be regretted that they have been introduced to the public with such an uncompromising claim to authority; as the natural repugnance against _enforced_ opinion may endanger the success of the few suggestive emendations, to be found amongst them, which are really new and valuable. a. e. b. leeds. p.s.--with reference to the above note, which, although not before printed, has been for some time in the editor's hands, i have observed in a dublin paper of saturday, april th, a very singular coincidence; viz. the recurrence of the self-same misprint corrected by malone, but retained by messrs. collier and knight in their respective editions of shakspeare. had the parallel expressions _still-closing_, _still-piecing_, which i have compared in the above paper, been noticed by these { } editors, they would no more have hesitated in accepting malone's correction than they would object to the same correction in the misprint i am about to point out; viz. "two planks were pointed out by the witnesses, viz. one with a knot in it, and another which was piered with strips of wood," &c.--_saunders's newsletter_, april th, rd page, st col. _the passage in "king henry viii.," act iii. sc. ._ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--is an old shakspearian to talk rashly in "n. & q." without being called to account? "if 'we can,'" says mr. singer, "'by no means part with _have_,' we must interpolate _been_ after it, to make it any way intelligible, to the marring of the verse." now, besides the passage in the same scene-- ----"my loyalty, which ever has, and ever shall be growing," pointed out by your leeds correspondent, there is another equally in point in _all's well that ends well_, act ii. sc. ., which, being in prose, settles the question as to whether the omission of the past participle after the auxiliary was customary in shakspeare's time. it is lafeu's farewell to parolles: "farewell, monsieur: i have spoken better of you, than you have or will deserve at my hand; but we must do good against evil." either this is "unintelligible," and "we must interpolate" _deserved_, or (the only possible alternative) all three passages are free from mr. singer's objection. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _on a passage in "macbeth."_--macbeth (act i. sc. .) says: "i have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other." should not the third line be-- "vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps _its sell_!" _sell_ is saddle (latin, _sella_; french, _selle_), and is used by spenser in this sense. "o'erleaping _itself_" is manifest nonsense; whereas the whole passage has evident reference to horsemanship; and to "vault" is "to carry one's body cleverly over anything of a considerable height, resting one hand upon the thing itself,"--exactly the manner in which some persons mount a horse, resting one hand on the pommel of the saddle. it would then be perfectly intelligible, thus-- "vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps its saddle (sell), and falls on the other (side of the horse)." does mr. collier's "new text," or any other old copy, prove this? s. singleton. greenwich. * * * * * minor notes. _robert weston._--i copy the following from a letter of r. l. kingston to dr. ducarel in nichols's _literary history_, vol. iii. p. .: "robert weston was lord of manor of kilmington in devon, and divided his estate among four daughters, reserving to the eldest son the royalties of his courts. in his will or deed of settlement is this clause:--'that the abbot of newnhams, near axminster, had nothing to do in the highway any further than to his land of studhays, and that he should stand without the court gate of his land of studhays, and take his right ear in his left hand, and put his right arm next to his body under his left across, and so cast his reap-hook from him; and so far he shall come.'" balliolensis. _sonnet on the rev. joseph blanco white._--some years ago, i copied the following sonnet from a newspaper. can you say where it first made its appearance? after the annexed testimony of coleridge, it is needless to say anything in its praise. "sonnet on the rev. joseph blanco white. mysterious night! when our first parent knew thee from report divine, and heard thy name, did he not tremble for this lovely frame, this glorious canopy of light and blue? yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew, bathed in the rays of the great setting flame, hesperus, with the host of heaven, came, and lo! creation widen'd in man's view. who could have thought such darkness lay conceal'd within thy beams, o sun! or who could find, whilst fly, and leaf, and insect, stood reveal'd, that to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind? why do we then shun death with anxious strife? if light can thus deceive--wherefore not life?" coleridge is said to have pronounced this "the finest and most grandly conceived in our language; at least, it is only in milton's and in wordsworth's sonnets that i recollect any rival." balliolensis. _english and american booksellers._--it is rather curious to note, that whilst english booksellers are emulously vying with one another to publish editions of _uncle toms_, _queechys_, _wide wide worlds_, &c., they neglect to issue english works which the superior shrewdness of { } uncle sam deems worthy of reprinting. southey's _chronicle of the cid_, which was published by longman in , and not since printed in england, was brought out in a very handsome octavo form at lowell, u. s., in . and this, the "first american edition," as it is called on the title-page, can be readily procured from the booksellers in london; whereas the english original is not to be met with. in like manner, macaulay's _essays_ were collected and published first in america; and so with praed's _poems_, and many others. uncle sam has lately announced collections of dr. maginn's and de quincey's scattered essays, for which we owe him our most grateful acknowledgments. j. m. b. tunbridge wells. _odd mistake._-- "one of the houses on mount ephraim formerly belonged to _judge jeffries_, a man who has rendered his name infamous in the annals of history _by the cruelty and injustice he manifested in presiding at the trial of king charles i._"--_descriptive sketches of tunbridge wells_, by john britton, f.s.a., p. . voilà comment on fait l'histoire! j. m. b. tunbridge wells. _thomas shakspeare._--in the year there resided in lutterworth in leicestershire, only distant from stratford-upon-avon, the birth-town of shakspeare, a very few miles, one _thomas shakspeare_, who appears to have been employed by william glover, of hillendon in northamptonshire, gentleman, as his agent to receive for him and give an acquittance for a considerable sum of money. having regard to the age in which this thomas shakspeare lived, coupled with his place of residence, is it not probable he was a relative of the great bard? charlecote. _early winters._--i heard it mentioned, when in st. petersburg very lately, that they have never had so early a commencement of winter as this last year since the french were at moscow. i find in accounts of the war, that the winter _commenced_ then ( ) on november , n. s., with deep snow. last year ( ) it commenced at st. petersburg on october , n. s., as noted in my diary, with snow, which has remained on the ground ever since, accompanied at times with _very_ severe frost. query: can november , n. s., be the correct date? if it is, this last winter's commencement must be unprecedented; as i have always heard it remarked, that the winter began unusually early the year the french were at moscow. i may mention as a note, that by the last accounts from russia, they say the ice in the gulf of finland was four and a half feet thick. j. s. a. old broad street. * * * * * queries. satirical playing cards. i have lately been much interested in a pack of cards, complete (fifty-two) in their number and suits, engraved in the time of the commonwealth at the hague, and representing the chief personages and the principal events of that period. i have been able, by reference to historical authorities, and, in particular, to the ballads and broadsides in the british museum, forming the collection presented to the nation by george iii., to explain the whole pack, with the exception of two. these are "parry, father and sonne," and "simonias slandering the high priest, to get his place." the former simply represents two figures, without any thing to offer a clue to any event; the latter gives the representation of six puritans, forming an assembly, who are being addressed by one of the body. i cannot find any notice of simonias, or to whom such a name has been applied, in any of the commonwealth tracts with which i am acquainted. probably some of your readers can help me in this matter. of these cards i can find no notice: they are not mentioned by singer, and appear to have escaped the indefatigable research of mr. chatto. they were purchased at the hague, more than thirty years since, for thirty-three guineas, and are exceedingly curious: indeed they form a bundle of commonwealth tracts. all the principal persons of the time figure in some characteristic representation, and the private scandal is also recognised in them. thus, oliver is to be found under a strong conflict with lady lambert; sir harry mildmay solicits a citizen's wife, for which his own corrects him; and he is also being beaten by a footboy,--which event is alluded to in butler's _posthumous works_. general lambert, of whom your pages have given some interesting information, is represented as "the knight of the golden tulip," evidently in reference to his withdrawal with a pension to holland, where he is known to have ardently cultivated flowers, and to have drawn them in a very superior manner. i hope this communication may enable me to complete my account of these cards, the explanation of which may probably throw light upon some of the stirring events of that extraordinary period of our history. t. j. pettigrew. saville row. * * * * * movable metal types anno . a vellum ms. has lately come into my possession, containing the service for the dead, prayers, &c., with the tones for chanting, &c., in latin, written for a german order, apparently about the year . this tome, which is in small to., is very remarkable and valuable on account of the binding. this is red leather, stamped with double lines forming lozenges, and powdered with additional stamps, or, a lion, a fleur-de-lys, an eagle, and a star. the whole is on the plain leather, without any gilding. but in addition hereto, a full inscription runs along each back, at top and bottom and each side, stamped with _movable metal types_ applied by hand, { } without gold, as is done by the bookbinder to this day in blind stamping. the legend on the first back is as follows: _at top._--"diez . puchle[=i] _continued to the right._--ist . s. . margreten . _at the bottom._--schuest . ab[=t] . zu . _continued to the left._--s. . kathere[=i] . zu . mur." that is,-- "diez puchlein ist schwester margreten, sehuest abtisse zu sankt katherein zu mur." the legend on the last back is,-- _at top._--"nach . crist . _continued to the right._--gepurt . mccccxxxv . _at bottom._--uvart . gepun _continued to the left._--d[=e] . diez . puch ... k." that is,-- "nach crist gepurt mccccxxxv uvart gepunden diez puch ... k." the whole inscription will therefore be, in english,-- this booklet is sister margaret's, sister-abbess at saint catherine's at mur. after christ's birth, , was boun- den this book ... k. a letter or two is illegible, from the injury made by the clasp, before the last k. both the clasps are torn away, perhaps from their having been of some precious metal. has this k anything to do with köster? can any particulars be given of the abbess, monastery, and town mentioned? is any other specimen of movable _metal_ types known of so early a date? george stephens. copenhagen. * * * * * portraits at brickwall house. among the pictures at brickwall house, northiam, sussex, are the following portraits by artists whose names are not mentioned either in bryan, or pilkington, or horace walpole's notices of painters. i shall be thankful for any information respecting them. . a full-length portrait in oils (small size) on canvas ( inches by ) of a gentleman seated, dressed in a handsome loose gown, red slippers, and on his head a handsome, but very peculiar velvet cap; on the ground, near him, a squirrel; and on a table by his side, a ground plan of some fortification. "john sommer _pinxit_, ." n. b.--the late capt. marryatt, and subsequently another gentleman, guessed it to be a portrait of wortley montague from the peculiar dress; but the fortification would seem to indicate a military personage. the picture is well painted. . a half-length portrait in oils (small size) on canvas ( - / inches by ), of an old lady seated; a landscape in the background. a highly finished and excellent picture; the lace in her cap is most elaborate. "t. vander wilt, ." n. b.--i conclude this is the artist's name, though possibly it may be the subject's. . a pair of portraits (kit kat size), of john knight of slapton, northamptonshire, aged seventy-two; and catherine his wife, aged thirty-seven. "lucas whittonus _pinxit_, ." n. b.--inferior portraits by some provincial artist. i conclude lucas is the surname, and whittonus indicates his locality; if so, what place? whilst on this subject, i would add another query respecting a picture in this house: a very highly finished portrait (small size) by terburgh, of a gentleman standing, in black gown, long brown wig, and a book on a table by him. "andries de græff. obiit lxxiii., mdclxxiiii." can you tell me anything about this old gentleman? t. f. * * * * * minor queries. _christian names._--can any of your correspondents inform me when it became a common practice to have more than one christian name? lord coke says (_co. litt. a_): "and regularly it is requisite that the purchaser be named by the name of baptism and his surname, and that special heed be taken to the name of baptism; _for that a man cannot have two names of baptism as he may have divers surnames._" and further on he says: "if a man be baptized by the name of thomas, and after, at his confirmation by the bishop, he is named john, he may purchase by the name of his confirmation.... and this doth agree with our ancient books, where it is holden that a man may have divers names at divers times, _but not divers christian names_." it appears, then, that during the first half of the seventeenth century a man could not have two christian names. also, at what period did the custom arise of using as christian names words which are properly surnames? ericas. _lake of geneva._--the chronicler marius (in the second volume of _dom bouquet_) mentions that, in the reign of the sons of clotaire, an earthquake or landslip, in the valley of the upper rhone, enlarged the lemannus, or genevese lake, by thirty miles of length and twenty of breadth, destroying towns and villages. montfaucon, in his _monumens de la monarchie_, i. p. ., { } states that the lake of geneva was formed on this occasion: absurdly, unless he means that upon this occasion its limits were extended to geneva, having previously terminated further east. what vestiges of this catastrophe are now perceptible? a. n. _clerical portrait._--may i request the assistance of "n. & q." in discovering the name of a reverend person whose portrait i have recently met with in my parish? the individual from whom i procured it could give me no other history of it, but that he had bought it at the sale of the effects of a respectable pawnbroker in the village many years ago. afterwards i learned from another resident in the parish that he well remembered visiting the shop of the same broker, in company with another gentleman still living, when this identical portrait was the subject of conversation, and the broker went into his private room and brought out a book, conceived to be a magazine, from which he read a description of the person of whom this was the portrait, to the following effect, viz., "that he was born of obscure parentage in the parish of glemham, suffolk; that he was sent to school, and afterwards became a great man and a dignitary of the church, if not a bishop; and became so wealthy that he gave a large sum for the repairs of norwich cathedral." these are the only particulars which i have yet ascertained as to the portrait, for neither of the gentlemen who were present at this transaction with the broker, though they agree in the circumstances which i have above narrated, can remember _the name_ of my great unknown. i look, however, with confidence to the wide range of your correspondents, and hope to receive some clue which may guide me to the wished-for discovery. the portrait is an oil painting, a fine full florid face, with a long wig of black curly hair resting on the shoulders, gown and band, date probably from queen anne to george ii. j. t. a. _arms: battle-axe._--with some quarterings of welsh arms in bisham (marlow) of hobey, is one of three battle-axes. the same appear near denbigh, supposed taken in with a l. r. from vaughan. query, what family or families bore three battle-axes? a. c. _bullinger's sermons._--will some of your correspondents kindly give me some information regarding a volume of sermons by henry bullinger, which i have reason to believe is of rather rare occurrence? it is _festorum dierum domini et servatoris nostri jesu christi sermones ecclesiastici: heinrycho bullingero, authore._ there is a vignette, short preface (on title-page), with a scripture motto, matt. xvii. date is, "tiguri apud christoph. froschoverum a. mdlviii." i believe there is a copy in the university library, cambridge. enivri. monkstown, dublin. _gibbon's library._--matthews, in his _diary of an invalid_, says, when visiting gibbon's house at lausanne, "his library still remains; but it is buried and lost to the world. it is the property of mr. beckford, and lies locked up in an uninhabited house at lausanne" ( st edit. , p. .). this was written about . was the library ever transferred to fonthill or to bath, or does it still remain at lausanne? j. h. m. _dr. timothy bright._--can any of your correspondents inform me whether this gentleman, author of a _treatise on melancholy_, an edition of fox's _martyrs_, &c., was an ancestor of the rev. henry bright, prebend of worcester cathedral, and instructor of samuel butler, author of _hudibras_? h. a. b. _townley mss._--i request to know, where are the townley mss.?* they are quoted by nicolas in the scope and grosvenor rolls? also, where are the mss. often referred to in the _history of the house of yvery_ as then penes the earl of egmont; and also a folio of pedigrees by camden russet? h. t. ellacombe. [* for a notice of the townley mss., see "n. & q.," vol. iv., p. .] _order of st. john of jerusalem._-- . who were the members of the british language of st. john of jerusalem, when elizabeth took away their property? . what members of the british language were present when, in , the english commander upton attacked and defeated the famous corsair dragut at tarschien in malta? also, what members of it were present when the chevalier repton, grand prior of england in , was killed, after signally defeating the turks in another attack which they made on the island? . what became of the records of the language? n.b.--some of them, belonging to the irish branch of it, were lately bought of a jew by a private gentleman in the grand duchy of baden. they are supposed to have been deposited for security at heidersheim near fribourg, which was the chief seat of the german language of the order. r. l. p. wartensee, lake of constance. _consecrated roses, swords, &c._--where will any account be found of the origin of the custom, which has long prevailed at rome, of the pope's blessing, on the eve at certain festivals, roses and { } other articles, and which were afterwards frequently presented to sovereigns and potentates as tokens of friendship and amity? g. _west, kipling, and millbourne._--in there was a firm of west and kipling in holborn: the christian name of west was thomas; and there is reason to believe that he had two sons, francis and thomas. a george millbourne, esq., of spring gardens, married a cousin of thomas west, the partner of kipling: these facts are referred to in the will of a lady proved a.d. . can any reader of "n. & q." furnish me with materials or references from which i may gather information of these families of west and millbourne? the smallest contribution will be thankfully received by f. s. _font inscriptions._--i would request the favour of any such of ancient date. a collection of them would be interesting. i can give three. at lullington, somerset, on a norman font, in characters of that date: "in hoc fontu sacro pereunt delicta lavacro." at bourn, lincoln: "su[=p] o[=m]e no[=m] i h c est no[=m] q[=d]e." at melton mowbray: "sancta trinitas misere nobis." h. t. ellacombe. _welsh genealogical queries_.--can john ap william ap john (vol. vii., p. .), or some other reader, enlighten me as to who the following personages were, or where a pedigree of them is to be found: . gwladys, da. of ithel ap rhys ap morgan, of ewias ap morgan hîr ap testyn ap gwrgant, of th royal tribe, who ma. madog ap griffith.--burke's _landed gentry_, "hughes of gwerclas." . beatrix, da. of eignion ap david ap myles ap griffith ap owen, lord of bromfield; and honet ap jago ap ydwall, prince of wales, who ma. william belward, baron of malpas. . gwernwy, cousin of bleddyn ap cynfyn, called prince of the th royal tribe, whose grand-da. hunydd ma. meredith ap bleddyn.--_v. burke_, as above. . gwentlian, wife of the above gwernwy, da. of rhys ap morgan. . griffin, son of wenovewyn, whose da. ma. fulke fitzwarine, a baron, -- .--_v._ burke's _extinct peerage_. . gladys, da. of rygwallon, prince of wales, said by sir wm. segar to be wife of walter fitzother, ancestor of lords windsor; and what authority is there for this match?--_v. collins_, &c. as these queries are not of general interest, i inclose a stamped envelope for the answers. e. h. y. _the butler and his man william._--these mythological personages, the grotesque creation of mr. grosvenor bedford's fertile imagination, are frequently referred to and dilated on in the letters addressed to him by southey (_life of southey_, by his son, vol. ii. p. ., &c.), when urging mr. bedford to write a pantagruelian romance on their lives and adventures, which however was never accomplished. what therefore is the meaning of the following paragraph, which appears at the conclusion of the review of volume ii. of southey's _life_, contained in the _gent.'s mag._ for april, , p. .? "we will only add, that with respect to the _butler_ mentioned at p. ., the editor seems but imperfectly informed. his portrait, and that of his _man william_, are now hanging on the walls of our study. his life is on our table. he himself has long since returned to the 'august abode' from which he came." j. m. b. tunbridge wells. _longhi's portraits of guidiccioni._--the count alessandro cappi of ravenna is about to publish an elaborate life of his fellow-townsman _luca longhi_, with very copious illustrations from that painter's works. he has ransacked italy in vain for a portrait of monsignor giovanni guidiccioni, president of romagna, painted by luca longhi in . this portrait possesses more than ordinary interest, since (to use the words of armenini, author of _veri precetti della pittura_) "fu predicato per maraviglioso in roma da michelangelo buonarrotti." count cappi, supposing that the picture may have found its way to england, hopes by the publication of this notice to discover its whereabouts. any correspondent who shall be kind enough to furnish him, through this journal, with the desired information, may be assured of his "più vera riconoscenza." w. g. c. _sir george carr._--wanted, pedigree and arms, wife's name and family, of sir george carr, who was joint clerk of the council of munster from to , or thereabouts. sir george had two sons at least, william and thomas; william was alive in . whom did he marry, and what family had he? y. s. m. dublin. _dean pratt._--dr. hessey will feel obliged to any reader of "n. & q." who can answer the following questions. at what college of what university did dr. samuel pratt, dean of rochester, receive his education, and by whom was he ordained? he was born in , left merchant taylors' school (where he passed his early years) in , and was created d.d. by royal mandate, at cambridge, in , but no college is attached to his { } name in the list of cambridge graduates. still, if he was of neither university, it seems difficult to account for his having had the successive preferments of chaplain to the princess of denmark, almoner to the duke of gloucester, clerk of the closet to the queen, and in dean of rochester. he died in , aged seventy-one. merchant taylors'. _portrait of franklin._--i have heard of a story to the effect that when franklin left england, he presented a portrait of himself, by west, to thurlow. i am exceedingly anxious to know if there is any foundation for this, as during the last week i saw in a shop near the chapel here, a portrait of the philosopher which i rather suspect to be the one alluded to. h. g. d. knightsbridge. "_enquiry into the state of the union._"--a book of much importance has fallen into my hands, entitled-- "an enquiry into the state of the union of great britain. the past and present state of the public revenues. by the _wednesday's_ club in _friday street_. london: printed for a. and w. bell, at the cross keys, cornhill; j. watts, in bow street, covent garden: and sold by b. barker and c. king, in westminster hall; w. mears and j. brown, without temple bar; and w. taylor, in paternoster row. ." can any of your correspondents throw a light upon this _wednesday's_ club, in friday street? was it a real club or fictitious? by so doing you would greatly oblige me, and afford important information to this office. james a. davies. national debt office. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _bishop of oxford in ._--among the names of the bishops who signed the constitutions of clarendon i see "bartholomeus oxoniensis episcopus." how is this signature accounted for? there are no other signatures of suffragan or inferior bishops attached. w. fraser. tor-mohun. [clearly a misprint for bartholomeus _exoniensis_ episcopus, the celebrated bartholomew iscanus, the opponent of thomas à becket. our correspondent should have given the title of the work where he found the signatures, as they are not appended to the "constitutions" in matthew paris, spelman, or wilkins.] _roman inscription found at battle bridge._--i shall be very much obliged if any one of your numerous readers or correspondents will be so kind as to furnish me with an authentic copy of the inscription on the roman stone which in july was found at battle bridge, st. pancras, and also state where the original stone is to be seen. the account of the discovery of the stone is mentioned in a paragraph which appeared in _the times_ newspaper of the th july, , in the following manner: "antiquities discovered.--a roman inscription has within these few days past been discovered at battle bridge, otherwise, by an absurd change of denomination, known as king's cross, new road, st. pancras. this discovery appears fully to justify the conjectures of stukeley and other antiquaries, that the great battle between the britons under boadicea and the romans under suetonius paulinus took place at this spot. faithful tradition, in the absence of all decisive evidence, still pointed to the place by the appellation of battle bridge. the inscription, which in parts is much obliterated, bears distinctly the letters 'leg. xx.' the writer of this notice has not yet had an opportunity personally to examine it, but speaks from the information of an antiquarian friend. the twentieth legion, it is well known, was one of the four which came into britain in the reign of claudius, and contributed to its subjugation: the vexillation of this legion was in the army of suetonius paulinus when he made that victorious stand in a fortified pass, with a forest in his rear, against the insurgent britons. the position is sketched by tacitus, and antiquaries well know that on the high ground above battle bridge there are vestiges of roman works, and that the tract of land to the north was formerly a forest. the veracity of the following passage of tacitus is therefore fully confirmed:--'deligitque locum artis faucibus, et a tergo sylva clausum; satis cognito, nihil hostium, nisi in fronte, et apertam planitiem esse, sine metu insidiarum.' he further tells us that the force of suetonius was composed of 'quartadecima legio cum _vexillariis vicessimariis_ et e proximis auxiliares.'" s. r. [a sketch of this fragment of stone, discovered by mr. e. b. price, is given in the _gentleman's magazine_ for august, , p. .] _blow-shoppes._-- "wild bores, bulls, and falcons bredde there in times paste; now, for lakke of woodde, blow-shoppes decay there."--leland's _itin._, hearne's edit., vol. vii. p. . what is the meaning of _blow-shoppe_? j. b. [leland appears to refer to blacksmiths' forges, which decayed for lack of wood.] _bishop hesketh_ (vol. vii., p .).--there is evidently an error in your note respecting the death of bishop hesketh, but it is one common to all the lists of manx bishops to which i have access. you state that he died in : it is certain that he was living in . he was a son of robert hesketh, of rufford, co. lanc., and his brother richard hesketh, "learned in the lawe," and who is stated by kimber to have been attorney-general to king hen. viii., { } by his will, dated th august, , appointed his "trusty brethren hugh, bishopp of manne, and thomas hesketh, esquier," executors, and proceeded: "i wyll that the said bishopp shall haue a goblett of syluer w't a couir, and my said brothir thomas to haue a pouncid bool of syluer, a counterpoynt, and a cordyn gemnete bedde w't the hangings, a paire of fustyan blanketts, and a paire of shetys, and a fether bedde that lyeth uppon the same bedde, for their labours." so that the vacancy, if there really was any, between his death and the consecration of bishop stanley, is much less than is generally supposed. h. a. [our authority for the date of bishop hesketh's death was bishop hildesley's ms. list of the manx bishops, which he presented to the british museum, and which appears to have been carefully compiled. his words are, "huan hesketh died , and was buried in his cathedral of st. germans in peel." it is clear, however, there is an error somewhere, which did not escape the notice of william cole, the cambridge antiquary; for in his ms. collections, vol. xxvi. p. ., he has the following entry:--"huan hesketh was living henry viii., , at which time thomas earl of derby appointed, among others, sir hugh hesketh, bishop of man, to be one of his executors. (see collins's _peerage_, vol. ii. p. .) wolsey was appointed supervisor of the will, and is in it called lord chancellor: he was so made , which proves that he was alive after . the will of richard hesketh, esq.--to be buried in his chapel at rufford: executors, hugh hesketh, bishop of man, his brother; and thomas hesketh, esq.--was proved nov. , . (in _reg. manwaring_, .) he continued bishop, i presume, forty-three years, from to . it is plain he was so thirty-four years."] _form of prayer for prisoners._-- "it is not, perhaps, generally known, that we have a form of prayer for prisoners, which is printed in the irish common prayer-book, though not in ours. mrs. berkeley, in whose preface of prefaces to her son's poems i first saw this mentioned, regrets the omission; observing, that the very fine prayer for those under sentence of death, might, being read by the children of the poor, at least keep them from the gallows. the remark is just."--southey's _omniana_, vol. i. p. . what irish common prayer-book is here meant? i have the books issued by the late ecclesiastical history society, but do not see the service among them. could the prayer referred to be transferred to "n. & q.;" or where is the said irish prayer-book to be found? thomas lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. [the book of common prayer according to the use of the church of ireland, we believe, may frequently be met with. an edition in folio, , is in the british museum, containing "the form of prayer for the visitation of prisoners, treated upon by the archbishops and bishops, and the rest of the clergy of ireland, and agreed upon by her majesty's license in their synod, holden at dublin in the year ." we are inclined to think that mrs. berkeley must have intended its beautiful exhortation--not the prayer--for the use of the poor. see "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .] * * * * * replies. edmund spenser, and spensers, or spencers, of hurstwood. (vol. vii., pp. . .) without entering on the question as to possible connexion of the poet with the family above mentioned, the discussion may be simplified by solving a difficulty suggested by cliviger (p. .), arising from hurstwood hall (_another estate in hurstwood_) having been possessed by townley, and by explaining, st, the identity of the tenement once owned by spencers; ndly, the seeming cause of whitaker's silence; and, rdly, the certainty of possession by the spencers. i. the former estate of the spencers in hurstwood is a tenement which was purchased by the late rev. john hargreaves from the representatives of william ormerod, of foxstones, in cliviger, in , and which had been conveyed in , by john spencer, then of marsden, to oliver ormerod of hurstwood, and his son laurence; the former of these being youngest son, by a second marriage, of peter ormerod of ormerod, and co-executor of his will in . so much for the locality. ii. as for dr. whitaker's silence, i know, from correspondence with him ( - ), that, from an irregularity in the prerogative office, he was not aware of this will, and uninformed as to this second marriage, or the connexion of this purchaser's family with the parent house; and i think it as probable that he was as unaware of the ancient possession of the purchased tenement by spencers, as it is certain that this theory as to the connexion of the poet with it was _then_ unknown. if otherwise, he would doubtless have extended his scale, and included it. iii. as to the certainty of possession by spencers, i have brief extracts from deeds as to this tenement as follows:-- . indenture of covenants for a fine, between _john spencer the elder_, and oliver ormerod of cliviger, and note of fine. . will of same _john spencer_, late of hurstwood, mentioning possession of this tenement as the inheritance of his _great-grandfather_, _edmund spencer_. . family arrangements of _john spencer_ (the son) as to same tenement, then in occupation of "oliver ormeroyde" before mentioned. { } . conveyance from _john spencer_ to o. and l. o., as before mentioned. in _gentleman's magazine_, august, (pp. , .), will be found numerous notices of these spen_c_ers or spen_s_ers, with identified localities from registers. i think that this explanation will solve the difficulty suggested by cliviger. on the main question i have not grounds sufficient for an opinion, but add a reference to _gentleman's magazine_, march, , p. ., for a _general objection_ by mr. crossley, president of the chetham society, who is well acquainted with the locality. lancastriensis. i was about to address some photographic queries to the correspondents of "n. & q." when a note caught my attention relating to edmund spenser (in the number dated march .). the mr. f. f. spenser mentioned therein was related to me, being my late father's half-brother. i regret to say that he died very suddenly at manchester, nov. , . during his lifetime, he took much pains to clear up the doubts about the locality of the poet's retirement, and his relatives in the north; and has made out a very clear case, i imagine. on a visit to yorkshire in , i spent a few days with him, and took occasion to urge the necessity of arranging the mass of information he had accumulated on the subject; which i have no doubt he would have done, had not his sudden death occurred to prevent it. these facts may be of some interest to biographers of the poet, and with this object i have ventured to trouble you with this communication. j. b. spencer. . montpellier road, blackheath. * * * * * throwing old shoes for luck. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .) i do not know whether you will permit me to occupy a small portion of your valuable space in an attempt to suggest an origin of the custom of throwing an old shoe after a newly married bride. your correspondents assume that the old shoe was thrown after the bride _for luck_, and for luck only. i doubt whether it was so in its origin. among barbarous nations, all transfers of property, all assertions and relinquishments of rights of dominion, were marked by some external ceremony or rite; by which, in the absence of written documents, the memory of the vulgar might be impressed. when, among scandinavian nations, land was bought or sold, a turf was delivered by the trader to the purchaser: and among the jews, and probably among other oriental nations, a shoe answered the same purpose. in psalm lx., beginning with "o god, thou hast cast me off," there occurs the phrase, "moab is my washpot, over edom have i cast out my shoe." immediately after it occurs the exclamation, "o god! who has cast us off!" a similar passage occurs in psalm cix. by this passage i understand the psalmist to mean, that god would thoroughly cast off edom, and cease to aid him in war or peace. this interpretation is consistent with the whole tenor of the psalm. the receiving of a shoe was an evidence and symbol of asserting or accepting dominion or ownership; the giving back a shoe, the symbol of rejecting or resigning it. among the jews, the brother of a childless man was bound to marry his widow: or, at least, he "had the refusal of her," and the lady could not marry again till her husband's brother had formally rejected her. the ceremony by which this rejection was performed took place in open court, and is mentioned in deut. xxv. if the brother publicly refused her, "she loosed his shoe from off his foot, and spat in his face;" or, as great hebraists translate it, "spat before his face." _his_ giving up the shoe was a symbol that _he_ abandoned all dominion over her; and _her_ spitting before _him_ was a defiance, and an assertion of independence. this construction is in accordance with the opinions of michaelis, as stated in his _laws of moses_, vol. ii. p. . this practice is still further illustrated by the story of ruth. her nearest kinsman refused to marry her, and to redeem her inheritance: he was publicly called on so to do by boaz, and as publicly refused. and the bible adds, "as it was the custom in israel concerning changing, that a man plucked off his shoe and delivered it to his neighbour," the kinsman plucked off his shoe and delivered it to boaz as a public renunciation of ruth, of all dominion over her, and of his right of pre-marriage. these ceremonies were evidently not unknown to the early christians. when the emperor wladimir made proposals of marriage to the daughter of raguald, she refused him, saying, "that she would not take off her shoe to the son of a slave." there is a passage in _gregory of tours_ (c. .) where, speaking of espousals, he says, "the bridegroom having given a ring to the fiancée, presents her with a shoe." from michelet's _life of luther_ we learn, that the great reformer was at the wedding of jean luffte. after supper, he conducted the bride to bed, and told the bridegroom that, according to common custom, he ought to be master in his own house _when_ his wife was not there: and for a symbol, he took off the husband's shoe, and put it upon the head of the bed--"afin qu'il prit ainsi la domination et gouvernement." { } i would suggest for the consideration of your correspondents that the throwing a shoe after a bride was a symbol of renunciation of dominion and authority over her by her father or guardian; and the receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom, even if accidental, was an omen that that authority was transferred to him. john thrupp. surbiton. * * * * * orkneys in pawn. (vol. vii., pp. . .) that the orkney and zetland islands were transferred by denmark to scotland in , in pledge for payment of part of the dower of the princess of denmark, who was married to james iii., king of scotland, under right of redemption by denmark, is an admitted historic fact; but it is asserted by the scottish, and denied by the danish historians, that denmark renounced her right of redemption of these islands. the question is fully discussed, with references to every work and passage treating of the matter, in the first introductory note to the edition of _the general grievances and oppressions of the isles of orkney and shetland_, published at edinburgh, . and the writer of the note is led to the conclusion that there was no renunciation, and that denmark still retains her right of redemption. mr. samuel laing, in his _journal of a residence in norway_, remarks, that the object of torfæus' historical work, _orcades, seu rerum orcadensium historiæ libri tres_, compiled by the express command of christian v., king of denmark, was to vindicate the right of the danish monarch to redeem the mortgage of the sovereignty of these islands; and he adds, that in , bonaparte, in a proclamation addressed to the army assembled at boulogne for the invasion of england, descanted on the claim of denmark to this portion of the british dominions. in a note he has the farther statement, that in an assessment for paying off the sum for which orkney and zetland were pledged was levied in norway by christian iii. (_vide_ laing's _norway_, , pp. , .) from the preceding notice, it would appear, that denmark never renounced her right of redemption, now merely a matter of antiquarian curiosity. and it is pertinent to mention, that the connexion of orkney and zetland was with norway, not denmark. i observe in the catalogue of mss., in the cottonian library in the british museum (titus c. vii. art. . f. .), "notes on king of denmark's demand of the orcades, - ," which may throw some light on the matter. in the historical sketch given by broctuna, kenneth ii., king of scotland, is said to have taken the orkneys from the picts a.d. ; and that they remained attached to that kingdom till , when donald bain, in recompense of aid given to him by magnus, king of norway, gifted all the scotch isles, including the orkneys, to norway. this is not what is understood to be the history of orkney. in the middle of the ninth century, harold harfager, one of the reguli of norway, subdued the other petty rulers, and made himself king of the whole country. the defeated party fled to orkney, and other islands of the west: whence, betaking themselves to piracy, they returned to ravage the coast of norway. harold pursued them to their places of refuge, and conquered and colonised orkney about a.d. . the norwegians at that time destroyed or expelled the race then inhabiting these islands. they are supposed to have been picts, and to have received christianity at an earlier date, but it is doubtful if there were christians in orkney at that period: however, depping says expressly, that earl segurd, the second norwegian earl, expelled the christians from these isles. i may remark, that the names of places in orkney and zetland are norse, and bear descriptive and applicable meanings in that tongue; but hesitate to extend these names beyond the norwegian colonisation, and to connect them with the picts or other earlier inhabitants. no argument can be founded on the rude and miserable subterraneous buildings called picts' houses, which, if they ever were habitations, or anything else than places of refuge, must have belonged to a people in a very low grade of civilisation. be this as it may, orkney and zetland remained under the norwegian dominion from the time of harold harfager till they were transferred to scotland by the marriage treaty in , a period of about six hundred years. what cannot easily be accounted for, is the discovery of two orkney and zetland deeds of the beginning of the fifteenth century prior to the transfer, written not in norse, but in the scottish language. r. w. * * * * * hogarth's pictures. (vol. vii., p. .) the numerous and interesting inquiries of an amateur respecting a catalogue of hogarth's works has brought to my recollection the discovery of one of them, which i was so fortunate as to see in its original situation. about the year i was invited by a friend, who was an artist, to visit a small public-house in leadenhall street, to see a picture by hogarth: it was "the elephant," since, i believe, pulled down, being in a ruinous condition. in the tap-room, on the wall, almost obscured by the dirt and smoke, and grimed by the rubbing of numberless foul jackets, was an indisputable picture by the renowned hogarth. it represented the meeting of the committee of the { } south sea company, and doubtless the figures were all portraits. it was painted in his roughest manner; but every head was stamped with that character for which he stood unrivalled. i have since heard that, when the house was pulled down, this picture was sold as one of the lots, in the sale of furniture, and bought by a dealer. it was painted on the wall, like a fresco; and how to remove it was the difficulty. on sounding the wall it was found to be lath and plaster, with timber framework (the usual style of building in the reign of elizabeth). it was therefore determined to cut it out in substance, which was accordingly performed; and by the help of chisels, thin crowbars, and other instruments, it was safely detached. the plaster was then removed from the back down to the priming, and the picture was backed with strong canvas. it was then cleaned from all its defilement, and, on being offered for sale at a good price, was bought by a nobleman, whose name i have not heard, and is now in his collection. i do not know whether your correspondent has heard of hogarth's portrait of fielding. the story, as i have heard or read it, is as follows:--hogarth and garrick sitting together after dinner, hogarth was lamenting there was no portrait of fielding, when garrick said, "i think i can make his face."--"pray, try my dear davy," said the other. garrick then made the attempt, and so well did he succeed, that hogarth immediately caught the likeness, and exclaimed with exultation, "now i have him: keep still, my dear davy." to work he went with pen and ink, and the likeness was finished by their mutual recollections. this sketch has been engraved from the original drawing, and is preserved among several original drawings and prints in the _illustrated_ copy of lysons's _environs_, vol. i. p. ., in the king's library, british museum. while i am writing about unnoticed pictures by what may be called _erratic_ artists, i may mention that in the parlour of the "king's head," corner of new road and hampstead road, on the panel of a cupboard, is a half-length of a farmer's boy, most probably the work of g. morland, who visited this house on his way to hampstead, and probably paid his score by painting this picture; which is well known to have been his usual way of paying such debts. e. g. ballard. agreeably to the suggestion of an amateur, i beg to send you the following list of pictures, from a catalogue in my possession: catalogue of the pictures and prints, the property of the late mrs. hogarth, deceased, sold by mr. greenwood, the golden head, leicester square, saturday, april , . _pictures by mr. hogarth._ . two portraits of ann and mary hogarth. . a daughter of mr. rich the comedian, finely coloured. . the original portrait of sir james thornhill. . the heads of six servants of mr. hogarth's family. . his own portrait--a head. . a ditto--a whole-length painting. . a ditto, kit kat, with the favourite dog, exceeding fine. . two portraits of lady thornhill and mrs. hogarth. . the first sketch of the rake's progress. . a ditto of the altar of bristol church. . the shrimp girl--a sketch. . sigismunda. . a historical sketch, by sir james thornhill. . two sketches of lady pembroke and mr. john thornhill. . three old pictures. . the bust of sir isaac newton, terra cotta. . ditto of mr. hogarth, by roubilliac. . ditto of the favourite dog, and cast of mr. hogarth's hand. w. d. haggard. * * * * * phantom bells and lost churches. (vol. vii., pp. . . .) in a little brochure entitled _christmas, its history and antiquity_, published by slater, london, , the writer says that-- "in berkshire it is confidently asserted, that if any one watches on christmas eve he will hear _subterranean bells_; and in the mining districts the workmen declare that at this sacred season high mass is performed with the greatest solemnity on that evening in the mine which contains the most valuable lobe of ore, which is supernaturally lighted up with candles in the most brilliant manner, and the service changed by unseen choristers."--p. . the poet uhland has a beautiful poem entitled _die verlorne kirche_. lord lindsay says: "i subjoin, in illustration of the symbolism, and the peculiar emotions born of gothic architecture, _the lost church_ of the poet uhland, founded, i apprehend, on an ancient tradition of the sinaitic peninsula."--_sketches of christian art._ i give the first stanza of his translation: "oft in the forest far one hears a passing sound of distant bells; nor legends old, nor human wit, can tell us whence the music swells. from the _lost church_ 'tis thought that soft faint ringing cometh on the wind: once many pilgrims trod the path, but no one now the way can find." see also _das versunkene kloster_, by the same sweet poet, commencing: "ein kloster ist versunken tief in den wilden see." after port royal (in the west indies) was submerged, at the close of the seventeenth century, sailors in those parts for many years had { } stories of anchoring in the chimneys and steeples, and would declare they heard the church bells ringing beneath the water, agitated by the waves or spirits of the deep. the case of the round towers seen in lough neagh, i need not bring forward, as no sound of bells has ever been heard from them. there is one _lost church_ so famous as to occur to the mind of every reader, i mean that of the ten tribes of israel. after the lapse of thousands of years, we have here an historical problem, which time, perhaps, will never solve. we have a less famous, but still most interesting, instance of a lost church in greenland. soon after the introduction of christianity, about the year , a number of churches and a monastery were erected along the east coast of greenland, and a bishop was ordained for the spiritual guidance of the colony. for some four hundred years an intercourse was maintained between this colony and norway and denmark. in the year the last bishop was sent over to greenland. since then the colony _has not been heard of_. many have been the attempts to recover this lost church of east greenland, but hitherto in vain. i could send you a note on a cognate subject, but i fear it would occupy too much of your space,--that of _happy isles_, or _islands of the blessed_. the tradition respecting these happy isles is very wide-spread, and obtains amongst nearly every nation of the globe; it is, perhaps, a relic of a primeval tradition of eden. some have caught glimpses of these isles, and some more favoured mortals have even landed, and returned again with senses dazzled at the ravishing sights they have seen. but in every case after these rare favours, these mystic lands have remained invisible as before, and the way to them has been sought for in vain. such are the tales told with reverent earnestness, and listened to with breathless interest, not only by the egyptians, greeks, and romans of old, but by the irishman, the welshman, the hindoo, and the red indian of to-day. eirionnach. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _photographic collodion_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in a former communication i pointed out the wide differences in the various manipulations prescribed for making the photographic _gun cotton_ by several photographers: differences most perplexing to persons of small leisure, and who are likely to lose half the opportunities of a photographic season, whilst puzzling over these diversities of proceeding. suffer me now to entreat some one to whom all may look up (perhaps your kind and experienced correspondent dr. diamond will do this service, so valuable to young photographers) to clear up the differences i will now "make a note of," viz. as to the amount of dry photographic gun cotton to be used in forming the prepared collodion. on comparing various authors, and _reducing_ their directions to a standard of _one ounce of ether_, i find the following differences: viz., dr. diamond (vol. vi., p. .) prescribes _about_ three grains of gun cotton; mr. hennah (_directions, &c._, p. .) about seven grains; the count de montizon (_journ. of phot. soc._, p. .) eight grains; whilst mr. bingham (_supplement to phot. manip._, p. .) directs about _thirty-four_ grains! in each case to a single ounce of ether. these differences are too wide to come within even mr. archer's "long range," that "the proportions ... must depend entirely upon the strength and the thickness required ... the skill of the operator and the season of the year." (archer's _manual_, p. .) cokely. _filtering collodion._--count de montizon, in his valuable paper on the collodion process, published in the second number of the _journal of the photographic society_, objects to filtration on the ground that the silver solution is often injured by impurities contained in the paper. it may be worth while to state, that lime, and other impurities, may be removed by soaking the filter for a day or two, before it is used, in water acidulated with nitric acid; after which it should be washed with hot water and dried. t. d. eaton. _photographic notes_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i wish to correct an error in my communication in "n. & q." of april : in speaking of "a more _even_ film," i meant a film more _evenly sensitive_. i am sorry i have misled mr. shadbolt as to my meaning. i have very rarely any "spottings" in my pictures; but i always drop the plates once or twice into the bath, after the two minutes' immersion, to wash off any loose particles. i also drain off all i can of the nitrate of silver solution before placing the glass in the camera, and for three reasons:-- . because it saves material; . because the lower part of dark frame is kept free from liquid; . because a "flowing sheet" of liquid must interfere somewhat with the passage of light to the film, and consequently with the sharpness of the picture. i think it is clear, from mr. shadbolt's directions to mr. meritt, that it is no very easy thing to cement a glass bath with marine glue. j. l. sisson. _colouring collodion pictures_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in your impression of april , there is a typographical error of some importance relative to lifting the collodion in and out of the bath: "the plate, after being plunged in, should be allowed to repose quietly from twenty to thirty _minutes_," &c. this should be _seconds_. the error arose, in all { } probability, from my having used the contractions " to ". it may appear somewhat droll for any one to answer a question on which he has _not_ had experience; but i beg to offer as a _suggestion_ to photo, that if he wishes to use collodion pictures for the purpose of dissolving views, he should first copy them in the camera as transparent objects so as to _reverse_ the light and shade, then varnish them with dr. diamond's solution of amber in chloroform, when they will bear the application of transparent colours ground in varnish, such as are used for painting magic-lantern slides. geo. shadbolt. _gutta percha baths_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in "n. & q." for march , i ventured to recommend to h. henderson gutta percha, as a material for nitrate of silver baths. i did this from a knowledge that hundreds of them were in use, but chiefly because i have found them answer so well. in the same number the editor gives mr. henderson very opposite advice; and, had i seen his opinion before my notes appeared, i should certainly have kept them back. but it is, i think, a matter of some importance, especially to beginners, to have it settled, whether gutta percha has the effect of causing "unpleasant markings" in collodion pictures or not. with all due deference to the editor's opinion, i do not believe that gutta percha baths are injurious to the finished picture. i have never any markings in my glass positives now, but what may be traced with certainty to some unevenness in the film or dirtiness on the glass. and i hope that the number of beginners who are using gutta percha baths, and who are troubled with these unpleasant markings (as all beginners are, whether they use glass or gutta percha), will not, without some very careful experiments, lay the fault upon the gutta percha. in the number for april , the editor thanks me for what he is pleased to call "the very beautiful specimen of _my skill_." this was a small glass positive, which i sent him in accordance with an offer of mine in a former note. now, _that_ was rendered sensitive in a gutta percha bath, which i have had in use for months; and i think i may appeal to the editor as to the absence of all unpleasant markings in it. probably it may be a good plan for those who make the baths for themselves to adopt the following simple method of cleaning them at first. fill the bath with water, changing it every day for a week or so. then wash it with strong nitric acid, and wash once or twice afterwards. always keep the nitrate of silver solution in the bath, with a cover over it. never filter, unless there is a great deal of extraneous matter at the bottom. if glass baths are used, cemented together with sealing-wax, &c., i imagine they might be as objectionable as gutta percha. the number of inquiries for a diagram of my head-rest, &c., from all parts of the kingdom--glasgow, paisley, manchester, leicester, leeds, newcastle, durham, &c. &c.--proves the very large number of photographic subscribers "n. & q." possesses. i think, therefore, it cannot but prove useful to discuss in its pages the question of the advantage or disadvantage of gutta percha. j. l. sisson. edingthorpe rectory, north walsham. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _pilgrimages to the holy land_ (vol. v., p. .).--i beg to inform w. m. r. e. (vol. vii., p. .) that, though i have never met with a printed copy of the "itinerary to the holy land" of _gabriele capodilista_ (the perugia edition of , mentioned by brunet, being undoubtedly a book of very great rarity, and perhaps the only one ever printed), i have in my possession a very beautiful manuscript of the work on vellum, which appears to have been presented by the author to the nuns of st. bernardino of padua. it is a small folio; and the first page is illuminated in a good italian style of the fifteenth century. it is very well written in the venetian dialect, and commences thus: "venerabilibus ac devotissimis d[=n]e abbatissæ et monialibus ecclesiæ sancti bernardini de padua salut[=e] in d[=no].--ritrovandomi ne li tempi in questa mia opereta descripti, io gabriel capodelista cavalier padoano dal su[=m]o idio inspirato et dentro al mio cor concesso fermo proposito di vistare personalmente el sanctissimo loco di jerusalem," &c. this ms., which was formerly in the library of the abbati canonici, i purchased, with others, at venice in . if w. m. r. e. has any wish to see it, and will communicate such wish to me through the medium of the publisher of "n. & q.," i shall be happy to gratify his curiosity. i do not know whether there is any ms. of capodilista's itinerary in the british museum. w. sneyd. "_a letter to a convocation man_" (vol vii., p. .).--the authorship of the tract concerning which mr. fraser inquires, is assigned to sir bartholomew shower, not by the bodleian catalogue only, but also by sir walter scott, in his edition of the somers' _tracts_ (vol. ix. p. .), as well as by dr. watt, in his _bibliotheca britannica_. the only authorities for ascribing it to dr. binckes which i have been able to discover, are dr. edmund calamy, in his _life and times_ (vol. i. p. .), and the rev. thomas lathbury, in his _history of the convocation of the church of england_ (p. .); but neither of those authors gives the source from which his information is { } derived: and mr. lathbury, who appears perfectly unaware that the tract had ever been ascribed to sir bartholomew shower, a lawyer, remarks: "it is worthy of observation that the author of the _letter_ professes to be a lawyer, though such was not the case, dr. binckes being a clergyman." dr. kennett also, in his _ecclesiastical synods_, p. ., referred to by mr. lathbury, speaking of archbishop wake's reply, says: "i remember one little prejudice to it, that it was wrote by a divine, whereas the argument required an able lawyer; and the very writer of the _letter to a convocation man_ suggesting himself to be of that profession, there was the greater equity, there should be the like council of one side as there had been of the other."--it has occurred to me that the mistake of assigning the tract to dr. binckes may possibly have been occasioned by the circumstance that another tract, with the following title, published in , has the initials w. b. at the end of it,--_a letter to a convocation man, by a clergyman in the country_. i have examined both tracts, and they are quite different, and leave no appearance of having proceeded from the same hand. tyro. dublin. _king robert bruce's coffin-plate_ (vol vii., p. .) was a modern forgery, but not discovered to be so, of course, until after publication of the beautiful engraving of it in the _transactions of the scottish society of antiquaries_, which was made at the expense of, and presented to the society by, the barons of the exchequer. i believe that a notice of the forgery was published in a subsequent volume. w. c. trevelyan. _eulenspiegel or howleglas_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following extract from my note-book may be of use: "the german rogue, or the life and merry adventures, cheats, stratagems, and contrivances of tiel eulenspiegle. 'let none eulenspiegle's artifices blame, for rogues of every country are the same.' london, printed in the year mdccix. the only copy of this edition i ever saw was one which had formerly belonged to ritson, and which i purchased of thomas rodd, but afterwards relinquished to my old friend mr. douce." this copy, therefore, is no doubt now in the bodleian. i have never heard of any other. while on the subject of eulenspiegel, i would call your correspondent's attention to some curious remarks on the protestant and romanist versions of it in the _quarterly review_, vol. xxi. p. . i may also take this opportunity of informing him that a very cleverly illustrated edition of it was published by scheible of stuttgart in , and that a passage in the _hettlingischen sassenchronik_ (caspar abel's sammlung, p. .), written in , goes to prove that dyll ulnspiegel, as the wag is styled in the augsburgh edition of , is no imaginary personage, inasmuch as under the date of the chronicler tells of a very grievous pestilence which raged through the whole world, and that "dosulfest sterff ulenspeygel to möllen." i am unable to answer the query respecting murner's visit to england. the most complete account of his life and writings is, i believe, that prefixed by scheible to his edition of murner's _narrenbeschwörung_, and his satirical dissertation _ob der könig von england ein lügner sey, oder der luther_. william j. thoms. _sir edwin sadleir_ (vol. vii., p. .).--sir edwin sadleir, of temple dinsley, in the county of hertford, bart., was the third son of sir edwin sadleir (created a baronet by charles ii.), by elizabeth, daughter of sir walter walker, knt., ll.d. his elder brothers having died in infancy, he succeeded, on his father's death in , to his honour and estates, and subsequently married mary, daughter and coheiress of john lorymer, citizen and apothecary of london, and widow of william croone, m.d. this lady founded the algebra lectures at cambridge, and also lectures in the college of physicians and the royal society. (see chauncy's _historical antiquities of hertfordshire_, folio edit., , or vo. edit., ii. , .; ward's _lives of the gresham professors_, . .; sir ralph sadler's _state papers_, ii. .; weld's _history of the royal society_, i. .) in the sadler state papers, sir edwin sadleir is stated to have died th september, : but that was the date of lady sadleir's death; and, according to ward, sir edwin sadleir survived her. he died without issue, and thereupon the baronetcy became extinct. c. h. cooper. cambridge. _belfry towers separate from the body of the church_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the tower of the parish church of llangyfelach, in glamorganshire, is raised at some little distance from the building. in the legends of the place, this is accounted for by a belief that the devil, in his desire to prevent the erection of the church, carried off a portion of it as often as it was commenced; and that he was at length only defeated by the two parts being built separate. seleucus. in addition to the bell towers unconnected with the church, noticed in "n. & q." (vol. vii., p. .), i beg to call the attention of j. s. a. to those of woburn in bedfordshire, and henllan in denbighshire. the tower of the former church stands at six yards distance from it, and is a small square building with large buttresses and four pinnacles: it { } looks picturesque, from being entirely covered with ivy. the tower, or rather the steeple, at henllan, near denbigh, is still more remarkable, from its being built on the top of a hill, and looking down upon the church, which stands in the valley at its foot. cambrensis. _god's marks_ (vol. vii., p. .).--these are probably the "yellow spots" frequently spoken of in old writings, as appearing on the finger-nails, the hands, and elsewhere, before death. (see brand's _popular ant._, vol. iii. p. ., bohn's edit.) in denmark they were known under the name _döding-knib_ (dead man's nips, ghost-pinches), and tokened the approaching end of some friend or kinsman. another danish name was _dödninge-pletter_ (dead man's spots); and in holberg's _peder paars_ (book i. song, .) _dödning-knæp_. see s. aspach, _dissertatio de variis superstitionibus_, to., hafniæ, , p. ., who says they are of scorbutic origin; and f. oldenburg, _om gjenfærd ellen gjengangere_, vo., kjöbenhavn, , p. . george stephens. copenhagen. "_the whippiad_" (vol. vii., p. .).--the mention of _the whippiad_ by b. n. c. brought to my recollection a ms. copy of that satire in this library, and now lying before me, with the autograph of "snelson, trin. coll. oxon., ." there are notes appended to this copy of the verses, and not knowing where to look in _blackwood's magazine_ for the satire, or having a copy at hand in order to ascertain if the notes are printed there also, or whether they are only to be found in the ms., perhaps your correspondent b. n. c. will have the goodness to state if the printed copy has notes, because, if there are none, i would copy out for the "n. & q." those that are written in the ms., as no doubt they would be found interesting and curious by all who value whatever fell from the pen of the highly-gifted reginald heber. perhaps the notes may be the elucidations of some college cotemporary, and not written by heber. j. m. sir r. taylor's library, oxford. _the axe that beheaded anne boleyn_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in britton and brayley's _memoirs of the tower of london_, they mention (in describing the spanish armoury) the axe which tradition says beheaded anne boleyn and the earl of essex; but a foot-note is added from stow's _chronicle_, stating that the _hangman_ cut off the head of anne with one stroke of his _sword_. thos. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _palindromical lines_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--besides the _habitats_ already given for the greek inscription on a font, i have notes of the like at melton mowbray; st. mary's, nottingham; in the private chapel at longley castle; and at hadleigh. at this last place, it is noted in a church book to be taken out of gregory nazienzen (but i never could find it), and a reference is made to jeremy taylor's _great exemplar_, "discourse on baptism," p. . sect. . it may be worth noticing that this gregory was, for a short time, in the fourth century, bishop of constantinople; and in the moslemised cathedral of st. sophia, in that city, according to grelot, quoted in collier's _dictionary_, the same words--with the difference that "sin" is put in the plural, _sic_: "~nipson anomÊmata mÊ monan opsin~"-- were written in letters of gold over the place at the entrance of the church, between two porphyry pillars, where stood two urns of marble filled with water, the use of which, when it was a christian temple, must be well known. the turks now use them for holding drinking water, and have probably done so since the time when the church was turned into a mosque, after the conquest of constantinople by mahomet ii., in the fifteenth century. what could induce zeus (p. .) to call this inscription "sotadic?" it may more fitly be called holy. h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. these lines also are to be found on the marble basins for containing holy water, in one of the churches at paris. w. c. trevelyan. the greek inscription mentioned by jeremy taylor is on the font in rufford church. h. a. _heuristisch_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to h. b. c. of the u. u. club, i beg to give the explanation of the word _heuristisch_, with its cognate terms, from heyse's _allgemeines fremdwörterbuch_, th edition, hanover, : "heuréka, gr. (von heuriskein, finden), ich hab' es gefunden, gefunden! heuristik, _f._ die erfindungskunst; _heuristisch_, erfindungskünstlich, erfinderisch; heuristische methode, entwickelnde lehrart, welche den schüler zum selbstfinden der lehrsätze anleitet." j. m. oxford. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. views of arundel house in the strand, . london, published by t. thane, rupert street, haymarket. . parker's glossary of architecture. nd edition. pickering's statutes at large. vo. edit. camb. from geo iii. cap. . (vol. xlvi. part i.) to wm. iv. european magazine. nos. for may, ; january, february, may, june, ; april, june, july, october, and december, . stanhope's paraphrase of epistles and gospels. london, . vols. iii. and iv. the lawyer and magistrate's magazine, complete or single volumes, _circa_ - .{ } phelp's history and antiquities of somersetshire. part ., and parts . to end. bayle's dictionary. english version, by de maizeaux. london, . vols. i. and ii. swift's (dean) works. dublin; g. faulkner. volumes. . vol. i. todd's cyclopÆdia of anatomy and physiology. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vols. i. and ii. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., viii. boards. martyn's plantÆ cantabrigienses. mo. london, . abbotsford edition of the waverley novels. odd vols. the truth teller. a periodical. j. l. petit's church architecture. vols. r. mant's church architecture considered in relation to the mind of the church. vo. belfast, . cambridge camden society's transactions. vol. iii.--ellicott on vaulting. quarterly review, . collier's further vindication of his short view of the stage. . congreve's amendment of collier's false and imperfect citations. . bedford's serious reflections on the abuses of the stage. vo. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _e. p._ schiller's _wallenstein_ and _ghost-seer_, goethe's _faust_, and kant's _philosophy_, have been translated into english. _recnac._ we cannot undertake to tell our correspondent what is the distinction between epic and ballad poetry. _y. s. m._, who writes respecting _fees for searching parish registers_, is referred to our _ th vol._, _p. ._, _and our th vol._, _pp. . ._ _s. a. s. (bridgewater)._ will our correspondent repeat his query respecting _loselerius vilerius_? _quesor._ lord bacon's _history of henry vii._ was first published in . _w. b._ the mercury does not lose its power by use, but should when it becomes oxydized, be strained by squeezing it through wash-leather. _protosulph._ the gilding would have been wasted. our observations respecting blowing on the glass apply equally when the protosulphate is used. that developing solution will keep. stains may be removed from the finger by cyanide of potassium; but this must be used cautiously, as it is very poisonous. a few complete sets of "_notes and queries_," _vols. i._ to _vi._, price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable. "_notes and queries_" is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday. * * * * * maitland on the dark ages--new edition. in vo., price s. d., the third edition of the dark ages; a series of essays intended to illustrate the state of religion and literature in the th, th, th, and th centuries. by the rev. s. r. maitland, f.r.s. and f.s.a., some time librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, and keeper of the mss. at lambeth. rivingtons. st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same author, . essays on the reformation in england. s. . eight essays on various subjects ( ). s. d. . eruvin; essays on subjects connected with the nature, history, and destiny of man. second edition. s. * * * * * putz's ancient geography and history, by arnold and paul. now ready, in mo., price s. d., the second edition of handbook of ancient geography and history. with questions. translated from the german of putz, by the rev. r. b. paul, m.a., and edited by the late rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a. also, by the same editors, . handbook of mediÆval history and geography. s. d. . handbook of modern history and geography. s. d. "the leading characteristic of these handbooks is their exceeding simplicity, the excellent order with which they are arranged, the completeness of their details, and the remarkable accuracy and elaborate erudition which they exhibit in every page. they have this further advantage, which it is impossible to over-estimate--that they bring down their respective subjects to the very latest period, and present us with the results of the most recent investigations of the critics and antiquaries by whom they have been discussed."--_dublin review._ rivingtons. st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * euripidis bacchÆ with english notes. now ready, in mo., price s. euripidis bacchÆ, with english notes, from the german of schÖne. by the rev. henry browne, m.a., canon of waltham in the cathedral church, and chaplain to the lord bishop of chichester. (forming a new volume of arnold's school classics.) recently published in this series, edited by the late rev. t. k. arnold, m.a. . euripidis hippolytus. with english notes. s. . ---- hecuba. with english notes. s. . sophoclis oedipus coloneus. s. . ---- oedipus tyrannus. s. . ---- philoctetes. s. . ---- ajax, s. . ---- antigone. s. *** the last five with english notes, translated from the german of schneidewin. . eclogÆ aristophanicÆ, the clouds. s. d. . eclogÆ aristophanicÆ, the birds. s. d. *** with english notes by professor felton. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * now ready, fourth edition, enlarged, with numerous illustrations and diagrams, price s. in wrappers, cloth gilt s. d. a practical manual of photography. with the latest improvements in the collodion process, and microscopic and stereoscopic pictures, &c. published by clark, . warwick lane, london: and sold by all booksellers. upon receipt of postage stamps a copy can be forwarded free. * * * * * on may nd will be published, part i. of mr. parker's new magazine, the national miscellany. a new monthly periodical of general literature. on the second of may it is designed to commence the publication of a new monthly periodical, to be entitled the national miscellany. as its name imports, it will be a magazine of general literature, giving itself free range over every subject likely to be of general interest. the national miscellany is an attempt to supply high-principled and high-toned literature of a secular kind, which may be safely taken up by thoughtful persons when their more serious reading is over, and which may also indirectly act for good on those who thrust all religious works aside. it will be issued in shilling monthly parts, and the type and paper will be of a superior kind. all communications and books for review must be addressed to the editor, under cover to mr. parker, . strand. london: john henry parker, . strand. * * * * * mr. kingsley's new work. this day, vols. post vo., s. hypatia; or new foes with and old face. by charles kingsley, jun., rector of eversley. reprinted from "fraser's magazine." london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d. the cambridge university calendar for the year . "deum timeto: regem honorato: virtutem colito disciplinis bonis operam dato."--_stat. acad. cantab._ cambridge: john deighton. sold in london by longman & co.; f. & j. rivington; whittaker & co.; simpkin & co.; john w. parker & son; george bell; and by deighton & laughton, liverpool. * * * * * new achromatic microscopes on mr. pritchard's construction, micrometers, polarizing apparatus, object-glasses, and eye-pieces. s. straker supplies any of the above of the first quality, and will forward by post free a new priced list of microscopes and apparatus. . fleet street, london. * * * * *{ } photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères, la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, and every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of le gray, hunt, brébisson, and other writers, may be obtained, wholesale and retail, of william bolton (formerly dymond & co.), manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists may be had on application. improved apparatus for iodizing paper in vacuo, according to mr. stewart's instructions. . holborn bars. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * established . * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from - / to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in the future among shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * amicable life assurance society, . fleet street, london. incorporated by charter of queen anne, a.d. . _directors._ g. baillie, esq. the hon. f. byng. r. h. coote, esq. j. e. davies, esq. g. de morgan, esq. w. everett, esq. g. ogle, esq. m. b. peacock, esq. c. phillips, esq. j. round, esq. the rt. hon. sir e. ryan. t. thompson. m.d., f.r.s. _physician._--francis boott, m.d., . gower street, bedford square. _solicitor._--charles rivington, esq., fenchurch buildings. _bankers._--messrs. goslings & sharpe, fleet street. this society has been established nearly a century and a half, and is the oldest life assurance institution in existence. its principles are essentially those of mutual assurance, and the whole of the profits are divided among the members. assurances are granted, if desired, without participation in profits, at reduced rates of premium, and upon every contingency depending on human life. the tables of mortality, deduced from the society's own experience, having satisfied the directors that the rates of premium on single lives might be reduced with perfect safety, a new table has accordingly been prepared, and the terms upon which assurances are now effected with this office are shown in the subjoined extract:-- -------------------------------------------- age. | with profits. | without profits. -------------------------------------------- | £ s. d. | £ s. d. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------- prospectuses and every information may be obtained at the office. henry thos. thomson, registrar. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. * * * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. luens, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whately, esq., q.c.: l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.: george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l. with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s. actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration; being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * *{ } the photographic institution, . new bond street, next the clarendon. * * * an exhibition of photographic pictures by the best english and continental artists will be opened at the photographic institution, . new bond street, on thursday, april . the collection will include a great variety of new and important pictures recently taken by eminent photographers, and some of the best specimens from the late exhibition at the society of arts.--admission d. * * * calotype portraits. (_by licence of the patentee._) mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has concluded an arrangement with the patentee, mr. h. f. talbot, which enables him to take portraits by the newly-discovered collodion process. the advantages which this process offers are,--excellence of likeness, great convenience, and the opportunity of multiplying copies of the same portrait to any extent. these portraits have the appearance of beautiful mezzotint engravings, with the superior accuracy which sun-painting must insure. one moment suffices to obtain the likeness, and no constrained position is required. hence a happy expression of face is instantly caught, and young children may be taken without difficulty. to those who wish for several copies of the same portrait, the calotype offers every facility, as an unlimited number of impressions may be printed, by the agency of the sun, from the glass plate. these will all be exactly equal to the first, and may be had at a moderate cost. to artists and sculptors. mr. delamotte will be happy to photograph artist' paintings and statues, and supply two or more impressions as may be desired. he also undertakes to photograph, under the superintendence of the artist, the life model, costume, or any required object, and to deliver the negative plate. to engineers and architects. mr. delamotte is ready to enter into engagements to photograph buildings and engineering works of all kinds, either in progress or when completed. in illustration of the advantages to be derived by engineers from photography, mr. delamotte begs to refer to mr. fenton's views of mr. vignolles' bridge across the dnieper at kieff, and to his own views of the progress of the crystal palace at sydenham. to the nobility and gentry. mr. delamotte has made arrangements which enable him to take photographic views of country mansions, ancient castles and ruins, villas, cottages, bridges or picturesque scenery of any description, and to supply as many copies as may be desired. to the clergy. mr. delamotte will be happy to receive commissions to take photographic views of churches--either exterior or interiors--rectories or school-houses. he will also be willing to make special arrangements for portraits of clergymen, when several copies of the same portrait are required. to amateurs and students. mr. delamotte gives lessons in every branch of the photographic art, but more especially in the collodion process, which he undertakes to teach, together with the best method of printing, in six lessons. for terms apply to mr. philip delamotte, photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * just published, price s. d. the photographic album. part iii. _containing four pictures._ tintern abbey. by roger fenton. the boy in the arch. by philip delamotte. burnham beeches. by roger fenton. kenilworth castle. by philip delamotte. parts i. and ii. are now reprinted and _good_ impressions of the pictures are guaranteed. part iv. will be ready in may. *** the publisher apologizes for the long delay in issuing part iii. and reprinting the two former parts. photographers will readily understand why no quantity of good impressions could have been printed during the last four months. * * * now ready, price s. photographic studies. by george shaw, esq. (of queen's college, birmingham). _comprising_, a mill stream, a forest scene, a rustic bridge, a welsh glen. these pictures are of large size, and are very carefully printed. *** should this number meeting with the approbation of the public, professor shaw will continue the series. * * * nearly ready, the practice of photography. a manual for students and amateurs. edited by philip delamotte, f.s.a. illustrated with a photographic picture taken by the collodion process, and a diagram of six colours, with its result in a photographic impression. this manual will contain much practical information of a valuable nature. * * * preparing for publication, in parts, price one guinea each, progress of the crystal palace at sydenham. exhibited in a series of photographic views taken by philip delamotte. this work will be found of much service to engineers and architects, and all who are interested in the crystal palace. *** some of these views may be had for the stereoscope. * * * preparing for publication, a series of photographic pictures. by hugh owen, esq. (of bristol.) * * * london: published by joseph cundall, at the photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london: and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page whitefield and kennington common, by h. m. bealby anachronisms, by cuthbert bede, b.a. cephas, a binder, and not a rock, by the rev. moses margoliouth epitaphs, &c. the rigby correspondence, by james f. ferguson the wandering bee minor notes:--tippet--ridings and chaffings--henry of huntingdon's "letter to walter"--arthuriana--encyclopedia of indexes, or tables of contents--errata in nichols' "collectanea topographica et genealogica" queries:-- genesis iv. . roland the brave clay tobacco-pipes, by henry t. riley minor queries:--cabinet: sheffield, earl of mulgrave, marquis of normanby, and duke of buckinghamshire-- bersethrigumnue--lady jane grey--addison and watts--lord boteloust's statue by richard hayware--celtic in devon-- knobstick--aristotle--the passion of our lord dramatised-- ludwell: lunsford: kemp--linnæan medal--lowth of sawtrey: robert eden--gentile names of the jews--the black prince-- maid of orleans--fawell arms and crest--"had i met thee in thy beauty"--portrait of d. p. tremesin--edition of "othello"--prospect house, clerkenwell--ancient family of widderington--value of money in the seventeenth century minor queries with answers:--ruin near st. asaph, north wales--wafers--asgill on translation to heaven--ancient custom at coleshill replies:-- the songs of degrees american poems imputed to english authors "feather in your cap" perspective, by benjamin ferrey, &c. lord fairfax, by t. balch, &c. "consilium defectorum cardinalium," by charles hardwick, &c. photographic correspondence:--mounting positives--mounting of photographs and difficulties in the wax-paper process-- the new waxed-paper, or céroléine process replies to minor queries:--origin of clubs--dr. whichcote and dorothy jordan--"paid down upon the nail"--"man proposes, but god disposes"--roman catholic patriarchs--classic authors and the jews--mawkin--mantelpiece--mousehunt-- "vanitatem observare," &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * now ready. the new and improved edition, comprising all the restored passages and numerous additional notes and letters. in vols. demy vo. with portraits, &c., price s. d. each, handsomely bound, of samuel pepys' diary and correspondence. "our friend mr. pepys here comes before the world in a new dress, even more convenient than the last. the diary is now included in four volumes demy octavo: by which change lord braybrooke has found room for many fresh notes and illustrations. it is now an admirably edited book; carefully and worthily presented in all ways, and truly deserving of the place which it ought to find on all well-furnished bookshelves"--_examiner._ published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d. the cambridge university calendar for the year . cambridge: john deighton. sold in london by longman & co.; f. & j. rivington; whittaker & co.; simpkin & co.; j. w. parker & son; george bell; and by deighton & laughton, liverpool. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxviii., is published this day. contents: i. laurence sterne. ii. sacred geography. iii. the whig party. iv. the russian empire. v. the criminal law digest. vi. the turks and the greeks. vii. treasures of art in britain. viii. new reform bill. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. . cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * fifteenth edition, fcp., cloth, price s., proverbial philosophy. by martin f. tupper, d.c.l., of christ church, oxford. also, an illustrated edition of "proverbial philosophy," with above sixty designs by cope, horsley, pickersgill, tenniel, courbold, birket foster, and other eminent artists. london: t. hatchard, . piccadilly; and of any bookseller. * * * * * t. baker's catalogue of cheap and valuable second-hand books, theological and miscellaneous: including a large collection of old and modern divinity, sermons, &c., may be had gratis on application, or by post, by sending one penny stamp to frank it. thomas baker. . goswell street, london. * * * * * books bought, to any amount, and the utmost price given, for immediate cash, thereby saving the delay, uncertainty, and expense of public auction, by a second-hand bookseller of years' standing. n.b.--catalogues gratis and post free. , volumes of books. apply to t. millard, . newgate street. * * * * * now ready, price s. professor hunt's manual of photography. fourth edition revised. london and glasgow: richard griffin & co. * * * * * to ethnologists.--messrs. trÜbner & co. are preparing for immediate publication, in one volume, to., pp. profusely illustrated. price l. s., gliddon's types of mankind; or ethnological researches, based upon the ancient monuments, paintings, sculptures, and crania of races, and upon their natural, geographical, philological, and biblical history. by j. c. nott, m.d. and g. r. gliddon, formerly u.s. consul at cairo. gentlemen desirous of becoming subscribers are requested to send their names in as early as possible. illustrated prospectus to be had on application. trÜbner & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria, (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * { } the manual of science and arts, and photographic miscellany. no. ii. on may st, containing twenty-four pages of letterpress, two lithographic plates, and numerous woodcuts. a second edition of no. i. in the press. monthly, price sixpence. london: whittaker & co. * * * * * the british gallery of historical portraits; being a collection of about three hundred authentic portraits, autography, seals, letters, &c., of royal and illustrious personages in english history and literature, from the year to , including many that are not to be found in any other collection; comprising the whole of the series of british autography formerly published by mr. j. thane, with additional portraits, facsimiles, and biographical sketches (only fifty sets published). vols. imperial vo., half-bound, morocco backs, price l. s. also, a supplement to the british autography, formerly published by mr. j. thane, containing twenty-seven new portraits, with facsimiles of the handwriting, &c., a portrait of mr. thane, some sheets of autographs, and new biographical sketches, only one hundred copies printed. quarto, same size as the book, price s. edward daniel, mortimer street, cavendish square, london. * * * * * now ready, histoire de la revolution d'angleterre. ( ^e partie.) histoire de cromwell, par mons. guizot. vols. vo. s. the same, vols. mo., s. the original paris editions. dulau & co., foreign booksellers, . soho square. * * * * * recent publications of the cambridge antiquarian society. quarto series. evangelia augustini gregoriana. by the rev. j. goodwin, b.d. s. an historical inquiry touching st. catherine of alexandria, illustrated by a semi-saxon legend. by the rev. c. hardwick, m.a. s. octavo series. i. anglo-saxon legends of st. andrew and st. veronica. by c. w. goodwin, m.a. s. d. ii. græco-egyptian fragment on magic. by c. w. goodwin, m.a. s. d. iii. ancient cambridgeshire. by c. c. babington, m.a. s. d. reports and communications, nos. i. and ii. s. each. index to baker manuscripts. s. d. j. deighton; macmillan & co., cambridge. john w. parker & son, and george bell, london. * * * * * chronicles of the ancient british church, previous to the arrival of st. augustine, a.d. . second edition. post vo. price s. cloth. "a work of great utility to general readers."--_morning post._ "the author has collected with much industry and care all the information which can throw light on his subject."--_guardian._ "not unworthy the attention of our clerical friends."--_notes and queries_, ii. . london: wertheim & macintosh, . paternoster row, and of all booksellers. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * arundel society.--the publication of the fourth year ( - ), consisting of eight wood engravings by messrs. dalziel, from mr. w. oliver williams' drawings after giotto's frescos at padua, is now ready; and members who have not paid their subscriptions are requested to forward them to the treasurer by post-office order, payable at the charing cross office. john j. rogers, treasurer and hon. sec. . & . pall mall east. march, . * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * evans's patent shower baths, warm and cold baths, slipper, leg, hip, and foot baths, sponging and douch baths, and baths of every description, combining all recent improvements, and every variety of shape and pattern. garden rollers, garden engines, horticultural tools, scythes, shears, syringes, and garden requisites in general. also a variety of new pattern garden seats, chairs, &c. tea and coffee urns, percolators, and machines of new and elegant designs, combining all the recent french and english improvements. papier mache tea trays and waiters, table cutlery, plated ware, patent dish covers, and every article for the kitchen always on show at jeremiah evans, son, and company's stove, grate, and cooking apparatus manufactory and warehouses, . king william street. london bridge. * * * * * the sweet vesper bells of ancona.--ballad, written and composed by john parry, and illustrated with reminiscences of ancona, after a sketch from the composer's own portfolio. s. d. this admired song is altogether one of the happiest conceptions of this gifted favourite of the public. hamilton and the pianoforte.--just published, the fifty-fifth edition of this extraordinarily popular author's modern instructions for the pianoforte, newly revised and greatly enlarged. by carl czerny, pupil of beethoven. large music folio, pages, price only s. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street. * * * * * the important productions of henry shaw, esq., f.s.a., including the copyrights. messrs. s. leigh sotheby & john wilkinson, auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, may , at o'clock precisely, the important publications of henry shaw, f.s.a.; comprising, the dresses and decorations of the middle ages, from the seventh to the seventeenth century; decorative arts of the middle ages; details of elizabethan architecture; specimens of ancient furniture; illuminated ornaments of the middle ages, from the seventh to the seventeenth century; alphabets, numerals, and devices of the middle ages; handbook of mediæval alphabets and devices; encyclopædia of ornamental metal work; and the glazier's book. these magnificent works have reached the greatest degree of excellence, are of the most splendid character, and may be justly designated the highest of their several classes in point of artistic merit, pictorial beauty, and literary worth. may be viewed on the friday and saturday previous. catalogues had at place of sale. * * * * * sale of photographic pictures, landscape camera by horne & co.; also prints and drawings. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, early in may, an important collection of photographic pictures by the most celebrated artists and amateurs; comprising some _chefs d'oeuvre_ of the art, amongst which are large and interesting views taken in paris, rouen, brussels, switzerland, rome, venice, various parts of england and scotland. rustic scenes, architectural subjects, antiquities, &c. also, some interesting prints and drawings. catalogues will be sent on application (if at a distance, on receipt of two stamps.) * * * * * { } _london, saturday, april , ._ notes. whitefield and kennington common. your correspondent the rev. w. sparrow simpson (vol. ix., p. .) has given some interesting little notes respecting the past history of kennington common. other notes might be added, and which should not be overlooked in a record of events connected with a spot whose associations and whose name are about to pass away for ever. after all, it is a righteous act, a noble deed, a benevolent mission, that gives a kind of immortality to a locality. it was here that the ever memorable george whitefield proclaimed in an earnest voice, and with an earnest look, the gospel of jesus christ to multitudes of his fellow-creatures. he was wonderfully endowed by god for his great work, and the evidence of his vast success is to be found in the fact that immense numbers flocked from all parts to listen to the tidings which he had to deliver. he had audiences on kennington common amounting to ten, twenty and thirty thousand people, great numbers of whom were savingly impressed by his message. he melted their hearts, and sent them away, reflecting on the great problems of man's history, and on the dignity and destiny of the human mind. take the following from his published diary, which is now scarce, and not much known: "sunday, april , . at five in the evening went and preached at kennington common, about two miles from london, where upwards of , people were supposed to be present. the wind being for me, it carried the voice to the extremest part of the audience. all stood attentive, and joined in the psalm and lord's prayer so regularly, that i scarce ever preached with more quietness in any church. many were much affected." "sunday, may , . at six in the evening preached at kennington; but such a sight i never saw before. some supposed there were above , or , people, and near fourscore coaches, besides great numbers of horses; and there was such an awful silence amongst them, and the word of god came with such power, that all seemed pleasingly surprised. i continued my discourse for an hour and a half." "sunday, july , . went to st. paul's and received the blessed sacrament, and preached in the evening at kennington common to about , hearers. god gave me great power." "friday, august , . having spent the day in completing my affairs (about to embark for america), and taking leave of my dear friends, i preached in the evening to near , at kennington common. i chose to discourse on st. paul's parting speech to the elders at ephesus, at which the people were exceedingly affected, and almost prevented my making any application. many tears were shed when i talked of leaving them. i concluded all with a suitable hymn, but could scarce get to the coach for the people thronging me, to take me by the hand, and give me a parting blessing." let those who have a deep sympathy with the great and good, who have served their age with exalted devotion and burning zeal, remember that on that very spot which is now called kennington park, this extraordinary man lifted up his powerful voice, and with commanding attitude, with the tenderest affection, with persuasive tones, and with thrilling appeals, proclaimed the "glorious gospel of the blessed god" to multitudes of the human family. he preached as in the light, and on the borders of the eternal world. it is such facts as these that will enhance in mind and memory the interest of such a spot. the philosophy of whitefield's life has yet to be written. h. m. bealby. north brixton. * * * * * anachronisms. mr. thackeray makes another trip in the present (april) number of _the newcomes_. clive writes a letter dated "may , --," which is at once answered by pendennis, who sends him "an extract from bagham's article on the royal academy," and mr. thackeray makes the critic ask, "why have we no picture of the _sovereign and her august consort_ from smee's brush?" to which it may be answered, "because, even if the ' --' represents the time of victoria's reign, her majesty did not take unto herself an 'august consort' until feb. , ." it may also be observed, that in all the illustrations to mr. thackeray's delightful story, mr. doyle has clothed the _dramatis personæ_ in the dresses of the present day. a notable example of this occurs at p. ., in his clever sketch of mrs. newcome's at home, "a small early party" given in the year , the date being determined by a very simple act of mental arithmetic, since the author informs us that the colonel went to the party in the mufti-coat "sent him out by messrs. stultz to india in the year ," and which he had "been in the habit of considering a splendid coat for twelve years past." the anachronism on mr. doyle's part is probably intentional. indeed, he only follows the example which mr. thackeray had justified in these words: "it was the author's intention, faithful to history, to depict all the characters of this tale in their proper costumes, as they wore them at the commencement of the century. but, when i remember the appearance of people in those days, and that an officer and lady were actually habited like this [here follows one of mr. thackeray's graphic sketches], i have not the heart to disfigure my heroes and heroines by costumes so hideous; and have, on the contrary, engaged a { } model of rank dressed according to the present fashion."--_vanity fair_, note to p. . and, certainly, when one looks at a fashion-book published some twenty years ago, one cannot feel surprised at mr. doyle, or any other man of taste, preferring to commit an anachronism, rather than depict frights and monstrosities. cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * cephas, a binder, and not a rock. some of the multifarious readers of "n. & q." may feel interested in the suggestion of an original solution on matt. xvi. - . i submit it (not presumptuously, but hopefully), that its examination and discussion, by your learned readers, may throw more light upon my humble endeavour to elucidate a passage which seems to have been darkened "by a multitude of words." the solution i propose is an extract from my ms. annotations on the hebrew old testament, and forms a portion of a note on habakkuk ii. . it will be desirable, for the readier comprehension of my exposition, to give the original, with a literal translation, of the verse alluded to: [hebrew: ky 'bn mqyr tz`q] [hebrew: wkpys m`ts y`nnh:] "for the [_ebhen_] stone shall cry out of the wall, and the [_caphis_] fastening shall testify out of the timber."[ ] this verse has passed into a proverb amongst the jews in every part of the world. it is invariably quoted to express the impossibility of secrecy or concealment; or to intimate the inevitable publicity of a certain fact. in short, the proverb implies the same meaning which our lord's answer to the pharisees expressed, viz., "if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out" (luke xix. .). i have myself heard the words under note used as a proverb, in this manner, amongst the jews of europe, asia, and africa. i am, moreover, inclined to believe that it was already one of the national proverbs in the days of our lord. all this may appear irrelevant to the critical exposition of this verse; but the consideration may help to clear up an apparently obscure passage in the new testament, namely, matt. xvi. - . when simon made the declaration in verse ., "thou art the christ, the son of the living god," he might have thought of or expressed the inspired proverb: [hebrew: ky 'bn mqyr tz`q] [hebrew: wkpys m`ts y`nnh:] "for the [_ebhen_] stone shall cry out of the wall, and the [_caphis_] fastening shall testify out of the timber." thinking, or expressing, that concealment of the messiahship of jesus was impracticable. "and jesus [to whom word, thought, and deed were alike patent] answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, simon barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven. and i say also unto thee, that thou art _caphis_; and upon the _ebhen_ i will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. and i will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt _bind_ on earth, shall be _bound_ in heaven," &c. the play (if so common an expression might be used in so sacred a theme) is not on the word _peter_, but on the word [hebrew: kpys] (_caphis_), which signifies a rafter, a cross beam, a _binder_; or, as the margin (on habak. ii. .) has it, "a fastener," from the verb [hebrew: kps] (_caphas_), to _bind_, to connect, to join. that our lord never used the greek word [greek: su ei petros] all must admit; that [greek: kêphas] is not the syriac word for stone is well known to every oriental scholar. the proper syriac word for stone is [syriac: k'p']. however, there is a resemblance between the respective words, which may have been the origin of simon's second surname--i mean to that of cephas--peter. the import of matt. xvi. - . seems to me to be this: christ acknowledges simon to be part and parcel of the house, the church; nay, more, he tells simon that he intends him to be a "master-builder," to join, or bind, many members to that church, all of which would be owned of him. but the church itself must be built upon the _ebhen_, the _stone_; by which jesus evidently alluded to ps. cxviii. .: [hebrew: 'bn m'sw hbwnym] [hebrew: hyth lr'sh pnh:] "the _ebhen_ which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner." (compare matt. xxi. .) may i ask whether the words [greek: ho ermêneutai petros] are to be considered as the words of st. john, or of his transcribers? the question may appear startling to some, but my copy of the syriac new testament is _minus_ that sentence. moses margoliouth. wybunbury, nantwich. [footnote : see also the marginal readings.] * * * * * epitaphs, etc. _epitaphs._--there is, or was, one at pisa which thus concludes: "doctor doctorum jacet hac burgundius urna, schema magistrorum, laudabilis et diuturna; dogma poetarum cui littera græca, latina, ars medicinarum patuit sapientia trina. { } et nunc pisa, dole, tristeris thuscia tota, nullus sub sole est cui sic sunt omnia nota. rursus ab angelico coetu super aera vectum nuper et angelico, coelo gaude te receptum. ann. dom. mclxxxxiiii. iii calend. novembr." nearer home, in shoreditch churchyard: "sacred to the memory of sarah micci, who departed this life april th, , aged years. memento judicii mei, sic enim _erit_ mihi _heri_, tibi hodie." not far from this is the following laconic one: "dr. john gardner's last and best bed-room, who departed this life the th of april, , in his th year." which reminds me of one at finedon: "here lyeth richard dent, in his last tenement. ." b. h. c. _curious inscription_ (vol. iv., p. .).--in the first edition of _imperatorum romanorum numismata aurea_, by de bie, antwerp, , at the foot of a page addressed "ad lectorem," and marked c. ii., are the following verses, which may be noted as forming a pendant to those referred to: ri r s d d "sc ptorum erum ummorum espice icta ul v n r p st qu r i n i t i a idem isu aciemus am nde acebunt." ll f v f i v pl signed "c. hÆttron." w. h. scott. edinburgh. _epitaph in lavenham church, norfolk._-- "continuall prayse these lynes in brass of allaine dister here, clothier vertuous whyle he was in lavenham many a yeare; for as in lyfe he loved best the poore to clothe and feede, soe with the riche and alle the reste, he neighbourlie agreed; and did appoint before he died, a smalle yearlie rent, which would be every whitsuntide among the poorest spent." i send you this copy from a _nibbing_ of a quaint epitaph, made in the beautiful old church of lavenham many years since, with a view to putting a query as to its construction. the first two lines, as i read them, want a verb, unless we read the conclusion of the first line as a verb, to _in-brasse_ (_i.e._ to record in brass). can any of your readers give me an authority, from an old author, for the use of this or any similar verb? to _in-grain_ seems somewhat like it, but is modern. if no authority for such a verb can be given, i should be glad to have the construction of the lines explained. a. b. r. belmont. * * * * * the rigby correspondence. [in "n. & q.," vol. vii., pp. . . ., mention is made of this correspondence. the letters, of which the following are copies, were sold as waste paper, and are in my possession. they appear to have been written by the rt. hon. richard rigby, master of the rolls in ireland, and relate to the appointment of an examiner in the chancery in the year . james f. ferguson.] dublin. st. james's place, th may, . my dear lord, i return you many thanks for your two letters of y^e th and th inst., and for the trouble you are so obliging as to take on y^e business of the examiner's office. i have found a copy of an appointment of an examiner transmitted to me by lodge in the year , and i send you mr. meredith's appointment upon the stamp'd paper you inclosed to me. if that appointment will not answer, or if the stamp is not a proper one, as you seem to hint may be the case, i must desire you to tell mr. perry to make out a proper appointment and send it over ready for my signature. i shou'd hope the one i send herewith will answer, that you may have no further trouble. i perceive five hundred pounds english was y^e sum i receiv'd in ; and i imagine that is the sum mr. meredith proposes to give now, and to which i give my consent. i thank you for inquiring after my health; my fits of the gout are not very violent, but i am very glad you never have any of them. pray make my best comp^{ts} to scott, and tell him that i din'd yesterday at streatham with macnamara, who is getting better, notwithstanding the weather here is as cold as at christmas. i am, my dear lord, with all possible regard, your most sincere friend and oblig'd humble servant, richard rigby. your stamp'd paper was not large enough, but my servant found a stamp'd paper at lincoln's inn. ------ st. james's place, th june, . my dear lord, ten thousand thanks for all the trouble you are so kind (as) to take in my affairs; this day i receiv'd yours of the st may, with the bill { } inclosed for l. s. d. if the instrument i sent over should not be satisfactory, i will sign any new deed which shall be sent me for the purpose. i have not much acquaintance w^{th} lord northington; but seeing him at st. james's the day he took leave of the king, i wish'd him success in his new government, and took the liberty to mention your name to him as y^e person in the whole kingdom whose advice would be most beneficial to him. i told him i asked no favour of him but one, which was to recollect what i then said to him if he should have occasion to call upon you for advice and assistance hereafter, when he would find it for his great satisfaction to be well founded. i am, my dear lord, your most obliged and faithful humble servant, richard rigby. to the rt. honorable lord ch. justice paterson, at dublin. free, r. rigby. * * * * * the wandering bee. "high mountains closed the vale, bare, rocky mountains, to all living things inhospitable; on whose sides no herb rooted, no insect fed, no bird awoke their echoes, save the eagle, strong of wing; a lonely plunderer, that afar sought in the vales his prey. "thither towards those mountains thalaba advanced, for well he ween'd that there had fate destined the adventure's end. up a wide vale, winding amid their depths, a stony vale between receding heights of stone, he wound his way. a cheerless place! _the solitary bee,_ _whose buzzing was the only sound of life,_ _flew there on restless wing,_ _seeking in vain one blossom, where to fix._" _thalaba_, book vi. , . this incident of the wandering bee, highly poetical, seems at first sight very improbable, and passes for one of the many strange creations of this wild poem. but yet it is quite true to nature, and was probably suggested to southey, an omnivorous reader, by some out-of-the-way book of travels. in hurton's _voyage to lapland_, vol. ii. p. ., published a few years since, he says that as he stood on the verge of the north cape,-- "the only living creature that came near me was a _bee_, which hummed merrily by. what did the busy insect seek there? not a blade of grass grew, and the only vegetable matter on this point was a cluster of withered moss at the very edge of the awful precipice, and it i gathered at considerable risk as a memorial of my visit." so in fremont's _exploring expedition to the rocky mountains_, , p. ., he speaks of standing on the crest of the snow peak, , feet above the gulf of mexico, and adds: "during our morning's ascent, we had met no sign of animal life, except the small sparrow-like bird already mentioned. a stillness the most profound, and a terrible solitude, forced themselves constantly on the mind as the great features of the place. here on the summit, where the stillness was absolute, unbroken by any sound, and the solitude complete, we thought ourselves beyond the region of animated life: but while we were sitting on the rock, a _solitary bee_ (_bromus_, the humble bee) came winging his flight from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men. "it was a strange place, the icy rock and the highest peak of the rocky mountains, for a lover of warm sunshine and flowers; and we pleased ourselves with the idea that he was the first of his species to cross the mountain barrier, a solitary pioneer to foretell the advance of civilisation. i believe that a moment's thought would have made us let him continue his way unharmed, but we carried out the law of this country, where all animated nature seems at war; and seizing him immediately, put him in at least a fit place, in the leaves of a large book, among the flowers we had collected on our way." a. b. philadelphia. * * * * * minor notes. _tippet._--the origin of words signifying articles of dress would be a curious subject for investigation. tippet is derived by barclay from the saxon _tæppet_; but i find the following passage in captain erskine's journal of his recent _cruise in the western pacific_, p. . he is writing of the dress of the women at the village of feleasan, in the samoan islands: "and occasionally a garment (_tiputa_) resembling a small poncho, with a slit for the head, hanging so as decently to conceal the bosom." may we not trace here both the article and the name? w. t. m. _ridings and chaffings._--a singular custom prevails in south nottinghamshire and north leicestershire. when a husband, forgetting his solemn vow to love, honour, and keep his wife, has had recourse to physical force and beaten her, the rustics get up what is called "a riding." a cart is drawn through the village, having in it two persons dressed so as to resemble the woman and her master. a dialogue, representing the quarrel, is carried on, and a supposed representation of the beating is inflicted. this performance is { } always specially enacted before the offender's door. another, and perhaps less objectionable, mode of shaming men out of a brutal and an unmanly practice, is to empty a sack of chaff at the offender's door,--an intimation, i suppose, that _thrashing_ has been "done within." perhaps this latter custom gave rise to the term "chaffing." thirty years ago both these customs were very common in this locality; but, either from an improved tone of morality, or from the comparative rarity of the offence that led to them, both _ridings_ and _chaffings_ are now of very rare occurrence. can any reader of "n. & q." inform me whether these customs have prevailed, or still prevail, in other counties? thomas r. potter. wymeswold, leicestershire. _henry of huntingdon's "letter to walter."_--mr. forester (bohn's _antiquarian library_) decides, in opposition to wharton and hardy, that this epistle was written in , during the lifetime of henry i., and there can be no doubt that the passage he quotes bears him out in this; but it is not less certain that, whether owing to the death of the friend to whom the letter was addressed, or from a wholesome fear of the resentment of that king who is so roughly handled in it, the publication was deferred long enough for the author to reinforce by a few "modern instances" of more recent date, the "wise saws" which are so plentifully diffused through it: for instance, at p. . he mentions the death of louis vi. of france, which occurred st august, , twenty months after the death of henry. and it is probable that a closer search than i have the means of making, would reveal other instances of a like nature, though this is sufficient by itself. after all, is it not possible that the worthy archdeacon (like bolingbroke at a future day) may have antedated his letter to give himself an air of boldness and independence beyond what he really possessed? this would account not only for the references to later occurrences, but for the accurate fulfilment of the prophecy which he quotes about the duration of the reign of henry i. j. s. warden. _arthuriana._--list of places designated with traditional reference to king arthur. (_to be continued._) in cornwall: king arthur's castle. nutagel. king arthur's hall. an oblong inclosure on the moors, near camelford. king arthur's bed. a slab of granite with pack-shaped piece for bolster, on trewortha tor. s. r. pattison. _encyclopedia of indexes, or tables of contents._--i should like your opinion, and that of the readers of "n. & q.," as to the desirableness and practicability of forming a collection of the indexes of those books most commonly required to be referred to by authors and scholars. in reading up on any subject, when it is wished to know whether any author treats upon it, mainly or incidentally, his works must be examined at a great expense of time and labour. perhaps some of your learned readers will express their views as to the value of such a thesaurus, and give suggestions as to the principles which ought to regulate its execution. thinks i to myself. _errata in nichols' "collectanea topographica et genealogica."_--works of this kind, unless strictly accurate, cause great perplexity and confusion, and are indeed of little use. i therefore wish to note in your pages that at vol. viii. p. . of the above work it is stated that babington "married juliana, daughter of sir _thomas_ rowe, alderman of london." _harl. mss._ . p. ., . p. ., . p. ., inform us that julian rowe, daughter of sir william rowe, who was lord mayor of london in , married francis babington. sir william and sir thomas were first cousins. in the same page sir thomas rowe is stated to have died in ; on his tomb we are told that he died in . tee bee. * * * * * queries. genesis iv. . can any of your learned hebraists elucidate the passage in gen. iv. ., which called forth the following remarks from bishop sandford? "as yet i cannot abandon the literal interpretation of the words [hebrew: lapetach chat`a't robeits], and i am much surprised that, in all the criticism bestowed on this verse by davison and the authors whom he quotes, nothing is said of the word [hebrew: petach]. i do not know of any place in holy scripture where this word is used figuratively, and unless this can be shown, there is no supporting so strong a metaphor as the advocates of the figurative meaning of the passage contend for. davison takes no notice of the remainder of the verse.... now the words are remarkable; they are the same as those in which the lord declares the subjection of eve to her husband, gen. iii. . i have always thought this passage (gen. iv. .) to allude to abel; and to promise to cain the continuance of the priority of primogeniture, if he were reconciled to god."--_remains of bishop sandford_, vol. i. p. . with respect to the word [hebrew: petach], the literal interpretation of which is a door, entrance, or gate, archbishop magee renders the passage thus: "a sin-offering lieth before or _at_ the door," the word [hebrew: rbeits] implying to crouch or lie down as an animal; thereby alluding to the sacrifice which was { } appointed for the remission of sins, and was typical of the great sacrifice of the lamb of god, who was to be slain for the sin of the world. the whole verse would thus stand, according to archbishop magee's interpretation: "if thou doest well, shalt thou not have the excellency or pre-eminence? and if thou doest _not_ well, a sin-offering lieth before the door [_i.e._ is prepared, or at hand, for thee]; and unto thee shall be his subjection, and thou shalt rule over him [_i.e._ over abel]." luther's translation is at variance with this: "wenn du fromm bist, so bist du angenehm, bist du aber nicht fromm, so ruhet die sünde vor der thür. aber lass du ihr nicht ihren willen, sondern herrsche über sie." in the margin of luther's bible is a reference in this verse to rom. vi. ., plainly showing that he considered it as an admonition to cain to struggle against _sin_, lest it should gain the dominion over him. bishop sandford farther observes: "i think that neither davison nor the other commentators have completely examined gen. iv. . in all its expressions and bearings. i am surprised at magee's omitting the argument from st. paul's declaration, that by his [greek: pleiônthusia] abel obtained witness that he was righteous.... i must repeat my wish to have the word [hebrew: petach] well examined." a. b. c. p.s.--dr. glocester ridley (quoted by bishop van mildert, in the notes to his _boyle lectures_) takes the view afterwards adopted by archbishop magee, as to the meaning of the passage. (see _the christian passover_, in four sermons on the lord's supper, by glocester ridley, , p. .) * * * * * roland the brave. can any of your readers and correspondents, versed in "legendary lore," reconcile the two different tales of which "roland the brave" is the hero? the one related in mrs. hemans's beautiful ballad describes him as reported dead, and that his fair one too rashly took the veil in "nonnenwerder's cloister pale," just before his return. the story proceeds to tell how in grief her lover sought the battle-field, and finally fell, with other brave companions, at roncesvalles. i have been surprised, when perusing dr. forbes's highly amusing narrative of his holiday in switzerland (pp. - .), to find that he identifies roland with the hero of schiller's beautiful ballad, who rejoiced in the unromantic appellation of _ritter toggenburg_. _that_ unhappy lover, according to the poet, being rejected by his fair one, who could only bestow on him a sister's affection, sought the holy land in despair, and tried to forget his grief; but returning again to breathe the same air with his beloved, and finding her already a professed nun, built himself a hut, whence he could see her at her convent window. here he watched day by day, as the poet beautifully says; and here he was found, _dead_, "still in the attitude of the watcher." "blickte nach dem kloster drüben, blickte stunden lang nach dem fenster seiner lieben bis das fenster klang, bis die liebliche sich zeigte, bis das theure bild sich in 's thal herunter neigte ruhig, engelmild. . . . . . . "und so sass er viele tage sass viel' jahre lang, harrend ohne schmerz und klage bis das fenster klang, bis die liebliche sich zeigte, &c. &c. "unde so sass er, eine leiche eines morgens da, nach dem fenster noch das bleiche stille antlitz sah." was this ritter toggenburg, the hero of schiller's ballad, the nephew of charlemagne, roland, who fell at roncesvalles? is not dr. forbes in error in ascribing the ritter's fate to roland? are they not two distinct persons? or is mrs. hemans wrong in her version of the story? i only quote from memory: "roland the brave, the brave roland! false tidings reach'd the rhenish strand that he had fall'n in fight! and thy faithful bosom swoon'd with pain, thou fairest maid of allemain. why so rash has she ta'en the veil in yon nonnenwerder's cloister pale? for the fatal vow was hardly spoken, and the fatal mantel o'er her flung. when the drachenfels' echoes rung-- 'twas her own dear warrior's horn! . . . . . . she died; he sought the battle plain, and loud was gallia's wail, when roland, the flower of chivalry, fell at roncesvalles!" i shall be glad to have a clear idea of the true roland and his story. x. y. z. * * * * * clay tobacco-pipes. an amusing treatise might be written on the variations in shape of the common tobacco-pipe since its first introduction into the country. hundreds of specimens of old pipe-heads might soon be procured, and especially in the neighbourhood of london, where the same ground has been tilled for gardening purposes perhaps { } some hundreds of years, and has received fresh supplies year after year from the ash-bin and dust-heap. i have about a dozen in my possession, which probably belong to various periods from the beginning of the seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth century. the dearness of tobacco in the early times of its use is evinced by the smallness of the bowls, for many of them would hold at most not half a thimbleful of tobacco; while the shank, where it joins the bowl, is nearly double the thickness of that in use at the present day. if i recollect aright, the pipe as represented in hogarth seems but little larger in the bowl than that in use a century before; the shape being in both the same, very much like that of a barrel. the sides of the bowl seem formerly to have been made of double or treble the thickness of those now in use. this will account for the good preservation in which they may be found after having been in the ground one or two centuries. the clay tobacco-pipe probably attained its present size and slimness, and (very nearly) its present shape, about the beginning of this century. i am well aware that, by many, all this will be esteemed as "in tenui labor," but, for my part, i look upon no reminiscences of the past, however humble, as deserving to be slighted or consigned to oblivion. even the humble tobacco-pipe may be made the vehicle of some interesting information. will any of your correspondents favour your other readers with some farther information on this subject? henry t. riley. * * * * * minor queries. _cabinet: sheffield, earl of mulgrave, marquis of normanby, and duke of buckinghamshire._--can any reader refer me to a letter of the duke of buckinghamshire's which i have read (but i entirely forget where), written during the reign of william iii., and complaining of his exclusion from the cabinet? he was either lord normanby or lord mulgrave when the letter was written. c. h. _bersethrigumnue._--in the _escheats_, hen. iii. no. ., quoted by nichols in his _history of leicestershire_ (vol. iii. part ., under "cotes"), occurs this unusual word. gilbert de segrave held the manor of cotes in socage of the king "by paying yearly one _bersethrigumnue_." will any reader of "n. & q." favour me with its etymology or meaning? i imagine it to have been a clerical error for _brachetum cum ligamine_, a service by which one of the earlier lords of cotes held these lands. thomas russell potter. _lady jane grey._--neither nichols in his _history of leicestershire_, nor his equally eminent grandson in his interesting _chronicle of queen jane_, nor, so far as i am aware, any other author, mentions the place where the lady jane was buried. the general belief is, i think, that her body was interred with that of her husband in the tower. but a tradition has just been communicated to me by the rev. andrew bloxam, that the body was privately brought from london by a servant of the family, and deposited in the chapel at bradgate. what is the fact? thomas russell potter. _addison and watts._--can any of your numerous readers inform me whether the hymn "when rising from the bed of death," so generally ascribed to addison, and taken from the chapter on death and judgment in his _evidences of the christian religion_, is his own composition, or that of the "excellent man in holy orders;" and whether this is dr. isaac watts? s. m. _lord boteloust's statue by richard hayware._--the statue erected to lord boteloust by the "colony and dominion of virginia" was "made in london, , by richard hayware." i should be obliged for information as to mr. hayware. t. balch. philadelphia. _celtic in devon._--when was the celtic language obsolete in the south hams of devon? g. r. l. _knobstick._--in these days of strikes, turn-outs, and lock-outs, we hear so much of "knobsticks," that i should like to know why this term has come to be applied to those who work for less than the wages recognised, or under other conditions deemed objectionable by trades unions. prestoniensis. _aristotle._--where does aristotle say that a judge is a living law, as the law itself is a dumb judge? h. p. _the passion of our lord dramatised._--busby, in his _history of music_, vol. i. p. ., says: "it has been very generally supposed, that the manner of reciting and singing in the theatres formed the original model of the church service; an idea sanctioned by the fact, that the passion of our saviour was dramatised by the _early_ priests." what authority is there for this statement? h. p. _ludwell: lunsford: kemp._--inscription on a tombstone in the graveyard of the old church at williamsburgh: "under this marble lyeth the body of thomas ludwell, esq., secretary of virginia, who was born at burton, in the county of somerset, in the kingdom of england, and departed this life in the year : and near this place lie the bodies of richard kemp, esq., { } his predecessor in the secretary's office, and sir thomas lunsford, knt., in memory of whom this marble is here placed by philip ludwell, esq., son of the said thomas ludwell, esq., in the year ." information is respectfully asked as to the persons and families mentioned in the foregoing inscription. sir thomas lunsford is said to have come from surrey, and to have served during the civil wars. thomas balch. philadelphia. _linnæan medal._--has any reader of "n. & q." in his possession a linnæan medal? i mean the one by the celebrated liungberger, ordered by gustavus iii. in . it is of great beauty, and now very scarce: the following is a brief description. it is of silver, two inches diameter. obverse, a portrait of the naturalist, very faithful and boldly executed, yet with the utmost delicacy of finish. the face is full of thought and feeling, and the whole expression so spiritual, that this medallion has a strange charm; you keep looking at it again and again. the inscription is, "car. linnæus, arch. reg. equ. auratus." on the reverse is cybele, surrounded by animals and plants, holding a key and weeping. inscription,-- "deam luctus angit amissi." "post obitum upsaliæ, d. x. jan. mdcclxxviii. rege jubente." in the background is a bear, on whose back an ape has jumped; but the bear lies quietly, as if he disdained the annoyance. this was probably in reference to what he said in the preface to his _systema naturæ_: "i have borne the derision of apes in silence," &c. adjoining this are plants, and we recognise his own favourite flower, the _linnea borealis_. e. f. woodman. _lowth of sawtrey: robert eden._--in the _topographer and genealogist_, vol. ii p. ., i find mention made of a monument at cretingham in suffolk, to margaret, wife of richard cornwallis, and daughter of lowth of sawtrey, co. hunts, who died in . the arms are stated to be--"cornwallis and quarterings impaling lowth and quarterings, stearing, dade, bacon, rutter," &c. will some of your correspondents give me a fuller account of these quarterings, and of the pedigree of lowth of sawtrey, or especially of that branch of it from which descended robert lowth, bishop successively of st. david's, oxford, and london, who was born in , and died in ? i should also be much obliged if any of your readers would give me any information as to who were the parents, and what the pedigree, of the rev. robert eden, prebendary of winchester, who married mary, sister of bishop lowth: was he connected with the auckland family, or with the suffolk family of eden, lately mentioned in "n. & q.?" the arms he bore were the same as those of the former family--gules, on a chevron between three garbs or, banded vert, as many escallops sable. r. e. c. _gentile names of the jews._--the query in vol. viii., p. ., as to the gentile names of the jews, leads me to inquire why it is that the jews are so fond of names derived from the animal creation. lyon or lyons has probably some allusion to the lion of the tribe of judah, hart to the hind of naphtali, and wolf to benjamin; but the german jewish names of adler, an eagle, and finke, a finch, cannot be so accounted for. the german hirsch is evidently the same name as the english hart, and the portuguese names lopez and aguilar are lupus and aquila, slightly disguised. is the origin of mark, a very common jewish name, to be sought in the celtic _merch_, a horse? honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. _the black prince._--in sir s. r. meyrick's _inquiry into ancient armour_, vol. ii. p. ., he quotes froissart as observing, after his account of the battle of poictiers, "thus did edward the black prince, now doubly dyed black by the terror of his arms." i have sought in vain for this passage, or anything resembling it, in johnes's translation, nor can i find anywhere this appellation as applied by froissart to his favourite hero. can the passage be an interpolation of lord berners? j. s. warden. _maid of orleans._--can any one of your correspondents tell who was d'israeli's authority for the following?-- "of the maid of orleans i have somewhere read, that a bundle of faggots was substituted for her, when she was supposed to have been burnt by the duke of bedford."--_curiosities of literature_, vol. i. p. . j. r. r. _fawell arms and crest._--could any correspondent tell me the _correct_ arms and crest of fawell? in burke's _general armory_ they are given: "or, a cross moline gu., a chief dig." and in berry's _encyclopædia heraldica_: "sa., a cheveron between three escallop shells argent." in neither work is a crest registered, and yet i believe there is one belonging to the family. cid. "_had i met thee in thy beauty._"--can you or any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of the poem commencing, with the above line, and where it may be found? it is generally supposed to be lord byron's, but cannot be found in any of his published works. e. h. { } _portrait of d. p. tremesin._--has there ever been any portrait known to exist of one dompe peter tremesin, who is supposed to have been the earliest equestrian who performed feats on horseback, and of whom mention is thus made in the privy purse expenses of king henry viii., p. .: "paied to one dompue peter tremesin, that _dyd ryde two horses at once_, by waye of rewarde, c corons, _i.e._ l. s. d." j. w. g. g. _edition of "othello."_--i shall feel much indebted to messrs. collier, singer, &c. for information relative to an edition of _othello_ which was shown to me in january, , and had previously belonged to j. w. cole (calcraft), esq., then manager of the theatre royal, dublin. it consisted of the text (sometimes altered, i think) and notes connected exclusively with astrology. there was, if i remember rightly, a frontispiece representing some of the characters, their heads, arms, bodies, and legs being dotted over with stars, as seen in a celestial globe. it was published about the year , and was evidently not the first play of shakspeare published under similar circumstances; for i recollect that when brabantio first appears at the window, a note informs the reader that "if he will refer to the diagram of brabantio in the frontispiece, he will discover, by comparison of the stars in the two diagrams, that brabantio corresponds with" a character in another play of shakspeare, the name of which i forget. mr. cole is now in london, and connected with one of the leading theatres. i do not know his address. m. a. _prospect house, clerkenwell._--will any of your correspondents learned in old london topography inform me when the "prospect house, or dobney's bowling green," clerkenwell, ceased to be a place of amusement; and where any account is to be found of one wildman, who is said to have exhibited his bees there in . (vide _mirror_, vol. xxxiv. p. .) and in what consisted this exhibition? also, if any other plate of the three hats public-house, islington, exists than that in the _gentleman's magazine_? also, if there exists any portrait of mrs. sampson, said to have been the first female equestrian performer, and life of sampson, who used also to perform at the gardens behind the three hats? j. w. g. g. _ancient family of widderington._--in an old prayer book, now before me, i find this entry:--"ralph witherington was married to mary smith the th day of nov. in the year of our lord , at seaven o'clock in the morning, sunday." then follow the dates of the births of a numerous progeny. can any of your readers tell me who these parties were, or any particulars about them? the early hour of a winter morning seems strange. some of the children settled in dublin, and intermarried with good irish families; but from the entry in another part of the volume, in an older hand, of "ralph witharington of hauxley, in the parish of warqurth, in the county of northumberland," the family appear previously to have lived in england. i have never been able to find the motto of the widderingtons. their arms are, of course, well known, viz., quarterly, argent and gules, a bend sable; crest, a bull's head: but i have never seen their legend. w. x. p. s.--the marriage is not entered in the registers of warkworth. it may be in some of the records (of the city) of dublin. i have seen the motto "_veritas victrix_" appended to a coat of arms, in which the widderington shield had a place; but it was believed to belong to the name of mallet in one of the quarters. _value of money in the seventeenth century._--what are the data for comparing the value of money in the seventeenth century with its present value? what may l. in , in , in , be considered equivalent to now? c. h. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _ruin near st. asaph, north wales._--about two miles from st. asaph, in flintshire, near to a beautiful trout stream, called, i think, the elway, stands an old ruin of some ecclesiastical edifice. there is not very much of it now standing, but the form of the windows still exists. i have in vain looked in handbooks of the county for an account of it, but i have seen none that allude to it in any way. it is very secluded, being hidden by trees; and can only be approached by a footpath. in the centre of the edifice, there is a well of most beautiful water, supplied from some hidden spring; and from the bottom of which bubbles of gas are constantly ascending to the surface. the well is divided by a large stone into two parts, one evidently intended for a bath. the peasantry in the neighbourhood call it the virgin mary's well, and ascribe the most astonishing cures to bathing in its waters. i could not, however, find out what it was. some said it was a nunnery, and that the field adjoining had been a burial-ground; but all seemed remarkably ignorant about it, and seemed rather to avoid speaking about it; but, from what i could gather, there was some wild legend respecting it: but, being unacquainted with the language, i could not learn what it was. i should feed obliged if any of your correspondents could give me a description of it, and any information or legend connected with it. near to it are the celebrated "kaffen rocks," which { } show undoubted evidence, from the shells and shingle embedded in their strata, of having at some period been submerged; and the caverns which exist in them are very large, and bones of hyenas and other animals are to be found in them. they are, however, very difficult to find without a guide, and there are very few persons in the neighbourhood who seem to know anything about them. they are very well worthy of a visit, and the surrounding scenery is beautiful in the extreme. i shall be happy to put any person in the way of finding them, should a desire be expressed in your pages. investigator. manchester. [this is fynnon vair, or "the well of our lady," situated in a richly-wooded dell near the river elwy, in the township of wigvair. this well, which is inclosed in a polygonal basin of hewn stone, beautifully and elaborately sculptured, discharges about gallons per minute: the water is strongly impregnated with lime, and was formerly much resorted to as a cold bath. adjoining the well are the ruins of an ancient cruciform chapel, which, prior to the reformation, was a chapel of ease to st. asaph, in the later style of english architecture: the windows, which are of handsome design, are now nearly concealed by the ivy which has overspread the building; and the ruin, elegant in itself, derives additional interest from the beauty of its situation. see lewis's _wales_, and _beauties of england and wales_, vol. xvii. p. .] * * * * * _wafers._--when and where were wafers invented? they were no new discovery when labat saw some at genoa in ; but from a passage in his _voyages d'espagne et italie_, published in , it would appear that they were even then unknown in france. a writer in the _quarterly review_ says: "we have in our possession letters with the wafers still adhering, which went from lisbon to rome twenty years before that time; and stolberg observes that there are wafers and wafer-seals in the museum at portici." abhba. [respecting the antiquity of wafers, beckmann, in his _history of inventions_, vol. i. p. . (bohn's edition), has the following notice: "m. spiess has made an observation which may lead to farther researches, that the oldest seal with a red wafer he has ever yet found, is on a letter written by d. krapf at spires, in the year , to the government of bayreuth. m. spiess has found also that some years after, forstenhäusser, the brandenburg factor at nuremberg, sent such wafers to a bailiff at osternohe. it appears, however, that wafers were not used during the whole of the seventeenth century in the chancery of brandenburg, but only by private persons, and by these even seldom, because, as speiss says, people were fonder of spanish wax. the first wafers with which the chancery of bayreuth began to make seals were, according to an expense account of the year , sent from nuremberg. the use of wax, however, was still continued, and among the plassenburg archives there is a rescript of , sealed with proper wax. the use of wax must have been continued longer in the duchy of weimar; for in the _electa juris publici_ there is an order of the year , by which the introduction of wafers in law matters is forbidden, and the use of wax commanded. this order, however, was abolished by duke ernest augustus in , and wafers again introduced."] * * * * * _asgill on translation to heaven._--the irish house of commons, in , expelled a mr. asgill from his seat for his book asserting the possibility of translation to the other world without death. what is the title of his book? and where may i find a copy? abhba. [this work, published anonymously, is entitled, "an argument proving that, according to the covenant of eternal life revealed in the scriptures, man may be translated from hence into that eternal life without passing through death, although the humane nature of christ himself could not be thus translated till he had passed through death," a.d. . no name of bookseller or printer. it may be seen at the british museum or bodleian. this work raised a considerable clamour, and dr. sacheverell mentioned it among other blasphemous writings which induced him to think the church was in danger.] * * * * * _ancient custom at coleshill._--i have somewhere seen it stated, that there is an ancient custom at coleshill, in warwickshire, that if the young men of the town can catch a hare, and bring it to the parson of the parish before ten o'clock on easter monday, he is bound to give them a calf's head and a hundred eggs for their breakfast, and a groat in money. can you inform me whether this be the fact? and if so, what is the origin of the custom? abhba. [the custom is noticed in blount's _ancient tenures_, by beckwith, edit. , p. . the origin of it seems to be unknown.] * * * * * replies. the songs of degrees. (vol. ix., p. .) too much pains cannot be expended on the elucidation of the internal structure of the psalms. in this laudable endeavour, your correspondent t. j. buckton has, as i conceive, fallen into an error. he assumes that those psalms which are entitled "songs of degrees" were appropriated for the domestic use rather than the public services of the jews. i cannot consider that the allusions to external objects which he enumerates could affect the argument; for, on the other hand, we find mention of the house of the lord (cxxii. { } . ., cxxvii. ., cxxxii. . ., cxxxiv. .); the sanctuary (cxxxiv. .); the priests (cxxxii. .); and the singers (cxxxiv. .), who attended by night as well as by day ( chron. ix. .): allusions which would sufficiently warrant these psalms being considered as connected with the temple worship. the name _shir hammachaloth_, "song of ascents," prefixed to these fifteen psalms, has given rise to much controversy. the different opinions as to the import of this title may be thus stated: . the ancients understood it to relate to the steps of the temple: of this supposition i shall speak hereafter. . luther, whom tholuck is inclined to follow, renders it a song in the higher choir: intimating that they should be sung from an elevated position, or, as patrick says, "in an elevated voice." . junius and tremellius would translate it "song of excellences," or "excellent song." . gesenius with de wette, considers that this name refers to a particular rhythm, in which the sense ascends in a rhythming gradation; but as this barely appears in one psalm (cxxi.), the facts will scarcely support the hypothesis. . the more modern opinion is, that (notwithstanding four of them being composed by david, and one _by_ solomon) it signifies "song of the ascents" [greek: anabasis] or "pilgrims' song," being composed for or sung by the people during their journeys to jerusalem, whether on their return from the babylonian captivity, or as they statedly repaired to their national solemnities. the first of these hypotheses, though in least repute, i am inclined to prefer. the title in chaldee is "a song sung upon the steps of the abyss;" the septuagint superscription "[greek: Ôdê tôn anabathmôn];" and the vulgate, _carmen graduum_, "song of the steps." in accordance with which the jewish writers state, that these psalms were sung on fifteen steps leading from the atrium israelis to the court of the women. in the apocryphal book of the "birth of mary," translated by archbishop wake, which is to be found in the works of st. jerome, and which is attributed to st. matthew, there is an account of a miracle in the early history of the virgin mary, in which it is said (ch. iv.): " . and there were about the temple, according to the fifteen psalms of degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. " . for the temple being built in a mountain, the altar of burnt-offering, which was without, could not be come near but by stairs." it goes on to state how the infant mary miraculously walked up these stairs. in the account of the same miracle, in the _protevangelion_, ascribed to st. james, it is related (ch. vii.) how the priest-- " . ... placed her (the infant) upon the third _step of the altar_." from this comparison it would appear, that the "stairs about the temple" were synonymous with the "steps of the altar." i would therefore suggest, for the consideration of those better acquainted with the subject, that these psalms were adapted to be sung (not _on_ the steps, as some think, but) as a kind of introit while the priests ascended the steps of the altar. to show their adaptation for this purpose, it may be worth remarking, that they are all, except cxxxii., introits in the first prayer book of edward vi. j. r. g. dublin. * * * * * american poems imputed to english authors. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the southern part of the u. s. seems to make as free with the reputations of english authors, as the northern with their copyright. the name of the south carolina newspaper, which, with so much confirmatory evidence, ascribed _the calm_ to shelley, is not given. if it was the _southern literary messenger_, the editor has been at it again. the following began to appear in the english papers about christmas last, and is still "going the round:" "the sorrows of werther.--the _southern literary messenger_ (u. s.) for the present month contains, in 'the editor's table,' the following comic poem of thackeray's; written, we are told, 'one morning last spring in the _messenger_ office,' during a call made by the author:-- 'werther had a love for charlotte, such as words could never utter. would you know how first he met her? she was cutting bread and butter. 'charlotte was a married lady, and a moral man was werther; and for all the wealth of indies, would do nothing that might hurt her. 'so he sigh'd, and pined, and ogled, and his passion boil'd and bubbled, till he blew his silly brains out, and no more by them was troubled. 'charlotte, having seen his body borne before her on a shutter, like a well-conducted person, went on cutting bread and butter.'" i believe that mr. thackeray knows the value of his writings and his time too well to _whittle_ at verses in the _messenger_ office, and leave his chips on the floor; and that he is too observant of the laws of fair wit to make a falsification and call it a burlesque. _the sorrows of werther_ is not so popular as when known here chiefly by a wretched version of a wretched french version, and many who read these stanzas will be satisfied that the { } last conveys, at worst, a distorted notion of the end of göthe's story. to prevent this misapprehension, i quote from mr. boylan's translation all that is told of charlotte after werther's suicide: "the servant ran for a surgeon, and then went to fetch albert. charlotte heard the ringing of the bell; a cold shudder seized her. she wakened her husband, and they both rose. the servant, bathed in tears, faltered forth the dreadful news. _charlotte fell senseless at albert's feet._ . . . . . . . "the steward and his sons followed the corpse to the grave. albert was unable to accompany them. _charlotte's life was despaired of._" perhaps "despaired of" is too strong a word for "man _fürchtete für_ lottens leben;" but there is no peg on which to hang the poor joke of the last stanza. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * "feather in your cap." (vol. ix., p. .) in reply to mr. gatty's question, i beg to state that the indian wears an eagle's feather for every enemy he has slain. i have seen a boy of fifteen thus decorated, and was assured that it had been lawfully won. the feather is usually stuck into the hinder part of the turban, or head-dress, and either projects straight out, or hangs down the back. this is exactly the fashion in which the chinese wear the peacock's feather; and it also is a mark of distinction for warriors, a military institution similar to our knighthood, or, perhaps, what knighthood once was. (see de guignes and barrow, &c.) i think mckenzie speaks of the eagle's feather, but cannot quote just now. according to elphinstone, the "caufirs of caubul" (siah-posh?) stick a long feather in their turbans for every mussulman they have slain. the similarity of style in wearing their feathers, and, above all, the coincidence of both being the reward of merit, induces a belief that in times long gone by a relationship may have existed between the chinese and the american; a belief that is strengthened by other and more curious testimony than even this. the head-dress, or coronet of upright feathers, to which mr. gatty seems to allude, i have never heard of, as associated with warlike deeds. the coronet of feathers, moreover, does not appear to have been peculiar to america. in the _athenæum_ for is given the representation of a naval engagement, in which one party of the combatants "wear head-dresses of feathers, such as are described in ancient hindu records, and such as the indian caciques wore when america was discovered by columbus," &c. (p. .). moreover, "the lycians had caps adorned with crests, stuck round with feathers," &c. (meyrick's _ancient armour_, &c., vol. i. p. xviii.) we may suppose this to have resembled the coiffure of the mexican and other north american tribes. mr. rankin says the peruvian incas wore, as a distinction, two plumes on the front of the head, similar to those represented in the portraits of tamerlane. (see _conquest by the mogols, &c._, p. .) i have seen, among the wyandots of sandusky, heads which one might suppose had been the originals of the portraits given in his plate: turban made of gaudy-coloured silk, with two short thick feathers stuck upright in front; the one red, the other white tipped with blue, the great desideratum being to have them of different colours, as strongly contrasted as possible. the kalmucs, when they celebrate any great festival, always wear coloured owls' feathers in their caps, &c. (see _strahlenburg_, to., p. .) the dacotas also wear owls' feathers. (see long's _expedition to rocky mountains_, vol. i. p. .) the usbeck tartar chiefs wore (perhaps _do_ wear) plumes of herons' feathers in their turbans; and the herons' plume of the ottoman sultan is only a remnant of the costume in which their ancestors descended from central asia. a. c. m. exeter. * * * * * perspective. (vol. ix., p. .) your correspondent mr. g. t. hoare is rather bold in describing the case he does as a "very common error;" and i cannot agree with him that the façade of sennacherib's palace (layard's nd book on _nineveh_) is an instance of the kind. the theory that horizontal lines in the plane of the picture should converge to a point on the horizontal line right and left of the visual ray, is by no means new; in truth, every line according to this view must form the segment of a circle more or less, according to circumstances. apply this principle to the vertical lines of a tower or lofty building, and every such structure must be represented diminished at the top, the vertical lines converging to a vanishing point in the sky. some years since, this theory was brought forward by mr. parsey, and the subject fully discussed at scientific meetings. there was much ingenuity in the arguments employed, but the illustrations were so unsatisfactory that the system has never gained ground. the principles of perspective are most ably exemplified in many well-known works, as they set forth very satisfactory modes of delineation. the limits of your periodical prevent a fuller correspondence on this subject, or i think it would not be difficult to { } satisfy mr. hoare that there are great difficulties attending his proposition. no recent discoveries in the art of perspective have tended to more truthful representations than those produced by the recognised systems usually adopted. the method of showing the internal courts, &c. of large groups of buildings by isometrical perspective, although very useful for developing architects' and engineers' projects, is not a system that will bear the test of close examination. benj. ferrey. g. t. hoare is quite right in saying "that every line above or below the line of the horizon, though _really_ parallel to it, _apparently_ approaches it, as it is produced to the right or left." but he seems to forget that the same holds good in the picture as in the original landscape, the part opposite the eye being nearer to it than the margin of the paper. to produce the same effect with _converging lines_, the drawing must be made to assume the form of a segment of a circle, the eye being placed in the centre. john p. stilwell. dorking. i must beg leave to differ most decidedly with mr. g. t. hoare on this point. if it is in accordance with the principles of perspective that, supposing the eye and the picture in their true positions in relation to each other and to the objects represented, every line drawn from the eye to any point of a real object will pass through its corresponding point in the picture, then the supposed wall will form the base of a pyramid, of which the eye will be the apex, and the representation of the wall in the picture a section parallel to the base, and consequently mathematically similar to the base itself. it is perfectly true, as mr. hoare says, "that every line above or below the line of the horizon, though _really_ parallel to it, _apparently_ approaches it, as it is produced to the right or left." but he forgets that this fact applies to the picture as well as to the object. in fact, the picture is an object, and the parallel lines in it representing the wall must have the same apparent tendency to one another as those in the wall itself. [greek: halieus] dublin. i am glad mr. g. t. hoare has called attention to the defective state of the art of perspective. his remarks, however, are too narrow. the fact is, that _any_ two parallel straight lines appear to converge at one or both ends, _and one or both lines assume a curvilinear shape_. for a notable example, the vertical section of the duke of york's column in waterloo place, from all points of view, appears to bulge at the point of sight, and to taper upwards by a curvilinear convergence of the sides. c. mansfield ingleby. * * * * * lord fairfax. (vol. ix., p. .) the following is all the information which i have been able to collect respecting the present possessor of the title of fairfax of cameron, in answer to the third query of w. h. m. it gives me pleasure to communicate it. the lords fairfax have been for several generations natives of the united states. the present possessor of the title is not so called, but is known as _mr._ fairfax. he resides at present in suter county, california. his christian names are george william. the gentleman who bore the title at the commencement of the present century, was a zealous member of the republican (now called democratic) party. the fairfax family, at one time, owned all that portion of virginia called the northern neck, lying between the potomac and rappahannock rivers. so much for the _third_ query. i beg leave to add a few remarks suggested by the _fifth_. the _citizens_ of the united states are not called _subjects_ of the united states, and for the same reason that your excellent queen is not called a subject of great britain. native citizens take no oath of citizenship, expressly or _impliedly_, whatever the latter word may mean. foreigners, who become naturalised, do not renounce allegiance to the sovereign of great britain more "pointedly" than to any other sovereign. every one renounces his allegiance to the potentate or power under whose sway he was born: the englishman to the king (or queen) of great britain, the chinese to the emperor of china, the swiss to the republic of switzerland, and so of others. w. h. m. says that the existence of the peers of scotland "is denial of the first proposition in the constitution of" the united states. if w. h. m. will turn to this constitution, he will find that he has confounded the declaration of independence with it. foreigners, on becoming naturalised, have to renounce their titles of nobility; but i know of nothing to prevent a native american citizen from being called lord, as well as mr. or esq. as above mentioned, a lord fairfax was so called twenty-six years after our independence; and lord stirling, who was a major-general in the american army of the revolution, was always so styled by his cotemporaries, and addressed by them as "my lord" and "your lordship." some farther information upon this subject has been promised to me. uneda. philadelphia. if w. h. m. desires particular information concerning the fairfax family in virginia, it will give { } me pleasure to send him notes from sparks' _washington, virginia, its history and antiquities, &c._; amongst which is a picture of "greenway court manor house." i now give only an extract from washington to sir john sinclair (sparks, vol. xii. pp. , .), which answers in part w. h. m.'s third query: "within full view of mount vernon, separated therefrom by water only, is one of the most beautiful seats on the river for sale, but of greater magnitude than you seem to have contemplated. it is called belvoir, and belonged to george wm fairfax; who, were he now living, would be baron of cameron, as his younger brother in this country (george wm. dying without issue) at present is, though he does not take upon himself the title. this seat was the residence of the above-named gentleman before he went to england ... at present it belongs to thomas fairfax, son of bryan fairfax: the gentleman who will not, as i said before, take upon himself the title of baron of cameron." t. balch. philadelphia. i cannot but deem your correspondents w. w. and h. g. in error when they consider that the name of baron fairfax ought not to be retained in the peerage. the able heraldic editors of the peerages are likely to be better versed in such matters than to have perpetrated and perpetuated so frequently the blunder; or what is to be said of sir bernard burke's elevation to be a king of arms? not to omit the instance of the earl of athlone, who, though a natural-born subject of a foreign realm, in took his seat in the house of lords in ireland (a case which h. g. wants explained), we have a more recent instance in the case of the present king of hanover, a foreign potentate, who is duke of cumberland and teviotdale by inheritance, in our peerage, and whose coronation oath (of allegiance?) must be quite incompatible with the condition of a _subject_ in another state. i confess i should like to see this explained, as well as the position of those (amongst whom, however, lord fairfax now ranks) who, while strictly mere subjects and citizens of their own state, may have had conferred upon themselves, or inherit, titles of dignity and privilege in a foreign one. we usually (as in the case of the rothschilds, &c.) acknowledge their highest title in address, but without any adjective or epithets to qualify with honor, such as "honorable;" as is the case, too, with doctors of foreign universities, whose title from courtesy we also admit, though this does not place them on a footing with those of england. the present duke of wellington and the earl nelson inherit, i believe, titles of dignity in foreign lands, though natural-born subjects of this realm; and there can hardly be a doubt that lord fairfax inherits correctly his british barony, though, whenever he may exercise for the first time a _legal_ vote, he may have to exhibit proof of his being the very heir and person qualified, merely because born and resident in a foreign state; the same as would in such case doubtless occur with regard to the other noble persons i have referred to. a fairfax kinsman. nantcribba hall, n.w. the followings entry in t. kerslake's catalogue, _the bristol bibliographer_, seems worth notice: "burrough's (jer.) gospel remission. true blessedness consists in pardon of sin, , to., with autograph of thos. lord fairfax, , and several ms.[ ] notes by him, s. d." e. m. hastings. [footnote : one note may be thought to be characteristic. in the table occurs, "many think their sins are pardoned, because it is but little they are guilty of." the general has interlined, "a pistol kills as well as a cannon."] * * * * * "consilium delectorum cardinalium." (vol. ix., pp. . .) i have before me a copy of this very interesting document, together with an _epistole joannis sturmii de eadem re, ad cardinales cæterosque viros ad eam consultationem delectos_, printed at strasburg ("ex officina cratonis mylii argentoraten.") a.d. . the report of the committee had reached sturmius in the month of march, - ; and his critique, addressed especially to contarini, bears the date "tertio non. aprilis." as it is a somewhat scarce pamphlet, two or three extracts may not be unacceptable to the readers of "n. & q." "rara res est et præter omnium opinionem oblata occasio, pontificem datum orbi talem, qui jurejurando fidem suorum sibi ad patefaciendam veritatem astrinxerit, ut si quid secus statuatis quam religio desideret vobis ea culpa non pontifici præstanda videatur."--c. . "at si diligenter et cum fide agatis, vestra virtute, florentem christi rempublicam conspiciamus; si negligenter et cupide, ut cujus rei adhuc reliquiæ nonnullæ supersunt, illæ continuo ita tollantur, simul ac calumniari ac male agere ceperitis, ut ne vestigia quidem ullius sanctitatis apud vestras quidem partes posteris nostris appareant."--c. . he then passes to other topics, where he has to deplore the little sympathy evinced by the cardinals for luther and his party, _e.g._ on the subject of indulgences: "quid de illa ratione quam poenitentibus præscribitis, nonne falsa, nonne perversa, nonne ad quæstum magis et ad tyrannidem quam ad vitæ emendationem, { } et correctionem spectans? et qui remedia contra hos morbos quærunt, eos vos ea ecclesia ejiciendos putatis, et condemnatis hæreseos, qui restituere pristinam puritatem religioni conantur; eos illam tollere, qui ceremonias purgare, eos perflegare qui auctoritatem ecclesiasticam recuperare atque confirmare, eos imminuere et labefactare clamatis."--d. . charles hardwick. had mr. woodward's remarks come sooner under notice, they should have received, as well deserving, a quicker reply. it is in one sense rather annoying that he should have mistaken so widely the publication under question, and spent so much time in confirming what few, if any, now doubt, of the papal origin of the _consilium delectorum cardinalium_. (see gibbings' preface to his _reprint of the roman index expurgatorius_, p. xx.) the title of the tract (so to speak) commonly attributed to the same quarter, but the justice of which is questioned, is, _consilium quorundam episcoporum bononiæ congregatorum, quod de ratione stabiliendæ romanæ ecclesiæ_ julio iii. p.m. _datum est_. _this_ is the _consilium_ to which mr. woodward's attention should have been confined; and which he will find in the same volume of brown's _fasciculus_, to which he has referred me on the real _consilium_, pp. - . it appears in english also, translated by dr. clagett, in bishop gibson's _preservative_, vol. i. p. . edit. vo.; and is also included (a point to be noticed) in the single volume published of vergerio's _works_, tubingen, .[ ] mr. woodward has no doubt frequently met, in protestant authors, with the quotation from this supposed bologna council (_consilium_ being taken for _concilium_), recommending that as little as possible of the scriptures should be suffered to come abroad among the vulgar, that having proved the grand source of the present calamities. now the very air of this passage, and of course of many others rather less disguised, is of itself sufficient to prove that this bologna council is a piece of banter; the workmanship, in fact, of peter paul vergerio. would any _real_ adherent of rome so express himself? "n.& q." (vol. ix., p. .) supplies a ready answer, in the communication from f. c. h. on the so-called catholic bible society. would a real adherent of the papal church again express himself in the following _unimpassioned_ manner? "nam apostolorum temporibus (ut verum tibi fateamur, sed silentio opus est) vel aliquot annis post ipsos apostolos, nulla vel papatus, vel cardinalatus mentio erat, nec amplissimos illos reditus episcopatuum et sacerdotiorum fuisse constat, nec templa tantis sumptibus extruebantur, &c.: æstimet ergo tua sanctitas quam male nobiscum ageretur, si nostro aliquo fato in pristinam paupertatem humilitatem et miseram illam servitutem ac potestatem alienam redigendi essemus!" again: "deinde ubi episcopi sacerdotum palmas tantum inungunt, jube illos internam atque externam manum, ad hæc caput ipsum et simul totam faciem perungere. nam si tantulum illud oleum sanctificandi vim habet, major certe olei quantitas majorem quoque sanctificandi vim obtinebit." to be sure! who can doubt it? mr. woodward will, i apprehend, readily agree that these sentences come from no one connected with the roman church. and they are quoted in the hope that protestants will cease to cite this supposed bologna council as any valid or genuine testimony to romish proceedings and sentiments. novus. [footnote : see an account of him in mccrie's _hist. of the reformation in italy_, pp. . . &c.] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mounting positives._--if the print and the mounting paper, or bristol board, are _both_ made equally damp, and the back of the picture covered with thin paste, they adhere without any unevenness; and if the print is on the fine canson's paper, the appearance is that of an india proof. they should remain until _perfectly dry_ in a press. h. w. diamond. _mounting of photographs, and difficulties in the wax-paper process._--may i request a little additional information from your correspondent seleucus, vol. ix., p. ., respecting the mounting of photographs? does he mean merely the painting the edges, or the smearing of the photograph all over its back with the indian-rubber glue, prior to sticking the proof on the cardboard? if the former, which i apprehend he does, seleucus will necessarily have the unsightly appearance of the picture's buckling up in the middle on the board being bent forward and backward in different directions? may i take the liberty of asking him in what respect the plan proposed is superior to that of painting over the edges with mucilage of gum arabic, containing a little brown sugar to prevent its cracking, allowing it to dry, and prior to the placing it on the card, slightly moistening it; a plan superior to that of putting it on the board at first, as all risk of a portion of the gum oozing out at the edges is thereby avoided. i have long been in the habit of mounting prints and photographs in a way which prevents their buckling, keeps the paper underneath quite smooth, and in other respects is so perfect, that it positively defies the distinguishing of the picture from the paper on which it is mounted. i am not certain that my plan is applicable to the mounting on card-board, as it cannot be wetted and stretched, thinking it useless to make use of such a costly material when a tolerably thick drawing-paper will more than serve the same purpose at a very considerably less expense, seeing that the photograph thus mounted bears a much closer resemblance { } to that of a good and costly print. a good plain or tinted sheet of drawing-paper, inches by , may be obtained at the artists' colour shops for sixpence, sufficiently large for two drawings, inches by , allowing a sufficient margin. after various trials, the plan i have found decidedly the best is the following:--soak the drawing-paper in a vessel of water for ten minutes, or until it appears by its flaccidity to have become perfectly saturated; put it at once into an artist's stretching frame, brush over the back of the photograph with rather thin and perfectly smooth paste, allow it a few minutes to imbibe a portion of the moisture of the paste, and then lay it smoothly down on the damp paper now on the stretching frame, of course carefully pressing out all air bubbles as you gradually, beginning at one side, smooth down the pasted picture. it should remain in a dry place (not placed before a fire) until the whole has become quite dry, about ten or twelve hours. it may then be taken out of the frame, cut to the desired shape, and a single or double line nicely drawn around the picture, at a distance suitable to each individual's taste, by the help of sepia-coloured ink and a crowquill pen, both of which may also be bought at the artists' colour shop. should it be required to be still more nicely mounted, and to appear to have been one and the same paper originally, the back edges of the picture should, previous to laying on the paste, be rubbed down to a fine and knife-like edge with a piece of the finest sand-paper placed on a wine cork, or substance of a similar size. the drawing-paper should be of the same shade and tint as the ground of the photograph. a novice in the wax-paper process (having heretofore worked the collodion and calotype, from its very desirable property of keeping long good after being excited, _i. e._ the wax paper), i am very desirous of getting over an unexpected difficulty in its manipulation; and if some one of the many liberal-minded contributors to your justly wide-spread periodical, well versed in that department of the art, would lend me a helping hand in my present difficulty, i should feel more than obliged for the kindness thereby conferred. my wax-paper negative, much to my disappointment, occasionally exhibits, more or less, a speckled appearance by transmitted light, which frequently, in deep painting, impresses the positive with an unsightly spotted character, somewhat similar to that of a bad lithograph taken from a worn-out stone. i should wish my wax-paper negative to be similar in appearance to that of a good calotype one, or to show by transmitted light, as my vexatious specimen does when viewed on its right side by reflected light. as the most lucid description must fall far short of a sight of the article itself, i purpose enclosing you a specimen of my failure, a portion of one of the negatives in question. would immersion, instead of floating on the gallo-nitrate solution, remedy the evil? or should the impressed sheet be entirely immersed in the developing fluid in place of being floated? and if in the affirmative, of what strength should it be? i have thus far tried both plans in vain. henry h. hele. [the defects described by our correspondent are so frequent with manipulators in the wax-paper process, and which dr. mansell has called so aptly a "gravelly appearance," that we shall be glad to receive communications from those of our numerous correspondents who are so fortunate as to avoid it.] _the new waxed-paper, or céroléine process._--the following process, communicated to the french paper _cosmos_ by m. stephane geoffroy, and copied into _la lumière,_ appears to possess many of the advantages of the wax-paper, while it gets rid of those blemishes of which so many complain. i have therefore thought it deserving the attention of english photographers, and so send a translation of it to '"n. & q." as i have preserved the french measures--the _litre_ and the _gramme_--i may remind those who think proper to repeat m. geoffroy's experiments, that the former is equal to about pints and ounces of our measure; and that the _gramme_ is equal to . grains, nearly ½. anon. i send you a complete description of a method for either wet or dry paper, which has many advantages over that of mr. le gray. i assure you it is excellent; and its results are always produced in a manner so easy, so simple, and so certain, that i think i am doing great service to photographers in publishing it. st. i introduce grammes of yellow or white wax into litre of spirits of wine, of the strength usually sold, in a glass retort. i boil the alcohol till the wax is completely dissolved (first taking care to place at the end of my retort an apparatus, by means of which i can collect all the produce of the distillation). i pour into a measure the mixture which remains in the retort while liquid; while it is getting cool, the myricine and the cerine harden or solidify, and the céroléine remains alone in solution in the alcohol. i separate this liquid by straining it through fine linen; and by a last operation, i filter it through a paper in a glass funnel, after having mixed with it the alcohol resulting the distillation. i keep in reserve this liquor in a stopper-bottle, and make use of it as i want it, after having mixed it in the following manner. nd. next i dissolve, in grammes of alcohol, of degrees of strength, grammes of iodide of ammonium (or, of potassium), gramme of bromide of ammonium or potassium, gramme of fluoride of potassium or ammonium. i then pour, drop by drop, upon about gramme of fresh-made iodide of silver a concentrated solution of cyanide of potassium, only just sufficient to dissolve it. i add this dissolved iodide of silver to the preceding mixture, and shake it up: there remains, as a sediment at the bottom of the bottle, a considerable thickness of all the above salts, which serve to saturate the alcohol by which i replace successively the saturated which i have extracted by degrees in the proportions below. rd. having these two bottles ready, when i wish to prepare negatives, i take about grammes of the solution no. . of céroléine and alcohol, with which i mix grammes of the solution no. .; i filter the mixture with care, to avoid the crystals which are not dissolved, which always soil the paper; and in a porcelain tray i make a bath, into which i lay to soak for { } about a quarter of an hour the papers selected and cut, five or six at a time, till the liquor is exhausted. taken out, hung up by the corner, and dried, these papers, which have taken a uniform rosy tint, are shut up free from dust, and kept dry. with regard to the sensitizing by nitrate of silver, the bringing out of the image under the action of gallic acid, and fixing the proof by hyposulphite of soda, i follow the usual methods, most frequently that of mr. le gray. i add only, if i have any dissolved, or grammes of camphorated spirits to litre of the solution of gallic acid. allow me, sir, to say a few words on the great advantages i have always remarked in preparing my negatives by this method. all those who use papers waxed by mr. le gray's process, know how many, how tedious, and how difficult are the operations before the sensitizing by nitrate of silver. they know too how much care is necessary to obtain papers uniformly prepared and without spots, in the midst of such long operations, in which there are so many opportunities for accidents. in fact, one must be always upon one's guard against the impurities of the wax obtained from the shop; against the dust during the impregnation of the paper; and, while using the iron, against the over-heating of the latter, and against the bad quality of the paper used to blot. photographers know also how much wax they lose by this process, and how much it costs for the quantities of paper necessary to dry it properly. they know likewise how difficult and tedious it is to soak a waxed paper which has been previously in a watery solution. on the contrary, by the method i have described, the iodizing and the waxing is done by one single, simple, and rapid process; the saturation is, as may be conceived, very uniform, and very complete, thanks to the power of penetration possessed by the alcohol; and that marbled appearance of the ordinary waxed proofs, which is so annoying, cannot be produced by this method, thanks to the character of the céroléine: this body is, in fact, of a remarkable elasticity. the solution of céroléine in the alcohol is more easy to prepare, and comparatively costs little; and the remains of stearine and of myricine can either be sold again, or, in any case, may be used to wax fixed proofs. the solution of which i have given you the formula, is photogenic to a very high degree; in fact, used with papers, either thin or stout, it gives, after the first bath of gallic acid, blacks of an intensity truly remarkable; which it is impossible to obtain to the same degree with le gray's paper, and which other papers scarcely take after having been done a second time with the acetic acid, or the bichloride of mercury. at the same time, it preserves the lights and the half-tones in a way that surprises me upon each new trial (i have not yet been able to obtain one clear proof by gallic acid, with the addition of nitrate of silver). the transparency of the proofs is always admirable, and the clearness of the object yields in nothing to that of the proofs obtained by albumen. the paper, prepared in the manner i have described, is also very quick as compared with le gray's paper--at least one fourth quicker; and preserves its perfect sensitiveness in the same proportion of time, three days in twelve. thus, it is at the same time quicker and less variable. this comparative rapidity may be very well understood, by remembering that the céroléine is an element much softer than its compound; and possesses a photogenic aptness which is peculiar to itself, which science will, no doubt, soon explain. to succeed in the preparation of the céroléine, it is important to work with wax of the best quality; this is not easy in paris, where they sell, under the name of wax, a resinous matter which is only wax in appearance. it will be well to observe, with the greatest care, the smell and the look of a fresh cut. [this article reached us after our preceding note was in type. we shall be glad to hear from any correspondents who have tried this process how far they find it to be one deserving of attention.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _origin of clubs_ (vol. ix., p. .).--johnson's definition of club, as "an assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions," will apply to a meeting held two centuries earlier than that established by sir walter raleigh at the mermaid, in friday street. in the reign of henry iv., there was a club called "la court de bone compagnie," of which occleve was a member, and probably chaucer. in the works of the former are two ballads, written about , one a congratulation from the brethren to henry somer, on his appointment as sub-treasurer of the exchequer; and the other a reminder to the same person, that the "styward" had warned him that he was-- " . . . . for the dyner arraye ageyn thirsday next, and nat it delaye." that there were certain conditions to be observed by this society, appears from the latter epistle, which commences with an answer to a letter of remonstrance the "court" has received from henry somer against some undue extravagance, and a breach of their rules. they were evidently a jovial company; and such a history as could be collected of these societies would be both interesting and curious. we have proof that henry somer received chaucer's pension for him. edward foss. _dr. whichcote and dorothy jordan_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the sentence which mr. leigh hunt couples with mrs. jordan's laugh, as among the best sermons he ever heard, your correspondent [greek: xanthos] will find in the collection of _moral and religious aphorisms_ of dr. whichcote, first published by dr. jeffery in , and which were re-published by dr. salter in . it is to the following effect: "aph. . to _lessen_ the number of things _lawful in themselves_; brings the consciences of men in[to] slavery, multiplies sin in the world, makes the way { } narrower than god has made it, occasions differences among men, discourages comers to religion, rebuilds the partition wall, is an usurpation upon the family of god, challenges successive ages backward and forward, assigns new boundaries in the world, takes away the opportunity of free-will offerings." it is possible that mr. leigh hunt may have found it in the little _manual of golden sentences,_ published by the rev. john hunter, bath, , mo., where it occurs at p. ., no. xlvi. with respect to dorothy jordan's laugh, to those of your readers who, like myself, have heard it, and treasure it among their joyous remembrances, no comment will be wanting. s. w. singer. "_paid down upon the nail_" (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent abhba mentions limerick, on the authority of o'keefe the dramatist, as the place where this saying originated; from the fact of a pillar, with a circular plate of copper upon it, having stood in a piazza under the exchange in this ancient city: which pillar was called "the nail." permit me to remark, bristol also claims the origin of this saying: vide the following paragraph in no. . p. . of the _curiosities of bristol_, published last september: "we have heard it stated that this phrase first originated in bristol, when it was common for the merchants to buy and sell at the bronze pillars (four) in front of the exchange--the pillars being commonly called _nails_." i should infer that, from the fact of bristol having been at the time of the erection of these pillars (some centuries ago) by far the most important place in the british empire (london only excepted), it is more likely to have originated this commercial saying than limerick. bristoliensis. "_man proposes, but god disposes_" (vol. ix., pp. . .).--i regret that i am unable to afford mr. thomas any information respecting the abbot gerson, to whom the authorship of the _de imitatione_ has been attributed, beyond what is contained in the preface to the edition which i before quoted. the authority there cited is a dissertation, entitled _mémoire sur le véritable auteur de l'imitation de jésus-christ_, par g. de gregory, chevalier de la légion d'honneur, etc., paris, . the contents of this work are thus described in that preface: "eques de gregory argumentis tum externis, tum internis demonstrat:-- . libellum--primitus tractatum fuisse ethicæ scholasticum, a magistro novitiorum elaboratum. . eundem, tempore inter annum et interjecto, suppresso nomine conscriptum esse a joanne gerson, monacho benedictino, antea in athenæo vercellensi professore, postea ibidem monasterii s. stephani abbate. denique specialibus argumentis eos refellit, qui vel joanni gersoni, cancellario academiæ parisiensi, vel thomæ kempensi hunc librum attribuendum esse contendunt." i have been informed that an interesting article upon the question of the authorship has recently appeared in a very recent number of a roman catholic review; i believe brownson's _american quarterly._ h. p. lincoln's inn. h. p. wishes for some other quotations from _de imitatione christi_, in order to test the claims to originality of that extraordinary work; i therefore now supply another--"of two evils we ought always to choose the least,"--because i strongly suspect that it is even some centuries older than the time of the author, thomas à kempis. it will be found in b. iii. ch. xii. of the english translation. a. b. c. _roman catholic patriarchs_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following, with the signature w. fraser, appeared in "n. & q.": "has any bishop of the western church held the title of patriarch, besides the patriarch of venice? and what peculiar authority or privileges has he?" the archbishop of lisbon has the title of patriarch of the indies; but it does not appear that he has any defined jurisdiction, being only an inferior patriarch, and with a title little more than honorary. his grand vicars, however, are archbishops; and his seal has, like those of other patriarchs, the tiara encircled with two crowns only. this patriarchate was created by pope clement xi., by his constitution _in supremo apostolatus_. afterwards, in the year , the same pope conferred upon the patriarch of lisbon the exclusive right of anointing the kings of portugal at their coronation on the right arm, which had previously been the privilege of the archbishop of braga. f. c. h. the primate of portugal has the style of "patriarch," but i do not know of any privileges or authority that he has beyond those appertaining to the rank of archbishop or cardinal, when he happens to be one, as at present. j. s. warden. _classic authors and the jews_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in smith's _dictionary of greek and roman biography_ a few references are given, under the words "herodes," "hyrcanus," &c., to classical authors who refer to the jewish people, their country and customs. probably many more will be given in the _dictionary of geography_, under the words "palestine," "jerusalem," &c., when the work is completed. to suppose that the classical authors allude but seldom to the jews is a mistake. roman writers of the post-augustan period abound in allusions to them. i can supply { } b. h. c. with a few. the _histories_ of tacitus refer to them in almost every page, and book v. especially contains an account of their origin, institutions, chief city, and temple. juvenal also has frequent allusions to their customs and habits, _e. g._ sat. iii. ., xiv. . &c.; see also horace's _satires_, i. iv. ., i. v. ., and i. ix. ., with macleane's notes on the two latter passages; pliny, v. xiv. ., xiii. iv. ., xxxi. viii. .; quint., iii. vii. .; just., xxxvi. . i am not aware of any work which gives _all_ the passages in classical authors referring to the jews. francis j. leachman, b.a. in answer to your correspondent b. h. c., i beg to say that i have found out the following passages in classic authors bearing on judea and the jews, all of which i have authenticated myself, except where i had not the book at hand: tacitus. annales, ii. .; xii. . .; xv. . ditto. historiæ, i. .; ii. . , . . . .; v. _passim_. horace. satires, i. . .; i. . .; i. . . juvenal. satires, ii. .; vi. - , - .; xiv. - . persius. satires, v. - . martial, iv. . suetonius. tiberius, .; augustus, .; claudius, .; vespasian, . &c.; julius cæsar, . pliny, v. , , . &c.; vii. .; xxviii. . dio cassius, lx. § .; xxxvii. § . lucan, ii. b. h. a. _mawkin_ (vol. ix., p. .).--an attempt to explain the origin of the word _maukin_, or _malkin_, may be seen in the _philological museum_, vol. i. p. . (see also halliwell's dict., in _malkin_ and _maulkin_.) the most probable derivation of the word is, that _malkin_ is a diminutive of _mal_, abbreviated from _mary_, now commonly written _moll._ hence, by successive changes, _malkin_ or _maukin_ might mean a dirty wench, a figure of old rags dressed up as a scarecrow, and a mop of rags used for cleaning ovens. the scotch _maukin_, for a hare, seems to be an instance of an animal acquiring a proper name, like _renard_ in french, and _jack_ for _pike_ in english. l. _mantelpiece_ (vol. ix., p. .).--_french_, manteau de cheminée. _german_, kamin mantel. this is the moulding, or mantle, that serves to hide (screen) the joint betwixt the wall and the fire-stove. h. f. b. _mousehunt_ (vol. ix., pp. , .).--a short time ago i was informed by a gamekeeper, that this little animal is found in the holt forest. he told me that there are three kinds of the weasel tribe in the woods: the weasel, the stoat or stump, and the _mousehunt_ or _mousehunter_, which is also called the _thumb_, from its diminutive size. it feeds on mice and small birds; but my informant does not think that it attacks game. white of selbourne mentions that such an animal was supposed to exist in his neighbourhood: "some intelligent country people have a notion that we have, in these parts, a species of the genus _mustelinum,_ besides the weasel, stoat, ferret, and polecat: a little reddish beast, not much bigger than a field-mouse, but much longer, which they call a _cane_. this piece of intelligence can be little depended on; but farther inquiry may be made."--_natural history of selbourne_, let. . frederick m. middleton. as i can completely join in with the praise your correspondent mr. tennyson awards to mr. fennell's _natural history of quadrupeds_ (except as regards some of its woodcuts, which i understand were inserted by the publisher in spite of the author's remonstrance), i feel induced to protect mr. fennell from the hypercritical commentary of your correspondent j. s.s. (p. .). in the passage quoted and commented on, had mr. fennell used the word _beach_, it would certainly have referred to the sea; but the word "shore," which he there uses, applies to rivers as well as seas. thus spenser, speaking of the river nile, says: "... beside the fruitful _shore_ of muddy _nile_, upon a sunny bank outstretched lay, in monstrous length, a mighty crocodile." the passage, therefore, in mr. fennell's work does not seem to me to be incorrect, as it may have reference to the _shore_ of the tweed, ettrick, yarrow, or some other rivers in selkirkshire. may i take the present opportunity of inquiring through your truly useful columns, when mr. fennell's work on the natural history of shakspeare, advertised some few years since, is likely to appear? archibald fraser. woodford. "_vanitatem observare_" (vol. ix., pp. . .).--the quotation of r. h. g. is no more to be found in the canons of laodicea than in those of ancyra. indeed the passage has more the appearance of a recommendation, certainly excellent, than of any grave decree of a council. it can hardly be supposed to bear any other meaning than that christian females ought not to _indulge vanity_, or take occasion to be vain of their works in wool, spun or woven; but to refer all their talent to the almighty, who gives to them the skill and ability to work. here is evidently an allusion to the skill and wisdom given to beseleel and ooliab: "both of them hath he instructed with wisdom, to do ... tapestry and embroidery in blue and purple, { } and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, and to weave all things, and to invent all things."--exod. xxxv. . and christian women are reminded that all their skill in such work is the gift of god. the learned benedictine rupertus has a comment upon this passage of exodus, so apposite that its substance may appropriately conclude this note: "disce hinc, artes omnes, etiam mechanicas, esse dona dei, saltem naturalia, neque in iis ut suis, suaque industria inventis aut partis, _homini gloriandum esse_ (q. d. vanitatem observare), sed illas deo adscribendas, ab eoque petendas, et in ejus obsequium expendendas esse." f. c. husenbeth, d.d. the passage which your correspondent r. h. g. quotes from the council of ancyra, a.d. , is not to be found in the canons of that council, which are printed in their original greek, with several latin translations, in labbe's _concilia_, vol. ii. p. . the meaning of the sentence does not seem very abstruse; but before any suggestion is made for its interpretation, it will be desirable to ascertain to what council it belongs. l. _divining rod_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--your correspondents do not tell us what was discovered in the places to which the rod pointed in the hands of the ladies named; but although they cannot for a moment be suspected of wilfully deceiving, may there not have been, as in table-turning, an unconscious employment of muscular force? i have long since read, and have tried with success, the following mode of producing the effect:--holding the rod in the usual position, one branch of the fork in each hand, and grasping them firmly, turn your hands slowly and steadily round inwards, _i. e._ the right hand from the right to left, and the left from left to right--the point of the rod will then gradually descend till it points directly downwards. j. s. warden. _orange blossoms_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the compliment of captain absolute to mrs. malaprop in _the rivals_, contains, i have no doubt, the allegorical reason of the employment of these flowers on bridal occasions; and in that view they seem highly appropriate, at least in our colder climates--where we often see many "flowers" still on the parent stem, while the "fruit" has attained its full perfection. j. s. warden. "_hip, hip, hurrah!_" (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--allow me to correct two mistakes with reference to the notes on this subject. the note ascribed to dr. burney, in a copy of hawkins's _history of music_, in the british museum, is in the handwriting of sir john hawkins, as are _all_ the other notes scattered through the five volumes. these ms. notes have been included in the recent reprint of this valuable work. in the hurry of transcribing, mr. chappell (as your correspondent a. f. b. suggests) _misread_ the ms. note. in future we must read "_hop_ drinkers," and not "_hep_ drinkers." edward f. rimbault. _belgium ecclesiastical antiquities_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the inquiry of ajax has only been recently brought under my notice. in reply, i refer him to _recueil héraldique et historique des familles de belgique_. this is the finest work on the antiquities, civil, military, and ecclesiastic, of that country: it was printed at antwerp by rapell fils, and is in five large to. volumes. i saw a copy sold in malines for about l.: it is now become more scarce, and probably could not be obtained under l. henry daveney. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the faussett collection has, as our readers are probably aware, become the property not of the public, but of a private individual, mr. joseph mayer, f.s.a., of liverpool, who, with praiseworthy liberality, has resolved to make the collection as useful as possible to the public. he has therefore determined to publish, under the title of _saxon antiquities from the kentish tumuli_, mr. faussett's copious ms. accounts of the opening of the barrows, and of the discoveries made in them; accompanied by numerous illustrations of the more important objects themselves, especially of the world-renowned gold brooches, which exhibit such exquisite specimens of the artistic skill of our ancestors. the work will appear under the editorship of mr. c. roach smith, who will illustrate mr. faussett's discoveries by the results of kindred investigations in france and germany. the subscription price is two guineas, and the number of copies will, as far as possible, be regulated by the list of subscribers. a few months since _the athenæum_ announced the discovery at lambeth, some time previously, of a number of documents of the cromwellian period. this announcement attracted the attention of some french literary man, probably m. guizot, who appears to have made some inquiries on the subject, which resulted in a paragraph in the _journal des débats_, not, indeed, contradicting the fact of the discovery, but denying its importance. can any of our readers throw light upon this matter? had our valued correspondent dr. maitland still held office at lambeth, there would probably not have been any doubt left as to the value or worthlessness of any mss. discovered under the archiepiscopal roof,--albeit, found as we have understood these to have been, not in the department of the librarian, or, indeed, of any of the officials, but in some out-of-the way tower. have these documents been examined? if so, what are they? if not, why does not the society of antiquaries send a deputation to the archbishop, and request his permission to undertake the task. probably their labour would { } not be thrown away. at all events, the doubt which now exists, whether valuable but unused materials for a most important period of our history may not be mouldering at lambeth, would be removed; and future carlyles be spared useless journeys and wasted hours to rediscover them. a publishing society, somewhat similar to the camden, has been established in the united states, under the title of _the seventy-six society_, for the publication and republication of books and papers relating to the american revolution. books received.--_gibbon's rome, with variorum notes_, vol. iii., _bohn's british classics_. the third volume of this cheap and excellent reprint of gibbon extends from julian's expedition against the persians to the accession of marcian.--_the book of the axe, containing a piscatorial description of that stream, &c._, by george p. r. pulman. a pleasant semi-piscatorial, semi-antiquarian, gossiping volume, welcome at this season, when the may-fly is looked for on the waters; illustrative of the fishing spots and historical localities of the far-famed axe.--_tasso's jerusalem delivered, translated into english spenserian; with a life of the author_, by j. h. wiffen, the new volume of bohn's _illustrated library_, forms a fitting companion to wright's _dante_, so recently noticed by us. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. lingard's england. foolscap vo. . vols. i. to v., and x. and xi. the works of dr. jonathan swift. london, printed for c. bathurst, in fleet street, . vol. vii. (vol. vi. ending with "verses on the death of dr. swift," written in nov. .) byron's works. vol. vi. of murray's edition. . the volume of the london polyglott which contains the prophets. imperfection in other parts of no consequence. carlisle on grammar schools. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. two copies. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: ancient commerce of hindostan, forming vol. vii. of "maurice's indian antiquities, ." wanted by the _rev. h. atlay, b.-casterton, stamford_. bishop o'brien's ten sermons on justification. wanted by _lieut. bruce_, royal horse artillery, chatham. latimer's sermons. published by the parker society. vol. i. wanted by _mr. j. g. nichols_, . parliament street. plans or maps of ancient london, and representations of remarkable and interesting objects connected therewith--large size (such as old st. paul's, paul's cross, old london bridge, &c.). a copy of no. . (or early number) of "the times" newspaper. a copy of one of the "broadsheets" issued during the plague. wanted by _mr. joseph simpson_, librarian, literary and scientific institution, islington, london. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we must beg the indulgence of many correspondents for omitting to reply to them this holiday week._ h. b. c._'s paper_, impossibilities of history, _in our next_. t. l. n. _for the authorship of the latin verse on dr. franklin, see our th volume_, pp. . . . .; _and_ vol. vi., p. . j--g., the editor, _and another correspondent. no._ m. w. _try a weaker solution of pyrogallic; that is, make the ordinary -grain to the ounce solution, and use one-third of that and one-third of plain water, and the results will probably be what you desire. the bath will keep for a long time, if kept free from dust, &c._ _the extent which photography occupies in our present number will, we are sure, excuse us, in the eyes of several correspondents. for the omission of their communications._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price_ s. d., _cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price_ l. s.--_for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * smee's binocular perspective photographs.--a full account of the mode of taking these extraordinary likenesses in "smee on the eye," just published, price s. horne, thornthwaite & wood, . newgate street, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bank of deposit. no. . pall mall east, and . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. _established_ a.d. . investment accounts may be opened daily, with capital of any amount. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses and forms sent free on application. * * * * * chubb's fire-proof safes and locks.--these safes are the most secure from force, fraud, and fire. chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. complete lists, with prices, will be sent on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * grosjean's celebrated trowsers, s. per pair. . regent street. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * surplices. gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, has prepared his usual large supply of surplices, in anticipation of easter. parcels delivered free at railway stations. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale. messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * heal & son's spring mattresses.--the most durable bedding is a well-made spring mattress; it retains its elasticity, and will wear longer without repair than any other mattress, and with _one_ french wool and hair mattress on it is a most luxurious bed. heal & son make them in three varieties. for prices of the different sizes and qualities, apply for heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, and priced list of bedding. it contains designs and prices of upwards of bedsteads, and prices of every description of bedding, and is sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | transcriber's note: italicized words, phrases, etc. are | | surrounded by _underline characters_. greek transliterations | | are surrounded by ~tildes~. diacritical marks over | | characters are bracketed: [=x] indicates a macron over the | | letter, [(x] indicates a breve. archaic spellings and | | hypenation inconsistancies have been retained. | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page "the shepherd of banbury's weather-rules," by w. b. rye notes on several misunderstood words, by the rev. w. r. arrowsmith lord coke shakspeare correspondence, by c. mansfield ingleby, &c. minor notes:--alleged cure for hydrophobia--epitaph at mickleton--charade attributed to sheridan-- suggested reprint of hearne--suggestions of books worthy of being reprinted--epigram all the way from belgium--derivation of "canada"--railway signals --a centenarian trading vessel queries:-- bishop ken minor queries:--canute's reproof to his courtiers --the sign of the cross in the greek church--rev. richard midgley, vicar of rochdale, temp. eliz.-- huet's navigations of solomon--sheriff of worcestershire in --tree of the thousand images--de burgh family--witchcraft sermons at huntingdon-- consort--creole--shearman family--traitors' ford --"your most obedient humble servant"--version of a proverb--ellis walker--"the northerne castle" --prayer-book in french--"navita erythræum," &c. --edmund burke--plan of london--minchin minor queries with answers:--leapor's "unhappy father"--meaning of "the litten" or "litton" --st. james' market house replies:-- grub street journal, by james crossley stone pillar worship autographs in books grindle roger outlawe, by dr. j. h. todd, &c. prospectus to cibber's "lives of the poets," by james crossley pic-nic, by john anthony, m.d., and henry h. breen peter sterry and jeremiah white, by james crossley photographic notes and queries:--colouring collodion portraits--on some points in the collodion process--economical iodizing process replies to minor queries:--bishop juxon's account of vendible books in england--dutensiana--vicars-apostolic --tombstone in churchyard--"her face is like," &c.--annuellarius--ship's painter--true blue --"quod fuit esse"--subterranean bells--spontaneous combustion--muffs worn by gentlemen-- crescent--the author of "the family journal"-- parochial libraries--sidney as a christian name-- "rather"--lady high sheriff--nugget--epigrams --editions of the prayer-book--portrait of pope-- passage in coleridge--lowbell--burn at croydon miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. "the shepherd of banbury's weather-rules." _the shepherd of banbury's rules to judge of the changes of the weather_, first printed in , was long a favourite book with the country gentleman, the farmer, and the peasant. they were accustomed to regard it with the consideration and confidence which were due to the authority of so experienced a master of the art of prognostication, and dismissing every sceptical thought, received his maxims with the same implicit faith as led them to believe that if their cat chanced to wash her face, rainy weather would be the certain and inevitable result. moreover, this valuable little manual instructed them how to keep their horses, sheep, and oxen sound, and prescribed cures for them when distempered. no wonder, then, if it has passed through many editions. yet it has been invariably stated that _the banbury shepherd_ in fact had no existence; was purely an imaginary creation; and that the work which passes under his name, "john claridge," was written by dr. john campbell, the scottish historian, who died in . the statements made in connexion with this book are curious enough; and it is with a view of placing the matter in a clear and correct light that i now trouble you with a note, which will, i hope, tend to restore to this poor weather-wise old shepherd his long-lost rank and station among the rural authors of england. i believe that the source of the error is to be traced to the second edition of the _biographia britannica_, in a memoir of dr. campbell by kippis, in which, when enumerating the works of the learned doctor, kippis says, "he was also the author of _the shepherd of banbury's rules_,--a favourite pamphlet with the common people." we next find the book down to campbell as the "author" in watt's _bibliotheca britannica_, which is copied both by chalmers and lowndes. and so the error has been perpetuated, even up to the time of the publication of a meritorious _history of banbury_, by the late mr. alfred beesley, in . this writer thus speaks of the work: "the far-famed shepherd of banbury is only an apocryphal personage. in there was published { } _the shepherd of banbury's rules to judge of the changes of the weather, grounded on forty years' experience. to which is added, a rational account of the causes of such alterations, the nature of wind, rain, snow, &c., on the principles of the newtonian philosophy. by john claridge. london: printed for w. bickerton, in the temple exchange, fleet street. price s._ the work attracted a large share of public attention, and deserved it. a second edition appeared in .... it is stated in kippis's _biographia britannica_ that, the real author was dr. john campbell, a scotchman." in there appeared _an essay on the weather, with remarks on "the shepherd of banbury's rules, &c."_: by john mills, esq., f.r.s. mr. mills observes: "who the shepherd of banbury was, we know not; nor indeed have we any proof that the rules called his were penned by a real shepherd. both these points are, however, immaterial; their truth is their best voucher.... mr. claridge published them in the year , since which time they are become very scarce, having long been out of print." now all these blundering attempts at annihilating the poor shepherd may, i think, be accounted for by neither of the above-mentioned writers having a knowledge of the original edition, published in , of the real shepherd's book (the title of which i will presently give), which any one may see in the british museum library. it has on the title-page a slight disfigurement of name, viz. john _clearidge_; but it is _claridge_ in the preface. the truth is, that dr. john campbell _re-published_ the book in , but without affixing his own name, or giving any information of its author or of previous editions. the part, however, which he bore in this edition is explained by the latter portion of the title already given; and still more clearly in the preface. we find authorities added, to give weight to the shepherd's remarks; and likewise additional rules in relation to the weather, derived from the common sayings and proverbs of the country people, and from old english books of husbandry. it may, in short, be called a clever scientific commentary on the shepherd's observations. after what has been stated, your readers will not be surprised to learn that one edition of the work appears in watt's very inaccurate book under claridge, another under clearidge, and a third under campbell. i will now speak of the original work: it is a small octavo volume of thirty-two pages, rudely printed, with an amusing preface "to the reader," in which the shepherd dwells with much satisfaction on his peculiar vaticinating talents. as this preface has been omitted in all subsequent editions, and as the book itself is extremely scarce, i conceive that a reprint of it in your pages may be acceptable to your folk-lore readers. the "rules" are interlarded with scraps of poetry, somewhat after the manner of old tusser, and bear the unmistakeable impress of a "plain, unlettered muse." the author concludes his work with a poetical address "to the antiquity and honour of shepheards." the title is rather a droll one, and is as follows: "the shepheard's legacy: or john clearidge his forty years' experience of the weather: being an excellent treatise, wherein is shewed the knowledge of the weather. first, by the rising and setting of the sun. . how the weather is known by the moon. . by the stars. . by the clouds. . by the mists. . by the rainbow. . and especially by the winds. whereby the weather may be exactly known from time to time: which observation was never heretofore published by any author. . also, how to keep your sheep sound when they be sound. . and how to cure them if they be rotten. . is shewed the antiquity and honour of shepheards. with some certain and assured cures for thy horse, cow, and sheep. an almanack is out at twelve months day, my legacy it doth endure for aye. but take you notice, though 'tis but a hint, it far excels some books of greater print. london: printed and are to be sold by john hancock, junior, at the three bibles in popes-head ally, next cornhill, ." in the preface he tells us that-- "having been importun'd by sundry friends (some of them being worthy persons) to make publique for their further benefit what they have found by experience to be useful for themselves and others, i could not deny their requests; but was willing to satisfie them, as also my own self, to do others good as well as myself; lest i should hide my talent in a napkin, and my skill be rak'd up with me in the dust. therefore i have left it to posterity, that they may have the fruit when the old tree is dead and rotten. and because i would not be tedious, i shall descend to some few particular instances of my skill and foreknowledge of the weather, and i shall have done. "first, in the year , at the st of january, i told several credible persons that the then frost would hold till march, that men could not plow, and so it came to pass directly. " . i also told them that present march, that it would be a very dry summer, which likewise came to pass. " . the same year, in november, i told them it would be a very open winter, which also came to pass, although at that time it was a great snow: but it lasted not a week. " . in the year , i told them that year in march, that it would be a very dry spring; which also came to pass. " . in the year , certaine shepheards ask'd my councel whether they might venture their sheep any more in the low-fields? i told them they might safely venture them till august next; and they sped very well, without any loss. " . i told them, in the beginning of september the same year, that it would be a south-west wind for two or { } three months together, and also great store of rain, so that wheat sowing would be very difficult in the low-fields, by reason of wet; which we have found by sad experience. and further, i told them that they should have not above three or four perfect fair days together till the shortest day. " . in the year , in march, although it was a very dry season then, i told my neighbours that it would be an extraordinary fruitful summer for hay and grass, and i knew it by reason there was so much rain in the latter end of february and beginning of march: for by that i ever judge of the summers, and i look that the winter will be dry and frosty for the most part, by reason that this november was mild: for by that i do ever judge of the winters. "now, i refer you unto the book itself, which will sufficiently inform you of sundry other of my observations. for in the ensuing discourse i have set you down the same rules which i go by myself. and if any one shall question the truth of what is here set down, let them come to me, and i will give them further satisfaction. john claridge, sen. "hanwell, near banbury." it appears, from inquiries made in the neighbourhood, that the name of claridge is still common at hanwell, a small village near banbury--that "land o'cakes,"--and that last century there was a john claridge, a small farmer, resident there, who died in , and who might have been a grandson of the "far-famed," but unjustly defamed, "shepherd of banbury." _apropos_ of the "cakes" for which this flourishing town has long been celebrated, i beg to inform your correspondent erica (vol. vii., p. .) and j. r. m., m.a. (p. .) that there is a receipt "how to make a very good banbury cake," printed as early as , in gervase markham's _english hus-wife_. w. b. rye. * * * * * notes on several misunderstood words. (_continued from_ p. .) _to miss_, to dispense with. this usage of the verb being of such ordinary occurrence, i should have deemed it superfluous to illustrate, were it not that the editors of shakspeare, according to custom, are at a loss for examples: "we cannot _miss_ him." _the tempest_, act i. sc. . (where see mr. collier's note, and also mr. halliwell's, tallis's edition). "all which things being much admirable, yet this is most, that they are so profitable; bringing vnto man both honey and wax, each so wholesome that we all desire it, both so necessary that we cannot _misse_ them."--_euphues and his england._ "i will have honest valiant souls about me; i cannot _miss_ thee." beaumont and fletcher, _the mad lover_, act ii. sc. . "the blackness of this season cannot _miss_ me." the second _maiden's tragedy_, act v. sc. . "all three are to be had, we cannot _miss_ any of them."--bishop andrewes, "a sermon prepared to be preached on whit sunday, a.d. ," _library of ang.-cath. theology_, vol. iii. p. . "for these, for every day's dangers we cannot _miss_ the hand."--"a sermon preached before the king's majesty at burleigh, near oldham, a.d. ," _id._, vol. iv. p. . "we cannot _miss_ one of them; they be necessary all."--_id._, vol. i. p. . it is hardly necessary to occupy further room with more instances of so familiar a phrase, though perhaps it may not be out of the way to remark, that _miss_ is used by andrewes as a substantive in the same sense as the verb, namely, in vol. v. p. .: the more usual form being _misture_, or, earlier, _mister_. mr. halliwell, in his _dictionary_, most unaccountably treats these two forms as distinct words; and yet, more unaccountably, collecting the import of _misture_ for the context, gives it the signification of misfortune!! he quotes nash's _pierce pennilesse_; the reader will find the passage at p. . of the shakspeare society's reprint. i subjoin another instance from vol. viii. p. . of cattley's edition of foxe's _acts and monuments_: "therefore all men evidently declared at that time, both how sore they took his death to heart; and also how hardly they could away with the _misture_ of such a man." in latin, _desidero_ and _desiderium_ best convey the import of this word. _to buckle_, bend or bow. here again, to their great discredit be it spoken, the editors of shakspeare (second part of _hen. iv._, act i. sc. .) are at fault for an example. mr. halliwell gives one in his _dictionary_ of the passive participle, which see. in shakspeare it occurs as a neuter verb: "... and teach this body, to bend, and these my aged knees to _buckle_, in adoration and just worship to you." ben jonson, _staple of news_, act ii. sc. . "for, certainly, like as great stature in a natural body is some advantage in youth, but is but burden in age: so it is with great territory, which, when a state beginneth to decline, doth make it stoop and _buckle_ so much the faster."--lord bacon, "of the true greatness of great britain," vol. i. p. . (bohn's edition of the _works_). and again, as a transitive verb: "sear trees, standing or felled, belong to the lessee, and you have a special replication in the book of e. iii., that the wind did but rend them and _buckle_ them."--_case of impeachment of waste_, vol. i. p. . _on the hip_, at advantage. a term of wrestling. so said dr. johnson at first; but, on second { } thoughts, referred it to _venery_, with which mr. dyce consents: both erroneously. several instances are adduced by the latter, in his _critique of knight and collier's shakspeare_; any one of which, besides the passage in _the merchant of venice_, should have confuted that origin of the phrase. the hip of a chase is no term of woodman's craft: the haunch is. moreover, what a marvellous expression, to say, a hound has a chase _on_ the hip, instead of _by_. still more prodigious to say, that a hound _gets_ a chase _on_ the hip. one would be loth to impute to the only judicious dramatic commentator of the day, a love of contradiction as the motive for quarrelling with mr. collier's note on this idiom. to the examples alleged by mr. dyce, the three following may be added; whereof the last, after the opinion of sir john harington, rightly refers the origin of the metaphor to wrestling: "the divell hath them _on the hip_, he may easily bring them to anything."--_michael and the dragon_, by d. dike, p. . (_workes_, london, ). "if he have us at the advantage, _on the hip_ as we say, it is no great matter then to get service at our hands."--andrewes, "a sermon preached before the king's majesty at whitehall, ," _library of ang.-cath. theology_, vol. iv. p. . "full oft the valiant knight his hold doth shift, and with much prettie sleight, the same doth slippe; in fine he doth applie one speciall drift, which was to get the pagan on the _hippe_: and hauing caught him right, he doth him lift, by nimble sleight, and in such wise doth trippe: that downe he threw him, and his fall was such, his head-piece was the first that ground did tuch." sir john harington's translation of _orlando furioso_, booke xlvi. stanza . in some editions, the fourth line is printed "_namely_ to get," &c., with other variations in the spelling of the rest of the stanza. w. r. arrowsmith. (_to be continued._) * * * * * lord coke. turning over some old books recently, my attention was strongly drawn to the following: "the lord coke, his speech and charge, with a discouerie of the abuses and corruptions of officers. vo. lond. n. butter, ." this curious piece appears to have been published by one r. p.[ ], who describes himself, in his dedication to the earl of exeter, as a "poore, dispised, pouertie-stricken, hated, scorned, and vnrespected souldier," of which there were, doubtless, many in the reign of james the pacific. lord coke, in his address to the jury at the norwich assizes, gives an account of the various plottings of the papists, from the reformation to the gunpowder treason, to bring the land again under subjection to rome, and characterises the schemes and the actors therein as he goes along in the good round terms of an out-and-out protestant. he has also a fling at the puritans, and all such as would disturb the church and hierarchy as by law established. but the most remarkable part of the book is that which comes under the head of "a discouerie of the abuses and corruption of officers;" and believing an abstract might interest your readers, and furnish the antiquary with a reference, i herewith present you with a list of the officials and others whom my lord coke recommends the _jurie_ to present, assuring them, at the same time, that "by god's grace they, the offenders, shall not goe unpunished for their abuses; for we have," says he, "a coyfe, which signifies a _scull_, whereby, in the execution of justice, wee are defended against all oppositions, bee they never so violent." . the first gentleman introduced by lord coke to the norwich jury is the _escheator_, who had power to demand upon what tenure a poor yeoman held his lands, and is an officer in great disfavour with the judge. he gives some curious instances of his imposition, and concludes by remarking that, for his rogueries, he were better described by striking away the first syllable of his name, the rest truly representing him a _cheator_. . _the clarke of the market_ comes in for his share of lord coke's denouncements. "it was once," he says, "my hap to take a clarke of the market in his trickes; but i aduanst him higher than his father's sonne, by so much as from the ground to the toppe of the pillorie" for his bribery. . "a certaine ruffling officer" called a _purveyor_, who is occasionally found _purveying money_ out of your purses, and is therefore, says lord coke, "on the highway to the gallowes." . as the next officer is unknown in the present day, i give his character _in extenso_: "there is also a salt-peter-man, whose commission is not to break vp any man's house or ground without leaue. and not to deale with any house, but such as is vnused for any necessarie imployment by the owner. and not to digge in any place without leauing it smooth and leuell: in such case as he found it. this salt-peter-man vnder shew of his authoritie, though being no more than is specified, will make plaine and simple people beleeue, that hee will without their leaue breake vp the floore of their dwelling house, vnlesse they will compound with him to the contrary. any such fellow, if you can meete with all, let his misdemenor be presented, that he may be taught better to vnderstand his office: for by their abuse the country is oftentimes troubled." . there is another troublesome fellow called a _concealor_, who could easily be proved no better { } than a _cosioner_, and whose pretensions are to be resisted. . a _promoter_, generally both a beggar and a knave. this is the modern informer, "a necessarie office," says lord coke, "but rarely filled by an honest man." . the _monopolitane_ or _monopolist_; with these the country was overrun in james' reign. "to annoy and hinder the public weale, these for their own benefit have sold their lands, and then come to beggarie by a _starch_, _vinegar_, or _aqua vitæ_ monopoly, and justly too," adds his lordship. . lord coke has no objection to those _golden fooles_, the _alcumists_, so long as they keep to their _metaphisicall_ and _paracelsian_ studies; but _science is felony committed by any comixture to multiply either gold or silver_; the alchymist is therefore a suspected character, and to be looked after by the jury. . vagrants to be resolutely put down, the statute against whom had worked well. . the stage-players find no favour with this stern judge, who tells the jury that as they, the players, cannot perform without leave, it is easy to be rid of them, remarking, _that the country is much troubled by them_. . taverns, inns, ale-houses, bowling allies, and such like thriftless places of resort for tradesmen and artificers, to be under strict surveillance. . gallants, or riotous young gents, to be sharply looked after, and their proceedings controlled. . gentlemen with greyhounds and birding-pieces, who would elude the _statutes against gunnes_, to be called to account "for the shallow-brain'd idlenesse of their ridiculous foolery." . the statute against _ryotous expence in apparel_ to be put in force against _unthriftie infractors_. there is room here for a few queries, but i content myself with asking for a further reference to no. ., "the salt-peter-man." j. o. [footnote : no doubt the author of an ultra-protestant poem, entitled _times anatomie, made by robert prickett, a souldier_. imprinted, .] * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _dogberry's losses or leases._--_much ado about nothing_, act iv. sc. .: "_dogberry._ a rich fellow enough, go to: and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him." i can quite sympathise with the indignation of some of my cotemporaries at the alteration by mr. payne collier's mysterious corrector, of "losses" into "leases." i am sorry to see a reading which we had cherished without any misgiving as a bit of shaksperian quaintness, and consecrated by the humour of gray and charles lamb, turned into a clumsy misprint. but we must look at real probabilities, not at fancies and predilections. i am afraid "leases" is the likelier word. it has also a special fitness, which has not been hitherto remarked. many of the wealthy people of elizabeth's reign, particularly in the middle class, were "fellows that had had leases." it will be recollected that extravagant leases or fines were among the methods by which the possessions of the church were so grievously dilapidated in the age of the reformation. those who had a little money to invest, could not do so on more advantageous terms than by obtaining such leases as the necessity or avarice of clerical and other corporations induced them to grant; and the coincident fall in the value of money increased the gain of the lessees, and loss of the corporations, to an extraordinary amount. throughout elizabeth's reign parliament was at work in restraining this abuse, by the well-known "disabling acts," restricting the power of bishops and corporations to lease their property. the last was passed, i think, only in . and therefore a "rich fellow" of dogberry's class was described, to the thorough comprehension and enjoyment of an audience of that day, as one who "had _had_ leases." scrutator. may i be allowed a little space in the pages of "n. & q." to draw mr. collier's attention to some passages in which the old corrector appears to me to have corrupted, rather than improved, the text? possibly on second thoughts mr. collier may be induced to withdraw these readings from the text of his forthcoming edition of our great poet. i give the pages of mr. collier's recent volume, and quote according to the old corrector. _two gentlemen of verona_, act ii. sc. ., p. .: "that i, unworthy body, as i _can_, should censure thus a _loving_ gentleman." _can_ for _am_ spoils the sense; it was introduced unnecessarily to make a perfect rhyme, but such rhymes as _am_ and _man_ were common in shakspeare's time. _loving_ for _lovely_ is another modernism; _lovely_ is equivalent to the french _aimable_. "saul and jonathan were _lovely_ and pleasant in their lives," &c. the whole passage, which is indeed faulty in the old copies, should, i think, be read thus: "'tis a passing shame that i, unworthy body that i am, should censure _on a_ lovely _gentleman_. _jul._ why not on proteus as _on_ all the rest? _luc._ then thus,--of many good i think him best." _thus_ crept in after _censure_ from the next line but one. in julia's speech, grammar requires _on_ for _of_. _measure for measure_, act iv. sc. ., p. .: "for my authority bears _such_ a credent bulk," &c. fols. "_of_ a credent bulk," read "_so_ credent bulk." { } _much ado about nothing_, act iv. sc. ., p .: "myself would on the _hazard_ of reproaches strike at thy life." when fathers kill their children, they run the risk not merely of being reproached, but of being hanged; but this reading is a mere sophistication by some one who did not understand the true reading, _rearward_. leonato threatens to take his daughter's life _after having_ reproached her. _taming of the shrew_, p. .: "o, yes, i saw sweet beauty in her face, such as the daughter of _agenor's race_," &c. "the daughter of agenor's race" for "the daughter of agenor" is awkward, but there is a far more decisive objection to this alteration. to compare the beauty of bianca with the beauty of europa is a legitimate comparison; but to compare the beauty of bianca with europa herself, is of course inadmissible. here is another corruption introduced in order to produce rhyming couplet; restore the old reading, "the daughter of agenor _had_." _the winter's tale_, act iv. sc. ., p. .: "if, &c., let me be _enrolled_, and any name put in the book of virtue." we have here an abortive attempt to correct the nonsensical reading of the old copies, _unrolled_; but if _enrolled_ itself makes sense, it does so only by introducing tautology. besides, it leads us away from what i believe to be the true reading, _unrogued_. _king john_, act v. sc. ., p. .: "death, having prey'd upon the outward parts, leaves them _unvisited_; and his siege is now against the mind." how could death prey upon the king's outward parts without visiting them? perhaps, however, we have here only a corruption of a genuine text. query, "_ill_-visited." _troilus and cressida_, act i. sc. ., p. .: "and, with an accent tun'd in self-same key, replies to chiding fortune." this, which is also hanmer's reading, certainly makes sense. pope read _returns_. the old copies have _retires_. i believe shakspeare wrote "_rechides_ to chiding fortune." this puzzled the compositor, who gave the nearest common word without regard to the sense. _troilus and cressida_, act v. sc. ., p. .--the disgusting speeches of thersites are scarcely worth correcting, much less dwelling upon; but there can be little doubt that we should read "male _harlot_" for "male _varlet_;" and "preposterous _discoverers_" (not discolourers) for "preposterous discoveries." _coriolanus_, act v. sc. ., p. .: "i... holp to reap the fame which he did _ear_ all his." to _ear_ is to _plough_. aufidius complains that he had a share in the harvest, while coriolanus took all the ploughing to himself. we have only, however, to transpose _reap_ and _ear_, and this nonsense is at once converted into excellent sense. the old corrector blindly copied the blunder of a corrupt, but not sophisticated, manuscript. this has occurred elsewhere in this collection. _antony and cleopatra_, act i. sc. ., p. .: "and soberly did mount an _arm-girt_ steed." this reading was also conjectured by hanmer. the folios read _arme-gaunt_. this appears to me a mere misprint for _rampaunt_, but whether _rampaunt_ was shakspeare's word, or a transcriber's sophistication for _ramping_, is more than i can undertake to determine. i believe, however, that one of them is the true reading. at one period to _ramp_ and to _prance_ seem to have been synonymous. spenser makes the horses of night "fiercely _ramp_," and surrey exhibits a _prancing_ lion. this communication is, i am afraid, already too long for "n. & q.;" i will therefore only add my opinion, that, though the old corrector has reported many bad readings, they are far outnumbered by the good ones in the collection. w. n. l. _mr. collier's "notes and emendations:" passage in "the winter's tale."_--at p. . of mr. payne collier's new volume, he cites a passage in _the winter's tale_, ending-- "... i should blush to see you so attir'd, sworn, i think to show myself a glass." the ms. emendator, he says, reads _so worn_ for _sworn_; and adds: "the meaning therefore is, that florizel's plain attire was 'so worn,' to show perdita, as in a glass, how simply she ought to have been dressed." now mr. collier, in this instance, has not, according to his usual practice, alluded to any commentator who has suggested the same emendation. the inference would be, that this emendation is a novelty. this it is not. it has been before the world for thirty-four years, and its merits have failed to give it currency. at p. . of z. jackson's miscalled _restorations_, , we find this emendation, with the following note: "_so worn_, i. e. _so reduced_, in your external appearance, that i should think you intended to remind me of my own condition; for, by looking at you thus attired, i behold myself, as it were, reflected in a glass, habited in robes becoming my obscure birth, and equally obscure fortune." { } jackson's emendations are invariably bad; but whatever may be thought of the sense of florizel being _so worn_ (instead of his dress), it is but fair to give a certain person his due. the passage has long seemed to me to have this meaning: "but that we are acquiescing in a custom, i should blush to see you, who are a prince, attired like a swain; and still more should i blush to look at myself in the glass, and see a peasant girl pranked up like a princess." _& more_, in ms., might very easily have been mistaken for _sworn_ by the compositor. accordingly, i would read the complete passage thus: "... but that our feasts in every mess have folly, and the feeders digest it with a custom, i should blush to see you so attir'd, and more, i think, to show myself a glass." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * minor notes. _alleged cure for hydrophobia._--from time to time articles have appeared in "n. & q." as to the cure of hydrophobia, a specific for which seems still to be a desideratum. in the _miscellanea curiosa_ (vol. iii. p. .) is a paper on virginia, from the rev. john clayton, rector of crofton in wakefield, in which he states the particulars of several cures which he had effected of persons bitten by mad dogs. his principal remedy seems to have been the "volatile salt of amber" every four hours, and in the intervals, "spec. pleres archonticon and rue powdered ana gr. ." i am not learned enough to understand what these drugs are called in the modern nomenclature of druggists. c. t. w. _epitaph at mickleton._--the following inscription is copied from a monument on the north wall of the chancel of mickleton church, co. gloucester: "_the ephitath of john bonner._ heare lyeth in tomed john bonner by name, sonne of bonner of pebworth, from thence he came. the : : of october he ended his daies, pray god that wee leveing may follow his wayes. by the yeare. scarce are such men to be found in this shere. made and set up by his loveing frend evens his kindesman and [so i] doe end. john bonner, senior. thomas evens, junior. ." the words in brackets are conjectural, the stone at that point being much corroded. balliolensis. _charade attributed to sheridan._--you have given a place to enigmas in "n. & q.," and therefore the following, which has been attributed to r. b. sheridan, may be acceptable. was he the author? "there is a spot, say, traveller, where it lies, and mark the clime, the limits, and the size, where grows no grass, nor springs the yellow grain, nor hill nor dale diversify the plain; perpetual green, without the farmer's toil, through all the seasons clothes the favor'd soil, fair pools, in which the finny race abound, by human art prepar'd, enrich the ground. not india's lands produce a richer store, pearl, ivory, gold and silver ore. yet, britons, envy not these boasted climes, incessant war distracts, and endless crimes pollute the soil:--pale avarice triumphs there, hate, envy, rage, and heart-corroding care, with fraud and fear, and comfortless despair. there government not long remains the same, nor they, like us, revere a monarch's name. britons, beware! let avarice tempt no more; spite of the wealth, avoid the tempting shore; the daily bread which providence has given, eat with content, and leave the rest to heaven." balliolensis. _suggested reprint of hearne._--it has often occurred to me to inquire whether an association might not be formed for the republication of the works edited by tom hearne? an attempt was made some years ago by a bookseller; and, as only robert of gloucester and peter langtoft appeared, "printed for samuel bagster, in the strand, ," we must infer that the spirited publisher was too far in advance of the age, and that the attempt did not pay. probably it never would _as a bookseller's speculation_. but might not a society like the camden be formed for the purpose with some probability, in these altered times and by such an improved method of proceeding, of placing these curious and valuable volumes once more within reach of men of ordinary means? at present the works edited by hearne are rarely to be met with in catalogues, and when they do occur, the prices are almost fabulous, quite on the scale of those affixed to ancient mss. balliolensis. _suggestions of books worthy of being reprinted._--fabricius, _bibliotheca latina mediæ et infimæ Ætatis_, vols. vo. (recommended in _the guardian_ newspaper.) j. m. _epigram all the way from belgium._--should you think the following epigram, written in the travellers' book at hans-sur-lesse, in belgium, worth preserving, it is at your service: "old euclid may go to the wall, for we've solved what he never could guess, how the fish in the river are _small_, but the river they live in is _lesse_." h. a. b. { } _derivation of "canada."_--i send you a cutting from an old newspaper, on the derivation of this word: "the name of canada, according to sir john barrow, originated in the following circumstances. when the portuguese, under gasper cortcreal, in the year , first ascended the great river st. lawrence, they believed it was the strait of which they were in search, and through which a passage might be discovered into the indian sea. but on arriving at the point whence they could clearly ascertain it was not a strait but a river, they, with all the emphasis of disappointed hopes, exclaimed repeatedly 'canada!'--here nothing; words which were remembered and repeated by the natives on seeing europeans arrive in , who naturally conjectured that the word they heard employed so often must denote the name of the country." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _railway signals._--an effective communication from the guard to the engineman, for the prevention of railway accidents, seems to be an important desideratum, which has hitherto baffled the ingenuity of philosophers. the only proposed plan likely to be adopted, is that of a cord passing below the foot-boards, and placing the valve of the steam whistle under the control of the guard. the trouble attending this scheme, and the liability to neglect and disarrangement, render its success doubtful. what i humbly suggest is, that the guard should be provided with an independent instrument which would produce a sound sufficiently loud to catch the ear of the engineman. suppose, for instance, that the mouth-piece of a clarionet, or the windpipe of a duck, or a metallic imitation, were affixed to the muzzle of an air-gun, and the condensed air discharged through the confined aperture; a shrill sound would be emitted. surely, then, a small instrument might be contrived upon this principle, powerful enough to arrest the attention of the engineer, if not equal to the familiar shriek of the present whistle. it is hoped that this hint will be followed up; that your publication will sustain its character by thus providing a medium of intercommunication for these worthies, who can respectively lay claim to the titles of men of science and men of _letters_, and that some experimenter "when found will make a _note_"--a stunning one. t. c. _a centenarian trading vessel._--there is a small smack now trading in the bristol channel, in excellent condition and repair, and likely to last for many years, called the "fanny," which was built in . this vessel belongs to porlock, in the port of bridgewater, and was originally built at aberthaw in south wales. can any of your readers refer to any other _trading_ vessel so old as this? anon. * * * * * queries. bishop ken. at what place, and by what bishop, was he ordained, in ? his ordination probably took place in the diocese of oxford, london, winchester, or worcester. the discovery of it has hitherto baffled much research. jon ken, an elder brother of the bishop, was treasurer of the east india company in . where can anything be learned of him? is there any mention of him in the books of the east india company? was he the ken mentioned in roger north's _lives of the norths_, as one of the court-rakes? when did he die, and where was he buried? this jon ken married rose, the daughter of sir thomas vernon, of coleman street, and by her is said (by hawkins) to have had a daughter, married to the honorable christopher frederick kreienberg, hanoverian resident in london. did m. kreienberg die in this country, or can anything be ascertained of him or his wife? the bishop wrote to james ii. a letter of intercession on behalf of the rebels in . can this letter be found in the state-paper office, or elsewhere? in answer to a sermon preached by bishop ken, on th may, , one f. i. r., designating himself "a most loyal irish subject of the _company of jesuits_," wrote some "animadversions." could this be the "fath. jo. reed," a _benedictine_, mentioned in the life of a. wood, under date of july , ? father reed was author of _votiva tabula_. can any one throw any light on this? j. j. j. * * * * * minor queries. _canute's reproof to his courtiers._--opposite the southampton docks, in the canute road, is the canute hotel, with this inscription in front: "near this spot, a.d. , canute reproved his courtiers." the building is of very recent date. query, is there any and what authority for the statement? salopian. _the sign of the cross in the greek church._--the members of the greek church sign themselves with the sign of the cross in a different manner from those of the western church. what is the difference? j. c. b. _reverend richard midgley, vicar of rochdale, temp. eliz._--dr. t. d. whitaker mentions, in a note in his _life of sir george radcliffe, knt._, p. ., to. , that at an obscure inn in north wales he once met with a very interesting account of midgley in a collection of lives of pious persons, { } made about the time of charles i.; but adds, that he had forgotten the title, and had never since been able to obtain the book. can any reader of "n. & q." identify this "collection," or furnish any particulars of midgley not recorded by brook, calamy, or hunter? f. r. r. _huet's navigations of solomon._--can you or any of your readers inform me if the treatise referred to in the accompanying extract was ever published? and, if so, what was the result as to the assertions there made? _the history of the commerce and navigation of the ancients. written in french by monsieur huet, bishop of avranches. made english from the paris edition. london: printed for b. lintot, between the temple gates, in fleet street, and mears, at the lamb, without temple bar._ . " dly. it is here we must lay down the most important remark, in point of commerce; and i shall undeniably establish the truth of it in a treatise which i have begun concerning the navigations of solomon, that the cape of good hope was known, often frequented, and doubled in solomon's time, and so it was likewise for many years after; and that the portuguese, to whom the glory of this discovery has been attributed, were not the first that found out this place, but mere secondary discoverers."--p. . edina. edinburgh. _sheriff of worcestershire in ._--will any one of your correspondents inform me who was sheriff of worcestershire in the year *, and give his arms, stating the source of his knowledge on these points, to much oblige y. [* john darke of breedon, esq. see nash's _worcestershire_, supplement, p. .--ed.] _tree of the thousand images._--father huc, in his journey to thibet, gives an account of a singular tree, bearing this title, and of which the peculiarity is that its leaves and bark are covered with well-defined characters of the thibetian alphabet. the tree seen by mm. huc and gabet appeared to them to be of great { } age, and is said by the inhabitants to be the only one of its kind known in the country. according to the account given by these travellers, the letters would appear to be formed by the veins of the leaves; the resemblance to thibetian characters was such as to strike them with astonishment, and they were inclined at first to suspect fraud, but, after repeated observations, arrived at the conclusion that none existed. do botanists know or conjecture anything about this tree? c. w. g. _de burgh family._--i shall feel much obliged for references to the early seals of the english branch of the family of de burgh, descended from harlowen de burgh, and arlotta, mother of william the conqueror, especially of that english branch whose armorial bearings were--or a cross gules: also for information whether the practice, in reference to the spelling of names, was such as to render _barow_, of the latter part of the fifteenth century, aborough some fifty years afterwards. e. d. b. _witchcraft sermons at huntingdon._--in an article on witchcraft in the _retrospective review_ (vol. v. p. .), it is stated that, in -- "an old man, his wife and daughter, were accused of bewitching the five children of a mr. throgmorton, several servants, the lady of sir samuel cromwell, and other persons.... they were executed, and their goods, which were of the value of forty pounds, being escheated to sir s. cromwell, as lord of the manor, he gave the amount to the mayor and aldermen of huntingdon, for a rent-charge of forty shillings yearly, to be paid out of their town lands, for an annual lecture upon the subject of witchcraft, to be preached at their town every lady-day, by a doctor or bachelor of divinity, of queen's college, cambridge." is this sum yet paid, and the sermon still preached, or has it fallen into disuse now that it is unpopular to believe in witchcraft and diabolic possession? have any of the sermons been published? edward peacock, junior. bottesford, kirton in lindsey. _consort._--a former correspondent applied for a notice of mons. consort, said to have been a mystical impostor similar to the famous cagliostro. i beg to renew the same inquiry. a. n. _creole._--this word is variously represented in my lexicons. bailey says, "the descendant of an european, born in america," and with him agree the rest, with the exception of the _metropolitana_; that encyclopædia gives the meaning, "the descendant of an european and an american indian." a friend advocating the first meaning derives the word from the spanish. another friend, in favour of the second meaning, derives it originally from ~kerannumi~, _to mix_; which word is fetched, perhaps far-fetched, from ~keras~, the horn in which liquors are _mixed_. light on this word would be acceptable. gilbert n. smith. _shearman family._--is there a family named _shearman_ or _sherman_ in yorkshire, or in the city of york? what are their arms? is there any record of any of that family settling in ireland, in the county or city of kilkenny, about the middle of the seventeenth century, or at an earlier period in cork? are there any genealogical records of them? was robert shearman, warden of the hospital of st. cross in winchester, of that family? was roger shearman, who signed the declaration { } of american independence, a member of same? is there any record of three brothers, robert, oliver, and francis shearman, coming to england in the army of william the conqueror? john f. shearman. kilkenny. _traitors' ford._--there is a place called traitors' ford on the borders of warwickshire and oxfordshire, near the source of the little river stour, about two miles from the village of whichford, in the former county. what is the origin of the name? there is no notice of it in dugdale's _warwickshire_, nor is it mentioned in the older maps of the county of warwick. the vicinity to the field of edge-hill would lead one to suppose it may be connected with some event of the period of the civil wars. spes. "_your most obedient humble servant._"--in beloe's _anecdotes of literature_, vol. ii. p. ., mention is made of a poem entitled _the historie of edward the second, surnamed carnarvon_. the author, sir francis hubert, in , when closing the dedication of this poem to his brother, mr. richard hubert, thus remarks: "and so, humbly desiring the almighty to blesse you both in soule, body, and estate, i rest not your _servant_, according to the _new_, and fine, but false phrase of the time, but in honest old english, your loving brother and true friend for ever." query, at what time, and with whom did this very common and most unmeaning term in english correspondence have its origin? w. w. malta. _version of a proverb._--what, and where to be found, is the true version of "qui facit per alium, facit per se?" p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _ellis walker._--can any reader of "n. & q." give any information as to ellis walker, who made a _poetical paraphrase of the enchiridion of epictetus_? he dedicates it to "his honoured uncle, mr. samuel walker of york," and speaks of having taken epictetus for his companion when he fled from the "present troubles in ireland." my edition is printed in london, , but of what edition is not mentioned; but i presume the work to have been of earlier date, probably in - , as indeed i find it to have been, by inserted addresses to the author, of date in the latter year. any information as to the translator will oblige. a. b. r. belmont. "_the northerne castle._"--pepys, in his _diary_, th september, , says, "to the king's playhouse, to see _the northerne castle_, which i think i never did see before." is anything known of this play and its authorship? or was it _the northern lass_, by richard brome, first published in ? perhaps pepys has quoted the second title of some play. j. y. _prayer-book in french._--can any of your readers give some satisfactory information respecting the earliest translations of the english prayer-book into french? by whom, when, for whom, were they first made? does any copy still exist of one (which i have seen somewhere alluded to) published before dean durel's editions? by what authority have they been put forth? is there any information to be found collected by any writer on this subject? o. w. j. _"navita erythræum," &c._--running the risk of being smiled at for my ignorance, i wish to have a reference to the following lines: "navita erythræum pavidus qui navigat æquor, in proræ et puppis summo resonantia pendet tintinnabula; eo sonitu prægrandia cete, balenas, et monstra marina a navibus arcet." h. t. ellacombe. _edmund burke._--can any of your correspondents tell me when and where he was married? b. e. b. _plan of london._--is there any good plan of london, showing its present extent? the answer is, none. what is more, there never was a decent plan of this vast metropolis. there is published occasionally, on a small sheet of paper, a wretched and disgraceful pretence to one, bedaubed with paint. can you explain the cause of this? every other capital in europe has handsome plans, easy to be obtained: nay more, almost every provincial town, whether in this country or on the continent, possesses better engraved and more accurate plans than this great capital can pretend to. try and use your influence to get this defect supplied. l. s. w. _minchin._--could any of your irish correspondents give me any information with regard to the sons of col. thomas walcot (c. ), or the families of minchin and fitzgerald, co. tipperary, he would much oblige m. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _leapor's "unhappy father."_--can you tell me where the scene of this play, a tragedy by mary leapor, is laid, and the names of the _dramatis personæ_? it is to be found in the second volume of _poems_, by mary leapor, vo. . this authoress was the daughter of a gardener in northamptonshire, and the only education she received consisted in being taught reading and writing. she was born in , and died in , at the early age of twenty-four. her poetical { } merit is commemorated in the rev. john duncombe's poem of the _feminead_. a.z. [the scene, a gentleman's country house. the _dramatis personæ_: dycarbas, the unhappy father; lycander and polonius, sons of dycarbas, in love with terentia; eustathius, nephew of dycarbas, and husband of emilia; leonardo, cousin of eustathius; paulus, servant of dycarbas; plynus, servant to eustathius; timnus, servant to polonius; emilia, daughter of dycarbas; terentia, a young lady under the guardianship of dycarbas; claudia, servant to terentia.] _meaning of "the litten" or "litton."_--this name is given to a small piece of land, now pasture, inclosed within the moat of the ancient manor of marwell, formerly merewelle, in hants, once the property of the see of winchester. it does not appear to have been ever covered by buildings. what is the meaning or derivation of the term? does the name exist in any other place, as applied to a piece of land situated as the above-described piece? i have spelt it as pronounced by the bailiff of the farm. w. h. g. winchester. [junius and ray derive it from the anglo-saxon lictun, _coemiterium_, a burying-place. our correspondent, however, will find its etymology discussed in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxxviii. pp. . . and .] _st. james' market house._--in a biography of richard baxter, the nonconformist divine, about : "mr. baxter came up to london, and was one of the tuesday lecturers at pinner's hall, and a friday lecturer at fetter lane; but on sundays he for some time preached only occasionally, and afterwards more statedly in st. james's market house." where was the market house situate? p. t. [cunningham, in his _handbook of london_, under the head of st. james' market, jermyn street, st. james', tells us that "here, in a room over the market house, preached richard baxter, the celebrated nonconformist. on the occasion of his first sermon, the main beam of the building cracked beneath the weight of the congregation." we recollect the old market and market house, which must have stood on the ground now occupied by waterloo place.] * * * * * replies. grub street journal. (vol. vii., pp. . .) reginensis has been referred by f. r. a. to drake's _essays_ for an account of this journal. drake's account is, however, very incorrect. the _grub street journal_ did not terminate, as he states, on the th august, , but was continued in the original folio size to the th dec., ; the last no. being ., instead of ., as he incorrectly gives it. he appears to have supposed that the mo. abridgment in two volumes contained all the essays in the paper; whereas it did not comprise more than a third of them. he mentions as the principal writers dr. richard russel and dr. john martyn. budgell, however, in _the bee_ (february, ) says, "the person thought to be at the head of the paper is mr. r--l (russel), a nonjuring clergyman, mr. p--e (pope), and some other gentlemen." whether pope wrote in it or not, it seems to have been used as a vehicle by his friends for their attacks upon his foes, and the war against the dunces is carried on with great wit and spirit in its pages. it is by far the most entertaining of the old newspapers, and throws no small light upon the literary history of the time. i have a complete series of the journal in folio, as well as of the continuation, in a large to. form, under the title of _the literary courier of grub street_, which commenced january , , and appears to have terminated at the th no., on the th july, . i never saw another complete copy. _the grub street journal_ would afford materials for many curious and amusing extracts. one very entertaining part of it is the "domestic news," under which head it gives the various and often contradictory accounts of the daily newspapers, with a most humorous running commentary. james crossley. * * * * * stone pillar worship. (vol. v., p. .) sir james emerson tennent, in his learned and curious note on stone worship in ireland, desires information as to the present existence of worship of stone pillars in orkney. when he says it continued till a late period, i suppose he must allude to the standing stone at stenness, perforated by a hole, with the sanctity attached to promises confirmed by the junction of hands through the hole, called the promise of odin. dr. daniel wilson enters into this fully in _præhistoric annals of scotland_, pp. , , . it has been told myself that if a lad and lass promised marriage with joined hands through the hole, the promise was held to be binding. whence the sanctity attached to such a promise i could not ascertain to be known, and i did not hear of any other superstition connected with this stone, which was destroyed in . in the remote island of north ronaldshay is another standing stone, perforated by a hole, but there is no superstition of this nature attached to it. at the yule time the inhabitants danced about it, and when there were yule dancings in neighbouring houses, they began the dancing at the stone, and danced from the stone all the road to what was called to { } me the dancing-house. the sword dance, with a great deal of intricate crossing, and its peculiar simple tune, still exists in orkney, but is not danced with swords, though i heard of clubs or sticks having been substituted. there are found in these islands the two circles of stones at stenness, and single standing stones. one of these, at swannay in birsay, is said by tradition to have been raised to mark the spot where the procession rested when carrying the body of st. magnus after his murder in egilshay in , from that island to christ's kirk in birsay, where it was first interred. here is a date and a purpose. the single standing stones, in accordance with sir james's opinion, and to use nearly his expressions, are said to mark the burial-places of distinguished men, to commemorate battles and great events, and to denote boundaries; and these, and still more the circles, are objects of respect as belonging to ages gone by, but principally with the educated classes, and there is no superstition remaining with any. such a thing as the swathing stone of south inchkea is not known to have existed. the stones in the two circles, and the single standing stones, are all plain; but there was found lately a stone of the sculptured symbolical class, inserted to form the base of a window in st. peter's kirk, south ronaldshay, and another of the same class in the island of bressay, in zetland. the first is now in the museum of scottish antiquaries in edinburgh; and the zetland stone, understood to be very curious, is either there or in newcastle, and both are forming the subject of antiquarian inquiry. w. h. f. * * * * * autographs in books. (_continued from_ vol. vii., p. .) the following are probably trifling, but may be considered worth recording. facing the title-page to _the works of mr. alexander pope_, london, w. bowyer, for bernard lintot, &c., , vo., no date at end of preface, is in (no doubt) his own hand: "to the right honorable the lord viscount bolingbroke, from his ever-oblig'd, most faithfull, and affectionate servant, alex. pope." cranmer's _bible_, title gone, but at end, maye : "this bible was given to me by my ffather coke when i went to keepe christmas with him at holckam, anno domini . will. cobbe." sir william cobbe of beverley, york, knight, married winifred, sixth daughter of john (fourth son of the chief justice), who was born th may, . this copy has, before joshua and psalms, a page of engravings, being the "seconde" and "thyrde parte;" also before the new testament, the well-known one of henry viii. giving the bible, but the space for cromwell's arms is left blank or white. cromwell was executed july ; but do his arms appear in the impressions? cranmer's quarterings are, and , cranmer; , six lions r.; , fusils of aslacton. in the _gent. mag._, vol. lxii. pp. . ., is an engraving of a stone of cranmer's father, with the fusils on his right, and cranmer on his left. the note at p. . calls the birds cranes, but states that glover's yorkshire and other pedigrees have pelicans; and southey (_book of the church_, ii. p. .) states that henry viii. altered the cranes to pelicans, telling him that he, like them, should be ready to shed his blood. the engraving, however, clearly represents drops of blood falling, and those in the bible appear to be pelicans also. this bible has the days of the month in ms. against the proper psalms, and where a leaf has been repaired, "a.d. , per me davidem winsdon curate." a. c. * * * * * grindle. (vol. vii., pp. . .) i think i can supply i. e. with another example of the application of this name to a place. a few miles east or south-east of exeter, on the borders of a waste tract of down extending from woodbury towards the sea, there is a village which is spelt on the ordnance map, and is commonly called, _greendale_. in strictness there are, i believe, two greendales, an upper and a lower greendale. a small stream, tributary to the clyst river, flows past them. now this place formerly belonged to the family of aumerle, or alba marla, as part of the manor of woodbury. from that family it passed to william briwere, the founder of tor abbey, and was by him made part of the endowment of that monastery in the reign of richard i. in the two cartularies of that house, of which abstracts will be found in oliver's _monasticon_, there are many instruments relating to this place, which is there called grendel, grindel, and gryndell. in none of them does the name of greendale occur, which appears to be a very recent form. even lysons, in his _devonshire_, does not seem to be aware of this mode of spelling it, but always adopts one of the old ways of writing the word. i have not seen the spot very lately, but, according to the best of my recollection, it has not now any feature in keeping with the mythological character of the fiend of the moor and fen. the neighbouring district of down and common land would not be an inappropriate habitat for such a personage. it has few trees of any pretension to age, and is still covered in great part with a dark and scanty vegetation, which is sufficiently dreary except at those seasons when the brilliant colours of the blooming heath and dwarf furze give it an aspect of remarkable beauty. whether the present name of greendale be a mere corruption of the earliest name, or be not, in fact, a restoration of it to its original meaning, is a matter which i am not prepared to discuss. as a general rule, a sound etymologist will not hastily desert an obvious and trite explanation to go in search of a more recondite import. he will not have recourse to the devil for the solution of a _nodus_, till he has exhausted more legitimate sources of assistance. the "n. & q." have readers nearer to the spot in question than i am, who may, perhaps, be able to throw some light on the subject, and inform us whether greendale still possesses the trace of any of those natural features which would justify the demoniacal derivation proposed by i. e. it must not, however, be forgotten that three centuries and a half of laborious culture bestowed upon the property by the monks of tor, must have gone far to exorcise and reclaim it. e. s. some years ago i asked the meaning of _grindle_ or _grundle_, as applied to a deep, narrow watercourse at wattisfield in suffolk. the grundle lies between the high road and the "croft," adjoining a mansion which once belonged to the abbots of bury. the clear and rapid water was almost hidden by brambles and underwood; and the roots of a row of fine trees standing in the croft were washed bare by its winter fury. the bank on that side was high and broken; the bed of the grundle i observed to lie above the surface of the road, on the opposite side of which the ground rises rapidly to the table land of clay. my fancy instantly suggested a river flowing through this hollow, and the idea was strengthened by the appearance of the landscape. the village stands on irregular ground, descending by steep slopes into narrow valleys and contracted meadows. i can well imagine that water was an enemy or "fiend" to the first settlers, and i was told that in winter the grundle is still a roaring brook. i find i have a note that "in charters, places bearing the name grendel are always connected with water." f. c. b. diss. * * * * * roger outlawe. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. ellacombe will find some account of this personage, who was prior of kilmainham, and for several years served the office of lord justice of ireland, in holinshed's _chronicles of ireland_, sub anno , _et seq._: also in "the annals of ireland," in the second volume of gibson's _camden_, rd edition, sub eod. anno. he was nearly related to the lady alice kettle, and her son william utlawe, al. outlaw; against whom that singular charge of sorcery was brought by richard lederede, bishop of ossory. the account of this charge is so curious that, for the benefit of those readers of "n. & q." who may not have the means of referring to the books above cited, i am tempted to extract it from holinshed: "in these daies lived, in the diocese of ossorie, the ladie alice kettle, whome the bishop ascited to purge hir selfe of the fame of inchantment and witchcraft imposed unto hir, and to one petronill and basill, hir complices. she was charged to have nightlie conference with a spirit called robin artisson, to whome she sacrificed in the high waie nine red cocks, and nine peacocks' eies. also, that she swept the streets of kilkennie betweene compleine and twilight, raking all the filth towards the doores of hir sonne william outlaw, murmuring and muttering secretlie with hir selfe these words: "'to the house of william my sonne hie all the wealth of kilkennie towne.' "at the first conviction, they abjured and did penance; but shortlie after, they were found in relapse, and then was petronill burnt at kilkennie: the other twaine might not be heard of. she, at the hour of hir death, accused the said william as privie to their sorceries, whome the bishop held in durance nine weeks; forbidding his keepers to eat or to drinke with him, or to speake to him more than once in the daie. but at length, thorough the sute and instance of arnold le powre, then seneschall of kilkennie, he was delivered, and after corrupted with bribes the seneschall to persecute the bishop: so that he thrust him into prison for three moneths. in rifling the closet of the ladie, they found a wafer of sacramentall bread, having the divel's name stamped thereon insteed of jesus christ's; and a pipe of ointment, wherewith she greased a staffe, upon which she ambled and gallopped thorough thicke and thin when and in what maner she listed. this businesse about these witches troubled all the state of ireland the more; for that the ladie was supported by certeine of the nobilitie, and lastlie conveied over into england; since which time it could never be understood what became of hir." roger outlawe, the prior of kilmainham, was made lord justice for the first time in . the bishop of ossory was then seeking his revenge on arnold le powre, for he had given information against him as being-- "convented and convicted in his consistorie of certeine hereticall opinions; but because the beginning of powres accusation concerned the justice's kinsman, and the bishop was mistrusted to prosecute his owne wrong, and the person of the man, rather than the fault, a daie was limited for the justifieing of the bill, the partie being apprehended and respited thereunto. this dealing the bishop (who durst not stirre out of { } kilkennie to prosecute his accusation) was reputed parciall: and when by meanes hereof the matter hanged in suspense, he infamed the said prior as an abettor and favourer of arnold's heresie. the prior submitted himselfe to the trial." proclamation was made, "that it should be lawful for anie man ... to accuse, &c. the lord justice; but none came." in the end, six inquisitors were appointed to examine the bishops and other persons, and they-- "all with universal consent deposed for the prior, affirming that (to their judgements) he was a zelous and a faithfull child of the catholike church. in the meane time, arnold le powre, the prisoner, deceased in the castell; and because he stood unpurged, long he laie unburied." in , william outlawe is said to have been prior of kilmainham, and lieutenant of john lord darcie, lord justice. this bishop of ossorie, richard lederede, was a minorite of london: he had a troubled episcopate, and was long in banishment in england. i have met with his name in the register of adam de orlton, bishop of winchester, where he is recorded as assisting that prelate in some of his duties, a.d. . he died however peaceably in his see, and was a benefactor to his cathedral. (see ware's _history of ireland_.) w. h. g. winchester. [it may be added, that much information respecting both roger outlawe and the trial of alice kyteler would be found in the interesting volume published by the camden society in , under the editorship of mr. wright, entitled _proceedings against dame alice kyteler, prosecuted for sorcery in _.] your correspondent h. t. ellacombe asks who this roger outlawe was, and expresses his surprise that a prior of a religious house should "sit as _locum tenens_ of a judge in a law court." but the words "tenens locum johannis darcy le cosyn justiciarii hiberniæ" do not imply that outlawe sat as _locum tenens_ of a judge in a law court. for this sir john darcy was lord justice, or lord lieutenant (as we would now say), of ireland, and roger outlawe was his _locum tenens_. nothing, however, was more common at that period than for ecclesiastics to be judges in law courts; and it happens that this very roger was lord chancellor of ireland in to , and again, -- : again, : again (a fourth time), : and a fifth time in : for even then, as now, we were cursed in ireland by perpetual changes of administration and of law officers, so that we have scarcely had any uniform practice, and our respect for law has been proportionally small. sir john darcy was lord justice, or lord lieutenant, in , in , in (in which year roger outlawe was his _locum tenens_ during his absence), in , and on to . roger outlawe was lord justice, either in his own right or as _locum tenens_ for others, in , , and , in which last year he died in office. his death is thus recorded in clyn's _annals_ (edited by dean butler for the irish archæological society), p. .: "item die martis, in crastino beatæ agathæ virginis, obiit frater rogerus outlawe, prior hospitalis in hibernia, apud any, tunc locum justiciarii tenens: et etiam cancellarius domini regis, trium simul functus officio. vir prudens et graciosus, qui multas possessiones, ecclesias, et redditus ordini suo adquisivit sua industria, et regis angliæ gratia speciali et licentia." to this day, in the absence of the lord lieutenant of ireland, _lords justices_ are appointed. j. h. todd. trin. coll., dublin. * * * * * prospectus to cibber's "lives of the poets." (vol. v., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .) i am obliged to dr. rimbault for noticing, what had escaped me, that this prospectus has been reprinted in the _censura literaria_, vol. vi. p. . with respect to my ground for attributing it to johnson, it will, i think, be obvious enough to any one who reads my remarks, that it was on the internal evidence alone, on which, as every one is aware, many additions have been made to his acknowledged compositions. your correspondent c., with whom i always regret to differ, is so far at variance with me as to state it as his opinion that "nothing can be less like johnson's peculiar style," and refers me to a note, with which i was perfectly familiar, to show--but which i must say i cannot see that it does in the slightest degree--"that it is impossible that johnson could have written this prospectus." another correspondent, whose communication i am unable immediately to refer to, likewise recorded his dissent from my conclusion. next follows dr. rimbault, whom i understand to differ from me also, and who says (but where is the authority for the statement?) "haslewood believed it to have been the production of messrs. cibber and shields." i have every respect for haslewood as a diligent antiquary, but i confess i do not attach much weight to his opinion on a question of critical taste or nice discrimination of style. i had, as i have observed, assigned the prospectus to dr. johnson on the internal evidence alone; but since it appeared in "n. & q." i have become aware of an important corroboration of my opinion in a copy of cibber's _lives_ which formerly belonged to isaac reed, and which i have recently purchased. at the beginning of the first volume he has pasted in the prospectus, and under it is the following note in his { } handwriting: "the above advertisement was written or revised by dr. johnson.--j. r." reed's general correctness and capacity of judging in literary matters are too well known to render it necessary for me to enlarge upon them; and with this support i am quite content to leave the point in issue between your correspondents and myself to the decision of that part of your readers who take an interest in similar literary questions. it will be observed that i have confined myself in my remarks to the prospectus exclusively. the authorship of the _lives_ themselves is another question, and a very curious one, and not, by any means, as your correspondent c. appears to think, "settled." perhaps i may, on a future occasion, trouble you with some remarks upon the _lives_ in detail, endeavouring to assign the respective portions to the several contributors. james crossley. * * * * * pic-nic. (vol. vii., p. .) as i consider that the true origin of _pic-nic_ remains yet to be discovered, permit me to try and trace the word through france into italy, and to endeavour to show that the land with the "fatal gift of beauty" was its birthplace; and that when the medici married into france, the august ladies probably imported, together with fans, gloves, and poisons, a pastime which, under the name of _pique-nique_, became, as leroux says in his _dictionnaire comique_, "un divertissement fort à la mode à paris." i will not occupy space by quoting the article "at length" from leroux, but the substance is this:--persons of quality, of both sexes, who wished to enjoy themselves, and feast together, either in the open air or in the house of one of the number, imposed upon each one the task of bringing some particular article, or doing some particular duty in connexion with the feast. and to show how stringent was the expression _pique-nique_ in imposing a specific task, leroux quotes "considérant que chacun avait besoin de ses pièces, prononça un _arrêt_ de pique-nique." (_rec. de pièc. com._) thus, i think leroux and also cotgrave show that the word _pique-nique_ involves the idea of a task, or particular office, undertaken by each individual for the general benefit. let us now go to italian, and look at the word _nicchia_. both from alberti and from baretti we find it to bear the meaning of "a charge, a duty, or an employment;" and if before this word we place the adjective _piccola_, we have _piccola nicchia_, "a small task, or trifling service to be performed." now i think no one can fail to see the identity of the _meanings_ of the expressions _piccola nicchia_ and _pique-nique_; but it remains to show how the words themselves may be identical. those who have been in the habit of reading much of the older italian authors (subsequent to boccacio) will bear me out in my statement of the frequency of contraction of words in familiar use: the plays, particularly, show it, from the dialogues in machiavelli or goldoni to the libretto of a modern opera; so much as to render it very probable that _piccola nicchia_ might stand as _picc' nicc'_, just as we ourselves have been in the habit of degrading _scandalum magnatum_ into _scan. mag._ it only remains now to carry this _picc' nicc'_ into france, and, according to what is usual in gallicising italian words, to change the _c_ or _ch_ into _que_, to have what i started with, viz. the _divertissement_ concerning which leroux enlarges, and in which, i am afraid, it may be said i have followed his example. however, i consider the _decameron_ of boccacio as a probable period where the temporary queen of the day would impose the _arrêt_ of _pique-nique_ upon her subjects; and when i look over the engravings of the manners and customs of the italians of the middle ages, all indicating the frequency of the _al fresco_ banquets, and find that subsequently watteau and lancret revel in similar amusements in france, where the personages of the _fête_ manifestly wear italian-fashioned garments; and when we are taught that such parties of pleasure were called _pique-niques_, i think it is fair to infer that the expression is a gallicised one from an italian phrase of the same signification. i do not know if it will be conceded that i have proved my case _positively_, but i might go so far _negatively_ as to show that in no other european language can i find any word or words which, having a similar sound, will bear an analysis of adaptation; and though there is every probability that the custom of _pic-nic_ing obtained in preference in the sunny south, there are few, i think, that would rush for an explanation into the eastern languages, on the plea that the crusaders, being in the habit of _al fresco_ banquetting, might have brought home the expression _pic-nic_. john anthony, m.d. washwood, birmingham. this word would seem to be derived from the french. wailly, in his _nouveau vocabulaire_, describes it as "repas où chacun paye son écot," a feast towards which each guest contributes a portion of the expense. its etymology is thus explained by girault-duvivier, in his _grammaire des grammaires_: "_pique-nique_, plur. des _pique-nique_: des repas où ceux qui _piquent_, qui _mangent_, font signe de la tête qu'ils paieront. "les allemands, dit m. lemare, ont aussi leur _picknick_, qui a le même sens que le nôtre. _picken_ signifie _piquer_, _becqueter_, et _nicken_ signifie _faire signe de la { } tête_. _pique-nique_ est donc, comme _passe-passe_, un composé de deux verbes; il est dans l'analogie de cette phrase, 'qui touche, mouille.'" henry h. breen. * * * * * peter sterry and jeremiah white. (vol. iii., p. .) your correspondent's inquiry with respect to the missing mss. of peter sterry, which were intended to form a second volume of his posthumous works, published without printer's name in , to., and of which mss. a list is given in vol. i., does not seem to have led to any result. as i feel equal interest with himself in every production of sterry, i am tempted again to repeat the query, in the hope of some discovery being made of these valuable remains. i have no doubt the editor of the "appearance of god to man," and the other discourses printed in the first volume, was r. roach, who edited jeremiah white's _persuasion to moderation_, lond., , vo.; and afterwards published _the great crisis_, and _the imperial standard of messiah triumphant_, , vo.; and probably sterry's mss. may be found if roach's papers can be traced. it is curious that a similar loss of mss. seems to have occurred with regard to several of the works of jeremiah white, who, like sterry, was a chaplain of cromwell (how well that great man knew how to select them!), and, like sterry, was of that admirable cambridge theological school which whichcot, john smith, and cudworth have made so renowned. neither of these distinguished men have yet, that i am aware of, found their way into any biographical dictionary. white is slightly noticed by calamy (vol. ii. p. .; vol. iv. p. .). sterry, it appears, died on nov. , . white survived him many years, and died in the seventy-eighth year of his age, . of the latter, there is an engraved portrait; of the former, none that i know of; nor am i aware of the burial-place of either. the works which i have met with of sterry are his seven sermons preached before parliament, &c., and published in different years; his _rise, race, and royalty of the kingdom of god in the soul of man_, , to.; his _discourse of the freedom of the will_ (a title which does not by any means convey the character of the book), lond., , fol.; and the to. before mentioned, being vol. i. of his _remains_, published in . of white i only knew a funeral sermon on mr. francis fuller; his _persuasion to moderation_, above noticed, which is an enlargement of part of his preface to sterry's _rise, &c._; and his _treatise on the restoration of all things_, , vo., which has recently been republished by dr. thom. to his _persuasion_ is appended an advertisement: "there being a design of publishing the rest of mr. white's works, any that have either letters or other manuscripts of his by them are desired to communicate them to mr. john tarrey, distiller, at the golden fleece, near shadwick dock." this design, with the exception of the publication of _the restoration_, seems to have proved abortive. white entertained many opinions in common with sterry, which he advocates with great power. he does not however, like his fellow chaplain, soar into the pure empyrean of theology with unfailing pinions. sterry has frequently sentences which milton might not have been ashamed to own. his _discourse of the freedom of the will_ is a noble performance, and the preface will well bear a comparison with cudworth's famous sermon on the same subject. jas. crossley. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _colouring collodion portraits._--i shall be obliged if any brother photographer will kindly inform me, through the medium of "n. & q.," the best method of colouring collodion portraits and views in a style similar to the hyalotypes shown at the great exhibition. we country photographers are much indebted to dr. diamond for the valuable information we have obtained through his excellent papers in "n. & q.," and perceiving he is shortly about to give us the benefit of his experience in a compact form, under the modest title of _photographic notes_, i suggest that, if one of his notes should contain the best method of colouring collodion proofs, so as to render them applicable for dissolving views, &c., he will be conferring a benefit on many of your subscribers; and, as one of your oldest, allow me to subscribe myself photo. _on some points in the collodion process._--in your impression of this day's date (vol. vii., p. .), the rev. j. l. sisson desires the opinion of other photographers relative to lifting the plate with the film of collodion up and down several times in the bath of nit. silv. solution; and as my experience on this point is diametrically opposed to his own, i venture to state it with the view of eliciting a discussion. the _evenness_ of the film is not at all dependent upon this practice; but its sensibility to light appears to be considerably increased. the plate, after being plunged in, should be allowed to repose quietly from twenty to thirty minutes, _and then rapidly_ slid in and out several times, until the liquid flows off in one continuous and even _sheet_ of liquid; and this also has a beneficial effect in washing off any little particles of collodion, dust, oxide, or any foreign matter which, if adherent, would form centres of chemical action, and cause spottiness in the negative. { } i find that the plate is more sensitive also, if not exposed before all the exciting fluid that can be _drained off_ is got rid of; that is, while still quite moist, but without any _flowing_ liquid. as to redipping the plate before development, it is, i believe, _in general_ useless; but when the plate has got _very_ dry it may be dipped again, but should be then _well drained_ before the developing solution is applied. mr. f. maxwell lyte (p. .) quotes the price of the purest iodide of potassium at s. d. per oz. i should be glad to know where it can be obtained, as i find the price constantly varies, and upon the last occasion i paid s. per oz., and i think never less than s. d. mr. l. merritt will probably succeed in applying the cement for a glass bath thus:--place the pieces of glass upon wood of any kind in an oven with the door open until he can only just handle them; then, with a roll of the cement, melting the end in the flame of a spirit-lamp, apply it as if for sealing a letter. this should be done as quickly as possible. the glasses may then be passed over the flame of the lamp (in contact with it), so as to raise the temperature, until the cement is quite soft and nearly boiling (this can be done without heating the parts near the fingers); and while hot the two separate pieces should be applied by putting one down on a piece of wood covered with flannel, and pressing the other with any wooden instrument: metal in contact would cause an instantaneous fracture. mr. merritt's difficulty with the developing solutions depends most probably in the case of the pyrogallic acid mixture not having enough acetic acid. the protonitrate of iron, if made according to dr. diamond's formula, does _not_ require any acetic acid, and flows quite readily; but the protosulphate solution requires a bath, and the same solution may be used over and over again. geo. shadbolt. london, april , . _economical iodizing process._--mr. maxwell lyte is probably as good a judge as myself, as to where any weak point or difficulty is found in iodizing paper with the carbonate of potass: if any chemical is likely to be the cause of unusual activity, it is the carbonic acid, and not the cyanide of potash. i still continue to use that formula, and have not iodized paper with any other: though i have made some variations which may perhaps be of use. i found that the nitrate of potash is almost the same in its effects as the carbonate. i would as soon use the one as the other; but the state i conceive to be the most effective, is the diluted liquor potassæ: that would be with iodine about the same state as the iodide of potash, but hitherto i have not tried it, though mean to do so. i am not quite certain as to whether, theoretically, this position is right; but i find in iodide of potash, and in the above formula, that the iodine is absorbed in greater quantities by the silver, than the alkaline potash by the nitric acid. thus, by using a solution for some time, it will at last contain but very little iodine at all, and not enough for the purpose of the photographer; hence it requires renewing. and i have lately observed that paper is much more effective, in every way, if it is floated on free iodine twice before it is used in the camera, viz. once when it is made, and again when it is dry: the last time containing a little bromine water and glacial acetic acid. it appears to me that the paper will absorb its proper dose of iodine better when dry, and the glacial acetic acid will set free any small amount of alkaline potash there may be on the surface; so that it will not embrown on applying gallic acid. by using the ammonio-nitrate of silver in iodizing, and proceeding as above, i find it all i can wish as far as regards the power of my camera. with this paper i can use an aperture of half an inch diameter, and take anything in the shade and open air in five or six minutes, in the sun in less time. the yellow colour also comes off better in the hypo. sulph. i think mr. maxwell lyte has made a mistake as to the price he quotes: about here i cannot get any iodide of potash under s. per ounce, and the five grains to the ounce added to the common dose of nitrate of silver is hardly worth speaking of; it would amount, in fact, to about fifteen grains in a quire of whatman's paper,--no great hardship, because many use much higher doses of silver for iodizing; forty grains to the ounce is not uncommonly used, but i believe twenty-five grains quite enough. i presume, in sir wm. newton's mode of treating positives, the acid of the alum decomposes the alkali of the hypo. sulph. and it would be, i suppose, better for the picture, if its state were entirely neutral when put away or framed; but if alum is added, acid must remain, since sir wm. says it combines with the size. what i should imagine is, that the idea is good; but experience can only decide if the picture is better put away in an acid condition. i should think there are more available acids for the purpose, for alum has an injurious effect upon colour; and a positive is nothing but colour, the organic matter of the paper stained as it were by the silver: for, after all its washings and application of re-agents, no silver can possibly remain in the paper. the safest state therefore of putting away ought to be ascertained and decided upon; as it is no use doing them if they fade, or even lose their tones. weld taylor. n.b.--the iodized ammonio-nitrate paper will not bear exposure to the sun; it will keep any { } length of time, but should be kept in a paper, and away from any considerable degree of light. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _bishop juxon's account of vendible books in england_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--the following note in wilson's _history of the merchant taylors' school_, p. ., solves the query respecting the authorship of this bibliographical work. "_the catalogue of books in england alphabetically digested_, printed at london, , to., is ascribed to bishop juxon in osborne's _catalogue_ for , p. . but, as mr. watts, the judicious librarian of sion college, has observed to me, this is no authority, the epistle dedicatory bearing internal evidence against it. the author's name was _william london_, whence arose the mistake!" j. yeowell. hoxton. _dutensiana_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--the following statement, extracted from quérard's _france littéraire_, sub voce dutens, will account for the discrepancies mentioned by your correspondents with reference to the works of louis dutens. dutens published three volumes of _memoirs_, which he afterwards committed to the flames, out of consideration for certain living characters. he then published, in three volumes, his _mémoires d'un voyageur qui se repose_, the two first containing the author's life, and the third being the _dutensiana_. your correspondent w. (vol. vi., p. .) says that dutens published at geneva, in six volumes to., with prefaces, the entire works of leibnitz. this statement is thus qualified by the _biographie universelle_: "l. dutens est l'editeur de _leibnitii opera omnia_, mais c'est à tort que quelques bibliographes lui attribuent les _institutions leibnitiennes_. cet ouvrage est de l'abbé sigorgne." the same correspondent inquires whether dutens was not also the author of _correspondence inteceptée_: and sir w. c. trevelyan (vol. vii., p. .) says he had seen a presentation copy of it, although it is not included in the list of dutens' _works_ given by lowndes. this is explained by the fact that the work, originally published under the title of _correspondence interceptée_, was afterwards embodied in the _mémoires d'un voyageur_. lowndes seems to have had no knowledge of it as a separate publication. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _vicars-apostolic_ (vol. vii., pp. , .).--allow me to correct an error or two in my list of the vicars-apostolic, which appeared in your th number, p . the three archpriests were _appointed_ to their office, not _consecrated_. p. .--_northern district._ bishop witham was consecrated , not . he was _translated_ from the midland to the northern district in . p. .--in the list of the present roman catholic prelates in england and wales, the bishops--from archbishop wiseman to bishop hendren inclusive--were _translated_ in , not _consecrated_. j. r. w. bristol. _tombstone in churchyard_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in ecclesfield churchyard is the following inscription, cut in bold capitals, and as legible as when the slab was first laid down: "here lieth the bodie of richard lord, late vicar of ecclesfield, ." if, however, a. c.'s query be not limited to slabs in the open air, he will probably be interested by the following, copied by me from the floors of the respective churches, which are all in this neighbourhood. the first is from the unused church of st. john at laughton-le-morthing, near roche abbey, and is, according to mr. hunter, one of the earliest specimens of a monumental inscription in the vernacular: "here lyeth robt. dinningto' and alis his wyfe. robert dyed [=i] y'e fest of san james m'mo ccc iiij'xx xiij'mo. alis dyed o' tisday [=i] pas. woke, a'o d[=n]i m'o ccc'mo xxx'o whose saules god assoyl for is m'cy. ame'." the next three are partly pewed over; but the uncovered parts are perfectly legible. the first two are from tankersley, the third from wentworth: "hic jacet d[=n]s thomas toykyl ... die mensis aprilis anno d[=n]i m. cccc. lxxxx. sc[=d]o...." " ... mensis octob. an[=o] dni milli[=m]o cccc. xxx. quinto." " ... an[=o] d[=n]i millesimo cccc. xxxx. vi. cuius ai[=e] deus propitietur." also in ecclesfield church is a slab bearing the dates , and j. w. ; and the remains of two others, with dates "m'o ccccc'o xix'o," and "m'o ccccc'o xxx'o vi'o." j. eastwood. ecclesfield hall, sheffield. "_her face is like," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "her face is like the milky way i' the sky,-- a meeting of gentle lights without a name." these lines are from act iii. of sir john suckling's tragedy of _brennoralt_, and are uttered by a lover contemplating his _sleeping_ mistress; a circumstance which it is important to mention, as the truth and beauty of the comparison depend on it. b. r. i. { } _annuellarius_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_annuellarius_, sometimes written _annivellarius_, is a chantry priest, so called from his receiving the _annualia_, or yearly stipend, for keeping the anniversary, or saying continued masses for one year for the soul of a deceased person. j. g. exon. _ship's painter_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent j. c. g. may find a rational derivation of the word _painter_, the rope by which a boat is attached to a ship, in the saxon word _punt_, a boat. the corruption from _punter_, or boat-rope, to _painter_, seems obvious. j. s. c. _true blue_ (vol. iii., _passim_).--the occurrence of this expression in the following passage in dryden, and its application to the order of the garter, seem to have escaped the notice of the several correspondents who have addressed you on the subject. i quote from _the flower and the leaf_, dryden's version of one of chaucer's tales: "who bear the bows were knights in arthur's reign, twelve they, and twelve the peers of charlemain; for bows the strength of brawny arms imply, emblems of valour and of victory. behold an order yet of newer date, doubling their number, equal in their state; our england's ornament, the crown's defence, in battle brave, protectors of their prince; unchang'd by fortune, to their sovereign _true_, _for which_ their manly legs are bound with _blue_. these of the garter call'd, of faith unstain'd. in fighting fields the laurel have obtain'd, and well repaid the honors which they gain'd." henry h. breen. st. lucia. "_quod fuit esse_" (vol. vii., pp. . .).--in one of dr. byrom's common-place books now in the possession of his respected descendant, miss atherton, of kersal cell, is the following arrangement and translation of this enigmatical inscription, probably made by the doctor himself: "quod fuit esse quod est quod non fuit esse quod esse esse quod est non esse quod est non est erit esse. quod fuit esse quod, est quod non fuit esse quod, esse esse quod est, non esse quod est non est erit esse. what was john wiles is what john wiles was not, the mortal being has immortal got. the wiles that was but a non ens is gone, and now remains the true eternal john." i take this opportunity of mentioning that my friend, the rev. dr. parkinson, canon of manchester, and principal of st. bees, is at present engaged in editing, for the chetham society, the diary and unpublished remains of dr. byrom; and he will, i am sure, feel greatly indebted to any of your correspondents who will favour him with an addition to his present materials. o. g. ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. . art. townshend) seems to have some memoranda relating to byrom, and would perhaps be good enough to communicate them to dr. parkinson. james crossley. i have seen the above thus paraphrased: "what we have been, and what we are, the present and the time that's past, we cannot properly compare with what we are to be at last. "tho' we ourselves have fancied forms, and beings that have never been; we into something shall be turn'd, which we have not conceived or seen." c. h. (a subscriber.) _subterranean bells_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--in a most interesting paper by the rev. w. thornber, a.b., blackpool, published in the _proceedings of the historic society of lancashire and cheshire_, - , there is mention of a similar tradition to that quoted by your correspondent j. j. s. speaking of the cemetery of kilgrimol, two miles on the south shore from blackpool, the learned gentleman says: "the ditch and cross have disappeared, either obliterated by the sand, or overwhelmed by the inroads of the sea; but, with tradition, the locality is a favourite still. the _superstitio loci_ marks the site: 'the church,' it says, 'was swallowed up by an earthquake, together with the jean la cairne of stonyhill; but on christmas eve every one, since that time, on bending his ear to the ground, may distinguish clearly its bells pealing most merrily.'" broctuna. bury, lancashire. _spontaneous combustion_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i presume h. a. b.'s question refers to the human body only, because the possibility of spontaneous combustion in several other substances is, i believe, not disputed. on that of the human body taylor says: "the hypothesis of those who advocate _spontaneous_ combustion, is, it appears to me, perfectly untenable. so far as i have been able to examine this subject, there is not a single well-authenticated instance of such an event occurring: in the cases reported which are worthy of any credit, a candle or some other ignited body has been at hand, and the accidental ignition of the clothes was highly probable, if not absolutely certain." he admits that, under certain circumstances, the human body, though in general "highly difficult of combustion," may acquire increased combustible properties. but this is another question { } from that of the possibility of its purely spontaneous combustion. (see taylor's _medical jurisprudence_, pages - . edit. .) w. w. t. _muffs worn by gentlemen_ (vol. vi., _passim_; vol. vii., p. .).--the writer of a series of papers in the _new monthly magazine_, entitled "parr in his later years," thus (vol. xvi. p. .) describes the appearance of that learned theban: "he had on his dressing-gown, which i think was flannel, or cotton, and the skirts dangled round his ankles. over this he had drawn his great-coat, buttoned close; and his hands, for he had been attacked with erysipelas not long before, were kept warm in a _silk muff_, not much larger than the poll of a common hat." in an anonymous poetical pamphlet (_thoughts in verse concerning feasting and dancing_, mo. london, ), is a little poem, entitled "the muff," in the course of which the following lines occur: "a time there was (that time is now no more, at least in england 'tis not now observ'd!) when muffs were worn by _beaux_ as well as belles. scarce has a century of time elaps'd, since such an article was much in vogue; which, when it was not on the arm sustain'd, hung, pendant by a silken ribbon loop from button of the coat of well-dress'd beau. 'tis well for manhood that the use has ceased! for what to _woman_ might be well allow'd, as suited to the softness of her sex, would seem effeminate and wrong in _man_." william bates. birmingham. _crescent_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in judges, ch. viii. ver. ., gideon is recorded to have taken away from zeba and zalmunna, kings of midian, "the ornaments that were on their camels' necks." the marginal translation has "ornaments like the moon;" and in verse . it is stated that the midianites were _ishmaelites_. if, therefore, it be borne in mind that mohammed was an arabian, and that the arabians were ishmaelites, we may perhaps be allowed to infer that the origin of the use of the crescent was not as a symbol of mohammed's religion, but that it was adopted by his countrymen and followers from their ancestors, and may be referred to at least as far back as b.c., when zeba and zalmunna were slain, and when it seems to have been the customary ornament of the ishmaelites. w. w. t. _the author of "the family journal"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the author of the very clever series of papers in the _new monthly magazine_, to which mr. bede refers, is mr. leigh hunt. the particular one in which swift's latin-english is quoted, has been republished in a charming little volume, full of original thinking, expressed with the felicity of genius, called _table talk_, and published in by messrs. smith and elder, of cornhill. g. j. de wilde. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. . &c.).--i fear that there is little doubt that these collections of books have very often been unfairly dispersed. it is by no means uncommon, in looking over the stock of an old divinity bookseller, to meet with works with the names of parochial libraries written in them. i have met with many such: they appear chiefly to have consisted of the works of the fathers, and of our seventeenth century divines. as a case in point, i recollect, about ten years since, being at a sale at the rectory of reepham, norfolk, consequent upon the death of the rector, and noticing several works with the inscription "reepham church library" written inside: these were sold indiscriminately with the rector's books. at this distance of time i cannot recollect the titles of many of the works; but i perfectly remember a copy of sir h. savile's edition of _chrysostom_, vols. folio; _constantini lexicon_, folio; and some pieces of bishop andrewes. these were probably intended for the use of the rector, as in the case reported by your correspondent cheverells (vol. vii., p. .). i may also mention having seen a small parochial library of old divinity kept in the room over the porch in the church of sutton courtenay, near abingdon, berks. with the history and purpose of this collection i am unacquainted. norris deck. great malvern. _sidney as a christian name_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--lady morgan the authoress was, before her marriage, miss _sidney_ owenson. see chambers' _encyclop. of eng. lit._, ii. . p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _"rather"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the root of the word _rather_ is celtic, in which language _raith_ means "inclination," "on account of," "for the sake of," &c. thus, in the line quoted from chaucer, "what aileth you so _rathè_ for to arise," it clearly signifies "what aileth you that you _so incline_ to arise," and so on, in the various uses to which the comparative of the word is put: as, i had rather do so and so, _i. e._ "i feel _more inclined_;" i am rather tired, _i. e._ "i am fatigued _on account of_ the walk," &c. i am glad that you are come, the rather that i have work for you to do, _i. e._ "_more on account of_ the work which i have for you to do, or _for the sake_ of the work," &c. any obscurity that is attached to the use of the word, has arisen from the abuse of it, or rather from its right signification being not properly understood. fras. crossley. { } _lady high sheriff_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--another instance may be seen in foss's _judges of england_, vol. ii. p. .--in speaking of reginald de cornhill, who held the sheriffalty of kent from richard i. to henry iii., he says: "his seat at minster, in the isle of thanet, acquired the name of 'sheriff's court,' which it still retains; and he himself, discontinuing his own name, was styled reginald le viscount, even his widow being designated vicecomitessa cantii." d. s. _nugget_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .).--nugget _may_ be derived from the persian, but it is also used in scotland, and means a lump,--a nugget of sugar, for instance. and as scotchmen are to be found everywhere, its importation into australia and california is easily accounted for. r. s. n. _epigrams_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i beg to confirm the statement of scrapiana as to the reading john instead of thomas in the line "'twixt footman john and dr. toe." it may not be generally known that this epigram came from the pen of reginald heber, late bishop of calcutta, who was then a commoner of brazenoze college, and who wrote that extremely clever satire called _the whippiad_ of which the same dr. toe (the rev. henry halliwell, dean and tutor) was the hero. _the whippiad_ was printed for the first time a few years ago, in _blackwood's magazine_. i fancy the other facetious epigram given by scrapiana has no connexion with this, but was merely inserted on the same page as being "similis materiæ." b. n. c. _editions of the prayer-book_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following small addition is offered to mr. sparrow simpson's list: . fol. deputies of chr. barker. trinity college, dublin. . to. robert barker. trin. coll., dublin. . folio. robert barker. marsh's library, dubl. . vo. r. barker and the assignes of john bill. trin. coll., dublin. . to. same printers. trin. coll., dublin. . mo. same printers. marsh's library. . to. same printers. trin. coll., dublin. . to. same printers. trin. coll., dublin. . there is a latin version, in dr. mockett's _doctrina et politeia ecclesiæ anglicanæ_. to. londoni. marsh's library, dublin. h. cotton. thurles. _portrait of pope_ (vol. vii., p. .).--dr. falconer's portrait of pope could not have been painted by _joseph_ wright of derby, as that celebrated artist was only fourteen when pope died; consequently, the anecdote told of the painter, and of his meeting the poet at dinner, must apply to the artist named by dr. falconer, and of course correctly, _edward_ wright. s. d. d. _passage in coleridge_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the paper referred to by coleridge will be found in the _transactions of the manchester literary and philosophical society_, vol. iii. p. . it is the "description of a glory," witnessed by dr. haygarth on feb. th, , when "returning to chester, and ascending the mountain which forms the eastern boundary of the vale of clwyd." as your correspondent asks for a copy of the description, the volume being scarce, i will give the following extract: "i was struck with the peculiar appearance of a very white shining cloud, that lay remarkably close to the ground. the sun was nearly setting, but shone extremely bright. i walked up to the cloud, and my shadow was projected into it; when a very unexpected and beautiful scene was presented to my view. the head of my shadow was surrounded, at some distance, by a circle of various colours; whose centre appeared to be near the situation of the eye, and whose circumference extended to the shoulders. the circle was complete, except what the shadow of my body intercepted. it resembled, very exactly, what in pictures is termed a _glory_, around the head of our saviour and of saints: not, indeed, that luminous radiance which is painted close to the head, but an arch of concentric colours. as i walked forward, this _glory_ approached or retired, just as the inequality of the ground shortened or lengthened my shadow." a plate "by the writer's friend, mr. falconer," accompanies the paper. in my copy of the _transactions_, the following ms. note is attached to this paper: "see juan's and de ulloa's _voyage to south america_, book vi. ch. ix., where phænomena, nearly similar, are described." i. h. m. _lowbell_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--this is also surely a scotch word, _low_ meaning a light, a flame. "a smith's hause is aye lowin."--_scots. prov._ r. s. n. _burn at croydon_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this seems to be of the same nature as the "nailburns" mentioned by halliwell (_arch. dict._). in lambarde's _perambulation of kent_, p. ., nd edit., mention is made of a stream running under ground. but it seems very difficult to account for these phenomena, and any geologist who would give a satisfactory explanation of these _burns_, _nailburns_, subterraneous streams, and those which in lincolnshire are termed "blow wells," would confer a favour on several of your readers. e. g. r. * * * * *{ } miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. our learned, grave, and potent cotemporary, _the quarterly review_, has, in the number just issued, a very pleasant gossiping article on _the old countess of desmond_. the writer, who pays "n. & q." a passing compliment for which we are obliged, although he very clearly establishes the fact of the existence of a countess of desmond, who was well known and remarkable for her _extreme_ longevity, certainly does not prove that the old countess actually lived to the great age of years. the publisher of _men of the time, or sketches of living notables_, has just put forth a new edition of what will eventually become a valuable and interesting little volume. there are so many difficulties in the way of making such a book accurate and complete, that it is no wonder if this second edition, although it contains upwards of sixty additional articles, has yet many omissions. its present aspect is too political. men of the pen are too lightly passed over, unless they are professed journalists; many of the greatest scholars of the present day being entirely omitted. this must and doubtless will be amended. it is with great regret that we have to announce the death of one whose facile pen and well-stored memory furnished many a pleasant note to our readers,--j. r. of cork, under which signature that able scholar, and kindly hearted gentleman, mr. james roche, happily designated by father prout the "roscoe of cork," was pleased to contribute to our columns. _the athenæum_ well observes that "his death will leave a blank in the intellectual society of the south of ireland, and the readers of 'n. & q.' will miss his genial and instructive gossip on books and men." _the photographic society_ is rapidly increasing. the meeting on the th for the exhibition and explanation of cameras was a decided failure, from the want of due preparation; but that failure will be fully compensated by the promised exhibition of them in the rooms of the _society of arts_. while on the subject of photography, we may call the attention of our readers to a curious paper on photographic engraving, in _the athenæum_ of saturday last, by a gentleman to whom the art is already under so much obligation, mr. fox talbot. books received.--_wellington, his character, his actions, and his writings_, by jules maurel, is well described by its editor, lord ellesmere, as "among the most accurate, discriminating, and felicitous tributes which have evaluated from any country in any language to the memory of the great duke."--_temple bar, the city golgotha, a narrative of the historical occurrences of a criminal character associated with the present bar_, by a member of the inner temple. a chatty and anecdotical history of this last remaining gate of the city, under certainly its most revolting aspect. the sketch will doubtless be acceptable, particularly to london antiquaries. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., x., xxvii., xxviii. unbound. ---- vols. iii., iv., v., viii. in boards. bayle's dictionary. english version, by de maizeaux. london, . vols. i. and ii. gmelin's handbook of chemistry. inorganic part. lubbock, elementary treatise on the tides. sanders (rev. h.), the history of shenstone. to. lond. . swift's (dean) works. dublin: g. faulkner. volumes. . vol. i. todd's cyclopÆdia of anatomy and physiology. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vols. i. and ii. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., viii. boards. martyn's plantÆ cantabrigienses. mo. london, . abbotsford edition of the waverley novels. odd vols. the truth teller. a periodical. sarah coleridge's phantasmion. j. l. petit's church architecture. vols. r. mant's church architecture considered in relation to the mind of the church. vo. belfast, . cambridge camden society's transactions. vol. iii.--ellicott on vaulting. quarterly review, . gardeners chronicle, to , all but oct. to dec. . collier's further vindication of his short view of the stage. . congreve's amendment of collier's false and imperfect citations. . filmer's defence of plays, or the stage vindicated. . the stage condemned. . bedford's serious reflections on the abuses of the stage. vo. . dissertation on isaiah, chapter xviii., in a letter to edward king, &c., by samuel horsley, lord bishop of rochester. . first edition, in to. bishop fell's edition of cyprian, containing bishop pearson's annales cypriania. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents cantab. _the line_ "music has charms to soothe a savage breast," _is from congreve's _mourning bride_, act i. sc. i._ j. l. s. _we will endeavour to ascertain the value of the copy of _naunton_, and tell our correspondent when we write to him._ c. gonville. _we hope this correspondent has received the letter forwarded to him on saturday or monday last. his letter has been sent on._ e. p., jun. _the best account of nuremburg tokens is snelling's _view of the origin, nature and use of jettons or counters_. london, , folio._ nemo. _thanks to its excellent index, we are enabled, by cunningham's _handbook of london_, to inform him that vanburgh was buried in the family vault of the vanburghs in st. stephen's, walbrook._ c. m. j. _will find the reference to "language given to man," &c., in _vol. vi., p. ._, in an article on south and talleyrand._ photosulph, _who asks whether, when using the developing solution, it is necessary to blow upon the glass, is informed that it is not necessary; but that, when there is a hesitation in the flowing of the fluid, blowing gently on the glass promotes it, and the warmth of the breath sometimes causes a more speedy development._ x. a. _we cannot enter into any discussion respecting lenses. we have more than once fully recognised the merits of those manufactured by mr. ross: but never having used one of them, we could not speak of them from our own experience. we do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our correspondents._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the county booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * *{ } photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, and every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of le gray, hunt, brébisson, and other writers, may be obtained, wholesale and retail, of william bolton, (formerly dymond & co.), manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists may be had on application. improved apparatus for iodizing paper in vacuo, according to mr. stewart's instructions. . holborn bars. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons., foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. camera for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemist, . fleet street. * * * * * to photographers.--to be sold, a second-hand achromatic portrait lens by lerebour, - / aperture, inches focal length. price l. s. apply to thos. egley, bookseller, . upper berkeley street west, hyde park square, where also specimens of its performance may be seen. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, parliament street, london. founded a.d. . * * * _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.: l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.: george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration; being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers. , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l.and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * just published, with frontispiece, mo., price s. d. the vicar and his duties; being sketches of clerical life in a manufacturing town parish. by the rev. alfred gatty, vicar of ecclesfield. london: george bell. edinburgh: r. grant & son. * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, -- . volume four, -- . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, -- . volume two, -- . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * new achromatic microscopes on mr. pritchard's construction. micrometers, polarizing apparatus, object-glasses, and eye-pieces. s. straker supplies any of the above of the first quality, and will forward by post free a new priced list of microscopes and apparatus. . fleet street, london. * * * * * save fifty per cent. by purchasing your watches direct from the manufacturer, at the wholesale trade price. £ s. d. gold watches, extra jewelled, with all the recent improvements ditto, with the three-quarter plate movement, and stouter cases silver watches, with same movements as the gold ditto, with the lever escapement, eight holes jewelled and every other description of watch in the same proportion. a written warranty for accurate performance is given with every watch, and twelve months allowed. handsome morocco cases for same, s. extra. emigrants supplies with watches suitable for australia.--merchants, captains, and the trade supplied in any quantities on very favourable terms. £ s. d. gentlemen's fine gold albert chains ladies' ditto. neck ditto sent carefully packed, post free, and registered, on receipt of post-office or banker's order, payable to daniel elliott hedger. wholesale watch manufacturer, . city road, near finsbury square, london. * * * * * wanted, for the ladies' institute, . regent street, quadrant, ladies of taste for fancy work,--by paying s. will be received as members, and taught the new style of velvet wool work, which is acquired in a few easy lessons. each lady will be guaranteed constant employment and ready cash payment for her work. apply personally to mrs. thoughey. n.b. ladies taught by letter at any distance from london. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * *{ } the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains. * * * the camden society is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the civil, ecclesiastical, or literary history of the united kingdom; and it accomplishes that object by the publication of historical documents, letters, ancient poems, and whatever else lies within the compass of its designs, in the most convenient form, and at the least possible expense consistent with the production of useful volumes. the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due in advance on the first day of may in every year, and is received by messrs. nichols, . parliament street, or by the several local secretaries. members may compound for their future annual subscriptions, by the payment of l. over and above the subscription for the current year. the compositions received have been funded in the three per cent. consols to an amount exceeding l. no books are delivered to a member until his subscription for the current year has been paid. new members are admitted at the meetings of the council held on the first wednesday in every month. * * * the publications for the past year ( - ) were: . privy purse expenses of charles ii. and james ii. edited by j. y. akerman, esq., sec. s.a. . the chronicle of the grey friars of london. edited from a ms. in the cottonian library by j. gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. . promptorium: an english and latin dictionary of words in use during the fifteenth century, compiled chiefly from the promptorium parvulorum. by albert way, esq., m.a., f.s.a. vol. ii. (m. to r.) (in the press.) books for - . . the second volume of the camden miscellany, containing, . expenses of john of brabant, - ; . household accounts of princess elizabeth, - ; . requeste and suite of a true-hearted englishman, by w. cholmeley, ; . discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell, - ; . trelawny papers; . autobiography of dr. william taswell.--now ready for delivery to all members not in arrear of their subscription. . the verney papers. a selection from the correspondence of the verney family during the reign of charles i. to the year . from the originals in the possession of sir harry verney, bart. to be edited by john bruce, esq., trea. s.a. (will be ready immediately.) . the correspondence of lady brilliana harley, during the civil wars. to be edited by the rev. t. t. lewis, m.a. (will be ready immediately.) * * * the following works are at press, and will be issued from time to time, as soon as ready: roll of the household expenses of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, in the years , , with illustrations from other and coeval documents. to be edited by the rev. john webb, m.a., f.s.a. regulÆ inclusarum: the ancren rewle. a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the thirteenth century, addressed to a society of anchorites, being a translation from the latin work of simon de ghent, bishop of salisbury. to be edited from mss. in the cottonian library, british museum, with an introduction, glossarial notes, &c., by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. the domesday of st. paul's: a description of the manors belonging to the church of st. paul's in london in the year . by the ven. archdeacon hale. romance of jean and blonde of oxford, by philippe de reims, an anglo-norman poet of the latter end of the twelfth century. edited, from the unique ms. in the royal library at paris, by m. le roux de lincy, editor of the roman de brut. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or to messrs. nichols. william j. thoms, secretary. . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * works of the camden society, and order of their publication. . restoration of king edward iv. . kyng johan, by bishop bale. . deposition of richard ii. . plumpton correspondence. . anecdotes and traditions. . political songs. . hayward's annals of elizabeth. . ecclesiastical documents. . norden's description of essex. . warkworth's chronicle. . kemp's nine daies wonder. . the egerton papers. . chronica jocelini de brakelonda. . irish narratives, and . . rishanger's chronicle. . poems of walter mapes. . travels of nicander nucius. . three metrical romances. . diary of dr. john dee. . apology for the lollards. . rutland papers. . diary of bishop cartwright. . letters of eminent literary men. . proceedings against dame alice kyteler. . promptorium parvulorum: tom. i. . suppression of the monasteries. . leycester correspondence. . french chronicle of london. . polydore vergil. . the thornton romances. . verney's notes of the long parliament. . autobiography of sir john bramston. . correspondence of james duke of perth. . liber de antiquis legibus. . the chronicle of calais. . polydore vergil's history, vol. i. . italian relation of england. . church of middleham. . the camden miscellany, vol. i. . life of ld. grey of wilton. . diary of walter yonge, esq. . diary of henry machyn. . visitation of huntingdonshire. . obituary of rich. smyth. . twysden on the government of england. . letters of elizabeth and james vi. . chronicon petroburgense. . queen jane and queen mary. . bury wills and inventories. . mapes de nugis curialium. . pilgrimage of sir r. guylford. * * * * * murray's continental handbooks. advertisements intended for insertion in the present year's new and cheaper issue of murray's handbooks for travellers on the continent, must be forwarded to the publisher before the th april, after which day none can be received. _ . albermarle street, london, april nd, ._ * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxiv., is now ready. contents: i. apsely house. ii. scrope's history of castle combe. iii. human hair. iv. the old countess of desmond. v. hungarian campaigns--kossuth and gÖrgey. vi. buckingham papers. vii. search for franklin. viii. the two systems at pentonville. ix. maurel on the duke of wellington. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, april , contains articles on agricultural statistics barley, skinless bean, wilmot's kidney books reviewed calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural cedar and deodar celery, cole's crystal white cineraria, culture of conifers hurt by frost, by mr. cheetham deodar and cedar drainage, land emigration, hursthouse on fire at windsor castle fish spawn flax flowers, select florist, by mr. edwards fruits, names of ---- to preserve heating, by mr. lucas (with engravings) horses and oxen, comparative merits of, for agricultural purposes laudanum or opium osiers oxen and horses pig feeding plants, effect of the winter on, by mr. henderson plums, american, by mr. rivers ----, huling's superb, by mr. hogg potato tubers poultry book, by wingfield and johnson, rev. preserving fruits rhododendron dalhousiæ royal botanic garden, kew societies, proceedings of the horticultural, national floricultural, agricultural of england soil, robbers of, by mr. goodiff statistics, agricultural tecoma grandiflora tree, stem-roots of vines, stem-roots of windsor castle, fire at winter, effects of * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coat, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office, for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, september . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page "that swinney" monumental inscription in peterborough cathedral, by thos. wake folk lore:--superstition of the cornish miners-- northamptonshire folk lore shakspeare correspondence minor notes:--lemon-juice administered in gout and rheumatism--weather proverbs--dog latin--thomas wright of durham--a funeral custom queries:-- littlecott--sir john popham, by edward foss early edition of the new testament, by a. boardman minor queries:--ravilliac--emblem on a chimney-piece-- "to know ourselves diseased," &c.--"pætus and arria"--heraldic query--lord chancellor steele--"a tub to the whale"--legitimation (scotland)-- "vaut mieux," &c.--shakspeare first folio-- the staffordshire knot--sir thomas elyot-- "celsior exsurgens pluviis," &c.--the bargain cup-- school-libraries.--queen elizabeth and her "true" looking-glass--bishop thomas wilson-- bishop wilson's works--hobbes, portrait of minor queries with answers:--brasenose, oxford-- g. downing--unkid--pilgrim's progress--john frewen--histories of literature--"mrs. shaw's tombstone" replies:-- cranmer and calvin, by the rev. h. walter barnacles, by sir j. e. tennent and t. j. buckton dial inscriptions, by cuthbert bede, b.a. the "saltpeter maker" tsar, by t. j. buckton, &c. "land of green ginger," by john richardson and t. j. buckton photographic correspondence:--stereoscopic angles-- protonitrate of iron--photographs in natural colours--photographs by artificial lights replies to minor queries:--vandyke in america-- title wanted: choirochorographia--second growth of grass--snail-eating--sotades--the letter "h" in "humble"--lord north--singing psalms and politics--dimidiation by impalement--"inter cuncta micans," &c.--marriage service--widowed wife--pure--mrs. tighe--satirical medal--"they shot him dead at the nine-stone rig"--hendericus du booys: helena leonore de sievéri--house-marks, &c.--"qui facit per alium, facit per se"-- engin-à-verge--campvere, privileges of--humbug: ambages--"going to old weston"--reynolds's nephew--the laird of brodie--mulciber--voiding knife--sir john vanbrugh--portrait of charles i.-- burial in an erect posture--strut-stowers and yeathers or yadders--arms of the see of york-- leman family--position of font miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. "that swinney." junius thus wrote to h. s. woodfall in a private note, to which dr. good has affixed the date july st, (vol. i. p. .*) "that swinney is a wretched but dangerous fool. he had the impudence to go to lord g. sackville, whom he had never spoken to, and to ask him whether or no he was the author of junius: take care of him." this paragraph has given rise to a great deal of speculation, large inferences have been drawn from it, yet no one has satisfactorily answered the question, who was "that swinney?" that neither dr. good nor mr. george woodfall, the editors of the edit. of , knew anything about him, is manifest from their own bald note of explanation, "a correspondent of the printers." some reports say that he was a collector of news for the _public advertiser_, and subsequently a bookseller at birmingham, but i never saw any one fact adduced tending to show that there was any person of that name so employed. others that the rev. dr. sidney swinney was the party referred to: and mr. smith, in his excellent notes to the _grenville papers_, vol. iii. p. lxviii., _assumes_ this to be the fact. i incline to agree with him, but have only inference to strengthen conjecture. what may be the value of that inference will appear in the progress of this inquiry, who was dr. sidney swinney? reports collected by mr. butler, mr. barker, mr. coventry, and others, say that the doctor had been chaplain to the russian embassy, chaplain to the embassy at constantinople, and chaplain to one of the british regiments serving in germany. mr. falconer, in his _secret revealed_, p. ., quotes a paragraph from one of wray's letters to lord hardwick with reference to the proceedings at the royal society: "dr. swinney, your lordship's friend, presented his father-in-law howell's book." swinney's father-in-law, here called howell, was john zephaniah holwell, a remarkable man, whose name is intimately associated with the early history of british india, one of the few survivors of the black hole imprisonment, the successor of { } clive as governor, and a writer on many subjects connected with hindoo antiquities. swinney enrols him amongst his heroes, "holwell, clive, york, lawrence, adams, coote, of draper, bath-strung for his baffled suit." and he refers, in a note, to those "ungrateful monsters (heretofore in a certain trading company), who have endeavoured to vilify and sully one of the brightest characters that ever existed." i learn farther, from a volume of _fugitive pieces_, published by dr. swinney, that he was the son of major mathew swinney, whom after his flourishing fashion he calls on another occasion "mathew swinney of immortal memory;" from one of his dedications that the doctor himself was educated at eton; from the books of the royal society that he was of clare hall, cambridge; from dates and dedications, that from to , he was generally resident at scarborough; and from the _gentleman's magazine_, that he died there th november, . that swinney had been chaplain to the russian embassy i have no reason to believe; but that he had been in the east for a time, possibly as chaplain to the embassy at constantinople, is asserted in the brief biographical notice in the _gentleman's magazine_, and would _seem to be proved_ by a work which he published in , called-- "a tour through some parts of the levant: in which is included an account of the present state of the seven churches in asia. also a brief explanation of the apocalypse. by sidney swinney, d.d." nothing, however, can be inferred from a title-page of swinney's. here we have two or three distinct works referred to:--_a tour_, including "an account of the seven churches," and the "explanation of the apocalypse." now i must direct attention to the fact, that from the peculiar punctuation and phraseology--the full-stop after asia in this title-page--it may have been swinney's intention to indicate, without asserting, that the account of the apocalypse _only_ was by sidney swinney. if so, though swinney's name alone figures in the title-page of the work, he is responsible only for one or two notes! i would not have written conjecturally on this subject if i could have avoided it; but though swinney was a f.a.s. f.r.s., and though the work is dedicated to the fellows of those societies, no copy of it is to be found in the libraries of either, or in the british museum. i cannot, therefore, be sure that my own copy is perfect. what that copy contains is thus set forth in half a dozen lines of introduction: "before i [s. s.] enter upon the more important part of my dissertation [the explanation of the apocalypse], it may not be improper to give you some account of the present state of the seven churches in asia, as they are, _which was communicated to me_ by a certain _friend of mine_, in the description of a short tour which _he_ made through the principal parts of the levant: should they be accompanied with a few casual notes _of my own_, i trust the work will not be less acceptable to you on that account." it must be obvious, after this declaration, that the _tour_ set forth so conspicuously in the title-page, was not written by swinney. now the "itinerary" which follows is advowedly "wrote by _the author of the preceding account_," and this brings the reader and the work itself to "the end!" the truth i suspect to have been this:--swinney was not prudent and was poor, and raised money occasionally, after the miserable fashion of the time, by publishing books on subscription, and receiving subscriptions in anticipation of publication. about this time, from to , he published a _sermon_; _the ninth satire of horace_, a meaningless trifle of a hundred lines, swollen, by printing the original and notes, into a quarto; a volume of _fugitive pieces_; and the first canto of _the battle of minden, a poem in three books, enriched with critical notes by two friends, and with explanatory notes by the author_. of the latter work, as of the _tour_, i have never seen but one copy, a splendid specimen of typography, splendidly bound, containing the first and second canto. whether the third canto was ever published is to me doubtful; some of your correspondents may be able to give you information. my own impression is that it was not, and for the following reasons. swinney, it appears, had received subscriptions for the work, and promised in his prospectus _a plan of the battle_, and _portraits_ of the heroes, which the work does not contain. "however, to make some little amends" to his "generous subscribers," swinney announces his intention to present them with "_three_ books instead of _one_." the first book is dedicated to earl waldegrave, who commanded "the six british regiments of infantry" on the "ever memorable st august, ," and a note affixed states that "book the second" will be published on st january, and "book the third" on st of august. but the public, as swinney says, were kept "in suspense" almost three years for the second book, which was not published until ; and in the dedication of this second book, also to earl waldegrave, swinney says: "doubtless many of my subscribers have thought me very unmindful of the promise i made them in my printed proposal, in which i undertook to publish my poem out of hand. ill health has been the sole cause of my disappointing their expectations. a fever of the nerves ... for these four years, has rendered me incapable.... in my original proposals i undertook to publish this work in two books. [in the introduction he says, as i have just quoted, _one_ book.] poetical { } matter hath increased upon me to such a degree, in the genial climate of languedoc, as to have enabled me to compose several more books on this interesting subject, all which i purpose presenting my subscribers with at the original price of half a guinea.... many months ago this second book was printed off; but on my arrival in town from montauban (whither i purpose to return), i found there were so many faults and blunders in it throughout, that i was under the necessity of condemning five hundred copies to the inglorious purpose of defending pye bottoms from the dust of an oven.... profit, my lord, has not been my motive for publishing: if it had, i should be egregiously disappointed, for instead of gaining i shall be a considerable loser by the publication; and yet many of my subscribers have _given me four, five, and six times over and above the subscription-price for my poem. how even the remaining books will see the light must depend entirely upon my pecuniary, not my poetical abilities_. the work is well nigh completed; but not one solitary brother have i throughout the airy regions of grub street who is poorer than i. it is not impossible, however, but when _some of my partial friends shall know this_, they may _enable me by their bounty_ to publish out of hand." this leads me to doubt whether the third book was ever published, for i think the most "partial" of his friends--those who had given "four, five, and six times over and above the subscription price"--must have had enough in two books. if it were not published, it is a curious fact that, in a poem called _the battle of minden_, the battle of minden is not mentioned; though not more extraordinary perhaps than the omissions of the "explanation of the apocalypse" in his previous work. i come now to the question, why did junius speak so passionately and disrespectfully of swinney, and what are the probabilities that swinney had never before (july) spoken to lord g. sackville? these i must defer till next week. t. s. j. * * * * * monumental inscription in peterborough cathedral. the following notes occur on a fly-leaf at the end of a copy of gunton's _history of peterborough cathedral_, and appear to have been written soon after that book was printed: "among other things omitted in this history, i cannot but take notice of one ancient inscription upon a tomb in y^e body of the church, written in old saxon letters, as followeth: [cross] 'ws : ki : par : ci : passez : pvr : le : alme : estravnge : de : waterville : priez.' "this inscription may seem to challenge some relation to william de waterville, one of the abbots of this church. (see p. .)" "on sennour gascelin de marrham's tomb, mentioned p. ., these letters seem to be still legible: 'ci : gist : edovn : gascelin : sennovr : de marrham : iadis : de : ri : alm.. ^{di} ev est mercis : pater : noster.'" "in st. oswald's chapel, on y^e ground round the verge of a stone: 'hic iacet cor.... roberti de svtton abbatis istivs monasterii cvivs anima reqviescat in pace. amen.'" "in y^e churchyard is this inscription: [cross] 'aÑa ioannis de s[=c]o ivone qvo[=a] p[io]ris pma [=a] m [=d]iiii pace reqviescat. amen.' "this may probably relate to ivo, sub-prior of this monastery, whose anniversary was observed in y^e kalends of march. (see page . of this book.)" "in y^e churchyard: 'joannes pocklington, s. s. theologiæ doctor, obiit nov. , a. d^i. .' 'anne pocklington, .' 'mary, y^e wife of john towers, late lord bp. of peterborough, dyed nov. , a.d. .' 'quod mori potuit præstantissimæ foeminæ compton emery filiæ joannis towers s. t. p. hujus ecclesiæ quondam episcopi viduæ roberti rowell ll. d. nec non charissimæ conjugis richardi emery gen: in hoc tumulo depositum: feb. . a^o Ætatis , a^o domini .'" a marginal note states that "the chapter-house and cloyster sold in for l., to john baker, gent., of london." h. thos. wake. * * * * * folk lore. _superstition of the cornish miners_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i cannot find the information desired by your correspondent in the cornish antiquaries, and have in vain consulted other works likely to explain this tradition; but the remarks now offered will perhaps be interesting in reference to the _nation_ alluded to. the carthaginians being of the same race, manners, and religion as the phoenicians, there are no particular data by which we can ascertain the time of their first trading to the british coast for the commodity in such request among the traders of the east. the genius of carthage being more martial than that of tyre, whose object was more commerce than conquest, it is not improbable that the former might by force of arms have established a settlement in the cassiterides, and by this means have secured that monopoly of tin which the phoenicians and their colonies indubitably enjoyed for several centuries. norden, in his _antiquities of cornwall_, mentions it as a tradition universally received by the inhabitants, that their tin mines were formerly wrought by the jews. he adds that these old works are there at this day called attal sarasin, the ancient { } cast-off works of the saracens, in which their tools are frequently found. miners are not accustomed to be very accurate in distinguishing traders of foreign nations, and these jews and saracens have probably a reference to the old merchants from spain and africa; and those employed by them might possibly have been jews escaped the horrors of captivity and the desolation which about that period befel their country. "the jews," says whitaker (_origin of arianism_, p. .), "denominated themselves, and were denominated by the britons of cornwall, _saracens_, as the genuine progeny of sarah. the same name, no doubt, carried the same reference with it as borne by the genuine, and as usurped by the spurious, offspring of abraham." bibliothecar. chetham. _northamptonshire folk lore_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in norfolk, a ring made from nine sixpences freely given by persons of the opposite sex is considered a charm against epilepsy. i have seen nine sixpences brought to a silversmith, with a request that he would make them into a ring; but ½d. was not tendered to him for making, nor do i think that any threehalfpences are collected for payment. after the patient had left the shop, the silversmith informed me that such requests were of frequent occurrence, and that he supplied the patients with thick silver rings, but never took the trouble to manufacture them from the sixpences. a similar superstition supposes that the sole of the left shoe of a person of the same age, but opposite sex, to the patient, reduced to ashes is a cure for st. anthony's fire. i have seen it applied with success, but suppose its efficacy is due to some astringent principle in the ashes. e. g. r. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _on two passages in shakspeare._--taking up a day or two since a number of "n. & q.," my attention was drawn to a new attempt to give a solution of the difficulty which has been the torment of commentators in the following passage from the third act of _romeo and juliet_: "gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, towards phoebus' mansion; such a waggoner as phaeton would whip you to the west, and bring in cloudy night immediately.-- spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, that _runaways'_ eyes may wink, and romeo leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen." "runaways'" being a manifest absurdity, the recent editors have substituted "unawares," an uncouth alteration, which, though it has a glimmering of sense, appears to me almost as absurd as the word it supplies. in this dilemma your correspondent mr. singer ingeniously suggests the true reading to be,-- "that _rumourers'_ eyes may wink, and romeo leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen." no doubt this is a felicitous emendation, though i think it may be fairly objected that a rumourer, being one who deals in what he hears, as opposed to an observer, who reports what he sees, there is a certain inappropriateness in speaking of a rumourer's eyes. be this as it may, i beg to suggest another reading, which has the merit of having spontaneously occurred to me on seeing the word "runaways'" in your correspondent's paper, as if obviously suggested by the combination of letters in that word. i propose that the passage should be read thus: "spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, that _rude day's_ eyes may wink, and romeo leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen." a subsequent reference to juliet's speech has left no doubt in my mind that this is the true reading, and so obviously so, as to make it a wonder that it should have been overlooked. she first asks the "fiery-footed steeds" to bring in "cloudy night," then night to close her curtain (that day's eyes may wink), that darkness may come, under cover of which romeo may hasten to her. in the next two lines she shows why this darkness is propitious, and then, using an unwonted epithet, invokes night to give her the opportunity of darkness: "come, _civil_ night, thou sober suited matron all in black, and learn me how to lose a winning game," &c. the peculiar and unusual epithet "civil," here applied to night, at once assured me of the accuracy of the proposed reading, it having evidently suggested itself as the antithesis of "rude" just before applied to day; the civil, accommodating, concealing night being thus contrasted with the unaccommodating, revealing day. it is to be remarked, moreover, that as this epithet _civil_ is, through its ordinary signification, brought into connexion with what precedes it, so is it, through its unusual meaning of _grave_, brought into connexion with what follows, it thus furnishing that equivocation of sense of which our great dramatist is so fond, rarely missing an opportunity of "paltering with us in a double sense." i think, therefore, i may venture to offer you the proposed emendation as rigorously fulfilling all the requirements of the text, while at the same time it necessitates a very trifling literal disturbance of the old reading, since by the simple change of the letters _naw_ into _ded_, we convert "runaways'" into "rude day's," of which it was a very easy misprint. having offered you an emendation of my own, i cannot miss the opportunity of sending you { } another, for which i am indebted to a critical student of shakspeare, my friend mr. w. r. grove, the queen's counsel. in _all's well that ends well_, the third scene of the second act opens with the following speech from lafeu: "they say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons to make modern and familiar things, supernatural and causeless. hence is it that we make trifles of terrors; ensconcing ourselves in a seeming knowledge when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear." on reading this passage as thus printed, it will be seen that the two sentences of which it is composed are in direct contradiction to each other; the first asserting that we have philosophers who give a causeless and supernatural character to things ordinary and familiar: the second stating as the result of this, "that we make trifles of terrors," whereas the tendency would necessarily be to make "terrors of trifles." the confusion arises from the careless pointing of the first sentence. by simply shifting the comma at present after "things," and placing it after "familiar," the discrepancy between the two sentences disappears, as also between the two members of the first sentence, which are now at variance. it should be pointed thus: "they say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless." it is singular that none of the editors should have noticed this defect, which i have no doubt will hereafter be removed by the adoption of a simple change, that very happily illustrates the importance of correct punctuation. r. h. c. _shakspeare's skull_.--as your publication has been the medium of many valuable comments upon shakspeare, and interesting matter connected with him, i am induced to solicit information, if you will allow me, on the following subject. i have the _works of shakspeare_, which being in one volume vo., i value as being more portable than any other edition. it was published by sherwood without any date affixed, but probably about . there is a memoir prefixed by wm. harvey, esq., in which, p. xiii., it is stated that while a vault was being made close to shakspeare's, when dr. davenport was rector, a young man perceiving the tomb of shakspeare open, introduced himself so far within the vault that he could have brought away the skull, but he was deterred from doing so by the anathema inscribed on the monument, of-- "curs'd be he that moves my bones." this is given upon the authority of dr. nathan drake's work on shakspeare, in two vols. to. now in this work much is given which is copied into the memoir, but i do not there find this anecdote, and perhaps some reader of "n. & q." may supply this deficiency, and state where i may find it. i may be allowed to state, that pope's skull was similarly stolen and another substituted. i annex wheler's remark that no violation of the grave had, up to the time of his work, taken place. "through a lapse of nearly two hundred years have his ashes remained undisturbed, and it is to be hoped no sacrilegious hand will ever be found to violate the sacred repository."--_history of stratford-upon-avon_, by r. b. wheler (circa ?), vo. a subscriber. _on a passage in "macbeth."_--mr. singleton (vol. vii., p. .) says, "vaulting ambition, that _o'erleaps_ itself," is nonsense--the thing is impossible; and proposes that "vaulting ambition" should "rest his hand upon the pommel, and _o'erleap_ the saddle (sell)," a thing not uncommon in the feats of horsemanship. did mr. singleton never _o'erleap_ himself, and be too late--later than _himself_ intended? did he never, in his younger days, amuse himself with a _soprasalto_; or with what donne calls a "vaulter's sombersault?" did he never hear of any little plunderer, climbing a wall, _o'erreaching_ himself to pluck an apple, and falling on the other side, into the hands of the gardener? "by like," says sir thomas more, "the manne there _overshotte_ himself." what was the _manne_ about? attempting such a perilous gambol, perhaps, as correcting shakspeare. to {overleap, overreach, overshoot} himself are merely, to {leap, reach, shoot}, over or beyond the mark himself intended. q. bloomsbury. p.s.--mr. arrowsmith reminds us of the old saw, that "great wits jump." he should recollect also that they sometimes _nod_. * * * * * minor notes. _lemon-juice administered in gout and rheumatism._--at a time when lemon-juice seems to be frequently administered in gout and rheumatism, as though it were an entirely new remedy, i have been somewhat amused at the following passage, which may also interest some of your readers; it occurs in _scelta di lettere familiari degli autori più celebri ad uso degli studiosi della lingua italiana_, p. ., in a letter "di don francesco a teodoro villa": "io non posso star meglio di quel che sto, e forse perchè uso di spesso il bagno freddo, e beo limonata a pranzo e a cena da molti mesi. questa è la mia quotidiana bevanda, e dacche mi ci sono messo, m' ha fatto un bene che non si puo dire. di quelle doglie di capo, { } che un tempo mi sconquassavano le tempie, non ne sento più una. le vertigini, che un tratto mi favorivano sì di spesso, se ne sono ite. sino un reumatismo, che m' aveva afferrato per un braccio, s' e dileguato, così ch'io farei ora alla lotta col più valente marinaro calabrese che sia. l' appetito mio pizzica del vorace. che buona cosa il sugo d' un limone spremato nell' acqua, e indolciato con un po' di zucchero! fa di provarlo, teodoro. chi sa che non assesti il capo e lo stomaco auche a te." s. g. c. _weather proverbs_.--are these proverbs worth recording? "rain before seven, fine before eleven." "a mackerel sky and mare's tails, make lofty ships carry low sails." "if the rain comes before the wind, lower your topsails and take them in: if the wind comes before the rain, lower your topsails and hoist them again." the expressions in the latter two are maritime, and the rhymes not very choice; but they hold equally in terrestrial matters, and i have seldom found them wrong. rubi. _dog latin_.--the answer of one of your late correspondents (e. m. b., vol. vii., p. .) on the subject of "latin--latiner," has revived a query in your first volume (p. .) as to the origin of this expression which does not appear to have been answered. i do not remember having seen any explanation of the term, but i have arrived at one for myself, and present it to your readers for what it is worth. nothing, it must be admitted, can be more inconsistent with the usual forms of language than the latin of mediæval periods; it is often, in fact, not latin at all, but merely a latin form given to simple english or other words, and admitting of the greatest variety. now of all animals the distinctions of breed are perhaps more numerous in the canine race than any other. the word "mongrel," originally applied to one of these quadruped combinations of variety, has long been used to signify anything in which mixture of class existed, especially of a debasing kind, to which such mixture generally tends. nothing could be more appropriate than the application of the term to the "infima latinitas" of the middle ages; and from "mongrel" the transition to the name of the genus from that of the degenerate species appears to me to be very easy, though fanciful. j. b--t. _thomas wright of durham_.--in the _philosophical magazine_ for april, , i gave an account of the "original theory or new hypothesis of the universe" of thomas wright, whose anticipations of modern speculation on the milky way, the central sun, and some other points, make him one of the most remarkable astronomical thinkers of his day. in the biography in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , he is described as struggling for a livelihood when a young man, and no account is given of the manner in which he obtained the handsome competence with which he emerges in , or thereabouts. a few days after my account was published, i was informed (by captain james, r.e.) that a large four-foot orrery, constructed by wright for the royal academy at portsmouth, was still in that town; and that by the title of "j. harrises use of the globes" it appears that he (wright) kept his shop at the _orrery_, near water lane, fleet street (no. ), under the title of instrument-maker to his majesty. in an edition of harris (the th, ), which i lately met with, the above is described as "late the shop of thomas wright," &c. by the advertisements which this work contains, wright must have had an extensive business as a philosophical instrument-maker. the omission in the biography is a strange one. possibly some farther information may fall in the way of some of your readers. a. de morgan. _a funeral custom_.--at broadwas, worcestershire, in the valley of the teame, it is the custom at funerals, on reaching "the church walk," for the bearers to set down the coffin, and, as they stand around, to bow to it. cuthbert bede, b. a. * * * * * queries. littlecott--sir john popham. every one knows the tradition attached to the manor of littlecott in wiltshire, and the alleged means by which chief justice sir john popham acquired its possession. it is told by aubrey, sir walter scott, and many others, and is too notorious to be here repeated. let me ask you or your learned correspondents whether there exists any refutation of a charge so seriously detrimental to the character of any judge, and so inconsistent with the reputation which chief justice popham enjoyed among his cotemporaries? see lord ellesmere's notice of him in the case of the postnati (_state trials_, ii. .), and sir edward coke's flattering picture of him at the end of sir drew drury's case (_reports_, vi. .). are there any records showing that a darell was ever in fact arraigned on a charge of murder, and the name of the judge who presided at the trial? is the date known of the death of the last darell who possessed the estate, or that of sir john popham's acquisition of it? the discovery of these might throw great light on the subject, and possibly afford a complete contradiction. sir francis bacon, in his argument against sir john hollis and others for traducing public justice, states that-- "popham, a great judge in his time, was complained of by petition to queen elizabeth; it was committed { } to four privy councillors, but the same was found to be slanderous, and the parties punished in the court."--_state trials_, vol. ii. p. . if this petition could be discovered, and it should turn out that the slander complained of in it had reference to this story, the investigation which it then underwent by the four privy councillors, and the chief justice's enjoyment of his high office for so many subsequent years, would go far to prove the utter falsehood of the charge. this is a "consummation devoutly to be wished" by every one who feels an interest in the purity of the bench, and particularly by the present possessors of the estate, who must be anxious for their ancestor's fame. your useful publication has acted the part of the "detective police" in the elucidation of many points of history less interesting than this, and i trust you will consider the case curious enough to justify a close examination. edward foss. * * * * * early edition of the new testament. i should be greatly obliged if i could obtain through "n. & q." when, where, and by whom an imperfect black-letter copy of the new testament, lately come into my possession, was printed, and also who was the translator of it. it is bound in boards, has three thongs round which the sheets are stitched, seems never to have been covered with cloth, leather, or other material like our modern books, has had clasps, and is four inches long and two inches thick. the chapters are divided generally into four or five parts by means of the first letters of the alphabet. the letters are neither placed equidistant, nor do they always mark a fresh paragraph. it is not divided into verses. there are a few marginal references, and the chapter and letter of the parallel passages are given. crosses are placed at the heads of most chapters, and also throughout the text, without much apparent regularity. it contains a few rude cuts of the apostles, &c. the epistles of st. peter and st. john are placed before that to the hebrews. letters are frequently omitted in the spelling, and this is indicated by a dash placed over the one preceding the omitted letter. a slanting mark (/) is the most frequent stop used. i will transcribe a few lines exactly as they occur, only not using the black-letter. "b. as some spake of the temple/ howe yt was garnesshed with goodly stones and iewels he sayde. the dayes will come/ when of these thyngis which ye se shall not be lefte stone upon stone/ that shall not be throwen doune. and they asked hym sayinge/ master wh[=e] shall these thynges be? and what sygnes wil there be/ when suche thynges shal come to passe."--st. luke, ch. xxi. land is spelt _londe_; saints, _sainctis_; authority, _auctorite_, &c. a. boardman. p.s. it commences at the th chapter of st. matthew, and seems perfect to the st chapter of revelation. * * * * * minor queries. _ravilliac_.--i have read that a pyramid was erected at paris upon the murder of henry iv. by ravilliac, and that the inscription represented the jesuits as men-- "maleficæ superstitonis, quorum instinctu peculiaris adolescens (ravilliac) dirum facinus instituerat."--_thesaur. hist._, tom. iv. lib. , ad ann. . we are also informed that he confessed that it was the book of mariana the jesuit, and the traitorous positions maintained in it, which induced him to murder the king, for which cause the book (condemned by the parliament and the sorbonne) was publicly burnt in paris. is the pyramid still remaining? if not, when was it taken down or destroyed, and by whom or by whose authority? clericus (d). _emblem on a chimney-piece_.--in the committee room of the church missionary society, nos. . and . upper sackville street, dublin, a curious emblem-picture is carved on the centre of the white marble chimney-piece. an angel or winged youth is sleeping in a recumbent posture; one arm embraces a sleeping lion, in the other hand he holds a number of bell flowers. in the opposite angle the sun shines brightly; a lizard is biting the heel of the sleeping youth. i shall not offer my own conjectures in explanation of this allegorical sculpture, unless your correspondents fail to give a more satisfactory solution. ath celiath. _"to know ourselves diseased," &c_.-- "to know ourselves diseased, is half the cure." whence? c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. "_pætus and arria_."--can you inform me who is the author of _pætus and arria, a tragedy_, vo., ? in genest's _account of the english stage_, this play is said to be written by a gentleman of the university of cambridge. can you tell me whether this is likely to be w. smyth, the late professor of modern history in that university, who died in june, ? gw. _heraldic query_.--a. was killed in open rebellion. his son b. lived in retirement under a fictitious name. the grandson c. retained the assumed name, and obtained new arms. query, { } can the descendants of c. resume the arms of a.? if so, must they substitute them for the arms of c., or bear them quarterly, and in which quarters? francis p. _lord chancellor steele._--is any pedigree of william steele, esq., lord chancellor of ireland temp. commonwealth, extant; and do any of his descendants exist? it is believed he was nearly related to captain steel, governor of beeston castle, who suffered death by military execution in on a charge of cowardice. statfold. _"a tub to the whale."_--what is the origin of this phrase? pimlico. _legitimation_ (_scotland_).--perhaps some of your scotch readers "learned in the law" would obligingly answer the subjoined queries, referring to some decisions. . will entail property go to a _bastard_, _legitimated before the union_ under the great seal (by the law of scotland)? . will titles and dignities descend? . will armorial bearings? m. m. inner temple. _"vaut mieux," &c._--the proverb "vaut mieux avoir affaire à dieu qu'à ses saints" has a latin origin. what is it? m. _shakspeare first folio._--is there any _obtainable_ edition of shakspeare which follows, or fully contains, the first folio? m. _the staffordshire knot._--can any of your readers give the history of the staffordshire knot, traced on the carriages and trucks of the north staffordshire railway company? t. p. _sir thomas elyot._--i shall be extremely obliged by a reference to any sources of information respecting sir thomas elyot, knight, living in the time of henry viii., son of sir richard elyot, knight, of suffolk. i shall be glad also to know whether a short work (among others of his in my possession) entitled _the defence of good women_, printed in london by thomas berthelet, , is at all a rare book? h. c. k. _"celsior exsurgens pluviis," &c._-- "celsior exsurgens pluviis, nimbosque cadentes, sub pedibus cernens, et cæca tonitrua calcans." can you oblige me by stating where the above lines are to be found? they appear to me to form an appropriate motto for a balloon. j. p. a. _the bargain cup._--can the old english custom of drinking together upon the completion of a bargain, be traced back farther than the norman era? did a similar custom exist in the earlier ages? danl. dyke, in his _mysteries_ (london, ), says: "the jews being forbidden to make couenants with the gentiles, they also abstained from drinking with them; because that was a ceremonie vsed in striking of couenants." this is the only notice i can find among old writers touching this custom, which is certainly one of considerable antiquity: though i should like confirmation of dyke's words, before i can recognise an ancestry so remote. r. c. warde. kidderminster. _school-libraries._--i am desirous of ascertaining whether any of our public schools possess any libraries for the general reading of the scholars, in which i do not include mere school-books of latin, greek, &c., which, i presume, they all possess, but such as travels, biographies, &c. boys fresh from these schools appear generally to know nothing of general reading, and from the slight information i have, i fear there is nothing in the way of a library in any of them. if not, it is, i should think, a very melancholy fact, and one that deserves a little attention: but if any of your obliging correspondents can tell me what public school possesses such a thing, and the facilities allowed for reading in the school, i shall take it as a favour. weld taylor. bayswater. _queen elizabeth and her "true" looking-glass._--an anecdote is current of queen elizabeth having in her later days, if not during her last illness, called for a _true_ looking-glass, having for a long time previously made use of one that was in some manner purposely falsified. what is the original source of the story? or at least what is the authority to which its circulation is mainly due? an answer from some of your correspondents to one or other of these questions would greatly oblige veronica. _bishop thomas wilson._--in thoresby's diary, a.d. , april (vol. ii. p. .), is the following entry: "easter sunday ... after evening prayers supped at cousin wilson's with the bishop of man's son." was there any relationship, and what, between this "cousin wilson," and the bishop's son, dr. thomas wilson? i should be glad of any information bearing on any or on all these subjects. william denton. _bishop wilson's works._--the rev. john keble, hursley, near winchester, being engaged in writing the life and editing the works of bishop wilson (sodor and man), would feel obliged by { } the communication of any letters, sermons, or other writings of the bishop, or by reference to any incidents not to be found in printed accounts of his life. _hobbes, portrait of_.--in the _memoirs_ of t. hobbes, it is stated that a portrait of him was painted in for cosmo de medici. i have a fine half-length portrait of him, on the back of which is the following inscription: "thomas hobbes, æt. . . j^{os}. wick wrilps, londiensis, pictor caroli ^{di}. r. pinx^t." is this painter the same as john wycke, who died in , but who is not, i think, known as a portrait painter? can any of your readers inform me whether a portrait of hobbes is now in the galleries at florence, and, if so, by whom it was painted? it is possible that mine is a duplicate of the picture which was painted for the grand duke. w. c. trevelyan. wallington. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _brasenose, oxford_.--i am anxious to learn the origin and meaning of the word _brasenose_. i have somewhere heard or read (though i cannot recall where) that it was a saxon word, _brasen haus_ or "brewing-house;" and that the college was called by this name, because it was built on the site of the brewing-house of king alfred. all that ingram says on the subject is this: "this curious appellation, which, whatever was the origin of it, has been perpetuated by the symbol of a brazen nose here and at stamford, occurs with the modern orthography, but in one undivided word, so early as , in an inquisition, now printed in the _hundred rolls_, though quoted by wood from the manuscript record."--see his _memorials of oxford_. cuthbert bede, b.a. [our correspondent will find the notice of king alfred's brew-house in the review of ingram's _memorials_ in the _british critic_, vol. xxiv. p. . the writer says, "there is a spot in the centre of the city where alfred is said to have lived, and which may be called the native place or river-head of three separate societies still existing, university, oriel, and brasenose. brasenose claims his palace, oriel his church, and university his school or academy. of these brasenose college is still called, in its formal style, 'the king's hall,' which is the name by which alfred himself, in his laws, calls his palace; and it has its present singular name from a corruption of _brasinium_, or _brasin-huse_, as having been originally located in that part of the royal mansion which was devoted to the then important accommodation of a brew-house." churton, in his _life of bishop smyth_, p. ., thus accounts for the origin of the word:--"brasen nose hall, as the oxford antiquary has shown, may be traced as far back as the time of henry iii., about the middle of the thirteenth century; and early in the succeeding reign, th edward i., , it was known by the name of brasen nose hall, which peculiar name was undoubtedly owing, as the same author observes, to the circumstance of a nose of brass affixed to the gate. it is presumed, however, this conspicuous appendage of the portal was not formed of the mixed metal, which the word now denotes, but the genuine produce of the mine; as is the nose, or rather face, of a lion or leopard still remaining at stamford, which also gave name to the edifice it adorned. and hence, when henry viii. debased the coin, by an alloy of _copper_, it was a common remark or proverb, that 'testons were gone to oxford, to study in _brasen_ nose.'"] _g. downing_.--can any one point out to me a biography of g. downing, or at least indicate a work where the dates of the birth and death of this celebrated statesman may be found? he was english ambassador in the hague previous to and in the year , and to him downing street in london owes its name. a very speedy answer would be most welcome.--from the _navorscher_. a. t. c. [in pepys's _diary_, vol. i. p. . edit. , occurs the following notice of sir george downing:--"wood has misled us in stating that sir george downing was a son of dr. calibut downing, the rector of hackney. he was beyond doubt the son of emmanuel downing, a london merchant, who went to new england. it is not improbable that emmanuel was a near kinsman of calibut; how related has not yet been discovered. governor hutchinson, in his _history of massachusetts_, gives the true account of downing's affiliation, which has been farther confirmed by mr. savage, of boston, from the public records of new england. wood calls downing a sider with all times and changes; skilled in the common cant, and a preacher occasionally. he was sent by cromwell to holland, as resident there. about the restoration, he espoused the king's cause, and was knighted and elected m. p. for morpeth, in . afterwards, becoming secretary to the treasury and commissioner of the customs, he was in created a baronet of east hatley, in cambridgeshire, and was again sent ambassador to holland. his grandson of the same name, who died in , was the founder of downing college, cambridge. the title became extinct in , upon the decease of sir john gerrard downing, the last heir male of the family." according to hutchinson, sir george died in .] _unkid_.--can any of your readers inform me as to the derivation of this word, or give any instance of its recent use? i have frequently heard it in my childhood (the early part of the present century) among the rural population of oxon and berks. it was generally applied to circumstances of a melancholy or distressing character, but sometimes used to express a peculiar state of feeling, being apparently intended to convey nearly the same meaning as the _ennui_ of the french. i { } recollect an allusion to the phrase somewhere in miss mitford's writings, who speaks of it as peculiar to berks; but as i was then ignorant of captain cuttle's maxim, i did not "make a note of it," so that i am unable to lay my hand on the passage. g. t. reading. [mr. sternberg also found this word in northamptonshire: for in his valuable work on _the dialect and folk lore_ of that county occurs the following derivation of it:--"unked, hunkid, _s_. lonely, dull, miserable. 'i was so _unked_ when ye war away.' 'a _unked_ house,' &c. mr. bosworth gives, as the derivative, the a.-s. _uncyd_, solitary, without speech. in batchelor's _list of bedfordshire words_, it is spelt _ungkid_."] _pilgrim's progress_.--the common editions contain a _third_ part, setting forth the life of _tender-conscience_: this third part is thought not to have been written by bunyan, and is omitted from some, at least, of the modern editions. can any of your readers explain by whom this addition was made, and all about it? the subject of the _pilgrim's progress_ generally--the stories of a similar kind which are said to have preceded--especially in catholic times--the history of its editions and annotations, would give some interesting columns. m. [mr. george offor, in his introduction to _the pilgrim's progress_, published by the hanserd knollys society in , notices the third part as a forgery:--"in a very few years after bunyan's death, this third part made its appearance; and although the title does not directly say that it was written by bunyan, yet it was at first generally received as such. in , it reached a second edition; and a sixth in . in , it was denounced in the title to the ninth edition of the second part, by a 'note, _the third part, suggested to be j. bunyan's, is an imposture_.' the author of this forgery is as yet unknown." mr. offor has also devoted fifty pages of his introduction to the conjectured prototypes of bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_. he says, "every assertion or suggestion that came to my knowledge has been investigated, and the works referred to have been analysed. and beyond this, every allegorical work that could be found, previous to the eighteenth century, has been examined in all the european languages, and the result is a perfect demonstration of the complete originality of bunyan."] _john frewen_.--what is known of this divine? he was minister at northiam in sussex in ; and published, the following year, a small volume of _sermons_, bearing reference to some quarrel between himself and parishioners. are these _sermons_ rare? any particulars would be acceptable. r. c. warde. kidderminster. [accepted frewen, archbishop of york, was the eldest son of john frewen, "the puritanical rector of northiam," as wood calls him, and indeed his name carries a symbol of his father's sanctity. wood has given a few particulars of john, who, he says, "was a learned divine, and frequent preacher of the time, and wrote, . _fruitful instructions and necessary doctrine, to edify in the fear of god, &c_., . . _fruitful instructions for the general cause of reformation, against the slanders of the pope and league, &c_., . . _certain choice grounds and principles of our christian religion, with their several expositions, by way of questions and answers, &c_., , and other things. he died in (about the latter end), and was buried in northiam church, leaving then behind these sons, viz. accepted, thankful, stephen, joseph, benjamin, thomas, samuel, john, &c., which john seems to have succeeded his father in the rectory of northiam; but whether the said father was educated at oxford, i cannot tell."] _histories of literature_.--can any correspondent inform me of the best, or one or two principal histories of literature, published in the english language, with the names of the author and publisher; as well as, if possible, the size and price? ilmonasteriensis. [our correspondent cannot do better than procure hallam's _introduction to the literature of europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries_, vols. vo. ( s.). he may also consult with advantage dr. maitland's _dark ages_, which illustrates the state of religion and literature from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, vo., s. and berrington's _literary history of the middle ages_, s. d.] "_mrs. shaw's tombstone_."--in leigh's _observations_ (london, ) are several quotations from a work entitled _mrs. shaw's tombstone_. where may a copy of this be seen? r. c. warde. kidderminster. [mrs. dorothy shaw's _tombstone, or the saint's remains_, , may be seen in the british museum, press-mark, . i. .] * * * * * replies. cranmer and calvin. (vol. viii., p. .) a correspondent who seems to delight in sibilants, signing, himself s. z. z. s., invites me to "_preserve_, in your columns, the letter of calvin to cranmer, of which dean jenkyns has only given extracts," as noticed by me in your vol. vii., p. . i would not shrink from the trouble of transcribing the whole letter, if a complete copy were only to be found in the short-lived columns of a newspaper, as inserted in the _record_ of may , , by merle d'aubigné; but the dean has given a reference to the volume in which both the letters he cites are preserved and accessible, viz. _calvin epistles_, pp. , ., genev. . { } s. z. z. s. justly observes that there are two points to be distinguished: first, cranmer's wish that calvin should assist in a general union of the churches protesting against romish errors; second, calvin's offer to assist in settling the church of england. he adds, "the latter was declined; and the reason is demonstrated in archbishop laurence's _bampton lectures_." i neither possess those lectures, nor the volume of calvin's epistles; but all i have seen of the correspondence between him and cranmer, in the parker society's editions of cranmer, and of original letters between - , and in jenkyns' _remains of cranmer_, indisposes me to believe that calvin made any "offer to assist in settling the church of england." it appears from dean jenkyns' note, vol. i. p. ., that archbishop laurence made a mistake in the order of the correspondence, calculated to mislead himself; and as to heylyn's assertion, _eccles. restaur._, p. ., that calvin made such an offer and "that the archbishop (cranmer) _knew_ the man and refused his offer," the dean says: "he gives no authority for the later part of his statement, and it can hardly be reconciled with cranmer's letter to calvin of march , ." the contemptuous expression, he "knew the man and refused his offer," is, in fact, utterly irreconcilable with cranmer's language in all his three letters to melancthon, to bullinger, and to calvin (nos. , , . of parker society's edition of _cranmer's remains_, and nos. , , . of jenkyns' edition), where he tells each of the other two that he had written to calvin from his desire-- "ut in anglia, aut alibi, doctissimorum et _optimorum_ virorum synodus convocaretur, in qua de puritate ecclesiasticæ doctrinæ, et præcipue de consensu controversiæ sacramentariæ tractaretur." or, as he said to calvin himself: "ut docti et pii viri, qui alios antecellunt eruditione et judicio, convenirent." your correspondent seems to have used the word "demonstrated" rather in a surgical than in its mathematical sense. having taken up my pen to supply you with an answer to this historical inquiry, i may as well notice some other articles in your no. . for example, in p. ., l. need not have referred your readers to halliwell's _researches in archaic language_ for an explanation of bacon's word "bullaces." the word may be seen in johnson's _dictionary_, with the citation from bacon, and instead of vaguely calling it "a small black and tartish plum," your botanical readers know it as the _prunus insititia_. again, p. ., j. m. may like to know farther, that the duke of wellington's clerical brother was entered on the boards of st. john's college, cambridge, as wesley, where the spelling must have been dictated either by himself, or by the person authorised to desire his admission. it continued to be spelt wesley in the cambridge annual calendars as late as , but was altered in that of to wellesley. the alteration was probably made by the desire of the family, and without communicating such desire to the registrary of the university. for it appears in the edition of _graduati cantabrigienses_, printed in , as follows: "wesley, gerard valerian, coll. joh. a. m. . comitis de mornington, fil. nat. ^{tus}." in p. ., c. m. ingleby may like to know, as a clue to the origin of his _apussee and_, that i was taught at school, sixty years ago, to call & _and per se_, whilst some would call it _and-per-se-and_. in the same page, the inquirer b. h. c. respecting the word _mammon_, may like to know that the history of that word has been given at some length in p. . to p. . of the parker society's edition of tyndale's _parable of the wicked mammon_, where i have stated that it occurs in a form identical with the english in the chaldee targum of onkelos on exod. viii. ., and in that of jonathan on judges, v. ., as equivalent to riches; and that in the syriac translation it occurs in a form identical with [greek: mamôna], in exod. xxi. ., as a rendering for [hebrew: k\holam\p\segol\r], the price of satisfaction. in b. h. c.'s citation from barnes, _even_ seems a misprint for _ever_. the jews did not again fall into actual idolatry after the babylonish captivity; but we are told that in the sight of god covetousness is idolatry. henry walter. hasilbury bryan. * * * * * barnacles. (vol. viii., p. .) a querist quoting from porta's _natural magic_ the vulgar error that "not only in scotland, but in the river thames, there is a kind of shell-fish which get out of their shells and grow to be ducks, or such like birds," asks, what could give rise to such an absurd belief? your correspondent quotes from the english translation of the _magia naturalis_, a.d. ; but the tradition is very ancient, porta the author having died in a.d. you still find an allusion in _hudibras_ to those-- "who from the most refin'd of saints, as naturally grow miscreants, as _barnacles_ turn soland geese, in th' islands of the orcades." the story has its origin in the peculiar formation of the little mollusc which inhabits the multivalve shell, the _pentalasmis anatifera_, which by a fleshy peduncle attaches itself by one end to the bottoms of ships or floating timber, whilst from the other { } there protrudes a bunch of curling and fringe-like cirrhi, by the agitation of which it attracts and collects its food. these cirrhi so much resemble feathers, as to have suggested the leading idea of a bird's tail: and hence the construction of the remainder of the fable, which is thus given with grave minuteness in _the herbal, or general historie of plants_, gathered by john gerarde, master in chirurgerie: london, : "what our eyes have seen, and our hands have touched, we shall declare. there is a small island in lancashire called the pile of foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by shipwreck; and also the trunks or bodies, with the branches of old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise, whereon is found a certain spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certain shells, in shape like those of a mussel, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour; wherein is contained a thing in form like a lace of silk finely woven as it were together, of a whitish colour; one end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oysters and mussels are; the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude mass or lump, which in time cometh to the shape and form of a bird. when it is perfectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string; next come the legs of the bird hanging out and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill. in short space after it cometh to full maturity, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl, bigger than a mallard, and lesser than a goose; having black legs, and a bill or beak, and feathers black and white, spotted in such manner as our magpie, called in some places a pie-annet, which the people of lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose; which place aforesaid, and all those parts adjacent, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best may be bought for threepence. for the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair unto me, and i shall satisfy them by the testimony of credible witnesses."--page . gerarde, who is doubtless butler's authority, says elsewhere, that "in the north parts of scotland, and the islands called orcades," there are certain trees whereon these tree-geese and barnacles abound. the conversion of the fish into a bird, however fabulous, would be scarcely more astonishing than the metamorphosis which it actually undergoes--the young of the little animal having no feature to identify it with its final development. in its early stage (i quote from carpenter's _physiology_, vol. i. p. .) it has a form not unlike that of the crab, "possessing eyes and powers of free motion; but afterwards, becoming fixed to one spot for the remainder of its life, it loses its eyes and forms a shell, which, though composed of various pieces, has nothing in common with the jointed shell of the crab." though porta wrote at naples, the story has reference to scotland; and the tradition is evidently northern, and local. as to speriend's query, what could give rise to so absurd a story? it doubtless took its origin in the similarity of the tentacles of the fish to feathers of a bird. but i would add the farther query, whether the ready acceptance and general credence given to so obvious a fable, may not have been derived from giving too literal a construction to the text of the passage in the first chapter of genesis: "and god said, let the _waters bring forth abundantly_ the moving creature that hath life, and _the fowl_ that may fly in the open firmament of heaven?" j. emerson tennent. drayton ( ) in his _poly-olbion_, iii., in connexion with the river dee, speaks of-- "th' anatomised fish, and fowls from planchers sprung," to which a note is appended in southey's edition, p. ., that such fowls were "_barnacles_, a bird breeding upon old ships." in the _entertaining library_, "habits of birds," pp. - ., the whole story of this extraordinary instance of ignorance in natural history is amply developed. the barnacle shells which i once saw in a sea-port, attached to a vessel just arrived from the mediterranean, had the brilliant appearance, at a distance, of flowers in bloom[ ]; the foot of the _lepas anatifera_ (linnæus) appearing to me like the stalk of a plant growing from the ship's side: the shell had the semblance of a calyx, and the flower consisted of the fingers (_tentacula_) of the shell-fish, "of which twelve project in an elegant curve, and are used by it for making prey of small fish." the very ancient error was to mistake the foot of the shell-fish for the neck of a goose, the shell for its head, and the _tentacula_ for a tuft of feathers. as to the body, _non est inventus_. the barnacle goose is a well-known bird: and these shell-fish, bearing, as seen out of the water, resemblance to the goose's neck, were ignorantly, and without investigation, confounded with geese themselves, an error into which albertus magnus (d. ) did not fall, and in which pope pius ii. proved himself infallible. nevertheless, in france, the barnacle goose may be eaten on fast-days by virtue of this old belief in its marine origin. t. j. buckton [footnote : see _penny cycl_., art. cirripeda, vii. ., reversing the woodcut.] * * * * * dial inscriptions. (vol. iv., p. . vol. v., p. ., &c.) in the churchyard of areley-kings, worcestershire (where is the singular memorial to sir harry coningsby, which i mentioned at vol. vi., { } p. .), is a curious dial, the pillar supporting which has its four sides carved with figures of time and death, &c., and the following inscriptions. on the south side, where is the figure of time: consider "aspice--ut aspicias." "time's glass and scythe thy life and death declare, spend well thy time, and for thy end prepare." "o man, now or never while there is time, turn unto the lord, and put not off from day to day." on the north side, where is the figure of death standing upon a dead body, with his dart, hour-glass, and spade: "three things there be in very deede, which make my heart in grief to bleede: the first doth vex my very heart, in that from hence i must departe; the second grieves me now and then, that i must die, but know not when; the third with tears bedews my face, that i must die, nor know the place. i. w. _fecit_, anno d[=m]i. ." "behold my killing dart and delving spade; prepare for death before thy grave be made; for after death there's no hope." "if a man die he shall live again. all the days of my appointed time will i wait till my days come."--_job_ xiv. . "the death of saints is precious, and miserable is the death of sinners." the east side of the pillar has the following: "si vis ingredi in vitam, serve mandata." "judgments are prepared for sinners."--_prov_. xiv. . and on the west: "sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram." "whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." i subjoin a few other dial inscriptions, copied from churches in worcestershire. kidderminster (parish church): "none but a villain will deface me." himbleton (over the porch): "via vitæ." bromsgrove: "we shall ----" (_i.e._ we shall die-all). shrawley: "ab hoc nomento pendet æternitas." cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * the "saltpeter maker." (vol. vii., pp. . . . .) the following humble petition will give an idea of the arbitrary power exercised by the "saltpeter maker" in the days of good queen bess; and of the useful monopoly that functionary contrived to make of his employment, in defiance of county government: "righte honorable, our humble dewties to yo^r good lordshippe premised, maye it please the same to be advertised, that at the quarter sessions holden at newarke within this countie of nottingham, there was a generall complaynte made unto us by the whole countrie, that one john ffoxe, saltpeter maker, had charged the whole countrie by his precepts for the caryinge of cole from selsonn, in the countie of nottingham, unto the towne of newarke w^{th}in the same countie; beinge sixteene myles distante for the makeinge of saltpeter, some townes w^{th} five cariages and some w^{th} lesse, or els to geve him foure shillinges for everie loade, whereof he hath recyved a great parte. uppon w^{ch} complaynte we called the same ffoxe before some of us at newarke at the sessions, there to answere the premisses, and also to make us a propc[=i]on what loades of coales would serve to make a thowsand of saltpeter, to thend we might have sett some order for the preparing of the same: but the said ffoxe will not sett downe anie rate what would serve for the makeinge of a thowsande. therefore we have thoughte good to advertise your good lordshippe of the premisses, and have appoynted the clarke of the peace of this countie of nottingham to attend yo^r good lordshippe to know yo^r lordshippes pleasure about the same, who can further informe yo^r good lordshippe of the particularities thereof, if it shall please yo^r good lordshippe to geve him hearings, and so most humblie take our leaves, newarke, the viij^{th} of octob^r, . "your l^{pp} most humblie to comaunde, ro. markham, william sutton, r[=au]f barton, , n[=ih]s roos, brian lassels, john thornhagh." the document is addressed on the back "to the right honorable our verie good lord the lord burghley, lord heighe threasoro^r of england, yeve theis;" and is numbered lxi. . among the lansdowne mss., b. m. the proposal quoted below has no date attached, but probably belongs to the former part of the seventeenth century: "the service. " . to make tunne of refined saltpetre within his ma^{ties} dominions yearely, and continually, and cheaper. . _without digging of homes or charging of carts, or any other charge to the subject whatsoever._ { } . to performe the whole service at our owne cost. . not to hinder any man in his owne way of makeing saltpetre, nor importation from forreine parts." the following memorandum is underwritten: "mr. speaker hath our bill; be pleased to-morrow to call for it." the original draft of the above disinterested offer may be seen harl. clviii. fol. . furvus. st. james's. * * * * * tsar. (vol. viii., p. .) the difficulty in investigating the origin of this word is that the letter _c_, "the most wonderful of all letters," says eichhoff (_vergleichung der sprachen_, p. .), sounds like _k_ before the vowels _a_, _o_, _u_, but before _e_, _i_, in french, spanish, portuguese, and dutch, as _s_, in italian as _tsh_, in german as _ts_. it is always _ts_ in polish and bohemian. in russian it is represented by a special letter [cyrillic: ts], _tsi_; but in celtic it is always _k_. conformably with this principle, the russians, like the germans, poles, and bohemians, pronounce the latin _c_ as _ts_. so cicero in these languages is pronounced _tsitsero_, very differently from the greeks, who called him _kikero_. the letter _tsi_ is a supplementary one in russian, having no corresponding letter in the greek alphabet, from which the russian was formed in the ninth century by st. cyril. the word to be sought then amongst cognate languages as the counterpart of _tsar_ (or as the germans write it _czar_) is _car_, as pronounced in english, french, spanish, portuguese, and dutch. the most probable etymological connection that i can discover is with the sanscrit [sanskrit: car] _car_, to move, to advance; the root of the greek [greek: karrhon], in english _car_, latin _curro_, french _cours_. so sanscrit _caras_, _carat_, movable, nimble; greek [greek: chraôn], latin _currens_. and sanscrit _câras_, motion, greek [greek: choros], latin _currus_, _cursus_, french _char_, english _car_, _cart_, &c. the early russians were doubtless wanderers, an off-shoot of the people known to the greeks as scythians, and to the hebrews and arabians as gog and magog, who travelled in _cars_, occupying first one territory with their flocks, but not cultivating the land, then leaving it to nature and taking up another resting-place. it is certain that the russians have many asiatic words in their vocabulary, which must necessarily have occurred from their being for more than two centuries sometimes under tatar, and sometimes under mongol domination; and the origin of this word _tsar_ or _car_ may leave to be sought on the plateaus of north-east asia. in the shemitic tongues (arabic, hebrew, persian, &c.) no connexion of sound or meaning, so probable as the above indo-european one, is to be found. the popular derivations of nabupolassar, nebuchadnezzar, belshazzar, &c., are not to be trusted. it is remarkable, however, that these names are significant in russian. (see "n. & q.," vol. vii., pp. , , _note_.) the cuneatic inscriptions may yet throw light on these assyrian names. in russian the kingdom is _tsarstvo_, the king _tsar_, his queen _tsarina_, his son is _tsarevitch_, and his daughter _tsarevna_. the word is probably pure russian or slavic. the russian tsar used about two hundred years ago to be styled duke by foreign courts, but he has advanced in the nomenclature of royalty to be an emperor. the russians use the word _imperatore_ for emperor, _kesar_ for cæsar, and _samodershetse_ for sovereign. t. j. buckton. birmingham. in voltaire's _history of the russian empire_, it is stated that the title of czar may possibly be derived front the _tzars_ or _tchars_ of the kingdom of casan. when john, or ivan basilides, grand prince of russia, had completed the reduction of this kingdom, he assumed this title, and it has since continued to his successors. before the reign of john basilides, the sovereigns of russia bore the name of _velike knez_, that is, great prince, great lord, great chief, which in christian countries was afterwards rendered by that of great duke. the czar michael federovitz, on occasion of the holstein embassy, assumed the titles of great knez and great lord, conservator of all the russias, prince of wolodimir, moscow, novogorod, &c., tzar of casan, tzar of astracan, tzar of siberia. the name of _tzar_ was therefore the title of those oriental princes, and therefore it is more probable for it to have been derived from the _tshas_ of persia than from the roman cæsars, whose name very likely never reached the ears of the siberian tzars on the banks of the oby. in another part of voltaire's _history_, when giving an account of the celebrated battle of narva, where charles xii., with nine thousand men and ten pieces of cannon, defeated "the russian army with eighty thousand fighting men, supported by one hundred and forty-five pieces of cannon," he says, "among the captives was the son of a king of georgia, whom charles sent to stockholm; his name was _mittelesky czarowitz_, or czar's son, which is farther proof that the title of czar or tzar was not originally derived from the roman cæsars." to the above slightly abbreviated description may not be uninterestingly added the language of voltaire, which immediately follows the first reference: "no title, how great soever, is of any signification, unless they who bear it are great and powerful of themselves. the word _emperor_, which denoted only the _general of an army_, became the title of the { } sovereigns of rome and it is now conferred on the supreme governor of all the russias." a hermit at hampstead. i beg to inform j. s. a. that the right word is _tsar_, and that it is the russian word answering to our king or lord, the latin _rex_, the persian _shah_, &c. there may be terms in other languages that have an affinity with it, but i believe we should seek in vain for a derivation. t. k. * * * * * "land of green ginger." (vol. viii., p. .) i wish that r. w. elliot of clifton, whom i recognise as a former inhabitant of hull, had given the authority on which he states, that "it is so called from the sale of ginger having been chiefly carried on there in early times." the name of this street has much puzzled the local antiquaries; and having been for several years engaged on a work relative to the derivations, &c., of the names of the streets of hull, i have spared no pains to ascertain the history and derivation of the singular name of this street. i offer then a conjecture as to its derivation as follows:--the ground on which this street stands was originally the property of de la pole, duke of suffolk, on which he had built his stately manor-house. on the attainder of the family it was seized by the king; and henry viii. several times held his court here, on one of his visits having presented his sword to the corporation. it was then, , called old beverley street, as seen in the survey made of the estates of sir william sydney, kt. in a romance called _piraute el blanco_, it is stated "the morning collation at the english court was _green ginger_ with good malmsey, which was their custom, because of the coldness of the land." and in the _foedera_, vii. ., it is stated that, among other things, the cargo of a genoese ship, which was driven ashore at dunster, in somersetshire, in , consisted of green ginger (ginger cured with lemon-juice). in hollar's map of hull, , the street is there laid out as built upon, but without any name attached to it. no other plans of hull are at present known to exist from the time of hollar, , to gent, . in gent's plan of hull, it is there called "the land of green ginger;" so that probably, between the years and , it received its peculiar name. i therefore conjecture that, as henry viii. kept his court here with his usual regal magnificence, green ginger would be one of the luxuries of his table; that this portion of his royal property being laid out as a garden, was peculiarly suitable for the growth of ginger--the same as pontefract was for the growth of the liquorice plant; and that, upon the property being built upon, the remembrance of this spot being so suitable for the growth of ginger for the court, would eventually give the peculiar name, in the same way that the adjoining street of bowl-alley-lane received its title from the bowling-green near to it. john richardson. . savile street, hull. this has long been a puzzle to the hull antiquaries. i have often inquired of old persons likely to know the origin of such names of places at that sea-port as "the land of green ginger," "pig alley," "mucky-south-end," and "rotten herring staith;" and i have come to the conclusion, that "the land of green ginger" was a very dirty place where horses were kept: a mews, in short, which none of the muses, not even with homer as an exponent, could exalt ([greek: epea pteroenta en athanatoisi theoisi]) into the regions of poesy. ginger has been cultivated in this country as a _stove_ exotic for about two hundred and fifty years. in one of the histories of hull, ginger is supposed to have grown in this street, where, to a recent period, the stables of the george inn, and those of a person named foster opposite, occupied the principal portion of the short lane called "land of green ginger." it is hardly possible that the true zingiber can have grown here, even in the manure heaps; but a plant of the same order (_zingiberaceæ_) may have been mistaken for it. some of the old women or marine school-boys of the trinity house, in the adjoining lane named from that guild, or some druggist, may have dropped, either accidentally or experimentally, a root, if not of the ginger, yet of some kindred plant. the magnificent _fuchsia_ was first noticed in the possession of a seaman's wife by fuchs in , a century prior to the introduction of the ginger plant into england. t. j. buckton. birmingham. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _stereoscopic angles_.--the discussion in "n. & q." relative to the best angle for stereoscopic pictures has gone far towards a satisfactory conclusion: there are, however, still a few points which may be beneficially considered. in the first place, the kind of stereoscope to be used must tend to modify the mental impression; and secondly, the _amount_ of reduction from the size of the original has a considerable influence on the final result. if in viewing a stereoscopic pair of photographs, they are placed _at the same distance_ from the eyes as the _length of the focus of the lens used in producing them_, then without doubt the distance between the eyes, viz. about two and a quarter { } inches, is the best difference between the two points of view to produce a perfectly natural result; and if the points of operation be more distant from one another, as i have before intimated, an effect is produced similar to what would be the case if the pictures were taken from a _model_ of the object instead of the object itself. when it is intended that the pictures taken are to be viewed by an instrument that requires their distance from the eyes to be _less_ than the focal length of the lens used in their formation, what is the result? why, that they subtend an angle larger than in nature, and are consequently apparently _increased_ in bulk; and the obvious remedy is to _increase_ the angle between the points of generation in the exact ratio as that by which the visual distance is to be lessened. there is one other consideration to which i would advert, viz. that as we judge of _distance_, &c. mainly by the degree of _convergence_ of the optic axes of our two eyes, it cannot be so good to arrange the camera with its two positions quite parallel, especially for objects at a short or medium distance, as to let its centre radiate from the principal object to be delineated; and to accomplish this desideratum in the readiest way (for portraits especially), the ingenious contrivance of mr. latimer clark, described in the _journal_ of the photographic society, appears to me the best adapted. it consists of a modification of the old parallel ruler arrangement on which the camera is placed; but one of the sides has an adjustment, so that within certain limits any degree of convergence is attainable. now in the case of the pictures alluded to by mr. h. wilkinson in vol. viii., p. ., it is probable they were taken by a camera placed in two positions parallel to one another, and it is quite clear that only a _portion_ of the two pictures could have been really stereoscopic. it is perfectly true that two indifferent negatives will often combine and form one good stereoscopic positive, but this is in consequence of one possessing that in which the other is deficient; and at any rate two _good_ pictures will have a _better_ effect; consequently, it is better that the two views should contain exactly the same _range_ of vision. geo. shadbolt. _protonitrate of iron_.--"being in the habit of using protonitrate of iron for developing collodion pictures, the following method of preparing that solution suggested itself to me, which appears to possess great advantages:-- water oz. protosulphate of iron grs. nitrate of potash grs. acetic acid ½ drm. nitric acid drops. in this mixture nitrate of potash is employed to convert the sulphate of iron into nitrate in place of nitrate of baryta in dr. diamond's formula, or nitrate of lead as recommended by mr. sisson; the advantage being that no filtering is required, as the sulphate of potash (produced by the double decomposition) is soluble in water, and does not interfere with the developing qualities of the solution. "the above gives the bright deposit of silver so much admired in dr. diamond's pictures, and will be found to answer equally well either for positives or negatives. if the nitric acid be omitted, we obtain the effects of protonitrate of iron prepared in the usual way.--john spiller." (from the _photographic journal_.) _photographs in natural colours_.--as "n. & q." numbers among its correspondents many residents in the united states, i hope you will permit me to inquire through its columns whether there is really any foundation for the very startling announcement, in professor hunt's _photography_, of mr. hill of new york having "obtained more than fifty pictures from nature in all the beauty of native coloration," or whether the statement is, as i conclude professor hunt is inclined to believe, one of those hoaxes in which many of our transatlantic friends take so much delight. matter-of-fact. _photographs by artificial lights_.--may i ask for references to any manuals of photography, or papers in scientific journals, in which are recorded any experiments that have been made with the view of obtaining photographs by means of artificial lights? this is, i have no doubt, a subject of interest to many who, like myself, are busily occupied during the day, and have only their evenings for scientific pursuits: while it is obvious, that if such a process can be successfully practised, there are many objects--such as _prints_, _coins_, _seals_, _objects of natural history and antiquity_--which might well be copied by it, even though artificial light should prove far slower in its action than solar light. a clerk. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _vandyke in america_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i would take the liberty of asking mr. balch of philadelphia whom he means by col. hill and col. byrd, "worthies famous in english history, and whose portraits by vandyke are now on the james river?" i know of no col. hill or byrd whom vandyke could possibly have painted. i should also like to know what proof there is that the pictures, whomsoever they represent, are by _vandyke_. mr. balch says that he favours us with this information "_in answer to the query_" (vol. vii., p. .); but i beg leave to observe that it is by no means "in answer to the query," which was about an _engraved_ portrait and not _picture_, and { } his thus bringing in the vandykes _à propos de bottes_ makes me a little curious about their authenticity. c. _title wanted--choirochorographia_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the full title of the book inquired after is as follows: "[greek: choirochôrographia]: sive, hoglandiæ descriptio.--plaudite _porcelli porcorum pigra propago_ (eleg. poet.): londini, anno domini . pretium ^d," vo. the printer, as appears from the advertisement at the end of the volume, was henry hills. the middle of the title-page is occupied by a coarsely executed woodcut, representing a boar with barbed instrument in his snout, and similar instrument on a larger scale under the head, surmounted with some rude characters, which i read "turx trvye bevis o hamtvn." the dedication is headed, "augusto admodum & undiquaq; spectabili heroi domini h---- s---- maredydius caduganus pymlymmonensis, s.p.d." the entire work appears to be written in ridicule of hampshire, and to be intended as a retaliation for work written by edward holdsworth, of magd. coll. oxford, entitled _muscipula, sive_ [greek: kambro-muo-machia], published by the same printer in the same year, and translated by dr. hoadly in the fifth volume of dodsley's _miscellany_, p. ., edit. . query, who was the author? and had holdsworth any farther connexion with hampshire than that of having been educated at winchester school? j. f. m. _second growth of grass_ (vol. viii., p. .).--r. w. f. of bath inquires for other names than "fog," &c. in sussex we leave "rowens," or "rewens" (the latter, i believe, a corruption), used for the second growth of grass. halliwell, in his _dictionary of archaic and provincial words_, has "_rowens_, after-grass," as a suffolk word. bailey gives the word, with a somewhat different signification; but he has "_rowen hay_, latter hay," as a country word. william figg. lewes. in norfolk this is called "aftermath eddish," and "rowans" or "rawins." the first term is evidently from the a.-s. _mæth_, mowing or math: bosworth's _dictionary_. eddish is likewise from the a.-s. _edisc_, signifying the second growth; it is used by tusser, _october's husbandry_, stanza .: "where wheat upon _eddish_ ye mind to bestow, let that be the first of the wheat ye do sow." _rawings_ also occurs in tusser, and in the _promptorium parvulorum_, _rawynhey_ is mentioned. in bailey's _dictionary_ it is spelt _rowen_ and _roughings_: this last form gives the etymology, for _rowe_, as may be seen in halliwell, is an old form for _rough_. e. g. r. i have always heard it called in northumberland, _fog_; in norfolk, _after-math_; in oxfordshire, i am told, it is _latter-math_. this term is pure a.-saxon, _mæth_, the mowing; the former word _fog_, and _eddish_ also, are to be found in dictionaries, but their derivation is not satisfactory. c. i. r. _snail eating_ (vol. viii., p. ).--the beautiful specimens of the large white snails were brought from italy by single-speech hamilton, a gentleman of _vertù_ and exquisite taste, and placed in the grounds at paynes hill, and some fine statues likewise. on the change of property, the snails were dispersed about the country; and many of them were picked up by my grandfather, who lived at the grove under boxhill, near dorking. they were found in the hedges about west humble, and in the grounds of the grove. i had this account from my mother; and had once some of the shells, which i had found when staying in surrey. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. the snails asked after by mr. h. t. riley are to be met with near dorking. when in that neighbourhood one day in may last, i found two in the hedgerow on the london road (west side) between dorking and box hill. they are much larger than the common snail, the shells of a light brown, and the flesh only slightly tinged with green. i identified them by a description and drawing given in an excellent book for children, the _parent's cabinet_, which also states that they are to be found about box hill. g. rogers long. the large white snail (_helix pomatia_) is found in abundance about box hill in surrey. it is also plentiful near stonesfield in oxfordshire, where have, at different periods, been discovered considerable remains of roman villas; and it has been suggested that this snail was introduced by the former inhabitants of those villas. w. c. trevelyan. wallington. _sotades_ (vol. vii., p. .).--sotades is the supposed inventor of palindromic verses (see mr. sands' _specimens of macaronic poetry_, p. ., . his enigma on "madam" was written by miss ritson of lowestoft). s. z. z. s. _the letter "h" in "humble"_ (vol. viii., p. ).--the question has been raised by one of your correspondents (and i have not observed any reply thereto), as to whether it is a peculiarity of londoners to pronounce the _h_ in _humble_. if, as a londoner by birth and residence, i might be allowed to answer the query, i should say that { } the _h_ is never heard in _humble_, except when the word is pronounced from the pulpit. i believe it to be one of those, either oxford or cambridge, or both, peculiarities, of which no reasonable explanation can be given. i should be glad to hear whether any satisfactory general rule has been laid down as to when the _h_ should be sounded, and when not. the only rule which occurs to me is to pronounce it in all words coming to us from the celtic "stock," and to pass it unsounded in those which are of latin origin. if this rule be admitted, the pronunciation sanctioned by the pulpit and mr. dickens is condemned. benjamin dawson. london. _lord north_ (vol. vii., p. . vol. viii., p. .).--is m. e. of philadelphia laughing at us, when he refers us to a _woodcut_ in some american pictorial publication on the american revolution for a true portraiture of the figure and features of king george iii.; different, i presume, from that which i gave you. his woodcut, he says, is taken "from an english engraving;" he does not tell us who either painter or engraver was--but no matter. we have hundreds of portraits by the best hands which confirm my description, which moreover was the result of personal observation: for, from the twentieth to the thirtieth years of my life, i had frequent and close opportunities of approaching his majesty. i cannot but express my surprise that "n. & q." should have given insertion to anything so absurd--to use the gentlest term--as m. e.'s appeal to his "woodcut." c. _singing psalms and politics_ (vol. viii., p. .).--one instance of the misapplication of psalmody must suggest itself at once to the readers of "n. & q.," i mean the melancholy episode in the history of the martyr king, thus related by hume: "another preacher, after reproaching him to his face with his misgovernment, ordered this psalm to be sung,-- 'why dost thou, tyrant, boast thyself, thy wicked deeds to praise?' the king stood up, and called for that psalm which begins with these words,-- 'have mercy, lord, on me, i pray; for men would me devour.' the good-natured audience, in pity to fallen majesty, showed for once greater deference to the king than to the minister, and sung the psalm which the former had called for."--_hume's history of england_, ch. . w. fraser. tor-mohun. _dimidiation by impalement_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent d. p. concludes his notice on this subject by doubting if any instance of "dimidiation by impalement" can be found since the time of henry viii. if he turn to anderson's _diplomata scotiæ_ (p. . and .), he will find that mary queen of scots bore the arms of france dimidiated with those of scotland from a.d. to december . this coat she bore as queen dowager of france, from the death of her first husband, the king of france, until her marriage with darnley. t. h. de h. "_inter cuncta micans_," &c. (vol. vi, p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--the following translation is by the rev. geo. greig of kennington. it preserves the acrostic and mesostic, though not the telestic, form of the original: "in glory rising see the sun, illustrious orb of day, enlightening heaven's wide expanse, expel night's gloom away. so light into the darkest soul, jesus, thou dost impart, uplifting thy life-giving smiles upon the deaden'd heart; sun thou of righteousness divine, sole king of saints thou art." h. t. griffith. hull. _marriage service_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have seen the rubric carried out, in this particular, in st. mary's church, kidderminster. cuthbert bede, b. a. _widowed wife_ (vol. viii., p. .).--_eur. hec._ . "widowed wife and wedded maid," occurs in vanda's prophecy; sir w. scott's _the betrothed_, ch. xv. s. z. z. s. _pure_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the use of the word _pure_ pointed out by oxoniensis is nothing new. it is a common provincialism now, and was formerly good english. here are two examples from swift (_letters_, by hawkesworth, vol. iv. , p. .): "ballygall will be a pure good place for air." ibid. p. .: "have you smoakt the tattler yet? it is much liked, and i think it a _pure_ one." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. "purely, i thank you," is a common reply of the country folks in this part when accosted as to their health. i recollect once asking a market-woman about her son who had been ill, and received for an answer: "oh he's quite _fierce_ again, thank you, sir." meaning, of course, that he had quite recovered. norris deck. cambridge. _mrs. tighe_ (vol. viii., p. .).--"there is a likeness of mrs. henry tighe, the authoress of 'psyche,' in the _ladies' monthly museum_ for february, . it is engraved by j. hopwood, jun., from a drawing by miss emma drummond. underneath the engraving referred to, are the words 'mrs. henry tighe;' but she is called in { } the memoir, 'wife of william tighe, esq., m.p. for wicklow, whose residence is woodstock, county of kilkenny, author of _the plants_, a poem, vo.: published in and ; and _statistical observations on the county of kilkenny_, . mrs. tighe is described as having had a pleasing person, and a countenance that indicated melancholy and deep reflection; was amiable in her domestic relations; had a mind well stored with classic literature; and, with strong feelings and affections, expressed her thoughts with the nicest discrimination, and taste the most refined and delicate. thus endued, it is to be regretted that mrs. tighe should have fallen a victim to a lingering disease of six years at the premature age of thirty-seven, on march , .'--the remainder of the short notice does not throw any additional light on mrs. tighe, or family; but if you, sir, or the editor of "n. & q." wish, i will cheerfully transcribe it.--i am, sir, yours in haste, vix. "belfast, aug. ." [we are indebted for the above reply to the _dublin weekly telegraph_, which not only does us the honour to quote very freely from our pages, but always most liberally acknowledges the source from which the articles so quoted are derived.] _satirical medal_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have seen the same medal of sir r. walpole (the latest instance of the mediæval _hell-mouth_ with which i am acquainted) bearing on the obverse--"the generouse (_sic_) duke of argyle;" and at the foot--"no pentions." s. z. z. s. "_they shot him dead at the nine-stone rig_" (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent the borderer will find the fragment of the ballad he is in search of commencing with the above line, in the second volume of the _minstrelsy of the scottish border_, p. . it is entitled "barthram's dirge," and "was taken down," says scott, "by mr. surtees, from the recitation of anne douglas, an old woman, who weeded his garden." since the death of mr. surtees, however, it has been ascertained that this ballad, as well as "the death of featherstonhaugh," and some others in the same collection, were composed by him and passed off upon scott as genuine old scottish ballads. farther particulars respecting this clever literary imposition are given in a review of the "memoir of robert surtees," in the _athenæum_ of august , . j. k. r. w. _hendericus du booys: helena leonora de sievéri_ (vol. v., p. .).--are two different portraits of each of these two persons to be found? by no means. there exists, however, a plate of each, engraved by c. visscher; but the first impressions bear the address of e. du booys, the later that of e. cooper. as i am informed by mr. bodel nijenhuis, hendericus du booys took part in the celebrated three-days' fight, feb. , , and , , between blake and tromp.--from the _navorscher_. m. _house-marks, &c_. (vol. vii., p. . vol. viii., p. .).--may i be allowed to inform mr. collyns that the custom he refers to is by no means of modern date. nearly all the cattle which come to malta from barbary to be stall-fed for consumption, or horses to be sold in the garrison, bring with them their distinguishing marks by which they may be easily known. and it may not be out of place to remark, that being one of a party in the winter of , travelling overland from smyrna to ephesus, we reached a place just before sunset where a roving band of turcomans had encamped for the night. on nearing these people we observed that the women were preparing food for their supper, while the men were employed in branding with a hot iron, under the camel's upper lip, their own peculiar mark,--a very necessary precaution, it must be allowed, with people who are so well known for their pilfering propensities, not only practised on each other, but also on all those who come within their neighbourhood. having as strangers paid our tribute to their great dexterity in their profession, the circumstance was published at the time, and to this day is not forgotten. w. w. malta. "_qui facit per alium, facit per se_."--in vol. vii., p. ., i observe an attempt to trace the source of the expression, "qui facit per alium, facit per se." a few months since i met with the quotation under some such form as "qui facit per alium, per se facere videtur," in the preface to a book on _surveying_, by fitzherbert (printed by berthelet about ), where it is attributed to st. augustine. as i know of no copy of the works of that father in these parts (though i heard him quoted last sunday in the pulpit), i cannot at present verify the reference. j. sleednot. halifax. _engin-à-verge_ (vol. vii., p. . vol. viii., p. .).--h. c. k. is mistaken in his conjecture respecting this word, as the following definition of it will show: "_engins-à-verge_. ils comprenaient les diverges espèces de catapultes, les pierriers, &c."--bescherelle, _dictionnaire national_. b. h. c. _campvere, privileges of_ (vol viii., p. .).--"jus gruis liberæ." does not this mean the privilege of using a crane to raise their goods free of dues, municipal or fiscal? _grus_, _grue_, _krahn_, { } _kraan_, all mean, in their different languages, crane the bird, and crane the machine. j. h. l. _humbug_--_ambages_ (vol. viii., p. .).--may i be permitted to inform your correspondent that mr. may was certainly correct when using the word "ambages" as an english word in his translation of lucan. in howell's _dictionary_, published in london in may , i find it thus recorded "ambages, or circumstances." "full of ambages." w. w. malta. "_going to old weston_" (vol. iii., p. .).--in turning over the pages of the third volume of "n. & q." recently, i stumbled on arun's notice of the above proverb. it immediately struck me that i had heard it used myself a few days before, without being conscious at the time of the similarity of the expression. i was asking an old man, who had been absent from home, where he had been to? his reply was, "to old weston, sir. you know i must go there before i die." knowing that he had relatives living there, i did not, at the time, notice anything extraordinary in the answer; but, since reading arun's note, i have made some inquires, and find the saying is a common one on this (the northamptonshire) side of old weston, as well as in huntingdonshire. i have been unable to obtain any explanation of it, but think the one suggested by your correspondent must be right. one of my informants (an old woman upwards of seventy) told me she had often heard it used, and wondered what could be its meaning, when she was a child. w. w. b---- rectory, northamptonshire. _reynolds's nephew_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i think i can certify a. z. that two distinct branches of the palmer family, the deans, and another claiming like kindred to sir joshua reynolds, still exist; from which i conclude that sir joshua had at least two nephews of that name. i regret that i cannot inform your correspondent as to the authorship of the piece about which he inquires; but, in the event of a. z. not receiving a satisfactory answer to his query through the medium of our publication, if he will furnish me with any farther particulars he may possess on the subject, i shall be happy to try what i can do towards possessing him with the desired information. j. sansom. oxford. _the laird of brodie_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i. h. b. mistakes, i think, the meaning of the lines. the idea is not that the laird was less than a gentleman, but that he was a gentleman of mark; at least, i have never heard any other interpretation put upon it in scotland, where the ballad of "we'll gang nae mair a-roving," is a great favourite. king james is the _subject_ of the ballad. that merry monarch made many lively escapades, and on this occasion he personated a beggarman. the damsel, to whom he successfully paid his addresses, saw through the disguise at first; but from the king's good acting, when he pretended to be afraid that the dongs would "rive his meal pokes," she began to think she had been mistaken. then she expressed her disgust by saying, that she had thought her lover could not be anything less than the laird of brodie, the highest untitled gentleman probably in the neighbourhood: implying that she suspected he might be peer or prince. w. c. _mulciber_ (vol. viii., p. ).--it may not be a sufficient answer to mr. ward's query, but i wish to state that there was no "mayor of bromigham" until after the passing of the reform bill. i think that it may be inferred from the extract given below, that the mayor was no more a reality than the shield which he is said to have wrought: "his shield was wrought, if we may credit fame, by mulciber, the mayor of bromigham. a foliage of dissembl'd senna leaves grav'd round its brim, the wond'ring sight deceives. embost upon its field, a battle stood, of leeches spouting hemorrhoidal blood. the artist too expresst the solemn state, of grave physicians at a consult met; about each symptom how they disagree! but how unanimous in case of fee! and whilst one ass-ass-in another plies with starch'd civilities--the patient dyes." n. w. s. _voiding knife_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--the following quotation from leland will throw more light on the ancient custom of _voyding_: "in the mean time the server geueth a voyder to the carver, and he doth _voyde_ into it the trenchers that lyeth under the _knyues_ point, and so cleanseth the tables cleane."--_collectanea_, vol. vi. p. ., "the intronization of nevill." q. bloomsbury. _sir john vanbrugh_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--previous to sending you my query about the birthplace of sir john vanbrugh, i had carefully gone through the registers of the holy trinity parish, chester, and had discovered the baptisms or burials of seven sons and six daughters of mr. giles vanbrugh duly registered therein. sir john's name is not included in the list; therefore, if he was born in chester, his baptism must have been registered at one of the many other parish churches of this city. the registers of st. peter's church, a neighbouring parish, have also been { } examined, but contain no notice of the baptism of the future knight. i will, however, continue the chace; and should i eventually fall in with the object of my search, will give my fellow-labourers the benefit of my explorations. mr. vanbrugh sen. died at chester, and was buried with several of his children at trinity church, july , . t. hughes. chester. _portrait of charles i._--the portrait of charles i. by vandyke (the subject of mr. breen's query, "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. .) is no less than the celebrated picture in which the monarch is represented standing, with his right hand resting on a walking cane, and his left (the arm being beautifully foreshortened) against his hip; and immediately behind him his horse is held by an equerry, supposed to be the marquis of hamilton. the picture hangs in the great square room at the louvre, close on the left hand of the usual entrance door, and is undoubtedly one of the finest in that magnificent collection. as a portrait, it is without a rival. it is well known in this country by the admirable engraving from it, executed in , by sir robert strange. the description of this picture in the catalogue for _du musée nationale du louvre_, is as follows:-- "gravé par strange; par bonnefoy; par duparc;--filhol, t. . pl. . "collection de louis xv.--ce tableau, qui a été exécuté vers , ne fut payé à van dyck que livres sterling. en , il faisait partie, suivant descamps, du cabinet du marquis de lassay. on trouve cette note dans les mémoires secrets de bachaument," &c. then follows the passage quoted by mr. breen. i can find no mention of a dubarry among the ancestors of the monarch. h. c. k. _burial in an erect posture_ (vol. viii., p. .).-- "pass, pass, who will yon chantry door, and through the chink in the fractured floor look down, and see a grisly sight, a vault where the bodies are buried upright; there face to face and hand lay hand the claphams and mauleverers stand." wordsworth, _white doe of rylstone_, canto i., p. ., line ., new edition, . see note on line taken from whitaker's _craven_: "at the east end of the north aisle of bolton priory church is a chantry belonging to bethmesley hall, and a vault where, according to tradition, the claphams were buried upright." f. w. j. _strut-stowers and yeathers or yadders_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the former of these words is, i believe, obsolete, or nearly so. it means bracing-stakes: _strut_, in carpentry, is to _brace_; and _stower_ is a small kind of stake, as distinguished from the "ten stakes" mentioned in the legend quoted by mr. cooper. the other word, _yeather_ or _yadder_, is yet in use in northumberland (vid. brockett's _glossary_), and is mentioned by charlton in his _history of whitby_. the legend referred to by mr. cooper is, i suspect, of modern origin but dr. young, in his _history of whitby_, vol. i. p. ., attributes it to some of the monks of the abbey; on what grounds he does not say. the records of the abbey contain no allusion to the legend; and no ancient ms. of it, either in latin or english, has ever been produced. the _penny-hedge_ is yearly renewed to this day but it is a service performed for a different reason than that attributed in the legend. (see young and charlton's histories.) f. m. the term _strut_ is commonly used by carpenters for a brace or stay. _stower_, in bailey's _dictionary_, is a stake; halliwell spells it _stoure_, and says it is still in use. forby connects the norfolk word _stour_, stiff, inflexible, applied to standing corn, with this word, which he says is lowland scotch, and derives them both from sui.-g. _stoer_, stipes. a _yeather_ or _yadder_ seems to be a rod to wattle the stakes with. in norfolk, wattling a live fence is called _ethering_ it, which word, evidently with _yeather_, may be derived from a.-s. _ether_ or _edor_, a hedge. the barons, therefore, had to drive their stakes perpendicularly into the sand, to put the strut-stowers diagonally to enable them to withstand the force of the tide, and finally to wattle them together with the yeathers. e. g. r. _arms of see of york_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it appears that the arms of the see of york were certainly changed during wolsey's time, for on the vaulting of christ church gate, canterbury, is a shield bearing (in sculpture) the same arms as those now used by the metropolitan see of canterbury, impaling those of wolsey, and over the shield a cardinal's hat. this gateway was built in ; yet in the parliament roll of th henry viii., , the _keys_ and _crown_ are impaled with the arms of wolsey as archbishop of york (see fac-simile, published by willement, to. lond. ), showing that the alteration was not generally known when the gateway was built. although the charges on the earlier arms of the see of york were the same as on that of canterbury, the colours of their fields differed; for in a north window of the choir of york minster is a shield of arms, bearing the arms of archbishop bowett, who held the see from to , impaled by the pall and pastoral staff, on a field _gules_. the glass is to all appearance of the fifteenth century. t. wt. { } _leman family_ (vol. viii., p. .).--without being able to give a substantial reply to r. w. l.'s query, it may assist him to know that sir john leman had but _one_ brother (william), who certainly did not emigrate from his native land. sir john died, march , , without issue; and was buried in the chancel of st. michael, crooked lane, london. his elder brother, william, had five sons; all settled comfortably in england, and not at all likely to have left their native country. one of the _heralds' visitations_ for the counties of norfolk or suffolk would materially assist your philadelphian correspondent. t. hughes. chester _position of font_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in the church of milton near cambridge, the font is _built into_ the north pier of the chancel arch; and from the appearance of the masonry, &c., this is evidently the original position. i have visited some hundreds of churches, and this is the only instance i have observed of a font in this position. numerous instances occur where it is _built into_ the south-western pier of the nave. norris deck. cambridge. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. our worthy publisher has just issued a volume which will be welcome, for the excellence of its matter and the beauty of its various illustrations, to all archæologists. these _memoirs illustrative of the history and antiquities of bristol and the western counties of great britain, and other communications made to the annual meeting of the archæological institute held at bristol in _, certainly equal in interest and variety any of their predecessors, and whether as a memorial of their visit to bristol to those who attended the meeting, or as a pleasant substitute to those who did not, will doubtless find a resting-place on the shelf of every member of the society whose proceedings they record. we cannot better recommend to our readers dr. madden's newly published _life and martyrdom of savonarola, illustrative of the history of church and state connexion_, than by stating that this remarkable man, whom some protestants have claimed as of their own creed, while as many romanists have rejected him as a heretic, is viewed by dr. madden as a monk of florence at the close of the fifteenth century, who was of opinion that the mortal enemy of christ's gospel in all ages of the world had been mammon; that simony was the sin against the holy ghost; that the interests of religion were naturally allied with those of liberty; that the arts were the handmaids of both, of a divine origin, and were given to earth for purposes that tended to spiritualise humanity; and who directed all his teachings, preachings, and writings to one great object, namely, _the separation of religion from all worldly influences_. on this theme dr. madden discourses with great learning, and, some few passages excepted, with great moderation; and the result is a life of savonarola, which gives a far more complete view of his character and his writings than has heretofore been attempted. books received.--_history of england from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles_, by lord mahon, vol. v. this volume embraces the period between the early years of george iii. and , when franklin was dismissed from his office of deputy postmaster-general; and, as it includes the junius period, gives occasion to lord mahon to avow his adherence to "the franciscan theory;" while the appendix contains two letters in support of the same view,--one from sir james macintosh, and one from mr. macaulay.--_confessions of a working man, from the french of emile souvestre_. this interesting narrative, well deserving the attention both of masters and working men, forms part xlviii. of longman's _traveller's library._--_remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england, drawn from the originals:_ described and illustrated by j. y. akerman, part vi. containing coloured engravings of the size of the originals of fibulæ and bullæ, from cemeteries in kent; and fibulæ, beads, &c. from a grave near stamford. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. history and antiquities of newbury. vo. . pages. two copies. vancouver's survey of hampshire. hemingway's history of chester. large paper. parts i. and iii. correspondence on the formation of the roman catholic bible society. vo. london, . athenÆum journal for . howard family, historical anecdotes of, by charles howard. . mo. tooke's diverson's of purley. nuces philosophicÆ, by e. johnson. paradise lost. first edition. sharpe's (sir cuthbert) bishoprick garland. . lashley's york miscellany. . dibdin's typographical antiquities. to. vol. ii. bayley's londiniana. vol. ii. . the scripture doctrine of the trinity justified. . parkhurst on the divinity of our saviour. berriman's seasonable review of whiston's doxologies. . ---------- second review. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names_. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. s. z. z. s. _we have a letter for this correspondent; how shall it be forwarded?_ j. s. g. (howden) _is thanked for his collection of proverbial sayings--all of which are however, we believe, too well known to justify their republication in our columns_. y. s. m._ would oblige us by naming the subject of the communications to which he refers_. photography. mr. sisson_'s communication is unavoidably postponed until our next number, in which_ mr. lyte_'s_ three new processes _will also appear_. _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half, may now be had; for which early application is desirable_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. { } * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. * * * * * the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures:--_ cure, no. , of dyspepsia; from the right hon. the lord stuart de decies:--"i have derived considerable benefits from your revalenta arabica food, and consider it due to yourselves and the public to authorise the publication of these lines.--stuart de decies." cure, no. , :--"fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness at the stomach, and vomitings have been removed by du barry's excellent food.--maria jolly, wortham ling, near diss, norfolk." cure, no. :--"twenty-five years' nervousness, constipation, indigestion, and debility, from which i had suffered great misery, and which no medicine could remove or relieve, have been effectually cured by du barry's food in a very short time.--w. r. reeves, pool anthony, tiverton." cure, no. , :--"eight years' dyspepsia, nervousness, debility, with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had consulted the advice of many, have been effectually removed by du barry's delicious food in a very short time. i shall be happy to answer any inquiries.--rev. john w. flavell, ridlington rectory, norfolk." _dr. wurzer's testimonial._ "bonn, july . . "this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer. "counsel of medicine, and practical m.d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. polices effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * bank of deposit. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, london. parties desirous of investing money are requested to examine the plan of this institution, by which a high rate of interest may be obtained with perfect security. interest payable in january and july. peter morrison, managing director. prospectuses free on application. * * * * * wanted, for the ladies' institute, . regent street, quadrant, ladies of taste for fancy work,--by paying s. will be received as members, and taught the new style of velvet wool work, which is acquired in a few easy lessons. each lady will be guaranteed constant employment and ready cash payment for her work. apply personally to mrs. thoughey. n.b. ladies taught by letter at any distance from london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x. in gold and silver cases, in five qualities. and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which my be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic pictures--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. { } * * * * * archÆological works by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary of the society of antiquaries of london. * * * * * an archÆological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. vol. vo., price s. cloth, illustrated by numerous engravings, comprising upwards of five hundred objects. a numismatic manual. vol. vo., price one guinea. *** the plates which illustrate this volume are upon a novel plan, and will, at a glance, convey more information regarding the types of greek, roman, and english coins, than can be obtained by many hours' careful reading. instead of fac-simile engraving being given of that which is already an enigma to the tyro, the most striking and characteristic features of the coin are dissected and placed by themselves, so that the eye soon becomes familiar with them. a descriptive catalogue of rare and unedited roman coins, from the earliest period to the taking of rome under constantine paleologos. vols. vo., numerous plates, s. coins of the romans relating to britain. vol. vo. second edition, with an entirely new set of plates, price s. d. ancient coins of cities and princes, geographically arranged and described, containing the coins of hispania, gallia, and britannia, with plates of several hundred examples. vol vo., price s. new testament, numismatic illustrations of the narrative portions of the.--fine paper, numerous woodcuts from the original coins in various public and private collections. vol. vo., price s. d. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. in vol. fcp. vo., with numerous wood engravings from the original coins, price s. d. cloth. contents:--section . origin of coinage--greek regal coins. . greek civic coins. . greek imperial coins. . origin of roman coinage--consular coins. . roman imperial coins. . roman british coins. . ancient british coinage. . anglo-saxon coinage. . english coinage from the conquest. . scotch coinage. . coinage of ireland. . anglo-gallic coins. . continental money in the middle ages. . various representatives of coinage. . forgeries in ancient and modern times. . table of prices of english coins realised at public sales. tradesmen's tokens, struck in london and its vicinity, from the year to inclusive. described from the originals in the collection of the british museum, &c. s. remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england. publishing in to., in numbers, at s. d. with coloured plates. a glossary of provincial words and phrases in use in wiltshire. mo., s. the numismatic chronicle is published quarterly. price s. d. each number. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardener's chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley,) of saturday, august , contains articles on agapanth, diseased agriculture, history of scottish agricultural statistics allotment gardens, by mr. bailey apple trees, cider arrowroot, portland, by mr. groves berberry blight books noticed calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural cartridge, captain norton's cattle, tortworth sale of chrysanthemum, culture of crayons for writing on glass, by m. brunnquell crickets, traps for crops, returns respecting the state of dahlias, new eschscholtzia californica forest, new garden allotments, by mr. bailey glass, writing on, by m. brunnquell gunnersbury park hollyhocks, new india, vegetable substances used in, for producing intoxication, by dr. gibson leaves, variegated, by m. carrière mangosteens marigold, white mildew, continental vine national floricultural society norton's (captain) cartridge oak, the pig breeding potato crop, returns respecting the state of in ireland pots, garden reaping machines roses, soil for sale of cattle at tortworth sap, motion of, by mr. lovell sheep, leicester breed of statistics, agricultural timber, woody fibre of trees, woody fibre of ---- movement of sap in, by mr. lovell vine mildew, continental wheat crops, returns respecting the state of ---- growing of, without ploughing ---- after vetches ---- lois weedon culture of, by the rev. s. smith * * * * * the gardener's chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * persian books and manuscripts. firdousi's shah nameh, by muran, vols. royal vo., calcutta, , hlf. calf, neat, l. s.--timur namah, persian ms., folio, yellow morocco extra, l. s.--ferheng jehangiry, with the chattmeh, persian ms., vols. folio, calf, l. s.--nizami's works, a superb persian ms., stout folio, red morocco, l.--sold by bernard quaritch, oriental bookseller, . castle street, leicester square. *** b. q.'s catalogue of books in all the languages of the world is published monthly, and is sent gratis on receipt of postage stamps. * * * * * daguerrotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes, best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at m^cmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * vo., price s. some account of domestic architecture in england, from the conquest to the end of the thirteenth century, with numerous illustrations of existing remains from original drawings. by t. hudson turner. "what horace walpole attempted, and what sir charles lock eastlake has done for oil-painting--elucidated its history and traced its progress in england by means of the records of expenses and mandates of the successive sovereigns of the realm--mr. hudson turner has now achieved for domestic architecture in this century during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries."--_architect._ "the writer of the present volume ranks among the most intelligent of the craft, and a careful perusal of its contents will convince the reader of the enormous amount of labour bestowed on its minutest details as well as the discriminating judgement presiding over the general arrangement."--_morning chronicle._ "the book of which the title is given above is one of the very few attempts that have been made in this country to treat this interesting subject in anything more than a superficial manner. "mr. turner exhibits much learning and research, and he has consequently laid before the reader much interesting information. it is a book that was wanted, and that affords us some relief from the mass of works on ecclesiastical architecture with which of late years we have been deluged. "the work is well illustrated throughout with wood-engravings of the more interesting remains, and will prove a valuable addition to the antiquary's library."--_literary gazette._ "it is as a text-book on the social comforts and condition of the squires and gentry of england during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that the leading value of mr. turner's present publication will be found to consist. "turner's handsomely-printed volume is profusely illustrated with careful woodcuts of all important existing remains, made from drawings by mr. blore and mr. twopeny."--_athenæum._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * now ready, price s. uniform with the above, the domestic architecture of the middle ages. vol. ii.--the fourteenth century. by the editor of "the glossary of architecture." this volume is issued on the plan adopted by the late mr. hudson turner in the previous volume: viz., collecting matter relating to domestic buildings of the period, from cotemporary records, and applying the information so acquired to the existing remains. not only does the volume contain much curious information both as to the buildings and manners and customs of the time, but it is also hoped that the large collection of careful engravings of the finest examples will prove as serviceable to the profession and their employers in building mansions, as the glossary was found to be in building churches. the text is interspersed throughout with numerous woodcuts. john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experiences. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, september , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "monumental inscription in peterborough cathedral.": 'peterborouh' in original. page , "in this dilemma": 'dilemna' in original. page , "from the ninth to the twelfth centuries": spurious 'in' before 'from' in original. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . . [price, with index to vol. i., d. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page george goring, earl of norwich, and his son george, lord goring mss. of bishop ridley lines written during the arctic expedition folk lore:--legend of sir richard baker, surnamed bloody baker--cures for warts--charm for cure of king's evil--fig-sunday note on a passage in hudibras coffee, black broth queries:-- queries concerning old mss., by e. f. rimbault minor queries:--chantrey's sleeping children in lichfield cathedral--viscount dundee's ring--kilkenny cats--robert de welle--lady slingsby--god save the queen--meaning of "steyne"--origin of "adur"--colonel lilburn--french verses--our world--porson's imposition--alice rolle--the meaning of "race" in ship-building--the battle of death--execution of charles i.--morganitic marriage-- lord bacon's palace and gardens--"dies iræ, dies illa"--aubrey family--ogden family replies:-- sir george buc, by e. f. rimbault and cecil monro "a frog he would a-wooing go" replies to minor queries;--carucate of land-- golden frog and sir john poley--the poley frog-- bands--bishops and their precedence--"imprest" and "debenture"--charade--"laus tua, non tua fraus"--dutch language--"construe" and "translate"-- dutton family--mother of thomas à becket-- medal of stukeley--dulcarnon--practice of scalping-- derivation of penny miscellanies:-- "by hook or by crook"--burning dead bodies-- etymology of "barbarian"--royal and distinguished disinterments miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. george goring, earl of norwich, and his son george, lord goring. g.'s inquiry (vol. i., p. .) about the two gorings of the civil war--a period of our history in which i am much interested--has led me to look into some of the sources of original information for that time, in the hope that i might be enabled to answer his queries. i regret i cannot yet answer his precise questions, when lord goring the son was married, and when and where he died? but i think the following references to notices of the father and the son will be acceptable to him; and i venture to think that the working out in this way of neglected biographies, is one of the many uses to which your excellent periodical may be applied. confusion has undoubtedly been made between the father and son by careless compilers. but whoever carefully reads the passages of contemporary writers relating to the two gorings, and keeps in mind that the title of earl of norwich, given by charles i. in november, , to the father, was not recognised by the parliamentary party, will have no difficulty in distinguishing between the two. thus it will be seen in two of the passages which i subjoin from carte's _letters_, that in a parliamentarian calls the father lord goring, and sir edward nicholas calls him earl of norwich. burke, in his _dormant and extinct peerages_, vol. iii., makes the mistake of giving to the father the son's proceedings at portsmouth at the beginning of the civil war. lord goring the son, then colonel goring, commanding a regiment in the low countries, was, at the siege of breda, september, , severely wounded in the leg, and had a narrow escape of losing it. sir william boswell, the english ambassador at the hague, writes to bramhall, then bishop of derry, and afterwards archbishop of armagh:-- "colonel goring having the guard of the english in the approaches, was shot so dangerously cross the shin of his leg, a little above his ankle, as the chirurgion at first resolved to cut off his leg to save his life; but upon second thoughts, and some opposition by one of them against four, they forebare; and now, thanks be to god, he is gotten out of danger of losing life or leg this bout: his excellent merits caused a great sorrow at his misfortune, and now as great comfort in the hope of his recovery"--(_rawdon papers_, p. .) that the son was already married to lady letitia boyle at christmas, , appears from a letter of the earl of cork, the lady's father, to the earl of norwich (at that time lord goring), in lord orrery's _state letters_ (vol. i. p. . dublin edition):-- "i have scarce time to present my service to you and your lady, and to george and my poor letitia, whom god bless." in carte's _collection of letters_ (vol. i. p. .) { } is a letter from lord byron, dated "beauvois, march - , ," to the marquis of ormond, stating that lord goring the son has come to beauvois, and is on his way to spain, about the settlement of a pension which had been promised him there, and also to endeavour to get arms and money for the king's service in ireland; and that, having settled his business in spain, he desires nothing better than to serve as a volunteer under ormond for king charles. lord byron strongly recommends ormond to avail himself of goring's services:-- "i am confident my lord goring may be serviceable to your excellence in many respects, and therefore have rather encouraged him in this his resolution, than any ways dehorted him from it; and especially because he is to pass by the spanish court, where he hath such habitudes, by reason of the service both his father and he hath done that crown." in an intercepted letter of a parliamentarian, dated jan. , , which is in carte's _letters_ (vol. i. p. .), is the following mention of the earl of norwich, then under sentence of death by the high court of justice:-- "our great minds say, thursday the king shall die, and two or three great lords with him, capel and loughborough being two of them. goring hath gotten ireton to friend, who excuses him yet." sir e. nicholas writes, april , , to the marquis of ormond, that the earl of norwich (as he styles him) has been reprieved at the suit of the spanish and dutch ambassadors. (carte's _letters_, vol. i. p. .) in the following passage of a speech, in the discussions about the house of lords in richard cromwell's parliament, there is no doubt that the earl of norwich is referred to as lord goring: and i should infer that george lord goring the son was then dead, as he had unquestionably done more than enough to forfeit his privileges in the view of commonwealth men:-- "what hath the son of lord goring or lord capel done to forfeit their right?"--(burton's _diary_, iii. . feb. . .) george lord goring the son is referred to in another speech preserved in burton's _diary_, and is there called "young lord goring." (iii. .) pepys mentions the return of "lord goring" from france, april , (vol. i. p. .). lord braybrooke's note says that this was "charles, who succeeded his father as second earl of norwich." is it certain that this was not the old earl of norwich himself? the death of the old earl of norwich is thus chronicled in peck's _desiderata curiosa_, p. .:-- "jan. . - , died lord goring on his passage by land from hampton court to london, at brainford, about eighty years of age: he was earl of norwich." ch. * * * * * mss. of bishop ridley: a "note" and a "query." a "note" in the _original letters_ relative to the english reformation, published by the parker society, p. ., mentions the existence of an important ms. treatise by bishop ridley, which had been unknown when the works of that prelate were collected and published by the parker society in . it seems to be desirable that the fact should be placed on record in your most useful publication: the "note" is as follows:-- "a copy of bishop ridley's 'conference by writing with m. hoper, exhibited up to the council in the time of king edward the sixth,' was in the possession of archbishop whitgift: see his _defence of the answer to the admonition_, a.d. , p. . but its existence was unknown (see _ridley's life of bishop ridley_, lond. , p. .) in later years, till a copy, slightly imperfect, was discovered in , in the extensive collection of mss. belonging to sir thomas phillips, bart." there is another ms. treatise by bishop ridley, that has been missing for nearly three centuries, respecting which i should be glad to offer a "query:" i allude to ridley's _treatise on election and predestination_. the evidence that such a piece ever existed is, that ridley, in answer both to a communication from prison, signed by bishop ferrar, rowland taylor, john bradford, and archdeacon philpot, and probably to other letters from bradford, wrote,-- "where you say that, if your request had been heard, things, you think, had been in better case than they be, know you that, concerning the matter you mean, i have in latin drawn out the places of the scriptures, and upon the same have noted what i can for the time. sir, in those matters i am so fearful, that i dare not speak further, yea, almost none otherwise, than the very text doth, as it were, lead me by the hand."--_works of bishop ridley_, parker soc., p. . and to this statement bishop coverdale, in the _letters of the martyrs_, day, , p. ., caused the following side-note to be printed:-- "he meaneth here the matter of god's election, whereof he afterward wrote a godly and comfortable treatise, remaining yet in the hands of some, and hereafter shall come to light, if god so will." glocester ridley, in his _life of bishop ridley_, , p. , states:-- "i never heard that it was published, nor have i been able to meet with it in ms. the great learning and cool judgment of this prelate, and the entire subjection of his imagination to the revealed will of god, make the loss of this treatise much to be lamented." could any of your correspondents offer any suggestion, or supply any information, which might throw light on the subject, or might give a clue to the lost manuscript? the treatise referred to { } might possibly still exist, and, even if without ridley's name, or in an imperfect state, might yet be identified, either from the handwriting or some other circumstance. do any of your correspondents possess or know of any ms. on election or free-will, of the time of the reformation, which might possibly be the missing treatise? things turn up so curiously, in quarters where one would least expect it, and sometimes after more than three centuries, that one would willingly hope that this lost treatise might even yet be found or identified. t. bath. * * * * * lines written during the arctic expedition. the accompanying is from the pen of one of the officers who bore a prominent position in one of the expeditions under sir edward parry in search of a north-west passage. not having been in print, except in private circulation, it may be deemed worthy of a place in your valuable journal. arcticus. thoughts on new year's day. "the moments of chasten'd delight are gone by, when we left our lov'd homes o'er new regions to rove, when the firm manly grasp, and the soft female sigh, mark'd the mingled sensations of friendship and love. that season of pleasure has hurried away, when through far-stretching ice a safe passage we found[ ], that led us again to the dark rolling sea, and the signal was seen, 'on for lancaster's sound.'[ ] "the joys that were felt when we pass'd by the shore where no footsteps of man had e'er yet been imprest, when rose in the distance no mountain-tops hoar as the sun of the ev'ning bright gilded the west, full swiftly they fled--and that hour, too, is gone when we gain'd the meridian, assign'd as a bound to entitle our crews to their country's first boon, hail'd by all as an omen _the passage_ was found. "and pass'd with our pleasures are moments of pain, of anxious suspense, and of eager alarm. environ'd by ice, skill and ardour were vain the swift moving mass of its force to disarm-- yet, dash'd on the beach and our boats torn away, no anchors could hold us, nor cables secure; the dread and the peril expir'd with the day, when none but high heaven could our safety ensure. "involv'd with the ages existent before, is the year that has brought us thus far on our way, and gratitude calls us our god to adore, for the oft-renewed mercies its annals display. the gloomy meridian of darkness is past, and ere long shall gay spring bid the herbage revive; on the wide waste of ice she'll re-echo the blast, and the firm prison'd ocean its fetters shall rive. "w." [footnote : alluding to the ships crossing the barrier of ice in baffin's bay, between hope sanderson and possession bay.] [footnote : telegraph signal made by h.m.s. "hecla," on getting into clear water in july, , having succeeded in forcing through the barrier.] * * * * * folk lore. _legend of sir richard baker, surnamed bloody baker_.--i one day was looking over the different monuments in cranbrook church in kent, when in the chancel my attention was arrested by one erected to the memory of sir richard baker. the gauntlet, gloves, helmet, and spurs were (as is often the case in monumental erections of elizabethan date) suspended over the tomb. what chiefly attracted my attention was the colour of the gloves, which was red. the old woman who acted as my cicerone, seeing me look at them, said, "aye, miss, those are bloody baker's gloves; their red colour comes from the blood he shed." this speech awakened my curiosity to hear more, and with very little pressing i induced my old guide to tell me the following strange tale. the baker family had formerly large possessions in cranbrook, but in the reign of edward vi. great misfortunes fell on them; by extravagance and dissipation, they gradually lost all their lands, until an old house in the village (now used as the poor-house) was all that remained to them. the sole representative of the family remaining at the accession of queen mary, was sir richard baker. he had spent some years abroad in consequence of a duel; but when, said my informant, bloody queen mary reigned, he thought he might safely return, as he was a papist. when he came to cranbrook he took up his abode in his old house; he only brought one foreign servant with him, and these two lived alone. very soon strange stories began to be whispered respecting unearthly shrieks having been heard frequently to issue at nightfall from his house. many people of importance were stopped and robbed in the glastonbury woods, and many unfortunate travellers were missed and never heard of more. richard baker still continued to live in seclusion, but he gradually repurchased his alienated property, although he was known to have spent all he possessed before he left england. but wickedness was not always to prosper. he formed an apparent attachment to a young lady in the neighbourhood, remarkable for always wearing a great many jewels. he often pressed her to come and see his old house, telling her he had many curious things he wished to show her. she had always resisted fixing a day for her visit, but happening to walk within a short distance of his house, she determined to surprise him with a visit; her companion, a lady older than herself, endeavoured to dissuade her from doing so, but she would not be turned from her purpose. they { } knocked at the door, but no one answered them; they, however, discovered it was not locked, and determined to enter. at the head of the stairs hung a parrot, which on their passing cried out,-- "peepoh, pretty lady, be not too bold, or your red blood will soon run cold." and cold did run the blood of the adventurous damsel when, on opening one of the room doors, she found it filled with the dead bodies of murdered persons, chiefly women. just then they heard a noise, and on looking out of the window saw bloody baker and his servant bringing in the murdered body of a lady. nearly dead with fear, they concealed themselves in a recess under the staircase. as the murderers with their dead burden passed by them, the hand of the unfortunate murdered lady hung in the baluster of the stairs; with an oath bloody baker chopped it off, and it fell into the lap of one of the concealed ladies. as soon as the murderers had passed by, the ladies ran away, having the presence of mind to carry with them the dead hand, on one of the fingers of which was a ring. on reaching home they told their story, and in confirmation of it displayed the ring. all the families who had lost relatives mysteriously were then told of what had been found out; and they determined to ask baker to a large party, apparently in a friendly manner, but to have constables concealed ready to take him into custody. he came, suspecting nothing, and then the lady told him all she had seen, pretending it was a dream. "fair lady," said he, "dreams are nothing: they are but fables." "they may be fables," said she; "but is this a fable?" and she produced the hand and ring. upon this the constables rushed in and took him; and the tradition further says, he was burnt, notwithstanding queen mary tried to save him, on account of the religion he professed. f. l. _cure for warts._--steal a piece of meat from a butcher's stall or his basket, and after having well rubbed the parts affected with the stolen morsel, bury it under a gateway, at a four lane ends, or, in case of emergency, in any secluded place. all this must be done so secretly as to escape detection: and as the portion of meat decays the warts will disappear. this practice is very prevalent in lancashire and some parts of yorkshire; and two of my female acquaintances having _tried_ the remedy, stoutly maintain its efficacy. t. t. w. burnley. _another charm for warts._--referring to emdee's charm for warts, which appeared in vol. ii., p. ., i may state that a very similar superstition prevails in the neighbourhood of manchester:--take a piece of twine, making upon it as many knots as there are warts to be removed; touch each wart with the corresponding knot; and bury the twine in a moist place, saying at the same time, "there is none to redeem it besides thee." as the process of decay goes on, the warts gradually disappear. h. _charm for the cure of the king's evil._--acting on the advice of your able correspondent emdee (vol. i., p. .), i beg to forward the following curious and cruel charm for the cure of the king's evil, extracted from a very quaint old work by william ellis, farmer of little gaddesden, near hempstead, herts, published at salisbury in :-- "a girl at gaddesden, having the evil in her feet from her infancy, at eleven years old lost one of her toes by it, and was so bad that she could hardly walk, therefore was to be sent to a london hospital in a little time. but a beggar woman coming to the door and hearing of it, said, that if they would cut off the hind leg, and the fore leg on the contrary side of that, of a toad, and she wear them in a silken bag about her neck, it would certainly cure her; but it was to be observed, that on the toad's losing its legs, it was to be turned loose abroad, and as it pined, wasted, and died, the distemper would likewise waste and die; which happened accordingly, for the girl was entirely cured by it, never having had the evil afterwards. another gaddesden girl having the evil in her eyes, her parents dried a toad in the sun, and put it in a silken bag, which they hung on the back part of her neck; and although it was thus dried, it drawed so much as to raise little blisters, but did the girl a great deal of service, till she carelessly lost it." david stevens. godalming. _fig-sunday._--one of my sunday-school boys, in reply to my question "what particular name was there for the sunday before easter?" answered "fig-sunday." can you give any authentic information as to the origin of this name? it most probably alludes to our saviour's desire to eat fruit of the fig-tree on his way from bethany on the _monday_ following. hone mentions that at a village in hertfordshire, more figs are sold in that week than at any other period of the year; but assigns no reason for the custom. if you have met with any satisfactory explanation of this name, i shall feel obliged by your making it public. b. d. * * * * * note on a passage in hudibras. butler, in his description of hudibras, says (part i. c. i. line .) that the knight "----wore but one spur, as wisely knowing, cou'd he stir to active foot one side of 's horse, the other wou'd not hang an a----." gray, the most copious annotator on the poem, passes these lines in silence; and it is probable, therefore, that the description is taken by readers { } in general as an original sketch. i find, however, in a volume entitled _gratiæ ludentes: jests from the universitie_, by h. l., oxen. [sic], london, , the following, which may have been in butler's mind:-- "_one that wore but one spurre._ "a scholler being jeer'd on the way for wearing but one spurre, said, that if one side of his horse went on, it was not likely that the other would stay behinde." as compilers of jest-books do nothing but copy from their predecessors, it is likely that this joke may be found elsewhere, though i have not met with it in any other collection. at all events, the date of the vol. from which i quote is in favour of butler's intimacy with its contents; and as it is interesting, even in so trivial a matter, to trace the resources of our popular authors, you may perhaps think it worth while to include the above in a number of the "notes." desconocido. * * * * * coffee, black broth. the idea has been suggested in the "notes and queries," but i do not know how to refer to the places[ ], or recollect what authorities were given. probably that of howell was not, as it occurs in a very scarce volume; and, on the chance of its not having been met with by your readers, i send it. it is contained in a letter addressed "to his highly esteemed friend and compatriot, judge rumsey, upon his _provang_, or rare pectorall instrument, and his rare experiments of cophie and tobacco." this letter is prefixed to the learned judge's _organon salutis: an instrument to cleanse the stomach, as also divers new experiments of the virtue of tobacco and coffee, &c._ london, , vo. howell says:-- "touching coffee, i concurre with them in opinion, who hold it to be that black-broth which was us'd of old in lacedemon, whereof the poets sing; surely it must needs be salutiferous, because so many sagacious, and the wittiest sort of nations use it so much; as they who have conversed with shashes and turbants doe well know. but, besides the exsiccant quality it hath to dry up the crudities of the stomach, as also to comfort the brain, to fortifie the sight with its steem, and prevent dropsies, gouts, the scurvie, together with the spleen and hypocondriacall windes (all which it doth without any violence or distemper at all), i say, besides all these qualities, 'tis found already, that this coffee-drink hath caused a greater sobriety among the nations: for whereas formerly apprentices and clerks with others, used to take their mornings' draught in ale, beer, or wine, which by the dizziness they cause in the brain, make many unfit for businesse, they use now to play the good-fellows in this wakefull and civill drink: therefore that worthy gentleman, mr. mudiford, who introduced the practice hereof first to london, deserves much respect of the whole nation." of judge rumsey and his _provang_ (which was a flexible whalebone from two to three feet long, with a small linen or silk button at the end, which was to be introduced into the stomach to produce the effect of an emetic), the reader may find some account in wood's _athen_. (bliss's edit., vol. iii. p. .), and this is not the place to speak of them except as they had to do with coffee; on that point a few more words may be allowed. besides the letter of howell already quoted, two others are prefixed to the book; one from the author to sir henry blount, the other sir henry's reply. in the former the judge says,-- "i lately understood that your discovery, in your excellent book of travels, hath brought the use of the turkes physick, of cophie, in great request in england, whereof i have made use, in another form than is used by boyling of it in turkie, and being less loathsome and troublesome," &c. and sir henry, after a fervent panegyric on coffee, replies:-- "as for your way of taking both cophie and tobacco, the rarity of the invention consists in leaving the old way: for the water of the one and the smoke of the other may be of inconvenience to many; but your way in both takes in the virtue of the simples without any additionall mischief." as this may excite the reader's curiosity to know what was the judge's new and superior "way" of using coffee, i will add his prescription for making "electuary of cophy," which is, i believe, the only preparation of it which he used or recommended:-- "take equall quantity of butter and sallet-oyle, melt them well together, but not boyle them: then stirre them well that they may incorporate together: then melt therewith three times as much honey, and stirre it well together: then add thereunto powder of turkish cophie, to make it a thick electuary." p. . a very little consideration may convince one that this electuary was likely to effect the purpose for which it was recommended. "whether," says the judge, "it be in time of health or sickness, whensoever you find any evill disposition in the stomach, eat a convenient meal of what meat and drink you please, then walk a little while after it: then set down your body bending, and thrust the said whalebone instrument into your stomach, stirring it very gently, which will make you vomit; then drink a good draught of drink, and so use the instrument as oft as you please, but never doe this upon an empty stomach. to make the stomach more apt to vomit, and to prepare the humours thereunto before you eat and drink, take the bigness of a nutmeg or more of the said electuary of cophie, &c., into your mouth; { } then take drink to drive it down; then eat and drink, and walk, and use the instrument as before." p. . should any reader wish to test the efficacy of the learned judge's prescription, i am afraid he must make an "instrument" for himself, or get one made for him; though when the _organon salutis_ was published, they were "commonly sold in london, and especially at the long shops in westminster hall." as to the book, and the name of the author, i may add (with reference to wood's _athen._), that in the copy before me, which is, like that referred to by dr. bliss, of the first edition (not the second mentioned by aubrey as published in ), the author's name does not appear on the _title-page_ at all. there we find only "by w. r. of gray's inne, esq. experto credo" [sic]; and really one seems as if one could believe any thing from a man who had habitually used such medicines, for i have said nothing of his infusion of tobacco, for which you must-- "take a quarter of a pound of tobacco, and a quart of ale, white-wine, or sider, and three or four spoonfulls of hony, and two pennyworth of mace; and infuse these by a soft fire, in a close earthen pot, to the consumption of almost the one-half, and then you may take from two spoonfulls to twelve [no tea-spoons in those days], and drink it in a cup with ale or beer." one could, i say, believe almost any thing from a gentleman who under such a course of discipline was approaching the age of fourscore; but though the title-page has only his initials, the dedication to the marquess of dorchester, and the letter to sir henry blount, are both signed "will. rumsey." s. r. m. [footnote : see vol. i. pp. . . . . . and .] * * * * * queries. queries concerning old mss. i am very desirous of gaining some knowledge respecting the following mss., especially as regards their locality at the present time. perhaps some of your numerous readers can help me to the information which i seek. . "whitelocke's labours remembered in the annales of his life, written for the use of his children." this valuable ms. contains a most minute and curious account of the performance of shirley's masque, entitled _the triumphs of peace_. in , when dr. burney published the third volume of his _history of music_, it was in the possession of dr. morton of the british museum.--query, was dr. morton's library disposed of by auction, or what was its destiny? . "a ms. treatise on the art of illumination, written in the year ." this ms. is said by edward rowe mores, in his _dissertation upon english typographical founders_, to have been in the possession of humphrey wanley, who by its help "refreshed the injured or decayed illuminations in the library of the earl of oxford." the ms. was transcribed by miss elstob in , and a copy of her transcript was in the possession of mr. george ballard. where now is the original? . "a memorandum-book in the handwriting of paul bowes, esq., son of sir thomas bowes, of london, and of bromley hall, essex, knight, and dated ." in this ms., which contains some highly interesting and important information, was in the possession of a gentleman named broke, of nacton in suffolk, a descendant from the bowes family; but i have not been able to trace it further. . "the negotiations of thomas wolsey, cardinall." this valuable ms. was in the collection of dr. farmer, who wrote on the fly-leaf,-- "i believe several of the letters and state papers in this volume have not been published; three or four are printed in the collections at the end of dr. fiddes' _life of wolsey_, from a ms. in the yelverton library." if i remember rightly, the late richard heber afterwards came into the possession of this curious and important volume. it is lamentable to think of the dispersion of poor heber's manuscripts. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * minor queries. _chantrey's sleeping children in lichfield cathedral._--in reference to a claim recently put forth on behalf of an individual to the merit of having designed and executed this celebrated monument, mr. peter cunningham says (_literary gazette_, june .),--"the merit of the composition belongs to chantrey and stothard." as a regular reader of the "notes and queries," i shall feel obliged to mr. cunningham (whose name i am always glad to see as a correspondent) if he will be kind enough to inform me on what evidence he founds the title of mr. stothard to a share of the merit of a piece of sculpture, which is so generally attributed to the genius of chantrey? plectrum. _viscount dundee's ring._--in the _letters of john grahame of claverhouse, viscount of dundee_, printed for the bannatyne club in , is a description and engraving of a ring containing some of ld. dundee's hair, with the letters v.d., surmounted by a coronet, worked on it in gold; and on the inside of the ring are engraved a skull, and the posey--"great dundee, for god and me, j. rex." the ring, which belonged to the family of graham of duntrune (representative of viscount dundee), has for several years been lost or mislaid; perhaps, through some of the numerous readers of the "notes and queries," information { } might be obtained as to the place where that ring is at present preserved, and whether there would be any possibility of the family recovering it by purchase or otherwise. w. c. trevelyan. duntrune, near dundee. _the kilkenny cats._--i would feel obliged if any of your correspondents could give me information as to the first, or any early, published allusion to the strange tale, modernly become proverbial, of the ferocity of the cats of kilkenny. the story generally told is, that two of those animals fought in a sawpit with such ferocious determination that when the battle was over nothing could be found remaining of either combatant except _his tail_,--the marvellous inference to be drawn therefrom being, of course, that they had devoured each other. this ludicrous anecdote has, no doubt, been generally looked upon as an absurdity of the joe miller class; but this i conceive to be a mistake. i have not the least doubt that the story of the mutual destruction of the contending cats was an allegory designed to typify the utter ruin to which centuries of litigation and embroilment on the subject of conflicting rights and privileges tended to reduce the respective exchequers of the rival municipal bodies of kilkenny and irishtown,--separate corporations existing within the liberties of one city, and the boundaries of whose respective jurisdiction had never been marked out or defined by an authority to which either was willing to bow. their struggles for precedency, and for the maintenance of alleged rights invaded, commenced a.d. . (see _rot. claus._ ed. iii. .), and were carried on with truly feline fierceness and implacability till the end of the seventeenth century, when it may fairly be considered that they had mutually devoured each other to the very _tail_, as we find their property all mortgaged, and see them each passing by-laws that their respective officers should be content with the dignity of their station, and forego all hope of salary till the suit at law with the other "pretended corporation" should be terminated, and the incumbrances thereby caused removed with the vanquishment of the enemy. those who have taken the story of the kilkenny cats in its literal sense have done grievous injustice to the character of the grimalkins of the "faire cittie," who are really quite as demure and quietly disposed a race of tabbies as it is in the nature of any such animals to be. john g. a. prim. kilkenny. _robert de welle._--can any of your correspondents inform me of what family was robert de welle, who married matilda, one of the co-heirs of thomas de clare, and in th edward ii. received seisin of possessions in ireland, and a mediety of the seneschalship of the forest of essex in her right? (_rotul. original., record commission_, pp. , .) and how came the irish title of baron welles into the family of knox? again, where can i meet with a song called the derby ram, very popular in my school-boy days, but of which i recollect only one stanza,-- "the man that killed the ram, sir, was up to his knees in blood; the boy that held the bucket, sir, was carried away in the flood." i fancy it had an electioneering origin. h. w. _lady slingsby._--among many of the plays temp. car. ii. the name of "the lady slingsby" occurs in the list of performers composing the _dramatis personæ_. who was this lady slingsby? t. _god save the queen._--can any correspondent state the reason of the recent discontinuance of this brief but solemn and scriptural ejaculation, at the close of royal proclamations, letters, &c., read during the service of the church? j. h. m. _meaning of steyne--origin of adur._--can any of your correspondents give the derivation of the word "steyne," as used at brighton, for instance? or the origin of the name "adur," a small river running into the sea at shoreham? f. _col. lilburn._--who was the author of a book called _lieut.-colonel john lilburn tryed and cast, or his case and craft discovered, &c., &c._, published by authority, ? p. s. w. e. _french verses._--will one of your readers kindly inform me from what french poet the two following stanzas are taken? "la mort a des rigueurs à nulle autre pareilles. on a beau la prier, la cruelle, qu'elle est, se bouche les oreilles, et nous laisse crier. "le pauvre en sa cabane, que le chaume couvre, est sujet à ses lois; et la garde qui veille aux barrières du louvre n'en défend pas les rois." e. r. c. b. _our world._--i once heard a lady repeat the following pithy lines, and shall be glad if any of your readers can tell me who is the author, and where they first appeared, "'tis a very good world to live in-- to lend, and to spend, and to give in; but to beg, or to borrow, or ask for one's own, 'tis the very worst world that ever was known." d. v. s. home, april . _porson's imposition._--when porson was at cambridge, his tutor lent him a pound to buy books, which he spent in getting drunk at a { } tavern. the tutor set him an imposition, which he made to consist in a dog-greek poem, giving an account of the affair. these were the three first lines,-- [greek: "tutor emoi men poundon elendeto; ôs mala simplos] [greek: ton men egô spendon kata dômata redlionoio,] [greek: drinkomenos kai rhôromenos dia nukta bebaiôs."] then part of another,-- [greek: "--autar egô megalois klubboisin ebanchthên."] i cannot but think that some cambridge men know the whole, which would be invaluable to retrieve. there is nothing about it in kidd. c. b. _alice rolle._--can any of your readers conversant with irish pedigrees, if they remember to have met with this lady's name, kindly inform me where it may be found? s. s. s. _the meaning of "race" in ship-building._--in hawkin's _voyages_ ("hakluyt society, "), p. ., he says, "here is offerred to speak of a point much canvassed amongst carpenters and sea-captains, diversely maintained but yet undetermined, that is, whether the _race_, or loftie built shippe, bee best for the merchant;" and again, p. .: "a third and last cause of the losse of sundry of our men, most worthy of note for all captains, owners, and carpenters, was the _race_ building of our ship, the onely fault she had," &c. can any of your correspondents explain what is meant by "race"; the editor of the _voyages_, captain c. r. d. bethune, r.n., confesses himself unable to explain it. e. n. w. southwark, may . . _the battle of death._--i possess a curious old print entitled "the battle of death against all creatures, and the desolation wrought by time." it bears the engraver's name, "robert smith," but no date. the figures, however, which are numerous, and comprise all ranks, seem to present the costume of the latter end of the th century. there is a long inscription in verse, and another in prose: query, who was the author of the verses, and what is the date of the engraving? as i am on the subject of prints, perhaps some person learned in such matters will also be kind enough to inform me what number constitutes a complete series of the engravings after claude by francis vivares; and who was "jean rocque, chirographaire du roi," who executed several maps of portions of london, also a map of kilkenny? x. y. a. kilkenny, june . . _execution of charles i._--is the name of the executioner known who beheaded king charles i.? is there any truth in the report that it was an earl stair? p. s. w. e. _morganitic marriage._--in ducange, &c., the adjective _morganitic_ is connected with the _morgangab_ (morning gift), which was usual from a husband to his wife the day after their marriage. how comes this adjective to be applied to marriages in which the wife does not take her husband's rank? m. _lord bacon's palace and gardens._--will any of your architectural or landscape gardening readers inform me whether any attempts were ever made by any of our english sovereigns or nobility, or by any of our rich men of science and taste, to carry out, in practice, lord bacon's plans of _a princely palace_, or _a prince-like garden_, as so graphically and so beautifully described in his _essays_, xlv. and xlvi., "of building" and "of gardens"? i cannot but think that if such an attempt was never made, the failure is discreditable to us as a nation; and that this work ought yet to be executed, as well for its own intrinsic beauty and excellence, as in honour of the name and fame of its great proposer. effaress. june . . _"dies iræ, dies illa."_--will any of your correspondents oblige me by answering the following queries. who was the author of the extremely beautiful hymn, commencing-- "dies iræ, dies illa, solvet soeclum in favilla teste david cum sibylla." and in what book was it first printed? a copy of it is contained in a small tract in our library, entitled _lyrica sacra, excerpta ex hymnis ecclesiæ antiquis. privatim excusa romæ_, . at the end of the preface is subscribed "t. m. anglus." and on the title page in ms., "for the rev. dr. milner, dean of carlisle, master of queen's college, in the university of cambridge, from t. j. mathia--" the rest of the name has been cut off in binding; it was probably mathias. as here given, it has only twenty-seven lines. the original hymn is, i believe, much longer. w. sparrow simpson. queen's college, cambridge. _aubrey family._--in burke's _peerage and baronetage_, under the head "aubrey," i find the following passage:-- "vincent, windsor herald in the time of elizabeth, compiled a pedigree of the family of aubrey, which he commences thus:--'saint aubrey, of the blood royal of france, came into england with william the conqueror, anno , as the chronicles of all souls college testify, which are there to be seen tied to a chain of iron.'" can any of your readers give me any information respecting this "saint aubrey," whose name i have not been able to find in the roll of battle { } abbey: or respecting his son, sir reginald aubrey, who aided bernard de newmarch in the conquest of the marches of wales, and any of his descendants? pwcca. _ogden family._--the writer is very desirous of information as to the past history of a family of the name of _ogden_. dr. samuel ogden, the author of a volume of sermons, published in , was a member of it. a branch of the family emigrated to america about , and still exists there. they yet bear in their crest allusion to a tradition, that one of their family hid charles ii. in an oak, when pursued by his enemies. what authority is there for this story? i shall be grateful for any indications of sources of information that may seem likely to aid my researches. twyford. * * * * * replies. sir george buc. it has often been noticed, that when a writer wishes to support some favourite hypothesis, he quite overlooks many important particulars that militate against his own view of the case. the rev. mr. corser, in his valuable communication respecting sir george buc (vol. ii., p. .), is not exempt from this accusation. he has omitted the statement of malone, that "sir george buc died on the th of september, ." (boswell's _shakspeare_, iii. .) we know _positively_ that in may , sir george, "by reason of sickness and indisposition of body, wherewith it hath pleased god to visit him, was become disabled and insufficient to undergo and perform" the duties of master of the revels; and it is equally _positive_ that malone would not so circumstantially have said, "sir george buc _died_ on the th of september, ," without some good authority for so doing. it is only to be regretted that the learned commentator neglected to give that authority. mr. corser wishes to show that sir george buc's days "were further prolonged till ;" but i think he is in error as to his conclusions, and that _another_ george buc must enter the field and divide the honours with his knightly namesake. it is perfectly clear that a george buc was living long after the date assigned as that of the death of sir george, by malone. this george _buck_, for so he invariably spells his name, contributed a copy of verses to yorke's _union of honour_, ; to shirley's _poems_, ; and to the folio edition of beaumont and fletcher's _plays_, . ritson, then, when speaking of sir george buc's _great plantagenet_, as published in , was rather hasty in pronouncing it as the work of "some fellow who assumed his name," because here is evidence that a person of the same name (if not sir george himself, as mr. corser thinks) was living at the period. the name, if _assumed_ in the case of the _great plantagenet_, would hardly have been kept up in the publications just alluded to. in the british museum, among the cotton mss. (_tiberius_, e. x.), is preserved a ms. called "the history of king richard the third, comprised in five books, gathered and written by sir g. buc, knight, master of the king's office of the revels, and one of the gentlemen of his majesty's privy chamber." this ms., which appears to have been the author's rough draft, is corrected by interlineations and erasements in every page. it is much injured by fire, but a part of the dedication to sir thomas howard, the earl of arundel, &c., still remains, together with "an advertisement to the reader," which is dated "from the king's office of the revels, st. peter's hill, ." this _history_ was first published in , by george buck, _esquire_, who says, in his dedication to philip, the earl of pembroke and montgomery, "that he had _collected these papers out of their dust_." here is evidence that the work was not _published_ by the original compiler; besides, how can mr. corser reconcile his author's knighthood with the designations on the respective title-pages of _the great plantagenet_, and _the history of richard the third_? in the former the writer is styled "george buck, _esquire_," and in the latter, "george buck, _gentleman_." it is difficult to account for mr. corser's omission of these facts, because i am well assured, that, with his extensive knowledge of our earlier poets, my information is not new to him. that there were _two_ george bucs in the seventeenth century, and both of them poets, cannot, i think, be doubted. perhaps they were not even relations; at any rate, mr. corser's account of the parentage of _one_ differs from mine entirely. "he [sir george buc] was born at ely, the eldest son of robert bucke, and elizabeth, the daughter of peter lee of brandon ferry; the grandson of robert bucke, and jane, the daughter of clement higham; the great-grandson of sir john bucke, who, having helped richard to a horse on bosworth field, was attainted for his zeal."--chalmers' _apology_, p. . the ms. now in mr. corser's possession occurs in the _bibliotheca heberiana_, part xi. no. ., and i observe, by referring to that volume, that the compiler has the following note:-- "this ms. is entirely in the handwriting of sir george buck, master of the revels in the reign of james i., as prepared by him for publication. the initials g. b. correspond with those of his name, and the handwriting is similar to a ms. dedication of his poem to lord chancellor egerton, which is preserved at bridgewater house." the authorship of _the famous history of st. george_, then, rests solely upon the initials "g. b.," and the similarity of the handwriting to that of { } sir george buc. now it must be remembered that the ms. dedication was written in , and the _history_ after ! surely an interval of _fifty-five_ years must have made some difference in the penmanship of the worthy master of the revels. i think we must receive the _comparison_ of handwritings with considerable caution; and, unless some of your readers can produce "new evidence" in favour of one or other of the claimants, i much fear that your reverend correspondent will have to exclaim with master ford in the play,-- "_buck._ i would i could wash myself of the _buck_!" edward f. rimbault. i am not quite certain that i can satisfactorily answer mr. corser's query; but at least i am able to show that _a_ sir george buck, seised in fee of lands in lincolnshire, did die in or about . in the report office of the court of chancery is a report made to lord keeper williams by sir wm. jones, who had been lord chief justice in ireland, dated the th nov. , respecting a suit referred to him by the lord keeper, in which _stephen buck_ was plaintiff and _robert buck_ defendant. in this report is contained a copy of the will of sir george buck, whom i supposed to be _the_ sir george buck, the master of the revels; and the will containing a singular clause, disinheriting his brother robert because he was alleged to be a jesuit, and it having been supposed that sir george buck died intestate, i published an extract from it in my _acta cancellariæ_ (benning, ). on further examination of the whole of the document in question, i find it distinctly stated, and of course that statement was made on evidence adduced, that sir george buck was seised in fee of certain lands and tenements in boston and skydbrooke, both of which places, i need scarcely say, are in lincolnshire. it is therefore, at least, not improbable that the testator was a native of lincolnshire. it also appears that the proceedings in chancery were instituted previously to june, ; and, inasmuch as sir george buck's will is recited in those proceedings, he must have died before they were commenced, and not in september, , as i once supposed. it may, perhaps, aid mr. corser's researches to know that the will (which is not to be found at doctors' commons) mentions, besides the brother robert, a sister, cecilia buck, who had a son, stephen, who had a son, george buck, whom his great uncle, sir george, made ultimate heir to his lands in lincolnshire. cecil monro. registrars' office, court of chancery. * * * * * "a frog he would a-wooing go." your sexagenarian who dates from "shooter's hill," has _not_ hit the mark when he suggests that anna bouleyn's marriage with henry viii. (in the teeth of the church) is the hidden mystery of the popular old song,-- "sir frog he would a-wooing go, whether his mother was willing or no." that some courtship in the history of the british monarchy, leaving a deep impression on the public mind, gave rise to this generally diffused ballad, is exceedingly probable; but the style and wording of the song are evidently of a period much later than the age of henry viii. might not the madcap adventure of prince charles with buckingham into spain, to _woo the infanta_, be its real origin? "heigho! for antony rowley" is the chorus. now "old rowley" was a pet name for charles the second, as any reader of the waverley novels must recollect. no event was more likely to be talked about and sung about at the time, the adventurous nature of the trip being peculiarly adapted to the ballad-monger. francis mahony. _"a frog he would a-wooing go"_ (vol. ii., p. .)--your correspondent t. s. d. is certainly right in his notion that the ballad of "a frog he would a-wooing go" is very old, however fanciful may be his conjecture about its personal or political application to henry viii. and anne boleyn. that it could not refer to "the cavaliers and the roundheads," another of t. s. d.'s notions, is clear from the fact, that it was entered at stationers' hall in november, ; as appears by the quotation made by mr. payne collier, in his second volume of _extracts_, printed for the shakspeare society last year. it runs thus:-- "edward white. lycensed unto him, &c., theis iiij. ballads followinge, that is to saie, a moste strange weddinge of the frogge and the mowse," &c. upon this entry mr. collier makes this note: "the ballad can hardly be any other than the still well-known comic song 'a frog he would a-wooing go.'" it may have been even older than , when edward white entered it; for it is possible that it was then only a reprint of an earlier production. i, like mr. collier, have heard it sung "in our theatres and streets," and, like t. s. d., always fancied that it was ancient. the hermit of holyport. _rowley powley._--as generally inclined to the belief that everything is older than anybody knows of, i am rather startled by "rowley powley" not being as old as myself. i remember seeing mentioned somewhere, without any reference to this chorus, that _rowley powley_ is a name for a plump fowl, of which both "gammon and spinach" are posthumous connexions. i cannot help thinking that this may be a clue to some prior occurrence of the chorus, with or without { } the song. if "derry down," which has been said to be druidical, were judged of by the last song it went with, how old would be the druids? m. "_a frog he would a-wooing go._"--it may perhaps be interesting to some of your correspondents on the subject of "a frog he would a-wooing go," to know that there exists an irish version of that woeful tale, which differs in several respects from the ballad which has so long been familiar to english ears. the burthen of "heigho! says rowley," does not occur in the hibernian composition, but a still less intelligible chorus supplies its place. the air is exceedingly quaint, and seems to me to bear the stamp of antiquity. the words are as follow:-- "misther frog lived in a well, heigho! my lanti-iddity! and the merry mouse in the mill, terry heigho! for lang for liddity! says mr. frog, 'i will go coort,' heigho, &c. 'saddle me nag and polish me boots!' terry heigho, &c. frog came _to_ lady mouse's hall, heigho, &c. gave a rap and thundering call, terry heigho, &c. 'where _is_ the people _of_ this house?' heigho, &c. 'here am i,' says my lady mouse, terry heigho, &c. 'i've come to court miss kitty here,' heigho, &c. 'if that she can fancy me.' terry heigho, &c. 'uncle rat is not at home;' heigho, &c. 'he'll give you an answer--i have none,' terry heigho, &c. uncle rat, when he came in, heigho, &c. 'who's been here since i left home?' terry heigho, &c. 'misther frog, a worthy man;' heigho, &c. 'give him a wife, sir, if you can,' terry heigho, &c. 'where shall we make the bride's bed?' heigho, &c. 'down below, in the horse's head.' terry heigho, &c. 'what shall we have for the wedding supper?' heigho, &c. 'a roasted potato and a roll o' butter.' terry heigho, &c. supper was laid down to dine, heigho, &c. changed a farthing and brought up wine, terry heigho, &c. first come in was a nimble bee, heigho, &c. with his fiddle upon his knee, terry heigho, &c. next come in was a creeping snail, heigho, &c. with his bagpipes under his tail, terry heigho, &c. next came in was a neighbour's pig, heigho, &c. 'pray, good people, will ye play us a jig?' terry heigho, &c. next come in was a neighbour's hen, heigho, &c. took the fiddler by the wing, terry heigho, &c. next come in was a neighbour's duck, heigho, &c. swallow'd the piper, head and pluck, terry heigho, &c. next come in was a neighbour's cat, heigho, &c. took the young bride by the back, terry heigho, &c. misther frog jumped down the well, heigho, &c. 'zounds, i'll never go coort again!' terry heigho, &c. uncle rat run up a wall, heigho, &c. 'zounds, the divil's among you all!' terry heigho, &c." w. a. g. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _carucate of land_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the measure of the carucate was as indefinite in edward iii.'s time as at an earlier period. it then, as before, represented as much land as could be worked with one plough in a year. i am fortunately enabled to give your correspondent e.v. a precise answer to his query. in a ms. survey of the hospitallers' lands in england, taken under the direction of prior philip thame, a.d. , which i transcribed from the original, among the records of the order, i find in the "extent" of the "camera de hetherington in comitatu northampton,"-- "item. v carucate terre continentes v^c acre terre: pretium cujuslibet, viij^d." "bæjulia de eycle (_i. e._ eagle in lincolnshire) cum membris." "et ibidem iiij. carucate terre, que continent v^c acras terre et apud le wodehous iij carucate terre, que continent iij^c: pretium acre, vj^d." here we have a decided instance of the variation in the number of acres represented by the carucate. i have generally found that the nearest approximation to correctness, where no other evidence is at hand, is to consider the carucate as designating about acres. l. b. l. _carucate of land._--a case in point is given in the rd vol. of the _archæologia_, p. . the { } carucate frequently consisted of eight bovatæ of arable land; but the number of acres appears to have varied not only according to the quality of the soil, but according to the custom of husbandry of the shire: for where a two-years' course, or crop and fallow, was adopted, more land was adjudged to the carucate than where a three-years' course obtained, the land lying fallow not being reckoned or rateable. the object would appear to have been to obtain a carucate of equal value throughout the kingdom. b. w. _golden frog and sir john poley_ (vol. i., p. . and .).--your correspondent gastros suggests that "to the low countries, the land of frogs, we must turn for the solution of this enigma," (vol. i., p. .); accordingly, it appears from the treatise of bircherodius on the knights of the elephant, an order of knighthood in denmark, conferred upon none but persons of the first quality and merit, that a frog is among the devices adopted by them; and we need not further seek for a reason why this _symbolum heroicum_ was worn by sir john poley, who served much under christian, king of denmark (vol. i., p. .), and distinguished himself much by his military achievements in the low countries (p. .). t. j. _the poley frog._--more than half a century ago, i was present when this singular appendage was the subject of conversation in a large literary party, but being then a schoolboy i made "no note of it." my recollection now is, that after some jokes on the name of poley as that of a frog, allusion was made to an old court story of king james ii. throwing a frog into the neck of william, third earl of pembroke. the story, with its consequences, may be found in the _tixall letters_, vol. i. p. .; wood's _athenæ ox._, vol. i. p. .; park's _royal and noble authors_, vol. ii. p. . [old english g]. i have never seen a head of any engraving of the portrait of sir john poley, of boxsted hall, not bexstead. i believe there is none. d. _bands_ (vol. ii., p. .) are the descendants of the ruff a portion of the ordinary civil costume of the sixteenth century. in the reign of james i., the ruff was occasionally exchanged for a wide stiff collar, standing out horizontally and squarely, made of similar stuff, starched and wired, and sometimes edged like the ruff with lace. these collars were called bands. a good example occurs in the portrait of shakspeare by cornelius jansen, engravings of which are well known. at the end of the seventeenth century these broad-falling bands were succeeded by the small geneva bands, which have ever since been retained by our clergymen and councillors, but in a contracted form, having been originally _bonâ fide_ collars, the ends of which hung negligently over the shoulders. (see planché's _brit. costume_, pp. . .) bands are worn by the ecclesiastics in france and italy, as well as in england. in the second number of _popular tracts illustrating the prayer-book_, p. ., it is suggested that bands are perhaps the remains of the amice, one of the eucharistic vestments in use previous to the reformation, which consisted of a square cloth, so put on that one side, which was embroidered, formed a collar round the neck, whilst the rest hung behind like a hood. by analogy with the scarf of our protestant clergy, which is clearly the stole of the roman church retained under a different name, this suggestion is not without some degree of plausibility. the fact that the present academical costume is derived from the ordinary civil dress of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, sufficiently accounts for the retention of the bands as a part. arun. surely bands are no part of the peculiar dress of the clergy, &c., but the ordinary dress of the people, retained by certain classes or professions, because they wished for something regular and distinctive. so the wigs of the judges were the fashionable dress years ago. it is curious that the clergy have cut down their bands, while the lawyers still glory in comparatively large and flowing ones. bands altered greatly in their form. taylor, the water poet, i think, says-- "the eighth henry, as i understand, was the first prince that ever wore a band," or, indeed, person of any sort. the date of the same thing in france is mentioned in vellay, but i forget it now. c. b. _bishops and their precedence_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it may interest your correspondent e. to refer to a passage in baker's _chronicle_, sub anno , p. ., which would tend to show that the precedency of the spiritual barons was at that period disputed. that writer says:-- "john earl of oxford, with his son aubrey de vere, &c., was convicted of treason and beheaded. john earl of oxford, in a former parliament, had disputed the question concerning the precedency of temporal and spiritual barons, a bold attempt in those days, and by force of whose argument judgment was given for the _lords temporal_." where will this judgment or any account of the dispute be found? g. _"imprest" and "debenture"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--_imprest_ is derived from the italian _imprestare_, to lend, which is _im-præstare_, (fr. _prêter_). _debentur_, or _debenture_ (lat. _debeo_), was originally a customhouse term, meaning a certificate or ticket presented by an exporter, when a drawback or bounty was allowed on certain exported goods. hence it seems { } to mean a certificate acknowledging a debt, and promising payment at a specified time on the presentation of the certificate. debentures are thus issued by railway companies when they borrow money, and the certificates for annual interest which accompany them are, so to speak, _sub-debentures_. perhaps this may throw _some_ light upon the matter. e. s. jackson. _charade_ (vol. i., p. .).--the charade cited by quÆstor is on my "notes" as the "bishop of salisbury's," and the following answer is said to be by a clergyman:-- "firm on the rock of christ, though lowly sprung, the church invokes the spirit's fiery tongue; those gracious breathings rouse but to controul the storm and struggle in the sinner's soul. happy! ere long his carnal conflicts cease, and the storm sinks in faith and gentle peace-- kings own its potent sway, and humbly bows the gilded diadem upon their brows-- its saving voice with mercy speeds to all, but ah! how few who quicken at the call-- gentiles the favour'd 'little flock' detest, and abraham's children spit upon their rest. once only since creation's work, has night curtain'd with dark'ning clouds its saving light, what time the ark majestically rode, unscath'd upon the desolating flood-- the silver weigh'd for it, in all its strength for scarce three pounds were counted, while its length traced in the prophet's view with measur'd reed, squared just a mile, as rabbins are agreed-- and now i feel entitled well to smile, since christ's church bears the palm in all our isle." i waited some time to see if any solution would be given of the charade; and i now send you the one in my possession, in default of a better. rebecca. _dutch language_ (vol. i., p. .).--e. v. asks what are the best _modern_ books for acquiring a knowledge of the dutch language. if e. v. insist upon _modern_ books, he cannot have better than hendrik conscience's novels, or gerrits's _zoon des volks_. i would, however, advise him to get a volume of jacob cats' _poems_, the language of which is not antiquated, and is idiomatic without being difficult to a beginner. h. b. c. _"construe" and "translate"_ (vol ii., p. .).--it is very common, i apprehend, in language, for two words, originally of the same meaning, or two spellings of the same word, to be gradually appropriated by usage to two subordinate uses, applications, and meanings of the word respectively, and that merely by accident, as to which of the two is taken for one of the subdivisions, and which for the other. we have made such an appropriation in our own time,--despatch and dispatch. it may be curious, however, to inquire how far back the distinction mentioned by your correspondent is found. "construe," originally, must probably have meant, not to turn from one language into another, but to explain the construction, or what is called by the greek name syntax, much like what in regard to a single word is called parsing. c. b. _dutton family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--b. will find the _dutton_ proviso in the statute geo. ii. explained by reference to ormerod's _cheshire_, vol. i. pp. . . .; lyson's _cheshire_; blount's _antient tenures_, ., &c. an early grant by one of the lacy family transferred to hugh de dutton and his heirs "magistratum omnium leccatorum et meritricum totius cestriæ." in the fifteenth century the jurisdiction was claimed by the dutton family, in respect of the lordship or manor of dutton, and was then confined to a jurisdiction over the minstrels and musicians of the palatinate and city of chester, who constituted, i presume, a department among the _leccatores_, or licorish fellows, mentioned above. in virtue of this jurisdiction the lord of dutton had the advowry or "advocaria" of the minstrels of the district, and annually licensed them at a _court of minstrelsy_, where the homage consisted of a jury of sworn fiddlers; and certain dues, namely, flagons of wine and a lance or flagstaff, were yearly rendered to the lord. the last court was held in . as the early vagrant acts included "minstrels" in their definition of rogues and vagabonds, it is evident that the suitors of the minstrelsy court would have run the risk of commitment to the house of correction and a whipping, if the acts had not specially excepted the franchise of the dutton family from their operation. the earliest statutes are eliz. c. .; eliz. c. .; and eliz. c. . section . of the last act clearly shows that it was the power of licensing minstrels which the proviso of the acts was intended to save. the pedigree of the dutton family will be found in the volume of ormerod already cited. e. s. june . . "_laus tua, non tua fraus_," &c. (vol. i., p. .).--the lines were written by philelphus on pope pius ii., as is stated in the book called _les bigarrures du seigneur des accords_, p. . of the edit. . c. b. in a small work, entitled _specimens of macaronic poetry_, vo., , the verses quoted by "o." are stated to have been written by some poet (not named) in praise of pope clement vi. or pius ii., but of which learned authorities do not agree. it seems the poet was afraid he might not receive such a reward as, according to his own estimate, he deserved, and therefore retained the power of converting his flattery into abuse, by simply giving { } his friends the cue to commence from the last word, and begin backwards. the following are other verses of the same sort:-- ad julium iii. pontificem maximum. "pontifici sua sint divino numine tuto culmina, nec montes hos petat omnipotens." ad carolum v. caesarem. "cæsareum tibi sit felici sidere nomen, carole, nec fatum sit tibi cæsareum." w. g. s. "o." is referred to a low and scurrilous translation, or rather imitation of the epigrams of martial and others, purporting to be "by the rev. mr. scott, m.a.," and published in london in . therein the lines quoted by "o." are given, accompanied by a sorry attempt at translation; and the epigram is attributed to "one cianconius, a dominican friar, in honour of pope clement the fourth." a. e. b. leeds. _mother of thomas à becket_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--thierry, in the th vol. of his _histoire de la conquête de l'angleterre par les normands_, quotes as an authority for the account of the eastern origin of the mother of thomas à becket, _vita et processus s. thomæ cantuariensis, seu quadripartita historia_, cap. ii. fol. . w. g. s. _medal of stukeley._--in answer to mr. britton's queries (vol. i., p. ., and vol. ii., p. .), i beg to inform him that the medal of stukeley was executed soon after that eminent antiquary's death by an artist of the name of gaal, who was not a die-sinker, but a modeller and chaser. the medal is rare, but not unique: i have one in my own collection, and i have, i think, seen one or two others. they are all cast in a mould and chased. edw. hawkins june . . _dulcarnon_ (vol. i., p. .).--has _dulcarnon_ any reference to the hindostanee _dhoulcarnein_, two-horned,--the epithet constantly applied in india to alexander the great, or iskander, as they call him? it seems not a bad word for a dilemma or puzzle. h. w. nottingham. _practice of scalping_.--your correspondent t. j. will find in mr. layard's _nineveh and its remains_ (vol. ii. p. .) the following note:-- "the scythians _scalped_ and flayed their enemies, and used their skins as horse trappings."--_herod._ iv. . g. r. greenock. _scalping._--perhaps your correspondent t. j. (vol. ii., p. .) may recollect the allusion to "scalping," in psalm lxviii. .; upon which verse an argument has been based in favour of the supposition, that the aborigines of america are derived from the ten tribes of israel. j. sansom. _derivation of penny_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--akerman's _numismatic manual_ (p. .) has, under the head of "penny," the following remarks:-- "the penny is next in antiquity. it is first mentioned in the laws of ina. the term has been derived by various writers from almost every european language; but the conjecture of wachter, as noticed by lye, seems the most reasonable. this writer derives it from the celtic word _pen_, head; the heads of the saxon princes being stamped on the earliest pennies. the fact of the _testoon_ of later times having been so named, certainly adds weight to the opinion of wachter." w. g. s. * * * * * miscellanies. "_by hook or by crook_" (vol. i., p. .).--the following extract may, perhaps, by multiplying instances, tend to corroborate the supposed origin of the above saying:-- "not far from them [peverell's crosses], in the parish of egloshayle, is another moonstone [granite] cross near mount charles, called the prior's cross, on which is cut the figure of a _hook_ and a _crook_, in memory of the privilege granted by him to the poor of bodmin, for gathering for fire-boot and house-boot such boughs and branches of such trees in his contiguous wood of dunmere, as they could reach with a _hook and a crook_ without further damage to the trees. from whence arose the cornish proverb, _they will have it by hook or by crook_."--hitchins and drewe, _hist. cornwall_, p. . vol. ii. edit. . seleucus. _burning dead bodies._--in his remarks on "ashes to ashes," cinis says (vol. i., p. .) that "the burning of the dead does not appear to be in itself an anti-christian ceremony," &c.: he is mistaken, for the early christians, like the jews, never burned their dead, but buried them. the catacombs of rome and naples, besides those in other places, were especially used for sepulture; and if cinis wish for proofs, he will find an abundance in rock's _hierurgia_, t. ii. p. ., &c. cephas. _etymology of "barbarian," &c._--passow, in his lexicon (ed. liddell and scott), s.v. [greek: barbaros], observes that the word was originally applied to "all that were not greeks, or that did not speak greek. it was used of all defects which the greeks thought foreign to themselves and natural to other nations: but as the hellenes and barbarians were most of all _separated by language_, the word had always especial reference to this [greek: glôssa barbara], soph. aj. , &c." he considers the word as probably an onomatopoeion, to express the sound of a foreign tongue. (cf. gibbon, c. li.; roth, _ueber { } sinn u. gebrauch des wortes barbar._ nürnberg, .) i am disposed to look for the root in the hebr. [hebrew: barar] "_bâr[=a]r_," _separavit_, in its pilpel form, [hebrew: barbar] "_barbâr;_" hence, "one who is _separated_," "a foreigner." and even though clel. voc. ., n., admits that _purus_, "clean," "_separated_ from dross," originally signifies cleansing by fire, [greek: pur], yet both it and _far-farris_, "bread-corn," i. e. _separated_ from the husk, and _fur-fur_, "bran," which is _separated_ from the flour, may find their origin possibly from the same source. e. s. t. _royal and distinguished disinterments._--it is suggested that a volume of deep and general interest might be very easily formed by collecting and arranging the various notices that have from time to time appeared, of the disinterment of royal and distinguished personages. this hint seems deserving of the attention of messrs. nichols. j. h. m. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. the great interest excited by the further discovery in august last, of tesselated pavements at cirencester induced professor buckman and mr. newmarch at once to issue proposals for a work, descriptive not only of those beautiful specimens of roman art, but also of all such other of the numerous remains found in the same locality as they could satisfactorily identify. the result was, such a well-filled subscription list, and such ready co-operation on the part of those who had collectetd and preserved such objects, as have enabled these gentlemen to produce, under the title of _illustrations of the remains of roman art in cirencester, the site of ancient corinium_, a work which will not only gratify the antiquary by its details, and the beauty and fidelity of its engravings, but enable the general reader, without any great exercise of imagination, to picture to himself the social condition of corinium when garrisoned by roman cohorts, "'ere the wide arch of the ranged empire fell." to the grandeur of form, dignity of character, and great breadth of treatment exhibited in these pavements,--mr. westmacott, the royal academician, bears his testimony; and the fidelity with which they have been copied in the valuable work before us reflects the highest credit upon all parties engaged in its production. messrs. puttick and simpson ( . piccadilly) will sell on wednesday next an extraordinary collection of mss., comprising a cotemporary ms. of occleve's poems, autograph poetry of mary queen of scots; legend of st. molaisse, an irish ms. of the th century, &c., and, among other things, many thousand early charters, from the time of the conqueror to the th century. we have received the following catalogues:--charles dolman's ( . new bond street) catalogue of books in various languages; supplement e., comprising many of the works of the fathers, ecclesiastical history, &c.; john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cxiii., no. . for , of old and new books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) aristotle, buhle's edition, vol. v. arnold's thucydides, vol. i. kant's saemmtliche werke, edition of schuberand rosenkrantz (von leipsic), part xi.--query, has this eleventh part been published? *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. volume the first, _complete with index, may now be had, price s. d., bound in cloth_. the index, _which we publish this day, is, we trust, sufficiently full to satisfy to the utmost the wishes of our subscribers. we feel that, if called upon at any time to establish the utility of_ notes and queries, _we may confidently point to the index as a proof that the literary inquirer, be his particular branch of study what it may, will not search in vain in our pages for valable notes and illustrations of it_. * * * * * just published in vo., with a portrait and plates, price s., cloth; or, in royal vo. (large paper), price s. d. cloth, dilston hall; or, memoirs of the right hon. james radcliff, earl of derwentwater, a martyr in the rebellion of . to which is added, a visit to bamburgh castle; with an account of lord crewe's charities, and a memoir of the noble founder. forming the second series of descriptive and historical notices of northumbrian churches and castles. by william sidney gibson, esq., f.s.a., f.g.s., barrister-at-law. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * the following periodical works will be published on july . the imperial cyclopÆdia of geography--the british empire, part iii., price s. d. half-hours with the best authors. part iii., price d. issued also in weekly numbers, price ½d. pictorial half-hours. part ii., price d. issued also in weekly numbers, price d. the land we live in. part xxxiv. price s., containing westminster abbey, with a map of western london, and numerous engravings on wood. the national cyclopÆdia of useful knowledge, part xlii., price s. *** vol. x. is now ready, in cloth boards, price s. re-issue of the national cyclopÆdia, in monthly volumes, cloth, vol. vi., price s. on the same day will be published, half-hours with the best authors. the first quarter, forming a volume with a frontispiece, containing portraits of spenser, lord bacon, jeremy taylor, and dr. johnson, handsomely bound in cloth, price half-a-crown. london: charles knight, fleet street. { } * * * * * the baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities of scotland. illustrated by robert william billings and william burn, architects. to be completed in sixty parts, of which forty are published; each containing four large engravings on steel, by j. h. le keux and other artists, and one or more woodcuts, with descriptive letterpress; price, in medium quarto, s. d. each. "the 'baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities' of mr. billings is the first work which, either in point of extent or of style, has any claim to be regarded as a collection worthy of the remains yet spared to scotland."--_quarterly review._ * * * * * memorials of the castle of edinburgh. by james grant, author of "memoirs of kirkaldy of grange", &c. &c. with twelve illustrations, engraved on wood by branston. in crown octavo, price s. d. "of the different books of this nature that have fallen in our way, we do not remember one that has equalled mr. grant's 'memorials of the castle of edinburgh.'"--_the spectator._ * * * * * memoirs and adventures of sir william kirkaldy of grange, knight, commander of french horse, lord of the secret council, and governor of the castle of edinburgh for mary queen of scots. in one vol., post octavo, price s. d. "it is seldom indeed that we find history so written,--in a style at once vigorous, perspicuous, and picturesque. the author's heart is thoroughly with his subject; and he exhibits, ever and anon, flashes of the old scottish spirit, which we are glad to believe has not decayed from the land."--_blackwood's magazine._ * * * * * lays of the scottish cavaliers, and other poems. by william edmonstoune aytoun, professor of rhetoric in the university of edinburgh. third edition. with an appendix, containing examination of statements in macaulay's "history of england," relative to grahame of claverhouse. in fcp. octavo, price s. "finer ballads than these, we are bold to say, are not to be found in the language."--_the times._ "a volume of verse which shows that scotland has yet a poet. full of the true fire, it now stirs and swells like a trumpet note--now sinks in cadences sad and wild as the wail of a highland dirge."--_quarterly review._ * * * * * the new statistical account of scotland. in fifteen large volumes octavo, price l. s. the counties may be had _separately_. * * * * * william blackwood and sons, edinburgh, and . paternoster row, london. * * * * * next week will be published, in three vols. vo., price l. s. a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture, exemplified by upwards of eighteen hundred illustrations drawn from the best examples, and engraved on wood by jewitt and other eminent artists. john henry parker, oxford and london. sold also by d. bogue, fleet street. * * * * * the latest work on nineveh. now ready, fourth edition, with upwards of plates and woodcuts, vols. vo., s. nineveh and its remains: being a narrative of researches and discoveries amidst the ruins of assyria. with an account of the chaldean christians of kurdistan; the yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enquiry into the manners and arts of the ancient assyrians. by austen h. layard, d.c.l. "this is, we think, the most extraordinary work of the present age, whether with reference to the wonderful discoveries it describes, its remarkable verification of our early biblical history, or the talent, courage, and perseverance of its author. we have had our bruces and mungo parks, as well as our parrys, franklins, backs, and rosses, but we question whether a more enlightened or a more enterprising traveller than mr. layard is to be met with in the annals of our modern english history."--_from the_ times. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * early fathers of the english church. important series of ecclesiastical works, re-issued by washbourne, . new bridge street, and nutt, . strand. bedÆ venerabilis opera omnia. accompanied by an english translation of the historical works, and a life of the author. twelve vols., vo., l. s., reduced to l. s. "a new edition of bede's works is now published by dr. giles, who has made a discovery amongst ms. treasures, which can scarcely fail of presenting the venerable anglo-saxon's homilies in a far more trustworthy form than the press has hitherto produced them."--_soames' note mosheim_, vol. ii. aldhelmi opera. vo., s. d., reduced to s. aldhelm was the first bishop of sherborne, - . bonifacii opera omnia. two vols., s., reduced to s. the english apostle to the germans, whose martyrdom took place in . lanfranci opera. two vols., vo., s., reduced to s. the first archbishop of canterbury after the conquest. his letters give a lively picture of the state of things in the reign of william. thomÆ cantuariensis opera omnia, &c. eight vols., vo., published at l. s. this includes the letters foliot, and works of herbert of bosham. arnulfi epistolÆ ad henricum ii., st. thomam, arbh. cant., et alios, reduced to s. the letters to henry and thomas à beckett are curious and interesting. joannis saresberiensis opera omnia. five vols., vo., published at l. s. d., reduced to l. s. friend and contemporary of thomas à beckett. petri blesensis (bath archiad.) opera omnia. four vols., vo., published at l. s., reduced to l. s. his historical writings are highly valuable and curious. this important and valuable series, in thirty-five volumes vo., published at l. s. d., are at present offered at the reduced price of l. for the set. n. b. the number of copies being small, early application should be made. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october , . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. contents. page notes:-- address to our friends shakspeare's use of the words "captious" and "intenible," by s. w. singer oratories of the nonjurors, by j. yeowell hogarth's illustrations of hudibras folk lore:--overyssel superstition--death-bed superstitions--popular rhyme--death-bed mystery--bradshaw family advice to the editor, and hints to his contributors minor notes:--rollin's ancient history and history of the arts and sciences--jezebel--clarendon, oxford edition of --macaulay's country squire--miching mallecho queries:-- the inquisition: the bohemian persecution minor queries:--osnaburg bishopric--meaning of "farlief"--margaret dyneley--tristan d'acunha--production of fire by friction--murderer hanged when pardoned--passage from burke--licensing of books--le bon gendarme replies:-- tasso translated by fairfax ale-draper--eugene aram on the word "gradely," by b. h. kennedy and g. j. cayley collar of esses replies to minor queries:--symbols of the evangelists--becket's mother--passage in lucan--combs buried with the dead--the norfolk dialect--conflagration of the earth--wraxen miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. address to our friends. we this day publish our fifty-second number. every saturday, for twelve months, have we presented to our subscribers our weekly budget of "notes," "queries," and "replies;" and in so doing, we trust, we have accomplished some important ends. we have both amused and instructed the general reader; we have stored up much curious knowledge for the use of future writers; we have procured for scholars now engaged in works of learning and research, many valuable pieces of information which had evaded their own immediate pursuit; and, lastly, in doing all this, we have powerfully helped forward the great cause of literary truth. in our prospectus and opening address we made no great promise of what our paper should be. that, we knew, must depend upon how far the medium of intercommunication we had prepared should be approved and adopted by those for whose special use it had been projected. we laid down a literary railway: it remained to be seen whether the world of letters would travel by it. they have done so: we have been especially patronised by first-class passengers, and in such numbers that we were obliged last week to run an extra train. it is obvious that the use of a paper like "notes and queries" bears a direct proportion to the extent of its circulation. what it aims at doing is, to reach the learning which lies scattered not only throughout every part of our own country, but all over the literary world, and to bring it all to bear upon the pursuits of the scholar; to enable, in short, men of letters all over the world to give a helping hand to one another. to a certain extent, we have accomplished this end. our last number contains communications not only from all parts of the metropolis, and from almost every county in england, but also from scotland, ireland, holland, and even from demerara. this looks well. it seems as if we were in a fair way to accomplish our design. but much yet remains to be done. we have recently been told of whole districts in england so benighted as never to have heard of "notes and queries;" and after an interesting question has been discussed for weeks in our columns, we are informed of some one who could have answered it immediately if he had seen it. so long as this is the case the advantage we may confer upon literature and literary men is necessarily imperfect. we do what we can to make known our existence through the customary modes of announcement, and we gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance and encouragement we derive from our brethren of the public press; but we would respectfully solicit { } the assistance of our friends this particular point. our purpose is aided, and our usefulness increased by every introduction which can be given to our paper, either to a book club, to a lending library, or to any other channel of circulation amongst persons of inquiry and intelligence. by such introductions scholars help themselves as well as us, for there is no inquirer throughout the kingdom who is not occasionally able to throw light upon some of the multifarious objects which are discussed in our pages. at the end of our first twelvemonth we thank our subscribers for the patronage we have received. we trust we shall go on week by week improving in our work of usefulness, so that at the end of the next twelvemonth we may meet them with the same pleasure as on the present occasion. we will continue to do whatever is in our power, and we rely upon our friends to help us. * * * * * shakspeare's use of the words "captious" and "intenible." in the following passage of _all's well that ends well_, act i. sc. ., where helena is confessing to bertram's mother, the countess, her love for him, these two words occur in an unusual sense, if not in a sense peculiar to the great poet:-- "i love your son:-- my friends were poor, but honest, so's my love: be not offended, for it hurts not him, that he is lov'd of me: i follow him not by any token of presumptuous suit; nor would i have him till i do deserve him: yet never know how that desert may be. i know i love in vain; strive against hope; yet, in this _captious and intenible_ sieve i still pour in the waters of my love, and lack not to lose still." johnson was perplexed about the word _captious_; "which (says he) i never found in this sense, yet i cannot tell what to substitute, unless _carious_ for rotten!" farmer supposed _captious_ to be a contraction of _capacious_! steevens believed that _captious_ meant _recipient_, capable of receiving; which interpretation malone adopts. mr. collier, in his recent edition of shakspeare, after stating johnson's and farmer's suggestions, says, "where is the difficulty? it is true that this sense of _captious_ may not have an exact parallel; but the intention of shakspeare is very evident: _captious_ means, as malone says, capable of _taking_ or _receiving_; and _intenible_ (printed _intemible_ in the first folio, and rightly in the second) incapable of _retaining_. two more appropriate epithets could hardly be found, and a simile more happily expressive." we no doubt all know, by intuition as it were, what shakspeare meant; but "the great master of english," as mr. hickson very justly calls him, would never have used _captious_, as applied figuratively to a _sieve_, for _capable of taking or receiving_. _intenible_, notwithstanding the hypercriticism of mr. nares (that "it is incorrectly used by shakspeare for _unable to hold_;" and that "it should properly mean _not to be held_, as we now use _untenable_") was undoubtedly used in the former sense, and it was most probably so accepted in the poet's time; for in the _glossagraphia anglicana nova_, , we have "untenable, that _will not or cannot hold_ or be holden long." with regard to _captious_, it is not so much a matter of surprise that none of all these learned commentators should fail in their _guesses_ at the meaning, as that none of them should have remarked that the sense of the latin _captiosus_, and of its congeners in italian and old french, is _deceitful_, _fallacious_; and bacon uses the word for _insidious, ensnaring_. there can be no doubt that this is the sense in which shakspeare used it. helen speaks of her hopeless love for bertram, and says: "i know i love in vain, strive against hope; yet in this _fallacious_ and _unholding_ sieve i still pour in the waters of my love, and fail not to lose still." when we speak of a _captious_ person, do we mean one _capable of taking or receiving_? then how much more absurd would it be to take it in that impossible sense, when figuratively applied in the passage before us! bertram shows himself _incapable of receiving_ helena's love: he is truly _captious_ in that respect. in french the word _captieux_, according to the academy, is only applied to language, though we may say _un homme captieux_ to signify a man who has the art of _deceiving_ or leading into error by captious language. it is not impossible that the poet may have had in his mind the fruitless labour imposed upon the danaïdes as a punishment, for it has been thus moralised: "these virgins, who in the flower of their age pour water into pierced vessels which they can never fill, what is it but to be always bestowing over love and benefits upon the ungrateful." s. w. singer. mickleham, oct. . . * * * * * oratories of the nonjurors. as the nooks and corners of london in olden times are now engaging the quiet musings of most of the topographical brotherhood, perhaps you can spare a nook or a corner of your valuable periodical for a few notes on the oratories of those good men and true--the nonjurors. "these were honourable men in their generation," and were made of most unbending materials. { } on the feast of st. matthias, feb. , , the consecrations of dr. george hickes and thomas wagstaffe were solemnly performed according to the rites of the church of england, by dr. william lloyd, bishop of norwich; dr. francis turner, bishop of ely; and dr. thomas white, bishop of peterborough, at the bishop of peterborough's lodgings, at the rev. william giffard's house at southgate in middlesex: dr. ken, bishop of bath and wells, giving his consent. henry hall was consecrated bishop in the oratory of the rev. father in christ, john b---- [blackburne?], in gray's inn, on the festival of st. barnabas, june , . hilkiah bedford was consecrated in the oratory of the rev. r---- r---- [richard rawlinson], in gray's inn, on the festival of st. paul, jan. , . ralph taylor was also consecrated at the same time and place. henry gandy was consecrated at his oratory in the parish of st. andrew's, holborn, on the festival of st. paul, jan. , . grascome was interrupted by a messenger whilst he was ministering to his little congregation in scroope's court, near st. andrew's church. jeremy collier officiated at broad street, london, assisted by the rev. samuel carte, the father of the historian. mr. hawkes officiated for some time at his own house opposite to st. james' palace. on easter-day, april , , at the oratory of his brother, mr. william lee, dyer, in spitalfields, dr. francis lee read a touching and beautiful declaration of his faith, betwixt the reading of the sentences at the offertory and the prayer for the state of christ's church. it was addressed to the rev. james daillon, count de lude, then officiating. charles wheatly, author of _a rational illustration of the book of common prayer_, in a letter to dr. rawlinson, the nonjuring titular bishop of london, says: "i believe most of the books in mr. laurence's catalogue were really in his library. most of his chapel furniture i had seen; but his pix, and his cruet, his box for unguent, and oil, i suppose you do not inquire after." roger laurence was the learned author of _lay baptism invalid_. query, where did he officiate? the rev. john lindsay, the translator of mason's _vindication of the church of england_, for many years officiated as minister of a nonjuring congregation in trinity chapel, aldersgate street, and is said to have been their last minister. thoresby, in his _diary_, may , , says, "i visited mr. nelson (author of the _fasts and festivals_), and the learned dr. george hickes, who not being at liberty for half an hour, i had the benefit of the prayers in the adjoining church, and when the nonjuring _conventicle_ was over, i visited the said dean hickes, who is said to be bishop of ----" [thetford]. both nelson and hickes resided at this time in ormond street; probably the conventicle was at one of their houses. it should be noted that thoresby, having quitted the conventicles of the dissenters, had only recently joined what he calls the church _established by law_. he appears to have known as much about the principles of the nonjurors as he did of chinese music. dr. welton's chapel in goodman's fields being visited ( ) by colonel ellis and other justices of the peace, with proper assistants, about two hundred and fifty persons were found there assembled, of whom but forty would take the oaths. the doctor refusing them also, was ordered to be proceeded against according to law. this reminds me of another query. what has become of dr. welton's famous whitechapel altar-piece, which bishop compton drove out of his church. some doubts have been expressed whether that is the identical one in the saint's chapel of st. alban's abbey. a friend has assured the writer that he had seen it about twenty years ago, at a roman catholic meeting-house in an obscure court at greenwich. it is not there now. the print of it in the library of the society of antiquaries is accompanied with these ms. lines by mr. mattaire:-- "to say the picture does to him belong, kennett does judas and the painter wrong; false is the image, the resemblance faint, judas, compared to kennett, was a saint." one word more. the episcopal seal of the nonjuring bishops was a shepherd with a sheep upon his shoulders. the crozier which had been used by them, was, in , in the possession of john crossley esq., of scaitcliffe, near todmorden. j. yeowell. hoxton. * * * * * hogarth's illustrations of hudibras. "butler's _hudibras_, by zach. grey, ll.d. vols. vo. cambridge, . "best edition. copies in fine condition are in considerable request. the cuts are beautifully engraved, and hogarth is much indebted to the designer of them; but who he was does not appear." the above remarks in lowndes's _bibliographical manual_ having caught my attention, they appeared to me somewhat obscure and contradictory; and as they seemed rather disparaging to the fame of hogarth, of whose works and genius i am a warm admirer, i have taken some pains to ascertain what may have been mr. lowndes's meaning. on examining the plates in dr. grey's edition, they are all inscribed "_w. hogarth inv^t, j. mynde sc^t_." { } how, then, can hogarth be said to be _much indebted to the designer of them_, if we are to believe the words on the plates themselves--"_w. hogarth inv^t"?_ it is clear that mr. lowndes supposes the designer of these plates to have been some person distinct from hogarth; and he was right in his conjecture; but he was ignorant of the name of the artist alluded to. whoever he was, he can have little claim to be regarded as the original designer; he was rather employed as an expurgator; for these plates are certainly copies of the two sets of plates invented and engraved by hogarth himself in . all that this second designer performed was, to revise the original designs of hogarth's, in order to remove some _glaring indecencies_; and this, no doubt, is what mr. lowndes means, when he says that "_hogarth is much indebted to the designer of them_." the following passage in a letter from dr. ducaral to dr. grey, dated inner temple, may th, , printed in nichols's _illustrations_, will furnish us with _the name_ of the artist in question:-- "i was at _mr. isaac wood's the painter_, who showed me the twelve sketches of _hudibras_, which he designs for you. i think they are extremely well adapted to the book, and that the designer shows how much he was master of the subject." in the preface to this edition, dr. grey expresses his obligations "to the ingenious _mr. wood, painter, of bloomsbury-square_." in the fourth volume of nichols's _illustrations of literature_ are some interesting letters from thos. potter, esq., to dr. grey, which throw much light on the subject of this edition of _hudibras_. i cannot conclude these observations without expressing my dissent from the praise bestowed upon the engravings in this work. mr. lowndes says "_the cuts are beautifully engraved_." with the exception of the head of butler by vertue, the rest are very spiritless and indifferent productions. j. t. a. * * * * * folk lore. _overyssel superstition._--stolen bees will not thrive; they pine away and die. janus dousa. _death-bed superstitions._--when a child is dying, people, in some parts of holland, are accustomed to shade it by the curtains from the parent's gaze; the soul being supposed to linger in the body as long as a compassionate eye is fixed upon it. thus, in germany, he who sheds tears when leaning over an expiring friend, or, bending over the patient's couch, does but wipe them off, enhances, they say, the difficulty of death's last struggle. i believe the same poetical superstition is recorded in _mary barton, a tale of manchester life_. janus dousa. _popular rhyme._--the following lines very forcibly express the condition of many a "country milkmaid," when influence or _other considerations_ render her incapable of giving a final decision upon the claims of two opposing suitors. they are well known in this district, and i have been induced to offer them for insertion, in the hope that if any of your correspondents are possessed of any variations or additional stanzas, they may be pleased to forward them to your interesting publication. "heigh ho! my heart is low, my mind runs all on _one_; w for william true, but t for my love tom." t. w. burnley, lancashire _death-bed mystery._--it may, perhaps, interest mr. sansom to be informed that the appearance described to him is mentioned as a known fact in one of the works of the celebrated mystic, jacob behmen, _the three principles_, chap. . "of the going forth of the soul." i extract from j. sparrow's translations., london, . "seeing then that man is so very earthly, therefore he hath none but earthly knowledge, except he be regenerated in the gate of deep. he always supposeth that the soul (at the deceasing of the body) goeth only out at the mouth, and he understandeth nothing concerning its deep essences above the elements. _when he seeth a blue vapor go forth out of the mouth of a dying man_ (which maketh a strong smell all over the chamber), then he supposeth that is the soul." a. roffe. _bradshaw family._--there is a popular belief in this immediate part of the country, which was formerly a stronghold of the jacobites, that no bradshaw has ever flourished since the days of the regicide. they point to old halls formerly in possession of bradshaws, now passed into other hands, and shake their heads and say, "it is a bad name,--no bradshaw will come to good." i heard this speech only yesterday in connexion with halton hall (on the lune); but the feeling is common, and not confined to the uneducated classes. haigh hall remains in the possession of the descendants of the family from which judge bradshaw was descended, because, so said my informant, the heiress married a "loyal lindsay" (the earl of balcarras). e. c. g. lancaster. * * * * * { } advice to the editor, and hints to his contributors. my signature [greek: s]. having been adopted by another correspondent, i have been obliged to discontinue it. my other signature [greek: ph]., which i have used since your commencement, is in your last number applied to the contribution of another gentleman, although the same number contains two articles of mine with that signature. as this is palpably inconvenient, pray accept the following advice to the editor a contributor sending a note or a query, considers what signature's better; and lest his full name too oft should prove weary, he sometimes subscribes with a letter. this letter in english or greek thus selected, as his personal mark he engages; from piracy, therefore, it should be protected, throughout all the rest of your pages. by a contrary practice confusion is sown, and annoyance to writers of spirit, who wish not to claim any notes but their own, or of less or superior merit. i submit in such cases no writer would grumble, but give you his hearty permission, when two correspondents on one mark should stumble, to make to the last an addition. you are bound to avoid ev'ry point that distresses, and prevent all collision that vexes, preserving the right of each collar of ss, and warding the blows of cross xx. * * * * * minor notes. _rollin's ancient history and history of the arts and sciences._--it may be useful to note, for the benefit of some of your student readers, that the most procurable editions of rollin's _ancient history_ are deficient, inasmuch as they do not contain his history of the arts and sciences, which is an integral part of the work. after having possessed several editions of the work of rollin, i now have got blackie's edition of , in vols. vo., edited by bell; and i learn from its preface that this is the only edition published since containing the history of the arts and sciences. how comes it that the editions since have been so castrated? iota. liverpool, october . . _jezebel._--the name of this queen is, i think, incorrectly translated in all the _bible dictionaries_ and _cyclopædias_ that have come under my notice. it was common amongst all ancient nations to give _compound_ names to persons, partly formed from the names of their respective _divinities_. this observation applies particularly to the assyrians, babylonians, and their dependencies, together with the phoenicians, carthaginians, egyptians, and greeks. hence we find, both in scripture and profane history, a number of names compounded of _baal_, such as _baal_-hanan, gen. xxxvi. ., the gift, grace, mercy, or favour of _baal_; the name of the celebrated carthaginian general, hanni_bal_, is the same name transposed. the father of the tyrian prince, hiram, was called abi_bal_, my father is _baal_, or _baal_ is my father. esh_baal_, the fire of _baal_; jerub_baal_, let _baal_ contend, or defend his cause; meri_baal_, he that resists _baal_, or strives against the _idol_, were hebrew names, apparently imposed to ridicule those given in honor of _baal_. the father of _jezebel_ was called eth_baal_, kings xvi. ., (classically, itho_balus_,) with _baal_, towards _baal_, or him _that rules_. lastly, hasdru_bal_ signifies help or assistance of _baal_. will some of the talented contributors to "notes and queries" inform me what is the _composition_ and _meaning_ of _jezebel_, as it has hitherto baffled my own individual researches? is it the contracted _feminine form_ of hasdru_bal_? w. g. h. _clarendon, oxford edition of ._--the following curious fact, relating to the oxford edition of lord clarendon's history in , was communicated to me by a gentleman who was then officially interested in the publication, and personally cognisant of the circumstances. in the year , the university of oxford determined to reprint clarendon's _history of the rebellion_, and to add to it that of the irish rebellion; but as it was suspected by one of the delegates of the press, that the edition from which they were printing the "irish rebellion" was spurious, as it attributed the origin of the rebellion _to the protestants instead of the catholics_; a much earlier copy was procured from dublin, through the chaplain of the then lord lieutenant, which _reversed the accusation_ which was contained in the copy from which the university had been about to print. j. t. a. september . . _macaulay's country squire._--i suppose i may take it for granted that all the world has long since been made merry by mr. macaulay's description of "the country squire on a visit to london in ." (_history of england_, vol. i. p. .) i am not aware that steele's description of a country gentleman under similar circumstances has ever been referred to; it is certainly far from being as graphic as mr. macaulay's; but the one may at all events serve to illustrate the other, and to prove that urbs had not made any very great progress in _urbanity_ between and . "if a country gentleman appears a little curious in observing the edifices, signs, clocks, coaches, and dials, { } it is not to be imagined how the polite rabble of this town, who are acquainted with these objects, ridicule his rusticity. i have known a fellow with a burden on his head steal a hand down from his load, and slily twirl the cock of a squire's hat behind him; and while the offended person is swearing or out of countenance, all the wag-wits in the highway are grinning in applause of the ingenious rogue that gave him the tip, and the folly of him who had not eyes all round his head to prevent receiving it."--_spectator_, no. . c. forbes. october . _miching mallecho._--the writer of the review of _urquhart's travels_ in the _quart. rev._ for march , who is, in all probability, identical with the author of the _handbook of spain_, felicitously suggests that _miching mallecho_ is a mere misprint for the spanish words _mucho malhecho_, _much mischief_: _hamlet_, iii. . imagining that i had seen this ingenious conjecture somewhere in print before, i referred to, and was disappointed when i found it not in knight's _shakspeare_ (library ed.). recently, in looking over dr. maginn's admirable dissections of _dr. farmer's essay on the learning of shakspeare_, i discovered what i was in search of, and beg to present it to the notice of your readers. "that the text is corrupt, i am sure; and i think dr. farmer's substitution of _mimicking malhecco_, a most unlucky attempt at emendation. in the old copies it is _munching malicho_, in which we find traces of the true reading, _mucho malhecho_, much mischief. "'marry, _mucho malhécho_--it means mischief.'"--_fraser's magazine_, dec. , p. . j. m. b. * * * * * queries. the inquisition--the bohemian persecution. my query as to the authorship of _the adventures of gaudentio di lucca_ has drawn so satisfactory a reply from your correspondents (whom i beg to thank most heartily for the information they have communicated), that i am induced to ask you to aid me in ascertaining the authorships of the following works of which i have copies:-- "histoire de l'inquisition et son origine. a cologne, chez pierre marteau, m.dc.xciii." vol. mo. is this the same work as that mentioned in watt's _bib. brit._ as-- "the history of the inquisition and its origin, by james marsollier, ." mo.? i have often searched for a copy of this work in english, but have never found it. was it ever translated into english? "l'inquisizione processata opera storica e curiosa, divisa in due tomi. in colonia appresso paulo della tenaglia, m.dc.lxxxi." i should like to know something of the authorship of these volumes, and of the circumstances under which they were published. "the slaughter-house, or a brief description of the spanish inquisition, &c., gathered together by the pains and study of james salgado." n.d. the biographical dictionaries within my reach give no account of salgado. who was he? "historia persecutionium ecclesiæ bohemicæ jam inde à primordiis conversionis suæ ad christianismum hoc est, , ad annum usque , ferdinando secundo austriaco regnante, &c., anno domini m d cxlviii." vol. mo. i have an english translation of this small work, published in . can any of your readers inform me who were the authors? (the preface concludes, "in our banishment in the year . n. n. n., &c.") iota. liverpool, october, . * * * * * minor queries. _osnaburg bishopric._--can any of your correspondents inform me who succeeded the late duke of york as bishop of osnaburg? how the duke of york attained it? and whether there were any ecclesiastical duties attached to it? or whether the appointment was a lay one? b. m. _meaning of "farlief"._--may i ask for a definition of the word "farlief", used in devonshire to designate some service or payment to the lord of the manor by his copyholders, apparently analogous to the old feudal "relief"? v. j. s. _margaret dyneley._--in stanford dingley church, berkshire, there is a "brass" of _margaret dyneley_, from whose family, i presume, the parish has received its appellation of _dingley_. as, however, i have not yet succeeded in obtaining any account as to this lady or her ancestors, i should feel obliged by any information which your learned correspondents only be able to afford. j. h. k. _tristan d'acunha._--cosmopolite will be glad to have references to any authentic sources of information respecting the island of tristan d'acunha. _production of fire by friction._--in most of the accounts written by persons who have visited the south sea islands, we meet with descriptions of the method adopted by the natives to produce fire by the rapid attrition of two bits of wood. now i wish to ask whether any person has ever seen the same effect produced in this country by similar means? if not, to what cause is the difficulty--if such difficulty really exists--attributable? { } does it depend upon the nature of the wood used, the condition of the atmosphere, or the dexterity of the operator? i have not quoted any particular passages, as they are sufficiently familiar to readers of voyages and travels in the south sea hemisphere; and although they exhibit some diversity in the _modus operandi_, the principle involved is essentially the same in each mode. i need scarcely add, that i am of course well aware of the means by which, whether by accident or design, heat is ordinarily generated by friction in this country. d. rotherfield. _murderer hanged when pardoned._--i have a copy of the _protestant's almanack_ for , full of ms. notes of the period, written by one of the crew family. among other matter it states: "a man was hung for a murder in southwark (i think), notwithstanding the king's pardon had been obtained for him, and he actually had it in his pocket at the time." will some kind friend oblige me with further information of this case, or tell me where i may obtain it? gilbert. _burke, passage from._--the following passage is quoted as a motto _from burke_:-- "the swarthy daughters of cadmus may hang their trophies on high, for when all the pride of the chisel and the pomp of heraldry yield to the silent touches of time, a single line, a half worn-out inscription, remain faithful to their trust." in what composition of burke's is it to be found? q.( .) _licensing of books._--can any of your readers inform me what was the law in relative to the licensing of books? also when it was introduced (or revived), and when modified? i find in a manual of devotion printed in that year the following page, after the preface:-- "i have perused this book, and finding nothing in it but what may tend to the increase of private devotion and piety, i recommend it to my lord the bishop of london for his licence to have it printed." jo. duresme. "imprimatur: tho. grigg, r. p. d. hamff. ep. lond. a sac. dom. ex Ædibus, lond. mart. . ." r. n. _captain john stevens._--i should be glad to learn some account of _capt. john stevens_, the continuator of dugdale's _monasticon_ in . he is generally considered to have edited the english abridgment of the _monasticon_, in one vol. , though a passage in thoresby's _diary_ mentions that it contained "some reflections upon the reformation, which the _spanish priest_, who is said to be translator and abridger of the three latin volumes, would not omit." a note by the editor of thoresby's _diary_ says that-- "mr. gough was uncertain by whom this translation and abridgment was prepared. he supposed that it was done by captain stevens, the author, or rather compiler of a valuable, supplement to the _monasticon_, in which he was assisted by thoresby." j. t. a. _le bon gendarme._--close to the boundary stone which separates the parishes of fulham and hammersmith, and facing the lane which leads to brook green, on the hammersmith road, is a way-side public-house, known as "the black bull." so late as three months ago, in addition to the sign of the black bull, there was painted over the door, but somewhat high up, a worn-out inscription, "le bon gendarme," as if that had originally been the name of the inn. these words have been lately effaced altogether: but as they no doubt relate to some circumstance or adventure which had happened in or near to the place, perhaps some reader of the "notes and queries" will have the goodness to satisfy the curiosity of one who has asked at the inn in vain for a solution. u. u. c. university club. * * * * * replies. tasso translated by fairfax. the variation in the first stanza of fairfax's _godfrey of bulloigne_ has been long known to bibliographers, and was pointed out in _the critical review_ more than thirty years ago. i cannot fix on the particular number, but it contained a long notice of the version of tasso by fairfax, and the very stanzas extracted by t. n. the translator could not please himself with the outset of his undertaking, and hence the recorded substitution; but it is not known that he carried his fastidiousness so far as to furnish a _third_ version of the first stanza, as well as of the "argument" of the introductory canto, differing from both the others. in the instance pointed out by t. n. the substitution was effected by pasting the _approved_ stanza over the _disapproved_ stanza; but the _third_ version was given by reprinting the whole leaf, which contains other variations of typography, besides such as it was thought necessary to make in the first stanza. i formerly had copies of the book, dated , including all three variations; but the late mr. wordsworth having one day looked particularly at that with the reprinted leaf, and expressing a { } strong wish to possess it, i gave it to him, and i presume that it remained in his library at his death. what i speak of happened full twenty years ago. _the critical review_ of the date i refer to (i am pretty confident that it was of the early part of ) contained a good deal of information regarding fairfax and his productions; but it did not mention one fact of importance to show the early estimation and popularity of his translation of the _gerusalemme liberata_, viz., that although it was published in , it is repeatedly quoted in _england's parnassus_, printed in the same year, and containing extracts, as most people are aware, from all the distinguished poets of that day, and somewhat earlier. this circumstance ascertains also that fairfax's tasso came out before _england's parnassus_, although both bear the date of on the title-pages. the hermit of holyport. _fairfax's tasso._--in my copy of the second edition, , the first stanza of the first book is given precisely as in mr. knight's reprint. but in the very beautiful edition published by bensley, , and edited by mr. singer, that stanza which t. n. terms an "elegant variation," introduces the canto. the editor's preface states that the _first_ edition, , had been followed in that re-impression, "admitting some few corrections of errors, and emendations of orthography, from the _second_, i printed in ." of this second edition it is remarked that "it appears to have been revised by some careful corrector of the press; yet nothing material is changed but the orthography of particular words." no notice is taken of the difference between the first stanza of the second edition, and that of the first edition, identical with the cancel in t. n.'s copy. possibly, _both_ the copies of these two editions, which happened to come under the editor's notice, had this cancel, and so presented no variation from each other. if, however, _all_ the copies of the second edition contained the stanza as given by mr. knight, and mr. singer's opinion (drawn from the dedicatory verses to prince charles, prefixed to _some_ copies of the second edition) that this edition _was_ seen, and probably corrected, by the author, be well-founded, it would seem to follow that fairfax finally preferred the stanza in this its first and later state, and as it appears in mr. knight's edition. if the "cancel-slip" be an "elegant" variation, may not the original stanza be regarded as more vigorous? g. a. s. _fairfax's tasso._--in the elegant edition published by mr. singer in , the first stanza is printed according to the variation noticed by your correspondent t. n. (vol. ii., p. .), "i sing the warre," &c., and the original stanza is printed at the end of the first book, with a note stating that the pasted slip is found "in most copies" of the first edition. my copy contains no such peculiarity, but it is of course possible that the pasted slip may have been removed. the second edition (folio, london, ) has the stanza in the form in which it originally stood in the first, beginning "the sacred armies," &c. j. f. m * * * * * ale-draper.--eugene aram. (vol. ii., p. .) your correspondent d. asks whether the word _ale-draper_ was ever in "good use." the only place in which i can find it is bailey's _dictionary_, where it occurs thus: "ale-draper (a humorous name), a seller of malt liquors; an alehouse-keeper or victualler." the humour, i suppose, consists in applying to one kind of occupation that which was commonly given to another; in taking _draper_ from the service of cloth, and pressing it by force into that of _ale_. that it was ever considered as a word of respectable standing, can hardly be imagined. in such writers as tom brown it is most likely to occur. . with reference to eugene aram, d.'s remark about the _over-ingeniousness_ of his defence has been anticipated by paley, who was present at the trial, and said that aram would not have been hanged had he less studiously defended himself. that laboured address to the jury must have employed his thoughts for years. i should like very much to know whether anyone has ever attempted to verify the references which he gives to the cases in which he says that bones have been found. the style of the speech has been much praised, but is surely not very surprising when it is considered that johnson had previously written the _rambler_. the composition wants ease. . ever since i began to read about eugene aram, and that is some years ago, i have had a settled opinion that his attainments, and perhaps his abilities, had been greatly overrated. he was doubtless a man of considerable mental powers; but we cannot but suspect that had he acquired all the learning which is attributed to him, he would have attracted more notice than it was his fortune to obtain. . mr. scatchard's attempts, and all other attempts, to clear him from "blood-guilty stain," must be equally futile, for he himself confessed his guilt while he was in prison. some time ago, a dozen years or more, there appeared in the _literary gazette_, as a communication from a correspondent, an anecdote concerning aram, which well deserves to be repeated. during the time that he was in the school of lynn, it was the custom for the head-master, at the termination of every half-year, to invite the parents of the boys to an entertainment, and all { } who accepted the invitation were expected to bring with them the money due on account of their sons, which, _postquam exempta fames epulis_, they paid into the head-master's hands. the master would thus retire to rest with a considerable sum in his possession. on one of these occasions, after he had gone to his chamber and supposed that all the family were in bed, he heard a noise in a passage not far distant, and, going out to see what was the cause of it, found aram groping about in the dark, who, on being asked what he wanted, said that he had been obliged to leave his room on a necessary occasion, and had missed his way to the place which he sought. the passage was not one into which he was likely to wander by mistake, but the master accepted his excuse, and thought no more of the matter till aram was arrested for the robbery and murder of clarke, when he immediately recollected the circumstance, and suspected that he had intended on that night to commit another robbery or murder. i have not the number of the _literary gazette_ in which this statement was given to refer to, but i am sure that i have repeated the substance of it correctly, and remember that it was inserted as being worthy of credit. it is another illustration of the fact that the nature of a man is unchangeable. bulwer's novel, which elevates aram from a school-assistant into a private gentleman, may have pleased those, if there were such, who knew nothing of arum's acts before they began to read it. but all who knew what aram was, must be disgusted at the threshold. i regarded the book, at the time of its appearance, as one of the most presumptuous falsifications of biography that had ever been attempted. it is not easy to see why bulwer might not have made an equally interesting story, if he had kept aram in his proper station. j. s. w. stockwell. * * * * * on the word "gradely." permit me to make a few remarks on the word _gradely_:-- . it seems to have no connexion with the latin noun _gradus_, angl. _grade_, step. . its first syllable, _grade_, is both a substantive and an adjective; and _gradely_ itself both adjective and adverb, as _weakly_, _sickly_, _godly_, &c. . it is not confined to lancashire or to england, but appears in scotland as _graith_ (ready), _graith_ (furniture); whence _graithly_ (readily), to _graith_, _grathe_, or _graid_ (prepare), &c. see jamieson's _sc. dict._ and _supplement_. . it is in fact the anglo-saxon _gerad_, which is both substantive and adjective. as a substantive it means condition, arrangement, plan, reason, &c. as an adjective, it means prudent, well-prepared, expert, exact, &c. the _ge_ (gothic _ga_) is merely the intensive prefix; the root being _rad_ or _rath_. the form in _ly_ (adjective or adverb), without the prefix _g_, appears in the anglo-saxon _raedlic_, prudent, expert; _raedlice_, expertly. this interesting root, which appears as _re_, _ra_, _red_, _rad_, _rath_, &c.; sometimes by transposition, as _er_, _ar_, _erd_, &c. (perhaps also as _reg_, _rag_, _erg_, _arc_, &c.), seems to represent the nobler qualities of man: thought, reason, counsel, speech, deliberate action; and perhaps, also, government. thus in the semitic family of languages we have the radicals _rââ_ (saw, foresaw, counselled); _râdhâ_ (helped, ruled); _râthâd_ (arranged); _râto_ (directed, instructed); and others, with their numerous derivatives. the indo-european family gives us, in sanscrit, _râ_ or _râe_ (ponder, experience); _rât_ (speak); _râdh_ (accomplish); _râj_ (excel); _râgh_ (attain, reach); and others, with derivatives. in greek, _rheô_ (speak), transp. _erô_ or _werô_ (whence _verbum_, _wort_, _word_); _rherô_ or _rhedô_ (do), transp. _erdô_, also _ergô_ (whence _werke_, _work_); _archô_ (rule), and others, with derivatives. in latin, _reor_ (think), whence _ratus_ and _ratio_ (reason); _res_ (thing, action); _rego_ (rule), with derivatives (_rex_, _regula_, _rectus_, &c.). in celtic (welsh), _rhe_ (active); _rheswm_ (reason); _rhaith_ (judgment, right); _rhi_ (prince); _rhag_ (van, before). in sclavonic, _rada_, _rade_ (counsel); _redian_ (to direct), &c. in the teutonic dialects (gothic, anglo-saxon, german, dutch, swedish, danish, icelandic, scotch, and english) the forms of this root are very numerous. thus we have, in anglo-saxon, _rad_, _raed_ (counsel); _raedlich_, _grad_, as above, whence _geradien_ (to prepare), and other words. in german, _rede_ (discourse); _rath_ (counsel); _reden_ (to speak); _regel_ (a rule); _recht_ (right); _gerecht_ (just); _gerade_ (exactly), &c.; _bereiten_ (prepare), &c. in english, _ready_, _read_, _rule_, _right_, _riddle_, _reason_, _rather_, to which we must add _gradely_. in scotch, _red_, _rede_, _rade_, _rath_, &c., with the words mentioned above; of which _graith_ (furniture) is the german _geräth_. your readers will derive much information on this class of words by reference to jamieson, under _red_, _rede_, _rath_, _graith_, &c. benj. h. kennedy. shrewsbury, oct. . _gradely_.--it seems rather a rash step to differ from the mass of critical authority with which your last number has brought this shy, old-fashioned provincial word into a blaze of literary notoriety. yet i cannot help conceiving the original form of this adverb to be _grathedly_ ([old english: geraðlic], root [old english: rað], with the preteritive prefix [old english: ge]) or _gerathely_. in our yorkshire dialect, to _grathe_ (pronounced _gradhe_) means, to make ready, to put in a state of _order_ or _fitness_. a man inconveniently accoutred or furnished with implements for the performance of some operation on which he was employed, { } observed to me the other day, "i's ill grathed for't job"--rather a terse saxon contrast to my latinized paraphrase. _grathedly_ would then mean, "in a state of good order, fitness, readiness, or perfection." to the cognate german _gerade_ adv., i find the senses, "directly, just, exactly, _perfectly_, rightly." the prevailing impression given by your numerous testimonials as to the character of the word _gradely_, is one of decency, order, rightness, perfectness. i fancy the whole family (who might be called the children of _rath_), viz. [old english: rað], _rathe_ (_gerathe, grathedly, gradely_), _rather_ (only a saxon form of _readier_), have as a common primeval progenitor the sanscrit [sanskrit: radh] (_radh_), which is interpreted "a process towards perfection;" in other words, "a becoming ready." g. j. cayley. wydale, oct. . p.s.--_greadly_ is probably a transposition for _geradly_. the yorkshire pronunciation of _gradely_ is almost as if written _grared-ly_. i think it probable that the words _greed, greedily_, are from the same radicle. by the way, is _radix_ perhaps derived from [sanskrit: rad] (_rad_), a tooth (from the fang-like form of roots), whence _rodere_ and possibly _radius_? * * * * * collar of esses. although the suggestion made by c. (vol. ii., p. .), _viz._ that the collar of esses had a "mechanical" origin, resulting from the mode of forming "the chain," and that "the _name_ means no more than that the links were in the shape of the letter s.," could only be advocated by one unacquainted with the real formation of the collar, yet, as i am now pledged before the readers of "notes and queries" as the historiographer of livery collars, it may be expected that i should make some reply. this may be accompanied with the remark, that, about the reign of henry viii., a collar occurs, which might be adduced in support of the theory suggested by the rev. mr. ellacombe, and adopted by c. it looks like a collar formed of esses; but it is not clear whether it was meant to do so, or was merely a rich collar of twisted gold links. that was the age of ponderous gold collars, but which were arbitrary features of ornamental costume, not collars of livery. such a collar, however, resembles a series of esses placed obliquely and interlaced, as thus: _ssss_; not laid flat on their sides, as figured by c. again, it is true an (endless) _chain_ of linked esses was formed merely by attaching the letters [three letter ss horizontally] like hooks together. this occurs on the cup at oriel college, oxford, engraved in shaw's _ancient furniture_ in shelton's _oxonia illustrata_, and in the _gentleman's magazine_ for august last; but the connexion of this with the english device is at least very doubtful. the cup is not improbably of foreign workmanship, and menneus assigns such a collar to the knights of cyprus; even there the s was not without its attributed import: "per literam autem s. quæ _silentii_ apud romanos nota fuit, secretum societatis et amicitiæ simulachrum, individuamque pro patriæ defensione _societatem_ denotari."--_fr. mennenii deliciæ equest. ordinum_, . mo. p. . however, the answer to the suggestion of mr. ellacombe and c. consists in this important distinction, that the lancastrian livery collar was _not a chain_ of linked esses, but a collar of leather or other stiff material, upon which the letters were _distinctly_ figured at certain intervals; and when it came to be made of metal only, the letters were still kept distinct and upright. on john of ghent's collar, in the window of old st. paul's (which i have already mentioned in p. .), there are only five, s s s s s, at considerable intervals. on the collar of the poet gower the letters occur thus,-- sssss sssss. on that of queen joan of navarre, at canterbury, thus,-- s | s | s | s | s | s | there is then, i think, little doubt that this device was the _symbolum_ or _nota_ of some word of which s was the initial letter; whether _societas_, or _silentium_, or _souvenance_, or _soveraigne_, or _seneschallus_, or whatever else ingenuity or fancy may suggest, this is the question,--a question which it is scarcely possible to settle authoritatively without the testimony of some unequivocal contemporary statement. but i flatter myself that i have now clearly shown that the esses were neither the _links of a chain_ nor yet (as suggested in a former paper) identical with the _gormetti fremales_, or horse-bridles, which are said to have formed the livery collar of the king of scots. john gough nichols. "christus purpureum gemmati textus in auro signabat labarum, clypeorum insignia christus scripserat; ardebat summis crux addita cristis." by the same sort of reasoning--viz. conjecture--that mr. john gough nichols adheres to the opinion that the collar of ss. takes its name from the word _seneschallus_, it might be contended that the initial letters of the lines above quoted mystically stand for "collar, s. s." enough, however, has already been written on this unmeaning point to show that some of us are "great gowks," or, in other words, stupid guffs, to waste so much pen, ink, and paper on the subject. there are other topics, however, connected with the collar of ss. which are of real interest to a { } numerous section of the titled aristocracy in the united kingdom; and it is with these, as bearing upon the heraldic and gentilitial rights of the subject, that i am desirous to grapple. mr. nichols, and those who pin faith upon his _dicta_, hold that the collar of ss. was a livery ensign bestowed by our kings upon certain of their retainers, in much the same sense and fashion as cedric the saxon is said to have given a collar to wamba, the son of witless. for myself, and all those entitled to carry armorial bearings in the kingdom, i repudiate the notion that the knightly golden collar of ss. was ever so conferred or received. further, i maintain that there was a distinction between what mr. nichols calls "the livery collar of ss.," and the said knightly golden collar of ss., as marked and broad as is the difference between the collar of the garter and the collar of that four-footed dignitary which bore the inscription, "i am the prince's dog at kew, pray whose dog are you?" in his last communication mr. nichols lays it down that "livery collars were perfectly distinct from collars of knighthood;" adding, they did not exist until a subsequent age. of course the collars of such royal orders of knighthood as have been established since the days of our lancastrian kings had necessarily no existence at the period to which he refers. but gough (not mr. gough nichols) mentions that the collar of ss. was upon the monument of matilda fitzwalter, of dunmow, who lived in the reign of king john; and ashmole instances a monument in the collegiate church at warwick, with the portraiture of margaret, wife of sir william peito, said to have been sculptured there in the reign of edward iii. what credit then are we to attach to mr. n.'s averment, that the "collar of esses was not a badge of knighthood, nor a badge of personal merit, but was a collar of livery, and the idea typified by livery was feudal dependence, or what we now call party?" what sort of feudal dependence was typified by the ensign of equestrian nobility upon the necks of the two ladies named, or upon the neck of queen joan of navarre? mr. nichols states that in the first lancastrian reigns the collar of ss. had no pendant, though, afterwards, it had a pendant called "the king's beast." on the effigy of queen joan the collar certainly has no pendant, except the jewelled ring of a trefoil form. but on the ceiling and canopy of the tomb of henry iv., his arms, and those of his queen (joan of navarre), are surrounded with collars of ss., the king's terminating in an eagle volant (rather an odd sort of a beast), whilst the pendant of the queen's has been defaced. mr. nichols, in a postscript, puts this query to the antiquaries of scotland: "can any of them help me to the authority from which nich. upton derived his livery collar of the king of scotland de gormettis fremalibus equorum?" if mr. n. puts this query from no other data than the citation given in my former paper upon this subject (vide vol. ii., p. .), he need not limit it to the antiquaries of scotland. upton's words are as follows:-- "rex etiam scocie dare solebat pro signo vel titulo suo, unum collarium de gormettis fremalibus equorum de auro vel argento." this passage neither indicates that a king of scotland is referred to, nor does it establish that the collar was given as a livery sign or title. it merely conveys something to this purport, that the king was accustomed to give to his companions, as a sign or title, a collar of gold or silver shaped like the bit of a horse's bridle. mr. nichols takes exception to favine as an heraldic authority. could that erudite author arise from his grave, i wonder how he would designate mr. nichols's lucubrations on livery collars, &c. but hear matthew paris: that learned writer says equites aurati were known in his day "by a gold ring on their thumbs, by a chain of gold about their necks, and gilt spurs." let us look to scotland: nesbit says, vol. ii. p. .: "our knights were no less anciently known by belts than by their gilt spurs, swords, &c. in the last place is the collar, an ensign of knightly dignity among the germans, gauls, britains, danes, goths, &c. in latter times it was the peculiar fashion of knights amongst us to wear golden collars composed of ss." brydson, too, in his _summary view of heraldry in reference to the usages of chivalry, and the general economy of the feudal system_, (a work of uncommon ingenuity, deserving to be called the philosophy of heraldry), observes, p. , ch. v., that knights were distinguished by an investiture which implied superior merit and address in arms--by the attendance of one or more esquires--by the title sir--by wearing a crest--a helmet of peculiar form--apparel peculiarly splendid--polished armour of a particular construction--gilded spurs--and a golden collar. he states, ch. iv., p. .: "in the fifth dissertation of du cange it is shown that the splendid habits which the royal household anciently received at the great festivals, were called 'liveries,' being delivered or presented from the king." but he nowhere countenances for a moment any of the errors entertained by mr. john gough nichols, which these remarks are intended to explode. mr. nichols has not yet answered b.'s query. nor can he answer it until he previously admits that he is wrong upon the four points enumerated in my opening article (vol. ii., p. .). armiger. * * * * * { } replies to minor queries _symbols of the evangelists_ (vol. i., pp. . .; vol. ii., pp. . . .).--should the inquirer not have access to the authorities which, as is stated in p. ., are referred to by dr. wordsworth, or not have leisure to avail himself of his copious references, he may be glad to find that in the _thesaurus theologico philologicus_ (vol. ii. pp. .- .), there is a dissertation containing an analysis of more than fifty authors, who have illustrated the visions of ezekiel and st. john, and an explanation of the sententiarum divortia of irenæus, jerome, and augustine, respecting the application of the symbols, or of the quæstio vexata--quodnam animal cui evangelistæ comparandum sit. thomasius, the author of this dissertation, suggests that to recall to mind the symbol applied to luke, we should remember the expression denoting elephantes, _boves lucas_. abundant information is also supplied on this subject by that hierophantic naturalist, aldrovandus, _de quadrup. bisulcis_, p. . et seq. nor should daubuz be neglected, the learned commentator on the revelations. t. j. _becket's mother_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--in support of the view of mr. foss with regard to becket's mother, against that propounded by j. c. r. (vol. ii., p. .), i would mention that _acon_ is the ordinary mediæval name for the city of _acre_, and appears in the earlier deeds relating to the hospital in cheapside, while the modern form occurs in those of later date; _e.g._ pat. edw. ii., "s. thomæ martyris _de aconia_;" pat. edw. iii., "s. thomæ martyris cantuarensis de _acon_;" but rot. parl. hen. vi., "saint thomas the martir of _acres_," "the martyr of canterbury of _acres_." (deeds in dugdale, _monast._ vi. , .) this would seem to identify the distinctive name of the hospital with the city in the holy land but the following passage from the _chronicle_ of matthew of westminster (p. .) seems quite conclusive on this point, as it connects that city with becket in a manner beyond all dispute:-- "anno gratiæ . obsessa est _acon_ circumquaque christianorum legionibus, et arctatur nimis. _capella sancti thomæ martyris ibidem ædificatur_." if, as j. c. r. supposes, there was no connexion between the saint and acre in syria, the foundation of a chapel to his honour in or near that city would seem quite unaccountable. however this may be, the truth of the beautiful legend of his mother can, i fear, be never proved or disproved. while on this subject, let me, at the risk of being tedious to your readers, quote the amusing tale told by latimer, with regard to this hospital, in his "sixth sermon preached before edward vi." (parker soc ed., p. .):-- "i had rather that ye should come [to hear the word of god] as the tale is by the gentlewoman of london: one of her neighbours met her in the street and said, 'mistress, whither go ye?' 'marry,' said she; 'i am going to st. thomas of acres, to the sermon; i could not sleep all this last night, and i am going now thither; i never failed of a good nap there.' and so i had rather ye should go a-napping to the sermons than not to go at all." on the name "s. nicholas _acon_," i can throw no light. stow is quite silent as to its signification. e. venables. herstmonceux. _becket's mother._--i am, in truth, but a new subscriber, and when i wrote the remarks on mr. foss's note (vol. ii., p. .), had not seen your first volume containing the communications of mr. matthews (p. .) and dr. rimbault (p. .). the rejection of the story that becket's mother was a saracen rests on the fact that no trace of it is found until a much later time, when the history of "st. thomas of canterbury" had been embellished with all manner of wonders. mr. matthews may find some information in the _english review_, vol. vi. pp. - . dr. rimbault is mistaken in saying that the life of st. thomas by herbert of boshain "is published in the _quadrilogus_, paris, ." it was one of the works from which the _quadrilogus_ was _compiled_; but the only entire edition of it is that by dr. giles, in his _s. thomas cantauriensis_. j. c. r. _passage in lucan_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the following are parallel passages to that in lucan's _pharsalia_, b. vii. ., referred to by mr. sansom. ovid. _metam._ . .:-- "esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus, quo mare, quo tellus, correptaque regia coeli ardeat; et mundi moles operos laboret." cic. _de nat. deor._ . .:-- "ex quo eventurum nostri putant id, de quo panætium addubitare dicebant, ut ad extremum omnis mundus ignesceret; cum, humore consumto, neque terra ali posset neque remearet ær; cujus ortus, aqua omni exhausta, esse non posset," etc. cic. _de divinatione_, . .:-- "nam et natura futura præsentiunt, ut aquarum fluxiones et deflagrationem futuram aliquando coeli atque terrarum," etc. cic. _acad. quæst._ iv. .:-- "erit ei persuasum etiam, solem, lunam, stellas omnes, terram, mare, deos esse ... fore tamen aliquando ut omnis hic mundus ardore deflagret," etc. cic. _somn. scipionis,_ vii.:-- "propter eluviones exustionesque terrarum quas accidere tempore certo necesse est, non modo æternam, sed ne diuturnam quidem gloriam assequi possumus." seneca, _consol. ad marciam_, sub fine:-- "cum tempus advenerit quo se mundus renovaturus { } extinguat ... et omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit." id. _natural quæst_. iii. .:-- "qua ratione inquis? eadem qua conflagratio futura est ... aqua et ignes terrenis dominantur. ex his ortus et ex his interitus est," etc. there are also the sybilline verses (quoted by lactantias _de ira dei_, cap. xxiii.):-- "[greek: kai pote tên orgên theon ouk eti praunonta,] [greek: all' exembrithonta, kai exoluonta te gennan] [greek: anthrôpon, hapasan hup' emprêsmou perthonta.]" plato has a similar passage in his _timæus_; and many others are quoted by matthew pole in his _synopsis criticorum script. sacræ interpretum_; on pet. iii. . .; to which i beg to refer mr. sansom; and also to burnet's _sacred theory of the earth_, book iii. ch. . t. h. kersley. king william's college, isle of man. _combs buried with the dead_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--on reference to sir thomas browne's _hydriotaphia_, i find two passages which may supply the information your correspondent seeks as to the reason for combs being buried with human remains. in section i., pp. , . (i quote from the edinburgh reprint of , published by blackwood) the author says: "in a field of old walsingham, not many months past ( ), were digged up between forty and fifty urns, deposited in a dry and sandy soil, not a yard deep, not far from one another, not all strickly of one figure, but most answering these described; some containing two pounds of bones, distinguishable in skulls, ribs, jaws, thigh-bones, and teeth, with fresh impressions of their combustion, besides extraneous substances, like pieces of small boxes, or _combs_, handsomely wrought, handles of small brass instruments, brazen nippers, and in one some kind of opale." and again he says (pp. , .): "from exility of bones, thinness of skulls, smallness of teeth, ribs, and thigh-bones, not improbable that many thereof were persons of minor age, or women. confirmable also from things contained in them. in most were found substances resembling _combs_, plates like boxes, fastened with iron pins, and handsomely overwrought like the necks or bridges of musical instruments, long brass plates overwrought like the handles of neat implements, _brazen nippers to pull away hair_, and in one a kind of opale, yet maintaining a bluish colour. "now that they accustomed to burn or bury with them things wherein they excelled, delighted, or which were dear unto them, either as farewells unto all pleasure, or vain apprehension that they might use them in the other world, is testified by all antiquity." the instances which he appends relate only to the pagan period, and he does not appear to have known that a similar practice prevailed in the sepulture of christians--if, indeed, such a custom was general, and not confined to the particular case mentioned by your correspondent. j. h. p. leresche. _the norfolk dialect_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- _mauther._--a word peculiar to east anglia, applied to a girl just grown up, or approaching to womanhood. "ipse eodem agro [norfolciensi] ortus, a dan. _moer_," virgo, puella, "deflectit."--_spelman_. spelman assures us, in endeavouring to rescue the word from the contempt into which it had fallen, that it was applied by our very early ancestors, even to the noble virgins who were selected to sing the praises of heroes; they were called _scald-moers_, q.d. singing mauthers! "en quantum in spretâ jam voce antiquæ gloria." "ray spells the word _mothther_. "_p._ i am a _mother_ that do want a service. "_qu._ o thou'rt a norfolk woman (cry thee mercy), where maids are _mothers_, and _mothers_ are maids."--r. brome's _engl. moor_, iii. . it is written also _modder_. "what! will phillis then consume her youth as an ankresse, scorning daintie venus? will phillis be a _modder_, and not care to be call'd by the deare-sweete name of a mother?"--a. fraunce's _ivy church_, a. . b. "away! you talk like a foolish _mauther_"-- says restive to dame pliant in _ben jonson. alchemist_, iv. . so richard says to kate, in _bloomfield's suffolk ballad:--_ "when once a giggling _mawther_ you, and i a red-faced chubby boy."--_rural tales_, , p. . perhaps it is derived from the german [fraktur: magd] with the termination een or -den added, as in the lincolnshire dialect, hee-der, and shee-der, denote the male and female sex. _gotsch._--a jug or pitcher with one ear or handle. forby thinks it may be derived from the italian _gozzo_, a throat. _holl._--from the saxon holh. german [fraktur: hohle], a ditch. _anan!_ = how! what say you? perhaps an invitation to come near, in order to be better heard, from the saxon nean, near. vid. brockett's,--jennings, and wilbraham's chesh. glossaries. _to be muddled._--that is, confused, perplexed, tired. doubtless from the idea of thickness, want of clearness; so, muddy is used for a state of inebriety. _together._--in low scotch, thegether, seemingly, but not really, an adverb, converted to a noun, and used in familiarly addressing a number of persons collectively. forby considers _to_ and the article _the_ identical; as to-day, to-night, in low scotch, the day, the night, are in fact, this day, this night; so { } that the expression together may mean "the gathering," the company assembled. the authorities i have used are forby's _vocabulary of east anglia_; moor, _suffolk words and phrases_; and lemon, _english etymology_; in which, if icenus will refer, he will find the subject more fully discussed. e. s. t _conflagration of the earth_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the eventful period when this globe, or "the fabric of the world,"[ ] will be "wrap'd in flames" and "in ruin hurl'd," is described in language, or at least, in sense similar to the quotations of our correspondent in p. ., by the poets, philosophers, fathers, and divines here referred to:-- lucan, lib. i. . et seqq. .:-- "omnia mistis sidera sideribus concurrent." seneca _ad marciam_, cap. ult.:-- "cum tempus advenerit, quo se mundus renovaturus extinguat, viribus ista se suis cedent, et sidera sideribus incurrent, et omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit." _quæst. nat._ iii. ., which contains a commentary on st. peter's expression, "like a thief in the night:"-- "nihil, inquit, difficile est naturæ, ubi ad finem sui properat. ad originem rerum parcè utitur viribus, dispensatque se incrementis fallentibus; subitò ad ruinam et toto impetu venit ... momento fit cinis, diu silua." compare sir t browne's _rel. med._ s. . seneca, _hercul. oet._ . ovid. _metamorph._ lib. i. s. viii. diplilus as quoted by dr. h. more, _vision. apoc._ vi. . cicero, _acad._ lib. ii. . "somn. scipionis." ---- _de nat. deorum._ lib. ii. . pliny, _nat. hist._ lib. vii. cap. . these are the opinions of writers before christ; whether they were derived from scripture, it is not now my purpose to discuss. see also lipsii _physiologia._ on the agreement of the systems of the stoics, of the magi, and of the edda, see bishop percy's notes to mallet's _northern antiquities_, vol. ii. the general conflagration and purgatorial fire were among the tenets of the sibylline books, and maintained by many fathers of the greek and latin churches down to the sixth century. see _blondel on the sibyls_, and arkudius _adversus_ barlaam. among modern writers on this subject, it will be sufficient to name magius _de mundi exustione_, dr. h. more, and dr t. burnet. ray, in the third of his _physico-theological discourses_, discusses all the questions connected with the dissolution of the world. t. j. [footnote : magius, "that prodigy of learning en pure perte" (villebrune), concludes from the words of the text "the _heavens_ shall pass away," that the _universe_ will be dissolved; but that it will undergo mutation only, not annihilation.--cf. steuches _de perenni philosophia_, lib. x. ] _wraxen_, (vol. ii., p. .).--g. w. skyring will find the following explanation in halliwell's _dictionary of provincial and archaic words_, "to grow out of bounds, spoken of weeds," c. kent. certainly an expressive term as used by the kentish women. j. d. a. _wraxen._--probably analogous to the northumbrian "_wrax_, wraxing, wraxed," signifying to stretch or (sometimes) to sprain. a peasant leaving overworked himself, would say he had _wraxed_ himself; after sitting, would walk to _wrax_ his legs. falling on the ice would have _wraxed_ his arm; and of a rope that has stretched considerably, he would say it had _wraxed a gay feck_. it may possibly have come, as a corruption, from the verb _wax_, to grow. it is a useful and very expressive word, although not recognised in polite language. s. t. r. _wraxen._--rax or wrax is a very common word in the north of england, meaning to stretch, so that when the old kentish woman told mr. skyring's friend her children were wraxen, she meant their minds were so overstretched during the week, that they required rest on sunday. w. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes of books, sales, catalogues, etc. of the various changes which have been made of late years in public education, there is not one so generally admitted to be an improvement as that which has made the study of "the tongue which shakspeare spake," an essential part of the system and probably no individual has so effectually contributed towards this important end as dr. latham, the third edition of whose masterly and philosophical volume, entitled _the english language_, is mow before us. dr. latham has ever earnestly and successfully insisted on the _disciplinal_ character of grammatical studies in general, combined with the fact, that the grammatical study of one's own language is exclusively so; and having established this theory, he has, by the production of various elementary works, exhibiting a happy combination of great philological acquirements with the ability to apply them in a logical and systematic manner, enabled those who shared his views to put that theory into practice. hence the change in our educational system to which we have alluded. his volume entitled _the english language_ is, however, addressed to a higher class of { } readers, and this third edition may justly be pronounced the most important contribution to the history of our native tongue which has yet been produced; and, as such every student of our early language and literature must, with us, bid it welcome. we have received the following catalogues;--cole's ( . great turnstile, holborn) list no. xxix. of curious old books; kerslake's ( . park street, bristol) valuable books containing selections from libraries at conishead priory; of prof. elrington; t. g. ward, &c. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. _odd volumes_ camden's britannia, ed. by gough, vol. i. warton's edition of pope. vo. vol. ix. in boards. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. v. f. s. _will find an answer to his query respecting_ "auster tenements" _in our first vol_., p. . j. c., _who inquires respecting the author of the oft-quoted saying_, "quem deus vult perdere," _is referred to our first vol._, pp. . . . .; _and to a further illustration of it in_ no. ., p. . _we have received_ "a plan for a church-history society," _by the rev. dr. maitland, to which we will call the attention of our readers next week._ w. l. b.'_s description of the coin found at horndon is not sufficiently clear. it is, doubtless, a billon piece of the lower empire. if he will send us an impression, in_ sealing-wax, _we may probably be enabled to give him a description of it._ clericus. 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( pp.) s. d. n.b. comparative anatomy in the "bibliotheca zoologica." bibliotheca zoologica et palÆontologica.--the literature of zoology and palæontology, or a systematic catalogue of the works on zoology and fossil animals and plants, comparative anatomy, &c., which have appeared in europe to the end of . ed. by w. engelmann, vo. sd. s. thesaurus literaturÆ botanicÆ, omnium gentium, curavit g. a. pritzel. (to be completed in fasc.). fasc. i. to v., a--z, and suppl., l. s. bibliotheca mechanico-technologica.--german books on arts, trades, manufactures, railroads, machine-building, &c.; also buildings, architecture, ornaments, &c. vol. i. to , s.; vol. ii., to , s. d. deutschlands militair literatur, to . uebersicht der karten u. pläne central europas. vols. vo. s. d. biblitoheca oeconomica. literatur der haus u. laudwirthschaft. vo. sd. . s. bibliotheca magica et pneumatica, by dr. grÄsse. vo. . s. literatur des schachspiels, herausg. v. a. schmid. vo. wien, . s. d. bibliotheca shahiludii.--bibliothèque du jeu des echecs, by e. m. oettinger. vo. . s. dansk-norsk catalog.--catalogue librorum in dania et norvegia editorum, . two supplements, -- . norsk bog-fortegnelse, - . norwegian books and maps. vo. christian. s. d. svensk bokhandels-katalog, . supplements, with indexes to . stockholm. dutch catalogues.--naamlijst van bocken, -- , and supplements to . * * * * * _the following catalogues, being not merely catalogues of stock, may be had_ gratis:-- . williams and norgates's catalogue of german theological books, stamps. . williams and norgate's catalogue of general german literature, stamps. . williams and norgates school catalogue of elementary and classical works. greek and latin, german, dutch, danish, swedish, &c., stamp. . williams and norgate's classical catalogue. supplement from -- , stamp. a complete catalogue reprinting. . williams and norgates's linguistic and oriental catalogues (reprinting). . williams and norgate's german book circular. new books published quarterly and sent gratis to their customers. * * * * * williams and norgate, importers of german, classical, oriental, dutch, danish, swedish, russian books, &c. . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, october . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page english and norman songs of the fourteenth century, by james graves. misplaced words in shakspeare's troilus and cressida master john shorne, by w. j. thoms corrigenda of printer's errors folk-lore of wales: no. . meddygon myddvai--no. . trwyn pwcca connexion of words: the word "freight" minor notes:--smith's obituary--george wither the poet, a printer--corruption of the text of gibbon's "decline and fall"--traditional story concerning cardinal wolsey queries:-- early sale of gems, drawings, and curiosities minor queries:--quotations wanted--death of richard h.--sir w. herschel's observations and writings-- swearing by swans--automachia--poa cynosuwides-- vineyards--martin, cockerell, and hopkins families--camden's poem on the marriage of the thames and isis--national airs of england--poor pillgarlick--inscription on a portrait--burton's parliamentary diary--tobacconists--"the owl is abroad"--scandal against queen elizabeth--letters of horning--cromwell poisoned replies:-- collar of ss. daniel de foe, by w. crafter "antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi" replies to minor queries:--sir gammer vans-- hipperswitches--cat and bagpipes--forlot, firlot, or furlet--sitting during the lessons--engelmann's bibliotheca auctor. class.--news--derivation of orchard miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notice to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. english and norman songs of the fourteenth century. in a vellum book, known as _the red book of ossory_, and preserved in the archives of that see, is contained a collection of latin religious poetry, written in a good bold hand of the th century; prefixed to several of the hymns, in a contemporary and identical hand, are sometimes one sometimes more lines of a song in old english or norman french, which as they occur i here give: "alas hou shold y syng, yloren is my playnge hou sholdy wiz zat olde man} } swettist of al zinge." to leven and let my leman } * * * * * "harrow ieo su thy: p fol amo^r de mal amy." * * * * * "have m^rcie on me frere: barfote zat ygo." * * * * * "do do. nightyngale syng ful myrie shal y nevre for zyn love lengre karie." * * * * * "have god day me lemon," &c. * * * * * "gaveth me no garlond of greene, bot hit ben of wythones yuroght." * * * * * "do do nyztyngale syng wel miry shal y nevre for zyn love lengre kary." * * * * * "hew alas p amo^r oy moy myst en tant dolour." * * * * * "hey how ze chevaldoures woke al nyght." it is quite evident that these lines were thus prefixed (as is still the custom), to indicate the _air_ to which the latin hymns were to be sung. this is also set forth in a memorandum at the commencement, which states that these songs, _cantilene_, were composed by the bishop of ossory for the vicars of his cathedral church, and for his priests and clerks, "ne guttura eorum et ora deo sanctificata polluantur cantilenis teatralibus turpibus et secularibus: et cum sint cantatores, provideant sibi notis convenientibus, secundum quod dictamina requirunt."--_lib. rub. ossor._ fol. . we may, i think, safely conclude that the lines above given were the commencement of the _cantilene teatrales turpes_ et _seculares_, which the good bishop wished to deprive his clergy of all excuse for singing, by providing them with pious hymns to the same airs; thinking, i suppose, like john wesley in after years, it was a pity the devil should monopolise all the good tunes. i shall merely add that the author of the latin poetry seems to have been richard de ledrede, who filled { } the see of ossory from to , and was rendered famous by his proceedings against dame alice kyteller for heresy and witchcraft. (see a contemporary account of the "proceedings" published by the camden society in ; a most valuable contribution to irish history, and well deserving of still more editorial labour than has been bestowed on it.) i have copied the old english and norman-french word for word, preserving the contractions wherever they occurred. i shall conclude this "note" by proposing two "queries:" to such of your contributors as are learned in old english and french song-lore, viz., . are the entire songs, of which the above lines form the commencements, known or recoverable? . if so, is the music to which they were sung handed down? i shall feel much obliged by answers to both or either of the above queries, and "bis dat, qui cito dat." james graves. kilkenny, nov. . . * * * * * misplaced words in shakspeare's troilus and cressida. in that immaculate volume, the first folio edition of shakspeare, of which mr. knight says: "perhaps, all things considered, there never was a book so correctly printed"! a passage in _troilus and cressida_, act. v. sc. ., where cassandra and andromache are attempting to dissuade hector from going to battle, is thus given: "_and._ o be perswaded: doe not count it holy, to hurt by being iust; it is lawful: for we would count giue much to as violent thefts, and rob in the behalfe of charitie." deviating from his usual practice, mr. knight makes an omission and a transposition, and reads thus: "do not count it holy to hurt by being just: it is as lawful, for we would give much, to count violent thefts, and rob in the behalf of charity." with the following note; the ordinary reading is "'for we would give much _to use_ violent thefts.'" _to use thefts_ is clearly not shakspearian. perhaps _count_ or _give_ might be omitted, supposing that one word had been substituted for another in the manuscript, without the erasure of the first written; but this omission will not give us a meaning. we have ventured to transpose _count_ and omit _as_: "for we would give much, to count violent thefts." we have now a clear meaning: it is as lawful because we desire to give much, to count violent thefts as _holy_, "and rob in the behalf of charity." mr. collier also lays aside his aversion to vary from the old copy, and makes a bold innovation: he reads,-- "do not count it holy to hurt by being just: it is as lawful, for us to give much count to violent thefts, and rob in the behalf of charity." thus giving his reasons: "this line [the third] is so corrupt in the folio , as to afford no sense. the words and their arrangement are the same in the second and third folio, while the fourth only alters _would_ to _will_." tyrwhitt read: "for we would give much to use violent thefts," which is objectionable, not merely because it wanders from the text, but because it inserts a phrase, "to _use_ violent thefts," which is awkward and unlike shakspeare. the reading i have adopted is that suggested by mr. amyot, who observes upon it: "here, i think, with little more than transposition (_us_ being, substituted for _we_, and _would_ omitted), the meaning, as far as we can collect it, is not departed from nor perverted, as in rowe's strange interpolation: "for us to count we give what's gain'd by thefts." the original is one of the few passages which, as it seems to me, must be left to the reader's sagacity, and of the difficulties attending which we cannot arrive at any satisfactory solution." mr. collier's better judgment has here given way to his deference for the opinion of his worthy friend; the deviation from the old copy being quite as violent as any that he has ever quarrelled with in others. bearing in mind mr. hickson's valuable canon (which should be the guide of future editors), let us see what is the state of the case. the line is a nonsensical jumble, and has probably been printed from an interlineation in the manuscript copy, two words being evidently transposed, and one of them, at the same time, glaringly mistaken. the poet would never have repeated the word _count_, which occurs in the first line, in the sense given to it either by mr. collier or by mr. knight. preserving every word in the old copy, i read the passage thus:-- "o! be persuaded. do not count it holy to hurt by being just: it is as lawful as (for we would give much) to commit violent thefts and rob in the behalf of charity." "to _count_ violent thefts" here would be sheer nonsense; and when we recollect how easy it is to mistake _comit_ for _count_, the former word being almost always thus written and often thus printed, we must, i think, be convinced that in copying an interlineated ms., the printer _misplaced_ and _misprinted_ that word, and transposed _as_, if the repetition of it be not also an error.--"for," commencing the parenthesis, "we would give much" stands for _cause_. the emphasis should, i think, be { } laid on _for_; and _commit_ be accented on the first syllable. thus the line, though of twelve syllables, is not unmetrical; indeed much less prosaic than with the old reading of _count_. this correction, upon the principle which governs messrs. collier and knight, and which indeed should govern all of us, "to lose no drop of that immortal man," ought to be satisfactory; for it is effected without taking away a letter. the transposition of two evidently _misplaced_ words, and the correction of a letter or two palpably misprinted in one of them, is the whole gentle violence that has been used in a passage which has been, as we see, considered desperate. but, as pope sings: "our sacred shakspeare,--comprehensive mind! who for all ages writ, and all mankind, has been to careless printers oft a prey, nor time, nor moth e'er spoil'd as much as they; let the right reading drive the cloud away, and sense breaks on us with resistless day." periergus bibliophilus. october, . * * * * * master john shorne. if proof were wanted how little is now known of those saints whose names were once in everybody's mouth, although they never figured in any calendar, it might be found in the fact that my friend, mr. payne collier, whose intimate knowledge of the phrases and allusions scattered through our early writers is so well known and admitted, should, in his valuable _extracts from the registers of the stationers' company_ ( - ), have illustrated this entry,-- " - . rd. of thomas colwell, for his lycense for the pryntinge of a ballett intituled 'newes to northumberlande yt skylles not where, to syr john shorne, a churche rebell there' ... iiij^d." by a note, from which the following is an extract:-- "sir john shorne no doubt is to be taken as a generic name for a shaven roman catholic priest." reasonable, however, as is mr. collier's conjecture, it is not borne out by the facts of the case. the name sir john shorne is not a generic name, but the name of a personage frequently alluded to, but whose history is involved in considerable obscurity. perhaps the following notes may be the means, by drawing forth others, of throwing some light upon it. in michael wodde's _dialogue_, quoted by brand, we read-- "if we were sycke of the pestylence we ran to sainte rooke; if of the ague, to sainte pernel or master john shorne." latimer, in his _second sermon preached in lincolnshire_, p. . (parker society ed.), says,-- "but ye shall not think that i will speak of the popish pilgrimages, which we were wont to use in times past, in running hither and thither to mr. john shorn or to our lady of walsingham." on which the editor, the rev. g. e. corrie, remarks that he was-- "a saint whose head quarters were probably in the parish of shorn and merston near gravesend, but who seems to have had shrines in other parts of the country. he was chiefly popular with persons who suffered from ague." mr. corrie then gives an extract from p. . of the _letters relating to the suppression of monasteries_, edited by mr. wright for the camden society; but we quote from the original, mr. corrie having omitted the words given in our extract in italics:-- "at merston, mr. johan schorn stondith blessing a bote, whereunto they do say he conveyd the devill. he ys moch sowzt for the agou. _if it be your lordeschips pleasur, i schall sett that botyd ymage in a nother place, and so do wyth other in other parties wher lyke seeking ys._" in that extraordinary poem _the fantassie of idolatrie_, printed by fox in his edition of , but not afterwards reprinted until it appeared in seeley's edition (vol. v. p. .), we read-- "to maister john shorne that blessed man borne; for the ague to him we apply, whiche jugeleth with a _bote_ i beschrewe his herte rote that will truste him, and it be i." the editor, mr. cattley, having explained _bote_ "a recompense or fee," dr. maitland, in his _remarks on rev. s. r. cattley's defence of his edition of fox's martyrology_, p. ., after making a reference to nares, and quoting his explanation, proceeds: "the going on pilgrimage to st. john shorne is incidentally mentioned at pages . and . of the fourth volume of fox, but in a way which throws no light on the subject. the verse which i have quoted seems as if there was some relic which was supposed to cure the ague, and by which the juggle was carried on. now another passage in this same fifth volume, p. ., leads me to believe that this relic really was, and therefore the word 'bote' simply means, a boot. in this passage we learn, that one of the causes of robert testwood's troyble was his ridiculing the relics which were to be distributed to be borne by various persons in a procession upon a relic sunday. st. george's dagger having been given to one master hake, testwood said to dr. clifton,--'sir, master hake hath st. george's dagger. now if he had his horse, and st. martin's cloak, and _master john shorne's boots_, with king harry's spurs and his hat, he might ride when he list.'" that there is some legend connected with master john shorne and "his bote, whereunto they do say he conveyd the devill," is evident from { } a fact we learn from the _proceedings of the archæological institute_, namely, that at the meeting on the th nov. , the rev. james bulwer, of aylsham, norfolk, sent a series of drawings exhibiting the curious painted decorations of the rood screen in cawston church, norfolk, amongst which appears the singular saintly personage bearing a boot, from which issues a demon. an inscription beneath the figures gives the name "magister johannes schorn." it is much to be regretted that fuller details of this painting have not been preserved in the journal of the institute. the earliest mention of _master john schorne_ is in the indenture for roofing st. george's chapel at windsor, dated th june, henry vii. ( ), printed in the _reliquiæ antiquæ_, vol. ii. p. ., where it is covenanted "that the creastes, corses, beastes, above on the outsides of maister john shorne's chappell, bee done and wrought according to the other creastes, and comprised within the said bargayne." william j. thoms. * * * * * corrigenda of printer's errors. in my note on conjectural emendation (vol. ii., p. .), your printer, in general so very correct, has by a fortunate accident strengthened my argument, by adding one letter, and taking away another. should my note be in existence, you will find that i wrote distinctly and correctly mr. field's prænomen _barron_, and not _baron_. and i have too much respect for my old favourite, honest george _wither_, to have written _withers_, a misnomer never used but by his adversaries, who certainly did speak of him as "one withers." i should not have thought it necessary to notice these insignificant errata, but for the purpose of showing _printer's errors_ do and will occur, and that shakspeare's text may often be amended by their correction. you will recollect honest george's punning inscription round his juvenile portrait: "i grow and wither both together." periergus bibliophilus. * * * * * folk lore of wales. _no. . meddygon myddvai_.--on the heights of the black mountains, in caermarthenshire, lies a dark-watered lake, known by the name of _lyn y van vach_. as might be predicated, from the wild grandeur of its situation, as well as from the ever-changing hues which it takes from the mountain shadows, many a superstition--gloomy or beautiful--is connected with its history. amongst these may be reckoned the legend of the _meddygon myddvai_ or "surgeons of myddvai." tradition affirms that "once upon a time" a man who dwelt in the parish of myddvai led his lambs to graze on the borders of this lake; a proceeding which he was induced to repeat in consequence of his visits being celebrated by the appearance of three most beautiful nymphs, who, rising from the waters of the lake, frequently came on shore, and wandered about amongst his flock. on his endeavouring, however, to catch or retain these nymphs, they fled to the lake and sank into its depths, singing-- "cras dy fara, anhawdd ein dala!" which may be rendered [eater of] "hard baked bread, it is difficult to retain us!" difficulties, however, but increased the determination of the shepherd; and day after day he watched beside the haunted lake, until at length his perseverance was rewarded by the discovery of a substance resembling unbaked bread, which floated on the water: this he fished up and ate, and on the following day he succeeded in capturing the nymphs: on which he requested one of them to become his wife; to this she consented, on condition that he should be able to distinguish her from her sisters on the following day. this was no easy task, as the nymphs bore the most striking resemblance to each other; but the lover noticed some trifling peculiarity in the dress of his choice, by means of which he identified her. she then assured him that she would be to him as good a wife as any _earthly_ maiden could be, until he should strike her three times without a cause. this was deemed by the shepherd an impossible contingency, and he led his bride in triumph from the mountain; followed by seven cows, two oxen, and one bull, which she had summoned from the waters of the lake to enrich her future home. many years passed happily on, and three smiling children--afterwards the "surgeons of myddvai"--blessed the shepherd and his undine-like bride; but at length, on requesting her to go to the field and catch his horse, she replied that she would do so presently; when striking her arm three times he exclaimed, _dôs, dôs, dôs_; go, go, go. this was more than a free dweller in the waters could brook; so calling her ten head of cattle to follow her, she fled to the lake, and once more plunged beneath its waters. such is the legend; of which reason vainly expresses its disbelief, as long as the eye of faith can discern physical proofs of its truth in the deep furrow which, crossing the mountain in detached portions, terminates abruptly in the lake; for it seems that when the two oxen were summoned by their mistress, they were ploughing in the field; and at their departure, they carried the plough with them, and dragged it into the lake. the nymph once more appeared upon the earth; for as her sons grew to manhood, she met them { } one day in a place which, from this circumstance, received the name of _cwm meddygon_, and delivered to each of them a bag, containing such mysterious revelations in the science of medicine, that they became greater in the art than were ever any before them. though so curiously connected with this fable, the "surgeons of myddvai" are supposed to be historical personages, who, according to a writer in the _cambro-briton_, flourished in the thirteenth century, and left behind them a ms. treatise on their practice, of which several fragments and imperfect copies are still preserved. _no. . trwyn pwcca._--many years ago, there existed in a certain part of monmouthshire a pwcca, or fairy, which, like a faithful english brownie, performed innumerable services for the farmers and householders in its neighbourhood, more especially that of feeding the cattle, and cleaning their sheds in wet weather; until at length some officious person, considering such practices as unchristian proceedings, laid the kindly spirit for three generations, banishing him to that common receptacle for such beings--the red sea. the spot in which he disappeared obtained the name of _trwyn pwcca_ (fairy's nose); and as the three generations have nearly passed away, the approaching return of the pwcca is anxiously looked forward to in its vicinity, as an earnest of the "good time coming." the form which tradition assigns to this pwcca, is that of a handful of loose dried grass rolling before the wind (such as is constantly seen on moors); a circumstance which recalls to mind the pyrenean legend of the spirit of the lord of orthez, mentioned by miss costello, which appeared as two straws moving on the floor. query, has the name of "will o' the wisp" any connexion with the supposed habit of appearing in this form? seleucus. * * * * * connexion of words--the word "freight." the word employed to denote _freight_, or rather the _price of freight_, at this day in the principal ports of the mediterranean, is _nolis_, _nolo_, &c. in the arabian and indian ports, the word universally employed to denote the same meaning is _nol_. are these words identical, and can their connexion be traced? when we consider the extensive commerce of the phoenicians, both in the mediterranean and indian seas, that they were the great merchants and carriers of antiquity, and that, in the words of hieron, "their numerous fleets were scattered over the indian and atlantic oceans; and the tyrian pennant waved at the same time on the coasts of britain and on the shores of ceylon"--it is natural to look to that country as the birthplace of the word, whence it may have been imported, westward to europe, and eastward to india, by the same people. and we find that it is a pure arabic word, [arabic: nwl] _nawil_ and [arabic: nwln] _nawlun_, or _nol_ and _nolan_, both signifying _freight_ (price of carriage), from the root [arabic: nwh] _noh, pretium dedit, donum_. i am not aware that the word _freight_ (not used in the sense of cargo or merchandise, but as the _price_ of carriage of the merchandise, _merces pro vectura_) is to be found in the old testament, otherwise some light might be thrown on the matter by a reference to the cognate hebrew word. but here an interesting question presents itself. the word _freight_ in greek is [greek: naulos] or [greek: naulon], and in latin _naulum_. have these any connexion with the arabic word, or are they to be traced to an independent source, and the coincidence in sense and sound with the arabic merely accidental? if distinct, are the words now in use in the mediterranean ports derived from the greek or the arabic? if the words be not identical, may not the greek be derived from the sanscrit, thus [sanskrit: nau], _nau_, or in the pure form [sanskrit: nawah], _nawah_, or resolved, _naus_, a ship or boat; [sanskrit: nauyayin], _nauyáyin_ quasi _nouyáyil_, or abbreviated _naul_, that which goes into a ship or boat, _i.e._ freight, fare, or, by metonyme, the price of freight, or passage-money. it is to be noted that _nolis_, though in general use in the mediterranean ports (marseilles, for example) to denote the price of freight, or of carriage, is not so in the northern parts of france. at havre the word is _frêt_, the same as our _freight_, the german _fracht_, viz. that which is _carried_ or _ferried_, and, by metonyme, as before, the _price_ of carriage. j. sh. bombay. * * * * * minor notes. _smith's obituary._--one of the publications of the camden society for the year is the _obituary of richard smyth_ (extending from to ), edited by sir henry ellis. it is printed from a copy of the sloane ms. in the brit. mus., no. ., which is itself but a transcript, later than smyth's time. the editor states that "where the original manuscript of the obituary is deposited is not at present known." i am glad at being able to supply the information here wanted. the original manuscript is in the _university library_ at cambridge, marked mm. . . it consists of twenty-nine leaves, foolscap folio; and, except that the edges and corners of the leaves are occasionally worn by frequent perusal, is otherwise in excellent condition. it is well and clearly written, but the latter part of it marks the alteration of the hand by the advancing years of the writer. there are many variations in { } the orthography, and some omissions, in the camden society's publication, but perhaps not more than may be accounted for by supposing the sloane copy to have been made by a not very careful transcriber. here again is seen the valuable use which might be made of your excellent publication. had a "hue and cry" been made in the "notes and queries" after the original ms. of this obituary, information might have been immediately given which would have added greatly to the value of this number of the camden society's publications. gastros. cambridge, oct. . . _george wither the poet, a printer._--in the "_premonition_ to the reader" prefixed to george wither's _britain's remembrancer_, mo. , the author acquaints us with some circumstances relative to his work which are not generally known. while craving some apology for his writing, wither observes: "it is above two years since i laboured to get this booke printed, and it hath cost me more money, more pains, and much more time to publish it, than to compose it, for i was faine to imprint every sheet thereof _with my owne hand_, because i could not get allowance to doe it publikely." edward f. rimbault. _corruption of the text of gibbon's "decline and fall."_--a corruption, which seems to have arisen from an attempt at emendation, has crept into note . on the th chapter of gibbon's _history_. _root_ is twice printed instead of _roof_ in the later editions, including, mr. milman's. "what comes from the roof," may not be very intelligible; still _roof_ is the word in the original edition of gibbon, where it corresponds to _toit_ in gibbon's authority, fleury, and to _tectum_ in fleury's authority. j. e. b. mayor. _traditional story concerning cardinal wolsey._--in david hughson (dr. pugh's) _walks through london and the surrounding suburbs_, mo. , vol. ii. p. ., i find the following:-- "passing on to _cheshunt_: here is a plain brick edifice, in which cardinal wolsey is said to have resided. it has been nearly rebuilt since his time, but is still surrounded by a deep moat. in the upper part of this house, called cheshunt house, is a room, the door of which is stained with blood: the tradition is--an unfortunate lady became a victim to the cardinal's jealousy, and that he dispatched her with his own hand. if so, it is unaccountable that the murderer should have suffered those marks of his violence to have remained." is there any _old_ authority for this charge against the cardinal? edward f. rimbault. * * * * * queries. early sale of gems, drawings, and curiosities. at the risk of showing my ignorance, i wish to have it removed by answers to my present queries. i have before me a printed catalogue of a collection of antiques, drawings, and curiosities, which were to be sold by auction not far from a century and a half ago. it is upon a sheet of four pages, rather larger than foolscap, which it entirely fills. it seems to me a remarkable assemblage of valuable relics, and it is thus headed:-- "a catalogue, being an extraordinary and great collection of antiques, original drawings, and other curiosities, collected by a gentleman very curious ... will be sold by auction at covent garden coffee house, in the little piazza, on wednesday next, being the th instant june, ." this is the oldest english catalogue of the kind that i happen to have met with, and my first question upon it is, is there any older? next, if the fact be known, who was the "gentleman very curious" who owned the collection? we are farther informed by the auctioneer (whose name is not given), that "the antiques are all in precious stones, most of them engraved by the greatest masters of the old greeks and romans; the drawings are of the oldest and the best italian masters;" and it is advertised, besides, that "the aforesaid rarities may be seen on monday the th, tuesday the th, and wednesday till the time of sale, which will begin at o'clock in the morning for the antiques, and at o'clock in the evening for the drawings." after a statement that the "conditions of sale are as usual," we come to the list of the gems, under the heads of "names of the jewels," and "what they represent." there are fifty-one lots of those that are "set in silver for seals," and they are upon cornelian, beril, sardonix, jasper, &c. for the purpose of identification (if possible) i will quote two or three:-- " . sardonix--the head of anacreon. . cornelian--pallas crowning hercules. . beryl--the trojan horse, as in fortuna lyceto. . a cornelian ring, with the head of lais of corinth, engraved by mr. christian." to these succeed twelve lots of "stones not set," including a "head of christ," a "gadetian droll," the "entry of severus, the emperor, into britain," &c. then we come to . "camejus, for the most part modern;" and to . "other extraordinary rarities," including . "the picture of mathew of leyden, king of the anabaptists, done in miniature by holbein. . a box with calcedonies set in gold, in which are engraved the passion of our saviour," &c. { } the "antiques set in gold, being rings or seals," are thirty-seven in number; among them " . ennius the poet, with this motto, _sine lucto memento_, a seal. " . homer deified, a seal. " . a double seal of charles i., king of england, and henrietta, daughter of henry iv. of france, &c., with a motto of _castus amor vinxit_. engraved by _simon monuntum preclarissimum_." the drawings come last, and are divided into seven _porta folios_, containing respectively , , , , , and specimens. in the first two no names of the masters are given: in the third, they are all assigned to various artists, including emskirk (i spell names as i find them), paulo veronesa, raphael, leonardo da vinci, tintorett, giulio romano, &c. the fourth portfolio has only one name to the lots, viz. tintorett; and filippo bellin is the only master named in the fifth portfolio. in the sixth, we meet with tintorett, perugino, mich. ang. bonaroti, annibal caracci, paulo brill, and raphael. of the drawings in portfolio . all have names annexed to them, excepting eight; and here we read those of guido reni, gio bellini, andrea mantegna, corregio, andrea del sarto, tadeo zuccaro, &c. i may have gone into more detail than was necessary; but, besides the queries i have already put, i want to know if any of these gems, cameos, antiques, or drawings are now known to be in existence; and, if possible, where they are to be found. a curiosity hunter. * * * * * minor queries. _quotations wanted._--i shall be greatly obliged to any of the correspondents of your most interesting and useful publication who will kindly inform me in what authors the following passages are to be found, and will, if it can be done without too much trouble, give me the references necessary for tracing them:-- "par un peu de sang bien répandu, l'on en épargne beaucoup." and "quadrijugis invectus equis sol aureus extat, cui septem veriis circumdant vestibus horæ: lucifer antesolat: rapidi fuge lampada solis, aurora, umbrarum victrix, neo victa recedas." the latter i have only seen subjoined to a print of guido's celebrated aurora, at rome; and i should have supposed it might have been written for the occasion, had i not been told, upon authority in which i put confidence, that it is to be found in some classic author. if so, the lines may possibly have given rise to the painting, and not the painting to the lines. dawson turner. yarmouth, october . . _avidius varus._--can you, or any of your readers, tell me who _avidius varus_ was, referred to in the following passage: "sed _avidii vari_ illud hic valeat: 'aut hoc quod produxi testium satis est, aut nihil satis.'" i find reference made to him as above, in one of the smith manuscripts; but i cannot discover his name in any catalogue or biographical dictionary. is he known by any other name? j. sansom. _death of richard ii._--by what authority has the belief that richard ii. died in pontefract castle, in yorkshire, arisen? every history that i have consulted (with the exception, indeed, of lord lyttleton's) coolly assumes it as a fact, in the teeth of the contemporary froissart, who says plainly enough-- "thus they left the _tower of london where he had died_, and paraded the streets at a foot's pace till they came to cheapside."--_froissart's chronicles_, translated by johnes, vol. vii. p. . it is barely possible that our modern historians may have been misled by shakspeare, who makes pontefract the scene of his death. another circumstance which militates against the received story, is the fact that all historians, i believe, agree that his _dead body_ was conveyed to burial from the tower of london. now, it seems odd, to say the least, that if he really died at pontefract, and his corpse was removed to london, that no one mentions this removal--that froissart had not heard of it, although, from the nature of the country, the want of good roads, &c., the funeral convoy must have been several days upon the road. can any one give me any information upon this question? i may just say that, of course, no reliance can be placed on the fact of the "very identical tower" in which the deposed king died being shown at pontefract. h. a. b. _sir w. herschel's observations and writings._--will you permit me to propose the following queries in your excellent paper. . i have a note to the following effect, but it is without date or reference. the late sir w. herschel, during an examination of the heavens in which he was observing stars that have a proper motion, saw one of the . magnitude near the th star hour of piazzi's catalogue, and noted the approximate distance between them; on the third night after, he saw it again, when it had advanced a good deal, having gone farther to the eastward, and towards the equator. bad weather, and the advancing twilight, prevented sir william's getting another observation. meantime the estimated movement in three days was " in right ascension, and about a minute, or rather less, towards the north. "so slow a motion," he says, { } "would make me suspect the situation to be beyond uranus." what i wish to inquire is this: has it been established by calculation whether the new planet discovered by adams and le verrier was or was not the star observed at the time and in the place specified by sir william herschel? . have sir w. herschel's contributions to the _philosophical transactions_ ever been published in a separate form? and if so, where they can be obtained? h. c. k. _swearing by swans._-- "at the banquet held on this occasion, he vowed before god and the _swans_, which according to usage were placed on the table, to punish the scottish rebels."--keightley's _history of england_, vol. i. p. . ed. . what authority is there for this statement respecting the swans? what was the origin and significance of the usage to which allusion is here made? r. v. winchester. _automachia._--i am the possessor of a little book, some ½ inches long by ½ wide, bound in green velvet, entitled _automachia, or the self-conflict of a christian_, and dedicated "to the most noble, vertuous, and learned lady, the lady mary nevil, one of the daughters of the right honourable the earl of dorcet, lord high treasurer of england." the book commences with an anagram on the lady's name: "add but an a to romanize your name _another pallas_ is your anagram, videlicet maria nevila alia minerva." and then follow some "stanzes dedicatory," subscribed-- most deuoted to your honourable vertues.--j. s." on the last page is-- "london, printed by milch bradwood, for edward blount, ." the _automachia_ is a poem of lines, in heroic metre, and is followed by a shorter poem, entitled "a comfortable exhortation to the christian in his self-conflict." do any of your correspondents know of the existence or authorship of this little work? it is not in the british museum, nor could the curators of the library there, to whom it was shown, make out anything about it. the discovery of its authorship might tend to throw some light on that of "the pedlar's song," attributed to shakspeare, and appearing in vol. i., p. . of "notes and queries." the song contains the line-- "such is the sacred hunger for gold." and in the _automachia_ i find the "auri sacra fames" described as-- "midas' desire, the miser's only trust, the sacred hunger of pactolian dust." a. m. _poa cynosuwides._--_poa cynosuwides_, the sacred grass of india, is mentioned in persoon's _synopsis_, as also an egyptian plant: does it appear on the egyptian monuments? theophrastus, quoted in the _præparatio evangelica_ of eusebius, mentions the use of a certain [greek: poa] in the ancient sacrifices of egypt. f. q. _vineyards._--besides those at bury st. edmonds and halfield, are there any other pieces of land bearing this name? and if so, when were they disused for their original purpose? clericus. _martin, cockerell, and hopkins families._--can any one give information respecting the families of martin, cockerell, and hopkins, in or near wivenhoe, essex? clericus. _camden's poem on marriage of the thames and isis._--i should esteem it a favour if any reader of the "notes and queries" would inform me where i can find a latin poem of camden's on the "marriage of the thames with the isis." in his work styled _britannia_ (which was enlarged by richard gough, in vols., fol. lond. ), in vol. i. p. ., under surrey, camden himself quotes two passages; and in vol. ii., under middlesex, p. ., one passage, from the above-mentioned poem. i have in vain made many endeavours to find the _entire poem_. i have examined the original work, as well as all the translations of _britannia, sive florentissimorum regnorum angliæ, etc., chorographica descriptio; gulielmo camdeno, authore_, londini, , folio. all these contain the quotations i have specified, but no more, and i am anxious to see the whole of the poem. ¶s. _national airs of england._--among the national gleanings which are sent to your journal, i have not seen any that relate to the traditional music of england. we allow our airs to be stolen on all sides, and, had not mr. chappell acted the part of a detective, might never have recovered our own property. ireland has taken "my lodging is on the cold ground" and "the girls we leave behind us," while scotland has laid claim to all her own _at least_, and germany is laying violent hands on "god save the queen." under these circumstances, would it not be a good thing, for those who have the power, to communicate the simple air of any song which appears native to our country, together with the words? i fancy that in this way we should gain many hints, besides musical ones, highly interesting to your readers. ? ( .). { } p.s. it has struck me that the origin of the word _mass_ may be found in the custom, referred to in an early number of "notes and queries," of messing persons together at dinner in former times. _poor pillgarlick._--whence comes the expression, "poor pilgarlick," and how should the words be spelt? h. p. exeter. _inscription on a portrait._--can any of your correspondents explain the meaning of the following inscription:-- io par. pla vx placed at the top left-hand corner of an old portrait in my possession, supposed to be that of philip ii. of spain? c. edwards. _burton's parliamentary diary._--the sale of _clergymen for slaves_ is alluded to in vol. iv. of burton's _diary_. this has received elucidation at p. . of your present volume. _tobacconists._--at p. , vol. i., of burton's _parliamentary diary_ it is stated, that "sir john reynolds said he had numbered the house, and there were at rising at least present, besides _tobacconists_." what and who were the persons designated as tobacconists? p. t. _"the owl is abroad."_--on what ground is the fine base song, "the owl is abroad," attributed to henry purcell? dr. clarke has done so in his well-known selections from purcell's works; and mr. g. hogarth, in his _memoirs of the musical drama_, speaking of purcell's _tempest_, says: "there is a song for caliban, _the owl is abroad, the bat and the toad_, which one might suppose weber to have imagined." is it not really the property of john christopher smith, the friend of handel? amongst the few books of printed music in the _british museum catalogue_ is _the tempest, an opera, composed by mr. smith_, in which is the base song in question. on the other hand, i do not find it in purcell's _tempest_. if, as i imagine, it belongs to mr. smith, it seems peculiarly hard that the credit of the composition should be taken from him, to be given to one who stands in no need of it. a. r. _scandal against queen elizabeth._--the following note occurs in vol. iv. p. . of burton's _parliamentary diary_:-- "osborn,--see his works ( ), p. ,--says, 'queen elizabeth had a son, bred in the state of venice, and a daughter, i know not where or when;' with other strange tales that went on her i neglect to insert, as fitter for a romance than to mingle with so much truth and integrity as i profess." is this rumour any where else alluded to? and if so, upon what foundation? p. t. _letters of horning._--what is the meaning of "letters of horning," a term occasionally, though rarely, met with in documents drawn up by notaries? and, _à propos_, why should "notaries public," with regard to the noun and adjective, continue to place the cart before the horse? manleius. _cromwell poisoned._--at p. . vol. ii. of burton's _parliamentary diary_ it is stated, in a note upon the death of oliver cromwell, that his body exhibited certain appearances "owing to the disease of which the protector died, which, by the by, appeared to be that of poison." the words, "prestwich's ms." are attached to this note. is there any other authority for this statement? p. t. * * * * * replies. collar of ss. (vol. ii., pp. . . . . . .) the dispute about the collar of ss., between mr. j. gough nichols and armiger, is, as sir lucius o'trigger would say, "a mighty pretty quarrel as it stands;" but i have seen no mention by either writer of "the red sindon" for the chamber of queen philippa, "beaten throughout with the letter s in gold leaf:" or the throne of henry v. powdered with the letter s, in an illuminated ms. of his time, in bennet college library, cambridge. i fancy there will be some difficulty in reconciling these two examples with the theory of either of the disputants. when armiger alludes to the monument of matilda fitzwalter, "who lived in the reign of king john," i presume he is aware that the effigy is not of that period. i do not think any of the seekers of this hidden signification can be said to be even _warm_ yet, much less to burn. j. r. planchÉ. _collar of ss._--as i conceive that the description of this collar by your correspondent c. (vol. ii., p. .) is not strictly correct, i forward you drawings of two examples: no. . from the monument of sir humphrey stafford (and which is the general type); no. . from that of the husband of margaret holand, countess of somerset (gough's _funeral monuments_). the latter example might have been called a collar of , , were it not that that name is less euphonious than ss. the collar was worn by several ladies. (see the work above quoted.) b. w. [the figures in the example no. . forwarded by b. w. cannot possibly have been intended for { } anything but ss.; while, on the other hand, those in no. ., as he rightly observes, are more like figures , , than the letters ss.] while the origin of the collar of esses is instructively occupying your correspondents, allow me to direct your attention to the enclosed paragraph extracted from the _morning post_ of the th instant, from which it appears that lord denman's collar has been "obtained" (_qy._ by purchase?) by the corporation of derby for the future use of their mayor. i wish to know, can a _quo warranto_ issue to the said mayor for the assumption of this badge? and if not, in whom does the power reside of correcting this abuse, if such it be? "the gold chain of the lord chief justice of england.--on wednesday week, at a meeting of the corporation of derby, the mayor stated that the chain he then had the honour to wear was the one worn by the lord chief justice of england, and that it had been obtained from lord denman by the corporation for all future chief magistrates of the borough. we understand the corporation obtained the chain upon the same terms as it would have been transferred to lord campbell, if his lordship had taken to it from his noble predecessor."--(_quoted from nottingham journal, in morning post_, th oct. .) f. s. q. the inclosed paragraph, extracted from the _morning post_ of last saturday completes the history of the municipal collar of the corporation of derby, concerning which i recently proposed a query. the right to purchase does not, however, establish the right to wear such a decoration. "the insignia of mayoralty.--considerable excitement prevails just now in many municipal corporations respecting the insignia of mayoralty. at derby the mayor has recently obtained the gold chain worn by lord denman when lord chief justice. in reference to a question whether or not the chain was a present, a correspondent of the _derby mercury_ says, 'i am sorry to admit, it was a bargain; it cost l., and is paid for. the chain is the property of the corporation, and will grace the neck of every succeeding mayor. the robes did not accompany the chain; they are bran new, gay in colour, a good cut, and hang well; they are private property, consequently not necessarily transferable. every mayor will have the privilege of choosing the shape and colour of his official vestment, and can retain or dispose of it as he may deem proper. it was suggested that the robes should be the property of the corporation, but a difficulty arose, from the fact, that mayors differ as much in their bodies as they do in their minds, so that one measure would not conveniently fit all. economically speaking, the suggestion was a valuable one, but the physical difficulty was insurmountable. it has been hinted that a wardrobe of habiliments for different sized mayors might be kept on hand at the town-hall, but as the cost would be great, and the arrangement would partake too much of the customary preparation for a fancy ball or masquerade, it was thought objectionable. the liberal corporation have, therefore, very properly resolved on throwing no obstacle in the way of free trade, and it is their determination to enable all mayors, in the selection of their vestures, to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest.'"--_morning post_, oct. . . f. s. q. as i was the first to open the fire on the very puzzling subject of the ss. collar, which has led to more pleasant and profitable, though _warm_ discussion, than ever any person could have expected, it seems now to be time for some to step forward as a moderator; and if i be allowed to do so, it will be to endeavour to check the almost _uncourteous_ way in which our armiger friend has taken up the gauntlet on the question. if, sir, you admit _severe_ and sneering criticism, it will, it may be feared, tend very considerably to mar the influence and advantage to be drawn from your useful pages, which are intended, i conceive, for calm, friendly and courteous interchange of useful information. without vituperating the _lucubrations_ of mr. john gough nichols, or sneering at those who "pin faith on his dicta," which have much merit (vol. ii., p. .), it would be surely possible for armiger to advance his own views with good temper and friendly feeling. i have also a word to say to mr. nichols on his remarks on mr. ellacombe's view. he imputes to mr. e. ignorance of the "real formation of the collar." he could only mean that the s hook or link gave _the idea_ of such an ornamental chain; and i believe he is correct: which ornament the taste of the workman would adopt and fashion as we now have it, with the insertion of another link both for the comfort of the wearer, and for variety in the construction. a series of sses (sss) by themselves would certainly be a galling badge, whatever honour might be considered to be conferred with it. b. (original), in future ss., as my initial has been usurped by some unknown friend. october. . . _collar of esses._--i am glad to see the interest shown by your correspondents upon this curious subject, and the various opinions expressed by them as to the actual formation of the collar; the signification of the letter, if a letter be intended (of which i think there can be no reasonable doubt); and the persons who were privileged to wear it. the first two questions will for ever occasion discussion; but allow me to suggest that one step towards the solution of the third, would be a collection in your pages of the names of those persons who, either on their monumental effigies or brasses, or in their portraits or otherwise, are { } represented as wearing that ornament; together with a short statement of the position held by each of these individuals in the court of the then reigning monarch, seeming to warrant the assumption. some notices of this sort have been already given, and your antiquarian correspondents will readily supply others; so that in a little time you will have obtained such a list as will greatly assist the inquiry. it may serve as a commencement if i refer to the atchievement of thomas mowbray, duke of norfolk, in the reign of richard ii., a representation of which is given in _archæologia_, vol. xxix. p. ., where the collar of esses is introduced in a very peculiar manner. edward foss. [as we think the origin and probable meaning of the collar of esses have now been discussed as far as they can be with advantage in the present state of our knowledge, we propose to adopt mr. foss's suggestion, and in future to limit our columns to a record of such facts as he points out.] * * * * * daniel de foe. having been much interested with daniel defoe's description of a _gravesend tiltboat_ in the year , as recorded by alpha in vol. ii., p. ., i think some of your readers may be pleased to learn that it is quite possible that "it may be a plain relation of matter of fact," as de foe was engaged in the business of brick and tile making near tilbury[ ], and must consequently have had frequent occasion to make the trip from gravesend to london. that de foe was so engaged at tilbury we learn from the following proclamation for his apprehension, taken from the _london gazette_, dated st. james's, january , - :-- whereas daniel de foe, alias fooe, is charged with writing a scandalous and seditious pamphlet, entitled _the shortest way with the dissenters_. he is a middled siz'd spare man, about forty years old, of a brown complexion, and dark brown-coloured hair, but wears a wig; a hooked nose, a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near his mouth; was born in london, and, for many years an hose-factor in freeman's yard, cornhill, and is now owner of the brick and pantile works near tilbury fort, in essex. whoever shall discover the said daniel de foe to one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state, or any one of her majesty's justices of the peace, so as he may be apprehended, shall have a reward of fifty pounds, which her majesty has ordered immediately to be paid on such discovery." he soon gave himself up; and having been tried, he stood in the pillory with great fortitude: for soon after he published his poem, entitled _a hymn to the pillory_, in which are the following singular lines:-- "men that are men, in thee can feel no pain, and all thy insignificants disdain; contempt, that false new word for shame, is, without crime, an empty name; a shadow to amuse mankind, but never frights the wise or well fix'd mind-- virtue despises human scorn, and scandals innocence adorn." referring to a design of putting the learned selden into the pillory for his _history of tithes_, he says smartly:-- "even the learned selden saw a prospect of thee thro' the law; he had thy lofty pinnacles in view, but so much honour never was they due. had the great selden triumph'd on thy stage, selden, the honour of his age, no man would ever shun thee more, or grudge to stand where selden stood before." this original poem ends with these remarkable lines, referring to himself: "tell them, the men that placed him here, are scandals to the times, are at a loss to find his guilt, and can't commit his crimes." de foe, however, was afterwards received into favour without any concessions on his part, and proceeded straight onwards in the discharge of what he deemed to be his duty to mankind. he certainly was an extraordinary man for disinterestedness, perseverance, and industry. w. crafter. gravesend. [footnote : traces of these tile-works are still discoverable in a field some three or four hundred yards on the london side of tilbury. [wilson, in his _life of defoe_, vol. i. pp. . et seq., gives some interesting particulars of defoe's share in these pantile works, and of his losses in connexion with them. pantiles had been hitherto a dutch manufacture, and brought in large quantities into england; the works at tilbury were erected for the purpose of superseding the necessity for such importation, and providing a new channel for the employment of labour.--ed.] * * * * * "antiquitas sÆculi juventus mundi." (vol. ii., pp. . .) t. j. and his dublin friend (vol. ii., p. .), appear to refer, one to the latin version, the other to the original english text of lord bacon's _instauration_; and, oddly enough, the inference to which either points, as a reason for disbelieving in the previous existence of the phrase "antiquitas" &c., extends not to the authority consulted by the other. thus, the circumstance of "_ordine retrogrado_" being printed also in italics, is true only in respect of the _english_ text; while, on the other { } hand, "_ut vere dicamus_" is an expression to be found only in the _latin_. but it may be doubted whether the originality of the phrase "antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi" is, after all, worth speculating upon. in the sense in which lord bacon used it, it is rather a naked truism than a wise aphorism. it does not even necessarily convey the intended meaning; nor, if unaccompanied by an explanation, would it be safe from a widely different interpretation. a previous correspondent of "notes and queries" had termed it "this fine aphoristic expression;" and yet, when lord bacon himself expands the thought into an aphorism, he does so without recurring to the phrase in question, which is a tolerably fair proof that he did not look upon it as a peculiarly happy one. (_novum organum_, lib. ., aphorismus lxxxiv.) t. j. infers that if the phrase were a quotation it would have been preceded by "ut dictum est" rather than by "ut dicamus"--but even if it had been introduced by the first of these forms, it does not appear that it would thereby have been proved to be a quotation; because there are instances wherein lord bacon directly refers to the source from which he professes to quote, and yet prefers to give the purport in his own words rather than in those of his author. thus, in citing one of the most exquisite and familiar passages of lucretius, he introduces it by the prefix, "_poeta elegantissime dixit_." and yet what follows, although printed in italics with every appearance of strict quotation, is not the language of lucretius, but a commonplace prose version of its substance. (_sermones fideles_, de veritate.) with reference to lord bacon's works, there are two queries which i wish to ask. t. j.'s friend mentions a rare translation into english by gilbert wats, oxford, as existing in primate marsh's library. query, _of what_ is it a translation? in lord bacon's life, by william rawley, it is stated that his lordship was born in a house "infra plateam dictum _le strand_ juxta londinum." query, was the strand ever known as _le strand_, similarly to adwick-_le-street_ in yorkshire? a. e. b. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _sir gammer vans_ (vol. ii., pp . .).--the story related by s. g. is the same that i inquired after, and i admire the accuracy of his memory, for his version is, for the greater part, _literally_ the same that i heard in ireland sixty years ago. a few passages, as that about _hipper switches_, i do not recollect; and one or two that i remember are wanting--the one, that the narrator was received in "a little _oak_ parlour" of, i forget what, different character; the other, that sir gammer's "mother," or "aunt, was a justice of peace, and his sister a captain of horse." i find that goldsmith's allusion is to this last passage, with some variation. tony lumpkin tells marlow that hardcastle will endeavour to persuade him that "his mother was an alderman and his aunt a justice of peace." (_she stoops to conquer_, a. i. _sub fine_.) i have not been able to find the allusion in swift; nor can i see how it could have been a _political_ satire. it seems rather to be a mere tissue of incongruities and contradictions--of irish bulls, in short, woven into a narrative to make folks laugh; and it is much of the same character as many other pieces of ingenious nonsense with which swift and sheridan used to amuse each other. c. _sir gammer vans._--this worthy is mentioned in that curious little chap-book, _a strange and wonderful relation of the old woman that was drowned at ratcliff highway_, in two parts. i now quote the passage from a copy of the genuine aldermary churchyard edition:-- "at last i arrived at sir john vang's house. 'tis a little house entirely alone, encompassed about with forty or fifty houses, having a brick wall made of flint stone round about it. so knocking at the door, gammer vangs, said i, is sir john vangs within? walk in, said she, and you shall see him in the little, great, round, three square parlour. this gammer vangs had a little old woman her son. her mother was a churchwarden of a large troop of horse, and her grandmother was a justice of the peace; but when i came into the said great, little, square, round, three corner'd parlour, i could not see sir john vangs, for he was a giant. but i espied abundance of nice wicker bottles. and just as i was going out he called to me and asked me what i would have? so looking back i espied him just creeping out of a wicker bottle. it seems by his profession he was a wicker bottle maker. and after he had made them, he crept out at the stopper holes." there are two notes worth recording with respect to this curious medley, which is obviously a modern version of a much older composition. query, is any older edition known? . that the wood-cut on the title page, which has been re-engraved for mr. halliwell's _notices of fugitive tracts and chap-books_, printed for the percy society, is one of the few representations we have of the old _ducking stool_. . that it is said that the rev. thomas kerrich, the well-known librarian of the university of cambridge, could repeat by heart the whole of the eight and forty pages of this strange gallimawfrey. w. j. thoms. _hipperswitches_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i saw a story which was copied into the _examiner_ of oct. . from "notes and queries," entitled "sir gammer vans." the correspondent who has furnished { } you with the tale says that he is ignorant of the meaning of "hipper switches." now hipper is a word applied in this part of the country to a description of osiers used in coarse basket making, and which were very likely things to be bound up into switches. a field in which they grow, near the water side, is called a "hipper-holm." there is a station on the lancashire and yorkshire railway, which takes its name from such a meadow. my nurse, a cornwall woman, tells me _hipper_ withies fetch a higher price than common withies in her country. e. c. g. lancaster. _cat and bagpipes_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a public-house of considerable notoriety, with this sign, existed long at the corner of downing street, next to king street. it was also used as a chop-house, and frequented by many of those connected with the public offices in the neighbourhood. an old friend told me that many years ago he met george rose,--so well known in after life as the friend of pitt, clerk of the parliament, secretary of the treasury, &c., and executor of the earl of marchmont,--then a bashful young man, at the cat and bagpipes. i may mention that george rose was one of the few instances which i have met with, where a scotsman had freed himself from the peculiarities of the speech of his country. sir william grant was another. frank homer was a third. i never knew another. r. _forlot, firlot, or furlet_ (vol. i., p. .).--it may be interesting to your correspondent j. s. to be informed that there is a measure of capacity in universal use in this part of india called a _fara_ or _fura_, which is identical in shape, and, as nearly as can be judged by the eye, in size, with the scottish _furlet_. the _fura_ is divided into sixteen _pilys_, a small measure in universal use here; in like manner as the _furlet_ is divided into sixteen _lipys_, which measure was, and i presume still is, in general use throughout scotland. a friend informs me that, in the west of scotland, the common pronunciation of the word _furlet_ is exactly the same as that of the word _fura_ here by the mahrattas. it is unnecessary to point out the numerous instances in which such changes as that from _pily_ to _lipy_ take place _per metathesem_. now, an interesting subject of investigation, supposing the coincidence above noticed not to be an accidental one, would be to trace the links of connexion between these words; and in this, some of your german readers may be enabled to afford valuable aid. as an illustration of the same article being in use in widely distant localities, i may mention that on returning to england from a voyage to china, i brought with me a chinese _abacus_ or _swanpan_, the instrument in general use among the chinese for performing the ordinary computations of addition, subtraction, &c., thinking it a grand article of curiosity, particularly in a remote seaport town on the east coast, with which to astonish the natives. but what was my chagrin when i was informed by an honest baltic skipper, that to him, at least the instrument was no rarity at all; that he had seen them used hundreds of times for the same purposes at various ports in the baltic; and that, moreover, he had one of them in his home at that very time, which he forthwith produced. j. sh. bombay. _sitting during the lessons_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the rubric directing the people to stand while the gospel is read in the communion service, was first inserted in the scotch common prayer book, a. d. . the ancient and more reverential practice of standing whenever any portion of god's word is read, had not fallen into entire disuse as late as , as will appear from the following extract from _the life of bishop wilson_, by cruttwell, prefixed to the folio edition of his works. it occurs (p. .) under certain heads of advice given to that holy bishop, at the time he was ordained deacon, by his much-esteemed friend, archdeacon hewetson:-- "never to miss the church's public devotions twice a day, when unavoidable business, or want of health, or of a church (as in travelling), does not hinder. in church to behave himself also very reverently; nor ever turn his back upon the altar in service time, nor on the minister, when it can be avoided; _to stand at the lessons and epistle as well as at the gospel_, and especially when a psalm is sung: to bow reverently at the name of jesus whenever it is mentioned in any of the church's offices; to turn towards the east when the gloria patri and the creeds are rehearsing; and to make obeisance at coming into, and going out of the church, and at going up to, and coming down from, the altar; are all ancient, commendable, and devout usages, and which _thousands_ of good people of our church practise at this day, and amongst them, if he deserves to be reckoned amongst them, thomas wilson's dear friend." j. y. hoxton. _engelmann's bibliotheca auctor. class._ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--"i hereby attest that the english titles to my _bibliotheca scriptorum classicorum_ were _not_ printed without my knowledge or wish, but _by myself_, for my customers in england. ... w. engelmann." leipzig, oct. . . i also enclose the original, for the benefit of mr. de morgan, if he is not satisfied. another foreign bookseller. _news_ (vol. ii., p. .).--much wit and ingenuity have been wasted on this word. it seems { } clear, however, that its origin is dutch or german, and probably flemish, like the "new's book," so frequently occurring in the correspondence of the seventeenth century. look into that valuable german, french, and latin dictionary of the elzeviers, amst. , where you will find "newe, _f._ une novelle; _lat._ nova, novorum." then follow "etwas newes, quelque chose de nouveau; aliquid novi;" and "was newes, quelles nouvelles;" or, more accurately, "quid novi; quoi de nouveau?" the inference is forced upon us that, during the flemish wars, in which the sidneys and a long catalogue of noble english volunteers distinguished themselves, the thing and the term were imported hither. agreeably to so natural a presumption, the hollandish "nieuws" occurs, as a neuter substantive, in the sense of "niewe tijding," or "nouvelles," and, of course, the english "news," as perfect as can be wished. it is true that the "nieuws-boek" now circulates under the modest name of "nieuws-papieren," or of "nieuws-verteller:" but, to convince readers wise enough not to expect in such matters as these a geometrical demonstration, what is here humbly stated might suffice. g. m. guernsey. _derivation of orchard._--what is the derivation of _orchard_? is the last syllable "yard," as in vineyard, rickyard? if so, what is "orch?" by the way, is the provincial word "hag-gard" hay-yard? h. a. b. [orchard is from the anglo-saxon _ort geard_, or _wyrt geard_; the final syllable _gard_ or _yard_, in the words cited by our correspondent, being the modern form of _the a.-s. geard_.] * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. were _anschar, a story of the north_, a mere work of fiction, we should not think of recording its appearance in our columns. but it has other claims to our notice and the attention of our readers. based on the life of anschar the monk of corbey, by rembert, his successor in the archiepiscopal see of hamburgh,--a biography which the writer of the work before us describes as one of the most important documents we possess for the elucidation of the early history, manners, and religion of the races of northern europe,--mr. king has produced a narrative of considerable interest, abounding in curious pictures of the social condition of the swedish people at the close of the ninth century. but mr. king's pleasing story has also this additional merit, that while his learning and scholarlike acquirements have enabled him to illustrate the early history, religion, customs, and superstitions of the north in a most interesting and instructive manner, he has so done this, as at the same time to throw much curious light on many of our own old-world customs, popular observances, and folk-lore. such of our clerical readers as may be anxious to introduce cheap maps into the schools under their superintendence, will thank us for calling their attention to the series of _penny maps_ (twopence each with the boundaries coloured), now publishing by messrs. chapman and hall. that they have been constructed and engraved by mr. j. w. lowry, is a sufficient guarantee for their accuracy. we have received a copy of mr. walker's engraving from mr. doyle's picture of _caxton submitting his proof-sheet to john esteney, abbot of westminster, in _. the subject--and what can be of greater interest to us than the great event it commemorates, the vast social change it has wrought--has been very ably treated by the artist, and very successfully rendered by the engraver. the calm dignity of the patriotic mercer, master william caxton, as he watches the countenance of the abbot, who is examining with astonishment this first specimen of the new art, contrasts well with the expression of pride exhibited by earl rivers at the success of his protégé, on whose shoulder he rests his hand with an air half-patronizing, half-familiar, and with wynkyn de worde at the case behind, constitute altogether a picture which tells its story well and effectually, and furnishes a caxton memorial which will doubtless be very acceptable to all those who remember, with the gratitude due to him, the many precious volumes with which the learning of caxton, no less than his mechanical genius, enriched the literature of england. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell on monday next, and the two following days, an interesting collection of engraved british portraits, the property of the late mr. dodd, the author of the _connoisseur's repertorium_. we may specify one lot as very interesting to lovers of illustrated works, viz. a copy of robert smythe's _history of the charter house_, with two hundred and twenty-six sheets of prints illustrative of the printed text. we have received the following catalogues:--bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue, no. ., of books in european languages, dialects, classics, &c.; john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cxvii., no. for , of old and new books; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue, no. . for , of books old and new. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. berrington's miscellaneous dissertations, historical, critical, and moral. vo. . harsenet's declaration of popish impostures. or . mayer's historia diaboli. andrewe's continuation of henry's great britain. vols. vo. _odd volumes._ gibbon's decline and fall, &c., vols. vo. . vol. x. james' naval history, vols. vol. iv. dryden's works, by scott. . large paper. vols. ii., iv., vi. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. { } * * * * * notices to correspondents. h. a. b. _the superstition respecting the number thirteen in company most probably arose from the paschal supper._ see ellis' _brand_, iii., p. . ed. . e. m. (darlington) _is thanked for his kind suggestion, which will not be lost sight of._ f. g. (edinburgh) _will find, upon reference to_ vol. ii., p. ., _that the charade given in_ vol. ii., p. . _had been answered in anticipation._ _as we again propose this week to circulate a large number of copies of_ "notes and queries," _among members of the different provincial literary institutions, we venture, for the purpose of furthering the objects for which our paper was instituted, to repeat the following passage from our nd number:--_ it is obvious that the use of a paper like "notes and queries" bears a direct proportion to the extent of its circulation. what it aims at doing is, to reach the learning which lies scattered not only throughout every part of our own country, but all over the literary world, and to bring it all to bear upon the pursuits of the scholar; to enable, in short, men of letters all over the world to give a helping hand to one another. to a certain extent, we have accomplished this end. our last number contains communications not only from all parts of the metropolis, and from almost every county in england, but also from scotland, ireland, holland, and even from demerara. this looks well. it seems as if we were in a fair way to accomplish our design. but much yet remains to be done. we have recently been told of whole districts in england so benighted as never to have heard of "notes and queries;" and after an interesting question has been discussed for weeks in our columns, we are informed of some one who could have answered it immediately if he had seen it. so long as this is the case the advantage we may confer upon literature and literary men is necessarily imperfect. we do what we can to make known our existence through the customary modes of announcement, and we gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance and encouragement we derive from our brethren of the public press; but we would respectfully solicit the assistance of our friends upon this particular point. our purpose is aided, and our usefulness increased by every introduction which can be given to our paper, either to a book club, to a lending library, or to any other channel of circulation amongst persons of inquiry and intelligence. by such introductions scholars help themselves as well as us, for there is no inquirer throughout the kingdom who is not occasionally able to throw light upon some of the multifarious objects which are discussed in our pages. _volume the first of_ "notes and queries," _with very copious index, price_ s. d. _bound in cloth, may still be had by order of all booksellers._ _the monthly part for october, being the fifth of_ vol. ii., _is also now ready, price_ s. d. notes and queries _may be procured by the trade at noon on friday: so that out country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels._ * * * * * journal francais, publié à londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en , paraissant le samedi, donnes dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramatique par th. gautier ou j. janin, la révue de paris par pierre durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * on the nd of december will be published, in post vo., s. cloth, the antediluvian history, and narrative of the flood; as set forth in the early portions of the book of genesis; critically examined and explained. by the rev. e. d. rendell, of preston. hodson, . portugal street, lincoln's inn, london. * * * * * the pictorial history of england. just published, price s. cloth, a complete index to the pictorial history of england; forming at the same time an alphabetical chronology of all public events and national characteristics. by h. c. hamilton, esq., of the state paper office. *** early applications for this work will be necessary, as only a limited number has been printed. london: wm. s. orr and co., amen-corner, paternoster-row. * * * * * literature.--inexperienced writers, possessors of manuscripts, poets, clergymen, young authors, and others seeking publishers for their works, should consult the "author's printing and publishing assistant." by adopting the information and plan which it contains, they may have their productions brought out, whether pamphlets or expensive volumes, without the risk of publication, and with every chance of success. the author's assistant, th edition, price s. d., or post-free, s. saunders & otley, publishers, conduit-street, hanover-square. * * * * * collection of mediÆval art of mr. george isaacs. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property and works of art, will sell by auction at their great room, . piccadilly, on tuesday, nov. , the well-known and carefully chosen cabinet of mediæval art, collected by mr. george isaacs, (who is about to leave england for a permanent residence abroad). some of the rare objects in this cabinet are from the celebrated de bruge collection, and several were not unimportant items in the recent exhibition of the society of arts. also some curious printed books, and a few highly interesting heraldic and other mss., including the long lost volume of the works of dr. dee, and others from the ashmolean collection. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * the late mr. thomas dodd's interesting collection of engraved british portraits, framed and glazed prints, works of hogarth, &c. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and john wilkinson (auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts,) will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington-street, strand, on monday, the th day of november, , and two following days, at one o'clock precisely, in pursuance of his will, the interesting collection of engraved british portraits, combining every class of the community that have figured in british history and biography; governors of the charter house, from the date of the foundation of the establishment to the present time. also, an illustrated history of the charter house, in five imperial folio volumes, containing two hundred and twenty-six sheets of prints, illustrative of the printed text, and accompanied by an elaborate ms. index, compiled by and in the hand-writing of the illustrator; the property of the late mr. thomas dodd, author of the "connoisseur's repertorium," and late a brother on the foundation of the charter house. also, works of hogarth, prints, framed and glazed, portrait of sir t. lawrence, by cousins, five hundred impressions, with the steel plate. may be viewed two days prior, and catalogue had (if in the country, on receipt of six postage stamps). { } * * * * * oxford, at the university press. * * * * * a list of editions of the bible in english. by henry cotton, d.c.l. second edition. vo. s. d. a typographical gazetteer attempted by henry cotton, d.c.l. second edition. vo. s. d. parochial antiquities attempted in the history of ambrosden, burcester, and other adjacent parts of the counties of oxford and bucks. by white kennett, d. d., vicar of ambrosden, afterwards bishop of peterborough. a new edition in two volumes, greatly enlarged from the author's ms. notes. edited by the rev. b. bandinel, d.d. to. l. s. catalogus librorum impressorum bibliothecÆ bodleianÆ in academia oxoniensi. tomi iii. folio. l. s. a catalogue of the manuscripts bequeathed to the university of oxford by elias ashmole, esq., m.d., &c. by w. h. black. to. l. s. d. a catalogue of the printed books and manuscripts bequeathed by francis douce, esq., to the bodleian library. folio, with plates plain, l. s. coloured, l. s. catalogus codicum mss. orientalium bibliothecÆ bodleianÆ: pars prima a j. uri. partis secundæ volumen primum ab alexandro nicoll, a.m. partis secundæ volumen secundum, arabicos complectens, ab e. b. pusey, s.t.b. vols. folio. l. s. d. catalogus mss. e. d. clarke, qui in bibliotheca bodleiana adservantur. pars prior. inseruntur scholia inedita in platonem et in carmina gregorii nazianzeni. pars posterior mss. orientalium ed. a. nicoll, a.m. parts. to. s. catalogus codicum mss. et impressorum, cum notis mss. olim d'orvillianorum, qui in bibliotheca bodleiana adservantur. to. s. d. catalogus mss. borealium prÆcipur islandicÆ originis, qui nunc in bibliotheca bodleiana adservantur. auctore finno magno islando. to. s. d. the works of sir walter raleigh, kt. history of the world, &c. vols. vo. l. s. the two books of common prayer, set forth by authority of parliament, in the reign of king edward vi., compared with each other. by edward cardwell, d.d., principal of st. alban's hall. second edition, vo. s. history of conferences and other proceedings connected with the revision of the book of common prayer, from the year to the year . by edward cardwell, d.d., principal of st. alban's hall. third edition. vo. s. d. documentary annals of the reformed church of england; being a collection of injunctions, declarations, orders, articles of inquiry, &c., from the year to the year . with notes, historical and explanatory. by edward cardwell, d.d., principal of st. alban's hall. vols. vo. s. synodalia. a collection of articles of religion, canons, and proceedings of convocations in the province of canterbury, from the year to the year . with notes, historical and explanatory, by edward cardwell, d.d., principal of st. alban's hall. vols. vo. s. certain sermons or homilies, appointed to be read in churches in the time of queen elizabeth, a new edition, with scripture reference, and indexes. to which are added, the constitutions and canons ecclesiastical. vo. s. d. formularies of faith put forth by authority during the reign of henry viii. vo. s. three primers put forth in the reign of henry viii. a new edition. vo. s. the history of the reformation of the church of england. by gilbert burnet, d.d., late lord bishop of sarum. a new edition, with a copious index. vols. vo. l. s. origines britannicÆ; or, the antiquities of the british churches. by edward stillingfleet, d.d. to which is added, an historical account of church government. by w. lloyd, d.d. a new edition, with additional notes. by the rev. thos. p. pantin, m.a. vols. vo. l. s. * * * * * sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; and e. gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page inedited letter from the earl of shaftesbury, author of the "characteristics," to le clerc, respecting locke mr. gough's translation of the "history of the bible" folk-lore:--lammer beads, by albert way on catalogues of books, by bolton corney minor notes:--the "winter's tale"--inscribed alms-dish--landwade church--the first edition of the second book of homilies, by queen elizabeth, in queries:-- dutch translation of a tract by robert greene the black rood of scotland minor queries:--the "tanthony"--"beauty retire"--the soul's dark cottage--small by degrees and beautifully less--musical plagiarism--simon bache--sir walter raleigh--harrison's chronology--aristophanes on the modern stage--drachmarus--strutt's queen hoo hall--cardinal's monument--names bacon and fagan--blunder--prince of wales' feathers--portrait of ben jonson--robert burton--blowen replies:-- touchstone's dial, by robert snow and j. clarke winifreda, by lord braybrooke replies to minor queries--did st. paul's clock strike thirteen--by the bye--clement's inn--words are men's daughters--passage in saint mark--"and coxcombs vanquish berkeley by a grin"--dr. trusler's memoirs miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. inedited letter from the earl of shaftesbury, author of the "characteristics," to le clerc, respecting locke. [we are indebted to our valued correspondent janus dousa, for a transcript of the following important letter--the original of which is preserved in the remonstrant library of amsterdam--and for which our correspondent acknowledges his obligations to the great kindness of prof. des amories van der hoven.] "st. giles's, in dorset, feb. - . . "sir,--having once writt to you in my own language, i continue to use the same privilege. i am sorry that i am in no better a condition to acquit my self of my promise to you. my recovery has been so slow, that i am scarce yet got up: and i have been unable to hold any correspondance with my friends in town. mr. king promisd to send me the papers i mention'd to you of mr. lock's; who, it seems, had begun some memoires of his own relating to my g^d father. these however imperfect, yet as being mr. lock's own i should have been glad to send you with what supplement i could make myself: but mr. king's engagements in the publick affaires has made him delay this so long, that according to the account you have given me of the shortness of your time, i must wayt no longer: but content my self with giving you what i can out of my own head, without other assistance. "mr. lock came into my grandfathers family in the summer of the year , recommended by his friend[ ] mr. bennet of y^e town of shaftesbury. the occasion of it was thus. my grandfather had been ill for a great while after a fall, by w^{ch} his breast was so bruised that in time it came to an imposthumation (?) within, and appeard by a swelling under his stomach. mr. lock was at that time a student in physick at oxford: and my grandfather taking a journey that way to drink the waters (having mr. bennett in y^e coach with him), he had this young physician presented to him: who tho' he had never practic'd physick; yet appear'd to my grandfather to be such a genius that he valew'd him above all his other physicians, the great men in practice of those times. accordingly on his advice and allmost solely by his direction my g^d father underwent an operation w^{ch} sav'd his life, and was the most wonderfull of the kind that had been heard of, till that time. his breast was layd open, the matter discharg'd, and an orifice ever afterwards kept open by a silver pipe: an instrument famouse { } upon record, in the writings our popish and jacobite authors, who never faild to reproach him with this infirmity. "after this cure, mr. lock grew so much in esteem with my grand-father that as great a man as he had experienc'd him in physick; he look'd upon this but as his least part. he encourag'd him to turn his thoughts another way. nor would he suffer him to practice physick except in his own family and as a kindness to some particular friend. he put him upon the studdy of the religiouse and civil affaires of the nation with whatsoever related to the business of a minister of state: in w^{ch} he was so successfull, that my g^d father begun soon to use him as a friend, and consult with him on all occasions of that kind. he was not only with him in his library and closet, but in company with the great men of those times, the duke of buckingham, lord hallifax and others, who being men of witt and learning, were as much taken with him. for together with his seriouse, respectfull and humble character, he had a mixture of pleasantry and a becoming boldness of speech. the liberty he could take with these great men was peculiar to such a genius as his. a pleasant instance of it runs in my mind: tho' perhaps the relation of it may not be so pleasing to another. "at an appointed meeting of two or three of these great-men at my g^d father's house, more for entertainment and good company than for business, it happen'd that after a few compliments the cards were called for, and the court-fashion prevailing, they were engag'd in play before any conversation was begun. mr. lock sate by as a spectator for some time. at least taking out his table-book, he began to write something very busily: till being observd by one of the lords, and ask'd what he was meditating; my lords (sayd he) i am improving my self the best i can in your company: for, having impatiently wayted this honour of being present at such a meeting of the wisest men and greatest witts of the age, i thought i could not do better than to write your conversation: and here i have it, in substance, all that has pass'd for this hour or two. there was no need of mr. lock's writing much of the dialogue. the great men felt the ridicule, and took pleasure in improving it. they quitted their play, and fell into a conversation becoming them: and so passed the remainder of the day. "when my g^d father, from being chancellor of the exchequer, was made high chancellor (w^{ch} was in the year ) he advanc'd mr. lock to the place of secretary for the clergy: and when my g^d father quitted the court and began to be in danger from it, mr. lock now shard with him in dangers, as before in honours & advantages. he entrusted him with his secretest negotiations, and made use of his assistant pen in matters that nearly concerned the state, and were fitt to be made publick, to raise that spirit in the nation which was necessary against the prevailing popish party. "it was for something of this kind that got air, and out of great tenderness to mr. lock that my grandfather in the year sent him abroad to travell: an improvement w^{ch} my g^d father was gladd to add to those he had allready given him. his health servd as a very just excuse: he being consumptive as early in his life as that was. so that having travelld thro' france he went[ ] to montpelier and there stayd for some time. he returnd again to my g^d fathers in the year , and remaind in his family till the year : w^{ch} was the year that my g^d father retird into holland and there dyed. mr. lock who was to have soon followd him thither, was not prevented in the voyage, by this death: but found it safest for him to retire thither, and there lived (at our good friend mr. furly's of rotterdam) till the happy revolution of king william, w^{ch} restord him to his native country and to other publick offices of greater note, w^{ch} by fresh meritts he deserv'd: witness his then publishd books of government, trade and coin: by w^{ch} he had as considerably servd the state, as he had done the church and protestant interest by his defence of toleration and support of the revolution-principles. "but of this part of his life, you need no information. "thus far i have made mention of mr. lock as to his station in publick affaires, under my grandfather. now as to his service in private affaires, and the concerns of a family, w^{ch} was, in every respect, so happy in him, that he seem as a good guardian angel sent to bless it. "when mr. lock first came into the family, my father was a youth of about fifteen or sixteen. him my grandfather entrusted wholly to mr. lock for what remain'd of his education. he was an only child, and of no firm health: w^{ch} induc'd my g^d father, in concern for his family to think of marrying him as soon as possible. he was too young and unexperienc'd to chuse a wife for himself: and my grandfather too much in business to chuse one for him. the affair was nice, for tho' my grandfather requir'd not a great fortune, he insisted on good blood, good person and constitution, and above all, good education, and a character as remote as possible from that of court- or town-bred lady. all this was thrown upon mr. lock, who being allready so good judge of men, my grand father doubted not of his equal { } judgment in women. he departed from him, entrusted and sworn, as _abraham's_ head-servant[ ] _that ruled over all that he had_, and went into a far-country (the north of england) _to seek for his son a wife_ whome he as successfully found. of her, i and six more of us, brothers & sisters, were born; in whose education mr. lock govern'd according to his own principles (since publishd by him) and with such success that we all of us came to full years, with strong healthy constitutions: my own the worst; tho' never faulty till of late. i was his more peculiar charge: being as eldest son, taken by my grandfather, & bred under his immediate care: mr. lock having the absolute direction of my education, and to whome next my immediate parents as i must own the greatest obligation, so i have ever preserved the highest gratitude & duty. "i could wish that my time and health would permit me to be longer in this account of my friend and foster-father, mr. lock. if i add any thing as you desire, concerning my grandfather himself, it must have a second place: this being a subject more selfish and in w^{ch} i may justly suspect my self of partiality: of w^{ch} i would willingly be free: and think i truly am so in this i now send you. but i fear least this (such as it is) should come too late, and therefore hasten to conclude with repeated assurances of my being your oblig'd friend and humble servant "shaftesbury. "p.s. if after what i have said i dare venture a word to you as to my grandfather's apology for the one and only thing i repine at in his whole life (i mean the unhappy words you mention _delenda est carthago_), it must be this: that the publick would not insist on this as so ill, and injuriouse; if they considered the english constitution and manner of those times in w^{ch} the prince more lofty in prorogative and at greater distance from his people than now of days, used but a few words to his parlement; and committed the rest to his keepers or chancellor, to speak his sence for him (as he expresses it in y^e conclusion of his own speech) upon w^{ch} my grandfather, the then chancellor, and in his chancellor's place[ ], spoke of king's sence, as the king's mouth; in y^e same manner as the speaker of the house of peers or commons, speaks the house's sence, as _the house's mouth_ (for so he is esteemd and calld) whatsoever may be his own private sence; or tho' he may have deliver'd his own opinion far contrary. "such was my grandfather's call: who was far from delivering his vote or opinion in this manner, either as a councillor or peer, or in his place in parlement: where he carryed on a direct opposite interest: he being allready in open enmity with the duke of york and his party that carryed on that warr, in so much that he was at that very time suspected of holding a correspondence with holland in favour of the commonwealth-party in england. however it be, it is no small comfort to me that that wise commonwealth of holland, the parent and nursing-mother of liberty, thought him worthy of their protection when he was a sufferer for the common cause of religion and liberty: and he must ever remain a noble instance of the generosity of that state, and of that potent head of it, y^e city of amsterdam; where yourself and other great men have met with a reception y^t will redound to their honour. "my grandfather's _turning short upon the court_ (as[ ] sir william temple expresses it) had only this plain reason for it; that he discoverd the king to be a papist, through that disguise of an _esprit fort_, w^{ch} was a character his vices and over fondness of witt made him affect and act very naturally. whatever complyances my grandfather, as a states-man, might make before this discovery, to gain the king, from his brother and y^e french party, he broke off all, when by the duke of buckingham's means, he had gaind this secret. for my grandfather's aversion and irreconcileable hatred to popery, was (as phanaticisme,) confessd by his greatest enemyes to be his master-passion. nor was it ever said that the king left him: but he the king, for nothing was omitted afterwards by that prince to regain him; nor nothing to destroy him, when that was found impossible---- "but i must end: least i fail this post." the superscription is: "a monsieur monsieur le clerc sur le keiser gracht près de l'eglise arminienne a amsterdam" [footnote : "a gentleman of a sound protestant family allways in great friendship with ours. both father and son were members of parlement for that town, and were stewards to my g^d father." (_in a marginal note._)] [footnote : "it was there (as i take it) that mr. lock came so particularly well acquainted with my lord pembrock, that great ornament and pillar of our nation. he was then mr. herbert, a younger brother only." --(_in a marginal note_.)] [footnote : "gen. c. ." (_in a marginal note._)] [footnote : the speech was an act of councill examind beforehand in the cabinet. "mr. lock saw the first coppy of it, w^{ch} was very different; and after it was alter'd in the cabinet, my grandfather complain'd to mr. lock and a relation of his whome mr. lock introducd into y^e family. "the same person has left me a written account of that affaire; and so great was my grandfather's concern and trouble, that he who of all men alas esteemd y^e most ready in speaking was forcd to desire mr. lock to stand at his elbow with the written coppy to prompt him in case of failure in his repetition." (_in a marginal note._)] [footnote : "it is my grandfathers misfortune to have s^r will^m temple, a valewable author, very unfavourable to him: there having been a great quarrel between them on a slight occasion of my grandfather's having stopt his gift of plate after his embassy; a custome w^{ch} my grandfather as chancellor of ye exchequer thought very prejudicial." (_in a marginal note._)] * * * * * { } mr. gough's translation of the history of the bible. in vol. vi., p. ., of nichols's _literary anecdotes_, "memoirs of mr. gough," is the following anecdote of mr. gough's precocious talents-- "at the very early age of eleven he commenced a task that would have reflected credit on any period of life; which, by the indulgence of his mother, appeared in print under the title of '_the history of the bible_, translated from the french by r. g., junior, . london: printed by james waugh in the year .' of this curious volume, consisting of sheets in folio, not more than twenty-five copies were printed, as presents to a few particular friends and when completed at the press, it is marked by way of colophon, 'done at twelve years and a half old.'" mr. nichols in his notes says, that the french edition was printed at amsterdam, in vols. folio, with plates, . that by the generosity of mr. gough's worthy relict, he had a copy of the work with mr. gough's corrections in maturer age; and in a note at p. . of this volume of the _literary anecdotes_ mr. nichols further states, that "by a singular chance, at a sale of the library of dr. guise in january, , he met with two copies of mr. gough's juvenile translation of the _history of the bible_; and at the end of one of the volumes were ten sheets of mr. pickering's _dictionary_, perhaps the only copy of them in existence." the rev. roger pickering was mr. gough's tutor until he was admitted at bene't college, cambridge, july, , being then in the th year of his age. this dictionary was compiled on the plan of calmet, but left unfinished. mr. j. b. nichols, son of the late venerable octogenarian, having recently presented me with a copy of mr. gough's scarce volume, i am anxious to learn by whom the original french work was written, and where a copy may be purchased. it is one of much erudition; sound in doctrine and principle; pleasing and familiar in its language, and would, i should think, well repay the publisher of a new edition, after a careful correction of a few deficiencies in composition, incidental to the early period at which mr. gough translated it. there is nothing in the preface, or in any part of the volume, to indicate the name of the original author. should mr. j. b. nichols still possess mr. gough's more matured and corrected copy, he might perhaps discover some reference to the author. j. m. g. worcester, jan. . * * * * * folk lore. _lammer beads_ (vol. iii. p. .).--if l. m. m. r. had taken the trouble to consult jamieson's _etymological dictionary_,--that rich storehouse of curious information, not merely in relation to the language, but to the manners and customs, and the superstitions of north britain,--he would have found interesting notices connected with his inquiry. see the word lammer, and the same in the supplement. we might accept, without a moment's hesitation, the suggestion of a learned friend of dr. jamieson's, deriving lammer from the french, _l'ambre_, were it not that kilian gives us teut. lamertyn-steen, _succinum_. in anglo-saxon times it was called eolhsand (_gloss. Ælfr._), and appears to have been esteemed in britain from a very early period. amongst antiquities of the anglo-saxon age, beads of amber are of very frequent occurrence. douglas has collected some interesting notes regarding this substance, in his _nenia_, p. . it were needless to cite the frequent mention of _precularia_, or paternosters, of amber, occurring in inventories. the duke of bedford, regent of france, purchased a most costly chaplet from a parisian jeweller, in , described as "une patenostres à signeaux d'or et d'ambre musquet." (leber, inventaires, p. .) the description "de alba awmbre," as in the enumeration of strings of beads appended to the shrine of s^r william, at york minster, may have been in distinction from jet, to which, as well as to amber, certain virtuous or talismanic properties were attributed. there were, however, several kinds of amber,--_succinum rubrum_, _fulvum_, &c. the learned professor of copenhagen, olaus worm, alludes to the popular notions and superstitious use of amber-- "foris in collo gestatum, contra fascinationes et nocturna terriculamenta pueros tueri volunt; capitis etiam destillationibus, et tonsillarum ac faucium vitiis resistere, oculorum fluxus et ophthalmias curare." by his account it would seem to have been received as a panacea, sovereign for asthma, dropsy, toothache, and a multitude of diseases. "in summâ (he concludes) balsami instar est, calorem nativum roborans et morborum insultibus resistens."--_museum wormianum_, p. . bartholomaeus glanvilla, in his work, _de proprietatibus rerum_, has not overlooked the properties of amber, which he seems to regard as a kind of jet (book xvi., c. xlix.). "gette, hyght gagates, and is a boystous stone, and never the les it is precious." he describes it as most abundant and of best quality in britain of two kinds, yellow and black; it drives away adders,-- "is contrary to fendes,--helpeth for fantasies and ayenste vexacions of fendis by night.--and so, if so boystus a stone dothe so great wonders, none shuld be dispisid for foule colour without, while the vertu that is within is unknowe." (translation by trevisa.) albert way. * * * * * { } on catalogues of books. a series of notes on the _utility_ of printed catalogues of public libraries may seem to be a superfluity. it may be said, _who ever denied it?_ relying on a official document, i can assert that it _has_ been denied--in defiance of common sense, and the experience of two hundred and fifty years! at such a time, it behoves every lover of literature to declare himself, and to furnish his quota of facts or arguments corrective of this upstart paradox. it is under the influence of that sentiment that i submit, for consideration in the proper quarter, some short extracts from my bibliographic portfolios. bolton corney. "the forwardness of your catalogue [of the public library at oxford] is very good tidings.... i would intreat you to meditate upon it, how it may be performed to both our credits and contents."--_sir thomas_ bodley to _tho. james_, c. . habes, benigne lector, catalogum librorum, eo ordine dispositum, quo in celeberrima oxoniensi bibliothecâ collocantur; opus diu multumque desideratum, et jam tandem editum."--_thomas_ james, . "quamprimum benignis academicorum suffragiis in bibliothecarium electus essem, viderémque justum bibliothecæ publicæ catalogum ab omnibus desiderari, ego ut gratiis litatum irem, me protinùs accinxi ad conficiendum proprio marte novum catalogum."--_thomas_ hyde, . "the general use of catalogues of [of books], and the esteem they are in at present, is so well known, that it were to waste paper to expatiate on it."--_gerard_ langbaine, . "quelles obligations la république des lettres n'a-t-elle pas aux anglais, d'avoir donné les catalogues des livres que renferment leurs bibliothèques! celui d'oxford est d'une utilité reconnue, par le grand nombre de livres qu'il contient, et par l'ordre alphabétique qu'on leur a donné."--jourdan, . catalogues of books are of great use in literary pursuits.... we mean not here to enter into all the conveniencies of a more improved catalogue, for it would require a volume to display them."--_william_ oldys, . "solebat [sc. ruhnkenius] haud exiguam subsecivæ operæ partem tribuere perlegendis catalogis librorum, sive per auctiones divendendorum, sive in bibliothecis publicis servatorum; unde factum est, ut rariorum cognitionem librorum, jam in bergeri disciplina perceptam, continuo augeret."--_dan_. wyttenbach, . "le premier besoin de l'homme de lettres qui entreprend un ouvrage, est de connoître les sources auxquelles il peut puiser, les livres qui ont traité directement ou indirectement le sujet qui l'occupe."--_s_. chardon _de la rochette_, . "la bibliothèque [savoir, la bibliothèque royale établie à bruxelles] aura deux catalogues: l'un alphabétique, l'autre systématique. dans l'intérêt de la science, le catalogue sera imprimé, en tout ou en partie."--lÉopold, _roi des belges_, . "le catalogue est l'inventaire en le véritable palladium d'une bibliothèque. l'impression des catalogues est toujours une chose utile, sinon indispensable.... la publicité est, en outre, le frein des abus, des négligences, et des malversations, l'aiguillon du zèle, et la source de toute amélioration."--_l. a._ constantin, . "la publication d'une nouvelle édition complète du catalogue de la bibliothèque du roi [de france], serait, sans doute, le plus grand service qu'on pût jamais rendre à l'histoire littéraire; et nous ne regardons pas cette entreprise comme impraticable."--_jacques charles_ brunet, . "m. merlin pense avec moi, et c'est quelque chose, que les justes plaintes formées contre l'administration de la bibliothèque royale [de france] cesseront dès l'instant où l'on aura rédigé et publié le catalogue géneral des livres imprimés."--_paulin_ paris, . * * * * * minor notes. _the "winter's tale."_--as mr. payne collier is making inquiries as to the origin of shakspeare's _winter's tale_, perhaps he will allow me to call his attention to an oversight he has committed in his edition of greene's _pandosto_, in the series called _shakspeare's library_. in a note to the introduction, p. ii., mr. collier says, "some verbal resemblances and trifling obligations have been pointed out by the commentators in their notes to the winter's tale. one of the principal instances occurs in act iv. sc. ., where florizel says: "'the gods themselves, humbling their deities to love, have taken the shapes of beasts upon them: jupiter became a bull and bellow'd; the green neptune a ram, and bleated; and the fire-rob'd god, golden apollo, a poor humble swain, as i seem now. their transformations were never for a piece of beauty rarer, nor in a way so chaste.' "'this,' says malone, 'is taken almost literally from the novel'--when, in fact, the resemblance merely consists in the adoption by shakspeare of part of the mythological knowledge supplied by greene. 'the gods above disdaine not to love women beneath. phoebus liked daphne; jupiter io; and why not i then fawnia?' the resemblance is anything but literal." it would appear, however, that the passage cited by mr. collier is not the one referred to by malone. mr. collier's passage is at p. . of his edition of the novel; the one malone evidently had in view is at p. ., and is as follows:-- "and yet, dorastus, shame not at thy shepheard's weede: the heavenly godes have sometime earthly thoughtes. neptune became a ram, jupiter a bul, apollo a shepheard: they gods, and yet in love; and thou a man, appointed to love." e. l. n. _inscribed alms-dish._--there is an alms-dish (?) { } in the possession of a clergyman near rotherham, in this county, with the following inscription:-- "vreest . godt . onderhovedt . syn . geboedt . anno . ." [fear god (and?) keep his commandments.] having so lately been so justly reproved by your correspondent, mr. janus dousa, for judging of vondel's _lucifer_ by an apparently unjust review rather than by perusal,--and his beautiful chorus having so fully "established his case,"--i am rather shy of making any remarks upon this inscription: otherwise i would venture (errors excepted) to observe that there _may_ be a mistake in the position of the last three letters of the third word. if mr. dousa would kindly inform a _very_ imperfect dutch scholar whether this sentence is intended as a quotation from ecclesiastes xii., th verse,-- "vreest godt ende hout sÿne geboden;" or whether the third word is from the verb "_onder houden_,"--as _looks_ probable, i shall be greatly obliged to him. the bible to which i refer is dated . being neither a scholar nor a critic, but only a lover of books and languages, i hope mr. dousa will accept my apology for the affront offered to his countryman, vondel. your publication has been a great temptation to people with a few curious books around them to set sail their little boats of inquiry or observation for the mere pleasure of seeing them float down the stream in company with others of more importance and interest. i confess myself to have been one of the injudicious number; and having made shipwreck of my credit against m. brellet's _dictionnaire de la langue celtique_, and also on vondel's _lucifer_, i must here apologise and promise to offend no more. if mr. dousa will not be appeased, i have only to add that i "send him my card." as mrs. malaprop said to sir lucius o'trigger-- "spare my blushes--_i_ am delia." hermes. p. s. can mr. dousa fix a positive date to my undated _history of dr. john faustus_? _landwade church._--it appears to me that an important service would be rendered to posterity, if a full account were taken of all the monuments and inscriptions in such deserted churches as landwade appears to be. such records may ere long become invaluable, and every day is hastening them to oblivion. already hundreds of such churches, with the several monuments and inscriptions they contained, have entirely passed away. i have been making some investigation into the demolished and desecrated churches of buckinghamshire, and am astonished at the number of monumental records which have thus perished. thirty-one churches at least have been lost to the county, and some of them were rich in monumental memorials. other counties, doubtless, have equally suffered. would it not, therefore, be well to collect accounts of the memorials they contained, so far as they can be obtained, and have them recorded in some publication, that they may be available to future historians, genealogists, and antiquaries? is there any existing periodical suitable for the purpose? w. hastings kelke. _the first edition of the second book of homilies, by queen elizabeth in_ .--in the edition of the _homilies_ at the oxford university press in , and which from inspection, in the portion concerned, appear to be the same in the last, i find in the advertisement, page iv. note d., that there exist _four editions_ of the date . of these, i presume, are two in my possession, and i conclude one of them to be the _first edition_ on the following grounds:--_that_ one, printed by richard jugge and john cawood, , has in the last page and a half, "faultes escaped in the printyng," which appear to have been _corrected_ in all the subsequent editions, and are as they stand in the subsequent and modern editions, i presume, up to the present time. but the principal proof arises from a cancelled leaf in the homily, "of common prayer and sacraments," as it stands in the oxford edition of , p. - . the passage in question, as it there stands, and stands likewise in another edition of , which i have, begins within three lines of the end of the paragraph, p. .,--"eth, that common or public prayer," &c., and ends at p. . line .,--"ment of baptism and the lord's supper," &c. in my presumed first edition the original passage has been dismissed, and the substituted passage, being one leaf, _in a smaller type_, in order plainly to contain more matter, and it is that which appears, as i suppose, in all subsequent and the present copies. it would have been a matter of some curiosity, and perhaps of some importance, to have the original cancelled passage. but every intelligent reader will perceive that the subject was one which required both delicacy and judgment. is any copy existing which has the original passage? my copy unfortunately is imperfect, wanting three leaves; and i apprehend this is an additional instance in which the first edition of an important work has been in a manner thrown aside for its imperfection; as was the case with the real first edition of the _canons and decrees of the council of trent_, and the _execution of justice_ given to burghley. as the oxford editor wished for information upon this subject, it is hoped that the present communication may not be unacceptable to him. j. m. jan. . . * * * * * { } queries. dutch translation of a tract by robert greene. i was thinking of sending you a note or two on an early dutch translation of a very celebrated english tract when your last number came to hand, by which i find that so much interest has been produced by "notes and queries" in holland, that certain _literati_ are about to establish a similar work in that country. if i mistake not, what i now transmit will be acceptable to your batavian friends, and not unwelcome to those who approve of your undertaking on this side of the water. a good deal has been advanced lately regarding the interest taken by the inhabitants of holland, belgium, and germany, in our ancient drama; and in consistency with what was said by thomas heywood more than years ago, some new information has been supplied respecting the encouragement given to english players abroad. the fact itself was well-known, and the author last cited (shakspeare society's reprint of the _apology for actors_, , p. .) furnishes the name of the very play performed on one occasion at amsterdam. the popularity of our drama there perhaps contributed to the popularity of our lighter literature, (especially of such as came from the pens of our most notorious playwrights,) in the same part of europe, and may account for the circumstance i am about to mention. at this time of day i need hardly allude to the reputation the celebrated robert greene obtained in england, both as a dramatist and a pamphleteer; and although we have no distinct evidence on the point, we need hardly doubt that some of his plays had been represented with applause in holland. _the four sons of aymon_, which heywood tells us was acted with such strange effect at amsterdam, must have been a piece of precisely the same kind as greene's _orlando furioso_, which we know was extraordinarily popular in this kingdom, and may have been equally so abroad. we may thus suppose that greene's fame had spread to the netherlands, and that anything written by him would be well received by batavian readers. his _quip for an upstart courtier, or, a quaint dispute between velvet-breeches and cloth-breeches_, was published in london in , and went through two, if not three, impressions in its first year. it was often reprinted, and editions in , , , , and , have come down to us, besides others that, no doubt, have entirely disappeared. that the fame of this production extended to holland, i have the proof before me: it is a copy of the tract in dutch, with the following imprint--"_tot leyden. by thomas basson_. m.d.ci." a friend of mine writes me from rotterdam, that he has a copy, without date, but printed about twenty or five-and-twenty years after mine of , which shows how long the popularity of the tract was maintained; and i have little doubt that mine is not by any means the earliest dutch impression, if only because the wood-cut of the courtier and the countryman (copied with the greatest precision from the london impression of ) is much worn and blurred. the title-page runs as follows, and the name of robert greene is rendered obvious upon it for the sake of its attraction:-- "een seer vermakelick proces tusschen fluweele-broeck ende laken-broeck. waer in verhaldt werdt het misbruyck van de meeste deel der menschen. gheshreven int engelsch door robert greene, ende nu int neder-landtsch overgheset. wederom oversien." at the back of this title is printed a short address from the translator to the _edele ende welghesinde leser_, which states little more than that the original had been received from england, and concludes with the subsequent quatrain:-- "ghemerckt dit dal vol van ydelheyt soo lachet vrij als democritus dede: doch zy gheraeckt met vvat barmherticheyt: als heraclyt, bevveen ons qualen mede." the spelling and punctuation are the same as in the original, and the body of the tract follows immediately: "staende eens smorghens op van eene onrustige nacht rust, ende vindende mijn ghemoet noch wat onstelt, gingh ick wandelen nae de vermacklyche velden, om mijn gheest wat te vermacken, dan wesende noch in een melancholijcke humeur, seer eensaem sonder eenighe gheselschap, worde ick seer slaperich: alsoo dat ick droomde. dat iek een dal sach wel verceirt, &c." as few of your readers will have the means of referring to the original english, i quote greene's opening words from an edition of :-- "it was just at that time when the cuckoulds quirister began to bewray aprill, gentlemen, with his never-changed notes, that i, damped with a melancholy humor, went into the fields to cheere up my wits with the fresh aire: where solitarie seeking to solace my selfe, i fell in a dreame, and in that drowsie slumber i wandered into a vale, &c." the dutch version fills thirty-two closely printed pages, and ends with the succeeding literal translation of greene's last sentence:-- "tot dese sententie (aldus by de ridder ghepronuncieert) alle de omstaende stemde daer toe, ende klapten in haere handen, ende maeckte een groot geluyde, waer door eck waeker worde, ende schoot uyt mynen droom, soo stout ick op, ende met een vrolijck ghemoet, gingh ick schryven, al her gene, dat ghy hier ghehoort hebt." the above is one of the few books i purchased when i was in holland some thirty years ago; and as i have quoted enough for the purpose of { } identification, i may conclude with asking some of your dutch correspondents, whether the tract, in this or in any other edition, is of considerable rarity with them? in england i never saw a copy of it but that in my possession. i may add that every paragraph is separately numbered from to , as if the production were one of importance to which more particular reference might be made than even by the pagination. the hermit of holyport. * * * * * the black rood of scotland. (vol. ii., pp. . .) i am not satisfied with what w. s. g. has written on this subject; and as i feel interested in it, perhaps i cannot bring out my doubts better than in the following queries. . instead of this famous cross being destined by st. margaret for dunfermline, was it not transmitted by her as an heir-loom to her sons? _fordun_, lib. v. cap. lv. "_quasi munus hæreditarium transmisit ad filios._" hailes (_annals_, sub anno ) distinguishes the cross which margaret gifted to dunfermline from the black rood of scotland; and it is found in the possession of her son david i., in his last illness. he died at carlisle, th may, . (_fordun_, ut supra.) . is not w. s. g. mistaken when, in speaking of this cross being seized by edward i. in the castle of edinburgh in , he says it is in a list of muniments, &c., found "_in quadam cista in dormitorio s. crucis._" instead of in a list following, "_et in thesauria castri de edinburgh inventa fuerunt ornamenta subscripta?_" (ayloffe's _calendars_, p. .; robertson's _index_, introd. xiii.) . when w. s. g. says that this cross was not held in the same superstitious reverence as the black stone of scone, and that miss strickland is mistaken when she says that it was seized by king edward, and restored at the peace of , what does he make of the following authorities?-- ( .) _fordun_, lib. v, cap. xvii: "illa sancta crux quam nigram vocant omni genti scotorum non minus terribilem quam amabilem pro suæ reverentia sanctitatis." ( .) _letters to the right reverend the lord bishop of carlisle, occassioned by some passages in his late book of the scotch library, &c._, ascribed to the historian rymer: london, . from a "notable piece of church history," appended to the second letter, it appears that the black rood accompanied king edward in his progresses, along with a famous english cross--the cross nigth,--and that he received on these two crosses the homage of several of the scottish magnates. (the same thing, i have no doubt, will appear from the _foedera_ of the same historian, which i have it not in my power to refer to.) ( .) _chronicon de lanercost_, printed by the maitland club, edinburgh, , p. . alluding to the pacification of : "reddidit etiam eis partem crucis christi _quam vocant scotti blakerode_, et similiter unam instrumentum.... ragman vocabatur. lapidem tamen de scone, in quo solent regis scotiæ apud scone in creatione sua collocari, londonensis noluerunt a se demittere quoquomodo. omnia autem hæc asportari fecerat de scotia inclytus rex edwardus filius henrici, dum scottos suæ subjiceret ditioni." fabian and holinshed report the same thing. . is not fordun _quoting_ from turgot and aelred (whom he names baldredus) when he speaks of "illa sancta crux _quam nigram_ vocant?" and how does the description of the durham cross,-- "which rood and pictures were all three very richly wrought in silver, and were all smoked black over, being large pictures of a yard or five quarters long," &c. &c.,-- agree with the description of the black rood of st. margaret which, as lord hailes says, "was of _gold_, about the length of _a palm_; the figure of ebony, studded and inlaid with gold. a piece of the true cross was enclosed in it"? . as to the cross "miraculously received by david i., and in honour of which he founded holyrood abbey in ," and which some antiquaries (see _a brief account of durham cathedral_; newcastle, , p. .) gravely assert was to be seen "in the south aisle of _the choir_ of durham cathedral at its eastern termination, in front of a wooden screen richly gilt and decorated with stars and other ornaments," are not all agreed that the story is a mere monkish legend, invented long after holyrood was founded (although, perhaps, not so recent as lord hailes supposed)? and is it not, therefore, absurd to speak of such a cross being taken at the battle of durham, or to identify it with the black rood of scotland? . the quotation of w. s. g. from the _ms. dunelm_ is curious; but is there any contemporary authority for the black rood having been taken with king david at the battle of durham? i can find none. . is it not, however, probable that king david lost _two_ crosses at durham, one a military cross, carried with his army, and taken from the abbey of holyrood; and the other the famous black rood found on his person, and made an offering to the shrine of st. cuthbert? this would reconcile some apparent discrepancies. . i find it noticed by richardson in his _table book_ (newcastle, , vol. i. p. .), that "there is a letter in the british museum (faustina, a . .) from the prior of durham to the bishop (then absent), giving an account of the battle of neville's cross." has this letter been printed, and where? if not so, will any of your correspondents have the { } kindness to examine it, and say if it gives any information as to a cross or crosses captured with the king of scots? j. d. n. n. * * * * * minor queries. _the "tanthony."_--when the porteress at the principal entrance to kimbolton park opens the gates for the admission of a visitor, she rings a bell to give warning to the servants at the castle of his approach. this bell is popularly called the "tanthony," in reference, i presume, to some legend of saint anthony. will one of your readers be good enough to enlighten me? arun. "_beauty retire._"--will the noble editor of pepys's _diary_ permit me to ask him whether he has seen, in the pepysian library, or elsewhere, a copy, either in print or ms., of pepys's song, "beauty retire," words and music; or is it to be found in any miscellaneous collection of songs? i. h. m. _the soul's dark cottage._--being called on to reply to matters as plain as those to which i replied last week, i am less reluctant to acknowledge my own ignorance or obliviousness, respecting a couplet of which, i doubt not, hundreds of your readers know the original _habitat_, but which cannot be recalled to my own memory, nor to that of several friends to whom i have referred. the couplet is-- "the soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, lets in new light through chinks that time hath made." effaress. london, jan. , . "_small by degrees and beautifully less._"--this is a very common quotation, but, although i have made frequent inquiries, i have never yet been able to find out the author of it. perhaps some of your readers can inform me. w. h. b. _musical plagiarism._--i think i remember to have heard, two or three years ago, of an action for damages brought against an eminent composer, on account of plagiarism in a musical composition; and that the defendant's argument was founded on the fact, that there exist very few really "original compositions," if originality excludes every form of plagiarism. and he adduced as examples the "see the conquering hero," of handel; and the "zitti zitti," of rossini. can any of your readers refer me to the minutes of this trial; and tell me if any book has been published in criticism of the originality of composers? r. m. _simon bache._--in the parish church of knebworth, herts, is the brass of a priest, with the following inscription:-- "hic jacet dominus simo bache, clericus, quondam _thesaurarius hospitii_ illustrissimi principis domini henrici quinti regis angliæ, ac canonic. ecclesiæ cathedralis sancti paulli, london; qui obiit xix. die maii. anno dom. nostr. ." can any of your readers inform me what this office of _thesaurarius hospitii_ was; also, who simon bache was that held it; and how it happens that he is buried at knebworth? a. w. h. _sir walter raleigh._--in speaking of the difficulty which exists in obtaining a perfect knowledge of any event, reference is often made to sir walter raleigh having witnessed an occurrence, while confined in the tower, and that two witnesses gave such a different account from each other as well as from himself, that he threw his ms. history into the fire. in what contemporary work is this recorded? a similar discrepancy in evidence is mentioned with reference to the celebrated tourney at tiani, in , in prescott's _ferdinand and isabella_, vol. iii. p. . h. j. _harrison's chronology._--william harrison, a native of london, chaplain to sir william brooke, baron cobham, lord warden of the cinque ports, composed a _description of britain and of england_; and likewise translated hector boethius's _description of scotland_, from the scottish version of john bellenden. both these pieces are printed in holinshed's _chronicles_, vols. fol. . in the prefaces harrison speaks of a work on _chronology_, "which i have yet in hand." has that work ever been printed? i discovered the manuscript of it last year, in the diocesan library of derry, in ireland; but did not ascertain _who_ was its author (though it bears the name of harrison), until a few days ago. h. cotton. thurles, ireland, dec. . . _aristophanes on the modern stage._--can any of your valuable correspondents inform me whether any of the plays of aristophanes have been produced upon the stage in a modern version; and if so, when, and by whom? i am inclined to think that some at least of the comedies in the hands of a skilful author might be made entertaining and popular. the _acharnians_ and _peace_, or perhaps even the _birds_, might form the groundwork of an amusing piece. should you be able to spare a corner in your valuable periodical for this query, you would greatly oblige c. j. r. ( .) burton crescent. _drachmarus._--can any of your readers kindly inform me, under what name "drachmarus," one of the schoolmen, is commonly known? j. sansom. _strutt's queen hoo hall._--some years back i purchased of a son of the late joseph strutt, a copy of _queen hoo hall_, containing manuscript { } memoranda by that son relating to his father and to walter scott. amongst other matters it states, that the original manuscript of that romance was submitted to mr. scott before it was published, and that he retained it a long time before he published his _waverley novels_. mr. strutt, jun., accuses him of taking hints and facts from his parent's work. he also stated that the story of the illuminator in _queen hoo hall_ is mainly an account of the life of his father. the three volumes i gave to my friend and patron, mr. john broadly, whose very fine and choice library was sold by auction after his death, with the copy of the work referred to. i am desirous of ascertaining in whose possession these volumes are? i have a beautiful miniature portrait of joseph strutt. j. britton. . burton street, jan. . . _cardinal's monument_.--passing into the church of st. saviour, southwark, yesterday by the centre door on the south, i observed on a pillar to the right, a sculpture of a cardinal's hat with the usual cord and tassels properly coloured, beneath which was a coat of arms, quartering alternately three lions and three fleur-de-lis. there is no name or date upon it. it would be interesting to know to whom it refers. j. d. a. _names bacon and fagan_.--the very curious and interesting information which has come to light in the replies to my query about the origin of the patronymic bacon, emboldens me to put another question upon the subject. i have long suspected, but have been unable to prove, that the names bacon and fagan were originally one and the same. bacon, it appears, is a saxon word, meaning "of the beech tree." fagan, i presume, is as undoubtedly from the latin "de fago," "of the beech tree." the approximation of sound in these names is sufficiently evident. that the letters c and g have been commonly convertible between the latin and saxon is without doubt. query: have b and f been at all used convertibly? or can any of your readers, by any other means, strengthen the probability, or prove the truth, of my conjecture? nocab. _blunder_.--what is the origin of this word? in woolston's _first discourse on miracles_ (lond. ), at p ., i find this passage:-- "in another place he intimates what are meant by oxen and sheep, viz., the literal sense of the scriptures. and if the literal sense be irrational and nonsensical, the metaphor we must allow to be proper, inasmuch as nowadays dull and foolish and absurd stuff we call _bulls_, _fatlings_, and _blunders_." this would seem to imply that in woolston's days _blunder_ was the name of some animal; but in no dictionary have i been able to find such a signification attributed to it. the germans use the words _bock_ and _pudel_ in the same sense as our word _blunder_. c. w. g. _prince of wales' feathers._--the establishment of "de navorscher" is a matter of great importance to all students of our early history, and the liberal mention of its projectors, to bring under the notice of their countrymen all queries likely to be answered by them, is one calculated to clear up many obscure points in our early history. sir h. nicolas concludes his valuable papers on the badge and mottoes of the prince of wales (_archæologia_, vol. xxxi. p. .) by expressing his belief that both the former, namely, _the feathers_, and the mottoes, "_ich dien_" and "_houmout_," were derived from the house of hainault, possibly from the comté of ostrevant, which formed the appanage of the eldest sons of the counts of that province. perhaps i may be allowed, through your columns, to invite the attention of the correspondents of "de navorscher" to this point. effessa. _portrait of ben jonson._--ritson, the well-known antiquary, possessed an original painting of ben jonson. it was afterwards purchased by w. fillingham, esq., of the inner temple, a gentleman well known for his love of the early drama; and whilst in his possession it was engraved by ridley in vo. what has become of the painting? can any of your readers point out its locality at the present time? edward f. rimbault. _robert burton_, otherwise _democritus junior_, the author of that glorious book _the anatomy of melancholy_, is stated by wood to have been born at lindley, in leicestershire. plot, however, in his _natural history of staffordshire_, , p. ., gives the place of his birth, fald, in the latter county; and, furthermore, says he was shown the very house of his nativity. can any of your correspondents throw any light upon this subject? edward f. rimbault. _blowen, origin of the name._--you have fallen into a very general error in spelling my name (pp. . .) with the terminal r, "blower," instead of "blowen." perhaps some one of your genealogical readers can inform me of the origin and descendants of the family with this scarce name, thus spelt, "blowen." are we a branch of the blowers (as you appear to think we must be), that useful family of alarmists, whose services in early times were so necessary? or are we the descendants of the flanders "boleyns," anglicanized "bloyen?" query, did anna boleyn, wife of henry viii., ever spell her name so? i need not to be reminded that some lexicographers define "blowen" to be a rude woman. query, origin of that appellation, so used? we have been citizens and liverymen of london from richard blowen, who married, at { } the close of the seventeenth century, the sister of dr. hugh boulter (who became chaplain to george i., and afterwards lord archbishop of armagh). blowen. * * * * * replies. touchstone's dial. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .) how is it that mr. knight, who so well and so judiciously exposes the absurdness of attempting to measure out a poet's imaginings by rule-and-compass probability, should himself endeavour to embody and identify touchstone's dial--an ideal image--a mere peg on which to hang the fool's sapient moralizing. surely, whether it was a real moving animated pocket watch, that was present to the poet's mind, or a thumb ring dial, is an inquiry quite as bootless as the geographical existence of a sea-coast in bohemia, or of lions and serpents in the forest of ardennes. when thaliard engages to take away the life of pericles if he can get him within his "pistol's length," are we seriously to inquire whether the weapon was an italian dagger or an english firearm? or are we to debate which of the interpretations would be the lesser anachronism? but your correspondents (vol. ii., p. . and vol. iii., p. .) approve of, and confirm mr. knight's suggestion of a ring dial, as though it were so self-evident as to admit of no denial. nevertheless, neither he nor they have shown any good reason for its adoption: even its superior antiquity over the portable time-piece is mere surmise on their parts, unaccompanied as yet by any direct proof. in point of fact, the sole argument advanced by mr. knight why touchstone's dial should be a ring dial is, that "_it was not likely that the fool would have a pocket watch_." well, but it might belong to celia, carried away with the "jewels and wealth" she speaks of, and, on account of the unwieldy size of watches in those days, intrusted to the porterage of the able-bodied fool. when touchstone said, so very wisely, "_it is ten o'clock_," he used a phrase which, according to orlando in the same play, could only properly apply to a mechanical time-piece. rosalind asks orlando, "i pray you what is it _a clock?_" to which he replies, "you should ask me what time _o' day_; there's no clock in the forest." again, when jacques declares that he did laugh "an hour by his dial," do we not immediately recall falstaff's similar phrase, "an hour by shrewsbury clock?" if it shall be said that the word "dial" is more used in reference to a natural than to a mechanical indicator of time, i should point, in reply, to hotspur's allusion: "tho' life did ride upon a dial's point still ending with the arrival of an hour" the "dial's point," so referred to, must be _in motion_, and is therefore the hand or _pointer_ of a mechanical clock. a further confirmation that the shakspearian "dial" was a piece of mechanism may be seen in lafeu's reply to bertram, when he exclaims, "then my dial goes not true," using it as a metaphor to imply that his judgment must have been deceived. these are some of the considerations that would induce me to reject mr. knight's interpretation, and, _were it necessary to realize the scene between jacques and touchstone at all_, i should prefer doing so by imagining some old turnip-faced atrocity in clock-making presented to the fool's lack-lustre eye, than the nice astronomical observation supposed by mr. knight. the ring-dial, as described by him, and by your correspondents, is likewise described in most of the encyclopædias. it is available for the latitude of construction only, and was no doubt common enough a hundred years ago; but it is scarcely an object as yet for deposit in the british museum. a. e. b. leeds, jan. . . the ring dial, perhaps the most elegant in principle of all the forms of sun dial, has not, i think, fallen into greater disuse than have sun dials of other constructions. to describe, in this place, a modern ring dial, and the method of using it, would be useless: because it is an instrument which may be so readily inspected in the shops of most of the london opticians. messrs. troughton and simms, of fleet street, make ring dials to a pattern of about six inches in diameter, costing, in a case, _l_. _s_. they are, in truth, elegant and instructive astronomical toys, to say the least of them; and indicate the solar time to the accuracy of about two minutes, when the sun is pretty high. formerly, ring dials were made of a larger diameter, with much costly graduation bestowed upon them; too heavy to be portable, and too expensive for the occasion. for example, at the apartments of the royal astronomical society, at somerset house, a ring dial, eighteen inches in diameter, may be seen, constructed by abraham sharp, contemporary and correspondent of newton and flamstead; one similar to which, hazarding a guess, i should say, could not be made under _l_. at the same place also may be seen, belonging to mr. williams, the assistant-secretary of the society, a very handsome oriental astrolabe, about four inches in diameter, richly chased with arabic characters and symbols; to which instrument, as well as to modern ring dials, the ring dials described in "notes and queries" (vol. iii., p. .) seem to bear relation. if i recollect right, in one of the tales of the _arabian nights_, the barber goes out, leaving his customer half shaved, { } to take an observation with his astrolabe, to ascertain if he were operating in a lucky _hour_. by his astrolabe, therefore, the barber could find the _time_ of day; _this_, however, i confess i could not pretend to find with the astrolabe in question. ring dials, as i am informed, are in demand to go out to india, where they are in use among surveyors and military men; and, no doubt, such instruments as the astrolabe above-mentioned, which, though pretty old, does not pretend to be an antique, are in use among the educated of the natives all over the east. robert snow. i send you the particulars of two brass ring dials, seeing they are claiming some notice from your learned correspondents, and having recently bought them of a dealer in old metals. - ths of an inch wide, and - ths over, [illustration] - ths wide, and ½ over, [illustration] j. clarke. easton, jan. . . * * * * * winifreda. (vol. ii., p. . vol. iii., p. .) subjoined is a brief notice of the various printed forms in which the old song called "winifreda" has, from time to time, been brought before the public. i am indebted for these particulars to a kind friend in the british museum, but we have hitherto failed in discovering the author. . the song first occurs as a translation from the ancient british language in d. lewis's _collection of miscellaneous poems_, vo. , vol. i., p. ., pointed out by your correspondent, mr. hickson. (vol. ii., p. .) ndly. in watts' _musical miscellany_, vol. vi., p. . lond. ; it is with the tune, "eveillez vous ma belle endormie," and is called "winifreda, from the ancient language." dly. as an engraved song entitled "colin's address;" the words by the earl of chesterfield, set by w. yates, . the air begins "away, &c." thly. in , vo., appeared _letters concerning taste_, anonymously, but by john gilbert cooper; in letter xiv. pp. , , he says,-- "it was not in my power then to amuse you with any poetry of my own composition, i shall now take the liberty to send you, without any apology, an old song wrote above a hundred years ago by the happy bridegroom himself." cooper then praises the poem, and prints it at length. thly. in , dr. percy first published his _reliques_, with the song, as copied from lewis. thly. we find an engraved song, entitled "winifreda, an address to conjugal love," translated from the ancient british language; set to music by signor giordani, . the air begins, "away, &c." thly. in ritson's printed songs as by gilbert cooper, park's edition, , vol. i., p. ., with a note by the editor referring to aikin's _vocal biography_, p. .; and mentioning that in the _edinburgh review_, vol. xi., p. . "winifreda" is attributed to the late mr. stephens, meaning george steevens. thly. in campbell's _british poems_, , vol. vi., p. ., with a life of john gilbert cooper, to whom campbell attributes the authorship, stating that he was born in , and died in ; he was, consequently, only three years old when the poem was printed, which would settle the question, even if his disclaimer had been merely a trick to deceive his friend. lord chesterfield's claim is hardly worth notice; his name seems to have been used to promote the sale of the "engraven old song;" and no one can doubt that he would gladly have avowed a production which would have added to his literary fame. whether the problem will ever be solved, seems very doubtful; but i am disposed to think that the song belongs to a much earlier period, and that it should be looked for amongst the works of those poets of whom izaak walton has left us such agreeable reminiscences; and whose simplicity and moral tone are in keeping with those sentiments of good feeling to which "winifreda" owes its principal attraction. braybrooke. audley end. _winifreda_ (vol. iii., p. .).--lord braybrooke has revived a query which i instituted above forty years ago (see _gent.'s magazine_ for , vol. lxxviii., part i. p. .). the correspondent, c. k., who replied to my letter in the same magazine, mentioned the appearance of this song in dodsley's _letters on taste_ ( rd edition, .) these letters, being edited by john gilbert cooper, doubtless led aikin, in his collection of songs, and park, in his edition of ritson's _english songs_, to ascribe it to cooper. that writer speaks of it as an "old song," and with such warm praise, that we may fairly suppose it was not his own production. c. k. adds, from his own knowledge, that about the middle of the eighteenth century, he well remembered a welsh clergyman repeating the lines with spirit and pathos, and asserting that they were written by a native of wales. the name of winifreda gives countenance to this; and the publication by david lewis, in , referred to by bishop percy, as that in which it first { } appeared, also connects the song with the principality. an edinburgh reviewer (vol. xi. p. .) says that it is "one of the love songs" by stephens (meaning george steevens), a strange mistake, as the poem appeared in print ten years before steevens was born. i notice this error for the purpose of asking your readers whether many poems by this clever, witty, and mischievous writer exist, although not, to use the words of the reviewer, "in a substantive or collective form?" "the frantic lover," referred to in the _edinburgh review_, and considered by his biographer as "superior to any similar production in the english language," and the verses on elinor rummin, are the only two poems of george steevens which now occur to me; but two or three others are noticed in nichols's _literary anecdotes_ as his productions. j. h. m. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _did st. paul's clock strike thirteen?_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. campkin will find some notice of the popular tradition to which he refers, in the _antiquarian repertory_, originally published in , and republished in ; but i doubt whether it will satisfactorily answer his inquiries. i. h. m. _by the bye_ (vol. ii., p. .).--as no one of your correspondents has answered the query of j. r. n., as to the etymology and meaning of _by the bye_ and _by and by_, i send you the following exposition; which i have collected from richardson's _dictionary_, and the authorities there referred to. spelman informs us, that in norfolk there were in his time thirteen villages with names ending in _by:_ this _by_ being a danish word, signifying "villa." that a _bye_-law, dan. _by-lage_, is a law _peculiar_ to a villa. and thus we have the general application of _bye_ to any thing; peculiar, private, indirect, as distinguished from the direct or main: as, _bye-ways_, _bye-talk_, &c. &c. in the trial of sir walter raleigh, _state trials_, james i., , are these words:-- "you are fools; you are on the _bye_, raleigh and i are on the _main_. we mean to take away the king and his cubs." here the contradistinction is manifest. lord bacon and b. jonson write, _on_ the _by_; as if, on the way, in passing, indirectly:-- "'there is, _upon_ the _by_, to be noted.'--'those who have seluted poetry _on_ the _by_'--such being a collateral, and not the main object of pursuit." this i think is clear and satisfactory. _by and by_ is quite a different matter. mr. tyrwhitt, upon the line in chaucer,-- "these were his words _by and by_."--_r. r._ . interprets "separately, distinctly;" and there are various other instances in chaucer admitting the same interpretation:-- "two yonge knightes ligging, _by and by_."--_kn. t._, v. . "his doughter had a bed all _by_ hireselve, right in the same chambre _by and by_."--_the reves t._, v. . so also in the "floure and the leafe," stanzas and . the latter i will quote, as it is much to the purpose:-- "the semes (of the surcote) echon, as it were a maner garnishing, was set with emerauds, _one and one_, _by and by_." but there are more ancient usages, e.g. in r. brunne, bearing also the same interpretation. "the chartre was read ilk poynt _bi and bi_:" william had taken the homage of barons "_bi_ and _bi_." he assayed (_i.e._ tried) "tham (the horses) _bi and bi_." richardson's conception is, that there is a _subaudition_ in all these expressions; and that the meaning is, by point and by point; by baron and by baron; by horse and by horse: _one and one_, as chaucer writes; each _one_ separately, by _him_ or _it_-self. and thus, that _by and by_ may be explained, _by_ one and _by_ one; distinctly, both in space or time. our modern usage is restricted to _time_, as, "i will do so _by and by_:" where _by and by_ is equivalent to _anon_, _i.e._ in one (moment, instant, &c.). and so-- good b'ye. bloomsbury. _clement's inn_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this inn was neither "a court of law" nor "an inn of court," but "an inn of chancery;" according to the distinction drawn by sir john fortescue, in his _de laudibus legum angliæ_, chap. xlix., written between and . the evidence of its antiquity is traced back to an earlier date than ; for, according to dugdale (_orig._, p. .), in a _record of michaelmas_, _edward iv_., , it is spoken of as then, and _diu ante_, an inn "hominum curiæ legis temporalis, necnon hominum consiliariorum ejusdem legis." the early history of the inns of court and chancery is involved in the greatest obscurity; and it is difficult to account for the original difference between the two denominations. any facts which your correspondents may be able to communicate on this subject, or in reference to what were the _ten_ inns of chancery existing in fortescue's time, but not named by him, or relating to the history of either of the inns, whether of court or chancery, will be most gratefully received by me, and be of important service at the present time, when i am preparing { } for the press my two next volumes of _the judges of england_. edward foss. street-end house, near canterbury. _words are men's daughters_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i take this to be a proverbial sentence. in the _gnomologia_ of fuller we have "words are for women; actions for men"--but there is a nearer approach to it in a letter written by sir thomas bodley to his librarian about the year . he says, "sir john parker hath promised more than you have signified: but words are women, and deeds are men." it was no doubt an adoption of the worthy knight, and i shall leave it to others to trace out the true author--hoping it may never be ascribed to an ancestor of bolton corney. _passage in st. mark_ (vol. iii., p. .).--irenæus is considered the best (if not the only) commentator among the very early fathers upon those words in mark xiii. . "[greek: oude ho huios?]" and though i cannot refer calmet further than to the author's works, he can trust the general accuracy of the following translation:-- "our lord himself," says he, "the son of god, acknowledged that the father only knew the day and hour of judgment, declaring expressly, that of that day and hour knoweth no one, neither the son, but the father only. now, if the son himself was not ashamed to leave the knowledge of that day to the father, but plainly declared the truth; neither ought we to be ashamed to leave to god such questions as are too high for us. for if any one inquires why the father, who communicates in all things to the son, is yet by our lord declared to know alone that day and hour, he cannot at present find any better, or more decent, or indeed any other safe answer at all, than this, that since our lord is the only teacher of truth, we should learn of him, that the father is above all; for the son saith, 'he is greater than i.' the father, therefore, is by our lord declared to be superior even in knowledge also; to this end, that we, while we continue in this world, may learn to acknowledge god only to have perfect knowledge, and leave such questions to him; and (put a stop to our presumption), lest curiously inquiring into the greatness of the father, we run at last into so great a danger, as to ask whether even above god there be not another god." blowen. "_and coxcombs vanquish berkeley by a grin_" (vol. i., p. .).--this line is taken from dr. brown's _essay on satire_, part ii. v. . the entire couplet is-- "truth's sacred fort th' exploded laugh shall win, and coxcombs vanquish berkeley by a grin." dr. brown's essay is prefixed to pope's "essay on man" in warburton's edition of pope's _works_. (see vol. iii. p. ., edit. , vo.) _dr. trusler's memoirs_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the first part of dr. trusler's _memoirs_ (bath, ), mentioned by your correspondent, but which is not very scarce, is the only one published. i have the continuation in the doctor's _autograph_, which is exceedingly entertaining and curious, and full of anecdotes of his contemporaries. it is closely written in two vo. volumes, and comprises pages, and appears to have been finally revised for publication. why it never appeared i do not know. he was a very extraordinary and ingenious man, and wrote upon everything, from farriery to carving. with life in all its varieties he was perfectly acquainted, and had personally known almost every eminent man of his day. he had experienced every variety of fortune, but seems to have died in very reduced circumstances. the _sententiæ variorum_ referred to by your correspondent is, i presume, what was published under the title of-- "detached philosophic thoughts of near of the best writers, ancient and modern, on man, life, death, and immortality, systematically arranged under the authors' names." vols. mo. . jas. crossley. manchester, jan. . . * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. dr. latham seems to have adopted as his literary motto the dictum of the poet, "the proper study of mankind is man." we have recently had occasion to call the attention of our readers to his learned and interesting volume entitled _the english language_,--a work which affords proof how deeply he has studied that remarkable characteristic of our race, which goldsmith wittily described as being "given to man to conceal his thoughts." from the language to _the natural history of the varieties of man_, the transition is an easy one. the same preliminary studies lead to a mastery of both divisions of this one great subject: and having so lately seen how successfully dr. latham had pursued his researches into the languages of the earth, we were quite prepared to find, as we have done, the same learning, acumen, and philosophical spirit of investigation leading to the same satisfactory results in this kindred, but new field of inquiry. in paying a well-deserved tribute to his predecessor, dr. prichard, whom he describes as "a physiologist among physiologists, and a scholar among scholars,"--and his work as one "which, by combining the historical, the philological, and the anatomical methods, should command the attention of the naturalist, as well as of the scholar,"--dr. latham has at once done justice to that distinguished man, and expressed very neatly the opinion which will be entertained by the great majority of his readers of his own acquirements, and of the merits of this his last contribution to our stock of knowledge. _the family almanack and educational register for_ , with what its editor justly describes as "its noble list of grammar schools," to a great extent the "offspring of the english reformation in the sixteenth { } century," will be a very acceptable book to every parent who belongs to the middle classes of society; and who must feel that an endowed school, of which the masters are bound to produce testimonials of moral and intellectual fitness, presents the best security for the acquirement by his sons of a solid, well-grounded education. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell on monday next, and three following days, the valuable antiquarian, miscellaneous, and historical library of the late mr. amyot. the collection contains all the best works on english history, an important series of the valuable antiquarian publications of tom hearne; the first, second, and fourth editions of shakspeare, and an extensive collection of shakspeariana; and, in short, forms an admirably selected library of early english history and literature. _catalogues received_.--cole ( . great turnstile) list, no. xxxii. of very cheap books; w. pedder ( . holywell street, strand) catalogue, part i. for , of books ancient and modern; j. wheldon ( . paternoster row) catalogue of a valuable collection of scientific books; w. brown ( . old street, london) catalogue of english books on origin, rise, doctrines, rites, policy, &c., of the church of rome, &c., the reformation, &c. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. _odd volumes_. drummond's history of noble families. part ii. containing compton and arden. bibliotheca spenceriana, vol. iv., and bassano collection. scott's novels and romances, last series, vols., vo.--the surgeon's daughter. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. replies received. _col. hewson--true blue--plafery--cockade--warming pans--memoirs of elizabeth--paternoster tackling--forged papal bulls--by hook or by crook--crossing rivers on skins--fronte capillatâ--tandem d. o. m.--cranmer's descendants--histoire des severambes--singing of swans--annoy--queen mary's lament--touching for the evil--the conquest--scandal against elizabeth--shipster--queries on costume--separation of sexes in church--cum grano salis--st. paul's clock--sir john davis--aver._ h. j. webb (_birmingham_) _has our best thanks for the paper he so kindly sent_. nemo. _the book wanted is reported. will he send his address to mr. bell?_ u. u. c. _"a roland for an oliver" is explained in our second volume, p._ . p. s. _we should gladly receive any such succinct yet correct and comprehensive definitions of new terms in science, or new words in literature, as our correspondent suggests. will he kindly set the example?_ t. f. r. (_oriel_). _what are the coins? in one part they are spoken of as farthings, in another as sixpences._ k. r. h. m. _received. next double number._ volume the second of notes and queries, _with very copious_ index, _is now ready, price s. d. strongly bound in cloth._ vol. i. _is reprinted, and may also be had at the same price._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so_ _that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. _errata_.--no. . p. . l. . for "_s_u_llustius_" read "_s_a_llustius_." no. . p. . l. ., for "in vo." read "in eights"; l. ., erase the comma after "tzelete,"; and for "m.cccc." read "mcccc." in the same column for "and" and "for" read "and" and "for." a similar correction may be made in the preceding column, in which remove the comma after "style," and put a small _a_ in "_apostoli_." and a period at "paris." p. . l. . for "humble" read "durable." * * * * * second-hand books on sale at williams and norgate's, . _henrietta street_, _covent garden_, at the low prices marked for prompt payment. epistolÆ obscurorum virorum aliaque Ævi xvi. monimenta rarissima. edited by e. muench. (published at _s_. d.) price _s_. "the best edition, however, is that by dr. e. muench, leipz., . this contains many important additions, and a copious historical introduction."--_s. w. singer_, _in_ notes and queries. legenda aurea, vulgo historia lombardica dicta jacobi a voragino, ad opt. libr. fid. recens. dr. t. grÆsse. in one thick volume, vo. (published at s. d.) s. (post-free s. d.) van der hagen's tales and legends. gesammtabenteuer. altdeutsche erzahlungen, ritter- und pfaffen- maeren. one hundred old german stories, tales of chivalry, and monk stories, legends, drolleries, &c. each story has an introduction and epitome, various readings, and notes. thick volumes, vo. price l. s. halderson's icelandic lexicon. lexicon islandico-latino-danicum biörn. haldesonii, cura er. rask. vols. to., copenhagen, . (published at l. s.) l. s. castelli lexicon syriacum ex ejus lexico heptaglotto cur. michaelis. vols. to., . (published at s.) s. scripturÆ linguÆque phoeniciÆ monumenta, edita et inedita, illustr. g. gesenius. parts to. ( fac-simile plates) . (published at l. s.) s. a catalogue of second-hand scientific works may be had. a general second-hand catalogue is in the press. messrs. williams and norgate's connection with all the principal second-hand booksellers enables them to procure second-hand books from _the continent_ on very reasonable terms. williams and norgate, . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * ignatius, by the rev. w. cureton. elegantly printed, in royal vo., price l. s. d. corpus ignatianum; or, a complete body of the ignatian epistles: genuine, interpolated, and spurious, according to the three recensions. with numerous extracts, in syriac, greek, and latin, and an english translation of the syrian text; and an introduction and copious notes. by william cureton, m.a., f.r.s. of the british museum; canon of westminster. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * { } fourth and last series. now ready, in one very large volume, square crown vo. s., southey's commonplace-book. fourth and last series, being original memoranda, and forming a volume complete in itself. edited by mr. southey's son-in-law, the rev. john w. warter, b.d. contents. . collections, ideas, and studies for literary compositions in general. . collections for history of english literature and poetry. . characteristic english anecdotes, and fragments for "espriella." . collections for "the doctor &c." . personal observations and recollections, with fragments of journals. . miscellaneous anecdotes and gleanings. . extracts, facts, and opinions, relating to political and social society. . texts for sermons. . texts for enforcement. . l'envoy. by the same editor, uniform with the above, southey's commonplace-book. third series--analytical readings. price one guinea. southey's commonplace-book. second series--special collections. price s. southey's commonplace-book. first series--choice passages. new edition, price s. southey's the doctor &c. complete in one volume, with portrait, &c. new edition, price s. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * new work by sir george head. just published, in vol. post vo. price s. cloth, the metamorphoses of apuleius: a romance of the second century. translated from the latin by sir george head. also, by sir george head, a tour of many days in rome. vols. vo. _s_. cardinal pacca's historical memoirs. translated from the italian. vols. post vo., price s. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * horÆ vacivÆ. just published, in fcp. mo. (printed by c. whittingham, chiswick), price s. d. bound in cloth, a thought book--horÆ vacivÆ; or, a thought book of the wise spirits of all ages and all countries, fit for all men and all hours. collected, arranged, and edited by james elmes, author of "memoirs of sir christopher wren," &c. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * books published by mr. van voorst during . * * * * * the natural history of the varieties of man. by robert gordon lathan, m.d., f.r.s., fellow of king's college, cambridge; vice-president of the ethnological society of london; corresponding member of the ethnological society of new york. vo. illustrated. price s. an introduction to conchology; or, elements of the natural history of molluscous animals. by george johnston, m.d., ll.d., fellow of the royal college of surgeons of edinburgh, author of "a history of the british zoophytes." vo. illustrations. s. an elementary course of geology, mineralogy, and physical geography. by david t. ansted, m.a., f.r.s., &c., professor of geology at king's college, london; lecturer on mineralogy and geology at the h.e.i.c. mil. sem. at addiscombe, and at the putney college; late fellow of jesus college, cambridge. post vo. illustrated. price s. game birds and wild fowl: their friends and their foes. by a. e. knox, m.a., f.l.s. with illustrations by wolf. post vo. price s. mr. knox's ornithological rambles in sussex. second edition, with four illustrations. post vo. s. d. an arctic voyage to baffin's bay and lancaster sound, in search of friends with sir john franklin. by robert a. goodsir, late president of the royal medical society of edinburgh. post vo. with a frontispiece and map. price s. d. every-day wonders; or, facts in physiology which all should know. with woodcuts. mo. s. d. domestic scenes in greenland and iceland. with woodcuts. second edition. mo. s. instrumenta ecclesiastica. edited by the ecclesiological, late cambridge camden society. second series. parts to , each s. d. a history of british mollusca and their shells. by professor edward forbes, f.r.s., and sylvanus hanley, b.a., f.l.s. parts to . vo. s. d. plain, or royal vo. coloured, s. each. this work is a continuation of the series of "british histories," of which the quadrupeds and reptiles, by professor bell; the birds and fishes, by mr. yarrell; the birds' eggs, by mr. hewitson; the starfishes, by professor forbes; the zoophytes, by dr. johnston; the trees, by mr. selby; and the fossil mammals and birds, by professor owen, are already published. each work is sold separately, and is perfectly distinct and complete in itself. the portrait of professor harvey, due to purchasers of his "manual of british marine algæ," may now be had in exchange for the "notice" prefixed to the volume. john van voorst, . paternoster row. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page the agapemone of the sixteenth century, by e. f. rimbault, ll.d. punishment of death by burning, by c. ross and rev. a. gatty folk lore:--death-bed mystery--easter eggs--may marriages--"trash" or "skriker" notes on milton colvil's whigg's supplication queries:-- hubert le soeur's six brass statues by e. f. rimbault, ll.d. bishop jewell's library the low window minor queries:--north sides of churchyards--hatfield--ulrich von hutten--simon of ghent--boetius--gloucestershire gospel tree--churchyards--epitaphs--anthony warton--cardinal's hat--maps of london--griffith of penrhyn--mariner's compass--pontefract on the thames replies:-- study of geometry in lancashire by t. t. wilkinson queries answered, no. ., by bolton corney meaning of bawn replies to minor queries:--births, marriages, &c.--m. or n.--arabic numerals--comment in apocalypsin--robert deverell--hippopotamus--ashes to ashes--dr. maginn's miscellanies--living dog better than a dead lion--gaol chaplains--rome, ancient and modern--trianon miscellanies:-- aboriginal chambers near tilbury--mistake in conybeare and howson's life of st. paul miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. the "agapemone" of the sixteenth century. as it is not generally known that the "agapemone" had a prototype in the celebrated _family of love_, some account of this "wicked sect" may not at this moment be without interest to your readers:-- "henry nicholas, a westphalian, born at munster, but who had lived a great while at amsterdam, and some time likewise at embden, was the father of this family. he appeared upon the stage about the year , styled himself the _deified man_, boasted of great matters, and seemed to exalt himself above the condition of a human creature. he was, as he pretended, greater than moses and christ, because moses had taught mankind to _hope_, christ to _believe_, but he to _love_; which last being of more worth than both the former, he was consequently greater than both those prophets."--see brandt's _hist. of the reform, &c., in the low countries_, vol. i. p. , ed. . according to some writers, however, the sect was not founded by henry nicholas, but by david george, an anabaptist enthusiast of delft, who died in ; and indeed there is some reason to believe that the _family of love_ grew out of the heresies of the said george, with whom nicholas had been on friendly terms. "'not content,' says fuller, speaking of nicholas, 'to confine his errors to his own country, over he comes into england, and in the latter end of the reign of edward the sixth, joyned himself to the dutch congregation in london, where he seduced a number of artificers and silly women.'"--_church. hist._, p. , ed. . on the th of june, , according to the historian hollinshed, "stood at paule's crosse five persons, englishmen, of the sect termed the familie of love, who there confessed themselves utterlie to detest as well the author of that sect, h. n., as all his damnable errors and heresies." a curious little volume on the history and doctrines of this sect appeared in the year , from the pen of john rogers, entitled _the displaying of an horrible secte of grosse and wicked heretiques, naming themselves the family of love, with the lives of their authors, and what doctrine they teach in corners. imprinted at london for george bishop._ . mo. christopher vittall, a joiner of southwark, who had been infected with the doctrine of arius some twenty years before, and whose credit was great amongst the _family of love_, was at this period actively engaged in teaching their doctrines. he travelled about the country to disseminate them; and was likewise author of a little book, in reply to roger's _displaying_ of the sect, printed in the same year. at the close of the year the sect was increasing so rapidly in england, that the government took active measures for its suppression, and the queen issued a proclamation to search for the "teachers or professors of the foresaid damnable sect," and to "proceed severelie against them." { } this proclamation may be seen in hollinshed and in camden's _annals_.[ ] after the death of queen elizabeth-- "the family of love (or lust rather)," according to fuller, "presented a tedious petition to king james, so that it is questionable whether his majesty ever graced it with his perusall, wherein they endeavoured to cleare themselves from some misrepresentations, and by fawning expression to insinuate themselves into his majesty's good opinion." after printing the petition fuller proceeds-- "i finde not what effect this their petition produced, whether it was slighted and the petitioners looked upon as inconsiderable, or beheld as a few frantick folk out of their wits, which consideration alone often melted their adversaries' anger into pity unto them. the main design driven on in the petition is, to separate themselves from the puritans (as persons odious to king james), that they might not fare the worse for their vicinity unto them; though these familists could not be so desirous to leave them as the others were glad to be left by them. for if their opinions were so senseless, and the lives of these familists so sensuall as is reported, no _purity_ at all belonged unto them." the _family of love_, after being exposed and ridiculed both in "prose and rime," finally "gave up the ghost," and was succeeded by another "wicked sect" denominated the _ranters_. edward f. rimbault. [footnote : it was reprinted in notes and queries, vol. i. p. .] * * * * * punishment of death by burning. a woman was strangled and burnt for coining in front of the debtors door, newgate, on the th of march, . i believe this to be the last instance in which this old punishment was inflicted, at least in the metropolis. the burning part of the ceremony was abolished by the geo. iii., c. ., and death by hanging made the penalty for women in cases of high or petty treason. e. s. s. w.'s informants are wrong in supposing that the criminals were burnt whilst living. the law, indeed, prescribed it, but the practice was more humane. they were first strangled; although it sometimes happened that, through the bungling of the executioner, a criminal was actually burnt alive, as occurred in the celebrated case of katherine hayes, executed for the murder of her husband in . the circumstances of this case are so remarkable, that, having referred to it, i am induced to recapitulate the chief of them, in the belief that they will interest your readers. hayes, who was possessed of some little property, lodged with his wife katherine in tyburn, now oxford road. mrs. hayes prevailed upon two men, named billings (who lodged in the house) and wood, a friend of hayes, to assist her in murdering her husband. to facilitate that object, hayes was induced to drink the enormous quantity of seven bottles (at that time full quarts) of mountain wine, besides other intoxicating drinks. after finishing the seventh bottle he fell on the floor, but soon after arose and threw himself on a bed. there, whilst in a state of stupefaction, he was despatched by billings and wood striking him on the head with a hatchet. the murderers then held council as to the best mode of concealing their crime, and it was determined that they should mutilate and dispose of the body. they cut off the head, mrs. hayes holding a pail to catch the blood; and she proposed that the head should be boiled until the flesh came from the skull. this advice was rejected on account of the time which the process suggested would occupy, and billings and wood carried the head in the pail (it was at night) to the horseferry at westminster, and there cast it into the thames. on the following day the murderers separated the limbs from the body, and wrapping them, together with the trunk, in two blankets, carried them to marylebone fields, and placed them in a pond. hayes' head not having been carried away by the tide, as the murderers expected it would have been, was found floating at the horseferry in the morning. the attention of the authorities was drawn to the circumstance, and the magistrates being of opinion that a murder had been committed, caused the head to be washed and the hair combed out, and then had it placed on a pole and exposed to public view in st. margaret's churchyard, in the hope that it might lead to the discovery of the suspected crime. great crowds of persons of all ranks flocked to st. margaret's churchyard to see the head, and amongst the rest a young man named bennett, who perceiving the likeness to hayes, whom he knew, immediately went to mrs. hayes on the subject; but she assured him that her husband was alive and well, which satisfied him. a journeyman tailor, named patrick, also went to see the head, and on his return told his fellow workmen that it was hayes. these workmen, who also had known hayes, then went to look at the head, and felt the same conviction. it happened that billings worked at the same shop in which these men were employed in monmouth street, and when he came to work next morning, they told him of the circumstance. billings, however, lulled their suspicious by declaring that he had left mr. hayes at home that morning. after the head had been exhibited for four days in the churchyard, the magistrates caused it to be placed in spirits, in a glass vessel, and in that state it continued to be exposed to public view. two friends of hayes, named ashley and longmore, who had seen the head without imagining that it was his, some time after called on mrs. hayes, on separate occasions, to inquire for her husband, whose absence began to be noticed. ashley and longmore were mutual { } friends, and their suspicions being excited by the contradictory statements which mrs. hayes had given to them, they went to look again at the head, when a minute examination satisfied them that it had belonged to hayes. the apprehension of the murderers was the result. on the day they were brought up for examination, the trunk and limbs of the murdered man were found. wood and billings confessed and pleaded guilty. katherine hayes put herself on her country, was tried and convicted. wood died in prison. billings was hanged in marylebone fields, near the pond in which hayes's body had been concealed. katherine hayes was executed at tyburn, under circumstances of great horror; for, in consequence of the fire reaching the executioner's hands, he left his hold of the rope with which he ought to have strangled the criminal, before he had executed that part of his duty, and the result was, that katherine hayes was burnt alive. the wretched woman was seen, in the midst of flames, pushing the blazing faggots from her, whilst she yelled in agony. fresh faggots were piled around her, but a considerable time elapsed before her torments ended. she suffered on the rd of november, . this tragedy forms the subject of a comic ballad which is attributed to swift. c. ross. the communication of e. s. s. w. (vol. ii., p. .), which is as interesting as it is shocking, induces me to send you a short extract from _harrison's derby and nottingham journal, or midland advertiser_. the number of this journal which is dated thursday, september , , contains as follows:-- "on saturday two prisoners were capitally convicted at the old bailey of high treason, viz. isabella condon, for coining shillings in cold-bath-fields; and john field, for coining shillings in nag's head yard, bishopsgate street. they will receive sentence to be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution; _the woman to be burnt_, and the man to be hanged." i presume that the sentence which the woman underwent was not executed. the barbarous fulfilment of such a law was, it may be hoped, already obsolete. the motives, however, upon which this law was grounded is worth noting:-- "in treason of every kind," says blackstone, "the punishment of women is the same, and different from that of men. for, _as the decency due to the sex forbids the exposing and publicly mangling their bodies_, their sentence (which is to the full as terrible to sensation as the other) is to be drawn to the gallows, and there to be burned alive." "but," says the foot-note, "by the statute geo. iii. c. ., women convicted in all cases of treason, shall receive judgment to be drawn to the place of execution, and there to be hanged by the neck till dead." the law, therefore, under which a woman could be put to death by burning, was repealed in . blackstone elsewhere says:-- "the humanity of the english nation has authorized, by a tacit consent, an almost general mitigation of such part of those judgments as savours of torture and cruelty: a sledge or hurdle being usually allowed to such traitors as are condemned to be drawn; and there being very few instances (and those accidental or by negligence) of any persons being embowelled or burned, till previously deprived of sensation by strangling." this corroborates the conclusion of e. s. s. w., that the woman he describes was strangled at the stake to which her neck was bound. i wish to suggest to any of your legal or other well-informed correspondents, who will have the kindness to take a little trouble for the benefit of your general readers, that an instructive and interesting communication might be made by noting down the periods at which the various more revolting punishments under the english law were repealed, or fell into disuse. for instance, when torture, such as the rack, was last applied; when embowelling alive and quartering ceased to be practised; and whose was the last head that fell under the axe's bloody stroke. a word also on the use of the pillory, ducking-stool, stocks, &c. would interest. any illustrations of the modification of our penal code would throw valuable light on the philosophy and improvement of the national character. and i believe it would appear that the reformation gradually swept away the black horrors of the torture-room; that the butchery of the headsman's block ceased at the close of the civil contest which settled the line of regal succession; and that hanging, which is the proper death of the cur, is now reserved for those only who place themselves out of the pale of humanity by striking at human life. alfred gatty. ecclesfield. e. s. s. w. (vol. ii., p. .) will find a case of burning in _dodsley's annual register_, , p. .: a susannah lott was burned for the murder of her husband at canterbury, benjamin buss, her paramour, being hanged about fifteen minutes before she was burned. t. s. n. * * * * * folk lore. _death-bed mystery._--in conversation with an aged widow,--as devout and sensible as she is unlettered,--i yesterday learned a death-bed mystery which appeared new to me, and which (if not more commonly known than i take it to be) you may perhaps think worthy of a place in "notes and queries," to serve as a minor satellite to some more luminous communication, in reply to b. h. at vol. i., p. . my informant's "_religio_" (as she appears to have derived it by tradition from her mother, and as confirmed by her own experience in the case of a father, a { } husband, several children, and others), is to the effect that a considerable interval _invariably_ elapses between the first semblance of death, and what she considers to be the departure of the soul. about five minutes after the time when death, to all outward appearance, has taken place, "the last breath," as she describes, may be seen to issue with a vapour, or "steam," out of the mouth of the departed. the statement reminds me of webster's argument, in his _display of supposed witchcraft_, chap. xvi., where, writing of the bleeding of corpses in presence of their murderers, he observes: "if we physically consider the union of the soul with the body by the mediation of the spirit, then we cannot rationally conceive that the soul doth utterly forsake that union, until by putrefaction, tending to an absolute mutation, it is forced to bid farewell to its beloved tabernacle; for its not operating _ad extra_ to our senses, doth not necessarily infer its total absence. and it may be, that there is more in that of _abel's blood crying unto the lord from the ground_, in a physical sense than is commonly conceived," &c. sir kenelm digby (i think i remember) has also made some curious remarks on this subject, in his observations on the _religio medici_ of sir t. brown. j. sansom. _easter eggs._-the custom of dyeing eggs at easter (alluded to, vol. i., pp. . and .) prevails in different parts of cumberland, and is observed in this city probably more specially than in any other part of england. on easter monday and tuesday the inhabitants assemble in certain adjacent meadows, the children all provided with stores of hard-boiled eggs, coloured or ornamented in various ways,--some being dyed an even colour with logwood, cochineal, &c.; others stained (often in a rather elegant manner) by being boiled in shreds of parti-coloured ribbons; and others, again, covered with gilding. these they tumble about upon the grass until they break, when they finish off by eating them. these they call _pace_-eggs, being no doubt a corruption for _pasche_. this custom is mentioned by brande as existing among the modern greeks; but i believe it will be found more or less in almost all parts of christendom. i observed when in syria during easter quantities of eggs similarly dyed; but it did not occur to me at the time to inquire whether the practice was connected with the season, and whether it was not confined to the native christians. information upon this point, and also upon the general origin of this ancient custom, would be interesting. a subscriber. carlisle, june . . _may marriages_ (vol. i., p. .).--this superstition is one of those which have descended to christianity from pagan observances, and which the people have adopted without knowing the cause, or being able to assign a reason. carmelli tells us that it still prevailed in italy in .[ ] it was evidently of long standing in ovid's time as it had passed then into a proverb among the people; nearly two centuries afterwards plutarch (_quæst. rom._ .) puts the question: [greek: dia ti toi maiou mênos ouk agontai gunaikas], which he makes a vain endeavour to answer satisfactorily. he assigns three reasons: _first_, because may being between april and june, and april being consecrated to venus, and june to juno, those deities held propitious to marriage were not to be slighted. the greeks were not less observant of fitting seasons and the propitiation of the [greek: gamêlioi theoi]. _secondly_, on account of the great expiatory celebration of the _lemuria_, when women abstained from the bath and the careful cosmetic decoration of their persons so necessary as a prelude to marriage rites. _thirdly_, as some say, because may was the month of old men, _majus a majoribus_, and therefore june, being thought to be the month of the young, _junius a junioribus_, was to be preferred. the romans, however, held other seasons and days unpropitious to matrimony, as the days in february when the parentalia were celebrated, &c. _june_ was the favourite month; but no marriage was celebrated without an augury being first consulted and its auspices proved favourable (_val. max._ lib. ii. c. .). it would be well if some such superstitions observance among us could serve as a check to ill-advised and ill-timed marriages; and i would certainly advise all prudent females to continue to think that "the girls are all stark naught that wed in may." s. w. singer. mickleham, june . [footnote : storia di vari costumi, t. ii. p. .] _"trash" or "skriker."_--many hundreds of persons there are in these districts who place implicit credence in the reality of the appearance of a death sign, locally termed _trash_ or _skriker_. it has the appearance of a large black dog, with long shaggy hair, and, as the natives express it, "eyes as big as saucers." the first name is given to it form the peculiar noise made by its feet when passing along, resembling that of a heavy shoe in a miry road. the second appellation is in allusion to the sound of its voice when _heard_ by those parties who are unable to _see_ the appearance itself. according to the statements of parties who have seen the _trash_ frequently, it makes its appearance to some member of that family from which death will shortly select his victim; and, at other times, to some very intimate acquaintance. should any one be so courageous as to follow the appearance, it usually makes its retreat with its eyes _fronting_ { } the pursuer, and either sinks into the earth with a _strange noise_, or is lost upon the slightest momentary inattention. many have attempted to strike it with any weapon they had at hand; but although the appearance stood its ground, no _material_ substance could ever be detected. it may be added that "trash" does not confine itself to churchyards, though frequently seen in such localities. t. t. w. burnley. * * * * * notes on milton. (continued from vol. i., p. .) _l'allegro._ on l. . (d.):-- "where triumphant darkness hovers with a sable wing, that covers brooding horror." _crashaw_, psalm xxiii. on l. . (g.) drayton has this expression in his _heroical epistles_:-- "find me out one so young, _so fair, so free_." _king john to matilda._ and afterwards,-- "leave that accursed cell; there let black night and melancholy dwell." on l. . (g.) most probably from a couplet in burton's _anatomy of melancholy_:-- "and ever and anon she thinks upon the man, that was so fine, so fair, _so blith, so debonaire_." p. . sc. . p. . ed. . to. and in randolph's _aristippus_,-- "a bowle of wine is wondrous boone chere to make one _blith, buxome, and deboneere_." p. . ed. . to. on l. . (g.):-- "_manes._ didst thou not find i did _quip_ thee? "_psyllus._ no, verily; why, what's a _quip_? "_manes._ we great girders call it a short saying of a sharp wit, with a bitter sense in a sweet word." _alexander and campaspe, old plays_, vol. ii. p. . ed. . "then for your lordship's _quippes_ and quick jestes, why gesta romanorum were nothing to them." _sir gyles goosecappe_, a com., sig. g. . to. . _crank_ is used in a different sense by drayton:-- "like chanticleare he crowed _crank_, and piped full merily." vol. iv. p. . ed. . on l. . (m.):-- "there dainty joys laugh at white-headed caring." _fletcher's purple island_, c. vi. st. . on l. . (g.):-- "the cheerful lark, mounting from early bed, with sweet salutes awakes the drowsy light; the earth shee left, and up to heaven is fled: there chants her maker's praises out of sight." _purple island_, c. ix. st. . "from heaven high to chase the cheareless darke, with mery note her lowd salutes the morning larke." _faery queene_, b. i. c. . on l. . (g.):-- "the chearful birds, chirping him sweet good-morrow, with nature's music do beguile his sorrow." _sylvester's du bartas._ on l. . (g.) see note already inserted in "notes and queries," p. . on l. . (g.):-- "in may the meads are not so _pied with flowers_." _sylvester's du bartas._ on l. . (g.) so in _comus_:-- "and casts a gleam over the _tufted grove_." v. . on l. . (g.):-- "loadstar of love and loadstone of all hearts." _drummond._ on l. . (anon.) see extracts from the _diary of a lover of literature_. to me this line seems to allude to the imagination in sleep:-- "such sights as youthful poets dream." on l. . (g.):-- "yet served i, gentles, seeing _store_ _of dainty girls_ beside." _albion's england_, p. . to. . on l. . (g.):-- "_in saffron robes_ and all his solemn rites, thrice sacred _hymen_." _sylvester's du bartas._ and in spanish tragedy:-- "the two first the nuptial torches bore, as brightly burning as the mid-day's sun: but after them doth _hymen_ hie as fast, clothed in sable and a _saffron robe_." on l. . (g.):-- "marrying their sweet tunes to the angels' lays." _sylvester's du bartas._ on l. . (d.):-- "those precious mysteries that dwell in music's ravished soul." _crashaw's music's duet._ j. f. m. * * * * * colvil's whigg's supplication. heber possessed a curious ms. volume entitled _a poetical miscellany, selected from the works of the men of genius of the xviith century_. in part xi. of the _bibliotheca heberiana_ it is thus described:-- "the first part of this volume was obviously collected by a scotchman, and it includes pieces by ben jonson, wither, dr. donne, &c. it must have been made in the latter part of the reign of charles i. the second portion of the volume is a later production; a humourous poem, called a _whig's supplication_, by { } s. c., in which there is a remarkable notice of cleveland, donne, and 'bass divine.' the latter name somebody has ignorantly altered, not knowing, probably, who 'bass divine' was. the poem is in imitation of hudibras, both in style and metre." it is somewhat singular that the writer of this notice never suspected that the _author_ of the second part, and the _collector_ of the first part of the volume, was samuel colvil, whose celebrated poem, _the whigg's supplication, or the scotch hudibras_, went through so many editions, from to . this "mock poem", as the author terms it, turns upon the insurrection of the covenanters in scotland in the reign of charles the second. an interesting notice of it, and other imitations of hudibras, will be found in the _retrospective review_, vol. iii. pp. - . edward f. rimbault. * * * * * queries. hubert le soeur's six brass statues. in a curious ms. diary of the early part of the seventeenth century, lately come into my possession, i find the following entry concerning the sculptor, hubert le soeur:-- "march . . had an interview with y^e famous and justly renowned artiste h. le sueur, who, being late come to this countrie, i had never seene before. he showed me several famous statues in brasse." this is probably the earliest notice of the celebrated pupil of john of bologna after his settlement in england. dallaway, in his _anecdotes of the arts in england_ (p. .), after stating that hubert le soeur arrived here about the year , says,-- "if he was associated with pierre tacca, who finished the horse in the equestrian statue of henry iv. in , left incomplete on the death of his master, john of bologna, two years preceding, he must have been far advanced in life. three only of his works in bronze are now known with certainty to exist: the equestrian statue of charles i. [at charing cross], a bust of the same monarch with a casque in the roman style [now at stourhead], and a statue in armour of william herbert, earl of pembroke, lord high chamberlain and chancellor of oxford. the last was given to the university by t., earl of pembroke, about the time of the restoration." the "several famous statues in brasse" alluded to by the writer of the diary above quoted, were probably those which afterwards ornamented the gardens of st. james's palace. peacham, in his _complete gentleman_ ( nd edit., to. ), having spoken of the collection of statues at arundell house, says:-- "king charles also, ever since his coming to the crown, hath amply testified a royal liking of ancient statues, by causing a whole army of foreign emperors, captains, and senators, all at once to land on his coasts, to come and do him homage and attend him in his palaces of saint james and somerset house. a great part of these belonged to the great duke of mantua; and some of the old greek marble bases, columns, and altars were brought from the ruins of apollo's temple at delos, by that noble and absolutely complete gentleman, sir kenelm digby, kn^t. in the garden of st. james, there are also _half a dozen brass statues_, rare ones, cast by hubert le sueur, his majesty's servant, now dwelling in st. bartholomew's, london; the most industrious and excellent statuary, in all materials, that ever this country enjoyed. the best of them is the gladiator, moulded from that in cardinal borghesi's villa, by the procurement and industry of ingenious master gage. and at this present, the said master sueur hath divers other admirable moulds to cast in brass for his majesty, and among the rest, that famous diana of ephesus. but the great horse with his majesty upon it, twice as great as the life, and now well nigh finished, will compare with that of the new bridge at paris, or those others at florence and madrid, though made by sueur, his master john de bologna, that rare workman, who not long since lived at florence." the bronze statue of the gladiator originally stood (according to ned ward's _london spy_) in the parade facing the horse guards. dodsley (_environs_, iii. .) says it was removed by queen anne to hampton court, and from thence, by george the fourth, to the private grounds of windsor castle, where it now is. query, what has become of the other five "famous statues in brass?" edward f. rimbault. * * * * * bishop jewell's library. what became of bishop jewell's library? cassan mentions (_lives of bishops of salisbury_, vol. ii. p. .) that "he had collected an excellent library of books of all sorts, not excepting the most impertinent of the popish authors, and here it was that he spent the greatest and the best part of his time," &c. bishop jewell died sept. . . in the account books of magdalen college, oxford, i find the following items:-- "a. d. . solut. d^{no} præsidi equitanti sarisbur. pro libris per billam, iij^{li} xvi^s. "solut. pro libris d^{ni}, episcopi sar., c^{li}. "a. d. . solut per dom. præsidem pro libris m^{ri} jewell, xx^{li}." whether these books were a portion only, or the whole of the library of bishop jewell, i am unable to discover; nor am i aware at present whether bishop jewell's autograph is in any of the books of magdalen college library. the president was lawrence humphrey, author of a life of jewell. magdalenensis. { } * * * * * the low window. the low windows in the chancel of so many of our ancient churches have proved a fruitful source of discussion among archæologists, and numerous theories have been advanced respecting their use. perhaps the words of the chameleon in the fable might be addressed to many who have attempted to account for their existence, "you all are right and all are wrong"--right in your supposition that they were thus used; but wrong in maintaining that this was the exclusive purpose. some example, in fact, may be adduced irreconcileable with any particular conjecture, and sufficient to overturn every theory which may be set up. one object assigned is, the distribution of alms; and it is surely reasonable to imagine that money collected at the offertory should have been given to paupers from the chancel through this convenient aperture. the following passage from the _ecclesiologist_, quoted in page . of "notes and queries," has induced me to bring this subject forward:-- "in them (churchyards) prayers are not now commonly poured forth to god, nor are doles distributed to his poor." now it must be admitted that relief could scarcely be given to a crowd of importunate claimants without the interposition of some barrier; and where could a more appropriate place be found than the low window? can any of your readers, therefore, oblige me with some information upon these points? where were the alms bestowed, if not here? an almonry is described in some recent works as "a building near the church." what authority is there for such an assertion, and do any examples of such structures remain? what evidence is there that this business was transacted in the churchyard, in the porch, or in any particular part of the edifice? although these mysterious openings are probably, with one or two exceptions in normandy, peculiar to this country, it is desirable to ascertain where the poor on the continent usually receive such charitable donations. in an interior of a flemish cathedral, by an artist of the sixteenth century, a man is represented in the act of delivering bread to a number of eager beggars, from a sort of pew; showing, at least, as above remarked, that some such protection was requisite. there is another query connected with this subject, which i beg to submit. some ancient frescoes were lately discovered in the chapel of eton college, with a compartment containing (according to a letter in the _ecclesiologist_) a bishop administering the holy communion to a converted jew, through a low window. can any one, from recollection or the inspection of drawings, (for the original has disappeared,) assure me that he does not hold in his hand a piece of money, or a portion of bread, for the supply of his bodily wants? t. * * * * * minor queries. _north sides of churchyards unconsecrated._--in the west of england i have found an opinion to prevail in rural parishes, that the north side of our churchyards was left unconsecrated very commonly, in order that the youth of the village might have the use of it as a playground. and, in one parish, some few years ago, i had occasion to interrupt the game of football in a churchyard on the "revel" sunday, and again on another festival. i also found some reluctance in the people to have their friends buried north of the church. is there any ground for believing that our churchyards were ever thus consecrated on the south side of the church to the exclusion of the north? j. sansom. _hatfield--consecration of chapel there._--le neve, in his _lives of protestant bishops_ (ii. .), states, that richard neile, bishop of lincoln, went to hatfield, th may, , to consecrate the chapel in the house there lately built by robert, earl of salisbury. i have applied to the registrar of lincoln diocese, in which hatfield was (until recently) locally situated, for a copy of the notarial act of consecration; but it appears that the register of bishop neile was taken away or destroyed in the great rebellion, and that, consequently, no record of his episcopality now exists at lincoln. le neve says he had the most part of his account of bishop neile from thomas baker, b.d. of st. john's college, cambridge, who had it from a grandson of the bishop's. he quotes also featley's ms. collections. can any of your readers inform me whether bishop neile's episcopal register for lincoln is in existence, or whether any transcript of it is known? or if any evidence, confirmatory of le neve's statement of the fact and date of the consecration of the chapel of hatfield, is known to exist? william h. cope. p.s. i have examined dr. matthew hutton's transcripts of the lincoln registers, in the harleian mss., but they do not come down to within a century of bishop neile's episcopate. _ulrich von hutten_ (vol. i., p. .).--in one of the _quarterly reviews_ is an account of ulrich von hutten and the _epistolæ obscurorum virorum_. will s. w. s., or any one who takes interest in ulrich, tell me where it is? a meagre article in the _retrospective review_, vol. v. p. ., mentions only one edition of the _epstolæ_, francfurti ad mainum, . is there any recent edition with notes? mine, lond. , is without, and remarkable only for its dedication to isaac bickerstaffe, esq., and the curious mistake which isaac made when he acknowledged it in _the tatler_, of supposing the letters genuine. is it known to what { } scholar we are indebted for so neat an edition of a book then so little known in england, and so little in accordance with english taste at that time? h. b. c. university club, may . _simon of ghent._--can any of your correspondents give me any information concerning simon, bishop of salisbury in - , further than what is said of him in _godwini de præsulibus angliæ_, and in wanley's catalogue, where he is mentioned as the author of _regulæ sanctimonialium ordinis sti jacobi_? why is he called "gandavensis," or "de gandavo," seeing that he is said to have been born in london? j. morton. _boetius' consolations of philosophy._--alfred the great translated this work into anglo-saxon; chaucer, queen elizabeth, and lord preston into english. _has queen elizabeth's work_ (which she executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne) _been printed?_ richard viscount preston's appeared first, i believe, in , in mo. _how often has it been reprinted?_ what other english translations have been made, and what are the latest? jartzberg. _gloucestershire gospel tree._--mary roberts, in her _ruins and old trees associated with historical events_, gives a very pretty account of a certain _gospel tree_. can any kind correspondent inform me where in gloucestershire it is situated? although a native of the county, i never heard of it. w. h. b. _churchyards--epitaphs._--up to the time of the norman conquest, churchyards appear to have been considered almost as sacred as churches; but soon after that period, though regarded as places of sanctuary, they were often used for profane purposes. i recollect reading of fairs and rustic sports being held in them as early as john's reign, but unfortunately i have not been an observer of your motto, and know not now where to refer for such instances. i shall therefore feel obliged to any of your readers who will specify a few instances of the profanation of churchyards at different periods, or refer me to works where such may be found. churchyards appear to have been used in special cases for sepulture from the year , but not commonly so used till the end of the fourteenth century. are there any instances of sepulchral monuments, between the above dates, now existing in churchyards? stone crosses, evidently of saxon or very early roman structure, are found in churchyards, but i am not aware of any sepulchral monuments detached from the church of the same date. i shall be glad of any notices of early monuments or remarkable epitaphs in churchyards. when did churchyards cease to be places of sanctuary? what is the exact meaning of the word "yard?" and was not "god's acre" applied to christian cemeteries before sepulture was admitted in churches or churchyards? w. h. k. drayton beauchamp, june . _anthony warton._--who was anthony warton, minister of the word at breamore, in hampshire, and author of _refinement of zion_, london, ? another anthony warton was matriculated at magdalen college, oxford, nd nov., , at sixteen, as son of francis warton, of breamore, hants, plebeian. he remained clerk till ; chaplain from to ; instituted vicar of godalming, surrey, in ; obiit th march, - . he was father of thomas warton, demy and fellow of magdalen college, vicar of basingstoke, hants, and of cobham, surrey, professor of poetry in the university of oxford, - ; who was father of the more celebrated thomas warton, fellow of trinity college, oxford, and of joseph warton, head master of winchester school. manning says (_history of surrey_, vol. i. p. .) that anthony warton, vicar of breamore, hants, was younger brother of michael warton, esq., of beverley, but originally of warton hall in lancashire. both wood and manning seem to have confounded the first anthony with the clerk, &c. of magdalen. was the former brother of francis? magdalenensis. _cardinal's hat._--o'halloran mentions the cardinal's hat--"birede"--"biretrum"--as the hat anciently worn by the irish doctors. what is its history? j. sansom. _maps of london._--i should be grateful to any of your correspondents who could inform me whether there are any maps of london before that of aggas? what they are? and where they are to be found? the date of aggas's map is supposed to be about , and must have been after , as the site of essex house in the strand is there called "paget place." there is a ms. map by anthony van den wyngerde in the sutherland collection in the bodleian, the date of which would be about . edward foss. _griffith of penrhyn._--can any of your correspondents refer me to a good pedigree of griffith of penrhyn and carnarvon? william d'oyly bayley. coatham, near redcar. _the mariner's compass._--what is the origin of the _fleur-de-lis_ with which the northern radius of the compass-card is always ornamented? nautilus. _pontefract on the thames._--permit me to ask, through the medium of your useful publication, where pontefract _on the thames_ was situate in { } the fourteenth century? several documents of edw. ii. are dated from shene (richmond); in , one from mortelak; in , one from istelworth; and several are dated _pountfrcyt_, or _pontem fractum super thamis_. (see rymer's _foedera_). it is very clear that this pountfrcyt on the thames must have been at no great distance from shene, mortlake, and isleworth, also upon the thames; and this is further corroborated by the dates following, from the places alluded to, so closely. <pointing hand> n. june . . * * * * * replies. on the origin and progress of the study of geometry in lancashire. the extensive study of geometry in lancashire and the northern counties generally is a fact which has forced itself upon the attention of several observers; but none of these have attempted to assign any reasons for so singular an occurrence. indeed, the origin and progress of the study of any particular branch of science, notwithstanding their attractive features, have but rarely engaged the attention of those best qualified for the undertaking. fully satisfied with pursuing their ordinary courses of investigation, they have scarcely ever stopped to inquire _who_ first started the subject of their contemplations; nor have they evinced much more assiduity to ascertain the _how_, the _when_, or in _what_ favoured locality he had his existence: and hence the innumerable misappropriations of particular discoveries, the unconscious traversing of already exhausted fields of research, and many of the bickerings which have taken place amongst the rival claimants for the honour of priority. mr. halliwell's _letters on the progress of science_ sufficiently show that the study of geometry was almost a nonentity in england previously to the commencement of the eighteenth century. before this period dr. dee, the celebrated author of the preliminary discourse to billingsley's _euclid_, had indeed resided at manchester ( ), but his residence here could effect little in flavour of geometry, seeing, as is observed by a writer in the _penny cyclopædia_-- "the character of the lectures on euclid was in those days extremely different from that of our own time ... the propositions of euclid being then taken as so many pegs to hang a speech upon." similar remarks evidently apply to horrocks and crabtree ( ); for although _both_ were natives of lancashire, and the latter a resident in the vicinity of manchester, their early death would prevent the exertion of any considerable influence; nor does it appear that they ever paid any attention to the study of the ancient geometry. richard towneley, esq., of towneley ( ), is known to have been an ardent cultivator of science, but his residence was principally in london. it may, however, be mentioned to his honour, _that he was the first to discover what is usually known as "marriotte's law"_ for the expansion of gases. at a later period ( - ), the name of "john hampson, of leigh, in lancashire," appears as a correspondent to the _lady's diary_; but since he mostly confined his speculations to subjects relating to the diophantine analysis, he cannot be considered as the originator of the revival in that branch of study now under consideration. such being the case, we are led to conclude that the "oldham mathematical society" was really the great promoter of the study of the ancient geometry in lancashire; for during the latter half of the last century, and almost up to the present date, it has numbered amongst its members several of the most distinguished geometers of modern times. a cursory glance at some of the mathematical periodicals of that date will readily furnish the names of ainsworth, whose elegant productions in pure geometry adorn the pages of the _gentleman's_ and _burrow's diaries_; taylor, the distinguished tutor of wolfenden; fletcher, whose investigations in the _gentleman's diary_ and the _mathematical companion_ entitle him to the highest praise; wolfenden, acknowledged by all as one of the most profound mathematicians of the last century; hilton, afterwards the talented editor of that "work of rare merit" the _liverpool student_; and last, though not least, the distinguished butterworth, whose elegant and extensive correspondence occupies so conspicuous a place in the _student_, the _mathematical repository_, the _companion_, the _enquirer_, the _leeds correspondent_, and the _york courant_. besides these, we find the names of mabbot, wood, holt (mancuniensis), clarke (salfordoniiensis), as then resident at manchester and in constant communication with, if not actually members of the society; nor can it be doubted from the evidence of existing documents that the predilection for the study of the ancient geometry evinced by various members of this lancashire school, exercised considerable influence upon the minds of such distinguished proficients as cunliffe, campbell, lowry, whitley, and swale. hence it would seem that _many_, and by no means improbable, reasons may be assigned for "the very remarkable circumstance of the geometrical analysis of the ancients having been cultivated with eminent success in the northern counties of england, and particularly in lancashire." mr. harvey, at the york meeting of the british association in , eloquently announced "that when playfair, in one of his admirable papers in the _edinburgh review_, expressed a fear that the increasing taste for analytical science would at length drive the { } ancient geometry from its favoured retreat in the british isles; the professor seemed not to be aware that there existed a devoted band of men in the north, resolutely bound to the pure and ancient forms of geometry, who in the midst of the tumult of steam engines, cultivated it with unyielding ardour, preserving the sacred fire under circumstances which would seem from their nature most calculated to extinguish it." mr. harvey, however, admitted his inability clearly to trace the "true cause of this remarkable phenomenon," but at the same time suggested that "a taste for pure geometry, something like that for entomology among the weavers of spitalfields, may have been transmitted from father to son; but who was the distinguished individual _first_ to create it, in the peculiar race of men here adverted to, seems not to be known." however, as "the two great restorers of ancient geometry, matthew stewart and robert simson, it may be observed, lived in scotland," he asks the important questions:--"did their proximity encourage the growth of this spirit? or were their writings cultivated by some teacher of a village school, who communicated by a method, which genius of a transcendental order knows so well how to employ, a taste for these sublime inquiries, so that at length they gradually worked their way to the anvil and the loom?" an attentive consideration of these questions in all their bearings has produced in the mind of the writer a full conviction that we must look to other sources for the revival of the study of the ancient geometry than either the writings of stewart or simson. it has been well observed by the most eminent geometer of our own times, professor davies--whose signature of pen-and-ink (vol. ii., p. .) affords but a flimsy disguise for his well-known _propria persona_--that "it was a great mistake for these authors to have written their principal works in the latin language, as it has done more than anything else to prevent their study among the only geometers of the eighteenth century who were competent to understand and value them;" and it is no less singular than true, as the same writer elsewhere observes, "that whilst dr. stewart's writings were of a kind calculated to render them peculiarly attractive to the non-academic school of english geometers, they remain to this day less generally known than the writings of any geometer of these kingdoms." the same remarks, in a slightly qualified form, may be applied to most of the writings of simson; for although his edition of euclid is now the almost universally adopted text-book of geometry in england, at the time of its first appearance in it did not differ so much from existing translations as to attract particular attention by the novelty of its contents. moreover, at this time the impulse had already been given and was silently exerting its influence upon a class of students of whose existence dr. simson appears to have been completely ignorant. in one of his letters to nourse (_phil. mag._, sept. , p. .) he regrets that "the taste for the ancient geometry, or indeed any geometry, seems to be quite worn out;" but had he instituted an examination of those contemporary periodicals either wholly or partially devoted to mathematics, he would have been furnished with ample reasons for entertaining a different opinion. we have every reason to believe that the publication of newton's _principia_ had a powerful effect in diffusing a semi-geometrical taste amongst the academical class of students in this country, and it is equally certain that this diffusion became much more general, when motte, in , published his translation of that admirable work. the nature of the contents of the _principia_, however, precluded the possibility of its being adapted to form the taste of novices in the study of geometry; it served rather to exhibit the _ne plus ultra_ of the science, and produced its effect by inducing the student to master the rudimentary treatises thoroughly, in order to qualify himself for understanding its demonstrations, rather than by providing a series of models for his imitation. a powerful inducement to the study of pure geometry was therefore created by the publication of motte's translation: ordinary students had here a desirable object to obtain by its careful cultivation, which hitherto had not existed, and hence when professor simpson, of woolwich, published his _algebra_ and the _elements of geometry_ in and , a select reading public had been formed which hailed these excellent works as valuable accessions to the then scanty means of study. nor must the labours of simpson's talented associates, rollinson and turner, be forgotten when sketching the progress of this revival. the pages of the _ladies' diary_, the _mathematician_, and the _mathematical exercises_, of which these gentlemen were severally editors and contributors, soon began to exhibit a goodly array of geometrical exercises, whilst their lists of correspondents evince a gradual increase in numbers and ability. the publication of stewart's _general theorems_ and simson's edition of _euclid_, in and , probably to some extent assisted the movement; but the most active elements at work were undoubtedly the mathematical periodicals of the time, aided by such powerful auxiliaries as simpson's _select exercises_ ( ) and his other treatises previously mentioned. it may further be observed that up to this period the mere english reader had few, if any means of obtaining access to the elegant remains of the ancient geometers. dr. halley had indeed given his restoration of apollonius's _de sectione rationis_ and _sectione spatii_ in . dr. simson had also issued his edition of the _locis planis_ in ; but unfortunately the very language in which these valuable works were written, precluded the possibility of { } these unlettered students being able to derive any material advantages from their publication: and hence arises another weighty reason why simpson's writings were so eagerly studied, seeing they contained the leading propositions of some of the most interesting researches of the alexandrian school. after the death of simpson, the rev. john lawson, who appears to have inherited no small portion of the spirit of his predecessors, began to take the lead in geometrical speculations; and having himself carefully studied the principal writings of the ancient geometers, now formed the happy project of unfolding these treasures of antiquity to the general reader, by presenting him with english translations of most of these valuable remains. with this view he published a translation of vieta's restoration of _apollonius on tangencies_, in , and to this, in the second edition of , was added the _treatise on spherical tangencies_, by fermat, which has since been reprinted in the _appendix to the ladies' diary_ for . in appeared emerson's _treatise on conic sections_; a work which, notwithstanding its manifest defects, contributed not a little to aid the student in his approaches to the higher geometry, but whose publication would probably have been rendered unnecessary, had dr. simson so far loosened himself from the trammels of the age, as to have written his own admirable treatise in the english language. the frequency, however, with which mr. emerson's treatise has been quoted, almost up to the present date, would appear to justify the propriety of including _it_ amongst the means by which the study of geometry was promoted during the last generation. the success which attended mr. lawson's first experiment induced him to proceed in his career of usefulness by the publication, in , of the _treatise on determinate section_; to which was appended an amended restoration of the same work by mr. william wales, the well-known geometer, who attended captain cook as astronomer, in one of his earlier voyages. in appeared the _synopsis of data for the construction of triangles_, which was followed in by his valuable _dissertations on the geometrical analysis of the ancients_; and although the author used an unjustifiable freedom with the writings of others, dr. stewart's more especially, it is nevertheless a work which probably did more to advance the study of the ancient geometry than any other separate treatise which could be named. as these publications became distributed amongst mathematicians, the _magazines_, the _diaries_, and various other periodicals, began to show the results of the activity which had thus been created; geometrical questions became much more abundant, and a numerous list of contributions appeared which afford ample proof that their able authors had entered deeply into the spirit of the ancient geometry. during the year mr. lawson issued the first portion of dr. simson's restoration of _euclid's porisms_, translated from the _opera reliqua_ of that distinguished geometer; and though the work was not continued, sufficient had already been done to furnish the generality of students with a clue to the real nature of this celebrated enigma of antiquity. the last of these worthy benefactors to the non-academic geometers of the last century was mr. reuben burrow, who by publishing in his _restitution of apollonius pergæus on inclinations_ gave publicity to a valuable relic which would otherwise have remained buried in the latin obscurity of dr. horsley's more elaborate production. during the greater portion of the time just reviewed, mr. jeremiah ainsworth was resident in the neighbourhood of manchester, and so early as was in correspondence with the editors of the _mathematical magazine_. he subsequently associated with mr. george taylor, a gentleman of kindred habits, then resident in the immediate vicinity, and these worthy veterans of science, as time wore on, collected around them a goodly array of pupils and admirers, and hence may truly be said not only to have laid the foundation of the "oldham society," but also to have been the fathers of the lancashire school of geometers. such then was the state of affairs in the mathematical world at the period of which we are speaking; all the works just enumerated were attracting the attention of all classes of students by their novelty or elegance; dr. hutton and the rev. charles wildbore had the management of the _diaries_, each vieing with the other in offering inducements for geometrical research; whilst both, in this respect, for a time, had to contend against the successful competition of reuben burrow, the talented editor of carnan's _diary_: correspondents consequently became numerous and widely extended, each collecting around him his own select circle of ardent inquirers; and thus it was, to use the words of mr. harvey, and answer the questions proposed, that inquiries which had hitherto been "locked up in the deep, and to them unapproachable recesses of plato, pappus, apollonius and euclid * * porisms and loci, sections of ratio and of space, inclinations and tangencies,--subjects confined among the ancients to the very greatest minds, (became) familiar to men whose condition in life was, to say the least, most unpropitious for the successful prosecution of such elevated and profound pursuits." the preceding sketch is respectfully submitted as an attempt to answer the queries of pen-and-ink, so far as lancashire is concerned. it is not improbable that other reasons, equally cogent, or perhaps corrective of several of the preceding, may be advanced by some of your more learned correspondents, whose experience and means of reference are superior to my own. should any such { } be induced to offer additions or corrections to what is here attempted, and to extend the inquiry into other localities, your pages will afford a most desirable medium through which to compare _notes_ on a very imperfectly understood but most important subject of inquiry. t. t. wilkinson. burnley, lancashire, june . . * * * * * queries answered, no. . passing over various queries of early date, on which it has been my intention to offer some suggestions, i have _endeuoyred me_, as master caxton expresses it, to illustrate three subjects recently mooted. _trianon_ (no. .).--the origin of this name is thus stated by m. dolort, in his excellent work entitled _mes voyages aux environs de paris_, ii. . "_le grand trianon._--appelé au ^e siècle _triarmun_, nom d'une ancienne paroisse, qui était divisée en trois villages dépendant du diocèse de chartres. cette terre, qui appartenait aux moines de sainte-geneviève, fut achetée par louis xiv. pour agrandir le parc de versailles, et plus tard il y fit coustruire le château." _wood paper_ (no. .).--at the close of the last century a patent was granted to matthias koops for the manufacture of paper from _straw_, _wood_, &c. in september , he dedicated to the king a _historical account of the substances which have been used to describe events_, in small folio. the volume is chiefly printed on paper _made from straw_; the appendix is on _paper made from wood alone_. both descriptions of paper have borne the test of time extremely well. murray, in his _practical remarks on modern paper_, speaks of koops and his inventions with much ignorance and unfairness. _tobacco in the east_ (no. .).--relying on the testimony of juan fragoso, physician to felipe ii. of spain, i venture to assert that tobacco is not indigenous to the east. to the same effect writes monardes. nevertheless, it was cultivated in java as early as the year . edmund scott, factor for the east india company at bantam, thus describes the luxuries of the javans:-- "they are very great eaters--and they haue a certaine hearbe called _bettaile_ which they vsually have carryed with them wheresoeuer they goe, in boxes, or wrapped vp in cloath like a suger loafe: and also a nutt called _pinange_, which are both in operation very hott, and they eate them continually to warme them within, and keepe them from the fluxe. they doe likewise take much _tabacco_, and also _opium_."--_an exact discovrse_ etc. _of the east indians_, london, . ^o. sig. n. . bolton corney. * * * * * meaning of "bawn." _bawn_ (vol. i, p. .) has been explained as "the outer fortification, inclosing the court-yard of an irish castle or mansion, and was generally composed of a wall with palisadoes, and sometimes flankers." the word _bawn_ or _bane_ (the _a_ pronounced as in the english word _hat_) is still applied in the south of ireland to the spot of ground used as a place for milking the cows of a farm, which, for obvious reasons, is generally close to the farm-house. before the practice of housing cattle became general, every country gentleman's house had its _bawn_ or _bane_. the necessity for having such a place well fenced, and indeed fortified, in a country and period when cattle formed the chief wealth of all parties, and when the country was infested by creaghadores and rapparees, is obvious; and hence the care taken in compelling the "undertakers in ulster" to have at least "a good bawn after the irish fashion." in munster the word _bane_ or _bawn_ is used to express land that has been long in grass; _tholluff bawn_ being used to signify grass land about to be brought into cultivation; and _tholluff breagh_, or _red land_, land which has been recently turned. to _redden land_ is still used to express either to plough land, or, more generally, to turn land with the spade. now the _milking field_ was, and is always kept in grass, and necessarily receiving a good deal of manure, would usually be _white_ from the growth of daisies and white clover. hence such a field would be called the _white_ field: and from this to the general application of the phrase to grass land the transition is easy and natural. it may be proper to add, that in kerry, particularly, the word is pronounced _bawn_, in speaking _irish_; but the same person will call it _bane_, if mentioning such land in english. the _a_ in the latter word is, as i said before, pronounced like the _a_ in hat. the irish for a _cow_ being _bo_, the phrase may have had its origin therefrom. on this matter, as on all relating to irish antiquities, the readers of "notes and queries" may be glad to have a sure person to refer to; and they cannot refer to a more accomplished irish scholar and antiquarian than "eugene curry". his address is, "royal irish academy, grafton street, dublin." kerriensis. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _births, marriages, &c., taxes on_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the first instance, that i am aware of, of a tax on marriages in this country, occurs in the of wm. and mary, c. . the war in which william engaged soon rendered it necessary to tax other incidents of humanity; and accordingly the & wm. iii. c. . was passed, granting to his majesty certain { } rates and duties upon marriages, births, deaths, and burials, and upon bachelors and widowers (a widely-spread net), for the term of five years, "for carrying on the war against france with vigour." the taxes on births, marriages, and burials were continued indefinitely by the & wm. iii. c. . i know not when this act was repealed; but by the george iii. c. ., taxes were again imposed on burials, births, marriages, and christenings; and by george iii. c. . these taxes were extended to dissenters. by the george iii. c. ., the taxes were repealed, and they ceased on october st, . the entries in the parish register noticed by arun, refer to these taxes. query, were our ancestors justified in boasting that they were "free-born" englishmen as long as one of these taxes existed? c. ross. _m._ or _n._ (vol. i., p. .).--these must, i think, be the initials of some words, and not originating in a corruption of nom, as suggested. we have in the marriage service:-- "'i publish the banns of marriage between m. of ---- and n. of ----.' "the curate shall say unto the man, "m. 'wilt thou have this woman,' &c. "the priest shall say unto the woman, "n. 'wilt thou have this man,' &c. "the man says: 'i, m. take thee n. to my wedded wife,' &c. "the woman says: 'i, n. take thee m. to my wedded husband,'" &c. again, "forasmuch as m. and n. have consented together," &c. all these passages would go to show that the letters are initials either of some word by which the sex was denoted, or of some very common christian names of each sex, which were formerly in use. i grant that, in the baptismal service, n. may possibly stand for nomen. thos. cox. preston. _arabic numerals._--i am not entitled to question either the learning or the "acumen" of the bishop of rochester; but i am entitled to question the _interpretation_ which e. s. t. tells us (vol. ii., p. .) he puts upon the castleacre inscription. my title to do so is this:--that in the year of grace the arabic numerals were not only of necessity unknown to the "plaisterers" of those walls, but even (as far as evidence has been yet adduced) to the most learned of england's learned men. as to the regular order in crossing himself, that will entirely depend upon whether the plaister was considered to be a knight's shield, and the figures the blazonry, or not. is it not, indeed, stated in one of your former numbers, that this very inscription was to be read , and not ? i have already hinted at the necessity of _caution_ in such cases; and mr. wilkinson of burnley has given, in a recent number of your work, two exemplifications. the bishop of rochester certainly adds another; though, of course, undesignedly. t. s. d. shooter's hill, june . _comment. in apocalypsin_ (vol. i., p. .).--there was a copy of this volume in the library of the duke of brunswick; and in the hope that sir f. madden may succeed in obtaining extracts, or a sight of it, i intimate just as much, though not in this kingdom. (see von der hardt's _autographa lutheri et coætaneorum_, tom. iii. .) you do not seem to have any copy whatever brought to your notice. this collection was, it appears from the _centifolium lutheranum_ of fabricius (p. .), bequeathed by the duke to the library at helmstad. novus. _robert deverell_ (vol. i., p. .).--if my information is too scanty to deserve a place among the replies, you may treat it as a supplement to dr. rimbault's query. mr. deverell also published (according to lowndes) _a new view of the classics and ancient arts, tending to show the invariable connexion with the sciences_, to. lond. ; and _discoveries in hieroglyphics and other antiquities_, vols. vo. lond. ,--which was suppressed by the author after a few copies had been sold. i have the second and third volumes, being all that relates to shakspeare. they consist of an edition of hamlet, lear, othello, merchant of venice, and the third satire of horace, copiously illustrated with notes and woodcuts, intended to prove that in the works in question, in common with "all the classics and the different specimens of the arts which have come down to us from the ancients, no part of them is to be understood without supposing that they were mere vehicles of knowledge, not intended to meet the eye or the understanding on the first inspection or perusal;" in short, that all the phrases, characters, and incidents are merely allusions to the appearances of the moon! a representation of which, and of shakspearian characters, &c., bearing supposed resemblance to its lights and shadows, form the staple of the illustrations. i collect from passages in these volumes, that the first was devoted to a similar illustration of hudibras. the whole affair seems to afford indications of insanity. in the _biographical dictionary of living authors_, vo., lond. , i find that in he was returned to parliament by the borough of saltash, in cornwall: and from the same authority it also appears that, in addition to the works above noticed, he was the author of _a guide to the knowledge of the ancients_, , and _a letter to mr. whitbread on two bills pending in parliament_, vo. . j. f. m. { } _the hippopotamus._--_the scotch kilt._--i was on the point of addressing a minor query to you, when no. . arrived, and therein i saw a major query from l. (p. .), which prompts an immediate answer. he asks, "has there been a live hippopotamus in europe since the reign of commodus?" to be sure there has, and capitolinus would have set him right. a goodly assemblage of animals of all sorts was collected by gordianus pius, but used by the elder philip, for the celebration of the secular games on the th anniversary of the building of rome, or a.d. . among them were elephants, tigers, elks, lions, leopards, hyænas, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, wild horses, wild asses, and giraffes, with a vast quantity of deer, goats, antelopes, and other beasts. "and," it is added in captain smyth's roman catalogue, "still further to increase the public _hilarity_, gladiators were matched in mortal affray." the portrait of the hippopotamus exhibited on that splendid occasion is well represented upon the large brass medals of otacilia severa, philip's wife, and on those of their son, philip junior. that of otacilia is described at length in captain smyth's work. now for my minor query. can you, sir, or any of your intelligent correspondents, oblige me by saying who introduced the kilt into scotland and when? however it may wound local prejudice, i fear our northern brethren will find its use to be much more recent than they seem willing to be aware of. at present i will not put a rider on the question, by asking, whether an englishman first gave it them: but perhaps you, sir, will sift it thoroughly, even although a whole corps of rabid macnicolls should enter the field against you. [sigma] _ashes to ashes_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the word is taken from genesis, xviii. .: "i have taken upon me to speak unto the lord, which am but dust and ashes." it is plain that this has nothing to do with the treatment of the corpse; but that whatever the exact meaning of the word in hebrew may be, it is synonymous with dust. as to dust, this is perfectly plain in genesis, iii. .: "till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." here burial seems to be distinctly meant. the latin word _cinis_, which denotes ashes produced by burning, is derived from the greek, which denotes natural dust, i forget whether burnt ashes also. c. b. _dr. maginn's miscellanies_ (vol. i., p. .).--mr. tucker hunt (brother of mr. f. knight hunt, author of _the fourth estate, a history of newspapers, &c. &c._) showed me some years since a collections of these papers from various sources, which he proposed to publish, and which i was very glad to learn, as i had always regretted that dr. maginn had left no memorial of his splendid talents in a seperate publication, but frittered away his genius in periodicals. as "j. m. b." appears very anxious to obtain an authentic reference to any article contributed by the dr., i think if he could communicate with mr. tucker hunt, it might be of great assistance. i have not the latter's address, but probably a note to the care of his brother's publisher, "d. bogue, fleet street", might lead to a communication. w. h. lammin. fulham, june . _living dog better than a dead lion_.--for an answer to my query at vol. i., pp. . ., where i asked for the authority upon which baunez gave _homer_ credit for the expression (which is evidently none of his), "quod leoni mortuo etiam lepores insultant," a friend has referred me to _antholog. græc._. vo. lipsiæ, , tom. iv. p. .; out of which you may, perhaps, think it not too late to insert the following epigr. xi. [greek: "hôs apo hektoros titrôskomenou hupo hellênôn,] [greek: ballete nun meta potmon emon demas. hotti kai autai] [greek: nekrou sôma leontos ephubrizousi lagôoi."] j. sansom. _gaol chaplains_ (vol. ii., p. .) were made universal by act of parliament in the fourth year of george iv. before that they may have existed in some places. in gloucestershire from . c. b. _rome ancient and modern_ (vol. ii., p. .)--such a map as your correspondent a. b. m. describes, was at rome in . it was by vasi. i got it, but never saw it in england. c. b. _trianon_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in justice to myself, and in reply to your correspondent c., who believes i have "not the slightest authority" for my explanation of the word _trianon_, i beg to refer him to the french dictionaries, in some of which, at all events, he will find it thus written: _trianon_, subst. masc., _a pavilion_. j. k. r. w. * * * * * miscellanies _aboriginal chambers near tilbury_ (vol. i., p. .).--mr. cook, of abeley, essex, having seen this query, which had been kindly quoted into _the athenæum_ of the th ultimo, communicated to that journal on saturday, june st, the following information respecting two of these caves, the result of a personal examination of them:-- "the shafts are five in number; and are situated at { } the edge of hanging wood, in the parish of chadwell, about three miles from grays pier. i descended two of them in , by means of a rope and pulley fixed to the branch of a neighbouring tree,--taking the precaution to have a lighted lanthorn swinging a few yards beneath me. they were between eighty and ninety feet in depth,--their diameter at the top six feet, gradually diminishing to three feet at the bottom. there was a great deal of drift sand at the bottom of the shaft, extending a considerable way up, which nearly blocked up the entrance to the chambers. by treading down the sand i soon gained an entrance, and found five chambers communicating with the shaft--three on one side and two on the other. in form they were nearly semicircular. their dimensions were small, not exceeding thirty feet in length by fifteen in width, but very lofty; they were quite dry and free from foul air. the chambers in both shafts corresponded exactly with each other in size, form, and number. i trust this brief account may be of some service to those gentlemen who intend to explore them, and should be most happy to afford any assistance in my power." _mistake in conybeare and howson's life of st. paul._--in the splendid and learned _life of st. paul_, now publishing by messrs. longmans, there occurs in a note a broad assertion, but quite erroneous, which may mislead those who would be inclined to take it without examination, induced by the general accuracy and learning of the work. at page , note ., the writer says, "it is remarkable that the sadducees are mentioned in no other books of the new testament, except st. matthew and the acts." i mentioned this as a _fact_ to a friend, who immediately remembered a passage in st. luke, chap. xx. v. .: "then came to him certain of the sadducees," &c. i then turned out sadducees in cruden, and there found only matthew and acts referred to. on looking at the passage of st. mark parallel to the abovementioned of st. luke, i read, "then came unto him the sadducees," &c. (xii. .) the note, therefore, should end, "except the first three gospels and the acts." e. s. jackson. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. the rev. w. haslam, the author of _perran zabuloe_, has just issued a little volume entitled _the cross and the serpent, being a brief history of the triumph of the cross through a long series of ages in prophecy, types, and fulfilments_. though the present work belongs to one of the two classes which, for obvious reasons, we do not undertake to notice in our columns, there is so much of curious matter illustrative of folk lore, early remains, and old-world customs, in the third part of it, as to justify our directing the attention of our antiquarian readers to the archæology of the volume. the druidic beltein or midsummer fire still burns brightly, it appears, in cornwall. we shall endeavour to transfer to our folk lore columns some passages on this and other cognate subjects. mr. russell smith announces a series of _critical and historical tracts_ on the subject of, i. _agincourt_; ii. _first colonists of new england_ (this is already issued); and iii. milton, a _sheaf of gleanings after his biographers and annotators_. the name of joseph hunter, f.s.a., which figures upon their title-pages, is a sufficient warrant that they will deserve the attention of the historical student. mr. m. a. denham, the author of the interesting _collection of proverbs and popular sayings relating to the seasons, weather, &c._, published by the percy society, also intends to issue some tracts (limited to fifty copies of each) illustrative of the antiquities of the northern parts of the kingdom. the first is to be on _the slogans or slughorns of the north of england_; the second, on _"some of the manners and customs"_ of the north. we have received the following catalogues:--joseph lilly's ( . pall mall) catalogue of a choice and valuable collection of rare, curious, and useful books; william andrews' ( . corn street, bristol) catalogue, part iv., , books just bought from the deanery, armagh, &c.; and j. russell smith's ( . old compton street, soho) bibliotheca historica et topographica; books illustrating the history, antiquities, and topography of great britain and ireland. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) grey's method of learning hebrew. [the edition that contains the _history of joseph_ as a praxis, _not_ that which contains the proverbs.] oakley on our lord's passion. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. title and index to volume the first. _a double number will be published next week, containing title and copious index to the first volume, price d., or stamped to go post free,_ d. _the monthly part will be ready at the same time, price s._ d., _including the title and index._ delta. _the following appears to us the true reading of the legend of the seal transmitted:_-- + minativs. t. mrris. ppox. ecclexies:sce: mrie. d'. gallate. _there appears little doubt as to the last word, whatever may be the locality intended. "gallatum" has been used for "wallop" in hampshire, but it is doubtful if this seal applies to that place._ c. f. o. _the phigaleian marbles are in the british museum. the casts described were modelled from them by an accomplished london artist._ _errata._--no. ., p. , ., in the article _cosas de españa_, te_r_eda should be te_x_eda; and for carrascon, which recently _had_ been reprinted, read _has_. { } * * * * * to booksellers, printers, stationers, and literary men in general, a country business, established upwards of fifty years, and yielding a net profit of _l_. per annum, is now to be sold a great bargain: it embraces printing, bookselling, and stationery; is carried on in the west of england, on premises admirably adapted for its various branches, and held at a very low rental. about l. or l. will be required for the purchase of the stock, printing presses, &c., (which is of the best description), one-third of which may remain on approved security. address by letter only to t. w., messrs. simpkin, marshall, and co., stationer's court, ludgate hill. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo., price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * memoirs of musick. by the hon. roger north, attorney-general to james. i. now first printed from the original ms. and edited, with copious notes, by edward f. rimbault, ll.d., f.s.a, &c. &c. quarto; with a portrait; handsomely printed in to.; half-bound in morocco, _s_. this interesting ms., so frequently alluded to by dr. burney in the course of his "history of music," has been kindly placed at the disposal of the council of the musical antiquarian society, by george townshend smith, esq., organist of hereford cathedral. but the council, not feeling authorised to commence a series of literary publications, yet impressed with the value of the work, have suggested its independent publication to their secretary, dr. rimbault, under whose editorial care it accordingly appears. it abounds with interesting musical anecdotes; the greek fables respecting the origin of music; the rise and progress of musical instruments; the early musical drama; the origin of our present fashionable concerts; the first performance of the beggar's opera, &c. a limited number having been printed, few copies remain for sale: unsold copies will shortly be raised in price to l. s. d. folio, price s. the choral responses and litanies of the united church of england and ireland. collect from authentic sources. by the rev. john jebb, a.m., rector of peterstow. the present work contains a full collection of the harmonized compositions of ancient date, including nine sets of pieces and responses, and fifteen litanies, with a few of the more ancient psalm chants. they are given in full score, and in their proper cliffs. in the upper part, however, the treble is substituted for the "cantus" or "medius" cliff: and the whole work is so arranged as to suit the library of the musical student, and to be fit for use in the choir. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * preparing for publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * the latest work on nineveh. now ready, fourth edition, with upwards of plates and woodcuts, vols. vo., _s_. nineveh and its remains: being a narrative of researches and discoveries amidst the ruins of assyria. with an account of the chaldean christians of kurdistan; the yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enquiry into the manners and arts of the ancient assyrians. by austen h. layard, d.c.l. "this is, we think, the most extraordinary work of the present age, whether with reference to the wonderful discoveries it describes, its remarkable verification of our early biblical history, or the talent, courage, and perseverance of its author. we have had our bruces and mungo parks, as well as our parrys, franklins, backs, and rosses, but we question whether a more enlightened or a more enterprising traveller than mr. layard is to be met with in the annals of our modern english history."--_from the_ times. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * published monthly, price d.; stamped, d.; or in advance, s. d. a year, the english journal of education, specially designed as a medium of correspondence among the heads of training colleges, parochial clergymen, and all promoters of sound education, parents, sponsors, schoolmasters, pupil-teachers, sunday-teachers, &c. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * the devotional library. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. the devotional library was commenced in . the design of the proprietors was to publish, at the lowest possible price, a series of works, original, or selected from well-known church of england divines, which, from their practical character, as well as their cheapness, would be peculiarly useful to the clergy for parochial distribution. since that period the following have appeared:-- helps to self-examination, ½d. ... original. the sum of christianity, d. ... a. ellis. directions for spending one day well, ½d. ... abp. synge. short reflections for morning and evening, d. ... spinckes. prayers for a week, d. ... sorocold. the above may also be had, bound together in cloth, as "helps to daily devotion," price d. cloth. the crucified jesus, d. ... horneck. the retired christian, d. ... ken. holy thoughts and prayers, d. ... original. the sick man visited, d. ... spinckes. short meditations for every day in the year, two vols. pp. cloth, s. ... original. ditto, two vols., calf, gilt edges, s. ... original. the separate parts may still be had. the christian taught by the church services, cloth, s. d. ... original. ditto ditto, calf, gilt edges, s. d. ... original. the separate parts may still be had. penitential reflections for days of fasting and abstinence. (tracts for lent), d. ... compiled. rules for the conduct of human life, d. ... abp. synge. ejaculatory prayers, d. ... a. cook. pastoral address to a young communicant, ½d. ... original. litanies for domestic use, d. ... compiled. family prayers. cloth, d. ... original. companion to the altar. cloth, d. ... unknown. aphorisms by bishop hall. cloth, d. ... original. devout musings on the psalms. parts i. and ii. cloth, s. each. ... original. the evangelical history of our lord and saviour jesus christ. part i., d. part ii., d. ... reading. the common prayer book the best companion, d. ... unknown. church school hymn book. cloth, d. the clergy and others purchasing for distribution, are informed that a reduction of twenty per cent. will be made on all orders of not less than _s_. in amount, if addressed direct to the publisher, mr. slocombe, leeds, or to mr. bell, fleet street, london, and payment made on delivery. leeds: r. slocombe. london: g. bell. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. p. "gamêlioi theoi" - "gamêlioi theio" in original. p. "admitted in churches or churchyards." - "chuchyards" in original. proofreading team and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, september , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- folk lore:--the first mole in cornwall--"a whistling wife," &c.--a charm for warts--hanging out the broom. lord plunket and st. agobard. notes on cunningham's handbook of london, by e.f. rimbault. notes on coleridge's aids to reflection, by j.e.b. mayor. minor notes:--capture of henry vi.--notes from mentmore register. queries:-- joachim, the french ambassador. roman catholic translations of the scriptures, &c. minor queries:--the lost tribes--partrige family--commoner marrying a peeress--the character "&"--combs buried with the dead--cave's historia literaria--julin--richardson family--arabic name of tobacco--pole money--welsh money--a skeleton in every house--whetstone of reproof--morganatic marriages--gospel of distaffs. replies:-- poeta anglicus. caxton's printing-office, by j.g. nichols. the use of coffins, by rev. a. gatty. shakspeare's use of the word "delighted". ventriloquism. replies to minor queries:--earl of oxford's patent--the darby ram--rotten row and stockwell street--hornbooks--passages from shakspeare--mildew in books--pilgrims' road to canterbury--abbé strickland--etymology of totnes--Ædricus qui signa fundebat--fiz-gig--guineas-- numismatics--querela cantabrigiensis--ben johnson--barclay's "argenis"--hockey--praed's poetical works. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes. folk lore. _the first mole in cornwall; a morality from the stowe of morwenna, in the rocky land._--a lonely life for the dark and silent mole! she glides along her narrow vaults, unconscious of the glad and glorious scenes of earth, and air, and sea! she was born, as it were, in a grave, and in one long living sepulchre she dwells and dies! is not existence to her a kind of doom? wherefore is she thus a dark, sad exile from the blessed light of day? hearken! here, in our own dear cornwall, the first mole was a lady of the land! her abode was in the far west, among the hills of morwenna, beside the severn sea. she was the daughter of a lordly race, the only child of her mother, and the father of the house was dead. her name was alice of the lea. fair was she and comely, tender and tall; and she stood upon the threshold of her youth. but most of all did men wonder at the glory of her large blue eyes. they were, to look upon, like the summer waters, when the sea is soft with light! they were to her mother a joy, and to the maiden herself--ah! benedicite--a pride. she trusted in the loveliness of those eyes, and in her face, and features, and form: and so it was that the damsel was wont to pass the summer's day, in the choice of rich apparel, and precious stones, and gold. howbeit this was one of the ancient and common customs of those old departed days. now, in the fashion of her stateliness, and in the hue and texture of her garments, there was none among the maidens of old cornwall like alice of the lea. men sought her far and nigh, but she was to them all, like a form of graven stone, careless and cold. her soul was set upon a granville's love, fair sir bevil of stowe, the flower of the cornish chivalry--that noble gentleman! that valorous knight! he was her star. and well might she wait upon his eyes; for he was the garland of the west--the loyal soldier of a sainted king. he was that stately granville who lived a hero-life, and died a warrior's death! now there was signal made of banquet in the halls of stowe, of wassail, and the dance. the messengers had sped, and alice of the lea would be there. robes, precious and many, were unfolded from their rest, and the casket poured forth jewel and gem, that the maiden might stand before the knight victorious! it was the day--the hour--the time. her mother sate by her wheel at the hearth. the page waited in the hall. she came down in her loveliness into the old oak room, and stood before the mirrored glass. her robe was of woven velvet, rich, and glossy, and soft; jewels shone like stars in the midnight of her raven hair, and on her hand there gleamed, afar off, a bright and glorious ring! she { } stood--she gazed upon her own countenance and form, and worshipped! "now all good angels succour thee, dear alice, and bend sir bevil's soul! fain am i to see thee a wedded wife, before i die! i yearn to hold thy children on my knee! often shall i pray to-night that the granville heart may yield! thy victory shall be my prayer!" "prayer!" was the haughty answer; "with the eyes that i see in that glass, and this vesture meet for a queen, i lack no doubting prayer!" saint mary shield us! ah words of evil soul! there was a shriek--a sob--a cry: and where was alice of the lea? vanished--gone. they had heard wild tones of sudden music in the air. there was a rush--a beam of light--and she was gone, and that for ever! east sought they her, and west, in northern paths and south; but she was never more seen in the lands. her mother wept till she had not a tear left; none sought to comfort her, for it was vain. moons waxed and waned, and the crones by the cottage-hearth had whiled away many a shadowy night with tales of alice of the lea. but, at the last, as the gardener in the pleasance leaned one day on his spade, he saw among the roses a small round hillock of earth, such as he had never seen before, and upon it something which shone. it was her ring! it was the very jewel she had worn the day she vanished out of sight! they looked earnestly upon it, and they saw within the border (for it was wide) the tracery of certain small fine letters in the ancient cornish tongue, which said,-- "beryan erde, oyn und perde!" then came the priest of the place of morwenna, a gray and silent man! he had served long years at a lonely altar, a bent and solitary form. but he had been wise in the language of his youth, and he read the legend thus-- "the earth must hide both eyes and pride!" now, as he uttered these words, they stood in the pleasance by the mound; and on a sudden there was a low faint cry! they beheld, and o wondrous and strange! there was a small dark creature, clothed in a soft velvet skin, in texture and in hue like the lady alice her robe; and they saw, as it went into the earth, that it moved along without eyes, in everlasting night. then the ancient priest wept, for he called to mind all these things, and saw what they meant; and he showed them how this was the maiden, who had been visited with doom for her pride. therefore her rich array had been changed into the skin of a creeping thing and her large proud eyes were sealed up; and she herself had become the first mole! of the hillocks of cornwall! ah! woe is me! and well-a-day! that damsel so stately and fair, sweet lady alice of the lea, should be made for a judgement--the dark mother of the moles! now take ye good heed, cornish maidens, how ye put on vain apparel, to win love. and cast down your eyes, all ye damsels of the west, and look ye meekly on the ground! be ye good and gentle, tender and true; and when ye see your image in the glass, and begin to be lifted up with the beauty of that shadowy thing, call to mind the maiden of morwenna, her noble eyes and comely countenance, the vesture of price and the glittering ring. sit ye by the wheel, as of old they sate and as ye draw the lengthening wool, sing ye ever-more and say, "beryan erde, oyn and perde!" * * * * * "a whistling wife" &c.--i can supply another version of the couplet quoted in "folk lore" (vol. ii., p. .), which has the merit of being more rhymical and mysterious. in what district it was current i know not. "a whistling wife and a crowing hen will call the old gentleman out of his den." g.l.b. _a charm for warts._--in some parts of ireland, especially towards the south, they place great faith in the following charm:--when a funeral is passing by, they rub the warts and say three times, "may these warts and this corpse pass away and never more return;" sometimes adding, "in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost." jarltzberg. _"hanging out the broom"._--besides the instance given by mr. r.f. johnson (vol. i., p. .), perhaps some of your readers can inform me of the origin of a somewhat similar custom, applicable to all ships and vessels for sale or hire, by the broom (all old one being generally used) being attached to the mast-head: if of two masts, to the foretop-mast head. wp. * * * * * lord plunket and saint agobard. some of your readers may remember a speech in parliament by, as i think, lord plunket, in which his lordship argued with great eloquence in behalf of the bill for the emancipation of the roman catholics. among many passages therein of equal truth and rhetorical power, there was one long afterwards much quoted, paraphrased, and praised. it was that in which he reminded the house, that those for whom he pleaded were fellow-subjects of the same race, offspring of the same creator, alike believers in the one true god, the equal recipients of his mercies, appealing for { } his blessings though the medium of the same faith, and looking forward for salvation to the one intercessor, mediator, and sacrifice for all,--men, who, as they did, addressed the eternal in the form of that "universal prayer"--our father--the authority and the privilege of one common parentage, offered by the all in the union of the same spirit, in the conviction of the same wants, in the aspiration of the same hope. i say, i think lord plunket so spoke, for i write from memory dating from the period when george the third was king. now be this so: according to the dogmas of some critics, lord plunket may be convicted of an eloquent plagiary. read the following extract from a missive by s. agobard, to be found in the _bibl. vet. patrum_, tome xiii, page ., by galland, addressed "ad præfatum imperatorem, adversus legem gundobadi et impia certamina quæ per eam geruntur," and say whether, in spite of the separation of centuries, there does not appear a family likeness, though there were no family acquaintance between them; saint agobard being bishop of lyons in the ninth centry, and lord plunket attorney-general for ireland in the nineteenth. the saint is pleading against the judical ordeal: "illi autem profecti, prædicaverunt ubique domino cooperante; annuntiataque est ab eis omni creaturæ; id est, cunetis nationibus mundi; una fides indita per deum, una spes diffusa per spiritum sanctum in cordibus credentium, una caritas nata in omnibus, una voluntas, accensum unum desiderium, tradita una oratio; ut omnes omnino ex diversis gentibus, diversis conditionibus, diverso sexu, nobilitate, honestate, servitute diversa, simul dicant uni deo, et patri omnium; pater noster qui es, &c., sicut unum patrem invocantes, ita unam santificationem quærentes, unum regnum postulantes, unam adimpletionem voluntatis ejus, sicut fit in coelo optantes; unum sibi panem quotidianum dari precantes et omnibus dimitti debita." to which other passages might be added, as, in fact, s. agobard pursues the one idea until he hunts it down to the one effect of sameness and common antithesis. should we say lord plunket had read these passages, and is thereby convicted of eloquent plagiary? i say, no! lauder then equally convicted milton of trespassing on the thoughts of others, by somewhat apposite quotations from the classics. we are, in truth, too much inclined to this. the little, who cannot raise themselves to the stature of the great, are apt to strive after a socialist level, by reducing all to one same standard--their own. truth is common to all ages, and will obtain utterance by the truthful and the eloquent throughout all time. s.h. athenæum, august . * * * * * notes on the second edition of mr. cunningham's handbook of london . _long acre._ mr. cunningham, upon the authority of parton's _history of st. giles's_, says: "first known as the elms, then called seven acres, and since , from the length of a certain slip of ground, then first used as a public pathway, as long acre." the latter part of this statement is incorrect. the seven acres were known as _long acre_ as early as , when they were granted to the earl of bedford. see _strype_, b. vi. p. . machyn, in his _diary_, printed by the camden society, p. ., under the date a.d. , has the following allusion to the _acre_: "the vj day of december the abbot of westminster went a procession with his convent. before him went all the santuary men with crosse keys upon their garments, and after went iij for murder: on was the lord dacre's sone of the north, was wypyd with a shett abowt him for kyllyng of on master west, squyre, dwellyng besyd ... and anodur theyff that dyd long to one of master comtroller ... dyd kylle recherd eggylston the comtroller's tayller, and kylled him in the _long acurs_, the bak-syd charyng crosse." . _norfolk house, st. james's square._ the present norfolk house was built from a design by r. brettingham, in , by thomas duke of norfolk, and finished by his brother edward in . mr. cunningham speaks as if the old house, in which george iii. was born, was still standing. . _soho square._ mr. cunningham has not corrected his mistake about mrs. cornelys's house in this square, (see "notes and queries," vol. i., pp. , .). _d'almaine's_, which mr. cunningham confounds with mrs. cornelys's, was at a former period tenanted by the duke of argyll; then by the earl of bradford; and, at a later time, by the celebrated onslow, who held his parliamentary levees in the principal drawing-room. the ceilings of the best rooms are adorned with paintings by rebecca and angelica kauffman. mr. cunningham has taken some pains to destroy the _pennant_ tradition concerning the name of this square, but he has not given us one important piece of information, i.e. that between the years and , the ground was surveyed by _gregory king_, an eminent architect of those days, who projected the square with the adjacent streets. query, did it not take the name of _king's_ square from the architect? this seems very probable; more especially as the statue of charles i. was not placed in the square until the beginning of the next century. the centre space was originally occupied by a splendid fountain, (the work of colley cibber's father), an estimate of the "cost and charges" of which is now before me. among the eminent inhabitants of this square, not noticed by mr. cunningham, were the following:--lord { } berkely, lord byron, lord grimstone, lord howard, lord leicester, sir thomas mansel, lord morpeth, lord nottingham, lord peterborough, lord pierrepoint, lord pigot, dudley north, the earl of dartmouth, the duchess of cleveland, the duchess of wharton, &c. these names appear in the books of the parish of st. anne, between the years of and . . _surrey institution._ at one period (about ), this building was known as the _blackfriars rotundo_. here that execrable character, robert taylor, who styled himself "the devil's chaplain," delivered his blasphemous discourses. . _opera house._ mr. cunningham, speaking of the translation of _arsinoe_, the first anglo-italian opera performed in this country, says: "the translation was made by thomas clayton." this is an error, for clayton himself says, in his preface: "i was obliged to have an italian opera translated." clayton was the composer of the music. . _james's (st.) chapel, st. james's palace._ mr. cunningham says, "the service is chanted by the boys of the chapel royal." this ought to read, "the service is chaunted by the boys _and gentlemen_ of the chapel royal" the musical service of our cathedrals and collegiate establishments cannot be performed without four kinds of voices, treble, alto, tenor, and bass. . _bagnigge wells._ mr. cunningham makes a strange mistake concerning this once popular place of amusement when he says, "first opened to the public in the year ." a stone, still to be seen, let into the wall over what was formerly the garden entrance, has the following inscription: "s + t this is bagnigge hovse neare the pinder a wakefeilde ." the gardens were first opened for the accommodation of persons who partook of the mineral springs; subsequently, amusements were added; and in bickham's curious work, _the musical entertainer_ (circa ), is an engraving of tom hippersley mounted in the "singing rostrum," regaling the company with a song. about half a century after this date, a regular orchestra was erected, and the entertainments resembled marylebone gardens and vauxhall. the old house and gardens were demolished in , to make room for several new streets. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * notes on coleridge's aids to reflection ( nd edition, ) introductory aphorisms, no. xii., p. .: "tertullian had good reason for his assertation, that the simplest christian (if indeed a christian) knows more than the most accomplished irreligious philosopher." the passage referred to is in the apology, c. : "deum quilibet opifex christianus et invenit et ostendit et exinde totum, quod in deo quæritur, re quoque assignat; licet plato affirmet factitatorem universitatis neque inveniri facilem et inventum enarrari in omnes difficilem." note to aphorism xxxi., p. .: "to which he [plato] may possibly have referred in his phrase [greek: theoparadotos sophia]." possibly coleridge may have borrowed this from berkeley's _siris_, § ., where [greek: theoparadotos philosophia] is cited from "a heathen writer." the word [greek: theoparadotos] occurs in proclus and marinus (see valpy's _stephani thesaurus_), but not in plato. the motto from seneca, prefixed to the aphorisms on spiritual religion, is from the fourty-first epistle of that writer. the question from tertullian in the comment on the eight of those aphorisms, "certum est quia impossibile est."--p. . is from the _de carne christi_, cap. v. aphorism iv., p. .: "in wonder all philosophy began." see plato's _theætetus_ § ., p. . gataker on antonin, i. . plutarch _de ei delph_. cap. . p. b. sympos, v. ., p. c. aristot. _metaph_. . . . in the "sequelæ" annexed to this aphorism, it is said of simonides (p. .), that "_in the fortieth day_ of his mediation the sage and philosophic poet abandoned the problem [of the nature of god] in despair." cicero (_de nat. deor._ i. . § .) and minucius felix (_octav._ .) do not specify the number of days during which simonides deferred his answer to hiero. aphorism x. on original sin. (note, p. .) [greek: sunetois phonun], &c., from pindar, _olymp._ ii. . ( .) conclusion, p. .: "_evidences_ of christianity! i am weary of this word," &c. see the remarks on this passage in archbishop whately's _logic_, appendix iii., near the end. the quotation from apuleius, at the end of the book (p. .), is from the _metamorphos._, i. . j.e.b. mayor marlborough college. * * * * * minor notes. _capture of henry vi._ (vol. ii., p. .).--there are several errors in this historical note. the name of the dean of windsor was manning, not { } "manting;" "brungerly" should be bungerley. one of the talbots, of bashall hall, could never be "high sheriff for the west riding," as the ridings of yorkshire never had distinct sheriffs; neither was he sheriff of the county. the particulars of the king's capture are thus related in the chronicle called warksworth's _chronicle_, which has been printed by the camden society:-- "also, the same yere, kynge henry was takene byside a howse of religione [i.e. whalley] in lancashyre, by the mene of a blacke monke of abyngtone [abingdon] in a wode called cletherwode [the wood of clitheroe], besyde bungerly hyppyngstones, by thomas talbott, sonne and heyre to sere edmunde talbot of basshalle, and jhon talbott, his cosyne, of colebry [i.e. salebury, in blackburn], withe other moo; which discryvide [him] beynge at his dynere at wadyngton halle: and [he was] carryed to london on horsebake, and his leges bownde to the styropes." i have substituted the word "discryvide" for "disseyvide," as it is printed in the camden society's book, where the editor, mr. halliwell, understood the passage as meaning that the king was deceived or betrayed. i take the meaning to be that the black monk of abingdon had descried, or discovered, the king as he was eating his dinner at waddington hall; whereupon the talbots, and some other parties in the neighbourhood, formed plans for his apprehension, and arrested him on the first convenient opportunity, as he was crossing the ford across the river ribble, formed by the hyppyngstones at bungerley. waddington belonged to sir john tempest, of bracewell, who was the father-in-law of thomas talbot. both sir john tempest and sir james harrington of brierley, near barnsley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each received one hundred marks reward; but the fact of sir thomas talbot being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the larger reward of £. further particulars respecting these and other parties concerned, will be found in the notes to warksworth's _chronicle_. the chief residence of the unhappy monarch during his retreat was at bolton hall, where his boots, his gloves, and a spoon, are still preserved, and are engraved in whitaker's _craven_. an interior view of the ancient hall at bolton, which is still remaining, is engraved in the _gentleman's magazine_ for may, . sir ralph pudsay, of bolton, had married margaret, daughter of sir thomas tunstal, who attended the king as esquire of the body. john gough nichols. _mentmore, bucks, notes from register of._--having recently had occasion to go through the entire registers of the parish of mentmore, bucks, i send you three extracts, not noticed by lipscombe, the two first relating to an extinct branch of the house of hamilton, the third illustrating the "manners and customs of the english" at the end of the seventeenth century. " , william hamilton, an infant son of lord viscount limerick, feb. ." " . the honourable charles hamilton, son of lord viscount limerick, jan. ." "memorand. a beggar woman of slapton, whipt at mentmoir, july th, ." q.d. * * * * * queries john jokyn, or joachim, the french ambassador. i am very desirous to be informed in what _french_ author i can find any account of john jokyn (joachim?), who was ambassador to england from france during the time of cardinal wolsey. i have looked into the greater part of the french authors who have written historically on the reign of françois i. without having found any mention of such personage--_l'art de vérifier les dates_, &c., without success. he is frequently spoken of by english writers, and particularly in the _union of the famelies of lancastre and yorke_, by edward halle, , folios , , , , and .; at folio ., th year of hen. viii., it is stated:-- "there came over as ambassador from france, jhon jokyn, now called m. de vaux, which, as you have heard in the last year, was kept secret in master lark's house; and when he came into england he was welcomed of the cardinal (wolsey), and there between them were such communications at the suit of the said jhon, that a truce was concluded from the th of july for forty days between england and france, both on the sea, and beyond the sea," &c. &c. this m. jokyn, or joachim, appears to have been a person of considerable influence, and it appears his purpose on this mission was to bribe wolsey; and it seems that the chancellor duprat was aware of this, and was much displeased on the occasion. amicus. aug , . * * * * * scriptures, roman catholic translations of, luther's familiarity with. the replies i have gained to previous queries encourage me to trouble you with the following:-- . has the roman catholic church ever published a translation of the scriptures, or any part of them, into the vernacular _irish_? have their missionaries in _china_ ever translated anything beyond the epistles and gospels of the missal? or, is there any roman catholic translation into any of the vernacular languages of _india_? or, are there any versions in any of the american dialects by roman catholic authors, besides those mentioned by le long in his _bibliotheca sacra_. and is there any continuation of his work up to { } the present day? i am acquainted with bishop marsh's volume, but he seems ill-informed and speaks vaguely about roman catholic versions. . what is the authority for the familiar story of a bill being brought into parliament for the suppression of all vernacular translations in richard ii.'s reign, and of its being stoutly opposed by john of gaunt? "what, are we the dregs of the earth not to hear the scriptures in our own tongue?" usher mentions the circumstance (_historia dogmatica_, &c.), and it is borrowed from him by fox. but i am so ignorant as not to know the original and cotemporary authority. . your learned correspondent, dr. maitland, in his _dark ages_, snubs d'aubigné most unmercifully for repeating an old story about luther's stumbling upon a bible, and pooh-pooh's d'aubigné's authority, mathesius, as no better than a goose. may i ask whether it is possible to discover the probable foundation of such a story, and whether luther has left us in his writings any account of his early familiarity with scripture, that would bear upon the alleged incident, and show how much of it may be true? c.f.s. * * * * * minor queries _the lost tribes._--a list of all the theories and publications respecting the ten tribes commonly called the lost tribes, or any communication concerning them, will much oblige. jarltzberg. _partrige family._--can any of your readers inform me where i can see the grant mentioned in the following _note_ taken from strype's _ecclesiastical memorials_, vol. iii. p. : "i find a grant to the lady jane partrige for life, of the manor of kenne in devon, of the yearly value of l. s. - / d., but this not before april, ." can any of your readers tell me how to obtain access to a private act st mary, sessio secunda. cap. ., anno , intituled, "an act for the restitution in blood of the heirs of sir miles partrige, knight"? strype calls it an act for the restitution of the daughters of sir miles partrige, and i think he must be right, as i have primâ facie proof that sir miles left no son. were the debates on the acts of parliament recorded in those days, and if so, how can they be seen? j. partrige. birmingham. _commoner marrying a peeress._--formerly, when a commoner married a peeress in her own right, he assumed her title and dignity. the right was, i believe, disputed during the reign of henry viii., in the case of the claimant of the barony of talbois, when it was decided that no man could take his wife's titles unless he had issue male by her, but, if there were such issue, he became, as in cases of landed property, "tenant by curtesy" of her dignities. can any of your correspondents inform me whether any subsequent decision has deprived of this right a commoner marrying a peeress and having issue male by her? l.r.n. _the character "&."_--what is the correct name of the character "&?" i have heard it called _ample-se-and_, _ampuzzánd_, _empuzád_, _ampássy_, and _apples-and_,--all evident corruptions of one and the same word. what is that word? m.a. lower. _combs buried with the dead._--when the corpse of st. cuthbert was disinterred in the cathedral of durham, there was found upon his breast a plain simple saxon _comb_. a similar relique has been also discovered in other sepulchres of the same sanctuary. can any of your learned contributors inform me (for i am totally ignorant) the origin and intent of this strange accompaniment of the burial of the ancient dead. the comb of st. cuthbert is, i believe, carefully preserved by the dean and chapter of durham. r.s. hawker. morwenstow, cornwall. _cave's historia literaria._--my present queries arise out of a note which i took of a passage in adam clarke's _bibliography_, under the article "w. cave" (vol. ii. p. .). . has not the bibliographer assigned a wrong date to the publication of cave's _historia literaria_, viz. , instead of - ? . will some of your readers do me the favour of mentioning the successive editions of the _historia literaria_, together with the year and the place of appearance of each of them? according to the _biographia britannica_ (ed. ., "cave, w."), this learned work came out in the year above stated, and there were two impressions printed at geneva in and respectively. r.k.j. _julin._--will dr. bell, who adverts to the tradition of the doomed city, _julin_, in your last number (vol. ii. p. .), oblige me by a "note" of the story as it is told by adam of bremen, whose work i am not within reach of? i have long wanted to trace this legend. v. belgravia, aug. . . _richardson family._--can of your correspondents inform me who "mr. john richardson, of the market place, leeds," was? he was living to and after, and he made entries of the births of eleven children on the leaves of an old book, and also an entry of the death of his wife, named lydea, who died th december, . these entries are now in possession of one of his daughters' descendants, who is desirous to know { } of what family mr. richardson was, who he married, and what was his profession or business. t.n.i. wakefield. _tobacco--its arabic name._--one of your correspondents, a.c.m. (vol. ii., p. .), wishes to know what is the arabic word for _tobacco_ used in sale's _koran_, ed. vo. p. . perhaps, if he will refer to the chapter and verse, or even specify _which_ is the vo. edition which he quotes, some of your correspondents may be able to answer his query. m.d. _pole money._--some time ago i made a copy of "a particular of all the names of the several persons within the lordship of marston montgomery (in derbyshire), and of their estates, according to the acts of parliament, for payment of _pole money_ assessed by william hall, constable, and others." this was some time between and . and also of a like "particular of names of the several persons within the same lordship under the sum of _ l._, to _pole for_ according to the acts of parliament." can any of your correspondents inform me to what tax the above lists applied, and what were the acts of parliament under which this tax (or pole-money) was payable. t.n.i. wakefield. _welsh money._--i have never seen in any work on coins the slightest allusion to the money of the native princes of wales before the subjugation of their country by edward i. is any such in existence? and, if not, how is its disappearance to be accounted for? i read that athelstan imposed on the welsh an annual tribute _in money_, which was paid for many years. query, in what sort of coin? j.c. witton. _a skeleton in every house._--can you or any of your correspondents explain the origin of that most significant saying "there is a skeleton in every house?" does it originate in some ghastly legend? mors. [our correspondent is right in his conjecture. the saying is derived from an italian story, which is translated in the _italian tales of humour, gallantry, and romance_, published some few years ago, with illustrations by cruikshank.] _whetstone of reproof._--can any of your readers inform me who was the author of the book with the following title? "the whetstone of reproofe, or a reproving censvre of the misintitled safe way: declaring it by discourie of the authors fraudulent proceeding, and captious cauilling, to be a miere by-way, drawing pore trauellers out of the royalle and common streete, and leading them deceitfully into a path of perdition. with a postscript of advertisements, especially touching the homilie and epistles attributed to alfric: and a compendious retortiue discussion of the misapplyed by-way. avthor t.t. sacristan and catholike romanist.--catvapoli, apud viduam marci wyonis. anno mdcxxxii." sm. vo. pp. xvi. . . it is an answer to sir humphrey lynd's _via tuta_ and _via devia_. in wood's _ath. oxon._, edit. bliss, fol. ii. col. , two answers to the _via tuta_ are mentioned; but this is not noticed. from the author stating in the preface, "i confesse, sir humfrey, i am tom teltruth, who cannot flatter or dissemble," i suppose the initials t.t. to be fictitious. john i. dredge. _morganatic marriages.--morganatique._--what is the derivation of this word, and what its _actual signification_? in the _dictionnaire de l'académie française_ (ed. to., ), the word does not appear. in boister's _dictionnaire universel_ (bruxelles, ) it is thus given:-- "morganatique, _adj. g._, nocturne, mystérieux, entrainée par séduction; (mariage) mariage secret des princes d'allemagne avec une personne d'un rang inférieur." and the same definition is given by landais (paris, to., ), but this does not give the derivation or literal signification of the word "_morganatic_." it is not in johnson's _dictionary_; but in smart's _dictionary epitomized_ (longman and co., ) it is thus given:-- "morganatic, _a._, applied to the marriage in which a gift in the morning is to stand in lieu of dowry, or of all right of inheritance, that might otherwise fall to the issue." this, however, is inconsistent with the definition of _nocturne_, _mystérieux_, for the gift in lieu of dowry would have nothing of mystery in it. will some of your correspondents afford, if they can, any reasonable explanation which justifies the application of the word to inferior or left-handed marriages? g. [will our correspondent accept the following as a satisfactory reply?] _morganatic marriage_ (vol. ii, p. .).--the fairy morgana was married to a mortal. is not this a sufficient explanation of the term morganatic being applied to marriages where the parties are of unequal rank? s.s. _gospel of distaffs._--can any reader say where a copy of the _gospel of distaffs_ may be accessible? it was printed by wynkyn de worde, and sir e. brydges, who describes it, says a complete copy was in mr. heber's library. a few leaves are found in bagford's collection, harleian ms. ., which only raises the desire to see the whole. dibdin's _ames' typography_, vol. ii. p. ., has an account of it. w. bell. * * * * * { } replies. poeta anglicus. every proof or disproof of statements continually made with regard to the extravagant titles assumed, or complacently received, by the bishops of rome being both interesting and important, the inquiry of j.b. (vol. ii., p. .) is well deserving of a reply. speaking of a passage cited by joannes andreæ, in his gloss on the preface to the clementines, he asks, "who is the anglicus poeta?" and "what is the name of his poem," in which it is said to the pope, "nec deus es nec homo, quasi neuter es inter utrumque?" "poetria nova" was the name assigned to the hexameter poem commencing, "papa stupor mundi," inscribed, about the year , to the reigning pope, innocent iii., by galfridus de vino salvo. of this work several manuscript copies are to be met with in england. i will refer only to two in the bodleian, laud. . .: ken. digb. . . polycarp leyser (_hist. poem. medii Ævi_) published it in ; and mabillon has set forth another performance by the same writer in elegiac verse (_vet. analect._ pp. - ., paris, ). in the latter case the author's name is not given, and accordingly he is entered merely as "poeta vetus" in mr. dowling's _notitia scriptorum ss. pat._, sc. p. ., oxon., . your correspondent may compare with andreæ's extract these lines, and those which follow them, p. .: "papa brevis vox est, sed virtus nominis hujus perlustrat quiequid arcus uterque tenet." galfridus evidently derived his surname from his treatise on vines and wine; and he has been singularly unfortunate in the epithet, for i have never seen vin-sauf correctly printed. it varies from "de nine salvo" to "_mestisauf_." pits and oudin call him "vinesalf" and fabricius and mansi change him into "vine fauf." the question now remains, are the roman pontiffs and their church answerable for the toleration of such language? uncertainty may on this occasion be removed by our recollection of the fact, that a "censura" upon the glosses of the papal canon law, by manriq, master of the sacred palace, was issued by the command of pope pius v. in . it was reprinted by pappus, argent. , mo., and , vo., and it contains an order for the expurgation of the words before quoted, together with the summary in the margin, "papa nec deus est nec homo," which appears in every old edition; for instance, in that of paris, , sig. aa. iij. so far the matter looks well, and the prospect is not hopeless. these glosses, however, were revised by another master of the apostolic palace, sixtus fabri, and were edited, under the sanction of pope gregory xiii., in the year ; and from this authentic impression the impious panegyric has not been withdrawn. the marginal abridgment has, in compliance with manriq's direction, been exterminated; and this additional note has been appended as a palliative:-- "hæc verba sano modo sunt accipienda: prolata enim sunt ad ostendendum amplissimam esse romani pontificis potestatem."--col. . ed. paris, . r.g. _poeta anglicus_ (vol ii., p. ).--i cannot answer j.b.'s queries; but i have fallen upon a _cross scent_, which perchance may lead to their discovery. . ioannes pitseus, _de scriptor. ad ann._ , (_relat. histor. de rebus anglicis_, ed. par. , p. .), gives the following account "de michaele blaunpaino:"-- "michael blaunpainus, vulgo _magister_ cognominatus, natione anglus, patria cornubiensis, ... missus oxonium, deinde parisios, ... præ cæteris se dedidit elegantiæ linguæ latinæ, fuitque inter præcipuos sui temporis _poetus_ per angliam potissimum et galliam numeratus. hunc subinde citat textor in cornucopia sub nomine michaelis _anglici_.... in lucem emisit: historiarum normanniæ, librum unum: contra henricum abrincensem versu. librum unum. archipoeta vide, quod non sit. (_ms. in bibliotheca lunleiana._) epistolarum et carminum, librum unum. claruit anno messiæ , sub henrici tertii regno." . valerius andreas, however, gives a somewhat different account of _michael anglicus_. in his _biblioth. belg._ ed. vo. lovan, , p. ., he says: "michael anglicus, bellimontensis, hanno, i. v. professor et _poeta_, scripsit: eclogarum, libros iv., ad episc. parisien. eclogarum, libb. ii., ad lud. villerium. de mutatione studiorum, lib. i. elegiam deprecatoriam. et alia, quæ paris. sunt typis edita. hujus eruditionem et poemata bapt. mantuanus et joannes ravisius testor epigrammate commendarunt: hic etiam in epithetis suis _anglici_ auctoritatem non semel adducit." . franciscus sweertius (_athenæ belgricoe_, ed. antv. , p. .) gives a similar account to this of valerius andreas. . and the account given by christopher hendreich brandebargca, (ed. berolini, , p. .) is substantially the same; viz., "anglicus michael cognomine, sed natione gallus, patria belmontensis, utriusque juris professor, scripsit eclogarum, lib. iv. ad episc." &c ... "et diversorum carminum libros aliquot, quæ omnia parisiis impressa sunt. claruit autem a.c. ." . moreri takes notice of this apparent confusion made between two different writers, who lived two centuries and a half apart. speaking of the later { } of the two, he says (_dictionnaire historique_, paris, , tom. i. par. ii. p. .):-- "_anglicus_ (michel), natif de beaumont dans le hainaut, qui vivoit dans le xvi. siècle, étoit poëte et professeur en droit. nous avons divers ouvrages de sa façon, des églogues, un traité _de mutatione studiorum_, &c. (valer. andreas, _bibl. belg._) quelques auteurs l'ont confondu avec michel blaumpain. (voyez blaumpain.)" #/ of the earlier anglicus, moreri says (ubi sup., tom. ii. par. i. p. .): "blaumpain (michel) surnommé _magister_, anglois de nation, et _poëte_, qui vivoit vers l'an . il est nommé par quelques-un _michel anglicus_. mais il y a plus d'apparence que c'étoient deux auteurs différens; dont l'un composa une histoire de normandie, et un traité contre henri d'avranches; et l'autre laissa quelques pièces de poësies;--eclogarum, libri iv., ad episcopum parisiensem; eclogarum, libri ii., ad ludovicum villerium, de mutatione studioram, elogia deprecatoria, &c. baptiste mantuan parle de michel anglicus, qui étoit de beaumont dans l'hainault. (pitseus, _de script. angl._ p. .; valerius andreas in _bibl_, p. .)" perhaps some of your readers may have access to a copy of the _paris impression_ of michael anglicus, mentioned by andreas, sweertius, and hendreich. j.b. will not need to be reminded of these words of innocent iii., in his first serm. de consecr. pont. max., in which he claimed, as st. peter's successor, to be "inter deum et hominem medius constitutus; citra deum, sed ultra hominem; minor deo, sed major homine: qui de omnibus judicat, et a nemine judicatur."--_innocentii tertii op._, ed. colon. , tom. i., p. . did the claim _originate_ with pope innocent? j. sansom. * * * * * caxton's printing-office. i must protest against the manner in which arun (vol. ii., p. .) has proceeded with the discussion of caxton's printing at westminster. though writing anonymously himself, he has not hesitated to charge me by name with a desire to impeach the accuracy of mr. c. knight's _life of caxton_, of which, and of other works of the same series, he then volunteers as the champion, as if they, or any one of them, were the object of a general attack. this is especially unfair, as i made the slightest possible allusion to mr. knight's work, and may confess i have as yet seen no more of it than the passage quoted by arun himself. any such admixture of personal imputations is decidedly to be deprecated, as being likely to militate against the sober investigation of truth which has hitherto characterised the pages of "notes and queries." arun also chooses to say that the only question which is material, is, who was caxton's patron? i.e. who was the abbot of westminster at the time,--who may not, after all, have actively interfered in the matter. this question remains in some doubt; but it was not the question with which dr. rimbault commenced the discussion. the object of that gentleman's inquiry (vol. ii., p. .) was, the particular spot where caxton's press was fixed. from a misapprehension of the passage in stow, a current opinion has obtained that the first english press was erected within the abbey-church, and in the chapel of st. anne; and dr. dibdin conjectured that the chapel of st. anne stood on the site of henry vii.'s chapel. the correction of this vulgar error is, i submit, by no means immaterial; especially at a time when a great effort is made to propagate it by the publication of a print, representing "william caxton examining the first proof sheet from his printing-press in westminster abbey;" the engraving of which is to be "of the size of the favourite print of bolton abbey:" where the draftsman has deliberately represented the printers at work within the consecrated walls of the church itself! when a less careless reader than dr. dibdin consults the passage of stow, he finds that the chapel of st. anne stood in the opposite direction from the church to the site of henry vii.'s chapel, i.e. within the court of the almonry; and that caxton's press was also set up in the almonry, though not (so far as appears, or is probable) within that chapel. the second question is, when did caxton first set up his press in this place? and the third, the answer to which depends on the preceding, is, who was the abbot who gave him admission? now it is true, as arun remarks, that the introduction of abbot islip's name is traced up to stow in the year : and, as mr. knight has observed, "the careful historian of london here committed one error," because john islip did not become abbot of westminster until . the entire passage of stow has been quoted by dr. rimbault in "notes and queries," vol. ii., p. .; it states that in the almonry-- "islip, abbot of westminster, erected the first press of book-printing that ever was in england, about the year ." now, it appears that the various authors of repute, who have given the point their consideration, as the editor of dugdale's _monasticon_ (sir henry ellis), and mr. cunningham in his _handbook_, affirm that it is john esteney who became abbot in or , and not thomas milling, who was abbot in , whose name should be substituted for that of islip. in that case, stowe committed two errors instead of one; he was wrong in his date as well as his name. it is to this point that i directed my remarks, which are printed in vol. ii., p. . we have hitherto no evidence that caxton { } printed at westminster before the year , six years later than mentioned by stow. john gough nichols. * * * * * the use of coffins. the query of h.e. (vol. i., p. .) seems to infer that the use of coffins may be only a modern custom. in book xxiii., chapters i. and ii., of bingham's _antiquities of the christian church_, h.e. will find ample proof of the very early use of coffins. during the first three centuries of the church, one great distinction betwixt heathens and christians was, that the former burned their dead, and placed the bones and ashes in urns; whilst the latter always buried the corpse, either in a coffin or, embalmed, in a catacomb; so that it might be restored at the last day from its original dust. there have frequently been dug out of the barrows which contain roman urns, ancient british stone coffins. bede mentions that the saxons buried their dead in wood. coffins both of lead and iron were constructed at a very early period. when the royal vaults at st. denis were desecrated, during the first french revolution, coffins were exposed that had lain there for ages. notwithstanding all this, it appears to be the case that, both in the norman and english periods, the common people of this country were often wrapped in a sere-cloth after death, and so placed, coffinless, in the earth. the illuminations in the old missals represent this. and it is not impossible that the extract from the "table of dutyes," on which h.e. founds his inquiry, may refer to a lingering continuance of this rude custom. indeed, a statute passed in , ordering that all dead bodies shall be interred in woollen and no other material, is so worded as to give the idea that there might be interments without coffins. the statute forbids that any person be put in, wrapt, or wound up, or buried in any shirt, shift, sheet, or shroud, unless made of sheep's wool only; or in any coffin lined or faced with any material but sheep's wool; as if the person might be buried either in a garment, or in a coffin, so long as the former was made of, or the latter lined with, wool. i think the "buryall without a coffin," quoted by h.e., must have referred to the interment of the poorest class. their friends, being unable to provide a coffin, conformed to an old rude custom, which had not entirely ceased. alfred gatty * * * * * shakspeare's use of the word "delighted". if the passage from _measure for measure_, which has been the subject of much controversy in your recent numbers, be read in its natural sense--there is surely nothing unintelligible in the word "delighted" as there used. the object of the poet was to show how instinctively the mind shudders at the change produced by death--both on body and soul; and how repulsive it must be to an active and sentient being. he therefore places in frightful contrast the condition of _each_ before and after that awful change. the body, _now_ endowed with "sensible warm motion," to become in death "a kneaded clod," to "lie in cold obstruction, and to rot." the spirit, _now_ "delighted" (all full of delight), to become in death utterly powerless, an unconscious--passive thing--"imprisoned in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence round about the pendant world," how intolerable the thought, and how repulsive the contrast! it is _not_ in its state _after death_, but _during life_, that the poet represents the spirit to be a "delighted one." if we fall into the error of supposing him to refer to the _former_ period, we are compelled to alter our text, in order to make the passage intelligible, or invent some new meaning to the word "delighted," and, at the same time, we deprive the passage of the strong antithesis in which all its spirit and force consists. it is this strong antithesis, this painfully marked contrast between the two states of _each, body_ and _spirit_, which displays the power and skill of the poet in handling the subject. without it, the passage loses half its meaning. mr. hickson will not, i hope, accuse one who is no critic for presuming to offer this suggestion. i tender it with diffidence, being conscious that, although a passionate admirer of the great bard, i am all unlearned in the art of criticism, "a plain unlettered man," and therefore simply take what is set before me in its natural sense, as well as i may, without searching for recondite interpretations. on this account, i feel doubly the necessity of apologising for interfering with the labours of so learned and able a commentator as mr. hickson has shown himself to be. l.b.l. * * * * * ventriloquism (vol. ii., p. .) plutarch (tom. ii., p. .d.) has these words: [greek: "ou gar esti theou hae gaerus oude ho phthoggos, oude he lexis, oude to metron, alla taes yunaikos: ekeinos de monas tas phantasias paristaesi, kau phos en tae psuchae poiei pros to mellon."] if that be the passage referred to be rollin, nothing is said there about ventriloquism. the scholiast on aristoph. (_plut._ .) tells us how the pythian received the _afflatus_, but says nothing about her _speaking_ from her belly: he only has [greek: "ta taes manteias hae mallon manias ephtheggeto hraemata."] in another place of plutarch (tom. ii., p. . e.) we have [greek: eggastrimuthoi] and [greek: puthones] used as synonymous words to express persons into whose bodies the god might be supposed to enter, "using their { } bodies and voices as instruments." the only word in that passage which appears to hint at what we call ventriloquism is [greek: hupophtheggesthai]. i have very little doubt that amongst the various tricks of ancient divination ventriloquism found a place; but i cannot give that direct evidence which mr. sansom asks for. i think it very likely that "_the wizards that peep and mutter_" (isa. viii. .) were of this class; but it is not clear that the [hebrew: 'obot]--the [greek eggastrimuthoi] of the lxx.--were so. the english version has "them that have familiar spirits." the hebrew word signifies _bottles_; and this may mean no more than that the spirit of divination was contained in the person's body as in a bottle, "using his body and his voice as instruments," as in the place of plutarch quoted above. we have something like this, acts, xix. ., where "the evil spirit answered," no doubt in the voice of the demoniac, "jesus i know," &c. michaelis (suppl., p. .) gives a different meaning and etymology to [hebrew: 'obot]. he derives it from the arabic, which signifies ( ) _rediit_, ( ) _occidit_ sol, ( ) _noctu venit_ or _noctu aliquid fecit_. the first and third of these meanings will make it applicable to the [greek: nekromanteia] (of which the witch of endor was a practitioner), which was carried on at night. see hor. _sat._ i. ix. i do not think that the damsel mentioned acts, xvi. . was a ventriloquist. the use of the word [greek: ekraze] in the next verse, would lead us to infer that she spoke in a loud voice _with her mouth open_; whereas the [greek: eggastrimuthoi] are defined by galen (_glossar. hippocr._) as [greek: oi kekleismenou tou stomatos phthengomenoi]. consult vitringa and rosenmüller on isa. viii. ., wolf and kuinoel on acts, xvi. ., biscoe on the acts, ch. viii. § ; where references will be found to many works which will satisfy mr. sansom better than this meagre note. [hebrew: b] _ventriloquism_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reply to query , i wish to call mr. sansom's attention to _plutarch de oraculorum defectu_ (lipsiæ, , vol. vii. p. .), and to webster's _displaying of supposed witchcraft_ (chaps. vi. and viii.). queries and . besides the extraordinary work of webster, he may consult the elaborate dissertations of allatius on these subjects, in the eighth volume of _critici sacri_. query . on the use of the term [greek: eggastrimuthos] by the sacred writers, _ravanelli biblioth. s._, and by classical authors, _foesii oeconomia hippocratis_; and for synonymous "divinorum ministrorum nomina," _pollucis onomasticon_. t.j. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _earl of oxford's patent_ (vol. ii., p. .).--m.'s quotation from the _weekly oracle_ relates to harley's having been stabbed at the council-table by the sieur de guiscard, a french papist, brought up for examination th march, . the escape of the chancellor of the exchequer was the subject of an address from both houses to the queen; and upon his being sufficiently recovered to resume his seat, the speaker delivered to him the unanimous congratulations of the house of commons. harley was shortly after created earl of oxford, by patent bearing date th may, , which recites, _inter alia_,-- "since, therefore, the two houses of parliament have declared that the fidelity and affection he has expressed in our service have exposed him to the hatred of wicked men, _and the desperate rage of a villanous parricide_, since they have congratulated his escape from such imminent dangers, and put us in mind that he might not be preserved in vain, we willingly comply with their desires, and grant him who comes so honourably recommended by the votes of our parliament, a place among our peer," &c. &c.--collin's _peerage_, vol. iv. p. . edit. . guiscard died in newgate of the wounds which he received in the scuffle when he was secured. braybrooke. [o.p.q., who has kindly replied to m.'s inquiry, has appended to his answer the following query:--"is smollett justified in using the words _assassin_ and _assassinate_, as applied to cases of intended homicide, when death did not ensue?"] _the darby ram_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there is a whimsical little volume, which, as it relates mainly to local matters, may not have come under the notice of many of your readers, to which i would refer your querist h.w. it is entitled,-- "gimcrackiana, or fugitive pieces on manchester men and manners ten years ago. manchester, ." cr. vo. it is anonymous, but i believe truly ascribed to a clever young bookseller of the name of j.s. gregson, since dead. at page . he gives twelve stanzas of this ballad, as the most perfect copy from the oral chronicle of his greatgrandmother. in _the ballad book_ (edinb. , mo.), there is another entitled "the ram of diram," of a similar kind, but consisting of only six verses and chorus. and the _dublin penny journal_, vol. i., p. ., contains a prose story, entitled "darby and the ram," of the same veracious nature. f.r.a. _rotten row and stockwell street._--r.r., of glasgow, inquires the etymology of these names (vol. i., p. .). the etymology of the first word possesses some interest, perhaps, at the present time, owing to the name of the site of the intended exhibition from all nations in hyde park. i sent to the publishers of _glasgow delineated_, { } which was printed at the university press in , a contradiction of the usual origin of the name adopted in that city, showing the impossibility of the expression bearing any reference to the dissoluteness or immorality of the former residents, and also contradicting its having any thing to do with "rats," or "rattons," _scotticè_; although, in , the "vicus rattonum" is the term actually used in the archbishop of glasgow's chartulary. my observations, which were published in a note, concluded as follows: "the name, however, may be also traced to a very remote and classic origin, although we are not aware that it has hitherto been condescended on. in ancient rome was what was called the ratumena porta, 'a nomine ejus appellata (says gessner in his latin _thesaurus_) qui ludiero certamine quadrigis victor juvenis veiis consternatis equis excussus romæ periit, qui equi feruntur non ante constitisse quam pervenirent in capitolium.' the same story is related by pliny, from whom and other authors, it appears that the word ratumena was then as proverbially applied to jockies as jehu in our own days. from the circumstance of the rotten row port (of glasgow) having stood at the west end of this street, and the stable green port near the east end, which also led to the archbishop's castle, it is probably not only that it was the street through which processions would generally proceed, but that the port alluded to, and after it the street in question, were dignified by the more learned of our ancestors with the roman name of which, or of the latin rota, the present appears a very natural corruption." i may here refer to facciolati's _dictionary, voce_ "ratumena porta," as well as gessner's. as to _stockwell_, also a common name, it is obviously indicative of the particular kind of well at the street, by which the water was lifted not by a wheel, nor by a pump, nor a pulley, but by a beam poised on or formed by a large _stock_, or _block of wood_. lambda. _hornbooks_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. timbs will find an account of hornbooks, with a woodcut of one of the time of queen elizabeth, in mr. halliwell's _notices of fugitive tracts_, printed by the percy society, . your readers would confer a favour on mr. timbs and myself by the communication of any additional information. r. _passages from shakspeare_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- _ang._ we are all frail. _isab._ else let my brother die, if not a feodary, but only he owe, and succeed thy weakness. _ang._ nay, women are frail too. _measure for measure_, act. ii. sc. . i should paraphrase isabella's remarks thus:-- "if it be otherwise, if we are not all frail as thou sayest, then let my brother die, unless he be but in the same case as others; if he alone possess and follow thee in that particular frailty to which thou has half confessed." a feodary, i should observe, was an officer of the court of wards, who was joined with the escheator and did not act singly; i conceive therefore that shakspeare by this expression indicates an associate; one in the same plight as others; negatively, one who does not stand alone. in _cymbeline_, act iii. sc. ., we read: "senseless bauble, art thou a _feodary_ for this act, and lookst so virgin-like without?" where feodary clearly means confederate, associate. according to some, the word signifies one who holds land by the same tenure as the rest of mankind; whilst mr. knight, in a note on _henry iv_. part i. act i. endeavors to show that it includes both the companion and the feudal vassal. "to owe" is frequently used by shakspeare in the sense of to possess, to own, as in act i. sc. . where lucio says: "but when they weep and kneel, all their petitions are as freely theirs as they themselves would _owe_ them." so also in the following instances:-- "the slaughter of the prince that _ow'd_ that crown." _richard iii._, act. iv. sc. . "what art thou, that keepst me out from the house i _owe_?" _comedy of errors_, act iii. sc. . "then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst _owe_." _sonnet_ lxx. further examples will be found in _a lover's complaint_, the last line but two; _pericles_, act v. sc. .; _twelfth night_, act. i sc. ., _love's labour's lost_, act i. sc. .; _king john_, act ii. sc. .; _king lear_, act i. sc. . as the passage is allowed to be obscure, this attempt to explain its meaning is submitted with great deference to the opinions of your readers. arun. _mildew in books_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in answer to b. i mention that the following facts connected with mildew in books have been elicited. the mildew referred to is that which shows itself in the form of roundish or irregular brown spots. it is usually most abundant in those parts which are most exposed to the air. in making a microscopic examination of the spots, i ascertained that there was no new structure present; but in manipulating i found that these spots absorbed water more rapidly than the rest of the paper. on applying litmus, these spots were found to have a powerful acid reaction. on submitting the matter to a chemical friend, he ascertained that the acid in question was the sulphuric, or oil of vitriol. experiments were then made with a dilute solution of this acid on { } clean paper, and spots were produced similar to those of mildew. the acid does not naturally exist in paper, and its presence can only be accounted for by supposing that the paper has been bleached by the fumes of sulphur. this produces sulphurous acid, which, by the influence of atmospheric air and moisture, is slowly converted into sulphuric, and then produces the mildew. as this may be shown to be an absolute _charring_ of the fibres of which the paper is composed, it is to be feared that it cannot be cured. after the process has once commenced, it can only be checked by the utmost attention to dryness, moisture being indispensable to its extension, and vice versâ. i do not know whether these facts are generally known, but they would seem to be very important to paper-makers. t.i. _pilgrims' road to canterbury_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent philo-chaucer, i presume, desires to know the old route to canterbury. i should imagine that at the time of chaucer a great part of the country was uncultivated and uninclosed, and a horse-track in parts of the route was probably the nearest approximation to a road. at the present day, crossing the london road at wrotham, and skirting the base of the chalk hills, there is a narrow lane which i have heard _called_ "the pilgrims' road," and this, i suppose, is in fact the old canterbury road; though how near to london or canterbury it has a distinct existence, and to what extent it may have been absorbed in other roads, i am not able to say. the title of "pilgrims' road" i take to be a piece of modern antiquarianism. in the immediate vicinity of this portion there are some druidical remains: some at addington, and a portion of a small circle tolerably distinct in a field and lane between, i think, trottescliffe and ryarsh. in the absence of better information, you may perhaps make use of this. s.h. _abbé strickland_ (vol. ii, p. .), of whom i.w.h. asks for information, is mentioned by _cox_, in his _memoirs of sir robert walpole_, t. i. p. ., and t. iii. p. . d. rock. _etymology of totnes._--the query of j.m.b. (vol. i., p .) not having been as yet answered, i venture to offer a few notes on the subject; and, mindful of your exhortation to brevity, compress my remarks into the smallest possible compass, though the details of research which might be indulged in, would call for a dissertation rather them a note. that totnes is a place of extreme antiquity as a british town cannot be doubted; first, from the site and character of its venerable hill fortress; secondly, from the fact that the chief of the four great british and roman roads, the fosse-way, commenced there--"the ferthe of thisse is most of alle that tilleth from toteneis ... from the south-west to north-east into englonde's end;" and, thirdly, from the mention of it, and the antiquity assigned to it by our earliest annals and chronicles. without entering into the question of the full authenticity of brute and the _saxon chronicle_, or the implicit adoption of the legendry tales of havillan and geoffry of monmouth, the concurring testimony of those records, with the voice of tradition, the stone of the landing, and the fact that the town is seated at the head of an estuary the most accessible, the most sheltered, and the best suited of any on the south-western coast for the invasion of such a class of vessels as were those of the early navigators, abundantly warrant the admission that it was the landing-place of some mighty leader at a very early period of our history. and now to the point of the etymology of _totenais_, as it stands in domesday book. we may, i think, safely dismiss the derivation suggested by westcote, on the authority of leland, and every thing like it derived from the french, as well as the unknown tongue which he adopts in "dodonesse." that we are warranted in seeking to the anglo-saxon for etymology in this instance is shown by the fact, that the names of places in devon are very generally derived from that language; e.g. taking a few only in the neighbourhood of totnes--berry, buckyatt, dartington, halwell, harberton, hamstead, hempstin, stancombe. first, of the termination _ais_ or _eis_. the names of many places of inferior consequence in devon end in _hays_, from the ang.-saxon _heag_, a hedge or inclosure; but this rarely, if ever, designates a town or a place beyond a farmstead, and seems to have been of later application as to a new location or subinfeudation; for it is never found in domesday book. in that ancient record the word _aisse_ is often found alone, and often as a prefix and as a terminal; e.g., aisbertone, niresse, aisseford, aisselie, &c. this is the ang.-saxon _aesc_, an ash; and it is uniformly so rendered in english: but it also means a ship or boat, as built of ash. _toten_, the major of the name, is, i have no doubt, the genitive of _tohta_, "dux, herzog," a leader or commander. thus we have _tohtanoesc_, the vessel of the leader, or the commander's ship,--commemorating the fact that the boat of some great invader was brought to land at this place. s.s.s _Ædricus qui signa fundebat_ (vol. ii., p. ), must surely have been a bell-founder: signum is a very common word, in mediæval writings, for a "bell." d. rock _fiz-gig_ (vol. ii, p. ).--i had expected that your querist c.b. would have received an { } immediate reply to his query as to the meaning of _fiz-gig_, because the word is in johnson's _dictionary_, where he may also see the line from sandys' _job_, in which it caught his attention. you may as well, therefore, tell him two things,--that _fiz-gig_ means a fish-cart and that querists should abstain from soliciting your aid in all cases where a common dictionary would give them the information they want. h.w. _guineas_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the coin named in the document quoted by a.j.h. is the _guiennois_ a gold piece struck at guienne by edward iii., and also by his son the black prince. it is not likely that the guiennois was the original of the name given to the new gold coin of charles ii., because it could have had no claim to preference beyond the _mouton_, the _chaise_, the _pavillon_, or any other old anglo-gallic coin. i think we may rest contented with the statement of leake (who wrote not much more than half a century after the event), and who says that the _guinea_ was so called from the gold of which it was made having been brought from guinea by the african company, whose stamp of an elephant was ordered to be impressed upon it. j.c. witton. _numismatics._--my thanks are due to mr. j.c. witton (vol. ii., p. .) for his replies to my numismatic queries, though i cannot coincide with his opinion on nos. . and . no ancient forger would have taken the pains to cut a die to strike lead from; and my specimen, from its sharpness, has clearly never been in circulation: why may it not have been a proof from the original die? of no. . i have since been shown several specimens, which had before, i suppose, escaped my notice. on the coin of macrinus, the letter below the s.c. now clearly appears to be an [greek: eta], but the one above is not a [greek: delta], but rather an l or inverted t. it cannot stand for [greek: lykabas], as on the egyptian coinage, as macrinus was slain by his soldiers the year after his accession. the etruscilla, even under a powerful magnifier, betrays no trace of ever having been plated and has all the marks by which numismatists determine the genuineness of a coin. the absence of s.c., i must remind mr. w., is not uncommon on _third_ brass, though of course it always appears on the first and second. i need go no farther than the one just mentioned of tiberius, which has no s.c., and i possess several others which are deficient in this particular, a severus alexander, elagabalus, &c. after gallienus it never appears. e.s.t. _querela cantabrigiensis_ (vol. ii, p. .).--dr. peter barwick, in the life of his brother, dr. jno. barwick (eng. edit. lond. , vo.), after describing the treatment of the university by cromwell, adds (p. .) "but mr. barwick, no inconsiderable part of this tragedy, together with others of the university, groaning under the same yoke of tyranny, and each taking a particular account of the sufferings of his own college, gave a distinct narrative of all these barbarities, and under the title of _querela cantabrigiensis_, or the _university of cambridge's complaint_, got it printed by the care of mr. r---- b----, bookseller of _london_ who did great service to his king and country, by printing, and dispersing in the most difficult times, books written in defence of the royal cause." see also _biog. brit._, article "barwick". john i. dredge. _ben johnson_ (vol. ii., p. .)--so the name was spelt by most of his contemporaries. the poem mentioned by n.a.b. is printed in the _underwoods_, gifford's edition, ix., ; but the ms. may contain variations worthy of notice. i should doubt its being autograph, not merely because the poet spelt his name without the _h_, but because the verses in question are only part of his _eupheme_. j.o. halliwell. _barclay's "argenis"._--since i sent you a query on this subject, i have heard of _one_ translation, by miss clara reeve, the authoress of _the old english baron_ and other works. she commenced her literary career, i believe, by a translation of this work, which she published in , under the title of _the phoenix_. jarltzberg. _hockey_ (vol. i., p. .).--i have not observed that this has been yet noticed: if such be the case, permit me to refer to a letter of the poet cowper, dated th nov., ( th vol. _works_, edit. by southey, p. .) in which, alluding to that day, he says, "the boys at olney have likewise a very entertaining sport which commences annually upon this day; they call it _hockey_, and it consists in dashing each other with mud, and the windows also, so that i am forced to rise now and then and to threaten them with a horsewhip, to preserve our own." f.r.a. _praed's poetical works_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your cambridge correspondent, mr. cooper, will be glad to know that praed's _poems_ are published in a collected form; _poetical works of winthrop mackworth praed, now first collected by rufus w. griswold; new york_, . this collection contains some thirty-six pieces. the longest poems, "lillian" and "the troubadour," each in two cantos, display passages of great beauty and exquisite musical flow. among the charades, five in number, "sir harry, he charged at agincourt", is not to be found. w.m. kingsmill. * * * * * { } miscellaneous notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. we announced, after the last annual meetings of the shakspeare society, that it had been determined to publish a complete set of the plays of one of shakspeare's most prolific and interesting contemporaries, thomas heywood; and that the first volume of such collection, containing six plays, was then ready. a further contribution towards this collection, containing _the royal king and loyal subject_, which has not been reprinted since the old edition of , and his very popular drama, _a woman killed with kindness_, has just been issued, with an introduction and notes by j. payne collier, esq., the zealous and indefatigable director of the society, and will, we are sure, be welcomed by every lover of our early drama. the shakspeare society will, indeed, do good service to the cause of our early literature if it prove the means of securing us, a uniform series of the works of such of our elizabethan dramatists as do not stand sufficiently high in the opinion of the uninitiated, to tempt the publishing world to put forth their productions in a collected form. we have received the following catalogues:--john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cxv. (no. . for ), of old and new books; cole's ( . great turnstile) list, no. xxviii., of useful second-hand books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. diurnal readings, vol. vo. scottish poems collected by pinkerton, vols. sm. vo., . odd volumes bell's shakspeare's plays and poems. vol. i. ivimey's history of the baptists. vol. ii. edwards' gangræna. parts ii. and iii. asiatic annual register. vol. vii. for . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries", . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. nocab _is informed that the prelate to whom he refers was created a d.d. by the late archbishop of canterbury. it certainly is not necessary that the recipient of such a degree should have previously taken that of m.a. or b.a._ h.i.g., _northampton. the editor would be happy to insert the question of this correspondent, relating to the epistles of st. paul, but he apprehends that the discussion to which it would give rise would, in order to its being of any use, require more space than could be afforded, and involve a good deal of criticism and argument not suited to these columns._ a.b. _(bradpole) will find a notice of the line "incidis in scyllam", &c., which is taken from gualter de lisle's alexandriad, in notes and queries, vol. ii., p. ._ _the loan of a copy of the teseide is freely offered to our brighton correspondent_. to be published by subscription, in vols. fcp. vo. i. northern mythology, comprising the principal later superstitions of scandinavia. ii. popular traditions of scandinavia and the netherlands. by b. thorpe. the work will be sent to press as soon as the number subscribed for shall be adequate to cover the cost of printing. names received by messrs. r. and j.e. taylor, red lion court, fleet-street. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine and historical review for august contains, among other articles, unpublished anecdotes of sir thomas wyatt. roman art at cirencester (with engravings). the congress of vienna and prince de ligne. letter of h.r.h. the duke of york in . monuments in oxford cathedral (with two plates). michael drayton and his "idea's mirrour." date of the erection of chaucer's tomb. letters of dr. maitland and mr. stephens on the ecclesiastical history society: with remarks. the british museum catalogue and mr. panizzi. reviews of correspondence of charles v., the life of southey, &c., &c., notes of the month, literary and antiquarian intelligence, historical chronicle, and obituary. price s. d. "the gentleman's magazine has been revived with a degree of spirit and talent which promises the best assurance of its former popularity."--_taunton courier._ "a better or more valuable work for country book societies, lending libraries, and reading rooms, it is impossible to find within the whole compass of english literature. its literary articles are peculiarly sound in principle, and its criticisms liberal but just; whilst its obituary confers upon it a national importance. we are sure then we cannot do a better service to our friends, and more especially to those connected with institutions like those we have adverted to, than in recommending this work to their support."--_nottingham review_. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * building for the exhibition of industry of all nations, . the athenÆum of saturday, august st, contains a perspective view of mr. paxton's design for the building as finally approved by her majesty's commissioners, and now in course of erection in hyde park. the athenæum of saturday, the th of september, will contain a view of the south front, a view of the east front, a portion on an enlarged scale, and a ground plan. several journals having published views of a building which it was supposed would be the building erected, the publisher of the athenæum considers it proper to state that the views announced above have never been seen by the public, and are totally dissimilar to those engraved in the professional journals. the athenæum is published every saturday, and may be had, by order, of any bookseller, price d., or stamped to pass free by post, d.; and contains, reviews, with extracts, of every important new english book, and of the more important foreign. reports of the learned and scientific societies, with abstracts of all papers of interest. authentic accounts of all scientific voyages and expeditions. criticisms on art, with critical notices of exhibitions, picture collections, new prints, &c. foreign correspondence on literature, science, and art. music and drama, including reports on the opera, concerts, theatres, new music, &c. biographical notices of men distinguished in literature, science, and art. original papers and poems. miscellanea, including all that is likely to interest the informed and intelligent. the athenæum is so conducted that the reader, however far distant, is, in respect to literature, science, and the arts, on an equality, in point of information, with the best-informed circles of the metropolis. the publisher will on this occasion send a single copy on receipt of five postage stamps. office, . wellington-street north, strand, london. * * * * * { } books recently published by john henry parker, oxford and . strand, london. * * * * * i. the church of england leaves her children free to whom to open their griefs. a letter to the rev. w.u. richards, minister of margaret chapel. by the rev. e.b. pusey, d.d. vo. s. ii. the royal supremacy not an arbitrary authority, but limited by the laws of the church of which kings are members. by the rev. e.b. pusey, d.d., regius professor of hebrew, canon of christ church, late fellow of oriel college. part . ancient precedents. vo. s. part ii. in the press. iii. the character of pilate and the spirit of the age. a course of sermons preached at the chapel royal, whitehall, by the rev. w. sewell, b.d., fellow and tutor of exeter college, and whitehall preacher, mo. price s. d. iv. westminster churches. a sermon preached in the chapel royal, whitehall, on the fourth sunday after easter, . by the rev. w. sewell. mo. d. v. daily steps towards heaven. a small pocket volume, containing a few practical thoughts on the gospel history, with texts for every day in the year, commencing with advent. a new edition, cloth, s. d.; bound, s. vi. hymnale secundum usum insignis ac praeclarae ecclesiae sarisburiensis. accedunt hymni quidam secundum usus matris ecclesiæ eboracensis et insignis ecclesiæ herford. mos. cloth. s. d. vii. a report of the proceedings of the general meeting of clergy and laity at st. martin's hall, and freemasons' hall, july , . reprinted from the "guardian," with revisions. mo. price d. viii. five sermons on the principles of faith and church authority. by the rev. c. marriott, b.d., fellow of oriel college, oxford, and vicar of st. mary the virgin, in oxford. vo. s. d. ix. a plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches. by george gilbert scott, architect. crown vo. s. d. x. an essay on the origin and development of window tracery in england. with numerous illustrations. two parts, vo., price s. each. xi. a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. exemplified by upwards of eighteen hundred illustrations, drawn from the best examples. fifth edition, vols. vo. cloth, gilt tops, l. s. * * * * * the publishers' circular and general record of british and foreign literature, containing a complete alphabetical list of all new works published in great britain, and every work of interest published abroad. on the th instant, will be published no. . vol. xiii. price d., (subscription, s. per annum), _stamped_. to book societies, book-buyers, and all persons engaged in literary pursuits, the "circular" is of material service, containing, as it does, a perfect transcript of the title, number of pages and plates, size, and price of every book published in the united kingdom, or imported from foreign countries,--a desideratum never before attempted in england. it contains also the advertisements and announcements of all the principal publishing houses. to publishers it is one of the most useful channels for advertising their publications, as well as all other matters relating to the trade, there being but few booksellers who do not find it to their interest to read and circulate it. issued every fortnight. published on the st and th of every month, by sampson low, at the office, . fleet-street, london. * * * * * preparing for publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one objec. of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * testimonial to dr. conolly.--at a meeting held at . old burlington street, saturday, august d. , the right hon. lord ashley in the chair; the following resolutions among others were unanimously agreed to: that dr. john conolly, of hanwell, is, in the opinion of this meeting, eminently entitled to some public mark of esteem and gratitude, for his long, zealous, disinterested, and most successful labours in ameliorating the treatment of the insane. that a committee be now formed, for the purpose of carrying into effect the foregoing resolution, by making the requisite arrangements for the presentation to dr. conolly of _a public testimonial_, commemorative of his invaluable services in the cause of humanity, and expressive of the just appreciation of those services by his numerous friends and admirers, and by the public generally. the committee subsequently resolved: that in the opinion of the committee, the most appropriate testimonial will be a portrait of dr. conolly (for which he is requested to sit), to be presented to his family, and an engraving of the same, to be presented to the subscribers; and that the ultimate arrangement of this latter point be made at a future meeting of the committee. it has been determined that the individual subscriptions shall be limited to five guineas; that subscribers of two guineas and upwards shall receive a proof impression of the engraving; and subscribers of one guinea, a print. it is also proposed to present dr. conolly with a piece of plate, should the funds permit after defraying the expenses of the painting and engraving. subscribers' names and subscriptions will be received by the secretaries, at . old burlington street, and . burlington gardens, and by the treasurers, at the union bank, regent street branch, argyll place, london. post-office orders should be made payable at the post-office _piccadilly_, to one of the secretaries. john forbes, richard frankum, _secretaries_. _london, august d, _. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, september . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page defence of the execution of mary queen of scots, by j. payne collier "de navorscher," by bolton corney a bidding at weddings in wales, by w. spurrell coleridge's "religious musings" folk lore:--lammer beads--engraved warming-pans--queen elizabeth's christening cloth minor notes:--the breeches bible--origin of the present race of english--true blue--"by hook or by crook"--record of existing monuments queries:-- five queries and notes on books, men, and authors minor queries:--the witches' prayer--water-buckets given to sheriffs--a cracow pike--meaning of waste-book--machell's ms. collections for westmoreland and cumberland--decking churches at christmas--coinage of germany--titles of peers who are bishops--at sixes and sevens--shaking hands--george steevens--extradition--singing of metrical psalms and hymns in churches--ormonde portraits--tradescant--arthur's seat and salisbury craigs--lincoln missal replies:-- meaning of eisell, by samuel hickson and s. w. singer descent of henry iv. fossil elk of ireland replies to minor queries:--coverdale bible--epitaph-- probabilism--old hewson the cobbler--rodolph gualter--burning the hill--"fronte capillata," &c.--time when herodotus wrote--herstmonceux castle--camden and curwen families--joan sanderson, or the cushion dance--north sides of churchyards--"antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi"--umbrella--form of prayer at the healing miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. defence of the execution of mary queen of scots. allow me to supply a deficiency in my last volume of _extracts from the registers of the stationers' company_, printed by the shakspeare society. it occurs at p. ., in reference to an entry of th feb., , in the following terms: "john wyndett. lycensed alsoe to him, under the b. of london hand and mr. denham, an analogie or resemblance betweene johane, queene of naples, and marye, queene of scotland." in the note appended to this entry i point out a mistake by herbert (ii. . of his _history of printing_), who fancied that the _defence of the execution of mary queen of scots_, and kyffin's _blessedness of britain_, were the same work; and i add that "the _analogy_ here entered is not recorded among the productions of john windet's press." this is true; but mr. david laing, of edinburgh, has kindly taken the trouble to send me, all the way from scotland, a very rare volume, which proves that the _analogy_ in question was printed by windet in consequence of the registration, and that it was, in fact, part of a volume which that printer put forth under the following title: "a defence of the honorable sentence of execution of the queene of scots: exampled with analogies, and diverse presidents of emperors, kings, and popes. with the opinions of learned men in the point, &c.; together with the answere to certaine objections made by the favourites of the late scottish queene, &c. at london, printed by john windet." it has no date: but it may be supplied by the entry at stationer's hall, and by the subject of the volume. the first chapter of the work is headed "an analogie or resemblance betweene ione, queene of naples, and marie, queene of scotland," which are the terms of the entry; and the probability seems to be, that when windet took, or sent, it to be licensed, the book had no other title, and that the clerk adopted the heading of the first chapter as that of the whole volume. it consists, in fact, of eight chapters, besides a "conclusion," and a sort of supplement, with distinct signatures (beginning with d, and possibly originally forming part of some other work), of babington's letter to mary, her letter to babington, the heads of a letter from mary to bernardin mendoza, and "points" out of other letters, subscribed by curle. the whole is a very interesting collection in relation to the history and end of mary queen of scots; but nobody who had not seen the book could be aware that the entry in the stationers' registers, of "_an analogie_," &c., applied to this general _defence_ of her execution. the manner in which the "analogy" is made out may be seen by the two first paragraphs, which your readers may like to see quoted:-- "ione, queene of naples, being in love with the duke of tarent, caused her husband andrasius (or, as { } some terme him, andreas), king of naples (whom she little favoured), to be strangled, in the yeare of our lord god ." "marie, queene of scotland, being (as appeareth by the chronicles of scotlande and hir owne letters) in love with the earle of bothwell, caused hir husband, henrie lorde darley, king of scotland (whome she made small account of long time before) to be strangled, and the house where he lodged, called kirk of fielde, to be blowen up with gunpowder, the th of februarie in the yeare of our lord god ." in this way the analogy is pursued through twelve pages; but, for my present purpose, it is not necessary to extract more of it. i beg leave publicly to express my thanks to mr. laing for thus enabling me to furnish information which i should have been glad to supply, had it been in my power, when i prepared volume ii. of _extracts from the stationers' registers_. j. payne collier. * * * * * de navorscher. an idea recorded in , is to be realized in --which promises, in various ways, to be the _annus mirabilis_! in an appeal to residents at paris for a transcript of certain inedited notes on jean paul marana, which are preserved in the _bibliothèque royale_, i made this remark:-- "if men of letters, of whatever nation, were more disposed to interchange commodities in such a manner, the beneficial effects of it in promoting mutual riches, would soon become visible."--_gent. mag._ xv. . n. s. the appeal was unsuccessful, and i could not but ascribe the failure of it to the want of a convenient channel of communication. a remedy is now provided--thanks to the example set at home, and the enterprising spirit of mr. frederik muller of amsterdam. we contemplate holland as the school of classical and oriental literature, and as the _studio_ of painters and engravers; we admire her delicate elzevirs and her magnificent folios; we commend her for the establishment of public libraries, _made available by printed catalogues_; we do justice to the discoveries of her early navigators; but we had scarcely heard of her vernacular literature before the publications of bosworth, and bowring. as m. van kampen observes, "la litérature hollandaise est presque inconnue aux étrangers à cause de la langue peu répandue qui lui sert d'organe." under such circumstances it may be presumed that many a query will now be made, and many a new fact elicited. we may expect, by the means of _de navorscher_, the further gratification of rational curiosity, and the improvement of historical and bibliographic literature. in assuming that some slight credit may be due to one who gives public expression to a novel and plausible idea, it may become me to declare that i renounce all claim to the substantial merit of having devised the means of carrying it into effect. bolton corney. * * * * * a bidding at weddings in wales. the practice of "making a bidding" and sending "bidding letters," of which the following is a specimen, is so general in most parts of wales, that printers usually keep the form in type, and make alteration in it as occasion requires. the custom is confined to servants and mechanics in towns; but in the country, farmers of the humbler sort make biddings. of late years tea parties have in carmarthen been substituted for the bidding; but persons attending pay for what they get, and so incur no obligation; but givers at a bidding are expected and generally do return "all gifts of the above nature whenever called for on a similar occasion." when a bidding is made, it is usual for a large procession to accompany the young couple to church, and thence to the house where the bidding is held. accompanying is considered an addition to the obligation conferred by the gift. i have seen, i dare say, six hundred persons in a wedding procession, and have been in one or two myself (when a child). the men walk together and the women together to church; but in returning they walk in pairs, or often in trios, one man between two women. the last time i was at such a wedding i had three strapping wenches attached to my person. in the country they ride, and generally there is a desperate race home to the bidding, where you would be surprised to see a comely lass, with welsh hat on head and ordinary dress, often take the lead of fifty or a hundred smart fellows over rough roads that would shake your astley riders out of their seats and propriety. "carmarthen, october . . "as we intend to enter the matrimonial state, on tuesday, the nd of october instant, we are encouraged by our friends to make a bidding on the occasion the same day, at the new market house, near the market place; when and where the favour of your good and agreeable company is respectfully solicited, and whatever donation you may be pleased to confer on us then, will be thankfully received, warmly acknowledged, and cheerfully repaid whenever called for on a similar occasion, by your most obedient servants, henry jones, (shoemaker,) eliza davies. "the young man, his father (john jones, shoemaker), his sister (mary jones), his grandmother (nurse jones), his uncle and aunt (george jones, { } painter, and mary, his wife), and his aunt (elizabeth rees), desire that all gifts due to them be returned to the young man on the above day, and will be thankful for all additional favours. "the young woman, her father and mother (evan davies, pig-drover, and margaret, his wife), and her brother and sisters (john, hannah, jane, and anne davies), desire that all gifts of the above nature due to them be returned to the young woman on the above day, and will be thankful for all additional favours conferred." w. spurrell. * * * * * coleridge's "religious musings." some readers of "notes and queries" may be interested in a reading of a few lines in this poem which varies from that given in pickering's edition of the _poems_, . in that edition the verses i refer to stand thus (p. ): "for in his own, and in his father's might, the saviour comes! while as the thousand years lead up their mystic dance, the desert shouts! old ocean claps his hands! the mighty dead rise to new life, whoe'er from earliest time with conscious zeal had urged love's wondrous plan, coadjutors of god." i happen to be in possession of these lines as originally written, in coleridge's own hand, on a detached piece of paper. it will be seen that they have been much altered in the printed edition above cited. i am now copying from coleridge's autograph: "for in his own, and in his father's might, heaven blazing in his train, the saviour comes! to solemn symphonies of truth and love the thousand years lead up their mystic dance. old ocean claps his hands, the desert shouts, and vernal breezes wafting seraph sounds melt the primæval north. the mighty dead rise from their tombs, whoe'e[r] from earliest time with conscious zeal had aided the vast plan of love almighty." the variations of the printed poem from this ms. fragment appear to me of sufficient importance to warrant my supposition that many readers and admirers of coleridge may be glad to have the original text restored. h. g. t. launceston. * * * * * folk lore. _lammer beads_--lammer, or lama beads are so called from an order of priests of that name among the western tartars. the lamas are extremely superstitious, and pretend to magic. amber was in high repute as a charm during the plague of london, and was worn by prelates of the church. john baptist van helmont (_ternary of paradoxes_, london, ) says, that "a translucid piece of amber rubbed on the jugular artery, on the hand wrists, near the instep, and on the throne of the heart, and then hung about the neck," was a most certain preventative of (if not a cure for) the plague; the profound success of which van helmont attributes to its magnetic or sympathetic virtue. blowen. * * * * * _engraved warming-pans_.--allow me to add another illustration to the list furnished by h. g. t., p. . one which i purchased a few years ago of a cottager at shotover, in oxfordshire, has the royal arms surmounted by c. r., and surrounded by "feare god honnor y^e king, ." the lid and pan are of brass, the handle of iron. e. b. price. * * * * * _queen elizabeth's christening cloth_.--the mention (in the first no. of your rd vol.) of some damasked linen which belonged to james ii. reminds me of a relic which i possess, and the description of which may interest some of your readers. it is the half of queen elizabeth's christening cloth, which came into my possession through a mrs. goodwin. a scrap of paper which accompanies it gives the following account of it: "it was given by an old lady to mrs. goodwin; she obtained it from one of the strafford family, who was an attendant upon the queen. the other half mrs. goodwin has seen at high fernby, in yorkshire, a place belonging to the family of the rooks, in high preservation. in its original state, it was lined with a rose-coloured lutestring, with a flounce of the same about a quarter deep. the old lady being very notable, found some use for the silk, and used to cover the china which stood in the best parlour with this remains of antiquity." the christening cloth is of a thread net, worked in with blue and yellow silk, and gold cord. it must have been once very handsome, but is now somewhat the worse for wear and time. it is about ½ feet wide and ½ feet in length, so that the entire length must have been about feet. can any one inform me whether the remaining half of this interesting relic still exists; as the notice attached to it, and mentioning its locality, must now be fifty years old at least? h. a. b. * * * * * minor notes. _the breeches bible_.--the able and interesting article on the breeches bible which appeared in a late number of "notes and queries" (vol. iii., p. .) is calculated to remove the deep-rooted popular error which affixes great pecuniary value to { } every edition of the bible in which the words "made themselves breeches" are to be found, by showing that such bibles are generally only worth about as many shillings as they are supposed to be worth pounds. it is worth noting, with reference to this translation, that in the valuable early english version, known as wickliffe's bible, just published by the university of oxford, the passage in genesis (cap. iii. v. .) is translated "thei soweden togidre leeues of a fige tree and maden hem brechis." effessa. _origin of the present race of english._--in southey's _letters of espriella_ (letter xxiv., p. ., rd edit.), there is a remark, that the dark hair of the english people, as compared with the northern germans, seems to indicate a considerable admixture of southern blood. now, in all modern ethnological works, this fact of present complexion seems to be entirely overlooked. but it is a fact, and deserves attention. either it is the effect of climate, in which case the moral as well as the physical man must have altered from the original stock, or it arises from there being more "ungerman" blood flowing in english veins than is acknowledged. may i hazard a few conjectures? . are we not apt to underrate the number of romanised celts remaining in england after the saxon conquest? the victors would surely enslave a vast multitude, and marry many celtic women; while those who fled at the first danger would gradually return to their old haunts. under such circumstances, that the language should have been changed is no wonder. . long before the norman conquest there was a great intercourse between england and france, and many settlers from the latter country came over here. this, by the way, may account for that gradual change of the anglo-saxon language mentioned as observable prior to the conquest. . the army of the conqueror was recruited from all parts of france, and was not simply norman. when the men who composed it came into possession of this country, they clearly must have sent home for their wives and families; and many who took no part in the invasion no doubt came to share the spoils. taking this into account, we shall find the norman part of the population to have borne no small proportion to the _then_ inhabitants of england. it is important to bear in mind the probable increase of population since a.d. terra martis. _true blue._--i find the following account of this phrase in my note-book, but i cannot at present say whence i obtained it:-- "the first assumption of the phrase 'true blue' was by the covenanters in opposition to the scarlet badge of charles i., and hence it was taken by the troops of leslie in . the adoption of the colour was one of those religious pedantries in which the covenanters affected a pharisaical observance of the scriptural letter and the usages of the hebrews; and thus, as they named their children habakkuk and zerubbabel, and their chapels zion and ebenezer, they decorated their persons with blue ribbons because the following sumptuary precept was given in the law of moses:-- "'speak to the children of israel, and tell them to make to themselves fringes on the borders of their garments, putting in them ribbons of blue.'"--_numb._ xv. . e. l. n. "_by hook or by crook._"--the destruction caused by the fire of london, a.d. , during which some , houses, &c., were burnt down, in very many cases obliterated all the boundary-marks requisite to determine the extent of land, and even the very sites occupied by buildings, previously to this terrible visitation. when the rubbish was removed, and the land cleared, the disputes and entangled claims of those whose houses had been destroyed, both as to the position and extent of their property, promised not only interminable occupation to the courts of law, but made the far more serious evil of delaying the rebuilding of the city, until these disputes were settled, inevitable. impelled by the necessity of coming to a more speedy settlement of their respective claims than could be hoped for from legal process, it was determined that the claims and interests of all persons concerned should be referred to the judgment and decision of two of the most experienced land-surveyors of that day,--men who had been thoroughly acquainted with london previously to the fire; and in order to escape from the numerous and vast evils which mere delay must occasion, that the decision of these two arbitrators should be final and binding. the surveyors appointed to determine the rights of the various claimants were mr. hook and mr. crook, who by the justice of their decisions gave general satisfaction to the interested parties, and by their speedy determination of the different claims, permitted the rebuilding of the city to proceed without the least delay. hence arose the saying above quoted, usually applied to the extrication of persons or things from a difficulty. the above anecdote was told the other evening by an old citizen upwards of eighty, by no means of an imaginative temperament. j. d. s. putney, feb. . . [we insert the above, as one of the many explanations which have been given of this very popular phrase--although we believe the correct origin to be the right of taking _fire-bote by hook or by crook_. see notes and queries, vol. i., pp. . and .] _record of existing monuments._--i have some time since read your remarks in vol. iii., p. . of "notes and queries," on the rev. j. hewett's _monumentarum_ of exeter cathedral, and intend in { } a short time to follow the advice you have there given to "superabundant brass-rubbers," of copying the inscriptions in the churches and churchyards of the hundred of manley. the plan i intend to pursue is, to copy in full every inscription of an earlier date than ; also, all more modern ones which are in any way remarkable as relating to distinguished persons, or containing any peculiarity worthy of note. the rest i shall reduce into a tabular form. the inscriptions of each church i shall arrange chronologically, and form an alphabetical index to each inscription in the hundred. by this means i flatter myself a great mass of valuable matter may be accumulated, a transcript of which may not be entirely unworthy of a place on the shelves of the british museum. i have taken the liberty of informing you of my intention, and beg that if you can suggest to me any plan which is better calculated for the purpose than the one i have described, you will do so. would it not be possible, if a few persons in each county were to begin to copy the inscriptions on the plan that i have described, that in process of time a copy of every inscription in every church in england might be ready for reference in our national library? perhaps you will have the goodness, if you know of any one who like myself is about to undertake the task of copying inscriptions in his own neighbourhood, to inform me, that i may communicate with him, so that, if possible, our plans may be in unison. edw. peacock, jun. bottesford moors, messingham, kirton lindsey. [we trust the example set by mr. hewett, and now about to be followed by our correspondent, is destined to find many imitators.] * * * * * queries. five queries and notes on books, men, and authors. . _newburgh hamilton_.--can any of your readers inform me who newburgh hamilton was? he wrote two pieces in my library, viz. ( .) _petticoat plotter_, a farce in two acts; acted at drury lane and lincoln's inn fields, london, , mo. this has been mutilated by henry ward, a york comedian, and actually printed by him as his _own_ production, in the collection of plays and poems going under his name, published in , vo., a copy of which i purchased at nassau's sale, many years since. ( .) _the doating lovers, or the libertine tamed_, a comedy in five acts; acted in lincoln's inn fields. it is dedicated to the duchess of hamilton and brandon, whose "elegant taste and nice judgment in the most polite entertainments of the age," as well as her "piercing wit," are eulogised. accident gave me a copy of mr. hamilton's book-plate, which consists of the crest and motto of the ducal race of hamilton in a very curious framework,--the top being a row of music-books, whilst the sides and bottom are decorated with musical instruments, indicative, probably, of the tastes of mr. hamilton. . _the children's petition._--i have also a very extraordinary little book, of which i never saw another copy. it formerly belonged to michael lort, and is entitled "the children's petition, or a modest remonstrance of that intolerable grievance our youth lie under, in the accustomed severities of the school discipline of this nation. humbly presented to the consideration of the parliament. licensed nov. . , by roger l'estrange. london, . mo." the object of this most singular production is to put down the flagellation of boys in that particular part of the body wherein honour is said to be placed; and the arguments adduced are not very easily answered. the author, whoever he was, had reason, as well as learning, on his side. i am not aware of any other copy north the tweed; but there may be copies in some of the libraries south of that river. . _dr. anthony horneck._--do any of the letters of the once celebrated dr. anthony horneck exist in any library, public or private? his only daughter married mr. barneveldt; and his son, who served with marlborough, left issue, which failed in the male line, but still exists in the female line, in the representative of henry william bunting, esq., the caricaturist. the writer of these queries is the direct descendant of mrs. barneveldt, and is anxious to know whether any unpublished mss. of his ancestors still exist. there was a philip horneck who in published an ode inscribed to his excellency the earl of wharton, wherein he is described as ll.b., a copy of which i have. there can be no doubt he is the individual introduced by pope in the _dunciad_, book iii. line .; but what i wish to know is, whether he was a son of dr. horneck, and a brother of the general. . in clifford's _history of the paul of tixall_, the name of the real author of _gaudentio di lucca_ is given. every reliance may be attached to the accuracy of the information there given, not only on account of the undoubted respectability of the author, but from the evident means of knowledge which he, as a roman catholic of distinction, must have had. . _the travels of baron munchausen_ were written to ridicule bruce, the abyssinian traveller, whose adventures were at the time deemed fictitious. bruce was a most upright, honest man, and recorded nothing but what he had seen; nevertheless, as is always the case, a host of detractors buzzed about him, and he was so much vexed at the impeachment of his veracity, that he let them get their own way. munchausen, a veritable { } name--the real possessor of which died in october, --was assumed, and poor bruce was travestied very cleverly, but most unjustly. the real author has not been ascertained; but at one time it was believed to have been james grahame, afterwards a scotch barrister, and author of a poem of much beauty, called _the sabbath_. circumstances which came to my knowledge, coupled with the exceedingly loveable character of grahame, render this belief now incredible; but undoubtedly he knew who the real author was. the copy in my library is in two volumes: the _first_, said to be the second edition, "considerably enlarged, and ornamented with twenty explanatory engravings from original designs," is entitled _gulliver revived: or the vice of lying properly exposed_, and was printed for the kearsleys, at london, . the _second_ volume is called _a sequel to the adventures of baron munchausen_, and is described as "a new edition, with twenty capital copperplates, including the baron's portrait; humbly dedicated to mr. bruce, the abyssinian traveller," was published by h. d. symonds, paternoster row, . i had for years sought for an original copy of this very singular work, and i at last was so successful as to purchase the one above described, which had been picked up by a bookseller at the sale of some books originally forming part of the library at hoddam castle. on looking over a copy of sir john mandeville, "printed for j. osborne, near dockhead, southwark; and james hodges, at the looking glass, on london bridge:" i observe he gives--at least there--no account whatever of his peregrinations to the polar regions; and the notion of ascribing to him the story of the frozen words is preposterous. i have not in my library, but have read, the best edition of sir john's _travels_ (i don't mean the abominable reprint), but i do not remember anything of the kind there. indeed sir john, like marco polo, was perfectly honest, though some of their informants may not have been so. j. me. * * * * * minor queries. _the witches' prayer._--can you inform me where i can find the epigram alluded to by addison, in no. . of the _spectator_, as "the witches' prayer," which falls into verse either way, only that it reads "cursing" one way, and "blessing" the other? or is the epigram only a creation of the pleasing author's fertile imagination? doubtful. st. john's wood. _water-buckets given to sheriffs._--can any of your readers inform me the origin of the delivery of water-buckets, glazed and painted with the city arms, given to the sheriffs of london and middlesex at the expiration of the year of their shrievalty? j. b. k. temple. _a cracow pike._--can any of your readers tell me what _a cracow pike_ is? i have searched meyrick's works on _ancient armour_ without finding any notice of such a weapon; but as those works have no indexes one cannot be certain that there may not be some mention of it. i shall be obliged by a description of the cracow pike, or a reference to any authorities mentioning it, or its use. i. h. t. _meaning of waste book._--can you or any of your readers inform me the origin of the term used in book-keeping, viz., _"waste" book_? i am the book-keeper and cashier in an extensive firm, and i know there is very little _wasted_ that goes into our books bearing that name. one who often runs for the great ledger. _machell's ms. collections for westmoreland and cumberland._--in the library of the dean and chapter at carlisle, are preserved six volumes in folio, which purport to be _collections for the history of westmoreland and cumberland, made in the reign of charles ii., by the reverend thomas machell_. have these collections been carefully examined, and their contents made use of in any topographical publication? edward f. rimbault. _decking churches at christmas._--does the custom of dressing the churches at christmas with holly, and other evergreens, prevail in any country besides england? l. _coinage of germany._--i should wish to be referred to the names of the principal works on the coinage of germany; not merely the imperial, but that of sovereign prelates, abbeys, &c., that struck money. a. n. _titles of peers who are bishops_ (vol. iii., p. .).--why is lord crewe always called so, and not bishop of durham, considering his spiritual precedency? was not lord bristol (who was an earl) always called bishop of derry? cx. _at sixes and sevens._--shakspeare uses the well-known adage--"at sixes and sevens;" bacon, hudibras, arbuthnot, swift, all use the proverb. why should sixes and sevens be more congruous with disorder than "twos and threes?" and whence comes the saying? d. c. _shaking hands._--what is the origin of the custom of _shaking hands_ in token of friendship? and were the _clasped hands_ (now the common symbol of benefit clubs) ever used as a signet, prior to their adoption as such by the early christians in their wedding rings; or, did these rings { } bear any other motto, or posy, than "fides annulus castus" (i. e. _simplex et sine gemmâ_)? j. sansom. _george steevens._--can any of your readers inform me whether a memoir of george steevens, the shakspearian commentator, ever was published? of course i have seen the biographical sketch in the _gentleman's magazine_, the paragraph in nichols' _anecdotes_, and many like incidental notices. steevens, who died in january, , left the bulk of his property to his cousin, miss elizabeth steevens, of poplar; and as there is no reservation nor special bequest in the will, i presume she took possession of his books and manuscripts. the books were sold by auction; but what has become of the manuscripts? a. z. _extradition._--the discussion which was occasioned, some time ago, by the sudden transference of the word _extradition_ into our diplomatic phraseology, must be still in the recollection of your readers. some were opposed to this change on the ground that _extradition_ is not english; others justified its adoption, for the very reason that we have no corresponding term for it; and one gentleman resolved the question by urging that, "si le mot n'est pas anglais, il mérite de l'être." i believe there is no reference in "notes and queries" to this controversy; nor do i now refer to it with any intention of reviving discussion on a point which seems to have been set at rest by the acquiescence of public opinion. i wish merely to put one or two queries, which have been suggested to me by the _fact_ that _extradition_ is now generally employed as an english word. . is there any contingency in which the meaning of the word _extradition_ may not be sufficiently expressed by the verb _to deliver up_, or the substantive _restitution_? . if so, how has its place been supplied heretofore in our diplomatic correspondence? henry h. breen. st. lucia, dec. . _singing of metrical psalms and hymns in churches._-- . when and how did the custom of singing metrical psalms and hymns in churches originate? . by what authority was it sanctioned? . at what parts of the service were these psalms and hymns directed to be introduced? . was this custom contemplated by the compilers of the book of common prayer? arun. _ormonde portraits._--i shall feel much obliged by information on the following points:-- . whether _any_ portrait of thomas earl of ormonde has been published? he died in the year . . _how many_ engraved portraits of thomas, the famous lord ossory, have been issued? their dates, and the engravers' names. . _how many_ engraved portraits of the first and second dukes of ormonde, respectively, have appeared? their dates, and engravers' names. james graves. kilkenny, jan. . . _tradescant._--in the inscription on the tomb of the tradescants in lambeth churchyard, which it is proposed to restore as soon as possible, these two lines occur: "these famous antiquarians, that had been both gardeners to the rose and lily queen." can any of your readers inform me _when_ the elder tradescant came over to england, and when he was appointed royal gardener? was it not in the reign of elizabeth? j. c. b. lambeth. _arthur's seat and salisbury craigs._--l. m. m. r. is very anxious to be informed as to the origin of the name of arthur's seat and salisbury craigs, the well-known hill and rocks close to edinburgh. _lincoln missal._--is a manuscript of the missal, according to the use of the church of lincoln, known to exist? and, if so, where may it be seen? edward peacock, jun. * * * * * replies. meaning of eisell. (vol. iii., p. .) i must beg a very small portion of your space to reply to your correspondent h. k. s. c., who criticises so pleasantly my remarks on the meaning of "eisell." the question is: does the meaning mr. singer attaches to this word require in the passage cited the expression of quantity to make it definite? i am disposed to think that a definite quantity may be sometimes understood, in a well-defined act, although it be _not_ expressed. on the other hand, your correspondent should know that english idiom requires that the name of a river should be preceded by the definite article, unless it be personified; and that whenever it is used without the article, it is represented by the personal pronoun _he_. though a man were able "to drink _the thames_ dry," he could no more "drink up _thames_" than he could drink up _neptune_, or the sea-serpent, or do any other impossible feat. i observed before, that "the notion of drinking up a river would be both unmeaning and out of place." i said this, with the conviction that there was a purpose in everything that shakspeare wrote; and being still of this persuasion, allow me to protest against the terms "mere verbiage" and "extravagant rant," which your correspondent applies to the passage in question. the poet does not present common things as they appear to all men. shakspeare's art was equally great, { } whether he spoke with the tongues of madmen or philosophers. h. k. s. c. cannot conceive why each feat of daring should be a tame possibility, save only the last; but i say that they are _all_ possible; that it was a daring to do not impossible but extravagant feats. as far as quantity is concerned, to eat a crocodile would be more than to eat an ox. crocodile may be a very delicate meat, for anything i know to the contrary; but i must confess it appears to me to be introduced as something loathsome or repulsive, and (on the poet's part) to cap the absurdity of the preceding feat. the use made by other writers of a passage is one of the most valuable kinds of comment. in a burlesque some years ago, i recollect a passage was brought to a climax with the very words, "wilt eat a crocodile?" the immediate and natural response was--_not_ "the thing's impossible!" but--"you nasty beast!" what a descent then from the drinking up of a river to a merely disagreeable repast. in the one case the object is clear and intelligible, and the last feat is suggested by the not so difficult but little less extravagant preceding one; in the other, each is unmeaning (in reference to the speaker), unsuggested, and, unconnected with the other; and, regarding the order an artist would observe, out of place. samuel hickson. st. john's wood, jan. . . p.s. in replying to mr. g. stephens, in reference to the meaning of a passage in the _tempest_, i expressed a wish that he would give the meaning of what he called a "common ellipsis" "stated _at full_." this stands in your columns (vol. ii., p. .) "at first," in which expression i am afraid he would be puzzled to find any meaning. * * * * * i might safely leave h. k. s. c. to the same gentle correction bestowed upon a neighbour of his at brixton some time since, by mr. hickson, but i must not allow him to support his dogmatic and flippant hypercriticism by falsehood and unfounded insinuation, and i therefore beg leave to assure him that i have no claim to the enviable distinction of being designated as the friend of mr. hickson, to whom i am an utter stranger, having never seen him, and knowing nothing of that gentleman but what his very valuable communications to your publication conveys. i have further to complain of the want of truth in the very first paragraph of your correspondent's note: the question respecting the meaning of "eisell" does _not_ "remain substantially where steevens and malone left it;" for i have at least shown that _eisell_ meant _wormwood_, and that shakspeare has elsewhere undoubtedly used it in that sense. again: the remark about the fashion of extravagant feats, such as swallowing nauseous draughts in honour of a mistress, was quite uncalled for. your correspondent would insinuate that i attribute to shakspeare's time "what in reality belongs to the age of du guesclin and the troubadours." does he mean to infer that it did not in reality equally belong to shakspeare's age? or that i was ignorant of its earlier prevalence? the purport of such remarks is but too obvious; but he may rest assured that they will not tend to strengthen his argument, if argument it can be called, for i must confess i do not understand what he means by his "definite quantity." but the phrase _drink up_ is his stalking-horse; and as he is no doubt familiar with the _nursery rhymes_[ ], a passage in them-- "eat up your cake, jenny, _drink up_ your wine." may perhaps afford him further apt illustration. the proverb tells us "it is dangerous playing with edge tools," and so it is with bad puns: he has shown himself an unskilful engineer in the use of mr. hickson's canon, with which he was to have "blown up" mr. hickson's argument and my proposition; with what success may be fairly left to the judgment of your readers. i will, however, give him another canon, which may be of use to him on some future occasion: "when a probable solution of a difficulty is to be found by a parallelism in the poet's pages, it is better to adopt it than to charge him with a blunder of our own creating." the allusion to "breaking priscian's head" reminds one of the remark of a witty friend on a similar occasion, that "there are some heads not easily broken, but the owners of them have often the fatuity to run them against stumbling-blocks of their own making." s. w. singer. [footnote : _nursery rhymes_, edited by james orchard halliwell, esq., f. r. s., &c.] * * * * * descent of henry iv. (vol. ii., p. .) under the head of "descent of edward iv.," s. a. y. asks for information concerning "a popular, though probably groundless tradition," by which that prince sought to prove his title to the throne of england. s. a. y., or his authority, professor millar, is mistaken in ascribing it to edward iv.--it was henry iv. who so sought to establish his claim. "upon richard ii.'s resignation ... henry, duke of lancaster, having then a large army in the kingdom ... it was impossible for any other title to be asserted with safety, and he became king under the title of henry iv. he was, nevertheless, not admitted to the crown until he had declared that he { } claimed, not as a conqueror (which he was much inclined to do), but as a successor descended by right line of the blood royal.... and in order to this he set up a show of two titles: the one upon the pretence of being the first of the blood royal of the entire male line; whereas the duke of clarence (lionel, elder brother of john of gaunt) left only one daughter, philippa: the other, by reviving an exploded rumour, first propagated by john of gaunt, that edmond earl of lancaster (to whom henry's mother was heiress) was in reality the elder brother of king edward i., though his parents, on account of his personal deformity, had imposed him on the world for the younger."--blackstone's _commentaries_, book i. ch. iii. p. . of edit. . this edmond, earl of lancaster, was succeeded by his son thomas, who in the fifteenth year of the reign of edward ii. was attainted of high treason. in the first of edward iii. his attainder was reversed, and his son henry inherited his titles, and subsequently was created duke of lancaster. blanche, daughter of henry, first duke of lancaster, subsequently became his heir, and was second wife to john of gaunt, and mother to henry iv. edward iv.'s claim to the throne was by descent from lionel, duke of clarence, third son of edward iii., his mother being cicely, youngest daughter of ralph neville, earl of westmoreland. lionel married elizabeth de burgh, an irish heiress, who died shortly after, leaving one daughter, philippa. as william of hatfield, second son of edward iii., died at an early age, without issue, according to all our ideas of hereditary succession philippa, only child of edward iii.'s third son, ought to have inherited before the son of his fourth son; and sir edward coke expressly declares, that the right of the crown was in the descent from philippa, daughter and heir of lionel, duke of clarence. henry iv.'s right, however, was incontestable, being based on overwhelming might. philippa married edward mortimer, earl of march. roger, their son, succeeded his father in his titles, and left one daughter, anne, who married richard, earl of cambridge, son of edmund langley, duke of york, which edmund, duke of york, was the fifth son of edward iii.; and thus the line of york, though a younger branch of the royal family, took precedence, _de jure_, of the lancaster line. from this union sprang richard, duke of york, who was killed under the walls of sandal castle, and who left his titles and pretensions to edward, afterwards the fourth king of that name. the above is taken from several authorities, among which are blackstone's _comm._, book i. ch. iii.; and miss strickland's _lives of the queens of england_, vols. ii. iii. iv. tee bee. * * * * * fossil elk of ireland. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .) w. r. c. states that he is anxious to collect all possible information as to this once noble animal. i would have offered the following notes and references sooner, but that i was confident that some abler contributor to the pages of "notes and queries" would have brought out of his stores much to interest your natural history readers (whose queries i regret are so few and far between), and at the same time elucidate some points touched upon by w. r. c., as to the period of its becoming extinct. perhaps he would favour me with the particulars of "its being shot in ," and a particular reference to the plate alluded to in the _nuremberg chronicle_, as i have not been able to recognise in _any_ of its plates the cervus megaceros, and i am disposed to question the correctness of the statement, that the animal existed so lately as the period referred to. there is in the splendid collections of the royal dublin society (which, unfortunately, is not arranged as it should be, from want of proper space), a fine _skeleton_ of this animal, the _first_ perfect one possessed by any public body in europe: "it is perfect" [i quote the admirable memoir drawn up for the royal dublin society by that able comparative anatomist dr. john hart, which will amply repay a perusal by w. r. c., or any other naturalist who may feel an interest in the subject] "in every single bone of the framework which contributes to form a part of the general outline, the spine, the chest, the pelvis, and the extremities are all complete in this respect; and when surmounted by the head and _beautifully expanded antlers_, which extend out to a distance of nearly six feet on either side, form a splendid display of the reliques of the former grandeur of the animal kingdom, and carries back the imagination to the period when whole herds of this noble animal wandered at large over the face of the country." until baron cuvier published his account of these remains, they were generally supposed to be the same as those of the moose deer or elk of n. america. (vide _ann. du museum d'histoire naturelle_, tom. xii., and _ossemens fossiles_, tom. iv.) this error seems to have originated with dr. molyneux in . (vide _phil. trans._, vol. xix.) the perforated rib referred to was presented to the society by archdeacon maunsell, and "contains an oval opening towards its lower edge, the long diameter of which is parallel to the length of the rib, its margin is depressed on the outer and raised on the inner surface; round which there is an irregular effusion of callus.... in fact, such a wound as would be produced by the head of an arrow remaining in the wound after the shaft had broken off."--hart's _memoir_, p. . there are in the museum of trinity college, dublin, a very complete and interesting series of { } antlered skulls of this animal. should w. r. c. or any other reader of "notes and queries," desire further information on this subject, i will gladly, if in my power, afford it. s. p. h. t. (a m. r. d. s.) * * * * * replies to minor queries. _coverdale bible_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent echo is quite right in declaring mr. granville penn's statement, that coverdale used tyndale's _new test_. in his bible of , to be quite wrong. mr. penn very probably took his statement from the preface to d'oyley and mant's bible, as published by the christian knowledge society, which contains a very erroneous account of the earliest english versions. tyndale's version of the new testament was not incorporated in any version of the whole bible till the publication of what is called matthewe's bible in . for more particular statements confirmed by proofs, your correspondent may consult anderson's _annals of the english bible_, under the dates of the respective editions, or his appendix to vol. ii., pp. viii., ix.; or mr. pearson's biographical notice of coverdale, prefixed to the parker soc. edit. of his _remains_; or the biographical notice of tyndale, prefixed to the parker soc. edit. of his works, pp. lxxiv., lxxv.; or _two letters to bishop marsh on the independence of the authorised version_, published for me by hatchard in and . henry walter. * * * * * _epitaph_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the name of the "worthie knyght" is _sir thomas gravener_, as a. b. r. might have seen in the printed catalogue of the harleian mss. who he was, is a more difficult question to answer; but there was a family of that name settled in staffordshire, as appears from ms. harl. . fol. . the epitaph in question (at fol. b of the old numbering, or b of the new, _not_ fol. b.) is inserted among several short poems written by sir thomas wyatt; and the epitaph itself has a capital w affixed to it, as if it were also of his composition: but i do not find it inserted in dr. nott's edition of his poetical works, in ; nor does this ms. appear to have been consulted by dr. nott. and here i may take the liberty of remarking, how desirable it is that your correspondents, in sending any extracts from old english mss. to the "notes and queries," should adhere strictly to the original orthography, or else modernise it altogether. a. b. r. evidently intends to retain the ancient spelling; yet, from haste or inadvertence, he has committed no less than forty-four _literal_ errors in transcribing this short epitaph, and three _verbal_ ones, namely, _itt_ for _that_ (l. .), _hys_ for _the_ (l. .), and _or_ for _and_ (l. .). another curious source of error may here be pointed out. nearly all the mss. contained in the british museum collections are not only distinguished by a number, but have a _press-mark_ stamped on the back, which is denoted by _plut._ (an abbreviation of _pluteus_, press), with the number and shelf. thus the harleian ms. ., referred to by a. b. r., stands in _press_ (_plut._) lxiii. _shelf_ e. in consequence of the cottonian collection having been originally designated after the names of the twelve cæsars (whose busts, together with those of cleopatra and faustina, stood above the presses), it appears to have been supposed that other classical names served as references to the remaining portions of the manuscript department. in a. b. r.'s communication, _plut._ is expressed by the name of _pluto_; in a volume of miss strickland's _lives of the queens of scotland_, lately published, it is metamorphosed into _plutus_; and the late dr. adam clarke refers to some of dr. dee's mss. in the _sloane_ (more correctly, _cottonian_) library, under _plutarch_ xvi. g! (see _catalogue_ of his mss., vo., , p. .) the same amusing error is more formally repeated by dr. j. f. payen, in a recent pamphlet, entitled _nouveaux documents inédits ou peu connus sur montaigne_, vo., , at p. . of which he refers to "bibl. egerton, vol. ., _plutarch_, f. .," [_plut._ clxvii. f.], and adds in a note: "on sait que dans nos bibliothèques les grandes divisions sont marquées par les lettres de l'alphabet; _au musée britannique c'est par des noms de personnages célèbres qu'on les designe_." [mu]. * * * * * _probabilism_ (vol. iii., p. .).--probabilism, so far as it means the principle of reasoning or acting upon the opinion of eminent teachers or writers, was the principle of the pythagoreans, whose _ipse dixit_, speaking of their master, is proverbial; and of aristotle, in his topics. but probabilism, in its strict sense, i presume, means the doctrine so common among the jesuits, years ago, and so well stated by pascal, that it is lawful to act upon an opinion expressed by a single writer of weight, though contrary to one's own opinion, and entirely overbalanced, either in weight or numbers, by the opinion of other writers. jeremy taylor, in his _ductor dubitantium_, tells us that this doctrine, though very prevalent, was quite modern; and that the old casuists, according to the plain suggestions of common sense, held directly the contrary, namely, that the less probable opinion must give way to the more probable. all this may be no answer to the deeper research, perhaps, of your enquirer,--but it may possibly be interesting to general readers, as well as the following refined and ingenious sophism which was used in its support:--they said that all agreed that you could not be wrong in using the more probable, best supported, { } opinion of the two. now, let that in the particular case in question be a, and the less probable b. but the doctrine that you may lawfully take the less probable in general is the more probable doctrine; meaning at that time the doctrine of the greater number of authorities: therefore they said, even upon your principles it is lawful to take b. c. b. _old hewson the cobbler_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--the most satisfactory account of "old hewson" is the following, extracted from _the loyal martyrology, by william winstanley_, small vo. , (p. .):-- "john hewson, who, from a cobbler, rose by degrees to be a colonel, and though a person of no parts either in body or mind, yet made by cromwell one of his pageant lords. he was a fellow fit for any mischief, and capable of nothing else; a sordid lump of ignorance and impiety, and therefore the more fit to share in cromwell's designs, and to act in that horrid murther of his majesty. upon the turn of the times, he ran away for fear of squire dun [the common hangman], and (by report) is since dead, and buried at amsterdam." in the collection of songs entitled _the rump_, , may be found two ballads relative to hewson, viz., "a hymne to the gentle craft; or hewson's lamentation. to the tune of the blind beggar:" "listen a while to what i shall say of a blind cobbler that's gone astray out of the parliament's high way, good people pity the blind." "the cobbler's last will and testament; or the lord hewson's translation:" "to christians all, i greeting send, that they may learn their souls to amend by viewing, of my _cobbler's end_." lord hewson's "one eye" is a frequent subject of ridicule in the political songs of the period. thus in "the bloody bed-roll, or treason displayed in its colours:" "make room for one-ey'd hewson, a lord of such account, 'twas a pretty jest that such a beast should to such honour mount." the song inquired for by my friend mr. chapell, beginning, "my name is old hewson," is not contained in any of the well-known printed collections of political songs and ballads, nor is it to be found among the broadsides preserved in the king's pamphlets. a full index to the latter is now before me, so i make this statement _positively_, and to save others the trouble of a search. edward f. rimbault. _old hewson and smollett's "strap."_--perhaps the enclosed extract from an old newspaper of april, , will throw some light upon this subject: "smollett's celebrated hugh strap. "on sunday was interred, in the burial-ground of st. martin's-in-the-fields, the remains of hugh hewson, who died at the age of . the deceased was a man of no mean celebrity. he had passed more than forty years in the parish of st. martin's, and kept a hair-dresser's shop, being no less a personage than the identical _hugh strap_, whom dr. smollett rendered so conspicuously interesting in his life and adventures of roderick random. the deceased was a very intelligent man, and took delight in recounting the scenes of his early life. he spoke with pleasure of the time he passed in the service of the doctor; and it was his pride, as well as boast, to say, that he had been educated at the same seminary with so learned and distinguished a character. his shop was hung round with latin quotations, and he would frequently point out to his acquaintance the several scenes in roderick random, pertaining to himself, which had their foundation, not in the doctor's inventive fancy, but in truth and reality. the doctor's meeting with him at a barber's shop at newcastle-upon-tyne, the subsequent mistake at the inn, their arrival together in london, and the assistance they experienced from _strap's_ friend were all of that description. the deceased, to the last, obtained a comfortable subsistence by his industry, and of late years had been paid a weekly salary by the inhabitants of the adelphi, for keeping the entrances to villiers-walk, and securing the promenade from the intrusion of strangers." john francis. _rodolph gualter_ (vol. iii., p. .).--from letters to and from rodolph gualter (in _zurich_, and _original letters, parker society_) little can be gathered; thus much have i gleaned, that though mention is oftentimes made of scotland, yet not sufficient to identify gualter as being a native of that country; yet it should be observed that he dedicated his homilies on the galatians to the king of scotland, _zurich letters_ (second series) cxviii., see also, cxxix., cxxx. these remarks may tend perchance to put j. c. r. on the right track for obtaining true information. n. e. r. (a subscriber.) _burning the hill_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the provision for _burning out_ a delinquent miner, contained in the mendip mine laws, called lord c. j. choke's laws, first appeared in print in ; at least i can find no earlier notice of them in any _book_; but as the usages sanctioned by them are incidentally mentioned in proceedings in the exchequer in and elizabeth, they are no doubt of early date. article . certainly has a very sanguinary aspect; but as the thief, whose hut and tools are to be burnt, is himself to be "_banished_ from his occupation before the miners for ever," it cannot be intended that he should be himself burnt also. if any instance of the exercise of a { } custom or law so clearly illegal had ever occurred within recent times, we should have assuredly found some record of it in the annals of criminal justice, as the executioner would infallibly have been hanged. the regulations are probably an attempt by some private hand to embody the local customs of the district, so far as regards lead mining; and they contain the substance of the usual customs prevalent in most metallic regions, where mines have been worked _ab antiquo_. the first report of the dean forest commission, , f. ., adverts to a similar practice among the coal and iron miners in that forest. it seems to be an instance of the _droit des arsins_, or right of arson, formerly claimed and exercised to a considerable extent, and with great solemnity, in picardy, flanders, and other places; but i know of no instance in which this wild species of metallifodine justice has been claimed to apply to anything but the culprit's local habitation and tools of trade. i need not add that the custom, even with this limitation, would now be treated by the courts as a vulgar error, and handed over to the exclusive jurisdiction of the legal antiquaries and collectors of the juris amoenitates. e. smirke. "_fronte capillata_," &c. (vol. iii., pp. . .).--the couplet is much older than g. a. s. seems to think. the author is dionysius cato,--"catoun," as chaucer calls him--in his book, _distichorum de moribus_, lib. ii. d. xxvi.: "rem tibi quam nosces aptam, dimittere noli: fronte capillata, post est occasio calva." _corp. poet. lat._, frankfurt, , p. . the history of this dionysius cato is unknown; and it has been hotly disputed whether he were a heathen or christian; but he is _at least_ as old as the fourth century of the christian era, being mentioned by vindicianus, chief physician in ordinary to the emperor, in a letter to valentinian i., a.d. . in the illustrations of _the baptistery_, parker, oxford, , which are re-engraved from the originals in the _via vitæ eternæ_, designed by boetius a bolswert, the figure of "occasion" is always drawn with the hair hanging loose in front, according to the distich. e. a. d. _time when herodotus wrote_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .)--the passage in herodotus (i. .) is certainly curious, and had escaped my notice, until pointed out by your correspondent. i am unable at present to refer to smith's _dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology_; but i doubt whether the reading of the poem or title, in aristotle's _rhetoric_ (ii. . § .), has received much attention. in my forthcoming translation of the "pseudo-herodotean life of homer" prefixed to the _odysseia_ (bohn's _classical library_), note ., i have thus given it:-- "this is the exposition of the historical researches of herodotus of _thurium_," &c. now aristotle makes no remark on the passage as being unusual, and it therefore inclines me to think that, at the time of that philosopher and critic, both editions were in use. the date of the building of thurium is b.c. , and herodotus was there at its foundation, being then about forty years of age. most likely he had published a smaller edition of this book before that time, bearing the original date from halicarnassus, which he revised, _enlarged_, corrected, and _partly re-wrote_ at thurium. i think this would not be difficult to prove; and i would add that this retouching would be found more apparent at the beginning of the volume than elsewhere. this may be easily accounted for by the feeling that modern as well as ancient authors have, viz., that of laziness and inertness; revising the first pages carefully, but decreasing from that point. but to return: later editors, i conceive, erased the word thurium used by herodotus, who was piqued and vexed at his native city, and substituted, or restored, halicarnassus; not, however, changing the text. a learned friend of mine wished for the bibliographical history of the classics. i told him then, as i tell the readers of the "notes and queries" now, "search for that history in the pages of the classics themselves; extend to them the critical spirit that is applied to our own chaucer, shakspeare, and milton, and your trouble will not be in vain. the history of any book (that is the general history of the gradual development of its ideas) is written in its own pages." in truth, the prose classics deserve as much attention as the poems of homer. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. january . . _herstmonceux castle_ (vol. ii., p. .).--e. v. asks for an explanation of certain entries in the fine rolls, a.d. and , which i can, in part, supply. the first is a fine for having seisin of the lands of the deceased mother of the two suitors, william de warburton and ingelram de monceaux. as they claim as joint-heirs or parceners, the land must have been subject to partibility, and therefore of socage tenure. if the land was not in kent, the entry is a proof that the exclusive right of primogeniture was not then universally established, as we know it was not in the reign of henry ii. see _glanville_, lib. vii. cap. . the next entry records the fine paid for suing out a writ _de rationabili parte_ against (_versus_) one of the above coheirs. the demandant is either the same coheir named above, viz. ingelram, altered by a clerical error into waleram,--such errors being of common occurrence, sometimes from oscitancy, and sometimes because the clerk had to guess at the extended form of a contracted name,--or he is a descendant and heir of ingelram, { } claiming the share of his ancestor. i incline to adopt the former explanation of the two here suggested. the form of writ is in the register of writs, and corresponds exactly with the abridged note of it in the fine roll. the "esnecia," mentioned in the last entry (not extracted by e. v.), is the majorat or senior heir's perquisite of the capital mansion. e. v. will pardon me for saying, that his translation of the passages is a little deficient in exactness. as to e. v.'s query ., does he think it worth while to go further in search of a reason for calling the bedroom floor of herstmonceux castle by the name of _bethlem_, when the early spelling and common and constant pronunciation of the word supply so plausible an explanation? i myself knew, in my earliest days, a house where that department was constantly so nicknamed. but there certainly _may_ be a more recondite origin of the name; and something may depend on the date at which he finds it first applied. e. smirke. _camden and curwen families_ (vol. iii., p. .).--camden's mother was elizabeth, daughter of gyles curwen, of poulton hall, in the county of lancaster. in the "visitation" of lancashire made in , it is stated that this gyles curwen was "descended from curwen of workenton in co. cumberland;" but the descent is not given, and i presume it rests merely on tradition. llewellyn. _joan sanderson, or the cushion dance_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent mac asks for the "correct date" of the _cushion dance_. searching out the history and origin of an old custom or ballad is like endeavouring to ascertain the source and flight of december's snow. i am afraid mac will not obtain what he now wishes for. the _earliest_ mention, that i have noticed, of this popular old dance occurs in heywood's play, _a woman kill'd with kindness_, . nicholas, one of the characters, says: "i have, ere now, deserved a cushion: call for the _cushion dance_." the musical notes are preserved in _the english dancing master_, ; in _the harmonicon_, a musical journal; in davies gilbert's _christmas carols_ ( nd edition); and in chappell's _national english melodies_. in the first-named work it is called "joan sanderson, or the cushion dance, an old round dance." in a curious collection of old songs and tunes, _neder-landtsche gedenck-clank door adrianum valerium_, printed at haerlem in , is preserved a tune called "sweet margaret," which, upon examination, proves to be the same as the _cushion dance_. this favourite dance was well known in holland in the early part of the seventeenth century, and an interesting engraving of it may be seen in the _emblems_ of john de brunnes, printed at amsterdam in . the last-named work (a copy of the edition of of which is now before me) is exceedingly curious to the lovers of our popular sports and pastimes. the engravings are by william pass, c. blon, &c., and among them are representations of kiss in the ring, the game of forfeits, rolling snow-balls, the interior of a barber's shop, with citherns and lutes hanging against the wall, for the use of the customers, &c. edward f. rimbault. _north sides of churchyards_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in an appendix to our registers i find the following entry, where i conceive the _backside_ means the northside. though now the whole of our churchyard is so full that we have much difficulty in finding any new ground, what we do find, however, is on the north side. " , oct. . one mary davies, of pentrobin, single woman, though excommunicated with the _greater excommunication_, was on this day, _within night_, on account of some particular circumstances alleged by neighbours of credit in her favour (as to her resolving to come and reconcile herself, and do penance if she recovered), indulged by being interred on the _backside_ the church, but no service or tolling allowed." from this i conclude that _here_ at least there was no part of the churchyard left unconsecrated for the burial of persons excommunicate, as one of your correspondents suggests; or burial in such place would have been no indulgence, as evidently it was regarded in this case. it would be interesting to ascertain from accredited instances _how late_ this power of excommunication has been _exercised_, and thereby how long it has really been in abeyance. i expect the period would not be found so great as is generally imagined. waldegrave brewster. _antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi_ (vol. ii., p. .).--dugald stewart, in his dissertation prefixed to the _encyclopædia britannica_, ed. ., p. ., points out two passages of writers anterior to lord bacon, in which this thought occurs. the first is in his namesake, roger bacon, who died in : "quanto juniores tanto perspicaciores, quia juniores posteriores successione temporum ingrediuntor labores priorum."--_opus majus_, p. . ed. jebb. the _opus majus_ of roger bacon was not, however, printed until the last century, and could not have been known to lord bacon unless he had read it in manuscript. the second is from ludovicus vives, _de caus. corrupt. art._, lib. i., of which mr. stewart gives the following version:-- "the similitude which many have fancied between the superiority of the moderns to the ancients, and the elevation of a dwarf on the back of a giant, is { } altogether false and puerile. neither were they giants, nor are we dwarfs, but all of us men of the same standard; and _we_, the taller of the two, by adding their height to our own. provided always that we do not yield to them in study, attention, vigilance, and love of truth; for if these qualities be wanting, so far from mounting on the giant's shoulders, we throw away the advantages of our own just stature, by remaining prostrate on the ground." ludovicus vives, the eminent spanish writer, died in , and therefore preceded the active period of lord bacon's mind by about half a century. mr. stewart likewise cites the following sentences of seneca, which, however, can hardly be said to contain the germ of this thought:-- "veniet tempus quo ista quæ nunc latent, in lucem dies extrahet, et longioris ævi diligentia.... veniet tempus, quo posteri nostri tam aperta nos nescisse mirabuntur."--_quæst. nat._ viii. . l. _umbrella_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., pp. . . . . . .; vol. iii., p. .).--although i conceive that ample proof has been given in your columns that umbrellas were generally known at an earlier period than had been commonly supposed, yet the following additional facts may not perhaps be unacceptable to your readers. in bailey's _dictionary_, vol. i. ( th edit. ), are these articles:-- "parasol, a sort of small canopy or umbrella, to keep off the rain." "umbella, _a little shadow_; an umbrella, bon-grace, skreen-fan, &c., which women bear in their hands to shade them." "umbelliforus _plants_ [among _botanists_]. plants which have round tufts, or small stalks standing upon greater; or have their tops branched and spread like a lady's _umbrella_." "umbrello [_ombrelle_, f.; _ombrella_, ital. of _umbrella_, or _umbrecula_, l.], a sort of skreen that is held over the head for preserving from the sun or rain; also a wooden frame covered with cloth or stuff, to keep off the sun from a window." in bailey's _dictionary_, vol. ii. ( rd edit. ), is the following:-- "umbellated [_umbellatus_, l.]; bossed. in _botan. writ._ is said of flowers when many of them grow together, disposed somewhat like an _umbrella_. the make is a sort of broad, roundish surface of the whole, &c. &c." horace walpole (_memoirs of the reign of george ii._, vol. iii. p. .), narrating the punishment of dr. shebbeare for a libel, th december, , says,-- "the man stood in the pillory, having a footman holding an umbrella to keep off the rain." in burrow's _reports_ (vol. ii. p. .), is an account of the proceedings in the court of king's bench against arthur beardmore, under-sheriff of middlesex, for contempt of court in remitting part of the sentence on dr. shebbeare. the affidavits produced by the attorney-general stated-- "that the defendant only stood _upon the_ platform of the pillory, unconfined, and at his ease, attended by a _servant_ in _livery_ (which servant and livery were hired for this occasion only) holding an umbrella over his head, all the time:" and mr. justice dennison, in pronouncing sentence on beardmore, did not omit to allude to the umbrella. c. h. cooper. cambridge, january . . _form of prayer at the healing_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a copy of this service of an earlier date than those mentioned is before me. it was printed in folio at the hague, ; and is appended to "a form of prayer used in king charles ii.'s chappel upon _tuesdays_, in the times of his trouble and distress." charles i. was executed on that day of the week. j. h. m. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. "thoughts take up no room," saith jeremy collier, in a curious passage which mr. elmes has adopted as the motto of a pretty little volume, which he has just put forth under the following characteristic title: _horæ vacivæ, a thought-book of the wise spirits of all ages and all countries, fit for all men and all hours_. the work appears to have furnished a source of occupation to its editor when partially recovering from a deprivation of sight. it is well described by him as a "spicilegium of golden thoughts of wise spirits, who, though dead, yet speak;" and being printed in whittingham's quaintest style, and suitably bound, this thought-book is as externally tempting as it is intrinsically valuable. _the calendar of the anglican church illustrated, with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names, or whose images are most frequently met with in england; the early christian and mediæval symbols; and an index of emblems_, is sufficiently described in its title-page. the editor very properly explains that the work is of an archæological, not of a theological character--and as such it is certainly one which english archæologists and ecclesiologists have long wanted. the editor, while judiciously availing himself of the labours of alt, radowitz, didron, and other foreign writers, has not spared his own, having, with the view to one portion of it, compiled a list of all the churches in england, with the saints after whom they were named. this is sufficient to show that the work is one of research, and consequently of value; that value being materially increased by the numerous woodcuts admirably engraved by mr. o. jewitt, with which it is illustrated. _books received._--_helena, the physician's orphan_. the third number of mrs. clarke's interesting series of tales, entitled, _the girlhood of shakspeare's heroines_. { } _every-day wonders, or facts in physiology which all should know:_ a very successful endeavour to present a few of the truths of that science which treats of the structure of the human body, and of the adaptation of the external world to it in such a form as that they be readily apprehended. great pains have been taken that the information imparted should be accurate; and it is made more intelligible by means of some admirable woodcuts. _catalogues received._--john miller's ( . chandos street) no. . of catalogues of books old and new; j. russell smith's ( . old compton street) catalogue part ii. of an extensive collection of choice, useful, and curious books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. recherches historiques sur les congrÉgations hospitaliers des frÈres pontifes. a. grÉgoire. paris, , vo. pp. sepulchral memorials of a market town, by dawson turner. yarmouth, . stephen's central america, vols. vo. plates. whartoni anglia sacra. the best edition. novum testamentum gr. ex recensione greisbach, cum var. lect. vols. to. leipsic, or . engraved frontispiece. lardner on the trinity. goodridge, john, the phoenix; or, reasons for believing that the comet, &c. london, , vo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have many articles in type which we are compelled, by want of space, to postpone until next week, when the publication of our double number will enable us to insert many interesting communications which are only waiting for room._ replies received. _st. pancras--daresbury--plafery--touching for the evil--munchausen--cold harbour--landwade church--bacon and fagan--soul's dark cottage--fine by degrees--simon bache--away let nought--mythology of the stars--adur--burying in church walls--sir clowdesley shovel--lynch law--cardinal's monument--inns of court--true blue--averia--dragons--brandon the juggler--words are men's daughters--sonnet by milton--dryden's essay upon satire--ring dials--sir hilary--arthur massinger--cranmer's descendants--post conquestum--prince of wales' feathers--verbum græcum--visions of hell--musical plagiarism--lady bingham--cockade--saint paul's clock--by and by--aristophanes on the modern stage._ liturgicus, _who writes on the subject of the letters_ m. _and_ n. _in the catechism and marriage service, is referred to our first volume, pp._ . _and_ . f. m. b. hicks' hall _was so called from its builder, sir baptist hicks, afterwards viscount camden; and the name of the_ old bailey, _says stow, "is likely to have arisen of some count of old time there kept."--see cunningham's_ handbook of london. k. r. h. m. _received_. e. t. (liverpool). _we propose to issue a volume similar to our first and second, at the termination of every half-year._ e. s. t. t. _for origin of_ "tempora mutantur," &c., _see our first volume, pp._ . . george petit. _the book called_ elegantiæ latinæ, _published under the name of the learned joh. meursius, was written by chorier of grenoble. meursius had no share in it_. h. a. r. _much information concerning the general and social condition of lunatics before will be found in reports of committees of house of commons of , , and , and of the house of lords of ._ a. c. p. _the explanation furnished is one about which there can be no doubt, but for obvious reasons we do not insert it._ k. r. h. m. _we cannot promise until we see the article; but, if brief, we shall have every disposition to insert it._ c. h. p. _surely there is no doubt that lord howard of effingham, who commanded the armada, was a protestant._ volume the second of notes and queries, _with very copious_ index, _is now ready, price_ s. d. _strongly bound in cloth_. vol. i. _is reprinted, and may also be had at the same price_. notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. _erratum_.--no. . p. . col. . l. ., for "me_l_t" read "me_e_t." * * * * * mr. t. richards (late of st. martin's lane), printer and agent to the percy and hakluyt societies, has removed to . great queen street, lincoln's-inn-fields, where he respectfully requests all letters may be addressed to him. * * * * * whereshall we go this morning? such is usually the query over the breakfast table with visitors to london. let us answer the question. if you can admire the most beautiful specimens of papier mache manufacture which are produced in this country, displayed in the most attractive forms--if you want a handsome or useful dressing-case, work-box, or writing-desk, if you need any requisite for the work-table or toilet, or if you desire to see one of the most elegant emporiums in london--then you will go to mechi's, . leadenhall-street, near the india-house, in whose show-rooms you may lounge away an hour very pleasantly. * * * * * messrs. hope and co.'s new publications. i. fac-simile autograph letters of junius, lord chesterfield, and mrs. dagralles; shewing that the wife of mr. solomon dagralles was the amanuensis employed in copying the letters of junius for the printer. with a postscript to the first essay on junius and his works. by william cramp, author of the "philosophy of language." price _s_. ii. the statesman's portfolio and parliamentary review: consisting of original articles and correspondence on all the important topics of the day, with a review of parliamentary business. invaluable to statesmen and others interested in the acts of the british senate. on the st of march, to be continued monthly, price _s_. london: hope and co., . great marlborough street. * * * * * price d., by post d., or s. per hundred for distribution. westminster and dr. wiseman; or, facts _v._ fiction. by william page wood, esq., m.p., q.c. reprinted from _the times_, with an advertisement on the subject of the westminster spiritual aid fund, and more especially on the duty and justice of applying the revenues of the suspended stalls of the abbey for the adequate endowment of the district churches in the immediate neighbourhood. second edition, with an appendix. london: george bell, . fleet street; messrs. rivingtons, st. paul's church-yard, and waterloo place; and thomas hatchard, . piccadilly; and _by order_ of all booksellers. * * * * * { } new books and new editions. * * * * * the calendar of the anglican church illustrated. with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names, or whose images are most frequently met with in england; the early christian and mediæval symbols; and an index of emblems. with numerous woodcuts. fcap. vo. s. d. "it is perhaps hardly necessary to observe that this work is of an archæological, not of a theological character; the editor has not considered it his business to examine into the truth or falsehood of the legends of which he narrates the substance; he gives them merely as legends, and in general so much of them only as is necessary to explain why particular emblems were used with a particular saint, or why churches in a given locality are named after this or that saint."--_preface._ the family almanack and educational register for the year of our lord . containing, in addition to the usual contents of an almanack, a list of the foundation and grammar schools in england and wales; together with an account of the scholarships and exhibitions attached to them. post vo. s. the papal supremacy, its rise and progress, traced in three lectures. by the rev. r. hussey, b.d., regius professor of ecclesiastical history. fcap. vo. s. the oxford university calendar for . mo. s. the history of the peloponnesian war, by thucydides. the text of arnold, with his argument. the indexes now first adapted to his sections, and the greek index greatly enlarged. by the rev. g. r. p. tiddeman, m.a., of magdalen hall, oxford. in thick vol. vo. s. a collection of anthems used in the cathedral and collegiate churches of england and wales. by william marshall, mus. doc., late organist of christ church cathedral, and of st. john's college, oxford. second edition. mo. s. an essay on the origin and development of window tracery in england, with numerous illustrations. by edward a. freeman, m.a., late fellow of trinity college, oxford; author of the "history of architecture." vo. price s. in cloth. dr. pusey's defence of his own principles. a letter to the right hon. and right rev. the lord bishop of london, in explanation of some statements contained in a letter by the rev. w. dodsworth. (second edition in the press.) a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. exemplified by upwards of eighteen hundred illustrations, drawn from the best examples. fifth edition. vols. vo. cloth, gilt tops, l. s. speculation: a tale. fcap. vo. s. the daily services of the church of england; complete in one portable volume. price s. d. bound; or s. in morocco. sermons, mostly academical. with a preface, containing a refutation of the theory founded upon the syriac fragments of the epistles of st. ignatius. by robert hussey, b.d., regius professor of ecclesiastical history, late censor of christ church, and whitehall preacher. vo. s. d. lyra innocentium: thoughts in verse on christian children, their ways and their privileges. by the author of "the christian year." fifth and cheaper edition. price in cloth, s. d.; or, neatly bound, with gilt edges, s. the christian year. a cheaper edition of this work is now ready. price in cloth, s. d.; or neatly bound, with gilt edges, s. it may also be had in various other sizes and prices, from s. d. upwards. sermons chiefly on the responsibilities of the ministerial office. by the rev. e. monro. vo. s. a manual of daily prayers, with an office of preparation for the holy communion, and companion to the altar. mo. d. the character of pilate and the spirit of the age. a course of sermons preached at the chapel royal, whitehall, by the rev. w. sewell, b.d., fellow and tutor of exeter college, and whitehall preacher. mo. price s. d. kenneth; or, the rear-guard of the grand army. by the author of "the kings of england." fcap. vo. s. the seven days; or, the old and new creation. by the author of "the cathedral." fcap. vo. cloth, s. d.; morocco, s. the history of popish transubstantiation. by john cosin, dd., lord bishop of durham. a new edition, revised, with the authorities printed in full length, to which is added a memoir of the author by the rev. j. brewer, m.a., of queen's college, oxford, and classical tutor in king's college, london. fcap. vo. _s_. cottage prints from sacred subjects, intended chiefly for distribution among the poor. edited by the rev. h. j. rose, b.d., rector of houghton conquest, beds., late fellow of st. john's college, cambridge, and the rev. john william burgon, m.a., fellow of oriel college, oxford. to be completed in twelve monthly parts, containing in all at least fifty prints. price of the set, l. s. eight parts are now ready. * * * * * oxford: john henry parker; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . none proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . price, threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page skinner's life of monk, by w.d. christie cunningham's lives of whitgift and cartwright inedited letter of duke of monmouth lydgate and coverdale, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. queries:-- speculum exemplorum, &c. the second duke of ormonde, by rev. james graves mayors--what is their correct prefix? quevedo and spanish bull-fights, by c. forbes minor queries:--gilbert browne--the badger--ecclesiastical year--sir william coventry--the shrew--chip in porridge--temple stanyan--tandem--as lazy as ludlum's dog--peal of bells--sir robert long--dr. whichcot and lord shaftesbury--lines attributed to lord palmerston--gray's alcaic ode--abbey of st. wandrille--london dissenting ministers--dutch language--marylebone gardens--toom shawn cattie--love's last shift--cheshire-round--why is an earwig called a "coach-bell?"--chrysopolis--pimlico, &c. replies:-- blunder in malone's shakspeare hints to intending editors replies to minor queries:--depinges--lærig--vox et præterea nihil--havior--mowbray coheirs--sir r. walpole--line quoted by de quincey--quem jupiter, &c.--bernicia--cæsar's wife, &c. miscellanies:-- franz von sickingen--body and soul--laissez faire--college salting--byron and tacitus--pardonere and frere--mistake in gibbon miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * skinner's life of monk. reading for a different purpose in the domestic papers of charles ii.'s reign in the state paper office, i came upon a letter from thomas skinner, dated colchester, jan. . , of which i will give you what i have preserved in my notes; and that is all that is of any interest. it is a letter to the secretary of state, asking for employment, and recommending himself by what he had done for monk's memory. he had previously written some account of monk, and he describes an interview with lord bath (the sir john grenville of the restoration); in which his lordship expressed his approval of the book. "he [lord bath] professed himself so well satisfied, that he was pleased to tell me there were two persons, viz. the king and the duke of albemarle, that would find some reason to reflect upon me." lord bath gives skinner a letter to the duke of albemarle (monk's son), who receives him very kindly, and gives him a handsome present. "i have since waited on his grace again, and then he proposed to me (whether upon his own inclination or the suggestion of some about him) to use my poor talent in writing his father's life apart in the universal language; to which end, he would furnish me with all his papers that belonged to his late father and his secretaries. the like favour it pleased my lord of bath to offer me from his own papers, some whereof i had a sight of in his study." now if any of your readers who are interested in monk's biography, will refer to the author's and editor's prefaces of _skinner's life of monk_, edited in , by the rev. william webster; and to lord wharncliffe's introduction to his translation of m. guizot's _essay on monk_, they will see the use of this letter of skinner's. . the life is ascribed to skinner only on circumstantial evidence, which is certainly strong, but to which this letter of skinner's is a very important edition. this letter is indeed direct proof, and the first we have, of skinner's having been employed on a life of monk, in which he had access to his son's and his relative lord bath's papers; and there can be no serious doubt that the life edited by mr. webster was a result of his labours. . this letter would show that skinner was not on intimate terms with monk, nor so closely connected with him as would be implied in mr. webster's and morant's, the historian of colchester, description of him, that he was a physician to monk. else he would not have required lord bath's letter of introduction to the son. lord wharncliffe has, i have no doubt, hit the mark, when he says that skinner was probably monk's colchester apothecary. skinner says himself, in his preface, that "he had the honour to know monk only in the last years of his life." . the previous account of monk, which gained lord bath's approval, and led to monk's son soliciting him to write a life, is probably skinner's addition of a third part to bate's _elenchus motuum_, to which he also probably refers in the opening of his preface to the _life of monk_:-- "i have heretofore published something of a like nature with the following sheets, though in another language, wherein several things, through want of better information, were imperfectly described." . it appears from skinner's letter, that his original intention was to write a life in latin. webster edited the life which we have, from a copy in english found in the study of mr. owen, late curate at bocking in essex, and supposed to be in skinner's handwriting; and he had seen another copy, agreeing literally with the former, which had been transcribed by shelton, formerly rector of st. james's in colchester; and which, after mr. shelton's death, became the property of mr. great, an apothecary in colchester. (webster published in .) now, query, as these may have been copies of a translation, can any colchester reader help to settle affirmatively or negatively the question of a latin _life of monk_ by skinner? i add two other queries:-- it appears from a passage in the _life_ (p. .), that skinner appended, or intended to append, a collection of papers:-- "as appears from his majesty's royal grant or warrant to him (sir john grenville), which we have transcribed from the original, and have added in the collection at the end of this history." webster says he never could get any account of this collection of papers. can colchester now produce any information about them? can any of your readers give any information about those papers of the second duke of albemarle, and of grenville, earl of bath, to which skinner had access? lord bath's papers were probably afterwards in the hands of his nephew lord lansdowne, who vindicated monk in answer to burnet. w.d. christie. * * * * * cunningham's lives of eminent englishmen.--whitgift and cartwright. in a modern publication, entitled _lives of eminent englishmen_, edited by g.g. cunningham, vols. vo. glasgow, , we meet with a memoir of archbishop whitgift, which contains the following paragraph:-- "while whitgift was footing to an archbishopric, poor cartwright was consigned to poverty and exile; and at length died in obscurity and wretchedness. how pleasant would it have been to say that none of his sufferings were inflicted by his great antagonist, but that he was treated by him with a generous magnanimity! instead of this, whitgift followed him through life with inflexible animosity."--_cunningham's lives_, ii. . mr. cunningham gives no authority for these statements; but i will furnish him with my authorities for the contradiction of them. "after some years (writes walton, in his _life of hooker_), the doctor [whitgift] being preferred to the see, first of worcester and then of canterbury, mr. cartwright, after his share of trouble and imprisonment (for setting up new presbyteries in divers places against the established order), having received from the archbishop many personal favours, retired himself to a more private living, which was at warwick, where he became master of an hospital, and lived quietly and grew rich;... the archbishop surviving him but one year, _each ending his days in perfect charity with the other_." to the same effect is the statement in strype, which i borrow from dr. zouch's second edition of _walton's lives_, p. .:-- "thomas cartwright, the archbishop's old antagonist, was alive in , and grew rich at his hospital at warwick, preaching at the chapel there, saith my author, very temperately, according to the promise made by him to the archbishop; which mildness of his some ascribed to his old age and more experience. but the latter end of next year he deceased. and now, at the end of cartwright's life, to take our leave of him with a fairer character, it is remarkable what a noble and learned man, sir h. yelverton, writes of some of his last words--'_that he seriously lamented the unnecessary troubles he had caused in the church, by the schism he had been the great fomenter of, and wished to begin his life again, that he might testify to the world the dislike he had of his former ways_;' and in this opinion he died." i find it stated, moreover, on the authority of sir g. paul's _life of whitgift_, that cartwright acknowledged the generosity of whitgift, and admitted "his bond of duty to the archbishop to be so much the straiter, as it was without any desert of his own."--_carwithen's history of the church of england_, i. . nd edit. lest this should not suffice to convict mr. cunningham of error, i will adduce two extracts from _the life of master thomas cartwright_, written by the presbyterian sa. clarke, in , and appended to his _martyrologie_. "about the same time [viz. ], the earl of leicester preferred him [cartwright] to be master of his hospital at warwick, which place was worth to him about one hundred pounds."--clarke, p. . "for riches, he sought them not; yea, he rejected many opportunities whereby he might have enriched himself. his usual manner was, when he had good sums of gold sent him, to take only one piece, lest he should seem to slight his friend's kindness, and to send back the rest with a thankful acknowledgement of their love and his acceptance of it; _professing that, for that condition wherein god had set him, he was as well furnished as they for their high and great places_."--ib. p. . so much for the "poverty," the "wretchedness," of cartwright, and the "inflexible animosity" of whitgift. the very reverse of all this is the truth. j.k. * * * * * inedited letter of the duke of monmouth. several notices of the duke of monmouth having appeared in "notes and queries," you may be glad to have the following letter, which i copied _literatim_ some years ago in the state paper office from the domestic papers of the year . the letter was written to lord arlington, then secretary of state. monmouth was at the time commanding the english force serving under louis xiv. against the dutch, and was in his twenty-third year. mr. ross had been his tutor; and was at this time, i believe, employed in the secretary of state's office. "ffrom the camp nigh "renalle the jun "m'r ross has tolld mee how mutch i am obliged to you for your kindness w'ch i am very sensible of and shall try to sho it upon all occations. i will asur you the effects of your kindness will make me live within compas for as long as i receave my mony beforehand i shall do it w'th a greadell of easse. "i wont trouble you w'th news becaus mr. aston will tell you all ther is. i will try to instrokt him all as well as i can. i wont trouble you no longer, only i doe asur you ther is nobody mor your humble servant than i am. "monmouth." c. * * * * * lydgate and coverdale, and their biographers. dan john lydgate, as warton truly observes, was not only the poet of his monastery, but of the world in general. yet how has he been treated by his biographers? ritson, in his _bibliographia poetica_, says, "he died at an advanced age, after ." thomson, in his _chronicles of london bridge_, nd edition, p. ., says, "lydgate died in the year , at the age of sixty;" and again, at p. . of the same work, he says, "lydgate was born about , and died about !" pitt says that he died in ; and the author of the _suffolk garland_, p. ., prolongs his life (evidently by a typographical blunder), to about the year ! from these conflicting statements, it is evident that the true dates of lydgate's birth and decease are unknown. mr. halliwell, in the preface to his _selection from the minor poems_ of john lydgate, arrives at the conclusion from the mss. which remain of his writings, that he died before the accession of edward iv., and there appears to be every adjunct of external probability; but surely, if our record offices were carefully examined, some light might be thrown upon the life of this industrious monk. i am not inclined to rest satisfied with the dictum of the birch ms., no. . fo. ., that no memorials of him exist in those repositories. the only authenticated circumstances in lydgate's biography (excepting a few dates to poems), are the following:--he was ordained subdeacon, ; deacon, ; and priest, . in he left the benedictine abbey of bury, in suffolk, to which he was attached, and was elected prior of hatfield brodhook; but the following year had license to return to his monastery again. these dates are derived from the register of abbott cratfield, preserved among the cotton mss. tiber, b. ix. my object in calling the attention of your readers to the state of lydgate's biography is, to draw forth new facts. information of a novel kind may be in their hands without appreciation as to its importance. i take this opportunity of noticing the different dates given of myles coverdale's death. strype says he died th may, , (_annals of reformation_, vol. i. pt. ii. p. ., oxf. ed.), although elsewhere he speaks of his as being alive in . neale (_hist of pur._, vol. i. p. .) says, the th may, . fuller (_church hist._, p. . ed. ) says he died on the th of january, , and "anno ," in his _worthies of england_, p. ., ed. . the following extract from "the register of burials in the parish church of st. bartholomew's by the exchange" sets the matter at rest. "miles coverdall, doctor of divinity, was buried anno ., the th of february." that the person thus mentioned in the register is miles coverdale, bishop of exeter, there can be no doubt, since the epitaph inscribed on the tomb-stone, copied in _stow's survey_, clearly states him to be so. it is, perhaps, unnecessary to observe that the date mentioned in the extract is the old style, and, therefore, according to our present computation, he was buried the th of february, . can any of your correspondents throw any light upon the authorship of a work frequently attributed to myles coverdale, and thus entitled, "a brieff discours off the troubles begonne at frankford in germany, anno domini, . abowte the booke off common prayer and ceremonies, and continued by the englishe men theyre, to the ende off q. maries raigne, in the which discours, the gentle reader shall see the verry originall and beginninge off all the contention that hathe byn, and what was the cause off the same?" a text from "marc ." with the date mdlxxv. some copies are said to have the initials "m.c." on the title-page, and the name in full, "myles coverdale," at the end of the preface; but no notice is taken of this impression in the excellent introductory remarks prefixed by mr. petheram to the reprint of . if the valuable work was really written by myles coverdale (and it is much in his style), it must have been interspersed with remarks by another party, for in the preface, signed, as it is said by coverdale, allusion is made to things occuring in , four years after his death. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * queries. speculum exemplorum:--epistola de miseria curatorum. who was the compiler of the _speculum exemplorum_, printed for the first time at deventer, in ? a copy of the fourth edition, argent, , does not afford any information about this matter; and i think that panzer (v. .) will be consulted in vain. agreeing in opinion with your correspondent "gastros" (no. . p. .) that a querist should invariably give an idea of the extent of his acquaintance with the subject proposed, i think it right to say, that i have examined the list of authors of _exempla_, which is to be found in the appendix to possevin's _apparatus sacer_, tom. i. sig. [greek: b] ., and that i have read ribadeneira's notice of the improvements made in this _speculum_ by the jesuit joannes major. who was the writer of the _epistola de miseria curatorum?_ my copy consists of eight leaves, and a large bird's-cage on the verse of the last leaf is evidently the printer's device. seemiller makes mention of an augsburg edition of this curious tract. (_biblioth. acad. ingolstad. incunab. typog._ fascic. ii. p. . ingolst. .) r.g. * * * * * the second duke of ormonde. the review of mr. wright's _england under the house of hanover, illustrated by the caricatures and satires of the day_, given in the _athenæum_ (no. .), cites a popular ballad on the flight and attainder of the second duke of ormonde, as taken down from the mouth of an isle of wight fishmonger. this review elicited from a correspondent (_athenæum_, no. .) another version of the same ballad as prevalent in northumberland. i made a note of these at the time; and was lately much interested at receiving from an esteemed correspondent (the rev. p. moore, rochenon, co. kilkenny), a fragment of another version of the same ballad, which he (being at the time ignorant of the existence of any other version of the song) had taken down from the lips of a very old man of the neighbourhood, viz.:-- "my name is ormond; have you not heard of me? for i have lately forsaken my own counterie; i fought for my life, and they plundered my estate, for being so loyal to queen anne the great. queen anne's darling, and cavalier's delight, and the presbyterian crew, they shall never have their flight. i am afraid of my calendry; my monasteries are all sold, and my subjects are bartered for the sake of english gold. * * * * * * * * * * but, as i am ormond, i vow and declare, i'll curb the heartless whigs of their wigs, never fear." i do not quote the versions given in the _athenæum_, but, on a comparison, it will be seen that they all must have been derived from the same original. the success of your queries concerning the duke of monmouth impel me to propose a few concerning the almost as unfortunate, and nearly as celebrated, second duke of ormonde. many scraps of traditionary lore relative to the latter nobleman must linger in and about london, where he was the idol of the populace, as well as the leader of what we should now call the "legitimist" party. with your leave. i shall therefore propose the following queries, viz.:-- . who was the author of the anonymous life of the second duke of ormonde, published in one volume octavo, some years after his attainder? . was the ballad, of which the above is a fragment, printed at the time; and if so, does it exist? . what pamphlets, ballads, or fugitive pieces, were issued from the press, or privately printed, on the occasion of the duke's flight and subsequent attainder? . does any contemporary writer mention facts or incidents relative to the matter in question, between the period of the accession of george i., and the duke's final departure from his residence at richmond? . does any traditionary or unpublished information on the subject exist in or about london or richmond. james graves. kilkenny. * * * * * mayors.--what is their correct prefix? i wish to ask, of any of your numerous readers, what may be considered the most proper official prefix for mayors, whether right worshipful or worshipful? opinions, i find, differ upon the subject. in the _secretary's guide_, th ed. p. . it is said that mayors are right worshipful; the late mr. beltz, _lancaster herald_, was of opinion that they were worshipful only; and mr. dod, the author of a work on precedence, &c., in answer to an inquiry on the point, thought that mayors of _cities_ were right worshipful, and those of _towns_ were only worshipful. with due deference, however, i am rather inclined to think that all mayors, whether of cities, or of towns, ought properly to be styled "the _right_ worshipful" for the following reason:--all magistrates are worshipful, i believe, although not always in these days so designated, and a mayor being the chief magistrate ought to have the distinctive "_right_" appended to his style. and this view of the subject derives some support from the fact of a difference being made with regard to the aldermen of london (who are all of them magistrates), those who have passed the chair being distinguished as the right worshipful, whilst those below the chair are styled the worshipful only; thus showing that the circumstance of being mayor is considered worthy of an especial distinction. probably it may be said that custom is the proper guide in a case like this, but i believe that there is no particular custom in some towns, both prefixes being sometimes used, and more frequently none at all. it seems desirable, however, that some rule should be laid down, if possible, by common consent, that it may be understood in future what the appropriate prefix is. i shall be glad if some of your heraldic or antiquarian readers will give their opinions, and if they know of any authorities, to quote them. j. * * * * * quevedo--spanish bull-fights. the clear and satisfactory reply that "melanion" received in no. . to his query on the contradictions in _don quixote_, tempts me to ask for some information respecting another standard work of spanish literature, written by a cotemporary of the great cervantes. how is it, that in the _visions of don quevedo_, a work which passes in review every amusement and occupation of the spanish people, _the national sport of bull-fighting_ remains _entirely unnoticed_? the amusement was, i presume, in vogue during the th and th centuries; and the assignations made, and the intrugues carried on, within the walls of the amphitheatre would have supplied many an amusing, moralising penitent, male and female, to the shades below--the "fabulæ manes" with whom quevedo held converse. as my copy of the _visions_ is an anonymous translation, and evidently far from being a first-rate one, i shall not be surprised if i receive as an answer,--"_mistaken as to your fact, read a better translation_:" but as in spite of its manifold, glaring defects, i have no reason to suspect that the text is _garbled_, i think i may venture to send the query. in "vision ." i find nero accusing seneca of having had the insolence to use the words, "i and my king." i have often heard of henry viii., wolsey, and "ego et rex meus;" but as i never heard quevedo quoted as an illustration, i look upon this as one of the suspicious passages in my copy of his work. c. forbes. temple. * * * * * minor queries. _gilbert browne_.--"g.c.b." is desirous of information respecting the family from which was descended gilbert browne of the inner temple, who died about a century ago, and was buried in north mymms church, herts, where there is a monument to him (vide clutterbuck's _history_); also as to the arms, crest, and motto, as borne by him, and whether he was in any way related to michael browne of hampton court, herefordshire, who married elizabeth philippa, daughter of lord coningsby, as stated in collins's _peerage_. he also desires information as to any enrolment of arms previous to the visitations, by which the bearings of families who had grants of land from the conqueror may be ascertained; as, for instance, a family who began to decay about the end of the th century, having previously been of great rank and position. _the badger_.--can any body point out to me any allusion, earlier than that in sir t. browne's _vulgar errors_, to the popular idea that the legs of the badger were shorter on one side than on the other, whence mr. macaulay says, "i think that titus oates was as uneven as a badger?" w.r.f. _ecclesiastical year_.--_note_ in an old parish register, a.d. . "annus domini secundum ecclesiæ anglicanæ supputationem incipit to mensis martij." _query_ the _authority_ for this? the _reason_ seems easy to define. nathan. _sir william coventry_.--pepys mentions in his _diary_, that sir william conventry kept a journal of public events. is anything known of this journal? it is not known of at longleat, where are several papers of sir william conventry's. a ms. letter from lord weymouth to sir robert southwell, giving an account of sir w. conventry's death, was sold at the sale of lord de clifford's papers in . can any of your readers inform me where this letter now is? c. _shrew_.--is _shrew_, as applied to the shrew-mouse, and as applied to a scolding woman, the same word? if so, what is its derivation? the following derivations of the word are cited by mr. bell. _saxon_, "schreadan," to cut; "schrif," to censure; "scheorfian," to bite; "schyrvan," to beguile. _german_, "schreiven," to clamour; none of which, it is obvious, come very near to "schreava," the undoubted saxon origin of the word shrew. now it was a custom amongst our forefathers to endeavour to provide a remedy against the baneful influence of the shrew-mouse by plugging the wretched animal alive in a hole made in the body of an ash tree, any branch of which was thenceforth held to be possessed of a power to cure the disease caused by the mouse. it thereupon occurred to me that just as _brock_, a still existing name for the badger, is clearly from the saxon _broc_, persecution, in allusion to the custom of baiting the animal; so _schreava_ might be from _schræf_, a hollow, in allusion to the hole in the ash tree; and on that supposition i considered "shrew," as applied to a woman, to be a different word, perhaps from the german _schreyen_, to clamour. i have, however, found mentioned in bailey's dictionary a teutonic word, which may reconcile both senses of "shrew,"--i mean _beschreyen_, to bewitch. i shall be obliged to any of your subscribers who will enlighten me upon the subject. w.r.f. _a chip in porridge_.--what is the origin and exact force of this phrase? sir charles napier, in his recent general order, informs the bengal army that "the reviews which the commander-in-chief makes of the troops are not to be taken as so many 'chips in porridge.'" i heard a witness, a short time since, say, on entering the witness-box-- "my lord, i am like a 'chip in porridge'; i can say nothing either for or against the plaintiff." q.d. _temple stanyan_.--who was temple stanyan, concerning whom i find in an old note-book the following quaint entry? "written on a window at college, by mr. temple stanyan, the author of a _history of greece_:-- "temple stanyan, his window. god give him grace thereout to look! and, when the folk walk to and fro', to study man instead of book!" a.g. _tandem_.--you are aware that we have a practical pun now naturalised in our language, in the word "_tandem_." are any of your correspondents acquainted with another instance? [greek: sigma]. "_as lazy as ludlum's dog, as laid him down to bark._"--this comparison is so general and familiar in south yorkshire (sheffield especially) as to be frequently quoted by the first half, the other being mentally supplied by the hearer. there must, of course, be some legend of ludlum and his dog, or they must have been a pair of well-known characters, to give piquancy to the phrase. will any of your readers who are familiar with the district favour me with an explanation? d.v.s. _anecdote of a peal of bells_.--there is a story, that a person had long been absent from the land of his nativity, where in early life, he had assisted in setting up a singularly fine peal of bells. on his return home, after a lapse of many years, he had to be rowed over some water, when it happened that the bells struck out in peal; the sound of which so affected him, that he fell back in the boat and died! can any of your readers give a reference where the account is to be met with? h.t.e. _sir robert long._--"rosh." inquires the date of the death of _rear-admiral sir robert long_, who founded, in , a free school at burnt-yates, in the parish of ripley, co. yorks., and is said to have died in wigmore street, london, it is supposed some years after that period. _dr. whichcot and lord shaftesbury._--it is stated in mr. martyn's _life of the first lord shaftesbury_, that dr. whichcot was one of shaftesbury's most constant companions, and preached most of his sermons before him; and that the third earl of shaftesbury, the author of the characteristics, is said to have published a volume of whichcot's sermons from a manuscript copy of the first lord shaftesbury's wife. can any of your readers give any further information as to the intimacy between whichcot and shaftesbury, of which no mention is made in any memoir of whichcot that i have seen? c. _lines attributed to henry viscount palmerston._--permit me to inquire whether there is any better authority than the common conjecture that the beautiful verses, commencing,-- "whoe'er, like me, with trembling anguish brings his heart's whole treasure to fair bristol's springs," were written by henry viscount palmerston, on the death of his lady at the hot-wells, june or , . they first appeared p. . of the th vol. of the _gentleman's magazine_, . they also have been attributed to dr. hawkeworth, but his wife survived him. there is a mural tablet under the west window of romsey church, containing some lines to the memory of lady palmerston, but they are not the same. perhaps some of your correspondents are competent to discover the truth. indagator. _gray's alcaic ode_.--can any of your readers say whether gray's celebrated latin ode is actually to be found entered at the grande chartreuse? a friend of mine informs me that he could not find it there on searching. c.b. _abbey of st. wandrille_.--will "gastros" kindly allow me to ask him a question? does the _chronicle of the abbey of st. wandrille_, which he mentions (no. . p. .), include notices of any of the branches of that establishment which settled in england about the time of the conquest; and one of which, the subject of my query, formed a colony at ecclesfield, near sheffield? i feel an interest in this little colony, because my early predecessors in this vicarage were elected from its monks. moreover, some remains of their convent, now incorporated into what is called "the hall," and forming an abutment which overlooks my garden, are affording an appropriate domicile to the curate of the parish. alfred gatty. ecclesfield, march . . _queries as to "lines on london dissenting ministers" of a former day_.--not having made _notes_ of the verses so entitled, i beg to submit the following _queries_:-- . does there exist any printed or manuscript copy of lines of the above description, in the course of which pope's "modest foster" is thus introduced and apostrophised:-- "but see the accomplish'd orator appear, refined in judgment, and in language clear: thou only, foster, hast the pleasing art at once to charm the ear and mend the heart!" other conspicuous portraits are those of thomas bradbury, isaac watts, and samuel chandler. the date of the composition must be placed between and , but i have to solicit information as to who was its author. . has there been preserved, in print or manuscript, verses which circulated from about - , on the same body of men, as characterised, severally, by productions of the vegetable world, and, in particular, by _flowers_? the _bouquet_ is curious, nor ill-selected and arranged. one individual, for example, finds his emblem in a _sweet-briar_; another, in a _hollyhock_; and a third, in a _tulip_. richard winter, james jouyce, hugh washington, are parts of the fragrant, yet somewhat thorny and flaunting nosegay. these intimations of it may perhaps aid recollection, and lead to the wished-for disclosure. it came from the hand, and seemed to indicate at least the theological partialities of the lady[ ] who culled and bound together the various portions of the wreath. w. [footnote : a daughter of the late joseph shrimpton, esq., of high wycombe.] _dutch language_.--"e. vee" will be indebted to "rotterodamus," or any other correspondent, who can point out to him the best _modern_ books for acquiring a knowledge of the dutch language,--an anglo-dutch grammar and dictionary. _horns_.-- . why is moses represented in statues with horns? the idea is not, i think, taken from the bible. . what is the reason for assigning horns to a river, as in the "tauriformis aufidus." . what is the origin of the expression "to give a man horns," for grossly dishonouring him? it is met with in late greek. l.c. cambridge, march . _marylebone gardens_.--in what year did marylebone gardens finally close? naso. _toom shawn cattie_.--i find these words (gaelic, i believe, from _tom john gattie_) in an old diary, followed by certain hieroglyphics, wherewith i was wont to express "_recommended for perusal_." i have lost all trace of the recommender, and have hunted in vain through many a circulating library list for the name, which i believe to be that of some book or song illustrating the domestic life of our western highlanders. can any of your readers assist me in deciphering my own note? melanion. _love's last shift_.--in the first edition of peignot's _manuel du biblioplide_, published in , the title of congreve's "mourning bride" is rendered "l'epouse du matin." can any of your readers inform me whether it is in the same work that the title of "love's last shift" is translated by "le dernier chemise de l'amour?" if not, in what other book is it? h.c. de st. croix. _cheshire-round_.--"w.p.a." asks the meaning of the above phrase, and where it is described. _why is an earwig called a "coach-bell?"_--your correspondents, although both kind and learned, do not appear to have given any satisfactory answer to my former query--why a lady-bird is called bishop barnaby? probably there will be less difficulty in answering another entomological question--why do the country-people in the south of scotland call an earwig a "coach-bell?" the name "earwig" itself is sufficiently puzzling, but "coach-bell" seems, if possible, still more utterly unintelligible. legour. _chrysopolis_.--chrysopolis is the latin name for the town of parma, also for that of scutari, in turkey. is the etymological connection of the two names accidental? and how did either of them come to be called the "golden city?" r.m.m. _pimlico_.--in aubrey's _surrey_, he mentions that he went to a _pimlico_ garden, somewhere on bankside. can any of your correspondents inform me of the derivation of the word "pimlico," and why that portion of land now built on near to buckingham house, through which the road now runs to chelsea, is called pimlico? r.h. april . . _zenobia_.--i have read somewhere that zenobia, queen of palmyra, was of jewish origin, but am now at a loss to retrace it. could any of your correspondents inform me where i have read it? a. fischel. _henry ryder, bishop of killaloe_.--"w.d.r." requests information in reference to the paternity of henry ryder, d.d., who was born in paris, and consecrated bishop of killaloe in . _belvoir castle._--in the _harleian miscellany_, vol. iv. p. ., is a pindaric ode upon belvoir castle, which mr. nichols reprinted in his _history of the hundred of framland._ can any of your readers inform me who was the author of this very singular production? t.r. potter. _st. winifreda._--can any of your readers refer me to any history or recent discoveries relative to st. winifreda? b. _savile, marquis of halifax._--it is stated in tyers's _political conferences_ ( ), that a diary of his was supposed to be among the duke of shrewsbury's mss.; and when mr. tyers wrote, in the hands of dr. robertson. can any of your readers give information about this diary? c. _salt at montem._--will you allow me, as an old etonian, to ask the derivation of "salt," as it used to be applied to the money collected at eton montem for the captain of the colleges? towards investigating the subject, i can only get as far as _salt_ hill, near slough, where there was a mount, on which, if i remember rightly, the captain waved a flag on montem day. a brief account of the origin of montem would be interesting; and it is especially worth noting now that the pageant is suppressed. a.g. ecclesfield, march , . _ludlow's memoirs._--"c." is anxious to learn if the manuscript of ludlow's memoirs is known to exist, or to receive any information as to where it might probably be found. ludlow died at vevay, in switzerland, in , and the memoirs were published at vevay shortly after. there is no will of ludlow's in doctor's commons. _finkle or finkel._--i should be glad if any of your numerous correspondents could give me the derivation and meaning of the word _finkle_, or _finkel_, as applied to the name of a street. there is a street so designated in carlisle, york, richmond in yorkshire, kendal, sedberg, norwich (in spelt fenkyl, and in fenkel), and, i believe, in many other of our more ancient cities and towns. in the township of gildersome, a village some few miles from leeds, there is an ancient way, till lately wholly unbuilt upon, called finkle lane; and in london we have the parish of st. benedict finck, though i do not imagine that the latter is any way synonymous with the word in question. the appellation of finkle is, without doubt, a descriptive one; but the character of the lane so styled in gildersome seems to negative the idea that it has any reference to the peculiarity of trade or class of persons carried on or inhabiting the locality distinguished by this title. w.m. cowgill, march . . _coxcombs vanquish berkeley, &c._--in lewis's _biography of philosophy_ (vol. iv. p. .) occurs the following quotation:-- "and coxcombs vanquish berkeley with a grin." who is the author of this line? for i cannot find it in pope, to whom a note refers it. r.f. johnson. _derivation of sterling._--what is the derivation of _sterling_? some authors say from "easterling," a race of german or dutch traders; but is it not more likely from "steer," a bull, or ox, viz. a coin originally stamped with a figure of that animal? of this, and parallel cases, we have many instances among the ancients. i find also, that, in a decree issued in the time of richard i., the word is used, and explained by "peny" as a synonym. now peny or penny is clearly from _pecunia_, and that from _pecus_, so that we have the two words brought side by side, one through the latin, and the other through the saxon language. r.f. johnson. _hanging out the broom._--in some parts of england a singular custom prevails. when a married woman leaves home for a few days, the husband hangs a broom or besom from the window. when, how, and where did this originate, and what does it signify? r.f. johnson. _trunck breeches.--barba longa.--mercenary preacher._--in reading smith's _obituary_, edited by sir h. ellis for the camden society, i find the following entries:-- " . may th, old m'r grice, in aldersgate s't, who wore _trunck_ breeches, died." " . oc'r . william young, chandler, within aldersgate, a discreet juryman, and _barba longa_, died." "fe'r ., old m'r lewis, the _mercenary preacher_, buried." can any of your correspondents explain the meaning of "_trunck_ breeches," "_barba longa_," and "_mercenary preacher_?" x.y.z. suffolk, march . _apposition._--can any one give me a little information upon the following passage?-- "quin age, te incolumi potius (potes omnia quando, nec tibi nequiequam pater est qui sidera torquet) perficias quodcunque tibi nunc instat agendum." _hieronym. vid. christ._ lib. i. . i want to know in what case _te incolumi_ is; and, if in the ablative absolute, can any one bring a parallel construction from the writers of the augustan age, where the law of _apposition_ appears to be so far violated? a.w. _pamphlets respecting ireland._--"j." wishes to be informed where copies may be found of the following pamphlets, described in ware's _irish writers_, under the head "colonel richard laurence," and "vincent gookin, esq.," son of sir vincent gookin, who, in the year , published "a bitter invective, by way of letter, against the nation." vincent gookin's pamphlet is dated london, , to. any particulars relative to _his_ family and descendants will oblige. the title of col. r. laurence's book is,-- "the interest of ireland in the first transplantation stated; wherein it set forth the benefit of the irish transplantation: intended as an answer to the scandalous seditious pamphlet, entitled 'the great case of transplantation discussed.' london, ." the author of the pamphlet was vincent gookin, esq., surveyor-general of ireland. he did _not_, at first, put his name to it; but when laurence's answer appeared, he then owned himself as the author of it, and published a pamphlet under this title:-- "the author and case of transplanting the irish into connaught vindicated from the unjust aspersion of colonel richard laurence and vincent gookin, esq. london, ." _portrait of sir john poley._--perhaps some of your numerous correspondents can answer whether the portrait of sir john poley in bexstead hall, alluded to no. . p. ., has been engraved. j. february . "_tace is latin for a candle._"--whence is this expression derived, and what is its meaning? i met with it, many years ago, in a story-book, and, more lately, in one of the waverley novels, in which particular one i do not just now recollect. it seems to be used as an adage, coupled with an admonition to observe silence or secrecy. w.a.f. _poins and bardolph._--can any of your correspondents skilled in shakspearian lore inform me whence shakspeare took the names _poins_ and _bardolph_ for the followers of prince hal and falstaff? c.w.s. _flemish work on the order of st. francis._--can any of your correspondents tell me any thing about, or enable me to procure a copy of, a book on the order of st. francis, named, _den wijngaert van sinte franciscus vâ schoonte historien legenden, &c._ a folio of leaves, beautifully printed. the last page has,-- "gheprent thantwerpen binnen die camer poorte int huys vâ delft bi mi, hendrich eckert van homberch. int iaer ons heeren m.ccccc. efi xviii. op den xii. dach vâ december." the only copy i ever saw of it, which belonged to a friend of mine, had the following note on a fly-leaf in an old and scarcely legible hand:-- "raer boeck ende sêer curieus als gebouwt synde op de wijsen voor meesten deel op de fondamenten van den fameus ende extra raer boeck genoempt _conformitatis vita s. francisci cum vitá jesu christi_, de welch in dese diehwils grateert wordt gelijck gij in lesen sult andesvinden maer onthout wer dese latijn spreckwoordt, _risum teneatis amici_." jarlzberg. _le petit albert._--can any of your correspondents give me any information respecting a book entitled _secrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique du petit albert, et enrichi du fig. mystérieuses, et de la manière de les faire. nouvelle edition, cor. et aug. a lion_, . mo.? the _avertissement_ says,-- "voici une nouvelle édition du _livres des merveilleux secrets_ du petit albert, connu en latin sous le titre d'alberte parvi lucii, _libellus de mirabilibus naturæ arcanis_. l'auteur à qui on l'attribue, a été un de ces grands-hommmes qui par le peuple ignorant ont été accusez de magie. c'étoit autrefois le sort de tous les grands esprits qui possédoient quelque chose d'extraordinaire dans les sciences, de les traiter de magiciens. c'est peut-être par cette raison, que le petit trésor est devenu très rare, parceque les superstitieux ont fait scrupule de s'en servir; il s'est presque comme perdu, car une personne distinguée dans le monde a eu la curiosité (à ce qu'on assure) d'en offrir plus de mille florins pour un seul exemplaire, encore ne l'a-t-on pu découvrir que depuis peu dans la bibliothêque d'un très-grand homme, qui l'a bien voulu donner pour ne plus priver le public d'un si riche trésor," &c. who was albertus parvus? when and where was his work published? jarlzberg. _english translations of erasmus' encomium moriæ._--an english translation of _the praise of folly_ (with holbein's plates), i think by denham, lond. , alludes to _two_ previous translations; one by sir thomas challoner, ; the other it does not name. i should like to know whose is the intermediate translation, and also what other translations have been made of that curious work? jarlzberg. _symbols of the four evangelists_.--st. matthew _an angel_; st. mark, _a lion_; st. luke, _an ox_; st. john, _an eagle_. it is on account of its being a symbol of the resurrection that the _lion_ is assigned to st. mark as an emblem; st. mark being called the historian of the resurrection. (this title he probably obtained from his gospel being used on easter day.) the reason why the lion is taken as a symbol of the resurrection is to be found in the fabulous history of the animal; according to which the whelp is born dead, and only receives life at the expiration of three days, on being breathed on by its father.--what are the reasons assigned for the other three evangelists' emblems? jarlzberg. _portrait by boonen._--can any of your correspondents state the precise time when boonen, said to be a pupil of schalcken, flourished? and what eminent geographer, dutch or english, lived during such period? this question is asked with reference to a picture by boonen,--a portrait of a singular visaged man, with his hand on a globe, now at mr. peel's in golden square; the subject of which is desired to be ascertained. it may be the portrait of an astrologer, if the globe is celestial. z. _beaver hats._--on the subject of beaver hats, i would ask what was the price or value of a beaver hat in the time of charles ii.? i find that giles davis of london, merchant, offered timothy wade, esq., "five pounds to buy a beaver hat," that he might he permitted to surrender a lease of a piece of ground in aldermanbury. (vide _judicial decree, fire of london, dated . dec. . add. ms. ._ no. .) f.e. * * * * * replies. blunder in malone's shakspeare. i regret that no further notice has been taken of the very curious matter suggested by "mr. jebb" (no . p. .), one of the many forgeries of which shakspeare has been the object, which ought to be cleared up, but which i have neither leisure nor materials to attempt; but i can afford a hint or two for other inquirers. . this strange intermixture of some _john_ shakspeare's confession of the romish faith with _william_ shakspeare's will, is, as mr. jebb states to be found in the _dublin_ edition of malone's _shakspeare_, , v. i. p. . it is generally supposed that this dublin edition is a copy (i believe a piracy) of the london one of ; but by what means the _three_ introductory paragraphs of john shakspeare's popish confession were foisted into the real will of william is a complete mystery. . malone, in a subsequent part of his prolegomena to both of those editions (lond. v. i. part ii. ., and dublin, v. ii. p. .), printed a pretended will or confession of the faith of _john_ shakspeare, found in a strange, incredible way, and evidently a forgery. this consisted of fourteen articles, of which the first _three_ were missing. now the _three_ paragraphs foisted into _william's_ will would be the kind of paragraphs that would complete _john's_ confession; but they are not in confession. who, then, forged _them_? and foisted _them_--_which malone had never seen_--into so prominent a place in the dublin reprint of malone's work? . malone, in his inquiry into the _ireland_ forgeries, alludes to this confession of faith, admits that he was mistaken about it, and intimates that he had been imposed on, which he evidently was; but he does not seem to know any thing of the second forgery of the three introductory paragraphs, or of their bold introduction into william shakspeare's will in the dublin edition of his own work. it is therefore clear that mr. jebb is mistaken in thinking that it was "a blunder of _malone's_." it seems, as far as we can see, to have been, not a blunder, but an audacious fabrication; and how it came into the irish edition, seems to me incomprehensible. the printer of the dublin edition, exshaw, was a respectable man, an alderman and a protestant, and _he_ could have no design to make william shakspeare pass for a papist; nor indeed does the author of the fraud, whoever he was, attempt _that_; for the three paragraphs profess to be the confession of _john_. so that, on the whole, the matter is to me quite inexplicable; it is certain that it must have been a premeditated forgery and fraud, but by whom or for what possible purpose, i cannot conceive. c. * * * * * hints to intending editors. _beaumont and fletcher; gray; seward; milton._--by way of carrying out the suggestion which you thought fit to print at page , as to the advantages likely to arise from intimations in your pages of the existence of the ms. annotations, and other materials suitable to the purposes of intending editors of standard works, i beg to mention the following books in my possession, which are much at the service of any editor who may apply to you for my address, viz.:-- . a copy of tonson's vol. edit. of beaumont and fletcher ( vo. ), interleaved and copiously annotated, to the extent of about half the plays, by dr. hoadly. . mr. haslewood's collection of materials for an edit. of gray, consisting of several works and parts of works, ms. notes, newspaper cuttings, &c., bound in vols. . a collection of works of miss anne seward, mr. park's copy, with his ms. notes, newspaper cuttings, &c. as a first instalment of my promised notes on milton's _minor poems_, i have transcribed the following from my two copies, premising that "g." stands for the name of mr. gilchrist, and "d." for that of mr. dunster, whose name is misprinted in your th page, as "duns_ton_." _notes on lycidas._ on l. . (g.):-- "o'er head sat a raven, on a _sere_ bough." _jonson's sad shepherd_, act. i. sc. . on l. . (d.):-- "whose so early lay prevents _the eyelids of the blushing day_." _crashaw's music's duel._ on l. . (d.):-- "each sheapherd's daughter, with her cleanly peale, was come _afield_ to milke the morning's meale." _brown's britannia's pastorals_, b. iv. sc. . p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "and in the _deep fog batten_ all the day." _drayton_, vol. ii. p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "the _gadding_ winde." _phineas fletcher's_ st _piscatorie eclogue_, st. . on l. . (d.):-- "this black den, which rocks emboss, _overgrown_ with eldest moss." _wither's shepherd's hunting_, eclogue . on l. . (d.) the names of amaryllis and neæra are combined together with other classical names of beautiful nymphs by ariosto (_orl. fur._ xi. st. .) on l. . (d.) the reference intended by warton is to _pindar, nem._ ode vii. l. . on l. . (g.):-- "of night or loneliness _it recks me_ not." _comus_, l. . on l. . (g.):-- "so _rathe_ a song." _wither's shepherd's hunting_, p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "sigh no more, ladies; ladies, sigh no more." _shakspeare's much ado_, ii. . on l. . (g.):-- "whatever makes _heaven's forehead_ fine." _crashaw's weeper_, st. . j.f.m. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _depinges_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--i have received the following information upon this subject from yarmouth. herring nets are usually made in four parts or widths,--one width, when they are in actual use, being fastened above another. the whole is shot overboard in very great lengths, and forms, as it were, a wall in the sea, by which the boat rides as by an anchor. these widths are technically called "_lints_" (sax. lind?); the uppermost of them (connected by short ropes with a row of corks) being also called the "_hoddy_" (sax. hod?), and the lowest, for an obvious reason, the "_deepying_" or "_depynges_," and sometimes "_angles_." at other parts of the coast than yarmouth, it seems that the uppermost width of net bears exclusively the name of _hoddy_, the second width being called the first _lint_, the third width the second lint, and the fourth the third lint, or, as before, "depynges." w.r.f. _lærig_.--without contraverting mr. singer's learned and interesting paper on this word (no. . p. .), i hope i shall not be thought presumptuous in remarking that there must have been some other root in the teutonic language for the two following nouns, leer (dutch) and lear (flemish), which both signify leather (lorum, lat.), and their diminutives or derivatives leer-ig and lear-ig, both used in the sense of _tough_. supposing the ang.-sax. "lærig" to be derived from the same root, it would denote in "ofer linde lærig," the leather covering of the shields, or their capability to resist a blow. i will thank you to correct two misprints in my last communication, p. .; pisan for pison, and [greek: 'ioannaes [o=omicron]] for [greek: 'ioannaes [o=omega]]. by the by, the word "pison" is oddly suggestive of a covering for the breast (_pys_, nor. fr.). see _foulques fitzwarin_, &c. b.w. march th. _lærig_ (no. . p. .).--the able elucidation given by mr. singer of the meaning of this word, renders, perhaps, any futher communication on the point unnecessary. still i send the following notes in case they should be deemed worthy of notice. "ler, leer--vacuus. berini fabulæ, v. . a.-s. ge-lær." _junii etymol. anglicanum._ "lar, lær--vacuus." _schilteri glossarium teutonicum._ respecting "lind," i find in the version by thorkelin of _de danorum rebus gestis poema danicum dialecto anglo-saxonica_ (havniæ, ), that "lind hæbbendra" is rendered "vesilla habens;" but then, on the other hand, in biorn haldorsen's _islandske lexicon_ (havniæ, ), "lind" (v. ii. p. ) is translated "scutum tiligneum." c.i.r. _vox et præterea nihil_ (no. . p. .).--the allusion to this proverb, quoted as if from the _anatomy of melancholy_, by "c.w.g." (no. . p. .), may be found in addison's _spectator_, no. , where it is as follows:-- "in short, one may say of the pun as the countryman described his nightingale--that it is '_vox et præterea nihil_.'" the origin of the proverb is still a desideratum. nathan. _vox et præterea nihil_ (no. . p .).--in a work entitled _proverbiorum et sententiarum persicarum centuria_, a levino warnero, published at amsterdam, , the xcvii. proverb, which is given in the persian character, is thus rendered in latin,-- "tympanum magnum edit clangorem, sed intus vacuum est." and the note upon it is as follows:-- "dicitur de iis, qui pleno ore vanas suas laudes ebuccinant. eleganter lacon quidam de luscinia dixit,-- [greek: ph_ona tu tis essi kai ouden allo,] vox tu quidem es et aliud nihil." this must be the phrase quoted by burton. hermes. _supposed etymology of havior_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--the following etymology of "heaviers" will probably be considered as not satisfactory, but this extract will show that the term itself is in use amongst the scotch deerstalkers in the neighbourhood of loch lomond. "ox-deer, or 'heaviers,' as the foresters call them (most likely a corruption from the french 'hiver'), are wilder than either hart or hind. they often take post upon a height, that gives a look-out all round, which makes them very difficult to stalk. although not so good when december is past, still they are in season all the winter; hence their french designation."--_colquhoun's rocks and rivers_, p. . (london, vo. .) c.i.r. _havior_.--without offering an opinion as to the relative probability of the etymology of this word, offered by your various correspondents (no. . p. .), i think it right that the use of the word in scotland should not be overlooked. in jamieson's admirable _dictionary_, the following varieties of spelling and meaning (all evidently of the same word) occur:-- "_aver_ or _aiver_, a horse used for labour; commonly an old horse; as in burns-- "'yet aft a ragged cowte's been kenn'd to mak a noble _aiver_.' "'this man wyl not obey.... nochtheles i sall gar hym draw lik an _avir_ in ane cart'--_bellend. chron._ "'_aiver_, a he-goat after he has been gelded: till then he is denominated a _buck_. "_haiver_, _haivrel_, _haverel_, a gelded goat (east lothian, lanarkshire, sotherland). "_hebrun_, _heburn_, are also synonymes. "_averie_, live-stock, as including horses, cattle, &c. "'calculation of what money, &c. will sustain their majesties' house and _averie_'--_keith's hist._ "'_averia_, _averii_, 'equi, boves, jumenta, oves, ceteraque animalia quæ agriculturæ inserviunt.'"--ducange. skene traces this word to the low latin, _averia_, "quhilk signifies ane beast." according to spelman, the northumbrians call a horse _aver_ or _afer_. see much more learned disquisition on the origin of these evidently congenerous words under the term _arage_, in jamieson. emdee. _mowbray coheirs_ (no. . p. .).--your correspondent "g." may obtain a clue to his researches on reference to the _private_ act of parliament of the th henry vii., no. ., intituled, "an act for confirmation of a partition of lands made between _william_ marquis barkley and thomas earl of surrey."--vide _statutes at large_. w.h. lammin. _spurious letter of sir r. walpole_ (no. . p. .)--"p.c.s.s." (no. . p. .) and "lord braybrooke" (no. . p. .) will find their opinion of the letter being spurious confirmed by the appendix to _lord hervey's memoirs_, (vol. ii. p. .), and the editor's note, which proves the inaccuracy of the circumstances on which the inventor of the letter founded his fabrication. in addition to lord braybrooke's proofs that sir robert was not disabled by the stone, for some days previous to the th, from waiting on the king, let me add also, from horace walpole's authority, two conclusive facts; the first is, that it was not till _sunday night_, the st _january_ (_a week after_ the date of the letter) that sir robert made up his mind to resign; and, secondly, that he had at least two personal interviews with the king on that subject. c. _line quoted by de quincey_.--"s.p.s." (no. . p. .) is informed that "with battlements that on their restless fronts bore stars"... is a passage taken from a gorgeous description of "cloudland" by wordsworth, which occurs near the end of the second book of the excursion. the opium-eater gives a long extract, as "s.p.s." probably remembers. a.g. ecclesfield, march . . _quem jupiter vult perdere priùs dementat_.--malone, in a note in _boswell's johnson_ (p. ., croker's last edition), says, that a gentleman of cambridge found this apophthegm in an edition of euripides (not named) as a translation of an iambic. "[greek: on theos delei hapolesai, pr_ot' hapophrenoi.]" the latin translation the cambridge gentleman might have found in barnes; but where is the _greek_, so different from that of barnes, to be found? it is much nearer to the latin. c. _bernicia_.--in answer to the inquiry of "gomer" (no. . p. .), "p.c.s.s." begs leave to refer him to camden's _britannia_ (philemon holland's translation, lond. fol. ), where he will find, at p. ., the following passage:-- "but these ancient names were quite worn out of use in the english saxon war; and all the countries lying north or the other side of the arme of the sea called humber, began, by a saxon name, to be called [old english: northan-humbra-ric] that is, the kingdome of northumberland; which name, notwithstanding being now cleane gone in the rest of the shires, remayneth still, as it were, surviving in northumberland onely; which, when that state of kingdome stood, was known to be a part of the _kingdome of bernicia_, which had _peculiar petty kings_, and reached from the river tees to edenborough frith." at p. . camden traces the etymology of _berwick_ from _bernicia_. p.c.s.s. _cæsar's wife_.--if the object of "naso's" query (no. . p. .) be merely to ascertain the origin of the proverb, "cæsar's wife must be above suspicion," he will find in suetonius (jul. cæs. .) to the following effect:-- "the name of pompeia, the wife of julius cæsar, having been mixed up with an accusation against p. clodius, her husband divorced her; not, as he said, because he believed the charge against her, but because he would have those belonging to him as free from suspicion as from crime." j.e. [we have received a similar replay, with the addition of a reference to plutarch (julius cæsar, cap. .), from several other kind correspondents.] _nomade_ (no. . p. .).--there can be no doubt at all that the word "nomades" is greek, and means pastoral nations. it is so used in herodotus more than once, derived from [greek: nomos], pasture: [greek: nem_o], to graze, is generally supposed to be the derivation of the name of numidians. c.b. _gray's elegy_.--in reply to the query of your correspondent "j.f.m." (no. . p. .), as well as in allusion to remarks made by others among your readers in the following numbers on the subject of gray's _elegy_, i beg to state that, in addition to the versions in foreign languages of this fine composition therein enumerated, there is one printed among the poem, original and translated, by c.a. wheelwright, b.a. of trinity college, cambridge, published by longman & co. . ( d. edition, .) if i mistake not, the three beautiful stanzas, given by mason in his notes to gray, viz. those beginning,-- "the thoughtless world to majesty may bow," "hark! how the sacred calm that breathes around," "him have we seen," &c. (the last of which is so remarkable for its doric simplicity, as well as being essential to mark the concluding period of the contemplative man's day) have not been admitted into any edition of the _elegy_. with the regard to the last stanza of the epitaph, its meaning is certainly involved in some degree of obscurity, though it is, i think, hardly to be charged with irreverence, according to the opinion of your correspondent "s.w." (no. . p. .). by the words _trembling hope_, there can be no doubt, that petrarch's similar expression, _paventosa speme_, quoted in mason's note, was embodied by the english poet. in the omitted version, mentioned in the beginning of this notice, the epitaph is rendered into alcaics. the concluding stanza is as follows:-- "utra sepulti ne meritis fane, et parce culpas, invide, proloqui, spe nunc et incerto timore numinis in gremio quiescunt." archÆus. wiesbaden, feb. . . _cromwell's estates_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--i am much obliged to "seleucus" for his answer to this inquiry, as far as regards the seignory of gower. it also throws a strong light on the remaining names; by the aid of which, looking in gloucestershire and monmouthshire, i have identified _margore_ with the parish of magor (st. mary's), hundred of caldecott, co. monmouth: and guess, that for chepstall we must read _chepstow_, which is in the same hundred, and the population of which we know was stout in the royal cause, as tenants of the marquis of worcester would be. then i guess woolaston may be _woolston_ (hundred of dewhurst), co. gloucester; and chaulton, one of the _charltons_ in the same county, perhaps _charlton kings_, near cheltenham; where again we read, that many of the residents were slain in the civil war, _fighting on the king's side_. this leaves only sydenham without something like a probable conjecture, at least: unless here, too, we may guess it was miswritten for siddington, near cirencester. the names, it is to be observed, are only recorded by noble; whose inaccuracy as a transcriber has been shown abundantly by carlyle. the record to which he refers as extant in the house of commons papers, is not to be found, i am told. now, if it could be ascertained, either that the name in question had been cromwell's, or even that they were a part of the worcester estates, before the civil war, we should have the whole list cleared,--thanks to the aid so effectually given by "seleucus's" apposite explanations of one of its items. will your correspondents complete the illustrations thus well begun? v. belgravia, march . * * * * * miscellanies. _franz von sickingen_.--your correspondent "s.w.s." (no. . p. .) speaks of his having had some difficulty in finding a portrait of franz von sickingen; it may not therefore, by uninteresting to him to know (if not already aware of it) that upon the north side of the nave of the cathedral of treves, is a monument of richard von greifenklan, who defended treves against the said franz; and upon the entablature are portraits of the said archbishop on the one side, and his enemy franz on the other. why placed there it is difficult to conceive, unless to show that death had made the prelate and the robber equals. w.c. * * * * * body and soul. (_from the latin of owen._) the sacred writers to express the whole, name but a part, and call the man a _soul_. we frame our speech upon a different plan, and say "some_body_," when we mean a man. no_body_ heeds what every_body_ says, and yet how sad the secret it betrays! rufus. * * * * * "_laissez faire, laissez passer._"--i think your correspondent "a man in a garret" (no. . p. .) is not warranted in stating that m. de gournay was the author of the above axiom of political economy. last session lord j. russell related an anecdote in the house of commons which referred the phrase to an earlier date. in the _times_ of the nd of april, , his lordship is reported to have said, on the preceding day, in a debate on the rate-in-aid bill, that colbert, with the intention of fostering the manufactures of france, established regulations which limited the webs woven in looms to a particular size. he also prohibited the introduction of foreign manufactures into france. the french vine-growers, finding that under this system they could no longer exchange their wine for foreign goods, began to grumble. "it was then," said his lordship, "that colbert, having asked a merchant what he should do, he (the merchant), with great justice and great sagacity, said, 'laissez faire et laissez passer'--do not interfere as to the size and mode of your manufactures, do not interfere with the entrance of foreign imports, but let them compete with your own manufactures." colbert died twenty-nine years before m. de gournay was born. lord j. russell omitted to state whether colbert followed the merchant's advice. c. ross. _college salting and tucking of freshmen_ (no. . p. ., no. . p. .).--a circumstantial account of the tucking of freshmen, as practised in exeter college, oxford, in , is given in mr. martyn's _life of the first lord shaftesbury_, vol. i. p. . "on a particular day, the senior under-graduates, in the evening, called the freshmen to the fire, and made them hold out their chins; whilst one of the seniors, with the nail of his thumb (which was left long for that purpose), grated off all the skin from the lip to the chin, and then obliged him to drink a beer-glass of water and salt." lord shaftesbury was a freshman at exeter in ; and the story told by his biographer is, that he organised a resistance among his fellow freshmen to the practice, and that a row took place in the college hall, which led to the interference of the master, dr. prideaux, and to the abolition of the practice in exeter college. the custom is there said to have been of great antiquity in the college. the authority cited by mr. martyn for the story is a mr. stringer, who was a confidential friend of lord shaftesbury's, and made collections for a life of him; and it probably comes from lord shaftesbury himself. c. _byron and tacitus_.--although byron is, by our school rules, a forbidden author, i sometimes contrive to indulge myself in reading his works by stealth. among the passages that have struck my (boyish) fancy is the couplet in "_the bride of abydos_" (line ),-- "mark! where his carnage and his conquests cease! he makes a solitude, and calls it--peace!" engaged this morning in a more legitimate study, that of tacitus, i stumbled upon this passage in the speech of galgacus (ag. xxx.),-- "ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem adpellant." does not this look very much like what we call "cabbaging?" if you think so, by adding it to the other plagiarisms of the same author, noted in some of your former numbers, you will confer a great honour on a schoolboy. _the pardonere and frere_.--if mr. j.p. collier would, at some leisure moment, forward, for your pages, a complete list of the variations from the original, in smeeton's reprint of _the pardonere and frere_, he would confer a favour which would be duly appreciated by the possessors of that rare tract, small as their number must be; since, in my copy (once in the library of thomas jolley, esq.), there is an autograph attestation by mr. rodd, that "there were no more than twenty copies printed." g.a.s. _mistake in gibbon_ (no. . p. .).--the passage in gibbon has an error more interesting than the mere mistake of the author. that a senator should make a motion to be repeated and chanted by the rest, would be rather a strange thing; but the tumultuous acclamations chanted by the senators as parodies of those in praise of commodus, which had been usual at the theatres (dio), were one thing; the vote or decree itself, which follows, is another. there are many errors, no doubt, to be found in gibbon. i will mention one which may be entertaining, though i dare say mr. milman has found it out. in chap. . (and _see_ note .), gibbon was too happy to make the most of the murder of the female philosopher hypatia, by a christian mob at alexandria. but the account which he gives is more shocking than the fact. he seems not to have been familiar enough with greek to recollect that [greek: haneilon] means _killed_. her throat was cut with an oyster-shell, because, for a reason which he has very acutely pointed out, oyster-shells were at hand; but she was clearly not "cut in pieces," nor, "her flesh scraped off the bones," till after she was dead. indeed, there was no scraping from the bones at all. that they used oyster-shells is a proof that the act was not premeditated. neither did she deserve the title of modest which gibbon gives her. her way of rejecting suitors is disgusting enough in suidas. c.b. _public libraries_.--in looking through the parliamentary report on libraries, i missed, though they may have escaped my notice, any mention of a valuable one in _newcastle-on-tyne_, "dr. thomlinson's;" for which a handsome building was erected early last century, near st. nicholas church, and a catalogue of its contents has been published. i saw also, some years ago, a library attached to _wimborne minster_, which appeared to contained some curious books. the garrison library at _gibraltar_ is, i believe, one of the most valuable english libraries on the continent of europe. w.c.t. edinburgh, march . . * * * * * nosce teipsum,--an exception. (_from the chinese of confucius, or elsewhere._) i've not said so to _you_, my friend--and i'm not going-- _you_ may find so many people better worth knowing. rufus. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. mr. thorpe is preparing for publication a collection of the popular traditions or folk lore of scandinavia and belgium, as a continuation of his _northern mythology and superstitions_, now ready for the press. mr. wykeham archer's _vestiges of old london_, of which the second part is now before us, maintains its character as an interesting record of localities fast disappearing. the contents of the present number are, the "house of sir paul pindar, in bishopgate without," once the residence of that merchant prince, and now a public-house bearing his name; "remains of the east gate, bermondsey abbey;" which is followed by a handsome staircase, one of the few vestiges still remaining of "southhampton house," the residence of the wriothesleys, earls of southampton. a plate of "street monuments, signs, badges, &c.," gives at once variety to the subjects, and a curious illustration of what was once one of the marked features of the metropolis. "interior of a tower belonging to the wall of london," in the premises of mr. burt, in the old bailey, presents us with a curious memorial of ancient london in its fortified state; it being the only vestige of a tower belonging to the wall in its entire height, and with its original roof existing. the last plate exhibits some "old houses, with the open part of fleet ditch, near field lane;" and the letter-press illustration of this plate describes a state of filth and profligacy which we hope will soon only be known among us as a thing that _has been_. we have received the following catalogues:--messrs. williams and norgate's ( . henrietta street) german catalogue, part i. comprising theology, ecclesiastical history, and philosophy; john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cx. no. . for , of old and new books; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue, number four for of books old and new; and e. palmer and son's ( . paternoster row) catalogue of scarce and curious books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) dean milner's life of joseph milner. peck's catalogue of the discourses written both for and against popery in the time of james ii. vo. . letter to sir james m'intosh in reply to some observations made in the house of commons on the duel between sir alexander boswell and james stuart, esq., of duncarn. _odd volumes._ parish churches. by brandon. parts . and . homer: opera. glasgow. . vol. iv. large paper, uncut. moyen age monumentale de m. chapuy. paris. , &c. (c.w.b. wishes to complete his set.) ***letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell. publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. w.r.f. and t.p. are assured that the omissions of which they complain have arisen neither from want of courtesy nor want of attention, as they would be quite satisfied if they knew all the circumstances of their respective cases. notes and queries may be procured by the trade at noon on friday; so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels. part v. is now ready. erratum. by a provoking accident, some few copies of the last no. were worked off before the words "saxoniæ," "saxonia" and "audactes," in p. . col. . were corrected to "saxoni_ce_" and "audacte_r_." * * * * * the edinburgh review, no. clxxxiv., is published this day. contents: . national observatories--greenwich. . sydney smith's sketches of moral philosophy. . supply of water to the metropolis. . landor's poetry. . the polynesians--new zealand. . british and continental taxation. . the village notary--memoirs of a hungarian lady. . lewis on the influence of authority in matters of opinion. . agricultural complaints. . germany and erfurt. london: longman and co. edinburgh: a. and c. black. * * * * * now publishing, the churches of the middle ages. by henry bowman and joseph s. crowther, architects, manchester. to be completed in twenty parts, each containing six plates, imperial folio. issued at intervals of two months. price per part to subscribers, proof, large paper, s. d.; tinted, small paper, s.; plain, s. d. parts to are now published, and contain illustrations of ewerby church, lincolnshire; temple balsall chapel, warwickshire; and heckington church, lincolnshire. on the st of july next, the price of the work, to subscribers, whose names may be received after that date, will be raised as follows:--proofs, tinted, large paper, per part s.; tinted, small paper, s. d.; plain, s. "ewerby is a magnificent specimen of a flowing middle-pointed church. it is most perfectly measured and described: one can follow the most recondite beauties of the construction, mouldings and joints, in these plates, almost as well as in the original structure. such a monograph as this will be of incalculable value to the architects of our colonies or the united states, who have no means of access to ancient churches. the plates are on stone, done with remarkable skill and distinctness. of heckington we can only say that the perspective view from the south-east presents a very vision of beauty; we can hardly conceive anything more perfect. we heartily recommend this series to all who are able to patronize it."--_ecclesiologist_, oct. . "this, if completed in a similar manner to the parts now out, will be a beautiful and valuable work. the perspective of st. andrew's, heckington, is a charming specimen of lithography, by hankin. we unhesitatingly recommend messrs. bowman and crowther's work to our readers, as likely to be useful to them."--_builder_, sept. . . "the fourth and fifth parts of messrs. bowman and crowther's 'churches of the middle ages' are published, and fully support our very favourable impression of the work. as a text-book, this work will be found of the greatest value."--_builder_, jan. . . london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * society of arts prize pattern. [illustration] cups and saucers. coffee cups. breakfast cups and saucers. plates. cake plates. sugar box. bowl. milk jug. egg cups. packed in small hamper, ready for delivery, in buff earthenware, s. the set; in white china, l. s. d. the set. post-office orders from the country will be immediately attended to. joseph cundell, . old bond street. * * * * * now ready, containing plates, royal vo. s.; folio, l. s.; india paper, l. s. the monumental brasses of england; a series of engravings upon wood, from every variety of these interesting and valuable memorials, accompanied with descriptive notices. by the rev. c. boutell, m.a., rector of downham market. part xii., completing the work, price s. d.; folio, s.; india paper, s. by the same author, royal vo., s.; large paper, s. monumental brasses and slabs; an historical and descriptive notice of the incised monumental memorials of the middle ages. with upwards of engravings. "a handsome large octavo volume, abundantly supplied with well-engraved woodcuts and lithographic plates; a sort of encyclopædia for ready reference.... the whole work has a look of painstaking completeness highly commendable."--_athenæum_. "one of the most beautifully got up and interesting volumes we have seen for a long time. it gives in the compass of one volume an account of the history of those beautiful monuments of former days.... the illustrations are extremely well chosen."--_english churchman_. a few copies only of this work remain for sale; and, as it will not be reprinted in the same form and at the same price, the remaining copies are raised in price. early application for the large paper edition is necessary. by the same author, to be completed in four parts, christian monuments in england and wales: an historical and descriptive sketch of the various classes of monumental memorials which have been in use in this country from about the time of the norman conquest. profusely illustrated with wood engravings. part i. price s. d.; part ii. s. d. "a well conceived and executed work."--_ecclesiologist_. * * * * * materials for making rubbings of monumental brasses and other incised works of art. heel ball, in cakes, at d. and s. each. white paper, in rolls, each yards in length, and s. d. inches wide do. do. do. do. do., a thinner quality also, richardson's metallic rubber, in cakes, price s. d.: double cakes, s. d. and prepared paper, s. d. inches long by inches wide, per quire do. do. in rolls, each yards in length and inches wide do. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, vols. vo., s. cloth, the works of virgil, translated (in blank verse). the first four pastorals, the georgics, and the first four Æneids, by the rev. rann kennedy. the last six pastorals and the last eight Æneids by charles rann kennedy. dedicated to h.r.h. the prince albert. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * preparing for immediate publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thomas, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . barkham burroughs' encyclopaedia of astounding facts and useful information for melba conner universal assistant and treasure-house of information to be consulted on every question that arises in everyday life by young and old alike! including: recipes * remedies * themes for debate * how to be handsome * mother shipton's prophesy * the cure for baldness * how to distinguish death * plus , things worth knowing, and much much more. [illustration: the highest buildings in the world. . an imaginary tower, feet high. . cathedral at cologne, feet. . pyramid of cheops, feet. . strasbourg cathedral, feet. . st. peter's, rome, feet. . pyramid of cephren, feet. . st. paul's, london, feet. . capitol at washington, feet. . trinity church, n.y., feet. . bunker hill monument, feet. . st. marks, philadelphia, feet.] contents how poor boys become successful men, the art of penmanship, ornamental penmanship, how to write a business letter, elements of success in business, detecting counterfeit money, how to advertise, how to be handsome, multum in parvo. ( miscellaneous items), household recipes, how to destroy household pests, accidents and injuries ( items), the family physician, language of flowers, masterpieces of eloquence, sundry brief items of interest, physician's digestion table, themes for debate ( ), cookery recipes ( ), how to cook fish, how to choose and cook game, how to make ice creams, water ices and jellies, how to select and cook meats, how to make pies, how to make preserves, how to boil, bake and steam puddings, how to put up pickles and make catsups, how to roast, broil or boil poultry, sauces for meats and fish, how to make soups and broth, how to cook vegetables, how to calculate, , things worth knowing ( , items), * * * * * [illustration: how poor boys become successful men] how poor boys become successful men. you want some good advice. rise early. be abstemious. be frugal. attend to your own business and never trust it to another. be not afraid to work, and diligently, too, with your own hands. treat every one with civility and respect. good manners insure success. accomplish what you undertake. decide, then persevere. diligence and industry overcome all difficulties. never be mean--rather give than take the odd shilling. never postpone till to-morrow what can be done to-day. never anticipate wealth from any source but labor. honesty is not only the best policy, but the only policy. commence at the first round and keep climbing. make your word as good as your bond. seek knowledge to plan, enterprise to execute, honesty to govern all. never overtrade. never give too large credit. time is money. reckon the hours of the day as so many dollars, the minutes as so many cents. make few promises. keep your secrets. live within your income. sobriety above all things. luck is a word that does not apply to a successful man. not too much caution--slow but sure is the thing. the highest monuments are built piece by piece. step by step we mount the pyramids. be bold--be resolute when the clouds gather, difficulties are surmounted by opposition. self-confidence, self-reliance is your capital. your conscience the best monitor. never be over-sanguine, but do not underrate your own abilities. don't be discouraged. [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'ninty=nine'] ninety-nine may say no, the [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'hundreth'] hundredth, yes: take off your coat: roll up your sleeves, don't be afraid of manual labor! america is large enough for all--strike out for the west. the best letter of introduction is your own energy. lean on yourself when you walk. keep good company. keep out of politics unless you are sure to win--you are never sure to win, so look out. * * * * * the art of penmanship _how to become a handsome writer._ the subject of the importance of good writing is as broad as its use. reaching out in every direction, and pervading every corner of civilized society, from the humblest up to the highest employments, it is a servant of man, second only in importance to that of speech itself. in the world of business its value is seen, from the simplest record or memorandum, up to the parchment which conveys a kingdom. without it, the wheels of commerce could not move a single hour. at night it has recorded the transactions of the bank of england during the day; of london; of the whole world. through the art of writing, the deeds of men live after them, and we may surround ourselves with the companionship of philosophers, scientists, historians, discoverers and poets; and their discoveries, and reasonings and imaginings become ours. in the amenities of social life, through the medium of the pen, heart speaks to heart, though ocean rolls between. thoughts of tenderness and affection live when we are gone, and words and deeds of kindness are not preserved by monuments alone. what fountains of grief or joy have been opened in the hearts of those who have read the records of the pen! the pen has recorded the rapturous emotions of love reciprocated. the pen has written the message of sadness which has covered life's pilgrimage with gloom. the pen has traced the record of noble and useful lives, spent in humanity's cause. the songs of the poet, the beautiful tints of his imagination, the flights of the orator in the realms of fancy, and the facts of history, would all perish as the dew of morning, without this noble art of writing. as a means of livelihood, there is perhaps no other department of education which affords such universal and profitable employment, as writing. from the mere copyist, up to the practical accountant, and onward into that department of penmanship designated as a fine art, the remuneration is always very ample, considering the time and effort required in its acquisition. teachers, editors, farmers, doctors and all persons should possess a practical and substantial knowledge of writing, and should be ready with the pen. business men must of course be ready writers, and hence, in a treatise on business, designed for the education and advancement of the youth of the country, it seems eminently fitting to first make the way clear to a plain, practical handwriting. neatness and accuracy should characterize the hand-writing of every one. botch-work and bungling are inexcusable, as well in writing as in the transaction of business. no person has a right to cause a tinge of shame to their correspondent, by sending a letter addressed in a stupid and awkward manner, nor to consume the time of another in deciphering the illegible hooks and scrawls of a message. every one should have the ambition to _write_ respectably as well as to _appear_ respectable on any occasion. materials used in writing. having a suitable desk or table, arranged with reference to light, in order to learn to write, it is necessary to be provided with proper materials. writing materials abundant and so cheap in these times that no excuse is afforded for using an inferior or worthless quality. the materials consist of _pens, ink_ and _paper_. pens. steel pens are considered the best. gold pens have the advantage of always producing the same quality of writing, while steel pens, new or old, produce finer or courser lines. notwithstanding this advantage in favor of the gold pen, steel pens adhere to the paper, and produce a better line. the pen should be adapted to the hand of the writer. some persons require a coarse pen, and some fine. elastic pens in the hand of one writer may produce the best results, while a less flexible pen may suit the hand of others best. pens are manufactured of almost an infinite grade and quality, in order to suit the requirements of all. about the only rule that can be given in selecting pens, is to write a few lines, or a page, with each of the pens on trial, and then compare the writing. if it be shaded too heavily, select a less flexible pen, if the hair lines are too delicate, select a coarser pen. ink. black ink is always preferable. that which is free from sediment and flows well, should be selected. use an inkstand with broad base as being less liable to upset. with persons in learning to write it is perhaps best to have a quality of ink which is perfectly black when put on the paper, in order that they may see the results of their labor at once. business men and accountants prefer a fluid ink, however, which, although not black at first, continues to grow black, and becomes a very bright and durable black, notwithstanding the action of light and heat. avoid the use of fancy colored inks, especially the more gaudy, such as blue, red or green, in writing all documents which you desire to command attention and respect. paper. there are almost as many grades of paper to be found in the stationery stores, as there are of pens. for practicing penmanship, nothing is more suitable than foolscap, which may be easily sewed into book-form, with cover of some different color, and thus serves every requirement. the paper should have a medium surface, neither rough and coarse, or too fine and glazed. have a few extra sheets beside the writing book, for the purpose of practicing the movement exercises and testing the pens. be provided at all times with a large-sized blotter, and when writing, keep this under the hand. do not attempt to write with a single sheet of paper on a bare table or desk; there should be many sheets of paper underneath, in order to make an elastic surface. study with practice. aimless, indifferent, or careless practice, never made a good writer, and never will. in order to succeed in this, as in other things, there must be will and determination to succeed, and then persevering and studious effort. study the models until their forms are fixed in the mind. [illustration: study gives form] no one can execute that which he does not clearly conceive. the artist must first see the picture on the white canvas, before he can paint it, and the sculptor must be able to see in the rough and uninviting stone, the outlines of the beautiful image which he is to carve. in writing, a clear idea of the formation of the different letters, and their various proportions, must become familiar by proper study, examination and analysis. study precedes practice. it is, of course, not necessary, nor even well, to undertake the mastery of all the forms in writing, by study, until some have been executed. it is best that each form should, as it is taken up, be first measured and analyzed and then practiced at once. [illustration: practice gives grace] it is the act which crowns the thought. after study, careful and earnest practice can hardly fail to make a good writer of any one. some persons secure a good style of penmanship with less labor than others, and attain to the elegant, and beautiful formation. but it is only fair to presume that no greater diversity of talent exists in this direction than in the study of other things. all do not learn arithmetic or history with like ease, but no one will assert that all who will, may not learn arithmetic or history. and so, all who will put forth the proper exertion in study and practice may learn to write a good business style, while many of the number will attain to the elegant. the conditions of practice in writing are, _positions of the body, position of the hand an pen, and movement_. [illustration: position of the body] position of the body. sitting squarely fronting the desk, with feet placed firmly on the floor, and both arms on the desk, is, as a rule, the best position for practice in writing, or correspondence. the right side, may, however, be placed to the desk, with the right arm, only, resting thereon, and some persons prefer this position. avoid crossing the feet, sitting on the edge of the chair, or assuming any careless attitude. the body should be erect, but slightly inclined forward, in order that the eye may follow the pen closely. this position will never cause curvature of the spine. the body should never be allowed to settle down into a cramped and unhealthy position with the face almost on the paper. by thus compressing the lungs and the digestive organs they are soon injured, and if the stomach lose its tone, the eyesight is impaired, there is such a close sympathy between these organs of the body. the practice of writing should be, and properly is, a healthful exercise, and injurious effects result only from improper positions of the body, at variance with good writing as well as good health. when wearied by sitting and the effort at writing, lay aside paper and pen, arise from the chair, and take exercise and rest by walking about the room or in the open air. then come back refreshed, and vigorous, for the practice of writing. in general, the light should fall on the paper from the left side, thus enabling a writer to clearly see the ruled lines, and render the labor of writing easier and more rapid. if one writes left-handed, of course he will sit so as to get his light from the right side, or over the right shoulder. shading. as a beautifier of the handwriting, by causing a diversity of light and shade among the letters, shading has its value; but in the practical handwriting for business purposes, it should, as a rule, be classed with flourishing, and left out. requiring time and effort, to bring down the shades on letters, business men, clerks and telegraph operators find a uniform and regular style of writing, without shade, the best, even though it may not be as artistic. uniformity. a most necessary element in all good penmanship is uniformity. in the slope of the letters and words which form a written page there must be no disagreement. with the letters leaning about in various directions, writing is presented in its most ridiculous phase. uniformity in the size of letters, throughout the written page; how greatly it conduces to neatness and beauty. all letters resting on the line, and being of uniform hight, adds another condition towards good penmanship. this essential element of uniformity may be watched and guarded closely and cultivated by any learner in his own practice. slant of writing. as said before, it matters not so much what angle of slant is adopted in writing, provided it is made uniform, and all letters are required to conform exactly to the same slant. writing which is nearest perpendicular is most legible, and hence is preferable for business purposes. the printed page of perpendicular type; how legible it is. but for ease in execution, writing should slant. it follows then that writing should be made as perpendicular as is consistent with ease of execution. the slant of writing should not be less than sixty degrees from the horizontal. [illustration: position of body while standing] position of the body while standing. the practical book-keeper finds it advantageous to do his writing while standing; in fact, where large books are in use, and entries are to be transferred from one to another, the work of the book-keeper can hardly be performed otherwise than in a standing position, free to move about his office. cumbrous books necessitate a different position at the desk, from that of the correspondent, or the learner. since large books must lie squarely on the desk, the writer, in order to have the proper position thereto, must place his left side to the desk. the body thus has the same relative position, as if squarely fronting the desk with the paper or book placed diagonally. in other words, the writer, while engaged in writing in large, heavy books, must adjust himself to the position of the books. should the correspondent or bill clerk perform his work while standing, he would assume the same as the sitting position--squarely fronting the desk. legibility. children, in learning to write, are apt to sacrifice all other good qualities of beauty, regularity and grace, for the quality of legibility, or plainness. with some older persons this legibility is considered of very little consequence, and is obscured by all manner of meaningless flourishes, in which the writer takes pride. in the estimation of the business man, writing is injured by shades and flourishes. the demand of this practical time is a plain, regular style that can be written rapidly, and read at a glance. [illustration] finish. by a careless habit, which many persons allow themselves to fall into, they omit to attend to the little things in writing. good penmanship consists in attention to small details, each letter and word correctly formed, makes the beautiful page. by inattention to the finish of one letter, or part of a letter of a word, oftentimes the word is mistaken for another, and the entire meaning changed. particular attention should be devoted to the finish of some of the small letters, such as the dotting of the i, or crossing of the t. blending the lines which form a loop, often causes the letter to become a stem, similar to the t or d, or an e to become an i. in many of the capital letters, the want of attention to the finish of the letter converts it into another or destroys its identity, such, for instance, as the small cross on the capital f, which, if left off, makes the letter a t. the w often becomes an m, or _vice versa_, and the i a j. mistakes in this regard are more the result of carelessness and inattention than anything else. by careful practice a person will acquire a settled habit of giving a perfection to each letter and word, and then it is no longer a task, but is performed naturally and almost involuntarily, while the difference in the appearance of the written page, as well as the exactness and certainty of the meaning conveyed, may be incalculably great. while practicing penmanship, or while endeavoring to correct a careless habit in writing, the mind must be upon the work in hand, and not be allowed to wander into fields of thought or imagination; by thus confining the attention, any defect or imperfection in the formation of letters may be soon mastered or corrected. [illustration: position of the hand and pen.] position of the hand and pen the right arm should rest on the muscles just below the elbow, and wrist should be elevated so as to move free from paper and desk. turn the hand so that the wrist will be level, or so that the back of the hand will face the ceiling. the third and fourth fingers turned slightly underneath the hand will form its support, and the pen, these fingers and the muscles of the arm near the elbow form the only points of rest or contact on desk or paper. the pen should point over the shoulder, and should be so held that it may pass the root of the nail on the second finger, and about opposite the knuckle of the hand. an unnatural or cramped position of the hand, like such a position of the body, is opposed to good writing, and after many years of observation and study, all teachers concur in the one position above described, as being the most natural, easy and graceful for the writer, and as affording the most freedom and strength of movement. avoid getting the hand in an awkward or tiresome position, rolling it over to one side, or drawing the fore finger up into a crooked shape. hold the pen firmly but lightly, not with a grip as if it were about to escape from service. do not say, "i can't" hold the pen correctly. habits are strong, but will may be stronger, and if you hold the pen correctly in spite of old habits, for a few lessons, all will then be easy, and the pen will take its position at each writing exercise, with no effort whatever. everything being in readiness, and the proper position assumed, the writer must now obtain complete control of hand and pen, by practice in movement. [illustration] rapidity. one of the essentials of a practical business style of writing must be rapidity of execution, in order to be of any avail in the necessities and press of a business position. the demand of the merchant is, that his clerk shall not only write well, but with rapidity, and the volume of letters to be answered, bills to be made out, or items to be entered on the books of account, compel the clerk to move the pen with dexterity and rapidity, as well as skill. while there is great diversity among persons as to the rapidity as well as quality of their penmanship, some being naturally more alert and active than others, yet by securing the proper position of the hand, arm and body, favorable to ease and freedom of execution, then following this with careful practice in movement, until all the varied motions necessary in writing are thoroughly mastered, the person may, with suitable effort, acquire the quality of rapidity in writing, gradually increasing the speed until the desired rate is accomplished. beauty. in the handwriting, as in other things, beauty is largely a matter of taste and education. to the man of business, the most beautiful handwriting is that which is written with ease, and expresses plainly and neatly the thought of the writer. to the professional or artistic taste, while such a hand may be regarded as "a good business hand," it would not be considered as beautiful, because it conforms to no rule as to proportion, shade, and spacing. in the practical art of writing, it is not very unfair to measure its beauty largely by its utility. [illustration: movement] movement. finger movement, or writing by the use of the fingers as the motive power, is entirely inadequate to the requirements of business. the fingers soon become tired, the hand becomes cramped, the writing shows a labored effort, and lacks freedom and ease so essential to good business penmanship. in the office or counting-room, where the clerk or correspondent must write from morning till night, the finger movement of course cannot be used. what is designated by writing teachers as the whole arm, or free arm movement, in which the arm is lifted free from the desk and completes the letter with a dash or a swoop, is necessary in ornamental penmanship and flourishing, but has no place in a practical style of business writing. the man of business would hardly stop, in the midst of his writing, to raise the arm, and execute an "off-hand capital," while customers are waiting. but adapted to the practical purposes of business is the _muscular movement_, in which the arm moves freely on the muscles below the elbow, and in cases of precise writing, or in the more extended letters, such as f, is assisted by a slight movement of the fingers. the third and fourth fingers may remain stationary on the paper, and be moved from time to time, or between words, where careful and accurate writing is desired, but in more rapid, free and flowing penmanship, the fingers should slide over the paper. movement exercises. having everything in readiness, the student may begin his practice on movement exercises, the object of which is to obtain control of the pen and train the muscles. circular motion, as in the capital o, reversed as in the capital w, vertical movement as in f, long s and capital j, and the lateral motion as in small letters, must each be practiced in order to be able to move the pen in any direction, up, down, or sidewise. the simplest exercise in movement. try to follow around in the same line as nearly as possible. do not shade. [illustration: o o ] the same exercise, only with ovals drawn out and and slight shade added to each down stroke. [illustration: (coils)] sides of ovals should be even, forming as nearly a straight line as possible. reverse the movement as in third form. [illustration: (coils)] the following three exercises embrace the essential elements in capital letters, and should at first be made large for purposes of movement: capital o, down strokes parallel. [illustration: o q o q o o q o q o] capital stem. down stroke a compound curve. shade low. finish with a dash. [illustration: d d d d d d d d d] capital loop. curves parallel. first curve highest. [illustration: o o o o (double overlapping loops)] having succeeded to some extent with these exercises, the learner may next undertake the vertical movement. in order to obtain the lateral movement, which enables one to write long words without lifting the pen, and move easily and gracefully across the page, exercises like the following should be practiced: down strokes straight. even and resting on line. [illustration: uuuuuuuuuuu] in all movement exercises the third and fourth fingers should slide on the paper, and the finger movement should be carefully avoided. the different movements having been practiced, they may now be combined in various forms. [illustration: u u u u u n n n n n] lateral and rolling movement combined. vertical movement and rolling movement combined. [illustration: t t t] do not shade the circles. lines should be parallel. movement exercises may be multiplied almost indefinitely by studying the forms used in writing and their combinations. repeating many of the small letters, such as m, u, e, r, s, a, d, h and c, also capitals d, j, p, etc., forms an excellent exercise for the learner. principles in writing. in order to enable the learner to examine, analyze and criticise his writing, the following principles are given as his standards of measurements and form. by combining them in various ways the essential part of all letters in the alphabet may be formed. [illustration: (eight common strokes)] the principles must be first carefully studied, and separated into the primary lines which compose them and the form of each principle well understood. the student may then form a scale like the one following, by dividing the distance between the blue lines on the paper into four equal spaces, with a lightly ruled line. the letters of the small alphabet should then be placed in the scale and the [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'hight'] height of each letter fixed in the mind. [illustration: (lowercase cursive alphabet)] notice that the contracted letters, or those which occupy only one space, as a, m, n, o, s, v, w and e, and that part of d, g, h, q and y, found in the first space, are all well rounded and developed. these letters and parts of letters, found in the first space, form the essential part of all writing, and therefore deserve especial care. also notice that the loop letters, above the line, such as b, f, h, k and l, extend two and one-half spaces above the blue line, while the loop below the line, such as g, f, j, q, y and z, extend one and one-half spaces below the blue line, thus two and one-half and one and one-half making the four spaces of the scale, and the upper loops on one line will just meet the lower loops of the line above, but never conflict, to the destruction of neat body writing. notice the type of the printer. the extensions above the shorter letters are quite insignificant, and are only used to save the letter from resembling some other letter of the alphabet. they never conflict, and how legible they are. [illustration: the types. a resemblance. an absurdity.] besides, to make long loops, requires more time, and more power with the pen, while shorter loops are in every way easier to acquire, quicker, and better. telegraph operators, some of whom are among our best business penmen, make all extended letters very short, while accountants, and business men, favor the style of short loops, well developed letters, and small capitals. apply the principles. observe regularity. muscular movement. [illustration: (v and u strokes)] down strokes straight. up strokes curved. [illustration: (n and m strokes)] principle no. . well formed loop. [illustration: (e and c strokes)] these exercises should be practiced with the muscular movement, until they can be made with regularity and ease. th principle. let d and th fingers slide. notice the top. [illustration: (s and r strokes)] o closed at top. no retracing. [illustration: (o and a strokes)] two spaces high. down stroke straight. [illustration: (l and d strokes)] a rule in writing may be laid down, that all small letters should commence on the blue line, and end one space high. discover the principles. avoid retracing. [illustration: (g and q strokes)] notice form. in w, last part narrow. make without raising the pen. [illustration: (v, w, and x strokes)] extend two spaces above the line, and one below. [illustration: p p pppppp pump paper prepared pen] retracing is an error. the only exception to this is in d, t, p and x, where it becomes [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'neccessary'] necessary. [illustration: b b b blending blooming k k kick kicking hurt hint hand heart head hundred hhh f find fund fame flame flowers fumigate] upper loops have their crossing at the hight of one space, while lower loops cross at the blue line. [illustration: y your youth y j journey joining rejoicing fs effs efffs afsure z zone zone zenith zzzzzz tune time tanner drum dime tttdddd] place the capital letters on the scale, analyze them according to principles , , and , and notice their relative proportions. [illustration: (uppercase cursive alphabet)] in order to practice capital letters to advantage, as well as to study them, collect in a group or family all those letters which have some one form or principle as an essential part. take first the th principle, or oval, and we group the letters as follows: [illustration: o. d. c. e. p. q. r.] the excellence of an oval depends largely on its fullness and roundness. no corners or flat sides. down strokes parallel. capital d is a capital o with a knot on the lower corner. [illustration: o olean orleans ohio delia david dahlia] [illustration: c church currency e elucidate economy] [illustration: p prince prayer p r regan r raymond r] the letters in which the capital stem, or th principle, forms a leading part, may be grouped as follows: [illustration: h. k. f. t. s. s. g.] in the h and k, the capital stem is almost straight on the down stroke, in the f and t it is little more of a wave line, and in s and l the line is much of a compound or double curve. [illustration: h hand hunter hinder k kingdom ky.] [illustration: f famine fremont t tenement troy] [illustration: s sumpter st. s sarimore g grammar] the capital i, and also the j, which is a modified i, are sometimes classed among the capital stem letters, from the resemblance of the i to this principle in all but the top. [illustration: independence jamestown inkerman judgment] the capital loop, or th principle, is found as an essential element in: [illustration: m. n. x. w. q. z. v. u. y.] in the capital loop, or th principle, another oval may be made within the large turn at the top, but for practical purposes the letter is perhaps better without it, and may be simplified even more, as in the n below. [illustration: m monumental n nathaniel x xenophon] [illustration: w writing q quay quack j j jones j j] [illustration: v value valuable u union y youthful] figures. make figures small, neat, and of form exact. each figure must show for itself, and cannot be known by those which precede or follow it, as is the case with letters. the common tendency is to make figures too large and coarse. mind the ovals in figures and have them full and round. the chief excellence of the zero lies in its roundness; the , , or , without care in making the ovals, may degenerate into a straight line, or simply a meaningless hook, which it would hardly be safe to use in expressing sums of money, ordering goods, or the transaction of other business. [illustration: $ ¢ # % a/c ] [illustration: copies for practice.] copies for practice having proceeded thus far in the study and practice of writing, and having obtained the proper control of the pen through the movement exercises, all that is necessary now in order to secure a good handwriting, is continued and well-directed practice. [illustration: $ . chicago, jan. ./ . due henry harrington, on order, eleven hundred dollars in merchandise, value rec'd no. . newton p. kelley, sr.] * * * * * [illustration: ornamental penmanship.] ornamental penmanship charming and fascinating are the graceful and harmonious curves produced, when, wielded by some trained and skillful hand, the pen becomes an instrument of beauty. as by the power of speech, men may pass from the common tone of conversation up to the melodious strains of music, or may soar in flights of oratory into the sublime, until the multitude is entranced; so the capabilities of the pen are not limited to the common uses of life, but may take on forms of beauty in elegant outlines of bird, or landscape, or graceful swan or bounding stag. ornamental writing is not a practical art, and has no connection whatever with the practical business of life. it is in the realm of poetry. the imagery of graceful outlines must first be seen by a poetic imagination. while the great masses may acquire a good style of plain, practical penmanship, few have the necessary conception of mind, combined with the skill and dexterity of hand to become successful ornamental penmen. the ornamental pages which follow are given, not as models for imitation or practice by the learner, but merely to show the possibilities of the pen in the hand of a master, and as a fitting closing to this, our chapter on penmanship. to any one who may have an artistic quality of mind, and delights in beautiful lines and harmonious curves, these pages of ornamental penmanship will serve as models for practice and imitation, and every attempt at such an exercise as the one on this, or the following pages, will give greater strength and freedom of movement, and better command of the pen, so that it will conduce to an easy, flowing and elegant style of plain business writing, while affording a most pleasant and profitable employment in the cultivation of the taste. various beautiful designs or pictures may be made with the pen, in the hands of one that possesses the skill of a penman and the eye of an artist. [illustration] * * * * * [illustration: how to write a business letter.] how to write a business letter considering the vast amount of business transacted by correspondence between the parties, letter writing seems only second in importance to bookkeeping. the merchant of the smaller cities or towns, perhaps in the far west, desires to order articles of merchandise from the wholesale house in new york or boston. possibly a remittance is to be sent. it may be that an error has occurred and needs correction. credit is to be asked, references given, and a multitude of other matters call for adjustment through correspondence. to write every conceivable variety and shade of meaning, expressing the proper thought in the most fitting and appropriate language, is indeed a rare and valuable accomplishment. and when the proper language takes on the graceful and businesslike air of the well written letter, with its several parts harmoniously arranged, it is a combination of brain and skill which can hardly be overestimated. [illustration] this subject, therefore, naturally divides itself into two parts: _the mechanical structure_, and the _literature of a letter_. the former of these being the less difficult will be first considered. the structure of a business letter. consists in the arrangement of its several parts, with a view to the most harmonious effect. excellent penmanship is very desirable, but not absolutely essential. the penmanship may indeed be poor, but the arrangement of the several parts of the letter, the neatness, and finish, may be such as to give it an attractive appearance, while on the other hand, the letter may be clothed in the most elegant penmanship, and yet the construction be such as to stamp its author as a careless and indifferent person, devoid of precision and order. no one great thing, but many little things carefully watched, and attentively practiced, make up the structure and dress of a business letter, and give it a businesslike air. the penmanship should be a neat, strong hand, very plain and legible, and devoid of all flourish. paper and envelope. the paper and envelopes used in business correspondence should be of a good, durable quality, and a white color is preferable. cheap materials are not only unsatisfactory to the writer, but may give the reader an unfavorable impression, which would be an injury far exceeding the cost of the best stationery for a life time. persons form impressions from very little things sometimes. the size of a letter sheet in business correspondence should be about x inches. this sheet affords a sufficient space for a communication of ordinary length to be written on one side only, which is essential in case the letter is copied in a letter press. a sheet of paper, note size, ( x ) is oftentimes used for brief communications of no special importance, and not designed to be filed for future reference. among professional men the commercial note sheet is more extensively used, but with business men the letter size is considered preferable. the envelope should correspond in size to that of the letter sheet, and should be a trifle longer than one-half the length of the sheet. thus in a sheet eight by ten inches, one-half the length of the sheet is five inches, and this requires the length of the envelope to be about five and a quarter inches. its width is usually about three inches. avoid the use of fancy colored and fancy shaped paper and envelopes. these may not be objectionable in social correspondence among ladies, but the gravity of business affairs does not admit of such display. the heading. with most firms engaged in business it has become a custom to have the business advertisement placed at the head of the letter page, together with street, number and city. thus leaving only the date to be inserted to complete the heading. in case the heading of the letter is to be entirely written, it should be placed so as to occupy the right hand half of the first two lines at the top of the page. if, however, the letter is to be a very brief one, occupying only three or four lines, the heading may then be placed lower down on the sheet, so as to bring the body of the letter about the center of the sheet. writing from a large city the heading should contain the street and number. your correspondent, in directing his answer will rely on the address given in the heading of your letter. never be guilty of the blunder committed by ignorant persons of placing a part of the heading under the signature. [illustration: market street, philadelphia, june , .] [illustration: diagram of the structure of a letter.] the second line of the heading should begin a little farther to the right than the first line, as seen above. if the writer has a box at the post office and wishes his mail delivered there, he may head his letter, as on the following page: [illustration: p.o. box , new york, may , .] [illustration: chas. a roberts wm. j. dennis office of robert & dennis dealers in fancy and staple groceries, jefferson street, burlington, va.,______________ ____] writing from the principal cities of the united states it is not necessary to make the name of the state a part of the heading, as that is supposed to be known and understood, but with smaller cities the name of the state also, should be given. thus, there is a quincy in illinois, and also in massachusetts, and unless the state were mentioned a person answering a letter from quincy, would not know which state to direct his reply to. in writing from an obscure town or village, not only the state should be given, but the county as well. [illustration: ottawa, la salle county, ill., december , .] the punctuation of the heading and other parts of the letter, is of great importance in the estimation of cultivated persons, and something which can be learned by a little attention on the part of anyone, in examining the forms here given. margin. a margin three-quarters of an inch in width should be left, on the side of the letter, as shown in the diagram. this is convenient for any mark or memorandum which your correspondent may desire to make concerning anything contained in the letter, but its greater value lies in the open, airy, and cheerful dress which it imparts to the letter. a margin too narrow conveys the idea of stinginess, as if to economize paper, while an irregular or zigzag margin conveys the idea of carelessness or want of precision. on a sheet of note paper the margin may be only one-half inch in width, thus making its width proportionate to the size of the sheet. address. on the next line below the heading, that is the third line from the top of the sheet, and beginning at the left margin, should be placed the _address_, which consists of the name of the person to whom the letter is written, together with his titles, if any, and his place of residence or business. the letter is not complete without all this, in the estimation of the business man. it does not fully explain itself, if the place of residence is not down as well as the name, and in preserving a letter press copy, this is quite essential for future reference. [illustration: messrs. samuel bliss co. reading, pa. gentlemen:] or if the letter is written to a person living or doing business in a large city, thus: [illustration: mr. james m. cummings broadway, new york. sir:] the names and residence should not be allowed to extend further to the right than about the center of the sheet, thus leaving an open space between this and the heading of your letter. in case the names or place of residence should be so long as to require it, they may be placed thus: [illustration: messrs. richards, shaw, fitch & winslow, chicago. gentlemen:] the words _dear sir_ or _gentlemen_ are sometimes placed farther to the left, as in the above example, but most business men in their correspondence place this complimentary address with reference to the words above them, about three-quarters of an inch farther to the right, as shown below. [illustration: william d. nelsen, esq., erie st., boston, dear sir:] the custom of placing the address beneath the body instead of at the beginning of the letter, is not much in vogue in business circles in this country, most business men preferring to place the name and address at the head of the sheet, and then write at it as if they were talking to the person himself. when, however, the address is placed below the letter it should occupy the same position as to the margin, etc., as if placed at the beginning. the custom is borrowed from the english, and its use is confined mostly to government officials and professional men. body of the letter. this constitutes the written message. it should begin on the same line with the words _dear sir_, or _gentlemen_ leaving after these words a small space. in case the place of residence or business is not written in the address, then the complimentary address of _dear sir_ or _gentlemen_ will be placed on the next line under the name, or fourth line from the top of the sheet, and the letter will begin on the fifth line from the top, thus: [illustration: mr. henry l. dunham, dear sir: in answer to your esteemed favor] sometimes for the sake of convenience, and the saving of time and labor, the letter head has printed in the left corner, above the address, a blank form of memorandum as follows: [illustration: referring to yours of... or, in reply to your favor of...,] and after this introduction the writer is able speedily to get at the marrow of his letter, without acknowledging the receipt of a former communication. the body of the letter should be divided into as many paragraphs as there are distinct subjects in the letter, or a new paragraph should be commenced at every change of the subject. the habit which some persons have of tacking one subject to the end of another, and thus making a letter one continuous paragraph of mixed up information, instructions and requests, is extremely objectionable. it destroys the force of what is said, instead of fixing each thought clearly on the mind of the reader; it leaves him confused, and he reads a second time and tries to get his ideas fixed and systematized, or he throws aside the letter until he has more time in which to study it and get the meaning clear. if the letter is long and is really concerning only one subject, then it may properly be divided into paragraphs by separating the different divisions of the subject, and giving a paragraph to each. these should be arranged in their logical order. wherever the letter is to contain numerous paragraphs to avoid omitting any of the items, it is best to jot them down on a slip of paper, then embody them in the letter in their natural order. the first word of each paragraph should be indented, or moved in from the margin, usually about the width of the margin. thus if the margin is three-fourths of an inch in width, the paragraph should begin three-fourths of an inch from the margin. some writers, however, prefer to commence the first word of the paragraph an inch from the margin, and it is really not so essential what the distance is, as that it should be uniform, and all the paragraphs begin alike. a little attention is necessary here. in ordering goods make each article a separate paragraph. complimentary closing and signature. the complimentary closing consists of such words as _yours truly_, _respectfully_, etc., and should be placed on the next line beneath the last one occupied by the body of the letter, commencing a little to the right of the middle. the signature should be placed underneath the words of respect, and begin still a little farther to the right. thus the conclusion of the letter will correspond in position and arrangement with the heading. [illustration: yours truly, john maynard.] the language of the complimentary closing should be governed by the relation between the parties, and should correspond with the complimentary address. the first letter between strangers should commence with _sir_ and end with the word _respectfully_. after the exchange of a few letters and a sort of business acquaintance may be said to exist between the correspondents, then _dear sir_, and _yours truly_, may properly be introduced. a little more cordial would be such a conclusion as the following: [illustration: yours very truly, rinold, constable & co.] the man of business is apt, however, to have one stereotyped beginning and ending to all his letters, and seldom stops to discriminate between strangers and old customers in this respect. often the conclusion may be connected to the closing paragraph with perfect grace and ease thus: [illustration: hoping to receive the goods without delay, i remain, respectfully, henry p. bowen.] in the signature of a letter, especial care should be exercised. bear in mind that names of persons are not governed by the rules of spelling, and words which precede or follow, proper names will not aid us in deciphering them if they are poorly written. [illustration: a model business letter. s. tenth street, cincinnati, march , , messrs. arnold, constable & co., broadway & th sts, new york. gentlemen: inclosed please find new york exchange in settlement of your invoice of the st inst. less cash discount. amount of invoice, $ . cash discount % . ------ draft inclosed $ . the goods have been received, and are very satisfactory in both quality and price. you may expect another order soon. yours truly, james z. wilson co.] the young person who would learn to write a good business letter, should, with pen, ink and suitable paper, sit down and practice faithfully after the above model. write and re-write it a dozen times or more, until your letter resembles it closely. then take any of the models for letters given near the close of this chapter, and with this matter, write a letter which will conform with the foregoing model in appearance and dress. write the same matter over again, and improve it in its defects. criticise each line and word. see that no words or letters are omitted, and that the punctuation is according to the models in this book. eliminate all ungainly letters, shorten the loops, see that each letter rests on the line, and that, withal your page is clean and regular. the person who will thus devote a little earnest study and practice, may early acquire the valuable accomplishment of writing a pleasing business letter, so far as the mechanical structure goes. addressing the envelope. after the letter is finished, and while it yet lies open before you, the envelope should be addressed. as before stated, the directions on the envelope must conform to the address at the beginning of the letter, hence the necessity for addressing the envelope before the letter is folded. the first line of the address of the envelope should consist of the name of the person or firm to whom the letter is written, together with any appropriate titles, and should be written across or a little below the middle of the envelope, but never above it, beginning near the left edge. the space between this first line and the bottom of the envelope should be about equally divided among the other lines, each of which begins still farther to the right than the one above, thus: [illustration: messrs. arnold, constable & co., cor. broadway & th sts., new york city.] when writing to a person in a large city the number and street should be a part of the address, and may be placed as in the above form, or in the left hand lower corner as follows: [illustration: lewis h. taylor, esq., chicago, wabash ave. ill.] in case the letter is addressed in care of any one this should be placed in the lower left corner. if a letter of introduction, the words _introducing mr. john smith,_ or similar words, should be placed in this corner. letters addressed to small towns or villages should bear the name of the county as follows: [illustration: mr. henry d. chambers, washington, porter county, ala.] or the name of the county may be placed in the lower left corner. the post office box number is usually placed in the lower left corner. folding a letter. having written an excellent letter, and faultlessly addressed the envelope, all may be easily stamped as unbusiness-like, and spoiled, by improperly performing so simple a part as the folding. remember that excellent rule that, whatever is worth doing should be well done. with the letter sheet lying before you, turn the bottom edge up so that it lies along with the top edge, thus making a fold in the middle, which press down with the thumb nail or with a paper folder. then fold the right edge over so that it falls two-thirds the distance across the sheet, and press down the edge. next fold the left edge of the sheet over to the right, breaking the fold at the edge of the part folded over just before. in case a check, note, draft, bill or currency is to be sent by letter, it should be placed on the upper half of the sheet as it lies open, and then the letter should be folded the same as if it were not there. this will fold the paper or document in the letter so that it will be difficult to extract it while being transmitted in the mails, and so that it will not be dropped or lost in opening the letter. the letter is now folded so that it will be of equal thickness in every part of the envelope. insert the last broken or folded edge in the envelope first, with original edges of the sheet at the end of the envelope which the stamp is on; when taken from the envelope the letter will then be proper side up. the literature of a letter. to be able to compose a letter requires more ability than to give it the proper arrangement and mechanical dress. a mind well stored with useful knowledge as well as command of language, is necessary in writing a letter on general subjects. the strictly business letter requires a thorough understanding of the facts concerning which the letter is written, and these facts to be set forth in plain and unmistakable language. all display of rhetoric or flourish of words is entirely out of place in the sober, practical letter of business. the proper use of capital letters, punctuation, and correct spelling are essential to the well written letter, and with a little care and striving may be easily acquired. arrangement of items. as stated before, each item or subject in a letter should be embraced in a separate paragraph. these should be arranged in the order in which they would naturally come, either in point of time, importance, or as regards policy. never begin a letter abruptly with a complaint, but rather bring in all unpleasant subjects toward the close. if an answer to a letter of inquiry, take up the questions as they are asked, indicate first what the question is, and then state clearly the answer. the first paragraph should acknowledge the receipt of the communication now to be answered, giving date and indicating its nature and contents, thus: [illustration: your letter of the th instant concerning damaged goods is received, etc.] the closing paragraph usually begins with such words as _hoping, trusting, awaiting, thanking_, or similar expressions, and is complimentary in its tone and designed as a courtesy. brevity. business letters should be brief and to the point. the best letter states clearly all the facts in the fewest words. brevity is not inconsistent with a long letter, as so much may need to be said as to require a long letter, but all repetitions, lengthy statements and multiplication of words should be avoided. use short sentences, and make every word mean something. short sentences are more forcible, and more easily understood or remembered, than long drawn out utterances. style. style refers to the tone, air, or manner of expression. dignity and strength should characterize the style of the business letter. no ornament of expression or eloquence of language is necessary or appropriate in a correspondence between business men. come to your meaning at once. state the facts. let every sentence bristle with points. the successful business man must possess energy, decision, and force, and these qualities should be conspicuous in his correspondence in order to command respect. never use loose or slang expressions. the business man should be a _gentleman_. indulge in no display of superior knowledge or education, but temper each paragraph with respect and deference to others. the learner who would aspire to write a good letter, should, after having finished his attempt, go over each sentence carefully and wherever the pronoun i occurs, modify the expression so as to leave this out. ordering goods. in ordering goods of any kind, care should be used to state very explicitly the color, size, quality, and quantity of the articles desired. if manufactured goods, the name of the manufacturer, or his trade mark or brand should be given. also state when you desire the goods shipped and in what way. if by freight or express, state what freight line or express company. sending money by letter. paper currency should seldom be trusted to pass through the mails, as the liability to loss is too great. better send draft or p. o. money order, and in every case the amount of the remittance should be stated in the letter, and also whether by draft or otherwise sent. the letter may become important evidence in regard to payment at some future time. instructions. in giving instructions to agents, manufacturers and others, let each order occupy a separate paragraph. state in unmistakable language the instructions desired to be conveyed. if possible a diagram or plan should be enclosed in the letter. cautions and complaints, if any, should be clearly set forth in paragraphs near the close of the letter. a dunning letter. state when the debt was contracted, its amount, the fact of it having been long past due, the necessity for immediate payment, and any other facts depending on the peculiarities of the case, which it may seem best to make use of, such as promises to pay, which have not been met; the inconvenience as well as injury and distrust caused by such irregularities, etc. letters of introduction. be just and truthful, avoiding any stereotyped form in letters of introduction. never give a letter of introduction unless you have entire confidence in the person to whom it is given; it may reflect on your character or be used against you. be very guarded that no expressions may be construed into a letter of credit, thus making the writer liable for payment. use no unfounded statements or assertions, over-estimating your friend, as these may prove untrue. willing to extend a favor to a friend by giving a letter of introduction, do not be guilty of introducing him to any one in whom he may not place confidence, as he might be a loser by such. form of a letter ordering goods. jackson street, richmond, va., may , --. messrs. jones & smith, market st., philadelphia. _gentlemen:_ please ship me by fast freight as soon as possible the following goods: hhds. n. o. molasses. bbl. granulated sugar. chests english breakfast tea. sacks mocha coffee, wanted not ground. boxes colgate's toilet soap. i will remit the amount of the invoice immediately upon the receipt of the goods. yours respectfully, james c. adams. * * * * * ordering goods and enclosing price. richmond, ind., dec. , --. messrs. marshall field & co., chicago, ill. _gentlemen:_ please forward me by american express at once lancaster spread, $ . yds. gingham, small check. ( c.) . doz. napkins ($ . ), . ----- $ . for which i inclose p.o. money order. hoping to receive the goods without delay, i am, respectfully, william l. miller. * * * * * desiring to open an account. dayton, ohio, oct. , --. messrs. holmes & wilson, detroit, mich. _gentlemen:_ having recently established myself in the retail hardware trade in this city, with fair prospects of success, and being in need of new goods from time to time, would like to open an account with your highly respectable house. my capital is small, but i have the satisfaction of knowing that what little i possess is the fruit of my own industry and saving. i can refer you to the well known firm of smith, day & co., of this city, as to my character and standing. should my reference prove satisfactory, please forward me at once by u.s. express, butchers' bow saws / doz. mortise locks, with porcelain knobs. kegs d nails, and charge to my account. hoping that my order may receive your usual prompt attention, i am, yours respectfully, henry m. barrows. * * * * * letter of credit. lexington, ky., june , --. messrs. dodge, manor & devoe, new york city. _gentlemen:_ please allow the bearer of this, mr. james curtis, a credit for such goods as he may select, not exceeding one thousand dollars, and if he does not pay for them, i will. please notify me in case he buys, of the amount, and when due, and if the account is not settled promptly according to agreement, write me at once. yours truly, hiram duncan. * * * * * inclosing an invoice. lake street, chicago, nov. , --. samuel d. prentice, esq., vevay, ind. _dear sir:_ inclosed please find invoice of goods amounting to $ . , shipped you this day by the b. & o. express, as per your order of the th inst. hoping that the goods may prove satisfactory, and that we may be favored with further orders, we remain, yours truly, sibley, dudley & co. * * * * * letter of introduction. olive street, st. louis, june , --. henry m. bliss, esq., boston. _dear sir_: this will introduce to you the bearer, mr. william p. hainline, of this city who visits boston, for the purpose of engaging in the hat, cap and fur trade. he is a young man of energy and ability, and withal, a gentlemen in every sense. any assistance you may render him by way of introduction to your leading merchants or otherwise, in establishing his new enterprise will be duly appreciated by both himself and yours truly, james w. brooking. * * * * * inclosing remittance. milwaukee, wis., feb. , --. messrs. arnold, constable & co., new york. _gentlemen:_ the goods ordered of you on the d inst. have been received and are entirely satisfactory in both reality and price. enclosed please find new york exchange for $ . , the amount of your bill. thanking you for your promptness in filling my order, i am, yours respectfully, henry goodfellow. * * * * * inclosing draft for acceptance. new york, aug. , --. messrs. webster & dunn, cairo, ill. _gentlemen:_ inclosed we hand you draft at days for acceptance for $ . , the amount of balance due from you to us to the present date. we shall feel obliged by your accepting the same, and returning it by due course of mail. awaiting further favors, we are, very truly yours, dodge, holmes & co. * * * * * inclosing a statement of account. chicago, march , --. messrs. chase & howard, south bend, ind. _gentlemen_: inclosed please find a statement of your account for the past three months, which we believe you will find correct. we shall feel obliged by your examining the same at your earliest convenience, and shall be happy to receive your check for the amount or instructions to draw on you in the ordinary course. we are, gentlemen, yours truly, j.v. farwell & co. * * * * * a dunning letter. denver, col., june , --. james c. adams, esq., great bend, kansas. _dear sir_: allow me to remind you that your account with me has been standing for several months unsettled. i should not even now have called your attention to it, were it not that in a few days i must meet a heavy bill, and must rely in part on your account to furnish me the means. i would, therefore, esteem it a great favor if you would let me have either the whole, or at least the greater part of your account in the course of a week or ten days. thanking you for past favors, i remain, sir, yours truly, a.r. morgan. * * * * * an application for a situation in business. _paste the advertisement at the head of the sheet, and write as follows_: fayette street, syracuse, n. y., sept. , -- journal office, city. _dear sir_: in reply to the above advertisement i would respectfully offer my services. i am years of age, have a good education, and have had some experience in business, having assisted my father in his grocery store. i am not afraid of work, and never allow myself to be idle when there is work to be done. i can refer you as to my character, to mr. j.h. trout, president of the gas company, who has known me all my life. in reference to salary, i leave that with you, but feel certain that i could earn five dollars per week for you. hoping to have the pleasure of an interview, i remain, respectfully, henry otis. * * * * * asking permission to refer to a person. syracuse, n. y., sept. , --. j.h. trout, esq., _dear sir_: i beg to inform you that in applying for a situation this morning, advertised in the _journal_, i took the liberty of using your name as a reference. the length of time i have been honored with your acquaintance, and the words of encouragement which you have given me heretofore, lead me to hope you would speak favorably in this instance, adding this to the numerous obligations already conferred upon your obedient servant, henry otis. * * * * * inquiring as to business prospects. newark, ohio, june , --. mr. j.d. shaylor, denver, col. _my dear sir_: as i told you a year ago, i have been thinking seriously of disposing of my small business here and locating in some live and promising city out west, where i can grow up with the country as you are doing. will you have the kindness to sit down and write me at your convenience, full information in regard to the prospects of business, price of rents, cost of living, etc., in your city, and any other information, especially in regard to the hardware trade. if you will thus kindly give me the facts on which i can base a calculation, and all is favorable, i will probably visit denver this fall, and eventually become your neighbor. yours very truly, j.o. goodrich. * * * * * letter of recommendation. grand haven, mich., may , --. to whom it may concern: mr. henry mcpherson, who is now leaving our employ, has been in our office for the past two years, during which time he has faithfully attended to his duties, proving himself to be industrious and thoroughly reliable. he is a good penman, correct accountant, and acquainted with correspondence. we shall at any time cheerfully respond to all applications we may have regarding his character and abilities, and wish him every success. yours truly, wood & hill. * * * * * notice of dissolution of a partnership. davenport, ia., dec. , --. jas. l. bingham & co., cedar rapids, ia. _gentlemen_: on the st of january next the partnership for the past ten years existing between geo. h. clark and henry webster, wholesale grocers in this city, will expire by limitation of the contract. the firm takes this opportunity to thank its customers and friends for their generous patronage and support, whereby the business of the house grew to such large proportions. after the first of january the business will be carried on at the old stand, nos. and main st., by henry webster and cyrus d. bradford, under the firm name of webster & bradford. we are, gentlemen, your obedient servants, clark & webster. * * * * * recommending a successor in business. cincinnati, ohio, dec. , --. to the public: it is with some feeling of regret that we announce our retirement from the business on the beginning of the new year. our stock and premises will then be transferred to messrs. franklin and warren, whom we cheerfully present to your notice, and feel it our duty to recommend them for a continuance of that liberal confidence and patronage which you have bestowed on us during the past twenty years. both these young gentlemen have been clerks of ours for several years past, and are in every way efficient and capable to continue the business. we are respectfully, johnson & fox * * * * * [illustration: elements of success in business.] elements of success in business in order to succeed in business life, it is necessary to cultivate and develop certain qualities and traits of character. these are a portion of the capital of the successful man, and a more essential portion than money or goods. honesty. "sharp practice" may bring a temporary gain but in the long run of life that man will be far ahead who deals squarely and honestly at all times. a thoroughly honest clerk will command a higher salary than one of equivocal habits, while the merchant who has a reputation for honesty and truthfulness in regard to the quality and value of his goods, will on this account he favored with a considerable custom. the business man whose "word is as good as his bond" can in any emergency, control large amounts of capital, the use of which brings him a rich return, while the man who sells his neighbor's good opinion for a temporary gain, will find that he has discounted his future success, but taking an advantage at the cost of ten tines its value. industry. no other quality can take the place of this, and no talents of mind, however excellent, will bring success without labor; persistent systematic labor. the young man who expects to find some royal road to success with little or no effort, or who imagines that his mental abilities will compensate for a lack of application, cheats and ruins himself. horace greeley probably never said a grander thing than this: "the saddest hour in any man's career is that wherein he, for the first time, fancies there is an easier was of gaining a dollar than by squarely earning it." and horace greeley was himself an example of success through industry. [image: counsel and advice.] it is not genius, but the great mass of average people, who _work_, that make the successes in life. some toil with the brain, and others toil with the hand, but all must toil. industry applies to hours in business and out of business. it means not only to perform all required work promptly, but to occupy spare moments usefully, not to idle evenings, and to rise early in the morning. an [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'employe'] employee should not confine himself to his mere obligatory duties. he should be ready to work sometimes over hours or in other departments if it is desired of him. willingness to _work_ is one of the finest qualities in a character, and will compensate for many other deficiencies. memory. this faculty, always so useful, is pre-eminently so to the business man. it must be both retentive and quick. by proper training this faculty may be so cultivated that names, dates and events to a surprising number may be readily recalled. the ability to greet a customer by calling him by name is considered very valuable in any class of business. it makes a very agreeable impression when a man who has not seen us but once or twice, and who is not expecting us, meets us promptly as we enter his store, with, "why, mr. ----, how do you do? glad to see you. when did you leave newark?" we feel as if we had occupied that man's thoughts since we saw him before. he appreciates us, and we feel like patronizing him. whereas, on the other hand to meet a customer with a blank, inquiring expression, and greet him with, "your face is familiar, but i can't recall your name." is unpleasant and tends to drive away custom. every hotel keeper knows the value of this greeting of customers. facts, figures and dates are very necessary to remember in business, and these often form the basis of a business transaction or venture by which large profits are made. superior ability in remembering prices and their fluctuations has been the secret of more than one brilliant success. desultory reading injures the memory, while close application to a subject, recalling the various points therein, tends greatly to improve this faculty. the clerk or employee [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'employe'] in receiving instructions from his principal should endeavor to impress every point clearly on his mind, and retain them there until they are carried out in action. carelessness and forgetfulness often causes the discharge of otherwise worthy and competent young persons, as employers do not like to repeat their orders. promptness. a very essential element in the character of the business man is promptness. filling all engagements at exactly the appointed time, answering letters or forwarding goods with promptness, the man of business finds that much more can be accomplished and with far greater accuracy, than by a loose system of putting off till tomorrow, or according to convenience. not only so, but competition in business is such that the merchant or tradesman who does not deal with promptness can hardly expect to hold his custom. young men starting out in the world should form the resolution of doing everything on time. better to be ahead in the performance of duties than behind. this promptness then acts as a stimulant in itself, and is oftentimes the means of winning success in an enterprise. a thing that is worth the doing, ought to be done quickly when the time is ripe for it. a prompt man or woman is valued, as he respects his word and has due regard for the convenience of others. executive ability. wavering, timid and uncertain, the man without executive ability never achieves distinction in active life. intelligence to decide on any measure, firmness in adhering to the decision, and force of will in carrying it out, constitute executive ability, and are as essential to the business man as his stock in trade. the timid man never makes up his mind until after the opportunity is past, or decides, then recalls his decision, and feels incapable of promptly estimating all the facts in the case. this weakness is oftentimes natural, but more frequently it is a bad habit which should be broken up. rashness is to decide and act without taking the trouble to weigh intelligently the facts in the case. this is inexcusable folly, and always brings serious trouble sooner or later. through executive ability the labor or services of one man may be made to produce largely, or without proper direction such services may be almost worthless; and in the case of many employees [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'employes'] under one executive head, the results of this combined labor may be great success, or where executive ability is wanting, a great failure. the successful farmer, merchant, manufacturer, banker, and professional man must have this combination of ability, firmness, and will power. perseverance. those who put their minds on their work, whatever kind that may be, and persist in its thorough execution; who get interested in something for their own advancement, that they may become more capable as men and women of sense and tact; such persons have a lively appreciation of the fact that success is never more certain to be gained by any other course. these people have a just pride in learning the best methods of giving expression to the faculties and powers they possess, and which they desire to make the most of. it is incumbent that they do all in their power for their own and other people's good. feeling this, an ever present incentive keeps them employed, and they are never idle. [illustration] if one does not succeed from persisting in doing the best he knows how, he may conclude that the ministry of failure is better for him than any worldly success would be. civility. good behavior is an essential element of our civilization. it should be displayed every day through courteous acts and becoming manners. politeness is said to be the poetry of conduct; and like poetry, it has many qualities. let not your politeness he too florid, but of that gentle kind which indicates a refined nature. in his relations with others, one should never forget his good breeding. it is a general regard for the feelings of others that springs from the absence of all selfishness. no one should behave in the presence of others as though his own wishes were bound to be gratified or his will to control. [illustration] in the more active sphere of business, as in the larger localities where there is close competition, the small merchant frequently outstrips his more powerful rival by one element of success, which may be added to any stock without cost, but cannot be withheld without loss. that element is civility. a kind and obliging manner carries with it an indescribable charm. it must not be a manner that indicates a mean, groveling, timeserving spirit, but a plain, open, and agreeable demeanor that seems to desire to oblige for the pleasure of doing so, and not for the sake of squeezing an extra penny out of a customer's purse. integrity. the sole reliance of a business man should be in the integrity of his transactions, and in the civility of his demeanor. he should make it the interest and the pleasure of a customer to come to his office or store. if he does this, he will form the very best "connections," and so long as he continues this system of business, they will never desert him. no real business man will take advantage of a customer's ignorance, nor equivocate nor misrepresent. if he sells goods, he will have but one price and a small profit. he will ere long find all the most profitable customers--the cash ones--or they will find him. if such a man is ever deceived in business transactions, he will never attempt to save himself by putting the deception upon others; but submit to the loss, and be more cautious in future. in his business relations, he will stick to those whom he finds strictly just in their transactions, and shun all others even at a temporary disadvantage. the word of a business man should be worth all that it expresses and promises, and all engagements should be met with punctilious concern. an indifferent or false policy in business is a serious mistake. it is fatal to grasp an advantage at ten times its cost; and there is nothing to compensate for the loss of a neighbor's confidence or good will. the long-established customs and forms of business, which in these times are assumed to be legitimate, already have within them enough of the elements of peculiarity, commonly termed "tricks of trade," or, in the sense of any particular business, "tricks of the trade." therefore it does not behoove any active man to make gratuitous additions of a peculiar nature to the law of business. on the contrary, all should strive to render business transactions less peculiar than they are. economy. one may rest in the assurance that industry and economy will be sure to tell in the end. if in early life these habits become confirmed, no doubt can exist as to the ultimate triumph of the merchant in attaining a competency. there should be no antagonism between economy and a generous business policy. narrow selfishness is to be avoided in the use of money or means. in buying goods, one should not take advantage of another's necessities to beat him down to a figure which leaves him little or no profit, perhaps a loss, because he must have money. this is against manhood and is a ruinous policy, because it tends to picayunishness and chicanery. a sacred regard for the principles of justice forms the basis of every transaction, and regulates the conduct of the upright man of business. [illustration] if economy is wealth, it is not so because of a niggardly and parsimonious policy. perhaps the simplest, fewest and best rules for economical business are these, by observance of which a noted merchant amassed a large fortune: . obtain the earliest and fullest information possible in regard to the matter in hand. . act rapidly and promptly upon it. . keep your intentions and means secret. . secure the best [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'employes'] employees you can obtain, and reward them liberally. proprietors of institutions will early discover that order, and neatness, are necessary as economical agents in prosecuting a successful business. and the youth who would grow up to become well-to-do, to gain complete success, to be a valuable member and assume a position in society, should take pains to acquire habits of cleanliness, of order, and of business. to this effect each one may early learn the simple rules of health and good order by paying reasonable attention to those so-called minor details, which pertain to the well-being of the person, and which must be faithfully observed in order to avoid failure and win success. a person, young or old, in or out of business, may keep a memorandum-book in his pocket, in which he notes every particular relative to appointments, addresses, and petty cash matters. an accurate account of personal expenses should be kept, which should be balanced each week. by this means each individual will be more careful and economical in his expenditures, and generally live within his income. he must be reasonable in spending, or his memorandum or record-book, if it be honestly kept, will stand to his discredit. a well-kept memorandum-book is often very useful, as it is very convenient, and sometimes serves to settle a troublesome query, arising in other minds, by which the possessor is absolved from the prejudice of doubt. young people who expect to labor with their hands for what they have of this world's goods, or rise by their own efforts, should by all means acquire habits of economy, learn to save, form correct habits, and no time will be required overcoming these. so surely as they do this, so surely will they be in a situation to ask no special favors. every man wants to learn to look out for himself and rely upon himself. every man needs to feel that he is the peer of every other man, and he cannot do it if he is penniless. money is power, and those who have it exert a wider influence than the destitute. hence it should be the ambition of all young men to acquire it, as well as to store their minds with useful knowledge. getting a situation. in seeking a situation, it is always best to appear in person if practicable. a business man who requires the services of a salesman or clerk, a bookkeeper, stenographer, or some one to remain in his employ a considerable time, usually prefers to see an applicant and have a few words with him about the work that is to be done. if an application has to be made by letter, it should be done in the handwriting of the applicant. it may be brief, and should include references. it is best for a young man to learn a trade. in this country the trades offer more stable means of subsistence than do other departments of active life. his knowledge of a trade will form no bar to any effort he may afterward make to rise to a higher or more congenial calling. when a position has been obtained by an applicant, he should at once proceed to render himself indispensable to his employer by following up the details of his work in a conscientious and agreeable manner. thus he will gain confidence and grow in favor with men who are quick to recognize merit, and who respond to that which contributes to the success of a meritorious man. [illustration] there is always room in every business for an honest, hard-worker. it will not do to presume otherwise; nor should one sit down to grumble or concoct mischief. the most perilous hour of one's life is when he is tempted to despond. he who loses, his courage loses all. there are men in the world who would rather work than be idle at the same price. imitate them. success is not far off. an honorable and happy life is before you. lay hold of it. * * * * * [illustration: detecting counterfeit money.] detecting counterfeit money the desire to accumulate property is one of the noblest that nature has implanted in man, and it is through the successful results of this desire, we are enabled to point with unerring certainty to the disembarking line, which so surely characterizes the advanced educated, refined and civilized man from that of the wild savage, whose highest desire is to slay and rob his fellow men, and proudly exhibit their scalps, or the plunder he has acquired, as evidence of his cunning or courage. it is through this inborn desire to accumulate that man is willing to labor, toil, suffer, and forego present gratifications for the hope of future greater satisfactions; that has resulted in the building and equiping the mighty ships of commerce, whose white, spreading canvas dots every sea where commerce may be known, or where the interests of god's creatures may best be served. it is through this desire, coupled with unremitting toil, that we owe everything of permanent enjoyment, of enlightenment and of prosperity. the millions of dollars of paper money which is handled every day as the natural fruit of toil and saving through the many and diversified transactions in the vast, illimitable and ever rapidly developing field of commerce, is but the representative of ownership of property. if this representative is what it purports on its face to be, each and every one who receives it in exchange for services or commodities, owns not merely a piece of paper, with designs, words and promises printed or engraved thereon, but an interest or an undivided whole in a farm, a block of buildings or a store well stocked with merchandise, which, in his estimation, at least, is more desirable to him than the labor or commodity for which he has voluntarily made the exchange; but, if on the contrary, it is other than what it purports on its face to be, he finds that he is the owner of a piece of paper whose value is _nil_. there is, at the present writing, , nearly eight hundred million dollars of paper currency in the united states, consisting of greenbacks and national currency, a great portion of which is in actual circulation, and it has been estimated by eminent authorities, who occupy positions of trust in the various departments through which the financial machinery of this vast sea of paper money is daily circulated, that there is in circulation nearly one-fifth of this amount in counterfeit money, or about one hundred and sixty million dollars; and not one dollar of this counterfeit money owes its circulation to any excellence of the work in its manufacture, but wholly to the general ignorance of those who handle it, as to what is required to constitute a genuine bill. the time will come when the united states will redeem all of its issue of paper money, when those who are holding any of this counterfeit money will have to stand the loss to the extent of the sum in their possession. to all of those who are willing to take a small portion of their time each day for a few weeks in learning just what it takes to constitute a genuine bill, there need be no necessity of ever losing anything by counterfeiters, as it is impossible for them to make bills which will in any way approach the beauty and exactness of the genuine ones. there is not at the present time, nor has there ever been in the past, nor will there ever be in the future, a counterfeit bill made that cannot be detected at sight; and the positive knowledge of how to know at all times when a bill is genuine and when not is within the reach of all those who may have the privilege of reading the following information or infallible rules with a genuine desire to be benefited thereby. devices and frauds. various devices are resorted to by a numerous gang or body of persons, to get on in the world without turning their attention to legitimate and useful employments. this class includes many that are not engaged in the practice of counterfeiting and putting forth bad money, but who make themselves felt in various ways through vain tricks and schemes, which are, to all intents and purposes, frauds. business men are generally apt at detecting and turning off petty schemes, but they find it best to have the means with which they may deal successfully as against regular swindlers, forgers and counterfeiters. counterfeit and genuine work. [illustration: detecting counterfeit money] as indicated above, counterfeit notes are issued and put into the channels of circulation in abundance every year by those engaged in the practice of counterfeiting. these notes are often such good imitations of the genuine that it is quite difficult to discern the difference. that he may protect himself, each business man should have some definite knowledge of a genuine bank-note. the engraving of a genuine bank note, in most all of its parts, is done by machinery, and it is more exact and perfect. on the contrary, most all parts of counterfeit notes are done by hand. counterfeiters cannot afford to purchase machinery, such as is used for the production of genuine notes. the cost of such machinery is between $ , , and $ , , and if it were in wrong hands it would be always liable to seizure and confiscation. in order to prevent the forgery of bank-notes, a great deal of ingenuity and art has been expended on their production. the principal features of the manufacture are described as a peculiar kind of paper and water mark; an elaborate design, printed with a peculiar kind of ink, and certain private marks, known only by the bank officials. the work of counterfeiters can never equal that of the makers of genuine notes, whose skill and facilities for producing the highest grade of work known to the art, are the best that the world affords. unless one is somewhat learned as to the quality of engraving, that he may be able to distinguish a fine specimen of the art when he sees it, he is likely to become a victim of the counterfeiter's operations. lathe work. when the genuineness of a bank-note is doubted, the lathe work on the note should first be closely scrutinized. the several letters of denomination, circles, ovals, and shadings between and around the letters in the words, etc., are composed of numberless extremely fine lines--inclusive of lines straight, curved and network. these are all regular and unbroken, never running into each other, and may be traced throughout with a magnifying glass. without the skill or machinery, by which the genuine is produced, the same quality of work cannot be done. therefore, in a counterfeit, the lines are imperfect, giving the paper a dull or hazy aspect, that may be all the better appreciated by comparing it with the genuine. the lines in the counterfeit will be found now and then irregular in size, and broken: not uniform in course, sometimes heavy, sometimes light: no two stamps or dies on the same note being exactly alike. the fine, uniform, shade-lines, with which the letters on the genuine are embellished, are wrought by a machine that cannot be reproduced by counterfeiters, nor used for other than legitimate purposes, by authority. geometrical lathe. the fine line is the characteristic of the various and beautiful figures which are seen on a genuine note. this line is produced by what is called the geometrical lathe. the patterns made by the geometrical lathe are of every variety of form. they are not engraved directly upon the bank-note plate, but on pieces of soft steel plate, which are afterwards hardened. the impressions are then transferred to a soft steel roller, which, in its turn, is also hardened, and the impressions remain there, in relief. this roller is then capable of transferring the same designs to the bank-note plate by means of the transfer press. in counterfeit engraving, the design is made directly upon the plate, and not by transfer, as in the production of plates for genuine notes. the essential difference between the two methods of production is, the counterfeit is made by hand, and is inexact and imperfect, while the genuine is made on geometrical principles, and is therefore exact, artistic and beautiful. in all the government issues the geometric lathe work is liberally used. this should be studied carefully, as it constitutes the chief test of genuineness. fine lines, of unerring exactness, never broken, are seen on the genuine medallion heads, or shields, upon which the designation of the note is sometimes stamped. this nicety cannot be given by hand, or with the use of imperfect machinery. by close scrutiny the lines will be found to break off in the pattern, or appear forked, irregular in size, and not well defined throughout. [illustration] on most counterfeits the vignettes are not well engraved, and the portraits have a dull appearance; the letters are usually wanting in clearness; the printing is sometimes faulty, by which some features of the note are obscured. ruling engine work. in ruling engine work, as it is called, the fine line is present, also. the engraving is produced and transferred in the same way as the geometrical lathe work. in this they are parallel and not in circles. those which constitute the shading of letters are so fine that they form a perfectly even gray shade. they may be printed so that the shading will appear darker, but the aspect will be uniform. the spaces between lines are exact, whether the lines be horizontal or diagonal. the lines are also made crooked or wave-like, not absolutely parallel. ruling engine work is generally used for shading of names of banks, and also for the names of town, state, etc. vignettes. while lathe work and that of the ruling engine are invariably machine work, and therefore cannot be successfully reproduced by counterfeiters, the vignettes are chiefly the work of the hands. in all genuine work they are made by first class artists, who are well paid for their services, and who therefore have no incentive to exercise their skill for illegitimate purposes. sometimes water and sky are done with the ruling engine, and when they are, no counterfeiter can successfully imitate them. fine vignettes are seldom seen on counterfeit notes. if the lathe and ruling engine work be genuine, an ordinary vignette cannot make a note counterfeit, and if that be counterfeit, no vignette can make the note genuine. the vignettes on genuine notes are executed by men at the head of their vocation, and are very life-like and beautiful. counterfeit vignettes usually have a sunken and lifeless appearance. genuine vignettes, as seen upon government issues, consist of out-door scenes, portraits, historical pictures, and allegorical figures. they are all exceedingly beautiful, and it is not likely that such work will ever be successfully imitated. solid print. the lettering, or solid print, in genuine work is done by a first-class artist, who makes that kind of work his exclusive concern. the name of the engraving company is always engraved with great pains and is very accurate. it will be seen on the upper and lower margin of the note. this, in counterfeits, is not quite uniform or even. the words "one dollar," as on the one dollar greenbacks, are to be considered as a sample of solid print. bank-note paper. bank-notes are printed upon paper composed of linen, the qualify of which is not always the same, and it varies in thickness. therefore, the paper is not always a sure test, but it is important. the manufacture of this paper is a profound secret, as carefully kept as the combinations to the great vaults where the government's millions lie awaiting further river and harbor bills. it is made only at the dalton mill, which dates back almost to colonial days. what its combinations are nobody knows except those intimately connected with its manufacture. the secret of the paper-making is jealously guarded, as is also the paper itself. from the moment it is made until it gets into the treasury vaults it is carefully guarded. it goes there in small iron safes, the sheets carefully counted, and all precautions against its loss being taken both by the government officials and by the express companies which carry it. counterfeit signatures. sometimes genuine notes are stolen before they are signed; then the only thing about them made counterfeit is the signatures. those who are familiar with the signatures of the officers of the bank where notes are purloined, may not be lead into error, as such signatures usually appear more or less cramped or unsteady; but there is no sure protection against a counterfeit of this kind for those who do not have special knowledge of the signatures. [illustration: united states treasury building, washington, d.c.] altered bank-notes. bank-notes are altered in two ways, namely: raising the denomination, and changing the name of a broken to that of a responsible bank. first, in altering a note, it is scraped until thin: then figures of larger denomination are pasted over. a pasted note may be detected by holding it up to the light, when the pasted parts will appear darker, as they are thicker. second, the denomination of a note is raised by taking out a low one with an acid, and printing in a higher one with a counterfeit stamp. the ink used in genuine bank-note printing is a peculiar kind, and not easily to be obtained by counterfeiters: therefore, their printing will not appear as clear and bright as that of the government, which is done with ink of the finest quality. if the ink is black, it gives a clear and glossy impression, without any of that smutty appearance, as is sometimes seen in counterfeit bank-notes. it is almost impossible to imitate the green ink that is used by the government, and it is nearly as difficult to imitate the red and other colors. counterfeit inks look dull and muddy, while genuine inks have a glossy appearance. in the case of a note altered by the use of acid, it may be noticed that the acid, by spreading more than was intended by the counterfeiter, has injured parts of other letters, and the paper will appear more or less stained by the acid. comparing and examining notes. a counterfeit should be compared with one that is genuine, in order to familiarize one's self with the distinguishing features which have already been indicated. it is best to acquire the habit of giving each note as received a searching glance, turning it over to see the back, and if there be any defect, it will probably catch the eye. if there be the least suspicion, a critical examination of all its parts should be made. in case of doubt, the lathe work should be carefully examined, and it may be compared with a perfectly good bill; then examine the shading around the letters, and search for any sign of alteration in the title or denomination of the note. if there are any medallion heads or shields, notice the lines; if there is any red letter work, designed to appear on both sides, look at the character of the work on the face, then turn the note and examine the back. if the printing is not exactly alike on both sides, but varies in any part the note is counterfeit. then observe the vignettes and portraits, to see whether their style and perfection compare well with the work on genuine notes. then examine the solid print and engravers' names, as well as the printing, ink, and paper. by such thorough examination, one can hardly be at a loss to determine the status of the note. good magnifying glasses are necessary, in most instances, to bring out the fine lines on bank-notes. sometimes a microscope of great power is required to discern the genuine line. piecing, etc. counterfeiters sometimes make ten bills of nine by what is termed piecing. thus, a counterfeit note is cut into ten pieces by the counterfeiter, and these pieces are used in piecing nine genuine bills, from each of which a piece has been cut. the nine genuine pieces, thus obtained, are then pasted together, and with the tenth counterfeit piece added, make a tenth bill, which is the gain. piecing bank-bills is not a very successful practice. one who possesses such information as here given, can readily detect the difference between the counterfeit and the genuine. this difference is, however, made less apparent by the counterfeiter, who defaces the counterfeit part, so as to give the note a worn appearance. counterfeiting is rendered very difficult in consequence of the remarkable excellence of the work on the government and national currency, as also from the difficulty of imitating the green. but this currency, if successfully imitated by counterfeiters, will repay large outlay and care, as the greenbacks pass anywhere in the nation, and a counterfeit may be carried to other states or sections as it becomes known in any particular locality. national bank currency may be counterfeited by preparing a plate, and then with simple change in the name of the bank the counterfeit can be adapted to the various towns where banks are located. this much is written, not to lessen the value of or confidence in the issues of the government, but to admonish the public against the dangers of a false security. [illustration] * * * * * [illustration: how to advertise] how to advertise embracing rules, suggestions, and practical hints on this important subject. [illustration] volumes might be written on the necessity of, and the various methods employed for, advertising. many prosperous men owe their success in life to judicious and liberal advertising. in this age of strong competition in the various avenues of trade, he who does not advertise his wares will probably be outdone by a more ambitious dealer, with perhaps a poorer article, who advertises liberally. people go where they are invited, and the merchant who advertises freely, places his store and windows in attractive order, and leaves the door open, will do far more business than he who does not cater to the public, is indifferent about appearances, gruff, and complaining of hard times. horace greeley laid it down as a rule that a merchant should advertise equal to his rent. this, like all good rules, ought to have exceptions. an old and well established business would not require so much, while a new enterprise would require more than this amount expended judiciously in advertising. the merchant should decide at the beginning of the year about, what amount he may expend in advertising during the year, and then endeavor to place that amount in the best possible manner before the public. an advertiser should not be discouraged too soon. returns are often slow and inadequate. time is required to familiarize the public with a new article or new name. some men have given up in despair, when just on the eve of reaping a harvest of success by this means. many of the most prosperous and wealthy business men in this country have at times been driven hard to meet their advertising bills, but they knew that this was their most productive outlay, and by persistently continuing it they weathered the storm. newspaper advertising. select the newspaper which circulates among the class of persons desired to reach. do not advertise a special article or business designed for a limited class of customers, in a general newspaper. almost all trades and occupations in these latter days have their special journals, and these afford the best means of reaching that class of persons. the purpose of the advertiser then should be to discover, first, the character of a paper's circulation, and second, the extent of its circulation. on these two essentials may then be based an estimate of its value as an advertising medium. the character of a paper's circulation is easily determined by the quality of the reading matter which the paper contains, and the general tone imparted to it by its conductors. the extent of a paper's circulation bears chiefly on the rates of advertising, which, other things being equal, should have a direct ratio to it. the extent of circulation is a matter of almost constant misrepresentation on the part of publishers or their agents. as a rule, the most prominent and costly part of the paper is the best. in country weeklies the "local items," or next to them, is preferable. in city journals containing a large amount of reading matter, a well displayed advertisement on the outside pages is perhaps the best for most classes of business. place the advertisement before the public at the proper time, just when people are beginning to feel the need of such as the article advertised, as furs, when winter sets in. an advertisement may, however, profitably be kept before the public constantly, and increased or diminished as occasion requires. circulars. there are many well established firms who will not advertise in the newspapers at all. they believe that the same amount of money spent in circulars, catalogues, etc., sent direct to the persons whom they desire to reach, pays better than newspaper advertising. this is more direct, and affords the advertiser the opportunity of setting forth his claims more fully. circulars, cards, catalogues, etc., also afford a means for the display of taste in their typographical arrangement and appearance, and often times this has as much to do in making an impression on the person who receives it, as the reading matter contained therein. the printed circular goes out to the public as the representative of the house; it should, therefore, in order to command attention and respect, have about it, an air of appropriateness and attraction. such a circular will perhaps be carefully preserved for years, while another which was of not enough importance, apparently, to the proprietor or firm issuing it, to command their taste and skill, will soon be thrown aside as of no importance to the person receiving it. several circulars must often be sent in order to command the attention and secure the custom of a person. where circulars referring to the same article are repeatedly sent out, the attention of the person who receives them is likely to be arrested at last, and his response may be made in the form of an order. perhaps thereafter he becomes a constant customer, buying himself, and recommending his friends to do likewise. charts, calendars, etc. an important idea in advertising is to enlist the services of others, by making it to their interest to advertise your business. this is often done by sending out charts, calendars, etc., containing useful information, together with the advertisement. these, when properly arranged and prepared in an attractive manner, will be placed in a conspicuous place in the store, office, or home of the person receiving them. railway, insurance, and other corporations have vied with each other in the elegance and attractiveness of their charts, etc., until they have gone into the fine arts, and spared no expense to captivate the public. letters. more effectual than circulars, and nearest a personal interview, is a personal letter. as an advertisement the letter impresses itself upon the mind of the person receiving it, in an unusual way. a prominent firm employed clerks, and had written several thousand letters, at many times the cost of printed circulars, which they mailed throughout the country, calling especial attention to their line of goods. even the two cent postage stamp, and the envelope being sealed, impresses the person receiving it with the thought that it is of importance, and one of the largest dry goods houses in chicago, when issuing any circular which they regard as special, seal the envelope and place a two cent stamp thereon. they consider that this gives their circulars a preference over ordinary printed matter. certain it is, that the public accept advertisements largely at the value and importance attached to them by their owners. drummers and agents. personal effort exceeds all other means of advertising, and competition in many branches of business has become so strong in these times, and the facilities for travel so excellent, that large numbers of solicitors and agents traverse the country. good personal address, a thorough understanding of the business, a knowledge of human nature, together with social qualities, constitute a good drummer. how to write an advertisement. before writing an advertisement, one should always place before his mind what is the most important thing to impress upon the public. if he is advertising an article of established trade, it is the name and location of the house selling it which must be the more prominent, or at least equally so with any other part; but if he be introducing some new article, or seeking to extend the sale of something little known or rare, these items are of far less importance, and the name of the article itself should be more prominent. the advertisement should be so constructed as to claim the attention of the reader, and retain that attention until he has read it through. "excite but never satisfy," is the principle pursued by many successful advertisers. the advertisement should never contain anything repugnant to refined taste, and nothing grotesque or ridiculous. the most meaning should be condensed into the fewest possible words. the wording should often be changed, and an attractive typography should be used. it is well to choose an attractive heading, followed by fairly spaced paragraphs, with appropriate sub-heads. * * * * * [illustration: how to be handsome.] how to be handsome where is the woman who would not be beautiful? if such there be--but no, she does not exist. from that memorable day when the queen of sheba made a formal call on the late lamented king solomon until the recent advent of the jersey lily, the power of beauty has controlled the fate of dynasties and the lives of men. how to be beautiful, and consequently powerful, is a question of far greater importance to the feminine mind than predestination or any other abstract subject. if women are to govern, control, manage, influence and retain the adoration of husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers or even cousins, they must look their prettiest at all times. all women cannot have good features, but they can look well, and it is possible to a great extent to correct deformity and develop much of the figure. the first step to good looks is good health, and the first element of health is cleanliness. keep clean--wash freely, bathe regularly. all the skin wants is leave to act, and it takes care of itself. in the matter of baths we do not strongly advocate a plunge in ice-cold water; it takes a woman with clear grit and a strong constitution to endure it. if a hot bath be used, let it come before retiring, as there is less danger of taking cold afterwards; and, besides, the body is weakened by the ablution and needs immediate rest. it is well to use a flesh-brush, and afterwards rinse off the soap-suds by briskly rubbing the body with a pair of coarse toilet gloves. the most important part of a bath is the drying. every part of the body should be rubbed to a glowing redness, using a coarse crash towel at the finish. if sufficient friction can not be given, a small amount of bay rum applied with the palm of the hand will be found efficacious. ladies who have ample leisure and who lead methodical lives, take a plunge or sponge bath three times a week, and a vapor or sun bath every day. to facilitate this very beneficial practice, a south or east apartment is desirable. the lady denudes herself, takes a seat near the window, and takes in the warm rays of the sun. the effect is both beneficial and delightful. if, however, she be of a restless disposition, she may dance, instead of basking, in the sunlight. or, if she be not fond of dancing, she may improve the shining hours by taking down her hair and brushing it, using sulphur water, pulverized borax dissolved in alcohol, or some similar dressing. it would be surprising to many ladies to see her carefully wiping the separate locks on a clean, white towel until the dust of the previous day is entirely removed. with such care it is not necessary to wash the head, and the hair under this treatment is invariably good. one of the most useful articles of the toilet is a bottle of ammonia, and any lady who has once learned its value will never be without it. a few drops in the water takes the place of the usual amount of soap, and cleans out the pores of the skin as well as a bleach will do. wash the face with a flesh-brush, and rub the lips well to tone their color. it is well to bathe the eyes before putting in the spirits, and if it is desirable to increase their brightness, this may be done by dashing soapsuds into them. always rub the eyes, in washing, toward the nose. if the eyebrows are inclined to spread irregularly, pinch the hairs together where thickest. if they show a tendency to meet, this contact may be avoided by pulling out the hairs every morning before the toilet. the dash of orientalism in costume and lace now turns a lady's attention to her eyelashes, which are worthless if not long and drooping. indeed, so prevalent is the desire for this beautiful feature that hair-dressers and ladies' artists have scores of customers under treatment for invigorating their stunted eyelashes and eyebrows. to obtain these fringed curtains, anoint the roots with a balsam made of two drachms of nitric oxid of mercury mixed with one of leaf lard. after an application wash the roots with a camel's hair brush dipped in warm milk. tiny scissors are used, with which the lashes are carefully but slightly trimmed every other day. when obtained, refrain from rubbing or even touching the lids with the finger-nails. there is more beauty in a pair of well-kept eyebrows and full, sweeping eyelashes than people are aware of, and a very inattractive and lusterless eye assumes new beauty when it looks out from beneath elongated fringes. many ladies have a habit of rubbing the corners of their eyes to remove the dust that will frequently accumulate there. unless this operation is done with little friction it will be found that the growth of hair is very spare, and in that case it will become necessary to pencil the barren corners. instead of putting cologne water on the handkerchief, which has come to be considered a vulgarism among ladies of correct tastes, the perfume is spent on the eyebrows and lobes of the ears. if commenced in youth, thick lips may be reduced by compression, and thin linear ones are easily modified by suction. this draws the blood to the surfaces, and produces at first a temporary and, later, a permanent inflation. it is a mistaken belief that biting the lips reddens them. the skin of the lips is very thin, rendering them extremely susceptible to organic derangement, and if the atmosphere does not cause chaps or parchment, the result of such harsh treatment will develop into swelling or the formation of scars. above all things, keep a sweet breath. everybody can not have beautiful hands, but there is no plausible reason for their being ill kept. red hands may be overcome by soaking the feet in hot water as often as possible. if the skin is hard and dry, use tar or oat-meal soap, saturate them with glycerine, and wear gloves in bed. never bathe them in hot water, and wash no oftener than is necessary. there are dozens of women with soft, white hands who do not put them in water once a month. rubber gloves are worn in making the toilet, and they are cared for by an ointment of glycerine and rubbed dry with chamois-skin or cotton flannel. the same treatment is not unfrequently applied to the face with the most successful results. if such methods are used, it would be just as well to keep the knowledge of it from the gentlemen. we know of one beautiful lady who has not washed her face for three years, yet it is always clean, rosy, sweet and kissable. with some of her other secrets she gave it to her lover for safe keeping. unfortunately, it proved to be her last gift to that gentleman, who declared in a subsequent note that "i can not reconcile my heart and my manhood to a woman who can get along without washing her face." some of the secrets of beauty. there is as much a "fashion" in complexion as there is in bonnets or boots. sometimes nature is the mode, sometimes art. just now the latter is in the ascendant, though, as a rule, only in that inferior phase which has not reached the "concealment of art"--the point where extremes meet and the perfection of artifice presents all the appearance of artlessness. no one of an observant turn of mind, who is accustomed to the sight of english maids and matrons, can deny that making-up, as at present practiced, partakes of the amateurish element. impossible reds and whites grow still more impossibly red and white from week to week under the unskilled hands of the wearer of "false colors," who does not like to ask for advice on so delicate a subject, for, even were she willing to confess to the practice, the imputation of experience conveyed in the asking for counsel might be badly received, and would scarcely be in good taste. the prevalent and increasing short-sightedness of our times is, perhaps, partly the cause of the excessive use of rouge and powder. the wielder of the powder puff sees herself afar off, as it were. she knows that she cannot judge of the effect of her complexion with her face almost touching its reflection in the glass, and, standing about a yard off, she naturally accentuates her roses and lilies in a way that looks very pleasing to her, but is rather startling to any one with longer sight. nor can she tone down her rouge with the powdered hair that softened the artificial coloring of her grandmother when she had her day. powder is only occasionally worn with evening dress, and it is by daylight that those dreadful bluish reds and whites look their worst. on the other hand, there are some women so clever at making up their faces that one feels almost inclined to condone the practice in admiration of the result. these are the small minority, and are likely to remain so, for their secret is of a kind unlikely to be shared. the closest inspection of these cleverly managed complexions reveals no trace of art. notwithstanding the reticence of these skilled artists, an occasional burst of confidence has revealed a few of their means of accomplishing the great end of looking pretty. "do you often do that?" said one of those clever ones, a matron of , who looked like a girl of , to a friend who was vigorously rubbing her cheeks with a course towel after a plentiful application of cold water. "yes, every time i come in from a walk, ride or drive. why?" "well, no wonder you look older than you are. you are simply wearing your face out!" "but i must wash?" "certainly, but not like that. take a leaf out of my book; never wash you face just before going out into the fresh air, or just after coming in. nothing is more injurious to the skin. come to the glass. do you notice a drawn look about your eyes and a general streakiness in the cheeks? that is the result of your violent assault upon your complexion just now. you look at this moment ten years older than you did twenty minutes ago in the park." "well, i really do. i look old enough to be your mother; but then, you are wonderful. you always look so young and fresh!" "because i never treat my poor face so badly as you do yours. i use rain-water, and if i cannot get that, i have the water filtered. when i dress for dinner i always wash my face with milk, adding just enough hot water to make it pleasant to use. a very soft sponge and very fine towel take the place of your terrible huckaback arrangement." two or three years ago a lady of oriental parentage on her father's side spent a season in london society. her complexion was brown, relieved by yellow, her features large and irregular, but redeemed by a pair of lovely and expressive eyes. so perfect was her taste in dress that she always attracted admiration wherever she went. dressed in rich dark brown or dullest crimsons or russets, so that no one ever noticed much what she wore, she so managed that suggestions and hints--no more--of brilliant amber or [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'promegranate'] pomegranate scarlet should appear just where they imparted brilliancy to her deep coloring, and abstract the yellow from her skin. a knot of old gold satin under the rim of her bonnet, another at her throat, and others in among the lace at her wrists, brightened up the otherwise subdued tinting of her costume, so that it always looked as though it had been designed expressly for her by some great colorist. here rouge was unnecessary. the surroundings were arranged to suit the complexion, instead of the complexion to suit the surroundings. there can be no doubt as to which is the method which best becomes the gentlewoman. in addition to the disagreeable sensation of making-up, it must be remembered that the use of some of the white powders eventually destroys the texture of the skin, rendering it rough and coarse. rimmel, the celebrated perfumer, in his "book of perfumes," says that rouge, being composed of cochineal and saffron, is harmless, but that white cosmetics consist occasionally of deleterious substances which may injure the health. he advises actors and actresses to choose cosmetics, especially the white, with the greatest care, and women of the world, who wish to preserve the freshness of their complexion, to observe the following recipe: open air, rest, exercise and cold water. in another part of this pleasant book the author says that _schonada_, a cosmetic used among the arabs, is quite innocuous and at the same time effectual. "this cream, which consists of sublimated benzoin, acts upon the skin as a slight stimulant, and imparts perfectly natural colors during some hours without occasioning the inconveniences with which european cosmetics may justly be reproached." it is a well-known fact that bismuth, a white powder containing sugar of lead, injures the nerve-centers when constantly employed, and occasionally causes paralysis itself. in getting up the eyes, nothing is injurious that is not dropped into them. tho use of _kohl_ or _kohol_ is quite harmless, and, it must be confessed, very effective when applied--as the famous recipe for salad dressing enjoins with regard to the vinegar--by the hand of a miser. modern egyptian ladies make their _kohol_ of the smoke produced by burning almonds. a small bag holding the bottle of _kohol_, and a pin, with a rounded point with which to apply it, form part of the toilet paraphernalia of all the beauties of cairo, who make the immense mistake of getting up their eyes in an exactly similar manner, thus trying to reduce the endless variety of nature to one common pattern, a mistake that may be accounted for by the fact that the arabs believe _kohol_ to be a sovereign specific against ophthalmia. their english sisters often make the same mistake without the same excuse. a hairpin steeped in lampblack is the usual method of darkening the eyes in england, retribution following sooner or later in the shape of a total loss of the eyelashes. eau de cologne is occasionally dropped into the eyes, with the effect of making them brighter. the operation is painful, and it is said that half a dozen drops of whisky and the same quantity of eau de cologne, eaten on a lump of sugar, is quite as effective. high-heeled boots. a lady looks infinitely taller and slimmer in a long dress than she does in a short costume, and there is always a way of showing the feet, if desired, by making the front quite short, which gives, indeed, a more youthful appearance to a train dress. the greatest attention must, of course, be paid to the feet with these short dresses, and i may here at once state that high heels are absolutely forbidden by fashion. doctors, are you content? only on cheap shoes and boots are they now made, and are only worn by common people. a good bootmaker will not make high heels now, even if paid double price to do so. ladies--that is, real ladies--now wear flat-soled shoes and boots, _a la_ cinderella. for morning walking, boots or high moliere shoes are worn. if you wear boots you may wear any stockings you like, for no one sees them. but if you wear shoes you must adapt your stockings to your dress. floss silk, scotch thread, and even cotton stockings are worn for walking, silk stockings have returned into exclusively evening wear. day stockings should be of the same color as the dress, but they may be shaded, or stripped, or dotted, just as you please. white stockings are absolutely forbidden for day wear--no one wears them--no one dares wear them under fashion's interdiction. how to appear graceful in walking. the whole secret of standing and walking erect consists in keeping the chin well away from the breast. this throws the head upward and backward, and the shoulders will naturally settle backward and in their true position. those who stoop in walking generally look downward. the proper way is to look straight ahead, upon the same level with your eyes, or if you are inclined to stoop, until that tendency is overcome, look rather above than below the level. mountaineers are said to be as "straight as an arrow," and the reason is because they are obliged to look upward so much. it is simply impossible to stoop in walking if you will heed and practice this rule. you will notice that all round-shouldered persons carry the chin near the breast and pointed downward. take warning in time, and heed grandmother's advice, for a bad habit is more easily prevented than cured. the habit of stooping when one walks or stands is a bad habit and especially hard to cure. * * * * * [illustration: multum in parvo.] multum in parvo history of the bibles of the world. the bibles of the world are the koran of the mohammedans, the tripitaka of the buddhists, the five kings of the chinese, the three vedas of the hindoos, the zendavesta of the parsees and the scriptures of the christians. the koran, says the chicago times, is the most recent, dating from the seventh century after christ. it is a compound of quotations from both the old and the new testaments and from the talmud. the tripitaka contain sublime morals and pure aspirations. their author lived and died in the sixth century before christ. the sacred writings of the chinese are called the five kings, the word "king" meaning web of cloth. from this it is presumed that they were originally written on five rolls of cloth. they contain wise sayings from the sages on the duties of life, but they can not be traced further back than the eleventh century before our era. the vedas are the most ancient books in the language of the hindoos, but they do not, according to late commentators, antedate the twelfth before the christian era. the zendaveata of the parsees, next to our bible, is reckoned among scholars as being the greatest and most learned of the sacred writings. zoroaster, whose sayings it contains, lived and worked in the twelfth century before christ. moses lived and wrote the pentateuch , years before the birth of jesus, therefore that portion of our bible is at least years older than the most ancient of other sacred writings. the eddas, a semi-sacred work of the scandinavians, was first given to the world in the fourteen century a.d. precious stones. arranged according to color and in order of hardiness. _limpid_.--diamond, sapphire, topaz, rock-crystal. _blue_.--sapphire, topaz, indicolite, turquoise, spinel, aquamarine, kaynite. _green_.--oriental emerald, chrysoberyl, amazon stone, malachite, emerald, chrysoprase, chrysolite. _yellow_.--diamond, topaz, fire-opal. _red_.--sapphire-ruby, spinel-ruby, rubellite, garnet, brazilian-topaz, hyacinth, carnelian. _violet_.--oriental-amethyst, amethyst. _black and brown_.--diamond, tourmaline, hyacinth, garnet. how to measure corn in the crib. rule: st. measure the length, breadth and height of the crib inside the rail; multiply them together and divide by two, the result is the number of bushels of shelled corn. d. level the corn so that it is of equal depth throughout, multiply the length, breath and depth together, and this product by four, and cut off one figure to the right of the product; the other will represent the number of bushels of shelled corn. d. multiply length by height, and then by width, add two ciphers to the result and divide by ; this gives the number of bushels of ear corn. home dressmaking. the art of dressmaking in america has been of late years so simplified that almost anyone with a reasonable degree of executive ability can manufacture a fashionable costume by using an approved pattern and following the directions printed upon it, selecting a new pattern for each distinct style; while in europe many ladies adhere to the old plan of cutting one model and using it for everything, trusting to personal skill or luck to gain the desired formation. however, some useful hints are given which are well worth offering after the paper pattern has been chosen. the best dressmakers here and abroad use silk for lining, but nothing is so durable or preserves the material as well as a firm slate twill. this is sold double width and should be laid out thus folded: place the pattern upon it with the upper part towards the cut end, the selvedge for the fronts. the side pieces for the back will most probably be got out of the width, while the top of the back will fit in the intersect of the front. a yard of good stuff may be often saved by laying the pattern out and well considering how one part cuts into another. prick the outline on to the lining; these marks serve as a guide for the tacking. in forming the front side plaits be careful and do not allow a fold or crease to be apparent on the bodice beyond where the stitching commences. to avoid this, before beginning stick a pin through what is to be the top of the plait. the head will be on the right side, and holding the point, one can begin pinning the seam without touching the upper part of the bodice. to ascertain the size of the buttonholes put a piece of card beneath the button to be used and cut it an eighth of an inch on either side beyond. having turned down the piece in front on the buttonhole side run a thread a sixteenth of an inch from the extreme edge, and again another the width of the card. begin to cut the first buttonhole at the bottom of the bodice; and continue at equal distances. the other side of the bodice is left wide enough to come well under the buttonholes. the buttonholes must be laid upon it and a pin put through the center of each to mark where the button is to be placed. in sewing on the buttons put the stiches in horizontally; if perpendicularly they are likely to pucker that side of the bodice so much that it will be quite drawn up, and the buttons will not match the buttonholes. a woman's skirts. observe the extra fatigue which is insured to every woman in merely carrying a tray upstairs, from the skirts of the dress. ask any young women who are studying to pass examinations whether they do not find loose clothes a _sine qua non_ while poring over their books, and then realize the harm we are doing ourselves and the race by habitually lowering our powers of life and energy in such a manner. as a matter of fact it is doubtful whether any persons have ever been found who would say that their stays were at all tight; and, indeed, by a muscular contraction they can apparently prove that they are not so by moving them about on themselves, and thus probably believe what they say. that they are in error all the same they can easily assure themselves by first measuring round the waist outside the stays; then take them off, let them measure while they take a deep breath, with the tape merely laid on the body as if measuring for the quantity of braid to go round a dress, and mark the result. the injury done by stays is so entirely internal that it is not strange that the maladies caused by wearing them should be attributed to every reason under the sun except the true one, which is, briefly, that all the internal organs, being by them displaced, are doing their work imperfectly and under the least advantageous conditions: and are, therefore, exactly in the state most favorable to the development of disease, whether hereditary or otherwise.--_macmillan's magazine._ to make the sleeves. as to sleeves. measure from the shoulder to the elbow and again from elbow to the wrist. lay these measurements on any sleeve patterns you may have, and lengthen and shorten accordingly. the sleeve is cut in two pieces, the top of the arm and the under part, which is about an inch narrower than the outside. in joining the two together, if the sleeve is at all tight, the upper part is slightly fulled to the lower at the elbow. the sleeve is sewn to the armhole with no cordings now, and the front seam should be about two inches in front of the bodice. bodices are now worn very tight-fitting, and the french stretch the material well on the cross before beginning to cut out, and in cutting allow the lining to be slightly pulled, so that when on, the outside stretches to it and insures a better fit. an experienced eye can tell a french-cut bodice at once, the front side pieces being always on the cross. in dress cutting and fitting, as in everything else, there are failures and discouragements, but practice overrules these little matters, and "trying again" brings a sure reward in success. a sensible suggestion is made in regard to the finish in necks of dresses for morning wear. plain colors have rather a stiff appearance, tulle or crepe lisse frilling are expensive and frail, so it is a good idea to purchase a few yards of really good washing lace, about an inch and a half in depth; quill or plait and cut into suitable lengths to tack around the necks of dresses. this can be easily removed and cleaned when soiled. a piece of soft black spanish lace, folded loosely around the throat close to the frillings, but below it, looks very pretty; or you may get three yards of scarf lace, trim the ends with frillings, place it around the neck, leaving nearly all the length in the right hand, the end lying upon the left shoulder being about half a yard long. wind the larger piece twice around the throat, in loose, soft folds, and festoon the other yard and a half, and fasten with brooch or flower at the side.--_philadelphia times._ discovery of gold in california. it was on the th day of january, , that james w. marshall, while engaged in digging a race for a saw-mill at coloma, about thirty-five miles eastward from sutter's fort, found some pieces of yellow metal, which he and the half-dozen men working with him at the mill supposed to be gold. he felt confident that he had made a discovery of great importance, but he knew nothing of either chemistry or gold-mining, so he could not prove the nature of the metal nor tell how to obtain it in paying quantities. every morning he went down to the race to look for the bits of metal; but the other men at the mill thought marshall was very wild in his ideas, and they continued their labors in building the mill, and in sowing wheat and planting vegetables. the swift current of the mill-race washed away a considerable body of earthy matter, leaving the coarse particles of gold behind; so marshall's collection of specimens continued to accumulate, and his associates began to think there might be something in his gold mines after all. about the middle of february, a mr. bennett, one of the party employed at the mill, went to san francisco for the purpose of learning whether this metal was precious, and there he was introduced to isaac humphrey, who had washed for gold in georgia. the experienced miner saw at a glance that he had the true stuff before him, and, after a few inquiries, he was satisfied that the diggings must be rich. he made immediate preparation to visit the mill, and tried to persuade some of his friends to go with him; but they thought it would be only a waste of time and money, so he went with bennett for his sole companion. he arrived at coloma on the th of march, and found the work at the mill going on as if no gold existed in the neighborhood. the next day he took a pan and spade, and washed some of the dirt in the bottom of the mill-race in places where marshall had found his specimens, and, in a few hours, humphrey declared that these mines were far richer than any in georgia. he now made a rocker and went to work washing gold industriously, and every day yielded to him an ounce or two of metal. the men at the mill made rockers for themselves, and all were soon busy in search of the yellow metal. everything else was abandoned; the rumor of the discovery spread slowly. in the middle of march pearson b. reading, the owner of a large ranch at the head of the sacramento valley, happened to visit sutter's fort, and hearing of the mining at coloma, he went thither to see it. he said that if similarity of formation could be taken as a proof, there must be gold mines near his ranch; so, after observing the method of washing, he posted off, and in a few weeks he was at work on the bars of clear creek, nearly two hundred miles northwestward from coloma. a few days after reading had left, john bidwell, now representative of the northern district of the state in the lower house of congress, came to coloma, and the result of his visit was that, in less than a month, he had a party of indians from his ranch washing gold on the bars of feather river, twenty-five miles northwestward from coloma. thus the mines were opened at far distant points. the first printed notice of the discovery of gold was given in the california newspaper published in san francisco on the th of march. on the th of may the same paper, announcing that its publication would be suspended, says: "the whole country, from san francisco to los angeles, and from the seashore to the base of the sierra nevada, resound the sordid cry of _gold! gold! gold!_ while the field is left half planted, the house half built and everything neglected but the manufacture of pick and shovels, and the means of transportation to the spot where one man obtained one hundred and twenty-eight dollars' worth of the real stuff in one day's washing; and the average for all concerned, is twenty dollars per diem. the first to commence quartz mining in california were capt. win. jackson and mr. eliason, both virginians, and the first machine used was a chilian mill. the reid mine, in north carolina, was the first gold mine discovered and worked in the united states, and the only one in north america from which, up to , gold was sent to the mint. how to make artificial gold. the following oroid or imitation gold is sometimes sold for the genuine article which it closely resembles. pure copper, parts by weight, is melted in a crucible, and then parts of magnesia, . of sal-ammoniac, . of quicklime and . of tartar are added separately and gradually in the form of powder. the whole is then stirred for about half an hour, and parts of zinc or tin in small grains are thrown in and thoroughly mixed. the [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'cruicible'] crucible is now covered and the mixture kept melted for half an hour longer, when it is skimmed and poured out. any imitation of gold may be detected by its weight, which is not one-half of what it should be, and by its dissolving in nitric acid while pure gold is untouched. how to tell any person's age. there is a good deal of amusement in the following magical table of figures. it will enable you to tell how old the young ladies are. just hand this table to a young lady, and request her to tell you in which column or columns her age is contained, and add together the figures at the top of the columns in which her age is found, and you have the great secret. thus, suppose her age to be , you will find that number in the first and fifth columns; add the first figures of these two columns. here is the magic table: what the white house costs. salary of president, $ , ; additional appropriations are about $ , . a total of $ , . the president has the following corps of assistants: private secretary, $ , ; assistant private secretary, $ , ; stenographer, $ , ; five messengers, $ , each, $ , ; steward--; two doorkeepers, $ , each, $ , ; two ushers, $ , , $ , , $ , ; night usher, $ , ; watchman, $ , and a few other minor clerks and telegraph operators. sundries.--incidental expenses, $ , ; white house repairs--carpets and refurnishing, $ , ; fuel, $ , ; green-house, $ , ; gas, matches and stable, $ , . these amounts, with others of minor importance, consume the entire appropriations. business law. ignorance of the law excuses no one. it is a fraud to conceal a fraud. the law compels no one to do impossibilities. an agreement without consideration is void. signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law. a receipt for money paid is not legally conclusive. the acts of one partner bind all the others. contracts made on sunday cannot be enforced. a contract made with a minor is void. a contract made with a lunatic is void. principals are responsible for the acts of their agents. agents are responsible to their principals for errors. each individual in a partnership is responsible for the whole amount of the debts of the firm. a note given by a minor is void. notes bear interest only when so stated. it is legally necessary to say on a note "for value received." a note drawn on sunday is void. a note obtained by fraud, or from a person in a state of intoxication, cannot be collected. if a note be lost or stolen, it does not release the maker; he must pay it. an endorser of a note is exempt from liability if not served with notice of its dishonor within twenty-four hours of its non-payment. items worth remembering. a sun bath is of more worth than much warming by the fire. books exposed to the atmosphere keep in better condition than if confined in a book-case. pictures are both for use and ornament. they serve to recall pleasant memories and scenes; they harmonize with the furnishing of the rooms. if they serve neither of these purposes they are worse than useless; they only help fill space which would look better empty, or gather dust and make work to keep them clean. a room filled with quantities of trifling ornaments has the look of a bazaar and displays neither good taste nor good sense. artistic excellence aims to have all the furnishings of a high order of workmanship combined with simplicity, while good sense understands the folly of dusting a lot of rubbish. a poor book had best be burned to give place to a better, or even to an empty shelf, for the fire destroys its poison, and puts it out of the way of doing harm. better economize in the purchasing of furniture or carpets than scrimp in buying good books or papers. our sitting-rooms need never be empty of guests or our libraries of society if the company of good books is admitted to them. remarkable calculations regarding the sun. the sun's average distance from the earth is about , , miles. since the orbit of the earth is elliptical, and the sun is situated at one of its foci, the earth is nearly , , miles further from the sun in aphelion than in perihelion. as we attempt to locate the heavenly bodies in space, we are immediately startled by the enormous figures employed. the first number, , , miles, is far beyond our grasp. let us try to comprehend it. if there were air to convey a sound from the sun to the earth, and a noise could be made loud enough to pass that distance it would require over fourteen years for it to come to us. suppose a railroad could be built to the sun. an express train traveling day and night at the rate of thirty miles an hour, would require years to reach its destination. ten generations would be born and would die; the young men would become gray haired, and their great-grandchildren would forget the story of the beginning of that wonderful journey, and could find it only in history, as we now read of queen elizabeth or of shakespeare; the eleventh generation would see the solar depot at the end of the route. yet this enormous distance of , , miles is used as the unit for expressing celestial distances--as the foot-rule for measuring space; and astronomers speak of so many times the sun's distance as we speak of so many feet or inches. signs of storms approaching.--a ring around the sun or moon stands for an approaching storm, its near or distant approach being indicated by its larger or smaller circumference. when the sun rises brightly and immediately afterward becomes veiled with clouds, the farmer distrusts the day. rains which begin early in the morning often stop by nine in place of "eleven," the hour specified in the old saw, "if it rains before seven." on a still, quiet day, with scarcely the least wind afloat, the ranchman or farmer can tell the direction of impending storm by cattle sniffing the air in the direction whence it is coming. lack of dew in summer is a rain sign. sharp white frosts in autumn and winter precede damp weather, and we will stake our reputation as a prophet that three successive white frosts are an infallible sign of rain. spiders do not spin their webs out of doors before rain. previous to rain flies sting sharper, bees remain in their hives or fly but short distances, and almost all animals appear uneasy. how to distinguish good meat from bad meat. st. it is neither of a pale pink color nor of a deep purple tint, for the former is a sign of disease, and the latter indicates that the animal has not been slaughtered, but has died with the blood in it, or has suffered from acute fever. d. it has a marked appearance from the ramifications of little veins of fat among the muscles. d. it should be firm and elastic to the touch and should scarcely moisten the fingers--bad meat being wet and sodden and flabby with the fat looking like jelly or wet parchment. th. it should have little or no odor, and the odor should not be disagreeable, for diseased meat has a sickly cadaverous smell, and sometimes a smell of physic. this is very discoverable when the meat is chopped up and drenched with warm water. th. it should not shrink or waste much in cooking. th. it should not run to water or become very wet on standing for a day or two, but should, on the contrary, dry upon the surface. th. when dried at a temperature of deg., or thereabouts, it should not lose more than from to per cent. of its weight, whereas bad meat will often lose as much as per cent. the juice of the flesh is alkaline or neutral to test paper. railroads in finland. people who think of finland as a sub-arctic country of bleak and forbidding aspect maybe surprised to hear that several railroads have already made a large part of the region accessible. a new line, miles long, has just been opened to the heart of the country in the midst of great forests and perhaps the most wonderful lake region in the world. sportsmen are now within less than a day's journey from st. petersburg of central finland, where there is the best of hunting and fishing and twenty hours of sunlight every summer day. the most unique of railroads, however, is still the little line in norway, north of the arctic circle, carrying the product of far northern mines to the sea, and famous as the only railroad that has yet invaded the polar regions. comparative size of the ark and the great eastern. the following comparison between the size of noah's ark and the great eastern, both being considered in point of tonnage, after the old law for calculating the tonnage of a vessel, exhibits a remarkable similarity. the cubit of the bible, according to sir isaac newton, is - / inches, or, to be exact, . inches. bishop wilkins makes the cubit . inches. according to newton the dimensions of the ark were: length between perpendiculars, . feet; breadth, . feet; depth, . feet; keel, or length for tonnage, . feet. tonnage, according to old law, , - . the measurements of the ark, according to wilkins' calculations were: length, feet; breadth, . feet; depth, . feet; keel, . feet. tonnage, , . notice how surprisingly near the great eastern came to being constructed after the same plan: length, feet; breadth, feet; depth, feet; keel, feet. tonnage, , . finger nails as an indication of character. a white mark on the nail bespeaks misfortune. pale or lead-colored nails indicate melancholy people. broad nails indicate a gentle, timid, and bashful nature. lovers of knowledge and liberal sentiments have round nails. people with narrow nails are ambitious and quarrelsome. small nails indicate littleness of mind, obstinacy and conceit. choleric, martial men, delighting in war, have red and spotted nails. nails growing into the flesh at the points or sides indicate luxurious tastes. people with very pale nails are subject to much infirmity of the flesh and persecution by neighbors and friends. dangers of celluloid. a curious accident, which happened recently in paris, points out a possible danger in the wearing of combs and bracelets of celluloid. a little girl sat down before the fire to prepare her lessons. her hair was kept back by a semi-circle comb of celluloid. as her head was bent forward to the fire this became warm, and suddenly burst into flames. the child's hair was partly burned off, and the skin of the head was so injured that several months after, though the burn was healed, the cicatrix formed a white patch on which no hair would grow. the burning point of celluloid is about degrees, and the comb worn by the girl had attained that heat as it was held before the fire. odd facts about shoes. grecian shoes were peculiar in reaching to the middle of the legs. the present fashion of shoes was introduced into england in . in the ninth and tenth centuries the greatest princes of europe wore wooden shoes. slippers were in use before shakespeare's time, and were originally made "rights" and "lefts." shoes among the jews were made of leather, linen, rush or wood; soldiers' shoes were sometimes made of brass or iron. in the reign of william rufus of england, in the eleventh century, a great beau, "robert, the horned," used shoes with sharp points, stuffed with tow, and twisted like rams' horns. the romans made use of two kinds of shoes--the solea, or sandal, which covered the sole of the foot, and was worn at home and in company, and the calceus, which covered the whole foot and was always worn with the toga when a person went abroad. in the reign of richard ii., shoes were of such absurd length as to require to be supported by being tied to the knees with chains, sometimes of gold and silver. in the english parliament took the matter in hand and passed an act forbidding shoes with spikes more than two inches in length being worn and manufactured. table showing the average velocities of various bodies. a man walks miles per hour or feet per second. a horse trots miles per hour or feet per second. a horse runs miles per hour or feet per second. steamboat runs miles per hour or feet per second. sailing vessel runs miles per hour or feet per second. rapid rivers flow miles per hour or feet per second. a moderate wind blows miles per hour or feet per second. a storm moves miles per hour or feet per second. a hurricane moves miles per hour or feet per second. a rifle ball miles per hour or feet per second. sound miles per hour or feet per second. light, , miles per second. electricity, , miles per second. quantity of oil required for different colors. heath & miligan quote the following figures. they are color manufacturers: parts (weight) white lead require parts of oil. parts (weight) zinc white require parts of oil. parts (weight) green chrome require parts of oil. parts (weight) chrome yellow require parts of oil. parts (weight) vermilion require parts of oil. parts (weight) light red require parts of oil. parts (weight) madder lake require parts of oil. parts (weight) yellow ochre require parts of oil. parts (weight) light ochre require parts of oil. parts (weight) camels brown require parts of oil. parts (weight) brown manganese require parts of oil. parts (weight) terre verte require parts of oil. parts (weight) parisian blue require parts of oil. parts (weight) burnt terreverte require parts of oil. parts (weight) berlin blue require parts of oil. parts (weight) ivory black require parts of oil. parts (weight) cobalt require parts of oil. parts (weight) florentine brown require parts of oil. parts (weight) burnt terra sienna require parts of oil. parts (weight) raw terra sienna require parts of oil. according to this table, a hundred parts of the quick drying white lead are ground with parts of oil, and on the other hand slow drying ivory black requires parts of oil. painting. gallon priming color will cover superficial yards. gallon white zinc will cover superficial yards. gallon white paint will cover superficial yards. gallon lead color will cover superficial yards. gallon black paint will cover superficial yards. gallon stone color will cover superficial yards. gallon yellow paint will cover superficial yards. gallon blue color will cover superficial yards. gallon green paint will cover superficial yards. gallon bright emerald green will cover superficial yards. gallon bronze green will cover superficial yards. one pound of paint will cover about four superficial yards the first coat, and about six yards each additional coat. rapid process of marking goods at any desired per cent. profit. retail merchants, in buying goods by wholesale, buy a great many articles by the dozen, such as boots and shoes, hats and caps, and notions of various kinds; now the merchant, in buying, for instance, a dozen hats, knows exactly what one of these hats will retail for in the market where he deals; and unless he is a good accountant, it will often take him some time to determine whether he can afford to purchase the dozen hats and make a living profit by selling them by the single hat; and in buying his goods by auction, as the merchant often does, he has not time to make the calculation before the goods are bid off. he therefore loses the chance of making good bargains by being afraid to bid at random, or if he bids, and the goods are cried off, he may have made a poor bargain by bidding thus at a venture. it then becomes a useful and practical problem to determine instantly what per cent. he would gain if he retailed the hat at a certain price, to tell what an article should retail for to make a profit of per cent. _rule.--divide what the articles cost per dozen by . which is done by removing the decimal point one place to the left._ for instance, if hats cost $ . per dozen, remove the decimal point one place to the left, making $ . , what they should be sold for apiece to gain per cent, on the cost. if they cost $ . per dozen, they should be sold at $ . apiece, etc. the seven wonders of the world. pyramids of egypt. tower, walls and terrace hanging gardens of babylon. statue of jupiter olympus, on the capitoline hill, at rome. temple of diana, at ephesus. pharos, or watch-tower, at alexandria, egypt. colossus of rhodes, a statue feet high; overthrown by an earthquake b.c. mausoleum at halicarnassus, a grecian-persian city in asia minor. heat and cold. degrees of heat above zero at which substances melt:--wrought iron, , degrees; cast iron, , ; platinum, , ; gold, , ; copper, , ; steel, , ; glass, , ; brass, , ; silver, , ; antimony, ; zinc, ; lead, ; tin, ; arsenic, ; sulphur, ; beeswax, ; gutta percha, ; tallow, ; lard, ; pitch, ; ice, . degrees of heat above zero at which substances boil:--ether, degrees; alcohol, ; water, ; petroleum, ; linseed oil, ; blood heat, ; eggs hatch, . quantity of seed to an acre. wheat, - / to bu.; rye, - / to bu.; oats, bu.; barley, bu.; buckwheat, / bu.; corn, broadcast, bu.; corn, in drills, to bu.; corn, in hills, to qts.; broom corn, / bu.; potatoes, to bu.; rutabagas, / lbs.; millet, / bu.; clover, white, qts.; clover, red, qts.; timothy, qts.; orchard grass, qts.; red top, to pks.: blue grass, bu,; mixed lawn grass, / bu.; tobacco, ozs. soluble glass for floors. instead of the old-fashioned method of using wax for polishing floors, etc., soluble glass is now employed to great advantage. for this purpose the floor is first well cleaned, and then the cracks well filled up with a cement of water-glass and powdered chalk or gypsum. afterward, a water-glass of to , of the thickness of syrup, is applied by means of a stiff brush. any desired color may be imparted to the floor in a second coat of the water-glass, and additional coats are to be given until the requisite polish is obtained. a still higher finish may be given by pummicing off the last layer, and then putting on a coating of oil. durability of a horse. a horse will travel yards in - / minutes at a walk, yards in minutes at a trot, and yards in minute at a gallop. the usual work of a horse is taken at , lbs. raised foot per minute, for hours per day. a horse will carry lbs. miles per day of hours. an average draught-horse will draw lbs. miles per day on a level road, weight of wagon included. the average weight of a horse is lbs.; his strength is equal to that of men. in a horse mill moving at feet per second, track feet diameter, he exerts with the machine the power of - / horses. the greatest amount a horse can pull in a horizontal line is lbs.; but he can only do this momentarily, in continued exertion, probably half of this is the limit. he attains his growth in years, will live , average years. a horse will live days on water, without solid food, days without eating or drinking, but only days on solid food, without drinking. a cart drawn by horses over an ordinary road will travel . miles per hour of trip. a -horse team will haul from to cubic feet of lime stone at each load. the time expended in loading, unloading, etc., including delavs, averages minutes per trip. the cost of loading and unloading a cart, using a horse cram at the quarry, and unloading by hand, when labor is $ . per day, and a horse cents, is cents per perch-- . cubic feet. the work done by an animal is greatest when the velocity with which he moves is / of the greatest with which he can move when not impeded, and the force then exerted . of the utmost force the animal can exert at a dead pull. comparative cost of freight by water and rail. it has been proved by actual test that a single tow-boat can transport at one trip from the ohio to new orleans , tons of coal, loaded in barges. estimating in this way the boat and its tow, worked by a few men, carries as much freight to its destination as , cars and locomotives, manned by men, could transport. hints to young housewives. glycerine does not agree with a dry skin. if you use powder always wash it off before going to bed. when you give your cellar its spring cleaning, add a little copperas water and salt to the whitewash. a little ammonia and borax in the water when washing blankets keeps them soft and prevents shrinkage. sprinkling salt on the top and at the bottom of garden walls is said to keep snails from climbing up or down. for relief from heartburn or dyspepsia, drink a little cold water in which has been dissolved a teaspoonful of salt. for hoarseness, beat a fresh egg and thicken it with fine white sugar. eat of it freely and the hoarseness will soon be relieved. if quilts are folded or rolled tightly after washing, then beaten with a rolling pin or potato masher, it lightens up the cotton and makes them seem soft and new. chemists say that it takes more than twice as much sugar to sweeten preserves, sauce, etc., if put in when they begin to cook as it does to sweeten after the fruit is cooked. tar may be removed from the hands by rubbing with the outside of fresh, orange or lemon peel and drying immediately. the volatile oils dissolve the tar so that it can be rubbed off. moths or any summer flying insects may be enticed to destruction by a bright tin pan half filled with kerosene set in a dark corner of the room. attracted by the bright pan, the moth will meet his death in the kerosene. it may be worth knowing that water in which three or four onions have been boiled, applied with a gilding brush to the frames of pictures and chimney glasses, will prevent flies from lighting on them and will not injure the frames. superstitions regarding babies. it is believed by many that if a child cries at its birth and lifts up only one hand, it is born to command. it is thought very unlucky not to weigh the baby before it is dressed. when first dressed the clothes should not be put on over the head, but drawn on over the feet, for luck. when first taken from the room in which it was born it must be carried up stairs before going down, so that it will rise in the world. in any case it must be carried up stairs or up the street, the first time it is taken out. it is also considered in england and scotland unlucky to cut the baby's nails or hair before it is twelve months old. the saying: born on monday, fair in the face; born on tuesday, full of god's grace; born on wednesday, the best to be had; born on thursday, merry and glad; born on friday, worthily given; born on saturday, work hard for a living; born on sunday, shall never know want, is known with various changes all over the christian world; one deviation from the original makes friday's child "free in giving." thursday has one very lucky hour just before sunrise. the child that is born on the sabbath day is bonny and good and gay, while he who is born on new year's morn will have his own way as sure as you're born. and he who is born on easter morn shall never know care, or want, or harm. secret art of catching fish. put the oil of rhodium on the bait, when fishing with a hook, and you will always succeed. to catch fish. take the juice of smallage or lovage, and mix with any kind of bait. as long as there remain any kind of fish within yards of your hook, you will find yourself busy pulling them out. certain cure for drunkenness. take of sulphate of iron grains, magnesia grains, peppermint water drachms, spirits of nutmeg drachm. administer this twice a day. it acts as a tonic and stimulant and so partially supplies the place of the accustomed liquor, and prevents that absolute physical and moral prostration that follows a sudden breaking off from the use of stimulating drinks. ladies' stamping powder. for use in stamping any desired pattern upon goods for needle work, embroidery, etc. draw pattern upon heavy paper, and perforate with small holes all the lines with some sharp instrument, dust the powder through, remove the pattern and pass a warm iron over the fabric, when the pattern will become fixed. any desired color can be used, such as prussian blue, chrome green, yellow, vermilion, etc. fine white rosin, ounces; gum sandarach, ounces; color, ounces. powder very fine, mix, and pass through a sieve. salaries of the united states officers, per annum. president, vice-president and cabinet.--president, $ , ; vice-president, $ , ; cabinet officers, $ , each. united states senators.--$ , , with mileage. congress.--members of congress, $ , , with mileage. supreme court.--chief justice, $ , ; associate justices, $ , . circuit courts.--justices of circuit courts, $ , . heads of departments.--supt. of bureau of engraving and printing, $ , ; public printer, $ , ; supt. of census, $ , ; supt. of naval observatory, $ , ; supt. of the signal service, $ , ; director of geological surveys, $ , ; director of the mint, $ , ; commissioner of general land office, $ , ; commissioner of pensions, $ , ; commissioner of agriculture, $ , ; commissioner of indian affairs, $ , ; commissioner of education $ , ; commander of marine corps, $ , ; supt. of coast and geodetic survey, $ , . united states treasury.--treasurer, $ , ; register of treasury, $ , ; commissioner of customs, $ , . internal revenue agencies.--supervising agents, $ per day; other agents, per day, $ to $ . postoffice department, washington.--three assistant postmaster-generals, $ , ; chief clerk, $ , . postmasters.--postmasters are divided into four classes. first class, $ , to $ , (excepting new york city, which is $ , ); second class, $ , to $ , ; third class, $ , to $ , ; fourth class, less than $ , . the first three classes are appointed by the president, and confirmed by the senate; those of fourth class are appointed by the postmaster-general. diplomatic appointments.--ministers to germany, great britain, france and russia, $ , ; ministers to brazil, china, austria-hungary, italy, mexico, japan and spain, $ , ; ministers to chili, peru and central amer., $ , ; ministers to argentine confederation, hawaiian islands, belgium, hayti, columbia, netherlands, sweden, turkey and venezuela, $ , ; ministers to switzerland, denmark, paraguay, bolivia and portugal, $ , ; minister to liberia, $ , . army officers.--general, $ , ; lieut.-general, $ , ; major-general, $ , ; brigadier-general, $ , ; colonel, $ , ; lieutenant-colonel, $ , ; major, $ , ; captain, mounted, $ , ; captain, not mounted, $ , ; regimental adjutant, $ , ; regimental quartermaster, $ , ; st lieutenant, mounted, $ , ; st lieutenant, not mounted, $ , ; d lieutenant, mounted, $ , ; d lieutenant, not mounted, $ , ; chaplain, $ , . navy officers.--admiral, $ , ; vice-admiral, $ , ; rear-admirals, $ , ; commodores, $ , ; captains, $ , ; commanders, $ , ; lieut.-commanders, $ , ; lieutenants, $ , ; masters, $ , ; ensigns, $ , ; midshipmen, $ , ; cadet midshipmen, $ ; mates, $ ; medical and pay directors and medical and pay inspectors and chief engineers, $ , ; fleet surgeons, fleet paymasters and fleet engineers, $ , ; surgeons and paymasters, $ , ; chaplains, $ , . chronology of important events. before christ. the deluge: babylon built: birth of abraham: death of joseph: moses born: athens founded: the pyramids built: solomon's temple finished: rome founded: jerusalem destroyed: babylon taken by jews: death of socrates: rome taken by the gauls: paper invented in china: carthage destroyed: caesar landed in britain: caesar killed: birth of christ: after christ. death of augustus: pilate, governor of judea: jesus christ crucified: claudius visited britain: st. paul put to death: death of josephus: jerusalem rebuilt: the romans destroyed , jews and banished the rest from judea: the bible in gothic: horseshoes made of iron: latin tongue ceased to be spoken: pens made of quills: organs used: glass in england: bank of venice established: glass windows first used for lights: mariner's compass used: coal dug for fuel: chimneys first put to houses: spectacles invented by an italian: the first english house of commons: tallow candles for lights: paper made from linen: gunpowder invented: woolen cloth made in england: printing invented: the first almanac: america discovered: first book printed in england: luther began to preach: interest fixed at ten per cent. in england: telescopes invented: first coach made in england: clocks first made in england: bank of england incorporated: shakespeare died: circulation of the blood discovered: barometer invented: first newspaper: death of galileo: steam engine invented: great fire in london: cotton planted in the united states: commencement of the american war: declaration of american independence: recognition of american independence: bank of england suspended cash payment: napoleon i. crowned emperor: death of napoleon: telegraph invented by morse: first daguerreotype in france: beginning of the american civil war: end of the american civil war: abraham lincoln died: great chicago fire: jas. a. garfield died: interesting facts about our bodies. the weight of the male infant at birth is lbs. avoirdupois; that of the female is not quite - / lbs. the maximum weight ( - / lbs.) of the male is attained at the age of ; that of the female (nearly lbs.) is not attained until ; from which ages they decline afterward, the male to - / lbs., the female to lbs., nearly a stone. the full-grown adult is times as heavy as a new-born infant. in the first year he triples his weight, afterwards the growth proceeds in geometrical progression, so that if infants in their first year weigh , lbs., they will in the second weigh , lbs.; in the third , : in the fourth lbs.; the term remaining very constant up to the ages of - in females, and - in males, where it must be nearly doubled; afterwards it may be continued, and will be found very nearly correct up to the age of or , when the growth proceeds very slowly. at an equality of age the male is generally heavier than the female. towards the age of years only an individual of each sex has the same weight. the male attains the maximum weight at about the age of , and he begins to lose it very sensibly toward . at he loses about . lbs., and the stature is diminished . inches. females attain their maximum weight at about . the mean weight of a mature man is lbs., and of an average woman lbs. in old age they lose about or lbs. men weigh most at , women at , and begin to lose weight at . the mean weight of both sexes in old age is that which they had at . when the male and female have assumed their complete development they weigh almost exactly times as much as at birth, while the stature is about - / times greater. children lose weight during the first three days after birth; at the age of a week they sensibly increase; after one year they triple their weight; then they require six years to double their weight, and to quadruple it. it has been computed that nearly two years' sickness is experienced by every person before he is years old, and therefore that days per annum is the average sickness of human life. till it is but half, and after it rapidly increases. the mixed and fanciful diet of man is considered the cause of numerous diseases from which animals are exempt. many diseases have abated with changes of diet, and others are virulent in particular countries, arising from peculiarities. human longevity.--of , male and female children, in the first month they are reduced to , , or nearly a tenth. in the second, to , . in the third, to , . in the fourth, to , . in the fifth, to , . in the sixth, to , , and at the end of the first year to , , the deaths being to . the next four years reduce the , to , , indicating , deaths before the completion of the fifth year. at years the , are half, or , ; at , one-third. at - / , a fourth, or , ; at , a fifth; at , a tenth; at , a twentieth, or , ; and ten attain . children die in large proportions because their diseases cannot be explained, and because the organs are not habituated to the functions of life. the mean of life varies in different countries from to . a generation from father to son is about years; of men in general five-sixths die before , and fifteen-sixteenths before . after it is rather endurance than enjoyment. the nerves are blunted, the senses fail, the muscles are rigid, the softer tubes become hard, the memory fails, the brain ossifies, the affections are buried, and hope ceases. the remaining one-sixteenth die at ; except a one-thirty-third, at . the remainder die from inability to live, at or before . about the age of the lean man usually becomes fatter and the fat man leaner. again, between the years of and his appetite fails, his complexion fades, and his tongue is apt to be furred on the least exertion of body or mind. at this period his muscles become flabby, his joints weak; his spirits droop, and his sleep is imperfect and unrefreshing. after suffering under these complaints a year, or perhaps two, he starts afresh with renewed vigor, and goes on to or , when a similar change takes place, but with aggravated symptoms. when these grand periods have been successively passed, the gravity of incumbent years is more strongly marked, and he begins to boast of his age. in russia, much more than in any other country, instances of longevity are numerous, if true. in the report of the holy synod, in , during the year , and only among the greek religion, men had reached upward of years of age; had passed their th year, from to . out of , men who died in , , were above ; , above , and above years of age. among this last number were above ; more than ; above , and one . riley asserts that arabs in the desert live years. on the average, men have their first-born at and women at . the greatest number of deliveries take place between and . the greatest number of deliveries take place in the winter months, and in february, and the smallest in july, i.e., to february, as to in towns and to in the country. the night births are to the day as to . human strength.--in schulze's experiments on human strength, he found that men of five feet, weighing lbs., could lift vertically lbs. inches; lbs. . inches. others, . feet, weighing lbs., lbs. inches, and lbs. inches; others feet inches, weighing lbs., lbs. inches, and lbs. inches. by a great variety of experiments he determined the mean human strength at lbs., with a velocity of . feet per second; or it is equal to the raising half a hogshead feet in a minute. rules for spelling. words ending in _e_ drop that letter before the termination _able_, as in move, movable; unless ending in _ce_ or _ge_, when it is retained, as in change, changeable, etc. words of one syllable, ending in a consonant, with a single vowel before it, double the consonants in derivatives; as, ship, shipping, etc. but if ending in a consonant with a double vowel before it, they do not double the consonant in derivatives; as, troop, trooper, etc. words of more than one syllable, ending in a consonant preceded by a single vowel, and accented on the last syllable, double that consonant in derivatives; as, commit, committed; but except chagrin, chagrined. all words of one syllable ending in _l_, with a single vowel before it, have _ll_ at the close; as mill, sell. all words of one syllable ending in _l_, with a double vowel before it, have only one _l_ at the close; as mail, sail. the words foretell, distill, instill and fulfill, retain the _ll_ of their primitives. derivatives of dull, skill, will and full also retain the _ll_ when the accent falls on these words; as dullness, skillfull, willfull, fullness. words of more than one syllable ending in _l_ have only one _l_ at the close; as delightful, faithful; unless the accent falls on the last syllable; as befall, etc. words ending in _l_, double the letter in the termination _ly_. participles ending in _ing_, from verbs ending in _e_, lose the final _e_; as have, having; make, making, etc; but verbs ending in _ee_ retain both; as see, seeing. the word dye, to color, however, must retain the _e_ before _ing_. all verbs ending in _ly_, and nouns ending in _ment_, retain the _e_ final of the primitives; as brave, bravely; refine, refinement; except words ending in _dge_; as, acknowledge, acknowledgment. nouns ending in _y_, preceded by a vowel, form their plural by adding _s_; as money, moneys; but if _y_ is preceded by a consonant, it is changed to _ies_ in the plural; as bounty, bounties. compound words whose primitives end in _y_, change the _y_ into _i_; as beauty, beautiful. the use of capitals. every entire sentence should begin with a capital. proper names, and adjectives derived from these, should begin with a capital. all appellations of the deity should begin with a capital. official and honorary titles should begin with a capital. every line of poetry should begin with a capital. titles of books and the heads of their chapters and divisions are printed in capitals. the pronoun i and the exclamation o are always capitals. the days of the week and the months of the year begin with capitals. every quotation should begin with a capital letter. names of religious denominations begin with capitals. in preparing accounts each item should begin with a capital. any word of very special importance may begin with a capital. twenty choice course dinner menus. . rice soup, baked pike, mashed potatoes, roast of beef, stewed corn, chicken fricassee, celery salad, compote of oranges, plain custard, cheese, wafers, coffee. . mutton soup, fried oysters, stewed potatoes, boiled corn beef, cabbage, turnips, roast pheasants, onion salad, apple pie, white custard, bent's water crackers, cheese, coffee. . oyster soup, roast mutton, baked potatoes, breaded veal cutlets, tomato sauce, baked celery, cabbage salad, apple custard, sponge cake, cheese, coffee. . macaroni soup, boiled chicken, with oysters, mutton chops, creamed potatoes, stewed tomatoes, pickled beets, peaches and rice, plain cake, cheese, coffee. . tapioca soup, boiled halibut, duchesse potatoes, roast beef tongue, canned peas, baked macaroni, with gravy, fried sweet potatoes, beet salad, cornstarch pudding, jelly tarts, cheese, wafers, coffee. . vegetable soup, boiled trout, oyster sauce, roast veal, with dressing, boiled potatoes, stewed tomatoes, corn, egg salad, snow cream, peach pie, sultana biscuit, cheese, coffee. . potato soup, oyster patties, whipped potatoes, roast mutton, with spinach, beets, fried parsnips, egg sauce, celery salad, boiled custard, lemon tarts, white cake, cheese, coffee. . veal soup, boiled shad, caper sauce, porterhouse steak, with mushrooms, pigeon pie, mashed potatoes, pickles, rice sponge cakes, cheese, canned apricots with cream, coffee. . giblet soup, scalloped clams, potato cakes, lamb chops, canned beans, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, salmon salad, charlotte rasse, apricot tarts, cheese, coffee. . vermicelli soup, fried small fish, mashed potatoes, roast beef, minced cabbage, chicken croquettes, beet salad, stewed pears, plain sponge cake, cheese, coffee. . oxtail soup, fricasseed chicken with oysters, breaded mutton chops, turnips, duchesse potatoes, chow-chow salad, chocolate pudding, nut cake, cheese, coffee. . barley soup, boiled trout, creamed potatoes, roast loin of veal, stewed mushrooms, broiled chicken, lettuce salad, fig pudding, wafers, cheese, coffee. . noodle soup, salmon, with oyster sauce, fried potatoes, glazed beef, boiled spinach, parsnips, with cream sauce, celery, plain rice pudding, with custard sauce, current cake, cheese, coffee. . lobster soup, baked ribs of beef, with browned potatoes, boiled duck, with onion sauce, turnips, stewed tomatoes, lettuce, delmonico pudding, cheese, sliced oranges, wafers, coffee. . chicken broth, baked whitefish, boiled potatoes, canned peas, mutton chops, tomatoes, beets, celery salad, apple trifle, lady fingers, cheese. coffee. . sago soup, boiled leg of mutton, caper sauce, stewed potatoes, canned corn, scalloped oysters, with cream sauce, celery and lettuce salad, marmalade fritters, apple custard, cheese cakes, coffee. . vegetable soup, broiled shad, lyonnaise potatoes, pork chops, with sage dressing, parsnip fritters, macaroni and gravy, cauliflower salad, rhubarb tarts, silver cake, cheese, coffee. . chicken soup, with rice, codfish, boiled, with cream sauce, roast veal, tomatoes, oyster salad, boiled potatoes, asparagus, orange jelly, white cake, cheese, coffee. . macaroni soup, fried shad, tomato sauce, roast mutton, mashed potatoes, boiled tongue, with mayonnaise dressing, fried parsnips, canned beans, lemon puffs, cheese cakes, fruit, coffee. . scotch broth, baked halibut, boiled potatoes, breaded mutton chops, tomato sauce, spinach, bean salad, asparagus and eggs, peach batter pudding, with sauce, wafers, cheese, coffee. terms used in medicine. anthelmintics are medicines which have the power of destroying or expelling worms from the intestinal canal. antiscorbutics are medicines which prevent or cure the scurvy. antispasmodics are medicines given to relieve spasm, or irregular and painful action of the muscles or muscular fibers, as in epilepsy, st. vitus' dance, etc. aromatics are medicines which have, a grateful smell and agreeable pungent taste. astringents are those remedies which, when applied to the body, render the solids dense and firmer. carminatives are those medicines which dispel flatulency of the stomach and bowels. cathartics are medicines which accelerate the action of the bowels, or increase the discharge by stool. demulcents are medicines suited to prevent the action of acrid and stimulating matters upon the mucous membranes of the throat, lungs, etc. diaphoretics are medicines that promote or cause perspirable discharge by the skin. diuretics are medicines which increase the flow of urine by their action upon the kidneys. emetics are those medicines which produce vomiting. emmenagogues are medicines which promote the menstrual discharge. emollients are those remedies which, when applied to the solids of the body, render them soft and flexible. errhines are substances which, when applied to the lining membrane of the nostrils, occasion a discharge of mucous fluid. epispastices are those which cause blisters when applied to the surface. escharotics are substances used to destroy a portion of the surface of the body, forming sloughs. expectorants are medicines capable of facilitating the excretion of mucous from the chest. narcotics are those substances having the property of diminishing the action of the nervous and vascular systems, and of inducing sleep. rubefacients are remedies which excite the vessels of the skin and increase its heat and redness. sedatives are medicines which have the power of allaying the actions of the systems generally, or of lessening the exercise of some particular function. sialagogues are medicines which increase the flow of the saliva. stimulants are medicines capable of exciting the vital energy, whether as exerted in sensation or motion. tonics are those medicines which increase the tone or healthy action, or strength of the living system. rules for the preservation of health. pure atmospheric air is composed of nitrogen, oxygen and a very small proportion of carbonic acid gas. air once breathed has lost the chief part of its oxygen, and acquired a proportionate increase of carbonic acid gas. therefore, health requires that we breathe the same air once only. the solid part of our bodies is continually wasting and requires to be repaired by fresh substances. therefore, food, which is to repair the loss, should be taken with due regard to the exercise and waste of the body. the fluid part of our bodies also wastes constantly; there is but one fluid in animals, which is water. therefore, water only is necessary, and no artifice can produce a better drink. the fluid of our bodies is to the solid in proportion as nine to one. therefore, a like proportion should prevail in the total amount of food taken. light exercises an important influence upon the growth and vigor of animals and plants. therefore, our dwellings should freely admit the sun's rays. decomposing animal and vegetable substances yield various noxious gases, which enter the lungs and corrupt the blood. therefore, all impurities should be kept away from our abodes, and every precaution be observed to secure a pure atmosphere. warmth is essential to all the bodily functions. therefore, an equal bodily temperature should be maintained by exercise, by clothing or by fire. exercise warms, invigorates and purifies the body; clothing preserves the warmth the body generates; fire imparts warmth externally. therefore, to obtain and preserve warmth, exercise and clothing are preferable to fire. fire consumes the oxygen of the air, and produces noxious gases. therefore, the air is less pure in the presence of candles, gas or coal fire, than otherwise, and the deterioration should be repaired by increased ventilation. the skin is a highly-organized membrane, full of minute pores, cells, blood-vessels, and nerves; it imbibes moisture or throws it off according to the state of the atmosphere or the temperature of the body. it also "breathes," like the lungs (though less actively). all the internal organs sympathize with the skin. therefore, it should be repeatedly cleansed. late hours and anxious pursuits exhaust the nervous system and produce disease and premature death. therefore, the hours of labor and study should be short. mental and bodily exercise are equally essential to the general health and happiness. therefore, labor and study should succeed each other. man will live most happily upon simple solids and fluids, of which a sufficient but temperate quantity should be taken. therefore, over-indulgence in strong drinks, tobacco, snuff, opium, and all mere indulgences, should be avoided. sudden alternations of heat and cold are dangerous (especially to the young and the aged). therefore, clothing, in quantity and quality, should be adapted to the alternations of night and day, and of the seasons. and therefore, also, drinking cold water when the body is hot, and hot tea and soups when cold are productive of many evils. never visit a sick person (especially if the complaint be of a contagious nature) with an empty stomach, as this disposes the system more readily to receive the contagion. and in attending a sick person, place yourself where the air passes from the door or window to the bed of the diseased; not between the diseased person and any fire that is in the room, as the heat of the fire will draw the infectious vapor in that direction. mother shipton's prophecy.--the lines known as "mother shipton's prophecy" were first published in england in , before the discovery of america, and, of course, before any of the discoveries and inventions mentioned therein. all the events predicted have come to pass except that in the last two lines. carriages without horses shall go, and accidents fill the world with woe. around the world thoughts shall fly in the twinkling of an eye. waters shall yet more wonders do, now strange, yet shall be true. the world upside down shall be, and gold be found at root of tree. through hills man shall ride, and no horse nor ass be at his side. under water man shall walk, shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk. in the air men shall be seen in white, in black, in green. iron in the water shall float, as easy as a wooden boat. gold shall be found 'mid stone, in a land that's now unknown. fire and water shall wonders do, england shall at last admit a jew. and this world to an end shall come in eighteen hundred and eighty-one. captain kidd, a notorious american pirate, was born about . in he was entrusted by the british government with the command of a privateer, and sailed from new york, for the purpose of suppressing the numerous pirates then infesting the seas. he went to the east indies, where he began a career of piracy, and returned to new york in with a large amount of booty. he was soon after arrested, sent to england for trial, and executed in . value of old american coins.-- --half cent, cents; one cent, $ . --half cent, cents, one cent, cents; five cents, $ . ; fifty cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; five cents, cents; fifty cents, cents; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, $ ; one cent, cents; five cents $ ; ten cents, cents; twenty-five cents, $ ; fifty cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; five cents, cents; ten cents, $ ; fifty cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --one cent, cents; ten cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --one cent, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; five cents, cents; [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'ten cents '] ten cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --one cent, cents; five cents, $ ; ten cents, $ ; fifty cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; ten cents, $ ; fifty cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; five cents, $ ; [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'ten cents, '] ten cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, cents; one cent, $ ; five cents, cents; ten cents, $ ; twenty-five cents, cents; one dollar, $ . --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; five cents, $ . ; ten cents, cents. --half cent, cents; one cent, cents. --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; ten cents, cents. --half cent, cents; one cent, cents. --half cent, cent; one cent, cents; ten cents, cents. --half cent, cents; one cent, cents. --half cent, cents; one cent, cents; ten cents, cents. --one cent, cents. --one cent, cents. --fifty cents, $ . --one cent, cents. --ten cents, $ . --one cent, cents; twenty-five cents, $ . --twenty-five cents, cents. --half cent, cents. --half cent, cents; one cent, cents. --one cent, cents; twenty-five cents, $ . --half cent, cent; twenty-five cents, cents. --half cent, cents. --half cent, cents. -' -' --half cent, cents. --half cent, cent. --fifty cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . --ten cents, cents. --one dollar, $ . --five cents, cents. -' --half cent, cents. --half cent, cent; twenty-five cents, cents; one dollar, $ . . --twenty-five cents, cents; fifty cents, $ ; one dollar, $ . --half cent, cent; twenty cents (with no arrows), $ . ; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, cents; one dollar, $ . -' --half cent, cents; one dollar, $ . . --half cent, cents; one dollar. $ . . --one dollar, $ . -' -' --three cents, cents. --half cent, cents; three cents, cents; five cents, cents; twenty-five cents, cents. --three cents, cents; five cents, cents. -' --three cents, cents. --three cents, cents. --two cents, cents; three cents, cents. --two cents, cents; three cents. cents. -' --twenty cents, $ . . these prices are for good ordinary coins without holes. fine specimens are worth more. leaning tower of pisa.--the leaning tower of pisa was commenced in , and was not finished till the fourteenth century. tho cathedral to which this belongs was erected to celebrate a triumph of the pisans in the harbor of palermo in , when allied with the normans to drive the saracens out of sicily. it is a circular building, one hundred feet in diameter and feet in extreme height, and has fine mosaic pavements, elaborately carved columns, and numerous bas-reliefs. the building is of white marble. the tower is divided into eight stories, each having an outside gallery of seven feet projection, and the topmost story overhangs the base about sixteen feet, though, as the center of gravity is still ten feet within the base, the building is perfectly safe. it has been supposed that this inclination was intentional, but the opinion that the foundation has sunk is no doubt correct. it is most likely that the defective foundation became perceptible before the tower had reached one-half its height, as at that elevation the unequal length of the columns exhibits an endeavor to restore the perpendicular, and at about the same place the walls are strengthened with iron bars. what causes the water to flow out of an artesian well?--the theoretical explanation of the phenomenon is easily understood. the secondary and tertiary geological formations often present the appearance of immense basins, the boundary or rim of the basin having been formed by an upheaval of adjacent strata. in these formations it often happens that a porous stratum, consisting of sand, sandstone, chalk or other calcareous matter, is included between two impermeable layers of clay, so as to form a flat [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'porus'] porous u tube, continuous from side to side of the valley, the outcrop on the surrounding hills forming the mouth of the tube. the rain filtering down through the porous layer to the bottom of the basin forms there a subterranean pool, which, with the liquid or semi-liquid column pressing upon it, constitutes a sort of huge natural hydrostatic bellows. sometimes the pressure on the superincumbent crust is so great as to cause an upheaval or disturbance of the valley. it is obvious, then, that when a hole is bored down through the upper impermeable layer to the surface of the lake, the water will be forced up by the natural law of water seeking its level to a height above the surface of the valley, greater or less, according to the elevation of the level in the feeding column, thus forming a natural mountain on precisely the same principle as that of most artificial fountains, where the water supply comes from a considerable height above the jet. how many cubic feet there are in a ton of coal.--there is a difference between a ton of hard coal and one of soft coal. for that matter, coal from different mines, whether hard or soft, differs in weight, and consequently in cubic measure, according to quality. then there is a difference according to size. to illustrate, careful measurements have been made of wilkes-barre anthracite, a fine quality of hard coal, with the following results: cubic-feet cubic feet in ton of in ton of size of coal. , lbs. , lbs. lump . . broken . . egg . . stone . . chestnut . . pea . . for soft coal the following measures may be taken as nearly correct; it is simply impossible to determine any exact rule, even for bituminous coal of the same district: briar hill coal, . cubic feet per ton of , pounds; pittsburgh, . ; wilmington, ill., ; indiana block coal, to cubic feet. the dimensions of the great wall of china and of what it is built.--it runs from a point on the gulf of liantung, an arm of the gulf of pechili in northeastern china, westerly to the yellow river; thence makes a great bend to the south for nearly miles, and then runs to the northwest for several hundred miles to the desert of gobi. its length is variously estimated to be from , to , miles. for the most of this distance it runs through a mountainous country, keeping on the ridges, and winding over many of the highest peaks. in some places it is only a formidable rampart, but most of the way it is composed of lofty walls of masonry and concrete, or impacted lime and clay, from to feet in thickness, and from to or feet in height. the top of this wall is paved for hundreds of miles, and crowned with crenallated battlements, and towers to feet high. in numerous places the wall climbs such steep declivities that its top ascends from height to height in flights of granite steps. an army could march on the top of the wall for weeks and even months, moving in some places ten men abreast. limits of natural vision.--this question is too indefinite for a specific answer. the limits of vision vary with elevation, conditions of the atmosphere, intensity of illumination, and other modifying elements in different cases. in a clear day an object one foot above a level plain may be seen at the distance of . miles; one ten feet high, . miles; one twenty feet high, . miles; one feet high, . miles; one a mile high, as the top of a mountain, . miles. this allows seven inches (or, to be exact, . inches) for the curvature of the earth, and assumes that the size and illumination of the object are sufficient to produce an image. five miles may be taken as the extreme limit at which a man is visible on a flat plain to an observer on the same level. the niagara suspension bridge.--for seven miles below the falls, niagara river flows through a gorge varying in width from to yards. two miles below the falls the river is but feet wide, and it is here that the great suspension bridge, constructed in by mr. roebling, crosses the gorge, feet above the water. the length of the span, from tower to tower, is feet, and the total length of the bridge is , feet. the length of the span, which is capable of sustaining a strain of , tons, is feet from tower to tower, and the total length of the bridge is , feet. it is used both for railway and wagon traffic, the wagon-road and foot-way being directly under the railway bed. there is another suspension bridge across the niagara river at a distance of only about fifty rods from the falls, on the american side. this is only for carriages and foot travel. it was finished in . it is , feet long from cliff to cliff, , feet from tower to tower, and feet above the river, which at this point is a little over feet in width. the speed of sound.--it has been ascertained that a full human voice, speaking in the open air, calm, can be heard at a distance of feet; in an observable breeze a powerful human voice with the wind is audible at a distance of , feet; the report of a musket, , feet; a drum, , feet; music, a strong brass band, , feet; very heavy cannonading, , feet, or miles. in the arctic regions conversation has been maintained over water a distance of , feet. in gases the velocity of sound increases with the temperature; in air this increase is about two feet per second for each degree centigrade. the velocity of sound in oxygen gas at zero c. is , feet; in carbonic acid, feet; in hydrogen, , feet. in colladon and sturm determined experimentally the velocity of sound in fresh water; the experiment was made in the lake of geneva, and it was found to be , feet per second at a temperature of degrees c. the velocity of sound in alcohol at degrees c. is , feet; in ether at zero, , ; in sea water at degrees c., , . by direct measurements, carefully made, by observing at night the interval which elapses between the flash and report of a cannon at a known distance, the velocity of sound has been about , per second at the temperature of freezing water. description of the yellowstone park.--the yellowstone national park extends sixty-five miles north and south, and fifty-five miles east and west, comprising , square miles, and is all , feet or more above sea-level. yellowstone lake, twenty miles by fifteen, has an altitude of , feet. the mountain ranges which hem in the valleys on every side rise to the height of , to , feet, and are always covered with snow. this great park contains the most striking of all the mountains, gorges, falls, rivers and lakes in the whole yellowstone region. the springs on gardiner's river cover an area of about one square mile, and three or four square miles thereabout are occupied by the remains of springs which have ceased to flow. the natural basins into which these springs flow are from four to six feet in diameter and from one to four feet in depth. the principal ones are located upon terraces midway up the sides of the mountain. the banks of the yellowstone river abound with ravines and canons, which are carved out of the heart of the mountains through the hardest of rocks. the most remarkable of these is the canon of tower creek and column mountain. the latter, which extends along the eastern bank of the river for upward of two miles, is said to resemble the giant's causeway. the canon of tower creek is about ten miles in length and is so deep and gloomy that it is called "the devil's den." where tower creek ends the grand canon begins. it is twenty miles in length, impassable throughout, and inaccessible at the water's edge, except at a few points. its rugged edges are from to yards apart, and its depth is so profound that no sound ever reaches the ear from the bottom. the grand canon contains a great multitude of hot springs of sulphur, sulphate of copper, alum, etc. in the number and magnitude of its hot springs and geysers, the yellowstone park surpasses all the rest of the world. there are probably fifty geysers that throw a column of water to the height of from to feet, and it is stated that there are not fewer than , springs; there are two kinds, those depositing lime and those depositing silica. the temperature of the calcareous springs is from to degrees, while that of the others rises to or more. the principal collections are the upper and lower geyser basins of the madison river, and the calcareous springs on gardiner's river. the great falls are marvels to which adventurous travelers have gone only to return and report that they are parts of the wonders of this new american wonderland. designations of groups of animals.--the ingenuity of the sportsman is, perhaps, no better illustrated than by the use he puts the english language to in designating particular groups of animals. the following is a list of the terms which have been applied to the various classes: a covey of patridges, a nide of pheasants, a wisp of snipe, a flight of doves or swallows, a muster of peacocks, a siege of herons, a building of rooks, a brood of grouse, a plump of wild fowl, a stand of plovers, a watch of nightingales, a clattering of choughs, a flock of geese, a herd or bunch of cattle, a bevy of quails, a cast of hawks, a trip of dottrell, a swarm of bees, a school of whales, a shoal of herrings, a herd of swine, a skulk of foxes, a pack of wolves, a drove of oxen, a sounder of hogs, a troop of monkeys, a pride of lions, a sleuth of bears, a gang of elk. the bunker hill monument.--the monument is a square shaft, built of quincy granite, feet high, feet square at the base and at the top. its foundations are inclosed feet under ground. inside the shaft is a round, hollow cone, feet wide at the bottom and feet inches at the top, encircled by a winding staircase of stone steps, which leads to a chamber immediately under the apex, feet in diameter. the chamber has four windows, which afford a wide view of the surrounding country, and contains two cannons, named respectively hancock and adams, which were used in many engagements during the war. the corner-stone of the monument was laid on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, june , , by lafayette, who was then visiting america, when webster pronounced the oration. the monument was completed, and june , , was dedicated, webster again delivering the oration. the seven wise men of greece.--the names generally given are solon, chilo, pittacus, bias, periander (in place of whom some give epimenides), cleobulus, and thales. they were the authors of the celebrated mottoes inscribed in later days in the delphian temple. these mottoes were as follows: "know thyself."--solon. "consider the end."--chilo. "know thy opportunity."--pittacus. "most men are bad."--bias. "nothing is impossible to industry."--periander. "avoid excesses."--cleobulus. "suretyship is the precursor of ruin."--thales. first steamboat on the mississippi.--nicholas j. roosevelt was the first to take a steamboat down the great river. his boat was built at pittsburgh, in the year , under an arrangement with fulton and livingston, from fulton's plans. it was called the "new orleans," was about tons burden, and was propelled by a stern-wheel, assisted, when the wind was favorable, by sails carried on two masts. the hull was feet long, feet beam, and the cost of the whole, including engines, was about $ , . the builder, with his family, an engineer, a pilot, and six "deck hands," left pittsburgh in october, , reaching louisville in about seventy hours (steaming about ten miles an hour), and new orleans in fourteen days, steaming from natchez. the explorations of fremont.--- among the earliest efforts of fremont, after he had tried and been sickened by the sea, were his experiences as a surveyor and engineer on railroad lines from charleston to augusta, ga., and charleston to cincinnati. then he accompanied an army detachment on a military reconnoissance of the mountainous cherokee country in georgia, north carolina and tennessee, made in the depth of winter. in - he accompanied m. nicollet in explorations of the country between the missouri and the british line, and his first detail of any importance, after he had been commissioned by president van buren, was to make an examination of the river des moines, then on the western frontier. in he projected his first trans-continental expedition, and left washington may , , and accomplished the object of his trip, examined the south pass, explored the wind river mountains, ascended in august, the highest peak of that range, now known as fremont's peak, and returned, after an absence of four months. his report of the expedition attracted great attention in the united states and abroad. fremont began to plan another and a second expedition. he determined to extend his explorations across the continent; and in may, , commenced his journey with thirty-nine men, and september , after traveling over , miles, arrived at the great salt lake; there made some important discoveries, and then pushed on to the upper columbia, down whose valley he proceeded to fort vancouver, near its mouth. on nov. , he set out to return east, selecting a southeasterly course, leading from the lower part of the columbia to the upper colorado, through an almost unknown region, crossed by high and rugged mountains. he and his party suffered incredible hardships in crossing from the great basin to sutter's fort on the sacramento; started from there march , proceeded southward, skirted the western base of the sierra nevada, crossed that range through a gap, entered the great basin; again visited the great salt lake, from which they returned through the south pass to kansas, in july, , after an absence of fourteen months. in the spring of fremont set out on a third expedition to explore the great basin and the maritime region of oregon and california; spent the summer examining the headwaters of the rivers whose springs are in the grand divide of the continent; in october camped on the shores of the great salt lake: proceeded to explore the sierra nevada, which he again crossed in the dead of winter; made his way into the valley of the san joaquin; obtained permission, at monterey, from the mexican authorities there, to proceed with his expedition, which permission was almost immediately revoked, and fremont peremptorily ordered to leave the country without delay, but he refused, and a collision was imminent, but was averted, and fremont proceeded toward san joaquin. near tlamath lake, fremont met, may , , a party in search of him, with dispatches from washington, ordering him to watch over the interests of the united states in california, as there was reason to believe that province would be transferred to great britain. he at once returned to california; general castro was already marching against our settlements; the settlers rose in arms, flocked to fremont's camp, and, with him as leader, in less than a month, all northern california was freed from mexican authority; and on july fremont was elected governor of california by the american settlers. later came the conflict between commodore stockton and general kearney; and fremont resigned his commission as lieutenant-colonel, to which he had been promoted. in october, , he started across the continent on a fourth expedition, outfitted at his own expense, to find a practicable route to california. in attempting to cross the great sierra, covered with snow, his guide lost his way, and the party encountered horrible suffering from cold and hunger, a portion of them being driven to cannibalism; he lost all his animals (he had mules when he started), and one-third of his men (he had thirty-three) perished, and he had to retrace his steps to santa fe. he again set out, with thirty men, and, after a long search, discovered a secure route, which led to the sacramento, where he arrived in the spring of . he led a fifth expedition across the continent in , at his own expense, and found passes through the mountains in the line of latitude deg., min., and reached california after enduring great hardships; for fifty days his party lived on horse-flesh, and for forty-eight hours at a time without food of any kind. these are the barest outlines of five expeditions of which many volumes have been written, but will hint at fremont's work in the west which entitled him to the name of the "pathfinder." chinese proverbs.--the chinese are indeed remarkably fond of proverbs. they not only employ them in conversation--and even to a greater degree than the spaniards, who are noted among europeans for the number and excellence of their proverbial sayings--but they have a practice of adorning their reception rooms with these sententious bits of wisdom, inscribed on decorated scrolls or embroidered on rich crapes and brocades. they carve them on door-posts and pillars, and emblazon them on the walls and ceilings in gilt letters. the following are a few specimens of this sort of literature: as a sneer at the use of unnecessary force to crush a contemptible enemy, they say: "he rides a fierce dog to catch a lame rabbit." similar to this is another, "to use a battle-ax to cut off a hen's head." they say of wicked associates: "to cherish a bad man is like nourishing a tiger; if not well-fed he will devour you." here are several others mingling wit with wisdom: "to instigate a villain to do wrong is like teaching a monkey to climb trees;" "to catch fish and throw away the net," which recalls our saying, "using the cat's paw to pull the chestnuts out of the fire;" "to climb a tree to catch a fish" is to talk much to no purpose; "a superficial scholar is a sheep dressed in a tiger's skin;" "a cuckoo in a magpie's nest," equivalent to saying, "he is enjoying another's labor without compensation;" "if the blind lead the blind they will both fall into the pit;" "a fair wind raises no storm;" "vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man is never satisfied;" "the body may be healed, but the mind is incurable;" "he seeks the ass, and lo! he sits upon him;" "he who looks at the sun is dazzled; he who hears the thunder is deafened." i.e., do not come too near the powerful; "prevention is better than cure;" "wine and good dinners make abundance of friends, but in adversity not one of them is to be found." "let every man sweep the snow from before his own door, and not trouble himself about the frost on his neighbor's tiles." the following one is a gem of moral wisdom: "only correct yourself on the same principle that you correct others, and excuse others on the same principles on which you excuse yourself." "better not be, than be nothing." "one thread does not make a rope; one swallow does not make a summer." "sensuality is the chief of sins, filial duty the best of acts." "the horse's back is not so safe us the buffalo's"--the former is used by the politician, the latter by the farmer. "too much lenity multiplies crime." "if you love your son give him plenty of the rod; if you hate him cram him with dainties." "he is my teacher who tells me my faults, he my enemy who speaks my virtues." having a wholesome dread of litigation, they say of one who goes to law, "he sues a flea to catch a bite." their equivalent for our "coming out at the little end of the horn" is, "the farther the rat creeps up (or into) the cow's horn, the narrower it grows." the truth of their saying that "the fame of good deeds does not leave a man's door, but his evil acts are known a thousand miles off," is illustrated in our own daily papers every morning. finally, we close this list with a chinese proverb which should be inscribed on the lintel of every door in christendom: "the happy-hearted man carries joy for all the household." mason and dixon's line.--mason and dixon's line is the concurrent state line of maryland and pennsylvania. it is named after two eminent astronomers and [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'mathemeticians'] mathematicians, charles mason and jeremiah dixon, who were sent out from england to run it. they completed the survey between and , excepting thirty-six miles surveyed in by colonel alex. mclean and joseph neville. it is in the latitude of deg. min. . sec. great fires of history.--the loss of life and property in the willful destruction by fire and sword of the principal cities of ancient history--nineveh, babylon, persepolis, carthage, palmyra, and many others--is largely a matter of conjecture. the following is a memorandum of the chief conflagrations of the current era: in , a. d., during the reign of nero, a terrible fire raged in rome for eight days, destroying ten of the fourteen wards. the loss of life and destruction of property is not known. in a. d., jerusalem was taken by the romans and a large part of it given to the torch, entailing an enormous destruction of life and property. in venice, then a city of immense opulence, was almost, wholly consumed by a fire, originating in accident or incendiarism. in the greater part of london was burned. in what is known as the great fire of london raged in the city from september to , consuming , houses, with st. paul's church, parish churches, chapels, the guild hall, the royal exchange, the custom house, companies halls, many hospitals, libraries and other public edifices. the total destruction of property was estimated at $ , , . six lives were lost, and acres burnt over. in a fire in boston burned all the warehouses, eighty dwellings, and vessels in the dock-yards; loss estimated at $ , , . in a large part of edinburgh was burned; loss unknown. in copenhagen was nearly destroyed; , houses burned. in a fire in st. petersburg burned , houses. in a fire in constantinople destroyed , houses, and , people perished. the same city suffered a conflagration in , lasting five days; and in a series of three appalling fires: one in january, consuming , houses; another in april destroying property to the value of $ , , , according to one historian, and according to another, $ , , ; and in the latter part of the year another, sweeping fully , houses more out of existence. it seemed as if constantinople was doomed to utter annihilation. in a fire in stockholm destroyed , houses and another fire in the same city in burned houses with a loss of $ , , . in a fire in moscow swept away , houses, involving an immense loss. in christiania suffered a loss of $ , , by conflagration. in the portsmouth (england) dock yards were burned, with a loss of $ , , . in a fire in konigsburg, prussia, consumed the public buildings, with a loss of $ , , ; and in the city was almost totally destroyed. in a fire in smyrna destroyed , houses, with a loss of $ , , ; in a fire in the same city carried off , dwellings and , to , shops, entailing a loss of $ , , ; and in there were , shops, mosques, magazines, etc., burned. in , six days after the british seized the city, a fire swept off all the west side of new york city, from broadway to the river. in a fire in constantinople burned , houses; another in burned , houses; in there were houses burned in february, , in june, and on august during a conflagration that lasted three days, , houses, mosques, and corn-mills, with a loss of lives. two years later a fire, on march , destroyed two-thirds of pera, the loveliest suburb of constantinople, and on august a fire in the main city, lasting twenty-six hours, burned , houses. in this same fire-scourged city, in , between march and july, there were , houses burned, and about as many more in ; and in pera was again swept with fire, with a loss of , houses, including many buildings of great magnificence. in a fire and explosion in the dock yards, brest, caused a loss of $ , , . but the greatest destruction of life and property by conflagration, of which the world has anything like accurate records, must be looked for within the current century. of these the following is a partial list of instances in which the loss of property amounted to $ , , and upward: dates--cities: property destroyed. --liverpool: $ , , --bombay: , , --st. thomas: , , --spanish town: , , --moscow, burned five days; , houses destroyed: , , --constantinople, , dwellings, , shops: ---- --savannah: , , --canton nearly destroyed: ---- --havana, houses: ---- --new york ("great fire"): , , --st. johns, n. b.: , , --charleston, , buildings: , , --smyrna, , houses: ---- --hamburg, , buildings, lives lost: , , --new york, persons killed: , , --pittsburgh, , buildings: , , --quebec, may , , dwellings: , , --quebec, june , , dwellings: ---- --st. johns, newfoundland: , , --constantinople, , buildings: , , --albany, n. y., houses: , , --st. louis: , , --st. louis, , buildings: , , --st. louis, buildings: , , --san francisco, may and , many lives lost: , , --san francisco, june: , , --montreal, , buildings: , , --mendoza destroyed by earthquake and fire, , lives lost: ---- --st. petersburg: , , --troy, n. y., nearly destroyed: ---- --valparaiso almost destroyed: ---- --novgorod, immense destruction of property: ---- --constantinople, , buildings burned: ---- --yokohama, nearly destroyed: ---- --carlstadt, sweden, all consumed but bishop's residence, hospital and jail; lives lost: ---- --portland, me., half the city: , , --quebec, , dwellings, churches: ---- --constantinople, pera, suburb: , , --chicago-- lives lost, , buildings burned, on , acres: , , --paris, fired by the commune: , , --boston: , . --yeddo, , houses: ---- --pittsburgh, caused by riot: , , --st. johns, n. b., , dwellings, lives lost: , , from the above it appears that the five greatest fires on record, reckoned by destruction of property, are: chicago fire, of oct. and , : $ , , paris fires, of may, : , , moscow fire, of sept. - , : , , boston fire, nov. - , : , . london fire, sept. - , : , , hamburg fire, may - , : , , taking into account, with the fires of paris and chicago, the great wisconsin and michigan forest fires of , in which it is estimated that , human beings perished and property to the amount of over $ , , was consumed, it is plain that in the annals of conflagrations that year stands forth in gloomy pre-eminence. wealth of the united states per capita.--the following statistics represent the amount of taxable property, real and personal, in each state and territory, and also the amount per capita: state: total; per capita. maine: $ , , ; $ . new hampshire: , , ; . vermont: , , ; . massachusetts: , , , ; . rhode island: , , ; . connecticut: , , ; . new jersey: , , ; . new york: , , , ; . pennsylvania: , , , ; . delaware: , , ; . maryland: , , ; . district of columbia: , , ; . virginia: , , ; . west virginia: , , ; . north carolina: , , ; . south carolina: , , ; . georgia: , , ; . florida: , , ; . alabama: , , ; . mississippi: , , ; . louisiana: , , ; . texas: , , ; . arkansas: , , ; . kentucky: , , ; . tennessee: , , ; . ohio: , , , ; . indiana: , , ; . illinois: , , ; . michigan: , , ; . wisconsin: , , ; . iowa: , , ; . minnesota: , , ; . missouri: , , ; . kansas: , , ; . nebraska: , , ; . colorado: , , ; . nevada: , , ; . oregon: , , ; . california: , , ; . arizona: , , ; . dakota: , , ; . idaho: , , ; . montana: , , ; . new mexico: , , ; . utah: , , ; . washington: , , ; . wyoming: , , ; . -------------------------------------------------- total: $ , , , ; . table for measuring an acre.--to measure an acre in rectangular form is a simple question in arithmetic. one has only to divide the total number of square yards in an acre, , , by the number of yards in the known side or breadth to find the unknown side in yards. by this process it appears that a rectangular strip of ground-- yards wide by yards long is acre. yards wide by yards long is acre. yards wide by yards long is acre. yards wide by yards long is acre. yards wide by - / yards long is acre. yards wide by - / yards long is acre. yards wide by - / yards long is acre. the language of gems.--the language of the various precious stones is as follows: moss agate--health, prosperity and long life. amethyst--prevents violent passions. bloodstone--courage, wisdom and firmness in affection. chrysolite--frees from evil passions and sadness. emerald--insures true love, discovers false. diamonds--innocence, faith and virgin purity, friends. garnet--constancy and fidelity in every engagement. opal--sharpens the sight and faith of the possessor. pearl--purity; gives clearness to physical and mental sight. ruby--corrects evils resulting from mistaken friendship. sapphire--repentance; frees from enchantment. sardonyx--insures conjugal felicity. topaz--fidelity and friendship; prevents bad dreams. turquoise--insures prosperity in love. great salt lake and the dead sea.--great salt lake is a shallow body of water, its average depth being but a little more than three feet, while in many parts it is much less. the water is transparent, but excessively salt; it contains about per cent of common salt, slightly mixed with other salts, and forming one of the purest and most concentrated brines in the world. its specific gravity is . . the water is so buoyant that a man may float in it at full length upon his back, having his head and neck, his legs to the knee, and both arms to the elbow, entirely out of water. if he assumes a sitting posture, with his arms extended, his shoulders will rise above the water. swimming, however, is difficult as the lower limbs tend to rise above the surface, and the brine is so strong that to swallow even a very little of it will cause strangulation. the waters of the dead sea, on the other hand, are nearly black, and contain much sulphur and bitumen, as well as salt. it is also very deep, varying from thirteen feet near the south end of the lake to more than , feet in the northern part. its buoyancy is quite equal to that of great salt lake, for travelers say that a man can float prone upon the surface for hours without danger of sinking, and in a sitting position is held breast-high above the water. some famous war songs.--the slavery war developed several union song-writers whose stirring verses have kept on singing themselves since the close of that great struggle. two among them are best remembered nowadays, both men who wrote the words and composed the music to their own verses. chicago lays claim to one, dr. george f. root, and boston to the other, henry c. work. the song "marching through georgia," as every one knows, was written in memory of sherman's famous march from atlanta to the sea, and words and music were the composition of henry c. work, who died not many months ago (in ). the first stanza is as follows: bring the good old bugle, boys, we'll sing another song--sing it with spirit that will start the world along--sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong, while we were marching through georgia. chorus--"hurrah! hurrah! we bring the jubilee! hurrah! hurrah! the flag that makes you free!" so we sang the chorus from atlanta to the sea, while we were marching through georgia. among the other songs of work the following are best known: "kingdom coming," or "say, darkey, hab you seen de massa?" "babylon is fallen," "grafted into the army" and "corporal schnapps." this record would be incomplete were we to fail to mention some of the many ringing songs of george f. root, songs which have made the name of root famous in thousands upon thousands of households in the west. some of these songs are: "battle cry of freedom," "tramp, tramp, tramp," "on, on, on, the boys came marching," "just before the battle, mother," "just after the battle," "lay me down and save the flag," "stand up for uncle sam, my boys." the well known song, "wrap the flag around me, boys," was composed by r. stewart taylor, and "when johnny cones marching home" by louis lambert. the cost of royalty in england.--her majesty: privy purse: £ , salaries of household: , expenses of household: , royal bounty, etc.: , unappropriated: , _________ £ , prince of wales: , princess of wales: , crown princess of prussia: , duke of edinburgh: , princess christian of schleswig-holstein: , princess louise (marchioness of lome): , duke of connaught: , duke of albany: , duchess of cambridge: , duchess of mecklenburg-strelitz: , duke of cambridge: , duchess of teck: , some great rivers.--from haswell's little work for engineers and mechanics the following figures are taken, showing the lengths of the largest rivers on the various continents: name: miles. europe. volga, russia: , danube: , rhine: vistula: asia. yeneisy and selenga: , kiang: , hoang ho: , amoor: , euphrates: , ganges: , tigris: , africa. nile: , niger: , gambia: , south america. amazon and beni: , platte: , rio madeira: , rio negro: , orinoco: , uruguay: , magdalena: north america. mississippi and missouri: , mackenzie: , rio bravo: , arkansas: , red river: , ohio and alleghany: , st. lawrence: , the figures as to the length of the nile are estimated. the amazon, with its tributaries (including the rio negro and madeira), drains an area of , , square miles; the mississippi and missouri, , , square miles; the yeneisy (or yenisei, as it is often written) drains about , , square miles; the volga, about , . in this group of great rivers the st. lawrence is the most remarkable. it constitutes by far the largest body of fresh water in the world. including the lakes and streams, which it comprises in its widest acceptation, the st. lawrence covers about , square miles; the aggregate, it is estimated, represents not less than , solid miles--a mass of water which would have taken upward of forty years to pour over niagara at the computed rate of , , cubic feet in a second. as the entire basin of this water system falls short of , square miles, the surface of the land is only three times that of the water. how the united states got its lands.--the united states bought louisiana, the vast region between the mississippi river, the eastern and northern boundary of texas (then belonging to spain), and the dividing ridge of the rocky mountains, together with what is now oregon, washington territory, and the western parts of montana and idaho, from france for $ , , . this was in . before the principal, interest, and claims of one sort and another assumed by the united states were settled, the total cost of this "louisiana purchase," comprising, according to french construction and our understanding, , , square miles, swelled to $ , , , or almost $ per section--a fact not stated in cyclopedias and school histories, and therefore not generally understood. spain still held florida and claimed a part of what we understood to be included in the louisiana purchase--a strip up to north latitude --and disputed our boundary along the south and west, and even claimed oregon. we bought florida and all the disputed land east of the mississippi and her claim to oregon, and settled our southwestern boundary dispute for the sum of $ , , . texas smilingly proposed annexation to the united states, and this great government was "taken in" december , , texas keeping her public lands and giving us all her state debts and a three-year war (costing us $ , , ) with mexico, who claimed her for a runaway from mexican jurisdiction. this was a bargain that out-yankeed the yankees, but the south insisted on it and the north submitted. after conquering all the territory now embraced in new mexico, a part of colorado, arizona, utah, nevada and california, we paid mexico $ , , for it--$ , , for the greater part of it and $ , , for another slice, known as the "gadsden purchase." in we bought alaska from russia for $ , , . all the several amounts above named were paid long ago. as for all the rest of our landed possessions, we took them with us when we cut loose from mother britain's apron string, but did not get a clear title until we had fought ten years for it--first in the revolutionary war, costing us in killed , reported--besides the unreported killed--and over , wounded, and $ , , in money; afterward in the war of - , costing us in killed , , in wounded , , in money $ , , . we have paid everybody but the indians, the only real owners, and, thanks to gunpowder, sword, bayonet, bad whisky, small-pox, cholera and other weapons of civilization, there are not many of them left to complain. besides all the beads, earrings, blankets, pots, kettles, brass buttons, etc., given them for land titles in the olden times, we paid them, or the indian agents, in one way and another, in the ninety years from to , inclusive, $ , , . , to say nothing of the thousands of lives sacrificed and many millions spent in indian wars, from the war of king philip to the last fight with the apaches. illustrious men and women.--it is not likely that any two persons would agree as to who are entitled to the first fifty places on the roll of great men and great women. using "great" in the sense of eminence in their professions, of great military commanders the following are among the chief: sesostris, the egyptian conqueror, who is represented as having subdued all asia to the oxus and the ganges, ethiopia, and a part of europe; cyrus the great; alexander the great; hannibal; che-hwanti, who reduced all the kingdoms of china and indo-china to one empire, and constructed the great wall; cæsar; genghis khan, the tartar chief, who overran all asia and a considerable part of europe; napoleon bonaparte; ulysses s. grant, and general von moltke. among the most illustrious benefactors of mankind, as statesmen, lawgivers and patriots, stand moses, david, solon, numa pompilius, zoroaster, confucius, justinian, charlemagne, cromwell, washington and lincoln. eminent among the philosophers, rhetoricians and logicians stand socrates, plato, aristotle, seneca, the two catos, and lord bacon; among orators, pericles, demosthenes, cicero, mirabeau, burke, webster and clay; among poets, homer, virgil, dante, milton, and shakespeare; among painters and sculptors, phidias, parrhasius, zenxis, praxiteles, scopas, michael angelo, raphael and rubens; among philanthropists, john howard; among inventors, archimedes, watt, fulton, arkwright, whitney and morse; among astronomers, copernicus, galileo, tycho brahe, newton, la place and the elder herschel. here are sixty names of distinguished men, and yet the great religious leaders, excepting moses and zoroaster, have not been named. among these stand siddhartha or buddha, mahomet, martin luther, john knox and john wesley. then the great explorers and geographers of the world have not been noticed, among whom herodotus, strabo, pliny, vasco de gama, columbus and humboldt barely lead the van. of eminent women there are seling, wife of the emperor hwang-ti, b. c. , who taught her people the art of silk-raising and weaving; semiramis, the assyrian queen; deborah, the heroic warrior prophetess of the israelites; queen esther, who, with the counsel of her cousin, mordecai, not only saved the jews from extermination, but lifted them from a condition of slavery into prosperity and power; dido, the founder of carthage; sappho, the eminent grecian poetess; hypatia, the eloquent philosopher; mary, the mother of christ; zenobia, queen of palmyra; the mother of st. augustine; elizabeth of hungary; queen elizabeth of england; queen isabella of spain; the empress maria theresa; margaret the great of denmark; catherine the great of russia, queen victoria; florence nightingale; mme. de stael: mrs. fry, the philanthropist; among authoresses, mrs. hemans, mrs. sigourney, mrs. browning, "george sand," "george eliot," and mrs. stowe; and among artists, rosa bonheur, and our own harriet hosmer. the suez canal.--the suez canal was begun in , and was formally opened in november, . its cost, including harbors, is estimated at $ , , . its length is miles, of which were excavated; its width is generally feet at the surface, and feet at the bottom, and its depth feet. the workmen employed were chiefly natives, and many were drafted by the khedive. the number of laborers is estimated at , . the british government virtually controls the canal as it owns most of the stock. sending vessels over niagara falls.--there have been three such instances. the first was in . some men got an old ship--the michigan--which had been used on lake erie, and had been pronounced unseaworthy. for mere wantonness they put aboard a bear, a fox, a buffalo, a dog and some geese and sent it over the cataract. the bear jumped from the vessel before it reached the rapids, swam toward the shore, and was rescued by some humane persons. the geese went over the falls, and came to the shore below alive, and, therefore, became objects of great interest, and were sold at high prices to visitors at the falls. the dog, fox, and buffalo were not heard of or seen again. another condemned vessel, the detroit, that had belonged to commodore perry's victorious fleet, was started over the cataract in the winter of , but grounded about midway in the rapids, and lay there till knocked to pieces by the ice. a somewhat more picturesque instance was the sending over the canada side of a ship on fire. this occurred in . the vessel was the caroline, which had been run in the interest of the insurgents in the canadian rebellion. it was captured by colonel mcnabb, an officer of the canada militia, and by his orders it was set on fire then cut loose from its moorings. all in flames, it went glaring and hissing down the rapids and over the precipice, and smothered its ruddy blaze in the boiling chasm below. thia was witnessed by large crowds on both sides of the falls, and was described as a most magnificent sight. of course there was no one on board the vessel. old time wages in england.--the following rates of daily wages "determined" by the justices of somerset, in , answer this question very fairly. somerset; being one of the average shires of england. the orthography is conformed to original record: s. d. mowers per diem, findeing themselves: mowers at meate and drinke: men makeing hay per diem, findeing themselves: men at meate and drinke: women makeing hay: women at meate and drinke: men reapeing corne per diem, findeing themselves: men reapinge corne at meate and drinke: moweing an acre of grasse, findeing themselves: moweing an acre of grasse to hay: moweing an acre of barley: reapeinge and bindeinge an acre of wheate: cuttinge and bindeinge an acre of beanes and hookinge: the shilling is about cents and the penny cents. declaration of independence signers.--the following is the list of names appended to that famous document, with the colony which each represented in congress: new hampshire--josiah bartlett; william whipple, matthew thornton. massachusetts--john hancock, john adams, samuel adams, robert treat paine. rhode island--elbridge gerry, stephen hopkins, william ellery. connecticut--roger sherman, samuel huntington, william williams, oliver wolcott. new york--william floyd, philip livingston, francis lewis, lewis morris. new jersey--richard hockton, john witherspoon, francis hopkinson, john hart, abraham clark. pennsylvania--robert morris, benjamin rush, benjamin franklin, john morton, george clymer, james smith, george taylor, james wilson, george ross. delaware--caesar rodney, george reed, thomas mckean. maryland--samuel chase, thomas stone, william paca, charles carroll, of carrollton. virginia--george wythe, richard henry lee, thomas jefferson, benjamin harrison, thomas nelson, jr., francis lightfoot lee, carter braxton. north carolina--william hooper, joseph hewes, john penn. south carolina--edward rutledge, thomas heyward, jr., thomas lynch, jr., arthur middleton. georgia--button gwinntet, lyman hall, george walton. life of ethan allen.--colonel ethan allan was captured in an attack upon montreal, september , . he was sent as prisoner to great britain, ostensibly for trial, but in a few months was sent back to america, and confined in prison ships and jails at halifax and new york till may , , when he was exchanged. during most of his captivity he was treated as a felon and kept heavily ironed, but during was allowed restricted liberty on parole. after his exchange he again offered his services to the patriot army, but because of trouble in vermont was put in command of the militia in that state. the british authorities were at that time making especial efforts to secure the allegiance of the vermonters, and it was owing to allen's skillful negotiations that the question was kept open until the theater of war was changed, thus keeping the colony on the american side, but avoiding the attacks from the british that would certainly have followed an open avowal of their political preferences. allen died at burlington, vt., february , . burial customs.--among the early christians the dead were buried with the face upward and the feet toward the east, in token of the resurrection at the coming again of the sun of righteousness. it cannot be said, however, that the custom was first used by the christians. it was in practice among early pagan nations also, and is regarded as a survival of the ideas of the fire-worshipers. the sun, which was the impersonation of deity to many primitive races, had his home in their mythology in the east, and out of respect for him the dead were placed facing this quarter, among certain tribes always in a sitting posture. it may also be remarked that among other races the position was reversed, the dead body being placed with its feet toward the west, because the region of sunset was the home of the departed spirits. the surrender of lee to grant.--the surrender of general lee was made at the house of a farmer named mclean, in appomattox village, that house having been selected by general lee himself at general grant's request for the interview. general grant went thither, and was met by general lee on the threshold. the two went into the parlor of the house, a small room, containing little furnishing but a table and several chairs. about twenty union officers besides general grant were present, among them the members of the general's staff. the only confederate officer with general lee was colonel marshall, who acted as his secretary. general lee, as well as his aid, was in full uniform, and wore a burnished sword which was given him by the state of virginia; general grant was in plain uniform, without a sword. after a brief conversation, relative to the meeting of the two generals while soldiers in mexico, general lee adverted at once to the object of the interview by asking on what terms the surrender of his army would be received. general grant replied that officers and men must become prisoners of war, giving up of course all munitions, weapons and supplies, but that a parole would be accepted. general lee then requested that the terms should be put in writing, that he might sign them. general badeau says that while general grant was writing the conditions of surrender he chanced to look up and his eye caught the glitter of general lee's sword, and that this sight induced him to insert the provision that the "officers should be allowed to retain their side-arms, horses and personal property." this historian thinks that general lee fully expected to give up his sword, and that general grant omitted this from the terms of surrender out of consideration for the feelings of a soldier. badeau says that general lee was evidently much touched by the clemency of his adversary in this regard. the confederate chief now wrote his acceptance of the terms offered and signed them. he further requested that the cavalry and artillery soldiers might be allowed to retain their horses as well as the officers, to which general grant consented, and asked that a supply train left at danville might be allowed to pass on, as his soldiers were without food. the reply of general grant to this was an order that , rations should be immediately issued from the commissariat of the national army to the army of northern virginia. the formal papers were now drawn up and signed, and the interview which ended one of the greatest wars of modern times was over. colored population at each census.--the following will show the white and colored population of the united states, from to , inclusive: year white. colored free. colored slaves. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , none. , , , , none. arctic explorations.--from to there were voyages and land journeys undertaken by governments and explorers of europe and america to investigate the unknown region around the north pole. of these, sixty-three went to the northwest, twenty-nine via behring straits, and the rest to the northeast or due north. since there have been the notable expeditions of dr. hayes, of captain hall, those of nordenskjold, and others sent by germany, russia and denmark; three voyages made by james lament, of the royal geographical society, england, at his own expense; the expeditions of sir george nares, of leigh smith, and that of the ill-fated jeannette; the search expeditions of the tigress, the juniata, and those sent to rescue lieutenant greely; further, all the expeditions fitted out under the auspices of the polar commission--in which the greely expedition was included--and a number of minor voyages, making a sum total of some sixty exploring journeys in these twenty-seven years. the battle of waterloo.--the battle of waterloo was fought june , , between the allied british, netherland and german troops under wellington and the french under napoleon. on june napoleon had attacked the prussians under blucher at ligny and forced them to retreat toward wavre, and marshal noy at the same time attacked the british and dutch forces at quatre bras, but was forced to retire after an engagement of five hours. napoleon's object, however, which was to prevent a union of the prussians with wellington's main army, was partially gained. the latter commander, having learned the next morning of blucher's repulse, moved on to waterloo expecting that the prussian commander, according to previous arrangement, would join him there as speedily as possible. on june napoleon also moved toward waterloo with the main body of his army, having directed marshal grouchy with , men and ninety-six guns to pursue blucher's command toward wavre. both armies bivouacked on the field of waterloo, and the next morning napoleon, confident that grouchy would prevent the arrival of the prussians, delayed attack until the ground should become dry, a heavy shower having fallen on the day previous. the forces under wellington occupied a semi-circular ridge a mile and a half in length, and the french were on an opposite ridge, the two being separated by a valley about yards wide. the plan of napoleon was to turn the allied left, force it back upon center, and gain possession of the enemy's line of retreat. to draw off wellington's attention to his right, french troops were sent about o'clock to attack the chateau of houguemont, which the english had fortified. after a fight of more than two hours this was still in the possession of its defenders. about o'clock a prussian corps under bulow was seen approaching on the french right, and napoleon, finding it necessary to send , men to check their advance, was obliged to change the plan of battle. he therefore ordered a fierce attack upon the allied center. wellington massed his troops there, and the battle was obstinately maintained for five hours, with varying success to the participants, both commanders hourly expecting re-enforcements. wellington was waiting for blucher and napoleon for grouchy. the french at last were gaining ground; the allied troops in the center were wavering under ney's impetuous onslaughts, general durutte had forced back the left, and bulow's troops on the right had been forced to yield the position they had taken. now, however, there were rumors that blucher's army was approaching and the allies again rallied. at o'clock napoleon, despairing of the approach of grouchy, determined to decide the day by a charge of the old guard, which had been held in reserve. at this stage the advance of prussian horse on the allied left forced back general durutte's troops, and the old guard formed in squares to cover this retreat. ney's division surrounded, made a gallant struggle--their brave leader still unwounded, though five horses had been shot under him, heading them on foot, sword in hand--but were forced to give way. the old guard held their ground against overwhelming numbers. finally, when five squares were broken, the emperor gave the order to "fall back." the cry "the guard is repulsed" spread consternation through the french army and threatened to turn retreat into precipitate flight. napoleon, seeing this, reformed the guard in order to give a rallying point for the fugitives. failing in this, he declared that he would die within the square, but marshal soult hurried him away. the heroic band, surrounded, was bidden to surrender. "the old guard dies, but never surrenders" is the reply popularly attributed to general cambronne, and with the cry of "vive l'empereur!" the remnant of the guard made a last charge upon the enemy and perished almost to a man. the forces of blucher being now upon the field, the rout of the french was complete, and the prussians pursued the fleeing troops, capturing guns and men. there is no doubt that the failure of grouchy to come upon the field caused napoleon to lose his last great battle. it was subsequently asserted that this marshal was bribed, but there seems to be no real foundation for so base a charge. the trouble was that he had been ordered by napoleon to follow the prussians toward wavre and thought it necessary to follow the strict letter of his instructions. before he reached the village the main body of the prussian force was on its way to waterloo, but one division had been left there to occupy his attention. engaged in skirmishing with this, he paid no attention to the advice of his subordinate generals who, hearing the terrible cannonading at waterloo, besought him to go to the aid of the army there. napoleon believing that he was either holding back blucher's forces or was hotly pursuing them, did not recall him to the main army, and the decisive battle was lost. grouchy was summoned before a council of war, but the court declared itself incompetent to decide his case, and nothing further came of it. our national cemeteries.--national cemeteries for soldiers and sailors may be said to have originated in , the army appropriation bill of that year appropriating money for a cemetery near the city of mexico, for the interment of the remains of soldiers who fell in the mexican war. the remains of federal soldiers and sailors who fell in the war for the union have been buried in seventy-eight cemeteries exclusive of those interred elsewhere, a far greater number. in the subjoined list are given the names and locations of the national cemeteries with the number therein buried, known and unknown. we have no means of knowing what cemeteries also contain the bodies of southern soldiers: (location): known; unknown cypress hill, n. y.: , ; woodlawn, elmira, n. y.: , ; ---- beverly, n. j.: ; finn's point, n.j.: ----; , gettysburg, pa.: , ; , philadelphia, pa.: , ; annapolis, md.: , ; antietam, md.: , ; , london park, baltimore, md.: , ; laurel, baltimore, md.: ; soldiers' home, d. c.: , ; battle, d. c.: ; ---- grafton, w. va.: ; arlington, va.: , ; , alexandria, va.: , ; ball's bluff, va.: ; cold harbor, va.: ; , city point, va.: , ; , culpepper, va.: ; danville, va.: , ; fredericksburg, va.: , ; , fort harrison, va.: ; glendale, va.: ; hampton, va.: , ; poplar grove, va.: , ; , richmond, va.: ; , seven pines, va.: ; , staunton, va.: ; winchester, va.: , ; , yorktown, va.: ; , newbern, n. c.: , ; , raleigh, n. c.: ; salisbury, n. c.: ; , wilmington, n. c.: ; , beaufort, s. c.: , ; , florence, s. c.: ; , andersonville, ga.: , ; marietta, ga.: , ; , barrancas, fla.: ; mobile, ala.: ; corinth, miss.: , ; , natchez, miss.: ; , vicksburg, miss.: , ; , alexandria, la.: ; baton rouge, la.: , ; chalmette, la.: , ; , port hudson, la.: ; , brownsville, texas: , ; , san antonio, texas: ; fayetteville, ark.: ; fort smith, ark.: ; , little rock, ark.: , ; , chattanooga, tenn.: , ; , fort donelson, tenn.: ; knoxville, tenn.: , ; , memphis, tenn.: , ; , nashville, tenn.: , ; , pittsburg landing, tenn.: , ; , stone river, tenn.: , ; , camp nelson, ky.: , ; , cave hill, louisville, ky.: , ; danville, ky.: ; lebanon, ky.: ; lexington, ky.: ; logan's, ky.: ; crown hill, indianapolis, ind.: ; new albany, ind.: , ; camp butler, ill.: , ; mound city, ill.: , ; , rock island, ill.: ; jefferson barracks, mo.: , ; , jefferson city, mo.: ; springfield, mo.: ; fort leavenworth, kas.: ; fort scott, kas.: ; keokuk, iowa: ; fort gibson, i. t.: ; , fort mcpherson, neb.: ; city of mexico, mexico: ; the catacombs of paris.--the so-called catacombs of paris were never catacombs in the ancient sense of the word, and were not devoted to purposes of sepulture until . in that year the council of state issued a decree for clearing the cemetery of the innocents, and for removing its contents, as well as those of other graveyards, into the quarries which had existed from the earlier times under the city of paris and completely undermined the southern part of the city. engineers and workmen were sent to examine the quarries and to prop up their roofs lest the weight of buildings above should break them in. april , , the consecration of the catacombs was performed with great solemnity, and the work of removal from the cemeteries was immediately begun. this work was all performed by night; the bones were brought in funeral cars, covered with a pall, and followed by priests chanting the service of the dead, and when they reached the catacombs the bones were shot down the shaft. as the cemeteries were cleared by order of the government, their contents were removed to this place of general deposit, and these catacombs further served as convenient receptacles for those who perished in the revolution. at first the bones were heaped up without any kind of order except that those from each cemetery were kept separate, but in a regular system of arranging them was commenced, and the skulls and bones were built up along the wall. from the main entrance to the catacombs, which is near the barriers d'enfer, a flight of ninety steps descends, at whose foot galleries are seen branching in various directions. some yards distant is a vestibule of octagonal form, which opens into a long gallery lined with bones from floor to roof. the arm, leg and thigh bones are in front, closely and regularly piled, and their uniformity is relieved by three rows of skulls at equal distances. behind these are thrown the smaller bones. this gallery conducts to several rooms resembling chapels, lined with bones variously arranged. one is called the "tomb of the revolution." another the "tomb of victims," the latter containing the relics of those who perished in the early period of the revolution and in the "massacre of september." it is estimated that the remains of , , human beings lie in this receptacle. admission to these catacombs has for years been strictly forbidden on account of the unsafe condition of the roof. they are said to comprise an extent of about , , square yards. history of the telephone.--the principle of the telephone, that sounds could be conveyed to a distance by a distended wire, was demonstrated by robert hook in , but no practical application was made of the discovery until , when professor wheatstone exhibited his "enchanted lyre," in which the sounds of a music-box were conveyed from a cellar to upper rooms. the first true discoverer of the speaking telephone, however, was johaun philipp reis, a german scientist and professor in the institute at friedrichsdorf. april , , reis exhibited his telephone at frankfort. this contained all the essential features of the modern telephone, but as its commercial value was not at all comprehended, little attention was paid to it. reis, after trying in vain to arouse the interest of scientists in his discovery, died in , without having reaped any advantage from it, and there is no doubt that his death was hastened by the distress of mind caused by his continual rebuffs. meanwhile, the idea was being worked into more practical shape by other persons, professor elisha gray and professor a.g. bell, and later by edison. there is little doubt that professor gray's successful experiments considerably antedated those of the others, but professor bell was the first to perfect his patent. february , , bell's articulating telephone was tested by experiments at boston and salem, mass., and was found to convey sounds distinctly from one place to the other, a distance of eighteen miles. this telephone was exhibited widely in this country and in europe during that year, and telephone companies were established to bring it into general use. edison's carbon "loud-speaking" telephone was brought out in . it is not worth while to go into details of the suits on the subject of priority of invention. the examiner of patents at washington, july , , decided that professor bell was the first inventor, because he was the first to complete his invention and secure a full patent. since there have been many improvements in the different parts of the telephone, rendering it now nearly perfect in its working. secession and readmission of rebel states.-- seceded. readmitted. south carolina dec. , . june , . mississippi jan. , . feb. , . alabama jan. , . june , . florida jan. , . june , . georgia jan. , . april , . louisiana jan. , . june , . texas feb. , . mar. , . virginia april , . jan. , . arkansas may , . june , . north carolina may , . june , . tennessee june , . july, . the earthquake of - .--the earthquake shocks felt on the shores of the lower mississippi in the years - are recorded as among the most remarkable phenomena of their kind. similar instances where earth disturbances have prevailed, severely and continuously, far from the vicinity of a volcano, are very rare indeed. in this instance, over an extent of country stretching for miles southward from the mouth of the ohio river, the ground rose and sank in great undulations, and lakes were formed and again drained. the shocks were attended by loud explosions, great fissures--generally traveling from northeast to southwest, and sometimes more than half a mile in length--were opened in the earth, and from these openings mud and water were thrown often to the tops of the highest trees. islands in the mississippi were sunk, the current of the river was driven back by the rising of its bed, and overflowed the adjacent lands. more than half of new madrid county was permanently submerged. the inhabitants noticed that these earth movements were sometimes vertical and sometimes horizontal, the former being by far the most serious in their effects. these disturbances ceased march , , simultaneously with the great earthquake which destroyed the city of caracas, south america. the dark days in new england.--on may , , there was a remarkable darkening of the sky and atmosphere over a large part of new england, which caused much alarm among those who witnessed it. the darkness began between ten and eleven o'clock on the day named, and continued in some places through the entire day, and was followed by an unusually intense degree of blackness during the ensuing night. this phenomenon extended from the northeastern part of new england westward as far as albany, and southward to the coast of new jersey. the most intense and prolonged darkness, however, was confined to massachusetts, especially to the eastern half of the state. it came up from the southwest, and overhung the country like a pall. it was necessary to light candles in all the houses, and thousands of good people, believing that the end of all things terrestrial had come, betook themselves to religious devotions. one incident of the occasion has been woven into verse with excellent effect by the poet whittier. the connecticut legislature was in session on that day, and as the darkness came on and grew more and more dense, the members became terrified, and thought that the day of judgment had come; so a motion was made to adjourn. at this, a mr. davenport arose and said: "mr. speaker, it is either the day of judgment, or it is not. if it is not, there is no need of adjourning. if it is, i desire to be found doing my duty. i move that candles be brought and that we proceed to business." mr. davenport's suggestion was taken, candles were brought in, and business went on as usual. as to the explanation of this phenomenon, scientists have been much puzzled. it was plain from the falling of the barometer that the air was surcharged with heavy vapor. the darkness then, it might be said, was only the result of a dense fog, but the question of the cause of so remarkable a fog was still unanswered. omitting this unascertained primary cause, then, professor williams, of harvard college, who subsequently made a thorough investigation of the matter, gave it as his opinion that this unprecedented quantity of vapor had gathered in the air in layers so as to cut off the rays of light, by repeated refraction, in a remarkable degree. he thought that the specific gravity of this vapor must have been the same as that of the air, which caused it to be held so long in suspension in the atmosphere. in this case the extent of the darkness would coincide with the area of the vapor, and it would continue until a change in the gravity of the air caused the vapors to ascend or descend. in some places when the darkness cleared it was as if the vapor was lifted and borne away by the wind like a dark pall, and in others, after a period of intense darkness the atmosphere gradually lightened again. in our day, a phenomenon of this kind would be thoroughly investigated to its most remote possible cause; but then owing to the sparse settlement of the country and the difficulties of travel, the investigation of distant causes could not be made. large fires may have prevailed that spring in the forests of western new york and pennsylvania--a region then an absolute wilderness--the smoke of which was borne through the upper regions of the atmosphere, to fall when it came to a locality of less buoyant air, down to the lower strata. we say these fires may have recently preceded this day, and served as its sufficient cause, but we have only presumptive evidence that they did occur. had professor williams entertained a supposition of the previous existence of such fires, he had then no means of verifying it, and long before the advent of railroads and telegraphs, or even of stage lines, the scientific theories of the dark day had passed from the general memory. a short history of the liberty bell.--in the pennsylvania assembly authorized a committee to procure a bell for their state house. november st of that year an order was sent to london for "a good bell of about , pounds weight." to this order were added the following directions: "let the bell be cast by the best workmen and examined carefully before it is shipped, with the following words well shaped in large letters around it, viz.: 'by order of the assembly of the province of pennsylvania, for the state house, in the city of philadelphia, .' and underneath, 'proclaim liberty through all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.--levit. xxv. .'" in due time, in the following year, the bell reached philadelphia, but when it was hung, early in , as it was being first rung to test the sound, it cracked without any apparent reason, and it was necessary to have it recast. it was at first thought to be necessary to send it back to england for the purpose, but some "ingenious workmen" in philadelphia wished to do the casting and were allowed to do so. in the first week of june, , the bell was again hung in the belfry of the state house. on july , , it was known throughout the city that the final decision on the question of declaring the colonies independent of great britain was to be made by the continental congress, in session at the state house. accordingly the old bellman had been stationed in the belfry on that morning, with orders to ring the bell when a boy waiting at the door of the state house below should signal to him that the bill for independence had been passed. hour after hour the old man stood at his post. at last, at o'clock, when he had about concluded that the question would not be decided on that day at least, the watchman heard a shout from below, and looking down saw the boy at the door clapping his hands and calling at the top of his voice: "ring! ring!" and he did ring, the story goes, for two whole hours, being so filled with excitement and enthusiasm that he could not stop. when the british threatened philadelphia, in , the precious bell was taken down and removed to the town of bethlehem for safety. in it was returned to the state house and a new steeple built for it. several years after it cracked, for some unknown reason, under a stroke of the clapper, and its tone was thus destroyed. an attempt was made to restore its tone by sawing the crack wider, but without success. this bell was sent to new orleans during the winter to be exhibited in the world's fair there. the pullman company gave one of their handsomest cars for the transit. it was in the charge of three custodians appointed by the mayor of philadelphia, who did not leave it night or day, and guarded it as fully as possible against accident. a pilot engine preceded the train carrying the bell over the entire route. it left philadelphia jan. , , and returned in june. the antarctic polar regions.--the climate of the southern polar regions is much more severe than that at the north pole, the icefields extending in degrees nearer the equator from the south than from the north. within the arctic circle there are tribes of men living on the borders of the icy ocean on both the east and west hemispheres, but within the antarctic all is one dreary, uninhabitable waste. in the extreme north the reindeer and the musk-ox are found in numbers, but not a single land quadruped exists beyond degrees of southern latitude. flowers are seen in summer by the arctic navigator as far as degrees north, but no plant of any description, not even a moss or a lichen, has been observed beyond cockburn island, in degrees minutes south latitude. in spitzbergen, degrees north, vegetation ascends the mountain slopes to a height of , feet, but on every land within or near the antarctic circle the snow-line descends to the water's edge. the highest latitude ever reached at the south is degrees minutes, while in the north navigators have penetrated to degrees. the reason for this remarkable difference is the predominance of large tracts of land in the northern regions, while in the south is a vast expanse of ocean. in the north continental masses form an almost continuous belt around the icy sea, while in the southern hemisphere the continents taper down into a broad extent of frigid waters. in the north the plains of siberia and of the hudson's bay territories, warmed by the sunbeams of summer, become at that season centers of radiating heat, while the antarctic lands, of small extent, isolated in the midst of a polar ocean and chilled by cold sea winds, act at every season as refrigerators of the atmosphere. further in the north the cold currents of the polar sea, having but two openings of any estent through which they can convey drift ice, have their chilly influence confined to comparatively narrow limits, but the cold currents of the antarctic seas have scope to branch out freely on all sides and carry their ice even into temperate waters. finally, at the northern hemisphere, the gulf stream conveys warmth even to the shores of spitzbergen and nova zembla, while on the opposite regions of the globe no traces of warm currents have been observed beyond degrees of south latitude. the language used by christ.--the language used by christ was the aramaic, the dialect of northern syria. the israelites were much in contact with aramæan populations, and some words from that tongue became incorporated into the hebrew at a very early date. at the time of hezekiah, aramaic had become the official language of both judea and assyria: that is, the language spoken at the courts. after the fall of samaria the hebrew inhabitants of northern israel were largely carried into captivity, and their place was taken by colonists from syria, who probably spoke aramaic as their mother tongue. the fall of the jewish kingdom hastened the decay of hebrew as a spoken language--not that the captives forgot their own language, as is generally assumed, but after the return to judea the jews found themselves, a people few in number, among a large number of surrounding populations using the aramaic tongue. when the latest books of the old testament were written, hebrew, though still the language of literature, had been supplanted by aramaic as the language of common life. from that time on the former tongue was the exclusive property of scholars, and has no history save that of a merely literary language. how ancient temples and pyramids were built.--this is beyond modern conjecture, so imperfect is our understanding of the extent of the mechanical knowledge of the ancients. their appliances are believed to have been of the simplest order, and their implements exceedingly crude, and yet they were able to convey these enormous blocks of stones for vast distances, over routes most difficult, and having accomplished this, to raise them to great height, and fit them in place without the aid of either cement or mortar to cover up the errors of the stonecutter. how all this was done is one of the enigmas of modern science. it has been generally believed that inclined planes of earth were used to enable the workmen to raise the huge stones to their places, the earth being cleared away afterward. but it is possible that the ancients had a more extended knowledge of mechanical powers than we usually give them credit for, and that they made use of machinery very like that employed by moderns for lifting great weights. large cavities are found in some of the stones in the pyramids, which may have been worn by the foot of a derrick turning in them. that there were enormous numbers of men employed in the building of these ancient structures is well known; these results of their great aggregated strength we see, but they left no record of the means by which this strength was focused and brought most effectually to bear on their mighty tasks. the first atlantic cable.--as early as professor morse declared a submarine cable connection between america and europe to be among the possibilities, but no attempt toward this great achievement was made until , when cyrus field established a company, which secured the right of landing cables in newfoundland for fifty years. in soundings between ireland and newfoundland were completed, showing a maximum depth of , meters. having succeeded in laying a cable between nova scotia and newfoundland, mr. field secured the co-operation of english capitalists in his enterprise. the laying of the cable was begun august , , from the port of valencia, ireland, but on the third day it broke, and the expedition had to return. early in the following year another attempt was made. the cable was laid from both ends at the same time, was joined in mid-ocean, but in lowering it was broken. again, in the same year, the attempt was made, and this time connection was successfully made. the first message over the line was sent august , . the insulation of this cable, however, was defective, and by september th had quite failed. some time was now spent in experiments, conducted by scientists, to secure a more perfect cable. a new company was formed, and in the work again began. the great eastern was employed to lay the cable, but when it was partly laid serious defects in the line were discovered and in repairing these it broke. the apparatus for recovering the wire proving insufficient the vessel returned to england. a new company, called the anglo-american, was formed in , and again the great eastern was equipped for the enterprise. the plan of the new expedition was not only to lay a new cable, but also to take up the end of the old one and join it to a new piece, thus obtaining a second telegraph line. the vessel sailed from valencia july , , and july the cable was completely laid to heart's content, newfoundland, and a message announcing the fact sent over the wire to lord stanley. queen victoria sent a message of congratulation to president buchanan on the th. september d the lost cable of was recovered and its laying completed at newfoundland september , . engraving on eggs.--the art of engraving on eggs is very puzzling to the uninitiated, but in reality it is very simple. it merely consists in writing upon the egg-shell with wax or varnish, or simply with tallow, and then immersing the egg in some weak acid, such, for example, as vinegar, dilute hydrochloric acid, or etching liquor. wherever the varnish or wax has not protected the shell, the lime of the latter is decomposed and dissolved in the acid, and the writing or drawing remains in relief. in connection with this art a curious incident is told in history. in the month of august, , at the time of the spanish war, there was found in a church in lisbon an egg, on which was plainly foretold the utter destruction of the french, who then had control of the city. the story of the wonderful prophecy spread through the town, causing the greatest excitement among the superstitious populace, and a general uprising was expected. this, however, the french commander cleverly thwarted by causing a counter-prophecy, directly denying the first, to be engrossed on several hundred eggs, which were then distributed in various parts of the city. the astonished portuguese did not know what to think of this new phenomenon, but its "numerousness," if we may so call it, caused it to altogether outweigh the influence of the first prediction, and there were no further symptoms of revolt against the french. cayenne pepper.--the name of the plant genus from which cayenne pepper is obtained is capsicum, a name also given to the product of the plant. this genus belongs to the solanaceæ, or night shade family, and has no relation to the family piperaceæ, which produces the shrub yielding black pepper. the plant which yields cayenne pepper is identical with the common red pepper of our gardens. it is an annual, a native of tropical countries, where it thrives luxuriantly even in the dryest soils, but it is also cultivated in other parts of the world. it grows to the height of two or three feet, and bears a fruit in the shape of a conical pod or seed-vessel, which is green when immature, but bright scarlet or orange when ripe. this pod, with its seeds, has a very pungent taste, and is used when green for pickling, and when ripe and dried is ground to powder to make cayenne pepper, or is used for medicine. this powder has a strongly stimulating effect, and is believed to aid digestion. it is also employed externally to excite the action of the skin. the big trees of california.--there are several groves of big trees in california, the most famous of which are the calaveras grove and the mariposa grove. the calaveras grove occupies what may be described as a band or belt , feet long and in width. it is between two slopes, in a depression in the mountains, and has a stream winding through it, which runs dry in the summer time. in this grove the big trees number ninety-three, besides a great many smaller ones, which would be considered very large if it were not for the presence of these monarchs of the forest. several of the big trees have fallen since the grove was discovered, one has been cut down, and one had the bark stripped from it to the height feet from the ground. the highest now standing is the "keystone state," feet high and feet in circumference; and the largest and finest is the "empire state." there are four trees over feet in height, and to feet in circumference. the tree which was cut down occupied five men twenty-two days, which would be at the rate of one man days, or nearly four months' work, not counting sundays. pump augers were used for boring through the giant. after the trunk was severed from the stump it required five men with immense wedges for three days to topple it over. the bark was eighteen inches thick. the tree would have yielded more than , cords of four-foot wood and cords of bark, or more than , cords in all. on the stump of the tree was built a house, thirty feet in diameter, which the rev. a.h. tevis, an observant traveler, says contains room enough in square feet, if it were the right shape, for a parlor x feet, a dining-room x , a kitchen x , two bed-rooms feet square each, a pantry x , two clothes-presses - / feet deep and feet wide, and still have a little to spare! the mariposa grove is part of a grant made by congress to be set apart for public use, resort and recreation forever. the area of the grant is two miles square and comprises two distinct groves about half a mile apart. the upper grove contains trees, of which are over fifteen feet in diameter, besides a great number of smaller ones. the average height of the mariposa trees is less than that of the calaveras, the highest mariposa tree being feet; but the average size of the mariposa is greater than that of calaveras. the "grizzly giant," in the lower grove, is feet in circumference and feet in diameter; it has been decreased by burning. indeed, the forests at times present a somewhat unattractive appearance, as, in the past, the indians, to help them in their hunting, burned off the chaparral and rubbish, and thus disfigured many of these splendid trees by burning off nearly all the bark. the first branch of the "grizzly giant" is nearly two hundred feet from the ground and is six feet in diameter. the remains of a tree, now prostrate, indicate that it had reached a diameter of about forty feet and a height of feet; the trunk is hollow and will admit of the passage of three horsemen riding abreast. there are about trees of over forty feet in circumference. besides these two main groves there are the tolumne grove, with thirty big trees; the fresno grove, with over eight hundred spread over an area of two and a half miles long and one to two broad; and the stanislaus grove, the calaveras group, with from to . there should be named in this connection the petrified forest near calitoga, which contains portions of nearly one hundred distinct trees of great size, scattered over a tract of three or four miles in extent: the largest of this forest is eleven feet in diameter at the base and sixty feet long. it is conjectured that these prostrate giants were silicified by the eruption of the neighboring mount st. helena, which discharged hot alkaline waters containing silica in solution. this petrified forest is considered one of the great natural wonders of california. history of the city of jerusalem.--the earliest name of jerusalem appears to have been jebus, or poetically, salem, and its king in abraham's time was melchizedek. when the hebrews took possession of canaan, the city of salem was burned, but the fortress remained in the hands of the jebusites till king david took it by storm and made it the capital of his kingdom. from that time it was called jerusalem. during the reigns of david and solomon it attained its highest degree of power. when ten of the jewish tribes seceded under jeroboam they made shechem (and later samaria) the capital of their kingdom of israel, and jerusalem remained the capital of the smaller but more powerful kingdom of judah. the city was taken by shishak, king of egypt, in b.c., was later conquered and sacked by joash, king of israel, and in the time of ahaz, the king of syria came against it with a large force, but could not take it. the city was besieged in hezekiah's reign, by the army of sennacherib, king of assyria, but was saved by the sudden destruction of the invading army. after the death of josiah, the city was tributary for some years to the king of egypt, but was taken after repeated attempts by the babylonians under nebuchadnezzar in b.c., and was left a heap of ruins. the work of rebuilding it began by order of king cyrus about b.c., who allowed the jewish people who had been carried into captivity to return for this purpose. from this time jerusalem enjoyed comparative peace for several hundred years and grew to be an important commercial city. when alexander invaded syria it submitted to him without resistance. after his death it belonged for a time to egypt and in b.c., passed with the rest of judea under the rule of syria. antiochus the great ruled it with mildness and justice, but the tyranny of his son, antiochus epiphanes, brought about the revolt, headed by the maccabees, through which jerusalem gained a brief independence. in b.c., pompey the great took the city, demolished the walls and killed thousands of the people, but did not plunder it. however, nine years later crassus robbed the temple of all its treasures. the walls were soon after rebuilt under antipater, the roman procurator, but when herod came to rule over the city with the title of king, given him by the roman senate, he was resisted and only took possession after an obstinate siege, which was followed by the massacre of great numbers of the people. herod improved and enlarged the city, and restored the temple on a more magnificent scale than in solomon's time. jerusalem is said at this time to have had a population of over , . this period of wealth and prosperity was also rendered most, memorable for jerusalem by the ministry and crucifixion of christ. about a.d. , the jews, goaded to desperation by the tyranny of the romans, revolted, garrisoned jerusalem, and defeated a roman army sent against them. this was the beginning of the disastrous war which ended with the destruction of the city. it was taken by titus, in the year , after a long siege, all the inhabitants were massacred, or made prisoners, and the entire city left a heap of ruins. the emperor hadrian built on the site of jerusalem a roman city, under the name of elia capitolina, with a temple of jupiter, and jews were forbidden to enter the city under pain of death. under constantine it was made a place of pilgrimage for christians, as the emperor's mother, helena, had with much pains located the various sites of events in the history of christ. the emperor julian, on the contrary, not only allowed the jews to return to their city, but also made an attempt, which ended in failure, to rebuild their temple. in the persian emperor chosroes invaded the roman empire. the jews joined his army, and after conquering the northern part of palestine, the united forces laid siege to and took jerusalem. the jews wreaked vengeance on the christians for what they had been forced to endure, and , people were massacred. the persians held rule in the city for fourteen years; it was then taken by the romans again, but in the caliph omar beseiged it. after four months the city capitulated. it was under the rule of the caliphs for years, until the seljuk turks in invaded syria and made it a province of their empire. christian pilgrims had for many years kept up the practice of visiting the tomb of christ, as the caliphs did not interfere with their devotions any further than by exacting a small tribute from each visitor. but the cruelties practiced upon the pilgrims by the turks were many, and report of them soon roused all europe to a pitch of indignation, and brought about that series of holy wars, which for a time restored the holy sepulcher into christian hands. jerusalem was stormed and taken july , , and , moslems were slaughtered by their wrathful christian foes. the new sovereignty was precariously maintained until , when it fell before the power of saladin. jerusalem, after a siege of twelve days, surrendered. saladin, however, did not put his captives to death, but contented himself with expelling them from the city. jerusalem passed into the hands of the franks by treaty, in , was retaken by the moslems in , once more restored in , and finally conquered in by a horde of kharesmian turks. in palestine was conquered by sultan selin i., and since then has been under the rule of the ottoman empire, except for a brief period--from to , when it was in the hands of mahomet ali pasha of egypt, and his son ibrahim had his seat of government in jerusalem. the black death.--- this great plague, known as the "black death," was the most deadly epidemic ever known. it is believed to have been an aggravated outburst of the oriental plague, which from the earliest records of history has periodically appeared in asia and northern africa. there had been a visitation of the plague in europe in ; the black death, in terrible virulence, appeared in - ; it also came in milder form in - , and again in . the prevalence and severity of the pestilence during this century is ascribed to the disturbed conditions of the elements that preceded it. for a number of years asia and europe had suffered from mighty earthquakes, furious tornadoes, violent floods, clouds of locusts darkening the air and poisoning it with their corrupting bodies. whether these natural disturbances were the cause of the plague is not certainly known, but many writers on the subject regard the connection as both probable and possible. the disease was brought from the orient to constantinople, and early in appeared in sicily and several coast towns of italy. after a brief pause the pestilence broke out at avignon in january, ; advanced thence to southern france, spain and northern italy. passing through france and visiting, but not yet ravaging, germany, it made its way to england, cutting down its first victims at dorset, in august, . thence it traveled slowly, reaching london early in the winter. soon it embraced the entire kingdom, penetrating to every rural hamlet, so that england became a mere pest-house. the chief symptoms of the disease are described as "spitting, in some cases actual vomiting, of blood, the breaking out of inflammatory boils in parts, or over the whole of the body, and the appearance of those dark blotches upon the skin which suggested its most startling name. some of the victims died almost on the first attack, some in twelve hours, some in two days, almost all within the first three days." the utter powerlessness of medical skill before the disease was owing partly to the physicians' ignorance of its nature, and largely to the effect of the spirit of terror which hung like a pall over men's minds. after some months had passed, the practice of opening the hard boils was adopted, with very good effect, and many lives were thus saved. but the havoc wrought by the disease in england was terrible. it is said that , persons died in london, nearly , in norwich, and proportionate numbers in other cities. these figures seem incredible, but a recent writer, who has spent much time in the investigation of records, asserts that at least half the population, or about , , souls, of england perished in this outbreak. the ravages of the pestilence over the rest of the world were no less terrible. germany is said to have lost , , victims; italy, over half the population. on a moderate calculation, it may be assumed that there perished in europe during the first appearance of the black death, fully , , human beings. concerning the orient we have less reliable records, but , , are said to have died in china, and , , in the rest of asia and adjacent islands. the plague also ravaged northern africa, but of its course there little is known. the horrors of that dreadful time were increased by the fearful persecutions visited on the jews, who were accused of having caused the pestilence by poisoning the public wells. the people rose to exterminate the hapless race, and killed them by fire and torture wherever found. it is impossible for us to conceive of the actual horror of such times. mighty hammers.--an authority on scientific subjects give the weights of the great hammers used in the iron works of europe, and their date of manufacture, as follows: at the terni works, italy, the heaviest hammer weighs tons, and was made in ; one at alexandrovski, russia, was made the following year of like weight. in , one was finished at creusot works, france, weighing tons; in , one at the cockerill works, belgium, of tons, and in , at the krupp works, essen, germany, one of tons. the latter being the heaviest hammer in the world. assassination of president garfield.--july , , at : a.m., as president garfield was entering the baltimore & potomac railroad depot at washington, preparatory to taking the cars for a two weeks' jaunt in new england, he was fired upon and severely wounded by charles jules guitean, a native of illinois, but of french descent. the scene of the assassination was the ladies' reception-room at the station. the president and mr. blaine, arm in arm, were walking slowly through the aisle between two rows of benches on either side of the room; when guitean entered by a side door on the left of the gentlemen, passed quickly around the back of the benches till directly behind the president, and fired the shot that struck his arm. mr. garfield walked about ten feet to the end of the aisle, and was in the act of turning to face his assailant when the second shot struck him in the small of the back, and he fell. the assassin was immediately seized and taken to jail. the wounded president was conveyed in an ambulance to the white house. as he was very faint, the first fear was of internal hemorrhage, which might cause speedy death. but as he rallied in a few hours, this danger was thought to be averted and inflammation was now feared. but as symptoms of this failed to appear, the surgeons in attendance concluded that no important organ had been injured, that the bullet would become encysted and harmless, or might possibly be located and successfully removed. by the th of july, the reports were so favorable, that the president's recovery was regarded as certain, and public thanksgivings were offered in several of the states, by order of the governors, for his deliverance. the first check in the favorable symptoms occurred on july , and july there was a serious relapse, attended with chills and fever. the wound had been frequently probed but without securing any favorable result. the induction balance was used to locate the ball, and was regarded as a success, though subsequently its indications were known to have been altogether erroneous. the probings, therefore, in what was assumed to be the track of the ball, only increased the unfavorable symptoms. during the entire month of august these reports were alternately hopeful and discouraging, the dangerous indications being generally on the increase. by august , his situation was understood to be very critical, though an apparent improvement on the th and th again aroused hope. at his own earnest desire the president was removed, september , to elberon park, near long branch. n.j., in the hope that the cooler air of the seaside might renew his strength more rapidly. however, the improvement hoped for did not appear. on september , there was a serious relapse, with well-marked symptoms of blood poisoning, and september , the president died. a post-mortem examination showed that the ball, after fracturing one of the ribs, had passed through the spinal column, fracturing the body of one of the vertebra, driving a number of small fragments of bone into the soft parts adjacent, and lodging below the pancreas, where it had become completely encysted. the immediate cause of death was hemorrhage from one of the small arteries in the track of the ball, but the principal cause was the poisoning of the blood from suppuration. coins of foreign countries.--the following carefully prepared summary indicates the coins in use in the various countries, taking their names in alphabetical order: argentine republic--gold coins: peso piece, $ . ; pesos, $ . ; pesos, $ . . silver: peso, cents. the copper coin of the country is the centisimo, of which make a peso or dollar. austria--gold coins: gulden piece, $ . ; gulden, $ . . silver: marie theresa thaler, $ . ; gulden, cents; gulden, cents; / gulden, cents; kreutzer, cents; kreutzer, cents. of the small copper coin current, known as the kreutzer, make a gulden. brazil--gold coins: milrei piece, $ . ; milreis, $ . . silver: milreis, $ . ; milreis, cents; / milreis, cents. the portuguese rei is used for copper money, worth about / of a cent. chili--gold coin: pesos (or condor), $ . ; pesos, $ . : pesos, $ . . silver: peso, cents; centavos, cents; centavos, cents; centavos, cents; centavos, cents. the copper coin is centavo, th of a peso. colombia--gold coins: twenty peso piece, $ . ; pesos, $ . ; pesos, $ . ; pesos, $ . . silver: peso, cents; centavos, cents; centavos, cents; centavos, cents. the copper centavo of colombia is identical in value with our cent. (the currency of coloumbia is also used in venezuela.) denmark--gold coins: twenty kroner piece, $ . ; kroner, $ . . silver: two kroner, cents; krone, cents; ore, cents; ore, cents; ore, - / cents; ore, - / cents. one hundred of the copper ore make one krone. france--gold coins: one hundred franc piece, $ . ; francs. $ . ; francs, $ . ; francs, $ . ; francs, cents. silver: five francs, cents; francs, cents; franc, cents; centimes, cents: centimes, cents. the copper coins are the sou, worth about - / mills, and the centime, mills. germany--gold coins: twenty-mark piece, $ . ; marks, $ . ; marks, $ . . silver: five marks, $ . ; marks, cents; mark, cents; pfennige, cents; pfennige, cents. one hundred copper pfennige make one mark. great britain--gold coins: pound or sovereign, $ . ; guinea, $ . . silver: five shillings or crown, $ . ; half crown, - / cents; shilling, cents; sixpence, - / cents. also a three-penny piece and a four-penny piece, but the latter is being called in, and is nearly out of circulation. the copper coins of great britain are the penny, half-penny and farthing. india--gold coins: thirty rupees or double mohur, $ . ; rupees or mohur, $ . ; rupees, $ . ; rupees, $ . . silver: one rupee, cents, and coins respectively of the value of one-half, one-fourth and one-eighth rupee. in copper there is the pie, one-fourth of a cent; the pice, / of a cent; the ana, cents. japan--gold coins: twenty yen, $ . ; yen, $ . ; yen, $ . ; yen, $ . ; yen, cents. silver: the , , and sen pieces, answering respectively to , , and cents. in copper there is the sen, answering to cent. mexico--gold coins: sixteen dollar piece, $ . ; dollars, $ . ; dollars, $ . ; dollars, $ . ; dollar, cents. silver: dollar, cents; -cent piece, cents; cents, cents. the mexican cent, like our own, equals one-hundreth of a dollar. netherlands--gold coins: ten-guilder piece, $ . ; guilders, $ . . silver: - / guilders, $ ; guilder, cents; half-guilder, cents; cents, cents; cents, cents; cents, cents. the dutch copper cent is one-hundreth of the guilder. peru--gold coins: twenty-sol piece, $ . ; sol, $ . ; sol, $ . ; sol. $ . ; sol, cents. silver: sol, cents; centesimos, cents; , and centesimos, worth respectively , and cents. it will be noted that the peruvian coinage is almost identical with that of colombia. it is also used in bolivia. portugal--gold coin: crown, $ . ; half-crown, $ . ; one-fifth crown, $ . ; one-tenth crown, $ . . these gold pieces are also known respectively as , , and dollar [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'pices']v pieces. the silver coins are the , , [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'and '] and reis coins, worth respectively , , and cents. one thousand reis are equal to one crown. russia--gold coins: imperial or -ruble piece, $ . ; rubles, $ . ; rubles, $ . . silver: ruble, cents; half-ruble, cents; quarter-ruble, cents; copecks, cents; copecks, cents; copecks, cents; copecks are worth ruble. turkey--gold coins: lira or medjidie, $ . ; half-lira, $ . ; quarter-lira, $ . . the silver unit is the piastre, worth cents of our currency, and silver coins of , , , and piastres are current. the currency of denmark is also in use in norway and sweden, these three countries forming the scandinavian union. belgium, france, greece, italy, roumania, servia, spain and switzerland are united in the latin union, and use the french coinage. the units in the different states are, it is true, called by different names; as in france, belgium and switzerland, franc and centime; in italy, lira and centesimo; in greece, drachm and lepta; in roumania, lei and bani: in servia, dinar and para; in spain, peseta and centesimo; but in all cases the value is the same. the similarity in the coinage of different countries is worth notice. a very slight change in the percentage of silver used would render the half-guilder of austria, the krone of the scandinavian union, the franc of the latin union, the mark of germany, the half-guilder of holland, the quarter-ruble of russia, the -reis piece of portugal, the -piastre piece of turkey, the half-milreis of brazil and the half-rupee of india, all interchangeable with the english shilling, and all of them about the value of the quarter-dollar of north and south american coinage. with the exception of brazil, the other south american states, as well as mexico and the central american countries, are all rapidly approximating a uniform coinage, which the needs of commerce will unquestionably soon harmonize with that of the united states. curiously enough, the great force that is assimilating the alien branches of the human race is not christianity but trade. a history of the panic of .--the cause of the panic of was mainly the rage for land speculation which had run through the country like an epidemic. paper cities abounded, unproductive railroads were opened, and to help forward these projects, irresponsible banks were started, or good banks found themselves drawn into an excessive issue of notes. every one was anxious to invest in real estate and become rich by an advance in prices. capital was attracted into this speculation by the prospect of large gains, and so great was the demand for money that there was a remarkable advance in the rates of interest. in the west, where the speculative fever was at its highest, the common rates of interest were from to per cent. a month. everything was apparently in the most prosperous condition, real estate going up steadily, the demand for money constant, and its manufacture by the banks progressing successfully, when the failure of the "ohio life and trust company," came, august , , like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. this was followed by the portentous mutterings of a terrible coming storm. one by one small banks in illinois, ohio, and everywhere throughout the west and south went down. september - the banks of philadelphia suspended payment, and thus wrecked hundreds of banks in pennsylvania, maryland and adjoining states. october - , after a terrible run on them by thousands of depositors, the banks of new york suspended payment. october all the banks of massachusetts went down, followed by a general wreckage of credit throughout new england. the distress which followed these calamities was very great, tens of thousands of workmen being unemployed for months. the new york banks resumed payment again december , and were soon followed by the banks in other cities. the darkest period of the crisis now seemed past, although there was much heart rending suffering among the poor during the winter which followed. the commercial reports for the year showed , commercial failures, with liabilities amounting to $ , , . the history of plymouth rock.--a flat rock near the vicinity of new plymouth is said to have been the one on which the great, body of the pilgrims landed from the mayflower. the many members of the colony, who died in the winter of - , were buried near this rock. about it was proposed to build a wharf along the shore there. at this time there lived in new plymouth an old man over years of ago named thomas faunce, who had known some of the mayflower's passengers when a lad, and by them had been shown the rock on which they had landed. on hearing that it was to be covered with a wharf the old man wept, and it has been said that his tears probably saved plymouth rock from oblivion. after the revolution it was found that the rock was quite hidden by the sand washed upon it by the sea. the sand was cleared away, but in attempting to take up the rock it was split in two. the upper half was taken to the village and placed in the town square. in it was removed to a position in front of pilgrim hall and enclosed in an iron railing. in september, , this half of the stone was taken back to the shore and reunited to the other portion. a handsome archway was then built over the rock, to protect it in part from the depredations of relic hunters. grant's tour around the world.--general grant embarked on a steamer at the philadelphia wharf for his tour around the world may , . he arrived at queenstown, ireland, may . thence he went to liverpool, manchester, and on to london. he remained in that city several weeks, and was made the recipient of the most brilliant social honors. july th he went to belgium, and thence made a tour through germany and switzerland, he then visited denmark, and august returned to great britain, and until october spent the time in visiting the various cities of scotland and england. october th he started for paris, where he remained a month, then went on to lyons, thence to naples, and subsequently with several friends he made a trip on the mediterranean, visiting the islands of sicily, malta and others. thence going to egypt, the pyramids and other points of note were visited, and a journey made up the nile as far as the first cataract. the programme of travel next included a visit to turkey and the holy land, whence, in march, the party came back to italy through greece, revisited naples, went to turin and back to paris. after a few weeks spent in the social gayeties of that city, the netherlands was chosen as the next locality of interest, and the hague, rotterdam, and amsterdam were visited in turn. june , , the general and his party arrived in berlin. after staying there some weeks they went to christiana and stockholm, then to st. petersburg, moscow and warsaw, and back over german soil to vienna. another trip was now made through switzerland, and, then returning to paris, a start was made for a journey through spain and portugal, in which victoria, madrid, lisbon, seville and other important towns were visited. a trip was also made from cadiz to gibraltar by steamer. after another brief visit to paris, general grant went to ireland, arriving at dublin january , ; visited several points of interest in that country, then, by way of london and paris, went to marseilles, whence he set sail by way of the mediterranean sea and the suez canal for india. he reached bombay february th. thence visited allahabad, agra and rode on an elephant to amber; also went to benares, delhi. calcutta and rangoon, spent a week in siam, then went by steamer to china. after spending some time at canton, pekin and other places he went to japan for a brief visit. he went to nagasaki, tokio and yokahama, and at last, september , , set sail from tokio on his return to the united states. september th he arrived in the harbor of san francisco. after some weeks spent in visiting the points of interest in california and oregon he returned to his home in the eastern states. history of vassar college.--- vassar college is on the east bank of the hudson, near poughkeepsie, n.y. it was founded in . in that year matthew vassar, a wealthy brewer of poughkeepsie, gave to an incorporated board of trustees the sum of $ , and acres of land for the endowment of a college for women. the building was constructed from plans approved by him, at a cost of about $ , . the college was opened in september, , with eight professors and twenty other instructors, and students. the first president of the college was professor milo p. jewett; the second dr. john h. raymond; the third the rev. samuel caldwell. the college has a fine library, with scientific apparatus and a museum of natural history specimens. the origins of chess.--so ancient is chess, the most purely intellectual of games, that its origin is wrapped in mystery. the hindoos say that it wad the invention of an astronomer, who lived more than , years ago, and was possessed of supernatural knowledge and acuteness. greek historians assert that the game was invented by palamedes to beguile the tedium of the siege of troy. the arab legend is that it was devised for the instruction of a young despot, by his father, a learned brahman, to teach the youth that a king, no matter how powerful, was dependent upon his subjects for safety. the probability is that the game was the invention of some military genius for the purpose of illustrating the art of war. there is no doubt, that it originated in india, for a game called by the sanskrit name of cheturanga--which in most essential points strongly resembles modern chess, and was unquestionably the parent of the latter game--is mentioned in oriental literature as in use fully , years before the christian area. in its gradual diffusion over the world the game has undergone many modifications and changes, but marked resemblances to the early indian game are still to be found in it. from india, chess spread into persia, and thence into arabia, and the arabs took it to spain and the rest of western europe. the dark ages.--the dark ages is a name often applied by historians to the middle ages, a term comprising about , years, from the fall of the roman empire in the fifth century to the invention of printing in the fifteenth. the period is called "dark" because of the generally depraved state of european society at this time, the subservience of men's minds to priestly domination, and the general indifference to learning. the admirable civilization that rome had developed and fostered, was swept out of existence by the barbarous invaders from northern europe, and there is no doubt that the first half of the medieval era, at least, from the year to , was one of the most brutal and ruffianly epochs in history. the principal characteristic of the middle ages were the feudal system and the papal power. by the first the common people were ground into a condition of almost hopeless slavery, by the second the evolution of just and equitable governments by the ruling clashes was rendered impossible through the intrusion of the pontifical authority into civil affairs. learning did not wholly perish, but it betook itself to the seclusion of the cloisters. the monasteries were the resort of many earnest scholars, and there were prepared the writings of historians, metaphysicians and theologians. but during this time man lived, as the historian symonds says, "enveloped in a cowl." the study of nature was not only ignored but barred, save only as it ministered in the forms of alchemy and astrology to the one cardinal medieval virtue--- credulity. still the period saw many great characters and events fraught with the greatest importance to the advancement of the race. the greatest depth of the ocean never measured.--the deepest verified soundings are those made in the atlantic ocean, ninety miles off the island of st. thomas, in the west indies, , fathoms, or , feet deeper water has been reported south of the grand bank of newfoundland, over , feet in depth, but additional soundings in that locality did not corroborate this. some years ago, it was claimed that very deep soundings, from , to , feet, had been found off the coast of south america, but this report was altogether discredited on additional investigation in these localities. the ship challenger, which in - made a voyage round the globe for the express purpose of taking deep sea soundings in all the oceans, found the greatest depth touched in the pacific ocean less than , fathoms, and the lowest in the atlantic , fathoms, as given above. the army of the revolution.--it is not positively known how many men from the colonies served in the war. the official tabular statement indicates a total off recorded years of enlistment and not a total of the the men who served. hence, a man who served from april , , until the formal cessation of hostilities, april , counted as eight men in the aggregate. in this basis of enlisted years, the following table gives the contribution various states: new hampshire, , ; massachusetts, , ; rhode island, , ; connecticut, , ; new york, , ; new jersey, , ; pennsylvania, , ; delaware, , ; maryland, , ; virginia, , ; north carolina, , ; south carolina, , ; georgia, , ; total, , . the world's decisive battles.--the fifteen decisive battles of the world from the fifth century before christ to the beginning of the nineteenth century of the present era, are as follows: the battle of marathon, in which the persian hosts were defeated by the greeks under miltiades, b.c. . the defeat of the athenians at syracuse, b.c. . the battle of arhela, in which the persians under darius were defeated by the invading greeks under alexander the great, b.c. . the battle of the metanrus, in which the carthaginian forces under hasdrubal were overthrown by the romans, b.c. . victory of the german tribes under arminins over the roman legions under varus, a.d. . (the battle was fought in what is now the province of lippe, germany, near the source of the river ems.) battle of chalons, where attila the terrible king of the huns, was repulsed by the romans under aetius, a.d. battle of tours, in which the saracen turks invading western europe were utterly overthrown by the franks under charles martel, a.d. . battle of hastings, by which william the conqueror became the ruler of england, oct. , . victory of the french under joan of arc over the english at orleans, april , . defeat of the spanish armada by the english naval force, july and , . battle of blenheim, in which the french and bavarians were defeated by the allied armies of great britain and holland under the duke of marlborough, aug. , . battle of pultowa, the swedish army under charles xii, defeated by the russians under peter the great, july , . victory of the american army under general gates over the british under general burgoyne at saratoga, oct. , . battle of valmy where the allied armies of prussia and austria were defeated by the french under marshal kellerman. sept. , . battle of waterloo, the allied forces of the british and prussians defeated the french under napoleon, the final overthrow of the great commander, june , . these battles are selected as decisive, because of the important consequences that followed them. few students of history, probably, would agree with prof. creasy, in restricting the list as he does. many other conflicts might be noted, fraught with great importance to the human race, and unquestionably "decisive" in their nature; as, for instance, the victory of sobieski over the turkish army at vienna, sept. , . had the poles and austrians been defeated there, the turkish general might readily have fulfilled his threat "to stable his horses in the church of st. peter's at rome," and all western europe would, no doubt, have been devastated by the ruthless and bloodthirsty ottomans. of important and decisive battles since that of waterloo we may mention in our own civil war those of gettysburg, by which the invasion of the north was checked, and at chattanooga, nov. and , , by which the power of the confederates in the southwest received a deadly blow. the wandering jew.--there are various versions of the story of "the wandering jew," the legends of whom have formed the foundation of numerous romances, poems and tragedies. one version is that this person was a servant in the house of pilate, and gave the master a blow as he was being dragged out of the palace to go to his death. a popular tradition makes the wanderer a member of the tribe of naphtali, who, some seven or eight years previous to the birth of the christ-child left his father to go with the wise men of the east whom the star led to the lowly cot in bethlehem. it runs, also, that the cause of the killing of the children can be traced to the stories this person related when he returned to jerusalem of the visit of the wise men, and the presentation of the gifts they brought to the divine infant, when he was acknowledged by them to be the king of the jews, he was lost sight of for a time, when he appeared as a carpenter who was employed in making the cross on which the saviour was to be lifted up into the eyes of all men. as christ walked up the way to calvary, he had to pass the workshop of this man, and when he reached its door, the soldiers, touched by the sufferings of the man of sorrows, besought the carpenter to allow him to rest there for a little, but he refused, adding insult to a want of charity. then it is said that christ pronounced his doom, which was to wander over the earth until the second coming. since that sentence was uttered, he has wandered, courting death, but finding it not, and his punishment, becoming more unbearable as the generations come and go. he is said to have appeared in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and even as recently as the eighteenth century, under the names of cartaphilus, and ahasuerus, by which the wandering jew has been known. one of the legends described him as a shoemaker of jerusalem, at whose door christ desired to rest on the road to calvary, but the man refused, and the sentence to wander was pronounced. some memorable dark days.--during the last hundred years there have been an unusually large number of dark days recorded. as has been suggested by several writers, this may have been the result of the careful scientific observations of modern times, as well as of the frequency of these phenomena. the dark day in the beginning of this century about which so much has been said and written occurred oct. , . the first day of the same month and year is also represented as "a close dark day." mr. thomas robie, who took observations at cambridge, mass., has this to offer in regard to the phenomenon. "on oct. the day was so dark that people were forced to light candles to eat their dinners by; which could not he from an eclipse, the solar eclipse being the fourth of that month." the day is referred to by another writer as "a remarkable dark day in new england and new york," and it is noted, quaintly by a third, that "in october, , a dark day occurred after a severe winter in new england." nov. , , was a dark day in london, and is described "in the neighborhood of walworth and camberwell so completely dark that some of the coachmen driving stages were obliged to get down and lead their horses with a lantern." the famous dark day in america was may , . the phenomenon began about o'clock in the forenoon. the darkness increased rapidly, and "in many places it was impossible to read ordinary print." there was widespread fear. many thought that the day of judgment was at hand. at that time the legislature of connecticut was in session at hartford. the house of representatives, being unable to transact their business, adjourned. a proposal to adjourn the council was under consideration. when the opinion of colonel davenport was asked, he answered: "i am against an adjournment. the day of judgment is approaching or it is not. if it is not, there is no cause for adjournment: if it is, i choose to be found doing my duty. i wish, therefore, that candles may be brought." in whittier's "tent on the beach" is given a beautiful poetical version of this anecdote. it is suggested by several authorities that the cause of the dark day in should be attributed simply to the presence of ordinary clouds of very unusual volume and density. these instances are, of course, grouped with phenomena of which not a great deal is known, and can in no way be classed with those occurrances occasioned by the smoke from extensive forest tires, volcanic eruptions, or fogs. the remarkable story of charlie ross.--charlie ross was the son of christian k. ross of germantown, pa., and at the time of his disappearance was a little over years of age. the child and a brother years old were playing july , , in the streets of germantown, when a couple of men drove up in a buggy and persuaded the children, with promises of toys and candies, to get in and ride with them in the vehicle. after driving around the place for a little time, the older brother, walter ross, was put out of the conveyance, and the strangers gave him cents, telling him to go to a store near at hand and buy some candy and torpedoes for himself and charlie. walter did as he was told, but when he came out of the store the men with charlie and the vehicle had disappeared. it was believed at first by the relatives and friends of the missing boy that he would be returned in a short time, as they supposed he might have been taken by some drunken men. time passed, however, but no trace of the child had been discovered. in a few weeks a letter was received by mr. ross to the effect that if he would pay $ , his son would be returned, but, that the parent need not search for charlie, as all efforts to find the abducted boy or his captors would only be attended with failure; and it was stated that if this amount was not paid, charlie would be killed. the father answered this and a long correspondence ensued, while the search was prosecuted in all directions. mr. ross wanted the child delivered at the time the money was paid, but to this the abductors refused to agree. it is stated that more than $ , were expended to recover the child. at one time two gentlemen were two days in fifth avenue hotel, new york, with the $ , ransom money to be given to the child-thieves, but they did not appear. the search was continued, and the officers of the law were looking up any and all evidence, until they had located the two men. these were found dec. , , committing a burglary in the house of judge van brunt, bay ridge, l. i.; the burglary was discovered, the burglars seen and shot by persons residing in an adjoining residence. one of the men was killed instantly, the other lived several hours, and confessed that he and his companion had abducted charlie ross, but that the dead thief, mosher by name, was the one who knew where the boy was secreted. walter ross identified the burglars as the men who had enticed him and charlie into the buggy. there the case rested. no new fact has been developed. the missing child has never been found. many times have children been reported who resembled charlie, and mr. ross has traveled far and near in his endless search, only to return sadly and report that his boy was still missing. no case in recent years has excited such universal sympathy as that of charlie ross. the blue laws on smoking.--there were some very stringent laws in massachusetts against the use of tobacco in public, and while the penalties were not so heavy, yet they were apparently rigidly enforced for a time. we quote from a law passed in october, , as follows: "it is ordered that noe person shall take any tobacco publiquely, under paine of punishment; also that every one shall pay _d._ for every time hee is convicted of takeing tobacco in any place, and that any assistant shall have power to receave evidence and give order for levyeing of it, as also to give order for the levyeing of the officer's charge. this order to begin the th of november next." in september, , we discover another law on the same article: "victualers, or keepers of an ordinary, shall not suffer any tobacco to be taken in their howses, under the penalty of _s._ for every offence, to be payde by the victuler, and _d._ by the party that takes it. further, it is ordered, that noe person shall take tobacco publiquely, under the penalty of _s._ _d._, nor privately, in his owne house, or in the howse of another, before strangers, and that two or more shall not take it togeather, anywhere, under the aforesaid penalty for every offence." in november, , the record runs: "all former laws against tobacco are repealed, and tobacco is sett at liberty;" but in september, , "the [general] court, finding that since the repealing of the former laws against tobacco, the same is more abused then before, it hath therefore ordered, that no man shall take any tobacco in the fields, except in his journey, or at meale times, under paine of _d._ for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in (or so near) any dwelling house, barne, corne or hay rick, as may likely indanger the fireing thereof, upon paine of s. for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in any inne or common victualing house, except in a private roome there, so as neither the master of the same house nor any other guests there shall take offence thereat, which if they do, then such person is fourthwith to forbeare, upon paine of _s._ _d._ for every offence. noe man shall kindle fyre by gunpowder, for takeing tobacco, except in his journey, upon paine of _d._ for every offence." the remarkable caves--wyandotte and mammoth.--wyandotte cave is in jennings township, crawford county, ind., near the ohio river. it is a rival of the great mammoth cave in grandeur and extent. explorations have been made for many miles. it excels the mammoth cave in the number and variety of its stalagmites and stalactites, and in the size of several of its chambers. one of these chambers is feet in length, feet in height, and contains a hill feet high, on which are three fine stalagmites. epsom salts, niter and alum have been obtained from the earth of the cave. the mammoth cave is in edmondson county, near green river, about seventy-five miles from louisville. its entrance is reached by passing down a wild, rocky ravine through a dense forest. the cave extends some nine miles. to visit the portions already traversed, it is said, requires to miles of travel. the cave contains a succession of wonderful avenues, chambers, domes, abysses, grottoes, lakes, rivers, cataracts and other marvels, which are too well known to need more than a reference. one chamber--the star--is about feet long, feet wide, feet high, the ceiling of which is composed of black gypsum, and is studded with innumerable white points, that by a dim light resemble stars, hence the name of the chamber. there are avenues one and a half and even two miles in length, some of which are incrusted with beautiful formations, and present the appearance of enchanted palace halls. there is a natural tunnel about three-quarters of a mile long, feet wide, covered with a ceiling of smooth rock feet high. there is a chamber having an area of from four to five acres, and there are domes and feet high. echo river is some three-fourths of a mile in length, feet in width at some points, and from to in depth, and runs beneath an arched ceiling of smooth rock about feet high, while the styx, another river, is feet long, from to feet wide, and from to feet deep, and is spanned by a natural bridge. lake lethe has about the same length and width as the river styx, varies in depth from to feet, lies beneath a ceiling some feet above its surface, and sometimes rises to a height of feet. there is also a dead sea, quite a somber body of water. there are several interesting caves in the neighborhood, one three miles long and three each about a mile in length. the south sea bubble.--the "south sea bubble," as it is generally called, was a financial scheme which occupied the attention of prominent politicians, communities, and even nations in the early part of the eighteenth century. briefly the facts are: in robert hartley, earl of oxford, then lord treasurer, proposed to fund a floating debt of about £ , , sterling, the interest, about $ , , to be secured by rendering permanent the duties upon wines, tobacco, wrought silks, etc. purchasers of this fund were to become also shareholders in the "south sea company," a corporation to have the monopoly of the trade with spanish south america, a part of the capital stock of which was to be the new fund. but spain, after the treaty of utrecht, refused to open her commerce to england, and the privileges of the "south sea company" became worthless. there were many men of wealth who were stockholders, and the company continued to flourish, while the ill success of its trading operations was concealed. even the spanish war of did not shake the popular confidence. then in april, , parliament, by large majorities in both houses, accepted the company's plan for paying the national debt, and after that a frenzy of speculation seized the nation, and the stock rose to £ a share, and by august had reached £ , a share. then sir john blunt, one of the leaders, sold out, others followed, and the stock began to fall. by the close of september the company stopped payment and thousands were beggared. an investigation ordered by parliament disclosed much fraud and corruption, and many prominent persons were implicated, some of the directors were imprisoned, and all of them were fined to an aggregate amount of £ , , for the benefit of the stockholders. a great part of the valid assets was distributed among them, yielding a dividend of about per cent. area of north america.--the following figures show the extent of the united states as compared with the british possessions in north america: united states, , , square miles. british possessions--ontario, , ; quebec, , ; nova scotia, , ; new brunswick, , ; british columbia, , ; manitoba, , ; n.w. and hudson bay territories, , , ; labrador and arctic ocean islands, make a total of , , . * * * * * [illustration: household recipes] household recipes miscellaneous. axle grease.-- . water, gallon; soda, / pound; palm oil, pounds. mix by heat, and stir till nearly cold. . water, rape oil, of each gallon; soda, / pound; palm oil, / pound. . water, gallon; tallow, pounds; palm oil, pounds; soda, / pound. heat to deg. fahrenheit and stir until cool. . tallow, pounds; palm oil, pounds; plumbago, pound. makes a good lubricator for wagon axles. how to shell beans easy.--pour upon the pods a quantity of scalding water, and the beans will slip very easily from the pod. by pouring scalding water on apples the skin may be easily slipped off, and much labor saved. how to clean bed-ticks.--apply poland starch, by rubbing it on thick with a cloth. place it in the sun. when dry, rub it if necessary. the soiled part will be clean as new. how to wash carpets.--shake and beat it well; lay it upon the floor and tack it firmly; then with a clean flannel wash it over with a quart of bullock's gall mixed with three quarts of soft, cold water, and rub it off with a clean flannel or house-cloth. any particular dirty spot should be rubbed with pure gall. how to clean carpets.--before proceeding to sweep a carpet a few handfuls of waste tea-leaves should be sprinkled over it. a stiff hair broom or brush should be employed, unless the carpet is very dirty, when a whisk or carpet-broom should be used, first followed by another made of hair, to take off the loose dust. the frequent use of a stiff carpet-broom soon wears off the beauty of the best carpet. an ordinary clothes brush is best adapted for superior carpets. when carpets are very dirty they should be cleaned by shaking and beating. beat it well with a stick in the usual manner until all the dust is removed, then take out the stains, if any, with lemon or sorrel-juice. when thoroughly dry rub it all over with the crumb of a hot wheaten loaf, and if the weather is very fine, let hang out in the open air for a night or two. this treatment will revive the colors, and make the carpet appear equal to new. to remove spots on carpets.--a few drops of carbonate of ammonia, and a small quantity of warm rain water, will prove a safe and easy antacid, etc., and will change, if carefully applied, discolored spots upon carpets, and indeed, all spots, whether produced by acids or alkalies. if one has the misfortune to have a carpet injured by whitewash, this will immediately restore it. how to remove ink spots on carpets.--as soon as the ink has been spilled, take up as much as you can with a sponge, and then pour on cold water repeatedly, still taking up the liquid; next rub the place with a little wet oxalic acid or salt of sorrel, and wash it off immediately with cold water, and then rub on some hartshorn. cleaning and scouring of cloth.--the common method of cleaning cloth is by beating and brushing, unless when very dirty, when it undergoes the operation of scouring. this is best done on the small scale, as for articles of wearing apparel, etc., by dissolving a little curd soap in water, and after mixing it with a little ox-gall, to touch over all the spots of grease, dirt, etc., with it, and to rub them well with a stiff brush, until they are removed, after which the article may be well rubbed all over with a brush or sponge dipped into some warm water, to which the previous mixture and a little more ox-gall has been added. when this has been properly done, it only remains to thoroughly rinse the article in clean water until the latter passes off uncolored, when it must be hung up to dry. for dark, colored cloths the common practice is to add some fuller's-earth to the mixture of soap and gall. when nearly dry the nap should be laid right and the article carefully pressed, after which a brush, moistened with a drop or two of olive oil, is passed several times over it, which will give it a superior finish. cloth may also be cleaned in the dry way, as follows: first remove the spots, as above, and when the parts have dried, strew clean, damp sand over it, and beat it in with a brush, after which brush the article with a hard brush when the sand will readily come out, and bring the dirt with it. black cloth which is very rusty should receive a coat of reviver after drying, and be hung up until the next day, when it may be pressed and finished off as before. scarlet cloth requires considerable caution. after being thoroughly rinsed, it should be repeatedly passed through cold spring water, to which a tablespoonful or two of solution of tin has been added. if much faded, it should be dipped in a scarlet dye-bath. buff cloth is generally cleansed by covering it with a paste made with pipe-clay and water, which, when dry,-is rubbed and brushed off. renovation of cloth.--the article undergoes the process of scouring before described, and, after being well rinsed and drained, it is put on a board, and the thread-bare parts rubbed with a half-worn hatter's card, filled with flocks, or with a teazle or a prickly thistle, until a nap is raised. it is next hung up to dry, the nap laid the right way with a hard brush, and finished as before. when the cloth is much faded, it is usual to give it a dip, as it is called, or to pass it through a dye-bath, to freshen up the color. how to revive the color of black cloth.--if a coat, clean it well, then boil from two to four ounces of logwood in your copper, or boiler, for half an hour; dip your coat in warm water, and squeeze it as dry as you can, then put it into the copper and boil it for half an hour. take it out, and add a piece of green copperas, about the size of a horse-bean; boil it another half hour, then draw it, and hang it in the air for an hour or two; take it down; rinse it in two or three cold waters; dry it, and let it be well brushed with a soft brush, over which a drop or two of the oil of olives has been rubbed, then stroke your coat regularly over. how to restore crape.--skimmed milk and water, with a little bit of glue in it, made scalding hot, is excellent to restore rusty italian crape. if clapped and pulled dry like muslin, it will look as good as new; or, brush the veil till all the dust is removed, then fold it lengthwise, and roll it smoothly and tightly on a roller. steam it till it is thoroughly dampened, and dry on the roller. how to cleanse feather beds.--when feather beds become soiled and heavy they may be made clean and light by being treated in the following manner: rub them over with a stiff brush, dipped in hot soap-suds. when clean lay them on a shed, or any other clean place where the rain will fall on them. when thoroughly soaked let them dry in a hot sun for six or seven successive days, shaking them up well and turning them over each day. they should be covered over with a thick cloth during the night; if exposed to the night air they will become damp and mildew. this way of washing the bed-ticking and feathers makes them very fresh and light, and is much easier than the old-fashioned way of emptying the beds and washing the feathers separately, while it answers quite as well. care must be taken to dry the bed perfectly before sleeping on it. hair mattresses that have become hard and dirty can be made nearly as good as new by ripping them, washing the ticking, and picking the hair free from bunches and keeping it in a dry, airy place several days. whenever the ticking gets dry fill it lightly with the hair, and tack it together. how to cut up and cure pork.--have the hog laid on his back on a stout, clean bench; cut off the head close to the base. if the hog is large, there will come off a considerable collar, between head and shoulders, which, pickled or dried, is useful for cooking with vegetables. separate the jowl from the face at the natural joint; open the skull lengthwise and take out the brains, esteemed a luxury. then with a sharp knife remove the back-bone the whole length, then the long strip of fat underlying it, leaving about one inch of fat covering the spinal column. the leaf lard, if not before taken out for the housewife's convenience, is removed, as is also the tenderloin--a fishy-shaped piece of flesh--often used for sausage, but which makes delicious steak. the middling or sides are now cut out, leaving the shoulders square-shaped and the hams pointed, or they may be rounded to your taste. the spare-ribs are usually wholly removed from the sides, with but little meat adhering. it is the sides of small, young hogs cured as hams that bear the name of breakfast bacon, the sausage meat comes chiefly in strips from the backbone, part of which may also be used as steak. the lean trimmings from about the joints are used for sausage, the fat scraps rendered up with the backbone lard. the thick part of the backbone that lies between the shoulders, called griskin or chine, is separated from the tapering, bony part, called backbone by way of distinction, and used as flesh. the chines are smoked with jowls, and used in late winter or spring. when your meat is to be pickled it should be dusted lightly with saltpetre sprinkled with salt, and allowed to drain twenty-four hours; then plunge it into pickle, and keep under with a weight. it is good policy to pickle a portion of the sides. they, after soaking, are sweeter to cook with vegetables, and the grease fried from them is much more useful than that of smoked meat. if your meat is to be dry salted, allow one teaspoonful of pulverized saltpetre to one gallon of salt, and keep the mixture warm beside you. put on a hog's ear as a mitten, and rub each piece of meat thoroughly. then pack skin side down, ham upon ham, side upon side, strewing on salt abundantly. it is best to put large and small pieces in different boxes for the convenience of getting at them to hang up at the different times they will come into readiness. the weather has so much to do with the time that meat requires to take salt that no particular time can be specified for leaving it in. the best test is to try a medium-sized ham; if salt enough, all similar and smaller pieces are surely ready, and it is well to remember that the saltness increases in drying. ribs and steaks should be kept in a cold, dark place, without salting, until ready for use. if you have many, or the weather is warm, they keep better in pickle than dry salt. many persons turn and rub their meat frequently. we have never practiced this, and have never lost any. when the meat is ready for smoking, dip the hocks of the joints in ground black pepper and dust the raw surface thickly with it. sacks, after this treatment, may be used for double security, and i think bacon high and dry is sweeter than packed in any substance. for sugar-cured hams we append the best recipe we have ever used, though troublesome. _english recipe for sugar-curing hams_.--so soon as the meat comes from the butcher's hand rub it thoroughly with the salt. repeat this four days, keeping the meat where it can drain. the fourth day rub it with saltpetre and a handful of common salt, allowing one pound of saltpetre to seventy pounds of meat. now mix one pound of brown sugar and one of molasses, rub over the ham every day for a fortnight, and then smoke with hickory chips or cobs. hams should be hung highest in meat-houses, because there they are less liable to the attacks of insects, for insects do not so much infest high places--unlike human pests. _pickle_.--make eight gallons of brine strong enough to float an egg; add two pounds of brown sugar or a quart of molasses, and four ounces of saltpetre; boil and skim clean, and pour cold on your meat. meat intended for smoking should remain in pickle about four weeks. this pickle can be boiled over, and with a fresh cup of sugar and salt used all summer. some persons use as much soda as saltpetre. it will correct acidity, but we think impairs the meat. washing preparation.--take a / of a pound of soap, a / of a pound of soda, and a / of a pound of quicklime. cut up the soup and dissolve it in quart of boiling water; pour quart of boiling water over the soda, and quarts of boiling water upon the quicklime. the lime must be quick and fresh; if it is good it will bubble up on pouring the hot water upon it. each must be prepared in separate vessels. the lime must settle so as to leave the water on the top perfectly clear; then strain it carefully (not disturbing the settlings) into the washboiler with the soda and soap; let it scald long enough to dissolve the soap, then add gallons of soap water. the clothes must be put to soak over night, after rubbing soap upon the dirtiest parts of them. after having the above in readiness, wring out the clothes which have been put in soak, put them on to boil, and let each lot boil half an hour; the same water will answer for the whole washing. after boiling each lot half an hour drain them from the boiling water put them in a tub and pour upon them two or three pailsful of clear, hot water; after this they will want very little rubbing; then rinse through two waters, blueing the last. when dried they will be a beautiful white. after washing the cleanest part of the white clothes, take two pails of the suds in which they have been washed, put it over the fire and scald, and this will wash all the flannels and colored clothes without any extra soap. the white flannels, after being well washed in the suds, will require to be scalded by turning on a teakettle of boiling water. * * * * * how to destroy household pests how to destroy ants.--ants that frequent houses or gardens may he destroyed by taking flower of brimstone half a pound and potash four ounces; set them in an iron or earthen pan over the fire till dissolved and united; afterward beat them to a powder, and infuse a little of this powder in water; and wherever you sprinkle it the ants will die or fly the place. how to destroy black ants.--a few leaves of green wormwood, scattered among the haunts of these troublesome insects, is said to be effectual in dislodging them. how to destroy red ants.--the best way to get rid of ants, is to set a quantity of cracked walnuts or shell-barks on plates, and put them in the closet or places where the ants congregate. they are very fond of these, and will collect on them in myriads. when they have collected on them make a general _auto-da-fe_, by turning nuts and ants together into the fire, and then replenish the plates with fresh nuts. after they have become so thinned off as to cease collecting on plates, powder some camphor and put in the holes and crevices, whereupon the remainder of them will speedily depart. it may help the process of getting them to assemble on shell-barks, to remove all edibles out of their way for the time. how to destroy black bees.--place two or three shallow vessels--the larger kind of flower-pot saucers will do--half filled with water, on the floors where they assemble, with strips of cardboard running from the edge of the vessel to the floor, at a gentle inclination; these the unwelcome guests will eagerly ascend, and so find a watery grave. how to destroy bed-bugs.-- . when they have made a lodgement in the wall, fill all the apertures with a mixture of soft soap and scotch snuff. take the bedstead to pieces, and treat that in the same way. . a strong decoction of red pepper applied to bedsteads will either kill the bugs or drive them away. . put the bedstead into a close room and set fire to the following composition, placed in an iron pot upon the hearth, having previously closed up the chimney, then shut the door, let them remain a day: sulphur nine parts; saltpetre, powdered, one part. mix. be sure to open the door of the room five or six hours before you venture to go into it a second time. . rub the bedstead well with lampoil; this alone is good, but to make it more effectual, get ten cents worth of quicksilver and add to it. put it into all the cracks around the bed, and they will soon disappear. the bedsteads should first be scalded and wiped dry, then put on with a feather. . corrosive sublimate, one ounce; muriatic acid, two ounces; water, four ounces; dissolve, then add turpentine, one pint; decoction of tobacco, one pint. mix. for the decoction of tobacco boil one ounce of tobacco in a / pint of water. the mixture must be applied with a paint brush. this wash is deadly poison. . rub the bedsteads in the joints with equal parts of spirits of turpentine and kerosene oil, and the cracks of the surbase in rooms where there are many. filling up all the cracks with hard soap is an excellent remedy. march and april are the months when bedsteads should be examined to kill all the eggs. . mix together two ounces spirits of turpentine, one ounce corrosive sublimate, and one pint alcohol. . distilled vinegar, or diluted good vinegar, a pint; camphor one-half ounce; dissolve. . white arsenic, two ounces; lard, thirteen ounces; corrosive sublimate, one-fourth ounce; venetian red, one-fourth ounce. (deadly poison.) . strong mercurial ointment one ounce; soft soap one ounce; oil of turpentine, a pint . gasoline and coaloil are both excellent adjuncts, with cleanliness, in ridding a bed or house of these pests. how to destroy caterpillars.--boil together a quantity of rue, wormwood, and any cheap tobacco (equal parts) in common water. the liquid should be very strong. sprinkle it on the leaves and young branches every morning and evening during the time the fruit is ripening. how to destroy cockroaches and beetles.-- . strew the roots of black hellebore, at night, in the places infested by these vermin, and they will be found in the morning dead or dying. black hellebore grows in marshy grounds, and may be had at the herb shops. . put about a quart of water sweetened with molasses in a tin wash basin or smooth glazed china bowl. set it at evening in a place frequented by the bugs. around the basin put an old piece of carpet that the bugs can have easy access to the top. they will go down in the water, and stay till you come. . take pulverized borax, parts, flour part, mix intimately and distribute the mixture in cupboards which are frequented by the roaches, or blow it, by means of a bellows, into the holes or cracks that are infested by them. . by scattering a handful of fresh cucumber parings about the house. . take carbonic acid and powdered camphor in equal parts; put them in a bottle; they will become fluid. with a painter's brush of the size called a sash-tool, put the mixture on the cracks or places where the roaches hide; they will come out at once. then kill. . mix up a quantity of fresh burned plaster of paris (gypsum, such as is used for making molds and ornaments), with wheat flour and a little sugar, and distribute on shallow plates and box boards, and place in the corners of the kitchen and pantry where they frequent. in the darkness they will feast themselves on it. whether it interferes with their digestion or not, is difficult to ascertain, but after three or four nights renewal of the preparation, no cockroaches will be found on the premises. how to destroy crickets.--sprinkle a little quick lime near to the cracks through which they enter the room. the lime may be laid down overnight, and swept away in the morning. in a few days they will most likely all be destroyed. but care must be taken that the children do not meddle with the lime, as a very small portion of it getting into the eye, would prove exceedingly hurtful. in case of such an accident the best thing to do would be to wash the eye with vinegar and water. how to get rid of fleas.--much of the largest number of fleas are brought into our family circles by pet dogs and cats. the oil of pennyroyal will drive these insects off: but a cheaper method, where the herb flourishes, is to throw your cats and dogs into a decoction of it once a week. when the herb cannot be got, the oil can be procured. in this case, saturate strings with it and tie them around the necks of the dogs and cats. these applications should be repeated every twelve or fifteen days. mint freshly cut, and hung round a bedstead, or on the furniture, will prevent annoyance from bed insects; a few drops of essential oil of lavender will be more efficacious. how to destroy flies.-- . take an infusion of quassia, one pint; brown sugar, four ounces, ground pepper, two ounces. to be well mixed together, and put in small shallow dishes where required. . black pepper (powdered), one drachm; brown sugar, one drachm; milk or cream, two drachms. mix, and place it on a plate or saucer where the flies are most troublesome. . pour a little simple oxymel (an article to be obtained at the druggists), into a common tumbler glass, and place in the glass a piece of cap paper, made into the shape of the upper part of a funnel, with a hole at the bottom to admit the flies. attracted by the smell, they readily enter the trap in swarms, and by the thousands soon collected prove that they have not the wit or the disposition to return. . take some jars, mugs, or tumblers, fill them half full with soapy water; cover them as jam-pots are covered, with a piece of paper, either tied down or tucked under the rim. let this paper be rubbed inside with wet sugar, molasses, honey, or jam, or any thing sweet; cut a small hole in the center, large enough for a fly to enter. the flies settle on the top, attracted by the smell of the bait; they then crawl through the hole, to feed upon the sweets beneath. meanwhile the warmth of the weather causes the soapy water to ferment, and produces a gas which overpowers the flies, and they drop down into the vessel. thousands may be destroyed this way, and the traps last a long time. fly paper.--melt resin, and add thereto while soft, sufficient sweet oil, lard, or lamp oil to make it, when cold about the consistency of honey. spread on writing paper, and place in a convenient spot. it will soon be filled with ants, flies, and other vermin. how to expel insects.--all insects dread pennyroyal: the smell of it destroys some, and drives others away. at the time that fresh pennyroyal cannot be gathered, get oil of pennyroyal; pour some into a saucer, and steep in it small pieces of wadding or raw cotton, and place them in corners, closet-shelves, bureau drawers, boxes, etc., and the cockroaches, ants, or other insects will soon disappear. it is also well to place some between the mattresses, and around the bed. it is also a splendid thing for brushing off that terrible little insect, the seed tick. how to destroy mice.-- . use tartar emetic mingled with some favorite food. the mice will leave the premises. . take one part calomel, five parts of wheat flour, one part sugar, and one-tenth of a part of ultramarine. mix together in a fine powder and place it in a dish. this is a most efficient poison for mice. . any one desirous of keeping seeds from the depredations of mice can do so by mixing pieces of camphor gum in with the seeds. camphor placed in drawers or trunks will prevent mice from doing them injury. the little animal objects to the odor and keeps a good distance from it. he will seek food elsewhere. . gather all kinds of mint and scatter about your shelves, and they will forsake the premises. how to drive away mosquitoes.-- . a camphor bag hung up in an open casement will prove an effectual barrier to their entrance. camphorated spirits applied as perfume to the face and hands will prove an effectual preventive; but when bitten by them, aromatic vinegar is the beat antidote. . a small amount of oil of pennyroyal sprinkled around the room will drive away the mosquitoes. this is an excellent recipe. . take of gum camphor a piece about half the size of an egg, and evaporate it by placing it in a tin vessel and holding it over a lamp or candle, taking care that it does not ignite. the smoke will soon fill the room and expel the mosquitoes. how to preserve clothing from moths.-- . procure shavings of cedar wood and enclose in muslin bags, which should be distributed freely among clothes. . procure shavings of camphor wood, and enclose in bags. . sprinkle pimento (allspice) berries among the clothes. . sprinkle the clothes with the seeds of the musk plant. . an ounce of gum camphor and one of the powdered shell of red pepper are macerated in eight ounces of strong alcohol for several days, then strained. with this tincture the furs or cloths are sprinkled over, and rolled up in sheets. . carefully shake and brush woolens early in the spring, so as to be certain that no eggs are in them; then sew them up in cotton or linen wrappers, putting a piece of camphor gum, tied up in a bit of muslin, into each bundle, or into the chests and closets where the articles are to lie. no moth will approach while the smell of the camphor continues. when the gum is evaporated, it must be renewed. enclose them in a moth-proof box with camphor, no matter whether made of white paper or white pine, before any eggs are laid on them by early spring moths. the notion of having a trunk made of some particular kind of wood for this purpose, is nonsense. furs or woolens, put away in spring time, before moth eggs are laid, into boxes, trunks, drawers, or closets even, where moths cannot enter, will be safe from the ravages of moth-worms, provided none were in them that were laid late in the autumn, for they are not of spontaneous production. how to kill moths in carpets.--wring a coarse crash towel out of clear water, spread it smoothly on the carpet, iron it dry with a good hot iron, repeating the operation on all parts of the carpet suspected of being infected with moths. no need to press hard, and neither the pile nor color of the carpet will he injured, and the moths will be destroyed by the heat and steam. how to destroy rats.-- . when a house is invested with rats which refuse to be caught by cheese and other baits, a few drops of the highly-scented oil of rhodium poured on the bottom of the cage will be an attraction which they cannot refuse. . place on the floor near where their holes are supposed to be a thin layer of moist caustic potash. when the rats travel on this, it will cause their feet to become sore, which they lick, and their tongues become likewise sore. the consequence is, that they shun this locality, and seem to inform all the neighboring rats about it, and the result is that they soon abandon a house that has such mean floors. . cut some corks as thin as wafers, and fry, roast, or stew them in grease, and place the same in their track; or a dried sponge fried or dipped in molasses or honey, with a small quantity of bird lime or oil of rhodium, will fasten to their fur and cause them to depart. . if a live rat can be caught and smeared over with tar or train oil, and afterwards allowed to escape in the holes of other rats, he will cause all soon to take their departure. . if a live rat be caught, and a small bell be fastened around his neck, and allowed to escape, all of his brother rats as well as himself will very soon go to some other neighbor's house. . take a pan, about twelve inches deep, and half fill it with water; then sprinkle some bran on the water and set the pan in a place where the rats most frequent. in the morning you will find several rats in the pan. . flour, three parts; sugar, one-half part; sulphur, two parts, and phosphorus, two parts. smear on meat, and place near where the rats are most troublesome. . squills are an excellent poison for rats. the powder should be mixed with some fatty substance, and spread upon slices of bread. the pulp of onions is also very good. rats are very fond of either. . take two ounces of carbonate of barytes, and mix with one pound of suet or tallow, place a portion of this within their holes and about their haunts. it is greedily eaten, produces great thirst, and death ensues after drinking. this is a very effectual poison, because it is both tasteless and odorless. . take one ounce of finely powdered arsenic, one ounce of lard; mix these into a paste with meal, put it about the haunts of rats. they will eat of it greedily. . make a paste of one ounce of flour, one-half gill of water, one drachm of phosphorus, and one ounce of flour. or, one ounce of flour, two ounces of powdered cheese crumbs, and one-half drachm of phosphorus; add to each of these mixtures a few drops of the oil of rhodium, and spread this on thin pieces of bread like butter; the rats will eat of this greedily, and it is a sure poison. . mix some ground plaster of paris with some sugar and indian meal. set it about on plates, and leave beside each plate a saucer of water. when the rats have eaten the mixture they will drink the water and die. to attract them toward it, you may sprinkle on the edges of the plates a little of the oil of rhodium. another method of getting rid of rats is, to strew pounded potash on their holes. the potash gets into their coats and irritates the skin, and the rats desert the place. . the dutch method: this is said to be used successfully in holland; we have, however, never tried it. a number of rats are left together to themselves in a very large trap or cage, with no food whatever; their craving hunger will, at last, cause them to fight and the weakest will be eaten by the others; after a short time the fight is renewed, and the next weakest is the victim, and so it goes on till one strong rat is left. when this one has eaten the last remains of any of the others, it is set loose; the animal has now acquired such a taste for rat-flesh that he is the terror of ratdom, going round seeking what rat he may devour. in an incredibly short time the premises are abandoned by all other rats, which will not come back before the cannibal rat has left or has died. . catch a rat and smear him over with a mixture of phosphorus and lard, and then let him loose. the house will soon be emptied of these pests. vermin, in water.--go to the river or pond, and with a small net (a piece of old mosquito bar will do) collect a dozen or more of the small fishes known as minnows, and put them in your cistern, and in a short time you will have clear water, the wiggle-tails and reddish-colored bugs or lice being gobbled up by the fishes. * * * * * [illustration: accidents and injuries and how to meet them.] accidents and injuries and how to meet them as accidents are constantly liable to occur, the importance of knowing how best to meet the various emergencies that may arise can hardly be over-estimated. in all cases, and under all circumstances, the best help to assist a party in this trying moment is _presence of mind_. harvest bug-bites.--the best remedy is the use of benzine, which immediately kills the insect. a small drop of tincture of iodine has the same effect. bites and stings of insects.--such as bees, wasps, hornets, etc., although generally painful, and ofttimes causing much disturbance, yet are rarely attended with fatal results. the pain and swelling may generally be promptly arrested by bathing freely with a strong solution of equal parts of common salt and baking soda, in warm water; or by the application of spirits of hartshorn; or of volatile liniment (one part of spirits of hartshorn and two of olive oil). in the absence of the other articles, warm oil may be used; or, if this is not at hand, apply a paste made from fresh clay-earth. if the sting of the insect is left in the wound, as is frequently the case, it should always be extracted. if there is faintness, give some stimulant; as, a tablespoonful or two of brandy and water, or brandy and ammonia. mad dog bites.-- . take immediately warm vinegar or tepid water; wash the wound clean therewith and then dry it; pour upon the wound, then, ten or twelve drops of muriatic acid. mineral acids destroy the poison of the saliva, by which means the evil effects of the latter are neutralized. . many think that the only sure preventive of evil following the bite of a rabid dog is to suck the wound immediately, before the poison has had time to circulate with the blood. if the person bit cannot get to the wound to suck it, he must persuade or pay another to do it for him. there is no fear of any harm following this, for the poison entering by the stomach cannot hurt a person. a spoonful of the poison might be swallowed with impunity, but the person who sucks the place should have no wound on the lip or tongue, or it might be dangerous. the precaution alluded to is a most important one, and should never be omitted prior to an excision and the application of lunar caustic in every part, especially the interior and deep-seated portions. no injury need be anticipated if this treatment is adopted promptly and effectively. the poison of hydrophobia remains latent on an average six weeks; the part heals over, but there is a pimple or wound, more or less irritable; it then becomes painful; and the germ, whatever it is, ripe for dissemination into the system, and then all hope is gone. nevertheless, between the time of the bite and the activity of the wound previous to dissemination, the caustic of nitrate of silver is a sure preventive; after that it is as useless as all the other means. the best mode of application of the nitrate of silver is by introducing it solidly into the wound. serpents bites.--the poison inserted by the stings and bites of many venomous reptiles is so rapidly absorbed, and of so fatal a description, as frequently to occasion death before any remedy or antidote can be applied; and they are rendered yet more dangerous from the fact that these wounds are inflicted in parts of the country and world where precautionary measures are seldom thought of, and generally at times when people are least prepared to meet them. . in absence of any remedies, the first best plan to adopt on being bitten by any of the poisonous snakes is to do as recommended above in mad dog bites--viz., to wash off the place immediately; if possible get the mouth to the spot, and forcibly suck out all the poison, first applying a ligature above the wound as tightly as can be borne. . a remedy promulgated by the smithsonian institute is to take grs. iodide potassium, grs. iodine, oz. water, to be applied externally to the wound by saturating lint or batting--the same to be kept moist with the antidote until the cure be effected, which will be in one hour, and sometimes instantly. . an australian physician has tried and recommends carbolic acid, diluted and administered internally every few minutes until recovery is certain. . another australian physician, professor halford, of melbourne university, has discovered that if a proper amount of dilute ammonia be injected into the circulation of a patient suffering from snake-bite, the curative effect is usually sudden and startling, so that, in many cases, men have thus been brought back, as it were, by magic, from the very shadow of death. bleeding at the nose.-- . roll up a piece of paper, and press it under the upper lip. . in obstinate cases blow a little gum arabic up the nostrils through a quill, which will immediately stop the discharge; powdered alum is also good. . pressure by the finger over the small artery near the ala (wing) of the nose, on the side where the blood is flowing, is said to arrest the hemorrhage immediately. bleeding from the lungs.--a new york physician has related a case in which inhalation of very dry persulphate of iron, reduced to a palpable powder, entirely arrested bleeding from the lungs, after all the usual remedies, lead, opium, etc., had failed. a small quantity was administered by drawing into the lungs every hour during part of the night and following day. bleeding from the bowels.--the most common cause of this, when not a complication of some disease, is hemorrhoids or piles. should serious hemorrhage occur, rest and quiet, and cold water poured slowly over the lower portion of the belly, or cloths wet with cold water, or better, with ice water applied over the belly and thighs, and to the lower end of the bowels, will ordinarily arrest it. in some cases it may be necessary to use injections of cold water, or even put small pieces of ice in the rectum. bleeding from the mouth.--this is generally caused by some injury to the cheeks, gums or tongue, but it sometimes occurs without any direct cause of this kind, and no small alarm may be caused by mistaking it for bleeding from the lungs. except when an artery of some size is injured, bleeding from the mouth can generally be controlled by gargling and washing the mouth with cold water, salt and water, or alum and water, or some persulphate of iron may be applied to the bleeding surface. sometimes obstinate or even alarming bleeding may follow the pulling of a tooth. the best remedy for this is to plug the cavity with lint or cotton wet with the solution of persulphate of iron, and apply a compress which may be kept in place by closing the teeth on it. bleeding from the stomach.--_vomiting blood_.--hemorrhage from the stomach is seldom so serious as to endanger life; but as it may be a symptom of some dangerous affection, it is always best to consult a physician concerning it. in the meantime, as in all other varieties of hemorrhage, perfect quiet should be preserved. a little salt, or vinegar, or lemon juice, should be taken at intervals, in a small glass of fresh cool water, or ice-water, as ice may be swallowed in small pieces, and cloths wet with ice-water, or pounded ice applied over the stomach. bleeding from varicose veins.--serious and even fatal hemorrhage may occur from the bursting of a large varicose or "broken" vein. should such an accident occur, the bleeding may be best controlled, until proper medical aid can be procured, by a tight bandage; or a "stick tourniquet," remembering that the blood comes toward the heart in the veins, and from it in the arteries. the best thing to prevent the rupture of varicose or broken veins is to support the limb by wearing elastic stockings, or a carefully applied bandage. burns and scalds.--there is no class of accidents that cause such an amount of agony, and none which are followed with more disastrous results. . by putting the burned part under cold water, milk, or other bland fluid, instantaneous and perfect relief from all pain will be experienced. on withdrawal, the burn should be perfectly covered with half an inch or more of common wheaten flour, put on with a dredging-box, or in any other way, and allowed to remain until a cure is effected, when the dry, caked flour will fall off, or can be softened with water, disclosing a beautiful, new and healthy skin, in all cases where the burns have been superficial. . dissolve white lead in flaxseed oil to the consistency of milk, and apply over the entire burn or scald every five minutes. it can be applied with a soft feather. this is said to give relief sooner, and to be more permanent in its effects, than any other application. . make a saturated solution of alum (four ounces to a quart of hot water). dip a cotton cloth in this solution and apply immediately on the burn. as soon as it becomes hot or dry, replace it by another, and continue doing so as often as the cloth dries, which at first will be every few minutes. the pain will immediately cease, and after twenty-four hours of this treatment the burn will be healed; especially if commenced before blisters are formed. the astringent and drying qualities of the alum will entirely prevent their formation. . glycerine, five ounces; white of egg, four ounces; tincture of arnica, three ounces. mix the glycerine and white of egg thoroughly in a mortar, and gradually add the arnica. apply freely on linen rags night, and morning, washing previously with warm castile soap-suds. . take one drachm of finely powdered alum, and mix thoroughly with the white of two eggs and one teacup of fresh lard; spread on a cloth, and apply to the parts burnt. it gives almost instant relief from pain, and, by excluding the air, prevents excessive inflammatory action. the application should be changed at least once a day. . m. joel, of the children's hospital, lausanne, finds that a tepid bath, containing a couple of pinches of sulphate of iron, gives immediate relief to young children who have been extensively burned. in a case of a child four years old, a bath repeated twice a day--twenty minutes each bath--the suppuration decreased, lost its odor, and the little sufferer was soon convalescent. . for severe scalding, carbolic acid has recently been used with marked benefit. it is to be mixed with thirty parts of the ordinary oil of lime water to one part of the acid. linen rags satured in the carbolic emulsion are to be spread on the scalded parts, and kept moist by frequently smearing with the feather dipped in the liquid. two advantages of this mode of treatment are, the exclusion of air, and the rapid healing by a natural restorative action without the formation of pus, thus preserving unmarred and personal appearance of the patient--a matter of no small importance to some people. choking.--in case of choking, a violent slap with the open hand between the shoulders of the sufferer will often effect a dislodgment. in case the accident occurs with a child, and the slapping process does not afford instant relief, it should be grasped by the feet, and placed head downwards, and the slapping between the shoulders renewed; but in case this induced violent suffocative paroxysms it must not be repeated. if the substance, whatever it maybe, has entered the windpipe, and the coughing and inverting the body fails to dislodge it, it is probable that nothing but cutting open the windpipe will be of any avail; and for this the services of a surgeon should always be procured. if food has stuck in the throat or gullet, the forefinger should be immediately introduced; and if lodged at the entrance of the gullet, the substance may be reached and extracted, possibly, with the forefinger alone, or may be seized with a pair of pincers, if at hand, or a curling tongs, or anything of the kind. this procedure may be facilitated by directing the person to put the tongue well out, in which position it may be retained by the individual himself, or a bystander by grasping it, covered with a handkerchief or towel. should this fail, an effort should be made to excite retching or vomiting by passing the finger to the root of the tongue, in hopes that the offending substance may in this way be dislodged; or it may possibly be effected by suddenly and unexpectedly dashing in the face a basin of cold water, the shock suddenly relaxing the muscular spasm present, and the involuntary gasp at the same time may move it up or down. if this cannot be done, as each instant's delay is of vital importance to a choking man, seize a fork, a spoon, a penholder, pencil, quill, or anything suitable at hand, and endeavor to push the article down the throat. if it be low down the gullet, and other means fail, its dislodgment may sometimes be effected by dashing cold water on the spine, or vomiting may be induced by an emetic of sulphate of zinc (twenty grains in a couple of tablespoonfuls of warm water), or of common salt and mustard in like manner, or it may be pushed into the stomach by extemporizing a probang, by fastening a small sponge to the end of a stiff strip of whalebone. if this cannot he done, a surgical operation will be necessary. fish bones or other sharp substances, when they cannot be removed by the finger or forceps, may sometimes be dislodged by swallowing some pulpy mass, as masticated bread, etc. irregularly shaped substances, a plate with artificial teeth for instance, can ordinarily be removed only by surgical interference. colic.--use a hot fomentation over the abdomen, and a small quantity of ginger, pepermint or common tea. if not relieved in a few minutes, then give an injection of a quart of warm water with twenty or thirty drops of laudanum, and repeat it if necessary. a half teaspoonful of chloroform, in a tablespoonful of sweetened water, with or without a few drops of spirits of lavender or essence of peppermint, will often give prompt relief. convulsions.--in small children convulsions frequently happen from teething, sometimes from worms or from some irritating substance within the stomach or bowels, and sometimes from some affection of the brain. when a child has convulsions, place it immediately in a warm or hot bath, and sponge its head with cold water. then apply a hot mustard plaster to the wrists, ankles and soles of the feet, or, in case a plaster cannot be obtained, apply a cloth wrung out of hot mustard water. allow these to remain until the skin reddens, and use care that the same do not blister. after the fit has subsided, use great care against its return by attention to the cause which gave rise to it. convulsions in adults must be treated in accordance with the manner which gave rise to them. during the attack great care should be taken that the party does not injure himself, and the best preventive is a cork or a soft piece of wood, or other suitable substance, placed between the teeth to prevent biting the tongue and cheeks: tight clothing must be removed or loosened; mustard poultices should be applied to the extremities and over the abdomen; abundance of fresh air should be secured by opening windows and doors, and preventing unnecessary crowding of persons around; cold water may be dashed on the face and chest; and if there be plethora, with full bounding pulse, with evidence of cerebral or other internal congestion, the abstraction of a few ounces of blood may be beneficial. cramp.--spasmodic or involuntary contractions of the muscles generally of the extremities, accompanied with great pain. the muscles of the legs and feet are the most commonly affected with cramp, especially after great exertion. the best treatment is immediately to stand upright, and to well rub the part with the hand. the application of strong stimulants, as spirits of ammonia, or of anodines, as opiate liniments, has been recommended. when cramp occurs in the stomach, a teaspoonful of sal volatile in water, or a dram glassful of good brandy, should be swallowed immediately. when cramp comes on during cold bathing, the limb should be thrown out as suddenly and violently as possible, which will generally remove it, care being also taken not to become flurried nor frightened, as presence of mind is very essential to personal safety on such an occasion. a common cause of cramp is indigestion, and the use of acescent liquors; these should be avoided. cuts.--in case the flow of blood is trifling, stop the bleeding by bringing the edges of the wound together, if the flow of blood is great, of a bright vermillion color, and flows in spurts or with a jerk, an artery is severed, and at once should pressure be made on the parts by the finger (between the cut and the heart), until a compress is arranged by a tight ligature above the wounded part. then the finger may be taken off, and if the blood still flows, tighten the handkerchief or other article that forms the ligature, until it ceases. if at this point the attendance of a physician or surgeon cannot be secured, take strong silk thread, or wax together three or four threads and cut them into lengths of about a foot long. wash the parts with warm water, and then with a sharp hook or small pair of pincers in your hand, fix your eye steadfastly upon the wound, and directing the ligature to be slightly released, you will see the mouth of the artery from which the blood springs. at once seize it, draw it out a little while an assistant passes a ligature round it, and ties it up tight with a double knot. in this way take up in succession every bleeding vessel you can see or get hold of. if the wound is too high up in a limb to apply the ligature do not lose your presence of mind. if it is the thigh, press firmly on the groin; if in the arm, with the band-end or ring of a common door-key make pressure above the collar bone, and about its middle, against its first rib, which lies under it. the pressure should be continued until assistance is procured and the vessel tied up. if the wound is on the face, or other place where pressure cannot effectually be made, place a piece of ice directly over the wound allowing it to remain there until the blood coagulates, when it may be removed, and a compress and bandage be applied. after the bleeding is arrested the surrounding blood should be cleared away, as well as any extraneous matter then bring the sides of the wound into contact throughout the whole depth, in order that they may grow together as quickly as possible, retaining them in their position by strips of adhesive plaster. if the wound be deep and extensive, the wound itself and the adjacent parts must be supported by proper bandages. the position of the patient should be such as will relax the skin and muscles of the wounded part. rest, low and unstimulating diet, will complete the requirements necessary to a speedy recovery. how to distinguish death.--as many instances occur of parties being buried alive, they being to all appearance dead, the great importance of knowing how to distinguish real from imaginary death need not be explained. the appearances which mostly accompany death, are an entire stoppage of breathing, of the heart's action; the eyelids are partly closed, the eyes glassy, and the pupils usually dilated; the jaws are clenched, the fingers partially contracted, and the lips and nostrils more or less covered with frothy mucus, with increasing pallor and coldness of surface, and the muscles soon become rigid and the limbs fixed in their position. but as these same conditions may also exist in certain other cases of suspended animation, great care should be observed, whenever there is the least doubt concerning it, to prevent the unnecessary crowding of the room in which the corpse is, or of parties crowding around the body; nor should the body be allowed to remain lying on the back without the tongue being so secured as to prevent the glottis or orifice of the windpipe being closed by it; nor should the face be closely covered; nor rough usage of any kind be allowed. in case there is great doubt, the body should not be allowed to be inclosed in the coffin, and under no circumstances should burial be allowed until there are unmistakable signs of decomposition. of the numerous methods proposed as signs for real death, we select the following: . so long as breathing continues, the surface of a mirror held to the mouth and nostrils will become dimmed with moisture. . if a strong thread or small cord be tied tightly round the finger of a living person, the portion beyond the cord or thread will become red and swollen--if dead, no change is produced. . if the hand of a living person is held before a strong light a portion of the margin or edges of the fingers is translucent--if dead, every part of it is opaque. . a coal of fire, a piece of hot iron, or the flame of a candle, applied to the skin, if life remains, will blister--if dead it will merely sear. . a bright steel needle introduced and allowed to remain for half an hour in living flesh will be still bright--if dead, it will be tarnished by oxydation. . a few drops of a solution of atropia (two grains to one-half ounce of water) introduced into the eye, if the person is alive, will cause the pupils to dilate--if dead, no effect will be produced. . if the pupil is already dilated, and the person is alive, a few drops of tincture of the calabar bean will cause it to contract--if dead, no effect will be produced. dislocations.--these injuries can mostly be easily recognized; . by the deformity that the dislocation gives rise to by comparing the alteration in shape with the other side of the body. . loss of some of the regular movements of the joints. . in case of dislocation, surgical aid should be procured at once. while waiting the arrival of a physician, the injured portion should be placed in the position most comfortable to the patient, and frequent cold bathing or cloths wrung out of cold water, applied to the parts affected, so as to relieve suffering and prevent inflammation. foreign bodies in ears.--great care should be taken in removing foreign bodies from the ear, as serious injury may be inflicted. most foreign bodies, especially those of small size, can be easily removed by the use of a syringe with warm water, and in most cases no other means should be used. should the first efforts fail, repeat the operation. a syringe throwing a moderately small and continuous stream is the best adapted for the purpose, and the removal may generally be facilitated by inclining the ear downward while using the syringe. severe inflammation may be excited, and serious injury done, by rash attempts to seize a foreign body in the ear, with a forceps or tweezers, or trying to pick it out with a pin or needle, or with an ear scoop. should it be necessary from any cause to use instruments, great care should be observed, and but very little force exerted. it has lately been recommended, when foreign bodies cannot be removed by syringing the ear, to introduce a small brush or swab of frayed linen or muslin cloth, or a bit of sponge, moistened with a solution of glue, and keep it in contact with the foreign body until the glue adheres, when the body may be easily removed. insects in the ear.--insects in the ear may be easily killed by pouring oil in the ear, after which remove by syringing. (see foreign bodies in ear.) to remove hardened ear wax.--hardened ear wax may be softened by dropping into the ear some oil or glycerine, and then syringing. (see foreign bodies in ear.) foreign bodies in eye.--to remove small particles from the eye, unless they have penetrated the globe, or become fixed in the conjunctiva, do as follows: grasp the upper lid between the thumb and forefinger, lift it from the eyeball, and having drawn it down as far as possible outside the lower lid, let it slide slowly back to its place, resting upon the lower lid as it goes back; and then wipe the edges of the lids with a soft handkerchief to remove the foreign substance. this may be repeated a number of times, if necessary, without injury. should this means fail, evert the lids and remove the foreign substance, by touching it lightly with the fold of a handkerchief, or with the point of a roll of paper made like a candle-lighter; or, if necessary, with a small pair of forceps. a drop of sweet oil instilled in the eye, while perfectly harmless, provokes a flow of tears that will frequently wash away any light substance. bits of metal, sharp pieces of sand, etc. sometimes penetrate the globe of the eye, and, unless removed, may excite so much inflammation as to destroy the eye. they should he removed by a competent surgeon. fainting.--lay the person who has fainted in a current of air, or in such a position that the air from an open window or door will have full play upon the face. do not allow parties to crowd closely around, but give the sufferer plenty of room. recovery will take place in a few minutes. the clothes also may be opened, and cold water sprinkled upon the face, hands and chest; and some pungent substance, as smelling salts, camphor, aromatic vinegar, etc., may be applied to the nostrils; and as soon as able to swallow, a little fresh water, or spirits and water, may be given. persons who faint easily should avoid crowded rooms and places where the air is close. fits.--see convulsions. clothing on fire.--if a woman's clothes catch on fire, let her instantly roll herself over and over on the ground. in case any one be present, let them throw her down and do the like, and then wrap her up in a table-cloth, rug, coat, or the first woolen article that can be found. fractures.--as we can only give general rules for treating the various fractures, we would advise any one suffering from such to immediately apply to the nearest surgeon, and not rely upon an inexperienced party. frost-bite.--place the party suffering in a room without fire, and rub the frozen or frosted parts with snow, or pour ice-water over them until sensation begins to return. as soon as a stinging pain is felt, and a change of color appears, then cease the rubbing, and apply clothes wet with ice-water, and subsequently, if active inflammation follow and suppuration results, a solution of carbolic acid in water, one part to thirty, should be applied. if mortification set in, amputation is generally necessary. where persons suffer from the constitutional effects of cold, hot stimulants should be given internally, and the body rubbed briskly with the hands and warm flannel. poisons, their symptoms and antidotes.--when a person has taken poison, the first thing to do is to compel the patient to vomit, and for that purpose give any emetic that can be most readily and quickly obtained, and which is prompt and energetic, but safe in its action. for this purpose there is, perhaps, nothing better than a large teaspoonful of ground mustard in a tumblerful of warm water, and it has the advantage of being almost always at hand. if the dry mustard is not to be had, use mixed mustard from the mustard pot. its operation may generally be facilitated by the addition of a like quantity of common table salt. if the mustard is not at hand, give two or three teaspoonfuls of powdered alum in syrup or molasses, and give freely of warm water to drink; or give ten to twenty grains of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), or twenty to thirty grains of ipecac, with one or two grains of tartar emetic, in a large cup of warm water, and repeat every ten minutes until three or four doses are given, unless free vomiting is sooner produced. after vomiting has taken place, large draughts of warm water should be given the patient, so that the vomiting will continue until the poisonous substances have been thoroughly evacuated, and then suitable antidotes should be given. if vomiting cannot be produced, the stomach-pump should be used. when it is known what particular kind of poison has been swallowed, then the proper antidote for that poison should be given, but when this cannot be ascertained, as is often the case, give freely of equal parts of calcined magnesia, pulverized charcoal, and sesquioxide of iron, in sufficient quantity of water. this is a very harmless mixture, and is likely to be of great benefit, as the ingredients, though very simple, are antidotes for the most common and active poisons. in case this mixture cannot be obtained, the stomach should be soothed and protected by the free administration of demulcent, mucilaginous or oleaginous drinks, such as the whites of eggs, milk, mucilage of gum arabic, or slippery elm bark, flaxseed tea, starch, wheat, flour, or arrow-root mixed in water, linseed or olive oil, or melted butter or lard. subsequently the bowels should be moved by some gentle laxative, as a tablespoonful or two of castor oil, or a teaspoonful of calcined magnesia; and pain or other evidence of inflammation must be relieved by the administration of a few drops of laudanum, and the repeated application of hot poultices, fomentations and mustard plasters. the following are the names of the articles that may give rise to poisoning, most commonly used, and their antidote: mineral acids--sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol), nitric acid (aqua fortis), muriatic acid (spirits of salts).--symptoms: acid, burning taste in the mouth, acute pain in the throat, stomach and bowels; frequent vomiting, generally bloody, mouth and lips excoriated, shriveled, white or yellow; hiccough, copious stools, more or less bloody, with great tenderness in the abdomen; difficult breathing, irregular pulse, excessive thirst, while drink increases the pain and rarely remains in the stomach; frequent but vain efforts to urinate; cold sweats, altered countenance; convulsions generally preceding death; nitric acid causes yellow stains; sulphuric acid, black ones. treatment: mix calcined magnesia in milk or water to the consistence of cream, and give freely to drink a glassful every couple of minutes, if it can be swallowed. common soap (hard or soft), chalk, whiting, or even mortar from the wall mixed in water, may be given, until magnesia can be obtained. promote vomiting by tickling the throat, if necessary, and when the poison is got rid of, flaxseed or elm tea, gruel, or other mild drinks. the inflammation which always follows wants good treatment to save the patient's life. vegetable acids--acetic, citric, oxalic, tartaric.--symptoms: intense burning pain of mouth, throat and stomach; vomiting blood which is highly acid, violent purging, collapse, stupor, death. oxalic acid is frequently taken in mistake for epsom salts, to which in shops it often bears a strong resemblance. treatment: give chalk or magnesia in a large quantity of water, or large draughts of lime water. if these are not at hand, scrape the wall or ceiling, and give the scrapings, mixed with water. prussic or hydrocyanic acid--laurel water, cyanide of potassium, bitter almond oil, etc.--symptoms: in large doses almost invariably instantaneously fatal, when not immediately fatal, sudden loss of sense and control of the voluntary muscles; the odor of the poison generally susceptible on the breath. treatment: chlorine, in the form of chlorine water, in doses of from one to four fluid drachms, diluted. weak solution of chloride lime of soda; water of ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) largely diluted may be given, and the vapor of it cautiously inhaled. cold affusion, and chloroform in half to teaspoonful doses in glycerine or mucilage, repeated every few minutes, until the symptoms are ameliorated. artificial respiration. aconite--monkshood, wolfsbane.--symptoms: numbness and tingling in the mouth and throat, and afterwards in other portions of the body, with sore throat, pain over the stomach, and vomiting; dimness of vision, dizziness, great prostration, loss of sensibility and delirium. treatment: an emetic and then brandy in tablespoonful doses, in ice-water, every half hour; spirits of ammonia in half teaspoonful doses in like manner; the cold douche over the head and chest, warmth to the extremities, etc. alkalies and their salts--concentrated lye, woodash lye, caustic potash, ammonia, hartshorn.--symptoms: caustic, acrid taste, excessive heat in the throat, stomach and [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'intenstines'] intestines; vomiting of bloody matter, cold sweats, hiccough, purging of bloody stools.--treatment: the common vegetable acids. common vinegar being always at hand, is most frequently used. the fixed oils, as castor, flaxseed, almond and olive oils form soaps with the alkalies and thus also destroy their caustic effect. they should be given in large quantity. alcohol, brandy, and other spirituous liquors.--symptoms: confusion of thought, inability to walk or stand, dizziness, stupor, highly flushed or pale face, noisy breathing.--treatment: after emptying the stomach, pour cold water on the head and back of the neck, rub or slap the wrists and palms, and the ankles and soles of the feet, and give strong, hot coffee, or aromatic spirits of hartshorn, in teaspoonful doses in water. the warmth of the body must be sustained. antimony, and its preparations. tartar emetic, antimonial wine, kerme's mineral.--symptoms: faintness and nausea, soon followed by painful and continued vomiting, severe diarrhoea, constriction and burning sensation in the throat, cramps, or spasmodic twitchings, with symptoms of nervous derangement, and great prostration of strength, often terminating in death.--treatment: if vomiting has not been produced, it should be effected by tickling the fauces, and administering copious draughts of warm water. astringment infusions, such as of gall, oak bark, peruvian bark, act as antidotes, and should be given promptly. powdered yellow bark may be used until the infusion is prepared, or very strong green tea should be given. to stop the vomiting, should it continue, blister over the stomach by applying a cloth wet with strong spirits of hartshorn, and then sprinkle on the one-eighth to one-fourth of a grain of morphia. arsenic and its preparations--ratsbane, fowler's solution, etc.--symptoms: generally within an hour pain and heat are felt in the stomach, soon followed by vomiting, with a burning dryness of the throat and great thirst; the matters vomited are generally colored, either green yellow, or brownish, and sometimes bloody. diarrhoea or dysentery ensues, while the pulse becomes small and rapid, yet irregular. breathing much oppressed; difficulty in vomiting may occur, while cramps, convulsions, or even paralysis often precede death, which sometimes takes place within five or six hours after arsenic has been taken.--treatment: give a prompt emetic, and then hydrate of peroxide of iron (recently prepared) in tablespoonful doses every ten or fifteen minutes until the urgent symptoms are relieved. in the absence of this, or while it is being prepared, give large draughts of new milk and raw eggs, limewater and oil, melted butter, magnesia in a large quantity of water, or even if nothing else is at hand, flour and water, always, however, giving an emetic the first thing, or causing vomiting by tickling the throat with a feather, etc. the inflammation of the stomach which follows must be treated by blisters, hot fomentations, mucilaginous drinks, etc., etc. belladonna or deadly night shade.--symptoms: dryness of the mouth and throat, great thirst, difficulty of swallowing, nausea, dimness, confusion or loss of vision, great enlargement of the pupils, dizziness, delirium and coma.--treatment: there is no known antidote. give a prompt emetic and then reliance must be placed on continual stimulation with brandy, whisky, etc., and to necessary artificial respiration. opium and its preparations, as morphia, laudanum, etc., are thought by some to counteract the effect of belladonna, and may be given in small and repeated doses, as also strong black coffee and green tea. blue vitriol, or blue stone.--see copperas. cantharides (spanish or blistering fly) and modern potato bug.--symptoms: sickening odor of the breath, sour taste, with burning heat in the throat, stomach, and bowels; frequent vomiting, often bloody; copious bloody stools, great pain in the stomach, with burning sensation in the bladder and difficulty to urinate, followed with terrible convulsions, delirium and death.--treatment excite vomiting by drinking plentifully of sweet oil or other wholesome oils, sugar and water, milk. or slippery elm tea; give injections of castor oil and starch, or warm milk. the inflammatory symptoms which generally follow must, be treated by a medical man. camphorated oil or camphorated spirits should be rubbed over the bowels, stomach and thighs. caustic potash.--see alkalies. cobalt, or fly-powder.--symptoms: heat and pain in the. throat and stomach, violent retching and vomiting, cold and clammy skin, small and feeble pulse, hurried and difficult breathing, diarrhoea, etc.--treatment: an emetic, followed by the free administration of milk, eggs, wheat flour and water, and mucilaginous drinks. copper--blue vitriol, verdigris or pickles or food cooked in soul copper vessels.--symptoms: general inflammation of the alimentary canal, suppression of urine; hiccough, a disagreeable metallic taste, vomiting, violent colic, excessive thirst, sense of tightness of the throat, anxiety; faintness, giddiness, and cramps and convulsions generally precede death.--treatment: large doses of simple syrup as warm as can be swallowed, until the stomach rejects the amount it contains. the whites of eggs and large quantities of milk. hydrated peroxide of iron. copperas.--see iron. creosote.--carbolic acid.--symptoms: burning pain. acrid, pungent taste, thirst, vomiting, purging, etc.--treatment: an emetic, and the free administration of albumen, as the whites of eggs, or in the absence of these, milk, or flour and water. corrosive sublimate.--see mercury. deadly night-shade.--see belladonna. fox-glove, or digitalis.--symptoms: loss of strength, feeble, fluttering pulse, faintness, nausea, and vomiting and stupor; cold perspiration, dilated pupils, sighing, irregular breathing, and sometimes convulsions.--treatment: after vomiting, give brandy and ammonia in frequently repeated doses, apply warmth to the extremities, and if necessary resort to artificial respiration. gases--carbonic acid, chlorine, cyanogen, hydrosulphuric acid, etc.--symptoms: great drowsiness, difficult respiration, features swollen, face blue as in strangulation.--treatment: artificial respirations, cold douche, frictions with stimulating substances to the surface of the body. inhalation of steam containing preparations of ammonia. cupping from nape of neck. internal use of chloroform. green vitriol.--see iron. hellebore, or indian poke.--symptoms: violent vomiting and purging, bloody stools, great anxiety, tremors, vertigo, fainting, sinking of the pulse, cold sweets and convulsions.--treatment: excite speedy vomiting by large draughts of warm water, molasses and water, tickling the throat with the finger or a feather, and emetics; give oily and mucilaginous drinks, oily purgatives, and clysters, acids, strong coffee, camphor and opium. hemlock (conium).--symptoms: dryness of the throat, tremors, dizziness, difficulty of swallowing, prostration and faintness, limbs powerless or paralyzed, pupils dilated, pulse rapid and feeble; insensibility and convulsions sometimes precede death.--treatment: empty the stomach and give brandy in tablespoonful doses, with half teaspoonful of spirits of ammonia, frequently repeated, and if much pain and vomiting, give bromide of ammonium in five-grain doses every half hour. artificial respiration may be required. henbane or hyoscyamus.--symptoms: muscular twitching, inability to articulate plainly, dimness of vision and stupor; later, vomiting and purging, small, intermittent pulse, convulsive movement of the extremities and coma. treatment: similar to opium poisoning, which see. iodine.--symptoms: burning pain in throat, lacerating pain in the stomach, fruitless effort to vomit, excessive tenderness of the epigastrium. treatment: free emesis, prompt administration of starch, wheat flour, or arrowroot, beat up in water. lead.--acetate of lead, sugar of lead, dry white lead, red lead, litharge, or pickles, wine, or vinegar, sweetened by lead.--symptoms: when taken in large doses, a sweet but astringent metallic taste exists, with constriction in the throat, pain in the region of the stomach, painful, obstinate, and frequently bloody vomitings, hiccough, convulsions or spasms, and death. when taken in small but long-continued doses, it produces colic, called painter's colic; great pain, obstinate constipation, and in extreme cases paralytic, symptoms, especially wrist-drop, with a blue line along the edge of the gums. treatment: to counteract the poison, give alum in water, one and a half ounce to a quart; or, better still, epsom salts or glauber salts, an ounce of either in a quart of water; or dilute sulphuric acid, a teaspoonful in a quart of water. if a large quantity of sugar of lead has been recently taken, empty the stomach by an emetic of sulphate of zinc (one drachm in a quart of water), giving one-fourth to commence, and repeating smaller doses until free vomiting is produced; castor oil should be given to clear the bowels, and injections of oil and starch freely administered. if the body is cold, use the warm bath. meadow saffron.--see belladonna. laudanum.--see opium. lunar caustic.--see silver. lobelia.--indian poke.--symptoms: excessive vomiting and purging, pains in the bowels, contraction of the pupils, delirium, coma, and convulsions. treatment: mustard over the stomach, and brandy and ammonia. mercury.--corrosive sublimate (bug poisons frequently contain this poison), red precipitate, chinese or english vermillion.--symptoms: acrid, metallic taste in the mouth, immediate constriction and burning in the throat, with anxiety and tearing pains in both stomach and bowels, sickness, and vomiting of various colored fluids, and sometimes bloody and profuse diarrhoea, with difficulty and pain in urinating; pulse quick, small and hard; faint sensations, great debility, difficult breathing, cramps, cold sweats, syncope and convulsions. treatment: if vomiting does not already exist, emetics must be given immediately--albumen of eggs in continuous large doses, and infusion of catechu afterwards, sweet milk, mixtures of flour and water in successive cupfuls, and to check excessive salivation put a half ounce of chlorate of potash in a tumbler of water, and use freely as a gargle, and swallow a tablespoonful every hour or two. monkshood.--see arnica. morphine.--see opium. nitrate of silver (lunar caustic.)--symptoms: intense pain and vomiting and purging of blood; mucus and shreds of mucus membranes; and if these stand they become dark. treatment: give freely of a solution of common salt in water, which decomposes the poison, and afterwards flax-seed or elm bark tea, and after a while a dose of castor oil. nux vomica.--see strychnine. opium and all its preparations--morphine, laudanum, paregoric, etc.--symptoms: giddiness, drowsiness, increasing to stupor, and insensibility; pulse usually, at first, quirk and irregular, and breathing hurried, and afterwards pulse slow and feeble, and respiration slow and noisy; the pupils are contracted and the eyes and face congested, and later, as death approaches, the extremities become cold, the surface is covered with cold, clammy perspiration, and the sphincters relax. the effects of opium and its preparations, in poisonous doses, appear in from a half to two hours from its administration. treatment: empty the stomach immediately with an emetic or with the stomach pump. then give very strong coffee without milk; put mustard plasters on the wrist and ankles; use the cold douche to the head and chest, and if the patient is cold and sinking give brandy, or whisky and ammonia. belladonna is thought by many to counteract the poisonous effects of opium, and may be given in doses of half to a teaspoonful of the tincture, or two grains of the extract, every twenty minutes, until some effect is observed in causing the pupils to expand. use warmth and friction, and if possible prevent sleep for some hours, for which purpose the patient should be walked about between two persons, and if necessary a bunch of switches may be freely used. finally, as a last resort, use artificial respiration, and a persistance in it will sometimes be rewarded with success in apparently hopeless cases. galvanism should also be tried. oxalic acid.--see acids. phosphorus--found in lucifer matches and some rat poisons.--symptoms: symptoms of irritant poisoning; pain in the stomach and bowels; vomiting; diarrhoea; tenderness and tension of the abdomen. treatment: an emetic is to be promptly given; copious draughts containing magnesia in suspension: mucilaginous drinks. general treatment for inflammatory symptoms. poisonous fish.--symptoms: in an hour or two--often in much shorter time--after the fish has been eaten, a weight at the stomach comes on, with slight vertigo and headache; sense of heat about the head and eyes; considerable thirst, and often an eruption of the skin. treatment: after full vomiting, an active purgative should be given to remove any of the noxious matter from the intestines. vinegar and water may be drunk after the above remedies have operated, and the body may be sponged with the same. water made very sweet with sugar, with aromatic spirits of ammonia added, may be drunk freely as a corrective. a solution of cholorate of potash, or of alkali, the latter weak, may be given to obviate the effect of the poison. if spasms ensue after evacuation, laudanum in considerable doses it necessary. if inflammation should occur, combat in the usual way. poisonous mushrooms.--- symptoms: nausea, heat and pains in the stomach and bowels; vomiting and purging, thirst, convulsions and faintings, pulse small and frequent, dilated pupil and stupor, cold sweats and death. treatment: the stomach and bowels are to be cleared by an emetic of ground mustard or sulphate of zinc, followed by frequent doses of glauber of epsom salts, and large stimulating clysters. after the poison is evacuated, either may be given with small quantities of brandy and water. but if inflammatory symptoms manifest themselves, such stimuli should be avoided, and these symptoms appropriately treated. potash.--see alkali. prussic acid, hydrocyanic.--see acids. poison ivy.--symptoms. contact with, and with many persons the near approach to the vine, gives rise to violent erysipelatous inflammation, especially of the face and hands, attended with itching, redness, burning and swelling, with watery blisters. treatment: give saline laxatives, and apply weak lead and laudanum, or limewater and sweet oil, or bathe the parts freely with spirits of nitre. anointing with oil will prevent poisoning from it. saltpetre, nitrate of potash.--symptoms. only poisonous in large quantities, and then causes nausea, painful vomiting, purging, convulsions, faintness, feeble pulse, cold feet and hands, with tearing pains in stomach and bowels. treatment: treat just as is directed for arsenic, for there is no antidote known, and emptying the stomach and bowels with mild drinks must be relied on. savine.--symptoms: sharp pains in the bowels, hot skin, rapid pulse, violent vomiting and sometimes purging, with great prostration. treatment: mustard and hot fomentations over the stomach and bowels, and ice only allowed in the stomach until the inflammation ceases. if prostration comes on, food and stimulants must be given by injection. stramonium, thorn-apple or jamestown weed.--symptoms: vertigo, headache, perversion of vision, slight delirium, sense of suffocation, disposition to sleep, bowels relaxed and all secretions augmented. treatment: same as belladonna. strychnine and nux vomica.--symptoms: muscular twitching, constriction of the throat, difficult breathing and oppression of the chest; violent muscular spasms then occur, continuous in character like lock-jaw, with the body bent backwards, sometimes like a bow. treatment: give, if obtainable, one ounce or more of bone charcoal mixed with water, and follow with an active emetic; then give chloroform in teaspoonful doses, in flour and water or glycerine, every few minutes while the spasms last, and afterwards brandy and stimulants, and warmth of the extremities if necessary. recoveries have followed the free and prompt administration of oils or melted butter or lard. in all cases empty the stomach if possible. sulphate of zinc, white vitriol.--see zinc. tin--chloride of tin, solution of tin (used by dyers), oxide of tin or putty powder.--symptoms: vomiting, pains in the stomach, anxiety, restlessness, frequent pulse, delirium, etc. treatment: empty the stomach, and give whites of eggs in water, milk in large quantities, or flour beaten, up in water, with magnesia or chalk. tartar emetic.--see antimony. tobacco.--symptoms: vertigo, stupor, fainting, nausea, vomiting, sudden nervous debility, cold sweat, tremors, and at times fatal prostration. treatment: after the stomach is empty apply mustard to the abdomen and to the extremities, and give strong coffee, with brandy and other stimulants, with warmth to the extremities. zinc--oxide of zinc, sulphate of zinc, white vitriol, acetate of zinc.--symptoms: violent vomiting, astringent taste, burning pain in the stomach, pale countenance, cold extremities, dull eyes, fluttering pulse. death seldom ensues, in consequence of the emetic effect. treatment: the vomiting may be relieved by copious draughts of warm water. carbonate of soda, administered in solution, will decompose the sulphate of zinc. milk and albumen will also act as antidotes. general principles to be observed in the subsequent treatment. woorara.--symptoms: when taken into the stomach it is inert; when absorbed through a wound it causes sudden stupor and insensibility, frothing at the mouth and speedy death. treatment: suck the wound immediately, or cut it out and tie a cord around the limb between the wound and the heart. apply iodine, or iodide of potassium, and give it internally, and try artificial respiration. scalds.--see burns and scalds. sprains.--the portions most frequently implicated are the wrist and ankle; no matter which portion it may be, however, rest and quietness is a very important part of the treatment, and, when possible, in an elevated position. if the wrist is sprained it should be carried in a sling; if the ankle, it should be supported on a couch or stool. cold lotions (see bruises) should be freely applied, and irrigation by pouring water from a pitcher or tea-kettle resorted to several times a day to prevent inflammation. later, frictions with opodeldoc, or with some stimulating liniment, and supporting the parts by pressure made with a flannel roller, or laced stocking when the ankle is involved, will be useful to restore tone; or strips of adhesive plaster properly applied will be useful for the same purpose. recovery from severe sprains is always tedious. it is an old saying "that a bad sprain is worse than a broken bone." stings of bees and wasps.--see bites and stings. suffocation from noxious gases, foul air, fire damp, etc.--remove to fresh air and dash cold water over the head, neck and chest; carefully apply hartshorn, or smelling salts to the nostrils, and when the breathing is feeble or has ceased, resort immediately to artificial respiration (see asphyxia and drowning). keep up the warmth of the body, and as soon as the patient can swallow give stimulants in small quantities. sunstroke.--this is caused by long exposure in great heat, especially when accompanied with great fatigue and exhaustion. though generally happening from exposure to the sun's rays, yet precisely similar effects may be and are produced from any undue exposure to great and exhaustive heat, such as workmen are exposed to in foundries, gas factories, bakeries, and other similar employments. its first symptom is pain in the head and dizziness, quickly followed by loss of consciousness, and resulting in complete prostration: sometimes, however, the attack is sudden, as in apoplexy. the head is generally burning hot, the face, dark and swollen, the breathing labored and snoring, and the feet and hands cold. remove the patient at once to a cool and shady place, and lay him down with his head a little raised; apply ice or iced water to the head and face; loosen all cloths around the neck or waist; bathe the chest with cold water, apply mustard plasters, or cloths wetted with turpentine, to the calves and soles of the feet, and as soon as the patient can swallow, give weak brandy or whisky and water. there is no easy road to success--i thank god for it . . . . a trained man will make his life tall. without training, you are left on a sea of luck, where thousands go down, while one meets with success. james a. garfield. * * * * * [illustration: the family physician] the family physician the following receipts written by dr. j. h. gunn will be found of great value, especially in emergencies: asthma.--take hyssop water and poppy water, of each ten ounces; oxymel of squills, six ounces; syrup of maiden hair, two ounces. take one spoonful when you find any difficulty in breathing. ague in the breast.--take one part of gum camphor, two parts yellow bees-wax, three parts clean lard; let all melt slowly, in any vessel [earthen best], on stove. use either cold or warm; spread very thinly on cotton or linen cloths, covering those with flannel. no matter if the breast is broken, it will cure if persevered in. do not, no matter how painful, cease from drawing milk from the breast that is affected. ague, mixture.--mix twenty grains quinine with one pint diluted gin or port wine, and add ten grains subcarbonate of iron. dose, a wine-glass each hour until the ague is broken, and then two or three times a day until the whole has been used. . take peruvian bark, two ounces; wild cherry tree bark, ounce; cinnamon, one drachm; powdered capsicum, one teaspoonful; sulphur, one ounce; port wine, two quarts. let it stand a day or two. dose, a wine-glassful every two or three hours until the disease is broken, and then two or three times a day until all is taken. sprained ankle.--wash the ankle frequently with cold salt and water, which is far better than warm vinegar or decoctions of herbs. keep your foot as cold as possible to prevent inflammation, and sit with it elevated on a cushion. live on very low diet, and take every day some cooling medicine. by obeying these directions only, a sprained ankle has been cured in a few days. apoplexy.--occurs only in the corpulent or obese, and the gross or high livers. to treat, raise the head to a nearly upright position; unloose all tight clothes, strings, etc., and apply cold water to the head and warm water and warm cloths to the feet. have the apartment cool and well ventilated. give nothing by the mouth until the breathing is relieved, and then only draughts of cold water. preparation for the cure of baldness.--rum, one pint; alcohol, one ounce; distilled water, one ounce, tincture of cantharides, a half drachm; carbonate of potash, a half drachm; carbonate of ammonia, one drachm. mix the liquids after having dissolved the salts, and filter. after the skin of the head has been wetted with this preparation for several minutes, it should be washed with water. bilious colic.--mix two tablespoonfuls of indian meal in half a pint of cold water; drink it at two draughts. bilious complaints.--take the root and branch of dandelion, and steep it in soft water a sufficient length of time to extract all the essence; then strain the liquor and simmer until it becomes quite thick. dose: from one to three glasses a day may be taken with good effect. blackberry cordial.--to one quart blackberry juice add one pound white sugar, one tablespoonful each cloves, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. boil together fifteen minutes, and add a wine-glass of whisky, brandy or rum. bottle while hot, cork tight and seal. used in diarrhea and dysentery. dose, a wine-glassful for an adult, half that quantity for a child. it can be taken three or four times a day if the case is severe. blisters.--- on the feet, occasioned by walking, are cured by drawing a needleful of worsted thread through them; clip it off at both ends and leave it till the skin peals off. raising blood.--make a tea of white oak bark, and drink freely during the day; or take half a pound of yellow dock root, boil in new milk, say one quart: drink one gill three times a day, and take one pill of white pine pitch every day. how to stop blood.--take the fine dust of tea, or the scrapings of the inside of tanned leather. bind it upon the wound closely, and blood will soon cease to flow. boils.--make a poultice of ginger and flour, and lay it on the boil. this will soon draw it to a head. swelled bowels in children.--bathe the stomach of the child with catnip steeped, mixed with fresh butter and sugar. chilblains.--dr. fergus recommends sulphurous acid in this affection. it should be applied with a camel's hair brush, or by means of a spray producer. one application of this effects a cure. the acid should be used pure. a good wash for hands or feet affected with chilblains is sulphurous acid, three parts; glycerine, one part, and water one part. the acid will be found particularly useful in the irritating, tormenting stage of chilblains. chilblains and chapped hands.--when chilblains manifest themselves, the best remedy not only for preventing their ulcerating, but overcoming the tingling, itching pain, and stimulating the circulation of the part to healthy action, is the liniment of belladona, two drachms; the liniment of aconite, one drachm; carbolic acid, ten drops; collodion flexile, one ounce; painted with a camel's hair pencil over their surface. when the chilblains vesicate, ulcerate or slough, it is better to omit the aconite and apply the other components of the liniment without it. the collodion flexile forms a coating or protecting film, which excludes the air, while the sedative liniments allay the irritation, generally of no trivial nature. for chapped hands we advise the free use of glycerine and good oil, in the proportion of two parts of the former to four of the latter; after this has been well rubbed into the hands and allowed to remain for a little time, and the hands subsequently washed with castile soap and water, we recommend the belladonna and collodion flexile to be painted on, and the protective film allowed to remain permanently. these complaints not unfrequently invade persons of languid circulation and relaxed habit, who should be put on a generous regimen, and treated with ferruginous tonics. obstinate, cases are occasionally met with which no local application will remedy, unless some disordered state of the system is removed, or the general condition of the patient's health improved. chapped lips are also benefited by the stimulating form of application we advocate, but the aconite must not be allowed to get on the lips, or a disagreeable tingling results. chilblain balm.--boil together ten fluid ounces olive oil, two fluid ounces venice turpentine, and one ounce yellow wax; strain, and while still warm add, constantly stirring, two and a half drachms balsam of peru and ten grains camphor. cure for chilblain.--make a strong lye by boiling wood ashes in water. put your feet in a small tub and cover them with the lye as hot as you can bear it. gradually add more lye, hotter and hotter. keep them in half an hour, bathing and rubbing them continually, and being very careful to keep the lye hot. chilblain lotion.--dissolve one ounce muriate of ammonia in one-half pint cider vinegar, and apply frequently. one-half pint of alcohol may be added to this lotion with good effects. chilblain ointment.--take mutton tallow and lard, of each three-fourths of a pound avoirdupois; melt, in an iron vessel, and add hydrated oxide of iron, two ounces, stirring continually with an iron spoon until the mass is of a uniform black color; when nearly cool add venice turpentine, two ounces; armenian bole, one ounce; oil of bergamot, one drachm; rub up the bole with a little olive oil before putting it in. apply several times daily by putting it upon lint or linen. it heals the worst cases in a few days. russian remedy for chilblains.--slices of the rind of fully ripe cucumbers, dried with the soft parts attached. previous to use they are softened by soaking them in warm water, and are then bound on the sore parts with the inner side next them, and left on all night. this treatment is said to be adopted for both broken and unbroken chilblains. how to cure itching chilblains.--take hydrochloric acid, one part, and water, eight parts; mix. apply on going to bed. this must not be used if the skin is broken. sal ammoniac, two ounces; rum, one pint; camphor, two drachms. the affected part is wetted night and morning, and when dry is touched with a little simple ointment of any kind--cold cream or pomatum. oil of turpentine, four ounces; camphor, six drachms; oil of cajeput, two drachms. apply with friction. how to cure broken chilblains.--mix together four fluid ounces collodion, one and a half fluid ounces venice turpentine, and one fluid ounce castor oil. how to cure corns.--take equal parts of mercurial and galbanum ointments; mix them well together, spread on a piece of soft leather, and apply it to the corns morning and evening. in a few days benefit will be derived. take two ounces of gum ammoniac, two ounces of yellow wax, and six ounces of verdigris; melt them together, and spread the composition on soft leather; cut away as much of the corn as you can, then apply the plaster, and renew it every fortnight till the corn is away. get four ounces of white diachylon plaster, four ounces of shoemaker's wax, and sixty drops of muriatic acid or spirits of salt. boil them for a few minutes in an earthen pipkin, and when cold roll the mass between the hands, and apply it on a piece of white leather. soak the feet well in warm water, then with a sharp instrument pare off as much of the corn as can be done without pain, and bind up the part with a piece of linen or muslin thoroughly saturated with sperm oil, or, which is better, the oil which floats upon the surface of the herring or mackerel. after three or four days the dressing may be removed by scraping, when the new skin will be found of a soft and healthy texture, and less liable to the formation of a new corn than before. corns may be prevented by wearing easy shoes. bathe the feet frequently in lukewarm water, with a little salt or potashes dissolved in it. the corn itself will be completely destroyed by rubbing it often with a little caustic solution of potash till the soft skin is formed. scrape to a pulp sufficient spanish garlic, and bind on the corn over night, after first soaking it well in warm water, and scrape off as much as possible of the hardened portion in the morning. repeat the application as required. how to cure soft corns.--scrape a piece of common chalk, and put a pinch to the soft corn, and bind a piece of linen rag upon it. how to cure tender corns.--a strong solution of tannic acid is said to be an excellent application to tender feet as well as a preventive of the offensive odor attendant upon their profuse perspiration. to those of our readers who live far away in the country, we would suggest a strong decoction of oak bark as a substitute. caustic for corns.--tincture of iodine, four drachms: iodide of iron, twelve grains; chloride of antimony, four drachms; mix, and apply with a camel's hair brush, after paring the corn. it is said to cure in three times. how to relieve corns.--bind them up at night with a cloth wet with tincture of arnica, to relieve the pain, and during the day occasionally moisten the stocking over the corn with arnica if the shoe is not large enough to allow the corn being bound up with a piece of linen rag. remedy for corns.-- . the pain occasioned by corns may be greatly alleviated by the following preparation: into a one-ounce vial put two drachms of muriatic acid and six drachms of rose-water. with this mixture wet the corns night and morning for three days. soak the feet every evening in warm water without soap. put one-third of the acid into the water, and with a little picking the corn will be dissolved. . take a lemon, cut off a small piece, then nick it so as to let in the toe with the corn, tie this on at night so that it cannot move, and in the morning you will find that, with a blunt knife, you may remove a considerable portion of the corn. make two or three applications, and great relief will be the result. how to cure solvent corns.--expose salt of tartar (pearlash) in a wide-mouth vial in a damp place until it forms an oil-like liquid, and apply to the corn. how to cure cholera.--take laudanum, tincture cayenne, compound tincture rhubarb, peppermint, and camphor, of each equal parts. dose, ten to thirty drops. in plain terms, take equal parts tincture of opium, red pepper, rhubarb, peppermint and camphor, and mix them for use. in case of diarroea, take a dose of ten to twenty drops in three or four teaspoonfuls of water. no one who has this by him, and takes it in time, will ever have the cholera. signs of disease in children.--in the case of a baby not yet able to talk, it must cry when it is ill. the colic makes a baby cry loud, long, and passionately, and shed tears--stopping for a moment and beginning again. if the chest is affected, it gives one sharp cry, breaking off immediately, as if crying hurt it. if the head is affected, it cries in sharp, piercing shrieks, with low moans and wails between. or there may be quiet dozing, and startings between. it is easy enough to perceive, where a child is attacked by disease, that there has some change taken place; for either its skin will be dry and hot, its appetite gone; it is stupidly sleepy, or fretful or crying; it is thirsty, or pale and languid, or in some way betrays that something is wrong. when a child vomits, or has a diarrhoea, or is costive and feverish, it is owing to some derangement, and needs attention. but these various symptoms may continue for a day or two before the nature of the disease can be determined. a warm bath, warm drinks, etc., can do no harm, and may help to determine the case. on coming out of the bath, and being well rubbed with the hand, the skin will show symptoms of rash, if it is a skin disease which has commenced. by the appearance of the rash, the nature of the disease can be learned. measles are in patches, dark red, and come out first about the face. if scarlet fever is impending, the skin will look a deep pink all over the body, though most so about the neck and face. chicken-pox shows fever, but not so much running at the nose, and appearances of cold, as in measles, nor is there as much of a cough. besides, the spots are smaller, and do not run much together, and are more diffused over the whole surface of the skin; and enlarge into blisters in a day or two. how to cure consumption.--take one tablespoonful of tar, and the yolks of three hen's eggs, beat them well together. dose, one tablespoonful morning, noon and night. croup, remedy for in one minute.--this remedy is simply alum. take a knife or grater, and shave or grate off in small particles about a teaspoonful of alum; mix it with about twice its quantity of sugar, to make it palatable, and administer as quickly as possible. its effects will be truly magical, as almost instantaneous relief will be afforded. cholera remedy, hartshorne's.--take of chloroform, tincture of opium, spirits of camphor, and spirits of aromatic ammonia, each one and one-half fluid drachms; creosote, three drops; oil of cinnamon, eight drops; brandy, two fluid drachms. dilute a teaspoonful with a wine-glass of water, and give two teaspoonfuls every five minutes, followed by a lump of ice. cure for dandruff.--good mild soap is one of the safest remedies, and is sufficient in ordinary cases; carbonate of potash or soda is too alkaline for the skin. every application removes a portion of the cuticle, as you may observe by the smoothness of the skin of your hands after washing them with it. borax is recommended; but this is also soda combined with a weak acid, boracic acid, and may by protracted use also injuriously act on the scalp. soap is also soda or potash combined with the weak, fatty acids; and when the soap contains an excess of the alkalies or is sharp, it is as injurious as the carbonate of potash. all that injures the scalp injures the growth of the hair. one of the best applications from the vegetable kingdom is the mucilaginous decoction of the root of the burdock, called bardane in french (botanical name, _lappa minor_). in the mineral kingdom the best remedy is a solution of flowers of sulphur in water, which may be made by the addition of a very small portion of sulphide of potassium, say ten or twenty grains to the pint. this solution is shaken up with the sulphur, and the clear liquid remaining on the top is used. this recipe is founded on the fact that sulphur is a poison for inferior vegetable or animal growth, like dandruff, itch, etc., and is not at all a poison for the superior animal like man. how to cure diphtheria.--a french physician expresses his preference for lemon juice, as a local application in diphtheria, to chlorate of potash, nitrate of silver, perchloride of lime water. he uses it by dipping a little plug of cottonwood, twisted around a wire, in the juice, and pressing it against the diseased surface four or five times daily. how to cure bad breath.--bad or foul breath will be removed by taking a teaspoonful of the following mixture after each meal: one ounce liquor of potassa, one ounce chloride of soda, one and one-half ounces phosphate of soda, and three ounces of water. . chlorate of potash, three drachms; rose-water, four ounces. dose, a tablespoonful four or five times daily. how to cure bunions.--a bunion is a swelling on the ball of the great toe, and is the result of pressure and irritation by friction. the treatment for corns applies also to bunions; but in consequence of the greater extension of the disease, the cure is more tedious. when a bunion is forming it may be stopped by poulticing and carefully opening it with a lancet. how to cure burns and scalds.--take half a pound of powdered alum, dissolve it in a quart of water; bathe the burn or scald with a linen rag, wetted with this mixture, then bind the wet rag on it with a strip of linen, and moisten the bandage with the alum water frequently, without removing it during two or three days. tea leaves for burns.--dr. searles, of warsaw, wis., reports the immediate relief from pain in severe burns and scalds by the application of a poultice of tea leaves. how to cure cancer.--boil down the inner bark of red and white oak to the consistency of molasses; apply as a plaster, shifting it once a week; or, burn red-oak bark to ashes; sprinkle it on the sore till it is eaten out; then apply a plaster of tar; or, take garget berries and leaves of stramonium; simmer them together in equal parts of neatsfoot oil and the tops of hemlock; mix well together, and apply it to the parts affected; at the same time make a tea of winter-green (root and branch); put a handful into two quarts of water; add two ounces of sulphur and drink of this tea freely during the day. castor oil mixture.--castor oil, one dessert spoonful; magnesia, one dessert spoonful. rub together into a paste. by this combination, the taste of the oil is almost entirely concealed, and children take it without opposition. how to disguise castor oil.--rub up two drops oil of cinnamon with an ounce of glycerine and add an ounce of castor oil. children will take it as a luxury and ask for more. castor oil emulsions.--take castor oil and syrup, each one ounce; the yolk of an egg, and orange flower water, one-half ounce. mix. this makes a very pleasant emulsion, which is readily taken by adults as well as children. how to cure catarrh.--take the bark of sassafras root, dry and pound it, use it as a snuff, taking two or three pinches a day. how to cure chilblains.--wash the parts in strong alum water, apply as hot as can be borne. how to cure cold.--take three cents' worth of liquorice, three of rock candy, three of gum arabic, and put them into a quart of water; simmer them till thoroughly dissolved, then add three cents' worth paregoric, and a like quantity of antimonial wine. how to cure corns.--boil tobacco down to an extract, then mix with it a quantity of white pine pitch, and apply it to the corn; renew it once a week until the corn disappears. good cough mixture.--two ounces ammonia mixture; five ounces camphor mixture; one drachm tincture of digitalis (foxglove); one-half ounce each of sweet spirits of nitre and syrup of poppies; two drachms solution of sulphate of morphia. a tablespoonful of this mixture is to be taken four times a day. . tincture of blood-root, one ounce; sulphate of morphia, one and a half grains; tincture of digitalis, one-half ounce; wine of antimony, one-half ounce; oil of wintergreen, ten drops. mix. dose from twenty to forty drops twice or three times a day. excellent for a hard, dry cough. . common sweet cider, boiled down to one-half, makes a most, excellent syrup for colds or coughs for children, is pleasant to the taste, and will keep for a year in a cool cellar. in recovering from an illness, the system has a craving for some pleasant drink. this is found in cider which is placed on the fire as soon as made, and allowed to come to a boil, then cooled, put in casks, and kept in a cool cellar. . roast a large lemon very carefully without burning; when it is thoroughly hot, cut and squeeze into a cup upon three ounces of sugar candy. finely powdered: take a spoonful whenever your cough troubles you. it is as good as it is pleasant. cure for deafness.--take ant's eggs and union juice. mix and drop them into the ear. drop into the ear, at night, six or eight drops of hot sweet oil. remedies for diarrhoea.-- . take one teaspoonful of salt, the same of good vinegar, and a tablespoonful of water; mix and drink. it acts like a charm on the system, and even one dose will generally cure obstinate cases of diarrhoea, or the first stages of cholera. if the first does not bring complete relief, repeat the dose, as it is quite harmless. . the best rhubarb root, pulverized, ounce; peppermint leaf, ounce, capsicum, / ounce; cover with boiling water and steep thoroughly, strain, and add bicarbonate of potash and essence of cinnamon, of each / ounce; with brandy (or good whisky); equal in amount to the whole, and loaf sugar, four ounces. dose--for an adult, or tablespoons; for a child, to teaspoons, from to times per day, until relief is obtained. . to half a bushel of blackberries; well mashed, add a quarter of a pound of allspice, ounces of cinnamon, ounces of cloves; pulverize well, mix and boil slowly until properly done; then strain or squeeze the juice through home-spun or flannel, and add to each pint of the juice pound of loaf sugar, boil again for some time, take it off, and while cooling, add half a gallon of the best cognac brandy. cure for chronic diarrhoea. rayer recommends the association of cinchona, charcoal and bismuth in the treatment of chronic diarrhoea, in the following proportions: subnitrate of bismuth, one drachm; cinchona, yellow, powdered, one-half drachm; charcoal, vegetable, one drachm. make twenty powders and take two or three a day during the intervals between meals. cures for dysentery.--tincture rhubarb, tincture of capsicum, tincture of camphor, essence of ginger and laudanum, equal parts. mix; shake well and take from ten to twenty drops every thirty minutes, until relief is obtained. this is a dose for an adult. half the amount for a child under twelve years of age. . take some butter off the churn, immediately after being churned, just as it is, without being salted or washed: clarify it over the fire like honey. skim off all the milky particles when melted over a clear fire. let the patient (if an adult) take two tablespoonfuls of the clarified remainder, twice or thrice within the day. this has never failed to effect a cure, and in many cases it has been almost instantaneous. . in diseases of this kind the indians use the roots and leaves of the blackberry bush--- a decoction of which, in hot water, well boiled down, is taken in doses of a gill before each meal, and before retiring to bed. it is an almost infallible cure. . beat one egg in a teacup; add one tablespoonful of loaf sugar and half a teaspoonful of ground spice; fill the cup with sweet milk. give the patient one tablespoonful once in ten minutes until relieved. . take one tablespoonful of common salt, and mix it, with two tablespoonfuls of vinegar and pour upon it a half pint of water, either hot or cold (only let it be taken cool.) a wine glass full of this mixture in the above proportions, taken every half hour, will he found quite efficacious in curing dysentery. if the stomach be nauseated, a wine-glass full taken every hour will suffice. for a child, the quantity should be a teaspoonful of salt and one of vinegar in a teacupful of water. dropsy.--take the leaves of a currant bush and make into tea, drink it. cure for drunkenness.--- the following singular means of curing habitual drunkenness is employed by a russian physician. dr. schreiber, of brzese litewski: it consists in confining the drunkard in a room, and in furnishing him at discretion with his favorite spirit diluted with two-thirds of water; as much wine, beer and coffee as he desires, but containing one-third of spirit: all the food--the bread, meat, and the legumes are steeped in spirit and water. the poor devil is continually drunk and dort. on the fifth day of this regime he has an extreme disgust for spirit; he earnestly requests other diet: but his desire must not be yielded to until the poor wretch no longer desires to eat or drink: he is then certainly cured of his penchant for drunkenness. he acquires such a disgust for brandy or other spirits that he is ready to vomit at the very sight of it. cure for dyspepsia.-- . take bark of white poplar root, boil it thick, and add a little spirit, and then lay it on the stomach. . take wintergreen and black cherry-tree bark and yellow dock: put into two quarts of water; boil down to three pints; take two or three glasses a day. here are two remedies for dyspepsia, said by those who "have tried them" to be infallible. . eat onions. . take two parts of well-dried and pounded pods of red pepper, mixed with one part of ground mustard, and sift it over everything you eat or drink. how to cure earache.--take a small piece of cotton batting or cotton wool, make a depression in the center with the finger, and then fill it up with as much ground pepper as will rest on a five-cent piece; gather it into a ball and tie it up; dip the ball into sweet oil and insert it in the ear, covering the latter with cotton wool, and use a bandage or cap to retain it in its place. almost instant relief will be experienced; and the application is so gentle that an infant, will not get injured by it, but experience relief as well as adults. roast a piece of lean mutton, squeeze out the juice and drop it info the ear as hot as it can be borne. roast an onion and put into the ear as hot as it can be borne. how to cure erysipelas.--dissolve five ounces of salt in one pint of good brandy and take two tablespoonfuls three times per day. cure for inflamed eyes.--pour boiling water on alder flowers, and steep them like tea; when cold, put three or four drops of laudanum into a small glass of the alder-tea, and let the mixture run into the eyes two or three times a day, and the eyes will become perfectly strong in the course of a week. cure for weeping eyes.--wash the eyes in chamomile tea night and morning. eyes, granular inflammation.--a prominent oculist says that the contagious egyptian or granular inflammation of the eyes is spreading throughout the country, and that he has been able in many, and indeed in a majority of cases, to trace the disease to what are commonly called rolling towels. towels of this kind are generally found in country hotels and the dwellings of the working classes, and, being thus used by nearly every one, are made the carriers of one of the most troublesome diseases of the eye. this being the case, it is urgently recommended that the use of these rolling towels be discarded, and thus one of the special vehicles for the spread of a most dangerous disorder of the eyes--one by which thousands of workingmen are annually deprived of their means of support--will no longer exist. cure for sty in eye.--bathe frequently with warm water. when the sty bursts, use an ointment composed of one part of citron ointment and four of spermaceti, well rubbed together, and smear along the edge of the eye-lid. cure for felons.-- . stir one-half teaspoonful of water into an ounce of venice turpentine until the mixture appears like granulated honey. wrap a good coating of it around the finger with a cloth. if the felon is only recent, the pain will be removed in six hours. . as soon as the part begins to swell, wrap it with a cloth saturated thoroughly with the tincture of lobelia. an old physician says, that he has known this to cure scores of cases, and that it never fails if applied in season. cure for fever and ague.--take of cloves and cream of tartar each one-half ounce, and one ounce of peruvian bark. mix in a small quantity of tea, and take it on well days, in such quantities as the stomach will bear. cure for fever sores.--take of hoarhound, balm, sarsaparilla, loaf sugar, aloes, gum camphor, honey, spikenard, spirits of turpentine, each two ounces. dose, one tablespoonful, three mornings, missing three; and for a wash, make a strong tea of sumach, washing the affected parts frequently, and keeping the bandage well wet. cure for fits.--take of tincture of fox-glove, ten drops at each time twice a day, and increase one drop at each time as long as the stomach will bear it, or it causes a nauseous feeling. glycerine cream.--receipt for chapped lips: take of spermaceti, four drachms; white wax, one drachm; oil of almonds, two troy ounces; glycerine, one troy ounce. melt the spermaceti, wax and oil together, and when cooling stir in glycerine and perfume. glycerine lotion.--for softening the skin of the face and hands, especially during the commencement of cold weather, and also for allaying the irritation caused by the razor: triturate, four and a half grains of cochineal with one and a half fluid ounces of boiling water, adding gradually; then add two and a half fluid ounces of alcohol. also make an emulsion of eight drops of ottar of roses with thirty grains of gum arabic and eight fluid ounces of water; then add three fluid ounces of glycerine, and ten fluid drachms of quince mucilage. mix the two liquids. fleshworms.--these specks, when they exist in any number, are a cause of much unsightliness. they are minute corks, if we may use the term, of coagulated lymp, which close the orifices of some of the pores or exhalent vessels of the skin. on the skin immediately adjacent to them being pressed with the finger nails, these bits of coagulated lymph will come from it in a vermicular form. they are vulgarly called "flesh worms," many persons fancying them to be living creatures. these may be got rid of and prevented from returning, by washing with tepid water, by proper friction with a towel, and by the application of a little cold cream. the longer these little piles are permitted to remain in the skin the more firmly they become fixed; and after a time, when they lose their moisture they are converted into long bony spines as dense as bristles, and having much of that character. they are known by the name of spotted achne. with regard to local treatment, the following lotions are calculated to be serviceable: . distilled rose water, pint; sulphate of zinc, to grains. mix. . sulphate of copper, grains; rosewater, ounces; water, ounces. mix. . oil of sweet almonds, ounce; fluid potash, drachm. shake well together and then add rose-water, ounce; pure water, ounces. mix. the mode of using these remedies is to rub the pimples for some minutes with a rough towel, and then dab them with the lotion. . wash the face twice a day with warm water, and rub dry with a coarse towel. then with a soft towel rub in a lotion made of two ounces of white brandy, one ounce of cologne, and one-half ounce of liquor potassa. how to remove freckles.--freckles; so persistently regular in their annual return, have annoyed the fair sex from time immemorial, and various means have been devised to eradicate them, although thus far with no decidedly satisfactory results. the innumerable remedies in use for the removal of these vexatious intruders, are either simple and harmless washes, such as parsley or horseradish water, solutions of borax, etc., or injurious nostrums, consisting principally of lead and mercury salts. if the exact cause of freckles were known, a remedy for them might be found. a chemist in moravia, observing the bleaching effect of mercurial preparations, inferred that the growth of a local parasitical fungus was the cause of the discoloration of the skin, which extended and ripened its spores in the warmer season. knowing that sulpho-carbolate of zinc is a deadly enemy to all parasitic vegetation (itself not being otherwise injurious), he applied this salt for the purpose of removing the freckles. the compound consists of two parts of sulpho-carbolate of zinc, twenty-five parts of distilled glycerine, twenty-five parts of rose-water, and five parts of scented alcohol, and is to be applied twice daily for from half an hour to an hour, then washed off with cold water. protection against the sun by veiling and other means is recommended, and in addition, for persons of pale complexion, some mild preparation of iron. gravel.-- . make a strong tea of the low herb called heart's ease, and drink freely. . make of jacob's ladder a strong tea, and drink freely. . make of bean leaves a strong tea, and drink freely. wash for the hair.--castile soap, finely shaved, one teaspoonful; spirits of hartshorn, one drachm; alcohol, five ounces; cologne water and bay rum, in equal quantities enough to make eight ounces. this should be poured on the head, followed by warm water (soft water); the result will be, on washing, a copious lather and a smarting sensation to the person operated on. rub this well into the hair. finally, rinse with warm water, and afterwards with cold water. if the head is very much clogged with dirt, the hair will come out plentifully, but the scalp will become white and perfectly clean. hair restorative.--take of castor oil, six fluid ounces; alcohol, twenty-six fluid ounces. dissolve. then add tincture of cantharides (made with strong alcohol), one fluid ounce; essence of jessamine (or other perfume), one and a half fluid ounces. cure for heartburn.--sal volatile combined with camphor is a splendid remedy. sick headache.--take a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal in molasses every morning, and wash it down with a little tea, or drink half a glass of raw rum or gin, and drink freely of mayweed tea. headache.--dr. silvers, of ohio, in the philadelphia _medical and surgical reporter_, recommends ergot in headache, especially the nervous or sick headache. he says it will cure a larger proportion of cases than any other remedy. his theory of its action is that it lessens the quantity of blood in the brain by contracting the muscular fibres of the arterial walls. he gives ten to twenty drops of the fluid extract, repeated every half hour till relief is obtained, or four or five doses used. in other forms of disease, where opium alone is contra-indicated, its bad effects are moderated, he says, by combining it with ergot. headache drops.--for the cure of nervous, sun, and sick headache, take two quarts of alcohol, three ounces of castile soap, one ounce camphor, and two ounces ammonia. bathe forehead and temples. hive syrup.--put one ounce each of squills and seneca snake-root into one pint of water; boil down to one-half and strain. then add one-half pound of clarified honey containing twelve grains tartrate of antimony. dose for a child, ten drops to one teaspoonful, according to age. an excellent remedy for croup. how to clean the hair.--from the too frequent use of oils in the hair, many ladies destroy the tone and color of their tresses. the hindoos have a way of remedying this. they take a hand basin filled with cold water, and have ready a small quantity of pea flour. the hair is in the first place submitted to the operation of being washed in cold water, a handful of the pea flour is then applied to the head and rubbed into the hair for ten minutes at least, the servant adding fresh water at short intervals, until it becomes a perfect lather. the whole head is then washed quite clean with copious supplies of the aqueous fluid, combed, and afterwards rubbed dry by means of coarse towels. the hard and soft brush is then resorted to, when the hair will be found to be wholly free from all encumbering oils and other impurities, and assume a glossy softness, equal to the most delicate silk. this process tends to preserve the tone and natural color of the hair, which is so frequently destroyed by the too constant use of caustic cosmetics. how to soften hands.--after cleansing the hands with soap, rub them well with oatmeal while wet. how to remove stains from hands.--damp the hands first in water, then rub them with tartaric acid, or salt of lemons, as you would with soap; rinse them and rub them dry. tartaric acid, or salt of lemons, will quickly remove stains from white muslin or linen. put less than half a teaspoonful of salt or acid into a tablespoonful of water; wet the stain with it, and lay it in the sun for an hour; wet it once or twice with cold water during the time; if this does not quite remove it, repeat the acid water, and lay it in the sun. how to whiten hands.-- . stir / of a pound of castile soap, and place it in a jar near the fire, pour over it / pint of alcohol; when the soap is dissolved and mixed with the spirit, add ounce of glycerine, the same of oil of almonds, with a few drops of essence of violets, or ottar of roses, then pour it into moulds to cool for use. . a wineglassful of eau-de-cologne, and one of lemon-juice, two cakes of broken windsor soap, mixed well together, when hard, will form an excellent substance. how to cure scurf in the head.--a simple and effectual remedy. into a pint of water drop a lump of fresh quick lime, the size of a walnut; let it stand all night, then pour the water off clear from the sediment or deposit, add / of a pint of the best vinegar, and wash the head with the mixture. perfectly harmless; only wet the roots of the hair. how to cure chapped lips.--take ounces of white wax, ounce of spermaceti, ounces of oil of almonds, ounces of honey, / of an ounce of essence of bergamot, or any other scent. melt the wax and spermaceti; then add the honey, and melt all together, and when hot add the almond oil by degrees, stirring till cold. . take oil of almonds ounces; spermaceti / ounce; virgin rice, / ounce. melt these together over a slow fire, mixing with them a little powder of alkane root to color it. keep stirring till cold, and then add a few drops of the oil of rhodium. . take oil of almonds, spermaceti, white wax, and white sugar candy, equal parts. these form a good, white lip salve. how to remove moth patches.--wash the patches with solution of common bicarbonate of soda and water several times during the day for two days, or until the patches are removed, which will usually be in forty-eight hours. after the process wash with some nice toilet soap, and the skin will be left nice, smooth and clear of patches. how to take care of the nails.--the nails should be kept clean by the daily use of the nail brush and soap and water. after wiping the hands, but while they are still soft from the action of the water, gently push back the skin which is apt to grow over the nails, which will not only preserve them neatly rounded, but will prevent the skin from cracking around their roots (nail springs), and becoming sore. the points of the nail should be pared at least once a week; biting them should be avoided. how to cure hiccough.--a convulsive motion of the diaphragm and parts adjacent. the common causes are flatuency, indigestion, acidity and worms. it may usually be removed by the exhibition of warm carminatives, cordials, cold wafer, weak spirits, camphor julep, or spirits of sal volatile. a sudden fright or surprise will often produce the like effect. an instance is recorded of a delicate young lady that was troubled with hiccough for some months, and who was reduced to a state of extreme debility from the loss of sleep occasioned thereby, who was cured by a fright, after medicines and topical applications had failed. a pinch of snuff, a glass of cold soda-water, or an ice-cream, will also frequently remove this complaint. how to cure hoarseness.--make a strong tea of horse-radish and yellow dock root, sweetened with honey and drink freely. remedies for hoarseness.--take one drachm of freshly scraped horse-radish root, to be infused with four ounces of water in a close vessel for three hours, and made into a syrup, with double its quantity of vinegar. a teaspoonful has often proved effectual. how to cure humors.--take equal parts of saffron and seneca snake root, make a strong tea, drink one half-pint a day, and this will drive out all humors from the system. how to cure hysterics.--take the leaves of motherwort and thoroughwort, and the bark of poplar root; equal parts. mix them in molasses, and take four of them when the first symptoms of disorder are felt, and they will effectually check it. how to cure barber's itch.--moisten the parts affected with saliva (spittle) and rub it over thoroughly three times a day with the ashes of a good havana cigar. this is a simple remedy, yet it has cured the most obstinate cases. itch ointment.-- . take lard, one pound; suet, one pound; sugar of lead, eight ounces; vermillion, two ounces. mix. scent with a little bergamot. . take bichloride of mercury, one ounce; lard, one pound; suet, one pound; hydrochloride acid, one and a half ounces. melt and well mix, and when perfectly cold, stir in essence of lemon, four drachms; essence of bergamot, one drachm. . take powdered chloride of lime, one ounce; lard, one pound. mix well, then add essence of lemon, two drachms. . take bichloride of mercury, one part; lard, fifteen parts. mix well together. . take white precipitate, one part; lard, twelve parts. mix. a portion of either of these ointments must be well rubbed on the parts affected, night and morning. how to cure seven-year itch.-- . use plenty of castile soap and water, and then apply freely iodide of sulphur ointment; or take any given quantity of simple sulphur ointment and color it to a light brown or chocolate color with the subcarbonate of iron, and then perfume it. apply this freely, and if the case should be a severe one, administer mild alteratives in conjunction with the outward application. . the sulphur bath is a good remedy for itch or any other kind of skin diseases. leprosy (the most obstinate of all) has been completely cured by it, and the common itch only requires two or three applications to completely eradicate it from the system. . benzine, it is said, will effect a complete cure for scabies in the course of half to three-quarters of an hour, after which the patient should take a warm bath from twenty to thirty minutes. how to cure jaundice.-- . take the whites of two hen's eggs, beat them up well in a gill of water; take of this a little every morning; it will soon do good. it also creates an appetite, and strengthens the stomach. . take of black cherry-tree bark, two ounces; blood root and gold thread, each half an ounce; put in a pint of brandy. dose, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful morning and night. how to cure stiffened joints.--take of the bark of white oak and sweet apple trees, equal parts; boil them down to a thick substance, and then add the same quantity of goose-grease or oil, simmer all together, and then rub it on the parts warm. how to cure kidney disease.--equal parts of the oil of red cedar and the oil of spearmint. how to cure lame back.--take the berries of red cedar and allow them to simmer in neatsfoot oil, and use as an ointment. how to kill lice.--all kinds of lice and their nits may be got rid of by washing with a simple decoction of stavesacre (_delphinium staphisagria_), or with a lotion made with the bruised seed in vinegar, or with the tincture, or by rubbing in a salve made with the seeds and four times their weight of lard very carefully beaten together. the acetic solution and the tincture are the cleanliest and most agreeable preparations, but all are equally efficacious in destroying both the creatures and their eggs, and even in relieving the intolerable itching which their casual presence leaves behind on many sensitive skins. the alkaloid delphinia may also be employed, but possesses no advantage except in the preparation of an ointment, when from any reason that form of application should be preferred. rheumatic liniment.--olive oil, spirits of camphor and chloroform, of each two ounces; sassafras oil, drachm. add the oil of sassafras to the olive oil, then the spirits of camphor, and shake well before putting in the chloroform; shake when used, and keep it corked, as the chloroform evaporates very fast if it is left open. apply three or four times daily, rubbing in well, and always toward the body. sore throat liniment.--gum camphor, two ounces; castile soap, shaved fine, one drachm; oil of turpentine and oil of origanum, each one-half ounce; opium, one-fourth of an ounce; alcohol, one pint. in a week or ten days they will be fit for use. bathe the parts freely two or three times daily until relief is obtained. a wonderful liniment.--two ounces oil of spike, two ounces origanum, two ounces hemlock, two ounces wormwood, four ounces sweet oil, two ounces spirit of ammonia, two ounces gum camphor, two ounces spirits turpentine. add one quart strong alcohol. mix well together, and bottle tight. this is an unequaled horse liniment, and of the best ever made for human ailments such as rheumatism, sprains, etc. how to cure sore lips.--wash the lips with a strong tea, made from the bark of the white oak. liver complaint.--make a strong tea of syrup of burdock, wormwood and dandelion, equal parts, and drink freely. lock jaw.--it is said that the application of warm lye, made of ashes as strong as possible, to a wounded part, will prevent a locked jaw; if a foot or hand, immerse in it; if another part of the body, bathe with flannels wrung out of the warm lye. mumps.--this disease, most common among children, begins with soreness and stiffness in the side of the neck. soon a swelling of the parotid gland takes place, which is painful, and continues to increase for four or five days, sometimes making it difficult to swallow, or open the mouth. the swelling sometimes comes on one side at a time, but commonly upon both. there is often heat, and sometimes fever, with a dry skin, quick pulse, furred tongue, constipated bowls, and scanty and high-colored urine. the disease is contagious. the treatment is very simple--a mild diet, gentle laxative, occasional hot fomentations, and wearing a piece of flannel round the throat. how to prevent ingrowing nails.--if the nail of your toe be hard, and apt to grow round, and into the corners of your toe, take a piece of broken glass and scrape the top very thin; do this whenever you cut your nails, and by constant use it makes the corners fly up and grow flat, so that it is impossible they should give you any pain. how to whiten nails.--the best wash for whitening the nails is two drachms of diluted sulphuric acid, one drachm of tincture of myrrh, added to four ounces of spring water; first cleanse the hands, and then apply the wash. sure cure for neuralgia.-- . fill a tight-top thimble with cotton wool, and drop on it a few drops of strong spirits of hartshorn. the open mouth of the thimble is then applied over the seat of pain for a minute or two, until the skin is blistered. the skin is then rubbed off, and upon the denuded surface a small quantity of morphia (one-fourth grain) is applied. this affords almost instant relief. a second application of the morphia, if required, is to be preceded by first rubbing off the new formation that has sprung up over the former blistered surface. . dr. j. knox hodge recommends the following as an application which will relieve facial or any other neuralgia almost instantaneously: albumen of egg, one drachm; rhigolene, four ounces; oil of peppermint, two ounces; colodion and chloroform, each one ounce. mix. agitate occasionally for twenty-four hours, and by gelatinization a beautiful and semi-solidified, opodeldoc-looking compound results, which will retain its consistency and hold the ingredients intimately blended for months. apply by smart friction with the hand, or gently with a soft brush or mop along the course of the nerve involved. . mix one and one-half drachms iodide of potash, fifteen grains of quinine and one ounce ginger syrup, and two and a half ounces water. dose, a tablespoonful every three hours. . of the stomach.--take of distilled water of cherry laurel, five parts; muriate of morphia, one-tenth part. mix and dissolve. one drop on a lump of sugar immediately before meals. ointment for sore nipples.--glycerine, rose water and tannin, equal weights, rubbed together into an ointment, is very highly recommended for sore or cracked nipples. glycerine ointment.--melt together spermaceti, two drachms; white wax, one-half drachm; oil of sweet almonds, two ounces, and then add glycerine, one ounce, and stir briskly until cool. an admirable application for chapped hands, etc. ointment for itch.--white precipitate, fifteen grains; saltpetre, one-half drachm; flour of sulphur, one drachm; mix well with lard, two ounces. long celebrated for the cure of itch. sulphur ointment.--flour of sulphur, eight ounces; oil of bergamot, two drachms; lard, one pound. rub freely three times a day, for itch. ointment for piles.--tannin, two drachms; water, two fluid drachms; triturate together, and add lard, one and a half drachms. an excellent application for piles. ointment for hemorrhoids.--sulphate of morphia, three grains; extract of stramonia, thirty grains; olive oil, one drachm; carbonate of lead, sixty grains; lard, three drachms. pains.-- . steep marigold in good cider vinegar and frequently wash the affected parts. this will afford speedy relief. . take half a pound of tar and the same quantity of tobacco, and boil them down separately to a thick substance; then simmer them together. spread a plaster and apply it to the affected parts, and it will afford immediate relief. painters' colic.--make of tartaric acid a syrup similar to that of lemon syrup; add a sufficient quantity of water, and drink two or three glasses a day. instantaneous pain-killer.--another and even more instant cure of pain is made as follows: take aqua-ammonia, sulphuric ether and alcohol, equal parts, and apply over the pain. how to cure pimples.--take a teaspoonful of the tincture of gum guaiacum and one teaspoonful of vinegar; mix well and apply to the affected parts. poor man's plaster.--melt together beeswax, one ounce; tar, three ounces; resin, three ounces, and spread on paper or muslin. rheumatic plaster.--one-fourth pound of resin and one-fourth pound of sulphur; melt by a slow fire, and add one ounce of cayenne pepper and one-fourth of an ounce of camphor gum; stir well till mixed, and temper with neatsfoot oil. strengthening plaster.--litharge plasters, twenty-four parts; white resin, six parts; yellow wax and olive oil, of each three parts, and red oxide of iron, eight parts. let the oxide be rubbed with the oil, and the other ingredients added melted, and mix the whole well together. the plaster, after being spread over the leather, should be cut into strips two inches wide and strapped firmly around the joint. mustard plasters.--it is stated that in making a mustard plaster, no water whatever should be used, but the mustard mixed with the white of an egg; the result will be a plaster that will "draw" perfectly, but will not produce a blister even upon the skin of an infant, no matter how long it is allowed to remain upon the part. bread and milk poultice.--take stale bread in crumbs, pour boiling sweet milk, or milk and water over it, and simmer till soft, stirring it well; then take it from the fire, and gradually stir in a little glycerine or sweet oil, so as to render the poultice pliable when applied. linseed poultice.--take of linseed, powdered, four ounces; hot water sufficient, mix and stir well with a spoon, until of suitable consistence. a little oil should be added, and some smeared over the surface as well, to prevent its getting hard. a very excellent poultice, suitable for many purposes. spice poultice.--powdered cinnamon, cloves and cayenne pepper, of each two ounces; rye meal, or flour, spirits and honey, of each sufficient to make of suitable consistence. quinsy.--this is an inflammation of the tonsils, or common inflammatory sore throat; commences with a slight feverish attack, with considerable pain and swelling of the tonsils, causing some difficulty in swallowing; as the attack advances these symptoms become more intense, there is headache, thirst, a painful sense of tension, and acute darting pains in the ears. the attack is generally brought on by exposure to cold, and lasts from five to seven days, when it subsides naturally, or an abscess may form in tonsils and burst, or the tonsil may remain enlarged, the inflammation subsiding. treatment.--the patient should remain in a warm room, the diet chiefly milk and good broths, some cooling laxative and diaphoretic medicine may be given; but the greatest relief will be found in the frequent inhalation of the steam of hot water through an inhaler, or in the old-fashioned way, through the spout of a teapot. other remedies for rheumatism.-- . bathe the parts affected with water in which potatoes have been boiled, as hot as can be borne, just before going to bed; by morning it will be much relieved, if not removed. one application of this simple remedy has cured the most obstinate of rheumatic pains. . half an ounce of pulverized salt petre put in half a pint of sweet oil; bathe the parts affected, and a sound cure will be speedily effected. . rheumatism has frequently been cured by a persistent use of lemon juice, either undiluted or in the form of lemonade. suck half a lemon every morning before breakfast, and occasionally during the day, and partake of lemonade when thirsty in preference to any other drink. if severely afflicted a physician should be consulted, but, in all cases, lemon juice will hasten the cure. . by the valerian bath, made simply by taking one pound of valerian root, boiling it gently for about a quarter of an hour in one gallon of water, straining and adding the strained liquid to about twenty gallons of water in an ordinary bath. the temperature should be about ninety-eight degrees, and the time of immersion from twenty minutes to half an hour. pains must be taken to dry the patient perfectly upon getting out of the bath. if the inflammation remain refractory in any of the joints, linseed meal poultices should be made with a strong decoction of valerian root and applied. how to cure ring-worm.--to one part sulphuric acid, add sixteen to twenty parts water. use a brush and feather, and apply it to the parts night and morning. a few dressings will generally cure. if the solution is too strong and causes pain, dilute it with water, and if the irritation is excessive, rub on a little oil or other softening application, but always avoid the use of soap. or, wash the head with soft soap every morning, and apply the following lotion every night: one-half drachm of sub-carbonate of soda dissolved in one gill of vinegar. healing salve.--sweet oil, three quarts; resin, three ounces; beeswax, three ounces. melt together; then add powdered red lead, two pounds; heat all these together and when nearly cold add a piece of camphor as large as a nutmeg. good for burns, etc. salt rheum.-- . make a strong tea of elm root bark; drink the tea freely, and wash the affected part in the same. . take one ounce of blue flag root, steep it in half a pint of gin; take a teaspoonful three times a day, morning, noon and night, and wash with the same. . take one ounce of oil of tar, one drachm of oil of checker berry; mix. take from five to twenty drops morning and night as the stomach will bear. bleeding of the stomach.--take a teaspoonful of camomile tea every ten minutes until the bleeding stops. sickness of stomach.--drink three or four times a day of the steep made from the bark of white poplar roots. sunburn and tan.-- . take two drachms of borax, one drachm of roman alum, one drachm of camphor, half an ounce of sugar candy, and a pound of ox-gall. mix, and stir well for ten minutes or so, and repeat this stirring three or four times a day for a fortnight, till it appears clear and transparent. strain through blotting paper, and bottle up for use. . milk of almonds made thus: take of blanched bitter almonds half an ounce, soft water half a pint; make an emulsion by beating the almonds and water together, strain through a muslin cloth, and it is made. . a preparation composed of equal parts of olive oil and lime water is also an excellent remedy for sunburn. to produce sweat.--take of nitre, one-half drachm; snake's head (herb), saffron, camphor, snake-root, seneca, bark of sassafras root, each one ounce; ipecac, and opium, each one half ounce; put the above in three quarts of holland gin, and take a tablespoonful in catnip tea every few minutes, till a sweat is produced. teething.--young children whilst cutting their first set of teeth often suffer severe constitutional disturbance. at first there is restlessness and peevishness, with slight fever, but not infrequently these are followed by convulsive fits, as they are commonly called, which depends on the brain becoming irritated; and sometimes under this condition the child is either cut off suddenly, or the foundation of serious mischief to the brain is laid. the remedy, or rather the safeguard, against these frightful consequences is trifling, safe, and almost certain, and consists merely in lancing the gum covering the tooth which is making its making its way through. when teething is about it may be known by the spittle constantly driveling from the mouth and wetting the frock. the child has its fingers in its month, and bites hard any substance it can get hold of. if the gums be carefully looked at, the part where the tooth is pressing up is swollen and redder than usual; and if the finger be pressed on it the child shrinks and cries, showing that the gum is tender. when these symptoms occur, the gum should be lanced, and sometimes the tooth comes through the next day, if near the surface; but if not so far advanced the cut heals and a scar forms, which is thought by some objectionable, as rendering the passage of the tooth more difficult. this, however, is untrue, for the scar will give way much more easily than the uncut gum. if the tooth does not come through after two or three days, the lancing may be repeated; and this is more especially needed if the child be very fractious, and seems in much pain. lancing the gums is further advantageous, because it empties the inflamed part of its blood, and so relieves the pain and inflammation. the relief children experience in the course of two or three hours from the operation is often very remarkable, as they almost immediately become lively and cheerful. wash for teeth and gums.--the teeth should be washed night and morning, a moderately small and soft brush being used; after the morning ablution, pour on a second tooth-brush, slightly dampened, a little of the following lotion: carbolic acid, drops; spirits of wine, drachms; distilled water, ounces. after using this lotion a short time the gums become firmer and less tender, and impurity of the breath (which is most commonly caused by bad teeth), will be removed. it is a great mistake to use hard tooth-brushes, or to brush the teeth until the gums bleed. tetter.--after a slight feverish attack, lasting two or three days, clusters of small, transparent pimples, filled sometimes with a colorless, sometimes with a brownish lymph, appear on the cheeks or forehead, or on the extremities, and at times on the body. the pimples are about the size of a pea, and break after a few days, when a brown or yellow crust is formed over them, which falls off about the tenth day, leaving the skin red and irritable. the eruption is attended with heat; itching, tingling, fever, and restlessness, especially at night. ringworm is a curious form of tetter, in which the inflamed patches assume the form of a ring. treatment--should consist of light diet, and gentle laxatives. if the patient be advanced in life, and feeble, a tonic will be desirable. for a wash, white vitriol, drachm; rose-water, ounces, mixed; or an ointment made of alder-flower ointment, ounce; oxide of zinc, drachm. to remove tan.--tan may be removed from the face by mixing magnesia in soft water to the consistency of paste, which should then be spread on the face and allowed to remain a minute or two. then wash off with castile soap suds, and rinse with soft water. care of the teeth.--the mouth has a temperature of degrees, warmer than is ever experienced in the shade in the latitude of new england. it is well known that if beef, for example, be exposed in the shade during the warmest of our summer days, it will very soon decompose. if we eat beef for dinner, the particles invariably find their way into the spaces between the teeth. now, if these particles of beef are not removed, they will frequently remain till they are softened by decomposition. in most mouths this process of decomposition is in constant progress. ought we to be surprised that the gums and teeth against which these decomposing or putrefying masses lie should become subjects of disease? how shall our teeth be preserved? the answer is very simple--keep them very clean. how shall they be kept clean? answer--by a toothpick, rinsing with water, and the daily use of a brush. the toothpick should be a quill, not because the metalic picks injure the enamel, but because the quill pick is so flexible it fits into all the irregularities between the teeth. always after using the toothpick the mouth should be thoroughly rinsed. if warm water be not at hand, cold may be used, although warm is much better. closing the lips, with a motion familiar to all, everything may be thoroughly rinsed from the mouth. every morning (on rising), and every evening (on going to bed), the tooth-brush should be used, and the teeth, both outside and inside, thoroughly brushed. much has been said _pro_ and _con_., upon the use of soap with the tooth-brush. my own experience and the experience of members of my family is highly favorable to the regular morning and evening use of soap. castile or other good soap will answer this purpose. (whatever is good for the hands and face is good for the teeth.) the slightly unpleasant taste which soap has when we begin to use it will soon be unnoticed. tooth powders.--many persons, while laudably attentive to the preservation of their teeth, do them harm by too much officiousness. they daily apply to them some dentifrice powder, which they rub so hard as not only to injure the enamel by excessive friction, but to hurt the gums even more than by the abuse of the toothpick. the quality of some of the dentifrice powders advertised in newspapers is extremely suspicious, and there is reason to think that they are not altogether free from a corrosive ingredient. one of the safest and best compositions for the purpose is a mixture of two parts of prepared chalk, one of peruvian bark, and one of hard soap, all finely powdered, which is calculated not only to clean the teeth without hurting them, but to preserve the firmness of the gums. besides the advantage of sound teeth for their use in mastication, a proper attention to their treatment conduces not a little to the sweetness of the breath. this is, indeed, often affected by other causes existing in the lungs, the stomach, and sometimes even in the bowels, but a rotten state of the teeth, both from the putrid smell emitted by carious bones and the impurities lodged in their cavities, never fails of aggravating an unpleasant breath wherever there is a tendency of that kind. remedies for toothache.-- . one drachm of alum reduced to an impalpable powder, three drachms of nitrous spirits of ether--mix, and apply them to the tooth on cotton. . mix a little salt and alum, equal portions, grind it fine, wet a little lock of cotton, fill it with the powder and put it in your tooth. one or two applications seldom fail to cure. . to one drachm of collodion add two drachms of calvert's carbolic acid. a gelatinous mass is precipitated, a small portion of which, inserted in the cavity of an aching tooth, invariably gives immediate relief. . saturate a small bit of clean cotton wool with a strong solution of ammonia, and apply it immediately to the affected tooth. the pleasing contrast immediately produced in some cases causes fits of laughter, although a moment previous extreme suffering and anguish prevailed. . sometimes a sound tooth aches from sympathy of the nerves of the face with other nerves. but when toothache proceeds from a decayed tooth either have it taken out, or put hot fomentations upon the face, and hot drinks into the mouth, such as tincture of cayenne. to cure warts.--warts are formed by the small arteries, veins, and nerves united together, taking on a disposition to grow by extending themselves upward, carrying the scarf-skin along with them, which, thickening, forms a wart. corns are a similar growth, brought about by the friction of tight boots and shoes. . take a piece of diachylon plaster, cut a hole in the centre the size of the wart, and stick it on, the wart protruding through. then touch it daily with aquafortis, or nitrate of silver. they may be removed by tying a string tightly around them. . take a blacksmith's punch, heat it red hot and burn the warts with the end of it. when the burn gets well the warts will be gone forever. . scrape down enough dry cobwebs to make a ball large enough to, or a little more than, cover the wart and not touch the flesh around the same; lay it on top of the wart, ignite it and let it be until it is all burnt up. the wart will turn white, and in a few days come out. . pass a pin through the wart; apply one end of the pin to the flame of a lamp; hold it there until the wart fries under the action of the heat. a wart so treated will leave. . dissolve as much common washing soda as the water will take up; wash the warts with this for a minute or two, and let them dry without wiping. keep the water in a bottle and repeat the washing often, and it will take away the largest warts. . they may be cured surely by paring them down until the blood comes slightly and then rubbing them with lunar caustic. it is needless to say this hurts a little, but it is a sure cure. the hydrochlorate of lime applied in the same way will cure after several applications and some patience; so will strong good vinegar, and so it is said will milk weed. the cures founded upon superstitious practices, such as muttering some phrases over the excrescence, stealing a piece of beef, rubbing the wart therewith and then burying it under the leaves to await its decay, etc., etc., are all the remnants of a past state of ignorance and are of no use whatever. warts are generally only temporary and disappear as their possessors grow up. how to cure white swelling.--draw a blister on the inside of the leg below the knee; keep it running with ointment made of hen manure, by simmering it in hog's lard with onions; rub the knee with the following kind of ointment: bits of peppermint, oil of sassafras, checkerberry, juniper, one drachm each; simmer in one-half pint neatsfoot oil, and rub on the knee three times a day. how to cure wounds.--catnip steeped, mixed with fresh butter and sugar. how to cure whooping-cough.--take a quart of spring water, put in it a large handful of chin-cups that grow upon moss, a large handful of unset hyssop; boil it to a pint, strain it off, and sweeten it with sugar-candy. let the child, as often as it coughs, take two spoonfuls at a time. how to cure worms in children.-- . take one ounce of powdered snake-head (herb), and one drachm each of aloes and prickly ash bark; powder these, and to one-half teaspoonful of this powder add a teaspoonful of boiling water and a teaspoonful of molasses. take this as a dose, night or morning, more or less, as the symptoms may require. . take tobacco leaves, pound them up with honey, and lay them on the belly of the child or grown person, at the same time administering a dose of some good physic. . take garden parsley, make it into a tea and let the patient drink freely of it. . take the scales that will fall around the blacksmith's anvil, powder them fine, and put them in sweetened rum. shake when you take them, and give a teaspoonful three times a day. scalding of the urine.--equal parts of the oil of red cedar, and the oil of spearmint. urinary obstructions.--steep pumpkin seeds in gin, and drink about three glasses a day; or, administer half a drachm uva ursi every morning, and a dose of spearmint. free passage of urine.--the leaves of the currant bush made into a tea, and taken as a common drink. venereal complaints.--equal parts of the oil of red cedar, combined with sarsaparilla, yellow dock and burdock made into a syrup; add to a pint of this syrup an ounce of gum guiaicum. dose, from a tablespoonful to a wine-glass, as best you can bear. how to cure sore throat.--"one who has tried it" communicates the following sensible item about curing sore throat: let each one of your half million readers buy at any drug store one ounce of camphorated oil and five cents' worth of chloride of potash. whenever any soreness appears in the throat, put the potash in half a tumbler of water, and with it gargle the throat thoroughly; then rub the neck thoroughly with the camphorated oil at night before going to bed, and also pin around the throat a small strip of woolen flannel. this is a simple, cheap and sure remedy. * * * * * language of flowers acacia--concealed love. adonis vernalis--sorrowful remembrances. almond--hope. aloe--religious superstition. alyssum, sweet--worth beyond beauty. ambrosia--love returned. apple blossom--preference. arbor vitæ--unchanging friendship. bachelor's button--hope in love. balsam--impatience. begonia--deformity. bellflower--gratitude. belvidere, wild (licorice)--i declare against you. blue bell--i will be constant. box--stoical indifference. briers--envy. burdock--touch me not. cactus--thou leavest not. camellia--pity. candytuft--indifference. canterbury bell--gratitude. cape jessamine--ecstasy; transport. calla lily--feminine beauty. carnation (yellow)--disdain. cedar--i live for thee. china aster--i will see about it. chrysanthemum rose--i love. cowslip--pensiveness. cypress--mourning. crocus--cheerfulness. cypress and marigold--despair. daffodil--chivalry. dahlia--forever thine. daisy (garden)--i partake your sentiment. daisy (wild)--i will think of it. dandelion--coquetry. dead leaves--sadness. dock--patience. dodder--meanness. dogwood--am i indifferent to you? ebony--hypocrisy. eglantine--i wound to heal. elder--compassion. endive--frugality. evening primrose--inconstancy. evergreen--poverty. everlasting--perpetual remembrance. fennel--strength. filbert--reconciliation. fir-tree--elevation. flux--i feel your kindness. forget-me-not--true love; remembrance. fox-glove--insincerity. furze--anger. fuchsia--taste. gentian--intrinsic worth. geranium, ivy--your hand for the next dance. geranium, nutmeg--i expect a meeting. geranium, oak--lady, deign to smile. geranium, rose--preference. geranium, silver leaf--recall. gilliflower--lasting beauty. gladiolus--ready; armed. golden rod--encouragement. gorse--endearing affection. gass--utility. harebell--grief. hawthorn--hope. hazel--recollection. hartsease--think of me. heliotrope--devotion. henbane--blemish. holly--foresight. hollyhock--fruitfulness. hollyhock, white--female ambition. honeysuckle--bond of love. honeysuckle, coral--the color of my fate. hyacinth--jealousy. hyacinth, blue--constancy. hyacinth, purple--sorrow. hydrangea--heartlessness. ice plant--your looks freeze me. iris--message. ivy--friendship; matrimony. jessamine, cape--transient joy; ecstasy. jessamine, white--amiability. jessamine, yellow--grace; elegance. jonquil--i desire a return of affection. juniper--asylum; shelter. justitia--perfection of loveliness. kalmia (mountain laurel)--treachery. kannedia--mental beauty. laburnum--pensive beauty. lady's slipper--capricious beauty. larch--boldness. larkspur--fickleness. laurel--glory. lavender--distrust. lettuce--cold-hearted. lilac--first emotion of love. lily--purity; modesty. lily of the valley--return of happiness. lily, day--coquetry, lily, water--eloquence. lily, yellow--falsehood. locust--affection beyond the grave. love in a mist--you puzzle me. love lies bleeding--hopeless, not heartless. lupine--imagination. mallow--sweetness; mildness. maple--reserve. marigold--cruelty. marjoram--blushes. marvel of peru (four o'clocks)--timidity. mint--virtue. mignonette--your qualities surpass your charms. mistletoe--i surmount all difficulties. mock orange (syringa)--counterfeit. morning glory--coquetry. maiden's hair--discretion. magnolia, grandiflora--peerless and proud. magnolia, swamp--perseverance. moss--maternal love. motherwort--secret love. mourning bride--unfortunate attachment. mulberry, black--i will not survive you. mulberry, white--wisdom. mushroom--suspicion. musk-plant--weakness. myrtle--love faithful in absence. narcissus--egotism. nasturtium--patriotism. nettle--cruelty; slander. night blooming cereus--transient beauty. nightshade--bitter truth. oak--hospitality. oats--music. oleander--beware. olive-branch--peace. orange-flower--chastity. orchis--beauty. osier--frankness. osmunda--dreams. pansy--think of me. parsley--entertainment; feasting. passion-flower--religious fervor; susceptibility. pea, sweet--departure. peach blossom--this heart is thine. peony--anger. pennyroyal--flee away. periwinkle--sweet remembrances. petunia--less proud than they deem thee. phlox--our souls are united. pimpernel--change. pink--pure affection. pink, double red--pure, ardent love. pink, indian--aversion. pink, variegated--refusal. pink, white--you are fair. pomegranite--fully. poppy--consolation. primrose--inconstancy. rhododendron--agitation. rose, austrian--thou art all that's lovely. rose, bridal--happy love. rose, cabbage--ambassador of love. rose, china--grace. rose, damask--freshness. rose, jacqueminot--mellow love. rose, maiden's blush--if you _do_ love me, you will find me out. rose, moss--superior merit. rose, moss rosebud--confession of love. rose, sweet-briar--sympathy. rose, tea--always lovely. rose, white--i am worthy of you. rose, york and lancaster--war. rose, wild--simplicity. rue--disdain. saffron--excess is dangerous. sardonia--irony. sensitive plant--timidity. snap-dragon--presumption. snowball--thoughts of heaven. snowdrop--consolation. sorrel--wit ill (poorly) timed. spearmint--warm feelings. star of bethlehem--reconciliation. strawberry--perfect excellence. sumac--splendor. sunflower, dwarf--your devout admirer. sunflower, tall--pride. sweet william--finesse. syringa--memory. tansy--i declare against you. teazel--misanthropy. thistle--austerity. thorn apple--deceitful charms. touch-me-not--impatience. trumpet-flower--separation. tuberose--dangerous pleasures. tulip--declaration of love. tulip, variegated--beautiful eyes. tulip, yellow--hopeless love. venus' flytrap--have i caught you at last. venus' looking-glass--flattery. verbena--sensibility. violet, blue--love. violet, white--modesty. wallflower--fidelity. weeping willow--forsaken. woodbine--fraternal love. yew--sorrow. zennæ--absent friends. * * * * * masterpieces of eloquence the following masterpieces of elegiac eloquence are unsurpassed in the repertory of the english classics, for lofty and noble sentiment, exquisite pathos, vivid imagery, tenderness of feeling, glowing power of description, brilliant command of language, and that immortal and seldom attained faculty of painting in the soul of the listener or reader a realistic picture whose sublimity of conception impresses the understanding with awe and admiration, and impels the mind to rise involuntarily for the time to an elevation out of and above the inconsequent contemplation of the common and sordid things of life. at his brother's grave. the following grand oration was delivered by hon. robert g. ingersoll on the occasion of the funeral of his brother, hon. eben c. ingersoll, in washington, june : "my friends, i am going to do that which the dead oft promised he would do for me. the loved and loving brother, husband, father, friend, died where manhood's morning almost touches noon, and while the shadows were still falling towards the west. he had not passed on life's highway the stone that marks the highest point, but being weary for a moment he lay down by the wayside, and using his burden for a pillow fell into that dreamless sleep that kisses down the eyelids. still, while yet in love with life and raptured with the world, he passed to silence and pathetic dust. yet, after all, it may be best, just in the happiest, sunniest hour of all the voyage, while eager winds are kissing every sail, to dash against the unseen rock and in an instant to hear the billows roar, 'a sunken ship;' for whether in mid-sea or among the breakers of the farther shore, a wreck must mark at last the end of each and all, and every life, no matter if its every hour is rich with love, and every moment jeweled with a joy, will at its close become a tragedy as sad and deep and dark as can be woven of the warp and woof of mystery and death. this brave and tender man in every storm of life was oak and rock, but in the sunshine he was vine and flower. he was the friend of all heroic souls. he climbed the heights and left all superstitions far below, while on his forehead fell the golden dawning of a grander day. he loved the beautiful, and was with color, form and music touched to tears. he sided with the weak, and with a willing hand gave alms. with loyal heart, and with the purest hand he faithfully discharged all public trusts. he was a worshiper of liberty and a friend of the oppressed. a thousand times i have heard him quote the words, 'for justice all place temple, and all seasons summer.' he believed that happiness was the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worshiper, humanity the only religion, and love the priest. he added to the sum of human joy, and were everyone for whom he did some loving service to bring a blossom to his grave, he would sleep to-night beneath a wilderness of flowers. life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. we strive in vain to look beyond the heights. we cry aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. from the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word, but the light of death. hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustic of a wing, he who sleeps here when dying, mistaking the approach of death for the return of health, whispered with his latest breath, 'i am better now.' let us believe, in spite of doubts and dogmas, and tears and fears, that these dear words are true of all the countless dead. and now, to you who have been chosen from among the many men he loved to do the last sad office for the dead, we give his sacred dust. speech cannot contain our love. there was, there is, no gentler, stronger, manlier man." at the grave of a child. colonel ingersoll upon one occasion was one of a little party of sympathizing friends who had gathered in a drizzling rain to assist the sorrowing friends of a young boy--a bright and stainless flower, cut off in the bloom of its beauty and virgin purity by the ruthless north winds from the plutonian shades--in the last sad office of committing the poor clay to the bosom of its mother earth. inspired by that true sympathy of the great heart of a great man, colonel ingersoll stepped to the side of the grave and spoke as follows: "my friends, i know how vain it is to gild grief with words, and yet i wish to take from every grave its fear. here in this world, where life and death are equal king, all should be brave enough to meet what all the dead have met. the future has been filled with fear, stained and polluted by the heartless past. from the wondrous tree of life the buds and blossoms fall with ripened fruit, and in the common bed of earth the patriarchs and babes sleep side by side. why should we fear that which will come to all that is? we cannot tell; we do not know which is the greater blessing--life or death. we cannot say that death is not a good; we do not know whether the grave is the end of this life or the door of another, or whether the night here is not somewhere else a dawn. neither can we tell which is the more fortunate, the child dying in its mother's arms, before its lips have learned to form a word, or he who journeys all the length of life's uneven road, taking the last slow steps painfully with staff and crutch. every cradle asks us 'whence,' and every coffin 'whither?' the poor barbarian, weeping above his dead, can answer these questions as intelligently and satisfactorily as the robed priest of the most authentic creed. the tearful ignorance of the one is just as good as the learned and unmeaning words of the other. no man, standing where the horizon of life has touched a grave, has any right to prophesy a future filled with pain and tears. it may be that death gives all there is of worth to live. if those we press and strain against our hearts could never die, perhaps that love would wither from the earth. may be this common fate treads from out the paths between our hearts the weeds of selfishness and hate, and i had rather live and love where death is king, than have eternal life where love is not. another life is naught, unless we know and love again the ones who love us here. they who stand with breaking hearts around this little grave need have no fear. the larger and the nobler faith in all that is and is to be, tells us that death, even at its worst, is only perfect rest. we know that through the common wants of life, the needs and duties of each hour, their grief will lessen day by day, until at last these graves will be to them a place of rest and peace, almost of joy. there is for them this consolation, the dead do not suffer. if they live again, their lives will surely be as good as ours. we have no fear; we are all the children of the same mother, and the same fate awaits us all. we, too, have our religion, and it is this: 'help for the living; hope for the dead.'" * * * * * sundry brief items of interest. in america was discovered. in gold was found in california. invention of telescopes, . elias howe, jr., invented sewing machines, in . in envelopes came into use. steel pens first made in . the first watch was constructed in . first manufacture of sulphur matches in . glass windows introduced into england in the eighth century. first coaches introduced into england in . in needles of the modern style first came into use. in albert durer first engraved on wood. saw knives introduced into england. in the same year wheeled carriages were first used in france. in the first newspaper appeared in england. in the first printing press was brought to america. the first newspaper advertisement appeared in . england sent the first steam engine to this continent in . the first steamboat in the united states ascended the hudson in . locomotive first used in the united states in . first horse railroad constructed in . in the first iron steamship was built. coal oil first used for illuminating purposes in . looms introduced as a substitute for spinning wheels in . the velocity of a severe storm is miles an hour; that of a hurricane, miles an hour. national ensign of the united states formally adopted by congress in . a square acre is a trifle less than feet each way. six hundred and forty acres make a square mile. a "hand" (employed in measuring horses' height) is four inches. a span is - / inches. six hundred pounds make a barrel of rice. one hundred and ninety-six pounds make a barrel of flour. two hundred pounds make a barrel of pork. fifty-six pounds make a firkin of butter. the number of languages is , . the average duration of human life is years. * * * * * physicians' digestion table. showing the time required for the digestion of the ordinary articles of food. soups.--chicken, hours; mutton, - / hours; oyster, - / hours; vegetable, hours. fish.--bass, broiled, hours; codfish, boiled, hours; oysters, raw, hours; oysters, roasted, - / hours; oysters, stewed, - / hours; salmon (fresh), boiled, - / hours; trout, fried, - / hours. meats.--beef, roasted, hours; beefsteak, broiled, hours; beef (corned), boiled, - / hours; lamb, roast, - / hours; lamb, boiled, hours; meat, hashed, - / hours; mutton, broiled, hours; mutton, roast, - / hours; pig's feet, soused, hour; pork, roast, - / hours; pork, boiled, - / hours; pork, fried, - / hours; pork, broiled, - / hours; sausage, fried, hours; veal, broiled, hours; veal, roast, - / hours. poultry and game.--chicken, fricasseed, - / hours; duck (tame), roasted, hours; duck (wild), roasted, - / hours; fowls (domestic), roasted or boiled, hours; goose (wild), roasted, - / hours; goose (tame), roasted, - / hours; turkey, boiled or roasted, - / hours; venison, broiled or roasted, - / hours. vegetables.--asparagus, boiled, - / hours; beans (lima), boiled, - / hours, beans (string), boiled, hours; beans, baked (with pork), - / hours; beets (young), boiled, - / hours; beets (old) boiled, hours; cabbage, raw, hours; cabbage, boiled, - / hours; cauliflower, boiled, - / hours; corn (green), boiled, hours; onions, boiled, hours; parsnips, boiled, hours; potatoes, boiled or baked, - / hours; rice, boiled, hour; spinach, boiled, - / hours; tomatoes, raw or stewed, - / hours; turnips, boiled, - / hours. bread, eggs, milk, etc.--bread, corn, - / hours; bread, wheat, - / hours; eggs, raw, hours; cheese, - / hours; custard, - / hours; eggs, soft-boiled, hours; eggs, hard-boiled or fried, - / hours; gelatine, - / hours; tapioca, hours. * * * * * themes for debate. following are one hundred and fifty topics for debate. the more usual form in their presentation is that of a direct proposition or statement, rather than that of a question. the opponents then debate the "affirmative" and "negative" of the proposition. it is well to be very careful, in adopting a subject for a debate, to so state or explain it that misunderstandings may be mutually avoided, and quibbles on the meaning of words prevented. themes for debate. which is the better for this nation, high or low import tariffs? is assassination ever justifiable? was england justifiable in interfering between egypt and the soudan rebels? is the production of great works of literature favored by the conditions of modern civilized life? is it politic to place restrictions upon the immigration of the chinese to the united states? will coal always constitute the main source of artificial heat? has the experiment of universal suffrage proven a success? was grant or lee the greater general? is an income-tax commendable? ought the national banking system to be abolished? should the government lease to stockgrowers any portion of the public domain? is it advisable longer to attempt to maintain both a gold and silver standard of coinage? which is the more important to the student, physical science or mathematics? is the study of current politics a duty? which was the more influential congressman, blaine or garfield? which gives rise to more objectionable idioms and localisms of language, new england or the west? was the purchase of alaska by this government wise? which is the more important as a continent, africa or south america? should the government interfere to stop the spread of contagious diseases among cattle? was caesar or hannibal the more able general? is the study of ancient or modern history the more important to the student? should aliens be allowed to acquire property in this country? should aliens be allowed to own real estate in this country? do the benefits of the signal service justify its costs? should usury laws be abolished? should all laws for the collection of debt be abolished? is labor entitled to more remuneration than it receives? should the continuance of militia organizations by the several states be encouraged? is an untarnished reputation of more importance to a woman than to a man? does home life promote the growth of selfishness? are mineral veins aqueous or igneous in origin? is the theory of evolution tenable? was rome justifiable in annihilating carthage as a nation? which has left the more permanent impress upon mankind, greece or rome? which was the greater thinker, emerson or bacon? which is the more important as a branch of education, mineralogy or astronomy? is there any improvement in the quality of the literature of to-day over that of last century? should the "spoils system" be continued in american politics? should the co-education of the sexes be encouraged? which should be the more encouraged, novelists or dramatists? will the african and caucasian races ever be amalgamated in the united states? should the military or the interior department have charge over the indians in the united states? which is of more benefit to his race, the inventor or the explorer? is history or philosophy the better exercise for the mind? can any effectual provision be made by the state against "hard times"? which is of the more benefit to society, journalism or the law? which was the greater general, napoleon or wellington? should the volume of greenback money be increased? should the volume of national bank circulation be increased? should the railroads be under the direct control of the government? is the doctrine of "state rights" to be commended? is the "monroe doctrine" to be commended and upheld? is the pursuit of politics an honorable avocation? which is of the greater importance, the college or the university? does the study of physical science militate against religious belief? should "landlordism" in ireland be supplanted by home rule? is life more desirable now than in ancient rome? should men and women receive the same amount of wages for the same kind of work? is the prohibitory liquor law preferable to a system of high license? has any state a right to secede? should any limit be placed by the constitution of a state upon its ability to contract indebtedness? should the contract labor system in public prisons be forbidden? should there be a censor for the public press? should arctic expeditions be encouraged? is it the duty of the state to encourage art and literature as much as science? is suicide cowardice? has our government a right to disfranchise the polygamists of utah? should capital punishment be abolished? should the law place a limit upon the hours of daily labor for workingmen? is "socialism" treason? should the education of the young be compulsory? in a hundred years will republics be as numerous as monarchies? should book-keeping be taught in the public schools? should latin be taught in the public schools? do our methods of government promote centralization? is life worth living? should ireland and scotland be independent nations? should internal revenue taxation be abolished? which is of greater benefit at the present day, books or newspapers? is honesty always the best policy? which has been of greater benefit to mankind, geology or chemistry? which could mankind dispense with at least inconvenience, wood or coal? which is the greater nation, germany or france? which can support the greater population in proportion to area, our northern or southern states? would mankind be the loser if the earth should cease to produce gold and silver? is the occasional destruction of large numbers of people, by war and disaster, a benefit to the world? which could man best do without, steam or horse power? should women be given the right of suffrage in the united states? should cremation be substituted for burial? should the government establish a national system of telegraph? will the population of chicago ever exceed that of new york? should the electoral college be continued? will the population of st. louis ever exceed that of chicago? should restrictions be placed upon the amount of property inheritable? which is more desirable as the chief business of a city--commerce or manufactures? which is more desirable as the chief business of a city--transportation by water or by rail? should the rate of taxation be graduated to a ratio with the amount of property taxed? will a time ever come when the population of the earth will be limited by the earth's capacity of food production? is it probable that any language will ever become universal? is it probable that any planet, except the earth, is inhabited? should the state prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors? should the government prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors? should the guillotine be substituted for the gallows? was bryant or longfellow the greater poet? should the jury system be continued? should the languages of alien nations be taught in the public schools? should a right to vote in any part of the united states depend upon a property qualification? can a horse trot faster in harness, or under saddle? should the pooling system among american railroads be abolished by law? is dancing, as usually conducted, compatible with a high standard of morality? should the grand jury system of making indictments be continued? which should be the more highly remunerated, skilled labor or the work of professional men? which is the more desirable as an occupation, medicine or law? should the formation of trade unions be encouraged? which has been the greater curse to man, war or drunkenness? which can man the more easily do without, electricity or petroleum? should the law interfere against the growth of class distinctions in society? which was the greater genius, mohammed or buddha? which was the more able leader, pizarro or cortez? which can to-day wield the greater influence, the orator or the writer? is genius hereditary? is saxon blood deteriorating? which will predominate in five hundred years, the saxon or latin races? should american railroad companies be allowed to sell their bonds in other countries? should sumner's civil rights bill be made constitutional by an amendment? does civilization promote the happiness of the world? should land subsidies be granted to railroads by the government? which is the stronger military power, england or the united states? would a rebellion in russia be justifiable? should the theater be encouraged? which has the greater resources, pennsylvania or texas? is agriculture the noblest occupation? can democratic forms of government be made universal? is legal punishment for crime as severe as it should be? should the formation of monopolies be prevented by the state? has spanish influence been helpful or harmful to mexico as a people? which is of more importance, the primary or the high school? will the tide of emigration ever turn eastward instead of westward? should the art of war be taught more widely than at present in the united states? was slavery the cause of the american civil war? is life insurance a benefit? * * * * * how to make kinds of solder.-- . plumbers' solder.--lead parts, tin i part. . tinmen's solder.--lead part, tin part. . zinc solder.--tin part, [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'lead to parts'] lead to parts. . pewter solder. lead part, bismuth to parts. . [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'spelter soldier'] spelter's solder.--equal parts copper and zinc. . pewterers' soft solder.--bismuth , lead , tin parts. . another.--bismuth , lead i, tin parts. . another pewter solder.--tin parts, lead part. . glaziers' solder.--tin parts, lead part. . solder for copper.--copper parts, zinc parts. . yellow solder for brass or copper.--- copper lbs., zinc lbs., tin lb. . brass solder.--copper . parts, zinc . parts. . brass solder, yellow and easily fusible.--copper , zinc parts. . brass solder, white.--copper . parts, tin . parts, zinc . parts. . another solder for copper.--tin parts, lead part. when the copper is thick heat it by a naked fire, if thin use a tinned copper tool. use muriate or chloride of zinc as a flux. the same solder will do for iron, cast iron, or steel; if the pieces are thick, heat by a naked fire or immerse in the solder. . black solder.--copper , zinc , tin parts. . another.--sheet brass lbs., tin lbs., zinc lb. . cold brazing without fire or lamp. --fluoric acid oz., oxy muriatic acid oz., mix in a lead bottle. put a chalk mark each side where you want to braze. this mixture will keep about g months in one bottle. . cold soldering without fire or lamp.--bismuth / oz., quicksilver / oz., block tin filings oz., spirits salts oz., all mixed together. . to solder iron to steel or either to brass.--tin parts, copper - / parts, zinc - / parts. when applied in a molten state it will firmly unite metals first named to each other. . plumbers' solder.--bismuth , lead , tin parts, is a first-class composition. . white solder for raised britannia ware.--tin lbs., hardening lbs., antimony lbs. . hardening for britannia.--(to be mixed separately from the other ingredients.) copper lbs., tin lb. . best soft solder for cast britannia ware.--tin lbs., lead lbs. . bismuth solder.--tin , lead , bismuth parts. . solder for brass that will stand hammering.--brass . parts, zinc . parts, silver . parts, add a little chloride of potassium to your borax for a flux. . solder for steel joints.--silver parts, copper part, brass parts, melt all together. . hard solder.--copper parts, zinc part. melt together. . solder for brass.--- copper parts, zinc part, with borax. . solder for copper.--- brass parts, zinc part, tin part, melt all together well and pour out to cool. . solder for platina--gold with borax. . solder for iron.--the best solder for iron is good tough brass with a little borax. n. b.--in soldering, the surfaces to be joined are made perfectly clean and smooth, and then covered with sal. ammoniac, resin or other flux, the solder is then applied, being melted on and smoothed over by a tinned soldering iron. * * * * * [illustration: cookery recipes] cookery recipes ale to mull.--take a pint of good strong ale, and pour it into a saucepan with three cloves and a little nutmeg; sugar to your taste. set it over the fire, and when it boils take it off to cool. beat up the yolks of four eggs exceedingly well; mix them first with a little cold ale, then add them to the warm ale, and pour it in and out of the pan several times. set it over a slow fire, beat it a little, take it off again; do this three times until it is hot, then serve it with dry toast. ale, spiced.--is made hot, sweetened with sugar and spiced with grated nutmeg, and a hot toast is served in it. this is the wassail drink. beef tea.--cut a pound of fleshy beef in thin slices; simmer with a quart of water twenty minutes, after it has once boiled and been skimmed. season if approved. beef tea.--to one pound of lean beef add one and one-half tumblers of cold water; cut the beef in small pieces, cover, and let it boil slowly for ten minutes, and add a little salt after it is boiled. excellent. beef tea.--cut lean, tender beef into small pieces, put them into a bottle, cork and set in a pot of cold water, then put on the stove and boil for one hour. season to taste. black currant cordial.--to every four quarts of black currants, picked from the stems and lightly bruised, add one gallon of the best whisky; let it remain four months, shaking the jar occasionally, then drain off the liquor and strain. add three pounds of loaf sugar and a quarter of a pound of best cloves, slightly bruised; bottle well and seal. boston cream (a summer drink).--make a syrup of four pounds of white sugar with four quarts of water; boil; when cold add four ounces of tartaric acid, one and a half ounces of essence of lemon, and the whites of six eggs beaten to a stiff froth; bottle. a wine-glass of the cream to a tumbler of water, with sufficient carbonate of soda to make it effervesce. champagne cup.--one quart bottle of champagne, two bottles of soda-water, one liqueur-glass of brandy, two tablespoons of powdered sugar, a few thin strips of cucumber rind; make this just in time for use, and add a large piece of ice. chocolate.--scrape cadbury's chocolate fine, mix with a little cold water and the yolks of eggs well beaten; add this to equal parts of milk and water, and boil well, being careful that it does not burn. sweeten to the taste, and serve hot. coffee.--is a tonic and stimulating beverage, of a wholesome nature. use the best. for eight cups use nearly eight cups of water; put in coffee as much as you like, boil a minute and take off, and throw in a cup of cold water to throw the grounds to the bottom; in five minutes it will be very clear. or, beat one or two eggs, which mix with ground coffee to form a ball; nearly fill the pot with cold water, simmer gently for half an hour, having introduced the ball; _do not boil_, or you will destroy the aroma. coffee.--the following is a delicious dish either for summer breakfast or dessert: make a strong infusion of mocha coffee; put it in a porcelain bowl, sugar it properly and add to it an equal portion of boiled milk, or one-third the quantity of rich cream. surround the bowl with pounded ice. currant wine.--one quart currant juice, three pounds of sugar, sufficient water to make a gallon. egg gruel.--boil eggs from one to three hours until hard enough to grate; then boil new milk and thicken with the egg, and add a little salt. excellent in case of nausea. lemon syrup.--pare off the yellow rind of the lemon, slice the lemon and put a layer of lemon and a thick layer of sugar in a deep plate; cover close with a saucer, and set in a warm place. this is an excellent remedy for a cold. lemonade.--take a quart of boiling water, and add to it five ounces of lump-sugar, the yellow rind of the lemon rubbed off with a bit of sugar, and the juice of three lemons. stir all together and let it stand till cool. two ounces of cream of tartar may be used instead of the lemons, water being poured upon it. raspberry vinegar.--fill a jar with red raspberries picked from the stalks. pour in as much vinegar as it will hold. let it stand ten days, then strain it through a sieve. don't press the berries, just let the juice run through. to every pint add one pound loaf sugar. boil it like other syrup; skim, and bottle when cold. summer drink.--boil together for five minutes two ounces of tartaric acid, two pounds white sugar, three lemons sliced, two quarts of water; when nearly cold add the whites of four eggs beaten to a froth, one tablespoonful of flour and half an ounce of wintergreen. two tablespoonfuls in a glass of water make a pleasant drink; for those who like effervescence add as much soda as a ten-cent piece will hold, stirring it briskly before drinking. blackberry syrup.--to one pint of juice put one pound of white sugar, one-half ounce of powdered cinnamon, one-fourth ounce mace, and two teaspoons cloves; boil all together for a quarter of an hour, then strain the syrup, and add to each pint a glass of french brandy. tea.--when the water in the teakettle begins to boil, have ready a tin tea-steeper; pour into the tea-steeper just a very little of the boiling water, and then put in tea, allowing one teaspoon of tea to each person. pour over this boiling water until the steeper is a little more than half full; cover tightly and let it stand where it will keep hot, but not to boil. let the tea infuse for ten or fifteen minutes, and then pour into the tea-urn, adding more boiling water, in the proportion of one cup of water for every teaspoon of dry tea which has been infused. have boiling water in a water-pot, and weaken each cup of tea as desired. do not use water for tea that has been boiled long. spring water is best for tea, and filtered water next best. iced tea a la russe.--to each glass of tea add the juice of half a lemon, fill up the glass with pounded ice, and sweeten. general directions for making bread.--in the composition of good bread, there are three important requisites: good flour, good yeast, [and here let us recommend gillett's magic yeast cakes. they keep good for one year in any climate, and once used you will not do without it. all grocers keep it] and strength to knead it well. flour should be white and dry, crumbling easily again after it is pressed in the hand. a very good method of ascertaining the quality of yeast will be to add a little flour to a very small quantity, setting it in a warm place. if in the course of ten or fifteen minutes it raises, it will do to use. when you make bread, first set the sponge with warm milk or water, keeping it in a warm place until quite light. then mold this sponge, by adding flour, into one large loaf, kneading it well. set this to rise again, and then when sufficiently light mold it into smaller loaves, let it rise again, then bake. care should be taken not to get the dough too stiff with flour; it should be as soft as it can be to knead well. to make bread or biscuits a nice color, wet the dough over top with water just before putting it into the oven. flour should always be sifted. brown bread, for those who can eat corn-meal: two cups indian meal to one cup flour; one-half teacup syrup, - / cups milk; teaspoon salt; teaspoons of gillett's baking powder. steam an hour and a half. to be eaten hot. it goes very nicely with a corn-beef dinner. brown bread.--stir together wheat meal and cold water (nothing else, not even salt) to the consistency of a thick batter. bake in small circular pans, from three to three and a half inches in diameter, (ordinary tin pattypans do very well) in a quick, hot oven. it is quite essential that it be baked in this sized cake, as it is upon this that the raising depends. [in this article there are none of the injurious qualities of either fermented or superfine flour bread; and it is so palpably wholesome food, that it appeals at once to the common sense of all who are interested in the subject.] brown bread--take part of the sponge that has been prepared for your white bread, warm water can be added, mix it with graham flour (not too stiff). boston brown bread.--to make one loaf:--rye meal unsifted, half a pint; indian meal sifted, one pint; sour milk, one pint; molasses, half a gill. add a teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little hot water; stir well, put in a greased pan, let it rise one hour, and steam four hours. boston brown bread.--one and one-half cups of graham flour, two cups of corn meal, one-half cup of molasses, one pint of sweet milk, and one-half a teaspoon of soda; steam three hours. corn bread.--one-half pint of buttermilk, one-half pint of sweet milk; sweeten the sour milk with one-half teaspoon of soda; beat two eggs, whites and yolks together; pour the milk into the eggs, then thicken with about nine tablespoons of sifted corn meal. put the pan on the stove with a piece of lard the size of an egg; when melted pour it in the batter; this lard by stirring it will grease the pan to bake in; add a teaspoon of salt. excellent bread.--four potatoes mashed fine, four teaspoons of salt, two quarts of lukewarm milk, one-half cake gillett's magic yeast dissolved in one-half cup of warm water, flour enough to make a pliable dough; mold with hands well greased with lard; place in pans, and when sufficiently light, it is ready for baking. french bread.--with a quarter of a peck of fine flour mix the yolks of three and whites of two eggs, beaten and strained, a little salt, half a pint of good yeast that is not bitter, and as much milk, made a little warm, as will work into a thin light dough. stir it about, but don't knead it. have ready three quart wooden dishes, divide the dough among them, set to rise, then turn them out into the oven, which must be quick. rasp when done. graham bread.--for one loaf, take two cups of white bread sponge, to which add two tablespoons of brown sugar, and graham flour to make a stiff batter; let it rise, after which add graham flour sufficient to knead, but not very stiff; then put it in the pan to rise and bake. italian bread.--make a stiff dough, with two pounds of fine flour, six of white powdered sugar, three or four eggs, a lemon-peel grated, and two ounces of fresh butter. if the dough is not firm enough, add more flour and sugar. then turn it out, and work it well with the hand, cut it into round long biscuits, and glaze them with white of egg. rice and wheat bread.--simmer a pound of rice in two quarts of water till soft; when it is of a proper warmth, mix it well with four pounds of flour, and yeast, and salt as for other bread; of yeast about four large spoonfuls; knead it well; then set to rise before the fire. some of the flour should be reserved to make up the loaves. if the rice should require more water, it must be added, as some rice swells more than others. sago bread.--boil two lbs. of sago in three pints of water until reduced to a quart, then mix with it half a pint of yeast, and pour the mixture into fourteen lbs. of flour. make into bread in the usual way. steamed bread.--two cups corn meal; cup graham flour; / cup n. o. molasses; salt and teaspoonful of soda. mix soft with sour milk, or make with sweet milk and gillett's baking powder. put in tight mold in kettle of water; steam three hours or more. this is as nice as boston brown bread. use this receipt with flour instead of graham; add a cup of beef suet, and it makes a nice pudding in the winter. eat with syrup or cream. biscuits.--mix a quart of sweet milk with half a cup of melted butter; stir in a pinch of salt, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder and flour enough for a stiff batter. have the oven at a brisk heat. drop the batter, a spoonful in a place, on buttered pans. they will bake in fifteen minutes. cream biscuits.--three heaping tablespoons of sour cream; put in a bowl or vessel containing a quart and fill two-thirds full of sweet milk, two teaspoons cream tartar, one teaspoon of soda, a little salt; pour the cream in the flour, mix soft and bake in a quick oven. french biscuits.--two cups of butter, two cups of sugar, one egg (or the whites of two), half a cup of sour milk, half a teaspoon of soda; flour to roll; sprinkle with sugar. rye biscuits.--two cups of rye meal, one and a half cups flour, one-third cup molasses, one egg, a little salt, two cups sour milk, two even teaspoons saleratus. soda biscuits.--to each quart of flour add one tablespoon of shortening, one-half teaspoon of salt, and three and a half heaping teaspoons of gillett's baking powder; mix baking powder thoroughly through the flour, then add other ingredients. do not knead, and bake quickly. to use cream tartar and soda, take the same proportions without the baking powder, using instead two heaping teaspoons cream tartar and one of soda. if good they will bake in five minutes. tea biscuits.--one cup of hot water, two of milk, three tablespoons of yeast; mix thoroughly; after it is risen, take two-thirds of a cup of butter and a little sugar and mold it; then let it rise, and mold it into small cakes. bannocks.--one pint corn meal, pour on it boiling water to thoroughly wet it. let it stand a few minutes; add salt and one egg and a little sweet cream, or a tablespoon melted butter. make into balls and fry in hot lard. breakfast cakes.--one cup milk, one pint flour, three eggs, piece butter size of an egg, two teaspoons cream tartar, one teaspoon soda, one tablespoon butter. buckwheat cakes.--one quart buckwheat flour, four tablespoons yeast, one tablespoon salt, one handful indian meal, two tablespoons molasses, not syrup. warm water enough to make a thin batter; beat very well and set in a warm place. if the batter is the least sour in the morning, add a little soda. quick buckwheat cakes.--one quart of buckwheat flour, one-half a teacup of corn meal or wheat flour, a little salt, and two tablespoons of syrup. wet these with cold or warm water to a thin batter, and add, lastly, four good-tablespoons of gillett's baking powder. spanish buns.--five eggs well beaten; cut up in a cup of warm new milk half a pound of good butter, one pound of sifted flour, and a wineglassful of good yeast; stir these well together; set it to rise for an hour, in rather a warm place; when risen, sift in half a pound of white sugar, and half a grated nutmeg; add one wineglass of wine and brandy, mixed, one wineglass of rose-water, and one cupful of currants, which have been cleaned thoroughly. mix these well, pour it into pans, and set it to rise again for half an hour. then bake one hour. icing is a great improvement to their appearance. bath buns.--- take lb. of flour, put it in a dish, and make a hole in the middle, and pour in a dessert spoonful of good yeast; pour upon the yeast half a cupful of warm milk, mix in one-third of the flour, and let it rise an hour. when it has risen, put in ozs. of cold butter, eggs, and a few caraway seeds; mix all together with the rest of the flour. put it in a warm place to rise. flatten it with the hand on a pasteboard. sift ozs. of loaf sugar, half the size of a pea; sprinkle the particles over the dough; roll together to mix the sugar; let it rise in a warm place about minutes. make into buns, and lay on buttered tins; put sugar and or comfits on the tops, sprinkle them with water; bake in a pretty hot oven. graham gems.--one quart of sweet milk, one cup syrup, one teaspoon soda, two teaspoons cream tartar, little salt; mix cream tartar in graham flour, soda in milk, and make it as stiff with the flour as will make it drop easily from the spoon into muffin rings. brown griddle cakes.--take stale bread, soak in water till soft, drain off water through colander, beat up fine with fork, to one quart of the crumb batter, add one quart each milk and flour, and four eggs well beaten. mix, bake in a griddle. wheat gems.--one pint milk, two eggs, flour enough to make a batter not very stiff, two large spoons melted butter, yeast to raise them, a little soda and salt. bake in gem irons. johnnie cake.--- one pint of corn meal, one teacup of flour, two eggs, one pint of sweet milk, one tablespoon of molasses, one tablespoon of melted butter, a little salt, one teaspoon of soda, one teaspoon of cream of tartar; bake in square tins. mush.--indian or oatmeal mush is best made in the following manner: put fresh water in a kettle over the fire to boil, and put in some salt; when the water boils, stir in handful by handful corn or oatmeal until thick enough for use. in order to have excellent mush, the meal should be allowed to cook well, and long as possible while thin, and before the final handful is added. fried mush.--when desired to be fried for breakfast, turn into an earthen dish and set away to cool. then cut in slices when you wish to fry; dip each piece in beaten eggs and fry on a hot griddle. muffins.--one tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoons sugar, two eggs--stir altogether; add one cup of sweet milk, three teaspoons of baking powder, flour to make a stiff batter. bake twenty minutes in a quick oven. english pancakes.--make a batter of two teacups of flour, four eggs, and one quart of milk. add, as a great improvement, one tablespoonful of brandy with a little nutmeg scraped in. make the [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'sixe'] size of frying pan. sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the pancake, roll it up, and send to the table hot. pop overs.--three cups of milk and three cups flour, three eggs, a little salt, one tablespoon melted butter put in the last thing; two tablespoons to a puff. rolls.--to the quantity of light bread-dough that you would take for twelve persons, add the white of one egg well beaten, two tablespoons of white sugar, and two tablespoons of butter; work these thoroughly together; roll out about half an inch thick; cut the size desired, and spread one with melted butter and lay another upon the top of it. bake delicately when they have risen. french rolls.--one quart flour, add two eggs, one half-pint milk, tablespoon of yeast, kneed it well; let rise till morning. work in one ounce of butter, and mold in small rolls. bake immediately. rusks.--milk enough with one-half cup of yeast to make a pint; make a sponge and rise, then add one and a half cups of white sugar, three eggs, one-half cup of butter; spice to your taste; mold, then put in pan to rise. when baked, cover the tops with sugar dissolved in milk. waffles.--one quart of sweet or sour milk, four eggs, two-thirds of a cup of butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, three teaspoonfuls of baking-powder; flour enough to make a nice batter. if you use sour milk leave out the baking-powder, and use two teaspoons soda. splendid. yeast.--in reference to yeast, we advise the use of magic yeast cakes; it keeps good a year, and works quicker and better than other yeasts. suggestions in making cake.--it is very desirable that the materials be of the finest quality. sweet, fresh butter, eggs, and good flour are the first essentials. the process of putting together is also quite an important feature, and where other methods are not given in this work by contributors, it would be well for the young housekeeper to observe the following directions: never allow the butter to oil, but soften it by putting in a moderately warm place before you commence other preparations for your cake; then put it into an earthen dish--tin, if not new, will discolor your cake as you stir it--and add your sugar; beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the yolks of the eggs, then the milk, and lastly the beaten whites of the eggs and flour. spices and liquors may be added after the yolks of the eggs are put in, and fruit should be put in with the flour. the oven should be pretty hot for small cakes, and moderate for larger. to ascertain if a large cake is sufficiently baked, pierce it with a broom-straw through the center; if done, the straw will come out free from dough; if not done, dough will adhere to the straw. take it out of the tin about fifteen minutes after it is taken from the oven (not sooner), and do not turn it over on the top to cool. frosting.--one pint granulated sugar, moisten thoroughly with water sufficient to dissolve it when heated; let it boil until it threads from the spoon, stirring often; while the sugar is boiling, beat the whites of two eggs till they are firm; then when thoroughly beaten, turn them into a deep dish, and when the sugar is boiled, turn it over the whites, beating all rapidly together until of the right consistency to spread over the cake. flavor with lemon, if preferred. this is sufficient for two loaves. frosting, for cake.--one cup frosting-sugar, two tablespoons of water boiled together; take it off the stove, and stir in the white of one egg beaten to a stiff froth; stir all together well, then frost your cake with it, and you will never want a nicer frosting than this. chocolate frosting.--whites of two eggs, one and one-half cups of fine sugar, six great spoons of grated chocolate, two teaspoons of vanilla; spread rather thickly between layers and on top of cake. best when freshly made. it should be made like any frosting. icing.--the following rules should be observed where boiled icing is not used: put the whites of your eggs in a shallow earthern dish, and allow at least a quarter of a pound or sixteen tablespoons of the finest white sugar for each egg. take part of the sugar at first and sprinkle over the eggs; beat them for about half an hour, stirring in gradually the rest of the sugar; then add the flavor. if you use the juice of a lemon, allow more sugar. tartaric and lemon-juice whitens icing. it may be shaded a pretty pink with strawberry-juice or cranberry syrup, or colored yellow by putting the juice and rind of a lemon in a thick muslin bag, and squeezing it hard into the egg and sugar. if cake is well dredged with flour after baking, and then carefully wiped before the icing is put on, it will not run, and can be spread more smoothly. put frosting on to the cake in large spoonfuls, commencing over the center; then spread it over the cake, using a large knife, dipping it occasionally in cold water. dry the frosting on the cake in a cool, dry place. ice-cream icing, for white cake.--two cups pulverized white sugar, boiled to a thick syrup; add three teaspoons vanilla; when cold, add the whites of two eggs well beaten, and flavored with two teaspoons of citric acid. icing, for cakes.--take ten whites of eggs whipped to a stiff froth, with twenty large spoonfuls of orange-flower water. this is to be laid smoothly on the cakes after they are baked. then return them to the oven for fifteen minutes to harden the icing. icing.--one pound pulverized sugar, pour over one tablespoon cold water, beat whites of three eggs a little, not to a stiff froth; add to the sugar and water, put in a deep bowl, place in a vessel of boiling water, and heat. it will become thin and clear, afterward begin to thicken. when it becomes quite thick, remove from the fire and stir while it becomes cool till thick enough to spread with a knife. this will frost several ordinary-sized cakes. almond cake.--take ten eggs, beaten separately, the yolks from the whites; beat the yolks with half a pound of white sugar; blanch a quarter of a pound of almonds by pouring hot water on them, and remove the skins; pound them in a mortar smooth; add three drops of oil of bitter almonds; and rose-water to prevent the oiling of the almonds. stir this also into the eggs. half a pound of sifted flour stirred very slowly into the eggs; lastly, stir in the whites, which must have been whipped to a stiff froth. pour this into the pans, and bake immediately three-quarters of an hour. cocoanut cake.--whip the whites of ten eggs, grate two nice cocoanuts, and add them; sift one pound of white sugar into half a pound of sifted flour; stir this well; add a little rose-water to flavor; pour into pans, and bake three-fourths of an hour. cocoanut drops.--one pound each grated cocoanut and sugar; four well beaten eggs; four tablespoonfuls of flour, mix well, drop on pan, and bake. cocoanut jumbles.--take one cup butter, two cups sugar, three eggs well whipped, one grated cocoanut, stirred in lightly with the flour, which must be sufficient to stiffen to the required consistency. bake one to know when enough flour is added. coffee cake.--take three eggs, two cups brown sugar, one cup strong coffee, quarter of cup of butter, three cups flour, one teaspoonful cream tartar, half teaspoonful each soda and ground cinnamon and cloves, half a nutmeg grated, one cup of raisins, stoned; beat butter and sugar to a cream, then add eggs beaten, coffee, flour sifted, and cream tartar, well mixed with it. spices and raisins, then soda dissolved in sufficient warm water to absorb it. thoroughly mix, and bake in round tins. cookies.--two cups bright brown sugar, one cup butter, half cup sweet milk, two eggs, one teaspoonful soda, flour enough to roll out. composition cake.--five eggs, three cups sugar, two cups butter, five cups flour, one wine-glass brandy, one nutmeg grated, half pound each raisins and currants, three teaspoonfuls gillett's baking powder. corn starch cake.--two cups pulverized sugar, one cup butter, cup corn starch, two cups sifted flour, seven eggs (whites beaten very light), one teaspoon soda, two teaspoons cream tartar (or two teaspoons caking powder instead of soda and cream tartar), flavor with lemon. in putting this together, beat butter and sugar to a light cream, dissolve corn starch in a cup of sweet milk, leaving enough of the milk to dissolve the soda if it is used, put cream of tartar or baking powder in the flour, beat the whites of the eggs separate when the butter and sugar are ready, put all the ingredients together first, leaving the eggs and flour to the last. cream cake.--half pint cream, one tablespoon butter rubbed into one tablespoon flour. put the cream on the fire. when it boils stir in the butter and flour mixed, add half a tea cup sugar, two eggs very light, flavor with vanilla. spread between cakes, and frost or sugar top of cake to please fancy. cinnamon cake.--take two cups of brown sugar, one cup of butter, three-quarters cup of milk, half cup of vinegar, four eggs, large tablespoon of cinnamon, four cups of flour, one teaspoon of soda, two teaspoons cream tartar, mix all but vinegar and soda, then add vinegar, then soda, bake in large tin or patty pans. currant cake.--take two pounds of flour, half a pound of butter rubbed in the flour, half a pound of moist sugar, a few caraway seeds, three or four tablespoonfuls of yeast, and a pint of milk made a little warm. mix all together, and let it stand an hour or two at the fire to rise; then beat it up with three eggs and a half pound of currants. put it into a tin, and bake two hours in a moderate oven. cup cake.--cream half a cup of butter, and four cups of sugar by beating; stir in five well-beaten eggs; dissolve one teaspoonful of soda in a cup of good milk or cream, and six cups of sifted flour; stir all well together, and bake in tins. delicate cake.--mix two cups of sugar, four of flour, half cup butter, half cup sweet milk, the whites of seven eggs, two teaspoons cream tartar, one teaspoon soda, rub the cream tartar in the flour and other ingredients, and flavor to suit the taste. delicious swiss cake.--beat the yolks of five eggs and one pound of sifted loaf sugar well together; then sift in one pound of best flour, and a large spoonful of anise seed; beat these together for twenty minutes; then whip to a stiff froth the five whites, and add them; beat all well; then roll out the paste an inch thick, and cut them with a molded cutter rather small; set them aside till the next morning to bake. rub the tins on which they are baked with yellow wax; it is necessary to warm the tins to receive the wax; then let them become cool, wipe them, and lay on the cakes. bake a light brown. doughnuts.--one and a half cup of sugar; half cup sour milk, two teaspoons soda, little nutmeg, four eggs, flour enough to roll out. drop cake.--- to one pint cream, three eggs, one pinch of salt, thicken with rye till a spoon will stand upright in it, then drop on a well buttered iron pan which must be hot in the oven. drop cookies.--whites of two eggs, one large cup of milk, one cup of sugar, one-half cup of butter, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, flavor with vanilla, rose, or nutmeg; flour enough for thick batter, beat thoroughly, drop in buttered pans, dust granulated sugar on top, and bake with dispatch. fruit cake.--take one pint each of sour milk and sugar, two eggs, half pint melted butter, two teaspoons even full of soda, dissolve in milk flour enough to roll out into shape, and fry in hot lard. fried cakes.--three eggs, one cup of sugar, one pint of new milk, salt, nutmeg, and flour enough to permit the spoon to stand upright in the mixture; add two teaspoonfuls of gillett's baking powder and beat until very light. drop by the dessert-spoonful into boiling lard. these will not absorb a bit of fat, and are the least pernicious of the doughnut family. fruit cake.--take four pounds of brown sugar, four pounds of good butter, beaten to cream; put four pounds of sifted flour into a pan; whip thirty-two eggs to a fine froth, and add to the creamed butter and sugar; then take six pounds of cleaned currants, four pounds of stoned raisins, two pounds of cut citron, one pound of blanched almonds, crushed, but not pounded, to a paste--a large cup of molasses, two large spoonfuls of ground ginger, half an ounce of pounded mace, half an ounce of grated nutmeg, half an ounce of pounded and sifted cloves, and one of cinnamon. mix these well together, then add four large wineglasses of good french brandy, and lastly, stir in the flour; beat this well, put it all into a stone jar, cover very closely, for twelve hours; then make into six loaves, and bake in iron pans. these cakes will keep a year, if attention is paid to their being put in a tin case, and covered lightly in an airy place. they improve by keeping. ginger drop cake.--cup each sugar, molasses, lard and boiling water, one teaspoon soda, half teaspoon cream tartar, stir in flour until it is as thick as cake, add sugar and salt. ginger snaps.--take one cup each of sugar, molasses, butter, half cup sour milk, two teaspoons cream tartar, one teaspoon soda, flour enough to roll out, cut into size desired and bake. ginger snaps.--two cups of new orleans molasses, one cup of sugar, one of butter, one teaspoonful of soda, one of cloves, one of black pepper, and two tablespoons of ginger. these will keep good a month if you wish to keep them. graham cakes.--half a cup of butter, one-half cup sugar, one egg, one teacup sour milk, one-half teaspoon soda. make a stiff batter by adding graham flour. good graham cakes.--two cups sweet milk, one cup sweet cream, the white of one egg beaten to froth, half a spoonful of salt, dessert spoonful baking powder, stir in stiffened graham flour until quite thick, bake in muffin-rings or gem-tins, until well browned on top. indian breakfast patties.--to one pint of indian meal add one egg, and a little salt, pour boiling water upon it, and fry brown immediately in pork fat. cut open and put butter between, and send to the table hot. jumbles.--stir together till of a light brown color, one pound sugar, one-half pound butter, then add eight eggs beaten to a froth, add flour enough to make them stiff enough to roll out, flavor with lemon, cut in rings half an inch thick, bake in quick oven. kisses.--beat the whites of four eggs to a froth, stir into them half pound powdered white sugar; flavor with lemon, continue to beat it until it will be in a heap; lay the mixture on letter-paper, in the size and shape of half an egg, an inch apart, then lay the paper on hard wood and place in the oven without closing it, when they begin to look yellowish take them out and let them cool three or four minutes, then slip a thin knife carefully under and turn them into your left hand, take another and join the two by the sides next the paper, then lay them in a dish handling them gently. they may be batted a little harder, the soft inside taken out and jelly substituted. light fruit cake.--take one cup butter, two cups sugar, four of flour, four eggs, one teaspoon cream tartar, half teaspoon soda, one cup sweet milk, one pound currants, half pound citron. marble cake, light part.--one and a half cups white sugar, half cup butter, half cup sweet milk, one teaspoon cream tartar, half teaspoon soda, whites of four eggs, two and half cups flour. dark part.--one cup brown sugar, half cup each molasses, butter and sour milk, one teaspoon cream tartar, one teaspoon soda, two and a half cups flour, yolks four eggs, half teaspoon cloves, allspice and cinnamon. molasses cookies.--three cups new orleans molasses, one cup butter, one-half cup lard, one heaped teaspoon soda, one tablespoon ginger, one cup hot water. roll thick. better after standing. muffins.--take two cups flour, one cup milk, half cup sugar, four eggs, one-half teaspoon each of soda and cream tartar, one tablespoon butter. bake in rings. graham muffins.--mix one pint sweet milk, sift your flour, then take half pound each graham and wheat flour, five or six spoonfuls melted butter, two half spoons baking powder. bake in rings in very quick oven. nut cake.--mix each two tablespoons of butter and sugar, two eggs, one cup milk, three cups flour, one teaspoon cream tartar, half teaspoon soda, pint of nuts or almonds. nuts may be sliced or not as suits taste. oat cakes.--mix fine and coarse oatmeal in equal proportions; add sugar, caraway-seeds, a dust of salt to three pounds of meal, a heaping teaspoonful of carbonate of soda; mix all thoroughly together, then add enough boiling water to make the whole a stiff paste; roll out this paste quite thin, and sprinkle meal on a griddle. lay the cakes on to bake, or toast them quite dry in a dutch oven in front of the fire; they should not scorch, but gradually dry through. orange cake, the most delicate and delicious cake there is.--grated rind of one orange; two cups sugar; whites of four eggs and yolks of five; one cup sweet milk; one cup butter; two large teaspoonfuls baking powder, to be sifted through with the flour; bake quick in jelly tins. filling: take white of the one egg that was left; beat to a froth, add a little sugar and the juice of the orange, beat together, and spread between the layers. if oranges are not to be had, lemons will do instead. plain fruit cake.--one pound each butter beaten to a cream, sifted sugar, sifted flour, twelve eggs, whites and yolks, beaten separately. two pounds currants, three pounds of stoned raisins chopped, one nutmeg, a little cinnamon and other spices, half pint wine and brandy mixed, one pound citron cut in slices and stuck in the batter after it is in the tin. bake slowly two to three hours. plain cake.--flour, three-quarters of a pound; sugar, the same quantity; butter, four ounces; one egg and two tablespoonfuls of milk. mix all together and bake. puffs.--two eggs beaten very light; one cup of milk, one cup of flour, and a pinch of salt. the gems should be heated while making the puffs, which are then placed in a quick oven. plum cake.--six eggs well beaten, one pound of sugar, the same of flour, butter and currants, four ounces of candied peel, two tablespoonfuls of mixed spice. when it is all mixed, add one teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, and one of tartaric acid. beat it all up quickly and bake directly. pound cake.--take four and a half cups flour, cups each butter and sugar. ten eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately. mix. pork cake.--take one pound salt pork chopped fine, boil a few minutes in half pint water, one cup molasses, two cups sugar, three eggs, two teaspoons soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg to taste, one pound raisins chopped fine, flour to make a stiff batter. rich shortbread.--two pounds of flour, one pound butter, and quarter pound each of the following ingredients:--candied orange and lemon peel, sifted loaf sugar, blanched sweet almonds and caraway comfits. cut the peel and almonds into thin slices, and mix them with one pound and a half of flour and the sugar. melt the butter, and when cool, pour it into the flour, mixing it quickly with a spoon. then with the hands mix it, working in the remainder of the flour; give it one roll out till it is an inch thick, cut it into the size you wish, and pinch round the edges. prick the top with a fork, and stick in some caraway comfits; put it on white paper, and bake on tins in a slow oven. seed cake.--take half a pound of butter and three-fourths of a pound of sugar, creamed; three eggs, beaten lightly, and two tablespoonfuls of picked and bruised caraway seed; dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda in a cup of new milk; mix these well together until they are about the consistency of cream; then sift in two pounds of flour, mix well with a knife, and roll them out into thin cakes, about an inch in thickness. bake in a quick oven. sponge cake.--take sixteen eggs; separate the whites from the yolks; beat them very lightly; sift into the yolks one pound of flour, adding a few drops of essence of almond or lemon, to flavor with; then add one pound and a quarter of pulverized loaf sugar; beat this well with a knife; then add the whites whipped to a stiff froth. have ready the pans, and bake. sponge cake, white.--one and one-third coffee cups of sugar; one coffee cup flour; whites of ten eggs; beat eggs and sugar as if for frosting; add flour by degrees and bake. snow cake.--take one pound arrow-root, half pound white sugar, half pound butter, the whites of six eggs, flavor with lemon, beat the butter to a cream, stir in the sugar and arrow-root, whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, beat for twenty minutes. bake one hour. washington cake.--one cup of sugar; / cup of butter; / cup sweet milk; eggs; cups flour; teaspoons baking powder. bake in layers as jelly cake. jelly part: one pint of grated apples; egg; cup of sugar; grated rind and juice of one lemon; put in a vessel of some kind, and boil; put it on the cakes hot. waffles.--take one quart milk, two eggs; beat the whites and yolks separately; four tablespoons melted butter, two teaspoons gillett's baking powder, flour to make a stiff batter. bake in waffle irons. alpine snow.--wash cup of rice, cook till tender in a covered dish to keep it white, when nearly done add cup rich milk, salt to taste, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs, allow it to simmer for a moment, then place in a dish, beat the whites in two tablespoons fine sugar. put the rice in little heaps upon the tin, intermingling with pieces of red jelly, eat with fine sugar and cream. apple charlotte.--take two pounds of apples, pare and core and slice them into a pan and add one pound loaf sugar, juice of three lemons and the grated rind of one, let these boil until they become a thick mass. turn into a mould and serve it cold with thick custard or cream. apple cream.--one cup thick cream, one cup sugar, beat till very smooth; then beat the whites of two eggs and add; stew apples in water till soft; take them from the water with a fork; steam them if you prefer. pour the cream over the apples when cold. apple custard.--pare tart apples, core them, put them into a deep dish with a small piece of butter, and one teaspoon of sugar and a little nutmeg, in the opening of each apple, pour in water enough to cook them, when soft cool them and pour over an unbaked custard so as to cover them and bake until the custard is done. apple fancy.--pare and core apples, stew with sugar and lemon peels, beat four eggs to a froth, add a cupful of grated bread crumbs, a little sugar and nutmeg, lay the apples in the bottom of a dish and cover with the bread crumbs, laying a few pieces of butter over the top, bake in a quick oven, when done turn out upside down on a flat dish, scatter fine sugar over the top of apples, boil potatoes and beat fine with cream, large piece butter and salt, drop on tin, make smooth on top, score with knife, lay a thin slice of butter on top, then put in oven till brown. apple fritters.--one pint milk, three eggs, salt to taste, as much flour as will make a batter, beat yolks and whites of eggs separately, add yolks to milk, stir in the whites when mixing the batter, have tender apples, pare, core, and cut in large thin slices, around the apple, to be fried in hot lard, ladle batter into spider, lay slice of apple in centre of each quantity of batter, fry light brown. apple snow balls.--pare six apples, cut them into quarters, remove the cores, reconstruct the position of the apples, introduce into the cavities one clove and a slice of lemon peel, have six small pudding cloths at hand and cover the apples severally in an upright position with rice, tying them up tight, then place them in a large saucepan of scalding water and boil one hour, on taking them up open the top and add a little grated nutmeg with butter and sugar. arrow-root blanc-mange.--put two tablespoonfuls of arrow-root to a quart of milk, and a pinch of salt. scald the milk, sweeten it, and stir in the arrow-root, which must first be wet up with some of the milk. boil up once. orange-water, rose-water or lemon-peel may be used to flavor it. pour into molds to cool. arrow-root custard.--arrow-root, one tablespoonful; milk, pint; sugar, tablespoonful, and egg. mix the arrow-root with a little of the milk, cold; when the milk boils, stir in the arrow-root, egg and sugar, previously well beaten together. let it scald, and pour into cups to cool. to flavor it, boil a little ground cinnamon in the milk. arrow-root jelly.--to a dessert-spoonful of the powder, add as much cold water as will make it into a paste, then pour on half a pint of boiling water, stir briskly and boil it a few minutes, when it will become a clear smooth jelly; a little sugar and sherry wine may be added for debilitated adults; but for infants, a drop or two of essence of caraway seeds or cinnamon is preferable, wine being very liable to become acid in the stomachs of infants, and to disorder the bowels. fresh milk, either alone or diluted with water, may be substituted for the water. baked apples.--take a dozen tart apples, pare and core them, place sugar and small lump of butter in centre of each, put them in a pan with half pint of water, bake until tender, basting occasionally with syrup while baking, when done, serve with cream. chocolate cream custard.--scrape quarter pound chocolate, pour on it one teacup boiling water, and stand it by fire until dissolved, beat eight eggs light, omitting the whites of two, and stir them by degrees into a quart of milk alternately with the chocolate and three tablespoons of white sugar, put the mixture into cups and bake minutes. charlotte russe.--whip one quart rich cream to a stiff froth, and drain well on a nice sieve. to one scant pint of milk add six eggs beaten very light; make very sweet; flavor high with vanilla. cook over hot water till it is a thick custard. soak one full ounce coxe's gelatine in a very little water, and warm over hot water. when the custard is very cold, beat in lightly the gelatine and the whipped cream. line the bottom of your mold with buttered paper, and the sides with sponge cake or ladyfingers fastened together with the white of an egg. fill with the cream, put in a cold place or in summer on ice. to turn out dip the mold for a moment in hot water. in draining the whipped cream, all that drips through can be re-whipped. cocoa snow.--grate the white part of a cocoanut and mix it with white sugar, serve with whipped cream, or not, as desired. cream and snow.--make a rich boiled custard, and put it in the bottom of a dish; take the whites of eight eggs, beat with rose-water, and a spoonful of fine sugar, till it be a strong froth; put some milk and water into a stew-pan; when it boils take the froth off the eggs, and lay it on the milk and water; boil up once; take off carefully and lay it on the custard. baked custards.--boil a pint of cream with some mace and cinnamon; and when it is cold, take four yolks and two whites of eggs, a little rose and orange-flower water, sack, nutmeg, and sugar to your palate. mix them well, and bake it in cups. or, pour into a deep dish, with or without lining or rim of paste; grate nutmeg and lemon peel over the top, and bake in a slow oven about thirty minutes. gooseberry cream.--boil them in milk till soft; beat them, and strain the pulp through a coarse sieve. sweeten cream with sugar to your taste; mix with the pulp; when cold, place in glasses for use. imperial cream.--boil a quart of cream with the thin rind of a lemon; stir till nearly cold; have ready in a dish to serve in, the juice of three lemons strained with as much sugar as will sweeten the cream; pour it into the dish from a large tea-pot, holding it high, and moving it about to mix with the juice. it should be made from to hours before it is served. jumballs.--flour, lb.; sugar, lb.; make into a light paste with whites of eggs beaten fine; add / pint of cream; / lb. of butter, melted; and lb. of blanched almonds, well beaten; knead all together, with a little rose-water; cut into any form; bake in a slow oven. a little butter may be melted with a spoonful of white wine and throw fine sugar over the dish. lemon puffs.--beat and sift pound of refined sugar; put into a bowl with the juice of two lemons, and mix them together; beat the white of an egg to a high froth; put it into the bowl; put in eggs with two rinds of lemon grated; mix it well up, and throw sugar on the buttered papers; drop on the puffs in small drops, and bake them in a moderately heated oven. lemon tarts.--pare the rinds of four lemons, and boil tender in two waters, and beat fine. add to it ounces of blanched almonds, cut thin, ozs. of lump sugar, the juice of the lemons, and a little grated peel. simmer to a syrup. when cold, turn into a shallow tin tart dish, lined with a rich thin puff paste, and lay bars of the same over, and bake carefully. macaroons.--blanch ozs. of almonds, and pound with spoonfuls of orange-flower water; whisk the whites of four eggs to a froth, then mix it, and lb. of sugar, sifted with the almonds to a paste; and laying a sheet of wafer-paper on a tin, put it on in different little cakes, the shape of macaroons. oatmeal custard.--take two teaspoons of the finest scotch oatmeal, beat it up into a sufficiency of cold water in a basin to allow it to run freely. add to it the yoke of a fresh egg, well worked up; have a pint of scalding new milk on the fire, and pour the oatmeal mixture into it, stirring it round with a spoon so as to incorporate the whole. add sugar to your taste, and throw in a glass of sherry to the mixture, with a little grated nutmeg. pour it into a basin, and take it warm in bed. it will be found very grateful and soothing in cases of colds or chills. some, persons scald a little cinnamon in the milk they use for the occasion. orange crumpets.--cream, pint; new milk, pint; warm it, and put in it a little rennet or citric acid; when broken, stir it gently; lay it on a cloth to drain all night, and then take the rinds of three oranges, boiled, as for preserving, in three different waters; pound them very fine, and mix them with the curd, and eight eggs in a mortar, a little nutmeg, the juice of a lemon or orange, and sugar to your taste; bake them in buttered tin pans. when baked put a little wine and sugar over them. orange custards.--boil the rind of half a seville orange very tender; beat it very fine in a mortar; add a spoonful of the best brandy, the juice of a seville orange, ozs. loaf sugar, and the yolks of four eggs; beat all together ten minutes; then pour in gradually a pint of boiling cream; keep beating them until they are cold; put them into custard cups, and set them in an earthen dish of hot water; let them stand until they are set, take out, and stick preserved oranges on the top, and serve them hot or cold. pommes au riz.--peel a number of apples of a good sort, take out the cores, and let them simmer in a syrup of clarified sugar, with a little lemon peel. wash and pick some rice, and cook it in milk, moistening it therewith little by little, so that the grains may remain whole. sweeten it to taste; add a little salt and a taste of lemon-peel. spread the rice upon a dish, mixing some apple preserve with it, and place the apples upon it, and fill up the vacancies between the apples with some of the rice. place the dish in the oven until the surface gets brown, and garnish with spoonfuls of bright colored preserve or jelly. raspberry cream.--mash the fruit gently, and let it drain; then sprinkle a little sugar over, and that will produce more juice; put it through a hair sieve to take out the seeds; then put the juice to some cream, and sweeten it; after which, if you choose to lower it with some milk, it will not curdle; which it would if put to the milk before the cream; but it is best made of raspberry jelly, instead of jam, when the fresh fruit cannot be obtained. rice fritters.--one pint of cooked rice, half cup of sweet milk, two eggs, a tablespoon of flour, and a little salt. have the lard hot in the skillet, allow a tablespoon to each fritter, fry brown on each side, then turn same as griddle cakes. if you find the rice spatters in the fat, add a very little more flour. you can judge after frying one. rice croquettes.--make little balls or oblong rolls of cooked rice; season with salt, and pepper if you like; dip in egg; fry in hot lard. rice custards.--boil pints of new milk with a bit of lemon-peel, cinnamon, and three bay leaves; sweeten; then mix a large spoonful of rice flour into a cup of cold milk, very smooth; mix it with the yolks of four eggs well beaten. take a basin of the boiling milk, and mix with the cold that has the rice in it; add the remainder of the boiling milk; stir it one way till it boils; pour immediately into a pan; stir till cool, and add a spoonful of brandy, or orange-flower water. rice flummery.--boil with a pint of new milk, a bit of lemon-peel, and cinnamon; mix with a little cold milk, as much rice flour as will make the whole of a good consistence, sweeten and add a spoonful of peach-water, or a bitter almond beaten; boil it, observing it does not burn; pour it into a shape or a pint basin, taken out the spice. when cold, turn the flummery into a dish, and serve with cream, milk, or custard round; or put a teacupful of cream into half a pint of new milk, a glass of white wine, half a lemon squeezed, and sugar. rock cream.--boil a teacupful of rice till quite soft in new milk and then sweeten it with sugar, and pile it on a dish, lay on it current jelly or preserved fruit, beat up the whites of five eggs with a little powdered sugar and flour, add to this when beaten very stiff about a tablespoon of rich cream and drop it over the rice. strawberry and apple souffle.--stew the apple with a little lemon-peel; sweeten them, then lay them pretty high round the inside of a dish. make a custard of the yolks of two eggs, a little cinnamon, sugar and milk. let it thicken over a slow fire, but not boil; when ready, pour it in the inside of the apple. beat the whites of the eggs to a strong froth, and cover the whole. throw over it a good deal of pounded sugar, and brown it to a fine brown. any fruit made of a proper consistence does for the walls, strawberries, when ripe, are delicious. strawberry short-cake.--first prepare the berries by picking; after they have been well washed--the best way to wash them is to hold the boxes under the faucet and let a gentle stream of water run over and through them, then drain, and pick them into an earthen bowl; now take the potato-masher and bruise them and cover with a thick layer of white sugar; now set them aside till the cake is made. take a quart of sifted flour; half a cup of sweet butter; one egg, well beaten; three teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and milk enough to make a rather stiff dough; knead well, and roll with a rolling-pin till about one inch thick; bake till a nice brown, and when done, remove it to the table; turn it out of the pan; with a light, sharp knife, cut it down lengthwise and crossways; now run the knife through it, and lay it open for a few moments, just to let the steam escape (the steam ruins the color of the berries); then set the bottom crust on the platter; cover thickly with the berries, an inch and a half deep; lay the top crust on the fruit; dust thickly with powdered sugar, and if any berry juice is left in the bowl, pour it round the cake, not over it, and you will have a delicious short-cake. snow cream.--to a quart of cream add the whites of three eggs, cut to a stiff froth, add four spoonfuls of sweet wine, sugar to taste, flavor with essence of lemon. whip all to a froth, and as soon as it forms take it off and serve in glasses. stewed figs.--take four ounces of fine sugar, the thin rind of a large lemon, and a pint of cold water, when the sugar is dissolved, add one pound turkey figs, and place the stew-pan over a moderate fire where they may heat and swell slowly, and stew gently for two hours, when they are quite tender, add the juice of one lemon, arrange them in a glass dish and serve cold. spanish cream.--dissolve in / pint of rose-water, oz. of isinglass cut small; run it through a hair sieve; add the yolks of three or four eggs, beaten and mixed with half a pint of cream, and two sorrel leaves. pour it into a deep dish, sweeten with loaf sugar powdered. stir it till cold, and put it into molds. lay rings round in different colored sweetmeats. add, if you like, a little sherry, and a lump or two of sugar, rubbed well upon the rind of a lemon to extract the flavor. whipped cream.--to one quart of good cream, put a few drops of bergamot water, a little orange-flower water, and / lb. of sugar. when it is dissolved, whip the cream to a froth, and take it up with a skimmer; drain on a sieve, and if for icing, let it settle half an hour before you put it into cups or glasses. use that which drops into the dish under the sieve, to make it froth the better, adding two whites of eggs. colored powdered sugar may, if you like, be sprinkled on the top of each. asparagus omelet.--boil a dozen of the largest and finest asparagus heads you can pick; cut off all the green portion, and chop it in thin slices; season with a small teaspoonful of salt, and about one-fourth of that quantity of soluble cayenne. then beat up six eggs in a sufficient quantity of new milk to make a stiffish batter. melt in the frying-pan a quarter of a pound of good, clean dripping, and just before you pour on the batter place a small piece of butter in the center of the pan. when the dripping is quite hot, pour on half your batter, and as it begins to set, place on it the asparagus tops, and cover over with the remainder. this omelet is generally served on a round of buttered toast, with the crusts removed. the batter is richer if made of cream. buttered eggs.--beat four or five eggs, yolks and whites together, put a quarter of a pound of butter in a basin, and then put that in boiling water, stir it till melted, then pour the butter and the eggs into a sauce-pan; keep a basin in your hand, just hold the sauce-pan in the other over a slow part of the fire, shaking it one way, as it begins to warm; pour it into a basin, and back, then hold it again over the fire, stirring it constantly in the saucepan, and pouring it into the basin, more perfectly to mix the egg and butter until they shall be hot without boiling. serve on toasted bread; or in a basin, to eat with salt fish, or red herrings. corn-oysters.--take a half dozen ears of sweet corn (those which are not too old); with a sharp knife split each row of the corn in the center of the kernel lengthwise; scrape out all the pulp; add one egg, well beaten, a little salt, one tablespoonful of sweet milk; flour enough to make a pretty stiff batter. drop in hot lard, and fry a delicate brown. if the corn is quite young, omit the milk, using as little flour as possible. cheese omelet.--mix to a smooth batter three tablespoonfuls of fine flour, with half a pint of milk. beat up well the yolks and whites of four eggs, a little salt, and a quarter of a pound of grated old english cheese. add these to the flour and milk, and whisk all the ingredients together for half an hour. put three ounces of butter into a frying-pan, and when it is boiling pour in the above mixture, fry it for a few minutes, and then turn it carefully; when it is sufficiently cooked on the other side, turn it on to a hot dish and serve. irish stew.--take a loin of mutton, cut it into chops, season it with a very little pepper and salt, put it into a saucepan, just cover it with water, and let it cook half an hour. boil two dozen of potatoes, peel and mash them, and stir in a cup of cream while they are hot; then line a deep dish with the potatoes, and lay in the cooked mutton chops, and cover them over with the rest of the potatoes; then set it in the oven to bake. make some gravy of the broth in which the chops were cooked. this is a very nice dish. irish stew.--cut off the fat of part of a loin of mutton, and cut it into chops. pare, wash, and slice very thin some potatoes, two onions, and two small carrots; season with pepper and salt. cover with water in a stew-pan, and stew gently till the meat is tender, and the potatoes are dissolved in the gravy. it may be made of beef-steaks, or mutton and beef mixed. macaroni, dressed sweet.--boil ozs. in a pint of milk, with a bit of lemon peel, and a good bit of cinnamon, till the pipes are swelled to their utmost size without breaking. lay them on a custard-dish, and pour a custard over them hot. serve cold. macaroni, as usually served.--boil it in milk, or a weak veal broth, flavored with salt. when tender, put it into a dish without the liquor, with bits of butter and grated cheese, and over the top grate more, and put a little more butter. put the dish into a dutch oven, a quarter of an hour, and do not let the top become hard. omelet.--six eggs beaten separately, beaten hard, two teaspoons of corn starch, two tablespoons milk, whites of eggs, put in slow at last. fry in butter. rumbled eggs.--this is very convenient for invalids, or a light dish for supper. beat up three eggs with two ounces of fresh butter, or well-washed salt butter; add a teaspoonful of cream or new milk. put all in a saucepan and keep stirring it over the fire for nearly five minutes, until it rises up like scuffle, when it should be immediately dished on buttered toast. poached eggs.--break an egg into a cup, and put it gently into boiling water; and when the white looks quite set, which will be in about three or four minutes, take it up with an egg slice, and lay it on toast and butter, or spinach. serve them hot; if fresh laid, they will poach well, without breaking. savory potato-cakes.--quarter of a pound of grated ham, one pound of mashed potatoes, and a little suet, mixed with the yolks of two eggs, pepper, salt and nutmeg. roll it into little balls, or cakes, and fry it a light brown. sweet herbs may be used in place of ham. plain potato cakes are made with potatoes and eggs only. tomato toast.--remove the stem and all the seeds from the tomatoes; they must be ripe, mind, not _over ripe_; stew them to a pulp, season with butter, pepper and salt; toast some bread (not new bread), butter it, and then spread the tomato on each side, and send it up to table, two slices on each dish, the slices cut in two; and the person who helps it must serve with two half-slices, not attempt to lift the top slice, otherwise the appearance of the under slice will be destroyed. * * * * * how to cook fish of different kinds how to choose anchovies.--they are preserved in barrels, with bay-salt; no other fish has the fine flavor of the anchovy. the best look red and mellow, and the bones moist and oily; the flesh should be high flavored, the liquor reddish, and have a fine smell. baked black bass.--eight good-sized onions chopped fine; half that quantity of bread crumbs; butter size of hen's egg; plenty of pepper and salt; mix thoroughly with anchovy sauce until quite red. stuff your fish with this compound and pour the rest over it, previously sprinkling it with a little red pepper. shad, pickerel and trout are good the same way. tomatoes can be used instead of anchovies, and are more economical. if using them, take pork in place of butter, and chop fine. boiled white fish.--lay the fish open; put it in a dripping pan with the back down; nearly cover with water; to one fish put two tablespoons salt, cover tightly and simmer (not boil) one-half hour; dress with gravy, butter and pepper; garnish with sliced eggs. for sauce use a piece of butter the size of an egg, one tablespoon of flour, one half pint boiling water; boil a few minutes, and add three hard boiled eggs, sliced. fresh broiled white fish.--wash and drain the fish: sprinkle with pepper and lay with the inside down upon the gridiron, and broil over fresh bright coals. when a nice brown, turn for a moment on the other side, then take up and spread with butter. this is a very nice way of broiling all kinds of fish, fresh or salted. a little smoke under the fish adds to its flavor. this may be made by putting two or three cobs under the gridiron. to boil codfish.--if boiled fresh, it is watery; but it is excellent if salted, and hung for a day, to give it firmness. wash and clean the fish well, and rub salt inside of it; tie it up, and put it on the fire in cold water; throw a handful of salt into the fish-kettle. boil a small fish minutes; a large one minutes. serve it without the smallest speck and scum; drain. garnish it with lemon, horseradish, the milt, roe, and liver. oyster or shrimp sauce may be used. chowder.--five pounds of codfish cut in squares; fry plenty of salt pork cut in thin slices; put a layer of pork in your kettle, then one of fish; one of potatoes in thick slices, and one of onions in slices; plenty of pepper and salt; repeat as long as your materials last, and finish with a layer of boston crackers or crusts of bread. water sufficient to cook with, or milk if you prefer. cook one-half hour and turn over on your platter, disturbing as little as possible. clams and eels the same way. clam fritters.--twelve clams chopped or not, one pint milk, three eggs, add liquor from clams; salt and pepper, and flour enough for thin batter. fry in hot lard. clam stew.--lay the clams on a gridiron over hot coals, taking them out of the shell as soon as open, saving the juice; add a little hot water, pepper, a very little salt and butter rolled in flour sufficient for seasoning; cook for five minutes and pour over toast. eels, to stew.--of the above fish, that of the "silver" kind is preferable to its congener, and, therefore, ought to be procured for all cuisine purposes. take from three to four pounds of these eels, and let the same be thoroughly cleansed, inside and out, rescinding the heads and tails from the bodies. cut them into pieces three inches in length each, and lay them down in a stew pan, covering them with a sufficiency of sweet mutton gravy to keep them seething over a slow fire, when introduced into the pan, for twenty minutes. add to the liquor, before you place your eels into it, a quarter of an ounce of whole black pepper, quarter of an ounce of allspice, with one or two pieces of white ginger. thicken with a light admixture of flour and butter, stirring it carefully round, adding thereto, at the same time, one gill of good port wine, and half a gill of sweet ketchup. lemon-peel and salt may be added in accordance with your taste. how to keep fish sound.--to prevent meat, fish, etc., going bad, put a few pieces of charcoal into the sauce-pan wherein the fish or flesh is to be boiled. how to render boiled fish firm.--add a little saltpetre to the salt in the water in which the fish is to be boiled; a quarter of an ounce to one gallon. fish balls.--bone, cooked fresh, or salt fish, add double the quantity of mashed potatoes, one beaten egg, a little butter, pepper and salt to taste. make in cakes or balls; dredge with flour and fry in hot lard. potted fish.--take out the back-bone of the fish; for one weighing two pounds take a tablespoon of allspice and cloves mixed; these spices should be put into bags of not too thick muslin; put sufficient salt directly upon each fish; then roll in cloth, over which sprinkle a little cayenne pepper; put alternate layers of fish, spice and sago in an earthen jar; cover with the best cider vinegar; cover the jar closely with a plate and over this put a covering of dough, rolled out to twice the thickness of pie crust. make the edges of paste, to adhere closely to the sides of the jar, so as to make it air-tight. put the jar into a pot of cold water and let it boil from three to five hours, according to quantity. ready when cold. how to broil or roast fresh herrings.--scale, gut and wash; cut off the heads; steep them in salt and vinegar ten minutes; dust them with flour, and broil them over or before the fire, or in the oven. serve with melted butter and parsley. herrings are nice _jarred_, and done in the oven, with pepper, cloves, salt, a little vinegar, a few bay-leaves, and a little butter. how to fry fresh herrings.--slice small onions, and lay in the pan with the herrings; add a little butter, and fry them. perhaps it is better to fry the onions separately with a little parsley, and butter or drip. how to pot herrings.--clean, cut off the heads, and lay them close in an earthen pot. strew a little salt between every layer; put in cloves, mace, whole pepper, cayenne and nutmeg; fill up the jar with vinegar, water, and a quarter of a pint of sherry, cover, tie down; bake in an oven, and when cold pot it for use. a few anchovies and bay leaves intermixed will improve the flavor much. buttered lobsters.--pick the meat out, cut it, and warm with a little brown gravy, nutmeg, salt, pepper and butter, with a little flour. if done white, a little white gravy and cream. curry of lobster.--take them from the shells, and lay into a pan, with a small piece of mace, three or four spoonfuls of veal gravy, and four of cream; rub smooth one or two teaspoonfuls of curry-powder, a teaspoonful of flour, and an ounce of butter, simmer an hour; squeeze half a lemon in, and add salt. lobster chowder.--four or five pounds of lobster, chopped fine; take the green part and add to it four pounded crackers; stir this into one quart of boiling milk; then add the lobster, a piece of butter one-half the size of an egg, a little pepper and salt, and bring it to a boil. how to boil mackerel.--rub them with vinegar; when the water boils, put them in with a little salt, and boil gently minutes. serve with fennel and parsley chopped, boil, and put into melted butter, and gooseberry sauce. salt mackerel.--soak the fish for a few hours in lukewarm water, changing the water several times; then put into cold water loosely tied in cloths, and let the fish come to a boil, turning off the water once, and pouring over the fish hot water from the tea-kettle; let this just come to a boil, then take them out and drain them, lay them on a platter, butter and pepper them, and place them for a few moments in the oven. serve with sliced lemons, or with any fish sauce. how to fry oysters.--use the largest and best oysters; lay them in rows upon a clean cloth and press another upon them, to absorb the moisture; have ready several beaten eggs; and in another dish some finely crushed crackers: in the frying pan heat enough butter to entirely cover the oysters; dip the oysters first into the eggs, then into the crackers, rolling it or them over, that they may become well incrusted; drop into the frying pan and fry quickly to a light brown. serve dry and let the dish be warm. a chafing dish is best. oyster patties.--make some rich puff paste and bake it in very small tin patty pans; when cool, turn them out upon a large dish; stew some large fresh oysters with a few cloves, and a little mace and nutmeg; then add the yolk of one egg, boiled hard and grated; add a little butter, and as much of the oyster liquor as will cover them. when they have stewed a little while, take them off the pan and set them to cool. when quite cold, lay two or three oysters in each shell of puff paste. oysters, stewed.--in all cases, unless shell oysters, wash and drain; mix half a cup of butter and a tablespoon of corn starch; put with the oysters in a porcelain kettle; stir until they boil; add two cups of cream or milk; salt to taste; do not use the liquor of the oysters in either stewing or escaloping. oysters stewed.--scald the oysters in their own liquor, then take them out, beard them, and strain the liquor carefully from the grit. put into a stewpan an ounce of butter, with sufficient flour dredged in to dry it up; add the oyster liquor, and a blade of pounded mace, a little cayenne, and a very little salt to taste; stir it well over a brisk fire with a wooden spoon, and when it comes to the boil, throw in your oysters, say a dozen and a half or a score, and a good tablespoonful of cream, or more, if you have it at hand. shake the pan over the fire, and let it simmer for one or two minutes, but not any longer, and do not let it boil, or the fish will harden. serve in a hot dish, garnished with sippets of toasted bread. some persons think that the flavor is improved by boiling a small piece of lemon-peel with the oyster liquor, taking it out, however, before the cream is added. oysters scolloped.--beard and trim your oysters, and strain the liquor. melt in a stewpan, with a dredging of flour sufficient to dry it up, an ounce of butter, and two tablespoonfuls of white stock, and the same of cream; the strained liquor and pepper, and salt to taste. put in the oysters and gradually heat them through, but be sure not to let them boil. have your scallop-shells buttered, lay in the oysters, and as much liquid as they will hold; cover them well over with bread-crumbs, over which spread, or drop, some tiny bits of butter. brown them in the oven, or before the fire, and serve while very hot. oysters, to pickle.--take two hundred of the plumpest, nicest oysters to be had, open them, saving the liquor, remove the beards, put them, with the liquor, into a stewpan, and let them simmer for twenty minutes over a very gentle fire, taking care to skim them well. take the stewpan off the fire, take out the oysters, and strain the liquor through a fine cloth, returning the oysters to the stewpan. add to a pint of the hot liquor half an ounce of mace, and half an ounce of cloves; give it a boil, and put it in with the oysters, stirring the spice well in amongst them. then put in about a spoonful of salt, three-quarters of a pint of white-wine vinegar, and one ounce of whole pepper, and let the oysters stand until they are quite cold. they will be ready for use in about twelve or twenty-four hours; if to be kept longer they should be put in wide-mouthed bottles, or stone jars, and well drawn down with bladder. it is very important that they should be quite cold before they are put into the bottles, or jars. salmon, to boil.--clean it carefully, boil it gently with salt and a little horse radish; take it out of the water as soon as done. let the water be warm if the fish be split. if underdone it is very unwholesome. serve with shrimp, lobster, or anchovy sauce, and fennel and butter. salmon, to marinate.--cut the salmon in slices; take off the skin and take out the middle bone; cut each slice asunder; put into a saucepan and season with salt, pepper, cloves, a sliced onion, some whole chives, a little sweet basil, parsley, and a bay leaf; then squeeze in the juice of three lemons, or use vinegar. let the salmon lie in the marinate for two hours; take it out; dry with a cloth; dredge with flour, and fry brown in clarified butter; then lay a clean napkin in a dish; lay the slices upon it; garnish with fried parsley. salt cod, to dress.--soak the cod all night in parts water, and one part vinegar. boil; and break into flakes on the dish; pour over it boiled parsnips, beaten in a mortar, and then boil up with cream, and a large piece of butter rolled in a bit of flour. it may be served with egg-sauce instead of parsnip, or boiled and served without flaking with the usual sauce. all _salt fish_ may be done in a similar way. pour egg-sauce over it, or parsnips, boiled and beaten fine with butter and cream. how to boil sturgeon--water, quarts; vinegar, pint; a stick of horseradish; a little lemon-peel, salt, pepper, a bay leaf. in this boil the fish; when the fish is ready to leave the bones, take it up; melt / lb. of butter; add an anchovy, some mace, a few shrimps, good mushroom ketchup, and lemon juice; when it boils, put in the dish; serve with the sauce; garnish with fried oysters, horseradish and lemon. how to broil sturgeon.--cut slices, rub beaten eggs over them, and sprinkle them with crumbs of bread, parsley, pepper and salt; wrap them in white paper, and broil gently. use for sauce, butter, anchovy and soy. how to dress fresh sturgeon.--cut slices, rub egg over them, then sprinkle with crumbs of bread, parsley, pepper, salt; fold them in paper, and broil gently. sauce; butter, anchovy and soy. how to roast sturgeon.--put a piece of butter, rolled in flour, into a stewpan with four cloves, a bunch of sweet herbs, two onions, some pepper and salt, half a pint of water and a glass of vinegar. set it over the fire till hot; then let it become lukewarm, and steep the fish in it an hour or two. butter a paper well, tie it round, and roast it without letting the spit run through. serve with sorrel and anchovy sauce. trout, a-la-genevoise--clean the fish well; put it into the stewpan, adding half champagne and half sherry wine. season it with pepper, salt, an onion, a few cloves stuck in it, and a small bunch of parsley and thyme; put in it a crust of french bread; set it on a quick fire. when done take the bread out, bruise it and thicken the sauce: add flour and a little butter, and boil it up. lay the fish on the dish, and pour the sauce over it. serve it with sliced lemon and fried bread. how to broil trout--wash, dry, tie it, to cause it to keep its shape; melt butter, add salt, and cover the trout with it. broil it gradually in a dutch oven, or in a common oven. cut an anchovy small, and chop some capers. melt some butter with a little flour, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and half a spoonful of vinegar. pour it over the trout and serve it hot. * * * * * how to choose and cook game how to choose ducks--a young duck should have supple feet, breast and belly hard and thick. a tame duck has dusky yellow feet. they should be picked dry, and ducklings scalded. how to roast ducks.--carefully pick, and clean the inside. boil two or three onions in two waters; chop them very small. mix the onions with about half the quantity of sage leaves, bread crumbs finely powdered, a spoonful of salt, and a little cayenne paper; beat up the yolk of an egg, and rub the stuffing well together. with a brisk fire roast about minutes. serve with gravy sauce. how to stew ducks.--lard two young ducks down each side the breast; dust with flour; brown before the fire; put into a stewpan with a quart of water, a pint of port wine, a spoonful of walnut ketchup, the same of browning, one anchovy, a clove of garlick, sweet herbs and cayenne pepper. stew till they are tender, about half an hour; skim and strain, and pour over the duck. how to hash partridge.--cut up the partridges as for eating; slice an onion into rings; roll a little butter in flour; put them into the tossing pan, and shake it over the fire till it boils; put in the partridge with a little port wine and vinegar; and when it is thoroughly hot, lay it on the dish with sippets round it; strain the sauce over the partridge, and lay on the onion in rings. how to pot partridge.--clean them nicely; and season with mace, allspice, white pepper and salt, in fine powder. rub every part well; then lay the breast downward in a pan, and pack the birds as closely as you possibly can. put a good deal of butter on them; then cover [transcriber's note: the original reads "he pan"] the pan with a coarse flour paste and a paper over, tie it close, and bake. when cold, put the birds into pots, and cover with butter. how to roast partridge.--roast them like a turkey, and when a little under roasted, dredge them with flour, and baste them with butter; let them go to table with a fine froth; put gravy sauce in the dish, and bread sauce on the table. how to stew partridge.--truss as for roasting; stuff the craws, and lard them down each side of the breast; roll a lump of butter in pepper, salt and beaten mace, and put them inside; sew up the vents; dredge them well and fry a light brown; put them into a stewpan with a quart of good gravy, a spoonful of sherry wine, the same of mushroom ketchup, a teaspoonful of lemon pickle, and a little mushroom powder, one anchovy, half a lemon, a sprig of sweet marjoram; cover the pan close, and stew half an hour; take out, and thicken the gravy; boil a little, and pour it over the partridge, and lay round them artichoke buttons, boiled, and cut in quarters, and the yolks of four hard eggs, if agreeable. how to roast pheasant.--roast them as turkey; and serve with a fine gravy (into which put a very small bit of garlic) and bread sauce. when cold, they may be made into excellent patties, but their flavor should not be overpowered by lemon. how to roast plovers.--roast the _green_ ones in the same way as woodcocks and quails, without drawing, and serve on a toast. _grey_ plovers may be either roasted or stewed with gravy, herbs and spice. how to fricassee quails.--having tossed them up in a sauce-pan with a little melted butter and mushrooms, put in a slice of ham, well beaten, with salt, pepper, cloves and savory herbs; add good gravy, and a glass of sherry; simmer over a slow fire; when almost done, thicken the ragout with a good cullis, (i. e. a good broth, strained, gelatined, etc.) or with two or three eggs, well beaten up in a little gravy. how to roast quails.--roast them without drawing and serve on toast. butter only should be eaten with them, as gravy takes off the fine flavor. the thigh and the back are the most esteemed. how to roast rabbits.--baste them with butter, and dredge them with flour; half an hour will do them at a brisk fire; and if small, twenty minutes. take the livers with a bunch of parsley, boil them, and chop them very fine together; melt some butter, and put half the liver and parsley into the butter; pour it into the dish, and garnish the dish with the other half; roast them to a fine light brown. how to make rabbit taste like a hare.--choose one that is young, but full grown; hang it in the skin three or four days; then skin it, and lay it, without washing, in a seasoning of black pepper and allspice in a very fine powder, a glass of port wine, and the same quantity of vinegar. baste it occasionally for hours, then stuff it and roast it as a hare, and with the same sauce. do not wash off the liquor that it was soaked in. how to roast snipes--do not draw them. split them; flour them, and baste with butter. toast a slice of bread brown; place it in the dish under the birds for the trail to drop on. when they are done enough, take up, and lay them on the toast; put good gravy in the dish. serve with butter, and garnish with orange or lemon. snipe pie--bone snipes, and truss them. put in their inside finely chopped bacon, or other forcemeat; put them in the dish with the breast downwards, and put forcemeat balls around them. add gravy made of butter, and chopped veal and ham, parsley, pepper and shalots. cover with nice puff paste; close it well to keep in the gravy. when nearly done, pour in more gravy, and a little sherry wine. bake two or three hours. how to fry venison--cut the meat into slices, and make a gravy of the bones; fry it of a light brown, and keep it hot before the fire; put butter rolled in flour into the pan, and stir it till thick and brown; add / lb. of loaf sugar powdered, with the gravy made from the bones, and some port wine. let it be as thick as cream; squeeze in a lemon; warm the venison in it; put it in the dish, and pour the sauce over it. * * * * * how to make ice creams water-ice and jellies to mold ices--fill your mold as quickly as possible with the frozen cream, wrap it up in paper, and bury it in ice and salt, and let it remain for an hour or more to harden. for dishing, have the dish ready, dip the mold in hot water for an instant, wipe it, take off the top and bottom covers, and turn it into the dish. this must be done expeditiously. in molding ices, it is advisable not to have the cream too stifly frozen before putting it into the mold. ice cream--take two quarts milk, one pint cream, three eggs beaten very light, and two teaspoons of arrowroot; boil in one-half pint milk, strain eggs, arrow-root, and flavor to suit, then freeze. ginger ice cream--bruise six ounces of the best preserved ginger in a mortar; add the juice of one lemon, half a pound of sugar, one pint of cream. mix well; strain through a hair sieve; freeze. one quart. italian ice cream--rasp two lemons on some sugar, which, with their juice, add to one pint of cream, one glass of brandy, half a pound of sugar; freeze. one quart. lemon ice cream--take one pint of cream, rasp two lemons on sugar; squeeze them, and add the juice with half a pound of sugar. mix; freeze. one quart. pine-apple ice cream--take one pound of pineapple, when peeled, bruise it in a marble mortar, pass it through a hair sieve, add three-quarters of a pound of powdered sugar, and one pint of cream. freeze. raspberry and currant ice cream--take one pound of raspberries, half a pound of red currants, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and one pint of cream. strain, color and freeze. one quart. strawberry ice cream--take two pounds of fresh strawberries, carefully picked, and, with a wooden spoon, rub them through a hair sieve, and about half a pound of powdered sugar, and the juice of one lemon; color with a few drops of prepared cochineal; cream, one pint; then freeze. this will make a reputed quart. when fresh strawberries are not in season take strawberry jam, the juice of two lemons, cream, to one quart. color, strain, and freeze. milk may be substituted for cream, and makes good ices. if too much sugar is used, the ices will prove watery, or, perhaps not freeze at all. vanilla ice cream--pound one stick of vanilla, or sufficient to flavor it to palate, in a mortar, with half a pound of sugar; strain through a sieve upon the yolks of two eggs, put it into a stewpan, with half a pint of milk; simmer over a slow fire, stirring all the time, the same as custard; when cool add one pint of cream and the juice of one lemon; freeze. one quart. cherry water-ice--one lb. cherries, bruised in a mortar with the stones; add the juice of two lemons, half a pint of water, one pint of clarified sugar, one glass of noyeau, and a little color; strain; freeze. one quart. lemon water-ice.--take two lemons, and rasp them on sugar, the juice of six lemons, the juice of one orange, one pint of clarified sugar, and half a pint of water. mix; strain through a hair sieve; freeze. one quart. melon water-ice.--half a lb. of ripe melon pounded in a mortar, two ounces of orange-flower water, the juice of two lemons, half a pint of water and one pint of clarified sugar; strain; freeze. one quart. strawberry or raspberry water-ice.--one pound of scarlet strawberries or raspberries, half a pound currants, half a pint of water, one pint of clarified sugar, and a little color; strain and freeze. one quart. apple jelly.--cut the apples and boil in water to cover, boil down, then strain, and take a pound of sugar to a pint of juice, then boil fifteen minutes hard. apple jelly.--cut off all spots and decayed places on the apples; quarter them, but do not pare or core them; put in the peel of as many lemons as you like, about two to six or eight dozen of the apples; fill the preserving-pan, and cover the fruit with spring water; boil them till they are in pulp, then pour them into a jelly-bag; let them strain all night, do not squeeze them. to every pint of juice put one pound of white sugar; put in the juice of the lemons you had before pared, but strain it through muslin. you may also put in about a teaspoonful of essense of lemon; let it boil for at least twenty minutes; it will look redder than at first; skim it well at the time. put it either in shapes or pots, and cover it the next day. it ought to be quite stiff and very clear. apple jelly.--prepare twenty golden pippins; boil them in a pint and a half of water from the spring till quite tender; then strain the liquor through a colander. to every pint put a pound of fine sugar; add cinnamon, grated orange or lemon; then boil to a jelly. another.--prepare apples as before, by boiling and straining; have ready half an ounce of isinglass boiled in half a pint of water to a jelly; put this to the apple-water and apple, as strained through a coarse sieve; add sugar, a little lemon-juice and peel; boil all together, and put into a dish. take out the peel. calf's foot lemon jelly--boil four quarts of water with three calf's feet, or two cow heels, till half wasted; take the jelly from the fat and sediment, mix with it the juice of a seville orange and twelve lemons, the peels of three ditto, the whites and shells of twelve eggs, sugar to taste, a pint of raisin wine, oz. of coriander seeds, / oz. of allspice, a bit of cinnamon, and six cloves, all bruised, after having mixed them cold. the jelly should boil fifteen minutes without stirring; then clear it through a flannel bag. cherry jelly.--cherries, lbs.; stone them; red currants, lbs.; strain them, that the liquor may be clear; add lbs. of sifted loaf sugar, and ozs. of isinglass. chocolate caramel--one pint milk, half pound butter, half pound cadbury's chocolate, three pounds sugar, two spoons vanilla. boil slowly until brittle. currant jelly, red or black--strip the fruit, and in a stone jar stew them in a saucepan of water or on the fire; strain off the liquor, and to every pint weigh lb. of loaf sugar; put the latter in large lumps into it, in a stone or china vessel, till nearly dissolved; then put it into a pre-serving-pan; simmer and skim. when it will jelly on a plate put it in small jars or glasses. green gooseberry jelly--place the berries in hot water on a slow fire till they rise to the surface; take off; cool with a little water, add also a little vinegar and salt to green them. in two hours drain, and put them in cold water a minute; drain, and mix with an equal weight of sugar; boil slowly minutes; sieve, and put into glasses. iceland moss jelly--moss, / to oz.; water, quart. simmer down to / pint. add fine sugar and a little lemon juice. it may be improved with / ounce of isinglass. the moss should first be steeped in cold water an hour or two. isinglass jelly--boil one ounce of isinglass in a quart of water, with / ounce of jamaica pepper-corns or cloves, and a crust of bread, till reduced to a pint. add sugar. it keeps well, and may be taken in wine and water, milk, tea, soup, etc. lemon jelly cake--take four eggs, one cup sugar, butter the size of an egg, one and a half cups flour, half cup sweet milk, two teaspoons of baking powder. jelly.--one grated lemon, one grated apple, one egg, one cup sugar, beat all together, put in a tin and stir till boils. lemon jelly--take one and a half packages of gelatine, one pint cold water, soak two hours, then add two teacups sugar, one pint boiling water; stir all together, add the juice of two lemons or one wineglass wine, strain through a cloth, and put in a mold. orange jelly--it may be made the same as lemon jelly, which see. grate the rind of two seville and of two china oranges, and two lemons; squeeze the juice of three of each, and strain, and add to the juice a quarter of a pound of lump sugar, a quarter of a pint of water, and boil till it almost candies. have ready a quart of isinglass jelly made with two ounces; put to it the syrup, boil it once up; strain off the jelly, and let it stand to settle as above, before it is put into the mold. quince jelly--cut in pieces a sufficient quantity of quinces; draw off the juice by boiling them in water, in which they ought only to swim, no more. when fully done drain, and have ready clarified sugar, of which put one spoonful to two of the juice; bring the sugar to the _souffle_; add the juice, and finish. when it drops from the skimmer it is enough; take it off, and pot it. jelly of siberian crabs--take off the stalks, weigh and wash the crabs. to each one and a half pounds, add one pint of water. boil them gently until broken, but do not allow them to fall to a pulp. pour the whole through a jelly-bag, and when the juice is quite transparent weigh it; put it into a clean preserving-pan, boil it quickly for ten minutes, then add ten ounces of fine sugar to each pound of juice; boil it from twelve to fifteen minutes, skim it very clean, and pour into molds. siberian crab-apple jelly--mash the crab apples, take off steins and heads, put in pot, cover with water, let them boil to a pulp, then turn them in a flannel bag, and leave all night to strain, then add one pound of sugar to a pint of juice, boil ten to fifteen minutes, skim and put in jelly glasses. siberian crab jelly--fill a large flannel bag with crabs. put the bag in a preserving-pan of spring water, and boil for about seven hours; then take out the bag, and fill it so that all the syrup can run through, and the water that remains in the pan; and to each pint of syrup add one pound of loaf sugar, and boil for about an hour, and it will be a clear, bright red jelly. * * * * * telegraph wires have to be renewed every five or seven years. the western union telegraph company exchange about one thousand tons of old wire for new every year. the new wire costs from seven to eight cents per pound, and for the old about one-eighth of a cent a pound is allowed. * * * * * how to select and cook meats how to dress bacon and beans--when you dress beans and bacon, boil the bacon by itself, and the beans by themselves, for the bacon will spoil the color of the beans. always throw some salt into the water and some parsley nicely picked. when the beans are done enough, which you will know by their being tender, throw them into a colander to drain. take up the bacon and skin it; throw some raspings of the bread over the top, and if you have a salamander, make it red hot, and hold it over it to brown the top of the bacon; if you have not one, set it before the fire to brown. lay the beans in the dish, and the bacon in the middle on the top, and send them to table, with butter in a tureen. corned beef--make the following pickle: water, gallons; salt, - / lbs.; molasses, / lb.; sugar, lb.; saltpetre, - / ozs.; pearlash, / oz. boil all together; skim, and pour the pickle on about lbs. of beef. let it stay in a few days. boil in plenty of water when cooked to remove the salt, and eat with it plenty of vegetables. it is nice to eat cold, and makes excellent sandwiches. rolled beef--hang three ribs three or four days; take out the bones from the whole length, sprinkle it with salt, roll the meat tight and roast it. nothing can look nicer. the above done with spices, etc., and baked as hunters' beef is excellent. beef, rolled to equal hare--take the inside of a large sirloin, soak it in a glass of port wine and a glass of vinegar mixed, for forty-eight hours; have ready a very fine stuffing, and bind it up tight. roast it on a hanging spit; and baste it with a glass of port wine, the same quantity of vinegar, and a teaspoonful of pounded allspice. larding it improves the look and flavor; serve with a rich gravy in the dish; currant-jelly and melted butter in tureens. round of beef--should be carefully salted and wet with the pickle for eight or ten days. the bone should be cut out first, and the beef skewered and tied up to make it quite round. it may be stuffed with parsley, if approved, in which case the holes to admit the parsley must be made with a sharp pointed knife, and the parsley coarsely cut and stuffed in tight. as soon as it boils, it should be skimmed: and afterwards kept boiling very gently. beef steak, stewed--peel and chop two spanish onions, cut into small parts four pickled walnuts, and put them at the bottom of a stewpan; add a teacupful of mushroom ketchup, two teaspoonfuls of walnut ditto, one of shalot, one of chile vinegar, and a lump of butter. let the rump-steak be cut about three-quarters of an inch thick, and beat it flat with a rolling-pin, place the meat on the top of the onions, etc., let it stew for one hour and a half, turning it every twenty minutes. ten minutes before serving up, throw a dozen oysters with the liquor strained. beef steak and oyster sauce--select a good, tender rump-steak, about an inch thick, and broil it carefully. nothing but experience and attention will serve in broiling a steaks; one thing, however, is always to be remembered, never malt or season broiled meat until cooked. have the gridiron clean and hot, grease it with either butter, or good lard, before laying on the meat, to prevent its sticking or marking the meat; have clear, bright coals, and turn it frequently. when cooked, cover tightly, and have ready nicely stewed oysters; then lay the steak in a hot dish and pour over some of the oysters. serve the rest in a tureen. twenty-five oysters will make a nice sauce for a steak. fricassee of cold roast beef--cut the beef into very thin slices; shred a handful of parsley very small, cut an onion into quarters, and put all together into a stewpan, with a piece of butter, and some strong broth; season with salt and pepper, and simmer very gently a quarter of an hour; then mix into it the yolks of two eggs, a glass of port wine, and a spoonful of vinegar; stir it quickly, rub the dish with shalot, and turn the fricassee into it. brawn--clean a pig's head, and rub it over with salt and a little saltpetre, and let it lie two or three days; then boil it until the bones will leave the meat; season with salt and pepper, and lay the meat hot in a mold, and press and weigh it down for a few hours. boil another hour, covering. be sure and cut the tongue, and lay the slices in the middle, as it much improves the flavor. calf's liver and bacon--cut the liver into slices, and fry it first, then the bacon; lay the liver in the dish, and the bacon upon it; serve it up with gravy, made in the pan with boiling water, thickened with flour and butter, and lemon juice; and, if agreeable, a little parsley and onion may be chopped into it, or a little boiled parsley strewed over the liver. garnish with slices of lemon. nice form of cold meats--remains of boiled ham, mutton, roast beef, etc., are good chopped fine with hard boiled eggs, two heads of lettuce, a bit of onion, and seasoned with mustard, oil, vinegar, and, if needed, more salt. fix it smoothly in a salad dish, and adorn the edges with sprigs of parsley or leaves of curled lettuce. keep by the ice or in a cool place until wanted. fried ham and eggs--cut thin slices, place in the pan, and fry carefully. do not burn. when done break the eggs into the fat; pepper slightly; keep them whole; do not turn them. ham rushers may be served with spinach and poached eggs. to cook ham--scrape it clean. do not put into cold nor boiling water. let the water become warm; then put the ham in. simmer or boil lightly for five or six hours; take out, and shave the rind off. rub granulated sugar into the whole surface of the ham, so long as it can be made to receive it. place the ham in a baking-dish with a bottle of champagne or prime cider. baste occasionally with the juice, and let it bake an hour in a gentle heat. a slice from a nicely cured ham thus cooked is enough to animate the ribs of death. or, having taken off the rind, strew bread crumbs or raspings over it, so as to cover it; set it before the fire, or in the oven till the bread is crisp and brown. garnish with carrots, parsley, etc. the water should simmer all the time, and never boil fast. ham and chicken, in jelly--this is a nice dish for supper or luncheon. make with a small knuckle of veal some good white stock. when cold, skim and strain it; melt it, and put a quart of it into a saucepan with the well beaten whites of three eggs; a dessert-spoonful of chili, or a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, and a little salt. beat the mixture well with a fork till it boils; let it simmer till it is reduced to a little more than a pint; strain it; put half of it into a mold; let it nearly set. cut the meat of a roast chicken into small thin pieces; arrange it in the jelly with some neat little slices of cold boiled ham, and sprinkle chopped parsley between the slices. when it has got quite cold, pour in the remainder of the jelly, and stand the mold in cold water, or in a cool place, so that it sets speedily. dip the mold in boiling water to turn it out. do not let it remain in the water more than a minute, or it will spoil the appearance of the dish. garnish with a wreath of parsley. leg of lamb--should be boiled in a cloth to look as white as possible; the loin fried in steaks and served round, garnished with dried or fried parsley; spinach to eat with it; or dressed separately or roasted. loin of mutton--take off the skin, separate the joints with the chopper; if a large size, cut the chine-bone with a saw, so as to allow it to be carved in smaller pieces; run a small spit from one extremity to the other, and affix it to a larger spit, and roast it like the haunch. a loin weighing six pounds will take one hour to roast. observations on meat--in all kinds of provisions, the best of the kind goes the farthest; it cuts out with most advantage, and affords most nourishment. round of beef, fillet of veal, and leg of mutton, are joints of higher price; but as they have more solid meat, they deserve the preference. but those joints which are inferior may be dressed as palatably. in loins of meat, the long pipe that runs by the bone should be taken out, as it is apt to taint; as also the kernels of beef. do not purchase joints bruised by the blows of drovers. save shank bones of mutton to enrich gravies or soups. when sirloins of beef, or loins of veal or mutton, come in, part of the suet may be cut off for puddings, or to clarify. dripping will baste anything as well as butter; except fowls and game; and for kitchen pies, nothing else should be used. the fat of a neck or loin of mutton makes a far lighter pudding than suet. frosted meat and vegetables should be soaked in _cold water_ two or three hours before using. if the weather permit, meat eats much better for hanging two or three days before it is salted. roast-beef bones, or shank bones of ham, make fine peas-soup; and should be boiled with the peas the day before eaten, that the fat may be taken off. boiled leg of mutton--soak well for an hour or two in salt and water; do not use much salt. wipe well and boil in a floured cloth. boil from two hours to two hours and a half. serve with caper sauce, potatoes, mashed turnips, greens, oyster sauce, etc. --> to preserve the gravy in the leg, do not put it in the water till it boils; for the sudden contact with water causes a slight film over the surface, which prevents the escape of the gravy, which is abundant when carved. how to hash mutton.--cut thin slices of dressed mutton, fat and lean; flour them; have ready a little onion boiled in two or three spoonfuls of water; add to it a little gravy and the meat seasoned, and make it hot, but not to boil. serve in a covered dish. instead of onion, a clove, a spoonful of current jelly, and half a glass of port wine will give an agreeable flavor of venison, if the meat be fine. pickled cucumber, or walnut cut small, warm in it for change. how to prepare pig's cheek for boiling.--cut off the snout, and clean the head; divide it, and take out the eyes and the brains; sprinkle the head with salt, and let it drain hours. salt it with common salt and saltpetre; let it lie nine days if to be dressed without stewing with peas, but less if to be dressed with peas, and it must be washed first, and then simmer till all is tender. pig's feet and ears.--clean carefully, and soak some hours, and boil them tender; then take them out; boil some vinegar and a little salt with some of the water, and when cold put it over them. when they are to be dressed, dry them, cut the feet in two, and slice the ears; fry, and serve with butter, mustard and vinegar. they may be either done in batter, or only floured. pork, loin of.--score it, and joint it, that the chops may separate easily; and then roast it as a loin of mutton. or, put it into sufficient water to cover it; simmer till almost enough; then peel off the skin, and coat it with yolk of egg and bread crumbs, and roast for or minutes, till it is done enough. how to pickle pork.--cut the pork in such pieces as will lie in the pickling tub; rub each piece with saltpetre; then take one part bay salt, and two parts common salt, and rub each piece well; lay them close in the tub, and throw salt over them. some use a little sal prunnella, and a little sugar. pork pie, to eat cold.--raise a common boiled crust into either a round or oval form, which you choose, have ready the trimmings and small bits of pork cut off a sweet bone, when the hog is killed, beat it with a rolling-pin, season with pepper and salt, and keep the fat and lean separate, put it in layers quite close to the top, lay on the lid, cut the edge smooth, round, and pinch it; bake in a slow-soaking oven, as the meat is very solid. observe, put no bone or water in the pork pie; the outside pieces will be hard if they are not cut small and pressed close. how to roast a leg of pork.--choose a small leg of fine young pork; cut a slit in the knuckle with a sharp knife; and fill the space with sage and onion chopped, and a little pepper and salt. when half done, score the skin in slices, but don't cut deeper than the outer rind. apple sauce and potatoes should be served to eat with it. pork, rolled neck of.--bone it; put a forcemeat of chopped sage, a very few crumbs of bread, salt, pepper and two or three berries of allspice over the inside; then roll the meat as tight as you can, and roast it slowly, and at a good distance at first. chine of pork.--salt three days before cooking. wash it well; score the skin, and roast with sage and onions finely shred. serve with apple sauce.--the chine is often sent to the table boiled. how to collar pork.--bone a breast or spring of pork; season it with plenty of thyme, parsley and sage; roll it hard; put in a cloth, tie both ends, and boil it; then press it; when cold, take it out of the cloth, and keep it in its own liquor. pork as lamb.--kill a young pig of four or five months old: cut up the forequarter for roasting as you do lamb, and truss the shank close. the other parts will make delicate pickled pork; or steaks, pies, etc. pork sausages.--take lbs. of young pork, free from gristle, or fat; cut small and beat fine in a mortar. chop lbs. of beef suet very fine; pick off the leaves of a hand-full of sage, and shred it fine; spread the meat on a clean dresser, and shake the sage over the meat; shred the rind of a lemon very fine, and throw it, with sweet herbs, on the meat; grate two nutmegs, to which put a spoonful of pepper, and a large spoonful of salt: throw the suet over, and mix all well together. put it down close in the pot; and when you use it, roll it up with as much egg as will make it roll smooth. sausage rolls.--one pound of flour, half a pound of the best lard, quarter of a pound of butter, and the yolks of three eggs well beaten. put the flour into a dish, make a hole in the middle of it, and rub in about one ounce of the lard, then the yolks of the eggs, and enough water to mix the whole into a smooth paste. roll it out about an inch thick; flour your paste and board. put the butter and lard in a lump into the paste, sprinkle it with flour, and turn the paste over it; beat it with a rolling-pin until you have got it flat enough to roll; roll it lightly until very thin; then divide your meat and put it into two layers of paste, and pinch the ends. sausage rolls are now usually made small. two pounds of sausage meat will be required for this quantity of paste, and it will make about two and a half dozen of rolls. whites of the eggs should be beaten a little, and brushed over the rolls to glaze them. they will require from twenty minutes to half an hour to bake, and should be served on a dish covered with a neatly-folded napkin. spiced beef.--take a round of an ox; or young heifer, from to lbs. cut it neatly, so that the thin flank end can wrap nearly round. take from to ounces salpetre, and ounce of coarse sugar, and two handfuls of common salt. mix them well together and rub it all over. the next day salt it well as for boiling. let it lie from two to three weeks, turning it every two or three days. take out of the pickle, and wipe it dry. then take cloves, mace, well powdered, a spoonful of gravy, and rub it well into the beef. roll it up as tightly as possible; skewer it, and tie it up tight. pour in the liquor till the meat is quite saturated, in which state it must be kept. stewed beef.--take five pounds of buttock, place it in a deep dish; half a pint of white wine vinegar, three bay leaves, two or three cloves, salt and pepper; turn it over twice the first day, and every morning after for a week or ten days. boil half a pound or a quarter of a pound of butter, and throw in two onions, chopped very small, four cloves, and some pepper-corns; stew five hours till tender and a nice light brown. how to boil tongue.--if the tongue be a dry one, steep in water all night. boil it three hours. if you prefer it hot, stick it with cloves. clear off the scum, and add savory herbs when it has boiled two hours; but this is optional. rub it over with the yolk of an egg; strew over it bread crumbs; baste it with butter; set it before the fire till it is of a light brown. when you dish it up, pour a little brown gravy, or port wine sauce mixed the same way as for venison. lay slices of currant jelly around it. how to fricassee tripe.--cut into small square pieces. put them into the stewpan with as much sherry as will cover them, with pepper, ginger, a blade of mace, sweet herbs and an onion. stew minutes. take out the herbs and onion, and put in a little shred of parsley, the juice of a small lemon, half an anchovy cut small, a gill of cream and a little butter, or yolk of an egg. garnish with lemon. how to fry tripe.--cut the tripe into small square pieces; dip them in yolks of eggs, and fry them in good dripping, till nicely brown; take out and drain, and serve with plain melted butter. veal cutlets, maintenon.--cut slices about three quarters of an inch thick, beat them with a rolling-pin, and wet them on both sides with egg; dip them into a seasoning of bread crumbs, parsley, thyme, knotted marjoram, pepper, salt and a little nutmeg grated; then put them in papers folded over, and broil them; and serve with a boat of melted butter, with a little mushroom ketchup. veal cutlets.--another way.--prepare as above, and fry them; lay into a dish, and keep them hot; dredge a little flour, and put a bit of butter into the pan; brown it, then pour some boiling water into it and boil quickly; season with pepper, salt and ketchup and pour over them. another way.--prepare as before, and dress the cutlets in a dutch oven; pour over them melted butter and mushrooms. fillet of veal.--veal requires a good, bright fire for roasting. before cooking, stuff with a force-meat, composed of ozs. of finely-powdered bread crumbs, half a lemon-peel chopped fine, half a teaspoonful of salt, and the same quantity of mixed mace and cayenne pepper, powdered parsley, and some sweet herbs; break an egg, and mix all well together. baste your joint with fresh butter, and send it to table well browned. a nice bit of bacon should be served with the fillet of veal, unless ham is provided. veal patties.--mince some veal that is not quite done with a little parsley, lemon-peel, a scrape of nutmeg, and a bit of salt; add a little cream and gravy just to moisten the meat; and add a little ham. do not warm it till the patties are baked. veal pie.--take some of the middle, or scrag, of a small neck; season it; and either put to it, or not, a few slices of lean bacon or ham. if it is wanted of a high relish, add mace, cayenne, and nutmeg, to the salt and pepper; and also force-meat and eggs; and if you choose, add truffles, morels, mushrooms, sweet-bread, cut into small bits, and cocks'-combs blanched, if liked. have a rich gravy ready, to pour in after baking. it will be very good without any of the latter additions. common veal pie.--cut a breast of veal into pieces; season with pepper and salt, and lay them in the dish. boil hard six or eight yolks of eggs, and put them into different places in the pie; pour in as much water as will nearly fill the dish; put on the lid, and bake. _lamb pie_ may be done this way. stewed veal.--cut the veal as for small cutlets; put into the bottom of a pie-dish a layer of the veal, and sprinkle it with some finely-rubbed sweet basil and chopped parsley, the grated rind of one lemon with the juice, half a nut-meg, grated, a little salt and pepper; and cut into very small pieces [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'peices'] a large spoonful of butter; then another layer of slices of veal, with exactly the same seasoning as before; and over this pour one pint of lisbon wine and half a pint of cold water; then cover it over very thickly with grated stale bread; put this in the oven and bake slowly for three-quarters of an hour, and brown it. serve it in a pie-dish hot. breast of veal stuffed--cut off the gristle of a breast of veal, and raise the meat off the bones, then lay a good force-meat, made of pounded veal, some sausage-meat, parsley, and a few shalots chopped very fine, and well seasoned with pepper, salt, and nutmeg; then roll the veal tightly, and sew it with fine twine to keep it in shape, and prevent the force-meat escaping; lay some slices of fat bacon in a stew-pan, and put the veal roll on it; add some stock, pepper, salt, and a bunch of sweet herbs; let it stew three hours, then cut carefully out the twine, strain the sauce after skimming it well, thicken it with brown flour; let it boil up once, and pour it over the veal garnish with slices of lemon, each cut in four. a fillet of veal first stuffed with force-meat can be dressed in the same manner, but is must first be roasted, so as to brown it a good color; and force-meat balls, highly seasoned, should be served round the veal. * * * * * how to make pies of various kinds beef-steak pie--prepare the steaks as stated under _beefsteaks_, and when seasoned and rolled with fat in each, put them in a dish with puff paste round the edges; put a little water in the dish, and cover it with a good crust. chicken pie--cut the chicken in pieces, and boil nearly tender. make a rich crust with an egg or two to make it light and puffy. season the chicken and slices of ham with pepper, salt, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne. put them in layers, first the ham, chicken, force-meat balls, and hard eggs in layers. make a gravy of knuckle of veal, mutton bones, seasoned with herbs, onions, pepper, etc. pour it over the contents of the pie, and cover with paste. bake an hour. cocoanut pie--take a teacup of cocoanut, put it into a coffee-cup, fill it up with sweet milk, and let it soak a few hours. when ready to bake the pie, take two tablespoonfuls of flour, mix with milk, and stir in three-fourths of a cup of milk (or water); place on the stove, and stir until it thickens. add butter the size of a walnut, while warm. when cool, add a little salt, two eggs, saving out the white of one for the top. sweeten to taste. add the cocoanut, beating well. fill the crust and bake. when done, have the extra white beaten ready to spread over the top. return to the oven and brown lightly. cream pie--take eight eggs, eight ounces pounded sugar, eight ounces flour, put all together into a stew-pan with two glasses of milk, stir until it boils, then add quarter pound of butter, and quarter pound of almonds, chopped fine; mix well together, make paste, roll it out half an inch thick, cut out a piece the size of a teaplate, put in a baking tin, spread out on it the cream, and lay strips of paste across each way and a plain broad piece around the edge, egg and sugar the top and bake in a quick oven. fish pie--pike, perch and carp may be made into very savory pies if cut into fillets, seasoned and baked in paste, sauce made of veal broth, or cream put in before baking. game pie--divide the birds, if large, into pieces or joints. they may be pheasants, partridges, etc. add a little bacon or ham. season well. cover with puff paste, and bake carefully. pour into the pie half a cupful of melted butter, the juice of a lemon, and a glass of sherry, when rather more than half baked. giblet pie--clean the giblets well; stew with a little water, onion, pepper, salt, sweet herbs, till nearly done. cool, and add beef, veal or mutton steaks. put the liquor of the stew to the giblets. cover with paste, and when the pie is baked, pour into it a large teacupful of cream. lamb pasty--bone the lamb, cut it into square pieces; season with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and minced thyme; lay in some beef suet, and the lamb upon it, making a high border about it; then turn over the paste close, and bake it. when it is enough, put in some claret, sugar, vinegar, and the yolks of eggs, beaten, together. to have the sauce only savory, and not sweet, let it be gravy only, or the baking of bones in claret. salmon pie.--grate the rind of one small lemon, or half a large one; beat the yolks of eggs; tablespoons of sugar; beat all together; add to this / pint of cold water, with - / tablespoons of flour in it; rub smooth so there will be no lumps; beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth; stir this in your pie-custard before you put it in the pan. bake with one crust, and bake slowly. salmon pie--grate the rind of a lemon into the yolks of three fresh eggs; beat for five minutes, adding three heaping tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar; after squeezing in the juice of the lemon add half a teacupful of water; mix all thoroughly, and place in a crust the same as made for custard pie; place in oven and bake slowly. take the whites of the three eggs, and beat to a stiff froth, adding two tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar, and juice of half a lemon; after the pie bakes and is cool, place the frosting on top, and put into a hot oven to brown. mince-meat--there are various opinions as to the result of adding meat to the sweet ingredients used in making this favorite dish. many housewives think it an improvement, and use either the under-cut of a well-roasted surloin of beef or a boiled fresh ox-tongue for the purpose. either of these meats may be chosen with advantage, and one pound, after it has been cooked, will be found sufficient; this should be freed from fat, and well minced. in making mince-meat, each ingredient should be minced separately and finely before it is added to the others. for a moderate quantity, take two pounds of raisins (stoned), the same quantity of currants, well washed and dried, ditto of beef suet, chopped fine, one pound of american apples, pared and cored, two pounds of moist sugar, half a pound of candied orange-peel, and a quarter of a pound of citron, the grated rinds of three lemons, one grated nutmeg, a little mace, half an ounce of salt, and one teaspoonful of ginger. after having minced the fruit separately, mix all well together with the hand; then add half a pint of french brandy and the same of sherry. mix well with a spoon, press it down in jars, and cover it with a bladder. good mince pies.--six pounds beef; pounds suet; pounds sugar; ounces allspice; ounces cloves; / pound cinnamon; / pint molasses; - / pounds seedless raisins; pounds currants; / pound citron chopped fine; pound almonds, chopped fine; oranges; lemon-skin, and all chopped fine; parts chopped apples to one of meat; brandy and cider to taste. mock mince pies.--one teacup of bread; one of vinegar; one of water; one of raisins; one of sugar; one of molasses; one half-cup of butter; one teaspoon of cloves; one of nutmeg; one of cinnamon. the quantity is sufficient for three pies. they are equally as good as those made in the usual way. potato pasty.--boil and peel and mash potatoes as fine as possible; mix them with salt, pepper, and a good bit of butter. make a paste; roll it out thin like a large puff, and put in the potato; fold over one half, pinching the edges. bake in a moderate oven. potato pie.--skin some potatoes and cut them in slices; season them; and also some mutton, beef, pork or veal, and a lump of butter. put layers of them and of the meat. a few eggs boiled and chopped fine improves it. veal and ham pie.--cut about one pound and a half of veal into thin slices, as also a quarter of a pound of cooked ham; season the veal rather highly with white pepper and salt, with which cover the bottom of the dish; then lay over a few slices of ham, then the remainder of the veal, finishing with the remainder of the ham; add a wineglassful of water, and cover with a good paste, and bake; a bay-leaf will be an improvement. vinegar pie.--five tablespoons vinegar, five sugar, two flour, two water, a little nutmeg. put in dish and bake. * * * * * how to make preserves of various kinds apple jam.--fill a wide jar nearly half full of water; cut the apples unpeeled into quarters, take out the core, then fill the jar with the apples; tie a paper over it, and put it into a slow oven. when quite soft and cool, pulp them through a sieve. to each pound of pulp put three-quarters of a pound of crushed sugar, and boil it gently until it will jelly. put it into large tart dishes or jars. it will keep for five or more years in a cool, dry place. if for present use, or a month hence, half a pound of sugar is enough. apple marmalade.--scald apples till they will pulp from the core; then take an equal weight of sugar in large lumps, just dip them in water, and boil it till it can be well skimmed, and is a thick syrup, put to it the pulp, and simmer it on a quick fire a quarter of an hour. grate a little lemon-peel before boiled, but if too much it will be bitter. barberry jam.--the barberries for this preserve should be quite ripe, though they should not be allowed to hang until they begin to decay. strip them from the stalks; throw aside such as are spotted, and for one pound of fruit allow eighteen ounces well-refined sugar; boil this, with about a pint of water to every four pounds, until it becomes white, and falls in thick masses from the spoon; then throw in the fruit, and keep it stirred over a brisk fire for six minutes only; take off the scum, and pour it into jars or glasses. sugar four and a half pounds; water a pint and a quarter, boil to candy height; barberries four pounds; six minutes. how to preserve black currants.--get the currants when they are dry, and pick them; to every - / lbs. of currants put lb. of sugar into a preserving pan, with as much juice of currants as will dissolve it; when it boils skim it, and put in the currants, and boil them till they are clear; put them into a jar, lay brandy paper over them, tie them down, and keep in a dry place. a little raspberry juice is an improvement. cherry jam.--pick and stone lbs. of may-duke cherries; press them through a sieve; then boil together half a pint of red currant or raspberry juice, and / lb. of white sugar, put the cherries into them while boiling; add lb. of fine white sugar. boil quickly minutes, jar, and cover well. cherry marmalade.--take some very ripe cherries; cut off the stalks and take out the stones; crush them and boil them well; put them into a hand sieve, and force them through with a spatula, till the whole is pressed through and nothing remains but the skins; put it again upon the fire to dry; when reduced to half weigh it, and add an equal weight of sugar; boil again; and when it threads between the fingers, it is finished. how to preserve currants for tarts.--let the currants be ripe, dry and well picked. to every - / lbs. of currants put lb. of sugar into a preserving pan with as much juice of currants as will dissolve it; when it boils skim it, and put in the currants; boil till clear; jar, and put brandy-paper over; tie down; keep in a dry place. how to preserve grapes.--into an air-tight cask put a layer of bran dried in an oven; upon this place a layer of grapes, well dried, and not quite ripe, and so on alternately till the barrel is filled; end with bran, and close air-tight; they will keep or months. to restore them to their original freshness, cut the end off each bunch stalk, and put into wine, like flowers. or, bunches of grapes may be preserved through winter by inserting the end of the stem into a potato. the bunches should be laid on dry straw, and turned occasionally. how to preserve green gages.--choose the largest when they begin to soften; split them without paring; strew upon them part of the sugar. blanch the kernels with a sharp knife. next day pour the syrup from the fruit, and boil it with the other sugar six or eight minutes gently; skim and add the plums and kernels. simmer till clear, taking off the scum; put the fruit singly into small pots, and pour the syrup and kernels to it. to candy it, do not add the syrup, but observe the directions given for candying fruit; some may be done each way. green gage jam.--peel and take out the stones. to lb. of pulp put / lb. loaf sugar; boil half an hour; add lemon juice. transparently beautiful marmalade.--take lbs. bitter oranges; pare them as you would potatoes; cut the skin into fine shreds, and put them into a muslin bag; quarter all the oranges; press out the juice. boil the pulp and shreds in three quarts of water - / hours, down to three pints; strain through a hair sieve. then put six pounds of sugar to the liquid, the juice and the shreds, the outside of two lemons grated, and the insides squeezed in; add three cents worth of isinglass. simmer altogether slowly for or minutes. tomato marmalade.--take ripe tomatoes in the height of the season; weigh them, and to every pound of tomatoes add one pound of sugar. put the tomatoes into a large pan or small tub, and scald them with boiling water, so as to make the skin peel off easily; when you have entirely removed the skin, put the tomatoes (without any water) into a preserving kettle, wash them, and add the sugar, with one ounce of powdered ginger to every three pounds of fruit, and the juice of two lemons, the grated rind of three always to every three pounds of fruit. stir up the whole together, and set it over a moderate fire. boil it gently for two or three hours; till the whole becomes a thick, smooth mass, skimming it well, and stirring it to the bottom after every skimming. when done, put it warm into jars, and cover tightly. this will be found a very fine sweetmeat. how to preserve green peas.--shell, and put them into a kettle of water when it boils; give them two or three warms only, and pour them in a colander. drain, and turn them out on a cloth, and then on another to dry perfectly. when dry bottle them in wide mouthed bottles; leaving only room to pour clarified mutton suet upon them an inch thick, and for the cork. rosin it down; and keep in the cellar, or in the earth, as directed for gooseberries. when they are to be used, boil them till tender, with a bit of butter, a spoonful of sugar, and a bit of mint. how to preserve green peas for winter use.--carefully shell the peas; then place them in the canister, not too large ones; put in a small piece of alum, about the size of a horse-bean to a pint of peas. when the canister is full of peas, fill up the interstices with water, and solder on the lid perfectly air-tight, and boil the canisters for about twenty minutes; then remove them to a cool place, and by the time of january they will be found but little inferior to fresh, new-gathered peas. bottling is not so good; at least, we have not found it so; for the air gets in, the liquid turns sour, and the peas acquire a bad taste. how to keep preserves.--apply the white of an egg, with a brush, to a single thickness of white tissue paper, with which covers the jars, lapping over an inch or two. it will require no tying, as it will become, when dry, inconceivably tight and strong, and impervious to the air. quinces for the tea-table.--bake ripe quinces thoroughly; when cold, strip off the skins, place them in a glass dish, and sprinkle with white sugar, and serve them with cream. they make a fine looking dish for the tea-table, and a more luscious and inexpensive one than the same fruit made into sweetmeats. those who once taste the fruit thus prepared, will probably desire to store away a few bushels in the fall to use in the above manner. pickled pears.--three pounds of sugar to a pint of vinegar, spice in a bag and boil, then cook the pears in the vinegar till done through. boiled pears.--boil pears in water till soft, then add one pound of sugar to three pounds of fruit. pickled citron.--one quart vinegar, two pounds sugar, cloves and cinnamon each one tablespoon, boil the citron tender in water, take them out and drain, then put them in the syrup and cook till done. how to preserve raspberries.--take raspberries that are not too ripe, and put them to their weight in sugar, with a little water. boil softly, and do not break them; when they are clear, take them up, and boil the syrup till it be thick enough; then put them in again, and when they are cold, put them in glasses or jars. raspberry jam.--one pound sugar to four pounds fruit, with a few currants. spiced currants.--six pounds currants, four pounds sugar, two tablespoons cloves and two of cinnamon, and one pint of vinegar; boil two hours until quite thick. stewed pears--pare and halve or quarter a dozen pears, according to their size; carefully remove the cores, but leave the sloths on. place them in a clean baking-jar, with a closely fitting lid; add to them the rind of one lemon, cut in strips, and the juice of half a lemon, six cloves, and whole allspice, according to discretion. put in just enough water to cover the whole, and allow half a pound of loaf-sugar to every pint. cover down close, and bake in a very cool oven for five hours, or stew them very gently in a lined saucepan from three to four hours. when done, lift them out on a glass dish without breaking them; boil up the syrup quickly for two or three minutes; let it cool a little, and pour it over the pears. a little cochineal greatly enhances the appearance of the fruit; you may add a few drops of prepared cochineal; and a little port wine is often used, and much improves the flavor. how to preserve whole strawberries--take equal weights of the fruit and refined sugar, lay the former in a large dish, and sprinkle half the sugar in fine powder over, give a gentle shake to the dish that the sugar may touch the whole of the fruit; next day make a thin syrup with the remainder of the sugar, and instead of water allow one pint of red currant juice to every pound of strawberries; in this simmer them until sufficiently jellied. choose the largest scarlets, or others when not dead ripe. how to preserve strawberries in wine--put a quantity of the finest large strawberries into a gooseberry-bottle, and strew in three large spoonfuls of fine sugar; fill up with madeira wine or fine sherry. preserved tomatoes--one pound of sugar to one pound of ripe tomatoes boiled down; flavor with lemon. * * * * * how to boil, bake and steam puddings amber pudding--put a pound of butter into a saucepan, with three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar finely powdered; melt the butter, and mix well with it; then add the yolks of fifteen eggs well beaten, and as much fresh candied orange as will add color and flavor to it, being first beaten to a fine paste. line the dish with paste for turning out; and when filled with the above, lay a crust over, as you would a pie, and bake in a slow oven. it is as good cold as hot. baked apple pudding--pare and quarter four large apples; boil them tender with the rind of a lemon, in so little water, that when done, none may remain; beat them quite fine in a mortar; add the crumbs of a small roll, four ounces of butter melted, the yolks of five, and whites of three eggs, juice of half a lemon, and sugar to taste: beat all together, and lay it in a dish with paste to turn out. boiled apple pudding--suet, ozs.; flour, ozs.; chop the suet very fine, and roll it into the flour. make it into a light paste with water. roll out. pare and core good sized apples; slice them; put them on the paste, and scatter upon them lb. of sugar; draw the paste round the apples, and boil two hours or more, in a well floured cloth. serve with melted butter sweetened. swiss apple pudding--butter a deep dish; put into it a layer of bread crumbs; then a layer of finely chopped suet; a thick layer of finely chopped apples, and a thick layer of sugar. repeat from the first layer till the dish is full, the last layer to be finger biscuits soaked in milk. cover it till nearly enough; then uncover, till the top is nicely browned. flavor with cinnamon, nutmeg, etc., as you please. bake from to minutes. apple and sago pudding--boil a cup of sago in boiling water with a little cinnamon, a cup of sugar, lemon flavoring; cut apples in thin slices, mix them with the sago; after it is well boiled add a small piece of butter: pour into a pudding dish and bake half an hour. apple pudding--pare and stew three pints of apples, mash them, and add four eggs, a quarter of a pound of butter, sugar and nutmeg, or grated lemon. bake it on a short crust. apple potatoe pudding.--six potatoes boiled and mashed fine, add a little salt and piece of butter, size of an egg, roll this out with a little flour, enough to make a good pastry crust which is for the outside of the dumpling, into this put peeled and chopped apples, roll up like any apple dumpling, steam one hour, eat hot with liquid sauce. arrow-root pudding.--take teacupfuls of arrowroot, and mix it with half a pint of old milk; boil another half pint of milk, flavoring it with cinnamon, nutmeg or lemon peel, stir the arrowroot and milk into the boiling milk. when cold, add the yolks of eggs beaten into ozs. of sugar. then add the whites beaten to a stiff broth, and bake in a buttered dish an hour. ornament the tops with sweetmeats, or citron sliced. aunt nelly's pudding--half a pound of flour, half pound of treacle, six ounces of chopped suet, the juice and peel of one lemon, tablespoonfuls of cream, two or three eggs. mix and beat all together. boil in a basin (previously well buttered) four hours.--for sauce, melted butter, a wine-glassful of sherry, and two or three tablespoonfuls of apricot jam. baked indian pudding.--two quarts sweet milk; pint new orleans molasses; pint indian meal: tablespoonful butter; nutmeg or cinnamon. boil the milk; pour it over the meal and molasses; add salt and spice; bake three hours. this is a large family pudding. batter, to be used with all sorts of roasting meat.--melt good butter; put to it three eggs, with the whites well beaten up, and warm them together, stirring them continually. with this you may baste any roasting meat, and then sprinkle bread crumbs thereon; and so continue to make a crust as thick as you please. batter, for frying fruit, vegetables, etc.--cut four ounces of fresh butter into small pieces, pour on it half a pint of barley water, and when dissolved, add a pint of cold water; mix by degrees with a pound of fine dry flour, and a small pinch of salt. just before it is used, stir into it the whites of two eggs beaten to a solid froth; use quickly, that the batter may be light. beef steak pudding.--take some fine rump steaks; roll them with fat between; and if you approve a little shred onion. lay a paste of suet in a basin, and put in the chopped steaks; cover the basin with a suet paste, and pinch the edges to keep the gravy in. cover with a cloth tied close, let the pudding boil slowly for two hours. baked beef steak pudding.--make a batter of milk, two eggs and flour, or, which is much better, potatoes boiled and mashed through a colander; lay a little of it at the bottom of the dish; then put in the steaks very well seasoned; pour the remainder of the batter over them, and bake it. beef steak pudding.--prepare a good suet crust, and line a cake-tin with it; put in layers of steak with onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms, chopped fine, a seasoning of pepper, salt and cayenne, and half a cup of water before you close it. bake from an hour and a half to two hours, according to the size of the pudding and serve very hot. black cap pudding..--make a batter with milk, flour and eggs; butter a basin; pour in the batter, and or ounces of well-cleaned currants. cover it with a cloth well floured, and tie the cloth very tight. boil nearly one hour. the currants will have settled to the bottom; therefore dish it bottom upwards. serve with sweet sauce and a little rum. oswego blanc mange.--four tablespoonfuls or three ounces of oswego prepared corn to one quart of milk. dissolve the corn to some of the milk. put into the remainder of the milk four ounces of sugar, a little salt, apiece of lemon rind, or cinnamon stick, and heat to _near_ boiling. then add the mixed corn, and boil (stirring it briskly) four minutes; take out the rind, and pour into a mold or cup, and keep until cold. when turned out, pour round it any kind of stewed or preserved fruits, or a sauce of milk and sugar. nice blanc-mange.--swell four ounces of rice in water; drain and boil it to a mash in good milk, with sugar, a bit of lemon peel, and a stick of cinnamon. take care it does not burn, and when quite soft pour it into cups, or into a shape dipped into cold water. when cold turn it out, garnish with currant jelly, or any red preserved fruit. serve with cream or plain custard. boiled batter pudding.--three eggs, one ounce of butter, one pint of milk, three tablespoonfuls of flour, a little salt. put the flour into a basin, and add sufficient milk to moisten it; carefully rub down all the lumps with a spoon, then pour in the remainder of the milk, and stir in the butter, which should be previously melted; keep beating the mixture, add the eggs and a pinch of salt, and when the batter is quite smooth, put into a well-buttered basin, tie it down very tightly, and put it into boiling water; move the basin about for a few minutes after it is put into the water, to prevent the flour settling in any part, and boil for one hour and a quarter. this pudding may also be boiled in a floured cloth that has been wetted in hot water; it will then take a few minutes less than when boiled in a basin. send these puddings very quickly to table, and serve with sweet sauce, wine-sauce, stewed fruit, or jam of any kind; when the latter is used, a little of it may be placed round the dish in small quantities, as a garnish. bread and butter pudding..--butter a dish well, lay in a few slices of bread and butter, boil one pint of milk, pour out over two eggs well beaten, and then over the bread and butter, bake over half hour. simple bread pudding.--take the crumbs of a stale roll, pour over it one pint of boiling milk, and set it by to cool. when quite cold, beat it up very fine with two ounces of butter, sifted sugar sufficient to sweeten it; grate in haifa nutmeg, and add a pound of well-washed currants, beat up four eggs separately, and then mix them up with the rest, adding, if desired, a few strips of candied orange peel. all the ingredients must be beaten up together for about half an hour, as the lightness of the pudding depends upon that. tie it up in a cloth, and boil for an hour. when it is dished, pour a little white wine sauce over the top. christmas plum pudding.--suet, chopped small, six ounces; raisins, stoned, etc., eight ounces; bread crumbs, six ounces; three eggs, a wine glass of brandy, a little nutmeg and cinnamon pounded as fine as possible, half a teaspoonful of salt, rather less than half pint milk, fine sugar, four ounces; candied lemon, one ounce; citron half an ounce. beat the eggs and spice well together; mix the milk by degrees, then the rest of the ingredients. dip a fine, close, linen cloth into boiling water, and put in a sieve (hair), flour it a little, and tie up close. put the pudding into a saucepan containing six quarts of boiling water; keep a kettle of boiling water alongside, and fill up as it wastes. be sure to keep it boiling at least six hours. serve with any sauce; or arrow-root with brandy. christmas pudding.--suet - / lbs., minced small; currants, - / lbs., raisins, stoned, / lb.; sugar, lb.; ten eggs, a grated nutmeg; ozs. citron and lemon peel; oz. of mixed spice, a teaspoonful of grated ginger, / lb. of bread crumbs, / lb. of flour, pint of milk, and a wine glassful of brandy. beat first the eggs, add half the milk, beat all together, and gradually stir in all the milk, then the suet, fruit, etc., and as much milk to mix it very thick. boil in a cloth six or seven hours. cottage pudding.--one pint sifted flour, three tablespoons melted butter, eggs, one cup sweet milk, two teaspoonfuls cream tartar, one teaspoon soda, mix and bake. cream pudding.--cream, pint; the yolks of seven eggs, seven tablespoonfuls of flour, tablespoonfuls of sugar, salt, and a small bit of soda. rub the cream with the eggs and flour; add the rest, the milk last, just before baking, and pour the whole into the pudding dish. serve with sauce of wine, sugar, butter, flavored as you like. crumb pudding.--the yolks and whites of three eggs, beaten separately, one ounce moist sugar, and sufficient bread crumbs to make it into a thick but not stiff mixture; a little powdered cinnamon. beat all together for five minutes, and bake in a buttered tin. when baked, turn it out of the tin, pour two glasses of boiling wine over it, and serve. cherries, either fresh or preserved, are very nice mixed in the pudding. damson pudding.--four or five tablespoonfuls of flour, three eggs beaten, a pint of milk, made into batter. stone - / lbs., of damsons, put them and ozs. of sugar into the batter, and boil in a buttered basin for one hour and a half. egg pudding.--it is made chiefly of eggs. it is nice made thus:--beat well seven eggs; mix well with ozs. of flour, pint and a half of milk, a little salt; flavor with nutmeg, lemon juice, and orange-flour water. boil - / hours in a floured cloth. serve with wine sauce sweetened. excellent family plum pudding.--grate three-quarters of a pound of a stale loaf, leaving out the crusts; chop very fine three-quarters of a pound of firm beef suet (if you wish your pudding less rich, half a pound will do); mix well together with a quarter of a pound of flour; then add a pound of currants, well washed and well dried; half a pound of raisins, stoned, and the peel of a lemon, very finely shred and cut; four ounces of candied peel, either lemon, orange or citron, or all mingled (do not cut your peel too small or its flavor is lost); six ounces of sugar, a small teaspoonful of salt, three eggs, well beaten; mix all thoroughly together with as much milk as suffices to bring the pudding to a proper consistency, grate in a small nutmeg, and again stir the mixture vigorously. if you choose, add a small glass of brandy. butter your mold or basin, which you must be sure to fill quite full, or the water will get in and spoil your handiwork; have your pudding cloth scrupulously clean and sweet, and of a proper thickness; tie down securely, and boil for seven or even eight hours. extra pudding.--cut light bread into thin slices. form into the shape of a pudding in a dish. then add a layer of any preserve, then a slice of bread, and repeat till the dish is full. beat four or five eggs, and mix well with a pint of milk; then pour it over the bread and preserve, having previously dusted the same with a coating of rice flour. boil twenty-five minutes. fig pudding.--procure one pound of good figs, and chop them very fine, and also a quarter of a pound of suet, likewise chopped as fine as possible; dust them both with a little flour as you proceed--it helps to bind the pudding together; then take one pound of fine bread crumbs, and not quite a quarter of a pound of sugar; beat two eggs in a teacupful of milk, and mix all well together. boil four hours. if you choose, serve it with wine or brandy sauce, and ornament your pudding with blanched almonds. simply cooked, however, it is better where there are children, with whom it is generally a favorite. we forgot to say, flavor with a little allspice or nutmeg, as you like; but add the spice before the milk and eggs. gelatine pudding.--half box gelatine dissolved in a large half pint boiling water, when cold stir in two teacups sugar, the juice of three lemons, the whites of four eggs beaten to a froth, put this in a mold to get stiff, and with the yolks of these four eggs, and a quart of milk make boiled custard, flavor with vanilla, when cold pour the custard round the mold in same dish. gooseberry pudding.--one quart of scalded gooseberries; when cold rub them smooth with the back of a spoon. take six tablespoonfuls of the pulp, half a pound of sugar, quarter of a pound of melted butter, six eggs, the rind of two lemons, a handful of grated bread, two tablespoonfuls of brandy. half an hour will bake it. ground rice pudding.--boil one pint of milk with a little piece of lemon peel, mix quarter pound of rice, ground, with half pint milk, two ounces sugar, one ounce butter, add these to the boiling milk. keep stirring, take it off the fire, break in two eggs, keep stirring, butter a pie dish, pour in the mixture and bake until set. ice pudding.--put one quart of milk in a stew pan with half pound of white sugar, and stick of vanilla, boil it ten minutes, mix the yolks of ten eggs with a gill of cream, pour in the milk, then put it back again into the stew pan, and stir till it thickens (do not let it boil), strain it into a basin and leave it to cool. take twelve pounds of ice, add two pounds of salt, mix together, cover the bottom of a pail, place the ice pot in it and build it around with the ice and salt, this done pour the cream into the pot, put on the cover, and do not cease turning till the cream is thick, the mold should be cold, pour in the cream, or pieces of white paper, wetted with cold water, are placed on it before the cover is placed on. cover with ice till wanted, dip in cold water and turn out, fruit may be put in when put in the mold. indian pudding.--indian meal, a cupful, a little salt, butter, oz.; molasses ozs., teaspoonfuls of ginger, or cinnamon. put into a quart of boiling milk. mix a cup of cold water with it; bake in a buttered dish minutes. kidney pudding.--if kidney, split and soak it, and season that or the meat. make a paste of suet, flour and milk; roll it, and line a basin with some; put the kidney or steak in, cover with paste, and pinch round the edge. cover with a cloth and boil a considerable time. lemon dumplings.--two tablespoonfuls of flour; bread crumbs, / lb.; beef suet, ozs.; the grated rind of a large lemon, sugar, pounded, ozs.; eggs well beaten, and strained, and the juice of three lemons strained. make into dumplings, and boil in a cloth one hour. lemon pudding.--three tablespoons powdered crackers, eight tablespoons sugar, six eggs, one quart milk, butter size of an egg, the juice of one lemon and grated rind. stir it first when put in oven. macaroni pudding.--take an equal quantity of ham and chicken, mince fine, half the quantity of macaroni which must be boiled tender in broth, two eggs beaten, one ounce butter, cayenne pepper and salt to taste, all these ingredients to be mixed thoroughly together, put in molds and boil two hours. marrow pudding.--pour a pint of cream boiling hot on the crumbs of a penny loaf, or french roll; cut lb. of beef marrow very thin; beat eggs well; add a glass of brandy, with sugar and nutmeg to taste, and mix all well together. it may be either boiled or baked or minutes; cut ozs. of citron very thin, and stick them all over it when you dish it up. _another way._--blanch / lb. of almonds; put them in cold water all night; next day beat them in a mortar very fine, with orange or rose water. take the crumbs of a penny loaf, and pour on the whole a pint of boiling cream; while it is cooling, beat the yolks of four eggs, and two whites, minutes; a little sugar and grated nutmeg to your palate. shred the marrow of the bones, and mix all well together, with a little candied orange cut small; bake, etc. meat and potato pudding.--boil some mealy potatoes till ready to crumble to pieces; drain; mash them very smooth. make them into a thickish batter with an egg or two, and milk, placing a layer of steaks or chops well-seasoned with salt and pepper at the bottom of the baking dish; cover with a layer of batter, and so alternately, till the dish is full, ending with batter at the top. butter the dish to prevent sticking or burning. bake of a fine brown color. nesselrode pudding.--prepare a custard of one pint of cream, half a pint of milk, the yolks of six eggs, half a stick of vanilla, one ounce of sweet almonds, pounded, and half a pound of sugar; put them in a stewpan over a slow fire, and stir until the proper consistence, being careful not to let it boil; when cold, add a wine-glass of brandy; partially freeze, and add two ounces of [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'rasins'] raisins and half a pound of preserved fruits, cut small. mix well, and mold. (basket shape generally used.) potato pudding.--take / lb. of boiled potatoes, ozs. of butter, the yolks and whites of two eggs, a quarter of a pint of cream, one spoonful of white wine, a morsel of salt, the juice and rind of a lemon; beat all to a froth; sugar to taste. a crust or not, as you like. bake it. if wanted richer, put ozs. more butter, sweetmeats and almonds, and another egg. prince of wales pudding.--chop four ounces of apples, the same quantity of bread crumbs, suet, and currants, well washed and picked; two ounces of candied lemon, orange, and citron, chopped fine; five ounces pounded loaf sugar; half a nutmeg, grated. mix all together with four eggs. butter well and flour a tin, put in the mixture, and place a buttered paper on the top, and a cloth over the paper. if you steam it the paper is sufficient. it will take two hours boiling. when you dish it, stick cut blanched almonds on it, and serve with wine sauce. pudding.--one cup sugar, half cup milk, one egg, two tablespoons melted butter, two cups flour, two teaspoons baking powder, a little nutmeg, bake in a dish and when sent to the table, put raspberry jam under same with wine sauce. baked pudding.--three tablespoonfuls of oswego prepared corn to one quart of milk. prepare, and cook the same as blanc-mange. after it is cool, stir up with it _thoroughly_ two or three eggs well beaten, and bake half an hour. it is very good. boiled pudding.--three tablespoonfuls of oswego prepared corn to one quart of milk. dissolve the corn in some of the milk, and mix with it two or three eggs, well beaten, and a little salt. heat the remainder of the milk to near boiling, add the above preparation, and boil four minutes, stirring it briskly. to be eaten warm with a sauce. it is delicious. queen pudding.--one pint of bread crumbs, one quart milk, one cup sugar, yolks four eggs, a little butter, bake half an hour, then put over the top a layer of fruit, then white of eggs beaten to a froth with sugar; to be eaten cold with cream. plain rice pudding.--wash and pick some rice; throw among it some pimento finely pounded, but not much; tie the rice in a cloth and leave plenty of room for it to swell. when done, eat it with butter and sugar, or milk. put lemon peel if you please. it is very good without spice, and eaten with salt and butter. another.--put into a very deep pan half a pound of rice washed and picked; two ounces of butter, four ounces of sugar, a few allspice pounded, and two quarts of milk. less butter will do, or some suet. bake in a slow oven. rich rice pudding--boil / lb. of rice in water, with a bit of salt, till quite tender; drain it dry; mix it with the yolks and whites of four eggs, a quarter of a pint of cream, with ozs. of fresh butter melted in the latter; ozs. of beef suet or marrow, or veal suet taken from a fillet of veal, finely shred, / lb. of currants, two spoonfuls of brandy, one of peach-water, or ratafia, nutmeg, and a grated lemon peel. when well mixed, put a paste round the edge, and fill the dish. slices of candied orange, lemon, and citron, if approved. bake in a moderate oven. rice pudding with fruit--swell the rice with a very little milk over the fire; then mix fruit of any kind with it (currants, gooseberries, scalded, pared, and quartered apples, raisins, or black currants); put one egg into the rice to bind it; boil it well, and serve with sugar. roman pudding--oil a plain tin mold, sprinkle it with vermicelli, line it with a thin paste; have some boiled macaroni ready cut in pieces an inch long; weigh it, and take the same weight of parmesan cheese, grated; boil a rabbit, cut off all the white meat in slices, as thin as paper, season with pepper, salt, and shalot; add cream sufficient to moisten the whole, put it into the mold, and cover it with paste; bake in a moderate oven for an hour, turn the pudding out of the mold, and serve it with a rich brown gravy. sago pudding--boil ozs. of sago in water a few minutes; strain, and add milk, and boil till tender. boil lemon peel and cinnamon in a little milk, and strain it to the sago. put the whole into a basin; break eggs; mix it well together, and sweeten with moist sugar; add a glass of brandy, and some nutmeg; put puff paste round the rim of the dish, and butter the bottom. bake three quarters of an hour. spanish pudding--to one pint of water, put two ounces of butter, and a little salt, when it boils add as much flour as will make it the consistency of hasty pudding. keep it well stirred, after it is taken off the fire and has stood till quite cold, beat it up with three eggs, add a little grated lemon peel and nutmeg, drop the butter with a spoon into the frying pan with boiling lard, fry quickly, put sugar over them when sent to the table. suet dumplings--shred lb. of suet; mix with - / lbs. flour, eggs beaten separately, a little salt, and as little milk as will make it. make it into two small balls. boil minutes. the fat of loins or necks of mutton finely shred makes a more delicate dumpling than suet. suet pudding--take six spoonfuls of flour, lb. of suet, shred small, eggs, a spoonful of beaten ginger, a spoonful of salt, and a quart of milk. mix the eggs and flour with a pint of milk very thick, and with the seasoning, mix in the rest of the milk with the suet. boil two hours. tapioca pudding.--put / lb. of tapioca into a sauce pan of cold water; when it boils, strain it to a pint of new milk; boil till it soaks up all the milk, and put it out to cool. beat the yolks of four eggs, and the whites of two, a tablespoonful of brandy, sugar, nutmeg, and ounces of butter. mix all together; put a puff paste round the dish, and send it to the oven. it is very good boiled with melted butter, wine and sugar. vermicelli pudding.--boil ounces of vermicelli in a pint of new milk till soft, with a stick or two of cinnamon. then put in half a pint of thick cream, / lb. of butter, the same of sugar, and the yolks of eggs. bake without paste in an earthen dish. another.--simmer ounces of vermicelli in a cupful of milk till tender; flavor it with a stick or two of cinnamon or other spice. beat up three eggs, ounce of sugar, half a pint of milk and a glass of wine. add to the vermicelli. bake in a slow oven. * * * * * how to put up pickles and make catsups how to pickle beet roots.--beet roots are a very pretty garnish for made dishes, and are thus pickled. boil the roots till they are tender, then take off the skins, cut them in slices, gimp them in the shape of wheels, or what form you please, and put them into a jar. take as much vinegar as you think will cover them, and boil it with a a little mace, a race of ginger sliced, and a few slices of horseradish. pour it hot upon your roots and tie them down. chow-chow.--two quarts of small white onions, two quarts of gherkins, two quarts of string beans, two small cauliflowers, half a dozen ripe, red peppers, one-half pound mustard seed, one-half pound whole pepper, one pound ground mustard, and, as there is nothing so adulterated as ground mustard, it's better to get it at the druggist's; twenty or thirty bay leaves (not bog leaves, as some one of the ladies facetiously remarked), and two quarts of good cider, or wine vinegar. peel the onions, halve the cucumbers, string the beans, and cut in pieces the cauliflower. put all in a wooden tray, and sprinkle well with salt. in the morning wash and drain thoroughly, and put all into the cold vinegar, except the red peppers. let boil twenty minutes slowly, frequently turning over. have wax melted in a deepish dish, and, as you fill and cork, dip into the wax. the peppers you can put in to show to the best advantage. if you have over six jars full, it's good to put the rest in a jar and eat from it for every dinner. some add a little turmeric for the yellow color. corn, green, pickling.--when the corn is a little past the tenderest roasting ear state, pull it, take off one thickness of the husk, tie the rest of the husk down at the silk end loosely, place the ears in a clean cask compactly together, and put on a brine to cover them of about two-thirds the strength of meat pickle. when ready to use in winter, soak in cold water over night, and if this does not appear sufficient, change the water and freshen still more. corn, prepared in this way, is excellent, very much resembling fresh corn from the stalk. indian pickle.--one gallon of the best vinegar, quarter of a pound of bruised ginger, quarter of a pound of shalots, quarter of a pound of flour of mustard, quarter of a pound of salt, two ounces of mustard seed, two ounces of turmeric, one ounce of black pepper, ground fine, one ounce of cayenne. mix all together, and put in cauliflower sprigs, radish pods, french beans, white cabbage, cucumber, onions, or any other vegetable; stir it well two or three days after any fresh vegetable is added, and wipe the vegetable with a dry cloth. the vinegar should not be boiled. how to pickle mushrooms.--buttons must be rubbed with a bit of flannel and salt; and from the larger take out the _red_ inside, for when they are black they will not do, being too old. throw a little salt over, and put them into a stewpan with some mace and pepper; as the liquor comes out, shake them well, and keep them over a gentle fire till all of it be dried into them again; then put as much vinegar into the pan as will cover them, give it one warm, and turn all into a glass or stone jar. they will keep two years, and are delicious. pickle sauce.--slice green tomatoes, onions, cabbage, cucumbers, and green peppers. let all stand covered with salt over night. wash, drain and chop fine. be careful to keep as dry as possible. to two quarts of the hash, add four tablespoons of american mustard seed and two of english; two tablespoonfuls ground allspice, one of ground cloves, two teaspoonfuls of ground black pepper, one teaspoonful of celery seed. cover with sharp vinegar, and boil slowly an hour. put away in stone jar, and eat when wanted. pickled eggs.--at the season of the year when eggs are plentiful, boil some four or six dozen in a capacious saucepan, until they become quite hard. then, after carefully removing the shells, lay them in large-mouthed jars, and pour over them scalding vinegar, well seasoned with whole pepper, allspice, a few races of ginger, and a few cloves or garlic. when cold, bung down closely, and in a month they are fit for use. where eggs are plentiful, the above pickle is by no means expensive, and is a relishing accompaniment to cold meat. how to pickle red cabbage.--slice it into a colander, and sprinkle each layer with salt; let it drain two days, then put it into a jar, with boiling vinegar enough to cover it, and put in a few slices of beet-root. observe to choose the purple red-cabbage. those who like the flavor of spice will boil some pepper-corns, mustard-seed, or other spice, _whole_, with the vinegar. califlower in branches, and thrown in after being salted, will color a beautiful red. another.--choose a sound large cabbage; shred it finely, and sprinkle it with salt, and let it stand in a dish a day and night. then boil vinegar (from a pint) with ginger, cloves, and cayenne popper. put the cabbage into jars, and pour the liquor upon it when cold. spiced tomatoes.--eight pounds tomatoes, four pounds of sugar, one quart vinegar, one tablespoon each of cloves, cinnamon and allspice, make a syrup of the sugar and vinegar. tie the spice in a bag and put, in syrup, take the skins off the tomatoes, and put them in the syrup, when scalded through skim them out and cook away one-half, leave the spices in, then put in your tomatoes again and boil until the syrup is thick. tomato lilly.--prepare one peck of green tomatoes by slicing and laying them in a jar over night, with a little salt, than chop them and cook in water until you think them sufficiently tender then take them up in a colander and drain nicely, then take two large cabbages, chop and cook same as tomatoes, then chop six green peppers and add one quart vinegar, put all in kettle together and boil a short time; add fresh vinegar and spice with one ounce each cinnamon and cloves, one pound sugar and half pint molasses. onions can be used instead of cabbage if preferred. how to pickle walnuts.--when a pin will go into them, put a brine of salt and water boiled, and strong enough to bear an egg, being quite cold first. let them soak six days; then change the brine, let them stand six more; then drain, and pour over them in a jar a pickle of the best vinegar, with plenty of pepper, pimento, ginger, mace, cloves, mustard-seed and horseradish; all boiled together, but cold. to every hundred of walnuts put six spoonfuls of mustard-seed, and two or three heads of garlic or shalot, but the latter is least strong. in this way they will be good for several years, if closely covered. they will not be fit to eat under six months. this pickle makes good ketchup. a good ketchup.--boil one bushel of tomatoes until soft enough to rub through a sieve. then add to the liquid a half gallon of vinegar, - / pints salt, ounces of cloves, / pound allspice, ounces good cayenne pepper, five heads of garlic, skinned and separated, pound of sugar. boil slowly until reduced to one-half. it takes about one day. set away for a week, boil over once, and, if too thick, thin with vinegar; bottle and seal as for chow-chow. how to keep ketchup twenty years.--take a gallon of strong stale beer, lb. of anchovies, washed from the pickle; lb. of shalots, / oz. of mace, / oz. of cloves, / oz. whole pepper, / oz. of ginger, quarts of large mushroom flaps, rubbed to pieces; cover all close, and simmer till it is half wasted, strain, cool, then bottle. a spoonful of this ketchup is sufficient for a pint of melted butter. mushroom ketchup.--sprinkle mushroom flaps, gathered in september, with common salt, stir them occasionally for two or three days; then lightly squeeze out the juice, and add to each gallon bruised cloves and mustard seed, of each, half an ounce; bruised allspice, black pepper, and ginger, of each, one ounce; gently heat to the boiling point in a covered vessel, macerate for fourteen days, and strain; should it exhibit any indication of change in a few weeks, bring it again to the boiling point, with a little more spice. oyster ketchup:--beard the oysters; boil them up in their liquor; strain, and pound them in a mortar; boil the beards in spring water, and strain it to the first oyster liquor; boil the pounded oysters in the mixed liquors, with beaten mace and pepper. some add a very little mushroom ketchup, vinegar, or lemon-juice; but the less the natural flavor is overpowered the better; only spice is necessary for its preservation. this oyster ketchup will keep perfectly good longer than oysters are ever out of season. tomato ketchup.--put them over the fire crushing each one as you drop it into the pot; let them boil five minutes; take them off, strain through a colander, and then through a sieve, get them over the fire again as soon as possible, and boil down two-thirds, when boiled down add to every gallon of this liquid one ounce of cayenne pepper, one ounce of black pepper, one pint vinegar, four ounces each of cinnamon and mace, two spoonfuls salt. very fine walnut ketchup.--boil a gallon of the expressed juice of green tender walnuts, and skim it well; then put in lbs. of anchovies, bones and liquor, lbs. shalots, oz. each of cloves, mace, pepper, and one clove of garlic. let all simmer till the shalots sink; then put the liquor into a pan till cold; bottle and divide the spice to each. cork closely, and tie a bladder over. it will keep twenty years, but is not good the first. be very careful to express the juice at home; for it is rarely unadulterated, if bought. * * * * * how to roast, boil, or broil poultry how to roast chickens.--pluck carefully, draw and truss them, and put them to a good fire; singe, dust, and baste them with butter. cover the breast with a sheet of buttered paper; remove it ten minutes before it is enough; that it may brown. a chicken will take to minutes. serve with butter and parsley. how to boil chickens.--fasten the wings and legs to the body by threads tied round. steep them in skim milk two hours. then put them in cold water, and boil over a slow fire. skim clean. serve with white sauce or melted butter sauce, or parsley and butter.--or melt oz. of butter in a cupful of milk; add to it the yolk of an egg beat up with a little flour and cream; heat over the fire, stirring well. geese (a la mode).--skin and bone the goose; boil and peel a dried tongue, also a fowl; season with pepper, salt and mace, and then roll it round the tongue; season the goose in the same way, and lay the fowl and tongue on the goose, with slices of ham between them. beef marrow rolled between the fowl and the goose, will greatly enrich it. put it all together in a pan, with two quarts of beef gravy, the bones of the goose and fowl, sweet herbs and onion; cover close, and stew an hour slowly; take up the goose; skim off the fat, strain, and put in a glassful of good port wine, two tablespoonfuls of ketchup, a veal sweetbread cut small, some mushrooms, a piece of butter rolled in flour, pepper and salt; stew the goose half an hour longer; take up and pour the ragout over it. garnish with lemon. how to roast pigeons.--take a little pepper and salt, a piece of butter, and parsley cut small; mix and put the mixture into the bellies of the pigeons, tying the necks tight; take another string; fasten one end of it to their legs and rumps, and the other to a hanging spit, basting them with butter; when done, lay them in a dish, and they will swim with gravy. how to boil pigeons.--wash clean; chop some parsley small; mix it with crumbs of bread, pepper, salt and a bit of butter; stuff the pigeons, and boil minutes in some mutton broth or gravy. boil some rice soft in milk; when it begins to thicken, beat the yolks of two or three eggs, with two or three spoonfuls of cream, and a little nutmeg; mix well with a bit of butter rolled in flour. how to broil pigeons.--after cleaning, split the backs, pepper and salt them, and broil them very nicely; pour over them either stewed or pickled mushrooms, in melted butter, and serve as hot as possible. scalloped cold chickens..--mince the meat very small, and set it over the fire, with a scrape of nutmeg, a little pepper and salt, and a little cream, for a few minutes, put it into the scallop shells, and fill them with crumbs of bread, over which put some bits of butter, and brown them before the fire. veal and ham eat well done the same way, and lightly covered with crumbs of bread, or they may be put on in little heaps. how to roast turkey.--the sinews of the legs should be drawn whichever way it is dressed. the head should be twisted under the wing; and in drawing it, take care not to tear the liver, nor let the gall touch it. put a stuffing of sausage-meat; or, if sausages are to be served in a dish a bread stuffing. as this makes a large addition to the size of the bird, observe that the heat of the fire is constantly to that part; for the breast is often not done enough. a little strip of paper should be put on the bone to hinder it from scorching while the other parts roast. baste well and froth it up. serve with gravy in the dish, and plenty of bread-sauce in a sauce-tureen. add a few crumbs, and a beaten egg to the stuffing of sausage-meat. * * * * * sauces for meats, fish, etc. anchovy sauce.--chop one or two anchovies, without washing, put to them some flour and butter, and a little water; stir it over the fire till it boils once or twice. if the anchovies are good, they will dissolve. essence of anchovies.--take two dozen of anchovies, chop them, and without the bone, but with some of their liquor strained, add to them sixteen large spoonfuls of water; boil gently till dissolved, which will be in a few minutes--when cold, strain and bottle it. apple sauce..--pare, core, and quarter half a dozen good sized apples, and throw them into cold water to preserve their whiteness. boil them in a saucepan till they are soft enough to mash--it is impossible to specify any particular time, as some apples cook much more speedily than others. when done, bruise them to a pulp, put in a piece of butter as large as a nutmeg, and sweeten them to taste. put into saucepan only sufficient water to prevent them burning. some persons put the apples in a stone jar placed in boiling water; there is then no danger of their catching. apple sauce for goose or roast pork.--pare, core, and slice some apples, and put them in a strong jar, into a pan of water. when sufficiently boiled, bruise to a pulp, adding a little butter, and a little brown sugar. a substitute for cream.--beat up the whole of a fresh egg in a basin, and then pour boiling tea over it gradually to prevent its curdling; it is difficult from the taste, to distinguish it from rich cream. bechamel sauce.--put a few slices of ham into a stew-pan, a few mushrooms, two or three shalots, two cloves, also a bay leaf and a bit of butter. let them stand a few hours. add a little water, flour and milk or cream; simmer forty minutes. scalded parsley, very fine may be added. bread sauce.--break three-quarters of a pound of stale bread into small pieces, carefully excluding any crusty and outside bits, having previously simmered till quite tender, an onion, well peeled and quartered in a pint of milk. put the crumbs into a very clean saucepan, and, if you like the flavor, a small teaspoonful of sliced onion, chopped, or rather minced, as finely as possible. pour over the milk, taking away the onion simmered in it, cover it up, and let it stand for an hour to soak. then, with a fork, beat it quite smooth, and seasoned with a very little powdered mace, cayenne and salt to taste, adding one ounce of butter; give the whole a boil, stirring all the time, and it is ready to serve. a small quantity of cream added at the last moment, makes the sauce richer and smoother. common white pepper may take the place of cayenne, a few peppercorns may be simmered in the milk, but they should be extracted before sending to table. bread sauce.--grate some old bread into a basin; pour boiling new milk over it; add an onion with five cloves stuck in it, with pepper and salt to taste. cover it and simmer in a slow oven. when enough, take out the onion and cloves; beat it well, and add a little melted butter. the addition of cream very much improves this sauce. caper sauce.--melt some butter, chop the capers fine, boil them with the butter. an ounce of capers will be sufficient for a moderate size sauce-boat. add, if you like, a little chopped parsley, and a little vinegar. more vinegar, a little cayenne, and essence of anchovy, make it suitable for fish. as a substitute for capers, some use chopped pickled gherkins. essence of celery.--soak the seeds in spirits of wine or brandy; or infuse the root in the same for hours, then take out, squeezing out all the liquor, and infuse more root in the same liquor to make it stronger. a few drops will [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'flvor'] flavor broth, soup, etc. celery sauce.--wash well the inside leaves of three heads of celery; cut them into slices quarter inch thick, boil for six minutes, and drain; take a tablespoonful of flour, two ounces of butter, and a teacupful of cream; beat well, and when warm, put in the celery and stir well over the fire about twelve minutes. the sauce is very [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'goood'] good for boiled fowl, etc. cocoa sauce.--scrape a portion of the kernel of a cocoa nut, adding the juice of three lemons, a teaspoonful of the tincture of cayenne pepper, a teaspoonful of shallot vinegar, and half a cupful of water. gently simmer for a few hours. egg sauce.--boil two eggs hard, half chop the whites, put in the yolks, chop them together, but not very fine, put them with / lb. of good melted butter. egg sauce.--four eggs boiled twelve minutes, then lay them in fresh water, cold, pull off the shells, chop whites and yolks separately, mix them lightly, half pint melted butter, made in proportion of quarter pound of butter, to a large tablespoon flour, four of milk and hot water, add powdered mace or nutmeg, to be eaten with pork, boiled, or poultry, use chicken gravy or the water the chicken were boiled in. horseradish sauce.--perhaps a good receipt for horseradish sauce, which is so excellent with both hot and cold beef, but which we do not always see served up with either. two tablespoonfuls of mustard, the same of vinegar, three tablespoonfuls of cream or milk and one of pounded white sugar, well beaten up together with a small quantity of grated horseradish. this is, of course, to be served up cold. mint sauce.--pick, mash and chop fine green spearmint, to two tablespoons of the minced leaves, put eight of vinegar, adding a little sugar. serve cold. mint sauce.--wash fresh gathered mint; pick the leaves from the stalks; mince them very fine, and put them into a sauce-boat with a teaspoonful of sugar and four tablespoonfuls of vinegar. it may also be made with dried mint or with mint vinegar. onion sauce.--peel the onions, and boil them tender; squeeze the water from them, then chop them, and add to them butter that has been melted, rich and smooth, as will be hereafter directed, but with a little good milk instead of water; boil it up once, and serve it for boiled rabbits, partridge, scrag, or knuckle of veal, or roast mutton. a turnip boiled with the onions makes them milder. quin's fish sauce.--half a pint of mushroom pickle, the same of walnut, six long anchovies pounded, six cloves of garlic, three of them pounded; half a spoonful of cayenne pepper; put them into a bottle, and shake well before using. it is also good with beefsteaks. sauce for cold partridges, moor-game, etc.--pound four anchovies and two cloves of garlic in a mortar; add oil and vinegar to the taste. mince the meat, and put the sauce to it as wanted. sauce for ducks.--serve a rich gravy in the dish; cut the breast into slices, but don't take them off; cut a lemon, and put pepper and salt on it, then squeeze it on the breast, and pour a spoonful of gravy over before you help. sauce for fowl of any sort.--boil some veal gravy, pepper, salt, the juice of a seville orange and a lemon, and a quarter as much of port wine as of gravy; pour it into the dish or a boat. sauce for hot or cold roast beef.--grate, or scrape very fine, some horseradish, a little made mustard, some pounded white sugar and four large spoonfuls of vinegar. serve in a saucer. sauce for salmon.--boil a bunch of fennel and parsley chop them small, and put into it some good melted butter. gravy sauce should be served with it; put a little brown gravy into a saucepan, with one anchovy, a teaspoonful of lemon pickle, a tablespoonful of walnut pickle, two spoonfuls of water in which the fish was boiled, a stick of horseradish, a little browning, and salt; boil them four minutes; thicken with flour and a good lump of butter, and strain through a hair sieve. sauce for savoury pies.--take some gravy, one anchovy, a sprig of sweet herbs, an onion, and a little mushroom liquor; boil it a little, and thicken it with burnt butter, or a bit of butter rolled in flour; add a little port wine, and open the pie, and put it in. it will serve for lamb, mutton, veal or beef pies. sauce for a turkey.--open some oysters into a basin, and wash them in their own liquor, and as soon as settled pour into a saucepan; add a little white gravy, a teaspoonful of lemon pickle; thicken with flour and butter; boil it three or four minutes; add a spoonful of thick cream, and then the oysters; shake them over the fire till they are hot, but do not let them boil. sauce for wild fowl.--simmer a teacupful of port wine, the same quantity of good meat gravy, a little shalot, a little pepper, salt, a grate of nutmeg and a bit of mace, for ten minutes; put in a bit of butter and flour, give it all one boil, and pour it through the birds. in general they are not stuffed as tame, but may be done so if liked. french tomato sauce.--cut ten or a dozen tomatoes into quarters, and put them into a saucepan, with four onions, sliced, a little parsley, thyme, a clove, and a quarter of a pound of butter; then set the saucepan on the fire, stirring occasionally for three-quarters of an hour; strain the sauce through a horse-hair sieve, and serve with the directed articles. tomato sauce.--take tomatoes, very red and ripe; take off the stalks, take out the seeds, and press out the water. put the expressed tomatoes into a stewpan, with - / ozs. of butter, a bay leaf, and a little thyme; put it upon a moderate fire, stir it into a pulp; put into it a good cullis, or the top of broth, which will be better. rub it through a search, and put it into a stewpan with two spoonfuls of cullis; put in a little salt and cayenne. another.--proceed as above with the seeds and water. put them into a stewpan, with salt and cayenne, and three tablespoonfuls of beef gravy. set them on a slow stove for an hour, or till properly melted. strain, and add a little good stock; and simmer a few minutes. white sauce.--one pound of knuckle of veal, or any veal trimmings, or cold white meat, from which all brown skin has been removed; if meat has been cooked, more will be required. it is best to have a little butcher's meat fresh, even if you have plenty of cold meat in the larder; any chicken bones greatly improve the stock. this should simmer for five hours, together with a little salt, a dozen white peppercorns, one or two small onions stuck with cloves, according to taste, a slice or two of lean ham, and a little shred of celery and a carrot (if in season) in a quart of water. strain it, and skim off all the fat; then mix one dessert-spoonful of flour in a half pint of cream; or, for economy's sake, half milk and half cream, or even all good new milk; add this to the stock, and if not salt enough, cautiously add more seasoning. boil all together very gently for ten minutes, stirring all the time, as the sauce easily burns and very quickly spoils. this stock, made in large quantities, makes white soup; for this an old fowl, stewed down, is excellent, and the liquor in which a young turkey has been boiled is as good a foundation as can be desired. economical white sauce.--cut up fine one carrot, two small onions, and put them into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, and simmer till the butter is nearly absorbed. then mix a small teacupful of flour in a pint of new milk, boil the whole quietly till it thickens, strain it, season with salt and white pepper or cayenne, and it is ready to serve. or mix well two ounces of flour with one ounce of butter; with a little nutmeg, pepper and salt; add a pint of milk, and throw in a strip of lemon peel; stir well over the fire till quite thick, and strain. wine sauce.--one and / cups sugar, three quarters cup of wine, a large spoonful flour, and a large piece of butter. * * * * * how to make soups ... and broths artichoke soup.--take jerusalem artichokes according to the quantity of soup required to be made, cut them in slices, with a quarter of a pound of butter, two or three onions and turnips, sliced into a stewpan, and stew over a very slow fire till done enough, and thin it with good veal stock. just before you serve, at the last boil, add a quarter of a pint of good cream. this is an excellent soup. season to taste with a little salt and cayenne. as it is necessary to vary soups, we shall give you a few to choose from according to season and taste. all brown soups must be clear and thin, with the exception of mock turtle, which must be thickened with flour first browned with butter in a stewpan. if the flour is added without previous browning, it preserves a raw taste that by no means improves the flavor. asparagus soup.--three or four pounds of veal cut fine, a little salt pork, two or three bunches of asparagus and three quarts of water. boil one-half of the asparagus with the meat, leaving the rest in water until about twenty minutes before serving; then add the rest of the asparagus and boil just before serving; add one pint of milk; thicken with a little flour, and season. the soup should boil about three hours before adding the last half of the asparagus. beef broth.--put two pounds of lean beef, one pound of scrag of veal, one pound of scrag of mutton, sweet herbs, and ten peppercorns, into a nice tin saucepan, with five quarts of water; simmer to three quarts, and clear from the fat when cold. add one onion, if approved. soup and broth made of different meats are more supporting, as well as better flavored. to remove the fat, take it off, when cold, as clean as possible; and if there be still any remaining, lay a bit of clean blotting or cap paper on the broth when in the basin, and it will take up every particle. beef soup.--cut all the lean off the shank, and with a little beef suet in the bottom of the kettle, fry it to a nice brown; put in the bones and cover with water; cover the kettle closely; let it cook slowly until the meat drops from the bones; strain through a colander and leave it in the dish during the night, which is the only way to get off all the fat. the day it is wanted for the table, fry as brown as possible a carrot, an onion, and a very small turnip sliced thin. just before taking up, put in half a tablespoonful of sugar, a blade of mace, six cloves, a dozen kernels of allspice, a small tablespoonful of celery seed. with the vegetables this must cook slowly in the soup an hour; then strain again for the table. if you use vermicelli or pearl barley, soak in water. dr. liebig's beef tea.--when one pound of lean beef, free from fat, and separated from the bones, in a finely-chopped state in which it is used for mince-meat, or beef-sausages, is uniformly mixed with its own weight of cold water, slowly heated till boiling, and the liquid, after boiling briskly for a minute or two, is strained through the towel from the coagulated albumen and the fibrine, now become hard and horny, we obtain an equal weight of the most aromatic soup, of such strength as cannot be obtained even by boiling for hours from a piece of flesh. when mixed with salt and the other additions by which soup is usually seasoned, and tinged somewhat darker by means of roasted onions, or burnt bread, it forms the very best soup which can, in any way, be prepared from one pound of flesh. brown gravy soup.--shred a small plate of onions, put some dripping into a frying-pan and fry the onions till they are of a dark brown; then, having about three pounds of beef cut up in dice, without fat or bone, brown that in a frying-pan. now get a sauce-pan to contain about a gallon, and put in the onions and meat, with a carrot and a turnip cut small, and a little celery, if you have it; if not, add two seeds of celery; put three quarts, or three and a half quarts of water to this, and stir all together with a little pepper and salt; simmer very slowly, and skim off what rises; in three or four hours the soup will be clear. when served, add a little vermicelli, which should have previously been boiled in water; the liquid should be carefully poured off through a sieve. a large quantity may be made in the same proportions. of course, the meat and onions must be stirred whilst frying, and constantly turned; they should be of a fine brown, not black, and celery-seed will give a flavor, it is so strong. carrot soup.--put some beef bones, with four quarts of the liquor in which a leg of mutton or beef has been boiled, two large onions, a turnip, pepper and salt into a sauce-pan, and stew for three hours. have ready six large carrots, scraped and cut thin, strain the soup on them, and stew them till soft enough to pulp through a hair sieve or coarse cloth, then boil the pulp with the soup, which is to be as thick as pea-soup. use two wooden spoons to rub the carrots through. make the soup the day before it is to be used. add cayenne. pulp only the red part of the carrot, and not the yellow. clam soup.--cut salt pork in very small squares and fry light brown; add one large or two small onions cut very fine, and cook about ten minutes; add two quarts water and one quart of raw potatoes, sliced; let it boil; then add one quart of clams. mix one tablespoonful of flour with water, put it with one pint of milk, and pour into the soup, and let it boil about five minutes. butter, pepper, salt. worcestershire sauce to taste. [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'groutons'] croutons.--these are simply pieces of bread fried brown and crisp, to be used in soups. game soups.--cut in pieces a partridge, pheasant, or rabbit; add slices of veal, ham, onions, carrots, etc. add a little water, heat a little on slow fire, as gravy is done; then add some good broth, boil the meat gently till it is done. strain, and stew in the liquor what herbs you please. game soup.--in the season for game, it is easy to have good game soup at very little expense, and very nice. take the meat from off the bones of any cold game left, pound it in a mortar and break up the bones, and pour on them a quart of any good broth, and boil for an hour and a half. boil and mash six turnips, and mix with the pounded meat, and then pass them through a sieve. strain the broth, and stir in the mixture of meat and turnips which has been strained through the sieve; keep the soup-pot near the fire, but do not let it boil. when ready to dish the soup for table, beat the yolks of five eggs very lightly, and mix with them half a pint of good cream. set the soup on to boil, and, as it boils, stir in the beaten eggs and cream, but be careful that it does not boil after they are stirred in, as the egg will curdle. serve hot. julienne soup.--put a piece of butter the size of an egg into the soup-kettle; stir until melted. cut three young onions small; fry them a nice brown; add three quarts of good clear beef-stock, a little mace, pepper and salt; let it boil an hour; add three young carrots and three turnips cut small, a stalk of celery cut fine, a pint of french beans, a pint of green peas; let this boil two hours; if not a bright, clear color, add a spoonful of soy. this is a nice summer soup. lobster soup.--one large lobster or two small ones; pick all the meat from the shell and chop fine; scald one quart of milk and one pint of water, then add the lobster, one pound of butter, a teaspoonful of flour, and salt and red pepper to taste. boil ten minutes and serve hot. mock turtle soup.--one soup-bone, one quart of turtle beans, one large spoonful of powdered cloves, salt and pepper. soak the beans over night, put them on with the soup-bone in nearly six quarts of water, and cook five or six hours. when half done, add the cloves, salt and pepper; when done, strain through a colander, pressing the pulp of the beans through to make the soup the desired thickness, and serve with a few slices of hard-boiled egg and lemon sliced very thin. the turtle beans are black and can only be obtained from large groce. oyster soup.--take one quart of water, one teacup of butter, one pint of milk, two teaspoons of salt, four crackers rolled fine, and one teaspoon of pepper; bring to full boiling heat as soon as possible, then add one quart of oysters; let the whole come to boiling heat quickly and remove from the fire. oyster soup.--pour one quart of boiling water into a skillet; then one quart of good rich milk; stir in one teacup of rolled cracker crumbs; season with pepper and salt to taste. when all come to boil, add one quart of good fresh oysters; stir well, so as to keep from scorching; then add a piece of good sweet butter about the size of an egg; let it boil up once, then remove from the fire immediately; dish up and send to table. ox tail soup.--take two ox tails and two whole onions, two carrots, a small turnip, two tablespoonfuls of flour, and a little white pepper; add a gallon of water, let all boil for two hours; then take out the tails and cut the meat into small pieces, return the bones to the pot for a short time, boil for another hour, then strain the soup, and rinse two spoonfuls of arrow-root to add to it with the meat cut from the bones, and let all boil for a quarter of an hour. scotch broth.--take one-half teacup barley, four quarts cold water; bring this to the boil and skim; now put in a neck of mutton and boil again for half an hour, skim well the sides of the pot also; have ready two carrots, one large onion, a small head of cabbage, one bunch parsley, one sprig of celery top; chop all these fine, add your chopped vegetables, pepper and salt to taste. this soup takes two hours to cook. soup and bouille.--stew a brisket of beef with some turnips, celery, leeks and onions, all finely cut. put the pieces of beef into the pot first, then the roots, and half a pint of beef gravy, with a few cloves. simmer for an hour. add more beef gravy, and boil gently for half an hour. royal soup.--take a scrag or knuckle of veal, slices of undressed gammon of bacon, onions, mace, and a small quantity of water; simmer till very strong, and lower it with a good beef broth made the day before, and stewed till the meat is done to rags. add cream, vermicelli, almonds and a roll. various soups.--good soups may be made from fried meats, where the fat and gravy are added to the boiled barley; and for that purpose, fat beef steaks, pork steaks, mutton chops, etc. should be preferred, as containing more of the nutritious principle. when nearly done frying, add a little water, which will produce a gravy to be added to the barley broth; a little wheat flour should be dredged in also; a quantity of onions, cut small, should also be fried with the fat, which gives the soup a fine flavor, assisted by seasoning, etc. soups may be made from broiled meats. while the fat beef steak is doing before the fire, or mutton chop, etc., save the drippings on a dish, in which a little flour, oatmeal, with cut onions, etc., are put. grand consomme soup.--put into a pot two knuckles of veal, a piece of a leg of beef, a fowl, or an old cock, a rabbit, or two old partridges; add a ladleful of soup, and stir it well; when it comes to a jelly, put in a sufficient quantity of stock, and see that it is clear; let it boil, skimming and refreshing it with water; season it as the above; you may add, if you like, a clove of garlic; let it then boil slowly or simmer four or five hours; put it through a towel, and use it for mixing in sauces or clear soups. julienne soup.--take some carrots and turnips, and turn them riband-like; a few heads of celery, some leeks and onions, and cut them in lozenges, boil them till they are cooked, then put them into clear gravy soup. brown thickening.--n.b. you may, in summer time, add green peas, asparagus tops, french beans, some lettuce or sorrel. soup and soups.--it is not at all necessary to keep a special fire for five hours every day in order to have at dinner a first course of soup. nor need a good, savory, nutritious soup for a family of five cost more than cents. there is no use hurling any remarks about "swill-pails." every housekeeper who knows anything of her kitchen and dining-room affairs, knows there are usually nice clean fragments of roasts and broils left over, and that broth in which lamb, mutton, beef, and fowls have been boiled is in existence, and that twice a week or so there is a bowl of drippings from roasted meats. all these when simmered with rice, macaroni, or well-chosen vegetables, and judiciously seasoned, make good soups, and can be had without a special fire, and without sending to the butcher's for special meats. we name a few of the soups we make, and beg leave to add that they are pretty well received. we make them in small quantities, for nobody with three additional courses before him wants to eat a _quart_ of soup, you know! .--one pint of good gravy, three cups boiling water, a slice of turnip, and half an onion cut in small bits, two grated crackers. simmer half an hour. .--on ironing day cut off the narrow ends from two or three sirloin steaks, chop them into morsels and put in a stewpan with a little salt, a tablespoonful of rice and a pint of cold water, and simmer slowly for three hours. then add water enough to make a quart of soup, a tablespoonful of tomato catsup, and a little browned flour mixed with the yolk of an egg. .--pare and slice very thin four good sized potatoes, pour over them two cups of boiling water, and simmer gently until the potatoes are dissolved. add salt, a lump of nice butter, and a pint of sweet milk with a dust of pepper. let it boil up once, and serve. you wouldn't think it, but it is real good, and children cry for it. .--one pint meat broth, one pint boiling water, slice in an onion, or a parsnip, or half a turnip--or all three if liked--boil until the vegetables are soft, add a little salt if needed, and a tablespoonful of halford sauce. .--let green corn, in the time of green corn, be grated, and to a pint of it put a pint of rich milk, a pint of water, a little butter, salt and pepper. boil gently for fifteen or twenty minutes. split pea soup.--take beef bones or any cold meats, and two pounds of corned pork; pour on them a gallon of hot water, and let them simmer three hours, removing all the scum. boil one quart of split peas two hours, having been previously soaked, as they require much cooking: strain off the meat and mash the peas into the soup; season with black pepper, and let it simmer one hour; fry two or three slices of bread a nice brown, cut into slices and put into the bottom of the tureen, and on them pour the soup. tomato soup.--boil chicken or beef four hours; then strain; add to the soup one can of tomatoes and boil one hour. this will make four quarts of soup. tomato soup without meat.--one quart of tomatoes, one quart of water, one quart of milk. butter, salt and pepper to taste. cook the tomatoes thoroughly in the water, have the milk scalding (over water to prevent scorching). when the tomatoes are done add a large teaspoonful of salaratus, which will cause a violent effervescence. it is best to set the vessel in a pan before adding it to prevent waste. when the commotion has ceased add the milk and seasoning. when it is possible it is best to use more milk than water, and cream instead of butter. the soup is eaten with crackers and is by some preferred to oyster soup. this recipe is very valuable for those who keep abstinence days. turkey soup.--take the turkey bones and cook for one hour in water enough to cover them; then stir in a little dressing and a beaten egg. take from the fire, and when the water has ceased boiling add a little butter with pepper and salt. veal gravy.--put in the stewpan bits of lard, then a few thin slices of ham, a few bits of butter, then slices of fillet of veal, sliced onions, carrots, parsnips, celery, a few cloves upon the meat, and two spoonfuls of broth; set it on the fire till the veal throws out its juices; then put it on a stronger fire till the meat catches to the bottom of the pan, and is brought to a proper color; then add a sufficient quantity of light broth, and simmer it upon a slow fire till the meat is well done. a little thyme and mushrooms may be added. skim and sift it clear for use. veal soup.--to a knuckle of veal of pounds, put or quarts of water; boil down one-half; skim it well. this is better to do the day before you prepare the soup for the table. thicken it by rubbing flour, butter, and water together. season with salt and mace. when done [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'and'] add one pint new milk; let it just come to a boil; then pour into a soup dish, lined with macaroni well cooked. vegetable soup.--pare and slice five or six cucumbers; and add to these as many cos lettuces, a sprig or two of mint, two or three onions, some pepper and salt, a pint and a half of young peas and a little parsley. put these, with half a pound of fresh butter, into a saucepan, to stew in their own liquor, near a gentle fire, half an hour, then pour two quarts of boiling water to the vegetables, and stew them two hours; rub down a little flour into a teacupful of water, boil it with the rest twenty minutes, and serve it. vermicelli soup.--boil tender / lb. of vermicelli in a quart of rich gravy; take half of it out, and add to it more gravy; boil till the vermicelli can be pulped through a sieve. to both put a pint of boiling cream, a little salt, and / lb. of parmesan cheese. serve with rasped bread. add two or three eggs, if you like. brown vermicelli soup.--is made in the same manner, leaving out the eggs and cream, and adding one quart of strong beef gravy. * * * * * how to cook vegetables how to boil artichokes.--if the artichokes are very young, about an inch of the stalk can be left; but should they be full grown, the stalk must be cut quite close. wash them well and put them into strong salt and water to soak for a couple of hours. pull away a few of the lower leaves, and snip off the points of all. fill a saucepan with water, throw some salt into it, let it boil up, and then remove the scum from the top; put the artichokes in, with the stalks upward, and let them boil until the leaves can be loosened easily; this will take from thirty to forty minutes, according to the age of the artichokes. the saucepan should not be covered during the time they are boiling. rich, melted butter is always sent to the table with them. new mode to dress asparagus.--scrape the grass, tie it up in bundles, and cut the ends off an even length. have ready a saucepan, with boiling water, and salt in proportion of a heaped saltspoonful to a quart of water. put in the grass, standing it on the bottom with the green heads out of the water, so that they are not liable to be boiled off. if the water boils too fast, dash in a little cold water. when the grass has boiled a quarter of an hour it will be sufficiently done; remove it from the saucepan, cut off the ends down to the edible part, arrange it on a dish in a round pyramid, with the heads toward the middle of the dish, and boil some eggs hard; cut them in two, and place them round the dish quite hot. serve melted butter in a sauce-tureen; and those who like it rub the yoke of a hard egg into the butter, which makes a delicious sauce to the asparagus. how to boil asparagus.--scrape the asparagus; tie them in small bunches; boil them in a large pan of water with salt in it; before you dish them up toast some slices of bread, and then dip them in the boiling water; lay the asparagus on the toasts; pour on them rich melted butter, and serve hot. ragout of asparagus.--cut small asparagus like green peas; the best method is to break them off first; then tie them in small bunches to cut, boil them till half done; then drain them, and finish with butter, a little broth, herbs, two cloves, and a sprig of savory. when done, take out the cloves, herbs, etc., mix two yolks of eggs, with a little flour, and broth, to garnish a first course dish. but if you intend to serve it in a second course mix cream, a little salt, and sugar. french beans, a la creme.--slice the beans and boil them in water with salt. when soft, drain. put into a stewpan two ounces of fresh butter, the yolks of three eggs, beaten up into a gill of cream, and set over a slow fire. when hot, add a spoonful of vinegar, simmer for five minutes. to preserve french beans for winter.--pick them young, and throw into a little wooden keg a layer of them three inches deep; then sprinkle them with salt, put another layer of beans, and do the same as high as you think proper, alternately with salt, but not too much of this. lay over them a plate, or cover of wood, that will go into the keg, and put a heavy stone on it. a pickle will rise from the beans and salt. if they are too salt, the soaking and boiling will not be sufficient to make them pleasant to the taste. stewed beans.--boil them in water in which a lump of butter has been placed; preserve them as white as you can; chop a few sweet herbs with some parsley very fine; then stew them in a pint of the water in which the leaves have been boiled, and to which a quarter of a pint of cream has been added; stew until quite tender, then add the beans, and stew five minutes, thickening with butter and flour. how to boil broccoli.--peel the thick skin of the stalks, and boil for nearly a quarter of an hour, with a little bit of soda, then put in salt, and boil five minutes more. broccoli and savoys taste better when a little bacon is boiled with them. how to boil cabbage.--cut off the outside leaves, and cut it in quarters; pick it well, and wash it clean; boil it in a large quantity of water, with plenty of salt in it; when it is tender and a fine light green, lay it on a sieve to drain, but do not squeeze it, it will take off the flavor; have ready some very rich melted butter, or chop it with cold butter. greens must be boiled the same way. strong vegetables like turnips and cabbage, etc., require much water. cabbage salad.--three eggs well beaten, one cup of vinegar, two tablespoons of mustard, salt and pepper, one tablespoon of butter; let this mixture come to a boil, when cool add seven tablespoons of cream, half a head of cabbage shaved fine. how to boil cauliflowers.--strip the leaves which you do not intend to use, and put the cauliflowers into salt and water some time to force out snails, worms, etc. boil them twelve minutes on a drainer in plenty of water, then add salt, and boil five or six minutes longer. skim well while boiling. take out and drain. serve with melted butter, or a sauce made of butter, cream, pepper and salt. how to fry cauliflowers.--wash as before. boil twenty or thirty minutes; cut it into small portions, and cool. dip the portions twice into a batter made of flour, milk and egg, and fry them in butter. serve with gravy. cucumbers for immediate use.--slice, sprinkle with salt; let them stand several hours, drain, and then put to them sliced onions, vinegar to cover them, and salt, pepper, etc. cayenne pepper and ground mustard render them wholesome. stewed celery.--wash and clean six or eight heads of celery, let them be about three inches long; boil tender and pour off all the water; beat the yolks of four eggs, and mix with half a pint of cream, mace and salt; set it over the fire with the celery, and keep shaking until it thickens, then serve hot. cold slaw.--half a head of cabbage cut very fine, a stalk of celery cut fine--or teaspoon of celery seed--or, a tablespoon of celery essence, four hard-boiled eggs, whites chopped very fine, a teaspoon of mustard, a tablespoon of butter and the yolks of the boiled eggs, salt and pepper, mix well; take an egg well beaten and stir in a cup of boiling vinegar, pour over and cover for a few minutes. egg-plant.--slice the egg-plant an eighth of an inch in thickness, pare it, and sprinkle salt over it an hour before cooking; then drain off all the water, beat up the yolk of an egg, clip the slices first in the egg, and then in crumbs of bread; fry a nice brown. serve hot, and free from fat. how to cook egg-plant.--cut the egg-plant in slices half an inch thick, sprinkle a thin layer of salt between the slices, and lay them one over the other; and let them stand an hour. this draws out the bitter principal from the egg-plant, and also a part of the water. then lay each slice in flour, put in hot fat and fry it brown on both sides. or boil the egg-plant till tender, remove the skin, mash fine, mix with an equal quantity of bread or cracker crumbs, and salt, pepper and bake half an hour. this makes a delightful dish, and a very digestible one, as it has so little oily matter in it. how to broil mushrooms.--pare some large, open mushrooms, leaving the stalks on, paring them to a point; wash them well, and turn them on the back of a drying sieve to drain. put into a stewpan two ounces of butter, some chopped parsley, and shalots, then fry them for a minute on the fire; when melted, place your mushroom stalks upward on a saucepan, then pour the butter and parsley over all the mushrooms; pepper and salt them well with black pepper put them in the oven to broil; when done, put a little good stock to them, give them a boil and dish them, pour the liquor over them, adding more gravy, but let it be put in hot. how to pickle onions.--take two quarts of the small white round onions. scald them in very strong salt and water. just let them boil. strain, peel, place in jars; cover them with the best white wine vinegar. in two days pour all the vinegar off, and boil it half an hour, with a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, oz. of ginger, cloves, / oz. ground mustard, ozs. mustard seed. when cold, pour upon the onions. some persons prefer the vinegar boiling hot. how to fricassee parsnips.--boil in milk till they are soft, then cut them lengthwise in bits two or three inches long, and simmer in a white sauce, made of two spoonfuls of broth, and a bit of mace, half a cupful of cream, a bit of butter, and some flour, pepper and salt. how to mash parsnips.--boil them tender, scrape then mash them in a stewpan with a little cream, a good piece of butter, and pepper and salt. how to stew parsnips.--boil them tender; scrape and cut into slices; put them into a saucepan with cream enough; for sauce, a piece of butter rolled in flour, and a little salt; shake the saucepan often, when the cream boils, pour them into a dish. how to boil peas.--peas should not be shelled long before they are wanted, nor boiled in much water; when the water boils, put them in with a little salt (some add a little loaf sugar, but if they are sweet of themselves, it is superfluous); when the peas begin to dent in the middle they are boiled enough. strain, and put a piece of butter in the dish, and stir. a little mint should be boiled with the peas. puree of potatoes.--this differs from mashed potatoes only in the employment of more milk and butter, and in the whole being carefully reduced to a perfectly smooth, thick, cream-like mixture. where economy is a great object, and where rich dishes are not desired, the following is an admirable mode of mashing potatoes: boil them till thoroughly done, having added a handful of salt to the water, then dry them well, and with two forks placed back to back beat the whole up until no lumps are left. if done rapidly, potatoes thus cooked are extremely light and digestible. how to boil potatoes.--boil in a saucepan without lid, with only sufficient water to cover them; more would spoil them, as the potatoes contain much water, and it requires to be expelled. when the water nearly boils pour it off, and add cold water, with a good portion of salt. the cold water sends the heat from the surface to the center of the potato, and makes it mealy. boiling with a lid on often produces cracking. new potatoes.--should be cooked soon after having been dug; wash well, and boil. the irish, who boil potatoes to perfection, say they should always be boiled in their _jackets_; as peeling them for boiling is only offering a premium for water to run through the potato, and rendering it sad and unpalatable; they should be well washed, and put into cold water. new potatoes.--have them as freshly dug as may be convenient; the longer they have been out of the ground the less well-flavored they are. well wash them, rub off the skins with a coarse cloth or brush, and put them into boiling water, to which has been added salt, at the rate of one heaped teaspoonful to two quarts. let them boil till tender--try them with a fork; they will take from ten or fifteen minutes to half an hour, according to size. when done, pour away the water, and set by the side of the fire, with the lid aslant. when they are quite dry, have ready a hot vegetable dish, and in the middle of it put a piece of butter the size of a walnut--some people like more--heap the potatoes round it and over it, and serve immediately. we have seen very young potatoes, no larger than a marble, parboiled, and then fried in cream till they are of a fine auburn color; or else, when larger, boiled till nearly ready, then sliced and fried in cream, with pepper, salt, a very little nutmeg, and a flavoring of lemon juice. both make pretty little supper dishes. potatoes roasted under the meat.--these are very good; they should be nicely browned. half boil large mealy potatoes; put into a baking dish, under the meat roasting; ladle the gravy upon them occasionally. they are best done in an oven. potato ribbons.--cut the potatoes into slices, rather more than half an inch thick, and then pare round and round in very long ribbons. place them in a pan of cold water, and a short time before wanted drain them from the water. fry them in hot lard, or good dripping, until crisp and browned; dry them on a soft cloth, pile them on a hot dish, and season with salt and cayenne. potato rolls.--boil three lbs. of potatoes; crush and work them with two ozs. of butter and as much milk as will cause them to pass through a colander; take half a pint of yeast and half a pint of warm water; mix with the potatoes; pour the whole upon lbs. of flour; add salt; knead it well; if too thick, put to it a little more milk and warm water; stand before the fire for an hour to rise; work it well and make it into rolls. bake it half an hour. potato rissoles.--boil the potatoes floury; mash them, seasoning them with salt and a little cayenne; mince parsley very fine, and work up with the potatoes, adding eschalot, also chopped small. bind with yolk of egg, roll into balls, and fry with fresh butter over a clear fire. meat shred finely, bacon or ham may be added. potato sautees.--these are even more agreeable with meat than fried potatoes. cold boiled potatoes are sliced up, and tossed up in a saucepan with butter, mixed with a little chopped parsley, till they are lightly browned. pure goose or other dripping is by many cooks preferred to butter for this purpose. potato souffles.--the delicious blistered potatoes are prepared as follows: the potatoes, if small, are simply cut in halves; if large, cut in three or more slices; these are fried in the usual way, but are taken out before they are quite done, and set aside to get cold; when wanted they are fried a second time, but only till they are of a light golden color, not brown. tomatoes.--cut ripe tomatoes into slices, put them in a buttered dish with some bread crumbs, butter, pepper and salt, and bake till slightly brown on top. forced tomatoes.--prepare the following forcemeat: two ounces of mushrooms, minced small, a couple of shalots, likewise minced, a small quantity of parsley, a slice of lean ham, chopped fine, a few savory herbs, and a little cayenne and salt. put all these ingredients into a saucepan with a lump of butter, and stew all together until quite tender, taking care that they do not burn. put it by to cool, and then mix with them some bread crumbs and the well beaten yolks of two eggs. choose large tomatoes, as nearly of the same size as possible, cut a slice from the stalk end of each, and take out carefully the seeds and juice; fill them with the mixture which has already been prepared, strew them over with bread and some melted butter, and bake them in a quick oven until they assume a rich color. they are a good accompaniment to veal or calf's head. to mash turnips.--boil them very tender. strain till no water is left. place in a saucepan over a gentle fire, and stir well a few minutes. do not let them burn. add a little cream, or milk, or both, salt butter and pepper. add a tablespoonful of fine sugar. stir and simmer five minutes longer. to boil or stew vegetable marrow.--this excellent vegetable may be boiled as asparagus. when boiled, divide it lengthways into two, and serve it upon a toast accompanied by melted butter; or when nearly boiled, divide it as above, and stew gently in gravy like cucumbers. care should be taken to choose young ones not exceeding six inches in length. * * * * * [illustration: how to calculate] how to calculate. practical rules, short methods, and problems used in business computations. rapidity and accuracy in making estimates and in figuring out the result of business transactions is of the greatest necessity to the man of business. a miscalculation may involve the loss of hundreds or thousands of dollars, in many cases, while a slow and tedious calculation involves loss of time and the advantage which should have been seized at the moment. it is proposed in the following pages to give a few brief methods and practical rules for performing calculations which occur in every-day transactions among men, presuming that a fair knowledge of the ordinary rules of arithmetic has previously been attained. addition. to be able to add up long columns of figures rapidly and correctly is of great value to the merchant. this requires not only a knowledge of addition, but in order to have a correct result, one that can be relied upon, it requires concentration of the mind. never allow other thoughts to be flitting through the mind, or any outside matter to disturb or draw it away from the figures, until the result is obtained. write the tens to be carried each time in a smaller figure underneath the units, so that afterwards any column can be added over again without repeating the entire operation. by the practice of addition the eye and mind soon become accustomed to act rapidly, and this is the art of addition. grouping figures together is a valuable aid in rapid addition, as we group letters into words in reading. \ / \ / ____ thus, in the above example, we do not say and are and are and are , but speak the sum of the couplet, thus and are , and in the second column, and are . this method of grouping the figures soon becomes easy and reduces the labor of addition about one-half, while those somewhat expert may group three or more figures, still more reducing the time and labor, and sometimes two or more columns may be added at once, by ready reckoners. another method is to group into tens when it can be conveniently done, and still another method in adding up long columns is to add from the bottom to the top, and whenever the numbers make even , , , or , write with pencil a small figure opposite, , , , or , and then proceed to add as units. the sum of these figures thus set out will be the number of tens to be carried to the next column. ^{ } ^{ } ^{ } ^{ } ^{ } ^{ } ^{ } ^{ } _________________ short methods of multiplication. for certain classes of examples in multiplication short methods may be employed and the labor of calculation reduced, but of course for the great bulk of multiplications no practical abbreviation remains. a person having much multiplying to do should learn the table up to twenty, which can be done without much labor. to multiply any number by , , or , simply annex one, two, or three ciphers, as the case may be. if it is desired to multiply by , , , or a number greater than one with any number of ciphers annexed, multiply first by the number and then annex as many ciphers as the multiplier contains. table. cents equal / of a dollar. cents equal / of a dollar. - / cents equal / of a dollar. - / cents equal / of a dollar. cents equal / of a dollar. cents equal / of a dollar. - / cents equal / of a dollar. cents equal / of a dollar. articles of merchandise are often bought and sold by the pound, yard, or gallon, and whenever the price is an equal part of a dollar, as seen in the above table, the whole cost may be easily found by adding two ciphers to the number of pounds or yards and dividing by the equivalent in the table. _example_. what cost dozen eggs at - / c per dozen? ) _____ $ . _example_. what cost pounds butter at c per pound? ) ----- $ . or, if the pounds are equal parts of one hundred and the price is not, then the same result may be obtained by dividing the price by the equivalent of the quantity as seen in the table; thus, in the above case, if the price were c and the number of pounds , it would be worked just the same. _example_. find the cost of yards of gingham at c a yard. ) ----- $ . when the price is one dollar and twenty-five cents, fifty cents, or any number found in the table, the result may be quickly found by finding the price for the extra cents, as in the above examples, and then adding this to the number of pounds or yards and calling the result dollars. _example_. find the cost of bushels potatoes at $ . - / per bushel. ) ----- $ . if the price is $ or $ instead of $ , then the number of bushels must first be multiplied by or , as the case may be. _example_. find the cost of hats at $ . - / apiece. ) ------ . . ------ $ when or are multipliers add three ciphers and divide by and respectively. to multiply a number consisting of two figures by , write the sum of the two figures between them. _example_. multiply by . ans. . if the sum of the two numbers exceeds then the units only must be placed between and the tens figure carried and added to the next figure to the left. _example_. multiply by . ans. . fractions. fractional parts of a cent should never be despised. they often make fortunes, and the counting of all the fractions may constitute the difference between the rich and the poor man. the business man readily understands the value of the fractional part of a bushel, yard, pound, or cent, and calculates them very sharply, for in them lies perhaps his entire profit. to reduce a fraction to its simplest form. divide both the numerator and denominator by any number that will leave no remainder and repeat the operation until no number will divide them both. _example_. the simplest form of / is found by dividing by = / . to reduce a whole number and a fraction, as - / , to fractional form, multiply the whole number by the denominator, add the numerator and write the result over the denominator. thus, x = + = placed over is / . to add fractions. reduce the fractions to like denominators, add their numerators and write the denominator under the result. _example_. add / to / . / = / , / = / , / + / = / = - / . ans. to subtract fractions. reduce the fractions to like denominators, subtract the numerators and write the denominators under the result. _example_. find the difference between / and / . / = / , / = / , / - / = / . ans. to multiply fractions. multiply the numerators together for a new numerator and the denominators together for a new denominator. _example_. multiply / by / . / x / = / . ans. to divide fractions. multiply the dividend by the divisor inverted. _example_. divide / by / . / x / = / . reduced to simple form by dividing by is / = [transcriber's note: the original text reads ' ^{ }'] - / . ans. to multiply mixed numbers. when two numbers are to be multiplied, one of which contains a fraction, first multiply the whole numbers together, then multiply the fraction by the other whole number, add the two results together for the correct answer. _example_. what cost - / yards at c a yard? c - / --- x = x / = --- c when both numbers contain a fraction, first, multiply the whole numbers together, second, multiply the, lower whole number by the upper fraction; third, multiply the upper whole number by the lower fraction; fourth, multiply the fractions together; fifth, add all the results for the correct answer. _example_. what cost - / pounds of butter at - / c per pound? - / - / ------- x = x / = x / = / x / = / = / ------- $ . - / common fractions may often be changed to decimals very readily, and the calculations thereby made much easier. to change common fractions to decimals. annex one or more ciphers to the numerator and divide by the denominator. _example_. change / to a decimal. ans. . . we add two ciphers to the , making it , and divide by , which gives us. . in the same way / =. , or / =. , and so on. when a quantity is in dollars and fractions of a dollar, the fractions should always be thus reduced to cents and mills. * * * * * twenty thousand things worth knowing. relative hardness of woods. taking shell bark hickory as the highest standard of our forest trees, and calling that , other trees will compare with it for hardness as follows: shell bark hickory pignut hickory white oak white ash dogwood scrub oak white hazel apple tree red oak white beech black walnut black birch yellow oak hard maple white elm red cedar wild cherry yellow pine [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'chesnut'] chestnut yellow poplar [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'buternut'] butternut white birch white pine timber intended for posts is rendered almost proof against rot by thorough seasoning, charring and immersion in hot coal tar. the slide of alpnach, extending from mount pilatus to lake lucerne, a distance of miles, is composed of , trees, stripped of their bark, and laid at an inclination of to degrees. trees placed in the slide rush from the mountain into the lake in minutes. the alps comprise about mountains, from , to , feet high, the latter being the height of mount blanc, the highest spot in europe. the summit is a sharp ridge, like the roof of a house, consisting of nearly vertical granite rocks. the ascent requires days, or guides are required, and each guide is paid francs ($ . ). it was ascended by two natives, jacques belmat and dr. packard, august , , at a.m. they staid up minutes, with the thermometer at degrees below the freezing point. the provisions froze in their pockets; their faces were frost-bitten, lips swollen, and their sight much weakened, but they soon recovered on their descent. de saussure records in his ascent august , , that the color of the sky was deep blue; the stars were visible in the shade; the barometer sunk to . inches (being . in geneva) the thermometer was - / degrees, in the sun degrees (being degrees at geneva). the thin air works the blood into a high fever, you feel as if you hardly touched the ground, and you scarcely make yourself heard. a french woman, mademoiselle d'angeville, ascended in september, , being dragged up the last , feet by guides, and crying out: "if i die, carry me to the top." when there, she made them lift her up, that she might boast she had been higher than any man in europe. the ascent of these awful solitudes is most perilous, owing to the narrow paths, tremendous ravines, icy barriers, precipices, etc. in many places every step has to be cut in the ice, the party being tied to each other by ropes, so that if one slips he may be held up by the rest, and silence is enforced, lest the noise of talking should dislodge the avalanches of the aiguille du midi. the view from the mountain is inexpressibly grand. on the alps the limit of the vine is an elevation of , feet; below , feet, figs, oranges and olives are produced. the limit of the oak is , feet, of the [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'chesnut'] chestnut , feet,of the pine , feet, of heaths and furze to , and , feet; and perpetual snow exists at an elevation of , feet. on the andes, in lat. degrees, the limit of perpetual snow is , feet; in mexico, lat. degrees, the limit is , feet; on the peak of teneriffe, , feet; on mount etna, , feet; on the caucasus, , feet; in the pyrenees, , feet; in lapland, , feet; in iceland, , feet. the walnut ceases to grow at an elevation of , feet; the yellow pine at , feet; the ash at , feet, and the fir at , feet. the loftiest inhabited spot on the globe is the port house of ancomarca, on the andes, in peru, , feet above the level of the sea. the th peak of the himalayas, in asia, , feet high, is the loftiest mountain in the world. lauterbrunnen is a deep part of an alpine pass, where the sun hardly shines in winter. it abounds with falls, the most remarkable of which is the staubbach, which falls over the balm precipice in a drizzling spray from a height of feet; best viewed in the morning sun or by moonlight. in general, it is like a gauze veil, with rainbows dancing up and down it, and when clouds hide the top of the mountain, it seems as poured out of the sky. in canada, the falls of montmorenci are feet high, the falls of niagara (the horse shoe falls) are feet high and , feet wide, the american falls arc feet high and feet wide. the yosemite valley falls are , feet high, and the ribbon falls of the yosemite are , feet high. the waterfall of the arve, in bavaria, is , feet. the periods of gestation are the same in the horse and ass or eleven months each, camel months, elephant years, lion months, buffalo months, in the human female months, cow months, sheep months, dog weeks, cat weeks, sow weeks, she wolf from to days. the goose sits days, swans , hens , ducks , peahens and turkeys , canaries , pigeons , parrots days. ages of animals, etc.--elephant years and upward, rhinoceros , camel , lion to , tigers, leopards, jaguars and hyenas (in confinement) about years, beaver , deer , wolf , fox to , llamas , chamois , monkeys and baboons to years, hare , squirrel , rabbit , swine , stag under , horse , ass , sheep under , cow , ox , swans, parrots and ravens , eagle , geese , hens and pigeons to , hawks to , cranes , blackbird to , peacock , pelican to , thrush to , wren to , nightingale , blackcap , linnet to , goldfinch to , redbreast to , skylark to , titlark to , chaffinch to , starling to , carp to , pike to , salmon , codfish to , eel , crocodile , tortoise to , whale estimated , , queen bees live years, drones months, working bees months. the melody of singing birds ranks as follows: the nightingale first, then the linnet, titlark, sky lark and wood lark. the mocking bird has the greatest powers of imitation, the robin and goldfinch are superior in vigorous notes. the condor of peru has spread wings feet, feathers feet, quills inches round. in england, a quarter of wheat, comprising bushels, yields bushels - / pecks, divided into seven distinct kinds of flour, as follows: fine flour, bushels pecks; bran, bushels; twenty-penny, bushels; seconds, pecks; pollard, bushels; fine middlings, peck; coarse ditto, peck. the ancient greek phalanx comprised , men, forming a square battalion, with spears crossing each other, and shields united. the roman legion was composed of , men, comprising cohorts of men each, with horsemen. the ancient battering ram was of massive timber, to feet long, fitted with an iron head. it was erected under shelter to protect the or men required to work it. the largest was equal in force to a -lb. shot from a cannon. pile driving on sandy soils.--the greatest force will not effect a penetration exceeding feet. various sizes of type.--it requires lines of diamond type to make inches, of pearl , of ruby , of nonpareil , of minion , of brevier - / , of bourgeois - / , of long primer , of small pica , of pica - / , of english . wire ropes for the transmission of power vary in size from / to / inch diam. for from to horse power; to promote flexibility, the rope, made of iron, steel, or copper wire, as may be preferred, is provided with a core of hemp, and the speed is mile per minute, more or less, as desired. tho rope should run on a well-balanced, grooved, cast iron wheel, of from to feet diam., according as the transmitted power ranges from to horse; the groove should be well cushioned with soft material, as leather or rubber, for the formation of a durable bed for the rope. with good care the rope will last from to years. cannon balls go furthest at an elevation of degrees, and less as the balls are less; the range is furthest when fired from west to east in the direction of the earth's motion, which for the diurnal rotation on its axis, is at the rate of , miles per hour, and in its orbit, , miles. the air's resistance is such that a cannon ball of lbs. weight, diameter, . ins. moving with a velocity of , feet per second, is resisted by a force equal to lbs. bricklayers ascend ladders with loads of lbs., foot per second. there are bricks in a cubic yard, and , in a rod. a power of tons is necessary to start a vessel weighing , tons over greased slides on a marine railway, when in motion, tons only is required. a modern dredging machine, ft. long, beam ft., breadth over all, ft., will raise tons of mud and clay per hour, feet from water-line. in tanning, lbs. of oak bark make lb. of leather. flame is quenched in air containing per cent, of carbonic acid; the same percentage is fatal to animal life. parts of oak make nearly of charcoal; beech , deal , apple . , elm , ash , birch , maple . , willow , poplar , red pine . , white pine . the charcoal used in gunpowder is made from willow, alder, and a few other woods. the charred timber found in the ruins of herculaneum has undergone no change in , years. four volumes of nitrogen and one of oxygen compose atmospheric air in all localities on the globe. air extracted from pure water, under an air pump, contains . per cent. of oxygen. fish breathe this air, respiring about times per minute. the oxhydrogen lime light may be seen from mountains at the distance of miles round. lightning is reflected to miles. , cubic feet of candle gas is equivalent to over gals. of sperm oil, . lbs. of tallow candles, and over lbs. of sperm candles. the time occupied by gas in traveling from a gas well (in pennsylvania) through miles of pipe was minutes, pressure at the well was lbs. per inch, pressure at discharge lbs. at birth, the beats of the pulse are from to , and the inspirations of breath from to . from to , the pulsations are from to , the inspirations, from to ; from to , the pulsations are to , the inspirations to . in usual states it is to . the action of the heart distributes ozs. of blood from to times in a minute. the mean heat of the human body is degs. and of the skin degs. tea and coffee are usually drank at degs. the deepest coal mine in england is at killingworth, near newcastle, and the mean annual temperature at yards below the surface is degrees, and at yards degrees, while at the surface it is but degrees, being degree of increase for every yards. this explains the origin of hot springs, for at , yards the heat would be equal to boiling water, taking yards to a degree. the heat of the bath waters is degrees, hence they would appear to rise , yards. peron relates that at the depth of , feet in the sea the thermometer falls to degrees, when it is degrees at the surface. swemberg and fourier calculate the temperature of the celestial spaces at degrees centigrade below freezing. in northern siberia the ground is frozen permanently to the depth of feet, and only thaws to the extent of or feet in summer. below feet internal heat begins. river water contains about grs. of solid matter in every cubic foot. fresh water springs of great size abound under the sea. perhaps the most remarkable springs exist in california, where they are noted for producing sulphuric acid, ink, and other remarkable products. st. winifred's well, in england, evolves tons of water per minute, furnishing abundant water power to drive mills within little more than a mile. the french removed a red granite column feet high, weighing tons, from thebes, and carried it to paris. the display of costly architectural ruins at thebes is one of the most astonishing to be seen anywhere in the world. the ruins and costly buildings in old eastern countries, are so vast in their proportions and so many in number that it would require volumes to describe them. babel, now called birs nimroud, built at babylon by belus, was used as an observatory and as a temple of the sun. it was composed of square towers, one over the other, in all feet high, and the same dimensions on each side on the ground. the coliseum at rome, built by vespasian for , spectators, was in its longest diameter - feet, and in the shortest , embraced - / acres, and was feet high. eight aqueducts supplied ancient rome with water, delivering millions of cubit feet daily. that of claudia was miles long and feet high, so as to furnish the hills. martia was miles, of which were on , acres feet high. these vast erections would never have been built had the romans known that water always rises to its own level. the temple of diana, at ephesus, was feet long and feet broad, with columns, feet high, to support the roof. it was years in building. solomon's temple, built b.c. , was cubits or feet in length, the breadth cubits or feet, and the height cubits or feet. the porch was feet long and feet wide. the largest one of the egyptian pyramids is feet high, feet on the sides, and its base covers acres. the layers of stones are in number. many stones are over feet long, broad and thick. the temple of ypsambul, in nubia, is enormously massive and cut out of the solid rock. belzoni found in it immense figures, feet high, feet over the shoulders, with a face of feet and the ears over feet. sesostris erected in the temple in memphis immense statues of himself and his wife, feet high, and of his children, feet. in the temple of the sun, at baalbec, are stones more than feet long, feet thick and broad, each embracing , cubic feet, cut, squared, sculptured, and transported from neighboring quarries. six enormous columns are each feet high, composed of stones feet in diameter. sesostris is credited with having transported from the mountains of arabia a rock feet wide and feet long. the engineering appliances used by the ancients in the movement of these immense masses are but imperfectly understood at the present day. during modern times, a block of granite weighing , tons, now used as the pedestal of the equestrian statute of peter the great, at st. petersburg, was transported miles by land over a railway, and miles in a vast caisson by water. the railway consisted of two lines of timber furnished with hard metal grooves; between these grooves were placed spheres of hard brass about inches in diameter. on these spheres the frame with its massive load was easily moved by men, working at capstans with treble purchase blocks. in swedenborg contrived to transport (on rolling machines of his own invention) over valleys and mountains, galleys, large boats and sloop, from stromstadt to iderfjol (which divides sweden from norway on the south), a distance of miles, by which means charles xii. was able to carry on his plans, and under cover of the galleys and boats to transport on pontoons his heavy artillery to the very walls of frederickshall. belzoni considered the tract between the first and second cataract of the nile as the hottest on the globe, owing to there being no rain. the natives do not credit the phenomenon of water falling from above. hence it is that all monuments are so nicely preserved. buckingham found a building left unfinished about , years ago, and the chalk marks on the stones were still perfect. pompey's pillar is feet high, and - / round at the base. water is the absolute master, former and secondary agent of the power of motion in everything terrestrial. it is the irresistible power which elaborates everything, and the waters contain more organized beings than the land. rivers hold in suspension th of their volume (more or less) of mud, so that if cubic miles of water (the estimated quantity) flow daily into the sea, . cubic miles of soil are daily displaced. the rhine carries to the sea every day , cubic feet of mud. the po carries out the land feet per annum, consequently adria which , years ago was on the sea, is now over miles from it. the enormous amount of alluvium deposited by the mississippi is almost incalculable, and constantly renders necessary extensive engineering operations in order to remove the impediments to navigation. as an exponent of the laws of friction, it may be stated that a square stone weighing , lbs. which required a force of lbs. to drag it along the floor of a quarry, roughly chiseled, required only a force of lbs. to move it when mounted on a platform and rollers over a plank floor. the flight of wild ducks is estimated at miles per hour, that of the swift at miles, carrier pigeons miles, swallows miles, migratory birds have crossed the mediterranean at a speed of miles per hour. the nile has a fall of ins. in , miles. the rise of the river commences in june, continuing until the middle of august, attaining an elevation of from to feet, and flowing the valley of egypt miles wide. in it rose to cubits, by which , persons were drowned. it is a terrible climate to live in, owing to the festering heat and detestable exhalations from the mud, etc., left on the retiring of the nile, which adds about inches to the soil in a century, and encroaches on the sea feet every year. bricks have been found at the depth of feet, showing the vast antiquity of the country. in productiveness of soil it is excelled by no other in the world. how to splice a belt in order to make it run like an endless belt.--use the toughest yellow glue prepared in the ordinary way, while hot, stirring in thoroughly about per cent of its weight of tannic acid, or extract of tan bark. apply to the splice and quickly clamp together. the splice should be made of scarfed edges extending to inches back, according to thickness of belt. the surface to be perfectly clean and free from oil. how many pounds of coal it requires to maintain steam of one-horse power per hour.--anthracite - / to pounds, according to the economy of boiler and engine. bituminous and anthracite coal are very nearly equal for equal qualities. they both vary from to pounds of water evaporated per pound of coal from a temperature of degrees. a formula for collodio-bromide emulsion that is rapid.--ether s.g. . , fluid ounces; alcohol s.g. . , - / fluid ounces; pyroxyline, grains; castile soap dissolved in alcohol, grains; bromide of ammonium and cadmium, grains. how to deaden the noise of steam while blowing off through a wrought iron stand pipe.--the sound may be much modified by enlarging the end of the pipe like a trumpet or cone; which should be long, or times the diameter of the pipe, opening to or times its initial size. why fusible plugs are put in the crown sheet of locomotive boilers.--to save the crown sheet from burning in case of low water, when the plug melts and lets the steam and water into the fire chamber to dampen and put out the fire as well as to make an alarm. they may also be employed on other forms of boilers, and are much used in connection with whistles for low-water alarms only. boilers should not be blown out for cleaning with fire under them or while the walls (if set in brick) are hot enough to do damage to the iron shell. locomotive boilers may be blown out very soon after the fire is entirely removed. all brick-set boilers should be left several hours after the fire is drawn before blowing off for cleaning. how to lace a quarter turn belt so as to have an equal strain on both edges of the belt.--begin on the outside of the belt at the middle, pass one end of the lacing through one end of the belt and bring it out through the corresponding hole of the other end of the belt, laying it diagonally off to the left. now pass the other end of the lacing through the hole last used, and carry it over the first strand of the lacing on the inside of the belt, passing it through the first hole used, and lay it diagonally off to the right. now proceed to pass the lacing through the holes of the belt in a zigzag course, leaving all the strands inside the belt parallel with the belt, and all the strands outside the belt oblique. pass the lace twice through the holes nearest the edge of the belt, then return the lace in the reverse order toward the center of the belt, so as to cross all the oblique strands, and make all the inside strands double. finally pass the end of the lacing through the first hole used, then outward through an awl hole, then hammering it down to cause it to hold. the left side is to be laced in a similar way. a useful hint to draughtsmen.--to strain drawing paper on a board, cut the paper to the size required, lay it on the board face downwards and thoroughly wet the surface with a damp sponge or brush, then turn it over and wet the face in the same way; roll it up tightly and let it stay so for five or six minutes, unroll it, and turn up the edges about an inch all around. take liquid glue (jackson's is the best) and apply it carefully to the edges, then turn them down, and with a paper knife press them to the board all around. put the board in an inclined position where it is not too dry or warm, or the paper will dry too fast and tear. if it is allowed to dry slowly the surface will be perfectly even and smooth, and a pleasure to draw upon. joints for hot water pipes.--sal-ammoniac, oz.; sublimed sulphur, oz.; cast-iron filings, lb. mix in a mortar, and keep the powder dry. when it is to be used, mix it with twenty times its weight of clean iron filings, and grind the whole in a mortar. wet with water until it becomes of convenient consistence. after a time it becomes as hard and strong as any part of the metal. when the process of galvanizing iron was first known.--a. the process of coating iron with zinc, or zinc and tin, is a french invention, and was patented in england in . a timber test.--the soundness of timber may be ascertained by placing the ear close to one end of the log, while another person delivers a succession of smart blows with a hammer or mallet upon the opposite end, when a continuance of the vibrations will indicate to an experienced ear even the degree of soundness. if only a dull thud meets the ear, the listener may be certain that unsoundness exists. useful hints and recipes.--following is a comparative statement of the toughness of various woods.--ash, ; beech, ; cedar of lebanon, ; larch, ; sycamore and common walnut, each, ; occidental plane, ; oak, hornbeam and spanish mahogany, each, ; teak and acacia, each, ; elm and young chestnut, . an [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'ingenius'] ingenious device for stretching emery cloth for use in the workshop consists of a couple of strips of wood about in. long, hinged longitudinally, and of round, half-round, triangular, or any other shape in cross section. on the inside faces of the wood strips are pointed studs, fitting into holes on the opposite side. the strip of emery cloth is laid on to one set of the studs, and the file, as it is called, closed, which fixes the strip on one side. it is then similarly fixed on the other side, and thus constitutes what is called an emery file and which is a handy and convenient arrangement for workshop use. method of making artificial whetstones.--gelatine of good quality is dissolved in its own weight of water, the operation being conducted in a dark room. to the solution one and a half per cent. of bichromate of potash is added, which has previously been dissolved in a little water. a quantity of very fine emery, equal to nine times the weight of the gelatine, is [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'itimately'] intimately mixed with the gelatine solution. pulverized flint may be substituted for emery. the mass is molded into any desired shape, and is then consolidated by heavy pressure. it is dried by exposure to strong sunlight for several hours. how to toughen paper.--a plan for rendering paper as tough as wood or leather has been recently introduced; it consists in mixing chloride of zinc with the pulp in the course of manufacture. it has been found that the greater the degree of concentration of the zinc solution, the greater will be the toughness of the paper. it can be used for making boxes and for roofing. how to mend a broken file.--there is no tool so easily broken as the file that the machinist has to work with, and is about the first thing that snaps when a kit of tools gets upset upon the cross-beam of a machine or a tool board from the bed of an engine lathe. it cannot even be passed from one workman to another without being broken, if the file is a new one or still good for anything, if an apprentice has got anything to do with it, and they are never worth mending, however great may be their first cost, unless the plaster of paris and lime treatment can make a perfect weld without injuring the steel or disturbing the form of the teeth. steel that is left as hard as a file is very brittle, and soft solder can hold as much on a steady pull if it has a new surface to work from. take a file, as soon as it is broken, and wet the break with zinc dissolved in muriatic acid, and then tin over with the soldering iron. this must be done immediately as soon as the file is broken, as the break begins to oxydize when exposed to the air. and in an hour or two will gather sufficient to make it impossible for the parts to adhere. heat the file as warm as it will bear without disturbing its temper as soon as well tinned, and press the two pieces firmly together, squeezing out nearly all the solder, and hold in place until the file cools. this can be done with very little to trim off, and every portion of the break fitting accurately in place. bring both pieces in line with each other, and, for a file, it is as strong in one place as in another, and is all that could be asked for under the very best of welding treatment. what will fasten pencil markings, to prevent blurring.--immerse paper containing the markings to be preserved in a bath of clear water, then flow or immerse in milk a moment; hang up to dry. having often had recourse to this method, in preserving pencil and crayon drawings, i will warrant it a sure cure. how to transfer newspaper prints to glass.--first coat the glass with dammar varnish, or else with canada balsam, mixed with an equal volume of oil of turpentine, and let it dry until it is very sticky, which takes half a day or more. the printed paper to be transferred should be well soaked in soft water, and carefully laid upon the prepared glass, after removing surplus water with blotting paper, and pressed upon it, so that no air bubbles or drops of water are seen underneath. this should dry a whole day before it is touched; then with wetted fingers begin to rub off the paper at the back. if this be skillfully done, almost the whole of the paper can be removed, leaving simply the ink upon the varnish. when the paper has been removed, another coat of varnish will serve to make the whole more transparent. this recipe is sold at from $ to $ by itinerants. a liquid cement for cementing leather, that will not be affected by the action of water.--a good cement for splicing leather is gutta percha dissolved in carbon disulphide, until it is of the thickness of treacle; the parts to be cemented must first be well thinned down, then pour a small quantity of the cement on both ends, spreading it well so as to fill the pores of the leather; warm the parts over a fire for about half a minute, apply them quickly together, and hammer well. the bottle containing the cement should be tightly corked, and kept in a cool place. the quickest and best way to drill holes for water pipes in rough plate glass.--use a hardened (file temper) drill, with spirits of turpentine and camphor to make the drill bite. a broken file in a breast brace will do good work if a power drill is not obtainable. a recipe for making printers' inks.--for black ink: take of balsam of copaiba (pure), ounces; lamp black, ounces; indigo and prussian blue, of each half an ounce; indian red, / ounce; yellow soap (dry), ounces; grind the mixture to an impalpable smoothness by means of a stone and muller. canada balsam may be substituted for balsam of copaiba where the smell of the latter is objectionable, but the ink then dries very quickly. the red inks are similarly made by using such pigments as carmine, lakes, vermilion, chrome yellow, red lead, orange red, indian red and venetian red. a cement to stick white metal tops on glass bottles.--one of the best cap cements consists of resin, ounces; beeswax, ounce; red ocher or venetian red in powder, ounce. dry the earth thoroughly on a stove at a temperature above ¡ fah. melt the wax and resin together, and stir in the powder by degrees. stir until cold, lest the earthy matter settle to the bottom. the correct meaning of the tonnage of a vessel.--the law defines very carefully how the tonnage of different vessels shall be calculated. an approximate rule for finding the gross tonnage is to multiply the length of keel between perpendiculars by the breadth of vessel and depth of hold, all in feet, and dividing the product by . it is generally assumed that cubic feet shall constitute a ton, and the tonnage of a vessel is considered to be the multiple of this ton, which most closely corresponds with the internal capacity of the vessel. a recipe for re-inking purple type ribbons.--use: aniline violet, / ounce; pure alcohol, ounces; concentrated glycerine, ounces. dissolve the aniline in the alcohol, and add the glycerine. the process of giving a tempered-blue color to the steel plate and malleable iron castings of a roller skate.--in order to obtain an even blue, the work must have an even finish, and be made perfectly clean. arrange a cast-iron pot in a fire so as to heat it to the temperature of melted lead, or just below a red heat. make a flat bottom basket of wire or wire cloth to sit in the iron box, on which place the work to be blued, as many pieces as you may find you can manage, always putting in pieces of about the same thickness and size, so that they will heat evenly. make a bail to the basket, so that it can be easily handled. when the desired color is obtained, dip quickly in hot water to stop the progress of the bluing, for an instant only, so that enough heat may be retained to dry the articles. a cover to the iron box may sometimes be used to advantage to hasten the heating. another way, much used, is to varnish the work with ultramarine varnish, which may be obtained from the varnish makers. cement to mend iron pots and pans.--take two parts of sulphur and one part, by weight, of fine black lead; put the sulphur in an old iron pan, holding it over the fire until it begins to melt, then add the lead; stir well until all is mixed and melted; then pour out on an iron plate or smooth stone. when cool, break into small pieces. a sufficient quantity of this compound being placed upon the crack of the iron pot to be mended, can be soldered by a hot iron in the same way a tinsmith solders his sheets. if there is a small hole in the pot, drive a copper rivet in it, and then solder over it with this cement. the best method of rendering basement walls damp-proof.--construct on the outside an area wall so that the earth does not rest directly against the main wall of the house, but only against the outside wall or casing of the area. to form such an area, build a wall half or one brick thick parallel to and some or inches from the main wall, and form at the bottom a channel or gutter connected with the drains, so that any moisture or water finding its way in through the outer casing may be conducted away and will not therefore penetrate into the building. thoroughly ventilate the areas by means of air bricks or other suitable connections with the outer air, and connect with one another by making through connections underneath the floor joists. be very careful that the main wall is laid on a good and efficient damp course. the top of the space between the area and main walls may be covered in all around the building with bricks--ornamented or otherwise, as preferred--on a line just above the ground. another plan of effecting the same object is to dispense with the area wall and in building the brick work to cover the whole of the work on the outside with a thick layer of bituminous asphalt. the plaster on the inside is in this case often rendered in nearly neat portland cement. how to caseharden large pieces of steel.--a box of cast or wrought iron should be provided large enough to hold one or two of the pieces, with sufficient room all around to pack well with the casehardening materials, which may be leather scrap, hoof shavings, or horn shavings, slightly burned and pulverized, which may be mixed with an equal quantity of pulverized charcoal. pack the pieces to be casehardened in the iron box so as not to touch each other or the box. put an iron cover on the box and lute with clay. heat gradually in a furnace to a full red, keep at an even temperature for from to hours, raise the heat to a cherry red during the last hour, then remove the cover and take out the pieces and plunge endwise vertically in water at shop temperature; per cent. of hydrochloric acid in the water improves its tempering qualities and gives the metal an even gray color. a good and cheap preparation to put on friction matches.--the igniting composition varies with different makers. the following recipes may be taken as fairly representative, the first being the best: . phosphorus by weight, / part; potassium chlorate, parts; glue, parts; whiting, part; finely powdered glass, parts; water, parts. . phosphorus by weight, parts; potassium chlorate, parts; glue, parts; red lead, - / parts; water, parts. . a german mixture for matches. potassium chlorate, . parts; lead hyposulphite, . parts; gum arabic, part. to find how much tin vessels will hold.--for the contents of cylinders: square the diameter, and multiply the product by . . again, multiply by the height (all in inches). divide the product by for gallons. for the frustum of a cone: add together the squares of the diameters of large and small ends; to this add the product of the diameter of the two ends. multiply this sum by . . multiply this product by the height (all in inches). then divide by for the number of gallons. a useful recipe.--for stopping the joints between slates or shingles, etc., and chimneys, doors, windows, etc., a mixture of stiff white-lead paint, with sand enough to prevent it from running, is very good, especially if protected by a covering of strips of lead or copper, tin, etc., nailed to the mortar joints of the chimneys, after being bent so as to enter said joints, which should be scraped out for an inch in depth, and afterward refilled. mortar protected in the same way, or even unprotected, is often used for the purpose, but it is not equal to the paint and sand. mortar a few days old (to allow refractory particles of lime to slack), mixed with blacksmith's cinders and molasses, is much used for this purpose, and becomes very hard and effective. test for hard or soft water.--dissolve a small quantity of good soap in alcohol. let a few drops fall into a glass of water. if it turns milky, it is hard; if not, it is soft. test for earthy matters or alkali in water.--take litmus paper dipped in vinegar, and if, on immersion, the paper returns to its true shade, the water does not contain earthy matter or alkali. if a few drops of syrup be added to a water containing an earthy matter, it will turn green. test for carbonic acid in water.--take equal parts of water and clear lime water. if combined or free carbonic acid is present, a precipitate is seen, to which, if a few drops of muriatic acid be added, an effervescence commences. test for magnesia in water.--boil the water to a twentieth part of its weight, and then drop a few grains of neutral carbonate of ammonia into a glass of it, and a few drops of phosphate of soda. if magnesia be present, it will fall to the bottom. test for iron in water.-- . boil a little nutgall and add to the water. if it turns gray or slate, black iron is present. . dissolve a little prussiate of potash, and, if iron is present, it will turn blue. test for lime in water.--into a glass of water put two drops of oxalic acid and blow upon it. if it gets milky, lime is present. test for acid in water.--take a piece of litmus paper. if it turns red, there must be acid. if it precipitates on adding lime water, it is carbonic acid. if a blue sugar paper is turned red, it is a mineral acid. value of manufactured steel.--a pound of very fine steel wire to make watch springs of, is worth about $ ; this will make , springs, worth $ , . horses in norway have a very sensible way of taking their food, which perhaps might be beneficially followed here. they have a bucket of water put down beside their allowance of hay. it is interesting to see with what relish they take a sip of the one and a mouthful of the other alternately, sometimes only moistening their mouths, as a rational being would do while eating a dinner of such dry food. a broken-winded horse is scarcely ever seen in norway, and the question is if the mode of feeding has not something to do with the preservation of the animal's respiratory organs. the process of fastening rubber rolls on clothes wringer.-- . clean shaft thoroughly between the shoulders or washers, where the rubber goes on, . give the shaft a coat of copal varnish, between the shoulders, and let it dry. . give shaft coat of varnish and wind shaft tightly as possible with five-ply jute twine at once, while varnish is green, and let it dry for about six hours. . give shaft over the twine a coat of rubber cement, and let it dry for about six hours. . give shaft over the twine a second coat of rubber cement, and let it dry for about six hours. . remove washer on the short end of shaft, also the cogwheel if the shaft has cogs on both ends. . see that the rubber rolls are always longer than the space between the washers where the rubber goes on, as they shrink or take up a little in putting on the shaft. . clean out the hole or inside of roll with benzine, using a small brush or swab. . put the thimble or pointer on the end of shaft that the washer has been removed from, and give shaft over the twine and thimble another coat of cement, and stand same upright in a vise. . give the inside or hole of roll a coat of cement with a small rod or stick. . pull or force the roll on the shaft as quickly as possible with a jerk, then rivet the washer on with a cold chisel. . let roll stand and get dry for two or three days before using same. cement for use should be so thick that it will run freely; if it gets too thick, thin it with benzine or naphtha. how to make effervescing solution of citrate of magnesia.--dissolve citric acid grains in water , grains, add carbonate of magnesia grains; stir until dissolved. filter into a -ounce bottle containing syrup of citric acid , grains. add boiled and filtered water to fill bottle, drop in bicarbonate of potash in crystals grains and immediately cork. shake until bicarbonate of potash is dissolved. the syrup of citric acid is made from citric acid parts, water parts, spirit of lemon parts, syrup parts. a receipt for making the black cement that is used for filling letters after they are cut out in brass.--mix asphaltum, brown japan and lampblack into a putty-like mass, fill in the spaces, and finally clean the edges with turpentine. useful workshop hints.--clean and oil leather belts without taking them off their pulleys. if taken off they will shrink. then a piece must be put into them and removed again after the belt has run a few days. the decay of stone, either in buildings or monuments, may be arrested by heating and treating with paraffin mixed with a little creosote. a common "paint burner" may be used to heat the stone. set an engine upon three or four movable points, as upon three cannon balls. connect with steam, and exhaust by means of rubber hose. if the engine will run up to speed without moving itself back and forth, then that engine will run a long time with little repair. if it shakes itself around the room, then buy another engine. safely moving a tall mill chimney has been accomplished several times. chimneys which have been caused to lean slightly through settling of the foundation may be straightened up again by sawing out the mortar between courses of brick at the base. a chimney ft. high and ft. square at the base will be varied over in. at the top by the removal of in. at the base. when you begin to fix up the mill for cold weather, don't forget to put a steam trap in each and every steam pipe which can be opened into the atmosphere for heating purposes. for leading steam joints, mix the red lead or litharge with common commercial glycerine, instead of linseed oil. put a little carbolic acid in your glue or paste pot. it will keep the contents sweet for a long time. look well to the bearings of your shafting engine and machines. sometimes , , and even per cent. of your power is consumed through lack of good oil. when you buy a water wheel, be sure to buy one small enough to run at full gate while the stream is low during the summer months. if you want more power than the small wheel will give, then put in two or more wheels of various sizes. when it becomes necessary to trim a piece of rubber, it will be found that the knife will cut much more readily if dipped in water. when forging a chisel or other cutting tool, never upset the end of the tool. if necessary cut it off, but don't try to force it back into a good cutting edge. in tubular boilers the handholes should be often opened, and all collections removed from over the fire. when boilers are fed in front, and are blown off through the same pipe, the collection of mud or sediment in the rear end should be often removed. nearly all smoke may be consumed without special apparatus, by attending with a little common sense to a few simple rules. suppose we have a battery of boilers, and "soft coal" is the fuel. go to the first boiler, shut the damper nearly up, and fire up one-half of the furnace, close the door, open damper, and go to the next boiler and repeat the firing. by this method nearly, if not quite, all the smoke will be consumed. a coiled spring inserted between engine and machinery is highly beneficial where extreme regularity of power is required. it is well known that a steam engine, in order to govern itself, must run too fast and too slow in order to close or open its valves; hence an irregularity of power is unavoidable. a "paste" metal polish for cleaning and polishing brass.--oxalic acid part, iron peroxide parts, powdered rottenstone parts, palm oil parts, petrolatum parts. see that solids are thoroughly pulverized and sifted, then add and thoroughly incorporate oil and petrolatum. cough candy or troches.--tincture of squills ounces, camphorated tincture of opium and tincture of tolu of each / ounce, wine of ipecac / ounce, oil of gautheria drops, sassafras drops, and of anise seed oil drops. the above mixture is to be put into pounds of candy which is just ready to take from the fire; continue the boiling a little longer, so as to form into sticks. how to oxidize silver.--for this purpose a pint of sulphide of potassium, made by intimately mixing and heating together parts of thoroughly dried potash and part of sulphur powder, is used. dissolve to drachms of this compound in - / pints of water, and bring the liquid to a temperature of from degrees to degrees fah., when it is ready for use. silver objects, previously freed from dust and grease with soda lye and thorough rinsing in water, plunged into this bath are instantly covered with an iridescent film of silver sulphide, which in a few seconds more becomes blue black. the objects are then removed, rinsed off in plenty of fresh water, scratch brushed, and if necessary polished. useful household recipes.--to purify water in glass vessels and aquariums, it is recommended to add to every grammes of water four drops of a solution of one gramme of salicylic acid in grammes of water. the _norsk fiskeritidende_, published at bergen, norway, says that thereby the water may be kept fresh for three months without being renewed. a cement recommended as something which can hardly be picked to pieces is made as follows:--mix equal parts of lime and brown sugar with water, and be sure the lime is thoroughly air-slacked. this mortar is equal to portland cement, and is of extraordinary strength. for a few weeks' preservation of organic objects in their original form, dimensions and color, professor grawitz recommends a mixture composed of two and a half ounces of chloride of sodium, two and three-quarters drachms of saltpetre, and one pint of water, to which is to be added three per cent. of boric acid. to varnish chromos, take equal quantities of linseed oil and oil of turpentine; thicken by exposure to the sun and air until it becomes resinous and half evaporated; then add a portion of melted beeswax. varnishing pictures should always be performed in fair weather, and out of any current of cold or damp air. a fireproof whitewash can be readily made by adding one part silicate of soda (or potash) to every five parts of whitewash. the addition of a solution of alum to whitewash is recommended as a means to prevent the rubbing off of the wash. a coating of a good glue size made by dissolving half a pound of glue in a gallon of water is employed when the wall is to be papered. the most nourishing steam bath that can be applied to a person who is unable to sweat and can take but little food in the stomach:--produce the sweating by burning alcohol under a chair in which the person sits, with blanket covering to hold the heat. use caution and but little alcohol. fire it in a shallow iron pan or old saucer. own your own homes.--every man, whether he is a working man in the common acceptation of the word or not, feels a deep interest in the management of the affairs of the city, county and state in which he lives whenever he owns a home. he is more patriotic, and in many ways is a better citizen than the man who simply rents, and who has but little if any assurance of how long it will be before he can be ordered to move; to which may be added in many cases the saving of more money. of course it requires some economy to lay up a sufficient amount of money to purchase and pay for a home; but this very fact, if properly carried out after the home is acquired, may be the instrument of furnishing the means to commence and prosecute a business upon your own responsibility. true, in some cases it will require more economy, perhaps, than we are now practicing. but the question with every man, and especially if he is the head of a family, is, can he afford it? that is, can he afford to live up his wages as fast as he earns them, without laying up anything for the future? if he is the head of a family, he is obliged to pay rent, and it does not require very many years of rent paying to make up an amount sufficient to purchase and pay for a comfortable home. you have to pay the rent. this you say you cannot avoid and be honest. well, you cannot be honest with your family unless you make a reasonable attempt to provide them a home of their own in case anything should happen to you. and the obligation to do this should be as strong as the one to pay rent or provide the other necessaries for the comfort of your family. when you own a home you feel a direct interest in public affairs that otherwise you might consider were of little interest. a formula for nervous headache.--alcohol dilut., ounces; olei cinnamon, minims; potas. bromid., drachms; extr. hyoscyam., fl., - / drachms; fiat lotio. one to two teaspoonfuls, if required. how beeswax is refined and made nice and yellow.--pure white wax is obtained from the ordinary beeswax by exposure to the influence of the sun and weather. the wax is sliced into thin flakes and laid on sacking or coarse cloth, stretched on frames, resting on posts to raise them from the ground. the wax is turned over frequently and occasionally sprinkled with soft water if there be not dew and rain sufficient to moisten it. the wax should be bleached in about four weeks. if, on breaking the flakes, the wax still appears yellow inside, it is necessary to melt it again and flake and expose it a second time, or even oftener, before it becomes thoroughly bleached, the time required being mainly dependent upon the weather. there is a preliminary process by which, it is claimed, much time is saved in the subsequent bleaching; this consists in passing melted wax and steam through long pipes, so as to expose the wax as much as possible to the action of the steam; thence into a pan heated by a steam bath, where it is stirred thoroughly with water and then allowed to settle. the whole operation is repeated a second and third time, and the wax is then in condition to be more readily bleached. how to remove a wart from the hand.--take of salicylic acid, grains; ext. cannabis indic., grains; collodion, / ounce. mix and apply. recipe for making camphor ice in small quantities for home use.--melt together over a water bath white wax and spermaceti, each ounce; camphor, ounces, in sweet almond oil, pound; then triturate until the mixture has become homogeneous, and allow one pound of rosewater to flow in slowly during the operation. recipe for making instantaneous ink and stain extractor.--take of chloride of lime pound, thoroughly pulverized, and four quarts soft water. the foregoing must be thoroughly shaken when first put together. it is required to stand twenty-four hours to dissolve the chloride of lime; then strain through a cotton cloth, after which add a teaspoonful of acetic acid to every ounce of the chloride of lime water. removing paint spots from wood.--to take spots of paint off wood, lay a thick coating of lime and soda mixed together over it, letting it stay twenty-four hours; then wash off with warm water, and the spot will have disappeared. polishing plate glass.--to polish plate glass and remove slight scratches, rub the surface gently, first with a clean pad of fine cotton wool, and afterwards with a similar pad covered over with cotton velvet which has been charged with fine rouge. the surface will acquire a polish of great brilliancy, quite free from any scratches. recipe for a good condition powder.--ground ginger pound, antimony sulphide pound, powdered sulphur pound, saltpetre. mix altogether and administer in a mash, in such quantities as may be required. recipe to make violet ink.--ordinary aniline violet soluble in water, with a little alcohol and glycerine, makes an excellent ink. recipe to make good shaving soap.--either pounds tallow and pounds cocoanut oil, or pounds of tallow and the same quantity of palm oil and pounds cocoanut oil, treated by the cold process, with pounds caustic soda lye of deg. baume, will make pounds of shaving soap. how to make a starch enamel for stiffening collars, cuffs, etc.--use a little gum arabic thoroughly dissolved in the starch. a good cough syrup.--put quart hoarhound to quart water, and boil it down to a pint; add two or three sticks of licorice and a tablespoonful of essence of lemon. the cause of the disease called "hives," also its cure.--the trouble is caused by a perversion of the digestive functions, accompanied by a disturbance of the circulation. it is not attended with danger, and is of importance only from the annoyance which it causes. relief may be obtained in most instances by the use of cream tartar daily to such extent as to move the bowels slightly. make a strong solution, sweeten it pleasantly, and take a teaspoonful, say after each meal, until the effect above mentioned is produced, and continue the treatment until the hives cease to be troublesome. a bedbug poison.--set in the center of the room a dish containing ounces of brimstone. light it, and close the room as tight as possible, stopping the keyhole of the door with paper to keep the fumes of the brimstone in the room. let it remain for three or four hours, then open the windows and air thoroughly. the brimstone will be found to have also bleached the paint, if it was a yellowish white. mixtures such as equal parts of turpentine and kerosene oil are used; filling up the cracks with hard soap is an excellent remedy. benzine and gasoline will kill bedbugs as fast as they can reach them. a weak solution of zinc chloride is also said to be an effectual banisher of these pests. a preparation by which you can take a natural flower and dip it in, that will preserve it.--dip the flowers in melted paraffine, withdrawing them quickly. the liquid should only be just hot enough to maintain its fluidity and the flowers should be dipped one at a time, held by the stalks, and moved about for an instant to get rid of air bubbles. fresh cut specimens free from moisture make excellent specimens in this way. what causes shaking asp leaves to be always in a quiver?--the wind or vibration of the air only causes the quiver of the aspen leaf. what is "sozodont" is composed of.--potassium carbonate, / ounce; honey, ounces; alcohol, ounces; water, ounces; oil of wintergreen and oil of rose, to flavor, sufficient. what is used to measure cold below degrees fahrenheit?--metallic thermometers are used to measure lowest temperatures, alcohol being quite irregular. is the top surface of ice on a pond, the amount of water let in and out being the same day by day, on a level with the water surface or above it?--ice is slightly elastic, and when fast to the shore the central portion rises and falls with slight variations in water level, the proportion above and below water level being as is the weight of ice to the weight of water it displaces. of the two waters, hard and soft, which freezes the quicker; and in ice which saves the best in like packing?--soft water freezes the quickest and keeps the best. does water in freezing purify itself?--it clears itself from chemicals; does not clear itself from mechanical mixtures as mud and clay. a receipt to remove freckles from the face without injury to the skin.--a commonly used preparation for this purpose is: sulpho-carbolate of zinc, parts; distilled glycerine, parts; rose water, parts; scented alcohol, parts. to be applied twice daily for from half an hour to an hour, and then washed off with cold water. what will remove warts painlessly?--touch the wart with a little nitrate of silver, or with nitric acid, or with aromatic vinegar. the silver salt will produce a black, and the nitric acid a yellow stain, either of which will wear off in a short while. the vinegar scarcely discolors the skin. a good receipt to prevent hair coming out.--scald black tea, ounces, with i gallon of boiling water, strain and add ounces glycerine, tincture cantharides / ounce, bay rum quart. mix well and perfume. this is a good preparation for frequent use in its effect both on the scalp and hair, but neither will be kept in good condition without care and attention to general health. deaths from diphtheria per , inhabitants in the chief cities of the world.--amsterdam, ; berlin, ; madrid, ; dresden, ; warsaw, ; philadelphia, ; chicago, ; turin, ; st. petersburg, ; bucharest, ; berne, ; munich, ; stockholm, ; malines, ; antwerp, ; new york, ; paris, ; hamburg, ; naples, ; lisbon, ; stuttgart, ; rome, ; edinburgh, ; buda-pesth, ; the hague, ; vienna, ; london, ; christiania, ; copenhagen, ; suburbs of brussels, ; city of brussels, . a receipt for marshmallows, as made by confectioners.--dissolve one-half pound of gum arabic in one pint of water, strain, and add one-half pound of fine sugar, and place over the fire, stirring constantly until the syrup is dissolved, and all of the consistency of honey. add gradually the whites of four eggs well beaten. stir the mixture until it becomes somewhat thin and does not adhere to the finger. flavor to taste, and pour into a tin slightly dusted with powdered starch, and when cool divide into small squares. a receipt for making compressed yeast.--this yeast is obtained by straining the common yeast in breweries and distilleries until a moist mass is obtained, which is then placed in hair bags, and the rest of the water pressed out until the mass is nearly dry. it is then sewed up in strong linen bags for transportation. how to tell the age of eggs.--we recommend the following process (which has been known for some time, but has been forgotten) for finding out the age of eggs, and distinguishing those that are fresh from those that are not. this method is based upon the decrease in the density of eggs as they grow old. dissolve two ounces of kitchen salt in a pint of water. when a fresh-laid egg is placed in this solution it will descend to the bottom of the vessel, while one that has been laid on the day previous will not quite reach the bottom. if the egg be three days old it will swim in the liquid, and if it is more than three days old it will float on the surface, and project above the latter more and more in proportion as it is older. a recipe for making court plaster.--isinglass grains, alcohol - / fluid ounces, glycerine minims, water and tincture of benzoin each sufficient quantity. dissolve the isinglass in enough water to make the solution weigh four fluid ounces. spread half of the latter with a brush upon successive layers of taffeta, waiting after each application until the layer is dry. mix the second half of the isinglass solution with the alcohol and glycerine, and apply in the same manner. then reverse the taffeta, coat it on the back with tincture of benzoin, and allow it to become perfectly dry. there are many other formulas, but this is official. the above quantities are sufficient to make a piece of court plaster fifteen inches square. one of the very best scouring pastes consists of--oxalic acid, part; iron peroxide, parts; powdered rottenstone, parts; palm oil, parts; petrolatum, parts. pulverize the oxalic acid and add rouge and rottenstone, mixing thoroughly, and sift to remove all grit; then add gradually the palm oil and petrolatum, incorporating thoroughly. add oil of myrbane, or oil of lavender to suit. by substituting your red ashes from stove coal, an inferior representative of the foregoing paste will be produced. how to manufacture worcestershire sauce.--a. mix together - / gallons white wine vinegar, gallon walnut catsup, gallon mushroom catsup, / gallon madeira wine, / gallon canton soy, - / pounds moist sugar, ounces salt, ounces powdered capsicum, - / ounces each of pimento and coriander, - / ounces chutney, / ounce each of cloves, mace and cinnamon, and - / drachms assafoetida dissolved in pint brandy above proof. boil pounds hog's liver for twelve hours in gallon of water, adding water as required to keep up the quantity, then mix the boiled liver thoroughly with the water, strain it through a coarse sieve. add this to the sauce. a good receipt for making honey, without using honey as one of the ingredients,-- lbs. white sugar, lbs. water, gradually bring to a boil, and skim well. when cool add lb. bees' honey, and drops peppermint. to make of better quality add less water and more real honey. what the chemical composition of honey is.--principally of saccharine matter and water, about as follows: levulose - / to per cent., dextrose - / to per cent., water to per cent., besides ash and other minor constituents. how to clean carpets on the floor to make them look bright.--to a pailful of water add three pints of oxgall, wash the carpet with this until a lather is produced, which is washed off with clean water. how to take out varnish spots from cloth.--use chloroform or benzine, and as a last resource spirits of turpentine, followed after drying by benzine. flour paste for all purposes.--mix pound rye flour in lukewarm water, to which has been added one teaspoonful of pulverized alum; stir until free of lumps. boil in the regular way, or slowly pour on boiling water, stirring all the time until the paste becomes stiff. when cold add a full quarter pound of common strained honey, mix well (regular bee honey, no patent mixture). how to make liquid glue.--take a wide mouthed bottle, and dissolve in it ounces beet glue in / pint water, by setting it in a vessel of water, and heating until dissolved. then add slowly - / ounces strong nitric acid deg. baume, stirring all the while. effervescence takes place, with generation of fumes. when all the acid has been added, the liquid is allowed to cool. keep it well corked, and it will be ready for use at any time. how the world is weighed and its density and mass computed.--the density, mass, or weight of the earth was found by the observed force of attraction of a known mass of lead or iron for another mass; or of a mountain by the deflection of a torsion thread or plumb line. in this manner the mean density of the earth has been found to be from . to . times the weight of water, . being accredited as the most reliable. the weight of a cubic foot of water being known, and the contents of the earth being computed in cubic feet, we have but to multiply the number of cubic feet by . times the weight of cubic foot of water to obtain the weight of the earth in pounds, or units of gravity at its surface, which is the unit usually used. another method of determining the mean density of the earth is founded on the change of the intensity of gravity in descending deep mines. a theory as to the origin of petroleum.--professor mendelejef has recently advanced the theory that petroleum is of purely mineral origin and that the formation of it is going on every day. he has, moreover, succeeded in producing artificial petroleum by a reaction that he describes, and he states that it is impossible to detect any difference between the natural product and the manufactured article. his theory is as follows: [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'infilration'] infiltration of water, reaching a certain depth, come into contact with incandescent masses of carburets of metals, chiefly of iron, and are at once decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen. the oxygen unites with the iron, while the hydrogen seizes on the carbon and rises to an upper level, where the vapors are condensed in part into mineral oil, and the rest remains in a state of natural gas. the petroleum strata are generally met with in the vicinity of mountains, and it may be granted that geological upheavals have dislocated the ground in such a way as to permit of the [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'admistoin'] admission of water to great depths. if the center of the earth contains great masses of metallic carburets, we may, in case this theory is verified, count upon an almost inexhaustible source of fuel for the day when our coal deposits shall fail us. how vaseline is purified.--the residuum from which vaseline is made is placed in settling tanks heated by steam, in order to keep their contents in a liquid state. after the complete separation of the fine coke it is withdrawn from these tanks and passed through the bone black cylinders, during which process the color is nearly all removed, as well as its empyreumatic odor. the latest and best process employed by cutters and others in etching names and designs on steel.--take copper sulphate, sulphate of alum and sodium chloride, of each drachms, and strong acetic acid - / ounces, mixed together. smear the metal with yellow soap and write with a quill pen without a split. the history of the discovery of circulation of the blood recapitulated, divides itself naturally into a series of epoch-making periods: . the structure and functions of the valves of the heart, erasistratus, b.c. . . the arteries carry blood during life, not air, galen, a.d. . . the pulmonary circulation, servetus, . . the systemic circulation, cæsalpinus, . . the pulmonic and systemic circulations, harvey, . . the capillaries, malpighi, . how to make hand fire grenades.--make your hand grenades. fill ordinary quart wine bottles with a saturated solution of common salt, and place them where they will do the most good in case of need. they will be found nearly as serviceable as the expensive hand grenades you buy. should a fire break out, throw them with force sufficient to break them into the center of the fire. the salt will form a coating on whatever object the water touches, and make it nearly incombustible, and it will prove effectual in many cases, where a fire is just starting, when the delay in procuring water might be fatal. how the kind of white metal is made that is used in the manufacture of cheap table ware.--how same can be hardened and still retain its color? the following are formulas for white metal. melt together: (a) tin , lead , antimony , zinc , copper parts. (b) brass , lead , tin , zinc part. for a hard metal, not so white, melt together bismuth parts, zinc parts, lead parts. or use type metal--lead to parts, antimony part. what metal expands most, for the same change in temperature?--for one degree centigrade the following are coefficients of linear expansion: aluminum, . ; silver, . to . ; nickel, . ; copper, . to . ; zinc, . to . ; brass, . to . ; platinum, . . heavy timbers.--there are sixteen species of trees in america, whose perfectly dry wood will sink in water. the heaviest of these is the black iron wood (confalia feriea) of southern florida, which is more than per cent. heavier than water. of the others, the best known are lignum vitæ (gualacum sanctum) and mangrove (chizphora mangle). another is a small oak (quercus gsisea) found in the mountains of texas, southern new mexico and arizona, and westward to the colorado desert, at an elevation of , to , feet. all the species in which the wood is heavier than water belong to semi-tropical florida or the arid interior pacific region. highest point reached by man was by balloon , feet. travelers have rarely exceeded , feet, at which point the air from its rarity is very debilitating. has a rate of speed equal to ninety miles an hour, ever been attained by railroad locomotive?--it is extremely doubtful if any locomotive ever made so high a speed. a mile in seconds is the shortest time we have heard of. a rate of to miles per hour has been made on a spurt, on good straight track. the grant locomotive works could make such an engine. sixty miles an hour for a train is considered a very high rate of speed, and is seldom attained in practice for more than a short run. the fastest boat in the world.--messrs. thornycroft & co., of chiswick, in making preliminary trials of a torpedo boat built by them for the spanish navy, have obtained a speed which is worthy of special record. the boat is twin-screw, and the principal dimensions are: length ft. in., beam ft. in., by ft. in. draught. on a trial at lower hope, on april , the remarkable mean speed of . knots was attained, being equal to a speed of . miles an hour, which is the highest speed yet attained by any vessel afloat. staining and polishing mahogany.--your best plan will be to scrape off all the old polish, and well glass paper; then oil with linseed oil both old and new parts. to stain the new pieces, get half an ounce of bichromate of potash, and pour a pint of boiling water over it; when cold bottle it. this, used with care, will stain the new or light parts as dark as you please, if done as follows:--wipe off the oil clean, and apply the solution with a piece of rag, held firmly in the hand, and just moistened with the stain. great care is required to prevent the stain running over the old part, for any place touched with it will show the mark through the polish when finished. you can vary the color by giving two or more coats if required. then repolish your job altogether in the usual way. should you wish to brighten up the old mahogany, use polish dyed with bismarck brown as follows:--get three pennyworth of bismarck brown, and put it into a bottle with enough naphtha or methylated spirits to dissolve it. pour a few drops of this into your polish, and you will find that it gives a nice rich red color to the work, but don't dye the polish too much, just tint it. value of eggs for food and other purposes.--every element that is necessary to the support of man is contained within the limits of an egg shell, in the best proportions and in the most palatable form. plain boiled, they are wholesome. it is easy to dress them in more than different ways, each method not only economical, but salutary in the highest degree. no honest appetite ever yet rejected an egg in some guise. it is nutriment in the most portable form, and in the most concentrated shape. whole nations of mankind rarely touch any other animal food. kings eat them plain as readily as do the humble tradesmen. after the victory of muhldorf, when the kaiser ludwig sat at a meal with his burggrafs and great captains, he determined on a piece of luxury--"one egg to every man, and two to the excellently valiant schwepperman." far more than fish--for it is watery diet--eggs are the scholar's fare. they contain phosphorus, which is brain food, and sulphur, which performs a variety of functions in the economy. and they are the best of nutriment for children, for, in a compact form, they contain everything that is necessary for the growth of the youthful frame. eggs are, however, not only food--they are medicine also. the white is the most efficacious of remedies for burns, and the oil extractable from the yolk is regarded by the russians as an almost miraculous salve for cuts, bruises and scratches. a raw egg, if swallowed in time, will effectually detach a fish bone fastened in the throat, and the white of two eggs will render the deadly corrosive sublimate as harmless as a dose of calomel. they strengthen the consumptive, invigorate the feeble, and render the most susceptible all but proof against jaundice in its more malignant phase. they can also be drunk in the shape of that "egg flip" which sustains the oratorical efforts of modern statesmen. the merits of eggs do not even end here. in france alone the wine clarifiers use more than , , a year, and the alsatians consume fully , , in calico printing and for dressing the leather used in making the finest of french kid gloves. finally, not to mention various other employments for eggs in the arts, they may, of course, almost without trouble on the farmer's part, be converted in fowls, which, in any shape, are profitable to the seller and welcome to the buyer. even egg shells are valuable, for aliopath and homeopath alike agree in regarding them as the purest of carbonate of lime. history of big ships.--in the history of mankind several vessels of extraordinary magnitude have been constructed, all distinctively styled great, and all unfortunately disastrous, with the honorable exception of noah's ark. setting aside this antediluvian craft, concerning the authenticity of whose dimensions authorities differ, and which, if biblical measures are correct, was inferior in size to the vessel of most importance to modern shipowners, the great galley, constructed by the great engineer archimedes for the great king hiero ii., of syracuse, is the first illustration. this ship without a name (for history does not record one) transcended all wonders of ancient maritime construction. it abounded statues and painting, marble and mosaic work. it contained a gymnasium, baths, a garden, and arbored walks. its artillery discharged stones of cwt., and arrows ft. in length. an athenian advertising poet, who wrote a six-line puff of its glories, received the royal reward of six thousand bushels of corn. literary merit was at a higher premium in the year b.c., than it is to-day. the great ship of antiquity was found to be too large for the accommodation of the syracusan port, and famine reigning in egypt, hiero, the charitably disposed, embarked a cargo of ten thousand huge jars of salted fish, two million pounds of salted meat, twenty thousand bundles of different clothes, filled the hold with corn, and consigned her to the seven mouths of the nile, and since she weighed anchor nothing more has been heard of her fate. the next great ship worthy of mention is the mythical saracen encountered in the mediterranean sea by the crusading fleet of richard cÃ�ur de lion, duke of guienne and king of england, which, after much slaughter and damage incident to its infidel habit of vomiting greek fire upon its adversaries, was captured and sunk. next in rotation appears the great harry, built by henry viii., of england, and which careened in harbor during the reign of his successor, under similar circumstances to those attending the royal george in --a dispensation that mysteriously appears to overhang a majority of the ocean-braving constructions which, in defiance of every religious sailor's superstition that the lumber he treads is naturally female, are christened by a masculine or neutral title. in the year , mark isambard brunel, the edison of his age, as his son was the ericsson of that following, permitted himself to be born at hacqueville; near rouen, france, went to school, to sea, and into politics; compromised himself in the latter profession, and went to america in , where he surveyed the canal now connecting lake champlain with the hudson river at albany, n.y. there he turned architect, then returned to europe, settled, married, and was knighted in england. he occupied eighteen years of his life in building an unproductive tunnel beneath the river thames at london; invented a method of shuffling cards without using the hands, and several of her devices for dispensing with labor, which, upon completion, were abandoned from economical motives. on his decease, his son and heir, i.k. brunel, whose practical experience in the thames tunnel job, where his biographers assert he had occasion more than once to save his life by swimming, qualified him to tread in his father's shoes, took up his trade. brunel, jr., having demonstrated by costly experiments, to the successful proof, but thorough exasperation, of his moneyed backers, that his father's theory for employing carbonic acid gas as a motive power was practicable enough, but too expensive for anything but the dissipation of a millionaire's income, settled down to the profession of engineering science, in which he did as well as his advantages of education enabled him. like all men in advance of their time, when he considered himself the victim of arbitrary capitalists ignoring the bent of his genius, he did his best work in accordance with their stipulations. he designed the great western, the first steamship (paddle-wheel) ever built to cross the atlantic; and the great britain, the original ocean screw steamer. flushed with these successes, brunel procured pecuniary support from speculative fools, who, dazzled by the glittering statistical array that can be adduced in support of any chimerical venture, the inventor's repute, and their unbaked experience, imagined that the alluring orient was ready to yield, like over-ripe fruit, to their shadowy grasp; and tainted as he evidently was with hereditary mania, brunel resolved to seize the illusionary immortality that he fondly imagined to be within his reach. there was not much the matter with the brain of brunel, jr., but that little was enough; a competent railroad surveyor, a good bridge builder, he needed to be held within bounds when handling other people's funds; for the man's ambition would have lead him to undertake to bridge the atlantic. he met with the speculators required in this very instance of the constructors of the great eastern. this monstrous ship has been described so often, that it would be a cruelty to our readers to inflict the story upon them again. natural gas the fuel of the future.--the house of the near future will have no fireplace, steam pipes, chimneys, or flues. wood, coal oil, and other forms of fuel are about to disappear altogether in places having factories. gas has become so cheap that already it is supplanting fuels. a single jet fairly heats a small room in cold weather. it is a well known fact that gas throws off no smoke, soot, or dirt. in a brazier filled with chunks of colored glass, and several jets placed beneath, the glass soon became heated sufficiently to thoroughly warm a room x feet in size. this design does away with the necessity for chimneys, since there is no smoke; the ventilation may be had at the window. the heat may be raised or lowered by simply regulating the flow of gas. the colored glass gives all the appearance of fire; there are black pieces to represent coal, red chunks for flames, yellowish white glass for white heat, blue glass for blue flames, and hues for all the remaining colors of spectrum. invention already is displacing the present fuels for furnaces and cooking ranges and glass, doing away with delay and such disagreeable objects as ashes, kindling wood, etc. it has only been within the past few years that natural gas has been utilized to any extent, in either pennsylvania, new york or ohio. yet its existence has been known since the early part of the century. as far back as , gas was struck in fredonia, chautauqua county, n.y., and was used to illuminate the village inn when lafayette passed through the place some three years later. not a single oil well of the many that have been sunk in pennsylvania has been entirely devoid of gas, but even this frequent contact with what now seems destined to be the fuel of the future bore no fruit of any importance until within the past few years. it had been used in comparatively small quantities previous to the fall of , but it was not until that time that the fuel gave any indication of the important role it was afterward to fill. at first ignored, then experimented with, natural gas has been finally so widely adopted that to-day, in the single city of pittsburgh, it displaces daily , tons of coal, and has resulted in building cities in ohio and the removal thereto of the glass making industries of the united states. the change from the solid to the gaseous fuel has been made so rapidly, and has effected such marked results in both the processes of manufacture and the product, that it is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the entire industrial world are turned with envious admiration upon the cities and neighborhoods blessed with so unique and valuable a fuel. the regions in which natural gas is found are for the most part coincident with the formations producing petroleum. this, however, is not always the case; and it is worthy of notice that some districts which were but indifferent oil-producers are now famous in gas records. the gas driller, therefore, usually confines himself to the regions known to have produced oil, but the selection of the particular location for a well within these limits appears to be eminently fanciful. the more scientific generally select a spot either on the anticlinal or synclinal axis of the formation, giving preference to the former position. almost all rock formations have some inclination to the horizon, and the constant change of this inclination produces a series of waves, the crests of which are known as anticlines, and the troughs as synclines. many drillers suppose that the gas seeks the anticlines and the oil the synclines, but others, equally long-headed, discard entirely all theory of this kind, and drill wherever it may be most convenient or where other operators have already demonstrated the existence of gas. it will surprise many of our readers to know that the divining rod, that superstitious relic of the middle ages, is still frequently called upon to relieve the operator of the trouble of a rational decision. the site having been selected, the ordinary oil-drilling outfit is employed to sink a hole of about six inches in diameter until the gas is reached. in the neighborhood of pittsburgh, this is usually found at a depth of , to , feet, in what is known as the third oil sand, a sandstone of the devonian period. where the gas comes from originally is an open question. when the driller strikes gas, he is not left in any doubt of the event, for if the well be one of any strength, the gas manifests itself by sending the drill and its attachments into the air, often to a height of a hundred feet or more. the most prolific wells are appropriately called "roarers." during the progress of the drilling, the well is lined with iron piping. occasionally this is also blown out, but as a rule the gas satisfies itself with ejecting the drill. when the first rush of gas has thrown everything movable out of its way, the workmen can approach, and chain the giant to his work. the plant at the well is much simpler than one would suppose. an elbow joint connects the projecting end of the well piping with a pipe leading to a strong sheet-iron tank. this collects the salt water brought up with the gas. ordinarily, about half a barrel accumulates in twenty four hours. a safety valve, a pressure indicator, and a blow-off complete the outfit. when the pressure exceeds a prescribed limit, the valve opens, and the gas escapes into the blow-off. this is usually feet high or more, and the gas issuing from the top is either ignited or permitted to escape into the atmosphere. the pipe line leading from the tank to the city is of course placed underground. beyond a little wooden house, the blow-off, and a derrick, the gas farms differ little in appearance from those producing less valuable crops. the pressure of the gas at the wells varies considerably. it is generally between and pounds. as much as pounds per square inch has been measured, and in many cases the actual pressure is even greater than this, but, as a rule, it is not permitted to much exceed atmospheres in any receiver or pipe. the best investment for parties of small means that we know of is in town lots in north baltimore, ohio. it is on the main line of the b. & o. railroad and the center of the oil and natural gas discoveries in ohio. property is bound to double in value. for further information, address, w.a. rhodes, north baltimore, ohio. hints on house building.--gas pipes should be run with a continuous fall towards the meter, and no low places. the gas meter should be set in a cool place, to keep it from registering against you; but if a "water meter," it should be protected from freezing. cupboards, wardrobes, bookcases, etc., generally afford receptacles for dust on their tops. this may be avoided by carrying them clear up to the ceiling. when this is not done, their tops should be sheeted over flush with the highest line of their cornices, so that there may be no sunken lodging-place for dust. furring spaces between the furring and the outer walls should be stopped off at each floor line with brick and mortar "fire stops;" and the same with hollow interior partition walls. soil pipes should never have "t" branches; always curves, or "y" branches. water pipes should be run in a continuous grade, and have a stop and waste cock at the lowest point, so as to be entirely emptied when desired. furnaces should have as few joints as possible, and the iron fire-pot is better lined with fire-brick. there should be no damper in the smoke pipe; but the ash-door should shut air-tight when desired. there should be provision for the evaporation of water in the hot-air pipe. "air boxes" should never be of wood. all air boxes should be accessible from one end to the other, to clean them of dust, cobwebs, insects, etc. horizontal hot-air flues should not be over feet long. parapets should be provided with impervious coping-stones to keep water from descending through the walls. sewer pipes should not be so large as to be difficult to flush. the oval sections (point down) are the best. soil-pipes should have a connection with the upper air, of the full diameter of the pipe to be ventilated. stationary wash-tubs of wood are apt to get soaked up with organic matter and filth. stationary washstands in bedrooms should have small traps; underneath each should be a leaden tray to protect ceilings in case of leakage, breakage or accidental overflow. this tray should have an overflow, and this overflow should be trapped, if connected with the foul-pipe system (which it should _not_ be if possible to arrange it otherwise). flues should have a smooth parging or lining, or they will be apt to draw with difficulty. gas pipes of insufficient diameter cause the flames to burn with unsteady, dim light. made ground is seldom fit for immediate building; and never for other than isolated structures. ashes, street-sweepings, garbage, rotten vegetation, and house refuse are unfit filling for low ground on which it is intended to build. cobble pavements are admirably adapted to soaking-up and afterwards emitting unwholesome matters. asphalt has none of this fault. wood is pernicious in this respect. "gullies" in cellar floors should be properly trapped; and this does _not_ mean that they shall have bell-traps nor siphon-traps with shallow water-seal. cellar windows should be movable to let in air, and should have painted wire-screens to keep out cats, rats, etc. new walls are always damp. window sills should project well out beyond the walls, and should be grooved underneath so as to throw the water clear of the walls. cracks in floors, between the boards, help the accumulation of dirt and dust, and may harbor vermin. narrow boards of course have narrower interstitial cracks than wide boards do. "secret nailing" is best where it can be afforded. hot-air flues should never be carried close to unprotected woodwork. electric bells, when properly put up and cared for, are a great convenience in a house; but when they don't work, they are about as aggravating as the law allows. cheap pushbuttons cause a great deal of annoyance. silver-plated faucets and trimmings blacken with illuminating and sewer gases. nickel-plating is perhaps a less pleasing white, but is cheaper and does not discolor readily. windows are in most respects a great blessing; but there may be too much of a good thing. it is unreasonable to expect that one grate or stove or furnace can heat a whole county. don't attempt it. if you have too many windows on the "cold side" of a house, give them double sashes (_not_ double panes), and "weather-strip" them. unpainted trimmings should be of hardwood. yellow pine finishes up well. butternut is brighter than walnut. cherry makes a room cheerful. walnut is dull and dismal. the forests of the world.--the rapid exhaustion of the forests of the world, and more particularly of the once great reserves of timber in the united states and canada, renders it inevitable that, in a very few years indeed, iron must supersede wood for a variety of uses. the drain upon the world's resources in timber is prodigious. every year , , railway sleepers are used in america alone, while to supply firewood for the whole of the states, fourteen times the quantity of wood consumed by the railways is annually required. at the computation of the most recent statistics there were , , of acres of woodland in the united states; but since over , , of acres are cut down yearly, this great area of timber will be non-existent in less than twenty years, unless replanting upon a very extensive scale be at once undertaken. already efforts are being made in this direction, and not long since some , , of saplings were planted in a single day in kansas and the neighboring states. but since the daily consumption is even greater than this, it is obvious that the work of replanting must be undertaken systematically if it is to keep pace, even approximately, with the destruction. in france and germany, where the forests are national property, forestry has been elevated to the status of an exact science; but the timber lands of those countries are small indeed compared with those in the united states. a church built from a single tree.--a redwood tree furnished all the timber for the baptist church in santa rosa, one of the largest church edifices in the country. the interior of the building is finished in wood, there being no plastered walls. sixty thousand shingles were made from the tree after enough was taken for the church. another redwood tree, cut near murphy's mill, about ten years ago, furnished shingles that required the constant labor of two industrious men for two years before the tree was used up. trees that sink.--of the more than four hundred species of trees found in the united states there are said to be sixteen species whose perfectly dry wood will sink in water. the heaviest of these is the black ironwood of southern florida, which is more than thirty per cent. heavier than water. of the others, the best known are the lignum vitæ and mangrove; another is a small oak found in the mountains of western texas, southern new mexico, and arizona, and westward to colorado, at an elevation of , to , feet. artificial wood.--you can produce an artificial fire and waterproof wood in the following manner. more or less finely divided wood shavings, straw, tan, etc., singly or mixed, are moistened with a weak solution of zinc chloride of about . sp. gr., and allowed to dry. they are then treated with a basic solution of magnesium chloride of . to . sp. gr., and pressed into moulds. the materials remain ten to twelve hours under pressure, during which time they harden while becoming heated. after being dried for several days in a warm, airy place, they are placed for ten or twelve hours into a strong solution of zinc chloride of about . sp. gr., and finally dried again. the product is stated to be workable like hardwood, and to be capable of taking a fine polish after being tooled. it is fireproof and inpermeable to water, and weak acid or alkaline solutions, and not affected by the humidity of the atmosphere, being well suited to decorative purposes, as it will not warp and fly like wood, but retain its form. how to stain wood.--the following are recipes for staining wood, which are used in large establishments with great success: light walnut--dissolve oz. permanganate of potash in six pints of water, and paint the wood twice with the solution. after the solution has been left on the wood for from five to ten minutes, the wood is rinsed, dried, oiled, and finally polished. light mahogany-- oz. finely cut alkanet root, ozs. powdered aloe, and ozs. powdered dragon's blood are digested with ozs. of strong spirits of wine in a corked bottle, and left in a moderately warm place for four days. the solution is then filtered off, and the clear filtrate is ready for use. the wood which is to be stained is first passed through nitric acid, then dried, painted over with the alcoholic extract, dried, oiled and polished. dark walnut.-- ozs. permanganate of potash are dissolved in six pints of water, and the wood is painted twice with this solution. after five minutes the wood is washed, and grained with acetate of iron (the ordinary iron liquor of the dyer) at ¡ tw. dry, oil and polish as usual. gray-- oz. nitrate of silver is dissolved in ozs. water, and the wood painted twice with the solution; afterwards the wood is submitted to the action of hydrochloric acid, and finally washed with ammonia. it is then dried in a dark place, oiled and polished. this is said to give remarkably good results on beech, pitch pine and poplar. black-- ozs. logwood are boiled with three pints of water, filtered, and the filtrate mixed with a solution containing oz. of sulphate of copper (blue copperas). the mixture is left to clear, and the clear liquor decanted while still hot. the wood is placed in this liquor for twenty-four hours; it is then exposed to the air for twenty-four hours, and afterwards passed through a hot bath of nitrate of iron of ¡ tw. if the black, after this treatment, should not be sufficiently developed, the wood has to be passed again through the first logwood bath. the highest chimney in the world.--the highest chimney in the world is said to be that recently completed at the lead mines in mechernich. it is meters ( ft. in.) high, was commenced in , and was carried up meters before the frost set in; building was again resumed on the th of last april, and it was completed last september. the foundation, which is of dressed stone, is square, measuring meters ( ft.) on each side, and is . meters ( ft. in.) deep; the base is also square, and is carried up meters ( ft.) above the ground. the chimney-stack is of circular section, . meters ( ft. in.) diameter at the bottom, and tapering to . meters diameter ( ft. in.) at the top, and is . meters ( ft.) high. how to measure round tanks.--square the diameter of the tank, and multiply by. , which gives the area; then multiply area by depth of tank, and the cubic contents will be found. allow - / gallons for each cubic foot. the largest buildings in the world.--where is the largest building in the world situated? the answer to this question must depend upon what the term "building" is held to represent. the great wall of china, , miles in length, wide enough to allow six horsemen to ride abreast along it, and with an average height of ft., may fairly be called a building; so, too, may be called the great pyramid of egypt. the question, however, was not meant to include such works as these. some have supposed that the vatican at rome, with its eight grand staircases, smaller staircases, courts, and , apartments, is the largest building in the world; but surely this is a collection of palaces rather than a single building. the same objection applies to the famous monastery of the escurial in the province of madrid, with its seven towers, fifteen gateways, and , windows and doors, and to many other vast piles. for the largest single building extant, we must look to st. peter's at rome, within which our great cathedral, st. paul's, could easily stand. st. peter's occupies a space of , sq. ft., its front is ft. broad, rising to a height of ft.; the length of the interior is ft., its breadth ft. it is capable of holding , people, while its piazza, in its widest limits, holds , . it is only by degrees that one is able to realize its vast size. st. peter's holds , persons; milan cathedral, , ; st. paul's, rome, , ; st. paul's, london, , ; st. petronio, bologna, , ; florence cathedral, , ; antwerp cathedral, , ; st. sophia, constantinople, , ; notre dame, paris, , ; pisa cathedral, , ; st. stephen's, vienna, , ; auditorium, chicago, , ; st. mark's, venice, , . the biggest bell in the world.--there is a bell in the temple of clars, at kinto, japan, which is larger than the great bell of moscow, or any other. it is covered with chinese and sanskrit characters which japanese scholars have not yet succeeded in translating. there is no record of its casting. its height is ft., and at the rim it has a thickness of in. it has no clapper, but is struck on the outside by a kind of wooden battering-ram. we are unable to obtain any more exact particulars as to the dimensions of this bell in order to determine whether or no it really does excel the "monarch" of moscow, which weighs about tons, is ft. in. in height, ft. in. in circumference, and ft. thick. there is another huge bell at moscow, and those at amazapoora, in burmah, and at pekin are far bigger than any we have in this country. our biggest bell is "great paul," which was cast at loughborough in , and which weighs - / tons. taking purity, volume, and correctness of note into account, it is probably the finest bell in europe. the oldest cities in the world.--they are the following:--argos, athens and thebes, in greece; crotona and rome, in italy; cadiz and saguntum, in spain; constantinople, in turkey, and marseilles, in france, which was founded by a colony of greeks b.c. the age of these cities varies from twenty-four to twenty-seven centuries. how to manufacture oil of apple, or essence of apple.--the essence of apple is composed of aldehyde parts; chloroform, acetic ether and nitrous ether and oxalic acid each part; glycerin parts; [transcriber's note: the original text reads: "amyl valerianice ther parts"] amyl valerianic ether parts. a formula for the manufacture of artificial cider.--imitation cider consists of gallons soft water, pounds new orleans sugar; pint yeast; two pounds tartaric acid. put all the ingredients into a clean cask, and stir them up well after standing twenty-four hours with the bung out. then bung the cask up tight, add gallons spirits, and let it stand forty-eight hours, after which time it will be ready for use. champagne cider can be prepared by taking gallons of cider, old and clear. put this in a strong, iron-bound cask pitched inside (like beer casks); add - / pints clarified white plain syrup; then dissolve in it ounces tartaric acid; keep the bung ready in hand, then add - / ounces of potassium bicarbonate; bung it as quickly and as well as possible. recipe for making instantaneous ink and stain extractor.--take of chloride of lime pound, thoroughly pulverized, and quarts soft water. the foregoing must be thoroughly shaken when first put together. it is required to stand twenty-four hours to dissolve the chloride of lime; then strain through a cotton cloth, after which add a teaspoonful of acetic acid to every ounce of the chloride of lime water. wood, which is a more unyielding material, acts with tremendous force when wetted, and advantage has been taken of this fact in splitting blocks of granite. this process is largely adopted in dartmoor. after a mass of granite has been rent from the mountain by blasting, it is measured in every direction to see how best to divide it into smaller blocks. these are traced out by straight lines on the surface, and a series of holes are drilled at short intervals along this line. wedges of dry wood are then tightly driven into the holes and wetted, and the combined action of the swelling wood splits the block in the direction required, and without any destructive violence. the same process is then carried out upon the other faces, and the roughly-shapen block finished with the hammer and chisel. the weight and value of a cubic foot of solid gold or silver.--a cubic foot of gold weighs about , ounces, and gold is worth $ . per ounce. silver is worth $ . per ounce, and a cubic foot weighs , ounces. consequently the cubic foot of gold would be worth $ , , and the silver $ , . to remove spots on brass.--sulphuric acid will remove spots from brass that will not yield to oxalic acid. it may be applied with a brush, but great care must be taken that no drop of the acid shall come in contact with the clothes or skin, as it is ruinous to garments and cuticle. bath brick or rottenstone may be used for polishing. a formula to make a good shoe dressing.--gum shellac, / pound; alcohol, quarts; dissolve, and add camphor, - / ounces; lampblack, ounces. the foregoing will be found to give an excellent gloss, and is especially adapted to any leather, the surface of which is roughened by wear. receipts for dyeing cotton fabric red, blue and ecru.--red: muriate of tin, two-thirds cupful, add water to cover goods; raise to boiling heat; put in goods one hour; stir often; take out, empty kettle, put in clean water with nicaragua wood one pound; steep one-half hour at hand heat, then put in goods and increase heat one hour, not boiling. air goods, and dip one hour as before. wash without soap. blue: for three pounds goods, blue vitriol ounces; boil few minutes, then dip goods three hours; then pass them through strong lime water. ecru: continue the foregoing operation for blue by passing the goods through a solution of prussiate of potash. motion of waves.--the progressive motion of a wave on the water exactly corresponds in speed with that of a pendulum whose length is equal to the breadth of the wave; the same law, gravity, governs both. light of the sun.--a photometric experiment of huygens, resumed by wollaston, a short time before his death, teaches us that , stars the same size as sirius, the most brilliant in the firmament, would need to be agglomerated to shed upon our globe a light equal to that of the sun. land cultivation in japan.--the entire arable land of the japanese empire is officially put at only , , acres; but it is so fertile and thoroughly cultivated that it feeds a population of , , , about that of france. rice is one of the principal crops, and of this some , , bushels are raised annually. old london bridge.--as early as the year there was a wooden bridge where london bridge now stands. this was replaced by another in , and another in . the present london bridge was erected in , and may be considered the oldest existing bridge over the river. the shortest method of removing silver from plated ware before replating.--dip the article in nitric acid; this will remove the silver. a formula for white metal.--copper, . parts; nickel, . parts; zinc, . parts; cadmium, . parts. it takes a fine polish. curiosities of metal working.--at a recent meeting of scientific men, a speaker produced an anklet worn by east indian women. this is a flat curb chain about one inch broad, with the links very close, and weighing about ten or twelve ounces. it is composed of a species of brass composed of copper and lead, without any trace of silver, zinc, or tin. such anklets are sold for a few pence, and they are cast all at once, complete as an endless chain. the links show no sign of having been united in any way. how it was possible to produce such a casting as this passed his comprehension, and he hoped that some one who had seen them made would explain the nature of the process. from the east much that was curious in metallurgical art came. cast-iron was, he believed, first made purposely in china. it was, however, frequently produced unintentionally, when wrought-iron was made direct from the ore in little furnaces about as big as a chimney-pot. it was found among the cinders and ash of the [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'coarcoal'] charcoal-fire in grains or globules, which were not only like shot, but were actually used as shot by the natives. he showed what he believed was the only specimen in england of this cast-iron, in a bottle. he next referred to the celebrated damascene blades of indian swords, and explained that these blades were an intimate mixture of wrought-iron and hard steel, which must have required great skill, time and patience for its production. one [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'patern'] pattern, in particular, known as "mary's ladder," showed wonderful finish and accuracy. concerning the tempering of these blades little was known; but it was stated that it was affected by a long-continued hammering, or rather tapping, of the blade while cold. how many tons of coal a large steamship consumes in a day.--"ocean steamers are large consumers of coal. the orient line, with their fleet of ships running to australia every two weeks, may be mentioned. the steamship austral went from london to sydney in thirty-five days, and consumed on the voyage , tons of coal; her coal bunkers hold , tons. the steamship oregon consumes over tons per day on her passage from liverpool to new york; her bunkers will hold nearly , tons. the stirling castle last year brought home in one cargo , tons of tea, and consumed , tons of coal in doing so. immense stocks of coal are kept at various coaling stations. st. vincent, madeira, port said, singapore and others; the reserve at the latter place is about , tons. it is remarkable with what rapidity these steamers are coaled; for instance, the orient steamship last year took in over , tons at port said in five hours." what a man eats.--a french statistician has just ascertained that a human being of either sex who is a moderate eater and who lives to be years old consumes during his life a quantity of food which would fill twenty ordinary railway baggage cars. a "good eater," however, may require as many as thirty. an australian railway viaduct.--the werribee viaduct, in the colony of victoria, is the longest work of the kind in australia. the structure consists of lattice-girder work. it is , feet in length, and runs to a height of feet above the level of the werribee river. the viaduct has fifteen spans each of feet, and thirteen spans of feet. the total cost of the bridge was £ , . the sharpening of tools.--instead of oil, which thickens and smears the stone, a mixture of glycerine and spirit is recommended. the proportions of the composition vary according to the class of tool to be sharpened. one with a relatively large surface is best sharpened with a clear fluid, three parts of glycerine being mixed with one part of spirit. a graver having a small cutting surface only requires a small pressure on the stone, and in such cases the glycerine should be mixed with only two or three drops of spirit. recipes for plumbers.--chloride of zinc, so much used in soldering iron, has, besides its corrosive qualities, the drawback of being unwholesome when used for soldering the iron tins employed to can fruit, vegetables and other foods. a soldering mixture has been found which is free from these defects. it is made by mixing one pound of lactic acid with one pound of glycerine and eight pounds of water. a wooden tank may be rendered capable of withstanding the effects of nitric or sulphuric acids by the following methods:--cover the inside with paraffin; go over the inside with a sadiron heated to the temperature used in ironing clothes. melt the paraffin under the iron so as to drive it into the wood as much as possible, then with a cooler iron melt on a coat thick enough to completely cover the wood. for brassing small articles: to one quart water add half an ounce each of sulphate copper and protochloride of tin. stir the articles in the solution until the desired color is obtained. use the sulphate of copper alone for a copper color. a good cement for celluloid is made from one part shellac dissolved in one part of spirit of camphor and three to four parts of ninety per cent. alcohol. the cement should be applied warm, and the broken parts securely held together until the solvent has entirely evaporated. tin and tin alloys, after careful cleansing from oxide and grease, are handsomely and permanently bronzed if brushed over with a solution of one part of sulphate of copper (bluestone) and one part of sulphate of iron (copperas) in twenty parts of water. when this has dried, the surface should be brushed with a solution of one part of acetate of copper (verdigris) in acetic acid. after several applications and dryings of the last named, the surface is polished with a soft brush and bloodstone powder. the raised portions are then rubbed off with soft leather moistened with wax in turpentine, followed by a rubbing with dry leather. protecting water-pipes against frost.--a device has been brought forward for protecting water-pipes against freezing, the arrangement being based upon the fact that water in motion will remain liquid at a lower temperature than water at rest. one end of a copper rod, placed outside the building, is secured to a bracket, and the other end is attached to one arm of a weighted elbow lever; to the other arm of the lever is secured a rod which passes into the building and operates a valve in the water-pipe. by means of turn buckles the length of the copper rod can be adjusted so that before the temperature reaches the point at which there would be danger of the water in the pipes freezing the valve will be opened to allow a flow of water; beyond this point the valve opening will increase and the flow become more rapid as the cold becomes more intense, and as the temperature rises the valve is closed. this plan sets up a current in the pipes, which replaces the water as it grows cold by the warmer water from the main. destructive work of barnacles.--unless some paint can be found which is proof against barnacles, it may be necessary to sheath steel vessels with an alloy of copper. an attempt has been made to cover the hulls with anti-corrosive paint and cover this with an outside coat which should resist the attack of barnacles. somehow the barnacles eat their way through the paint and attach themselves to the hull. the vast item of expense attached to the dry-docking of steel ships makes this matter a not unimportant one. the barnacles interfere greatly with the speed of a vessel, and in a cruiser speed is of prime importance. they attach themselves in an incredibly short time to a steel hull, and it is not long before their effect can be noted by a comparison of the reading of the log. how to frost glass.--two ounces of spirits of salts, two ounces of oil of vitriol, one ounce of sulphate of copper, one ounce of gum arabic, mixed together and dabbed on with a brush; or this:--dab your squares regularly over with putty; when dry go over them again--the imitation will be executed. or this:--mix epsom salts with porter and apply it with a brush. or this one:--grind and mix white lead in three-fourths of boiled oil, and one-fourth of spirits of turpentine, and, to give the mixture a very drying quality, add sufficient quantities of burnt white vitriol and sugar of lead. the color must be made exceedingly thin, and put on the panes of glass with a large painting-brush in as even a manner as possible. when a number of the panes are thus painted take a dry duster, quite new, dab the ends of the bristles on the glass in quick succession till you give it a uniform appearance; repeat this operation till the work appears very soft, and it will then appear like ground glass. when the windows require fresh painting, get the old coat off first by using strong pearlash water. how to preserve posts.--wood can be made to last longer than iron in the ground, if prepared according to the following recipe:--take boiled linseed oil and stir in pulverized coal to the consistency of paint. put a coat of this over the timber, and there is not a man that will live to see it rot. what diamond dyes and paints are made of.--solutions of the aniline colors. what the ingredients are of soapine and pearline.--they consist of partly effloresced sal soda mixed with half its weight of soda ash. some makers add a little yellow soap, coarsely powdered, to disguise the appearance, and others a little carbonate of ammonium or borax. how many thousand feet of natural gas are equal in heat-creating power to one ton anthracite coal.--about , cubic feet. sustaining power of ice. the sustaining power of ice at various degrees of thickness is given in the following paragraphs: at a thickness of two inches, will support a man. at a thickness of four inches, will support man on horseback. at a thickness of six inches, will support teams with moderate loads. at a thickness of eight inches, will support heavy loads. at a thickness of ten inches, will support , pounds to the square foot. the expansive power of water. it is a well known, but not less remarkable fact, that if the tip of an exceedingly small tube be dipped into water, the water will rise spontaneously in the tube throughout its whole length. this may be shown in a variety of ways; for instance, when a piece of sponge, or sugar, or cotton is just allowed to touch water, these substances being all composed of numberless little tubes, draw up the water, and the whole of the piece becomes wet. it is said to _suck up_ or _imbibe_ the moisture. we see the same wonderful action going on in nature in the rising of the sap through the small tubes or pores of the wood, whereby the leaves and upper portions of the plant derive nourishment from the ground. this strange action is called "capillary," from the resemblance the minute tubes bear to a hair, the latin of which is _capillus_. it is, moreover, singular that the absorption of the water takes place with great force. if a dry sponge be enclosed tightly in a vessel, it will expand when wetted, with sufficient force to burst it, unless very strong. london water supply.--the quantity of water consumed in london amounts to about , , gallons a day. if this quantity could be collected together, it would form a lake yards long, wide, and with a uniform depth of feet. a protection for embankments.--engineers often have considerable trouble with the loose soil of newly-made embankments, so apt to slip or be washed away before they are covered with vegetation. according to a french railway engineer, the best plan is to sow the banks with the double poppy. several months elapse before grasses and clovers develop their feeble roots, but the double poppy germinates in a few days, and in a fortnight has grown sufficiently to afford some protection to the slope, while at the end of three or four months the roots, which are ten or twelve inches in length, are found to have interlaced so as to retain the earth far more firmly than those of any grass or grain. although the double poppy is an annual, it sows itself after the first year. a cheap concrete.--a kind of concrete made without cement is composed of parts of sand, gravel and pebbles, part of burnt and powdered common earth, part of pulverized clinkers and cinders, and - / parts of unslacked hydraulic lime. these materials are thoroughly incorporated while dry into a homogeneous mixture, which is then wetted up and well beaten. the result of this is a hard and solid mass, which sets almost immediately, becoming exceedingly strong after a few days. it may be made still stronger by the addition of a small proportion--say part--of cement. marking tools.--to mark tools, first coyer the article to be marked with a thin coating of tallow or beeswax, and with a sharp instrument write the name in the tallow. clear with a feather, fill the letters with nitric acid, let it remain from one to ten minutes, then dip in water and run off, and the marks will be etched into the steel or iron. how to prevent chisel handles splitting.--all carpenters know how soon the butt-end of chisel handles split when daily exposed to the blow of a mallet or hammer. a remedy suggested by a brooklyn man consists simply of sawing or cutting off the round end of the handle so as to make it flat, and attaching by a few nails on the top of it two discs of sole leather, so that the end becomes similar to the heel of the boot. the two thicknesses of leather will prevent all further splitting, and if, in the course of time, they expand and overlap the wood of the handle, they are simply trimmed off all around. the largest wheel of its kind ever made in the world.--the greatest wheel of its kind in the world, a very wonder in mechanism, was built for the calumet and hecla mining company of lake superior, mich., for the purpose of lifting and discharging the "tailings," a waste from the copper mines, into the lake. its diameter is feet; weight in active operation, tons. its extreme dimensions are feet in diameter. some idea of its enormous capacity can be formed from the fact that it receives and elevates sufficient sand every twenty-four hours to cover an acre of ground a foot deep. it is armed on its outer edge with teeth, . inches pitch and inches face. the gear segments, eighteen in number, are made of gun iron, and the teeth are machine-cut, epicycloidal in form. it took two of the most perfect machines in the world days and nights to cut the teeth alone, and the finish is as smooth as glass. the wheel is driven by a pinion of gun iron containing teeth of equal pitch and face and runs at a speed of oo feet per minute at the inner edge, where it is equipped with steel buckets that lift the "tailings" as the machine revolves and discharges them into launders that carry them into the lake. the shaft of the wheel is of gun iron, and its journals are inches in diameter by feet inches long. the shaft is made in three sections and is inches in diameter in the center. at a first glance the great wheel looks like an exaggerated bicycle wheel, and it is constructed much on the same principle, with straining rods that run to centers cast on the outer sections of the shaft. the steel buckets on either side of the gear are each feet - / inches long and inches deep, and the combined lifting capacity of the , running at a speed of feet per minute, will be , , gallons of water and , tons of sand every twenty-four hours. the mammoth wheel is supported on two massive adjustable pedestals of cast iron weighing twelve tons each, and its cost at the copper mines before making a single revolution, $ , . strength of brick walls.--the question of strength of brick walls is often discussed, and differences of opinion expressed. the following is one of the rules given:--for first-class buildings, with good workmanship, the general average should not exceed a greater number of feet in height than three times its thickness of wall in inches, and the length not to exceed double the height, without lateral supports of walls, buttresses, etc., as follows for safety: thickness; safe height; length. - / inch walls; feet; feet. inch walls; feet; feet. inch walls; feet; feet. inch walls; feet; feet. inch walls; feet; feet. where the lengths must exceed these proportions, as in depots, warehouses, etc., the thickness should be increased, or lateral braces instituted as frequently as practicable. qualities of building stone.--the principal qualities of a good building stone are--( ) strength, ( ) hardness, ( ) durability, ( ) appearance, ( ) facility for working. there are also other minor points; but stone possessing one or more of the above qualities, according to the purpose for which it is required, may be regarded as good for that purpose. strength of stone.--stone should only be subjected to a compressive strain. it is occasionally subject to a cross strain, as in lintels over doors and windows; these are, however, contrary to the true principles of construction, and should not be allowed except a strong relieving arch is turned over them. the strength of stone in compression is about tons per square foot for the weakest stones, and about tons per square foot for the strongest. no stones are, however, subjected to anything like this amount of compressive force; in the largest buildings it does not amount to more than twelve or fourteen tons per square foot. hardness of stone.--this is of more importance than its strength, especially in pavements or steps, where it is subject to great wear; also in plinths and quoins of buildings where it is desired to preserve a good face and sharp arris. the order of strength and hardness of stone is--( ) basalt, ( ) granite, ( ) limestone, ( ) sandstone. granite, seinite, and gneiss take the first, place for strength, hardness and durability, but they will not stand a high temperature. "stones which are of a fine, uniform grain, compact texture and deep color are the strongest; and when the grain, color, and texture are the same, those are the stongest which are the heaviest; but otherwise the strength does not increase with the specific gravity." great hardness is objectionable when the stone has to be worked with a chisel, owing to the labor required to work it. hard stones, also, generally wear smooth, and become polished, which makes them unsuitable for some purposes. brittleness is a defect which frequently accompanies hardness, particularly in coarse-grained stones; it prevents them from being worked to a true surface, and from receiving a smooth edge at the angles. workmen call those hard stones which can only be sawn into slabs by the grit saw, and those soft which can be separated by a common saw. expansion of stone by heat.--rocks are expanded by heat and contracted by cooling. variation in temperature thus causes some building stones to alternately expand and contract, and this prevents the joints of masonry from remaining close and tight. in the united states with an annual thermometric range of more than deg. fah., this difficulty led to some experiments on the amount of expansion and contraction in different kinds of building stones. it was found that in fine-grained granite the rate of expansion was . for every degree fah., of increment of heat; in white crystalline marble it was . ; and in red sandstone . , or about twice as much as in granite. in western america, where the climate is remarkably dry and clear, the thermometer often gives a range of more than deg. in twenty-four hours. this great difference of temperature produces a strain so great that it causes rocks to crack or peel off in skins or irregular pieces, or in some cases, it disintegrates them into sand. dr. livingstone found in africa ( deg. s. lat., deg. e. long.) that surfaces of rock which during the day were heated up to deg. fah. cooled so rapidly by radiation at night that unable to stand the strain of contraction, they split and threw off sharp angular fragments from a few ounces to lbs. or lbs. in weight. according to data obtained from adie "trans. roy. soc. edin.," xiii., p. , and totten the expansion of ordinary rocks ranges from about . to . millionths for deg. fah. blunders and absurdities in art. in looking over some collections of old pictures, it is surprising what extraordinary [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'anachornisms'] anachronisms, blunders, and absurdities are often discoverable. in the gallery of the convent of jesuits at lisbon, there is a picture representing adam in paradise, dressed in blue breeches with silver buckles, and eve with a striped petticoat. in the distance appears a procession of capuchin monks bearing the cross. in a country church in holland there is a painting representing the sacrifice of isaac, in which the painter has depicted abraham with a blunderbus in his hand, ready to shoot his son. a similar edifice in spain has a picture of the same incident, in which the patriarch is armed with a pistol. at windsor there is a painting by antonio verrio, in which the artist has introduced the portraits of himself, sir godfrey kneller, and may, the surveyor of the works of that period, all in long periwigs, as spectators of christ healing the sick. a painter of toledo, having to represent the three wise men of the east coming to worship on the nativity of christ, depicted three arabian or indian kings, two of them white and one black, and all of them in the posture of kneeling. the position of the legs of each figure not being very distinct, he inadvertently painted three black feet for the negro king, and three also between the two white kings; and he did not discover his error until the picture was hung up in the cathedral. in another picture of the adoration of the magi, which was in the houghton hall collection, the painter, brughel, had introduced a multitude of little figures, finished off with true dutch exactitude, but one was accoutred in boots and spurs, and another was handing in, as a present, a little model of a dutch ship. the same collection contained a painting of the stoning of stephen, the martyr, by le soeur, in which the saint was attired in the habit of a roman catholic priest at high mass. a picture by rubens, in the luxembourg, represents the virgin mary in council, with two cardinals and the god mercury assisting in her deliberations. a stoppage of the falls of niagara. the following remarkable account of the stoppage of niagara falls, appeared in the _niagara mail_ at the time of the occurrence: "that mysterious personage, the oldest inhabitant, has no recollection of so singular an occurrence as took place at the falls on the th of march, . the 'six hundred and twenty thousand tons of water each minute' nearly ceased to flow, and dwindled away into the appearance of a mere milldam. the rapids above the falls disappeared, leaving scarcely enough on the american side to turn a grindstone. ladies and gentlemen rode in carriages one-third of the way across the river towards the canada shore, over solid rock as smooth as a kitchen floor. the _iris_ says: 'table rock, with some two hundred yards more, was left dry; islands and places where the foot of man never dared to tread have been visited, flags placed upon come, and mementoes brought away. this unexpected event is attempted to be accounted for by an accumulation of ice at the lower extremity of fort erie, which formed a sort of dam between fort erie and buffalo.'" wonders of minute workmanship. in the twentieth year of queen elizabeth, a blacksmith named mark scaliot, made a lock consisting of eleven pieces of iron, steel and brass, all which, together with a key to it, weighed but one grain of gold. he also made a chain of gold, consisting of forty-three links, and, having fastened this to the before-mentioned lock and key, he put the chain about the neck of a flea, which drew them all with ease. all these together, lock and key, chain and flea, weighed only one grain and a half. oswaldus norhingerus, who was more famous even than scaliot for his minute contrivances, is said to have made , dishes of turned ivory, all perfect and complete in every part, yet so small, thin and slender, that all of them were included at once in a cup turned out of a pepper-corn of the common size. johannes shad, of mitelbrach, carried this wonderful work with him to rome, and showed it to pope paul v., who saw and counted them all by the help of a pair of spectacles. they were so little as to be almost invisible to the eye. johannes ferrarius, a jesuit, had in his posession cannons of wood, with their carriages, wheels, and all other military furniture, all of which were also contained in a pepper-corn of the ordinary size. an artist, named claudius callus, made for hippolytus d'este, cardinal of ferrara, representations of sundry birds setting on the tops of trees, which, by hydraulic art and secret conveyance of water through the trunks and branches of the trees, were made to sing and clap their wings; but, at the sudden appearance of an owl out of a bush of the same artifice, they immediately became all mute and silent. curious dissection of the old and new testaments. showing the number of books, chapters, verses, words, letters, etc. in the old testament. in the new testament. total. books books chapters chapters , verses , verses , , words , words , , letters , , letters , , , apocrypha--chapters, ; verses, , ; words, , . the middle chapter and the least in the bible is psalm cxvii. the middle verse is the th of psalm cxviii. the middle line is in th verse, th chapter, chronicles. the word _and_ occurs in the old testament , times; in the new testament, , times. the word _jehovah_ occurs , times. old testament. the middle book is proverbs. the middle chapter is job xxix. the middle verse would be in the d of chronicles, th chapter, between the th and th verses. the least verse is the st of chronicles, st chapter, and st verse. new testament. the middle book is thessalonians. the middle chapter is between the th and th of romans. the middle verse is the th of acts xvii. the shortest verse is the th of john xi. the st verse of the th chapter of ezra contains all the letters of the alphabet. the th chapter of kings, and the th of isaiah, are alike. it is stated that the above calculation took three years to complete. remarkable inscription. the following singular inscription is to be seen carved on a tomb situated at the entrance of the church of san salvador, in the city of oviedo. the explanation is that the tomb was erected by a king named silo, and the inscription is so written that it can be read ways by beginning with the large s in the center. the words are latin, "silo princeps fecit." t i c e f s p e c n c e p s f e c i t i c e f s p e c n i n c e p s f e c i c e f s p e c n i r i n c e p s f e c e f s p e c n i r p r i n c e p s f e f s p e c n i r p o p r i n c e p s f s p e c n i r p o l o p r i n c e p s p c c n i r p o l i l o p r i n c e p e e n i r p o l i s i l o p r i n c e p e c n i r p o l i l o p r i n c e p s p e c n i r p o l o p r i n c e p s f s p e c n i r p o p r i n c e p s f e f s p e c n i r p r i n c e p s f e c e f s p e c n i r i n c e p s p e c i c e f s p e c n i n c e p s f e c i t i c e f s p e c n c e p s f e c i t besides this singular inscription, the letters h. s. e. s. s. t. t. l. are also carved on the tomb, but of these no explanation is given. silo, prince of oviedo, or king of the asturias, succeeded aurelius in , and died in . he was, therefore, a contemporary of charlemagne. no doubt the above inscription was the composition of some ingenious and learned spanish monk. curious calculations. consumption of air in activity and repose. dr. radclyffe hall makes the following interesting statement with regard to the amount of air we consume in repose, and at different degrees of activity: when still, we use cubic inches of air in a minute; if we walk at the rate of one mile an hour, we use ; two miles, , ; three miles an hour, , ; four miles an hour, , . if we run at six miles an hour, we use , cubic inches; trotting a horse, , ; cantering, , . the value of labor. cast iron of the value of £ sterling is worth, converted into ordinary machinery, £ ; in larger ornamented work, £ ; in buckles and similar kinds of fancy work, £ ; in neck chains, £ , . bar iron of the value of £ sterling is worth, in the form of knives, £ ; needles, £ ; penknife blades, £ ; polished [transcriber's note: the original text reads 'bottons'] buttons and buckles, £ ; balance springs of watches, £ , . interest of money. dr. price, in the second edition of his "observations on reversionary payments," says: "it is well known to what prodigious sums money improved for some time at compound interest will increase. a penny so improved from our saviour's birth, as to double itself every fourteen years--or, what is nearly the same, put out at five per cent. compound interest at our saviour's birth--would by this time have increased to more money than could be contained in millions of globes, each equal to the earth in magnitude, and all solid gold. a shilling, put out at six per cent. compound interest would, in the same time, have increased to a greater sum in gold than the whole solar system could hold, supposing it a sphere equal in diameter to the diameter of saturn's orbit. and the earth is to such a sphere as half a square foot, or a quarto page, to the whole surface of the earth." wonders of science. a grain of gold has been found by muncke to admit of being divided into _ninety-fire thousand millions of visible parts_; that is, by the aid of a microscope magnifying one thousand times. a sovereign is thus capable of division into ten millions of millions of visible particles, being ten thousand times as many such particles as there are men, women and children in all the world. spontaneous combustion.--liebig, in his "familiar letters on chemistry," has proved the unsoundness of spontaneous combustion. yet dr. lindley gives nineteen instances of something akin, or the rapid ignition of the human body by contact with flame as a consequence of the saturation of its tissues by alcohol. vibrations of the air.--if a person stand beneath a railway girder-bridge with an open umbrella over his head, when a train is passing, the vibration of the air will be distinctly felt in the hand which grasps the umbrella, because the outspread surface collects and concentrates the waves into the focus of the handle. the earth's center.--all bodies weigh less the further removed they are from the center of the earth. a block of stone weighing pounds upon the sea-shore, will weigh only pounds if carried up a mountain three miles high. a pendulum oscillates more quickly at the poles than at the equator, because the earth is flatter by twenty-six miles at the poles--that is, the "bob" of the pendulum is that much nearer the earth's center, and therefore heavier, and so swings more quickly. proofreading team and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, august , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- alfred's orosius, by dr. bell. remarkable proposition concerning ireland, by h. kersley. news: a few "old" materials for its elucidation, by s.w. singer. folk lore:--charming for warts. minor notes:--capture of henry vi.--the new temple. queries:-- essays of certain paradoxes: poem on nothing, by s.w. singer. minor queries:--papers of perjury--church rates--st. thomas of lancaster's accomplices--prelates of france--lord chancellor's oath--mediæval nomenclature--sir christopher sibthorp--alarm. replies:-- shakspeare's use of "delighted," by samuel hickson. english comedians in germany. achilles and the tortoise. replies to minor queries:--"barum" and "sarum"--countess of desmond--michael servetus, alias reves--caxton's printing-office--somagia--various modes of interment among the ancients--guy's porridge-pot--"welcome the coming, speed the parting guest"--"a chrysostom to smoothe his band in"--william of wykeham--dutch language--"a frog he would," &c.--city sanitary laws--sanitary laws of other days--michael scott, the wizard--clerical costume--the curfew--welsh language--armenian language--north sides of churchyards unconsecrated--"sir hilary charged at agincourt"--unicorn--abbey of st. wandrille, normandy, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes alfred's orosius. the two exceedingly valuable elucidations which the geography of king alfred relating to germany (intercalated in the royal author's translation of orosius), has received from your learned contributors mr. r.t. hampson (vol. i., p. .) and mr. s.w. singer (vol. i., p. .) induce me to offer some new views on the same subject. from my having passed a long series of years in the countries described, and read and examined all that continental authors, as well as englishmen, have written or conjectured on the subject, i trust that my opinions, though differing from all hitherto received, may not be unworthy the attention of these gentlemen, and of your other numerous subscribers. i shall, however, at present, not to exceed the necessary limitation of your articles, restrict myself to a consideration of the very disputed _cwenas_ and the _cwen-sae_, which both the gentlemen have not alluded to. the universal agreement amongst the commentators (with the two solitary exceptions i shall hereafter mention), by which this sea is taken for the white sea, is diverting, and has been the primary source of many of their errors, and of that most monster one, by which othere's narrative has been made the relation of a voyage round the north cape to archangel. it is difficult to say who may have first broached the brilliant idea. spelmann's annotators, his alumni oxonienses of university college, seem to have left the matter without much consideration, in which they were pretty servilely followed by bussæus, though not so much so as to justify professor ingram's remark, "that his notes were chiefly extracted thence." (pref. viii.) professor murray of göttingen ( ), and langebeck, in his _scriptores rerum danicarum_ ( ), make no mention of these arctic discoveries; and the latter is satisfied that the cwenas are the amazons of adam of bremen:-- "de quenorum priscis sedibus et quenlandiæ situ, vide torfæus, _hist. norweg._ i. . adamus bremens, pp. , . ., per amazones et terram foeminarum voluit queuones et quenladiam intelligi." and it remains, therefore, to the next commentator, john reinhold forster (the companion navigator with sir joseph banks), to have been the first to whom we owe the important error. he was praised by daines barrington, for whose edition he gave the notes afterwards reproduced in his _northern voyages of discovery_; but still with certain reservations. the honourable translator found some negative evidences which seemed to militate against the idea that the voyage could have extended into the arctic circle; for, in such a case, othere would hardly have refrained from mentioning the perpetual day of those regions; the northern lights, which he must have experienced; to which { } we add, the perpetual snows, and many other very striking peculiarities, so new and seemingly inexplicable to a southern traveller or listener. succeeding writers seem to have had fewer scruples, and to have admitted the idea without consideration. thorkelin, the dane, (when in england to copy out the poem of _beowulf_ for publication at copenhagen), gave a very flattering testimony to forster's notes, in _bibliotheca topographica_, vol. ix. p. . _et seq._, though i believe he subsequently much modified it. our own writers who had to remark upon the subject, sharon turner, and wheaton, in his _history of the northmen_, may be excused from concurring in an opinion in which they had only a verbal interest. professor ingram, in his translation of _othere's voyage_ (oxford, , to. p. . note), gives the following rather singular deduction for the appellation: quenland was the land of the amazons; the amazons were fair and white-faced, therefore _cwen-sae_ the white sea, as forster had deduced it: and so, having satisfied himself with this kind of sorites, follows pretty closely in forster's wake. but that continental writers, who took up the investigation avowedly as indispensable to the earliest history of their native countries, should have given their concurrence and approval so easily, i must confess, astonishes me. dahlman, whilst professor of history at kiel, felt himself called upon by his situation to edit and explain this work to his countrymen more detailedly than previously, and at vol. ii. p. . of the work cited by mr. singer gives all alfred's original notices. i shall at present only mention his interpretation of _quen sae_, which he translates _weltmeer_; making it equivalent to the previous _garseeg_ or _oceanus_. he mentions the reasonings of rask and porthan, of abo, the two exceptions to the general opinion (which i shall subsequently notice), without following, on this point, what they had previously so much more clearly explained. the best account of what had previously been done on the subject is contained in beckmann's _litteratur der alten raisen_ (s. .); and incidental notices of such passages as fall within the scope of their works, are found in schlözer's _allgemeine nordische geschichte_, thummann's _untersuchungen_, walch's _allgemeine bibliothek_, schöning's _gamle nordishe geographie_, nyerup's _historisk-statistik skildering i aeldre og nyere tider_, in sprengel's _geschichte_, and by wörbs, in kruse's _deutsche alterthümer_. professor ludw. giesebrecht published in , at berlin, a most excellent _wendische geschichte_, in vols. vo., but his inquiries concerning this periplus (vol. iii. p ) are the weakest part of his work, having mostly followed blindly the opinions to which the great fame and political importance of dahlman had given full credence and authority. he was not aware of the importance of alfred's notices for the countries he describes, and particularly for the elucidation of the vexed question of adam of bremen's _julin_ and helmold's _veneta_, by an investigation of othere's _schiringsheal_, and which i endeavoured to point out in a pamphlet i published in the german language, and a copy of which i had the pleasure of presenting, amongst others, to professor dahlman himself at the germanisten versammlung at lübeck in . to return, however, to the _cwena land_ and _sae_, it is evident that the commentators, who are principally induced by their bearings to sweon land to look upon the latter as the white sea, have overlooked the circumstance that the same name is found earlier as an arm of the wendel or mediterranean sea; and it is evident that one denomination cannot be taken in a double meaning; and therefore, when we find alfred following the boundaries of europe from greece, "crecalande ut on þone wendelsae Þnord on þone garsaege pe man cwen sae haet", it is certain that we have here an arm of the wendel sea (here mistaken for the ocean) that runs from greece to the north, and it cannot also afterwards be the white sea. it will be necessary to bring this, in conformity with the subsequent mention of _cwen-sae_, more to the northward, which, as i have just said, has been hitherto principally attended to. in welsh topography no designation scarcely recurs oftener than _gwent_ (or, according to welsh pronunciation, and as it may be written, _cwent_) in various modifications, as gwyndyd, gwenedd, gynneth, gwynne, &c. &c.; and on the authority of gardnor's _history of monmouthshire_ (appendix .), under which i willingly cloak my ignorance of the welsh language, i learn that _gwent_ or _went_ is "spelt with or without a _g_, according to the word that precedes it, according to certain rules of grammar in the ancient british language, and that _venedotia_ for north wales is from the same root." the author might certainly have said, "the same word latinized." but exactly the same affinity or identity of names is found in a locality that suits the place we are in search of: in an arm of the mediterranean stretching from greece northwards; viz. in the adriatic, which had for its earliest name _sirus venedicus_, translated in modern italian into _golfo di venezia_. of the multitudes of authorities for this assumption i need only mention strabo, who calls the first settlers on its northern end (whence the whole gulph was denominated) [greek: everoi]; or livy, who merely latinizes the term as _heneti_, lib. i. cap. i., "antenorem cum multitudine henetum." with the fable of antenor and his trojan colony we have at present no further relation. the name alone, and its universality at this locality, is all that we require. i shall now show that we can follow these veneti (which, that it is a generic name of situation, i must now omit to prove, from the compression { } necessary for your miscellany) without a break, in an uninterrupted chain, to the north, and to a position that suits alfred's other locality much more fitting, than the white sea. the province of _vindelicia_ would carry us to the boden see (lake of constance), which pomponius mela, lib. iii. cap. i. ad finem, calls _lacus venedicus_. this omitting the modern evidences of this name and province in windisch-grätz, windisch-feistriz, &c. &c., brings us sufficiently in contact with the slavonic and wendic people of bohemia to track the line through them to the two lausitz, where we are in immediate proximity to the spree wald. there the wends (pronounce _vends_) still maintain a distinct and almost independent community, with peculiar manners, and, it is believed, like the gypsies, an elected or hereditary king; and where, and round lüchow, in hanover, the few remnants of this once potent nation are awaiting their final and gradual absorption into the surrounding german nations. whenever, in the north of germany, a traveller meets with a place or district ending in _wits_, _itz_, _pitz_, &c., wherever situate, or whatever language the inhabitants speak, he may put it down as originally wendish; and the multitude of such terminations will show him how extensively this people was spread over those countries. itzenplitz, the name of a family once of great consequence in the mark of brandenburg is ultra-wendish. it will, therefore, excite no wonder that we find, even in tacitus, veneti along their coasts and ptolemy, who wrote about a century and a half later than strabo or livy, seems to have improved the terminology of the ancients in the interval; for, speaking of the sarmatian tribes, he calls these veneti [greek: ouenedai par holon ton ouenedikon kolpon]. here we find the truest guide for the pronunciation, or, rather, for the undigammaising of the latin _v_ and the welsh _w_, as _ouenetoi_, which is proved in many distant and varying localities. st. ouen, the welsh owen and evan, and the patron saint of rouen, no doubt had his name (if he ever existed at all) coined from the french veneti of armorica, amongst which he lived; and when foreigners wish to render the english name _edward_ as spoken, they write _edouard_ and robert the wizzard, the norman conqueror of sicily and apulia, has his name transformed, to suit italian ears, into _guiscard_, and as william into _gulielmi_. thus, therefore, the whole coast of prussia, from pomerania, as far, perhaps, as known, and certainly all the present prussia proper, was the _sinus venedicus_, ptolemy's [greek: kolpon]; and this was also alfred's cwen-sae, for the north. i admit that when alfred follows orosius, he uses _adriatic_ for the _golfo de venezia_, but when he gives us his independent researches, he uses an indigenous name. professor porthan, of abo in finland, published a swedish translation, with notes, of the _voyages of othere and wulfstan_ in the _kongl. vitterhets historie och antiquitet academiens handlingar, sjette delen_. stockholm, , p. - ., in which he expressly couples finland with cwenland; and, in fact, considering the identity of _cwen_ and _ven_, and the convertibility of the _f_ and _v_ in all languages, _ven_ and _fen_ and _cwen_ will all be identical: but i believe he might have taken a hint from bussæus, who, in addition to his note at p. ., gives at p. . an extract from the _olaf tryvassons saga_, where "finnland edr quenland" (finland or quenland) are found conjoined as synonyms. professor rask, who gives the original text, and a danish translation in the _transactions of the shandinavish litteratur selkskab_ for , as "otter og wulfstans korte reideberetninger," &c., though laudatory in the extreme of porthan, and differing from him on some minor points, yet fully agrees in finding the cwen-sea within the baltic: and he seems to divide this inland sea into two parts by a line drawn north and south through bornholm, of which the eastern part is called the cwen or serminde, or samatian sea. be that as it may, the above is one of a series of deductions by which i am prepared to prove, that as the land geography of germany by alfred is restricted to the valleys of the weichsel (wisle), the oder, the elbe, and the weser, so the sea voyages are confined to the debouchures of such of these rivers as flow into the baltic. this would give a combined action of purpose to both well suited to the genius of the monarch and the necessities of an infant trade, requiring to be made acquainted with coasts and countries accessible to their rude navigation and limited commercial enterprise. so prudent a monarch would never have thought of noting down, for the instruction and guidance of his subjects and posterity, the account of a voyage which even now, after an interval of ten centuries of continued nautical improvements, and since the discovery of the compass, is not unattended with danger, nor accomplished in less than a year's time wasted. william bell, phil. dr. british archeological association. * * * * * remarkable proposition concerning ireland. the following passage, which contains a curious proposition relating to ireland, will probably be new and interesting to many readers of "notes and queries," since the book from which i extract it is a scarce one, and not often read. among the many various schemes that have of late been propounded for the improvement of our sister country, this is perhaps not the least remarkable, and shows that the _questio vexata_, "what is to be done with ireland?" is one of two centuries' standing. james harrington, in his _oceana, the introduction_, { } (pp. , ., toland's edition, ), speaking of ireland under the name of panopea, says,-- "panopea, the soft mother of a slothful and pusillanimous people, is a neighbor iland, antiently subjected by the arms of _oceana_; since almost depopulated for shaking the yoke, and at length replanted with a new race. but (through what virtues of the soil, or vice of the air, soever it be), they com still to degenerat. wherfore seeing it is neither likely to yield men fit for arms, nor necessary it should; it had bin the interest of _oceana_ so to have dispos'd of this province, being both rich in the nature of the soil, and full of commodious ports for trade, that it might have bin order'd for the best in relation to her purse, which, in my opinion (if it had been thought upon in time), might have bin best don by planting it with _jews_, allowing them their own rights and laws; for that would have brought then suddenly from all parts of the world, and in sufficient numbers. and though the _jews_ be now altogether for merchandize, yet in the land of _canaan_ (except since their exile, from whence they have not bin landlords), they were altogether for agriculture, and there is no cause why a man should doubt, but having a fruitful country and excellent ports too, they would be good at both. _panopea_ well peopled, would be worth a matter of four millions of dry rents; that is besides the advantage of the agriculture and trade, which, with a nation of that industry, coms at least to as much more. wherfore _panopea_ being farm'd out to the jews and their heirs for ever, for the pay of a provincial army to protect them during the term of seven years, and for two millions annual revenue from that time forward, besides the customs which would pay the provincial army, would have bin a bargain of such advantage both to them and this commonwealth, as is not to be found otherwise by either. to receive the _jews_ after any other manner into a commonwealth, were to maim it; for they of all nations never incorporat, but taking up the room of a limb, are no use or office to the body, while they suck the nourishment which would sustain a natural and useful member." henry kersley corpus christi hall, maidstone. * * * * * news. a few _old_ materials for its elucidation. "_novaum_, vulgo _nouvelle_. ugutio: '_rumor, murmur, quod vulgo dicitur novum._' occurit non semel in epistolis marini sanuti. 'novis de obitu papæ auditis,' in regesta universitatis paris, an. , _spicileg. acher._, tom vi. p. ." so far ducange, who also refers to the following: "supervenerunt nobis _nova_ certa de morte, videlicet quorundam nobilium, nobis adhærentium, captorum per partem dieti philippi in britannia, et de speciali præcepto suo parisiis ignominiosæ morti traditorum; nec non de strage, &c. &c."--_charta an_. , apud rymer, t. v. p. . the derivation of this word has been so strenuously and ably discussed by the contending parties in your pages, that i have no intention of interfering (non nostrum tantas componere lites) further than to furnish a few materials bearing on the subject, which may not have come under their notice. it seems uncertain whether _newes_ was considered by our ancestors _plural_ or _singular_. resolute john florio is sadly inconsistent in his use of it: in his _world of wordes_, ed. , we have: "_nova_, newe, fresh, a noueltie, a _newe report_. "_novella_, a tale, a nouell, a noueltie, a discourse, _a newes_ a message." in queen anna's _world of wordes_, : "_nova_, a noueltie, _a new report_. "_novella, a tiding, or newes_. "_novellante_, a teller of _newes_ or _tidings_." here we have _newes_ treated both as _singular_ and _plural_! while we have _tiding_ as the singular of _tidings_, a form which, from long disuse, would now appear strange to us. in the following extract from florio's very amusing book of dialogues, _second frutes_, , he makes _newes_ decidedly plural:-- "_c_. what doo they say abroade? what _newes_ have you, master tiberio? _t_. nothing that i know; can you tell whether the post be come? _c_. no, sir; they saye in the exchange that the great turke makes great preparation to warre with the persian. _t_. 'tis but a deuice; _these be newes_ cast abroade to feede the common sorte, i doo not beleeue them.... _c_. yea, but _they_ are written to verie worshipful merchants. _t_. by so much the lesse doo i beleeue them; doo not you know that euerie yeare _such newes are_ spreade abroade? _c_. i am almost of your minde, for i seldome see these written reports prove true. _t_. prognostications, _newes_, deuices, and letters from forraine countries (good master cæsar), are but used as confections to feed the common people withal. _c_. a man must give no more credite to exchange and powles' _newes_ than to fugitiues promises and plaiers fables." in thomas's _principal rules of the italian grammer, with a dictionarie_, printed by thomas powell in , but written in , we have-- "_novella_, a tale, a parable, or a _neweltee._ "_novelluzza_, an _ynkelyng_. "_novellare_, to tell tales or _newes_." in the title page of a rare little volume printed in , we have the adjective _new_ in apposition with the substantive _newes_, thus: "sir thomas overburie his wife, with new elegies upon his (now knowne) untimely death. whereunto are annexed _new newes_ and characters written by himselfe and other learned gentlemen. editio septima. london: printed by edward griffin for lawrence lisle, , mo." the head of one section is-- { } "_newes_ from any-whence, or, _old truth_ under a supposal of _noueltie_." chaucer uses for _the newe_ and of _the newe_ (sc. fashion) elliptically. _tiding_ or _tidings_, from the a.-s. tid-an, evidently preceded _newes_ in the sense of inteligence, and may not _newes_ therefore be an elliptic form of _new-tidinges_? or, as our ancestors had _newelté_ and _neweltés_, can it have been a contraction of the latter? if we are to suppose with mr. hickson that _news_ was "adopted bodily into the language," we must not go to the high-german, from which our early language has derived scarcely anything, but to the neder-duytsch, from the frequent and constant communication with the low countries in the sixteenth century. the following passages from kilian's _thesaurus_, printed by plantin, at antwerp, in , are to the purpose, and may serve to show how the word was formed:-- "_nieuwtijdinge_, oft _wat nieuws_, nouvelles, nuntius vel nuntium." "_seght ons wat nieuws_, dicte nous quelquechose de nouveau, recita nobis aliquid novi." "_nieuwsgierich, nygierich_, convoiteux de nouveautez, cupidus novitatis." i trust these materials may be acceptable to your able correspondents, and tend to the resolution of the question at issue. s.w. singer. mickleham, august . . "_news_," _origin of the word_ (vol. i., pp. . . .; vol. ii., pp. . . .).--your correspondents who have written upon this subject may now have seen the following note in zimperley's _encyclopædia_, p. .:-- "the original orthography was _newes_, and in the singular. johnson has, however, decided that the word _newes_ is a substantive without a singular, unless it be considered as singular. the word _new_, according to wachter, is of very ancient use, and is common to many nations. the britons, and the anglo-saxons, had the word, though not the thing. it was first printed by caxton in the modern sense, in the _siege of rhodes_, which was translated by john kay, the poet laureate, and printed by caxton about the year . in the _assembly of foulis_, which was printed by william copland in , there is the following exclamation:-- "'newes! newes! newes! have ye ony newes?' "in the translation of the _utopia_, by raphe robinson, citizien and goldsmythe, which was imprinted by abraham nele in , we are told, 'as for monsters, because they be no _newes_, of them we were nothynge inquysitive.' such is the rise, and such the progress of the word _news_, which, even in , was still printed _newes_!" w.j. havre. * * * * * folk lore. _charming for warts_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii. p. .).--in lord bacon's _sylva sylvarum, or a natural history in ten centuries_ (no. .), the great philosopher gives a minute account of the practice, from personal experience, in the following words:-- "the taking away of warts, by rubbing them with somewhat that afterwards is put to waste and consume, is a common experiment; and i do apprehend it the rather, because of mine own experience. i had from my childhood a wart upon one of my fingers; afterwards, when i was about sixteen years old, being then at paris, there grew upon both my hands a number of warts (at least an hundred), in a month's space; the english ambassador's lady, who was a woman far from superstition, told me one day she would help me away with my warts; whereupon she got a piece of lard with the skin on, and rubbed the warts all over with the fat side, and amongst the rest, that wart which i had from my childhood; then she nailed the piece of lard with the fat towards the sun, upon a post of her chamber window, which was to the south. the success was, that within five weeks' space all the warts went quite away, and that wart which i had so long endured for company; but at the rest i did little marvel, because they came in a short time and might go away in a short time again, but the going of that which had stayed so long doth yet stick with me. they say the like is done by rubbing of warts with a green elder stick, and then burying the stick to rot in muck." j.m.b. * * * * * minor notes. _capture of henry the sixth._--at waddington in mytton stands a pile of building known as the "old hall," once antique, but now much indeed despoiled of its beauty, where for some time the unfortunate king, henry the sixth, was concealed after the fatal battle of hexham, in northumberland. quietly seated one day at dinner, "in company with dr. manting, dean of windsor, dr. bedle, and one ellarton," his enemies came upon him by surprise, but he privately escaped by a back door, and fled to brungerley stepping-stones (still partially visible in a wooden frame), where he was taken prisoner, "his legs tied together under the horse's belly," and thus disgracefully conveyed to the tower in london. he was betrayed by one of the talbots of bashall hall, who was then high-sheriff for the west riding. this ancient house or hall is still in existence, but now entirely converted into a building for farming purposes: "sic transit gloria mundi." near the village of waddington, there is still to be seen a meadow known by the name of "king henry's meadow." in baker's _chronicle_, the capture of the king is described as having taken place "in _lincolnshire_," { } but this is evidently incorrect; it is waddington, in mytton, west yorkshire. clericus cravensis. _the new temple_ (vol. ii., p. .).--as your correspondent is interested in a question connected with the occupants of the new temple at the beginning of the fourteenth century, i venture to state, at the hazard of its being of any use to him, that i have before me the transcript of a deed, dated at canterbury, the th of july, , by which two prebendaries of the church of york engage to pay to the abbot of newenham, in the county of devon, the sum of marks sterling, at the new temple in london, in accordance with a bond entered into by them before g. de thornton and others, the king's justices. s.s.s. * * * * * queries. essayes of certain paradoxes: poem on nothing. who was the author of a thin to. volume with the above title, printed for tho. thorpe, ? the contents are, "the praise of k. richard the third--the french poetes--nothing--that it is good to be in debt." the late mr. yarnold has a ms. copy of the "praise of k. richard," to which was prefixed the following dedication:-- "to the honourable sir henry nevill, knighte." "i am bolde to adventure to your honors viewe this small portion of my privatt labors, as an earnest peny of my love, beinge a mere paradoxe in prayse of a most blame-worthie and condemned prince, kinge richard the third; who albeit i shold guilde with farre better termes of eloquence then i have don, and freate myself to deathe in pursuite of his commendations, yet his disgrace beinge so publicke, and the worlde so opinionate of his misdoings, as i shold not be able so farre to justifie him as they to condemne him. yet that they may see what may be saide, and to shew how farre they haue mispraysed his vertues, this following treatise shall make manyfest. your honour may peruse and censure yt at your best leisure, and though yt be not trickt up wth elegance of phrase, yet may it satisfye a right curious judgmente, yf the reasons be considered as they ought. but, howsoever, yf you please to accepte it, i shall thinke my labors well bestowed; who, both in this and what ells may, devote myself to your honour, and rest, "your honours most affectionat servant, "hen. w." the praise of nothing is very well versified from the latin of passerat, whose verses dr. johnson thought worthy of a place in his _life of lord rochester_. besides rochester's seventeen stanzas "upon nothing," there appears to have been another copy of verses on this fertile subject; for flecknoe, in his _epigrams of all sorts_, , has "somewhat to mr. j.a. on his excellent poem of nothing." is _anything_ known of this _nothing_? s.w. singer. mickleham, july . . * * * * * minor queries. _papers of perjury._--in leicester's _commonwealth_ occurs the following passage:-- "the gentlemen were all taken and cast into prison, and afterwards were sent down to ludlow, there to wear _papers of perjury_." can any of your readers refer me to a _graphic_ account of the custom of perjurers wearing papers denoting their crime, to which i suppose this passage alludes? s.r. _church rates._--ch. would be obliged to any of your readers who could refer him to the volume of either the _gentleman's_ or the _british magazine_ which contains some remarks on the article on church rates in knight's _political dictionary_, and on cyric-sceat. _st. thomas of lancaster's accomplices._--in no. . i find an extract from rymer, by mr. monckton milnes, relative to some accomplices of st. thomas of lancaster, supposed to have worked miracles.--query, was "the parson of wigan" one of these accomplices, and what was his name? was he ever brought to trial for aiding the earl, preaching sedition in the parish church of wigan, and offering absolution to all who would join the standard of the barons? and what was the result of that trial--death or pardon? clericus cravensis. _prelates of france._--p.c.s.s. is desirous to know where he can meet with an accurate list of the archbishops and bishops of france (or more properly of their sees) under the old _régime_. _lord chancellor's oath._--the gazette of the th july notified that the right hon. sir thomas wilde, in council, took the oath of lord chancellor of great britain _and ireland_ on the th inst.; and the same gazette announced the direction of the queen that letters patent be passed granting the dignity of baron to the right hon. sir thomas wilde, knt., lord chancellor of that part of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland called _great britain_. why, when he is only chancellor of great britain, should he take the oath of chancellor of great britain _and ireland_? j. _mediæval nomenclature._--in what work is to be obtained the best information explanatory of the nomenclature of the useful arts in mediæval times? [greek: delta]. { } _sir christopher sibthorp._--can any of your readers furnish me with information as to the ancestry of sir christopher sibthorp, whose name appears in the title-page of the following tract: _a friendly advertisement to the pretended catholics of ireland, by christopher sibthorp, knt., one of h.m. justices of his court of chief place in ireland_, , dublin and also as to the crest, arms, and motto borne by him. de baldoc. _alarm_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the derivation of _alarm_, and the french _alarme_, from _à l'arme_, which your correspondent m. has reproduced, has always struck me as unsatisfactory, and as of the class of etymologies suspiciously ingenious. i do not venture to pronounce that the derivation is wrong: i merely wish to ventilate a doubt through "notes and queries," and invite some of your more learned readers to lily to decide the question. of the identity of the words _alarm_ and _alarum_ there is no doubt. the verb _alarm_ is spelt _alarum_ in old writers, and i have seen it so spelt in manuscripts of charles ii.'s reign, but unfortunately have not taken a "note." dr. johnson says _alarum_ is a corruption of _alarm_. corruption, however, usually shortens words. i cannot help having a notion that _alarum_ is the original word; and, though i may probably be showing great ignorance in doing so, i venture to propound the following queries:-- . how far back can the word _alarum_ be traced in our language, and how far back _alarm_? . can it be ascertained whether the french took _alarme_ from our _alarm_, or we _alarm_ from them? . can any explanation be given of _alarum_, supposing it to be the original word? is it a word imitative of sound? _a l'arme_, instead of _aux armes_, adds to the suspiciousness of this derivation. ch. * * * * * replies. shakspeare's use of "delighted." although dr. kennedy does not think i have discovered the source from whence shakspeare's word _delighted_ is derived, i am gratified to find that he concurs with me in drawing a distinction between this and the more common word. his failure to convince me is a source almost of regret, so happy do i regard the derivation he proposes in the last passage cited. but in the passage from _measure for measure_, it does not appear to me to express the sense which i deduce from the context; and as i look upon the word in question as the same in each of the three passages, i feel more inclined to adhere to my view, that it is a word of english manufacture, according to the analogy referred to. i express my opinion with hesitation and there can be no doubt the question is deserving of full and attentive consideration. strengthened, however, in my main purpose, which was to show that shakspeare did not use _delighted_ in the ordinary sense of _highly gratified_, i am better prepared to meet mr. halliwell. this gentleman does me no more than justice in the remark, not expressed, though, i hope, implied, that i would not knowingly make use of an offensive expression towards him or any living man; and i appreciate the courtesy with which he has sweetened the uncomplimentary things he has felt constrained to say of me. i trust it will be found that i can repay his courtesy and imitate his forbearance. as a preliminary remark, however, i must say that mr. halliwell, in his haste, has confounded the "cool impertinence" for which i censured one editor, with the "cool correction" which was made by another; and, moreover, has referred the remark to _measure for measure_, which i applied to the notes to the passage in _othello_. as i have not yet learned to regard the term "delightful" as an _active participle_, it is evident that, however "cool" i may consider the correction, i have not called it an "impertinence." but he has no mind that i should escape so easily; and therefore, like a true knight-errant, he adopts the cause without hesitation, as though to be first satisfied of its goodness would be quite inconsistent in its champion. when i am charged with an "entire want of acquaintance with the grammatical system" employed by shakspeare, i might take exception to the omission of the words "as understood by mr. halliwell," this gentleman assuming the very point in question between us. i believe he has paid particular attention to this subject; but he must not conclude that all who presume to differ from him "judge shakspeare's grammar by cobbett or murray." and if i were disposed to indulge in as sweeping an expression, i should say that the remark excites a suspicion of the writer's want of acquaintance with the spirit of shakspeare's works. i do not think so, though i think mr. halliwell has formed his opinion hastily; and i think, moreover, that before i have ended, i shall convince him that it would not have been amiss had he exercised a little more reflection ere he began. in the passage in _othello_, i object to the substitution of _delighting_ or _delightful_ for _delighted_, as _weak_ epithets, and such as i do not believe that shakespeare would have used. it was not as a schoolmaster or grammarian, but in reference to the peculiar fitness and force of his expressions, and his perfect acquaintance with the powers of the english language, and his _mastery_ over it, that i called shakespeare its greatest master. but to return to the first passage i cited--that from _measure for measure_,--mr. halliwell will be surprised to find that in the _only_ remark i made { } upon it as it stands he actually agrees with me. i said that the passage "in our sense of the term" is unintelligible. i still say so; and he who attempts to mend it, or modernise the form, says so too. the question next arises, does he not mean _no system_, when he says _system_? otherwise, why does he say that shakspeare uses the passive for the active participle, when he explains the word not by the active participle, but by an adjective of totally different meaning? is it not more likely that mr. halliwell may have misunderstood shakspeare's system, than that the latter should have used intelligible words, and precise forms of words, so at random? and, moreover, does not the critic confound two meanings of the word _delightful_; the one obsolete, _full of delight_, the other the common one, _giving delight_, or _gratifying_? now by a violent figure which shakspeare sometimes uses, _delighted may_ mean _delightful_ in the _former_ sense; perhaps, rather, _filled with delight_. the word then would be formed directly from the noun, and must not be regarded as a participle at all, but rather an ellipsis, from which the verb (which may be represented by _give_, _fill_, _endow_, &c.) is omitted. take, as an instance, this passage in _measure for measure_:-- "_clau._ death is a fearful thing! "_isa._ and _shamed_ life a hateful." the meaning here is not _life ashamed_, but _life covered with shame_. in this sense mr. halliwell, apparently without knowing why, has adopted the term _delightful_; but then the two succeeding words of his explanation, "sweet, pleasant", he would appear to have taken at random from a dictionary, forgetting that he was not using the word in its ordinary sense; for it is not possible that he can suppose shakspeare to have used the word in the sense of the active participle. now, though i do not think this at all the expression that shakspeare would use, it is undoubtedly allowable as a general characteristic; but the word actually used would appear to imply the result of a particular action, which would have been productive of anything but delight. in short, as we are agreed that the word _delighted_ in the passage in question in its present sense is unintelligible, so also are we, i think, agreed that the substitute, if any, must be used in a passive sense. now, with regard to the first instance furnished by mr. halliwell of the use of the passive for the active participle, if i were sure that the delinquent were well out of hearing, and not likely "to rise again and push us from our stools," i should be disposed to repeat the charge of impertinence against the editor who altered "professed" to "professing". the word _professed_ is one of common use, and in the present instance perfectly intelligible. "to your bosom, _professed_ to entertain so much love and care for our father, i commit him," seems to express the sense of the passage: a doubt is implied by the expression, but there is a directness of insult in the term _professing_ quite inconsistent with the character of cordelia. "becomed love" is love suited or fitted to the occasion. the use of the passive participle is every way more appropriate than that of the active, though the latter is more common now. in the next instance, i have to observe that there is no such verb as _to guile_. _guile_ is a noun; and "guiled shore" is _guile-covered_, or _charactered shore_. according to this rule, the modern word _talented_, that is, _talent-endowed_, has been formed, it not having been considered that licences are allowed in poetry that are unsuited to ordinary language. the passage next referred to is conditional, and i regard the use of the passive participle here, too, as correct. i have thus reduced mr. halliwell's list to that number which usually forms the exception rather than the rule; and if accident, misprint, error in copying, or other special circumstance be not held sufficient to account for the single remaining instance, i have then only to say that i prefer _deformed_ to _deforming_, as an epithet applied disparagingly to time's hand as more in accordance with shakspeare's practice, who was not in the habit of repeating the same idea, which, in the latter case, would occur again in the word "defeatures" in the following line. mr. halliwell may, doubtless find other instances, perhaps more felicitous than these; at present, all i can say is that he has failed to show that the use of the passive for the active participle was common with shakspeare. as to other variations between the grammatical usage of shakspeare's day and that of our own, i call assure him that i am not quite so ignorant of the fact as he imagines. samuel hickson august . . * * * * * english comedians in germany. i am glad to be enabled to reply to mr. bolton corney's query (vol. i., p. .) respecting a german book of plays. the learned illustrator of the _curiosities of literature_ would find the information he desires in the _vorrath zur geschichte der deutschen dramatischen dichtkunst_ of the formerly celebrated j. christoph gottsched (leipzig, - , vols. vo.). but as this book, now somewhat neglected, would perhaps be difficult to be found even in the british museum, i will transcribe the contents of the _schau-bühne englischer und franzõsischer comõdianten auff welcher werden vorgestellt die schõnsten und neuesten comõdien, so vor wenig jahren in frankreich, teutschland und andern orten ... seynd agirt und präsentirt worden_.--_frankfurt_, { } , vols. vo. vol. i.-- . amor der arzt. . die comödia ohne comödia. . die köstliche lächerlichkeit. . der hahnrey in der einbildung. . die hahnreyinn nach der einbildung. . die eyfreude mit ihr selbst. . antiochus, ein tragicomödia. . die buhlhaffte mutter. . damons triumph-spiel. vol. ii.-- . von sidonia und theugene. . der verliebtell kllnstgriffe. . lustiges pickelharings-spiel, darum er mit einem stein gar artige possen macht. . von fortunato seinem wünschhütlein und seckel. . der unbesonnene liebhaber. . die grossmüthige thaliklea. vol. iii.-- . vom könige ahasvero und esther und dem hoffartigen hamon. . vom verlohrnen sohn, in welchem die verzweifflung und hoffnung gar artig introducirt werden. . von königs mantalors unrechtmässiger liebe und derselben straffe. . der geitzige. . von der aminta und sylvia. . macht den kleinen knaben cupidinis. . george damlin, oder der verwirrte ehmann. some years before, another similar collection had been published. the first vol. printed in , and reprinted in , has this title: "englische comedien und tragedien, d. i. sehr schöne, herrliche und ausserlosene, geist- und weltliche comedi- und tragedi-spiel (sic), sampt dem pickelhering, welche wegen ihrer artigen inventionen kurtzweiligen auch theils wahrhafftigen geschichte halbet, _von den engelländern in deutschland_ (i beg to notice these words) an königlichen, chur- und furstlichen höfen, auch in vornehmen reichs- see- und handel städten seynd agirt und gehalten worden, und zuvor nie im druck aussgangen." the volume contains plays. the , , , , and , are the , , , , and , of the collection of . the other five are the following: . eine schöne lustige comödia von jemand und niemand. . tragödia von julio und hippolyto. . eine sehr klägliche tragödia von tito andromico und hoffertigen kayserinn, darinnen denkwürdigen actiones zu befinden. . ein lustig pickelherings-spiel von der schönen mario und alten hanrey. the second volume was published in , under the title _lieberkampff, oder ander theil der englischen comödien_: it contains plays. the st is the st of the collection of , with this addition: die personen der lustspiels sind: . venus, _die stumme person_; . cupido; . jucunda, _jungfraw_; . floretus, _liebhaber_; . balendus, _betrieger_; . corcillana, _kuplerin_; . hans worst. the d is the th of the same collection, "mit personen, worunter die lustige person schräm heisst." . comoedia von prob getrewer lieb, mit personen, worunter auch eine allegorische, der traum ist. the th is the th, "mit personen, worunter die lustige schampilasche _lean potage_ heisst." the four remaining are operas, without particular titles. ebert (_bibliogr. lexicon_, n. .), speaking of these collections, says, "the plays they are composed of are not translations from the english," but, "as it appears," german original works. i am at a loss to understand how that bibliographer, generally so exact, did not recognise at least five comedies of molière. mr. bolton corney will, i wish and hope, point out the originals--english, italian, and, i suppose, spanish--of some others. if you think proper to make use of the above, i entreat you, for the sake of your readers, to correct my bad english, and to consider my communication only as a token of the gratification i have found in your amusing and useful "notes and queries." d.l. ancien membre de la société des bibliophiles. béthune, july . . p.s.--the query (vol. i., p. .) concerning the name of the alost, louvain, and antwerp printer, _martens_ or _mertens_, is settled in the note, p. ., of _recherches sur la vie et les editions de thierry martens (martinus, martens)_, par j. de gand, vo. alost, . i am ready to send a copy of the note if it is required. [we have also received a reply to mr. corney's query from mr. asher of berlin, who refers for particulars of this interesting collection to tieck's preface to his _alt-deutsche theater_. we propose shortly returning to the curious fact of english comedians performing in germany at the close of the sixteenth and commencement of the seventeenth centuries: a subject which has several times been discussed and illustrated in the columns of our valuable contemporary _the athenæum_.] * * * * * achilles and the tortoise. (vol. ii., p. .) this paradox, whilst one of the oldest on record (being attributed by aristotle to zeus eleates, b.c. ), is one of the most perplexing, upon first presentation to the mind, that can be selected { } from the most ample list. its professed object was to disprove the phenomenon of motion; but its real one, to embarrass an opponent. it has always attracted the attention of logicians; and even to them it has often proved embarrassing enough. the difficulty does not lie in proving that the conclusion is absurd, but in _showing where the fallacy lies_. from not knowing the precise kind of information required by [greek: idiotaes], i am unwilling to trespass on your valuable space by any irrelevant discussion, and confine myself to copying a very judicious note from dr. whateley's _logic_, th edit. p. . "this is one of the sophistical puzzles noticed by aldrich, but he is not happy in his attempt at a solution. he proposes to remove the difficulty by demonstrating that in a certain given time, achilles _would_ overtake the tortoise; as if any one had ever doubted _that_. the very problem proposed, is to surmount the difficulty of a seeming demonstration of a thing palpably impossible; to show that _it is_ palpably impossible, is no solution of the problem. "i have heard the present example adduced as a proof that the pretensions of logic are futile, since (it was said) the most perfect logical demonstration may lead from true premises to an absurd conclusion. the reverse is the truth; the example before us furnishes a confirmation of the utility of an acquaintance with the syllogistic form, _in which form the pretended demonstration in question cannot be exhibited_. an attempt to do so will evince the utter want of connection between the premises and the conclusion." what the archbishop says is true, and it disposes of the question as one of "formal logic:" but yet the form of the sophism is so plausible, that it imposes with equal force on the "common sense" of all those who repose their conclusions upon the operations of that faculty. with them a different procedure is necessary; and i suspect that if any one of the most obstinate advocates of the sufficiency of common sense for the "balancing of evidence" were to attempt the explanation of a hundred fallacies that could be presented to him, he would be compelled to admit that a more powerful and a more accurate machine would be of advantage to him in accomplishing his task. this machine the syllogism supplies. the discussion of gregory st. vincent will be found at pages - . of his _opus geometricum_, antw., fol. the principle is the same as that which aldrich afterwards gave, as above referred to by dr. whateley. i can only speak from memory of the discussion of leibnitz, not having his works at hand; but i am clear in this, that his principle again is the same. [greek: idiotaes] is in error, however, in calling st. vincent's "a geometrical treatment" of it. he indeed uses lines to represent the spaces passed over; and their discussion occurs in a chapter on what is universally (but very absurdly) called "geometrical proportion." it is yet no more _geometrical_ than our school-day problem of the basket and the hundred eggs in francis walkinghame. mere names do not bestow character, however much _philosophers as well as legislators_ may think so. all attempts of the kind have been, and must be, purely numerical. t.s.d. shooter's hill, august . _achilles and the tortoise._--your correspondent will find references in the article "zeno (of elea)" in the _penny cyclopædia_. for gregory st. vincent's treatment of the problem, see his _quadratara circuli_, antwerp, , folio, p. ., or let it alone. i suspect that the second is the better reference. zeno's paradox is best stated, without either achilles or tortoise, as follows:--no one can go a mile; for he must go over the first half, then over half the remaining half, then over half the remaining quarter; and so on _for ever_. many books of logic, and many of algebra, give the answer to those who cannot find it. m. * * * * * replies to minor queries "_barum_" and "_sarum_" (vol. ii., p. .)--the formation of the first of these words has not yet been accounted for. i must premise my attempt to supply an explanation by admitting that i was not aware it was in common use as a contraction for barnstaple. i think it will be found that the contracted form of that name is more usually "berdest," "barnst". in trying further to contract the word, the two last letters would be omitted, and it would then be "barñ", with the circumflex showing the omission of several letters. having reduced it to this state, an illiterate clerk would easily misread the circumflex for the plain stroke "-," expressing merely the omission of the letter "m", and, perhaps ignorant of the name intended, think it as well to write at full length "barum." j. br. _countess of desmond_ (vol. ii., p. .)--it is stated in turner's _sacred history_, vol. iii. p. ., that the countess of desmond died in , aged . this is, i presume, the correct date of her decease, and not as mentioned by your querist k.; for in lord bacon's _history of life and death_, originally published in , her death is thus alluded to:-- "the irish, especially the wild irish, even at this day, live very long. certainly they report that within these few years the countess of desmond lived to a hundred and forty years of age, and bred teeth three times." the manner of her death is recorded by mr. crofton croker, in his agreeable volume of _researches in the south of ireland_, to. london, . { } speaking of drumana, on the blackwater, a little above youghall, as the "reputed birth-place of the long-lived countess of desmond," he says,-- "in this part of the country, her death is attributed to a fall whilst in the act of picking an apple from a tree in an orchard at drumana." in the _olla podrida_, a volume of miscellanies, printed for private distribution, by mr. sainthill of cork, there is a portrait of the "old countess," from an etching made by mr. crofton croker (if i mistake not) in his early days. j.m.b. _michael servetus, alias reves._--the manuscript, the character and fate of which s.h. (vol. ii., p. .) is anxious to investigate, contained books iii.-vii., inclusive, of the work of servetus _de trinitate_; and as these fragments differed somewhat from the printed text, they were probably the first, or an early, draft (not necessarily in the author's handwriting) of part of the _christianismi restitutio_. the purchaser of this ms., at the sale of du fay's library in paris in the year , was the count de hoym, ambassador to france from poland. i beg to refer your correspondent to pp. - . of the _historia michaelis serveti_, by henr. ab allwoerden, published with mosheim's approbation, helmstad . both a "note" and a "query" might be founded on a memorable passage in the fifth book _de trinitate_, in which servetus, long before harvey, explains the circulation of the blood. r.g. _caxton's printing-office_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--it is a pity mr. nichols did not take the trouble to see, and, having seen, to notice in his first communication, that abbot islip was mentioned in the passage from stow's _survey_ cited by mr. rimbault. as that gentleman quotes from, i believe, the second edition of the _survey_, i may be allowed to doubt, until it is clearly shown, that "islip's name has been introduced by the error of some subsequent writer." but supposing this to be so, it would in no way affect the only question which is material, who was caxton's patron? nor touch the accuracy of the _life of caxton_, which mr. nichols seems desirous of impeaching. i am anxious to point this out, because i feel it right to vindicate to the utmost, where they deserve it, useful works, which, like the little volume i am writing of, are published at a price that ensures for them a circulation of almost unlimited extent. arun. _somagia_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this is the plural of "somagium," "summagium," and means "horse-loads." it is a word frequently found in documents relating to agrarian matters, and may signify the load packed upon the horse's back (whence the name "sumpter-horse"), or in a cart drawn by a horse. mr. sansom will find a full explanation of the derivatives of its root, "sagma," at p. ., vol. vii., of ducange. j.bt. _various modes of interment among the ancients_ (vol ii., pp. , . . . .).--in modes of interment some nations have been distinguished by an idiosyncrasy almost incredible from their inhumanity. "barcæi, populi inter colchos et iberos morbo absumptos igni comburebant, sed qui in bello fortiter occubuissent, honoris gratia vulturibus devorandos objiciebant."--.aelian. _hist. anim._ lib. x. "in hyrcania (refert cicero in _tusc. quæst._ lib. i. .) ali canes solitos fuisse, a quibus delaniarentur mortui, eamque optimam hyrcanos censuisse sepulturam."--kirchmannus _de funer. romanorum._ the appendix to this work may be consulted for this, and yet greater violations of the law of nature and nations. "apud saniores barbaros ab animalibus discerpi cadavera foedum semper ac miserabile creditum fuit. foetus abortivi feris alitibutsque exponebantur in montibus aut locis aliis inaccessis, quin et ipsi infantes, &c. fuit hæc asinina sepultura _poena_ tyrannorum ac perduellium. (spondan. _de coemet. s._ pp. . . et seqq.) quam et victorum insolentia odiumque vulgi implacabile in hostes non raro exercuit."--ursinus _arbor. biblicum._ hyde accounts for the persians who embraced the religion of the magi not having adopted the two contrivances of corporal dissolution prevalent among civilised nations--cremation or burning, and simple inhumation--by the superstitious reverence with which they regarded the four elements. sir t. browne remarks that similar superstitions may have had the same effect among other nations. of the post-mortem _punishments_ described by ducange, the former was the customary sepulture of the trogloditæ; the latter corresponds with the rite of some of the scythians recorded by statius: "at gente in scythica suffixa cadavera truncis, lenta dies sepelit putri liquentia tabo." i shall be obliged if you or a correspondent disposed "not only to teach but to communicate," will kindly throw light on a passage, relating to the troloditæ, in strabo, book xvi., where he relates, "capræ cornu mortuis saxorum cumulo coopertis fuisse superimpositum." t.j. _guy's porridge-pot_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent is quite correct, when he says "neither the armour nor pot belonged to the noble guy." he would have been a _guy_ if he _had_ worn the armour, seeing that it was made for a horse, and not for a man. what the stout old lady who showed us the "relics of old guy" in called "guy's breastplate," and sometimes his helmet! is the "croupe" of a suit of horse armour, and "another breastplate" a "poitrel." his porridge-pot is a garrison { } crock of the sixteenth century, used to prepare "sunkits" for the retainers; and the fork a military fork temp. hen. viii. the so called "roman swords" are "anelaces," and a couteau de chasse of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. the "british weapon" is a hammer at arms temp. hen. viii., and "the halbert" a black bill temp. hen. vii. the only weapons correctly described are the spanish rapiers. the shield with the "sight" is very curious; it weighs thirty pounds, and is of the temp. of henry viii. it is impossible to describe the horror of the old lady at our doubting her version; she seemed to wonder the earth did not open and swallow us for our heresy. naso. "_welcome the coming, speed the parting guest_" (vol. ii., p. .).-- "welcome the coming, speed the parting guest," is from pope (_imitations of horace_, book ii. sat. ii.). pope's distich, whence the line is taken, runs,-- "for i, who hold sage homer's rule the best, welcome the coming, speed the _going_ guest." query. where is "sage homer's rule" to be found? rusticus. [the following additional reply furnishes a solution of the query of rusticus:-- "true friendship's laws are by this rule express'd, welcome the coming, speed the parting guest." these lines are from pope's _homer_, the odyssey, book xv., lines and . e.h.] "_a chrysostom to smoothe his band in_" (vol. ii., p. .).--this query by rev. alfred gatty is answered by referring him to the _happy life of a country parson_, by swift, beginning with-- "parson, these things in thy possessing, are worthy of a bishop's blessing." and enumerating amongst them "a large concordance bound long since, sermons to charles the first when prince, a chronicle of ancient standing, a chrysostom to smoothe thy band in; the polyglott--three parts--my text, howbeit--likewise--to my next." t.h.q. [c.i.r. (to whom we are indebted for a similar reference) adds the concluding line-- "and shake his head at doctor swift." which would show that the verses were written not earlier than , as swift, the author, took his d.d. degree in that year.] _william of wykeham_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "historica descriptio compleetens vitam ac res gestas beatissimi viri guilmi wicanii quondam vintoniensis episcopi et angliæ cancellarii et fundatoris duorum collegiorum oxoniæ et vintoniæ." is the title of a biography of william of wykeham attributed to thomas martin, published in to. oxford, . there is also a little work which may come under the head of biographies, viz.: "uvedale (robert) examination of lowth's objections to the account given by leland of the parentage of william of wykeham," vo. . _vide_ oettinger's _bibliographie biographique_. s.w. _dutch language_ (vol. ii., p. .).--h.b.c. recommends, among other works, hendrik conscience's novels. these are in flemish, not dutch. the difference may not be great between the two; but one would hardly recommend to a learner of english, burns's _poems_ as a reading-book. in dr. bowring wrote an article, being a sketch of dutch literature, in the _foreign quarterly review_; which article was reprinted in amsterdam in the form of an mo. volume, and which i believe is still to be got, and is a very useful guide to dutch literature. s.w. "_a frog he would_" &c. (vol. ii., p. . and elsewhere).--i remember, when a boy, to have heard an old aunt repeatedly sing this song; but the chorus was very strange. "a frog he would a-wooing ride, with a rigdum bullydimy kymy; with sword and buckler by his side, with a rigdum bullydimy kymy. kymyary kelta cary kymyary kymy, strimstram paradiddle larrabona ringting, rigdum bullydimy kymy." a. _city sanitary laws_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the act of parliament prohibiting the slaughter of cattle within the city, referred to in the passage from _arnold's chronicle_, extracted by your correspondent t.s.d. is the hen. vii. c. ., which enacts that-- "no butcher shall kill any flesh within his scalding-house, or within the walls of london, in pain to forfeit for every ox so killed d. and for every other beast d., to be divided between the king and the prosecutor."--bohun's _privilegia londini_ , p. . brydall, in his _camera regis_ (lond. , p. .), quotes the statute of hen. vii. c. , as the authority for the "singularity" attaching to the city, that "butchers shall kill no beasts in london." i believe, however, bohun's reference will be found to be the correct one. the statute in question has, i think, never been repealed; but in the absence of abbatoirs, or other proper provision for the slaughtering of cattle without the walls of the city, it seems doubtful whether the { } pains and penalties to which the "contrary doers" were liable, were at any time strictly enforced. james t. hammack. _sanitary laws of other days_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the statute referred to by t.s.d. in his article, by which "it is ordeigned y't no such slaughter of best shuld be used or had within this cite," was no doubt & henry vii. c. ., intituled "an act that no butcher slea any manner of beast within the walls of london." the penalty is only twelvepence for an ox or a cow, and eightpence for any smaller animal. the act itself seems unrepealed, but the penalties are too small at the present day to abate the nuisance. c.r. soc. _michael scott, the wizard_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i have now lying before me a small duodecimo, lugdini, , entitled-- "alberti magni de secretis mulierum libellus, scholiis auctus et a mendis repurgatus," to which is appended a work of the wizard's "ob materiæ similitudinem," "michaelis scoti philosophi de secretis naturæ opusculum." e.s.t. _clerical costume_ (vol. ii., p. .).--possibly the answer to this query may be found in the passage from bacon's _history of life and death_, in the third part of the _instauratio magna_, which i copy below from craik's _bacon and his writings_, vol. iii. p. .:-- "some report that they have found great benefit in the conservation of their health by wearing scarlet waistcoats next their skin and under their shirts, as well down to their nether parts as on the upper." from the quantity of serge bought, as well as from the nature of the material, i think it likely it might be required for the purpose here noticed by bacon, and not for an outer waistcoat. arun. _the curfew_ (vol. ii., p. .).--as naboc can, i imagine, only get a perfect list of the places where the curfew is still rung by the contributions of scattered correspondents, i will furnish my mite by informing him that a very short time ago it was rung at sturminster newton in dorsetshire. j. bt. _welsh language; armenian language_ (vol. ii., p. .).--jarltzberg will find no welsh dictionary with the part reversed. i possess a dictionary in welsh and english, in two volumes, by pugh, published in , which is one of the best. the one in two volumes by walters is in english and welsh, and is also one of the best. the four volumes would make a good dictionary. the best grammar is, i think, pugh's. see the welsh bookseller in holywell street: i believe his name is williams. father chamick compiled the _history of armenia_ from the historical works of several authors, which was published at venice in ; and in an abridgment thereof, which was translated by mr. acdall, of calcutta, in . see messrs. allen and co.'s _catalogue of oriental works_, at whose house these, and translations of other works (particularly the _history of vartan_ and the _memoirs of artemi_), may be procured. i think jarltzberg will find a dictionary in armenian and french. i saw a notice of one a short time since. (see bernard quaritch.) in , peterman published at berlin, _porta ling. orient., sive elementa ling. syr., chald., arab._, &c. &c., which i think contains an armenian grammar. see williams and norgate; also a list of klaproth's works. aredjid kooez. _armenian language_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reply to jarltzberg, i can answer that lord byron did not compose the english part of aucher's _armenian and english grammar_. a very learned friend of mine was at st. lazero, in venice, and knew both aucher and lord byron. lord byron was taking lessons in armenian, and a few of his exercises were introduced into aucher's _grammar_, which was written for armenians to learn english, with which language aucher was quite familiar, having resided four years in london. but a new _armenian and english grammar_ has recently been published. there is one, very rare, in armenian and latin, and another in armenian, modern greek, and italian. i have just seen john bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_ in _vulgar_ armenian, with plates, published at smyrna; and the _prayers of st. nierses_, in twenty-four languages, venice, , of which armenian is one. several works in armenian have been published at calcutta. henry wilkinson. brompton. _north sides of churchyards unconsecrated_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the strong preference given to the south side of the churchyard is traceable to two principal causes; first and chiefly, because the churchyard cross was always placed here; secondly, because this is the sunny side of the churchyard. the cross, the emblem of all the christian's hopes, the bright sun shining on the holy ground, figurative of the sun of righteousness, could not fail to bring to mind the comforting assurance that they who slept around would one day rise again. and as the greater part of the congregation entered the church by the south and principal door, another cause of the preference was the hope that the sight of the resting places of those of their friends and neighbours who had died in the communion of the church, might remind the survivors each time they repaired to the house of prayer to remember them in their supplications. { } there is not, however, i believe, the slightest reason for considering that the north side of the churchyard was left unconsecrated, nor do i think it possible that such could ever be the case, inasmuch as all consecrated ground was required to be fenced off from that which was unhallowed. but the north side has always been considered inferior to the south. for example;--excommunicated persons were at one time buried outside the precincts of the churchyard, which, of course, would not have been necessary if any part had been left unconsecrated, nor are instances of this practice wanting since the reformation.[ ] and when discipline began to be relaxed, and murderers were interred even within the church itself, it was still on the north side.[ ] it is very usual in small country parishes to find the north side of the churchyard without a single grave, nor is it generally resorted to until the south side is fully occupied. it would be difficult to mention another instance of a prejudice so universal, existing so long after the causes of it have mainly passed away. i cannot conclude without expressing the extreme interest which, though he seems not to be aware of it, attaches to the statement of your correspondent, to the effect that he had on two occasions, namely, on the revel sunday, and on another festival, observed the game of football in a churchyard in the west of england. it is, indeed, interesting to find that relics of a custom which, however repugnant to our notions, was sanctioned by the highest authority in the best days of our church, still linger in some of our rural districts; thus amply bearing out the mention made by bishop peirs more than two centuries ago, of the attachment of the people of the west to, and "how very much they desired the continuance of," these ancient celebrations. for the letter of the prelate, which was addressed to archbishop laud, and for many valuable details with respect to dedication festivals, and the observance of sundays in former times, i would refer those who take an interest in the matter to the _hierurgia anglicanæ_. arun. [footnote : see parish register of hart, durham, december th, ; of st. nicholas, newcastle, december st .] [footnote : parish register of st. nicholas, newcastle august st, , and august th, .] "_sir hilary charged at agincourt_."--your correspondent b.h.c, who, at vol. ii, p. ., inquires after the author and answer to this charade, might leave easily ascertained that the author was the late mackworth praed, and that the answer is "good-night." i believe your correspondent has been guilty of some verbal inaccuracies, which makes the answer appear not so pertinent to his version as it really is; but i have not the original at hand. some few years ago, the charade appeared in a cambridge paper, with a story about sir walter scott having sent it anonymously to queen adelaide. this was contradicted, and the real author named in a subsequent number of the newspaper, and a metrical solution given, amongst others, of the charade, with which, though i believe i could recollect it, i will not trouble the editor of "notes and queries." i think the charade first appeared in a cheap periodical, which was set on foot by the parties concerned in _knight's quarterly_. j.h.l. "_sir hilary charged at agincourt_" (vol. ii., p. ).--this enigma was written by the late winthrop mackworth praed, and appeared in _knight's quarterly magazine_, vol. ii. p. .: whether solved or soluble, i cannot say. may i here express my concurrence in an opinion expressed in a very recent number of the _examiner_, that a collected edition of mr. praed's poems is wanted? c.h. cooper. cambridge, august . . _unicorn_ (vol. ii., p. .).--king james i. abandoned the red dragon of henry vii. as one of the supporters of the royal arms of england, and substituted the unicorn, one of the supporters of the royal arms of scotland. s.s.s. _abbey of st. wandrille, normandy_ (vol. i., pp. . . .).--as the vicar of ecclesfield appears interested in the history of this abbey, in the immediate neighbourhood of which i am at present living, i forward the following list of works which have relation to the subject, including the _chronicle_, extracts from which have already been given by gastros:-- "briefve chronique de l'abbaye de st. wandrille, publiée par la première fois, d'après le cartulaire de st. wandrille, de marcoussis m.s. du xvi. siècle, de la bibliothèque de rouen par m.a. potter."--_révue rétrospective normande_, rouen, . "le trisergon de l'abbaye de fontenelle (or st. wandrille), en normandie, par dom alexis bréard. m.s. du xvii. siècle."--_bibliothèque de rouen_, m.s.s.y. . "appendix ad chronicon fontanellense in spicileg." acherii, t. ii. p. . "gallia christiana," vol. ii., in fo., page ., (containing the ecclesiastical history of normandy). "acta sanctor ord. st. bened," tom. v.--_miracula wandregisili_. "essais sur l'abbaye de st. wandrille, par langlois," in vo. rouen, . several books formerly belonging to this monastery, are now in the public library at havre. w.j. havre. _russian language_ (vol. ii., p. l .).--a james heard wrote a grammar of this language, and published { } it at st. petersburgh, in . mr. heard also published a volume of _themes_, or _exercises_, to his grammar, in the same year. i am not acquainted with any other russian grammar written in english. hamonière published his _grammaire russe_ at paris in ; and gr_e_tsch (not gr_o_tsch) published (in russian) his excellent grammar at st. petersburgh about thirty years ago. a french translation appeared at the same place in , in vols. vo., by reiff. in the _révue encyclopédique_ for , p. ., some curious details will be found respecting, the various russian grammars then in existence. _j_appe's _russian grammar_ is possibly a misprint for _t_appe, whose grammar, written in german, is a good one. besides these, the titles of some twenty other russian grammars, in russian, french, or german, could be mentioned. the anthologies published by dr. bowring, besides his russian, dutch, and spanish, are the magyar, bohemian, servian, and polish. writing from oxford, where the first russian grammar ever published was printed, as your correspondent jarltzberg correctly states, perhaps it may interest him, or his friend, who, he says, is about to go to russia, to be informed (should he not already be aware of the fact) that a "course of lectures on russian literature" was delivered in this university, by professor trithen, at sir robert tayler's institution, in the winter of . j.m. oxford, aug. . . * * * * * miscellaneous. a very interesting contribution to our early national literature, as well as to legendary history, has lately been published by dr. nicolaus delius of bonn. he has edited in a small octavo volume, published at a very moderate price, _maistre wace's st. nicholas_, an old french poem, by the poetical canon of bayeux, whose _roman de rou et des ducs de normandie_, edited by pluquet, and _roman de brut_, edited by le roux de lincy, are, doubtless, familiar to many of our readers. the present valuable edition to the published works of maistre wace, is edited from two oxford mss., viz., no. . of the douce collection, and no. . of the digby collection in the bodleian: and to add to the interest of the present work, especially in the eyes of english readers, dr. delius has appended to it the old english metrical life of _saint nicolas the bischop_, from the curious series of lives and legends which mr. black has recently shown to have been composed by robert of gloucester. we have received the following catalogue:--john russell smith's ( . old compton street, soho) part iv. for . of a catalogue of choice, useful, and curious books in most departments of literature. * * * * * notices to correspondents. volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen_. _the monthly part for july, being the second of vol. ii. is also now ready, price s._ notes and queries _may be procured by the trade at noon on friday; so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels_. janus dousa. _the notes on folk lore have been received and will be used very shortly. the queries just received shall be duly inserted_. _errata_.--in no. ., p. ., col. ., line from bottom, for "_cordius_" read "_cardin_"; p. ., l. ., for "haver_s_" read "haver"; and p. ., l. ., for "murton" read "mu_i_rton." * * * * * greatly reduced in price. patres ecclesiastici anglicani. this series of the english fathers of the church,--commencing with aldhelm, the first bishop of sherborne, which see he held from a.d. to , and including venerable bede, the father of english history, who died in ; boniface, the english apostle to the germans, whose martyrdom took place in ; lanfranc, to whose influence over the conqueror the english owed what liberty william still allowed them to enjoy; peter of blois, the gossiping but querulous archdeacon of bath; thomas a becket, the greatest churchman of any time, and the fearless upholder of the rights of the church against the usurpations of the crown and his contemporaries; honest plain-spoken john of salisbury; and the specious ernulph, bishop of lisieux, whose works throw considerable light upon the court intrigues of the reign of henry ii.,--is edited by the rev. dr. giles, formerly fellow of corpus christi college, oxford. the entire series consists of thirty-five volumes, vo.; the price of which has been reduced from l. s. d. to l., _if taken in complete sets_, of which only _a very small number_ remain unsold; or separately as follows:-- aldhelmi opera, vol. vo. s. (published at s. d.) bedae venerabilis opera, vols. vo. l. s. (pub. at l. s.) bonifacii opera, vols. vo. s. (published at l. s.) petri blesensis opera, vols. vo. l. s. (pub. at l. s.) thomae cantuariensis, herbert de borehami opera, &c., vols. l. s. (published at l. s.) lanfranci opera, vols. s. (published at l. s.) arnulfi opera, vol. s. (published at s. d.) johannis saresberiensis opera, vols. vo. l. s. (published at l. s. d.) on sale by d. nutt, . strand; and h. washbourne, . new bridge street, blackfriars. * * * * * new work on the greek drama. in mo., price s. (with a plan of a greek theatre.) the athenian stage, a handbook for students. from the german of wetzschel, by the rev. r.b. paul, m.a.; and edited by the rev. t.k. arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place: of whom may be had, by the same editors, l. handbook of grecian antiquities. s. d. . handbook of roman antiquities. s. d. . handbook of greek synonymes. s. d. * * * * * { } valuable antiquarian, heraldic, and foreign works, dictionaries, grammars, etc. sold by bernard quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. * * * * * adelung's wörterbuch der hoch-deutschen mundart, mit beständiger vergleichung der übrigen mundarten, besonders acer der oberdeutschen, best edition, by schönberger, vols. to., calf, gilt, marbled edges, l. s. wien, . aldrete, del origen de la lengua castellana o romance (an old-spanish dictionary), folio, vellum, s. madrid, . anderson's royal genealogies, or the genealogical tables of emperors, kings, and princes, from adam to these times, folio, hf. bd. scarce, s. . annals of ireland, by the four masters, translated from the original irish by owen connellan, esq., with additions by mac dermott, to., morocco super-extra, gilt edges. s. dublin, . bergomensis (j.p. foresti) supplementum chronicarum, ab exordio mundi ad annum , folio, numerous woodcuts, monastic binding, s. d. ven. . baluze, histoire généalogique de la maison d'auvergne, vols. folio, numerous plates of coats of arms and monumental effigies, calf gilt, s. paris, . ----, another copy, vols. folio, numerous fine coats of arms, the corners of one volume damaged, calf, s. d. paris, . brunsvicensium rerum scriptores cura g.g. leibnitii, vols. folio, calf, fine copy, l. s. hanoveræ, . an indispensable work to the student of the ancient history and literature of germany. caedmon's metrical paraphrase of parts of holy scripture in anglo-saxon, with translation by thorpe, imp. vo. bds., s. d. . campe's wörterbuch der deutschen sprache, vols. imp. to., hf. bd. russia extra, uncut, top edges gilt. fine copy, l. s. braunschweig, - . caraffa family. aldirnari, historia genealogica della famiglia carafa, vols. folio, numerous very fine portraits and coats of arms, fine copy in vellum,, scarce, s. napoli, . carpentier, alphabetium tironianum, seu notes tironis explicandi methods, folio, with numerous short-hand alphabets, diplomas, charters, &c. of louis the pious, hf. bd. calf, s. paris, codex traditionum corbejensium diplomatarium sarachonis abbatis registrum, cum notis falcke, thick folio, fac-similes of old deeds, &c., vellum, s. lips. . corneille, oeuvres de, avec les commentaires de voltaire, vols. vo. best edition, newly hf. bd. calf, s. paris . diccionario de la lingua castellana por la real academia espanola, tecera edicion, folio, calf neat, s. madrid, . edwards, recherches sur les langues celtiques, vo. sd. s. paris, imprimerie royale, . a very valuable and learned celtic polyglott grammar, giving a comparative view off the breton, gælic, welsh, irish, cornish, and basque languages. enderbie's cambria triumphans, or britain in its perfect lustre showing the origin and antiquity of that illustrious nation; the succession of their kings and princes, from the first to king charles, vols in , folio, large paper, numerous coats of arms, bds. leather back, uncut, s. london, (bagster, ). faereyinga-saga eller faeroboernes historie, in icelandic, danish, and the faroer dialect, by rafn, imp. vo. large paper, bds. s. d. klob. heineken, idée générale d'une collection complette d'estampes et dissertation sur l'origine de la gravure, plates, calf, s. . johnson's dictionary, todd's last and best edition, vols. to. calf gilt, l. . junil etymologicum anglicanum, edidit lye, folio, portrait by vertue, calf, s. oxf . a most important work for the study of english etymologies. jurisprudentia heroica, sive de jure belgarum circa nobilitatem et insignia, folio, several hundred coats of arms, all beautifully emblazoned in gold, silver, and colours, calf. a beautiful book, rare, s. bruxelles, . karamsin, histoire de l'empire de russie, vols vo. (pub. at l. s.) sd. s. paris, - . this french translation has been made under the patronage of the author, who has added many notes and references. karamsin is the greatest of all the russian writers. koch, histoire abrégée des traités de paix entre les puissances de l'europe, depuis la paix de westphalie jusqu'a , vols. vo., stained, sewed, s. paris, - . a most important collection, originally published at l. s. d. and seldom met under price. lapponic bible. tat ailes tialog, abme ja addä testamenta, vols. to. bds. s. hernösandesne, . legonidec, dictionnaire celto-breton ou breton-français, vo. sd. s. d. algoulème, . lhuyd's archæologia britannica, giving an account of the languages of the original inhabitants of britain, folio, hf. bd. calf, neat, scarce, s. oxford, . contains armoric, irish, scottish, welsh grammars and dictionaries. lope de vega, obras sueltas, en prosa y en verso, vols. small to. vellum, l. s. madrid, . ----, another copy, large paper, sd., uncut, l. s. mabillon de re diplomatica, cum supplemento, vols. royal folio, large paper, numerous plates, fine copy in dutch calf, s. lut. par. . . magnusen (finn) runamo og runerne, to. 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and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, august , . notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:--page stray notes on cunningham's london. satirical song upon villiers duke of buckingham, by dr. rimbault. baker's notes on author of "whole duty of man," by rev. j.e.b. mayor. mistake about george wither, by dr. rimbault. useful _v._ useless learning. minor notes:--numerals--junius and sir p. francis--jews under the commonwealth--"is any thing but," &c.--fastitocalon. queries:-- bishop cosin's conference. engleman's "bibliotheca scriptorum classicorum," by professor de morgan. minor queries:--portrait of sir p. sidney--confession--scotch prisoners at worcester--adamson's edward ii.--sir thomas moore--dr. e. cleaver--gwyan's london--coronet--cinderella--judas' bell--dozen of bread--kings skuggsia--coins of gandophares--satirical medals. replies:-- gaudentio di lucca. on a passage in the tempest, by j. payne collier. gray's elegy. bishops and their precedence. replies to minor queries:--leicester and the reputed poisoners of his time--what is the correct prefix of mayors--marks of cadency. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisments. * * * * * notes. stray notes on cunningham's london. the following notes are so trivial, that i should have scrupled to send them on any other ground than that so well-conceived and labouriously-executed a work should have its most minute and unimportant details as correct as possible. this, in such a work, can only be effected by each reader pointing out the circumstances that he has reason to believe are not quite correctly or completely given in it. page . _astronomical society._--the library has been recently augmented by the incorporation with it of the books and documents (as well as the members) of the _mathematical society of london_ (spitalfields). it contains the most complete collection of the english mathematical works of the last century known to exist. a friend, who has examined them with some care, specifies particularly some of the tracts published in the controversy raised by bishop berkeley respecting "the ghosts of departed quantities," of which he did before know the existence. the instruments to which mr. cunningham refers as bequeathed to the society, are not used there, nor yet allowed to lie unused. they are placed in the care of active practical observers, according as the special character of the instruments and the special subjects to which each observer more immediately devotes his attention, shall render the assignment of the instrument expedient. the instruments, however, still remain the property of the society. p. . _bath house._--date omitted. p. .--evan's hotel, covent garden, is described as having been once the residence of "james west, the great collector of books, &c., and _president of the royal society_." there has certainly never been a president, or even a secretary, of that name. however, it is just possible that there might have been a vice-president so named (as these are chosen by the president from the members of the council, and the council has not always been composed of men of science): but even this is somewhat doubtful. p. . _covent garden theatre._--no future account of this theatre will be complete without the facts connected with the ill-starred delafield; just as, into the olympic, the history of the defaulter watts, of the globe assurance office, must also enter. p. . near top of col. . "heigho! says kemble."--before this period, a variation of the _rigmarole_ upon which this is founded had become poplular, from the humour of liston's singing at sadler's wells. i have a copy of the music and the words; altogether identical with those in the music. of these, with other matters connected with the { } amorous frog, i shall have something more to say hereafter. this notice is to be considered incidental, rather than as referring expressly to mr. cunningham's valuable book. p. . _deans yard, westminster._--several of the annual budgets of abuse, obscenity, and impudent imposture, bearing on their title-pages various names, but written by "john gadbury, student in physic and astrology," were dated from "my house, brick court, dean's yard, westminster;" or this slightly varied, occasionally being, "brick court, _near_ the dean's yard," &c. i have not seen a complete series of gadbury's _almanacks_, but those i refer to range from to (incomplete). his burial in st. margaret's, westminster, in , is noticed by mr. cunningham, at p. . as brick was then only used in the more costly class of domestic buildings, this would seem to indicate that _prophecy_ was then a lucrative trade; and that the successor and pupil of the "arch-rogue, william lilly" was quite as fortunate in his speculations as his master had been. it is a truth as old as society itself, that "knaves grow rich while honest men starve." whilst gadbury was "wallowing in plenty," the author of _hudibras_ was perishing for want of a crust! p. . _denzil street._--here, about the middle of the street, on the south side, lived theophilus holdred, a jobbing watchmaker, whose name will always hold a place in one department of mathematical history. he discovered a method of approximating to the roots of numerical equations, of considerable ingenuity. he, however, lost in his day and generation the reputation that was really due to him for it, by his laying claim to more than he had effected, and seeking to deprive other and more gifted men of the reputation due to a more perfect solution of the same problem. he was, indeed, brought before the public as the tool of a faction; and, as the tools of faction generally are, he was sacrificed by his own supporters when he was no longer of any use to them. i once called upon him, in company with professor leyburn, of the royal military college, but i forget whether in or . we found him at his bench--a plain, elderly, and heavy-looking personage. he seemed to have become "shy" of our class, and some time and some address were requisite to get him to speak with any freedom: but ultimately we placed him at his ease, and he spoke freely. we left him with the conviction that he was the _bonâ fide_ discoverer of his own method; and that he had no distinct conception, even then, of the principle of the methods which he had been led by his friends to claim, of having _also_ discovered _horner's_ process before horner himself had published it. he did not (ten years after the publication of horner's method) even then understand it. he understood his own perfectly, and i have not the slightest doubt of the correctness of his own statement, of its having been discovered by him fifty years before. p. . _dulwich gallery._--this is amongst the unfortunate consequences of taking lists upon trust. poor tom hurst[ ] has not been in the churchyard these last eight years--except the three last in his grave. the last five years of his life were spent in a comfortable asylum, as "a poor brother of the charterhouse." he was one of the victims of the "panic of ;" and though the spirit of speculation never left him, he always failed to recover his position. he is referred to here, however, to call mr. cunningham's attention to the necessity, in a _hand-book_ especially, of referring his readers correctly to the places at which _tickets_ are to be obtained for any purpose whatever. it discourages the visitor to london when he is thus "sent upon a fool's errand;" and the cockney himself is not in quite so good a humour with the author for being sent a few steps out of his way. p. . _rogers_--a cockney by inference. i { } should like to see this more decidedly established. i am aware that it is distinctly so stated by chambers and by wilkinson; but a remark once made to me by mrs. glendinning (the wife of glendinning, the printer, of hatton garden) still leads me to press the inquiry. p. .--_the free trade club_ was dissolved before the publication of this edition of the _handbook_. p. .--and to sir john herschel, on his return from the cape of good hope. p. . _royal society._--from a letter of dr. charles hutton, in the _newcastle magazine_ (vol. i. nd series), it appears that at the time of dr. dodd's execution the fellows were in the habit of adjourning, after the meetings, to slaughter's coffee house, "to eat oysters," &c. the celebrated john hunter, who had attempted to resuscitate the ill-fated doctor, was one of them. "the royal society club" was instituted by sir joseph banks. p. . _hanover square._--blank date. p. . _millbank prison._--it was designed, not by "jeremy bentham," but by his brother, the great mechanist, sir samuel bentham. in passing, it may be remarked that the royal military academy, woolwich, is constructed on the same principle, and, as was stated in the _mechanics' magazine_, on authority, a year or two ago, by the same engineer. general rumour has, however, attributed the design to his gracious majesty george iii; and its being so closely in keeping with the known spirit of _espionage_ of that monarch certainly gave countenance to the rumour. it may be as well to state, however, that, so designed and so built, it has never yet been so used. p. .--_benbow_, not a native of wapping, but of shrewsbury. a life of him was published nearly forty years ago, by that veteran of local and county history, mr. charles hulbert, in the _salopian magazine_. p. . _whitfield._--certainly not the founder of the methodists, in the ordinary or recognised acceptation of the term. john wesley was at the head of that movement from the very first, and george whitfield and charles wesley were altogether subordinate to him. wesley and whitfield parted company on the ground of arminianism _versus_ calvinism. for a while the two sects kept the titles of "arminian methodists" and "calvinistic methodists." the latter made but little ground afterwards, and the distinctive adjective was dropped by the wesleyans when the whitfieldites had ceased to be a prominent body. p. . _doctor dodd._--the great interest excited in favour of a commutation of his sentence, led to the belief at the time, that his life had not been really sacrificed. many plausible stories respecting the doctor having been subsequently seen alive, were current; and as they may possibly in some future age be revived, and again pass into general currency, it may be as well to state that the most positive evidence to the contrary exists, in a letter of dr. hutton's before referred to. the _attempt to resuscitate him was actually made_, by a no less distinguished surgeon than john hunter. he seemed then to attribute the failure to his having _received the body too late_. wonderful effects were at that time expected to result from the discovery of galvanism; but it would have been wonderful indeed if any restoration had taken place after more than two hours of suspended animation. john hunter, according to the account, does not seem to have been very communicative on the subject, even to his philosophical friends at slaughter's oyster rooms. t.s.d. shooter's hill. [footnote : it may not be out of place here to mention one fine feature in the character of "tom hurst;" his deep reverence for men of ability, whether in literature, science, or art. take one instance: fourteen or fifteen years ago, i called one morning at his place of business (then . st. paul's church yard, which has been subsequently absorbed into the "religious tract depository"); and, as was my custom, i walked through the shop to his private room. he was "not in;" but a gentleman, who first looked at me and then at a portrait of me on the wall, accosted me by my surname as familiarly as an intimate acquaintance of twenty years would have done. he and hurst, it appeared, had been speaking of me, suggested by the picture, before hurst went out. the familiar stranger did not keep me long in suspense--he intimated that i had "probably heard our friend speak of ben haydon." of course i had; and we soon got into an easy chat. hurst was naturally a common subject with us. amongst the remarks he made were the following, and in almost the words:-- "when my troubles came on, i owed hurst a large sum of money; and the circumstances under which i became his debtor rendered this peculiarly a debt of honour. he lent it me when he could ill spare it; yet he is the only one of all my creditors who has not in one way or other persecuted me to the present hour. when he first knew of my wreck, he called upon me--_not to reproach but to encourage me_--and he would not leave me till he felt sure that he had changed the moody current of my thoughts. if there be any change in him since then, it is in his increased kindness of manner and his assiduity to serve me. he is now gone out to try to sell 'a bit of daub' for me." hurst came in, and this conversation dropped; but it had been well had hurst been by his side on the day his last picture was opened to view at the egyptian hall. the catastrophe of that night might have been averted, notwithstanding mr. barnum and his tom thumb show in the adjoining room.] * * * * * satirical song upon george villiers, duke of buckingham. in turning over some old bundles of papers of the early part of the seventeenth century, i met with the following satirical effusion upon "james's infamous prime minister," george villiers, duke of buckingham. as an echo of the popular feelings of the people at the time it was written, it merits preservation; and although i have seen other manuscript copies of the ballad, it has never yet, as far as i can learn, appeared in print. it appears to be a parody or paraphrase of a well-known ballad of the period, the burden of which attracted the notice of the satirist. it afterwards became a common vehicle of derision during the civil war, as may be seen by turning over the pages of the collection entitled _rump songs_, and the folio volumes of the king's pamphlets. the _original_ of these parodies has hitherto eluded my researches. it is not among the pepysian, roxburghe, wood, or douce ballads, but perhaps some of your readers may be able to point it out in some public or private collection. "come heare, lady muses, and help mee to sing, come love mee where i lay; of a duke that deserves to be made a king-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "our buckingham duke is the man that i meane, come love mee where i lay; on his shoulders the weale of the kingdome doth leane-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "o happiest kingdome that ever was kind, come love mee where i lay; and happie the king that hath such a friend-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. { } "needs must i extoll his worth and his blood-- come love mee where i lay; and his sweet disposition soe milde and soe good-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "those innocent smiles that embelish his face, come love mee where i lay; who sees them not tokens of goodness and grace-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "and what other scholler could ever arise, come love mee where i lay; from a master that was soe sincere and wise-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "who is hee could now from his grave but ascend, come love mee where i lay; would surely the truth of his service commend-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "the king understands how he honors his place, come love me where i lay; which is to his majestie noe little grace-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "and therefore the government justly hath hee, come love mee where i lay; of horse for the land, and shipps for the sea-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "what, though our fleet be our enemies debtor, come love mee where i lay; wee brav'd them once, and wee'l brave them better-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "and should they land heere they should bee disjointed, come love mee where i lay; and find both our horse and men bravely appointed-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "then let us sing all of this nobel duke's praise, come love mee where i lay; and pray for the length of his life and his daies-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way. "and when that death shall close up his eyes, come love mee where i lay; god take him up into the skies-- the cleane contrary way, o the cleane contrary way." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * "whole duty of man," author of. (from baker's mss, vol. xxxv. p. - . cambridge university library.) "octo'r . . mr. thomas caulton, vicar of worksop, &c. [as in the note p. xiii. to the editor's preface, ed. , with unimportant variations, such as _madam frances heathcote_, where the printed copy has _mrs. heathcote_; baker reads _madam ayre of rampton after dinner took_, where the printed copy has, _mrs. eyre_. after _was dead_, follows in baker,] and that in that month she had buried her husband and severall relations, but that her comfort was, that by her monthly sacraments she participated still with them in the communion of saints. "then she went to her closet, and fetched out a manuscript, w'ch she said was the original of the _whole duty of man_, tied together and stitched, in 'vo, like sermon notes. she untied it, saying, it was dr. fell's correction and that the author was the lady packington (her mother), in whose hand it was written. "to prove this, the s'd mr. caulton further added that she said, she had shewn it to dr. covell, master of christ's college[ ] in cambridge, dr. stamford, preb. of york, and mr. banks the present incumbent of the great church in hull. she added, withall, that _the decay of christian piety_ was hers (the lady packington's) also, but disowned any of the rest to be her mother's. "this is a true copy of what i wrote, from mr. caulton's mouth, two days before his decease. "witness my hand, "nov. . . "john hewyt." "bp. fell tells us, that all these tracts were written by the excellent author (whom he makes to be one and the same person) at severall times, as y'e exigence of the church, and the benefit of soules directed y'r composures; and that he (the author) did likewise publish them apart, in the same order as they were made. the last, it seems (w'ch is _the lively oracles_), came out in , the very year dr. woodhead died. had the author liv'd longer, we should have had his tract _of the government of the thoughts_, a work he had undertaken; and certainly (as bp. fell hath told us), had this work been finished, 'twould have equall'd, if not excelled, whatever that inimitable hand had formerly wrote. withall it may be observ'd, that the author of these tracts speaks of the great pestilence, and of the great fire of london, both w'ch happen'd after the restoration, whereas bp. chappell died in . and further, in sect. vii. of the _lively oracles_, n. ., are these words, w'ch i think cannot agree to bp. chappell [and less to mr. woodhead]. _i would not be hasty in charging idolatry upon the church of rome, or all in her communion; but that their image-worship is a most futall snare, in w'ch vast numbers of unhappy souls are taken, no man can doubt, who hath with any regard travailed in popish countries: i myself, and thousands of others, whom the late troubles, or other occasions, sent abroad, are, and have been witnesses thereof_. { } these words seem to have been spoke by one that had been at rome, and was forced into those countries after the troubles broke out here. but as for chappell, he never was at rome, nor in any of those countries. "as for archbp. stern, no man will believe him to have any just title to any of these tracts. [the last passage concerning idolatry, will not agree with mr. woodhead, nor the rest with lady packington.] "in a letter from mr. hearne, dat. oxon, mar. , , said by dr. clavering, bp. of petr. to be wrote by one mr. basket, a clergyman of worcestershire. see dr. hamond's _letters_ published by mr. peck, et ultra quære." on so disputed a point as the authorship of the _whole duty of man_, your readers will probably welcome any discussion by one so competent to form an opinion in such matters as hearne. the letter above given was unknown to the editor of mr. pickering's edition. j.e.b. mayor. marlborough college. [footnote : the printed copy has _trinity_ college.] * * * * * mistake about george wither. in campbell's _notices of the british poets_ (edit. p. .) is the following, passage from the short memoir of george wither:-- "he was even afraid of being put to some mechanical trade, when he contrived to get to london, and with great simplicity had proposed to try his fortune at court. to his astonishment, however, he found that it was necessary to flatter in order to be a courtier. to show his independence, he therefore wrote his _abuses whipt and stript_, and, instead of rising at court, was committed for some months to the marshalsea." the author adds a note to this passage, to which mr. peter cunningham (the editor of the edition to which i refer) appends the remark inclosed between brackets:-- "he was imprisoned for his _abuses whipt and stript_; yet this could not have been his first offence, as an allusion is made to a former accusation. [it was for _the scourge_ ( ) that his first known imprisonment took place.]" i cannot discover upon any authority sufficient ground for mr. campbell's note resecting a _former_ accusation against wither. he was undoubtedly imprisoned for his _abuses whipt and stript_, which first appeared in print in , but i do not think an _earlier_ offence can be proved against him. it has been supposed, upon the authority of a passage in the _warning piece to london_, that the first edition of this curious work appeared in ; but i am inclined to think that the lines,-- "in sixteen hundred ten and one, i notice took of public crimes," refers to the period at which the "satirical essays" were _composed_. mr. willmott, however (_lives of the sacred poets_, p. .), thinks that they point to an earlier publication. but it is not likely that wither would so soon again have committed himself by the publication of the _abuses_ in , if he had suffered for his "liberty of speech" so shortly before. mr. cunningham's addition to mr. campbell's note is incorrect. the _scourge_ is part of the _abuses whipt and stript_ printed in (a copy of which is now before me), to which it forms a postscript. wood, who had never seen it, speaks of it as a _separate_ publication; but mr. willmott has corrected this error, although he had only the means of referring to the edition of the _abuses_ printed in . mr. cunningham's note, that wither was imprisoned for the _scourge_ in , is a mistake; made, probably, by a too hasty perusal of mr. willmott's charming little volume on our elder sacred poets. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * useful versus useless learning a single and practical plan for the formation of a complete and useful library and _respository_ of _universal_ literary knowledge. the design which i propose in the following few lines, is one which i should imagine nearly all the more learned and literary of your readers would _wish_ to see _already in existence_ and when i show that it might be effected _with very little trouble and expense_ (indeed _no_ trouble but such as would be a _pleasure_ to those interested in the work), and that the greatest advantage would follow from it,--i hope that it may meet with favourable consideration from some of the numerous, able, and influential readers and correspondents of your journal. i am the more induced to hope this from the fact of such a wish having been partially expressed by some of your contributors, and the excellent leading articles of nos. and . what i propose is simply this: the systematic arrangement of _all_ the existing literary knowledge in the world that is considered _of value_ by those best qualified to judge, disposed in such a manner as to answer these two purposes: st, to give a general connected and classified _view_ of the literary treasures of the whole world, beginning from the most ancient in each language and department (including only what is valuable in each); and, dly, to afford the greatest possible _facility_ (by means of arrangement, references and _indexes_) to every inquirer for finding _at once_ the information he is in search of, if it is to be found _anywhere_ by looking for it. there are two ways in which this work might be accomplished, both of which were desirable, though even one only would be much better than none. the first and most complete is, to make a real collection of all those works, arranged in the { } most perfect systematic order; and, while doing so, to make at the same time a corresponding classified _catalogue_. the chief (and almost the only) _difficulty_ in the way of this would be, to find a _room_ (or suite of rooms) to contain such a library and repository; but such would probably be found if sought. the other way in which this object might be attained is by the formation of a simple catalogue in the same order, such as does already exist and lies open for public use (though only in manuscript, and not so accurately classified as might be) in the noble library of the dublin university. this plan would be _far easier_ than (besides forming the best possible _basis_ for) that so urgently advocated by mr. bolton corney (vol. i. pp. , , .). of course so extensive a design would require to be distributed among many hundred persons; but so does any great work: while, by each individual undertaking that department in which he is most interested and most experienced, the whole might be accomplished easily and pleasantly. the great fault of antiquarians is, that they are constantly _beginning at the wrong end_: they fix on some one piece of information that they want to get, and devote a world of labour to hunting about in all directions for anything bearing on the subject; whereas the rational way obviously is, to have the whole existing mass of (valuable) knowledge _classified_, and then the inquirer would know _where_ to look for his purpose. of course there will always remain much knowledge of a miscellaneous and irregular nature which is picked up by accident, and does not come within the scope of the present design; but this is generally of a trifling and fugitive kind, and does not at all controvert the principle above laid down. in conclusion, i have worked out a tolerably complete series of arrangements for the above design, showing its practicability as well as usefulness, which will be much at the service of any one who can use them for the furtherance of that object. w. d. * * * * * minor notes. _numerals._--for the old indian forms, see prinsep's _journal asiatic soc. bengal_, , p. . the prospectus of _brugsh, numerorum apud egyptios demoticorum doctrina_, berlin, promises to give from papyri and inscriptions not only the figures, but the forms of operation. probably the system assumed its present form by the meeting of the indian and egyptian traders at some emporium near the mouth of the indus. peacock seems to give undue weight to the fact, that the tibetans have a copious nomenclature for high numbers: their arithmetic, doubtless, came with their alphabet, and the buddhist legends from india. f.q. _junnius and sir philip francis._--a few years ago, an aged intelligent person named garner was living at belgrave, near leicester. i have heard him say that, when he was a farm bailiff to lord thanet, at sevenoaks, in kent, sir philip francis was a frequent visitor there, and had a private room set apart for literary occupation. on one occasion, when he (mr. garner) was riding over the farm with sir philip francis, the former alluded to one of the replies to junius, by a clergyman who had been the subject of the "great unknown's" anonymous attacks, adding, "they say, sir philip, you are junius." sir philip did not deny that he was the man, but simply smiled at the remark. this, and other circumstances coupled with the fact of sir philip's frequent visits to the house of so noted a politician as lord thanet, rendered mr. garner a firm believer in the identity of sir philip and junius to the end of his days. jaytee. _jews under the commonwealth_ (vol. i., pp. . .; vol ii., p. .).--there is a confirmation of the story of the jews being in treaty for st. paul's and the oxford library in a passage in carte's _letters_, i. , april , :-- "they are about demolishing and selling cathedral churches. i hear norwich is designed already, and that the jews proffer , l. for paul's and oxford library, and may have them for , l. more." ch. "_is anything but," &c._--as your work seems adapted, amongst other subjects, to check the introduction into our language of undesirable words, phrases, and forms of speech, i would call the attention of your readers to the modern phrases, "is anything but," and the like, which have lately crept into use, and will be found, in many (otherwise) well-written books. i read the phrase "is anything but," for the first time, in napier's _peninsular war_; where it struck me as being so much beneath the dignity of historical composition, and at the same time asserting an impossibility, that i meditated calling the author's attention to it. the not unfrequent use of the same phrase by other writers, since that time, has by no means reconciled me to its use. in the _edinburgh review_ for january last ( ) i find the following sentence:--"but as pains have been taken to fix the blame _upon any one except_ the parties culpable;" and in the july number of the same _review_ (p. .) occurs the sentence, "_any impulse rather than_ that of patriotism," &c. now, a "thing," or "person," or "impulse,"--though it may not be the "thing," or "person," or "impulse" charged as the agent,--must yet be some _certain_ and _specific_ thing, or party, or impulse, { } if existing as an agent at all in the matter; and cannot be "_any_ thing," or "_any_ party," or "_any_ impulse," in the _indefinite_ sense intended in these phrases. moreover, there seems no difficulty in expressing, in a simple and direct manner, that the agent was a very different, or opposite, or dissimilar "thing," or "person," or "impulse" from that supposed. i wish some persons of competent authority in the science of our language (and many such there are who write in your pages) would take up this subject, with a view to preserve the purity of it; and would also, for the future, exercise a watchful vigilance over the use, for the _first_ time, of any incorrect, or low words or phrases, in composition; and so endeavour to confine them to the vulgar, or to those who ape the vulgar in their style. p.h.f. _fastitocalon._--_fastitocalon. cod. exon._ fol. . b. p. . . read [greek: aspido ... chelonae]. tychsen, _physiologus syrus_, cap. xxx.: did the digamma get to crediton by way of cricklade? f.q. * * * * * queries bishop cosin's conference. basire in his _dead man's real speech_ (pp. , .), amongst other "notable instances" of bishop cosin's zeal and constancy in defence of the church of england, mentions "a solemn conference both by word and writing betwixt him and the prior of the english benedictines at paris, supposed to be robinson. the argument was concerning the validity of the ordination of our priests, &c., in the church of england. the issue was, our doctor had the better so far, that he could never get from the prior any reply to his last answer. this conference was undertaken to fix a person of honour then wavering about that point; the sum of which conference (as i am informed), was written by dr. cosin to dr. morley, the now right reverend lord bishop of winchester, in two letters bearing date june , july , ." the substance of this conference has been preserved among the smith manuscripts in the bodleian library; but it is not in the form of letters to dr. morley. vol. xl. of this valuable collection of manuscripts contains (as described in smith's table of contents):-- . "papers of bp. cosins in defence of the ordination of the church of england against father prior. "the first of these is bp. cosin's review of the father's letter, &c. [the title-page is placed at p. .] "then follows a letter (which is indeed the bishop's first paper, and should be put first) from bishop cosin to the father. "after that the father's answer to bishop cosin's review at p. . "then come two other papers about the validity of our ordination, with a preface concerning the occasion, p. ." . "then, p. ., a letter from a _rom. cath._ to a lady about communicating in one kind,--with bishop cosin's answer." . "lastly, in p. ., is a letter of bp. cosin's to dr. collins concerning the sabbath." the order in which the papers under the first head, about our english ordination, should fall, appears to be as follows:-- . there is a note attached to p. ., evidently written by dr. tho. smith himself in the following words: "transcript of several papers of bishop cosin's sent to me by dr. j. smith, prebendary of durham.--t.s." . at p. . the title-page is given thus: "a review of a letter sent from f.p.r. to a lady (whom he would have persuaded to the rom. party) in opposition to a former paper given him for the defence of the church of england in the ordination of priests." to this are appended the respective forms of ordering priests used in the church of england and in the roman church. . then, at p. ., we have the "occasion of this ... discourse concerning the ordination of priests," &c. this is a kind of preface, which contains the first paper that was given to the prior, dated june , ; also another paper, bearing date july , , but ending abruptly in the middle of a sentence, and having written below it (probably in dr. j. smith's hand) the following note: "the rest of this is not yet found, and that which is written thus far is not in the bishop's own hand, but the copy is very fair." however, this second paper (ending thus abruptly) appears to be no more than the first draft of a long letter from cosin to the prior, which commences at p. . of this ms., and which is dated "from the court of s. germains, july , ;" for not only does this letter bear the same _date_ as the before-mentioned fragment, but it begins by complaining of the tone of expression in a letter evidently received from the prior after the draft had been prepared, but before it was sent off; and it concludes with the following note appended as a postscript: "sir, "the enclosed (most of it) was prepared for you a fortnight since; but now (upon the occasion given by your letter) you have it with some advantage from "your servt., j.c. "i desire the fav" "s. germ. july ." . the most important part of this ms., however, is contained in the long letter or treatise { } placed first in the volume, and bearing for its title, "a view of f.p.'s answer to the first paper." this is dated from s. germains, july , and would appear to be cosin's last letter. but, if it be really so, basire must, i think, be in error, when he says, "our doctor ... could never get from the prior any reply to his last answer." for at p. . of the ms. there is a reply to the above "review of a letter sent by f.r. to a lady," &c. which, though copied without either date or signature, was evidently written by the prior, whilst it professes to be a reply to a treatise closely answering to cosin's letter of july , but which letter the writer did not receive (as he states) before the th of september. i wish yet further to take notice, that dr. tho. smith, in his _vitæ_ (lond. , præf. pp. vii, viii.), refers to these manuscripts in the following satisfactory manner:-- "cum, post mortem d. cosini, de pretio et valore schedarum, quas reliquit, hæredibus non satis constaret, ... auspieatò tandem devenit, ut favore, beneficio, et perquam insigni humanitate reverendi et doctissimi viri, d. joannis smith, sacræ theologiæ professoris ecclesiæ dunelmensis præbendarii, quorum frequens hac de re commercium literarum, occasione data, (opportunè intercedente prænobili et reverendo, d. georgio whelero, equite aurato, et ecclesiæ anglicanæ presbytero, ejusdem quoque ecclesiæ cathedralis prebendario), habui, duos libellos (tanquam prætiosas tabulas ab isthoc infami naufragio servatas) a d. cosino, dum in galliâ exularet, anglieè conscriptos jam possidieam: quarum unus _vindicias ordinatianum ecclesieæ anglicanæ_ contra exceptiones et cavillationes cujusdem pontificii sacerdotis e gente nostra, alter _responsionem ad epistolam_ nobili fæminæ anglæ ab alio saccrdote _pro defensione communionis sub unicâ specie administrandæ_ inscriptam, complectitur," &c. i should still be glad to add to this long note the followng queries:-- . can any of your readers kindly inform me whether cosin's two letters to dr. geo. morley are still in existence, either in ms. or in print? . whether there be any fuller or more authentic account of the controversy than that in these ms. preserved by the care of dr. smith? . whether cosin wrote any letter to the prior _later_ than that of july ? . who was the _lady_ the prior wished to seduce to the roman party? . is there any other account of the controversy? j. sansom. * * * * * engelman's bibiliotheca scriptorum classicorum. a little while ago, i ordered engelman's _bibliotheca scriptoram classicorum_, purporting to contain all such works published from to . it was furnished to my bookseller by a foreign bookseller in _london_ with an english title, having _his own_ name on it as publisher, and an invitation to purchase the books described in it _from him_. as the paper and type were german, i objected and received in consequence a new english title, with the same name upon it, and a _shorter_ invitation to purchase from him. i was captious enough to object even to this; and i then received a leipzig title in german. but there still remains a difficulty: for this german title has also the name of a _parisian_ bookseller upon it, _a la maison duquel on peut s'adresser, &c._ now, as engelman is a bookseller, and would probably not object to an order out of his own catalogue, of which he is both author and publisher, the preceding, circumstances naturally raise the following queries: . what is the real title-page of engelman's _catalogue_ . is the parisian house accredited by engelman; or has the former served the latter as the london house has served both? . is it not desirable that literary men should set their faces very decidedly against all and every the slightest alteration in the genuine description of a book? . would it not be desirable that every such alteration should forthwith be communicate to your paper? the english title-page omits the important fact, that the _catalogue_ begins at , and describes it as containing _all_ editions, &c., up to . a. de morgan. september . . * * * * * minor queries. _portrait of sir p. sidney, by paul veronese._--in the letters of sir p. sidney which i found at hamburg, and which were published by pickering, , it is stated that a portrait of sidney was painted by paul veronese, at venice, for herbert languet. it would be very interesting to discover the existence of this picture. languet had it with him at prague, _framed_, as he asserts, and hung up in his room, in the year . he remarks upon it, in one place, that it represented sidney as too young (he was nineteen when it was taken); in another place he says that it has given him too sad an expression. i should add, that on languet's death, his property passed into the hands of his friend du plessis. i am led to write to you on this subject, by having observed, a few days since, in the collection at blenheim, two portraits by paul veronese, of persons unknown. there may be many such, and that of sir philip sidney may yet be identified. steuart a. pears. harrow, sept. . _confession._--you would much oblige if you could discover the name of a catholic priest, in { } german history, who submitted to die rather than reveal a secret committed to him in confession? u.j.b. _scotch prisoners at worcester._--in mr. walcott's _history of st. margaret's church, westminster_, i find the following extract from church wardens' accounts:-- " . p'd to thos. wright for loads of soyle laid on the graves in tothill fields, wherein scotch prisoners, taken at the fight at worcester, were buried; and for other pains taken with his teeme of horses, about mending the sanctuary highway, when gen. ireton was buried." i have taken the pains to verify this extract, and find the figures quite correctly given. i wish to put the query: is this abominable massacre in cold blood mentioned by any of our historians? but for such unexceptionable evidence, it would appear incredible. c.f.s. _adamson's reign of edward ii._-- "the reigns of king edward ii., and so far of king edward iii., as relates to the lives and actions of piers gaveston, hugh de spencer, and roger lord mortimer, with remarks thereon adapted to the present time: humbly addressed to all his majesty's subjects of great britain, &c., by _j. adamson_. printed for j. millar, near the horse guards, , and sold by the booksellers of london and westminster, price one shilling." the above is the title-page of a little work of eighty-six pages in my possession, which i am inclined to think is scarce. it appears to be a defence of the walpole administration from the attacks of the _craftsman_, a periodical of the time, conducted by amhurst, who was supported by bolinbroke and pulteney, the leaders of the opposition. is anything known of _j. adamson_, the author? h.a.e. _sir thomas moore._--can any of your readers give any account of sir thomas moore, beyond what victor tells of him in his _history_ of the theatre, ii. p. ., "that he was the author of an absurd tragedy called _mangora_ (played in ), and was knighted by george i." in pope's "epistle to arbuthnot," he writes-- "arthur, whose giddy son leglects the laws." on which warburton notes-- "_arthur moore, esq._" who was _arthur moore, esq._? and who was the "giddy son?" was the latter _james moore smith_ a gentleman whose family name was, i think, _moore_, and who assumed (perhaps for a fortune) the additional name of _smith_? this gentleman pope seems to call indiscriminately _moore_, _moor_, and _more_: and when he says that his good nature towards the dunces was so great that he had even "rhymed for moor" (ib. v. .), i cannot but suspect that the moor _for_ whom he had _rhymed_, was the _giddy son_ whom _arthur_ accused him of seducing from the law to the muses. there are many allusions to this mr. james moore smith throughout pope's satirical works, but all very obscure; and warburton, though he appears to have known him, affords no explanation as to who or what he was. he was the author of a comedy called _the rival modes_. c. _dr. e. cleaver, bishop of cork._--i shall feel much obliged to any of your correspondents who will furnish me with the particulars of the consecration of dr. euseby cleaver to the sees of cork and ross, in march, april, or may, . finding no record of the transaction in the diocesan registry of cork, and not being able to trace it in any other part of _ireland_, i am induced to believe that this consecration may have taken place in _england_; and shall be very glad to be correctly informed upon the point. h. cotton. thurles, ireland. _gwynn's london and westminster._--mr. thomas frederick hunt, in his _exemplars of tudor architecture_, to. london, , in a note at p. ., alludes to _london and westminster improved, by john gywnn, london_, , to., and has this remark: "it is a singular fact, that in this work john gwynn pointed out almost all the designs for the improvement of london, which have been _devised_ by the civil and military architects of the present day." and mr. hunt concludes by observing,, that-- "this discovery was made by the _literary gazette_." will you permit me, through the medium of your useful publication, to solicit information of the number and date of the _literary gazette_ which recalled public attention to this very remarkable fact? §n. _coronet._--in newbold church, in the county of warwick, is a monument to the memory of thomas boughton of lawford, and elizabeth his wife, representing him in a suit of armour, with sword and spurs, _a coronet on his head_, and a bear at his feet, chained and muzzled. query.--can any of your readers give an accurate description of this coronet? or can any of them mention instances of the monuments of esquires having similar coronets? the date of his death is not given: his wife died in the year . z. _cinderella._--referring to vol. ii., p. ., allow me to ask in what edition of perrault's _fairy tales_ the misprint of _verre_ from _vair_ first occurs? what is the date of their first publication, as well as that of the translation under the title of _mother goose's tales_? whether perrault was the originator of _cinderella_, or from what source he drew the tale? { } what, moreover, is the authority for identifying _sable_ with _vair_ for the employment of either in designating the highest rank of princesses? sandvicensis. _judas' bell, judas' candle_ (vol. i., pp. . . .).--some time since i asked the meaning of a judas' bell, and your learned correspondent cephas replied that it was only a bell so christened after st. jude, the apostle. however, it may have been connected with the judas' tapers, which, according, to the subjoined entries, were used with the paschal candle at easter. may i trust to his kindness to explain its purport? "_reading parish accompts_. " . itm. payed for making leng' mr. smyth's molde wt. a judas for the pascall--vjd." "_st. giles' parish accompts_. "a.d. . paid for making a judas for pascall iiijd." "_churchwardens' accompts of s. martin, outwich_. " . paid to randolf merchaunt wex chandiler for the pascall, the tapers affore the rode, the cross candelles, and judas candelles--viiijs. iiijd." "_st. margaret's, westminster._ " . item payed for xij. judacis to stand with the tapers--o ijd. o" mackenzie walcott, m.a., oxon. _dozen of bread; baker's dozen._--in the _chronicle of queen jane, and of two years of queen mary_, lately printed for the camden society (appendix iv. p. .), it is stated that, amongst other particulars in the accounts of the chamberlain of colchester, at which place mary was entertained on her way to london, there is:--"for xxxviii. _dozen of bread_, xxxixs." in the language of the county from which i write, "a dozen of bread" was (and i believe is yet) used to express either one loaf, value twelvepence or two loaves, value sixpence each: and even when the sizes and price of the loaves varied, it was used to express the larger loaf, or the two smaller loaves. a dozen of bread was also divided into six twopenny, or twelve penny loaves. but in the quotation above, thirty-eight dozen of bread are charged thirty-nine shillings; whereas the extra one shilling, cannot be divided into aliquot parts, so as to express the value of each of the thirty-eight dozen of bread. what was a dozen of bread in ? what is a _baker's dozen_, and why so called? p.h.f. _kongs skuggsia._--is anything, precise known of the date and origin of the icelandic kongs skuggsia. f.q. _coins of gandophares._--coins of gandophares, an indian prince, are described by prinsep, _jour. asiatic soc. bengal_, and in wilson's _asiana_. the name is met with in the legends of st. thomas can it be found elsewhere? f.q. _satirical medals._--is any printed account to be found of a very elaborately executed series of caricature medals relating to the revolution of ? f.q. * * * * * replies. gaudentio di lucca. (vol. ii., p. .) the work entitled _the adventures of sig. gaudentio di lucca_ was published at london in , in vol. vo. it purports to be a translation from the italian, by e.t. gent but this is a mere fiction. the work is evidently an english composition. it belongs to the class of _voyages imaginaires_, and its main object is to describe the institutions and manners of the mezoranians, an utopian community, supposed to exist in the centre of africa. sig. gaudentio is able, by an accident, to visit this people, by the way of egypt, and to return to europe; he resides at bologna, where he falls under the suspicion of the inquisition, and having been brought before that tribunal, he describes his former life, and his adventures in the country of the mezoranians. a second london edition of this work, of the date of , is mentioned in the _gentleman's magazine_ for jan. . there is an edition in mo., printed at edinburgh, . and there is another london edition, in vo., of the year . copies of the editions of and are in the british museum. there are two french translations of the work. one is of the date , under the title of _mémoires de gaudentio di lucca_. the second, of , by m. dupuy demportes, speaks of the first having been made by an englishman named _milts_; but the person and name appear to be fictitious. the first translation is said by barbier, _dict. des anonymes_, no. , , to have been revised by the chevalier de saint germain, who made additions to it of his own invention. the second translation is reprinted in the collection of _voyages imaginaires_, amsterdam et paris, , tom. vi. an anonymous writer in the _gent. mag._ for jan. , vol. xlvii., p. ., speaking of bishop berkeley, says that "the _adventures of signor gaudentio di lucca_ have been generally attributed to him." the writer of the note added to the _life of berkeley_ in kippis's _biogr. brit._, , vol. ii. p. ., quotes this statement, and adds that the work is ascribed to him by the booksellers in their printed catalogues. this writer thinks that the authorship of bp. berkeley is consistent with the internal evidence of the book but he furnishes no positive testimony on the subject. { } in a letter from mr. j.c. walker to mr. pinkerton, of jan., (published in pinkerton's _literary correspondence_, vol. ii., p. .), lord charlemont is referred to as believing that gaudentio di lucca is founded in fact; that bishop berkeley, when he was at cairo, conversed with persons who had attended a caravan, and that he learned from them what he narrated in the account of gaudentio. this passage is cited in southey's _common-place book_, p. ; but the work is manifestly fictitious, and it does not appear that berkeley, though he twice visited the continent, was ever out of europe. the date of the publication of gaudentio is quite consistent with the authorship of berkeley, who died in ; but the notice in the _gentleman's magazine_ only proves the existence of a rumour to that effect; and the authentic _life of berkeley_, by dr. stock, chiefly drawn up from materials communicated by dr. r. berkeley, brother to the bishop, and prefixed to the collected edition of his work ( vols. to. lond., ), makes no allusion to gaudentio. there is nothing in the contents of this work which renders it likely that the authorship should have been carefully concealed by bp. berkeley and his family, if he had really been the author. the literary execution of gaudentio is good; and it is probable that the speculative character of the work, and the fact that berkeley had visited italy, suggested the idea that he had composed it. the belief that bishop berkeley was the author of _gaudentio di lucca_ may therefore be considered as unauthorised. the copy of the edition of _gaudentio_ of , which is preserved in the british museum, contains in the title-page the following note, in pencil: "written originally in english by dr. swale of huntingdon. see _gent. mag._ ." the _gentleman's magazine_ for does not, however, contain any information about the authorship of _gaudentio_; and the name of dr. swale appears to be unknown in literary history. at the same time, a positive entry of this sort, with respect to an obscure person, doubtless had some foundation. on the authority of this note, dr. swale is registered as the author of gaudentio in the printed catalogue of the british museum library, whence it has passed into watt's _bibl. brit._ perhaps some of your correspondents, who are connected with huntingdon, may be able to throw some light on dr. swale. lastly, it should be added, that the writer of the article "berkeley," in the _biographic universelle_, adverts to the fact that _gaudentio di lucca_ has been attributed to him: he proceeds, however, to say that-- "the author of a life of berkeley affirms that berkeley is not the author of that book, which he supposes to have been written by a catholic priest imprisoned in the tower of london." i have been unable to trace the origin of this statement; nor do i know what is the _life of berkeley_, to which the writer in the _biogr. univ._ refers. the life published under the direction of his family makes no allusion to gaudentio, or to the belief that it was composed by bishop berkeley. the _encyclopédie méthodique_, div. "econ. pol. et dipl." (paris, ), tom. i. p. ., mentions the following work:-- "la république des philosophes, ou l'histoire des ajaoiens, relation d'un voyage du chevalier s. van doelvett en orient en l'an , qui contient la description du gouvernement, de la religion, et des moeurs des ajaoiens." it is stated that this romance, though composed a century before, had only been lately published. the editor attributed it to fontenelle, but (as the writer in the _encycl. méth._ thinks) probably without reason. the title of berkeley to the authorship of gaudentio has doubtless no better foundation. l. [dunlop, _hist. fiction_, iii. ., speaks of this romance as "generally, and i believe on good grounds, supposed to be the work of the celebrated berkeley;" adding, "we are told, in the life of this celebrated man, that plato was his favourite author: and, indeed, of all english writers berkeley has most successfully imitated the style and manner of that philosopher. it is not impossible, therefore, that the fanciful republic of the grecian sage may have led berkeley to write _gaudentio di lucca_, of which the principal object apparently is to describe a faultless and patriarchal form of governnent." the subject is a very curious one, and invites the further inquiry of our valued correspondent.--ed.] * * * * * on a passage in "the tempest." i was indebted to mr. singer for one of the best emendations in the edition of shakspeare i superintended (vol. vi. p. .), and i have too much respect for his sagacity and learning to pass, without observation, his remarks in "notes and queries" (vol. ii., p. .), on the conclusion of the speech of ferdinand, in "the tempest," act iii., sc. .:-- "but these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours; most busy, least when i do it." this is the way in which i ventured to print the passage, depending mainly upon the old copies. in the folio, , where the play for the first time appeared, the last line stands: "most busie lest, when i doe it;" and in that of , "most busie least, when i doe it:" { } so that the whole merit i claim that of altering the place of a comma, thereby, as i apprehend, rendering the meaning of the poet evident. the principle upon which i proceeded throughout was that of making as little variation as possible from the ancient authorities: upon that principle i acted in the instance in question, and i frequently found that this was the surest mode of removing difficulties. i could not easily adduce a stronger proof of this position, than the six words on which the doubt at this time has been raised. theobald made an important change in the old text, and his reading has been that generally adopted:-- "most busy-less when i do it." in restoring the old text i had, therefore, to contend with prepossession, against which, it seems, the rev. mr. dyce was not proof, although i only know it from mr. singer's letter, never having looked into the book in which i suppose, the opinion is advanced. one reason why i should reject the substitution of "busy-less," even if i had not a better mode of overcoming the difficulty, is properly adverted to by mr. singer, viz. that the word was not in use in the time of shakspeare. the only authority for it, at any period, quoted in todd's johnson, is this very (as i contend) corrupted passage in the tempest; i have not met with it at all in any of the older dictionaries i have been able to consult; and unless the rev. mr. dyce have been more fortunate, he was a little short-sighted, as well as a little angry, when he wrote his note upon mine. had he taken more time to reflect, he might have found that after all theobald and i are not so much at odds, although he arrives at his end by varying from, and i at mine by adhering to, the ancient authorities. in fact, i gain some confirmation of what, i believe, is the true meaning of shakspeare, out of the very corruption theobald introduced, and the rev. mr. dyce, to my surprise, supports. i should have expected him to be the very last man who would advocate an abandonment of what has been handed down to us in every old edition of the play. the key of the whole speech of ferdinand is contained in its very outset:-- "there be some sports are painful, and their labour delight in them sets off;" and the poet has said nearly the same thing in "macbeth:" "the labour we delight in physics pain." it is because ferdinand delights in the labour that he does not feel it irksome: "this my mean task would be as heavy to me as odious; but the mistress which i serve quickens what's dead, and makes my labours pleasure." he, therefore, tells us, at the close, that his labours are refreshed by the sweet thoughts of her; that, in fact, his toil is no toil, and that when he is "most busy" he "least does it," and suffers least under it. the delight he takes in his "mean task" renders it none. such i take to be the clear meaning of the poet, though somewhat obscurely and paradoxically expressed-- "most busy, least when i do it;" and when theobald proposed to substitute "most busy-less when i do it," he saw, though perhaps not quite distinctly, that such was the poet's intention, only, as i have said above, he arrived at it by altering, and i by adhering to, the poet's language. i may be allowed to add that i came to my conclusion many years before i was asked to put my name to an edition of shakspeare, which interrupted one of the most valuable friendships i ever formed. mr. singer will see at once that my interpretation (which i consider quite consistent with the character of shakspeare's mind, as well as quite consistent with the expressions he has used throughout the speech of the hero), steers clear of his proposal to alter "busie lest," or "busie least," of the folios of and , to _busyest_ or _busiest_; although everybody at all acquainted with our old language will agree with him in thinking, that if shakspeare had used "busiest" at all, which he does not in any of his productions, he might have said _most busiest_ without a violation of the constant practice of his day. j. payne collier. september . . * * * * * gray's elegy. perhaps the hermit of holyport will be satisfied with proofs from gray himself as to the time and manner of the first appearance of the _elegy_. gray thus writes to dr. wharton, under the date of "dec. , ." [i quote mason's "life" of its author, p. .] "the stanzas" [which he afterwards called _elegy_ at the suggestion of mason] "which i now enclose to you have had the misfortune, by _mr._ [horace] _walpole's fault_, to be made still more public," &c. the next letter in mason's publication is a letter from "mr. gray to mr. walpole" (p. .), and is dated "_cambridge, feb._ , ," which runs thus:-- "as you have brought me into a little sort of distress, you must assist me, i believe, to get out of it as well as i can. yesterday i had the misfortune of receiving a letter from certain gentlemen (as their bookseller expresses it) who have taken the magazine of magazines into their hands: they tell me that an { } _ingenious_ poem, called 'reflections in a country church-yard,' has been communicated to them, which they are printing forthwith; that they are informed that the _excellent_ author of it is i by name, and that they beg not only his _indulgence_, but the _honour_ of his correspondence, &c.... i therefore am obliged to desire you would make dodsley print it immediately _from your copy_, but without my name, &c. he must correct the press himself ... and the title must be 'elegy written in a country church-yard.' if he would add a line or two to say it came into his hand by accident, i should like it better ... if dodsley do not do this immediately, he may as well let it alone." dr. johnson (_life of gray_) says: "his next production, , was his far-famed _elegy_," &c. the doctor adds: "several of his [gray's] pieces were published, , with designs by mr. bentley, and that they might in some form or other make a book, only one side of each leaf was printed. i believe the poems and the plates recommended each other so well, that the whole impression was soon bought." it contains _six_ poems, one being the _elegy_. i have before me a copy of this collection, which is folio. the plates are clever, and very curious; a copy was sold at the fonthill sale for l. s.! the copy, admirably bound, which i quote, was bought at a bookseller's front-window stall for s. the title of this collection is "_designs by mr._ r. bentley, _for six poems by mr._ j. gray." according to the title-page, it was "printed for r. dodsley, in pall mall, mdccliii.," two years previously to the date to which your correspondent refers. this ( ) collection gives the line,-- "save where the beetle wheels his _droning_ flight." in the _elegant extracts_ (verse), ed. , which, it must be needless to mention, was prepared by the able and indefatigable dr. vicesimus knox, the accomplished scholar gives the line-- "save where the beetle wheels his _drony_ flight." dr. johnson's _dictionary_ does not insert the word "droning" or "drony;" but among his illustrations attached to the verb "to drone," there are two from dryden, each, it may be seen, using the word "droning." there is no quotation containing the word "drony." gray's language is: "save where the beetle wheels his _droning_ flight, and drowsy _tinklings_ lull the distant folds." johnson's second quotation from dryden may be worth repeating, as showing that gray's language is not wholly different from his predecessor's:-- "melfoil and honeysuckles pound, with these alluring savours strew the ground, and mix with _tinkling_ brass the cymbal's _droning_ sound." it is perhaps hardly worth noticing, that there is not uniformity even in the title. johnson calls it, _elegy in the church-yard_; dodsley ( ) styles it, _elegy written in a country church-yard_. a hermit at hampstead. _gray's elegy_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the hermit of holyport is referred to the to. edit. of the _works of gray_, by thos. jas. mathias, in which, vol. i. at the end of the elegy, in print, he will find "from the original in the handwriting of thos. gray: "'save where the beetle wheels his _droning_ flight.'" from the autograph the elegy appears to have been written in ; and the margin states, published in feb. , by dodsley, and went through four editions in two months; and afterwards a fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth, ninth and tenth, and eleventh; printed also in , with mr. bentley's designs, of which there is a second edition; and again by dodsley in his _miscellany_, vol. iv.; and in a scotch collection, called the _union_. translated into latin by chr. anstey, esq., and the rev. mr. roberts, and published in ; and again in the same year by rob. lloyd, m.a. the original ms. of the above will be found among the mss. of thos. gray, in the possession of the masters and fellows of pembroke house, cambridge. w.s. richmond, sept . * * * * * bishops and their precedence. (vol. ii., p. .) arun is not right, in reference to this query, in saying that the precedence of bishops over the temporal barons is regulated by the statute of hen. viii. the precedence of bishops over the temporal lords is not regulated by the act of hen. viii. for placing the lords. they may have originally been summoned to sit in parliament in right of their succession to certain baronial lands annexed to, or supposed to be annexed to their episcopal sees; but as some of the temporal peers were also summoned in right of lands held of the king _per baroniam_, that is not a satisfactory reason why they should take precedence of temporal barons. the precedency must have been regulated by some other laws, rules, or usage than are presented by the act of hen. viii. the archbishop of canterbury precedes the lord chancellor; the archbishop of york the lord president of the council and the lord privy seal; and all bishops precede barons. this precedency, however, is not given by the _statute_. the act provides only, in reference to the spiritual peers, that the vicegerent for good and due ministration of justice, to be had in all causes and cases touching the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and for the godly reformation and redress of all errors, heresies, and abuses in the { } church (and all other persons having grant of the said office), shall sit and be placed in all parliaments on the _right side_ of the parliament chamber, and upon the same form that the archbishop of canterbury sitteth on, and above the same archbishop and his successors; and next to the said vicegerent shall sit the archbishop of canterbury; and then, next to him, on the same form and side, shall sit the archbishop of york; and next to him, on the same form and side, the bishop of london; and next to him, on the same side and form, the bishop of durham; and next to him, on the same side and form, the bishop of winchester; and then all the other bishops of both provinces of canterbury and york shall sit and be placed on the same side, after their ancienties, as it hath been accustomed. there is nothing here to show in what order they are to rank among the great officers, or other temporal peers; nor is the precedency given to the lord chancellor over the archbishop of york. by the act of union of great britain and ireland, the archbishops of that kingdom have rank immediately after the archbishop of york, and therefore before the great officers (excepting only the lord chancellor), as well as above dukes; and the irish bishops immediately after those of england. it may be rightly stated that the high spiritual rank of the bishops is a reason for giving them precedence over the temporal lords sitting as barons; but has that _reason_ been assigned by any writer of authority, or even any writer upon precedence?--the query suggested by e. (vol. ii., p. .) lord coke does not assign that reason, but says, because they hold their bishopricks of the king _per baroniam_. but the holding _per baroniam_, as before observed, would equally apply to the temporal lords holding lands by similar tenures, and sitting by writ, and receiving summons in ancient times in virtue of such their tenure. the precedence of bishops over barons was clearly _disputed_ in the reign of king henry vi., when baker says in his _chronicle_ (p. .), _judgment_ was given for the _lords temporal_; but where the judgment, or any account of the dispute for precedence, is to be found i cannot say. that is what your correspondent g. inquired for (vol. ii., p. .). c.g. your correspondent arun (vol. ii., p. .) states, on the authority of stephen's _blackstone_, that-- "bishops are temporal barons, and sit in the house of peers in right of succession to certain ancient baronies annexed or supposed to be annexed to their episcopal lands." this position, though supported by lord coke in more places than one (see _coke upon littleton_, . _a, b_; _inst._ .; _inst._ .), and adopted by most other legal text-writers on his authority, cannot, it is conceived, be supported. it seems to be clearly ascertained that bishops sat in the great councils of this and other kingdoms not _ratione baroniarum_ but _jure ecclesiarum_, by custom, long before the tenure _per baroniam_ was known. in the preambles to the laws of ina (wilkins' _leges ang.-sax._ f. .), of athelstan (_ib._ .), of edmund (_ib._ .), the bishops are mentioned along with others of the great council, whilst the tenure _per baroniam_ was not known until after the conquest. the truth seems to be that "the bishops of the conqueror's age were entitled to sit in his councils by the general custom of europe and by the common law of england, which the conquest did not overturn."--hallam's _mid. ag._ - , th ed. can any of your readers throw any light on the much disputed tenure _per baroniam_? what was its essential character, what its incidents, and in what way did it differ from the ordinary tenure _in capite_? baro. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _leicester and the reputed poisoners of his time_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--this subject receives interesting illustration in the _memoirs of gervas holles_, who at some length describes the seduction of the lady sheffield, by leicester, at belvoir castle, while attending the queen on her progress. a letter from the earl to the lady of his love, contained the suspicious intimation-- "_that he had not been unmindful in removing that obstacle_ which hindered the full fruition of their contentments; that he had endeavoured one expedient already which had failed, but he would lay another which he doubted not would hit more sure." this letter the lady sheffield accidentally dropped from her pocket; and being picked up and given to the lord sheffield by his sister holles, he read it with anger and amazement. that night he parted beds, and the next day houses; meditating in what manner he might take honourable and just revenge. having resolved, he posted up to london to effect it; but the discovery had preceded him to the knowledge of leicester, who finding a necessity to be quick, bribed an italian physician ("whose name," says holles, "i have forgotten") in whom lord sheffield had great confidence, to poison him, which was immediately effected after his arrival in london. leicester, after cohabiting with the lady sheffield for some time, married the widow of the earl of essex, who, it is thought, says holles, "_served him in his own kind, every way_." in the suit afterwards instituted by sir robert dudley, with the view of establishing his legitimacy, the lady sheffield was examined, and swore { } to a private marriage with the earl of leicester, but that she had been prevailed on, by threats and pecuniary largesses, to deny the marriage, as queen elizabeth was desirous that lord leicester should marry the widow of the earl of essex. one curious circumstance arises out of the revival of these dark doings. are the particular drugs employed by leicester's italian physician "in removing obstacles" now known and in operation? by a remarkable coincidence, in a case of supposed poisoning at cheltenham, some time since, the intended victim escaped with the loss of his hair and his nails. h.k.s.c. _what is the correct prefix of mayors?_ (vol. i., p. .)--in leicester the usage has always been to designate the chief magistrate "the worshipful the mayor," which, i believe, is the style used in _boroughs_. in _cities_, and places _specially privileged_, "right worshipful" are the terms employed. jaytee. _marks of cadency_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the label of the prince of wales has, from the time of edward iii. up to the present time, been of three points argent, and _not_ charged. f.e. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. although we do not usually record in our columns the losses which literature sustains from time to time, we cannot permit the death of thomas amyot, the learned director of the camden society, and for so many years the treasurer of the society of antiquaries, to pass without rendering our grateful tribute to the memory of one of the most intelligent and kindest-hearted men that ever breathed; from whom we, in common with so many others, when entering on our literary career, received the most friendly assistance, and the most encouraging sympathy. every fifty years commences a discussion of the great question when the current century, or half century, properly begins. we have just seen this in the numerous queries, answers, replies, and rejoinders upon the subject which have appeared in the columns of the daily and weekly press; the only regular treatise being the essay upon _ancient and modern usage in reckoning_, by professor de morgan, in the _companion to the almanack_ for the present year. this essay is opposed to the idea of a "zero year," and one of the advocates of that system of computation has, therefore, undertaken a defence of the zero principle, which he pronounces, "when properly understood, is undoubtedly the most correct basis of reckoning," in a small volume entitled, _an examination of the century question_, and in which he maintains the point for which he is contending with considerable learning and ingenuity. all who are interested in the question at issue, will be at once amused and instructed by it. mr. charles knight announces a new edition of his _pictorial shakespeare_ under the title of the national edition; to contain the whole of the notes, illustrations, &c., thoroughly revised; and which, while it will be printed in a clear and beautiful type across the page, and not in double columns, will have the advantage of being much cheaper than the edition which he originally put forth. _the declaration of the fathers of the councell of trent concerning the going into churches at such times as hereticall service is said or heresy preached, &c._, is a reprint of a very rare tract, which possesses some present interest, as it bears upon the statement which has been of late years much insisted on by mr. perceval and other anglican controversialists, that for the first twelve years of elizabeth's reign, and until pius v.'s celebrated bull, _regnans in excelsis_, the roman catholics of england were in the habit of frequenting the reformed worship. we have received the following catalogues:--w.s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) sixty-first catalogue of english and foreign second-hand books; w.d. reeve's ( . chancery lane) catalogue no. . of cheap books, many rare and curious; r. kimpton's ( . wardour street, soho) catalogue no. . of second-hand books in good condition at very reduced prices. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. cambridge university poll-books for , , , and . oxford university poll-books for , , . ben jonson by clifford. vo. vols. ii., iii., and iv. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen._ _we are unavoidably compelled to postpone numerous notes, queries, and replies: indeed we see no way of clearing off our accumulation of replies without the publication of an extra number, to be devoted exclusively to the numerous answers which we now have waiting for insertion._ gutch's literary and scientific regsiter and almanack, _advertised in our last no., is for_ _not_ . mr. g.b. richardson _would oblige us by forwarding the additional verses of_ "long lonkin" _for our correspondent_ seleucus. a constant subscriber _will find the line_, "music hath charms to soothe the savage breast," _in congreve's_ mourning bride. janus dousa. _in our next no._ medicus, _who inquires respecting the origin of the proverbial saying, "quem deus vult perdere," is referred to our first volume_, pp. . . . and . _the original line reads "quem jupiter vult," and is barnes' translation of a fragment of_ euripides. { } * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxiv., is published this day. contents: i. ticknor's history of spanish literature. ii. church and education in wales. iii. forms of salutation. iv. siberia and california. v. mure on the literature of greece. vi. metropolitan water supply. vii. anecdotes of the provisional government. viii. cochranes's young italy. ix. last day of louis-philippe. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * will be published on the st of november, , with the other almanacks, the literary and scientific register and almanack for . price s. d. dedicated by especial permission to h.r.h. prince albert, by j.w.g. gutch, m.r.c.s.l., f.l.s.; containing a condensed mass of scientific and useful information alike valuable to the student and man of science. tenth yearly issue. published by d. bogue, fleet street, london * * * * * shortly will be published. the architectural quarterly review. a literary periodical devoted to works appertaining to the art and science of architecture. prospectuses may be obtained from the publisher. letters for the editor, and books, drawings, models, and specimens, to be addressed to the care of the publisher. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * royal to., cloth, price l. s. examples of ancient pulpits existing in england. selected and drawn from sketches and measurements taken on the spot, with descriptive letterpress. by francis t. dollman, architect. this work contains thirty quarto plates, three of which are highly finished in colours, restored accurately from the existing indications. the pulpits delineated are st. westburga, chester: ss. peter and paul, shrewsbury; st. michael, coventry; st. mary, wendon; st. mary and all saints, fotheringay; all saints, north cerney; holy trinity, nallsea; st. peter winchcombe; st. john baptist, cirencester; st. mary, totness; st. mary, frampton. holy trinity, old aston; st. benedict, glastonbury; st. peter, wolverhampton: st. andrew, cheddar (coloured); st. andrew, banwell; st. george, brakworth; holy trinity, long sutton (coloured); st. saviour, dartmouth (coloured); all saints, sudbury; all saints, hawstead; st. mary de lode, gloucester; st. mary, north petherton. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * to be completed in four parts, parts i. and ii., price s. each plain; s. d. coloured. antiquarian gleanings in the north of england: being examples of antique furniture, plate, church decoration, objects of historical interest, &c. drawn and etched by w.b. scott. "a collection of antiquarian relics, chiefly in the decorative branch of art, preserved in the northern counties, portrayed by a very competent hand ... all are drawn with that distinctness which makes them available for the antiquarian, for the artist who is studying costume, and for the study of decorative art."--_spectator._ parts iii. and iv., completing the work, are in preparation, and will be published shortly. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * the edinburgh review, no clxxxviii., will be publishd on thursday, october th, . i. history of the english language. ii. the united states. iii. british museum: catalogue of printed books. iv. mure's critical history of the language and literature of antient greece. v. col. chesney's expedition to the euphrates and tigris. vi. recent classical romances. viii. difficulties of replublican france. ix. horace and tasso. london: longman and co. edinburgh: a. and c. black. * * * * * mr. l.a. lewis's sales for october, , friday th., and saturday th. valuable books, architechural books, books of prints, &c., from the west of england, including stuart and revett's antiquities of athens, vols.; unedited antiuities of attica; piranesi campus martius antiqua orbis; houghton gallery, vols; bowyer's hume's england; rogers' collection of prints, vols.; knorr, deliciæ naturæ selectæ, vols.; tableaux historiques de la révolution française, vols.; stow's london, by strype, vols.; domesday book, vols.; edmondson's heraldry, vols.; illustrated london news, vols.; encyclopædia metropolitana, vols.; neale's gentlemen's seats, vols.; loddiges' botanical cabinet, vols., large paper; maund's botanic garden, vols.; sweet's geraniums, vols.; beauties of england and wales, vols.; hogarth's works, vols., red morocco; knight's london, vols.; retrospective review, vols.; bayle, dictionnaire historique, vols.; lodge's illustrious portraits, vols.; knight's pictorial bible, vols.; clarke's commentary on the bible, vols.; a few pictures and prints, &c. friday, th, and saturday, th.--books, including the stock of the late mr. c. whiten. friday, th,--pictures, prints, books, stereotype plates, copyrights, books in quires, &c. mr. c.a. lewis will have sales on each friday in november and december. . fleet street. * * * * * just published, part , price s., plain; tinted, small paper, s. d.; proof, large paper, s. the churches of the middle ages: or, select specimens of early and middle pointed structures; with a few of the pures; late pointed examples, illustrated by geometric and perspective drawings. by henry bowman and j.s. crowther, architects. containing illustrations of st. peter's church, thrukingham, norfolk; st. john's, cley, norfolk; and st. andrew's, heckington, lincolnshire. to be completed in twenty parts, each containing six plates, imperial folio. issued at intervals of two months. "ewerby is a magnficent specimen of a flowing middle-pointed church. it is most perfectly measured and described: one can follow the most rcondite beauties of the construction, mouldings and joints, in these plates, almost as well as in the original structure. such a monograph as this will be of incalculable value to the architects of our colonies or the united states, who have no means of access to ancient churches. the plates are on stone, done with remarkable skill and distinctness. of heckington we can only say that the perspective view from the south-east presents a very vision of beauty; we can hardle conceive anything more perfect. we heartlily recommend this series to all who are able to patronize it."--_ecclesiologist_, oct. . "this, if completed in a similar manner to the parts now out, will be a beautiful and valuable work. the perspective of st. andrew's, heckington, is a charming specimen of lithography, by hawkins. we unhesitatingly recommend messrs. bowman and crowther's work to our readers, as likely to be useful to them."--_builder_. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, october . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, august , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents notes: gravesend boats notes on cunningham's handbook of london, by e.f. rimbault devotional tracts belonging to queen katherine parr, by dr. charlton suggestions for cheap books of reference rib, why the first woman formed from minor notes:--cinderella, or the glass slipper--mistletoe on oaks--omnibuses--havock--schlegel on church property in england queries: p. mathieu's life of sejanus the antiquity of smoking sir gregory norton, bart. minor queries:--city offices--meaning of harefinder--saffron-bag--bishop berkley's successful experiments--unknown portrait--custom of selling wives--hepburn crest and motto--concolinel--"one holy, catholic and apostolic church"--the norfolk dialect--sir john perrot--"antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi" replies: derivation of "news" replies to minor queries:--swords worn in public--quarles' pension--franz von sickingen--"noll me tangere"--dr. bowring's translations--countess of desmond--yorkshire dales--sir thomas herbert's memoirs--alarum--practice of scalping among the scythian's--gospel tree--martinet--"yote" or "yeot"--map of london--woodcarving, snow hill--waltheof--the dodo--"under the rose"--ergh, er, or argh--royal supporters--the frog and the crow of ennow miscellaneous: notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes gravesend boats. while so much has been said of coaches, in the early numbers of "notes and queries" and elsewhere, very little notice has been taken of another mode of conveyance which has now become very important. i think it may amuse some of your readers to compare a modern gravesend boat and passage with the account given by daniel defoe, in the year : and as it is contained in what i believe to be one of his least known works, it may probably be new to most of them. in his _great law of subordination_, after describing the malpractices of hackney coachmen, he proceeds: "the next are the watermen; and, indeed, the insolence of these, though they are under some limitations too, is yet such at this time, that it stands in greater need than any other, of severe laws, and those laws being put in speedy execution. "some years ago, one of these very people being steersman of a passage-boat between london and gravesend, drown'd three-and-fifty people at one time. the boat was bound from gravesend to london, was very full of passengers and goods, and deep loaden. the wind blew very hard at south-west, which being against them, obliged them to turn to windward, so the seamen call it, when they tack from side to side, to make their voyage against the wind by the help of the tide. "the passengers were exceedingly frighted when, in one tack stretching over the stream, in a place call'd long-reach, where the river is very broad, the waves broke in upon the boat, and not only wetted them all, but threw a great deal of water into the boat, and they all begg'd of the steersman or master not to venture again. he, sawey and impudent, mock'd them, ask'd some of the poor frighted women if they were afraid of going to the devil; bid them say their prayers and the like, and then stood over again, as it were, in a jest. the storm continuing, he shipp'd a great deal of water that time also. by this time the rest of the watermen begun to perswade him, and told him, in short, that if he stood over again the boat would founder, for that she was a great deal the deeper for the water she had taken in, and one of them begg'd of him not to venture; he swore at the fellow, call'd him fool, bade him let him alone to his business, and he would warrant him; then used a vulgar sea-proverb, which such fellows have in their mouths, 'blow devil, the more wind, the better boat.' "the fellow told him in so many words he would drown all the passengers, and before his face began to strip, and so did two more, that they might be in condition to swim for their lives. this extremely terrify'd the passengers, who, having a cloth or tilt over them, were in no condition to save their lives, so that there was a dreadful cry among them, and some of the men were making way to come at the steersman to make him by force let fly the sail and stand back for the shore; but before they could get to him the waves broke in upon the boat and carried them all to the bottom, none escaping but the three watermen that were prepar'd to swim. { } "it was but poor satisfaction for the loss of so many lives, to say the steersman was drown'd with them, who ought, indeed, to have died at the gallows, or on the wheel, for he was certainly the murtherer of all the rest. "i have many times pass'd between london and gravesend with these fellows in their smaller boats, when i have seen them, in spite of the shrieks and cries of the women and the persuasions of the men passengers, and, indeed, as if they were the more bold by how much the passengers were the more afraid; i say, i have seen them run needless hazards, and go, as it were, within an inch of death, when they have been under no necessity of it, and, if not in contempt of the passengers, it has been in meer laziness to avoid their rowing; and i have been sometimes oblig'd, especially when there has been more men in the boat of the same mind, so that we have been strong enough for them, to threaten to cut their throats to make them hand their sails and keep under shore, not to fright as well as hazard the passengers when there was no need of it. "one time, being in one of these boats all alone, coming from london to gravesend, the wind freshen'd and it begun to blow very hard after i was come about three or four mile of the way; and as i said above, that i always thought those fellows were the more venturous when their passengers were the most fearful, i resolved i would let this fellow alone to himself; so i lay down in the boat as if i was asleep, as is usual. "just when i lay down, i called to the waterman, 'it blows hard, waterman,' said i; 'can you swim?' 'no, sir,' says he. 'nor can't your man swim neither?' said i. 'no, sir,' says the servant. 'well then,' says i, 'take care of yourselves, i shall shift as well as you, i suppose:' and so down i lay. however, i was not much disposed to sleep; i kept the tilt which they cover their passengers with open in one place, so that i could see how things went. "the wind was fair, but over-blow'd so much, that in those reaches of the river which turn'd crossway, and where the wind by consequence was thwart the stream, the water went very high, and we took so much into the boat, that i began to feel the straw which lay under me at the bottom was wet, so i call'd to the waterman, and jesting told him, they must go all hands to the pump; he answered, he hoped i should not be wet; 'but it's bad weather, master,' says he, 'we can't help it.' 'no, no,' says i, ''tis pretty well yet, go on.' "by and by i heard him say to himself, 'it blows very hard,' and every now and then he repeated it, and sometimes thus: ''twill be a dirty night, 'twill be a terrible night,' and the like; still i lay still and said nothing. "after some time, and his bringing out several such speeches as above, i rous'd as if i had but just wak'd; 'well, waterman,' says i, 'how d'ye go on?' 'very indifferently,' says he; 'it blows very hard.' 'ay, so it does,' says i; 'where are we?' 'a little above erith,' says he; so down i lay again, and said no more for that time. "by and by he was at it again, 'it blows a frett of wind,' and 'it blows very hard,' and the like; but still i said nothing. at last we ship'd a dash of water over the boat's head, and the spry of it wetted me a little, and i started up again as if i had been asleep; 'waterman,' says i, 'what are you doing? what, did you ship a sea?' 'ay,' says the waterman, 'and a great one too; why it blows a frett of wind.' 'well, well,' says i, 'come, have a good heart; where are we now?' 'almost in gallions,' says he, 'that's a reach below woolwich.' "well, when we got into the gallions reach, there the water was very rough, and i heard him say to his man, 'jack, we'll keep the weather-shore aboard, for it grows dark and it blows a storm.' ay, thought i, had i desir'd you to stand in under shore, you would have kept off in meer bravado; but i said nothing. by and by his mast broke, and gave a great crack, and the fellow cry'd out, 'lord have mercy upon us!' i started up again, but still spoke cheerfully; 'what's the matter now?' says i. 'l--d, sir,' say's he, 'how can you sleep? why my mast is come by the board.' 'well, well,' says i, 'then you must take a goose-wing.' 'a goose-wing! why,' says he, 'i can't carry a knot of sail, it blows a storm.' 'well,' says i, 'if you can't carry any sail, you must drive up under shore then, you have the tide under foot:' and with that i lay down again. the man did as i said. a piece of his mast being yet standing, he made what they call a goose-wing sail, that is, a little piece of the sail out, just to keep the boat steddy, and with this we got up as high as blackwall; the night being then come on and very dark, and the storm increasing, i suffer'd myself to be persuaded to put in there, though five or six mile short of london; whereas, indeed, i was resolv'd to venture no farther if the waterman would have done it. "when i was on shore, the man said to me, 'master, you have been us'd to the sea, i don't doubt; why you can sleep in a storm without any concern, as if you did not value your life; i never carry'd one in my life that did so; why, 'twas a wonder we had not founder'd.' 'why,' says i, 'friend, for that you know i left it all to you; i did not doubt but you would take care of yourself;' but after that i told him my other reason for it, the fellow smil'd, but own'd the thing was true, and that he was the more cautious a great deal, for that i took no thought about it; and i am still of opinion, that the less frighted and timorous their passengers are, the more cautious and careful the watermen are, and the least apt to run into danger; whereas, if their passengers appear frighted, then the watermen grow sawcy and audacious, show themselves vent'rous, and contemn the dangers which they are really exposed to."--p. . we are not bound to suppose that this is plain relation of matter of fact, any more than the _history of robinson crusoe_; but it is a graphic sketch of life and manners worth the notice of those who study such things. it forms at least a little contribution to the history of travelling in england. a passenger who had just landed from a gravesend boat, to pursue his journey by land, might well be thankful to "be received in a coach" like that which had been started at york near half a century before. alpha. * * * * * { } notes on the second edition of mr. cunningham's handbook of london. mr. cunningham's work on london is a book of such general interest, that the additions and corrections, which i shall continue from time to time to offer to your readers, will not, i think, be deemed impertinent or trifling. let it not be imagined, for one single instant, that i wish to depreciate mr. cunningham's labours. on the contrary, his book is one of the most delightful publications relative to our great city which we possess. and let me candidly say, if i were to select only half-a-dozen volumes for my own reading, _cunningham's handbook of london_ would most assuredly be one of that number. the quaint and learned old fuller, in his address to the _worthies of england_, says: "the bare skeleton of time, place, and person, must be fleshed with some pleasant passages; and to this intent i have purposely interlaced (not as meat but as condiment) many stories, so that the reader, if he do not arise _religiosior_ or _doctior_, with more piety or learning, at least he may depart _jucundior_, with more pleasure and lawful delight." this remark has been well understood by mr. cunningham, whose pleasant quotations, and literary and artistic recollections, have made his book a _readable_ one to the many, and an instructive companion for the _initiated_. the "bare skeleton" sometimes wants "fleshing," and hence the following list of additions and corrections: . _dobney's_, or, more correctly, _d'aubigney's bowling green_, was a celebrated place of amusement "more than sixty years since." it is now occupied by a group of houses called _dobney's place_, near the bottom of penton street, and almost opposite to the belvidere tavern and tea gardens. . _bridge street, westminster._ the long wool-staple was on the site of this street. henry viii., in , founded, "in the long wool-staple," st. stephen's hospital, for eight maimed soldiers, who had each a convenient room, and received an allowance of l. a year from the exchequer. it was removed in , and eight almshouses rebuilt in st. anne's lane, bearing the inscription "wool-staple pensioners, ." in , in the overseer's books of st. margaret's is rated in the wool-staple "orlando gibbons ij d." . _campden house, kensington._ built by sir baptist hickes in ; pulled down about . nicholas lechmere, the eminent lawyer, was residing here when he was created a peer. "back in the dark, by brompton park, he turned up thro' the gore, so slunk to _campden house_ so high, all in his coach and four." swift's ballad of _duke and no duke_. . _finch's grotto._ a place of amusement, similar to vauxhall gardens, much in vogue at the end of the last century. the "grotto gardens," as they were sometimes called, were situated partly in winchester park, or the clink, and partly in the parish of st. george, southwark. . _leicester square._ mr. cunningham does not mention the fine house of sir george savile, in this square. it was subsequently miss linwood's _exhibition of needlework_; and has latterly been used as a concert-room, casino, &c. the statue in the centre of the square is george i., not george ii. . _thavie's inn._ a small brass plate fixed up against the first house on the west side, has the following inscription: "thavie's inn, founded by john thavie, esquire, in the reign of edward the third; adjudged to be extra-parochial, in the court of king's bench, guild-hall, in the causes fraser against the parish of st. andrew, holborn, on the th day of july, , and marsden against the same parish, on the th day of october, . this memorial of the antiquity and privileges of this inn, was erected during the treasurership of francis paget watson, esq., anno dom. mdcccxxvii." . _old bailey._ peter bales, the celebrated writing master of queen elizabeth's reign, was master of a school "at the upper end of the _old bailey_" in . it was here he published his first work, entitled, _the writing school master_. . _islington._ during the reign of james i. and charles i., islington was a favourite resort, on account of its rich dairies. in that part of the manor of highbury at the lower end of islington, there were, in , eight inns principally supported by summer visitors. see _nelson's history of islington_, p. , to., . "--hogsdone, _islington_, and tothnam court, for cakes and creame had then no small resort." wither's _britain's remembrancer_, mo. . . _seven dials._ the doric column with its "seven dials," which once marked this locality, now "ornaments" the pleasant little town of walton-on-thames. . _mews (the king's)._ the fore-court of the royal mews was used in for the exhibition of a "monstrous whale." the _building_ (which stood upon the site of the national gallery) was occupied, at the same time, by the _museum of national manufactures_. the "museum" was removed, upon the pulling down of the mews, to dr. hunter's house in leicester square, and was finally closed upon the establishment of the _royal polytechnic institution_. mr. cunningham, in his _chronology_, says the mews was taken down in . in the body of the book he gives the date, perhaps more correctly, . { } . _brownlow street, holborn._ this should be "brownlow street, _drury lane_;" george vertue the engraver was living here in . . _white conduit house._ the anonymous author of _the sunday ramble_, , has left us the following description of this once popular tea-gardens: "the garden is formed into several pleasing walks, prettily disposed; at the end of the principal one is a painting, which serves to render it much larger in appearance than it really is; and in the middle of the garden is a round fish-pond, encompassed with a great number of very genteel boxes for company, curiously cut into the hedges, and adorned with a variety of flemish and other painting; there are likewise two handsome tea-rooms, one over the other, as well as several inferior ones in the dwelling-house." "white conduit loaves" were for a long time famous, and before the great augmentation in the price of bread, during the revolutionary war with france, they formed one of the regular "london cries." . _vauxhall gardens._ a curious and highly interesting description of this popular place of amusement, "a century ago," was printed in , under the title of _a sketch of the spring-gardens, vaux-hall, in a letter to a noble lord_, vo. my copy is much at mr. cunningham's service for any future edition of his _handbook_. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * devotional tracts belonging to queen katherine parr. in your number for august th, i observe an inquiry regarding a ms. book of prayers said to have belonged to queen katherine parr. of the book in question i know nothing, but there has lately come into my possession a volume of early english printed devotional works, which undoubtedly has belonged to this queen. the volume is a small duodecimo, bound red velvet, with gilt leaves, and it has had ornamental borders and clasps of some metal, as the impressions of these are still distinctly visible upon the velvet covering. the contents of this volume are as follows: . "a sermon of saint chrysostome, wherein besyde that it is furnysshed with heuenly wisedome and teachinge, he wonderfully proueth that no man is hurted but of hym-selfe: translated into englishe by the floure of lerned menne in his tyme, thomas lupsete, londoner, ." at the bottom of this title-page is written, in the well-known bold hand of katherine parr,--"kateryn the quene, k.p.," with the equally well-known flourish beneath. . "a svvete and devovte sermon of holy saynet ciprian of mortalitie of man. the rules of a christian life made by picus, erle of mirandula, both translated into englyshe by syr thomas elyot, knyght. londini, anno verbi incarnati mdxxxix. . "an exhortation to yonge men, &c., by thomas lupsete, londener, . . "a treatise of charitie, . . "here be the gathered counsales of sainete isidorie, &c., . . "a compendious and a very fruitful treatise teaching the waye of dyenge well, written to a frende by the floure of lerned men of his tyme, thomas lupsete, londoner, late deceassed, on whose sowle jesu have mercy. ." almost all these treatises are printed by thomas berthelet. i know not if any of these treatises are now scarce. on the fly-leaf opposite the first page we find the following scriptural sentences, which are, in my opinion, and in that of others to whom i have shown the book, evidently written by the hand of the queen. it will be only necessary to give the first and last of these sentences: "delyte not in Þe multytude of ungodly men, and haue no pleasure in Þem, for they feare not god. "refuse not Þe prayer of one yt is in trouble, and turne not away thy face from the nedye." we need not quote more; but on the opposite side of the fly-leaf are some verses of a different character, and which i suspect to be from the royal pen of henry viii. the writing is uncommonly difficult to decypher, but it bears a strong resemblance to all that i have seen of henry's handwriting. a portion of the verses, as far as i can make them out, are here subjoined: respect. "blush not, fayre nimphe, tho (nee?) of nobell blod, i fain avoutch it, and of manners good, spottles in lyf, of mynd sencere and sound, in whoam a world of vertues doth abowend, and sith besyd yt ye lycens giv withall set doughts asyd and to some sporting fall, therefoor, suspysion, i do banyshe thee" then follows a line i cannot decypher, and at the bottom of the page is "you will be clear of my suspysion." are these verses from some old poet, or are they composed as well as written by the royal tyrant? for no other would, i think, have addressed such lines to "kateryn the quene." i have only to add that the volume was given me by the sister of the late president of the english college at valladolid, and that he obtained it during his residence in spain. it is not unlikely it may have been carried thither by some of the english catholics, who resorted to that country for education. in it seems to have belonged to john sherrott. i should be glad of any information about the verses. e. charlton, m.d. newcastle-upon-tyne, august . . * * * * * { } suggestions for cheap books of reference. although your space is generally devoted to the higher and more curious inquiries respecting antiquities and literature, i am sure you will not grudge a little room for facilitating and improving the means of popular information and instruction. for every man, almost in any station in society, i submit that the followings works for reference are indispensable, in the most convenient corner or shelf of his library:-- . a biographical dictionary. . a gazetteer. . a statistical or commercial dictionary. with works of that description the public have been very indifferently supplied during the last thirty years: at least, at the _moderate prices_ calculated to bring them within the reach of students in humbler life, forming the great mass of readers. mr. constable, of edinburgh, published in an abridged gazetteer, price s., but there has been no such work since. mr. a.k. johnston's _geographical dictionary_, at s., lately published, supplies to a certain class of readers one of the works wanted. i beg to suggest a few observations for the improvement of works of this description through your valuable channel. i. i submit that none of the dictionaries of reference now specified should be published without promise of a _periodical supplement_ every five or seven years, containing later matter and intelligence. for example, how easily could this be given in the case of a biographical dictionary! say that such a work has been published in (which, it is believed, is the date of gorton's excellent _biographical dictionary_), the compiler of a supplement has only to collect and arrange monthly or annual obituaries of the common magazines since to make a good and useful supplemental volume. ii. i would suggest to skilful authors and booksellers publishing biographical dictionaries to follow the french and american custom of including in them the more eminent _contemporary_ living characters. that would add greatly to the use of the book; and the matter could easily be collected from the current books of peerage and parliamentary companions, with aid from the numerous magazines as to distinguished literary men. iii. the supplements for gazetteers could be easily compiled from the _parliamentary papers_ and magazines of the day. i would refer particularly to the supplements published by mr. mcculloch to his _commercial dictionary_ as an example to be followed; while the conduct lately adopted in the new edition of maunder's _biographical treasury_ should be avoided. the old edition of that collection consisted of pages, and it is believed it was _stereotyped_. a new edition, or a new issue, of the old pages was lately published, the same as the original dictionary, with a supplement of pages. that is not sold separately; so that the holders of the old edition must purchase the whole work a _second_ time in , at s., to procure the supplement. the public should not encourage such a style of publication. any one might publish a supplemental dictionary since , which would equally serve with the old edition. this hint is particularly addressed to mr. charles knight. these hints are offered to the publishers and encouragers of _popular_ works for general readers, at economical prices; and they might be extended. for example, dictionaries of medicine for family use have great sale. sometimes, it is believed, they are stereotyped. why should not later practice and discoveries be published in a cheaper _supplement_, to preserve the value of the original work? thus, in my family, i use the excellent _cyclopædia of popular medicine_ published by dr. murray in ; but on looking into it for "chloroform" and "cod liver oil," no such articles are to be found, as they were not known in . the skilful will find many other omissions. iv. there might be a greater difficulty in constructing a popular commercial or statistical dictionary, at a moderate price, to be supplied with supplements at later intervals. but even as to these, there is a good model in waterston's _small dictionary of commerce_, published in , which, with a supplement, might afford, for a few shillings, to give all the later information derived from the free-trade measures and extension of our colonies. waterston's original work is advertised often for sale at s. or s., and a supplement at s. would bring it within the reach of the great bulk of readers. these suggestions are offered without the slightest intention to depreciate or disparage the greater and more elaborate works of mr. mcculloch, and others who compile and publish works worthy of reference, and standards of authority among men of highest science. no man who can afford it would ever be without the latest edition (without the aid of supplements) of large works; but it is manifest that there has been a great neglect to supply the mass of readers in ordinary circumstances with books of common reference, at moderate prices; and i hope that some publishers of enterprise and sagacity will see it to be their interest to act on the advice now offered. philanthropos. * * * * * rib, why the first woman formed from. allow me to request a place for the following curious and quaint exposition of the propriety of the selection of _the rib_ as the material out of which our first mother eve was formed; and the ingenious illustration which it is made to afford of the relation between wife and husband. { } "thirdly, god so ordered the matter betwixt them, that this adhæsion and agglutination of one to the other should be perpetuall. for by taking a bone from the man (who was _nimium osseus_, exceeded and was somewhat monstrous, by one bone too much) to strengthen the woman, and by putting flesh in steede thereof to mollifie the man, he made a sweete complexion and temper betwixt them, like harmony in musicke, for their amiable cohabitation. "fourthly, that bone which god tooke from the man, was from out the midst of him. as christ wrought saluation _in medio terræ_, so god made the woman _è medio viri_, out of the very midst of man. the _species_ of the bone is exprest to be _costa_, a rib, a bone of the side, not of the head: a woman is not _domina_, the ruler; nor of any anterior part; she is not _prælata_, preferred before the man; nor a bone of the foote; she is not _serva_, a handmaid; nor of any hinder part; she is not _post-posita_, set behind the man: but a bone of the _side_, of a middle and indifferent part, to show that she is _socia_, a companion to the husband. for _qui junguntur lateribus, socii sunt_, they that walke side to side and cheeke to cheeke, walke as companions. "fifthly, i might adde, a bone from vnder the arme, to put the man in remembrance of protection and defense to the woman. "sixthly, a bone not far from his heart to put him in minde of dilection and loue to the woman. lastly, a bone from the left side, to put the woman in minde, that by reason of her frailty and infirmity she standeth in need of both the one and the other from her husband. "to conclude my discourse, if these things be duely examined when man taketh a woman to wife, _reparat latus suum_, what doth he else but remember the maime that was sometimes made in his side, and desireth to repaire it? _repetit costam suam_, he requireth and fetcheth back the rib that was taken from him," &c. &c.--from pp. , , of "_vitis palatina_, a sermon appointed to be preached at whitehall, upon tuesday after the marriage of the ladie elizabeth, her grace, by the b. of london. london: printed for john bill, ." the marriage actually took place on the th of february, . in the dedication to the prince of wales, afterwards charles i., the bishop (dr. john king) hints that he had delayed the publication till the full meaning of his text, which is psalm xxviii. ver. , should have been accomplished by the birth of a son, an event which had been recently announced, and that, too, on the very day when this psalm occurred in the course of the church service. the sermon is curious, and i may hereafter trouble you with some notices of these "wedding sermons," which are evidently contemplated by the framers of our liturgy, as the concluding homily of the office for matrimony is by the rubric to be read "if there be no sermon." it is observable that the first rubric especially directs that the woman shall stand on the man's left hand. any notices on the subject from your correspondents would be acceptable. in the first series of southey's _common place book_, at page ., a passage is quoted from henry smith's _sermons_, which dwells much upon the formation of the woman from _the rib_ of man, but not in such detail as bishop king has done. notices of the bishop may be found in keble's edition of _hooker_, vol. ii. pp. , , . it appears that after his death it was alleged that he maintained popish doctrines. this his son, henry king, canon of st. paul's, and archdeacon of colchester, satisfactorily disproved in a sermon at paul's cross, and again in the dedication prefixed to his "_exposition upon the lord's prayer_," to., london, . see wood's _athenæ oxon._, fol. edit. vol. ii. p. . as for the marriage of the princess elizabeth, afterwards celebrated for her misfortunes as queen of bohemia, it was celebrated in an epithalamium by dr. donne, _works_, vo. edit. vol. vi. p. . and in the somer's _tracts_, vol. iii., pp. , ., may be found descriptions of the "_shewes_," and a poem of taylor the water poet, entitled "heaven's blessing and earth's joy," all tending to show the great contemporary interest which the event occasioned. balliolensis. * * * * * minor notes _cinderella, or the glass slipper._--two centuries ago furs were so rare, and therefore so highly valued, that the wearing of them was restricted by several sumptuary laws to kings and princes. sable, in those laws called _vair_, was the subject of countless regulations: the exact quality permitted to be worn by persons of different grades, and the articles of dress to which it might be applied, were defined most strictly. perrault's tale of _cinderella_ originally marked the dignity conferred on her by the fairy by her wearing a slipper of _vair_, a privilege then confined to the highest rank of princesses. an error of the press, now become inveterate, changed _vair_ into _verre_, and the slipper of _sable_ was suddenly converted into a _glass_ slipper. jarltzberg. _mistletoe on oaks._--in vol. ii., p. ., i observed a citation on the extreme rarity of _mistletoe on oaks_, from dr. giles and dr. daubeny; and with reference to it, and to some remarks of professor henslow in the _gardeners' chronicle_, i communicated to the latter journal, last week, the fact of my having, at this present time, a bunch of that plant growing in great luxuriance on an oak aged upwards of seventy years. i beg leave to repeat it for the use of your work, and to add, what i previously appended as likely to be interesting to the archæologist of wales or the marches, that the oak bearing it stands about half a mile n.w. of my residence here, on the earthen mound of badamscourt, once a moated { } mansion of the herberts, or ab-adams, of beachley adjacent, and of llanllowell. george ormerod. sedbury park, chepstow. _omnibuses._--it may be interesting to your readers at a future time to know when these vehicles, the use of which is daily extending, were introduced into this country; perhaps, therefore, you will allow me to state how the fact is. mr. c. knight, in his _volume of varieties_, p. ., observes: "the omnibus was tried about , with four horses and six wheels; but we refused to accept it in any shape till we imported the fashion from paris in ." and mr. shillibeer, of the city road, the inventor of the patent funeral carriage, in his evidence before the board of health on the general scheme for extra-mural sepulture, incidentally mentions that he "had had much experience in cheapening vehicular transit, having originated and established the omnibus in england."--_report_, p. ., vo. ed. arun. _havock._--havock is a term in our ancient english military laws: the use of it was forbidden among the soldiery by the army regulations of those days; so in the ordinances des batailles in the ninth year of richard ii, art. x.: "item, que nul soit si hardi de crier havoick sur peine d'avoir la teste coupe." this was properly a punishable offence in soldiers; havock being the cry of mutual encouragement to general massacre, unlimited slaughter, that no quarter should be given, &c. a tract on "the office of the constable and mareshall in the tyme of warre," contained in the black book of the admiralty, has this passage: "also, that no man be so hardy to crye havock upon peyne that he that is begynner shall be deede therefore: and the remanent that doo the same, or follow, shall lose their horse and harneis ... and his body in prison at the king's will." and this appears to answer well to the original term, which is taken from the ravages committed by a troop of wild beasts, wolves, lions, &c., falling on a flock of sheep. but some think it was originally a hunting term, importing the letting loose a pack of hounds. shakspeare combines both senses: "cry havock! and let slip the dogs of war." in a copy of johnson's _dictionary_ before me, i find "havock (haroc, sax.), waste; wide and general devastation." _spenser_. "havock, _interj_, a word of encouragement to slaughter." _shakspeare_. "to havock, _v. a._, to waste; to destroy; to lay waste." _spenser_. jarltzberg. _schlegel on church property in england._--fr. schlegel, in his _philosophy of history_, says, p. ., "in england and sweden church property remained inviolate:" what the case may be in sweden i do not know, but it appears strange that a man of such general knowledge as f. schlegel should make such an assertion as regards england. s.n. * * * * * queries. p. mathieu's life of sejanus. in a letter from southey to his friend bedford, dated nov. , (_life and correspondence_, vol. v. p. .), he desires him to inform gifford that "in a volume of tracts at lowther, of charles i.'s time, i found a life of sejanus by p.m., by which initials some hand, apparently as old as the book, had written philip massinger. i did not read the tract, being too keenly in pursuit of other game; but i believe it had a covert aim at buckingham. i have not his massinger, and, therefore, do not know whether he is aware that this was ever ascribed to that author; if he is not, he will be interested in the circumstance, and may think it worthy of further inquiry." as others may be led by this hint to enter on such an inquiry, i would suggest that it may save much trouble if they first satisfy themselves that the _life of sejanus_ by p. mathieu may not have been the tract which fell in southey's way. it is to be found in a volume entitled "_unhappy prosperity_, expressed in the history of Ælius selanus and philippa the _catanian_, with observations upon the fall of sejanus. lastly, certain considerations upon the life and services of _monsieur_ villeroy, translated out of the original [french] by _s'r t. h._[_awkins_], _second edition_, 'o. london, ." this was just eleven years after buckingham met his fate at the hands of felton. how long the interval between the first and this, the second edition, may have been, i cannot tell. nor do i know enough of the politics of the time to determine whether anything can be inferred from the fact that the translation is dedicated to william earl of salisbury, or to warrant me in saying that these illustrations of the fate of royal favourites may have been brought before the english public with any view to the case of george villiers. a passage, however, in mathieu's dedication of the original "to the king," seems to render it not improbable, certainly not inapplicable: "you (sir) shall therein [in this history] behold, that _a prince ought to be very carefull to conserve his authority entire. great ones_ [court favourites] _here may learne_, it is not good to play with the generous { } lyon though he suffer it, and that _favours are precipices for such as abuse them_." having referred to this work of mathieu's, i shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who will favour me with a notice of it, or of the author. balliolensis. * * * * * the antiquity of smoking. i feel much interested in the query of your correspondent z.a.z. (vol. ii., p. .) i had a "query" something similar, with a "note" on it, lying by me for some time, which i send you as they stand.--was not smoking in use in england and other countries before the introduction of tobacco? whitaker says, a few days after the tower of kirkstall abbey fell, , he "discovered imbedded in the mortar of the fallen fragments several little smoking pipes, such as were used in the reign of james i. for tobacco; a proof of a fact _which has not been recorded_, that, prior to the introduction of that plant from america, the practice of inhaling the smoke of some indigenous plant or vegetable prevailed in england." (_loidis and elmete_.) allowing, then, pipes to have been coeval with the erection of kirkstall, we find them to have been used in england about years before the introduction of tobacco. on the other hand, as dr. whitaker says, we find _no record_ of their being used, or of smoking being practised; and it is almost inconceivable that our ancestors should have had such a practice, without any allusion being made to it by any writers. as to the antiquity of smoking in ireland, the first of irish antiquaries, the learned and respected dr. petrie, says: "the custom of smoking is of much greater antiquity in ireland than the introduction of tobacco into europe. smoking pipes made of bronze are frequently found in our irish _tumuli_, or sepulchral mounds, of the most remote antiquity; and similar pipes, made of baked clay, are discovered daily in all parts of the island. a curious instance of the _bathos_ in sculpture, which also illustrates the antiquity of this custom, occurs on the monument of donogh o'brien, king of thomond, who was killed in , and interred in the abbey of corcumrac, in the co. of clare, of which his family were the founders. he is represented in the usual recumbent posture, with the short pipe or _dudeen_ of the irish in his mouth." in the _anthologia hibernica_ for may , vol. i. p. ., we have some remarks on the antiquity of smoking "among the german and northern nations," who, the writer says, "were clearly acquainted with, and cultivated tobacco, which they smoked through wooden and earthen tubes." he refers to herod. lib. i. sec. .; strabo, lib. vii. .; pomp. mela , and solinus, c. . wherever we go, we see smoking so universal a practice, and people "taking to it so naturally," that we are inclined to believe that it was always so; that our first father enjoyed a quiet puff now and then; (that, like a poet, man "nascitur non fit" a smoker); and that the soothing power of this narcotic tranquillised the soul of the aquatic patriarch, disturbed by the roar of billows and the convulsions of nature, and diffused its peaceful influence over the inmates of the ark. yes, we are tempted to spurn the question, when and where was smoking introduced? as being equal to when and where was _man_ introduced? yet, as some do not consider man as a smoking animal "de natu et ab initio," the question may provoke some interesting replies from your learned correspondents. jarltzberg. * * * * * sir gregory norton, bart. i am desirous to be informed of the date and particulars of the above baronetcy having been created. in _the mystery of the good old cause briefly unfolded_ ( ), it is stated, at p. ., that sir gregory norton, bart. (one of the king's judges), had richmond house, situated in the _old_ park, and much of the king's goods, for an inconsiderable value. sir gregory norton has a place also in _the loyal martyrology_ of winstanley ( ), p. .; and also in _history of the king-killers_ ( ), part . p. . it is unnecessary to refer to noble's _regicides_, he having simply copied the two preceding works. sir gregory died before the restoration, in , and escaped the vindictive executions which ensued, and was buried at richmond in surrey. there was a sir _richard_ norton, bart., of rotherfield, _hants_ (query rotherfield, _sussex_, near tunbridge wells), who is mentioned by sylvanus morgan in his _sphere of gentry_; but he does not record a sir gregory. nor does the latter occur in a perfect collection of the knights made by king james i., by j.p. (query john philipot?), london, humphrey moseley, , vo. i have examined all the various works on extinct and dormant baronetcies ineffectually. in the _mercurius publicus_ of thursday, th june, , it appears that on the preceding saturday the house of commons settled the manor of richmond, with house and materials, purchased by sir gregory norton, bart., on the queen (henrietta maria) as part of her jointure. d.n. * * * * * minor queries. _city offices._--can any of your correspondents recommend some book which gives a good history of the different public offices of the city of london, with their duties and qualifications, and in whom the appointments are vested? a citizen. _harefinder, meaning of._--can any of your readers kindly give a feasible explanation of { } phrase _harefinder_, as it occurs in _much ado about nothing_, act i. sc. .? a reference to any similar term in a contemporary would be very valuable. b. _saffron-bag._--having lately read sir e.b. lytton's novel of _the caxtons_--to which i must give a passing tribute of admiration--i have been a good deal puzzled, first, to ascertain the meaning, and, second, the origin of the _saffron-bag_ of which he speaks so much. i have asked many persons, and have not been able to obtain a satisfactory solution of my difficulty. should you or any of your contributors be able, i wish you would enlighten not only me but many of my equally unlearned friends. w.c. luard. _bishop berkley's successful experiments._--i have somewhere read that bishop berkley succeeded in increasing the stature of an individual placed in his charge. will any of your correspondents give me the details of such process, with their opinions as to the practicability of the scheme? f.w. _portrait (unknown)._--a very carefully painted portrait, on an oak panel, has been in the possession of my family for many years, and i should be much pleased if any of your correspondents could enable me to identify the personage. the figure, which is little more than a head, is nearly the size of life, and represents an elderly man with grey hair and a long venerable beard: the dress, which is but little shown, is black. at the upper part of the panel, on the dexter side, is a shield, bearing these arms:--argent on a fess sable between three crosses patées, or, as many martlets of the last. above the shield is written "in cruce glorior." i have searched in vain for those arms. on the prints published by the society of antiquaries, of the funeral of abbot islip, is one nearly similar,--the field ermine on a fess between three crosses patées, as many martlets. the colours are not shown by the engraver. a manuscript ordinary, by glover, in my possession, contains another, which is somewhat like that on the picture, being--argent on a fess engrailed sable, bearing three crosses patées, gules, as many martlets on the field. this is there ascribed to "canon george." it is very probable that the gold crosses on the white field was an error of the portrait painter. the size of the oak panel, which is thick, is seventeen inches wide, and twenty-two in height. the motto is in a cursive hand, apparently of about the time of edward vi. t.w. _wives, custom of selling._--has there ever been any foundation in law for the practice of selling of wives, which our neighbours the french persist in believing to be perfectly legal and common at the present day? what was the origin of the custom? an amusing series of "notes" might be made, from instances in which the custom is introduced as characteristic of english manners, by french and other foreign writers. g.l.b. _hepburn crest and motto._--can some of your numerous readers give me the origin of the crest and motto of the family of hepburn, namely, a horse argent, furnished gules, passant, and tied to a tree proper. motto, "keep traist." i should also be glad to know the name of any book containing the legends, or authentic stories, relating to the heraldic bearings of various families? r.e. _concolinel._--i have recently met with a curious manuscript which contains numerous tunes of the time of queen elizabeth, one of which is stated in a recent hand to be the "tune of _concolinel_ mentioned by shakspeare;" but the old index, if there was one that indicated this, is now missing. my reason for writing to you is to ask whether dr. rimbault, or any of your other correspondents, can refer me to any information that will enable me to ascertain whether my ms. really contains that tune. it certainly does contain several others noticed by shakspeare. r. "_one holy, catholic, and apostolic church._"--can any of your correspondents inform me how, or why, the word "holy" is omitted in the above article of the nicene (constantinopolitan) creed, in all our prayer-books? it is not omitted in the original greek and latin. j.m.w. _the norfolk dialect._--mr. dickens' attempt to give interest to his new novel by introducing this dialect would have been even more successful had he been more familiar with the curious peculiarities of that east-coast language. many of the words are, i believe, quite peculiar to norfolk and suffolk, such as, for instance, the following: _mawther_, a girl, a wench. _gotsch_, a stone jug. _holl_, a dry ditch. _anan? an?_ an interrogation used when the speaker does not understand a question put to him. _to be muddled_, to be distressed in mind. _together_, an expletive used thus: where are you going _together?_ (meaning several persons)--what are you doing _together?_ perhaps some reader can explain the origin of these words. icenus. _sir john perrot._--sir john perrot, governor of ireland in the reign of henry viii., was one of the few rulers over that most unfortunate country who have ruled it wisely. i believe that he was beheaded in the reign of elizabeth. will any of your readers kindly inform me whether his life has { } ever been published, or where i can meet with the best account of him? e.n.w. "_antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi._"--mr. craik in his admirable little work on _bacon; his writings and his philosophy_, after quoting the paragraph containing this fine aphoristic expression, remarks that, "from the manner in which it is here introduced as a latin phrase, there would seen to be some reason for doubting whether it be an original thought of bacon's. it has much the appearance of some aphorism or adage of the schools." (vol. ii. p. .) mr. craik adds in a note, "a friend, however, who, if we were to name him, would be recognised as one of the first of living authorities on all points connected with the history of learning and philosophy, informs us that he feels certain of having never met with the expression or the thought in any writer previous to bacon." in basil montagu's edition of _the advancement of learning_ it is marked as a quotation. query. has the expression, or the thought, been traced to any writer previous to bacon? j.m.b. * * * * * replies. derivation of news. i have no wish to prolong the controversy on this word, in which i feel i, at least, have had my share. i beg room, however, for an observation on one or two very pertinent remarks by mr. singer. in the course of this argument i have seen that if _news_ were originally a plural noun, it might be taken for an ellipsis of _new-tidings_. my objection to this would be twofold. first, that the adjective _new_ is of too common use, and, at the same time, too general and vague to form an ellipsis intelligible on its first application; and, secondly, that the ellipsis formed of _new-tidings_ would be found to express no more than _tidings_, still requiring the _new_, if the idea of _new_ were required, as in the instance mr. singer cites of _new newes_. i would not pretend to determine whether the word were taken from the high german or the dutch; but mr. singer's remark, that our language has derived scarcely anything from the former, brings back the question to the point from which i originally started. that there was a political and commercial connexion between the two countries, i suppose there can be no doubt and such, i imagine, never existed without leaving its marks on languages so near akin. taking up bailey's _dictionary_ by accident a day or two ago, i turned to the word, which i there find as derived from newes, _teut_.; bailey using the term _teutonic_ for german. i think i shall express the feelings of the majority of your readers in saying that nothing could be more acceptable or valuable to the consideration of any etymological question than the remarks of mr. singer. samuel hickson. i have read with much interest the respective theories of the derivation of _news_, and it seems to me that mr. hickson's opinion must give way to an excellent authority in questions of this kind, dr. latham, who says, some say, _this news_ is good in which case the word is singular. more rarely we find the expression, _these news_ are good; in which case the word "news" is plural. in the word "news", the -_s_ (unlike the -_s_ in _alms_ and _riches_) is no part of the original singular, but the sign of the plural, like the -_s_ in "trees." notwithstanding this, we cannot subtract the _s_, and say "new," in the same way that we _can_ form "tree" from "trees." hence the word "news" is, in respect to its original form, plural; in respect to its meaning, either singular or plural, most frequently the former.--_eng. grammar_, p. . the above extract will probably suffice to show the true state of the case, and for information on similar points i would refer your readers to the work from which the above extract is taken, and also to that on _the english language_, by the same author. t. c. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _swords worn in public_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii. p. .).--i am surprised that the curious topic suggested by the query of j.d.a. has not been more satisfactorily answered. wedsecuarf's reply (vol. ii., p. .) is short, and not quite exact. he says that "swords ceased to be worn as an article of dress through the influence of beau nash, and were consequently first out of fashion at bath;" and he quotes the authority of sir lucius o'trigger as to "wearing no swords _there_." now, it is, i believe, true that nash endeavoured to discountenance the wearing swords at bath; but it is certain that they were commonly worn twenty or thirty years later. sir lucius o'trigger talks of bath in , near twenty years after nash's reign, and, even at that time, only says that swords were "not worn _there_"--implying that they were worn elsewhere; and we know that sheridan's own duel at bath was a rencontre, he and his adversary, mathews, both wearing swords. i remember my father's swords hung up in his dressing-room, and his telling me that he had worn a sword, even in the streets, so late as about or . in a set of characteristic sketches of eminent persons about the year , several wear swords; and one or two members of the house of commons, evidently represented in the attitude of speaking, have swords. i have seen a picture of the mall in { } st. james's park, of about that date, in which all the men have swords. i suspect they began to go out of common use about and were nearly left off in ordinary life in ; but were still occasionally worn, both in public and private, till the french revolution, when they totally went out, except in court dress. if any of your correspondents who has access to the museum would look through the prints representing out-of-doors life, from hogarth to gilray, he would probably be able to furnish you with some precise and amusing details on this not unimportant point in the history of manners. c. _quarles' pension_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there should have been added to the reference there given, viz. "vol. i., p. ." (at which place there is no question as to quarles' _pension_), another to vol. i., p. ., where that question is raised. i think this worth noting, as "quarles" does not appear in the index, and the imperfect reference might lead inquirers astray. it seems very curious that the inquiry as to the precise meaning of pope's couplet has as yet received no explanation. c. _franz von sickingen_ (vol. i., p. .).--i regret that i cannot resolve the doubt of h.j.h. respecting albert durer's allegorical print of _the knight, death, and the devil_, of which i have only what i presume is a copy or retouched plate, bearing the date on the tablet in the lower left-hand corner, where i suppose the mark of albert durer is placed in the original. i should, however, much doubt its being intended as a portrait of sickingen, and i can trace no resemblance to the medal given by luckius. i believe the conjecture originated with bartsch, in his _peintre graveur_, vol. vii. p. . schoeber, in his _life of durer_, p. ., supposes that it is an allegory of the nature of a soldier's life. it was this print that inspired la motte fouqué with the idea of his _sintram_ as he thus informs us in the postscript to that singularly romantic tale: "some years since there lay among my birth-day presents a beautiful engraving of albert durer. a harnessed knight, with an oldish countenance, is riding upon his high steed, attended by his dog, through a fearful valley, where fragments of rock and roots of trees distort themselves into loathsome forms; and poisonous weeds rankle along the ground. evil vermin are creeping along through them. beside him death is riding on a wasted pony; from behind the form of a devil stretches over its clawed arm toward him. both horse and dog look strangely, as it were infected by the hideous objects that surround them; but the knight rides quietly along his way, and bears upon the tip of his lance a lizard that he has already speared. a castle, with its rich friendly battlements, looks over from afar, whereat the desolateness of the valley penetrates yet deeper into the soul. the friend who gave me this print added a letter, with a request that i would explain the mysterious forms by a ballad.... i bear the image with me in peace and in war, until it has now spun itself out into a little romance." s.w. singer. mickleham aug. . . "_noli me tangere_" (vol. ii., p. .).--b.r. is informed, that one of the finest paintings on this subject is the altar-piece in all souls college chapel, oxford. it is the production of raphael mengs, and was purchased for the price of three hundred guineas of sir james thornhill, who painted the figure of the founder over the altar, the ceiling, and the figures between the windows. there may be other paintings by earlier masters on so interesting subject, but none can surpass this of raphael mengs in the truthfulness of what he has here delineated. the exact size of the picture i do not recollect, but it cannot be less than ten feet high. there is a beautiful engraving of it by sherwin. j.m.g. worcester. _dr. bowring's translations_ (vol. ii. p. .).--besides the anthologies mentioned by jarltzberg, dr. bowring has published _poets of the magyars_, vo. london, ; _specimens of polish poets_, ; _servian popular poetry_, ; and a _cheskian anthology_, . h.h.w. "_speak the tongue that shakspeare spoke_" (vol. ii., p. .).--the lines about which x. asks, are "we must be free or die, who speak the tongue that shakspeare spake; the faith and morals hold which milton held," &c. they are in one of wordsworth's glorious "sonnets to liberty" (the sixteenth), and belong to _us_, and not to the new-englanders. g.n. _countess of desmond_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--in reply to k., i have an impression that horace walpole has a kind of dissertation on the _old countess of desmond_, to whom his attention was directed by her being said to have danced with richard iii. having no books at hand, i cannot speak positively; but if k. turns to walpole's _works_, he will see whether my memory is correct. i myself once looked, many years ago, into the subject, and satisfied myself that the great age attributed to _any_ countess of desmond must be a fable; and that the portrait of her (i think, at windsor) was so gross an imposition as to be really that of an old man. i made a "note"--indeed many--of the circumstances which led me to this conclusion; but they are at this moment inaccessible to me. i venture however, now that the question is revived, to offer these vague suggestions. by and by, if the subject be not exhausted, i shall endeavour to find my "notes," and communicate them to you. i wonder the { } absurdity of the kind of death imputed to the imaginary lady did not reflect back a corresponding incredulity as to the length of her life. c. _yorkshire dales_ (vol. ii., p. .).--no guide or description has been published that would serve as a handbook to the dales in the west riding of yorkshire between lancashire and westmoreland. should a pedestrian wish to explore the beauties of teesdale he will find a useful handbook in a little work, published anonymously in , called _a tour in teesdale, including rokeby and its environs_. the author was richard garland, of hull, who died several years ago. [greek: delta]. _the yorkshire dales_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in answer to a recent inquiry, i beg to state that a guide to the above dales is in preparation. it will be edited by your humble servant, illustrated by a well-known gentleman, and published by mr. effingham wilson. j.h. dixon. tollington villa, hornsey. [we are glad to hear that such a guide is preparing by mr. dixon, whose knowledge of the locality peculiarly fits him for the work he has undertaken.] _sir thomas herbert's memoirs_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the information mr. gatty wishes for, he will find in dr. bliss's edition of the _athenæ_, vol. iv. p. . he will perform an acceptable service to historical inquirers, if he will collate the printed memoir with the ms. in the possession of his friend, and give to the world such passages, if any, as have not been hitherto published. [greek: delta]. _alarum_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--there can be no doubt that the word _alarm_ (originally french) comes from the warning war-cry _à l'arme_. so all the french philologists agree; and the modern variance of _aux armes_ does not invalidate so plain an etymology. when ch. admits that there can be no doubt that _alarm_ and _alarum_ are identical, it seems to one that _cadit questio_,--that all his doubts and queries are answered. i will add, however, that it appears that in the words' original sense of an _awakening cry_, shakspeare generally, if not always, spelled it _alarum_. thus-- "ring the _alarum_ bell!"--_macbeth_. "--murder "_alarum'd_ by his sentinel the wolf." _macbeth_. "when she speaks, is it not an _alarum_ to love?" _othello_. "but when he saw my _best-alarum'd_ spirits roused to the encounter."--_lear_. in all these cases _alarum_ means incitement, not _alarm_ in the secondary or metaphorical sense of the word, which has now become the ordinary one. in truth, the meanings, though of identical origin, have become almost contradictions: for instance, in the passage from _othello_, an "alarum to love"--incitement to love--is nearly the reverse of what an "alarm to love" would be taken to mean. c. _practice of scalping among the scythians, &c_. (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent t.j. will find in livy, x. ., that the practice of scalping existed among the kelts. "nec ante ad consules ... famam ejus cladis perlatam, quam in conspectu fuere gallorum equites pectoribus equorurn suspensa gestantes capita, et lanceis infixa ovantesque moris sui carmine." w.b.d. _gospel tree_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in reply to w.h.b., i may mention that there is a "gospel tree" near leamington. i do not know of one so called in gloucestershire. griffin. _martinet_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there is no doubt the term _martinet_ is derived from the general officer _m. de martinet_ indicated by mr. c. forbes, and who was, as voltaire states, celebrated for having restored and improved the discipline and tactics of the french army; whence very strict officers came to be called _martinets_: but is it also from this restorer of discipline that the name of what we call _cat-o'-nine-tails_ is in french _martinet_? this is rather an interesting query, considering how severely our neighbours censure our use of that auxiliary to discipline. c. _"yote" or "yeot"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--you may inform b. that _yote_ or _yeot_ is only provincial pronunciation of _yate_ or _gate_, a way or road. the channel made to conduct melted metal into the receptacle intended for it, is called a gate. griffin. _map of london_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the map of london, temp. edw. vi., in the sutherland collection, has been recently engraved. it is of singular curiosity. i do not know the name of the publisher. r. _wood-carving, snow hill_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the carving alluded to by a.c. is, i believe, of artificial stone, and represents Æsop attended by a child, to whom he appears to be narrating his fables. it is or rather _was_, a work of some merit, and is, as a.c. observes, "worth preserving;" but, alas! of this there is but little chance. the house in question (no. . skinner street), and also the one adjoining, have been tenantless for many years; they belong to two old ladies, who also own the two deserted houses at the corner of stamford street, blackfriars road. it is scarcely necessary to speak of the now somewhat picturesque condition of the houses alluded to in either locality, for the pitiably dilapidated condition of them all must have been matter of remark for many years past to any one at all acquainted with london. { } the house, . skinner street, is also worthy of remark from another circumstance. it was formerly occupied by william godwin, the well-known author of _caleb williams, political justice_, &c. it was here he opened a bookseller's shop, and published his numerous juvenile works, under the assumed name of edward baldwin. e.b. price. _waltheof_ (vol. ii, p. .).--i believe that waltheof (or wallef, as he is always styled in doomsday book) never appeared at the court of william the conqueror in the character of an envoy; but in , little better than six months after the first landing of the normans, we find him, in conjunction with edgar atheling and others, accompanying the conqueror in his triumphal return to normandy, as a hostage and guarantee for the quiescence of his countrymen. at this period, it is probable he might have first become acquainted with judith; but this must rest on conjecture. at all events, we have the authority of william of malmsbury for saying that waltheof's marriage did not take place until the year , soon after his reconciliation with the king on the banks of the tees. your correspondent errs in ascribing as the date of waltheof's execution; the _saxon chronicle_ distinctly states may st, , as the date of his death; while the chronicle of mailros, and florence of worcester, assign it to the preceding year: in which they are followed by augustin thierry. t.e.l.l. has also fallen into an error as to the cause of waltheof's execution, which he states arose from his participation in a conspiracy at york. now the crime for which he was accused, and condemned (on the evidence of his wife), was his inviting over the danes to the invasion of england. this was the primary cause; although his being present at the celebrated marriage-feast at norwich was doubtless a secondary one. according to thierry, he left two children by judith. david stevens. godalming. _the dodo_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--i have the pleasure to supply mr. strickland with the elucidation he desires in his query ., by referring to hyde, _historia religionis vet. persarum_, p. . "et ut de patre (zoroastris) conveniunt, sic inter omnes convenit matris ejus nomen fuisse dôghdu, quod (liquescente _gh_ ut in vocibus anglicis, _high_, _mighty_, &c.) apud eos plerumque sonat dôdu; nam sonus gain in medio vocum fere evanescere solet. hocque nomen innuit quasi foecundidate ea similis esset ejusdem nominis gallinæ indicæ, cujus icon apud herbertum in itinerario extat sub nomine dodo, cujus etiam exuviæ farctæ in auditorio anatomico oxoniensi servantur. reliqua ex icone dignoscantur. plurima parit ova, unde et commodum foecunditatis emblema." t.j. "_under the rose_" (vol. i., p. .).--i find the three following derivations for this phrase in my note-book:-- i. "the expression, 'under the rose,' took its origin," says jenoway, "from the wars between the houses of york and lancaster. the parties respectively swore by the red or the white rose, and these opposite emblems were displayed as the _signs of two taverns_; one of which was by the side of, and the other opposite to, the parliament house in old palace yard, westminster. here the retainers and servants of the noblemen attached to the duke of york and henry vi. used to meet. here also, as disturbances were frequent, measures either of defence or annoyance were taken, and every transaction was said to be done 'under the rose;' by which expression the most profound secrecy was implied." ii. according to others, this term originated in the fable of cupid giving the rose to harpocrates, the god of silence, as a bribe to prevent him betraying the amours of venus, and was hence adopted as the emblem of silence. the rose was for this reason frequently sculptured on the ceilings of drinking and feasting, rooms, as a warning to the guests that what was said in moments of conviviality should not be repeated; from which, what was intended to be kept secret was said to be held "under the rose." iii. roses were consecrated as presents from the pope. in , they were placed over the goals of confessionals as the symbols of secrecy. hence the origin of the phrase "under the rose." jarltzberg. _ergh, er, or argh._--might not these words (queried by t.w., vol. ii. p .) be corruptions of "_burgh_," aspirated _wurgh_, and the aspirate then dropped; or might not _ark, argh_, &c., be corruptions of "_wark_:" thus southwark, commonly pronounced _southark_? i merely offer this as a conjecture. jarltzberg. _royal supporters_ (vol. ii., p. .).--e.c. asks when and why the unicorn was introduced as one of the royal supporters. it was introduced by james vi. of scotland when he ascended the throne of england, on account of the scottish royal supporters being two unicorns rampant argent, crowned with imperial, and gorged with antique, crowns, with chains affixed to the latter passing between their forelegs and reflexed over their backs, unguled, armed, and crined, all or; the dexter one embracing and bearing up a banner of gold charged with the royal arms; the sinister, another banner azure, charged with the cross of st. andrew, argent. queen elizabeth had used as supporters, dexter, a lion rampant gardant, crowned; and sinister, a dragon rampant, both or. she also used a lion ramp. gardant crowned, and a greyhound, both or. james adopted as supporters, dexter, a lion ramp. gardant, { } crowned with the imperial crown, or; sinister, an unicorn argent, armed, crined, unguled, gorged with a coronet composed of crosses patées, and fleurs-de-lis, a chain affixed thereto passing between its forelegs, and reflexed over the back, all or. these have been used as the royal supporters ever since their first adoption, with but one exception, and that is in the seal of the exchequer, time of charles i., where the supporters are an antelope and stag, both ducally collared and chained. e.k. _the frog and the crow of ennow_.--in answer to m. (vol. ii., p. .), i send you the edition of "the frog and the crow" which i have been familiar with since childhood. i can give you no history of it, save that it is tolerably well known in lancashire, and that the _point_ consists in giving a scream over the last "oh!" which invariably, if well done, elicits a start even in those who are familiar with the rhyme, and know what to expect. _the frog and the crow_. "there was a jolly fat frog lived in the river swimmo, and there was a comely black crow lived on the river brimmo; come on shore, come on shore, said the crow to the frog, and then, oh; no, you'll bite me, no, you'll bite me, said the frog to the crow again, oh. "but there is sweet music on yonder green hill, oh, and you shall be a dancer, a dancer in yellow, all in yellow, all in yellow, said the crow to the frog, and then, oh; sir, i thank you, sir, i thank you, said the frog to the crow again, oh. "farewell, ye little fishes, that are in the river swimmo, for i am going to be a dancer, a dancer in yellow; oh, beware, oh, beware, said the fish to the frog again, oh; all in yellow, all in yellow, said the frog to the fish, and then, oh. "the frog he came a-swimming, a-swimming, to land, oh, and the crow, he came a-hopping to lend him his hand, oh; sir, i thank you; sir, i thank you, said the frog to the crow, and then, oh; sir, you're welcome; sir, you're welcome, said the crow to the frog again, oh. "but where is the music on yonder green hill, oh; and where are the dancers, the dancers in yellow, all in yellow, all in yellow? said the frog to the crow, and then, oh; sir, they're here; sir, they're here, said the crow to the frog, and eat him all up, _oh_," (screamed.) the moral is obvious, and the diction too recent for the song to have any great antiquity. i have never seen it in print. t.i. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. it would, we think, be extremely difficult to find any subject upon which persons, otherwise well informed, were so entirely ignorant, until the appearance of mrs. jameson's _sacred and legendary art_, as the one upon which that lady treated in those ably written and beautifully illustrated volumes. it seemed as if the act of henry viii., which declared that the name and remembrance of thomas à becket should be erased from all documents, had had the effect of obliterating from all memories not only the often puerile, often offensive stories of the legend-mongers, but, with them, all remembrance of those holy men of old, whose piety towards god, and love for their fellow men, furnished example for all succeeding ages. to readers of all classes mrs. jameson opened up a new and most interesting subject: to lovers of art almost a new world, from the light which her learning and criticism threw upon its master-pieces. what wonder is it, then, that the success of her _sacred and legendary art_, confined as the two volumes necessarily were to legends of angels and archangels, evangelists and apostles, the fathers, the magdalene, the patron saints, the virgin patronesses, the martyrs, bishops and hermits, and the patron saints of christendom, should have led mrs. jameson to continue her labours? the first part of such continuation is now before us, under the title of _legends of the monastic orders_: and most fitting it is that the three great divisions of the regular ecclesiastics should be thus commemorated, since of them mrs. jameson aptly remarks, that while each had a distinct vocation, there was one vocation common to all:--"the benedictine monks instituted schools of learning; the augustines built noble cathedrals; the mendicant orders founded hospitals: _all_ became patrons of the fine arts on such a scale of munificence, that the protection of the most renowned princes has been mean and insignificant in comparison." nor is this their only claim; for the earliest artists of the middle ages were monks of the benedictine order. "as architects, as glass painters, as mosaic workers, as carvers in wood and metal, they were the precursors of all that has since been achieved in christian art: and if so few of these admirable and gifted men are known to us individually and by name, it is because they worked for the honour of god and their community, not for profit, nor for reputation." the merits of mrs. jameson's first series were universally acknowledged. the present volume may claim as high a meed of praise. if possible, it exceeds its predecessors in literary interest, and in the beauty of the etchings and woodcuts which accompany it. as a handbook to the traveller who wanders through the treasuries of art, it will be indispensable; while to those who are destined not to leave their homes it will be invaluable, for the light it throws upon the social condition of europe in those ages in which the monastic orders had their origin. it is a volume highly suggestive both of notes and queries, and in such forms we shall take occasion to return to it. messrs. puttick and simpson ( . piccadilly) will commence, on monday next, a four-days sale of the { } library of the late rev. dr. johnson, rector of perranuthnoe, consisting of a good collection of theological and miscellaneous books. we have received the following catalogues:--john leslie's ( . great queen street, lincoln's inn) catalogue of english and foreign theology, including several works of very rare occurrence, and forming the largest portion of the valuable library of the rev. w. maskell, m.a.; c. gancia's ( . king's road, brighton,) second catalogue of a choice collection of foreign books, mss., books printed upon vellum, many of them great rarities, and seldom to be met with; j. miller's ( . chandos street, trafalgar square,) catalogue no. x. for of books old and new. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. davis, t., some instructions for collecting and preserving plants, animals, vo., london, . thompson's report on the fauna of ireland, vo. london, . forbes on the mollusca and radiata of the Ægean sea. . whitechurch's hispaniola, (a poem), mo. london, . rickman's ode on the blacks, to. london, . reeves' history of the english law. costard's history of astronomy, to. london, . munchhausen's travels, plates by riepenhausen, . a catalogue of the royal and noble authors of england, vols. edinburgh, . odd volumes johnson's lives of the poets, vols. vo. london, longman, . vol. iv. gibbon's decline and fall of the roman empire, vols. sm. mo. tegg, . vol. i. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. p.s.w.e. _we did not insert his reply to the query of matfelonesis, because we do not regard a newspaper paragraph as an authority. the story of lord stair being the executioner of charles i. is related, we believe, in cecil's_ sixty curious narratives, _an interesting compilation made by the late w. hone, who does not, however, give his authorities_. j.w.h., _downpatrick. his letter has been forwarded as he suggested. the_ life of walsh _is not in the museum_. g.l.b. _a translation of count hamilton's_ fairy tales _has lately been published by bohn_. volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen_. _the monthly part for august, being the third of vol. ii., is also now ready, price s. d._ * * * * * the gentleman's magazine and historical review for august contains, among other articles, unpublished anecdotes of sir thomas wyatt. roman art at cirencester (with engravings). the congress of vienna and prince de ligne. letter of h.r.h. the duke of york in . monuments in oxford cathedral (with two plates). michael drayton and his "idea's mirrour." date of the erection of chaucer's tomb. letters of dr. maitland and mr. stephens on the ecclesiastical history society: with remarks. the british museum catalogue and mr. panizzi. reviews of correspondence of charles v., the life of southey, &c., &c., notes of the month, literary and antiquarian intelligence, historical chronicle, and obituary. price s. d. "the gentleman's magazine has been revived with a degree of spirit and talent which promises the best assurance of its former popularity."-- _taunton courier_. "a better or more valuable work for country book societies, lending libraries, and reading rooms, it is impossible to find within the whole compass of english literature. its literary articles are peculiarly sound in principle, and its criticisms liberal but just; whilst its obituary confers upon it a national importance. we are sure then we cannot do a better service to our friends, and more especially to those connected with institutions like those we have adverted to, than in recommending this work to their support."--_nottingham review_. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * new work on modern geography and history, by arnold and paul. in mo., price s. d. handbook of modern geography and history. translated from the german of pütz, by the rev. r.b. paul, m.a., and edited by the rev. t.k. arnold, m.a. this volume completes the series of professor pütz's handbooks. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, (lately published), by the same editors, . handbook of ancient geography and history. s. d. . handbook of mediÆval geography and history. s. d. * * * * * just published, the second edition, with additions, price s. d. cloth, ornamental and domestic poultry: their history and management. by the rev. edmund saul dixon, m.a., rector of intwood with keswick. the birds treated of are:-- domestic fowl in general the guinea fowl the spanish fowl the speckled dorkings the cochin-china fowl the malay fowl the pheasant malay fowl the game fowl the mute swan the canada goose the egyptian or cape goose the musk duck the grey china goose the white fronted or laughing goose the wigeon the teal, and its congeners the white china goose the tame duck the domestic goose the bernicle goose the brent goose the turkey the pea fowl the golden and silver hamburgh fowls the cuckoo fowl the blue dun fowl the large-crested fowl the poland fowl bantam fowls the rumpless fowl the silky and negro fowls the frizzled or friesland fowls. "it will be found a useful and intelligent guide to the poultry-keeper; while the lively and often amusing manner in which it is written, gives it a claim upon the attention of the general reader."--_midland counties herald_. "this book is the best and most modern authority that can be consulted on the general management of poultry."--_stirling observer_. published by james matthews, at the office of the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, . upper wellington street, covent garden; and may be ordered of any bookseller. * * * * * { } john miller's catalogue of books, old and new, published this day, at . chandos street, trafalgar square, contains, amongst a great variety of miscellaneous literature, books on america, art, and banking, curious memoirs, facetiæ, wit and humour, useful works on geology, mineralogy, and other popular sciences, books on shakspeare and the drama, illustrated publications, biography, history, etc., with selections in french, italian, spanish, and cotinental literature; also the following at the low prices affixed:-- astle and grose's antiquarian repertory, being a miscellaneous assemblage of topography, history, biography, customs and manners, intended to illustrate and preserve several valuable remains of old times, vols. royal to. half bound, calf, gilt, top edges gilt, nearly engravings of a highly interesting character, l. s. calmet, dictionnaire historique, critique, chronologique, géographique, et littéral de la bible, vols. folio, calf, very neat, illustrated with nearly engravings and vignettes l. s. - 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(an early subscriber's copy) l. s. d. --the plays of william shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators, to which are added notes by dr. johnson and george stevens, large vols. vo. half bd. mor., uncut, top edges gilt, fine port., l. s. d. southey's (robt., l.l.d.) history of the peninsular war, vols. to., half calf, neat, l. s. , &c. voltaire (m. de), complete collection des oeuvres de, vols. mo., in neat french calf binding, plates, l. s. geneve, an abridgement of the philosophical transactions ol the royal societv of london, from its commencement in to the year . abridged with notes and biographic illustrations by hutton, shaw, and pearson, vols. to., numerous plates, l. s. * * * * * john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, august . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * { } no. .] saturday, august , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- notes and queries. collar of ss. tenyson--coleridge--extract from baker's mss. on barth. dodyngton, and william jenkin, by j.e.b. mayor. parallel passages. folk lore:--power of prophecy--bay leaves at funerals--shoes (old) thrown for luck--roasting mice for hooping-cough--the story of mr. fox--baptismal superstition--rushbearing. queries:-- who wrote shakspeare's henry viii.? by samuel hickson. minor queries:--the abbé strickland--works on aerostation--pilgrims' road to canterbury--"Ædricus qui signa fundebat"--osmund, the waterman--logic--darbon gatherall--damasked linen--flourish--drax abbey and free school--ancient catalogue of books. replies:-- shakspeare's use of the word "delighted," by s.w. singer. family of love. translation of the philobiblon. etymological queries, by s.w. singer. replies to minor queries:--lord richard christophilus--poker--querela cantabrigiensis--"one bell"--fabulous account of the lion--pomfret on the thames--walrond family--armenian language--genealogical query--richard baxter's descendants--duresme and dunelm. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes notes and queries the history of books and periodicals of a similar character ought to be the object of interest to the readers of this work. the number of works in which answers have been given to proposed questions is not small. not to mention the _spectator_ and its imitators, nor the class of almanacs which give riddles and problems, nor mathematical periodicals of a more extensive character,--though all these ought to be discussed in course of time,--there yet remains a class of books in which general questions proposed by the public are answered periodically, either by the public or by the editors. perhaps an account of one of these may bring out others. in and appeared the _weekly oracle; or, universal library. published by a society of gentlemen._ one folio sheet was published weekly, usually ending in the middle of a sentence. (query. what is the technical name for this mode of publication? if none, what ought to be?) i have one folio volume of seventy numbers, at the end of which notice of suspension is given, with prospect of revival in another form probably no more was published. the introduction is an account of the editorial staff to wit, a learned divine who "hath entered with so much discernment into the true spirit of the schoolmen, especially thomas aquinas and duns scotus, that he is qualified to resolve, to a hair's breadth, the nicest cases of conscience." a physician who "knows, to a mathematical point, the just tone and harmony of the risings pulses...." a lawyer who "what he this day has proved to be a contingent remainder, to-morrow he will with equal learning show must operate as an executory devise or as a springing use." a philosopher "able to give the true reason of all things, from the composition of watches, to the raising of minced pies ... and who, if he is closely questioned about the planner of squaring the circle, or by what means the perpetual motion, or longitude, may be discovered, we believe has honesty, and we are sure that he has skill enough to say that he knows--nothing of the matter." a moral philosopher who has "discovered a _perpetuum mobile_ of government." an eminent virtuoso who understands "what is the best pickle to preserve a rattle-snake or an egyptian mummy, better than the nature of the government he lives under, or the economy and welfare of himself and family." lastly, a _man of mode_. "him the beaus and the ladies may consult in the affairs of love, dress, and equipage." there is a great deal of good answering to tolerably rational questions, mixed with some attempts at humour, and other eccentricities, and occasionally a freedom, both of question and answer, by which we might, were it advisable, confirm the fact, that the decorums of and of are two different things.{ } first, as an instance of a question and answer, which might do as well (if the record be correct) for the present publication. "q. we read in our public papers of the pope's bull and the pope's brief; pray, gentlemen, what is the difference between them? "a. they differ much in the same manner as the great seal and privy seal do here in england. the bull being of the highest authority where the papal power extends; the brief is of less authority. the bull has a leaden seal upon silk affixed to the foot of the instrument, as the wax under the great seal is to our letters patent. the brief has _sub annulo piscatoris_ upon the side." query. is this answer complete and correct? now for another specimen: "q. wise oracle show, a good reason why, when from tavern we _go_, you're wel_come_ they cry. "a. the reason is plain, 'cause doubtful to know, till seeing their gain, if you _came well_ or no." the following is an example of unanswerable refutation. to show why a man has not one rib less than a woman, it is stated that imperfections are not hereditary; as in the case of "one mr. l----, an honest sailor not far from stepney, who has but one arm, and who cannot walk himself without the assistance of a wooden leg, and yet has a son, born some years after the amputation of is own limbs, whom he has bred both a fiddler and a dancing master." one more, not for the wretched play upon words, but because it may make a new query,--what does it all mean? "q. gentlemen, in the preamble to the late earl of oxford's patent, i observed, 'and whom they have congratulated upon his escape from the rage of a flagitious parricide.' i desire to know by whom, at what time, and in what manner, the said parricide was to have been committed. "a. was to have been! he actually was committed--to newgate." so much for some of the "notes and queeries" (as the word ought to be spelt) of a century ago. m. * * * * * collar of ss. "all the ensigns and marks of honour appertaining to persons of highest distinction, are equestrian."--_sabnasins_. the interest which attaches to this very ancient and distinguished ensign of chivalrous honour will excuse the introduction into your pages of a fuller dissertation upon the subject than what appears in "notes and queries," nos. . and ., in answer to the several questions put by your correspondents b. and [greek: ph]. after referring to the papers on the collar of ss., and other collars of livery, published a few years ago in the _gentleman's magazine_, and his intention to arrange them, and other additional collections on the same subject, in the shape of a small volume, mr. j.g. nichols proceeds to say: "as a direct answer to b.'s question, 'is there any list of persons who were honoured with that badge, (viz., the collar of ss.?)', i may reply, no. persons were not, in fact, 'honoured with the badge,' in the sense that persons are now decorated with stars, crosses, or medals; but the livery collar was _assumed_ by parties holding a certain position. so far as can be ascertained, these were either knights attached to the royal household or service, who wore gold or gilt collars, or esquires in the like position who wore silver collars." from the statute for the regulation of apparel, passed in the nd year of the reign of henry iv., it is ordained that-- "all the sons of the king, dukes, earls, barons, and baronettes, might use the livery of our lord the king of his collar as well in his absence as in his presence; and that all other knights and esquires should use it only in the presence of the king and not in his absence." the royal assent to this bill was accompanied with further regulations, among which were: "that the dukes, earls, barons, and baronettes of the realm might use the said livery in their counties and elsewhere; and that knights and esquires might use the said livery in going from the hostel of the king and returning, to it, always provided that they did not use it in the counties and countries in which they resided or sojourned." that the golden collar of ss. was the undoubted badge or mark of a knight (_chevalier, eques auratus seu ordo equestris_, for these words respectively indicate the same grade or dignity of knighthood) all our ancient heraldic writers allow. but, were it otherwise, the extract from the statute above given shows that mr. nichols is incorrect in stating, st. that there is no list of persons who were honoured with the collar of ss.; nd. that persons were not honoured with the badge, in the sense that persons are now decorated with stars, crosses, &c.; rd. that the collar was _assumed_; and, th. that the assumers were, "so far as can be ascertained, knights holding a certain position,--such as being attached to the royal household or service." it is important to point out these four inaccuracies of mr. nichols' reply to b., because it is desirable that his forthcoming volume should not be a heterogeneous collection of notices relating to the collar of ss., mixed up with observations that will only serve the purpose of darkening knowledge upon the subject of which he treats. the collar of ss. is found in great variety of { } shapes, and at what precise time it became an ensign of equestrian nobility no one can tell. collars were worn at least so far back as the days of livy (i.e. the commencement of the christian era); for he recounts that manlius having pulled off the collar of a gaul, took the name of _torquatus_, and afterwards always wore the collar. such being the case, there is no room for doubting that this ensign formed one of the ornaments of knighthood from the period of that dignity's earliest introduction into england. there is a notion, from the circumstance of "soverayne" being the favourite motto or impress of henry iv., that the collar of ss. takes its name from the initial letter of that word; and the introduction of the portcullis into the collar, which was the device of the house of lancaster, is also considered by some as proof that the collar originated with that king. in the effigies, however, of henry iv. and his queen, joan of navarre, in the chapel of st. thomas becket, canterbury cathedral, the collar which appears round the neck of the queen (there is none upon that of the king) has no portcullis. and as to the derivations of the name of the collar from "soverayne," from st. simplicius, from the martyrs of soissons (viz. st. crespin and st. crespinian, upon whose anniversary the battle of agincourt was fought), from the countess of salisbury, of garter notoriety, from the word "souvenez" and, lastly, from seneschallus or steward (which latter is mr. nichols' notion)--they may all be regarded as mere monkish or heraldic gossip. nicholas upton, one of our earliest heraldic writers, who was present at the siege of orleans in , states,--"rex etiam scoeie dare solebat pro signo vel titulo suo unum collarium de gormettis fremalibus equorum de auro vel argento;" whilst, in a wood-cut engraving of the arms of a german, herr florian waldauff, of about the time of albert durer, are three collars, one of the letters ss. linkings into each other, terminating in front with portcullises. put these notices together and they may be considered sufficient to demolish the lancastrian origin theory of the collar, on the one hand, and to unfold the true source of the collar's nomenclature on the other, viz. that it comes from the s-shaped lever upon the bit of the bridle of the war steed. to [greek: ph].'s question, "who are the persons now privileged to wear these collars?" mr. nichols answers, "i believe the reply must be confined to the judges, the lord mayor of london, the lord mayor of dublin, the kings and heralds of arms." the privilege of wearing a collar of ss., so far as the various persons enumerated are concerned, is a mere official privilege, and can scarcely be cited in reply to [greek: ph].'s interrogative, except upon the principle, "exceptio probat regulam." the persons now privileged to wear the ancient golden collar of ss. are the _equites aurati_, or knights (chevaliers) in the british monarchy, a body which includes all the hereditary order of baronets in england, scotland, and ireland, with such of their eldest sons, being of age, as choose to claim inauguration as knights. it is presumable too that the collar of ss. is also an incident of the minor degree of knight bachelor (bas-chevalier seu miles-bachillarus); whilst the silver collar of ss. belongs to every head of a family of ancient esquirage quality, bearing arms. it is true, the fashion of wearing the collar, whether gold or silver, may be said to have been in desuetude for centuries. but rights of blood never prescribe; and there are strong grounds to believe that there will again be a general revival of the use of such distinctions. there are various other points bearing upon the subject of the collar of ss., upon which i wish to offer some remarks, and with your permission i will return to the subject. i cannot, however, conclude without observing, that it would much add to the value of mr. nichols' compilation if he would extend it so as to embrace a description of the floreal coronet of knighthood, the belt of honour, the helmet, scarf, ring, spars, &c.,--all indeed, that the words "ad recipiendum a nobis arma militaria" implied in the ancient proclamations for taking the order of knighthood. if mr. nichols, in addition to this, will show also wherein the knights of this equestrian quality differed from such persons as were distrained "ad se milites faciendos," he will solve a number of knotty difficulties in heraldic literature, and will enable the public generally to understand that there are many more chivalrous rights and privileges inherent in the subject than what is dreamt of in the philosophy either of the court at st. james's, or the college on st. bennet's hill. armiger. * * * * * tenyson.--coleridge.--extract from baker's mss. on barth. dodyngton, and william jenkyn. the well-known lines in tenyson's _locksley hall_,-- "this is truth the poet sings, that a sorrow's crown of sorrow is, remembering happier things." appear to be taken from dante (_inferno_, canto v. verse .),-- "nessun maggior dolore, che ricordarsi del tempo felice nella miseria." which is imitated by other writers, quoted by mr. cary. (chaucer, _troilus and creseide_, iii. . marino, _adone_, c. xiv., st. . fortinguerra, _riciardetto_, c. xi. st. .) in coleridge's second _lay sermon_ (ed. , p. .) the passage-- { } "what are you," (a philosopher was once asked), "in consequence of your admiration of these abstruse speculations?" he answered; "what i am, it does not become me to say; but what thousands are, who despise them, and even pride themselves on their ignorance, i see, and tremble." is a quotation from schiller (_werke_, vol. i., p. . ) "an die muse. "was ich ohne dich wäre, ich weiss es nicht; aber mir grauet, seh'ich, was ohne dich hundert und tausende sind." in appendix (b.) to coleridge's first _lay sermon_ (p. .), we read,-- "an age or nation may become free from certain prejudices, beliefs, and superstitious practices, in two ways. it may have really risen above them; or it may have fallen below them, and become too bad for their continuance." though not given as a quotation, this passage is no doubt borrowed from baader, as quoted by archdeacon hare in a note to his _sermons on the mission of the comforter_,-- "nations, like individuals, may get free and rid of certain prejudices, beliefs, customs, abuses, &c., in two ways. they may really have risen above them, or they may have fallen below them and become too bad for them." in a volume of tracts (class mark gg. . .) in st. john's college library, cambridge, is a copy of nicolas carr's edition of the olynthiacs and philippics of demosthenes, ( to. london, henry denham .). as carr died before the work was published, his friends wrote a number of commemorative pieces in greek and latin, prose and verse, which are annexed to the volume. amongst the rest, barth. dodyngton wrote a copy of greek elegiacs, and a latin prose epistle. on dodyngton, baker has written the following note:-- "barthol. dodyngtonus in com. middlesex. natus, admissus fuit discipulus coll. jo. pro fundatrice an. .--idem admissus socius, apr. , an. .--idem admissus socius senior, an. .--idem admissus socius major coll. trin. oct. , an. ." in the same volume is note on cheke:-- "joan. cheke admissus socius coll. jo. cant., mar. , an. . henrici 'vi." another tract in the same volume is "exodus, &c., a sermon preach't sept. , . by occasion of the much lamented death of that learned and reverend minister of christ, dr. lazarus seaman."--by william jenkyn. after dr. seaman's name baker adds, "some time master of peter house." of jenkyn he says: "gul. jenkin coll. jo. admissus in matriculam academiæ (designatus joannensis), jul. , an. ." j.e.b. mayor. st. john's college, cambridge. * * * * * parallel passages. i believe the following have not been hitherto noticed in "notes and queries." "nec mirum, quod divina natura dedit agros, ars humana ædidicavit urbes."--varro, r. r. iii. . "god made the country and man made the town, what wonder then," &c.--_the task_, i. * * * * * "[greek: o de kritias ... ekaleito idiotaes men en philosophois, philosuph s de en idiotais.]"--_schol. in timoeum. platonis_. "sparsum memini hominem inter scholasticos insanum, inter sanos scholasticum."--seneca, _controv_. i ., _excerpt. ex controv._ ii. "lord chesterfield is a wit among lords, and a lord among wits."--_johnsoniana_. * * * * * "[greek: ostis eim ego; meton, on oiden hellas cho kolonos.]" aristophanes, _the birds_, . "under the tropics is our language spoke, and part of flanders hath received our yoke." _martinus scriblerus_, ch. xi. * * * * * "pandite, atque aperite propere januam hanc orci, obsecro: nam equidem haud aliter esse duco: quippe quo memo advenit nisi quem spes reliquêre omnes." plautus, _bacchis_, act iii sc. . "per me si va nella città dolente lasciate ogni speranza, voi che intrate." dante, _inferno_, iii. - . w.b.d. * * * * * folk lore. _power of prophecy._--mr. aug. guest (vol. ii., p. .) will perhaps accept--as a small tribute to his interesting communication on the subject of that "power of prophecy" which i apprehend to be still believed by many to exist during certain lucid intervals before death--a reference to sir henry halford's _essay on the [greek: kausos] of aretæus_. (see sir h. halford's _essays and orations read and delivered at the royal college of physicians_, lond. , pp. . et seq.) j. sansom. _bay leaves at funerals._--in some parts of wales it is customary for funerals to be preceded by a female carrying bays, the leaves of which she sprinkles at intervals in the road which the corpse will traverse. query, is this custom practised elsewhere; and what is the meaning and origin of the use of the bay? n.p. _shoes (old) thrown for luck._--brand, in his _popular antiquities_, observes, that it is accounted { } lucky by the vulgar to throw an old shoe after a person when they wish him to succeed in what he is going about. this custom is very prevalent in norfolk whenever servants are going in search of new places; and especially when they are going to be married, a shoe is thrown after them as they proceed to church. c.p.r.m. some years ago, when the vessels engaged in the greenland whale-fishery left whitby, in yorkshire, i observed the wives and friends of the sailors to throw old shoes at the ships as they passed the pier-head. query, what is the origin of this practice? [hebrew: t.a.] _roasting mice for hooping-cough_ is also very common in norfolk; but i am sorry to say that a more cruel superstitious practice is sometimes inflicted on the little animal; for it is not many years since i accidentally entered the kitchen in time to save a poor little mouse from being hung up by the tail and roasted alive, as the means of expelling the others of its race from the house. i trust that this barbarous practice will soon be forgotten. r.g.p.m. _the story of mr. fox._--your correspondent f.l., who has related the story of sir richard, surnamed bloody, baker, is, doubtless, aware of a similar tale with which mr. blakeway furnished my late friend james boswell, and which the latter observed "is perhaps one of the most happy illustrations of shakspeare that has appeared."--(malone's _shakspeare_, vol. vii. pp. . .) the two narratives of bloody baker and mr. fox are substantially the same. variations will naturally creep in when a story is related by word of mouth; for instance, the admonition over the chamber in mr. fox's house-- "be bold, be bold! but not too bold lest that your heart's blood should run cold." is altogether of a more dignified character than the similar warning given by the parrot, at p. . each of these worthies, baker and fox, is seen bringing into his house the corpse of a murdered lady, whose hand falls into the lap of the concealed visitor; but in fox's story the ornament on the hand is a rich bracelet, in baker's a ring. the assassins are, in both stories, invited to the visitor's house, and upon fox _summary_ justice is inflicted. it may be asked, if baker was burned, how came he to have a tomb with gloves, helmet, &c., suspended over it in cranbrook church? such honour was not paid to a man of higher rank in salisbury cathedral, a murderer also, who was hung, viz., lord stourton. dodsworth tells us that till about , no chivalrous emblems were suspended over the latter, but only a twisted wire, with a noose, emblematic of the halter. allow me to ask, what instances have we of tombs or gravestones, as memorials of individuals who have suffered at the _stake_, exclusive of those monuments which in after times may have been raised in honour of distinguished martyrs at the reformation? j.h.m. bath. _baptismal superstition._--in the north of england, when several children are brought to be baptized at the same time, great anxiety is shown by the people lest the girls should take the precedence of the boys; in which case it is believed the latter, when arrived at man's estate, would be beardless. e.h.a. _rushbearing_ (vol. i., p .).--wednesday, july , , grasmere church was decorated with ribbons, which had some reference to the rushbearing which had taken place on the preceding sunday. it takes place at ambleside one sunday later. _extract from black's "guide to the lakes," p. ._ "an interesting ceremony takes place at ambleside once every year, which the stranger may think himself fortunate in seeing, not so much for the mere sight itself, though that is pretty enough, as for its being the vestige of a very ancient observance. the ceremony alluded to is called rushbearing. on the eve of the last sunday in july, the village girls walk in procession to the chapel bearing garlands of flowers (formerly rushes), which are there tastefully disposed. after service, the day following, these are removed, and it is usual that a sermon, in allusion to the event, be preached. this observance is probably as remote as the age of gregory iv., who is known to have recommended to the early disseminators of christianity in this country, that on the anniversary of the dedication of churches wrested from the pagans, the converts should build themselves huts of the boughs of trees about their churches, and celebrate the solemnities with religious feasting. in former times, the rushes were spread upon the floor of the sacred edifice, and the garlands remained until withered. possibly the practice of covering the floors of buildings with rushes by way of protection against the damp earth, may have had something to do with keeping the custom in existence, long after the origin of the institution had been forgotten. the ceremony of rushbearing has now fallen into complete disuse, except in a few secluded hamlets in westmoreland, and in one or two other places in the kingdom; nor can that disuse be much regretted, since what was founded as a religious act, every where degenerated into an occasion for unseemly revelry, in fact, into a sort of rustic saturnalia. and yet, when we look at this remain of the olden time, as observed at ambleside, we are tempted to say with the poet,-- "'many precious rites and customs of our rural ancestry are gone or stealing from us: _this_, i hope will last for ever.'" * * * * * { } queries. who wrote shakspeare's henry viii.? i had no sooner read the title of an essay in the current number of the _gentleman's magazine_, "who wrote shakspeare's henry viii.?" than i became aware that i had been anticipated in at least the publication of a discovery i made three or four years ago, but for the making known of which a favourable opportunity had not occurred. the fact is, that i was anxious to arrive at a more satisfactory conclusion than has yet presented itself to me, and a paper on the subject commenced more than two years ago, i, with this feeling, laid aside. my present object is to strengthen the argument of the writer in the _gentleman's magazine_, by recording the fact that i, having no communication with him, or knowledge of him, even of his name, should have arrived at exactly the same conclusion as his own. that conclusion is (should any of your readers not have seen the article referred to), that fletcher has at least an equal claim with shakspeare to the authorship of _henry viii_. in the unfinished paper to which i have alluded, having asked how it was that, with so much to be learned personal to shakspeare from his works, our criticism was so limited, and having stated it to be my intention to confine myself to the simple inquiry, "_what did shakspeare really write?_" i continued: "to those who consider the text as having been settled 'by authority,' this question may seem superfluous; but, not to refer to plays of very early date, in connection with which we could bring forward facts that, we doubt not, would be considered sufficiently startling; we now state it as our belief that a great portion of the play of _henry viii_.--nay, more than half, was _not_ written by shakspeare." my intention now is not to enter into any argument in support of this view, but to state the results, which will be shown in the following extract from my note-book: _henry viii._ act i. scene . shakspeare. " . ditto. " . fletcher. " . ditto. act ii. " . ditto. " . ditto. " . shakspeare. " . ditto. act iii. " . fletcher. " . shakspeare, (ending with 'what appetite you have.') " . fletcher, (beginning from the above.) act iv. " . ditto. " . ditto. act v. scene . shakspeare " . fletcher. " . ditto. " . ditto. prologue and epilogue, ditto. so far all is clear, and in this apportionment mr. urban's correspondent and myself are agreed. my conviction here is as complete as it is of my own identity. but beyond, at present, all is dark; i cannot understand the arrangement; and i doubt if my friend, who has treated the question with so much ability, is altogether satisfied with his own explanation. in the meanwhile, i would suggest one or two points for consideration. in those parts which i have set down as shakspeare's, and in which this writer imagines he occasionally detects "a third hand," does the metre differ materially from that of shakspeare's early plays? it will be observed that, in act iii., scene ., there are _two_ farewells, the second being a kind of amplification of the first; both, however, being in the part which i ascribe to fletcher. is it not probable that these were written at different periods? and supposing fletcher to have improved his part, might there not originally have been a stronger analogy than now appears between this play and the _two noble kinsmen_? the more it is tested the brighter shines out the character of shakspeare. the flatteries of james and elizabeth may now go packing together. the following four lines which i have met with in no other edition of shakspeare than mr. collier's, are worth any one of his plays for their personal value; they show how he could evade a compliment with the enunciation of a general truth that yet could be taken as a compliment by the person for whom it was intended: _shakspeare on the king._ "crowns have their compass; length of days their date; triumphs, their tomb; felicity her fate; of nought but earth can earth make us partaker, but knowledge makes a king most like his maker." samuel hickson. august . . * * * * * minor queries. _the abbé strickland._--in the third volume of the _castlereagh correspondence_, an abbé strickland figures as a negotiator between the english catholics and the court of rome. his name is also mentioned unfavourably in the "_quarterly_" review of that work. will some of your readers direct me where further information can be had of him, and his ultimate destination? j.w.h. { } _aerostation, works on._--will you have the goodness to inquire for me among your readers and contributors, for the _titles of any works on_--or references to good _articles in encyclopaedias or dictionaries_ on--or for remarkable isolated passages relating to--_aerostation_, or the arts of, or attempts at, flying, either by means of mechanical wings, &c., or by the aid of balloons. c.b.m. _pilgrims' road to canterbury._--can any of the readers of "notes and queries" point out the route which was pursued by chaucer and his fellow-travellers on the pilgrimage which his genius has immortalised? is the route of the old pilgrims' road laid down upon any early maps? (it is not, i believe, marked on the ordnance survey;) and would it be possible to traverse it at the present time? any hints upon these points, and any references to objects of interest on the line of road inquired after, will be thankfully received by philo-chaucer. "_Ædricus qui signa fundebat._"--in a chronicle of battel abbey, compiled in the twelfth century, there is a list of the abbey's tenants in the town of battel. among many such names as gilbertus textor, godwinus cocus, rotbertus filius siflet, rotbertus de havena, i find that of "Ædricus qui signa fundebat." as this phrase is susceptible of several widely different renderings, i shall be grateful to any of your ingenious readers who will give me their opinions as to its actual meaning. i may add that Ædric was living about the year , so that the phrase can have no reference to events connected with the battle of hastings. m.a. lower. lewes, july . . _osmund the waterman._--in his description of the _flowering fern (osmunda regalis)_, mr. newman observes, that "the rhizoma [root-stock], when cut through, has a whitish centre or core, called by old gerarde in his _herbal_, 'the heart of osmund the waterman.' my lore is insufficient to furnish my readers with the history of the said osmund." (_history of british ferns_, by ed. newman, nd ed., p. .) can any of _your_ readers supply this deficiency? j.m.b. _logic._--what is the earliest printed book on logic? meaning the first which gives the common theory of the syllogism. does it contain the celebrated words _barbara, celarent_, &c. the difficulty will probably arise from this, that each book has some _undated_ editions which are probably earlier than the dated ones. of books with dates there is the exposition of petrus hispanus by joh. versor, in , and the _summulæ_ of paulus venetus, in ; the first i find in hain (who had not seen it), the second i have seen. can any one of your readers go farther back? m. _darvon gatherall?_--can any reader adduce further information respecting an image, called _darvon gatherall_, brought from wales at the reformation, than what is mentioned in one of the treatises published by the camden society? w. bell. _damasked linen._--i should feel obliged for any information on the earliest specimen of tablecloths being "damasked," and the history of that manufacture. i have lately had shown me as "family curiosities" a beautiful "damask service" of flemish or dutch work. the centre contained a representation of st. george and the dragon. the hero is attired in the costume of the latter part of the seventeenth century (?), with it cocked hat and plume, open sleeves and breeches, heavy shoes and spurs: with this motto in german characters over him, [german: ben gott ist rath und that,] "with god is counsel and deed." at each corner of the cloth and napkins is a representation of a female figure kneeling on a rock, with clasped hands, with a lamb by her side (query, st. agnes?) on the border, at the top and bottom, st. george is figured in armour stabbing with a spear an alligator; and then with a sword, in the act of killing a bear. on the side borders, he is receiving the attack of a lion on his arm, covered with a mantle; and then, with a raised sword, cutting at the proboscis of an elephant. i have seen, also, an older specimen, i think, of the same manufacture; the subject being the "bear and ragged staff," on alternate rows, with figures of trumpeters. i know not if this subject is of sufficient interest for your "notes and queries," but i trust you will make what use of it you please. r.g.p.m. _flourish._--we are told that a writer _flourished_ at such and such a time. is any definite notion attached to this word? when it is said of a century there is no difficulty; it means that the writer was born and died in that century. but when we are told that a writer flourished about the year (such limitation of florescence is not uncommon), what is then meant? what are we to understand he did in or about ? m. _drax abbey and free school._--can you, or any of your intelligent contributors, direct me where i can find any records of drax abbey, near selby, yorkshire, or of the free school in drax, endowed by robert reed, whom tradition states to heave been a foundling amongst the _reeds_ on the banks of the ouse, about half a mile distant. such information will place me under great obligation. t. dyson. gainsboro. _ancient catalogue of books._--a few days since i made the acquisition of a curious old catalogue { } of books, interleaved, and containing about pages, with the following title: "catalogus variorum, in quavis facultate et materia librorum incompactum officinæ joannis maire, quorum auctio publicè habebitur in ædibus joannis maire, hora octavâ matutinâ et secundâ postmeridiana ad diem ----, . lugduni batavorum, ex typographia nicolai herculis, ." on the back is the following notice to "buyers:" "monitos volumus emptores, hosce libros eâ vendi conditione, ut cum eorum traditione pretium præsenti pecuniâ persolvatur. et si quis libros à se emptos intra sex septimanarum spatium, à primà auctionis die numerandum, à bibliopola non exegerit, eos cum emptoris prioris damno aliis vendere integrum erit ac licitum. "monentur etiam et rogantur, ut antè meridiem ad horæ octavæ, post meridiem vero ad secundæ punctum præsentes sese sistere dignentur." can any of your readers give me particulars about this john maire? w.j. havre. * * * * * replies. shakspeare's use of the word "delighted." (vol. ii., pp. . .) although mr. hickson's notion of the meaning of _delight_, in the three passages of shakspeare he has cited, is somewhat startling, it was not to be summarily rejected without due examination; and yet, from a tolerably extensive acquaintance with old english phraseology, i fear i cannot flatter him with the expectation of having it confirmed by instances from other writers. i believe that _lighted_ is rather an unusual form to express _lightened_, _disencumbered_, but that it was sometimes used is apparent; for in hutton's _dictionary_, , we have "allevo, to make light, to light."--"allevatus, lifted up, _lighted_." and in the _cambridge dictionary_, , "allevatus, lifted up, _lighted_, raised, eased or recovered." the use of the prefix _de_ in the common instance of _depart_ for to _part_, _divide_, is noticed by mr. hickson; and _demerits_ was used for _merits_ by many of our old writers as well as shakspeare. i find _decompound_ for _compound_ in heylyn's _microcosmos_, , p. ., thus:--"the english language is a _decompound_ of dutch, french, and latin." these instances may serve to show that it is not at all improbable shakspeare may have used _delighted_ for _lighted==lightened==freed from incumbrance_; and it must be confessed that the sense and spirit of the passage in _measure for measure_ would be much improved by taking this view of it. on the other hand, it certainly does appear that the poet uses the termination _-ed_ for _-ing_, in the passages cited by mr. halliwell, where we have profess_ed_ for profess_ing_, becom_ed_ for becom_ing_, guil_ed_ for guil_ing_, brood_ed_ for brood_ing_, and deform_ed_ for deform_ing_: it was not unreasonable, therefore, to conclude that he had done so in these other instances, and that delight_ed_ stood for delight_ing_, and not for delight_ful_, as mr. halliwell implies. how far the grammatical usages of the poet's time may have authorised this has not yet been shown; but it appears also that the converse is the case, and that he has used the termination _-ing_ for _-ed_; e.g. long_ing_ for long_ed_, all-obey_ing_ for all-obey_ed_, discontent_ing_ for discontent_ed_, multiply_ing_ for multipli_ed_, unrecall_ing_, for unrecall_ed_. dr. crombie (_etymology and syntax of the english language_, p. .) says: "the participle in _ed_ i consider to be perfectly analogous to the participle in _ing_, and used like it in either an active or passive sense, belonging, therefore, neither to the one voice nor the other exclusively." supposing for a moment that shakspeare used delight_ed_ for delight_ing_, the sense of the passages would, i presume, be in _measure for measure_, "the spirit affording delight;" in _othello_, "if virtue want no beauty affording delight;" in _cymbeline_, "the gifts delighting more from being delayed." here we have a simple, and, in the last two instances, i think, a more satisfactory meaning than mr. hickson's sense of _lightened_, _disencumbered_, affords, even could it be more unquestionably established. i have, however, met with a passage in sir philip sidney's _arcadia_ (ed. , p. .) which might lead to a different interpretation of _delighted_ in these passages, and which would not, perhaps, be less startling than that of mr. hickson. "all this night (in despite of darknesse) he held his eyes open; and in the morning, when the _delight_ began to restore to each body his colour, then with curtains bar'd he himselfe from the enjoying of it; neither willing to feele the comfort of the day, nor the ease of the night." here, _delight_ is apparently used for _the return of light_, and the prefix _de_ is probably only intensive. now, presuming that shakspeare also used _delighted_ for _lighted_, _illuminated_ the passage in _measure for measure_ would bear this interpretation: "the delighted spirit, i.e., the spirit _restored to light_," freed from "that dark house in which it long was pent." in _othello_, "if virtue lack no delighted beauty," i.e. "_want not the light of beauty_, your son-in-law shows far more fair than black." here the opposition between _light_ and _black_ is much in its favour. in _cymbeline_, i must confess it is not quite so clear: "to make my gifts, by the dark uncertainty attendant upon delay, more lustrous (delighted), more radiant when given," is not more satisfactory than mr. { } hickson's interpretation of this passage. but is it necessary that _delighted_ should have the same signification in all the three passages? i think not. these are only suggestions, of course, but the passage from sidney is certainly curious, and, from the correct and careful manner in which the book is printed, does not appear to be a corruption. i have not seen the earlier editions. i have only further to remark, that none of our old authorities favour dr. kennedy's suggestion, "that the word represents the latin participle _delectus_." since the above was written, mr. hickson's reply to mr. halliwell has reached me, upon which i have only to observe that he will find _to guile_ was used as a verb. thus in gower, _confessio amantis_, fo. . ed. : "for often he that will begyle, is _gyled_ with the same gyle, and thus the gyler is begyled." we most probably had the word from the old french _guiller_=tromper, and the proverb is to the purpose:-- "qui croit de _guiller_ guillot, guillot le guile." horne tooke's fanciful etymology cannot be sustained. mr. hickson's explanation of "guiled shore," is, however, countenanced by the following passage in _tarquin and lucrece_:-- "to me came tarquin armed, so _beguil'd_ with outward honesty, but yet defil'd with inward vice." mr. hickson has, i think, conferred a singular favour in calling attention to these perplexing passages in our great poet and these remarks, like his own, are merely intended as hints which may serve to elicit the _true_ interpretation. s.w. singer. mickleham, august . . * * * * * family of love. i do not know whether the following notes on "the family of love" will be deserving a place in the pages of "notes and queries;" as i may possibly have been anticipated in much of what i send. the family of love attracted notice as early as , but not in such a manner as to call for direct coercion. an apology was published for them, from which it might be inferred that they possessed no distinct opinions, but merely bound themselves to a more exalted interpretation of christian duties, on the principle of imitating the great love of god manifested in their creation and retention. this principle, unrestrained by any confession of faith or system of discipline, naturally attracted to it the loose and irregular spirits that were at that time so prevalent, and the sect became the receptacle for every variety of opinion and disorder, exposing itself to more particular notice from its contempt for outward observances, and its opposition to the civil government. the _evangelium regni_ of henry nicholas, the acknowledged founder of the sect, is written in such a manner as to include all religious persuasions, and permits all parties to hold whatever sentiments they please, if they merely declare themselves _members of the family of love_. "omnes vos, o amatores veritatis! qui amabilem vitam charitatis diligitis vocatmini et invitamini." (cap. .) ... "omnes peribunt, qui extra christum extra communionem charitatis manent." (ibid.) a confutation of this sect was written in the year ; the privy council called upon the convocation of the year to notice it. we find the sect still described in the publications of , and continuing under the same name with its preachers and congregations in . bp. cooper, in speaking of the sect in (_admonition, &c._, p. .), terms them "that peevish faction of the 'familie of love,' which have been breeding in this realm the space of these thirty years." fuller (_ch. hist._, th cent., p. .) says that in his time "they had obtained the name of ranters." leslie, in his _works_ (vol. ii. p. .), considers the sect "identical with that of the quakers." that this was not the case is evident, i conceive, from george fox, the father of the quakers, having severely chastised this "family of love," because they would take an oath, dance, sing, and be cheerful. see sewel's _history of the quakers_, iii. p. , , . the founder of the sect, henry nicolai, was born at munster, and commenced his career about in the netherlands; thence he passed over to england, in the latter years of edward vi.'s life, and joined the dutch congregation. but his sect did not become visible till some time in the reign of elizabeth. in they presented a confession of their faith to parliament, along with a number of their books, and prayed toleration. nicolai, or nicolas, their founder, published a number of tracts and letters in dutch for the edification of his followers: and now i will propose a query, in hopes that some of your correspondents will solve it. is there extant any list of their writings as presented to parliament in , and has their confession been published, and when? perhaps the following works, none of which i am able to consult, would furnish the means of solving my query, all of which treat of the subject:-- j. hombeck's _summa controversiarum._ godfr. arnold's _kirchen- und kitzer-historie._ ant. wilh. bohm's _englische reformations-historie._ schroekh's _kirchengesch. seit der reformation._ { } these sources would, i conceive, be useful to n.b., who inquires into their tenets and lives. i find i have omitted to mention one of their assailants, "the last and most learned," henry more, the english divine. see his _mystery of godliness_, book vi., chap. - . [hebrew: sp't] _the family of love._--in addition to the work of john rogers, referred to by dr. rimbault (vol. ii., p. .), the two following treatises, which were also published in the year , will present your readers with much curious information respecting the "family of love." the first is entitled,-- "a confutation of certaine articles delivered unto the familye of loue, with the exposition of theophilus, a supposed elder in the sayd familye, upon the same articles, by william wilkinson, maister of artes, and student of divinitye, &c. &c. at london: printed by john daye, dwelling ouer aldersgate, au. ." in the _epistle dedicatorie_, dated cambridge, september , , and addressed to richard (cox), bishop of ely, the author describes the new doctrine as,-- "the most pestiferous and deadly heresie of all others, because there is not almost any one particular erroneous and schismaticall phantasie, whereof the _familie of loue_ hath not borrowed one braunche or other thereof, to peece vnto themselves this their religion." a passage is then added which may serve in some measure as a reply to n.b. (vol. ii., p. .) it seems to slow that, however vile might be the theology of this sect, their morals were not at least publicly offensive. "the encrease of this _familie_ is great, and that dayly, because the withstanders are not many; the defenders are wily as serpentes, and would fayne in lyfe seeme innocent and vnblameable. in profession of the one they boast very much: of the other they walkyng very closely do iustifie themselues, because fewe haue to finde fault with them, yet haue they their lothsome spottes and ougly deformities, as in this booke to the diligent reader playnely may appeare." the "lothsome spottes" here intended are the th and th articles of wilkinson's indictment. they run as follows;-- ( .) "h.n. (i.e. henry nicholas) saith, it is lawfull for one of his familie to dissemble," (i.e., to conceal his religion when questioned by the magistrate); and ( .) "h.n. maketh god the author of sinne, and the sinner guiltless," (but no proof is alleged that this speculative impiety was carried out into actual life). the title of the second treatise to which i alluded is-- "a confutation of monstrous and horrible heresies, taught by h.n., and embraced of a number who call themselves the familie of love, by i. knewstub. imprinted in london, at the three cranes in the vinctree, by thomas dawson, for richard sergies. ." he characterises the doctrine of the "familists" as-- "a masse or packe of poperie, arianisme, anabaptisme, and libertinisme. respecting their morals we are told, that although for their loosenesse of life, they are from the toppe to the toe nothing but blottes, yet bragge they of all perfection, euen vnto a verie deifying of themselues." some further light is thrown upon this point by a letter sent to knewstub from a "godly learned man, w.c." he says,-- "howsoeuer, they seduce some goodly and zealous men and women of honest and godly conuersation, placing them at the porch of their synagogue to make a shewe of holinesse, and to stand there as baites and stalles to deceiue others; yet, alas! who can without blushing vtter the shame that is committed in the inwarde roomes, and as it were in the heart of that synagogue of satan." appended to knewstub's book is a further-- "confutation of the doctrine of dauid george, and h.n., the father of the familie of loue, by m. martyn micronius, minister of the woorde in the dutche churche, at london." it was originally written in latin during the reign of edward vi. the author charges the "familists" with maintaining that-- "idolatry, superstition, and outwarde vices are free and pure vnto them, which, vnder the pretence of a certaine fayth and inwarde puritie, boast that they knowe no sinne in the heart." (fo. b.) two features particularly distinguish them from other sectaries of the age: they professed obedience to the civil magistrate, whatever might be his religion; and they argued in favour of unlimited toleration both in regard to themselves and others. c.h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. * * * * * translation of the philobiblon. l.s. (vol. ii, p. .) inquires for a "translation of robert de bury's _philobiblon_." an english version of this famous treatise by richard, not robert aungerville (see, for the surname, pits, p. .) de bury, bishop of durham in , was published by mr. rodd in the year . the translator has not given his name, but he was mr. john bellingham inglis, formerly a partner in the house of inglis, ellis, and co. it is greatly to be desired that there should be a careful reprint of this most interesting work, and that the first edition of should be collated with mss. the translation by mr. inglis might be revised, and made to accompany the latin text. let us hope, however, that his notes, if they be permitted again to appear, may be purified from scepticism and profaneness. the claim of holcot to be the author of this tract, should be well considered and decided upon; { } and the errors of the learned fabricius (who had a manuscript copy in which the writer was styled "muiegervile", instead of aungerville), which have been repeated by mansi, should be corrected. dr. james, the first bodleian librarian, fell into a strange mistake when he imagined that his inaccurate reprint at oxford, in , was the _second_ edition of this treatise. it was in reality the _fourth_, having been preceded by the impressions, colon. ; spiræ, ; and paris, . so far as i remember, the editio princeps has not been specified by gough. (_brit. topog_. ii. .) r.g. i find i can answer the query of l.s. (vol. ii., p. l .), who asks, "where can i procure a _translation_ of robert de bury's _philobiblon_?" a translation was published by mr. rodd, in , of which the following is the title:-- "philobiblon: a treatise on the love of books, by richard de bury, bishop of durham, written in mcccxliv; and translated from the first edition, mcccclxxiii, with some collations. london: printed for thomas rodd, great newport street, leicester square, ." this translation is a small vo. volume, of which there is a copy in the douce collection in the bodleian; at the beginning of which copy, on a fly-leaf, the words, "j.b. inglis to his friend f. douce, esq.," are written; and opposite, on the inside of the cover, there is written in pencil, apparently in douce's own hand, "i had read the ms. of this work before it was printed." there appears to have existed some difference of opinion with respect to the authorship of the _philobiblon_. leland, in his _itinerary_, ed. vo. oxford , vol. iii. pp. , , sub loc. _saresbyri_, says,-- "ex tabella in sacello s. mariæ. orate pro anima ricbardi poure, quondam sarum episcopi." ... "qui quidem richardus episcopus postea translatus fuit ad episcopatum dunelmensem ... incipit prologus in philobiblon richardi dunelmensis episcopi, _quem librum compilavit robertus holcot_ de ord. prædicatorum _sub nomine dicti episcopi_." still, however, in the appendix to vol. iv. of the _itinerary_, p. ., it is said:-- "richardus de _bury_, alias _angravyle_ dictus, episc. dunelm., scripsit philobiblon." upon leland's authority, the bodleian catalogue ascribes the work in question to robertus holcot. watt, however (_bibl. brit._), seems to imagine r. de bury and holcot to be the same person. his words are (vol. i. c. ):--"bury, richard. dunelm., _alias_ robertus holcot, bishop of durham, and chancellor and treasurer of england, in the reign of edward iii.;" and again, under holcot's name, "holcot, robert, _or_ richard d. bury." the translator (j.b. inglis) distinguishes in his preface between these contemporary writers, and considers r. de bury to be the undoubted author of this work passing under his name. in corroboration of his opinion, mr. inglis refers to the _biographical and retrospective miscellany_; and, in order to prove that the work was finished in the author's lifetime, he produces the words: "quod opus (philobiblon) aucklandiæ in habitatione sua complevit, die januarii, anno a communis salutis origine , ætatis suæ , et suæ pontificatus." and then adds: "he died april, . holcot died in ." there appears to be some confusion about the _editions_, also, of the _philobiblon_. there is an edition, to. par., apud gaspar. philippum, ; also edit. _secund_. to. oxoniæ, ; and it is printed in the _philolog. epist. ex bibl. melch. goldasti_, ed. lipsiæ, . but prior to all these is the edition "printed at cologne, ," from which the _translation_ is made, and which is described by watt as "the editio princeps, and a work of uncommon rarity." query. why does the oxford edition of call itself "editio _secundo_?" if the paris edit. of so far differ from that of as to entitle it to be considered a different work, had the second ms. passed through holcot's hands? j. sansom. the translation of richard de bury's _philobiblon_, by mr. inglis, printed in for the late mr. rodd, is an unsatisfactory performance. the version is bald and spiritless, and some of the best passages of the original are rendered in language that does no justice to the author's meaning. his style is so peculiar, so allusive, and so full of metaphor and quotation, and the work is luminous with "the sparks of so many sciences," that a good translation is a desideratum. i may inform your correspondent that one has lately been prepared and is announced for publication, with a memoir of the illustrious bishop. i may add that the _philobiblon_ has been six times printed: the last edition, if i remember rightly, was by dr. james: but some old ms. copies of this remarkable treatise on the love of books exist, with some of which the text used by the translator should be collated. but, of the publication announced, it would not become me to say anything more, as the biographer is your faithful servant, w.s.g. newcastle-upon-tyne. * * * * * etymological queries. (vol. ii., p. .) the very satisfactory replies of mr. way to some of the queries of j. mn., given at p. - ., make us wish for more, which i trust we shall have, should he be supplied with the context in which the words occur; without which it is difficult { } to elucidate them fully. in the meantime, i venture a few suggestions on some of the remaining words. "in the fever or the _berebarde_," "_berbi_, o.f., chancre, dartre; a _boil, bubo_, or _tetter_, commonly attendant upon pestilent fever. 'correpta fuit vehementissima febri. subtus ejus axillis detectis quoque _bubonibus_, magnam duritiem ac timorem præ se ferentibus.'"--_miraculi s. francisci solani, a.s._, tom. v., julii, p. . (see bullein's _dialogue bothe pleasant and pitiful, wherein is a goalie regimente against the fever pestilence_, &c., .) "_deale_," if an interjection (?), may possibly stand for "_deâ_," or "_ouy deâ_, yes, truly! verily!" &c. (see cotgrave in v. _deâ_.) "_schunche away_".--to _shun_ or _shunche_ is used for to _shove_, in sussex. "i _shunched_ him away." "wear no iron, nor haircloth, nor _irspilles felles_"--that is, no _skins having hard or bristly hair_ like that of goats. "hircipilus, durorum pilorum homines sicut hirci."--_festus_. here the context clearly leads to this interpretation. _sabraz_, or _sabras_, is a _decoction_ or _infusion_. one of the numerous terms which the apothecaries adopted from the arabic, in which _shabra_ is a drink. _sabe_, in o.f.; _saba_, ital., an inspissated juice or decoction. "_sabaricio_, a kind of strong drinke made of barley." i doubt whether ducange is right in explaining _sabrierium_ in the following passage, by _condimentum_, gallicè _saupiquet_. it most probably signified a beverage. "in omnibus secundis feriis dent illis ova quatuor uniquique clerico pinguia, cum bono _sabrierio_." s.w. singer. [we take this opportunity of correcting two errata in the etymological queries of our valued correspondent j. mn. "hete_n_este" should be "hete_u_este"--"inclosed heteueste in a stone coffin or tomb:" and in a later query "isti_l_ed" should be "isti_h_ed"--"let their hesmel be istihed, al without broach."] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _lord richard christophilus._--ch. (vol. ii., p. .) will probably find as much information as he requires, if he can consult a small volume in the british museum (catalogued under the head of "_isuf, bassa_,") of which the title is-- "a true relation of the conversion and baptism of isuf, the turkish chaons, named richard christophilus, vo. lond. ." also, in the bodleian catalogue, under the head of "bassa (isuf)," ch. may find-- "the history of isuf bassa, capt.-general of the ottoman army at the invasion of candia. vo. lond. ." in reference to the former of these volumes, there is a note in the _fasti oxonienses_, ad ann. , v. thom. white, of which the following is a copy:-- "quære, if tho. white, lecturer of s. andrew's holborn, published an epistle to the reader of 'a true relation of the conversion and baptism of isuf, the turkish chaons, named richard christophilus, in the presence of a full congregation, jan. , , in covent garden, where mr. martin is preacher. lond. . vo.' kenneth." (_athenæ oxon_. ed. phil. bliss, , vol. iv. _fasti_, coll. , .) j. sansom. _poker._--among the muniments of the corporation of bodmin is a certificate of the mayor and burgesses respecting the claims of the inhabitants of the town to take wood in dunmere wood, belonging to the priory of bodmin. the language of it seems to throw light on the origin of the word _pocarius_, or _poker_, which has been so often noticed and discussed. (_antè_, vol. i., pp. . . . . . . .) the passage also illustrates the _hook or crook_ privilege, which has been already satisfactorily explained. the date is a.d. : "we say, and for truth testify that the wood called dynmure wood, was ever open and common to all burgesses and inhabitants of bodmin till now of late, as well for all manner kind of their beasts to common therein, as to have their burden wood, to bear and carry away upon their backs, of lop, crop, _hook_, _crook_, and _bag_ wood; ... always reserving to the prior the stems of the trees for their fuel and building." (see the _bodmin register_, collected by the rev. john wallis, of bodmin, and printed at bodmin, - , p. .) i presume that _bag wood_ is such wood as can be cut with a hook or crook, and bunched. in another nearly contemporary petition (ibid. p. .), the same identical privilege is described by the townsmen as a right to lop and crop with a hook and crook, and to carry away on their backs, and "none other ways." this explains the former passage, and shows that the wood was probably carried away on the back in a bag. the woodward, who carried a bill for such purposes, would also carry a bag, or _poke_, and might therefore be very appropriately called a poker. it will be seen in halliwell's _dictionary_, verb. "bag" and "bagging," and in the _hereford glossary_ (london, ), verb. "bag," that _bagging_ is sometimes used to signify cutting; and, more particularly, cutting for burning. i mention this, because it may be thought pertinent { } to the present inquiry; but as this use of the word has been plausibly supposed to be derived from the welsh _bach_, a hook, it seems to have nothing to do with a _poke_. e. smirke. _querela cantabrigiensis_ (vol. ii., p. .).--j.m.b. inquires whether anything is known of the _authorship_ of the _querela cantabrigiensis_? the tract in question appears to have been "written by bruno ryves," the author of _mercurius rusticus_, and some few other treatises, in connexion with which it is commonly bound. ryves is described by watt as "a loyal divine," who was "born in dorsetshire," and "died ." his _querela_ was first printed at oxford in . there was a second edition in . in case j.m.b. do not himself intend to send out a new edition of this tract, it is to be hoped that his query may induce some one else to do so. indeed, a reprint of several similar pamphlets and short treatises, belonging to the same period, might be brought out with great advantage at this crisis. the series might begin with "the answere of the vice-chancellour, the doctors, both the proctors, and other the heads of houses in the universitie of oxford: "(agreeable, undoubtedly, to the joint and uniforme opinion of all the deanes and chapters, and all other the learned and obedient cleargy in the church of england:) "to the humble petition of the ministers of the church of england, desiring reformation of certaine ceremonies and abuses of the church. at oxford: printed by joseph barnes, and are to be sold in paule's church yard, at the sign of the crowne, by simon waterson, ." j. sansom. "_one bell_" (vol ii., p. .)--in the sixth edition of the _book of the church_ (i _believe_ references are also given in all editions since the first), southey gives us his authority for this, "strype's _cranmer_, p. . (edition of .)" the passage occurs in book ii. chap. .: "the duke of somerset's death." i quote it from the reprint by the ecclesiastical history society (vol. ii. p. .): "he (somerset) is generally charged for the great spoil of churches and chapels; defacing ancient tombs and monuments, and pulling down the bells in parish churches, and _ordering only one bell in a steeple, as sufficient to call the people together_, which set the commonalty almost into a rebellion." r.b. august . _fabulous account of the lion_ (vol. ii., p. .).--jarltzberg is right in supposing that this is given by philippe de thaun. it is, however, of older date. turner (_history of england during the middle ages_, vol. iv. chap. iv. p. .) gives part of a latin version of it from the "physiologus" of a certain theobald. the "physiologus," which is in substance the same as the "bestiary" of philippe de thaun, occurs, according to mr. turner's account of it, in mss. of the eighth or ninth century. anglo-saxon versions of "the whale and the panther" are in the _codex exoniensis_. in the works of hildebert, who died abp. of tours , a poem called "physiologus" is printed, which appears to be the same as that ascribed by turner to theobald. the fable and application of the lion are the same as those given by turner, with very trifling variations. among the poems ascribed to abp. hildebert is an "epitaphum magistri theobaldi," who, i conjecture, is the same theobald as the supposed author of the "physiologus." it is rather long; but there is nothing to identify theobaldus except the word "dervensis." what place this indicates i know not. "hoc vivente, locus dervensis floruit, isto sublato, marcet nominis hujus odor." _opera hildeberti_, p. ., paris, . in the _opera hildeberti_ there occur some verses on the symbols of the evangelists. i subjoin them: though it is perhaps hardly worth while to print any more on this subject. on the symbols of the evangelists. "matthæum signat vir, bos lucain, leo marcum, ales discipulum qui sine sorde fuit. "matthæo species humana datur, quia scripto indicat et titulo quid deus egit homo. os vituli lucam declarat, qui specialem materiam sumpsit de cruce, christe tuâ. effigiat marcum leo, cujus littera clamat quantâ surrexit vi tua, christi, caro. discipulum signat species aquilina pudicum, vox cujus nubes transit ad astra volans. christus homo, christus vitulus, christus leo, christus est avis, in christo cuncta notare potes. est homo dum vivit, bos dum moritur, leo verò quando resurgit, avis quando superna petit." _hildeberti opera_, paris, , p. . b.f. _pomfret on the thames_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in a former number n. required to be informed where the pons fractus, or pountfreyt super thamis, was situate, from whence several documents were dated by edward ii. this question has puzzled many learned antiquaries, and i do not think has ever been properly resolved. both pons fractus and pountfreyt occur in rymer's _foedera_, tomus iii., p. . lond. . if you will permit, i would hazard the conjecture that it was kingston bridge. till within the last two centuries, the only bridges across the thames were london and kingston; and the latter in the thirteenth century appears to have been in a ruinous condition. and i find in _rot. litterar. clausar_. { } anno hen. iii. (a.d. ) memb. . p. . "de ponte de kingeston," that henry de st. alban, and matthew, son of geoffry de kingston, are directed to repair the bridge, date wednesday, aug. , and there is also a recurrence to the same subject, memb. . p. ., dated on tuesday, dec. , . i would therefore ask, with submission to those who may be better informed, whether the bridge, though ordered to be repaired by henry iii., may not have remained in such a dilapidated state in the time of edw. ii., that it may then have been styled "pons fractus?" ¶.s. _walrond family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--among my very numerous notes relating to the several families of this name, i find only the following which appears likely to be of any interest to your correspondent in connection with his query. "mrs. ureth, daughter of lieut.-col. walrond, was married to james huish, esq. of sidbury, co. devon, on the th july, ." but it is probable that in so numerous a family there was more than one colonel at that time. your correspondent is, no doubt, aware that burke's _landed gentry_ states the names of the wife and children of colonel humphrey walrond, and that the monument of humphrey walrond, esq., who died in , in the church of ilminster, co. somerset, exhibits his coat armour quartering polton, fissacre, and speke, and impaling popham and another coat, viz., per fesse indented quarterly or and sable, in each quarter an annulet counterchanged. this coat of arms i shall be glad if your correspondent will enable me to assign to its proper family. s.s.s. _armenian language_ (vol. ii., p. .).--jarltzberg may refer to two works printed at the press of the mechitaristican society at venice; . _quadro della storia letteraria di armenia_, ; and . _quadro delle opere di vari autori anticamente tradotte in armeno_, . he may also, perhaps, be interested by another little work, printed at the same place, , entitled, _a brief account of the mechitaristican society, founded on the island of st. lazaro_, by alexander goode; in which work it is stated (p. .) that "by lord byron's assistance a grammar of the armenian and english languages was composed by the rev. dr. aucher;" and that "this reverend gentleman has likewise compiled, with john brand, esq., of the university of cambridge, a dictionary of the armenian and english languages." all these works are in the writer's possession and shall be lent to jarltzberg if he wishes to see them, and is not able to find them in any library near him. m.d. _genealogical query_ (vol. ii., p. )--sir philip courtenay, first of powderham castle, fifth son of hugh, the second of that name, earl of devon, by margaret de bohun, grand-daughter of king edward i., married anne, daughter of sir thomas wake of bisworth, co. northampton, son of hugh, younger son of baldwin lord wake, and had issue three sons and two daughters, of which margaret was married to sir robert carey, of cockington, knt. see _cleaveland's history of the family of courtenay_, pp. . . s.s.s. _richard baxter's descendants_ (vol. ii, p. .).--your correspondent w.h.b., who wishes for information respecting the descendants of the celebrated richard baxter, describes him to have been a northamptonshire man; now this (supposing the nonconformist divine of that name is meant) is a mistake, for he was, according to his own account, a shropshire man. in a narrative of the most memorable passages of his life and times, by himself, and published soon after his death under the title of _reliquiæ baxterianæ_, , he says, "my father's name was richard (the son of richard) baxter; his habitation and estate at a village called eaton constantine, a mile from the wrekin hill, and above half a mile from severn river, and five miles from shrewsbury in shropshire. a village most pleasantly and healthfully situate. my mother's name was beatrice, the daughter of richard adeney of rowton, a village near high encall, the lord newport's seat, in the same county. there i was born, a.d. , on the th of november, being the lord's day, in the morning, at the time of divine worship, and baptized at high encall the th day following: and there i lived from my parents with my grandfather till i was near ten years of age, and then was taken home." he was married on sept. , , to a miss charlton. they had no children. the only descendant of richard baxter known to his biographers, was his nephew, william baxter, a person of considerable attainments as a scholar and an antiquary. he was born in shropshire in . he published several works, and kept an academy for some years at tottenham cross, middlesex, which he gave up on being chosen master of mercer's school, london, where he continued for twenty years, and resigned a short time before his death, which took place in . baxter makes mention, at the close of his own life and times, of one richard baxter, a sabbatarian anabaptist, and says of him, "that he was sent to gaol for refusing the oath of allegiance, and it went for current that it was i." h.m. bealby. north brixton. _duresme and dunelm_ (vol. ii., p. .).--three _successive_ bishops, morton, cosin, and crewe, took the signature of duresme after their christian names. three _successive_ bishops, barrington, { } van-mildert, and the present occupant of the see, have taken the signature of dunelm. i think, therefore, j.g.n. is mistaken in saying that the bishops of durham have assumed the french and latin signatures alternately. e.h.a. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. that the good service which the _english historical society_ has rendered to that branch of our national literature, for the promotion of which it was instituted, is clearly recognised, is shown by the fact, that of the small paper copies of the society's publications, many of the earlier volumes are now entirely out of print. of the six volumes of mr. kemble's invaluable _codex diplomaticus_, a work alike honourable to the patriotic zeal of the society and to the profound learning of its editor, the first two volumes are, we believe, no longer to be procured. good texts of our early chronicles, in an acceptable form, have long been wanted. that want, the english historical society is gradually supplying. their last publication is now before us. to mr. benjamin williams, the editor of _la chronique de la traison et mort de richard ii., roy d'angleterre_, the society and the public is now indebted for _henrici quinti anglice regis gesta, cum chronicâ neustriæ gallicè, ab anno mccccxiv. ad mccccxxii._, a volume containing an account of the battle of agincourt, one of those mighty struggles, the result of which changed the face of europe; as well as a detailed narrative of henry's second expedition to the continent, a subject passed over by historians with less attention than it deserves. mr. williams' preface gives a very interesting notice of the mss. which he has employed, and the points which they serve to illustrate, and he has accompanied his text by a number of useful and judicious notes. a gentleman of devonshire is preparing for publication a catalogue of the numerous published works which relate to the history, antiquities, biography, natural history, and local occurrences of that county, and has already sufficient matter to occupy upwards of seventy octavo pages in print, and would be glad to receive notices of any rare books and tracts on those subjects on the shelves of private libraries. a similar work is in contemplation as to existing manuscripts, ancient and modern, relating to the same county; any information respecting which will be highly acceptable, and may be forwarded to mr. william roberts, . high street, exeter. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. edward's botanical register, by lindley. quite complete. marsden's oriental coins. gray's monography of the genus phasmi. pritchard's microscopic cabinet, . webster, a brief history of epidemic and pestilential disease. hartford, . philosophical magazine. the entire series to . hall's library atlas. m'cog's synopsis of the characters of fossils of ireland. r. griffith's notice respecting the fossils of the mountain limestone of ireland, to. donovan's instructions for collecting and preserving. vo. . forster's directons in what manner specimens of all kinds may be collected, vo. london, . odd volumes second vol. of biographia ecclesastica, or the lives of the most eminent fathers of the christian church, who flourished in the first four centuries and part of the fifth, adorned with their effigies, in vols. london, printed for tho. atkinson, at the white swan, in st. paul's church yard. . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen_. notes and queries _may be procured by the trade at noon on friday; so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels_. j.b. _will the correspondent from whom we received the account of the treatise of equivocation, printed in no. ., favour us with the means of addressing a letter to him?_ * * * * * testimonial to dr. conolly.--at a meeting held at . old burlington street, saturday, august d, , the right hon. lord ashley in the chair; the following resolutions among others were unanimously agreed to: that dr. john conolly, of hanwell, is, in the opinion of this meeting, eminently entitled to some public mark of esteem and gratitude, for his long, zealous, disinterested, and most successful labours in ameliorating the treatment of the insane. that a committee be now formed, for the purpose of carrying into effect the foregoing resolution, by making the requisite arrangements for the presentation to dr. conolly of _a public testimonial_, commemorative of his invaluable services in the cause of humanity, and expressive of the just appreciation of those services by his numerous friends and admirers, and by the public generally. the committee subsequently resolved: that in the opinion of the committee, the most appropriate testimonial will be a portrait of dr. conolly (for which he is requested to sit), to be presented to his family, and an engraving of the same, to be presented to the subscribers; and that the ultimate arrangement of this latter point be made at a future meeting of the committee. it has been determined that the individual subscriptions shall be limited to five guineas; that subscribers of two guineas and upwards shall receive a proof impression of the engraving; and subscribers of one guinea, a print. it is also proposed to present dr. conolly with a piece of plate, should the funds permit after defraying the expenses of the painting and engraving. subscribers' names and subscriptions will be received by the secretaries, at . old burlington street, and . burlington gardens, and by the treasurers, at the union bank, regent street branch, argyll place, london. post-office orders should be made payable at the post-office, _piccadilly_, to one of the secretaries. john forbes, richard frankum, _secretaries_. london, august , . * * * * * { } works connected with ecclesiastical history. in vols. royal vo., cloth, price l_l_. _s_. the letters and journals of robert baillie, principal of the university of glasgow, - , and one of the commissioners from scotland to the westminster assembly. edited from the original mss., with memoir, by david laing, esq. (_only a few copies now remain_.) "the letters abound in allusions to the ecclesiastical affairs of the period, and in characteristic sketches of the most prominent leaders of the several parties who were then struggling either for ascendancy or for life."--_eclectic review_. "we give it no small praise when we say there is, perhaps, no book of that period which will in the end better reward the trouble of reading."--_westminster review_. * * * * * in vols. royal vo., cloth, price l. s. d. the presbyterian's armoury, containing the works of george gillespie, rutherford's "lex rex, or the laws and the prince," brown's "apologetical relation," calderwood's "pastor and prelate," &c. "we have already expressed a high opinion of the style in which these works have been got up, and the works themselves are of such a standard character, that they require no encomium from us to recommend them."--_witness_. * * * * * in vols. royal vo., cloth, price _l_. _s_. the works of george gillespie, one of the commissioners to the westminster assembly, with memoir, by the rev. dr. hetherington. "the public are under a lasting debt of gratitude to the publisher for the spirit and enterprise which he showed in projecting a cheap and uniform edition of the works of george gillespie. there are few of the works of our early scottish writers so worthy of being held in remembrance, and the republication of them is peculiarly seasonable."--_the warder_. london: hamilton, adams, & co. edinburgh: robert ogle and oliver and boyd. * * * * * important to curators of public libraries and book collectors. the acts of the general assemblies of the church of scotland. complete from commencement in to , inclusive; vols. folio, full bound new in calf, neat, l. the advertiser would beg respectfully to call special attention to the above most important collection of the acts of the church of scotland, as being the only authentic records of the proceedings of the church, and which must be both interesting and invaluable to the ecclesiastical historian and antiquary. no library, public or private, which lays claim to the possession to any extent of works of an analogous kind, can be said to be complete without a set of the church of scotland acts. the copy now for sale is in very fine condition and quite entire, and has the very rare first volume ( - ) in the original folio size, which is generally supplied by the small octavo reprint, and such a copy the advertiser confidently presumes will not be found for sale in the kingdom. application to be made to robert ogle, bookseller, south bridge, edinburgh. n.b. a liberal price will be given for a _first_ volume of the above work, - , _in folio_. * * * * * second edition, with illustrations, mo., s. cloth. the bell: its origin, history, and uses. by the rev. alfred gatty, vicar of ecclesfield. "a new and revised edition of a very varied, learned, and amusing essay on the subject of bells."--_spectator_. george bell, . fleet-street. * * * * * price d., or s. for copies for distribution amongst cottage tenantry, the cottagers' calendar of garden operations. by joseph paxton, gardener to his grace the duke of devonshire, &c., &c. reprinted from the _gardeners' chronicle_. above , have already been sold. index of the contents: african lilies agapanthus anemones annuals apples apricot auriculas beans beet biennials black fly books, list of, for cottagers borage borecole box edgings broccoli brussels sprouts budding bulbs cabbage cactus calceolarias californian annuals campanulas carnations carrots cauliflowers celery cherries china asters china roses chrysanthemums, chinese chives clarkias clematis collinsias coleworts cress creepers crocus crown imperials cucumbers cultivation of flowers in windows currants dahlias daisies dog's tooth violets exhibitions, preparing articles for ferns, as protection fruit fruit cookery fuchsias gentianella gilias gooseberries grafting grapes green fly heartsease herbs herbaceous perennials heliotrope hollyhocks honeysuckle horse-radish hyacinths hydrangeas hyssop indian cress iris kidney beans lavender layering leeks leptosiphons lettuce lobelias london pride lychnis, double marigold marjoram manures marvel of peru mesembryanthemums mignonette mint mushroom mustard narcissus nemophilas oenothera bifrons onions pæonies parsnip parsley peaches pea-haulm pears peas pelargoniums perennials persian iris petunias phlox pigs pinks planting plums polyanthus potatoes privet pruning propagate by cuttings pyracantha radishes ranunculus raspberries rhubarb rockets roses rue rustic vases sage salvias savoys saxifrage scarlet runner beans seeds sea daisy or thrif seakale select flowers select vegetables and fruit slugs snowdrops soups spinach spruce fir spur pruning stews stocks strawberries summer-savory sweet williams thorn hedges thyme tigridia pavonia transplanting tree lifting tulips turnips vegetable cookery venus's looking-glass verbenas vines virginian stocks wallflowers willows zinnias illustrated with several woodcuts. published at the 'gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette' office, . upper wellington-street, covent-garden, london, at the rate of d. each copy, or s. for for distribution amongst cottage tenantry; delivered anywhere in london. on a post-office order being sent to the publisher, james matthews, at the office, and made payable at the post-office, . strand. london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, august . . notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, september , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- riots in london. satirical poems on william iii. shakspeare's grief and frenzy, by c. forbes. etymological notes. mistakes in gibbon. by rev. j.e.b. mayor. minor notes. history of saracens--hippopotamus--america--pascal's letters--parson's epigram. queries:-- "orkneyinga saga". minor queries:--incumbents of church livings--york buildings company--saying ascribed to montaigne--"modum promissionis"--roman catholic theology--wife of edward the outlaw--conde's "arabs in spain". replies:-- cave's historia literaria, by rev. dr. maitland. sir garamer vans. collar of ss., by dr. rock. joachin, the french ambassador, by s.w. singer. remains of james ii. handfasting. adam of bremen's julin, by dr. bell. replies to minor queries:--bess of hardwick--bishop andrewes--the sun feminine--carpatio--character "&"--walrond family--blackguard--scala coeli--sitting during the lessons--aërostation--pole money--wormwood wine--darvon gatherall--angels' visits--antiquity of smoking--"noli me tangere"--partrige family--city offices--harvey and the circulation of the blood. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes. riots of london. seventy years having passed away since the riots of london, there cannot be many living who remember them, and still fewer who were personally in contact with the tumultuous throng. under such circumstances, i venture to offer for introduction into your useful and entertaining miscellany some incidents connected with that event in which i was either personally an actor or spectator--things not in themselves important, yet which may be to some of your readers acceptable and interesting as records of bygone days. the events of , in themselves so terrific, were well adapted to be written indelibly on the memory of a young, and ardent boy. at any age they would have been engraved as with an iron pen; but their occurrence at the first age of my early boyhood, when no previous event had claimed particular attention, fixed them as a lasting memorial. the awful conflagrations had not taken place when i arrived in london from a large school in one of the midland counties in england, for the midsummer vacation. so many of my school-fellows resided in the metropolis, or in a part of the country requiring a passage through london, that three or four closely-packed post-chaises were necessary; and to accomplish the journey in good time for the youngsters to be met by their friends, the journey was begun as near to four o'clock a.m. as was possible. the chaises, well crowned with boxes, and filled with joyous youth, were received at the castle and falcon, then kept by a mr. dupont, a celebrated wine merchant, and the friend of our estimable tutor. the whole of my schoolmates had been met by their respective friends, and my brother and i alone remained at the inn, when at length my mother arrived in a hackney-coach to fetch us, and from her we learned that the streets were so crowded that she could hardly make her way to us. no time was lost, and we were soon on our way homewards. we passed through newgate street and the old bailey without interruption or delay; but when we came into ludgate hill the case was far different; the street was full and the people noisy, permitting no carriage to pass unless the coachman took off his hat and acknowledged his respect for them and the object for which they had congregated. "hat off, coachee!" was their cry. our coachman would not obey their noisy calls, and there we were fixed. long might we have remained in that unpleasant predicament had not my foreseeing parent sagaciously provided herself with a piece of ribbon of the popular colour, which she used to good effect by making it up into a bow with a long, streamer and pinning it to a white handkerchief, which she courageously flourished out of the window of the hackney-coach. huzzas { } and "go on, coachee!" were shouted from the crowd and with no other obstruction than the full streets presented, we reached beaufort buildings, in the strand, the street in which we resided. there a new scene presented itself, which was very impressive to our young minds. the street was full of soldiers, and the coachman said to my mother, "i cannot go down." a soldier addressed my mother: "no one, ma'am, can go down this street:" to whom my mother replied, "i live here, and am going to my own home." an officer then gave permission for us, and the coachman with our box, to proceed, and we were soon at our own door. the coachman, ignorant of the passport which the handkerchief and ribbon had proved, said, on setting the box down, "you see, ma'am, we got on without my taking off my hat: for who would take off his hat to such a set of fellows? i would rather have sat there all the day long." the assembling of the military in this street was to defend the dwellings of mr. kitchener and mr. heron, both these gentlemen being roman catholics. mr. kitchener (who was the father of dr. kitchener, the author of the _cook's oracle_) was an eminent coal merchant, whose wharf was by the river-side southward, behind beaufort buildings, then called worcester grounds[ ], as the lane leading to it was called worcester lane: but mr. kitchener, or his successor mr. cox, endeavoured to change it by having "beaufort wharf" painted on their wagons. thus the name "worcester grounds" got lost; but the lane which bore the same name got no advantage by the change, for it received the appropriate title of "dirty lane," used only for carts and horses, foot passengers reaching the wharf by the steps at the bottom of fountain court and beaufort buildings. but to return to my narrative. my parents soon removed us out of this scene of public confusion, to the house of a relative residing at st. pancras: and well do i remember the painful interest with which, as soon as it got dark, the whole family of my uncle used to go on the roof of the house and count the number of fires, guessing the place of each. the alarm was so great, though at a distance, that it was always late before the family retired to rest. i remained at st. pancras until the riots had been subdued and peace restored; and now, though very many matters crowd my mind, as report after report then reached us, i will leave them to record only what i personally saw and heard. before the vacation was ended, the trials of the prisoners had proceeded, and i went to a friend's house to see some condemned ones pass to execution. the house from which i had this painful view has been removed; the site is now the road to waterloo bridge. i believe it was because a lad was to be executed that i was allowed to go. the mournful procession passed up st. catherine's street, and from the distance i was, i could only see that the lad in height did not reach above the shoulders of the two men between whom he sat, who, with him, were to be executed in russell street. universal and deep was the sympathy expressed towards the youth from the throng of people, which was considerable. as it was long before the street was sufficiently cleared to allow us to return home, the report came that the execution was over, and that the boy was so light that the executioner jumped on him to break his neck: and such was the effect of previous sympathy, that a feeling of horror was excited at the brutality (as they called it) of the action; but, viewing it calmly, it was wise, and intended kindly to shorten the time of suffering. while thus waiting, i heard an account of this boy's trial. a censure was expressed on the government for hanging one so young, when it was stated that this boy was the only one executed, though so many were guilty, as an example, as the proof of his guilt was unquestionable. a witness against him on the trial said, "i will swear that i have seen that boy actively engaged at several conflagrations." he was rebuked for thus positively speaking by the opposite counsel, when he said, "i am quite sure it is the active boy i have seen so often for i was so impressed with his flagrant conduct that i cut a piece out of his clothes:" and putting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out the piece which he had cut off, which exactly fitted to the boy's jacket. this decided his execution: yet justice was not vindictive, for very few persons were executed. i will trespass yet further on your pages to recite one other incident of the riots that occurred in connexion with the attack on the king's bench prison, and the death of allen, which made a great stir at the time. the incident i refer to happened thus:--at the gate of the prison two sentinels were placed. one of these was a fine-built young man, full six feet high: he had been servant to my father. on the day allen was shot, or a day or two after, he came to my father for protection: my father having a high opinion of his veracity and moral goodness, took him in and sheltered him until quiet was restored. his name was m'phin, or some such name; but as he was always called "mac" by us, i do not remember his name perfectly. he stated that he and his fellow-soldier, while standing as sentries at the prison, were attacked by an uproarious mob, and were assailed with stones and brickbats;--that his companion called loudly to the mob, and said, "i will not fire until i see and mark a man that throws at us, and then he shall die. i don't want to kill the innocent, { } or any one; but he that flings at us shall surely die." young allen threw a brick-bat, and ran off; but mac said, his fellow-soldier had seen it, and marked him. the crowd gave way; off went allen and the soldier after him. young allen ran on, the soldier pursuing him, till he entered his father's premises, who was a cow-keeper, and _there_ the soldier shot him. popular fury turned upon poor mac; and so completely was he thought to be the "murderer" of young allen that l. was offered by the mob for his discovery. but my good father was faithful to honest mac, and he lay secure in one of our upper rooms until the excitement was over. allen's funeral was attended by myriads, and a monument was erected to his memory (which yet remains, i believe) in newington churchyard, speaking lies in the face of the sun. if it were important enough, it deserves erasure as much as the false inscription on london's monument. as soon as the public blood was cool, "mac" surrendered himself, was tried at the old bailey, and acquitted. should it be in the power of any of the readers of your interesting miscellany, by reference to the session papers, to give me the actual name of poor "mac," i shall feel obliged. senex. september . . [footnote : mr. cunningham, vol. i. p. ., gives an interesting quotation from strype respecting worcester house, which gave the name of "worcester grounds" to mr. kitchener's property.] * * * * * satirical poems on william iii. some years since i copied from a ms. vol., compiled before , the following effusions of a jacobite poet, who seems to have been "a good hater" of king william. i have made ineffectual efforts to discover the witty author, or to ascertain if these compositions have ever been printed. my friend, in whose waste-book i found them,--a beneficed clergyman in worcestershire, who has been several years dead,--obtained them from a college friend during the last century. "upon king william's two first campagnes. "'twill puzzle much the author's brains, that is to write your story, to know in which of these campagnes you have acquired most glory: for when you march'd the foe to fight, like heroe, nothing fearing, namur was taken in your sight, and mons within your hearing." "on the observing the th of january, . "cease, hippocrites, to trouble heaven how can ye think to be forgiven the dismall deed you've done? when to the martyr's sacred blood, this very moment, if you could, you'd sacrifice his son." "on king william's return out of flanders. "rejoice, yee fops, yo'r idoll's come agen to pick yo'r pocketts, and to slay yo'r men; give him yo'r millions, and his dutch yo'r lands: don't ring yo'r bells, yee fools, but wring yo'r hands." grendon. * * * * * shakspeare's grief and frenzy. i have looked into many an edition of shakspeare, but i have not found one that traced the connexion that i fancy exists between the lines-- _cassius._ "i did not think you could have been so angry." _brutus._ "o cassius! i am sick of many griefs." or between _brutus._ "no man bears sorrow better.--portia is dead." _cassius._ "how 'scaped i killing when i crossed you so!" _julius cæsar_, act iv. sc. . which will perhaps better suit the object that i have in view. the editors whose notes i have examined probably thought the connexion so self-evident or insignificant as not to require either notice or explanation. if so, i differ from them, and i therefore offer the following remarks for the _amusement_ rather than for the _instruction_ of those who, like myself, are not at all ashamed to confess that they cannot read shakspeare's music "_at sight_." i believe that both _replies_ contain an allusion to the fact that _anger, grafted on sorrow, almost invariably assumes the form of frenzy; that it is in every sense of the word "madness," when the mind is unhinged, and reason, as it were, totters from the effects of grief_. cassius had but just mildly rebuked brutus for making no better use of his philosophy, and now--startled by the sudden sight of his bleeding, mangled heart--"portia is--dead!" pays involuntary homage to the very philosophy he had so rashly underrated by the exclamation-- "how 'scaped i _killing_ when i crossed you so!" i wish, if possible, to support this view of the case by the following passages:-- i. romeo's address to balthasar. "but if thou ... roaring sea." ii. his address to paris. "i beseech thee youth ... away!" _romeo and juliet_, act v. sc. . iii. "the poor father was ready to fall down dead; but he grasped the broken oar which was before him, jumped up, and called in a faltering voice,--'arrigozzo! arrigozzo!' this was but for a moment. receiving no answer, he ran to the top of the rock; looked at all around, ran his eye over all who were safe, one by one, but could not find his son among them. then seeing the count, who had so lately been finding fault { } with his son's name, he roared out,--'dog, are you here?' and, brandishing the broken oar, he rushed forward to strike him on the head. bice uttered a cry, ottorino was quick in warding off the blow; in a minute, lupo, the falconer, and the boatmen, disarmed the frantic man; who, striking his forehead with both hands, gave a spring, and threw himself into the lake. "he was seen fighting with the angry waves, overcoming them with a strength and a courage which desperation alone can give."--_marco viconti_, vol. i. chap. . iv. a passage that has probably already occurred to the mind of the reader, mucklebackit mending the cable in which his son had been lost: "'there is a curse either on me or on this auld black bitch of a boat, that i have hauled up high and dry, and pitched and clouted sae mony years, that she might drown my poor steenie at the end of them, an' be d----d to her!' and he flung his hammer against the boat, as if she had been the intentional cause of his misfortune"--_antiquary_, vol. ii. chap. . cadell, . v. "giton præcipuè, _ex dolore in rabiem efferatus_, tollit clamorem, me, utrâque manu impulsum, præcipitat super lectum."--petron. _arb. sat._ cap. . the classical reader will at once recognise the force of the words "rabiem," "efferatus," "præcipitat," in this passage. the expression "utrâque manu" may not at first sight arrest his attention. it seems always used to express the most intense eagerness; see "ijecit utramque laciniæ manum."--pet. _arb. sat._ . "utrâque manu deorum beneficia tractat."--ib. . "upon which menedemus, incensed at his insolence, answered,--'nothing is more necessary than the preservation of lucullus;' and thrust him back _with both hands_."--plutarch, _life of lucullus_. "women have a sort of natural tendency to cross their husbands: they lay hold _with both hands_ [à deux mains] on all occasions to contradict and oppose them, and the first excuse serves for a plenary justification."--montaigne, _essays_, book . chap. . "marmout, deceived by the seemingly careless winter attitude of the allies, left ciudad rodrigo unprotected within their reach and wellington jumped _with both feet_ upon the devoted fortress of napier," _pen. war_, vol. iv. p. . any apology for the unwarrantable length of this discursive despatch, would, of course, only make matters worse. c. forbes. temple. * * * * * etymological notes. . _gnatch._--"the covetous man dares not gnatch" (hammond's _catechism_). from this, and the examples in halliwell's _dictionary_, the sense seems to be "to move." is it related to "gnake?" . _pert._--i lately met with an instance of the use of this word in the etymological sense _peritus_: "i beant peart at making button-holes," said a needlewoman. . _rococo._--a far-fetched etymology suggests itself. a wealthy noble from the north might express his admiration for the luxuries of paris by the russian word [cyrillic: roskosha], or polish _roskosz_. a frenchman, catching the sound, might apply it to anything extravagant enough to astonish a barbarian. . _cad._--the letters from scotland ascribed to a captain burtt, employed in surveying the forfeited estates, give an account of the "cawdies," or errand boys, of edinburgh. . _fun_, perhaps irish, _fonamhad_, jeering, mockery (lhuyd, _archæologia britannica_). . _bumbailiff._--the french have _pousse-cul_, for the follower or assistant to the sergeant. . epergne, perhaps _épargne_, a save-all or hold-all. here seems no more difficulty in the transfer of the name than in that of chiffonier, from a rag-basket to a piece of ornamental furniture. . _doggrel._--has the word any connexion with _sdrucciolo_? . _derrick._--a spar arranged to form an extempore crane. i think derrick was the name of an executioner. . _mece_, a.-s., a knife. the word is found in the sclavonic and tartar dialects. i thinly i remember some years ago reading in a newspaper of rioters armed with "pea makes." i do not remember any other instance of its use in english. f.q. * * * * * mistakes in gibbon. the following references may be of use to a future editor of gibbon; mr. milman has not, i believe, rectified any of the mistakes pointed out by the authors cited. in the netherlands ... , in less than fifty years were ... sacrificed to the intolerance of popery. (fra paolo, _sarpi conc. trid._ . i. p. . ed. sec. grotius, in his _annal. belq._ . v. pp. g, . duod., including _all_ the persecutions of charles v, makes the number , . the supposed contradiction between these two historians supplied mr. gibbon with an argument by which he satisfied himself that be had completely demolished the whole credibility of eusebius's history. see conclusion of his th book.) [mendham's _life of pius v._, p. . and note; compare p. ., where gibbon's attack on eusebius is discussed.] in forster's _mahometanism unveiled_, several of gibbon's statements are questioned. i have not the book at hand, and did not think the corrections very important when i read it some time { } back. the reader who has it may see pp. . . - . . . . of the second volume. in dr. maitland's _dark ages_, p. . seq. note, a gross blunder is pointed out. see too the _gentlemans magazine_, july, , p. . dr. maitland, in his _facts and documents relating to the ancient albigenses and waldenses_, p. . note, corrects an error respecting the _book of sentences_. "gibbon, speaking of this _book of sentences_, in a note on his th chapter, says, 'of a list of criminals which fills nineteen folio pages, only _fifteen_ men and _four_ women were delivered to the secular arm.' vol. v. p. . i believe he should have said _thirty-two_ men and _eight_ women; and imagine that he was misled by the fact that the index-maker most commonly (but by no means always) states the nature of the sentence passed on each person. from the book, however, it appears that forty persons were so delivered, viz., twenty-nine albigenses, seven waldenses, and four beguins." the following mistake was pointed out by the learned cork correspondent of the _gentleman's magazine_, i think in ; it has misled the writer of the article "anicius", in smith's _dictionary of ancient biography_, and is not corrected by mr. milman (gibbon, chap. xxxi. note and text):-- "during the first five ages, the name of the anicians was unknown. the earliest date in the annals of pighius is that of m. anicius gallus, tr. plebis a.u.c. . another tribune, q. anicius, a.u.c. , is distinguished by the epithet prænestinus." we learn from pliny, _h.n._ xxxiii. ., that q. anicius prænestinus was the colleague as curule ædile of flavius, the famous _scriba_ of appius cæcus, b.c. , a.u.c. . (see fischer, _röm. zeittafeln_, p. - .) pliny's words are-- "[flavius] tantam gratiam plebis adeptus est ... ut ædilis curulis crearetur cum q. anicio prænestino." gibbon's chapter on mahomet seems to be particularly superficial; it is to be hoped that a future editor will correct it by the aid of von hammer's labours. j.e.b. mayor. marlborough college. * * * * * minor notes _"ockley's history of the saracens," and unauthentic works._--at the end of a late edition of washington irving's _life of mahomet_, those "who feel inclined to peruse further details of the life of mahomet, or to pursue the course of saracenic history," are referred to _ockley_. students should be aware of the character of the histories they peruse. and it appears, from a note in hallam's _middle ages_ (vol. ii. p. .), that wakidi, from whom ockley translated his work, was a "mere fabulist," as reiske observes, in his preface to abulfeda. query, would it not be well, if some of your more learned correspondents would communicate to students, through the medium of "notes and queries," a list of such books as are genuine but not authentic; and authentic but not genuine, or altogether spurious? or would point out the sources from which such information can be obtained? p.h.f. _the hippopotamus._--your correspondent l. (vol. ii., p. .) says, "none of the greek writers appear to have seen a live hippopotamus:" and again, "the hippopotamus, being an inhabitant of the upper nile, was imperfectly known to the ancients." herodotus says (ii. .) that this animal was held sacred by the nomos of papremis, but not by the other egyptians. the city of papremis is fixed by bähr in the west of the delta (ad ii. .); and mannert conjectured it to be the same as the later xoïs, lying between the sebennytic and canopic branches, but nearer to the former. sir gardner wilkinson says, several representations of the hippopotamus were found at thebes, one of which he gives (_egyptians_, vol. iii. pl. xv.). herodotus' way of speaking would seem to show that he was describing from his own observation: he used hecatæus, no doubt, but did not blindly copy him. hence, i think, we may infer that herodotus himself saw the hippopotamus, and that this animal was found, in his day, even as far north as the delta: and also, that the species is gradually dying out, as the aurochs is nearly gone, and the dodo quite. the crocodile is no longer found in the delta. e.s. jackson _america._--the probability of a short western passage to india is mentioned in _aristotle de coelo_, ii., near the end. f.q. _pascal's lettres provinciales._--i take the liberty of forwarding to you the following "note," suggested by two curious blunders which fell under my notice some time ago. in mr. stamp's reprint of the rev. c. elliott's _delineation of romanism_ (london, vo. ), i find (p. ., in note) a long paragraph on pascal's _lettres provinciales_:-- "this exquisite production," says the english editor, "_is accompanied, in some editions of it, with the learned and judicious observations of nicole_, who, under the fictitious name of guillaume wendrock, has fully demonstrated the truths of those facts which pascal had advanced without quoting his authorities; and has placed, in a full and striking light, several interesting circumstances which that great man had treated with perhaps too much brevity. _these letters ... were translated into latin by ruchelius_." from mr. stamp's remarks the reader is led to conclude that the _text_ of the _lettres provinciales_ { } is accompanied in some editions by observations of wendrock (nicole), likewise in the french language. now such an assertion merely proves how carelessly some annotators will study the subjects they attempt to elucidate. nicole _translated_ into latin the _provincial letters_; and the masterly disquisitions which he added to the volume were, in their turn, "made french" by mademoiselle de joncoux, and annexed to the editions of , , . as for rachelius, if mr. stamp had taken the trouble to refer to placcius' _theatr. anonym. et pseud._, he night have seen (art. , .) that this worthy was merely a german _editor_, not a translator of pascal cum wendrock. the second blunder i have to notice has been perpetrated by the writer of an otherwise excellent article on pascal in the last number of the _british quarterly review_ (no. . august). he mentions bossuet's edition of the _pensées_, speaks of "_the prelate_," and evidently ascribes to the famous bishop of meaux, _who died in_ , the edition of pascal's _thoughts, published in_ _by bossuet_. (see pp. . .) gustave masson. _porson's epigram._--i made the following note many years ago:-- "the late professor porson's own account of his academic visits to the continent:-- "'i went to frankfort, and got drunk with that most learn'd professor--brunck: i went to worts, and got more drunken, with that more learn'd professor ruhncken.'" but i do not remember where or from whom i got it. is anything known about it, or its authenticity? p.h.f. * * * * * queries. "orkneyinga saga." in the introduction to lord ellesmere's _guide to northern archæology_, p. xi., is mentioned the intended publication by the royal society of northern antiquaries, copenhagen, of a volume of historical antiquities to be called _antiquitates britannicæ et hibernicæ_. in the contents of this volume is noticed the _orkneyinga saga_, a history of the orkney and zetland isles from a.d. to , of which there is only the edition copenhagen, , "chiefly printed," it is said, "from a modern paper manuscript, and by no means from the celebrated codex flateyensis written on parchment in the fourteenth century." this would show that the codex flateyensis was the most valuable manuscript of the work published under the name of the _orkneyinga saga_, of which its editor, jonas jonæus, in his introductory address to the reader, says its author and age are equally unknown: "auctor incertus incerto æque tempore scripsit." the _orkneyinga saga_ concludes with the burning of adam bishop, of caithness, by the mob at thurso while john was earl of orkney, and according to dalrymple's _annals_ in a.d. ; but in the narrative given by the historian torfæus, in his _orcades_, of haco, king of norway's expedition against the western coast of scotland in , which terminated in the defeat of the invaders by the scots at largs, in ayrshire, and the death of king haco on his return back in the palace of the bishop of orkney at kirkwall, reference is made to the codex flateyensis as to the burial of king haco in the city of bergen, in norway, where his remains were finally deposited, after lying some months before the shrine of the patron saint in the cathedral of saint magnus, at kirkwall. there is not a syllable of king haco or his expedition in the _orkneyinga saga_; and as i cannot reconcile this reference of torfæus ( nd edition, , book ii. p. .) with the _saga_, the favour of information is desired from some of your antiquarian correspondents. the codex flateyensis has been ascribed to a pensioner of the king of norway resident in flottay, one of the southern isles of orkney, but with more probability can be attributed to some of the monks of the monastery built on the small island of flatey, lying in breida fiord, a gulf on the west coast of iceland. w.h.f. * * * * * minor queries. _incumbents of church livings in kent._--i have by me the following ms. note:--"a list of b.a.'s graduated at cambridge from to may be found in 'additional mss. british museum, no. , .'" will any of your correspondents inform me if this reference is correct, and if the list can be examined? is there in the british museum or elsewhere a list of incumbents of church livings in kent (with name and birthplace) from to ? branbridges. _york buildings company._--this company existed about the middle of the last century. i shall be glad to be informed where the papers connected with it are to be met with, and may be referred to. wdn. _saying ascribed to montaigne._--the saying, "i have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the thread that ties them," is usually ascribed to montaigne. in what part of his works are these words to be found? i heard doubts expressed of their genuineness some years ago by a reader of the _essays_; and my own search for them has also proved hitherto unsuccessful. c. forbes. { } "_modum promissionis_."--will any of your readers help to interpret the following expression in a mediæval author:-- "(ut vulgò loquitur) modum promissionis ostendit?" i have reason to think that _modum promissionis_ means "a provisional arrangement:" but by whom, and in what common parlance, was this expression used? c.w.b. _roman catholic theology._--is there any work containing a list of roman catholic theological works published in the english language from the year to ? m.y.a.h. _wife of edward the outlaw._--can any of your correspondents inform me who was the wife of edward the outlaw, and consequently mother of margaret of scotland, and ancestress of the kings of england? the account adopted by most historians is that canute, in , sent the two sons of edmund ironside to the king of denmark, whence they were transferred to solomon, king of hungary, who gave his sister to the eldest; and, on his death without issue, married the second edward to agatha, daughter of the emperor henry ii. (or, in some accounts, henry iii., or even, in grafton's _chronicles_, called henry iv.), and sister to his own queen. that edward the outlaw returned to england in , having had five children, of whom three survived: edgar; margaret, who in married king malcolm of scotland, and another daughter. now this account is manifestly incorrect. the emperor henry ii. died childless: when on his death-bed he restored his wife to her parents, declaring that both he and she had kept their vows of chastity. solomon did not ascend the throne of hungary until , in which year he had also married sophia, daughter of the emperor henry iii.; but this monarch (who was born in october, , married his first wife in , who died, leaving one child, in and his second wife in november ) could not be the grandfather of the five children of edward the outlaw, born prior to . the _saxon chronicle_ says, that edward married agatha the emperor's cousin. e.h.y. _conde's "arabs in spain"_.--in professor de vericour's _historical analysis of christian civilisation_, just published, it is stated (p. .) that conde's _arabs in spain_ has been translated into english. i have never met with a translation, and fancy that the professor has made a mistake. can any of your correspondents decide? i know that a year or two ago, messrs. whittaker announced that a translation would form part of their _popular library_; but for some reason (probably insufficient support) it never appeared. query, might not mr. bohn with advantage include this work in his _standard library_? iota. * * * * * replies. cave's historia literaria. i do not know whether the notices respecting cave's _historia literaria_ (vol. ii., pp. . .) hold out any prospect of a new edition. it is much to be desired; and as it may be done at some time or other, you will perhaps allow me to make a note of a circumstance which accidentally came to my knowledge, and should be known to any future editor. it is simply this: in the second volume of the oxford edition of , after the three dissertations, &c., there are fifteen pages, with a fresh pagination of their own, entitled, "notæ mss. et accessiones _anonymi_ ad cavei historiam literariam, codicis margini adscriptæ, in bibliotheca lambethana. manus est plane reverendiss. _thomæ tenison_, cantuariensis archiepiscopi." not to occupy more of your valuable space than is necessary, i will merely observe that the "anonymus" was not archbishop tenison, but henry wharton. there can be no doubt in the mind of any person acquainted with the handwriting of the parties; and to those to whom such a notice is likely to be of any use at all, it is unnecessary to say that the difference is important. i need scarcely add, that if ever a new edition is undertaken, wharton's books and papers, and other things in the lambeth collection of mss., should be examined. s.r. maitland. _cave's historia literaria_ (vol ii., p. .).-- . london, - , vols. folio. this was the first edition. a curious letter from cave to abp. tenison respecting the assistance which h. wharton furnished to this work is printed in chalmers' _biog. dict._, vol. xxxi. p. . . geneva, , folio. . ------, , folio. . ------, , folio. . coloniæ allobrogum, , folio. . oxon. - , vols. folio. dr. waterland rendered important aid in bringing out this edition, which bp. marsh pronounces "the best." it seems from some letters of waterland's to john loveday, esq. (works by van mildert, , vol. vi. p. - .), that chapman, a petty canon of windsor, was the editor. . basil, - , vols. folio. this is said to be an exact reprint from the oxford edition. watt and dr. clarke mention an edition, , vols. folio; but i cannot trace any copy of such edition. john i. dredge. * * * * * { } sir gammer vans. in reply to c.'s inquiry (vol. ii., p. .) as to a comic story about one _sir gammer vans_, i have pleasure in communicating what little information i have on the subject. some years ago, when i was quite a boy, the story was told me by an irish clergyman, since deceased. he spoke of it as an old irish tradition, but did not give his authority for saying so. the story, as he gave it, contained no allusion to an "aunt" or "mother." i do not know whether it will be worthy of publication: but here it is, and you can make what use of it you like:-- "last sunday morning at six o'clock in the evening, as i was sailing over the tops of the mountains in my little boat, i met two men on horseback riding on one mare: so i asked them 'could they tell me whether the little old woman was dead yet, who was hanged last saturday week for drowning herself in a shower of feathers?' they said they could not positively inform me, but if i went to sir gammar vans he could tell me all about it. 'but how am i to know the house?' said i. 'ho, 'tis easy enough,' said they, 'for it's a brick house, built entirely of flints, standing alone by itself in the middle of sixty or seventy others just like it.' 'oh, nothing in the world is easier,' said i. 'nothing _can_ be easier,' said they: so i went on my way. now this sir g. vans was a giant, and bottlemaker. and as all giants, who _are_ bottlemakers, usually pop out of a little thumb bottle from behind the door, so did sir g. vans. 'how d'ye do?' says he. 'very well, thank you,' says i. 'have some breakfast with me?' 'with all my heart,' says i. so he gave me a slice of beer, and a cup of cold veal; and there was a little dog under the table that picked up all the crumbs. 'hang him,' says i. 'no, don't hang him,' says he; 'for he killed a hare yesterday. and if you don't believe me, i'll show you the hare alive in a basket.' so he took me into his garden to show me the curiosities. in one corner there was a fox hatching eagle's eggs; in another there was an iron apple tree, entirely covered with pears and lead; in the third there was the hare which the dog killed yesterday alive in the basket; and in the fourth there were twenty-four _hipper switches_ threshing tobacco, and at the sight of me they threshed so hard that they drove the plug through the wall, and through a little dog that was passing by on the other side. i, hearing the dog howl, jumped over the wall; and turned it as neatly inside out as possible, when it ran away as if it had not an hour to live. then he took me into the park to show me his deer: and i remembered that i had a warrant in my pocket to shoot venison for his majesty's dinner. so i set fire to my bow, poised my arrow, and shot amongst them. i broke seventeen ribs on one side, and twenty-one and a half on the other: but my arrow passed clean through without ever touching it, and the worst was i lost my arrow; however, i found it again in the hollow of a tree. i felt it: it felt clammy. i smelt it; it smelt honey. 'oh, ho!' said i, 'here's a bee's nest,' when out sprung a covey of partridges. i shot at them; some say i killed eighteen, but i am sure i killed thirty-six, besides a dead salmon which was flying over the bridge, of which i made the best apple pie i ever tasted." such is the story: i can answer for its general accuracy. i am quite at sea as to the meaning and orthography of "hipper switches,"--having heard, not seen, the story. s.g. corpus christi college, cambridge. * * * * * the collar of ss. (vol. ii., pp. . . .) the collar of ss. "is to this day a mystery to the most learned and indefatigable antiquaries," according to mr. planché, in his valuable little work on _the history of british costume_: what has appeared in "notes and queries" certainly has not cleared away the obscurity. armiger tells us (vol. ii., p. .): "as to the derivation of the name of the collar from _soverayne_; from st. simplicius; from the martyrs of soissons (viz. st. crespin and st. crespinian, upon whose anniversary the battle of agincourt was fought); from the countess of salisbury; from the word _souvenez_; and, lastly, from seneschallus or steward, (which latter is mr. nichols' notion)--they may be regarded as mere monkish (?) or heraldic gossip." if the monastic writers had spoken anything on the matter, a doubt never would have existed: but none of them has even hinted at it. never having seen the articles in the _gentleman's magazine_, i do not know mr. nichols' reasons for supposing "seneschallus or steward" could have furnished an origin of the ss.; but i am at loss to think of any grounds upon which such a guess could rest. from the searches i have made upon this question, it seems to me that these ss. are taken as a short way of expressing the "sanctus, sanctus, sanctus" of the salisbury liturgy and ritual. i hope soon to be able to lay before the public the documents out of which i draw this opinion, in a note to the third and forthcoming volume of _the church of our fathers_. d. rock. _collar of ss._--to your list of persons _now_ privileged to wear these collars, i beg to add her majesty's serjeant trumpeter, thomas lister parker, esq., to whom a silver collar of ss. has been granted. it is always worn by him or his deputy on state occasions. thomas lewis, acting serjeant trumpeter. . mount street. * * * * * joachin, the french ambassador. (vol. ii., p. .) your correspondent amicus will i fear find very little information about this mysterious person in the writers of french history of the time. { } he is thus mentioned in cavendish's _life of wolsey_ (ed. , vol. i. p. .):-- "the french king lying in his camp, sent secretly into england a privy person, a very witty man, to entreat of a peace between him and the king our sovereign lord, whose name was john joachin; he was kept as secret as might be, that no man had intelligence of his repair; for he was no frenchman, but an italian born, a man before of no estimation in france, or known to be in favour with his master, but to be a merchant; and for his subtle wit, elected to entreat of such affairs as the king had commanded him by embassy. this joachin, after his arrival here in england, was secretly conveyed unto the king's manor of richmond, and there remained until whitsuntide; at which time the cardinal resorted thither, and kept there the said feast very solemnly. in which season my lord caused this joachin divers times to dine with him, whose talk and behaviour seemed to be witty, sober, and wondrous discreet." my note on this passage says:-- "the name of this person was giovanni joacchino passano, a genoese; he was afterwards called seigneur de vaux. the emperor, it appears, was informed of his being in england, and for what purpose. the cardinal stated that joacchino came over as a merchant; and that as soon as he discovered himself to be sent by the lady regent of france, he made de præt (the emperor's ambassador) privy thereto, and likewise of the answer given to her proposals. the air of mystery which attached to this mission naturally created suspicion; and, after a few months, de præt, in his letters to the emperor, and to margaret, governess of the netherlands, expressed his surmise that all was not right, alleging his reasons. his letters were intercepted by the cardinal, and read before the council. charles and margaret complained of the insult, and the cardinal explained as well as he could: at the same time protesting against the misinterpretation of de præt, and assuring them that nothing could be further from his wish than that any disunion should arise between the king his master and the emperor; and notwithstanding the suspicious aspect of this transaction, his dispatches, both before and after this fracas, strongly corroborate his assertions. wolsey suspected that the pope was inclined toward the cause of francis, and reminded him of his obligations to henry and charles. the pope had already taken the alarm, and had made terms with the french king, but had industriously concealed it from wolsey, and at length urged in his excuse that he had no alternative. joacchino was again in england upon a different mission, and was an eye-witness of the melancholy condition of the cardinal when his fortunes were reversed. he sympathised with him, and interested himself for him with francis and the queen dowager, as appears by his letters published in _legrand, histoire du divorce de henry viii_." i think it is from this interesting book, which throws much light upon many of the intricate passages of the history of the times, that i derived my information. it is in all respects a work worth consulting. s.w. singer. remains of james ii. (vol. ii., p. .). the following passage is transcribed from a communication relative to the scotch college at paris, made by the rev. h. longueville jones to the _collectanea topographica et genealogica_, , vol. vii. p. .:-- "the king left his brains to this college; and, it used to be said, other parts, but this is more doubtful, to the irish and english colleges at paris. his heart was bequeathed to the dames de st. marie at chaillot, and his entrails were buried at st. germain-en-laye, where a handsome monument has been erected to his memory by order of george iv.; but the body itself was interred in the monastery of english benedictine monks that once existed in the rue du faubourg st. jacques, close to the val de grace. in this latter house, previous to the revolution, the following simple inscription marked where the monarch's body lay:-- "'ci gist jacques ii. roi de la grande bretagne.'" a monument to the king still exists in the chapel of the scotch college (which is now leased to a private school), and the inscription, in latin, written by james, duke of perth, is printed in the same volume of _collectanea_, p. ., followed by all the other inscriptions to james's adherents now remaining in that chapel. in a subsequent communication respecting the irish college at paris, made by the same gentleman, and printed in the same volume, at p. . are these remarks:-- "it is not uninteresting to add, that the body of james ii. was brought to this college after the destruction of the english benedictine monastery adjoining the val de grace; and remained for some years in a temporary tomb in one of the lecture halls, then used as the chapel. it was afterwards removed; by whose authority, and to what place, is not exactly known: but it is considered not improbable that it was transported to the church of st. germain-en-laye, and there buried under the monument erected by george iv. some additional light will probably be thrown on this subject, in a work on the stuarts now in course of compilation." has this work since appeared? j.g.n. _interment of james ii._--i remember reading in the french papers, in the year or , a long account of the then recent exhumation and re-interment in another spot of the remains of james ii. i was but a boy at the time, and neglected to make a "note", which might now be valuable to you. i have not the least doubt, however, that the fact will be discovered on reference to a file of the _etoile_, or any other of the paris papers of one or other of the years above named. there is a marble monument erected in memory of james, in the chapel of the old scotch college, in the rue des fossés saint victor. an urn of bronze, gilt, containing the king's brains, formerly { } stood on the crown of this monument. the urn was smashed and the contents scattered over the ground, during the french revolution. a much more important loss to posterity was incurred by the destruction of the manuscripts entrusted by james to the keeping of the brotherhood he loved. the trust is alluded to with mingled pride and affection in the noble and touching inscription on the royal monument. j.d. earl's court, kensington. * * * * * handfasting. (vol. ii., p. .) your correspondent j.m.g. has brought forward a curious subject, and one well deserving attention and illustration. a fair is said to have been held at the meeting of the black and white esks, at the foot of eskdalemuir, in dumfriesshire, when the singular custom of _handfasting_ was observed. the old statistical account of the parish says: "at that fair it was the custom for unmarried persons of both sexes to choose a companion according to their liking, whom they were to live with till _that time next year_. this was called _handfasting_, or hand-in-fist. if they were pleased with each other at that time, then they continued together for life; if not, they separated, and were free to make another choice as at the first." john maxwell, esq., of broomholm, in a letter (dated april th, ) to the rev. wm. brown, d.d., of eskdalemuir, says, in reference to this custom: "no account can be given of the period at which the custom of _handfasting_ commenced; but i was told by an old man, john murray, who died at the farm of irvine (as you go from langholm to canobie), and had formerly been a proprietor in eskdaldemuir, that he was acquainted with, or at least had seen an old man, i think his name was beattie, who was grandson to a couple who had been handfasted. you perhaps know that _the children born under the handfasting engagement were reckoned lawful children, and not bastards_, though the parents did afterwards resile. this custom of handfasting does not seem to have been peculiar to your parish. mention is made in some histories of scotland that robert ii. was _handfasted_ to elizabeth more before he married euphemia ross, daughter of hugh, earl of that name, by both of whom he had children; his eldest son john, by elizabeth more, viz., king robert iii., commonly called jock ferngyear, succeeded to the throne in preference to the sons of euphemia, his married wife. indeed, after euphemia's death, he married his former handfasted wife elizabeth." sir j. chardin observes that contracts for temporary wives are frequent in the east, which contracts are made before the cadi with the formality of a measure of corn, mentioned over and above the stipulated sum of money. baron du tott's account of "marriages by capin," corroborated by eastern travellers, corresponds with the custom of _handfasting_. he says: "there is another kind of marriage which, stipulating the return to be made, fixes likewise the time when the divorce is to take place. this contract is called _capin_: and, properly speaking, is only an agreement between the parties to live together _for such a price, during such a time_." this contract is a regular form of marriage, and is so regarded generally in the east. the jews seem to have had a similar custom, which perhaps they borrowed from the neighbouring nations; at least the connexion formed by the prophet hosea (chap. iii. .) bears a strong resemblance to _handfasting_ and _capin_. jarltzberg. * * * * * adam of bremen's julin. in reply to v. from belgravia (vol. ii., p. .), i am partially at a loss to know the exact bearing of his query. adam of bremen's account of julin is no _legend_, nor does he mention it at all as a _doomed city_. on the contrary, his description is that of a flourishing emporium of commerce, for which purpose he selects very strong superlatives, as in the following account (_de situ damæ_, lib. ii. cap. ii.): "ultra leuticos qui alio nomine welzi dicuntur oddera flumen occurrit; amnis dilectissimus slavonicæ regionis. in cujus ostro, qui scythicas alludet paludes, nobilissima civitas julinum celeberrimam barbaris et græcis qui in circuitu præstet stationem. de cujus præconio quia magna et vix credibilia recitantur, volupe arbitror pauca inserere digna relata. est sane maxime omnium quas europa claudit civitatum, quam incolunt slavi cum aliis gentibus græcis et barbaris. nam et advenæ saxones parem cohabitandi legem acceperunt, si tamen christianitatis titulum ibi morantes non publicaverint. omnes enim adhuc paganicis ritibus aberrant, ceterum moribus et hospitalitate nulla gens honestior aut benignior poterit inveniri. urbs illa mercibus omnium septentrionalium nationum locuples nihil non habet jucundi et rari." as adam is supposed to have been a native and a priest at magdeburg, whence he was translated by archbishop adalbert to a benefice in the cathedral of bremen, he must, from his comparative proximity to the spot, be supposed a competent witness; and there is not reason to suppose why he should not have been also a creditable one. he died about , and the _legends_, if any, concerning this famous place, here described as the most extensive in europe, must have been subsequently framed. for about one hundred years later ( ) we have from helmold, the parish priest of bösan, a small village on the eastern confines of holstein, a repetition of adam's words, for a place which he calls { } "veneta," but always in the past tense as, "quondam fuit nobilissima civitas," etc.; so that it is plain from that and his expression "excidium civitatis;" as well as, "hanc civitatem opulentissimam quidam danorum rex, maxima classe stipatus, fundetus evertisse refertur." the great question is, where was this great city? and, are the _julin_ of adam and the _veneta_ of helmold identical? both questions have given rise to endless discussions amongst german archæologists. the published maps, as late at least as the end of the last century, had a note at a place in the baltic, opposite to the small town of demmin, in pomerania:--"hic veneta emporium olim celeberr. æquar. æstu absorpt." many, perhaps the majority, of recent writers contend for the town of wallin, which gives its name to one of the islands by which the stettin haff is formed,--though the slight verbal conformity seems to be their principal ground; for no _rudera_, no vestiges of ancient grandeur now mark the spot, not even a tradition of former greatness: whilst veneta, which can only be taken to mean the _civitas_ of the veneti, a nation placed by tacitus on this part of the coast, has a long unbroken chain of oral evidence in its favour, as close to rugen; and, if authentic records are to be credited, ships have been wrecked in the last century on ancient moles or bulwarks, which then rose nearly to the surface from the submerged ruins. but the subject is much too comprehensive for the compressed notices of your miscellany. i hope to have shortly an opportunity of treating the subject at large in reference to the schiringsheal which othere described to king alfred, about two hundred years earlier. an edition of adam and helmold is very desirable in england, even in a translations as a part of bohn's _antiquarian series_. william bell, ph. d. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _bess of hardwick_ (vol. i., p. .).--the following particulars in answer to this query will, i hope, elicit some further information from other quarters. i have, in my answer, attempted to be as brief as possible. john, the fifth recorded hardwick, of hardwick, left issue, by elizabeth leake, six children: of whom james (or john) was thrice married, and died _sine prole_, and dorothy died an infant: the four remaining daughters became coheiresses. of these mary hardwick married (his first wife) richard wingfield, of wantisden, seventh son of sir anthony wingfield, of letheringham, co. suffolk, k.g. his will was proved in london th august, . their eldest son _henry_ was of crowfield, co. suffolk. his great-grandson, _harbottle wingfield_, of crowfield, was living , and his descendants, if any, may quarter hardwick. their second son, _anthony wingfield_, was the well-known greek reader to queen elizabeth; and their third son, _sir john wingfield_, married susan bertie, countess dowager of kent, and left _peregrin wingfield_, of whom nothing is recorded. jane hardwick, next daughter, married godfrey bosvile of gunthwaite and beighton, co. ebor. his will is dated nd july, . their eldest child, _francis bosvile_, left only daughter, grace bosvile, who died young. his three sisters became coheirs, but the estate of gunthwaite went to an uncle, ancestor of the present godfrey bosvile, lord macdonald. of these sisters, _frances bosvile_ married john savile; _dorothy bosvile_, john lacy; and _elizabeth bosvile_, john copley: either they had no children, or these died young. _mary bosvile_, the second daughter and coheir, married richard burdett, of derby, living . their son, _george burdett_, had by his first wife a son, whose issue failed; and by his second wife two daughters, eventually coheirs. of these. _mary burdett_ married, first, richard pilkington, and second, sir t. beaumont, of whitby: and _another sister_ married--ramsden. no issue of either are recorded. the third sister, _elizabeth burdett_, married, at hoyland, th feb., , the rev. daniel clark, a.m., and died th aug., , at fenney-compton. their great-grandson and sole male representative was the late _joseph clark_ of northampton, whose descendants also quarter hardwick. elizabeth hardwick, the next daughter, was the celebrated countess of shrewsbury. her _representatives_ are all noble, and their pedigrees may be found in the peerages. they are-- . _the duke of devonshire_, representing wm. cavendish, first earl. certain descendants of sir charles cavendish, of welbeck abbey, or rather of his grandson, henry, second duke of newcastle, namely, . the _duke of portland_, representing margaret pelham, the duke's eldest coheir; . the _marquis of salisbury_ from catherine, and second coheir; . the _earl de la warr_; and . the _earl of aboyne_, are the coheirs of sir charles cope, baronet, of orton; who represented arabella, countess of sunderland, third coheir. these five all quarter hardwick. alice hardwick, next daughter, married francis hercy, according to some pedigrees. no issue recorded. there are therefore descendants certainly known of only two of the children of john hardwick. possibly some of your correspondents can supply those of wingfield and hercy. the crest and arms of the hardwicks may be found in edmondson. they only quartered pynchbeke. i am not aware of any motto. { } miss costello, and other biographers of the countess of shrewsbury, have quite overlooked all the descendants of her sisters. possibly, should these lines meet the eye of the duke of devonshire, who possesses the estates and papers of the hardwicks, it may lead to more particulars concerning the family being made public. ermine. torquay. _quotations in bishop andrewes_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "minutuli et patellares dei." is from plautus: "di me omnes magni minutique et patellarii." _cistell._ ii. . . and "sed quæ de septem totum circumspicit orbem collibus, imperii roma deumque locus." is from ovid (_trist_. i. . .). j.e.b mayor. marlborough college. _the sun feminine in english_ (vol. ii., p. ).--mr. cox may perhaps be pleased to learn _why_ the northern nations made the sun feminine. the ancient germans and saxons-- "when they discovered how the sun by his heat and influence excited venereal love in creatures subserviant to his dominion, they then varied his sex, and painted him like a woman, because in them that passion is most impotent, and yet impetuous; on her head they placed a myrtle crown or garland to denote her dominion, and that love should be alwaies verdant as the myrtle; in one hand she supported the world, and in the other three golden apples, to represent that the world and its wealth are both sustained by love. the three golden apples signified the threefold beauty of the sun, exemplified in the morning, meridian, and evening; on her breast was lodged a burning torch, to insinuate to us the violence of the flame of love which scorches humane hearts."--_philipot's brief and historical discourse of the original and growth of heraldry_, pp. , . london, . t.h. kersley king william's college, isle of man. _carpatio_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your querist must be little versed in early italian art, not to know that vittore carpaccio (such is the correct spelling) was one of the morning stars of the venetian school; and his search must have been somewhat careless, as carpaccio and his works are fully described in kugler's _handbook_, p. ., and in lanzi. some exquisite figures of his, of which mrs. jameson has given a st. stephen in her _legendary art_, exist in the brera at milan. he is a painter not sufficiently known in england, but one whom it may be hoped the arundel society will introduce by their engravings. i cannot assist j.g.n. in explaining the subject of his engraving. may _cornubioe_ be by error for _cordubioe_? clericus. _the character_ "&".--this character your correspondent will at once see is only the latin word "et", written in a flourishing form; as we find it repeated in the abbreviation "&c.," for "et cetera". its adoption as a contraction for the english word "and", arose, no doubt, from the facility of its formation; and the name it acquired was "and-per se-and", "and by itself and," which is easily susceptible of the corruptions noticed by mr. lower. [greek: phi]. _walrond family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--burke, in his _history of the commoners_, only gives the name of george, _one_ of the sons of colonel humphry walrond. he also states that the colonel married _elizabeth_, daughter of nathaniel napier, esq., of more critchel. now colonel walrond appears from his petition (royalist comp. papers, state paper office) dated th february, , addressed to the commissioners for compounding with delinquents, to have had _nine_ other children then living. he states: "thus his eldest sonne george walrond did absente himselfe for a short time from his father's house, and went into the king's army, where he unfortunately lost his right arme. that he having no estate at present, and but little in expectancy after his father's death, _he having ten_ children, and all _nine_ to be provided for out of y'e petitioner's small estate." in a similar petition, dated about two years later, from "_grace_, the wife of humphry walrond, of sea, in the county of somerset, esquire," she states "herself to be weake woman, and _having_ ten children (whereof many are infants) to maintain." that he was married to this _grace_, and _not to elizabeth_ (as stated by burke), as early as , is clear from a licence to alienate certain lands at ilminster, ch. i. (_pat. rolls_.) that they were both living in is proved by a petition in the state paper office (read in council, ap. , . trade papers, verginia, no. i. a.):--"to the king's most excellent ma'tie and the rt. hon'ble the lords of his maj. most hon'ble privy councel," from "grace, the wife of humphry walrond, esq." in this petition she states that her husband had been very severely prosecuted by lord willoughby, whose sub-governor he had been in barbadoes. "he had contracted many debts by reason of his loyalty and suffering in the late troubles, to the loss of at least thirty thousand pounds." "that his loyalty and sufferings are notoriously known, both in this kingdom and the barbadoes, where he was banished for proclaiming your ma'tie after the murder of your royal father." colonel walrond is mentioned by clarendon, rushworth, whitelock, &c.; but of the date of his death, the maiden name of his wife, and the christian names of all his ten children, i can find no account. the arms s.s.s. inquires about on the monument { } of humphry walrond, esq., in ilminster church, are those of the family of brokehampton. humphry walrond (who died ) married elizabeth, daughter and coheir of john brokehampton., of sea, and so obtained that estate. w. downing bruce. middle temple. _blackguard_ (vol. ii., p. .).--an early instance of the use of this word occurs in a letter from richard topcliffe (aug. , ), printed in lodge's _illustrations_, vol. ii. p. . i quote from mr. jardine's _criminal trials_, vol. ii. p. .: "his house, euston, far unmeet for her highness, but fitter for the _black guard_." it also occurs in fuller's _church history_ (book ix. cent. xvi. sect. vii. § . vol. v. p. . ed. brewer):--"for who can otherwise conceive but such a prince-principal of darkness must be proportionably attended with a _black guard_ of monstrous opinions?" j.e.b. mayor. _scala coeli_ (vol. i., pp. . . .).--maundrell mentions, "at the coming out of pilate's house, a descent, where was anciently the _scala sancta_." (_journey from aleppo to jerusalem_, p. .) this holy or heavenly stair was that by which the redeemer was led down, by order of pilate, according to the legend, and afterwards was, among other relics, carried to rome. it is now in the church of st. john lateran, whither it is said to have been brought by st. helena from jerusalem. pope alexander vl., and his successor julius, granted to the chapel of st. mary built by king henry vii., in westminster abbey-- "easdem indulgencias et peccatorum remissiones ... quas celebrantes pro defunctis in capellâ _scala coeli_ nuncupatâ in ecclesiâ trium fontium extra muros urbis cisterciensis ordinis ... consequuntur." this indulgence of pope julius was dated in the year ; and its intention of drawing thither pilgrims and offerings was fully realised, we may believe: for in the year we find the brotherhood of st. mary of rouncevall by charing cross paying:-- "to the keper of scala celi in the abby ... vjd." (see rymer's _foedera_, tom. v. pt. iv.; and dugdale's _monasticon_, vol. i. p. .) mackenzie walcott, m.a. oxon. _sitting during the lessons_ (vol. ii., p. .).--with respect to l.'s query respecting sitting during the lessons, i can venture no remarks; but the custom of standing during the reading of the gospel is very ancient. in the mass of st. chrysostom the priest exclaims, "stand up, let us hear the holy gospel." (goar, _rituale græcorum_, p. .) the same custom appears in the latin liturgy of st. basil:--"cumque interpres evangelii dicit 'state cum timore dei' convertitur sacerdos ad occidentem," etc. (_renaudot_, vol. i. p. . vide also "liturgy of st. mark," _ren_. vol. i. p. .) the edition of renaudot's _liturgies_ is the reprint in . n.e.r. (a subscriber). _sitting during the lessons._--there is no doubt, i believe, that in former times the people stood when the minister read the lessons, to show their reverence. it is recorded in nehemiah, viii. .: "and ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people), and when he opened it all the people _stood_ up." why this practice should have been altered, or why our rubric should be silent on this head, does not appear quite clear, though i find in wheatley (_on the book of common prayer_, chap. vi. sec. vi.) that which seems to me to be a very sufficient reason, if not for the sitting during the lessons, certainly for the standing during the reading of the gospel, and sitting during the epistle:-- "in st. augustine's time the people always stood when the lessons were read, to show their reverence to god's holy word: but afterwards, when this was thought too great a burden, they were allowed to sit down at the lessons, and were only obliged to _stand_ at the reading of the gospel; which always contains something that our lord did speak, or suffered in his own person. by which gesture they showed they had a greater respect to the son of god himself than they had to any other inspired person, though speaking the word of god, and by god's authority." walter montague _aërostation, works on_ (vol. ii., p. .).--to the numerous list of works on aërostation which will no doubt be communicated to you in answer to the inquiry of c.b.m., i beg to add the following small contribution:-- "saggio aereonautico di giuseppe donini tifernate," vo. pp. . with four large folding plates. firenze . signor donini also published in (in citta di castello per il donati) the following pamphlet:-- "circolare areonautico (sic) guiseppe dolini d città di castello a tutti i dotti, e ricchi nazionali, stranieri. vo." pp. . oxford. j.m. _aërostation._--your correspondent c.b.m. (vol. ii., p. .) will find some curious matter of _aërostation_ in poor colonel maceroni's _autobiography_, vols. vo. w.c. _pole money_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the "pole money" alluded to in the extracts given by t.n.i., was doubtless the poll tax, which was revived in the reign of charles ii. every one { } knows that at an earlier period of our history it gave rise to wat tyler's insurrection. the tax was reimposed several times during the reign of william iii. and it appears from a statement of the lords in a conference which took place with the commons on the subject in the first of william's reign, that the tax, previously to that time, was last imposed in the th of charles ii. c. ross. _wormwood wine_ (vol. ii., p. .).--if, as mr. singer supposes, "eisell was absynthites, or wormwood wine, a nauseously bitter medicament then much in use," pepys' friends must have had a very singular taste, for he records, on the th november, ,-- "creed and shepley, and i, to the rhonish wine house, and there i did give them two quarts of wormwood wine." perhaps the beverage was doctored for the english market, and rendered more palatable than it had been in the days of stuckius. braybrooke. _darvon gatherall_ (vol. ii., p. .).--dervel gadarn (vulgarly miscalled darvel gatheren) was son or grandson of hywel or hoel, son to emyr of britany. he was the founder of llan-dervel church, in merioneth, and lived early in the sixth century. the destruction of his image is mentioned in the _letters on the suppression of monasteries_, nos. . and . some account of it also exists in lord herbert's _henry viii._, which i cannot refer to. i was not aware his name had ever undergone such gross and barbarous corruption as _darvon gatherall_. a.n. _darvon gatherall_ (vol. ii., p. .), or _darvel gatheren_, is spoken of in sir h. ellis's _original letters_, series iii., letter . hall's _chronicle_, p. . ed. . j.e.b. mayor. _darvon gatherall._--i send you an extract from southey's _common-place book_, which refers to darvon gatherall. southey had copied it from wordworth's _ecclesiastical biography_, where it is given as quotation from michael wodde, who wrote in . he says:-- "who could, twenty years agone, say the lord's prayer in english?... if we were sick of the pestilence, we ran to st. rooke: if of the ague, to st. pernel, or master john shorne. if men were in prison, they prayed to st. leonard. if the welshman would have a purse, he prayed to _darvel gathorne_. if a wife were weary of a husband, she offered oats at poules; at london, to st. uncumber." can any of your readers inform me who st. uncumber was? pwcca. [poules is st. paul's. the passage from michael wodde is quoted in ellis' _brand_, vol. i. p. . edit. .] _angels' visits_ (vol. i., p. .).--wiccamecus will find in norris's _miscellanies_, in a poem "to the memory of my dear neece, m.c." (stanza x. p. . ed. ), the following lines:-- "no wonder such a noble mind her way to heaven so soon could find: angels, as 'tis but seldom they appear, so neither do they make long stay; they do but visit, and away." mr. montgomery (_christian poet_) long ago compared this passage with those cited by wiccamecus. j.e.b. mayor. _antiquity of smoking_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--on that interesting subject, "the antiquity of smoking," i beg to contribute the following "note," which i made some years ego, but unfortunately without a reference to the author:-- "some fern was evidently in use among the ancients: for athenæus, in his first book, quotes from the greek poet, crobylus, these words:-- [greek: 'kai ton larung haedista purio temachiois kaminos, ouk anthropos.'] 'and i will sweetly burn my throat with cuttings: a chimney, not a man!' "now as, in a preceding line, the smoker boasts of his 'idæan fingers,' it is plain that every man rolled up his sharoot for himself." h.g. _antiquity of smoking_ (vol. ii., p. .).--_herod_. lib. i. sec. . is referred to for some illustration, i suppose, of smoking through tubes. _herodotus_ supplies nothing: perhaps _herodian_ may be meant, though not very likely. herb smoking was probably in use in europe long before tobacco. but direct authority seems sadly wanting. sandvicensis. "_noli me tangere_" (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--in a new testament published by the portusian bible society is a small ill-executed print, called "christ appearing to mary," copied from a picture by c. ciguani. wedsecnarf. _partrige family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. partrige's reference to strype's _ecclesiastical memorials_ is quite unintelligible to those who have not access to the oxford _reprint_ of that work. the reprint (i wish that in all other reprints a similar course was adopted) gives the paging of the original folio edition. i submit, therefore, that mr. partrige should have stated that the note he has made is from strype's _ecclesiastical memorials_, vol. ii. p. . the grant to which mr. partrige refers is, i dare say, on the patent roll, edw. vi., which may be inspected at the public record office, rolls chapel, on payment of a fee of s., with liberty to take a copy or extract in pencil gratuitously or a plain copy may be obtained at the rate of d. a folio. the act of mary, for the restitution in blood of the heirs of sir miles partrige, if not given in the { } large edition of the statutes, printed by the record commissioners, may no doubt be seen at the parliament office, near the house of lords, on payment of the fee of s. i believe i am correct in saying that no debates of that session are extant; but the proceedings on the various bills may probably be traced in the journals of the two houses of parliament, which are printed and deposited in most of our great public libraries. c.h. cooper. cambridge, sept. , _city offices._--the best account of the different public offices of the city of london, with their duties, etc., that i know of, your correspondent a citizen (vol. ii., p. .) will find in the _reports of the municipal corporation commissioners_. w.c. _harvey and the circulation of the blood_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the claim set up on behalf of father paul to the honour of harvey's discovery, which is noticed by your correspondent w.w.b., is satisfactorily disposed of in the life of harvey in the _biographia britannica_, iv. ., note c. harvey gave a copy of his treatise _de motu cordis_ to the venetian ambassador in england. on his return home the ambassador lent the book to father paul, who made some extracts from it. after father paul's death, he was thought to be the author of these extracts and hence the story which your correspondent quotes. it might occasionally be convenient if your correspondents could make _a little_ inquiry before they send off their letters to you. beruchino. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. all who love the shady side of pall mall, and agree with dr. johnson that the tide of human enjoyment flows higher at charing cross than in any other part of the globe, will gladly welcome mr. jesse's recently published volumes entitled _london and its celebrities_. they are pleasant, gossiping and suggestive, and as the reader turns over page after page of the historical recollections and personal anecdotes which are associated with the various localities described by mr. jesse, he will doubtless be well content to trust the accuracy of a guide whom he finds so fluent and so intelligent, and approve rather than lament the absence of those references to original authorities which are looked for in graver histories. the work is written after the style of saint foix' _rues de paris_, which walpole once intended to imitate; and is executed with a tact which will no doubt render it very acceptable to those for whom it has been written, namely those persons whose avocations of business or pleasure lead them to traverse the thoroughfares of the great metropolis; and to whom it points out in a manner which we have correctly designated gossiping, pleasant, and suggestive, "such sites and edifices as have been rendered classical by the romantic or literary associations of past times." messrs. williams and norgate have forwarded to us a catalog of an extensive collection of books, the property of a distinguished physician, which are to be sold by auction in berlin on the st of october. the library, which was forty years in forming, is remarkable for containing, besides numerous rare works in spanish, italian, french, and english literature, a curious series of works connected with the american aborigines; and a most extensive collection of works on the subjects of prison discipline, poor laws, and those other great social questions which are now exciting such universal attention. we have received the following catalogues: j. miller's ( . chandos street, trafalgar square) catalogue no. , for of books old and new, including a large number of scarce and curious works on ireland, its antiquities, topography, and history; w. heath's ( - / . lincoln's inn fields) catalogue no. . for of valuable second-hand books in all departments of literature. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase translation of the french letters in the appendix to fox's history of james ii. to. hutton's (w.) roman wall, vo. ---- barbers, a poem. vo. (genuine edition, not the facsimile copy.) ---- edgar and elprida, vo. odd volumes. beyan's dictionary of painters and engravers, to. london, . vol. i. sully's memoirs, eight volumes in french. london, . vol. ii les aventures de gil blas. london, . vols. i and ii. letters, stating particulars and lowest prices, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. dell, publisher of "notes and queries," fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _volume the first of notes and queries, with title-page and very copius index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen._ _the monthly part for september, being the fourth of vol. ii, is also now ready, price s._ _notes and queries may be procured by the trade at noon on friday: so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels._ _s.g. (c.c. coll., camb.), who writes respecting the history of edward ii., is refered to our first volume, pp. . . ._ a student of history. _the oxford chronological tables published by talboys, and now to be had of bohn, henrietta street, covent garden, at the reduced price of one guinea, is, we believe, the best work of the kind referred to by our correspondent._ s.s. _the query respecting pope's lines_,--"welcome the coming, speed the parting guest," _has been answered. see_ no. . p. . * * * * * { } archaeological institute of great britain and ireland. . suffolk street, pall mall, sept. , . at an ordinary meeting of the central committee of the archæological institute, the president in the chair, it was unanimously "resolved--that the committee, having taken into consideration the resolution of the british archæological association, passed at their congress at manchester, and also that of their council of the th of september, and communicated by the president of the association to the president of the institute, are of opinion that the position and prospects of the institute are such as to render inexpedient any essential modifications of it's existing rules and managements. "the committee disclaim all unfriendly feeling towards the association: they are of opinion that the field of archæology is sufficiently wide for the operations of several societies without discord; but if the members of the archæological association should be disposed to unite with the institute, the central committee will cordially receive them on the terms announced in their advertisement of september th, which was intended to be conciliatory, feeling assured that such a course cannot fail to meet with the entire approbation of the members of the institute." by order of the central committee, h. bowyer lane, _secretary_. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxiv., will be published on wednesday, october nd. contents: i. ticknor's history of spanish literature. ii. church and education in wales. iii. forms of salutation. iv. siluria and california. v. more on the literature of greece. vi. metropolitan water supply. vii. anecdotes of the provisional government. viii. cochrane's young italy. ix. last days of louis philippe. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * will be published on the st of november, , with the other almanacks, the literary and scientific register and almanack for . price s. d. dedicated by especial permission to h.r.h. prince albert, by j.w.g. gutch, m.r.c.s l., f.l.s.; containing a condensed mass of scientific and useful information alike valuable to the student and man of science. tenth yearly issue. published by d. bogue, fleet street, london. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for october will contain the following articles:-- the antiquities of richborough, reculver, and lymne (with engravings)--original letters of miss jane porter and count suwarrow--facts for a new biographia britannica--origin of newspapers in germany--memoir of vauvanargues--coronation stone at kingston-upon-thames (with an engraving)--the burkes not concerned in junius--works of the van liugs in painted glass--dr. chalmers at glasgow--great literary piracy in the prayer-book of the ecclesiastical history society--the new one-hundred-and-fifty-three-volume catalogue of the british museum. with notes of the month, literary and antiquarian intelligence, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of louis philippe, viscount newark, rt. hon. c. arbuthnot, dr. prout dr. bromet, john roby, esq., john brumell, esq., &c., &c. price s. d. nichols and son, . parliament-street. * * * * * now ready, vo., s., an examination of the century question: to which is added, a letter to the author of "outlines of astronomy," respecting a certain peculiarity of the gregorian system of bissextile compensation. "judicio perpende: et si tibi vera videntur, dede manus." lucret. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * lately published, vo., price s. synopsis of the doctrine of baptism, regeneration, conversion, &c. from the fathers and other writers, to the end of the fourth century by j.a. wickham, esq. with a preface, by the rev. h.d. wickham, m.a., late of exeter college, oxford. "without saying that such an elaborate collection is necessary, we may remark on its great utility, and express our hope that mr. wickham's labours will be appreciated by the public. it is curious that he should have begun, sixteen years ago, a compilation whose publication is so very appropriate to the present moment."--_guardian_. "as an editor mr. wickham has shown much good taste, patience, and discernment. further, he has written a very sensible introductory chapter on the use and authority of the fathers".--_church and state gazette_. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * on the st of october, no. i., price s. d. details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples, by j.k. colling, architect. the work is intended to illustrate those features which have not been given in messrs. brandon's "analysis:" it will be uniform with that work, and also the "gothic ornaments". each number will contain five to. plates, and be continued monthly. d. bogue, fleet street: sold also by g. bell, fleet street. * * * * * preparing for publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances", "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore, and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * edited by w.f. hook, d.d.--now ready, third and cheaper edition, price s. cloth, s. d. morocco, verses for holy seasons. by c.f.h., author of "the baron's little daughters," "moral songs and hymns for little children." "an unpretending and highly useful book, suggestive of right thoughts at the right season."--_english journal of education_. r. slocombe, leeds; george bell, london. * * * * * just published, s. each plain; s. tinted. parts . and . of reliques of ancient english architecture, from drawings by john johnson architect, f.s.a. lithographed by alfred newman. contents:-- hedon church, yorkshire; desborough, northamptonshire; molton, lincolnshire; bingham, notts; billingborough, lincolnshire; st. john devizes, wiltshire; aumsby, lincolnshire; terrington st. clements, norfolk. to be completed in twenty parts. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark straw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell,, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, september . . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * volume second. may--december, . index to the second volume. { } a. a.(a.) on solemnization of matrimony, . admiration, a note of, . adur, origin of, . . Æneas, silvius, . aërostation, works on, . . . . . . . aerostation, squib on lunardi, . "a frog he would," &c., . . a.(f.r.) on dr. maginn, . ---- on the darby ram, . ---- on "epistolm obscururum virorum," . ---- on parse, . ---- on hockey, . ---- on the turkish spy, . "after" (the word) in the rubric, . . agapemone, the, . . agincourt, sir hilary charged at, . . ague, cure for, . ---- spiders, a cure for . albemarle (duke and earl of) . . ale draper, meaning of, . . alfred's orosius, . allusion in friar brackley's sermon, . anderson (w.) on the meaning of hanger, ----, on hatchment and atchievement, . andrews (alexander) on strange remedies, . andrewes (bishop) works, annotated copies of, . ----, quotations in his tortura torti, . . . apricot, peach and nectarine, etymology of, . apuleius' golden ass, translation of, . arabic numerals, . . . . . . "arabs in spain" conde's, . armorials, . articles on bishops and their precedence, . ---- on "bloody hanels," at stoke d'abernon, surrey, . ---- on catacombs and bone-houses, . ---- on caxton's printing office, . . ---- on hiring of servants, . ---- on north sides of churchards unconsecrated, . ---- on omnibuses, . ---- on parish registers tax, . ---- on passage from shaksepare, . ---- on strangers in the house of commons, . asher (jr.) on english comedians in germany, . ashes to ashes, . athelstone's form of donation, . aubrey family, . augustine on epigram on a statue of a french king, . auroræ, farquharson's observations on, . authors and books, no. ., . automachia, or the self-conflict of a christian, . avidius varus, . "away, let nought to love displeasing," . a.(w.) on the rolliad, . a.(x.y.) folklore, . b. b. on book of homilies, . ---- on collar of ss., . ---- on derivation of "yoto" or "yeot," . bacon family, origin of the name, . . . ----, to save one's . bacon's advancement of learning, . ---- (lord) palaces and garden, . badger's legs, . b.(a.e.) on derivation of news, . ---- on "antiquitas culi juventus mundi," . ---- on latin epigram, "laus tua", . ---- on the meaning of version, . ---- on the disputed passage from the tempest, . ---- on news and noise, . bailie nicol jarvie, . . baker's dozen, . baker's mss., extracts from, . baker (sir richard), legend of, . . baldoc (de) on sir christopher sibthorp, . ballad, "henry and the nut-brown maid," . ballads, yorkshire, . baliolensis on p. mathicen's life of sejanus, . ---- on rib, why the first woman formed from, . bamboozle, . baptismal superstition, . baptized turk, . barbarian, etymology of, . barclay's argenis, , . bardoph and pistol, . barker's (christopher) device, . bastille, ms. records of, . { } bathurst (c.w.) on pope's villa, . battle of death, . "bawn," meaning of, . . . baxter's (richard) descendants, . . bay leaves at funerals, . bayley (w.) on griffith of penrhyn, . b.(b.h.) on preaching in nave only. ---- prayers and preaching distinct services, . ---- on separation of the sexes in time of divine service, . b.(c.), allusion in friar brackley's sermon, . ---- on antiquity of smoking, . ---- on a passage in gibbon, . ---- on a poem by sir e. dyer, . ---- on ashes to ashes, . ---- on bands, . ---- on construe and translate, . ---- on the derivation of news and noise, . ---- on dryden's "absalom and achitophel," . ---- on dulcarnon, . ---- on fizgigs, . ---- on fools rush in, . ---- on gaol chaplains, . ---- on gray's ode, . ---- on hoppesteris, . ---- on julin the drowned city, . ---- on latin line, . ----, memoirs of an american lady, . ---- on origin of adur, . ---- on pope and bishop burgess, . ---- on porson's imposition, . ---- on rome, ancient and modern, . ---- on shipster, . ---- on wormwood, . b.(c.h.) on parsou, the stafordshire giant, . b.(c.w.) on "modum promissionis," . . bdn. (j.) on puzzling epitaph, . bealby (h.m.) on richard baxter's descendants, . beard (john r.) on socinian boast, . beaton (cardinal), portrait of, , . beatrix, (lady talbot), . beckford, (alderman), . becket (andrew), his works, , . becket's mother, . . . . b.(e.d.) on armorials, . ---- on "she ne'er with treacherous kiss," . be (j.) on standing during the reading of the gospel, . ---- on the curfew, . ---- on westminster abbey, . bees, . bega (c.), painting by, . bell (judas), judas candle, . bell, one, . . bells in chruches, . bell (william), ph.d., on adam of bremen's julin, . . ---- on alfred's orosius, . ---- on darvon gatherall. . ---- on gospel of distaff's, l. ---- on john o groat's house, . ---- on josias ibach stada, . ---- on an old guy, . beloe, child's book by, . bemerton church and george herbert, . benedicite, . berafrynde and passilodion, . b.(e.r.c.), query on author of french verses, . berkeley (bishop), adventures of gaudentio di lucca, . ---- successful experiments, . bernardus patricius, . beruchino on harvey and the circulation of the blood, . ---- on "never did cardinal bring good to england," . bess of hardwick, . bever's (dr. thomas) legal polity of great britain, . b.(f.t.j.) on inscription from roma subterranea, . ---- on translations of owen's epigram, . b.(f.h.) on national debt, . b.g.h. on pistol and bardolph, . b.(g.l.) on whistling wife, . ---- on custom of selling wives, . b.(g.m.) on mrs. partington, . b.(h.a.) on death of richard ii., . ---- on derivation of orchard, . bible and key, . bibliographical queries, . . . . . "bigger the ring the nearer the wet," . bilderdijk, the poet, . . ----, wife of, . billingsgate, . bingham (c.w.) on christopher barker's device, . ---- on wat the hare, . births, marriages, &c., taxes on, . birth, ten children at a, . bishops and their precedence, . . . . . b.(j.c.) on judas bell, judas candle, . ---- on scotch prisoners at worcester, . b.(j.m.) on "antiquitas saeculi juventus mundi," . ---- on charming of warts, . ---- on concolinel, . ---- on countess of desmond, . ---- on a deck of cards, . ---- on "her brow was fair." . . ---- on laugue pandras, . ---- on miching mallecho, . ---- on mooney's goose, . ---- on osmund the waterman, . ---- on querela cantabrigiensis, the authorship of, . . ---- on snake charming, . ---- on st. uncumber, . ---- on tobacco in the east, . ---- on touchstone's dial, . ---- on "barum" and "sarum," . b.(j.) on discursus modestus, . ---- on elizabeth and isabel, . ---- on ciric-ceat or church-scot, . ---- on poeta anglicus, . ---- on smoke money, ---- on the lass of richmond hill, . ---- treastise on equivocation, , . b.(j.s.) books wanted for reference, . black broth coffee. . black doll at old store shops, . blackguard, , . . . . blackhal (father), . brackley on story of three men and their bag of money. . black rood of scotland, . . blackwall docks, . blew-beer, . bloody baker (sir richard, so surnamed), legend of, . "bloody hands" at stoke d'abernon, surrey, . bliss (james) on annotated copies of bishop andrewes' works, . ---- on cardinal allen's admonition, . ---- on discursus modesius, . ---- on quotations in bishop andrewes' tortura torti, . blue boar inn. holborn, . b.(n.a.) on ben jonson or ben johnson, . ---- charm for warts, . b.(n.) on couplet in de foe, . ---- on family of love, . ---- on india rubber, . ---- on juice cups, . ---- on "rapido contrarius orbi," . ---- on vineyards, . boethius's consolations of philosophy, . . bohemian persecution, . bohn's edition of milton's works, . boiling to death, . bolton's ace, . . bone-houses and catacombs, . bonny dundee, graham of claverhouse, . books, an ancient catalogue of, . ----, licensing of, , . ----, mildew in, , . books of reference, suggestions for cheap, . books wanted for reference, . bookbinding, . booksellers' catalogues, . bouzy grass, derivation of, . borri's chiave del gabinetto, . borrowed thoughts, . ----, more, . . . boswell, by croker, . bowring's (dr.) translations, . boy or girl? . boys, a note for little, . boyes (j.f.) on badger's legs, . ---- on the grand style, . b.(p.) on disourses of national excellences of england, . ---- on "travailes of two english pilgrimes," . brackley's (friar) allusion in his sermon, . bradshaw family, . branbridges on incumbents of church livings in kent, . brandeson (max) on scandinavian priesthood, . brandon the juggler, . brasichellen and serpitius "expurgatory index," . . brass statues of hubert le soeur, . braybrooke (lord) on authors of the rolliad, . ---- on earl of oxford's patent, . ---- on pension, . ---- on queen elizabeth and sir henry nevill, . ---- on title of albermarle, . on the three dukes, . ---- on the earl of norwich and his son george, lord goring, . ---- on wormwood wine, . breaking judas' bones, . breton's (nich.) fantastiques, . . . brigham's (nicholas) works, . britton (j.) on carter's drawings of york cathedral--medal of stukeley, . b.(r.) on one bell, . broom, hanging out the, . ---- on sir william skipwyth, . brozier, . bruce (w. downing) on the walrond family, , . brummel's (beau) ancestry, . brulifer (stephanus), . b.(r.w.) on clerical costume, . bt. (j.) on imprest and debenture, . b.(t.m.) on the plant haemony, . ---- was quaries pensioned? . bt. (j.) on somagla, . buc (sir george), . . buchanan, epigrams from, , . buckden, . bull, a blunder, its origin, . ----, epigram on the late, . bunyan, did he know hobbes? . ----, portrait of, . burial service, . burial towards the west, . buriensis, on collar of ss., . ---- on meaning of sauenap, . ---- on mock beggar's hall, . ---- on roman roads, . burke, passage from, , . burning dead bodies, . burning, death by, . burning to death, or burning of the hill, , . burning, punishment of death by, . . burnet as a historian, . burion's parliamentary diary, . butcher's blue dress, , . butler (bishop), passage in, . { } b.(w.h.) on richard baxter's descendants . ---- on gloucestershire gospel tree. . b.(u.j.) on confession, b.(w.w.) on harvey's claim to the discovery of the circulation of the blood, . byron's birthplace, . by the bye, . c. c. on alarum, . ---- on "a frong he would a wooing go," . ---- on borrowed thought, ---- on cacouac, cacoucquirie, . ---- on collar of ss. . ---- on countess of desmond, . ---- on dies irae, . ---- on dr. johnson and dr. warton, . ---- on earl of oxford's patent, . ---- on "hill paved with good intentions," . ---- on holland land, . ---- on "incidis in seyllam," &c., . ---- on lady slingsby, . ---- on lord john townshend's poetical works, . ---- on martinet, . ---- on members for durham, . ---- on mrs. tempest, ---- on notaries public, . ---- on curfew on oxfordshire, ---- on parson's imposition, ---- on quarles pension, . ---- on shakspeare's will, . ---- on sheridans's last residence, . ---- on sir gammer vans, . . ---- on sir thomas moore, . ---- on sir william grant, . ---- on swords worn in public, . ---- on the derivation of trianon, . ---- on the meaning of steyne, . ---- on the origan of adur, . ---- on three dukes, ---- on tobacconists, . ---- on water-markings in writing paper, . ---- when does easter end? . c.(a.) on cold harbour. . ---- on derivation of boozy gras, . ---- on eikon basilike, . ---- on hats won by females, . ---- on mayor of misrule and masters of the pastimes, . ---- on wood carving on snow hill, . cabalistic author, . . cacouac, cacouacquerie, . . cadency, marks of, . . cailly (chevalier de), . calais on members for, . . calendar of sundays in greek and romish churches, . . california, . . calvin and servetus, . camb. (aug.) on cold harbour, . camden's poem on marriage of the thames and isis, . camels in gaul, . campkin (henry) on mercenary preacher, . ---- on sympathetic cures, . "can du plera meleor cera," . cannibals, . canons of , their translation, . canterbury, church of st. saviour, . ---- pilgrims' road to . . . "captious," shakspeare's use of, . caputure of henry vi., . captives, christian, . . . cardinal's hat, . cardinal.--never did cardinal bring good to england, . . . . cards, a deck of, . carkasse's (james) lucida intervalla, . carpatio, or carpaccio (vittore), . . capenter (william) on dr. maginn's miscellanies, . carpenter's maggot, . . carpets, when introduced? . carter's drawings of york cathedral, . carucate of land. . . castlecomer (viscount), . . cat and bagpipes, . . cats of kilkenny, . catacombs and bonehouses, . catalogue of books, ancient, . cato on pretended reprint of ancient poetry, . catti (twai sion), his pardon, . cauking, meaning of, cave's historia literaria, . . . cavell, meaning of, . . caxton's printing office, . . . . . cayley (g.j.) on "gradeley." . c.(b.h.), charade, . c.(b.n.) on noh me tangere, . c.(d.) on calendar of sundays in greek and romish churches, . ---- on eustache deschamps, c.(e.), divination by bible and key, . ---- on unicorn in the roayl arms, . cephas on burning dead bodies, . ---- on pope ganginell, . c.(g.f.) on curfew at bromyard, herefordshire, . ch., blue boar inn, holborn, . ---- on book of homilies, . ---- on church rates, ---- on college salting, . ---- on derivation of alarm, . ---- on derivation of news, noise, and parliament, ---- on dr. dee, . ---- on "epistoleie obscurorum virorum," . ---- on "feast" and "fast," . ---- on george gooring, earl of norwich, and his son george lord goring, . ---- an infant prodigy in , . ---- on jews under the commonwealth, . ---- on lilburn or prynne, . ---- on lord richard christophilus, . ---- on presence of strangers in the house of commons, . . ---- on spelling of "sanatory" and "connection," . ---- on the three dukes, . ---- turkish spy, . ---- on unpublished epigrams in the british museum, . ---- on vincent gookin, . c.(h.) on leicester and the reputed poisoners of his time. ---- on ransom of an english nobleman, . ---- on sirloin, chalices, stone . chalmers (cardinal), chaberlaine (sir oliver), . chancellor's oath, chantrey's sleeping children, in lichfield cathedral, . . chaplains, goal, . capman (george), the poet, mistakes about . chappell, on dancing the bride to bed, . character &, its names. . "characteristics," on the authorship, . charade, . . . . charles i., execution of, . . . . . ----, execution of and earl of stair, . ----, portraits of, in churches, . carles xii., medal struck by, charlton (e.) on codex flateyensis, . ---- on kongs-skugg-sio, . ----, m.d., on devotional tracts belonging to queen katherine parr, . charming, . chaucer's damascene, ---- monument, . ---- portrait by occleve, , . c.(h.b.) on dutch language, . ---- tace latin for a candle, . c.(h.b.) on rowley towley, . ---- on ulrich von hutten, . ---- on umbrellas, . cheshire cat, . . chethamensis on "heigh ho! says rowley," . ---- on sir r. haigh's letter-book, . c.(h.h.) on long loukin, . chimeny money, . . . . . c.h.k.s. on leicester and reputed poisoners of his time, . ---- on capture of henry vi., . "choise of change," samuel rowland's claim to the authorship of, . christabel, . christian captives, . christianity, early influence of, . christie (w.d.) on the author of the "characteristics," . christmas carol, christophilus (lord richard), . . chrysostom (a.), to moothe the band in, . church history society, plan suggested by dr. maitland, . . . church-rates, . church-scot, or curie-secat, . churchyards--epitaphs, . . churchyards, north sides of, . . . . . . c.(j.b.) on assassination of mountfort, in norfolk stree, strand, . ---- on land holland, . ---- on joachim, the french ambassador, . cinderalla, or the glass slipper, . . cinis on the burial service, . circulation of the blood, . . ciric-sceat, or church-scot, . city offices, . . citizen (a.), on city offices, . c.(j.y.) on legend of a saint, . cy.(j.) on bolton's acc, . c.(j.h.) on egg-cups used by the romans, . ---- on lachryniatorics, . c.(j.r.) on arms of godin, . c.(j.s.) on "london bridge is broken down." . clarendon, oxford edition of, . clarke (j.) on hopkins, the witch-finder, . "clarum et venerabile nomen," its authorship, claude, engravings after, . cleaver (dr.). bishop of cork, . . clergy sold for slaves, . . clerical costume, . . clericus on carpatin, . ---- on martin, cockerell, and hopkins families, . ---- rusticus on meaning of harissers, . codex flateyensis, , . coffee, black broth, . coffins, the use of, . cohn (albert) on parallel passages, . ---- on shakspeare and the old english actors in germany, coins of constantius ii., . ----, weight for weighing, , . cokam, . cold harbour, . . cole (hobert) on london parish registers, . ---- on mrs. partington, . coleride extract from, . coleridge's aids to reflection, notes on, . ---- job's luck, . collier (j. payne) on a passage in the tempest, . collar of ss, . . . . . . . . . . . . . college salting, notes on, . colman (j.b.) on the wise men of gotham, . colvil's whigg's supplication, . combs buried with the dead, . . . comedians, english, in germany, . . { } comma on the disputed passage in "the tempest", . commons, house of, on the presence of strangers in, . . . compass, mariner's, . comptou (lady), letter to her husband, . . computing interest, mode of, . concolinel, . . . conde's "arabs in spain," . convocation, prolocutor of, . cook on aboriginal chambers near tilbury, . cooper (c.h.) on the arminian nunnery in huntingdonshire, . ---- boethius' consolations of philosophy, . ---- on lady compton's letter to her husband, . ---- on licensing of books, . ---- on mrs. partington, . ---- on pukeney's ballad of the honest jury, . ---- on scotch prisoners at worcester, . ---- on sir george downling, . ---- on "sir hilary charged at agincourt", . ---- on sir john perrot, . ---- on the sicilian vespers, . ---- on three dukes, . ---- on the story of three men and their bag of money, . cooper (wm. durvant) on martello towers, . ---- on similarity of traditions, . cope (w.h.) on hatfield, . coptic language, . corney, on eustache deichamps, . ---- on gray's elegy, . ---- on gray and dodsley, . ---- on lady norton, . ---- on tobacco in the east, . ---- on trianon, . ---- on umbrellas, . ---- on wood-paper, . cornish language, mss. of, . coronet, . corser (rev. thomas) on sir george buc, . cosin's (bishop) mss., . ----, conference, . cosmopolite on tristan d'acunba, . cotton (h.) on dr. e. cleaver, bishop of cork, . ---- of finchloy, . ----, portrait of, . countermarks on haman coin, . couplet in de foe, . courtenay (sir philip), his genealogy, . . cox (thos.), on gaol chaplains, . . ---- on m. and n., . cradocks (the), . ---- (judge), . . cramp, . cravensis (clericus) on capture of henry vi., . ---- on st. thomas of lancaster's accomplices, . "crede quod habes," &c., . crocodile, . cromwell poisoned, . . cromwell's estates--magor, . . cropp (john) on caxton's printing office, . crosby (jas.), on custom of presenting gloves, . crossley (jas.), on guadentio di lucca, . crows, . crow and the frog of ennow, . crozier and pastoral staff, . . . . cuckoos, . culprit, origin of the word, . cunliffe (henry) on stukeley's stonehenge, . cunningham (peter) on chantrey's sleeping children, . cupid and psyche crying, . curfew, . . . . . curiae (amicus), on dodsley's poems, . curiosity hunter, on early sale of coins, drawings, and curiosities, . custom of presenting gloves, . ---- of wearing the breast uncovered in elizabeth's reign, . cuthbert (st.), his remains, . c.(w.h.) on william of wykeham, . c.(w.m.) on passage from tennyson, . c.(w.r.) on dominicals, . ---- on fossil elk of ireland, . cypher, inventor of a secret, . d. d. on ale draper, . ---- on cure for fits, . ---- on portrait of sir john poley, . ---- on production of fire by friction, . ---- on suffolk folk lore, . damascene, chaucer's, . damasked linen, . dancing the bride to bed, . dandridge the painter, . daniel's irish new testament, . darcy lever church, . darby hare, . "dat veniam corris", . d.(b.) on origin of fig sundat, . d.d., the title of, . d.(e.) on "shunamitis poems", . dead, combs buried with the, . ----, on the change of the, . death-bed mystery, . . death-bed superstitions, . debenture and imprest, . . . dee, dr., . defender of the faith, its ancient use, . . de foe, couplet in, . . "delighted," meaning of, as used by shakspeare, . . . . . . . deloraine (lady), the delia of pope's line, . "de male quaestis," &c., . de morgan (a.) on engelmann's bibliotheca classicorum, . derby, municipal collar of the corporation, . deschamps, eustache, . . devonshire, local rhymes and proverbs of, . dewerstone, . de wilde (g.j.) on "her brow was fair", . ---- on wife of poet bilderdijk, . d.(h.w.) on r. ferrer, . d.(j.a.) on martin family, . --- on vineyards, . "dialogus super libertate ecclesiastics," its authorship, . dies irae, dies illa, &c., author of, . . . dillon (garrett), m.d., on the roscommon peerage, . dion x., on value of money in reign of charles ii., . division of intellectual labour, . d.(j.b.) on charles martel, . ---- on marescautia, . d.(j.l.) on criziers and pastoral staves, . ---- did elizabeth visit bacon at twickersham? . ---- on chaucer's portrait, by occlere, . d.(m.) on tobacco, its arabic name, . d.(o.), on select essays of montaigne, . doctrine of the immaculate conception, . . dodd's church history, . dousa (janus) on bilderdijk the poet, . ---- on paying through the nose, . { } ---- on scott's waverley, . ---- on speech given to man to conceal his thoughts, . ---- on straw necklaces, . ---- on "under the rose", . dragons, their origin, . dredge (john j.) on the authorship of "deus justificatus", . ---- on the authorship of "whetstone of reproof," . ---- on cardinal beafon, . ---- on cave's historia literaria, . ---- on the family of ferrar, . ---- on "quercla cantabrigiensis," . ---- on sirloin, . drinking to excess, . "drink up eisell," in hamlet, meaning of, . droving, . dryden, . dryden's absalom and achitophel, . . ---- "essay on satire", . d.(s.) on old st. pancras church, . d.(t.) on cheshire cat, . dukes, three, killed by a beadle, . . . . . didcarium, . . dun cow, . dundee (bonny), graham of chaverhouse, . dun him, its origin, . durdent (bp.) and staffordshire, . e. e. on artephius, the criminal philosopher, . ---- on bishops and their precedence, . earwig, . edward the confessor's crucifix and gold chain, . ---- iv., descent of, . ---- ii., adamson's reign of, . ---- the outlaw, wife of, . . edwards (o.), inscription on a portrait, . ---- (h.) on when does easter end? . e.(f.) on marks of cadency, . ---- on north side of churchyards, . ---- on osnaburg bishopric, . ---- on swords worn in public, . egg-cups used by the romans, . egyptian mss., . e.(h.) on weights for weighing coins, . ---- on adamson's reign of edward ii., . e.(h.a.) on thomas volusenos, . e.(h.t.) on judge cradoak, . ---- on one bell, . elliott (r.w.) on crozier and pastoral staff, . emancipation of the jews, . ermine, the bess of hardwick, . erskine (the hon. a.), . ----. cardinal, . etymological notes, . ---- queries, . . ---- queries answered, . expurgatory index, . f. f. on the meaning of steyne, . fabulous account of the lion, . fairfax's tasso, . . . . falkner (g.) on vineyards, . family of love, . . . . f.(b.) on fabulous account of the lion, . felix (pope), . feltham's works, queries respecting, . . fenzie street, . filthy gingram, . fire by friction, production of, . fils, cure for, . f.(j.) on the use of the french word "sarez", . ---- on umbrellas, . florentine pandects, . . f.(m.e.) on boy or girl, . folk lore, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fool, or a physician, . . "fools rush in," . forbes (c.) on christabel, . --- high spirits considered a presage of impending calamity or death, . ---- on macaulay's country squire, . ---- on shakspeare's grief and frenzy, . ---- to give a man horns, . foss (edward) on imprest, . ---- on maps of london, . { } foss (edward) on _a_ or _the_ temple, in chaucer, . ---- on the new temple, . fossil elk of ireland, . fox (j.r.) alumni of oxford, cambridge, and winchester, . ---- on cold harbour, . ---- george herbert's burial-place, . ---- on the ogden family, . ---- (mr.), story of, . f.(p.a.) on black rood of scotland, . f.(p.h.) on dozen of bread-baker's dozen, . ---- on "is anything but," &c., . ---- on meleteticks, . ---- on ockley's history of the saracens, and unauthenticated works, . ---- on "pair of twises", . ---- on porson's epigram, . ---- on "pride of the morning," . ---- on "then" for "than," . france, prelates of, . franc'scus on etymology of the word "parliament," . francis on first earl of roscommon, . frankfort, the troubles of, . franz von sickingen, . . freight, its etymology, . french king, epigram on statue, . ---- verses, . friday (long), . frog and crow of ennow, . . "frog he would a-wooing go," . . . f.r.s.l. and e. on will robertson, of murton, . frozen horn, . funeral superstition, . f.(w.h.) on "orkneyinga saga," . ---- on orkney under the norwegians, . ---- on swift's works, . g. g. on bishops and their precedence, . ---- on george lord goring, . ---- on morganatic marriages, . ---- on worm of lambton, . ---- on sir gregory norton, bart., . g. on the poley frog, . g.(a.) on bells in churches, . ---- on miniature gibbet, . ---- on ringing a handbell before a corpse, . ---- on vavasour of haslewood, . gabalis (compte de), . gandophares, coins of, . ganganelli (pope), . gaol chaplains, . gatherall (darvon), . . gatty (alfred) on bands, . ---- on brozier, . ---- charade, . ---- on execution of charles i., . ---- on north sides of churchyards unconsecrated, . ---- on "please the pigs," . ---- on punishment of death by burning, . ---- on sir thomas herbert's memoirs, . ---- on the use of coffins, . gaudentio di lucca, its authorship, . . . . gaul, camels in, . g.(c.) on bishops and their precedence, . g.(e.c.) on bradshaw family, . ---- on hipperswitches, . "ge ho," meaning of, . gems, drawings, and curiosities, catalogue of an early sales of, . gendarme, le bon, . genealogical queries, . geometrical foot, . geometricus on euclid and aristotle, . geometry in lancashire, cultivation of, . . . "george" worn by charles i., . g.(g.f.) on kite, french "cerf-volant," . g.(h.) on antiquity of smoking, . g.(h.t.) on etymology of "whitsuntide" and "mass," . ghost, laying a, . gibbet, miniature, . gibbon, passage in, . ---- mistakes in, . gibbon's decline and fall, corruption of the text, . gibson (w. sydney) on defender of the faith, . gilbert on riots of london, . ---- on a murderer hanged when pardoned, . giles (f.a.) on mss. of cornish language, . ---- on egyptian mss., . ---- on lord kingsborough's antiquities of mexico, . g.(j.) on nicholas assheton's journal, . g.(j.m.) on george herbert, . ---- on handfasting, . ---- on meaning of pension, . ---- on "noli me tangere," . ---- on a note of admiration (!), . ---- on taking a wife on trial, . gloucestershire gospel tree, . gloves, custom of presenting, . ----, why not worn before royalty, . . g.(m.h.) on the kömogs-stuhl at rhenze, . god save the queen, . godin, the arms of, . godiva (lady), . gold in california, . golden frog and sir john poley, . goodwin (j.) on papers of perjury, . goodwin (j.) on the red hand--the holt family, . gookin (vincent), . goring (george), earl of norwich, and his son george lord goring, . . gospel of distaff's, . gospel oak tree in gloucestershire, . ---- at kentish town, . gospel standing during the reading of, . gospel tree, . . . . gotham, the wise men of, . . g.(r.), asinorum sepultura, . ---- bibliographical queries, . . . . ---- on burial towards the west, . ---- on dies irae, dies illa, . ---- ercius dedolatus, . ---- holdsworth and fuller, . ---- men but children of a larger growth, . ---- on michael servetus _alias_ reves, . ---- on porta anglicus, . ---- gradely, meaning of, . . . graham of claverhouse, bonny dundee, . . grand style, . grant (laird of), . grant (sir wm), . . graves (james) on english and norman songs of the fourteenth century, . gravesend boats, . gray, . gray (passage in), . gray's elegy, its first appearance, . . . . ---- and dodsley poems, . . ---- in portuguese, . gray's ode, . greek particles illustrated by the eastern languages, . greene family, pedigree of, . ---- (richard), on the agapemone, . grendon on satirical poems on william iii., . griffin on gospel tree, . griffin on irish bull, . ---- on welsh money, . ---- on yote or yeot, . griffith of penrhyn, . guest (augustus) on presages of death, . guildhalls, . guineas, . . guy, an old, . guy's armour, . guy's porridge pot, . . g.(w.a.) on "a frog he would a wooing go," . ---- on vineyards, . g.(w.s.) on the black rood of scotland, . ---- on translation of the philobiblon, . gwynn's london and westminster, . . h. h. on blew beer, . ---- cure for warts, . ---- on the first mole in cornwall, . ---- on yorkshire ballads, . h.(a.) on thomas rogers of horninger, . haberdasher, its etymology, . . harmony, the plant, . . . . haigh's (sir r.) letter-book, . h.(a.j.) on guineas, . ---- on north sides of churchyards unconsecrated, . halliwell (j.o.) on ben jonson, . ---- on meaning of the word "delighted," . hamlet (passage in), . hammack (james t.) on city sanitary laws, . ---- on osnaburgh bishopric, . ---- on stepony ale, . ---- on mrs. tempest, . hammond (a.w.) on andrew becket, . hanap, . hanging out the broom, . hard by, . hardwick family, . harefinder, meaning of, . . harissers, meaning of, . harvey's claim to the discovery of the circulation of the blood, . . hastings (emmote do), . hatchment and atchievement, . hatfield, consecration of chapel there, . hats worn by females, . havock, . . h.(a.w.) on meaning of gradely, . ---- on time when herodotus wrote, . hawker (r.s.) on burial towards the west, . ---- on combs buried with the dead, . ---- on north side of churchyards, . hawkins (edw.) on chantrey's sleeping children, . ---- on medal of stukeley, . h.(c.) on bands, . ---- on family of love, . ---- on jewish music, . ---- on luther's hymns, . ---- on modum promissionis, . ---- on morganatic marriage, . ---- on ventriloquism, . h.(c.a.), on "she ne'er with trecherous kiss," . h.(e.) on "gradely," . h.(e.c.) on arabic numerals, . ---- on cupid crying, . ---- on etymology of apricot, peach, and nectarine, . ---- on meaning of jezebel, . { } ---- on passage in gray, . ---- on the word "after," in the rubric, . "heigh ho! says rowley," . henry viii., authorship of, . . "henry and the nutbrown maid," ballad, . hepburn crest and motto, . herbert (george), . . ---- and bemerton church, . ---- burial place, . ---- a note on his poems, . ---- and shakspeare, . ---- a hint for publishers, . herbert's (sir thomas) memoirs, . . "her brow was fair," the author? . hermapion on "the times" newspaper and the coptic language, . hermit at hampstead on gray's elegy, . hermit of holyport on dryden's "absalom and achitophel," . ---- on dryden's "essays on satire," . ---- on gray, dryden, and playing cards, . ---- on gray's elegy and dodsley poems, . . ---- on "a frog he would a wooing go," . ---- on fairfax's tasso, . herodotus, time when he wrote, . herrick (robert), . . herschel's (sir w.) observations and writings, . herstmonceux castle, . "he who runs may read," . . . hewson the cobbler, . h.(f.r.) on romagnasi's works, . hibernian (an) on the first earl of roscommon, . hickson (samuel) on authorship of henry viii., . ---- on "away, let nought to love displeasing," . ---- on the derivation of "news" and "noise," . . . ---- on the disputed passage from "the tempest," . . ---- on shakspeare and marlowe, . ---- on shakspeare's use of "delighted," . . . highland kilts, . high spirits considered a presage of impending clamity or death, . . "hilary (sir) charged at agincourt," . . hip, hip, hurrah! . hiring of servants, . . h.(g.) on gookin, . h.(j.g.) on "he that runs may read," . h.(j.o.w.), epigrams from buchanan, . . h.(j.w.) on abbé strickland, . ---- an ancient tiles, . ---- on arabic numerals, . ---- on armorial bearings, . ---- on bishop burnet, . ---- on blackguard, . ---- on cure for warts, . ---- on death by burning, . ---- on end of easter, . ---- epitaph on a wine merchant, . ---- on etymology of "parse," . ---- on franz von sickingen, . ---- on george herbert, . ---- on jacobus praefectus siculus, . ---- on laerig, . ---- on mice as a medicine, . ---- on omens from birds, . ---- on robert herrick, . ---- on st. leger's life of archbishop walsh, . h.(j.w.) on "tickhill, god help me!" . h.(m.y.a.) on roman catholic theology, . hockey, . . hogarth's illustrations of hudibras, . hogs, not pigs, . . hoods worn by doctors of the university of cambridge, . ---- of aberdeen, . "hook or by crook." . hooper (richard) on francis lady norton, . hooping-cough, . hopkins the witchfinder, . hoppesteris, . holdsworth and fuller, . holland (hugh), and his works, . ----, land, . holme mss., . holt family, . homilies, book of, . . honest jury, pultney's ballad of, . hornbooks, . . horning, letters of, . horns, to give a man, . house of commons, strangers in the, . . . howard (sir robert), . howe (edward r.j.), on prophetic spring, at langley, kent, . howkey or horkey, . . howlett (w.e.) on painting, by c. bega, . h.(r.) on westminster wedding, . h.(s.) on calvin and servetus, . ---- on lord plunket and st. agobard, . ---- on a note on morganatic marriages, . ---- on pilgrims' road to canterbury, . ---- on poet laureates, . h.(s.m.) epigram on the late bull, . h.(s.s.n.) on old st. pancras church, . hubert le soeur's six brass statues, . hudibras, hogarth's illustrations of, . ----, note on a passage in, . hudibrastic verse, . h.(w.g.) on jezebel, . hydro-incubator, the, . i. icenus on the norfolk dialect, . i.(j.) on cold harbour, . "illa sauvissima vita," its authorship, . "illic haemoniá," etc., . immaculate conception, on the doctrine of the, . . i-membred, "a girdle i-membred," its etymology, . . "imprest" and "debenture," . . . "incidit in scyliam," . . . incumbents of church livings in kent, . india rubber, . infant prodigy, . . innes (robert), a grub street poet, . inquisition, the, . ----, writers on the, . inscription on a portrait, . insignia of mayoralty, . intellectual labour, division of, . intended reader, on locke's mss., . "intenible," shakspeare's use of, . interest, mode of computing, . interments, among the ancients, various modes of, . iota on bishop berkeley, adventures of gaudentio di lucca, . ---- on conde's arabs in spain, . ---- on the first woman formed from a rib, . ---- on rev. joseph blanco, . ---- on rollins' ancient history, and history of the arts and sciences, . ---- on writers on the inquisition, . ireland, fossil elk of, . ----, remarkable proposition concerning, . irish brigade, . . . ---- bull, . "isabel" and "elizabeth," . "is anything but," &c., . j. j. on duke and earl of albemarle, . ---- on lord chancellor's oath, . jackson (e.s.) on aërostation, . ---- on chaucer's damascene, . ---- on debenture and imprest, . ---- on mistake in conybeare and howson's life of st. paul, . ---- on pilgrims' road to canterbury, . ---- on lachrymatories, . ---- on shipster, . ---- on strangers in the house of commons, . ---- on torn by horses, . jacobus praefectus siculus, . james ii., remains and interment of jane (lady), of westmoreland, . . . jarltzberg on the antiquity of smoking, . ---- on the american language, . ---- on barclay's "argenis," . . ---- on blackguard, . ---- on boetius' consolations of philosophy, . ---- on carpets and room paper, . ---- on charm for growing young, . ---- on a charm for warts, . ---- on cinderella or the glass slipper, . ---- on the custom of wearing the breast uncovered in elizabeth's reign, . ---- on ergh, er, or argh, . ---- fabulous account of the lion, . ---- on hallap, . ---- on handfasting, . ---- on havock, . ---- on the lost tribes, . ---- on milton's lycidas, . ---- on oliver and roland, . ---- origin of the american arms, . ---- on russian language, . ---- on "under the rose," . ---- on the welsh language, . jarvie (bailie nicol), . jaytee on the correct prefix of mayors, . ---- on guildhalls, . ---- on junius and sir philip francis, . ---- on portraits of charles i. in churches, . ---- on robert herrick, . ---- on st. thomas of lancaster, . ---- on thomson of esholt, . ---- on watching the sepulchre, . j.c.m. on cold harbour, . jerome (st.) on the office of bishop and presbyter, . jewell (bishop), library of, . jews, emancipation of, . . jewish music, . . jezebel, meaning of, . . j.(h.) on curfew, . joachim, the french ambassador, . . . joan sanderson, or the cushion dance, . job's luck, by coleridge, . . john jokyn or joachim the french ambassador, . . . john o'groat's house, . johnson (dr.) and dr. warton, . jones (pitman), on james ii. and his remains, .{ } jones on the legend of sir richard baker, . jonson (ben), or ben johnson, . j.(r.), junius identified, . ---- on the letter [greek: z], . j.(r.k.) on cave's historia literaria, . j.(s.) on the spider and the fly, . j.(t.) on "antiquitas saeculi juventus mundi," . ----, america known to the ancients, . ---- asinorum sepultura, . ---- on california, . ---- on cannibals, . ---- on the conflagration of the earth, . ---- on the dodo, . ---- on golden frog and sir john poley, . ---- on minar's books of antiquities, . ---- on practice of scalping among the scythians, . ---- on the singing of swans, . ---- on symbols of the four evangelists, , . ---- on various modes of interment among the ancients, . ---- on ventriloquism, , . judas' bell, judas' candle, . judas, breaking the bones of, . juice cups, , . julin (adam of bremen's), . ----, the drowned city, , , , . junior, on spiders a cure for ague, . "junius identified," , . junius and sir philip francis, . juvenal, translations of wordsworth, . j.(w.) on ancient catalogue of books, . ---- on the arrangement of a monastery, . ---- on borrowed thoughts, . ---- on english translation of erasmus--"encomium moriae," . ---- on gwynn's london and westminster, . ---- on hiring of servants, . ---- on leicester and the reputed poisoners of his time, . ---- on "news," . ---- on umbrella, . j.(w.g.s.) on abbot richard of strata florida, . k. kant's sämmtliche werke, . katherine parr (queen), devotional tracts belonging to her, . katie on meaning of ge-ho, . k.(b.h.) on common, mutual, reciprocal, . ---- on derivation of penny, . ---- on derivation of totnes, . ---- on the east anglican word "mauther," . k.(c.), why moses represented with horns, . k.(e.) on royal supporters, . kennedy (benj. h.) on meaning of "gradely," . ---- on shakspeare's word "delighted," . kentish incumbents, . kentish town, gospel oak tree at, . kerriensis on meaning of bawn, . kerslake (thomas) on midwives licensed, . ---- on the widow of the wood, . kersley (henry) on bishops and their precedence, . ---- on remarkable proposition concerning ireland, . ---- on the hydro-incubator, . on feltham's works, . kersley (t.h.), a.b. on thomas rogers of horninger, . kersley (t.h.) on passage in lucan, . ---- on the sun feminine in english, . k.(f.) on archbishop williams' persecutor, r.k., . k.(h.o.) on sir w. herschel's observations and writings, . kilkenny cats, . "kilt," . king (dr.), poem of the toast, . king (p.s.) on poem by malherbe, . king (richard john) on illustrations of scottish ballads, . ---- on roberd the robber, . ---- on sitting cross-legged, . kingsborough's (lord) antiquities of mexico, . king's evil, charm for, . kingsmill (w.m.) on praed's poetical works, . k.(l.h.) on boiling to death, . kongs skuggsia, , , . königs-stuhl at rheuze, . kooez (aredjid) on armenian language, . ---- on blackguard, . ---- on "gradely," . ---- on les trianons, . ---- on welsh language, . k.(r.j.) on camels in gaul, . ---- on local rhymes and proverbs of devonshire, . ---- on pixies, . ---- on the pool of the black hound, . k.(w.h.) on churchyards, . ---- on master john shorne, . ---- on north sides of churchyards, . l. l. on alarm, . ---- on an allusion in peter martyr, . ---- on antiquitas saeculi juventus mundi, . ---- on antiquity of smoking, . ---- on butcher's blue dress, . ---- on the character and meaning of "parse," . ---- on doctrine of immaculate conception, . ---- on farquharson's observations on aurorae, . ---- on guadentio di lucca, , . ---- on the hippopotamus, , , . ---- on medal struck by charles xii., . ---- on the oldenburg horn, . ---- peep of day, . ---- on popular rhymes, . ---- on quin's incoherent story, . ---- on "regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis," . ---- on sitting during the lessons, . ---- on socinian boast, . ---- on umbrella, . lachrymatories, , . laicus on church history society, . laird of grant, . lamba on asinorum sepultura, . ---- on martello towers, . ---- on rotten row and stockwell street, . ---- on smoke money, . lammas day, . lammin (w.h.) on miscellanies of dr. maginn, . lamont (c.d.) on st. john's nepomuc, . lancashire, origin and progress of geometry there, . lancaster, st. thomas of, . lancastriensis on holme mss.--the cradocks, . land holland, . langley, kent, prophetic spring at, . language of queen mary's days, . langue pandras, . lass of richmond hill, , . latin epigram, "in memorial g.b. m.d." . latin line, . laurence (t.s.) on dogs in monuments, . "laus tua, non tua fraus," . law courts of st. alban's, . lawrence (t.s.) on salingen, a sword cutter, . ---- on shakspeare, a brass rubber, . l.(c.l.) on florentine edition of pandects, . l.(d.c.) on hoods worn by doctors of the university of cambridge, . l.(d.) on english comedians in germany, . leicester (earl of), and the reputed poisoners of his time, , , . lenton (francis), the poet, . leo xii., pasquinade on, . leresche (j.h.p.) on combs buried with the dead, . laerig, . lessons, on sitting during the, , , . letters of horning, . ---- of queen elizabeth and philip ii. of spain, . lettres provinciales, pascal's, . lewis (thomas) on collar of ss., . lights on the altar, . lilburn (col.), query author of, . ---- or prynne, . limner (luke) on a lexicon of types, . lion, fabulous account of, , . liturgicus on combs buried with the dead, . liverey collar of ss., . living dog better than a dead lion, . l.(j.h.) on "sir hilary charged at agincourt," . l.(l.b.) on carucate of land, . ---- on shakspeare's use of word "delighted," . ---- on the new temple, . ---- on parish registers, . l.l.d. on hoods worn by doctors of divinity of aberdeen, . llewellyn on steele's burial place, . locke, mss. of, , . logic, earliest books on, . "london bridge is broken down," an old song, . london, maps of, . ---- riots, , , . ---- and westminster, by gwyn, . long meg of westminster, , . ---- friday, meaning of, . ---- lonkin, , , . lord mayor's show, . lost tribes, the, . "love's labour lost," on a passage in, . lower (m.a.) on the character &, . ---- on "aedricus qui signa fundebat," . low window, , . l.(t.e.l.) on achilles and the tortoise, . ---- on the meaning of long friday, . ---- on waltheof--de combre family--ilda, . l.(t.g.) on umbrellas, . luard (w.c.) on saffron bag, . lucan, passage in, , . lucida intervalla, james carkasse's, . lunardis' first aërial voyage, . lunardi, squib on, . luther's early familiarity with the scriptures, . ---- hymns, , , . lux fiat, . l. (w.) on the conquest, . ---- on gaudentio di lucca, . ---- on "clarum et venerabile nomen," . lycidas, milton's, . { } m. m. or n. initials, . m. on achilles and the tortoise, . ---- on aerostation, . ---- on alarm, . . ---- on alteration of title pages, . ---- on bernardus patricius, . ---- on logic, . ---- on morganatic marriage, . ---- on notes and queries, . ---- on wood paper, . m.( ) on beau brummel's ancestry, . ---- on pilgrim's road, . m.(a.) on the authorship of "automachia," . ---- on job's luck, . ---- on letters of queen elizabeth and philip ii. of spain, . ---- on mother gray's apples, . m.(a.b.) on rome, ancient and modern, . mac on joan sanderson, or the cushion dance, and bab at the bowster, . macaulay's country squire, . magor, . . maitland (s.r.) on cave's historia literaria, . ---- on plan for a church history society, . . malatesti (antonio), dedication to milton, . malherbe, french poems by, , . mohouy (francis), on "a frog he would a wooing go," . manloius on "he who runs may read," . ---- on letters of horning, . ---- on america and tartary, . ---- on cognation of the jews and lacadaemonians, . manning (family of) in norfolk, . maps of london, . marescautia, . margaret's rood, . mariner's compass, . . markland (j.h.) on dr. samuel ogden, . marlowe and shakspeare, by samuel ilicitson, . marriages, divination at, . martel, charles, . martello towers, . . . martin, cockerell, and hopkins' families, . martin family, . martinet, . . . martyr (peter), allusion in, . masters of the pastimes and mayor, . materre of peckard's life of ferrar, . mathews on execution of charles i., . mathiou's (p.) life of sejanus, . matrimony, solemnization of, . mauther, the east anglian word, . . . may-dew, . may marriages, . mayor (j.e.b.) on angels' visits, . ---- on darvon gatherall, . ---- on the expression "to give a man horns", . ---- on a new edition of milton, . ---- on extract from baker's mss. on barth, dodyngton, and william jenkyn, . ---- on "fiat justitia," . ---- on jeremy taylor's life of christ, sermons, and holy dying, . ---- on cave's historia literaria, . ---- on mistakes in gibbon, . ---- on notes on coleridge's aids to reflection, . ---- nursery rhyme, "come when you're called," . ---- on "quem deus vult perdure," . ---- quotations in bishop andrewes, . ---- on parallel passages, coleridge, hooker, butler, . ---- on tennyson, . ---- on the author of whole duty of man, . mayors, the correct prefix of, . mayor of misrule, and masters of the pastimes, . m.(b.) on osnaburh bishopric, . medals, satirical, . . medal of stukeley, . . mentmore, bucks, notes from register of, . mercenary preacher, . "merry wives of windsor," on a passage in, . mexien, lord kingsborough's antiquities of, . mexxotinto, sonnet to prove that black is white, . m.(g.) on an infant prodigy, . ---- on haemony, . ---- on news, . ---- on hogs not pigs, . mice, . mildew in books, . . . m.(j.h.) on royal and distinguished disinterments, . ---- on story of mr. fox, . ---- on authors of the rolliad, . ---- on a passage from burke, . ---- on gwyn's london and westminster, . ---- on james west, president of royal society, . ---- on viscount castlecomer, . ---- on ferrar's digest of our saviour's life, . ---- on doctrine of immaculate conception, . ---- on the widow of the wood, . ---- on lady compton's letter, . ---- on the meaning of the word "thwaites," . m.(j.b.), men are but children, . ---- m.a., on the wise men of gotham, . mn. (j.) on hogs and pigs, . ---- on circulation of the blood, . ---- on pasquinade on leo xii., . ---- on etymological queries, . mock beggar's hall, . mocker, meaning of, . modena family, . molten sea, . monastery, arrangement of one, . money, chimney of, . ----, smoke, . ----, value of, in reign of charles ii., . monosyllables, a note on, . . monro, cecil, on sir george bud, . montaigue, select essays of, . ----, saying ascribed to, . . montague (walter) on sitting during the lessons, . monumental brasses, . "mooney's goose?" . moore, sir thomas, . morganitic marriages, . . . . mortuary stanzas, . moses, why represented with horns, . mother gray's apples, . mountfort, assassination of, . m.(r.g.p.) roasting mice for hooping cough, . ---- on damasked linen, . m.(r.) on division of intellectual labour, . mss. (old); queries concerning, . m.s.r. on coffe black broth, . m.s.(j.) on early poetry, . m.(w.) on cupid and psyche, . { } n. n. on crosiers and pastoral staves, . ---- on poutefract on the thames, . n.(a.) on darvon gatherall, . ---- on minar's book of antiquities, . n.(a.d.) on a test of witchcraft, . naboc on curfew, . ---- on melancthon's epigram, . naso on guy's porridge-pot, . national airs of england, . national debt, . national excellencies of england, discourses of, . nautilus on mariner's compass, . n.(d.) on queen elizabeth's visit to lord bacon, . ---- on sir gregory norton, bart., . necklaces (shaw), . n.(e l.) on parallel passages, . ---- on trogus pompeius, . nepomac (st. john), . . newspapers, history of, . "never did cardinal bring good to england," . . . . "news," and "noise," derivation of, . news, notes on derivation of, . . . . . . ----, a few old materials for its elucidation, . n.(g.) on "speak the tongue that shakspeare spoke," . n.(g.w.) on "gradely," . nichols (john gough) on capture of henry vi., . ---- on caxton's printing office, . . . ---- on the collar of esses, and collar of the king of scotland, . . . . ---- on queen elizabeth's translation of boethius, . n.(j.d.n.) on arminian nunnery, . n.(j.g.) on carpatio, . ---- on remains of james ii., . ---- on sarum and barum, . n.(j.h.) on by the bye, . ---- on etsell, . ---- on st. cuthbert, . n.(l.r.) on commoner marrying a peeress, . nocab on bacon family, origin of the name, . "noise" and "news," derivations of, . . . . . noli me tangere, . . . . nonjurors, oratories of, . . . norfolk dialect, . . ---- popular rhymes, . north sides of churchyards unconsecrated, . . . northamptonshire (south), folk ore of, . . norton (lady frances), . . norton (sir gregory, bart.), . . norwich (earl of). george goring, . ----, and his son, george lord goring, . notaries public, . notes ad queries, . . ----, advice to the editor, and hints to contributors, . ----, a word prefatory, on commencing vol. ii., . ----, our predecessors, . . ----, address to our friends on the publication of the fifty-second number, . novus on comment, in apocalypsin, . ---- on andrewes's tortura torti, . ---- on bookbinding, . ---- on jeremy taylor's works, . ---- on translations of the scriptures, . n.(r.) on licensing of books, . n.(s.) on "gradely," . ---- on schlegel on church property in england, . n.(t.) on execution of charles i. and earl stair, . ---- on fairfax's tasso, . ---- on gold in california, . n.(t.s.) on punishment of death by burning, . numerals, arabic, . . . . numismatics, . numismatic queries, replies to, . nursery rhyme, "come when you are called," . n.(w.) on the worm of lambton, . o. oates (titus), autograph, . oath of the lord chancellor, . occleve, chaucer's portrait by, . "ockley's history of the saracens," . octogenarius on punishment of death by burning, . ogden (dr. samuel), . ---- family, . . ld bailey, on the punishment of death by burning, . oldenburg horn, . . oliver and roland, . omens from birds, . omnibuses, . "one holy catholic and apostolic church," . orchard, derivation of, . organ-blower, the term, . "orkneyinga saga," . orkney under the norwegians, . ormerod (george) on mistletoe on oaks, . ---- on scotch prisoners, . orosius (altred's), . osmuna the waterman, . osnaburg, bishopric, . . . . our world, . overyssel superstition, . owen's epigram, translation of, . owls, . owl is broad, song of . . oxford's (earl of) patent, . . oxaniensis on lord john townshead's poetical works, . ----, nondum-gradatus, on lands, . p. p. on chaucer's portrait, by occleve, . pacificus, on the rebel, . pagomian version of the scriptures, . "pair of twises," . pallet meaning of, . palmerston (lord), lines attributed to, . paneras (st.) old church, . . pandect, florentine edition of . . pantheon, . papal bulls, true or false. . paper hangings, . paper mill the first in england, . . parallel passages in celebrated authors, . . . . . . parish registers, . ---- tax, . . ---- in london, . parliament, etymology of . . parr (queen catherine), ms. book of prayers belonging to, . parson the statfortshire giant, . partrige family, . . ---- (j.) on the l'artrige family, . partington (mrs.), . . pascal and his editor, bosatt, . . paslan (c.) on nice as a medicine, . ---- on meaning of cauking, . pasquinade on leo xii, . pasrer or plaister, . passilodior and beratrynde, . pastoral staff and crozer, . . paying through the nose, . peacock (e. jun.), on lord delamere, . peal of bells, anecdote of, . pears (stewart, a.) on portrait of sir p. sydney, by paul veronebe, . peep of day, . pedestrian on dales in yorkshire, . pedlar's song, by shakspeare, . pen and ink on cultivation of geometry in lancashire, . . peniteas cito, its authorship, . "penseroso," milton's, . "pension," meaning of, , . perjury, papers of, , . perrot (sir john), . . p.(f.t.), the carpenter's maggot, . p.(h.) cardinal allen's admonition, . ---- on poor philgarlick, . philanthropos, cheap books of reference, . philip ii. of spain, his letters to queen elizabeth, . phillipp's (sir thomas) manuscripts, . philo-chaucer on nicholas brigham's works, . ---- on pilgrims' road to canterbury, . philosophy, beothus' consolations of, . philobibion, translation of, , . pigeons, . pilgrim's road to canterbury, . . . . . pinolico, . pilco, . piskies, or pixies, legends of, . . . pistol and bandolph, . pixey legends, . pixies or piskies, . . . p.(i.z.) on crozier and pastoral staff, . p.(i., jun.) on meaning of "thwaites," . plain sense on "he who runs may read," . plaister or paster, . planche (j.r.) on guy's armour, . ---- on collar of, , . playing cards, , "please the jugs." . plectrum on chantrey's sleeping children in lickfield cathedral, . p.(l.g.) on croker's boswell, . plunket (lord) and st. agobard, . "plurima gemma," author of, . pox cynosuwides, . poet leureates, . poetry early, queries respecting, . ----, ancient, pretended reprint of, . poisons, . poker, . pote money, . . poley (sir john) and the golden frog, . pontefract on the thames, . . pool of the black hound, legend of, . poor pillgarlick, . poor robin's almanacks, pope and bishop burgess, . pope's villa, . popular rhymes, . porridge-pot, guy's, porson's imposition, . . ---- epigram, . portrait of cardinal beaton, . ---- unknown, . poultry, power of prophecy, . p.(p.) on vineyards, . p.(h.) on "de male quesitis," etc., . praed a poetical works, . prayers and preaching distinct services, . preaching in nave only, . prelates of france, . . presages of death, . prelum ascensianum, . price (e.b.) on umbrellas, . ---- on wood carving, snow hill, . ---- on eskon basilike, . ---- on riots of london, . ---- on chimney-money, . { } ---- on curfew, . ---- on puzzing epitaph, . ---- on watermarks on writing-paper, . price (i.l.) on socinian boast, . "pride of the morning," small rain so called, . prin (john g.a.) on kilkenny cats, . printer's errors, corrigenda of, . priscian on haberdasher, martinet, . prisoners (scottish) sold to plantations, . . prolocutor of convocation, . prophesying before death, . prynne or lilburn, . p. (s.) on cardinal chalmers, . ---- on portrait of cardinal beaton, . publishers hints to, . . pulteney's ballad "the honest jury," . punishment of death by burning, . . . . . pusin, meaning of, . puzzling epitaph, . . "p.v." the meaning of, . p.(w.) on chaucer's portrait by occleve, . ---- on dr. thomas bever's legal polity of great britain, . ---- on hanging out the broom, . ---- on nicholas breton's fantastcks, . ---- on nicholas ferrar, . ---- on thrurscross, . p.(w.h.) on playing cards, . pwcca, query on aubrey family, . ---- on darvon gatherall and st. uncumber, . q. q. ( .) on passage from burke, . q. (f.) on albanian literature, . ---- on america, . ---- on can du plera meteor cera, . ---- on coins of gandophares, . ---- on collar of ss., . ---- on etymological notes, . ---- on fastitocalon, . ---- on kongs skuggsia, . ---- on luther's hymns, . ---- on numerals, . ---- on poa cynosuwides, . ---- on satirical medals, . ---- on satyavrata, . ---- on whales, . q.(f.s.) on insignia of mayoralty, . q.(j.s.) on the meaning of pallet, . q.(q.q.) on regis ad exemplar, . q.(t.h.) on "a chrysostom to smooth the band in," . q.(q.p.) on "never did cardinal bring good to england," . ---- on death of richard ii., . ---- on mariner's compass, . ---- on members for durham and calais, . ---- on wife of edward the outlaw, . quaero, on lass of richmond hill, . quaesior on charade, . quarles, was he pensioned? . . quasimodo on cat and bagpipes, . "quein deus vult perdere," . querela cantabrigiensis, . ---- on the authorship of, . . querist on aeneas silvius, . query put to a pope, . questor on dandridge the painter, . quin's incoherent story, . quotations in bishop andrewes, . ---- wanted, . r. r. on cat and bagpipes, . ---- on concolinel, . . ---- on hornbooks, . ---- on map of london, . ---- on passage in bishop butler, . r.(a.) on "the owl is abroad," . r.(a.b.) on clergy sold for slaves, . ---- on querela cantabrigiensis, . ---- on sir robert howard, . rab surdam, meaning of, . "race," in shipbuilding, meaning of, . radix, derivation of, . rainbow, . ram, of darby, . randal (john), epitaph on, . ransom of an english nobleman, . "rapido contrarius orbi," . . . rathbone place, . rawlinson (robert) on swans hatched during thunder, . rayned deer, the earl of essex and the finding of the, . r.(b.) on "noli me tangere," . ---- on pimlico, . r.(c.i.) on "noli me tangere," . ---- on pusan, . ---- on smoke money, . ---- on tristan d'acunha, . r.(d.p.) on death of richard ii., . reader (a) on curfew at over, near winsford, . reader (w.) on guy's porridge pot, . rebecca--charade, . rebel, the, . red hand and the holt family, . ---- holt family, ashton church, . red sindon, . reed (isaac) on alderman beckford, . regiolapidensis, thomas, . "regis ad exemplar," . . "regis ad exemplam totus componitur orbis," . relton (f.b.) on an alms dish, . ---- on child's book by beloe, . ---- on osnaburg bishopric, . remains of james ii., . renouard (g.c.) on umbrellas, . reves. alias michael servetus, . r.(f.b.) on the rolliad, . ---- on bishop durdent and the staffordshire historians, . r.(g.) on roman catholic theology, . ---- on scalping, . rheumatism, . rhymes, popular, . rib, why the first woman formed from a, . . richard ii., death of, . . richardson family, . richardson (g. bouchier) on curfew at newcastle-upon-tyne, . ---- on earwig, . ---- on fenkle street, . ---- on long lonkin, . richmond hill, the lass of, . ridley (bishop), mss. of, . rimbault (edward f) on agapemone of the sixteenth century, . ---- on "ale draper," . ---- on andrew becket, . ---- on arminian nunnery, . ---- on "boethius' cosolations of philosophy," . ---- on bolton's ace, . ---- on satirical song on george villiers, duke of buckingham, . ---- on sir george buc, . ---- on "the carpenters maggot," . ---- on caxton's printing office, . ---- on george chapman, the poet, . ---- on the churchwardens' account of st. antholin's, . ---- on colvil's whigg's supplication, . ---- on concolinel, . ---- notes on the second edition of cunningham's london, . . . ---- on lord delamere, . ---- on lady deloraine, . ---- on edward the confessor's crucifix and gold chain, . ---- on gaudentio di lucca, . ---- on hubert le soeur's brass statues, . ---- on hugh holland and his works, . ---- on rob. innes, a grub-street poet, . ---- on dr. king's poem of the toast, . ---- on ruding's annotated langbaine, . ---- on francis lenton, the poet, . ---- on london bridge is broken down, . ---- on samuel rowlands and the "choice of change," . ---- on parsons, staffordshire giant, . ---- on stepony ale, . ---- on stone's diary, . ---- on the duke of warton's poetical works and titos oates, . ---- on lady jane of westmoreland, . ---- on "the widow of the wood," . ---- on a mistake about george wither, . ---- on george wither, the poet, a printer, . ---- on traditional story concerning cardinal wolsey, . ringelbergius, . ringing a hand-bell before a corpse, . ring, viscount dundee's, . riots in london, . . . r.(j) on epitaph on john randall, . r.(j.c.) on baron münchausen, . ---- on becket, . ---- on becket's mother, . . ---- on father blackhal, . ---- on chance in the appearance of the dead, . ---- on power of prophesying before death, . ---- on the troubles of frankfort, . ---- on the nonjurors, . r.(j.h.) on margaret dyneley, . r.(l.m.m.) on "bamboozle," . ---- on modena family, . r.(m.c.) on vineyards, . r.(n.e.), a subscriber, on sitting during the lessons, . ---- on luther's hymns, . roberd the robber, . robertson, of muirtown, . . . ---- (j.c.) on grant of leave to the earl of sussex to be covered in the royal presence, . robins and wrens. . rock (dr.) on "aedricus qui signa fundebat," . ---- on collar of ss., . ---- on confsession, . ---- on abbe strickland, . rocque, jean, query, who was he? . roffe (a.) on death-bed mystery, . ---- on a passage in "all's well that ends well," . rogers (thomas) of horninger, . . "roland" and "oliver," . rolle (alice), . rollin's ancient history and history of the arts and sciences, . . rolliad, authors of the, . . . . roma subterranea, inscription from, . roman catholic theology, . . roman coin, countermarks on, . rome, ancient and modern, . . romagnasi's works, . roman roads, . rood (black) of scotland, . . room-paper, when introduced, . roscommon (first earl of), . . . ---- peerage, . rose, under the, . ross (c.) on pole money, . ---- on punishment of death by burning, . ---- on strangers in the house of commons, . { } rowlands (samuel) and the authorship of "the choice of change," . rowley powley, . . royal society, jas. west, president of, . r.r. on umbrellas, . r.s. on papers of perjury, . r.(s.t.) on wraxen, . rushbearing, . russian language, . . rusticus on thomas regiolapidensis, . s. saffron bag, . . salut and crozier, legend of, . . . sale of gems, drawings, and curiosities, . salingen, a sword cutler, . sansom (j.) on jewish music, . ---- on lammas day, . ---- on living dog better than a dead lion, . ---- on a passage in lucian, . ---- on lux fiat, . ---- on poeta angelicus, . ---- on power of prophecy, . ---- on rainbow, . ---- on scalping, . scott's waverley, . scotus on beatrix lady talbot, . ---- on elizabeth and isabel, . ---- on handfasting, . ---- on lady morgan and curry, . scriptures, roman catholic translations, . . s.(e.) on specimens of erida in bloom, . sejanus, p. mathieu's life of, . seleucus on cromwell's estate, magor, . . ---- on folk-lore of wales, . ---- on "hook or by crook," . ---- on long lonkin, . senex on punishment of death by burning, . ---- on riots of london, . . sepulchre, watching the, . servants, on hiring, . . servetus and calvin, . . sexes, theur separation during divine service, . singer (s.w.) on antonio malatesti's dedication to milton, . ---- on "the bar of michael angelo," . ---- on eisell and wormwood wine, . ---- joachin, the french ambassador, . ---- on may marriages, . ---- on more borrowed thoughts, . ---- on shakespeare's use of the words "captious" and "intenible," . ---- on shakespeare's use of the word "delighted," . s.(j.a.), pope felix, . s.(j.d.) on armorial bearings, . "skeleton in every house," . s.l., translation of the philoboblion, . s.(m.n.) on chaucer's monument, . snake charming, . sneek-up or snick-up, . songs, old, . ---- of the fourteenth century, english and norman, . spa fields, or london spa, . "speak the tongue that shakspeare spoke," author of? . . speke family, . { } spiders, . spider and the fly, . spiders a cure for ague, . s.(r.) on dr. euseby cleaver, . s.(r., jun.) on the origin of dragons, . s.(r.j.) on when does east end? . ss, collars of, . . . s.s. on collar of ss., . ---- on marganitic marriages, . ---- on vineyards, . s.s.s., on earwig, . ---- on etymology of totnes, . ---- lines attributed to lord palmerston, . ---- on the new temple, . ---- on totnes church, . ---- wellington, wyrwast, and cokam, . s.(t.) on exhumation of a body ominous to the family, . ---- on folk lore, . statistics, . statue of french king, epigrams on, . st. crolx (ii, de) borrowed thoughts, . steele's burial place, . . . stephens (george) cupid and psyche, . ---- on legend of a saint, . stevens (george), portrait of, . straw necklaces, . st. savious, canterbury, church of, . st. thomas of lancaster, . . stukeley, medal of, . . s.(w.) on gray's elegy, . swans hatched during thunder, . ----, the singing of, . ----, swearing by, . . s.(w.g.) on bacon family, . ---- on derivation of penny, . swords worn in public, . . t. t. on bacon's advancement in learning, . ---- on origin of the word "culprit," . ---- sir t. phillippe's manuscripts, . --- on mss. of bishop ridley, . ---- on lady sling-by, . t.(a.) on filthy gingram, . talbot (beatrix lady), . tartary and america, . tasso, translated by fairfax, . . . tax, parish registers, . . taylor's (jeremy) life of christ, . ---- doctor dubitantium, . ---- holy dying, . ---- sermons, . tempest, on a passage in the, . . . . temple, the new, . . . ten children at a birth, . terra martin on cabalistic authors, . { } v. vault interments, . vavasour of haslewood, . v.(e.) on arminian nunnery, . ---- on carueate of land, . ---- on herstinonceux castle, . ---- on martello towers, . venables (e.) on becket's mother, . ---- on smoke money, . ventriloquism, . . . . veritas on rollin's ancient history, and history of the arts and sciences, . version (meaning of), . viator on burning bush of sinai, . ---- on the crocodile, . ---- on specimens of foreign english, . ---- on st. thomas's day, . ---- on true blue, . ---- on the umbrella, . vivares (engravings by), after claude, . v.(m.) on bastille, ms. records of, . volusemus, or wilson? (thomas,) . vondel's lucifer, . v.(r.) on pilgrims' road to canterbury, . ---- on swearing by swans, . w. w. on arabic numerals, . ---- on cavell, . ---- on curfew, . ---- on london dissenting ministers--rev. thomas taller, . ---- on wraxen, . (w.i.) on havock, . ---- on translations of juvenal, . walcott (mackenzie), on crozier and pastoral staff, . ---- on irish brigade, . ---- on judas' bell, judas' candle, . ---- on scala coeli, . ---- on ms. history of winchester school, . ---- on vineyards, . walrold family, . . . waltheof's executions, . . warton, anthony, . warton's (duke of) poetical works, . warts (charms for), . . . . . . . wasps, . wat the hare, . watching the sepulchre, . water-marks of writing-paper, . . way (albert) on etymological queries, . ---- on master j. shorne, . w.(b.) on carucate of land, . ---- on collar of ss., . ---- on "news," "noise," . ---- on red sindon, . w.(c.b.) on byron's birthplace, . wdn. on york building company, . wedsecnarf on swords, . ---- on folk-lore rhymes, . ---- on countess of desmond, . ---- on mice as a medicine, . weights for weighing coins, . . "welcome the coming, speed the parting guest." . . welle, robert de, . wellington, . welsh folk lore. . ---- language, . . welsh money, . . wens, . w.(e.n.) on meaning of "race" in ship-building, . ---- on california, . ---- on feltham's works, . ---- on london bridge is broken down, . ---- on sir john perrot, . ---- whence comes "welcome the coming, speed the parting guest?" . ---- winstanley's loyal martyrology, . west, or stye in the eve, . ---- burial towards, . ---- (james), president of royal society, . westminster abbey, sir harry englefield's fabric accounts, . westminster wedding, . w.(e.s.s.) on punishment of death by burning, . . w.(f.) on bishop berkeley's successful experiments, . w.(g.) on cardinal erskine, . w.(h.) on dulcarnon, . ---- on fizgig, . ---- on robert de welle, . whales, . whetstone of reproof, its authorship, . w.(h.h.) on dr. bowring's translations, . whichcote (dr.), . whipping by women, . "whistling wife," . white (a. holt) on black doll at old store shops, . ---- (rev. joseph blanco), . whitsuntide, etymology at, . whole duty of man, author of, . widow of the wood, . wife on trial, . wilkinson (henry) on aërostation, . ---- on armenian language, . ---- on mildew in books, . ---- on zündnadel gulls, . ---- (t.t.) on geometry in lancashire, . ---- on sirloin, . williams (abp.), his persecutor r.k., . william iii., satirical poems on, . william of wykeham, . . . winchester school, ms. history of, . window, the low, . . winstanley's loyal martyrology, error in, . wise men of gotham, . . witchcraft, a test of, . wither (george) mistake about, . ---- the poet, a printer, . witton (j.c.), coins of constantius ii., . ---- on guineas, . ---- on welsh money, . ---- replies to numismatic queries, . wives, custom of selling, . ---- of ecclesiastics, . wizard, michael scott, . w.(j.) on umbrellas, . w.(j.k.r.) on trianon, . . ---- on steele's burial place, . w.(j.l.) on a ms. book of prayers belonging to queen catherine parr, . w.(j.m.) on "one holy catholic and apostolic church." . w.(j.r.) on sir oliver chamberlaine, . w.(j.s.) on ale draper.--eugele aram, . ---- on fool or a physician, &c., . ---- on milton's "penseroso," . ---- on ringelbergius, . ---- on passage in vida, . w.(m.) on blackguard, . ---- on combs buried with the dead, . ---- on "dat veniam corvis," . w.(m.) on paper hangings, . ---- on parallel passages, . wn. on cosas de españa, . w.(o.) on portraits of stevens, cotton, and bunyan, . wolsey (cardinal), traditional story concerning, . woman, the first one formed from a rib, . . wood-carving in snow hill, . . wood, the widow of the, . worcester, scotch prisoners at, . . words, small, . wordsworth (wm.), . worm of lambton, . wormwood wine, . . ---- and eisell, . wraxen (meaning of). . . wreford (j. reyneil, d.d.) on the remains of james ii., . wrustum or wursum, its etymology, . . w.(s.), on dutch language, . ---- on william of wykehann, . w.(t.) on bible and key, . ---- on ergh, er, or argh, . ---- on popular rhyme, . ---- on unknown portrait, . w.(t.t.) on divination at marriages, . ---- on "trash," or "skriker," . ---- on cure for warts, . w.(w.) on billingsgate, . ---- on pope and bishop burgess, . wylgeforte (st.), . wyrwast, . x. x.(a.r.) on robertson of muirtown, . x. on author of "speak the tongue that shakspeare spoke," . y. y. on echo song, . y. (e.h.) on wife of edward the outlaw, . yeowell (j.) on old st. pancras church, . ---- on the oratories of the nonjurors, . y. (j.) on nicholas ferrar and the arminan nunnery of little gidding, . ---- on sitting during the lessons, . york building company, . ---- cathedral, carter's drawings of, . yorke (charles), verses attributed to, . yorkshire dales, guide to, . . ---- ballads, . "yote," or "yeot," derivation of, . . y.(s.h.) on viscount castlecomer, . ---- on judge cradock, . ---- on descent of edward iv., . ---- on shakspeare and george herbert, . y.(t.) on the word "after," in rubric, . z. z. on coronet, . zündnadel guns, . . z.(x.) on butchers' blue dress, . ---- high spirits a sign of calamity, . ---- on passage in love's labour lost, . ---- on "to save one's bacon," . z.(x.y.) on early influence of christianity, . z.(z.a.), tobacco in the east, . end of the second volume. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid. proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. our progress and prospects. notes:-- luther and erasmus, by john bruce. hallam's middle ages. adversaria i.--writers of notes on fly-leaves. origin of grog and ancient alms-basins. dyce v. warburton and collier. food of the people, by j.t. hammack. bishop barnaby. trade editions. dibdin's typograph antiquities, by rev. dr. maitland. queries answered, ii., by bolton corney. madoc's expedition to america. queries:-- "clouds" or shrouds, in shakspeare. medal of pretender, by b. nightingale. roger de coverley. landed and commercial policy of england. the rev. thomas leman. gothic architecture. katherine pegg. queries on mediæval geography. myles bloomfylde and william bloomfield on alchymy. thynne's collection of chancellors. cold harbour. statistics of the roman catholic church. incumbents of church livings. curse of scotland, by edward hawkins. miscellaneous:-- notes of book-sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. * * * * * our progress and prospects. when we consulted our literary friends as to the form and manner in which it would be most expedient to put forth our "notes and queries," more than one suggested to us that our paper should appear only once a month, or at all events not more frequently than once a fortnight, on the ground that a difficulty would be experienced in procuring materials for more frequent publication. we felt, however, that if such a medium of inter-communication, as we proposed to establish was, as we believed, really wanted, frequency of publication was indispensable. nothing but a weekly publication would meet what we believed to be the requirements of literary men. we determined, therefore, to publish a number every saturday; and the result has so far justified our decision, that the object of our now addressing our readers is to apologise to the many friends whose communications we are again unavoidably compelled to postpone; and to explain that we are preparing to carry out such further improvements in our arrangements as will enable us to find earlier admission for all the communications with which we are favoured. one other word. it has been suggested to us that in inviting notes, comments, and emendations upon the works of macaulay, hallam, and other living authors, we may possibly run a risk of offending those eminent men. we hope not. we are sure that this outght not to be the case. had we not recognised the merits of such works, and the influence they were destined to exercise over men's minds, we should not have opened our pages for the purpose of receiving, much less have invited, corrections of the mistakes into which the most honest and the most able of literary inquirers must sometimes fall. only those who have meddled in historical research can be aware of the extreme difficulty, the all but impossibility, of ascertaining the exact or the whole truth, amidst the numerous minute and often apparently contradictory facts which present themselves to the notice of all inquirers. in this very number a correspondent comments upon an inference drawn by mr. hallam from a passage in mabillon. in inserting such a communication we show the respect we feel for mr. hallam, and our { } sense of the services which he has rendered to historical knowledge. had we believed that if he has fallen into a mistake in this instance, it had been not merely a mistake, but a deliberate perversion of the truth, we should have regarded both book and writer with indifference, not to say with contempt. it is in the endeavour to furnish corrections of little unavoidable slips in such good honest books--albeit imperfect as all books must be--that we hope at once to render good service to our national literature, and to show our sense of genius, learning, and research which have combined to enrich it by the production of works of such high character and last influence. * * * * * notes latin epigram against luther and erasmus. mr. editor,--your correspondent "roterodamus" (pp. , ) asks, i hope, for the author of the epigram which he quotes, with a view to a life of his great townsman, erasmus. such a book, written by some competent hand, and in an enlarged and liberal spirit, would be a noble addition to the literature of europe. there is no civilised country that does not feel an interest in the labours and in the fame of erasmus. i am able to answer your correspondents question, but it is entirely by chance. i read the epigram which he quotes several years ago, in a book of a kind which one would like to see better known in this country--a typographical or bibliographical history of douay. it is entitled, "_bibliographie douaisienne, ou catalogue historique et raisonné des livres imprimés à douai depuis l'année jusqu'a nos jours, avec des notes bibliographiques et littéraires; par h.r. duthilloeul. vo. douai, _." the th book noticed in the volume is entitled, "_epigrammata in hæreticos. authore andrea frusio, societatis jesu. tres-petit in vo. _." the book is stated to contain epigrams, "aimed," says m. duthilloeul, "at the heretics and their doctrines. the author has but one design, which is to render odious and ridiculous, the lives, persons, and errors of the apostles of the reformation." he quotes three of the epigrams, the third being the one your correspondent has given you. it has this title, "_de lutheri et erasmi differentia_," and is the th epigram in the book. i have never met with a copy of the work of frusius, nor do i know any thing of him as an author. the learned writer who pours out a store of curious learning in the pages of _gentleman's magazine_ is more likely than any body that i know to tell you something about him. mons. duthilloeul quotes another epigram from the same book upon the _encomium moriæ_, but it is too long and too pointless for your pages. he adds another thing which is more in your way, namely, that a former possessor of the copy of the work then before him had expressed his sense of the value of these "epigrammes dévotes" in the following note:-- "_nollem carere hoe libello auro nequidem contra pensitato_." perhaps some one who possesses or has access to the book would give us a complete list of the persons who are the subjects of these defamatory epigrams. and i may add, as you invite us to put our queries, is not erasmus entitled to the distinction of being regarded as the author of the work which the largest single edition has ever been printed and sold? mr. hallam mentions that, "in the single year , colinæus printed , copies of the _colloquies_, all of which were sold." this is the statement of moreri. bayle gives some additional information. quoting a letter of erasmus as his authority, he says, that colinæus, who--like the brussels and american reprinters of our day--was printing the book at paris from a basle edition, entirely without the concurrence of erasmus, and without any view of his participation in the profit, circulated a report that the book was about to be prohibited by the holy see. the curiosity of the public was excited. every one longed to secure a copy. the enormous edition--for the whole , was but one impression--was published contemporaneously with the report. it was a cheap and elegant book, and sold as fast as it could be handed over the booksellers counter. as poor erasmus had no pecuniary benefit { } from the edition, he ought to have the credit which arises from this proof of his extraordinary popularity. the public, no doubt, enjoyed greatly his calm but pungent exposure of the absurd practices which were rife around them. that his humorous satire was felt by its objects, is obvious from this epigram, as well as from a thousand other evidences. john bruce. * * * * * hallams middle ages--alleged ignorance of the clergy. sir,--when reading hallam's _history of the middle ages_ a short time ago i was startled by the following passage which occurs amongst other evidences of the ignorance of the clergy during the period subsequent to the dissolution of the roman empire. "not one priest in a thousand in spain about the age of charlemagne, could address a common letter of salutation to another."--_hallam's middle ages_, vol. iii. p. . and for this statement he refers to mabillon, _de re diplomatica_, p. . on referring to mabillon, i find that the passage runs as follows:-- "christiani posthabitis scripturis sanctis, earumque interpretibus, arabum chaldæorumque libris evolvendis incumbentes, legem suam nesciebant, et linguam propriam non advertebant latinam, ita ut ex omni christi collegio vix inveniretur unus in milleno hominum genere, qui salutatorias fratri posset rationabiliter dirigere litteras." so that although mabillon says that scarce one in a thousand could address a _latin_ letter to another, yet he by no means says that it was on account of their general ignorance, but because they were addicting themselves to other branches of learning. they were devoting all their energies to arabic and chaldæan science, and in their pursuit of it neglected other literature. a similar remark might be made of respecting many distinguished members of the university to which i belong; yet who would feel himself justified in inferring thence that cambridge was sunk in ignorance? cantab. * * * * * adversaria [in our prospectus we spoke of notes and queries becoming everybody's common-place book. the following very friendly letter from an unknown correspondent, g.j.k., urges us to carry out such an arrangement. "sir,--i beg leave to forward you a contribution for your 'notes and queries,' a periodical which is, i conceive, likely to do a vast deal of good by bringing literary men of all shades of opinion into closer juxtaposition than they have hitherto been. "i would, however, suggest that in future numbers a space might be allotted for the reception of those articles (short of course), which students and literary men in general, transfer to their common-place books; such as notices of scarce or curious books, biographical or historical curiosities, remarks on ancient or obsolete customs, &c. &c. &c. literary men are constantly meeting with such in the course of their reading, and how much better would it be if, instead of transferring them to a ms. book to be seen only by themselves, or perhaps a friend or two, they would forward them to a periodical, in which they might be enshrined in imperishable pica; to say nothing of the benefits such a course of proceeding would confer on those who might not have had the same facilities of gaining the information thus made public. "in pursuance of this suggestion, i have forwarded the inclosed paper, and should be happy, from time to time, to contribute such gleanings from old authors, &c. as i might think worth preserving. "g.j.k." we readily comply with g.j.k.'s suggestion, and print, as the first of the series, his interesting communication, entitled:] . _writers of notes on fly-leaves, &c._ the barberini library at rome contains a vast number of books covered with marginal notes by celebrated writers, such as scaliger, allatius, holstentius, david haeschel, barbadori, and above all, tasso, who has annotated with his own hand more than fifty volumes. valery, in his _voyages en italie_, states that a latin version of plato is not only annotated by the hand of tasso, but also by his father, bernardo; a fact which sufficiently proves how deeply the language and philosophy of the greek writers were studied in the family. the remarks upon the _divina commedia_, which, despite the opinion of serassi, appear to be authentic, attest the profound study which, from his youth, tasso had made of the great poets, and the lively admiration he displayed for their works. there is also in existence a copy of the venice edition of the _divina commedia_ ( ), with autograph notes by bembo. christina of sweden had quite a mania for writing in her books. in the library of the roman college (at rome) there are several books annotated by her, amongst others a { } quintus curtius, in which, as it would appear, she criticises very freely the conduct of alexander. "_he reasons falsely in this case_," she writes on one page; and elsewhere, "_i should have acted diametrically opposite; i should have pardoned_;" and again, further on, "_i should have exercised clemency_;" an assertion, however, we may be permitted to doubt, when we consider what sort of clemency was exercised towards monaldeschi. upon the fly-leaf of a seneca (elzevir), she has written, "_adversus virtutem possunt calamitates damna et injuriæ quod adversus solem nebulæ possunt_." the library of the convent of the holy cross of jerusalem at rome, possesses a copy of the _bibliotheca hispanu_, in the first volume of which the same princess has written on the subject of a book relating to her conversion: [ ] "_chi l'ha scritta, non lo sa; chi lo sa, non l'ha mai scritta_." lemontey has published some very curious _memoirs_, which had been entirely written on the fly-leaves and margins of a missal by j. de coligny, who died in . racine, the french tragic poet, was also a great annotator of his books; the bibliothèque national at paris possesses a euripides and aristophanes from his library, the margins of which are covered with notes in greek, latin, and french. the books which formerly belonged to la monnoie are now recognizable by the anagram of his name. _a delio nomen_, and also by some very curious notes on the fly-leaves and margins written in microscopic characters. g.j.k. [footnote : conversion de la reina de suecia in roma ( ).] * * * * * origin of word "grog." mr. vaux writes as follows:--admiral vernon was the first to require his men to drink their spirits mixed with water. in bad weather he was in the habit of walking the deck in a rough _grogram_ cloak, and thence had obtained the nickname of _old grog_ in the service. this is, i believe, the origin of the name _grog_, applied originally to _rum_ and _water_. i find the same story repeated in a quaint little book, called pulleyn's _etymological compendium_. [a.s. has communicated a similar explanation; and we are obliged to "an old lady who reads for pastime" for kindly furnishing us with a reference to a newly published american work, _lifts for the lazy_, where the origin of "grog" is explained in the same manner. the foregoing was already in type when we received the following agreeable version of the same story.] * * * * * origin of word "grog"--ancient alms-basins. mr. editor,--as a sailor's son i beg to answer your correspondent legour's query concerning the origin of the word "grog," so famous in the lips of our gallant tars. jack loves to give a pet nickname to his favourite officers. the gallant edward vernon (a westminster man by birth) was not exempted from the general rule. his gallantry and ardent devotion to his profession endeared him to the service, and some merry wags of the crew, in an idle humour, dubbed him "old grogham." whilst in command of the west indian station, and at the height of his popularity on account of his reduction of porto bello with six men-of-war only, he introduced the use of rum and water by the ship's company. when served out, the new beverage proved most palatable, and speedily grew into such favour, that it became as popular as the brave admiral himself, and in honour of him was surnamed by acclamation "grog." mackenzie walcott, m.a. p.s.--there are two other alms-basins in st. margaret's worthy of note, besides those i mentioned in your last number. one has the inscription, "live well, die never; die well and live ever. a.d. w.g." the other has the appropriate legend, "hee that gives too the poore lends unto thee lord." a third bears the tudor rose in the centre. in an inventory made about the early part of the th century, are mentioned "one bason given by mr. bridges, of brasse." (the donor was a butcher in the parish.) "item, one bason, given by mr. brugg, of brasse." on the second basin are the arms and crest of the brewers' company. perhaps mr. brugg was a member of it. one richard bridges was a churchwarden, a.d. - . m.w. . college street. nov. . * * * * * { } dyce versus warburton and collier--and shakspeare's mss. in mr. dyce's _remarks on mr. j.p. collier's and mr. c. knight's editions of shakspeare_, pp. , , the following note occurs:-- "_king henry iv., part second_, act iv. sc. iv. "as humorous as winter, and as sudden as _flaws_ congealed in the spring of day." "alluding," says warburton, "to the opinion of some philosophers, that the vapours being congealed in air by cold, (which is most intense towards the morning,) and being afterwards rarified and let loose by the warmth of the sun, occasion those sudden and impetuous guests of wind which are called flaws."--collier. "an interpretation altogether wrong, as the epithet here applied to 'flaws' might alone determine; '_congealed_ gusts of wind' being nowhere mentioned among the phenomena of nature except in baron munchausen's _travels_. edwards rightly explained 'flaws,' in the present passage, 'small blades of ice.' i have myself heard the word used to signify both _thin cakes of ice_ and the _bursting of those cakes_."--dyce. mr. dyce may perhaps have heard the world _floe_ (plural _floes_) applied to _floating sheet-ice_, as it is to be found so applied extensively in captain parry's _journal of his second voyage_; but it remains to be shown whether such a term existed in shakspeare's time. i think it did not, as after diligent search i have not met with it; and, if it did, and then had the same meaning, _floating sheet-ice_, how would it apply to the illustration of this passage? that the uniform meaning of _flaws_ in the poet's time was _sudden gust of wind_, and figuratively sudden gusts of passion, or fitful and impetuous action, is evident from the following passages:-- "like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd wreck to the seamen, tempest to the field, sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds, _gust_ and foul _flaws_ to herdsmen and to herds." _venus and adonis._ "like a great sea-mark standing every _flaw_." _coriolanus_, act v. sc. iii. "--patch a wall to expel the winter's _flaw_." _hamlet_, act v. sc. i. "like to the glorious sun's transparent beams do calm the fury of this mad-bred _flaw_." _ d pt. henry vi._, act iii. sc. i. "--these _flaws_ and starts (impostors to true fear)." _macbeth_, act iv. sc. iv. "falling in the _flaws_ of her own youth, hath blistered her report." _meas. for meas._, act ii. sc. iii. so far for the poet's acceptation of its meaning. thus also lord surrey:-- "and toss'd with storms, with _flaws_, with wind, with weather." and beaumont and fletcher, in _the pilgrim_:-- "what _flaws_, and whirles of weather, or rather storms, have been aloft these three days." shakspeare followed the popular meteorology of his time, as will appear from the following passage from a little ephemeris then very frequently reprinted:-- "_de repentinis ventis_. " . typhon, plinio, vortex, aliis turbo, et vibratus ecnephias, de _nube gelida_ (ut dictum est) abruptum aliquid sæpe numero secum voluit, ruinamque suam illo pondere aggravat: quem _repentinum flatum_ à nube prope terram et mare depulsum, definuerunt quidam, ubi in gyros rotatur, et proxima (ut monuimus) verrit, suáque vi sursum raptat."--mizaldus, _ephemeridis Æris perpetuus: seu rustica tempestatum astrologia_, º lutet. . i have sometimes thought that shakspeare may have written:-- "as flaws cong_est_ed in the spring of day." it is an easy thing to have printed cong_eal_ed for that word, and _congest_ occurs in _a lover's complaint_. still i think change unnecessary. has the assertion made in _an answer to mr. pope's preface to shakspeare_, by a strolling player, , respecting the destruction of the poet's mss. papers, been ever verified? if that account is authentic, it will explain the singular dearth of all autograph remains of one who must have written so much. as the pamphlet is not common, i transcribe the essential passage:-- "how much it is to be lamented that _two large chests_ full of this great man's _loose papers_ and _manuscripts_ in the hands of an ignorant _baker of_ warwick (who married one of the descendants from shakspear), were carelessly scattered and thrown about as garret lumber and litter, to { } the particular knowledge of the late _sir william bishop_; till they were all consum'd in the general fire and destruction of that town." s.w.s. mickleham, nov. . . [we cannot insert the interesting query which our correspondent has forwarded on the subject of the disappearance of shakespeare's mss. without referring to the ingenious suggestion upon that subject so skilfully brought forward by the rev. joseph hunter in his _new illustrations of the life, studies, and writings of shakspeare_, vol. i. p. .:--"that the entire disappearance of all manuscripts of shakspeare, so entire that no writing of his remains except his name, and only one letter ever addressed to him, is in some way connected with the religious turn which his posterity took, in whose eyes there would be much to be lamented in what they must, i fear, have considered a prostitution of the noble talents which had been given him."] * * * * * food of the people.--bills of fare in --humble pie. the food of the people must always be regarded as an important element in estimating the degree of civilization of a nation, and its position in the social scale. mr. macaulay, in his masterly picture of the state of england at the period of the accession of james ii., has not failed to notice this subject as illustrative of the condition of the working classes of that day. he tells us that meat, viewed relatively with wages, was "so dear that hundreds of thousands of families scarcely knew the taste of it.... the great majority of the nation lived almost entirely on rye, barley, and oats." (_hist. eng._ vol. i. p. ., th ed.) it is not uninteresting to inquire (and having found, it is worth making a note of) what sort of fare appeared on the tables of the upper and middle classes,--who, unlike their poorer neighbours, were in a condition to gratify their gastronomic preferences in the choice and variety of their viands,--with the view of determining whether the extraordinary improvement which has taken place in the food of the labouring population has been equally marked in that of the wealthier orders. pepys, who was unquestionably a lover of good living, and never tired of recording his feastings off "brave venison pasty," or "turkey pye," has given in his _diary_ many curious notices of the most approved dishes of his day. the following "bills of fare" of the period referred to speak, however, directly to the point; they are taken from a work entitled, _the accomplisht lady's delight, in preserving, physick, beautifying, and cookery_. london, printed for b. harris, . "_a bill of fare for a gentleman's house about candlemas._ " . a pottage with a hen. . a _chatham_-pudding. . a fricacie of chickens. . a leg of mutton with a sallet. garnish your dishes with barberries. "_second course._ . a chine of muton. . a chine of veal. . lark-pye. . a couple of pullets, one larded. garnished with orange slices. "_third course._ . a dish of woodcocks. . a couple of rabbits. . a dish of asparagus. . a westphalia gammon. "_last course._ . two orange tarts, one with herbs. . a bacon tart. . an apple tart. . a dish of bon-chriteen pears. . a dish of pippins. . a dish of pearmains. "_a banquet for the same season._ " . a dish of apricots. . a dish of marmalade of pippins. . a dish of preserved cherries. . a whole red quince. . a dish of dryed sweet-meats. "_a bill of fare upon an extraordinary occasion._ " . a collar of brawn. . a couple of pullets boyled. . a bisk of fish. . a dish of carps. . a grand boyled meat. . a grand sallet. . a venison pasty. . a roasted turkey. . a fat pig. . a powdered goose. . a haunch of venison roasted. . a neats-tongue and udder roasted. . a westphalia ham boyled. . a joll of salmon. . mince pyes. . a surloyn of roast beef. . cold baked meats. . a dish of custards. "_second course._ . jellies of all sorts. . a dish of pheasants. . a pike boyled. . an oyster pye. . a dish of plovers. . a dish of larks. . a joll of sturgeon. . a couple of lobsters. . a lamber pye. . a couple of capons. . a dish of partridges. . a fricacy of fowls. . a dish of wild ducks. . a dish of cram'd chickens. . a dish of stewed oysters. . a marchpane. . a dish of fruits. . an umble pye." the fare suggested for "fish days" is no less various and abundant; twelve dishes are enumerated for the first course, and sixteen for the second. looking at the character of these viands, some of which would not discredit the genius of a soyer or a mrs. glasse, { } it seems pretty evident that in the article of food the labouring classes have been the greatest gainers since . few things are more suggestive of queries--as everybody knows from experience--than the products of culinary art. i will not, however, further trespass on space which may be devoted to a more dignified topic, than by submitting the following. _query._--does the phrase "to eat humble pie," used to signify a forced humiliation, owe its origin to the "umble pye" specified above? j.t. hammack * * * * * bishop barnaby. mr. editor,--legour asks, why the people in suffolk call a lady-bird "bishop barnaby?" i give the following from the late major moor's _suffolk words_. "bishop-barney. the golden bug. see barnabee. in tasser's _ten unwelcome guests in the dairy_, he enumerates 'the bishop that burneth' (pp. . .), in an ambiguous way, which his commentator does not render at all clear. i never heard of this calumniated insect being an unwelcome guest in the dairy; but bishop-barney, or burney, and barnabee, or burnabee, and bishop-that-burneth, seem, in the absence of explanation to be nearly related--in sound at any rate. under _barnabee_ it will be seen that _burning_ has some connection with the history of this pretty insect." "barnabee," writes the major, "the golden-bug, or lady-bird; also bishop-barney: which see. this pretty little, and very useful insect, is tenderly regarded by our children. one settling on a child is always sent away with this sad valediction:-- "gowden-bug, gowden-bug, fly away home, yar house is bahnt deown and yar children all gone." to which i add another nursery doggerel less sad:-- "bishop, bishop-barnabee, tell me when your wedding be, if it be to-morrow day take your wings and fly away." the major adds, "it is sure to fly off on the third repetition." "burnt down," continues the major, "gives great scope to our country euphonic twang, altogether inexpressible in type; _bahnt deeyown_ comes as near to it as my skill in orthography will allow." ray, in his _south and east country words_, has this:-- "bishop, the little spotted beetle, commonly called the lady-cow or lady-bird. i have heard this insect in other places called golden-knop, and doubtless in other countries it hath other names. (_e. w._ p. ) golden-bugs the common suffolk name." j.g. southwold, nov. . . * * * * * trade editions--cottle's life of coleridge. sir,--in the nd vol. of mr. collier's valuable and interesting _extracts from the registers of the stationers' company_, p. , is the following entry:-- "thos. dason. licensed unto him the praise of follie; to print not above xv° of any impression, with this condition, that any of the company may laie on with him, reasonablie at every impression, as they think good, and that he shall gyve reasonable knowledge before to them as often as he shall print it." this is both curious and important information as being, in all probability, the earliest recorded instance of a custom still kept up amongst booksellers, and which now passes under the designation of a "trade edition;" the meaning of which being, that the copyright, instead of being the exclusive property of one person, is divided into shares and held by several. there are trade editions of such voluminous authors as shakspeare, gibbon, hume, and robertson, for instance; and alison's _europe_, if published half a century back, might in all probability have been added to the list. the difference between the ancient and the modern usage appears to be this, that formerly when the type was set up for an edition "any of the company may laie on, (these two last words are still technically used by printers for supplying type with paper,) reasonablie at every impression," &c.; in other words, may print as many copies from the type "as they think good;" whereas now, the edition is first printed, and then the allotment of the copies, and the actual cost of them is made, according to the number of shares. if this is a "note" worth registering, it is much at your service, whilst for a "query," i should be very glad to be informed, when a very able review, the date of which i neglected { } to make at the time, appeared in the _times_ newspaper, of the nd edition of cottle's _life of coleridge_. with many good wishes for the success of your register, i remain, &c. john miland. * * * * * dibdin's typographical antiquities. sir,--i am very glad to have elicited the information contained in your number just published respecting the copy of borde's work in the chetham library. as i have a great respect for mr. ames, i must remark that he had no share in the blunder, and whenever a new edition of his work is undertaken, it will be well to look rather curiously into the enlargements of dibdin. in the mean time this information naturally leads to another query--or rather, to more than one--namely, "_had_ mr. bindley's copy this unique imprint? and what became of it at the sale of his books? or is it only one of the imaginary editions which give bibliographers so much trouble?" perhaps some one of your correspondents may be able to give information. yours, &c. s.r. maitland. * * * * * queries answered, no. madoc the son of owen gwyned. the student who confines himself to a single question, may fairly expect a prompt and precise answer. to ask for general information on a particular subject, may be a less successful experiment. who undertakes extensive research except for an especial purpose? who can so far confide in his memory as to append his name to a list of authorities without seeming to prove his own superficiality? i throw out these ideas for consideration, just as they arise; but neither wish to repress the curiosity of _querists_, nor to prescribe bounds to the communicative disposition of _respondents_. did madoc, son of owen gwynedd, prince of wales, discover america? stimulated by the importance of the question, and accustomed to admire the spirit of maritime enterprise, at whatever period it may have been called into action, i have sometimes reflected on this debatable point--but can neither affirm nor deny it. i advise the _student_, as a preliminary step to the inquiry, to attempt a collection of all the accessible evidence, historical and ethnographic, and to place the materials which pertain to each class in the order of time. the historical evidence exists, i believe exclusively, in the works of the chroniclers and bards of wales; and the ethnographic evidence in the narratives of travellers in america. the opinions of modern writers, the gifted author of _madoc_ not excepted, he is at liberty to consider as _hors-d'oeuere_--to be passed on, or tasted, _à plaisir_. as an exemplification of this plan, i submit some short extracts, with critical remarks:-- "madoc another of owen gwyneth his sonnes left the land [north-wales] in contention betwixt his brethren, and prepared certaine ships with men and munition, and sought adventures by seas, sailing west, and leaving the coast of ireland so far north, that he came to a land unknowen, where he saw manie strange things."--caradoc of llancarvan, _continued--the historie of cambria_, . º. p. . [the history of caradoc ends with a.d. . the continuation, to the year , is ascribed by powel, the editor of the volume, to the monks of conway and stratflur.] carmina meredith filii rhesi [meredydd ab rhys] mentionem facientia de madoco filio oweni gwynedd, et de suâ navigatione in terras incognitas. vixit hic meredith circiter annum domini . madoc wyf, mwyedic wedd, iawn genau, owen gwynedd; ni fynnum dir, fy enaid oedd, na da mawr, ond y moroedd. _the same in english._ madoc i am the sonne of owen gwynedd with stature large, and comely grace adorned; no lands at home nor store of wealth me please, my minde was whole to searche the ocean seas. "these verses i received of my learned friend m. william camden." _richard hakluyt_, . [the eulogy of meredydd ab rhys is very indefinite, but deserves notice on account of its early date. he "flourished," says w. owen, "between a.d. and ."] "this land must needs be some part of that countrie of which the spaniardes affirme themselves to be the first finders sith hannos time; ... whereupon it is manifest, that that countrie was long before by brytaines discouered, afore either columbus or americus vespatius lead anie spaniardes thither. of the viage and returne of this madoc there be _manie fables fained_, as the common people doo use in distance of place { } and length of time rather to augment than to diminish: but sure it is, that there he was."--humfrey lhoyd, _additions to the historie of cambria_, p. . [lhoyd, who translated the history of caradoc, and made considerable additions to it, died in . he mentions the second voyage of madoc, but cites no authority.] "this madoc arriving in that westerne countrie, unto the which he came, in the year , left most of his people there: and returning backe for more of his owne nation, acquaintance and freends, to inhabite that faire and large countrie: went thither againe with ten sailes, as i find noted by gutyn owen. i am of opinion that the land, wherevnto he came, was some part of mexico:" etc.--david powel, s.t.p., note in _the historie of cambria_, . °. p. . [the learned powel relies on the authority of the poet gutyn owen. "he wrote," says w. owen, "between a.d. and "--three centuries after the event in question!] _ethnographic evidence._ "they came [anno ] to part of the west indies about cape breton, shaping their course thence north-eastwards, vntill they camme to the island of penguin," etc.--the voyage of master hore, in _the principall navigations_, etc. . fol. [antiquaries consider the mention of _cape breton_ and _penguin island_ as evidence. it cannot prove much, as the particulars were not committed to writing till about half-a-century after the voyage.] "there is also another kinde of foule in that countrey [between the gulf of mexico and cape breton] ... they have white heads, and therefore the country men call them _penguins_ (which seemeth to be a welsh nanme). and _they have also in use divers other welsh words, a matter worthy the noting_."--the relation of david ingram, . in _the principall navigations_, etc. . fol. [this narrative was compiled from answers to certain _queries_--perhaps twenty years after the events related.] "afterwards [anno ] they [the doeg indians] carried us to their town, and entertained us civilly for four months; and i did converse with them of many things in the british tongue, and _did preach to them three times a week in the british tongue_," etc. rev. morgan jones, .--_british remains_, . °. [the editor omits to state how he procured the manuscript. the paper whence the above is extracted is either decisive of the question at issue, or a forgery.] the _student_ may infer, even from these imperfect hints, that i consider the subject which he proposes to himself as one which deserves a strict investigation--provided the collections hereafter described have ceased to be in existence. "with respect to this extraordinary occurence in the history of wales, i have collected a multitude of evidences, in conjunction with edward williams, the bard, to prove that madog must have reached the american continent; for the descendants of him and his followers exist there as a nation to this day; and the present position of which is on the southern branches of the missouri river, under the appellations of padoucas, white indians, civilized indians, and welsh indians."--_william owen_, f.a.s. . the title prefixed to this paper would be a misnomer, if i did not add a list of books which it may be desirable to consult:-- _on the scandinavian discoveries._--mémoires de la société royale des antiquaires du nord. - . _copenhague._ °. p. .--historia vinlandiæ antiquæ, seu partis americæ septentrionalis--per thormodum terfæum. _haviniæ_, . °. . °--antiquitates americanæ, sive scriptores septentrionales rerum ante-columbianarum in america. _hafniæ_, . °. _on the welsh discoveries._--the historie of cambria, now called wales--continued by david powel. _london_, . °. the myvyrian archaiology of wales, _london_, - . °. vol. british remains, by the rev. n. owen, a.m. _london_, . °. the cambrian biography, by william owen, f.a.s. _london_, . °. biblithèque américaine, par h. ternaux. _paris_, . °. the principall navigations, voiages and discoveries of the english nation--by richard hakluyt, m.a. _london_, . fol. bolton corney. * * * * * madoc--his expedition to america. dr. plott, in his account, and lord monboddo, _origin and progress of language_, refer to the _travels of herbert_ ( th century), lib. iii. cap. ult., for a full history of this supposed discovery. they derived it from meredyth ap rhys, gatty owen, and cynfyn ap gronow, a.d. - . see also _atheneaum_, aug. . .--professor elton's address at the meeting of the british association, on this and the earlier icelandic discovery. the belief in the story has been lately renewed. see _archæologia cambrens_, . ., and _l'acadie_, by sir j.e. alexander, . i will only observe that in dr. plott's account, madoc was directed by the _best compass_, and this in ! see m'culloch's _dictionary of commerce_. anglo-cambrian. * * * * * { } madoc's expedition. a traveller informs us that baron a. von humboldt urges further search after this expedition in the welsh records. he thinks the passage is in the _examin critique_. * * * * * queries "clouds" or shrouds, in shakespeare. i quite agree with your correspondent d.n.r., that there never has been an editor of shakespeare capable of doing him full justice. i will go farther and say, that there never will be an editor capable of doing him any thing like justice. i am the most "modern editor" of shakespeare, and i am the last to pretend that i am at all capable of doing him justice: i should be ashamed of myself if i entertained a notion so ridiculously presumptuous. what i intended was to do him all the justice in my power, and that i accomplished, however imperfectly. it struck me that the best mode of attempting to do him any justice was to take the utmost pains to restore his text to the state in which he left it; and give me leave, very humbly, to say that this is the chief recommendation of the edition i superintended through the press, having collated every line, syllable, and letter, with every known old copy. for this purpose i saw, consulted and compared every quarto and every folio impression in the british museum, at oxford, at cambridge, in the libraries of the duke of devonshire and lord ellesmere, and in several private collections. if my edition have no other merit, i venture to assert that it has this. it was a work of great labour, but it was a work also of sincere love. it is my boast, and my only boast, that i have restored the text of shakespeare, as nearly as possible, to the integrity of the old copies. when your correspondent complains, therefore, that in "hen. iv. part ," act iii. sc. ., in the line, "with deafening clamours in the slippery clouds," the word _shrouds_ is not substituted by editors of shakespeare for "clouds," the answer is, that not a single old copy warrants the merely fanciful emendation, and that it is not at all required by the sense of the passage. in the to of , and in the folio of , the word is "clouds;" and he must be a very bold editor (in my opinion little capable of doing justice to any author), who would substitute his own imaginary improvement, for what we have every reason to believe is the genuine text. _shrouds_ instead of "clouds" is a merely imaginary improvement, supported by no authority, and (as, indeed, your correspondent shows) without the merit of originality. i am for the text of shakespeare as he left it, and as we find it in the most authentic representations of his mind and meaning. j. payne collier. * * * * * medal of the pretender. sir,--possibly some one of your literary correspondents, who may be versed in the, what d'israeli would call _secret_ history of the jacobite court, will endeavour to answer a "query" relative to the following rare medal:-- _obv._ a ship of war bearing the french flag; on the shore a figure in the dress of a jesuit (supposed to represent father petre) seated astride of a _lobster_, holding in his arms the young prince of wales, who has a little windmill on his head. legend: "allons mon prince, nous sommes en bon chemin." in the exergue, "jacc: franç: eduard, supposé. juin, ." _rev._ a shield charged with a windmill, and surmounted by a jesuit's bonnet; two rows of beads or rosaries, for an order or collar, within which we read "honny soit qui _non_ y pense;" a _lobster_ is suspended from the collar as a badge. legend: "les armes et l'ordre du pretendu prince de galles." the difficulty in the above medal is _the lobster_, though doubtless it had an allusion to some topic or scandal of the day; whoever can elucidate it will render good service to medallic history, for hitherto it has baffled all commentators and collectors of medals. the windmill (indicative of the poplar fable that the prince was the son of a miller), and the roman catholic symbols, are well understood. there is an engraving of this medal in van loon's _histoire metallique des pays bas_. it is also imperfectly engraved in edwards' _medallic history of england_, for the jesuit is represented kneeling on the shore, and pinkerton, who furnished the text, calls it "a boy kneeling on the shore." the medal is so rare that probably the artist could obtain only a rubbed or mutilated impression to engrave from. my description is from a { } specimen, in my own collection, as fine as the day it was minted. i may add that both van loon and pinkerton have engraved the legend in the collar erroneously, "honi soit qui _bon_ y pense;" it should be "_non_." b. nightingale. * * * * * roger de coverley. in the _spectator's_ description of sir roger de coverley it is said, "that his great-grandfather was the inventor of that famous country dance which is called after him." to the tune, as printed in chappell's _english melodies_, is appended a note to the effect that it was called after "roger of coverley" (cowley, near oxford). can any one inform me-- i. where any notice of that roger is to be found? ii. what is the etymon of "cowley" (temple cowley and church cowley)? iii. if any notice of the tune is to be met with earlier than , when it was printed by h. playford in his _dancing master_? w. * * * * * history of landed and commercial policy of england--history of edward ii. who was the author of the two following works?--"remarks upon the history of the landed and commercial policy of england, from the invasion of the romans to the accession of james i. vols. london: printed for e. brooke, in bell yard, temple bar, mdcclxxxv." "the history of the life, reign, and death of edward ii, king of england and lord of ireland, with the rise and fall of his great favourites, gaveston and the spencers. written by e.f. in the year , and printed verbatim from the original. london: printed by j.c. for charles harper, at the flower-de-luce in fleet st.; samuel crouch, at the princes' arms, in pope's head alley in cornhill; and thomas fox, at the angel in westminster hall, . (a portrait of ed. ii.)" in the st vol. harl. miscell. it is said that the above was found with the papers of the first lord falkland, and is attributed to him. my copy has faulconbridge inserted in ms. over the f., and a book plate of earl verney, motto "_prodesse quam conspici_," with an escutcheon of pretence. anglo-cambrian * * * * * the reverend thomas leman. mr. editor,--amongst the later authorities on subjects of british-roman antiquity, the rev. thomas leman is constantly referred to, and in terms of great commendation. can you inform me whether that gentleman published any work or made an avowed communication of any of his researches? his name is not found in the index to the _archæologia_. mr. leman contributed largely to mr. hatcher's edition of _richard of cirencester_; but it is one of the unsatisfactory circumstances of this work that these contributions, and whatever may have been derived from the late bishop of cloyne, are merely acknowledged in general terms, and are not distinguished as they occur. i believe the ms. of the work was all in mr. hatcher's handwriting; some of your readers may possibly have the means of knowing in what way he used the materials thus given, or to what extent they were adapted or annotated by himself. a.t. coleman street, nov. . * * * * * gothic architecture. sir,--will any of your readers favour me with an account of the origin, as well as the date of introduction, of the term "_gothic_," as applied to the pointed styles of ecclesiastical architecture? this query is, of course, intimately connected with the much-disputed question of the origin of the pointed style itself. but yet i imagine that the _application_ of the term "_gothic_" may be found to be quite distinct, in its origin, from the first rise of the pointed arch. the invention of the pointed arch cannot, surely, be attributed to the _goths_; whence then the origin and the _meaning_ of the term _gothic_? r. vincent. winchester, nov. . * * * * * katherine pegg. sir,--i think you may safely add pepys's _diary_ to the list of books in illustration of which you are willing to receive both queries and answers. there is not a passage in the _diary_ that does not deserve to be understood. { } at vol. iv. p. . of the new edition is the following entry:-- " may, . here [at the king's theatre] i did kiss the pretty woman newly come, called pegg, that was sir charles sedley's mistress, a mighty pretty woman, and seems (but is not) modest." on this lord braybrooke has the following note:-- "pegg must have been margaret hughes, prince rupert's mistress, who had probably before that time lived with sir charles sedley." and then follows some account of mrs. hughes. but, _query_, was the "pegg" of the _diary_, peg hughes? was she not rather as i belived her to have been, katherine pegg, by whom king charles ii. had a son, charles fitz-charles, created earl of plymouth, th july, , died ? katherine pegg has escaped lord braybrooke. can any of your correspondents tell me who she was? peter cunningham * * * * * queries in mediÆval geography. what are the modern names of "watewich," "portum pusillum," "mare de saham," "perpessa," and "northmuth?" they are not to be found in ferrario's _lexicon_ (a geographical dictionary so defective that it has not even the latin name for aix-la-chapelle), nor in baudrand's _lexicon geographicum_ (a good dictionary for the mediæval latin names in france, but not so perfect as the _index geographicum_ attached to the volumes of bouquet), nor in martiniere's _grande dictionnarie geographique_, nor in the index to wright's _courthand_, a miserable and imperfect compilation. [these queries are addressed to our correspondents in a very flattering review of "notes and queries" which appeared in the _morning herald_ of the th of november, and we shall be very glad to receive such answers to all or any of them as it may be in the power of any of our friends to supply.] * * * * * myles bloomfylde and william blomefield's metrical writings on alchymy. sir,--i have had intrusted to me a ms. metrical book on alchymy, "written by me myles bloomefylde, late of bury saynes edmunde in ye countye of suffolke, physytione;" but i can find no account of the author. worton, ritson, and tanner, mention a "william blomefield, born at bury. bachelor in physic and a monk of bury," who wrote _inter alia_ a metrical work called _bloomefield's blossoms, or the camp of philosophy_. were there two metrical writers on alchymy of the name bloomfield, temp. eliz. and connected with bury? buriensis. [the following note by park, which first appeared in the edition of wharton published in , iii., p. ., coupled with the fact that william blomefield is described as a bachelor of physic, would seem to show that there is but one writer, whose proper name is not william, but myles: "from ashmole's _notes on theatrum chemicum_, . p. ., it seems doubtful whether his name was not myles."] * * * * * thynne's collection of chancellors. mr. editor,--can any of your correspondents inform me who was the "streict laced" gaoler of the records, alluded to in the following passage in the _collection of chancellors of england_, by francis thynne, inserted in holinshed (ed. ) iv. . "john, chancellor of england in the time of king henrie the second, but what he was or in what yeare of king henrie he lived i doo not know, and therefore leave it to _him that both can and ought to give life_ to these persons whom he imprisoneth in the east castell of london; not doubting but in time he will doo his countrie good, and correct other men; though _now he be so streict laced_, as that he will not procure anie furtherance of other men's trauels." [greek: s.] * * * * * cold harbour mr. editor,--in examining the ordnance survey of kent, i was quite surprised at the recurrence of the name "cold harbour;" and again, in wyld's map of london in . i believe the point has been explained before, but perhaps some of your readers could give some information as to its origin. g.h.b. nov. . . [the society of antiquaries was a good deal occupied, we scarcely know whether we may say interested, in the question raised by our correspondent, during the last session: and considerable { } information upon the subject will be found in the published _proceedings_ of the society, and in the last part of the _archæologia_. we should like to know whether there are _cold harbours_ in _every_ county in england. mr. hartshorne published a long list in his _salopia antiqua_. if our correspondents can give us any addition to that list, they will be acceptable. we are aware that there are several in kent.] * * * * * statistics of the roman catholic church. mr. editor,--if any reader of your valuable and much-needed periodical can, through its medium, supply me with the title of some recent and authentic work containing _statistics_ of the roman catholic church--e.g. the number of its members, or reputed members, in the different european states; the number and temporalities of its sees, clergy, &c.--he will confer on me a great obligation; one which it will be a pleasure to me to repay to some other "querist," should it lie within my power to supply any desired information, in my turn. your faithful servant, e.e. * * * * * incumbents of church livings. sir,--perhaps some of the readers of your useful publication could inform me where i can find the _name_ and _birth-place_ of incumbents of church livings prior to , and the patrons of them. your well-wisher, l. * * * * * the curse of scotland--why is the nine of diamonds so called? i shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who will inform me why the nine of diamonds is called the curse of scotland. i have heard two causes assigned. one, that the duke of cumberland, on the field after the battle of culloden, wrote upon the back of this card a very cruel and inhuman order for the destruction of the persons and property of the rebels. this cannot be true, for i have in my possession a print entitled "britons association against the pope's bulls." in it the young pretender or prince is represented attempting to lead across the tweed a herd of bulls laden with curses, excommunications, indulgences, &c. &c. &c. on the ground before them lies the nine of diamonds. this print is dated oct. . , some months previous to the battle of culloden. the other cause assigned is, that the nine lozenges with which the saltire is charged in the armorial bearings of the earl of stair, are so arranged as to resemble the nine of diamonds, which was called the curse of scotland, from the active part taken by that earl in promoting the union, which was most unpopular in scotland. i cannot positively deny that the card in question owes its evil name to this cause, but i am not aware that the earl of stair was so conspicuously active as to occasion his being peculiarly selected as an object of popular aversion on that account. he was indeed a commissioner for drawing up the articles of the union, and he was sent ambassador to the court of louis xiv. chiefly for the purpose of watching the proceedings of the jacobites; these circumstances may have added to the odium which attached to his name from the part which was taken by his predecessor, who was secretary for scotland, and was charged with having exceeded his authority in ordering the massacre of glencoe. edw. hawkins. nov. . [we would add to mr. hawkins's query, another, viz.: what is the earliest known instance of the card in question being so designated? for it is clear, if such was the case before the union, the second explanation is as little satisfactory as the first.] * * * * * notes of book sales--catalogues, etc. the collectors of british portraits--and there are doubtless many such among our readers--will shortly have such an opportunity of enriching their portfolios as rarely presents itself. messrs. sotheby and co. commence, on the rd of december, the sale of the second portion of the important and valuable stock of prints belonging to the well-known and eminent printsellers, messrs. w. and g. smith, whose shop in lisle street, leicester square, has been for so many years the favourite resort of all who were in search of the rare and curious in calcographic art. messrs. sotheby describe the present sale as "comprising one of the most numerous and interesting collections of british historical portraits ever offered for sale;" and the following lots, which exhibit specimens of the rarities it contains, justify their statement. archibald earl of argyll, by _loggan, first state, before the inscription round the oval_, very fine and rare. sir wm. ashurst, _lord mayor of london, , after linton, by r. white_, very fine and rare. { } slingsby bethell, one of the sheriffs of london, &c. , _whole length, w. sherwin sculpt., sold by s. lee, at the feathers in lumbert street_, very fine and extremely rare. sir richard rainsford, _lord chief justice of the king's bench, mezzotint after claret, r. tompson excudit_, most brilliant and very rare. james the forth, king of scotland, _holding a flower in his hand, sold by compton holland_, extremely fine and very rare. frederick king of bohemia, _half length, standing under an arch, four latin lines beneath, no engraver's name_, very fine and extremely rare. charles lewis, count palatine of the rhine, son of the king of bohemia, on horseback, with a view of london beyond him; circles containing the dates of the births of his brothers and sisters at the top on the left, eight english lines beneath: _a most interesting and rare print_, brilliant impression, and in the most perfect condition. sir john fenwick, _of fenwick castle, in the country of northumberland, executed in , on suspicion of being engaged in a plot to assassinate william iii., after wissing, by white_, very fine and extremely rare. thomas cartwright, _bishop of chester, after soust, by becket_, very fine and rare. john dolben, bishop of rochester, john fell, bishop of oxford, and dr. richard allestry, _called by charles ii_. chipley, chopley, chepley, _from the picture in christchurch hall, by sir p. lely, d. loggan excudit_, brilliant proof, and extremely rare. sir henry chauncey, _the historian of hertfordshire, by j. suvage, fine and rare_. george gordan, marquis of hustley, by _sauvè_, fine and extremely rare. robert sidney, earl of leicester, by _simon passe, sold by sudbury and humble_, very fine and rare. robert bertie, earl of lindsey, after _geldorp_, by _voerst_, brilliant and very rare. isaac milers, by _vertue, first state, before the alterations of the arms and inscription, very fine and rare; and the same, in the ordinary state_. thomas thynn of long leate, _murdered in pall mall , after kneller, by white_, very fine and rare. thomas thynn, _mezzotint after lely, sold by a. browne_, very fine and rare. louise duchess of portsmouth, _with her son as cupid, after gascar, by baudet_, very fine and extremely rare, _from mr. ord's collection, at the sale of which it produced £. s. d._ louise duchess of portsmouth, _reclining on a couch, oblong mezzotint_, fine proof before and letters, and extremely rare. _hobson and the cambridge carrier, author of "hobson's choice," by j. payne, two states, very fine and rare_. john frederick, elector of saxony, playing at chess with ernest duke of brunswick, at the moment when charles v. sent the warrant for his execution, a most curious and interesting historical print, and extremely rare. erasmus, _sitting with a book before him_, by f. hogenberg, _h. cock excudebat_, , very fine and rare, &c. we have also received:-- "a catalogue of english and foreign theology, including some of the rarest works of our early english divines; nearly a complete series of the fathers of the church; the various councils and most important ecclesiastical historians, liturgical writers, &c." issued by leslie, of . great queen street, lincoln's inn, which is one which will greatly interest all readers of the peculiar class to whom it is more particularly addressed. the same may be said of the excellent "catalogue of old and new books (part civ)," just delivered by petheramm of . high holborn: which, in addition to theological works, exhibits many valuable productions in historical and general literature. bernard quarritch's "catalogue of foreign books and classics, selling at . castle street, leicester square," well deserves the attention of philologists. it is rich, not only in works illustrative of the oriental languages and literature, but also in those of germany and scandinavia. indeed, it is one which should be looked into by all students of foreign literature. some curious articles, more especially in early italian and french literature, and on the subject of alchymy, astrology, magic, &c., will be found in a "catalogue of interesting and rare books on sale, by george bumstead, no. . high holborn." william nield, . burlington arcade is, we believe a new candidate for the favours of the purchasers of old books. his first catalogue contains some curious articles in the departments of demonology and witchcraft; a few varieties belonging to the "marprelate" class such as "penri's exhortation;" and a fine collection of classical music. lastly, let us mention what cannot but interest many reader of "notes and queries," that mr. lumley, of . chancery lane, having purchased the stock of society of antiquaries' publications has divided the volumes of the archælogia, and has just put forth a catalogue of the separate papers, which are for sale, and of which he says very truly, "their value cannot be disputed," and they are "now for the first time offered thus to the public." * * * * * { } books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. burney's treatise on music (not his history). gray's elegy (professor young of glasgow's critiscism of). life of hon. robert price, chief justice of the common pleas. london. . flores bernardi. regnorum, provinciarum, civitatumque nomina latina (coronelli, potius alphonsus lasor a varea). fol. vols. venet. . or the nd vol. only. budden's discourse for parents' honour and authoritie. vo. . the two wolves in lamb's skins, or old eli's lamentation over his two sons. vo. . averell's four notable histories, etc. to. . nature, a poem. folio. . barnefield's plowman's complaint. to. . gill's instructions for children, in verse. . jermin's father's institution of his child. . passionael epte dat levent der hellig n. folio. basil. mdxxii. odd volumes southey's cowper. vols. x. xii. xiii. xiv. cairn's edition of goldsmith's miscellaneous works. edinburgh. . vol. iii. shakspeare's dramatic works.--the _fourth_ volume of whittingham's edition, in vols. mo. chiswick. . cooper's (c.p.) account of the most important public records. vo. .--the first volume of livy.--vol. i. of crevier's edition. vols. to. paris. . letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _the matter is so generally understood with regard to the management of periodical works, that it is hardly necessary for the editor to say that_ he cannot undertake to return manuscripts; _but on one point he wishes to offer a few words of explanation to his correspondents in general, and particularly to those who do not enable him to communicate with them except in print. they will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly his interest to take all he can get, and make the most, and the best of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received, and appreciated, even if the succeeding number bears no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgment will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and if they understood an editor's position they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves undervalued; but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from an opposite course_. * * * * * _surely_ melanion _is too hard upon our correspondents and too_ exigeant _towards ourselves. he would place us in a singular position. he should consider that we have not opened lists for all comers to tilt against each other. we invite_ litterateurs _to a_ re-union, _in which they may give and receive mutual help and aid; but, in order to do so, they must tolerate each others' little peculiarities, and not espy offence in them_. _the index so kindly offered by_ melanion _is declined with many thanks_. _answers to several outstanding queries in our next_. communications received.--_w.--a subscriber--f.g.s.--rev. l.b. larking.--j.j.s.--j. britton.--t.g.--v.--s.w.s.--c.b.--r.j.s.-- melanion.--w.l.--c.a.h.--anglo-cambrian--t. de sternberg.--q.x.z.-- a.j.e.--q.d.--f.f.b.--scotus.--r.d.--p.--cecil moore.--a hapless hunter.--e.--c.h.d.--q.q.--p.c.s.s.--j.r.p.--x.x.x.--g.j.k.--f.r.a_. books and odd volumes wanted.--_we believe that this will prove one of the most useful divisions of our weekly sheet. gentlemen who may be unable to meet with any book or volume of which they are in want may, upon furnishing name, date, size, &c., have it inserted in this list_ free of cost. _persons having such volumes to dispose of are requested to send reports of price, &c., to mr. bell, our publisher_. _we have received many complaints of a difficulty in procuring our paper. every bookseller and newsvendor will supply it_ if ordered, _and gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition by giving their orders direct to the publisher_, mr. george bell, . fleet street, _accompanied by a post office order for a quarter_ ( s. d.). _all communications should be addressed_ to the editor of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo. price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "it supplies what was much wanted--a regular and progressive account of english legal institutions. the result is a correction of many errors, an addition of much new information, and a better general view of our strictly legal history than any other jurist, historian, or biographer had heretofore attempted to give."--_examiner._ longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * { } just published, part ii., containing plates, s. plain, s. d., coloured, to be completed in three or four parts. antiquarian gleanings in the north of england: being examples of antique furniture, plate, church decorations, objects of historical interest, &c. drawn and etched by w.b. scott. "a collection of antiquarian relics, chiefly in the decorative branch of art, preserved in the northern counties, portrayed by a very competent hand. many of the objects possess considerable interest; such as the chair of the venerable bede, cromwell's sword and watch, and the grace-cup of thomas à becket. all are drawn with that distinctness which makes them available for the antiquarian, for the artist who is studying costume, and for the study of decorative art."--_spectator._ vo. cloth, price s., with a coloured plate of king alfred's jewel. the life and times of alfred the great. by the rev. j.a. giles, d.c.l., late fellow of corpus christi college, oxford, author of "the history of the ancient britons," &c. "a useful volume, as collecting into one view all the facts that are known respecting the life of alfred, exhibiting the various opinions on disputed points, and containing a very fair, sensible summing up by the biographer."--_spectator._ two vols., vo, s. history of the ancient britons, from the earliest period to the invasion of the saxons compiled from the original authorities. by the rev. j.a. giles, d.c.l., late fellow of c.c.c., oxford. "the longer and more important passages are full and clear in matter, always well presented, often in a masterly mode.... dr. giles is in thorough possession of his materials and of his intention, which produces the clearness that arises from mastery: and he exhibits the same general _bon hommie_ and chronicler disposition for minute and picturesque narrative which we noted in his life of becket, with more of a critical spirit."--_spectator._ vo. price s. d., with two plates. a description of the roman theatre lately discovered at verulam. by r. grove lowe, esq. read at the meeting of the st. alban's architectural society, april , . vo. sewed s. on some roman sepulchral remains discovered in the churchyard of st. stephen, near st. alban's, herts, a.d. . read at a meeting of the st. alban's architectural society, june , . by matthew holbeche bloxam. published for the society by george bell, . fleet street; william langley, st. alban's; and john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * aristotle's ethics. literally translated into english. vo. bds. s.; published at s. d. oxford, . ancient greece. the history of the manners and customs of ancient greece. by j.a. st. john, vols. vo. boards, s.; published at l. s. d. . travels in the morea. by w.m. leake, f.r.s., with a map and plates. vols. vo. bds. s.; published at l. s. . calderon de la barca, las comedias de. por j.j. keil. portrait, vols, royal vo. sewed, l. s. leipsique, . edward stibbs, . strand, where also can be had on application his catalogues of second hand books in all languages and subjects, viz. classics and philology, divinity, english and general literature. * * * * * tracts for the christian seasons. the first part of a new series of tracts for the christian seasons will be published on saturday, december , containing a tract for each sunday in advent. these tracts illustrate the teaching of the church, follow the order of the christian year, and neither exceed nor fall short of the teaching of the prayer book. the first series is now complete in vols. fcap. vo. and may be ordered of all booksellers in the country. oxford: john henry parker; and . strand, london. * * * * * pickering's library editions. bunyan's pilgrim's progress, vo. s. d. george herbert's complete works. vols. vo. s. taylor's holy living and dying. vols. vo. s. the above works are beautifully printed in large type, by whittingham, and are kept in appropriate bindings. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * books of reference . bibliotheca auctorum classicorum. a complete catalog of classics. vo., s. . bibliotheca zoologica et palÆontologica, vo. . s. . bibliotheca medico-chirurgica. vo. . s. d. . bibliographie biographique. a reference to , works on biography. to. boards. l. s. williams and norgate will be happy to answer all queries respecting german books, and things relating thereunto, as far as their experience and extensive works of reference enable them to do. williams and norgate, . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november , . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents our progress notes:-- sir e. dering's household book, by rev. lambert b. larking. berkeley's theory of vision, by rev. j.h. todd. bishop barnaby. mathematical archæology. song in style of suckling, &c. gothic architecture. dr. burney's musical works, by e.f. rimbault. ancient alms' basins, by dr. bell. minor notes:--prince madoc--st. barnabas--register of cromwell's baptism--the times--rowland monoux--wassail song--portrait of charles i.--autograph mottoes of richard duke of gloucester and henry duke of buckingham. notes in answer to queries:--lord erksine's brooms--scarborough warning--gray's elegy--coffee, the lacedæmonian black broth. queries:-- the last of the villains, by e. smirke. the dore of holy scripture. turner's ms. history of westminster. talisman of charlemagne. dick shore, isle of dogs, &c. minor queries:--the strand maypole--to fettle--greek verse--dr. dee's petition--vondel's lucifer--discurs modest--ptolemy of alexandria--vanbrugh's london improvements--becket's grace-cup--sir herbert's office-book. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * our progress we have this week been called upon to take a step which neither our best friends nor our own hopes could have anticipated. having failed in our endeavours to supply by other means the increasing demand for complete sets of our "notes and queries," we have been compelled to reprint the first four numbers. it is with no slight feelings of pride and satisfaction that we record the fact of a large impression of a work like the present not having been sufficient to meet the demand,--a work devoted not to the witcheries of poetry or to the charms of romance, but to the illustration of matters of graver import, such as obscure points of national history, doubtful questions of literature and bibliography, the discussion of questionable etymologies, and the elucidation of old world customs and observances. what mr. kemble lately said so well with reference to archæology, our experience justifies us in applying to other literary inquiries:-- "on every side there is evidence of a generous and earnest co-operation among those who have devoted themselves to special pursuits; and not only does this tend of itself to widen the general basis, but it supplies the individual thinker with an ever widening foundation for his own special study." and whence arises this "earnest co-operation?" is it too much to hope that it springs from an increased reverence for the truth, from an intenser craving after a knowledge of it--whether such truth regards an event on which a throne depended, or the etymology of some household word now familiar only to "hard-handed men who work in athens here?" we feel that the kind and earnest men who honour our "notes and queries" with their correspondence, hold with bacon, that "truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it--the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it--and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it--is the sovereign good of human nature." we believe that it is under the impulse of such feelings that they have flocked to our columns--that the sentiment has found its echo in the breast of the public, and hence that success which has attended our humble efforts. the cause is so great, that we may well be pardoned if we boast that we have had both hand and heart in it. { } and so, with all the earnestness and heartiness which befit this happy season, when "no spirit stirs abroad; the nights are wholesome; when no planet strikes, no fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm, so hallow'd and so gracious is the time," do we greet all our friends, whether contributors or readers, with the good old english wish, a merry christmas and a happy new year! * * * * * sir e. dering's household book. the muniment chests of our old established families are seldom without their quota of "household books." goodly collections of these often turn up, with records of the expenditure and the "doings" of the household, through a period of two or more centuries. these documents are of incalculable value in giving us a complete insight into the domestic habits of our ancestors. many a note is _there_, well calculated to illustrate the pages of the dramatist or the biographer, and even the accuracy of the historian's statements may often be tested by some of the details which find their way into these accounts; as for the more peculiar province of the antiquary, there is always a rich store of materials. every change of costume is _there_; the introduction of new commodities, new luxuries, and new fashions, the varying prices of the passing age. dress in all its minute details, modes of travelling, entertainments, public and private amusements, all, with their cost, are there: and last, though not least, touches of individual character ever and anon present themselves with the force of undisguised and undeniable truth. follow the man through his pecuniary transactions with his wife and children, his household, his tenantry, nay, with himself, and you have more of his real character than the biographer is usually able to furnish. in this view, a man's "household book" becomes an impartial autobiography. i would venture to suggest that a corner of your paper might sometimes be profitably reserved for "notes" from these household books; there can be little doubt that your numerous readers would soon furnish you with abundant contributions of most interesting matter. while suggesting the idea, there happens to lie open before me the account-book of the first sir edward dering, commencing with the day on which he came of age, when, though his father was still living, he felt himself an independent man. one of his first steps, however, was to qualify this independence by marriage. if family tradition be correct, he was as heedless and impetuous in this the first important step of his life, as he seems to have been in his public career. the lady was elizabeth, daughter of sir nicholas tufton, afterwards created earl of thanet. in almost the first page of his account-book he enters all the charges of this marriage, the different dresses he provided, his wedding presents, &c. as to his bride, the first pleasing intelligence which greeted the young knight, after passing his pledge to take her for "richer for poorer," was, that the latter alternative was his. sir nicholas had jockied the youth out of the promised "trousseau," and handed over his daughter to sir edward, with nothing but a few shillings in her purse. she came unfurnished with even decent apparel, and her new lord had to supply her forthwith with necessary clothing. in a subsequent page, when he comes to detail the purchases which he was, in consequence, obliged to make for his bride, he gives full vent to his feelings on this niggardly conduct of the father, and, in recording the costs of his own outfit, his very first words have a smack of bitterness in them, which is somewhat ludicrous-- "medio de donte leporum surgit amari aliquid." he seems to sigh over his own folly and vanity in preparing a gallant bridal for one who met it so unbecomingly. " . "my desperate quarter! the d quarter from michaelmas unto new year's day. yards quarter of scarlett coloured satten for a doublett, and to line my cassocke, at s. per yard, £. s. yards halfe of fine scarlett, at s. per yard, to make hose cassocke and cloake [sic] £. yards dim of blacke rich velvett, att s. per yard, £. ounces of blacke galloune lace £. s. taffaty to line the doublett s. [sic] grosse of buttons, at s. the grosse £. s. pinkinge and racing the doublett, and lininge of ye copell s. ffor embrioderinge doublett, copell, and scarfe, £. s. dozen of small buttons s. d. stickinge and sowing silke s. ffor cuttinge ye scallops s. holland to line the hose s. d. dutch bays for the hose s. d. pocketts to ye hose d. dozen of checker riband pointes s. drawinge ye peeces in ye suite and cloake s. canvas and stiffninge to ye doublett s. d. ffor makinge ye doublett and hose s. making ye copell £. s. making ye cloake s. sum of this suite £. s." i must not occupy more of your space this week by extending these extracts. if likely to supply useful "notes" to your readers, they shall have, in some future number, the remainder of the bridegroom's wardrobe. in whatever niggardly array the bride came to her lord's arms, he, at { } least, was pranked and decked in all the apparel of a young gallant, an exquisite of the first water, for this was only one of several rich suits which he provided for his marriage outfit; and then follows a list of costly gloves and presents, and all the lavish outlay of this his "desperate quarter." in some future number, too, if acceptable to your readers, you shall be furnished with a list of other and better objects of expenditure from this household book; for sir edward, albeit, as clarendon depicts him, the victim of his own vanity, was worthy of better fame than is yet been his lot to acquire. he was a most accomplished scholar and a learned antiquary. he had his foibles, it is true, but they were redeemed by qualities of high and enduring excellence. the eloquence of his parliamentary speeches has elicited the admiration of southey; to praise them therefore now were superfluous. the noble library which he formed at surrenden, and the invaluable collection of charters which he amassed there, during his unhappily brief career, testify to his ardour in literary pursuits. the library and a large part of the mss. are unhappily dispersed. of the former, all that remains to tell of what it once was, are a few scattered notices among the family records, and the titles of books, with their cost, as they are entered in the weekly accounts of our "household book." of the latter there yet remain a few thousand charters and rolls, some of them of great interest, with exquisite seals attached. i shall be able occasionally to send you a few "notes" on these heads, from the "household book," and, in contemplating the remains of this unrivalled collection of its day, i can well bespeak the sympathy of every true-hearted "chartist" and bibliographer, in the lament which has often been mine--"quanta fuisti cum tantæ sint reliquiæ!" lambert b. larking. ryarsh vicarage, dec. . . * * * * * berkeley's theory of vision vindicated. in reply to the query of "b.g." (p. . of your th no.), i beg to say that bishop berkeley's _theory of vision vindicated_ does not occur either in the to. or vo. editions of his collected works; but there is a copy of it in the library of trinity college, dublin, from which i transcribe the full title as follows:-- "the theory of vision, or visual language, shewing the immediate presence and providence of a deity, vindicated and explained. by the author of alciphron, or the minute philosopher. "acts, xvii. . "_in him we live, and move, and have our being_. "lond. printed for j. tonson in the strand. "mdccxxxiii." some other of the author's tracts have also been omitted in his collected works; but, as i am now answering "a _query_," and not making "a _note_," i shall reserve what i might say of them for another opportunity. the memory of berkeley is dear to every member of this university; and therefore i hope you will permit me to say one word, in defence of his character, against dugald stewart's charge of having been "provoked," by lord shaftesbury's _characteristics_, "to a harshness equally unwonted and unwarranted." mr. stewart can scarcely suppose to have seen the book upon which he pronounces this most "unwarranted" criticism. the tract was not written in reply to the _characteristics_, but was an answer to an anonymous letter published in the _daily post-boy_ of september th, , which letter berkeley has reprinted at the end of his pamphlet. the only allusion to the writer of this letter which bears the slightest tinge of severity occurs at the commencement of the tract. those who will take the trouble of perusing the anonymous letter, will see that it was richly deserved; and i think it can scarcely, with any justice, be censured as unbecomingly harsh, or in any degree unwarranted. the passage is as follows:-- [after mentioning that an ill state of health had prevented his noticing this letter sooner, the author adds,] "this would have altogether excused me from a controversy upon points either personal or purely speculative, or from entering the lists of the declaimers, whom i leave to the triumph of their own passions. and indeed, to one of this character, who contradicts himself and misrepresents me, what answer can be made more than to desire his readers not to take his word for what i say, but to use their own eyes, read, examine, and judge for themselves? and to their common sense i appeal." the remainder of the tract is occupied with a philosophical discussion of the subject of debate, in a style as cool and as free from harshness as dugald stewart could desire, and containing, as far as i can see, nothing inconsistent with the character of him, who was described by his contemporaries as the possessor of "every virtue under heaven." james h. todd. trin. coll. dublin, dec. . . * * * * * bishop barnaby. mr. editor,--allow me, in addition to the note inserted in your th number, in answer to the query of legour, by your correspondent (and i believe my friend) j.g., to give the following extract from forby's _vocabulary of east anglia_:-- "bishop barnabee-s. the pretty insect more generally called the lady-bird, or may-bug. it is one of those highly favoured among god's harmless creatures which superstition protects from wanton injury. some obscurity seems to hang over this popular name { } of it. it has certainly no more relation to the companion of st. paul than to drunken barnaby, though some have supposed it has. it is sometimes called _bishop benebee_, which may possibly have been intended to mean the _blessed bee_; sometimes _bishop benetree_, of which it seems not possible to make any thing. the name has most probably been derived from the _barn-bishop_; whether in scorn of that silly and profane mockery, or in pious commemoration of it, must depend on the time of its adoption, before or since the reformation; and it is not worth inquiring. the two words are transposed, and _bee_ annexed as being perhaps thought more seemly in such a connection than fly-bug or beetle. the dignified ecclesiastics in ancient times wore brilliant mixtures of colours in their habits. bishops had scarlet and black, as this insect has on its wing-covers. some remains of the finery of the gravest personages still exist on our academical robes of ceremony. there is something inconsistent with the popish episcopal character in the childish rhyme with which _bishop barnabee_ is thrown up and dismissed when he happens to light on any one's hand. unluckily the words are not recollected, nor at present recoverable; but the purport of them is to admonish him to fly home, and take care of his wife and children, for that his house in on fire. perhaps, indeed, the rhyme has been fabricated long since the name by some one who did not think of such niceties." g.a.c. sir,--in the explanation of the term bishop barnaby, given by j.g., the prefix "bishop" seems yet to need elucidation. why should it not have arisen from the insect's garb? the full dress gown of the oxford d.d.--scarlet with black velvet sleeves--might easily have suggested the idea of naming the little insect "dr. burn bug," and the transition is easy to "dr. burnabee," or "bishop burnaby." these little insects, in the winter, congregate by thousands in barns for their long slumber till the reappearance of genial weather, and it is not impossible that, from this circumstance, the country people may have designated them "barn bug," or "barn bee." l.b.l. sir,--i cannot inform legour why the lady-bird (the seven-spotted, _coccinella septempunctata_, is the most common) is called in some places "bishop barnaby." this little insect is sometimes erroneously accused of destroying turnips and peas in its larva state; but, in truth, both in the larva and perfect state it feeds exclusively on aphides. i do not know that it visits dairies, and tusser's "bishop that burneth," may allude to something else; still there appears some popular connection of the _coccinellidæ_ with _cows_ as well as burning, for in the west riding of yorkshire they are called _cush cow ladies_; and in the north riding one of the children's rhymes anent them runs:-- "dowdy-cow, dowdy-cow, ride away heame, thy[ ] house is burnt, and thy bairns are tean, and if thou means to save thy bairns take thy wings and flee away!" the most mischievous urchins are afraid to hurt the dowdy-cow, believing if they did evil would inevitably befall them. it is tenderly placed on the palm of the hand--of a girl, if possible--and the above rhyme recited thrice, during which it usually spreads its wings, and at the last word flies away. a collection of nursery rhymes relating to insects would, i think, be useful. w.g.m.j. barker. [footnote : _thy_ is pronounced as _thee_.] [we have received many other communications respecting the epithet of this insect--so great a favourite with children. alicui and several other correspondents incline to l.b.l.'s opinion that it takes its name from a fancied resemblance of its bright wing-cases to the episcopal cope or chasuble. j.t. reminds us that st. barnabas has been distinguished of old by the title of _bright_, as in the old proverbial distich intended to mark the day of his festival according to the old style ( st june):-- "barnaby bright! the longest day and the shortest night." while f.e. furnishes us with another and happier version of the norfolk popular rhyme:-- "bishop, bishop barnabee, tell me when _my_ wedding be; if it be to-morrow day, take your wings and fly away! _fly to the east, fly to the west_, _fly to them that i love best_!" the name which this pretty insect bears in the various languages of europe is clearly mythic. in this, as in other cases, the virgin has supplanted freya; so that _freyjuhaena_ and _frouehenge_ have been changed into _marienvoglein_, which corresponds with _our lady's bird_. there, can, therefore, be little doubt that the esteem with which the lady-bird, or our lady's cow, is still regarded, is a relic of the ancient cult.] * * * * * mathematical archÆology. sir,--i cannot gather from your "notes" that scientific archæology is included in your plan, nor yet, on the other hand, any indications of its exclusion. science, however, and especially mathematical science, has its archæology; and many doubtful points of great importance are amongst the "vexed questions" that can only be cleared up by _documentary evidence_. that evidence is more likely to be found mixed up amongst the masses of papers belonging to systematic collectors than amongst the papers of mere mathematicians--amongst men who never destroy a paper because they have no present use for it, or because the subject does not come within the range of their researches, than amongst men who value nothing but a "new theorem" or "an improved solution." as a general rule i have always habituated myself to preserve every scrap of paper of any remote (and indeed recent) period, that had the appearance of being written by a literary man, whether i { } knew the hand, or understood the circumstance to which it referred, or not. such papers, whether we understand them or not, have a _possible value_ to others; and indeed, as my collections have always been at the service of my friends, very few indeed have been left in my hands, and those, probably, of no material value. i wish this system were generally adopted. papers, occasionally of great historical importance, and very often of archæological interest, would thus be preserved, and, what is more, _used_, as they would thus generally find their way into the right hands. there are, i fancy, few classes of papers that would be so little likely to interest archæologists in general, as those relating to mathematics; and yet such are not unlikely to fall in their way, often and largely, if they would take the trouble to secure them. i will give an example or two, indicating the kind of papers which are desiderata to the mathematical historian. . a letter from dr. robert simson, the editor of euclid and the restorer of the porisms, to john nourse of the strand, is missing from an otherwise unbroken series, extending from jan. to near the close of simson's life. the missing letter, as is gathered from a subsequent one, is feb. . . a mere letter of business from an author to his publisher might not be thought of much interest; but it need not be _here_ enforced how much of consistency and clearness is often conferred upon a series of circumstances by matter which such a letter might contain. this letter, too, contains a problem, the nature of which it would be interesting to know. it would seem that the letter passed into the hands of dodson, editor of the _mathematical repository_; but what became of dodson's papers i could never discover. the uses, however, to which such an unpromising series of letters have been rendered subservient may be seen in the _philosophical magazine_, under the title of "geometry and geometers," nos. ii. iii. and iv. the letters themselves are in the hands of mr. maynard, earl's court, leicester square. . thomas simpson (a name venerated by every geometer) was one of the scientific men consulted by the committee appointed to decide upon the plans for blackfriars bridge, in and . "it is probable," says dr. hutton, in his life of simpson, prefixed to the _select exercises_, , "that this reference to him gave occasion to his turning his thoughts more seriously to this subject, so as to form the design of composing a regular treatise upon it: for his family have often informed me that he laboured hard upon this work for some time before his death, and was very anxious to have completed it, frequently remarking to them that this work, when published, would procure him more credit than any of his former publications. but he lived not to put the finishing hand to it. whatever he wrote upon this subject probably fell, together with all his other remaining papers, into the hands of major henry watson, of the engineers, in the service of the india company, being in all a large chest full of papers. this gentleman had been a pupil of mr. simpson's, and had lodged in his house. after mr. simpson's death mr. watson prevailed upon the widow to let him have the papers, promising either to give her a sum of money for them, or else to print and publish them for her benefit. but nothing of the kind was ever done; this gentleman always declaring, when urged on this point by myself and others, that no use could be made of any of the papers, owing to the very imperfect state in which he said they were left. _and yet he persisted in his refusal to give them up again._" in colonel watson was recalled to india, and took out with him one of the most remarkable english mathematicians of that day, reuben burrow. this gentleman had been assistant to dr. maskelyne at the royal observatory; and to his care was, in fact, committed the celebrated schehallien experiments and observations. he died in india, and, i believe, all his papers which reached england, as well as several of his letters, are in my possession. this, however, is no further of consequence in the present matter, than to give authority to a remark i am about to quote from one of his letters to his most intimate friend, isaac dalby. in this he says:--"colonel watson has out here a work of simpson's on bridges, very _complete_ and _original_." it was no doubt by his dread of the sleepless watch of hutton, that so unscrupulous a person as colonel watson is proved to be, was deterred from publishing simpson's work as his own. the desideratum here is, of course, to find what became of colonel watson's papers; and then to ascertain whether this and what other writings of simpson's are amongst them. a _really good_ work on the mathematical theory of bridges, if such is ever to exist, has yet to be published. it is, at the same time, very likely that his great originality, and his wonderful sagacity in all his investigations, would not fail him in this; and possibly a better work on the subject was composed ninety years ago than has yet seen the light--involving, perhaps, the germs of a totally new and more effective method of investigation. i have, i fear, already trespassed too far upon your space for a single letter; and will, therefore, defer my notice of a few other desiderata till a future day. t.s.d. shooter's hill, dec. . . * * * * * song in the style of suckling--the two noble kinsmen. the song in your second number, furnished by a correspondent, and considered to be in the style { } of suckling, is of a class common enough in the time of charles i. george wither, rather than suckling, i consider as the head of a race of poets peculiar to that age, as "shall i wasting in despair" may be regarded as the type of this class of poems. the present instance i do not think of very high merit, and certainly not good enough for suckling. such as it is, however, with a few unimportant variations, it may be found at page . of the st vol. of _the hive, a collection of the most celebrated songs_. my copy is the nd edit. london, . i will, with your permission, take this opportunity of setting mr. dyce right with regard to a passage in the _two noble kinsmen_, in which he is only less wrong than all his predecessors. it is to be found in the second scene of the fourth act, and is as follows:-- "here love himself sits smiling: just such another wanton ganymede set jove afire with," &c. one editor proposed to amend this by inserting the normative "he" after "ganymede;" and another by omitting "with" after "afire." mr. dyce saw that both these must be wrong, as a comparison between two wanton ganymedes, one of which sat in the coutenance of arcite, could never have been intended;--another, something, if not ganymede, was wanted, and he, therefore, has this note:--"the construction and meaning are, 'with just such another _smile_ (which is understood from the preceding 'smiling') wanton ganymede set jove afire." when there is a choice of nouns to make intelligible sense, how can that one be understood which is not expressed? it _might_ be "with just such another _love_;" but, as i shall shortly show, no conjecture on the subject is needed. the older editors were so fond of mending passages, that they did not take ordinary pains to understand them; and in this instance they have been so successful in sticking the epithet "wanton" to ganymede, that even mr. dyce, with his clear sight, did not see that the very word he wanted was the next word before him. it puts one in mind of a man looking for his spectacles who has them already across his nose. "wanton" is a noun as well as an adjective; and, to prevent it from being mistaken for an epithet applied to ganymede, it will in future be necessary to place after it a _comma_, when the passage will read thus:-- "here love himself sits smiling. just such another wanton," (as the aforesaid smiling love) "ganymede set jove afire with," &c. the third act of the same play commences thus:-- "the duke has lost hippolita; each took a several land." mr. dyce suspects that for "land" we should read "laund," an old form of lawn. "land" being either wrong, or having a sense not understood now, we must fall back on the general sense of the passage. when people go a hunting, and don't keep together, it is very probable that they may take a several "direction." now _hand_ means "direction," as we say "to the right" or "left hand." it is not, therefore, probable, that we should read "a several hand?" samuel hickson * * * * * "gothic" architecture it would require more space than you could allot to the subject, to explain, at much length, "the origin, as well as the date, of the introduction of the term '_gothic_,' as applied to pointed styles of ecclesiastical architecture," required by r. vincent, of winchester, in your fourth number. there can be no doubt that the term was used at first contemptuously, and in derision, by those who were ambitious to imitate and revive the grecian orders of architecture, after the revival of classical literature. but, without citing many authorities, such as christopher wren, and others, who lent their aid in depreciating the old mediæval style, which they termed gothic, as synonymous with every thing that was barbarous and rude, it may be sufficient to refer to the celebrated treatise of sir henry wotton, entitled _the elements of architecture_, to., printed in london so early as . this work was so popular, that it was translated into latin, and annexed to the works of vitruvius, as well as to freart's _parallel of the ancient architecture with the modern_. dufresnoy, also, who divided his time between poetry and painting, and whose work on the latter art was rendered popular in this country by dryden's translation, uses the term "_gothique_" in a bad sense. but it was a strange misapplication of the term to use it for the pointed style, in contradistinction to the circular, formerly called saxon, now norman, romanesque, &c. these latter styles, like lombardic, italian, and the byzantine, of course belong more to the gothic period than the light and elegant structures of the pointed order which succeeded them. felibien, the french author of the _lives of architects_, divides gothic architecture into two distinct kinds--the _massive_ and the _light_; and as the latter superseded the former, the term gothic, which had been originally applied to both kinds, seems to have been restricted improperly to the latter only. as there is now, happily, no fear of the word being understood in a bad sense, there seems to be no longer any objection to the use of it in a good one, whatever terms may be used to discriminate all the varieties of the style observable either at home or abroad. j.i. trinity college, oxford. * * * * * { } dr. burney's musical works. mr. editor,--on pp. . and . of your columns inquiry is made for burney's _treatise on music_ (not his _history_). before correspondents trouble you with their wants, i think they should be certain that the books they inquire for have existence. dr. burney never published, or wrote, a _treatise on music_. his only works on the subject (the _general history of music_ excepted) are the following:-- "the present state of music in france and italy. vo. . "the present state of music in germany, the netherlands, and united provinces. vols. vo. . "an account of the musical performances in westminster abbey, and the pantheon, &c. in commemoration of handel. to. . "a plan for the formation of a musical academy, vo. n. d." as your "notes and queries" will become a standard book of reference, strict accuracy on all points is the grand desideratum. edw. f. rimbault. p.s. i might, perhaps, have included in the above list the _life of metastasio_, which, although not generally classed among musical works, forms an admirable supplement to the _general history of music_. e.f.r. * * * * * ancient inscribed dishes. judging from the various notices in your nos. , , and , the dishes and inscriptions mentioned therein by clericus, l.s.b., &c., pp. . . ., are likely to cause as much speculation here as they have some time experienced on the continent. they were there principally figured and discussed in the _curiositãten_, a miscellaneous periodical, conducted from about to , by vulpius, brother-in-law of göthe, librarian to the grand duke of saxe weimar. herr v. strombeck, judge of the supreme court of appeal at wolfenbüttel, first noticed them from a specimen belonging to the church of a suppressed convent at sterterheim near brunswick, and they were subsequently pounced upon by joseph v. hammer (now v. purgstall), the learned orientalist of vienna, as one of the principal proofs which he adduced in his _mysterium baphometis revelatum_ in one of the numbers of the _fundgruben (mines) des orients_, for the monstrous impieties and impurities which he, nicolai, and others, falsely attributed to the templars. comments upon these dishes occur in other works of a recent period, but having left my portfolio, concerning them, with other papers, on the continent, i give these hasty notices entirely from memory. they are by no means uncommon now in england, as the notices of your correspondents prove. a paper on three varieties of them at hull was read in , to the hull literary and philosophical society. in nash's _worcestershire_ one is depicted full size, and a reduced copy given about this period in the _gentleman's magazine_, and nash first calls them "offertory dishes." the germans call them taufbecken, or baptismal basins; but i believe the english denomination more correct, as i have a distinct recollection of seeing, in a catholic convent at danzig, a similar one placed on good friday before the tomb of the interred image of the saviour, for the oblations for which it was not too large. another of them is kept upon the altar of boroughbridge church (n. riding of yorkshire), but sadly worn down by scrubbing to keep it bright, and the attempt at a copy of the inscription in a harrowgate guide is felicitously ludicrous: it is there taken as a relic of the roman isurium on the same spot. three others were observed some years ago in a neglected nook of the sacristy of york cathedral. at the last meeting of the institute at salisbury, a number of these were exhibited in st. john's house there, but i believe without any notice taken of them in its proceedings; and another was shown to the archæological society, at their last chester congress, by colonel biddulph, at chirk castle; when more were mentioned by the visitors as in their possession, anxious as your correspondents to know the import of the inscriptions. they are sometimes seen exposed in the shops of wardour street, and in other curiosity shops of the metropolis. on their sunken centres all have religious types: the most common is the temptation of eve; the next in frequency, the annunciation; the spies sent by joshua returning with an immense bunch of grapes suspended betwixt them, is not unfrequent; but non-scriptural subjects, as the martyrdom of st. sebastian, mentioned by l.s.b., is a variety i have not before observed. the inscriptions vary, and are sometimes double in two concentral rings. the most usual is that alluded to by your correspondents, and though obviously german, neither old nor obsolete; having been viewed even by native decipherers, through the mist of a preconceived hypothesis, have never yet been by them satisfactorily accounted for. it is always repeated four times, evidently from the same slightly curved die; when, however, the enlarged circumference of the circle required more than this fourfold repetition to go round it, the die was set on again for as much of a fifth impression as was necessary: this was seldom more than four or five letters, which, as pleonastic or intercalary, are to be carefully rejected in reading the rest; their introduction has confused many expositors. the readings of some of your correspondents who understand german is pretty near the truth. { } i have before said that the centre type of eve's temptation is the most common, and to it the words especially refer, and seem at the place of their manufacture (most probably nuremburg) to have been used for other centres without any regard to its fitness. the letters, as i can safely aver from some very perfect specimens, are der selen infrid wart; in modern german "_der seelen infried wort_." to the german scholar the two latter words only require explanation. _infrid_ for unfried, discord, disturbance, any thing in opposition to frieden or peace. the frid-stools at beverley, ripon, and hexham, still bear the old theotise stamp. _wart_, or _ward_, may be either the past tense of _werden_, to be (our was), or an old form of _währen_, to endure, to last: our english _wear_ is the same word. the sense is pretty much the same in both readings alluding to eve. in the first: (by her) the soul's disturbance came (was). by the second: (through her) the soul's disturbance continues. i may here observe that the words ich wart are particularly distinct on a helmet, pictured in the journal of the british archæological association, which the secretary, mr. planche, in such matters the highest authority, regards as a tilting helmet. it may there have been in the original ich warte, meaning i bide (my time). but the centres and this inscription are the least difficulty. a second, frequently met with, is by far more puzzling. i could not give your readers any idea of it without a drawing: however it is found imperfectly depicted on the plates i have before mentioned in nash's _worcestershire_, and the _gentleman's magazine_, and i think i recollect also a very rude copy in a volume of hearne's _miscellaneous works_, which i examined in the gottingen library, but whether belonging to the work or a ms. addition i cannot now call to mind. the fanciful and flowery form of its letters gives great scope to the imagination in assigning them their particular position in the alphabet, and the difficulty of reading them is enhanced by the doubts of german archæologists whether they are initials or component parts of a sentence. herr joseph v. hammer purgstall, however, in his version record de sci gnsi, or in full _recordamini de sancta gnosi_, deduces thence his principal proof of gnostic heresy amongst the calumniated templars, in which i am sorry to say he has been too servilely followed in england: e.g. by mr. godfrey higgins, in his posthumous _anaclypsis_ (p. note), as well as by e.g. addison, _the temple church_ (p. ), and by mr. r.w. billings more especially, who tacks to his account of this building an "essay on the symbolical evidences of the temple church, where the templars are proved gnostic idolators, as alleged by edward clarkson, esq." had the learnedly hypothetic austrian seen the engravings of the crypt at canterbury cathedral (_archæologia_, viii. p. .), and ledwick's remarks on it in conjunction with the carvings at glendalloch (_history of ireland_, p. .), or those of grymbald's crypt at oxford, he might have been expected to have attributed their monstrosities to his order, with as little hesitation and as thorough a contempt of chronology, or proved connection, as he has the curious and innocent sculptures of the church at schöngrabern in bohemia (vide _curiositäten_, vol. viii. p. .). william bell, phil. dr. * * * * * minor notes. _prince modoc._--at p. ., "anglo-cambrian" refers to the report of the proceedings of the british association at swansea, in aug. , extracted from the _athenæum_ newspaper. in the course of a discussion which took place on prof. elton's address, it was observed (if i recollect rightly) by the learned dr. latham, that a vocabulary of the so-called welsh-indian dialect has been formed, and that it contains _no trace_ of any celtic root. j.m.t. december . . _st. barnabas._--about the time of the reformation, it was strongly debated whether the festival days of st. paul and st. barnabas should be admitted into the calendar; and, in the d book of k. edward, the conversion of st. paul is put down in _black_, and st. barnabas is _omitted altogether_! no wonder, therefore, if, in suffolk, liberties were taken with the name of st. barnabas, and it was transferred to doggerel rhyme, to be repeated by children. j.i. _register of cromwell's baptism._--the communication of your correspondent c.w.g. at p. . of your last number, induces me to offer you the inclosed copy from the _register_ of all saints' church, huntingdon, of the birth and baptism of oliver cromwell:-- "anno domini oliverus filius roberti cromwell generosi et elisabethæ huxoris ejus natus vicesimo quinto die aprilis et baptisatus vicesimo nono ejusdem mensis." then follow the words "england's plague for many years," written in a different hand. r.o. _the times._--a correspondent (naso) informs us of the following fact in the history of this widely circulated and influential journal; namely, that it is stated in that the paper of the th of march, , that it was printed "logographically!" we wish our correspondent had furnished us with the precise words of this very curious statement. { } _roland monoux._--i have in my possession a brass monumental plate, said to have been taken from some church in middlesex, and bearing the following lines, engraved in _black letter_:-- "behold what droupinge dethe maye doe, consume y'e corse to duste, what dethe maie not shall lyue for aye, in spite of dethe his luste; thoughe rouland monoux shrowdeth here, yet rouland monoux lives, his helpynge hand to nedys want, a fame for ever geves; hys worde and dede was ever one, his credyth never quaylde, his zeall' to christ was stronge, tyll' dethe w'th latest panges asaylde. twyse thre and one he children had, two sones, one kepes his name, and dowghters fyve for home he carde, y't lyve in honest fame. what booteth more, as he be kynde dyd come of jentyll race, so rouland monoux good desertes this grave can not deface." i should be obliged to any of your readers for some account of this rouland monoux, and when he died. i may also add; that i should be very willing to restore the brass to its original site, did i know the spot from whence it has been sacrilegiously torn. m. _wessel cup hymn._--the following wassail song is taken from a little chap-book printed at manchester, called _a selection of christmas hymns_. it is obviously a corrupted version of a much older song:-- "here we come a wesseling, among the leaves so green, here we come a wandering, so fair to be seen. "_cho._--love and joy come to you, and to your wessel too, and god send you a happy new year, a new year, and god send you a happy new year. "our wessel cup is made of the rosemary tree, so is your beer of the best barley. "we are not daily beggars, that beg from door to door, but we are neighbours' children, whom you have seen before. "call up the butler of this house, put on his golden ring, let him bring us up a glass of beer, and the better we shall sing. "we have got a little purse, made of stretching leather skin, we want a little of your money, to line it well within. "bring us out a table, and spread it with a cloth, bring us out a mouldy cheese, and some of your christmas loaf. "god bless the master of this house, likewise the mistress too, and all the little children, that round the table go. "good master and mistress, while you'r sitting by the fire, pray think of us poor children, who are wand'ring in the mire. "_cho._--love and joy come to you, and to your wessel to, and god send you a happy new year, a new year, and god send you a happy new year. our wessel cup is made of the rosemary tree, so is your beer of the best barley." it is a song of the season which well deserves to be preserved. its insertion will at least have that effect, and may be the means of our discovering an earlier and purer text. ambrose merton. _portrait of charles i._--in sir henry ellis's _original letters_, d series, vol. iii. p. ., amongst the prefatory matter to the reign of charles i., there is a notice of a sermon, entitled "the subject's sorrow, or lamentations upon the death of britaine's josiah, king charles." sir henry ellis says it is expressly stated, in this sermon, that the king himself desired "that unto his golden manual might be prefixed his representation, kneeling; contemning a temporal crown, holding our blessed saviour's crown of thorns, and aspiring unto an eternal crown of happiness." note _b_. upon this passage is as follows:-- "this very portrait of king charles the first, engraved by marshall, adorned the original edition of the [greek: eikon basilikae]. vo. . _the same portrait, as large as life, in oil painting, was afterwards put up in many of our churches._" when i was a boy, such a portrait, in oil painting, hung upon the south wall of the body of st. michael's church, cambridge, between the pulpit and a small door to the west, leading into the south aisle. out of the window of the chamber in which the king was kneeling was represented a storm at sea, and the ship being driven by it upon some rocks. a few years ago, upon visiting cambridge, i went purposely to st. michael's church to see this picture, which had been so familiar to me in my boyhood. the clerk told me it had been taken down, and was in the vestry. in the vestry i found it, on its side, on the floor against the wall. { } you are probably aware that this st. michael's church was nearly destroyed by fire not many weeks since; that a committee is established to arrange its restoration. would it not be worth while that some inquiry should be made about the fate of this picture? r.o. dec. . . p.s.--i may add, that there was affixed to the bottom of the frame of the picture a board, on which was painted, in conformably large letters-- "lord, remember david and all his trouble." _psalm_ cxxxii. . the italics in part of the note above quoted are mine. _autograph mottoes of richard duke of gloucester, and henry duke of buckingham._--in the volume of the cottonian mss. marked vespasian f. xiii., at fol. ., is a slip of parchment, upon which is written by the hands of richard duke of gloucester, and henry duke of buckingham, the following couplet:-- "loyaulte me lie richard gloucestre "souente me souène harre bokingh'a'm." a fac-simile is engraved in _autographs of royal, noble, learned, and remarkable personages in english history_, engraved by c.j. smith, and edited by mr. john gough nichols, , to., where the editor suggests that this slip of parchment was "perhaps a deceitful toy," or it may have been attached to some present offered by the duke of gloucester to his royal nephew edward the fifth. the meaning of gloucester's motto is perfectly free from misapprehension; but he asserts his fidelity to the crown, which he soon so flagrantly outraged--"loyalty binds me." in the work above mentioned, the motto of buckingham is interpreted by these words, in modern french:--"souvent me souviens." this does not appear to me perfectly satisfactory; and i have to request the opinions of such as are conversant with old manuscripts, whether the true meaning, or even the true reading, of the duke of buckingham's motto has as yet been ascertained? h. * * * * * notes in answer to queries. _lord erskine's brooms._--"g.b." informs us, that the anecdote about lord erskine's brooms, and the apprehension of his servant for selling them without a licence, will be found in his life by lord campbell (_lives of the chancellors_, vol. vi. p. .). erskine himself attended the sessions to plead the man's cause, and contended that the brooms were agricultural produce, or, as he jocosely observed, "came under the _sweeping_ clause." the _when_ is about , and the _where_ an estate in sussex, which proved rather an unprofitable speculation to its owner, as it produced nothing but birch trees, and those but stunted ones. to which information "w.j." adds, that about the same period lord erskine printed, for private circulation, _an appeal in favour of the agricultural services of rooks_; a production probably scarce now, but full of humanity, and very characteristic. _scarborough warning._--in a postscript to a letter written from court on the th january, , by toby matthew, bishop of durham, to hutton, archbishop of york, i find the term _scarborough warning_. can any of the correspondents of your valuable paper inform me of the origin and prevalence of this saying? the postscript is-- "when i was in the middest of this discourse, i received a message from my lord chamberlaine, that it was his majesty's pleasure that i should preach before him upon sunday next; which _scarborough warning_ did not perplex me, but so puzzled me, as no mervail if somewhat be pretermitted, which otherwise i might have better remembered." quoted in caldwell's _conferences_, p. . w.m.c. [nares tells us, that ray, on the authority of fuller, states that this saying took its origin from "thomas stafford, who, in the reign of mary, a.d. , with a small company, seized on scarborough castle (utterly destitute of provision for resistance), before the townsmen had the least notice of their approach;" but shows that it was probably much older, as, in a ballad written by j. heywood on the taking of that place by stafford, the following more probable origin is given to the proverb:-- "this term _scarborow warning_ grew (some say), by hasty hanging for rank robbery theare. who that was met, but suspect in that way, straight he was trust up, whatever he were." this implies that scarborough imitated the halifax gibbet law. is any thing known of such a privilege being claimed or exercised by the men of scarborough? we should be glad to hear from any local antiquary upon this point.] _gray's elegy._--in answer to your correspondent, j.f.m. (p. .), who asks for information respecting the competition for the best translation of gray's _elegy_, in which dr. sparke was a candidate, i would beg to refer him to the satirical poem attributed to mr. t.j. matthias, formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge, entitled _the pursuits of literature_, in which a ludicrous account is given of the affair. it does not appear who offered the prize, but mr. nares, the editor of _the british critic_, was the judge, and the place of meeting "the musical room in { } hanover square," which was decorated for the occasion with appropriate scenery--at least so says _the critic_. he thus describes the solemnity (p. th edit. ):-- "lo, learned clerks in sable stole, graceful in years, pant eager for the goal. old norbury starts, and, with the _seventh-form_ boys, in weeds of greek the church-yard's peace annoys, with classic weston, charley coote and tew, in dismal dance about the mournful yew. but first in notes sicilian placed on high, bates sounds the soft precluding symphony; and in sad cadence, as the bands condense, the curfew tolls the knell of _parting sense_." the distribution of prizes is thus recorded, dr. norbury being apparently the "conqueror:"-- "nares rising paused; then gave, the contest done, to weston, taylor's hymns and alciphron, and rochester's address to lemans loose; to tew, parr's sermon and the game of goose; to coote the foolscap, as the best relief a dean could hope; last to the hoary chief he filled a cup; then placed on norbury's back the sunday suit of customary black. the gabbling ceased; with fixed and serious look gray glanced from high, and owned his rival, cook." w. lincoln's inn, dec. . _coffee, the lacedæmonian black broth._--your correspondent "r.o." inquires what modern author suggests the probability of coffee being the black broth of the lacedæmonians? the suggestion, i think, originated with george sandys, the translator of ovid's _metamorphoses_. sandys travelled in the turkish empire in . he first published his _notes_ in . the following is from the th edit. , p. .:-- "although they be destitute of taverns, yet have they their coffa-houses, which something resemble them. their sit they, chatting most of the day, and sip of a drink called coffa (of the berry that it is made of), in little _china_ dishes, as hot as they can suffer it; black as soot, and tasting not much unlike it (why not that black broth which was in use among the lacedæmonians?) which helpeth, as they say, digestion, and procureth alacrity," &c. burton also (_anatomy of melancholy_) describes it as "like that black drink which was in use among the lacedæmonians, and perhaps the same." e.b. price. * * * * * queries. the last of the villains. it would be an interesting fact if we could ascertain the last bondsman by blood--_nativus de sanguine_--who lived in this country. the beginning of the seventeenth century is the period usually referred to as the date of the extinction of personal villenage. in the celebrated argument in the case of the negro somerset (_state trials_, vol. xx. p. ), an instance as late as - is cited as the latest in our law books. (see noy's _reports_, p. .) it is probably the latest recorded _claim_, but it is observable that the claim failed, and that the supposed villain was adjudged to be a free man. i can supply the names of three who were living near brighton in the year , and whose thraldom does not appear to have been disputed. norden, from whose unpublished _survey of certain crown manors_ i have extracted the following notice, adverts to the fact, but seems to think that the times were rather unfavourable to any attempt by the lord of the manor to put his rights in force. "there are three bondmen of bloude belonginge unto this manor, never known to be anie way mannumissed, namely, thomas goringe, william and john goringe. thomas goringe dwells at amberley, william at piddinghow, and john goringe at rottingdean. what goods they have the jurie know not. all poor men. thomas hath the reversion of a cotage now in the tenure of william jefferye. but mee thinks this kinde of advantage is nowe out of season; yet, were they men of ability, they might be, upon some consideration, infraunchized." (_survey of the manor of falmer, sussex_.) i shall be glad to know whether any more recent instance can be pointed out. e. smirke. * * * * * the dore of holy scripture. in herbert's edition of ames's _typographical antiquities_, , vol. i. p. ., is noticed _the dore of holy scripture_, mo., printed by john gowghe in ; and, at p. ., a reprint of the same work is mentioned in , by the same printer, and a description of a copy given from one then in the possession of herbert himself. in the preface prefixed by the printer, he calls the work "the prologue of the fyrste translatoure of the byble out of latyn in to englyshe;" and at the end of the work is this note:--"perused by doctor taylor and doctor barons, master ceton and master tornor." as i am much interested in the subject to which this publication refers, may i ask for information on three points?-- . what evidence is there of this edition of , beyond the statement in ames? . what has become of the copy of the edition of , formerly belonging to herbert? and, . who are the persons who _peruse_ and revise the latter edition? there is not copy of either edition, as far as i can trace, in the british museum, in the bodleian, or at lambeth. i may add to these queries the following remarks:-- . ames asserted that _the dore of holy scripture_ was among the books prohibited to be read { } by the injunctions of henry the eighth, and refers, as his authority, to foxe's _acts and monument_, ed. , p. . herbert, in a note, questions the fact, and raises a doubt as to the existence of the passage in foxe, since it is not in the edition of . i have, however, the first edition now before me of (_not_ ), and at p. ., among "the names of certen bokes whiche after this injunction [namely, of ], or some other in the said kinges dayes were prohybited," occurs, "item, _the doore of holy scripture_. made by jhon. gowghe." . this work was again printed by crowley in , mo., under a different title, namely, _the pathway to perfect knowledge_; and in the preface, he falsely ascribes it to john wycliffe, and adds, "the original wherof is in an olde english bible, betwixt the olde testament and the newe, which bible remaineth now in the kyng his majesties chamber." this bible appears to be the identical manuscript copy of the later wycliffe version of the scriptures, now preserved in the university library, cambridge, and marked mm . . a copy of crowley's edition is in the british museum, but the orthography and language of the tract are modernised. f.m. b.m., dec. . * * * * * turner's ms. history of westminster--crucifix of edward the confessor. on april . , henry turner was elected, by the vestry, organist of st. margaret's, westminster, in the room of the famous "father smith" (bernard schmidt). as regards his musical capabilities, hawkins does not assign him a niche in his _temple of worthies_, although he names some of his predecessors and successors in that office. one merit we must accord him, that of true antiquarian love and zeal in all matters regarding "this renowned city." "great materials are said to have been collected for a full description (of westminster), by a parish-clerk of st. margaret's. i presume this is henry turner, mentioned in widmore's _account of the writers of the history of westminster abbey_.... his book was only a survey of the city of westminster, purposely omitting the history of the (collegiate) church."--gough, _brit. top._ vol. i. p. . lond. . "the man's natural parts were very good; he was also very diligent in making enquiries relating to his subject, and he had collected a great deal."--widmore's _acc. of writers of the hist. of westm. abbey_, pp. , . lond. . as regards his personal history, i alighted on some curious notes on a fly-leaf of a transcript of a register: "henry turner, borne at yearely, derbyshire, . july, : married eliz. sabin, of clement danes, in st. margrts. westmr. feb. . . by dr. onley." in it was discovered that some valuable ms. records belonging to the parish, and taken out of the tower of london, had been lost by their keeper. this history in its time appears to have suffered the same fate. however, there is this entry in the _harleian mss._ . fol. .: "from the learned dr. kennet, dean of peterborough's collection. mss. ms. h. on aug. . , at windsor, i read over the _history of the parish of st. margaret's, westminster_, drawn up in ms. by one of the parish clerks." some interesting extracts follow. compare _aysc. add. mss. brit. mus._ . fol. . bishop kennet resided in st. james's street, in this parish, and died there on dec. . . i have applied in vain for any account of this ms. to the librarians of windsor castle and eton college. can any of your readers give a clue to its recovery? are any aware that this survey, which would be valuable now, still exists? there is an instance, as early as the fifteenth century, of the union of the offices of lay-clerk and organist in st. margaret's, in the person of one metyngham, and h. turner also held them at the same time; since, on july th, , he was elected parish-clerk by the vestry, in "consideration of the experience they had of fitness and diligence in executing the office of deputy-clerk of this parish for several years last past;" and he did not resign the place of organist until nd october, . may i make another query?--the gold chain and crucifix, laid in the grave of k. edward the confessor, were removed by charles taylor, and given into the hands of king james ii. on the reverse of the same cross was pictured a benedictine monk, in his habit, and on each side of him these capital roman letter,-- on the right limb thus: and on the left thus: (a) p. z. a. x a. c. a h. _antiq. of st. peter's_, vol. ii. app. n. iij, ed. . what does the inscription mean? is the former portion to be understood "[greek: a. o. zoae agion christos]"? what is the import of the latter? mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * the talisman of charlemagne. many years back, "prince" louis napoleon was stated to be in possesion of the talisman of charlemagne;--"a small nut, in a gold filigree envelopment, found round the neck of that monarch on the opening of his tomb, and given by the town of aachen (aix-la-chapelle) to buonaparte, and by him to his favourite hortense, _ci-de-vant_ queen of holland, at whose death it descended to her son," the present president of the french republic. { } the germans have a curious legend connected with this talisman. it was framed by some of the magi in the train of the ambassadors of aaroun-al-raschid to the mighty emperor of the west, at the instance of his spouse fastrada, with the virtue that her husband should be always fascinated towards the person or thing on which it was. the constant love of charles to this his spouse was the consequence; but, as it was not taken from her finger after death, the affection of the emperor was continued unchanging to the corpse, which he would on no account allow to be interred, even when it became offensive. his confessor, having some knowledge of the occult sciences, at last drew off the amulet from the inanimate body, which was then permitted to be buried; but he retained possession of it himself, and thence became charles's chief favourite and prime minister, till he had been promoted to the highest ecclesiastical dignity, as archbishop of mainz and chancellor of the empire. at this pitch of power, whether he thought he could rise no higher, or scruples of conscience were awakened by the hierarchical vow, he would hold the heathen charm no longer, and he threw it into a lake not far from his metropolitan seat, where the town of ingethüm now stands. the regard and affection of the monarch were immediately diverted from the monk, and all men, to the country surrounding the lake; and he determined on building there a magnificent palace for his constant residence, and robbed all the ancient royal and imperial residences, even to the distance of ravenna, in italy, to adorn it. here he subsequently resided and died: but it seems the charm had a passive as well as an active power; his throes of death were long and violent; and though dissolution seemed every moment impending, still he lingered in ceaseless agony, till the archbishop, who was called to his bed-side to administer the last sacred rites, perceiving the cause, caused the lake to be dragged, and, silently restoring the talisman to the person of the dying monarch, his struggling soul parted quietly away. the grave was opened by the third otto in , and possibly the town of aachen may have been thought the proper depository of the powerful drug, to be by them surrendered to one who was believed by many, as he believed himself to be, a second charlemagne. so much for the introduction to the following queries:-- . can any of your readers say whether this amulet is still in possession of the president of the french republic? . if so, might not the believers in the doctrines of sympathy attribute the votes of the six millions who, in dec. , voted in favour of his election, to the sympathetic influence of his "nut in gold filigree," and be justified in looking upon those who voted for his rivals as no true franks? it was originally concocted for a frankish monarch of pure blood, and may be supposed to exercise its potency only on those of genuine descent and untainted lineage. william bell, phil. dr. * * * * * dick shore--isle of dogs--katherine pegg. i entirely concur in the opinion of your able correspondent, mr. p. cunningham, that pepys's _diary_ is well deserving all the illustrative light which may be reflected upon it from your useful pages. in submitting the following query, however, my object is to glean a scrap of information on a point connected with the neglected topography of the east end of london, taking pepys for my text. in the _diary_, the entry for january th, - , contains this passage:-- "we took barge and went to blackwall, and viewed the dock and the new west dock which is newly made there, and a brave new merchantman which is to launched shortly, and they say to be called the royal oake. hence we walked to _dick shoare_, and thence to the towre, and so home."--vol. i. p. . new ed. i shall be glad to learn from any of your readers what part of the northern bank of the river, between blackwall and the tower, was called _dick shore_. it is not marked on any of the old maps of london i have been able to consult; but it was probably beyond the most easterly point generally shown within their limits. the modern maps present no trace of the locality in question. the dock-yard visited by pepys was long one of the most considerable private ship-building establishments in england. for may years it was conducted by mr. perry, and subsequently, under the firm of wigram and green, the property having been purchased by the late sir robert wigram, bart. the extensive premises are still applied to the same use; but they have been divided to form two distinct yards, conducted by separate firms. the origin of the name (isle of dogs), given to the marshy tract of land lying within the bold curve of the thames between blackwall and limehouse, is still undetermined. the common story is, that it receives its name from the king's hounds having been kept there during the residence of the royal family at greenwich. this tradition is wholly unsupported; nor is it very probable that the king's hounds would be kennelled in this ungenial and inconvenient place, while they could be kept on the kentish side of the river, in the vicinity of greenwich castle, then occupying the site of the present observatory. the denominations "isle" and "island" appear to have been bestowed on many places not geographically entitled to them. the isle of dogs, before the construction of the canal which now crosses its isthmus, was in fact a peninsula. pepys { } spent a night in the "isle of doggs," as appears by his entry for july th, , and again, on the st of the same month, he was compelled to wait in the "unlucky isle of doggs, in a chill place, the morning cool and wind fresh, above two if not three hours, to his great discontent." to the account of katherine pegg, given by your correspondents, pp. , , may be added, that, besides charles fitz-charles, earl of plymouth, she had, by charles ii., a daughter, who died in her infancy. mrs. pegg was one of the _three_ wives of sir edward greene, of sampford (not samford), near thaxted, essex, created a baronet th july, (within two months of the restoration), to whom she seems to have been not unfitly matched; for it is recorded of him that, "by his extravagancy and love of gambling, he entirely ruined his estate, and his large inheritance passed from his family." he had issue two daughters, who married.--see burke's _extinct baronetage_. i do not think that katherine pegg, whose son by the king was born in , was "the pretty woman newly come called pegg," saluted by pepys, th may, , as mr. cunningham surmises. j.t. hammack. december. * * * * * minor queries. _the strand maypole._--"e.f.r." inquires what was the ultimate fate of the "tall maypole" which "once o'erlooked the strand"? it was taken down about the year , when it was found to measure a hundred feet. it was obtained by sir isaac newton, and borne on a carriage, for timber, to wanstead, in essex, the seat of the earl of tylney, where, under the direction of the reverend mr. pound breton, it was placed in the park, for the erection of a telescope, the largest then in the world, presented by a french gentleman to the royal society. _to fettle._--what is the derivation of the verb "to fettle?" in the north it means to amend--to repair--to put a thing, which is out of order, into such a state as to effectuate, or to be effectual for, its original, or a given purpose; e.g. a cart out of order is sent to the wheelwright's to be fettled. it has been suggested that the word is a verbalised corruption of the word "effectual." bailey, in his _dictionary_, has designated it as a north country word: but it is evident that he misunderstood its entire meaning; for he has merely "to fettle _to_," and seems to have been ignorant of the use of the word "fettle" as a verb active. to revert to my former example of its use--an injured cart is fettled by the wheel-wright; the wheelwright fettles the injured cart. l.c.r. _greek verse._--can any of your readers inform me who is the author of the line-- "[greek: pollai men thnaetois glottai, mia d' athanatoisi]?" c. _dr. dee's petition to james i._--"e.f.r." states that he has lately discovered, in the lining of an ancient trunk, two or three curious broadsides, one of which purports to be dr. dee's petition to james i., , against the report raised against him, namely, "that he is or hath bin a conjurer and caller, or invocator of divels." he would be glad to know whether this curious broadside has been printed in any memoir of dr. dee. _vondel's lucifer._--"f." desires to be informed whether the tragedy or dramatic poem _lucifer_, of the dutch poet vondel, which has been said to bear some analogy to _paradise lost_, has ever been translated? and if not, why not? the french writer, alfred de vigny, in _stella_, calls vondel (wundel in his spelling) "ce vieux shakspeare de la hollande." _discurs modest._--in bishop andrewes' _reply_ to the _apology_ of bellarmine, chap. i. p. , ed. to. london, , certain jesuits in prison are reported to have confessed, _rem transubstantiationis patres ne attigisse quidem_; as authority for which is quoted _discurs modest_, p. . from this work apparently the passage is copied by jeremy taylor, _real presence_, sect. . § ; _dissuasive_, part i. chap. . § , and part . book . sect. . : also by cosin on _transubstantiation_, chap. . § . can any of your readers favour me with a clue to the _modest discourse_? a.t. _ptolemy of alexandria._--"query" wishes to be informed what works of ptolemy of alexandria are to be met with in an english translation. _vanbrugh's london improvements._--in the _london journal_ of march th, - , there is the following paragraph:-- "we are informed that sir john vanbrugh, in his scheme for new paving the cities of london and westminster, among other things, proposes a tax on all gentlemen's coaches, to stop all channels in the street, and to carry all the water off by drains and common sewers under ground." sir john vanbrugh was chiefly known as an architect of noblemen's and gentlemen's mansions. can any of your readers supply me with a reference to any detailed plan, from sir john, for the general improvement of the metropolis? b.m. _becket's grace-cup._--the inscription round the neck of this so-called cup, of which a representation is given in no. . of mr. scott's _antiquarian gleanings_, is thus printed by him--god ferare--: to which he adds, in explanation, "probably the name of the goldsmith." { } at the foot of an earlier print of this relic, the inscription is given thus--ferare god--and till the appearance of mr. scott's version, i had considered the former word as an accidental error of the engraver, instead of feare; which would present a moral motto, suiting the sobrii estote round the lid.--as mr. nichols, in his recent interesting work on _pilgrimages to walsingham and canterbury_, noticing the misnomer of the cup (p. , n.), indicates its date to be of "the early part of the sixteenth century," perhaps some one of your well-informed readers could state if any artist-goldsmith of that era, and of that name, be known. alicui. _sir henry herbert's office-book._--i should be glad to know if any of your readers can tell me the "whereabouts" of sir henry herbert's office-book, a ms. frequently referred to by malone, chalmers, and collier. sir henry herbert was master of the revels to king james the first, and the two succeeding kings, and the said ms. contains an account of almost every piece exhibited at any of the theatres from august, , to the commencement of the rebellion in . malone, in his _historical account of the english stage_ (edit. boswell, iii. .), says, in a note-- "for the use of this very curious and valuable manuscript i am indebted to francis ingram, of ribbisford, near bewdley, in worcestershire, esq., deputy remembrancer in the court of the exchequer. it has lately been found in the same old chest which contained the manuscript _memoirs of lord herbert of cherbury_, from which mr. walpole, about twenty years ago, printed the life of that nobleman, who was elder brother to sir henry herbert." in another place, malone adds:-- "this valuable manuscript, having lain for a considerable time in a damp place, is unfortunately damaged, and in a very mouldering condition; however, no material part of it appears to have perished." such being the case, it becomes more than ever desirable that this interesting volume should be sought after, and the _whole_ of its contents put on record before its total decay. surely, if its depositary is known, and accessible, it is well worth the attention of the _shakespeare society_, or some other learned body instituted for the preservation of documents of this nature. a biographical account of the various persons that have held the appointment of "master of the revels," with such particulars of the stage as would necessarily fall in, would form a valuable _prolegomena_ to the publication of sir henry's office-book. we have, it is true, much information upon this subject, but in a very scattered form. i have now before me a list of the "masters of the revells," with the dates of their patents, which i beg to transcribe. it is of more than ordinary value, being in the handwriting of sir henry herbert himself, and copied at the back of the worthy knight's "petition to charles the second against the grant to killegrew and davenant to form two companies of players." "_masters of ye revells_. "sir richard guilford - not on record. sir thomas cawerden - [ ] henry viii. sir thomas beneger - not on record. sir john fortescue - not on record. edmund tilney, esq. - july [ ] eliz. sir george buck - june [ ] i jac. sir john astley - [ ] jac. i. benjamin johnson - [ ] jac. i. sir henry herbert, and} simon thelwall, esq. } - aug. [ ] car. i." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase (_in continuation of lists in former nos_.) . dr. brook taylor's perspective. st edit. . . dr. austin's critical examination of the first six books of euclid. (date not known.) . dr. abraham robertson on ratio and proportion. oxford. . . lawson's dissertation on the analysis of the antients. edited by fryer, and printed in bristol, .--[the particular copy wanted is interleaved with thick paper and ms. alterations by the editor. it was surreptitiously obtained from its owner; but the books of the person who had it are dispersed.] letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents it will be seen by our leading article that having been unable to procure by any other means sufficient copies of our early numbers, to supply perfect sets to all who applied for them, we have reprinted nos. . . . and ., so that our subscribers have now an opportunity of completing their sets. our correspondent who inquired respecting the _life and diary of haydon the painter_, is informed that its publication is suspended for the present. we have to explain to correspondents who inquire as to the mode of procuring "notes and queries," that every bookseller and newsman will supply it _if ordered_, and that gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher, mr. george bell, . fleet street, accompanied by a post office order for a quarter ( s. d.). a neat case for holding numbers of "notes and queries" until the completion of each volume, is now ready, price s. d., and may be had, by _order_, of all booksellers and newsmen. we are again compelled to omit many notes, queries, and answers to queries, as well as answers to correspondents. * * * * * { } [illustration: a pilgrim in a field.] this day is published, price s., the pilgrimages of walsingham and canterbury: by desiderius erasmus. being his colloquy on pilgrimage, translated and illustrated with notes, by john gough nichols, f.s.a.; together with the colloquy on rash vows, and the characters of archbishop warham and dean collet, by the same author. "this entertaining little volume will afford to many a reader not only much information on the subject of pilgrimages, but also numerous illustrations of the feelings and habits of the times."--_athenæum._ "we can conceive no more perfect translation than mr. nichols has given; most delicately does he express the quiet eloquence and quieter irony of the original; while his notes--which occupy about three-fourths of the handsome volume--are full of the most curious, learned, and interesting matter."--_weekly news._ "in the appendix, mr. nichols gives a very interesting dissertation on pilgrimages in general, and furnishes us with much curious information relative to walsingham, and a judicious summary of facts and circumstances connected with the murder of archbishop becket."-- _salisbury journal._ * * * * * the gentleman's magazine. the obituary of the gentleman's magazine is generally allowed to be one of its most valuable features, and unremitting attention is devoted to the task of making it as complete and comprehensive as possible. it records the decease of all persons of station in society or of individual merit, and biographical memoirs are given (amounting every year to more than three hundred) of eminent characters, whether statesmen, senators, officers in the public service, members of the learned professions, men of science, authors, artists, &c. &c. the magazine for january will contain, among others, memoirs of her majesty the queen dowager; sir john dashwood king, bart.; sir thomas lethbridge, bart.; rear-adm. sir s.j.b. pechell, bart.; admiral sir j. hawkins whitshed; general sir george anson; general sir john vandeleur; lieut.-col. john browne; charles lyell, esq.; john musters, esq.; louis hayes petit, esq.; wm. cooke taylor, l.l.d.; mr. kenney, the dramatist; charles edw. horn, the composer, &c. &c. the number for january will be embellished with two plates of the roman pavements recently found at cirencester. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo., price s., cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * illustrated with numerous woodcuts, vo. s. d. the primeval antiquities of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaÆ, m.r.s.a., of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england; by william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london. * * * * * the clerical library of theological and general literature, for town and country, clergy and laity, and reading rooms, conducted by james darling, . little queen street, lincoln's inn fields, london. annual subscription, one guinea or upwards, according to the number of books taken out at one time. no entrance fee. preparing for publication, by subscription, a new catalogue of the library; vol. i. to contain authors, with biographies, and a complete analysis of their works; vol. ii., a scientific arrangement of subjects. to be published in monthly parts, super royal vo., at s. d. each. a prospectus of the library, and catalogue, sent free on receipt of two postage stamps. "such a catalogue as mr. darling projects would be, if scientifically formed, of european value."--_christian remembrancer_, oct. . see also _notes and queries_, no. . * * * * * nearly ready, vo., with etched frontispiece, by wehnert, and eight engravings, sabrinÆ corolla: a volume of classical translations with original compositions contributed by gentlemen educated at shrewsbury school. among the contributors are the head masters of shrewsbury, stamford, repton and birmingham schools; andrew lawson, esq., late m.p.; the rev. r. shilleto, cambridge; the rev. t.s. evans, rugby; j. riddell, esq., fellow of baliol college, oxford; the rev. e.m. cope, h.j. hodgson, esq., h.a.j. munro, esq., w.g. clark, esq., fellows of trinity college, cambridge, and many other distinguished scholars from both universities. this work is edited by three of the principal contributors. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * at washbourne's, . new bridge street. moore's pictorial book of ballads, including some of the border minstrelsy, many very curious and rare, with appendix, glossary, notes, &c. vo. s. d. cloth; and s. half-bound morocco. percy's reliques of ancient english poetry. vols. small vo., with richly-illuminated title-pages, s. cloth gilt; s. half-bound morocco; antique morocco, l. s. d. also, to match in size, price, &c., ellis's specimens of the early english poets. vols. "washbourne's edition of percy and ellis are tempting books."--_gentleman's magazine._ the book of family crests and mottoes, with engravings of crests. the fifth edition. vols. small vo. s. it is used for reference at herald's college. "no wonder this book sells."--_spectator._ butler's hudibras. illustrated by engraved portraits, and woodcuts. edited by dr. nash, and including such of dr. gray's annotations as are worthy of record. vols. crown vo. s.; or without the portraits, s. d. walton's lives of donne, wotton, hooker, herbert, and sanderson. with major's illustrations, and edited by major and nichol. small vo. s. cloth; or s. morocco. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page tom moore's first! notes on several misunderstood words, by the rev. w. r. arrowsmith verney papers: the capuchin friars, &c., by thompson cooper early satirical poem the letters of atticus, by william cramp minor notes:--irish bishops as english suffragans-- pope and buchanan--scarce mss. in the british museum--the royal garden at holyrood palace-- the old ship "royal escape" queries:-- "the light of brittaine" minor queries:--thirteen an unlucky number-- quotations--"other-some" and "unneath"-- newx, &c.--"a joabi alloquio"--illuminations-- heraldic queries--john's spoils from peterborough and crowland--"elementa sex." &c.--jack and gill: sir hubbard de hoy--humphrey hawarden--"populus vult decipi"--sheriffs of huntingdonshire and cambridgeshire--harris replies:-- bishop butler, by j. h. markland, &c. mitigation of capital punishment to forgers mythe _versus_ myth, by charles thiriold "inquiry into the state of the union, by the wednesday club in friday street," by james crossley unpublished epigram by sir walter scott, by william williams, &c. church catechism jacob bobart, &c., by dr. e. f. rimbault "its," by w. b. rye bohn's edition of hoveden, by henry t. riley books of emblems, by j. b. yates, &c. photographic correspondence:--mr. pollock's directions for obtaining positive photographs upon albumenised paper--test for lenses--washing collodion pictures replies to minor queries:--cremonas--james chaloner --irish convocation--st. paul's epistle to seneca --captain ayloff--plan of london--syriac scriptures --meaning of "worth"--khond fable--collar of s . --chaucer's knowledge of italian--pic nic--canker or brier rose--door-head inscriptions--"time and i"--lowbell--overseers of wills--detached belfry towers--vincent family, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. tom moore's first! it is now generally understood that the first poetic effusion of thomas moore was entrusted to a publication entitled _anthologia hibernica_, which held its monthly existence from jan. to december , and is now a repertorium of the spirited efforts made in ireland in that day to establish periodical literature. the set is complete in four volumes: and being anxious to see if i could trace the "fine roman" hand of him whom his noble poetic satirist, and after fast friend, byron, styled the "young catullus of his day," i went to the volumes, and give you the result. no trace of moore appears in the volume containing the first six months of the publication; but in the "list of subscribers" in the second, we see "_master_ thomas moore;" and as we find this designation changed in the fourth volume to "_mr._ thomas moore, trinity college, dublin!" (a boy with a black ribband in his collar, being as a collegian an "_ex officio_ man!"), we may take it for ascertained that we have arrived at the well-spring of those effusions which have since flowed in such sparkling volumes among the poetry of the day. moore's first contribution is easily identified; for it is prefaced by a note, dated "aungier street, sept. , ," which contains the usual request of insertion for "_the attempts of a youthful muse_," &c., and is signed in the semi-incognito style, "th-m-s m--re;" the writer fearing, doubtless, lest his fond mamma should fail to recognise in _his own copy_ of the periodical the performance of her little precocious apollo. this contribution consists of two pieces, of which we have room but for the first: which is a striking exemplification (in subject at least) of wordsworth's aphorism, that "the child is father to the man." it is a sonnet addressed to "zelia," "_on her charging the author with writing too much on love!_" who _zelia_ was--whether a lineal ancestress of dickens's "mrs. harris," or some actual grown up young lady, who was teased by, and tried to check the chirpings of the little { } precocious singing bird--does not appear: but we suspect the former, for this sonnet is immediately followed by "a pastoral ballad!" calling upon some _celia_ unknown to "pity his tears and complaint," &c., in the usual namby-pamby style of these compositions. to any one who considers the smart, _espiègle_, highly artificial style of "tom moore's" after compositions, his "pastoral ballad" will be what coleridge called his vision, a "psychological curiosity." passing on through the volumes, in the number for february we find a paraphrase of the fifth ode of anacreon, by "thomas moore;" another short poem in june , "to the memory of francis perry, esq.," signed "t. m.," and dated "aungier street." these are all which can be identified by outward and visible signs, without danger of mistake: but there are a number of others scattered through the volumes which i conjecture may be his; they are under different signatures, generally t. l., which may be taken to stand for the _alias_ "thomas little," by which moore afterwards made himself so well known. there is an "ode to morning," in the number for march , above the ordinary run of magazine poetry. and in the number for may following are "imitations from the greek" and italian, all under this same signature. and this last being derived from some words in petrarch's will, bequeathing his lute to a friend, is the more curious; and may the more probably be supposed moore's, as it contains a thought which is not unlikely to have suggested in after years the idea of his celebrated melody, entitled the "bard's legacy." the number for nov. , last but one in the fourth volume, contains a little piece on "variety," which independent of a t. m. signature, i would _almost swear_, from internal evidence, to be moore's; it is the last in the series, and indicates such progress as two years might be supposed to give the youthful poet, from the lack-a-daisical style of his first attempts, towards that light, brilliant, sportive vein of humour in which he afterwards wrote "what the bee is to the flowret," &c., and other similar compositions. i now give moore's first sonnet, including its footnote, reminding us of the child's usual explanatory addition to his first drawing of some amorphous animal--"this is a horse!" or "a bear!" as the case may be. neither the _metre_ nor the _matter_ would prepare us for the height to which the writer afterwards scaled "the mountain's height of parnassus:" "to zelia. (_on her charging the author with writing too much on love._) 'tis true my muse to love inclines, and wreaths of cypria's myrtle twines; quits all aspiring, lofty views, and chaunts what nature's gifts infuse: timid to try the mountain's* height, beneath she strays, retir'd from sight, careless, culling amorous flowers; or quaffing mirth in bacchus' bowers. when first she raised her simplest lays in cupid's never-ceasing praise, the god a faithful promise gave-- that never should she feel love's stings, never to burning passion be a slave, but feel the purer joy _thy_ friendship brings. * parnassus!" if you think this fruit of a research into a now almost forgotten work, which however contains many matters of interest (among the rest, "the baviad of gifford"), worth insertion, please put it among "n. & q.;" it may incite others to look more closely, and perhaps trace other "disjecta membra poetæ." a. b. r. belmont. * * * * * notes on several misunderstood words. (_continued from_ p. .) let no one say that a tithe of these instances would have sufficed. whoever thinks so, little understands the vitality of error. most things die when the brains are out: error has no brains, though it has more heads than the hydra. who could have believed it possible that after steevens's heaped-up proofs in support of the authentic reading, "_carded_ his state" (_king henry iv._, act iii. scene .), warburton's corruption, _'scarded_, i. e. _discarded_, was again to be foisted into the text on the authority of some nameless and apocryphal commentator? let me be pardoned if i prefer shakspeare's genuine text, backed by the masterly illustrations of his ablest glossarist, before the wishy-washy adulterations of nobody: and as a small contribution to his abundant avouchment of the original reading, the underwritten passage may be flung in, by way of make-weight: "_carded_ his state (says king henry), _mingled_ his royaltie with carping fooles." "since which it hath been and is his daily practice, either to broach doctrinas novas et peregrinas, new imaginations never heard of before, or to revive the old and new dress them. and these--for that by themselves they will not utter--_to mingle and to card_ with the apostles' doctrine, &c., that at the least yet he may so vent them."--one of the sermons upon the second commandment, preached in the parish church of st. giles, cripplegate, on the ninth of january, a.d. mdxcii.: andrewes' sermons, vol. v. p. . _lib. ang.-cath. theol._ * * * * * _trash_, to shred or lop.--so said steevens, alleging that he had met with it in books containing directions for gardeners, published in the time of { } queen elizabeth. i fear his memory deceived him, or why should a man of his sound learning afterwards incline to vail bonnet to the dogmatist warburton? whose knowledge of dogs, by the way, must have been marvellously small, or he could never have imagined them to overtop one another in a horizontal course. _overrun_, _overshoot_, _overslip_, are terms in hunting, _overtop_ never; except perchance in the vocabulary of the wild huntsman of the alps. _trash_ occurs as a verb in the sense above given, act i. sc. . of the _tempest_: "who t'aduance, and who to _trash_ for over-topping." i have never met with the _verb_ in that sense elsewhere, but overtop is evermore the appropriate term in arboriculture. to quote examples of that is needless. of it metaphorically applied, just as in shakspeare, take the following example: "of those three estates, which swayeth most, that in a manner doth overtop the rest, and like a foregrown member depriveth the other of their proportion of growth."--andrewes' sermons, vol. v. p. ., _lib. ang.-cath. theol._ have we not the substantive _trash_ in the sense of shreddings, at p. . book iii. of a _discourse of forest trees_, by john evelyn? the extract that contains the word is this: "faggots to be every stick of three feet in length, excepting only one stick of one foot long, to harden and wedge the binding of it; this to prevent the abuse, too much practised, of filling the middle part and ends with _trash_ and short sticks, which had been omitted in the former statute." possibly some of the statutes referred to by evelyn may contain examples of the verb. in the meantime it will not be impertinent to remark, that what appears to be nothing more than a dialectic variety of the word, namely _trouse_, is of every-day use in this county of hereford for trimmings of hedges; that it is given by grose as a verb in use in warwickshire for trimming off the superfluous branches; and lastly, that it is employed as a substantive to signify shreddings by philemon holland, who, if i rightly remember, was many years head master of coventry grammar school: "prouided alwaies, that they be paued beneath with stone; and for want thereof, laid with green willow bastons, and for default of them, with vine cuttings, or such _trousse_, so that they lie halfe a foot thicke."--the seuenteenth booke of plinie's _naturall history_, chap. xi. p. .: london, . _trash_ no one denies to be a kennel term for hampering a dog, but it does not presently follow that the word bore no other signification; indeed, there is no more fruitful mother of confusion than homonomy. * * * * * _clamor_, to curb, restrain (the tongue): "_clamor_ your tongues, and not a word more." _the winter's tale_, act iv. sc. . most judiciously does nares reject gifford's corruption of this word into _charm_, nor will the suffrage of the "clever" old commentator one jot contribute to dispel their diffidence of this change, whom the severe discipline of many years' study, and the daily access of accumulating knowledge, have schooled into a wholesome sense of their extreme fallibility in such matters. without adding any comment, i now quote, for the inspection of learned and unlearned, the two ensuing extracts: "for critias manaced and thretened hym, that onelesse he _chaumbreed_ his tongue in season, ther should ere l[=o]g bee one oxe the fewer for hym."--_apoptheymis of erasmus_, translated by nicolas vdall, mcccccxlii, the first booke, p. . "from no sorte of menne in the worlde did he refrein or _chaumbre_ the tauntying of his tongue."--_id._, p. . after so many notes, one query. in the second folio edition of shakspeare (my first folio wants the whole play), i find in _cymbeline_, act v. sc. ., the next beautiful passage: "_post._ still going? this is a lord: oh noble misery to be ith' field, and aske what newes of me: to-day how many would have given their honors to have sav'd their carkasses? tooke heele to doo't, and yet dyed too. i in mine owne woe charm'd, could not find death, where i did heare him groane, nor feele him where he strooke. being an ugly monster, 'tis strange he hides him in fresh cups, soft beds, sweet words; or hath moe ministers then we that draw his knives ith' war. well i will finde him: for being now a favourer to the britaine, no more a britaine, i have resum'd againe the part i came in." in the antepenultimate line, britaine was more than a century ago changed by hanmer into roman, therefore retained by warburton, again rejected by steevens and johnson, once more replaced by knight and collier, with one of his usual happy notes by the former of the two, without comment by the latter, finally left unnoticed by dyce. my query then is this. what amount of obtuseness will disqualify a criticaster who itches to be tinkering and cobbling the noblest passages of thought that ever issued from mortal brain, while at the same time he stumbles and bungles in sentences of that simplicity and grammatical clearness, as not to tax the powers of a third-form schoolboy to explain?[ ] if editors, commentators, { } critics, and all the countless throng who are ambitious to daub with their un-tempered mortar, or scribble their names upon the most majestic edifice of genius that the world ever saw, lack the little discernment necessary to interpret aright the above extract from _cymbeline_, for the last hundred years racked and tortured in vain, let them at length learn henceforth to distrust their judgment altogether. w. r. arrowsmith. p.s.--in article of no. . p. ., a rather important misprint occurs, viz. date of to. _king richard ii._ with unusual title-page, which should be , not . other little errors the reader may silently amend for himself. [footnote : in a passage from l. l. l., lately winnowed in the pages of "n. & q.," divers attempts at elucidation (whereof not one, in my judgment, was successful) having been made, it was gravely, almost magisterially proposed by one of the disputants, to corrupt the concluding lines (mr. collier having already once before corrupted the preceding ones by substituting a plural for a singular verb, in which lay the true key to the right construction) by altering "their" the pronoun into "there" the adverb, because (shade of murray!) the commentator could not discover of what noun "their" could possibly be the pronoun in these lines following: "when great things labouring perish in their birth, their form confounded makes most form in mirth." and it was left to mr. keightley to bless the world with the information that it was "things."] * * * * * verney papers--the capuchin friars, etc. in the appendix to _notes of proceedings in the long parliament_, by sir ralph verney, edited by mr. bruce for the camden society in , are "notes written in a cipher," which mr. bruce gives in the hope that the ingenuity of some reader will discover their meaning. i venture thus to decypher the same: "the capuchin's house to be dissolued. no extracts of letters to be aloued in this house. the prince is now come to greenhich three lette. three greate ships staied in france. gersea a letter from lord s^t albones. £ per diem hull. the king's answert to our petition about the militia. if a king offer to kil himselfe, wee must not only advise but wrest the weapon from. a similitude of a depilat. consciences corrupted." i ought to state that in one or two instances the wrong cypher has evidently been used by mistake, and this has of course increased the difficulty of decyphering the notes. with reference to the note "the capuchins' house to be dissolued," may i be allowed to refer to the following votes in the house of commons, of the date th february, - : "ordered, that mr. peard, mr. whistler, mr. reynolds, mr. pideaux, mr. selden, mr. young, mr. hill, do presently withdraw, to peruse the statutes now in force against priests and jesuits. "ordered, that mr. whittacre, mr. morley, do presently go to denmarke house. "resolved, that the capuchines shall be forthwith apprehended and taken into safe custody by the serjeant-at-arms attending on this house; and there kept till this house take farther order." the capuchins were under the protection of the queen henrietta maria; denmark house was the name by which somerset house was at the period known. under date nd march, - , are the following entries in the commons' journal: "mr. holles brings this answer from the french ambassador, that the capuchins being sent hither by articles of treaty between the two crowns, he durst not of himself send them without order from the king his master, or the king and queen here: and said farther, that the queen had left an express command for their stay here; and that he would be ever ready to do any good office for this house, and to keep a good correspondency between the two crowns; and if this house pleased, he would undertake to keep them safe prisoners at somersett house; and that the chapel there shall have the doors locked, and no mass be said there. "ordered, that mr. hollis do acquaint the french ambassador, that this house doth accept of his offer in securing the persons of the capuchins, till this house take farther order: and that the doors be locked, and made fast, at the chapel at somersett house; and that no mass be said there. "ordered, that the lord cramborne and mr. hollis shall acquaint the french ambassador with the desires of this house, that the capuchins be forthwith sent away; and to know if he will undertake to send them away; and, if he will, that then they be forthwith delivered unto him. "that mr. hollis do go up to the lords, to acquaint them with the resolutions of this house, concerning the capuchins, and desire their lordships' concurrence therein." some particulars of the proceedings of the parliament against the capuchins may be found in "memoirs of the mission in england of the capuchin friars of the province of paris by father cyprian gamache," in _the court and times of charles i._, vol. ii. pp. . . thompson cooper. cambridge. * * * * * early satirical poem. on the turning over the pages of an old printed copy of durand's _rationale divinorum officiorus_, edited by bonetus de locatellis bergomensis, and printed at lyons in , by natalis brabam, for jaques huguetan, i found the following copy of verses written on the fly-leaf. they are written in a hand which i am inclined to assign to a date { } not much later than that of the book. there is no clue to the author. if they are thought worthy of insertion in "n. & q.," i beg to inquire, through the medium of your columns, whether they are to be found in any collection of early english poems? and whether the author is known? the ungallant sentiment of the first three stanzas is obvious. the fourth is not so plain; nor is its connexion with the others evident, though it is written without anything to mark separation; and the word "finis" is placed below it, as if to apply to the whole. i should be obliged if some one of your readers would give some explanation of it. w. h. g. winchester. "wen [_sic_] nettylles in wynter bryngythe forthe rosses red, and a thorne bryngythe figges naturally, and grase berrythe appulles in every mede, and lorrel cherrys on his crope so hye, and okkys berrythe datys plentyusly, and kykkys gyvythe hony in superfluans, the put in women yower trust and confydenc. "when whythynges walke forrestys hartyse for to chase, and herrings in parkkys the hornnys boldly bloc, and marlyons[ ] ... hernys in morrys doo unbrace, and gomards shut ryllyons owght of a crose boow, and goslyngs goo a howntyng the wolf to overthrow, and sparlyns bere sperrys and arms for defenc, then put yn women yower trust and confydenc. "when sparrowes byld chorchys and styppyllys of a hyght, and corlewys carry tymber yn howsys for to dyght, wrennys bere sakkys to the myll, and symgis[ ] bryng butter to the market to sell, and wodcokkys were wodknyffys the crane for to kyll, and gryffyns to goslynges doo obedienc, then put in women yower trust and confydenc. "o ye imps of chynner, ye lydgatys pene, with the spryght of bookkas ye goodly inspyrryd, ye ynglyshe poet, excydyng other men, with musyk wyne yower tong yn syrryd, ye roll in yower rellatyvys as a horse immyrryd, with ovyddes penner ye are gretly in favor, ye bere boys incorne, god dyld yow for yower labor. finis." [footnote : merlin's hawks.] [footnote : doubtful; but perhaps for syngies, an old name for the finch.] * * * * * the letters of atticus. the editor of the _grenville papers_ has alluded to some "very judicious and pertinent remarks in the 'n. & q.'" respecting the letters of atticus, and as most of your readers will probably agree with him that the authenticity of these letters is "a curious and interesting question, and one that deserves _very particular attention_," i beg to correct an error into which he and others have fallen, as to the date when junius ceased to write under the signature atticus. the atticus forwarded by junius to george grenville on the th october, , was, there is every reason to believe, the _last_ from the pen of that writer, who was then preparing to come before the public in a more prominent character. when another correspondent adopted the signature atticus, woodfall gave his readers warning by inserting the following notice into the _public advertiser_: "the address to the freeholders of the county of middlesex, signed _atticus_, in our next. the printer thinks it his duty to acquaint his readers that this letter is not by the same hand as some letters in this paper a little time since, under the signature _atticus_."--_pub. ad._, march , . the printer took the like course when writers attempted to "impose upon the public" by using the signatures lucius and c., and then freely inserted their letters; but when the same trick was tried with junius, the printer did not scruple to alter the signature, or reject the contribution as spurious. the genuine letters of atticus have had a narrow escape lately of being laughed out of their celebrity by writers in some of our most respectable periodicals. the authenticity of these letters up to the th october, , is now fully established. the undecided question of the authorship of junius requires that every statement should be carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence in future. william cramp. * * * * * minor notes. _irish bishops as english suffragans._--in compliance with the suggestion of j. m. d. in your last volume, p. ., i abridge from _the record_ of march th the following particulars: "at a recent meeting of the archæolgical society the rev. w. gunner stated that from a research among the archives of the bishops and of the college of winchester, he had found that many irish bishops, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were merely titular bishops, bearing the titles of sees in ireland, while they acted as suffragans to bishops in england. a bishop of achonry, for instance, appeared to have been frequently deputed by william of wykeham to consecrate churches, and to perform other episcopal duties, in his diocese; and the bishops of achonry seemed frequently to have been suffragans of those of winchester. no see exhibits more instances of this expatriation than dromore, lying as it did in an unsettled and tumultuous country. richard messing, who succeeded to dromore bishopric in , was suffragan to the archbishop of york; and so died at { } york within a year after his appointment. his successor john became a suffragan to the archbishop of canterbury, and died such in . thomas scrope, a divine from leicestershire, was appointed by the pope to this see in : he could not live in peace with the irish, and therefore became vicar-general to the bishop of norwich. thomas radcliffe, his successor, never lived in ireland: 'the profits of his see did not extend to l. sterling, and for its extreme poverty it is void and desolate, and almost extincted, in so much as none will own the same, or abide therein.' dr. radcliffe was therefore obliged to become a suffragan to the bishop of durham. william, who followed him in the dromore succession in , lived in york, and was suffragan to its archbishop; and it would seem his successors were also suffragans in england, until the plantation of ulster improved the circumstances of that province." an oxford b. c. l. _pope and buchanan._--i beg to suggest as a query, whether pope did not borrow the opening of his _essay on man_ from that of the second book of buchanan's latin poem _de sphærâ_. let us compare them. buchanan: "jam mihi timoleon, animo majora capaci concipe; nec terras semper mirare jacentes; excute degeneres circum mortalia curas, et mecum ingentes coeli spatiare per auras." pope: "awake, my st. john, leave all meaner things to low ambition and the pride of kings; let us, since life can little more supply than just to look about us and to die, expatiate free o'er all this scene of man." i do not remember the comparison to have been made before. wm. ewart. university club. _scarce mss. in the british museum._--in cotton mss., titus, b ., will be found a curious and valuable collection of papers entitled "cromwell's remembrances." these comprise: . a period from about the death of anne boleyn to his attainder. . they are very miscellaneous, consisting of memoranda of subjects for conference with the king. notices of persons to be remembered for offices. sale of lands. diplomacy, and various other particulars. notes relative to the dissolution of monasteries; their riches, revenues, and pensions to abbots, &c. the reception of anne cleves, and the alteration of the royal household thereupon. privy council and parliamentary notes. foreign alliances. scotch and irish affairs, consequent on the dissolution of abbeys, &c. these curious materials for history are in the rough and confused state in which they were left by their author, and, to render them available, would require an index to the whole. the "remembrances" are in some degree illustrated by harl. ms. ., which is a very curious volume of monastic affairs at the dissolution. also by , , and . the last two belong to the reign of philip and mary, and contain an official account of the lands sold by them belonging to the crown in the third and fourth years of their reign. e. g. ballard. _the royal garden at holyrood palace._--i cannot help noticing a disgraceful fact, which has only lately come to my knowledge. there is, adjoining the palace of holyrood, an ancient garden of the old kings of scotland: in it is a curious sundial, with queen mary's name on it. there is a pear-tree planted by her hands, and there are many other deeply interesting traces of the royal race, who little dreamed how their old stately places were to be profaned, after they themselves were laid in the dust. the garden of the royal stuarts is now _let_ to a market gardener! are there no true-hearted scotchmen left, who will redeem it from such desecration? l. m. m. r. _the old ship "royal escape."_--the following extract from the _norwich mercury_ of aug. , , under the head of "yarmouth news," will probably be gratifying to your querist anon, vol. vii., p. .: "on the th inst. put into this port (yarmouth), having been grounded on the barnard sand, _the royal escape_, government hoy, with horses for his royal highness at hanover. this vessel is the same that king charles ii. made his escape in from brighthelmstone." joseph davey. * * * * * queries. "the light of brittaine." i should be glad, through the medium of "n. & q.," to be favoured with some particulars regarding this work, and its author, maister henry lyte, of lytescarie, esq. he presented the said work with his own hand to "our late soveraigne queene and matchlesse mistresse, on the day when shee came, in royall manner, to paule's church." i shall also be glad of any information about his son, maister thomas lyte, of lytescarie, esq., "a true immitator and heyre to his father's vertues," and who "presented to the majestie of king james, (with) an excellent mappe or genealogicall table (contayning the bredth and circumference of twenty large sheets of paper), which he entitleth _brittaines monarchy_, approuing brute's history, and the whole succession of this our nation, from the very original, with the just observation of al times, changes, and occasions therein happening. this worthy worke, having cost above { } seaven yeares labour, beside great charges and expense, his highnesse hath made very gracious acceptance of, and to witnesse the same, in court it hangeth in an especiall place of eminence. pitty it is, that this phoenix (as yet) affordeth not a fellowe, or that from privacie it might not bee made more generall; but, as his majestie has granted him priviledge, so, that the world might be woorthie to enjoy it, whereto, if friendship may prevaile, as he hath been already, so shall he be still as earnestly sollicited." these two works appear to have been written towards the close of the sixteenth century. is anything more known of them, and their respective authors? traja-nova. * * * * * minor queries. _thirteen an unlucky number._--is there not at dantzic a clock, which at admits, through a door, christ and the eleven, shutting out judas, who is admitted at ? a. c. _quotations._-- "i saw a man, who saw a man, who said he saw the king." whence? "look not mournfully into the past; it comes not back again," &c.--motto of _hyperion_. whence? a. a. d. _"other-some" and "unneath."_--i do not recollect having ever seen these expressions, until reading parnell's _fairy tale_. they occur in the following stanzas: "but now, to please the fairy king, full every deal they laugh and sing, and antic feats devise; some wind and tumble like an ape, and _other-some_ transmute their shape in edwin's wondering eyes. "till one at last, that robin hight, renown'd for pinching maids by night, has bent him up aloof; and full against the beam he flung, where by the back the youth he hung to sprawl _unneath_ the roof." as the author professes the poem to be "in the ancient english style," are these words veritable ancient english? if so, some correspondent of "n. & q." may perhaps be able to give instances of their recurrence. robert wright. _newx, &c._--can any of your readers give me the _unde derivatur_ of the word _newx_, or _noux_, or _knoux_? it is a very old word, used for the last hundred years, as _fag_ is at our public schools, for a young cadet at the royal military academy, woolwich. when i was there, some twenty-five or twenty-seven years ago, the _noux_ was the youngest cadet of the four who slept in one room: and a precious life of it he led. but this, i hope, is altered now. i have often wanted to find out from whence this term is derived, and i suppose that your paper will find some among your numerous correspondents who will be able to enlighten me. t. w. n. malta. _"a joabi alloquio."_--who can explain the following, and point out its source? i copy from the work of a lutheran divine, conrad dieteric, _analysis evangeliorum_, , p. .: "a joabi alloquio, a thyestis convivio, ab iscariotis 'ave,' a diasii 'salve' ab herodis 'redite' a gallorum 'venite.' libera nos domine." the fourth and sixth line i do not understand. b. h. c. _illuminations._--when were illuminations in cities first introduced? is there any allusion to them in classic authors? cape. _heraldic queries._--will some correspondent versed in heraldry answer me the following questions? . what is the origin and meaning of women of all ranks, except the sovereign, being now debarred from bearing their arms in shields, and having to bear them in lozenges? formerly, all ladies of rank bore shields upon their seals, _e.g._ the seal of margaret, countess of norfolk, who deceased a.d. ; and of margaret, countess of richmond, and mother of henry viii., who deceased a.d. . these shields are figured in the _glossary of heraldry_, pp. , . . is it, heraldically speaking, wrong to inscribe the motto upon a circle (not a garter) or ribbon round the shield? so says the _glossary_, p. . if wrong, on what principle? . was it ever the custom in this country, as on the continent to this day, for ecclesiastics to bear their arms in a circular or oval panel?--the martial form of the shield being considered inconsistent with their spiritual character. if so, when did the custom commence, and where may instances be seen either on monuments or in illustrated works? ceyrep. _john's spoils from peterborough and crowland._--clement spelman, in his preface to the reader, with which he introduces his father's treatise _de non temerandis ecclesiis_, says (edit. oxford, , p. .): "i cannot omit the sacrilege and punishment of king john, who in the seventeenth year of his reign, among other churches, rifled the abbeys of { } peterborough and croyland, and after attempts to carry his sacrilegious wealth from lynn to lincoln; but, passing the washes, the earth in the midst of the waters opens her mouth (as for korah and his company), and at once swallows up both carts, carriage, and horses, all his treasure, all his regalities, all his church spoil, and all the church spoilers; not one escapes to bring the king word," &c. is the precise spot known where this catastrophe occurred, or have any relics been since recovered to give evidence of the fact? j. sansom. _"elementa sex," &c._--perhaps one of your readers, given to such trifles, will hazard a guess at the solution, if not at the author, of the subjoined: "elementa sex me proferent totam tibi; totam hanc, lucernis si tepent fungi, vides, accisa senibus suppetit saltantibus, levetur, armis adfremunt horatii; facienda res est omnibus, si fit minor, es, quod relinquis deinde, si subtraxeris; si rite tandem quæritas originem, ad sibilum, vix ad sonum, reverteris." effigy. _jack and gill--sir hubbard de hoy._--having recently amused myself by a dive into old tusser's _husbandrie_, the following passages suggested themselves as fitting _queries_ for your pages: _jack and gill._-- "let jack nor gill fetch corn at will." can the "jack and gill" of our nursery tales be traced to an earlier date than tusser's time? _hobble de hoy._--speaking of the periods of a man's life, tusser's advice, from the age of fourteen years to twenty-one, is to "keep under sir hubbard de hoy." is it known whether there ever existed a personage so named, either as a legend or a myth? and if not, what is the origin of the modern term "hobble de hoy" as a designation for a stripling? bailey omits it in his _dictionary_. l. a. m. _humphrey hawarden._--information is solicited respecting this individual, who was a doctor of laws, and living in . also, of a justice port, living about the same period. t. hughes. chester. _"populus vult decipi."_-- "populus } { mundus } vult decipi { et decipiatur, vulgus } { decipiatur ergo." who was the author of the maxim? which is its correct form? and where is it to be found? it seems to present another curious instance of our ignorance of things with which we are familiar. i have put the question to a dozen scholars, fellows of colleges, barristers, &c. &c., and none has been able to give me an answer. one only _thinks_ it was a dictum of some pope. harry leroy temple. _sheriffs of huntingdonshire and cambridgeshire._--where can any list of the sheriffs for these counties be found, _previous_ to the list given by fuller from the time of henry viii.? d. _harris._--the rev. william harris, b.a., was presented, by thomas pindar, esq., to the vicarage of luddington, lincolnshire, on the th august, . mr. harris died here in june, , aged eighty-two. on his tomb is inscribed,-- "illi satis licuit nunc veterum libris, nunc somno, et inertibus horis ducere solicitæ jucunda oblivio vitæ." a tradition of his being a wizard still lingers in the village, and i should be very glad to receive any particulars respecting him. from an inspection of his will at lincoln, it appears that he used the coat of the ancient family of harris of radford, devon, and that his wife's name was honora, a christian name not infrequent about that period in families of the west of england also, as, for instance, honora, daughter of sir richard rogers of bryanstone, who married edward lord beauchamp, and had a daughter honora, who married sir ferdinand sutton; honora, the wife of harry conway, esq., of bodrhyddan, flint; honora, daughter of edward fortescue of fallapit; besides others. w. h. lammin. fulham. * * * * * replies. bishop butler. (vol. vii., p. .) "charity thinketh no evil;" but we must feel both surprise and regret that any one should, in , consider it a doubtful question whether bishop butler died in the communion of the church of england. the bishop has now been in his grave more than a hundred years; but warburton says truly, "how light a matter very often subjects the best-established characters to the suspicions of posterity--how ready is a remote age to catch at a low revived slander, which the times that brought it forth saw despised and forgotten almost in its birth." x. y. z. says he would be glad to have this charge (originally brought forward in ) _sifted_. he will find that it has been sifted, and in the most full and satisfactory manner, by persons of no less distinction than archbishop secker and bishop halifax. the strong language employed by the archbishop, when refuting what he terms { } a "gross and scandalous falsehood," and when asserting the bishops "abhorrence of popery," need not here be quoted, as "n.& q." is not the most proper channel for the discussion of theological subjects; but it is alleged that every man of sense and candour was convinced _at the time_ that the charge should be retracted; and it must be a satisfaction to your correspondent to know, that as bishop butler lived so he _died_, in full communion with that church, which he adorned equally by his matchless writings, sanctity of manners, and spotless life.[ ] j. h. markland. bath. [footnote : your correspondent may be referred to _memoirs of the life of bishop butler_, by a connexion of his own, the rev. thomas bartlett, a.m., published in ; and to a review of the same work in the _quarterly review_, vol. lxiv. p. .] in reference to the query by x. y. z., as to whether bishop butler died in the roman catholic communion, allow me to refer your correspondent to the contents of the letters from dr. forster and bishop benson to secker, then bishop of oxford, concerning the last illness and death of the prelate in question, deposited at lambeth amongst the private mss. of archbishop seeker, "as negative arguments against the calumny of his dying a papist." than the allegations that butler died with a roman catholic book of devotion in his hand, and that the last person in whose company he was seen was a priest of that persuasion, nothing can be more unreasonable, if at least it be meant to deduce from these unproved statements that the bishop agreed with the one and held communion with the other. dr. forster, his chaplain, was with him at his death, which happened about a.m., june ; and this witness observes (in a letter to the bishop of oxford, june ) that "the last four-and-twenty hours preceding which [_i. e._ his death] were divided between short broken slumbers, and intervals of a calm but disordered talk when awake." again (letter to ditto, june ), forster says that bishop butler, "when, for a day or two before his death, he had in a great measure lost the use of his faculties, was perpetually talking of writing to your lordship, though without seeming to have anything which, at least, he was at all capable of communicating to you." bishop benson writes to the bishop of oxford (june ) that butler's "attention to any one or anything is immediately lost and gone;" and, "my lord is incapable, not only of reading, but attending to anything read or said." and again, "his attention to anything is very little or none." there was certainly an interval between this time (june ) and "the last four-and-twenty hours" preceding his death, during which, writes bishop benson (june ), butler "said kind and affecting things more than i could bear." yet, on the whole, i submit that these extracts, if fully weighed and considered with all the attending circumstances, contain enough of even positive evidence to refute conclusively the injurious suspicions alluded to by x. y. z., if such are still current. j. r. c. * * * * * mitigation of capital punishment to forgers. (vol. iv., p. ., &c.) i have asked many questions, and turned over many volumes and files of newspapers, to get at the real facts of the cases of mitigation stated in "n. & q." having winnowed the chaff as thoroughly as i could, i send the very few grains i have found. those only who have searched annual registers, magazines, and journals for the foundation of stories defective in names and dates, will appreciate my difficulties. i have not found any printed account of the "jeannie deans" case, "n. & q.," vol. iv., p. .; vol. v., p. .; vol. vi., p. . i have inquired of the older members of the northern circuit, and they never heard of it. still a young man may have been convicted of forgery "about thirty-five years ago:" his sister may have presented a well-signed petition to the judges, and the sentence may have been commuted without the tradition surviving on the circuit. all however agree, that no man who ever sat on the bench deserved the imputation of "obduracy" less than baron graham. i should not have noticed the anecdote but for its _mythic_ accompaniments, which i disposed of in "n. & q.," vol. v., p. . in vol. vi., p. ., w. w. cites from wade's _british history_: "july , . admiral william b----y found guilty of forging letters to defraud the revenue. he was sentenced to death, which was commuted to banishment." the case is reported in _the sun_, july , ; and the subsequent facts are in _the times_, july , and august and . it was tried before mr. justice dampier at the winchester summer assizes. there were five bills against the prisoner for forgery, and one for a fraud. that on which he was convicted, was for defrauding the post-master of gosport of l. s. d. he took to the post-office a packet of letters, which he said were "ship letters," from the "mary and jane." he received the postage, and signed the receipt "w. johnstone." the letters were fictitious. the case was fully proved, and he received sentence of death. he was respited for a fortnight, and afterwards during the pleasure of the prince regent. he was struck off the list of retired { } rear-admirals. it was proved at the trial, that, in , he commanded "the plantagenet;" but, _from the unsettled state of his mind_, the command had been given up to the first lieutenant, and that he was shortly after superseded. this, and the good character he received, were probably held to excuse the pardon. i now come to the great case of george iii. and mr. fawcett. i much regret that whunside has not replied in your pages to my question (vol. vii., p. .), as i could then have commented upon the facts, and his means of knowing them, with more freedom. i have a private communication from him, which is ample and candid. he objects to bring his name before the public, and i have no right to press that point. he is not _quite_ certain as to the convict's name, but can procure it for me. he would rather that it should not be published, as it might give pain to a respectable family. appreciating the objection, and having no use for it except to publish, i have declined to ask it of him. the case occurred in or , when whunside was a pupil of mr. fawcett. he says: "occasionally mr. fawcett used to allow certain portions of a weekly newspaper to be read to the boys on a saturday evening. this case was read to us, i think from the _leeds mercury_; and though mr. fawcett's name was not mentioned, we were all aware who the minister was." thus we have no _direct_ evidence of the amount of mr. fawcett's communications with george iii. how much of the story as it is now told was read to the boys, we do not know; but that it came to them first through a weekly paper, is rather against than for it. we all know the tendency of good stories to pick up additions as they go. i have read that the first edition of the _life of loyola_ was without miracles. this anecdote seems to have reached its full growth in , in pearson's _life of w. hey, esq._, and probably in the two lives of george iii., published after his death, and mentioned by whunside. pearson, as cited in "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. ., says, that by some means the _essay on anger_ had been recommended to the notice of george iii., who would have made the author a bishop had he not been a dissenter; that he signified his wish to serve mr. fawcett, &c. that on the conviction of h----, mr. fawcett wrote to the king; and a letter soon arrived, conveying the welcome intelligence, "you may rest assured that his life is safe," &c. it is not stated that this was "private and confidential:" if it was, mr. fawcett had no right to mention it; if it was not, he had no reason for concealing what was so much to his honour, and so extraordinary as the king's personal interference in a matter invariably left to the secretary of state for the home department. if, however, mr. fawcett was silent from modesty, his biographers had no inducement to be so; yet, let us see how they state the case. the _account of the life, writings, and ministry of the late rev. john fawcett_: london, , cited in "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. ., says: "he was induced, _in conjunction with others_, to solicit the exercise of royal clemency in mitigating the severity of that punishment which the law denounces: and it gladdened the sympathetic feelings of his heart to know that these petitions were not unavailing; but the modesty of his character made him regret the publicity which had been given to this subject." the fifth edition of the _essay on anger, printed for the book society for promoting religious knowledge_, london, no date, has a memoir of the author. the "incident" is said not to have been circulated _in any publication by the family_; but "it was one of the secrets which obtain a wider circulation from the reserve with which one relator invariably retails it to another." that is exactly my view. secrecy contributes to diffusion, but not to accuracy. at the risk of being thought tedious, i must copy the rest of this statement: "soon after the publication of this treatise, _the author took an opportunity of presenting a copy_ to our late much revered sovereign; whose ear was always accessible to merit, however obscure the individual in whom it was found. contrary to the fate of most publications laid at the feet of royalty, it was diligently perused and admired; and a communication of this approbation was afterwards made known to the author. it happened some time afterwards, a relative of one of his friends was convicted of a capital crime, for which he was left for execution. application was instantly made for an extension of royal favour in his behalf; and, among others, one was made by mr. fawcett: and his majesty, _no doubt recollecting the pleasure he had derived from the perusal of his_ essay on anger, _and believing that he would not recommend an improper person to royal favour_, was most graciously pleased to answer the prayer of the petition; but _as to precisely how far the name of mr. fawcett might have contributed to this successful application must await the great disclosures of a future judgment._" the reader will sift this jumble of inferences and facts, and perhaps will not go so far as to have "no doubt." whunside tells me, that about he employed a bookbinder from halifax; who, on hearing that he had been a pupil of mr. fawcett, said he had seen two copies of the _essay on anger_, most beautifully bound, to be sent to the king. the conclusion to which i come is, that mr. fawcett sent a copy of the _essay on anger_ to the king; that the receipt of it was acknowledged, possibly in some way more complimentary than the ordinary circular; that a young man was convicted of forgery; that mr. fawcett and others petitioned for his pardon, and that he was { } pardoned. all the rest i hold to be mere rumours, not countenanced by mr. fawcett or his family, and not _asserted_ by his biographers. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * mythe versus myth. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. keightley's rule is only partially true, and in the part which is true is not fully stated. the following rules, qualified by the accompanying remarks, will i trust be found substantially correct. english monosyllables, formed from greek or latin monosyllabic roots, ( .) when the root ends in a single consonant preceded by a vowel, require the lengthening e. ( .) when the root ends in a single consonant preceded by a diphthong, or in more than one consonant preceded by a vowel, reject the e. . examples from the greek:--[greek: schêm-a], _scheme_; [greek: lur-a] (lyr-a), _lyre_; [greek: zôn-ê] (zon-a), _zon-e_; [greek: bas-is], _base_; [greek: phras-is], _phras-e_; [greek: trop-os], _trop-e_. from latin, ros-a, _ros-e_; fin-is, _fin-e_; fum-us, _fum-e_; pur-us, _pur-e_; grad-us, _grad-e_. compare, in verbs, ced-o, _ced-e_. _remarks._--this rule admits of a modification; _e.g._ we form from [greek: zêl-os] _zeal_ (the sound hardly perceptibly differing from _zel-e_); from [greek: hôr-a] (hor-a), _hour_; from flos (flor-is), _flower_ and _flour_ (the long sound communicated to the vowel in the other words by the added _e_, being in these already contained in the diphthong). add ven-a, _vein_; van-us, _vain_; sol-um, _soil_, &c.; and compare _-ceed_ in _proceed_, _succeed_, formed from compounds of ced-o. some, but not all, of these words have come to us through the french. . examples from the greek:--[greek: rheum-a], _rheum_; [greek: chasm-a], _chasm_; [greek: murr-a], _myrrh_; [greek: glôss-a], _gloss_; [greek: numph-ê] (nymph-a), _nymph_; [greek: disk-os], (disc-us), _disk_; [greek: plinth-os], _plinth_; [greek: psalm-os], _psalm_. from latin, fraus (fraud-is), _fraud_; laus (laud-is), _laud_; plant-a, _plant_; orb-is, _orb_; plumb-um, _plumb_; long-us, _long_, flux-us, _flux_; port-us, _port_. compare, in verbs, damn-o, _damn_; err-o, _err_; add-o, _add_; vex-o, _vex_. _remarks._--from roots ending in the same consonant doubled, our derived words ordinarily drop one of them; _e.g._ [greek: stemm-a], _stem_; gemm-a, _gem_; summ-a, _sum_; penn-a, _pen_; carr-us, _car_. (note this tendency of our language, by comparing our _man_ with the german _mann_.) if the root ends in _s_ or _v_ preceded by a diphthong, or in a consonant +_s_[ ] or +_v_ preceded by a vowel, our derived words add _e_, _as_ [greek: paus-is] (paus-a), _paus-e_; caus-a, _cause-e_; næv-a, _nav-e_; puls-us, _puls-e_; dens-us, _dens-e_; [greek: haps-is], _aps-e_; laps-us, _laps-e_; vers-us, _vers-e_; valv-a, _valv-e_; nerv-us, _nerv-e_.[ ] the cause of this lies in the genius of our language, which totally rejects the ending _v_, and uses _s_ (single) very sparingly in the singular number, except in the ending _ous_, the genitive case, the third person of the present tense, the obsolete _wis_, and _was_. other words are, the interjection _alas_; pronouns or pronominal particles; proper names, as _thomas_, _chaos_; compounds, as _lammas_, _christmas_; _plural_ adverbs, as _towards_, _thereabouts_; and the (perhaps) _plural_--it ought to be so--_alms_.[ ] from roots ending in a mute +_a_ liquid, our derived words also end in _e_, and are then in fact dissyllables; _e.g._ [greek: bibl-os], _bible_; [greek: kukl-os], _cycl-e_; [greek: mitr-a], _mitr-e_; [greek: nitr-on], _nitr-e_; [greek: petr-os], _petr-e_. in this class of words the final letters (after the analogy of latin) have sometimes become transposed; _e.g._ [greek: lepr-os], _lep-er_. so now-a-days, _cent-er_ as well as _centr-e_. compare _metr-e_, _diamet-er_. to apply our rules to the words required to be formed in an english shape from [greek: muth-os]. very few words in our language end in _th_ which are not of purely native growth. _frith_ is questionable exception. besides the monosyllable _plinth_, we have imported from the greek _colocynth_, _hyacinth_, _labyrinth_, with the proper names _corinth_, _erymanth_, all terminating in _nth_. in the ending _the_ our language does not rejoice. most of such words are verbs, so distinguished from their cognate substantives, as _wreathe_ from _wreath_. we have, as substantives, _lathe_ (a.-s. [saxon: leð]), _hythe_ ([saxon: hyð]), _scythe_ (more properly _sithe_, [saxon: siðe]), _tythe_ ([saxon: tyðe]); as adjectives, _blithe_ ([saxon: bliðe]), _lithe_ ([saxon: lið]). there may be one or two more. in all these the sounds is [saxon: ð] (_th_ in _this_) not [saxon: þ] (_th_ in _thick_). this appears worth notice. on the whole, i should venture to say that so uncouth a slip as _mythe_, when set in our soil, was unlikely to thrive. still _m[)y]th_ is objectionable, though we at cambridge might quote _g[)y]p_ however i may seem to be a breaker of my own laws, i suggest, if we must have an english form of the word, that we should write and pronounce _m[=y]th_. several words ending in _th_ have the preceding vowel lengthened, _e.g._ _both_, _sloth_, _ruth_, _truth_ (though with the inconsistency attributed to us, one, by the way, generally of orthography rather than pronunciation, we shorten the diphthong in _breath_, _death_). compare also the sound of the endings _ild_ and _ind_. i have already troubled you with a very long note; but, before i close, allow me to add that in what i have advanced i have had in view only our modern mode of spelling, without binding { } myself to an opinion of its inferiority or superiority to that of our forefathers. i beg also to protest against mr. keightley's wish to banish _mythical_ from our vocabulary. it may be _hybrid_, but equally so are _critical_, _grammatical_, _musical_, _physical_, _poetical_, with a long string of et ceteras. charles thiriold. [footnote : except _x_ (=_cs_). compare _flax_, _wax_, _ox_.] [footnote : from serv-us (after the french) we form _serf_.] [footnote : _rebus_, _overplus_, and _surplus_ may, if not satisfied, take an _omnibus_, bring their action at the _nisi prius_, and meet there with a _nonplus_.] * * * * * "inquiry into the state of the union, by the wednesday club in friday street." (vol. vii., pp. . .) this very able and valuable work, as to which your correspondent inquires, was written by wm. paterson, the projector of the bank of england and the darien scheme; a great and memorable name, but which, to the discredit of british biography, will be sought for in vain in chalmers's or our other biographical dictionaries. the book above noticed appears to be a continuation of another tract by the same author, entitled _an inquiry into the reasonableness and consequences of an union with scotland, containing a brief deduction of what hath been done, designed, or proposed in the matter of the union during the last age, a scheme of an union as accommodated to the present circumstances of the two nations, also states of the respective revenues, debts, weights, measures, taxes, and impositions, and of other facts of moment: with observations thereupon, as communicated to laurence philips, esq., near york_: london, printed and sold by r. bragg, , vo., pages. this was preceded by an earlier tract by the same author: _conferences on the public debts, by the wednesday's club in friday street_: london, , to. the last is noticed, with a short account of the author, by mr. m^cculloch (_lib. of political economy_, p. .), but he has not mentioned the two other works previously adverted to. in all of them the author adopts the form of a report of the proceedings of a club; but, without attempting to deny the actual existence of a wednesday's club in friday street (the designation he assumes for it), nothing can be more clear to any one who reads the three tracts than that the conversations, proceedings, and personages mentioned are all the creatures of his own fertile invention, and made use of, more conveniently to bring out his facts, arguments, and statements. the dramatic form he gives them makes even the dry details of finance amusing; and abounding, as they do, in information and thought, these works may always be consulted with profit and pleasure. the _inquiry into the state of the union_, , vo., for which walpole is said to have furnished some of the materials, was answered, but rather feebly, in an anonymous pamphlet entitled _wednesday club law; or the injustice, dishonour, and ill policy of breaking into parliamentary contracts for public debts_: london, printed for e. smith, , vo., pp. . the author of this pamphlet appears to have been a mr. broome. those who would wish see one of the financial questions discussed in the _inquiry_ treated with equal force and ability, and with similar views, by a great cotemporary of paterson, whose pamphlet came out simultaneously, may read _fair payment no spunge; or some considerations on the unreasonableness of refusing to receive back money lent on public securities, and the necessity of setting the nation free from the unsupportable burthen of debt and taxes, with a view of the great advantage and benefit which will arise to trade and to the landed interest, as well as to the poor, by having these heavy grievances taken off_: london, printed and sold by brotherton: meadows and roberts, , vo., pp. . this is one of the pamphlets which, though it has been sometimes erroneously assigned to paterson, both on external and internal evidence may be confidently attributed to defoe, but which has unaccountably escaped the notice of all his biographers. james crossley. * * * * * unpublished epigram by sir w. scott (?). (vol. vii., p. .) the lines which your correspondent r. vincent attributes to sir walter scott are part of an old english inscription which longfellow quotes in _outremer_, p. ., and thus describes in a note: "i subjoin this relic of old english verse entire.... it is copied from a book whose title i have forgotten, and of which i have but a single leaf, containing the poem. in describing the antiquities of the church of stratford-upon-avon, the writer gives the following account of a very old painting upon the wall, and of the poem which served as its motto. the painting is no longer visible, having been effaced in repairing the church: "'against the west wall of the nave, on the south side of the arch, was painted the martyrdom of thomas à becket, while kneeling at the altar of st. benedict, in canterbury cathedral. below this was the figure of an angel, probably st. michael, supporting a long scroll, upon which were seven stanzas in old english, being an allegory of mortality.'" the lines given at p. . of "n. & q." seem to be taken from the two following stanzas, which stand third and fourth in the old inscription: "_erth apon erth wynnys castellys and towrys,_ _then seth erth unto erth thys ys all owrys._ when erth apon erth hath bylde hys bowrys, then schall erth for erth suffur many hard schowrys. "erth goth apon erth as man apon mowld, lyke as erth apon erth never goo schold, _erth goth apon erth as gelsteryng gold,_ _and yet schall erth unto erth rather than he wold._" { } dugdale, in his _antiquities of warwickshire_, p. ., tells us that john de stratford, who was archbishop of canterbury in the reign of edward iii., built a chapel on the south side of the church, "to the honour of god and of st. thomas the martyr;" and as at p. . he describes it as "in the south ile of the said church," the west wall of this chapel answers very well the description of the position of the painting, and inscription. but in _the beauties of england and wales_, vol. xv. p. ., _the chapel of the gild of the holy cross_, in the centre of the town, is mentioned as the place in which the pictures were discovered, during some repairs which it underwent in the year . i have since ascertained that the work to which longfellow refers is weaver's _account of stratford-upon-avon_. erica. as a companion to the _unpublished_ epigram in no. . of "n. & q.," i beg to hand you the following epitaph, copied by myself about thirty years since, and referring, as i _believe_, to an old brass in the church of st. helen's, london: "here lyeth y^e bodyes of james pomley, y^e sonne of ould dominick pomley and jane his wyfe: y^e said james deceased y^e ^{th} day of januarie anno domini he beyng of y^e age of years, and y^e sayd jane deceased y^e ---- day of ---- d----. earth goeth up[=o] earth as moulde up[=o] moulde; earth goeth up[=o] earth all glittering as golde, as though earth to y^e earth never turne shoulde; and yet shall earth to y^e earth sooner than he woulde." william williams. * * * * * church catechism. (vol. vii., pp. . .) in accordance with the request of z. e. r., i have pleasure in forwarding the extracts from the _catechismus brevis et catholicus_, referred to at pp. . . of the present volume. it is needful to premise, . that the pages of the catechism are not numbered. this will account for the absence of precise references. . that only so much is quoted as may exhibit the parallelism; and, . that the citations are not consecutive in the original, but arranged in the order of the questions and answers of the _church catechism_, beginning with the fourteenth question, "how many sacraments hath christ ordained in his church?" q. . how many, &c. "quot sunt ecclesiæ catholicæ sacramenta? septem sunt in universum," &c. "quis instituit baptismum? ipse servator ac dominus noster jesus christus." [_similarly of the eucharist._] q. . what meanest thou, &c. "ecquur hæc ipsa--et dicantur et sint sacramenta? sacramenta sunt et dicuntur quia sacra atque efficacia sunt signa divinæ erga nos voluntatis." q. . how many parts, &c. "habetque unumquodque horum (quod sacramentis peculiare est verbum) elementum, et gratiam invisibilem. quod verbum nos docet, et promittit nobis, hoc elementum seu visibile signum similitudine quâdam demonstrat, hoc idem gratia quoque (nisi tamen obicem objiciat homo) in anima invisibiliter operatur. da paucis singulorum sacramentorum signa et invisibilem gratiam?" q. . what is the outward, &c. "in baptismo signum externum aqua est." q. . what is the inward, &c. "quid efficit seu prodest baptismus? "res seu gratia est renovatio et sanctificatio animæ, ablutio omnium peccatorum, adoptio baptizati in filium dei. 'baptizatus sum in nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti.' "tinctione illa aquæ, operationeque spiritus sancti, eripitur baptizatus à regno et tyrannide diaboli, donatur remissione peccatorum ac innocentia, addicitur perpetuò uni veroque deo patri et filio et spiritui sancto, hujus denique filius atque hæres instituitur." q. . what is required, &c. "requiritur in eo (adulto), et verus fidei usus, et vita professione christiana, baptismique voto digna: hoc est ut corde credat, et ore fidem confiteatur, utque peccatis mortificatis in vitæ ambulet novitate. proba sacræ scripturæ testimoniis, quod fides in baptizato requiratur." q. . why then are infants, &c. "sed quomodo infantes possunt credere, ut qui nondum usum habeant rationis? his fides ecclesiæ et susceptorum suffragatur, donec idonei fiant suo illam assensu percipere, adhæc et fidei gratiam in baptismo ii consequuntur." q. . why was the sacrament, &c. "quur vero sacram eucharistiam christus instituit? ... ut suæ passionis ac mortis recordemur, eamque annuntiemus perpetuò." q. . what is the outward, &c. q. . what is the inward, &c. "da paucis ... signa et invisibilem gratiam. in eucharistia, elementum est panis ac vini species: res autem, verum corpus, et verus christi sanguis est, fructusque dignam sumptionem sequentes." { } q. . what are the benefits, &c. "jam recense paucis quinam fructus dignam eucharistæ sumptionem sequantur? principio quidem virtute escæ hujus confirmamur in fide, munimur adversus peccata, ad bonorum operum studium excitamur, et ad charitatem inflammamur. hinc vero per eam incorporamur adjungimurque capiti nostro christo, ut unum cum ipso constituamus corpus," &c. q. . what is required, &c. "quonam pacto dignè sumitur eucharistia? digna sumptio, omnium primum requirit, ut homo peccata sua agnoscat ex animo ob ea verè doleat--ac firmum etiam animo concipiat amplius non peccandi propositum. deinde exigit etiam digna sumptio, ut communicaturus simultatem omnem odiumque animo eximat: reconcilietur læso, et charitatis contra viscera induat. postremo vero et fides cum primis in sumente requiritur ... ut credat corpus christi pro se esse traditum mortem, et sanguinem ejus in remissionem peccatorum suorum vere effusum," &c. i fear the unavoidable length of the previous extracts will be against the insertion of the full title of the book, and one remark. the title is,-- "catechismus brevis et catholicus in gratiam juventutis conscriptus, autore iacobo schoeppero, ecclesiasta tremoniano. cui accessit pium diurnarum precum enchiridion, ex quo pueri toto die cum deo colloqui discant. antverpiæ, apud ioan. bellerum ad insigne falconis, ." my remark is, that some of the coincidences above enumerated are at least singular, though they do not perhaps _prove_ that the compiler of the _church catechism_, in the places referred to, had them before him. b. h. c. * * * * * jacob bobart, etc. (vol. vii., p. .) of old jacob bobart, who originally came from brunswick, granger (_biog. hist._, vol. v. p. ., edit. ) gives us the following account: "jacob bobart, a german, whom plot styles 'an excellent gardener and botanist,' was, by the earl of danby, founder of the physic-garden at oxford, appointed the first keeper of it. he was author of _catalogus plantarum horti medici oxoniensis, scil. latino-anglicus et anglico-latinus_: oxon. , vo. one singularity i have heard of him from a gentleman of unquestionable veracity, that on rejoicing days he used to have his beard tagged with silver. the same gentleman informed me, that there is a portrait of him in the possession of one of the corporation at woodstock. he died the th of february, , in the eighty-first year of his age. he had two sons, tillemant and jacob, who both belonged to the physic-garden. it appears that the latter succeeded him in his office." there is a very fine print of the elder bobart, now extremely scarce, "d. loggan del., m. burghers, sculp." it is a quarto of the largest size. beneath the head, which is dated , is this distich: "thou german prince of plants, each year to thee thousands of subjects grant a subsidy." in john evelyn's _diary_, under the date oct. , , is the following entry: "next to wadham, and the physic garden, where were two large locust-trees, and as many platani (plane-trees), and some rare plants under the culture of old bobart." the editor of the last edition, after repeating part of granger's note, and mentioning the portrait, adds: "there is a small whole-length in the frontispiece of _vertumnus_, a poem on that garden. in this he is dressed in a long vest, with a beard. one of his family was bred up at college in oxford; but quitted his studies for the profession of the whip, driving one of the oxford coaches (his own property) for many years with great credit. in he broke his leg by an accident; and in , from the respect he had acquired by his good conduct, he was appointed by the university to the place of one of the esquire beadles." _vertumnus_, the poem mentioned in the above note, was addressed to mr. jacob bobart, in , by dr. evans. it is a laudatory epistle on the botanical knowledge of the bobarts; and we learn from it that jacob, the younger, collected a _hortus siccus_ (a collection of plants pasted upon paper, and kept dry in a book) in twenty volumes. "thy _hortus siccus_ ... in tomes twice ten, that world immense! by thee compiled at vast expense." the broadsides about which h. t. bobart inquires are of the greatest possible rarity. they were the production of edmund gayton, the author of _festivious notes on don quixote_, &c. copies may be seen in the ashmolean library, under the press-marks nos. . and ., but i think not in any other repository of a like nature. among the ashmolean mss. (no. , art. .) is a poem of lines "upon the most hopeful and ever-flourishing sprouts of valour, the indefatigable centrys of the physick-garden." this, i apprehend, is a ms. copy of the first broadside mentioned by your correspondent. i shall merely add, the bobarts, father and son, were personal friends of ashmole and ray, and that, in all probability, among their correspondence much curious and minute information might be obtained. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * "its." (vol. vii., p. .) i was somewhat surprised to find, in no. . of "n. & q.," two instances quoted of the use of the { } word "its" in the version of the bible. it has long been an established opinion that this word did not exist in it; and the fact has been recently referred to by two different authorities, mr. keightley in "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. ., and mr. watts of the british museum, in a paper "on some philological peculiarities in the english authorised version of the bible," read before the philological society on december , . feeling curious on the subject, i have taken the trouble of referring to several different versions of the bible in the british museum, and the following _variorum_ readings of the verses quoted by your correspondent b. h. c. are the result: . the wickliffite version, before (edit. forshall and wadden): "and he shal ben as a tree, that is plauntid beside the doun rennyngis of watris; that _his_ frut shal [gh]ive in _his_ time."--ps. i. . "duke of the weie thou were in _his_ (_sc._ the vine) si[gh]t; and thou plauntidist _his_ rootis, and it fulfilde the erthe."--ps. lxxx. . . coverdale's bible, : "y^t br[=i]geth forth _his_ frute in due season." "thou maydest rowme for it, and caused it to take rote, so y^t it fylled the l[=o]de." . matthews, : "that bryngeth forth _his_ frute in due season." "thou madest rowme for it, and caused it to take rote, so that it fylled the lande." . cranmer, : "y^t wyll brynge forth _hys_ frute in due season." "thou madest rowme for it, and whan it had taken rote it fylled y^e lande." . the bishops' bible, : "that bryngeth foorth _her_ fruite in due season." "thou madst roome before it, thou causedst it to take roote, and it hath filled the lande." . geneva bible, . in this there are two translations, one "according to the ebrewe," the other "used in the common prayer": i. "that wil bring forth _her_ fruite in due season." ii. "that will bring forth _his_ fruite in due season." i. "thou madest roome for it, and when it had taken roote, it filled the lande." ii. "thou madest roume for it, and didest cause it to take roote, and it filled the land." . the douay bible (roman catholic version), - : "which shal geue _his_ fruite in _his_ time." "thou wast the guide of the way in the sight _thereof_; thou didst plant the rootes _thereof_, and it filled the earth." . authorised version, : "that bringeth forth _his_ fruit in _his_ season." "thou preparedst roome before it, and didst cause it to take deepe roote, and it filled the land." it will thus be perceived that "its" is wanting in all the above passages, and that "his," "her," and "thereof" invariably supply its place. i have been equally unsuccessful in detecting the word in the common prayer-book version of the psalms, which is well known to be that of the "great bible," or cranmer's edition of , and which has remained in use without alteration ever since. may i therefore ask b. h. c. to be so good as to point out the particular "old version of the psalms" from which he has derived his quotation? w. b. rye. * * * * * bohn's edition of hoveden. (vol. vii., p. .) in reply to your correspondent's remarks (may ) on my translation of hoveden, i beg to state that, in suggesting cork, i did not allude to the city of cork, but the _territory_ of desmond or cork, which probably extended to within a short distance of waterford. hoveden more than once, in his foreign geography, confounds places with territories or kingdoms; this fact, and the similarity of the names, _croch_ and _corch_, as the kingdom of cork is elsewhere called by him, led me to believe that a landing in the territory of cork was meant. "crook," "hook point," or "the crook," is only _supposed_ to have been the place of landing on this occasion. i confess that i was not aware that "erupolis" was an alias of the diocese of ossory: i cannot find it mentioned as such in the dictionaries at my command. my note, however, was worded in such a way as to give offence to no reasonable person: and, among the many hundreds, perhaps thousands of suggestions, made in the notes (in a proper spirit, i hope,) i should be greatly surprised to find that i had miscarried in none. for your correspondent's information, i beg to state, that i am not an irishman either by birth or descent; and that i have never had the good fortune to pay a visit to that country. were i inclined to follow his example in making remarks upon the "ominousness" of names, i might perhaps retaliate upon him with interest. why i have forfeited all claim to be treated by this gentleman with courtesy or common politeness, i am quite at a loss to conceive; but i beg to remind him that vituperation does not carry conviction, and that criticism is enfeebled by an alliance with abuse. henry t. riley. * * * * * books of emblems. (vol. vii., p. .) in your th number, two or three queries are proposed by the rev. mr. corser in { } connexion with that interesting branch of literature called _books of emblems_. to these it shall be my endeavour to reply. first. some years ago i made particular inquiry from the surviving relatives of the late rev. william beloe, whether among his manuscripts there had been found any "treatise on emblems," or any notices which had a bearing on the subject? they informed me that they had made search, but without success. second. of thomas combe, mentioned by meres in his _palladis tamia_, i have been unable to learn anything. third. it appears certain that bunyan never published any _book of emblems_, whatever may have been hawked under his name; nor can i find, in the account of his life and writings just published in glasgow, edinburgh, and london, or in any preceding edition of his works, that such a production was ever contemplated by him. fourth. in the extensive and valuable "english books of emblems" furnished (chiefly from his own library) by mr. corser, he mentions r. burton's _choice emblems, divine and moral; or delights for the ingenious, &c._, mo. . perhaps my learned and accomplished friend may not be aware that _burton_ is an _assumed_ name, placed in the title-pages of several cheap books which appeared at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, but which were thought to have been written by a mr. nathaniel crouch, a bookseller, who sold them. i have a sixth edition of these "choice emblems," dated , which was then sold for "two shillings bound." the work is merely a collection of fifty emblems, taken, without acknowledgment, from george wither, the copper-plate engravings being poor copies from those of depasse. to this sixth edition there is prefixed a portrait of k. charles i., with eight pages of sympathising verses. mr. corser's list of english works is very complete. i possess, however, an unpublished manuscript translation of alciato into english verse. it is of the time of james i., and possesses much merit; but it has unfortunately been mutilated. i also possess the following: "amorum emblemata figuris æneis incisa studio othonis væni, batavo-lugdunensis. emblemes of love, with verses in latin, english, and italian, obl. to.: antverpiæ, ." prefixed is an english dedication "to the most honourable and worthy brothers william, earl of pembroke, and philip, earl of montgomerie, patrons of learning and chevalrie," whose coat of arms also is given. "the doctrine of morality, or a view of human life according to the stoic philosophy, &c. a translation, by t. m. gibbs, from the french of m. de gomberville, with copper plates by daret, folio: london, ." to each engraving are appended quotations from horace, &c., with english translations: but both engravings and quotations have been pirated (without the least acknowledgment) from van veen's _horatia emblemata_. it must be admitted that a comprehensive work on european books of emblems, illustrated with fac-similes of the various engravings, &c., is a great desideratum in modern literature. i feel highly flattered by the kind commendations which mr. corser has bestowed upon my two small attempts towards such a work, and by his encouraging me to proceed "to enlarge and complete" the same. now, i do not altogether despair of _enlarging_ it. but when my excellent friend puts forward a proposal to _complete_ it, he should be informed that my library alone contains nearly volumes strictly emblematical, and published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. by far the greater part of these are in latin. to carry forward a work of such magnitude to anything like _completion_ must therefore be rather wished for than expected. jos. b. yates. west dingle, near liverpool. allow me to add the following to mr. corser's list: "the christian's divine amusement, consisting of emblems and hieroglyphicks on a great variety of subjects, moral and divine, in four books. by the late rev. mr. j. jones. embellished with near beautiful emblematical cuts, mo. pp. .: london, ." i know not who the rev. mr. j. was, but his book is the old one of francis quarles. the author, or rather adapter, attacks and demolishes the fable as a method of instruction, and would substitute the emblems. in remodelling quarles, mr. jones makes the following alterations, or improvements:--instead of the latin motto under each cut, he presents us with four lines of english verse, which contain a general explanation of the emblem. the page facing the cut he divides into two parts or sections of odes and hymns suited to common psalmody, and the moral, or application, also in a poetical dress. a prose work belonging to the class under notice is an "emblematical representation of the paradise of god; showing the nature of spiritual industry, in the similitude of a garden well ordered, dressed, and kept. london, ." the author of this was a visionary scots gardener named alexander clark, who had been favoured with a special manifestation of divine glory, "by which," he says, "(to my own astonishment) i was enabled to see through every profound passage of scripture, and to spiritualise every material thing;" but he belongs to my fanatical rather { } than to my emblematical shelf, and may be worth a separate note hereafter. under the name of farlie, or fairlie, mr. corser mixes up the titles of two distinct books; they are now before me, and divide themselves thus: . "lychnocavsia, sive moralia facvm emblemata. light's moral emblems. authore roberto farlæo, scoto-britanno. mo.: london, th. cotes for m. sparke, ." containing fifty-eight emblems in latin and english, each with a cut, with a dedication in latin to the earl of ancrum, and one in english to his countess. there are also complimentary verses by j. hooper, christ. drayton, mr. povey, thos. beedome, and edm. coleman. . "kalendarium humanæ vitæ. the kalendar of man's life. authore r. f., s.-b. mo. london, for w. hope, ." with a latin dedication to his patron the earl of ancrum. the book contains verses upon the various stages of man's life, under the heads of spring, summer, autumn, and winter; again subdivided into moralisations upon the months, as corresponding with the periods of life, as "august, or man's youth," &c. this has also a variety of curious cuts, and both have engraved emblematical titles, the latter bearing on its face "g. glover fecit." when book-rarities were in more request, these were costly little volumes; and i shall be glad if any of your correspondents can direct me where to find any notice of robert fairlie, the author of two of the most interesting of the emblematical series. j. o. * * * * * photographic correspondence. [the following paper, which has been kindly communicated to us by mr. pollock at the request of dr. diamond, describes a process which deserves the especial attention of our photographic friends, for the beauty and uniformity of its results.] mr. pollock's directions for obtaining positive photographs upon albumenised paper. _the paper_ should be carefully chosen, by holding up every sheet to the light, and only those sheets which are homogeneous in appearance and free from spots should be kept for use. _the albumen_ should be obtained from new-laid hens' eggs; twenty-four is a convenient number to use at a time: these will yield twenty-four ounces of albumen, to which should be added six ounces of distilled writer (making thirty ounces in all) and four per cent. of chloride of ammonium, viz. one ounce and a quarter. the albumen water and chloride should be whipped with a silver fork for several minutes, and then put into a narrow tall jar, and allowed to stand for not less than two days (forty-eight hours). in cool weather it will keep well for eight days, at the end of which time the upper half of the albumen is to be poured off into a shallow vessel, rather larger than the sheets of paper intended to be albumenised. _to put the albumen on the paper._--take a sheet by two opposite corners; turn one up; place the sheet boldly on the albumen, the centre first coming in contact with the albumen; lower the corners of the paper, gradually carefully excluding, the air. let the sheet so placed remain four minutes: then take it by the turned up corner, and rip it from the albumen quickly, so as to carry up a quantity of the albumen with it. let it drain for a minute or two, moving it so as not to allow the albumen to run in streaks; pin it to a piece of tape; and, when dry, pass a very hot iron over the back. this ends the albumenising process. _to make the paper sensitive._--place the albumenised side downwards, for four minutes, on the surface of a solution of nitrate of silver, of the strength of ninety grains to the ounce of distilled water; pin it up by one corner to dry, and keep it between pieces of blotting-paper. this must be done by yellow light, or the light of a candle. _to print from the negative._--the simplest apparatus to have is a number of pieces of plate-glass a quarter of an inch thick, colourless, about twelve inches by ten in size. the sensitive paper is to be placed on one of the plates of glass, sensitive side upwards, and the negative is to be placed firmly upon it, collodion side downwards; and a second glass plate is then to be placed on the negative, and the whole arrangement exposed to the light. the time for exposure is from three minutes to an hour. with a little practice the negative can be lifted up, and the positive viewed front time to time, without any risk of displacement. the best rule is to print the lightest shade on the positive very decidedly darker than it would be wished that it should remain permanently. _to fix the positive._--on removing it from the pressure frame, place it in a bath made as follows: water oz. hyposulphite of soda oz. nitrate of silver solution, grs. to oz. minims. iodide of silver, dissolved in a saturated solution of hypo. minims. chloride of gold grains. chloride of silver (blackened by light) grains. acetic acid drops. mix these: let them stand some hours; and filter before use. if the chloride of silver is omitted, the bath will do very well, but will very much improve with age, as it will acquire chloride of silver from the positives placed in it. { } the time to leave the positive in the fixing bath varies from one hour to twelve. to get good black and white tints, the average time is five or six hours. when the desired tint is obtained, remove it into a bath composed of water oz. hypo. oz. leave in this for half an hour, and then keep it in running water for several hours. if the water is hot, the time of soaking may be lessened: boiling water is objectionable. nearly dry the positive between sheets of clean blotting-paper, and finish it by passing a very hot iron over it. _general remarks._--the albumenised paper will keep any length of time in a dry place. when made sensitive, as directed, it will keep three days, always supposing that it is both prepared and kept most carefully excluded from white light. if, instead of a solution of nitrate of silver of ninety grains to the ounce, a weaker one be used, to make the paper sensitive, it will keep when sensitive a much longer time,--with a thirty-grain solution, a fortnight, or sometimes even a month; but then it does not give a positive of the same force and tone as that obtained with the stronger solution. after the fixing bath has done its day's work, it should be poured back into the bottle from which it came, and the bottle be filled up from the finishing bath; and so the bath is kept always of the same quantity; and by adding from time to time chloride of gold, it is kept of the same quality. the nitrate of silver and chloride of silver will never have to be renewed. the iodide of silver should be added as at first, viz. ten drops for about every two hundred positives fixed; and the acetic acid, viz. two drops for about every four hundred. in a bath of twenty-four ounces, as many as thirty positives, five inches by four, may be placed at one time: but the dark tints will then appear very slowly and gradually. to insure a good positive, next to having a good negative, it is most important to print of the right depth, neither too much nor too little. great attention should be paid to this: for the finest tints are only to be obtained in positives exposed exactly the right time. positives printed in a bright sun quickly are always better than those obtained by longer exposure without sun. h. p. . maddox street, regent street. _test for lenses._--in applying the methods recommended in your last number for the purpose of testing lenses, there is one precaution absolutely necessary to be taken, but which all your correspondents have omitted to point out. the operator must take care that his _focussing-glass_ is placed at precisely the same distance from the lens as the _collodionised_ glass is. to insure this, my practice is to place a piece of ground glass in the dark frame, which is afterwards to receive the collodionised glass, and to obtain the focus of the lens on that; then to put in the proposed plate, and obtain an impression as described by mr. shadbolt. in this way i secure myself from what i believe is often a source of fallacy in these experiments, and am sure that i give the lens a fair trial. e. s. _washing collodion pictures._--i have never offered to your readers an opinion in photography without having _bonâ fide_ tested it, to the best of my ability; and however correct my friend mr. shadbolt may be, chemically and theoretically, i am convinced that in practice so good a tone is never obtained in a positive collodion picture which has been washed, as in one which has been instantly fixed with the old saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda. the unpleasant tints obtained upon positive collodion pictures, i believe to be much dependent upon the frequent washings in the proofs. when a collodion picture is properly treated, it surpasses in pleasing effect every other photograph. h. w. diamond. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _cremonas_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a discriminative account of the violins and basses by the great italian makers, showing, in every ascertainable instance, the date of manufacture, and thereby forming to some extent a chronological catalogue, as it were, of the works of each master, would be, indeed, a curious and interesting achievement. such a task, involving much consultation of books and examination of instruments, calls for sounder eye-sight and larger opportunities than are possessed by me; but i shall rejoice if the desire expressed by your correspondent h. c. k. shall be found to have stirred up some competent investigator. time and accident are gradually attaching, to the fine instruments in question, a kind of _sibylline_ intensity of value; and the inquiry, if omitted now, may become impossible hereafter. let us not fear, however, that those "cunning'st patterns of excelling art," the amati, stradivari, and guarneri fiddles, will eventually perish without worthy issue, and "die, and leave the world no copy." provision to the contrary, it seems, has already been made; monsieur vuillaume "has ta'en order for't," that is to say, _if_ his instruments, which at present look very like faithful fac-similes of the renowned classic prototypes, shall verify the confident predictions of their admirers, by continuing to stand the test of time. my authority for as the date of birth of antonio stradivari, is a living belgian writer, monsieur fétis, who has not stated from whence { } he has adopted it. i find that the paris _biographie universelle_ gives no fixed date, but only a conjectural one, _about_ , so that _may_ possibly be right. g. dubourg. brighton. _james chaloner_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. hughes is mistaken in imagining that james chaloner the herald-painter was the same person as james chaloner, governor of the isle of man, and one of the judges of charles i. he will find the error exposed by chalmers (_biog. dict._, jas. c.), and in my family, as descendants of the latter james chaloner, there are among his papers many which prove the governor to have been (as mr. hughes doubts) the son of sir thomas chaloner of gisborough. should any farther doubts remain on the subject, i shall be happy to give all information required concerning these papers, among which are the original commission of governor and captain, signed by lenthal, and twenty-one letters from lord fairfax to his "dear cousin james chaloner." the son of sir thomas chaloner married ursula fairfax. it may be presumed the herald-painter did not stand in the same relationship to the parliamentary general. lord fairfax thanks his correspondent for a copy of "his" _history of the isle of man_. ursula. _irish convocation_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--in vol. i. of _letters written by the late jonathan swift, d.d., dean of st. patrick's, dublin, and several of his friends, from the year to , &c., with notes, by john hawkesworth, ll.d._: london, ,--will be found some account of the irish convocation in . see archbishop king's letters at pp. , . , . , . , . j. k. _st. paul's epistle to seneca_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it is not manifest whether j. m. s. wishes for information simply respecting the ms. in merton college, or whether his inquiry really relates to the _printing_ of the fourteen spurious epistles, eight of which are ascribed to seneca, and six to st. paul. if your correspondent is curious about the particular ms. he mentions, which is a very old one, and was the gift of william reade, bishop of chichester (who had been a fellow of merton) about the year , he may consult the _catal. lib. mss. ang. et hib._, part. ii. p. ., oxon. ; and should he desire to peruse the fictitious epistles, he may easily discover them in the _bibliotheca sancta_ of sixtus senensis, lib. ii. pp. - . francof. , or in fabricii _cod. apoc. nov. test._, ii. - . jacobus faber stapulensis has inserted them in the handsome volume of his _commentaries on the epistles of st. paul_. (fol. clxxvi.-clxxix.: paris, .) i find them also annexed to the _epistole francisci philelphi_, to., hagenau, . so far as i can perceive, it does not appear that the correspondence in question was published amongst any of the works of seneca earlier than the year ; and it is commonly omitted in later editions. (fabr., _bib. lat._, i. .: venet. .) vid. raynaudi _erotemata_, p. .: lugd. .; nicolai antonii _biblioth. hisp. vetus_, tom. i. pp. , .: matriti, . r. g. _captain ayloff_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i possess a small volume (a mo.) by "captain ayloffe," with a title-page as follows: "a pocket companion for gentlemen and ladies; being a true and faithful epitomy of the most exact and ample histories of _england_; containing all the material particulars in every reign of the _english_ monarchs, from egbert to her present majesty, being years. with forty-nine copper plates curiously engraved, being the effigies of every monarch. london, printed by j. nutt, near stationers' hall, ." it is dedicated "to the honourable col. archibald row, colonel of the royal regiment of scots fuzileers," and signed "w. ayloffe." then follows an introduction of six pages. should the above be useful to mr. sternberg, i shall feel pleasure in having made the communication by means of the useful and intelligent publication of "n. & q." goddard johnson. _plan of london_ (vol. vii., p. .).--l. s. w. asks whether there is a good plan of london, and answers his query thus, _none_. i beg to differ from him, believing that no city in the world possesses so good a plan as that lately made under the late commissioners of sewers. it is true i and my tenants have paid very dearly for it, but having examined both the reduced plan and block plan very carefully, am compelled to admit their accuracy. it is published in sheets at two shillings each; size, three feet by two feet; scale of _block plan_, five feet to one mile; _reduced plan_, one foot to one mile. on each plan accurate levels of every place is given. an index-map, price threepence, is also published. a. p. canonbury. _syriac scriptures_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the editions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, preceding the bible society's edition, are,-- . nov. testam. syriac. et arabic. romæ, typis sacr. cong. de prop. fide, , fol. . nov. d. n. jesu christi test. syriac. cum versione latiná, currâ et studio joh. leusden et caroli schaaf. secunda editio à mendis purgata. lugduni. bat. typ. jo. mulleri. john. fil. apud vid. et fil. cornel. boutesteyn, samuelem luchtmans, , to. . biblia sacra quadrilinguia n. t. græci, cum versione syriacâ, græcâ vulgari, latinâ, et germanicâ, accurante m. christ. reineccio, lips. , fol. . psalter, by john. aug. dathe, . { } . sacrorum evangeliorum versio syriaca pholoxeniana ex codd. mss. ridleianis, nunc primum edita cum interpretatione et annotationibus josephi white. oxon. . . pentateuchus syriace. ex polyglottis anglicanis summa fide edidit m. georgius guil. kirsch. gymnasii quod hofæ est, in principatu baruthino rector. hofæ et lipsiæ ap. a. fr. boehm, , to. an elaborate criticism on no. . (the oxford edit.) appears in eichhorn's _repertorium_, vol. vii. p. ., by d. gottlob christian storr. t. j. buckton. birmingham. _meaning of "worth"_ (vol. v., p. .).--as this suffix enters into the composition of many of our english surnames, particularly in the northern counties, mr. lower (and probably your readers in general) will be glad to have the explanation of an able anglo-saxon scholar and antiquary, the late lamented mr. john just of this town, whose merits as a philosopher and etymologist were highly appreciated by the learned societies in this district. it occurs in a paper read at a chapter of the rosicrucians in manchester a few months since: "worth.--_weorthe_, anglo-saxon, a field, &c. _worth_ means land, close, or farm. it does not necessarily imply any residence, although thereon might be a hall or mansion. it likewise sometimes means nothing more than road or public way. hence it is connected with the names of many places on our old roads, as ainsworth, edgeworth, on the roman military road to the north; failsworth, saddleworth, on the roman military road from manchester to york; unsworth, pilsworth, on the old road between bury and manchester; also ashworth, whitworth, butterworth, on old roads, and connected with old places, near rochdale. whether originally land, closes, or farms, _worths_ were acquired properties. the old expression of 'what is he worth?' in those days meant, 'has he land? possesses he real property?' if he had secured a _worth_ to himself, he was called a _worthy_ person, and in consequence had _worship_, _i. e._ due respect shown him. a _worth_ was the reward of the free; and perchance the fundamentals of english freedom were primarily connected with such apparently trivial matters, and produced such a race of _worthies_ as the proud greeks and haughty romans might not be ashamed of. _worth_ is pure anglo-saxon. the scandinavians applied it not in their intercourse with our island." broctuna. bury, lancashire. _khond fable_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this fable is clearly from lokman, of which the following is hélot's translation: "une moustique se posa un jour sur la corne d'un taureau, et, pensant qu'elle pouvait être trop lourde pour lui, elle lui dit: 'si je te suis à charge, fais-le-moi savoir afin que je m'envole.' le taureau lui répondit: 'je ne t'ai point sentie au moment où tu es descendue, je ne saurai pas davantage quand tu t'envoleras.' cette fable regarde celui qui cherche à s'attribuer de l'honneur et de la gloire tandis qu'il est faible et méprisable." the sense of the bull's reply in arabic seems to be: "o you, whatever you are [_ya hadi_], i did not know when you descended, nor shall i know when you take yourself off [_taterin_]." a pointed reply, leaving the mosquito one horn of the dilemma. t. j. buckton. birmingham. the following lines by prior immediately occurred to my mind on perusing j. c. r.'s interesting note. the points of resemblance between the two fables are somewhat striking: "'say, sire of insects, mighty sol!' a fly on the chariot pole cried out, 'what blue-bottle alive did ever with such fury drive?' "'tell, beelzebub, great father, tell!' says t'other, perch'd upon the wheel, 'did ever any mortal fly raise such a cloud of dust as i?'" moral. "_my_ judgment turn'd the whole debate! _my_ valour saved the sinking state!" cowgill. this fable is found in the collection assigned to babrius. it is the eighty-fourth in the excellent edition of these fables by mr. g. cornewall lewis: oxford, . w. h. g. winchester. _collar of ss._ (vols. iv. _and_ v., _passim_).--in the discussion on the subject of the collar of ss., in the columns of "n. & q.," i find no mention of an incidental observation of thomas fuller, which occurs in the notice of john gower, the poet, in the worthies of yorkshire, and is deserving of some notice: "another author (stow) unknighteth him, allowing him only a plain esquire, though in my apprehension the collar of sss. about his neck speaketh him to be more. besides (with submission to better judgments) that collar hath rather a civil than a military relation, proper to persons in place of judicature; which makes me guess this gower some judge in his old age, well consisting with his original education." mr. foss, i see, mentions (vol. iv., p. .) the existence of the collar on the poet's monument, and suggests that he might have worn it as a court poet. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _chaucer's knowledge of italian_ (vol. vii., p. .).--to the proofs that chaucer was well acquainted with italian literature, brought forward in "n. & q." by j. m. b., it may seem { } unnecessary to add any more. yet, if it were only for the purpose of recalling your readers' attention to the elegant and instructive _dissertation on the state of english poetry before the sixteenth century_, by the late dr. nott, of all souls' college, will you permit me to adduce that learned writer's authority, in opposition to the opinion of sir harris nicolas, that chaucer was not versed in italian literature? dr. nott's dissertation is entombed in the two quarto volumes of his edition of the _works of surrey and wyatt_ (london, ); and it is much to be wished that it were reprinted in a separate and more accessible form. j. m. oxford. _pic nic_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following extract from an italian newspaper raises a considerable presumption that this word is not now considered in italy as an italian one; the date is sept. . "se qualche delirante vi ha dato ad intendere che i bagni di lucca sono il soggiorno prediletto dell' italiano, ci vi ha detto una solenne bugia. "i bagni di lucca appartengono, come tant' altre cose in italia, esclusivamente allo straniero." then follows a description of the numerous english arrivals, while the italian-- "spera di rinvenir sulle alture di que' colli un piè di patria tutto per lui, e ascende i sentieri ornati di bosco. ma abbassando gli occhi ci s' accorge che non è solo. un' _amatore_ a cui forse l' ignobile itinerario della _starke_ ha rivelate quella sublime veduta, sta colassu scarabocchiando uno sbozzo pell' album del suo _drawing room_. più lunge, povero italiano! più lunge! ecco la scena si cambia ... i sentieri divengono più ardui ... in fondo, mezzo nascosto dal fitto fogliame apparisce ... un casolare; un villano lo invita ad entrare ... e gli parla in inglese, in francese, ed in tedesco!... ci s' allontana impazientito, e corre più lunge!... i castagni divengono rari.... aride roccie annunziano il vertice dell' apennin. ancora una breve salita, e poi ci sarà sul più alto pinacolo del prato fiorite. ma al piè del viattolo è un inciampo! e l'occhio sconfortato scorge la livrea di un _groom_ e da un lato una sentimentale _lady_, che si è arrampiccata più lassa e prosaicamente seduta sulla sua sedia portatile sta scrivendo una lettera sopra un foglio a vignetta. l' italiano continua ad ascendere ... e giunte alla vetta ... all' amplissima libera vista, il cuore dell' italiano batte più forte ... la mente s' esalta, e i più energici pensieri vi bollono.... ma gli occhi ritornano svegliati dei passi dei cavalli, appiè del ripiane s' affaccia una numerosa comitiva ... è un _pique nique_! fuggi fuggi mal capitate italiano la straniero l' inseque anco nel nido dell aguila!" here the "pique nique" is evidently the climax of all that is "straniero." k. e. _canker or brier rose_ (vol. vii, p. .).--i suspect that this term refers to the beautiful mossy gall, so commonly seen on the branches of the wild rose, which has been called the _bedeguar_ of the rose. this is the production of a cynips; and, from its vivid tints of crimson and green, might well pass at a short distance for a flower, brilliant, but scentless. hence shakspeare's allusion: "the canker-blooms have full as deep a dye as the perfumed tincture of the roses." w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _cancre_ and _crabe_ in french are synonymous, meaning the same; anglicè, crab (_fish_). now, we have crab-tree, a wild apple-tree; a canker rose, a wild rose; dog rose, dog-violet, horse leech, horse chestnut. in all these cases the prefix denotes inferiority of species. h. f. b. _door-head inscriptions_ (vol. vii., pp. . .)--in watson's _history of halifax_ ( , to., p. .), in describing the high sunderland, an ancient mansion near halifax, formerly the residence of the sunderlands, he notices that "over the north door is written, _ne subeat glis serdus_, a mistake for _surdus_; and over a door on the south side, _ne entret amicus hirudo_." as some of your correspondents doubt as to the proper reading i have thought it worth while to give this duplicate version. i recollect the inscription well, having been sorely puzzled, when a schoolboy, in my frequent walks to high sunderland, to understand these two inscriptions. i must not omit the inscription on the south front: "omnipotens faxet, stirps sunderlandia sedes incolet has placide, et tueatur jura parentum, lite vacans, donec fluctus formica marinos ebibat et totum testudo perambulet orbem!" the commentary of the worthy historian is edifying: "the writer of these, or his son, alienated this very estate, which the then owner so earnestly wished might continue in the family for ever!" james crossley. on the portico of arley hall, the seat of the ancient family of warburton, and about four miles from the town of northwich, cheshire, the following "free pass" to visitors appears, carved in stone: "this gate is free to all men, good and true; right welcome thou, if worthy to pass through." t. hughes. chester. "_time and i_," &c. (vol. vii., p. .).--who was the author of this adage? lord mahon gives it as a favourite saying of mazarin (_history of england_, vol. ii. p. ., small edition). mr. stirling (_cloister life of charles v._, p. ., nd edition) tells us that it was a favourite adage of { } that temporising monarch. perhaps it was a well-known spanish proverb. cheverells. _lowbell_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the inclosed was taken from the _northampton herald_ of the th april, : "on monday last this village was thrown into a state of great excitement by the tidings that a married labourer, named samuel peckover, had taken poison, with the intent of destroying himself. this was found to be the case. he had swallowed a dose of mercury, such as is commonly used for sheep, and, but for the timely arrival of mr. jones, surgeon, from brackley, who administered him a powerful antidote, he would have expired within a short time. the circumstance which led the misguided man to attempt this rash act was as follows:--although a married man, and wedded to a very respectable woman, he had seduced a young female of the village, named adelaide hirons, who was delivered of a female child on saturday last. this disgraceful affair, of course, had become known to the neighbours, who expressed great indignation at his most disreputable conduct, and they in consequence determined to put him to open shame by 'lowbelling' him in front of his cottage in the evening, when all the old pots and kettles in the village were put in requisition, and a continual discord was kept up for two or three hours, by way of administering him a wholesome punishment for his breaking the marriage vows. it is supposed that the fear of this impending disgrace, and also remorse for his crime, were the cause of his thus attempting to make away with himself, and to rush unprepared and unpardoned into the presence of his maker!" f. james. _overseers of wills_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. k. will find what he seeks about, overseers and supervisors of wills, in burn's _ecclesiastical law_. f. o. martin. _detached belfry towers_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--i have also to inform you that the tower of terrington st. clement's church, about five miles from kings lynn, is detached from the church. j. n. c. king's lynn. to the list of churches having detached towers may be added the church of chittlehampton, near south molton, devon. it is several years since i last visited the spot, but i have a distinct recollection of the fact. j. sansom. amongst your list of towers separate from the church, i think you have not mentioned westbury on severn, near gloucester. h. h. gibbs. add to your list of detached church towers, the magnificent norman tower at bury st. edmunds in suffolk. j. b. _vincent family_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the representative of augustine vincent is thomas wentworth edmunds of worsbro', w. barnsley, in the county of york, the son of the late wm. bennet martin of the same place, esq., who has assumed the name of his great-uncle, francis offley edmunds. there is a memoir of augustine vincent, by mr. hunter, published, i believe, by pickering, piccadilly, which shows the descent, and may perhaps throw light on francis vincent. the name, i believe, is still common at finedon in northamptonshire. f. o. martin. stoudon place, brentwood. _pronunciation of "coke"_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in a list of books "printed and sold by richard chiswell," at the end of a copy of cave's _lives of the fathers_, , in my possession, the following occurs among the folios: "lord cook's _reports_ in english." this is exactly fifty years after his death. h. c. k. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. sanders' history of shenstone in staffordshire. j. nichols, london. . two copies. the author's printing and publishing assistant. lond. . mo. lombardi (petri) sententiarum, lib. iv. any good edition. walker's latin particles. herbert's carolina threnodia. vo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . scott, remarks on the best writings of the best authors (or some such title). sermons by the rev. robert wake, m.a. , , &c. history of ancient wilts, by sir r. c. hoare. the last three parts. rev a. dyce's edition of dr. richard bentley's works. vol. iii. published by francis macpherson, middle row, holborn. . dissertation on isaiah xviii., in a letter to edward king, esq., by samuel lord bishop of rochester (horsley). the quarto edition, printed for robson. . ben jonson's works. vols. vo. vols. ii., iii., iv. bds. sir walter scott's novels. vols. vo. the last nine vols. boards. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _the number of replies waiting for insertion has obliged us to omit our usual_ notes on books, _and many_ notices to correspondents. query. _the quotation_ "heu quanto minus reliquis versari," _&c._ _is from shenstone's epitaph on miss dolman. see_ "n. & q." vol. iv., p. . f. b. _the etymology of_ apron _is very doubtful. minshew and others derive it from_ afore one; _while todd again derives it from the french_ napperon. tom tell truth _is thanked. there cannot be two opinions on the subject of his communication._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ { } * * * * * photographic apparatus manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. t. ottewill (from horne & co.'s) begs most respectfully to call the attention of gentlemen, tourists, and photographers, to the superiority of his newly registered double-bodied folding cameras, possessing the efficiency and easy adjustment of the sliding camera, with the portability and convenience of the folding ditto. every description of apparatus to order. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver). j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères, la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th of june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * pure nervous or mind complaints.--if the readers of notes and queries, who suffer from depression of spirits, confusion, headache, blushing, groundless fears, unfitness for business or society, blood to the head, failure of memory, delusions, suicidal thoughts, fear of insanity, &c., will call on, or correspond with, rev. dr. willis moseley, who, out of above , applicants, knows not fifty uncured who have followed his advice, he will instruct them how to get well, without a fee, and will render the same service to the friends of the insane.--at home from to . . bloomsbury street, bedford square. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * royal asylum of st. ann's society.--waiting not for the child of those once in prosperity to become an orphan, but by voluntary contributions affording at once a home, clothing, maintenance, and education. the half-yearly election will take place at the london tavern on friday, august th, next. forms of nomination may be procured at the office, where subscriptions will be thankfully received. executors of benefactors by will become life governors according to the amount of the bequest. e. f. leeks, secretary. . charlotte row, mansion house. { } * * * * * just published, in vo., price s. a fourth letter to the rev. dr. maitland on the genuineness of the writings ascribed to cyprian, bishop of carthage. by the rev. e. j. shepherd, m.a., rector of luddesdown: author of the "history of the church of rome to the end of the episcopate of damasus." london: longman, brown, green, & longmans; of whom may be had, by the same author, the first letter, on the intercourse between the churches of rome and africa. vo., price s. a second letter, on the cyprianic councils. vo., price s. a third letter on the roman supremacy. vo., price s. * * * * * just published, and sent free on receipt of six postage stamps. i. antiquarian news: containing curious and interesting gleanings respecting prince rupert, john bunyan, philip astley, the fortune theatre, strolling players, mountebanks, quack doctors, highwaymen, cock-fighting, st. pancras, may fair, the royal bagnio, and a great variety of other remarkable matters, forming altogether a most extraordinary and amusing publication. ii. shakspeare repository. no. ii. (sent free on receipt of six stamps.) containing new and important researches respecting shakspeare and his works. no. i. also may be had on receipt of six stamps, or both numbers on receipt of twelve stamps. iii. a fac-simile of a remarkably curious and interesting newspaper of charles the second's reign, free on receipt of three stamps. address, j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * preparing for publication, a new annotated edition of the english poets. edited by robert bell, author of "the history of russia," "lives of the english poets," &c. to be published in monthly volumes, foolscap octavo, combining those features of research, typographical elegance, and economy of price, which the present age demands. the text will be carefully collated, and accompanied by biographical, critical, and historical notes. a full prospectus may be had on application, post paid, to the publishers. john w. parker & son, west strand, london. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * for sale, price l. nett. an uncut copy of the gentleman's magazine, complete to dec. , with the five volumes of indexes, all half vellum, uncut, except vols. iii. and iv., which are calf, edges cut. many of the volumes have notes on slips of paper and newspaper cuttings inserted by a former possessor. apply to olive lasbury, bookseller, . park street, bristol. a new catalogue free by post for one penny stamp. * * * * * new books published this day. britannic researches; or, new facts and rectifications of ancient british history. by the rev. beale poste, m.a. vo., pp. , with engravings, s. cloth. a glossary of provincialisms in use in the county of sussex. by w. durrant cooper, f.a.s. mo., s. d. cloth. a few notes on shakspeare; with occasional remarks on the emendations of the manuscript-corrector in mr. collier's copy of the folio, . by the rev. alexander dyce. vo., s. cloth. wiltshire tales, illustrative of the dialect and manners of the rustic population of that county. by john yonge akerman, esq. mo., s. d. cloth. remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england, described and illustrated. by j. y. akerman, secretary of the society of antiquaries. parts i. to v., to., s. d. each. *** the plates are admirably executed by mr. basire, and coloured under the direction of the author. it is a work well worthy the notice of the archæologist. the retrospective review: consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from curious, useful, and valuable old books. vo. nos. , , and , s. d. each. (no. ., august .) j. russell smith, . soho square. * * * * * wanted, for the ladies' institute, . regent street, quadrant, ladies of taste for fancy work,--by paying s. will be received as members, and taught the new style of velvet wool work, which is acquired in a few easy lessons. each lady will be guaranteed constant employment and ready cash payment for her work. apply personally to mrs. thoughey. n.b. ladies taught by letter at any distance from london. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * mo. cloth, price s. d., with index. quotations.--the book of familiar quotations, containing the hackneyed quotations in daily use, with names of authors, and places in their works where they are to be found. london: whittaker & co. * * * * * free of expense by post. a catalogue of certain old books for sale, by john tupling, against the church of st. mary in the strand, with notes set down to a few of them for the taking away of all tediousness in reading. "som of the gretest autours that men rede." chaucer, _nonnes tale_. john tupling, . strand. * * * * * just published, with portrait of the author, in one volume vo., price s. the thistle and the cedar of lebanon; containing the travels of the author. domestic life in syria, the comparative influences of the roman catholic and protestant faiths in syria, and the present state of the turkish empire, &c. by habub risk allah effendi, m.r.c.s. london: james madden, . leadenhall street. * * * * * sallust's jugurthine war, with english notes. in mo., price s. d. c. sallusti crispi de bello jugurthino liber. with english notes, from the german of rudolph jacobs and others, by the rev. henry browne, m.a., canon of chichester. (forming a new volume of arnold's school classics.) rivingtons. st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, respectfully informs the clergy, architects, and churchwardens, that he replies immediately to all applications by letter, for information respecting his manufactures in church furniture, robes, communion linen, &c., &c., supplying full information as to prices, together with sketches, estimates, patterns of materials, &c., &c. having declined appointing agents, mr. french invites direct communications by post, as the most economical and satisfactory arrangement. parcels delivered free by railway. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. p. "with ovyddes penner ye are gretly in favor," - "ooyddes" in original, corrected by subsequent erratum note { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page the first paper-mill in england, by dr. e.f. rimbault specimens of foreign english folk lore:--may-dew--piskies--the dun cow-- lady godiva--"can du plera meleor cera" minor notes--circulation of the blood--origin of the word "culprit"--collar of ss.--the singing of swans--sir thomas herbert's memoirs--portraits of stevens and cotton and bunyan--sonnet: attempting to prove that black is white--nicholas bretons fantasticks queries:-- the wise men of gotham herstmonceux castle minor queries:--yorkshire ballads--ringing a hand-bell before a corpse--church of st. savior, canterbury-- mock beggar's hall--beatrix lady talbot-- english prize essays--rev. joseph blanco white-- history of the inquisition--lady deloraine--speke family--pope's villa--armorial bearings--passage from tennyson--meaning of "sauenap"--hoods worn by doctors of the university of cambridge-- euclid and aristotle--ventriloquism--fanningus, the king's whisperer--frances lady norton-- westminster wedding--stone's diary--dr. king's poem of "the toast"--"anima magis" etc.--the adventures of peter wilkins--translations of the talmud--torn by horses--the marks *, [obelus], &c. --blackguard replies:-- church history society, by s.r. maitland defender of the faith, by w.s. gibson meaning of jezebel socinian boast, by j.r. beard replies to minor queries:--the könig stuhl at rheuze --mrs. tempest--calendar of sundays in greek and romish churches--the conquest--thruscross-- osnaburgh bishopric--nicholas ferrar--butcher's blue dress--chaucer's portrait by occleve--lady jane of westmoreland--gray and dodsley miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. the first paper-mill in england. in the year , a paper-mill was established at dartford, in kent, by john spilman, "jeweller to the queen." the particulars of this mill are recorded in a poem by thomas churchyard, published shortly after its foundation, under the following title:-- "a description and playne discourse of paper, and the whole benefits that paper brings, with rehearsall, and setting foorth in verse a paper-myll built near darthforth, by an high germaine, called master spilman, jeweller to the queene's majyestie." the writer says: "(then) he that made for us a paper-mill, is worthy well of love and worldes good will, and though his name be _spill-man_, by degree, yet _help_-man now, he shall be called by mee. six hundred men are set at work by him, that else might starve, or seeke abroade their bread; who now live well, and go full brave and trim, and who may boast _they_ are with paper fed." in another part of the poem churchyard adds: "an high germaine he is, as may be proovde, in lyndoam bodenze, borne and bred, and for this mille, may heere be truly lovde, and praysed, too, for deep device of head." it is a common idea that this was the first paper-mill erected in england; and we find an intelligent modern writer, mr. j.s. burn, in his _history of the foreign refugees_, repeating the same erroneous statement. at page , of his curious and interesting work be says: "the county of kent has been long famed for its manufacture of paper. it was at dartford, in this county, that paper was _first made_ in england." but it is proved beyond all possibility of doubt that a paper-mill existed in england almost a century before the date of the establishment at dartford. in henry vii.'s _household book_, we have the following:-- " . for a rewarde geven at the pulper-mylne, s. d." again:-- " . geven in rewarde to tate of the mylne, s. d." and in _bartholomeus de proprietatibus rerum_, printed by wynkyn de worde in , mention is made of a paper-mill near stevenage, in the county of hertford, belonging to john tate the younger, which was undoubtedly the "mylne" visited by henry vii. the water-mark used by john tate was an eight-pointed star within a double circle. in the { } twelfth volume of the _archæeologia_, p. ., is a variety of fac-similes of water-marks used by our early paper makers, exhibited in five large plates, but is not a little singular that the mark of john tate is omitted. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * specimens of foreign english. the accompanying specimens of foreign english you may perhaps consider worth a corner among the minor curiosities of literature:-- _basle._-- "bains ordinaires et artificiels, tenu par b. sigemund, dr. in medicine, basle. in this new erected establishment, which the owner recommends best to all foreigners are to have,--ordinary and artful baths, russia and sulphury bagnios, pumpings, artful mineral waters, gauze lemonads, fournished apartments for patients." _cologne._ title-page in lithograph. "_remembrance on the cathedral of cologne._--a collection of his most remarkable monumens, so as of the most artful ornamous and precious hilts of his renaconed tresory. draconed and lithographed by gerhardt levy elkan and hallersch, collected by gerhd. emans." _augsburg_, drei mohren hotel. entry in travellers' book. "january . .--his grace arthur wellesley, duke of wellington, &c. &c. &c. great honour arrived at the beginning of this year to the three moors: this illustrious warrior, whose glorious atchievements, which, cradled in asia, have filled europe with his renown, descended in it." _mount etna._ printed notice found attached to the wall of one of the rooms in the casa degl' inglesi, mount etna, october, : "in consequence of the damage suffered in the house called english set on the etna for the reprehensible conduct of some persons there recovered, the following provisional regulations are prescribed, authorized, and granted to m. gemmellaro[ ], who has the key of the mentioned house for his labour, honour, and money spent to finish such edifice, besides his kind reception for travellers curious to visit the mountain. i. any person desirous to get the key of the house is requested to apply to m.g., and in case of his absence, to ... signing his name, title, and country, in the same time tell the guide's and muleteer's name, just to drive away those have been so rough to spoil the moveables and destroy the stables ... are the men to be particularly remarked. ii. nobody is admitted without a certificate of m.g., which will assure to have received his name, &c. &c., except those are known by the fore-going strangers. iii. according to the afore-mentioned articles, nobody will take the liberty to go in the house and force the lock of the door: he will really suffer the most severe punishment fixed against violence. iv. is not permitted to any body to put mules in the rooms destined for the use of people, notwithstanding the insufficiency of stables. it is forbidden likewise to dirtes the walls with pencil or coal. m.g. will procure a blank book for those learned people curious to write their observations. a particular care must be taken for the moveables settled in the house. v. the house must be left clean and without fire, to avoid conflagration; it is forbidden to leave rooms or windows opened, as the house has been lately damaged by the winds, snow, sand, &c. &c.; the aforementioned a.d., m.n. are imputed of negligence and malice: persons neglecting to execute the above article will be severely punished, and are obliged to pay damages and expences. vi. as soon as the traveller returns at nicolosi, either to s. nicolo l'arena, will immediately deliver the key to m.g., as it commonly happens that foreigners are waiting for it. a certificate must be likewise delivered, declaring that the afore-mentioned regulations have been exactly executed. it is likewise proper and just to reward m. gem. for the expense of moveables, money, &c, &c., and for the advantage travellers may get to examine the volcan, for better than empedocli, amodei, fazelli, brydon, spallanzani, and great many others. m. gemm. has lately been authorized to deny the key whenever is unkindly requested. he is also absolutely obliged to inform the gen. of the army, who is determined to punish with rigour their insolence." _mount sinai._--(on the fly-leaf of the travellers' book.) "here in too were inscribed as in one legend, all whose in the rule of the year come from different parts, different cities and countries, pilgrims and travellers of any different rank and religion or profession, for advise and notice thereof to their posterity, and even also in owr own of memory acknowledging. , mount sinai." viator. [footnote : the name of this gentleman will be recognised by some of the readers of notes and queries as that of a most indefatigable explorer of the wonders of the mountain, and the author, in the _transactions of the catanian academy_., of excellent descriptions of its recent eruptions.] * * * * * folk lore. _may-dew._--every one has heard of the virtues of "may-dew," but perhaps the complex superstition following may be less generally known. a respectable tradesman's wife in this town (launceston) tells me that the poor people here say that a swelling in the neck may be cured by the patient's going _before sunrise_, on the st of may, to the grave of the last young man who has been buried in the church-yard, and applying the dew, gathered by passing the hand _three times_ from the { } head to the foot of the grave, to the part affected by the ailment.[ ] this was told me yesterday in reply to a question, whether the custom of gathering "may-dew" is still prevailing here. i may as well add, that the common notion of improving the complexion by washing the face with the early dew in the fields on the st of may extensively prevails in these parts; and they say that a child who is weak in the back may be cured by drawing him over the grass wet with the morning dew. the experiment must be thrice performed, that is, on the mornings of the st, nd, and rd of may. i find no allusion to these specific applications of "may-dew" in ellis's _brand_. h.g.t. [footnote : if the patient be a woman, the grave chosen must be that of the last young man buried, and that of the last young woman in the case of a man patient.] _piskies._--an old woman, the wife of a respectable farmer at a place called "colmans," in the parish of werrington, near launceston, has frequently told my informant before-mentioned of a "piskey" (for _so_, and not _pixy_, the creature is called _here_, as well as in parts of devon) which frequently _made its appearance_ in the form of small child in the kitchen of the farm-house, where the inmates were accustomed to set a little stool for it. it would do a good deal of household work, but if the hearth and chimney corner were not kept neatly swept, it would pinch the maid. the piskey would often come into the kitchen and sit on its little stool before the fire, so that the old lady had many opportunities of seeing it. indeed it was a familiar guest in the house for many months. at last it left the family under these circumstances. one evening it was sitting on the stool as usual, when it suddenly started, looked up, and said,-- "piskey fine, and piskey gay, now piskey! run away!" and vanished; after which it never appeared again. this distich is the first utterance of a piskey i have heard. the word "fine" put me in mind of the expression "_fine_ spirit," "_fine_ ariel," &c., noticed by dr. kennedy lately in notes and queries (vol. ii., p. .). it is worth notice that the people here seem to entertain no doubt as to the identity of piskies and fairies. indeed i am told, that the old woman before mentioned called her guest indifferently "piskey" or "fairy." the country people in this neighbourhood sometimes put a prayer-book under a child's pillow as a charm to keep away the piskies. i am told that a poor woman near launceston was fully persuaded that one of her children was taken away and a piskey substituted, the disaster being caused by the absence of the prayer-book on one particular night. this story reminds me of the "killcrop." h.g.t. . the _dun cow_ of dunsmore filled with milk every vessel that was brought to her till an envious witch tried to milk her in a sieve. . _lady godiva._--a close-fitting dress might suggest the idea of nudity; but was not the horse borrowed from the warrior lady of mercia ethelfleda? . can du plera meleor cera. quand dieu plaira meilleur sera. charm on a ring, olim penes w. hamper, f.a.s. f.q. * * * * * minor notes. _circulation of the blood._--about twenty-five years since, being in a public library in france, a learned physician pointed out to me in the works of the venerable bede a passage in which the fact of the circulation of the blood appeared to him and myself to be clearly stated. i regret that i did not, at the time, "make a note of it," and that i cannot now refer to it, not having access to a copy of bede: and i now mention it in hopes that some of your correspondents may think it worth while to make it a subject of research. j. mn. _culprit, origin of the word._--long ago i made this note, that this much used english word was of french extraction, and that it was "_qu'il paruit_," from the short way the clerk of the court has of pronouncing his words; for our pleadings were formerly in french, and when the pleadings were begun, he said to the defendant "_qu'il parait_"--culprit; and as he was generally culpable, the "_qu'il parait_" became a synonyme with offender. t. cambridge. [does not our ingenious correspondent point at the more correct origin of _culprit_, when he speaks of the defendant being "generally _culpable?_"] _collar of ss._--in the volume of bury wills just issued by the camden society, is an engraving from the decorations of the chantry chapel in st. mary's church, bury st. edmund's, of john baret, who died in -; in which the collar is represented as ss in the upright form set on a collar of leather or other material. it is described in the will as "my collar of the king's livery." john baret, says the editor of the wills, was a lay officer of the monastery of st. edmund, probably treasurer, and was deputed to attend henry vi. on the occasion of the king's long visit to that famed monastic establishment in --. buriensis. _the singing of swans._--"it would," says bishop percy (mallet's _north. antiq._, ii. p. .), "be a curious subject of disquisition, to inquire what could have given rise to so arbitrary and groundless a notion as the singing of swans," { } which "hath not wanted assertors from almost every nation." (sir t. browne.) "not in more swelling whiteness sails cayster's swan to western gales, [ ] when the melodious murmur sings 'mid her slow-heav'd voluptuous wings." t.j. [footnote : "it was an ancient notion that the music of the swan was produced by its wings, and inspired by the zephyr. see this subject, treated with his accustomed erudition, by mr. jodrell, in his _illustrations of the ion of euripides_."--bulwer's _siamese twins_.] _sir thomas herbert's memoirs._--in consequence of the suggestion of [greek: d.] (vol. ii., p. .), i have applied to the owner of sir t. herbert's ms. account of the last days of charles i., and the answer which i have received is as follows: "i found the first part of sir thos. herbert's ms. ( pages) is not in the edition of woods _athenæ_ lord w. has; but i found a note in a pedigree book, saying it was printed in , vo. i suppose it can be ascertained whether this is true." perhaps some of your readers may know whether there is such a volume in existence as that described by my friend. alfred gatty. _portraits of stevens and cotton and bunyan._--the plan of "notes and queries" appears well adapted to record the change of hands into which portraits of literary men may pass. i accordingly offer two to your notice. the portrait of george stevens, the celebrated annotator on shakspeare, who died in , was bequeathed by him to a relative, mrs. gomm of spital square; and at that lady's death, some years after, it passed, i have reason to expect, into the possession of her relative, mr. fince, of bishopsgate street. i have no farther information of it. the portrait of charles cotton, by sir peter lely, was, at the time ( ) when linnell took a copy, and (in ) when humphreys took a copy, in the possession of john berisford, esq., of compton house, ashborne, derbyshire; and the following extracts of letters will show who at present possesses it:-- "leek, th july, . "after mr. berisford's decease, i should think the portrait of cotton would fall into the hands of his nephew francis wright, esq., of linton hall, near nottingham. i am, &c. &c" "linton hall, aug. . . "sir,--the rev. j. martin, of trinity college, cambridge, is the possessor of the portrait of cotton to which your letter alludes. i am, dear sir, "yours, in haste, "f. wright." i avail myself of the present opportunity to ask the authority for the portrait of bunyan appended to his ever-fresh allegory. the engraved portrait i have has not the name of the painter. o.w. _sonnet: attempting to prove that black is white._-- "it has been said of many, they were quite prepared to prove (i do not mean in fun) that white was really black, and black was white; but i believe it has not yet been done. black (saxon, blac) in any way to liken with _candour_ may seem almost out of reach; yet _whiten_ is in kindred german _bleichen_, undoubtedly identical with _bleach_: this last verb's cognate adjective is _bleak_-- reverting to the saxon, _bleak_ is blæk. [ ] a semivowel is, at the last squeak, all that remains such difference wide to make-- the hostile terms of keen antithesis brought to an _e plus ultra_ all but kiss!" mezzotinto. [footnote : pronounced (as _black_ was anciently written) _blake_.] _nicholas breton's fantasticks_, .--mr. heber says, "who has seen another copy?" in tanner's collection in the bodleian library is one copy, and in the british museum is another, the latter from mr. bright's collection. w.p. [another copy is in the valuable collection of the rev. t. corser. see that gentleman's communication on nicholas breton, in our first vol., p. .] * * * * * queries. the wise men of gotham. an ill-starred town in england seems to have enjoyed so unenviable a reputation for some centuries for the folly and stupidity of its inhabitants, that i am induced to send you the following query (with the reasons on which it is founded) in the hope that some of your readers may be able to help one to a solution. query: why have the men of _gotham_ been long famous for their extreme folly? my authorities are,-- . the nursery rhyme,-- "three wise men of _gotham_ went to sea in a bowl; if the bowl had been stronger, my story would have been longer." . _drunken barnaby's journal_ (edit. london, , p. .), originally printed , london: "veni _gotham_, ubi multos si non omnes, vidi stultos, nam scrutando reperi unam salientem contra lunam alteram nitidam puellam offerentem porco sellam." "thence to _gotham_, where, sure am i, if, _though_ not all fools, saw i many; here a she-bull found i prancing, and in moonlight nimbly dancing; there another wanton mad one, who her hog was set astride on." { } . in the "life of robin hood" prefixed to ritson's _collection of ballads concerning robin hood_ (people's edit. p. .), the following story, extracted from _certaine merry tales of the madmen of gottam_, by dr. andrew borde, an eminent physician, temp. hen. viii. (black letter), in bodleian library, occurs:-- "there was two men of __gottam_, and the one of them was going to the market to nottingham to buy sheepe, and the other came from the market; and both met together upon nottingham bridge. well met, said the one to the other. whither be yee going? said he that came from nottingham. marry, said he that was going thither, i goe to the market to buy sheepe. buy sheepe? said the other, and which way wilt thou bring them home? marry, said the other, i will bring them over this bridge. by robin hood, said he that came from nottingham, but thou shalt not. by maid marrion, said he that was going thitherward, but i will. thou shalt not, said the one. i will, said the other. ter here! said the one. shue there! said the other. then they beat their staves against the ground, one against the other, as there had been an hundred sheepe betwixt them. hold in, said the one. beware the leaping over the bridge of any sheepe, said the other. i care not, said the other. they shall not come this way, said the one. but they shall, said the other. then said the other, and if that thou make much to doe, i will put my finger in thy mouth. a t..d thou wilt, said the other. and as they were at their contention, another man of _gottam_ came from the market with a sack of meale upon a horse, and seeing and hearing his neighbours at strife for sheepe, and none betwixt them, said, ah, fooles, will you never learn wit? helpe me, said he that had the meale, and lay my sacke upon my shoulder. they did so and he went to the one side of the bridge, and unloosed the mouth of the sacke, and did shake out all his meale into the river. now, neighbours, said the mall, how much meale is there in my sacke now? marry, there is none at all, said they. now, by my faith, said he, even as much wit as in your two heads, to strive for that thing you have not. which was the wisest of all these three persons, judge you?" . tom coryat, in an oration to the duke of york (afterwards chas. i.), called _crambe, or colwarts twice sodden_ (london, ), has this passage:-- "i came to venice, and quickly took a survey of the whole model of the city, together with the most remarkable matters thereof; and shortly after any arrival in england i overcame any adversaries in the town of evill, in my native county of somersetshire, who thought to have sunk me in a bargain of pilchards, as the _wise men of gottam_ went about to drown an eel." . dr. more's _antidote against atheism_, cap. ii. § .: "but because so many bullets joggled together in a man's hat will settle a determinate figure, or because the frost and wind will draw upon doors and glass windows pretty uncouth streaks like feathers and other fooleries which are to no use or purpose, try infer thence, that all the contrivances that are in nature, even the frame of the bodies, both of men and beasts, are from no other principle but the jumbling together of the matter, and so because that this doth naturally effect something, that is the cause of all things, seems to me to be reasoning in the same mood and figure with that wise market man's, who, going down a hill and carrying his cheeses under his arms, one of them falling and trundling down the hill very fast, let the other go after it appointing them all to meet him at his house at _gotham_, not doubting but they beginning so hopefully, would be able to make good the whole journey; or like another of the same town, who perceiving that his iron trevet he had bought had three feet, and could stand, expected also that it should walk too, and save him the labour of the carriage." . col. t. perronet thompson's works, vol. ii. p. ., _anti-corn-law tracts_:-- "if fooleries of this kind go on, _gotham_ will be put in schedule a., and the representation of unreason transferred into the west riding." j.r.m., m.a. k.c.l. nov. . . * * * * * herstmonceux castle. can you find an early place in your pages for the following queries relative to the history of herstmonceux castle and its lords, on which a memoir is in preparation for the next volume of the collections of the sussex archæological society. . who was pharamuse of boulogne, father of sybil de tingry? he is called the _nephew_ of maud, king stephen's wife; but i believe there is no doubt that she was the only child and sole heir of eustace earl of boulogne, brother of godfrey, king of jerusalem. where is _tingry_, of which place he was lord? is there any place in the north of france bearing that name now? . will any one well skilled in the interpretation of ancient legal documents furnish some explanation of the following extracts from the _rotul. de fin._ (hardy, i. .):-- " . william de warburton and ingelram de monceux give marks to the king for having the inheritance of juliana, wife of william, son of aymer, whose next of kin they say they are." yet six years later, (hardy, i. )-- "waleran de monceux gives marks for having the reasonable (rationabilis) part of the inheritance of juliana, as regards (versus) wm. de warburton, william and waleran being her next of kin." this waleran was son of idonea _de herst_ (now herst monceux), and appears in other documents as "waleran _de herst_." the land in question was in _compton_ (afterwards compton _monceux_), hants. now how are we to reconcile the two above-quoted documents? what was the connexion { } between ingelram and waleran? and how is waleran's double appellation to be explained? i see a reference to a family named _de mounceaux_ in the last number of the _archæological journal_, p. ., holding a manor near hawbridge, somerset were they of the same stock? . the magnificent monument in herstmonceux church to thomas lord dacre (who died ), and his eldest son, is embellished with a considerable number of coats of arms, several of which i am unable to identity with any connexions of the family. these are,--( .) sable, a cross or; ( .) barry of six, ar. and az., a bend gules; ( .) arg. a fesse gules; ( .) quarterly or, and gules, an escarbuncle sable; ( .) barry of six, arg. and gules; ( .) azure, an orle of martlets or, on an inescutcheon arg. three bass gules. can any of your readers, acquainted with the dacre and fienes pedigrees, appropriate any of these coats? . a suite of small bed-rooms, and the gallery from which they opened, in herstmonceux castle, were called respectively the _bethlem chambers_ and _bethlem gallery_: is any instance of a similar denomination of apartments known, and can the reason be assigned? . sir roger fienes, the builder of herstmonceux castle, accompanied henry v. to agincourt. are any references to him to be found in sir h. nicolas' _battle of azincourt_, or elsewhere? . francis lord dacre was one of the noble twelve who had the courage to appear in their places in the house of lords and reject the ordinance for the trial of charles i. his son thomas, who married the daughter of charles ii. by the duchess of cleveland, and was created earl of sussex, was compelled through his extravagance to alienate the castle and manor of herstmonceux. are there any references to either of these peers, who played a not inconspicuous part in the events of their times, in any of the contemporary memoirs? any information on any of the above points would greatly oblige e.v. herstmonceux, nov. . * * * * * minor queries. _yorkshire ballads._--any of your readers would confer a great favour by referring me to any early yorkshire ballads, or ballads relating to places in yorkshire, not reprinted in the ordinary collections, such as percy, evans, &c. i am of course acquainted with those in the roxburghe collection. h. _ringing a handbell before a corpse._--is it true that whenever an interment takes place in christ church cathedral, oxford, the corpse is preceded on its way to the grave by a person who rings a small handbell at intervals, each time giving a few tinkling strokes? my informant on this subject was an oxford undergraduate, who said that he had recently witnessed the burials both of mr. ----, a late student of christ church, and of miss ----, daughter of a living bishop: and he assured me that in both cases this ceremony was observed. certainly it is possible to go through the academical course at oxford without either hearing the bell, or knowing of its use on such occasions: but i should now be glad to receive some explanation of this singular custom. a.g. ecclesfield. _church of st. saviour, canterbury._--tradition, i believe, has uniformly represented that an edifice more ancient, but upon the present site of st. martin's, canterbury, was used by st. augustine and his followers in the earliest age of christianity in this country. st. martin's has, on that account, been often spoken of as the mother-church of england. lately, however, in perusing the fourth volume of mr. kemble's _codex diplomaticus_, p. . i find a charter of king canute, of the year , which states the church of st. saviour, _canterbury_, to be the mother-church of england: "Æcclesia salvatoris in dorobernia sita, omnium Æcclesiarum regni angligeni _mater et domina_." in none of the histories of kent or of canterbury can i find any mention of a church dedicated to st. saviour. may i beg the favour of you to insert this among your notes? henry ellis. _mock beggar's hall._--what is the origin of this name as applied to some old mansions? one at wallasey, in cheshire, was so named, and another near ipswich, in suffolk. and what is the earliest instance of the title? buriensis. _beatrix lady talbot._--since the publication of sir harris nicolas' able contribution to the _collectanea topographica et genealogica_ (vol. i. pp. - .) no one may be excused for confounding, as dugdale and his followers had done, beatrix lady talbot with donna beatrix, daughter of john, king of portugal, to whom thomas fitzalan, earl of arundel, was married, th nov., . what i now wish to learn is, whether anything has since been discovered to elucidate further the pedigree of lady talbot? it is evident that she was of portuguese origin; and it may be inferred from the quarterings on her seal, as shown in a manuscript in the british museum ( st and th arg., five escutcheons in cross az., each charged with five plates in saltire, for _portugal_; and nd and rd az., five crescents in saltire, or), that she was a member of the portuguese family of pinto, which is the only house in portugal that bears the five crescents in saltire, as displayed on the seal. scotus. { } _english prize essays._--is there at present, in either of the universities, or elsewhere, any prize, medal, or premium given for english essays, for which all england could compete, irrespective of birth, place of education, &c.; and, if so, particulars as to where such could be obtained, would greatly oblige modest ambition. _rev. joseph blanco white._--_history of the inquisition._--in the rev. j.h. thom's _life of the rev. joseph blanco white_ it is stated that he had made a collection for a history of the inquisition which he intended to publish; and in a batch of advertisements preceding the first volume of smedley's _reformed religion in france_, published in by rivingtons, as part of their theological library. i find an announcement of other works to be included in the series, and amongst others, already in preparation, _the origin and growth of the roman catholic inquisition against heresy and apostacy_; by joseph blanco white, m.a. i need not ask whether the work was _published_, for it is not to be found in the london catalogue; but i wish to ask whether any portion of the work was ever placed in the publisher's hands, or ever printed; or whether he made any considerable progress in the collection, and, if so, in whose hands the mss. are? such papers, if they exist, would probably prove of too much importance to allow of their remaining unpublished. iota. _lady deloraine._--the _delia_ of pope's line, "slander or poison dread from _delia's_ rage," is supposed to have been lady deloraine, who remarried w. windam, esq., of carsham, and died in oct., . the person said to have been poisoned was a miss mackenzie. are the grounds of this strange suspicion known? edward f. rimbault. _speke family._--i shall be glad to ascertain the family name and the armorial bearings of alice, wife of sir john speke, father of sir john speke, founder of the chapel of st. george in exeter cathedral. she is said to have been maid of honour to queen catherine. j.d.s. _pope's villa._--in pope's _literary correspondence_, published by curll, an engraving, is advertised of his (pope's) villa at twickenham, engraved by rysbrach and published by curll. are any of your correspondents aware of the existence of a copy, and the price at which it can be obtained? c. bathurst w. _armorial bearings._--among the numerous coats-armorial in the great east window of the choir of exeter cathedral, there is one respecting which i am at a loss. argent a cross between four crescents gules. can either of your readers kindly afford the name? j.d.s. _passage from tennyson._--you have so many correspondents well versed in lore and legend, that i am induced to beg through you for an explanation of the allusion contained in the following passage of tennyson:-- "morn broaden'd on the borders of the dark, ere i saw her, who clasp'd in her last trance her murder'd father's head." it occurs in the _dream of fair women_, st. . w.m.c. cambridge. _sauenap, meaning of._--in the will of jane heryng, of bury, , occurs this bequest:-- "to alyson my dowter, xl s. and ij pottys of bras neste the beste, and a peyr bedys of blak _get_, and a grene hod, and a red hod, and a gowne of violet, and another of tanne, and a towayll of diaper werk, and a _sauenap_; also a cloke and rownd table." what was the _sauenap_? buriensis. _hoods worn by doctors of the university of cambridge._--pray permit me to inquire, through your agency, what is the proper lining of the scarlet cloth hoods worn by doctors in the three faculties of the university of cambridge? the robe-makers of cambridge have determined upon a pink or rose-coloured silk for all; the london artists adopt a shot silk (light blue and crimson) sometimes for all faculties, at others for doctors in divinity only. on ancient monuments (there is one in canterbury cathedral) i find that the hoods were lined with ermine; and this is the material of those attached to the full-dress robes of doctors on the occasion of their creation, and in the schools, and at congregations. i cannot find the statutes bearing upon the subject. as the oxford statutes have recently been published, the matter is not so much in the dark,--black silk being the material prescribed for the lining of hoods of doctors in divinity, and those of the doctors in the other faculties being prescribed to be of _silk of any intermediate colour_, which the oxford doctors understand to mean a deep rose-colour. d.c.l. u. university club, dec. . . _euclid and aristotle._--the ordinary chronologies place aristotle as nearly a century anterior to euclid; but professor de morgan ("eucleides," in dr. smith's _biographical dictionary_) considers them as contemporary. any of your readers conversant with the subject will oblige me by saying _which_ is right, and likewise _why_ so. geometricus. _ventriloquism. fanningus the king's whisperer._--to the query respecting brandon the juggler (vol. ii., p. .), i beg leave to add another somewhat similar. where is any information to be obtained of "the king's whisperer, [greek: engastrimythos], nomine fanningus, who resided at oxford in ?" t.j. { } _frances lady norton._--can any of your readers give me an account of the life of frances lady norton, who wrote a work, entitled _the applause of virtue, in four parts, consisting of divine and moral essays towards the obtaining of true virtue_, to. ? it is a very delightful book, full of patristic learning. i am aware she was the daughter of ralph freke, esq., of hannington, and married sir george norton, knt. of abbot's leigh, in the county of somerset. i wish to know what other books she wrote, if any, and where her life may be found? perhaps the freke family could furnish an account of this learned lady. the work i believe to be extremely scarce. richard hooper. _westminster wedding._--jeremy collier says, in one of his _essays_ (part iii. essay viii.): "as for the business of friendship you mentioned, 'tis not to be had at a _westminster wedding_." being much interested in weddings in westminster at the present day, i should be much obliged to any of your readers who can throw any light on the observation of the essayist, as above cited. what other authors use the term? r.h. _stone's diary._--stone, the celebrated sculptor, left a valuable diary. the ms. was in the possession of vertue the engraver. has it ever been printed? edward f. rimbault. _dr. king's poem of the toast._--where can i find a key to dr. king's _heroic poem_, called _the toast?_ isaac reed's copy, with a _manuscript key_, sold at his sale for l. s. edward f. rimbault. _anima magis, &c._--to whom is this sentence to be ascribed-- "anima magis est ubi amat quam ubi animat." tyro-etymologicus. _the adventures of peter wilkins._--is the author of this delightful work of fiction known? the first edition was published in , but it does not contain the dedication to elizabeth, countess of northumberland, found in later impressions. when was this dedication added? it is observable that in all the editions i have seen, the initials r.p. are signed to the dedication, while r.s. appears on the title-page. edward f. rimbault. _talmud, translations of._-- . have there been any english translations of the talmud, or any complete section of it? . what are the most esteemed continental and latin translations? s.p.h.t. _torn by horses._--what is the last instance in the history of france of a culprit being torn by horses? jean châtel, who attempted to assassinate henri quatre, suffered thus in . (crowe's _france_, i. .) ed. s. jackson. _the marks_ *, [obelus], [diesis], _&c._--what is the origin of the asterisk, obelus, &c., used for references to notes? when were they first used? what are their proper names? ed. s. jackson. totteridge, herts, oct. . _blackguard._--walking once through south wales, we found an old woman by the roadside selling a drink she called _blackguard_. it was composed of beer and gin, spiced with pepper, and well deserved its name. is this a common beverage in the principality? j.w.h. * * * * * replies. church history society. i am much obliged to your correspondent laicus for his inquiry respecting the proposed society (vol. ii., p. ). will you allow me to express to him my confident hope, that the proposed plan, or some modification of it by a committee (when one shall exist) may in due time be carried out. but there seems to be no reason for haste; and in the formation of such body it is desirable to have as many avowed supporters to select from as possible. i do not think that the matter is much known yet, though i have to thank you for a kind notice; and i need not tell some of your correspondents that i have received very encouraging letters. but, in truth, as i did not expect any profit, or desire any responsibility as to either money or management, and only wished to lay before the public an idea which had existed in my own mind for some years, and which had obtained the sanction of some whom i thought competent judges; and as i had, moreover, published pamphlets enough to know that a contribution of waste paper to any object is often one of the most costly, i did not feel myself called on to go to so much expense in advertising as i perhaps might have done if i had been spending the money of a society instead of my own. i sent but few copies; none, i believe, except to persons with whom i had some acquaintance, and whom i thought likely to take more or less interest in the subject. i trust, however, that the matter is quietly and solidly growing; and from communications which i have received, and resources on which i believe i may reckon, i feel no doubt that if it were considered desirable, friends and money enough to set such a society going might be immediately brought forward. it is one advantage of the proposed plan, that it may be tried on almost any scale. a society so constituted would not begin its existence { } with great promises of returns to subscribers, and heavy engagements to printers, papermakers, and editors. its only _necessary_ expenses would be those of _management_; and if the society were very small, these expenses would be so too. it is, indeed, hardly possible to imagine that they should be such as not to leave something to be funded for future use, if they did not furnish means for immediate display; but it seems better to wait patiently until such real substantial support is guaranteed as may prevent all apprehension on that score. s.r. maitland. * * * * * defender of the faith. (vol. ii., p. .) it is quite startling to be told that the title of "defender of the faith" was used by any royal predecessor of henry viii. selden (_titles of honour_, ed , p. ) says: "the beginning and ground of that attribute of defender of the faith, which hath been perpetually, in the later ages, added to the style of the kings of england, (not only in the first person, but frequent also in the second and in the third, as common use shows in the formality of instruments of conveyance, leases and such like) is most certainly known. it began in henry the viii. for he, in those awaking times, upon the quarrel of the romanists and lutherans, wrote a volume against luther," &c. selden then states the well-known occasion upon which this title was conferred, and sets out the bull of leo x. (then extant in the collection of sir robert cotton, and now in the british museum), whereby the pope, "holding it just to distinguish those who have undertaken such pious labours for defending the faith of christ with every honour and commendation," decrees that to the title of king the subjects of the royal controversialist shall add the title "fidei defensori." the pontiff adds, that a more worthy title could not be found. your correspondent, colonel anstruther, calls attention to the statement made by mr. christopher wren, secretary of the order of the garter (a.d. ), in his letter to francis peck, on the authority of the register of the order in his possession; which letter is quoted by burke (_dorm. and ext. bar._, iv. .), that "king henry vii. had the title defender of the faith." it is not found in any acts or instruments of his reign that i am acquainted with, nor in the proclamation on his interment, nor in any of the epitaphs engraved on his magnificent tomb. (sandford, _geneal. hist._) nor is it probable that pope leo x., in those days of diplomatic intercourse with england, would have bestowed on henry viii., as a special and personal distinction and reward, a title that had been used by his royal predecessors. i am not aware that any such title is attributed to the sovereign in any of the english records anterior to ; but that many english kings gloried in professing their zeal to defend the church and religion, appears from many examples. henry iv., in the second year of his reign, promises to maintain and defend the christian religion (_rot. parl._, iii. .); and on his renewed promise, in the fourth year of his reign, to defend the christian faith, the commons piously grant a subsidy (_ibid._, .); and henry vi., in the twentieth year of his reign, acts as keeper of the christian faith. (_rot. parl._, v. .) in the admonition used in the investiture of a knight with the insignia of the garter, he is told to take the crimson robe, and being therewith defended, to be bold to fight and shed his blood for christ's faith, the liberties of the church, and the defence of the oppressed. in this sense, the sovereign and every knight became a sworn defender of the faith. can this duty have come to be popularly attributed as part of the royal style and title? the bull of leo x., which confers the title on henry viii. personally, does not make it inheritable by his successors, so that none but that king himself could claim the honour. the bull granted two years afterwards by clement vii. merely confirms the grant of pope leo to the king himself. it was given, as we know, for his assertion of doctrines of the church of rome; yet he retained it after his separation from the roman catholic communion, and after it had been formally revoked and withdrawn by pope paul iii. in the twenty-seventh year of henry viii., upon the king's apostacy in turning suppressor of religious houses. in , the reformation legislature and the anti-papal king, without condescending to notice any papal bulls, assumed to treat the title that the pope had given and taken away as a subject of parliamentary gift, and annexed it for ever to the english crown by the statute hen. viii. c. ., from which i make the following extract, as its language bears upon the question: "where our most dread, &c., lord the king, hath heretofore been, and is justly, lawfully, and notoriously knowen, named, published, and declared to be king of england, france, and ireland, defender of the faith, and the church of england and also of ireland, in earth supreme head; and hath justly and lawfully used the title and name thereof as to his grace appertaineth. be it enacted, &c., that all and singular his graces' subject, &c., shall from henceforth accept and take the same his majesty's style ... viz., in the english tongue by these words, henry the eighth, by the grace of god king of england, france, and ireland, defender of the faith, and of the church of england, and also of ireland, in earth the supreme head; and that the said style, &c., shall be, &c., united { } and annexed for ever to the imperial crown of his highness's realms of england." by the supposed authority of this statute, and notwithstanding the revocation of the title by pope paul iii., and its omission in the bull addressed by pope julius iii. to philip and mary, that princess, before and after her marriage, used this style, and the statute having, been re-established by eliz. c. ., the example has been followed by her royal protestant successors, who wished thereby to declare themselves defenders of the anti-papal church. the learned bishop gibson, in his _codex_ (i. , note), treats this title as having commenced in henry viii. so do blount, cowel, and such like authorities. wm. sidney gibson. newcastle-on-tyne, dec. . p.s. since writing the above, i have found (in the nineteenth volume of _archæologia_, pp. - .) an essay by mr. alex. luders on this very subject, in which that able writer, who was well accustomed to examine historical records, refers to many examples in which the title "most christian king" was attributed to, or used by english sovereigns, as well as the kings of france; and to the fact, that this style was used by henry vii., as appears from his contract with the abbot of westminster (harl. ms. .). selden tells us that the emperors had from early times been styled "defensores ecclesiæ;" and from the instances cited by mr. luders, it appears that the title of "most christian" was appropriated to kings of france from a very ancient period; that pepin received it (a.d. ) from the pope, and charles the bald (a.d. ) from a council: and charles vi. refers to ancient usage for this title, and makes use of these words: "--nostrorum progenitorum imitatione--evangelicæ veritatis--defensores--nostra regia dignitas divino christianæ religionis titulo gloriosius insignitur--." mr. luders refers to the use of the words "nos zelo _fidei catholicæ_, cujus sumus et erimus deo dante _defensores_, salubriter commoti" in the charter of richard ii. to the chancellor of oxford, in the nineteenth year of his reign, as the earliest introduction of such phrases into acts of the kings of england that he had met with. this zeal was for the condemnation of wycliff's _trialogus_. in the reign of hen. iv. the writ "de hæretico comburendo" had the words "zelator justitia et fidei catholicæ cultor;" and the title of "très chrêtien" occurs in several instruments of hen. vi. and edw. iv. it appears very probable that this usage was the foundation of the statement made by chamberlayne and by mr. christopher wren: but that the title of defender of the faith was used as part of the royal style before , is, i believe, quite untrue. w.s.g. * * * * * meaning of jezebel. (vol. ii., p. .) there appear to be two serious objections to the idea of your correspondent w.g.h. respecting the appearance of _baal_ in this word: . the original orthography ([hebrew: 'iyzebel]); whereas the name of the deity is found on all phoenician monuments, where it enters largely into the composition of proper names, written [hebrew: b`l]: and, . the fact of female names being generally on these same monuments (as tombstones and so forth) compounded of the name of a _goddess_, specially astarth ([hebrew: 'atiorit] or [hebrew: `a]). i do not know that we have any example of a female name into which _baal_ enters. the derivation of the word appears to be that given by gesenius (s.v.); that it is compounded of the root [hebrew: zabal] (habitavit, cohabitavit) and the negative [hebrew: 'eiyn], and that its meaning is the same as [greek: alochos], casta: comp. _agnes_. _isabel_, in fact, would be a name nearer the original than the form in which we have it. sc. carmarthen, oct. . . _jezebel._--w.g.h. has been misled by the ending _bel_. the phoenician god _bel_ or _baal_ has nothing to do with this name,--the component words being _je-zebel_, not _jeze-bel_. of the various explanations given, that of gesenius (_heb. lex._, s. voc.) appears, as usual, the simplest and most rational. the name [hebrew: 'iyzebel] (jezebel) he derives from [hebrew: 'iy] (_i_) "not" (comp. i-chabod, "in-glorious") and [hebrew: zabal] (zábal), "to dwell, cohabit with." the name will then mean "without cohabitation," _i.e._ [greek: alochos] (plat. _theæt._) "chaste, modest." comp. _agnes_, _katherine_, &c. less satisfactory explanations may be found in calmet's _dictionary_, and the _cyclopædia of biblical literature_, edited by dr. kitlo. r.t.h.g. _jezebel._--the hebrew spelling [hebrew: 'iyzebel] presents so much difficulty, that i fear such a derivation as w.g.h. wishes to obtain for the name is not practicable by any known etymology. nothing that i am aware of, either in hebrew, syriac, or arabic, will help us. the nearest verb that i can find is the chaldee [hebrew: 'aza'], signifying, "to light a fire," parts of which occur two or three times in dan. iii.; but i fear it would be too daring a conjecture to interpret the name _quem belus accendit_ on the strength of that verb's existence. at present i feel myself obliged to take the advice of winer, in his _lexicon_, "satius est ignorantiam fateri quam argutari." "nominis origo (he says) non liquet. sunt qui interpretentur _non stercus_, coll. reg. ix. ., ineptè. { } simonis in onom. dictum putat ino [hebrew: n'iy zebel], _mansio habitationis_ (habitatio tectissima); gesenius _cui nemo concubuit_, coll. [hebrew: zbl], gen. xxx. . sed satius," &c. admitting that hasdrubal is, in fact [hebrew: `azrw beil], _bel (was) his helper_, we cannot possibly connect [hebrew: 'iyzebel] with it. [hebrew: b]. l---- rectory, somerset. _jezebel._--your correspondent w.g.h. believes this word to be derivable from _baal_. that the phoenician word [hebrew: ba`al] (lord) makes a component part of many syrian names is well-known: but i do not think the contracted form [hebrew: beil], which was used by the babylonians, is ever found in any syrian names. if we suppose the name [hebrew: 'iyzebel] to be derived from [hebrew: beil] or [hebrew: ba`al], we must find a meaning for the previous letters. gesenius derives the name from [hebrew: 'y], the negative particle, [hebrew: zbl], and gives it the sense of "innuba", _i.e._ "pure," comparing it, as a female name, with the christian agnes. there is but one passage, however, in scripture which supports this secondary sense of [hebrew: zbl] properly, "to be round," or, "to make round," and then "to dwell;" from whence [hebrew: zbwl], "a dwelling or habitation:" also [hebrew: zbwlwn], "dwellings," the name which leah gives to her sixth son, because she hopes that thenceforward her husband [hebrew: yizbleiwiy], "will dwell with me." (gen. xxx. .) gesenius considers this equivalent with "cohabit;" and from this single passage draws the sense which he assigns to [hebrew: 'iyzebel] this seems rather far-fetched. i am, however, still inclined to give the sense of "pure, unpolluted," to [hebrew: 'iyzebel], but on different grounds. [hebrew: zebel] has another sense, [greek: kopros], particularly of camels, from the round form; and the word was common, in the later hebrew, in that sense. hence the evil spirit is called [hebrew: ba`al-zbwl], a contemptuous name, instead of [hebrew: ba`al-zbwb] = [greek: beelzeboul] instead of [greek: beelzeboub] (matt. xii. .). the negative of this word [hebrew: 'iyzebel] might, without any great forcing of the literal sense, imply "the undefiled," [greek: amiautos]; and this conjecture is supported by comparing kings, ix. . with the same verse in the _targum_ of jonathan. they are as follows: (heb.): [hebrew: wihayta niblat 'iyzebel krmen `al-pneiy hasreh] in the _targum_ thus: [hebrew: wtiheiy nibeiylta' r'iyzebel kzebel mbarar `al 'apeiy taqla':] it is quite clear that the targumists intended here a strong allusion to the _original_ meaning of jezebel's name; viz. that she who was named "the undefiled" should become as "defilement." i am not sure whether a disquisition of this kind may be considered irrelevant to your work; but as the idea seems not an improbable one to some whose judgment i value, i venture to send it. e.c.h. * * * * * socinian boast. (vol. ii., p. .). one of your correspondents, referring to the lines lately quoted by dr. pusey-- "tota jacet babylon; destruxit tecta lutherus, calvinus muros, sed fundamenta socinus." inquires "by what socinian writer" are these two hexameter verses used ? in reply, i beg to remark that by "socinian" is, i suppose, meant "unitarian," for even the immediate converts of socinus refused to be called socinians, alleging that their belief was founded on the teaching of jesus christ; and modern unitarians, disowning all human authority in religious matters, cannot take to themselves the name of socinus. the distich, however, appears to have been in use among the polish unitarians shortly after the death of faustus socinus, as respectfully expressive of the exact effect which they conceived that he had produced in the religious world. mr. wallace, in his _antitrinitarian biography_, vol. iii. p. ., states that it is "the epitaph said to have been inscribed on the tomb of faustus socinus." mr. wallace's authority for this assertion i have not been able to discover. bock (_hist. antitrinitariorum_, vol. iii. p. .), whom mr. wallace generally follows, observes that the adherents of faustus socinus were accustomed to use these lines "respecting his decease," (qui de ejus obitu canere soliti sunt). this would seem to imply that the lines were composed not long after the death of faustus socinus. probably they formed originally a part of poem written as a eulogy on him by some minister of the unitarian church. the case would not be without a parallel. three versions of the distich are before me; that cited by dr. pusey, and the two which follow:-- "alta ruit babylon; destruxit tecta lutherus, muros calvinus, sed fundamenta socinus." fock, _socinianismus_, vol. i. p. . "tota ruet babylon; destruxit tecta lutherus, muros calvinus, sed fundamenta socinus." bock, _ut supra_. which is the original? bock's reading has the preference in my mind, because he is known to have founded his history on the results of his own personal investigations among the manuscripts as { } well as the printed documents of the polish unitarian churches. besides, if, as there is reason to believe, the lines were composed shortly after the death of f. socinus, _ruet_ (_will_ fall) would now correctly describe what, at so small a distance from the days of luther and calvin, may be supposed to have been the feeling among the polish unitarians; whereas dr. pusey's _jacet_ (lies low, in the _present_ tense) does as certainly partake somewhat of the grandiloquent. that no "boast," however, was intended, becomes probable, when we consider that the distich was designed to convey a feeling of reverence towards socinus rather than an insult to rome. john r. beard. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the königs-stuhl at rheuze_ (vol. ii., p. .).--dr. bell, who inquires for an engraving of the old _königs_ or _kaisers-stuhl_, at rheuze, is referrred to the _history of germany, on the plan of mrs. markham's histories_, published by murray, where, on the th page, he will find a very neat woodcut of this building, which we are told was destroyed in , and rebuilt after the original model in . it is of an octagon form, supported by pillars, with seven stone seats round the sides for the electors, and one in the centre for the emperor. m.h.g. [the woodcuts of this work deserve especial commendation, being accurate representations of objects of historical interest, instead of the imaginative illustrations too often introduced into works which claim to represent the truth of history. many of the engravings, such as that of the _room in which the council of constance was held_, and the _cages of the anabaptists_ attached to the tower of _st. lambert's church, munster_, are, we have understood, copied from original sketches placed at mr. murray's disposal for the purpose of being used in the work in question.] _mrs. tempest_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this lady was one of the two daughters of henry tempest, esq., of newton grange, yorkshire (son of sir john tempest of tong hall, who was created a baronet in ), by his wife alathea, daughter of sir henry thompson of marston, co. york. she died unmarried in . as the daphne of pope's pastoral "winter," inscribed to her memory, she is celebrated in terms which scarcely bear out the remark of your correspondent, that the poet "has no special allusion to her." j.t. hammack. _calendar of sundays in greek and romish churches._--in reply to m.'s query, i beg to inform him, that to find a calendar of _both_ the above churches, he need seek no further than the _almanach de gotha_ for the year . he will there find what he wants, on authority no doubt sufficient. d.c. _the conquest_ (vol. ii., p. ).--i do not agree with l. in thinking that the modern notion, that this word means "a forcible method of acquisition," is an erroneous one; but have no doubt that, whatever its original derivation may be, it was used in that sense. if william i. never pretended "to annex the idea of victory to conquisition," it is certain that his son william ii. did: for we find a charter of his in the _monasticon_ (ed. ), vol. vi. p. ., confirming a grant of the church of st. mary of andover to the abbey of st. florence, at salmur, in anjou, in which there is the following recital: "noscant qui sunt et qui futuri sunt, quod willielmus rex, qui _armis anglicam terram sibi subjugavit_, dedit." &c. if this charter was granted by william i., under whom dugdale has placed it in his _chronica series_, p. ., _nomine baldric_, the argument is so much the stronger; but i have endeavored to prove by internal evidence (_judges of england_, vol. i. p. .) that it is a charter of william ii. edward foss. _thruscross_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in a sermon preached at the funeral of lady margaret mainard, at little easton, in essex, june , , by bishop ken, he says: "the silenced, and plundered, and persecuted clergy she thought worthy of double honour, did vow a certain sum yearly out of her income, which she laid aside, only to succour them. the congregations where she then communicated, were those of the reverend and pious dr. thruscross and dr. mossom, both now in heaven, and that of the then mr. gunning, the now most worthy bishop of ely, for whom she ever after had a peculiar veneration." "my last son izaak, borne the th of september, , at halfe an houre after two o'clock in the afternoone, being sunday, and he was baptized that evening by mr. thruscross, in my house in clerkenwell. mr. henry davison and my brother beacham were his godfathers, and mrs. roe his godmother."--_izaak walton's entry in his prayer book._ peckhard, in his _life of nicholas ferrar_, p. ., quotes barwick's life, oley, thruscross, and thorndike. w.p. _osnaburgh bishopric_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the succession to this bishopric was regulated by the treaty of westphalia, in . by virtue of that treaty the see of osnaburgh is alternately possessed by a romish and a protestant prince; and when it comes to the turn of a protestant, it is to be given to a younger son of the house of hanover. the _almanach de gotha_ will most probably supply the information who succeeded the late duke of york. looking at the names of the titular bishops of osnaburgh, it may be inferred that the duties attached to the see are confined to its temporalities. j.t. hammack. { } _nicholas ferrar_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--the libellous pamphlet, entitled _the arminian nunnery at little gidding_, is printed entire in the appendix to hearne's preface to langtoft. one of the harmonies of the life of christ is in the british museum, and another at st. john's college, oxford (qy.) (see the list of mss. once at gidding, peckhard, p. .) n. ferrar published and wrote the preface to herbert's _temple_, ,--and translated valdesso's _divine considerations_, camb. . w.p. _butchers' blue dress_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a blue dress does not show stains of blood, inasmuch as blood, when dry, becomes of a blue colour. i have always understood this to be the explanation of this custom. x.z. _chaucer's portrait by occleve_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this portrait is engraved in strutt's _regal and ecclesiastical antiquities_. j.i.d. [and we may add, in the edition of tyrwhitt's _canterbury tales_, published by pickering--ed.] _chaucer's portrait_ (vol. ii., p. .).--his portrait, from occleve's poem, has been engraved in octavo and folio by vertue. another, from the harleian ms., engraved by worthington, is in pickering's edition of tyrwhitt's _chaucer_. occleve's poem has not been printed; but see ritson's _biblioth. poetica_, and warton's _h.e.p._ a full-length portrait of chaucer is given in shaw's _dresses and decorations of the middle ages_; another, on horseback, in todd's _illustrations of gower and chaucer_. w.p. _lady jane of westmoreland_ (vol. i., p. .).--i think your correspondent q.d. is wrong in his supposition that the two following entries in mr. collier's second volume of _extracts from the registers of the stationers' company_ refer to a composition by lady jane of westmoreland:-- " - . cold and uncoth blowes, of the lady jane of westmorland. - . a songe of lady jane of westmorland." my idea is, that the ballad (for mr. collier thinks that both entries relate to one production) was merely one of those metrical ditties sung about the streets of london depicting the woes and sufferings of some unfortunate lady. the question is, who was this "unfortunate lady?" she was the wife of ralph, earl of westmoreland, who was attainted about the year , and died in flanders anno . i learn this from a ms. of the period, now before me, entitled _some account of the sufferinges of the ladye jane of westmorlande, who dyed in exile. by t.c._ perhaps at some future time i may trouble your readers with an account of this highly interesting ms. edward f. rimbault. _gray and dodsley._--as the hermit of holyport has repeated his queries on gray and dodsley, i must make a second attempt to answer them with due precision, assured that no man is more disposed than himself to communicate information for the satisfaction of others. . _gray_: in the first edition of the _elegy_ the epithet in question is _droning_; and so it stands in the _poems of gray_, as edited by himself, in , , &c. . _dodsley_: the first edition of the important poetical miscellany which bears his name was published in , in three volumes, mo. bolton corney. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. _the new classical dictionary of biography, mythology, and history_, may be considered as the third in that important series of classical dictionaries for which the world is indebted to the learning of dr. smith. as the present work is distinguished by the same excellencies which have won for the _dictionary of greek and roman antiquities_, and the _dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology_, the widely-spread reputation they enjoy, we shall content ourselves with a few words explanatory of the arrangement of a work which, it requires no great gift of prophecy to foretell, must ere long push lemprière from its stool. the present dictionary may be divided into three portions. the biographical, which includes all the historical names of importance which occur in the greek and roman writers, from the earliest times down to the extinction of the western empire; those of all greek and roman writers, whose works are either extant or known to have exercised an influence upon their respective literatures; and, lastly, those of all the more important artists of antiquity. in the mythological division may be noticed first, the discrimination, hitherto not sufficiently attended to, between the greek and roman mythology, and which in this volume is shown by giving an account of the greek divinities under their greek names, and the roman divinities under their latin names; and, secondly, what is of still more consequence, the care to avoid as far as possible all indelicate allusions in the respective histories of such divinities. lastly, in the geographical portion of the work, and which will probably be found the most important one, very few omissions will be discovered of names occurring in the chief classical writers. this brief sketch of the contents of this _new classical dictionary_ will satisfy our readers that dr. smith has produced a volume, not only of immense value to those who are entering upon their classical studies, but one which will be found a most useful handbook to the scholar and the more advanced student. _the greek church, a sketch_, is the last of the shilling series in which mr. appleyard has described { } the different sections of christendom, with a view to their ultimate reunion. like its predecessors, the volume is amiable and interesting, but being historical rather than doctrinal, is scarcely calculated to give the uninformed reader a very precise view of the creed of the greek church. it may serve, however, to assure us that the acrimony of religious discussion and the mutual jealousy of church and state, which disquiets so many minds at present, was more than matched in the days of constantine and athanasius. the last part of the _transactions of the academy of sciences_ of berlin contains two papers by jacob grimm, which will doubtless be perused with great interest in this country. the one on the ancient practice of burning the bodies of the dead (_ueber das verbrennen der leichen_) will be of especial interest to english antiquaries; but the other, from its connexion with the great educational questions which now occupy so much of public attention, will probably be yet more attractive. it is entitled, _ueber schüle universität academie_. separate copies of these essays may be procured from messrs. williams and norgate. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson (wellington street, strand) will sell on monday next and two following days the valuable dramatic and miscellaneous library of the late john fullarton, esq., which contains an extensive collection of the early editions of the old english dramatists. we have received the following catalogues:--bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue no. . for , of antiquarian, historical, heraldic, numismatic, and topographical books; william heath's ( ½, lincoln inn fields) catalogue no. . for , of valuable second-hand books; cole's ( . great turnstile) list of very cheap books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. law's letters to bishop hoadley. milles, rev. isaac, account of the life and conversation of, . bray, rev. t., public spirit illustrated in the life and designs of, vo. . huet's commerce of the ancients, . vince's astronomy, vols. . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. jeedee. _notwithstanding dr. parr's assertion to the contrary, the _malleus maleficarum_ is by no means an uncommon book, as may be seen by a reference to grüsse _(bibliotheca magica, p. .)_, where upwards of a dozen editions are enumerated, and a table of its contents may be seen. the work has been very fully analysed in the second volume of horst's dämonomagie, and, if we remember rightly, its history is told by soldan in his _gesch. der hexenprocesse. r.h. (trin. coll. dub.) _will see that it is impossible to adopt his kind suggestion without spoiling the uniformity of the work. we have a bound copy of our first volume now before us, and can assure him that, although the margin is necessarily narrow the book has not been spoilt by the binder._ j.s. nortor _or _nawter_ is only the provincial mode of pronouncing _neatherd_. the _nolt_ market is the ancient name of a street in newcastle--the cattle-market. see brockett's _gloss. of north country words_, s.v. _nowt_ or _nolt. a.h. (stoke newington). "limbeck" _is used by shakspeare for _"alembic;"_ and in the passage in macbeth_,-- "that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason a limbeck only." receipt _is used in the sense of _receptacle_; and (we quote from one of the commentators)_, "the _limbeck_ is the vessel through which distilled liquors pass into the recipients. so shall it be with memory, through which every thing shall pass, and nothing remain." djedaleme tebeyr. _some of our correspondent's articles would, we have no doubt, have appeared ere this, but for the difficulty of deciphering his handwriting. our correspondents little know how greatly they would facilitate our labours by writing more legibly._ _errata._--p. , col. . l. , for "vingto" read "msto;" l. , for "indefe_n_sus" read "indefe_s_sus." p. , col. . lines , , and , for "litt_ers_" read "litt_us_." in the advertisement of mr. appleyard's _greek church_, in our last number, p. , for "darling, great _cullen_ street," read "darling, great _queen_ street." * * * * * labitzky's quadrille of all nations, dedicated by special permission to h.r.h. prince albert, performed eighteen consecutive nights at the grand national concerts, and invariably encored twice or three times nightly _[some words illegible]_ s.; piano duet, s., orchestra, s. on order of all good music-sellers, and of the publishers, messrs. r. cocks and co., new burlington street, london, publishers to her most gracious majesty. n.b.--just published, cocks's musical miscellany, for october, november, and december. d. each; stamped d. each. * * * * * dr. wordsworth's treatise on the church, sixth edition. in crown vo., price s. d., the sixth edition of theophilus anglicanus; or, instruction concerning the church, and the anglican branch of it. for the use of schools, colleges, and candidates for holy orders. by chr. wordsworth, d.d., canon of westminster. rivington, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, . elements of instruction concerning the church. by the same author. s. d. . catechesis; or, christian instruction preparatory to confirmation, and first communion. by the rev. charles wordsworth, m.a. s. d. * * * * * foreign books gratis and post free.--a catalogue of very cheap second-hand foreign books, in all european languages, has just been issued by franz thimm, foreign bookseller, (german circulating library), . new bond street. the catalogue will be forwarded to those who will favour mr. thimm with their addresses. * * * * * { } now ready, choice examples of art-workmanship, in gold, silver, steel, bronze, ivory, wood, glass, leather, earthenware, &c. upwards of sixty examples selected from the exhibition of ancient and mediÆval art at the society of arts, drawn and engraved under the superintendence of philip de la motte. elegantly bound in cloth, with gilt bosses, in fac-simile of an ancient venetian binding. imperial octavo, bound in cloth with bosses ... £ ditto coloured and gilt, bound in morocco ... £ large paper, bound in cloth with bosses ... £ ditto coloured and gilt, bound in morocco ... £ *** _a few vellum copies will be printed to order only. these will be most carefully illuminated and finished by_ mr. de la motte, _bound in velvet, price twelve guineas._ london: cundall and addey, . old bond street. * * * * * valuable library of the late james brown. messrs. s. leigh sotheby & john wilkinson, auctioneer of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on friday, december , , and following day, at one o'clock precisely, the valuable library of the late james brown, esq., for many years a clerk in the general post office, comprising comte lamberg, collection des vases grecs, expliquée et publiée par la borde, vols., a beautiful and interesting work; la borde, voyage pittoresque en autriche, vols., plates finely coloured; la borde, descripcion de un pavimento de mosayco, with coloured plates; the fine picturesque works of coney, neale, haghe, lawis, müller, nash, and wilkie, all fine and picked sets, complete; an interesting collection of illustrious and noble foreigners, arranged in vols.; genealogical illustrations of the ancient family of gruee, a splendid heraldic manuscript, written by p. absalom, esq.; dugdale, history of st. paul's, fine copy, illustrated with extra portraits; illustrations of the noble family of howard, finely emblazoned by p. absalom, illustrated with upwards of seventy scarce portraits of the family; lysons, magna britannia, vols. in ; equestrian portraits of the family of nassau and orange, the fine work on early german stained glass, published by weale; chalmers, general biographical dictionary, vols. half russia; lodge, portraits of illustrious persons, vols.; neale. views of the seats in great britain; sir w. scott, novels and tales, vols., fine copy, in calf, marbled leaves; shaw, general zoology, coloured plates, vols. to be viewed two days prior, and catalogues had; if in the country, on receipt of six postage stamps. * * * * * mr. doyle's christmas book. the story of jack and the giants. with forty illustrations by richard doyle. engraved by g. and e. dalziel. small to., price s. d. ornamental wrapper; s. d. cloth; coloured, gilt edges, s. cundall and addey, . old bond street. * * * * * journal francais, publié à londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en , paraissant le samedi, donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramatique par th. gautier ou j. janin, la révue de paris par pierre durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * treatment of the insane--testimonial to dr. connolly.--subscribers' names and subscriptions received by the secretaries at . old burlington street. post office orders should be made payable at the post-office, piccadilly, to one of the secretaries. john forbes, m.d., richard frankum, secretaries. * * * * * fac-similes. ashbee and tuckett, lithographers, &c., . broad court, long acre, beg respectfully to draw attention to their establishment for the execution of ancient and modern fac-similes, both plain and in colours, comprising autographs, charters, deeds, drawings, illuminations, title pages, woodcuts, &c., which they produce with the utmost fidelity and exactness, also without the slightest injury to the original. specimens may be inspected at the offices, or will be forwarded on application. every description of plain and ornamental lithography executed with the greatest attention and punctuality. * * * * * price d., or s. per hundred for distribution westminster and dr. wiseman; or, facts _v._ fiction, "speaking the truth in love."--_ephes._ iv. . by william page wood, esq., m.p., q.c. reprinted from _the times_, with an advertisement on the subject of the westminster spiritual aid fund, and more especially on the duty and justice of applying the revenues of the suspended stalls of the abbey for the adequate endowment of the district churches in the immediate neighbourhood. london: george bell, . fleet street; messrs. rivington's, st. paul's church-yard, and waterloo place; and thomas hatchard, . piccadilly; and _by order_ of all booksellers. * * * * * choice collection of autographs of the late s. george christison, esq.--three days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioners of literary property, will sell by auction at their great room, . piccadilly, on thursday, dec. , and two following days, the very choice collection of autograph letters of the late s. george christison, esq., including specimens of great rarity and curiosity, and of high literary and historical interest, in fine condition, mostly selected from the collection of the late william upcott, esq., and the various celebrated collections dispersed by us. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * { } new books. the church a family. twelve sermons on the occasional services of the prayer book, preached at lincoln's inn, by f.d. maurice, m.a., professor of divinity in king's college. s. d. correspondence of sir isaac newton and professor cotes, including letters of other eminent men, now first published from the originals in the library of trinity college, cambridge; with other unpublished letters and papers by newton. with synoptical view of newton's life, notes, and a variety of details, illustrative of his history. edited by j. edleston, m.a., fellow of trinity college, cambridge. octavo, with a portrait of sir isaac newton, from the original drawing in the pepysian collection at cambridge. s. shipwrecks of the royal navy, between and . compiled principally from official documents in the admiralty. by w.o.s. gilly. with a preface by w.s. gilly, d.d., canon of durham. post vo. s. d. anschar: a story of the north. by richard john king. s. chance and choice: or, the education of circumstances. two tales: . the young governess.-- . claudine de soligny. post vo. compton merivale: another leaf from the lesson of life. by the author of "brampton rectory." a companion volume. s. d. life of james davies, a village schoolmaster. by sir thomas phillips. with a portrait and woodcuts. foolscap vo. s. d. memoir of john carter. by w.j. dampier, vicar of coggeshall. post vo. with illustrations. s. an exposition of the xxxix. articles, historical and theological. by e. harold browne, m.a., vicar of kenwyn; late vice-principal of lampeter. to be completed in two volumes, vo. vol. i. s. d. classical examination papers of king's college, london. by r.w. browne, m.a., professor of classical literature in king's college. foolscap vo. s. commentary on the epistle of paul the apostle to the romans. with a new translation, and explanatory notes. by w.w. ewbank, m.a., incumbent of st. george's church, everton. to be completed in two volumes. post vo. vol. i. s. d. new editions. archbishop whately's elements of logic. reprinted from the ninth (octavo) edition. with all the author's additions. crown vo. s. d. archbishop whately's elements of rhetoric. reprinted from the seventh (octavo) edition. with all the author's additions. crown vo. s. d. copies of the demy octavo editions of archbishop whately's logic and rhetoric (price s. d. each), printed uniformly with the author's other works, may still be had. mr. j.s. mill's system of logic. third and cheaper edition. two volumes, vo. s. professor sedgwick's discourse on the studies of the university of cambridge. fifth edition. one thick volume, crown vo. s. *** the present edition is enlarged by the addition of a preliminary dissertation and supplement; and consists, altogether, of pages. dr. herbert mayo's philosophy of living. third and cheaper edition. archdeacon hare's mission of the comforter. with notes. second edition, vo. vol. s. rev. r.c. trench's notes on the miracles. third edition, vo. s. the homilies, with various readings, and the quotations from the fathers given at length in the original languages. edited, for the syndics of the cambridge university press, by g.e. corrie, b.d., master of jesus college. vo. s. d. professor burton's history of the christian church. eighth and cheaper edition. s. professor scholefield's hints for an improved translation of the new testament. third edition, with the appendix incorporated. s. d. mr. griffith's recreations in chemistry. second edition, much enlarged, and almost entirely re-written. s. professor hall's elements of algebra. third and cheaper edition. s. london: john w. parker, west strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december . . notable events of the nineteenth century great deeds of men and nations and the progress of the world, in a series of short studies compiled and edited by john clark ridpath published by the christian herald, louis klopsch, proprietor, bible house, new york. [illustration] preface. this little volume constitutes one number of the christian herald library series for - . the title indicates the scope and purpose of the work. of heavy reading the reader of to-day no doubt has a sufficiency. of light reading, that straw-and-chaff literature that fills the air until the senses are confused with the whirlwind and dust of it, he has a sufficiency also. of that intermediate kind of reading which is neither so heavy with erudition as to weigh us down nor so light with the flying folly of prejudice as to make us distracted with its dust, there is perhaps too little. the thoughtful and improving passage for the unoccupied half hour of him who hurries through these closing years of the century does not abound, but is rather wanting in the intellectual provision of the age. let this volume serve to supply, in part at least, the want for brief readings on important subjects. herein a number of topics have been chosen from the progress of the century and made the subjects of as many brief studies that may be realized in a few minutes' reading and remembered for long. certainly there is no attempt to make these short stories exhaustive, but only to make them hintful of larger readings and more thoughtful and patient inquiry. the editor is fully aware of the very large circulation and wide reading to which this little volume will soon be subjected. for this reason he has taken proper pains to make the work of such merit as may justly recommend it to the thoughtful as well as the transient and unthoughtful reader. it cannot, we think, prove to be a wholly profitless task to offer these different studies, gathered from the highways and byways of the great century, to the thousands of good and busy people into whose hands the volume will fall. to all such the editor hopes that it may carry a measure of profit as well as a message of peace. j.c.r. contents. [all articles not otherwise designated are by the editor.] crises in civil society. page. brumaire--the overthrow of the french directory, how the son of equality became king of france, the coup d'etat of , the chartist agitation in england, the abolition of human bondage, the peril of our centennial year, the double fête in france and germany, great battles. trafalgar, campaign of austerlitz, "friedland-- ", under the russian snows, waterloo, sebastopol, sadowa, capture of mexico, vicksburg, gettysburg, spottsylvania, appomattox, sedan, by victor hugo, bazaine and metz, astronomical vistas. the century of the asteroids, the story of neptune, evolution of the telescope, the new astronomy, what the worlds are made of, progress in discovery and invention. the first steamboat and its maker, telegraphing before morse, the new light of men, the telephone, the machine that talks back, evolution of the dynamo, by professor joseph p. naylor, the unknown ray and entography, stages in biological inquiry. the new inoculation, koch's battle with the invisible enemy, achievements in surgery, great religious movements. by b.j. fernie, ph.d. defence on new lines, evangelical activity, bible revision, bibles by the million, a great missionary era, preaching to heathen at home, churches drawing together, organized activities, humanitarian work, the sunday school, pulpit and press, notable events of the nineteenth century. crises in civil society. brumaire. the overthrow of the french directory. the eighteenth century went out with the french directory, and the nineteenth came in with the consulate. the coincidence of dates is not exact by a year and a month and twenty-one days. but history does not pay much attention to almanacs. in general our century arose with the french consulate. the consulate was the most conspicuous political fact of europe in the year ; and the consulate came in with _brumaire_. "brumaire" is one of the extraordinary names invented by the french revolutionists. the word, according to carlyle, means _fogarious_--that is, fog month. in the french republican calendar, devised by the astronomer romme, in , brumaire began on the twenty-second day of october and ended on the twentieth day of november. it remained for brumaire, and the eighteenth day of brumaire, of the year viii, to extinguish the plural executive which the french democrats had created under the name of a _directory_, and to substitute therefor the one man that was coming. the directory was a council of five. it was a sort of five-headed presidency; and each head was the head of a jacobin. one of the heads was called barras. one was called carnot. another was called barthelemy. another was roger ducos; another was the abbé sieyes. that was the greatest head of them all. the heads were much mixed, though the body was one. in such a body cross counsels were always uppermost, and there was a want of decision and force in the government. this condition of the executive department led to the deplorable reverses which overtook the french armies during the absence of general bonaparte in egypt. thiers says that the directorial republic exhibited at this time a scene of distressing confusion. he adds: "the directory gave up guillotining; it only transported. it ceased to force people to take assignats upon pain of death; but it paid nobody. our soldiers, without arms and without bread, were beaten instead of being victorious." the ambition of napoleon found in this situation a fitting opportunity. the legislative branch of the government consisted of a senate, or council of ancients, and a council of five hundred. the latter constituted the popular branch. of this body lucien bonaparte, brother of the general, was president. hardly had napoleon arrived in the capital on his return from egypt when a conspiracy was formed by him with sieyes, lucien and others of revolutionary disposition, to do away by a _coup_ with the too democratic system, and to replace it with a stronger and more centralized order. the council of ancients was to be brought around by the influence of sieyes. to lucien bonaparte the more difficult task was assigned of controlling and revolutionizing the assembly. as for napoleon, sieyes procured for him the command of the military forces of paris; and by another decree the sittings of the two legislative bodies were transferred to st. cloud. the eighteenth brumaire of the year viii, corresponding to the ninth of november, , was fixed as the day for the revolution. by that date soldiers to the number of , men had been collected in the gardens of the tuileries. there they were reviewed by general bonaparte and the leading officers of his command. he read to the soldiers the decree which had just been issued under the authority of the council of the ancients. this included the order for the removal of the legislative body to st. cloud, and for his own command. he was entrusted with the execution of the order of the council, and all of the military forces in paris were put at his disposal. in these hours of the day there were all manner of preparation. that a conspiracy existed was manifest to everybody. that general bonaparte was reaching for the supreme authority could hardly be doubted. his secretary thus writes of him on the morning of the great day. "i was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the eighteenth brumaire, and, on my arrival, i found a great number of generals and officers assembled. i entered bonaparte's chamber, and found him already up--a thing rather unusual with him. at this moment he was as calm as on the approach of a battle. in a few moments joseph and bernadotte arrived. i was surprised to see bernadotte in plain clothes, and i stepped up to him and said in a low voice: 'general, everyone here except you and i is in uniform.' 'why should i be in uniform?' said he. bonaparte, turning quickly to him, said: 'how is this? you are not in uniform.' 'i never am on a morning when i am not on duty,' replied bernadotte. 'you will be on duty presently,' said the general!" to napoleon the crisis was an epoch of fate. the first thing was to be the resignation of sieyes, barras and ducos, which--coming suddenly on the appointed morning--broke up the directory. bonaparte then put out his hand as commander of the troops. too late the republicans of the council of five hundred felt the earthquake swelling under their feet. napoleon appeared at the bar of the assembly, and attempted a rambling and incoherent justification for what was going on. a motion was made to outlaw him; but the soldiers rushed in, and the refractory members were seized and expelled. a few who were in the revolution remained, and to the number of fifty voted a decree making sieyes, bonaparte and ducos provisional _consuls_, thus conferring on them the supreme executive power of the state. by nightfall the business was accomplished, and the man of ajaccio slept in the palace of the tuileries. he had said to his secretary, bourriene, on that morning, "we shall sleep to-night in the tuileries--or in prison." the new order was immediately made organic. there could be no question when three consuls were appointed and bonaparte one of the number, which of the three would be _first_ consul. he would be that himself; the other two might be the ciphers which should make his unit . the new system was defined as the "provisionary consulate;" but this form was only transitional. the managers of the _coup_ went rapidly forward to make it permanent. the constitution of the year iii gave place quickly to the constitution of the year viii, which provided for an executive government, under the name of the consulate. nominally the consulate was to be an executive committee of three, but really an executive committee of _one_--with two associates. the three men chosen were napoleon bonaparte, jean jacques cambaceres and charles francois lebrun. on christmas day, , napoleon was made first consul; and that signified the beginning of a new order, destined to endure for sixteen and a half years, and to end at waterloo. the old century was dying and the new was ready to arise out of its ashes. how the son of equality became king of france. the french revolution spared not anything that stood in its way. the royal houses were in its way, and they went down before the blast. thus did the house of bourbon, and thus did also the house of orleans. the latter branch, however, sought by its living representatives to compromise with the storm. the orleans princes have always had a touch of liberalism to which the members of the bourbon branch were strangers. at the outbreak of the revolution, louis philippe joseph, duke of orleans, fraternized with the popular party, threw away his princely title and named himself philippe egalité; that is, as we should say, mr. _equality_ philip. in this character he participated in the national assembly until he fell under distrust, and in despite of his defence and protestations--in spite of the fact that he had voted for the death of his cousin the king--was seized, condemned and guillotined. this equality philip left as his representative in the world a son who was twenty years old when his father was executed. the son was that louis philippe who, under his surname of _roi citoyen_, or "citizen king," was destined after extraordinary vicissitudes to hold the sceptre of france for eighteen years. young louis philippe was a soldier in the republican armies. that might well have saved him from persecution; but his princely blood could not be excused. he was by birth the duke of valois, and by succession the duke of chartres. as a boy, eight years of age, he had received for his governess the celebrated madame de genlis, who remained faithful to him in all his misfortunes. at eighteen he became a dragoon in the vendome regiment, and in he fought valiantly under kellermann and dumouriez at valmy and jemappes. then followed the treason, or defection, of dumouriez; but young louis remained with the army for two years longer, when, being proscribed, he went into exile, finding refuge with other suspected officers and many refugees in switzerland. thither dumouriez himself had gone. of the flight of young louis, carlyle says: "brave young egalité reaches switzerland and the genlis cottage; with a strong crabstick in his hand, a strong heart in his body: his princedom is now reduced to _that_ egalité the father sat playing whist, in his palais egalité, at paris, on the sixth day of this same month of april, when a catchpole entered. citoyen egalité is wanted at the convention committee!" what the committee wanted with equality philip and what they did with him has been stated above. consider then that the napoleonic era has at last set in blood. consider that the restoration, with the reigns of louis xviii. and charles x., has gone by. consider that the "three days of july," , have witnessed a bloodless revolution in paris, in which the house of bourbon was finally overthrown and blown away. on the second of august, charles x. gave over the hopeless struggle and abdicated in favor of his son. but the chamber of deputies and the people of france had now wearied of bourbonism in _all_ of its forms, and the nation was determined to have a king of its own choosing. the chamber set about the work of selecting a new ruler for france. at this juncture, thiers and mignet again asserted their strength and influence by nominating for the throne louis philippe, duke of orleans, representative of what is known as the younger branch of the bourbon dynasty. the prince himself was not loath to present himself at the crisis, and to offer his services to the nation. in so doing, he was favored greatly by his character and antecedents. at the first, the chamber voted to place him at the head of the kingdom with the title of _lieutenant-general_. the prince accepted his election, met the chamber of deputies and members of the provisional government at the hotel de ville, and there solemnly pledged himself to the most liberal principles of administration. his accession to power in his military relations was hailed with great delight by the parisians, who waved the tri-color flag before him as he came, and shouted to their heart's content. at this stage of the revolution the representatives of the overthrown house and of the old royalty sought assiduously to obtain from louis philippe a recognition of the young count de chambord, under the title of henry v. but the duke of orleans was too wily a politician to be caught in such a snare. he at first suppressed that part of the letter of abdication signed by charles and angoulême in which reference was made to the succession of the duke of berry's son; but a knowledge of that clause was presently disseminated in the city, and the tumult broke out anew. then it was that a great mob, rolling out of paris in the direction of the hotel rambouillet, gave the signal of flight to charles and those who had adhered to the toppling fortunes of his house. the chamber of deputies proceeded quickly to undo the despotic acts of the late king, and then elected louis philippe king, not of _france_, but of the _french_. the new sovereign received out of votes in the deputies. his elevation to power was one of the most striking examples of personal vicissitudes which has ever been afforded by the princes and rulers of modern times. the coup d'etat of . with the overthrow of louis philippe in , what is known as the second republic, was established in france. on the tenth of december, in that year, a president was elected in the american manner for a term of four years. to the astonishment of the whole world, the man so elected was louis napoleon bonaparte, who had since the downfall of napoleon been prisoner, exile and adventurer by turns. in the course of president louis napoleon's administration, matters came to such a pass between him and the national assembly that one or the other must go to the wall. in the early winter of , a crisis came on which broke in a marvelous manner in the event called the coup d'etat. the president made up his mind to conquer the assembly by force. he planned what is known in modern history by pre-eminence the stroke. he, and those whom he trusted, made their arrangements secretly, silently, that the "stroke" should fall on the night of the second of december. on that evening the president held a gay reception in the palace of the elysee, and after his guests had retired, the scheme was perfected for immediate execution. during the night seventy-eight of the leading members of the opposition were seized at their own houses and taken to prison. the representatives of the people were hurried through the streets, and suddenly immured where their voices could be no longer heard. at the same time a strong force of soldiers was stationed near the tuileries. the offices of the liberal newspapers were seized and closed, and the government printing presses were employed all night in printing the proclamation with which the walls of the city were covered before morning. with the coming of daylight, paris awoke and read: . the national assembly is dissolved; . universal suffrage is re-established; . the elective colleges are summoned to meet on december ; . paris is in a state of siege. by the side of this proclamation was posted the president's address to the people. he proposed the election of a president for ten years. he referred the army to the neglect which it had received at the hands of former governments, and promised that the soldiery of france should rewin its ancient renown. as soon as those members of the assembly who had not been arrested could realize the thing which was done, they ran together and attempted to stay the tide of revolution by passing a vote deposing the president from office. but the effort was futile. a republican insurrection, under the leadership of victor hugo and a few other distinguished liberals, broke out in the city. but there was in the nature of the case no concert of action, no resources behind the insurrection, and no military leadership. general canrobert, commandant of the guards, soon put down the revolt in blood. order was speedily restored throughout paris, and the victory of the president was complete. it only remained to submit his usurpation to the judgment of the people, and the decision in that case could, under existing conditions, hardly be a matter of doubt. in accordance with the president's proclamation, a popular election was held throughout france, on the twentieth and twenty-first of december, at which the coup d'etat was signally vindicated. louis napoleon was triumphantly elected president, for a period of ten years. out of eight millions of votes, fewer than one million were cast against him. he immediately entered upon office, backed by this tremendous majority, and became dictator of france. in january of , sharp on the heels of the revolution which he had effected, he promulgated a new constitution. the instrument was based upon that of , and possessed but few clauses to which any right-minded lover of free institutions could object. on the twenty-eighth of march, napoleon resigned the dictatorship, which he had held since the coup d'etat, and resumed the office of president of the republic. it was not long, however, until the _after that_ began to appear. already in the summer and autumn of it became evident that the _empire_ was to be re-established. in the season of the vintage the president made a tour of the country, and was received with cries of _vive l'empereur_! in his addresses, particularly in that which he delivered at bordeaux, the sentiment of empire was cautiously offered to the people. the consummation was soon reached. on the seventh of november, , a vote was passed by the french senate for the re-establishment of the imperial order, and for the submission of the proposed measure to a popular vote. the event showed conclusively that the french nation, as then constituted, was bonapartist to the core. louis napoleon was almost unanimously elected to the imperial dignity. of the eight millions of suffrages of france, only a few scattering thousands were recorded in the negative. thus, in a blaze of glory that might well have satisfied the ambition of the first bonaparte, did he, who, only twelve years before at boulogne, had tried most ridiculously to excite a paltry rebellion by the display of a pet-eagle to his followers, mount the imperial throne of france with the title of napoleon iii. the chartist agitation in england. one of the most important political movements of the present century was the chartist agitation in great britain. this agitation began in . it was an effort of the under man in england to gain his rights. in the retrospect, it seems to us astonishing that such rights as those that were then claimed by the common people of england should ever have been denied to the citizens of any free country. the period covered by the excitement was about ten years in duration, and during that period great and salutary reforms were effected, but they were not thorough, and to this day the under man in great britain is mocked with the _semblance_ of political liberty, the _substance_ of which he does not enjoy; the same is true in america. the name _chartist_ arose from an article called the "people's charter," which was prepared by the famous daniel o'connell. the document contained six propositions, follows: ( ) we demand universal suffrage--by which was meant rather manhood suffrage than what is now known as universal suffrage, meaning the ballot in the hands of both sexes. this the chartists did not demand. ( ) we demand an annual parliament--by which was meant the election of a new house of commons each year by the people. ( ) we demand the right to vote by ballot--by which was meant the right of the people to employ a _secret_ ballot at the elections instead of the method _viva voce_. ( ) we demand the abolition of the property qualification now requisite as a condition of eligibility to membership in the house of commons. ( ) we demand that the members of parliament shall be paid a salary for their services. ( ) we demand the division of the country into equal electoral districts--by which was meant an equality of _population_, as against mere territorial extent. to the reader of to-day it must appear a matter of astonishment that the representatives of the working classes of great britain should have been called upon, at a time within the memory of men still living, to advance and advocate political principles so self-evident and common-sense as those declared in the charter, and his wonder must be raised to amazement when he is told that the whole governing power of great britain, the king, the ministry, the house of lords, the house of commons, the tories as a party, the whigs as a party, and--all party divisions aside--the great middle class of englishmen set themselves in horrified antagonism to the charter and its advocates, as though the former were the most incendiary document in the world and the latter a rabble of radicals gathered from the purlieus of the french revolution. the reason for the outbreak of the chartist reform was the fact that the reform bill of had proved a signal failure. for six years the english middle classes had sought by the agency of that act to gain their rights, but they had sought in vain. the people now began to follow popular leaders, who always arise under such conditions. one of these, by the name of thorn, a bankrupt brewer and half madman, who called himself sir william courtenay, appeared in canterbury. he said that he was a knight of malta and king of jerusalem--this when he was only a knight of malt and a king of shreds and patches. delusion broke out on every hand. one great leader was feargus o'connor. another was thomas cooper, a poet, and a third was the orator henry vincent, afterward well known in america. the agitation for reform spread far and wide. the people seemed to be about to rise _en masse_. the powers of british society were shaken and alarmed. the authorities put out their hands and the chartist meetings in many places were broken up. the leading spirits were seized and thrown into prison for nothing. three of the agitators were sent to the penal colonies, for no other offence than the delivery of democratic speeches. for several years the movement was in abeyance, but in , in the month of april, the agitation broke out afresh and rose to a formidable climax. a great meeting was appointed for the kensington common, and there, on the tenth of the month just named, a monster demonstration was held. a petition had meanwhile been drawn up, praying for reform, and was _signed by nearly two million englishmen_! after this the chartist agitation ebbed away. the movement was said to be a failure; but it failed, not because of the political principles on which it was founded, but because those principles had in the meantime been acknowledged and applied. at least three of the six articles of the chartist charter were soon adopted by parliament. the principle of manhood suffrage is virtually a part of the english constitution. the right of voting by secret ballot, deposited in a ballot-box, has also been acknowledged as a part of the _modus operandi_ of all british elections. in like manner the property qualification formerly imposed on candidates for parliament, against which the chartists so vehemently and justly declaimed, has long since been abolished. the abolition of human bondage. certainly no greater deed of philanthropy has been accomplished by mankind than the extinction of human servitude. true, that horrible relic of antiquity has not yet been wholly obliterated from the world, but the nineteenth century has dealt upon it such staggering and fatal blows as have driven it from all the high places of civilization and made it crouch in obscure corners and unenlightened regions on the outskirts of paganism. slavery has not indeed been extinguished; but it is scotched, and must expire. according to the tendency of things, the sun in his course at the middle of the twentieth century will hardly light the hovel of a single slave! the opening of the modern era found slavery universally distributed. there was perhaps at the middle of the eighteenth century not a single non-slave-holding race or nation on the globe! all were alike brutalized by the influences and traditions of the ancient system. all were familiar with it--aye, they were nursed by it; for it has been one of the strange aspects of human life that the children of the free have been nursed by the mothers of the enslaved. all races, we repeat, were alike poisoned with the venom of the serpent. thus poisoned were france and germany. thus poisoned was england; and thus also our colonies. time was, even down to the dawn of the revolution, when every american colony was slave-holding. time was when the system was taught in the schools and preached in the pulpits of all the civilized world. it was about the revolutionary epoch, that is, the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when the conscience of men began to be active on the subject of human bondage. we think that the disposition to recognize the wickedness and impolity of slavery was a part of the general movement which came on in civilization, tending to revolutionize not only the political but the social and ethical condition of mankind. we know well that in our own country, when our political institutions were in process of formation slavery was courageously challenged. it was not challenged more audaciously in the northern than in the southern colonies. some of the latter, as, for example, georgia, had at the first excluded slavery as a thing intolerable to freedom and righteousness. the leading men of the old southern states at the close of the last century nearly all repudiated slavery in principle. they admitted it only in practice and because it was a part of their inheritance. the patriots, both north and south, were averse not only to the extension of the area of bondage, but to the existence of it as a fact. washington was at heart an anti-slavery man. he wished in his heavy but wholly patriotic way as heartily as lincoln wished that all men might enjoy the blessings of freedom. jefferson was almost radical on the question. though he did not heartily believe in an overruling providence, he felt the need of one when he considered the afflictive system of slavery with which his state and country were encumbered. he said that considering it he trembled when he remembered that god is just. meanwhile the unprofitableness of slavery in the northern colonies had co-operated with the conscience of puritanism to engender a sentiment against slavery in that part of the union. so, although the institution was tolerated in the constitution and even had guarantees thrown around it, it was, nevertheless, disfavored in our fundamental law. one may readily see how the patriots labored with this portentous question. already in great britain an anti-slavery sentiment had appeared. there were anti-slavery leaders, statesmen, philosophers and philanthropists. by the terms of the constitution the slave _trade_ should cease in the year . sad to reflect that the inventive genius of man and the prodigality of nature in her gifts of cotton, sugar and rice to the old south should have produced a reaction in favor of slavery so great as to fasten it more strongly than ever upon our country. the fact is, that to all human seeming at the middle of our century american slavery seemed to be more firmly established than ever before. neither the outcry of the northern abolitionists nor the appeals of southern patriots such as henry clay, availed to check the pro-slavery disposition in fully one-half the union, or to abate the covert favor with which the institution was regarded in nearly all the other half. meanwhile, however, slavery was suffering and expiring in nearly all parts of europe. england began her battle against it even before the beginning of the century. the work of the philanthropists, begun as far back as - , when the quakers, under the leadership of clarkson and sharpe, began to cry out against the atrocity of human bondage, now reached the public authorities, and ministers found it necessary to take heed of what the people were saying and doing. both pitt and fox became abolitionists before the close of the eighteenth century. the first attack was against the slave _trade_. bills for the abolition of this trade were passed in - by the house of commons, but were rejected by the peers. in another act was passed; but this also was rejected by the lords. so too, the bill of ! the agitation continued during ; and in , just after the death of fox, the slave trade _was_ abolished in great britain. the abolitionists went straight ahead, however, to attack slavery itself. the anti-slavery society was founded. clarkson and wilberforce and buxton became the evangels of a new order that was seen far off. it was not, however, until the great reform agitation of that the government really took up the question of the abolition of slavery. the bill for this purpose was introduced in the house of commons on the twenty-third of april, . the process of abolition was to be _gradual_. the masters were to be _compensated_. there were to be periods of apprenticeship, after which freedom should supervene. twenty million pounds were to be appropriated from the national treasury to pay the expenses of the abolition process. it was on the seventh of august, , that this bill was adopted by the house of commons. two weeks afterward the house of lords assented, and on the twenty-eighth of august the royal assent was given. the emancipation, however, was set for the first of august, ; and this is the date from which the abolition of slavery in great britain and her dependencies may be said to have occurred. in some parts, however, the actual process of extinguishing slavery lagged. it was not until that the , , of slaves under british control in the empire were emancipated. the virtual extinction of human slavery in the present century, presents a peculiar ethnical study. among the latin races, the french were the first to move for emancipation. it appears that the infusion of gallic blood, as well as the large influence of the frankish nations in the production of the modern french, has given to that people a bias in favor of liberty. all the other latin races have lagged behind; but, france foreran even great britain in the work of abolition. scarcely had the great revolution of got under way, until an act of abolition conceding freedom to all men without regard to race or color was adopted by the national assembly. it was on the fifteenth of may, , that this great act was passed. one of the darkest aspects of the character of napoleon i. was the favor which he showed to the project of restoring slavery in the french colonies. but that project was in vain. the blow of freedom once struck produced its everlasting results. though slavery lingered for nearly a half century in some of the french colonies, it survived there only because of the revolutions in the home government which prevented its final extinction. acts were passed for the utter extirpation of the system during the reign of louis philippe, and again in the time of the second republic. meanwhile, the northern nations proceeded with the work of abolition. in sweden slavery ceased in . in the following year denmark passed an act of emancipation. but the netherlands did not follow in the good work until the year . the spaniards and portuguese have been among the last to cling to the system of human servitude. in the outlying possessions of spain, in spanish america and elsewhere, the institution still maintains a precarious existence. in brazil it was not abolished until . in the mohammedan countries it still exists, and may even be said to flourish. in russia serfdom was abolished in . he who at that date looked abroad over the world, might see the pillars of human bondage shaken, and falling in every part of the habitable globe which had been reclaimed by civilization. in the meantime, great britain, in her usual aggressive way, had established an anti-slavery propaganda, from which strong influences extended in every direction. her anti-slavery society re-established itself in the united states. abolition candidates for the presidency began to be heard of and to be voted for at every quadrennial election. such was birney in . such (strange to say) was martin van buren in . such four years afterward was john p. hale, of new hampshire, and such in , as the storm came on, was john c. fremont. the political history of the united states shows at this epoch an astounding growth of anti-slavery sentiment; and this expanding force culminated in the election of lincoln. great, indeed, was the change which had already swept over the landscape of american thought and purpose since the despised birney, in , received only a few thousand votes in the whole united states. now the rail-splitter had come! the tocsin of war sounded. the union was rent. war with its flames of fire and streams of blood devastated the republic. but the bow of promise was set on the dark background of the receding storm. american slavery was swept into oblivion, and the end of the third quarter of the century saw such a condition established in both the new world and the old, as made the restoration of human bondage forever impossible. not until the present order of civilization shall be destroyed will man be permitted again to hold his fellow-man in servitude. the chain that was said "to follow the mother," making all her offspring to be slaves; the manacles and fetters with which the weak were bound and committed to the mercies of heartless traders; all of the insignia and apparatus of the old atrocious system of bondage, have been heaped together and cast out with the rubbish and offal of the civilized life into the valley of gehenna. there the whole shall be burned with unquenchable fire! then the smoke, arising for a season, shall be swept away, and nothing but a green earth and a blue sky shall remain for the emancipated race of man. the peril of our centennial year. americans are likely to dwell for a long time upon the glories of our centennial of independence. the year came and went, and left its impress on the world. our great exposition at philadelphia was happily devised. we celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of our independence, and invited all nations, _including great britain_, to join us in the festival. the exposition was successful in a high degree. the nation was at its best. the warrior president who had led her armies to victory announced the opening and the close. great things were seen. one or two great orations were pronounced, and in particular a great centennial poem was contributed by that gifted son of genius, sidney lanier, of georgia. nor do we refrain from repeating, after twenty years, one of his poetic passages: "long as thine art shall love true love; long as thy science truth shall know; long as thine eagle harms no dove; long as thy law by law shall grow; long as thy god is god above, thy brother every man below, so long, dear land of all my love, thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow!" with the autumnal frost the great exposition was concluded; and with that autumnal frost came a peril the like of which our nation had not hitherto encountered. the presidential election was held, and ended in a disputed presidency. we had agreed since the beginning of the century that ours should be a government by party. against this policy washington had contended stoutly; but after the death of the father of his country, the policy prevailed--as it has continued to prevail more and more to the present day. in a democratic reaction came on against the long-dominant republican party, and samuel j. tilden, candidate of the democracy, secured a _popular_ majority. the _electoral_ majority remained in dispute. both parties claimed the victory. the election was so evenly balanced in its results--there had been so much irregularity in the voting and subsequent electoral proceedings in the states of florida, louisiana, south carolina and oregon, and the powers of congress over the votes of such states were so vaguely defined under existing legislation--that no certain declaration of the result could be made. the public mind was confounded with perplexity and excitement, and there began to be heard the threatenings of civil war. perhaps the nation did not realize the danger; but the danger was present, and threatened to be overwhelming. the republican party in possession of the government was not willing to lose its advantage, and the democratic party, declaring its majority to be rightful, was ready to rise in insurrection. as to the facts in the case, neither samuel j. tilden nor general r.b. hayes was clearly elected to the presidency. the democrats had carried two or three states by the persuasion of shotguns, and the republicans with the aid of electoral commissions had counted in the electoral votes of a state or two which they did not carry at all. the excitement increased with the approach of winter, and it was proposed in a leading democratic journal of the west that a hundred thousand democrats should rise and march unarmed on washington city, there to influence the decision of the disputed question. when congress convened in december, the whole question of the disputed presidency came at once before that body for settlement. the situation was seriously complicated by the political complexion of the senate and the house of representatives. in the former body the republicans had a majority sufficient to control its action, while in the house the democratic majority was still more decisive and equally willful. at length the necessity of doing _something_ became imperative. the great merchants and manufacturers of the country and the boards of trade in the principal cities grew clamorous for a peaceable adjustment of the difficulty. the spirit of compromise gained ground, and it was agreed to refer the disputed election returns to a joint high commission, to consist of five members chosen from the united states senate, five from the house of representatives, and five from the supreme court. the judgment of this tribunal was to be final. the commission was accordingly constituted. the disputed returns were sent, state by state, to the high court for decision. that body was itself divided politically, and _every member decided each question according to his politics_. the republicans had seven votes in the court, the democrats seven votes, and one vote, that of judge joseph p. bradley, was said to be independent. but judge bradley was a republican in his political antecedents, and whenever a question came to a close issue, he decided with his party. on the second of march, only three days before the time for the inauguration, a final decision was reached. the republican candidates were declared elected _by one electoral vote_ over tilden and hendricks. mr. tilden had himself counseled peace and acquiescence. the decision was sullenly accepted by the democrats, and the most dangerous political crisis in american history passed harmlessly by without violence or bloodshed. no patriot will care to see such a crisis come again. the double fete in france and germany. the third republic of france has passed its twenty-fifth anniversary, and the german empire has just celebrated its semi-jubilee. the french held their fête in september of , and on the eighteenth of the following january all the fatherland shouted greetings to the grandson of old wilhelm the kaiser. the gaul and the teuton have thus agreed to be happy coincidently; but for very different reasons! the gaul has his republic and the teuton his empire. side by side on the map lie the two great powers, representing in their history and present aspect one of the strongest contrasts to be found in human annals. what the german empire is we may permit the emperor himself, in his recent anniversary address, to explain. his speech shows that germany, of all civilized nations, has gone furthest in the direction of unqualified imperialism. the utterances of emperor william surpass the speeches of the czar himself, in avowing all the pretensions and fictions of monarchy in the middle ages. the hohenzollern potentate openly makes the pretence of governing his subjects by rights and prerogatives in nowise derived from the people, but wholly derived from himself and his grandfather. why should germany be an empire and france a republic? how could such an amazing historical result come into the world? the french republic and the new empire of germany were not made by generals and kings and politicians in - . indeed, nothing is made by the strutters who are designated with such titles. the two great powers having their centres at berlin and paris have their roots as deep down as the subsoil of the ages. they grew out of antecedents older than the crusades, older than charlemagne, older than augustus and the christ. they came by law--even if the result _has_ surprised the expectation of mankind. when cæsar made his conquest of europe, he found the country north of the alps in the possession of two races--both aryan. these two races were as unlike then as they are now. the gauls west of the rhine were proper material for the reception of roman rule; but the germans beyond the rhine were not receptive of any rule but their own. the gallic races became romanized. gaul was a part of the roman empire and reasoning from the facts, we should have expected the gaulish nations to develop into the imperial form. for like reason we should expect the teutonic races to develop into the greatest democracy of the modern world. contrary to this double expectation, we have a french republic and a german empire. in the gallic race became suddenly democratic, and at the same time the germans became the greatest imperialists among civilized mankind! the german empire has arisen where we should have expected a democracy; and the french republic has arisen where we should have expected an empire. the illogical empire lies alongside of the illogical republic. they have a line of demarkation which, though drawn on the map, is not drawn on the ground. the great antagonistic facts touch each other through a long line of territorial extent, but the ethnic diversity does not permit political union. the teuton and the gaul continue to touch, but they are not one, and cannot be. two neighbors living between verdun and metz are only a quarter of a mile apart. they cultivate their grounds in the same manner, raise the same fruits, have vines growing on the two sides of the same trellis. they speak the same language, exchange gossip and poultry; but their children do not go to the same school! one of them is a french democrat; the other, a german imperialist! the reason for this reversal of expectation, by which the anticipated institutions of france are found in germany and those of germany in france, is this: it seems to be a law of human progress that mankind moves forward by reactions against its own preceding conditions; that is, progress disappoints history _by doing the other thing_! the french race has done the other thing; and so has the german race! they who should have been logically the imperialists of western europe are the republicans and democrats. they who should have been logically the democrats and republicans of europe--who should have converted germania into the greatest democracy of the world--have accepted instead the most absolute empire. the phrase "german _empire_" is, we think, the greatest paradox of modern history; and the phrase "french _republic_" is another like it. but history has decreed it so; and the reason is that human progress works out its highest results by doing the other thing! but this philosophical speculation or interpretation does not trouble either the french or the germans. they both seem to rejoice at what has come to pass, and do not trouble themselves about the logistics of history. they celebrate their quarter centennials, the one for the republic, and the other for the empire, with profound enthusiasm, shouting, _vive_ for the one and _hoch_ for the other with an impulsive patriotism that has come down to them with the blood of their respective races from before the christian era! great battles. trafalgar. lord byron in his celebrated apostrophe to the ocean could hardly omit a reference to the most destructive conflict of naval warfare within the present century. in one of his supreme stanzas he reserves trafalgar for the climax: "the armaments which thunderstrike the walls of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake and monarchs tremble in their capitals, the oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make their clay creator the vain title take of lord of thee and arbiter of war,-- these are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake, they melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar alike the armada's pride or spoils of trafalgar." the battle of trafalgar, preceding by forty-two days the battle of austerlitz, holds the same relation to british ascendancy on the ocean that napoleon's victory over the emperors alexander and francis held to the french ascendancy on continental europe. henceforth great britain, according to her national hymn, "ruled the wave;" henceforth, until after waterloo, france ruled the land. up to this date, namely, , french ambition had reached as far as the dominion of the sea. it appears that napoleon himself had no genius for naval warfare, but his ambition included the ocean; coincidently with his accession to the imperial throne a great fleet was prepared and placed under command of admiral villeneuve for the recovery of the mediterranean. this fleet was destined in the first place for a possible invasion of england, but fate and providence had reserved for the armament another service. at the same time the british fleet, to the number of twenty-seven ships of the line and four frigates, was brought to a high stage of proficiency and discipline, and placed under command of lord horatio nelson. his second in command was admiral collingwood, who succeeded him after his death. the french fleet was increased to thirty-three ships of the line and five frigates, the addition being the spanish contingent under admirals gravina and alava. the spanish vessels joined villeneuve from cadiz about the middle of may. the plan of the french commander was to rally a great squadron, cross the atlantic to the west indies, return as if bearing down on europe, and raise the blockades at ferrol, rochefort and brest. as soon as it was known, however, that nelson was abroad, his antagonist became wary and all of his movements were marked with caution. meanwhile lord nelson sought for the allied-fleet on the mediterranean, but found it not. he then passed through the straits of gibraltar and sailed for the coast of south america; but before reaching his destination he learned that the spanish fleet had sailed for europe again. nelson followed, but did not fall in with the enemy. villeneuve, gaining knowledge of the movements of the english admiral, and disregarding the instructions of napoleon, withdrew from ferrol to the south and put in at cadiz. it was here that nelson, so to speak, brought the allied fleet to bay. on the southern coast of spain, between cadiz and gibraltar, the cape of trafalgar projects into the atlantic. in the autumn nelson's fleet beat southward into this part of the seas, and it was here that the battle was fought. the rival commanders were eager for a meeting, and each foresaw that the contest was likely to be decisive. each admiral had behind him a long list of naval achievements, and each to his own nation was greatly endeared. nelson had, on the first of august, , destroyed the french fleet in the bay of aboukir. in he had been raised to the peerage. in he had bombarded copenhagen; and for that doubtful achievement had been made a viscount. one of his arms was gone, and he was covered with the scars of battle. villeneuve had also a well-earned reputation. could he but add to his previous services the defeat of nelson, his fame would be established for all time. it was on the twenty-first of october, , that the combined squadrons of france and spain on the one side, and the fleet of great britain on the other, came face to face off the cape of trafalgar. the rocks of gibraltar might be seen in the distance. the sea was calm and the sky clear. the combatants discerned in advance the greatness of the event that was at hand. the conflict that ensued ranks among the great naval battles of the world. lord nelson, with all his heroism, was a vain man, capable of spectacular display. he clad himself in the insignia of the many orders to which he belonged, and might be conspicuously seen from the decks of the french ships. in fact, he seemed to court death almost as much as he strove for victory. in the beginning of the engagement he displayed from his pennon, where it might be read by the whole fleet, this signal: "england expects every man to do his duty." on the display of this signal the british fleet rang with cheers. the shouting was heard as far as the opposing armada. the tradition goes that villeneuve said on hearing the shouts of the british marines: "the battle it lost already." the admirals of the allied fleet arranged their vessels in parallel lines, so that each ship of the rear line should break the space between two of the advanced line. this arrangement enabled all the ships to fire at once, and it was the purpose of villeneuve to hold his vessels in this form so that the british squadron might gain no advantage from manoeuvring. nelson's arrangement, however, was quite different. his plan was to attack at two points and break through the armada, throwing the ships into confusion right and left. this brought his own vessels into the arrangement of two harrows, each pointing the apex against the designated vessels of the opposing squadron. one of the harrows was to be led by collingwood in his ship called the "royal sovereign." nelson led his column in his flagship the "victory." the preliminaries of the battle extended to noon, and then the british attack was begun by collingwood, who bore down on the two opposing vessels, the "santa anna" and the "fougeux." nelson also sailed to the attack in the "victory" and broke through the enemy's line between the "redoubtable" and the "santissima trinidad." the "victory" in passing poured terrible broad-sides into both vessels. it seems that both the british admirals in going into battle outsailed somewhat their supporting ships; but these soon came into action and the battle line of the allied fleet was fatally broken at both points. all the vessels were soon engaged, and the rear line of villeneuve gave way as well as the first. nevertheless, the battle continued furiously for about two hours. the "santissima trinidad" was at that time the largest warship and the most formidable that had ever been built. the "redoubtable" was only second in strength and equipment. five or six others were men-of-war of the heaviest draught and metal. the french and spanish soldiers fought bravely, going into the battle with flying streamers and answering shouts. nelson, utterly fearless, seems to have had a premonition of his fate. he had made a hasty codicil to his will, and entered the struggle to conquer or die. both fates were reserved for him. from the beginning of the battle the french and spanish ships suffered terribly from the british fire; but they also inflicted heavy losses on their assailants. here and there a french vessel was shattered and fell out of the fight. nelson was struck with a ball, but refused to go below. again he was hit in the shoulder by a musketeer from the masts of the "redoubtable" and fell to the deck. "they have done for me at last, hardy," said he to sir thomas hardy, captain of the ship. he was carried below by the officers, and as he lay bleeding the news was brought to him that already _fifteen_ of the enemy's ships had surrendered. "that is well," said the dying hero; "but i had bargained for twenty." then his thoughts turned to lady hamilton, to whom he was devoted. "take care of lady hamilton, hardy; take care of poor lady hamilton," said he, as the death dew dampened his brow. he then embraced the captain and expired. the victory of the british fleet was complete. the allies lost nineteen ships. admiral gravina was killed, and villeneuve was taken prisoner. he never reacted from the mortification of his defeat, but lingered until the following year, when he despaired of life and hope and committed suicide. nelson, in the midst of a pageant hitherto unsurpassed, was buried in st. paul's. the battle of trafalgar passed into history as the first and greatest naval conflict of the century. campaign of austerlitz. the first four years of the present century were a lull before a tempest. these years covered on our side of the sea the administration of the elder adams. in europe they corresponded to the period of the transformation of the consulate into the french umpire. this change was rapidly and easily effected. the star of napoleon emerged from the chaos and the cloud and rose rapidly to the zenith. but the mood of the age was war, war. could europe in these first years have foreseen the awful struggles that were just before, then europe might well have shuddered. now it was that the ascendancy of the corsican brought in a reign of violence and blood. napoleon became the trampler of vineyards. his armies made europe into mire. england--agreeing at amiens not to fight--fought. pitt, now in the last year of his life, used all of his resources to bring about a league against france. he persuaded alexander of russia, francis of austria, and gustavus of sweden--all easy dupes of a greater than themselves--to make a new coalition. he tried to induce frederick william of prussia to join his fortunes with the rest; but the last-named monarch was for the time restrained by the weakness of prudence. the agents of napoleon held out to the king suggestions of the restoration of hanover to prussia. but austria and russia and sweden pressed forward confidently to overthrow the new french empire. that empire, they said, should not see the end of the first year of its creation! the austrians were first in the field. the russians, under kutusoff, came on into pomerania from the east. out of sweden, with a large army, came down gustavus, the don quixote of the north, to crush bernadotte, who held hanover. napoleon for his part sprang forth for the campaign of austerlitz, perhaps the most brilliant military episode in the history of mankind. with incredible facility he threw forward to the rhine an army of , men. his policy was--as always--to overcome the allies in detail. on the twenty-fourth of september, the emperor left paris. the empress and talleyrand went with him as far as strasburg. on the second of october, hostilities began at guntzburg. four days afterward the french army crossed the danube. on the eighth of the month, murat won the battle of wertingen, capturing count auffenberg, with prisoners. on the tenth the french had augsburg, and on the twelfth, munich. on the fourteenth soult triumphed at memingen, capturing a corps of austrians; and on the same day ney literally overran the territory which was soon to become his duchy of elchingen. napoleon out-generaled the main division of the enemy at ulm. the austrians, under general mack, , strong, were cooped up in the town and, on the seventeenth of october, forced to capitulate. eight field-marshals and generals, including the prince lichtenstein and generals klenau and fresnel, were made prisoners. "soldiers of the grand army," said napoleon, "we have finished the campaign in a fortnight!" on the day of the capitulation of ulm, massena in italy drove back the army of the archduke charles. the austrians to this date, in a period of twenty days, had lost by battle and capture fully fifty thousand men! on the twenty-seventh of october, the french army crossed the inn. saltzburg and braunau were taken. in italy, massena, on the thirtieth, won the battle of caldiero, and took prisoners. the french closed toward the austrian capital. on the thirteenth of november, napoleon, having obtained possession of the bridges of the danube, entered vienna. he established himself in the imperial palace of schonbrunn. the austrian empire and the holy roman empire--which was its shadowy penumbra--seemed to vanish like ghosts before him. out of pomerania into moravia, to the plain of olmutz, the great russian army under the czar and kutusoff, came roaring. there they were united with a heavy division of the austrians, under the emperor francis. the latter had fled from his capital, and staked his last fortunes on a battle in the field. the allied army was , strong. napoleon, with , men, commanded by soult, lannes, murat and bernadotte, advanced rapidly from the direction of vienna, as far as brunn, and there awaited the onset. just beyond this town, at austerlitz, the french were arranged in a semicircle, with the convex front toward the allies, who occupied the outer arc on a range of heights. such was the situation on the night of december , . the morrow will be the first anniversary of our coronation in notre dame--a glorious day for battle! with the morning of the second, napoleon could scarcely restrain his ardor. the enthusiasm of the army knew no bounds. on the night before, the emperor, in his gray coat, had gone the circle of the camps, and the soldiers, extemporizing straw torches to light the way, ran before him. looking eagerly through the gray dawn, he saw the enemy badly arranged, or moving dangerously in broken masses under the cover of a moravian fog. presently the fog lifted, and the sun burst out in splendor. the onset of the french was irresistible. the allied centre was pierced. the austrian and russian emperors with their armies were sent flying in utter rout and panic from the field. thirty thousand russians and austrians were killed, wounded and taken. alexander barely escaped capture. before sunset the third coalition was broken into fragments and blown away. at the conference between napoleon and francis, two days afterward, at the mill of sar-uschitz, some of the french officers overheard the father of maria louisa lie to her future husband, thus: "i promise not to fight you any more." "friedland-- ." whoever visits the metropolitan museum of art in central park, new york, is likely to pause before a great historical painting by jean louis ernest meissonier. the picture is entitled "friedland-- ." there goes a critical opinion that, though common fame would have austerlitz to be the greatest battle of the napoleonic wars, the palm ought really to be given to friedland. at any rate, the martial splendor of that day has been caught by the vision and brush of meissonier, and delivered, in what is probably the most splendid painting in america, to the immortality of art. let us note the great movements that preceded the climax of friedland. in the summer of , the historical conditions in europe favored a general peace. pitt was dead, and fox agreed with napoleon that a peace might now be secured by the restoration of hanover to england. suddenly, however, on the thirteenth of september, , fox died, and by the incoming of lauderdale the whole complexion was changed. toryism again ran rampant. the anglo-russo-prussian intrigue was renewed, and the rash frederick william sent a peremptory challenge to napoleon to get himself out of germany. the emperor had in truth agreed to withdraw his forces, but the czar alexander had also agreed to relinquish certain vantage grounds which he held--and had not done it. therefore napoleon's army corps would remain in germany. frederick william suddenly declared war, and in a month after the death of fox, napoleon concentrated in saxe-weimar an army of a hundred thousand men. then, on the fourteenth of october, , was fought the dreadful battle of jena, in which the prussians lost , in killed and wounded, and , prisoners. on the same day, davout fell upon a division of , under the duke of brunswick and frederick william in person, and won another signal victory which cost the germans about ten thousand men. prussia was utterly overwhelmed by the disaster. her fortresses were surrendered without resistance, and napoleon, in less than a fortnight, occupied berlin. on the twenty-first of november, he issued from that city his celebrated berlin decree, declaring the british islands in a state of blockade, and interdicting all correspondence and trade with england! the property of british subjects, under a wide schedule of liabilities, was declared contraband of war. meanwhile the aid promised to prussia by the czar had been too slow for the lightning that struck at jena. the oncoming russians reached the vistula, but were forced back by the victorious french, who took possession of warsaw. there the emperor established his winter quarters, and remained for nearly three months, engaged in the preparation of new plans of conquest and new schemes for the pacification of europe. after jena, prussia, though crushed, remained belligerent. her shattered forces drew off to the borders, and were joined by the russians in east prussia. the campaign of opened here. on the eighth of february, the french army, about , strong, advanced against the allies, commanded by benningsen and lestocq. at the town of eylau, about twenty miles from königsberg, a great but indecisive battle was fought, in which each army suffered a loss of nearly eighteen thousand men. the russians and prussians fell back about four miles to friedland, and both armies were reinforced, the french to about eighty thousand, and the allies to approximately the same number. here for a season the two great camps were pitched against each other. the shock of eylau and the inclemency of the spring, no less than the political complications that thickened on every horizon, held back the military movements until the beginning of summer. but at length the crisis came. on the fourteenth of june was fought the great battle of friedland and the allied army was virtually destroyed. the loss of the russians and prussians was more than twenty-five thousand men, while the french loss was not quite eight thousand. napoleon commanded in person, and his triumph was prodigious. let not the visitor to the metropolitan museum fail to look long and attentively on the picture of the scene which represents the beginning of the battle on the side of the french. there on a slight elevation, in the wheatfield of june, sitting on his white horse, with his triangular hat lifted in silent salutation, surrounded by the princes and marshals of his empire, sits the sardonic somnambulist, while before him on the left the cuirassiers of the guard, on their tremendous horses gathered out of normandy, plunging at full gallop, bearing down through the broken wheat, with buglers in the van and sabers flashing high and bearded mouths wide open with yellings that resound through the world till now, charge wildly, irresistibly onward against the unseen enemy, reckless alike of life and death, but choosing rather death if only the marble face but smile! under the russian snows. the first empire of france was buried between the niemen and moscow. the funeral was attended by vultures and cossacks. it was on the twenty-fourth of june, , that napoleon began the invasion of russia. the dividing line was the river niemen. the inhabitants fell back before him. he had not advanced far when he encountered a new commander, with whom he was unfamiliar. it was field-marshal nature. marshal nature had an army that the old guard had never confronted. his herald was frost, and his aid-de-camp was zero. one of his army corps was snow. his bellowing artillery was charged with lithuanian tempests. hail was his grape and shrapnel. the emperor of the french had never studied marshal nature's tactics--not even in the alps. the russian summer was as midwinter to the soldiers of france and spain and italy. some of the invading divisions could hardly advance at all. the howling storms made impassable the ungraded roads; the guns of the grand army sank into the mire. horse-life and man-life fell and perished in the sleet of the mock-summer that raged along the watershed between the dwina and the dnieper. the russians under kutusoff fell back to smolensko. there on the sixteenth of august they fought and were defeated with a loss of nearly twelve thousand men. the way was thus opened as far as the moskwa. at that place on the seventh of september kutusoff a second time gave battle, at the village of borodino. this was one of the most murderous conflicts of modern times. a thousand cannon vomited death all day. under the smoke a quarter of a million of men struggled like tigers. at nightfall the french had the field. the defeated russians hung sullenly around the arena where they had left more than , of their dead and wounded. the frence losses were almost equally appalling. "sire," said marshal ney, "we would better withdraw and reform." "_thou_ advise a retreat, michel?" said the marble head, as it turned to the bulldog of battles. kutusoff abandoned moscow. the inhabitants receded with him to the great plains eastward. on the fifteenth of september, napoleon entered the ancient capital. the streets were as a necropolis. all was silence. the conqueror took up his residence in the old palace of the czars. here he would spend the winter in luxurious quarters. here he would extemporize theatres, and here he would issue edicts as from berlin and milan. lo, out of the bazaar, near the kremlin, bursts a volume of flame! the surrounding region is lighted with the glare. moscow is on fire in a thousand places. the equinoctial gales fan the flame. for five days there is the roar of universal combustion. then it subsides. but moscow is a blackened ruin. napoleon tries in vain to open negotiations with the czar; but alexander and kutusoff will not hear. the french are left to enjoy the ashes of a burnt-up russian city. already winter was at hand. the snow was falling. the soldier of fortune had at last found his destiny. on the nineteenth of october, he left moscow, and the retreat of the grand army began toward the niemen. had the retreat been unimpeded, that army might have made its way back to france with comparatively trifling losses. indeed the fame of having burnt the old capital of the czars might have satisfied the conqueror with his expedition. but no sooner did he recede than the cossacks arose on every hand, and assailed the fugitives. the soldiers of the west and south dropped and perished by thousands along the frozen roads. the ice-darts in their sides were sharper than russian bayonets. a hundred and twenty thousand men rolled back horridly across the hostile world. the bridges of the beresina break down under the retreating army, and in the following spring, when the ice-gorges go down the river, , dead frenchmen shall be washed up from the floods! there is constant battle on flank and rear. all stragglers perish. the army dwindles away. it is almost destroyed. ney brings up the rear guard, wasted to a handful. at the passage of the niemen, soiled with dirt, blackened with smoke, without insignia, with only drawn sword, and facing backward toward the hated region, the "bravest of the brave" crosses the bridge. he is the last man to save himself from the indescribable horrors of the campaign of russia. the remnants of the grand army dragged themselves along until they found refuge in königsberg. napoleon had gone ahead toward france. after moscow he took a sledge, and sped away across the snow-covered wastes of poland, on his solitary journey to paris. there is a painting of this scene by the slavic artist kowalski, which represents the three black horses abreast, galloping with all speed with the emperor's sledge across the cheerless world which he traversed. he came to his own capital unannounced. none knew of his arrival until the next day. at four o'clock in the morning of that day, some one entered his office at the tuileries, and found him with his war-map of europe spread out on the floor before him. he was planning another campaign! in doing so, he could hardly forget that the grand army of his glory was under the russian snows! waterloo. one battle in this century rises in fame above all other conflicts of the ages. it is waterloo. it was on the night of the seventeenth of june, , that the british and french armies, drawing near each other on the borders of belgium, encamped, the one near the little village of waterloo and the other at la belle alliance. they were close together. a modern fieldpiece could easily throw a shell from napoleon's headquarters over la haie sainte to mont st. jean, and far beyond into the forest. during the afternoon of the seventeenth, and the greater part of the night, there was a heavy fall of rain. on the following morning the ground was muddy. the emperor, viewing the situation, was unwilling to precipitate the battle until his artillery might deploy over a dry field. as to the temper of the emperor, that was good. hugo says of him: "from the morning his impenetrability had been smiling, and on june , , this profound soul, coated with granite, was radiant. the man who had been sombre at austerlitz was gay at waterloo. the greatest predestined men offer these contradictions; for our joys are a shadow and the supreme smile belongs to god. "'cæsar laughs, pompey will weep,' the legionaries of the fulminatrix legion used to say. on this occasion pompey was not destined to weep, but it is certain that cæsar laughed. "at one o'clock in the morning, amid the rain and storm, he had explored with bertrand the hills near rossomme, and was pleased to see the long lines of english fires illumining the horizon from frischemont to braine l'alleud. it seemed to him as if destiny had made an appointment with him on a fixed day and was punctual. he stopped his horse and remained for some time motionless, looking at the lightning and listening to the thunder. the fatalist was heard to cast into the night the mysterious words, '_we are agreed_.' napoleon was mistaken; they no longer agreed." the arena of waterloo is an undulating plain. strategically it has the shape of an immense harrow. the clevis is on the height called mont st. jean, where wellington was posted with the british army. behind that is the village of waterloo. the right leg of the harrow terminates at the hamlet of la belle alliance. the left leg is the road from brussels to nivelles. the cross-bar intersects the right leg at la haie sainte. the right leg is the highway from brussels to charleroi. the intersection of the bar with the left leg is near the old stone chateau of hougomont. the battle was fought on the line of the cross-bar and in the triangle between it and the clevis. the conflict began just before noon. the armies engaged were of equal strength, numbering about , men on each side. napoleon was superior in artillery, but wellington's soldiers had seen longer service in the field. they were his veterans from the peninsular war, perhaps the stubbornest fighters in europe. napoleon's first plan was to double back the allied left on the centre. this involved the capture of la haie sainte, and, as a strategic corollary, the taking of hougomont. the latter place was first attacked. the field and wood were carried, but the chateau was held in the midst of horrid carnage by the british. early in the afternoon a prussian division under billow, about , strong, came on the field, and napoleon had to withdraw a division from his centre to repel the oncoming germans. for two or three hours, in the area between la haie sainte and hougomont, the battle raged, the lines swaying with uncertain fortune back and forth. la haie sainte was taken and held by ney. on the whole, the british lines receded. wellington's attempt to retake la haie sainte ended in a repulse. ney, on the counter charge, called on napoleon for reinforcements, and the latter at that moment, changing his plan of battle, determined to make the principal charge on the british centre, saying, however, "it is an hour too soon." the support which he sent to ney was not as heavy as it should have been, but the marshal concluded that the crisis was at hand, and napoleon sought to support him with milhaud's cuirassiers and a division of the middle guard. under this counter charge the british lines reeled and staggered, but still clung desperately to their position. they gave a little, and then hung fast and could be moved no farther. in another part of the field durutte carried the allied position of papelotte, and lobau routed bülow from planchenois. at half-past four everything seemed to portend disaster to the allies and victory to the french. if the tragedy of waterloo had been left at that hour to work out its own results as between france and england it would appear that the latter must have gone to the wall; but destiny had prepared another end for the conflict. waterloo was a point of concentration. several tides had set thither, and some of them had already arrived and broken on the rocks. other tides were rolling in. the british wave had been first, and this had now been rolled back by the tide of france. a german wave was coming, however, and another french billow, either or both of which might break at any moment. on the morning of june , at the little town of wavre, fifteen miles southeast of brussels and about eight or ten miles from waterloo, a battle had been fought between the french contingent under marshal grouchy and the prussian division under thielmann, who commanded the left wing of marshal blücher's army. that commander had a force of fully forty thousand men under him, and was on his way to join his forces with those of wellington on the plateau of mont st. jean. grouchy had at this time between thirty and forty thousand men, and was under orders from napoleon to keep in touch with his right wing, watching the prussians and joining himself to the main army according to the emergency. these two divisions--blücher's and grouchy's--were _sliding along_ toward waterloo, and on the afternoon of the eighteenth it became one of the great questions in the history of this century which would first arrive on the field. napoleon believed that grouchy was at hand. wellington in his desperation breathed out the wish that either night or blücher would come. the ambiguous result of the principal conflict made it more than ever desirable to both of the commanders to gain their reinforcements, each before the other. the event showed that the arrival of bülow's contingent was really the signal for the oncoming of the whole prussian army. the french emperor, however, remained confident, and at half-after four he felt warranted in sending a preliminary despatch of victory to paris. just at this juncture, however, an uproar was witnessed far to the right. the woods seemed to open, and the banners of blücher shot up in the horizon. grouchy was _not_ on his rear or flank! napoleon saw at a glance that it was then or never. his sun of austerlitz hung low in the west. the british centre must be broken, or the empire which he had builded with his genius must pass away like a phantom. he called out four battalions of the middle and six of the old guard. in the last fifteen years that guard had been thrown a hundred times on the enemies of france, and never yet repulsed. it deemed itself invincible. at seven o'clock, just as the june sun was sinking to the horizon, the bugles sounded and the finest body of horsemen in europe started to its doom on the squares of wellington. the grim horsemen rode to their fate like heroes. the charge rolled on like an avalanche. it plunged into the sunken road of o'hain. it seemed to roll over. it rose from the low grounds and broke on the british squares. they reeled under the shock, then reformed and stood fast. around and around those immovable lines the soldiers of the empire beat and beat in vain. it was the war of races at its climax. it was the final death-grip of the gaul and the teuton. the old guard recoiled. the wild cry of "_la garde recule_" was heard above the roar of battle. the crisis of the modern era broke in blood and smoke, and the past was suddenly victorious. the guard was broken into flying squadrons. ruin came with the counter charge of the british. ney, glorious in his despair, sought to stay the tide. for an hour longer he was a spectacle to gods and men. five horses had been killed under him. he was on foot. he was hatless. he clutched the hilt of a broken sword. he was covered with dust and blood. but his grim face was set against the victorious enemy in the hopeless and heroic struggle to rally his shattered columns. meanwhile the prussians rushed in from the right. wellington's guards rose and charged. havoc came down with the darkness. a single regiment of the old guard was formed by napoleon into a last square around which to rally the fugitives. the emperor stood in the midst and declared his purpose to die with them. marshal soult forced him out of the melee, and the famous square, commanded by cambronne--flinging his profane objurgation into the teeth of the english--perished with the wild cry of "_vive l'empereur!_" hugo says that the panic of the french admits of an explanation; that the disappearance of the great man was necessary for the advent of a great age; that in the battle of waterloo there was more than a storm, that is, the bursting of a meteor. "at nightfall," he continues, "bernard and bertrand seized by the skirt of his coat in a field near genappe a haggard, thoughtful, gloomy man, who, carried so far by the current of the rout, had just dismounted, passed the bridle over his arm, and was now with wandering eye returning alone to waterloo. it was napoleon, the immense somnambulist of a shattered dream!" on the spot where french patriotism afterward planted the bronze lion to commemorate forever the extinction of the old guard of the french empire, and of napoleon the great, the traveler from strange lands pauses, at the distance of eighty years from the horrible cataclysm, and reflects with wonder how within the memory of living men human nature could have been raised by the passion of battle to such sublime heroism as that displayed in these wheatfields and orchards where the old guard of france sank into oblivion, but rose to immortal fame. sebastopol. in the fall of louis napoleon bonaparte, prince president of the french republic, about to become the french empire, was invited to a banquet by the chamber of commerce in bordeaux. he was on his triumphal tour through the south of france. at the banquet he spoke, saying: "i accept with eagerness the opportunity afforded me by the bordeaux chamber of commerce for thanking your great city for its cordial reception.... at present the nation surrounds me with its sympathies.... to promote the welfare of the country, it is not necessary to apply new systems, but the chief point above all is to produce confidence in the present and security for the future. for these reasons it seems france desires a return to the empire. there is one objection to which i must reply. certain minds seem to entertain a dread of war; certain persons say the empire is only war. but i say _the empire is peace_." the last four words of this extract became the motto of the second empire. everywhere the prince president's saying was blown to the world. "the empire is peace" was published in the newspapers, echoed on the stage, and preached from the pulpits. but the empire was _not_ peace. just at this time tennyson wrote his poem against france, as follows: "there is a sound of thunder afar, storm in the south that darkens the day-- storm of battle and thunder of war; well if it do not roll our way! form, form; riflemen, form! ready, be ready to meet the storm!" in less than a year the storm broke. it broke in eastern europe. of the personal forces that brought the breaking, the two principal were the czar nicholas and the emperor louis napoleon. in the czar demanded of the sultan certain guarantees of the rights of the greek christians in the turkish provinces. this was refused, and the crimean war broke out on the danube. the first power in western europe to support the sultan was france, while england and sardinia came hard after. there was an alliance of england and france in support of the turkish cause. in the bottom of the difficulty lay this question: whether russia might now move forward, gain control of the black sea, overawe the porte, force her way through the sea of marmora into the mediterranean, and thus rectify the mistake of peter the great in building his capital on the gulf of finland. all this and much more was called _the eastern question_. the coast of the black sea became the seat of the war that ensued. the russians posted themselves strongly in the crimea. that peninsula was commanded by the famous fortress of sebastopol, situated at the southwestern extremity. on the twenty-fifth of september, , the heights of balaklava, lying south of the fortress, were seized by a british division under command of lord raglan. in this way the russians were besieged; for the allied fleets had made their way into the black sea, and the land side of sebastopol was commanded by balaklava. the siege that ensued lasted for nearly eleven months, and was one of the most memorable of modern times. on two occasions the russians sallied forth and gave battle. the first conflict of this kind was on the night of the twenty-fifth of october, , at balaklava. the russian attack on the english and turks was at first successful, and four redoubts were carried by the assailants. at the crisis of the battle, however, the british highlanders came into action, and the russians were repulsed. the latter did not attempt to renew the attack, but fell back into their intrenchments. it was at this juncture that the famous incident occurred of the charge of the light brigade, which was immortalized by tennyson in his poem. a few days after the battle of balaklava occurred another hard conflict at the village of inkerman, at the head of the harbor of sebastopol. on the fifth of november, , a strong force of russians descended from the heights, and were met by the allies on the slope opposite the ruins of an ancient town, which occupied the site in the times of strabo. a severe battle ensued, in which the english and french were victorious. many other sorties were made from the fortress, but were designed rather to delay the siege than with any serious hope of breaking the investment. sometimes the conflicts, though desultory, were severe, taking the proportions of regular battles. but nothing decisive was effected, until winter closed on the scene, and brought upon both the besiegers and the besieged the greatest hardships. the sufferings of the allies, so far away from the source of supplies, were at times beyond description. it is doubtful whether any other siege of modern times has entailed such cruel privations upon a civilized soldiery. at times the combined havoc of hunger, disease and cold was seen in its worst work in the allied camps. the genius of elizabeth butler has seized upon the morning "roll call," in the crimean snows of , as the subject of a great painting in which to depict the excess of human suffering and devotion--the acme of english heroism in a foreign land. meanwhile, the allied lines around sebastopol were considerably contracted, and several serious assaults were made on the russian works. on the twenty-third of february the french in front of the bastion, called the malakhoff, assaulted that stronghold with great valor, but were unsuccessful. on the eighteenth of the following june an attempt was made to carry the redan, a strong redoubt at the other extreme of the russian defences, but the assailants were again repulsed. then, on the sixteenth of august, followed the bloody battle of tehernaya, in which the russians made a final effort to raise the siege. with a force of , infantry and cavalry they threw themselves on the allied position, but were beaten back with great slaughter. in the meantime, the trenches of the allies had been drawn so near the russian works that there was a fair prospect of carrying the bastions by another assault. a terrible bombardment was begun on the fifth, and continued to the eighth of september, when both the redan and the malakhoff were taken by storm. but the struggle was desperate, and the losses on both sides immense. the russians blew up their fortifications on the south side of the harbor, and retreated across the bay. nor did they afterward make any serious attempt to regain the stronghold which the allies had wrested from them. the victors for their part proceeded to destroy the docks, arsenals and shipyards of sebastopol, and, as far as possible, to prevent the future occupancy of the place by the russians as a seat of commerce and war. the siege and capture of sebastopol virtually ended the contest, though the war lagged during the greater part of the ensuing year. on the second of march, , the czar nicholas died, and alexander ii. came to the throne, predisposed to peace. it was not, however, until the thirtieth of march, , that the treaty of paris was concluded, in which russia was obliged to yield to the allied powers, among which france held the first place. the story of the crimean war, and of the siege of sebastopol in particular, has passed into history as one of the great events, of the century. the struggles at balaklava, on the river alma, at inkerman, and the storming of the redan and the malakhoff became the subjects of great historical paintings, of poems and of songs, the echoes of which are heard to the present day. sadowa. from a military point of view, nothing in this century has been more brilliantly successful than the campaign of prussia into bohemia against the austrians, culminating on the sixth of july, , in the great conflict called the battle of sadowa or königgrätz--the one or the other from the two towns near which it was fought. the historical painter, wilhelm camphausen, of the school of düsseldorf, has left among the art trophies of the world a painting of this battle which is as true to the field and the combatants as anything which we recall from the sublime leaves of historical art. the scene represented is the triumphant conclusion of the battle. the field is wide and stormy. in the centre, riding at full gallop with his staff, is king william. already he is receiving the cheers and salutations of victory. by his side are seen the stalwart figures of bismarck, von roon, von moltke, the crown prince, prince frederick charles, and many others destined in the ensuing ten years to rise to the heights of military fame. to the right of the group of commanders charges the column of the uhlans. the austrians before are broken, and falling into rout. far to the left and in the distance may be seen the half-obscured wrecks of battle. this conflict proved to be the waterloo of austria. it was the climax of the seven weeks' war. already the germans, under the leadership of prussia, were making haste toward empire. the activity and energy displayed by the prussian government at this juncture were prodigious. it was like the days of frederick the great come again. the trouble with austria had arisen about the claims of the duke of augustenburg to the government of holstein. bismarck desired that that duchy should be disposed of in one manner, while austria was determined on another. the german states were drawn into this controversy, and the support of italy was sought by each of the contestants. prussia held out to italy the temptation of recovering venice, as the reward of her entrance into a prusso-italian alliance. this bait was sufficient. the smaller german powers, with the exception of oldenburg, mecklenburg, the saxon states, and three free cities, took their stand with austria, and the german diet approved of the austrian demand. it looked for the time as though prussia, with the exception of the aid of italy, was to be left naked to all the winds of hostility. the event showed, however, that that great power was now in her element. she declared the action of the german diet to be not only a menace, but an act of overt hostilities. this was followed by an immediate declaration of war against a foe that had nearly three times her numerical strength. on the fifteenth of june, , king william called upon saxony, hanover, hesse-cassel and nassau to remain neutral in the impending conflict, and gave them _twelve hours_ in which to decide! receiving no answer, he ordered the prussians out of holstein to seize hanover. this work was accomplished in two days. in another two days hesse-cassel was occupied by an army from the rhine, while at the same time a third division of the prussian forces was thrown into dresden and leipsic. on the twenty-seventh of the month, a battle was fought with the hanoverians, in which the latter were at first successful, but were soon overpowered and compelled to surrender. george v., king of hanover, fled for refuge to vienna. within two weeks the field in the south was cleared, and the prussian army was turned upon austria. king william's forces numbered , men. they were commanded by the crown prince, prince frederick charles, von moltke, von roon and general bittenfeld. the king in person and bismarck were present with the advance. the impact was more than austria could stand. on the twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth of june, frederick charles defeated the austrian advance in four indecisive engagements. count clam-gallas, the austrian general, was obliged to fall back on the main body for support. in these same days the crown prince gained several preliminary successes over the principal austrian army under benedek. then, on the river bistritz, on the sixth of july, came the great battle of sadowa. the opposing commanders in the beginning of the engagement were frederick charles and benedek. the battle began at eight in the morning, and raged with the utmost fury until two in the afternoon. thus far the prussians had gained but little advantage; but at that hour the powerful division of the crown prince, which, like that of blücher at waterloo, had been delayed by recent rains, appeared on the austrian right. the wing of benedek's army was soon turned. bittenfeld then broke the left, and under a general advance of the prussian lines the austrian centre gave way in confusion. the field was quickly swept. the overthrow of the austrian army became a ruinous rout, and the out-flashing sun of evening looked upon a demoralized and flying host, scattering in all directions before the victorious charges of the prussian cavalry. the overwhelming victory of the prussians was not without its rational causes. indeed the antecedents of victory may always be found if all the facts of battle are known and analyzed. it remained for the battle of sadowa to demonstrate practically the superiority of the needle-gun. this arm had been adopted by the prussian government and was now for the first time on a great scale brought to the crucial test. hitherto the old plan of muzzle-loading had been followed by all the nations of europe and america. in our country the civil war had come almost to its climax before breech-loading was generally introduced. austria had continued to use the old muzzle-loading muskets. it seems surprising that nations, of whom intelligence and self-interest may well be predicated, should continue in such a matter as war to employ inefficient weaponry long after a superior arm has been invented. if one might have looked into the gunshop of m. pauli at paris in the year , he might have seen a gunsmith, twenty-seven years of age, plying his trade under the patronage of napoleon the great. that gunsmith was johann nicholas von. dreyse, of sömmerda, who presently became an inventor as well as a smith, and in , having returned to his own country, he took a patent for a new percussion method in musketry. three years afterward he invented a needle-gun, retaining the muzzle-loading method. he continued his experimentation until , when he made and patented the first breech-loading needle-gun complete. this was done under the patronage of the prussian government. it was not until , however, that this arm began to be supplied for prussian troops, and it was twenty-five years after that date before the general adoption of this arm contributed to the rout of the austrians at sadowa. the prussians being armed with needle-guns, were enabled to get the double advantage of rapid firing by loading in a chamber at the breech of the piece, and the equally great advantage of a long range and most deadly missile; for in the cartridge of this gun the needle runs through the charge, firing it first at the front of the chamber, thus securing the whole force of the explosive, which burns backward in the enclosed space and expends itself entirely on the projectile. those breech-loading pieces which fire the cartridge by percussion against its back end have the disadvantage of the charge burning forward, and thus wasting itself partly in the air after the bullet has left the muzzle. this difficulty, however, has been overcome in recent gunnery, and the needle-gun such as it was in the hands of king william's soldiers at sadowa, must now be regarded as a clumsy and obsolete weapon. the battle of sadowa was to francis joseph the handwriting on the wall; but he made vain exertions to save his tottering fabric. now it was that the shadow of a great hand was seen behind the conflict. it was the hand of bismarck. his scheme was the unification of germany. the north german union was formed on the basis of protestantism and the unity of the german race. already the empire might be seen in the distance. capture of mexico. whatever may be said of the justice of our war with mexico, no criticism can be offered as to the brilliancy of the result. the campaign of general scott against the ancient capital of the aztecs, was almost spectacular; certainly it was heroic. on the ninth of march, , the general, then nearly sixty-one years of age, arrived at vera cruz, with an army of , men. that city was taken in about a week, and the way was opened from the coast to the capital. the advance began on the eighth of april, and ten days afterward the rocky pass of cerro gordo was carried by assault. santa anna barely escaped with his life, leaving behind prisoners, his chest of private papers, and his _wooden leg!_ on the twenty-second of the same month, the strong castle of perote, crowning a peak of the cordilleras, was taken without resistance. then the sacred city of puebla was captured. on the seventh of august, scott, with his reduced forces, began his march over the crest of the mountains against the city of mexico. the american army, sweeping over the heights, looked down on the valley. never before had a soldiery in a foreign land beheld a grander scene clear to the horizon stretched a living landscape of green fields, villages, and lakes--a picture too beautiful to be marred with the dreadful enginery of war. the american army advanced by the way of ayotla. the route was the great national road from vera cruz to mexico. the last fifteen miles of the way was occupied with fortifications, both natural and artificial, and it seemed impossible to advance directly to the gates of the city. the army was accordingly brought around lake chalco, and thence westward to san augustine. this place is ten miles from the capital. the approach now lay along causeways, across marshes and the beds of bygone lakes. at the further end of each causeway, the mexicans had built massive gates. there were almost inaccessible positions at contreras, san antonio and molino del rey. further on toward the city lay the powerful bulwarks of churubusco and chapultepec. the latter was of great strength, and seemed impregnable. these various outposts were held by santa anna with a force of fully thirty thousand mexicans. the first assaults of the americans were made on the nineteenth of august, by generals pillow and twiggs. the line of communications between contreras and santa anna's army was cut, and in the darkness of the following night an assault was made by general persifer f. smith, who about sunrise carried the place and drove the garrison pell-mell. this was the _first_ victory of the memorable twentieth of august. a few hours later, general worth compelled the evacuation of san antonio. this was the _second_ victory. about the same time, general pillow advanced on churubusco, and carried one of the heights. the position was taken by storm, and the enemy scattered like chaff. this was the _third_ triumph. the division of general twiggs added a _fourth_ victory by storming and holding another height of churubusco, while the _fifth_ and last was achieved by general shields and pierce, who drove back an army of reinforcements under santa anna. the mexicans were thus forced back into the fortifications of chapultepec. on the following morning, the alarm and treachery of the mexican authorities were both strongly exhibited. a deputation came out to negotiate; but the intent was merely to gain time for strengthening the defences. the terms proposed by the mexicans were preposterous when viewed in the light of the situation. general scott, who did not consider his army vanquished, rejected the proposals with scorn. he, however, rested his men until the seventh of september before renewing hostilities. on the morning of the eighth, general worth was thrown forward to take molino del rey and casa de mata, which were the western defences of chapultepec. these places were defended by about fourteen thousand mexicans; but the americans, after losing a fourth of their number in the desperate onset, were again victorious. the batteries were now turned on chapultepec itself, and on the thirteenth of september that frowning citadel was carried by storm. this exploit opened an avenue into the city. through the san cosine and belen gates the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at nightfall the soldiers of the union were in the suburbs of mexico. during the night, santa anna and the officers of the government fled from the city, but not until they had turned loose from the prisons convicts, to fire upon the american army. on the following morning, before day-dawn, a deputation came forth from the city to beg for mercy. this time the messengers were in earnest; but general scott, wearied with trifling, turned them away with disgust. "_forward!_" was the order that rang along the american lines at sunrise. the war-worn regiments swept into the beautiful streets of the famous city, and at seven o'clock the flag of the united states floated over the halls of the montezumas. it was the triumphant ending of one of the most brilliant and striking campaigns of modern history. the american army, as compared with the hosts of mexico, had been but a handful. the small force which had left vera cruz on the march to the capital had lost considerably by battle and disease. many detachments had been posted _en route_ to hold the line of communications, and for garrison duty in places taken from the enemy. the army had thus dwindled until, after the battles of churubusco and chapultepec, _fewer than six thousand men_ were left to enter and hold the capital. the invasion had been remarkable in all its particulars. the obstacles which had to be overcome seemed insurmountable. there were walled cities to be taken, fortified mountain passes to be carried by storm, and frowning castles with cannon on the battlements to be assaulted by regiments whose valor and impetuosity were their only protection and warrant of victory. yet the campaign was never seriously impeded. no foot of ground once taken from the mexicans was yielded by false tactics or lost by battle. the army which accomplished this marvel, penetrating a far-distant and densely peopled country, held by a proud race, claiming to be the descendants of cortes and the spanish heroes of the sixteenth century, and denouncing at the outset the american soldiers as "barbarians of the north," was, in large part, an army of volunteers--a citizen soldiery--which had risen from the states of the union and marched to the mexican border under the union flag. vicksburg. the story goes that on a certain occasion some friends of general grant, anxious to make him talk about himself--something he would hardly ever do--said: "general, at what time in your military career did you perceive that you were the coming man--that you were to have the responsibility and fame of the command-in-chief and end the war?" for little while the general smoked on, and then said, "_after vicksburg!_" certain it is that the star of grant, long obscured and struggling through storm and darkness, never emerged into clear light, rising in the ascendant, until after the capture of the stronghold of the confederates on the mississippi. after that it rose, and rose to the zenith. the position of vicksburg is hard to understand. the river at this place makes a bend to the north and then turns south again, leaving a delta, or peninsula, on the louisiana side. vicksburg occupies a kind of shoulder on the mississippi side. the site is commanding. the river flows by the bluffs, as if to acknowledge its subjection to them. from the beginning of the war the confederate authorities recognized the vast importance of holding this key to the great inland artery, and the federal government saw the necessity of clutching it from the enemy. the mouth of the mississippi was soon regained by the government, so that there was no serious obstruction as far north as where the northern border of louisiana crosses the river. from the north the federal fleets and land forces made their way along the tennessee border, and then the arkansas border; but in the middle, between the twenty-second and thirty-third parallels, the confederates got a strong grip on the father of waters, and would not relinquish their hold. jackson, the capital of the state, was in their power also, and from jackson eastward the great thoroughfare extended into alabama, and thence expanded in its connections into all the confederacy. from jackson to vicksburg reached the same line of communications, so that here, at vicksburg, the confederate power, having its seat in richmond and its energy in the field, reached directly to the mississippi river, and laid upon that stream a band of iron which the union must break in order to pass. such was the situation at the beginning of . general grant, who had been under a cloud since shiloh, had gradually regained his command, and to him fell the task of breaking the confederate hold on the great river. he has himself in his _memoirs_ told the story of the vicksburg campaign. he managed, by herculean exertions, to get his forces below vicksburg, and then began his campaign from grand gulf inland toward the line of communication between jackson and vicksburg. it was some time before the confederates took the alarm. when they did become alarmed about grant's movements, general j.e. johnston, who commanded at jackson, and general j.c. pemberton, who was in command at vicksburg; made the most unwearied efforts to keep open the line of communications upon which the safety of jackson and the success of pemberton depended. but grant pressed on in a northwesterly direction until he came upon pemberton in a position which he had chosen at champion's hill. here, without doubt, was fought one of the critical battles of the union war. if general pemberton had been successful, that success would seem to have portended the end of grant's military career. but a different fate was reserved for the combatants. grant's army was strong, and had become seasoned by hardship into the veteran condition. his under officers--logan, mcpherson, hovey, mcclernand and a.j. smith--were in full spirit of battle. the engagement was severely contested. the union army, actually engaged, numbered , , and pemberton's forces were about equal in number; but the latter were disastrously defeated. the losses were excessive in proportion to the numbers engaged. the confederates now fell back to big black river. their line of communication with jackson was cut. a second battle was fought at big black river, and then, on the eighteenth of may, the victorious union army surrounded vicksburg, and the siege was begun. the siege lasted forty-seven days, and was marked by heroic resistance on the one side and heroic pertinacity on the other, to the degree of making it one of the memorable events in the military annals of the world. gradually the union lines were narrowed around the doomed town. ever nearer and nearer the lines of riflepits were drawn. day by day the resources of the confederates were reduced. but their defences were strong, and their courage for a long time unabated. general pemberton hoped and expected that an attack on grant's rear would be made in such force as to loosen his grip, and to enable the besieged to rise against the besiegers and break through. the confederates, however, had not sufficient forces for such an enterprise. general lee, in the east, had now undertaken the campaign of gettysburg, and the confederacy was already strained in every nerve. general grant had the way open for supplies and re-enforcements. the siege was pressed with the utmost vigor, and pemberton was left to his fate. meanwhile, however, two unsuccessful assaults were made on the confederate works. the first of these occurred on the day after the investment was completed. it was unsuccessful. the union army was flung back from the impregnable defences in the rear of vicksburg, and great losses were inflicted on them. grant, however, was undismayed, and, still believing that the enemy's line might be broken by assault, renewed the attempt in a gallant attack on the twenty-second of may. a furious cannonade was kept up for several hours, and then the divisions of sherman, mcpherson and mcclernand were thrown forward upon the earthworks of the enemy. it was here that general mcclernand reported to the commander that he had gained the confederate intrenchments. general grant says: "i occupied a position from which i thought i could see as well as he what took place in his front; and i did not see the success he reported. but his request for reinforcements being repeated, i could not ignore it, and sent him quinby's division. sherman and mcpherson were both ordered to renew their assaults in favor of mcclernand. this last attack only served to increase our casualties, without giving any benefit whatever." in these attacks large numbers of the federal soldiers had got into the low ground intervening, under the enemy's fire, and had to remain in that position until darkness enabled them to retire. the union losses were very heavy, and general grant, years afterward, in composing his _memoirs_, referred to this assault and to that at cold harbor as the two conspicuous mistakes of his military career. now it was that the regular siege of vicksburg was undertaken. toward the latter part of june, the confederates, both soldiers and citizens, began to suffer. houses became untenable. the people sought what refuge they might find. some actually burrowed in the earth. the garrison was placed on short rations, and then a condition of starvation ensued. pemberton held out with a resolution worthy of a better fate. but at length human endurance could go no further. on the fourth of july the white flag was hoisted from the confederate works, announcing the end. generals grant and pemberton, with three or four attendants each, met between the lines, and the terms of capitulation were quickly named and accepted. vicksburg was surrendered. general pemberton and all his forces, , strong, became prisoners of war. this was the greatest force ever surrendered in america, though it was only about one-sixth of that of marshal bazaine and his army at metz seven years afterward. thousands of small arms, hundreds of cannon, and all the remaining ammunition and stores of the confederates were the other fruits of this great union victory, by which the prospect of ultimate success to the confederacy was either destroyed or long postponed, and by which in particular the great central river of the united states was permitted once more to flow unvexed from the confluence of the missouri to the gulf. gettysburg. the battle of gettysburg is properly included among the great battles of the world. it was the greatest conflict that has thus far occurred in america. the losses relative to the numbers engaged were not as great as those at antietam, spottsylvania, and a few other bloody struggles of our war; but in the aggregate the losses were greatest. gettysburg was in truth the high tide of the american civil war. never before and never afterward was there a crisis such as that which broke in the dreadful struggle for the mastery of cemetery ridge. the invasion of the northern states by general lee had been undertaken at the close of the previous summer. that invasion had ended disastrously at the battle of antietam. once more the confederate commander would make the trial. so well had he been able to beat back every invasion of virginia by the union forces that he now thought to end the war by turning its tide of devastation into pennsylvania. doubtless lee realized that he was placing everything upon the cast of a die. he undertook the campaign with a measure of confidence. he, almost as much as grant, was a taciturn man, not much given to revelations of his purposes and hopes. no doubt he was somewhat surprised at the successful rising of the union forces against him. besides the army of the potomac, pennsylvania seemed to rise for the emergency. it has not generally been observed that before the great battle general meade was in a position seriously to threaten the confederate rear. armies in the field rarely meet each other at the place and time expected. there is always something obscure and uncertain in the oncoming of the actual conflict. the fact is that general lee was receding somewhat at the time of the crisis. then it was that he determined to fight a great battle, and if successful then march on washington. should he not be successful, he would keep a way open by direct route for retreat into virginia. by the first of july, , a situation had been prepared which signified a decisive battle with far-reaching consequences to the one side or the other, accordingly as victory should incline to this or to that. by this date general reynolds, who commanded the advance line of the union army, met the corresponding line of the confederates at the village of gettysburg, and the rest followed as if by logical necessity. on july and , the great body of the union and confederate armies came up to the position where battle had already begun between the advance divisions and the pressure of the one side upon the other became greater and greater with each hour. at the first the confederate impact was strongest. general reynolds was killed. reinforcements were hurried up on both sides. general howard, who succeeded reynolds, selected cemetery hill, south of the town of gettysburg, and there established the union line. general meade arrived on the field on the afternoon of the first, and the two armies were thrown rapidly into position. that of the federals extended in the form of a fishhook from little round top by way of round top and along cemetery ridge through the cemetery itself, by the way of the gate, and then bending to the right, formed the bowl of the hook, which extended around as far as culp's hill and wolf creek. the ground was elevated and the convexity was toward the enemy. by nightfall of the first, both armies were in state of readiness for the conflict. the union army was on the defensive. it was sufficient that it should hold its ground and repel all assault. the confederates must advance and carry the federal position in order to succeed. how this should be done was not agreed on by the confederate commanders. general lee formed a plan of direct assault; but general longstreet was of opinion that a movement of the army to the union left flank would be preferable, and that by that method the flank might be turned and the position of meade carried with less loss and much less hazard. longstreet, however, did not oppose the views of his commander to the extent of thwarting his purpose or weakening the plan adopted. on the second of july the battle began in earnest about noon. the confederates advanced against the union centre and left, and at a later hour a strenuous and partly successful attack was made on the federal right. but complete success was not attained by lee in any part of the field. about sundown the confederates gained considerable advantage against slocum, who held the line along wolf hill and rock creek; and on the union left a terrible struggle occurred for the possession of great and little round top. in this part of the field the fighting continued until six o'clock in the evening; but the critical positions still remained in the hands of the federals. in the centre the contest was waged for the mastery of cemetery hill, which was the key to the union position. here were planted batteries with an aggregate of eighty guns, and here, though the assaults of the confederates were desperate and long continued, the integrity of the federal line was preserved till nightfall. the fighting along a front of nearly five miles in extent continued in a desultory manner until about ten o'clock on the july night, when the firing for the most part ceased, leaving the two armies in virtually the same position which they had occupied the day before. this signified, however, that thus far the advantage was on the union side; for on that side the battle was defensive. the confederate army had come to a wall, and must break through or suffer defeat. the burden of attack rested on the confederate side; but general lee did not flinch from the necessity. in the darkness of night both he and the union commanders made strenuous preparations for the renewal of the struggle on the morrow. on the morning of the third both armies seemed loath to begin the conflict. this phenomenon is nearly always witnessed in the case of really critical battles. it was so at waterloo, and so at gettysburg. it seems that in such crises the commanders, well aware of what is to come, wait awhile, as though each would permit the other to strike first. as a matter of fact, the topmost crest of the civil war had now been reached; and from this hour the one cause or the other must decline to the end. the whole forenoon of the third of july was spent in preparations. there was but little fighting, and that little was desultory. at midday there seemed to be a lull along the whole line. just afterward, however, general lee opened from seminary ridge with about one hundred guns, directing his fire against the union centre on cemetery hill. there the counter position was occupied by the american artillery of about equal strength, under command of general hunt. the cannonade burst out at one o'clock with terrific roar. nothing like it had ever before been seen or heard in the new world. nothing like it, we believe, had ever up to that time been witnessed in europe. certainly there was no such cannonade at waterloo. for about an hour and a half this tremendous vomit of shot and shell continued. it was the hope of general lee to pound the union batteries to pieces, and then, while horror and death were still supreme in the union centre, to thrust forward an overwhelming mass of his best infantry into the gap, cut meade's army in two, plant the confederate banner on the crest of the union battle line, and virtually then and there achieve the independence of the confederate states. it seems that an action of general hunt, about half-past two, flattered lee with the belief that he had succeeded. hunt adopted the plan of drawing back his batteries over the crest of the hill, for the double purpose of cooling his guns that were becoming overheated and of saving his supply of ammunition, that was running low. the union fire accordingly slackened and almost ceased for a while. nor was lee able to discover from his position but what his batteries under general alexander had prevailed. it looked for the moment as though the battle were lost to meade, and that victory was in the clutch of his antagonist. already a confederate charge of infantry had been prepared. about , men, in three divisions, under armistead, garnett and pettigrew, and led by general george e. pickett, of virginia, had been got into readiness for the crisis which had now arrived. longstreet was the corps commander, and through him the order for the charge should be given. general lee had himself made the order, but longstreet seeing, as he believed the inevitable, hesitated and turned aside. it was not a refusal to send an army to destruction, but the natural hesitation of a really great commander to do what he believed was fatal to the confederate cause. pickett, however, gave his salutation to longstreet, and presently said: "sir, i am going to move forward!" then began the most memorable charge ever witnessed in america. the confederate column was three-fourths of a mile in length. it was directed against the union centre, where it was supposed the confederate fire had done its work. what ensued was the finest military spectacle that had been seen in the world since the charge of the old guard at waterloo; and the results were alike! the brave men who made the onset were mowed down as they crossed rapidly the intervening space. hunt's batteries were quickly run back to their position, and began to discharge their deadly contents against the head of the oncoming column. that column veered somewhat to the right as it came. the line staggered, but pressed on. it came within the range of the union musketry. gaps opened here and there. armistead, who led the advance, saw his forces sink to the earth; but he did not waver. nearer and nearer the column came to the union line. it _struck_ the union line. there was a momentary melee among the guns, and then all was over. hancock's infantry rose with flash on flash from among the rocks by which they were partially protected. the confederates were scattered in broken groups. retreat was well-nigh impossible. the impact of the charge was utterly broken, and the confederate line was blown into rout and ruin. victory hovered over the national army. the confederate forces staggered away under the blow of defeat. night came down on a broken and virtually hopeless cause. the field was covered with the dead and dying. two thousand eight hundred and thirty-four union soldiers had been killed outright; , were wounded, and were missing, making a total of , men. the confederate loss was never definitely ascertained, but was greatly in excess of that of the federals. the best estimate has been fixed at , . the grand total of losses in those fatal three days thus reached the enormous aggregate of , ! spottsylvania. a losing cause never showed a braver front than the confederacy put on in the wilderness. it was a front of iron. a man weaker than grant would have quailed before it. it was virtually the same old rim of fire and death that had confronted mcclellan, that had consumed pope, that almost destroyed both hooker and burnside. either the union army must go through this barrier of flame and destruction and scatter it like brands of fire to right and left, or else the union could never be rebuilded on the foundation of victory. there was much discussion--and some doubt--in the spring of whether the silent man of galena, now made commander-in-chief of the union armies, could pursue his military destiny to a great fame with robert e. lee for his antagonist. this talk was bruited abroad; grant himself heard it, and had to consider what not a few people were saying, namely, that he had had before him in the west as leaders of the enemy only such men as buckner and beauregard and pemberton; now he must stand up face to face with "old bobby lee" and take the blows of the great virginian against whom neither strategy nor force had hitherto prevailed. the man of galena did not quail. neither did he doubt. his pictures of this epoch show him with mouth more close shut than ever; but otherwise there was no sign. lee for his part knew that another foeman was now come, and if we mistake not he divined that the end of the confederacy, involving the end of his own military career, was not far ahead. it is to the credit of his genius that he did not weaken under such a situation and despair ere the ordeal came upon him; but on the contrary, he planted himself in the wilderness and awaited the coming of the storm. let the world know that grant in entering upon his great campaign, in the first days of may, , had to do so against the greatest disadvantages. the country south of the rappahannock was against him. the fact of lee's acting ever on the defensive was against him. the woods and the rivers were against him. all virginia, from the rapidan to richmond, was a rifle-pit and an earthwork. the confederates knew every hill and ravine as though they were the orchard and the fishing creek of their own homes. the battlefield was theirs, to begin with; it must be taken from them or remain theirs forever. to take a battlefield of their own from virginians has never been a pleasing task to those who did it--or more frequently tried to do it and did not! it remained for grant and his tremendous union army to undertake this herculean task. he moved into the wilderness and fought a two-days' battle of the greatest severity. the contest of the fifth and sixth of may were murderous in character. the national losses in these two days in killed, wounded and missing were not less than , ; those of the confederates were almost as great. in this struggle general alexander hays was killed; generals getty, baxter and mcalister were wounded, and scores of under-officers, with thousands of brave men, lost their lives or limbs. now it was that lee is reported to have said to his officers, with a serious look on his iron face: "gentlemen, at last the army of the potomac has a head." on the seventh of may there was not much fighting. it is said that in the lull grant's leading commanders thought he would recede, as his predecessors had done, and that not a few of them gave it as their opinion that he should do so. it is said that when coming to the chancellorsville house, he gave the command, "forward, by the left flank," thus demonstrating his purpose, as he said four days afterward in his despatch to the government, "to fight it out on that line if it took all summer," the soldiers gave a sigh of relief, and many began to sing at the prospect of no more retreating. general sherman has recorded his belief that at this juncture grant best displayed his greatness. with the movement which we have just mentioned, the next stage in the campaign would bring both the union and the confederate armies to spottsylvania courthouse. the distance that each had to march to that point was about the same. it was at this juncture that the woods in which the two armies were moving, grant to the left and lee to the right, took fire and were burned. when the union advance came in sight of spottsylvania, warren, who commanded, found that the place had been already occupied by the vigilant enemy. hancock did not arrive in time to make an immediate attack, and longstreet's corps was able to get into position before the pressure of the union advance could be felt. at this juncture sheridan, in command of the federal cavalry, was cut loose from the union army and sent whirling with irresistible speed and momentum entirely around the rear of the confederate army, destroying railroads, cutting communication, burning trains and liberating prisoners, as far as the very suburbs of richmond. the main divisions of the union army came into position before spottsylvania. hancock had the right wing, and upon his left rested warren. sedgwick's corps was next in order, while burnside held the left. just as the commanders were forming their lines and some men at a union battery seemed to shrink from the confederate sharpshooters, sedgwick went forward to encourage them, saying, "men, they couldn't hit an elephant at that distance." but the next instant he himself fell dead! his command of the sixth corps was transferred to general wright. it now remained for hancock on the extreme right to attack the confederate left. this was done by barlow's division, but without success. this attack and repulse was the real beginning of the battle of spottsylvania. the confederates in front were strongly intrenched, but near the northernmost point of their works what was thought to be a weak point in the line was discovered. this point was what is known as a _salient_. the position, however, was in the thick woods, or was at any rate concealed by the woods and ravines in front. as soon as the position was discovered and its nature known, a large part of wright's corps was sent against it. the attack was successful. the line was carried, and about a thousand men captured in the assault. but the reinforcements were not up promptly, and the assailants were driven back. a second assault ended in the same way. this fighting was on the evening of the tenth of may. the battle continued into the night, and the event hung dubious. on the eleventh there was a heavy rain, but during that day general grant, who placed great confidence in general hancock and his corps, moved that brilliant officer to the point of attack before the _salient_. with the early light on the morning of the twelfth, hancock sprang forward to the assault. so sudden and powerful was the charge that one-half of the distance had been traversed before the enemy knew what was coming. then the storm burst wildly. the yell arose from one side, and the cheer from the other. hancock's men in great force and with invincible courage sprang upon the breast-works, clubbed their guns, or went over bayonet foremost. they were met on the other side in like manner. the melee that ensued was perhaps the most dreadful hand-to-hand conflict of the war. the impetus of the union attack was irresistible. great numbers were killed on both sides, and the confederates were overpowered. general edward johnson and his division of about four thousand men were captured in the angle. general stuart was also taken. he and hancock had been friends in their student days at west point. the story goes that hancock, recognizing his prisoner, said, "how are you, stuart?" and offered his hand. the hot confederate answered, "i am _general_ stuart of the confederate army, and under the circumstances i decline to take your hand." hancock answered, "under any other circumstances i should not have offered it!" but there was no time for bantering. the very earth round about was in the chaos of roaring battle. hancock had taken twenty guns with their horses, and about thirty battle flags. it was a tremendous capture, if he could hold his ground. no officer of the union army ever showed to better advantage. the world may well forgive the touch of vanity and bluster in the undaunted hancock, as he sent this despatch to grant: "i have used up johnson and am going into hill." he found, however, that he should have terrible work even to keep the gain that he had made. lee no sooner perceived what was done than he threw heavy masses upon the position to retake it from the captors. hancock was now on the wrong side of the angle! the confederates came on during the day in five successive charges, the like of which for valor was hardly ever witnessed. the contested ground was literally piled with dead. there was hand-to-hand fighting. men bayoneted each other through the crevices of the logs that had been piled up for defences. the storm of battle swept back and forth until the salient gained that name of "death angle" by which it will ever be known. the place became then and there the bloodiest spot that ever was washed with human life in america. the bushes and trees round about were literally shot away. at one point an oak tree, more than eighteen inches in diameter, was completely eaten off at the man-level by the bullet storm that beat against it. that tree in its fall crushed several men of a south carolina regiment who still stood and fought in the death harvest that was going on. the counter assaults of the confederates, however, were in vain. they inflicted terrible losses, and were themselves mowed down by thousands; but they could not and did not retake the angle. hancock and his heroes could not be dislodged. the battle of spottsylvania died away with the night into sullen and awful silence, which was broken only by the groans of thousands of wounded men who could not be recovered from the bloody earth on which they had fallen. the antagonists lay crouching like lions, only a lion's spring apart, and neither would suffer the other, even for the sake of their common american humanity, to recover his dead. in the retrospect it seems marvelous that within the memories of men now living and not yet old, so awful a struggle as that of the death angle in the wilderness could have taken place between men of the same race and language, born under the flag of the same republic, and cherishing the same sentiments and traditions and hopes. appomattox. appomattox was not a battle, but the end of battles. fondly do we hope that never again shall americans lift against americans the avenging hand in such a strife! here at a little court-house, twenty-five miles east of lynchburg, on the ninth of april, , the great tragedy of our civil war was brought to a happy end. here general robert e. lee, with the broken fragments of his army of northern virginia, was brought by the inexorable logic of war to the end of that career which he had so bravely followed through four years of battle, much of which had shown him to be one of the great commanders of the century. the story of the downfall of the confederacy has been many times repeated. it has entered into our literature, and is known by heart wherever the history of the war is read. generally, however, this story has been told as if the narrator approached the event from the union side. we have the pursuit of general lee from petersburg westward, almost to the spurs of the alleghanies. we follow in the wake. we see the unwearied efforts of the victorious host to close around the retreating army which has so long been the bulwark of the confederacy. we hear the summons to surrender, and the answer of "_not yet_;" but within a day that answer is reversed, and the stern wills of lee and his fellow-commanders yield to the inexorable law of the strongest. only recently, however, the story has been told with great spirit from the confederate side, by general john b. gordon, who was at that time at the right hand of his commander-in-chief, and who stood by him to the last hour. general gordon's account of the final struggle of the confederate army and of the surrender is so graphic, so full of spirit, so warmed with the animation and devotion of a great soldier, that we here repeat his account of the death struggle. we always retreated in good order, though always under fire. as we retreated we would wheel and fire, or repel a rush, and then stagger on to the next hilltop, or vantage ground, where a new fight would be made. and so on through the entire day. at night my men had no rest. we marched through the night in order to get a little respite from fighting. all night long i would see my poor fellows hobbling along, prying wagons or artillery out of the mud, and supplementing the work of our broken-down horses. at dawn, though, they would be in line ready for battle, and they would fight with the steadiness and valor of the old guard. this lasted until the night of the seventh of april. the retreat of lee's army was lit up with the fire and flash of battle, in which my brave men moved about like demigods for five days and nights. then we were sent to the front for a rest, and longstreet was ordered to cover the retreating army. on the evening of the eighth, when i had reached the front, my scout george brought me two men in confederate uniform, who, he said, he believed to be the enemy, as he had seen them counting our men as they filed past. i had the men brought to my campfire, and examined them. they made a plausible defence, but george was positive they were spies, and i ordered them searched. he failed to find anything, when i ordered him to examine their boots. in the bottom of one of the boots i found an order from general grant to general ord, telling him to move by forced marches toward lynchburg and cut off general lee's retreat. the men then confessed that they were spies, and belonged to general sheridan. they stated that they knew that the penalty of their course was death, but asked that i should not kill them, as the war could only last a few days longer, anyhow. i kept them prisoners, and turned them over to general sheridan after the surrender. i at once sent the information to general lee, and a short time afterward received orders to go to his headquarters. that night was held lee's last council of war. there were present general lee, general fitzhugh lee, as head of the cavalry, and pendleton, as chief of the artillery, and myself. general longstreet was, i think, too busily engaged to attend. general lee then exhibited to us the correspondence he had had with general grant that day, and asked our opinion of the situation. it seemed that surrender was inevitable. the only chance of escape was that i could cut a way for the army through the lines in front of me. general lee asked me if i could do this. i replied that i did not know what forces were in front of me; that if general ord had not arrived--as we thought then he had not--with his heavy masses of infantry, i could cut through. i guaranteed that my men would cut a way through all the cavalry that could be massed in front of them. the council finally dissolved with the understanding that the army should be surrendered if i discovered the next morning, after feeling the enemy's line, that the infantry had arrived in such force that i could not cut my way through. my men were drawn up in the little town of appomattox that night. i still had about four thousand men under me, as the army had been divided into two commands and given to general longstreet and myself. early on the morning of the ninth i prepared for the assault upon the enemy's line, and began the last fighting done in virginia. my men rushed forward gamely and broke the line of the enemy and captured two pieces of artillery. i was still unable to tell what i was fighting; i did not know whether i was striking infantry or dismounted cavalry. i only know that my men were driving them back, and were getting further and further through. just then i had a message from general lee, telling me a flag of truce was in existence, leaving it to my discretion as to what course to pursue. my men were still pushing their way on. i sent at once to hear from general longstreet, feeling that, if he was marching toward me, we might still cut through and carry the army forward. i learned that he was about two miles off, with his face just opposite from mine, fighting for his life. i thus saw that the case was hopeless. the further each of us drove the enemy the further we drifted apart, and the more exposed we left our wagon trains and artillery, which were parked between us. every line either of us broke only opened the gap the wider. i saw plainly that the federals would soon rush in between us, and then there would have been no army. i, therefore, determined to send a flag of truce. i called colonel peyton of my staff to me, and told him that i wanted him to carry a flag of truce forward. he replied: "general, i have no flag of truce." i told him to get one. he replied: "general, we have no flag of truce in our command." then said i, "get your handkerchief, put it on a stick, and go forward." "i have no handkerchief, general," "then borrow one and go forward with it." he tried, and reported to me that there was no handkerchief in my staff. "then, colonel, use your shirt." "you see, general, that we all have on flannel shirts." at last, i believe, we found a man who had a white shirt. he gave it to us, and i tore off the back and tail, and, tying this to a stick, colonel peyton went out toward the enemy's lines. i instructed him simply to say to general sheridan that general lee had written to me that a flag of truce had been sent from his and grant's headquarters, and that he could act as he thought best on this information. in a few moments he came back with some one representing general sheridan. this officer said: "general sheridan requested me to present his compliments to you, and to demand the unconditional surrender of your army." "major, you will please return my compliments to general sheridan, and say that i will not surrender." "but, general, he will annihilate you." "i am perfectly well aware of my situation. i simply gave general sheridan some information on which he may or may not desire to act." he went back to his lines, and in a short time general sheridan came forward on an immense horse, and attended by a very large staff. just here an incident occurred that came near having a serious ending. as general sheridan was approaching i noticed one of my sharpshooters drawing his rifle down upon him. i at once called to him: "put down your gun, sir; this is a flag of truce." but he simply settled it to his shoulder and was drawing a bead on sheridan, when i leaned forward and jerked his gun. he struggled with me, but i finally raised it. i then loosed it, and he started to aim again. i caught it again, when he turned his stern, white face, all broken with grief and streaming with tears, up to me, and said: "well, general, then let him keep on his own side." the fighting had continued up to this point. indeed, after the flag of truce, a regiment of my men, who had been fighting their way through toward where we were, and who did not know of a flag of truce, fired into some of sheridan's cavalry. this was speedily stopped, however. i showed general sheridan general lee's note, and he determined to await events. he dismounted, and i did the same. then, for the first time, the men seemed to understand what it all meant, and then the poor fellows broke down. the men cried like children. worn, starved and bleeding as they were, they would rather have died than have surrendered. at one word from me they would have hurled themselves on the enemy, and have cut their way through or have fallen to a man with their guns in their hands. but i could not permit it. the great drama had been played to its end. but men are seldom permitted to look upon such a scene as the one presented here. that these men should have wept at surrendering so unequal a fight, at being taken out of this constant carnage and storm, at being sent back to their families; that they should have wept at having their starved and wasted forms lifted out of the jaws of death and placed once more before their hearthstones, was an exhibition of fortitude and patriotism that might set an example for all time. sedan. by victor hugo. the second empire of the french was pounded to powder in a bowl. this is literal, not figurative. to attempt to describe sedan after victor hugo has described it for all mankind were a work futile and foolish. to hugo we concede the palm among all writers, ancient and modern, as a delineator of battle. his description of the battle of waterloo will outlast the tumulus and the lion which french patriotism has reared on the square where the last of the old guard perished. his description, though not elaborate, is equally graphic and final. he was returning, in september, , from his fourth exile. he had been in belgium in banishment for about eighteen years. it is in the "history of a crime" that he tells the story. he says that he was re-entering france by the luxembourg frontier, and had fallen asleep in the coach. suddenly the jolt of the train coming to a standstill awoke him. one of the passengers said: "what place is this?" another answered "sedan." with a shudder, hugo looked around. he says that to his mind and vision, as he gazed out, the paradise was a tomb. before substituting his words for our own, we note only that nearly thirteen months had elapsed since louis napoleon and his , men had here been brayed in a mortar. hugo's description of the scene and the event continues as follows: the valley was circular and hollow, like the bottom of a crater; the winding river resembled a serpent; the hills high, ranged one behind the other, surrounded this mysterious spot like a triple line of inexorable walls; once there, there is no means of exit. it reminded me of the amphitheatres. an indescribable, disquieting vegetation, which seemed to be an extension of the black forest, overran all the heights, and lost itself in the horizon like a huge impenetrable snare; the sun shone, the birds sang, carters passed by whistling; sheep, lambs and pigeons were scattered about; leaves quivered and rustled; the grass, a densely thick grass, was full of flowers. it was appalling. i seemed to see waving over this valley the flashing of the avenging angel's sword. this word "sedan" had been like a veil abruptly torn aside. the landscape had become suddenly filled with tragedy. those shapeless eyes which the bark of trees delineates on the trunks were gazing--at what? at something terrible and lost to view. in truth, that was the place! and at the moment when i was passing by, thirteen months all but a few days had elapsed. that was the place where the monstrous enterprise of the second of december had burst asunder. a fearful shipwreck! the gloomy pathways of fate cannot be studied without profound anguish of heart. on the thirty-first of august, , an army was reassembled, and was, as it were, massed together under the walls of sedan, in a place called the givonne valley. this army was a french army--twenty-nine brigades, fifteen divisions, four army corps-- , men. this army was in this place without anyone being able to divine the reason; without order, without an object, scattered about--a species of heap of men thrown down there as though with the view of being seized by some huge hand. this army either did not entertain, or appeared not to entertain, for the moment any immediate uneasiness. they knew, or at least they thought they knew, that the enemy was a long way off. on calculating the stages at four leagues daily, it was three days' march distant. nevertheless, toward evening the leaders took some wise strategic precautions; they protected the army, which rested in the rear on sedan and the meuse, by two battle fronts, one composed of the seventh corps, and extending from floing to givonne, the other composed of the twelfth corps, extending from givonne to bazeilles; a triangle of which the meuse formed the hypothenuse. the twelfth corps, formed of the three divisions of lacretelle, lartigue and wolff, ranged on the right, with the artillery between the brigades, formed a veritable barrier, having bazeilles and givonne at each end, and digny in its centre; the two divisions of petit and lheritier massed in the rear upon two lines supported this barrier. general lebrun commanded the twelfth corps. the seventh corps, commanded by general douay, only possessed two divisions--dumont's division and gilbert's division--and formed the other battle front, covering the army of givonne to floing on the side of illy; this battle front was comparatively weak, too open on the side of givonne, and only protected on the side of the meuse by two cavalry divisions of margueritte and bonnemains, and by guyomar's brigade, resting in squares on floing. within this triangle were encamped the fifth corps, commanded by general wimpfen, and the first corps, commanded by general ducrot. michel's cavalry division covered the first corps on the side of digny; the fifth supported itself upon sedan. four divisions, each disposed upon two lines--the divisions of lheritier, grandchamp, goze and conseil-dumenil--formed a sort of horseshoe, turned toward sedan, and uniting the first battle front with the second. the cavalry division of ameil and the brigade of fontanges served as a reserve for these four divisions. the whole of the artillery was upon the two battle fronts. two portions of the army were in confusion, one to the right of sedan beyond balan, the other to the left of sedan, on this side of iges. beyond balan were the division of vassoigne and the brigade of reboul, on this side of iges were the two cavalry divisions of margueritte and bonnemains. these arrangements indicated a profound feeling of security. in the first place, the emperor napoleon iii. would not have come there if he had not been perfectly tranquil. this givonne valley is what napoleon i. called a "wash-hand basin." there could not have been a more complete enclosure. an army is so much at home there that it is too much so; it runs the risk of no longer being able to get out. this disquieted some brave and prudent leaders, such as wimpfen, but they were not listened to. if absolutely necessary, said the people of the imperial circle, they could always be sure of being able to reach mezieres, and at the worst the belgian frontier. was it, however, needful to provide for such extreme eventualities? in certain cases foresight is almost an offence. they were all of one mind, therefore, to be at their ease. if they had been uneasy they would have cut the bridges of the meuse, but they did not even think of it. to what purpose? the enemy was a long way off. the emperor, who evidently was well informed, affirmed it. the army bivouacked somewhat in confusion, as we have said, and slept peaceably throughout this night of august , having, whatever might happen, or believing that they had, the retreat upon mezieres open behind it. they disdained to take the most ordinary precautions, they made no cavalry reconnoissances, they did not even place outposts. a german military writer has stated this. fourteen leagues at least separated them from the german army, three days' march; they did not exactly know where it was; they believed it scattered, possessing little unity, badly informed, led somewhat at random upon several points at once, incapable of a movement converging upon one single point, like sedan; they believed that the crown prince of saxony was marching on chalons, and that the crown prince of prussia was marching on metz; they were ignorant of everything appertaining to this army, its leaders, its plan, its armament, its effective force. was it still following the strategy of gustavus adolphus? was it still following the tactics of frederick ii.? no one knew. they felt sure of being at berlin in a few weeks. what nonsense! the prussian army! they talked of this war as of a dream, and of this army as of a phantom.... the masterful description of the great novelist and poet then continues in a narrative of the attack and catastrophe: bazeilles takes fire, givonne takes fire, floing takes fire; the battle begins with a furnace. the whole horizon is aflame. the french camp is in this crater, stupefied, affrighted, starting up from sleeping--a funereal swarming. a circle of thunder surrounds the army. they are encircled by annihilation. this mighty slaughter is carried on on all sides simultaneously. the french resist and they are terrible, having nothing left but despair. our cannon, almost all old-fashioned and of short range, are at once dismounted by the fearful and exact aim of the prussians. the density of the rain of shells upon the valley is so great that "the earth is completely furrowed," says an eye-witness, "as though by a rake." how many cannon? eleven hundred at least. twelve german batteries upon la moncelle alone; the third and fourth _abtheilung_, an awe-striking artillery, upon the crests of givonne, with the second horse battery in reserve; opposite digny ten saxon and two wurtemburg batteries; the curtain of trees of the wood to the north of villers-cernay masks the mounted _abtheilung_, which is there with the third heavy artillery in reserve, and from the gloomy copse issues a formidable fire; the twenty-four pieces of the first heavy artillery are ranged in the glade skirting the road from la moncelle to la chapelle; the battery of the royal guard sets fire to the garenne wood; the shells and the balls riddle suchy, francheval, fouro-saint-remy, and the valley between heibes and givonne; and the third and fourth rank of cannon extend without break of continuity as far as the calvary of illy, the extreme point of the horizon. the german soldiers, seated or lying before the batteries, watch the artillery at work. the french soldiers fall and die. amongst the bodies which cover the plain there is one, the body of an officer, on which they will find, after the battle, a sealed note containing this order, signed napoleon: "to-day, september , rest for the whole army." the gallant thirty-fifth of the line almost entirely disappears under the overwhelming shower of shells; the brave marine infantry holds at bay for a moment the saxons, joined by the bavarians, but outflanked on every side draws back; all the admirable cavalry of the margueritte division hurled against the german infantry halts and sinks down midway, "annihilated," says the prussian report, "by well-aimed and cool firing." this field of carnage has three outlets, all three barred: the bouillon road by the prussian guard, the carignan road by the bavarians, the mezieres road by the wurtemburgers. the french have not thought of barricading the railway viaduct; three german battalions have occupied it during the night. two isolated houses on the balan road could be made the pivot of a long resistance, but the germans are there. the wood from monvilliers to bazeilles, but the french have been forestalled; they find the bavarians cutting the underwood with their billhooks. the german army moves in one piece, in one absolute unity; the crown prince of saxony is on the height of mairy, whence he surveys the whole action; the command oscillates in the french army; at the beginning of the battle, at a quarter to six, macmahon is wounded by the bursting of a shell; at seven o'clock ducrot replaces him; at ten o'clock wimpfen replaces ducrot. every instant the wall of fire is drawing closer in, the roll of the thunder is continuous, a dismal pulverization of , men! never before has anything equal to this been seen; never before has an army been overwhelmed beneath such a downpour of lead and iron! at one o'clock all is lost! the regiments fly helter-skelter into sedan! but sedan begins to burn, dijonval burns, the ambulances burn, there is nothing now possible but to cut their way out. wimpfen, brave and resolute, proposes this to the emperor. the third zouaves, desperate, have set the example. cut off from the rest of the army, they have forced a passage and have reached belgium. a flight of lions! suddenly, above the disaster, above the huge pile of dead and dying, above all this unfortunate heroism, appears disgrace. the white flag is hoisted. bazaine and metz. a letter of count von moltke has recently been published, showing that the question of the conquest of france was under consideration by the count and bismarck as early as august of . it is demonstrated that these two powerful spirits were already preparing, aye, had already prepared, to trip the emperor louis napoleon, throwing him and his empire into a common ruin. the letter also proves that the plan of the north-german confederation, under the leadership of prussia, with german unity and a german empire just beyond, was already clearly in mind by the far-sighted leaders who surrounded king william in . count von moltke shows that it was possible and practicable _at that date_, and within a period of two or three weeks, to throw upon the french border so tremendous an army that resistance would be impossible. the antecedents of the franco-prussian war had been clearly thought out by the german masters at a time when louis napoleon was still tinkering with his quixotical empire in mexico. when the war between france and germany actually broke out, four years later. germany was prepared, and france was unprepared for the conflict. louis napoleon did not know that germany was prepared. he actually thought that he could break into the german borders, fight his way victoriously to the capital, make his headquarters in berlin, and dictate a peace in the manner of his uncle. it was the most fallacious dream that a really astute man ever indulged in. from the first day of actual contact with the germans, the dream of the emperor began to be dissipated. within five days (august - , ,) three murderous battles were fought on french soil, the first at courcelles, the next at vionville, and the third at gravelotte. in all of these the french fought bravely, and in all were defeated disastrously, with tremendous losses. by these great victories, the germans were able to separate the two divisions of the french army. the northern division, under command of the emperor and macmahon, began to recede toward sedan, while the more powerful army, under marshal bazaine, numbering , men, was forced somewhat to the south, and pressed by the division of prince frederick charles, until the french, in an evil day, entered the fortified town of metz, and suffered themselves to be helplessly cooped up. there was perhaps never another great army so safely and hopelessly disposed of! metz, after antwerp, is the strongest fortress in europe. it is situated at the junction of the rivers seille and moselle. it is the capital of the province of lorraine, destined to be lost by france and gained by germany in the struggle that was now on. the place was of great historical importance. here the roman invaders had established themselves in the time of the conquest of gaul. it was called by the conquerors, first mediomatrica, and afterward divodurum. its importance, on the very crest of the watershed between the teutonic and gallic races, was noted in the early years of our era, and to the present day that importance continues for the same reason as of old. metz is on the line of a conflict of races which has not yet, after so many centuries, been finally decided. the position is one of great strategic importance. but such were the military conditions at the end of august, , that to occupy metz with one of the greatest armies of modern times was the most serious disaster that could befall the french cause. bazaine's army was needed, not in a fortified town, but _in the field_. it was a tremendous force. the army that prince frederick charles locked up in metz could have marched from parthia to spain against the resistance of the whole roman empire, at the high noon of that imperial power! it could have marched from end to end of the southern confederacy in the palmiest day of that confederacy, and could not have been seriously impeded! and yet this tremendous force was pent up and shut in, as if under seal, while king william and the crown prince and bismarck and von moltke hunted down the french emperor and his remaining forces, brought them to bay, and compelled a surrender. this was accomplished by the first of september. the empire of napoleon went to pieces. the third republic was instituted. the empress fled with the prince imperial to england, while her humbled lord was established by his captors at the castle of wilhelmshohe. republican france found herself in possession of a political chaos which could hardly be stilled. she also found herself in possession of a splendid army of more than one hundred and seventy thousand men shut up helplessly in metz. the situation was highly dramatic. the republic said that bazaine should break out, but the marshal said that he could not. what he said was true. the germans held him fast. but the republic believed, as it still believes, that bazaine, loyal to the fallen emperor rather than to his country, wished to handle his army in such a manner as should compel the restoration of the empire, under the auspices of the german conquerors. this idea was hateful above all things to the french republicans. september wore away, and more than half of october; but still the siege of metz was not concluded. vainly did the new republic of france strive to extricate herself. vainly did she raise new armies. vainly did she look for the escape of bazaine. finally, on the twenty-seventh of october, that commander surrendered metz and his army to the germans. it was the most tremendous capitulation known in history. never before was so powerful an army surrendered to an enemy. the actual number of french soldiers covered by the capitulation was fully one hundred and seventy thousand! the prostration of france was complete, and her humiliation extreme. bazaine became the black beast of the public imagination. a tribunal was organized at paris, under the presidency of the duc d'aumale, son of louis philippe--the same who with the prince de joinville had been on mcclellan's staff during the peninsular campaign in our civil war. before this court bazaine was haled as a traitor to his country. he was tried, convicted and condemned to degradation and death. it was only by the most strenuous efforts in his behalf that a commutation of the sentence to imprisonment for twenty years was obtained. the marshal was accordingly incarcerated in a prison at cannes, whither he was sent in december of , and from which he effected his escape in the following august. he succeeded in making his way to madrid, and took up his residence there. he sought assiduously by writings and argument and appeal to reverse the judgment of his countrymen and of the world with regard to the justice of his sentence; but he could not succeed. it is probably true that the greatest surrender of military forces known in the history of the world was brought about by the preference of the commanding general of the conquered army for an emperor who was already dethroned, as against a true devotion to his country. there was also in the case a measure of incapacity. bazaine was no match as a military commander for the powerful genius of von moltke and the persistency of frederick charles and the more than two hundred thousand resolute germans who surrounded him, and brought him and his army to irretrievable ruin. astronomical vistas. the century of asteroids. the nineteenth century may be called the age of the asteroids. it was on _the first night_ of this century that the first asteroid was discovered! through all the former ages, no man on the earth had had definite knowledge of the existence of such a body. it was reserved for guiseppe piazzi, an italian astronomer at palermo, to make known by actual observation the first member of the planetoid group. if human history had the slightest regard for the calendars of mankind--if the eternal verities depended in any measure on the almanac or the division of time into this age or that--we might look with wonder on the remarkable coincidence which made the discovery of the first asteroid to happen in the first evening twilight of the first day of the nineteenth century! at the close of the eighteenth century, mankind were acquainted with all the major planets except neptune. uranus, the last of the group, was discovered by the elder herschel, on the night of the thirteenth of march, . true, this planet had been seen on twenty different occasions, by other observers; but its character had not been revealed. sir william called his new world georgium sidus, that is, the george star, in honor of the king of england. the world, however, had too much intelligence to allow the transfer of the name of george iii. from earth to heaven. such nomenclature would have been unpopular in america! the name of the king was happily destined to remain a part of terrestrial history! for a while it was insisted by astronomers and the world at large that the new globe, then supposed to bound the solar system on its outer circumference, should be called herschel, in honor of its discoverer. but the old system of naming the planets after the deities of classical and pagan mythology prevailed; and to the names of mercury, venus, mars, jupiter, saturn, was now added the name uranus, that is, in the language of the greeks, _heaven_. piazzi, scanning the zodiac from his observatory in palermo, in the early hours of that first night of the century, noticed a hitherto unobserved star, which under higher power proved to be a planet. it presented a small irregular disc, and a few additional observations showed that it was progressing in the usual manner from west to east. for some time such a revelation had been expected; but the result did not answer to expectation in one particular; for the new body seemed to be too insignificant to be called a world. it appeared rather to be a great planetary boulder, as if our mount shasta had been wrenched from the earth and flung into space. investigation showed that the new body was more than a hundred miles in diameter; but this, according to planetary estimation, is only the measurement of a clod. there had been, as we say, expectation of a discovery in the region where the first asteroid was found. kepler had declared his belief that in this region of space a new world might be discovered. following this suggestion, the german astronomer olbers, of bremen, had formed an association of twenty-four observers in different parts of europe, who should divide among themselves the zodiacal band, and begin a system of independent scrutiny, either to verify or disprove kepler's hypothesis. there was another reason also of no small influence tending to the same end. johann elert bode, another german astronomer, born in and living to , had propounded a mathematical formula known as bode's law, which led those who accepted it to the belief that a planet would be found in what is now known as the asteroidal space. bode's law, so-called, seems to be no real law of planetary distribution; and yet the coincidences which are found under the application of the law are such as to arouse our interest if not to produce a conviction of the truth of the principle involved. here, then, is the mathematical formula, which is known as bode's law: write from left to right a row of 's and under these, beginning with the second , place a geometrical series beginning with and increasing by the ratio of ; add the two columns together, and we have a series running , , , etc.; and this row of results has an astonishing coincidence, or approximate coincidence with the relative distances of the planets from the sun--thus: -- -- -- -- -- -- --- --- --- the near agreement of this row of results with the row containing the _actual_ relative distances of the planets from the sun may well astonish, not only the astronomer, but the common reader. those distances--making to represent the distance of the earth--are as follows: mercury, . ; venus, . ; earth, ; mars, . ; asteroids, . ; jupiter, ; saturn, . ; uranus, ; neptune, . in addition to kepler's prediction and the indications of bode's law, there was a _general_ reason for thinking that a planetary body of some kind should occupy the space between the orbits of mars and jupiter. the mean distance of mars from the sun is about , , miles; that of jupiter, is about , , miles. the distance from one orbit to the other is therefore about , , miles. conceive of an infinite sheet of tin. mark thereon a centre for the sun. measure out a hundred and forty millions of miles, and with that radius strike a circle. from the same centre measure out four hundred and eighty-three millions of miles, and with that radius strike a circle. cut out the sheet between the two circles, and the vast space left void will indicate the vacant area in the mighty disc of our solar system. that this space should be occupied with _something_ accords with the plan of nature and the skill of the builder. so olbers and his twenty-three associates began, in the last decade of the eighteenth century, to search diligently for the verification of kepler's prediction and the fulfillment of bode's law. oddly enough, piazzi was not one of the twenty-four astronomers who had agreed to find the new world. he was exploring the heavens on his own account, and in doing so, he found what the others had failed to find, that is, the first asteroid. the body discovered answered so little to the hopes of the astronomical fraternity that they immediately said within themselves: "this is not he; we seek another." so they continued the search, and in a little more than a year olbers himself was rewarded with the discovery of the second of the planetoid group. on the twenty-eighth of march, , he made his discovery from an upper chamber of his dwelling in bremen, where he had his telescope. on the night in question he was scanning the northern part of the constellation of virgo, when the sought-for object was found. this body, like the first of its kind, was very small, and was found to be moving from west to east in nearly the same orbit as its predecessor. here then was something wonderful. olbers at once advanced the hypothesis that probably the two bodies thus discovered were fragments of what had been a large planet moving in its orbit through this part of the heavens. if so there might be--and probably were--others of like kind. the search was at once renewed, and on the night of the first of september, , the third of the asteroid group was found by the astronomer hardy, of bremen. the belief that a large planet had been disrupted in this region was strengthened, and astronomers continued their exploration; but two years and a half elapsed before another asteroid was found. on the evening of march , , the diligence of olbers was rewarded with the discovery of the fourth of the group, which like its predecessors, was so small and irregular in character as still further to favor the fragmentary theory. how shall we name the asteroids? piazzi fell back upon pagan mythology for the name of his little world, and called it ceres, from the roman goddess of corn. olbers named the second asteroid pallas; the third was called juno--whose rank in the greek and roman pantheon might have suggested one of the major planets as her representative in the skies; and the fourth was called vesta, from the roman divinity of the hearthstone. here then there was a pause. though the zodiac continued to be swept by many observers, a period of more than thirty-eight years went by before the fifth asteroid was found. the cycle of these discoveries strikingly illustrates the general movement of scientific progress. first there is a new departure; then a lull, and then a resumption of exploration and a finding more fertile than ever. it was on the night of the eighth of december, , that the german astronomer hencke discovered the fifth asteroid and named it astræa. after a year and a half, namely, on the night of the first of july, , the same observer discovered the sixth member of the group, and to this was given the name hebe. on the thirteenth of august in the same year the astronomer hind found the seventh asteroid, and named it iris. on the eighteenth of october following he found the eighth, and this was called flora. then on the twenty-fifth of april, , came the discovery of metis, by graham. nearly a year later the italian de gasparis found the tenth member of the system, that is, hygeia. de gasparis soon discovered the eleventh body, which was called parthenope. this was on the eleventh of may, . two other asteroids were found in this year; and two in . in the following year _nine_ were discovered; and so on from year to year down to the present date. some years have been fruitful in such finds, while others have been comparatively barren. in a number of the years, only a single asteroid has been added to the list; but in others whole groups have been found. thus in twelve were discovered; in , twelve; in , _seventeen_; in , fourteen. not a single year since has passed without the addition of at least one known asteroid to the list. but while the number has thus increased to an aggregate at the close of of three hundred and one, many of the tiny wanderers have escaped. some have been rediscovered; and it is possible that some have been twice or even three times found and named. the whole family perhaps numbers not only hundreds, but thousands; and it can hardly be doubted that only the more conspicuous members of the group have ever yet been seen by mortal eye. a considerable space about the centre of the planetary zone between mars and jupiter is occupied with these multitudinous pigmy worlds that follow the one the other in endless flight around the sun. it is a sort of planetary shower; and it can hardly be doubted that the bodies constituting the flight are graded down in size from larger to smaller and still smaller until the fragments are mere blocks and bits of world-dust floating in space. possibly there may be enough of such matter to constitute a sort of planetary band that may illumine a little (as seen from a distance) the zone where it circulates. as to the origin of this seemingly fragmentary matter, we know nothing, and conjectures are of little use in scientific exposition. it may be true that a large planet once occupied the asteroidal space, and that the same has been rent by some violence into thousands of fragments. it may be observed that the period of rotation of the inferior planets corresponds in general with that of our earth, while the corresponding period of the superior or outside planets is less than one-half as great. the forces which produced this difference in the period of rotation may have contended for the mastery in that part of our solar system where the asteroids are found; and the disruption may have resulted from such conflict of forces. or again, it may be that a large planet is now in process of formation in the asteroidal space. possibly one of the greater fragments may gain in mass by attracting to itself the nearer fragments, and thus continue to wax until it shall have swept clean the whole pathway of the planetary matter, except such small fragments as may after æons of time continue to fall upon the master body, as our meteorites now at intervals rush into our atmosphere and sometimes reach the earth. some astronomers have given and are still giving their almost undivided attention to asteroidal investigation. the discoveries have been mostly made by a few principal explorers. the astronomer, palisa, from the observatory of pola and that of vienna, has found no fewer than seventy-five of the whole group. the observer, peters, at clinton, new york, has found forty-eight asteroids; luther, of düsseldorf, twenty-four; watson, of ann arbor, twenty-two; borrelly, of marseilles, fifteen; goldschmidt, of paris, fourteen, and charlois, of nice, fourteen. the english astronomers have found only a few. among such, hind of london, who has-discovered ten asteroids, is the leader. the italian, german and american astronomers are first in the interest and success which they have shown in this branch of sky-lore. their investigations have made us acquainted with the dim group of little worlds performing their unknown part in the vast space between the warrior planet and jove. the story of neptune. the discovery of the planet neptune by dr. galle on the twenty-third of september, , was one of the most important events in the intellectual history of this century. certainly it was no small thing to find a new world. discoverers on the surface of our globe are immortalized by finding new lands in unknown regions. what, therefore, should be the fame of him who finds a new world in the depths of space? perhaps the discoverer of an asteroid or planetary moon may not claim, in the present advanced stage of human knowledge, to rank among the flying evangels of history; but he who found the great planet third in rank among the worlds of the solar system, a world having a mass nearly seventeen times as great as that of our own, may well be regarded as one of the immortals. we have referred the discovery of neptune to dr. johann gottfried galle, the german astronomer and professor of natural sciences at berlin. but this dr. galle was only the _eye_ with which the discovery was made. he was a good eye; but the eye, however clear, is only an organ of something greater than the eye, and that something in this case consisted of two parts. the first part was urbain jean joseph leverrier, the french astronomer, of the paris observatory. the other part was professor john couch adams, the astronomer of the university at cambridge, england. these two were the thinkers; that is, they were, as it were, jointly the great mind of the age, of which galle was the eye. in getting a clear notion of the discovery of neptune, several other personages are to be considered. one of these is the astronomer alexis bouvart, of france, who was born in haute savoie, in , and died in june of , three years before neptune was found. another personage was his nephew, the astronomer e. bouvart, and a third was the noted prussian, friedrich wilhelm bessel, director of the observatory at königsberg, who was born in , and died on the seventeenth of march, , only six months before the discovery of our outer planet. still another character to be commemorated is the english astronomer professor james challis, plumian professor and director of the observatory at cambridge, england. this contributor to the great event was born in , and died at cambridge on the third of december, . still another, not to be disregarded, is dr. t.j. hussey, of hayes, england, whose mind seems to have been one of the first to anticipate the existence of an ultra-uranian planet. and still again, the english astronomer royal, sir g.b. airy must be mentioned as a contributor to the final result; but he is to be regarded rather as a contributor by negation. the great actors in the thing done were leverrier, adams and galle. english authors contend strongly for placing the names in this order: adams, leverrier and galle. suffice it to say that when uranus was discovered by the elder herschel in , that world was supposed to be the outside planet of our system. hitherto the splendid saturn had marked the uttermost excursion of astronomical knowledge as it respected our solar group. for about a quarter of a century after herschel's discovery the world rested upon it as a finality. the orbit of uranus was thought to circumscribe the whole. but in the meantime, observations of this orbit led to the knowledge that it did not conform in all respects to astronomical and mathematical conditions. the orbit showed irregularities, disturbances, perturbations, that could not be accounted for when all of the known mathematical calculations were applied thereto. uranus was seen to get out of his path. at times he would lag a little, and then at other times appear to be accelerated. each year, when the earth would swing around on the uranian side of the sun, the observations were renewed, but always with the result that the planet did not seem to conform perfectly to the conditions of his orbit. what could be the cause of this seeming disregard of mathematical laws? astronomers could not accept the supposition that there was any actual violation of the known conditions of gravitation. certainly uranus was following his orbit under the centripetal and centrifugal laws in the same manner as the other planets. there must, therefore, be some undiscovered disturbing cause. it had already been noted that in the case of the infra-uranian planets they were swayed somewhat from their paths by the mutual influence of one upon the other. this was noticeable in particular in the movements of jupiter, saturn and uranus. when saturn, for instance, would be on the same side of the sun with jupiter, it might be noted that the latter was drawn outward and the former inward from their prescribed curves. the perturbation was greatest when the planets were nearest, together. in like manner uranus did obeisance to both his huge neighbors on the sun's side of his orbit. he, too, veered toward them as he passed, and they in turn recognized the courtesy by going out of their orbits as they passed. what, therefore, should be said of the outswinging movement of uranus from his orbit in that part of his course where no disturbing influence was known to exist? certainly _something_ must be in that quarter of space to occasion the perturbation. what was it? it would appear that the elder bouvart, the french astronomer referred to above, was the first to suggest that the disturbances in the orbit of uranus, throwing that planet from his pathway outward, might be and probably were to be explained by the presence in outer space of an unknown ultra-uranian planet. bouvart prepared tables to show the perturbations in question, and declared his opinion that they were caused by an unknown planet beyond. no observer, however, undertook to verify this suggestion or to disprove it. nor did bouvart go so far as to indicate the particular part of the heavens which should be explored in order to find the undiscovered world. his tables, however, do show from the perturbations of the orbits of jupiter, saturn and uranus that the same are caused by the mutual influence of the planets upon one another. it seems to have remained for dr. t.j. hussey, of hayes, england, to suggest the actual discovery of the unknown planet by following the clew of the disturbance produced by its presence in a certain field of space. dr. hussey, in , wrote to sir george biddell airy, astronomer royal at greenwich, suggesting that the perturbation of the orbit of uranus might be used as the clew for the discovery of the planet beyond. but sir george was one of those safe, conservative scholars who scorn to follow the suggestions of genius, preferring rather to explore only what is known already. he said in answer that he doubted if the irregularity in the uranian orbit was in such a state of demonstration as to give any hope of the discovery of the disturbing cause. he doubted even that there was such irregularity in the uranian orbit. he was of opinion that the observers had been mistaken in the alleged detection of perturbations. so the greenwich observatory was not used on the line of exploration suggested by hussey. three years afterward, and again in , sir george received letters from the younger bouvart, again suggesting the possibility and probability of discovering the ultra-uranian planet. these hints were strengthened by a letter from bessel, of königsberg. but sir george b. airy refused to be led in the direction of so great a possibility. it was in that professor james challis, of the cambridge observatory, appealed to sir george for the privilege of using or examining the recorded observations made at greenwich of the movements of uranus, saying that he wished these tables for a young friend of his, mr. john c. adams, of cambridge, who had but recently taken his degree in mathematics. adams was at that date only twenty-five years of age. the royal astronomer granted the request, and for about a year adams was engaged in making his calculations. these were completed, and in september of , challis informed sir george airy that according to the calculations of adams the perturbations of uranus were due to the influence of an unknown planet beyond. the young mathematician indicated in his conclusions at what point in the heavens the ultra-uranian world was then traveling, and where it might be found. but even these mathematical demonstrations did not suffice to influence sir george in his opinions. he was an englishman! he refused or neglected to take the necessary steps either to verify or to disprove the conclusions of adams. he held in hand the mathematical computations of that genius from october of to june of the following year, when the astronomer leverrier, of paris, published to the world his own tables of computation, proving that the disturbances in the orbit of uranus were due to the influence of a planet beyond, and indicating the place where it might be found. there was a close agreement between the point indicated by him and that already designated by adams. it seems that this french publication at last aroused sir george airy, who now admitted that the calculations of adams might be correct in form and deduction. he accordingly sent word to professor challis to begin a search for the unknown orb. the latter did begin the work of exploration, and presently saw the planet. but he failed to recognize it! there it was; but the observer passed it over as a fixed star. as for leverrier, he sent his calculations to dr. galle, of berlin; and that great observer began his search. on the night of the twenty-third of september, , he not only _saw_ but _caught_ the far-off world. there it was, disc and all; and a few additional observations confirmed the discovery. hereupon sir george airy broke out with a claim that the discovery belonged to adams. he was able to show that adams had anticipated leverrier by a few months in his calculations; but the french scholars were able to carry the day by showing that adams' work had been void of results. the world went with the french claim. adams was left to enjoy the fame of merit among the learned classes, but the great public fixed upon leverrier as the genius who did the work, and dr. galle as his eye. several remarkable things followed in the train. it was soon discovered that both leverrier and adams had been favored by chance in indicating the field of space where uranus was found. they had both proceeded upon the principle expressed in bode's law. this law indicated the place of neptune as . times the distance of the earth from the sun. a verification of the result showed that the new-found planet was actually only thirty times as far as the earth from the sun. in the case of all the other planets, their distances had been remarkably co-incident with the results reached by bode's law; but uranus seemed to break that law, or at least to bend it to the point of breaking--a result which has never to this day been explained. it chanced, however, that at the time when the predictions of leverrier and adams were sent, the one sent to galle and the other to challis, uranus and the earth and the sun were in such relations that the departure of the orbit of uranus from the place indicated by bode's law did not seriously displace the planet from the position which it should theoretically occupy. thus, after a little searching, challis found the new world, and knew it not; galle found it and knew it, and tethered it to the planetary system, making it fast in the recorded knowledge of mankind. while daniel o'connell, the greatest irishman of the present century, despairing of the cause of his country, lay dying in genoa, and while zachary taylor, at the head of a handful of american soldiers was cooping up the mexican army in the old town of monterey, a new world, , miles in diameter and seventeen times as great in mass as the little world on which we dwell, was found slowly and sublimely making its way around the well nigh inconceivable periphery of the solar system! evolution of the telescope. the development of telescopic power within the present century is one of the most striking examples of intellectual progress and mastery in the history of mankind. the first day of the century found us, not, indeed, where we were left by galileo and copernicus in the knowledge of the skies and in our ability to penetrate their depths, but it did find us advanced by only moderate stages from the sky-lore of the past. the after half of the eighteenth century presents a history of astronomical investigation and deduction which confirmed and amplified the preceding knowledge; but that period did not greatly widen the field of observation. if the sphere of space which had been explored on the first day of january, , could be compared with that which is now known and explored by our astronomers, the one sphere would be to the other even as an apple to the earth. it is difficult to apprehend the tremendous strides which we have made in the production of telescopes and the consequent increase in our sweep of the heavens. it was only in that the elder herschel began his work in the construction of reflecting telescopes. these he gradually increased in size, until near the close of the century, when he produced an instrument which magnified two hundred and twenty-seven diameters. in the course of his career he built two hundred telescopes, having a seven-foot focus; of ten feet and about eighty of twenty feet each. with these instruments the astronomical work in the last quarter of the eighteenth century was mostly performed. the study of the heavens at this epoch began to reach out from the planetary system to the fixed stars. in this work herschel led the way. the planet uranus at first bore the name of herschel, from its discoverer. sir john herschel, son of sir william, was born in . all of his astronomical work was accomplished in our century. following the line of his father, he used the reflecting telescope, and it was an instrument of this kind that he took to his observatory at the cape of good hope. lord rosse was born in the year . under his auspices the reflecting telescope reached its maximum of power and usefulness. his great reflector, built in his own grounds at birr castle, ireland, was finished in . this instrument was the marvel of that epoch. it had a focal distance of fifty-three feet, and an aperture of six feet. with this great telescope its master reached out into the region of the nebulæ, and began the real work of exploring the sidereal heavens. in the reflecting telescope, however, there are necessary limitations. before the middle of this century, it was known that the future of astronomy depended upon the refracting lens, and not on the speculum. the latter, in the hands of the two herschels and rosse, had reached its utmost limits--as is shown by the fact that to this day the rosse telescope is the largest of its kind in the world. meanwhile the production of refracting telescopes made but slow progress. as late as the largest instrument of this kind in the world was the eleven-inch telescope of the observatory at munich. the next in importance was a nine and a half-inch instrument at dorpat, in russia. this was the telescope through which the astronomer struve made his earlier studies and discoveries. his field of observation was for the most part the fixed and double stars. at this time the largest instrument in the united states was the five-inch refractor of yale college. soon afterward, namely, in , the observatory at philadelphia was supplied with a six-inch refracting telescope from munich. german makers were now in the lead, and it was not long until a munich instrument having a lens of eleven inches diameter was imported for the mitchell observatory on mount adams, overlooking cincinnati. about the same time a similar instrument of nine and a half inches aperture was imported for the national observatory at washington. to this period also belongs the construction of the cambridge observatory, with its fifteen-inch refracting telescope. another of the same size was produced for the royal observatory at pulkova, russia. this was in ; and that instrument and the telescope at cambridge were then the largest of their kind in the world. the history of the telescope-making in america properly begins with alvan clark, sr., of cambridgeport, massachusetts. it was in that he produced his first telescope. of this he made the lens, and such was the excellence of his work that he soon became famous, to the degree that the importation of foreign telescopes virtually ceased in the united states. nor was it long until foreign orders began to arrive for the refracting lenses of alvan clark & sons. the fame of this firm went out through all the world, and by the beginning of the last quarter of the century the clark instruments were regarded as the finest ever produced. we cannot here refer to more than a few of the principal products of clark & sons. gradually they extended the width of their lenses, gaining with each increase of diameter a rapidly increasing power of penetration. at last they produced for the royal observatory of pulkova a twenty-seven-inch objective, which was, down to the early eighties, the master work of its kind in the world. it was in the grinding and polishing of their lenses that the clarks surpassed all men. in the production of the glass castings for the lenses, the french have remained the masters. at the glass foundry of mantois, of paris, the finest and largest discs ever produced in the world are cast. but after the castings are made they are sent to america, to be made into those wonderful objectives which constitute the glory of the apparatus upon which the new astronomy relies for its achievements. it was in the year that the lick observatory on mount hamilton, of the coast range in southern california, was completed. the lens of this instrument is thirty-six inches in diameter. nor will the reader without reflection readily realize the enormous stride which was made in telescopy when the makers advanced from the twenty-seven-inch to the thirty-six-inch objective. lenses are to each other in their power of collecting light and penetrating apace as the squares of their diameters, and in the extent of space explored as the cubes of their diameters. the objective of the pulkova instrument is to that of the lick observatory as is to . the squares are as is to , and the cubes are as is to . this signifies that the depth of space penetrated by the lick instrument is to that of its predecessor as is to , and that the astronomical sphere resolved by the former is to the sphere resolved by the latter as is to --that is, the lick instrument at one bound revealed a universe _more than twice as great_ as all that was known before! the human mind at this one bound found opportunity to explore and to know a sidereal sphere more than twice as extensive as had ever been previously penetrated by the gaze of man. nor is this all. the ambition of american astronomers and american philanthropists has not been content with even the prodigious achievement of the lick telescope. in recent years an observatory has been projected in connection with the university of chicago, which has come almost to completion, and which will bear by far the largest telescopic instrument in the world. the site selected for the observatory is seventy-five miles from the city, on the northern shore of lake geneva. there is a high ground here, rising sufficiently into a clear atmosphere, nearly two hundred feet above the level of the lake. the observatory and the great telescope which constitutes its central fact are to bear the name of the donor, mr. yerkes, of chicago, who has contributed the means for rearing this magnificent adjunct of the university. the enterprise contemplated from the first the construction of the most powerful telescope ever known. the manufacture of the objective, upon which everything depends, was assigned to mr. alvan g. clark, of cambridgeport, massachusetts, who is the only living representative of the old firm of alvan clark & sons. alvan g. clark has inherited much of the genius of his father, though it is said that in making the lens of the lick observatory the father had to be called from his retirement to superintend personally some of the more delicate parts of the finishing before which task his sons had quailed. but the younger clark readily agreed to make the geneva lens, under the order of yerkes, and to produce a perfect objective _forty inches in diameter_! this important work, so critical--almost impossible--has been successfully accomplished. the making and the mounting of the yerkes telescope have been assigned to warner & swasey, of cleveland, ohio, who are recognized as the best telescope builders in america. the great observatory is approaching completion. the instrument itself has been finished, examined, accepted by a committee of experts, and declared to fulfill all of the conditions of the agreement between the founder and the makers. thus, just north of the boundary line between illinois and wisconsin, the greatest telescope of the world has been lifted to its dome and pointed to the heavens. the formal opening of the observatory is promised for the summer months of . the human mind by this agency has made another stride into the depths of infinite space. another universe is presently to be penetrated and revealed. a hollow sphere of space outside of the sphere already known is to be added to the already unthinkable universe which we inhabit. every part of the immense observatory and of the telescope is of american production, with the single important exception of the cast glass disc from which the two principal lenses, the one double convex and the other plano-concave, are produced. these were cast by mantois, of paris, whose superiority to the american manufacturers of optical glass is recognized. it is estimated that the yerkes telescope will gather three times as much light as the twenty-three-inch instrument of the princeton observatory. it surpasses in the same respect the twenty-six-inch telescope at the national observatory in the ratio of two and three-eighths to one. it is in the same particular one and four-fifth times as powerful as the instrument of the royal russian observatory at pulkova; and it surpasses the great lick instrument by twenty-three per cent. what the practical results of the study of the skies through this monster instrument will be none may predict. theoretically it is capable of bringing the moon to an apparent distance of sixty miles. under favorable circumstances the observer will be able to note the characteristics of the lunar landscape with more distinctness than a good natural eye can discern the outlines and character of the summit of pike's peak from denver. the instrument has sufficient power to reveal on the lunar disc any object five hundred feet square. such a thing as a village or even a great single building would be plainly discernible. professor c.a. young has recently pointed out the fact that the yerkes telescope, if it meets expectation, will show on the moon's surface with much distinctness any such object as the capitol at washington. it is complained that in america wealth is selfish and self-centred; that the millionaire cares only for himself and the increase of his already exorbitant estate. the ambition of such men as lick of san jose and yerkes of chicago, seems to ameliorate the severe judgment of mankind respecting the holders of the wealth of the world, and even to transform them from their popular character of enemies and misers into philanthropists and benefactors. the new astronomy. this century has been conspicuous above all centuries for new things. man has grown into new relations with both nature and thought. he has interpreted nearly everything into new phraseology and new forms of belief. the scientific world has been revolutionized. nothing remains in its old expression. chemistry has been phrased anew. the laws of heat, light and electricity have been either revised or discovered wholly out of the unknown. the concept of universal nature has been so translated and reborn that a philosopher coming again out of the eighteenth century would fail to understand the thought and speech of even the common man. in no other particular has the change been more marked than with respect to the general theory of the planetary and stellar worlds. a new astronomy has come and taken the place of the old. the very rudiments of the science have to be learned as it were in a new language, and under the laws and theories of a new philosophy. nature is considered from other points of view, and the general course of nature is conceived in a manner wholly different from the beliefs of the past. in a preceding study we have explained the general notion of planetary formation according to the views of the last century. the new astronomy presents another theory. beginning with virtually the same notion of the original condition of our world and sun cluster, the new view departs widely as to the processes by which the planets were formed, and extends much further with respect to the first condition and ultimate destiny of our earth. the new astronomy, like the old, begins with a nebular hypothesis. it imagines the matter now composing the solar group to have been originally dispersed through the space occupied by our system, and to have been in a state of attenuation under the influence of high heat. out of this condition of diffusion the solar system has been evolved. the idea is a creation by the process of evolution; it is evolution applied to the planets. more particularly, the hypothesis is that the worlds of our planetary system grew into their present state through a series of stages and slow developments extending over æons of time. this is the notion of world-growth substituted for that of world-production en masse by the action of centrifugal force and discharge from the solar equator. the new astronomy proposes in this respect two points of remarkable difference from the view formerly entertained. the first relates to the fixing of the planetary orbits, and the other to the process by which the planets have reached their present mass and character. the old theory would place a given world in its pathway around the sun by a spiral flinging off from the central body, and would allow that the aggregate mass of the globe so produced was fixed once for all at the beginning. the new theory supposes that a given planetary orbit, as for instance that of the earth, was marked in the nebula of our system before the system existed--that is, that our orbit had its place in the beginning just as it has now; that the orbit was not determined by solar revolution and centrifugal action, but that it was mathematically existent in the nebular sheet out of which the solar system was produced. other lines existed in the same sheet of matter. one of these lines or pathways was destined for the orbit of mercury; another for the orbit of venus. one was for the pathway of mars; another for the belt of the asteroids; another for jupiter; another for saturn, and still two others, far off on the rim, for uranus and neptune. the theory continues that such are the laws of matter that these orbital lines _must_ exist in a disc of fire mist such as that out of which our solar universe has been produced. the new astronomy holds firmly to the notion that the orbits of the planets are as much a part of the system as the planets themselves, and that both orbit and planet exist in virtue of the deep-down mathematical formulæ on which the whole material universe is constructed. secondly, the new astronomy differs from the old by a whole horizon in the notion of world-production. about the middle of the century the theory began to be advanced that the worlds _grew_ by accretion of matter; that they grew in the very paths which they now occupy; that they began to be with a small aggregation of matter rushing together in the line or orbit which the coming planet was to pursue. the planetary matter was already revolving in this orbit and in the surrounding spaces. it was already floating along in a nebulous superheated form capable of condensation by the loss of heat, but in particular capable of growth and development by the fall of surrounding matter upon the forming globe. we must remember that in the primordial state the elements of a planet, as for instance our earth, were mixed together and held in a state of tenuity ranging all the way from solid to highly vaporized forms, and that these elements subsequently and by slow adjustment got themselves into something approximating their present state. the new astronomy contemplates a period when each of the planets was a germinal nucleus of matter around which other matter was precipitated, thus producing a kind of world-growth or accretion. thus, for instance, our earth may be considered at a time when its entire mass would not, according to our measurement, have weighed a hundred pounds! it consisted of a nucleus around which extended, through a great space, a mass of attenuated planetary matter. the nucleus once formed the matter adjacent would precipitate itself by gravitation upon the surface of the incipient world. the precipitation would proceed as heat was given off into space. it was virtually a process of condensation; but the result appeared like growth. to the senses a planet would seem to be forming itself by accretion; and so, indeed, in one sense it was; for the mass constantly increased. as the nucleus sped on in the prescribed pathway, it drew to itself the surrounding matter, leaving behind it an open channel. the orbit was thus cleared of the matter, which was at first merely nebular, and afterward both nebular and fragmentary. the growth at the first was rapid. with each revolution a larger band of space was swept clear of its material. with each passage of the forming globe the matter from the adjacent spaces would rush down upon its surface, and as the mass of the planet increased the process would be stimulated; for gravitation is proportional to the mass. at length a great tubular space would be formed, having the orbit of the earth for its centre, and in this space the matter was all swept up. the tube enlarged with each revolution, until an open way was cut through the nebular disc, and then from the one side toward venus and from the other side toward mars the space widened and widened, until the globe took approximately by growth its present mass of matter. the nebulous material was drawn out of the inter-planetary space where it was floating, and the shower of star dust on the surface of the earth became thinner and less frequent. in some parts of the orbit bands or patches of this material existed, and the earth in passing through such hands drew down upon itself the flying fragments of such matter as it continues to do to the present day. what are meteoric displays but the residue of the primordial showers by which the world was formed? all this work, according to the new astronomy, took place while our globe was still in a superheated condition. the mass of it had not yet settled into permanent form. the water had not yet become water; it was steam. the metals had not yet become metals; they were rather the vapor of metals. at length they were the liquids of metals, and at last the solids. so, also, the rocks were transformed from the vaporous through the liquid into the solid form--all this while the globe was in process of condensation. it grew smaller in mathematical measurements at the same time that it grew heavier by the accretion of matter. at last the surface was formed, and in time that surface was sufficiently cooled to allow the vapors around it to condense into seas and oceans and rivers. there were ages of superficial softness--vast epochs of mud--in which the living beings that had now appeared wallowed and sprawled. we cannot trace the world-growth through all its stages but can only indicate them as it were in a sketch. the more important thing to be noted is the relation of our planet in process of formation to the great fact called life. here the new astronomy comes in again to indicate, theoretically at least, the philosophy of planetary evolution. each planet seems to pass through a vast almost inconceivable period in which its condition renders life on its surface or in its structure impossible. heat is at once the favoring and the prohibitory condition of life. without heat life cannot exist; with too great heat life cannot exist. with an intermediate and moderate degree of heat many forms of animate and inanimate existence may be promoted. these facts tend to show that every world has in its career an intermediate period which may be called the epoch of life. before the epoch of life begins there is in the given world no such form of existence. there is matter only. then at a certain stage the epoch of life begins. the epoch of life continues for a vast indeterminate period. no doubt in some of the worlds an epoch of life has been provided ten times as great, possibly a thousand times as great, as in other planets. after the epoch of life begins only certain forms of existence are for a while possible. then other and higher forms succeed them, and then still higher. thus the process continues until the highest--that is, the conscious and moral form of existence becomes possible, and that highest, that conscious, that moral form of being is ourselves. this is not all. the epoch of life seems to be terminable at the further extreme by a planetary condition in which life is no longer possible. the new astronomy indicates the coming of a condition in all the worlds when life must disappear therefrom and be succeeded by a lifeless state of worldhood. this may be called the epoch of death--that is, of world-death. it seems to be almost established by investigation and right reason that worlds die. they reach a stage in which they are lifeless. they cool down until the waters and gases that are on the surface and above the surface recede more and more into the surface and then into the interior, until they wholly disappear. cold takes the throne of nature. universal aridity supervenes, and all forms of vegetable and animate existence go away to return no more. they dwindle and expire. the conditions that have come are virtually conditions of death. whether the universe contains within itself, under the almighty supervision, certain arrangements and laws by which the dead world can be again cast into the crucible and regenerated by liberation through the action of heat into its primordial state once more and go the same tremendous round of planet life, we know not. the conception of such a process, even the dream or vague possibility of it, is sufficiently sublime and fills the mind with a great delight in contemplating the possible cycles through which the material universe is passing. at any rate, we may contemplate the three great stages of world-life with which we are already acquainted--that is, the birth stage, the epoch of life and the epoch of death. there is a birth, as also a life and a death of planets. richard a. proctor, of great fame, on one of his last tours of instructive lecturing among our people, had for his subject the "birth and death of worlds." the theme was not dissimilar to that which has been here presented in outline. the birth, the life and the death of worlds! such is a summary of that almost infinite history through which our earth is passing--the history which the globe is _making_ on its way from its nebulous to its final state. such, if we mistake not, is the story epitomized--the life history in brief--of all the worlds of space. they have each in its order and kind, an epoch of the beginning, then an epoch of growth and evolution, then an epoch of life--toward which all the preceding planet history seems to tend--and finally an epoch of death which must, in the course of infinite time, swallow from sight each planet in its turn, or at least reduce each from that condition in which it is an arena of animated existence into that state where it is a frozen and desert clod, still following its wonted path through space, still shining with a cold but cheerful face, _like our moon_, upon the silent abysses of the universe. what the worlds are made of. the present century was already well advanced before there was any solid ground for the belief that the worlds of space are made of analogous or identical materials. it was only with the invention of the spectroscope and the analysis of light that the material identity of universal nature was proved by methods which could not be doubted. the proof came by the spectroscope. this little instrument, though not famed as is its lordly kinsman the telescope, or even regarded with the popular favor of the microscope, has nevertheless carried us as far, and, we were about to say, taught us as much, as either of the others. it is one thing to see the worlds afar, to note them visibly, to describe their outlines, to measure their mass and determine their motions. it is another thing to know their constitution, the substances of which they are composed, the material condition in which they exist and the state of their progress in worldhood. the latter work is the task of the spectroscope; and right well has it accomplished its mission. the solar spectrum has been known from the earliest ages. when the sun-bow was set on the background of cloud over the diluvial floods, the living beings of that age saw a spectrum--the glorious spectrum of rain and shine. wherever the rays of light have been diffracted under given conditions by the agency of water drops, prism of glass or other such transparent medium, and the ray has fallen on a suitable screen, lo! there has been the beautiful spectrum of light. the artificial, intentional production of this phenomenon of light has long been known, and both novice and scientist have tested and improved the methods of getting given results. the child's soap-bubble shows it in miniature splendor. the pressure of one wet pane of glass against another reveals it. the breakage of nearly all crystalline substances brings something of the colored effects of light; but the triangular prism of glass, suitably prepared, best of all displays the analysis of the sun-beam into the colors of which it is composed. the spectroscope is the improved instrument by which the diffracting prism is best employed in producing the spectrum. the reader no doubt has seen a spectroscope, and has observed its beautiful work. in this place we pass, however, from the instrument of production to the spectrum, or analyzed result, as the same is shown on a screen. there the pencil of white light falling from the sun is spread out in the manner of a fan, presenting on the screen the following arrangement of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. this order of colors, beginning with red, starts from that side of the spectrum which is least bent from the right line in which the white ray was traveling. the violet rays are most bent. the red rays are thus said to be at the _lower_ edge of the prism, and the violet rays at the _upper_ edge. below the red rays there are now known to be certain invisible rays, as of heat and electricity. above the violet rays are other invisible rays, such as the actinic influence. in fact, the spectrum, beginning invisibly, passes by way of the visible rays to the invisible again. nor can any scientist in the world say at the present time _how much_ is really included in the spread-out fan of analyzed sunlight. thus much scientists have known for some time. certain other facts, however, in connection with the solar spectrum are of greater importance than are its more sensible phenomena. it was in the year that the english physicist, william hyde wollaston, discovered that the solar spectrum is crossed with a large number of _dark lines_. he it was who first mapped these lines and showed their relative position. he it was also who discovered the existence of invisible rays above the violet. twelve years afterward joseph von fraunhofer, of munich, a german optician of remarkable talents, took up the examination of the wollaston lines, and by his success in the investigation succeeded in attracting the attention of the world. this second stage in scientific discovery is generally that which receives the plaudits of mankind. it was so in the case of fraunhofer. his name was given to the dark lines in the solar spectrum, and the nomenclature is retained to the present time. they are called the "fraunhofer lines." it was soon discovered that the lines in question as produced in the spectrum are due to the presence of gases in the producing flame or source of light. it was also discovered that each substance in, the process of combustion yields its own line or set of lines. these appear at regular intervals in the spectrum. when several substances are consumed at the same time; the lines of each appear in the spectrum. the result is a _system_ of lines, becoming more and more complex as the number of elements in the consuming materials is increased. the lines in a narrow spectrum fall so closely together that they cannot be critically examined; but when more than one prism is used and the spectrum by this means spread out widely, the dark lines are made to stand apart. they are then found to number many thousands. we speak now of the analysis of sunlight. experimentation was naturally turned, however, to terrestrial gases and solids on fire, and it was found that these also produce like series of dark lines in the spectrum. or when the substances are consumed _as solids_, then the spectral effects are reversed, and the lines that would be dark lines in the luminous colored spectrum become themselves luminous lines on the screen; but these lines hold the same relation in mathematical measurement, etc., as do the _dark_ lines in the colored spectrum. skillful spectroscopists succeeded in detecting and delineating the lines that were peculiar to each substance. by burning such substances in flame, they were able to produce the lines, and thus verify results. by such experimentation the various lines present in the solar spectrum were separated from the complex result, and the conclusion was reached that in the burning surface of the sun certain substances _well known on earth are present_; for the lines of those substances are shown in the spectrum. no other known substances would produce the given lines. the conclusion is overwhelming that the substances in question are present in a gaseous condition in the burning flames of the sun. down to the present time the examination of the sun's atmosphere has shown the existence therein of thirty-six known elements. these include sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, cobalt, silver, lead, tin, zinc, titanium, aluminium, chromium, silicon, carbon, hydrogen and several others. it was thus established that in the constitution of the sun many of the well-known elements of the earth are present. there could be no mistake about it. an identity of lines in such a case proved beyond dispute the identity of the substance from which such lines are derived. the existence of common materials in the central sphere of our system and in _one_ of his attendant orbs--our own--could not be doubted. the discovery of such a fact led by immediate inference to the expectation and belief that the _other_ planets were of like constitution, or in a word, that the whole solar system was essentially composed of identical materials. as the inquiry proceeded, it was found, however, that the agreement in the lines of different spectra was not perfect. lines would be found in the spectrum derived from one source that were not present in a spectrum derived from another source. materials were therefore suggested as present in one body that were not present in another. still further inquiry confirmed the belief that while there is a general uniformity in the materials of our solar system, the identity is not complete in all. an element is found in one part that may not be found in another. hydrogen shows its line in the spectrum derived from every heavenly body that has been investigated; but not so aluminium or cobalt. sodium, that is, the salt-producing base, is discovered everywhere, but not nickel or arsenium. the result, in a word, shows a certain variability in the distribution of solar and planetary matter, but a general identity of most. the question next presented itself as to the character of the luminous bodies _beyond_ the solar system. of what kind of matter are the comets? of what kind are the fixed stars? of what kind are the nebulæ? could the spectroscope be used in determining also the character of the materials in those orbs that we see shining in the depths of space? the instrument was turned in answer to these questions to the sidereal heavens. no other branch of science has been prosecuted in the after half of this century with more zeal and success than has the spectroscopic analysis of the fixed stars. these are known by the telescope to have the character of suns. the most general fact of the visible heavens is the plentiful distribution of suns. they sparkle everywhere as the so-called fixed stars. to them the telescope has been virtually turned in vain. we say in vain because no single fixed star has, we believe, ever been made by aid of the telescope to show a disc. on turning the telescope to a fixed star, its brightness, its brilliancy, increases according to the power of the instrument. coming into the field of one of these great suns of space, the telescope shows a miraculous dawn spreading and blazing into a glorious sunrise, and a sun itself flaming like infinite majesty on the sight; but there is no disc--nothing but a blaze of glory. thus in a sense the telescope has worked in vain on the visible heavens. but not so the spectroscope. the latter has done its glorious work. turning to a given fixed star, it shows that the tremendous combustion going on therein is virtually the same as that in our own sun. there, too, is flaming hydrogen, and there is carbon and oxygen and iron and sodium and potassium and many other of the leading elements of what we thus know to be universal nature. the suns are all akin; they are cousins-german. they are of the same family--they and their progeny. they were born of the same universal fact. they are of the same father! they are builded on the same plan, and they have a common destiny. aye, more, the nebulæ that float far off, swanlike, in the infinitudes, are of the same family. the nebulæ may be regarded as the mothers of universes. it is out of their bosoms that the life and substance of all suns and worlds are drawn! and these, too, are composed of the common matter of universal nature. it is the same matter that we eat and drink. it is the same that we breathe. it is the same that we see aflame in our lamps and grates. it is the same that is borne to us in the fragrance of flowers planted on the graves of our dead. it is the common hydrogen and carbon and oxygen and nitrogen of our earth and its envelope. it is the soda of our bread; the potassa of our ashes; the phosphorus of our bones and brain! indeed, the universe throughout is of one form and one substance, and there is one father over all. sooner or later the concepts of science and of religion will come together; and the small agitations and conflicts of human thought and hope will pass away in a sublime unity of human faith. progress in discovery and invention. the first steamboat and its maker. on the night of the second of july, , a man at a little old tavern in bardstown, kentucky, committed suicide. if ever there was a justifiable case of self-destruction, it was this. no human being is permitted to take his own life, but there are instances in which the burden of existence becomes well-nigh intolerable. in the case just mentioned, the man went to his room and took poison. he was a little more than fifty-five years of age, but was prematurely old from the hardships to which he had been subjected. he had not a penny. his clothes were worn out. a dirty shirt, made of coarse materials, was seen through the rags of his coat. his face was haggard, wrinkled, written all over with despair, the lines of which not even the goodness of death was able to dispel. the man had seen the old world and the new, but had never seen happiness. he had followed his forlorn destiny from his native town of south windsor, connecticut, where he was born on the twenty-first of january, . his body was buried in the graveyard of bardstown, then a frontier village. no one contributed a stone to mark the grave. nor has that duty ever been performed. the spot became undistinguishable as time went by, and we believe that there is not a man in the world who can point out the place where the body of john fitch was buried. the grave of the inventor of the steamboat, hidden away, more obscurely than that of jean valjean in the cemetery of père-lachaise, will keep the heroic bones to the last day, when all sepulchres of earth shall set free their occupants and the great sea's wash cast up its dead! the life of john fitch is, we are confident, the saddest chapter in human biography. the soul of the man seems from the first to have gone forth darkly voyaging, like poe's raven, --"whom unmerciful disaster followed fast and followed faster, till his song one burden bore, till the dirges of his hope the melancholy burden bore,-- of 'nevermore--nevermore!'" certainly it was nevermore with him. his early years were made miserable by ill-treatment and abuse. his father, a close-fisted farmer and an elder brother of the same character, converted the boyhood life of john fitch into a long day of grief and humiliation and a long night of gloomy dreams. then at length came an ill-advised and ill-starred marriage, which broke under him and left him to wander forth in desolation. he went first from connecticut to trenton, n.j., and there in his twenty-sixth year began to ply the humble trade of watch-maker. then he became a gunsmith, making arms for the patriots of seventy-six, until what time the british destroyed his shop. then he was a soldier. he suffered the horrors of valley forge; and before the conclusion of the peace he went abroad in the country as a tinker of clocks and watches. his peculiarity of manner and his mendicant character made him the butt of neighborhoods. in he was sent as a deputy-surveyor from virginia into kentucky, and after nearly two years spent in the country between the kentucky and green rivers, he went back to philadelphia. on a second journey to the west his party was assailed by the indians at the mouth of the muskingum, and most were killed. but he was taken captive, and remained with the red men for nearly a year. but he escaped at last, and got back to a pennsylvania settlement. fitch next lived for a year or two in and did approve of the invention, he withheld any public endorsement of it. month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. fitch got the reputation of being a crazy man. to save himself from starvation, he made a map of the territory northwest of the river ohio, doing the work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions on a cider-press! early in he succeeded in the formation of a small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden. the inventor also secured patents from new jersey, new york, pennsylvania, delaware and virginia, granting to him the exclusive right to use the waters of those states for fourteen years for purposes of steam navigation. hereupon a boat was built and launched in the delaware. it was forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. there were six oars, or paddles on each side. the engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and the route of service contemplated was between philadelphia and burlington. the inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling. he who might have been in philadelphia on the twenty-second of august, , and did approve of the invention, he withheld any public endorsement of it. month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. fitch got the reputation of being a crazy man. to save himself from starvation, he made a map of the territory northwest of the river ohio, doing the work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions on a cider-press! early in he succeeded in the formation of a small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden. the inventor also secured patents from new jersey, new york, pennsylvania, delaware and virginia, granting to him the exclusive right to use the waters of those states for fourteen years for purposes of steam navigation. hereupon a boat was built and launched in the delaware. it was forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. there were six oars, or paddles on each side. the engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and the route of service contemplated was between philadelphia and burlington. the inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling. he who might have been in philadelphia on the twenty-second of august, , would have witnessed a memorable thing. the convention for the framing of a constitution for the united states of america was in session. for some time the body had been wearing itself into exhaustion over this question and that question which seemed impossible of solution. on the day referred to, the convention, on invitation, adjourned, and the members, including the father of his country, who was president, went down to the water's edge to see a sight. there fitch's steamboat was to make its trial trip, and there the trial trip was made, with entire success. they who were building the ship of state could but applaud the performance of the little steamer that sped away toward burlington. but the applause was of that kind which the wise and conservative folk always give to the astonishing thing done by genius. the wise and conservative folk look on and smile and praise, but do not commit themselves. most dangerous it is for a politician to commit himself to a beneficial enterprise; for the people might oppose it! the facts here referred to are fully attested in indisputable records. there are files of philadelphia newspapers which contain accounts of fitch's boat. a line of travel and traffic was established between philadelphia and burlington. there was also a steam ferryboat on the delaware. a second boat, called the "perseverance," was designed for the waters of the mississippi; but this craft was wrecked by a storm, and then the patent under which the ohio river and its confluent waters were granted, expired, and the enterprise had to be abandoned. on the fourth of september, , the following advertisement of the "pennsylvania packet" appeared in a philadelphia paper: "the steamboat will set out this morning, at eleven o'clock, for messrs. gray's garden, at a quarter of a dollar for each passenger thither. it will afterwards ply between gray's and middle ferry, at d each passenger. to-morrow morning, sunday, it will set off for burlington at eight o'clock, to return in the afternoon." this pennsylvania packet continued to ply the delaware for about three years. the mechanical construction of the boat was not perfect; and shortly after the date to which the above advertisement refers the little steamer was ruined by an accident. the story is told by thomas p. cope, in the seventh volume of hazard's _register_. he says: "i often witnessed the performance of the boat in - - . it was propelled by paddles in the stern, and was constantly getting out of order. i saw it when it was returning from a trip to burlington, from whence it was said to have arrived in little more than two hours. when coming to off kensington, some part of the machinery broke, and i never saw it in motion afterward. i believe it was his [fitch's] last effort. he had, up to that period, been patronized by a few stout-hearted individuals, who had subscribed a small capital, in shares, i think, of six pounds pennsylvania currency; but this last disaster so staggered their faith and unstrung their nerves, that they never again had the hardihood to make other contributions. indeed, they already rendered themselves the subjects of ridicule and derision for their temerity and presumption in giving countenance to this wild projector and visionary madman. the company thereupon gave up the ghost, the boat went to pieces, and fitch became bankrupt and brokenhearted. often have i seen him stalking about like a troubled spectre, with downcast eye and lowering countenance, his coarse, soiled linen peeping through the elbows of a tattered garment." with the breakdown of his enterprise, john fitch went forth penniless into the world. the patent which he received from the united states in , was of small use. how little can a pauper avail himself of a privilege! presently his patent was burned up, and a year afterward, namely in , he went to france. there he would--according to his dream--find patronage and fame; but on his arrival in the french capital he found the reign of terror just beginning its work. it was not likely that the revolutionary tribunal would give heed to an american dreamer and his proposition to propel by steam a boat on the seine. however, fitch went to l'orient and deposited the plans and specifications of his invention with the american consul. then he departed for london. in the following year a man by the name of robert fulton took up his residence with the family of joel barlow, in paris. there he devoted himself to his art, which was that of a painter. whoever had passed by the corner of second and walnut streets, in philadelphia while fitch was constructing his first steamboat, might have seen a little sign carrying these words: "robert fulton, miniature painter." but now, after nearly ten years, he was painting a panorama in france. while thus engaged, the american consul at l'orient showed to fulton fitch's drawings and specifications for a steamboat. more than this, _he loaned them to him, and he kept them for several months_. a thrifty man was robert fulton; discerning, prudent and capable! meanwhile, poor fitch, in , returned to america. on the ship he worked his way as one of the hands. getting again to new york he determined to make his way into that region of country where he had been a surveyor in . he accordingly set out from new york for kentucky, but not till he had invented, or rather constructed, a steamboat, which was driven by _a screw propeller_! this, in , he launched on the collect pond, in what is now lower new york. the boat was successful as an experiment; but the people who saw it looked upon its operation and upon the thing itself as the product of a crazy man's brain. he who now passes along the streets of the metropolis will come upon a vendor of toys, who will drop upon the pavement an artificial miniature tortoise, rabbit, rat, or what not, well wound up; and the creature will begin to crawl, or dance, or jump, or run, according to its nature. the busy, conservative man smiles a superior smile, and passes on. it was in such mood that the old new yorker of witnessed the going of fitch's little screw propeller on the pond. it was a toy of the water. after this the poor spectre left for the west. the spring of found him at bardstown, with the model of a little three-foot steamboat, which he launched on a neighboring stream. there he still told his neighbors that the time would come when all rivers and seas would be thus navigated. but they heeded not. the spectre became more spectral. at last, about the beginning of july, in the year just named, he gave up the battle, crept into his room at the little old tavern, took his poison, and fell into the final sleep. we shall conclude this sketch of him and his work with one of his own sorrowful prophecies: "the day will come," said he in a letter, "when some more powerful man will get fame and riches from _my_ invention; but nobody will believe that poor john fitch can do anything worthy of attention." than this there is, we think, hardly a more pathetic passage in the history of the sons of men! telegraphing before morse. there is a great fallacy in the judgment of mankind about the method of the coming of new things. people imagine that new things come all at once, but they do not. nothing comes all at once; that is, no thing. in the facts of the natural world, that is, among visible phenomena of the landscape, the judgment of people is soon corrected. there it is seen that everything grows. the growth is sometimes slow and sometimes rapid; but everything comes gradually out of its antecedents. no tree or shrub or flower ever came immediately. no living creature on the face of the earth begins by instantaneous apparition. the chick gets out of its shell presently, but even that takes time. every living thing comes on by degrees from a germ, and the germ is generally microscopic! nature is, indeed, a marvel! the facts of human life, whether tangible or intangible, have this same method. for example, there has not been an invention known to mankind that has not come on in the manner of growth. the antecedents of it work on and on in a tentative way, producing first this trial result and then that, always approaching the true thing; and even the true thing when it comes is not perfect. it is made perfect afterward. there was never an instantaneous invention, and there was never a complete one! it is doubtful whether there is at the present time a single complete, that is perfect or perfected, invention in the world. they are all of partial development. they show in their history their origin, their growth, their gradual approximation to the perfect form. all of the marvelous contrivances which, fill the arena of our civilization, making it first vital and then vocal, have come by the evolutionary process. every one of them has a history which is more and more obscure as we follow it backward to its source. in every case, however, there comes a time when a given discovery, manifesting itself in a given invention, takes a sort of spectacular character, and it is then rather suddenly revealed to the consciousness of mankind. of this general law the telegraph affords a conspicuous example. the whole world knows the story of the telegraph of morse. it was in that the work of this great inventor was publicly demonstrated to the world. then it was that the electro-magnetic telegraph in its first rude estate began to be used in the transmission of messages and other written information. it has come to pass that "telegraph" means virtually _electric_ telegraph. the people of to-day seem to have forgotten that the telegraph is not necessarily dependent on the electrical current. they have forgotten that back of the morse invention other means had been employed of transmitting information at a distance. they have forgotten that it was by the most gradual and tedious process that the old telegraphic methods were evolved into the new. note with wonder how this great invention began, and through what stages it passed to completion. there is a natural telegraphy. whoever stands in an open place and calls aloud to his fellow mortal at a distance _telegraphs_ to him. at least he telephones to him; that is, _sounds_ to him at a distance. the air is the medium, the vocal cords in vibration the source of the utterance, and the ear of the one at a distance the audiphonic receiver. this sort of telegraphy is original and natural with human beings, and it is common to them and the lower animals. all the creatures that have vocality use this method. it were hard to say how humble is the creeping thing that does not rasp out some kind of a message to its fellow insect. some, like the fireflies, do their telegraphing with a lantern which they carry. the very crickets are expert in telegraphy, or telephony, which is ultimately the same thing. after transmitted sound the next thing is the visible signal, and this has been employed by human beings from the earliest ages in transmitting information to a distance. it is a method which will perhaps never be wholly abandoned. observe the surveyors running a trial line. far off is the chain bearer and here is the theodolite. the man with the standard watches for the signal of the man with the instrument. the language is _seen_ and the message understood, though no word is spoken. here the sunlight is the wire, and the visible motion of the hands and arms the letters and words of the message. the ancients were great users of this method. they employed it in both peace and war. they occupied heights and showed signals at great distances. the better vision of those days made it possible to catch a signal, though far off, and to transmit it to some other station, likewise far away. in this manner bright objects were waved by day and torches by night. in times of invasion such a method of spreading information has been used down to the present age. nor may we fail to note the improved apparatus for this kind of signaling now employed in military operations. the soldiers on our frontiers in arizona, new mexico, and through the mountainous regions further north, are able to signal with a true telegraphic language to stations nearly a hundred miles away. considerable progress was made in telegraphy in the after part of the eighteenth century. this progress related to the transmission of visible messages through the air. in the time of the french revolution such contrivance occupied the attention of military commanders and of governing powers. a certain noted engineer named chappe invented at this epoch a telegraph that might be properly called successful. chappe was the son of the distinguished french astronomer, jean chappe d'auteroche, who died at san lucar, california, in . this elder chappe had previously made a journey into siberia, and had seen from that station the transit of venus in . hoping to observe the recurring transit, eight years afterward, he went to the coast of our then almost unknown california, but died there as stated above. the younger chappe, being anxious to serve the revolution, invented his telegraph; but in doing so he subjected himself to the suspicions of the more ignorant, and on one notable occasion was brought into a strait place--both he and his invention. the story of this affair is given by carlyle in the second volume of his "french revolution." one knows not whether to smile or weep over the graphic account which the crabbed philosopher gives of chappe and his work in the following extract: "what, for example," says he, "is this that engineer chappe is doing in the park of vincennes? in the park of vincennes; and onward, they say, in the park of lepelletier saint-fargeau, the assassinated deputy; and still onward to the heights of ecouen and farther, he has scaffolding set up, has posts driven in; wooden arms with elbow-joints are jerking and fugling in the air, in the most rapid mysterious manner! citoyens ran up, suspicious. yes, o citoyens, we are signaling; it is a device, this, worthy of the republic; a thing for what we will call far-writing without the aid of postbags; in greek it shall be named telegraph. '_telégraphê sacre_,' answers citoyenism. for writing to traitors, to austria?--and tears it down, chappe had to escape and get a new legislative decree. nevertheless he has accomplished it, the indefatigable chappe; this his far-writer, with its wooden arms and elbow-joints, can intelligibly signal; and lines of them are set up, to the north frontiers and elsewhither. on an autumn evening of the year two, far-writer having just written that condè town has surrendered to us, we send from the tuileries convention-hall this response in the shape of a decree: 'the name of condè is changed to _nord-libre_ (north free). the army of the north ceases not to merit well of the country.' to the admiration of men! for lo! in some half-hour, while the convention yet debates, there arrives this new answer: 'i inform thee (_je t'annonce_), citizen president, that the decree of convention, ordering change of the name condè into north free; and the other, declaring that the army of the north ceases not to merit well of the country, are transmitted and acknowledged by telegraph. i have instructed my officer at lille to forward them to north free by express.' signed, chappe." this successful telegraph of engineer chappe was not an electric telegraph, but a sunlight telegraph. is it in reality any more wonderful to use the electrical wave in the transmission of intelligible symbols than to use a wave of light? such seems to have been the opinion of mankind; and the coming of the electric telegraph was long postponed. the invention was made by slow approaches. in our country the notion has prevailed that morse did all--that others did nothing; but this notion is very erroneous. we are not to suppose that the chappe method of telegraphing became extinct after its first successful work. other references to what we _suppose_ to be the same instrument are found in the literature of the age. the wonder is that more was not written and more accomplished by the agency of chappe's invention. in the fall of the year , general bonaparte, who had been in egypt and the east, returned to europe and landed at frejus on his way to paris, with the dream of universal dominion in his head. in the first volume of the _memoirs of napoleon bonaparte_, his secretary m. de bourrienne, writing of the return to france says: "we arrived in paris on the th vendemiaire (the sixteenth of october). as yet he (napoleon) knew nothing of what was going on; for he had seen neither his wife nor his brothers, who were looking for him on the burgundy road. the news of our landing at frejus had reached paris _by a_ _telegraphic despatch_. madame bonaparte, who was dining with m. gohier when that despatch was communicated to him, as president of the directory, immediately set off to meet her husband," etc. we should be glad to know in what particular form that "telegraphic despatch" was delivered! but such are bourrienne's words! to the american reader the name of karl friedrich gauss may have an unfamiliar sound. gauss was already a youth of fourteen when morse was born, though the latter outlived the german mathematician by seventeen years. gauss was a professor of mathematics at göttingen, where he passed nearly the whole of his life. in the early part of the century he distinguished himself in astronomy and in other branches of physical science. he then became interested in magnetic and electrical phenomena, and in , with the assistance of wilhelm eduard weber, one of his fellow-professors, who died in , he erected at göttingen a magnetic observatory. there he began to experiment with the subtle agent which was soon to be placed at the service of mankind. the observatory was constructed without the use of iron, in order that the magnetic phenomena might be studied under favorable conditions. humboldt and arago had previously constructed laboratories without using iron--for iron is the great disturber--and from them gauss obtained his hint. weber was also expert in the management of magneto-electrical currents. gauss, with the aid of his co-worker, constructed a line of telegraph, and sent signals by the agency of the magnetic current to a neighboring town. this was nearly ten years before morse had fully succeeded in like experimentation. it appears that the german scientists regarded their telegraph as simply the tangible expression or apparatus to illustrate scientific facts and principles. it was for this reason, we presume, that no further headway was made at göttingen in the development of telegraphy. it was also for the additional reason that men rarely or never accept what is really the first demonstration and exemplification of a new departure in scientific knowledge. such is the timidity of the human mind--such its conservative attachment to the known thing and to the old method as against the new--that it prefers to stay in the tumble-down ruin of bygone opinions and practices, rather than go up and inhabit the splendid but unfamiliar temple of the future. gauss and weber were left with their scientific discovery; and, indeed, morse in the new world of practicality and quick adaptations, was about to be rejected and cast out. the sorrows through which he passed need not here be recounted. they are sufficiently sad and sufficiently humiliating. his unavailing appeals to the american congress are happily hidden in the rubbish of history, and are somewhat dimmed by the intervention of more than half a century. but his humiliation was extreme. smart congressmen, partisans, the ignorant flotsam of conventions and intrigues, heard the philosopher with contempt. a few heard him with sympathy; and the opinion in his favor grew, as if by the pressure of shame, until he was finally supported, and in a midnight hour of an expiring session of congress, or rather in the early morning of the fourth of march, , the munificent appropriation of $ , was placed at his disposal for the construction of an experimental line between washington and baltimore. the one thing was done. a new era of instantaneous communication between men and communities at a distance the one from the other was opened--an era which has proved to be an era of light and knowledge. nor may we conclude this sketch without noting the fact that, not a few of the members of the house of representatives who voted the pittance for the construction of the first line of actual working telegraph in the world, went home to their constituents and were ignominiously beaten for re-election--this this for the slight service which they had rendered to their country and the human race! when in new york city, turn thou to the west out of fifth avenue into twenty-second street, to the distance of, perhaps, ten rods, and there on a little marble slab set in the wall of a house on the north side of the street, read this curious epitaph: "in this house lived professor s.f.b, morse for thirty years and died!" the new light of men. by the law of nature our existence is divided between daylight and darkness. there is evermore the alternate baptism into dawn and night. the division of life is not perfect between sunshine and shadow; for the sunshine bends around the world on both horizons, and lengthens the hemisphere of day by a considerable rim of twilight. to this reduction of the darkness we must add moonshine and starlight. but we must also subtract the influence of the clouds and other incidental conditions of obscuration. after these corrections are made, there is for mankind a great band of deep night, wherein no man can work. whoever goes forth at some noon of night, when the sky is wrapped with clouds, must realize the utter dependence of our kind upon the light. how great is the blessing of that sublime and beautiful fact which the blind milton apostrophizes in the beginning of the third book of _paradise lost_: "hail, holy light! offspring of heaven first-born! or of eternal coëternal beam, may i express thee unblamed? since god is light, and never but in unapproached light dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, bright effluence of bright essence increate! or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream, whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun, before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice of god, as with a mantle, didst invest the rising world of waters dark and deep, won from the void and formless infinite." how then shall man overcome the darkness? it is one of the problems of his existence. he is obliged with each recurring sunset of his life to enter the tunnel of inky darkness and make his way through as best he may to the morning. what kind of lantern shall he carry as he gropes? the evolution of artificial light and of the means of producing it constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the history of our race. primeval man knew fire. he learned in some way how to kindle fire. the lowest barbarian may be defined as a fire-producing animal. the cave men of ancient europe kindled fires in their dark caverns. the lake dwellers had fires, both on shore and in their huts over the water. wherever there was a fire there was artificial light. the primitive barbarian walked around the embers of his fire and saw his shadow stretching out into the gloom of the surrounding night. with the slow oncoming of a better estate, the early philosophers of mankind invented lamps. very rude indeed were the first products in this kind of art. note the character of the lamps that have survived to us from the age of stone. still they are capable of holding oil and retaining a wick. further on we have lamps from the age of bronze, and at last from the age of iron. polite antiquity had its silver lamps, its copper lamps, and in a few instances its lamps of gold. the palaces of kings were sometimes lighted from golden reservoirs of oil. such may be seen among the relics preserved to us from the civilizations of western asia. the palace of priam, if we mistake not, had lamps of gold. the great greeks were the makers of beautiful lamps. in the age of the grecian ascendancy the streets of athens and of some other hellenic cities were lighted by night. the material of such illumination was oil derived either from animals or from vegetable products, such as the olive. in the forms of greek lamps we have an example of artistic beauty not surpassed or equaled in modern time; but the mechanical contrivance for producing the light was poor and clumsy. rome lighted herself artificially. she had her lamps and her torches and her chandeliers, as we see in the relics of herculaneum and pompeii. a roman procession by night was not wanting in brilliancy and picturesqueness. the quality of the light, however was poor, and there was always a cloud of smoke as well as of dust hovering about roman processions and triumphs. the earlier middle ages improved not at all; but with the renaissance there was an added elegance in the apparatus of illumination. chandeliers were made in italy, notably in venice, that might rival in their elegance anything of the present age. the art of such products was superior; but the old barbaric clumsiness was perpetuated in the mechanical part. with the rise of scientific investigation under the influence of inductive philosophy, all kinds of contrivances for the production of artificial light were improved. the ingenuity of man was now turned to the mechanical part, and one invention followed another with a constant development in the power of illumination. we can but remember, however, that until the present age many of the old forms of illuminating apparatus have been retained. in the ruder communities such things may still be seen. civilization in its progress from east to west across our continent followed a tallow candle. the light of it was seen by night through the window of the pioneer's cabin. the old forms of hanging lamps have hardly yet disappeared from the advance posts of the marching column. but meanwhile, other agencies have been discovered, and other forms of apparatus invented, until the branch of knowledge relating to illumination has become both a science and an art. within the memories of men still living, a great transformation has occurred. animal oils have virtually ceased to be employed as the sources of light. the vegetable world is hardly any longer drawn upon for its products. already before the discovery of petroleum and its multifarious uses the invention by chemical methods of illuminating materials had begun. many kinds of burning fluid had been introduced. the reign of these was short-lived; coal oil came in at the door and they flew out at the window. great was the advantage which seemed to come to mankind from the use of kerosene lamps. those very forms of illumination which are now regarded as crude in character and odious in use were only a generation ago hailed with delight because of their superiority to the former agents of illumination. thus much may suffice for all that precedes the coming of the new light of men. the new light flashes from the electrical glow. the application of electricity to purposes of illumination marks an era in human progress. the electrical light is, we think, high up among the most valuable and striking stages of civilized life in the nineteenth century. it is best calculated to affect favorably the welfare of the people, especially in great cities. the illumination of a city by night, making its streets to be lighted as if by day, is a more interesting and important fact in human history than any political conflict or mere change of rulers. about the beginning of the eighth decade of this century the project of introducing the electric light for general purposes of illumination began to be agitated. it was at once perceived that the advantages of such lighting were as many as they were obvious. the light is so powerful as to render practicable the performance of many mechanical operations as easily by night as by day. again, the danger of fire from illuminating sources is almost wholly obviated by the new system. the ease and expedition of all kinds of night employment are greatly enhanced. a given amount of illumination can be produced much more cheaply by electricity than by any means of gas lighting or ordinary combustion. among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of electric lighting was the philosopher gramme, of paris. in the early part of he successfully lighted his laboratory by means of electricity. soon afterward the foundry of ducommun & co., of mulhouse, was similarly lighted. in the course of the following year the apparatus for lighting, by means of carbon candles was introduced into many of the principal factories of france and other leading countries of europe. it may prove of interest in this connection to sketch briefly the principal features of the electric light system, and to trace the development of that system in our own and other countries. lighting by electricity is accomplished in several ways. in general, however, the principle by which the result is accomplished is one, and depends upon the resistance which the electrical current meets in its transmission through various substances. there are no perfect conductors of electricity. in proportion as the non-conductive quality is prevalent in a substance, especially in a metal, the resistance to the passage of electricity is pronounced, and the consequent disturbance among the molecular particles of the substance is great. whenever such resistance is encounted in a circuit, the electricity is converted into heat, and when the resistance is great, the heat is, in turn, converted into light, or rather the heat becomes phenomenal in light; that is, the substance which offers the resistance glows with the transformed energy of the impeded current. upon this simple principle all the apparatus for the production of electric light is produced. among the metallic substances, the one best adapted by its low conductivity to such resistance and transformation of force, is platinum. the high degree of heat necessary to fuse this metal adds to its usefulness and availability for the purpose indicated. when an electrical current is forced along a platinum wire too small to transmit the entire volume, it becomes at once heated--first to a red, and then to a white glow--and is thus made to send forth a radiance like that of the sun. of the non-metallic elements which offer similar resistance, the best is carbon. the infusibility of this substance renders it greatly superior to platinum for purposes of the electric light. near the beginning of the present century it was discovered by sir humphry davy that carbon points may be rendered incandescent by means of a powerful electrical current. the discovery was fully developed in the year , while the philosopher just referred to was experimenting with the great battery of the royal institution of london. he observed--rather by accident than by design or previous anticipation--that a strong volume of electricity passing between two bits of wood charcoal produces tremendous heat, and a light like that of the sun. it appears, however, that davy at first regarded the phenomenon rather in the nature of an interesting display of force than as a suggestion of the possibility of turning night into day. for nearly three-quarters of a century the discovery made by sir humphrey lay dormant among the great mass of scientific facts revealed in the laboratory. in the course of time, however, the nature of the new fact began to be apprehended. the electric lamp in many forms was proposed and tried. the scientists, niardet, wilde, brush, fuller, and many others of less note, busied themselves with the work of invention. especially did gramme and siemens devote their scientific genius to the work of turning to good account the knowledge now fully possessed of the transformability of the electric current into light. the experiments of the last named two distinguished inventors brought us to the dawn of the new era in artificial lighting. the russian philosopher, jablokhkoff, carried the work still further by the practical introduction of the carbon candle. other scientists--carre, foucault, serrin, rapieff, and werdermann--had, at an earlier or later day, thrown much additional information into the common stock of knowledge relative to the illuminating possibilities of electricity. finally, the accumulated materials of science fell into the hands of that untutored but remarkably radical inventor, thomas a. edison, who gave himself with the utmost zeal to the work of removing the remaining difficulties in the problem. edison began his investigations in this line of invention in september of , and in december of the following year gave to the public his first formal statement of results. after many experiments with platinum, he abandoned that material in favor of the carbon-arc _in vacuo_. the latter is, indeed, the essential feature of the edison light. a small semicircle, or horseshoe, of some substance, such as a filament of bamboo reduced to the form of pure carbon, the two ends being attached to the poles of the generating-machine, or dynamo, as the engine is popularly called, is enclosed in a glass bulb, from which the air has been carefully drawn, and is rendered incandescent by the passage of an electric current. the other important features of edison's discovery relate to the divisibility of the current, and its control and regulation in volume by the operator. these matters were fully mastered in the edison invention, and the apparatus rendered as completely subject to management as are the other varieties of illuminating agencies. it were vain to speculate upon the future of electric lighting. the question of artificial illumination has had much to do with the progress of the human race, particularly when aggregated into cities. doubtless the old systems of lighting are destined in time to give place altogether to the splendors of the electric glow. the general effect of the change upon society must be as marked as it is salutary. darkness, the enemy of good government and morality in great cities, will, in great measure, be dispelled by the beneficent agent, over which the genius of davy, gramme, brush, edison, and a host of other explorers in the new continents of science has so completely triumphed. the ease, happiness, comfort, and welfare of mankind must be vastly multiplied, and the future must be reminded, in the glow that dispels the night, of that splendid fact that the progress of civilization depends, in a large measure, upon a knowledge of nature's laws, and the diffusion of that knowledge among the people. the telephone. perhaps no other great invention of man has been within so short a period so widely distributed as the telephone. the use of the instrument is already co-extensive with civilization. the cost at which the instruments are furnished is still so considerable that the poor of the world are not able to avail themselves of the invention; but in the so-called upper circles of society the use of the telephone is virtually universal. it has made its way from the city to the town, from the town to the village, from the village to the hamlet, and even to the country-side where the millions dwell. the telephone came by a speedy revelation. it was born of that intense scientific activity which is the peculiarity of our age. the antecedent knowledge out of which it sprang had existed in various forms for a long time. the laws of acoustics were among the first to be investigated after a true physical science began to be taught. the phenomena of sound are so universal and experimentation in sound production so easy, that the governing laws were readily discovered. acoustics, we think, foreran somewhat the science of heat, as the science of heat preceded that of light. electricity came last. the telephone is an instrument belonging not wholly, not chiefly, but only in part, to acoustics. it owes its existence to magnetic induction and electrical transmission as much as to the mere action of sound. one foot of the instrument, so to speak, is acoustics, and the other foot electricity. the telephone philosophically considered is an instrument for the conversion of a sound-wave into electrical motion, and its reconversion into sound at a distance. the sound is, as it were, committed to the electrical current and is thus sent to the end of the journey, and there discharged with its message. the possibility of this result lies first of all in the fact of electrical transmission by wire, and in the second place to the mounting of a sound-rider on the electrical saddle for an instantaneous journey with important despatches! new results in scientific progress generally seem marvelous. the unfamiliar and unexpected thing is always a marvel; but scientifically considered, the telephone does not seem so surprising as at first view. the atmosphere is a conductor of sound. it is the natural agent of transmission, and so far as the natural man is concerned, it is his only agent for the transmission of oral utterance. if the unlearned man have his attention called to the surprising fact of hearing his fellow-man call out to him across a field or from far off on the prairie, he does not think it marvelous, but only natural. yet how strange it is that one human being can speak to another through the intervening space! it is strange that one should see another at a distance; but seeing and hearing at distances are natural functions of living creatures. the sunlight is for one sense and the sound-wave is for the other. the sound-wave travels on the atmosphere, and preserves its integrity. a given sound is produced, and the same sound is heard by some ear at a distance. all the people of the world are telephoning to one another; for oral speech leaping from the vocal organs of one human being to the ear of another is always telephonic. it is only when this phenomenon of speech at a distance is taken from the soft wings of the air, confined to a wire, and made to fly along the slender thread and deliver itself afar in a manner to which the world has hitherto been a stranger that the thing done and the apparatus by which it is done seem miraculous. indeed it is a miracle; for _miraculum_ signifies wonderful. the history of the invention of the telephone is easily apprehended. the scientific principles on which it depends may be understood without difficulty. there is, however, about the instrument and its action something that is well nigh unbelievable. it is essentially a thing contrary to universal experience, if not positively inconceivable, that the slight phenomenon of the human voice should be, so to speak, _picked up_ by a physical contrivance, carried a thousand miles through a thread of wire not a quarter of an inch in diameter, and delivered in its integrity to the sense of another waiting to receive it! at all events, the history of the telephone, belonging so distinctly to our own age, will stand as a reminder to after times of the great stride which the human race made in inventive skill and scientific progress in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. the telephone, like many similar instruments, was the work of several ingenious minds directed at nearly the same time to the same problem. the solution, however, must be accredited first of all to elisha p. gray, of chicago, and alexander graham bell, of the massachusetts institute of technology. it should be mentioned, however, that amos e. dolbear, of tufts college, massachusetts, and thomas a. edison, of menlo park, new jersey, likewise succeeded in solving the difficulty in the way of telephonic communication, and in answering practically several of the minor questions that hindered at first the complete success of the invention. the telephone is an instrument for the reproduction of sounds, particularly the sounds of the human voice, by the agency of electrical conduction at long distances from the origin of the vocal disturbance. or it may be defined as an instrument for the _transmission_ of the sounds referred to by the agencies described. indeed it were hard to say whether in a telephonic message we receive a _reproduced_ sound or a _transmitted_ sound. on the whole, it is more proper to speak of a reproduction of the original sound by transmission of the waves in which that sound is first written. it is now well known that the phenomenon called sound consists of a wave agitation communicated through the particles of some medium to the organ of hearing. every particular sound has its own physical equivalent in the system of waves in which it is written. the only thing, therefore, that is necessary in order to carry a sound in its integrity to any distance, is to transmit its physical equivalent, and to redeliver that equivalent to some organ of hearing capable of receiving it. upon these principles the telephone was produced--created. every sound which falls by impact upon the sheet-iron disk of the instrument communicates thereto a sort of tremor. this tremor causes the disk to approach and recede from the magnetic pole placed just behind the diaphragm. a current of electricity is thus induced, pulsates along the wire to the other end, and is delivered to the metallic disk of the second instrument, many miles away, just as it was produced in the first. the ear of the hearer receives from the second instrument the exact physical equivalent of the sound, or sounds, which were delivered against the disk of the first instrument, and thus the utterance is received at a distance just as it was given forth. as already said, the invention of the telephone stands chiefly to the credit of professors gray and bell. it should be recorded that as early as , the philosopher page succeeded, by means of electro-magnetism, in transmitting _musical_ tones to a distance. it was not, however, until that professer bell, in a public lecture given at salem, mass., astonished his audience, and the whole country as well, by receiving and transmitting _vocal_ messages from boston, twenty miles away. incredulity had no more a place as it respected the feasibility of talking to persons at a distance. the experiments of gray at chicago, a few days later in the same month, were equally successful. messages were distinctly delivered between that city and milwaukee, a distance of eighty-five miles, nor could it be longer doubted that a new era in the means of communication had come. the bell telephone, with its many modifications and improvements, has come into rapid use. within reasonable limits of distance, the new method of transmitting intelligence by direct vocal utterance, has taken the place of all slower and less convenient means of intercommunication. the appearance of the simple instrument has been one of the many harbingers of the oncoming better time, when the interchange of thought and sentiment between man and man, community and community, nation and nation, and race and race shall be the preliminary of universal peace in the world and of the good-fellowship of mankind. every such fact as the invention of the telephone, produces a complex and almost indescribable result in human society. this result has in it, in the first place, a change in the manners and method of the individual there is also a change in his sentiments. he whose work in life, whatever it may be, is accomplished in touch with the telephone will realize that he is in touch with the whole world. this intimacy reaches, first, his neighbors and friends. he seems to live henceforth in their presence, and in communication with them. the isolation of the individual life is virtually obliterated by such an agency. solitude disappears before it; for he whose ear is within hearing of his instrument, knows not at what moment any one of many thousands of people may speak to him. he knows not at what moment intelligence of an ever-varying kind may be spoken to him from his own community or out of the depths of distance. the mind is thus affiliated with an enlarged and ever-present society. these considerations do not relate to mere matters of convenience and quickness and advantage and safety, but to the larger question of the aggregate effect upon the individual. the effect on the community is of like kind. the community is no longer so segregated as it was before. the community is in touch with other communities of like character. the conflagration in one town is felt in the neighboring towns, if it is not seen. the epidemic of the one is the epidemic of many. the sensation of the one community diffuses itself instantly into several. the effect is in the intellectual life like that of a wave produced on the lake by the casting in of a stone. the wave widens and recedes. it may be obstructed or unobstructed in its progress. if obstructed, the obstructions may be removed. then the motion of the wave will become free and regular. so also on the tide of public thought. the telephone is an agency _for removing mental obstructions_, and for the regular diffusion of a common thought. all this, however, is attended with draw-backs. one of these is the breaking in on the privacy and seclusion of the individual life. individuality suffers under scientific progress. great thinking is accomplished best in solitude. emerson has forcibly pointed out the advantages which arise in the intellectual life from its isolation and seclusion--from its free and uninterrupted communion with itself. the convenience--the physical convenience--of life is vastly augmented by such a contrivance as the telephone. time is saved and trouble obviated. but at the same time the necessity for bodily exercise is reduced, and the overgrowth of brain at the expense of body encouraged. the fact is that the invention of the telephone and its general use, while it has added very greatly to the comfort of life, while it has promoted ease and diffused a social sense that needed stimulation and development, has at the same time brought in conditions that are not wholly favorable to human welfare. more largely still, the truth is that the telephone, like every other symbol and agency of progress, has brought _enlarged responsibilities._ no man, no community, no people or nation can gain an increase of power without accepting the accompanying increase of responsibility. the moral nature of man is thus involved. every forward stride of scientific invention places upon the life of man, including his bodily activity, his mental moods and his spiritual and moral powers, an added stress of duty, of energy, and of rectitude in conduct from which he may not shrink if he would be the gainer rather than the loser. each discovery and each improved method of employing the beneficent forces of the natural world, brings with it a strain upon the moral nature of man which, if he stand it, well; but if he stand it not, then it shall go ill with him. the machine that "talks back." the invention for making nature give an intelligent response may well be regarded with wondering interest. the odd, we might say humorous, feature of the invention is that nature, being as it were cornered and compelled to respond, will answer nothing except _to repeat what is said in her ear!_ the phonograph may be defined as a mechanical parrot. unlike the living bird, however, it never makes answers malapropos. it never deviates from the original text. the distrust which has been justly cherished against the talking bird on account of his originality can never be reasonably directed against the phonograph! the possibility of writing sound has been recognized for a century past. since the discovery of the vibratory character of sound, the physicist has seen the feasibility of recording the vibration. nature herself has given many hints along this line of experimentation. long ago it was seen that the writing sand sprinkled on the sounding board of the piano would under the influence of a chord struck from the keys arrange itself in geometrical figures. it was also seen that a discord sounded from the key-board would break the figures into chaos and confusion. were not these phenomena sufficient to suggest that sound might be written in intelligible characters? the mind, however, moves slowly from the old to the new. the former concept of physical facts and the laws which govern them is not readily given up. a great discovery in physical science seems to disturb the foundations of nature. it does not really do so; the disturbance is not in nature, but in the mind. no endeavor of man, no advance of his from some old bivouac to a new camping-ground, affects in the least the order of the world. the change, we repeat, is in the man, and in the race to which he belongs. long and tedious has been the process of getting thought into a recorded form. the first method of expressing thought was oral. long before any other method of holding ideas and delivering them to others was devised or imagined, speech came. speech is oral. it is made of sound. oral utterance is no doubt as old as the race itself. it began with the first coming of our kind into this sphere. indeed we now know that the rudiments of speech exist in the faculties of the lower animals. the studies of professor garner have shown conclusively that the humble simian folk of the african forest have a speech or language. of this the professor himself has become a student, and he claims to have learned at least sixty words of the vocabulary! strange it is to note the course which linguistic development has taken. at the first, there was a _spoken_ language only. the next stage was to get this spoken language recorded, not in _audible_, but in _visible_ symbols. why should it have been so easy and apparently natural for the old races to invent a visible form of speech-writing rather than an audible form? why should the ancients have fallen back on the eye rather than the ear as the sense to be instructed? why should sight-writing have been invented thousands of years ago, and sound-writing postponed until the present day? in any event, such has been the history of recorded language. the early races began as the mother begins with her children; that is, with oral speech. but at a certain stage this method was abandoned, and teachers came with pictorial symbols of words. they invented visible characters to signify words, syllables, sounds. thus came alphabetical writing, syllabic writing, verbal writing, into the world. ever afterward the children of men learned speech first from their parents, by oral utterance; but afterward by means of the pictorial signs in which human language was recorded. this method became habitual. the eye was made to be the servant of the intellect in learning nearly all that was to be gained from the wisdom of the past. it was by the tedious way of crooked marks signifying words that ideas were henceforth gleaned out of human lore by all who would learn aught from the recorded wisdom of mankind. and yet there never was anything essentially absurd or insurmountable in the invention of a method of recording speech in audible instead of visible symbols. the phonograph came swiftly after the telephone. the new instrument is in a sense the complement of its predecessor. both inventions are based upon the same principle in science. the discovery that every sound has its physical equivalent in a wave or agitation which affects the particles of matter composing the material through which the sound is transmitted led almost inevitably to the other discovery of _catching_ and _retaining_ that physical equivalent or wave in the surface of some body, and to the reproduction of the original sound therefrom. such is the fundamental principle of the interesting but, thus far, little useful instrument known as the phonograph. the same was invented by thomas a. edison, of menlo park, in the year . the instrument differs considerably in structure and purpose from the _vibrograph_ and _phonautograph_ which preceded it. the latter two instruments were made simply to _write_ sound vibrations; the former, to reproduce _audibly_ the sounds themselves. the phonograph consists of three principal parts,--the sender or funnel-shaped tube, with its open mouth-piece standing toward the operator; the diaphragm and stylus connected therewith, which receives the sound spoken into the tube; and thirdly, the revolving cylinder, with its sheet-coating of tin-foil laid over the surface of a spiral groove to receive the indentations of the point of the stylus. the mode of operation is very simple. the cylinder is revolved; and the point of the stylus, when there is no sound agitation in the funnel or mouth-piece, makes a smooth, continuous depression in the tin-foil over the spiral groove. but when any sound is thrown into the mouth-piece the iron disk or diaphragm is agitated; this agitation is carried through the stylus and written in irregular marks, dots, and peculiar figures in the tin-foil over the groove. when the utterance which is to be reproduced has been completed, the instrument is stopped, the stylus thrown back from the groove, and the cylinder revolved backward to the place of starting. the stylus is then returned to its place in the groove, and the cylinder is revolved forward at the same rate of rapidity as before. as the point of the stylus plays up and down in the indentations and through the figures in the tin-foil, produced by its own previous agitation, a quiver exactly equivalent to that which was produced by the utterance in the mouth-piece is thrown into the air. this agitation is of course the exact physical equivalent of the original sound, or, more properly, _is_ the sound itself. thus it is that the phonograph is made to talk, to sing, to cry; to utter, in short, any sound sufficiently powerful to produce a perceptible tremor in the mouth-piece and diaphragm of the instrument. much progress has been made toward the utilization of the phonograph as a practical addition to the civilizing apparatus of our time. it may be said, indeed, that all the difficulties in the way of such a result have been removed. mr. edison has carried forward his work to such a degree of perfection that the instrument may be practically employed in correspondence and literary composition. the problem has been to _stereotype_, so to speak, the tin-foil record of what has been uttered in the mouth-piece, and thus to preserve in a permanent form the potency of vanished sounds. nor does it require a great stretch of the imagination to see in the invention of the phonograph one of the greatest achievements of the age--a discovery, indeed, which may possibly revolutionize the whole method of learning. it would seem clear that nature has intended the _ear_, rather than the eye, to be the organ of education. it is manifestly against the fitness of things that the eyes of all mankind should be strained, weakened, permanently injured in childhood, with the unnatural tasks which are imposed upon the delicate organ. it would seem to be more in accordance with the nature and capacities of man, and the general character of the external world, to reserve the eye for the discernment and appreciation of beauty, and to impose upon the ear the tedious and hard tasks of education. the phonograph makes it possible to read by the ear instead of by the eye, and it is not beyond the range of probability that the book of the future, near or remote, will be written in phonographic plates and made to reveal its story directly to the waiting ear, rather than through the secondary medium of print to the enfeebled and tired eye of the reader. we hardly venture on prophecy; but we think that he who returns to this scene of human activity at the close of the twentieth century will find that sound has been substituted for sight in nearly everything that relates to recorded information, to learning, and to educational work. by that means the organ of hearing will be restored to its rightful office. enlightenment and instruction of all kinds will be given by means of phonographic books. the sound-wave will, in a word, be substituted for the light-wave as the vehicle of all our best information and intercourse. the ear will have habitually taken the place of the eye in the principal offices of interest and information. the unnatural method of the book--the visible book instead of the audible book--will then be done away. nature, who instructs the child by sound, will continue to teach the man in the same manner. all mothers, from the mother bird to the mother woman, begin the teaching of their offspring by sound, by utterance. the mother bird continues in this manner; but the mother woman is presently supplanted by a teacher who comes in with a printed book filled with crooked marks, and would have it that learning must be _thus_ acquired. instead of continuing the natural process of instruction to the complete development and information of the mind, an abnormal method has been adopted by mankind with many hurtful consequences. the youth at a certain age is led into the world of science, and there dismissed from the mother-method, to acquire, if he can, the painful and tedious use of meaningless hieroglyphics. there he must study with the eye, learning as best he may the significance of the crooked signs which can at the most signify no more than words. how much of human energy and life and thought have been thus wasted in the instruction of the mind by characters and symbols. the eyes of mankind have, as we said, been dimmed and shadowed, and at the same time the faculties have been overheated and the equipose of perception and memory seriously disturbed by this unnatural process of learning. human beings begin the acquirement of knowledge with words, and they end with words; but an unnatural civilization has taught man to walk the greater part of his intellectual journey by means of arbitrary systems of writing and printing. when the next columbian year arrives we shall see him untaught (a hard thing withal) and retaught on nature's plan of learning. nature teaches language by sound only. artificiality writes a scrawl. nature's book is a book of words. man's book is as yet a book of signs and symbols. nature's book utters itself to the ear, and man's book blinds the eyes and overheats the imagination. nature's method is to teach by the ear, and to reserve the sight for the discovery and enjoyment of beauty. the sound-book in some form is coming; and with that the intellectual repose of mankind will begin to be restored. the use of the eye for the offices of education instead of the stronger ear, has, we think, impaired, if it has not destroyed, the equilibrium of the human mind. that equilibrium must be restored. the mental diseases and unrest of our race are largely attributable to the over-excitement of the faculties through ages of too much seeing. the age of hearing is, we think, to be ushered in with the twentieth century. the coming of that age will tend to restore the mental balance of mankind. memory, now almost obliterated, will come again. the over-heated perceptions will cool. the imagination will become calm, and the eye itself will recover, we hope, from the injuries, of overstrain, and will regain its power and lustre. man will see once more as the eagle sees, and will learn shakespeare by heart. he will remember all knowledge, and will again be able to see, as of old, from sicily to carthage! the evolution of the dynamo. by professor joseph p. naylor, a.m. it is difficult to estimate the influence in modifying and shaping the nineteenth century civilization that has resulted from the discovery of the dynamo and the production of heavy currents of electricity. that it has had great influence is evident without question. the arc light for out-of-doors lighting and the incandescent lamp for inside has modified all our previous ideas of illumination. effects in light are now produced daily that were beyond imagination twenty years since. the trolley and the electromoter have largely solved the problem of rapid transit through our crowded cities. thus larger business facilities, suburban homes and cheaper living, cleanliness and better sanitary conditions are electrical results. the transmission of energy by the electric current from a central plant makes possible many small industries that could not exist without it, and gives employment and happiness to hundreds. the art of electro-metallurgy seems but the development of months: yet it already employs millions of capital and is adding thousands daily to the world's wealth. steam and wind and tide contribute to the work. even niagara is being touched by the spirit of the time and sends her wasting energy thrilling through the electric wires to turn the wheels of many busy factories. it is perhaps not the least remarkable fact in connection with this work that it is largely the product of the last thirty years, and that it had its very beginning less than seventy years since. edison and thompson and brush are honorable household names; yet they are still living to produce even greater electric marvels. in fact, so rapid and brilliant has been the development that in the brilliancy some of the pioneers in the work have been almost forgotten, except by the specialist and the student, and it is no small part of this sketch to do them honor. the tiny spark of faraday may be lost in the brilliancy of the million-candle-power search-light, yet the brilliancy of the search-light but enhances the wonder of the discovery of the spark. the discovery of electro-magnetic induction marked the beginning of a new era; for in it lay all the possibilities of the future of electrical science. michael faraday, the third son of a poor english blacksmith, was born at newington, surrey, england, september , . his father's health was never the best, and due to the resulting straitened circumstances his early education consisted of the merest rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. his early life was, no doubt, largely spent in the street; but at thirteen he became errand boy to a book-seller of london. about a year later he was apprenticed to a book binder, with whom he served seven years, learning the trade. it was while an apprentice that faraday began reading scientific articles on chemistry and physics in the books he was set to bind. he also tried to repeat the experiments of which he read. and more, he pondered over them long and earnestly, until he saw clearly the principles involved in them. it was in these early days of experimenting and self-education that the desire to become a philosopher was implanted in his mind. he embraced every chance for scientific study and caught every opportunity for intellectual self-improvement. in the last year of his apprenticeship he was enabled through the kindness of a customer at his master's shop, to attend a course of four lectures on chemistry, given by sir humphry davy at the royal institution. this marked the turning point in his life. he made careful notes of the lecture, and afterward transcribed them neatly into a book and illustrated them with drawings of the apparatus used. after completing his apprenticeship, faraday began life as a journeyman bookbinder. he had, however, as he says, "no taste for trade." his love of science became a consuming desire that he sought in every way to gratify. inspired by his longing for scientific pursuits, he sent his lecture notes to sir humphry davy, with the request that if opportunity offered he would give him employment at the royal institution. davy was favorably impressed with the lecture report, and sent a kindly reply to the young philosopher. shortly after this a vacancy did happen to occur at the institution, and upon the recommendation of davy, faraday was elected to the place. thus, in , in the humble capacity of an assistant charged with the simple duty of dusting and caring for the apparatus, michael faraday began the life that was destined to make him the first scientist of the world and to bring honor to the institution which had given him his opportunity. there is inspiration and encouragement to be found in reading the story of faraday's success. he has been called a genius; but his genius seems to have largely consisted in persistent industry and the habit acquired in those early days of thinking over his experiments and reading until he had a clear perception of all there was in them. he lived in his work, and loved it. in the fifty busy years that followed his installment at the royal institution he digged deep into nature's secrets, and gave the world many brilliant gems as evidence of his industry. but of all his discoveries, _electro-magnetic induction_ is the crowning masterpiece and that for which the world stands most his debtor. the principle of conservation of energy, now so well known and universally accepted, was then but a vague guess in the minds of the more advanced in science. faraday was among the first to accept the new doctrine, and many of his brilliant discoveries were made in his effort to prove the truth of these important generalizations. he was acquainted with sturgeon's method of making magnets by sending a current of electricity through a wire wound around a bar of iron; and he reasoned, if electricity will make a magnet, a magnet ought to make electricity. as early as his note book contains this suggestion: "convert magnetism into electricity." again and again he attacked the problem; but it was not until the autumn of that his efforts to solve it were successful. then in a series of experiments that have scarcely ever been equaled in brilliancy and originality, he gave to the world the principle on which is based the wonderful development of modern electrical science. the principle is briefly stated. the space, around a wire carrying an electric current, or in the neighborhood of a magnet, has a directive effect upon a magnetic needle, and is hence called a magnetic field. now if a conductor, or coil of wire, be placed in the field across the direction of a magnetic needle, and the field be varied either by varying the current or moving the magnet, a current will be developed in the conductor. it is impossible at this distance to appreciate the interest excited by the announcement of this principle, not only among scientists, but also among inventors and those who saw practical possibilities for the future; and probably no one more fully appreciated its value than faraday himself. yet he made no effort to develop it further, or even to protect his interest by a patent, as is common in these days. he was eminently a scientist, and this was his free gift to the world. he said: "i have rather been desirous of discovering new facts and relations than of exalting those already obtained, being assured the latter would find their full development hereafter." among the first to attempt successfully to exalt the new discovery was pixii, an instrument maker of paris, in . he wound two coils of very fine insulated wire upon the ends of a piece of soft iron, bent in a horseshoe form. a permanent horseshoe magnet was then placed with poles very close to the ends of the iron in the coils. the field so produced was then rapidly varied by revolving the magnet on an axis parallel to its length. the soft iron cores of the coils became strongly magnetized as the poles of the revolving magnet came opposite to them; and their polarity was reversed at each half-revolution of the magnet. by this plan currents of considerable intensity and alternating in direction at each revolution were induced in the coil. the ends of the coil were next connected to the external circuit through a "commutator." this is a device which is arranged to convert the alternating current of the coils into a current of one direction in the external circuit, and which in some form is found on all direct-current dynamos. joseph saxton, an american, improved upon pixii's machine by rotating the coils, or armature as it is called, and making the heavier magnet stationary. the essential points of construction being worked out, improvements followed rapidly. dr. werner siemans, of berlin, introduced an important modification by making the revolving armature of a cylinder of soft iron, having a groove cut throughout its length on opposite sides. in these grooves a wire was wound and the armature was rotated on its axis between the poles of several magnets. in all the earlier machines permanent magnets of steel were used. the next important step was to use electro-magnets of soft iron, excited by a current flowing through many turns of wire wound around the legs of the magnet. these could be made much more strongly magnetic than the permanent magnets. the exciting current was at first obtained from a small permanent magneto machine; but it was afterward found that the machine could be made self-exciting. soft-iron electro-magnets, after being once magnetized, remain slightly magnetic. this will produce a weak current in the revolving armature which is turned into the magnet coils. the magnets are thus further magnetized, and again react upon the armature with greater intensity. in this way a _strong_ current is rapidly built up, and after wholly or in part passing around the magnet coils to sustain its magnetism, can be carried out into the circuit to serve the great variety of purposes to which it is now put. the essential points in the evolution of the dynamo can here be sketched only in broadest outline. even to catalogue in detail, the improvements of edison and brush, gramme and wheatstone, and a host of others who have contributed to the work, would require a volume. one fact, however, should ever be kept in mind: whatever may be the extent of the superstructure of electrical science, it is all built upon the foundation of electro-magnetic induction laid by michael faraday. the little "magnetic spark" he first produced, and the trembling of his galvanometer-needle, were but signals of the birth of the giant of the century. these are the days of electricity and steel, and a fitting part of the intense age in which they exist. that we have as yet seen but a partial development of the possibilities of the electrical discovery, no one can doubt. the rush of the trolley car, and the blinding flash of the electric light, are but challenges thrown out to the future for even greater achievements. that they will come no one will question; but where is the daring prophet who will hazard a guess as to what they will be? the unknown ray and entography. it is difficult to name the unknown. in the ancient world all the unknown was included in the idea of god. it remained for the evangelist to declare that god is a _spirit_--thus separating the natural forces of the material world from the supreme power who is from eternity. this century has been the epoch of investigation into the nature of the imponderable forces. sound and light and heat have been known as the principal agents of sensation since the first ages of man-life on the earth; but their nature has not been well understood until within the memories of men still living. electricity was also vaguely known--but very indistinctly--from ancient times. it has remained for the scientific investigators of our age to enter into the secret parts of nature and lay bare to the understanding many of the hitherto unknown facts relating to the imponderable agents. the laws of heat, of acoustics, of light, have been clearly arranged and taught; but they have not been placed beyond the reach of new interpretation and possibly not beyond the reach of complete revolution and reconstruction. that which has been accepted as definitely known with regard to these agents has now to be reviewed, and possibly to be learned over again from first principles. as to electricity in its various forms and manifestations, that sublime and powerful agent began to be better known just before the middle of the century. since that time there has been almost constant progress in the science of this great force, until at the present time it is handled, controlled and understood in its phenomena almost as easily as water is poured into a vessel, air compressed under a piston, or hydrogen made to inflate a balloon. it has remained, however, for the last half decade of the great century to come upon and investigate a hitherto unknown force in nature. certain it is that the new force exists, that it is everywhere, that it is a part of the profound agency by which life is administered, that its control is possible, and that its probable applications are as wonderful--perhaps more wonderful--than anything ever hitherto discovered by scientific investigation. it is not unlikely that since the day, or evening, on which galileo, with his little extemporized telescope, out in the garden of the quirinal, at rome, compelled bigotry to behold the shining horns of the crescent venus, thus opening as if by compulsion the sublime vista of the heavens and bringing in a new concept of the planetary and stellar worlds,--no such other discovery as that of the so-called röntgen rays has been made. the results which seem likely to flow from this marvelous revelation surpass the human imagination. let us try in a few words to realize the discovery, and define what it is. it was on the eighth of november, , that dr. william konrad röntgen, of würzburg, made the discovery which seems likely to contribute so much to our knowledge of the mysterious processes of nature. on that day dr. röntgen was working with a crookes tube in his laboratory. this piece of apparatus is well known to students and partly known to general readers. it consists of a glass cylinder, elongated into tubular form, and hermetically closed at the ends. when the tube is made, the air is exhausted as nearly as possible from it, and the ends are sealed over a vacuum as perfect as science is able to produce. through the two ends, bits of platinum wire are passed at the time of sealing, so that they project a little within and without. the interior of the tube is thus a vacuum into which at the two ends platinum wires extend. electrical communication with outside apparatus is thus supplied. it has long been known that on the discharge of an electrical current into this kind of vacuum peculiar and interesting phenomena are produced. the platinum wires at the two ends are connected with the positive and negative wires or terminals of an induction coil. when this is done, the electrical current discharged into the vacuum seems to flash out around the inner surfaces of the tube, in the form of light. there are brilliant coruscations from one end to the other of the tube. the tips of the platinum wire constituting the inner poles glow and seem to flame. that pole which is connected with the positive side of the battery is called the _anode_, or _upper_ pole, and that which is connected with the negative, or receptive, side of the battery, is called the _cathode_, or lower pole. it was in his experimentation with this apparatus, and in particular in noticing the results at the cathode or lower end of the tube, that professor röntgen made his famous discovery. it was for this reason that the name of "cathode rays" has been given to the new radiant force; but dr. röntgen himself called the phenomena the x, or unknown, rays. in the experimentation referred to, röntgen had covered the glass tube at the end with a shield of black cardboard. this rendered the glow at the cathode pole completely invisible. it chanced that a piece of paper treated with platino-barium cyanide for photographic uses was on a bench near by. notwithstanding the fact that the tube was covered with an opaque shield, so that no _light_ could be transmitted, professor röntgen noticed that changes in the barium paper were taking place, _as though_ it were exposed to the action of light! black lines appeared on the paper, showing that the surface was undergoing chemical change from the action of some invisible and hitherto unknown force! this was the moment of discovery. the philosopher began experimenting. he repeated what had been accidentally done and was immediately convinced that a force, or, as it were, invisible rays were streaming from the cathode pole of the tube through the glass, and through a substance absolutely opaque, and that these rays were performing their work at a distance on the surface of paper that was ordinarily sensitive only to the action of light. certain it was that _something_ was doing this work. certain it was that it was _not light_. highly probable it was that it was not any form of _electricity_, for glass is impermeable to the electrical current. certain it was that it was _not sound_, for there was no noise or atmospheric agitation to produce such a result. in a word, it was demonstrated then and there that a hitherto unknown, subtle and powerful agent had been discovered, the applications of which might be of almost infinite range and interest. professor röntgen soon announced his discovery to the physico-medical society of würzburg. it was at the december meeting of this body that the new stage in human progress was declared. the news was soon flashed all over the world, and scientific men in every civilized country began at once to experiment with the cathode light--if light that might be called that lighted nothing. in röntgen's announcement he stated that there had been by the scientists hertz and lenard, in , certain antecedent discoveries from which his own might in some sense be deduced. there was, however, a great difference between the discovery made by röntgen and anything that had preceded it. his stage of progress in knowledge was this, that during the discharge of _one_ kind of rays of force from the cathode pole in a crookes tube _another kind_ of rays are set free, which differ totally in their nature and effects from anything hitherto known. it is this fact which has indissolubly connected the name of konrad röntgen with that great bound in scientific knowledge which seems likely to modify nearly all the other scientific knowledge of mankind. everywhere, in the first months of , the experimenters went to work to verify and apply the discovery of the german philosopher. it was at once discerned that the new force, since it would freely traverse opaque bodies and produce afterward chemical changes on sensitized surfaces similar to those ordinarily produced _by_ light, might be used for delineating (we can hardly say _photo_ graphing) the interior outlines and structure of opaque bodies! on this line of experimentation the work at once began, and with remarkable success. röntgen himself was the first man in the world to obtain, as _if_ by photography, the invisible outline of objects through opaque materials. he soon obtained a delineation of the bones of a living hand through the flesh, which was only dimly traced in the resulting picture. in like manner coins were delineated through the leather of pocketbooks. other objects were pictured through intervening plates of metal or boards of wood. the possibility of discovering the visible character of invisible things, and even _of seeing directly through_ opaque materials into parts where neither light nor electricity can penetrate, was fully shown. the work of picture taking in the interior of bodies and through opaque materials was quickly taken up by philosophers in england, france and the united states. almost everywhere the physical laboratories witnessed daily this form of experimentation. swinton, of london; robb, of trinity college, dublin; morton, of new york; wright, of yale university, and in particular thomas a. edison, of menlo park, attacked the new problem with scientific zeal, and with startling results. it remained for edison to discover that the new force acted in some respects in the manner of _sound_ rather than in the manner of _light_. thus, for example, he showed that the invisible rays not only _pass through_ substances that are opaque to light and non-conductors of electricity, but that the invisible rays _run around the edges and sides_ of plates, then proceeding on their way somewhat in the manner of sound. a sound made on one side of a metallic plate is heard on the other side _partly_ by transmission through the plate, and _partly_ by going around the edges, by atmospheric transmission. the new force rays act in this manner, and edison is said to have procured pictures by means of the invisible agent while it was _going around the corner _ of an opaque obstruction! the pre-eminence of thomas a. edison as a scientific explorer and inventor depends upon a quality of mind which enables him more easily than others--more distinctly than any others--to see the touch of each new discovery with existing conditions, and the application of it to the problems of life. edison catches the premonitory spark struck in the darkness by some other master's hammer, and with that kindles a conflagration. though not the discoverer of the röntgen ray, he was able, as it would appear, to understand that discovery better even than the discoverer. he almost immediately applied the new increment of knowledge more successfully, we think, than any contemporary scientist. his experimentation led him directly to the discovery of the important fact that no photographic apparatus of any kind is needed to enable an observer to use the x-rays in the delineation or inspection of objects through opaque substances. he said within himself: "why not pass the x-rays through the object to be inspected and then convert them into visibility, as if by fluorescence." this scientific question edison almost immediately solved. fluorescence is a property which some transparent bodies have of producing, either on their surface or within their substance, light different in color from that of its origin. this happens, for example, when _green_ crystals of fluor spar afford _blue_ reflections of light. glass may be rendered fluorescent, as is seen in the geisler and crookes tubes. edison conceived the project of using this phenomenon to get back the invisible rays into visibility. the substance which he employed was the tungstate of calcium. taking crystals of this chemical compound, he spread the same over a cloth or paper screen, and used that screen to catch and convert the invisible images carried against it by the x-rays. to his surprise, his experiment was completely successful. all that is needed in this case is the cathode light, the object to be examined (as for instance the hand), and the screen treated with tungstate of calcium. the observer looks through the screen, or into it, and sees _with the unaided eye_ the invisible interior parts of the object examined, held between the screen and the cathode light. the invisible rays take the image of the interior parts of an opaque object, and carry that image to the screen, where it is reconverted into visibility and delivered to the eye of the observer, without the aid of any instrument at all! it is on this simple principle that edison has invented his surgical and physiological lamp. the announcement is that with this lamp the surgeon may look through the calcium tungstate screen and examine, for example, the fractured bones of the hand, and set them perfectly by actual inspection of the parts with his eye! what then _is_ the cathode ray? at the present time its nature is not understood. that it is a form or mode of motion goes with the saying--unless it should be presently shown that all the imponderable forces are really _material_ in their nature; that is, that they are an inconceivably fine and attenuated form of matter in varying manifestations. the cathode rays are not light. they are not sound. they are not electricity or magnetism. they are not heat. they are not any of the known forms of force. they seem to be a new transformation of some one or more of the known agents. it has long been observed that _motion_ is accompanied with _sound_, and that motion also, if increased, becomes manifest in _heat_. it is known that heat is convertible into light, and light into electricity. it is possible that at the bottom of all these phenomena lies the force of gravitation. this force is absolute and universal. all the others are partial and limited. all the others, even the newly discovered cathode rays, are subject to obstruction by certain forms of matter; that is, to them certain forms of matter are opaque. but gravitation knows no opacity in the universe. no atom of matter is exempt from its sway. it streams through all obstructive media as though such media did not exist. it would appear that heat, light, electricity, sound, the cathode rays, and all other forms of force in nature are probably variations, and as it were limited expressions and manifestations, of _the one supreme force_ that supports the constitution of the physical universe; and that one supreme force is _gravitation_! stages in biological inquiry. the new inoculation. any account of the scientific progress of this century which omits the name of louis pasteur would be lamentably incomplete. in that part of science which relates strictly to human life and the means of preserving it, the work of this great man must be placed in the first rank. indeed, we believe that no other stride in biological investigation from the beginning of time has been so great in its immediate and prospective results as has been the increment contributed by pasteur and his contemporary koch. the success of these two experimental philosophers grew out of the substitution of a new theory for one that had hitherto prevailed respecting some of the fundamental processes in living matter. up to about the close of the third quarter of this century, the belief continued to prevail in the possibility of the propagation and production of germ life without other germ life to precede it. it was held that fermentation is not dependent upon living organisms, and that fermentation may be excited in substances from which all living germs have been excluded. this belief led to the theory of _abiogenesis_ so-called--a term signifying the production of life without life to begin with. the question involved in this theory was hotly debated by philosophers and scientists in the sixties and seventies. the first great work of pasteur in biological investigation was his successful demonstration of the impossibility of spontaneous generation. about , he became a careful experimenter with the phenomena of fermentation. as his work proceeded, he was more convinced that fermentation can never occur in the absence and exclusion of living germs; and this view of the deep-down processes in living matter has now been accepted as correct. the next stage in the work of pasteur was the discovery that certain substances, such as glycerine, are products of fermentation. from this foundation firmly established he passed on to consider the phenomena of disease. he had been, in the first place, a teacher in a normal school at paris. in , when he was thirty-nine years of age, he was a professor of geology. afterward he had a chair of chemistry at the sorbonne. in we find him experimenting with light, and after that he turned to biological investigations. this led him to the results mentioned above, and presently to the discovery that the contagious and infectious diseases with which men and the lower animals are affected are in general the results of processes in the system that are nearly analagous to fermentation, and that such diseases are therefore traceable ultimately to the existence of living germs. this view of the case brought pasteur to a large and general investigation of bacteria. the bacterium may be defined as a microscopic vegetable organism; or it may be called an _animal_ organism; for in the deep-down life of germs there is not much difference between vegetable and animal--perhaps no difference at all. the bacterium is generally a jointed rod-like filament of living matter, and its native world seems to be any putrefying organic substance. bacteria are the smallest of microscopic organisms. they are widely diffused in the natural world, existing independently and also in a parasitical way, in connection with larger forms of organic life. they multiply with the greatest rapidity. on the whole, the bacterium fulfills its vital offices in two ways, or with two results; first, _fermentation_, and secondly, _disease_. to this field of inquiry pasteur devoted himself with the greatest assiduity. he began to investigate the diseased tissue of animals, and was rewarded with the discovery of the germs from which the disease had come. it was found that the bacteria of one disease are different from those of another disease, or in a word that the microscopic organisms which produce morbid conditions in animals are differentiated into genera and species and varieties, in the same manner as are the animals, birds and fishes, of the world. a new realm of life invisible save by the aid of the microscope, began to be explored, and practical results began to follow. pasteur at length announced his ability to _produce_ infectious diseases by inoculation; and of this his proofs and demonstrations, were complete. in the next place he announced his ability to _counteract_ the ravages, of certain classes of diseases (those called zymotic) by inoculating the animal suffering therefrom with what he called an "attenuated" or "domesticated" virus of the given disease. the matter first came to a practical issue by the inoculation of well animals with the attenuated virus. the animals so treated became _immune_; that is, exempt from the infection of the given disease. pasteur gave public demonstrations in the fields near paris, using the disease called splenic fever, and sheep as the subjects of his experimentation. the whole civilized world was astonished with the results. the tests were conducted in such a way as to preclude the possibility of error. it was shown, in a word, that by the simple process of inoculating well animals with the modified poison the infectious disease might be avoided. it were long to tell the story of the experimentation and discovery that now followed. the last quarter of the century has been fruitful in the greatest results. the bacilli of one disease after another have been discovered, and the means have been invented of defending the larger animal life from the ravages of microscopic organisms. but what is an "attenuated" virus? pasteur and other scientists have shown that by the inoculation of suitable material, such as a piece of flesh, with the poison of a given disease, the bacteria on which that disease depends rapidly multiply and diffuse themselves through the substance. if poison be taken from the _first_ body of infected material and carried to _another_, that other becomes infected; and from that the third; from the third the fourth, and so on to the tenth generation. it was noticed, however, that with each transference of the virus to a new organic body the bacilli were modified somewhat in form and activity. they became, so to speak, less savage. the bacterium which at the beginning had been for its savagery a wolf, became in the second body a cur; then a hound; then a spaniel; and then a diminutive lapdog! the bacteria were thus said to be "domesticated;" for the process was similar to the domestication of wild animals into tame. the virus was said to be "attenuated;" that is, made thin or fine; that is, its poisonous and death-dealing quality, was so reduced as to make it comparatively innocuous. if after the process of attenuation was complete--if after the bacteria were once thoroughly domesticated and the poison produced by them be then introduced into a well subject, that subject would indeed become diseased, but so mildly diseased as scarcely to be diseased at all. in such a case the result was of a kind to be called in popular language a mere "touch" of the disease. in such case the severe ravages of the malady would be prevented; but the subject would be rendered incapable of taking the disease a second time. on this line of fact and theory pasteur successfully pressed his work. one disease after another was investigated. it was demonstrated in the case of both the lower animals and men that a large number of maladies and plagues might be completely disarmed of their terrors by the process of inoculation. the name of pasteur became more and more famous. the celebrated pasteur institute was founded at paris, under the patronage of the french government, and in some sense under the patronage of the whole world. to this establishment diseased subjects were taken for treatment, and here experimentation was carried on over a wide range of facts. the value of the results attained can hardly be overestimated. the fear which mankind have long entertained on account of plagues and epidemics, and the loss which the animal industries of the world have sustained, were largely abated. as yet the use of the pasteur methods for the prevention and cure of disease is by no means universal; but the knowledge which has come of his investigations and of the results of them has diffused itself among all civilized nations, and the hygienic condition of almost every community has been most favorably affected by the new knowledge which we possess of bacteria and of the means of destroying them. pasteur, whose recent death has been mourned by the best part of mankind, was an explorer and forerunner. his industry in his chosen field of investigation was prodigious. when he was already nearly seventy years of age, he undertook the investigation of hydrophobia, with the purpose of discovering, if he might, the germ of that dreaded disease, thus preparing a method for inoculation against it. hydrophobia is one of the most subtle diseases ever known. so obscure and uncertain are its phenomena that many able men have been led to doubt the _existence_ of such a disease! the mythological origin of the malady in the supposed influence of a dog-star seemed to strengthen the view that hydrophobia, as a specific disease, does not exist. it is undeniably true that the great majority of the cases of so-called rabies are pure myths. under investigation they melt away into nothing but alarm and fiction. however, there appeared to be a residue of actual hydrophobia, though the disease as tested by its name exists in fancy rather than fact. in any event, pasteur began to investigate hydrophobia, and at length discovered the bacilli which produce it. at least he found in animals affected with rabies, notably in the spinal marrow of such animals, minute living organisms, having the form of thread-like animalculæ, with heads at one end. the microscope showed also among these thread-like bodies other organisms that were like small circular black specks, or disks. the next step in the work was to test the result by inoculating a well animal with these bodies. pasteur selected rabbits for his experimentation. when the experiment was made, the inoculated rabbit was presently attacked with the disease, and soon died in spasms. the repetition of the experiment was attended with like results. the philosopher next tried his established method of domesticating, or attenuating, the poison. the spinal cord of a rabid dog was obtained, and with this the first rabbit was inoculated. in about two weeks it took hydrophobia. hereupon the spinal cord was extracted, and the second rabbit was inoculated; then the third; then the fourth, and so on. it was observed, however, that at each stage the intensity of the disease was in this way strangely increased; but the period of inoculation became shorter and shorter. it was next found that by preserving the spinal cords of the animals that had died of the disease--by preserving them in dry tubes--the poison gradually lost its power. at last the virus seemed to die altogether. then the experiment of inoculating against the disease was begun. a dog was first inoculated with dead virus. no result followed. then he was inoculated with stale virus, and then with other virus not so stale. it was found that by continuing this process the animal might be rendered wholly insusceptible to the disease. the next step was the human stage of experimentation. it was in july of that pasteur first employed his method on a human subject. a boy had been bitten and lacerated by a rabid dog. the inoculation was thought to prove successful. soon afterward some bitten children were taken from the united states to paris, and were treated against the expected appearance of hydrophobia. others came from different parts of the continent. within fourteen months more than two thousand five hundred subjects were treated, and it is claimed that the mortality from hydrophobia was reduced to a small per cent of what it had been before. it should be said, however, that neither have the results arrived at by pasteur respecting the character of rabies been so clear, nor have his experiments on subjects supposed to be poisoned with the disease been so successful as in the case of other maladies. it remains, nevertheless, to award to louis pasteur _the first rank_ among the bacteriologists of our day, as well as a first place among the philanthropists of the century. only robert koch, of germany, is to be classed in the same list with him. koch's battle with the invisible enemy. there was a great _negative_ reason for the success of the world's columbian exposition. the cholera did not come! it is quite true that there is no _if_ in history; but if the cholera had come, if the plague had broken out in our imperial chicago, what would have become of the columbian exposition? certainly the man of genoa would have had to seek elsewhere for a great international gathering in his honor. the cholera did not arrive, although it was expected. the antecedent conditions of its coming were all present; but it came not. the american millions discerned that the dreaded plague was at bay; a feeling of security and confidence prevailed; the summer of went by, and not a single case of asiatic cholera appeared west of the alleghenies. we are not sure that a single case appeared on the mainland of north america. and why not? it was because the increasing knowledge of mankind, reinforced with philanthropy and courage, had drawn a line north and south across western europe, and had said, _thus far and no farther_. indeed, there were several lines drawn. the movement of cholera westward from the orient began to be obstructed even before it reached germany. it was obstructed in italy. it was obstructed seriously on the meridian of the rhine. it was obstructed almost finally at the meridian of london. it was completely and gloriously obstructed at the harbor of new york. civilization has never appeared to a better advantage than in the building of her defences against the westward invasion of cholera. there have been times within two decades of the present when in the countries east of the red sea people have died daily of the asiatic plague. egypt has been ravaged. the ports of the mediterranean have been successfully invaded. commerce, reckless of everything except her own interests, has taken the infection on shipboard, and sailed with it to foreign lands, as though it were a precious cargo! importers, anxious for merchandise, have stood ready to receive the plague, and plant it without regard to consequences. but in the midst of all this, a new power has arisen in the world, and standing with face to the east, has drawn a sword, before the circle of which even the spectral shadow of cholera has quailed and gone back! humanity might well break out in rhapsody and jubilee over this great victory. among the personal agencies by which cholera has been excluded from europe and america, first and greatest is dr. robert koch, of berlin. he, more than any other one man, has contributed to the glorious exemption. dr. koch, now by the favor of his emperor, baron koch, is one of those heroic spirits who go before the human race exploring the route, casting up a highway and gathering out the stones. thus shall the feet of the oncoming millions be not bruised and their shouts of joy be not turned to lamentation. robert koch was born at klausthal, in the hartz mountains, on the eleventh of december, . he is a german of the germans. in his youth he was a student of medicine at göttingen, where at the age of twenty-three he took his first degree. he was by nature and from his boyhood a devotee of science. for about ten years he practiced his profession, but continued his studies with indefatigable zeal. the investigations of pasteur had already filled europe with applause when koch, following on the same lines of scientific exploration, began to enlarge the borders of knowledge. he became a bacteriologist of the first rank. he began to investigate the causes and nature of contagion; but as late as his name was still unknown in the cyclopædias. koch was twenty-one years the junior of pasteur; but his enthusiasm and genius now bore him rapidly to a fame as great as that of his predecessor. his first remarkable achievement was a demonstration of the cause and cure of splenic fever in cattle. he showed, just as pasteur had done in similar cases, that the plague in question was due to the specific poison of a bacterium, and that the disease might be cured by inoculation against it. this he proceeded to do, and the demonstration and good work brought him to the attention of the old emperor. dr. koch was made a member of the imperial board of health in berlin. a greater discovery was already at the door. dr. koch began a careful investigation into the nature of consumption. his discovery of the germ of splenic fever, and that of chicken cholera, as well as the general results in this direction in other laboratories of europe, led him to the conjecture that consumption also is a zymotic or bacterial disease. his inquiry into this subject began in , and extended to march of . on that day, in a paper before the physiological society of berlin, he announced the discovery of the _tubercle bacillus_. he was able to demonstrate the existence of the germ of consumption, and to describe its methods of life, as well as the character of his ravages. here then at last was laid bare the true origin of the most fatal disease which has ever afflicted mankind. he who has not informed himself with respect to the almost universal prevalence of consumption among the nations of the earth, or taken note of the mortality from that dreaded enemy, by which nearly one-sixth of the human race sooner or later perishes, will not have realized the awful character of this enemy. to attack such a foe, to force him into a corner, even as siegfried did the grendel in his cavern, was an achievement of which the greatest of mankind might well be proud. the discovery of the bacillus of consumption by no means assured the cure of the disease; but it foretokened the time when a cure would be found. this prophecy, though it has not yet been clearly fulfilled, is, in the closing years of the century, in process of fulfillment. the enemy does not readily yield; but such has been the gain in the contest that already within the last twenty years the mortality from consumption of the lungs has fallen off more than forty per cent! much of this gain has been made by the reviving confidence of human beings that sooner or later tuberculosis would be destroyed. hygiene has done its part; and other circumstances have conduced to the same result. though neither dr. koch nor any other man living has been able as yet positively to meet and vanquish consumption in open battle, yet the goblin has in a measure been robbed of his terrors. he is no longer boastful and victorious over the human race. after the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, the fame of robert koch became world-wide. in the following year he was made a privy councilor, and was placed in charge of an expedition organized by the german government to go into egypt and india for the investigation of the causes of asiatic cholera. the expedition was engaged in this work for nearly a year. koch pursued his usual careful method of scientific experimentation. he exposed himself to the contagion of cholera, but his science and fine constitution stood him well in hand, and he returned unharmed. it was in may of that he was able to announce the discovery of the _coma bacillus_, that is, the bacterium of cholera. here, again he had the enemy at bay. for long ages the asiatic plague had ravaged the countries of the east with little hindrance to its spread or fatality. the disease would appear as an epidemic at intervals and sweep all before it. the wave of death would roll on westward from country to country, until it would subside, as if by exhaustion, in the far west. two or three times within the century cholera had been fatally scattered through american cities. it had spread westward along the rivers of the ohio and mississippi valleys, and into country districts, where villages and hamlets were decimated. the discovery of koch was a virtual proclamation that this ruin of mankind from the asiatic plague should cease. the knowledge that the disease was due to a living bacterium, that without the germ and the spread of the germ the plague could not exist, was a virtual announcement that in the civilized countries it should _not_ any longer exist. the discoverer was now set high in the estimation of mankind. imperial germany best of all countries rewards its benefactors. france is fascinated with adventure; great britain with slaughter; america with bare political battles; but germany sees the true thing, and rewards it. koch was immediately placed beyond want by his government, and titles and honors came without stint. the empire would fain have such a man at the seat of power. dr. koch was, in , made a professor in the university of berlin. the new chair of hygiene was created for him, and he was made director of the hygienic institute. it was in this capacity that armed with influence and authority and having the resources of the government virtually at his disposal, he directed in the great scientific work by which a bulwark against cholera was drawn almost literally across europe, and was defended as if with the mounted soldiery of science and humanity. true enough, cholera managed to plant itself in italy in , and in hamburg in , and the plague was scattered into several german towns. but it came to hamburg by water, not by land. it did there during the summer a dreadful work, but the battle was the waterloo of the enemy. not again while the present order continues will it be possible for the dreaded epidemic to get the mastery of a great german city. it was to be anticipated that dr. koch's discovery of the tubercle bacillus would lead him on to the discovery of a cure for tuberculosis. very naturally his thought on this subject was borne in the direction of inoculation. that method had been used by pasteur and by himself in the case of other infectious diseases. why should it not be employed in consumption? if the "domestication," so-called, of the virus of splenic fever and the use of the modified poison as an antiseptic preventive of the disease was successful, as it had been proved to be, why should this not be done with the attenuated virus of consumption? the last five years of the ninth decade were spent by dr. koch in experimentation on this subject. he found that the tubercular poison might be treated in the same manner as the poison of other infectious diseases. he experimented with methods for domesticating the bacillus of consumption, and reached successful results. on the fourteenth of november, , he published in a german medical magazine at berlin a communication on a possible remedy for tuberculosis. he had prepared a sort of lymph suitable for hypodermic injection, and with this had experimented on a form of _external_ tuberculosis called lupus. this disease is a consumption of the skin and adjacent tissues. it is a malady almost as dreadful as consumption of the lungs, but is by no means frequent in its occurrence. it is found only at rare intervals by the medical practitioner. dr. koch had demonstrated that lupus is a true tuberculosis--that the germ which produces it is the same bacillus which produces consumption of the lungs. he accordingly directed his effort to cases of lupus, treating the patients with hypodermic injections which he had prepared from the modified form of the tubercular poison. he was successful in the treatment, and was able to announce, to the joy of the world, that he had discovered a cure for lupus; and the announcement went so far as to express a belief in the salutary character of the remedy in the treatment of consumption of the lungs. dr. koch, however, with the usual caution of the true men of science, did not announce his tuberculin, or lymph, as a cure for pulmonary consumption. he did not even declare that it was positively a remedy for the other forms of tuberculosis, but did announce his cure of cases of lupus by the agent which he had prepared. the world, after its manner, leaped at conclusions, and the newspapers of two continents, in their usual office of disseminating ignorance, trumpeted koch's discovery as the end of tubercular consumption. in january of , dr. koch published to the world the composition of his remedy. it consists of a glycerine extract prepared by the cultivation of tubercle bacilli. the lymph contains, as it were, the poisonous matter resulting from the life and activity of the tubercle bacterium. the fluid is used by hypodermic injection, and when so administered produces both a general and local reaction. the system is powerfully affected. a sense of weariness comes on. the breathing is labored. nausea ensues; and a fever supervenes which lasts for twelve or fifteen hours. it is now known that the action of the remedy is not directly against the tubercle bacilli, but rather against the affected tissue in which they exist. this tissue is destroyed and thrown off by the agency of the lymph; being destroyed, it is eliminated and cast out, carrying with it the bacteria on which the disease depends. the results which have followed the administration of koch's lymph for consumption of the lungs have not met the expectation of the public; but something has been accomplished. ignorant enthusiasm has meanwhile subsided, and scientific men in both europe and america are pressing the inquiry in a way which promises in due time the happiest results. achievements in surgery. it will not do to disparage the work of the ancients. the old world, long since fallen below the horizon of the past, had races of men and individuals who might well be compared with the greatest of to-day. in a general way, the ancients were great as thinkers and weak as scientists. they were great in the fine arts and weak in the practical arts. this is true of the hindus, the egyptians, the greeks, the romans, even of the aztecs and the peruvians. the art work of these old peoples, whether in sculpture, painting or poetry, surpassed, if it did not eclipse, corresponding periods of modern times. in some of the practical arts the old races were proficient. in architecture, which combines the æsthetic and practical elements, the man of antiquity was at least the equal of the man of the present. in one particular art--a sort of humanitarian profession based on natural science and directed to the preservation of life--the ancients had a measure of proficiency. this art was surgery. the surgeon was even from the beginning, and he will no doubt be even to the end. the great advance which has been made in surgical science and practice is shown in two ways: first, in a great increase of courage, by which the surgeon has been led on to the performance of operations that were hitherto considered rash, audacious or impossible; and secondly, by the immunity which the surgeon has gained in the treatment of wounds through the increased knowledge he possesses of putrefaction and the means of preventing it. it were hard to say whether the surgeon's increase of skill and courage in performing operations has equalled his increased skill in the after treatment of wounds. these improvements have all proceeded from scientific investigation. they have come of the application of scientific methods to the treatment of surgical diseases. with the investigations of pasteur and the development of the science of bacteriology, it was seen at a glance how large an influence such investigation must have in the work of the surgeon. the publication of tyndall's "essays on the floating matter of the air in relation to putrefaction and infection," in , gave a great impulse to the new practice; but that practice had been already confirmed by the great and original work of sir joseph lister, an english surgeon who as early as had introduced the antiseptic method of bandaging. it is within the last forty years that the greatest marvels of modern surgery have been performed. it would seem that no part of the human body is now beyond the reach of surgical remedy. almost every year has witnessed some new and daring invasion of the fortress of life with a view to saving it. old opinions with respect to what parts of the human economy are really vital have been abolished; and a new concept of the relation of life to organism has prevailed. until recently it was supposed that the peritoneal cavity and the organs contained therein, such as the stomach, the liver, the bowels, etc., could not be entered by the surgeon without the certain result of death. to do so at the present time is the daily experience in almost every great hospital. the complexity of civilization has inflicted all manner of hurts on the human body, and the malignity of disease has spared no part. it was supposed that the cranial cavity could not be entered or repaired without producing fatal results. it was taken for granted that certain organs could not be touched, much less treated capitally, without destroying the subject's life. but one exploration has followed another and one successful adventure has been succeeded by another still more successful until the surgeon's work is at the present time performed within a sphere that was until recently supposed to be entirely beyond his reach. as to the liver, that great organ is freely examined and is treated surgically with considerable freedom. this is true also of the stomach, which until recently was supposed to be entirely beyond the surgeon's touch. within the last two decades sections of the stomach have been made and parts of the organ removed. not a few cases are recorded in which subjects have fully recovered after the removal of a part of the stomach. sections of the intestinal canal have also been made with entire success. several inches of that organ have in some cases been entirely removed, with the result of recovery! the spleen has been many times removed; but it has been recently noted that a decline in health and probably death at a not distant date generally follow this operation. the disease called appendicitis has either in our times become wonderfully frequent or else the improved methods of diagnosis have made us acquainted with what has long been one of the principal maladies of mankind. the _appendix vermiformis_ seems to be a useless remnant of anatomical structure transmitted to us from a lower animal condition. at least such is the interpretation which scientists generally give to this hurtful and dangerous tube-like blind channel in connection with the bowels. that it becomes easily inflamed and is the occasion of great loss of life can not be doubted. its removal by surgical operation is now regarded as a simple process which even the unlearned surgeon, if he be careful and talented, may safely perform. the surgical treatment of appendicitis has become so common as to attract little or no notice from the profession. even the country neighborhood no longer regards such a piece of surgery as sensational. the use of surgical means in the cure, that is the removal, of tumors, both external and internal, has been greatly extended and perfected. the surgeon now carries a quick eye for the tumor and a quick remedy for it. in nearly all cases in which it has not become constitutional he effects a speedy cure with the knife. the cancerous part is cut away. it has been observed that as the recent mortality from consumption has decreased cancerous diseases have become more frequently fatal. whether or not there be anything vicarious in the action of these two great maladies we know not; but statistics show that since the beginning of pasteur's discoveries the one disease has diminished and the other increased in almost a corresponding ratio. meanwhile, however, surgery has opposed itself not only to cancers but to all kinds of tumors, until danger from these sores has been greatly lessened. the removal of internal tumors such as the ovarian, is no longer, except in complicated and neglected cases, a matter of serious import. such work is performed in almost every country town, and the amount of human life thus rescued from impending death is very great. the work of lithotomy is not any longer regarded with the dread which formerly attended it. in fact, every kind of disease and injury which in its own nature is subject to surgical remedy has been disarmed of its terror. the eye and the ear and all of the more delicate organs have become subject to repair and amendment to a degree that may well excite wonder and gratify philanthropy. but it is not only in the actual processes of surgery that this great improvement in human art may be noted. the treatment of wounds with respect to their cure by preserving them from bacterial and other poisons has been so greatly improved that it is now regarded almost as a crime to permit suppuration and other horrible processes which were formerly supposed to be the necessary concomitants of healing. the hospital, whether military or civil, was formerly a scene that might well horrify and make sick a visitant. it was putrefaction everywhere. it was stench and poisonous effluvia. the conditions were such as to make sick if not destroy even those who were well. how then could the injured sufferers escape? it is one of the crowning glories of our time that no such scene now exists in any civilized country. no such will ever exist again, unless science should lose its grip on the human mind and the civilized life subside into barbarism. the surgeon would now be held in ill-repute that should permit to any considerable degree the processes of putrefaction to take place in a wound of which he has had the care. the introduction of antiseptic and aseptic methods has made him a master in this respect. the skillful surgeon bids defiance to the microbes that hover in swarming millions ravenous for admission to every hurt done to the human body. to them a wound is a festival. to them a sore is a royal banquet to which through the invisible realm a proclamation goes forth, "come ye! come to the banquet which death is preparing out of life!" all this the modern surgeon disappoints with a smile and a wave of his hand. the invisible swarms of invading animalculæ are swept back. not a single bacterium can any longer enter the most inviting wound while the surgeon stands ready with drawn sword to defend the portals of life. great religious movements. defence on new lines. in a period so intensely active and progressive as the nineteenth century has been, in politics, science and literature, it would have been surprising if the church had remained inert, wrapped like a mummy in the cerements of the past. at the beginning of the century, there were voices on all hands loudly proclaiming that it was dead; that it was antiquated and obsolete; that it had lost touch with the life of the time, that it was a relic of exploded superstition; and as a great writer said, had fallen into a godless mechanical condition, standing as the lifeless form of a church, a mere case of theories, like the carcass of a once swift camel, left withering in the thirst of the universal desert. that in certain circles there was ground for such reproach is sufficiently proved. materialism had crept into its colleges, sapping away their spiritual life and driving young men either into atheism or into the roman catholic communion. such activity as it had, was in the evangelical circles only the common people still listened eagerly to wesley's successors and were intensely in earnest in the christian life and work. it was at the top that the tree was dying, where the currents of the philosophy of voltaire struck the branches, and where hume's scorching radicalism blighted its leaves. in the universities, and the clubs, not in the workshops, was religion scorned and contemned. there was soon, however, to be a quickening of the dry bones. the spirit of the time--the zeit-geist--began to move in the church. it was the spirit of investigation, of scientific inquiry, of rigorous test. the older preachers and religious authorities still droned about the duty of defending the faith "once for all" delivered to the saints. in spite of their protests, the younger men would go down into the crypt of the church, and examine the foundations of the building. they could not be kept back by authoritative assurances that the stones were sound, and were well and truly laid. the hysterical protests against the irreverence of examination fell on deaf ears. the answer was the simple insistance on investigation. the very reluctance to permit it was an indication that it would not bear investigation. at the opening of the century, this idea, expressed in varying forms, was rapidly becoming prevalent. the citadel of the church was assaulted, by some with ferocity, and by others with scorn and contempt. the defence was on the old lines of denunciation of the wickedness of the assailants, of vituperative epithets, and of the assumption of special and divine illumination. the issue of the conflict would not have been doubtful, had it been continued with these tactics. the church would have been relegated to the limbo of superstition and the hide-bound pedantry of ecclesiasticism, if new defenders on new principles had not entered the lists. reinforcement came from a band of philosophic thinkers of whom wordsworth and coleridge were the pioneers. the influence of both these men was underestimated at the time. they appeared weak and ineffective, but the ideas to which they gave expression, entered the minds of stronger men, who applied them with more vigorous force. the church, coleridge declared, as carlyle interprets him, was not dead, but tragically, asleep only. it might be aroused and might again become useful, if only the right paths were opened. coleridge could not open the paths, he could but vaguely show the depth and volume of the forces pent up in the church; but he insisted that they were there, that eternal truth was in christianity, and that out of it must come the light and life of the world. as his little band of hearers listened to him, they saw the first faint gleams of the light which was to illumine the world and make the darkness and degradation of the materialistic philosophy an impossibility to the devout mind. thus he stood at the beginning of the nineteenth century, as erasmus stood at the beginning of the sixteenth, perceiving and proclaiming the existence of truths which others were to apply to the needs of the time. to ascertain precisely in what form the forces of christianity existed and how they might be applied to nineteenth century life, became early in the nineteenth century the problem on which the best thought of the time was concentrated. coleridge's unshaken conviction that it was solvable, inspired many with courage. whately, arnold, schleiermacher, bunsen, ewald, newman, hare, milman, thirlwall and many others, approached it from different directions. the spirit of scientific investigation that was in the air was applied with reverent hands, but with unsparing resolve to ascertain the exact truth. the investigation was no longer confined to dogma; a proof text from the bible was no longer sufficient to close a controversy. the bible itself must be subjected to investigation. this was indeed going to the foundations. there was a wild outcry against rationalism and iconoclasm, but the search for truth and fact went on. as in a siege, the garrison must sometimes destroy with their own hands outworks which cannot be successfully defended, and may be made a vantage ground for the enemy, so the defenders of christianity set themselves to the task of finding out how much of the current theology was credible and tenable, and how much might wisely be abandoned, to insure the safety of the remainder. the discoveries of geology, astronomy and of biology could not be denied, yet their testimony was contrary to christian doctrine. "the world was made in six natural days," said the old christian preacher. "the world was thousands of years in the making," said the geologist. the preacher appealed to his bible, the geologist appealed to the rocks. the issue was fairly joined, and in the early years of the century it seemed as if there was no alternative but that of believing the bible and denying science, or believing science and giving up the bible; it seemed impossible to believe both. when the scientific theologian ventured to suggest that the word "day," might mean age, or period, there was another outcry that the bible was being surrendered to the enemy. but it was realized that the message of the bible to the world was not scientific, and that its usefulness was not impaired by the suggested mode of understanding its record of creation; and gradually the surrender was accepted. it is true that to this day there are some who will not accept it, as there is at least one preacher who insists, on the authority of the bible, that "the sun do move," but the number diminishes in every generation. a beginning was made in attaining the true view of the bible which led further and has not yet reached its limits. having admitted that the bible was not given to teach science the church has to decide whether it can admit the theory of evolution and whether its records of history are authoritative. these questions are so fundamental that the strife of calvinism and arminianism and the question of the double procession of the holy spirit, which seemed vital to our fathers have faded into relative insignificance. evangelical activity. while these storms were agitating the upper air, and the thunderous echoes reverberated through the mountains, the work on the plain went rapidly forward. however the scholars and the theologians might decide the questions at issue between them, the working forces were profoundly convinced that the gospel was the great need of the world, and they put out new energy and applied all the powers of the mind to devising new methods for its propagation. the increased facilities of travel, the improved means of communication and, above all, the power of the printing-press, were all seized and harnessed to service in the dissemination of the gospel. no characteristic of this century is so prominent as this intense activity and aggressive energy. from every secular movement, the church has taken suggestions for its own advancement. trade-unionism has suggested christian endeavor and the evangelical alliance; the public school system has developed the international lesson system in the sunday school; the political convention has taught the advantages of great religious conferences; the principles of military organization have been utilized in the salvation army. if in some circles religion seems to have been a fight over doctrines and theories, in others it has seemed a ceaseless, untiring struggle for converts. in no century since the first century of the christian era has the zeal of propagation, with no element of proselytism in it, taken so strong a hold of the followers of christ. to translate the bible into every tongue, to carry the gospel message to every people, and to evangelize the masses at home, prodigious efforts have been put forth, and enormous sums of money have been expended. mental activity, uncompromising veracity, indefatigable energy, have characterized the church through the century, and its closing years show no abatement in any of these characteristics. a brief sketch of some of the more prominent of these developments can render the fact only more, obvious. bible revision. one of the most important events of the century to the english speaking world is the revision of the bible. its full effect is not yet felt, as the book which was the product of the revisers' labors is but slowly winning its way into use in the church and the home. like its predecessor, the authorized version now in general use, it has to encounter the prejudice which comes from long familiarity with the book in use and from the veneration for the phraseology in which the precious truths, are expressed. yet from the beginning of the century the need of an improved translation was felt and several persons, undertook to supply it, but with very objectionable results. the principal bases of the need were serious. one was that many words and phrases have in the nineteenth century a meaning entirely different from the one they had in the early part of the seventeenth century when the authorized version was issued. one case in point is mark vi. , in which salome asks that the head of john the baptist be given her "by and by in a charger." in the expression by and by meant immediately or forthwith, and was a correct translation, while with us it means a somewhat indefinite future and is therefore an incorrect translation. with the noun, too, the meaning has changed. our idea of a charger is of a war-horse, not of a dish, which the original conveys. a second reason for the revision was that there were in the libraries in this century several manuscripts of the original, much older than those to which the translators of the authorized version had access when they undertook their work. a third reason was that a notable advance had been made in scholarship in the interval, and learned men were much better acquainted with the hebrew and greek idiom than were any of the scholars of the king james period. for these three, among other reasons, a revision was necessary, that the unlearned reader might have, as nearly as was possible, the exact equivalent in english of the words of the bible writers. the project, after being widely discussed for several years, finally took shape in england in , when the convocation of canterbury appointed two committees to undertake the work. the ablest scholars in hebrew and greek literature in the country were assigned to the committees, of which one was engaged on the old, and the other on the new testament. they were empowered to call to their aid similar committees in america, who might work simultaneously with them. stringent instructions were given to them to avoid making changes where they were not clearly needed for the accuracy of translation, and to preserve the idiom of the authorized version. only with these safeguards and with not a little reluctance, the commission was issued. one hundred and one scholars on both sides of the atlantic took part in the work. the committees commenced their labors early in . on may , , the revised new testament was issued, and on may , , the revised old testament was in the hands of the public. all that scholarship, strenuous labor and exhaustive research could do to give a faithful translation had been done within the somewhat narrow and conservative limits under which the revisers were commissioned. bibles by the million. with this improvement, there was at the same time a marked impetus in bible circulation. the nineteenth century has been eminently a bible-reading and a bible-studying period. in no previous century have efforts on so gigantic a scale been made to put the book in the hands of every one who could read it. the price was brought so low by the decrease in the cost of production, that the very poorest could possess a copy. the british and foreign bible society, founded in , and the american bible society, founded in , have largely contributed to this result. both societies were organized to issue the bible without note or comment, and both have faithfully labored to promote its circulation. in spite of all that has been said against the book and in spite of the fact that so large a number of persons must have been supplied, the circulation has increased from year to year. in the year ending march, , the american society alone issued , , copies, and the british two and a half million. during its existence the american society has sent out over sixty-one million copies and the british society over one hundred and forty millions. the work of translation has kept pace with the demand. at the beginning of the century the bible had been translated, in whole or in part, into thirty-eight languages. it is now translated into three hundred and eighty-one, and translators are engaged on nearly a hundred others. nor must it be supposed that the supply was in excess of the demand. there is abundant evidence of the desire of the public to possess the word of god. one fact alone is a conspicuous proof of this demand. in the proprietor of the _christian herald_ of new york offered an oxford teacher's bible as a premium with his journal. the offer was accepted with such avidity that edition after edition was exhausted, and it has been renewed every year since with increased demand. through this journal alone, by this means, over three hundred and two thousand copies have been put into the hands of the people during the past five years. with the increase in the circulation of the word of god there has been a costly and thorough effort to gain new light on its pages. never before have labor and money been expended so lavishly in endeavors to learn from exploration and research, historical facts which would contribute to an intelligent understanding of its history and literature. in a society called the palestine exploration society was organized for the special purpose of thoroughly examining the holy land, investigating and identifying ancient sites and making exact maps of the country. in twenty-seven years the society, though working with the utmost economy, expended $ , . the result of its labors has been to let a flood of light on the ancient places and the ancient customs of its people, explaining many allusions in the sacred history, poetry and prophecy that were previously dark. the egypt exploration fund has also added materially to our knowledge of that country which is associated with the early history of the chosen people. but the most valuable aid to bible study came from the discovery of the assyrian royal library, a series of clay tablets and cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were deciphered by mr. george smith of the british museum. from these and from the records on the monuments of egypt historical information has been derived of inestimable value in the study of the bible. a great missionary era. one of the most prominent characteristics of the church of christ in this century has been its phenomenal missionary activity. its zeal in this cause, the devotion and courage of its missionaries and the amount of money expended have had no parallel in the previous history of the church. already a beginning had been made when the century dawned. in king william iii. of england had granted a charter to the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts. in frederick iv. of denmark established a college of missions and two danish missionaries were laboring in india. in the famous danish missionary, hans egede, began a work in greenland. in the moravian missionaries, dober and nitschmann, went to st. thomas, and in the following year the moravian church sent missionaries to labrador, the west indies, south america, south africa and india. but it was not until the last decade of the eighteenth century that the spirit which was to distinguish the next century really manifested itself. in the devotion and consecration of william carey led to the formation of the baptist missionary society, and in the following year he sailed for india as its first missionary. in the london missionary society was organized, a missionary ship was purchased and the first band of missionaries sailed for the south sea islands. two years later, another party sailed for south africa, among whom were the veterans, vanderkemp and kitchener. two scottish societies were founded in and a dutch society in . in the closing year of the century the famous church missionary society was formed in the church of england. thus the nineteenth century opened with organizations for work in existence and pioneers few in number, but intensely in earnest in several fields of labor. the first quarter of the century witnessed the advent of new agencies, as well as a multiplication of forces. the american board of commissioners for foreign missions was organized in , the english wesleyan missionary society in , the american baptist in , the american methodist in , the american protestant episcopal in , and the berlin and paris missionary societies in . thus, in the comparatively short space of thirty-two years, thirteen societies had been organized by the various denominations here and in europe, each of which was destined to grow to proportions little contemplated by their founders. since that time the great china inland mission and other undenominational societies have been founded and are sending out men and women in large numbers to the heathen world. besides these, there have been societies of special workers which have done valuable service in aiding the missionary societies, such as the medical missionaries, the zenana missionaries and the university and students' volunteer movements. statistics recently compiled show that the number of central stations in heathen lands occupied by protestant missionaries in was , with out-stations to the number of , . there are now thirty-seven missionary societies in this country alone which have sent out missionaries. a library of volumes would be needed to give even a sketch of the results of the labors of these devoted men and women. the church holds their names in holy reverence. many of them have attained the crown of martyrdom, and a still greater number have fallen victims to the severities of uncongenial climates. every heathen land has now associated with it the name of valiant soldiers of the cross, who have given their lives to add it to their master's, kingdom. in india among many others, there have been carey, duff, martyn, marshman and ward. in china, morrison, milne, taylor, john talmage and griffith john. in africa, moffat, livingstone, hannington and vanderkemp. in the south seas, williams, logan and paton, while judson of burmah and a host of noble men and women in every clime, have toiled and suffered, not counting their lives dear unto them, that they might preach to the heathen the unsearchable riches of christ. preaching to heathen at home. the zeal for the propagation of the gospel among the heathen, has been paralleled by the efforts put forth for the evangelization of the people in nominally christian lands. in this enterprise the front rank on both sides of the atlantic has been occupied by the methodist church. its system of itinerary, relieving its ministers in part from exhausting study, and so giving them time and opportunity for pastoral work and aggressive evangelistic effort, its welcome of lay assistance in pulpit service and its system of drill and inspection in the class-meeting, have all combined to develop its working resources and increase its aggressive power. the fact that there are now in the world over thirty million methodists of various kinds, makes it difficult to realize that when the century began, john wesley had been dead only nine years. this century consequently has witnessed the growth and development of that mighty organization from the seed sown by that one consecrated man and his helpers. it is doubtful whether in politics or society there is any fact of the century so remarkable as this. the church wesley founded has split into sections in this land and in england, but the divisions are one at heart, and the name of methodist is the common precious possession of them all. a great writer has contended with much force that the world at this day knows no such unifier of nationalities and societies as the methodist church. when the young man leaves the parental roof of a methodist family for some distant city, or some foreign land, the pangs of anxiety are alleviated by the knowledge that wherever he may be, there will be some methodist church where he will find friends, and some methodist class-leader who will look after his most important interests. the magnificent methodist organization, unequalled outside the roman catholic church, has developed within the century, and its aggressive forces have been felt throughout christendom. all the denominations have received an impetus from its abundant energy and each in its measure has caught the contagion of its activities. in country districts, in the great cities and in foreign lands, its representatives, loyal to their church and the principles of its founder, are pressing forward in self-denial and apostolic fervor foremost everywhere in the van of the christian army. kindred with the methodist in its enthusiasm and still more highly organized, is the youngest of all the religious organizations--the salvation army. in its origin, a daughter of the methodist church, with a strong resemblance in spirit and purpose and methods to its mother, the salvation army has a mission peculiarly its own. it too has grown with a rapidity unexampled in the religious history of other centuries. more than one quarter of the century had passed when william booth first saw the light, more than half the century had passed before he had begun to give his life to his master's service. from to he was simply a methodist minister, at an unimportant town, appointed by his conference, sparsely paid, and certain to be removed to another sphere at the end of his term. in , he and his devoted wife resigned home and income and dependence on conference for support, and went to london. they settled in the poorest and most degraded district of the city, and began to preach in tents, in cellars, in deserted saloons, under railroad arches, in factories and in any place which could be had for nothing, or at a low rental. the people gathered in multitudes wherever mr. booth and his wife preached, veritable heathen, many of them, who knew nothing of the bible and had never attended a religious service in their lives. converts were numerous and they were required to testify to the change in their souls and their lives and to become missionaries in their turn. in an old market was purchased in the densest centre of poverty in london and was made the headquarters of the mission. bands of men and women were sent out to hold meetings, sing hymns and "give their testimony" in the open-air, in saloons, or any resort where an audience could be gathered. these bands were busy every night in a hundred wretched districts of the great city, and at every stand, some poor forlorn creatures would be gathered in and encouraged to begin a new life in faith in christ. some method of organization became necessary, and was eventually devised. the perfect obedience and confidence manifested everywhere to the man who directed the movement, and the entire dependence of every worker on him for guidance and support, may have suggested the military system. however that may be, the military organization was adopted, and a perfect system framed with the aid of railton smith, and a few other clever organizers who were attracted to mr. booth's side by the novelty of his methods, and his marvelous success. in the spring of , the plans were all matured and the new movement became a compact and powerful religious force. since that time it has spread throughout england, into several european lands, to the united states, and canada, to india, australia and south africa. its autocratic character has been steadfastly maintained. general booth has retained absolute control of every officer in his service and has the management of the enormous income of the army. occasionally there has been mutiny which has been overcome by tact or prompt discipline, and not until this year ( ), when general booth's son, ballington, who was his representative in the united states, resigned rather than be removed from his command, has there been any formidable defiance of the supreme and despotic government of the world-wide organization. the methods of the army are unconventional and are shocking to staid, respectable members of churches, but criticism is out of place in any method which will redeem the masses in the numbers won by the salvation army. churches drawing together. a notable characteristic of the religious life of the century, especially in the latter half of it, has been a desire manifested in various quarters, and in different ways, for union among the denominations. that organic union could be attained, no practical man could hope. uniformity could not be expected, even if it could be proved to be desirable, but friendly association was possible, and there were many who contended that there ought to be a recognition of brotherhood and comradeship, which might issue in some attempt at co-operation. this was the conviction of many prominent preachers and laymen on both sides of the atlantic, early in the century. and truly the condition of the world and of society was of a character to force such a conviction on the minds of intelligent men. infidelity was rampant, and intemperance, gambling, unchastity, and other forms of vice were practiced with unblushing effrontery. on the other side, the churches, which should have been waging war on all ungodliness, were fighting each other, contending about the questions on which they differed, and exhausting their strength in internecine conflict. was it not time, men were asking, that the forces that were on the side of godliness united in opposition to evil? after long discussion, and some opposition, this feeling took practical shape in the evangelical alliance. at a meeting held in london in eight hundred representatives of fifty denominations were assembled. it was found that however widely they differed on questions of doctrine and church government, there was practical agreement on a large number of vital subjects, such as the need of religious education, the observance of the lord's day, and the evil influence of infidelity. an organization was effected, on the principles of federation, to secure united action on subjects on which all were agreed, and this organization has been maintained to the present time. branches have been formed in twenty-seven different lands, each dealing with matters peculiarly affecting the community in which it operates, and by correspondence, and periodical international conferences, keeping in touch with each other. its usefulness has been proved in the success of its efforts to secure tolerance in several lands, where men were being persecuted for conscience' sake, though much still remains to be done on this line. perhaps the most conspicuous result of its work is the general observance throughout christendom of the first complete week of every year as a week of prayer. the proposal for such an observance was made in . since that time the alliance has issued every year a list of subjects which are common objects of desire to all evangelical christians. on each day of the week, prayer is now offered in every land for the special blessing which is suggested as the topic for the day. from the same spirit of christian brotherhood which took shape in the evangelical alliance, came at later dates other movements which are yet in their infancy. one of these is the reunion conference which meets annually at grindelwald in switzerland. its object is to find a basis for organic union of the protestant episcopal church with congregationalists, presbyterians, methodists and other evangelical denominations. the meetings have been hitherto remarkably harmonious, and suggestions of mutual concessions have been made which have been favorably considered. a less ambitious, and therefore more hopeful movement of like spirit, is that of the municipal or civic church. its aim is the organization of a federative council of the churches of a city, or of sections of a city, for united effort in social reform, benevolent enterprise and christian government. it proposes to substitute local co-operation for the existing union on denominational lines, or to add the one to the other. it would unite the methodist, baptist, congregational and other churches in a city, or district, in a movement to restrict the increase of saloons, to insist on the enforcement of laws against immorality and to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the community. the united voice of the christians of a city uttered by a council, in which all are represented, would unquestionably exercise an influence more potent than is now exerted by separate action. to these movements must be added another which has been launched under the name of the brotherhood of christian unity. this is a fraternity of members of churches and members of no church, who yet accept christ as their leader and obey the two cardinal precepts of christianity--love to god and love to man. its object is to promote brotherly feeling among christians and a sense of comradeship among men of different creeds. all these movements are an indication of the spirit of the time. as one of the leaders has said, their aim is not so much to remove the fences which divide the denominations, as to lower them sufficiently to enable those who are within them to shake hands over them. in no previous century since the disintegrating tendency began to manifest itself, has this spirit of brotherly recognition of essential unity been so general, or has taken a shape so hopeful of practical beneficence. organized activities. effective influence to the same end has been set in motion, incidentally, by an organization which was originated for a different purpose. this is the christian endeavor society, which is one of the latest of the important religious movements of the century. it was primarily designed to promote spiritual development among young people. it had its birth in in a congregational church at portland, me. dr. francis e. clark, the pastor of the church, had a number of young people around him who had recently made public profession of faith in christ and pledged themselves to his service. precisely what that implied, may not have been definitely understood by any of them. as every pastor is aware, the period immediately following such a profession is a critical time in the life of every young convert. in the college or the office, or the store, the youth comes in contact with people who have made no profession of the kind, and he is apt to ask himself, and to be asked, in what way he differs from them. the early enthusiasm of his new relation to the church is liable to decline, and he may become doubtful whether any radical change has taken place in him. he does not realize that he is at the beginning of a period of growth, a gradual process, which is to be lifelong. taking his conception of personal religion from the sermons he has heard and the appeals that have been made to him, he has a tendency to regard conversion as an experience complete and final, an occult mysterious transformation, effected in a moment and concluded. disappointment is inevitable, and when non-christian influences are strong, there is a probability of his drifting into indifference. dr. clark was aware of this fact, as other pastors were, by sad experience, and he sought means to remedy it. some plan was needed which would help the young convert and teach him how to apply his religion to his daily life, to make it an active influence, instead of a past experience. the plan dr. clark adopted was of an association of young people in his church, who should meet weekly for prayer and mutual encouragement and helpfulness, with so much of an aggressive quality as to exert an influence over young people outside its membership. the plan succeeded. the religious force in the soul, so liable to become latent, became active, and the young converts made rapid progress. dr. clark explained his experiment to other pastors, who tried it with like results. the remedy for a widespread defect was found. it was adopted on all hands and by all evangelical denominations. it spread from church to church, from town to town and into foreign lands. annual conventions of these christian endeavor societies were held, at which forty or fifty thousand young people, representing societies in all sections of the country with an aggregate membership of about two million souls, were present to recount their experience and pledge themselves anew to the service. the basis of their association was made so broad that christians of every denomination could heartily unite in its profession of faith. thus, in addition to the primary design, a basis of christian inter-denominational union was incidentally discovered, and the methodist and the presbyterian, the congregationalist and episcopalian found themselves united in a common bond for a common purpose. the movement in these present years shows no signs of decrease, but is still growing in numbers, power and influence, and promises to be one of the most potent factors of religious life which springing up in this century will go on to influence the next. the idea of association and combination in religious life, of which christian endeavor is the most extensive illustration, has been embodied during the century in other forms. springing directly from the christian endeavor society, are the epworth league in the methodist church, and the baptist young people's union in the baptist communion. the two organizations are practically identical in principle and purpose with the christian endeavor society and differ from it only in the absence of the inter-denominational character. the heads of the methodist church apprehended danger to their young people in their being members of a society not under direct methodist control and feared that they might eventually be lost to methodism. the baptists, on the other hand, were not concerned on the question of control, but feared that the association of their young people with the young people of other churches might lead them to think lightly of the peculiar rite which separates them from other denominations, and to diminish its importance in their esteem. both denominations therefore organized societies of the same kind, to keep their young people within the denominational fold. another organization which has attained large membership and has become international, is that of the king's daughters. as its name indicates, it was primarily intended for women, though as it extended, it added as an adjunct a membership for men as king's sons. it also was inter-denominational in character, and its objects were more directly identified with the philanthropic side of the religious life than were those of the societies previously mentioned. it originated in a meeting of ten ladies, held in new york, in , at which plans were discussed for aiding the poor, the unfortunate and the distressed in mind, body or soul. they were all christian ladies who recognized the duty of ministering in christ's name to those who were in need and so fulfilling his injunction of kindly service. the plan finally adopted was to organize circles of ten members each, who should be pledged to use their opportunities, as far as they were able, for christian ministration. each member agreed to wear, as a badge of the order, a small silver maltese cross, bearing the initials, i.h.n., representing the motto, "in his name." every circle was to be left free to apply the principle of service as it saw fit, or as special circumstances might suggest, and all the circles to be under the direction and limited control of a central council. the plan, subsequently modified as experience suggested, was widely adopted. the circles have worked in a variety of ways, visiting hospitals and prisons, making garments for the poor, raising funds for the needy, aiding the churches and rendering service in various ways in which kindly christian women are so effective. still another form of combination in christian work has distinguished this century. in george williams, a london dry goods merchant employing a large number of young men, made an effort to provide them with a species of christian club. his own experience as a young man fresh from a country home, suddenly inducted into the temptations of city life, suggested to him the kind of help such young men needed. a christian friend in a great city to help a new-comer, to find him wholesome amusement in the evenings, and to put him on his guard against the pitfalls that were set for his unwary feet, might, mr. williams was convinced, save many a young man from ruin. to provide them with such friends and to furnish a place of meeting for reading, converse and amusement, was the problem the kindly christian man attempted to solve. out of his effort grew the institution we know as the young men's christian association, which has its mission in nearly every large town in this country and in england. the young man of this century can go into no considerable town without finding a commodious hall, with well-equipped library and reading-room, generally with a gymnasium attached, and with a host of young men ready to make his acquaintance and surround him with christian influences. in many towns, the institution has developed from the purely religious enterprise into a many-sided effort to give practical educational training and to attract young men to it by the help it renders them in secular pursuits. the institution as it now exists, must be counted as one of the most beneficent in its far-reaching influence that the century has produced. humanitarian work. kindred in spirit, but differing essentially in operation, is the institution, peculiarly a product of nineteenth century religion, which we know as the social or college settlement. though it does not claim a distinctively religious character, its principles are so thoroughly identical with christianity, that no survey of the religious life of the century would be complete without a recognition of it. it is the spirit that brought the founder of christianity to the earth, to live a lowly life among men, which inspires the social settlement. it is generally an unostentatious house in some crowded neighborhood, where the people are poor and life is hard. in the house are a number of college-bred men, or women, who come in relays and live there for a week or a month or longer. they do no missionary work, do not preach, or denounce, or instruct their neighbors, but they live among them a cleanly, helpful, friendly life, welcoming them cordially as visitors, advising them if advice is sought, rendering help in difficulties and being neighborly in the best sense of the word. there are concerts in the house, exhibitions of pictures, children's parties and amusements of various kinds to which all the neighbors are welcome. charity is no part of the settlement's programme. it does not give, but it extends a brotherly hand, and in a spirit of friendship and equality seeks to do a brother's part in brightening lowly lives. hundreds of such institutions are in operation on both sides the atlantic. to the credit of this century be it said that it has seen in these institutions the parable of the good samaritan made a living fact in intelligent organization. tending directly toward the same object, is the religious enterprise now commonly known as the institutional church. it is a distinct gain to the church if the people in its vicinity discover that it is anxious to help them to a better and happier life in this world, as well as guiding them to happiness in the next. the divine founder of christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need saving, as well as souls, and some of his followers are following his example. their churches do not stand closed and silent from sunday to sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of practical helpfulness. temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual contact with them and devising means to supply them. the critics say this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in their welfare. the sunday school. of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be mentioned. though this century did not see the birth of the sunday school, it has witnessed its wonderful development. in june, , robert raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the religious instruction of children on the lord's day, and before the close of the year, john wesley wrote that he found sunday schools springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight: "perhaps god may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. who knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for christians?" within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into the sunday schools. so much had already been done before the beginning of the century. but even then men did not realize whereunto the movement was destined to grow. probably no enterprise has really exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the time. children have entered the schools, passed through their grades, have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the sunday school was unknown. the organization of sunday school unions, the introduction of the international lesson system, and the city, state and national conventions are all the developments of this century. the thought that a million and a half of sunday school teachers are now engaged in every clime, sunday by sunday, in teaching the children and young people the truths of christianity is enough to fill the mind of the christian with thankfulness and hope. pulpit and press. it would be beyond the scope of an article of this character to attempt to recall the names of the eminent preachers of the century. it has been singularly rich in men of eloquence, depth of thought and high culture. a few, however, are distinguished among the noble army by the phenomenal character of their work. of these probably no name is so widely known as that of rev. t. dewitt talmage, d.d. one of the most remarkable phenomena of the religious world in this century, is the fact that every week one preacher should address an audience numbered by millions. the fact is unprecedented. of all classes of readers, the number of those who read sermons is considered the smallest, yet this century has produced a preacher whose sermons command a public larger than that of a fascinating novelist. for thirty years the newspapers have been publishing dr. talmage's sermons in every city of his own land, in every english-speaking land and in many foreign lands where they are translated for publication. it is a significant fact, which should gratify every christian, that the man whose words reach regularly and surely the largest audience in the world should be a preacher of the gospel. to no man in any walk of life, whether politician, editor or author, has the opportunity of impressing his thoughts on his generation that dr. talmage enjoys been given in such fulness. next in extent of influence, and with a like faculty of reaching immense and widely scattered masses of people, was the late charles haddon spurgeon, a preacher of singularly homely power, calvinistic in theology, epigrammatic in style, and with an earnest evangelical spirit which had a powerful influence on both hearers and readers. his sermons, like those of dr. talmage, were read in every land and were instrumental in conversions wherever they went. strongly resembling mr. spurgeon in his strong evangelicalism, as well as in homely eloquence, is mr. d.l. moody. during this century probably no man has addressed so large a number of people. in this country and in england such audiences have thronged the buildings in which he preached as no other orator has ever addressed on religious subjects, and the influence of his words is demonstrated by the thousands who through his appeals have been led to christ. we are nearing the end of the century. looking back over the events in the religious world which have marked its history, one characteristic is prominent above all others. it is the operation of the force to which an eminent writer has given the name of "spiritual dynamics." the world does not need a dogma, or a creed, so much as it needs power. it needs power to live right, to do right, to love god and man, to pity the fallen, to relieve the needy, the power of being good, of leading a spiritual life. this power it finds in christ and the whole tendency of the religious life of the century is to get back to him. conduct rather than creed, love rather than theology, have been the watchwords of the church. the spirit of christ, his teachings, his character, his example, are the centre of attraction which holds his church together and endues it with the power which shall yet subdue the world. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page witchcraft in somersetshire "emblemata horatiana," by weld taylor shakspeare criticism, by thomas keightley red hair a reproach, by t. hughes extracts from newspapers, , by e. g. ballard minor notes:--last suicide buried at a cross road. --andrew's edition of freund's latin lexicon-- slang expressions--"quem deus vult perdere"-- white roses queries:-- "merk lands" and "ures:" norwegian antiquities the leigh peerage, and stoneley estates, warwickshire minor queries:--phillips family--engine-à-verge --garrick's funeral epigram--the rosicrucians-- passage in schiller--sir john vanbrugh--historical engraving--hall-close, silverstone, northamptonshire --junius's letters to wilkes--the reformer's elm--how to take paint off old oak minor queries with answers:--cadenus and vanessa --boom--"a letter to a member of parliament" --ancient chessmen--guthryisms replies:-- correspondence of cranmer and calvin, by henry walter "populus vult decipi," by robert gibbings, &c. latin: latiner jack passage in st. james, by t. j. buckton, &c. faithfull teate parvise the coenaculum of lionardo da vinci font inscriptions, by f. b. relton, &c. burn at croydon christian names, by william bates, &c. weather rules rococo, by henry h. breen descendants of john of gaunt, by j. s. warden the order of st. john of jerusalem replies to minor queries:--anticipatory worship of the cross--ennui--"qui facit per alium, facit per se," &c.--vincent family--judge smith--"dimidiation" in impalements--worth--"elementa sex," &c.--"a diasii 'salve,'" &c.--meaning of "claret" --"the temple of truth"--wellborne family --devonianisms--humbug--george miller, d.d. --"a letter to a convocation man"--sheriffs of huntingdonshire and cambridgeshire--ferdinand mendez pinto--"other-some" and "unneath" --willow pattern--cross and pile--old fogie --another odd mistake--spontaneous combustion --erroneous forms of speech--ecclesia anglicana-- gloves at fairs--the sparrows at lindholme, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. witchcraft in somersetshire. perhaps the following account of superstitions now entertained in some parts of somersetshire, will be interesting to the inquirers into the history of witchcraft. i was lately informed by a member of my congregation that two children living near his house were bewitched. i made inquiries into the matter, and found that witchcraft is by far less uncommon than i had imagined. i can hardly adduce the two children as an authenticated case, because the medical gentleman who attended them pronounced their illness to be a kind of ague: but i leave the two following cases on record in "n. & q." as memorable instances of witchcraft in the nineteenth century. a cottager, who does not live five minutes' walk from my house, found his pig seized with a strange and unaccountable disorder. he, being a sensible man, instead of asking the advice of a veterinary surgeon, immediately went to the white witch (a gentleman who drives a flourishing trade in this neighbourhood). he received his directions, and went home and implicitly followed them. in perfect silence, he went to the pigsty; and lancing each foot and both ears of the pig, he allowed the blood to run into a piece of common dowlas. then taking two large pins, he pierced the dowlas in opposite directions; and still keeping silence, entered his cottage, locked the door, placed the bloody rag upon the fire, heaped up some turf over it, and reading a few verses of the bible, waited till the dowlas was burned. as soon as this was done, he returned to the pigsty; found his pig perfectly restored to health, and, _mirabile dictu!_ as the white witch had predicted, the old woman, who it was supposed had bewitched the pig, came to inquire after the pig's health. the animal never suffered a day's illness afterwards. my informant was the owner of the pig himself. perhaps, when i heard this story, there may have been a lurking expression of doubt upon my face, so that my friend thought it necessary to give me farther proof. some time ago a lane in this town began to be looked upon with a mysterious awe, for every evening a strange white rabbit { } would appear in it, and, running up and down, would mysteriously disappear. dogs were frequently put on the scent, but all to no purpose, the white rabbit could not be caught; and rumours soon began to assert pretty confidently, that the white rabbit was nothing more nor less than a witch. the man whose pig had been bewitched was all the more confident; as every evening when the rabbit appeared, he had noticed the bed-room window of his old enemy's house open! at last a large party of bold-hearted men one evening were successful enough to find the white rabbit in a garden, the only egress from which is through a narrow passage between two cottages, all the rest of the garden being securely surrounded by brick-walls. they placed a strong guard in this entry to let nothing pass, while the remainder advanced as skirmishers among the cabbages: one of these was successful, and caught the white rabbit by the ears, and, not without some trepidation, carried it towards the reserve in the entry. but, as he came nearer to his friends, his courage grew; and gradually all the wrongs his poor pig had suffered, took form and vigour in a powerful kick at the poor little rabbit! no sooner had he done this than, he cannot tell how, the rabbit was out of his grasp; the people in the entry saw it come, but could not stop it; through them all it went, and has never been seen again. but now to the proof of the witchcraft. the old woman, whom all suspected, was laid up in her bed for three days afterwards, unable to walk about: all in consequence of the kick she had received in the shape of a white rabbit! s. a. s. bridgewater. * * * * * "emblemata horatiana." whatever may be proposed as to republishing works of english emblems, the work published in holland with the above title at all events deserves to be better known. all the english works on the subject i ever saw, are poor indeed compared with the above: indeed, i think most books of emblems are either grounded or compiled from this interesting work; which is to the artist a work of the deepest interest, since all the designs are by otho venius, the master of rubens. not only are the morals conveyed lofty and sound, but the figures are first-rate specimens of drawing. i believe it is this work that malone says sir joshua reynolds learned to draw from: and if he really did, he could have had nothing better, whatever age he might be. "his principal fund of imitation," says malone, "was jacob cat's book of emblems, which his great-grandmother, by his father's side, who was a dutch woman, had brought with her from holland." there is a small copy i think published in england, but a very poor one: the original work, of which i possess a portion only, is large, and engraved with great care. and i have often thought it a pity such an admirable work should be so scarce and little known. whoever did it, it must have occupied many years, in those slow days, to make the designs and engrave them. at the present day lithography, or some of the easy modes of engraving, would soon multiply it. the size of the engravings are rather more than seven inches. many of the figures have been used repeatedly by rubens, and also some of the compositions. and though he is certainly a better painter, he falls far short in originality compared with his master; and, i may add, in richness of material. i should say his chief works are to be found in that book. one of my leaves is numbered : so i should judge the work to be very large, and to embrace a variety of subjects. some of the figures are worthy of raffaelle. i may instance one called the "balance of friendship." two young men have a balance between them; one side is filled with feathers, and the other with weightier offerings: the meaning being, we should not allow favours and gifts to come all from one side. the figures have their hands joined, and appear to be in argument: their ample drapery is worthy of a study for apostles. "undertake nothing beyond your strength" is emblemised by the giants scaling the heavens: one very fine figure, full of action, in the centre, is most admirably drawn. "education and habit" is another, full of meaning. two dogs are running: one after game, and another to a porringer. some one has translated the verses at the bottom on the back of the print as follows. this has a fine group of figures in it: "when taught by man, the hound pursues the panting stag o'er hill and fell, with steadfast eyes he keeps in view the noble game he loves so well. a mongrel coward slinks away, the buck, the chase, ne'er warms his soul; no huntsman's cheer can make him stay, he runs to nothing, but his porridge bowl. throughout the race of men, 'tis still the same, and all pursue a different kind of game. taverns and wine will form the tastes of some, others success in maids or wives undone. to solid good, the wise pursues his way; nor for low pleasure ever deigns to stay. though in thy chamber all the live-long day, in studious mood, you pass the hours away; or though you pace the noisy streets alone, and silent watch day's burning orb go down; _nature_ to thee displays her honest page: read there--and see the follies of an age." the taste for emblemata appears to have passed by, but a good selection would be i think received with favour; particularly if access could be obtained to a good collection. and i should like to { } see any addition to the rev. j. corser's list in the number of the th of may. weld taylor. * * * * * shakspeare criticism. when i entered on the game of criticism in "n. & q.," i deemed that it was to be played with good humour, in the spirit of courtesy and urbanity, and that, consequently, though there might be much worthless criticism and conjecture, the result would on the whole be profitable. finding that such is not to be the case, i retire from the field, and will trouble "n. & q." with no more of my lucubrations. i have been led to this resolution by the language employed by mr. arrowsmith in no. ., where, with little modesty, and less courtesy, he styles the commentators on shakspeare--naming in particular, knight, collier, and dyce, and including singer and all of the present day--_criticasters_ who "stumble and bungle in sentences of that simplicity and grammatical clearness as not to tax the powers of a third-form schoolboy to explain." in order to bring _me_ "within his danger," he actually transposes two lines of shakspeare; and so, to the unwary, makes me appear to be a very shallow person indeed. "it was gravely," says mr. a., "almost magisterially, proposed by one of the disputants [mr. singer] to corrupt the concluding lines by altering _their_ the pronoun into _there_ the adverb, because (shade of murray!) the commentator could not discover of what noun _their_ could possibly be the pronoun, in these lines following: 'when great things labouring perish in their birth, their form confounded makes most form in mirth;' and it was left to mr. keightley to bless the world with the information that it was _things_." in all the modern editions that i have been able to consult, these lines are thus printed and punctuated: "their form confounded makes most form in mirth; when great things labouring perish in the birth:" and _their_ is referred to _contents_. i certainly seem to have been the first to refer it to _things_. allow me, as it is my last, to give once more the whole passage as it is in the folios, unaltered by mr. collier's magnus apollo, and with my own punctuation: "that sport best pleases, that doth least know how, where zeal strives to content, and the contents dyes in the zeal of that which it presents. their form confounded makes most form in mirth, when great things labouring perish in the birth." _love's labour's lost_, act v. sc. . my interpretation, it will be seen, beside referring _their_ to _things_, makes _dyes in_ signify _tinges_, _imbues with_; of which use of the expression i now offer the following instances: "and the grey ocean _into purple dye_." _faery queene_, ii. . . "are deck'd with blossoms _dyed in white and red_." _ib._., ii. . . "_dyed in_ the dying _slaughter_ of their foes." _king john_, act ii. sc. . "and it was _dyed in mummy_." _othello_, act iii. sc. . "o truant muse! what shall be thy amends for thy neglect of truth _in beauty dyed_?" sonn. . for the use of this figure i may quote from the shakspeare of france: "mais pour moi, qui, caché sous une autre aventure, d'une âme plus commune ai pris quelque _teinture_." _héraclius_, act iii. sc. . "the house ought to _dye_ all the surrounding country with a strength of colouring, and to an extent proportioned to its own importance."--_life of wordsworth_, i. . another place on which i had offered a conjecture, and which mr. a. takes under his patronage, is "clamor your tongues" (_winter's tale_, act iv. sc. .) and in proof of _clamor_ being the right word, he quotes passages from a book printed in , in which are _chaumbreed_ and _chaumbre_, in the sense of restraining. i see little resemblance here to _clamor_, and he does not say that he would substitute _chaumbre_. he says, "most judiciously does nares reject gifford's corruption of this word into _charm_ [it was grey not gifford]; nor will the suffrage of the 'clever' old commentator," &c. it is very curious, only that we _criticasters_ are so apt to overrun our game, that the only place where "charm your tongue" really occurs, seems to have escaped mr. collier. in _othello_, act v. sc. ., iago says to his wife, "go to, charm your tongue;" and she replies, "i will not charm my tongue." my conjecture was that _clamor_ was _clam_, or, as it was usually spelt, _clem_, to press or restrain; and to this i still adhere. "when my entrails were _clemmed_ with keeping a perpetual fast." massinger, _rom. actor._, act ii. sc. . "i cannot eat stones and turfs: say, what will he _clem_ me and my followers?"--jonson, _poetaster_, act i. sc. . "hard is the choice when the valiant must eat their arms or _clem_." id., _every man out of his humour_ act iii. sc. . in these places of jonson, _clem_ is usually rendered _starve_; but it appears to me, from the kindred of the term, that it is used elliptically. perhaps, instead of "till famine _cling_ thee" (_macbeth_, act v. sc. .), shakspeare wrote "till { } famine _clem_ thee." while in the region of conjecture, i will add that _coasting_, in _troilus and cressida_ (act iv. sc. .), is, in my opinion, simply accosting, lopped in the usual way by aphæresis; and that "the still-peering air" in _all's well that ends well_ (act iii. sc. .), is, by the same figure, "the still-appearing air," _i. e._ the air that appears still and silent, but that yet "_sings_ with piercing." one conjecture more, and i have done. i do not like altering the text without absolute necessity; but there was always a puzzle to me in this passage: "where i find him, were it at home, upon my brother's guard, even there, against the hospitable canon, would i wash my fierce hand in 's blood." _coriol._, act i. sc. . why should aufidius speak thus of a brother who is not mentioned anywhere else in the play or in plutarch? it struck me one day that shakspeare _might_ have written, "upon my household hearth;" and on looking into north's _plutarch_, i found that when coriolanus went to the house of aufidius, "he got him up straight to _the chimney-hearth_, and sate him downe." the poet who adhered so faithfully to his _plutarch_ may have wished to preserve this image, and, _chimney_ not being a very poetic word, may have substituted _household_, or some equivalent term. again i say this is all but conjecture. thomas keightley. p.s.--it is really very annoying to have to reply to unhandsome and unjust accusations. the rev. mr. arrowsmith first transposes two lines of shakspeare, and then, by notes of admiration, holds me up as a mere simpleton; and then a. e. b. charges me with having pirated from him my explanation of a passage in _love's labour's lost_, act v. sc. . let any one compare his (in "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .) with mine (vol. vii., p. .), and he will see the utter falseness of the assertion. _he_ makes _contents_ the nom. to _dies_, taken in its ordinary sense (rather an unusual concord). _i_ take _dyes_ in the sense of tinges, imbues with, and make it governed of _zeal_. but perhaps it is to the full-stop at _presents_ that the "that's my thunder!" applies. i answer, that that was a necessary consequence of the sense in which i had taken _dies_, and that _their_ must then refer to _things_ maugre mr. arrowsmith. and when he says that i "do him the honour of requoting the line with which he had supported it," i merely observe that it is the line immediately following, and that i have eyes and senses as well as a. e. b. a. e. b. deceives himself, if he thinks that literary fame is to be acquired in this way. i do not much approve either of the manner in which, at least to my apprehension, in his opening paragraph, he seems to insinuate a charge of forgery against mr. collier. finally, i can tell him that he need not crow and clap his wings so much at his emendation of the passage in _lear_, for, if i mistake not, few indeed will receive it. it may be nuts to him and mr. arrowsmith to know that they have succeeded in driving my name out of the "n. & q." * * * * * red hair a reproach. i do not know the why or the wherefore, but in every part of england i have visited, there appears to be a deep-rooted prejudice in the eyes of the million against people with red hair. tradition, whether truly or not must remain a mystery, assigns to absalom's hair a reddish tinge; and judas, the traitorous disciple, is ever painted with locks of the same unhappy colour. shakspeare, too, seems to have been embued with the like morbid feeling of distrust for those on whose hapless heads the invidious mark appeared. in his play of _as you like it_, he makes rosalind (who is pettishly complaining of her lover's tardiness coming to her) say to celia: "_ros._ his very hair is of the dissembling colour. _celia._ something browner than judas'." it will be apparent from this quotation, that in england, at any rate, the prejudice spoken of is not of very recent development; and that it has not yet vanished before the intellectual progress of our race, will, i think, be painfully evident to many a bearer of this unenviable distinction. it seems to be generally supposed, by those who harbour the doctrine, that red-headed people are dissemblers, deceitful, and, in fact, not to be trusted like others whose hair is of a different colour; and i may add, that i myself know persons who, on that account alone, never admit into their service any whose hair is thus objectionable. in wales, _pen coch_ (red head) is a term of reproach universally applied to all who come under the category; and if such a wight should by any chance involve himself in a scrape, it is the signal at once for a regular tirade against all who have the misfortune to possess hair of the same fiery colour. i cannot bring myself to believe that there is any really valid foundation for this prejudice; and certainly, if not, it were indeed a pity that the superstitious feeling thus engendered is not at once and for ever banished from the memory. t. hughes. * * * * * extracts from newspapers, . _daily courant_, jan. , : "rome, dec. .--the famous painter, carlo maratta, died some days ago, in the ninetieth year of his age." _the post boy_, jan. - , .--_old mss. relating to winchester._--in the _post boy_, jan. { } - , , appears the following curious advertisement: "_winchester antiquities_, written by mr. trussell, dr. bettes, and mr. butler of st. edmund's bury, in one of which manuscripts is the _original of cities_; which manuscripts were never published. if the person who hath either of them, and will communicate, or permit the same to be copied or perused, he is earnestly desired to give notice thereof to mr. mathew imber, one of the aldermen of the city of winchester, in the county of southampton, who is compleating the idea or description of the ancient and present state of that ancient city, to be speedily printed; together with a faithful collection of all the memorable and useful things relating to the same city." gough, in his _topography_, vol. i. p. ., thus notices these mss.: "wood says (_ath. ox._, vol. i. p. .) that trussell the historian, who was alderman of winchester, continued to bishop curll's time, , an old ms. history of the see and bishops in the cathedral library. he also wrote _a description of the city of winchester; with an historical relation of divers memorable occurrences touching the same_, and prefixed to it _a preamble of the original of cities in general_. in a catalogue of the famous robert smith's books, sold by auction, , no. . among the mss. has this identical title, by j. trussell, fol., and was purchased for twelve shillings by a mr. rothwell, a frequent purchaser at this sale. the _description_, &c., written by trussell about , is now in the hands of john duthy, esq.; and from it large extracts were made in _the history and antiquities of winchester_, . bishop nicolson guesses that it was too voluminous, and bishop kennett that it was too imperfect to be published. "the former mentions something on the same subject by dr. bettes, whose book is still in ms. "dr. butler, of st. edmund's bury, made observations on the ancient monuments of this city under the romans." e. g. ballard. [trussell's mss. are now in the library of sir thomas phillipps.--ed.] * * * * * minor notes. _last suicide buried at a cross road._--i have reason to believe that the _last_ person subjected to this barbarous ceremony was the wretched parricide and suicide griffiths, who was buried at the cross road formed by eaton street, grosvenor place, and the king's road, as late as june, . i subjoin the following account from the _chronicle_: "the extreme privacy which the officers observed, as to the hour and place of interment, increased in a great degree the anxiety of those that were waiting, and it being suspected that the body would have been privately carried away, through the back part of the workhouse (st. george's) into farm street mews, and from thence to its final destination, different parties stationed themselves at the several passages through which it must unavoidably pass, in order to prevent disappointment. all anxiety however, on this account, was ultimately removed, by preparations being made for the removal of the body through the principal entry of the workhouse leading into mount street, and about half-past one o'clock the body was brought out in a shell supported on the shoulders of four men, and followed by a party of constables and watchmen. the solitary procession, which increased in numbers as it went along, proceeded up mount street, down south audley street into stanhope street, from thence into park lane through hyde park corner, and along grosvenor place, until its final arrival at the cross road formed by eaton street, grosvenor place, and the king's road. when the procession arrived at the grave, which had been previously dug, the constables arranged themselves around it to keep the crowd off, upon which the shell was laid on the ground, and the body of the unfortunate deceased taken out. it had on a winding-sheet, drawers, and stockings, and a quantity of blood was clotted about the head, and the lining of the shell entirely stained. the body was then wrapped in a piece of russia matting, tied round with some cord, and then instantly dropped into the hole, which was about five feet in depth: it was then immediately filled up, and it was gratifying to see that that disgusting part of the ceremony of throwing lime over the body, and driving a stake through it, was on this occasion dispensed with. the surrounding spectators, consisting of about two hundred persons, amongst whom were several persons of respectable appearance, were much disgusted at this horrid ceremony." imagine such scene in the "centre of civilisation" only thirty years ago! vincent t. sternberg. _andrew's edition of freund's latin lexicon._--a singular plan seems to have been pursued in this valuable lexicon in one point. wherever the meaning of a word in a certain passage is disputed, all reference to that place is omitted! here are a few examples of this "dodge" from one book, horace: _subjectus._ car. . . . _divido._ . . . _incola._ . . . _vertex._ . . . _pars._ . . . _tormentum._ . . . _laudo._ ep. . . _offendo._ ep. . . _octonus._ s. . . . _Æra._ ib. _duplex._ s. . . . _vulpecula._ epist. . . . _proprius._ a. p. ., &c. a. a. d. _slang expressions._--it would be curious to investigate farther how some odd forms of expression of this kind have crept into, if not the english language, at least into every-day parlance; and by _what classes of men_ they have been introduced. i do not of course mean the vile _argot_, or st. giles' { } greek, prevalent among housebreakers and pick-pockets; though a great deal of that is traceable to the rommany or gipsy language, and other sufficiently odd sources: but i allude more particularly to phrases used by even educated men--such as "a regular mull," "bosh," "just the cheese," &c. the first has already been proved an importation from our anglo-indian friends in the pages of "n. & q."; and i have been informed that the other two are also exotics from the land of the qui-hies. _bosh_, used by us in the sense of "nonsense," "rubbish," is a persian word, meaning "dirt" and _cheese_, a corruption of a hindostani word denoting "thing:" which is exactly the sense of the expression i have quoted. "just the cheese," "quite the cheese," _i. e._ just the thing i require, quite _comme il faut_, &c. probably some of your correspondents could furnish other examples. e. s. taylor. "_quem deus vult perdere._"--in croker's _johnson_, vol. v. p. ., the phrase, "quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat," is stated to be from a greek _iambic_ of euripides: "[greek: hon theos thelei apolesai prôt' apophrenai]." this statement is made first by mr. john pitts, late rector of great brickhill, bucks[ ], to mr. richard how of aspley, beds, and is taken for granted successively by boswell, malone, and croker. but no such greek is, in fact, to be found in euripides; the words conveying a like sentiment are,-- "[greek: hotan de daimôn andri porsunêi kaka], [greek: ton noun eblapse prôton]." the cause of this classical blunder of so many eminent annotators is, that these words are not to be found in the usual college and school editions of euripides. the edition from which the above correct extract is made is in ten volumes, published at padua in - , with an italian translation in verse by p. carmeli, and is to be found in vol. x. p. . as the - th verses of the _tragedie incerte_, the meaning of which he thus gives in prose "quando vogliono gli dei far perire alcuno, gli toglie la mente." t.j. buckton. lichfield. p.s.--in croker's _johnson_, vol. iv. p. ., the phrase "_omnia_ mea mecum porto" is incorrectly quoted from _val. max._ vii. ., instead of "_bona_ mea mecum porto." [footnote : this gentleman is wrong in saying _demento_ is of no authority, as it is found in lactantius. (see facciolati.)] _white roses._--the paragraph quoted from "an old newspaper," dated saturday, june th, , alludes to the commemoration of the birthday of king james viii. (the th of june), which was the monday mentioned as that before the saturday on which the newspaper was published. all faithful adherents of the house of stuart showed their loyalty by wearing the white rose (its distinguishing badge) on the th of june, when no other way was left them of declaring their devotion to the exiled family; and, from my own knowledge, i can affirm that there still exist some people who would think that day desecrated unless they wore a white rose, or, when that is not to be procured, a cockade of white ribbon, in token of their veneration for the memory of him of whose birth it is the anniversary. l. m. m. r. * * * * * queries. "merk lands" and "ures."--norwegian antiquities. in shetland, at the present day, all public assessments are levied, and divisions made, according to the number of merk lands in a parish. all arable lands were anciently, under the norwegian law, rated as _merks_,--a merk containing eight _ures_. these merks are quite indefinite as to extent. it is, indeed, clear that the ancient denomination of _merk land_ had not reference to superficial extent of surface, but was a denomination of value alone, in which was included the proportion of the surrounding commonty or _scattald_. merk lands are of different values, as sixpenny, ninepenny, twelvepenny,--a twelvepenny merk having, formerly at least, been considered equal to two sixpenny merks; and in some old deeds lands are described as thirty merks sixpenny, otherwise fifteen merks twelvepenny land. all assessments have, however, for a very long period, been levied and all privileges apportioned, according to merks, without relation to whether they were sixpenny or twelvepenny. the ancient rentals of shetland contain about fourteen thousand merks of land; and it will be noticed that, however much the ancient inclosed land be increased by additional improvements, the number of merks ought to be, and are, stationary. the valued rent, divided according the merk lands, would make a merk land in shetland equal to l. scots of valued rent. there are only one or two places of scotland proper where merks are in use,--stirling and dunfermline, i think. as these two places were the occasional residences of our ancient scottish kings, it is possible this plan of estimating land may have obtained there, to equalise and make better understood some arrangements relating to land entered into between the kings of norway and scotland. possibly some of the correspondents of "n. & q." in the north may be able to throw some light on this subject. it was stated some time ago that dr. munch, professor in the university of christiana, had presented to the society of northern archæology, in { } copenhagen, a very curious manuscript which he had discovered and purchased during a voyage to the orkneys and shetland in . the manuscript is said to be in good preservation, and the form of the characters assigns the tenth, or perhaps the ninth century as its date. it is said to contain, in the latin tongue, several episodes of norwegian history, relating to important facts hitherto unknown, and which throw much light on feudal tenures, holdings, superstitions, omens, &c., which have been handed down to our day, with their origin involved in obscurity, and on the darkness of the centuries that preceded the introduction of christianity into norway. has this manuscript ever been printed? kirkwallensis. * * * * * the leigh peerage, and stoneley estates, warwickshire. the fifth lord leigh left his estates to his sister, the hon. mary leigh, for her life, and at her decease without issue to "the first and nearest of his kindred, being male, and of his name and blood," &c. on the death of mrs. mary leigh in , the estates were taken possession of by her very distant kinsman, the rev. thomas leigh. the first person to dispute his right to them was mr. george smith leigh, who claimed them as being descended from a _daughter_ of sir thomas leigh, son of the first baron leigh. his claim was not allowed, because he had the name of leigh only _by royal license, and not by inheritance_. subsequently, the barony of leigh was claimed by another mr. george leigh, of lancashire, as descended from a son of the hon. christopher leigh (fourth son of the aforesaid sir thomas leigh), by his second wife. his claim was disallowed when heard by a committee of the house of lords in , because he could not prove the second marriage of christopher leigh, nor the birth of any son by such marriage. being about to print a genealogy of the leigh family, i should be under an obligation to any one who will, without delay furnish me with-- st. the descent, with dates, of the aforesaid mr. george _smith_ leigh from sir thomas leigh. nd. the wife, and descendants to the present time, of the aforesaid mr. george leigh. in return for this information i shall be happy to send my informant a copy of the genealogy when it is printed. i give you my name and address. j. m. g. * * * * * minor queries. _phillips family._--is there a family of phillips now bearing the ancient arms of william phillips, lord bardolph: viz. quarterly, gu. and az., in the chief dexter quarter an eagle displayed or. h. g. s. _engine-à-verge._--what is the _engine-à-verge_, mentioned by p. daniel in his _hist. de la milice franc._, and what the origin of the name? cape. _garrick's funeral epigram._--who is the author of these verses? "through weeping london's crowded streets, as garrick's funeral pass'd, contending wits and poets strove which should desert him last. "not so this world behaved to him who came this world to save; by solitary joseph borne unheeded to the grave." k. n. _the rosicrucians._--i should be extremely glad of a little information respecting "the brethren of the rosy cross." was there ever a regular fraternity of philosophers bearing this appellation; or was it given merely as a title to all students in alchemy? i should wish to obtain a list of works which might contain a record of their studies and discoveries. i subjoin the few in my own library, which i imagine to belong to this class. albertus magnus de animalibus, libr. xxvi. fol. venet. . albertus magnus de secretis mulierum, de virtutibus herbarum, lapidum at animalium. albertus magnus de miribilibus mundi, item. michael scotus de secretis naturæ, mo., lugd. . henr. corn. agrippa on the vanitie of sciences, to., london, . joann. baptist. van helmont, opera omnina, to., francofurti, . dr. charleton, ternary of paradoxes, london, . perhaps some of your correspondents will kindly furnish me with notices of other works by these writers, and by others who have written on similar subjects, as paracelsus, &c. e. s. taylor. _passage in schiller._--in the _memoirs of a stomach_, lately published, the editor asks a question of you: "is it schiller who says, 'the metaphysical part of love commences with the first sigh, and terminates with the first kiss'?" i pray you look to the merry and witty and learned little book, and respond to his query. amicus. _sir john vanbrugh._--this eminent architect and poet of the last century is stated by his biographers to have been "born in cheshire." can anybody furnish me with the place and date of his birth? t. hughes. chester. _historical engraving._--i have an ancient engraving, size ¾ in. wide and ¾ in. high, without title or engraver's name, which i should be { } glad to authenticate. it appears to represent charles ii. at the hague in . the foreground is occupied by groups of figures in the costume of the period. in the distance is seen a street in perspective, down which the royal carriage is proceeding, drawn by six horses. on one side is a row of horses, on the other an avenue of trees. to the right of this is a canal, on the bank of which a battery of seven guns is firing a salute. the opposite bank is occupied by public buildings. in the air a figure of fame holds a shield charged with the royal arms of england, surrounded by a garter, without the motto. five cherubs in various positions are dispersed around, holding respectively a globe, a laurel crown, palm branches, &c., and a crowned shield bearing a lion rampant, and a second with a stork, whose beak holds a serpent. a portion of the zodiacal circle, containing libra, scorpio, and sagittarius, marks, i suppose, the month in which the event took place. e. s. taylor. _hall-close, silverstone, northamptonshire._--adjoining the church-yard is a greensward field called "hall-close," which is more likely to be the site of the mansion visited by the early kings of england, when hunting in whittlebury forest, than the one mentioned by bridles in his history of the county. about , whilst digging here, a fire-place containing ashes was discovered; also many large wrought freestones. the well, close by, still retains the name of hall-well; and there are other things in the immediate vicinity which favour the supposition; but can an extract from an old ms., as a will, deed, indenture, &c., be supplied to confirm it? h. t. wake. stepney. _junius's letters to wilkes._--where are the original letters addressed by junius to mr. wilkes? the editor of the _grenville papers_ says, "it is uncertain in whose custody the letters now remain, many unsuccessful attempts having been _recently_ made to ascertain the place of their deposit." d. g. _the reformer's elm._--what was the origin of the name of "the reformer's elm?" where and what was it? c. m. t. oare. _how to take paint off old oak._--can any of your correspondents inform me of some way to take paint off old oak? f. m. middleton. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _cadenus and vanessa._--what author is referred to in the lines in swift's "cadenus and vanessa,"-- "he proves as sure as god's in gloster, that moses was a grand impostor; that all his miracles were tricks," &c.? w. fraser. tor-mohun. [these lines occur in the dean's verses "on the death of dr. swift," and refer to thomas woolston, the celebrated heterodox divine, who, as stated in a note quoted in scott's edition, "for want of bread hath, in several treatises, in the most blasphemous manner, attempted to turn our saviour's miracles in ridicule."] _boom._--is there an english verb active _to boom_, and what is the precise meaning of it? sir walter scott uses the participle: "the bittern _booming_ from the sedgy shallow." _lady of the lake_, canto i. . vogel. [richardson defines boom, v., applied as _bumble_ by chaucer, and _bump_ by dryden, to the noise of the bittern, and quotes from cotton's _night's quatrains_,-- "philomel chants it whilst it bleeds, the bittern _booms_ it in the reeds," &c.] "_a letter to a member of parliament._"--who was the author of _a letter to a member of parliament_, occasioned by _a letter to a convocation man_: w. rogers, london, ? w. fraser. tor-mohun. [attributed to mr. wright, a gentleman of the bar, who maintains the same opinions with dr. wake.] _ancient chessmen._--i should be glad to learn, through the medium of "n. & q.," some particulars relative to the sixty-four chessmen and fourteen draughtsmen, made of walrus tusk, found in the isle of lewis in scotland, and now in case . mediæval collection of the british museum? hornoway. [see _archæologia_, vol. xxiv. p. ., for a valuable article, entitled "historical remarks on the introduction of the game of chess into europe, and on the ancient chessmen discovered in the isle of lewis, by frederick madden, esq., f.r.s., in a letter addressed to henry ellis, esq., f.r.s., secretary."] _guthryisms._--in a work entitled _select trials at the old bailey_ is an account of the trial and execution of robert hallam, for murder, in the year . narrating the execution of the criminal, and mentioning some papers which he had prepared, the writer says: "we will not tire the reader's patience with transcribing these prayers, in which we can see nothing more than commonplace phrases and unmeaning _guthryisms_." what { } is the meaning of this last word, and to whom does it refer? s. s. s. [james guthrie was chaplain of newgate in ; and the phrase _guthryisms_, we conjecture, agrees in common parlance with a later saying, that of "stuffing _cotton_ in the prisoner's ears."] * * * * * replies. correspondence of cranmer and calvin. (vol. vii., p. .) the question put by c. d., respecting the existence of letters said to have passed between archbishop cranmer and calvin, and to exist in print at geneva, upon the seeming sanction given by our liturgy to the belief that baptism confers regeneration, is a revival of an inquiry made by several persons about ten years ago. it then induced m. merle d'aubigné to make the search of which c. d. has heard; and the result of that search was given in a communication from the protestant historian to the editor of the _record_, bearing date april , . i have that communication before me, as a cutting from the _record_; but have not preserved the date of the number in which it appeared[ ], though likely to be soon after its receipt by the editor. merle d'aubigné says, in his letter, that both the printed and manuscript correspondence of calvin, in the public library of geneva, had been examined in vain by himself, and by professor diodati the librarian, for any such topic; but he declares himself disposed to believe that the assertion, respecting which c. d. inquires, arose from the following passage in a letter from calvin to the english primate: "sic correctæ sunt externæ superstitiones, ut residui maneant innumeri surculi, qui assidue pullulent. _imo ex corruptelis papatus audio relictum esse congeriem, quæ non obscuret modo, sed propemodum obruat purum et genuinum dei cultum_." part of this letter, but with important omissions, had been published by dean jenkyns in . (_cranmer's remains_, vol. i. p. .) m. d'aubigné's communication gave the whole of it; and it ought to have appeared in the parker society volume of original letters relative to the english reformation. that volume contains one of calvin's letters to the protector somerset; but omits another, of which merle d'aubigné's communication supplied a portion, containing this important sentence: "quod ad formulam precum et rituum ecclesiasticorum, _valde probo ut certa illa extet, a qua pastoribus discedere in functione sua non liceat_, tam ut consulatur quorumdam simplicitati et imperitiæ, quam ut certius ita constet omnium inter se ecclesiarum consensus." another portion of a letter from calvin, communicated by d'aubigné, is headed in the _record_ "cnoxo et gregalibus, s. d.;" but seems to be the one cited in the parker society, vol. ii. of _letters_, pp. - , notes , as a letter to richard cox and others; so that _cnoxo_ should have been coxo. the same valuable communication farther contained the letter of cranmer inviting calvin to unite with melancthon and bullinger in forming arrangements for holding a protestant synod in some safe place; meaning in england, as he states more expressly to melancthon. this letter, however, had been printed entire by dean jenkyns, vol. i. p. .; and it is given, with an english translation, in the parker society edition of _cranmer's works_ as letter ccxcvii., p. . it is important, as proving that heylyn stated what was untrue, _eccles. restaur._, p. .; where he has said, "calvin had offered his assistance to archbishop cranmer. but the archbishop knew the man, and refused his offer." instead of such an offer, calvin replied courteously and affectionately to cranmer's invitation; but says, "tenuitatem meam facturam spero, ut mihi parcatur ... mihi utinam par studii ardori suppeteret facultas." this reply, the longest letter in their correspondence, is printed in the note attached to cranmer's letter (park. soc., as above, p. .; and a translation of it in park. soc. _original letters_, vol. ii. p. .: and there are extracts from it in jenkyns, p. ., n.p.). d'aubigné gave it entire; but has placed both calvin's letters to the archbishop before the latter's epistle to him, to which they both refer. henry walter. [footnote : it appeared in the no. for may , .--ed.] * * * * * "populus vult decipi." (vol. vii., p. .) if mr. temple will turn to p. . of mathias prideaux's _easy and compendious introduction for reading all sorts of histories_, th edit., oxford, , small to., he will find his query thus answered: "it was this pope's [paul iv.] legate, _cardinal carafa_, that gave this blessing to the devout parisians, _quandoquidem populus decipi vult, decipiatur_. inasmuch as this people _will_ be deceived, let them be deceived." this book of prideaux's is full of mottoes, of which i shall give a few instances. of frederick barbarosa "his saying was, _qui nescit dissimulare, nescit imperare_:" of justinian "his word was, _summum jus, summa injuria_--the rigour of the law may prove injurious to conscience:" of theodosius ii. "his motto was, _tempori parendum_--we must fit us (as far as it may be done with a good conscience) to the time wherein we live, with christian prudence:" of nerva "his motto sums { } up his excellencies, _mens bona regnum possidet_--my mind to me a kingdom is:" of richard coeur de lion, "the motto of _dieu et mon droit_ is attributed to him; ascribing the victory he had at gisors against the french, not to himself, but to god and his might." eirionnach. cardinal carafa seems to have been the author of the above memorable dictum. dr. john prideaux thus alludes to the circumstance: "cardinalis (ut ferunt) quidam [greek: meta pollês phantasias] lutetiam aliquando ingrediens, cum instant importunius turbæ ut benedictionem impertiret: _quandoquidem_ (inquit) _hic populus vult decipi, decipiatur in nomine diaboli_."--_lectiones novem_, p. .: oxoniæ, , to. i must also quote from dr. jackson: "do all the learned of that religion in heart approve that commonly reported saying of leo x., '_quantum profuit nobis fabula christi_,' and yet resolve (as cardinal carafa did, _quoniam populus iste vult decipi, decipiatur_) to puzzle the people in their credulity?"--_works_, vol. i. p. .: lond. , fol. the margin directs me to the following passage in thuanus: "inde carafa lutetiam regni metropolim tanquam pontificis legatus solita pompa ingreditur, ubi cum signum crucis, ut fit, ederet, verborum, quæ proferri mos est, loco, ferunt eum, ut erat securo de numine animo et summus religionis derisor, occursante passim populo et in genua ad ipsius conspectum procumbente, sæpius secreta murmuratione hæc verba ingeminasse: _quandoquidem populus iste vult decipi, decipiatur_."--_histor._, lib. xvii., ad ann. , vol. i. p. .: genevæ, , fol. robert gibbings. * * * * * latin--latiner. (vol. vii., p. .) latin was likewise used for the language or song of birds: "e cantino gli angelli ciascuno in suo _latino_." _dante_, canzone i. "this faire kinges doughter canace, that on hire finger bare the queinte ring, thurgh which she understood wel every thing that any foule may in his _leden_ sain, and coude answere him in his _leden_ again, hath understonden what this faucon seyd." chaucer, _the squieres tale_, . chaucer, it will be observed, uses the anglo-saxon form of the word. _leden_ was employed by the anglo-saxons in the sense of language generally, as well as to express the latin tongue. in the german version of sir tristram, latin is also used for the song of birds, and is so explained by ziemann: "_latin_, latein; für jede fremde eigenthümliche sprache, selbst für den _vogelgesang_. tristan und isolt, ."--ziemann, _mittelhochdeutsches wörterbuch_. spenser, who was a great imitator of chaucer, probably derives the word _leden_ or _ledden_ from him: "thereto he was expert in prophecies, and could the _ledden_ of the gods unfold." _the faerie queene_, book iv. ch. xi. st. . "and those that do to cynthia expound the _ledden_ of straunge languages in charge." _colin clout_, . in the last passage, perhaps, _meaning, knowledge_, best expresses the sense. _ledden_ may have been one of the words which led ben jonson to charge spenser with "affecting the ancients." however, i find it employed by one of his cotemporaries, fairfax: "with party-colour'd plumes and purple bill, a wond'rous bird among the rest there flew, that in plain speech sung love-lays loud and shrill, her _leden_ was like human language true." fairfax's _tasso_, book xvi. st. . the expression _lede, in lede_, which so often occurs in sir tristram, may also have arisen from the anglo-saxon form of the word _latin_. sir w. scott, in his glossary, explains it: "_lede, in lede. in language_, an expletive, synonymous to _i tell you_." the following are a few of the passages in which it is found: "monestow neuer in _lede_ nought lain."--fytte i. st. . "in _lede_ is nought to layn, he set him by his side."--fytte i. st. . "bothe busked that night, to beliagog in _lede_."--fytte iii. st. . it is not necessary to descant on thieves' latin, dog-latin, _latin de cuisine_, &c.; but i should be glad to learn when dog-latin first appeared in our language. e. m. b. lincoln. * * * * * jack. (vol. vii., p. .) the list of _jacks_ supplied by your correspondent john jackson is amusing and curious. a few additions towards a complete collection may not be altogether unacceptable or unworthy of notice. supple (usually pronounced souple) _jack_, a flexible cane; _jack_ by the hedge, a plant (_erysimum cordifolium_); the _jacks_ of a harpsichord; _jack_, an engine to raise ponderous bodies (bailey); _jack_, the male of birds of sport (ditto); _jack_ of dover, a joint twice dressed (ditto, from chaucer); _jack_ pan, used by barbers (ditto); _jack_, a frame used by sawyers. i have also noted _jack_-latin, _jack_-a-nod, but cannot give their authority or meaning. { } the term was very familiar to our older writers. the following to dodsley's _collection of old plays_ ( st edition, ) may assist in explaining its use: vol. i.--page . jack strawe. page . new jack. page . sir jacke. page . jack fletcher. page . jacknapes. page . jack sauce. vol. ii.--page . clapper jack. vol. iii.--page . prating jack. page . jack-a-lent. page . his jacks. page . black jacks. vol. v.--page . every jack. page . skip-jack. vol. vi.--page . jack sauce. page . flap-jacks. page . whirling jacks. vol. viii.--page . jack sauce. vol. x.--pages . . his jack. your correspondent is perhaps aware that dr. johnson is disposed to consider the derivation from _john_ to be an error, and rather refers the word to the common usage of the french word jacques (james). his conjecture seems probable, from many of its applications in this language. _jacques_, a jacket, is decidedly french; _jacques_ de mailles equally so; and the word _jacquerie_ embraces all the catalogue of virtues and vices which we connect with our _jack_. on the other hand, _john_, in his integrity, occurs familiarly in _john_ bull, _john_-a-nokes, _john_ doe, _john_ apple, _john_ doree, blue _john_, _john_ trot, _john's_ wort, _john_-a-dreams, &c.; and poor _john_ is found in dodsley, vol. viii. pp. . . c. h. p. brighton. * * * * * passage in st. james. (vol. vii., p. ) on referring to the passage cited by s. s. s. in bishop taylor's _holy dying_, vol. iv. p. . (heber's edit.), i find i had marked two passages in st. james's epistle as being those to which, in all probability, the bishop alluded; one in the first chapter, and one in the third. in the commencement of his epistle st. james exhorts his hearers to exercise patience in all the worldly accidents that might befal them; to resign themselves into god's hands, and accept in faith whatever might happen. he then proceeds: "if any of you lack wisdom" (prudentia ad dijudicandum quid in singulis circumstantiis agendum sit--_grotius_), "let him ask of god" (postulet ab eo, qui dat, nempe deo: ut intelligas non aliunde petendum sapientiam.--_erasmus_). again, in chap. iii. ., he asks: "who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you" ([greek: epistêmôn], _i. e._ sciens, sive scientià præditus, quod recentiores vocant scientificus.--_erasmus_). he bids him prove his wisdom by submission to the truth; for that cunning craftiness which manifests itself only in generating heresies and contentions, is-- "not from above," [greek: all' epigeios, psuchikê ] (animalis,--ista sapientia a natura est, non a deo) [greek: daimoniôdês].--_vid._ eph. ii. ., and cor. iv. . these passages would naturally afford ample scope for the exuberant fancy of ancient commentators; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that bishop taylor may have had the remarks of one of these writers running in his mind, when he quoted st. james as reprobating, with such minuteness of detail, the folly of consulting oracles, spirits, sorcerers, and the like. i have not, at present, access to any of the commentators to whom i allude; so i am unable to confirm this suggestion. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. there is no uncanonical epistle attributed to this apostle, although the one received by the english from the greek and latin churches was pronounced uncanonical by luther. the passage to which jeremy taylor refers, is iv. , ., which he interpreted as referring to an unlawful inquiry into the future: "go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow: for what is your life? it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." hug (wait's trans., vol. ii. p. .) considers the apostle as reproving the jews for attempting to evade the national punishment threatened them, by removing out of their own country of judæa. probably, however, neither taylor nor hug are correct in departing from the more obvious signification, which refers to the mercantile character of the twelve tribes (i. .), arising mainly out of the fact of their captivities and dispersions ([greek: diasporai]). the practice is still common in the east for merchants on a large and small scale to spend a whole season or year in trafficking in one city, and passing thence to another with the varied products suitable respectively to each city; and such products were interchanged without that extreme division of labour or despatch which the magnitude of modern commerce requires. the whole passage, from james iv. . to v. . inclusive, must be taken as specially applicable to the sins of mercantile men whose _works_ of righteousness st. james (iii. - .) declared to be wanting, in proof of their holding the _faith_ necessary, { } according, to st. paul (rom. iii. .), for their salvation. t. j. buckton. birmingham. * * * * * faithfull teate. (vol. vii., p. .) the _ter tria_[ ], about which your correspondent j. s. inquires, is neither a rare nor a very valuable book; and if his copy has cost him more than some three and sixpence, it is a poor investment of capital. mine, which is of the second edition, , has the following book-note: "the worthy faithfull teate indulges himself in the then prevailing bad taste of _anagramising_ his name: see the result after the title. a better play upon his name is that of jo. chishull, who, in lashing the prophane wits of the day, and eulogising the author, has the following comical allusion thereto: 'let all wise-hearted sav'ring things divine _come suck this_ teat that yields both milk and wine, loe depths where elephants may swim, yet here the weakest lamb of christ wades without fear.'" the _ter tria_ was originally published in ; its author, f. t., was the father of the better known nahum tate, the co-translator of the last authorised version of the psalms,--a _teat_ which, following the metaphor of mr. chishull, has nourished not a few generations of the godly, but now, like a sucked orange, thrown aside for the more juicy productions of our modern psalmists. old teate (or tate, as the junior would have it) is styled in this book, "preacher at sudbury." he seems subsequently to have removed to ireland, where his son nahum, the laureat, was born. j. o. [footnote : "ter tria; or the doctrine of the three sacred persons: father, son, and spirit. principal graces: faith, hope, and love. main duties: prayer, hearing, and meditation. summarily digested for the pleasure and profit of the pious and ingenious reader. by f. t. tria sunt omnia."] * * * * * parvise. (vol. viii., p. .) _parvise_ seems to have been a porch, used as a school or place for disputation. the _parvise_ mentioned in the oxford "little-go" (responsions) testamur is alluded to in bishop cooper's book against private mass (published by the parker society). he ridicules his opponent's arguments as worthy of "a sophister in the parvyse schools." the serjeant-at-law, in chaucer's canterbury pilgrims, had been often at the _paruise_. in some notes on this character in a number of the _penny magazine_ for or , it is farther remarked that the choristers of norwich cathedral were formerly taught in the _parvise_, _i. e._ porch. the chamber over a porch in some churches may have been the school meant. instances of this arrangement were to be found at doncaster church (where it was used as a library), and at sherborne abbey church. the porch here was norman, and the chamber third pointed; and at the restoration lately effected the pitch of the roof was raised, and the chamber removed. b. a. oxon. oxford university. i believe that the _parvisus_, or _paradisus_ of the responsions testamur, is the _pro-scholium_ of the divinity school, otherwise called the "pig-market," from its site having been so occupied up to the year . this is said to be the locality in which the responsions were formerly held. it is ordered by the statutes, tit. vi.,-- "quod priusquam quis ad gradum baccalaurei in artibus admittatur, in parviso semel quæstionibus magistrorum scholarum respondeat." however, they go on to direct, "locus hisce responsionibus assignetur schola metaphysices;" and there they are at present held. (see the glossary to tyrwhitt's _chaucer_; and also parker's _glossary of architecture_, ad voc. "parvise.") cheverells. the term _parvise_, though used in somewhat different senses by old writers, appears to mean strictly a _porch_ or _antechamber_. your correspondent oxoniensis will find in parker's _glossary_ ample information respecting this word, with references to various writers, showing the different meanings which have been attached to it. "responsions," or the preliminary examinations at oxford, are said to be held _in parviso_; that is, in the porch, as it were, or antechamber before the schools, which are the scene of the greater examinations for the degree. h. c. k. if your correspondent will refer to the word _parvisium_, in the glossary at the end of watt's edition of matthew paris, he will find a good deal of information. to this i will add that the word is now in use in belgium in another sense. i saw some years since, and again last summer, in a street leading out of the grande place, by one side of the halle at bruges, on a house, this notice,-- "in pervise verkoopt men drank." d. p. begbrook. * * * * * the coenaculum of lionardo da vinci. (vol. vii., pp. , .) mr. smirke's paper, questioning the received opinion as to the points of time and circumstance { } expressed in this celebrated fresco, contains the following sentence: "the work in question is now so generally accessible, through the medium of _accurate_ engravings, that any one may easily exercise his own judgment on the matter." having within no very distant period spent an hour or two in examining the original, with copies lying close at hand for the purposes of comparison, allow me to offer you a few impressions of which, while fresh, i "made a note" in an interleaved copy of bishop burnet's curious _tour in italy_, which served me as a journal while abroad. burnet mentions the dominican convent at milan as in his day "very rich." my note is as follows: "the dominican convent is now suppressed. it is a cavalry barracks: dragoons have displaced dominicans. there is a fine cupola to the church, the work of bramante: in the salle or refectory of this convent was discovered, since burnet's time, under a coat of wash or plaster, the celebrated fresco of lionardo da vinci, now so well known to the world by plates and copies, better finished than the original ever was, in all probability; certainly better than it is now, after abuse, neglect, damp, and, worst of all, _restoring_, have done their joint work upon it. a visit to this fresco disenchants one wonderfully. it is better to be satisfied with the fine engravings, and let the original live in its ideal excellence. the copyists have taken some liberties, of which these strike me as the chief: "first, the saviour's head is put more on one side, in what i would call a more languishing position than its actual one. "second, the expression of the figure seated at his left hand is quite changed. in the copies it is a grave, serious, fine face: in the original, though now indistinct, it evidently expressed 'open-mouthed horror' at the declaration, 'one of you shall betray me.' "third, judas in all copies is identified not only by the held bag of money, but by the overturned saltcellar at his elbow. this last is not in the original. "the whole fresco, though now as well kept as may be, seems spoiling fast. there is a crucifixion at the other end of the same hall, in much better preservation, though of the same date; and the doorway which the tasteful dominicans cut in the wall, through the bottom of the painting, is, though blocked up, still quite visible. it is but too probable that the monks valued the absurd and hideous frescoes in the cloisters outside, representing saint dominic's miracles! and the virgin fishing souls out of purgatory with a rosary, beyond lionardo's great work." so far my original note, written without supposing that the received idea, as to the subject of the picture, had ever been questioned. in reference to the question raised, however, i will briefly say, that, as recollection serves me, it would require a well-sustained criticism to convince me that the two disciples at the saviour's right hand were not designed to express the point of action described in the rd and th verses of chapter xiii. of st. john's gospel. possibly mr. smirke might favour us with the argument of his mss. on the group. a. b. r. belmont. * * * * * font inscriptions. (vol. vii., p. .) i have in my note-book the following entries:-- kiddington, oxon.: "this sacred font saint edward first receaved, from womb to grace, from grace to glory went his virtuous life. to this fayre isle beqveth'd. prase ... and to vs bvt lent. let this remaine the trophies of his fame; a king baptized from hence a saint became. "this fonte came from the king's chapell in islip." newark, round the base in black letter: "suis . natis . sunt . deo . hoc . fonte . renati . erunt." on a pillar adjoining the font is a brass tablet with this inscription: "this font was demolished by the rebels, may , , and rebuilt by the charity of nicholas ridley in ." kirton, lincoln: "orate pro aia alauni burton qui fontem istum fieri fec. a.d. mccccv." clee, lincoln: "the font is formed of two cylindrical parts, one placed upon the other, over which, in the shaft of the circular column, is inlaid a small piece of marble, with a latin inscription in saxon characters, referring to the time of king richard, and stating it was dedicated to the holy trinity and st. mary, by hugh bishop of lincoln, a.d. ." the above are extracts from books, not copied by me from the fonts. f. b. relton. at threckingham, lincolnshire, round the base of the font-- "ave maria gratis . p . d . t." at little billing, northamptonshire,-- "wilberthus artifex atq; cementarius hunc fabricavit, quisquis suum venit mergere corpus procul dubio capit." j. p., jun. to the list of these should be added the early english font at keysoe, beds., noticed in the _ecclesiologist_, vol. i. p. ., and figured in van voorst's _baptismal fonts_. it bears the legend in norman french: + "trestui: ke par hiei passerui pur le alme warel prieui: ke deu par sa grace verrey merci li face. a[=m]." { } or, in modern french: "restez: qui par ici passerez pour l'âme de warel priez: que dieu par sa grace vraie merci lui fasse. amen." cheverells. * * * * * burn at croydon. (vol. vii., pp. . .) the bourne at croydon is one of the most remarkable of those intermitting springs which issue from the upper part of the chalk strata after long-continued rains. all porous earth-beds are reservoirs of water, and give out their supplies more or less copiously according to their states of engorgement; and at higher or lower levels, as they are more or less replenished by rain. rain percolates through the chalk rapidly at all times, it being greatly fissured and cavernous, and finds vent at the bottom of the hills, in ordinary seasons, in the perennial springs which issue there, at the top of the chalk marl, or of the galt (the clay so called) which underlies the chalk. but when long-continued rains have filled the fissures and caverns, and the chinks and crannies of the ordinary vents below are unequal to the drainage, the reservoir as it were overflows, and the superfluity exudes from the valleys and gullies of the upper surface; and these occasional sources continue to flow till the equilibrium is restored, and the perennial vents suffice to carry off the annual supply. some approach to the full engorgement here spoken of takes place annually in many parts of the chalk districts, where springs break out after the autumnal and winter rains, and run themselves dry again in the course of a few months, or maybe have intermissions of a year or two, when the average falls are short. thence it is we have so many "winterbournes" in the counties of wilts, hants, and dorset; as winterbourne-basset, winterbourne-gunner, winterbourne-stoke, &c. (vide lewis's _topog. dict._) the highest sources of the test, itchen, and some other of our southern rivers which take their rise in the chalk, are often dry for months, and their channels void of water for miles; failing altogether when the rains do not fill the neighbouring strata to repletion. in the case of long intermissions, such as occur to the croydon bourne, it is not wonderful that the sudden appearance of waters in considerable force, where none are usually seen to flow, should give rise to superstitious dread of coming evils. indeed, the coincidence of the running of the bourne, a wet summer, a worse sowing-season, and a wet cold spring, may well inspire evil forebodings, and give a colourable pretext for such apprehensions as are often entertained on the occurrence of any unusual natural phenomenon. these intermittent rivulets have no affinity, as your correspondent e. g. r. supposes, to subterraneous rivers. the nearest approach to this kind of stream is to be found in the mole, which sometimes sinks away, and leaves its channel dry between dorking and leatherhead, being absorbed into fissures in the chalk, and again discharged; these fissures being insufficient to receive its waters in times of more copious supply. the subterraneous rivers of more mountainous countries are also not to be included in the same category. they have a history of their own, to enlarge on which is not the business of this note: but it may not be irrelevant to turn the attention for a moment to the use of the word _bourne_ or _burn_. the former mode of spelling and pronouncing it appears to prevail in the south, and the latter in the north of england and in scotland; both alike from the same source as the _brun_ or _brunen_ of germany. the perennial bourne so often affords a convenient natural geographical boundary, and a convenient line of territorial division, that by an easy metonymy it has established itself in our language in either sense, signifying streamlet or boundary-line,--as witness the well-known lines: "that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveller returns."--_shakspeare._ "i know each lane, and every alley green, and every bosky bourn from side to side."--_milton._ m. * * * * * christian names. (vol. vii., pp. . , .) the opinion of your correspondents, that instances of persons having more than one christian name before the last century are, at least, very rare, is borne out by the learned camden, who, however, enables me to adduce two earlier instances of polyonomy than those cited by j. j. h.: "two christian names," says he (_remaines concerning britaine_, p. .), "are rare in england, and i onely remember now his majesty, who was named charles james, and the prince his sonne henry frederic; and among private men, thomas maria wingfield, and sir thomas posthumous hobby." the custom must have been still rare at the end of the eighteenth century, for, as we are informed by moore in a note to his _fudge family in paris_ (letter iv.): "the late lord c. (castlereagh?) of ireland had a curious theory about names; he held that _every_ man with _three_ names was a jacobin. his instances in ireland were numerous; archibald hamilton rowan, theobald wolfe tone, james napper tandy, john philpot curran, &c.: and in england he produced as examples, charles james fox, richard brinsley { } sheridan, john horne tooke, francis burdett jones," &c. perhaps the noble lord thought with sterne in _tristram shandy_, though the _nexus_ is not easy to discover, that "there is a strange kind of magic bias, which good or bad names irresistibly impose upon our character and conduct," or perhaps he had misread that controverted passage in plautus (_aulular._ act ii. sc. .): "tun' _trium literarum_ homo me vituperas? _fur._" the custom is now almost universal; and as, according to camden (_remaines, &c._, p. .), "shortly after the conquest it seemed a disgrace for a gentleman to have but one single name, as the meaner sort and bastards had," so now, the _tria nomina nobiliorum_ have become so common, as to render the epigram upon a certain m. l-p. saint-florentin, of almost universal applicability as a neat and befitting epitaph. "on ne lui avait pas épargné," says the biographer of this gentleman (_biographie universelle_, tom. xxxix. p. .), "les épigrammes de son vivant; il en parut encore contre lui au moment de sa mort; en voici une:-- 'ci gît un petit homme à l'air assez commun, ayant porté _trois noms_, et n'en laissant _aucun_.'" william bates. birmingham. leopold william finch, fifth son of heneage, second earl of nottingham, born about the year , and afterwards warden of all souls, is an earlier instance of an english person with two christian names than your correspondent j. j. h. has noticed. j. b. * * * * * weather rules. (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent j. a., jun., makes a note and asks a question regarding a popular opinion prevalent in worcestershire, on the subject of a "sunday's moon," as being one very much addicted to rain. in sussex that bad repute attaches to the moon that changes on saturday: "a saturday's moon, if it comes once in seven years, it comes too soon." it may be hoped that the time is not far distant when a scientific meteorology will dissipate the errors of the traditional code now in existence. of these errors none have greater or more extensive prevalence than the superstitions regarding the influence of the moon on the atmospheric phenomena of wet and dry weather. howard, the author of _the climate of london_, after twenty years of close observation, could not determine that the moon had any perceptible influence on the weather. and the best authorities now follow, still more decidedly, in the same train. "the change of the moon," the expression in general use in predictions of the weather, is idly and inconsiderately used by educated people, without considering that in every phase that planet is the same to us, as a material agent, except as regards the power of reflected light; and no one supposes that moonlight produces wet or dry. why then should that point in the moon's course, which we agree to call "the new" when it begins to emerge from the sun's rays, have any influence on our weather. twice in each revolution, when in conjunction with the sun at new, and in opposition at the full, an atmospheric spring-tide may be supposed to exist, and to exert some sort of influence. but the existence of any atmospheric tide at all is denied by some naturalists, and is at most very problematical; and the absence of regular diurnal fluctuations of the barometric pressure favours the negative of this proposition. but, granting that it were so, and that the moon, in what is conventionally called the beginning of its course, and again in the middle, at the full, did produce changes in the weather, surely the most sanguine of _rational lunarians_ would discard the idea of one moon differing from another, except in relation to the season of the year; or that a new moon on the sabbath day, whether jewish or christian, had any special quality not shared by the new moons of any other days of the week. such a publication as "n. & q." is not the place to discuss fully the question of lunar influence. your correspondent j. a., jun., and all persons who have inconsiderately taken up the popular belief in moon-weather, will do well to consult an interesting article on this subject (i believe attributed to sir d. brewster) in _the monthly chronicle_ for ; and this will also refer such inquirers to arago's _annuaire_ for . there may be later and completer disquisitions on the lunar influences, but they are not known to me. m. * * * * * rococo. (vol. i., pp. . .) this word is now receiving a curious illustration in this colony of french origin. _rococo_--antiquated, old-fashioned--would seem to have become _rococo_ itself; and in its place the negroes have adopted the word _entêté_, wilful, headstrong, to express, as it were, the persistence of a person in retaining anything that has gone out of fashion. this term was first applied to white hats; and the wearers of such have been assailed from every corner of the streets with the cry of "entêté chapeau!" it was next applied to umbrellas of a { } strange colour (the varieties of which are almost without number in this country of the sun); and it has now been extended to every article of wearing apparel of an unfashionable or peculiar shape. a negro woman, appearing with a blue umbrella, has been followed by half a dozen black boys with the cry of "entêté parasol!" and in order to get rid of the annoyance she had to shut the umbrella and continue her way under the broiling sun. but the term is not always used in derision. a few days ago, a young girl of colour, dressed in the extreme of the fashion, was passing along, when some bystanders began to rally her with the word "entêté." the girl, perceiving that she was the object of their notice, turned round, and in an attitude of conscious irreproachableness, retorted with the challenge in creole french, "qui entêté ça?" but the smiles with which she was greeted showed her (what she had already partly suspected) that their cries of "entêté" were intended rather to compliment her on the style of her dress. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * descendants of john of gaunt. (vol. vii., p. .) i am gratified to see that mr. hardy's documentary researches have confirmed my conjectures as to the erroneous date assigned for the death of the first husband of jane beaufort. perhaps it may be in his power also to rectify a chronological error, which has crept into the account usually given of the family into which one of her sons married. the peerages all place the death of the last lord fauconberg of the original family in , not observing that this date would make his daughter and heiress married to william nevill, second son of the earl of westmoreland and countess joane, twenty-five years at the lowest computation; or, if we take the date which they assign for the death of lord ferrers of wemme, forty years older than her husband,--a difference this, which, although perhaps it might not prove an insuperable impediment to marriage where the lady was a great heiress, would undoubtedly put a bar on all hopes of issue: whereas it stands on record that they had a family. i must take this opportunity of complaining of the manner in which many, if not all these peerages, are compiled: copying each others' errors, however obvious, without a word of doubt or an attempt to rectify them; though mr. hardy's communication, above mentioned, shows that the materials for doing so, in many cases, exist if properly sought. not to mention minor errors, they sometimes crowd into a given time more generations than could have possibly existed, and sometimes make the generations of a length that has not been witnessed since the patriarchal ages. as instances of the former may be mentioned, the pedigree of the ferrerses, earls of derby (in which eight successions from father to son are given between and ), and those of the netterville and tracy families: and of the latter, the pedigree of the fitzwarines, which gives only four generations between the conquest and ; and that of the clanricarde family. it is strange that mr. burke, who appears to claim descent from the latter, did not take more pains to rectify a point so nearly concerning him; instead of making, as he does in his peerage, one of the family to have held the title (macwilliam eighter) and estates for years!--an absurdity rendered still more glaring by this long-lived gentleman's father having possessed them fifty-four years before him, and his son for fifty-six years after him. if such can be supposed true, the countess of desmond's longevity was not so unusual after all. j. s. warden. * * * * * the order of st. john of jerusalem. (vol. vii., p. .) may i be allowed to inform your correspondent r. l. p. that he is in error, when supposing that the english knights were deprived of their property by queen elizabeth, as it was done by act of parliament in the year , and during the reign of henry viii. for the information sought by your correspondent r. l. p., i would refer him to the following extract taken from sutherland's _history of the knights of malta_, vol. ii. pp. , .: "to increase the despondency of l'isle adam [the grand master of the order of st. john of jerusalem], henry viii. of england having come to an open rupture with the pope, in consequence of the pontiff's steady refusal to countenance the divorcement of catherine of arragon his queen, commenced a fierce and bloody persecution against all persons in his dominions, who persisted in adhering to the holy see. in these circumstances, the knights of st. john, who held themselves bound to acknowledge the pope as their superior at whatever hazard, did not long escape his ire. the power of the order, composed as it was of the chivalry of the nation, while the prior of london sat in parliament on an equality with the first baron of the realm, for a time deterred him from openly proscribing it; but at length his wrath burst forth in an ungovernable flame. the knights ingley, adrian forrest, adrian fortescu, and marmaduke bohus, refusing to abjure their faith, perished on the scaffold. thomas mytton and edward waldegrave died in a dungeon; and richard and james bell, john noel, and many others, abandoned their country for ever, and sought an asylum at malta[ ], completely stripped { } of their possessions. in , by an act of the legislature, the order of st. john was abolished in the king of england's dominions; and such knights as survived the persecution, but who refused to stoop to the conditions offered them, were thrown entirely on the charity of their brethren at malta. henry offered sir wm. weston, lord prior of england, a pension of a thousand pounds a year; but that knight was so overwhelmed with grief at the suppression of his order, that he never received a penny, but soon after died. other knights, less scrupulous, became pensioners of the crown." w. w. la valetta, malta. [footnote : i have sought in vain among the records of the order at this island to find any mention made of those english knights, whom sutherland thus mentions as having fled to malta at the time of this persecution in their native land.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _anticipatory worship of the cross_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a correspondent wishes for farther information on the anticipatory worship of the cross in mexico and at alexandria. at the present moment i am unable to refer to the works on which i grounded the statement which he quotes. he will, however, find the details respecting mexico in stephens's _travels in yucatan_; and those respecting alexandria in the commentators on sozomen (_h. e._, vii. .), and socrates (_h. e._, v. .). a similar instance is the worship of the _cross fylfotte_ in thibet. the writer of "communications with the unseen world." _ennui_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "cleland (voc. .) has, with his usual sagacity, and with a great deal of trouble, as he himself acknowledges, traced out the true meaning and derivation of this word: for after he had long despaired of discovering the origin of it, mere chance, he says, offered to him what he took to be the genuine one: 'in an old french book i met,' says he, 'with a passage where the author, speaking of a company that had sat up late, makes use of this expression, "l'ennuit les avoit gagnés," by the context of which it was plain he meant, that the common influence of _the night_, in bringing on _heaviness_ and _yawning_, had come upon them. the proper sense is totally antiquated, but the figurative remains in full currency to this day."--lemon's _etymological dictionary_. the true synonym of _ennui_ seem to be _tædium_, which appears to have the same relation to _tædo_, a torch, as _ennui_ to _nuit_. b. h. c. _"qui facit per alium, facit per se," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--this maxim is found in the following form in the _regulæ juris_, subjoined to the th book of the decretals, reg. lxxii.: "qui facit per alium, est perinde ac si faciat per seipsum." j. b. _vincent family_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the _memoir of augustine vincent_, referred to by mr. martin, was written by the late sir n. harris nicolas, and published by pickering in , crown vo. shortly after its publication, a few pages of _addenda_ were printed in consequence of some information communicated by the rev. joseph hunter, respecting the descendants of augustine vincent. at that time francis offley edmunds, esq., of westborough, was his representative. g. _judge smith_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i am well acquainted with the monumental inscriptions in chesterfield church, but i do not recollect one to the memory of judge smith. thomas smith, who was an attorney in sheffield, and died in , had a brother, william smith of norwich, who died in . thomas smith married susan battie, by whom he had a son thomas smith of sheffield, and after of dunston hall, who married in elizabeth mary, only surviving child of robert mower of woodseats, esq., (by elizabeth his wife, daughter of richard milnes of dunston hall, esq.) it was through this lady that the dunston estate came to the smiths by the will of her uncle mr. milnes. mr. smith died in , having had issue by her (who married secondly john frederick smith, esq., of london) three sons and several daughters. the second son (rev. wm. smith of dunston hall) died in , leaving male issue; but i am not aware of the death of either of the others. the family had a grant of arms in . dunston hall had belonged to the milnes family for about a century. w. st. _"dimidiation" in impalements_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to your correspondent's query as to _dimidiation_, he will find that this was the most ancient form of impalement. its manifest inconvenience no doubt at last banished it. guillim (ed. ) says, at p. .: "it was an ancient way of impaling, to take half the husband's coat, and with that to joyn as much of the wife's; as appeareth in an old roll, wherein three lions, being the arms of _england_, are dimidiated and impaled with half the pales of arragon. the like hath been practised with quartered coats by leaving out half of them." on p. . he gives the example of mary, henry viii.'s sister, and her husband louis xii. of france. here the french king's coat is cut in half, so that the lily in the base point is _dimidiated_; and the queen's coat, being quarterly france and england, shows two quarters only; england in chief, france in base. sandford, in his _genealogical history_, gives a plate of the tomb of henry ii. and richard i. of england at fontevrault, which was built anew in { } . upon it are several impalements by _dimidiation_. sandford (whose book seems to me to be strangely over-valued) gives no explanation of them. no doubt they were copied from the original tomb. in part ii. of the _guide to the architectural antiquities in the neighbourhood of oxford_, at p. ., is figured an impalement by _dimidiation_ existing at stanton harcourt, in the north transept of the church, in a brass on a piece of blue marble. the writer of the _guide_ supposes this bearing to be some union of harcourt and beke, in consequence of a will of john lord beke, and to be commemorative of the son of sir richard harcourt and margaret beke. it is in fact commemorative of those persons themselves. harcourt, two bars, is dimidiated, and meets beke, a cross moline or ancrée. the figure thus produced is a strange one, but perfectly intelligible when the practice of impaling by dimidiation is recollected. i know no modern instance of this method of impaling. i doubt if any can be found since the time of henry viii. d. p. begbrook. _worth_ (vol. vii., p. .).--at one time, and in one locality, this word seems to have denoted manure; as appears by the following preamble to the statute jac. i. cap. .: "whereas the sea-sand, by long triall and experience, hath bin found to be very profitable for the bettering of land, and especially for the increase of corne and tillage, within the counties of devon and cornwall, where the inhabitants have not commonly used any other _worth_, for the bettering of their arable grounds and pastures." i am not aware of any other instance of the use of this word in this sense. c. h. cooper. cambridge. _"elementa sex," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--the answer to the latin riddle propounded by your correspondent effigy, seems to be the word _putres_; divided into _utres_, _tres_, _res_, _es_, and the letter _s_. the allusion in _putres_ is to virgil, _georgic_, i. .; and in _utres_ probably to _georgic_, ii. .: the rest is patent enough. i send this response to save others from the trouble of seeking an answer, and being disappointed at their profitless labours. if i may venture a guess at its author, i should be inclined to ascribe it to some idle schoolboy, or perhaps schoolmaster, who deserved to be whipped for their pains. c. w. b. _"a diasii 'salve'," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--the deliverance desired in these words is from treachery, similar to that which was exhibited by the fratricide alfonso diaz toward his brother juan. (vid. senarclæi _historiam veram_, ; _actiones et monimenta martyrum_, foll. - . [genevæ], : _histoire des martyrs_, foll. - ., ed. ; m^ccrie's _reformation in spain_, pp. - ., edinb. .) the "a gallorum 'venite,'" probably refers to the singing of the "venite, exultemus domino," on the occasion of the massacre of st. bartholomew. r. g. _meaning of "claret"_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--old bartholomew glanville, the venerable franciscan, gives a recipe for claret in his treatise _de proprietatibus rerum_, argent., ., lib. xix. cap. ., which proves it to be of older date than is generally supposed: "claretum ex vino et melle et speciebus aromaticis est confectum ... unde a vino contrahit fortitudinem et acumen, a speciebus autem retinet aromaticitatem et odorem, sed a melle dulcedinem mutuat et saporem." h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. "_the temple of truth_" (vol. vii., p. .).--the author of this work, according to dr. watt, was the rev. c. e. de coetlogon, rector of godstone, surrey. [greek: halieus]. dublin. _wellborne family_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following is from the _town and country magazine_ for : "_deaths._--mr. richard wellborne, in aldersgate street, descended in a direct male line from the youngest son of simon montfort, earl of leicester, who flourished in king henry iii.'s time, and married that king's sister." there is now a family of the name of wellborne residing in doncaster. w. h. l. _devonianisms_ (vol. vii., p. .).--while a resident in devonshire, i frequently met with localisms similar in character to those quoted by j. m. b.; but what at first struck me as most peculiar in common conversation, was the use, or rather abuse, of the little preposition _to_. when inquiring the whereabouts of an individual, devonians ask one another, "where is he _to_?" the invariable reply is, "_to_ london," "_to_ plymouth," &c., as the case may be. the cheshire clowns, on the other hand, murder the word _at_, in just the same strange and inappropriate manner. the indiscriminate use of the term _forrell_, when describing the cover of a book, is a solecism, i fancy, peculiarly devonian. whether a book be bound in cloth, vellum, or morocco, it is all alike _forrell_ in devonshire parlance. i imagine, however, that the word, in its present corrupt sense, must have originated from _forrell_, a term still used by the trade to designate an inferior kind of vellum { } or parchment, in which books are not unfrequently bound. when we consider that vellum was at one time in much greater request for bookbinding purposes than it is just now, we shall be at no great loss to reconcile this eccentricity in the vocabulary of our west country brethren. t. hughes. chester. _humbug_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a recent number of miller's _fly leaves_ makes the following hazardous assertion as to the origin and derivation of the term _humbug_: "this, now common expression, is a corruption of the word hamburgh, and originated in the following manner:--during a period when war prevailed on the continent, so many false reports and lying bulletins were fabricated at hamburgh, that at length, when any one would signify his disbelief of a statement, he would say, 'you had that from hamburgh;' and thus, 'that is hamburgh,' or _humbug_, became a common expression of incredulity." with all my credulity, i cannot help fancying that this bit of specious _humbug_ is a _leetle_ too far-fetched. t. hughes. chester. _george miller, d.d._ (vol. vii., p. .).--his donnellan lectures were never published. [greek: halieus]. dublin. "_a letter to a convocation man_" (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent w. fraser may be informed that the "great preacher" for whom he inquires was archbishop tillotson. [greek: halieus]. [perhaps our correspondent can reply to another query from mr. w. fraser, viz. "who is the 'certain author' quoted in _a letter to a convocation man_, pp. , .?"--ed.] _sheriffs of huntingdonshire and cambridgeshire_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this is a very singular query, inasmuch as fuller's list of the sheriffs of these counties begins st henry ii., and not, as is assumed by your correspondent d., "from the time of henry viii." c. h. cooper. cambridge. _ferdinand mendez pinto_ (vol. vii., p. .).--inquirens will find the passage he quotes in congreve's _love for love_, act ii. sc. . foresight, addressing sir sampson legend, says: "thou modern mandeville, ferdinand mendez pinto was but a type," &c. in the _tatler_, no. . (a paper ascribed to addison and steele conjointly), these veracious travellers are thus pleasantly noticed: "there are no books which i more delight in than in travels, especially those that describe remote countries, and give the writer an opportunity of showing his parts without incurring any danger of being examined and contradicted. among all the authors of this kind, our renowned countryman, sir john mandeville, has distinguished himself by the copiousness of his invention, and the greatness of his genius. the second to sir john i take to have been ferdinand mendez pinto, a person of infinite adventure and unbounded imagination. one reads the voyages of these two great wits with as much astonishment as the travels of ulysses in homer, or of the red cross knight in spenser. all is enchanted ground and fairy land." biographical sketches of mandeville and pinto are attached to this paper in the excellent edition of the _tatler_ ("with illustrations and notes" by calder, percy, and nichols), published in six volumes in . godwin selected this quotation from congreve as a fitting motto for his _tale of st. leon_. j. h. m. the passage referred to occurs in congreve's _love for love_, act ii. sc. . cervantes had before designated pinto as the "prince of liars." it seems that poor pinto did not deserve the ill language applied to him by the wits. ample notices of his travels may be seen in the _retrospective review_, vol. viii. pp. - ., and macfarlane's _romance of travel_, vol. ii. pp. - . c. h. cooper. cambridge. _"other-some" and "unneath"_ (vol vii., p. .).--mr. halliwell, in his _dictionary of archaic and provincial words_, has _other-some_, some other, "a quaint but pretty phrase _of frequent occurrence_." he gives two instances of its use. he has also "_unneath_, beneath. somerset." c. h. cooper. cambridge. the word _other-some_ occurs in the authorised version of the bible, acts xvii. . "other some, he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods." it does not occur in any of the earlier versions of this passage in bagster's _english hexapla_. halliwell says that it is "a quaint but pretty phrase of frequent occurrence," and gives an example dated . _unneath_, according to the same authority, is used in somersetshire. _other-some_ is constantly used in norfolk. i think it, however, a pity that your space should be occupied by such queries as these, which a simple reference to halliwell's _dictionary_ would have answered. e. g. r. _willow pattern_ (vol. vi., p. .).--evidently a chinese design. the bridge-houses, &c., are purely chinese; and also the want of perspective. i have seen crockery in the shops in shanghai with the _same pattern_, or at least with very slight difference. h. b. shanghai. _cross and pile_ (vol. vii., p. .).--another evidence that the word _pile_ is of french origin: { } "_pille_, pile; that side of the coin which bears the head. cross or pile, a game."--_a dictionary of the norman french language_, by robert kelham of lincoln's inn: london, , vo., p. . [phi]. _old fogie_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--j. l., who writes from edinburgh, denies the irish origin of this appellation, because he says it was used of the "veteran companies" who garrisoned the castles of edinburgh and stirling. my mother, who was born in , often told me that she never had heard any other name for the old men in the royal hospital, in the vicinity of which she passed her early days. it was therefore a well-known name a century ago in dublin, and consequently was in use long before; probably from the building of the hospital in the reign of charles ii. can j. l. trace the scotch term as far back as that? scotch or irish, however, i maintain that my derivation is the right one. j. l. says he prefers that of dr. jamieson, in his _scottish dictionary_, who "derives it from su.-g. _fogde_, formerly one who had the charge of a garrison." in thus preferring a scottish authority, j. l. shows himself to be a true scot; but he must allow me to ask him, is he acquainted with the swedish language? (for that is what is meant by the mysterious su.-g.) and if so, is he not aware that _fogde_ is the same as the german _vogt_, and signifies governor, judge, steward, &c., never merely a military commandant; and what on earth has that to do with battered old soldiers? i may as well take this opportunity of replying to another of your caledonian correspondents, respecting the origin of the word _nugget_. the persian derivation is simply ridiculous, as the word was not first used in australia. i am then perfectly well aware that this term has long been in use in scotland and the north of ireland as _i. q._ lump, as a _nugget_ of bread, of sugar, &c. but an _ingot_ is a lump also: and the derivation is so simple and natural, that in any case i am disposed to regard it as the true one. may not the yankee term have been made independently of the british one? thos. keightley. _another odd mistake_ (vol. vii., p. .).--on page . of _last glimpses of convocation_, by a. j. joyce, , i read of "the defiance thrown out to henry iii. by his barons, _nolumus leges angliæ mutare_." i have never read of any such defiance, expressed in any such language, anywhere else. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _spontaneous combustion_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i have somewhere read an account of a drunkard whose body was so saturated with alcohol, that being bled in a fever, and the lamp near him having been overthrown, the blood caught fire, and burst into a blaze: the account added, that he was so startled by this occurrence, that on his recovery he reformed thoroughly, and prolonged his life to a good old age. where is this story to be found, and is the fact related physically possible? it seems to bear on the question of spontaneous combustion. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _erroneous forms of speech_ (vol vii., p. .).--e. g. r. will find, on farther inquiry, that he is in the wrong as regards the mode of writing and speaking _mangold-wurzel_. the subject was discussed in the _gardeners' chronicle_ in . there (p. .) your correspondent will find, by authority of "a german," that _mangold_ is field-beet or leaf-beet: and that _mangel_ is a corruption or pretended emendation of the common german appellation, and most probably of english coinage. such a thing as _mangel-wurzel_ is not known on the continent; and the best authorities now, in this country, all use _mangold-wurzel_. m. p.s.--since writing the above, i have seen mr. frere's note on the same subject (vol. vii, p. .). the substitution of _mangel_ for the original _mangold_, was probably an attempt to correct some vulgar error in orthography; or to substitute a word of some significance for one of none. but, as dr. lindley has said, "if we adopt a foreign name, we ought to take it as we find it, whatever may be its imperfections." _ecclesia anglicana_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--i gladly set down for g. r. m. the following instances of the use of "ecclesia gallicana;" they are quotations occurring in richard's _analysis consiliorum_: he will find many more in the same work as translated by dalmasus: "ex _gallicanæ ecclesiæ_ usu, jubilæi bullæ ad archiepiscopos mittendæ sunt, e quorum manibus ad suffraganeos episcopos perferuntur."--_monumenta cleri_, tom. ii. p. . "_gallicana ecclesia_ a disciplinæ remissione, ante quadringentos aut quingentos annos inducta, se melius quam aliæ defendit, romanæque curiæ ausis vehementius resistat."--fleurius, _sermo super ecclesiæ gallicanæ libertatibus_. i have not time to search for the other examples which he wants; though i have not any doubt but they would easily be found. the english church has been, i consider, a more romanising church than many; but, in mediæval times, the most intimate connexion with rome did not destroy, though it impaired, the nationality of the church. the church of spain is, i believe, now one of the most national of the churches in communion with rome. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _gloves at fairs_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the writer saw, a few years ago, the shape of a glove hanging { } during the fair at the common ground of southampton, and was told, that while it was there debtors were free from arrest within the town. anon. in returning my thanks to your correspondents who have given instances of this custom, allow me to add that a friend has called my attention to the fact that mattishall _gant_, or fair, takes place in rogation or _gang week_, and probably takes its name from the latter word. forby says that there are probably few instances of the use of this word, and i am not aware of any other than the one he gives, viz. mattishall _gant_. e. g. r. _popular sayings.--the sparrows at lindholme_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the sparrows at lindholme have made themselves scarce here, under the following circumstances:--william of lindholme seems to have united in himself the characters of hermit and wizard. when a boy, his parents, on going to wroot feast, hard by, left him to keep the sparrows from the corn; at which he was so enraged that he took up an enormous stone, and threw it at the house to which they were gone, but from throwing it too high it fell on the other side. after he had done this he went to the feast, and when scolded for it, said he had fastened up all the sparrows in the barn; where they were found, on the return home, all dead, except a few which were turned white. (vide stonehouse's _history of the isle of axholme_.) as for the "doncaster daggers" and "hatfield rats," also inquired after, i have no information, although those places are in the same neighbourhood. w. h. l. _effects of the vox regalis of the queen bee_ (vol. vii., p. .).--dr. bevan, than whom there is probably no better authority on apiarian matters, discredits this statement of huber. no other naturalist appears to have witnessed these wonderful effects. dr. bevan however states, that when the queen is "piping, prior to the issue of an after-swarm, the bees that are near her remain still, with a slight inclination of their heads, but whether impressed by fear or not seems doubtful."--bevan _on the honey bee_, p. . cheverells. _seneca and st. paul_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "the fourteen letters of seneca to paul, _which are printed_ in the old editions of seneca, are apocryphal."--dr. w. smith's _dict. of mythology_, &c. "seneca, opera, , fol. the second part contains only his letters, and _begins with the correspondence of st. paul and seneca_."--ebert's _bibl. dict._ b. h. c. _hurrah_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--wace's _chronicle of the norman conquest_, as it appears in mr. edgar taylor's translation, pp. , , mentions the war-cries of the various knights at the battle of val des dunes. duke william cries "dex aie," and raol tesson "_tur aie_;" on which there is a note that m. pluquet reads "thor aide," which he considers may have been derived from the ancient northmen. surely this is the origin of our modern _hurrah_; and if so, perhaps the earliest mention of our english war-cry. j. f. m. _purlieu_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the etymology of this word which dr. johnson adopted is that which many others have approved of. the only other derivation which appears to have been suggested is from _perambulatio_. blount, _law dict._, s. voc., thus explains: "_purlue_ or _purlieu_ (from the fr. _pur_, i. e. _purus_, and _lieu_, locus) is all that ground near any forest, which being made forest by henry ii., richard i., or king john, were, by _perambulation_, granted by henry iii., severed again from the same, and became _purlue_, i. e. pure and free from the laws and ordinances of the forest. manwood, par. ., for. laws, cap. .; see the statute edw. i. stat. . and the perambulation, whereby the _purlieu_ is deafforested, is called _pourallee_, i. e. _perambulatio_. inst. fol. ." (see also lye, cowel, skinner, and especially minshæus.) b. h. c. _bell inscriptions_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in weever's _ancient funeral monuments_ (london, ) are the following inscriptions: "en ego campana nunquam denuncio vana; laudo deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum. defunctos plango, vivos voco, fulmina frango. vox mea, vox vitæ, voco vos ad sacra, venite, sanctos collaudo, tonitrus fugo, funera claudo." . . . . . . "funera plango, fulgura frango, sabbatha pango, excito lentos, dissipo ventos, paco cruentos." there is also an old inscription for a "holy water" vessel: "hujus aquæ tactus depellit demonis actus. asperget vos deus cum omnibus sanctis suis ad vitam æternam. sex operantur aqua benedicta. cor mundat, accidiam fugat, venalia tollit, auget opem, removetque hostem, phantasmata pellit." at page . there is a beautiful specimen of an old font in the church of east winch, in the diocese of norwich. clericus (d). dublin. _quotation from juvenal_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--my copy of this poet being unfortunately without notes, i was not aware that there was authority for "abest" in this passage; but my argument still remains much the same, as regards quoters { } having retained for their own convenience a reading which most editors have rejected. i observe that gifford, in his translation, takes _habes_ as the basis of his version in both the passages mentioned. may i ask if it is from misquotation, or variation in the copies, that an even more hackneyed quotation is never given as i find it printed, sat. . v. .: "nemo repente _venit_ turpissimus?" j. s. warden. _lord clarendon and the tubwoman_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--your correspondent l. has not proved this story to be fabulous: it has usually been told of the wife of sir thomas aylesbury, great-grandmother of the two queens, and, for anything we know yet of _her_ family, it may be quite true. j. s. warden. _rathe_ (vol. vii., p. ).--i can corroborate the assertion of anon., that this word is still in use in sussex, though by no means frequently. not long since i heard an old woman say, "my gaeffer (meaning her husband) got up quite _rathe_ this morning." in the case of the early apple it is generally pronounced _ratheripe_. see also cooper's excellent _sussex glossary_, nd edit. . m. _old booty's case_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the most authentic report of this case is, i think, in one of the london gazettes for or . i read the report in one of these at the british museum several years ago. it purported to be given only a few days after the trial had taken place. h. t. riley. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. circle of the seasons. mo. london, . (two copies.) jones' account of aberystwith. trevecka, vo. . m. c. h. broemel's fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . cooper's account of public records. vo. . vol. i. passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. basil, . king on roman coins. lord lansdowne's works. vol. i. tonson. . james baker's picturesque guide to the local beauties of wales. vol. i. to. . webster's dictionary. vol. ii. to. . walker's particles. vo. old calf, . warner's sermons. vols. longman, about . author's printing and publishing assistant. mo., cloth. . sanders' history of shenstone in staffordshire. j. nichols, london. . two copies. herbert's carolina threnodia. vo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . sermons by the rev. robert wake, m.a. , , &c. history of ancient wilts, by sir r. c. hoare. the last three parts. *** correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _being anxious to include as many replies as possible in our present number, in order that they may be found in the same volume with the_ queries _to which they relate, we have omitted for this week our usual_ photographic correspondence, _as well as our_ notes on books, _and several interesting articles, which are in type_. mr. lyte'_s_ treatment of positives _shall appear next week_. c. mansfield ingleby.--_the passage_--- "the soul's dark cottage," &c. _is from waller. see some curious illustrations of it in our_ rd vol., pp. , . w. ewart. _we should he glad to have an opportunity of looking at the collection of epithets to which our correspondent refers_. jarltzberg'_s query in our next. his other articles shall have early attention_. juvenis. _we must repeat that we cannot undertake the invidious task of recommending our correspondents where to purchase their photographic apparatus and materials. our advertising columns give ample information. the demand for cheap apparatus, if it becomes general, will be sure to be supplied_. _errata_.--p. . col. . l. ., for "oo_yddes_" read "ov_yddes_." p. col. . l. , for " " read " ." _the_ index _to our_ seventh volume _is in forward preparation. it will be ready, we hope, by_ saturday the th, _when we shall also publish our seventh volume, price_ s. d., _cloth, boards_. _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. to vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, -- . volume four, -- . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, -- . volume two, -- . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of' our country."--_gent. mag_. london : longman & co. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x. in gold and silver cases, in five qualities. and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. { } * * * * * photographic pictures--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic apparatus manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. t. ottewill (from horne & co.'s) begs most respectfully to call the attention of gentlemen, tourists, and photographers, to the superiority of his newly registered double-bodied folding cameras, possessing the efficiency and ready adjustment of the sliding camera, with the portability and convenience of the folding ditto. every description of apparatus to order. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which my be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver)--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. polices effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * pure nervous or mind complaints.--if the readers of notes & queries, who suffer from depression of spirits, confusion, headache, blushing, groundless fears, unfitness for business or society, blood to the head, failure of memory, delusions, suicidal thoughts, fear of insanity, &c., will call on, or correspond with, rev. dr. willis moseley, who, out of above , applicants, knows not fifty uncured who have followed his advice, he will instruct them how to get well, without fee, and will render the same service to the friends of the insane.--at home from to . . bloomsbury street, bedford square. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * heal and son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains descriptions and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. { } * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, june , contains articles on agriculture and steam power apples, wearing out of books noticed bradshaw's continental guide calendar, horticultural ----, agricultural camellia's, to cure sickly cartridge, capt. norton's chiswick exhibition coal pits, rev. draining swamps fences, wire ----, thorn fig trees fruits, wearing out of fuchsias from seed gardeners' benevolent institution, anniversary of grapes, rust in hedges, thorn horticultural society's exhibition jeffery (mr.), news from law relating to tenant right, rev. lycoperdon proteus manure, liquid ----, waste moles, to drive away norton's, captain, cartridge oregon expedition, news of peas, early pelargoniums, new plants, wearing out of poultry show, west kent ---- books puff balls rhubarb, monster ---- wine, recipes for making royal botanical gardens seeding, thin societies, proceedings of the agricultural of england, bath and oxfordshire agricultural, belfast flax steam engines, uses of weight of rhubarb wheat crop wine, recipes for making rhubarb the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * price one shilling. lettres d'un anglais sur louis napoleon, l'empire et le coup d'etat, translated from the english by permission of the author, with notes by the editors of the "courrier de l'europe." london: joseph thomas, . catherine street, strand; and all booksellers. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxv. advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the th, and bills for insertion by the th instant. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper_, june , . * * * * * to book collectors, antiquaries, and historians. (forwarded per post on receipt of eighteen postage stamps.) miscellanea historica et bibliotheca scotica, antiqua. descriptive catalogue of an interesting and valuable collection of books, including numerous works relating to history, antiquities, bibliography, and topography, genealogy, heraldry, and the peerage; north and south america; also the most extensive collection of privately-printed books ever offered for sale in this country, including those of the abbotsford, bannatyne, maitland, and roxburghe clubs, the auchinleck press, camden, celtic, english historical, hakluyt, iona, irish archæological, percy, shakspeare, spalding, spottiswoode, surtees, and wodrow societies:--books printed upon vellum:--curious and unique collection of manuscripts relating to the nobility and gentry of scotland, scottish poetry and the drama, fiction, witchcraft, state papers, chronicles and chartularies:--an extraordinary collection of almanacs, record commission publications, ecclesiastical history, classics and translations, civil and criminal trials, &c., &c. _the whole of which are in fine preservation, warranted perfect, and many of them in elegant binding._ now on sale, at the prices affixed to each article, for ready money, by thomas george stevenson, . prince's street, edinburgh. (second door west of the new club.) * * * * * cheap german books.--williams & norgate, . bedford street, covent garden, charge to direct purchasers all books published in germany at three shillings per prussian thaler only, the exact value of their published price in germany, without any addition for carriage or duty, for ready money. catalogues gratis on application. * * * * * cheap french books.--williams & norgate, . bedford street, covent garden, charge to purchasers directly from them french books at ten pence per franc only, being a reduction of per cent. on the former rate of shillings for francs. a monthly french catalogue is sent gratis to purchasers. * * * * * curious gleanings from ancient newspapers of the time of king charles, &c.--a very choice, instructive, and most amusing miscellaneous selection may be had free by sending six postage stamps to mr. j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * photographic school.--royal polytechnic institution. the school is now open for instruction in all branches of photography, to ladies and gentlemen, on alternate days, from eleven till four o'clock, under the joint direction of t. a. malone, esq., who has long been connected with photography, and j. h. pepper, esq., the chemist to the institution. a prospectus, with terms, may be had at the institution. * * * * * murray's modern cookery book. new and cheaper edition. now ready, an entirely new, revised, and cheaper edition, with woodcuts. post vo., s., bound. modern domestic cookery. founded upon principles of economy and practical knowledge, and adapted for the use of private families. "a collection of plain receipts, adapted to the service of families, in which the table is supplied, with a regard to economy as well as comfort and elegance."--_morning post._ "unquestionably the most complete guide to the culinary department of domestic economy that has yet been given to the world."--_john bull._ "a new edition, with a great many new receipts, that have stood the test of _family_ experience, and numerous editorial and typographical improvements throughout."--_spectator._ "murray's 'cookery book' claims to rank as a new work."--_literary gazette._ "the best work extant on the subject for an ordinary household."--_atlas._ "as a complete collection of useful directions clothed in perspicuous language, this can scarcely be surpassed."--_economist._ "full of sage instruction and advice, not only on the economical and gastronomic materials, but on subjects of domestic management in general."--_builder._ "we may heartily and safely commend to english housewifery this cookery book. it tells plainly what plain folks wish to know, and points out how an excellent dinner may be best secured."--_express._ john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. p. "inviting calvin to unite with melancthon" - "malancthon" in original generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page on the use of the hour-glass in pulpits the megatherium americanum in the british museum remunerations of authors, by alexander andrews coincident legends, by thomas keightley shakespeare readings, no. viii. shakespeare's use of the idiom "no had" and "no hath not," by s. w. singer, &c. minor notes:--the formation of the woman, gen. ii. , .--singular way of showing displeasure --the maids and the widows--alison's "europe"-- "bis dat, qui cito dat:" "sat cito, si sat bene" queries:-- house-marks minor queries:--"seductor succo"--anna lightfoot --queries from the "navorscher"--"amentium haud amantium"--"hurrah!" and other war-cries --kissing hands at court--uniforms of the three regiments of foot guards, temp. charles ii.--raffaelle's sposalizio--"to the lords of convention"-- richard candishe, m.p.--alphabetical arrangement-- saying of pascal--irish characters on the stage-- family of milton's widow--table-moving minor queries with answers:--form of petition, &c.--bibliography--peter francius and de wilde-- work by bishop ken--eugene aram's comparative lexicon--drimtaidhvrickhillichattan--coins of europe--general benedict arnold replies:-- parish registers: right of search, by g. brindley acworth the honourable miss e. st. leger, a freemason, by henry h. breen weather rules, by john booker, &c. scotchmen in poland, by richard john king mr. justice newton the marriage ring canada, &c. selling a wife, by william bates enough photographic correspondence:--mr. wilkinson's mode of levelling cameras--collodion negative-- developing collodion process--an iodizing difficulty replies to minor queries:--bishop frampton--parochial libraries--pierrepont--passage in orosius --pugna porcorum--oaken tombs and effigies-- bowyer bible--longevity--lady anne gray--sir john fleming--life--family of kelway--sir g. browne, bart.--americanisms, so called--sir gilbert gerard, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. on the use of the hour-glass in pulpits. george herbert says: "the parson exceeds not an hour in preaching, because _all ages_ have thought that a competency."--_a priest to the temple_, p. . ferrarius, _de ritu concion._, lib. i. c. ., makes the following statement: "huic igitur certo ac communi malo (the evil of too long sermons) ut medicinam facerent, ecclesiæ patres in concionando determinatum dicendi tempus fereque unius horæ spatio conclusum aut ipsi sibi præscribant, aut ab aliis præfinitum religiosè observabant." bingham, commenting on this passage, observes: "ferrarius and some others are very positive that they (their sermons) were generally an hour long; but ferrarius is at a loss to tell by what instrument they measured their hour, for he will not venture to affirm that they preached, as the old greek and roman orators declaimed, by an hour-glass."--see _bingham_, vol. iv. p. . this remark of bingham's brings me at once to the subject of my present communication. what evidence exists of the practice of preaching by the hour-glass, thus treated as improbable, if not ridiculous, by the learned writer just quoted? if the early fathers of the church _timed_ their sermons by any instrument of the kind, we should expect their writings to contain _internal_ evidence of the fact, just as frequent allusion is made by demosthenes and other ancient orators to the klepshydra or water-clock, by which the time allotted to each speaker was measured. besides, the close proximity of such an instrument would be a constant source of metaphorical allusion on the subject of _time and eternity_. perhaps those of your readers who are familiar with the extant sermons of the greek and latin fathers, may be able to supply some illustration on this subject. at all events there appears to be indisputable evidence of the use of the hour-glass in the pulpit formerly in this country. { } in an extract from the churchwardens' accounts of the parish of st. helen, in abingdon, berks, we find the following entry: "anno mdxci. eliz. 'payde for an houre-glasse for the pulpit,' d."--see hone's _table-book_, vol. i. p. . among the accounts of christ church, st. catherine's, aldgate, under the year , this entry occurs: "paid for an hour-glass that hangeth by the pulpitt when the preacher doth make a sermon that he may know how the hour passeth away."--malcolm's _londinium_, vol. iii. p. ., cited southey's _common-place book_, th series, p. . in fosbrooke (_br. mon._, p. .) i find the following passage: "a stand for an hour-glass still remains in many pulpits. a rector of bibury (in gloucestershire) used to preach two hours, regularly turning the glass. after the text the esquire of the parish withdrew, smoaked his pipe, and returned to the blessing." the authority for this, which fosbrooke cites, is rudder's _gloucestershire_, in "bibury." it is added that lecturers' pulpits have also hour-glasses the woodcuts in hawkins's _music_, ii. ., are referred to in support of this statement. i regret that i have no means of consulting the two last-mentioned authorities. in some poor crazy people at edinburgh called themselves the sweet singers of israel. among other things, they renounced the limiting the lord's mind by _glasses_. this is no doubt in allusion to the hour-glass, which mr. water, the editor of the fourth series of southey's _common-place book_, informs us is still to be found, or at least its iron frame, in many churches, adding that the custom of preaching by the hour-glass commenced about the end of the sixteenth century. i cannot help thinking that an earlier date must be assigned to this singular practice. (see southey's _common-place book_, th series, p. .) mr. water states that one of these iron frames still exists at ferring in sussex. the iron extinguishers still to be found on the railing opposite large houses in london, are a similar memorial of an obsolete custom. i trust some contributor to the "n. & q." will be able to supply farther illustrations of this custom. should it be revived in our own times, i fear most parishes would supply only a _half_-hour glass for the pulpit of their church, however unanimous antiquity may be in favour of sermons of an hour's duration. one advantage presented by this ancient and precise practice was, that the squire of the parish knew exactly when it was time to put out his pipe and return for the blessing, which he cannot ascertain under the present uncertain and indefinite mode of preaching. fosbrooke (_br. mon._, p. .) states that the priest had sometimes a watch found for him by the parish. the authority cited for this is the following entry in the accounts of the chantrey wardens of the parish of shire in surrey: "received for the priest's watch after he was dead, s. d."--manning's _surrey_, vol. i. p. . this entry seems to be rather too vague and obscure to warrant the inference drawn from it. this also may be susceptible of farther illustration. a. w. s. temple. * * * * * the megatherium americanum in the british museum. amongst the most interesting specimens of that collection certainly ranges the skeleton of the above animal of a primæval world, albeit but a cast; the real bones, found in buenos ayres, being preserved in the museum of madrid. to imagine a sloth of the size of a large bear, somewhat baffles our imagination; especially if we ponder upon the size of trees on which such a huge animal must have lived. to have placed near him a nondescript branch (!!) of a palm, as has been done in the museum here, is a terrible mistake. palms there were none at that period of telluric formation; besides, no sloth ever could ascend an exogenous tree, as the simple form of the coma of leaves precludes every hope of motion, &c. i never can view those remnants of a former world, without being forcibly reminded of that most curious passage in berosus, which i cite from memory: "there was a flood raging then over parts of the world.... there were to be seen, however, on the walls of the temple of belus, representations of animals, such as inhabited the earth before the flood." we may thence gather, that although the ancient world did not possess museums of stuffed animals, yet, the first collection of _icones_ is certainly that mentioned by berosus. i think that it was about the times of the crusades, that animals were first rudely preserved (stuffed), whence the emblems in the coats of arms of the nobility also took their origin. i have seen a ms. in the british museum dating from this period, where the delineation of a bird of the _picus_ tribe is to be found. many things which the crusaders saw in egypt and syria were so striking and new to them, that they thought of means of preserving them as mementoes for themselves and friends. the above date, i think, will be an addition to the history of collections of natural history: a work wanting yet in the vast domain of modern literature. a foreign surgeon. charlotte street, bloomsbury square. * * * * * { } remuneration of authors. in that varied and interesting of antiquarian and literary curiosities, "n. & q.," perhaps a collection of the prices paid by booksellers and publishers for works of interest and to authors of celebrity might find a corner. as a first contribution towards such a collection, if approved of, i send some notes made some years ago, with the authorities from which i copied them. with regard to those cited on the authority of "r. chambers," i cannot now say from which of messrs. chambers's publications i extracted them, but fancy it might have been the _cyclopædia of english literature_. to any one disposed to swell the list of the remunerations of authors, i would suggest that disraeli's _curiosities of literature_, boswell's _life of johnson_, johnson's _lives of the poets_ and other works of every-day handling, would no doubt furnish many facts; but all my books being in the country, i have no means of searching, and therefore send my notes in the fragmentary state in which i find them:-- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- title of work. | author. | publisher. | price. | authority. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- gulliver's travels | dean swift | molte | l. |sir w. scott. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- tom jones | h. fielding | miller | l. | ditto. | | | and l. | | | | after | -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- amelia | ditto | ditto | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- history of england | dr. smollett| | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- memoirs of richard | | | | cumberland | himself | lackington | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- vicar of wakefield |dr. goldsmith| newberry | l. | dr. johnson. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- selections of | | | | english poetry | ditto | | l. | lee lewis. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- deserted village | ditto | | l. | sir w. scott. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- rasselas | dr. johnson | | l. | | | | and l. | ditto | | | after | -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- traveller |dr. goldsmith|newberry | l. | wm. irving -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- old english baron | clara reeve | dilly | | | | (poultry) | l. |sir w. scott. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- mysteries of | | geo. | | udolpho |ann radcliffe| robinson | l. | ditto -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- italian | ditto | | l. | ditto -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- mount henneth | robert bage | lowndes | l. | ditto -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- translation of | | jacob | | ovid | john dryden | tonson | l. s. |r. chambers. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto of | | | l. | virgil | ditto | ditto |and | ditto | | |subscriptions| -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- fables and ode | | | | for st. cecilia's | ditto | ditto | guineas | ditto day | | | | -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- paradise lost | john milton |sam. symmons| l., l. nd | | | |edit., and |sir w. scott. | | | l. | -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- translation of | alexander | | | the iliad | pope | | l. | r. chambers. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto of the | | | | odyssey (half) | ditto | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto ditto | | | | (remainder) | ditto | browne | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto ditto | | | | (ditto) | ditto | featon | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- beggar's opera | | | | ( st part) | john gay | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto ( nd part) | ditto | | l. or | | | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- three abridged | | | | histories of |dr. goldsmith| newberry | about l. | ditto. england | | | | -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- history of | | | | animated nature | ditto | ditto | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- lives of the poets | dr. johnson | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- evelina | miss burney | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- history of england | | | | during the reign | david hume | | l. | of the stuarts | | | | -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto ditto | | | | (remainder) | ditto | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- history of scotland| robertson | | l | creech. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- history of charles | | | | v. | ditto | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- decline and fall | | | | of the roman | gibbon | | l. |r. chambers. empire | | | | -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- sermons ( st part) | blair | | l. | creech -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto | tillotson | | guineas| r. chambers -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- childe harold | | | | ( th canto) | lord byron | | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- poetical works | | | | (whole) | ditto | | , l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- lay of the | | | | last minstrel |sir w. scott | constable | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- marmion | ditto | ditto | l. | miss seward. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- pleasures of | thos. | | | hope | campbell | mundell | l. | r. chambers. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- gertrude of | | | | wyoming | ditto | ditto | guineas | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- poems | crabbe | murray | l. | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- irish melodies | thomas moore| | l. a year | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- spelling book | vyse | | l. and | | | | l. a year | ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- philosophy of | | | l., st | natural history | smellie | |edition and | | | | l. each | | | |after | ditto -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- various | | | | (aggregate) | göthe | | , crowns| ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+-------------+------------- ditto (ditto) |chateaubriand| | , francs| ditto. -------------------+-------------+------------+--------------+------------- i perfectly agree with the suggestion of one of your correspondents, that, in a publication like yours, dealing with historic facts, the communications should not be anonymous, or made under _noms de guerre_. i therefore drop the initials with which i have signed previous communications, and append my name as suggested. alexander andrews. * * * * * coincident legends. in the scandinavian portion of the _fairy mythology_, there is a legend of a farmer cheating a troll in an argument respecting the crops that were to be grown on the hill within which the latter resided. it is there observed that rabelais tells the same story of a farmer and the devil. i think there can be no doubt that these are not independent fictions, but that the legend is a transmitted one, the scandinavian being the original, brought with them perhaps by the normans. { } but what are we to say to the actual fact of the same legend being found in the valleys of afghánistán? masson, in his _narrative_, &c. (iii. .), when speaking of the tájiks of lúghmân, says,-- "they have the following amusing story: in times of yore, ere the natives were acquainted with the arts of husbandry, the shaitán, or devil, appeared amongst them, and, winning their confidence, recommended them to sow their lands. they consented, it being farther agreed that the devil was to be a _sherík_, or partner, with them. the lands were accordingly sown with turnips, carrots, beet, onions, and such vegetables whose value consists in the roots. when the crops were mature the shaitán appeared, and generously asked the assembled agriculturists if they would receive for their share what was above ground or what was below. admiring the vivid green hue of the tops, they unanimously replied that they would accept what was above ground. they were directed to remove their portion, when the devil and his attendants dug up the roots and carried them away. the next year he again came and entered into partnership. the lands were now sown with wheat and other grains, whose value lies in their seed-spikes. in due time, as the crops had ripened, he convened the husbandmen, putting the same question to them as he did the preceding year. resolved not to be deceived as before, they chose for their share what was below ground; on which the devil immediately set to work and collected the harvest, leaving them to dig up the worthless roots. having experienced that they were not a match for the devil, they grew weary of his friendship; and it fortunately turned out that, on departing with his wheat, he took the road from lúghmân to báríkâb, which is proverbially intricate, and where he lost his road, and has never been heard of or seen since." surely here is simple coincidence, for there could scarcely ever have been any communication between such distant regions in remote times, and the legend has hardly been carried to afghánistán by europeans. there is, as will be observed, a difference in the character of the legends. in the oriental one it is the devil who outwits the peasants. this perhaps arises from the higher character of the shaitán (the ancient akriman) than that of the troll or the mediæval devil. thos. keightley. * * * * * shakspeare readings, no. viii. i have to announce the detection of an important misprint, which completely restores sense, point, and antithesis to a sorely tormented passage in _king lear_; and which proves at the same time that the corrector of mr. collier's folio, in this instance at least, is undeniably in error. here, as elsewhere (whether by anticipation or imitation i shall not take upon me to decide), he has fallen into just the same mistake as the rest of the commentators: indeed it is startling to observe how regularly he suspects every passage that they have suspected, and how invariably he treats them in the same spirit of emendation (some places of course excepted, where his courage soars far beyond theirs; such as the memorable "curds and cream," "on a table of green frieze," &c.). i say that the error of "the old corrector," in this instance, is _undeniable_, because the misprint i am about to expose, like the egg-problem of columbus, when once shown, demonstrates itself: so that any attempt to support it by argument would be absurd, because superfluous. there are two verbs, one in every-day use, the other obsolete, which, although of nearly opposite significations, and of very dissimilar sound, nevertheless differ only in the mutual exchange of place in two letters: these verbs are _secure_ and _r_ecu_s_e; the first implying _assurance_, the second _want of assurance_, or refusal. hence any sentence would receive an opposite meaning from one of these verbs to what it would from the other. let us now refer to the opening scene of the fourth act of _king lear_, where the old man offers his services to gloster, who has been deprived of his eyes: "_old man._ you cannot see your way. _gloster._ i have no way, and therefore want no eyes; i stumbled when i saw: full oft 'tis seen our means _secure_ us, and our mere defects prove our commodities." here one would suppose that the obvious opposition between _means_ and _defects_ would have preserved these words from being tampered with; and that, on the other hand, the _absence_ of opposition between _secure_ and _commodious_ would have directed attention to the real error. but, no: all the worretting has been about _means_; and this unfortunate word has been twisted in all manner of ways, until finally "the old corrector" informs us that "the printer read _wants_ 'means,' and hence the blunder!" now, mark the perfect antithesis the passage receives from the change of _secure_ into _recuse_: "full oft 'tis seen our means recuse us, and our mere defects prove our commodities." i trust i may be left in the quiet possession of whatever merit is due to this restoration. some other of my humble _auxilia_ have, before now, been coolly appropriated, with the most innocent air possible, without the slightest acknowledgment. one instance is afforded in mr. keightley's communication to "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. ., where that gentleman not only repeats the explanation i had previously given of the same passage, but even does me the honour of requoting the same line of shakspeare with which i had supported it. i did not think it worth noticing at the time, nor should i now, were it not that mr. keightley's { } confidence in the negligence or want of recollection in your readers seems not have been wholly misplaced, if we may judge from mr. arrowsmith's admiring foot-note in last number of "n. & q.," p. . a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * shakespeare's use of the idiom "no had" and "no hath not." (vol. vii., p. .) we are under great obligations to the rev. mr. arrowsmith for his very interesting illustration of several misunderstood archaisms; and it may not be unacceptable to him if i call his attention to what seems to me a farther illustration of the above singular idiom, from shakspeare himself. in _as you like it_, act i. sc. ., where rosalind has been banished by the duke her uncle, we have the following dialogue between celia and her cousin: "_cel._ o my poor rosalind! whither wilt thou go? wilt thou change fathers? i will give thee mine. i charge thee, be not thou more grieved than i am. _ros._ i have more cause. _cel._ thou hast not, cousin: pr'ythee be cheerful: know'st thou not, the duke hath banish'd me, his daughter? _ros._ that he hath not. _cel._ _no hath not?_ rosalind lacks, then, the love which teacheth thee that thou and i _are_ one. shall we be sunder'd," &c. from wrong pointing, and ignorance of the idiomatic structure, the passage has hitherto been misunderstood; and warburton proposed to read, "which teacheth _me_," but was fortunately opposed by johnson, although _he_ did not clearly understand the passage. i have ventured to change _am_ to _are_, for i cannot conceive that shakspeare wrote, "that thou and i _am_ one!" it is with some hesitation that i make this trifling innovation on the old text, although we have, a few lines lower, the more serious misprint of _your change_ for _the charge_. i presume that the abbreviated form of _the = y^e_ was taken for for _y^r_, and the _r_ in _charge_ mistaken for _n_; and in the former case of _am_ for _are_, indistinctness in old writing, and especially in such a hand as, it appears from his autograph, our great poet wrote, would readily lead to such mistakes. that the correction was left to the printer of the first folio, i am fully persuaded; yet, in comparison with the second folio, it is a correct book, notwithstanding all its faults. that it was customary for men who were otherwise busied, as we may suppose heminge and condell to have been, to leave the correction entirely to the printer, is certain; for an acquaintance of shakspeare's, resolute john florio, distinctly shows that it was the case. we have this pithy brief preface to the second edition of his translation of montaigne: "_to the reader._ "enough, if not too much, hath beene said of this translation. if the faults found even by myselfe in the first impression, be now by the printer corrected, as he was directed, the work is much amended: if not, know that through mine attendance on her majesty, i could not intend it; and blame not neptune for my second shipwracke. let me conclude with this worthy man's daughter of alliance: 'que t'ensemble donc lecteur?' _still resolute_ john florio." s. w. singer. mickleham. _shakspeare_ (vol. vii., p. .).--may i ask whether there is any precedent (i think there can be no excuse) for calling shakspeare's plays "our national bible"? a clergyman. * * * * * minor notes. _the formation of the woman_, gen. ii. , .--the terms of matthew henry on this subject, in his learned _commentary_, have become quite commonplace with divines, when speaking of the ordinance of marriage: "the woman was made of a rib out of the side of adam: not made out of his head, to top him; nor out of his feet, to be trampled upon by him; but out of his side, to be equal with him; under his arm, to be protected; and near his heart, to be beloved." like many other things in his exposition, this is not original with henry. it is here traced to the _speculum humanæ salvationis_ of the earliest and rarest printed works. some of your readers can probably trace it to the fathers. the verses which follow are engraven in block characters in the first edition of the work named, and are copied from the fifth plate of specimens of early typography in meerman's _origines typographicæ_: hague, mdcclxv.: "mulier autem in paradiso est formata de costis viri dormientis est parata deus autem ipsam super virum honestavit quoniam evam in loco voluptatis plasmavit, non facit eam sicut virum de limo terræ sed de osse nobilis viri adæ et de ejus carne. non est facta de pede, ne a viro despiceretur non de capite ne supra virum dominaretur. sed est facta de latere maritali et data est viro pro gloria et socia collaterali. quæ si sibi in honorem collata humiliter præstitisset nunquam molestiam a viro unquam sustinuisset." o. t. d. _singular way of showing displeasure._-- "the earl's regiment not long after, according to order, marched to take possession of the town (londondery); but at their appearance before it the citizens clapt up the gates, and denyed them entrance, { } declaring their resolution for the king (william iii.) and their own preservation. tyrconnel at the news of this was said _to have burnt his wig, as an indication of his displeasure with the townsmen's proceedings_."--_life of james ii._, p. . e. h. a. _the maids and the widows._--the following petition, signed by sixteen maids of charleston, south carolina, was presented to the governor of that province on march , - , "the day of the feast:" "to his excellency governor johnson. "the humble petition of all the maids whose names are underwritten: "whereas we the humble petitioners are at present in a very melancholy disposition of mind, considering how all the bachelors are blindly captivated by widows, and our more youthful charms thereby neglected: the consequence of this our request is, that your excellency will for the future order that no widow shall presume to marry any young man till the maids are provided for; or else to pay each of them a fine for satisfaction, for invading our liberties; and likewise a fine to be laid on all such bachelors as shall be married to widows. the great disadvantage it is to us maids, is, that the widows, by their forward carriages, do snap up the young men; and have the vanity to think their merits beyond ours, which is a great imposition upon us who ought to have the preference. "this is humbly recommended to your excellency's consideration, and hope you will prevent any farther insults. "and we poor maids as in duty bound will ever pray. "p.s.--i, being the oldest maid, and therefore most concerned, do think it proper to be the messenger to your excellency in behalf of my fellow subscribers." uneda. _alison's "europe."_--in a note to sir a. alison's _europe_, vol. ix. p. ., mo., enforcing the opinion that the prime movers in all revolutions are not men of high moral or intellectual qualities, he quotes, as from "sallust _de bello cat._," "in _turbis atque seditionibus_ pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus _aluntur_." no such words, however, are to be found in sallust: but the correct expression is in tacitus (_hist._, iv. .): "quippe in _turbas et discordias_ pessimo cuique plurima vis; pax et quies bonis artibus _indigent_." sir a. alison quotes, in the same note, as from thucydides (l. iii. c. .), the following: "in the contests of the greek commonwealth, those who were esteemed the most depraved, and had the least foresight, invariably prevailed; for being conscious of this weakness, and dreading to be overreached by those of greater penetration, they went to work hastily with the sword and poniard, and thereby got the better of their antagonists, who where occupied with more refined schemes." this paragraph is certainly not in the place mentioned; nor can i find it after a diligent search through thucydides. will sir a. alison, or any of his oxford friends, be good enough to point out the author, and indicate where such a passage is really to be found? t. j. buckton. birmingham. _"bis dat, qui cito dat"_ (vol. vi., p. .).--_"sat cito, si sat bene."_--the first of these proverbs reminded me of the second, which was a favourite maxim of lord chancellor eldon. (see _the life of lord chancellor eldon_, vol. i. p. .) i notice it for the purpose of showing that lord eldon followed (perhaps unconsciously) the example of augustus, and that the motto is as old as the time of the first roman emperor, if it is not of more remote origin. the following is an extract from the life of augustus, sueton., chap. xxv.: "nil autem minus in imperfecto duce, quam festinationem temeritatemque, convenire arbitrabatur. crebrò itaque illa jactabat, [greek: speude bradeôs]. et: '[greek: asphalês gar est' ameinôn ê thrasus stratêlatês].' et, 'sat celeriter fieri, quicquid fiat satis bene.'" perhaps t. h. can give us the origin of these greek and latin maxims, as he has of "bis dat, qui cito dat" (vol. i., p. ). f. w. j. * * * * * queries. house-marks. are there traces in england of what the people of germany, on the shores of the baltic, call _hausmärke_, and what in denmark and norway is called _bolmærke_, _bomærke_? these are certain figures, generally composed of straight lines, and imitating the shape of the cross or the runes, especially the so-called compound runes. they are meant to mark all sorts of property and chattels, dead and alive, movable and immovable, and are drawn out, or burnt into, quite inartistically, without any attempt of colouring or sculpturing. so, for instance, every freeholder in praust, a german village near dantzic, has his own mark on all his property, by which he recognises it. they are met with on buildings, generally over the door, or on the gable-end, more frequently on tombstones, or on epitaphs in churches, on pews and old screens, and implements, cattle, and on all sorts of documents, where the common people now use three crosses. the custom is first mentioned in the old swedish law of the thirteenth century (uplandslagh, _corp. jur. sveo-goth._, iii. p. .), and occurs almost at the same period in the seals of the citizens of the hanse-town lubeck. it has been in common use { } in norway, iceland, denmark, sleswick, holstein, hamburgh, lubeck, mecklenburgh, and pomerania, but is at present rapidly disappearing. yet, in holstein they still mark the cattle grazing on the common with the signs of their respective proprietors; they do the same with the haystacks in mecklenburgh, and the fishing-tackle on the small islands of the baltic. in the city of dantzic these marks still occur in the prayer-books which are left in the churches. there are scarcely any traces of this custom in the south of germany, except that the various towers of the city-wall of nurnberg are said to bear their separate marks; and that an apothecary of strasburg, merkwiller, signs a document, dated , with his name, his coat of arms, and a simple mark. professor homeyer has lately read, before the royal academy of berlin, a very learned paper on the subject, and has explained this ancient custom as significant of popular law, possibly intimating the close connexion between the property and its owner. i am sorry not to be able to copy out the professor's collection of runic marks; but i trust that the preceding lines will be sufficient in order to elicit the various traces of a similar custom still prevalent, or remembered, in the british isles; an account of which will be thankfully received at berlin, where they have lately been informed, that even the eyder-geese on the shetlands are distinguished by the marks of their owners. [alpha]. * * * * * minor queries. _"seductor succo."_--will any of your readers oblige me by giving me either a literal or poetical translation of the following lines, taken from foulis, _rom. treasons_, preface, p. ., ? "seductor succo, gallo sicarius; anglo proditor; imperio explorator; davus ibero; italo adulator; dixi teres ore,--suitam." clericus (d). _anna lightfoot._--t. h. h. would be obliged by any particulars relating to anna lightfoot, the left-handed wife of george iii. it has been stated that she had but one son, who died at an early age; but a report circulates in some channels, that she had also a daughter, married to a wealthy manufacturer in a midland town. it is particularly desired to know in what year, and under what circumstances, anna lightfoot died. _queries from the "navorscher."_--did addison, steele, or swift write the "choice of hercules" in the _tatler_? was dr. hawkesworth, or, if not, who was, the author of "religion the foundation of content," an allegory in the _adventurer_? in what years were born c. c. colton, pinnock, washington irving, george long, f. b. head; and when died those of them who are no longer among us? who wrote "journal of a poor vicar," "story of catherine of russia," "volney becker," and the "soldier's wife," in chamber's _miscellany_? did luther write drinking-songs? if so, where are they to be met with? _"amentium haud amantium."_--i should be glad to ascertain, and perhaps it may be interesting to classical scholars generally to know, if any of your correspondents or readers can suggest an english translation for the phrase "amentium haud amantium" (in the first act of the _andria_ of terence), which shall represent the alliteration of the original. the publication of this query may probably elicit the desired information. fidus interpres. dublin. _"hurrah!" and other war-cries._--when was the exclamation "hurrah!" first used by englishmen, and what was the war-cry before its introduction? was it ever used separately from, or always in conjunction with "h.e.p.! h.e.p.?" was "huzza!" contemporaneous? what are the known war-shouts of other european or eastern nations, ancient or modern? cape. _kissing hands at court._--when was the kissing of hands at court first observed? cape. _uniforms of the three regiments of foot guards, temp. charles ii._--being very desirous to know where well authenticated pictures of officers in the regimentals of the foot guards during the reign of charles ii. may be seen, or are, i shall be greatly obliged to any reader of "n & q." who will supply the information. i make no doubt there are, in many of the private collections of this country, several portraits of officers so dressed, which have descended as heir-looms in families. i subjoin the colonels' names, and dates of the regiments: st foot guards, : colonel russell, henry duke of grafton. coldstream guards, : general monk. rd guards, : earl of linlithgow. : earl of craven. d. n. _raffaelle's sposalizio._--will digitalis, or any of your numerous correspondents or readers, do me the favour to say why, in raffaelle's celebrated painting "lo sposalizio," in the gallery of the brera at milan, joseph is represented as placing the ring on the third finger of _right_ hand of the virgin? i noticed the same peculiarity in ghirlandais's fresco of the "espousals" in the church of the santa croce at florence. this i remarked to the custode, an intelligent old man, who informed { } me that the connexion said to exist between the heart and the third finger refers to that finger of the _right_ hand, and not, as we suppose, to the third finger of the _left_ hand. he added, that the english are the only nation who place the ring on the left hand. i do not find that this latter statement is borne out by what i have seen of the ladies of continental europe; and i suppose it was an hallucination in my worthy informant. i must leave to better scholars in the italian language than i am, to say whether "lo sposalizio" means "betrothal" or "marriage:" certainly this latter is the ordinary signification. i have a sort of floating idea that i once heard that at the ceremony of "betrothal," now, i believe, rarely if ever practised, it was customary to place the ring on the right hand. i am by no means clear where i gleaned this notion. g. brindley acworth. brompton. _"to the lords of convention."_--where can i find the _whole_ of the ballad beginning-- "to the lords of convention 'twas claverh'se that spoke;" and also the name of the author? l. evans. _richard candishe, m.p._--pennant (_tour in wales_, vol. ii. p. .) prints the epitaph of "richard candishe, esq., of a good family in suffolk," who was m.p. for denbigh in , as it appears on his monument in hornsey church. who was this richard candishe? the epitaph says he was "derived from noble parentage;" but the arms on the monument are not those of the noble house of cavendish, which sprung from the parish of that name in suffolk. the arms of richard candishe are given as "three piles wavy gules in a field argent; the crest, a fox's head erased azure." buriensis. _alphabetical arrangement._--can any one favour me with a reference to any work treating of the date of the collection and arrangement in the present form of the alphabet, either english, latin, greek, or hebrew? or what is the earliest instance of their being used to represent numerals? a. h. c. _saying of pascal._--in which of his works is pascal's saying, "i have not time to write more briefly," to be found; and what are the words in the original? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _irish characters on the stage._--would any of the contributors to "n. & q." oblige me with this information? who, or how many, of the old english dramatists introduced irishmen into their _dramatis personæ_? did ben jonson? shadwell did. what others? philobiblion. _family of milton's widow._--your correspondent cranmore, in his article on the "rev. john paget" ("n. & q.," vol. v., p. .), writes thus: "dr. nathan paget was an intimate friend of milton and cousin to the poet's fourth (no doubt meaning his third) wife, elizabeth minshall, of whose family descent, which appears to be rather obscure, i may at another time communicate some particulars." now, as more than a year has elapsed since the article referred to appeared in your valuable columns, without the subject of elizabeth minshall's descent having been farther noticed, i hope your correspondent will pardon my soliciting him to supply the information he possesses relative thereto, which cannot fail proving interesting to every admirer of our great poet. v. m. _table-moving._--was not bacon acquainted with this phenomenon? i find in his _sylva sylvarum_, art. motion: "whenever a solid is pressed, there is an inward tumult of the parts thereof, tending to deliver themselves from the compression: and this is the _cause_ of all violent motion. it is very strange that this motion has never been observed and inquired into; as being the most common and chief origin of all mechanical operations. "this motion operates first in a round by way of proof and trial, which way to deliver itself, and then in progression where it finds the deliverance easiest." c. k. p. newport, essex. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _form of petition, &c._--may i request the insertion of a query, requesting some of your readers to supply the _ellipsis_ in the form with which petitions to parliament are required to be closed, viz.: "and your petitioners will ever pray, &c." to me, i confess, there appears to be something like impiety in its use in its present unmeaning state. would a petition be rendered informal by any addition which would make it more comprehensible? c. w. b. [the ellipsis appears to have varied according to circumstances: hence we find, in an original petition addressed to the privy council (apparently temp. jac. i.), the concluding formula given at length thus:--"and yo^r sup^{lt}, as in all dutie bounden, shall daylie pray for your good l^{ps}." another petition, presented to charles i. at newark, a.d. , closes thus: "and your petitioners will ever pray for your majesty's long and happy reign over us." another, from the mayor and aldermen of london, in the same year: "and the petitioners, as in all duty bound, shall pray for your majesty's most long and happy reign." again, in the same year, the petition of the lay-catholic recusants of england to the commons closes thus: "and for so great a charity your humble petitioners { } shall ever (as in duty bound) pray for your continual prosperity and eternal happiness." we do not believe that any petition would be rendered informal by such addition as would make it more comprehensible.] _bibliography._--i am about to publish a brochure entitled _notes on books: with hints to readers, authors, and publishers_; and as i intend to give a list of the most useful bibliographical works, i shall feel much obliged to any one who will furnish me with a list of the various _printers' grammars_, and of such works as the following: _the author's printing and publishing assistant; comprising explanations of the process of printing, preparation and calculation of mss., paper, type, binding, typographical marks, &c._ mo., lond. . i have met with stower's _printers' grammar_, london, . mariconda. [the following printers' grammars may be advantageously consulted; . hansard's _typographia; an historical sketch of the origin and progress of the art of printing_, royal vo. . . johnson's _typographia; or the printers' instructor_, vols. vo. . . savage's _dictionary of the art of printing_, vo. , the most useful of this class of works. . timperley's _dictionary of printers and printing_, royal vo. . stower also published _the compositors' and pressmen's guide to the art of printing_, royal mo. ; and _the printer's price book_, vo. .] _peter francius and de wilde._--in a little work on my shelf, with the following title, "petri francii specimen eloquentiæ exterioris ad orationem m. t. ciceronis pro a. licin. archiâ accommodatum. amstelædami, apud henr. wetstenium m dc xcvii.]," occurs the following brief ms. note, after the text of the speech for archias: "orationem hanc pro archia sub dno petro francio memoriter recitavi wilhelmus de wilde in athenæi auditorio majore, a.d. xviii kal. januarias, a^{ni} ." the volume is mo., containing about pp.; the text of the speech occupying nearly pp. who was peter francius? did de wilde ever distinguish himself?" d. [peter francius, a celebrated greek and latin poet, was born in at amsterdam, afterwards studied at leyden, and obtained the degree of doctor of laws at augers. in , the magistrates of amsterdam appointed him professor of history and rhetoric, which office he held till his death in . see _biographie universelle_.] _work by bishop ken._-- "a crown of glory the reward of the righteous; being meditations on the vicissitude and uncertainty of all sublunary enjoyments. to which is added, a manual of devotions for times of trouble and affliction: also meditations and prayers before, at, and after receiving the holy communion; with some general rules for our daily practice. composed for the use of a noble family, by the right reverend dr. thomas kenn, late lord bishop of bath and wells. price s. d." i find the above in a list of "books printed for arthur, betterworth, &c.," at the end of the th edition of horneck's _crucified jesus_: london, . i do not remember to have seen any notice of this work in the recent biographies of the saintly prelate to whom it is here attributed. e. h. a. [this work originally appeared under the following title: _the royal sufferer; a manual of meditations and devotions, written for the use of a royal though afflicted family_, by t. k., d. d., , and was afterwards published with the above title. it has been rejected as spurious by the rev. j. t. round, the editor of _the prose works of bishop ken_, l .] _eugene aram's comparative lexicon._--this talented criminal is said to have left behind him collections for a dictionary of the celtic, hebrew, greek, latin, and english languages, comprising a list of about words, which he considered them to possess in common. was this ever published? and where are any notices of his works to be found? e. s. taylor. [the following notice of eugene aram's lexicon occurs in a letter written by dr. samuel pegge to dr. philipps, dated feb. , : "one eugene aram was executed at york last year for a murder. he has done something, being a scholar and a schoolmaster, towards a lexicon on a new plan. hearing of this, i sent for the pamphlet, which contained some account of his life, and the specimen of a lexicon. he goes to the celtic, the irish, and the british languages, as well as others; and there are things, in the specimen that will amuse a lover of etymologies." (_gent. mag._, , p. .) aram left behind him an essay relative to his intended work, from which some extracts are given in kippis's _biographia britannica_, s.v. the lexicon does not appear to have been printed.] _drimtaidhvrickhillichattan._--i should feel obliged through the medium of "n. & q.," to be informed of the whereabouts of a locality in scotland with the above euphonious name. alpha. [drimtaidhvrickhillichattan is situated in the island of mull, and county of argyle.] _coins of europe._--where can i find the fullest and most accurate tables showing the relative value of the coins in use in different parts of europe? alpha. [consult tate's _manual of foreign exchanges_, and the art. coins in m^cculloch's _dictionary of commerce_.] _general benedict arnold._--can any of the readers of "n.& q." inform me where general arnold is buried? after the failure of his attempt to deliver up west point to the english, he escaped, went to england, and never returned to his native { } country. i have heard that he died about forty years ago, near brompton, england; and would be glad to have the date of his death, and any inscription which may be on his tomb. w. b. r. philadelphia. [general arnold died th june, , in the sixty-first year of his age. his remains were interred on the st at brompton.] * * * * * replies. parish registers.--right of search. in vol. iv., p. . a query on this subject is inserted, to which, in vol. v., p. ., mr. chadwick replied. the question, one of great importance to the genealogist, has recently been the subject of judicial decision, in the case of steele _v._ williams, reported in the th volume of the _jurist_, p. . (the number for saturday, th may). at the opening of the argument, the court of exchequer decided that the fees, &c. are regulated by the & will. iv. c. ., "an act for registering births, deaths, and marriages in england," which in the th section enacts-- "that every rector, vicar, curate, and every registrar, registering officer, and secretary, who shall have the keeping, for the time being, of any register book of births, deaths, or marriages, shall at all reasonable times allow searches to be made of any register book in his keeping, and shall give a copy, certified under his hand, of any entry or entries in the same, on payment of the fee hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, for every search extending over a period not more than one year, the sum of s., and d. additional for every additional year; and the sum of s. d. for every single certificate." mr. chadwick seemed to consider this section only applied to "civil registration;" but this view is, i apprehend, now quite untenable. the case was, whether a parish clerk had a right to charge s. d., where the party searching the register did not require "certified copies," but only made his own extracts; _and it is decided he has no such right_. mr. baron parke in his judgment says: "i think this payment was not voluntary, because the defendant" [the parish clerk] "told the plaintiff, that if he did not pay him for certificates, in all cases in which he wanted to make extracts, he should not make a search at all. _i think the plaintiff had at all events a right to make a search, and during that time make himself master, as he best might, of the contents of the book, and could not be prevented from so doing by the clerk_ in whose custody they were; who in the present case insisted that if he wanted copies he must have certificates with the signature of the incumbent. for the s. he paid, the applicant had a right to look at all the names in one year. he had no right to remain an unreasonable time looking at the book; nor perhaps, strictly speaking, was the parish clerk bound to put it into his hands at all: for the clerk has a right to superintend everything done, and might fairly say to a man, 'your hands are dirty: keep them in your pockets.' the applicant could therefore only exercise his right of search during a reasonable time, and make extracts that way. _if a man insists on taking himself a copy of anything in the books, that case is not provided for by the statute_: but if he requires a copy certified by the clergyman, then he must pay an additional fee for it. "it was consequently _an illegal act_ in the defendant to insist that the plaintiff should pay s. d. for each entry in the book, of which he might choose to make an extract," &c. mr. baron martin says: "with respect to the statute, counsel (mr. robinson) says, because taking extracts is not mentioned in the statute, it is competent for a parish clerk to take an extra payment for allowing them to be made. where a man is allowed by statute to receive money, it is, as it were, by virtue of a contract that the statute makes for him, and he cannot make a contract for a different sum. the defendant here is bound by the entirety of the statute; _he may be paid for a search_, or _for a certified copy_, but there is no intermediate course." this decision will, i hope, have the effect of removing the difficulties so often experienced in making searches for genealogical purposes. at all events, the person making such search can now _safely_ make his own notes, none daring _lawfully_ to make him afraid. i have to apologise for the length of this letter. g. brindley acworth. . king's bench walk, temple. * * * * * the honourable miss e. st. leger, a freemason. (vol. iv., p. .) there is an inquiry in vol. iv., p. ., as to whether there is any truth in the story, that the honourable miss e. st. leger was made a freemason; and as no account of the circumstances has yet appeared in your pages, i send you the following statement, which has been extracted from _the patrician_. apart from its value as a record of this singular fact, it contains other particulars which you may deem worthy of preservation in "n. & q." "the hon. elizabeth st. leger as the only female who was ever initiated into the ancient and honourable mystery of freemasonry. how she obtained this honour we shall lay before our readers, having obtained the only genuine information from the best sources. "lord doneraile, miss st. leger's father, a very zealous mason, held a warrant, and occasionally opened lodge at doneraile house, his sons and some intimate friends assisting; and it is said that never were the masonic duties more rigidly performed than by the brethren of no. , the number of their warrant. "it appears that previous to the initiation of a gentleman to the first steps of masonry, miss st leger, { } who was a young girl, happened to be in an apartment adjoining the room generally used as a lodge-room; but whether the young lady was there by design or accident, we cannot confidently state. this room at the time was undergoing some alteration: amongst other things, the wall was considerably reduced in one part, for the purpose of making a saloon. "the young lady having heard the voices of the freemasons, and prompted by the curiosity natural to all, to see this mystery so long and so secretly locked up from public view, she had the courage to pick a brick from the wall with her scissors, and witnessed the ceremony through the first two steps. curiosity gratified, fear at once took possession of her mind; and those who understand this passage, well know what the feelings of any person must be who could unlawfully behold that ceremony. let them then judge what were the feelings of a young girl, under such extraordinary circumstances. "here was no mode of escape except through the very room where the concluding part of the second step was still being solemnised; and that being at the far end, and the room a very large one, she had resolution sufficient to attempt her escape that way, and with light but trembling step glided along unobserved, laid her hand on the handle of the door, and gently opening it, before her stood, to her dismay, a grim and surly _tiler_, with his long sword unsheathed. a shriek that pierced through the apartment alarmed the members of the lodge, who all rushing to the door, and finding that miss st. leger had been in the room during the ceremony, in the first paroxysm of their rage, it is said, her death was resolved upon; but from the moving and earnest supplication of her younger brother, her life was spared, on condition of her going through the two steps of the solemn ceremony she had unlawfully witnessed. this she consented to do, and they conducted the beautiful and terrified young lady through those trials which are sometimes more than enough for masculine resolution, little thinking they were taking into the bosom of their craft a member that would afterwards reflect a lustre on the annals of masonry. "miss st. leger was directly descended from sir robert de st. leger, who accompanied william the conqueror to england, and was of that high repute that he, with his own hand, supported that prince when he first went out of his ship to land in sussex. "miss st. leger was cousin to general anthony st. leger, governor of st. lucia, who instituted the interesting race and the celebrated doncaster st. leger stakes. "miss st. leger married richard aldworth, esq., of newmarket, a member of a highly honourable and ancient family, long celebrated for their hospitality and other virtues. whenever a benefit was given at the theatres in dublin or cork for the masonic orphan asylum, she walked at the head of the freemasons, with her apron and other insignia of freemasonry, and sat in the front row of the stage box. the house was always crowded on those occasions. "the portrait of this estimable woman is in the lodge room of almost every lodge in ireland." henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * weather rules. (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent j. a., jun., invites further contributions on the subject to which he refers. though by no means infallible, such prognostics are not without a measure of truth, founded as they are on habits of close observation: . "si sol splendescat maria purificante major erit glacies post festum quàm fuit ante." rendered thus: "when on the purification sun hath shin'd, the greater part of winter comes behind." . "if the sun shines on easter-day, it shines on whit sunday likewise." to this i may add the french adage: "quel est vendredi tel dimanche." from a ms. now in my possession, dating two centuries back, i extract the following remarks on "times and seasons," as not wholly unconnected with the present subject: "easter-day never falleth lower than the nd of march, and never higher than the th of april." "shrove sunday has its range between the st of february and the th of march." "whit sunday between the th of may and the th of june." "a rule of shrovetide:--the tuesday after the second change of the moon after new year's-day is always shrove tuesday." to these i may perhaps be permitted to add certain cautions, derived frown the same source: "the first monday in april, the day on which cain was born, and abel was slain. "the second monday in august, on which day sodom and gomorrah were destroyed. "the st of december, on which day judas was born, who betrayed christ. "these are dangerous days to begin any business, fall sick, or undertake any journey." we smile at the superstition which thus stamps these several periods as days of ill omen, especially when we reflect that farther inquiry would probably place every other day of the week under a like ban, and thus greatly impede the business of life--friday, for instance, which, since our lord's crucifixion on that day, we are strongly disinclined to make the starting-point of any new enterprise. in many cases this superstition is based on unpleasing associations connected with the days proscribed. who can wonder if, in times less enlightened than our own, undue importance were attached to the strange coincidence which marked the deaths of henry viii. and his posterity. they all died on a tuesday; himself on tuesday, january , ; edward vi. on tuesday, july , { } ; mary on tuesday, november , ; elizabeth on tuesday, march , . john booker. prestwich. it is a saying in norwich,-- "when three daws are seen on st. peter's vane together, then we are sure to have bad weather." i think the observation is tolerably correct. anon. * * * * * scotchmen in poland. (vol. vii., p. .) in the debates about a union with scotland in , the "multiplicities of the scots in polonia" formed one of the arguments of the opposing party, who thought that england was likely to be overrun in a similar fashion. according to wilson (_hist. of james i._, p. .), the naturalisation of the scots-- "was opposed by divers strong and modest arguments. among which they brought in the comparison of abraham and lot, whose families joining, they grew to difference, and to those words, 'vade tu ad dextram, et ego ad sinistram.' it was answered, that speech brought the captivity of the one; they having disjoined their strength. the party opposing said, if we admit them into our liberties, we shall be overrun with them; as cattle, naturally, pent up by a slight hedge, will over it into a better soil; and a tree taken from a barren place will thrive to excessive and exuberant branches in a better,--witness the _multiplicities of the scots in polonia_. "to which it was answered, that if they had not means, place, custom, and employment (not like beasts, but men), they would starve in a plentiful soil, though they came into it. and what springtide and confluence of that nation have housed and familied themselves among us, these four years of the king's reign? and they will never live so meanly here as they do in polonia; for they had rather discover their poverty abroad than at home." this last "answerer" was lord bacon. in his speech "of general naturalisation" (_works_, vol. v. p. .), he asserts that the "multiplication of scots in polonia" must of necessity be imputed "to some special accident of time and place that draws them thither; for you see plainly before your eyes, that in germany, which is much nearer, and in france, where they are invited with privileges, and with this very privilege of naturalisation, yet no such number can be found; so as it cannot either be nearness of place, or privilege of person, that is the cause." what these "special accidents" were, it would be interesting to ascertain. large bodies of men were levied in scotland during the latter half of the sixteenth century, for the service of sweden, and employed in the polish wars. can these have turned merchants, or induced others to follow them? in , charles de mornay brought scots to sweden. in , whilst they were serving in livonia, a quarrel broke out between them and a body of germans also in the swedish pay, and scots were cut down. (_geiger_, ch. xii.) i believe mr. cunningham will find some notices of scottish merchants in poland in lithgow's _travels_, which i have not at present by me. richard john king. * * * * * mr. justice newton. (vol. vii., p. .) sir richard newton was chief justice of the common pleas from to , and died dec. th, , and was buried in a chapel of bristol cathedral. (collins's _baronage_, vol. iii. p. .) he assumed the name of newton, instead of caradoc, from newton in powysland. (collinson's _somersetshire_, east harptrie); and, as camden, p. ., says, the newtons "freely own themselves to be of welsh extraction, and not long ago to have been called caradocks." these caradocs were descended from the ancient kings of wales. sir richard newton was twice married: . to a daughter of newton, of crossland; and . to emmett, daughter of john harvey, of london, according to a ms. in the british museum; but, according to somersetshire and gloucestershire visitations, to emma, daughter of sir thomas perrott, of islington. he had issue by both marriages, and from the second descended sir john newton, who was created a baronet car. ii., and died in . the baronetcy was limited in remainder, at its creation, to john newton, of hather, in lincolnshire, and he became the second baronet. there are several pedigrees tracing the descent from sir richard to the first baronet; but i have not yet seen the descent to the second baronet, though there can be no doubt that he was also descended from sir richard, otherwise the baronetcy could not have been limited to him; and probably he was the next male heir of the first baronet, as that is the usual mode of limiting titles. in the heralds' college there is a pedigree of sir isaac newton, signed by himself, in which he traces his descent to the brother of the ancestor of the second baronet. it should seem, therefore, that sir isaac was himself descended from the chief justice. it would confer a great obligation on the writer if any of your readers could afford any assistance to clear up the pedigree of the second baronet. as to the representatives of sir richard, i doubt whether his heir is discoverable, although there are many descendants now living who trace their descent through females. c. s. g. * * * * * { } the marriage ring. (vol. vii., p. .) i cannot agree with the answer given, under the above reference, to the question of j. p.: "how did the use of the ring, in the marriage ceremony, originate?" the answer given is taken from wheatly's _rational illustration_, &c., and is in substance this:--the ring anciently was a _seal_, and the delivery of this seal was a sign of confidence; and as a ceremony in marriage, its signification is, that the wife is admitted to the husband's counsels. from this argument, and the supposed proofs of it, i beg to dissent; and i conceive that wheatly has not thrown any light upon the origin of this beautiful ceremony. to bear out his view, it would be necessary to prove that a signet ring had originally been used for the wedding ring--a matter of no slight difficulty, not to say impossibility. what i take to be the real meaning of the ring as a part of the marriage ceremony, i will now give. it has a far higher meaning in the ceremony, and a more important duty to perform than merely to signify the admission of the wife into the counsels of the husband. its office is to teach her the duty she owes to her husband, rather than the privilege of admission into his counsels. the ring is a preacher, to teach her lessons of holy wisdom referring to her state of life. a ring, whenever used by the church, signifies, to use the words of liturgical writers, "integritatem fidei," the perfection of fidelity, and is "fidei sacramentum," the badge of fidelity. its form, having no beginning and no end, is the emblem of eternity, constancy, integrity, fidelity, &c.; so that the wedding ring symbolises the eternal or entire fidelity the wife pledges to her husband, and she wears the ring as the badge of this fidelity. its office, then, is to teach and perpetually remind her of the fidelity she owes to her husband, and swore to him at the marriage ceremony. the wedding ring is to the wife precisely what the episcopal ring is to the bishop, and _vice versâ_. the language used during the ceremony to the one is very similar to that used to the other, as the object of the ceremony and use of the ring is the same. a bishop's ring, as we read, signifies "integritatem fidei," _i. e._ that he should love as himself the church of god committed to him as his bride. when he receives the ring at his consecration, the words used are, "accipe annulum, _fidei scilicet signaculum_, quatenus sponsam dei, sanctum videlicet ecclesiam, intemerata fide ornatus illibate custodias:" (receive the ring, the badge of fidelity, to the end that, adorned with inviolable fidelity you may guard without reproach the spouse of god, that is, his holy church). hence the office of the episcopal ring throws light upon the office of the wedding ring; and there can be no doubt whatever that its real meaning is, in the latter as in the former case, to signify the _eternal fidelity and constancy_ that should subsist between the married couple. that this is the correct view of the meaning of the wedding ring is farther confirmed by the prayer used in blessing the ring: "benedic, domine, annulum hunc ... ut quæ eum gestaverit, _fidelitatem integram_ suo sponso tenens, in pace et voluntate tua permaneat, acque in mutua charitate semper vivat."--_rituale_, &c. cyrep. * * * * * canada, etc. (vol. vii., pp. . .) my former note on the origin of this name suggests a question, which, if you think it worthy of a place in "n. & q.," may interest many besides myself, viz. at what period and by whom was that part of north america called canada? to the french it appears always to have been known as "la nouvelle france." la hontan, who quitted the country , i think, calls it canada. lajitan certainly does, as well as many other old authors. in a map of north america, date , the tract bordering on the st. lawrence, lately called upper and lower canada, is designated "the province of quebec;" whilst the region to the northward, lying between it and hudson's bay, has the word canada in much larger letters, as if a general name of the whole. that the name is slightly altered from an indian word is probable, but not so that it was used by the indians themselves, who, in the first place, were not in the habit of imposing general names on large districts, although they had significant ones for almost every locality; the former were usually denominated the land of the iroquois, of the hurons, &c., _i. e._ of the people dwelling, on, and in possession of it. even allowing that the indians may have had a general name for the country, it is very unlikely that one so unmeaning as "kanata" would have been imposed upon it by a people whose nomenclature in every other case is so full of meaning. moreover, although the mic-macs of gaspé may have called themselves canadians according to lescarbot, yet we are told by volney, that-- "the canadian savages call themselves 'metoktheniakes' (born of the sun), without allowing themselves to be persuaded of the contrary by the black robes," &c.--vol. ii. p. . the following, to the same purpose, is from the _quarterly review_, vol. iv. p. .: "'tapoy,' which we understand from good authority to be the generic appellation by which the north american tribes distinguish themselves from the whites," &c. { } now i should imagine both lescarbot and champlain, knowing nothing of the language, and probably having very bad interpreters, must have made a great mistake in supposing the gaspésiens called themselves canadians, for i have questioned several intelligent mic-macs on the subject, and they have invariably told me that they call themselves "ulnookh" or "elnouiek," "_ninen elnouiek!--we are men._" but mic-mac? "o, mic-mac all same as ulnookh." the latter word strictly means indian-man, and cannot be applied to a white. mic-mac is the name of their tribe, and, they insist upon it, always has been. again, kanata is said to be an iroquois word, and, consequently, not likely to have been in use amongst a tribe of the lenape family, which the mic-macs are. it does not appear that we have any authority for supposing the country was ever called canada by the indians themselves. it is curious enough that as canada was said to derive from an exclamation, "acá nada!" so the capital has been made to take its name from another; "quel bec!" cried one of champlain's norman followers, on beholding cape diamond. as in the former case, however, so in this, we have evidence of more probable sources of the name, which i will enumerate as briefly as possible. the first, and a very probable one, is the fact, that the strait between quebec and st. levi side of the river, was called in the algonquin language "quebeio," _i. e._ a narrowing,--a most descriptive appellation, for in ascending the river its breadth suddenly diminishes here from about two miles to fourteen or fifteen hundred yards from shore to shore. the little river st. charles, which flows into the st. lawrence on the northern side of the promontory, is called in the indian language (algonquin?) kabir or koubac, significant of its tortuous course, and it is from this, according to la potherie, that the city derives its name of quebec. mr. hawkins, in his _picture of quebec, &c., _, denies the indian origin of the word, since, as he says, there is no analogous sound to it in any of their languages; and he assumes a norman origin for it on the strength of "bec" being always used by the normans to designate a promontory in the first place; and secondly, because the word quebec is actually found upon a seal of the earl of suffolk, of historical celebrity temp. hen. v. and vi., which mr. hawkins supposes to have been the name of some town, castle, or barony in normandy. such are the pros and cons, upon which i do not presume to offer any opinion; only i would observe, that if there are no analogous sounds in the indian languages, whence come kennebec and other similar names? a. c. m. exeter. surely in the "inscription on a seal ( ), in which the earl of suffolk is styled 'domin_e_ [?] de hamburg et de quebec,'" the last word must be a misprint for _lubec_, the sister city of hamburg. mr. hawkins's etymology seems to rest on no more substantial foundation than an error of the press in the work, whichever that may be, from which he quotes. jaydee. * * * * * selling a wife. (vol. vii., p. .) the popular idea that a man may legally dispose of his wife, by exposing her for sale in a public market, may not improbably have arisen from the correlation of the terms _buying_ and _selling_. your correspondent v. t. sternberg need not be reminded how almost universal was the custom among ancient nations of purchasing wives; and he will admit that it appears natural that the commodity which has been obtained "per æs et libram"--to use the phrase of the old roman law touching matrimony--is transferable to another for a similar consideration, whenever it may have become useless or disagreeable to its original purchaser. however this may be, the custom is ancient, and moreover appears to have obtained, to some extent, among the higher orders of society. of this an instance may be found in grimaldi's _origines genealogicæ_, pp. , . (london, , to.) the deed, by which the transaction was sought to be legalised, runs as follows: "to all good christians to whom this writ shall come, john de camoys, son and heir of sir ralph de camoys, greeting: know me to have delivered, and yielded up of my own free will, to sir william de paynel, knight, my wife margaret de camoys, daughter and heiress of sir john de gatesden; and likewise to have given and granted to the said sir william, and to have made over and quit-claimed all goods and chattels which the said margaret has or may have, or which i may claim in her right; so that neither i, nor any one in my name, shall at any time hereafter be able to claim any right to the said margaret, or to her goods and chattels, or their pertinents. and i consent and grant, and by this writ declare, that the said margaret shall abide and remain with the said sir william during his pleasure. in witness of which i have placed my seal to this deed, before these witnesses: thomas de depeston, john de ferrings, william de icombe, henry le biroun, stephen chamberlayne, walter le blound, gilbert de batecumbe, robert de bosco, and others." this matter came under the cognisance of parliament in , when the grant was pronounced to be invalid. now, we may fondly believe that this transaction, which occurred five hundred and fifty years ago, was characteristic alone of that dark and distant period, and that no parallel can be found in modern { } times (at least in a decent class of society, and recognised by legal sanction) to justify the lively french dramatists in seizing upon it as a trait of modern english manners. a transaction, however, came before the public eye a month or two ago, which, should you think the following record of it worth preservation as a "curiosity of legal experience," may lead your readers to a different conclusion: "a young man, named w. c. capas, was charged at the public office, birmingham, jan. , , with assaulting his wife. the latter, in giving her evidence, stated that her husband was not living with her, but was 'leased' to another female. upon inquiry by the magistrate into this novel species of contract, the document itself was produced in court, and read. it ran as follows: "'memorandum of agreement made and entered into this second day of october, in the year of our lord , between william charles capas, of charles-henry street, in the borough of birmingham, in the county of warwick, carpenter, of the one part, and emily hickson, of hurst street, birmingham aforesaid, spinster, of the other part. whereas the said william charles capas and emily hickson have mutually agreed with each other to live and reside together, and to mutually assist in supporting and maintaining each other during the remainder of their lives, and also to sign the agreement hereinafter contained to that effect: now, therefore, it is hereby mutually agreed upon, by and between the said william charles capas and emily hickson, that they the said, &c., shall live and reside together during the remainder of their lives, and that they shall mutually exert themselves by work and labour, and by following all their business pursuits, to the best of their abilities, skill, and understanding, and by advising and assisting each other, for their mutual benefit and advantage, and also to provide for themselves and each other the best supports and comforts of life which their means and income may afford. and for the true and faithful performance of this agreement, each of the said parties bindeth himself and herself unto the other finally by this agreement, as witness the hands of the said parties, this day and year first above written." here follow the signatures of the consenting parties. the girl hickson was examined, and admitted that she had signed the document at the office of a mr. campbell, the _lawyer_(!) who prepared it, and that his charge for drawing up the same was, she believed, l. s. the latter promised her, at the same time, that if the wife of capas gave her any annoyance he would put in that paper as evidence. the magistrates, considering the assault proved, fined capas s. d., and "commented in very strong terms on the document which had that day been brought before them." (see _birmingham journal_, jan. th, .) has a similar transaction come before the notice of your correspondents? i may add that we are informed by the _birmingham argus_ for march, , that in that month a man led his wife by a halter to smithfield market in that town, and there publicly offered her for sale. william bates. birmingham. * * * * * enough. (vol. vii., p. .) this word, when written or pronounced _enow_, is regarded as a plural, and relates to _number_. in this sense it is employed in northampton and other midland counties, and is found in old writers. if the word was always pronounced _enow_, it must be long since. the distinction above hinted at prevailed in waller's time, and he conforms to it in the examples quoted. butler, in _hudibras_, has both: "this b'ing professed we hope _enough_, and now go on where we left off.' part i. canto . . again, line . of the same canto: "for though the body may creep through, the hands in grate are _enough_;" an apparent exception, but not really such. (see also canto . . ., where it rhymes with "off," as also line . at line . it written _enow_, and rhymes with "blow.") and again, : "my loss of honour's great _enough_, thou needst not brand it with a scoff." other examples may be quoted from the same author. in a song, written upon the restoration of charles ii., we have the following: "were not contented, but grew rough, as though they had not won _enough_." _loyal arms_, vol. i. p. . in the _lamentable tragedy of cambises_, written early in the reign of elizabeth, the word occurs: "gogs sides, knaves, seeing to fight ye be so rough, defend yourselves, for i will give ye bothe _inough_." in _lusty juventus, a morality_, temp. edward vi., is the following: "call them papistes, hipocrites, and joyning of the plough; face out the matter, and then good _ynough_." here certainly the distinction disappears, as in the next and last example from _candlemas day_, "ao. do. ," where joseph is speaking: "take hym in your armys, mary, i you pray, and of your swete mylke let him sowke _inowe_, mawger herowd and his grett fray: and as your spouse, mary, i shall go with you." it would seem therefore, that this word has had its present pronunciation about three centuries. { } its derivation is directly from the saxon _genoh_, but the root is found in many other languages, as the german, dutch, danish, &c. b. h. c. mr. wright supposes there has been a change in the pronunciation of this word, and inquires when it took place. now, if my conjecture be correct, there may have been no change, and these are two words,--not one pronounced differently. both the instances quoted by him are in conformity with my opinion, viz. that where the sense is "a sufficient _quantity_," either in substance, quality, or action, we should make use of _enough_; yet where a sufficient _number_ is intended, we should pronounce and write _enow_. i recollect (being a native of suffolk) that i was laughed at by the boys of a school in a western county, nearly seventy years ago: but i was not then laughed out of my word, nor am i likely now to be argued out of it. p.s.--i see that johnson's _dictionary_ gives the same statement about _enough_ and _enow_. this answer is therefore superfluous. johnson gives numerous instances of the use of _enow_ from our best authors. h. c. r. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mr. wilkinson's mode of levelling cameras._--as you have done me the honour to notice my simple invention for levelling cameras, which i have since had an opportunity of trying in the open air for a week, and find to succeed perfectly, i wish to correct some errors which appeared in the _photographic journal_, from which you copied my remarks, and which arose from the notes being taken down from my verbal observations. the first part is perfectly correct but after l. . col. . "n. & q." (vol. vii., p. .) it should read thus: "the other perpendicular is then sought for; the back or front of the camera being raised or lowered until the thread cuts the perpendicular lines drawn upon the sides of the camera. by this means a perfectly horizontal plane is obtained, as true as with the best spirit-levels, and in less time. by tying three knots in the silk at twelve inches distance from the one bullet and from each other, we have a measure for stereoscopic pictures; and by making the thread thirty-nine inches and two-tenths long from one bullet to the centre of the other, we obtain a pendulum vibrating seconds, which is useful in talking portraits; as it will continue vibrating for ten minutes, if one bullet be merely hung over any point of suspension." thus we obtain a levelling instrument, a chronometer, and a measure of distances, at a cost considerably under one penny. the above will more fully explain to your correspondent [phi]. (vol. vii., p. .) my reasons for the length of thread stated; and with respect to the diagonal lines on the ground glass, it is not material what may be the distance of the principal object, whether six feet or six hundred: for if the cross lines, or any other lines drawn on the glass, cut the central object in the picture at any particular part--for example, the window of any particular house, or the branch of any tree,--then the camera may be removed to higher or lower ground, several feet or inches, to the right or to the left, and the same lines be made to cut the same objects, previously noted; the elevation will then be the same, which completes all that is required. in most stereoscopic pictures, the distances are too wide. for a portrait, two inches and half to three inches, at nine or twelve feet distant, is enough; and for landscapes much less is required than is generally given, for no very great accuracy is necessary. three feet, at three hundred yards, is quite enough; and four to six feet, at a mile, will do very well. let experiment determine: for every photographer must learn his profession or amusement; there is no royal road to be depended on. but a small aperture, a quarter of an inch diameter, may be considered a good practical size for a lens of three and a quarter inches, depending on light and time: the smaller the aperture, the longer the time; and no rules can be given by any one who does not know the size and quality of the lenses employed. every one can make a few trials for himself, and find it out; which will be more satisfactory than any instructions derived from books or correspondence. i obtain all the information i can from every source, then try, and judge for myself. at worst, you only spoil a few sheets of paper, and gain experience. i perfectly agree with dr. diamond, that it is much better not to wash the collodion pictures after developing; but pour on about one drachm of sat. sol. hypo. at once, and then, when clear, plenty of water; and let water rest on the surface for an hour or more, before setting on edge to dry. henry wilkinson. _collodion negative._--can you inform me how a collodion negative may be made? that is, how you can ensure the negative being always of a _dense enough character to print from_. this is rarely the case. f. m. _developing collodion process._--i use to develope my collodion pictures m. martin's plan, _i. e._ a solution of common copperas made a little acid with sulphuric acid. this answers very well and gives to the pictures, after they have been exposed an hour or two to the atmosphere, a silver-like appearance: but this copperas solution seems to destroy the _glass_ for using _a second time_, inasmuch as a haziness is cast upon the glass, and its former enamel seems lost, not to be regained even by using acids. the hyposulphite also seems to be affected by this manner of developing the { } pictures after a short time, which is not the case with pyrogallic acid. the hypo., when thus affected with the copperas, appears also to throw a mist over the picture, which new hypo. does _not_. i should esteem it a favour if any of your numerous readers could inform me the cause of this. a. a. p. _an iodizing difficulty._--may i request the favour, from some one of your numerous photographic correspondents, of a solution to the following apparent enigma, through the medium of "n. & q."? being located in a neighbourhood where there is a scarcity of water in the summer months, i lately took advantage of a pool in a running stream, which ran at the bottom of the grounds of a friend, to soak my calotype papers in, subsequent to having brushed them over with the solution of iodide of silver, according to the process recommended by sir w. newton. one-half of the batch was removed in about two hours and a half, being beautifully clean, and of a nice light primrose colour; and in consequence of an unexpected call and detention longer than i had anticipated, the other half was left floating from two o'clock p.m. until seven or eight in the evening (nearly six hours), when, much to my chagrin, i found on their removal that they had all, more or less, become browned, or, rather, had taken on a dirty, deep, nankeen colour, those that had been first floated being decidedly the worst. i had previously thought that the papers _must_ be left _at least_ two and a half to three hours, a longer period having no other effect than that of softening the papers, or, at most, of allowing some slight portion of the iodide to fall off from their surface, whereas, from the above-described discoloration, an evident decomposition must have commenced, which i am quite at a loss to account for; neither can i conjecture what the chemical change can have been. i have several times before prepared good papers in trays filled with water from the same stream, but from the quantity running in the brook in the spring months, i never before have had the chance of floating them in the stream itself. an explanation of the above difficulty from some obliging and better-informed photographist would be very thankfully received by henry h. hele. ashburton, devon. p.s.--the pool of water was well shaded, consequently not a ray of bright sunlight could possibly impinge on the papers while floating. i have always understood that _pure_ iodide of silver was quite insensible to the action of light, or to any other chemical change, as far as the action of atmospheric air was concerned. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _bishop frampton_ (vol. iii., p .).--for some account of this excellent man, see chapter xxxi. of mr. anderdon's _life of bishop ken_, where are given some very interesting letters, that are printed from the mss. in the possession of dr. williams, warden of new college, oxford. frampton appears to have been at one time chaplain to the british factory at aleppo. mandeville, in the dedication prefixed to his _journey from aleppo to jerusalem_, makes honourable mention of him, and attributes the highly creditable character of the society to the influence of that incomparable instructor. when the funeral procession of christian, countess of devonshire, halted at leicester, on the way to derby, a sermon was preached on the occasion by frampton, who was then chaplain to the earl of elgin, the countess's near relative. in sending these scraps, allow me to express the hope that mr. evans has not laid aside his intention of favouring us with a life of frampton. e. h. a. [we cordially join in the wish expressed by our correspondent, that the vicar of shoreditch will before long favour us with the publication of the manuscript life of this amiable prelate, written, we believe, by his chaplain. it appears to us doubtful whether the bishop ever published any of his sermons, from what he states in a letter given in the appendix to _the life of john kettlewell_. "i have often," he says, "been in the pulpit, in season and out of season, and also bold and honest enough there, god be praised; but never in the _printing-house_ yet; and believe i never shall be." the longest printed account of this deprived bishop is given in rudder's _history and antiquities of gloucester_; and no doubt many particulars respecting him and other nonjurors may be found in the rawlinson mss. in the bodleian library.] _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. ; vol. vii. _passim_).--at dunblane the collection of books bequeathed by the amiable leighton is still preserved. at all saints, newcastle-on-tyne, i once saw, among some old books in the vestry, a small quarto volume of tracts, including archbishop laud's speech in the star chamber, at the censure of bastwick, burton, and prynne. it had been presented by the rev. e. moise, m. a., many years lecturer of that church. the old library at st. nicholas, newcastle-on-tyne, contains many curious books and mss., particularly the old bible belonging to hexham abbey. this library was greatly augmented by the munificent bequest of the rev. dr. thomlinson, rector of whickham, prebendary of st. paul's, and lecturer of st. nicholas, who died at an advanced age, in , leaving all his books to this church. in archdeacon bowyer presented a series of lending libraries--ninety-three in all--to the several parishes in the county of northumberland. { } they are in the custody of the incumbent for the time being. lastly, there is a very valuable library at bamburgh castle, the bequest of dr. sharp: the books are allowed to circulate gratuitously amongst the clergy and respectable inhabitants of the adjoining neighbourhood. e. h. a. the honourable mrs. dudleya north died in . her choice collection of books in oriental learning were "by her only surviving brother, the then lord north and grey, given to the parochial library at rougham, in norfolk, founded by the hon. roger north, esq., for the use of the minister of that parish, and, under certain regulations and restrictions, of the neighbouring clergy also, for ever. amongst these there is, in particular, one very neat pocket hebrew bible in mo., without points, with silver clasps to it, and bound in blue turkey leather, in a case of the same materials, which she constantly carried to church with her.... in the first leaf of all the books that had been hers, when they were deposited in that library," was a latin inscription, setting forth the names of the late owner, and of the donor of these books. (ballard's _memoirs of british ladies_. vo. , p. .) anon. _pierrepont_ (vol. vii., p. .).--john pierrepont, of wadworth, near doncaster, who died st july, , is described on a brass plate to his memory, in the church at wadworth, as "generosus." he was owner of the rectory and other property there. it appears from the register that he married, th april, , margaret, daughter and coheir of michael cocksonn, gent., of wadworth and crookhill, and by her (who was buried nd july, ) he had mary (ultimately only daughter and heir), baptized at wadworth, th july, ; married john battie, of wadworth, gent., and had issue, francis battie, of wadworth, gent., who died without issue, ; having married martha, daughter of michael fawkes, esq., of farnley. elizabeth, wife of john cogan, of hull. margaret, wife of william stephens, rector of sutton, bedfordshire. frances, bap. st july, and bur. aug. , . john, bap. th aug., ; bur. feb. , - . george, bur. th jan., - . the arms on the memorial to john pierrepont are--a lion rampant within eight roses in orle. n.b.--by the _second_ wife of the above john battie there was issue, now represented by william battie wrightson, esq., m.p. of cusworth. c. j. _passage in orosius_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i cannot exactly subscribe to the three propositions of mr. e. thomson, which he deduces from his observations on "twam tyncenum" in alfred's _orosius_. in the first place, the sentence in which the word _tyncenum_ occurs is perfectly gratuitous on the part of alfred, or whoever paraphrased orosius in anglo-saxon. no such assertion appears in orosius, so that we have no means of comparing it with the original. the occurrence, as recounted by both orosius and herodotus, is attributed to a _horse_ (a sacred horse, herod.), not to a _horseman_, _knight_, or _thane_. what is meant by the anglo-saxon text is, certainly, anything but clear, as it stands in barrington's edition; and he himself confesses this, and does not admit it into his english translation. dr. bosworth seems to have wisely omitted the word in the second edition of his dictionary; and thorpe confesses he can make nothing of it, in his _analecta_. we find no such word in cædmon, beowulf, or the _saxon chronicle_; and the only reference made by dr. bosworth, in his first edition, is to this very place in alfred's _orosius_, in which he seems to have followed lye. may it not have been an error in the earlier transcribers of the ms., and the real word have been _twentigum_, _i. e._ he ordered his thane to pass over the river _with twenty men_, since the thane, by himself, could have been but of little use on the other side the river? however this may be, the fact is not historical at all, and therefore, as respects history, is of little consequence. john orman, m.a. cambridge. _pugna porcorum_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the author of this poem, as is generally believed (though its production has also been assigned to gilbertus cognatus or cousin), was joannes leo placentius, or placentinus, of whom the following account is given in the _biographie universelle_: "jean-leo placentius ou le plaisant, n'est connu que comme l'auteur d'un petit poème _tautogramme_, genre de composition qui ne peut offrir que le frivole mérite de la difficulté vaincue. né à saint trond, au pays de liège, il fit ses études à bois-le-duc, dans l'école des hiéronomytes; embrassa la vie religieuse, au commencement du seizième siècle, dans l'ordre des dominicains, et fut envoyé à louvain pour y faire son cours de théologie. les autres circonstances de sa vie sont ignorées; et ce n'est que par conjecture qu'on place sa mort à l'année . on peut consulter sur cet écrivain, la _bibl. belgica_ de foppens, et les _scriptores ordin. prædicator._ des pp. quétif et echard." [greek: alieus]. dublin. this production appears to have been merely designed as a display of the writer's skill. dr. brown notices it in his _philosophy of the mind_, lect. ; and ebert: "porcius, _pugna porcorum_, per p. porcium, poetam (j. leonem), without { } place, , vo., leaves. printed in italics, and probably at cologne or in holland." he enumerates several other editions, the last of which is that of walch, . b. h. c. _oaken tombs and effigies_ (vol. vii., p. .).--these are rare. three of the latter exist at little horkesley, essex. two are figures of cross-legged knights in chain armour and surcoats: one is a female figure wimpled. they are supposed by suckling to represent members of the horkesley family, who held that manor from to . another instance is the effigy of a cross-legged knight in chain mail at danbury in the same county. an account of these will be found in vol. iii. of weale's _architectural papers_. at ashwell, rutland, is an effigy in wood of a cross-legged knight, also in chain mail, if i remember rightly. it is not quite evident, from the description in weale's book, whether there are three effigies at danbury or only one. of the same material is the figure of isabella of angoulême at fontevrault. a catalogue of these wooden effigies would be interesting. cheverells. _bowyer bible_ (vol. vii., _passim_).--relative to the history and various possessors of this curious bible, i find the following notice in _the times_, oct. , : "there is at present, in the possession of mrs. parker of golden square, a copy of macklin's bible in forty-five large volumes, illustrated with nearly engravings from the age of michael angelo to that of reynolds and west. the work also contains about original drawings or vignettes by loutherbourg. "the prints and etchings include the works of raffaelle, marc antonio, albert durer, callot, rembrandt, and other masters, consisting of representations of nearly every fact, circumstance, and object mentioned in the holy scriptures. there are, moreover, designs of trees, plants, flowers, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects; such as, besides fossils, have been adduced in proof of the universal deluge. the most authentic scripture atlasses are bound up with the volumes. the bible was the property of the late mr. bowyer the publisher, who collected and arranged the engravings, etchings, and drawings at great expense and labour; and he is said to have been engaged for upwards of thirty years in rendering it perfect. it was insured at the albion insurance office for l." in the british museum are several large works, particularly british topography, illustrated in a similar manner, and which thus contain materials of the rarest and most valuable description. of these i would only at present mention salmon's _hertfordshire_ illustrated by baskerville, and lysons's _environs_, in the king's library. a long list of such valuable works might be furnished from the museum catalogues. one of the most laborious collectors of curious prints of every kind was john bagford, whose voluminous collections are amongst the harleian mss. in many folio volumes, in which will be found illustrations of topography to be met with nowhere else. e. g. ballard. _longevity_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--our friend a. j. is certainly not one of the "remnant of true believers." by way of aiding in the crusade to convert him to the faith, i hereunder quote a couple of instances, "within the age of registers," which i trust will in some degree satisfy his pagan incredulity. the parish registers of the township of church minshull, in cheshire, begin in , and in the portion for the year appears the following: "thomas damme, of leighton, buried the th of february, being of the age of seven score and fourteen." this entry was made under the "puritan dispensation," when the parish scribe was at any rate supposed to be an "oracle of truth." here, however, is another instance, culled from the register of burials for the parish of frodsham, also in cheshire: " / . feb. . thomas hough, cujus ætas cxli." and again, on the very next day after-- "---- feb. . randle wall, ætas ." i have met with other instances, but those now enumerated will probably suffice for my present purpose. t. hughes. chester. john locke, baptized th december, , in the parish of coney weston, was buried in larling parish, county of norfolk, st july, . he is registered as years of age. he and his family always said that he was three years old when he was baptized. i saw and conversed with him in jan. . f. w. j. _lady anne gray_ (vol. vii., p. .).--referring to sir john harington's poem, i do not find that the christian name of the lady gray is set down at all; the words of the stanza are,-- "first doth she give to _grey_, the falcon's curtesse kind." i find in the pedigrees, british museum, a "lady anne grey" (daughter to john lord grey of pirgo, brother to henry grey, duke of suffolk) _married_ to "henry denny of waltham," father to the earl of norwich of that name. she was his first wife, and dying without issue, he married again "lady honora grey, daughter of lord grey de wilton;" but i scarce think this lady anne grey could have been the maid of honour to the princess. the number of greys of different stocks and branches at that period, are beyond counting or distinguishing from each other, and yet the fall of a queen's maid of honour should be { } easily traceable. isabella markham, one of the six ladies, married sir john harington himself. on referring to lodge's _illustrations_, i find the lord john grey one of those noblemen appointed to attend queen elizabeth on her _entrée_ from hatfield to london on her accession, so that his daughter may well have been one of her maids of honour; yet from comparison of dates i think she can scarce have been the wife of henry denny. a. b. r. belmont. _sir john fleming_ (vol. vii., p. .).--if caret can obtain access to the pedigree of the flemings of rydal hall, westmoreland, i anticipate he will find that this sir john was the third son of sir michael le fleming, who came over at the instance of baldwin, earl of flanders, to assist king william in his conquest of england. i may add that the rydal family, honoured with a baronetcy, oct. , , bear for their arms--"gules, a fret argent." t. hughes. chester. _life_ (vol. vii., p. .).--campbell, in his lines entitled _a dream_, writes: "hast thou felt, poor self-deceiver! life's career so void of pain, as to wish its fitful fever new begun again?" though everybody knows the line-- "after life's fitful fever he sleeps well"-- i think campbell might have acknowledged his adoption of the words by marking them, and might have improved his own lines (with all deference be it said) if he had written-- "hast thou felt, poor self-deceiver! _thy_ career so void of pain, as to wish 'life's fitful fever' new begun again?" f. james. "i would not live my days over again if i could command them by a wish, for the snares of life are greater than the fears of death." (penn's father, the admiral.) penn himself said, that if he had to live his life over again, he could serve god, his neighbour, and himself better than he had done. considering the history of the father and son's respective lives (and of those i before alluded to), though the latter's remarks may appear presumptuous, which showed the most _wisdom_ is an open question. does not h. c. k.'s professional experience enable him to give a more certain opinion of ordinary men's feelings than is expressed in "i fear not?" a. c. _family of kelway_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to the query as to this family in "n. & q." of may , i beg to mention that in ms. f. . in the heraldic mss. in queen's college library, oxford, is a pedigree of the family of kelway of shereborne, co. dorset, and white parish, wilts. the arms are beautifully tricked. there is a bordure engrailed to the kelway coat. with it are these quarterings: , a leopard's face g. entre five birds close s., three in chief, two in base. , az. a camel statant arg. crest, on a wreath arg. and g. a cock arg. crested, beaked, wattled, az. d. p. _sir g. browne, bart._ (vol. vii., p. .).--the particulars given by newbury, while introducing his query, are extremely vague and inaccurate. in the first place, the individual he styles _sir_ george browne, _bart._, was in reality simple george browne, _esq._, of caversham, oxon, and wickham, kent. this gentleman, who would have been a valuable acquisition to any nascent colony, married elizabeth (_not_ eleanor), second daughter of sir richard blount, of maple durham, and had by her nineteen children, pretty evenly divided as to sex: for i read that of the daughters, three at least died young; other three became nuns and one married ---- yates, esq., a berkshire gentleman. of the sons, three, as newbury relates, fell gloriously fighting for charles, their sovereign. neither of these latter were married: indeed, the only sons who ventured at all into the bonds of wedlock were george, the heir, and john, a younger brother. george married mary elizabeth, daughter of sir francis englefield, knt., a popish recusant, and left two daughters, his co-heiresses. john, his brother, created a baronet may th, , married mrs. bradley, a widow, and had issue three sons and three daughters. the sons, anthony, john, and george, inherited the baronetcy in succession, the two former dying bachelors: the third son, sir george, married his sister-in-law, gertrude morley, and left three sons, the first of whom, sir john, succeeded his father; and with him the baronetcy became dormant, if not indeed extinct. t. hughes. chester. _americanisms, so called_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--thurley bottom, near great marlow, dear to "the fancy," may be added to the list of j. s.'s. f. james. _sir gilbert gerard_ (vol. v., pp. . .; vol. vi., p. .).--sir gilbert gerard, master of the rolls temp. queen elizabeth, died on the th of february, and was interred on the th of march, (old style), in ashley church, in staffordshire. the style most probably led dugdale into the error noticed by your learned correspondent mr. foss, in his last communication to "n. & q.," relative to the probate of sir gilbert gerard's will. i beg to forward you an extract taken from the parish register of ashley, which, { } it will be seen, not only records the burial, but likewise, rather unusually, the precise day of his death, a little more than a month intervening between the two events, which possibly might be accounted for. on a careful examination of sir gilbert's tomb, i did not find (which agrees with dugdale) any epitaph thereon,--a somewhat remarkable circumstance, inasmuch as sir thomas gerard (sir gilbert gerard's eldest son and heir, who was created baron gerard, of gerard's bromley, where his father had built a splendid mansion, a view of which is in plot's _history of staffordshire_, page ., not a vestige of which beyond the gateway is now standing) is said by the staffordshire historians to have erected a monument to the memory of his father at great expense; a drawing of which is given by garner in his _natural history of staffordshire_, p. ., with a copious description of the tomb. _extract. annus ._ " die februarii mortuus est gilbert gerard, miles, et custos rotulorium serenissimæ reginæ elizabethæ; et sepultus die martii sequentis." t. w. jones. nantwich. _tombstone in churchyard._--_arms: battle-axe_ (vol. vii., pp. . . . .).--it appears that i may conclude that is the oldest _legible_ date on a tombstone inscription. that of is cut in relief round the edge of a long free-stone slab, raised on a course of two or three bricks, and is in henllan, near denbigh. the battle-axes (three in fesse) are on the wall over it. i am obliged to j. d. s.; but in both my cases the arms appear as connected with welsh families; but it is the above that i want to identify. a. c. a correspondent asks for instances of dates on tombstones earlier than . i know of one, at moore church in the county of meath, within five miles of drogheda. it is as early as ; the letters, instead of being sunk, are in relief. i subjoin a copy of the inscription: "here vnder lieth the body of dame ienet sarsfeld, lady dowager of donsany, who died the xxii of febrvary, an. dni. ." m. e. dublin. _thomas gage_ (vol. vi., p. .).--thomas gage (formerly a dominican friar, and author of the _english american_, --as i saw the work entitled--subsequently a puritan preacher), is, i imagine, identical with thomas gage, minister of the gospel at deal in kent, whom your correspondent a. b. r. inquires about, p. . if so, he became chaplain to lord fairfax, and, according to macaulay, was not unlikely to have married some dependent connexion of that family. e. c. g. _marriage in high life_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i have often heard a similar story, from an old relation of mine with whom i lived when a girl; and she had heard it from her father,--which would carry the time of its occurrence back to the date , named by your correspondent. my informant's father knew the parties, and i have repeatedly heard the name of the bridegroom; but whether wilbraham or swetenham, i do not now remember. both wilbrahams and swetenhams are old cheshire families, and have intermarried. i am almost certain a wilbraham was the hero of the story. i have had the house pointed out to me where he lived, and it was not above a couple of hours' drive from chester, whither we were going in the old-fashioned way of carriage-conveyance. i am sure he was not a peer, though, if a wilbraham, he might be related to the late (first) lord skelmersdale. there is one other little circumstance, which the reference to those former times has reminded me of,--the pronunciation of the word _obliged_ (as in the prologue to the _satires_, where pope says: "by flatterers besieged, and so obliging that he ne'er obliged), which the old lady that i have referred to, maintained was the proper pronunciation for _obleege_, to confer a favour; whereas the harsher sound, to _oblige_, was discriminatively reserved for the equivalent, to compel. she was a well-educated woman, and had associated with the good society of london in her youth; and she always complained of the want of taste and judgment shown by the younger generation, in pronouncing the same word, with two distinct meanings, alike in both cases. e. c. g. _eulenspiegel_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the german verses under mr. campkin's portrait of eulenspiegel, rendered into english prose, mean: "look here at eulenspiegel: his portrait makes thee laugh. what wouldst thou do, if thou couldst see the jester himself? but till is a picture and mirror of this world. he left many a brother behind. we are great fools in thinking that we are the greatest sages: therefore laugh at thyself, as this sheet represents thyself." from the orthography, i do not think that the lines are much anterior to the beginning of the eighteenth century. the names of the artist will be the safest guides for discovering the date of the print. [alpha]. { } "_wanderings of memory_" (vol. vii., p. .).--the author of _wanderings of memory_, published by subscription at lincoln in , mo. pp. ., was a young man "in his apprenticeship," of the name of a. g. jewitt. he dedicates the book to his father, mr. arthur jewitt, kimberworth school, yorkshire. nearly the whole of the embellishments were engraved by a younger brother of the author, "who at the time had not attained his sixteenth year, and who had not the opportunity of profiting by any regular instructions." there are some good lines in the poem, but not enough to rescue it from that fate which poetical mediocrity is irreversibly doomed to. jas. crossley. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the reputation which mr. finlay has acquired by his _history of greece_, and his _greece under the romans_, will unquestionably be increased by his newly published _history of the byzantine empire from dccxvi. to mlvii._ the subject is one of great interest to the scholar; and the manner in which mr. finlay has traced the progress of the eastern roman empire through an eventful period of three centuries and a half, and while doing so enriched his pages with constant reference to the original historians, has certainly enabled him to accomplish the object which he has avowedly had in view, namely, that of making his work serve not only as a popular history, but also as an index for scholars who may be more familiar with classic literature than with the byzantine writers. we understand that her majesty and prince albert, with that appreciation of the beautiful and the useful for which they are distinguished, have shown their opinion of the value of photography by becoming the patrons of the _photographic society_. the _camden society_ is about to put to press a work which will be of great value to our topographical writers, as well as to historians generally, namely, _the extent of the estates of the hospitalers in england, taken under the direction of prior philip de thame_, a.d. . the original ms. is at malta; and though the transcript of it was made by a most competent hand, we have reason to believe that our correspondent at la valetta (w. w.) would be doing good service both to the society and to the world of letters, and one which would be most acceptable to the transcriber, if he could find it convenient to revise the proof sheets with the original document. books received.--_cyclopædia bibliographica, a library manual of theological and general literature._ part ix. of this useful library companion extends from _göthe_ to _matthew henry_.--_reynard the fox, after the german version of göthe, with illustrations, by j. wolf._ part vi. contains chap. vi. the relapse.--messrs. longman have added to their _traveller's library_ (in two parts) an interesting and cleverly written account of our _coal mines, and those who live in them_, which gives a graphic picture of the places and persons to whom we are all for so many months indebted for our greatest comfort.--mr. bohn continues his good work of supplying excellent books at moderate prices. we are this month indebted to him for publishing in his _scientific library_ the third volume of miss ross' excellent translation of humboldt's _personal narrative of his travels to the equinoctial regions of america_, which is enriched with a very copious index. in his _classical library_ he has given us _translations of terence and phædrus_; and in his _antiquarian library_, the second volume of what, in spite of the laches pointed out by one of our correspondents, we must pronounce a most useful work for the mere english reader, the second volume of mr. riley's translation of _roger de hoveden's annals of english history_, which completes the work. probably, however, the volume which mr. bohn has just published in his _standard library_ is the one which will excite most interest. it is issued as a continuation of coxe's _history of the house of austria_, and consists (for the most part) of a translation of count hartig's _genesis of the revolution in austria_. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. king on roman coins. lord lansdowne's works. vol. i. tonson, . james baker's picturesque guide to the local beauties of wales. vol. i. to. . webster's dictionary. vol. ii. to. . walker's particles. vo. old calf, . warner's sermons. vols. longman, about . author's printing and publishing assistant. mo., cloth, . sanders' history of shenstone in staffordshire. j. nichols, london. . two copies. lombardi (petri) sententiarum, lib. iv. any good edition. herbert's carolina threnodia. vo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . sermons by the rev. robert wake, m.a. , , &c. history of ancient wilts, by sir r. c. hoare. the last three parts. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. d. a. a. _will find an answer to his query, "was st. patrick ever in ireland?" in our_ th vol. p. ., _from the pen of that accomplished scholar, the_ rev. dr. rock. _we have to apologise to many of our shakspearian correspondents for the delay which has taken place in the insertion of their communications._ a. e. b. _will perceive that we have complied with his request in substituting for immediate publication the paper he sent this week, instead of one by him which has been in type for two or three weeks._ _the coincident communications from two correspondents on falstaff's death_,--mr. singer_'s valuable emendation of a passage in_ romeo and juliet,--_and_ mr. blink_'s and_ mr. rawlinson_'s respective communications, shall have our earliest attention._ _we are also compelled to postpone our usual replies to photographic querists._ mr. merritt_'s photographic specimens are very satisfactory. there can be no doubt that, with perseverance, he will accomplish everything that can be desired in this useful and pleasing art._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ { } * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depot for turner's, whatman's canson frères, la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photographic apparatus manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. t. ottewill (from horne & co.'s) begs most respectfully to call the attention of gentlemen, tourists, and photographers, to the superiority of his newly registered double-bodied folding cameras, possessing the efficiency and ready adjustment of the sliding camera, with the portability and convenience of the folding ditto. every description of apparatus to order. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared; at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * city of london life assurance society, . royal exchange buildings, london. subscribed capital, a quarter of a million. _trustees._ mr. commissioner west, leeds. the hon. w. f. campbell, stratheden house. john thomas, esq., bishop's stortford. this society embraces every advantage of existing life offices, viz. the mutual system without its risks or liabilities; the proprietary, with its security, simplicity, and economy; the accumulative system, introduced by this society, uniting life with the convenience of a deposit bank; self-protecting policies, also introduced by this society, embracing by one policy and one rate of premium a life assurance, an endowment, and a deferred annuity. no forfeiture. loans with commensurate assurances. bonus recently declared, per cent. edw. fred. leeks, secretary. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m. p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. polices effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions. industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, respectfully informs the clergy, architects, and churchwardens, that he replies immediately to all applications by letter, for information respecting his manufactures in church furniture, robes, communion linen. &c., &c., supplying full information as to prices, together with sketches, estimates, patterns of materials, &c., &c. having declined appointing agents, mr. french invites direct communications by post as the most economical and satisfactory arrangement. parcels delivered free by railway. { } * * * * * this day is published, in vo. pp. , price s. d. history of the byzantine empire, from dccxvi. to mlvii. by george finlay, esq., honorary member of the royal society of literature. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. who have lately published, by the same author, greece under the romans: a historical view of the greek nation, from the time of its conquest by the romans until the extinction of the roman empire in the east, b.c. --a.d. . vo., pp. , price s. history of greece, from its conquest by the crusaders to its conquest by the turks, and of the empire of trebizond, -- . vo. pp. , price s. * * * * * this day is published, in vo., price s., dissertation on the origin and connection of the gospels; with a synopsis of the parallel passages in the original and authorised version, and critical notes. by james smith, esq., of jordanhill, f.r.s., &c., author of the "voyage and shipwreck of st. paul." william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, - . volume four, - . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, - . volume two, - . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * photographic school.--royal polytechnic institution. the school is now open for instruction in all branches of photography, to ladies and gentlemen, on alternate days, from eleven till four o'clock, under the joint direction of t. a. malone, esq., who has long been connected with photography, and j. h. pepper, esq., the chemist to the institution. a prospectus, with terms, may be had at the institution. * * * * * singer on shakspeare. * * * * * just published, vo., s. d., the text of shakspeare vindicated from the interpolations and corruptions advocated by john payne collier, esq. in his notes and emendations. by samuel weller singer. "to blot old books and alter their contents."--_rape of lucrece._ also, preparing for immediate publication, in ten volumes, fcap. vo., to appear monthly, the dramatic works of william shakspeare, the text completely revised, with notes, and various readings. by samuel weller singer. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, june , contains articles on american plants aphelexis azaleas, hardy apples, wearing out of, by mr. masters beer, to make boilers, incrusted books noticed botanical gardens calendar, horticultural ----, agricultural cartridge, norton's chiswick exhibitions cinerarias, to grow dobson's (mr.) nursery estates, management of fences, holly forests, crown fruits, wearing out of, by mr. masters gardens, botanical gutta percha tubing, to mend, by mr. cuthill heating incrusted boilers holly fences leases and printed regulations lilium giganteum, by mr. cunningham norton's cartridge pasture, worn out, by mr. dyer pleuro-pneumonia potato-drying _v._ disease rhododendrons rhubarb, red ---- wine rothamsted and kilwhiss experiments, by mr. russell royal botanical gardens sheep, breeds of, by mr. spittal ----, keeping of shows, reports of the nottingham tulip, exeter poultry societies, proceedings of the caledonian horticultural, agricultural of england, bath agricultural straw, properties of sun, rings about tenant right turnip seed, raising of, by mr. thallon vine, disease waterer's (messrs.) nurseries wine, rhubarb winter, effects of woods and forests * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers. . tottenham court road. * * * * * vo., price s. some account of domestic architecture in england, from the conquest to the end of the thirteenth century, with numerous illustrations of existing remains from original drawings. by t. hudson turner. "what horace walpole attempted, and what sir charles lock eastlake has done for oil-painting--elucidated its history and traced its progress in england by means of the records of expenses and mandates of the successive sovereigns of the realm--mr. hudson turner has now achieved for domestic architecture in this country during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries."--_architect._ "the writer of the present volume ranks among the most intelligent of the craft, and a careful perusal of its contents will convince the reader of the enormous amount of labour bestowed on its minutest details, as well as the discriminating judgment presiding over the general arrangement."--_morning chronicle._ "the book of which the title is given above is one of the very few attempts that have been made in this country to treat this interesting subject in anything more than a superficial manner. "mr. turner exhibits much learning and research, and he has consequently laid before the reader much interesting information. it is a book that was wanted, and that affords us some relief from the mass of works on ecclesiastical architecture with which of late years we have been deluged. "the work is well illustrated throughout with wood-engravings of the more interesting remains, and will prove a valuable addition to the antiquary's library."--_literary gazette._ "it is as a text-book on the social comforts and condition of the squires and gentry of england during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that the leading value of mr. turner's present publication will be found to consist. "turner's handsomely-printed volume is profusely illustrated with careful woodcuts of all important existing remains, made from drawings by mr. blore and mr. twopeny."--_athenæum._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * literary and musical curiosities, the collection of richard clark, esq., gentleman of h.m. chapels royal, author of "an account of the national anthem," &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on saturday, june the th, the literary and musical collections of richard clark, esq., including many works on the history and theory of music; musical works by the best composers; the organ-book of dr. john bull, the original manuscript; attested copies of the charter of westminster abbey (not otherwise accessible); prints, pictures, curiosities, musical relics, some beautiful objects, made from the wood of caxton's printing-office, recently demolished; the well-known anvil and hammer of powell, the blacksmith, with which was beat the accompaniment to his air, adopted by handel, and since called "the harmonious blacksmith;" and many other interesting items. catalogues will be sent on application; if in the country, on receipt of four stamps. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. p. "another petition, persented" - "persented" - in original generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page lord bacon's "advancement of learning" erection of forts at michnee and pylos, by c. forbes hoveden's annals: bohn's "antiquarian library," by james graves folk lore:--raven superstition--african folk lore --funeral custom shakspeare readings, no. vii. minor notes:--portrait of luther--randle wilbraham --unpublished epigram by sir w. scott--crassus' saying queries:-- bees and the sphynx atropos, by sydney smirke "the craftsman's apology," by james crossley palissy and cardinal wiseman minor queries:--polidus--st. paul's epistles to seneca--meaning of "folowed"--roman catholic registers--st. alban's day--meigham, the london printer--adamsoniana--canker or brier rose-- "short red, god red"--overseers of wills--lepel's regiment--vincent family--passage in the first part of faust--lady anne gray--continental brasses --peter beaver--cremonas--cranmer and calvin minor queries with answers:--"a letter to a convocation man"--prester john--homer's iliad in a nut--monogram of parker society--the five alls-- corvizer replies:-- english comedians in germany a gentleman executed for whipping a slave to death, by henry h. breen longevity derivation of canada, by robert wright setantiorum portus photographic correspondence:--stereoscopic queries --photographic portraits of criminals, &c.--photography applied to catalogues of books--application of photography to the microscope replies to minor queries:--discovery at nuneham regis--eulenspiegel, or howleglas--parochial libraries --painter--pepys's "morena"--pylades and corinna--judge smith--grindle--simile of the soul and the magnetic needle--english bishops deprived by queen elizabeth--borrowed thoughts--dr. south _v._ goldsmith, talleyrand, &c.--foucault's experiment --passage in "locksley hall"--lake of geneva--"inter cuncta micans"--"its"--gloves at fairs--astronomical query--tortoiseshell tom cat--sizain on the pope, the devil, and the pretender --wandering jew--hallett and dr. saxby-- "my mind to me a kingdom is"--claret--suicide at marseilles--etymology of slang--scanderbeg's sword --arago on the weather--rathe--carr pedigree-- banbury cakes--detached belfry towers, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. lord bacon's "advancement of learning." considering the large number of quotations from previous writers which occur in lord bacon's works, and especially in his most popular and generally read works--his _essays_ and his _advancement of learning_--it is remarkable how little his editors have done for the illustration of his text in this respect. the french editors of montaigne's _essays_, who is likewise a writer abounding in quotations, have bestowed much care on this portion of their author's text. the defect in question has, however, been to a great extent supplied in a recent edition of the _advancement of learning_, published by mr. parker in west strand; and it is to be hoped that the beginning, so usefully made, may be followed up by similar editions of other of bacon's works. the edition in question, though it traces the great majority of bacon's quotations, has left some gleanings to its successors; and i propose now to call attention to a few passages of the _advancement of learning_ which, after the labours of the late editor, seem still to require further elucidation. my references are to the pages of the new edition:-- p. . "then grew the flowing and watery vein of osorius the portugal bishop to be in price." the editor prints _orosius_ for _osorius_, and adds this note: "all the editions have _osorius_, which, however, must be a mere misprint. he was not a portuguese, but a spaniard, born at tarragona, nor indeed ever a bishop. he was sent by st. augustine on a mission to jerusalem, and is supposed to have died in africa in the earlier part of the fifth century." the text of bacon is quite right. the allusion is not to paulus orosius, a spaniard, who flourished at the beginning of the fifth century; but to jerome osorio, who was born at lisbon in , afterwards became bishop of silves, and died in . his works were published at rome in , in vols. folio. his principal work, _de rebus emanuelis virtute et auspicio gestis_, which first appeared in , was several times reprinted, and was translated into french and english. { } p. . "time, which is the author of authors." in _nov. org._, i. ., time is called "auctor auctorum, atque adeo omnis auctoritatis." p. . "but of these conceits aristotle speaketh seriously and wisely, when he saith, 'qui respiciunt ad pauca de facili pronunciant." the editor does not attempt to trace this passage. query, if it is not in aristotle, where is it to be found? p. . "ulysses, 'qui vetulam prætulit immortalitati' is a figure of those which prefer custom and habit before all excellency." the editor refers to _cic. de orat._, i. ., where it is said that such is the love of country, "ut ithacam illam, in asperrimis saxulis, tanquam nidulum, affixam, sapientissimus vir immortalitati anteponeret." another application of the saying is made by bacon in his essay viii., "on marriage and single life:" "grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands, as was said of ulysses, 'vetulam suam prætulit immortalitati.'" the passage in cicero does not agree with the dictum quoted by bacon, which seems to be a reference to the _odyssey_, v. . - . p. . "claudus in vià antevertit cursorem extra viam." the same proverb is quoted in _nov. org._, i. . p. . "omnia mutantur, nil interit"-- from ovid, _met._, xv. . several passages are cited by bacon from seneca, which the editor does not trace. thus, in p. ., it is said,-- "nocet illis eloquentia, quibus non rerum cupiditatem facit, sed sui." page .,-- "vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem dei." the same passage is also quoted by bacon in essay v., "on adversity," and in the treatise _de sap. vet._, vol. x. p. ., edit. montagu. again, p. .: "de partibus vitæ quisque deliberat, de summâ nemo." page .,-- "cogita quamdiu eadem feceris," &c., repeated in part in the "essay on death." this last passage is taken, with considerable verbal variations, from epist. . § . "therefore aristotle, when he thinks to tax democritus, doth in truth commend him, where he saith, _if we shall indeed dispute, and not follow after similitudes_," &c. the passage referred to is in _eth. nic._, vi. .; but it contains no allusion to democritus, who is not even named in the _ethics_; and the word which bacon renders _dispute_ ([greek: akribologeisthai]) means _to speak with precision_. p. . "for as the ancient politiques in popular states were wont to compare the people to the sea, and the orators to the winds." the allusion is to a couplet of solon: "[greek: ex anemôn de thalassa tarassetai? ên de tis autên] [greek: mê kinêi, pantôn esti dikaiotatê.]" _fragm._ i. ., ed. gaisford. and to a passage of livy (xxviii. .): "multitudo omnis, sicut natura maris, per se immobilis est, venti et auræ cient." compare babrius, fab. . p. . "did not one of the fathers, in great indignation, call poesy _vinum dæmonum_?" the same citation recurs in essay i., "on truth:" "one of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy _vinum dæmonum_." query, who is the father alluded to? page ., the sayings, "faber quisque fortunæ propriæ" is cited; and again, p. ., "faber quisque fortunæ suæ." in essay xl., "on fortune," it is quoted, with the addition, "saith the poet." the words are to be found in sallust, _ad cæsar. de rep. ord._, ii. .: "sed res docuit, id verum esse, quad in carminibus appius ait, fabrum suæ esse quemque fortunæ." the appius alluded to is appius claudius the censor. bacon proceeds to say: "this conceit or position [viz. 'faber quisque,' &c.], if it be too much declared and professed, hath been thought a thing impolitic and unlucky, as was observed in timotheus the athenian, who, having done many great services to the estate in his government, and giving an account thereof to the people, as the manner was, did conclude every particular with this clause, 'and in this fortune had no part.' and it came so to pass, that he never prospered in anything he took in hand afterwards." the anecdote is as follows:--timotheus had been ridiculed by the comic poets, on account of the small share which his own management had had in his successes. a satirical painting had likewise been made, in which he was represented sleeping, while fortune stood over him, and drew the cities into his net. (see plutarch, _reg. et imp. apophth._, vol. ii. p. ., ed. tauchnitz; Ælian, v. h. xiii. .) on one occasion, however, having returned from a successful expedition, he remarked to the athenians, in allusion to the previous sarcasms, that in this campaign at least fortune had no share. plutarch, who relates the latter { } anecdote in his _life of sylla_, c. ., proceeds to say, that this boast gave so much offence to the deity, that he never afterwards prospered in any of his enterprises. his reverse of luck, in consequence of his vainglorious language against fortune, is also alluded to by dio chrysost. _orat._, lxiv. § ., edit. emper. it will be observed that plutarch refers the saying of timotheus to a single expedition; whereas bacon multiplies it, by extending it over a series of acts. p. . "cicero reporteth that it was then in use for senators that had name and opinion for general wise men, as coruncanius, curius, lælius, and many others, to walk at certain hours in the place," &c. the passage alluded to is _de orat._, iii. . the persons there named are sex. Ælius, manius manilius, p. crassus, tib. coruncanius, and scipio. p. . "we will begin, therefore, with this precept, according to the ancient opinion, that the sinews of wisdom are slowness of belief, and distrust." the precept adverted to is the verse of epicharmus: "[greek: naphe kai memnas' apistein? arthra tauta tôn phrenôn.]" p. . "fraus sibi in parvis fidem præstruit, ut majore emolumento fallat." query, where does this passage occur, as well as the expression "alimenta socordiæ," which demosthenes, according to bacon, applies to small favours. l. * * * * * erection of fortress at michnee and pylos. mr. dartnell, surgeon of h. m. rd regiment, gives the following account of the building of a fort which has lately been erected at michnee to check the incursions of the momunds into the peshawur valley: "there was little to be done, except to build a fort, and here the officers had to superintend and direct the working parties which were daily sent out.... laborers from far and near, cashmerees, caboolees, men from the hindoo koosh, afreedees, khyberees, &c., all working together with hearty goodwill, and a sort of good-humoured rivalry.... it is only when working by contract, however, that the cashmeree displays his full physical powers, and it is then perfectly refreshing, in such a physically relaxing and take-the-world-as-it-goes sort of a country as this, to observe him.... and then to see him carry a burden! on his head? no. on his back? yes, but after a fashion of his own, perfectly natural and entirely independent of basket, or receptacle of any kind in which to place it. i have now in my garden some half-dozen of these labourers at work, removing immense masses of clay, which are nearly as hard as flint, and how do they manage? my friend jumah khan reverts his arms, and clasping his hands together behind his back, receives the pyramidal load, which generally overtops his head, and thus he conveys it to its destination," &c.--colburn's _united service magazine_, december, , pp. , . thucydides tells us that as soon as the crews of the athenian ships, weatherbound at pylos in the spring of the year b.c. , had made up their minds to kill time by fortifying their harbour of refuge,-- "they took the work in hand, and plied it briskly.... the mud that was anywhere requisite, for want of vessels, they carried on their shoulders, bending forwards as much as possible, that it might have room to stick on, and holding it up with both hands clasped fast behind that it might not slide down."--book iv. chap. . (smith's translation.) c. forbes. temple. * * * * * hoveden's annals--bohn's "antiquarian library." considering the cheap issue of all standard works of reference a great boon to the general student, i was predisposed to welcome heartily mr. bohn's _antiquarian library_. if, however, _cheapness_ be accompanied by _incorrectness_, the promised boon i conceive to be worthless; even one or two glaring errors rendering the student distrustful of the entire series. i was led to form the first of these conclusions on receiving vol. i. of a translation of the _annals of roger de hoveden_, by henry t. riley, esq., barrister-at-law; who introduces the work by a flourish of trumpets in the preface, on the multifarious errors of the london and frankfort editions, and the labour taken to correct _his own_; to the second by observing, whilst cutting the leaves, the following glaring errors, put forward too as _corrections_:--vol. i. p. ., henry ii. is stated by the _annalist_ to have landed in ireland, a.d. , "at a place which is called _croch_, distant _eight miles_ from the city of waterford." here mr. riley, with perfect gravity, suggests _cork_[ ] as the true reading!! can it be, that a barrister-at-law, with an ominously irish-sounding name, is ignorant that the city of cork is somewhat more distant than _eight miles_ from the _urbs intacta_, as waterford loves to call herself? the fact is, however, that hoveden and his former editors were nearly correct: on { } old maps of the harbour of waterford, crook castle is laid down inside creden head, on the waterford side of the harbour; and crook is still the name of a place at the point indicated, somewhat more however than eight miles from waterford. again, at p. . occurs hoveden's well-known and valuable enumeration of the irish episcopal sees at the same period, of which mr. riley observes: "nearly all these are mis-spelt ... they are in a state of almost hopeless confusion." and then, to make confusion worse confounded, his note on the bishop of ossory (p. .) says "in the text, 'erupolensis' is perhaps a mistake for 'ossoriensis.'" now, _erupolensis_ happens to be a correct _alias_ of ossoriensis: the former characterising the diocese from kilkenny, the cathedral city, which being seated on the nore, or neor--hibernicè _eoir_, latinè _erus_, was sometimes called erupolis--the latter from the territory with which the see was and is co-extensive, the ancient kingdom of ossory. how many more errors there may be in the first volume of the work, i cannot say: but, at all events, what the reader has to complain of is, _not_ that the translator was unable to tell all about "croch" and "erupolis," but that, not knowing, he has made matters worse by his hardy elucidations. truly, at this rate, it were better that no cheap edition of hoveden were vouchsafed to the public. james graves. kilkenny. [footnote : this geographical _morceau_ was nearly equalled by a scribe in the _illustrated london news_, who stated that her gracious majesty's steam-yacht, with its royal freight and attendant squadron, when coasting round from cork to dublin in the year , had entered tramore bay, and thence steamed up to passage in the waterford harbour! a truly _royal road_ to safety; and one that, did it exist, would have saved many a gallant crew and ship, which have met their fate within the landlocked, but ironbound and shelterless, jaws of tramore bay.] * * * * * folk lore. _raven superstition._--on a recent occasion, at an ordinary meeting of the guardians of the poor, an application was made by the relieving officer on behalf of a single woman residing in the church village at altarnun. the cause of seeking relief was stated to be "grief," and on asking for an explanation, the officer stated that the applicant's inability to work was owing to depressed spirits, produced by the flight of a croaking raven over her dwelling on the morning of his visit to the village. the pauper was by this circumstance, in connexion with its well-known ominous character, actually frightened into a state of wretched nervous depression, which induced physical want. s. r. p. _african folk lore._--the following curious piece of folk lore is quoted from an extract in _the critic_ (of april , , p. .), in the course of a review of richardson's _narrative of a mission to central africa, &c._: "to avert the evil eye from the gardens, the people (of mourzak) put up the head of an ass, or some portion of the bones of that animal. the same superstition prevails in all the oases that stud the north of africa, from egypt to the atlantic, but the people are unwilling to explain what especial virtue there exists in an ass's skull." w. sparrow simpson, b.a. _funeral custom._--in some parts (i believe) of yorkshire, and perhaps elsewhere, it is customary to send, immediately after a death, a paper bag of biscuits, and a card with the name, &c. of the deceased, to his friends, be they many or few. can any of your readers explain the matter? i have more than once seen the card, but not the biscuits. abhba. * * * * * shakspeare readings, no. vii. "what are 'aristotle's checks?'" this is the question that mr. collier proposed in support of the alteration of _checks_ into _ethics_, at p. . of his _notes and emendations_. he terms _checks_ "an absurd blunder," and in the preface he again introduces it, passing upon it the same unqualified sentence of excommunication, as upon "bosom multiplied," viz. "it can never be repeated." in this opinion he is backed by most of the public scribes of the day, especially by the critic of the _gentleman's magazine_ for april, who declares "we should be very sorry to have to discover what the editors have understood by the _checks_ of aristotle." furthermore, this critic thinks that "it is extremely singular that the mistake should have remained so long uncorrected;" and he intimates that they who have found any meaning in _checks_, have done so only because, through ignorance, they could find no meaning in _ethics_. hence it becomes necessary for those who do find a meaning in _checks_, to defend that meaning; and hence i undertake to answer mr. collier's question. aristotle's _checks_ are those _moral adjustments_ that form the distinguishing feature of his philosophy. they are _the eyes of reason_, whereby he would teach man to avoid divergence from the straight path of happiness. they are his moderators, his mediocrities, his metriopathics. they are his philosophical steering-marks, his moral guiding-lines, whereby the passions are to be kept in the _via media_; as much removed from total abnegation on the one hand, as from immoderate indulgence on the other. virtue, according to aristotle, consists in checked or _adjusted_ propensities. our passions are not in themselves evil, except when unchecked by reason. and inasmuch as we may overeat, or underfeed ourselves (the check being temperance), so may we suffer our other propensities to deviate from the _juste milieu_, either in the direction of indulgence or of privation. { } the art of adjusting the passions requires an apprenticeship to virtue. the end to be attained is the establishment of good habits. these good habits, like any other skill, can only be attained by practice. therefore the practice of virtue is the education of the passions. _ethics_ is the doctrine of _habits_; but habits may be good or bad. when good, they constitute virtue; when bad, licentiousness. the doctrine of _checks_ is that branch of _ethics_ which teaches moral adjustment and restraint. therefore _checks_ and _licentiousness_ are in better antithesis to each other, than _ethics_ can be to either, because ethics includes both. the aristotelian idea of _adjustment_, rather than _denial_, of the passions, is well illustrated in the following passage from plutarch's _morall vertue_, by philemon holland, a contemporary of shakspeare: "for neither do they shed and spill the wine upon the floure who are afraide to be drunke, but delay the same with water: nor those who feare the violence of a passion, do take it quite away, but rather temper and qualifie the same: like as folke use to breake horses and oxen from their flinging out with their heeles, their stiffenes and curstnes of the head, and stubburnes in receiving the bridle or the yoke, but do not restraine them of other motions of going about their worke and doing their deede. and even so, verily, reason maketh good use of these passions, when they be well tamed, and, as it were, brought to hand: without overweakening or rooting out cleane that parte of the soule which is made for to second reason and do it good service.... whereas let passions be rid cleane away (if that were possible to be done), our reason will be found in many things more dull and idle: like as the pilot and master of a ship hath little to do if the winde be laid and no gale at all stirring ... as if to _the discourse of reason_ the gods had adjoined passion as a pricke to incite, and a chariot to set it forward." again, in describing the "meanes," he says-- "now to begin with fortitude, they say it is the meane between cowardise and rash audacitie; of which twaine the one is a defect, the other an excesse of the yrefull passion: liberalitie, betweene nigardise and prodigalitie: clemencie and mildnesse, betweene senselesse indolence and crueltie: justice, the meane of giving more or lesse than due: temperance, a mediocritie betweene the blockish stupiditie of the minde, moved with _no touch of pleasure_, and all unbrideled loosenes, whereby it is abandoned to all sensualitie."-- _the philosophie of plutarch_, fol. . it really does appear to me that there could not be a happier or more appropriate designation, for a philosophy made up in this way of "meanes" and adjustments, so as to steer between the _plus_ and _minus_, than a system of _checks_--not fixed, or rigid rules, as they are sometimes interpreted to be, but nice allowances of excess or defect, to be discovered, weighed, and determined by individual reason, in the audit of each man's conscience, according to the strength or weakness of the passions he may have to regulate. i therefore oppose the substitution of _ethics_-- . because we have the _primâ facie_ evidence of the text itself, that _checks_ was shakspeare's word. . because we have internal evidence, in the significance and excellence of the phrase, that it was shakspeare's word. _ethics_ was the patent title by which aristotle's moral philosophy was universally known; therefore any ignoramus, who never dipped beyond the title, might, _and would_, have used it. but no person, except one well read in the philosophy itself, would think of giving it such a designation as _checks_; which word, nevertheless, is most happily characteristic of it. . because, as before stated, aristotle's _checks_, being the restrictive and regulating portion of aristotle's _ethics_, is necessarily a more diametrical antithesis to ovid (and his _laxities_). . because i look upon the use of this phrase as one of those nice and scarcely perceptible touches by which shakspeare was content rather to hint at, than to disclose his knowledge,--one of those effects whereby he makes a single word supply the place of a treatise. with these opinions, i cannot but look upon this threatened change of _checks_ into _ethics_, as wholly unwarrantable, and i now protest against it as earnestly as, upon a former occasion, i did against the alteration of _sickles_ into _shekels_, or, still worse, into _cycles_ or into _circles_. it is with great satisfaction i compare four different views taken of this word by mr. collier, viz.--in the note to the text of his octavo edition of shakspeare;--in an additional note in vol. i., page cclxxxiv. of that edition;--in the first announcement of his annotated folio in the _athenæum_ newspaper, jan. st, ,--and finally (after my remarks upon the word in "n. & q."), his virtual reinstatement of the original _sickle_ (till then supposed a palpable and undeniable misprint) at page . of _notes and emendations_, together with the production, _suo motu_, of an independent reference in support of my position. to return to this present substitution of _ethics_ for _checks_, a very singular circumstance connected with it is the ignoring, by both mr. collier and by the critic in the _gentleman's magazine_, of sir william blackstone's original claim to the suggestion, by prior publication of upwards of half a century. at that time, notwithstanding the great learning and acuteness of the proposer, the alteration was rejected! and shall we now be less wise than our fathers? shall we--misled by the prestige of a few drops of rusty ink fashioned into letters of formal cut--place implicit credence in emendations whose only claim to faith, like that of the mormon scriptures, is that nobody knows whence they came? { } in the passage i have quoted from philemon holland, there may be observed two peculiarities which are generally supposed to be exclusively shakspearian: one is the beautiful application of the word "touch"--the other the phrase "discourse of reason." where this last expression occurs in _hamlet_, it narrowly escaped _emendation_ at the hands of gifford! (see mr. knight's note, in his illustrated edition of _shakspeare_.) it is the true aristotelian [greek: dianoia]. there is also a third peculiarity of expression in the same quotation, in the use of the word _delay_ in the sense of _diluere_, to dilute, temper, allay. there are at least two passages in shakspeare's plays where the word is used in this sense, but which appear to have been overlooked by his glossarists. the first is in _all's well that ends well_, act iv. sc. ., where the french locals are moralising upon bertram's profligate pursuit of diana: "now god _delay_ our rebellion--as we are ourselves, what are we?" the second is in _cymbeline_, act v. sc. ., where jupiter tempers his love with crosses, in order to make his gifts-- "the more _delayed_, delighted." a. e. b. * * * * * minor notes. _portrait of luther._--a portrait of luther, perhaps original, certainly nearly cotemporary with the reformer, possessing many excellent qualities, was some time since shown me. it is in the possession of mr. horne, of morton in marsh, gloucestershire: it was received by him from an elderly gentleman still living in london, who purchased it many years since at a sale of pictures. the picture is very dark, on canvass, with a black frame having a narrow gilt moulding. as the existence of this portrait is perhaps not known, mention of the fact might interest some of your readers. the picture, including frame, is perhaps in size thirty inches by twenty-four; and the age of the sitter, whose features are delineated with remarkable effects is probably under fifty years. b. h. c. _randle wilbraham._--randle wilbraham, esq., the grandfather of lord skelmersdale, who died upon the rd of april last, was a lawyer of great eminence, and held the office of treasurer of lincoln's inn. the university of oxford conferred, by diploma, the degree of d.c.l. upon him in these notable terms: "placuit nobis in convocatione die mensis aprilis , solenniter convocatis spectatissimum ranulphum wilbraham, arm. coll. Ænæi nasi quondam commensalem, in agendis causis pro diversis tribunalibus per multos retro annos hodieque versatissimum, subsenescallum nostrum et consiliarium fidissimum, gradu doctoris in jure civili insignire. cujus quidem hæc præcipua ac prope singularis et est, et semper fuit, quod propriis ingenii et industriæ suæ viribus innixus aulici favoris nec appetens, nec particeps, sine ullo magnatum patrocinio, sine turpi adulantium aucupio, ad summam tamen in foro, in academia, in senatu, tum gloriam, tum etiam authoritatem facilem sibi et stabilem munivit viam, fortunæ suæ si quis alius deo favente vere faber", &c. the above is copied from the original diploma, which mr. randle wilbraham gave to his nephew, the late dr. william falconer of bath. on the death of mr. r. wilbraham, chief justice wilmot wrote "i have lost my old friend mr. wilbraham: he died in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and has not left a better lawyer, or an honester man behind him." anon. _unpublished epigram by sir w. scott._-- "earth walks on earth, glittering in gold: earth goes to earth, sooner than it wold: earth builds on earth, palaces and towers: earth says to earth: soon, all shall be ours." the above, by sir w. scott, i _believe_, has never appeared in print to my knowledge. it was recited to me by a friend of sir w. scott. r. vincent. _crassus' saying._--i find in the diary of the poet moore (in lord john russell's edition), vol. ii. p. ., a conversation recorded with dr. parr, in which the doctor quotes "the witticism that made crassus laugh (the only time in his life): 'similes habent labra lactucas.'" it appears (see the quotations in facciolati) that this sage and laughter-moving remark of crassus was made on seeing an ass eating a thistle; whereon he exclaimed, "similes habent labra lactucas." in bailey's edition of facciolati it is said, "proverbium habet locum ubi similia similibus contingunt,... quo sensu angli dicimus, 'like lips like lettuce: like priest like people.'" out of this explanation it is difficult to elicit any sense, much less any "witticism." i suggest that crassus' saying meant, "his (the ass's) lips hold thistles and lettuces to be both alike;" wanting the discrimination to distinguish between them. or, if i may put it into a doggerel rhyme: "about a donkeys taste why need we fret us? to lips like his a thistle is a lettuce." wm. ewart. university club. * * * * * { } queries. bees and the sphynx atropos. huber, in his _observations on the natural history of bees_, avers that the moth called the _sphynx atropos_ invades and plunders with impunity a hive containing thousands of bees, notwithstanding the watchfulness, pugnacity, and formidable weapons of those insects. to account for this phenomenon, he states that the queen bee has the faculty of emitting a certain sound which instantly strikes the bees motionless; and he conjectures that this burglarious moth, being endowed with the same property, uses it to produce a similar effect, first on the sentinels at the entrance of the hive, and then on the bees within. in another part of his book ( nd edit. , p. .) he relates what he himself witnessed on introducing a strange queen into a hive. the bees, greatly irritated, pulled her, bit her, and chased her away; but on her emitting the sound and assuming an extraordinary attitude, "the bees all hung down their heads and remained motionless." on the following day he repeated the experiment, and the intrusive queen was similarly maltreated; but when she emitted her sound, and assumed the attitude, from that moment the bees again became motionless. have more modern observers verified this curious fact? is it not a case of mesmerism? sydney smirke. * * * * * "the craftsman's apology." when bolingbroke published his _final answer to the remarks on the craftsman's vindication, and to all the libels which have come, or may come from the same quarter against the person last mentioned in the craftsman of the nd may, _, he was answered in five poetical letters to the king, which in keenness of wit, polished satire, and flowing ease of versification, have not been since surpassed. the title of the tract in which they are contained is _the craftsman's apology, being a vindication of his conduct and writings in several letters to the king_, printed for t. cooper, , vo. pages . by whom were these very clever and amusing letters written? lord hervey or sir charles hanbury williams are the parties one would think most likely to have written them; but they do not appear in the list of lord hervey's works given by walpole, or amongst those noticed by mr. croker, or in sir c. h. williams's _collected works_, in three volumes. independently of which, i question whether the versification is not, in point of harmony, too equal for either of them. if they be included in the collected works of any other writer of the time, which i have no immediate recollection of, some of your correspondents will no doubt be able to point him out. should it appear that they have not been reprinted, i shall be disposed to recur again to the subject, and to give an extract from them, as, of all the attacks ever made upon bolingbroke, they seem to me the most pleasant, witty, and effective. jas. crossley. * * * * * palissy and cardinal wiseman. on april , cardinal wiseman, at the manchester corn exchange, delivered a lecture "on the relation of the arts of design to the arts of production." it occupies thirteen columns of _the tablet_ of may , which professes to give it "from _the manchester examiner_, with corrections and additions." i have read it with pleasure, and shall preserve it as one of the best discourses on art ever delivered; but there is a matter of fact, on which i am not so well satisfied. in noticing bernard palissy, the cardinal is reported to have said: "for sixteen years he persevered in this way; and then was crowned with success, and produced the first specimens of coloured and beautiful pottery, such as are to this day sought by the curious; and _he received a situation in the king's household, and ended his days in comfort and respectability_." in the review of "morley's life of palissy the potter," _spectator_, oct. , , it is said: "the period of the great potter's birth is uncertain. mr. morley fixes it, on probable data, at ; but with a latitude of six years on either side. _palissy died in in the bastile, where he had been confined four years as a hugenot; the king and his other friends could defer his trial, but dared not grant him liberty._" all the accounts which i have read agree with mr. morley and the _spectator_. are they or the cardinal right, supposing him to be correctly reported? h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * minor queries. _polidus._--can you tell me where the scene of the following play is laid, and the names of the _dramatis personæ_?--_polidus, a tragedy_, by moses browne, vo. . the author of this play, who was born in , and died in , was for some time the curate of the rev. james harvey, author of _meditations_, and other works. mr. browne was afterwards presented to the vicarage of olney, in bucks, where the rev. john newton was his curate for several years. a. z. glasgow. [moses browne was subsequently chaplain of morden college. the piscatory brotherhood are indebted to him for having revived walton's _complete angler_, after it had lain dormant for upwards of eighty years; and this task, he tells us, was undertaken at the request of dr. samuel johnson.--ed.] { } _st. paul's epistles to seneca._--it has frequently been affirmed that seneca became, in the last year of his life, a convert to christianity--his canonisation by st. jerome is undoubted and there was stated to be a ms. of the above epistle in merton college. may i ask any of your contributors whether this ms. has ever been printed? j. m. s. hull. _meaning of "folowed."_--inside the cover of an old bible and prayer-book, bound in one quarto, robert barker, , is the following inscription: "july eight i was much folowed when i lay in bed alone att mistris whitmore's house, wee haveing agreed too bee married nextt daye. "god, even our own god, shal bless us. this incouriged mee too hope for god's favour and blessing through christ. "christopher curwen and hannah whitmore was married att lambe's chapel, near criplegate, july ninth, ." an entry of his marriage with his first wife, elizabeth sutton, , is on the cover at the beginning of the book. can any one of your correspondents enlighten me as to the meaning of the word _folowed_? the letters are legibly written, and there can be no mistake about any of them. is it an expression derived from the puritans? h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _roman catholic registers._--can any of your correspondents inform me where i can find the registers of births, marriages, and burials of roman catholic families living in berks and oxon in the reigns of charles i. and ii.? a. pt. _st. alban's day._--at p. . of the _chronicles of london bridge_, it is stated that cardinal fisher was executed on st. alban's day, june , . how is it that in our present calendar st. alban's day is not june , but june ? on looking back i see sir w. c. trevelyan, in our first volume, inquired the reason of this change, but i do not find any reply to his query. e. h. a. _meigham, the london printer._--j. a. s. is desirous of obtaining information regarding a printer in london, of the name of meigham, about - , or to be directed where to search for such. meigham conversed, or corresponded, about catholicity with dr. hay, the then vicar-apostolic of the eastern district of scotland. _adamsoniana._--is anything known of the family of michel adamson, or michael adamson, the eminent naturalist and voyager to senegal, who, though born in france, is said to have been of scottish extraction? where is the following poem to be met with? "ode in collegium bengalense, præmio dignata quod alumnis collegiorum aberdonensium proposuit vir reverendus c. buchanan, coll. bengalensis præfectus vicarius. auctore alexandro adamson, a.m., coll. marisch. aberd. alumno." allow me to repeat a query which was inserted in vol. ii., p. ., asking for any information respecting j. adamson, the author of a rare tract on edward ii.'s reign, published in , in defence of the walpole administration from the attacks of the _craftsman_. who was john adamson, author of _fanny of caernarvon, or the war of the roses_, an historical romance, of which a french translation was published in at paris, in vols. mo.? e. h. a. _canker or brier rose._--can any of your correspondents tell me why the brier or dog-rose was anciently called the _canker_? the brier is particularly free from the disease so called, and the name does not appear to have been used in disparagement. in shakspeare's beautiful sonnet liv. are the lines: "the _canker-blooms_ have full as deep a dye, as the perfumed tincture of the roses." in _king henry iv._, act i. sc. ., hotspur says: "shall it for shame be spoken in these days, or fill up chronicles in times to come, that men of your nobility and power, did 'gage them both in an unjust behalf, (as both of you, god pardon it! have done) to put down richard, that sweet lovely rose and plant this thorn, this _canker_ bolingbroke." and again, don john, in _much ado about nothing_, act i. sc. .: "i had rather be a _canker_ in a hedge, than a rose in the grave." anon. "_short red, god red._"--in roger of wendover's _chronicle_, bohn's edition, vol. i. p. ., is a story how walchere, bishop of durham, was slain in his county court, a.d. , by the suitors on the instigation of one who cried out in his native tongue "schort red, god red, slea ye the bischop." sir walter scott, in his _tales of a grandfather_ (vol. i. p. .), tells the same story of a bishop of caithness who was burned for enforcing tithes in the reign of alexander ii. of scotland (about ). what authority is there for the latter story? did sir walter confound the two bishops, or did he add the circumstance for the amusement of hugh littlejohn? was this the formula usually adopted on such occasions? how came the caithness people to speak such good saxon? g. _overseers of wills._--i have copies of several wills of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in { } which one set of persons are appointed _executors_ and another _overseers_. what were the rights and duties of these latter? j. k. _lepel's regiment._--can your correspondent mr. arthur hamilton inform me what is the regiment known in as _lepel's regiment_? it was a cavalry regiment, i believe. j. k. _vincent family._--can any of your correspondents give me any information respecting the descendants of francis vincent, grandson of augustine vincent, rouge croix pursuivant at arms. his sister elizabeth has, or had very lately, a representative in the person of francis offley edmunds of worsborough, yorkshire; but nowhere have i been able to obtain any information respecting himself. if you could give any information on this subject, you would much oblige c. wilson. _passage in the first part of faust._-- "_faust._ es klopft? herein! wer will mich wieder plagen? _mephistopheles._ ich bin's. _faust._ herein! _mephis._ du musst es dreimal sagen. _faust._ herein denn! _mephis._ so gefällst du mir." why must he say it _three_ times? is this a superstition that can be traced in other countries than germany? in horace we have diana thus addressed: "_ter_ vocata audis, adimisque letho, diva triformis."--lib. iii. ode . but she is there the benign diana, not hecate. are we to understand the passage to mean, that the number _three_ has a magical influence in summoning spirits; or to teach that the power of evil is so overruled by a higher power, that he cannot approach to begin his work of temptation and ruin unless he be, not once merely, or twice, but _three_ times, called by the free will and act of the individual who is surrendering himself to his influence? the subject seems worthy of elucidation. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _lady anne gray._--who was the "lady anne gray," or "lady gray," who was one of the attendants on queen elizabeth when princess, and is mentioned first in sir john harrington's poem in praise of her ladies? n. a. _continental brasses._--at a recent meeting of the archæological institute, mr. nesbitt exhibited rubbings of some fine brasses at bamberg, naumberg, meissen, and erfurt. mr. nesbitt would confer a favour on the readers of "n. & q." by stating the names and dates of those sepulchral memorials, and the churches from which he obtained the rubbings, and thus aid in carrying out mr. w. sparrow simpson's excellent suggestion for obtaining a complete list of monumental brasses on the continent. william w. king. _peter beaver._--in the early part of the last century, a gentleman named peter beaver, whose daughter was married in to latham blacker, esq., of rathescar, lived in the old and fashionable town of drogheda. can any one inform me as to the year of his death, and whether he left a son? the name has disappeared in drogheda. i would likewise be glad to know the origin of the name; and, if it be a corruption of beauvoir, at what time, and for what reason, was it changed? the crest is the animal of the same name. abhba. _cremonas._--can any of your numerous correspondents kindly supply me with a list of the earliest and the latest of the instruments of each of the famous _cremona_ makers? such a list would be a valuable contribution to "n. & q." mr. dubourg's work on the _violin_, excellent as it is in many respects, contains but a meagre account of the instrument itself, and is sadly deficient on the subject of my query. may i ask him, and i have reason for so doing, on what authority he gives as the year of the birth of antonius stradivarius, in his last edition? h. c. k. _cranmer and calvin._--in the _christian observer_ for march (no. . p. .) it is stated that the late rev. t. brock, of guernsey, had been assured by an eminent scholar of geneva, afterwards a clergyman in our church, that he had met with, in a public library at geneva, a printed correspondence in latin between archbishop cranmer and calvin, in which the latter forewarned the former, that though he perfectly understood the meaning of the baptismal service, yet "the time would come when" it "would be misconceived, and received as implying that baptism absolutely conveyed regeneration;" and that cranmer replied, "that it is not possible such a construction can be put upon the passage, the church having sufficiently explained her meaning in the articles and elsewhere." i have heard that search was made for these documents by m. d'aubigné and others, but without success; one of the reports being, that "the documents had been apparently _cut out_." mr. brock's informant, i hear, was a rev. marc de joux, who afterwards became an irvingite, left guernsey, and went to the mauritius, where it is believed he still resides. with the _theological_ question i wish not here to meddle, or to express an opinion. but i should be glad if you will kindly permit me to inquire whether any of your readers can give any information as to the existence of the supposed "printed" correspondence { } referred to? whether or not it does exist? and, if so, where? c. d. * * * * * minor queries with answers. "_a letter to a convocation man_" (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i beg to thank "n. & q." for the answer to my inquiry respecting the authorship of this letter. i should be very glad to learn further particulars respecting sir bartholomew shower. was he a member of the house of commons, as the author of the letter intimates that he himself was? i shall also be very thankful if tyro, or any other correspondent, will answer for me these queries, suggested by the same letter. "it was the opinion, indeed, of a late _great preacher_, that christians under a mahometan or pagan government, ought to value the peace of the country above the conversion of the people there." who is the preacher here referred to? who were the authors, and what were the titles of the many _defences_ of sherlock's _vindication of the holy and ever blessed trinity_, and _the divinity and death of christ_? * and what farther is to be learned of mr. papin, a socinian, who jointed the church of rome about that period? + who was chief justice in ? was it chief justice treby? ++ trelawney, bishop of exeter, excommunicated dr. bury. when was the living the latter enjoyed "untouched and even unquestioned by another bishop?" § in case the answers to these should not appear of sufficient importance to be put into type, i enclose an envelope. w. fraser. tor-mohun. p.s.--the misprint you point out, vol. vii., p. ., of _oxoniensis_ for _exoniensis_, occurred in the appendix to wake's _state of the church and clergy of england_, p. . [* the titles of nearly twenty works relating to sherlock's trinitarian controversy will be found _s. v._ in the _bodleian catalogue_, vol. iii. p. . see also watt's _bibliotheca britannica_. + a long account of mr. papin is given in rose's as well as in chalmers's _biographical dictionary_. ++ sir george treby was chief justice of common pleas in . § bishop trelawney, it appears, suspended dr. arthur bury from the rectorship of exeter college for some heterodox notions in his work, _the naked gospel_. the affair was carried by appeal from the king's bench to the house of lords, when bishop stillingfleet delivered a speech on the "case of visitation of colleges," printed in his _ecclesiastical cases_, part ii. p. . wood states that dr. bury was soon after restored. for an account of this controversy, and the works relating to it, see gough's _british topography_, vol. ii. p. ., and wood's _athenæ_ (bliss), vol. iv. p. . any farther communications on the above queries shall be forwarded to the correspondent.] _prester john._--i should be glad, through the medium of "n. & q.," to be favoured with some information relative to this mysterious personage. strath clyde. [the history of prester john, or of the individuals bearing that appellation, appears involved in considerable confusion and obscurity. most of our encyclopædias contain notices of this mysterious personage, especially rees's, and collier's _great historical dictionary_. "the fame of _prester_ or _presbyter_ john," says gibbon, "a khan, whose power was vainly magnified by the nestorian missionaries, and who is said to have received at their hands the rite of baptism, and even of ordination, has long amused the credulity of europe. in its long progress to mosul, jerusalem, rome, &c., the story of prester john evaporated into a monstrous fable, of which some features have been borrowed from the lama of thibet (_hist. généaologique des tartares_, part ii. p. .; _hist. de gengiscan_, p. . &c.), and were ignorantly transferred by the portuguese to the emperor of abyssinia (ludolph. _hist. Æthop. comment._ l. ii. c. .). yet is is probable that, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, nestorian christianity was professed in the horde of the keraites."] _homer's iliad in a nut._--on the tomb of those celebrated gardeners, tradescant father and son, these lines occur in the course of the inscription: "whilst they (as homer's iliad in a nut), a world of wonders in one closet shut." will you explain the comparison implied in the words "as homer's iliad in a nut?" david. [it refers to the account given by pliny, vii. ., that the _iliad_ was copied in so small a hand, that the whole work could lie in a walnut-shell: "in nuce inclusam iliada homeri carmen, in membrana scriptum tradidit cicero." pliny's authority is cicero _apvd gellium_, ix. . see m. huet's account of a similar experiment in _gentleman's magazine_, vol. xxxix. p. .] _monogram of parker society._--what is the meaning of the monogram adopted by the parker society on all their publications? tyro. [the monogram is "matthew parker," archbishop of canterbury in the reign of queen elizabeth.] _the five alls._--can any of your readers give me an interpretation of a sign on an inn in oxford, which bears this inscription? "the five alls." i can make nothing of it. curiosus. oxford. [captain grose shall interpret this query. he says, "the five alls is a country sign, representing five human figures, each having a motto. the first is a king in his regalia, 'i govern all.' the second, a { } bishop in pontificals, 'i pray for all.' third, a lawyer in his gown, 'i plead for all.' fourth, a soldier in his regimentals, 'i fight for all.' fifth, a poor countryman with his scythe and rake, 'i _pay_ for all!'"] _corvizer._--in a deed of the middle of the last century, i find this addition to the name of a person residing at conway. the word is similarly employed in a list of interments of some "common people," contained in browne willis's account of bangor cathedral. what does it mean, and whence is it derived? h. b. bangor. [an obsolete word for a cordwainer or shoemaker. see ash's _dictionary._] * * * * * replies. english comedians in germany. (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .) in the english comedians first appeared in prussia. in october they performed before the duchess maria eleonora at koningsberg, for which they were well paid; they then proceeded to elbing, whence they were dismissed with twenty thalers, since they produced scandalous things ("weil sie schandbare dinge fürgebracht"). in , they were again sent away, after they had performed the preceding year at rostock. some time after, the elector of brandenburg, joh. sigismund, employed a certain noble, hans von stockfisch, to obtain a theatrical company from england and the netherlands. a troop of nineteen comedians, under the direction of john spencer, came with sixteen musicians to add lustre to the electoral feasts. in , they received marks, as well as many hundred ells of various stuffs for costumes and decorations; of which great quantities were used in . many a time was it necessary to ransom them at great cost from inns and lodging-houses; so that the prince, in , resolved to rid himself of these dear guests, and gave them a recommendation to the elector of saxony. in we find them in dantzic, where they gave eight representations; and two years later, the electress of brandenburg, through hans von stockfisch, procured eighteen comedians, who performed at elbing, koningsberg, and other places, and were paid for their trouble ("für ihre gehabte mühe eins für alles") polish guilders. in , english comedians are again found in koningsberg; and, for the last time, in , at vienna, where william roe, john waide, gideon, gellius, and robert casse, obtained a license from ferdinand i. in appeared a volume of _englische comedien und tragedien, &c._ ( nd edit., ), which was followed by a second; and in by a third: in which last, however, the english element is not so prominent. these statements of dr. hagen are confirmed by numerous quotations from original documents, published by him in the _neue preuss. provincial blätter_, koningsb., , vol. x.; vid. et _gesch. der deuts. schauspielk._, by e. devrient, leipzic, . professor hagen maintains, that in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the english comedies were performed in dutch; and that, in germany, the same persons were called indifferently english or dutch comedians. they were englishmen who had found shelter under the english trading companies in the netherlands ("es waren engländer die in den englischen handelscompagnien in den niederlanden ein unterkommen gefunden.")--from the _navorscher_. j. m. * * * * * a gentleman executed for whipping a slave to death. (vol. vii., p. .) the occurrence noticed by w. w. is, i believe, the only instance on record in the west indies of the _actual_ execution of a gentleman for the murder, by whipping or otherwise, of a slave. nor is this strange. in the days of slavery every owner of slaves was regarded in the light of a gentleman, and his "right to do what he liked with his own" was seldom called in question by judges or juries, who were themselves among the principal shareholders. the case of hodge was, however, of an aggravated character. for the trivial offence of stealing a mango, he had caused one of his slaves to be whipped to death; and this was, perhaps, the least shocking of the repeated acts of cruelty which he was known to have committed upon the slaves of his estate. during slavery each colony had its hodge, and some had more than one. the most conspicuous character of this kind in st. lucia was _jacques o'neill de tyrone_, a gentleman who belonged to an irish family, originally settled in martinique, and who boasted of his descent from one of the ancient kings of ireland. this man had long been notorious for his cruelty to his slaves. at last, on the surrender of the colony to the british in , the attention of the authorities was awakened; a charge of murder was brought against him, and he was sentenced to death. from this sentence he appealed to a higher court; but such was the state of public feeling at the bare idea of putting a white man to death for any offence against a slave, that for a long time the members of the court could not be induced to meet; and when they did meet, it was only to reverse the sentence of the court below. i have now before me the proceedings of both courts. { } the sentence of the inferior court, presided over by an european judge, is based upon the clearest evidence of o'neill's having caused two of his slaves to be murdered in his presence, and their heads cut off and stuck upon poles as a warning to the others. the sentence of the court of appeal, presided over by a brother planter, and entirely composed of planters, reverses the sentence, without assigning any reason for its decision, beyond the mere allegations of the accused party. such was criminal justice in the days of slavery! henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * longevity. (vol. vii., p. ., &c.) on looking over some volumes of the _annual register_, from its commencement in , i find instances of longevity very common, if we can credit its reports. in vol. iv., for the year , amongst the deaths, of which there are many between and , the following occur: january. "at philadelphia, mr. charles cottrell, aged years; and three days after, his wife, aged . this couple lived together in the marriage state years in great union and harmony." april. "mrs. gillam, of aldersgate street, aged ." july. "john newell, esq., at michael(s)town, ireland, aged , grandson to old parr, who died at the age of ." august. "james carlewhite, of seatown, in scotland, aged . "john lyon, of bandon, in the county of cork, ireland, aged ." in september there are three aged ; one ; one ; one ; and one registered. i will take three from the year , viz.: january. "died lately in the isle of sky, in scotland, mr. donald m^cgregor, a farmer there, in the th year of his age. "last week, died at burythorpe, near malton in yorkshire, francis confit, aged years: he was maintained by the parish above sixty years, and retained his senses to the very last." april. "near ennis, joan m^cdonough, aged years." should sufficient interest attach to this subject, and any of the correspondents of "n. & q." wish it, i will be very happy to contribute my mite, and make out a list of all the deaths above years, or even , from the commencement of the _annual register_, but am afraid it will be found rather long. j. s. a. old broad street. a few years ago there lived in new ross, in the county of wexford, two old men. the one, a slater named furlong, a person of very intemperate habits, died an inmate of the poorhouse in his st year: he was able to take long walks up to a very short period before his death; and i have heard that he, his son, and grandson, have been all together on a roof slating at the same time. the other man was a nurseryman named hayden, who died in his th year: his memory was very good as to events that happened in his youth, and his limbs, though shrunk up considerably, served him well. he was also in the frequent habit of taking long walks not long before his death. j. w. d. * * * * * derivation of canada. (vol. vii., p. .) the derivation given in the "cutting from an old newspaper," contributed by mr. breen, seems little better than that of dr. douglas, who derives the name from a _m. cane_, to whom he attributes the honour of being the discoverer of the st. lawrence. in the first place, the "cutting" is not correct, in so far as gaspar cortereal never ascended the river, having merely entered the gulf, to which the name of st. lawrence was afterwards given by jacques carter. neither was the main object of the expedition the discovery of a passage into the indian sea, but the discovery of gold; and it was the disappointment of the adventurers in not finding the precious metal which is supposed to have caused them to exclaim "aca nada!" (nothing here). the author of the _conquest of canada_, in the first chapter of that valuable work, says that "an ancient castilian tradition existed, that the spaniards visited these coasts before the french,"--to which tradition probably this supposititious derivation owes its origin. hennepin, who likewise assigns to the spaniards priority of discovery, asserts that they called the land _el capo di nada_ (cape nothing) for the same reason. but the derivation given by charlevoix, in his _nouvelle france_, should set all doubt upon the point at rest; _cannáda_ signifying, in the iroquois language, a number of huts (_un amas de cabanes_), or a village. the name came to be applied to the whole country in this manner:--the natives being asked what they called the first settlement at which cartier and his companions arrived, answered, "cannáda;" not meaning the particular appellation of the place, which was stadacóna (the modern quebec), but simply a village. in like manner, they applied the same word to hochelága (montreal) and to other places; whence the europeans, hearing every locality designated by the same term, _cannáda_, very naturally applied it to the entire valley of the st. lawrence. it may not here be out of place to notice, that with respect to the derivation of _quebec_, the weight of evidence { } would likewise seem to be favourable to an aboriginal source, as champlain speaks of "la pointe de québec, ainsi appellée des sauvages;" not satisfied with which, some writers assert that the far-famed city was named after candebec, a town on the seine; while others say that the norman navigators, on perceiving the lofty headland, exclaimed "quel bec!" of which they believe the present name to be a corruption. dissenting from all other authorities upon the subject, mr. hawkins, the editor of a local guide-book called _the picture of quebec_, traces the name to an european source, which he considers to be conclusive, owing to the existence of a seal bearing date henry v. ( ), and on which the earl of suffolk is styled "domine de hamburg et de québec." robert wright. * * * * * setantiorum portus. (vol. vii., pp. . .) although the positions assigned by camden to the ancient names of the various estuaries on the coasts of lancashire and cumberland are very much at variance with those laid down by more modern geographers; still, with regard to the particular locality assigned by him to the _setantiorum portus_, he has made a suggestion which seems worthy the attention of your able correspondent c. his position for _morecambe bay_ is a small inlet to the south of the entrance of _solway firth_, into which the rivers _waver_ and _wampool_ empty themselves, and on which stands "the abbey of _ulme_, or _holme cultraine_." he derives the name from the british, as signifying a "crooked sea," which doubtless is correct; we have _môr taweh_, the main sea; _morudd_, the red sea; and _môr camm_ may be supposed to indicate a bay much indented with inlets. it is needless to say that the present _morecambe bay_ answers this description far more accurately than that in the solway firth. _belisama Æstuarium_ he assigns to the mouth of the ribble, and is obliged to allot _setantiorum portus_ to the remaining estuary, now called morecambe bay. however, he seems not quite satisfied with this last arrangement, and suggests that it would be more appropriate if we might read, as is found in some copies, _setantiorum_ [greek: limnê], instead of [greek: limên], thus assigning the name of setantii to the inhabitants of the _lake district_. the old editions of ptolemy, both greek and latin, are very incorrect, and, there is little doubt, have suffered from alterations and interpolations at the hands of ignorant persons. i have not access at present to any edition of his geography, either of erasmus, servetus, or bertius, so i know not whether any weight should be allowed to the following circumstance; in the _britannia romana_, in gibson's _camden_, this is almost the only _portus_ to be found round the coast of england. the terms there used are (with one more exception) invariably _æstuarium_, or _fluvii ostium_. if this variation in the old reading be accepted, the appellation as given by montanus, bertius, and others, to _winandermere_, becomes more intelligible. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _stereoscopic queries._--can any of your readers inform me what are the proper angles under which stereoscopic pictures should be taken? mr. beard, i am informed, takes his stereoscopic portraits at about ½°, or in ; that is to say, his cameras are placed inch apart for every inches the sitter is removed from them. the distance of the sitter with him is generally, i believe, feet, which would give - / inches for the extent of the separation between his cameras. more than this has the effect, he says, of making the pictures appear to stand out unnaturally; that is to say, if the cameras were to be placed inches apart (which would be equal to in ), the pictures would seem to be in greater relief than the objects. i find that the pictures on a french stereoscopic slide i have by me have been taken at an angle of °, or in . this was evidently photographed at a considerable distance, the triumphal arch in the place de carousel (of which it is a representation) being reduced to about ¼ inch in height. how comes it then that the angle is here increased to ° from ½°, or to in from in . moreover, the only work i have been able to obtain on the mode of taking stereoscopic pictures, lays it down that all portraits, or near objects, should be taken under an angle of °, or, as it says, in ; that is, if the camera is feet from the sitter, the distance between its first and second position (supposing only one to be used) should not exceed feet: otherwise, adds the author, "the stereosity will appear unnaturally great." when two cameras are employed, the instructions proceed to state that the distance between them would be about / th of the distance from the part of the object focussed. the example given is a group of portraits, and the angle, in , is afterwards spoken of as being equivalent to an arc of °. farther on, we are told that "the angle should be lessened as the distance between the nearest and farthest objects increase. example: if the farthest object be twice as far from the camera as the near object, the angle should be ° to a central point between these two. now, i find by calculation that the measurements and the angle here mentioned by no means { } agree. for instance, an angle of ° is spoken of as being equivalent to the measurement in . an angle of ° is said, or implied, to be the same as in . this is far from being the fact. according to my calculations, the following are the real equivalents:-- an angle of ° is equal to in . " ° " in . " ° " in . " ½° " in . " ° " in . " ° " in . " ° " in . will any of your readers oblige me by solving the above anomalies, and by giving the proper angles or measurement under which objects should be taken when near, moderately distant, or far removed from the camera; stating, at the same time, at how many feet from the camera an object is to be considered as near, or distant, or between the two? it would be a great assistance to beginners in the stereoscopic art, if some experienced gentleman would state the best distances and angles for taking busts, portraits, groups, buildings, and landscapes. it is said that stereoscopic pictures at great distances, such as views, should be taken "with a small aperture." but as the exact dimensions are not mentioned, it would be equally serviceable if, to the other details, were added some account of the dimensions of the apertures required for the several angles. in the directions given in the work from which i have quoted, it is said that when pictures are taken with one camera placed in different positions, the angle should be °; but when taken with two cameras, the angle should be °. is this right? and, if so, why the difference? in the account given by you of mr. wilkinson's ingenious mode of levelling the cameras for stereoscopic pictures, it is said the plumb-line should be three feet long, and that the diagonal lines drawn on the ground glass should be made to cut the principal object focussed on the glass; and "when you have moved it, the camera, _or_ feet, make it cut the same object again." at what distance is the object presumed to be? any information upon the above matters will be a great service, and consequently no slight favour conferred upon your constant reader since the photographic correspondence has been commenced. [phi]. _photographic portraits of criminals, &c._--such experience as i have had both in drawing portraits and taking photographs, impels me to hint to the authorities of scotland yard that they will by no means find taking the portraits of gentlemen that are "wanted" infallible, and i anticipate some unpleasant mistakes will ere long arise. i have observed that inability to recognize a portrait is as frequent in the case of photographs as on canvass, or in any other way. i defy the whole world of artists to reduce the why and wherefore into a reasonable shape; one will declare that "either" looks as if the individual was going to cry; the next critic will say he sees nothing but a pleasant smile. "i should never have known who it is if you hadn't told me," says a third; the next says "it's his eyes, but not his nose;" and perhaps the next will say, "it's his nose, but not his eyes." i was present not long since at the showing a portrait, which i think about the climax of doubt. "not a bit like," was the first exclamation. the poor artist sank into his chair; after, however, a brief contemplation, "it's very like, _in-deed_; it's excellent:" this was said by a gentleman of the highest attainments, and one of the best poets of the day. some persons (i beg pardon of the ladies) take the habiliments as the standard of recognition. i do not accuse them of doing it wilfully; they do not know it themselves. for example, miss smith will know miss jones a mile or so off. by her general air, or her face? oh no! it's by the bonnet she helped her to choose at madame what-d'ye-call's, because the colour suited he complexion. these are some of the mortifications attendant on artistic labour, and if they occur with the educated classes, they are more likely to happen even to "intelligent policemen," as the newspaper have it. if i dissent from the plan it is because i doubt its efficiency, but do not deny that it is worth a trial. if the french like to carry their portraits about with them on their passports to show to policemen, let them submit to the humiliation. i doubt very much whether the chamber of deputies would have made a law of it: it appears a new idea in jurisprudence that a man _must_ sit for his picture. any one, however, understanding the camera, would be alive before the removal of the cup of the lens, and be ready with a wry face; i do not suppose he could be imprisoned for _that_. both plans are miserable travesties on the lovely uses of portrait painting and photography. side by side with cowper's passionate address to his mother's picture, how does it look? "oh, that those lips had language! life has pass'd with me but roughly since i saw thee last." and, "blest be the art that can immortalise." if photography has an advantage over canvas, it does indeed immortalise (the painting may imitate, and the portrait may be good; but there is something more profoundly affecting in having the actual, the real shade of a friend perhaps long { } since in his grave); and we ought not only to be grateful to the illustrious inventors of the art, but prevent these base uses being made of it. in short, apart from the uncertainty of recognition, which i have not in the least caricatured, if giles scroggins, housebreaker and coiner, and all the swell mob, are to be photographed, it will bring the art into disgrace, and people's friends will inquire delicately where it was done, when they show their lively effigies. it may also mislead by a sharp rogue's adroitness; and i question very much its legality. weld taylor. _photography applied to catalogues of books._--may not photography be usefully applied to the making of catalogues of large libraries? it would seem no difficult matter to obtain any number of photographs, of any required size, of the title-page of any book. suppose the plan adopted, that five photographs of each were taken; they may be arranged in five catalogues, as follows:--era, subject, country, author, title. these being arranged alphabetically, would form five catalogues of a library probably sufficient to meet the wants of all. any number of additional divisions may be added. by adopting a fixed breadth--say three inches--for the photographs, to be pasted in double columns in folio, interchanges may take place of those unerring slips, and thus librarians aid each other. i throw out this crude idea, in the hope that photographers and librarians may combine to carry it out. albert blor, ll.d. dublin. _application of photography to the microscope._--may i request the re-insertion of the photographic query of r. j. f. in vol. vi., p. ., as i cannot find that it has received an answer, viz., what extra apparatus is required to a first-rate microscope in order to obtain photographic microscopic pictures? j. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _discovery at nuneham regis_ (vol. vi., p. .).--may the decapitated body, found in juxta-position with other members of the chichester family, not be that of sir john chichester the younger, mentioned in burke's _peerage and baronetage_, under the head "chichester, sir arthur, of raleigh, co. devon," as being that fourth son of sir john chichester, knt., m.p. for the co. devon, who was governor of carrickfergus, and lost his life "by decapitation," after falling into the hands of james macsorley macdonnel, earl of antrim? the removal of the body from ireland to the resting-place of other members of the family would not be a very improbable event, and quite consistent with the natural affection of relatives, under such mournful circumstances. j. h. t. _eulenspiegel, or howleglas_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--permit me to acquaint your correspondent that among the many singular and curious books which formed the library of that talented antiquary the late charles kirkpatrick sharp, and which were sold here by auction some time ago, there was a small mo. volume containing _french translations_, with rude woodcuts, of-- . "la vie joyeuse et recreative de tiel-ullespiegle, de ses faits merveilleux et fortunes qu'il a eues; lequel par aucune ruse ne se laissa pas tromper. a troyes, chez garner, ." . "histoire de richard sans peur, duc de normandie, fils de robert le diable, &c. a troyes, chez oudot, ." t. g. s. edinburgh. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . . .).-- "in the year , upon the request of the rev. anthony tuckney, vicar of boston, it was ordained by the archbishop of canterbury (laud), then on his metropolitical visitation at boston, 'that the roome over the porch of the saide churche shall be repaired and decently fitted up to make a librarye, to the end that, in case any well and charitably disposed person shall hereafter bestow any books to the use of the parish, they may be there safely preserved and kept.'" this library at present contains several hundred volumes of ancient (patristic, scholastic, and post-reformation) divinity. i hope to be able ere long to make a correct catalogue of the books at present remaining, and at the same time make an attempt to restore them to that decent "keeping" in which the great and good archbishop desired they might remain. query: in making preparations for the catalogue, i have been informed by a gentleman that he remembers two or more _cart loads_ of books from this library being sold by the churchwardens, and, as he believes, by the then archdeacon's orders, at waste paper price; that the bulk of them was purchased by a bookseller then resident in boston, and re-sold by him to a clergyman in the neighbourhood of silsby. . what was the date of the sale? . the name of the _venerable_ archdeacon who perpetrated this robbery? . whether there are any legal means for recovering the missing works? my extracts are from thompson's _history of boston_, a correspondent of yours, a new edition of whose laborious work is about to appear. thomas collis. boston. _painter--derrick_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i cannot agree with j. s. c. that _painter_ is a corruption of _punter_, from the saxon _punt_, a boat. { } according to the construction and analogy of our language, a _punter_ or _boater_ would be the person who worked or managed the boat. i consider that _painter_--like _halter_ and _tether_, derived from gothic words signifying to _hold_ and to _tie_--is a corruption of _bynder_, from the saxon _bynd_, to bind. if the anglo-norman word _panter_, a snare for catching and holding birds, be a corruption of _bynder_, we are brought to the word at once. or, indeed, we may go no farther back than _panter_. j. c. g. says that _derrick_ is an ancient british word: perhaps he will be kind enough to let us know its signification. i always understood that a _derrick_ took its name from _derrick_, the notorious executioner at tyburn, in the early part of the seventeenth century, whose name was long a general term for hangman. in merchant ships, the _derrick_, for hoisting up goods, is always placed at the hatchway, close by the _gallows_. the _derrick_, however, is not a nautical appliance alone; it has been long used to raise stones at buildings; but the crane, and that excellent invention the handy-paddy, has now almost put it out of employment. what will philologists, two or three centuries hence, make out of the word _handy-paddy_, which is universally used by workmen to designate the powerful winch, traversing on temporary rails, employed to raise heavy weights at large buildings. for the benefit of posterity, i may say that it is very _handy_ for the masons, and almost invariably worked by irishmen. as a collateral evidence to my opinion, that _painter_ is derived from the saxon _bynder_, through the anglo-norman _panter_, and that _derrick_ is from _derrick_ the hangman, i may add that these words are unknown in the nautical technology of any other language. w. pinkerton. ham. _pepys's "morena"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. warden may like to be informed that his conjecture about the meaning of this word is fully confirmed by the following passage in the _diary_, th october, , which has hitherto unaccountably escaped observation: "there was also my _pretty black girl_, mrs. dekins and mrs. margaret pen this day come to church." braybrooke. _pylades and corinna_ (vol. vii., p. .).--if your correspondent's question have reference to the two volumes in octavo published under this title in , assuredly defoe had nothing to do with them, as must be evident to any one on the most cursory glance. the volumes contain memoirs of mrs. elizabeth thomas, on whom dryden conferred the poetical title of corinna, and the letters which passed between her and richard gwinnett, her intended husband. a biography of this lady, neither whose life nor poetry were of the best, may be found in chalmers's _biog. dict._, vol. xxix. p. ., and a farther one in cibber's _lives_, vol. iv. the _dunciad_, and her part in the publication of pope's early correspondence, have given her an unhappy notoriety. i must say, however, that, notwithstanding his provocation, i cannot but think that he treated this poor woman ungenerously. james crossley. _judge smith_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i must confess my ignorance of any judge smith flourishing in the reign of elizabeth. i know of only three judges of that name. . john smith, a baron of the exchequer during the last seven years of the reign of henry viii. from him descended the lords carrington of wotton waven, in warwickshire, a title which became extinct in . . john smith, who was also a baron of the exchequer in the reign of anne. he became chief baron of the exchequer in scotland in , and died in . he endowed a hospital for poor widows at frolesworth in leicestershire. . sidney stafford smythe, likewise a baron of the exchequer under george ii. and iii., and chief baron in the latter reign. he was of the same family as that of the present viscount strangford. if z. e. r. would be good enough to send a copy of the inscription on the monument in chesterfield church, and give some particulars of the family seated at winston hall, the difficulty will probably be removed. edward foss. _grindle_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--as one at least of the readers of "n. & q." living near _grindle_ (greendale is modern), allow me to say that from the little i know of the places, they appear to me "to possess no traces of those natural features which would justify the demoniacal derivation proposed by i. e." however, as my judgment may be of little worth, if "i. e. of oxford" should ever migrate into these parts, and will favour me with a call, with credentials of being the veritable i. e. of "n. & q.," i shall have much pleasure in assisting him to examine for himself all the local knowledge which a short walk to the spots may enable him to acquire. h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. _simile of the soul and the magnetic needle_ (vol. vi., pp. . . . . .).--dr. arnold, with more religion than science, thus employs this simile: "men get embarrassed by the common cases of misguided conscience; but a compass may be out of order as well as a conscience, and the needle may point due south if you hold a powerful magnet in that direction. still the compass, generally speaking, is a true and sure guide, and so is the conscience; and you { } can trace the deranging influence on the latter quite as surely as on the former."--_life and correspondence_, nd ed. p. . c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _english bishops deprived by queen elizabeth, _ (vol. vii., p. .).--i have endeavoured to procure some information for a. s. a. on those points which mr. dredge left unnoticed, but find that, after his diligent search, very little indeed is to be gleaned. _bishop payne_ died in january, / (strype's _annals_, anno ). dod, in vol. i. p. . of his _church history_, mentions a letter of _bishop goldwell's_, or, as he calls him, _godwell's_, to dr. allen, dated anno : "this letter," he says, "seems to be written not long before bishop godwell's death, for i meet with no farther mention of him. here the reader may take notice of a mistake in dr. heylin, who tells us he died prisoner in wisbich castle, which is to be understood of bishop watson." of _bishop pate_ he says: "he was alive in , but how long after i do not find."--vol. i. p. . _bishop pole_, according to the same authority, died a prisoner at large about the latter end of may, . _bishop frampton_ died may , (calamy's _own times_, vol. ii. p. .). i cannot ascertain the day of _bishop white's_ death, but he was buried, according to evelyn (vol. iii. p. .), june , . tyro. dublin. _borrowed thoughts_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the thought which erica shows has been used by butler and macaulay is a grain from an often-pillaged granary; a tag of yarn from a piece of cloth used ever since its make for darning and patching; a drop of honey from a hive round which robber-bees and predatory wasps have never ceased to wander,--the _anatomy of melancholy_: "though there were giants of old in physic and philosophy, yet i say with didacus stella[ ], 'a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than a giant himself.' i may likely add, alter, and see farther than my predecessors; and it is no greater prejudice for me to indite after others, than for Ælianus montaltus, that famous physician, to write _de morbis capitis_, after jason pratensis," &c. the pagination (that of tegg's edition, ) will not guide those who with elia sicken at the profanity of "unearthing the bones of that fantastic old great man," and know not a "sight more heartless" than the reprint of his _opus_. sigma. sunderland. [footnote : in _luc._ . tom. ii.: "pigmi gigantum humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident."--_preface_, p. .] _dr. south_ v. _goldsmith, talleyrand, &c._ (vol. vi., p. . vol. vii., p. .).--one authority has been overlooked by mr. breen, which seems as likely as any to have given currency to the saying, viz. dean swift. in _gulliver's travels_ ( ), voyage to the houyhnhnms, the hero gives the king some information respecting british ministers of state, which i apprehend in swift's day was no exaggeration. the minister, gulliver says, "applies his words to all uses except to the indication of his mind." it must be confessed, however, that this authority is some seven years after dr. south. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _foucault's experiment_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the reality of the rotation, and the cause assigned to it by foucault in his experiment, is now admitted without question by scientific men. but in measuring the amount of the motion of the pendulum, so many disturbing causes were found to be at work, that the numerical results have not been obtained as yet with exactness. the best account is, perhaps, the original one in the _comptes rendus_. mr. foucault has lately invented an instrument founded on a similar principle, to find the latitude of a place. elsno. _passage in "locksley hall"_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .).--of these three commentators neither appears to me to have hit tennyson's meaning, though corylus has made the nearest shot. i ought to set out by confessing that it was not originally clear to myself, but that i could not for a monument doubt, when the following explanation was suggested to me by a friend. the "curlews" themselves are the "dreary gleams:" the words are what the latin grammar calls "duo substantiva ejusdem rei." i take the meaning, in plain prose to be this: "the curlews are uttering their peculiar cry, as they fly over locksley hall, looking like (to me, the spectator) dreary gleams crossing the moorland." i could supply a. a. d. with several examples _in english_, from my commonplace-book, of the "bold figure of speech not uncommon in the vivid language of greece;" and among the rest, one from tennyson himself, to wit: "now, scarce three paces measured from the mound, we stumbled on a stationary _voice_," &c. but i doubt whether the poet had those passages in his thought, when he penned the opening of his noble poem "locksley hall." of course i do not _know_, any more than a. a. d., and the rest; and i suppose we shall none of us get any enlightenment "by authority." harry leroy temple. _lake of geneva_ (vol. vii. p. .).--the account given in the _chronicle of marius_ of what is called "an earthquake or landslip in the valley of the { } upper rhone," is evidently that of a sudden _débâcle_ destructive of life and property, but not such as to effect any permanent change in the configuration of the country. that an antiquary like montfaucon should have fallen into the blunder of supposing that the lacus lemanus was then formed, may well excite surprise. the breadth of the new-formed lake, as given by marius, is impossible, as the mountains in the valley are scarcely anywhere more than a mile apart. the valley of the upper rhone is liable to such _débâcles_, and one which would fill it might be called a lake, although of short duration. having witnessed the effects of the _débâcle_ of a few weeks after it happened, i can easily understand how such a one as that described by marius should have produced the effects attributed to it, and yet have left no traces of its action after the lapse of centuries. j. s. athenæum. _"inter cuncta micans," &c._ (vol. vi., p. .).--in a small work, _lives of eminent saxons_, part i. p. ., the above lines are ascribed to aldhelm, and a translation by mr. boyd is subjoined. to aldhelm also are attributed the lines so often alluded to in "n. & q.," "roma tibi subito," &c. b. h. c. _"its"_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--as the proposer of the question on this word, so kindly replied to by mr. keightley, may i give two instances of its use from the old version of the psalms? "which in due season bringeth forth _its_ fruit abundantly."--ps. i. . "thou didst prepare first a place, and set _its_ roots so fast."--ps. lxxx. . the american _bibliotheca sacra_ for october , p. ., says (speaking of the time when the authorised version of the scriptures was executed), "the genitive _its_ was not then in use;" which is disproved by the quotations already given. b. h. c. _gloves at fairs_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the custom of "hanging out the glove at fair time," as described by e. g. r., is, in all probability, of chester origin. the annals of that city show that its two great annual fairs were established, or rather confirmed, by a charter of hugh lupus, the first norman earl of chester, who granted to the abbot and convent of st. werburgh (now the cathedral) "the extraordinary privilege, that no criminals resorting to their fairs at chester should be arrested for any crime whatever, except such as they might have committed during their stay in the city." for several centuries, chester was famous for the manufacture of gloves; and in token thereof, it was the custom for some days before, and during the continuance of the fair, to hang out from the town-hall, then situate at the high cross, their local emblem of commerce--a _glove_: thereby proclaiming that non-freemen and strangers were permitted to trade within the city, a privilege at all other times enjoyed by the citizens only. during this period of temporary "free trade," debtors were safe from the tender mercies of their creditors, and free from the visits of the sheriff's officer and his satellites. on the removal of the town-hall to another part of the city, the leathern symbol of "unrestricted competition" was suspended, at the appointed season, from the roof of st. peter's church; until that reckless foe to antiquity, the reform bill, aimed a heavy blow at all our prescriptive rights and privileges, and decreed that the stranger should be henceforth on a footing with the freeborn citizen. notwithstanding this, the authorities of the city still continued to "hang out their banner on the outward walls;" and it is only within the last ten years that the time-honoured custom has ceased to exist. t. hughes. chester. _astronomical query_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your fair correspondent leonora makes a mistake in reference to the position, in regard to the zodiac, of the newly-discovered planets. it is indeed not at all surprising that these bodies were not discovered before, for this reason--they _do not move within the circle of the zodiac_: they lie far beyond it, so much so, that to include them the zodiac must be expanded to at least five times its present breadth. hence they lie out of the path of ordinary observation, and their discovery is usually the result of keen telescopic examination of distant parts of the heavens. leonora is of course aware, that, with the exception of neptune (the discovery of which is a peculiar case), all the recently discovered planets belong to the cluster of asteroids which move between mars and jupiter. these are all invisible to the eye with the exception of vesta, and she is not to be distinguished by any but an experienced star-gazer, and under most favourable circumstances; their minuteness, their _extra_-zodiacal position, and the outrageous orbits which they describe, all conspire to keep them out of human ken until they are detected by the telescope, and ascertained to be planets either by their optical appearances, or by a course of watching and comparison of their positions with catalogues of the fixed stars. shirley hibberd. _tortoiseshell tom cat_ (vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--see hone's _year book_, p. . zeus. _sizain on the pope, the devil, and the pretender_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this is given as one of the prize epigrams in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , vol. v. p. . zeus. { } _wandering jew_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent will find an account of the wandering jew prefixed to "le juif errant," the ième livraison of _chants et chansons populaires de la france_. thos. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. the earliest account of this legend is in roger of wendover, under the year : _de joseph, qui ultimum christi adventum adhuc vivus exspectat_, vol. iv. p. . of the historical society's edition, vol. ii. p. . of bohn's translation: see also brand's _popular antiquities_, vol iii. p. ., bohn's edition. zeus. _hallett and dr. saxby_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i know nothing of the parties, but have the book about which s. r. inquires. the title is not accurately given in the _literary journal_. instead of "an ode to virtue," by dr. morris saxby, it is _an ode on virtue by a young author, dedicated to dr. william saxby; with a preface and notes, critical and explanatory, by a friend_--"mens sibi conscia recti"--a good intention. printed anno domini mdccxci, pp. . a more stupid production could not easily be found; but, as it must be scarce, if the story about the destruction of all but eight copies is true, i transcribe a part of the dedication: "most august doctor, "the reputation you have acquired by professional merit, with the respect which is universally shown to you on account of your practical observance of moral philosophy, has induced me to select you as a protector of the following work; which being evidently intended to promote a cause for which you was always a zealous advocate, i have nourished the most flattering hopes that you will be rather pleased than offended by this unwarrantable presumption. "it is necessary i should deviate from the general rule of celebrating a patron's virtues in a high strain of panegyric, being sensible how generally yours are known, and how justly admired."--p. . the ode contains only ten lines: "virtue, a mere chimera amongst the fair, is now quite vanquished into air; formerly it was thought a thing of worth, but now who thinks of such poor stuff. it's only put on to deceive, that us poor mortals on them may crave; fall down and swear their beauty far surpasses what are ever saw! then they who think all's true that's said," &c. i omit the final line as unseemly. dr. saxby is mentioned only on the title-page, and that part of the dedication which i have copied. he must have been a sensitive man to have felt such an attack, and a prompt one to settle his account with the author so quickly. as it is obvious that the ode was published solely to annoy him, we may be allowed to hope that in the "severe personal chastisement" he was not sparing of whipcord. the absence of place of publication and printer's name render inquiry difficult; and there is no indication as to whether dr. saxby was of divinity, law, or physic. h. b. c. u. u. club. _"my mind to me a kingdom is"_ (vol. i., pp. . .; vol. vi., pp. . .).--the idea is shakspeare's (third part of _hen. vi._): "_keeper._ ay, but thou talk'st as if thou wert a king. _k. henry._ why, so i am in mind; and that's enough." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _claret_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the word claret seems to me to be the same as the french word _clairet_, both adjective and substantive; as a substantive it means a low and cheap sort of _claret_, sold in france, and drawn from the barrel like beer in england; as an adjective it is a diminutive of _clair_, and implies that the wine is transparent. john lammens. manchester. _suicide at marseilles_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the original authority for the custom at marseilles, of keeping poison at the public expense for the accommodation of all who could give the senate satisfactory reasons for committing suicide, is valerius maximus, lib. ii. cap. vi. § . zeus. _etymology of slang_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "slangs are the greaves with which the legs of convicts are fettered, having acquired that name from the manner in which they were worn, as they required a sling of string to keep them off the ground.... the irons were the _slangs_; and the slang-wearer's language was of course slangous, as partaking much if not wholly of the _slang_."--_sportsman's slang, a new dictionary and varieties of life_, by john bee: preface, p. . zeus. _scanderbeg's sword_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the proverb, "scanderbeg's sword must have scanderbeg's arm," is founded on the following story: "george castriot, prince of albania, one of the strongest and valiantest men that lived these two hundred yeares, had a cimeter, which mahomet the turkish emperor, his mortall enemy, desired to see. castriot (surnamed of the turks, ischenderbeg, that is, great alexander, because of his valiantnesse), having received a pledge for the restitution of his cimeter, sent it so far as constantinople to mahomet, in whose court there was not any man found that could with any ease wield that piece of steele: so that mahomet sending it back againe, enioyned the messenger to tell the prince, that in this action he kind proceeded enemy-like, and with a fraudulent mind, sending a counterfeit cimeter { } to make his enemie afraid. ischenderbeg writ back to him, that he had simply without fraud or guile sent him his owne cimeter, with the which he used to helpe himselfe couragiously in the wars; but that he had not sent him the hand and the arme which with the cimeter cleft the turkes in two, struck off their heads, shoulders, legs, and other parts, yea, sliced them of by the wast; and that verie shortly he would show him a fresh proofe thereof; which afterwards he performed."--_historical meditations from the latin of p. camerarius_, by john molle, esquire, , book iv. cap. xvi. p. . the following, relating to the arm and sword of scanderbeg, may perhaps not inappropriately be added, although not connected with the proverb: "marinus barletius (lib. i.) reports of scanderbeg, prince of epirus (that most terrible enemy of the turks), that, from his mother's womb, he brought with him into the world a notable mark of warlike glory: for he had upon his right arm a sword, so well set on, as if it had been drawn with the pencil of the most curious and skilful painter in the world."--wanley's _wonders of the little world_, , book i. cap. vii. zeus. _arago on the weather_ (vol. vii., p. .).--elsno will find extracts from arago's papers in the _pictorial almanack_, , p. ., and in the _civil engineer and architects' journal_, which volume i cannot say, but i think that for . also in the _monthly chronicle_, vol. i. p. ., and vol. ii. p. .; the annals of the _bureau des longitudes_ for and the _annuaire_ for . shirley hibberd. _rathe_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. crossley is, i believe, mistaken in his derivation of the word _rathe_ from the celtic _raithe_, signifying inclination, although _rather_ seems indisputably to belong to it. _rathe_ is, i believe, identical with the saxon adjective _rætha_, signifying early. chaucer's-- "what aileth you so _rathe_ for to arise," has been already quoted as bearing this meaning. milton, in lycidas, has-- "bring the _rathe_ primrose that forsaken dies." in a pastoral, called a "palinode," by e. b., probably edmond bolton, in england's _helicon_, edit. , occurs: "and make the _rathe_ and timely primrose grow." and we have "_rathe_ and late," in a pastoral in davidson's _poems_, th edit., london, . _rathe_ is a word still in use in the weald of sussex, where saxon still lingers in the dialect of the common people; and a _rathe_, instead of an early spring, is spoken of; and a species of early apple is known as the _rathe_-ripe. anon. _carr pedigree_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the pedigree description of lady carr is "gresil, daughter of sir robert meredyth, knt., chancellor of the exchequer in ireland." sir george carr died feb. , - , and was buried in dublin. his sons were , thomas, and , william; and a daughter mary, who married st, dr. thomas margetson (son to the archbishop of armagh); and ndly, dr. michael ward. the pedigree is continued through thomas the eldest son, who was the father of the bishop of killaloe. it does not appear that william left any issue. his wife's name was elizabeth, daughter of edward sing, d.d., lord bishop of cork. w. st. _banbury cakes_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in _a treatise of melancholy_, by t. bright, doctor of physic, and published in , i find the following: "sodden wheat is of a grosse and melancholicke nourishment, and bread especially of the fine flower unleavened: of this sort are bag-puddings or pan-puddings made with flour, frittars, pancakes, such as we call _banberie cakes_, and those great ones confected with butter, eggs, &c., used at weddings; and howsoever it be prepared, rye and bread made thereof carrieth with it plentie of melancholie." h. a. b. _detached belfry towers_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--to your already extensive list of church towers separate from the church, launceston church, cornwall, and st. john's church, chester, may not unfittingly be added. t. hughes. chester. elstow, bedfordshire, is an instance of a bell tower separated from the body of the church. b. h. c. _dates on tombstones_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a correspondent asks for instances of dates on tombstones prior to . i cannot give any, but i can refer to some slabs lying upon the ground in a churchyard near oundle (tausor if i remember aright), on which appear in relief recumbent figures with the hands upon the breast, crossed, or in the attitude of prayer. these are of a much earlier date, and i should be much pleased to know if many or any such instances elsewhere occur. b. h. c. _subterranean bells_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--bells under ground and under water, so often referred to, remind me of the oundle drumming well, which i remember seeing when a child. there is a legend connected with it which i heard, but cannot accurately recollect. the well itself is referred to in brand, vol. ii. p. . (bohn's ed.), but the legend is not given. b. h. c. _mistletoe in ireland_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i have just received, in full blossom, a very fine spray from a luxuriant plant of this parasite growing on an apple tree in the gardens of farmley, the seat of william lloyd flood, esq., in the county of kilkenny. this plant of mistletoe has existed at { } farmley beyond the memory of the present generation; but mr. flood's impression, communicated to me, is, that it was artificially produced from seed by some former gardener. if natural, which _may_ be the case, this instance of its occurrence in ireland is, i believe, unique. james graves. kilkenny. _stars and flowers_ (vol. iv., p. .; vol. vii., p. . .).--passages illustrative of this similitude have been quoted from cowley, longfellow, hood, and moir. the metaphor is also made use of by darwin, in his _loves of the plants_: "roll on, ye stars! exult in youthful prime, mark with bright curves the printless steps of time; _flowers of the sky!_ ye, too, to age must yield, frail as your silken sisters of the field." cuthbert bede, b.a. _the painting by fuseli_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the picture by the late henry fuseli, r.a., inquired after by mr. sansom, is in the collection at sir john soane's museum; it was purchased by him in . it was exhibited at the royal academy in , and is thus entered in the catalogue of that year: "no. . ezzelin bracciaferro musing over meduna, destroyed by him, for disloyalty, during his absence in the holy land. _fuseli._" there is an engraving of the picture in _essays on physiognomy_, by j. c. lavater, translated from the french by henry hunter, d.d., to.: london, . the _second_ volume, p. . the inscription under that engraving, by holloway, is as follows: "ezzelin, count of ravenna, surnamed bracciaferro or iron arm, musing over the body of meduna; slain by him, for infidelity, during his absence in the holy land." george bailey. the subject of your correspondent j. sansom's inquiry is in the soane museum, lincoln's inn fields. search among the italian story-tellers will not discover the origin of the picture of count ezzelin's remorse: it sprung from that fertile source of fearful images--henry fuseli's brain. the work might well have been left without a name, but for the requirements of the royal academy catalogue, and, it must be added, fuseli's desire to mystify the italian as well as the other scholars of his day. for confirmation of the correctness of these statements, i refer your correspondent to the _life of fuseli_ by knowles, and to that by cunningham in the _lives of the british painters_. r. f., jun. _"navita erythræum"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--since i requested a reference to these lines, i have possessed myself of a very elaborate latin work on _bells_, in two vols. vo., published at rome, , by alexander lazzarinus, _de vario tintinnabulorum usu apud veteres hebræos et ethnicos_: wherein, in a section on the effect of the sound of bells on different animals, he quotes those very lines from "cornelius kilianus dufflæus in suis poematibus." i shall now be thankful to be told something about the said dufflæus,--who and what he was,--when and where he lived? h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the success which has attended _the chronological new testament_ has encouraged the publisher of that most useful work to undertake an edition of the entire scriptures on a similar plan; and we have now before us the first part of _the english bible, containing the old and new testaments according to the authorised version: newly divided into paragraphs, with concise introductions to the several books; and with maps and notes illustrative of the chronology, history, and geography of the holy scriptures; containing also the most remarkable variations of the ancient versions, and the chief results of modern criticism_. even this ample title-page does not, however, point out the many helps towards a better understanding of the word of god, which, by improvements in its division and typographical arrangement, are here furnished for the use of the devout student: and which has this great recommendation in our eyes, as we have no doubt it will be its greatest in that of many of our readers, that it is no endeavour to furnish a new translation, but only an attempt to turn our noble authorised version to the best account. the present part completes the book of genesis, and we have little doubt that its success will be such as to secure for the publisher that patronage which will enable him to complete so desirable a work as his "_new edition of the authorised version of the bible_." while on this subject, we may fitly call attention to the eighth number of _the museum of classical antiquities: a quarterly journal of ancient art_, and its accompanying _supplement_, both of which are entirely occupied with a question which, from its connexion with our holiest and most religious feelings, must always command our deepest attention,--namely, the true site of calvary, and of the holy sepulchre. the question is discussed at considerable length, and with great learning and acuteness; and, we trust, from its generally interesting character, may have the effect of drawing attention to a journal which deserves the patronage of scholars to a greater extent than, from the prefatory notice, it would appear to have received up to the present time. the second part of _the ulster journal of archæology_ has just appeared. we cannot better recommend it to our antiquarian friends than by pointing out that it contains the following papers:-- . metropolitan visitation of the diocese of derry, a.d. . . iona. . anglo-norman families of lecale, county down. { } . ogham inscriptions. . irish surnames, their past and present forms. . the island of tory in the pagan period. . origin and characteristics of the people in the counties of down and antrim. . king william's progress to the boyne. . antiquarian notes and queries. . annals of ulster. we ought, in the same way, to specify the various papers to be found in the recently-published _reports and papers read at the meetings of the architectural society of the archdeaconry of northampton and the counties of york and lincoln; and of the architectural and archæological society of the county of bedford during the year _,--but such a course is obviously impossible. there is one paper in the volume which, as especially worthy the attention of those interested in our ecclesiastical history, deserves to be particularly noticed, namely, the rev. g. a. poole's _synchronological table of the bishops of the english sees from the year to _. how much good service might be done to historical literature by the compilation and printing of many documents of a similar character! * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. scott, remarks on the best writings of the best authors (or some such title). sermons by the rev. robert wake, m.a. , , &c. history of ancient wilts, by sir r. c. hoare. the last three parts. rev. a. dyce's edition of dr. richard bentley's works. vol. iii. published by francis macpherson, middle row, holborn. . dissertation on isaiah xviii., in a letter to edward king, esq., by samuel lord bishop of rochester (horsley). the quarto edition, printed for robson. . ben jonson's works. vols. vo. vols. ii., iii., iv. bds. sir walter scott's novels. vols. vo. the last nine vols. boards. jacob's english peerage. folio edition, . vols. ii., iii., and iv. gammer gurton's needle. alison's europe. ( vols.) vols xiii., xx. abbotsford edition of the waverley novels. odd vols. the truth teller. a periodical. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest prices, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. l. m. m. r. _if our correspondent will forward copies of the_ note and queries, _they shall have immediate attention._ x. z. _we cannot undertake to recommend any particular houses for photographic apparatus or chemicals. our advertising columns show sufficiently where they may be procured._ _many replies to correspondents are unavoidably omitted._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * now ready, vo., s. d. the text of shakespeare vindicated from the interpolations and corruptions advocated by john payne collier, esq., in his "notes and emendations." by samuel weller singer. "to blot old books and alter their contents." _rape of lucrece._ also, preparing for immediate publication, in ten volumes, fcap. vo., to appear monthly, the dramatic works of william shakspeare, the text completely revised, with notes, and various readings. by samuel weller singer. london: published by wm. pickering. * * * * * just published in to. price s. cloth, catalogi codicum manuscriptorum bibliothecÆ bodleianÆ--pars prima recensionem codicum grÆcorum continens, confecit h. o. coxe, a.m., hypo-bibliothecarius. oxonii.: typographeo academico. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; and gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * to parents, guardians, residents in india, &c.--a lady residing within an hour's drive westward of hyde park, and in a most healthy and cheerful situation, is desirous of taking the entire charge of a little girl, to share with her only child (about a year and a half old) her maternal care and affection, together with the strictest attention to mental training. terms, including every possible expense except medical attendance, l. per annum. if required, the most unexceptionable references can be furnished. address to t. b. s., care of mr. bell, publisher, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, price fourpence, or sent free on receipt of six postage stamps, fennell's shakspeare repository, no. ii. * * * * * containing interesting articles on the medical practice of shakspeare's son-in-law, dr. john hall, of stratford-on-avon: including curious notices of numerous old families connected with gloucestershire, northamptonshire, shropshire, and warwickshire; more notes on shakspeare's plays, by thomas white, b.a., of pembroke hall, cambridge; curious ancient proclamations against actors; old english proverbs; report of the recent shakspearian festival at stratford; review of j. p. collier's new work, &c. &c. no. i. of the shakspeare repository may also be had, price sixpence, or sent free on receipt of six postage stamps. also may be had free on receipt of three postage stamps, a fac-simile of a remarkably curious and amusing newspaper of the reign of king charles ii. published by james h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * published in september last, second edition, price s. on the ancient british, roman, and saxon antiquities and folk-lore of worcestershire. by jabez allies, esq., f.s.a. the work details the antiquities, and elucidates the ancient names of fields and places, in every part of the county; traces the ancient roads, discusses the folk-lore, and notices the border antiquities. this edition contains pages, demy vo., with illustrative engravings, upwards of woodcuts, and a copious index. the former edition contained pages. those who have, and likewise those who may be pleased to purchase the work, can obtain at the publishers, free of charge, a supplement containing some additions and corrections, and also high commendations of the work, which have been extracted from various reviews and periodicals. published by j. h. parker, . strand, london; and j. grainger, . foregate, worcester. * * * * * this day is published in vo., pp. , price s. d. history of the byzantine empire, from dccxvi. to mlvii. by george finlay, esq., honorary member of the royal society of literature. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london; who have lately published, by the same author, greece under the romans: a historical view of the greek nation, from the time of its conquest by the romans until the extinction of the roman empire in the east, b.c. -a.d. , vo., pp. , price s. history of greece, from its conquest by the crusaders to its conquest by the turks, and of the empire of trebizond, - , vo., pp. , price s. { } * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for the delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make, waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th of june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * pulleyn's compendium. one volume, crown vo., bound in cloth, price s., the etymological compendium: or, portfolio of origins and inventions; relating to-- language, literature, and government. architecture and sculpture. drama, music, painting, and scientific discoveries. articles of dress, &c. titles, dignities, &c. names, trades, professions. parliament, laws, &c. universities and religious sects. epithets and phrases. remarkable customs. games, field sports. seasons, months, and days of the week. remarkable localities, &c. &c. by william pulleyn. the third edition, revised and improved, by merton a. thoms, esq. london: william tegg & co., queen street, cheapside. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * city of london life assurance society, . royal exchange buildings, london. subscribed capital, a quarter of a million. _trustees._ mr. commissioner west, leeds. the hon. w. f. campbell, stratheden house. john thomas, esq., bishop's stortford. * * * * * this society embraces every advantage of existing life offices, viz. the mutual system without its risks of liabilities: the proprietary, with its security, simplicity, and economy: the accumulative system, introduced by this society, uniting life with the convenience of a deposit bank: self-protecting policies, also introduced by this society, embracing by one policy and one rate of premium a life assurance, an endowment, and a deferred annuity. no forfeiture. loans with commensurate assurances. bonus recently declared, per cent. edw. fred. leeks, secretary. { } * * * * * new works published by addey & co., . old bond street. * * * * * in one volume, post vo., price s. d. cloth, australia visited and revisited: a narrative of recent travels and old experiences in the golden, pastoral, and agricultural districts of victoria and new south wales. by samuel mossman, author of "the gold regions of australia," &c. and thomas banister, author of "england and her dependencies," &c. with maps by a. k. johnston, geographer to her majesty. "the narrative is of a truthful, matter-of-fact character. the writers tell us what they saw, with little if any colouring or exaggeration. wherever there is any interest in the things themselves, it is preserved in the book, whether it relates to the appearance of the gold-diggings and the diggers or their mode of life--to the places frequently depopulated of _men_ by the gold fever pervading the colonies, to the night bivouac of quiet people to avoid the close atmosphere and riotous companions at the roadside inns from the crowds rushing to or returning from the diggings, or to many other more permanent scenes of still or animated life. with the actual are mingled remarks on australia, and advice to emigrants, the latter of which is of a judicious kind."--_spectator._ "the authors of this compact volume have well worked out the purpose they had in view, as put forth in the preface, making the book a real book, indulging in no flights of imagination lest injury should be inflicted thereby upon the uninformed and ingenuous.... this straightforward and eminently practical book."--_lloyd's weekly news._ * * * * * in fcap. to., printed and bound in the style of the period, price s., or in morocco, s. the diary and houres of the ladye adolie, a faythfulle childe, . edited by the lady charlotte pepys. "this work resembles several productions of the last few years. the diary professes to be written by a noble young lady of the sixteenth century. 'lady adolie' has an advantage over most of its precursors in the greater depth and variety of the incidents. the journal begins just before the accession of bloody mary, and ends with the martyrdom of the youthful writer at smithfield.... the book is charmingly written; the kindly, simple, loving spirit of a girl in her teens, thrown much upon her own resources, is truthfully depicted, as well as the firm piety of that age."--_spectator._ "the familiar conversation of the day, as sought to be reproduced in this diary, wears an appearance of singular truthfulness, and whether the topic be the deathbed of good king edward, the merits of somerset, ladye jane grey, her grace the ladye elysabeth, the queen herself, or the demeanour of her spanish husband, the proceedings of cardinal pole, the doings at the tower prison, the volume reflects as in a faithful mirror the opinions current in the national mind."--_globe._ * * * * * by the author of "child's play." in medium to., handsomely bound, price s. a children's summer. eleven etchings on steel by e. u. b. illustrated in prose and rhyme by m. l. b. & w. m. c. india proofs on large paper, in portfolio, price s. d. "what cordial admiration, what honest unaffected praise, have we to bestow on these etchings! never did we see a more perfect harmony expressed throughout between accomplishment and grace of hand and moral beauty of mind. not the most faultless of mere correctness of drawing could have the effect which these etchings produce. within outlines imperfect as we have described them, often the most exalted fancies are found. the arrangement is almost always excellent--than the groupings of the figures, and the composition of each scene, nothing for the most part can be better. and the beautiful sympathy with children that is displayed, the enjoyment in their joy, their gay sports their tender little thoughtful gravities and their innocent purity of affection which brings round them the thoughts of angels--all this has most delightful expression in 'a children's summer.'"--_examiner._ * * * * * in two vols. crown vo., price s., elegantly bound in cloth, gilt, grimm's household stories. complete edition. the celebrated stories of the brothers grimm. embellished with small and full-page illustrations by e. h. wehnert. "from time to time we have noticed the periodical appearances of this edition of the famous book of the brothers grimm, and have only now to mention the fact of its completion into two compact, well-filled volumes. the translation is done in just the simple, homely way which suits best with the stories.... every juvenile library should possess this excellent 'grimm.'"--_examiner._ "the two volumes of 'household stories,' translated from the messrs. grimm, are the completed form of an edition which was issued in numbers, and which has from time to time been mentioned by us as in course of publication. what with mr. wehnert's admirable illustrations (of which the number is almost countless) and the general elegance of production, the work now presents an appearance sufficiently seductive to the juvenile class of readers, to whom it is more particularly addressed."--_athenæum._ "we cannot again avoid alluding to mr. wehnert's illustrations to 'grimm.' they are instinct with the most vital spirit of german legendary romance--remote, unreal, grotesque, and suggestive; with strange bits of landscape and beautiful human faces (those of the children remarkably so), and with a singular absence of strong contrast of light and shade, as though the sun which shone upon them was not the same which shines upon this earth."--_athenæum_, second notice. "the stories are delightful."--_leader._ * * * * * in vo., handsomely bound in cloth gilt, price s., the first volume of the charm: a book for boys and girls. the contributions by mrs. harriet myrtle, alfred elwes, j. h. pepper, frederica graham, clara de chatelain, &c. embellished with more than one hundred illustrations by lejeune, kaulbach, weir, wehnert, absolon, skill, &c. &c. _the work is continued in monthly numbers, price sixpence each._ "a word in praise of the charming periodical for children, 'the charm,' which is more eagerly looked for by several youngsters we know than "bleak house' is by their parents."--_leader._ "children, we find, love this periodical."--_critic._ "'the charm' is an excellent monthly periodical, full of pleasant stories and engravings."--_atlas._ "an attractive and well-varied book."--_spectator._ "'the charm,' a book for boys and girls, is the completed volume, handsomely bound, of a book which has been appearing in monthly numbers during the year, and in which form we have several times noticed it with warm approval. it is full of interesting matter to read, and adorned with upwards of one hundred engravings, of admirable execution, illustrative of natural history, topography, juvenile science, costumes, and sports, drawn by the best artist."--_critic._ * * * * * with five hundred pictures. large to., s. in elegant picture binding, by luke limner, a new edition of the picture pleasure book; containing five hundred illustrations by the most eminent artists. an edition is also published mounted on cloth, price s. "'the picture pleasure book' is really the child's joy, for it gives him large folio pages full of woodcuts, executed in the best style of art, teaching him natural history, educating his eye to good drawing and graceful form, and telling stories in pictures. it is an admirable design, and no house that holds children should be without it."--_critic._ * * * * * london: addey and co., . old bond street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . corrections made to printed original. p . "the birth of antonius stradivarius" - "autonius" in original generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page on chaucer's knowledge of italian the rebellion of ' : unpublished letter oliver st. john, by james crossley notes on several misunderstood words, by the rev. w. r. arrowsmith folk lore:--weather rules--drills presaging death --superstition in devonshire; valentine's day a note on gulliver's travels, by c. forbes shakspeare correspondence the coenaculum of lionardo da vinci, by e. smirke minor notes:--scotter register (county lincoln)-- "all my eye:" "over the left"--curious marriages --child-mother queries:-- further queries respecting bishop ken the rev. john larson and his mathematical manuscripts, by t. t. wilkinson minor queries:--"wanderings of memory"-- "wandering willie's tale"--chapel sunday--proud salopians--george miller, d.d.--members of parliament --taret--jeroboam of claret, &c.--william williams of geneva--the first of april and "the cap awry"--sir g. browne, bart.--bishop butler--oaken tombs--alleged bastardy of elizabeth--"pugna porcorum"--parviso--mr. justice newton--mufti --ryming and cuculling--custom at the savoy church minor queries with answers:--faithful teate-- kelway family--regatta--coket and cler-mantyn replies:-- curfew the "salt-peter-man," by c. h. cooper forms of judicial oaths, by john thrupp, &c. photographic correspondence:--washing collodion pictures--test for lenses--improvement in positives--cheap portable tent--rev. mr. sisson's new developing fluid replies to minor queries:--vanes--loselerius villerius--westminster parishes--hevristic--creole --general monk and the university of cambridge-- ecclesia anglicana--gibbon's library--golden bees --passage in orosius--names first given to parishes --grafts and the parent tree--lord cliff and howell's letters--the bouillon bible--rhymes on places-- serpents' tongues--consecrated roses, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. on chaucer's knowledge of italian. in the memoir prefixed to the aldine edition of the _poetical works of chaucer_, london, , sir harris nicolas expresses an opinion that dan geoffrey was not acquainted with the italian language, and therefore not versed in italian literature. "though chaucer undoubtedly knew latin and french, it is by no means certain, notwithstanding his supposed obligations to the decameron, that he was as well acquainted with italian. there may have been a common latin original of the main incidents of many, if not of all the tales, for which chaucer is supposed to have been wholly indebted to boccaccio, and from which originals boccaccio himself may have taken them. that chaucer was not acquainted with italian may be inferred from his not having introduced any italian quotation into his works, redundant as they are with latin and french words and phrases."--_life of chaucer_, pp. , . to which the following note is subjoined: "though chaucer's writings have not been examined for the purpose, the remark in the text is not made altogether from recollection, for at the end of speght's edition of chaucer's _works_, translations are given of the latin and french words in the poems, but not a single italian word is mentioned." if sir harris nicolas had examined the writings of chaucer with any care, he would scarcely have formed or expressed so strange an opinion, for he must necessarily have discovered that chaucer was not only well acquainted with the language, but thoroughly well versed in italian literature, and that he paraphrased and translated freely from the works of dante, petrarca, and boccaccio. chaucer would naturally quote latin and french, as being familiar to his cotemporaries, and would abstain from introducing italian, as a knowledge of that language must have been confined to a few individuals in his day; and he wrote for the many, and not for the minority. the circumstances of chaucer's life, his missions to italy, during which he resided several months in that country, when sent on the king's business to genoa, and florence, and lombardy, afforded { } him ample opportunities of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the language and literature of italy; the acquisition of which must have been of easy accomplishment to chaucer, already familiar with latin and french. so that it is not necessary to endow chaucer "with all human attainments as proof of his having spoken italian." chaucer's own writings, however, afford the strongest evidence against the opinion entertained by sir harris nicolas, and such evidence as cannot be controverted. chaucer loves to refer to dante, and often translates passages from the _divine comedy_. the following lines are very closely rendered from the _paradiso_, xiv. .:-- "thou one, two, and thre, eterne on live, that raignest aie in thre, two, and one, uncircumscript, and all maist circumscrive." last stanza of _troilus and creseide_. "_quell' uno e due e tre che sempre vive,_ _e regna sempre in tre e due ed uno_, _non circonscritto, e tutto circonscrive._" dante, _il paradiso_, xiv. . "wel can _the wise poet of florence_, that highte _dant_, speken of this sentence: lo, in swiche maner rime is _dantes_ tale. _ful selde up riseth by his branches smale_ _prowesse of man, for god of his goodnesse_ _wol that we claime of him our gentillesse._" _wif of bathes tale_, . "_rade volte risurge per li rami_ _l' umana probità: e questo vuole_ _quei che la dà, perchè da lui si chiami._" _purgatorio_, vii. . after relating the dread story of the conte ugolino, chaucer refers to dante, from whom perhaps he derived it. (conf. _inferno_, xxxiii.) "who so wol here it in a longer wise, redeth the grete poete of itaille, that highte _dante_, for he can it devise fro point to point, not o word wol he faille." _the monkes tale_, , . "bet than vergile, while he was on live, or _dant_ also."--_the freres tale_, . the following lines refer to the _inferno_, xiii. .: "envie is lavender of the court alway, for she ne parteth neither night ne day, out of the house of cesar, thus saith _dant_." prologue to the _legend of good women_, . "_dant_ that it tellen can" is mentioned in the _house of fame_, book i.; and chaucer is indebted to him for some lines in that fine poem, as in the description of the "egle, that with feathers shone all of gold" = _un' aquila nel ciel con penne d'oro_; and the following line: "o thought, that wrote all that i met." _house of fame_, ii. . "_o mente, che scrivesti ciò ch' io vidi._" _inferno_, ii. . the _knightes tale_ exhibits numerous passages, lines, and expressions verbally translated from the _teseide_ of boccaccio, upon which it is founded; such as _idio armipotente_ = mars armipotent; _eterno admante_ = athamant eterne; _paura palida_ = pale drede; _le ire rosse come focho_ = the cruel ire red as any glede. boccaccio describes the wood in which "mars hath his sovereine mansion" as-- "_una selva sterile de robusti_ _cerri,_ _nodosi aspri e rigidi e vetusti._ _vi si sentia grandissimo romore,_ _ne vera bestia anchora ne pastore._" _teseide_, book vii. there is a purposed grisly ruggedness in the corresponding passage of the _knightes tale_, which heightens the horrors of "thilke colde and frosty region:" "first on the wall was peinted _a forest,_ _in which ther wonneth neyther man ne best,_ _with knotty knarry barrein trees old_ _of stubbes sharpe and hidous to behold_; in which ther ran _a romble and a swough_, as though a storme shuld bresten every bough." _the knightes tale_, . the death of arcite is thus related by boccaccio: "la morte in ciascun membro era venuta da piedi in su, venendo verso il petto, ed ancor nelle braccia era perduta la vital forza; sol nello intelletto e nel cuore era ancora sostenuta la poca vita, ma già si ristretto eragli 'l tristo cor del mortal gelo che agli occhi fe' subitamente velo. "ma po' ch' egli ebbe perduto il vedere, con seco cominciò a mormorare, ognor mancando più del suo podere: nè troppo fece in ciò lungo durare; ma il mormorare trasportato in vere parole, con assai basso parlare addio emilia; e più oltre non disse, chè l' anima convenne si partisse." _teseide_, book x. . chaucer loses nothing of this description in his condensed translation: "for from his feet up to his brest was come the cold of deth, that had him overnome. and yet moreover in his armes two the vital strength is lost, and all ago. only the intellect, withouten more, that dwelled in his herte sike and sore, gan feillen, when the herte felte deth; dusked his eyen two, and failled his breth. but on his ladie yet cast he his eye; his laste word was; mercy, emelie!" _the knightes tale_, . _troilus and creseide_ seems to have been translated from the _filostrato_ of boccaccio, when { } chaucer was a young man, as we are informed by dan john lydgate in the prologue to his translation of boccaccio's _fall of princes_, where he speaks of his "maister chaucer" as the "chefe poete of bretayne," and tells us that-- "_in youthe he made a translacion_ of a boke which called is trophe, in lumbard tongue, as men may rede and se, _and in our vulgar, long or that he deyde_ gave it the name of troylous and cresseyde." chaucer's translation is sometimes very close, sometimes rather free and paraphrastic, as may be seen in the following examples: "but right as floures through the cold of night yclosed, stoupen in hir stalkes lowe, redressen hem ayen the sunne bright, and spreaden in hir kinde course by rowe." _troilus and creseide_, b. ii. "_come fioretto dal notturno gelo_ _chinato e chiuso, poi che il sol l' imbianca,_ _s'apre, e si leva dritto sopra il stelo._" boccaccio, _il filostrato_, iii. st. . "she was right soche to sene in her visage as is that wight that men on bere ybinde." _troilus and creseide_, b. iv. "_essa era tale, a guardarla nel viso,_ _qual donna morta alla fossa portata._" _il filostrato_, v. st. . "as fresh as faucon coming out of mew." _troilus and creseide_, b. iii. "_come falcon ch' uscisse dal cappello._" _il filostrato_, iv. st. . "the song of troilus," in the first book of _troilus and creseide_, is a paraphrase from one of the sonnets of petrarca: "_s' amor non è, che dunque è quel ch' i' sento?_ _ma s' egli è amor, per dio che cosa, e quale?_ _se buona, ond' è l' effetto aspro mortale?_" petrarca, _rime in vita di laura_, son. cii. "if no love is, o god, what feele i so? and if love is, what thing and which is he? if love be good, from whence cometh my wo?" _troilus and creseide_, b. i. chaucer evidently had the following lines of the _paradiso_ in view when writing the invocation to the virgin in _the second nonnes tale_: "vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio, umile e alta più che creatura, termine fisso d' eterno consiglio, tu se' colei, che l' umana natura, _nobilitasti_ sì, che il suo fattore non disdegno di farsi sua fattura." _paradiso_, xxxiii, i. "thou maide and mother, doughter of thy son, thou well of mercy, sinful soules cure, in whom that god of bountee chees to won; thou humble and high over every creature, thou _nobledest_ so fer forth our nature, that no desdaine the maker had of kinde his son in blood and flesh to clothe and winde." _the second nonnes tale_, , . traces of chaucer's proficiency in italian are discoverable in almost all his poems; but i shall conclude with two citations from _the assembly of foules_: "the day gan failen, and the darke night, that reveth beastes from hir businesse, berafte me my booke for lacke of light." _the assembly of foules_, i. . "_lo giorno se n'andava, e l'aer bruno_ _toglieva gli animai che sono in terra_ _dalle fatiche loro._"--_inf._ ii. . "with that my hand in his he toke anon, of which i comfort caught, and went in fast." _the assembly of foules_, i. . "_e poiche la sua mano alla mia pose_ _con lieto volto, ond' io mi confortai._" _inf._ iii. . by the way, chaucer commences _the assembly of foules_ with part of the first aphorism of hippocrates, "[greek: ho bios brachus hê de technê makrê]" (but this, i suppose, had been noticed before): "the lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne." chaucer was forty years old, or upwards, in , when he was sent as an envoy to treat with the duke, citizens, and merchants of genoa; and if, as is probable, he had translated _troilus and creseide_ out of the "lombarde tonge" in his youth (according to the testimony of lydgate), it is not unreasonable to infer that his knowledge of italian may have led to his being chosen to fill that office. but, however this may be, abundant proof has been adduced that chaucer was familiarly acquainted with italian. i may briefly remark, in conclusion, that the dates and other circumstances favour the supposed interview at padua, between fraunceis petrark the laureate poet, and dan chaucer, "floure of poets throughout all bretaine." j. m. b. tunbridge wells. * * * * * the rebellion of ' .--unpublished letter. inverness, th aprile, . dear sirs, this day about twelve our army came up with the rebels, about a mile above lord president's house, in a muir called drumrossie. they began the engagement first, by firing from a battery of six guns they had erected upon their right; but our cannon played so hott upon them, that they were obliged soon to fly, by which means we gote possession of their artillery, and so drove them before us for three miles of way. the cavalry gave them closs chase to the town of inverness: { } upon which the french ambassador (who is not well) sent out an officer, and a drum with him, offering to surrender at discretion; to which the duke made answer, that the french officers should be allowed to go about on their parole, and nothing taken from them. brigadier stapleton is among them, and god knows how many more officers; for we have not gote home to count them yet. its thought the rebels have between four and five hundred killed, and as many taken prisoners already: many more we expect this night, parties having been sent out after them. lord kilmarnock i saw prisoner, and major stewart, with many more. secretary murray is very bad: a party is just now sent for him, intelligence being brought where he is. i don't think we have lost thirty men, and not above five officers killed, amongst which are lord robert ker, captain grosset: the rest their names i have forgote. we are now in full possession of this place. some say the pretender was in the battle, and wounded; but others say he was not. such of them as are left are gone to fort augustus. the duke, god be praised, is in good health, and all the generalls. his royal highness behaved as if he had been inspired, riding up and down giveing orders himself. i am, gentlemen, your most obedt. servant, david bruce. after writing y^e above, y^e lists of y^e killed and wounded are as follows, so far as is yet known:-- we have of y^e prisoners killed and wounded on y^e field of y^e duke's army:-- killed, wounded, and amissing * * * * * gentlemen, i hope you'l pardon y^e confusedness of y^e foregoing line, as i have been in y^e utmost confusion since i came here. 'tis said, but not quite certain, y^t y^e following rebells are killed, viz.:--lochiel, capuch (keppach), lord nairn, lord lewis drummond, d. of perth, glengarry, &c. the french have all surrendered prisoners of war. david bruce. addressed to the governors of the town of aberdeen. x. y. z. * * * * * oliver st. john. in giving the lives of the commonwealth chief justices, lord campbell observes (_lives of chief justices_, vol. i. p. .), "in completing the list with the name of oliver st. john, i am well pleased with an opportunity of tracing his career and pourtraying his character." then follows a biography of thirty pages. the subject seems to be a favourite one with his lordship, and he accordingly produces a striking picture, laying on his colours in the approved historical style of the day, so as to make the painting an effective one, whether the resemblance be faithful or not. but how is it that the noble biographer appears to be quite unaware of what really is the only document we have relating to oliver st. john of his own composition, which does give us much light as to his career or character? i refer to _the case of oliver st. john, esq, concerning his actions during the late troubles_, pp. ., to., n.d. it is a privately printed tract, emanating from st. john himself, and was no doubt circulated amongst persons in power at the restoration, with a view to obtaining indemnity and pardon. my copy is signed by himself, and has some corrections in his autograph. his defence is full of interesting particulars, some of which are very inconsistent with lord campbell's speculations and statements. it would, however, occupy too much of your space were i to go through the various articles objected to by him, and to which he gives his replies and explanations. my object in noticing this tract at present, is to prevent any future biographer of this commonwealth worthy, whose life may well be an historical study, from neglecting an important source of information. i observe lord campbell (p. .) doubts whether he favoured the measure of making cromwell king. but if we are to believe the title-page of _monarchy asserted_, , mo., he was one of the speakers at the conference with cromwell on the th april, , in favour of his assuming the title of king. on the list of the committee which follows, the "lord chief justice" only is mentioned, but in the speeches a difference seems to be made between "lord chief justice" (pp. . . .) and "lord chief justice glynne" (p. .), and they would seem to be two different speakers. the title-page states distinctly, "the arguments of oliver st. john, lord chief justice, lord chief justice glyn, &c., members of that committee." jas. crossley. * * * * * notes on several misunderstood words. (_continued from_ p. .) _no did, no will, no had, &c._-- "_k. john._ . . . i had a mighty cause to wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him. _hubert._ _no had_ (my lord), why, did you not provoke me?" _king john_, act iv. sc. . so the first folio edition of shakspeare. a palpable error, as the commentators of the present would pleasantly observe, and all the world would echo the opinion; but here, as in most other { } instances, commentators and all the world may be wrong, and the folios right. the passage has accordingly been corrupted by the editors of shakspeare into what was more familiar to their modern ears: "had none, my lord!" though the mode of speech be very common, yet, to deprive future editors of all excuse for ever again depraving the genuine text of our national bible, i shall make no apology for accumulating a string of examples: "_fort._ oh, had i such a hat, then were i brave! where's he that made it? _sol._ dead: and the whole world yields not a workman that can frame the like. _fort._ _no does?_" "old fortunatus," _old english plays_, vol. iii. p. ., by dilke: who alters "no does?" into _none does?_ thinking, i presume, that he had thereby simplified the sentence: "_john._ i am an elde fellowe of fifty wynter and more, and yet in all my lyfe i knewe not this before. _parson._ _no dyd_, why sayest thou so, upon thyselfe thou lyest, thou haste euer knowen the sacramente to be the body of christ." _john bon and mast person._ "_chedsey._ christ said 'take, eat, this is my body;' and not 'take ye, eat ye.' _philpot._ _no did_, master doctor? be not these the words of christ, 'accipite, manducate?' and do not these words, in the plural number, signify 'take ye, eat ye;' and not 'take thou, eat thou,' as you would suppose?"--foxe's _acts and monuments_, vol. vii. p. ., cattley's edition. "_philpot._ master cosins, i have told my lord already, that i will answer to none of these articles he hath objected against me: but if you will with learning answer to that which is in question between my lord and me, i will gladly hear and commune with you. _cosins._ _no will_ you? why what is that then, that is in question between my lord and you?"--_id._, p. . "_philpot._ and as i remember, it is even the saying of st. bernard [viz. the holy ghost is christ's vicar on earth (_vic-arius_), and a saying that i need not to be ashamed of, neither you to be offended at; as my lord of durham and my lord of chichester by their learning can discern, and will not reckon it evil said. _london._ _no will?_ why, take away the first syllable, and it soundeth arius."--_id._ p. . "_philpot._ these words of cyprian do nothing prove your pretensed assertion; which is, that to the church of rome there could come no misbelief. _christopherson._ good lord, _no doth_? what can be said more plainly?"--_id._, p. . again, at p. . there occur no less than three more instances and at p. . another. "_careless._ no, forsooth: i do not know any such, nor have i heard of him that i wot of. _martin._ _no have_, forsooth: and it is even he that hath written against thy faith." then _martin_ said: "dost thou not know one master chamberlain? _careless._ no forsooth; i know him not. _martin._ _no dost!_ and he hath written a book against thy faith also."--_id._, vol. iii. p. . "_lichfield and coventry._ we heard of no such order. _lord keeper._ _no did?_ yes, and on the first question ye began willingly. how cometh it to pass that ye will not now do so?"--_id._, p. . "then said sir thomas moyle: 'ah! bland, thou art a stiff-hearted fellow. thou wilt not obey the law, nor answer when thou art called.' '_nor will_,' quoth sir john baker. 'master sheriff, take him to your ward.'"--_id._, vol. vii. p. . is it needful to state, that the original editions have, as they ought to have, a note of interrogation at "baker?" i will not tax the reader's patience with more than two other examples, and they shall be fetched from the writings of that admirable papist--the gentle, the merry-hearted more: "well, quod caius, thou wylt graunte me thys fyrste, that euery thynge that hath two erys is an asse.--nay, mary mayster, wyll i not, quod the boy.--_no wylt_ thou? quod caius. ah, wyly boy, there thou wentest beyond me."--the thyrde boke, the first chapter, fol. . of sir thomas more's _dialogues_. "why, quod he, what coulde i answere ellys, but clerely graunt hym that i believe that thyng for none other cause but only bycause the scripture so sheweth me?--_no could ye?_ quod i. what yf neuer scripture had ben wryten in thys world, should there neuer haue bene eny chyrch or congregacyon of faythfull and ryght beyleuyng people?--that wote i nere, quod he. _no do ye?_ quod i."--_id._, fol. . in taking leave of this idiom, it would not perhaps be amiss to remark, that "ye can," in duke humphey's rejoinder to the "blyson begger of st. albonys," is not, as usually understood, "you can?" but "yea can?" * * * * * _to be at point_ = to be at a stay or stop, _i.e._ settled, determined, nothing farther being to be said or done: a very common phrase. half a dozen examples shall suffice: " . . . . . what i am truly is thine, and my poore countries to command: whither indeed before they (thy) heere-approach, old seyward with ten thousand warlike men already _at a point_, was setting forth." _macbeth_, act iv. sc. . st fol. no profit to give the commentators' various guesses at the import of the phrase in the above passage, which will be best gathered from the following instances of its use elsewhere. but, before passing further, i beg permission to inform mr. knight that the original suggester of "sell" for "self," in an earlier part of this play, whose name { } he is at a loss for, was w. s. landor, whose footnote to vol. ii. p. ., moxon's edit. of his works, is as follows: "and here it may be permitted the editor to profit also by the manuscript, correcting in shakespeare what is _absolute nonsense_ as now printed: '_vaulting_ ambition that o'erleaps _itself_, and falls on the _other side_.' other side of what? it should be _its sell_. _sell_ is saddle in spenser and elsewhere, from the latin and italian." a correspondent of "n. & q."., vol. vii., p. ., will be delighted to find his very ingenious discovery brought home, and corroborated by landor's valuable manuscript: but it is an old said saw--"great wits jump." now to our examples: "_pasquin._ saint luke also affirmeth the same, saying flatly that he shall not be forgiuen. beholde, therefore, how well they interprete the scriptures. _marforius._ i am alreadie _at a poynt_ with them, but thou shalt doo me great pleasure to expounde also vnto me certayne other places, vppon the which they ground this deceit."--_pasquine in a traunce_, turned but lately out of the italian into this tongue by w. p.: london, . "but look, where malice reigneth in men, there reason can take no place: and, therefore, i see by it, that you are all _at a point_ with me, that no reason or authority can persuade you to favour my name, who never meant evil to you, but both your commodity and profit."--foxe's _acts and monuments_, vol. viii. p. . "not so, my lord," said i, "for i am _at a full point_ with myself in that matter; and am right well able to prove both your transubstantiation with the real presence to be against the scriptures and the ancient fathers of the primitive church."--_id._, p. . "_winchester._ no, surely, i am fully determined, and fully _at a point_ therein, howsoever my brethren do."--_id._, p. . "_brad._ sir, so that you will define me your church, that under it you bring not in a false church, you shall not see but that we shall soon be _at a point_."--_id._, vol. vii. p. . "_latimer._ truly, my lord, as for my part i require no respite, for i am _at a point_. you shall give me respite in vain; therefore, i pray you let me not trouble you to-morrow."--_id._, p. . "unto whom he (lord cobham) gave this answer: 'do as ye shall think best, for i am _at a point_.' whatsoever he (archbishop arundel) or the other bishops did ask him after that, he bade them resort to his bill: for thereby would he stand to the very death."--_id._, vol. iii. pp. - . "'et illa et ista vera esse credantur et nulla inter nos contentio remanebit, quia nec illis veris ista, nec istis veris illa impediuntur.' let bothe those truthes and these truthes be beleued, and we shall be _at appoinct_. for neither these truthes are impaired by the other, neither the other by these."--_a fortresse of the faith_, p. ., by thomas stapleton: antwerp, . "a poore man that shall haue liued at home in the countrie, and neuer tasted of honoure and pompe, is alwayes _at a poynt_ with himselfe, when menne scorne and disdayne him, or shewe any token of contempt towardes his person."--john calvin's _cviii. sermon on the thirtieth chap. of job_, p. ., translated by golding: london, . "as for peace, i am _at a point_."--_leycester correspondence_, camd. soc., p. . w. r. arrowsmith. (_to be continued._) * * * * * folk lore. _weather rules._--the interesting article on "the shepherd of banbury's weather rules" (vol. vii., p. .) has reminded me of two _sayings_ i heard in worcestershire a few months back, and upon which my informant placed the greatest reliance. the first is, "if the moon changes on a sunday, there will be a flood before the month is out." my authority asserted that through a number of years he has never known this fail. the month in which the change on a sunday has occurred has been fine until the last day, when the flood came. the other saying is, "look at the weathercock on st. thomas's day at twelve o'clock, and see which way the wind is, and there it will stick for the next quarter," that is, three months. can any of your readers confirm the above, and add any similar "weather rules?" j. a., jun. birmingham. _drills presaging death_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent asks if the superstition he here alludes to in norfolk is believed in other parts. i can give him a case in point in berkshire:--some twenty years ago an old gentleman died there, a near relative of my own; and on going down to his place, i was told by a farm overseer of his, that he was certain some of his lordship's family would die that season, as, in the last sowing, he had missed putting the seed in one row, which he showed me! "who could disbelieve it now?" quoth the old man. i was then taken to the bee-hives, and at the door of every one this man knocked with his knuckles, and informed the occupants that they must now work for a new master, as their old one was gone to heaven. this, i believe, has been queried in your invaluable paper some time since. i only send it by the way. i know the same superstition is still extant in cheshire, north wales, and in some parts of scotland. t. w. n. malta. a friend supplies me with the information that before drills were invented, the labourers { } considered it unlucky to miss a "bout" in corn or seed sowing, will sometimes happened when "broadcast" was the only method. the ill-luck did not relate alone to a _death_ in the family of the farmer or his dependents, but to losses of cattle or accidents. it is singular, however, that the superstition should have transferred itself to the drill; but it will be satisfactory to e. g. r. to learn that the process of _tradition_ and _superstition-manufacturing_ is not going on in the nineteenth century. e. s. taylor. _superstition in devonshire; valentine's day_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--this, according to forby, vol. ii. p. ., once formed in norfolk a part of the superstitious practices on _st. mark's eve_, not st. valentine's, as mentioned by j. s. a., when the sheeted ghosts of those who should die that year (mrs. crowe would call them, i suppose, _doppelgängers_) march in grisly array to the parish church. the rhyme varies from j. s. a.'s:-- "hempseed i sow: hempseed grow; he that is my true love come after me, and mow." and the norfolk spectre is seen with a _scythe_, instead of a rake like his devonshire compeer. e. s. taylor. * * * * * a note on gulliver's travels. if i may argue from the silence of the latest edition of _gulliver's travels, with notes_, with which i am acquainted, viz. that by w. c. taylor, ll.d., trinity college, dublin, the preface to which is dated may st, , i may say that all the commentators on swift--all, at least, down to that late date--have omitted to refer to a work containing incidents closely resembling some of those recorded in the "voyage to lilliput." the work to which i allude is a little dramatical composition, the bambocciata, or puppet-show, by martelli, entitled _the sneezing of hercules_. goldoni, in his _memoirs_, has given us the following account of the manner in which he brought it out on the stage: "count lantieri was very well satisfied with my father, for he was greatly recovered, and almost completely cured: his kindness was also extended to me, and to procure amusement for me he caused a puppet-show, which was almost abandoned, and which was very rich in figures and decorations, to be refitted. "i profited by this, and amused the company by giving them a piece of a great man, expressly composed for wooden comedians. this was the _sneezing of hercules_, by peter james martelli, a bolognese. . . . . . . . . . . "the imagination of the author sent hercules into the country of the pigmies. those poor little creatures, frightened at the aspect of an animated mountain with legs and arms, ran and concealed themselves in holes. one day as hercules had stretched himself out in the open field, and was sleeping tranquilly, the timid inhabitants issued out of their retreats, and, armed with prickles and rushes, mounted on the monstrous man, and covered him from head to foot, like flies when they fall on a piece of rotten meat. hercules waked, and felt something in his nose, which made him sneeze; on which, his enemies tumbled down in all directions. this ends the piece. "there is a plan, a progression, an intrigue, a catastrophe, and winding up; the style is good and well-supported; the thoughts and sentiments are all proportionate to the size of the personages. the verses even are short, and everything indicates pigmies. "a gigantic puppet was requisite for hercules; everything was well executed. the entertainment was productive of much pleasure; and i could lay a bet, that i am the only person who ever thought of executing the bambocciata of martelli."--_memoirs of goldoni_, translated by john black, vols., duod. vol. i. chap. . it is certainly not necessary to point out here in what respects the adventures of hercules, the _animated mountain_, and those of quinbus flestrin, the _man mountain_, differ from, or coincide with, each other, as the only question i wish to raise is, whether a careful analysis of martelli's puppet-show ought, or ought not, to have been placed among the notes on _gulliver's travels_. c. forbes. temple. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. in reply to j. m. g. of worcester, who inquires for a ms. volume of english poetry containing some lines attributed to shakspeare, and which is described in thorpe's _catalog_ of mss. for , i can supply some particulars which may assist him in the research. the ms., which at one period had belonged to joseph hazlewood, was purchased from thorpe by the late lord viscount kingsborough; after whose decease it was sold, in november, , at charles sharpe's literary sale room, anglesea street, dublin. it is no. . in the auction catalogue of that part of his lordship's library which was then brought to auction. the volume has been noticed by patrick fraser tytler, in his _life of sir walter raleigh_, edinburgh, (in appendix b, p. ., of nd edit.), where, citing the passage from collier, which is referred to by j. m. g., he asserts that the lines are not shakspeare's, but jonson's. but he does not appear to me to have established his case beyond doubt; as the lines, though found among jonson's works, may, notwithstanding, be the production of some other writer: and why not of shakspeare, to whom they are ascribed in the ms.? some verses by sir j. c. hobhouse originally appeared as lord byron's: and there are { } numerous instances, both ancient and modern, of a similar attribution of works to other than their actual authors. arterus. dublin. _the island of prospero._--we cannot assert that shakspeare, in the _tempest_, had any particular island in view as the scene of his immortal drama, though by some this has been stoutly maintained. chalmers prefers one of the bermudas. the rev. j. hunter, in his _disquisition on the scene, &c. of the tempest_, endeavours to confer the honour on the island of lampedosa. in reference to this question, a statement of the pseudo-aristotle is remarkable. in his work "[greek: peri thaumasiôn akousmatôn]," he mentions lipara, one of the Æolian islands, lying to the north of sicily, and nearly in the course of shakspeare's neapolitan fleet from tunis to naples. among the [greek: polla teratôdê] found there, he tells us: "[greek: exakouesthai gar tumpanôn kai kumbalôn êchon gelôta te meta thorubou kai krotalôn enargôs. legousi de ti teratôdesteron gegonenai peri to spêlaion.]" if we compare this with the aerial music heard by ferdinand (_tempest_, i. .), especially as the orchestra is represented by the genial burin of m. retsch in the fifth plate of his well-known sketches (_umrisze_), it will appear probable that shakspeare was acquainted with the greek writer either in the original or through a translation. as far as i am aware, this has not been observed by any of the commentators.--from _the navorscher_. j. m. _coincident criticisms._--i shall be obliged if you will allow me through your pages to anticipate and rebut two charges of plagiarism. when i wrote my note on a passage in _the winter's tale_ ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .), i had not seen the _dublin university magazine_ for march last, containing some remarks on the same passage in some respects much resembling mine. i must also declare that my note on a passage in _all's well that ends well_ ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .) was posted for you some time before the appearance of a. e. b.'s note on the same passage ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .). the latter coincidence is more remarkable than the former, as the integrity of the amended text was in both notes discussed by means of the same parallel passage. _apropos_ of a. e. b.'s clever note, permit me to say, that though at first it appeared to me conclusive, i now incline to think that shakspeare intended helen to address the _leaden messengers_ by means of a very hyperbolic figure: "wound the still-piecing air that sings with piercing" is a consistent whole. if, as a. e. b. rightly says, _to wound the air_ is an impossibility, it is equally impossible that the air should utter any sound expressive of sensibility. the fact of course is, that the cannon-balls _cleave_ the air, and that by so cleaving it a shrill noise is produced. the cause and effect may, however, be metaphorically described, by comparing air to bertram. i believe it is a known fact that every man who is struck with a cannon-ball cries out instinctively. shakspeare therefore might, i think, have very poetically described the action and effect of a cannon-ball passing through the air by the strong figure of _wounding the air that sings with the piercing which it is enduring_. in concluding this note, i beg to express what is not merely my own, but a very general feeling of disappointment in respect of mr. collier's new edition of shakspeare. to it, with a new force, may be applied the words of a. e. b. in "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .: "but the evil of these emendations is not in this instance confined to the mere suggestion of doubt; the text has absolutely been altered in all accessible editions, in many cases _silently_, so that the ordinary reader has no opportunity of judging between _shakspeare_ and his improvers." that mr. collier should be the greatest of such offenders, is no very cheering sign of the times. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _dogberry's losses_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i do not know whether it has ever been suggested, but i feel inclined to read "lawsuits." he has just boasted of himself as "one that knows the _law_;" and it seems natural enough that he should go on to brag of being a rich fellow enough, "and a fellow that hath had _lawsuits_" of his own, and actually figured as plaintiff or defendant. suppose the words taken down from the mouth of an actor, and the mistake would be easy. john doe. * * * * * the coenaculum of lionardo da vinci. i have in my possession a manuscript critique on the celebrated picture of the last supper by lionardo da vinci, written many years ago by a deceased academician; in which the writer has called in question the _point of time_ usually supposed to have been selected by the celebrated italian painter. the criticisms are chiefly founded on the copy by marco oggioni, now in the possession of the royal academy of arts. uniform tradition has assumed that the moment of action is that in which the saviour announces the treachery of one of his disciples "dico vobis quia unus vestrum me traditurus est." matth. xxvi. ., joan. xiii. ., vulgate edit.; and most of the admirers of this great work have not failed to find in it decisive proofs of the intention of the painter to represent that exact point of time. { } the author of the manuscript enters into a very detailed examination of the several groups of figures which compose the picture, and of the expression of the heads; and he confesses his inability to find in them anything decisively indicating the period supposed to be chosen. he remarks that nine at least of the persons, including the principal one, are evidently engaged in animated conversation; that instead of that concentrated attention which the announcement might be supposed to generate, there appears to be great variety of expressions and of action; and that neither surprise nor indignation are so generally prominent, as might have been expected. he inclines to think that the studied diversity of expression, and the varied attitudes and gestures of the assembled party, are to be regarded as proofs of the artist's efforts to produce a powerful and harmonious composition, rather than a natural and truthful representation of any particular moment of the transaction depicted by him. the work in question is now so generally accessible through the medium of accurate engravings, that any one may easily exercise his own judgment on the matter, and decide for himself whether the criticism be well founded. it must be borne in mind that the subject had long been a familiar decoration of conventual refectories before the time when lionardo brought his profound knowledge of external human nature, and his unsurpassed powers of executive art, to bear on a subject which had before been treated in the dry, conventional, inanimate manner of the middle ages. the leading features of the traditional picture are retained: the long table, the linen cloth, the one-sided arrangement of the figures, the classic drapery, and the general form and design of the apartment, are all to be found in the earlier works; and must have been considered, by observers in general, far more essential to the correct delineation of the scene than any adherence to the exact description of it in any one of the evangelists. but as the subject was usually introduced into refectories for the edification of the brethren assembled with their superior at their own meals, it does not seem likely that the treachery of judas should have been intended to be the prominent action of the picture. it was a memorial of the institution of the eucharist, although the christ was not represented as dispensing either bread or wine. in such a case, if any particular point of time was ever contemplated by the artist, he might judiciously and appropriately select the moment when the saviour was announcing, in mysterious words, the close of his mission--as in st. matthew and st. mark; or was teaching them a lesson of humility when the spirit of rivalry and strife had disclosed itself among them--as we find in st. luke and st. john. it is not perhaps generally known that the statutes of queen's college, oxford, prescribe the order of sitting at the common table in manner which evidently refers to the _coenaculum_ of the old church painters. e. smirke. * * * * * minor notes. _scotter register (county lincoln)._--the following extracts from the register of the parish of scotter, in the county of lincoln, are perhaps sufficiently interesting to be worth printing in "n. & q.": . "eccelesia parochialis de scotter comitatu lincolniæ dedicata est beatis apostolis sancto petro et sancto paulo ut apparet in antiquo scripto viduæ loddington de scotter, viz. in testamento vltimo thomæ dalyson, gen. de scotter, qui obiit junii ^o, anno domini . "gul. carrington, "rector ecl[=i]a ibid." . "_memorandum_, that on septuagesima sunday, being the ^{th} day of january, , one francis drury, an excommunicate person, came into the church in time of divine service in y^e morning, and being admonisht by mee to begon, hee obstinately refused, whereuppon y^e whole congregation departed; and after the same manner in the afternoon, the same day, he came again, and refusing againe to go out, the whole congregation againe went home, soe y^t little or no service pformed. they prevented his further coming in y^t manner, as hee threatned, by order from the justice, uppon the statute of queene elizabeth concerning the molestation and disturbance of publiq preachers. wm. carrington, rec." "o tempora, o mores." . "michæl skinner senex centum et trium annorum sepultus fuit die sancti johannis, viz. dec. , ." edward peacock, jun. bottesford moors, kirton lindsey. "_all my eye._"--"_over the left._" "what benefit a popish successor can reap from lives and fortunes spent in defence of the protestant religion, he may put in his eye: and what the protestant religion gets by lives and fortunes spent in the service of a popish successor, will be over the left shoulder."--preface to _julian the apostate_: london, printed for langley curtis, on ludgate hill. . is this passage the origin of the above cant phrases? george daniel. canonbury. _curious marriages._--in _harl. mss._ , p. ., is the pedigree of irby, where anthony irby has two daughters: margaret, who married henry death, and dorothy, who married john domesday. e. g. ballard. { } _child-mother._--four months ago, on board the brazil packet, the royal mail steam-vessel severn, there was an instance of a "child-wife," which might be worthy of a place among your curiosities of that description. she was the wedded wife of a brazilian travelling from the brazils to lisbon, and her husband applied for permission to pay the "reduced passage money" for her as being "under twelve years of age!" as the regulation on that head speaks of "_children_ under twelve years of age," this _conscientious_ brazilian's demand could not be countenanced. his wife's age was under eleven years and a half, and (_credat judæus_) _she was a mother_! a. l. * * * * * queries. further queries respecting bishop ken. (_continued from_ vol. vii., p. .) in a _collection of poems_, in six volumes, by several hands (dodsley, th edition, ), and in vol. iii. p. ., is found "an epistle from florence to t. a., esq., tutor to the earl of p----. written in the year . by the honourable ----." can any one explain an allusion contained in these three lines of the epistle? "or with wise ken judiciously define, when pius marks the honorary coin of caracalla, or of antonine." it is hardly to be supposed that the ken here named could mean the bishop, who died so far back as . was there a coin-collector of that name living about ? we learn (from ken's _prose works_, ed. round, pp. , .) that the bishop's sister, "my poor sister ken," most probably then a widow, lost her only son, who died at cyprus, in . was this mrs. ken the rose vernon, sister of sir thomas vernon, of coleman street, london, and the wife of jon ken, the bishop's eldest brother, and treasurer of the east india company? this jon and rose ken are represented, in mr. markland's pedigree of the ken family, as still living in . is there no monumental memorial of this treasurer ken, or his family, in any of the london churches? in mr. macaulay's _history of england_, th ed., vol. ii. p. ., he states that "it was well known that one of the most opulent dissenters of the city had begged that he might have the honour of giving security for ken," when the seven bishops were bailed, previous to their trial. on what authority (for none is cited) does this statement rest? can any one give a clue to this passage from a letter written to mr. harbin, lord weymouth's chaplain, by bishop ken, and dated "winton, jan ." [ ]: "i came to winchester yesterday, where i stay one post more, and then go either to sir r. u. or l. newton, where you shall hear from me."--ken's _prose works_, by round, p. . can "sir r. u." (the _u_ perhaps being a mistake for _w._) designate sir robert worsley, bart., of chilton, in the county of southampton, married to lord weymouth's daughter? and can "l. newton" be a mistake for long sutton, in hants? or may it be long newton, in the hundred of malmesbury? j. j. j. temple. * * * * * the rev. john lawson and his mathematical manuscripts. in the year the rev. john lawson, b.d., rector of swanscombe in kent, published _a dissertation on the geometrical analysis of the antients, with a collection of theorems and problems without solutions for the exercise of young students_. this work was printed anonymously at canterbury, but the merits of the essay did not permit the author to remain long in obscurity; the real writer was immediately known to most of the geometers of the day, and the elegant character of many of the theorems and problems, led to a general desire that their solutions should be published in a separate work. in accordance with this intention, it was announced on a fly-sheet attached to some copies of the work, that-- "the author of this publication being a man of leisure, and living in a retired situation, remote from any opportunity of conversation with mathematicians, would be extremely glad of a correspondence with any such, who are willing to be at the expense of the same; or if this be thought too much, will pay the postage of his answers to their letters. but no letters, except post-paid, can be received by him; otherwise a door would be opened for frolic, imposition, and impertinence. any new geometrical propositions, either theorems or problems, would be received with gratitude, and if sent without solutions, he would use his best endeavours to return such as might be satisfactory. any new solutions of propositions already in print, _especially of those included in the present collection_, would also be very agreeable. if a variety of such demonstrations essentially different from those of the original authors should be communicated, he proposes at some future time to publish them all, with a fresh collection for further exercise; and then each author's name shall be affixt to his own solution, or any other signature which he shall please to direct. any person who shall favor the publisher with his correspondence shall have speedily conveyed to him the solutions of any propositions contained in this collection, which he may be desirous of seeing. letters (post-paid) directed for p. q., to be left at mr. nourse's, bookseller, in the { } strand, london, will be carefully transmitted on the first day of each month, and all correspondents may expect answers during the course of that month." in consequence of this appeal, mr. lawson was speedily in correspondence with several of the most able geometers then living, and amongst the rest, messrs. ainsworth, clarke, merrit, power, &c., appear to have furnished him with original solutions to his collection of theorems and problems. the manuscript containing these solutions must have been of considerable size, since a portion of it was sent down to manchester about july, , for the purpose of obtaining mr. ainsworth's remarks and corrections; and mr. lawson is requested, in a letter bearing date "august , ," to "send the next portion when convenient." whether mr. lawson did so or not, i have not yet been able to ascertain; but this much is certain, the manuscript was never printed, and would most probably either be disposed of at the death of its compiler, or previously transferred to the possession of some geometer of mr. lawson's acquaintance. several of the _original_ letters which passed between the respective parties relating to this manuscript are at present in the hands of two or three of the lancashire geometers, but no one seems to know anything of the manuscript itself. may i then request that the fortunate holder of this yet valuable collection will make himself known through the medium of the widely circulated pages of "n. & q." t. t. wilkinson. burnley, lancashire. * * * * * minor queries. _"wanderings of memory."_--in brayley's _graphic and historical illustrator_, p. ., is a quotation from the _wanderings of memory_, as a motto to an account of the ancient castle of the peverils at castleton, in derbyshire: can any of your readers tell me who was the author of the poem in question? w. r. camden town. _"wandering willie's tale."_--has the scene that presented itself to the view of piper steenie steenson, when he was ushered by the phantom of his old friend dougal m^ccallum into the presence of the ghastly revellers carousing in the auld oak parlour of the visionary redgauntlet castle, ever been painted? (see _redgauntlet_, letter xi.) if it has, is there any engraving of the picture extant or on sale? c. forbes. temple. _chapel sunday._--i had the pleasure of spending a sunday in the course of the last summer in the neighbourhood of keswick, among the delightful lake scenery of england. i there learned that in the village of thornthwaite it was chapel sunday, and on inquiry i was told that there were a few other villages in the neighbourhood where there was also a chapel sunday. upon this day it is the custom of young people to come from neighbouring places to attend worship at the village church or chapel, and the afternoon partakes of a merry-making character at the village inn. there appeared, as far as i could see, no excesses attending the anniversary, all being respectable in their conduct. can any of your cambrian readers inform me the origin of this anniversary? prestoniensis. _proud salopians._--i have never heard a satisfactory account of the origin of this title, given to persons belonging to my native county. in the neighbourhood the following story is frequently related, but with what authority i cannot tell, viz. "that upon the king (query which?) offering to make shrewsbury a city, the inhabitants replied that they preferred its remaining the largest borough in england, rather than it should be the smallest city; their pride not allowing them to be small among the great." if this history of the term be true, it would appear that the name should only be applied to _burgesses of shrewsbury_. salopian. _george miller, d.d._--in the year , george miller, subsequently the author of _modern history philosophically illustrated_, and many other well-known works (of which a list appears in a recent memoir), was appointed donnelan lecturer in trinity college, dublin; and delivered a course of sermons or lectures on "an inquiry into the causes that have impeded the further progress of christianity." i should be very glad indeed to know whether these sermons have appeared in print; and if so, when and where published? i have not been able to procure a copy. with regard to the donnelan lectureship, i may add, that a legacy of l. was bequeathed to the college of dublin by mrs. anne donnelan, of the parish of st. george, hanover square, in the county of middlesex, spinster, "for the encouragement of religion, learning, and good manners." the particular mode of application was entrusted to the provost and senior fellows; and accordingly, amongst other resolutions of the board, passed feb. , , are to be found the following: "that a divinity lecture, to which shall be annexed a salary arising from the interest of l., shall be established for ever, to be called donnelan's lecture;" and "that one moiety of the interest of the said l. shall be paid to the lecturer as soon as he shall have delivered the whole number [six] of the lectures; and the other moiety as soon as he shall have _published_ four of the said lectures." abhba. { } _members of parliament._--pennant, in _the journey from chester to london_, p. ., says: "the ancient owners of rudgley were of the same name with the town: some of the family had the honour of being sheriffs of the county in the reign of edward iii. _another was knight of the shire in the same period._" can any reader of "n. & q." verify the _last portion_ of pennant's statement? j. w. s. r. st. ives, hunts. _taret._--i have lately met with mention of a "small insect called the _taret_." what may this be? tyro. _jeroboam of claret, &c._--could any of your correspondents inform me what a jeroboam of claret is, and from what it is derived: also a magnum of port? winebibber. _william williams of geneva._--in _livre des anglois, à génève_, with a few biographical notes by j. s. burn, esq., pages , . , ., mention is made of guillaume--will[=m] will[=m]s, and jane his wife,--will[=m] will[=m]s, a senior of the church there in , , , ; and some of the years he was a godfather. i shall be glad to have some further account of such william williams, or references to where to find such? glwysig. _the first of april and "the cap awry."_--tom moore, in his diary, , says: "april st. made bessy turn her cap awry in honour of the day." what was the origin of this custom? was this the way a fool was supposed to show that his head was turned? c. r. paternoster row. _sir g. browne, bart._--sir george browne, bart., of west stafford, berks, and wickham, is said to have had nineteen children by his wife eleanor blount; and that three of those children were sons, killed in the service of charles i. was either of those sons named richard; and was any of them, and which, married? if so, where, and to whom? newbury. _bishop butler._--will any of our roman catholic friends tell us on what authority they assert that bishop butler, the author of _the analogy_, died in their communion? that he was suspected of a tendency that way during his life is acknowledged by all, though the grounds, that of setting up a cross in his chapel, are confessedly unsatisfactory. but, besides this, it is alleged that he died with a roman catholic book of devotion in his hand, and that the last person in whose company he was seen was a priest of that persuasion. one would be glad to have this question sifted. x. y. z. _oaken tombs._--in dr. whitaker's noble history of _loidis and elmete_, p. ., is the following passage: "next in point of time is a very singular memorial, which has evidently been removed from its original position, between the chapel and the high altar, to a situation at the south side and west end of the chapel.... the tomb is a messy frame-work of oak, with quarter-foils and arms on three sides, and on the table above three statues of the same material, namely, of a knight bare-headed, with rather youthful countenance and sharp features, and his two wives. on the filleting is this rude inscription in old english: 'bonys emong stonys, lyes here ful styl, quilst the sawle wanders wher god wyl. anno d^{ni} mcccccxxix.' this commemorates sir john savile, who married, &c. "over all has been a canopy, or rather tester, for the whole must have originally resembled an antique and massy bedstead, exhibiting the very incongruous appearance of a husband in bed with two wives at once." the doctor adds: "oaken tombs are very rare; that of aymer de valence in westminster abbey has been and still is in part coated over with copper, gilt, and enamelled, and i have seen another in the church of tickencote in rutlandshire. i do not recollect a third specimen." query, how many have been discovered since the great historian's day? st. bees. _alleged bastardy of elizabeth._--in the state paper office (_dom. pap._, temp. jac. i.), there is, under date of , a letter from mr. chamberlaine to sir dudley carleton, of october , in which chamberlaine says: "i heare of a bill put into the exchequer, concerninge much lande that sh^d be alienated on account of the alleged bastardy of queen elizabeth." p. c. s. s. is desirous to know whether there be any record in the court of exchequer which bears out this singular statement. p. c. s. s. _"pugna porcorum."_--where may be found some account of the author, object, &c. of this facetious production? p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _parviso._--can any of your readers inform me as to the meaning of the word _parviso_; it occurs in the usual form of the "testamur" for responsions. on reference to webster's _dictionary_, i find that _parvis_ is a small porch or gateway; perhaps this may throw some light upon the question. oxoniensis. _mr. justice newton._--there is a very stiff indian-ink copy of a portrait in the _sutherland illustrated clarendon_, in the bodleian library, the original of which i should be glad to trace. it is described in the catalogue to be "by bulfinch," { } which is probably a mistake. it bears the following inscription: "this is drawn from the painting in the hands of mr. justice newton of the middle temple." can any one inform me when this learned justice lived; or rather, for it concerns me more, when he died? and farther, if it be not too hopeless an inquiry to make, who his existing representatives (if any) may be? f. kyffin lenthall. . mount street, grosvenor square. _mufti._--i hear military men employ this term, "we went in _mufti_:" meaning, out of uniform. whence is it derived? maria. _ryming and cuculling._--in that very curious volume of extracts from _the presbytery book of strathbogie_, a.d. - , which was printed for the spalding club in , occurs the following passage: "george jinkin and john christie referred from the session of abercherder, for _ryming and cuculling_, called, compeird not. ordained to be summonded _pro_ ^o."--p. . accordingly, on-- "the said day, george jinkin in abercherder, being summonded for his _ryming and cuculling_, being called, compeired; and being accused of the foresaid fault, confessed he only spoke three words of _that ryme_. being sharpely rebuked, and instructed of the grosnes of that sin, was ordained to satisfie in sackcloth, which he promised to do."--p. . what was the "fault" here alluded to, and visited with a species of discipline with which the presbytery, and those under its jurisdiction, appear to have been very familiar? d. _custom at the savoy church._--at the savoy church (london), the sunday following christmas day, there was a chair placed near the door, covered with a cloth: on the chair was an orange, in a plate. can any of the readers of "n. & q." inform me the meaning of this? ceridwen. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _faithfull teate._--i lately fell in with a small work by this divine, entitled _ter tria_, and on the fly-leaf is a ms. note, stating that some years ago a copy of the same book was priced, in a bookseller's catalogue in london, at l. s. d. i wish to learn some particulars relative to the author, and if the work is valuable, or scarce, or both. j. s. [neither calamy nor brook has furnished any biographical notices of dr. faithfull teate. when he wrote _ter tria_, in , he was a "preacher of the word at sudbury in suffolk." a second edition of it was published in . in appeared his _scripture map of the wildernesse of sin_," to. in a discourse on _right thoughts, the righteous man's evidence_, he has the following passage, accommodated to his own destitute state after his ejectment: "the righteous man, in thinking of his present condition of life, thinks it his relief, that the less money he has he may go the more upon trust; the less he finds in his purse, seeks the more in the promise of him that has said, 'i will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;' so that he thinks no man can take away his livelihood, unless he can first take away god's truth." lowndes has given the following prices of _ter tria_: sir m. m. sykes, part iii. ., s.; nassau, part ii. ., s.; white knights, ., l.; _bibl. ang. poet._, ., l. s. d.] _kelway family._--can any of the readers of "n. & q." guide me to anything like a pedigree of the family of _kelloway_, _kaloway_, or _kelway_; which i find from lysons' _devonshire_ possessed the manor of mokesbean in that county from the time of henry ii.? in the first year of edward iii., when the property of those who suffered after the battle of boroughbridge was restored, john de keilewaye was found "hæres de integro sanguine" to lord gifford of brimesfield. the last of the family appears to have been john kelloway of collampton in devon, who married joan tregarthian; and dying in , left co-heiresses married to greville of penheale, codrington of codrington, harwood, and cooke. the arms of the family are singular, being, argent within a bordure engrailed sable, two groving irons in saltire sable, between four pears or. r. h. c. [the pedigree of this family will be found in two copies by munday of the "visitation of devonshire," a.d. , in the harleian mss. . p. ., and , p. . the only difference in the arms is, in both copies, that there is _no bordure engrailed_; but this has probably been added since as a _difference_, as was often done to distinguish families. the name is here spelt _kelloway_, and the pedigree begins with "thomas kelloway of stowford in county devon, who married anne, daughter of ---- copleston, of ----, in county somerset," and ends with "john kelloway, who married margery, daughter of john arscott of dunsland, and left issue robert, who married ----, and richard."] _regatta._--what is the etymology of the word _regatta_? from whence is it derived, and when was it first used in english to mean a boat-race? c. b. n. c. j. s. [baretti says, "regatta, _palio che si corre sull' acqua_; a race run on water in boats. the word i take to be corrupted from _remigata_, the art of rowing." florio, in his _worlde of wordes_, has "_regattare_, ital. to wrangle, to cope or fight for the mastery." the term, as denoting a showy species of boat-race, was first used in this { } country towards the close of the last century; for the papers of that time inform us, that on june , , a regatta, a _novel_ entertainment, and the first of the kind, was exhibited in the river thames, in imitation of some of those splendid shows exhibited at venice on their grand festivals. the whole river, from london bridge to the ship tavern, millbank, was covered with boats. about flags were flying before four o'clock in the afternoon, and vessels were moored in the river for the sale of liquors and other refreshments. before six o'clock it was a perfect fair on both sides the water, and bad liquor, with short measure, was plentifully retailed. plans of the regatta were sold from a shilling to a penny each, and songs on the occasion sung, in which "regatta" was the rhyme for "ranelagh," and "royal family" echoed to "liberty."] _coket and cler-mantyn._--piers plowman says that when new corn began to be sold-- "waulde no beggar eat bread that in it beanes were, but of _coket_ and _cler-mantyn_, or else of cleane wheate." what are _coket_ and _cler-mantyn_? also, what are _coronation flowers_, and _sops in wine_? ceridwen. [both _coket_ and _cler-mantyn_ mean a kind of fine bread. _coronation_ is the name given by some of our old writers to a species of flower, the modern appellation of which is not clear. _sops-in-wine_ were a species of flowers among the smaller kind of single gilliflowers or pinks. both these flowers are noticed by spenser, in his _shepherd's calendar_ for april, as follows: "bring coronations and sops-in-wine worn of paramours."] * * * * * replies. curfew. (vol. vi., pp. . .) it will be remembered that when mr. webster, one of the greatest of american statesmen, was on his death-bed, in october last, he requested his son to read to him that far-famed "elegy" of gray: "the curfew tolls the knell of parting day." the editor of the _boston journal_, after referring to this circumstance, which he says has caused an unexampled demand for the works of gray in the united states, goes on to give the result of his researches in many old english works, respecting the origin and meaning of the word _curfew_, which i trust will interest not only your correspondents who have written on the subject, but also many of your readers. i glean from the clever article now before me the following brief notices, which i have not yet met with in "n. & q." in king alfred's time the curfew was rung at eight o'clock, and called the "cover fire bell," because the inhabitants, on hearing its peals, were obliged to cover their fires, and go to bed. thomson evidently refers, in the following lines, to this tyrannical law, which was abolished in england about the year : "the shiv'ring wretches at the curfew sound, dejected sunk into their sordid beds, and through the mournful gloom of ancient time, mused sad, or dreamt of better." on the people finding that they could put out their fires and go to bed when they pleased, it would appear, from being recorded in many places, that the time of ringing the curfew bell was first changed from eight to nine o'clock, then from nine to ten, and afterwards to the early hours of the morning. thus we find in _romeo and juliet_: "the curfew bell hath rung: 'tis _three o'clock_." in shakspeare's works frequent mention is made of the curfew. in the _tempest_ he gives the following: "you whose pastime is to make midnight mushrooms--that rejoice to hear the solemn curfew." in _measure for measure_: "_duke._ who call'd here of late? _provost._ none since the curfew rung." in _king lear_: "this is the foul fiend flibertigibbet; he begins at curfew, and walks to the first cock." this old english custom of ringing the curfew bell was carried by the puritan fathers to new england; and where is the bostonian of middle age who does not well recollect the ringing of the church bell at nine o'clock, which was the willing signal for labourers to retire to bed, and for shopmen to close their shops? before closing this note, may i be allowed to inform mr. sansom, that _charlestown_ is in massachusetts, and only separated from boston by charles river, which runs between the two cities. the place to which he refers is _charleston_, and in south carolina. w. w. malta. * * * * * the "salt-peter-man." (vol. vii., pp. . . .) the statute against monopolies ( jac. i. c. .) contains a clause (sec. .) that its provisions should not extend to any commission grant or letters patent theretofore made, or thereafter to be made, of, for, or concerning the digging, making, or compounding of saltpetre or gunpowder, which were to be of the like force and effect, _and no other_, as if that act had never been made. in the famous "remonstrance of the state of the kingdom" agreed upon by the house of commons in november, , there is special allusion to the vexation and oppression of the { } subject by purveyors, clerks of the market, and saltpetre men. (_parliamentary history_, x. .) shortly afterwards was passed an act (which obtained the royal assent) giving liberty for importing gunpowder and saltpetre, and for making of gunpowder. the preamble asserts that the importation of gunpowder from foreign parts had of late times been against law prohibited, and the making thereof within this realm ingrossed; whereby the price of gunpowder had been excessively raised, many powder works decayed, this kingdom very much weakened and endangered, the merchants thereof much damnified, many mariners and others taken prisoners and brought into miserable captivity and slavery, many ships taken by turkish and other pirates, and many other inconveniences had from thence ensued, and more were likely to ensue, if not timely prevented. ( _car. i._ c. .) lord clarendon, in reviewing the various "important laws" of the long parliament to which the king assented, makes the following observations with reference to this particular act: "'an act for the free making saltpetre and gunpowder within the kingdom:' which was a part of the prerogative; and not only considerable, as it restrained that precious and dangerous commodity from vulgar hands; but, as in truth it brought a considerable revenue to the crown, and more to those whom the crown gratified and obliged by that license. the pretence for this exemption was, 'the unjustifiable proceeding of those (or of inferior persons qualified by them) who had been trusted in that employment,' by whom, it cannot be denied, many men suffered: but the true reason was, that thereby they might be sure to have in readiness a good stock in that commodity, against the time their occasions should call upon them."--_history of rebellion_, book iii. on the rd april, , the lords and commons passed an ordinance for the making of saltpetre, &c. this was grounded on the following allegations: " . the great expence of gunpowder, occasioned by the then war within his majesty's dominions, had well near consumed the old store, and did exhaust the magazines so fast, that without a larger supply, the navy forts and the land armies could not be furnished. " . foreign saltpetre was not in equal goodness with that of our own country, and the foreign gunpowder far worse conditioned and less forcible than that which is made in england. " . divers foreign estates had of date prohibited the exportation of salt-peter and gunpowder out of their own dominions and countries, so that there could be but little hope or future expectation of any peter or powder to be brought into this kingdom, as in former times, which would enforce us to make use of our own materials." from these circumstances, it was held most necessary that the digging of saltpetre and making of gunpowder should by all fit means be encouraged, at that time when it so much concerned the public safety; nevertheless, to prevent the reviving of those _oppressions and exactions_ exercised upon the people, under the colourable authority of commissions granted to _salt-peter-men_; which burden had been eased since the sitting of that parliament. to the end there might not be any pretence to interrupt the work, it was ordained that the committee of safety, their factors, workmen, and servants, should have power and authority, (within prescribed hours) to search and dig for saltpetre in all pigeon-houses, stables, cellars, vaults, empty warehouses, and other outhouses, yards, and places likely to afford that earth. the _salt-peter-men_ were to level the ground and repair damage done by them; or might be compelled to do so by the deputy-lieutenants, justices of the peace, or committees of parliament. the _salt-peter-men_ were also empowered to take carts, by the known officers, for carriage of the liquor, vessels, and other utensils, from place to place, at specified prices, and under limitations as to weight and distance; and they were freed from taxes and tolls for carriages used about their works, and empowered to take outhouses, &c., for their workhouses, making satisfaction to the owners. this ordinance was to continue for two years, from th march, . an ordinance of a similar character was passed th february, , to be in force till th march, (_scobell_, .). by an act of the lord protector and parliament, made in , it was enacted that no person or persons should dig within the houses or lands of any person or persons of the commonwealth for the finding of saltpetre, nor take the carriages of any person or persons for the carrying of their materials or vessels, without their leave first obtained or had. (_scobell_, .) this is the act referred to by broctuna ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .), and by my friend mr. isaiah deck ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .), though i am not certain that mr. deck's inference be correct, that this act was passed in consequence of the new and uncertain process for obtaining the constituents of nitre having failed; and it is quite clear that lord coke could not have referred to this act. the enactment referred to is introduced by way of proviso in an act allowing the exportation of goods of english manufacture (_inter alia_, of gunpowder, when the price did not exceed l. per cwt.). allow me, in connexion, with this subject, to refer to cullum's _history of hawsted_, st edition, pp. . and ., also to the statute jac. ii. c. . s. ., by which persons obtaining any letters patent for the sole making or importing gunpowder are subjected to the pains and penalties of præmunire. c. h. cooper. cambridge. { } * * * * * forms of judicial oaths. (vol. vii., p. .) will you permit me to make a few observations in reply to the queries of mr. h. h. breen on this subject? there is hardly any custom more ancient than for a person imposing a promise on another to call on him to bind himself by an oath to the due performance of it. in this oath the person swearing calls on god, the king, his father, or some person or thing to whom he attaches authority or value, to inflict on him punishment or loss in case he breaks his oath. the mode of swearing is, in one particular, almost everywhere and in every age the same. when a father, a friend, a sword, or any corporeal object is sworn by, _the swearer places his hand upon it_, and then swears. when a man, however, swore by the deity, on whom he cannot place his hand, he raised his hand to heaven towards the god by whom he swore. when abraham made abimelech swear to obey him, he caused him to place his hand under his thigh, and then imposed the oath; and when jacob, by his authority as a father, compelled his son joseph to swear to perform his promise, he ordered him to go through a similar ceremony. (genesis, ch. xxiv. v. ., and ch. xlvii. v. .) in the prophet daniel we read that-- "the man clothed in linen which was upon the waters, held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever," &c.--daniel, ch. xii. v. . in the revelation we also find-- "and the angel, which i saw stand upon the sea and the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever," &c.--revelation, ch. x. v. , . your correspondent inquires how oaths were taken prior to their being taken on the gospel. among the nations who overthrew the roman empire, the most common mode of swearing was on the relics of the saints. in england, i think, the most common mode was to swear on the corporalia or eucharistic elements, whence we still have the common phrase "upon your corporal oath." in each case the hand was placed on the thing sworn by. the laws of the alamanni as to conjurators, direct that the sacrament shall be so arranged that all the conjurators shall place their hands upon the coffer (containing the relics), and that the principal party shall place his hand on all theirs, and then they are to swear on the relics. (_ll. alam._ cap. .) the custom of swearing on the gospels is repeatedly mentioned in the laws of the lombards. (_ll. longo._ tit. . c. .; _ll. longo._ . tit. . c. ., and c. . tit. . _et al._) in the _formularies of marculphus_, two forms of oaths are given, one says that-- "in palatio nostro super capella domini martini ubi reliqua sacramenta percurrunt debeat conjurare." in the other we read-- "posita manu supra sacrosanctium altare sancti ... sic juratus dixit. juro per hunc locum sanctum et deum altissimum et virtutis sancti ... quod," &c. in the laws of cnût of england, two forms of oath are given. they both begin with "by the lord before whom this relic is holy." (_ancient laws and justice of england_, p. .) your correspondent asks "what form of judicial oath was first sanctioned by christians as a body?" in the history of the council of constantinople, it is stated that-- "george, the well beloved of god, a deacon and keeper of the records, having touched the holy gospels of god, swore in this manner, 'by these holy scriptures, and by the god who by them has spoken,'" &c. at the council of nice it is said that-- "prayer having been offered up, every one saluted the holy gospels, the venerated cross and image of our lord and saviour jesus christ, and of our lady the mother of god, and placed his hands upon them in confirmation of what he had said." from these i infer that the custom of swearing on the gospels received the sanction of the church at a very early period. in reply to the question as to other modes of swearing, it may be said briefly, that men swore by anything to which they attached any importance, and generally by that to which they attached most importance. by the laws of the alamanni, a wife could claim her _morgen-gabe_ (or the gift of the morning after the wedding night) by swearing to its amount on her breast; and by the droits d'augsbourg, by swearing to it on her two breasts and two tresses. nothing was more common than for a man to swear by his beard. this custom is alluded to by one of shakspeare's fools, who suggests that if a certain knight swore by his honour, and his mistress by her beard, neither of them _could_ be forsworn. in the canons of the fourth council of orleans, we read-- "le roi lui-même, ou le plus renommé des chevaliers présents, ayant découpé le paon, se leva, et mettant la main sur l'oiseau, fit un voeu hardi; ensuite il passa le plat, et chacun de ceux qui le reçurent fit un voeu semblable." in the year , edward i. of england swore an oath on two swans. it was also very common from an early period, both in england and abroad, to swear by one, two, seven, or twelve churches. the deponent went { } to the appointed number of churches, and at each, taking the ring of the church door in his hand, repeated the oath. one of the most curious specimens of the practice of swearing men by that to which they attached most importance, is to be found in an hindoo law. it says, let a judge swear a brahmin by his veracity; a soldier by his horses, his elephants, or his arms; an agriculturist by his cows, his grain, or his money; and a soudra by all his crimes. john thrupp. surbiton. i know nothing about judicial oaths: but the origin of the form mr. breen states to be used by the roman catholics of the continent, and the scotch presbyterians, may be seen in dan. xii. .: "when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever." and in revelation x. , .: "and the angel ... lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him," &c. see also genesis xiv. . maria. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _washing collodion pictures--test for lens._--as i was indebted to the kindness of dr. diamond, amongst other friends, for my original initiation into the mysteries of photography, it may appear somewhat presumptuous in me to differ from one who has had so much more experience in a point of practice. i allude to that of _washing_ the collodion negative after developing, previously to fixing with the hyposulphite of soda; but, probably, the reasons i urge may have some weight. as the hyposulphite solution is intended to be used repeatedly, it appears to me not advisable to introduce into it _any free acid_ (which must occur if the negative be not washed, although the quantity at each operation may be small), because it causes a decomposition of the salt, setting free _sulphurous_ acid, and also sulphur; which last is slightly soluble in the hyposulphite of soda, and thus the sulphur is brought in contact with the reduced silver, and forms a sulphuret of that metal. but the change does not stop here: for, by the lapse of time, oxygen is absorbed, and thus a _sulphate of silver_ is formed, and the colour changed from black to white. that sulphur is set free by the addition of an acid to the solution of hyposulphite of soda, is fact so easily demonstrable both to the eyes and nose of the operator, that no one need remain long in doubt who is desirous of trying the experiment. a correspondent desires to know how to test the coincidence or otherwise of the visual and actinic foci of a combination: this is very readily accomplished by the aid of a _focimeter_, which can be easily made thus: procure a piece of stout card-board, or thin wood covered with white paper, on which draw a considerable number of fine black lines, or cover it with some fine black net (what i believe the ladies call _blond_), which may be pasted on. cut up the whole into a dozen good-sized pieces of any convenient form, so that about four square inches of surface at least be allowed to each piece. paste over the _net_ a circular or square label about the size of a shilling, bearing a distinctly printed number one on each piece, from upwards; and arrange the pieces in any convenient manner by means of wires inserted into a slip of wood; but they must be so placed that the _whole_ can be seen from one point of view, although each piece must be placed so that it is _one inch_ farther from the operator than the next lowest number. having placed the camera eight or ten feet from the cards, carefully focus to any one of the numbers, or for instance and observe, not that the _number_ is distinct, but that the minute lines or threads of the net are visible: then take a picture, exposing it a very short time, and the threads of the card bearing the number that was most perfectly in focus visually _ought_ to be most distinct; but, if otherwise, that which is most distinct will not only show whether the lens is over or under corrected, but will indicate the _amount_ of error. if under corrected, a lower number will be most distinct; if over corrected, a higher. geo. shadbolt. _test for lenses._--i beg to submit to a country practitioner the following very simple test for the coincidence of the chemical and visual foci of an achromatic lens: take a common hand-bill or other sheet of printed paper, and having stretched it on a board, place it before the lens in an oblique position, so that the plane of the board may make an angle with a vertical plane of about thirty or forty degrees. bring any line of type about the middle of the sheet into the true visual focus, and take a copy of the sheet by collodion or otherwise. then, if the line of type focussed upon be reproduced clearly and sharply on the plate, the lens is correct; but if any other line be found sharper than the test one, the foci disagree; and the amount of error will depend on the distance of the two lines of type one from the other on the hand-bill. j. a. miles. fakenham, norfolk. _improvement in positives._--i have great pleasure in communicating to you an improvement in the process of taking positives, which may not be uninteresting to some of your readers, and which ensures by far the most beautiful tints i have yet seen. i take three ounces of the hyposulphite of soda, and dissolve it in one pint of distilled or rain water; and to this i add about one or one and a half grains of pyrogallic acid, and seventy grains { } of chloride of silver; which must be squeezed up between the finders facilitate its solution and separate the lumps, which, in their dry state, are tough, and not easily pulverised. the whole is then to be set aside for a week or two in a warm place. the solution, at first colourless, becomes brown, and ultimately quite opaque; in this state it is fit for use, and the longer kept the better it becomes. i generally use french paper for this process, and, according to the time of immersion, obtain fine sepia or black tints; the latter requiring long over-exposure to the light, and proportionately long exposure to the action of the liquid; which however will be found, particularly when old, to have a more rapid action than most other setting liquids, and has the merit of always affording fine tints, whatever the paper used. i imagine the pyrogallic acid to possess a reducing influence on the salts of silver employed; but this effect is only produced by its combination with the hyposulphite of soda and chloride of silver. i may add, that in any case the pictures should be much overdone before immersion, as the liquid exerts a rapid bleaching action on them; and when the liquid becomes saturated, a few crystals of fresh hyposulphite will renew its action. f. maxwell lyte. florian, torquay. p. s.--in answer to a country practitioner, he will find great assistance in choosing his lens by laying it on a sheet of blue wove post paper, when he will immediately perceive the slightest yellow tinge in the glass, this being the fault which frequently affects many well-ground and well-made lenses. of course, for sharpness of outline he must be guided entirely by experiment in the camera; but where weakness of action exists, it most frequently arises from this yellow colouration, and which the manufacturers say is very difficult to avoid. [mr. lyte having sent with his communication a positive prepared in the manner described, we are enabled to corroborate all he says as to the richness and beauty of its tints.] _cheap portable tent._--m. f. m. inquires for a cheap and portable tent for working collodion out of doors. i have been using one lately constructed on the principle of francis's camera stand. it has a good size table, made like the rolling patent shutters; and it is not necessary to stoop, or sit down at your work, which is a great consideration on a hot day: you may get them of any respectable dealer in photographic apparatus; it is called francis's collodion tent. h. d. francis. _rev. mr. sisson's new developing fluid_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the rev. mr. sisson's developing fluid for collodion positives, the formula for which was published in the last number of "n. & q.," is merely a weak solution of the protonitrate and protosulphate of iron. it does not, as he seems to think, contain any lead; for the whole of the latter is precipitated as sulphate, which the acetic acid does not dissolve even to the smallest extent: and mr. sisson will find that an equivalent proportion of the nitrate of baryta will answer equally as well as the nitrate of lead. i have myself for a long time been in the habit of using a weak solution of the protonitrate of iron in conjunction with acetic acid for positive pictures; for, although i do not consider it so good a developer as that made according to the formula of dr. diamond, it produces very good pictures; occupies very little time in preparing, and will moreover keep good for a much longer time than a more concentrated solution would. j. leachman. . compton terrace, islington. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _vanes_ (vol. v., p. .).--taking up by accident the other day your fifth volume, i saw what i believe is a still unanswered query respecting the earliest notice of vanes as indicators of the wind; and turning to my notes i found the following extract from beckman's _inventions, &c._: "in ughelli italia sacra, romæ , fol. iv., p ., we find the following inscription on a weathercock then existing at brixen; '_dominus rampertus episc. gallum hunc fieri præcepit an. ._'" l. a. m. _loselerius villerius_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i beg to inform s. a. s. that his copy of the new testament, which wants the title-page, was printed by henry stephens the second, at geneva, in the year . as to it being "valuable," i should not consider him unfortunate if he could exchange it for a shilling. loselerius villerius was pierre l'oyseleur de villiers, a professor of genevan divinity, who came over to london, and there published beza's latin version of the new testament, in . he was not, however, as your correspondent supposed him to be, the editor of the decapitated volume in question; but beza transferred his notes to an impression completed by himself. s. a. s. has, in the next place, inquired for any satisfactory "list of editions of the bible." it appears that, so far as he is concerned, le long, boerner, masch, and cotton have lived and laboured in vain. the folio bible lastly described by your correspondent is _not_ "so great a curiosity" as family tradition maintained. the annotations "placed in due order" are merely the genevan notes.--see { } the archdeacon of cashel's very accurate and excellent work, _editions of the bible, and parts thereof, in english_, p. .: oxford, . r. g. _westminster parishes_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in the city and liberties of westminster contained the churches of st. margaret, st. martin-in-the-fields, st. clement danes, and st. john baptist savoy. the registers of burials, marriages, and christenings, of st. margaret's church, began january , . the fire of london did not destroy any church in westminster. mackenzie walcott, m.a. _hevristic_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the term _hevristisch_, in the first edition of the translation of kant's _critik_, is not given in the vocabulary appended to the translation; but under the word _ostensiv_ it is stated that in its meaning it stands opposed to the word _euristic_ (_hevristisch_ in german). but in the second edition, published in , it is remarked, under the words _evristic_, _euristic_, _hevristisch_, that the term should, in sir wm. hamilton's opinion, be _euretic_ or _heuretic_; the word _hevristisch_ being an error of long standing in german philosophy. the derivation of _euretic_ would be from [greek: heuretikos]. in tissot's translation, _hevristisch_ is rendered by _heuristique_; in mantovani's, by _evristico_; in born's, by _heuristicus_. in krug's _lexicon_, _hevristik_ is given as derived from [greek: heuriskô, heurein]. the _hevristic_ method, krug remarks, is also called the _analytical_. it may be added, that in the first edition of the _critik_ (riga, ), the word is _hevristisch_. in the fourth edition (riga, ), published also in kant's lifetime, it is _hevristisch_. in rosenkranz's edition (leipzig, ), the word is changed into _heuristisch_; and also, in another edition of the same year, published also at leipzig, it is written _heuristisch_, and not _hevristisch_. in respect to the leipzig edition of , which is that now before me, the term _hevristisch_, in speaking of _hevristich_ principles, is particularly alluded to. (see page . line .) i do not find, after a hasty inspection, this word changed, in any of the editions i possess, to _empirisch_. francis haywood. liverpool. _creole_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the word appears to be a french form of the spanish _criollo_, which in the dictionary of nuñez de taboada is defined, "el hijo de padres europeos nacido en america;" whilst in the old dictionary of stevens ( ) it is translated, "son of a spaniard and a west india woman." in brande's _dictionary of science_, &c. creole is said to mean the descendants of whites born in mexico, south america, or the west indies, the blood remaining unmixed with that of other races, &c. von tschudi says, that in south america the spaniards apply the term _creole_ not only to the human race, but also to horses, bullocks, and even to poultry. a. c. m. exeter. _general monk and the university of cambridge_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--leicestriensis begs to thank mr. c. h. cooper and mr. j. p. ord for their replies to his query on this subject. he avails himself of this, the earliest opportunity, of assuring mr. ord of his readiness to afford him what slight information is in his power respecting the ms. in question (which only came into his possession within the last two or three months), if he will communicate with him as below. william kelly. town hall, leicester. _ecclesia anglicana_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i am much obliged to your correspondent w. fraser for his answer to my query, and the references with which he supplies me. i shall be glad to ask a still more extensive question, which will probably explain the object of the former more limited one. is it _usual_, in any of the unreformed branches of the church on the continent, to find a similar appellation (implying distinct nationality) employed in authoritative documents, _e.g._ would it be possible to find in the title-pages of any missal, &c., such words as "in usum ecclesiæ hispanicæ, lusitanæ, gallicanæ?" if not now, was it more customary in mediæval times, and when did it cease? should we be justified in saying, that at _every_ period of her existence, with rare exceptions, the _anglican church_, consciously or unconsciously, maintained the theory of her nationality with greater distinctness than any of the continental churches? i fancy i have heard, though i cannot state on what authority, that this assertion might be made most truly of the portuguese church, and should be very glad to have any light thrown on the subject by your able correspondent. certain it is, that amongst the various complaints made against cardinal wiseman and the papal aggressors, it has never been laid to their charge, that they arrogated to themselves the title of members of the _anglican church_. g. r. m. _gibbon's library_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in i purchased some of gibbon's books at lausanne, out of a basketful on sale at a small shop, the depôt of the religious tract society! edward gibbon, printed on a small slip of paper, was pasted in them. a. holt white. _golden bees_ (vol. vii., p. .).--when the tomb of childeric, father of clovis, was opened in , there were found, besides the skeletons of his horse and page, his arms, crystal orb, &c., { } "more than three hundred little bees of the purest gold, their wings being inlaid with a red stone like cornelian." ceridwen. _passage in orosius_ (vol. vii., p. .).--may not the "twam tyncenum," between which cyrus the great's officer attempted to cross a river, be the inflated skins which the arabs still use, as the ancient inhabitants of assyria did, for crossing the tigris and euphrates, and of which the nimroud sculptures give so many illustrations? ceridwen. _names first given to parishes_ (vol. iv., p. .).--i wish to repeat this query in another form, and particularly in reference to the termination _-by_. i suspect that wherever a cluster of villages, like that given by f. b., occurs with this danish suffix, it is a proof that the district was originally a colony of danes. the one in which i reside (the hundreds of flegg), from its situation is particularly likely to have been so. its original form was evidently that of a large island in the estuary of the yare, which formed numerous inlets in its shores; and this was flanked on each aisle by a roman garrison, one the celebrated fortress of garianonum, now burgh castle, and the other caistor-next-yarmouth, in which a camp, burying-ground, &c., besides its name, sufficiently attest its roman origin. the two hundreds of flegg, (or fleyg, as appears on its common seal) comprise twenty villages, thirteen of which terminate in _-by_. these are ormesby, hemesby, filby, mauteby, stokesby, herringby, thrigby, billockby, ashby or askeby, clippesby, rollesby, oby, and scratby or scroteby. professor worsaae, i believe, considers ormesby to have been originally gormsby, _i.e._ gorm's or guthrum's village, but i have not his work at hand to refer to. thrigby, or trigby as it is vernacularly pronounced, and rollesby, may take their names from trigge or tricga, and rollo, names occurring in scandinavian history. i should feel obliged if professors worsaae and stephens, or other scandinavian antiquaries and scholars, would kindly inform me if my surmises are correct, and if the rest of the names may be similarly derived. i should add that stokesby fully hears out the suggestion of c. (vol. v., p. .), as there is even now a ferry over the bure at that point. the district is entirely surrounded by rivers and extensive tracts of marshes, and intersected by large inland lakes, locally termed "broads," which undoubtedly were all comprised in the estuary, and which would form safe anchorages for the long galleys of the northmen. e. s. taylor. ormesby, st. margaret, norfolk. _grafts and the parent tree_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in order to insure the success of grafts, it is material that they be inserted on congenial stocks: delicate-growing fruits require dwarf-growing stocks; and free luxuriant-growing trees require strong stocks. to graft scions of delicate wooded trees on strong stocks, occasions an over-supply of sap to the grafts; and though at first they seem to flourish, yet they do not endure. a few examples of this sort may lead to an opinion, that "grafts, after some fifteen years, wear themselves out;" but the opinion is not (generally speaking) well founded. i have for many years grafted the old _golden pippin_ on the _paradise_ or _doucin_ stock, and found it to answer very well, and produce excellent fruit. taunton has long been famous for its _nonpareils_, which are there produced in great excellence and abundance. the cornish _gilliflower_, one of our very best apples, was well known in the time of king charles i.; and, as yet, shows no symptoms of decay: that fruit requires a strong stock. the ancient _ribston pippin_ was a seedling: "it has been doubted by some, whether the tree at ribston hall was an original from the seed: the fact of its not being a grafted tree has been satisfactorily ascertained by sir henry goodricke, the present proprietor, by causing suckers from its root to be planted out--which have set the matter at rest that it was not a grafted tree. one of these suckers has produced fruit in the horticultural garden at chiswick."--lindley's _guide to the orchard and kitchen garden_, , p. . j. g. exon. _lord cliff and howell's letters_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the lord cliff, as to whom your correspondent inquires, and to whom james howell addresses some of his letters, is intended for henry lord clifford, and afterwards, on the decease of his father, fifth and last earl of cumberland. he died in december, . amongst the many republications of modern times, i regret that we have no new edition, with illustrative notes, of howell's _letters_. it is the more necessary, as one at least of the later editions of this most entertaining book is very much abridged and mutilated. james crossley. y. s. m. asks "who was lord cliff?" he might as well have added, "who was lord viscount col, sir thomas sa, or end. por?" who also figure in _epistolæ ho-elianiæ_. had he looked over that entertaining book more attentively, y. s. m. would have seen that all these were mere contractions of howell's correspondents, lord clifford, lord colchester, sir thomas savage, and endymion porter. j. o. _the bouillon bible_ (vol. vii., p. .).--h. w., who was good enough to answer my query respecting philip d'auvergne, has probably seen that the bible of which he inquires has turned up. { } it seems to have been pawned (if i rightly understand the report in the newspapers) to a mr. broughton of the foreign office, who had advanced money to the prince to enable him to prosecute his claim to the dukedom. it has now been ordered by vice-chancellor sir w. p. wood to be offered for sale as part of mr. broughton's estate, for the benefit of that gentleman's creditors. it was stated in court, that on a former occasion, when the late archbishop of canterbury wished to purchase it, l. was asked for it. i was much obliged to h. w. for the information he gave me, as i took some little interest in philip d'auvergne from having heard that he was a friend of my grandfather. they were, i find, both of them officers in the racehorse during lord mulgrave's discovery voyage to the north pole. e. h. a. _rhymes on places_ (vol. vii., p. .).--northamptonshire: "armston on the hill, polebrook in the hole, ashton turns the mill, oundle burns the coal." repeated to me by poor old drunken jem white the sexton, many years since, when on the "battlements" of oundle church; oundle being the market town for the three villages in the rhymes quoted. brick. _serpents' tongues_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--may i be allowed to inform mr. pinkerton that the sharks' teeth (fossils), now so frequently found imbedded in this tufa rock, and cheaply sold, are not known as "the tongues of vipers," but, on the contrary, from time immemorial, as the "tongues of st. paul." in proof of this, i would refer mr. pinkerton to the following extract, which i have taken from an italian letter now in the maltese library; which was published on august , , by dr. francis buonamico, a native of this island, and addressed to agostino scilla of messina. page ., the writer remarks: "che avanti de partire da questa isolde dovesse farle una raccolta di glossopietre, _o lingue come que le chiamiamo di s. paolo_." w. w. malta. _consecrated roses, &c._ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--an instance of the _golden rose_ being conferred on an english baron, will be found related in davidson's _history of newenham abbey in the county of devon_, p. . j. d. s. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. that well-worn quotation, "who shall decide when doctors disagree," must, we should think, invariably suggest itself to the reader of every new book upon the subject of shakspeare's text. a few months since mr. collier gave to the world a volume of _notes and emendations from early manuscript corrections in a copy of the folio _[ ], which was hailed by many, ourselves among the number, as a most valuable contribution to shakspearian literature. from this favourable view of these manuscript emendations, many whose opinions upon such matters deserve the highest respect at once avowed their dissent; and we now find that we have to add to this number mr. singer, who has given us the result of his examination of them in a volume entitled _the text of shakspeare vindicated from the interpolations and corruptions advocated by john payne collier, esq., in his notes and emendations_. no one can put forth higher claims to speak with authority on any points connected with shakspeare than mr. singer, who has devoted a life to the study of his writings; and none can rise from a perusal of his book without recognising in it evidence of mr. singer's fitness for editing the works of our great dramatist, and feeling anxious for his revised edition of them. but we think many will regret that, while pointing out the notes and emendations from which he dissents, mr. singer should not have noticed those which he regards with favour; and that, in his anxiety to vindicate the purity of shakspeare's text from the anonymous emendator, he should have embodied that vindication in language, which, though we are quite sure it is unintentional on his part, gives his book almost a personal character, instead of one purely critical. books received.--_records of the roman inquisition, case of a minorite friar who was sentenced by s. charles borromeo to be walled up, and who, having escaped, was burned in effigy: edited, with an english translation, notes, &c., by_ rev. richard gibbings. published from one of the mss. conveyed from rome to paris by order of napoleon, at the close of the last century, as a challenge to the defenders of the papacy to acknowledge its truth, or to controvert it.--_the history of england from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles_, by lord mahon, vol. iii. the third volume of this new and cheaper edition of lord mahon's valuable history comprehends the period from to .--_english forests and forest trees; historical, legendary, and descriptive, with numerous illustrations._ this volume, one of the _illustrated london library_, is a pleasant chatty compilation on a subject which will interest many of our readers and correspondents by furnishing them with a series of notices of old forests, remarkable trees, &c., which have never before been gathered together.--_the shakspeare repository, edited by_ j. h. fennell, no. ii. the second part of this periodical, the only one exclusively devoted to the elizabethan writers, contains, among other interesting articles, a long one on the medical practice of shakspeare's son-in-law, dr. john hall. [footnote : since this was written we have heard that mr. collier has traced back the history of his folio for upwards of a century.--ed.] { } * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. scott, remarks on the best writings of the best authors (or some such title) sermons by the rev. robert wake, m.a. , , &c. history of ancient wilts, by sir r. c. hoare. the last three parts. rev. a. dyce's edition of dr. richard bentley's works. vol. iii. published by francis macpherson, middle row, holborn. . dissertation on isaiah xviii., in a letter to edward king, esq., by samuel lord bishop of rochester (horsley). the quarto edition, printed for robson. . ben johnson's works. vols. vo. vols. ii., iii., iv. bds. sir walter scott's novels. vols. vo. the last nine vols. boards. jacob's english peerage. folio edition, . vols. ii., iii., and iv. gammer gurton's needle. alison's europe. ( vols.) vols. xiii., xx. abbotsford edition of the waverley novels. odd vols. the truth teller. a periodical. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are compelled to omit several interesting papers respecting shakspeare which are in type, among which we may mention a notice of some drawings which are great interest._ w. t. watts (st. ives), _who inquires respecting the literary history of_ baron munchausen, _is referred to our_ nd vol., p. ., _and our_ rd vol., pp. . . . g. p. (offenburg) _potatoes were most probably introduced into england by sir w. raleigh. gerarde mentions them in his_ herbal, _published in _. antiquarian _had better send a rubbing from the oak cover in question. his copy cannot be deciphered._ s. s. s.'s _query on the passage in st. james in our next._ brookthorpe _will find, in the notices to correspondents, in_ no. . ( nd april), _a reply to his former query respecting the epitaph:_ "if heaven be pleased." ursula. _we shall be glad of the "succinct refutation" proposed._ j. w. _there is a folio edition of godwin_ de præsulibus, _canterbury, , in which the original work is continued by richardson._ j. r. (sunderland) _is referred to brockett's_ glossary, _where he will find the etymology of_ stang, _from the danish_ stang, _a pole or bar--or the saxon_ steng; _and a full description of the ceremonies connected with_ riding the stang. florence _is thanked for her hint._ j. b. _will find full particulars of sir t. herbert's_ threnodia carolina _in our_ rd vol., p. . _other references in our_ nd vol., pp. . . . _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * preparing for the press, in octavo, a supplement to mr. halliwell's octavo life of shakspeare; consisting of observations on modern shakspearian forgeries. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by since's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed: and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * published every saturday, price d. the civil service gazette, a journal devoted to the interests of all government officials in every department of the state, contains, besides other official information, a list of the recent promotions and present vacancies in the gift of the government, both in england, the east indies, and the colonies; a summary of the news of the week: original literary articles; obituary of men of eminence or desert in the public serve; parliamentary, legal, foreign, domestic and theatrical notices; with fashionable, naval and military intelligence. to be had of all booksellers and newsvenders; or at the office, . catherine street, strand. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes, best and cheapest, to be had in great variety at m^cmillan's wholesale depôt, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * winslow hall, bucks. dr. lovell's scholastic establishment (exclusively for the sons of gentlemen) was founded at mannheim in , under the patronage of h.r.h. the grande duchesse stephanie of baden, and removed to winslow in . the course of tuition includes the french and german languages, and all other studies which are preparatory to the universities, the military colleges and the army examination. the number of pupils is limited to thirty. the principal is always in the schoolroom, and superintends the classes. there are also french, german, and english resident masters. prospectus and references can be had on application to the principal. * * * * * williams & norgate will carry on business at . bedford street, covent garden, opposite the end of henrietta street during the alterations and enlargement of their old premises. _june, ._ * * * * * photographic apparatus and materials, for the processes on glass, paper, and silver. an illustrated priced catalogue d., post free. john joseph griffin, f.c.s., chemical and philosophical instrument maker, . finsbury square. manufactory, . and . bunhill row. removed from . baker street, portman square. * * * * * officers' bedsteads and bedding. heal & son beg to call the attention of gentlemen requiring outfits to their large stock of portable bedsteads, bedding, and furniture, including drawers, washstands, chairs, glasses, and every requisite for home and foreign service. heal & son. bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. { } * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make, waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for the delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic school.--royal polytechnic institution. the school is now open for instruction in all branches of photography, to ladies and gentlemen, on alternate days, from eleven till four o'clock, under the joint direction of t. a. malone, esq., who has long been connected with photography, and j. h. pepper, esq., the chemist to the institution. a prospectus, with terms, may be had at the institution. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from - / to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th of june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * royal asylum of st. ann's society.--waiting not for the child of those once in prosperity to become an orphan, but by voluntary contributions affording at once a home, clothing, maintenance, and education. the half-yearly election will take place at the london tavern of friday, august th, next. forms of nomination may be procured at the office, where subscriptions will be thankfully received. executors of benefactors by will become life governors according to the amount of the bequest. e. f. leeks, secretary. . charlotte row, mansion house. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being - / per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * pure nervous or mind complaints.--if the readers of notes and queries, who suffer from depression of spirits, confusion, headache, blushing, groundless fears, unfitness for business or society, blood to the head, failure of memory, delusions, suicidal thoughts, fear of insanity, &c., will call on, or correspond with, rev. dr. willis moseley, who, out of above , applicants, knows not fifty uncured who have followed his advice, he will instruct them how to get well, without a fee, and will render the same service to the friends of the insane.--at home from to . . bloomsbury street, bedford square. { } * * * * * bohn's standard library for june. history of the house of austria, from to the present time; in continuation of coxe; with the portrait of francis joseph, the reigning emperor. post vo. cloth. price s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's scientific library for june. humboldt's personal narrative of his travels in america. vol. iii., which completes the work. with general index. post vo. cloth. price s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for june. roger de hoveden's annals of english history, from a.d. to . translated by h. t. riley. vol. ii., which completes the work. post vo. cloth. price s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for june. terence and phÆdrus, literally translated into english prose, by h. t. kiley. to which is added, smart's metrical version of phÆdrus. frontispiece. post vo. cloth. price s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * this day foolscap octavo, price s. d., goethe's opinions on the world, mankind, literature, science, and art, extracted from his communications and correspondence. translated by otto wenckstern. london john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * price s. cloth, bacon's advancement of learning. carefully revised from the first copies, with a few notes and references to works quoted. nearly ready, by the same editor, bacon's essays. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * english counties.--a catalogue of curious, rare, and interesting books and tracts relating to english counties, is just published, and may be had free with no. ii. of the shakspeare repository, on receipt of six postage stamps. also, a fac-simile of a remarkably curious, droll, and interesting newspaper of the reign of charles the second, sent free on receipt of three postage stamps. address, j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * mr. murray's list of new works. i. the diary of george grenville, while first lord of the treasury; together with his correspondence during thirty years, including unpublished letters of junius. vols. iii. and iv. (completing the work). vo. s. ii. lord mahon's history of england. a new library edition. vols. i. to iv. demy vo. (uniform with vols. v. and vi.) nearly ready. iii. the castlereagh despatches, during the congress of vienna, battle of waterloo, &c. edited by the marquis of londonderry. vols., vo. s. iv. mr. grote's history of greece. continued from the accession to the death of philip of macedon. vol. xi. vo. s. (the th volume will complete the work.) v. sir hudson lowe's letters and journals, giving for the first time the history of the captivity of napoleon at st. helena. by william forsyth, m.a. portrait. vols., vo. (immediately.) vi. mr. layard's narrative of his second expedition to assyria, and researches at nineveh and babylon. twelfth thousand. with plates and woodcuts. vo. s. vii. mr. john hollway's four weeks' tour in norway, during the autumn of . fcap. vo. s. viii. capt. erskine's visits to the islands of the western pacific, including the feejees, and others inhabited by the polynesian negro race. maps and plates. vo. s. ix. mr. francis galton's narrative of his expedition in tropical south africa. with maps, plates, and woodcuts. post vo. x. rev. dr. hook's discourses bearing on the controversies of the day. vo. s. xi. mr. john palliser's solitary hunting adventures in the prairies. with illustrations. post vo. xii. mr. mansfield parkyn's personal narrative of his three years' residence in abyssinia. map and illustrations. vols. vo. nearly ready. xiii. lieutenant hooper's journal of his ten months among the tents of the tuski, during an expedition in search of sir john franklin. map. vo. xiv. mr. campbell's modern india. a sketch of the system of civil government, with some account of the natives, and native institutions, second edition, revised. maps. vo. s. xv. murray's handbooks for travellers on the continent. cheaper issue. maps. post vo. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: on page , "yule college" in the original is corrected to "yale college". * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page a prophet folk lore:--folk lore in cambridgeshire--new brunswick folk lore--north lincolnshire folk lore--portuguese folk lore pope and cowper, by j. yeowell shakspeare correspondence, by patrick muirson, &c. minor notes:--judicial families--derivation of "topsy turvy"--dictionaries and encyclopædias-- "mary, weep no more for me"--epitaph at wood ditton--pictorial pun queries:-- sir thomas button's voyage, , by john petheram minor queries:--the words "cash" and "mob" --"history of jesus christ"--quantity of the latin termination -anus--webb and walker families-- cawdrey's "treasure of similes"--point of etiquette --napoleon's spelling--trench on proverbs--rings formerly worn by ecclesiastics--butler's "lives of the saints"--marriage of cousins--castle thorpe, bucks--where was edward ii. killed?--encore-- amcotts' pedigree--blue bell: blue anchor-- "we've parted for the longest time"--matthew lewis--paradise lost--colonel hyde seymour-- vault at richmond, yorkshire--poems published at manchester--handel's dettingen te deum-- edmund spenser and sir hans sloane, bart. minor queries with answers:--the ligurian sage --gresebrok in yorkshire--stillingfleet's library-- the whole system of law--saint malachy on the popes--work on the human figure replies:-- "namby pamby," and other words of the same form earl of oxford picts' houses pronunciation of "humble" school libraries photographic correspondence:--albumenized paper --cement for glass baths--new process for positive proofs replies to minor queries:--the groaning elmplank in dublin--passage in whiston--"when orpheus went down"--foreign medical education --"short red, good red"--collar of ss.--who first thought of table-turning--passage of thucydides on the greek factions--origin of "clipper" as applied to vessels--passage in tennyson--huet's navigations of solomon--sincere--the saltpetre man-- major andré--longevity--passage in virgil--love charm from a foal's forehead--wardhouse, where was?--divining rod--waugh, bishop of carlisle-- pagoda miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. a prophet. what a curious book would be "our prophets and enthusiasts!" the literary and biographical records of the vaticinators, and the heated spirits who, after working upon the fears of the timid, and exciting the imaginations of the weak, have flitted into oblivion! as a specimen of the odd characters such a work would embrace, allow me to introduce to your readers thomas newans, a shropshire farmer, who unhappily took it into his head that his visit to the lower sphere was on a special mission. mr. newans is the author of a book entitled _a key to the prophecies of the old and new testament_; showing (among other impending events) "the approaching invasion of england;" "the extirpation of popery and mahometisme;" "the restoration of the jews," and "the millennium." london: printed for the author (who attests the genuineness of my copy by his signature), . in this misfitted key he relates how, in a vision, he was invested with the prophetic mantle: "in the year , in the night," says mr. newans, "i fell into a dream, and seemed to be riding on the road into the county of cheshire. when i was got about eight miles from home, my horse made a stop on the road; and it seemed a dark night, and on a sudden there shone a light before me on the ground, which was as bright as when the sun shines at noon-day. in the middle of that bright circle stood a child in white. it spoke, and told me that i must go into cheshire, and i should find a man with uncommon marks upon his feet, which should be a warning to me to believe; and that the year after i should have a cow that would calve a calf with his heart growing out of his body in a wonderful manner, as a token of what should come to pass; and that a terrible war would break out in europe, and in fourteen years after the token it would extend to england." in compliance with his supernatural communication, our farmer proceeded to cheshire, where he found the man indicated; and, a year after, his own farm stock was increased by the birth of a calf with his heart growing out. and after taking his family, of seven, to witness to the truth of { } what he describes, he adds with great simplicity: "so then i rode to london to acquaint the ministers of state of the approaching danger!" this story of the calf with the heart growing out, is not a bad type of the worthy grazier himself, and his _hearty_ and burning zeal for the protestant faith. mr. newans distinctly and repeatedly predicts that these "two beastly religions," _i. e._ the popish and mahomedan, will be totally extirpated within seven years! and "i have," says he, "for almost twenty years past, travelled to london and back again into the country, near fifty journies, and every journey was two hundred and fifty miles, to acquaint the ministers of state and several of the bishops, and other divines, with the certainty, danger, and manner of the war" which was to bring this about. commenting on the story of balaam, our prophet says: "and now the world is grown so full of sin and wickedness, that if a dumb ass should speak with a man's voice, they would scarce repent:" and i conclude that the said statesmen and divines did not estimate these prophetic warnings much higher than the brayings of that quadruped which they turned out to be. mr. newan professes to gave penned these vaticinations in the year , twenty-one years after the date of his vision; so that he had ample time to mature them. what would the farmer say were he favoured with a peep at our world in , with its mussulman system unbroken; and its cardinal, archbishops, and popish bishops firmly established in the very heart of protestant england? j. o. * * * * * folk lore. _folk lore in cambridgeshire._--about twenty years ago, at hildersham, there was a custom of ringing the church bell at five o'clock in the leasing season. the cottagers then repaired to the fields to glean; but none went out before the bell was rung. the bell tolled again in the evening as a signal for all to return home. i would add a query, is this custom continued; and is it to be met with in any other place? f. m. middleton. _new brunswick folk lore_:--_common notions respecting teeth._--among the lower orders and negroes, and also among young children of respectable parents (who have probably derived the notion from contact with the others as nurses or servants), it is here very commonly held that when a tooth is drawn, if you refrain from thrusting the tongue in the cavity, the second tooth will be golden. does this idea prevail in england? _superstition respecting bridges._--many years ago my grandfather had quite a household of blacks, some of whom were slaves and some free. being bred in his family, a large portion of my early days was thus passed among them, and i have often reverted to the weird superstitions with which they froze themselves and alarmed me. most of these had allusion to the devil: scarcely one of them that i now recollect but referred to him. among others they firmly held that when the clock struck twelve at midnight, the devil and a select company of his inferiors regularly came upon that part of the bridge called "the draw," and danced a hornpipe there. so firmly did they hold to this belief, that no threat nor persuasion could induce the stoutest-hearted of them to cross the fatal draw after ten o'clock at night. this belief is quite contrary to that which prevails in scotland, according to which, robin burns being my authority, "neither witches nor any evil spirits have power to follow a poor wight any farther than the middle of the next running stream."[ ] c. d. d. new brunswick, new jersey. [footnote : "now, do thy speedy utmost, meg, and win the key-stane of the brig: there at them thou thy tail may toss, a running stream they dare na crass."--_tam o'shanter._ ] _north lincolnshire folk lore._--here follow some shreds of folk lore which i have not seen as yet in "n. & q." they all belong to north lincolnshire. . death sign. if a swarm of bees alight on a dead tree, or on the dead bough of a living tree, there will be a death in the family of the owner during the year. . if you do not throw salt into the fire before you begin to churn, the butter will not come. . if eggs are brought over running water they will have no chicks in them. . it is unlucky to bring eggs into the house after sunset. . if you wear a snake's skin round your head you will never have the headache. . persons called agnes always go mad. . a person who is born on christmas day will be able to see spirits. . never burn egg-shells; if you do, the hens cease to lay. . if a pigeon is seen sitting in a tree, or comes into the house, or from being wild suddenly becomes tame, it is a sign of death. . when you see a magpie you should cross yourself; if you do not you will be unlucky. edward peacock. bottesford moors. _portuguese folk lore._-- "the borderer whispered in my ear that he was one of the dreadful lobishomens, a devoted race, held in mingled horror and commiseration, and never mentioned { } without by the portuguese peasantry. they believe that if a woman be delivered of seven male infants successively, the seventh, by an inexplicable fatality, becomes subject to the powers of darkness; and is compelled, on every saturday evening, to assume the likeness of an ass. so changed, and followed by a horrid train of dogs, he is forced to run an impious race over the moors and through the villages; nor is allowed an interval of rest until the dawning sabbath terminates his sufferings, and restores him to his human shape."--from lord carnarvon's _portugal and gallicia_, vol. ii. p. . e. h. a. * * * * * pope and cowper. in cowper's letter to lady hesketh, dated january , , occurs a notice for the first time of mr. samuel rose, with whom cowper subsequently corresponded. he informs lady hesketh that-- "a young gentleman called here yesterday, who came six miles out of his way to see me. he was on a journey to london from glasgow, having just left the university there. he came, i suppose, partly to satisfy his own curiosity, but chiefly, as it seemed, to bring me the thanks of some of the scotch professors for my two volumes. his name is rose, an englishman." prefixed to a copy of hayley's _life and letters of william cowper, esq._, in the british museum, is an extract in ms. of a letter from the late samuel rose, esq., to his favourite sister, miss harriet rose, written in the year before his marriage, at the age of twenty-two, and which, i believe, has never been printed. it may, perhaps, merit a corner of "n. & q." "weston lodge, sept. , . "last week mr. cowper finished the _odyssey_, and we drank an unreluctant bumper to its success. the labour of translation is now at an end, and the less arduous work of revision remains to be done, and then we shall see it published. i promise both you and myself much pleasure from its perusal. you will most probably find it at first less pleasing than pope's versification, owing to the difference subsisting between blank verse and rhyme--a difference which is not sufficiently attended to, and whereby people are led into injudicious comparisons. you will find mr. pope more refined: mr. cowper more simple, grand, and majestic; and, indeed, insomuch as mr. pope is more refined than mr. cowper, he is more refined than his original, and in the same proportion departs from homer himself. pope's must universally be allowed to be a beautiful poem: mr. cowper's will be found a striking and a faithful portrait, and a pleasing picture to those who enjoy his style of colouring, which i am apprehensive is not so generally acceptable as the other master's. pope possesses the gentle and amiable graces of a guido: cowper is endowed with the bold sublime genius of a raphael. after having said so much upon their comparative merits, enough, i hope, to refute your second assertion which was, that women, in the opinion of men, have little to do with literature. i may inform you, that the _iliad_ is to be dedicated to earl cowper, and the _odyssey_ to the dowager lady spencer but this information need not be extensively circulated." j. yeowell. . burton street. * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _"as you like it."_--believing that whatever illustrates, even to a trifling extent, the great dramatic poet of england will interest the readers of "n. & q.," i solicit their attention to the resemblance between the two following passages: "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." "si rectè aspicias, _vita hæc est fabula quædam_. _scena autem, mundus versatilis_: _histrio et actor_ _quilibet est hominum--mortales nam propriè cuncti_ _sunt personati_, et falsâ sub imagine, vulgi præstringunt oculos: _ita diis, risumque jocumque_, _stultitiis, nugisque suis per sæcula præbent_. . . . . . . . . "jam mala quæ humanum patitur genus, adnumerabo. _principiò_ postquam è latebris malè olentibus alvi eductus tandem est, materno sanguine foedus, _vagit, et auspicio lacrymarum nascitur infans_. . . . . . . . . "vix natus jam vincla subit, tenerosque coërcet fascia longa artus: præsagia dire futuri servitii. . . . . . . . . "post ubi jam valido se poplite sustinet, et jam ritè loqui didicit, tunc servire incipit, atque jussa pati, _sentitque minas ictusque magistri_, sæpe patris matrisque manu fratrisque frequenter pulsatur: facient quid vitricus atque noverca? _fit juvenis, crescunt vires_: jam spernit habenas, occluditque aures monitis, furere incipit, ardens luxuriâ atque irâ: et temerarius omnia nullo consilio aggreditur, dictis melioribus obstat, deteriora fovens: _non ulla pericula curat_, dummodo id efficiat, suadet quod coeca libido. . . . . . . . . "_succedit gravior, melior, prudentior ætas_, cumque ipsâ curæ adveniunt, durique labores; tune homo mille modis, studioque enititur omni rem facere, et nunquam sibi multa negotia desunt. nunc peregrè it, nunc ille domi, nunc rure laborat, ut sese, uxorem, natos, famulosque gubernet, ac servet, solus pro cunctis sollicitus, nec jucundis fruitur dapibus, nec nocte quietâ. ambitio hunc etiam impellens, _ad publica mittit_ _munia_: dumque inhiat vano malè sanus honori, invidiæ atque odii patitur mala plurima: deinceps _obrepit canis rugosa senecta capillis_, secum multa trahens incommoda corporis atque mentis: nam _vires abeunt, speciesque colorque_, nec non _deficiunt sensus_: _audire, videre_ { } _languescunt, gustusque minor fit_: denique semper aut hoc, aut illo morbo vexantur--_inermi_ _manduntur vix ore cibi_, _vix crura bacillo_ _sustentata meant_: animus quoque vulnera sentit. _desipit, et longo torpet confectus ab ævo_." it would have only occupied your space needlessly, to have transcribed at length the celebrated description of the seven ages of human life from shakspeare's _as you like it_; but i would solicit the attention of your readers to the latin verses, and then to the question, whether either poet has borrowed from the other? and, should this be decided affirmatively, the farther question would arise, which is the original? arterus. dublin. [these lines look like a modern paraphrase of shakspeare; and our correspondent has not informed us from what book he has _transcribed_ them.--ed.] _passage in "king john" and "romeo and juliet."_--i am neither a commentator nor a reader of commentators on shakspeare. when i meet with a difficulty, i get over it as well as i can, and think no more of the matter. having, however, accidentally seen two passages of shakspeare much ventilated in "n. & q.," i venture to give my poor conjectures respecting them. . _king john._-- "it lies as sightly on the back of him, as great alcides' _shows_ upon an ass." i consider _shows_ to be the true reading; the reference being to the ancient _mysteries_, called also _shows_. the machinery required for the celebration of the mysteries was carried by _asses_. hence the proverb: "asinus portat mysteriæ." the connexion of hercules--"great alcides"--with the mysteries, may be learned from aristophanes and many other ancient writers. and thus the meaning of the passage seems to be: the lion's skin, which once belonged to richard of the lion heart, is as sightly on the back of _austria_, as were the mysteries of hercules upon an ass. . _romeo and juliet._-- "that runaways eyes may wink." here i would retain the reading, and interpret _runaways_ as signifying "persons going about on the watch." perhaps _runagates_, according to modern usage, would come nearer to the proposed signification, but not to be quite up with it. many words in shakspeare have significations very remote from those which they now bear. patrick muirson. _shakspeare and the bible._--has it ever been noticed that the following passage from the second part of _henry iv._, act i. sc. ., is taken from the fourteenth chapter of st. luke's gospel? "what do we then, but draw anew the model in fewer offices; or, at least, desist to build at all? much more, in this great work, (which is almost to pluck a kingdom down, and set another up) should we survey the plot, the situation, and the model; consult upon a sure foundation, question surveyors, know our own estate, how able such a work to undergo. a careful leader sums what force he brings to weigh against his opposite; or else we fortify on paper, and in figures, using the names of men, instead of men: like one that draws the model of a house beyond his power to build it." the passage in st. luke is as follows (xiv. - .): "for which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? "lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, "saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish. "or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?" i give the passage as altered by mr. collier's emendator, because i think the line added by him, "a careful leader sums what force he brings," is strongly corroborated by the scripture text. q. d. * * * * * minor notes. _judicial families._--in vol. v. p. . (new edition) of lord mahon's _history of england_, we find the following passage: "lord chancellor camden was the younger son of chief justice pratt,--a case of rare succession in the annals of the law, and not easily matched, unless by their own cotemporaries, lord hardwicke and charles yorke." the following case, i think, is equally, if not more, remarkable:-- the right hon. thomas berry cusack-smith, brother of the present sir michael cusack-smith, bart., is master of the rolls in ireland, having been appointed to that high office in january, . his father, sir william cusack-smith, second baronet, was for many years baron of the court of exchequer in ireland. and his grandfather, the right hon. sir michael smith, first baronet, was, like his grandson at the present day, master of the rolls in ireland. is not this "a case of rare succession in the annals of the law, and not easily matched?" abhba. { } _derivation of "topsy turvy."_--when things are in confusion they are generally said to be turned "topsy turvy." the expression is derived from a way in which turf for fuel is placed to dry on its being cut. the surface of the ground is pared off with the heath growing on it, and the heath is turned downward, and left some days in that state that the earth may get dry before it is carried away. it means then top-side-turf-way. clericus rusticus. _dictionaries and encyclopædias._--allow me to offer a suggestion to the publishers and compilers of dictionaries; first as to dictionaries of the language. a large class refer to these only to learn the meaning of words not familiar to them, but which may occur in reading. if the dictionaries are framed on the principle of displaying only the classical language of england, it is ten to one they will not supply the desired information. let there be, besides classical dictionaries, glossaries which will exclude no word whatever on account of rarity, vulgarity, or technicality, but which may very well exclude those which are most familiar. as to encyclopædias, their value is chiefly as supplements to the library; but surely no one studies anatomy, or the differential calculus, or architecture, in them, however good the treatises may be. i want a dictionary of miscellaneous subjects, such as find place more easily in an encyclopædia than anywhere else; but why must i also purchase treatises on the higher mathematics, on navigation, on practical engineering, and the like, some of which i already may possess, others not want, and none of which are a bit the more convenient because arranged in alphabetical order in great volumes. besides, they cannot be conveniently replaced by improved editions. encyclopÆdicus. _"mary, weep no more for me."_--there is a well-known ballad of this name, said to have been written by a scotchman named "low." the first verse runs thus: "the moon had climbed the highest hill, which rises o'er the source of dee, and from the eastern summit sped its silver light on tower and tree." i find, however, amongst my papers, a fragment of a version of this same ballad, of, i assume, earlier antiquity, which so surpasses low's ballad that the author has little to thank him for his interference. the first verse of what i take to be the original poem stands thus: "the moon had climbed the highest hill, where eagles big[ ] aboon the dee, and like the looks of a lovely dame, brought joy to every body's ee." no poetical reader will require his attention to be directed to the immeasurable superiority of this glorious verse: the high poetic animation, the eagles' visits, the lovely looks of female beauty, the exhilarating gladness and joy affecting the beholder, all manifest the genius of the master bard. i shall receive it as a favour if any of your correspondents will furnish a complete copy of the original poem, and contrast it with what "low" fancied his "improvements." james cornish. [footnote : build.] _epitaph at wood ditton._--you have recently appropriated a small space in your "medium of intercommunication" to the subject of epitaphs. i can furnish you with one which i have been accustomed to regard as a "grand climacterical absurdity." about thirty years ago, when making a short summer ramble, i entered the churchyard of wood ditton, near newmarket, and my attention was attracted by a headstone, having inlaid into its upper part a piece of iron, measuring about ten inches by six, and hollowed out into the shape of a _dish_. i inquired of a cottager residing on the spot what the thing meant? i was informed that the party whose ashes the grave covered was a man who, during a long life, had a strange taste for sopping a slice of bread in a dripping-pan (a pan over which meat has been roasted), and would relinquish for this all kinds of dishes, sweet or savoury; that in his will he left a request that a dripping-pan should be fixed in his gravestone; that he wrote his own epitaph, an exact copy of which i herewith give you, and which he requested to be engraved on the stone: "here lies my corpse, who was the man that loved a sop in the dripping-pan; but now believe me i am dead,-- see here the pan stands at my head. still for sops till the last i cried, but could not eat, and so i died. my neighbours they perhaps will laugh, when they read my epitaph." j. h. cambridge. _pictorial pun._--in the village of warbleton, in sussex, there is an old public-house, which has for its sign a war bill in a tun of beer, in reference of course to the name of the place. it has, however, the double meaning, of "axe for beer." r. w. b. * * * * * queries. sir thomas button's voyage, . i am about to print some information, hitherto i believe totally unknown, relative to the voyage of sir thomas button in , for the discovery of the north-west passage. of this voyage a journal was kept, which was in existence many years afterwards, being offered by { } its author to secretary dorchester in , then engaged in forwarding the projected voyage of "north-west" foxe; it is remarkable, however, that no extended account of this voyage, so important in its objects, has ever been published. i am desirous of knowing if this journal is in existence, and where? also, lord dorchester's letter to button in february, ; of any farther information on the subject of the voyage, or of sir thomas button. what i possess already are, . "motiues inducing a proiect for the discouerie of the north pole terrestriall; the streights of anian, into the south sea, and coasts thereof," anno . . prince henry's instructions for the voyage, together with king james's letters of credence, . . a letter from sir thomas button to secretary dorchester, dated cardiff, th feb., (from the state paper office). . sir dudley digges' little tract on the n.-w. passage, written to promote the voyage, and of which there were two distinct impressions in and . . extracts from the carleton correspondence, and from the hakluyt society's volume on voyages to the north-west. i shall be glad also to learn the date, and any other facts connected with the death of john davis, the discoverer of the straits bearing his name. john petheram. . high holborn. * * * * * minor queries. _the words "cash" and "mob."_--in moore's _diary_ i find the following remark. can any of your numerous readers throw any light on the subject? "lord holland doubted whether the word 'cash' was a legitimate english word, though, as irving remarked, it is as old as ben jonson, there being a character called cash in one of his comedies. lord holland said mr. fox was of opinion that the word 'mob' was not genuine english."--moore's _diary_, vol. iii. p. . clericus rusticus. _"history of jesus christ."_--g. l. s. will feel obliged by any correspondent of "n. & q." stating who is the author of the following work?-- "the history of the incarnation, life, doctrine and miracles, the death, resurrection, and ascension of our blessed lord and saviour, jesus christ. in seven books; illustrated with notes, and interspersed with dissertations, theological, historical, geographical and critical. "to which are added the lives, actions, and sufferings of the twelve apostles; also of saint paul, saint mark, saint luke, and saint barnabas. together with a chronological table from the beginning of the reign of herod the great to the end of the apostolic age. by a divine of the church of england. "london: printed for t. cooper, at the globe, in paternoster row, ." this work is in one folio volume, and all i can ascertain of its authorship is that it was _not_ written by bishop gibson, of "preservative" fame. _quantity of the latin termination -anus._--proper names having the termination _-anus_ are always long in latin and short in greek; thus, the claudi[=a]nus, luci[=a]nus, &c. of the latins are [greek: klaudianos] and [greek: loukianos] in greek. what is to be said of the word [greek: christianos]? is it long or short, admitting it to be long in the latin tongue? while on the subject of quantities, let me ask, where is the authority for that of the name of the queen of the ethiopians, candace, to be found? we always pronounce it long, but all books of authority mark it as short. anti-barbarus. _webb and walker families._--perhaps you or some of your numerous readers could inform me if the christian names of daniel and roger were used or years ago by any of the numerous families of _webb_ or _webbe_, resident in wilts or elsewhere; and if so, in what family of that name? and is there any pedigree of them extant? and where is it to be found? was the rev. geo. walker, the defender of derry, connected with the webbs? and if so, how, and with what family? is there any webb mentioned in history at the siege of derry? and if so, to what family of that name did he belong? gulielmus. _cawdrey's "treasure of similes."_--i stumbled lately at a book-stall on a very curious old book entitled _a treasurie or store-house of similes both pleasant, delightfull, and profitable_. the title-page is gone; but in an old hand on the cover it is stated to have been written by a certain "cawdrey," and to have been printed in , where i cannot discover. can any of your correspondents oblige me with some information concerning him? the book is marked "scarce." j. h. s. _point of etiquette._--will some of your numerous correspondents kindly inform me as to the rule in such a case as the following: when an elder brother has lost both his daughters in his old age, does the eldest daughter of the younger brother take the style of _miss_ smith, jones, brown, or robinson, as the case may be? f. d., m.r.c.s. _napoleon's spelling._--macaulay, in his _history of england_, chap. vii., quotes, in a foot-note, a passage from a letter of william iii., written in french to his ambassador at paris, and then makes this remark, "the spelling is bad, but not worse than napoleon's." { } can you refer me to some authentic proof of the fact that napoleon was unable to spell correctly? it is well known that he affected to put his thoughts upon paper with great rapidity; and the consequence of this practice was, that in almost every word some letters were dropped, or their places indicated by dashes. but this was only one of those numerous contrivances, to which he was in the habit of resorting, in order to impress those around him with an idea of his greatness. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _trench on proverbs._--mr. trench, in this excellent little work, states that the usual translation of psalm cxxvii. . is incorrect: "let me remind you of such [proverbs] also as the following, often quoted or alluded to by greek and latin authors: _the net of the sleeping (fisherman) takes_[ ]; a proverb the more interesting, that we have in the words of the psalmist (ps. cxxvii. .), were they accurately translated, a beautiful and perfect parallel; 'he giveth his beloved' (not 'sleep,' but) 'in their sleep;' his gifts gliding into their bosoms, they knowing not how, and as little expecting as leaving laboured for them." the hebrew is [hebrew: ytn lydydw shn'], the literal translation of which, "he giveth (or, he will give) to his beloved sleep," seems to me to be correct. as mr. trench is a reader of "n. & q.," perhaps he would have the kindness to mention in its pages the ground he has for his proposed translation. e. m. b. [footnote : "[greek: heudonti kurtos hairei]. dormienti rete trahit."] _rings formerly worn by ecclesiastics._--in describing the finger-ring found in the grave of the venerable bede, the writer of _a brief account of durham cathedral_ adds,-- "no priest, during the reign of catholicity, was buried or enshrined without his ring."--p. . i have seen a similar statement elsewhere, and wish to ask, st, were priests formerly buried with the ring? ndly, if so, was it a mere custom, or was it ordered or authorised by any rubric or canon of our old english church? i am very strongly of opinion that such never was the custom, and that the statement above quoted has its origin in the confounding priests with bishops. martene says, when speaking of the manner of burying bishops,-- "episcopus debet habere annulum, quia sponsus est. cæteri sacerdotes non, quia sponsi non sunt, sed amici sponsi vel vicarii."--_de antiquis ecclesiæ ritibus_, lib. iii. cap. xii. n. . ceyrep. _butler's "lives of the saints."_--can any of your correspondents supply a correct list of the various editions of this popular work? the notices in watt and lowndes are very unsatisfactory. j. yeowell. _marriage of cousins._--it was asserted to me the other day that marriage with a _second_ cousin is, by the laws of england, illegal, and that succession to property has been lately barred to the issue of such marriage, though the union of _first_ cousins entails no such consequences. is there any foundation for this statement? j. p. _castle thorpe_[ ], _bucks._--a traditional rhyme is current at this place which says that-- "if it hadn't been for cobb-bush hill, thorpe castle would have stood there still." or the last line, according to another version,-- "there would have been a castle at thorpe still." now it appears from lipscomb's _history_ of the county, that the castle was demolished by fulke de brent about ; how then can this tradition be explained? cobb-bush hill, i am told, is more than half a mile from the village. h. thos. wake. [footnote : pronounced _thrup_.] _where was edward ii. killed?_--hume and lingard state that this monarch was murdered at berkeley castle. echard and rapin are silent, both as to the event and as to the locality. but an earlier authority, viz. martyn, in his _historie and lives of twentie kings_, , says: "he was committed to the castle of killingworth, and prince edward was crowned king. and not long after, the king being removed to the castle of corff, was wickedly assayled by his keepers, who, through a horne which they put in his," &c. what authority had martyn for these statements? c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _encore._--perhaps some correspondent of "n. & q." can assign a reason why we use this french word in our theatres and concert rooms, to express our desire for the repetition of favourite songs, &c. i should also like to know at what period it was introduced. a. a. _amcotts' pedigree._--can any of your correspondents supply me with a full pedigree of amcotts of astrop, co. lincolnshire? i do not refer to the visitations, but to the later descents of the family. the last heir male was, i believe, vincent amcotts, esq., great-grandfather to the present sir william amcotts ingilby, bart. elizabeth amcotts, who married, th july, , john toller, esq., of billingborough hall in lincolnshire, was one of this family, and i suppose aunt to vincent amcotts. i may mention, the calendars { } of the will office at lincoln have no entries of the name of amcotts between and . tewars. _blue bell--blue anchor._--a bell painted blue is a common tavern sign in this country (united states); and the blue anchor is also to be met with in many places. as these signs evidently had their origin in england, and one of them is alluded to in the old scotch ballad "the blue bell of scotland," it seems to me that the best method to apply for information upon the subject is to ask "n. & q." are these signs of inns heraldic survivors of old time; are they corruptions of some other emblem, such as that which in london transformed _la belle sauvage_ into the _bell savage_, pictorialised by an indian ringing a hand-bell; or is the choice of such improper colour as blue for a bell and an anchor a species of symbolism the meaning of which is not generally known? [old english w]. philadelphia. _"we've parted for the longest time."_--would you insert these lines in your paper, the author of which i seek to know, as well as the remaining verses? "we've parted for the longest time, we ever yet did part, and i have felt the last wild throb of that enduring heart: thy cold and tear-wet cheek has lain for the last time to mine, and i have pressed in agony those trembling lips of thine." r. jermyn cooper. the rectory, chiltington hunt, sussex. _matthew lewis._--allow me to solicit information, through the medium of "n. & q.," where i can see a pedigree of matthew lewis, esq., deputy secretary of war for many years under the right hon. william windham, then m.p. for norwich, and other secretaries-at-war. i rather think mr. lewis married a daughter of sir thomas sewell, kt., master of the rolls from to ; and had a son, matthew gregory lewis, known as _monk_ lewis, who was m.p. for hindon at the close of the last century: a very clever but eccentric young man. i also believe lieut.-gen. john whitelocke, and gen. sir thos. brownrigg, g.c.b., who died in , were connected by marriage with the sewell or lewis families. c. h. f. _paradise lost._--in _a treatise on the dramatic literature of the greeks_, by the rev. j. r. darley, i read the following remark: "in our own literature also, the efforts of our early dramatists were directed to subjects derived from religion; even the _paradise lost_ is composed of a series of minor pieces, originally cast in dramatic form, of which the creation and fall of man, and the several episodes which were introduced subordinately to these grand events, were the subject-matter." this statement being at variance with the received opinion, that milton, from his early youth, had meditated the composition of an epic poem, i would inquire whether there is any evidence to support mr. darley's view? milton has been charged with having borrowed the design of _paradise lost_ from some italian author; and this allegation, coupled with that made by mr. darley, would, if founded, reduce our great national epic to what hazlitt has described as "patchwork and plagiarism, the beggarly copiousness of borrowed wealth." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _colonel hyde seymour._--who was "colonel hyde seymour?" i find his name written in a book, _the life of william the third_, . h. t. ellacombe. _vault at richmond, yorkshire._--in speed's plan of richmond, in yorkshire, is represented the mouth of a "vault that goeth under the river, and ascendeth up into the castell." was there ever such a vault, and how came it to be destroyed or lost sight of? one who knows richmond well tells me that he never heard of it. o. l. r. g. _poems published at manchester._--can any contributor to "n. & q." inform me who was the author of a volume of _poems on several occasions_, published by subscription at manchester; printed for the author by r. whitworth, in the year ? it is an vo. of pages; has on the title-page a line from ovid: "jure, tibi grates, candide lector, ago," and begins with an "address to all my subscribers;" after which follow several pages of subscribers' names, which consist chiefly of staffordshire and cheshire gentry. my copy (for the possession of which i am indebted to the kindness of dr. bliss, the principal of st. mary's hall, oxford) was formerly in the library of mr. heber, who has thus noted its purchase on the fly-leaf, "feb. , ford, manchester, s. d." dr. bliss has added, on the same fly-leaf, "heber's fourth sale, no. , not in the bodleian catalogue." the first poem in the book is "a pastoral to the memory of sir thomas delves, baronet." it is probably a scarce book; but possibly some of your book-learned correspondents may help me to the author's name. w. sneyd. denton. _handel's dettingen te deum._--any information as to the circumstances under which handel composed this celebrated _te deum_, and the place { } and occasion of its first public performance, will be welcome to philo-handel. _edmund spenser and sir hans sloane, bart._--as i believe myself (morally speaking) to be _lineally_ descended from the former of these celebrated men, and _collaterally_ from the latter, may i request that information may be forwarded me, either through your columns or by correspondence, regarding the descendants of the great poet and his ancestry; and also whether, among the many thousand volumes bequeathed by sir hans to the nation, some record does not exist tending to prove his genealogical descent? at present i know of no other pedigree than that mr. burke has given of him in his _extinct baronetage_. i shall feel exceedingly gratified if any assistance can be given me relating to these two families. w. sloane sloane-evans. cornworthy vicarage, totnes. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _the ligurian sage._--in gifford's _mæviad_, lines - , i read,-- "together we explored the stoic page of the ligurian, stern tho' beardless sage! or trac'd the aquinian thro' the latin road, and trembled at the lashes he bestow'd." the aquinian is of course juvenal; but i must confess me at fault with respect to the ligurian. w. t. m. [the ligurian sage is no doubt aulus persius flaccus, who, according to ancient authors, was born at volaterræ in etruria; but some modern writers conclude that he was born at lunæ portus in liguria, from the following lines (sat. vi. .), which seem to relate to the place of his residence: "mihi nunc ligus ora intepet, hybernatque _meum_ mare, qua latus ingens dant scopuli, et multa littus se valle receptat. _lunai portum_ est operæ cognoscere, cives." when approaching the verge of manhood, persius became the pupil of cornutus the stoic, and his death took place before he had completed his twenty-eighth year.] _gresebrok in yorkshire._--can you or any of your correspondents give me any information as to what part of yorkshire the manor of gresebrok lies in? in shaw's _history of staffordshire_ ( vols. folio), there is a "bartholomew de gresebrok" mentioned as witness to a deed of henry iii.'s times made between robert de grendon, lord of shenston, and jno. de baggenhall; which family of gresebrok, it is said, "probably took their name from a _manor so called in yorkshire_, and had property and residence in shenstone, from this early period to the beginning of the century, many of whom are recorded in the registers from to ." the above is quoted by shaw from sanders's _history of shenstone_, p. ., and perhaps some of your correspondents may possess that work, and will oblige me by transcribing the necessary information. any particulars of the above family will much oblige your constant reader [greek: hêraldikos.] [according to sanders, the family of greisbrook was formerly of some note at shenstone. he says that "greisbrook, whence the family had their name, is a manor in yorkshire, which, in the reign of henry iii., was in the great house of mowbray, of whom the greisbrooks held their lands. roger de greisbrook (temp. henry ii.) is mentioned as holding of the fee of alice, countess of augie, or ewe, daughter of william de albiney, earl of arundel, by queen alice, relict of henry i." then follow some particulars of various branches of the family, from the year to the death of robert greisbrook in . sanders's history is included in vol. ix. of _bibliotheca topographica britannica_.] _stillingfleet's library._--the extensive and valuable library of edward stillingfleet, the learned bishop of worcester, who died in , is said to be contained in the library of primate marsh, st. patrick's, dublin. can any of your correspondents state how it came there? was it bequeathed by the bishop, or sold by his descendants? he died at westminster, and was buried in worcester cathedral. j. b. whitborne. [bishop stillingfleet's library was purchased by archbishop marsh for his public library in dublin. a few years since robert travers, esq., m.d., of dundrum near dublin, was engaged in preparing for publication a catalogue of stillingfleet's printed books, amounting to near , volumes. the bishop's mss. were bought by the late earl of oxford, and are now in the harleian collection. see _the life of bishop stillingfleet_, vo., , p. ., and _biog. brit._ s. v.] _the whole system of law._--on december , , the long parliament, stimulated by cromwell to various important reforms in civil matters, resolved,-- "that it be referred to persons out of the house to take into consideration what inconveniences there are in the law, and how the mischiefs that grow from the delays, the chargeableness, and the irregularities in the proceedings of the law, may be prevented; and the speediest way to reform the same." the commission thus appointed consisted twenty-one persons, among whom were sir mathew hale, sir anthony ashley cooper, and john rushworth. they seem to have set to work with great vigour, and submitted a variety of important measures to parliament, many of which were { } adopted. they also prepared a document "containing the whole system of the law," which was read to the house on january and , ; and it was resolved "that three hundred copies of the said book be forthwith printed, to be delivered to members of the parliament only." is anything known of this work at the present day? a leguleian. [it appears doubtful whether this work was ever printed, for in a pamphlet published april , , entitled _a supply to a draught of an act or system proposed (as is reported) by the committee for regulations concerning the law_, &c., the writer thus notices it:--"having _lately heard_ of some propositions called 'the system of the law,' which are said to be intended preparatives to several acts of parliament touching the regulation of the law, we cannot but with thankfulness acknowledge the care and industry of those worthy persons who contrived the same, it containing many good and wholesome provisions for the future perpetual good and quiet of the nation.... we know not, at present, wherein we could give a more visible testimony of our affections to the peaceable government of the free people here, than by offering to them and the supreme authority, what we humbly conceive prejudicial and inconvenient to well-government, in case that system (_as it is said to be now prepared_) should take effect." a week before the publication of this work, the long parliament had been turned out of doors by cromwell.] _saint malachy on the popes._--saint malachy, archbishop of armagh, who flourished in the first half of the twelfth century, is said to be the author of a curious prophecy respecting the popes. some years ago i met with this prophecy in an old french almanack, and was particularly struck with its applicability to the life and character of the present pope; but i omitted to make a note. can you inform me where i may find a copy of this prophecy? henry h. breen. [st. malachy's hieroglyphical descriptions or prophecy on the succession of roman pontiffs will be found in _flosculi historici delibati nunc delibatiores redditi, sive historia universalis_; auctore joanne de bussières, societatis jesu sacerdote, oxon. . an explanation of each prophecy is given from the pontificate of celestus ii. a.d. , to that of innocent x. a.d. . the present pope being the nineteenth from innocent x., the following prophecy relates to him, "crux de cruce." we subjoin the remainder: . lumen in coelo. . ignis ardens. . religio depopulata. . fides intrepida. . pastor angelicus. . pastor et nauta. . flos florum. . de medietate lunæ. . de labore solis. gloria olivæ. st. malachy concludes his prophecy with the following prediction of the downfall of the roman church: "in persecutione extrema sacræ romanæ ecclesiæ sedebit petrus romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus; quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, et judex tremendus judicabit populum."] _work on the human figure._--a few years ago there was a little work published on _dress and the art of improving the human figure_, by (i believe) a nobleman's valet: i wish to consult this for a literary purpose, and should be much obliged to any of your readers who can favour me with the exact title and date. charles demayne. [the following two works on dress appear in the _london catalogue:--the whole art of dress_, by a country officer, mo. lond. ; and _the art of dress, or a guide to the toilette_, fcp. vo., lond. .] * * * * * replies. "namby-pamby," and other words of the same form. (vol. viii., p. .) the origin of the word _namby-pamby_ is explained in the following passage of johnson's _life of ambrose philips_: "the pieces that please best are those which from pope and pope's adherents procured him the name of _namby-pamby_, the poems of short lines, by which he paid his court to all ages and characters--from walpole, 'the steerer of the realm,' to miss pulteney in the nursery. the numbers are smooth and sprightly, and the diction is seldom faulty. they are not loaded with much thought, yet, if they had been written by addison, they would have had admirers. little things are not valued but when they are done by those who can do greater." in the _treatise on the bathos_, the _infantine_ style is exclusively exemplified by passages from ambrose philips: "this [says pope] is when a poet grows so very simple as to think and talk like a child. i shall take my examples from the greatest master in this way: hear how he fondles like a mere stammerer: 'little charm of placid mien, miniature of beauty's queen, hither, british muse of mine, hither, all ye grecian nine, with the lovely graces three, and your pretty nursling see. when the meadows next are seen, sweet enamel, white and green; when again the lambkins play, pretty sportlings full of may, then the neck so white and round, (little neck with brilliants bound) and thy gentleness of mind, (gentle from a gentle kind), &c. happy thrice, and thrice again, happiest he of happy men,' &c. and the rest of those excellent lullabies of his composition."--c. xi. these verses are stated by warburton, in his note on the passage, to be taken from a poem to { } miss cuzzona. they are however in fact selected from two poems addressed to daughters of lord carteret, and are put together arbitrarily, out of the order in which they stand in the original poems. there is a short poem by philips in the same metre, addressed to signora cuzzoni, and dated may , , beginning, "little syren of the stage;" but none of the verses quoted in the _treatise on the bathos_ are extracted from it. _namby-pamby_ belongs to a tolerably numerous class of words in our language, all formed on the same rhyming principle. they are all familiar, and some of them childish; which last circumstance probably suggested to pope the invention of the word _namby-pamby_, in order to designate the infantine style which ambrose philips had introduced. many of them, however, are used by old and approved writers; and the principle upon which they are formed must be of great antiquity in our language. the following is a collection of words which are all formed in this manner: _bow-wow._--a word coined in imitation of a dog's bark. compare the french _aboyer_. _chit-chat._--formed by reduplication from _chat_. a word (says johnson) used in ludicrous conversation. it occurs in the _spectator_ and _tatler_. _fiddle-faddle._--formed in a similar manner from _to fiddle_, in its sense of _to trifle_. it occurs in the _spectator_. _flim-flam._--an old word, of which examples are cited from beaumont and fletcher, and swift. it is formed from _flam_, which johnson calls "a cant word of no certain etymology." _flam_, for a lie, a cheat, is however used by south, barrow, and warburton, and therefore at one time obtained an admission into dignified style. see nares' _glossary_ in v. _hab or nab._--that is, according to nares, have or have not; subsequently abridged into _hab, nab_. _hob or nob_ is explained by him to mean "will you have a glass of wine or not?" _hob, nob_ is applied by shakspeare to another alternative, viz. give or take (_twelfth night_, act iii. sc. .). see nares in v. _habbe or nabbe_. _handy-dandy._--"a play in which children change hands and places" (johnson). formed from hand. the word is used by shakspeare. _harum-scarum._--"a low but frequent expression applied to flighty persons; persons always in a hurry" (todd). various conjectures are offered respecting its origin: the most probable seems to be, that it is derived from _scare_. the anglo-saxon word _hearmsceare_ means punishment (see grimm, _deutsche rechtsalterthümer_, p. .); but although the similarity of sound is remarkable, it is difficult to understand how _harum-scarum_ can be connected with it. _helter-skelter._--used by shakspeare. several derivations for this word are suggested, but none probable. _higgledy-piggledy._--"a cant word, corrupted from _higgle_, which denotes any confused mass, as _higglers_ carry a huddle of provisions together" (johnson). it seems more probable that the word is formed from _pig_; and that it alludes to the confused and indiscriminate manner in which pigs lie together. in other instances (as _chit-chat_, _flim-flam_, _pit-a-pat_, _shilly-shally_, _slip-slop_, and perhaps _harum-scarum_), the word which forms the basis of the rhyming reduplication stands second, and not first. _hocus-pocus._--the words _ocus bochus_ appear, from a passage cited in todd, to have been used anciently by italian conjurers. the fanciful idea of tillotson, that _hocus-pocus_ is a corruption of the words _hoc est corpus_, is well known. compare richardson _in v._ _hoddy-doddy._--this ancient word has various meanings (see richardson _in v._). as used by ben jonson and swift, it is expressive of contempt. in holland's translation of pliny it signifies a snail. there is likewise a nursery rhyme or riddle: "hoddy-doddy, all legs and no body." _hodge-podge_ appears to be a corruption of _hotch-pot_. it occurs in old writers. (see richardson in _hotch-pot_.) _hoity-toity._--thoughtless, giddy. formed from the old word _to hoit_, to dance or leap, to indulge in riotous mirth. see nares in _hoit_ and _hoyt_. _hubble-bubble._--a familiar word, formed from _bubble_. not in the dictionaries. _hubbub._--used by spenser, and other good writers. richardson derives it from _hoop_ or _whoop_, shout or yell. it seems rather a word formed in imitation of the confused inarticulate noise produced by the mixture of numerous voices, like _mur-mur_ in latin. _hugger-mugger._--used by spenser, shakspeare, and other old writers. the etymology is uncertain. compare jamieson in _hudge-mudge_. the latter part of the word seems to be allied with _smuggle_, and the former part to be the reduplication. the original and proper sense of hugger-mugger is secretly. see nares _in v._, who derives it from _to hugger_, to lurk about; but query whether such a word can be shown to have existed? _humpty-dumpty._--formed from _hump_. this word occurs in the nursery rhyme: "_humpty-dumpty_ sat on a wall, _humpty-dumpty_ had a great fall," &c. _hurdy-gurdy._--the origin of this word, which is quoted from no writer earlier than foote, has not been explained. see todd _in v._ _hurly-burly._--this old word occurs in the well-known verses in the opening scene of _macbeth_-- "when the _hurly burly's_ done, when the battle's lost and won"-- { } where see the notes of the commentators for other instances of it. there are rival etymologies for this word, but all uncertain. the french has _hurlu-burlu_. nares in _hurly_. _hurry-scurry._--this word, formed from _hurry_, is used by gray in his _long story_. _nick-nack._--a small ornament. not in the dictionaries. _pic-nic._--for the derivation of this word, which seems to be of french origin, see "n. & q.," vol. vii., pp. . . _pit-pat, or pit-a-pat._--a word formed from _pat_, and particularly applied to the pulsations of the heart, when accelerated by emotion. used by ben jonson and dryden. congreve writes it _a-pit-pat_. _riff-raff._--the refuse of anything, "il ne lui lairra rif ny raf." cotgrave in _rif_, where _rif_ is said to mean nothing. _rolly-pooly._--"a sort of game" (johnson). it is now used as the name of a pudding rolled with sweetmeat. _rowdy-dowdy, and rub-a-dub._--words formed in imitation of the beat of a drum. _shilly-shally._--used by congreve, and formerly written "shill i, shall i." _slip-slop._--"bad liquor. a low word, formed by reduplication of _slop_" (johnson). now generally applied to errors in pronunciation, arising from ignorance and carelessness, like those of mrs. malaprop in _the rivals_. _tip-top._--formed from _top_, like _slip-slop_ from _slop_. _tirra-lirra._--used by shakspeare: "the lark that _tirra lirra_ chants."--_winter's tale_, act iv. sc. . from the french, see nares _in v._ the preceding collection is intended merely to illustrate the principle upon which this class of words are formed, and does not aim at completeness. some of your correspondents will doubtless, if they are disposed, be able to supply other examples of the same mode of formation. l. * * * * * earl of oxford. (vol. viii., p. .) s. n. will find the earl's answer in a volume, not very common now, entitled _a compleat and impartial history of the impeachments of the last ministry_, london, vo., . the charge respecting the creation of twelve peers in one day formed the th article of the impeachment. i inclose a copy of the answer, if not too long for your pages. g. "in answer to the th article, the said earl doth insist, that by the laws and constitution of this realm, it is the undoubted right and prerogative of the sovereign, who is the fountain of honor, to create peers of this realm, as well in time of parliament as when there is no parliament sitting or in being; and that the exercise of this branch of the prerogative is declared in the form or preamble of all patents of honor, to proceed _ex mero motu_, as an act of mere grace and favor, and that such acts are not done as many other acts of public nature are, by and with the advice of the privy council; or as acts of pardon usually run, upon a favorable representation of several circumstances, or upon reports from the attorney-general or other officers, that such acts are lawful or expedient, or for the safety or advantage of the crown; but flows entirely from the beneficent and gracious disposition of the sovereign. he farther says, that neither the warrants for patents of honor, the bills or other engrossments of such patents, are at any time communicated to the council or the treasury, as several other patents are; and therefore the said earl, either as high treasurer or privy councillor, could not have any knowledge of the same: nevertheless, if her late sacred majesty had thought fit to acquaint him with her most gracious intentions of creating any number of peers of this realm, and had asked his opinion, whether the persons whom she then intended to create were persons proper to have been promoted to that dignity, he does believe he should have highly approved her majesty's choice; and does not apprehend that in so doing he had been guilty of any breach of his duty, or violation of the trust in him reposed; since they were all persons of honor and distinguished merit, and the peerage thereby was not greatly increased, considering some of those created would have been peers by descent, and many noble families were then lately extinct: and the said earl believes many instances may be given where this prerogative hath been exercised by former princes of this realm, in as extensive a manner; and particularly in the reigns of king henry the eighth, king james the first, and his late majesty king william. the said earl begs leave to add, that in the whole course of his life he hath always loved the established constitution, and in his private capacity as well as in all public stations, when he had the honor to be employed, has ever done his utmost to preserve it, and shall always continue so to do." * * * * * picts' houses. (vol. viii., p. .) the mention there made of the recent discovery of one of these subterranean vaults or passages in aberdeenshire, induces me to ask a question in regard to two subterranean passages which have lately been discovered in berwickshire, and which so far differ from all others that i have heard or read of, that whereas all of them seem to have been built at the sides with large flat stones, and roofed with similar ones, and then covered with earth, those which i am about to mention are both hewn out of the solid rock. they are both situated in the lammermoor range of hills. those persons who have seen them are at a loss to know for what { } purpose they could have been excavated, unless for the purpose of sepulture in the times of the aborigines, or of very early inhabitants of britain, as they in many respects resemble those stone graves which are mentioned in worsaae's _description of the primæval antiquities of denmark_, translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england by mr. thoms. one of these cavities is situated on a remote pasture farm, among the hills belonging to the earl of lauderdale, called braidshawrigg; and was discovered by a shepherd very near his own house, within less than a quarter of a mile up a small stream which runs past it, and on the opposite side of the water, a few yards up the steep hill. the shepherd had observed for some time that one of his dogs was in the habit of going into what he supposed to be a rabbit hole at this place, and when he was missing and called, he generally came out of this hole. at last, curiosity led his master to take a spade and dig into it; and he soon found that, after digging down into the soil to the rock, the cavity became larger, and had evidently been the work of human hands. information was given to lord lauderdale, and the rubbish was cleared away. it (the rubbish) did not extend far in, and after that the passage was clear. the excavation consists of a passage cut nearly north and south (the entrance being to the south) through various strata of solid rocks, partly grauwacke, (or what is there called _whinstone_), and partly grey slate: the strata lying east and west, and nearly vertical. the whole length of it is seventy-four feet. from the entrance the passage, for four or five yards, slopes downwards into the hill; it then runs horizontally the length of sixty-three feet from the entrance, when it changes its direction at right angles to the westward for a distance of eleven feet; when it ends with the solid rock. it is regularly from three feet four inches to three feet six inches wide, and about seven feet high, the ceiling being somewhat circular. the floor is the rock cut square. the time and labour must have been great to cut this passage, as not more than one man could conveniently quarry the rock at the same time. it might have been supposed that this was a level to a mine, as copper has been worked in this range farther eastward; but the passage does not follow any vein, but cuts across all the strata, and keeps a straight line, till it turns westward, and then in another straight line; and the floors, sides, and roof are all made quite regular and even with a pickaxe or a hammer. there does not appear to have been at any time any other habitation than the shepherd's house, and another cottage a little lower down the stream, in the neighbourhood. the discovery of this cavern recalled to the recollection of myself, and some of my family, that a few years ago, in cutting a road through the rock into a whinstone quarry, about four miles south of braidshawrigg, near a mill, we had cut across the east end of a passage somewhat similar to the one before mentioned, but running east and west; that we had cleared it out for a short way, but as it then went under a corner of one of the houses belonging to the mill, we stopped, for fear of bringing down the building, as this passage, though cut out of the solid rock, was not a mine, but had been worked to the surface; and, if it ever had been used for purposes of sepulture, must have been roofed with flagstones, and then covered with earth like other picts' houses. but these roof-stones must have been carried away, and the whole trench was filled with rubbish, and all trace of it on the surface was obliterated. this passage we have lately opened, and cleared out. to the westward it passes into the adjoining water-mill, which is itself in great part formed by excavation of the rock; and the east wall of the upper part of the mill is arched over the passage. beyond the west wall of the mill which adjoins the stream, there is a continuation of the trench through the rock down to the water, which serves to take away that which passes over the millwheel at right angles to where the rock has been cut away to make room for the millwheel itself. that which has been cut away in making the trench, is a seam of clay slate about three feet six inches in breadth, between two solid whinstone rocks. the length of the passage, from the east end, which terminated in rock, to the mill, is sixty-three feet. the mill is thirty feet, and the cut beyond it twelve feet: in all, one hundred and five feet. the average depth is about twelve feet; but as it slopes down to the stream, some of it is sixteen feet deep. it has been suggested that it might have been dug out in order to obtain the coarse slate; but the difficulty of working a confined seam like this, in any other way than by picking it out piecemeal with immense labour, seems impossible. it can never have been meant to convey water to the mill, as the highest part begins in the solid rock, and the object must always have been to keep the water on the highest possible level, until it reached the top of the millwheel. nothing was found in either of these excavations.--after this long discussion, query, what can have been the purpose for which these laborious works can have been executed? j. s. s. * * * * * pronunciation of "humble." (vol. viii., pp. . .) it is my misfortune entirely to differ from mr. dawson (p. .) and mr. crossley (p. .) as to the pronunciation of _humble_; and permit me to say (with all courtesy) that i was unfeignedly surprised at the latter's assertion, that sounding { } the _h_ is "a recent attempt to introduce a mispronunciation," as i have known that mode of pronunciation all but universally prevalent for nearly the last forty years; and i have had pretty good opportunities for observing what the general usage in that respect was, as i was for some years at a very large public school, then at oxford for more than the usual time, and have since resided in london more than twenty-five years, practising as a barrister in westminster hall, and on one of the largest circuits. if, therefore, i have not had ample means of judging as to the pronunciation of _humble_, i know not where the means are to be found; especially as i doubt whether _humble_ and _humbly_ are anywhere so frequently used as in courts: a counsel rarely making a speech without "_humbly_ submitting" or making a "_humble_ application." now the result of my experience is, that the _h_ is almost universally sounded; and at this moment i cannot call to mind a single gentleman who omits it, who does not also omit it in many other instances where no doubt can exist that it ought to be sounded. mr. dawson believes the sounding the _h_ to be "one of those, either oxford, or cambridge, or both, peculiarities of which no reasonable explanation can be given." now i believe mr. dawson is right in supposing that that usage is general both at oxford and cambridge, and i rather think that not only an explanation of the fact may be given, but that the fact itself, that in both the universities the _h_ is sounded, is extremely cogent evidence that it is correct. it cannot be doubted that the fact that a word is spelled with certain letters is clear proof that, at the time when that spelling was adopted, the word was so sounded as to give a distinct sound to each of the letters used, and that clearly must have been the case with words beginning with _h_ especially. when, therefore, the present spelling of _humble_ was adopted, the _h_ was sounded. now, whilst i freely admit that the utterance of any word may be changed--"si volet usus, quem penes arbitrium est, et jus et norma loquendi"--still it cannot be questioned that the usage must be so general, clear, and distinct among the better educated classes (where-ever they may have received their education) as to leave no reasonable doubt about the matter; and that it lies on those who assert that such a change has taken place, to show such a usage as i have mentioned. and when the number of the members of the universities is considered, and their position as men of education, it must at least admit of doubt whether, if a general usage prevailed among them to pronounce a particular word in the manner in which it originally was pronounced, this would not alone prevent a different pronunciation among others from having that general prevalence, which would be sufficient to justify a change in the utterance of such word. but let us consider whether the usage of the universities is not very cogent evidence that the _h_ is generally sounded throughout england, . each university contains a large number of the higher and better educated classes. . the members come from all parts of england indiscriminately. . infinitely the majority come from schools; and some of the large schools have generally many members at each university. by such persons the pronunciation of the schools cannot fail to be represented. . every one on entering the university is expected at least to know his own language. . there is no instruction, as far as i know (however much the fact may be to be regretted), ever given in english at either university. . there is a perpetual change of about a third of the members every year, few remaining above three years. now can any one, who candidly considers these facts, doubt that a usage in pronouncing a particular word at _either_ university if generally prevalent, is very strong evidence that the same usage is generally prevalent throughout england; but if any one does entertain such a doubt, surely it must be done away, when he finds that the same usage prevails at _both_ universities; though there exists such a degree of rivalry between them as would prevent the one from adopting from the other any usage which was liable to any the least doubt, and though there is no communication between them that could account for the same usage prevailing in both. mr. crossley appeals to the prayer book as a decisive authority, and instances "an _humble_," &c. if any one will examine the prayer book, he will find that it is no authority at all; as "an" is at least as often used erroneously before _h_ as not. in reading over the first sixty-eight psalms, i found the following instances--ps. xxvii. . and ps. xxxiii. ., "an host of men;" ps. xlvii. . and ps. lxi. ., "an heritage;" ps. xlix. ., "an happy man," ps. lv. ., "an horrible dread;" ps. lxviii. ., "an high hill." and in the same psalms i only found _one_ instance of _a_ before _h_, viz. in ps. xxxiii. ., "a horse;" and in this case the bible version has "an horse." in the first lesson for the th sunday after trinity, dan. iii. ., "an herald," and ., "an hair of their head," occur; and in the next chapter (iv. .), "an holy one." it is plain from these instances (and doubtless many others may be found), that the use of "an" before _h_, in the bible or prayer book, can afford no test whatever whether the _h_ ought to be sounded or not. s. g. c. after the sensible note of your correspondent e. h., it is perhaps hardly necessary to say more on the subject of aspirated and mute _h_. if these remarks, therefore, seem superfluous, they may easily be suppressed, and that too without any offence to the writer. { } it is very dangerous to dogmatise on the english language. we really have no authority to which we can confidently appeal, except the usage of good society: "quem penes arbitrium est, et jus et norma loquendi." unfortunately, however, every man is convinced, that in _his own_ society that usage is to be found; and your correspondents, who have agreed in approving the _heapian_ pronunciation, will probably, on that ground, still retain the same opinion. the only words in the english language, in which _h_ is written, but not pronounced, are words derived from latin through the french; but of these, many in english retain the aspirate, though in french nearly all lose it. the exceptions collected by e. h. satisfactorily prove that we do not follow the french rule implicitly. they indeed carry the non-aspiration farther than to words of latin derivation. they omit the aspirate to nearly all words derived from greek. this we never do. i think that e. h.'s rule, of always aspirating _h_ before _u_, is not entirely without exceptions. except in ireland, i never heard _humour_ or _humorous_ aspirated, though in _humid_ and _humect_ the _h_ is always sounded. if this be right, it depends solely on the usage of good society, and not on rules laid down by walker or lindley murray, whose authority we do _not_ acknowledge as infallible. i may here remark, that no arguments can be drawn from our liturgy or translation of the bible that would not prove too much. if, because we find in our liturgy "an _humble_, lowly, and obedient heart," we are to read "an _'umble_," we must also read "an 'undred, an 'ouse, an 'eap, an 'eart;" for _an_ was prefixed in our liturgy as well as in our translated bible to _every_ word beginning with _h_, and not (as one of your correspondents supposes) only to words beginning with silent _h_. among young clergymen there is a growing habit (derived i suppose from walker, or other such sources) of indulging in the _heapian_ dialect. i think mr. dickens will have done us more good by his ridicule, than will ever be effected by serious arguments; and i feel as much obliged to him as to e. h. to show how dangerous it is to be bound by a mere grammarian authority, a disciple of vaugelas or restaut (no insignificant names in french philology) would be led to read _les héros_ as if it were "les zéros." e. c. h. * * * * * school libraries. (vol. viii., p. .) i can answer mr. weld taylor for at least one public school having no library, nor any books for other purposes than tasks, _i.e._ christ's hospital, london: whether any other metropolitan schools are provided with books i do not know. when i was at the above school, at all events, we had no books except for learning out of; whether reform has crept in since i was there, twenty-five years ago, i cannot say. i speak of then, not now. i remember very well a dusty cupboard with "read, mark, learn," painted in ostentatious letters on it. and these profound words were just like a park gate with high iron railings, where you may peep in and get no farther--no more could we: for we never saw the inside of it, and nobody could say where the key was, therefore what flowery _pleasaunce_ of knowledge it contained nobody perhaps knows to this day. i also remember how greedily any entertaining book was borrowed, begged, and circulated; and thumbed and dog's-eared to admiration. _rasselas_ and _gulliver's travels_, _robinson crusoe_, or _sandford and merton_, poor things! they became at last what might be supposed a public arsenal of umbrellas would at the last. when i reflect on that time, and the dreary winter's evenings, trundled to bed almost by daylight, my very heart sinks. what a luxury if some christian had been allowed to read aloud for an hour, instead of lying awake studying the ghastly lamp that swung from the ceiling in the dormitory; or if some one with a modicum of information had given half an hour's lecture on some entertaining branch of science. perhaps these antique schools are reformed in some measure, or perhaps they are waiting till their betters are. i observe, however, that certain parish work-house schools have, within these few days, taken the hint. perhaps our public schools, for some are very wealthy, may be able to afford to follow their example. e. h. wimborne minster, dorset. marlborough college possesses a library of about four thousand volumes, entirely the munificent contribution of mr. m^cgeachy, one of the council. the boys of the fifth and sixth forms are allowed access daily at certain fixed hours, the librarian being present. in addition to this, libraries are now being formed in each house, which are maintained by small half-yearly subscriptions, and which will contain books of a more amusing character, and better suited for the younger boys. b. j. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _albumenized paper._--if this subject be not already exhausted, the following account of my method of preparing the material in question, which differs in some few important particulars from any i have seen published, may be of interest to some of my brother operators. { } i have, after a very considerable number of experiments, succeeded in producing the _very highly_ varnished appearance so conspicuous in some of the foreign proofs; and although i cannot say i admire it in general, more especially as regards landscapes, yet it is sometimes very effective for portraits, giving a depth of tone to the shadows, and a roundness to the flesh, which is very striking. moreover, a photographer may just as well be acquainted with every kind of manipulation connected with the art. having but a very moderate amount of spare time, and that at uncertain intervals, to devote to this seductive pursuit, i am always a great stickler for _economy of time_ in all the processes, as well as for economy of material, the former with me having, perhaps, a shade more influence than the latter. as in all other processes, i find that the _kind of paper_ made use of has a most important bearing upon the result. that which i find the best is of french manufacture, known as canson frères' (both the thin and the thick sorts), probably in consequence of their being sized with starch. the thin sort (the same as is generally used for waxed-paper negatives) takes the highest polish, but more readily embrowns after being rendered sensitive, and the lights are not ever quite so white as when the positive paper is used. in order to save both time and labour, i prepare my papers in the _largest_ sizes that circumstances will admit of, as it takes little or no more time to prepare and render sensitive a large sheet than a small one; and as i always apply the silver solution by means of the glass rod, i find that a half-sheet of canson's paper (being seventeen inches by eleven inches the half-sheet) is the best size to operate on. if the whole sheet is used, it requires _more_ than double the quantity of solution to ensure its being properly covered, which additional quantity is simply so much waste. a most convenient holder for the paper whilst being operated upon, is one suggested by mr. horne of newgate street, and consists of a piece of half-inch quebec yellow pine plank (a soft kind of deal), eleven inches by seventeen inches, screwed to a somewhat larger piece of the same kind, but with the grain of the wood at right angles to the upper piece, in order to preserve a perfectly flat surface. on to the upper piece is glued a covering of japanned-flannel, such as is used for covering tables, taking care to select for the purpose that which has no raised pattern, the imitation of rosewood or mahogany being unexceptionable on that account. the paper can be readily secured to the arrangement alluded to by means of a couple of pins, one at each of two opposite angles, the wood being sufficiently soft to admit of their ready penetration. _to prepare the albumen._--take the white of _one_ egg; this dissolve in one ounce of distilled water, two grains of chloride of sodium (common salt), and two grains of _grape_ sugar; mix with the egg, whip the whole to froth, and allow it to stand until it again liquefies. the object of this operation is to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients, and render the whole as homogeneous as possible. a variety in the resulting tone is produced by using ten grains of sugar of milk instead of the grape sugar. the albumen mixture is then laid on to the paper by means of a flat camel's-hair brush, about three inches broad, the mixture being first poured into a cheese plate, or other flat vessel, and all froth and bubbles carefully removed from the surface. four longitudinal strokes with such a brush, if properly done, will cover the whole half-sheet of paper with an even thin film; but in case there are any lines formed, the brush may be passed very lightly over it again in a direction at right angles to the preceding. the papers should then be allowed to remain on a perfectly level surface until nearly dry, when they may be suspended for a few minutes before the fire, to complete the operation. in this condition the glass is but moderate, and as is generally used; but if, after the first drying before the fire, the papers are again subjected to precisely the same process, the negative paper will shine like polished glass. that is coated again with the albumenizing mixture, and dried as before. one egg, with the ounce of water, &c., is enough to cover five half-sheets with two layers, or five whole sheets with one. i rarely iron my papers, as i do not find any advantage therein, because the moment the silver solution is applied the albumen becomes coagulated, and i cannot discover the slightest difference in the final result, except that when the papers are ironed i sometimes find flaws and spots occur from some carelessness in the ironing process. if the albumenized paper is intended to be kept for any _long_ time before use, the ironing may be useful as a protection against moisture, provided the _iron be sufficiently hot_; but the temperature ought to be considerable. to render the paper sensitive, i use a hundred-grain solution of nitrate of silver, of which forty-five minims will exactly cover the sheet of seventeen inches by eleven inches, if laid on with the glass rod. a weaker solution will do, but with the above splendid tints may be produced. as to the ammonio-nitrate of silver, i have totally abandoned its use, and, after many careful experiments, i am satisfied that its extra sensitiveness is a delusion, while the rapid tendency of paper prepared with it to spoil is increased tenfold. the fixing, of course, modifies considerably the tone of the proof, but almost any desired shade { } may be attained by following the plan of mr. f. m. lyte, published in "n. & q.," provided the negative is sufficiently intense to admit of a considerable degree of over-printing. it is a fact which appears to be entirely overlooked by many operators, that the _intensity_ of the negative is the chief agent in conducing to black tones in the positive proof; and it is almost impossible to produce them if the negative is poor and weak: and the same observation applies to a negative that has been _over_-exposed. geo. shadbolt. _cement for glass baths._--the best i have tried is canada balsam. my baths i have had in use five years, and have used them for exciting, developing hypo. and cyanide, and are as good as when first used. noxid. _new process for positive proofs._--i have tried a method of preparing my paper for positive proofs, which, as i have not seen it mentioned as employed by others, and the results appear to me very satisfactory, i am induced to communicate to you, and to accompany by some specimens, which will enable you to judge of the amount of success. i use a glass cylinder, with air-pump attached, such as that described by mr. stewart as employed by him for iodizing his paper. i put in this the salt solution, and that i use is thus composed: drachms of sugar of milk, dissolved in ounces of water, adding-- chloride of barium grs. chloride of sodium grs. chloride of ammonium grs. in this i plunge several sheets of paper rolled into a coil (taking care that they are covered by the solution), and exhaust the air. i leave them thus for a few minutes, then take them out and hang them up to dry; or as the sheets are rather difficult to pin, from the paper giving way, spread them on a frame, across which any common kind of coarse muslin or tarletan, such as that i inclose, is stretched. i excite with ammonio-nitrate of silver, grains to ounce of water, applied with a flat brush. i fix in a bath of plain hypo. of the strength of one-sixth. the bath in which the inclosed specimens were fixed has been in use for some little time, and therefore has acquired chloride of silver. i previously prepared my paper by _brushing_ it with the same salt solution, and the difference of effect produced may be seen by comparing a proof so obtained, which i inclose, with the others. this latter is of rather a reddish-brown, and not very agreeable tint. i have inclosed the proofs as printed on paper of whatman, turner, and canson frères, so as to show the effect in each case. the advantages which the mode i have detailed possesses are, i think, these: greater sensitiveness in the paper, a good black tint, and greater freedom from spots and blemishes, all very material merits. c. e. f. [our correspondent has forwarded five specimens, four of which are certainly very satisfactory, the fifth is the one prepared by brushing.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the groaning elm-plank in dublin_ (vol. viii., p. .).--dr. rimbault has given an account of the groaning-board, one of the popular delusions of two centuries ago: the following notice of it, extracted from my memoir of sir thomas molyneux, bart., m.d., and published in the _dublin university_ for september, , may interest your readers: "in one of william molyneux's communications he mentions the exhibition of 'the groaning elm-plank' in dublin, a curiosity that attracted much attention and many learned speculations about the years and . he was, however, too much of a philosopher to be gulled with the rest of the people who witnessed this so-called 'sensible elm-plank,' which is said to have groaned and trembled on the application of a hot iron to one end of it. after explaining the probable cause of the noise and tremulousness by its form and condition, and by the sap being made to pass up through the pores or tubuli of the plank which was in some particular condition, he says: 'but, tom, the generality of mankind is lazy and unthoughtful, and will not trouble themselves to think of the reason of a thing: when they have a brief way of explaining anything that is strange by saying, "the devil's in it," what need they trouble their heads about pores, and matters, and motion, figure, and disposition, when the devil and a witch shall solve the phenomena of nature.'" w. r. wilde. _passage in whiston_ (vol. viii., p. .).--j. t. complains of not being able to find a passage in whiston, which he says is referred to in p. . of _taylor on original sin_, lond. . i do not know what taylor he refers to. jeremy taylor wrote a treatise on original sin; but he lived before whiston. i have looked into two editions of the _scripture doctrine of original sin_, by john taylor, one of lond. , and another of lond. ; but in neither of these can i find any mention of mr. whiston. [greek: halieus]. dublin. "_when orpheus went down_" (vol. viii., pp. . .).--in addition to the information given upon this old song by mr. oldenshaw, i beg to add the following. it was written for and sung { } by mr. beard, in a pantomimic entertainment entitled _orpheus and euridice_, acted at the theatre in lincoln's inn fields in . the author of the entertainment was mr. henry sommer, but the song in question was "translated from the spanish" by the rev. dr. samuel lisle, who died rector of burclere, hants, . it was long very popular, and is found in almost all the song-books of the latter half of the last century. mr. park, the editor of the last edition of ritson's _english songs_ (vol. ii. p. .), has the following note upon this song: "an answer to this has been written in the way of echo, and in defence of the fair sex, whom the spanish author treated with such libellous sarcasm." as this "echo song" is not given by ritson or his editor, i have transcribed it from a broadside in my collection. it is said to have been written by a lady. "when orpheus went down to the regions below, to bring back the wife that he lov'd, old pluto, confounded, as histories show, to find that his music so mov'd: that a woman so good, so virtuous, and fair, should be by a man thus trepann'd, to give up her freedom for sorrow and care, he own'd she deserv'd to be damn'd. "for punishment he never study'd a whit, the torments of hell had not pain sufficient to curse her; so pluto thought fit her husband should have her again. but soon he compassion'd the woman's hard fate, and, knowing of mankind so well, he recall'd her again, before 'twas too late, and said, she'd be happier in hell." edward f. rimbault. _foreign medical education_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent medicus will find some information respecting _some_ of the foreign universities in the _lancet_ for , and the _medical times and gazette_ for . for france he will find all he wants in dr. roubaud's _annuaire médical et pharmaceutique de la france_, published by baillière, . regent street. m. d. "_short red, good red_" (vol. viii., p. .).--sir walter has probably borrowed this saying from the story of bishop walchere, when he related the murder of adam, bishop of caithness. this tragical event is told in the _chronicle of mailros_, under the year ; also in _forduni scotichronicon_, and in wyntoun's _chronicle_, book vii. c. ix.; but the words "short red, good red," do not appear in these accounts of the transaction. j. mn. _collar of ss._ (vols. iv.-vii. _passim_).--at the risk of frightening you and your correspondents, i venture to resume this subject, in consequence of a circumstance to which my attention has just been directed. in the parish church of swarkestone in derbyshire there is a monument to richard harpur, one of the judges of the court of common pleas in the reign of elizabeth; on which he is represented in full judicial costume, with the collar of ss., which i am told by the minister of the parish is "distinctly delineated." it may be seen in fairholt's _costumes of england_, p. . as far as i am aware, this is the only instance, either on monuments or in portraits, of a _puisne_ judge being ornamented with this decoration. can any of your correspondents produce another example? or can they account, from any other cause, for richard harpur receiving such a distinction? or may i not rather attribute it to the blunder of the sculptor? edward foss. _who first thought of table-turning_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it is impossible to say who discovered the table-turning experiment, but it undoubtedly had its origin in the united states. it was practised here three years ago, and, although sometimes associated with spirit-rappings, has more frequently served for amusement. on this connexion it may be proper to say that professor faraday's theory of unconscious muscular force meets with no concurrence among those who know anything about the subject in this country. it is notorious that large tables have been moved frequently by five or six persons, whose fingers merely touched them, although upon each was seated a stout man, weighing a hundred and fifty or sixty pounds: neither involuntary nor voluntary muscular force could have effected _that_ physical movement, when there was no other _purchase_ on the table than that which could be gained by a pressure of the tips of the fingers. [old english w]. philadelphia. _passage of thucydides on the greek factions_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., pp. . .).--my attempt to find the passage attributed by sir a. alison to thucydides in the real thucydides was unsuccessful for the best of reasons, viz. that it does not exist there. he has probably borrowed it from some modern author, who, as it appears to me, has given a loose paraphrase of the words which i cited from _thucyd._ iii. ., and has expanded the thought in a manner not uncommon with some writers, by adding the expression about the "sword and poniard." some other misquotations of sir a. alison from the classical writers may be seen in the _edinburgh review_ for april last, no. cxcviii. p. . l. _origin of "clipper" as applied to vessels_ (vol. viii., p. .).--for many years the fleetest sailing vessels built in the united states were { } constructed at baltimore. they were very sharp, long, low; and their masts were inclined at a much greater angle than usual with those in other vessels. fast sailing pilot boats and schooners were thus rigged; and in the last war with england, privateers of the baltimore build were universally famed for their swiftness and superior sailing qualities. "a baltimore clipper" became the expression among shipbuilders for a vessel of peculiar make; in the construction of which, fleetness was considered of more importance than a carrying capacity. when the attention of naval architects was directed to the construction of swift sailing ships, they were compelled to adopt the clipper shape. hence the title "clipper ship," which has now extended from america to england. [old english w]. philadelphia. _passage in tennyson_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the third edition of _in memoriam_, lxxxix., , the last line mentioned by w. t. m. is "flits by the sea-blue bird of march," instead of "blue sea-bird." this reading appears to be a better one. i would suggest that the bird meant by tennyson was the tom-tit, who, from his restlessness, may be said to flit among the bushes. f. m. middleton. _huet's navigations of solomon_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this work of the learned bishop of avranches was written in latin, and translated into french by j. b. desrockes de parthenay. it forms part of the second volume of a collection of treatises edited by bruzen de la martinière, under the title of _traités géographiques et historiques pour faciliter l'intelligence de l'ecriture sainte, par divers auteurs célèbres_, , vols. mo. i am unable to reply to edina's second query, as to the result of huet's assertions. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _sincere_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the derivation of this word from _sine cerâ_ appears very fanciful. if this were the correct derivation, we should expect to find _sinecere_, for the _e_ would scarcely be dropped; just as we have the english word _sinecure_, which is the only compound of the preposition _sine_ i know; and is itself _not a latin word_, but of a later coinage. some give as the derivation _semel_ and [greek: keraô]--that is, once mixed, without adulteration; the [greek: e] being lengthened, as the greek [greek: akêratos]. the proper spelling would then be _simcerus_, and euphonically _sincerus_: thus we have _sim-plex_, which does not mean without a fold, but (_semel plico_, [greek: plekô]) once folded. so also _singulus_, semel and termination. the proper meaning may be from tablets, _ceratæ tabellæ_, which were "once smeared with wax" and then written upon; they were then _sinceræ_, without forgery or deception. if they were in certain places covered with wax again, for the purpose of adding something secretly and deceptively, they cease to be _sinceræ_. j. t. jeffcock. [pi]. [beta]. asks me for some authority for the alleged practice of roman potters (or crock-vendors) to rub wax into the flaws of their unsound vessels. this was the very burden of my query! i am no proficient in the latin classics: yet i think i know enough to predicate that [pi]. [beta]. is wrong in his version of the line-- "sincerum est nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit." i understand this line as referring to the notorious fact, that some liquors turn sour if the air gets to them from without. "sincerum vas" is a sound or air-tight vessel. in another place (_sat._, lib. i. .), horace employs the same figure, where he says that we "call evil good, and good evil," figuring the sentiment thus: "at nos virtutes ipsas invertimus, atque sincerum cupimus vas _incrustare_"-- meaning, of course, that we bring the vessel into suspicion, by treating it as if it were flawed. dryden, no doubt, knew the radical meaning of _sincere_ when he wrote the lines cited by johnson: "he try'd a tough well-chosen spear; th' inviolable body stood sincere." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _the saltpetre man_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in addition to the curious particulars of this office, i send you an extract from abp. laud's _diary_: "december , monday. i received letters from brecknock; that the _saltpeter man_ was dead and buried the sunday before the messenger came. this _saltpeter man_ had digged in the colledge church for his work, bearing too bold upon his commission. the news of it came to me to london about november . i went to my lord keeper, and had a messenger sent to bring him up to answer that sacrilegious abuse. he prevented his punishment by death." john s. burn. _major andré_ (vol. viii., p. .).--there is in the picture gallery of yale college, new haven, conn., an original sketch of major andré, executed by himself with pen and ink, and without the aid of a glass. it was drawn in his guard-room on the morning of the day first fixed for his execution. j. e. _longevity_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a doubter is informed that the _national intelligencer_ (published at washington, and edited by messrs. gales and seaton) is the authority for my statement respecting mrs. singleton, and her advanced age. if a doubter is desirous of satisfying himself more fully respecting its correctness, he has but { } to write to the above-named gentlemen, or to the english consul at charleston, s. c., and his wish will doubtless be gratified. i cannot but hope that your correspondent's "fifty cents worth of reasons" for doubting my statement is now, or shortly will be, removed. if a doubter intends to be in new york while the present exhibition is open, he will have an opportunity of seeing a negro of the age of _one hundred and twenty-four_, who once belonged to general washington, and from whom he could very possibly obtain some information respecting the aged "nurse" of the first president of the united states mentioned in his note. w. w. malta. _passage in virgil_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the passage for which your correspondent r. fitzsimons makes inquiry is to be found in the eighth eclogue, at the th and following lines: "nunc scio quid sit amor," &c. the application by johnson seems to be so plain as to need no explanation. f. b--w. _love charm from a foal's forehead_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent h. p. will find the love charm, consisting of a fig-shaped excrescence on a foal's forehead, and called _hippomanes_, alluded to by juvenal, _sat._ vi. .: "hippomanes, carmenque loquar, coctumque venenum, privignoque datum?" and again, .: "ut avunculus ille neronis, cui totam tremuli frontem cæsonia pulli infudit." it was supposed that the dam swallowed this excrescence immediately on the birth of her foal, and that, if prevented doing so, she lost all affection for it. however, the name hippomanes was applied to two other things. theocritus (ii. .) uses it to signify some herb which incites horses to madness if they eat of it. and again, virgil (_geor._ iii. .), propertius, tibullus, ovid, &c., represent it as a certain _virus_: "hippomanes cupidæ stillat ab inguine equæ." the subject is an unpleasant one, and h. p. is referred for farther information to pliny, viii. . s. ., and xxviii. . s. . h. c. k. this lump was called _hippomanes_; which also more truly designated, according to virgil, another thing. the following paragraphs from mr. keightley's excellent _notes on virgil's bucolics and georgics_ will fully explain both meanings: "_hippomanes_, horse-rage: the pale yellow fluid which passes from a mare at that season [_i. e._ when she is horsing] (cf. _tibul._ ii. . .), of which the smell (_aura_, v. .) incites the horse. "_vero nomine._ because the bit of flesh which was said to be on the forehead of the new-born foal, and which the mare was supposed to swallow, was called by the same name (see _Æn._ iv. .); and also a plant in arcadia (_theocr._ ii. .). with respect to the former hippomanes, pliny, who detailed truth and falsehood with equal faith, says (viii. .) that it grows on the foal's forehead; is of the size of a dried fig (_carica_), and of a black colour; and that if the mare does not swallow it immediately, she will not let the foal suck her. aristotle (_h. a._, viii. .) says this is merely an old wives' tale. he mentions, however, the [greek: pôlion], or bit of livid flesh, which we call the foal's bit, and which he says the mare ejects before the foal."--_notes, &c._, p. . on _georgic._ iii. . ff. with regard to the plant called _hippomanes_, commentators, as may be seen from kiessling's note on theocritus, ii. ., are by no means agreed. certainly andrews, in his edition of freund, is wrong in referring virgil _georgic._ iii. . to that meaning. the use of _legere_ probably misled. e. s. jackson. _wardhouse, where was?_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it probably is the same as wardoehuus or vardoehus, a district and town in norwegian finmark, on the shores of the arctic ocean, inhabited principally by fishermen. w. c. trevelyan. wallington. _divining rod_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the inquirer should read the statement made by dr. herbert mayo, in his letters _on the truths contained in popular superstitions_, , pp. - . to the facts there recorded i may add, that i have heard mr. dawson turner relate that he himself saw the experiment of the divining rod satisfactorily carried out in the hands of lady noel byron; and some account of it is to be found, i believe, in an article by sir f. palgrave, in the _quarterly review_. [mu]. _waugh, bishop of carlisle_ (vol. viii., p. .).--his arms are engraved on a plate dedicated to him by willis, in his _survey of the cathedrals of england_, , vol. i. p. ., and appear thus, _argent, on a chevron gules, three besants_; but in a ms. collection by the late canon rowling of lichfield, relating to bishops' arms, i find his coat thus given,--_argent, on a chevron engrailed gules, three besants_. the variation may have arisen from an error of the engraver. it appears from willis that dr. waugh was a fellow of queen's college, oxford; and the entry of his matriculation would no doubt show in what part of england his family resided. he was successively rector of st. peter's, cornhill; prebendary of lincoln; dean of gloucester; and bishop of { } carlisle; to which latter dignity he was promoted in august, . [mu]. _pagoda_ (vol. v., p. .).--the european word pagoda is most probably derived, by transposition of the syllables, from _da-go-ba_, which is the pali or sanscrit name for a budhist temple. it appears probable that the portuguese first adopted the word in ceylon, the modern holy isle of budhism. ph. rangoon. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. ford's handbook of spain. vol. i. austin cheironomia. rev. e. irving's orations on death, judgment, heaven, and hell. thomas gardener's history of dunwich. marsh's history of hursley and baddesley. about . vo. two copies. oswalli crollii opera. mo. geneva, . pamphlets. junius discovered. by p. t. published about . reasons for rejecting the evidence of mr. almon, &c. . another guess at junius. hookham. . the author of junius discovered. longmans. . the claims of sir p. francis refuted. longmans. . who was junius? glynn. . some new facts, &c., by sir f. dwarris. . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: a register of elections, by h. s. smith, of leeds (published in parts). james' naval history. vols. iii., iv., and v. vo. -vol. edition by bentley. wanted by _mr. j. howes_, stonham-aspall, suffolk. * * * * * monuments and genii of st. paul's and westminster abbey, by g. l. smith. london. j. williams. . vol. i. wanted by _charles reed_, paternoster row. * * * * * dr. pettingall's tract on jury trial, . wanted by _mr. t. stephens_, merthyr tydfil. * * * * * history of the old and new testament, by prideaux. vol. i. - . historical memoirs of queens of england, by hannah lawrence. vol. ii. bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers. jardine's naturalist's library. first edition. all except first volumes. peter simple. illustrated edition. saunders and otley. vols. ii. and iii. history and antiquities of somersetshire, by rev. w. phelps. . all except parts i., ii., iii., v., vi., vii., and viii. wanted by _john garland_, solicitor, dorchester. * * * * * pointer's britannia romana. oxford, . pointer's account of a roman pavement at stunsfield, oxon. oxford, . roman stations in britain. london, . a survey of roman antiquities in some midland counties. london, . wanted by _rev. j. w. hewett_, bloxham, banbury. * * * * * theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . g. macropedii, hecastus, fabula. antwerp, . vo. wanted by _william j. thoms_, . holywell street, millbank, westminster. * * * * * indications of spring, by robt. marsham, esq., f.r.s. the village curate, by hurdis. calendar of flora, by stillingfleete. wanted by _j. b. whitborne_, . russell terrace, leamington. * * * * * notices to correspondents. books wanted.--_we believe that gentlemen in want of particular books, either by way of loan or purchase, would find great facilities in obtaining them if their names and addresses were published, so that parties having the books might communicate directly with those who want them. acting on this belief, we shall take advantage of the recent alteration in the law respecting advertisements, and in future, where our correspondents desire to avail themselves of this new arrangement, shall insert their names and addresses--unless specially requested not to do so._ all communications _should be addressed to the editor, to the care of_ mr. bell, . fleet street. _they should be_ distinctly _written; and care should be taken that all quotations are copied with accuracy; and in all cases of references to books the editions referred to should be specified. every distinct subject should form a separate communication; all inquiries respecting communications forwarded for insertion should specify the subjects of such communications._ our prospectus _has been reprinted at the suggestion of several correspondents, and we shall be happy to forward copies to any friends who may desire to assist us by circulating them._ _we have just received the following communication:_ _"binocular compound microscope._--will you allow me an _exiguum_ of your periodical for the purpose of explaining a seeming plagiarism at page . of my _essay on the stereoscope_? i have just seen, for the first time, the october number of the _journal of microscopical science_, whereby i learn that mr. wenham and mr. riddell have anticipated me in the theory of the _binocular compound microscope_. up to this time i was not aware of the fact that the subject had received the attention it deserves, and my own suggestions, founded upon a series of careful experiments made during the last eight months, were thrown out for the simple purpose of calling attention to the utility and practicability of a _binocular compound microscope_. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham." old grumbleton.--_we believe the real origin of the phrase_ by hook or by crook _to be the "right of taking_ fire-bote by hook or by crook," _as explained in_ "n. & q.," vol. i., p. . _much curious illustration of the phrase will be found in our earlier volumes._ h. h. (glasgow). _we cannot give the receipt you ask for. brunswick black, which you will have no difficulty in procuring, answers very well._ ponders end.--_the syllable_ ness, _in sheerness, is the french_ nez _and the danish_ næs, "_a point or tongue of land_." w. j. e. c. _has, we fear, only lately become a reader of_ "n. & q.," _or he would have remembered the numerous communications in our pages on the subject of the pronunciation of_ cowper's _name. the poet was called cooper._ sol. _sir d. brewster's_ treatise on optics, _price s. d., published by longman._ a party who won't, &c. _we are sorry to say we cannot alter the arrangement referred to._ w. s. s. e. _it is impossible for us to undertake to insert a query in the same week in which it is received._ p. t. 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three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * daguerreotype materials.--plates, cases, passepartoutes, best and cheapest. to be had in great variety at m^cmillan's wholesale depot, . fleet street. price list gratis. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * indigestion, constipation, nervousness, &c.--barry, du barry & co.'s health-restoring food for invalids and infants. the revalenta arabica food, the only natural, pleasant, and effectual remedy (without medicine, purging, inconvenience, or expense, as it saves fifty times its cost in other remedies) for nervous, stomachic, intestinal, liver and bilious complaints, however deeply rooted, dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual constipation, diarrhoea, acidity, heartburn, flatulency, oppression, distension, palpitation, eruption of the skin, rheumatism, gout, dropsy, sickness at the stomach during pregnancy, at sea, and under all other circumstances, debility in the aged as well as infants, fits, spasms, cramps, paralysis, &c. _a few out of , cures_:-- cure, no. , of dyspepsia; 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"this light and pleasant farina is one of the most excellent, nourishing, and restorative remedies, and supersedes, in many cases, all kinds of medicines. it is particularly useful in confined habit of body, as also diarrhoea, bowel complaints, affections of the kidneys and bladder, such as stone or gravel; inflammatory irritation and cramp of the urethra, cramp of the kidneys and bladder, strictures, and hemorrhoids. this really invaluable remedy is employed with the most satisfactory result, not only in bronchial and pulmonary complaints, where irritation and pain are to be removed, but also in pulmonary and bronchial consumption, in which it counteracts effectually the troublesome cough; and i am enabled with perfect truth to express the conviction that du barry's revalenta arabica is adapted to the cure of incipient hectic complaints and consumption. "dr. rud wurzer, "counsel of medicine, and practical m. d. in bonn." london agents:--fortnum, mason & co., . piccadilly, purveyors to her majesty the queen; hedges & butler, . regent street; and through all respectable grocers, chemists, and medicine venders. in canisters, suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions, lb. s. d.; lb. s. d.; lb. s.; lb. s.; super-refined, lb. s.; lb. s. the lb. and lb. carriage free, on receipt of post-office order.--barry, du barry co., . regent street, london. important caution.--many invalids having been seriously injured by spurious imitations under closely similar names, such as ervalenta, arabaca, and others, the public will do well to see that each canister bears the name barry, du barry & co., . regent street, london, in full, _without which none is genuine_. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. *** catalogues may be had on application. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its extreme portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printing frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * photographic apparatus, in complete sets, in portable cabinets, at moderate prices. small set, price l. s., containing every requisite for taking landscapes and pictures of inanimate objects, to a size not exceeding by inches. large set, price l., for pictures up to by inches.--n. b. a collodion picture made by each set is given with it, to show the quality of the lenses. every article for taking either landscapes or portraits on silver, paper, or glass, may be had of the undersigned. an illustrated priced catalogue of photographic apparatus, price d., post free. john j. griffin, chemist and optician. . finsbury square (manufactory, . and . bunhill row), removed from baker street, london. * * * * * cyanogen soap, for removing all kinds of photographic stains. beware of purchasing spurious and worthless imitations of this valuable detergent. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label pasted round each pot, bearing this signature and address:-- richard w. thomas, chemist, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals, . pall mall, and may be procured of all respectable chemists in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard, and messrs. barclay & co., farringdon street, wholesale agents. { } * * * * * cheap and popular editions of standard authors. abercrombie's intellectual powers. s. d. abercrombie on the moral feelings. s. davy's salmonia. s. davy's consolations in travel. s. rev. george crabbe's life. s. coleridge's table-talk. s. coleridge's greek classic poets. s. d. bell on the hand. s. d. layard's popular account of nineveh. s. wilkinson's popular account of the ancient egyptians. (shortly.) jesse's gleanings in natural history. s. d. jesse's scenes and occupations of country life. (shortly.) philosophy in sport. s. d. somerville's physical sciences. s. d. somerville's physical geography. s. james' edition of Æsop's fables. s. d. heber's poetical works. s. d. rejected addresses. s. byron's poetical works. vols. s. d. each. mahon's history of england. vols. s. each. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxvi., is published this day. contents: i. the institute of france. ii. murder of thomas a becket. iii. the dauphin in the temple. iv. the holy places. v. diary of casaubon. vi. electro-biology, mesmerism, and table-turning. vii. life of haydon. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, murrays modern domestic cookery book. a new and cheaper edition, most carefully revised and improved. with woodcuts. price five shillings, strongly bound. *** of this popular work more than , copies have been sold. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * notice. cheap re-issue of evelyn's diary and correspondence. in four monthly volumes, price only s. each, bound, printed uniformly with the last edition of "pepys' diary." on the st of november, with the magazines, will be published, the first volume of the cheap re-issue of the new, revised edition of "the diary and correspondence of john evelyn, f.r.s.;" comprising all the important additional notes, letters, and other illustrations last made, consequent on the re-examination of the original ms. "we rejoice to welcome this beautiful and compact edition of evelyn--one of the most valuable and interesting works in the language--now deservedly regarded as an english classic."--_examiner_. "this work is a necessary companion to the popular histories of our country--to hume, hallam, macaulay, and lingard."--_sun_. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * murray's railway reading. this day, with woodcuts, fcap. vo., s. history of the guillotine. by the right hon. john wilson croker. reprinted, with additions, from "the quarterly review." the last volume published, contained-- ancient spanish ballads: historical and romantic. by j. g. lockhart. to be followed by-- popular account of the ancient egyptians. by sir j. g. wilkinson. with woodcuts. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * just published, demy vo. pp. , price s. d. the prison and the school. the chief ascertained causes of crime considered, with suggestions for the care, relief, and reformation of the neglected, destitute, and criminal children of the metropolis. by edmund edward antrobus, f.s.a., justice of the peace for the county of middlesex, and city and liberty of westminster; visiting justice of the house of correction, westminster. london: staunton & sons, . strand. * * * * * now ready, post vo., cloth, price s. d. curiosities of london life; or phases, physiological and social, of the great metropolis. by c. m. smith, author of "the working man's way in the world." may be had at all the libraries. just published, post vo., cloth, price s. the working man's way in the world; or the autobiography of a journeyman printer. london: w.& f. g. cash, . bishopsgate street without. * * * * * completion of the work, cloth s.; by post, s. d., pp. .--welsh sketches, third (and last) series. by the author of "proposals for christian union." contents: . edward the black prince. . owen glendower, prince of wales. . mediæval bardism. . the welsh church. "will be read with great satisfaction, not only by all sons of the principality, but by all who look with interest on that portion of our island in which the last traces of our ancient british race and language still linger."--_notes and queries_. london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * new edition of the anabasis by arnold and browne. now ready, in mo., price s. d. xenophon's anabasis. with english notes, translated (with additions) from the german of dr. hertlein, by the late rev. t. k. arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and the rev. henry browne, m.a., canon of chichester. (forming a new volume of arnold's "school classics.") books iv. to vii. of this edition are contained in mr. arnold's "fourth greek book." rivingtons, waterloo place. lately published, by the same editor, virgilii Æneis. with english notes from dübner. s. * * * * * bishop butler's remains. in vo., price s. d. (by post s. d.) some remains (hitherto unpublished) of joseph butler, ll.d., sometime lord bishop of durham, author of "the analogy of religion." rivingtons, waterloo place. * * * * * pifferi and turner's new introduction to italian. in mo., price s. d. the first italian book: on the plan of the rev. t. k. arnold's first french book. by signor pifferi, professor of italian, and dawson w. turner, m.a., head master of the royal institution school, liverpool. rivingtons, waterloo place. of whom may be had, by the late rev. t. k. arnold, m.a. . the first french book, on the plan of henry's first latin book. third edition. s. d. . the first german book, upon the same plan. third edition. s. d. * * * * * just published, price s. the stereoscope, considered in relation to the philosophy of binocular vision. an essay, by c. mansfield ingleby, m.a., of trinity college, cambridge. london: walton & maberley, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. cambridge: j. deighton. also, by the same author, price s., remarks on some of sir william hamilton's notes on the works of dr. thomas reid. "nothing in my opinion can be more cogent than your refutation of m. jobert."--_sir w. hamilton._ london: john w. parker, west strand. cambridge: e. johnson. birmingham: h. c. langbridge. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, october . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * volume third january--june, index to the third volume. * * * * * a. a. on tanthony, . ---- on the song winifreda, . * a.? on dutch folk lore, . a. (a.) on martin family, . ---- on swords used in dress, . ---- on moore's almanack, . ---- on the family of don, . ---- on wages in the last century, . abbots in the english church, . abeiles, what? . abel represented with horns, . abercromby, the two drs., . abhba on the works of dr. miller, . ---- on standfast's cordial comforts, . ---- on old tract on the eucharist, . ---- on madden's reflections, . a. (c.) on legend in frettenham church, . ace of diamonds, its origin, . ache on mistletoe on oaks, . ---- on the phrase "under the rose," . ---- on a passage in the tempest, . ---- on sitting cross-legged, . ---- on straw necklaces, . ---- on the family of peyton, . ---- on paring nails on sunday, . achilles and the tortoise, . a. (c. t.) on the redwing's nest, . adam of bremen, his itinerary, . adam of st. victor's poem on the cross, . adams, rev. w., date of his death, . . ---- king's messengers, grounded on a greek tale, . adamson (john) on the works of camoens, . adur, its etymology, . . Ægrotus on the vellum-bound junius, . a. (e. h.) on a curious disquisition on church bells, . ---- on the letters of bishop crewe, . ---- on notices of bishop frampton, . ---- on "fronte capillatâ," &c., . ---- on midwives licensed, . ---- on volusenus, . Æsopus epulans, its authorship, . a. (f. r.) on the author of peter wilkins, . ---- on old booty, . ---- on bunyan's knowledge of hobbes, . ---- on histoire des sévérambes, . ---- on dr. king's poem the toast, . a. (f. s.) on the writers in the north briton, . a. (h. m.) on the meaning of mosaic, . a. (j. d.) on a cardinal's monument, . a. (j. t.) on epitaph on rev. j. mawer, . akerman, (j. y.) on queen anne's farthings, . alan, on prayer of mary queen of scots, . alarm, derivation of, . alban's (st.), law courts at, . allen's (cardinal) declaration, . alliteration, specimen of, from quarles, . alms-dish, an inscription on an, . alphabetum divini amoris, . altar lights, &c., . america, prophecy respecting its discovery, . amicus plato, origin of the sentiment, . . anatol on de foe's anticipations, . anatolicus on tobacco in the east, . andrew's (st.) cross, . anecdotes of old times, . angles, their original country, . angodus de lindsei, . anne, queen, a note on her farthings, . annoy, used as a noun, . anonymous ravennas, noticed, . anonymous works: the monthly intelligencer, ; theological tracts, . anstruther (robert) on the regal title "defender of the faith," . antediluvian history wanted, . anticipations of modern ideas or inventions, . . . . . . anti-jacobin, authors of the poetry of the, . , . . . antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi, . . apodliktes on cockade, . apple-pie order, origin of the phrase, . . . après moi le déluge, . . apricot, its etymology, . apuleius, translations of, . archæus on aristophanes on the modern stage, . aristophanes on the modern stage, . . . . aristotle and pythagoras, . arthur's seat and salisbury craigs, . . articles, an old entry of having read the thirty-nine, . articles and canons of , . arun on butler's hudibras in , . ---- on the derivation of carnaby, . ---- on george herbert and leighton church, . ---- on disinterment for heresy, . ---- on closing rooms after death, . ---- on st. john's bridge fair, . ---- on edmund prideaux and the post-office, . ---- on separation of sexes in churches, . ---- on the tanthony, . ---- on "nettle in, dock out," . ---- on pilgrim's road to canterbury, . ---- on "going to old weston," . ---- on the tanthony bell, . . ---- on metrical psalms and hymns, . association, the principle of, . . athelney castle, somersetshire, . a. (t. w.) on the quotation "too wise to err," . avena on aristophanes on the modern stage, . ---- on st. paul's clock striking thirteen, . aventurier, ou la barbe-bleue, . aver, its etymology, . . . a. (x. y.) on the damasked linen of james ii., . auriga, its meaning, . . . a. (w.) on benj. wheeler's theological lectures, . ---- on medal given to howard, . ---- on predeceased and designed, . "away, let nought to love displeasing," the authorship, . ayot st. lawrence church, . azzolin (cardinal), notices of, . . b. b. on king john at lincoln, . ---- on hand-bells at funerals, . ---- on "tickhill, god help me," . ---- on vineyards in england, . ---- on stepony ale, . [hebrew: b]. on hand-bell before a corpse, . b. (a.) on duchess of buckingham, . ---- on the title alterius orbis papa, . ---- on the authorship of lucy and colin, . ---- on lines attributed to viscount palmerston, . ---- on porson's imposition, . bab in the bowster, the dance, . . babington's conspiracy, . . bache, simon, quondam thesaurarius hospitii, . . bacon, origin of the family name, . . bacon and fagan, the origin of, . . bactria, history of, wanted, . . b. (a. e.) on illustrations of chaucer, . . . . . . . . . ---- on chaucer's "temple y-made of glass," . ---- on an early instance of the word news, . ---- on the word prenzie in shakspeare, . ---- on shakspeare's words "captious" and "intenible," . ---- on shakspeare's "love's labour's lost," . ---- on touchstone dial, . b. (a. h.) on the neville family, . baldrocks, wooden, what? . . . ballads, ancient inedited, . . . . ----, traditional english, . . balliolensis on dunbar and endymion porter, . balsall, its etymology, . banks (sir john), family of, . . . . barker, the panorama painter, . . barker (g. h.) on a ballad ascribed to sir c. h. williams, . barlaam and josaphat, a greek tale, . . . barnes (w.) on carved ceiling in dorsetshire, . baronette, its meaning, . barry (j. milner) on friday weather, . { } bartolus' learned man defended, where commended, . barton (mrs. catherine), her maiden name, . . bassenet of eaton, . bataill in arms, . bateman (gregory) on poem on the grave, . baxter (richard), notice of his works, . bay on the banks family, . bayley (bp.), his portrait, . ---- (wm. d'oyly) on lady jane of westmoreland, . ---- on the families of d'oyly and barry, . b. (b.) on cromwell's compact with the devil, . ---- on the word prenzie in shakspeare, . b. (c.) on diseases cured by sheep, . ---- on the anti-jacobin, . ---- on demosthenes and the new testament, . ---- on bactrian coins, . ---- on sallust, . ---- on amicus plato, . ---- on meaning of pilcher, . . ---- on antiquity of smoking, . ---- on principle of association, . ---- on corpse making a right of way, . ---- on probabilism, . ---- on toad-flax, . ---- on wisby, gothland, . ---- on the time when herodotus wrote, . ---- on "cum grano salis," . ---- on hoops, . ---- on shakspeare's antony and cleopatra, . ---- on "impatient to speak and not see," . ---- on the meaning of "eisell," . ---- on mistletoe on oaks, . ---- on lama beads, . ---- on language given to men, . ---- on lord howard of effingham, . ---- on the proverb, "go the whole hog," . b. (c. w.) on lady bingham, . ---- on canes lesi, . ---- on foreign english, . ---- on modern paper, . ---- on inscription on an old gun, . ---- on king john at lincoln, . ---- on snail-eating, . ---- on a passage in love's labour's lost, . ---- on a remarkable longevity, . ---- on epitaph at leghorn, . b. de m. on two sorts of knights, . ---- on the meaning of baronette, . bealby (h. m.) notes on newspapers, . beard (rev. mr.), vicar of greenwich, . bear's bible, inscription on the, . beatrix de bradney, her marriage, . beatrix lady talbot, her pedigree, . "beauty retire," by pepys, . . bede's ecclesiastical history, ancient ms. of, . . bega (cornelius), painting by, . beggar's petition, its authorship, . bellarmin's monstrous paradox, . bellman and his history, . . . . bells in churches, notices of, . . , . . b. (e. m.) on hill's penny-post, . ---- on portraits of spenser, . benbow on the bellman, . ---- on spick and span new, . ---- on "under the rose," . ---- on the word yankee, . benedicite, not one word, . bexley (lord), how descended from cromwell, . . b. (f. c.) on san marino, . b. (g.) on gray's alcaic ode, . b. (g. h.) on lynch law, . b. (h. a.) on queen elizabeth's christening cloth, . ---- on the heywood family, . ---- on monosyllables, . ---- on mistletoe on oaks, . ---- on a poem among the papers of sir k. digby, . . . ---- on curious omen at marriage, . ---- on inscription on tomb of peter the hermit, . b. (h. j.) on traditional notice of richard iii., . bibliographical queries, . . . . , . bicêtre, its etymology, . biddings in wales, . . bigod de loges, . . . bingham (lady), . . . "binsey, god help me!" . birth of seven children three times following, . ---- ten children at a, . . bishops' lands, . b. (j.) on parentage of arthur pomeroy, . b. (j. c.) on portrait of francis moore, . . ---- on the family of the tradescants, . b. (j. m.), whether quarles was pensioned? . ---- on touchstone's dial, . b. (j. s.) on dutch church in norwich, . ---- on preserving existing monuments, . black images of the virgin, . black rood of scotland, . blackguard, its meaning, . blackstone's commentaries and a table of precedence, . blake family, notices of, . blood, the discovery of its circulation attributed to solomon, . blowen on cockade and true blue, . ---- on the etymology of grasson, . ---- on coins of richard cromwell, . ---- on the origin of the name blowen, . ---- on the passage in mark xiii. ., . ---- on lammer beads, . ---- on the episcopal mitre, . ---- on cardinal beaufort, . ---- on true blue, . ---- on cockade, . ---- on hook and by crook, . ---- on hugh peter's last legacy, . ---- on salisbury craigs, . ---- on moorfields in charles ii.'s time, . ---- on foreign english, . ---- on abbot eustacius, . ---- on meaning of waste-book, . ---- on the history of bactria, . ---- on the phrase "giving the lie," . ---- on swearing by the peacock, . ---- on meaning of gig-hill, . ---- on "laus tua non tua fraus," . ---- on the visions of hell, . ---- on fees at westminster abbey, . blunder, the origin of the word, . b. (m. w.) on record of existing monuments, . ---- on the meaning of tick, . b. (n.) on experto crede roberto, . ---- on the authorship of Æsopus epulans, . ---- on the meaning of gig, . bockett (julia r.) on beatrix de bradney, . ---- on record of existing monuments, . ---- on notices of george steevens, . bogatzky, notice of, . . boiling to death, . bolton (abp.), information respecting, . . bonny cravat, sign of inn, . books, notes on, . book plates before , . booty's case, . . . borderer on epigram against burke, . ---- on the countess of desmond, . ---- on a passage in marmion, . ---- on the lay of the last minstrel, . [greek: boreas] on bibliographical queries, . borrow's danish ballads, . . botfield (beriah) on st. clare, . bourne's (vincent) translation of lucia et corydon, . boyd (zacharie), notices of, . b. (p.) on langley's polidore vergile, . ---- on periodical literature, a. d. , . ---- on archbishop sancroft, . ---- on sir henry slingsby, . braithwaite, latin drinking-song by, . . ---- robin goodfellow, . brandon the juggler, . braybrooke (lord) on the authorship of "away, let nought to love displeasing," . ---- on four want way, . ---- on portraits of distinguished englishmen, . ---- on the song winifreda, . ---- on "beauty retire," . breeches bible, its translators, . . . . . breen (henry h.) on the plagiarisms in gray's elegy, . . ---- on the etymology of bicêtre, . ---- on dodo queries, . ---- on the use of monosyllables, . ---- on a recent novel, . ---- tablet to napoleon, . ---- on the meaning of extradition, . ---- on bishop nicolson's opinion of bishop burnet, . ---- on the meaning of sangaree, . ---- on the phrase "stick at nothing," . ---- on the expression "ejusdem farinæ," . ---- on passage in oldham, . ---- on obeism, . ---- on notices of the bucaneers, . ---- on verses in pope's dunciad, . ---- on supposed inscription in st. peter's, . ---- on gray's plagiarisms, . ---- on count xavier de maistre, . ---- on a passage in sedley's poems, . ---- on two passages in dryden, . ---- on querelle d'allemand, . ---- on a passage in bellarmin, . ---- on epitaph on voltaire, . ---- on the situation of voltaire, . brewhouse antiquities, . brewster (waldegrave) on parish register tax, . ---- on clergy sold for slaves, . ---- on north side of churchyards, . ---- on the scaligers, . bridges, anthony, who was he? . brighton, its ancient position, . britannicus, its orthography, . . . . british museum, letters on, its author, . . britton (j.) on strutt's queen hoo hall, . brown (william, jun.) on pallavicino and count d'olivarez, . browne's britannia's pastorals, . browne (mr.), epitaph on, . browne (t.), his letter on the ms. of the articles, . brownes of cowdray, sussex, . . . bruce (john) on the church of st. saviour's, canterbury, . bruce (w. downing) on hugh peachell and sir john marsham, . bruckner (rev. j.), list of his works wanted, . bruno on borrow's danish ballads, . ---- on theory of the earth's form, . b. (r. w.) on mounds, or munts, . ---- on the first use of organs, . bs. (j.) on the epigram "cor linguæ," &c., . ---- on "jurat? crede minus," . ---- on scandal against queen elizabeth, . b. (s. s.) on the christmas thorn, . { } bt. (j.) on babington's conspiracy, . buc (sir george), his treatise on the stage, . bucaneers, account of, . buchan's collection of ballads, . buckden, abbot's house at, . buckingham, duchess of, . . . . buckman (james) on the mistletoe on the oaks, . ---- on sacramental wine, . bullen's drinking-horn, inquiry respecting, . burke, epigram against, . . ---- and the annual registers, . ---- mighty boar of the forest, . burns's poem, the vision, supposed plagiary in, . bunting's irish melodies, . bunyan (john), not the author of visions of hell, . . . . . ---- his portrait, . burnet, bishop, conflicting judgment on, . ---- history of his own times, . burning the hill, . burroughs (wm.), monumental inscription on, . burt (henry m.) on "fronte capillatâ," . burtt (joseph) on haybands in seals, . burton (robert), his birth-place, . . . burying in church walls, . . butcher duke a song, its authorship, . . butchers not jurymen, . butler (bishop), on a passage in, . butler's hudibras in , . b. (v.) on the vellum-bound junius, . . b. (w.) on a cardinal's monument, . b. (w. h.) on "small by degrees and beautifully less," . by and bye, its meaning, . . . . . byfield's letter on the civil war, . c. c. on duchess of buckingham, . ---- on lady mary cavendish, . ---- on list of comets, . ---- on cockade, . ---- on cowdray, . ---- on scandal against queen elizabeth, . ---- on richardson, tickell, and fitzpatrick, . ---- on pictorial antiquities, . ---- on authors of the anti-jacobin poetry, . ---- on ramasse, . ---- on deans, when styled very reverend, . ---- on the howe family, . ---- on west chester, . ---- on paring nails on sundays, . ---- on vineyards in england, . ---- on the derivation of covey, . c. (a.) on ayot st. lawrence church, . ---- on the best rifles, . ---- on noble names in workhouses, . ---- on the ancient position of brighton, . ---- on omissions in murray's handbook for devon and cornwall, . ca. (sa.) on the san grail, . cachecope bell, its meaning, . cad, its derivation, . cahagnet (m. l. alph.), . calmet on annotators on mark xiii. ., . camden family, . . . camoens (luis de), editions of his works, . campbell (duncan), notices of, . campkin (henry), on davy jones's locker, . ---- on hogan, . ---- notes on jesse's london, . ---- on brother jonathan, . ----, whether st. paul's clock ever struck thirteen, . ---- on engraved portrait by cross, . c. (a. n.) on the family of william penn, . canes lesi, blount's explanation, . . canon and prebendary, difference between, . cardinal's hats, . . . . cardinals in the english church, . carfoix, its meaning, . . carling sunday, its meaning, . carmichael (lady alice), what became of her? . carnaby, its derivation, . casterton church, on a stone in the chancel, . catacombs and bone-houses, . catalogues of books, their utility, . cato, on the meaning of christ-crosse a, . c. (a. u.) on wm. penn's family, . causton (h. k. staple) on the meaning of "eisell," . cavalier's farewell, on the authorship, . cavendish (lady mary), her ancestry, . . cavendo on the ancestry of lady mary cavendish, . cayley (g. j.) on swearing by swans, . [c-reversed-c signature] on the welsh shewri-while, . c. (d.) on the word ramasse, . ---- on the plant champak, . ---- on sixes and sevens, . c. (de d.) on "geographers on afric's downs," . cebes on the word prenzie, . cefn, its meaning as a prefix, . ceiling, a carved one in dorsetshire, . . c. (f. t.) on sanathiel, . c. (g. i.) on the mythology of the stars, . c. (h.) on "the widow of the wood," . ---- on henry viii. and sir thomas curwen, . ---- on the extinction of villenage, . ----, lines on woman's will, . ---- on john sanderson, or the cushion-dance, . ---- on solid-hoofed pigs, . ch., on the first earl of shaftesbury, . ---- on the family of sir george downing, . ch. ch. man on colfabias, . chad's (st.) church, stow, . chadwick (sir andrew), was he knighted by queen anne? . . c. (h. c.) on derivation of aver, . chaffers (w. jun.) on the baldrock, . ---- on four want way, . chalices of stone, . champak, what is it? . . chancellors, two at the same time, . chantries, suppressed, . chapel, printing-office, . charles i., his love of the fine arts, . chadwick (john nurse) on ms. collections of goddard's history of lynn, . ---- on sir andrew chadwick, . ---- on norfolk folk-lore rhymes, . ---- on baldrocks, . charles ii., was he ever in wales? . . charles xii., medal struck by, . chaucer and gray, coincidence between, . ----, tomb of, . ----, note on palamon and arcite, . . . ---- on an astronomical allegory in complaint of mars and venus, . . . . ----, his "fifty wekes," . ----, the pilgrimage to canterbury, . . ----, the arke of artificial day, . ----, prophetical view of the crystal palace, . ----, the star min al auwâ, . ----, the armorican word menez, . c. (h. b.) on umbrellas, . ---- on booty's case, . c. (h. c.) on origin of harlequins, . chepstow castle, on its being betrayed, . cherubim and seraphim, . chettle (henry), notice of, . c. (h. g. r.) on launcelot lyttleton, . children's petition, the authorship, . chilcot (william), inquiries respecting, . . . c. (h. k. s.) on the meaning of "eisell," . chloe, who was chloe? . . christ-crosse a., its meaning, . . christmas-day, its origin, . . christmas thorn, . churchwarden on baldrocks and thanksgiving-book, . churchyards, burying on the north sides of, . . . . c. (i. b.) on herstmonceux castle, . cinquante lettres d'exhortation, its authorship, . circulation of the blood, . civil war garrisons, sketches of, . c. (j.) on christmas-day, . ---- on a coggeshall job, . ---- on dumore castle, . ---- on abbey of shapp, . c. (j. e.) on private memoirs of queen elizabeth, . c. (j. h.) on spenser's faerie queene, . ---- on sundry quotations, . ---- on the meaning of crambo, . c. (j. n.) on the expression "as drunk as chloe," . ---- on st. john's bridge fair, . ---- on the honour of clare, . ---- on the wife of james torre, . c. (j. p.) on the family of sir george downing, . c. (k.) on dr. h. tindale's epitaph, . clancie (major), his life, . clare (st.), church dedicated to her in cornwall, . clarke (hyde) on cardinal chalmers, . clarke (j.) on ring dials, . clarke (rev. samuel), portrait of, . . clarkson, historian of richmond, his mss., . . classical literature, a word to literary men for recovering unpublished, . . . clement's inn, its antiquity, . . clench family, particulars wanted, . clergy sold for slaves, . clerical costume, . clock in exeter cathedral, inscription on a, . clocks, when self-striking were invented, . c. (m. a.) on cromwell family, . c. (o.) on anthony bridges, . cobham family, discrepancies in dugdale's account of, . cock scares the fiend, . cockade, its origin, . . . . . . coggeshall job, the saying, . . cognation of the jews and lacedæmonians, . coins of canute, catalogue of, . . ---- of richard cromwell, . ---- german, . ---- of george iii., . . . ---- guinea of george iii., inscription on, . ---- rarity of william iv.'s copper, . coleridge's opinion of de foe, . ---- and the penny post, . ---- religious musings, . ---- table talk, passage in, . colfabias, its meaning, . . collar of ss., . collard the logician, particulars wanted, . collector on the travels of baron munchausen, . collier (j. payne) on the defence of the execution of mary, queen of scots, . { } ---- on the royal courtly garland, . collier (rev. r.), lines attributed to, . colman (j. b.) on the frozen horn, . ---- on baker's dozen, . ---- on the locality of gillingham, . ---- on st. paul's clock, . ---- on the descent of henry iv., . ---- on the election of a pope, . ---- on edmund prideaux and the post-office, . ---- on quebeça and his epitaph, . ---- on thanksgiving-book, . ---- on sir cloudesley shovel, . comenius' history of bohemian persecution, . . comets, list of, . . . commandments, the division of the ten, . . . commoner marrying a peeress, . concert of nature, . conquest (post conquestum), . conquestum, its original meaning, . . contracted names of places, . cooper (c. h.) on "defender of the faith," . ---- on the word culprit, . ---- on touching for the evil, . ---- on the conquest, . ---- on dog's head in the pots, . ---- biographical notices of thomas may, . ---- on tradesmen's signs, . ---- on st. john's bridge fair, . ---- on the bellman and his history, . . ---- on disinterment for heresy, . ---- on charles lamb's epitaph, . ---- on the fifteen o's, . ---- on the expression "going tick," . ---- on the presentation of gloves, . ---- on the phrase "by-the-bye," . ---- on round robin, . ---- on registry of dissenting baptisms, . ---- on corpse passing making a right of way, . ---- on umbrellas, . coptic language, . cor linguæ, &c., its authorship, . corderoy on meaning of zoll-verein, . corner (geo. r.) on forged papal bulls, . corney (bolton) on the utility of catalogues of books, . ---- on the publication of de navorscher, . ---- on sir thomas herbert's memoirs, . ---- on the essay on satire, . ---- on harrison's chronology, . ---- on the threnodia carolina of sir t. herbert, . ---- on the anti-jacobin, . ---- on hugh holland and his works, . corpse passing makes a right of way, . . . corser (thomas) on traditions from remote periods, . . ---- on greene's groatsworth of witte, . costume, queries on, . . cotton family, arms of . . cotton (h.) on archbishop bolton of cashel, . ---- on harrison's chronology, . ---- on diary of archbishop loftus, . coulanges and prior, coincidence between, . coverdale's bible, . . covey, its etymology, . . cowgill on christmas-day, . ---- on headings of chapters in bibles, . ---- biographical notices of thomas may, . ---- on predeceased and designed, . ---- on a notice of st. pancras, . ---- on the tanthony, . ---- on window tax, mints, and nobbs, . cowley's poem on drinking, an answer to, . cowper, the divine chit-chat of, . cracow pike, . . crambo, its meaning, . cranmere pool, . cranmer's descendants, . . . cranmore on passage from cymbeline, . crewe (bishop), letters of, . ---- on the customary disuse of his episcopal title, . crex, the white bullace, . crickets, . criston, in somersetshire, . . cromwell (oliver), his compact with the devil, . . ---- family, . ---- curious epigrams on, . cross, engraved portrait by, on whom? . . cross between a wolf and hound, . . cross-bill, queries respecting, . crossley (james) on dr. timothy thruscross, . ---- on history of bohemian persecution, . ---- on burke and the annual register, . ---- on "earth has no rage," . ---- on couplet in de foe, . ---- on histoire des sévérambes, . ---- on verses attributed to charles yorke, . ---- on lucy and colin, . ---- on a quotation from brown's essay on satire, . ---- on dr. trusler's memoirs, . ---- on a sonnet, supposed to be milton's, . ---- on dryden's essay upon satire, . ---- on brandon the juggler, . ---- on "words are men's daughters," . ---- on the scaligers, . ---- on de foe's anticipations of modern ideas, . ---- on deus justificatus, . ---- on monarchia solipsorum, . ---- on nettle in, dock out, . ---- on manuscript of bede, . ---- notes on newspapers, . ---- on duncan campbell, . ---- on ms. sermons by jeremy taylor, . ---- on dryden's absolom and achitophel, . ---- on meaning of waste-book, . ---- on salgado's slaughter-house, . ---- on sir balthazar gerbier, . ---- on captain john stevens, . ---- on a history of comets, . ---- on edmund prideaux and the post-office, . ---- on epitaph in hall's discovery, ---- on letters on the british museum, . ---- on the image of both churches, . ---- on the word colfabias, . c. (r. w.) on the arms of the cotton family, . ---- on the spelling of britannicus, . ---- on curious facts in natural history, . . c. (t.) on "fronte capillatâ," &c., . ---- on mark for a dollar, . ---- on tu autem, . ---- on places called purgatory, . cuicfal in flandria, where? . culprits torn by horses, . . culprit, origin of the word, . cumming (sir alexander), . . cunningham (p.), on the verses, "poor allinda," &c., . ---- on the outer temple, . curfew-bell, . curse of scotland, . . . curwen (sir thomas), an excellent archer, . curwen family, . . . cushion dance, . . c. (w. h.) on cardinal erskine, . ---- on nicholas ferrar's digest, . c. (w. w.) on francis moore, . cx. on may cats, . ---- on the titles of spiritual peers, . d. d. on cardinal allen's declaration, . ---- on ring dials, . [delta]. on king richard iii., . ---- on suem, ferling, grasson, . ---- on sir t. herbert's memoirs of charles i., . ---- on the tanthony bell, . ---- on the use of the word umbrella, . d. ( ) on the etymology of aver, . ---- on filthy gingram, . ---- on the meaning of gulls, . d. (a.) on poem on the grave, . d. (a. a.) on the hand giving the blessing, . ---- on diogenes in his tub, . ---- on skeletons at egyptian banquet, . ---- on topical memory, . ---- on vegetable sympathy, . ---- on the phrase "to a t," . daffy down dilly, a nursery rhyme, . . damasked linen of james ii., . . dancing trenchmore, its meaning, . . darby and john ballad, . . darcy lever church, . daresbury, the whitechapel of england, . . davie, jun. (sn.) on hylles' arithmeticke, . davies (sir john), arms of, . ---- and his biographers, . . davy jones's locker, . . d. (c. w.) on coleridge and the penny post, . d. (e. a.) on henry chettle, . ---- on william chilcot, . ---- on "fronte capillatâ," . ---- on dominicals, . ---- on the motto, "god speed the plough," . ---- on long meg of westminster, . ---- on shakespeare's word "captious," . deans, when first styled very reverend, . . death of death's painter, . death, representations of, . . deer, fossil, of ireland, . . . . d. (e. h. d.) on the coptic language, . ---- on king of nineveh burned in his palace, . ---- on epitaph in kellyleagh churchyard, . "defender of the faith," its ancient use, . . . . de foe, coleridge's opinion of, . ---- couplet in, . ---- project for purifying the english language, . ---- anticipations of modern ideas, . . demonologist on booty's case, . demosthenes, oration against, . . denarii, . denarius philosophorum, . . . derby coinage, . designed, whether used as designated, . . desmond, the countess of, . . deus justificatus, its author, . devil's bit, its origin, . devonshire charms, . d. (g. h.) on robert de welle, . d. (h. w.) on the red hand, . ---- on touching for the evil, . ---- on damasked linen, . ---- on straw necklaces, . ---- on rag sunday in sussex, . ---- on the waistcoat bursted, . ---- on the couplet, "the feast of reason," . dials, ring, . . . . diamagnetism, its etymology, . dibdin's library companion, errors in, . dies iræ, its authorship, . dieu et mon droit, when first adopted, . difformis, its signification, . digby (sir kenelm), poems discovered among his papers, . . . . { } digby's broad stone of honour, . diogenes in his tub, . disinterment for heresy, . . diss on cross between a wolf and a hound, . ditchfield (j. b.) on black images of the virgin, . dixon (hepworth), notices of the blake family, . ---- on the penn family, . d. (j.) on whychcote of st. john's, . d. (j. b.) on the meaning of bacon, . d. (m.) on "suum cuique tribuere," &c., . d. (n.) on ten children at a birth, . dn. (w.) on the episcopal mitre, . ---- on a cardinal's hat, . ---- on "by hook and by crook," . ---- on the word yankee, . dobbin (dr. o. t.) on the ulm manuscript, . dodd (dr.), his texts at wing church, . dodd, the historian, . dog's head in the pot, . . dogs, their howling an omen of death, . doll (black), sign at old store shops, . dollar sign, . . dominicals, . don, of pitfichie, the family, . dorothea (s.), life of, . dort, epigram on the synod of, . . double names, their origin, . doubtful on the witches' prayer, . douglas (j. a.) on the white rose, . douglas (gawyn), a complete edition of his works a desideratum, . dousa (janus) on the dutch versions of english essayist, . ---- transcript of a letter respecting john locke, . ---- on crossing rivers on skins, . ---- poem on sidney, . downing (sir george), his family, . . d'oyly and barry families, information wanted, . dozen of bread, . . d. (q.) on dr. dodd's texts, . ---- on shakspeare's meaning of strained, . ---- on lord howard of effingham, . ---- on fitzpatrick's lines on fox, . ---- on witchcraft, . ---- on preserving existing monuments, . d. (q. e.) on the word littus, . drachmarus, one of the schoolmen, . . . dragons, . . drake's historia anglo-scotica, . dredge (john i.) on portrait of rev. s. clarke, . ---- on nicholas ferrar's concordance, . ---- on patrick's tract on the eucharist, . dress, a note on, . ---- court, . . drumlethglass on roman catholic bishops in ireland, . dryden's absolom and achitophel, . ---- essay upon satire, . . ---- poems, on two passages in, . d. (s. t.) on the author of pursuits of literature, . ---- on the author of school of the heart, . ---- on representations of death, . dumore castle, or the petrified fort, . dunbar, epigram by, . dunkin (alfred john) on preserving a record of existing monuments, . durham sword that killed the dragon, . . dutch books published out of the netherlands, . . ---- church in norwich, its history, . . . ---- martyrology, early copies, . . ---- song book, de zingende lootsman of de vrolyke boer, . . dutch versions of english essayists, . d. (w. b.) on aristophanes on the modern stage. . dyer (thomas h.) on erasmus and farel, . e. e. on blackstone's commentaries, . [epsilon]., note of palamon and arcite, . e. (a.) on the origin of cockade, . ear, the advantages of a bad, . early rain, the pride of the morning, . "earth has no rage," &c., a couplet, . earth thrown upon the coffin, . . earth's form, theory of, . . eastwood (j.) on circulation of the blood, . ---- eboli, latin epigram on the duchess of, . . ---- on encorah and millicent, . ---- on "ex pede herculem," . ---- on knebsend, . ---- on folk lore in lancashire, . ---- on eating pigeons before death, . ---- on tandem d. o. m., . ---- on the word rub-a-dub, . ---- on tiring-irons, . eboracomb, on holy water for the hooping-cough, . ---- on daffy down dilly, . echo on coverdale's bible, . ---- on breeches bible, . ---- on daresbury the whitechapel of england, . ---- on a passage in gray's elegy, . ---- on judas cup, . e. (c. j.) on abel represented with horns, . ---- on legend in frettenham church, . eclectic review, specimen of composition, . edwards (h.) on dr. robert thomlinson, . ---- on drax free school, . e. (e. j.) on gillingham, . effaress on the butcher duke, . ---- on "the soul's dark cottage," . effessa, on the prince of wales' feathers, . ---- on the breeches bible, . effigies, translation of charade upon nothing, . ---- on clarkson's papers, . egduf, on shakspeare's meaning of strained, . egenhart on gregory the great, . egg and arrow ornament, . e. (h.) on pedigree of owen glendower, . ---- on richard baxter's works, . ---- on queen mary's lament, . ---- on swans hatched during thunder, . eign, its meaning, . eirionnach, notes on ireland, . eisell, its meaning, . . . . . . . . e. (j.) on the meaning of harrisers, . ---- on the accession of richard iii., . ---- on anachronisms of painters, . ---- on the phrase to learn by heart, . ejusdem farinæ, origin of the expression, . . e. (k. p. d.) on st. hibbald, . ---- on mark for a dollar, . ---- on milton and the calves-head club, . ---- on ventriloquist hoax, . elk, fossil, . . ellacombe (h. t.) on the baldrock, . ---- on chiming bells, . elizabeth (queen), her christening cloth, . ----, private memoirs of, . . ----, scandal against, . . . . . . ----, did she visit bacon at twickenham? . elstob, miss, notice of, . emiott family, their arms wanted, . emun on ballad editing, . ---- on folk talk, . ---- on plays in churches, . ---- on a life of st. paul, . encorah and millicent, their meaning, . engastrimythus on father hehl and cahagnet, . ---- on father maximilian hell, . engelbert (abp.), treatise by, . . english, origin of the present race, . ---- actors and musicians in germany, . ---- french, an example of, . ---- mother on the flamberg sword, &c., . enigmatical epitaph on rev. dr. mawer, . enquirer on the episcopal mitre, . entwysel (wilfred), chauncy's observations on, . . epitaph in killyleagh churchyard, . . ---- at leghorn, . ---- on a "worthie knight," . equestrian statues, . erasmus and farel, . . erskine (cardinal), . e. (r. w.) on the lines "a verse may find him," &c., . ---- on north sides of churchyards, . ---- on corpse passing making a right of way, . ---- on seats in churches, . ---- on the derivation of round robbin, . ---- on tradesmen's signs, . eryx, queries on tennyson, . erza on lady flora hastings' bequest, . esquire, what amount of property constitutes one, . essheholt priory, account of, . ettie on sir henry slingsby's diary, . etty the artist, his family, . eucharist, authorship of an old tract on, . ----, by john patrick, . eustacius, abbot, time when he flourished, . . . evans (rev. t. simpson) on the life of bishop frampton, . evergreens in churches, . evil eye, the superstition of, . exhibition, the great, a monster number of "notes and queries," . ----, hint for protecting, . exon on disinterment for heresy, . exoniensis on the ms. of de bello antiocheno, . experto crede roberto, origin of the saying, . extradition, its meaning, . . extraordinary north briton, the writers in, . . f. f. on the sees of the roman church, . falconer (a. p.) on prayer of mary queen of scots, . falconer (r. w.) on mistletoe, . farquharson on auroræ, . f. (c. d.) on cranmer's descendants, . feathers of the prince of wales, origin of, . . fell (colonel), his descendants, . fenton (john) on the meaning of mosaic, . ferling, its etymology, . . ferrar's (nicholas) digest and concordance, . ---- and benlowes, . ferrara (andrea), his history, . ferret, names of the, . . fest, its derivation, . . f. (f. g.) on sides and angles, . f. (f. w.) on the situation of serius, . f. (g.) on arms of robert nelson, . f. (g. e.) on the knapp family, . f. (h.) on gough's translation of the history of the bible, . { } fiat justitia on miching malicho, . fib, its derivation, . filthy gingram, . fir-cone, its symbolism, . fire of london, the surveyor's account, . fireneye on national debts, . fitzgerald (lord edward), his mother, . fitzpatrick (richard), notice of, . . . f. (j. f.) on red book of irish exchequer, . ---- on the accession of richard iii., . ---- on shakspeare family, . flamberg sword, . . flecamore (christopher), who was he? . fleet marriages, . flemish account, its early use, . . . fm. on english sapphics, . ---- on equestrian statues, . f. (o.) on bishop thornborough's monument, . folk lore, . . . . . . . . . ---- devonshire, . ---- dutch, . ---- lancashire, . . ---- northamptonshire, . ---- talk, . ---- welsh, . forbes (c.) on browne's britannia's pastorals, . ---- on epitaph in hall's discovery, . ---- on the birth-place of robert burton, . ---- on george iii.'s coinage, . ---- on "fine by degrees, and beautifully less," . ---- on tandem d. o. m., . foreign english, specimens of, . . . ---- renderings at salzburg, . foreigner, a, on english synonymes, . foss (edward) on clement's inn, . ---- on the ulm manuscript, . ---- on two chancellors at one time, . ---- on the outer temple, . . . . foss (henry) on hulls, the inventor of steam-boats, . ---- on rudbeck's atlantica, . foucault's pendulum experiment, . four want way, . . . f. (p. h.) on the bibliographical queries of r. g., . ---- on the meaning of conquest, . ---- on errors in the date of works, . ---- on the authorship of the monthly intelligencer, . ---- on inscription on an oak board, . frampton (bishop), notices of him wanted, . . francis (c. f.) on epitaph in hall's discovery, . francis (john) on hewson and smollet's strap, . ---- on st. paul's striking thirteen, . francis (st.), liber conformitatum, . ---- flemish work, on the order of, . franciscus on the meaning of mosaic, . ---- on shakspeare's designation of cleopatra, . francis x. (john) on roman roads near london, . ---- on west-chester, . frere (geo. e.) on "snail, snail, come out of your hole," . frettenham church legend in, . . friday weather, . . ---- why considered unlucky, . friswell (james) on epigrams on cromwell, . frog's wedding, a ballad, . fronte capillatâ, &c., its authorship, . . . . . . frozen horn, . . . . . . f. (r. w.) on borrow's english ballads, . ---- on christmas day, . funerals, hand-bells at, . . f. (w.) on gilburt's ms. on clandestine marriages, . f. (w. r.) on fossil deer of ireland, . g. g. on barker, the panorama painter, . ---- on bishops' lands, . ---- on princesses of wales, . [yogh]. on court dress, . g. (a.) on the origin of a surname, . ---- on barker, the panorama painter, . ---- on lord edward fitzgerald's mother, . gallatly (j.) on misquotation of gen. iii. ., . gam (danydd) on chepstow castle, . ---- on charles ii. being in wales, . ganganelli (pope), the compilers of his life, . gantillon (p. j. f.) on abp. williams's portrait, . ---- etymology of kobold, . gatty (alfred) on the early culture of the imagination, . ---- on church bells, . ---- on the division of the ten commandments, . ---- on monumental inscription, . ---- on herbert's memoirs of charles i., . ---- on strange appearance in the sky, . ---- on epitaph of countess of pembroke, . ---- on st. thomas of lancaster, . ---- on warren hastings' magnanimity, . ---- on "ex pede herculem," . ---- on registry of dissenters, . ---- on ancient modes of hanging bells, . ---- on lord nelson's dress and sword at trafalgar, . ---- on earth thrown upon the coffin, . ---- on the lay of the last minstrel, . ---- on written sermons, . gaudentio di lucca, its authorship, . . gay (rev. mr.), notices of, . . g. (b.) on collard the logician, . g. (c.) on alliteration, . g. (c. w.) on the word blunder, . ---- on land holland, . ---- on lights on the altar, . ---- on the etymology of suem, ferling, and grasson, . genealogicus lancastriensis on family of katharine parr, . geneva bible, . . . . . . gentleman, can the queen make one? . george (st.) the martyr, southwark, indulgences granted to benefactors, . gerbier's (sir b.) academy, . ---- his autobiography, . german universities, religious teaching in, . geronimo, description of mosaic, . g. (g. f.) on the phrase "at sixes and sevens," . ---- on the letter [yogh], . ---- on true blue, . ---- on the meaning of mocker, . ---- on crossing rivers on skins, . ---- on rab surdam, . ---- on richard iii., . ---- on honey-moon, . gig-hill, its meaning, . . gilbert on col. hewson a cobbler, . gilburt's ms. on clandestine marriages, . . gillingham council, . . g. (j.) on daresbury, the whitechapel of england, . g. (j. m.) on the frozen horn, . ---- on gough's translation of the history of the bible, . ---- on george wither the poet, . ---- on the phrase, "i preached as never sure to preach again," . gleniffer on bab in the bowster, . gloucester alarm, what? . gloucestershire provincialisms, . gloves, the presentation of, . . glynne (lord chief justice), his portrait, . "god speed the plough," the motto, . god's acre, a burial ground, . . goddard's history of lynn, mss. wanted, . gomer on chapel, or printing-office, . ---- on the meaning of "eisell," . ---- on the etymology of nao, a ship, . ---- on tristan d'acunha, . good b'ye on the etymology of by-the-bye, . . goodwin (c. w.) on mss. of sir t. phillipps, . gooseberry-fool, its derivation, . gordon (g. e. r.) on the word aver, . gordon (g. j. r.) on medal of charles xii., . ---- on rudbeck's atlantica, . gough's translation of the history of the bible, . . g. (p. j. f.) on "in time the savage bull," &c., . g. (q.) on scandal against queen elizabeth, . ---- on barons of hugh lupus, . g. (r.) on bibliographical queries, . . . grahame (james), noticed, . grasson, its etymology, . . . grave, poem upon the, . . gravener (sir thomas), epitaph on, . . graves (j.) on a cardinal's hat, . ---- on the ormonde portraits, . gray's alcaic ode, . ---- elegy, its plagiarisms, . . . ---- lucretian origin of a verse in, . g. (r. e.) on meaning of venwell, . greene (robert), a dutch translation of a tract by, . ---- quip for an upstart courtier, . ---- groatsworth of witte, . . ---- pandosto, . gregory the great, . griffith (bp.), his portrait, . groves of blarney, its authorship, . g. (s.) on the cataracts of the nile, . ---- on dancing trenchmore, . ---- on flemish account, . ---- on paternoster tackling, . ---- on thomas rogers of horninger, . ---- on theological tracts, . gualter (rodolph), . . . guardian, dutch version of, . guinegate on supporters borne by commoners, . gulls, as applied to hasty pudding, . gun, inscription of an old, . gutch (j. m.) on gough's translation of the history of the bible, . g. (w. s.) on the life of pope ganganelli, . gwyn (cudyn) on derivation of aver, . ---- on the meaning of "eisell," . ---- on scandal against queen elizabeth, . gyffes (llaw) on arms of sir john davies, . h. h. on the ballad darby and joan, . ---- on the picture of our saviour, . h. (a. w.) on simon bache, . ---- on the tradescants, . haggard (w. d.) on the vellum-bound junius, . . hailsture (e.) on quebeça and his epitaph, . hall's discovery, epitaph in, . , . . hall (hughes frazer) on mitre and cloven tongues, . halliwell (j. o.) on greene's groatsworth of witte, . hallum, cardinal, his progenitors, . { } hamilton (c.) on the author of scoute-generall, . hamilton, newburgh, . . hamont (c. d.) on lachrymatories, . hampson's religious deceptions of the church of rome, an error corrected, . hampstead, judges' walk at, . hand giving the blessing, . . hand-bell before a corpse, . . handel's occasional oratorio, . . hares, . harlequins, origin of, . . . harrington (e. c.) on cooke's dialogue, . ---- on patrick's tract on the eucharist, . harris the painter, notices wanted, . harrisers, meaning of, . harrison's chronology, . . hastings' (lady flora) bequest, . . hastings (warren), his magnanimity, . hawkins (edward) on the writers in the anti-jacobin, . haybands in seals, . . . . . h. (b.) on snail-eating, . h. (c.) on bactria, . ---- on the meaning of "eisell," . ---- on petworth register-book, . ---- on the word sewell, . ---- on st. uncumber, . h. (c. e.) on epitaph in morwenstow churchyard, . h. (c. h.) on the symbolism of death, . h. (c. r.) on epigram on the duchess of eboli, . h. (de) on the descendants of col. fell, . h. (e.) on "cum grano salis," . ---- on baron munchausen's frozen horn, . ---- on an old ballad, . head's nugæ venales, . headings of chapters in bibles, . . healing, prayers at the, . . . . . . heart, to learn by, . . heath-hounds, . hedgehog, . hehl, father, account of him wanted, . . henchman (bp.), his portrait, . . henco on court dress, . henry iv., descent of, . . henry viii. and sir thomas curwen, . henryson (robert), a complete edition of his poems a desideratum, . herbert (george) and the restoration of bemerton church, . . . herbert, sir thomas, his memoirs, . . . hermes on an inscribed alms-dish, . ---- on the phrase "god's acre," . ---- on snail-eating, . hermit at hampstead on wm. hone, . hermit of holyport on dousers poem on sidney, . ---- on old dutch song-book, . ---- on the father of philip massinger, . ---- on a dutch translation of a tract by robert greene, . ---- account of an ancient wood engraving, . herodotus, time when he wrote, . . . heronsewes, its derivation, . . herstmonceux castle, dacre monument at, . ---- notices respecting, , . . hertfordiensis on paper-mill near stevenage, . hewson (col.) the cobbler, . . . hewett (j. w.) on an inscription on a clock, . . heylin's microcosmos, error in the date, . heywood family, . h. (f.) on the authorship of the cavalier's farewell, . h. (f. j.) on snail-charm, . h. (h.) on "ex pede herculem," . ---- on wat the hare, . hibbald (st.), who was he? . hibernicus on dutch literature in dublin university library, . ---- on the milesians, . hickson (s.) on the authorship of henry viii., . ---- on the meaning of "eisell," . ---- on the word "rack," in shakspeare's tempest, . ---- on shakspeare and fletcher, . ---- on shakspeare's meaning of prenzie, . hill's penny post, . hipparchus on sabbatical jewish years, . hippopotamus, . . h. (j.) on an enigmatical epitaph, . ---- on the life of mrs. elizabeth walker, . h. (j. c.) on fivizzano the painter, . h. (j. o.) on the life of clancie, . h. (j. w.) on the word adur, . ---- on contracted names of places, . h. (l.) on family of sir j. banks, . h. (m. a.) on the word abeiles, . ---- on rab surdam, . h. (n.) on bunyan and the visions of hell, . hogan, what kind of beverage, . holland (hugh) and his works, . holland, land, . . . hollander's austerity, &c., explanation wanted, . holy water for the hooping-cough, . holywood the mathematician, his birth-place, . homilies, the first edition of second book, . hone (william), his conversion, . . honor of clare, documents relating to, . hoods of the scotch universities, . "hook or by crook" explained, . . hooper (bp.), his godly confession, &c., . . hooper (richard) inquiries respecting william chilcot, . ---- on howel's desiderius, . hooping-cough, cure of, hoops, their early use in dress, . . hornbooks, . horneck (dr. anthony), inquiry respecting his letters, . horrocks (james), whose father lived in the time of cromwell, . hotchkin (robert) on lines by pope, . houmont, motto, . howard (john), medal given to, . howard (lord), was he a papist? . . . . howe (capt.), how related to george ii., . . howel's desiderius, or original pilgrim, . h. (r.) on the legend of st. molaise, . ---- on the word bawn, . ---- on the fossil elk of ireland, . ---- on stone chalices, . h. (r. c.) on a stone in casterton church, . ---- on the rarity of william iv.'s copper coinage, . h. (r. c. h.) on the family of sir j. banks, . h. (r. d.) on anticipations of modern ideas, . ---- on bogatzky's golden treasury, . ---- on gregory the great, . ---- on the phrase, "mind your p's and q's," . . ---- on pillgarlick, . ---- on the agency of od, . h. (s.) on meaning of waste-book, . h. (s. h.) on breeches bible, . ---- on cromwell's dealings with the devil, . h. (t.) on obeism, . hughes (william) on iovanni volpe, . hulls, the inventor of steam-boats, . hurd (bp.), biography wanted, . huyghens (constantine), english poems by, . h. (w. b.) on christ's-cross row, . ---- on the frozen horn, . ---- on mont-de-piété, . ---- on lines in tennyson's in memoriam, . ---- on the meaning of "trepidation talked," . hylles' arte of vulgar arithmeticke, . i. i. (b. r.) on epigram on synod of dort, . ---- on plafery, . i. (c. h.) on mints at norwich, . ich dien, motto, . . i. (f.) on ancient wood engraving, . ignatius' epistles, edited by mr. cureton, . ignobus on suppressed chantries, . ignore, its etymology, . image of both churches, its author, . . imagination, on its early culture, . . . inedited poetry, from harleian mss., . . inquisition, histoire de l', its authorship, . inscription on an oak board, . ireland, notes on, . irish brigade, account of, . j. j., on criston, somerset. . ---- on the correct prefix of mayors, . ---- james ii., his natural daughter, . . . . jarltzberg on altar lights, &c., . ---- barlaam and josaphat, . ---- on queen mary's lament, &c., . ---- on odour from the rainbow, . ---- on the vendace, . jarture, account of this work wanted, . jasper on collar of ss., . jaytee on record for existing monuments, . ---- on villenage, . j. (b.) on egg and arrow ornament, . jerne on a carved ceiling, . jerrold (douglas) on the sayer of "after me the deluge," . jesse's london, notes on, . jesuits, history of, the author? . jews in china, discovery of, . j. (f.) on ruggles' ignoramus, . j. (g. a.) on scotch universities' hoods, . j. (h.) on the curfew bell, . ---- on ptolemy's presents to the seventy-two, . ---- on sir walter raleigh, . ---- on sir cloudesley shovel, . jingo on self-striking clocks, . j. (l.) on the curse of scotland, . ---- on snail-eating, . ---- on record of existing monuments, . j. (m.) on maclean not junius, . john ap william on welsh history, . john, king, at lincoln, . . john's (st.) bridge fair, . . . . ----vox populi vox dei, . joan (pope) whether a myth or a veritable lady, . . . . ---- the game of, . jonah and the whale, . jonathan, the cognomen of brother, . jones (t.) on the ten commandments, . jonson, ben, his portrait, . joseph of exeter, where is the ms. of his de bello antiocheno? . josephus on st. john's bridge fair, . jove (j. cove) on spelling of britannicus, . j. (t) on the circulation of the blood, . ---- on early culture of the imagination, . ---- on the authorship of histoire de l'inquisition, . ---- on "jurare ad caput animalium," . { } ---- on the execution of mary queen of scots, . ---- on treatise by abp. engelbert, . ---- on obeahism, . ---- on swearing by swans, . . ---- on "antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi," . ---- on cognation of the jews and lacedæmonians, . ---- on modum promissionis, . ---- on occult transposition of letters, . ---- on welsh words for water, . ---- on the verse, "words are men's daughters," &c., . judas cup, account of, . junius, the vellum-bound copy, . . . . "jurat? crede minus," an epigram, . . j. (w.) on cardinals and abbots in the english church, . k. k. on the meaning of gig-hill, . ---- on the capitulations of the irish brigades, . ---- on moore's almanack, . ---- on voltaire, where situated, . ---- on the meaning of venville, . k. (d.) on aristotle and pythagoras, . keepsakes, the potter's and shepherd's, . k. (e. h.) on the etymology of aver, . kelke (w. hastings) on north sides of churchyards, . ---- on discrepancies in dugdale's account of the cobham family, . ---- on landwade church, . kemble pipe of tobacco, . . kentish town in the last century, . kenyon (c. howard) on a sonnet "on the librarie at cambridge," . kepper (g. l.) on a specimen of english french, . kerriensis on lord howard, . ---- on mazer wood, . ---- on traditions from remote periods, . ---- on sacramental wine, . ---- on the milesians, . kershaw (j. h.) on a specimen of composition, . kersley (t. h.) on the time when herodotus wrote, . ---- on the derivation of yankee, . kerslake (thomas) on locke's mss., . k. (h. c.) on dacre monument, . ---- on demosthenes and new testament, . ---- on the meaning of eign, . ---- on an incised slab, . k. (e. j.) on jonah and the whale, . ---- on quotation, "men may live fools," &c., . k. (h. c.) on outline in painting, . ---- on the meaning of sewell, . ---- on the meaning of tu autem, . k. (f.) on biography of bishop hurd, . ---- on david rizzio's signature, . kg. (p. s.) on tingry, . k. (i.) on "sun, stand thou still upon gideon!" . king (richard john) on a danish itinerary, . ---- on metropolitan improvements, . king (thos. wm.) on hats of cardinals, . ---- on record of existing monuments, . king's (dr.) poem "the toast," a key to the characters, . king's evil, touching for, . ---- form of prayer for, . . . . . . k. (j.) on the two drs. abercromby, . k. (j. b.) on water-buckets given to sheriffs, . k. (l. h.) on lady flora hastings' bequest, . knapp family in norfolk and suffolk, . knebsend, or nebsend, . . knight (c.) on a passage in hamlet, . knights hospitallers, . ---- in combat on church chests, . ---- of malta, their badge, . ---- two sorts of, . kobold, its etymology, . kooez (aredjid) on the word winkel, . ---- on foreign renderings, . k. (s.) on the meaning of conquestum, . k. (t. h.) on "god takes those soonest," &c., . ---- on the authorship of "la rose nait," &c., . k. (w. h. h.) on cross between wolf and hound, . k. (w. m.) on law courts at st. alban's, . ---- on the san grail, . kynaston's museum minervæ, . l. l. on antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi, . ---- on "après moi le déluge," . ---- on the curse of scotland, . ---- on closing rooms after death, . ---- on culprits torn by horses, . ---- on cross between a wolf and a hound, . ---- on decking churches at christmas, . ---- on epigram on the synod of dort, . ---- on "fronte capillatâ," &c., . ---- on the authorship of gaudentio di lucca, . ---- on portrait of bp. henchman, . ---- on a passage in bp. butler, . ---- on the hippopotamus, . ---- on "god takes those soonest," &c., . ---- on "ex pede herculem," . ---- on histoire des sévérambes, . . . ---- on the nine of diamonds, . ---- on vandyke's portrait of lord aubigny, . ---- on the etymology of "to pose," . ---- on wanton's delli viaggi, . l. (a.) on shakspeare a thorough sailor, . ---- on meaning of luncheon, . lachrymatories, their use, . lady fights at atherton, . lady's trees, . lamb (charles), his epitaph, . . . lammer-beads, . . . . lammin (w. h.) on sir john davies, . lancashire folk lore, . . lancastriensis on bigod de loges, . ---- on west chester, . landwade church, . . langholme fair, proclamation of, . . langley's polidore vergile, . language given to men, the saying, . laudator temporis acti on writing paper, . laud's (abp.) answer to fisher, . lawrence (t.) on names of the ferret, . lawson (charles), notices of, . l. (b. l.) on holland land, . l. (e.) on the meaning of cefn, . l. (e. a. h.) on the meaning of sewell, . ---- on lambert simnel, . legalis on lord mayor a privy councillor, . leges on the word prenzie in measure for measure, . leicester's commonwealth, . . leicestrensis on cachecope bell, . ---- on churchwarden's accounts of st. mary-de-castro, . ---- on dieu et mon droit, . lennep (j. h. van) on dutch popular song-book, . lennox, the daughters of the sixth earl of, . lent lilies, or daffodils, . leresche on darcy lever church, . lewis (george) on passage in coleridge, . l. (h. r.) on the authorship of a "history of the jesuits," . ---- on sempecta at croyland, . "librarie at cambridge," sonnet on the, . library of george iii., whether sold or presented to the nation, . lie, on giving the, . lights on the altar, . . limerick cathedral, inscription on a tablet, . lincoln missal, any ms. of, . . lion symbolical of the resurrection, . littus, its application in the sense of ripa, . liturgicus on headings of chapters in bibles, . l. (j.) on abbot eustacius and angodus, . l. (j. h.) on simon bache, . ---- on painting by c. bega, . ---- on coggeshall job, . ---- on scandal against queen elizabeth, . ---- on "harry parry, when will you marry," . ---- on thomas may, . l. (l. b.) on haybands in seals, . . ---- a note for topographers of london, . ---- on an original warrant, . ---- on witchcraft in the seventeenth century, . llewellyn on camden and curwen families, . . ---- on separation of sexes in churches, . ---- on rev. mr. gay, . ---- on petworth registers, . l. (m. c.) on preaching from written sermons, . locke (john), letter respecting him, . ---- manuscripts, . loftus (abp.) memoranda wanted, . longevity, remarkable, . long meg of westminster, . longueville mss., where are they? . loretto, the chapel of, . lower (mark antony) on the arches of pelaga, . ---- on the frozen horn, . ---- on haybands in seals, . ---- on registry of dissenters, . ---- on traditions from remote periods through few links, . ---- on the meaning of tye, . ---- on the sword of william the conqueror, . luard on the sempecta, . lucas family, . lucretia, the earl of clarendon's daughter, . lucy and colin, . . luncheon, its meaning, . . lukis (w. c.) on engraved warming-pans, . lunardi's balloon, . lupus (hugh), the barons of, . . . . lutestring, to speak in, its meaning, . luther and ignatius loyola, . l. (n. e.) on the history of andrea ferrara, . l. (w.) on a specimen of foreign english, . ---- on the lucas family, . lynch law, its origin, . . lyon verse, . . lyttleton (launcelot), particulars wanted, . m. m. on mrs. catherine barton, . ---- on clarkson's richmond, . { } ---- on lay of the last minstrel, . ---- on merrick and tattersall, . ---- on obeism, . ---- on a regular mull, . ---- on sabbatical and jubilee years of the jews, . ---- on southey's march to moscow, . ---- on the author of a modest enquiry, . ---- on "trepidation talk'd," . ---- on st. vitus and st. patrick's festival, . [mu]. on borrow's english ballads, . ---- on ms. of bede, . ---- on epitaph on sir thomas gravener, . ---- on portrait of archbishop williams, . ---- on letters on the british museum, . ---- on the ulm manuscript, . m. . (j.) on devonshire folk-lore, . ---- on earth thrown upon the coffin, . ---- on dr. young's narcissa, . ---- on the meaning of peep, . m. or n., their use in the church service, . . m. (a.) on the expression "at sixes and sevens," . ---- on the song "talk not of love," . m. (a. c.) on the derivation of minnis, . ---- on the singing of swans, . machell (r. b.) on the lingering of the spirit, . machell's ms. collections for westmoreland and cumberland, . . mackenzie (kenneth r. h.), translations of apuleius, &c., . ---- on burke's mighty boar of the forest, . ---- on time when herodotus wrote, . ---- on an inedited ballad on truth, . ---- on an oration against demosthenes, . ---- on hornbooks, . ---- on early culture of the imagination, . ---- a word to the literary men of england, . ---- on trinitäll hall's exequies, . ---- on a poem "a vertuous woman," from the harleian mss., . ---- on an epitaph on mr. browne, . ---- on sallustius' epistles to cæsar, . . ---- on sallustius and tacitus, . mackintosh (sir james), his notes in books, . ---- on the authors of the rolliad, . macklin's ordinary and school of criticism, . maclean not junius, . . madden (sir frederick) on beatrix lady talbot, . ---- on charles i. and nave's collection of pictures, . ---- on the poems of john seguard, . madden's reflections and resolutions, . magnum sedile, their use, . magpies, . maillé, the house of, . maitland's (dr. s. r.) illustrations of mesmerism, . . ---- on the sempecta of croyland, . m. (a. j.) on voltaire's henriade, . malentour, a motto on a crest, . . malta, records at, . man, arms of the isle of, . . manley (john) on a curious fact in natural history, . manuscripts, ancient, proposed association for recovering, . . . marforio on collections of pasquinades, . marinus (faber) on tandem d. o. m., . mark xiii. ., annotators on, . . markham (charles d.) on the vavasours of hazlewood, . markham (c. w.) on essheholt priory, . markland (j. h.) on the writers in the rolliad, . mark's (st.), foundation-stone of, venice, . . marriage, curious omen at, . mariconda on st. francis, . marsh's female captive, . martin family, . marshal, hereditary earl, . marsham (sir john), was he knight or baronet? . martinus on the published dutch books, . marwoode (john) of honiton, . mary, queen of scots, defence of her execution, . . ---- her crucifix, . ---- lament, . . ---- prayer of, . . mary-de-castro (st.), churchwardens' accounts of, . mason not junius, . . massinger, philip, his father, . mathews (wm. franks) on the fire of london, . mathew's mediterranean passage, . . matrimony, solemnization of, . matrix of monastic seal, . m. (a. w.) on cardinal hallum, . mawer (rev. dr.), epitaph on, . . . may (thomas), notices of, . . . may cats, . . mayor of london, is he a privy councillor? . mayors, their correct prefix, . mazer wood and gutta percha, . . . m^ccalmont (thomas), notice of h. smith, . m. (c. o. s.) on richard whiting's watch, . m. (c. r.) on tomb of chaucer, . ---- on burying in church walls, . ---- on the clench family, . ---- on lady bingham, . ---- on knights in combat on church chests, . ---- on magnum sedile, . medal, a satirical one, . m. (e. j.) on the tomb of rev. w. adams, . ---- on "to-day we purpose," . ---- on the tanthony bell, . me. (j.), queries and notes on books, men, and authors, . mercer (w. j.) on "noli me tangere," . ---- on the derivation of cad, . mercurii on mathew's mediterranean passage, . ---- on edmund prideaux and the post-office, . ---- on pursuits of literature, . merrick, the versifier of the psalms, . merryweather (f. s.) on aged monks, . merviniensis on arms of isle of man, . metrical psalms and hymns, origin of their use, . . metropolitan improvements suggested by bishop king, . mezzotinto on the authorship of the butcher duke, . m. (f.) on paul pitcher night, . m. (f. c.) on the motto malentour, . m. (f. e.) on the motto malentour, . ---- on the origin of national debts, . m. (g. r.) on the name vineyard, . miching mallecho in hamlet, . . midwives licensed, . . mildew in books, . milesians, their origin, . . milk-maids in , . miller (dr.), author of philosophy of history, commended, . milton and the calves-head club, . . ---- expressions in, . ---- nativity ode, . ---- supposed pun by, . . ---- sonnet, query by, . milward (sir thomas) his portrait, . miners burning out a delinquent, . minium, or red lead pencil of archbishop parker, . minnis, its derivation, . mints, local, . . miso-dolos on indulgences granted to benefactors for building saint george the martyr's, . mistletoe on oaks, . . . . mitre, the episcopal, its origin, . . . . m. (j.) on an ancient ms. of bede's eccles. hist., . ---- on natural son of cardinal wolsey, . ---- on an answer to fisher's relation, . ---- on orations against demosthenes, . ---- on derivation of yankee, . ---- on lost manuscripts, . ---- on the first edition of the second book of homilies, . ---- on a prayer of the bishop of nantes, . ---- on munchausen's travels, &c., . m. (j. e.) on a passage in virgil, . m. (j. f.) on milton and calves-head club, . ---- on shakspeare's venus and adonis, . ---- on solemnization of matrimony, . ---- on voltaire's henriade, . m. (j. h.) on apple-pie order, . ---- on denarius philosophorum, . ---- on the nine of diamonds, . ---- on pope joan, . ---- on form of prayer at the healing, . ---- on the epitaph of the countess of pembroke, . . ---- on george steevens and wm. stevens, . ---- on pepys's song, "beauty retire," . ---- did st. paul's clock strike thirteen? . ---- on the song winifreda, . m. (j. l.) on the nineveh monuments and milton's nativity ode illustrated from lucian, . m. (j. o.) on the thirty-nine articles, . ---- on the table of prohibited degrees, . m. (n.) on epigram against burke, . mock-beggar, origin of the term, . mocker, its meaning, . modest enquiry, &c., its author, . modum promissionis, . molaise (st.), legend of, inquired after, . mole, the story of the, . monarchia solipsorum, its authorship, . . monkbarns on proclamation of langholme fair, . monks, aged, of the tenth century, . . monkstown on joseph nicolson's family, . monosyllables, their use, . . . monro (cecil) on the baldrock, . montchesni family, . mont-de-piété, . . monumental symbolism, . monuments, record of existing, . . . . . . moore's almanack, . . . . moorfields in charles ii.'s time, . morse and ireton families, . mosaic, its meaning, . . . moths called souls, . mottos on warming-pans and garters, . . . . mounds, or munts, its meaning, . . m. (p. m.) on the head of the saviour, . ---- on lines of the temple, . m. (r.) on a musical plagiarism, . m. (r. r.) on hand-bells at funerals, . ---- on lord howard of effingham, . ---- on pope joan, . ---- on the life of st. pancras, . ---- on national debts, . ---- on monte di pietà, . m. (s.) on the pedigree of owen glendower, . { } m. (s. r.) on the derivation of luncheon, . ---- on quakers' attempt to convert the pope, . m. (t.) on mythology of the stars, . mull, a regular, origin of the phrase, . . munchausen's travels, . . . murray's handbook for devon and cornwall, omissions noticed, . mushroom, its etymology, . musical plagiarism, . m. (w. g.) on prayer of mary queen of scots, . ---- on the word prenzie, . m. (w. r.) on "fronte capillatâ," . ---- on the origin of the milesians, . ---- on jeremy taylor's holy living, . m. (w. t.) on arthur's seat, . ---- on the couplet, "earth has no rage," . ---- on proclamation of langholme fair, . n. n. on burying in church walls, . ---- on dragons, . ---- on memoir of george steevens, . n. (a.) on "après moi le déluge," . ---- on coinage in germany, . ---- on pope joan, . ---- on nao, a ship, . ---- on the san grail, . ---- on stanedge pole, . nails, paring them on sunday, . . nantes, bishop of, a prayer by him, . nao, a ship, authority wanted, . . napoleon, tablet to, . national debts, their origin, . . . natural history, curious fact in, . . . nave's (bartolomeo della) collection of pictures, . navorscher, de, . . . n. (d.) on the visit of elizabeth to bacon, . neck, cure for a large, . nedlam on "mind your p' and q's," . nehceeb (samoht) on the name of bacon, . n. (e. l.) on mr. p. collier's note on the winter's tale, . ---- on the origin of harlequins, . ---- on true blue, . nelson (robert), his armorial bearings, . nemo on carolus lawson, . ---- on the author of broad stone of honour, . ---- on pope joan, . ---- on essay on the irony of sophocles, . nelson's (lord) dress and sword at trafalgar, . nestorians, or lost tribes, . "nettle in, dock out," its meaning, . . . . . neville family, . nevinson (rev. charles) on bp. hooper's godly confession, . newburn (f.) on drake's historia anglo-scotica, . news, the origin of the word, . new testament, passages in, illustrated from demosthenes, . . newspapers, notes on, . . n. (g.) on a quotation, "to-day we purpose," . nibor on mathew's mediterranean passage, . ---- on epitaph on rev. john mawer, . nicholson (andrew) on wife of bishop nicolson, . nicolai (s.) vita, sive stultitiæ exemplar, . nicolas' history of the royal navy, . nicolson (bishop), his family, . . ---- his opinion of bp. burnet, . nieremberg (j. e.), his contemplations ascribed to bp. taylor, . nievie-nick-nack, a game, . nile, cataracts of the, . nine of diamonds, why called "the curse of scotland," . . . . nineveh, the king of, burns himself, . . ---- monuments illustrated from lucian, . n. (j. d.) on the library of the church of westminster, . n. (j. g.) on giovanni volpe, . ---- on roman catholic peers, . ---- on general pardons, . ---- on the term mock-beggar, . n. (j. d. n.) on the black rood of scotland, . ---- on nievie-nick-nack, . n. (m.), a word to literary men, . nobbs of norwich, notice of, . . noble names in workhouses, . nocab on bacon and fagan, . ---- on hand-bell before a corpse, . ---- on snail-eating, . ---- on the invention of steam-power, . noli me tangere, . . nonsuch palace near ewell, . norfolk folk-lore rhymes, . norman nobility, . . . . ---- ms. catalogue of, . . north briton, who were the writers in, . . northege family, where located? . northman on derivation of yankee, . notabilis expositio super canonem misse, . notes and queries, prefatory notice to vol. iii., . ---- in holland, . nothing, translation of charade upon, . novus on disinterment for heresy, . ---- on luther and ignatius loyola, . nourse (wm. e. c.) on scandinavia, . "nullis fraus tuta latebris," motto, . n. (w. m.) on spelling of britannia, . n. (v. d.) on the order of st. franciscus, . o. oak-web, or cockchafer, . oates (titus), his autograph, . obeism, . . . . . observator, the, its authorship, . observator revived, its authorship, . occult transposition of letters, . od, how this agency is tested, . offor (george) on bunyan's portrait, and the visions, . o. (j. p.) on the marriage of sir john vaughan, . olave's (st.) churches, southwark, . oldbuck (jonathan), jun., on landwade church, . oldenburg horn, engraving of, . oldham, passage in, . omega on cherubim and seraphim, . o. (m. n.) on iovanni volpe, . . onions, st. thomas', why so called, . . [greek: Ôô] on tandem d. o. m., . o's, the fifteen, . organs, when first used in churches, . ormonde, the marquis of, on scandal against queen elizabeth, . ---- portraits, . outlandish knight, ballad, . . outline in painting, . . owen (bp.), his portrait, . owen (dr. john), unpublished sermons, . owen glendower, his pedigree, . . oxford friar's voyage to the north pole, . p. p. on the meaning of averia, . ---- on sir thomas bullen's drinking-horn, . ---- on dragons, . ---- on the barons of hugh lupus, . ---- on montchesni family, . ---- on the meaning of venwell, . ---- on the sword of william the conqueror, . [script pi] on the breeches or geneva bible, . ---- on canons and articles, . ---- on school of the heart, . p**** (c. p.) on "god takes those soonest," &c., . ---- on achilles and the tortoise, . ---- on the word champak, . ---- on epigrams by coulanges and prior, . ---- on symbolism of death, . ---- on dies iræ, . ---- on "ex pede herculem," . ---- on quakers' attempt to convert the pope, . ---- on the author of "we hope, and hope," &c., . ---- on hollander's austerity, . ---- on charles lamb's epitaph, . ---- on anonymous ravennas, . ---- on the lion, a symbol of the resurrection, . ---- on john marwoode, . ---- on a notice of cardinal azzolin, . ---- the cart before the horse, . ---- on catacombs and bone-houses, . ---- on the tanthony, . ---- on essay on the irony of sophocles, . ---- on early rain called "the pride of the morning," . ---- on the lost tribes, . ---- on "noli me tangere," . ---- on the sicilian vespers, . ---- on the antiquity of smoking, . pagnini's bible, . . paine (c. jun.) on ussher's works, . painters' anachronisms, . . pallavicino and the conte d'olivarez, . . palmerston (henry viscount) lines attributed to, . pancras (st.), smith's collections on, . . ---- biographical notice of, . papa alterius orbis, its origin, . papal tiara, its origin, . ---- bulls, forged, . paper-mill near stevenage, . pardons, general, under the great seal, . parish register tax, . parr, family of queen katharine, . parsons (daniel) on book plates, . paslam (charles) on "binsey, god help me!" . pasquinades, collections of, . paternoster tackling, its meaning, . . patrick's (rev. john) tract on the eucharist, . . paul (st.), his life wanted, . paul pitcher night, . paul's (st.), did its clock ever strike thirteen? . . . . . paull (dr. james), . p. (c.) on col. hewson the cobbler, . p. (c. h.) on "felix, quem faciunt," . ---- on derivation of fib, . ---- on lord howard of effingham, . ---- on the new testament illustrated from demosthenes, . peachell (hugh), notice of, . peacock (edw. jun.) on wife of james torre, . ---- on a record of existing monuments, . ---- on lincoln missal, . peacock, swearing by the, . . pelaga, arches of, where? . . pelethronius on meaning of auriga, . { } pembroke, countess of, her epitaph, . . . . penn (wm.) and his family, . . . penny post and coleridge, . ---- origin of, . . pepys's song, "beauty retire," . peter the hermit, inscription on his tomb, . "peter wilkins," on the authorship of, . peter's (st.) in rome, supposed inscription on, . peters, hugh, notices of, . . petworth register-book, . . . pews in churches, . peyton, family of, . p. (g.) on machell's ms. collections, . ---- on prideaux and the post-office, . ---- on illustrations of tennyson, . p. (h.) on babington's conspiracy, . [phi]. ([omega].) on "turning the tables," . phillipps (sir thomas), his manuscripts, . . ---- on record of existing monuments, . [greek: philologos], on bacon and fagan, . phoenix, the, its literary proprietors, . [greek: phôs], on illustrations of chaucer, . pictorial antiquities, . pigeons eaten before death, . pightle, its meaning, . pigs with single hoofs, . . . pilcher, its meaning, . . . pilgrims' road to canterbury, . pillgarlick, . . . pinkerton (w.) on davy jones's locker, . ---- on mazer wood, . ---- on the tradescants, . ---- on whale caught at greenwich, . pio (a. p. di) on the etymology of apricot, . p. (j.) on the miscellaneous tracts of peter sterry, . p. (j. s.) on porci solidipedes, . plafery, its meaning, . planché (j. r), on poem on the grave, . ---- on red sindon, . plays in churches, . poetical coincidences, . poet's corner, when attached to the transept of westminster abbey, . pomeroy (arthur), his parentage, . pontoppidan's natural history of norway, . . pope, on the election of one in a water-closet, . . pope's dunciad, an incongruity in, . ---- lines by, . porson's imposition, . porter (endymion), his birth-place, . portraits of distinguished englishman, . portus canum, where? . pose, the etymology of "to pose," . p. (p.) on folk lore in lancashire, . ---- on places called purgatory, . . p. (r.) on the doctrine of probabilism, . p. (r. c.) on saxon coinage at derby, . predeceased used as a verb active, . . price (e. b.) on engraved warming-pans, . ---- on private memoir of queen elizabeth, . prideaux (edmund) and the first post-office, . , . . ---- family, . prior's posthumous works, . proba conscientia on the family name of bacon, . probabilism, the doctrine of, . . prohibited degrees, table of, commanded to be fixed in churches, . prol in anglia, where? . proverbs, ex pede herculem, . . ---- the cart before the horse, . ---- going the whole hog, . . ---- mind your p's and q's, . . . . ---- spick and span new, . . ---- under the rose, . . pryme (c. de la) on mind your p's and q's, . p. (s.) on farquharson and dr. paull, . ---- on "many a word at random spoke," . ptolemy's presents to the seventy-two, . publicans' signs, . pultock (robert) the supposed author of peter wilkins, . purgatory, places so called, . pursuits of literature, its authorship, . . . pursuivant on lord bexley's descent from cromwell, . p. (w. h.) on god's acre, . ---- on the couplet, "lavora, come se tu," &c., . q. q. on schmidt's antiquitates neomagensis, . ---- on a quotation from tillotson, . q. (d.) on the meaning of slums, . q. (f. s.) on cockade, . ---- on derivation of aver, . ---- on pillgarlick, . ---- on true blue, . q. (p.) on civil war tract, . q. (q.) on a quotation from cam. emblem., . ---- on skeletons at egyptian banquets, . q. (u.) on bartolus' learned man defended, . ---- on a quotation from the the christian instructed, . quakers' attempt to convert the pope, . . . quarles, was he pensioned? . quebeça and his epitaph, . . quidam on gillingham, . quinces a customary present, . quincuplex psalterium, . quotations: "i preached as a dying man to dying men," . ---- "and coxcombs vanquish berkeley by a grin," . ---- "after me the deluge," . ---- "a fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind," . ---- "earth has no rage," . ---- "a verse may find him," &c., . ---- "the lucky have whole days," . ---- "clarum et venerabile nomen," . ---- "plurima gemma latet cæcâ tellure sepulta," . ---- "cum grano salis," . . . ---- "the soul's dark cottages," . ---- "fine by degrees and beautifully less," . . ---- "sun, stand thou still upon gideon!" . . ---- "sees good in everything," &c., . ---- "la rose nait en un moment," . ---- "laus tua non tua fraus, " . . ---- "lavora, come se tu," &c., . . ---- "impatient to speak and not see," . ---- "just notions will into good actions grow," . ---- "o wearisome condition of humanity," . ---- "marriage is such a rabble rout," . ---- "poor allinda's growing old," . ---- "deal, dover, and harwich," . ---- "the feast of reason," &c., . ---- "in the sweat of thy brow," . ---- "there was a maid of westmoreland," . ---- "too wise to err," . ---- "quadrijugis invectus equis," . ---- "harry parry, when will you marry?" . . ---- "to-day we purpose," &c., . . ---- "god take those soonest whom he loves best," . . ---- "so geographers on afric's downs," . . ---- "nature's mother wit," . ---- "felix, quem faciunt," . . . ---- "nulli fraus tuta latebris," . . ---- "the right divine of kings to govern wrong," . ---- "in time the bull is brought to bear the yoke," . . ---- "men may live fools," &c., . ---- "suum cuique tribuere," . ---- "we hope, and hope, and hope," . ---- "william the norman conquers england's state," . ---- "words are men's daughters," . . . r. r. on epitaph on countess of pembroke, . ---- on smith's collections of mss., . r. (a reader) on expressions in milton, . r. . (c. j.) on aristophanes on the modern stage, . r. (a.) on a pun by milton, . r. (a. jun.) on the picture of the saviour, . r. (a. b.) on epitaph of the "worthie knight," . rab surdam, . . rack, its meaning in shakspeare, . rag sunday in sussex, . rainbow, odour from the, . . raines (f. r.) on record of existing monuments, . r. (a. l.) on dr. maitland's illustrations of mesmerism, . raleigh, sir walter, an incident respecting, . ramasshed, meaning of the term, . . ratcatcher on the word ferret, . ratche, its meaning, . rawson (j.) on the mother church of the saxons, . r. (c. c.) on the tradescants, . r. (c. i.) on criston, somerset, . ---- on the frozen horn, . ---- on "quadrijugis invectus equis," . ---- on the white rose, . rds. (e.) on the brownes of cowdray, . reader on monumental symbolism, . rechibus, its meaning, . red book of the irish exchequer, . red hand, . red sindon, . redwing's nest, . . registration of dissenters in churches, . . . . r. (e. j.) on touching for the evil, . relic, story of a, . relton (f. b.) on the family of lord of relton, . ---- on capt. howe's relation to geo. ii., . ---- on natural daughter of james ii., . . ---- on the symbolism of the fir-cone, . relton (lord of), particulars wanted, . resurrection, traces of it b. c., . revert on "nettle in, dock out," . r. (f.) on the etymology of balsall, . r. (f. r.) on sir andrew chadwick, . ---- on the family of entwysels, . ---- on early culture of the imagination, . ---- on hiring servants in holderness, &c., . ---- on "jurat? crede minus," . r. (g.) on gloucester alarm, . ---- on the locality of criston, . r. (g. t.) on anachronisms of painters, . r. (g. h.) on william tell legend, . r. (h. c.) on the foundation-stone of st. mark's, venice, . rich (a., jun.) on the episcopal mitre and papal tiara, . richardson (joseph), notice of, . . richard iii., the day of his accession, . . ---- traditional notice of, . . . rifles, the best, english or american? . { } rimbault (e. f.) on sir george buc's treatise on the stage, . ---- on the bellman and his songs, . ---- on the breeches, or geneva bible, . ---- sir john davies and his biographers, . ---- on dancing trenchmore, . ---- on the dutch church in norwich, . ---- on prior's posthumous works, . ---- on traditional english ballads, . ---- on the birth-place of robert burton, . ---- on t. gilbert on clandestine marriages, . ---- on a portrait of ben jonson, . ---- on old hewson the cobbler, . ---- on joan sanderson, or the cushion-dance, . ---- on machell's ms. collections, . ---- on macklin's ordinary and school of criticism, . ---- on the etymology of mushroom, . ---- was hugh peters on the stage? . ---- on st. thomas of trunnions, . ---- on "talk not of love," a song, . ---- on the academies of kynaston and gerbier, . ---- on the family of the tradescants, . ---- on sir francis windebank's eldest son, . ---- on the authors of leicester's commonwealth, . ---- on moore's almanack, . ---- on holywood the mathematician, . ---- on witte van haemstede, . ---- on the author of image of both churches, . ---- on kemble pipe of tobacco, . ---- on peter sterry, . rizzio (david), his signature wanted, . r. (j.) on leicester's commonwealth, . ---- on mildew in books, . ---- on the autograph of titus oates, . r. (j. c.) on christopher flecamore, . ---- on erasmus and farel, . ---- on travels of baron munchausen, . ---- on the origin of lynch law, . ---- on the situation of portus canum, . ---- on rodolph gualter, . ---- on swabbers, . r. (j. r.) on inscription in limerick cathedral, . r. (j. y.) on oxford friar's voyage, . r. (l. m. m.) on arthur's seat and salisbury craigs, . ---- on bab at the bowster, . ---- on the episcopal mitre, . ---- on the etymology of covey, . ---- on a work "speculative difficulties in religion," . ---- on lammer-beads, . ---- on an old scotch tale, . r. (m. c.) on midwives licensed, . ---- on abbot's house at buckden, . r. (n. e.) on earth thrown upon the coffin, . ---- on christmas-day, . ---- on form of prayer for king's evil, . . . ---- on the lincoln missal, . ---- on rodoph gualter, . robertii sphæria used as a medicine, . robertson of muirtown, . . robertson (j. c.) on petworth register, . rock (dr.) on abbot eustacius, . ---- on the meaning of "eisell," . ---- on vox populi vox dei, . rogers (thomas) of horninger, . rolliad, authors of the, . . . . . roman catholic bishops in ireland since james ii., . ---- church, list of its sees, . . . ---- peers, . roman medicine stamps, . ---- roads near london, . rooms closed after death, . . roper (margaret), her tenderness to the remains of sir t. more, . roper (william j. d.) on private memoirs of queen elizabeth, . rose, on the white, . . rose, under the, the phrase elucidated, . rotation of the earth, . round robbin, its derivation, . . rovert on the german universities, . ---- on publicans' signs, . rowe family, . . rowley, old, . royal courtly garland, an old ballad, . r. (s. p. o.) on a list of comets, . ---- on knights hospitallers, . rub-a-dub, its meaning, . rudbeck's atlantica, . . ---- campi elysii, . ruggles' ignoramus, comoedia, . rupert, prince, notices of, . r. (w.) on the word auriga, . r. (w. b.) on old english actors and musicians in germany, . r. (w. j. d.) on preserving existing monuments, . s. s., on the authorship of the beggar's petition, . ---- on the norman nobility, . [sigma]., on going the whole hog, . ---- on innocent convicts, . s. (a.) on quotation, "so geographers on afric's downs," . sabbatical and jubilee years of the jews, . . sacramental wine, administered to weak children, . . . salgado's slaughter-house, . sallustius, was he a lecturer? . . ---- his connexion with tacitus, . ---- epistles to cæsar, . . salopian, on jews in china, . sancroft (abp.) corrected dillingham's poems, . sanctorum septem dormientium historia, its author? . sanderson (joan) and the cushion-dance, . . sangaree, its meaning, . san grail, explained, . . . . . san marino, the republic of, . . sansom (j.) on drachmarus, . . ---- on durham sword that killed the dragon, . ---- on the custom of shaking hands, . ---- on defender of the faith, . ---- on metrical psalms, . ---- on the presentation of gloves, . ---- on notices of prince rupert, . sapphics, english, . . sathaniel, when noticed? . sauenap, meaning of, . saviour, engraving of the, . . saviour's (st.) church, canterbury, . . s. (b. s.) on quakers' attempt to convert the pope, . scaligers of verona, . . scandinavia, notes and queries on, . schmidt's antiquitates neomagenses, . school of the heart, its author, . . s. (c. n.) on theory of the earth's form, . scott's (sir walter) lay of the last minstrel, . . . . ---- quotation from lord of the isles, . ---- marmion, on a passage in, . scotus on lady alice carmichael, . scoute-generall, its author? . scriblerus, emendation of a passage in virgil, . scrutator, on lines on woman, . s. (e.) on the origin of the word venville, . seats in churches, . secundus (johannes), extract from, . sedley's poems, on a passage in, . seguard, or seward (john), his poems, . s. (e. j.) on topical memory, . ---- on meaning of carfoix, seleucus on prince of wales' motto, . ---- on the redwing's nest, . ---- on "similia similibus curantur," . selwyn (e. j.) on porci solidipedes, . . sempecta at croyland, . . . serius, where situated? . sermons, on preaching from written, . . servants, their mode of being hired in holderness, . sewell, meaning of, . . . sévérambes, histoire des, . . . . . sexes, their separation in church, . . s. (f.) on the occasional transmigration of the soul, . ---- on moths called souls, . s. (g. a.) on ferrar and benlowes, . ---- on "fronte capillatâ," &c., . shaftesbury (earl of), his letter to le clerc respecting locke, . ---- first earl of, particulars wanted, . shaking hands, origin of the custom, . shakspeare family, . ---- a thorough sailor, . ---- his small latin, . ---- all's well that ends well, on two passages in, . ---- anthony and cleopatra, . . ---- his meaning of "captious," . . . . . . ---- cymbeline, on a passage in, . ---- his meaning of "eisell," . . . . . . . . ---- and fletcher, . ---- hamlet, on a passage in, . ---- henry viii., authorship of, . ---- love's labour's lost (act ii. sc. .), . . ---- much ado about nothing, on a passage in, . ---- his meaning of "prenzie," . . . . ---- his meaning of ribaudred nag, . . ---- romeo and juliet (act iii. sc. .), . ---- his meaning of strained, . . ---- tempest, on the word rack, . ---- ---- "most busy when least i do it," . . ---- troilus and cressida, on a passage in, . ---- venus and adonis, . ---- winter's tale, an old ballad on, . ---- ---- ---- payne collier's note on the, . shapp, or hepp, abbey of, . sheldon's minstrelsy of the english border, . sheep, cure of disease by means of, . . shewri-while, a mountain spirit, . shovel (sir cloudesley), . . sicilian vespers, . sides and angles, . similia similibus curantur, . simnel (lambert) his real name, . . sing, on the devil's bit, . singer (s. w.) on two passages in all's well that ends well, . ---- on canes lesos, . ---- on the meaning of "eisell," . ---- on poems by c. huyghens, . ---- on "felix, quem faciunt," &c., . ---- on charming of snails, . ---- on "the soul's dark cottage," . ---- on the maxim, "lavora come se tu," &c., . ---- on shakspeare's meaning of "ribaudred nag," . ---- on latin drinking-song by braithwaite, . ---- on the family of the tradescants, . ---- on latin version of robin goodfellow, . ---- on the word prenzie in shakspeare, . ---- a passage in romeo and juliet, . { } ----, notes on books, no. ., . ---- on the tale of the wardstaff, . sitting crosslegged, . sittings or statutes, what? . . sixes and sevens, its meaning, . . s. (j.) epitaph on Ælia lælia crispus, . ---- on athelney castle, . ---- on the country of the angles, . ---- on a remarkable birth, . ---- on culprits torn by horses, . ---- on lines on the temple-gate, . s. (j. d.) on william chilcott, . ---- on queries on costume, . ---- on the family of sir george downing, . ---- on edmund prideaux, . s. (j. e. r.) on catherine barton, . s. (j. h.) on stella being swift's sister, . ---- on brewhouse antiquities, . ---- on the hereditary earl marshal, . skeletons at egyptian banquet, . . skins, crossing rivers on, . . . skort, its meaning, . sky, strange appearances in, . s. (l.) on a passage in merchant of venice, . slab, an incised one, . slingsby's (sir henry) diary, . . slums, meaning of, . . s. (maria) on charles lamb's epitaph, . smirke (e.) on burning the hill, . ---- on herstmonceux castle, . ---- on meaning of venville, . smirke (s.) on the chapel of loretto, . ---- on san marino, . smith (henry), notices of, . smith (t. c.) on anticipations of modern ideas, . ---- on poetical coincidences, . smith (w. h. bernhard) on the frozen horn, . ---- on the sword flamberg, . smith (w. j. b.) on cross between dog and wolf, . ---- on the lancastrian rose, . ---- on a poem from the digby mss., . ---- on robertson struan, . ---- on the sword of william the conqueror, . smoking, antiquity of, . . smollett's celebrated hugh strap, . s. (n.) on north side of churchyards, . snail, charming of, . . . ---- eating, . . . sneak (jerry) on apple-pie order, . . sn. (j.) on home-made wines, . ---- on touching for the evil, . ---- on separation of sexes in church, . snow (robert) on the mythology of the stars, . . ---- on "fronte capillatâ," . ---- on foucault's pendulum experiment, . ---- on paternoster tackling, . ---- on outline in painting, . ---- on a passage in tennyson's in memoriam, . ---- on touchstone's dial, . ---- on the meaning of waste book, . s. (o.) on commoner marrying a peeress, . somnium viridarii, . sophocles, essay on the irony of, . . soul, its occasional transmigration, . souley (charles o.) on pallavicino, . southey's march to moscow, . s. (p.) on the etymology of extradition, &c., . s. (p. c. s.) on the story of a relic, . ---- on duchess of buckingham, . spectator, dutch version of, . speculative difficulties in religion, wanted, . spenser, birth of, . ---- portraits of, . ---- faerie queene, notes, . . speriend on a kemble pipe, . spes, inquiries respecting mr. beard, . ---- on morse and ireton families, . ---- on engraved warming-pans, . spick and span new, its meaning, . spiders, . spirit, on the lingering of the, . sponge, when first known, . spurrell (w.) on biddings in wales, . ss. (j.) on derivation of aver, . s. (s.) on by-and-bye, . ---- on the motto, "nulis fraus tuta latebris," . ---- on sir alex. cumming, . s. (s. s.) on the badge of the knights of malta, . ---- on haybands in seals, . ---- on mazer wood, . ---- on mistletoe on the oak, . ---- on the meaning of tinsell, . ---- on withers' haleluiah, . stanbridge earls, . standfast's cordial comforts, . . . stanedge pole, where? . stars, mythology of the, . . . steam power, its inventor, . steevens (george), notices of . . . stephens (george) on adams' king's messengers, . ---- on inquiries respecting rev. w. adams, . ---- on barlaam and josaphat, . ---- on bunting's irish melodies, . ---- on the derivation of harlequin, . ---- on the meaning of san grail, . ---- on the meaning of sauenap, . ---- on touchstone's dial, . stepony ale, . sterry (peter), inquiry respecting his miscellaneous tracts, &c., . . stevens (capt. john), notices of, . stevens (david) on de foe's project for purifying the english language, . stevens (philo-) on meaning of pightle, . stevens (william), notices of, . . s. (t. g.) on a complete edition of the poems of henryson and douglas, . stick supplanting stop, how came it? . storms from conjuring, . straw necklaces worn by servants to be hired, . . strutt's queen hoo hall, . subscriber (a new) on the house of maillé, . ---- on barker, the panorama painter, . ---- on the expression "to learn by heart," . suem, its etymology, . . . supporters borne by commoners, . surname, origin of a, . s. (w.) on lines attributed to charles yorke, . swann (j.) on pope's honest factor, . swans, the singing of, . ---- hatched during thunder, . ---- swearing by, . . . . . swedish bibliognost on rudbeck's campi elysii, . swift (dean), was stella his sister? . s. (w. f.) on shakspeare's use of captious, . swinging tureen, . s. (w. m.) on wilkes' mss. and north briton, . swobbers, privileged cards, . swords used in dress, . s. (w. s.) on the foundation-stone of st. mark's, venice, . s. (y.) on fleet marriages, . ---- on marsh's female captive, . ---- on milk-maids in , . syriac scriptures and lexicon, the best edition, . synonymes, english, . t. t. on double names, . ---- on the real name of lambert simnel, . ---- on the election of a pope, . ---- on the phrase "to a t," . ---- on dr. trusler's memoirs, . tagart (edward) on rev. mr. gay. . talbots, their genealogy, . tale of a tub, . "talk not of love," a song, . . . tandem d. o. m., . . tanthony bell, . . . . . tatler, dutch version of, . tattersall, the biographer of merrick, . taylor (f. s.) on record of existing monuments, . ---- on holland land, . ---- on the hippopotamus, . ---- on arms of the isle of man, . ---- on matrix of monastic seal, . ---- on crossing rivers on skins, . taylor (j.) on lunardi's balloon, . taylor's (jeremy), his holy living, . ---- ms sermons by, . taylor (john) on the word prenzie, . ---- on a passage in the tempest, . ---- on a passage in troilus and cressida, . taylor's pretended reprint of ancient poetry, . t. (c.) on the great exhibition, . tee bee on the descent of henry iv., . ---- on rowe family, . ---- on villenage, . tell (william), the legend of, . tempest (mrs.), some account of, . temple-gate, lines on, . . temple, the outer, . . . ten children at a birth, . tennyson, illustrations of, . ---- a passage explained in, . ---- queries on, . ---- in memoriam, lines on, . . . terra martis on the present race of english, . t. (e. s.) on ace of diamonds, . ---- on the origin of st. andrew's cross, . t. (e. s. t.) on butchers not jurymen, . ---- on ejusdem farinæ, . t. (f. w.) on the bellman and his history, . thanksgiving-book, what? . . thesaurarius hospitu, the office of, . . t. (h. g.) on coleridge's religious musings, . ---- on derivation of herensewes, . ---- on the evil eye. . ---- on mottos on warming-pans, &c., . ---- on quinces, . ---- on "annoy" used as a noun, . ---- on the potter's and shepherd's keepsakes, . ---- on the cross-bill, . ---- on lady's trees, . ---- on lent lilies, . ---- on verse lyon, . ---- on may cats, . ---- on "millery! millery! dousty poll," . ---- on clerical costume, . ---- on swinging tureen, . ---- on the world "alarm," . ---- on the san grail, . ---- on tale of a tub, . ---- on totness church, . ---- on well chapels, . th. (k.) on dog's head in the pot, . ---- on the prideaux family, . ---- on a tye, . thomas (st.) of lancaster, . ---- of trummons, who was he? . . thomlinson (dr. robert), notices of, . thoms (william j.) on chaucer and gray, . thornborough's (bp.) monument, . . thoresby's ms. diary, a portion missing, . thornbury (g. w.) on nonsuch palace, . threnodia carolina of sir t. herbert, . . . thruscross (dr. timothy), notices of, . { } thudt on the first use of sponge, . tick, on going, . . . tickell (richard), notice of, . . "tickhill, god help me!" . tierney (m. a.) on the writers in the life of pope ganganelli, . t. (i. h.) on cracow pike, . . tindall (dr. h.), epitaph on, . tingry, in france, . tinsell, its meaning, . tiring-irons, a puzzle so called, . t. (j. f.) on the initials m. or n., . t. (j. h.) on dutch martyrology, . t. (j. m.) on charles i. in wales, . t. (j. r. d.) on the family of rowe, . t. (k. i. p. b.) on the meaning of skort, . ---- on small words and low words, . t. (m. j.) on barons of hugh lupus, . ---- on catalogue of norman nobility, . tn. on the advantage of a bad ear, . ---- on cross between a wolf and hound, . ---- (t.) on the syriac scriptures and lexicon, . toads, . tobacco in the east, . tooth-ache, charm for the, . topical memory, where treated of? . . torre (james), wife of, . . torro, a note on dress, . totness church, . touchstone's dial, . . . tracy (wm.), disinterred for heresy, . . tradescants, family of the, . . . . . . tradesmen's signs, . . traditions from remote periods through few links, . . . . traherne's sheriffs of glamorgan wanted, . "trepidation talk'd," its meaning, . . trevelyan (w. c.) on apple-pie order, . ---- on durham sword, . ---- on fossil elk of ireland, . ---- on the oldenburg horn, . ---- on the authors of the rolliad, . tr. (g.) on charm for the tooth-ache, . trinitäll hall's exequies, . . trisection of the circle, . tristan d'acunha, . true blue, . . . . . trusler (rev. dr.), his memoirs, . . truth, an inedited ballad on, . ts. on coleridge's opinion of de foe, . t. (s. p. h.) on fossil elk of ireland, . t. (t.) on robert burton, . t. (t. c.) on newburgh hamilton, . ---- on umbrellas, . t. (t. j.) on the derivation of gooseberry-fool, . tu autem, its meaning, . . . turner (dawson) on authors of the rolliad, and pursuits of literature, . turner (t. hudson) on haybands in seals, . turning the tables, on the phrase, . twysden (sir roger), his incredulity, . tye, what is it? . . . tyro on the authorship of cinquante lettres d'exhortation, . ---- on the meaning of difformis, . ---- on oration against demosthenes, . ---- on dodd, the historian, . ---- on engelbert, archbishop of treves, . ---- on bishop hooper's godly confession, . ---- on rodolph gualter, . tyro-etymologicus on m. or n., . u. u. (e. b.) on dutch martyrology, . ulm manuscript, . . . umbrellas, . . . uncumber and the offering of oats, . ussher's works, on the completion of, . v. v. on tennyson's in memoriam, . ---- on allusion in trinitäll hall's exequies, . ---- on the derivation of voltaire, . vandyke's portrait of lord aubigny, . vane (sir harry) inquiry for his work, of the love of god, . varro on the meaning of auriga, . ---- on the phrase "to speak in lutestring," . ---- on gray and burns, . ---- on an extract from johannes secundus, . ---- on samuel johnson and gilbert wakefield, . vavasour family, . vaughan, sir john, notices of, . v. (e.) on bogatzky, . ---- on the authorship of groves of blarney, . ---- on handel's occasional oratorio, . ---- on the conversion of william hone, . vegetable sympathy, . vegetating insects, . . . venables (e.) on origin of penny postage, . vendace, a fish, . venwell, or venville, its meaning, . . . . verbum græcum, . ventriloquist hoax, . verstegan's restitution of decayed intelligence, . . ---- poems, . ---- portrait wanted, . vertuous woman, a poem from the harleian mss., . viator on vegetating insects, . villenage, when extinct, . . villiers duke of buckingham, . vincent (r.) on fest and sittings, . vineyard, the name of certain places, . vineyards in england, . . virgil, emendation of a passage in, . . vitus (st.), notices of, . volpe (iovanni), particulars wanted, . voltaire, its derivation, . . . ---- epitaph on, . ---- henriade, translation of, . . . volusenus or wilson, . vox populi vox dei, . . v. (r.) on swearing by swans, . ---- on the division of the ten commandments, . w. w. ( ) on inscription on a clock, . ---- on the work jartuare, . ---- on the residence of william wallace, . w. (a. c.) on epigram on a clock, . wages in the last century, . . waistcoat bursted, &c., . waldeby's (archbishop) epitaph, . walcott (mackenzie) on god's acre, . wales, princesses of, . walker (mrs. elizabeth), a collateral relation to shakspeare, . wallace (william), where did he reside? . walter (henry) on coverdale's bible, . wanton's delli viaggi, its republication, . wardstaff, the tale of the, . warming-pans, engraved, . . . warrant, an original one from the surrenden collection, . waste-book, its meaning, . . . . wat the hare, . water-buckets given to sheriffs, . water, welsh words for, . . way (albert) on lammer beads, . ---- on the foundation-stone of st. mark's, venice, . ---- on gloucestershire provincialisms, . ---- on the meaning of ramasshed, . ---- on a superstitious use of sacramental wine, . ---- on specimens of foreign english, . waylen on lord bexley's descent, . ---- on lady fights at atherton, . ---- on sketches of civil war garrisons, . ---- on meaning of rechibus, . ---- on wither's devil at sarum, . ---- on battle in wiltshire, . w. (b.) on the word bacon, . ---- notices of herstmonceux castle, . . w. (c.) on the authors of the rolliad, . w. (d. p.) on the phrase "by-the-bye," . ---- on obeahism, . weary well at the world's end, a tale, . w. (edmond) on traherne's sheriffs of glamorgan, . wedsecnarf on boiling to death, . ---- on dozen of bread, . ---- on anecdotes of old times, . ---- queries on costume, . ---- on earl of clarendon's daughter, . ---- on friday weather, . weld (c. r.) on judges' walk, hampstead, . well chapels, information wanted of, . welle (robert de), notice of, . welsh history, illustrations of, . w. (e. n.) on the first panorama, . west chester, why so designated, . . . westminster abbey, fees at, . ---- library of the church of, . . westmoreland, lady jane of, . weston on going to old weston, . w. (e. n.) on friday being unlucky, . ---- on the arches of pelaga, . ---- on nicolas' history of the royal navy, . ---- on st. olave's churches, . ---- on robertii sphæria, . w. (g. w.) on a satirical medal, . w. (h.) on the meaning of ratche, . ---- on "sun, stand thou still upon gideon!" . whale caught at greenwich, . . wheeler's theological lectures, . w. (h. h.) on inscription on the bear's bible, . whip (one corporal) on records at malta, . white (a. holt) on the mistletoe and oak, . ---- on thanksgiving book, . ---- on carved ceiling in dorsetshire, . ---- on old rowley, . ---- on a tye, . ---- on tanthony-bell at kimbolton, . white rose on crucifix of mary queen of scots, . whiting (richard), his watch inquired after, . w. (h. p.) on moore's almanack, . whychote of st. john's, . widow of the wood, historical notice of, . wilde (g. j. de) on etty the artist, . ---- on the author of peter wilkins, . wilkes' mss. and north briton, . wilkinson (t. t.) on lancashire folk lore, . william ap jevan's descendants, . william the conqueror, his sword, . . williams (archbishop), his portrait, . . . ---- (sir c. hanbury), ballad ascribed to him, . wiltshire, battle in, between rupert and skippon, . windebank (sir f.), his elder son, . window tax, its origin, . wines, home made, . { } winifreda, a song, . . . winkel, its etymology, . wisby, gothland, . witchcraft, instances of, . witches' prayer, an epigram, . witham (h.) on defender of the faith, . ----, whether the queen can make a gentleman? . wither (george) the poet, a printer, . ----, haleluiah, . ----, devil at sarum, . witte van haemstede, his descendants, . . wmson (s.) on the right divine of kings to govern wrong, . ---- on "marriage is such a rabble rout," . ----, notices of zacharie boyd, . w. (j.), notice of miss elstob, . ---- on the daughters of the sixth earl of lennox, . w. (j. k. r.) on richard standfast, . ---- on "sixes and sevens," . w. (j. r.) on athelney, . w. (j. s.) on shakspeare's use of captious, . . wobbles (colly) on stanbridge earls, . wodderspoon (j.) on st. thomas's onions, . wolsey (cardinal), particulars of his son, . woman, lines on, . woman's will, lines on, . wood engraving, account of a large, . . words, small and low, . w. (r. e.) on cranmer's descendants, . w. (r. m.) on the etymology of suem, . writing-paper, its present inferiority, . . w. (t. c.) on notices of harris the painter, . w. (w.) on the hand giving the blessing, . w. (w. e.) on the phrase "a regular mull," . w. (w. h.) on the meaning of harrisers, . w. (w. m.) on the meaning of slums, . wyndowe (o. t.), notice of mrs. tempest, . x. x. on carling sunday, . x. (a. l.) on chaucer's "fifty wekes," . xavier (count) de maistre, . . x. (d.) on the word benedicite, . ---- on bassenet of eaton, . ---- on handel's occasional oratorio, . ---- on the birth of spenser, . ---- on registry of dissenting baptisms, . . ---- on verbum græcum, . x. (x.), enquiry respecting abp. bolton, . ---- on deans being styled very reverend, . y. y. on an answer to cowley's poem on drinking, . yale (j.) on tu autem, . yankee, derivation of, . . . y. (d.) on denarius philosophorum, . ---- on the line "sees god in everything," . y. (d. a.) on lady bingham, . y. (e. h.) on countess of desmond, . ---- on the bonny cravat, . ---- on northege family, . ---- on the arms of the emiott family, . ---- on the genealogy of the talbots, . ---- on the use of m. or n., . ---- on the phrase, "under the rose," . y. (e. h.) on the sword of william the conqueror, . yeowell (james) on verstegan's decayed intelligence in antiquities, . ---- on verstegan's poems, . y. (j.) on catalogues of coins of canute, . ---- on north sides of churchyards, . ---- on dutch church in norwich, . ---- on errors in dibdin's library companion, . ---- on dr. owen's unpublished sermons, . ---- on pontoppidan's natural history of norway, . y. (j. f.) on portrait of rev. s. clarke, . yorke (charles), lines attributed to him, . . young's (dr.) narcissa, . y. (v. x.) on mounds, munts, &c., . y. (y.) on portraits of bishops, . z. z. (a.) on the memoir of george steevens, . zeteticus on early notices of the resurrection, . zoll-verein, its meaning, . z. (x.) on swearing by swans, . ---- on by-and-bye, . ---- on "cum grano salis," . ---- on the king of nineveh burning himself, . ---- on shakspeare's antony and cleopatra, . ---- on a passage in tennyson's in memoriam, . . ---- on pillgarlick, . z. (z. x.) on cardinal allen's declaration, . end of the third volume. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page old popular poetry: "adam bell, clym of the clough, and william of clowdesly," by j. payne collier witchcraft, by rev. h. t. ellacombe spring, &c., by thomas keightley notes and queries on bacon's essays, no. iii., by p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. shakspeare correspondence, by s. w. singer, cecil harbottle, &c. minor notes:--local rhymes, norfolk--"hobson's choice"--khond fable--sir thomas fowell buxton, bart.--anagrams queries:-- seal of william d'albini forms of judicial oath, by henry h. breen minor queries:--passage in boerhaave--story of ezzelin--the duke--general sir dennis pack--haveringemere--old pictures of the spanish armada--bell inscription--loselerius villerius, &c.--the vinegar plant--westminster parishes--harley family--lord cliff--enough--archbishop magee--carpets at rome--nursery rhymes--gloves at fairs--mr. caryl or caryll--early reaping-machines minor queries with answers:--"diary of a self-observer"--jockey--boyle lectures replies:-- the discovery and recovery of mss., by kenneth r. h. mackenzie "the whippiad" spontaneous combustion, by shirley hibberd major-general lambert, by edgar macculloch the "salt-peter-man," by j. deck metrical psalms and hymns, by j. sansom the sign of the cross in the greek church photographic notes and queries:--new developing fluid--photographic tent--mr. wilkinson's simple mode of levelling cameras--antiquarian photographic club replies to minor queries:--erroneous forms of speech: mangel wurzel--the whetstone--charade--parochial libraries--judge smith--church catechism--charade attributed to sheridan--gesmas and desmas--lode--epitaphs imprecatory--straw-bail--how to stain deal--detached belfry towers miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. old popular poetry: "adam bell, clym of the clough, and william of clowdesly." i have very recently become possessed of a curious printed fragment, which is worth notice on several accounts, and will be especially interesting to persons who, like myself, are lovers of our early ballad poetry. it is part of an unknown edition of the celebrated poem relating to the adventures of adam bell, clym of the clough, and william of cloudesly. there are (as many of your readers will be aware from ritson's small volume, _pieces of ancient popular poetry_, vo. ) two old editions of _adam bell, &c._, one printed by william copland, without date, and the other by james roberts in . the edition by copland must have preceded that by roberts by forty or fifty years, and may have come out between and ; the only known copy of it is among the garrick plays (at least it was so when i saw it) in the british museum. the re-impression by roberts is not very uncommon, and i think that more than one copy of it is at oxford. when copland printed the poem, he did not enter it at stationers' hall; comparatively few of his publications, generally of a free, romantic, or ludicrous character, were licensed, and he was three times fined for not first obtaining the leave of the company. nevertheless, we do find an entry of a "book" called "adam bell," &c., among the memoranda belonging to the year - , but it was made at the instance, not of copland, but of john kynge, in this form: "to john kynge, to prynte this boke called adam bell, &c., and for his lycense he geveth to the howse"-- what sum he gave is not stated. again, we meet with another notice of it in the same registers, under the date of - , when john charlwood was interested in the undertaking. i mention these two entries principally because neither ritson nor percy were acquainted with them; but they may be seen among the extracts published by the shakspeare society in and . { } no impressions by kynge or charlwood having come down to us, we have no means of knowing whether they availed themselves of the permission granted at stationers' hall; and, unless i am deceived, the fragment which occasions this note is not from the presses of either of them, and is of an earlier date than the time of copland; the type is much better, and less battered, than that of copland; at the same time it has a more antique look, and in several respects, which i am about to point out, it furnishes a better text than that given by ritson from copland's edition, or by percy with the aid of his folio manuscript. i am sorry to say that it only consists of a single sheet; but this is nearly half the production, and it comprises the whole of the second, and two pages of the third "fit." the first line and the last of the portion in my hands, testify to the greater antiquity and purity of the text there found; it begins-- "these gates be shut so wonderly well;" and it ends, "tyll they came to the kynge's palays." it is "_wonderous_ well" in copland's impression, and palace is there spelt "pallace," a more modern form of the word than _palays_. just afterwards we have, in my fragment, "streyght comen from oure kyng," instead of copland's "streyght _come nowe_ from our king." _comen_ is considerably more ancient than "come nowe;" so that, without pursuing this point farther, i may say that my fragment is not only an older specimen of typography than copland's impression, but older still in its words and phraseology, a circumstance that communicates to it additional interest. i subjoin a few various readings, most, if not all, of them presenting a superior text than is to be met with elsewhere. speaking of the porter at the gate of carlisle, we are told-- "and to the gate faste he throng." copland's edition omits _faste_, and it is not met with in percy. in another place a rhyme is lost by an awkward transposition, "he saide" for _sayd he_; and farther on, in copland's text, we have mention of "the justice with a quest of squyers." instead of "a quest of _swerers_," meaning of course the jury who had condemned cloudesly "there hanged to be." another blunder committed by copland is the omission of a word, so that a line is left without its corresponding rhyme: "then clowdysle cast hys eyen aside, and sawe his two bretheren _stande_ at the corner of the market-place, with theyr good bowes bent in theyr hand." the word i print in italics is entirely wanting in copland. it is curious to see how percy (_reliques_, i. ., ed. ) gets over the difficulty by following no known copy of the original: "then cloudesle cast his eyen asyde, and saw hys brethren twaine at a corner of the market-place, ready the justice for to slaine." cloudesly is made to exclaim, in all editions but mine, "i see comfort," instead of "i see _good_ comfort." however, it would perhaps be wearisome to press this matter farther, and i have said enough to set a few of your readers, zealous in such questions, rummaging their stores to ascertain whether any text with which they are acquainted, tallies with that i have above quoted. j. payne collier. * * * * * witchcraft. observing that you have lately admitted some articles on witchcraft, it may be interesting to make a note of two or three original papers, out of some in my possession, which were given to me many years ago by an old general officer, who served in the american war, and brought them with him to england about . i send exact copies from the originals. h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. whereas several persons, being by authority co[=m]itted to ipswich goall for fellony and witchcraft, and order being given that search should be made carefully upon their bodyes, to see if there nothing appeared preternaturall thereon: for that end, on july y^e ^th, , a jurie of one man and eight women were su[=m]oned to attend, and sworne to make dilligent search, and to give a true account of what they found, viz^t.-- doctor philemon dance, mrs. joha[=n]a diamond, midwife, mrs. grace graves, mrs. mary belcher, mrs. gennet pengery, ann lovell, francis davis, mary browne, who, after search made in particular, give this account, viz^t.--upon the body of goodwife estue they find three unnaturall teats, one under left arme, and one on the back side of her sholder-blade, one near to her secret parts on one thigh, which, being pricked throw with a pin, remained without sense, and did not bleed. . upon y^e veiwing and searching y^e body of sarah cloice, there was nothing unnaturall appeared on her. . upon searching y^e body of mrs. bradbury, there was nothing appeared unnaturall on her, { } only her brest were biger than usuall, and her nipples larger than one y^t did not give suck, though her body was much pined and wasted, yet her brests seemed full. . upon y^e searching y^e body of y^e wife of giles cory, there was severall darke moulds, one of which was upon one of her buttocks, and being pricked with a pin, it was without sence, and did not bleed. . upon y^e searching y^e body of widow hoer, nothing appeared on her unnaturall, only her body verry much scratched, and on her head a strange lock of haire, verry long, and differing in color from y^e rest on her head, and matted or tangled together, which she said was a widow's lock, and said, if it were cutt off she should die. . upon searching y^e body of rachell clenton, there was found an unnaturall teat on one side, something lower than just under her arme, which teat having a pin thrust throw it she was not senceable of, till by scratching her side, pricked her fingers with y^e pin y^t was then in y^e teat; neither did y^e teat bleed. there was also ordered, with ye foresaid doct^r, four other men, viz^t, mr. har. symonds, samuel graves, sen^r, thomas knewlton, and john pinder, to search y^e body of giles cory, and they returned y^t they, having searched him, found nothing unnaturall upon him. the truth of which i heare attest. (signed) tho^s wade, j.p. * * * * * province of massachusettes bay, new england, essex. anno r. r. et reginæ gulielmi et mariæ angliæ, &c. quarto, annoqu dom. . the jurors for our sov^n lord and ladye the king and queen present-- that abigail barker, wife of ebenezer barker of andiver, in the county of essex aforesaid, about two years since, at and in the town of andiver aforesaid, wickedly, maliciously, and felloniously, a covenant with the devill did make, and signed the devill's booke, and by the devill was baptized, and renounced her former christian baptism; and gave herselfe up to the devill to serve him, and for the devill to be her lord and master; by which wicked and diabollicall couvenant, shee the said abigaill barker is become a detestable witch, contrary to the peace of our soveraigne lord and lady the king and queene, their crowne and dignity, and the law in that case made and provided. _sep., ' ._ the examination and confession of abigail barker, taken before john hawthorn, esq., and other their majesties justices: _q._ how long have you been in the snare of the devil? _a._ not above two yeares and a half. _q._ at what place were you first overtaken? _a._ i am at present very much bewildered.--but a little after she said as followes:--about two yeare and a half agoe she was in great discontent of mynd, her husband being abroad, and she at home alone; at which tyme a black man appeared to her, and brought a book with him, to which he put her finger and made a black mark. she saith, her memory now failes her now more than ordinary; but said she gave herself up to the devil to serve him, and he was her lord and master; and the devil set a mark upon her legg, which mark is black and blue, and she apprehends is a witch mark; and said that she is a witch, and thinks that mark is the cause of her afflicting persons, though she thought nothing of it then till afterwards she heard of others having a mark upon them. she sayes, that some tyme after this the black man carryed her singly upon a pole to -mile pond, and there were persones more upon another pole, viz. mistriss osgood, goody wilson, goody wardwell, goody tyler, and hanneh tyler. and when she came to the pond the devil made a great light, and took her up and dypt her face in the pond, and she felt the water, and the devil told her he was her lord and master, and she must serve him for ever. he made her renounce her former baptisme, and carryed her back upon the pole. she confesses she has afflicted the persones that accused her, viz. sprague, lester, and sawdy, both at home and in the way comeing downe. the manner thus:--the devil does it in her shape, and she consents unto, and clinches her hands together, and sayes the devil cannot doe it in her shape without her consent. she sayes she was at a meeting at moses tyler's house, in company with mistriss osgood, goody wilson, goody tyler, and hanah tyler. she said the mark above was on her left legg by her shin. it is about two yeare agoe since she was baptized. she said that all this was true; and set her hand to the original as a true confession. _noate_, that before this her confession she was taken dumb, and took mr. epps about the neck and pulled him down, thereby showing him how the black man bowed her down; and for one houre's tyme could not open her lips. i, underwritten, being appointed by authority to take the above examination, doe testify upon oath taken in court, that this is a true coppy of the substance of it to the best of my knowledge. wm. murray. th july, / . the above abigail barker was examined before their majesties justices of the peace in salem. (atest.) john higginson, just. peace. owned before the grand jury. (atest.) robert payne, foreman. th january, . { } * * * * * spring, etc. our ancestors had three verbs and three corresponding substantives to express the growth of plants, namely, _spring_, _shoot_, and _sprout_,--all indicative of rapidity of growth; for _sprout_, (germ. _spriessen_) is akin to _spurt_, and denotes quickness, suddenness. the only one of these which remains in general use is _shoot_: for _sprout_ is now only appropriated to the young growth from cabbage-stalks; and _spring_ is heard no more save in _sprig_, which is evidently a corruption of it, and which now denotes a small slip or twig as we say, sprigs of laurel, bay, thyme, mint, rosemary, &c. of the original meaning of _spring_, i have met but one clear instance; it is, however, an incontrovertible one, namely, "whoso spareth the _spring_ (_i. e._ rod, switch), spilleth his children."--_visions of piers plowman_, v. ., ed. wright. perhaps this is also the meaning in-- "shall, antipholus, even in the spring of love thy _love-springs_ rot?" _com. of errors_, act iii. sc. . and in "time's glory"-- "to dry the old oak's sap and cherish _springs_." _rape of lucrece._ _spring_ afterwards came to be used for underwood, &c. perhaps it answered to the present _coppice_, which is composed of the springs or shoots of the growth which has been cut down: "the lofty high wood and the lower _spring_." drayton's _muses' elysium_, . "the lesser birds that keep the lower _spring_." _id._, note. it was also used as equivalent to grove: "unless it were the nightingale among the thick-leaved _spring_." fletcher's _faith. shep._, v. . where, however, it may be the coppice. "this hand sibylla's golden boughs to guard them, through hell and horror, to the elysian _springs_." massinger's _bondman_, ii. . in the following place fairfax uses _spring_ to express the "salvatichi soggiorni," i. e. _selva_ of his original: "but if his courage any champion move too try the hazard of this dreadful _spring_." _godf. of bull._, xiii. . and in "for you alone to happy end must bring the strong enchantments of the charmed _spring_." _id._, xviii. . it answers to _selva_. when milton makes his eve say-- "while i in yonder _spring_ of roses intermix'd with _myrtles_ find what to redress till noon." _par. lost_, ix. . he had probably in his mind the _cespuglio_ in the first canto of the _orlando furioso_; for _spring_ had not been used in the sense of thickets, clumps, by any previous english poet. i am of opinion that _spring_ occurs for the last time in our poetry in the following lines of pope: "see thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings, and heap'd with products of sabæan _springs_." _messiah_, . johnson renders the last line-- "cinnameos cumulos, nabathæi munera _veris_;" and this is probably the sense in which the place has generally been understood. but let any one read the preceding quotations, and reflect on what a diligent student pope was of the works of his predecessors, and perhaps he will think with me. thomas keightley. * * * * * notes and queries on bacon's essays, no. iii. (vol. vii., pp. . .) essay ix. p. . (note _a_). "they used the word 'præfiscini.'" see _e. g._, plaut. _asin._, ii. . . (weise): "præfiscini hoc nunc dixerim: nemo etiam me adcusavit merito meo." (leonida boasts of his integrity.) ditto, p. . (note _c_). "from the _stichus_ of plautus," ii. . . ditto, p. . "which has the character of adrian the emperor." see _hist. aug. script._, i. ., _ut supr._ (spartian. _vit. hadrian._ cap. .) ditto p. . "it was well said." by whom? essay x. ditto. "a poor saying of epicurus." where recorded? ditto, p. . "it hath been well said, 'that the arch flatterer,'" &c. by whom, and where? ditto, ditto. "it hath been well said, 'that it is impossible,'" &c. by whom and where? ditto, ditto. "the poet's relation." ovid. _heroid._ xvi. . essay xi. p. . "cum non sis qui fueris," &c. whence? ditto, p . "illi mors gravis incubat," &c. seneca, _thyest._ . (ed. lemaire), act ii. extrem. ditto, p. . "that was anciently spoken." by whom? ditto, ditto. "tacitus of galba." tac. _hist._, i. . ditto, ditto. "of vespasian." tac. _hist._, i. . essay xii. ditto. "question was asked of demosthenes." see cic. _de orat._, iii. . § . ditto, p. . "mahomet's miracle." where recorded? essay xiii. p. . "the desire of power," &c. cf. shaksp. _hen. viii._, iii. . "by that sin (ambition) fell the angels," &c. { } essay xiii. p. . "busbechius." in busbequii _legationes turciæ epist. quatuor_ (hanoviæ, ), p. ., we find this told of "aurifex quidam venetus."--n. b. in the index (_s. v._ canis) of an edition of the same work, printed in london for r. daniel ( ), _for_ _read_ . ditto, ditto (note _b_). gibbon (_miscellaneous works_, iii., ., ed. ) says, "b. is my old and familiar acquaintance, a frequent companion in my post-chaise. his latinity is eloquent, his manner is lively, his remarks are judicious." ditto, p. . "nicholas machiavel." where? ditto, p. . "Æsop's cock." see phædrus, iii. . essay xv. p. . "ille etiam cæcos," &c., virg. _georg_. i. . ditto, ditto. "virgil, giving the pedigree," &c. _Æn_. iv. . ditto, p. . "that kind of obedience which tacitus speaketh of." bacon quotes, from memory, tac. _hist_., ii. ., "miles alacer, qui tamen jussa ducum interpretari, quam exsequi, mallet." ditto, ditto. "as machiavel noteth well." where? ditto, p. . "as tacitus expresseth it well." where? ditto, p. . "lucan," i. . ditto, ditto. "dolendi modus, timendi non item." whence? ditto, ditto. "the spanish proverb." what is it? cf. "a bow long bent at last waxeth weak;" and the italian, "l'arco si rompe se sta troppo teso." (ray's _proverbs_, p. ., th edit., .) ditto, p. . "the poets feign," &c. see _iliad_, i. . ditto, ditto (note _y_). "the myth is related in the _works and days of hesiod_," vv. - ., edit. göttling. ditto, p. . "sylla nescivit." sueton. _vit. cæs._, . ditto, p. . "galba." tac. _hist_., i. . ditto, ditto. "probus." bacon seems to have quoted from memory, as we find in vopiscus (_hist. aug. script., ut supr._, vol. ii. . .), as one of the _causæ occidendi_, "dictum ejus grave, si unquam eveniat salutare, reip. brevi milites necessarios non futuros." ditto, ditto. "tacitus saith." _hist_., i. . p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. (_to be continued._) * * * * * shakspeare correspondence. _the passage in king henry viii., act iii. sc._ . (vol. vii., pp. . . . .).--mr. ingleby has done perfectly right to "call me to account" for a rash and unadvised assertion, in saying that we must interpolate _been_ in the passage in _king henry viii._, act iii. sc. ., after _have_; for even that would not make it intelligible. so far i stand corrected. the passages, however that are cited, are not parallel cases. in the first we have the word _loyalty_ to complete the sense: " . . . . . my loyalty, which ever has [been] and ever shall be growing." in the second, the word _deserved_ is clearly pointed out as being understood, from the occurrence of _deserve_ after _will_: "i have spoken better of you than you have [deserved] or will deserve at my hands." i will assist mr. ingleby's position with another example from _rich. ii._, act v. sc. .: " . . . . . like silly beggars, who sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame, that many have [sat] and others must sit there." and even from a much later writer, bolingbroke: "this dedication may serve for almost any book that has, is, or shall be published." where we must supply _been_ after _has_. but in the passage i attempted, and i think successfully, to set right, admitting that custom would allow of the ellipsis of the participle _been_, after the auxiliary _have_, to what can "am, have, and will be" possibly refer? " . . . . . i do professe that for your highness' good, i euer labour'd more then mine owne, that am, haue, and will be." what? add _true_ at the end of the line, and it mars the verse, but make the probable correction of _true_ for _haue_, and you get excellent sense without any ellipsis. i am as averse to interpolation or alteration of the text, when sense can by any rational supposition be made of it, as my opponent, or any true lover of the poet and the integrity of his language, can possibly be; but i see nothing rational in refusing to correct an almost self-evident misprint, which would redeem a fine passage that otherwise must always remain a stumbling-block to the most intelligent reader. we have all i trust but one object, _i. e._ to free the text of our great poet from obvious errors occasioned by extremely incorrect printing in the folios, and at the same time to strictly watch over all attempts at its corruption by unnecessary meddling. this, and not the displaying of our own ingenuity in conjectures, ought to be our almost sacred duty; at least, i feel conscious that it is mine. s. w. singer. "that one may smile, and smile, and be a villain." _hamlet_. the notable quotation of this line by the earl of derby, in the lords, on monday evening, april , has once more reminded me of my unanswered query respecting it, vol. vi., p. . on the th february (vol. vii., p. .) mr. collier was good enough to say, that his only { } reason for not answering it was, that he had not then within his reach the copy of "n. & q." wherein it had been proposed; politely adding, that if i would reprint the query, he would at once answer it. supposing, however, that mr. collier's absence from his library would be only temporary, i deemed it less troublesome to the editor of "n. & q." to wait until mr. collier could refer to the query, as already printed. two months have since elapsed, and i now no longer hesitate to ask the editor for an opportunity of again referring to it, trusting that a sufficient excuse will be found in the importance of the subject, as affecting the fundamental sense of a passage in shakspeare. a. e. b. leeds. _mr. j. payne collier's "notes and emendations."_--there can be no doubt that many of these emendations are rational and judicious; but i cannot help thinking, _on the whole_, that mr. collier has rather overrated their value, and placed too implicit faith in the infallibility of his unknown guide. at all events, there is not a shadow of authority given for any one of the corrections, and we have therefore a full right to try them, as the lawyers would say, "upon the merits;" or, in other words, to treat them as mere speculative alterations, and to adopt or reject them, as may appear advisable in each particular case. it is difficult to conjecture what can have been the position in life, or the occupation of this mysterious annotator. that his pursuits were not purely literary, i think is plain: first, from the very circumstance of his not authenticating any of his notes, which a literary inquirer would certainly have done; and, secondly, from the very minute attention which is paid to the _business_ of the scene and the movements of the actors. these considerations, coupled with the fact of his frequently striking out whole passages of the text (which a literary enthusiast would _not_ have done), would at first lead us to suppose that the writer was a theatrical manager, and that the alterations were made to suit either the fancies, or perhaps the peculiar qualifications of certain performers. but in this case one can hardly suppose that the remarks would have extended to more than a certain number of plays, which were most frequently acted. thus much, however, appears certain, that the commentaries are rather those of an _habitual play-goer_, than of a studious critic; and it will be easy to show that a great portion of the new readings he proposes are really changes _for the worse_, while a still larger number are at least unnecessary! i shall content myself with only a few instances, on this occasion, as i am unwilling to encroach too far on your space; but i can easily multiply them, if i am encouraged to renew the subject. in the first place, i differ from mr. collier entirely as to the famous passage from _henry viii._, p. ., which he brings so prominently forward as to give it special notice in his introduction. to me, i confess, the phrase-- "to steal from spiritual _labour_ a brief span," appears quite tame and poor in comparison with "to steal from spiritual _leisure_ a brief span," and, moreover, destroys all the poetry of the thought. nor can i see the slightest difficulty in the _sense_ of the original passage. the king means to say that wolsey cannot steal from the _little leisure_ afforded him by his spiritual labours "a brief span, to keep his earthly audit:" and surely this is much more poetical than the substituted passage. in p. ., from the same play, we have-- "to the sharp'st _kind_ of justice," transformed to "sharp'st _knife_ of justice:" but i cannot assent to this change. the obvious meaning of the poet is, that the contempt of the world, "_shutting all doors_" against the accused, is a sharper _kind_ of justice than any which the law could inflict: but, to be given up to "the sharp'st _knife_ of justice" could only mean, being consigned to the public executioner,--which was just what katherine was deprecating. in p. . the lines relating to wolsey's foundations at ipswich and oxford are printed thus in the folio-- "one of which fell with him, unwilling to outlive the good that did it:" that is, unwilling to outlive the virtues which prompted it,--a passage teeming with poetical feeling: but the commentator has ruthlessly altered it to-- "unwilling to outlive the _good man_ did it;" which, i submit, not only destroys all the poetry, but is decidedly _not english!_ the next passage i would notice is from _much ado about nothing_, p. . how, i would ask, can the phrase-- "and sorrow wag," be a misprint for "call sorrow joy?" no compositor, or scribe either, could possibly be misled by any sound from the "reader" into such a mistake as that! the words "and sorrow wag," i admit, are not sense; but the substitution of "call sorrow joy" strikes me as bald and common-place in the extreme, and there is no pretence for its having any authority. if, then, we are to have a mere fanciful emendation, why not "bid sorrow wag?" this would be doing far less violence to the printed text, for it would only require the alteration of two letters in the word "and;" while it would preserve the shakspearian character of the passage. "wag" is a favourite expression in { } the comedies of the bard, and occurs repeatedly in his works. the passage would then run thus-- "if such a one will smile and stroke his beard, _bid sorrow wag_--cry hem! when he should groan." in p. . we find-- "soul-tainted flesh," &c. substituted for "_foul_ tainted flesh;" and we are told that the critics have been all wrong, who supposed that shakspeare intended any "metaphor from the kitchen!" if so, what meaning can be attached to the line-- "and salt too little which may season give?" if that is not a metaphor from the kitchen, i know not what could be? i still believe that "foul tainted flesh" is the correct reading. the expression "_soul_-tainted flesh" is not intelligible. it should rather be "_soul-tainting_ flesh." the _soul_ may be tainted by the _flesh_: but how the _flesh_ can be _soul-tainted_, i cannot understand. turning further back, to p. ., we find it asserted, quite dogmatically, that the word "truths" of the folios ought to be "proofs;" but no reason whatever is offered for the change. i cannot help thinking that "seeming _truths_" is much the most poetical expression, while in "seeming _proofs_" there is something like redundancy,--to say nothing of the phrase being infinitely more common-place! in the play of the _tempest_, p. ., the beautiful passage-- "he being thus _lorded_ not only with what my revenue yielded," &c., is degraded into "he being thus _loaded_," &c. can there be a moment's doubt that "lorded" was the word used by shakspeare? it is completely in his style, which was on all occasions to coin verbs out of substantives, if he could. "he being thus _lorded_," i. e. _ennobled_ "with what my revenue yielded," is surely a far superior expression to "being thus _loaded_,"--as if the poet were speaking of a costermonger's donkey! again, in p. .: "wherefore _this_ ghastly looking?" or, this ghastly appearance? who will venture to say, that the substitution of "_thus ghastly_ looking" is not decidedly a change for the worse? in the merchant of venice, p. .: "and leave itself _unfurnished_," is altered to "leave itself _unfinished_!" i confess i cannot see the slightest warrant for this change. the words-- "having made one, methinks it should have power to steal _both his_," distinctly show that the author was alluding to the _eye_ only, and not to the _portrait_ and how could the eye (already _made_) describe itself as _unfinished_? surely the sense is _unfurnished_, that is, _unfurnished_ with its companion, or probably with the other accessories required to complete the portrait. p. . has the line-- "and swearing 'til my very _roof_ was dry," transmogrified into-- "and swearing 'til my very _tongue_ was dry." now, why "this lame and impotent conclusion?" what can be a more common expression than the "roof of the mouth?" and it is just the part which is most affected by a sensation of dryness and pricking, after any excitement in speaking, whereas the _tongue_ is not the member that suffers! in _as you like it_, p. ., in the line-- "mistress dispatch you with your _safest haste_," the last two words are made "fastest haste," which, to say the least, are tautology, and are like talking, of the "highest height", or the the "deepest depth!" surely, the original form of words, "dispatch you with your _safest haste_;" that is, with as much haste as is consistent with your personal safety--is much more dignified and polished address from the duke to a _lady_, and at the same time more poetical! in p. ., "the constant _service_ of the antique world," is converted into "the constant _favour_ of the antique world:" in which line i cannot discover any sense. if i might hazard a guess, i should suggest that the error is in the _second_ word, "service," and that it ought to be "servants:" "when _servants_ sweat for duty, not for meed." in the _taming of the shrew_, p. ., the substitution of "_warwickshire_ ale" for "sheer ale" strikes me as very far-fetched, and wholly unnecessary. there is no defect of sense in the term "_sheer_ ale." sly means to say, he was "fourteen pence on the score for ale alone:" just as one speaks of "sheer nonsense," _i. e._ nothing but nonsense, "sheer buffoonery," "sheer malice," &c. why should sly talk of being in debt for _warwickshire_ ale at wincot? if he kind been drinking ale from staffordshire, or derbyshire, or kent, he might possibly have named the county it came from; but to talk of _warwickshire_ ale within a few miles of stratford-on-avon seems absurd. it is as if a man came from barclay and perkins's, and talked of having been drinking "_london_ porter." in p. ., i submit, with great deference, that turning "aristotle's checks" into "aristotle's ethics" is the very reverse of an improvement. what can be more intelligible than the line-- "and so devote to aristotle's _checks_;" that is, to the checks which aristotle's rules impose upon profligacy? the idea is more poetical, { } and the line runs more smoothly; while the altered line is prosaic in comparison, and the metre is not correct. my dwindling space warns me that i must very soon pause; but these examples can be extended _ad infinitum_, should another opportunity be afforded me. the instances of alterations simply _unnecessary_ are too numerous to be recorded here. i have already a list of forty odd, selected from only eight plays. cecil harbottle. * * * * * minor notes. _local rhymes, norfolk._-- "halvergate hares, reedham rats, southwood swine, and cantley cats; acle asses, moulton mules, beighton bears, and freethorpe fools." z. e. r. "_hobson's choice._"--i, the other day, in a paper of , came upon the inclosed, if of interest sufficient for insertion in "n. & q.:" "upon the mention of mr. freeman being appointed one of the four horse carriers to the university of cambridge, we had the following paragraph:--'this was the office that _old hobson_ enjoyed, in which he acquired so large a fortune as enabled him to leave the town that ever-memorable legacy the conduit, that stands on the market hill, with an estate to keep it perpetually in repair. the same person gave rise to the well-known adage, 'hobson's choice--this or none;' founded upon his management in business. he used to keep, it seems, hackney horses, that he let out to young gentlemen of the university, with whose characters being well acquainted, he suited his beast to its rider, who upon a dislike was sure to receive that answer from him, 'this or none.'" j. w. g. g. _khond fable._--the following is a free version of a fable current among the khonds of oriosa, of whom a very interesting account is given by captain macpherson in the _journal of the royal asiatic society_ for : "a mosquito was seated on the horn of a bull, and fearing that his weight might be oppressive to the quadruped, he politely accosted him, begging that, if he felt any inconvenience, he would mention it, and professing himself ready, in that case, to remove to some other position. the bull replied, 'o mosquito, so far are you from oppressing me with your weight, that i was not even aware of your existence.'" the moral of this is common enough, but is the fable found elsewhere in a similar _form_? j. c. r. _sir thomas fowell buxton, bart._--as those who have read the deeply interesting memoirs of sir thomas fowell buxton are aware, he was placed at a school in donnybrook in the year , and shortly after "entered" the university of dublin. his success in that seat of learning, where able competitors were many in number, was brilliant; for "on the th of april in the same year [ ], he received his thirteenth premium, and also the highest honour of the university,--the gold medal. with these distinctions, and the four silver medals from the historical society, he prepared to return to england." in fact, so high did his character stand, that a proposal was made to him by the electors (which, however, he deemed it prudent to decline) to come forward as a candidate for the representation of the university in the imperial parliament, and good grounds were given him to expect a triumphant return. now, this man was doubtless an honour to the "silent(?) sister" in ireland; and, as an irishman, i feel some little degree of pride in our having educated him so well for his subsequent career. with surprise, then, do i find, on referring to the _dublin university calendar_ for the present year, the name of a "mr. _john powell_ buxton" in the list of gold medallists. the editor appears to be sadly ignorant of the proper person, and cannot lay the blunder at the printer's door, having very unaccountably repeated it from year to year. i have taken the trouble of examining many volumes of the _calendar_. abhba _anagrams._--i beg to forward the following: "antonius b. magliabechius" (he was the librarian at florence, about the end of the sixteenth century). this name makes-- "is unus bibliotheca magna." in the poems of some jesuit father (bacchusius, i think) the following rather offensive one is mentioned, on the celebrated father costerus: "petrus costerus jesuita!" _i. e._ "vere tu es asinus: ita!" philobiblion. * * * * * queries. seal of william d'albini. a few years since there was published a _history of the parish of attleburgh, in norfolk_, by the then rector, dr. barrett. it is a very handsome volume in quarto, and reflects great credit upon the learning and taste of the reverend editor. what i wish more particularly to allude to is an engraving of the seal of william de albini, who was called "william with the strong hand;" of whom dugdale records, that having distinguished himself at a tournament appointed by a queen of france, then a widow, she became so enamoured of him that she offered him marriage. but he, having plighted his troth to adeliza, widow to { } king henry i. of england, refused her. in revenge for this refusal, the queen of france inveigled him into a den in the garden, where was a fierce lion. being in this danger, he rolled his mantle about his arm, and putting his hand into the mouth of the beast, pulled out his tongue by the root; followed the queen to her palace, and gave it to one of her maids to present to her. returning to england with the fame of this glorious exploit, he was forthwith advanced to the earldom of arundel, and for his arms the lion given him. amongst the many illustrations in dr. barrett's book is the seal of this william de albini, representing a knight on horseback, in the usual style of such knightly seals; but in front of the knight is a young lion, and under the feet of the horse some sort of animal of the lizard kind. in elucidation of this seal, there is a long and elaborate note, with remarks by mr. hawkins of the british museum, with a view of showing that the device on this seal alludes to the story of his combat with the lion. the attempt to establish this point appears to me amusing; for there seems nothing on the face of the seal different from the usual seals of royal and knightly rank in ancient times. it strikes me, that the true interpretation of this device, and the introduction of the lion and the lizard-like animal under the horse's feet, may be found in the th verse of psalm xci.: "thou shalt go upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet." i should like to learn from some of your correspondents, whether this psalm, or this portion of it, was used in the solemnities attendant on the installation of a knight, which would tend much to confirm my conjecture. senex. * * * * * forms of judicial oath. the forms of an oath are different among different denominations of christians. the roman catholics of the continent swear by raising the hand; the scotch presbyterians follow the same practice. the protestants of the church of england are sworn on the gospels; so also are the irish roman catholics. the quakers reject every form of oath, and confine themselves to a simple affirmation. upon these points i beg leave to submit the following queries. . what form of judicial oath was first sanctioned by the professors of christianity as a body? it is stated in haydn's _dictionary of dates_, that "oaths were taken on the gospels so early as a.d. ." how were they taken before then? . did the practice of swearing on the gospels prevail in england before the reformation? if not, at what period was it introduced? . when was that form of oath first adopted by the irish; and was its adoption a voluntary proceeding on their part, or enforced by legislative enactment? . was the practice of raising the hand in use in scotland before the reformation? . at what period was the latter form adopted by the continental christians, in lieu of the more solemn oath on the gospels? . are there now, or have there been at any former period, any forms of judicial oath in use among christians, other than the forms above mentioned? henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * minor queries. _passage in boerhaave._--will any of our readers kindly oblige me by the _exact word_ of a passage in boerhaave, of which i cite the following from memory?-- "the only malady inherent in the human frame, is the decay of old age." a foreign surgeon. . charlotte street, bedford square. _story of ezzelin._--where is the story to be found from which fuseli derived the subject for his remarkable picture of ezzelin (braccioferro) musing over the body of meduna? it was engraved by j. r. smith, and published by jas. birchel, . strand, may, . what has become of the original picture? j. sansom. _the duke._--can any of your readers tell me whether sir arthur wellesley's speech in the house of commons upon mr. paull's charge against his brother, was the first he made in parliament? robert j. allen. oxford. _general sir dennis pack._--this gallant officer, who, in command of the light division of the duke's army, distinguished himself in nearly every battle of the peninsula, and finally at waterloo, was descended from a younger son of simon, son of sir christopher pack, alderman and lord mayor of london. the family was originally from leicestershire. sir christopher, having advanced money for the reduction of the irish rebels of , received a grant of land in the county of westmeath; and his younger son, simon, settled in ireland about that period. from this simon descended thomas pack, esq., of ballinakill in the queen's county, grandfather of sir dennis pack. as i have in the press a _history of the cathedral of st. canice_, kilkenny, which latter contains a monument and a fine bust of sir dennis pack by chantrey, and of which his father the rev. thomas { } pack, d.d., was dean, any information which will enable me to complete the pedigree between simon pack and the above-named thomas will be thankfully received. james graves. kilkenny. _haveringemere._--gervase of tilbury, in the th book of his _otia imperialia_, sect. ., mentions a certain pond or mere lying near the confines of wales, and named haveringemere, of which the peculiarity is, that if a person passing over it in a boat utters, in a loud voice, certain opprobrious words, a commotion arises in the waters and sinks the boat. the words, as printed in the edition of leibnitz (leibnitii _scriptores brunsvicenses_, tom. i. p. .), are "_prout haveringemere_ aut _allethophe cunthefere_;" which he explains to mean, "_phrut_ tibi, mare, et omnibus qui te transfretant." he adds with great simplicity: "et satis mirandum, quod aquæ hujus modi concipiunt indignationes." it is plain that we ought to read, "phrut haveringemere, and alle thai that on thee fere" (_i. e._ ferry). _phrut_ or _prut_ is a word of contempt, of which mr. halliwell gives an instance, _s. v._ prut, from an harleian ms.: "and seyth _prut_ for thy cursing prest." is anything known of this mere at the present day, and is there any remnant of this old superstition? gervase wrote his book anno . c. w. g. _old pictures of the spanish armada._--at beddington hall, famous for its fine banqueting-hall, in which queen elizabeth feasted, i have heard that there used to be one or more pictures of the spanish armada, presented by elizabeth herself to the family resident there. can any reader of "n. & q." inform me whether these pictures (if more than one) are still in existence: if so, where they are, and whether they are to be seen? a large gilt lock, also presented by queen elizabeth, still remains on one of the doors of the said banqueting-hall. j. s. a. old broad street. _bell inscription._--the following inscription occurs on two bells formerly belonging to st. sepulchre's church, cambridge. i should be glad of an explanation: "[de] + [pvri] santi edmondvs stefanvs tommi me fecit [wl] ." c. w. g. _loselerius villerius, &c._--i wish to know who was loselerius villerius, who edited an edition of the greek testament, with the vulgate and beza's latin version (i think) in parallel columns. this edition seems to have been successful, as i have a copy of the third edition. the title-page of my copy is missing, but the dedication to henry earl of huntingdon is dated "london, vi cal. nov. ." any information about loselerius would be acceptable. i should also be glad to know whether the edition is considered at all valuable. whilst upon this subject, let me ask whether there is any list of editions of the bible that can be looked upon as in any way complete? i have had occasion to refer to the duke of sussex's catalogue, but have there been unable to find all that i required. there is, for instance, in a friend's possession, a bible which his family traditions maintain to be of great rarity. i find it catalogued nowhere, and should be glad to know if it is really so great a curiosity. it is a fine folio, profusely illustrated. i subjoin a copy of the title-page: "the holy bible, containing the old and new testaments, &c., with most profitable annotations on all the hard places, and other things of great importance; which notes have never before been set forth with this new translation, but are now placed in due order, with great care and industry. a amsterdam, printed for stephen swart, at the crowned bible, on the west side of the exchange. ." s. a. s. bridgewater. _the vinegar plant._--is it indigenous or imported? some botanists and _savans_ who have examined the subject take the former view. i should be inclined to take the latter, for the following among other reasons:--first, because it is known that many specimens of it _have been so introduced_ from various quarters. secondly, because in all the attempts to produce it that i have heard of, including some experiments made by myself, in no instance has a specimen been procured by means of any of the moulds that are of spontaneous growth in this country, which has entirely resembled the vinegar plant, or which has been so efficient in the production of vinegar. thirdly, because in tropical and warm climates abnormal variations of vegetable productions are much more likely to originate, and to become naturalised, than in this country. if imported, perhaps some of your correspondents could say where it was originally brought from. fritz. _westminster parishes._--what are the names of the respective parishes in the city of westminster in ; how far back do their records extend; and what charge would be made for a search in them? i wish to trace a family whose ancestor was born in that city, but in what parish i am ignorant. were any churches in _westminster_, as distinguished from _london_, destroyed in the great fire? y. s. m dublin. _harley family._--can any reader of your invaluable miscellany give an account of thomas harley, citizen of london, who died in the year , ætat. fifty-six? the thomas harley referred to possessed good estate in the county of leicester, { } particularly at osgathorpe, walton-on-wolds, snibston, and heather. he founded a hospital at osgathorpe, and endowed the same at l. for the maintenance and support of six clergymen's widows. moreover he also erected a free-school, which he endowed with l. a year. he married mary, widow of william kemp, citizen of london. his daughter, and sole heiress, married into the family of bainbrigge of lockington hall, county of leicester; which alliance carried with it the estate of thomas harley into that family. the arms of thomas harley are: crest, a lion's head rampant; shield, or, bend cotized sable. is the foregoing family a branch of that of herefordshire, now ennobled; or does it come down from one of the name anterior to the time when such earldom was made patent, viz. from sir richard harley, edward i.: whose armorial bearings, according to one annalist, is mentioned as _or, bend cotized sable_? brian de harley, son of sir robert harley, in the reign of henry iv., changed his crest; which was a buck's head proper, to a lion rampant, gules, issuing out of a tower, triple towered proper. aldrorandus. leicester. _lord cliff._--in , james howell published his _epistolæ ho-elianæ_; amongst the letters was one on wines, addressed to the right hon. lord cliff. who was he? the letter is dated oct. , . y. s. m dublin. _enough._--was this word always pronounced as at present, _enuf_? i am inclined to think not; for waller, in his poem "on a war with spain," rhymes it with _bough_: "let the brave generals divide that bough, our great protector hath such wreaths _enough_." and again, in his "answer to sir john suckling's verses," he couples it with _plough_, in those anti-malthusian lines: "the world is of a large extent we see, and must be peopled: children there must be!-- so must bread too; but since there are _enough_ born to that drudgery, what need we plough?" when did the change of pronunciation take place? perhaps some reader of "n. & q." can also give the etymology of the word. robert wright. _archbishop magee._--in a committee of the house of lords, , lord holland asked archbishop magee: "does your grace really think that there is any person capable of holding such a monstrous opinion, as that the roman catholic religion is idolatrous?" the archbishop calmly fixed his eyes on lord holland's countenance, and replied "my lord, _some have sworn to it_."--i only quote so much of the anecdote (which your readers will find in archbishop magee's _works_, vol. i. p. ., ) as my purpose requires. as reported in _the times_, on april , , lord lansdown, speaking of an old committee in the house of lords, said: "during those two days, a right reverend prelate was examined; and he was required to state upon oath whether the creed of st. athanasius was necessary to salvation. the reply was, 'he would not say whether it was that, but a great many persons had sworn that it was.'" some correspondent may be able to state whether these two extracts pertain or not to one and the same occurrence, and which is the true version. indagator. _carpets at rome._--in a cutting from a newspaper or periodical, apparently of the year , narrating an accident that happened to lady augusta clavering, daughter of the duke of argyle (whilst staying at rome) by her muslin dress catching fire, it is said: "fortunately, the gentlemen did not lose their presence of mind; and there happening to be a carpet in the room, _a thing very uncommon in that that country_, they covered her with it," &c. can any of your readers oblige me by informing me whether it is a fact, that the luxury of a carpet was _very uncommon_ at rome at the period referred to; and when carpets were first introduced at rome? l. a. m. great yarmouth. _nursery rhymes._--can you or any of your correspondents tell me where i shall find an account of the origin of our common nursery rhymes? is there not reason to believe that many of them are of great antiquity? l. oxford. _gloves at fairs._--i think that i have read that at some large fair it was customary to hang out on the town-hall a large gilt glove, as a token of freedom from arrest for debt during the period that the fair lasted. can any of your correspondents inform me if such was the case, and where? in halliwell's _dictionary_, "hoisting the glove" is said to be practised at lammas fair, in devonshire: but why? in the east of england certain village fairs are called _gants_,--mattishall gant, &c. forby derives this from a.-s. _gan_, to go; but may it not have some reference to the french _gants_, gloves? e. g. r. _mr. caryl or caryll._--every one knows that the _rape of the lock_ was written at the request of _mr. caryl_, stated by pope to have been private secretary to james ii.'s queen before the { } revolution. it also appears in the prolegomena to the _life of james_, that two royal warrants issued at st. germains by the abdicated monarch and his son the pretender in and , are counter-signed _caryll_ as secretary of state. is there any doubt that this is the same person; and if not, is there any account of when and on what terms he returned to england? where he must have been again domiciled in , and some years after, during which period he corresponded with pope. his family was settled near east grinstead, in sussex. c. _early reaping-machines._--have the former numbers of "n. & q." contained an account of the invention of a reaping-machine in the last century, similar in design and construction to the one lately invented in america? a friend of mine has in his possession a work, entitled _the complete farmer, or a general dictionary of husbandry_; containing the various methods of improving the land, &c., together with great variety of new discoveries and improvements, the th edition, by a society of gentlemen. there is no date on the title-page; but from internal evidence, i am led to think that the work was not published before . if it be thought desirable, i shall be happy to send an extract from the work, giving an account of the machine, or, if drawings be admitted into the pages of "n. & q.," the work might be sent to the editor. h. d. w. * * * * * minor queries with answers. "_diary of a self-observer._"-- "augustine's _confessions_ may be in some degree compared with the _private diary of a self-observer_ (_geheimes tagebuch von einem beobachter seiner selbst_) which has in our own days been read with so great eagerness and sympathy. not as if the celebrated author of the latter work did not in many ways deserve a preference above the african bishop," &c.--schröckh's _kirchengeschichte_, xv. .: leipzig, . what is the book here meant, and by whom was it written? j. c. r. [this _diary_ is by the celebrated john caspar lavater, author of _essays on physiognomy_. in he commenced it under the title of _secret journal of a self-observer_. in the following year it fell into the hands of a stranger, and from him it was transmitted to zollikofer, with such alterations, however, as to conceal the real author. zollikofer, thinking that it contained much useful matter, had it printed; and among others, sent a copy of it to his friend lavater, who was beyond measure astonished at the sight. however, as it was now before the world in a somewhat disfigured state, lavater edited it with the necessary alterations, and with an additional volume: leipsic, and . in , the german original was translated into english by the rev. peter will, of the reformed german chapel in the savoy, in two vols. vo. prefixed to the second volume is a letter from lavater to the editor, with the editor's reply. see chalmers's _biographical dictionary, s. v._, and heisch's _memoirs of john caspar lavater_, pp. - .] _jockey._--mr. borrow, in his introduction to _the gypsies of spain_, says: "the english gypsies are constant attendants at the race-course. what jockey is not? perhaps jockeyism originated with them, and even racing, at least in england. jockeyism properly implies _the management of a whip_; and the word _jockey_ is neither more nor less than the term, slightly modified, by which they designate the formidable whip which they usually carry, at present in general use amongst horse-traffickers under the title of jockey-whips." can any of your correspondents give the derivation of _jockey_? q. q. [most etymologists derive it from _jackey_, a diminutive of the scotch term _jock_, or _jack_, john: primarily, a boy that rides horses.] _boyle lectures._--in that valuable and well-executed work, now publishing by darling of great queen street, called the _cyclopædia bibliographica_, a list of the preachers of the boyle lecture is given. the list is very nearly complete, the preachers during the following years only being marked "unknown:"-- , - , , - , - . with these few omissions, the names of preachers from to are given without exception. will some of your correspondents kindly supply the hiatus above referred to? possibly the lectures for those years were not printed, as was the case very frequently (see columns . . _cyc. bibl._)--so there may be some slight difficulty in identifying the preachers. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. [the same omissions occur in the _oxford catalogue_, , so that it is a probable conjecture they were never printed.] * * * * * replies. the discovery and recovery of mss. (vol. iii., pp. . . .; vol. iv., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) i am glad to see that a subject to which i have at various times attempted to turn public attention, has at least been responded to by one voice. when the "n. & q." was first established, i felt that there was now at least one place where it was possible to print historical documents of various kinds, and no one can deny that at various times very interesting and important papers have been made publicly available, which might otherwise have escaped notice. i may instance a very interesting account of the inquest on chatterton, which i have myself, in a sketch of that ill-fated { } youth's fate, been the first to make use of for biographical purposes. it is still my conviction that at some time or other an association for such purposes will be formed, and i must attain earnestly entreat those persons whose position would command assistance, and whose learning and opportunities would aid the cause i am advocating, to give some sign of their favourable intention toward such a scheme. i must once more place this very important matter before the eyes of the public; i trust that my appeal may not be in vain. see how in other cases, when something offers itself promising amusement and instruction, societies can be formed and spring into life and activity at once. for instance, i might adduce the beautiful and useful processes of photography; within the short space of a few months the art has been brought to a high decree of excellence: a photographical institute is, i believe, now in active working, there is a photographical journal, besides the continued and unwearying co-operation of "n. & q." itself. why may not historical documents have something of the same sort? for a slight sum (but a few shillings a year), if the reading public were willing, such a society might be founded, and many invaluable documents of every description placed where they would be available for the historian, for the archæologist, for the editor, and for the general inquirer. let me hope that something may be proposed; i have myself hunted through dusty ms. folios, quartos, duodecimos innumerable, and my investigations have not been wholly useless. if there be any who look with a favourable eye upon these hints, i shall be glad to hear from them. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. . mortimer street. * * * * * "the whippiad." (vol. vii., pp. . .) perhaps a few lines from a fellow-collegian of reginald heber, during his last years of residence at brazenoze college, may throw light on this discussion. my contemporary ms. copy of _the whippiad_ contains heber's _own notes_, additional ones by myself, explanatory of places and persons mentioned, autographs of the latter, and blackwood's printed copy (the subject of inquiry), no. ., july, . the _notes_ subjoined to blackwood's printed copy are _heber's notes_, varying only from my ms. copy in immaterial points. as to the _epigram_ mentioned in p. ., the two first stanzas were by heber, and written (as i think) after his election to all souls. the third was attributed to mr. wilson, the learned high master of clithero school. very many _jeux d'esprit_ by heber, relative to convivialities and passing events in brazenoze and all souls, live in the memory and mss. of his surviving friends; but their amiable author would doubtless have wished them to be forgotten, with the subjects to which they related. the forbearance of mr. halliwell made him vainly anxious for the suppression of _the whippiad_. i subjoin from heber's autograph a song for a bow meeting, near st. asaph, in or about . it has an airy freshness, and is (as i believe) unpublished. lancastriensis. i. the soldier loves the laurel bright, the bard the myrtle bough, and smooth shillalas yield delight to many an irish brow. the fisher trims the hazel wand, the crab may tame a shrew, the birch becomes the pedant's hand, but bows are made of yew. chorus. the yew, the yew, the hardy yew! still greenly may it grow, and health and fun have everyone that loves the british bow. ii. 'tis sweet to sit by beauty's side beneath the hawthorn shade; but beauty is more beautiful in green and buff array'd. more radiant are her laughing eyes, her cheeks of ruddier glow, as, hoping for the envied prize, she twangs the cambrian bow. the yew, the yew, &c. iii. the fop may curl his brutus wig, and sandy whiskers stain, and fold his cravat broad and big; but all his arts are vain. his nankeen trowsers we despise, unfit for rain or dew, and, pinch'd in stays, he vainly tries his strength against the yew. the yew, the yew, &c. iv. the heiress, once, of bowdale hall, a lovely lass, i knew-- a dandy paid his morning call, all dizen'd out to woo. i heard his suit the coxcomb ply; i heard her answer--"no;" a true love knot he ne'er could tie, who could not bend a bow. the yew, the yew, &c. { } * * * * * spontaneous combustion. (vol. vii., p. .) leaving the philosophy of this question for the _savans_, i beg to add the following to the alleged cases already referred to. dr. lindsley has compiled a table of nineteen instances, from the _dictionnaire de médecine_,--not, however, of _spontaneous_ combustion exactly, but of something akin to it; namely, the rapid ignition of the human body (which _per se_ is not combustible) by contact with flame, as a consequence of the saturation of its tissues by alcohol: =========================================================================== | date of occurrence | age of individual. | | | ==================| | ======================= | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |no| works in | | |extent of |immediate| habit |situation | | | which | | | the | cause | of | of the | | | they are | | |combustion.| when | life. | remains, | | | reported. | | | | known. | | &c. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | by whom. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | =========================================================================== | | actes de | | | the whole | | | | | | copenhague | | | body, | | | | | | | | | except | | | | | | | | | the skull | | abuse of | upon a | | | | | -- | and last | -- |spirits for | chair. | | | | | | joints of | |three years | | | | | | | the | | | | | | jacobeus | | | fingers | | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | annual | | | except | |indulged in | | | | register | | |the skull, |took fire| frequent | | | | | | | a part of | through |fomentations| upon the | | | | | | the face, | sitting | of | floor. | | | blanchin de | | | and three | near a |camphorated | | | | verone | | | fingers | lamp | spirits | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | ibid. | | | | a light | | | | | | | | except | upon a | |upon the | | | | -- | | thigh and | chair |took a pint |floor near| | | | | | one leg |near the |of rum daily| the bed. | | | wilmer | | | | bed | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | ency. method.| -- | | except a | -- | habitually | | | | -- | | | few bones | | drunken | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | acta medica | | | except the| | she drank | | | | | -- | -- | skull and | -- | brandy as | | | | | | | fingers | | her only | | | | -- | | | | | drink | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | mem. on | | | except a | a pipe | | | | | spon. com. | | | part of |which she| |near the | | | | | | the head | was | a drunkard | chimney. | | | lecat | | | and limbs | smoking | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | ibid. | | | | | habitually | upon the | | | | | -- | ibid. | a fire | drunken | hearth. | | | ibid. | | | | | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | ibid. | | | | | |sitting on| | | | | | a charred | fire of |drank brandy| a chair | | | | | | skeleton | the | only for | near the | | | ibid. | | | only left | hearth | many years | fire. | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | jour. de | | | except a |a foot- | | | | | méd. | | -- |few bones, |stove | a drunkard | | | | | | |a hand, |under her| | | | | -- | | |and a foot |feet | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | ibid. | | | |a fire of| | upon the | | | | | | ibid. | the | ibid. | hearth | | | -- | | | | hearth | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | revue | | |except the | | abuse of | | | | médicale | | | skull and |a candle |wine and eau| in bed. | | | | | | a portion | | de cologne | | | | julia | | | of the | | | | | | fontenelle | | | skin | | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | ibid. | | | | | | in the | | | | | | except the| | |same bed. | | | | | | right leg | ibid. | ibid. |both burnt| | | ibid. | | | | | | together | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | -- | | | almost | | | | | | gen. william | -- |very| wholly |a lighted| -- | upon the | | | kepland | |old | consumed | pipe | | floor | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | journal de | | | skin of | | | upon the | | | florence | | -- | right arm | -- | -- |floor. he | | | | | | and right | | |lived four| | | joseph | | |thigh only | | | days | | | battaylia | | | burnt | | | after. | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | revue méd. | | |combustion | | abuse of | upon a | | | | | -- |incomplete | -- | brandy | bench. | | | robertson | | | | | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | ibid. | | | hand and | | | | | | | -- | -- |thigh only | -- | -- | cured. | | | m.marchand | | | burnt | | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | journal | | |one finger | | | | | | hosp. hamp. | -- | | of right |a candle | -- | cured. | | | | | |hand only | | | | | | -- | | | burnt | | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | -- | | |muscles of | | | | | | | | | thighs, | | | | | | | | | superior |a foot- | abuse of | upon a | | | | | |extremities| stove | spirits | chair. | | | alph. | | | and trunk | | | | | | devenge | | | burnt | | | | +--+--------------+----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------+ | | dic. de | | |combustion |a foot- | | upon the | | | médecine | -- | -- | almost | stove | ibid. | floor. | | | -- | | | complete | | | | =========================================================================== the following case is related, on the authority of dr. schofield, upper canada, in the _journal of the american temperance union_ for march, :--a young man, aged twenty-five, had been an habitual drunkard for many years. one evening at about eleven o'clock he went to a blacksmith's shop: he was then full of liquor, though not thoroughly drunk. the blacksmith, who had just crossed the road, was suddenly alarmed by the breaking forth of a brilliant conflagration in his shop. he rushed across, and threw open the door, and there stood the man, erect, in the midst of a widely-extended silver-coloured flame, bearing, as he described it, exactly the appearance of the wick of a burning candle in the midst of its own flame. he seized him by the shoulder, and jerked him to the door, and the flame was instantly extinguished. there was no fire in the shop, and no articles likely to cause combustion within reach of the individual. in the course of a short time a general sloughing came on, and the flesh was almost wholly removed in the dressing, leaving the bones and a few of the large blood-vessels standing. the blood nevertheless rallied round the heart, and life continued to the thirteenth day, when he died, a loathsome, ill-featured, and disgusting object. his shrieks and cries were described as truly horrible. some information will be found in nos. . and . of an old magazine called _the hive_,--a book which may be found in the british museum. two cases have occurred recently, one in at paris, { } and one last year somewhere in the north. both may be found by reference to the newspapers. shirley hibberd. * * * * * major general lambert. (vol. vii., p. .) lord braybrooke speaks of a _tradition_ of major-general lambert's having been imprisoned in cornet castle, in the island of guernsey, after the restoration. the following documents, copies of which exist in guernsey, will prove that he really was kept as a prisoner in that island: charles r. upon suite made unto us by mrs. lambert, for liberty for herself and children to goe to and remaine w^{th} her husband collonell lambert yo^r prisoner, wee, graciously inclyninge to gratifye her in that request, have thought fitt to signify our royall pleasure to you in that particular, willing and requiring you, upon sight hereof, to suffer the said mrs. lambert, her three children, and three maid-servants, to goe and remaine w^{th} the said mr. lambert, under the same confinement he himselfe is, untill o^r further pleasure be knowne. and for soe doinge this shalbe y^r warrant. given at our court at whitehall, the ^{th} day febr., / . by his ma^{ts} comand, edw. nicholas. to our right trusty and welbeloved counsello^r s^r hugh pollard, k^{nt} and bar^t, governo^r of our island of guernsey and castle there, or to other our governo^r for y^e tyme beinge, and in his absence to his deputy governo^r. this is a true copie of his ma^{t's} warrant. (signed) hugh pollarde. [in dorso.] the king's order for lambert's children. in , christopher lord hatton was appointed governor of guernsey, upon which the following warrant was issued: charles r. our will and pleasure is, that you take into your custody the person of john lambert, commonly called collonell lambert, and keepe him close prisoner, as a condemned traytor, untill further order from us, for which this shall be your warrant. given at our court at hampton court, this ^{th} day of july, . by his ma^{ty's} co[=m]and, edw. nicholas. to our trusty and welbeloved councellor y^e lord hatton, governor of our island of guernsey, and to the lieutenant governo^r thereof or his deputy. lambert to guernsey. four months later the following order was issued: charles r. our will and pleasure is, that from sight hereof you give such liberty and indulgence to collonell john lambert your prisoner, within the precincts of that our island, as will consist with the security of his person, and as in your discretion you shall think fitt; and that this favour be continued to him till you receive our order to the contrary, allwayes understood, that he the sayd collonell lambert show himself worthy thereof in his comportment, and entertaine noe correspondencyes to the prejudice of our service, for which this shall be your warrant. given at our court at whitehall, november the eighteenth, one thousand six hundred sixty-two, by his ma^{ts} command, henrye bennet. to our trusty and well-beloved counsellor the lord hatton, our govern^r of our island of guernsey, to his leiftenant governour, or other officer commanding in chief there. liberty of the island to mr. lambert. [in dorso.] the king's order for mr. lambert's liberty. in rees's _cyclopædia_, art. amaryllis, sect. ., _a. sarniensis_, guernsey lily, i find the following statement: "it was cultivated at wimbledon, in england, by general lambert, in ." as guernsey, during the civil wars, sided with the parliament, it is probable that lambert procured the roots from some friend in the island. the exact date of his arrival as a prisoner in guernsey is fixed by a sort of journal kept by pierre le roy, schoolmaster and parish clerk of st. martin de la bellouse in that island, who says: "le ^e de vembre, , est arrivé au château cornet, jean lambert, générall des rebelles sectères en angleterre, ennemy du roy, et y est constitué prisonnier pour sa vie." there is no tradition in the island of his having died there. i remember to have read, but cannot at present remember where, that he died a roman catholic. edgar macculloch. guernsey. [lambert was removed to the island of st. nicholas, at the entrance of plymouth harbour, in , where his death took place during the _hard winter_ at the close of or commencement of .--see "n. & q"., vol. iv., p . probably some of our readers in that neighbourhood might, by a reference to the parish registers, be enabled to ascertain the precise date of that event.] { } * * * * * the "salt-peter-man." (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent j. o. asks for information to no. . of his notes respecting the "salt-peter-man," so quaintly described by lord coke as a troublesome person. before the discovery and importation of rough nitre from the east indies, the supply of that very important ingredient in the manufactory of gunpowder was very inadequate to the quantity required; and this country having in the early part of the seventeenth century to depend almost entirely upon its own resources. charles i. issued a proclamation in , which set forth that the saltpetre makers were never able to furnish the realm with a third part of the saltpetre required, especially in time of war. the proclamation had reference to a patent that had been granted in to sir john brooke and thomas russel, for making saltpetre by a new invention, which gave them power to collect the animal fluids (ordered by the same proclamation to be preserved by families for this purpose), once in twenty-four hours in summer, and in forty-eight hours in winter. this royal proclamation was very obnoxious and inconvenient to the good people of england, increased as it was by the power granted to the saltpetre makers to dig up the floors of all dove-houses, stables, cellars, &c., for the purpose of carrying away the earth, the proprietors being at the same time prohibited from laying such floors with anything but "mellow earth," that greater facility might be given them. this power, in the hands of men likely to be appointed to fulfil such duties, was no doubt subject to much abuse for the purposes of extortion, making, as lord coke states, "simple people believe that lee (the salt-peter-man) will, without their leave, breake up the floore of their dwelling-house, unless they will compound with him to the contrary." the new and uncertain process for obtaining the constituents of nitre having failed to answer the purpose for which the patent was granted, an act was passed in , forbidding the saltpetre makers to dig in houses or lands without leave of the owner: and this is the point to which the learned commentator of the law, in his _discouerie of the abuses and corruption of officers_, alludes, when "any such fellowe if you can meete with all, let his misdemenor be presented, that he may be taught better to understand his office." in england, up to about the period when these curious acts of parliament were passed, the right of all soil impregnated with animal matter was claimed by the crown for this peculiar purpose; and in france the rubbish of old houses, earth from stables, slaughter-houses, and all refuse places, was considered to belong to the government, till , when a similar edict, to relieve the people from the annoyances of the saltpetre makers, was made. j. deck. cambridge. * * * * * metrical psalms and hymns. (vol. iii., pp. . .) in reply to your correspondent arun, who inquired about the origin and authority of metrical psalms and hymns in churches, in addition to an extract from one of bishop cosin's letters on the subject, i referred also to the treatise commonly known as watson's _deduction_, but of which treatise heylin was in fact the author. i have recently met with a passage in heylin's _history of the reformation_ (ann. , lond., , p. .) which seems to contain the rudiment or first germ of the _deduction_, and to which arun therefore (if not already acquainted with it) may be glad to be referred: "about this time (says heylin) the psalms of david did first begin to be composed in english meetter by one thomas sternhold, one of the grooms of the privy chamber; who, translating no more than thirty-seven, left both example and encouragement to john hopkins and others to dispatch the rest:--a device first taken up in france by one clement marot, one of the grooms of the bedchamber to king francis the first; who, being much addicted to poetry, and having some acquaintance with those which were thought to have enclined to the reformation, was persuaded by the learned vatablus (professor of the hebrew tongue in the university of paris) to exercise his poetical phancies in translating some of david's psalms. for whose satisfaction, and his own, he translated the first fifty of them; and, after flying to geneva, grew acquainted with beza, who in some tract of time translated the other hundred also, and caused them to be fitted unto several times; which hereupon began to be sung in private houses, and by degrees to be taken up in all the churches of the french, and other nations which followed the genevian platform. marot's translation is said by strada to have been ignorantly and perversely done, as being but the work of a man altogether unlearned; but not to be compared with that barbarity and botching, which everywhere occurreth in the translation of sternhold and hopkins. which notwithstanding being first allowed for private devotion, they were by little and little brought into the use of the church, _permitted rather than allowed_ to be sung before and after sermons; afterwards printed and bound up with the common prayer book, and at last added by the stationers at the end of the bible. for, though it is expressed in the title of those singing psalms, that they were set forth and allowed to be sung in all churches before and after morning and evening prayer, and also before and after sermons; yet this allowance seems rather to have been a _connivance_ than an _approbation_: no such allowance being anywhere found by such as have been most industrious and concerned in the search thereof. at first it was pretended only that the said psalms should be sung before and after morning and evening prayer, and also before and after sermons; which shows they were not to be intermingled in the public liturgie. but in some tract of time, as the puritan faction grew in strength and { } confidence, they prevailed so far in most places, to thrust the _te deum_, the _benedictus_, the _magnificat_, and the _nunc dimittis_, quite out of the church. but of this more perhaps hereafter, when we shall come to the discovery of the puritan practices in the times succeeding." j. sansom. oxford. * * * * * the sign of the cross in the greek church. (vol. vii., p. .) the cross, x, in the greek church, represents the initial of [greek: christos], the messiah, the symbolic affixing of which (sealing) before and after baptism indicates that the name of christ is imposed on the believer, who takes his new or christian name at baptism. this mark on the forehead refers to revelation vii. ., xiv. ., xxii. . the longer catechism of that church, in answer to the question, "what force has the sign of the cross, used on this and other occasions?" says, "what the _name_ of jesus christ crucified is, when pronounced with faith by the motion of the lips, the _very same_ is also the sign of the cross, when made with faith by _the motion of the hand_, or represented in any other way." the authority quoted is cyril of jerusalem (_cat. lect._ xiii. .). in the western church the cross, [symbol: cross], represented the [greek: stauros] whereon christ suffered. both these crosses are now found in the greek church; and the latin form, [symbol: cross], has at least been used therein nine centuries, for in goar's _rituale græcorum_ may be seen (pp. , . .) the icons of saints methodius, germanus, and cyrillus, whose vestments are embellished with latin crosses. the latin cross is marked on the sacramental bread of the greek communion,--which bread is also impressed with an abbreviation of the words on constantine's labarum: "jesus christ overcometh." (eusebius's _life of constantine_, lib. i. c. .: compare with goar's _rituale græcorum_, p. .) the latin cross, [symbol: cross], is rarely found on the sepulchres in the catacombs at rome,--the most ancient christian memorials; but, instead of it, a combination of the letters [chi][rho] prevails, as the monogram for "christ." aringhi, in his _roma subterranea_ (romæ, ) says: "illud autem fatendum nobis est, nullatenus ante felicissima constantini magni ad fidem traducti tempora crucem publicæ populorum venerationi expositam fuisse."--vol. ii. lib. vi. c. xiv. p. . the following statement from humphrey's _montfaucon_ (vol. x. part ii. book iii. cap. . p. .) is very clear as to the form of the cross: "the cross, made with beams put together, had the shape of the samaritan _tau_, says st. jerome, whose words are these: 'in the oldest _hebrew_ letters, which the samaritans now make use of, the last, which is _tau_, had the form of a cross.' this _tau_, like a cross, was like the [tau] of the greeks, according to paulinus, who says that the shape of the cross is expressed by the greek letter _tau_, which stands for three hundred. the cross of our lord was something different from the letter _tau_; the beam that was fixed in the earth crossing that which was athwart it above, and made as it were a head by rising above it: such a cross we see in the medals of constantine the great, in this form, [symbol: cross], and such is it found described in the most ancient christian monuments; this is the form of the cross which st. jerome means, when he compares it to birds flying, to a man swimming, and to a man praying to god, with his arms extended." the greek church has retained _both_ forms: the latin church, in its ignorance of the greek language, has lost the more important symbol. these forms were probably invented by constantine, who used them on his helmet, as crests were afterwards used in the ages of chivalry. t. j. buckton. birmingham. the difference between the manner in which the members of the greek and those of the latin church used to sign themselves with the sign of the cross is this: both used the right hand, the thumb and first and second fingers open, and the third and fourth closed; both began at the forehead, and descended to the breast: but in crossing that vertical line by an horizontal one, from one shoulder to the other, the _greeks go from the right to the left_, but the _latins from the left to the right_. it is said, that in the latin church, up to the thirteenth century, the cross line was traced indifferently from either shoulder. whilst there is this difference between the greek and latin sign of the cross when made upon oneself, there is also a difference between the two when made upon others. the latin _benediction_ is given with the thumb and the first two fingers open; the third and fourth fingers remaining closed. this arrangement of the the fingers is symbolical of the trinity: the three open fingers signifying the three divine persons, and the two closed fingers being emblematic of the two natures of christ. the greek benediction is given with the forefinger entirely open; the middle finger slightly bent, the thumb crossed upon the third finger, and the little finger bent. in the present day, however, in the latin church, a person making on himself the sign of the cross, employs the right hand entirely open, instead of three fingers only. and as it has been thought desirable to make a distinction between the benediction given by a bishop and a priest, bishops reserved to themselves the right of blessing with three fingers; and priests give the benediction with the hand entirely open. { } j. c. b. will find this subject fully treated in didron's _christian iconography_, bohn's edition, pp. . .; and an illustration of the latin benediction at p. ., and the greek benediction at p. . ceyrep. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _new developing fluid._--dr. diamond has reported very favourably of the developing fluid, which i spoke of in "n. & q." of march as "being simple, inexpensive, and keeping good a length of time." in accordance with what i then stated, i herewith give the readers of "n. & q." the benefit of it, and leave them to form their own opinion of its value after trying it: protosulphate of iron grs. nitrate of lead grs. water drs. acetic acid ½ dr. dissolve the protosulphate of iron in the water; then throw in the nitrate of lead in powder; stir with glass rod until it is dissolved; keep stirring while pouring in the acetic acid, and for a few minutes afterwards. let the precipitate subside, then filter. i have used nothing else for positives on glass since i discovered the preparation. i have not tried it for developing in the wax-paper or other paper process. the liquid is colourless as water when first made. by long keeping it will change colour, but throws down no deposit, nor loses its properties. if those gentlemen who try it would give their opinions of it, i should be obliged. j. l. sisson. edingthorpe rectory. [since this was in type, mr. sisson has written to say, that he has been informed that the use of nitrate of lead has already been recommended by mr. w. brown. mr. sisson was not aware of that fact, but is unwilling to appear in any way to appropriate to himself the suggestion of another.--ed.] _photographic tent._--can any of your readers inform me how, or where, to procure an _effective tent_ for photographic operations out of doors? all those i have yet seen are sadly wanting in the two great essentials--_portability_ and _cheapness_. if any one could suggest the means for supplying the desiderata, it would prove in the coming season a boon to photographers at large, and confer a favour on m. f. m. _mr. wilkinson's simple mode of levelling cameras._--the following ingenious suggestion appears in the rd number of the _journal of the photographic society_, and deserves to be widely circulated. "my plan is to place a t-square on the bottom of the camera, and draw one perpendicular line on each side (exactly opposite to each other), either with paint or pencil; or the ends of the camera itself will do if perpendicular to the base. then, having two musket bullets attached to a silk thread, simply hang them over the camera, and everything required will be attained much quicker by these plumb-lines, and with accuracy equal to the spirit-levels. the advantage of the simple contrivance of two bullets suspended by threads is, that when the thread is laid across the camera, it is at once seen whether the thread touches all the way down both sides; if not, one or other side of the camera is raised, until the thread lies close on each side: this gives the level crossways. the other perpendicular of the line is then sought for, and the back or front of the camera raised or lowered, until the thread cuts the line drawn below. here then we have the most perfect line that can be obtained, at the expense of two bullets and a bit of silk, answering every purpose of the best spirit-level, and applied in one-half the time. it has since occurred to me, that as we sometimes require to measure the distance for stereoscopic pictures, this thread ought to be about three feet long; and we might as well make three knots, and then we should have the measure of a three-feet rule always with us. it has also occurred to me, that in taking portraits you sometimes require to have a measure of time; and by a little modification we have here the most accurate chronometer that can be produced. instead of three feet, i make it thirty-nine inches and the decimal necessary, say two-tenths from the centre of support to the centre of the bullet. i then get a pendulum which vibrates to second exactly, from the point of suspension to the point of oscillation. i hang it by a pin, and i there have a chronometer of the greatest possible accuracy; and i can employ it for taking portraits of one, two, three, or four seconds: it will vibrate for a minute. consequently i have a mode of levelling my camera with the greatest accuracy, a measure of time, and a measure of distance; and all at a cost considerably under one penny." _antiquarian photographic club._--this association for the interchange of photographic views of objects of antiquarian interest, has now nearly attained the number of members to which it is proposed to limit it. for the few remaining vacancies preference will be given, for obvious reasons, to parties resident in varied localities. any gentlemen or ladies desirous to join the club, may send their names, with specimens of their skill, to the _honorary secretary_, care of mr. bell, . fleet street. the amount of the annual subscription is not yet fixed, but as all that can be required will be to meet the expenses incident to the receipt and interchange of the photographs, it must necessarily be very limited. { } * * * * * replies to minor queries. _erroneous forms of speech: mangel wurzel_ (vol. vii., p. .).--against the dictum of e. g. r., i beg insertion of the following quotation from the _agricultural gazette_, march , , p. .: "mangold wurzel is simply the german of _beet-root_. 'mangel wurzel,' on the other hand, is one founded on an idea, which, though absurd, did not the less effectually answer the object of those who introduced the plant. 'scarcity root,' or 'famine root,' made a good heading to an advertisement." and rham, _dictionary of the farm_, p. .: "the german name is 'mangold wurzel,' or 'mangold root;' but it is sometimes pronounced 'mangel wurzel,' which means _scarcity root_; and, by a strange translation, it is called in french _racine d'abondance_, as well as _racine de disette_. the name of field-beet is much more appropriate." i hope e. g. r. will, however, not insist on classing those who say and write "mangold" with those who would write "reddishes, sparrowgrass, and cowcumbers." i should be sorry to be suspected of any one of the three last; but "mangold" i will say and write till the authority of the best german scholars decrees otherwise. geo. e. frere. _the whetstone_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--herbert, in his _typographical antiquities_, vol. ii. p. ., cites a book entitled, _fower great liers striving who shall win the silver whetstone. also a resolution to the countreyman, proving it utterly unlawful to buy or use our yearely prognostications_, by w. p.: vo., printed by r. waldegrave; no date. h. c. _charade_ (vol. vi., p. .).-- "by mystic sign and symbol known, to daniel, wise and meek, alone, was persia's coming _wo_ foreshown. "and in great cæsar's proudest day, the gospel held a mightier sway, and _man_ shone forth with purest ray. "but when, in babylonia chain'd, _man_ of his deepening _wo_ complain'd, a _woman_ conquering both, in faithful esther reign'd." sophronia sphynx. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. . &c.; vol. vii., p. .).--_totnes_ may be added to the list of places containing parochial libraries. the books are placed in presses in the vestry room of the church, and so preserved from loss and damage to which they were formerly subjected. the collection is principally composed of works of divinity published in the seventeenth century, the age of profound theological literature. i noticed amongst the goodly array of weighty folios, the works of st. augustine, the _homilies_ of st. chrysostom, works of st. ambrose, st. gregory, &c., the works of the high and mighty king james, birckbek's _protestant evidence_, and walton's _polyglott_. nothing is known of the history and formation of this library. inside the cover of one of the volumes is the following inscription: "totnes library. the guift of mr. thomas southcott, july . ." i found the following incorrect and antiquated piece of information respecting this library in a flimsy work, published in , entitled, _a graphic and historical sketch of the antiquities of totnes_, by william cotton, f.s.a., _note_, p. .: "i know not what the library contains. i believe nothing more than theological lumber. it is always locked up, and made no use of by those who keep it, and it is inaccessible to those who would wish to examine it. i was once there by accident, and looked into some books, which were all on divinity." j. m. b. tunbridge wells. _judge smith_ (vol. vii., p. .).--judge smith lived towards the close of queen elizabeth's reign, and was noted for severity against witches. his monument is in chesterfield church. he belonged to the ancient family seated at dunston hall, near that town, which i believe has lately ended in co-heiresses. the late sir j. e. smith was of the same family: his father, a considerable merchant of norwich, married a kindersley descended from geoffrey,--who was queried in vol. vi., p. ., and is ancestor of the present vice-chancellor. z. e. r. _church catechism_ (vol. vii., p. .).--b. h. c. will confer a favour by printing the latin original of the catechism. z. e. r. _charade attributed to sheridan_ (vol. vii., p. .).--several years ago, i think in or , a friend gave me some verses nearly similar to those communicated by your correspondent balliolensis, and requested me to ascertain if they were mrs. piozzi's, as my friend had been told that they were written by that lady. soon afterwards i asked mrs. piozzi if she ever wrote a riddle on a gaming-table. she replied, "yes, a very long time ago." she immediately repeated a line or two, and, after some consideration, recited the following, which, she assured me, were her original composition. these lines, it will be observed, differ somewhat from those attributed to sheridan, but they were probably the basis of those, and also of other versions of the riddle, which, i believe, are in existence. this statement so thoroughly removes all uncertainty about the { } author of the original, that i trust you will deem it worthy of insertion in your journal. "a place i here describe, how gay the scene! fresh, bright, and vivid with perpetual green, verdure attractive to the ravish'd sight, } perennial joys, and ever new delight, } charming at noon, more charming still at night. } fair pools where fish in forms pellucid play; smooth lies the lawn, swift glide the hours away. no mean dependence here on summer skies, this spot rough winter's roughest blast defies. yet here the government is curs'd with change, knaves openly on either party range, assault their monarch, and avow the deed, while honour fails, and tricks alone succeed; for bold decemvirs here usurp the sway; } now all some single demagogue obey, } false lights prefer, and hate the intruding day. } oh, shun the tempting shore, the dangerous coast, youth, fame, and fortune, stranded here, are lost!" j. s. s. bath. _gesmas and desmas_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the names of the two thieves crucified with our blessed saviour are variously written. in the verses quoted by a. b. r. (p. .) they are written _gesmas and desmas_. in the edition of the gospel of nicodemus, quoted by w. c. h. (p. .), _i.e._ the edition of "william hone, ludgate hill, ," the names are written _gestas and dimas_. he also gives an authority for the spelling "_dismas and gestas_." i find them written in the edition i have of the gospel of nicodemus, _i. e._ "hutman's, london, ," _dismas and gesmas_ (pp. , .). elsewhere i have met with them written as in the following verse, _gistas and dismas_: "gistas damnatur, dismas ad astra levatur," which i have ventured to translate: "gistas to hell--with dismas all goes well;" or perhaps better thus: "gistas goes down, dismas receives a crown." the names of these two men in early life is said to have been _titus_ and _dumachus_: see the _evangelium infantiæ_, quoted by hutman (p. .). ceyrep. _lode_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--there is in gloucester a church and parish called saint mary de lode, touching which mr. fosbroke (_history of city of gloucester_, p. .) observes: "this parish is said to have derived the adjunct of _lode_ from the severn formerly running near it; and this may have been the fact, but it is not easy to give a satisfactory explanation of the term." i would remark, that as the term _lode_ may be considered a general name for any navigable river, that if it be a fact that the river severn did formerly run near the parish in question, it appears to me not difficult to give a satisfactory explanation of the term by which such parish is distinguished from st. mary de crypt and st. mary de grace. c. h. cooper. cambridge. _epitaphs imprecatory_ (vol. vii., p. ).--i have no doubt that the churchyards of scotland will furnish many examples of the embittered feelings which religious persecution produced, during the latter half of the seventeenth century; and as a specimen i forward the following, which is found in the churchyard of dalgarnock, in dumfriesshire. the duke of york alluded to was afterwards james ii.; and the descendants of mr. harkness are still most respectable inhabitants of the parish of closeburn, which has been united to dalgarnock: "here lyes the body of james harkness, in locherben, who died th dec. , aged years. "belo this stone his dust doth ly, who indured years persecution by tirrany did him pursue with echo and cry though many a lonesome place, at last by clavers he was taen sentenced for to dy; but god, who for his soul took care, did him from prison bring, because no other cause they had but that he ould not give up with christ his glorious king. and swear allegence to that beast, the duke of york i mean. in spite of all there hellish rage a natural death he died in full assurance of his rest with christ ieternalie." the following may be given as an example of a punning epitaph. it is found in st. anne's churchyard, in the isle of man, and is said to have been written by sir wadsworth busk, who was for many years attorney-general of the island: "here, friend, is little daniel's tomb, to joseph's age he did arrive; sloth killing thousands in their bloom, while labour kept poor dan alive. though strange yet true, full seventy years was his wife happy in her _tears_. daniel tear died december th, , aged years." c. t. r. _straw-bail_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the origin of the expression "a man of straw" may be traced to those mannikins or effigies representing the human figure, which are (or used to be) paraded in the streets during the carnival in most continental countries. these mannikins were { } generally stuffed with _straw_; and hence, in legal phraseology, "a man of straw" denotes the semblance of a man--a person of neither substance nor responsibility, who is put forward to screen a real delinquent, or bear the brunt of a prosecution. such, at least, is the origin commonly assigned by the french to their "homme de paille," the prototype of our "man of straw." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _how to stain deal_ (vol. vii., p. ).--if c. will apply by letter or otherwise to mr. henry stevens, . stamford street, blackfriars road, he will learn every particular, and be furnished with samples of its effect on common deal, as now very extensively used in churches, school-rooms, &c. _detached belfry towers_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--add to the list, marston morteyne in bedfordshire, not far from ampthill, and gunwalloe, in cornwall, about five miles south of helston. gunwalloe tower appears to be much older than the church, and faces the south-west angle of the nave, from which it is distant about fourteen feet. j. m. b. tunbridge wells. cambrensis has forgotten that the _cloich teachs_ (bell-houses), or round belfries, peculiar to ireland, and which have become famous as "round towers," are almost always separate from the churches. james graves. kilkenny. to your instances of detached belfries in england add magdalene college and new college in oxford, and woburn in bedfordshire. h. c. thurles. detached church-towers exist at beccles, suffolk, and at east dereham, norfolk. g. j. c. oxford. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the anniversary of the camden society on monday last, when mr. peter cunningham, sir f. madden, and sir c. young were elected on the council, was distinguished by two departures from the usual routine: one, a special vote of thanks to sir harry verney for placing his family papers at the service of the society; and the other, a general expression of satisfaction on the part of the members at the steps taken by the council to bring under the consideration of the commission appointed to inquire into the laws regarding matters testamentary, the great impediments thrown in the way of all historical and literary inquirers by the authorities in the prerogative office. it does not require the skill of an oedipus to divine that in giving us so graphic a picture of _the vicar and his duties_, the rev. a. gatty has had the advantage of sketching from the life, and that his portraiture of "a good man of religioun that as a poore persone of a toun; but riche he was of holy thought and werke." is as much a true effigy, though taken with pen and ink, as if he had put that capital parish priest, the vicar of leeds, before his camera. to the many friends of dr. hook, this little volume will be deeply interesting. books received.--pulleyn's _etymological compendium, or portfolio of origins and inventions. third edition, revised and improved, by_ merton a. thoms. this new edition of a very popular and useful little book has had the advantage of a thorough revision, and contains much new and interesting information.--longman's _traveller's library_ has lately been enriched by two of mr. macaulay's brilliant essays, viz. on _lord byron_ and _the comic dramatists of the restoration_, and by a carefully compiled life of _marshal turenne_ by the rev. t. o. cockayne: while mr. murray has added to his valuable collection of _railway readings_, a reprint of _the life of lord bacon_, by his noble biographer lord campbell.--_reynard the fox, after the german version of göthe, with illustrations by_ j. wolf. part v. this translation is kept up with spirit, and the present number carries us to _the pardon_ of the wily transgressor.--mr. bohn has put forth numerous fresh claims on the favour of poor scholars: in his _standard library_ he has given a third volume of _miss bremer's works_, containing _home_ and _strife and peace_; in his _classical library_ he continues the translation of _aristotle_ in _the politics and economics_, translated by g. walford, m.a.; in his _antiquarian library_, he has continued in his series of translations of early english chronicles by giving us in one volume a translation of _henry of huntingdon_, and also of the _gesta stephani_; while he will have done good service to naturalists and keepers of aviaries and cage birds by the edition of bechstein's _cage and chamber birds_ and sweet's _warblers_, which he has included in the same volume of his _illustrated library_. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. jacob's english peerage. folio edition, . vols. ii., iii., and iv. gammer gurton's needle. alison's europe. ( vols.) vols. xiii., xx. tillotson. vols. i., ii., iv., v., xi. mo. tonson, london, . livy. vol. i. mo. maittaire, london, . annals and magazine of natural history. vols. i., ii., iii., iv., v., xix., xx. s. each. the above in parts or monthly numbers will do. the aviary, or magazine of british melody. a collection of diverting songs, airs, &c. both published about the middle of last century. churchman's sheet almanac: all the years. gretton's introduction to translation, &c. part ii. views of arundel house in the strand, . london, published by t. thane, rupert street, haymarket. . parker's glossary of architecture. nd edition. pickering's statutes at large. vo. edit. camb. from geo. iii. cap. . (vol. xlvi. part i.) to wm. iv. european magazine. nos. for may, ; january, february, may, june, ; april, june, july, october, and december, . { } stanhope's paraphrase of epistles and gospels. london, . vols. iii. and iv. the lawyer and magistrate's magazine, complete, or single volumes, _circa_ - . todd's cyclopÆdia of anatomy and physiology. phelp's history and antiquities of somersetshire. part ., and parts . to end. bayle's dictionary. english version, by de maizeaux. london, . vols. i. and ii. swift's (dean) works. dublin: g. faulkner. volumes. . vol. i. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vols. i. and ii. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., viii. boards. martyn's plantÆ cantabrigienses. mo. london, . abbotsford edition of the waverley novels. odd vols. the truth teller. a periodical. r. mant's church architecture considered in relation to the mind of the church. vo. belfast, . j. l. petit's church architecture. vols. cambridge camden society's transactions. vol. iii.--ellicott on vaulting. quarterly review, . collier's further vindication of his short view of the stage. . congreve's amendment of collier's false and imperfect citations. . bedford's serious reflections on the abuses of the stage. vo. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. j. n. c. _will see by this week's number, that the line to which he refers is from_ hamlet. k. r. h. m.'s _communication was marked for insertion before we received his note_. w. f. _we were quite unable to attend to your wishes this week._ stupiditas. _we have never known such failures to take place as you describe. in all probability you have not_ perfectly _immersed your paper in the saline solution. half a drachm of muriate of soda, and the same quantity of muriate of barytes and muriate of ammonia, dissolved in a quart of water, forms a very excellent application for the paper, previous to the use of the ammonio-nitrate._ h. henderson. _any application applied to your window would in a great part obstruct the light. brushing it over with starch might be tried._ b--z. _yes. many of the very best pictures in the_ photographic exhibition in bond street, _as we may probably take an opportunity of pointing out in some future notice of that interesting collection, are from collodion negatives._ price of iodide of potassium. _i beg to say that the price named by me_, i. e. s. d. _per oz., for iodide of potassium, is quoted from the list of messrs. simpson and maule, kensington road._ f. maxwell lyte. torquay. _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * mr. halliwell's folio edition of shakspeare. * * * * * specimen copies of the first volume of this work may be seen at mr. skeffington's, . piccadilly, and at mr. russell smith's, . soho square, london. the editor having, at a great sacrifice, adhered to the original limit, and the estimates having been considered exceeded, has been compelled, to avoid incurring an extravagant loss, to make the terms very absolute, and to raise the subscription to the later copies. notwithstanding, therefore, the great demand for the work, a few copies may still be secured by early written application. all communications on the subject are request to be addressed to-- j. o. halliwell, esq., avenue lodge, brixton hill, surrey. * * * * * opening of the photographic school.--royal polytechnic institution. the spacious plate glass house, feet by , with the class rooms and ladies' apartment, being nearly completed, classes or private lessons, embracing all branches of photography, are now forming. a perfect apparatus with ross's finest lenses has been procured, and every new improvement will be added. the school is under the joint direction of t. a. malone, esq., who has been long connected with photography, and j. h. pepper, esq., the chemist to the institution. a prospectus, with terms, may be had at the institution. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for the delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions (comprising views in venice, paris, russia, nubia, &c.) may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * to parents, guardians, residents in india, &c.--a lady residing within an hour's drive westward of hyde park, and in a most healthy and cheerful situation, is desirous of taking the entire charge of a little girl, to share with her only child (about a year and a half old) her maternal care and affection, together with the strictest attention to mental training. terms, including every possible expense except medical attendance, l. per annum. if required, the most unexceptionable references can be furnished. address to t. b. s., care of mr. bell, publisher, . fleet street. { } * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted gives one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen . cheapside. * * * * * save fifty per cent. by purchasing your watches direct from the manufacturer, at the wholesale trade price. £. s. d. gold watches, extra jewelled, with all the recent improvements ditto, with the three-quarter plate movement, and stouter cases silver watches, with same movements as the gold ditto, with the lever escapement, eight holes jewelled and every other description of watch in the same proportion. a written warranty for accurate performance is given with every watch, and twelve months allowed. handsome morocco cases for same, s. extra. emigrants supplied with watches suitable for australia.--merchants, captains, and the trade supplied in any quantities on very favourable terms. £. s. d. gentlemen's fine gold albert chains ladies' ditto, neck ditto sent carefully packed, post free, and registered, on receipt of post-office or banker's order, payable to daniel elliott hedger, wholesale watch manufacturer, . city road, near finsbury square, london. * * * * * people's edition of alison's history of europe from the commencement of the french revolution to the battle of waterloo. in monthly parts, at one shilling; in weekly numbers, at three-halfpence; in quarterly volumes, at four shillings; part i. and no. i. are now ready, and may be had of all booksellers and newsmen. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th of june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * established . medical, invalid, and general life office, . pall mall. during the last ten years, this society has issued more than _four thousand one hundred and fifty policies_-- covering assurances to the extent of _one million six hundred and eighty-seven thousand pounds, and upwards_-- yielding annual premiums amounting to _seventy-three thousand pounds_. this society is the only one possessing tables for the assurance of diseased lives. healthy lives assured at home and abroad at lower rates than at most other offices. a bonus of per cent. on the premiums paid was added to the policies at last division of profits. next division in --in which all policies effected before th june, , will participate. * * * * * agents wanted for vacant places. prospectuses, forms of proposal, and every other information, may be obtained of the secretary at the chief office, or on application to any of the society's agents in the country. f.g.p. neison, actuary. c. douglas singer, secretary. * * * * * new achromatic microscopes on mr. pritchard's construction, micrometers, polarizing apparatus, object-glasses, and eye-pieces. s. straker supplies any of the above of the first quality, and will forward by post free a new priced list of microscopes and apparatus. . fleet street, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. { } * * * * * the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains. * * * * * the camden society is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the civil, ecclesiastical, or literary history of the united kingdom; and it accomplishes that object by the publication of historical documents, letters, ancient poems, and whatever else lies within the compass of its designs, in the most convenient form, and at the least possible expense consistent with the production of useful volumes. the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due in advance on the first day of may in every year, and is received by messrs. nichols . parliament street, or by the several local secretaries. members may compound for their future annual subscriptions, by the payment of _l_. over and above the subscription for the current year. the compositions received have been funded in the three per cent. consols to an amount exceeding l. no books are delivered to a member until his subscription for the current year has been paid. new members are admitted at the meetings of the council held on the first wednesday in every month. * * * * * the publications for the past year ( - ) were: . privy purse expenses of charles ii. and james ii. edited by j. y. akerman, esq., sec. s.a. . the chronicle of the grey friars of london. edited from a ms. in the cottonian library by j. gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. . promptorium: an english and latin dictionary of words in use during the fifteenth century, compiled chiefly from the promptorium parvulorum. by albert way, esq. m.a., f.s.a. vol. ii. (m to r.) (in the press.) books for - . . the second volume of the camden miscellany, containing, . expenses of john of brabant - ; . household accounts of princess elizabeth, - ; . requeste and suite of a true-hearted englishman, by w. cholmeley, ; . discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell, - ; . trelawny papers; . autobiography of dr. william taswell.--now ready for delivery to all members not in arrear of their subscription. . the verney papers. a selection from the correspondence of the verney family during the reign of charles i. to the year . from the originals in the possession of sir harry verney, bart. to be edited by john bruce, esq., trea. s.a. . regulÆ inclusarum: the ancren rewle. a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the thirteenth century addressed to a society of anchorites, being a translation from the latin work of simon de ghent, bishop of salisbury. to be edited from mss. in the cottonian library, british museum, with an introduction, glossarial notes, &c., by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. (will be ready immediately.) * * * * * the following works are at press, and will be issued from time to time, as soon as ready: . the correspondence of lady brilliana harley, during the civil wars. to be edited by the rev. t. t. lewis, m.a. (will be ready immediately.) roll of the household expenses of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, in the years , , with illustrations from other and coeval documents. to be edited by the rev. john webb, m.a., f.s.a. the domesday of st. paul's: a description of the manors belonging to the church of st. paul's in london in the year . by the ven. archdeacon hale. romance of jean and blonde, of oxford, by philippe de reims, an anglo-norman poet of the latter end of the twelfth century. edited, from the unique ms. in the royal library at paris, by m. le roux de lincy, editor of the roman de brut. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or to messrs. nichols. william j. thoms, secretary. . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * works of the camden society, and order of their publication. . restoration of king edward iv. . kyng johan, by bishop bale. . deposition of richard ii. . plumpton correspondence. . anecdotes and traditions. . political songs. . hayward's annals of elizabeth. . ecclesiastical documents. . norden's description of essex. . warkworth's chronicle. . kemp's nine daies wonder. . the egerton papers. . chronica jocelini de brakelonda. . irish narratives, and . . rishanger's chronicle. . poems of walter mapes. . travels of nicander nucius. . three metrical romances. . diary of dr. john dee. . apology for the lollards. . rutland papers. . diary of bishop cartwright. . letters of eminent literary men. . proceedings against dame alice kyteler. . promptorium parvulorum: tom. i. . suppression of the monasteries. . leycester correspondence. . french chronicle of london. . polydore vergil. . the thornton romances. . verney's notes of the long parliament. . autobiography of sir john bramston. . correspondence of james duke of perth. . liber de antiquis lezibus. . the chronicle of calais. . polydore vergil's history vol. i. . italian relation of england. . church of middleham. . the camden miscellany, vol. i. . life of ld. grey of wilton. . diary of walter yonge, esq. . diary of henry machyn. . visitation of huntingdonshire. . obituary of rich. smyth. . twysden on the government of england. . letters of elizabeth and james vi. . chronicon petroburgense. . queen jane and queen mary. . bury wills and inventories. . mapes de nugis curialium. . pilgrimage of sir r. guylford. * * * * * just published, in vo., price _s_. cloth, goethe's faust: with copious english notes, grammatical, philological, and exegetical, for students of the german language. by falk lebahn, ph.d., author of "german in one volume," &c. "not an idle addition to the many various impressions already existing in our literature of goethe's masterpiece, but an edition prepared for the use of those students of german who read without a master. first we have the original text complete. then the grammatical note, which occupy the place of a vocabulary, repeat the whole of the text in both german and english, classified according to doctor lebahn's system, and with reciprocal references to the pages and rules of grammar. the plan is highly ingenious, and we may add that the numberous extracts from other german authors, which illustrate the meanings of goethe, will be often found very curious and interesting."--_examiner._ london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for may contains:-- . a trip to the gold regions of scotland. . hepple castle, and hetchester, northumberland; with engravings. . traits of the trappists. . treasury warrant relating to rymer's foedera and his ms. collections. . "heydon with one hand," an english duel in the year . . the clothiers of kendal, and their trade tokens; with engravings. . christian iconography: the wheel of human life, or the seven ages. . a biography, with notes on the glens of antrim. . the gravestone of "dame joan" at the white ladies. . tower royal. . "romeland" at queen hithe, billingsgate, and waltham abbey. . the manor of stotesden, salop. . on supposed springs and showers of blood. . early history of st. james's park. with notes of the month, reviews of new publications, reports of archæological societies, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of lord skelmersdale, sir edward kerrison, henry southern, esq., dr. charlesworth, w. nottidge, esq., w. h. r. brown, esq., and many other eminent persons recently deceased. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , ._ * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may , . corrections made to printed original. p . "the reduction of the irish rebels of " - "french rebels" in original, corrected in the next edition. also "ballinakill" corrects original "ballinakell". generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may , . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page english books of emblems, by the rev. thomas corser author of tract on "advantages of the east india trade, , vo.," by james crossley "ake" and "ache," by thomas keightley localities mentioned in anglo-saxon charters, by b. williams inedited letter a shaksperian book minor notes:--shakspeare's monument--archbishop leighton and pope: curious coincidence of thought and expression--grant of slaves--sealing-wax queries:-- walmer castle, by c. waymor scotchmen in poland, by peter cunningham bishop juxon and walton's polyglott bible minor queries:--was andrew marvell poisoned?--anonymous pamphlet by dr. wallis--mrs. cobb's diary--compass flower--nuns of the hotel dieu-- purlieu--jennings family--latimer's brothers-in- law--autobiographical sketch--schonbornerus--symbol of globe and cross--booth family--ennui--bankruptcy records--golden bees--the grindstone oak--hogarth--adamsons of perth--cursitor barons of the exchequer--syriac scriptures replies:-- psalmanazar, by rev. dr. maitland consecrated roses, &c., by william j. thoms campbell's imitations "the hanover rat" font inscriptions irish rhymes: english provincialisms: lowland scotch pictures by hogarth photographic correspondence:--washing collodion process--colouring collodion pictures--wanted, a simple test for a good lens--photographic tent: restoration of faded negatives replies to minor queries:--gibbon's library--robert drury--grub street journal--wives of ecclesiastics--blanco white--captain ayloff--general monk and the university of cambridge--the ribston pippin--cross and pile--ellis walker--blackguard-- talleyrand--lord king and sclater--"beware the cat"--"bis dat qui cito dat"--high spirits a presage of evil--colonel thomas walcott--wood of the cross: mistletoe--irish office for prisoners--andries de græff: portraits at brickwall house--"qui facit per alium, facit per se"--christian names--lamech's war-song--traitor's ford miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. english books of emblems. it is a remarkable circumstance that whilst the emblems of alciatus vent through almost innumerable editions, and were translated into most of the continental languages, no version of these emblems should ever have been printed in this country, although we believe that ms. translations of them are in existence. it is remarkable also that more than half century should have elapsed after their appearance, before any english publication on this subject should have been committed to the press. our english authors of books of emblems were not only late in their appearance, but are few in number, and in their embellishments not very original, the plates being for the most part mere copies of those already published abroad by herman hugo, rollenhagius, and others. the notices of the english writers on this entertaining subject are also but meagre and imperfect, and restricted to a very few works; both dibdin, in his slight and rapid sketch on books of emblems in the _bibliogr. decam._, vol. i. p. ., and the writer in the _retrosp. rev._, vol. ix. p. ., having confined their remarks to some one or two of the leading writers only, arwaker, peacham, quarles, whitney, and wither. with the exception of an occasional article in the _bibl. ang. poet._, _cens. liter. restituta_, and similar bibliographical volumes, we are not aware that any other notice has been taken of this particular branch of our literature[ ], nor does there exist, { } that we know of, any complete, separate, and distinct catalogue of such works. being anxious, therefore, to obtain a correct account of what may be termed the english series of books of emblems, i inclose a list of all those in my own possession, and of the titles of such others as i have been able to collect; and i shall be glad if any of your readers can make any additions to the series, confining them at the same time strictly to books of emblems, and not admitting fables, heraldic works, or older publications not coming within the same category. a good comprehensive work on this subject of books of emblems, not confined merely to the english series, but embracing the whole foreign range, giving an account both of the writers of the verses, and also of the engravers, and the different styles of art in each, is still a great desideratum in our literary history; and if ably and artistically done, with suitable illustrations of the various engravings and other ornaments, would form a very interesting, instructive, and entertaining volume; and i sincerely hope that the time will not be far distant when such a volume will be found in our libraries. i conclude with a query of inquiry, whether anything is known of the present resting-place of a _treatise on emblems_, which the late mr. beloe informs us, at the close of his _literary anecdotes_, vol. vi. p. ., he had written at "considerable length," from communications furnished him by the marquis of blandford, whose collection of emblems was at that time one of the richest and most extensive in the kingdom, and whose treatise, if published, might perhaps prove a valuable addition to our information on this portion of our literature. i would also inquire who was thomas combe, and what did he write, who is thus mentioned by meres in his _palladis tamia: wits treasury_, lond. , vo., as one of our english writers of emblems: "as the latines have those emblematists, andreas alciatus, reusnerus, and sambucus, so we have these, geffrey whitney, andrew willet, and _thomas combe_." is anything known of the latter, or of his writings? thomas corser. stand rectory. _list of english writers of books of emblems._ a. (h.) parthenia sacra, of the mysterious and delicious garden of the sacred parthenis: symbolically set forth and enriched with pious devises and emblems for the entertainment of devout soules, &c. by h. a. plates. vo. printed by john cousturier, . abricht (john a. m.). divine emblems. embellished with etchings of copper after the fashion of master francis quarles. mo. lond. . arwaker (edmund). pia desideria, or divine addresses in three books. with copper plates by sturt. vo. lond. . ashrea: or the grove of beatitudes. represented in emblemes: and by the art of memory to be read on our blessed saviour crucified, &c. mo. lond. . astry (sir james). the royal politician represented in one hundred emblems. written in spanish by don diego saavedra faxardo, &c. done into english from the original. by sir james astry. in two vols. with portrait of william duke of gloucester, and other plates. vo. lond. . printed for matthew gylliflower. ayres (philip). emblemata amatoria. emblems of love in four languages. dedicated to the ladys. by ph. ayres, esq. with plates on copper. vo. lond. . barclay (alexander).[ ] the ship of fooles, wherein is shewed the folly of all states, &c. translated out of latin into englishe. with numerous woodcuts. imprinted by john cawood. folio, bl. letter, lond. . blount (thomas). the art of making devises: treating of hieroglyphicks, symboles, emblemes, Ænigmas, &c. translated from the french of henry estienne. to. lond. . bunyan (john). emblems by j. bunyan. [i have not seen this work, but suspect it is only a common chap-book. a copy was in one of lilly's catalogues.] burton (r.). choice emblems, divine and moral, ancient and modern; or delights for the ingenious in above fifty select emblems, curiously ingraven upon copper plates. with engraved frontispiece, &c. mo. lond. . printed for edmund parker. castanoza (john). the spiritual conflict, or the arraignment of the spirit of selfe-love and sensuality at the barre of truth and reason. first published in spanish by the reverend father john castanoza, afterwards put into the latin, italian, german, french, and english languages. with numerous engravings. mo. at paris, . choice emblems, natural, historical, fabulous, moral, and divine. mo. lond. . colman (w.). la dance machabre, or death's duell, by w. c. with engraved frontispiece by cecil, and plate. vo. lond. --. compendious emblematist; or writing and drawing made easy. with many plates. to. lond. emblems divine, moral, natural, and historical, expressed in sculpture, and applied to the several ages, occasions, and conditions of the life of man. by a person of quality. with woodcut engravings and metrical illustrations. vo. lond. . printed by j. c. for will. miller. emblems for the entertainment and improvement of youth, with explanations, on copper plates. white knights. vo. n. d., part i. emblems of mortality. with holbein's cuts of the dance of death, modernized and engraved by bewick. three editions. vo. lond. . farlie (robert). lychnocausia, sive moralia facum emblemata. lights morall emblems. kalendarium { } humanæ vitæ. the kalendar of man's life. with frontispiece and numerous woodcuts. vo. lond. . fransi (abrahami). insignium armorum emblematum hieroglyphicorum et symbolorum explicatio. no plates. to. lond. . g. (h.). the mirrour of majestie: or the badges of honour conceitedly emblazoned. with emblems annexed. to. . [this is the rarest of the english series; only two copies known, one perfect _penes_ me, and another imperfect.] gent (thomas). divine entertainments; of penitential desires, sighs, and groans of the wounded soul. in two books, adorned with suitable cuts. in verse. with numerous woodcuts. mo. lond. . hall (john). emblems, with elegant figures newly published. sparkles of divine love. engraved frontispiece and plates. mo. lond. . heywood (thomas). pleasant dialogues and dramas, selected out of lucian, &c. with sundry emblems, extracted from the most elegant iacobus catsius, &c. vo. lond. . no plates. jenner (thomas). the soules solace; or thirtie and one spirituall emblems. with plates on copper, and verses. to. lond. . ---- the ages of sin, of sinnes birth and growth. with the steppes and degrees of sin, from thought to finall impenitence. nine leaves containing nine emblematical engravings, each with six metrical lines beneath. to. no printer's name, place, or date. ---- a work for none but angels and men, that is, to be able to look into, and to know themselves, &c. it contains eight engravings emblematic of the senses, and is in fact sir john davis's poem on the immortality of the soul turned into prose. to. lond. . printed by m. s. for thomas jenner. ---- wonderful and strange punishments inflicted on the breakers of the ten commandments. with curious plates. to. lond. . montenay (georgette de). a booke of armes, or remembrance: wherein are a hundred godly emblemata; first invented and elaborated in the french tongue, but now in severall languages. with plates. vo. franckfort. . murray (rev. t. b.). an alphabet of emblems. with neatly executed woodcuts. mo. lond. . peacham (henry). minerva britannia, or, a garden of heroickall devises, furnished and adorned with emblemes and impressas, &c. numerous woodcuts. to. lond. n. d. ( .) protestant's (the) vade mecum, or popery displayed in its proper colours, in thirty emblems, lively representing all the jesuitical plots against this nation. with thirty engraved emblems on copper. vo. lond. . printed for daniel brown. quarles (francis). emblemes by fra. quarles. the first edition. with plates by w. marshall and others. rare. vo. lond. . printed by g. m. at john marriott's. ---- hieroglyphickes of the life of man, by fra. quarles. in a series of engraved emblems on copper by will. marshall. with verses. vo. lond. . printed by m. flesher. richardson (george). iconology; or a collection of emblematical figures, moral and instructive. in two volumes. with plates. to. lond. - . riley (george). emblems for youth. reprinted in , and again in . mo. lond. . ripa (cæsar). iconologia; or morall emblems. wherein are express'd various images of virtues, vices, &c. illustrated with human figures engraved on copper. by the care and charge of p. tempest. to. lond. . s. (p.) the heroical devises of m. claudius paradin, canon of beauvieu. whereunto are added the lord gabriel symons and others. translated out of latin into english by p. s. with woodcuts. mo. lond. . imprinted by william kearney. stirry (thomas). a rot among the bishops, or a terrible tempest in the sea of canterbury, a poem with lively emblems. a satire against archbishop laud. with four wood engravings. rare. vo. lond. . thurston (j.). religious emblems; being a series of engravings on wood, from the designs of j. thurston, with descriptions by the rev. j. thomas. to. lond. . vicars (john). a sight of y^e transactions of these latter yeares emblemized with engraven plates, which men may read without spectacles. collected by john vicars. with engravings of copper. to. lond. n. d., are to be sould by thomas jenner at his shop. ---- prodigies and apparitions, or england's warning pieces. being a seasonable description by lively figures and apt illustrations of many remarkable and prodigious forerunners and apparent predictions of god's wrath against england, if not timely prevented by true repentance. written by j. v. with curious frontispiece and six other plates. vo. lond. n. d., are to bee sould by tho. bates. whitney (geoffrey). a choice of emblems and other devises. englished and moralized by geoffrey whitney. with numerous woodcuts. to. leyden, . imprinted at leyden in the house of christopher, by grancis raphalengius. willet (andrew). sacrorum emblematum centuria una quæ tam ad exemplum aptè expressa sunt, &c. no plates. to. cantabr. n. d. ( .) wither (george). a collection of emblems, ancient and moderne: quickened with metricall illustrations both morall and divine. the plates, in number, were engraved by crispin pass. folio, lond. . printed by a. m. for henry taunton. wynne (john huddlestone). choice emblems for the improvement of youth. plates. mo. lond. . [footnote : we must exempt from this sweeping assertion a very interesting and well-written account of works on this subject, entitled "a sketch of that branch of literature called books of emblems, as it flourished during the th and th centuries, by joseph brooks yates, esq., f.s.a.," of west dingle, near liverpool, the friend of roscoe, and the worthy and intelligent president of the literary and philosophical society of liverpool, read at their meetings, and of which two parts have already been printed in their volumes of _proceedings_. this "sketch" only requires to be enlarged and completed, with specimens added of the different styles of the engravings, to render it everything that is to be desired on the subject.] [footnote : perhaps this, and the works of colman and heywood, are scarcely to be considered as _books of emblems_.] * * * * * author of tract on "advantages of the east india trade, , vo." of this pamphlet, originally published in , vo., under the title of _considerations upon the east india trade_, and afterwards in , vo., with a new title-page, _the advantages of the east india trade to england considered_, containing { } pages, inclusive of preface, the author never yet been ascertained. mr. m^cculloch accords to it, and very deservedly, the highest praise. he styles it (_literature of political economy_, p. .) "a profound, able, and most ingenious tract;" and observes that he has "set the powerful influence of the division of labour in the most striking point of view, and has illustrated it with a skill and felicity which even smith has not surpassed, but by which he most probably profited." addison's admirable paper in _the spectator_ (no. .) on the advantages of commerce, is only an expansion of some of the paragraphs in this pamphlet. in some parts i think he has scarcely equalled the force of his original. take, for instance, the following sentences, which admit of fair comparison: "we taste the spices of arabia, yet never feel the scorching sun which brings them forth; we shine in silks which our hands have never wrought; we drink of vineyards which we never planted; the treasures of those mines are ours which we have never digged; we only plough the deep, and reap the harvest of every country in the world."--_advantages of east india trade_, p. . "whilst we enjoy the remotest products of the north and south, we are free from those extremities of weather which give them birth; our eyes are refreshed with the green fields of britain, at the same time that our palates are feasted with fruits that rise between the tropics."--_spectator_, no. . mr. m^cculloch makes no conjecture as to the probable author of this very able tract; but it appears to me that it may on good grounds be ascribed to henry martyn, who afterwards--not certainly in accordance with the enlightened principles he lays down in this pamphlet--took an active part in opposing the treaty of commerce with france, and was rewarded by the appointment of inspector-general of the exports and imports of the customs. (see an account of him in ward's _lives of gresham professors_, p. .) he was a contributor to _the spectator_, and nos. . . and . have been attributed to him; and the matter of sir andrew freeport's speculations appears to have been furnished by him as addison and steele's oracle on trade and commerce. it will be seen that in no. . he makes exactly the same use of sir william petty's example of the watch as is done in the tract (p. .), and the coincidence seems to point out one common author of both compositions. but, without placing too much stress on this similarity, i find, that collins's _catalogue_, which was compiled with great care, and where it mentions the authors of anonymous works may always be relied upon, attributes this tract to martyn (collins's _cat_. - , vo., part i., no. .). i have a copy of the edition of , in the original binding and lettering--lettered "martyn on the east india trade "--and copies of the edition of in two separate collections of tracts; one of which belonged to a. chamier, and the other to george chalmers; in both of which the name of martyn is written as its author on the title-page, and in the latter in chalmers's handwriting. i think therefore we may conclude that this tract, which well deserves being more generally known than it is at present, was written by henry martyn. jas. crossley. * * * * * "ake" and ache. john kemble, it is well known, maintained that the latter was the mode of pronouncing this word in shakspeare's days. he was right, and he was wrong; for, as i shall show, both modes prevailed, at least in poetry, till the end of the seventeenth century. so it was with some other words, _show_ and _shew_, for instance. it is, perhaps, hardly necessary to observe that the sounds _k, ch, sh, kh_ (guttural) are commutable. thus the letter _h_ is named in italian, _acca_; in french, _ache_, in english, _aitch_, perhaps originally _atch_: our _church_ is the scottish _kirk_, &c. accordingly, we meet in shakspeare _reckless_ and _rechless_, _reeky_ and _reechy_; "as i could _pike_ (pitch) my lance." (coriol., act i. sc. .) hall has (_sat_. vi. .) "lucan _streaked_ (stretched) on his marble bed." so also there were _like_ and _liche_, and the vulgar _cham_ for _i am_ (_ic eom_, a.-s.) having now to show that both _ake_ and _ache_ were in use, i commence with the former: "like a milch-doe, whose swelling dugs do _ake_, hasting to find her fawn hid in some brake." shakspeare's _venus and adonis_ "by turns now half asleep, now half awake, my wounds began to smart, my hurt to _ake_." fairfax, _godf. of bull._, viii, . "yet, ere she went, her vex'd heart, which did _ake_, somewhat to ease, thus to the king she spake." drayton, _barons' wars_, iii. . "and cramm'd them till their guts did _ake_ with caudle, custard, and plumcake." _hudibras_, ii. . the following is rather dubious: "if chance once in the spring his head should _ach_, it was foretold: thus says my almanack." hall, _sat._ ii. ., ed. singer. the _aitch_, or rather, as i think, the _atch_ sound, occurs in the following places: "_b._ heigh ho! _m._ for a hawk, a horse, or a husband? _b._ for the letter that begins them all, _h_." _much ado about nothing_, act iii. sc. . "their fears of hostile strokes, their _aches_, losses." _timon of athens_, act v. sc. . "yea, fright all _aches_ from your bones." jonson, _fox_, ii. . { } "wherefore with mine thou dow thy musick match, or hath the crampe thy ionts benom'd with _ache_." spenser, _shep. cal._, viii. . "or gellia wore a velvet mastic-patch upon her temples, when no tooth did _ach_." hall, _sat._ vi. . "as no man of his own self catches the itch, or amorous french _aches_." _hudibras_, ii, . "the natural effect of love, as other flames and _aches_ prove." _ib._, iii. . "can by their pangs and _aches_ find all turns and changes of the wind." _ib._, iii. . these, in butler, are, i believe, the latest instances of this form of the word. thomas keightley. * * * * * localities mentioned in anglo-saxon charters. when mr. kemble published the index to his truly national code of anglo-saxon charters, he expressly stated that there were many places of which he was in doubt, and which are indicated by italics. it is only by minute local knowledge that many places can be verified, and with the view of eliciting from others the result of their investigations, i send you my humble contribution of corrections of places known to myself. bemtún, . bampton, oxon. bleódon, , . bleadon, somerset. bóclond, . buckland, berks. brixges stán, . brixton, surrey. ceomina lacu, . chimney, oxon. ceommenige, . idem. cingestún, , , . kingston bagpuxe, berks. cingtuninga gemære, . idem. colmenora, . cumnor, berks. crócgelád, . cricklade, wilts. dúnnestreátún, . dunster, somerset. esstune, . aston-in-bampton, oxon. fifhidan, , . fyfield, berks. hearge, . harrow-on-the-hill. hengestesige, . hinksey, berks. leoie, . bessil's-leigh, berks. monninghæma díc, . monnington, herefordshire. osulfe's lea, , is in suffolk, or near it. pipmynster, , &c., probably pippingminster, somerset. scypford, . shifford, oxon. scuccanhláu, , is in berks. tubbanford, , . tubney, berks. whétindún, . whatindon, surrey. wenbeorg, . wenbury, devon. wænríc , and wenrise, , is the river windrush. wícham (wítham), , , . witham, berks. wyttanig, . witney, oxon. wurðe, wyrðe, weorthe, weorthig, , , , . longworth, berks. worth, wurthige, , . worth, hants. the following are omitted: hanlee, . helig, . pendyfig, . stanford, . stanford, kent. stánlége, . standlake, oxon. Ðestinctun, . welingaford, . wallingford, berks. wanhæminga, . b. williams. * * * * * inedited letter. august th, , qu. coll. oxon. dear s^r, i heartily thank you for the favour of your letter, and to shew itt will not fail to write as often as anything does occurr worth sending, if you think the accountt i give not troublesome. dr. adams, dr. rudston, and delaune have promis'd to write this post: we remembred you both before and after your letters came w^{th} s^r john matthews, who staid here nights this weeke. our militia is gone home cloath'd in blew coates but many coxcombs of this city have refused to pay their quota towards the buying of them, railing against my l^d abington, who has smooth'd the mob by giving a brace of bucks last friday in port meed. j. m. has bin expected here this fortnight: the lady that calls herselfe by his nane has bin a good while at astrop, and has discover'd her displeasure there, that her husband as shee calls him keeps the coach so long from her at oxford: upon hearing of w^{ch} s^r w. h. in a blunt way gave her the old name, w^{ch} caus'd some dissatisfaction and left her smal acquaintance: i heare that the understanding between our friend and his uncle is not so good as formerly, but i do not think it will end in abdication. mr. painter is admitted rector of exeter. the _naked gospel_[ ] was burnt on y^e th in the scholes quadrangle. the regents first drew up a petition to have it censured; then some others more busy than wise tooke upon them to gett it subscribed, and went to coffee houses and taverns as well as colleges for that purpose: these proceedings being ag^{st} statute, and reflecting upon the vice ch., gave great offence; at last he call'd a meeting of y^e { } heads of houses, who deputed to examine it: they pick'd several proposit. w^{ch} were read. the sentence was in this form: propositions &^c tanqu[=a] falsas et impias in chris. relig. et in ecc. præcipue anglican[=a] contumeliosas damnamus, plerasq; insuper hæreticas esse decernimus et declaramus, &^c. this was first subscribed by all y^e heads of coll. and then condemn'd unanimously in a full convocation. the decree is printed, but is too large to send. the author of y^e booke has sent about a soft vindication of himselfe, that he is unwilling to be accounted a socinian, &c. if i can gett a sight of it i will send you the contents. i do not know how far you are in the right about guessing at a bursar: tim. seems resolv'd to act according to y^e song; but i to shew good nature even w^{th}out a tree have promis'd to make him a dial: and when that's done i will doe y^e like at astrop. i am your very humble serv^t, w. r. if you see coll. byerly, give my service to him. directed thus: these to george clark, esq., secretary of war in ireland. by y^e way of london. indorsed: w. rooke, rec^d at tipperary, sept. th. [footnote : [for some account of this work, by arthur bury, and the controversy respecting it, see wood's _athenæ_, edit. bliss, vol. i. p. . william rooke, the writer of the letter, was of queen's college; made b.a., may , ; m.a., oct. , ; b.d., april , .--ed.]] * * * * * a shaksperian book. "there exists," says mr. john wilson, "as it were a talismanic influence in regard to the most trivial circumstances connected with shakspeare," and yet this enthusiast has not, in his _shaksperiana_, alluded to the dramatic works of mary hornby, written under, and dated from, the _dear_ old roof at stratford-upon-avon! it was my late good fortune, after filling my pockets from the twopenny boxes of the suburban bookstalls, to find, on turning out the heterogeneous contents, that i had accidentally become possessed of _the broken vow_, a comedy by the aforesaid lady, who waits to be enrolled in that much wanted book, a new edition of the _biographia dramatica_. this _broken bow_ which looks like a re-cooking of the _merry miller_ of thomas sadler, , bears to be "printed at stratford-upon-avon, for the author, by w. barnacle, ." mary hornby, following the example of the _preoccupier of the butcher's shop_, tries her hand at both tragedy and comedy; in the first line she stands charged with the perpetration of _the battle of waterloo_, which, i doubt not, rivalled its original enactment in its _sanguinary_ character. i have not been lucky enough to fall in with this, which was a _hit_; our fair authoress, in her preface to the comedy under notice, modestly attributing its great success more to the kindness of her friends than to its literary merit. mrs. hornby sustains the dignity of the drama by adhering to her five acts, with prologue and epilogue according to prescription. looking to the prologue for the _who_, the _why_, and the _wherefore_, i am sorry to say i find no materials for the concoction of a biographical note; upon the second point, the _why_, she tells us: "when women teem, be it with bad or good, they must bring forth--forsooth 'tis right they should, but to produce a bantling of the brain, hard is the task, and oft the labour vain." that her literary _accouchement_ should not be a failure, she further says: "lord, how i've bother'd all the gods and graces, who patronize _some_ mortals, in such cases." i take the expressive use of the word "some" here to indicate her predecessor, the ancient occupier of the tenement, who certainly was a _protégé_ of the said parties. mrs. hornby then goes on to relate how that during her _gestation_ she invoked apollo, thalia, and erato: "soon they arrived, with hermes at their side, by jove commission'd, as their friend and guide. but when the mirth-inspiring dames stepp'd o'er the sacred threshold of _great shakspeare's door_, the heav'nly guests, _who came to laugh with me_, oppress'd with grief, wept with _melpomene_; bow'd pensive o'er the bard of nature's tomb, dropt a sad tear, then left me to my doom!" i leave the reader to judge for himself whether the muses really "came to laugh" with mary hornby, or whether, under the belief of the immortality of our bard, they did not rather expect a pleasant _soirée_ with gentle will, and naturally enough went off in a huff when they found themselves inveigled into a tea-party at mrs. hornby's. mr. wilson, in the work above quoted, does condescend to notice mrs. hornby,-- "who rented the butcher's shop under the chamber in which the poet was born, and kept the _shaksperian album_, an interesting record of the visitors to that shrine. some of the subscribers having given vent to original stanzas suggested by the scene, those effusions," continues the lofty bookseller, "_the female in question_ caused to be inscribed and printed in a small pamphlet, which she sells to strangers." not a word, you will see, about the poet's mantle having descended upon the shoulders of our mary,--which was unpolite of him, seeing that both the tragedy and comedy had the precedence of his book by some years. not having before me the later history of shakspeare's house, i am unable to say whether our subject deserved more consideration and gallant treatment at the hands of mr. collier, when he and his colleagues came into possession. j. o. { } * * * * * minor notes. _shakspeare's monument._--when i was a young man, some thirty or forty years ago, i visited the monument of shakspeare, in the beautiful church of stratford-upon-avon, and there copied, from the album which is kept for the names of visitors, the following lines: "stranger! to whom this monument is shown, invoke the poet's curse upon malone! whose meddling zeal his barbarous taste displays, and smears his tombstone, as he marr'd his plays. r. f. oct. , ." this has just now been brought to my mind by reading, in page . of the second volume of moore's journal, the following account of a conversation at bowood: "talked of malone--a dull man--his whitewashing the statue of shakspeare, at leamington or stratford (?), and general fitzpatrick's (lord l.'s uncle) epigram on the subject--very good-- 'and smears his statue as he mars his lays.'" i cannot but observe that the doubt expressed in the diary of moore--whether shakspeare's monument is "at leamington or stratford (?)"--is curious, and i conceive my version of the last line, besides being more correct, is also more pithy. it is incorrect, moreover, to call it a _statue_, as it is a three-quarters bust in a niche in the wall. the extract from _moore's diary_, however, satisfactorily explains the initials "r. f.," which have hitherto puzzled me. senex. _archbishop leighton and pope: curious coincidence of thought and expression._-- "were the true visage of sin seen at a full light, undressed and unpainted, it were impossible, while it so appeared, that any one soul could be in love with it, but would rather flee from it as hideous and abominable."--leighton's _works_, vol. i. p. . vice is a monster of such hideous mien, as to be hated, needs but to be seen."--_pope._ james cornish. _grant of slaves._--i send you a copy of a grant of a slave with his children, by william, the lion king of scotland, to the monks of dunfermline, taken from the _cart. de dunfermline_, fol. ., printed by the bannatyne club from a ms. in the advocates' library here, which you may, perhaps, think curious enough to insert in "n. & q." "de servis. "willielmus dei gracia rex scottorum. omnibus probis hominibus tocius terre me, clericis et laicis, salutem: sciant presentis et futuri me dedisse et concessisse et hac carta mea confirmasse, deo et ecclesie sancte trinitatis de dunfermlene et abbati et monachis ibidem, deo servientibus in liberam et perpetuam elemosinam, gillandream macsuthen et ejus liberos et illos eis quietos clamasse, de me, et heredibus meis, in perpetuum. testibus waltero de bid, cancellario; willielmo filio alani, dapifero; roberto aveneli gillexio rennerio, willielmo thoraldo, apud strivelin." g. h. s. edinburgh. _sealing-wax._--the most careful persons will occasionally drop melting sealing-wax on their fingers. the first impulse of every one is to pull it off, which is followed by a blister. the proper course is to let the wax cool on the finger; the pain is much less, and there is no blister. uneda. philadelphia. * * * * * queries. walmer castle. in hasted's _history of kent_, vol. iv. p. ., folio edition, we have as follows: "walmer, probably so called _quasi vallum maris_, i. e. the wall or fortification made against the sea, was expressed to have been a member of the port of sandwich time out of mind," &c. again, p. ., note _m_, we find: "before these three castles were built, there were, between deal and walmer castle, two eminences of earth, called 'the great and little bulwark;' and another, between the north end of deal and sandwich castle (all of which are now remaining): and there was probably one about the middle of the town, and others on the spots where the castles were erected. they had embrasures for guns, and together formed a defensive line of batteries along that part of the coast," &c. to the new building of these castles leland alludes, in his _cygnea cantio_: "jactat dela novas celebris arces notus cæsareis locus trophæis."--ver. . there are clear remains of a roman entrenchment close to walmer castle. (see _hasted_, vol. iv. p. ., notes.) any of your correspondents who could give me any information tending to show that an old fortification had existed on the site of walmer castle, previous to the erection of the present edifice--or even _almost_ upon the same site--would do me a very great kindness if he would communicate it, through the columns of "n. & q.," or by a private letter sent to the editor. c. waymor. * * * * * scotchmen in poland. can any of your readers throw any light on this passage in dr. johnson's _life of sir john denham_? "he [sir john denham] now resided in france, as one of the followers of the exiled king; and, to divert { } the melancholy of their condition, was sometimes enjoined by his master to write occasional verses; one of which amusements was probably his ode or song upon the embassy to poland, by which he and lord crofts procured a contribution of ten thousand pounds from the scotch, that wandered over that kingdom. poland was at that time very much frequented by itinerant traders, who, in a country of very little commerce and of great extent, where every man resided on his own estate, contributed very much to the accommodation of life, by bringing to every man's house those little necessaries which it was very inconvenient to want, and very troublesome to fetch. i have formerly read, without much reflection, of the multitude of scotchmen that travelled with their wares in poland; and that their numbers were not small, the success of this negociation gives sufficient evidence." the title of denham's poem is "on my lord crofts' and my journey into poland, from whence we brought , l. for his majesty by the decimation of his scottish subjects there." peter cunningham. * * * * * bishop juxon and walton's polyglott bible. in the library at this island, which formerly belonged to the knights of malta, there is an edition of walton's polyglott bible, which was published in london in . this work is in a most perfect state of preservation. on the title-page of the first of the eleven volumes, there is written, in a bold and perfectly legible manner, the following words: "liber coll. di joannis bapt^a oxon ex dono reverendiss. in xt^o patris gvil^i jvxon archiep. cantvariensis. a^o d^{ni} ." just below, but on the right of the above, there is written in a clear hand as follows: "ex libris domus abbatialis s. antonij viennensis, catalogo inscript an. . no. ." that the question which i shall ask at the end of this note may be the more easily answered, it will perhaps be necessary for me to state, that in the year , rohan, the grand master of the knights of malta, succeeded in annexing the property belonging to the order of st. antonio de vienna to that of malta. in accepting of these estates, which were situated in france and savoy, rohan bound himself to pay the many mortgages and debts with which they were encumbered; and so large an amount had to be thus defrayed, that for a hundred years the convent would not be reimbursed for its advances, and receive the , livres, at which sum their annual rental would then be valued. of the foundation of this order a recent writer (thornton) thus remarks: "in some nobles of dauphiny united for the relief of sufferers from a kind of leprosy called st. anthony's fire, which society, in , was erected into a religious body of hospitallers, having a grand master for chief. this order, after many changes in its constitution, having been left the option between extinction and secularisation, or union with another order, accepted the latter alternative, and selected that of st. john of jerusalem." among the moveable effects which came to the knights of malta by this arrangement, was a small and well-selected library, and in it this edition of walton's bible. without, therefore, writing more at length on this subject, which might take up too much space in "n. & q.," i would simply add, that my attention was called to this work by the rev. mr. howe, chaplain of h.b.m. ship "britannia," and for the purpose of asking, at what time, by whom, and in what manner, were these volumes removed from st. john's college at oxford, and transferred to the library of the order of st. antonio de vienna in france? w. w. la valetta, malta. * * * * * minor queries. _was andrew marvell poisoned?_--i have just been reading the three ponderous quarto volumes comprising _the works_ of andrew marvell, as collected and edited by his townsman, capt. edward thompson of hull. in the "life," near the end of vol. iii., we are told that the patriot died on aug. , , "and by poison for he was healthful and vigorous to the moment he was seized with the premeditated ruin." and again, in a summary of his merits, we are told that "all these patriot virtues were insufficient to guard him against the jesuitical machinations of the _state_; for what vice and bribery could not influence, was perpetrated by poison." this heinous crime, so formally averred against the enemies of marvell, may have been committed by "some person or persons unknown;" but, as not a tittle of evidence is adduced or indicated by the zealous biographer in support of the charge--query, had it any foundation in fact? in the court, and out of the court, the anti-popish, anti-prelatical puritan had enemies numerous and bitter enough; but is there really any other ground for the abominable imputation of foul play alluded to, beyond his actually sudden death? is the hypothesis of poison coeval with the date of marvell's demise? if so, was there any official inquiry--any "crowner's quest?" surely his admiring compatriots on the banks of the humber did not at once quietly sit down with the conviction, that _thus_ "fell one of the first characters of this kingdom or of any other." h. _anonymous pamphlet by dr. wallis_ (vol. vii., p. .).--will mr. crossley have the kindness to give the title of the anonymous pamphlet which, he informs us, was published by dr. john wallis { } in defence of the oxford decree of , on the subject of the trinity? tyro. dublin. _mrs. cobb's diary._--can any of your readers give me any information as to the following book, _extracts from the diary and letters of mrs. mary cobb_: london, printed by c. and r. baldwin, , vo., pp. .; said to be _privately printed_? john martin. roxfield, bedfordshire. _compass flower._-- "look at this delicate flower that lifts its head from the meadow-- see how its leaves all point to the north, as true as the magnet; it is the compass flower, that the finger of god has suspended here on its fragile stalk, to direct the traveller's journey over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert." _evangeline_, part ii. iv. line ., &c. where can i find a description of this flower, and what is its scientific name? in abercrombie's _intellectual powers_, p. . edit. , i find the following passage: "the american hunter finds his way in the trackless forests by attention to minute appearances in the trees, which indicate to him the points of the compass." can any one tell me what these "minute appearances" are? a. h. battier. east sheen, surrey. _nuns of the hotel dieu._--what is the religions habit of the nuns at the hospital of the hotel dieu in paris at the present day? m. l. _purlieu._--some of your correspondents seem afraid that an attempt to repair the deficiencies of our english dictionaries, by research into disputed etymologies in "n. & q.," would tend to produce too much and too tedious discussion, and fill its space too much. could _this_, at least, not be done without much objection? could we not co-operate in finding the earliest known mention of words, and thus perhaps trace the occasion and manner of their introduction? at any rate, this word _purlieu_ is certainly in want of some examination. johnson has adopted the wretched etymology of _pur_, fr. for pure, and _lieu_, fr. for place; and he defines it as a place on the outskirts of a forest free of wood. the earliest record in which this word occurs, so far as i have seen, is in an act of edward iii., quoted by manwood, and it is there spelt _puraley_; and it relates to the disafforested parts which several preceding kings permitted to be detached from their royal forests. might i ask if any of your correspondents find an earlier use of the word; and can it be gifted with a probable paternity? the tracing of the earliest known mention of disputed words is a task capable of being finished, and might perhaps be attended, in many cases, with happy results. it would rid us probably of many puerilities which degrade our current dictionaries. m. c. e. _jennings family._--some time since i requested as a great favour that your correspondent percuriosus would kindly inform me where i could get a sight of the spoure mss. i repeat that i should feel greatly obliged if he would do so: and as this is of no public interest, i send postage envelope, in the event of percuriosus obliging me with the desired information. j. jennings-g. _latimer's brothers-in-law._--in bishop latimer's first sermon, preached before king edward vi., we find the quaint martyr-bishop magnifying the paternal prudence for having suitably "married his sisters with five pounds, or twenty nobles, apiece;" but neither the editors of the sermon, nor the writers of several biographical notices of latimer consulted by me, and in which the extract appears, give any account of the fortunate gentlemen whom the generous parent thus doubly blessed with his twofold treasure. can you, or any of your readers, oblige by furnishing the _names_ of bishop latimer's brothers-in-law, or by giving some references or brief account of them? * * _autobiographical sketch._--a fragment came into my possession some time ago, among a quantity of waste paper in which books were wrapped, which, from the singularity of its contents, i felt desirous to trace to the book of which it forms a part, but my research has hitherto proved unsuccessful. it consists of two leaves of a large octavo sheet, probably published some twenty years back, and is headed "autobiographical sketch of the editor." it commences with the words: "the commissioners of the poor laws will understand me, when i say, that i was born at putney, in surrey." the pages are of course not consecutive: so after an allusion to the wanderings of the writer, i have nothing more up to p. ., at which is an account of a supposed plot against the lord mayor and sheriffs, concocted by him with the assistance of some school-boy coadjutors; the object of which appears to have been, to overturn the state-coach of the civic functionary, as it ascended holborn hill, by charging it with a hackney coach, in which sat the writer and certain widows armed with bolsters in pink satin bags. the word having been given to "charge!" this new kind of war-chariot was driven down the hill at full speed, gunpowder ignited on its roof, and blazing squibs protruded { } through its back, sides, and front. the ingenious author declares that the onslaught was crowned with complete success; but here, most unfortunately, the sheet ends: and unless you, mr. editor, or some of your correspondents, will kindly help me to the rest of the narrative, i must, i fear return unexperienced to my grave. i have omitted to mention, that the date of this event is given as the th of july, . cheverells. _schonbornerus._--can any of your readers give me information about a book i became possessed of by chance a short time ago, or tell me anything respecting its author, for whom i have vainly sought biographical dictionaries? the volume is a duodecimo, and bears the following title-page: "georgii schonborneri politicorum, libri septem. editio ad ipsius authoris emendatum exemplar nunc primum vulgata. amsterodami: apud l. elzevirium, anno ." it is written in latin, and contains as many quotations as the _anatomy of melancholy_, or mr. digby's _broad stone of honour_. h. a. b. _symbol of globe and cross._--can any one oblige me with an explanation of the mysterious symbols on a seal not older than the last century? it contains a globe, bearing a cross upon it, and a winged heart above, with the legend "_pour vous_." c. t. _booth family._--can any of your lancashire correspondents afford information bearing on the families of booth of salford, and lightbown of manchester? is any pedigree extant of either of these families, and what arms did they bear? humphrey booth founded, i believe, a church in salford about the year , the patronage of which still remains, as it might seem, in the family, the _clergy list_ describing it as in the gift of sir r. g. booth. there is a booth hall in blackley, a small village lying by the road side, between manchester and middleton; and from the _inquisitio post mortem_ of humphrey booth, car. i., it appears that he died seised of lands in blackley as well as salford. is there any evidence to connect him with this hall, as the place of his residence? a jesuit. jesus college, cambridge. _ennui._--what is our nearest approach to a correct rendering of this expression? some english writer (lady morgan, i believe) has defined it "mental lukewarmness:" but, if it be true, as la-motte houdart says, that-- "l'ennui naquit un jour de l'uniformité." the above definition would seem to indicate rather the cause of _ennui_ than _ennui_ itself. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _bankruptcy records._--where can i search for evidence of a bankruptcy, probably about ? the chief registrar's indices do not go back nearly so far. j. k. _golden bees._--napoleon i. and ii. are said to have had their imperial robes embroidered with golden bees, as claiming official descent from carolus magnus. query, what is the authority for this heraldic distinction, said to have been assumed by charlemagne? james graves. kilkenny. _the grindstone oak._--can any of your topographical correspondents state what is the earliest mention made of an oak tree well known in this part of the country, and the destruction of which by fire, on the th of november, , was the subject of regret to all who had seen or heard of it? it was called the _grindstone oak_, and had been a denizen of the forest of alice holt, as many suppose, since the days of the confessor. it measured thirty-four feet in circumference, at the height of seven feet from the ground; and is mentioned by gilbert white, in his _history of selborne_, as "the great oak in the holt, which is deemed by mr. marsham to be the biggest in this island." l. l. l. near selborne, hants. _hogarth._--about the year , mr. hogarth painted a portrait of himself and wife: he afterwards cut the canvass through, and presented the half containing his own portrait to a gentleman in yorkshire. if any of your numerous readers are in possession of any portrait of mr. hogarth, about three feet in length, and one foot eight inches wide, or are aware of the existence of such a portrait, they will confer a favour by addressing a line to j. phillips, . torrington place, london. _adamsons of perth._--can any of your scottish correspondents inform me what relationship existed between patrick adamson, titular archbishop of st. andrew's, and the two learned brothers, henry adamson, author of the _muses' threnodie_, and john adamson, principal of the college at edinburgh, and editor of the _muses' welcome_; and whether any existing family claims to be descended from them? they were all born at perth. henry and john were the sons of james adamson, a merchant and magistrate of the fair city. probably the archbishop was a brother of this james adamson, and son of patrick adamson, who was dean of the guild when john knox preached his famous sermon at st. john's. mariota, a daughter of the archbishop, is said by burke to have married sir michael { } balfour, bart., of nortland castle orkney. another daughter would appear to have become the wife of thomas wilson, or volusenus, as he calls himself, the editor of his father-in-law's poems and other publications. e. h. a. _cursitor barons of the exchequer._--will you allow me to repeat a question which you inserted in vol. v., p. ., as to a list of these officers, and any account of their origin and history? surely some of your correspondents, devoted to legal antiquities, can give note a clue to the labyrinth which madox has not ventured to enter. the office still exists--with peculiar duties which are still performed--and we know that it is an ancient one; all sufficient grounds for inquiry, which i trust will meet with some response. edward foss. _syriac scriptures._--i am very anxious to know what editions of the scriptures in syriac (the _peshito_) were published between leusden and schaaf's new testament, and the entire bible in by the bible society. b. h. c. * * * * * replies. psalmanazar. (vol. vii., pp. . .) having long felt a great respect for this person, and a great interest in all that concerns his history, i am induced to mention the grounds on which i have been led to doubt whether the letter in the _gentleman's magazine_, to which mr. crossley refers, is worthy of credit. when i first saw it, i considered it as so valuable an addition to the information which i had collected on the subject, that i was anxious to know who was the writer. it had no signature; but the date, "sherdington, june, ," which was retained, gave me a clue which, by means not worth detailing, led me to the knowledge that what thus appeared in the _gentleman's magazine_ for february, , had issued from "curll's chaste press" more than thirty years before, in the form of a letter from the person now known in literary history as "curll's corinna," but by her cotemporaries (see the index of mr. cunningham's excellent _handbook of london_) as mrs. elizabeth thomas, sometime of dyot street, st. giles's, and afterwards of a locality not precisely ascertained, but within the rules of the fleet, and possibly (though mr. cunningham does not corroborate this) at some period of her life resident in the more genteel quarters which curll assigns to her. to speak more strictly, and make the matter intelligible to any one who may look at it in the magazine, i should add that the first paragraph (seventeen lines, on p. ., dated from "sherdington," and beginning "i dined," says the letter writer, "last saturday with sir john guise, at gloucester") is part of a letter purporting to be written by her lover; while all the remainder (on pp. - .) is from corinna's answer to it. the worthless and forgotten work of which these letters form a part, consists of two volumes. the copy which i borrowed when i discovered what i have stated, consisted of a first volume of the second edition ( ), and a second volume of the first edition ( ). the title of the second volume (which i give as belonging to the earlier edition) is: "the honourable lovers: or, the second and last volume of pylades and corinna. being the remainder of love letters, and other pieces (in verse and prose), which passed between richard gwinnett, esq.; of great shurdington, in gloucestershire, and mrs. elizabeth thomas, jun., of great russel street, bloomsbury. to which is added, a collection of familiar letters between corinna, mr. norris, capt. hemington, lady chudleigh, lady pakington, &c. &c. all faithfully published from their original manuscripts. london: printed in the year m.dcc.xxxii. (price s.)" the title-page of the first volume (second edition) differs principally in having the statement that the book was "printed for e. curll" (whose name does not appear in the earlier second volume, though perhaps it may have done so in the first of that earlier edition), and an announcement that the fidelity of the publication is "attested, by sir edward northey, knight." the work is a farrago of low rubbish utterly beneath criticism; and i should perhaps hardly think it worth while to say as much as i have said of it, had it not been that, in turning it about, i could not help feeling a suspicion that daniel defoe's hand was in the matter, at least so far as that papers that had belonged to him might have come into curll's hands, and furnished materials for the work. it would be tedious to enter into details; but the question seemed to me to be one of some interest, because, in my own mind, it was immediately followed by another, namely, whether daniel had not more to do than has been suspected with the _history of formosa_? those who are more familiar with defoe than i am, will be better able to judge whether he was, as psalmanazar says, "the person who englished it from my latin;" for the youth was as much disqualified for writing the book in english, by being a frenchman, as he would have been if he had been a formosan. he acknowledges that this person assisted him to correct improbabilities; but i do not know that he anywhere throws further light on the question respecting the help which he must have had. daniel would be just the man to correct some gross improbabilities, and at the same time help him to some more probable fictions. under this impression i recently inquired (see "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .) respecting the authorship of { } _pylades and corinna_, and the possibility that it might be the work of defoe; but i believe that my question has not been answered. i have already trespassed unreasonably on your columns; but still i must beg, in justice to a man whose character, as i have said, i very highly respect, to add one remark. when his imposture is referred to, it is not always remembered that when he came to this country he was not his own master. it seems that he rambled away from his home in the south of france, when about fifteen years old; that he spent about two years in wandering about france and germany, and astonishing people by pretending to be, at first a converted, and afterwards an unconverted, formosan; that when performing this second, pagan, character, he arrived at sluys, where a scotch regiment in the dutch service, under brigadier lauder, was stationed; that the chaplain, named innes, detected the fraud, but instead of reproving the lad for his sin and folly, only considered how he might turn the cheat to his own advantage, and render it conducive to his own preferment. the abandoned miscreant actually went through the blasphemous mockery of baptizing the youth as a convert from heathenism; named him after the brigadier, who stood godfather: claimed credit from the bishop of london for his zeal; and was by the kind prelate invited to bring his convert to london. the chaplain lost no time in accepting, was graciously received by the bishop and the archbishop, snapped up the first piece of preferment that would answer his views (it happened to be the office of chaplain-general to the forces in portugal), and made off, leaving his convert to bear the storm which was sure to burst on him, as best he might. that a youth thus tutored and thus abandoned, before johnson was born, should have lived to attract his society, and win from him the testimony that he was "the best man" whom he had ever known, gives him a claim to our respect, which seems to me to be strengthened by everything which i have been able to learn respecting him. s. r. maitland. gloucester. * * * * * consecrated roses, etc. (vol. vii., p. .) had g.'s query referred solely to the consecration of _the golden rose_, i might have given him a satisfactory answer by referring him to cartari's essay on the subject entitled _la rosa d'ora pontificia, &c._, to. , and to the account (with accompanying engraving) of the _rose, sword, and cap_ consecrated by julius iii., and sent by him to philip and mary; and to cardinal pole's exposition of these papal gifts, which are to be found in the st volume of f. angeli rocca, _opera omnia_ (fol. rome, ). in the authors to whom i have referred, much curious information will, however, be found. i take this opportunity of saying, that as i am about to submit a communication on the subject of _the golden rose_ to the society of antiquaries, i shall feel obliged by any hints which may help me to render it more complete; and of putting on record in "n. & q." the following particulars of the ceremonial, as it was performed on the th of march last, which i extract from the _dublin weekly telegraph_ of the th of april. "on sunday, the th [march, ], the benediction of the golden rose, was, according to annual usage, performed by the pontiff previously to high mass, in the sistine chapel, celebrated by a cardinal, at which he assists every sunday during lent. to the more ancient practice of blessing, on the fourth sunday of 'quaresima,' a pair of gold and silver keys, touched with filings from the chains of st. peter (which are still preserved in rome), the holy see has substituted that of the benediction of the 'rosa d'oro,' to be presented, within the year, to some sovereign or other potentate, who has proved well deserving of the church. the first positive record respecting the golden rose has been ascribed to the pontificate of leo ix. ( - ); but a writer in the _civitta catolica_ states that allusion to a census levied for its cost may be found in the annals of a still earlier period. the pontiffs used formerly to present it annually to the prefect of rome, after singing mass, on this sunday, at the lateran, and pronouncing a homily, during which they lifted the consecrated object in one hand whilst expounding to the people its mystic significance. pius ii. ( ) is the last pope recorded to have thus preached in reference to and thus conferred the golden rose; and the first foreign potentate recorded to have received it from the holy see is fulk, count of anjou, to whom it was presented by urban ii. in . a homily of innocent iii. also contains all explanation of this beautiful symbol--the precious metal, the balsam and musk used in consecrating it, being taken in mystic sense as allusion to the triple substance in the person of the incarnate lord--divinity, soul, and body. it is not merely a single flower, but an entire rose-tree that is represented--the whole about a foot in height, most delicately wrought in fine lamina of gold. this being previously deposited between lighted candelabra, on a table in the sacristy, is taken by the youngest cleric of the camera, to be consigned to his holiness, after the latter has been vested for the solemnity, but before his assuming the mitre. after a beautiful form of prayer, with incense and holy water, the pontiff then, holding the object in his hand, imparts the benediction, introducing into the flower which crowns the graceful stem, and is perforated so as to provide a receptacle, balsam of peru and powder of musk. he then passes with the usual procession into the sistine, still carrying the rose in his left hand; and during the mass it remains beneath the crucifix over the altar. if in the course of the year no donation of the precious object is thought advisable, the same is consecrated afresh on the anniversary following. some have conjectured that the empress of france will be selected { } by pius ix. to receive this honour in the present instance; but this is mere conjecture. on a former occasion, it is true, the golden rose was conferred by him on another crowned head of the fairer sex--one entitled to more than common regards from the supreme pastor in adversity--the queen of naples." william j. thoms. * * * * * campbell's imitations. (vol. vi., p. .) it is curious that two of the passages pointed out by mr. breen, as containing borrowed ideas, are those quoted by alison in his recent volume (_hist. eur._, vol. i. pp. , .) to support his panegyric on campbell, of whose "felicitous images" he speaks with some enthusiasm. the propensity of campbell to adapt or imitate the thoughts and expressions of others has often struck me. let me then suggest the following (taken at random) as further, and i believe hitherto unnoticed, illustrations of that propensity: . "when front to front the banner'd hosts combine, halt ere they close, and form the dreadful line." _pleasures of hope._ "when front to front the marching armies shine, halt ere they meet, and form the lengthening line." pope, _battle of frogs and mice_. . "as sweep the shot stars down the troubled sky." _pleasures of hope._ "and rolls low thunder thro' _the troubled sky_." pope, _frogs and mice_. . "with meteor-standard to the winds unfurl'd." _pleasures of hope._ "the imperial _standard_ which full high advanc'd, shone _like a meteor_ streaming _to the wind_." milton, _par. lost_, i. . . "the dying man to sweden turn'd his eye, thought of his home, and clos'd it with a sigh." _pleasures of hope._ "sternitur infelix alieno vulnere, coelumque aspicit, _et dulces moriens reminiscitur argos_." virgil, _Æn._, x. . . "... red meteors flash'd along the sky, and conscious nature shudder'd at the cry." _pleasures of hope._ "... _fulsere ignes, et conscius_ æther." virgil, _Æn._, iv. . . "in hollow winds he hears a spirit moan." _pleasures of hope._ shakespeare has the _hollow whistling_ of the southern _wind_. . "the strings of nature crack'd with agony." _pleasures of hope._ "his _grief_ grew puissant. and _the strings of life_ began _to crack_."--shakspeare, _king lear_. . "the fierce extremes of good and ill to brook." _gertrude of wyoming._ "... and feel by turns the bitter change of _fierce extremes, extremes_ by change more _fierce_." milton, _par. lost_, ii. . . "his tassell'd horn beside him laid." _o'connor's child._ "... ere th' odorous breath of morn awakes the slumbering leaves, or _tassell'd horn_ shakes the high thicket."--milton, _arcades_. . "the scented wild-weeds and enamell'd moss." _theodric._ campbell thinks it necessary to explain this latter epithet in a note: "the moss of switzerland, as well as that of the tyrol, is remarkable for a bright smoothness approaching to the appearance of enamel." and yet was no one, or both, of the following passages floating in his brain when his pen traced the line? "o'er the _smooth enamell'd green_ where no print of sleep hath been." milton, _arcades_. "here blushing flora paints _th' enamell'd ground_." pope, _winsdor forest_. w. t. m. hong kong. * * * * * "the hanover rat." (vol. vii. p. .) _an essay on irish bulls_ is said to have found its way into a catalogue of works upon natural history; with which precedent in my favour, and pending the inquiries of _naturalists_, _ratcatchers_, and _farmers_ into the history of the above-named formidable invader, i hope mr. hibberd will have no objection to my intruding a bibliographical curiosity under the convenient head he has opened for it in "n. & q." my book, then, bears the appropriate title, _an attempt towards a natural history of the hanover rat, dedicated to p***m m******r, m.d., and s----y to the royal society_, vo., pp. .: london, . the writer of this curious piece takes his _cue_ from that remarkable production, _an attempt towards a natural history of the polype_, ; in which the learned mr. henry baker, in a letter to martin folkes, of pages, vo., illustrated by a profusion of woodcuts, elaborately describes this link between the animal and vegetable creation, and the experiments he practised upon the same: commencing with "cutting off a polype's head," and so on through a series of scientific barbarities upon his _little creature_, which ended only in "turning a polype inside out!" following the plan of mr. baker, the anonymous author of _the hanover rat_ tells us, that, after thirty years' laborious research, he had { } satisfied himself that this animal was not a native of these islands: "i cannot," he says, "particularly mark the date of its first appearance, yet i think it is within the memory of man;" and finding favour in its original _mine affamée_ state with a few of the most starved and hungry of the english rats from the common sewer, he proceeds to show that it _did_ extirpate the natives; but whether this is the best account, or whether the facts of the case as here set forth will satisfy your correspondent, is another thing. according to _my_ authority, the aboriginal rat was, at the period of writing, sorely put to it to maintain his ground against the invading colonists and their unnatural allies the _providers_; and the present work seems to have been an effort on the part of one in the interest of the former to awaken them to a sense of their danger. in his laudable attempts to rally their courage, this advocate reminds them of a similar crisis when their country was infested with a species of frog called _dutch frogs_: "which no sooner," says he, "began to be mischievous, than its growth and progress was stopped by the natives." "had we," he continues, "but the same public spirit with our ancestors, we need not complain to-day of being eaten up by _rats_. our country is the same, but alas! we feel no more the same affection for it." in this way he stimulates the invaded to a combined attack upon the common enemy, and we need not tell _our_ readers how successfully, nor how desperate the struggle, the very next year; which ended in the complete ascendancy of the _hanover rat_, or reigning family, over the unlucky jacobite native. under his figure of a rat, this jacobite is very scurrilous indeed upon the hanoverian succession; and, continuing his _polypian_ imitations, relates a few coarse experiments upon _his subject_ illustrative of its destructive properties, voracity, and sagacity, which set at nought "all the contrivances of the farmer to defend his barns; the trailer his warehouse; the gentleman his land; or the inferior people their cup-boards and small beer cellars. no bars or bolts can keep them out, nor can any gin or trap lay hold of them." luckily for us living in these latter days, we can extract amusement from topics of this nature, which would have subjected our forefathers to severe pains and penalties; and looking at the character and mischievous tendency of _the hanover rat_, i am curious to know if mary cooper, the publisher, was put under surveillance for her share in its production; for to me it appears a more aggravated libel upon the reigning family than that of the _norfolk prophecy_--for the publication of which, boswell says, the great samuel johnson had to play at hide and seek with the officers of justice. the advent of both pretenders was preceded by _straws_ like these cast out by their adherents, to try _how the current set_. the present _jeu d'esprit_, however, is a double-shotted one: for, not content with tampering with the public allegiance, this aboriginal rat seems more innocently enjoying a laugh at the royal society, and its ingenious _fellow_ mr. baker, in as far as regards the aforesaid elaborate treatise upon _polypes_. j. o. * * * * * font inscriptions. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. ellacombe desires examples of these. i can supply the following:-- at bradley, lincolnshire, is a very large font, of the decorated period, with this inscription round the bowl in black letter: "pater noster, ave maria, and criede, leren ye chyld yt es nede." this is an early instance of the use of _english_ for inscriptions. the sketch was engraved in the work on _baptismal fonts_. at threckingham, lincolnshire, i believe i succeeded in deciphering an inscription round the font, which was said to have been previously studied in vain. it is somewhat defaced; but in all probability the words are,-- "ave maria gracia p... d... t..." _i. e._ of course, "plena, dominus tecum." the bowl of the font is early english; but the base, round which the inscription runs, appears to be of the fifteenth century. at burgate, suffolk, an inscription in black letter is incised on the upper step of the font: "[orate pro an--b'] will'mi burgate militis et d[=n]e elionore uxoris eius qui istum fontem fieri fecerunt." sir william burgate died in . it is engraved in the _proceedings of the bury and west suffolk archæological institute_. at caistor, by norwich: "orate pro animab ... liis ... ici de castre." at walsoken, norfolk: "remember the soul of s. honyter and margaret his wife, and john beforth, chaplain." with the date . at gaywood, norfolk, is a font of gothic design, lust probably of post-reformation date. on four of the eight sides of the bowl are these inscriptions: "qvi . credide "voce . pater rit . et . bapti natus . corpore zatvs . fverit flamen . ave. salvvs . erit." mat. ." "christvm . in "i . am . thy . god dvistis . qvot and . the . god qvot . bapti of . thy . seede. zati . estis." gen." { } at tilney, all saints, norfolk, is an inscribed font so similar to the one last mentioned that they are probably the works of the same designer. on the _cover_ of the font at southacre, norfolk, is this inscription: "orate p. aia. m[=r]i. ri[=c]i. gotts et d[=n]i galfridi baker, rectoris huj' [eccl[=i]e qui hoc] opus fieri fece^t." i may take the opportunity of adding two _pulpit_ inscriptions; one at utterby, lincolnshire, on the sounding-board: "quoties conscendo animo contimesco." the other at swarby, in the same county: "o god my saviour be my sped, to preach thy word, men's soulls to fed." c. r. m. * * * * * irish rhymes--english provincialisms--lowland scotch. (vol. vi., pp. , .) mr. bede, who first called attention to a class of rhymes which he denominated "irish," seems to take it ill that i have dealt with his observations as somewhat "hypercritical." i acknowledge the justness of his criticism; but i did, and must still, demur to the propriety of calling certain false rhymes peculiarly _irish_, when i am able to produce similes from poets of celebrity, who cannot stand excused by mr. bede's explanation, that the rhymes in question "made music for their irish ear." if, as he tells us, mr. bede was not "blind to similar imperfections in english poets," i am yet to learn why he should fix on "swift's irishisms," and call those errors a national peculiarity, when he finds them so freely scattered through the standard poetry of england? your correspondent j. h. t. suggests a new direction for inquiry on this subject when he conjectures that the pronunciation now called _irish_ was, "during the first half of the eighteenth century, the received pronunciation of the most correct speakers of the day;" and mr. bede himself suggests that _provincialisms_ may sometimes modify the rhymes of even so correct a versifier as tennyson. i hope some of your contributors will have "drunk so deep of the well of english undefiled" as to be competent to address themselves to this point of inquiry. i cannot pretend to do much, being but a shallow philologist; yet, since i received your last number, i have lighted on a passage in that volume of "omnifarious information" croker's _boswell_, which will not be deemed inapplicable. boswell, during a sojourn at lichfield in , expressed a doubt as to the correctness of johnson's eulogy on his townsmen, as "speaking the purest english," and instanced several provincial sounds, such as _there_ pronounced like _fear_, _once_ like _woonse_. on this passage are a succession of notes: burney observes, that "david garrick always said _shupreme, shuperior_." malone's note brings the case in point to ours when he says, "this is still the vulgar pronunciation in ireland; the pronunciation in ireland is doubtless that which generally prevailed in england in the time of queen elizabeth." and mr. croker sums up the case thus: "no doubt the english settlers carried over, and may have in some cases preserved, the english idiom and accent of their day. bishop kearny, as well as his friend mr. malone, thought that the most remarkable peculiarity of irish pronunciation, as in _say_ for _sea_, _tay_ for _tea_, was _the english mode, even down to the reign of queen anne_; and there are rhymes in pope, and more frequently in dryden, that countenance that opinion. but rhymes cannot be depended upon for minute identity of sound."--croker's _notes_, a.d. . if this explanation be adopted, it will account for the examples i have been furnishing, and others which i find even among the harmonious rhymes of spenser (he might, however, have caught the brogue in ireland); yet am i free to own that to me popular pronunciation scarcely justifies the committing to paper such loose rhymes as ought to grate on that fineness of ear which is an essential faculty in the true poet; "here or awa'," in england or ireland, i continue to set them down to "slip-slop composition." it may not be inappropriate to notice, that among swift's eccentricities, we find a propensity to "out-of-the-way rhymes." in his works are numerous examples of couplets made apparently for no other purpose but to show that no word could baffle him; and the anecdote of his long research for a rhyme for the name of his old enemy serjent _betsworth_, and of the curious accident by which he obtained it, is well known; from which we may conclude that he was on the watch for occasions of exhibiting such rhymes as _rakewell_ and _sequel_, _charge ye_ and _clergy_, without supposing him ignorant that he was guilty of "lèse majesté" against the laws of correct pronunciation. when i asked mr. bede's decision on a _palpable cockneyism_ in verse, i did so merely with a view, by a "_tu quoque_ pleasantry," to enliven a discussion, which i hope we may carry on and conclude in that good humour with which i accept his parenthetic hint, that i have made "a bull" of my pegasus. i beg to submit to him, that, as i read the _classical dictionary_, it is from the _heels_ of pegasus the fount of poetic inspiration is supposed to be derived; and, further, that the _brogue_ is not so _malapropos_ to the _heel_ as he imagines, for in ireland the _brogue_ is in use as well to cover the _understanding_ as to _tip the tongue_. could i enjoy the pleasure of mr. bede's company in a stroll over my native mountains, he might find that there are occasions on which he might be glad to put off { } his london-made shoe, and "to _wear_ the _brogue_, though _speak_ none." a. b. r. p.s.--the _postscriptum_ of j. h. t. respecting the pronunciation of english being preserved in scotland, goes direct to an opinion i long since formed, that the lowland scotch, as we read it in the waverley novels, is the only genuine unadulterated remains we have of the saxon language, as used before the norman conquest. i formed this opinion from continually tracing what we call "braid scotch" to its root, in bosworth's, and other saxon dictionaries; and i lately found this fact confirmed and accounted for in a passage of verstegan, as follows:--he tells us that after the battle of hastings prince edgar atheling, with his sisters margaret and christian, retired into scotland, where king malcolm married the former of these ladies; and proceeds thus: "as now the english court, by reason of the aboundance of normannes therein, became moste to speak french, so the scottish court, because of the queen, and the many english that came with her, began to speak english; the which language, it would seem, king malcolm himself had before that learned, and now, by reason of his queen, did more affecte it. but the english toung, in fine, prevailed more in scotland than the french did in england; _for english became the language of all the south part of scotland_, the irish (or gaelic) having before that been the general language of the whole country, since remaining only in the north."--verstegan's _restitution of antiquities_, a.d. . many of your accomplished philological readers will doubtless consider the information of this note trivial and puerile; but they will, i hope, bear with a tyro in the science, in recording an original remark of his own, borne out by an authority so decisive as verstegan. a. b. r. * * * * * pictures by hogarth. (vol. vii., pp. . .) in reply to amateur, i can inform him that at the sale of the marlborough effects at marlborough house about thirty years ago, there were sold four or five small whole-lengths in oil of members of that family. they were hardly clever enough for what hogarth's after-style would lead us to expect, but there were many reasons for thinking they were by him. they came into the possession of mr. croker, who presented them, as family curiosities, to the second earl spencer, and they are now, i presume, in the gallery at althorpe. one of them was peculiarly curious as connected with a remarkable anecdote of the great duchess. horace walpole tells us in the _reminiscences_, her granddaughter, lady bateman, having persuaded her brother, the young duke of marlborough, to marry a miss trevor without the duchess's consent: "the grandam's rage exceeded all bounds. having a portrait of lady bateman, she blackened the face, and then wrote on it, '_now her outside's as black as her inside._'" one of the portraits i speak of was of lady bateman, and bore on its face evidence of having incurred some damage, for the coat of arms with which (like all the others, and as was hogarth's fashion) it was ornamented in one corner, were angrily scratched out, as with a knife. whether this defacement gave rise to walpole's story, or whether the face had been also blackened with some stuff that was afterwards removed, seems doubtful; the picture itself, according to my recollection, showed no mark but the armorial defacement. i much wonder this style of small whole-lengths has not been more prevalent; they give the general air and manner of the personage so much better than the bust size can do, and they are so much more suited to the size of our ordinary apartments. c. referring to an amateur's inquiry as to where any pictures painted by hogarth are to be seen, i beg to say that i have in my possession, and should be happy to show him, the portrait of hogarth's wife (sir william thornhill's daughter), painted by himself. lyndon rolls. banbury. the late bishop luscombe showed me, at paris, in , a picture of "the oratorio,"--a subject well known from hogarth's etching. he told me that he bought it at a broker's shop in the rue st. denis; that, on examination, he found the frame to be english; and that, as the price was small--thirty francs, if i remember rightly--he bought the piece, without supposing it to be more than a copy. sir william knighton, on seeing it in the bishop's collection, told him that hogarth's original had belonged to the dukes of richmond, and had been in their residence at paris until the first revolution, since which time it had not been heard of; and sir william had no doubt that the bishop had been so fortunate as to recover it. perhaps some of your readers may have something to say on this story. j. c. r. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _washing collodion process._--in "n. & q.," no. ., p. ., your valued correspondent dr. diamond states "that up to the _final_ period of the operation, no washing of the plate is requisite. it prevents, rather than assists, the necessary chemical action.". now, in all other instructions i have yet seen, it is directed to wash off the iron, or other developing solution, _prior_ to immersing in the hypo., and after { } such immersion, again to wash well in water. i shall feel greatly obliged if dr. d. will be kind enough to state whether the first-named washing is requisite, or whether the properties of the hypo., or the beauty of the picture, will be in any way injured by the previous solutions _not_ having been washed off, prior to the fixings. c. w. [we have submitted this query to dr. diamond, who informs us that he never adopts the practice of washing off the developing fluid, and considers it not only needless, but sometimes prejudicial, as when such washing has not been resorted to, the hyposulphite solution flows more readily over the picture, and causes none of the unpleasant stains which frequently occur in pictures which have been previously washed, especially if hard water has been used. but besides this, and the saving of time, the doing away with this unnecessary washing economises water, which in out-door practice is often a great consideration. dr. diamond would again impress upon our readers the advantage of using the hyposulphite over and over again, merely keeping up its full strength by the addition of fresh crystals of the salt from time to time, as such practice produces pictures of whiter and softer tone than are ever produced by the raw solution.] _colouring collodion pictures_ (vol. vii., p. .)--a patent has just been taken out (dated september , ) for this purpose, by mons. j. l. tardieu, of paris. he terms his process _tardiochromy_. it consists in applying oil or other colours at the back of the pictures, so as to give the requisite tints to the several parts of the photograph, without at all interfering with its extreme delicacy. it may even, in some cases, be used to remedy defects in the photographic picture. the claim is essentially for the application of colours at the back, instead of on the surface of photographs, whatever kind of colours may be used. it is therefore, of course, applicable only to photographs taken on paper, glass, or some transparent material. a. c. wilson. _wanted, a simple test for a good lens._--as all writers on photography agree that the first great essential for successful practice is a good lens--that is to say, a lens of which the visual and chemical foci coincide--can any of the scientific readers of "n. & q." point out any simple test by which unscientific parties desirous of practising photography may be enabled to judge of the goodness of a lens? a country gentleman, like myself, may purchase a lens from an eminent house, with an assurance that it is everything that can be desired (and i am _not_ putting an imaginary case), and may succeed in getting beautiful images upon his focussing-glass, but very unsatisfactory pictures; and it may not be until he has almost abandoned photography, in despair at his own want of skill, that he has the opportunity of showing his apparatus, manipulation, &c. to some more practised hand, who is enabled to prove that _the lens was not capable_ of doing what the vendors stated it could do. surely scientific men must know of a simple test which would save the disappointment i have described; and i hope some one will take pity upon me, and send it to "n. & q.," for the benefit of myself and every other country practitioner. _photographic tent--restoration of faded negatives._--in vol. vii., p. ., i find m. f. m. inquiring for a cheap and portable tent, effective for photographic operations out of doors. i have for the last two years, and in mid-day (june), prepared calotype paper, and also the collodion glass plates, for the camera, under a tent of glazed yellow calico of only a single thickness: the light admitted is very great, but does not in the least injure the most sensitive plate or paper. it is made square like a large bag, so that in a room i can use it double as a blind; and out of doors, in a high wind, i have crept into it, and prepared my paper opposite the object i intended to calotype. i should be glad it any of your readers would inform me how a failed negative calotype can be restored to its original strength. i last year took a great number, some of which have nearly faded away; and others are as strong, and as able to be used to print from, as when first done. the paper was prepared with the single iodide of silver solution, and rendered sensitive with aceto-nitrate sil. and gallic acid in the usual way. i attribute the fading to the hyposulphate not being got rid of; and the question is, can the picture he restored? are dr. diamond's _notes_ published yet? s. s. b., jun. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _gibbon's library_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i visited it in , in company with dr. scholl, of lausanne, who took charge of it for mr. beckford. it was sold between and , partly by auction, partly by private sale in detail. james dennistoun. _robert drury_ (vol. v., p. .).--i am afraid that the credit attachable to drury's _madagascar_ is not supported or strengthened by the announcement that the author was "every day to be spoken with" at old tom's coffee house in birchin lane. _the apparition of mrs. veal_, and other productions of a similar description, should make us very doubtful as regards the literature of the earlier part of the eighteenth century. might not a person have been suborned to represent the fictitious robert drury, to the benefit of the coffee-house keeper as well as the publisher? i am induced to express this suspicion by a parallel case of the same period. _the ten years' voyages of captain george roberts_, london, , is universally, i { } believe, considered fictitious, and ascribed to defoe; yet at the end of the work we find: "n. b.--the little boy so often mentioned in the foregoing sheets, now lives with mr. galapin, a tobacconist, in monument yard; and may be referred to for the truth of most of the particulars before related." w. pinkerton. ham. _grub street journal_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. james crossley, after quoting eustace budgell's conjectures as to the writers of this paper, leaves it as doubtful whether pope was or was not one of them. the poet has himself contradicted budgell's insinuation when he retorted upon him in those terrible lines (alluding to his alleged forgery of a will): "let budgell charge low grub street to my quill, and write whate'er he please--except my will!" alexander andrews. _wives of ecclesiastics_ (vol. i., p. .).--in considering "the statutes made by anselm, archbishop of canterbury, thomas, archbishop of york, and all the other bishops of england," ann. , interdicting the marriage of ecclesiastics, might it not be worth investigating, by such of your correspondents as are curious on the subject, what had been the antecedents of the several bishops themselves? with respect to thomas ii., archbishop of york, it is historically certain, that he was the _son_ of an ecclesiastic, and likewise the _grandson_ of an ecclesiastic (his _father_ being one of the bishops who concurred in these statutes). neither does it seem altogether unlikely that thomas himself also had spent some part of his early life in bonds of wedlock, since we learn from the _monasticon_ (vol. iii. p. . of new edit.), that "thomas, _son of thomas_ (_the second of that name_), _archbishop of york_, confirmed what his predecessors, thomas and girard, had given," &c. if this be correct, as stated[ ], the conclusion is inevitable; but possibly some error may have arisen out of the circumstance, that thomas i. and thomas ii., archbishops of york, were uncle and nephew. j. sansom. [footnote : robertus bloëtus also, who was still bishop of lincoln, and rogerus, bishop of salisbury, appear to have had sons, though, perhaps, not born in wedlock; but query.] _blanco white._--in vol. vii., p. ., is a copy of a sonnet which is said to be "_on_ the rev. joseph blanco white." this sonnet is one which i have been in search of for some years. i saw it in a newspaper (i believe the _athenæum_), but not having secured a copy of it at the time, now ten or twelve years ago, i have had occasion to regret it ever since, and am consequently much obliged to balliolensis for his preservation of it in "n. & q." "it is needless," as he well observes, "to say anything in its praise." i should add, that my strong impression is that this sonnet was written _by_ blanco white. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. _captain ayloff_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent will find a short notice of capt. ayloff in jacob's _poetical register_ ( - , vo., vols.), and two of his poetical pieces--"marvell's ghost" and the "cambridge commencement"--in nichols's _collection of poems_ (vol. iii. pp. - .), , mo. there is considerable vigour in his "marvell's ghost;" and had he cultivated his talent, he might have taken a respectable place as a poet amongst the writers of his time. jas. crossley. _general monk and the university of cambridge_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i cannot doubt that "w. d." was dr. william dillingham, master of emmanuel college, and vice-chancellor of the university, from november till november . the election to which his letter relates took place april , . the votes were: lord general moncke thomas crouch, m.a., fellow of trin. coll. oliver st. john, chancellor of the university the vice-chancellor, in his accounts, makes this charge: "paid to two messengers sent to wait on y^e lord generall about y^e burgesship, l. s."--_m. s. baker_, xl. . on the nd of may, general monk, who had been also chosen for devonshire, made his election to sit for that county. c. h. cooper. cambridge. in reply to leicestriensis, i beg leave to inform him that "w. d." was wm. dillingham, d.d., master of clare hall, and at the time vice-chancellor of the university of cambridge. the letter in question, which was the original draft, was, with a variety of other family papers, _stolen_ from me in . j. p. ord. p.s.--query, from whom did the present possessor obtain it? _the ribston pippin_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the remarks of your correspondent h. c. k., respecting the uncertain origin of the ribston pippin, reminded me of a communication which i received about fifty years ago, from one of the sisters of the late sir henry goodricke, the last of the family who possessed ribston. though it leaves the question concerning the origin of that excellent apple unsettled, yet it may not be uninteresting to { } h. c. k. and some others of your numerous readers. i therefore send a transcript: "_tradition of the ribston pippin tree._ "about the beginning of the last century, sir henry goodricke, father of the late sir john goodricke, had three pips sent by a friend in a letter from rouen in normandy, which were sown at ribston. two of the pips produced nothing: the third is the present tree, which is in good health, and still continues to bear fruit." "_another account._ "sir henry, the father of the late sir john goodricke, being at rouen in normandy, preserved the pips of some fine flavoured apples, and sent them to ribston, where they were sown, and the produce in due time planted in what then was the park. out of seven trees planted, five proved decided crabs, and are all dead. the other two proved good apples; they never were grafted, and one of them is the celebrated original ribston pippin tree." the latter tradition has, i believe, always been considered as the most correct. s. d. _cross and pile_ (vol. vi., _passim._).--the various disquisitions of your correspondents on the word _pile_ are very ingenious; but i think it is very satisfactorily explained as "a ship" by joseph scaliger in _de re nummaria dissertatio_, leyden, : "macrobius de nummo _ratito_ loquens, qui erat æreus: _ita fuisse signatum hodieque intelligitur in aleæ lusu, quum pueri denarios in sublime jactantes, capita aut navia, lusu teste vetustatis exclamant_."--p. . and in scaligerana (prima): "nummus ratitus--ce qu'aujourd'hui nous appellons jouer à croix ou à pile, car _pile_ est un vieil mot français qui signifiait un navire, _unde_ pilote. ratitus nummus erat ex ære, sic dictus ab effigie ratus."--tom. ii., amsterdam, , p. . see also, _auctores latinæ linguæ_, by gothofred, , p. . l. . also, _dictionnaire national_ of m. bescherelle, tome ii. p ., paris, , art. pile (_subst. fém._) _en passant_, allow me to point out a very curious and interesting account of this game, being the pastime of edward ii., in the _antiquarian repertory_, by grose and astle: lond. , to., vol. ii. pp - . [phi]. richmond, surrey. _ellis walker_ (vol. vii., p. .).-- "ellis walker, d.d.," according to ware, "was born in the city of york; but came young into ireland, and was educated in the college of dublin, where he passed through all his degrees. he fled from thence in the troublesome reign of king james ii., and lived with an uncle at york, where he translated _epictetus_ into verse. after the settlement of ireland he returned, and for seven years employed himself with great reputation in teaching a public school at drogheda, where he died on the th april, , in the fortieth year of his age; and was buried there in st. peter's church, and twenty years after had a monument erected to his memory by one of his scholars." tyro. dublin. _blackguard_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i am not aware that the following extract from burton's _anatomy of melancholy_ has ever yet been quoted under this heading. would it not be worth the while to add it to the extract from hobbes's _microcosmos_, quoted by jarltzberg, vol. ii., p. . and again, by sir j. emerson tennent at vol. vii., p. .: "the same author, cardan, in his _hyperchen_, out of the doctrine of the stoicks, will have some of these genii (for so he calls them) to be desirous of men's company, very affable and familiar with them, as dogs are; others again, to abhor as serpents, and care not for them. the same, belike, trithemius calls _igneos et sublunares, qui numquam demergunt ad inferiora, aut vix ullum habent in terris commercium: generally they far excel men in worth, as a man the meanest worm_; though some there are _inferiour to those of their own rank in worth, as the black guard in a princes court, and to men again, as some degenerate, base, rational creatures are excelled of brute beasts_."--_anat. of mel._, part i. sec. . mem. . subs. . [blake, , p. .] c. forbes. temple. in looking over the second volume of "n. & q.," i find the use of the word _blackguard_ is referred to, and passages illustrative of its meaning are given from the works of beaumont and fletcher, hobbes, butler, &c. to these may be added the following fanciful use of the word, which occurs in the poems of charles sackville, earl of dorset; the author of the well-known naval song "to all you ladies now at land:" "love is all gentleness, all joy, smooth are his looks, and soft his pace. her [belinda's] cupid is a blackguard boy, that rubs his link full in your face." cuthbert bede, b.a. _talleyrand_ (vol. vi., p. .).--talleyrand's maxim is in young. i regret that i cannot give the reference. z. e. r. _lord king and sclater_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--by sclater's answer, "as i am informed, the lord chancellor _king_ was himself fully convinced."--zach. grey's _review of neal_, p. ., edit. . _"beware the cat"_ (vol. v., p. .).-the "dignitary of cambridge" was probably dr. thackeray, provost of king's, who bequeathed all his { } black-letter books to the college. perhaps _beware the cat_ may be among them. z. e. r. "_bis dat qui cito dat_" (vol. vi., p. .).--the following greek is either in the _anthologia_, or in joshua barnes: "[greek: ôkeiai charitos glukerôterai, ên de bradunêi pasa charis phthinuthei, mêde legoito charis.]" "gratia ab officio quod mora tardat, abest." z. e. r. _high spirits a presage of evil._--the note of your correspondent cuthbert bede (vol. vii., p. .) upon this very interesting point recalls to my recollection a line or two in gilfillan's _first gallery of literary portraits_, p. ., which bears directly upon it. speaking of the death of percy bysshe shelley, the author says, "during all the time he spent in leghorn, he was in brilliant spirits, _to him a sure prognostic of coming evil_." i may add, that i have been on terms of intimacy with various persons who entertained a dread of finding themselves in good spirits, from a strong conviction that some calamity would be sure to befall them. this is a curious psychological question, worthy of attention. w. sawyer. brighton. _colonel thomas walcot_ (vol. vii., p. .) married jane, the second daughter of james purcel of craugh, co. limerick, and had by her six sons and two daughters: john, the eldest, who married sarah wright of holt, in denbighshire; thomas, ludlow, and joseph, which last three died unmarried; edward (who died an infant); william (of whom i have no present trace); catherine and bridget. the latter married, first, mr. cox of waterford, and second, robert allen of garranmore, co. tipperary. john, the eldest son, administered to his father, and possessed himself of his estates and effects. i think his son was a john minchin walcot, who represented askeaton in parliament in , died in london in , and was buried in st. margaret's churchyard. two years after his death his eldest daughter married william cecil pery, of the line of viscount pery, and had by him edmund henry pery, member of parliament for limerick in . a william walcot was on the irish establishment appointed a major in the th regiment of foot in , but i cannot just now say whether, or how, he was related to colonel thomas walcot. john d'alton. dublin. _wood of the cross: mistletoe_ (vol. vii., p. .).--was s. s. s.'s farmer a native of an eastern county? if he came from any part where scandinavian traditions may be supposed to have prevailed, there may be some connexion between the myth, that the mistletoe furnished the wood for the cross, and that which represents it as forming the arrow with which hödur, at the instigation of lok, the spirit of evil, killed baldyr. i have met with a tradition in german, that the aspen tree supplied the wood for the cross, and hence shuddered ever after at the recollection of its guilt. t. h. l. the tradition to which i have been always accustomed is, that the aspen was the tree of which the cross was formed, and that its tremulous and quivering motion proceeded from its consciousness of the awful use to which it had once been put. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _irish office for prisoners_ (vol. vii, p .).--the best reference for _english_ readers is to bishop mant's edition of the prayer-book, in which this office is included. j. c. r. _andries de græff: portraits at brickwall house_ (vol. vii, p. .).--"andries de græff. obiit lxxiii., mdclxxiv." was this gentleman related to, or the father of, regulus de græf, a celebrated physician and anatomist, born in july, , at scomharen, a town in holland, where his father was the first architect? regulus de græf married in , and died in , at the early age of thirty-two. he published several works, chiefly _de organis generationis_, &c. (see hutchinson's _biographia medica_; and, for a complete list of his works, _lindonius renovatus_, p. .: nuremberg, , to.) s. s. s. bath. "_qui facit per alium, facit per se_" (vol. vii., p. .).--this is one of the most ordinary maxims or "brocards" of the common law of scotland, and implies that the employer is responsible for the acts of his servant or agent, done on his employment. beyond doubt it is borrowed from the civil law, and though i cannot find it in the title of the digest, _de diversis regulis juris antiqui_ (lib. . tit. .), i am sure it will be traced either to the "corpus juris," or to one of the commentators thereupon. w. h. m. _christian names_ (vol. vii., p. .).--when lord coke says "a man cannot have two names of baptism, as he may have divers surnames," he does not mean that a man may not have two or more christian names given to him at the font, but that, while he may have "divers surnames at divers times," he may not have divers christian names _at divers times_. when a man changes his christian name, he alters his legal identity. the surname, however, is assumable at pleasure. the use of surnames came into england, according to camden, about { } the time of the conquest, but they were not in general use till long after that. many branches of families used to substitute the names of their estate or residence for their patronymic, which often makes the tracing of genealogies a difficult matter. it was not till the middle of the fourteenth century that surnames began to descend from father to son, and a reference to any old document of the time will show how arbitrarily such names were assumed. a surname, in short, may be called a matter of convenience; a christian name, a matter of necessity. the giving two christian names at baptism did not come generally into use till, owing to the multiplication of the patronymic, a single christian name became insufficient to identify the individual. consequently an instance of a double christian name, previous to the commencement of the eighteenth century, is a rarity. the fifth and sixth earls of northumberland bore the names of henry-algernon percy. the latter died in . as to the period at which christian names were assumed as surnames, your correspondent ericas is referred to lower's _english surnames_. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. your correspondent erica will not, i think, find an instance in this country of a person having more than one christian name before the last century. charles james fox and william wyndham grenville are the two earliest instances i can find. it is trivial but curious to observe, that in the lists given at the beginning of the _oxford calendar_ of the heads of colleges and halls from their several foundations, the first who appears with two christian names is the venerable president of magdalene college. antony ashley cooper is only a seeming exception; his surname was ashley-cooper, as is proved by his contributing the letter _a_ to the word _cabal_, the nickname of the ministry of which he formed a part. we find the custom common enough in germany at the time of the reformation, and still earlier in italy. i apprehend that its origin is really in the _tria nomina_ of roman freemen. it was introduced into this country through our royal family, but i am not aware of any prince who had the benefit of it before charles james. i apprehend the passage which erica quotes from lord coke has not the significance which he attributes to it. a man can have but one christian or baptismal name, of however many single names or words that baptismal name may be composed. i have spoken in this letter of two christian names, in order to be more intelligible at the expense of correctness. j. j. h. temple. _lamech's war-song_ (vol. vii., p. .).--there have been many speculations about the origin and meaning of these lines. i agree with ewald in _die poetischen bücher des alten bundes_, vol. i., who calls it a "sword-song;" and i imagine it might have been preserved by tradition among the canaanitish nations, and so quoted by moses as familiar to the israelites. i should translate it-- "adah and zillah, hear ye my voice! wives of lemek, heed ye my saying! for man do i slay, for my wound; and child, for my bruise. for seven-fold is cain avenged, and lemek seventy-fold and seven." bishop hall, in his _explication of hard texts_, paraphrases it thus: "and lamech said to his wives, 'adah and zillah, what tell you me of any dangers and fears? hear my voice, oh ye faint-hearted wives of lamech, and hearken unto my speech; i pass not of the strength of my adversary: for i know my own valour and power to revenge; if any man give me but a wound or a stroke, though he be never so young and lusty, i can and will kill him dead.'" your correspondent h. walter says that "every branch of cain's family was destroyed by the deluge." where is the authority to be found for the tradition, quoted in an _introduction to the books of moses_, by james morison, p. ., that naameh, the daughter of lamech the cainite and zillah, married ham, the son of noah, and thus survived the flood? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _traitor's ford_ (vol. vii., p. .).--nothing is known of any legend in connexion with the stirring events of the battle of edgehill, or its times, and the origin of the name is a matter of speculation. one _trait_ had lands near this stream, and it is thought by some that, from this circumstance, it is properly _trait's_ ford, corrupted into traitor's ford,--a locality well known to sportsmen as a favourite meet of the warwickshire hounds. a. b. r. banbury. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. we understand the committee appointed by the society of antiquaries to consider the best mode of restoring the society to its former efficient state, have agreed upon their report, and also to the revised laws to be recommended to the fellows for adoption. of the nature of alterations suggested, we know nothing; for while, on the one hand, it is stated that the report recommends changes of a most sweeping character, on the other it is rumoured that the changes to be proposed are neither many nor important. the truth in this, as in most cases, no doubt lies midway between { } the two: and the report will probably be found to breathe a spirit of conservative reform. embracing, as the proposed changes necessarily must, points on which great difference of opinion has existed, and may continue to exist, we hope they will receive the impartial consideration of the fellows; and that they will bear in mind, that in coming to the conclusions at which they have arrived, the committee have had the advantage of sources of information, necessarily beyond the reach of the body generally; and that those very recommendations, which at first sight may seem most open to objection, may probably be those which their information most completely justifies. books received.--_young's night thoughts, or life, death, and immortality, revised and collated with the early quarto editions, with a life of the author by_ dr. doran. this new, handsomely printed, and carefully edited reprint of the great work of this noble and original writer, is rendered more valuable by the well-written and critical memoir of young, which dr. doran has prefixed to it.--_the national miscellany_, _may_ . the first number of a new magazine just issued by mr. parker (oxford), with every promise of realising the objects for which it has been projected, namely, "to aid the elevation of the reader's mind, to raise some glow of generous desire, some high and noble thoughts, some kindly feeling, and a warm veneration for all things that are good and true."--_cyclopædia bibliographica_, part viii. this most useful work is in the present part carried from _fawcett_ (john) to _göthe_. every fresh issue of it affords additional evidence of the great utility which the complete work will prove to all authors, preachers, students, and literary men. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. rev. a. dyce's edition of dr. richard bentley's works. vol. iii. published by francis macpherson, middle row, holborn. . dissertation on isaiah xviii., in a letter to edward king, esq., by samuel lord bishop of rochester (horsley). the quarto edition, printed for robson. . history of ancient wilts, by sir r. c. hoare. the last three parts. ben jonson's works. vols. vo. vols. ii., iii., iv. bds. sir walter scott's novels. vols. vo. the last nine vols. boards. jacob's english peerage. folio edition, . vols. ii., iii., and iv. gammer gurton's needle. alison's europe. ( vols.) vols. xiii., xx. abbotsford edition of the waverley novels. odd vols. the truth teller. a periodical. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. h. c. b. _no._ j. d. lucas (bristol). _the inscription is dutch, and means "praise god for all things."_ walter j. watts _will find much of the literary history of the_ travels of baron munchausen, _which were written in ridicule of bruce, the abyssinian traveller, in our_ rd vol., pp. , , . p. p. _longfellow_ is _an american, having been born at portland. he is now, we believe, professor of modern languages and belles lettres at cambridge university, u.s._ a briton _must be aware that if we were so far to depart from our plan of avoiding religious controversy, as to insert his query, we should be inviting endless disputes and discussions, such as our pages could not contain, or our readers endure._ c. m. i. _the sides of the stage are described in stage directions as_ o. p. _and_ p. s., _i. e._ opposite promp. (_or_ prompter) _and_ promp. side. general sir dennis pack (vol. vii., p. .).--_"as the purport of the query may be defeated by two misprints in my communication relative to this gallant soldier, may i beg of your readers for 'french rebels,' to substitute 'irish rebels;' and for 'ballinakell,' 'ballinakill.' i am willing to lay the blame of these errata on my own cacography, rather than on the printer's back._ james graves. kilkenny." photographic correspondence. _replies to our photographic correspondents next week._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * pure nervous or mind complaints.--if the readers of notes and queries, who suffer from depression of spirits, confusion, headache, blushing, groundless fears, unfitness for business or society, blood to the head, failure of memory, delusions, suicidal thoughts, fear of insanity, &c., will call on, or correspond with, rev. dr. willis moseley, who, out of above , applicants, knows not fifty uncured who have followed his advice, he will instruct them how to get well, without a fee, and will render the same service to the friends of the insane.--at home from to . . bloomsbury street, bedford square. * * * * * photographic school.--royal polytechnic institution. the school is now open for instruction in all branches of photography, to ladies and gentlemen, on alternate days, from eleven till four o'clock, under the joint direction of t. a. malone, esq., who has long been connected with photography, and j. h. pepper, esq., the chemist to the institution. a prospectus, with terms, may be had at the institution. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments. the superiority of this preparation is now generally acknowledged. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles; 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silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett. watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordinance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared: at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from - / to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th of june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. w. cabell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * a literary curiosity, sent free by post on receipt of three postage stamps. a fac-simile of a very remarkably curious, interesting, and droll newspaper of charles ii.'s period. j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * wanted, for the ladies' institute, . regent street, quadrant. ladies of taste for fancy work.--by paying s. will be received as members, and taught the new style of velvet wool work, which is acquired in a few easy lessons. each lady will be guaranteed constant employment and ready cash payment for her work. apply personally to mrs. thoughey. n. b. ladies taught by letter at any distance from london. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being - / per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads: also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. and their new warerooms contain an extensive assortment of bed-room furniture, furniture chintzes, damasks, and dimities, so as to render their establishment complete for the general furnishing of bed-rooms. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. { } * * * * * mr. halliwell's folio edition of shakspeare. * * * * * specimen copies of the first volume of this work may be seen at mr. skeffington's, . piccadilly, and at mr. russell smith's, . soho square, london. the editor having, at a great sacrifice, adhered to the original limit, and the estimates having been considerably exceeded, has been compelled, to avoid incurring an extravagant loss, to make the terms very absolute, and to raise the subscription to the later copies. notwithstanding, therefore, the great demand for the work, a few copies may still be secured by early written application. all communications on the subject are requested to be addressed to-- j. o. halliwell, esq., avenue lodge, brixton hill, surrey. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday may , contains articles on agriculture, history of attraction, capillary barley, to transplant, by messrs. hardy beetle, instinct of books noticed butterfly, instinct of calendar, horticultural ----, agricultural columnea schiedeana dahlia, the, by mr. edwards digging machine, samuelson's eggs, to keep farm leases, by mr. morton frost, plants injured by grapes, colouring green, german, by mr. prideaux heat, bottom heating, gas, by mr. lucas ireland, tenant-right in kilwhiss _v._ rothamsted experiments, by mr. russell land, transfer of law of transfer leases, farm, by mr. morton level, new plummet, by mr. ennis nelumbium luteum orchard houses, by mr. russell (with engravings) orchids, sale of paints, green, by mr. prideaux plants, effects of frost on ----, bottom-heat for potatoe disease, by mr. hopps rooks schools, self-supporting society of arts societies, proceedings of the horticultural, linnean, national floricultural, agricultural of england sparrows strawberry, cuthill's tenant-right in ireland veitch's nursery, chelsea water lilies, eradicating winter, the late * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent gardens, london. * * * * * published on the th may, , in one volume to., cloth, price s. a new greek harmony of the four gospels, including an introductory treatise, and numerous tables, indexes, and diagrams. by william stroud, m.d. samuel bagster & sons, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * museum of classical antiquities. vol. ii. pt. . s. d., and supplement s., april and may, . on the true site of calvary, with a restored plan of the ancient city of jerusalem. by [arabic: **] t. richards, . great queen street, lincoln's inn. * * * * * new edition of lays of the scottish cavaliers. on monday will be published in fcap. vo., a new edition, being the sixth, of lays of the scottish cavaliers. by w. edmonstoun aytoun. price s. d. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * this day is published, pictorial illustrations of the catalogue of manuscripts in gonville and caius college library. selected by the rev. j. j. smith. being facsimiles of illumination, text, and autograph, done in lithograph, to. size, with letter-press description in vo., as companion to the published catalogue, price l. s. a few copies may be had of which the colouring of the plates is more highly finished. price l. s. cambridge: john deighton. london: george bell. * * * * * concluding volume of arnold's selections from cicero. now ready, mo., price s. d. selections from cicero. part v.; cato major, sive de senectute dialogus. with english notes, from the german of julius sommerbrodt, by the rev. henry browne, m.a., canon of chichester. (forming a new volume of arnold's school classics.) rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. of whom may be had, (in the same series,) selections from cicero, with english notes. part i. orations, s. part ii. epistles, s. part iii. tusculan disputations, s. d. part iv. de finibus malorum et bonorum. s. d. * * * * * just published, quarto, s., cloth, temple bar: the city golgotha.--narrative of the historical occurrences of a criminal character, associated with the present bar. by a member of the inner temple. "a chatty and anecdotical history of this last remaining gate of the city, acceptable particularly to london antiquaries."--_notes and queries_. david bogue, fleet street. * * * * * in volumes for the pocket, price five shillings each. now ready, in six volumes, fcp. vo., price s. each. bowdler's family shakspeare. in which nothing is _added_ to the original text; but those words and expressions are _omitted_ which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family. a new edition. *** also a library edition, with wood engravings, from designs by smirke, howard, and other artists; complete in one volume, vo., price one guinea. london: longman, brown, green, & longings. * * * * * the national miscellany, no. i., for may, price s., contains:-- . our first words. . a few words for may-day. . the love of horrors. . layard's last discoveries. . railway literature. . the old royal palaces at oxford. . the poultry mania. . public libraries. . slavery in america. . social life in paris. john henry parker . strand; and of all booksellers and railway stations. * * * * * royal asylum of st. ann's society.--waiting not for the child of those once in prosperity to become an orphan, but by voluntary contributions affording at once a home, clothing, maintenance, and education. the half-yearly election will take place at the london tavern on friday, august l th, next. forms of nomination may be procured at the office, where subscriptions will be thankfully received. executors of benefactors by will become life governors according to the amount of the bequest. e. f. leeks, secretary. . charlotte row, mansion house. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may , . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price, sixpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page on the proposed record of existing monuments notes:-- illustrations of chaucer, no. iv. the academies of sir francis kynaston and sir balthazar gerbier, by dr. e. f. rimbault shakspeare and fletcher, by samuel hickson illustrations of tennyson folk lore:--sacramental wine--cure of disease by means of sheep ancient inedited ballads, no. iv., by k. r. h. mackenzie poetical coincidences, &c., by t. c. smith the republic of san marino, by sydney smirke st. francis minor notes:--charles lamb's epitaph--m. or n. --henry viii. and sir t. curwen--periodical literature, --archbishop sancroft--sir henry slingsby--origin of a surname--madden's reflections queries:-- the bellman, and his history was sallustius a lecturer?--connexion between sallustius and tacitus, by k. r. h. mackenzie the outer temple, by edward foss bibliographical queries dutch books published out of the netherlands what was the country of the angles? minor queries:--villenage--roman roads near london--mrs. catherine barton--sempecta at croyland --schmidt's antiquitates neomagensis--roman medicine-stamps--sir harris nicolas' history of the royal navy--wooden baldrocks--thanksgiving-book --history of the jesuits--mind your p's and q's --mode of hiring domestic servants in holderness --sittings--fest--home-made wines--inscription on a clock--inscription of the tomb of peter the hermit--wife of james torre--"the bear's bible"--harris, painter in water-colours--university hoods--"nullis fraus tuta latebris"--voltaire, where situated?--table of prohibited degrees --launcelot littleton--the antediluvians minor queries answered:--wither's halelujah-- voltaire's henriade--christ-cross a.--apple-pie order--spick and span new--theory of the earth's form--carolus lawson replies:-- haybands in seals, by j. burtt, &c. north side of churchyards, by rev. w. h. kelke, &c. the rolliad, and some of its writers, by j. h. markland, &c. quakers' attempt to convert the pope snail-eating sir john davies, davis, or davys, by w. h. lammin locke mss., by thomas kerslake replies to minor queries:--defoe's anticipations-- epitaph in hall's discoveries--saint thomas of lancaster--francis moore, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * on the proposed suggestions for preserving a record of existing monuments. the following communications have reached us since the publication of our remarks on the proposed monumentarium anglicanum (no. . p. . et seq.). they serve to show how much interest the subject has excited among those best qualified to judge of the great utility of some well-organised plan for the preservation of a record of our still existing monuments. mr. dunkin's letter (which was accompanied by a copy of the prospectus issued by him in ) claims precedence, as showing the steps which _that_ gentleman has already taken. it is a communication highly creditable to his exertions in the cause, but does not alter our views as to the practicability of any successful attempt to accomplish this object by individual exertion. in no. . vol. iii. of "notes and queries" you have honoured me by an allusion to the _monumenta anglicana_ i have in the press, as "a plan which would have your hearty concurrence and recommendation, if it were at all practicable; but which must fail from its very vastness." it may be so; but the motto of my family is _essayez_. every "gigantic scheme" must have a commencement, and this "scheme," i am perfectly aware, is one "that no individual, however varied in attainments and abilities, could without assistance hope to achieve." my father, upwards of half a century since, commenced collecting mortuary memorials; many of the monuments from which he copied the inscriptions have since been destroyed by time, and many, very many, more by the ruthless innovations of beautifying churchwardens. these "very vast" collections--the labour of a life--however, only form a portion of the materials i now posses; for since i issued my prospectus in , i have received many thousands of inscriptions and rubbings of brasses from clergymen and others; and i trust i shall be favoured with still further assistance, as in all cases where information is rendered, the source whence derived shall be most thankfully and freely acknowledged. { } the plan i have adopted with regard to arrangement is to folio each page three times, viz., i. each parish by itself; ii. each county; iii. alphabetically; so that each parish can be considered complete in itself; each county can be bound up by itself; or the whole alphabetically, gazetteer-wise. the index will be also in three divisions,--i. general; ii. names of places; iii. names of persons. with regard to the number of volumes,--i need not say that that is entirely _in nubibus_. my impression is limited to seventy-five copies, the same as my father's _oxfordshire_, with which it corresponds in size. i should have preferred seeing the government performing the task of preserving manuscripts of all existing monuments; but it is the fashion in britain for government to leave all apparently national undertakings to individual exertion. i will here conclude with a quotation from the report i have just published of the transactions at the congress of the british archæological association held in worcester: "lamentation is, however, worse than useless: the spirit of the age forbids all idle mourning. if we would awaken a sympathy and interest in our pursuits, we must gird up our loins like men, and be doing, and that right earnestly; for it is hopeless any longer waiting for the government, as a 'deus ex machina,' to help us to rescue our antiquities from destruction." alfred john dunkin. our next is from a correspondent (who has favoured us with his name) who proposes a scheme almost more extensive than that advocated by mr. dunkin, but who differs from that gentleman by recognising the necessity of combined endeavour to carry it out. a few years since i propounded a scheme for an _ecclesiologicon anglicanum_, or record of the history, not only architectural and monumental, but also local and traditional, of every parish in england. though i had long conceived such a design, i must confess myself indebted to some excellent remarks on the subject which appeared in the _ecclesiologist_ (new series, no. x., april ). fully aware that so stupendous a work could never be accomplished by any single individual, i compiled a prospectus of my design, and invited the co-operation of all antiquaries. i proposed to publish at intervals, and in alphabetical order, the parishes of every county, and by dividing the labour among different coadjutors, and giving to each a separate branch of inquiry, thereby insuring, by successive revisions, a certainty of correctness, i hoped to succeed in the undertaking. my project was, however, laid aside by reason of other engagements; but, as i still think it worthy of consideration, i have troubled you with these "notes" in the hope that, by publication in your pages, they may be the means of suggesting to others interested in the matter the practicability of carrying them out. though with no definite object in view, but with a presentiment of their after utility, i have, during many provincial campaigns, collected architectural notes, as well as genealogical memoranda, from the churches i have visited. to these, such as they are, any of your readers is welcome, for the purposes to which i have referred, and i know many who would gladly send their contributions to such an undertaking. w. j. d. r. our next letter, though brief, is valuable as furnishing a case in point, to prove the practical utility which would result from the realisation of some well-considered scheme for the attainment of the great national object which we are advocating. as an instance of the practical use of such a collection, let me inform your readers that in , being engaged in an ejectment case on the home circuit, it became most important to show the identity of a young lady in the pedigree, the parish register of st. christopher le stocks only giving the name and date of burial. i found that when st. christopher's was pulled down for the enlargement of the bank of england, some kind antiquary had copied all the monuments. the book was found at the herald's college; it contained an inscription proving the identity, and a verdict was obtained. j. s. b. our last communication is, we have reason to believe, from an active and zealous fellow of the society of antiquaries, who would heartily co-operate in carrying out the practical suggestions thrown out in his letter. in vol. iii, p. ., you suggest that the society of antiquaries is the body which should undertake the task of forming a record of existing monuments in churches. entirely agreeing in the opinion you have expressed, i would venture to offer some remarks on the subject. the undertaking is a vast and laborious one, and can only be effected by great subdivision of labour. that the society of antiquaries is the fittest agent for the work, i think admits of little doubt; its fellows are widely spread throughout the country. in every neighbourhood may be found one or more gentlemen able and willing to give their aid, and to excite others to assist. the archæological institute and the british archæological association would doubtless add the weight of their influence, and the personal assistance of their members. the clergy throughout the country would be able and willing labourers; and surely these conjoined forces are adequate to the occasion. one consideration suggests itself, viz., whether { } the record be confined to monuments in churches, or whether it should be extended to those in churchyards? i think it should be so extended, partially--that is, that _all_ the monuments in churches should be given; and such of the monuments in churchyards as, upon a careful inspection, may appear to be in any way worthy of preservation. we do not perhaps want the ten thousand "afflictions sore" which ten thousand john smiths are stated to have "long time bore." the inscriptions in churches should be accompanied with rubbings of all brasses; and, as far as possible, with drawings of the most interesting monuments. i am satisfied the thing can be done, if it be undertaken with prudence, and continued with energy. the copies should be certified by the signature of the person making them, and they should all be transcribed on paper of the same description, so that they might be bound in volumes. the expense would probably be considerable, because in some instances paid labour might be requisite; but it would be as nothing compared with the magnitude and importance of the result; and if, as is probable, the society of antiquaries might hesitate at undertaking the whole charge, i doubt not that many would contribute towards it, and amongst them q. d. a very slight consideration of the object which it is proposed to accomplish, and the means by which it can be attained, will show that it falls properly into three distinct operations, namely, collection, preservation, and publication. the first and most important is, the collection of materials. in this, it is obvious, the co-operation of individuals well qualified for the work may be secured in all parts of the country, provided some well-defined plan of operation is furnished for their guidance, by some recognised centre of union. a committee of the society of antiquaries, who should well consider and determine upon some uniform plan of recording the inscriptions, &c., is clearly the body who, from their position, could most effectually, and with the greatest propriety, issue such circulars. that the antiquaries would in this receive the support of both the archæological societies, there cannot, of course, be any doubt. and as we have in the society of antiquaries a machinery already established for the proper collection of the materials, so we have an existing and most appropriate place for their preservation in the british museum, where they may be consulted at all times, by all parties, with the greatest facility, and free of charge. these two great points, then, of collection and preservation, it is clear may be attained at an expense so inconsiderable, compared with the benefits to be gained from their accomplishment, that we cannot believe in their failure from want of funds. for the accomplishment of the third great end, that of publication, there is no existing machinery. but let the work of collection and preservation be once fairly entered upon--let it be seen how valuable a collection of materials has been gathered ready to the hand of a society which should undertake its publication, and there need be little fear that from the supporters of the various antiquarian, archæological, and publishing societies, now spread throughout the country, there would be found plenty of good men and true ready to lend their aid to the printings and publishing of the monumentarium anglicanum. but as the first step is collection--and that step is the one in which the society of antiquaries can best move, we trust that the present year, in which this society celebrates the centenary of its chartered existence, will be signalised by its promotion of such a record of existing monuments as is here proposed; which cannot be otherwise regarded--(and we use the words of the society's charter)--than as "good, useful, honest, and necessary for the encouragement, advancement, and furtherance of the study and knowledge of antiquities and the history of this country." * * * * * notes illustrations of chaucer, no. iv. _the pilgrimage to canterbury._ "whanne that april with his shoures sote the droughte of march hath perced to the rote, and bathed every veine in swiche licour of which vertue engendred is the flour; when zephyrus eke with his sote brethe enspired hath in every holt and hethe the tendre croppes--and the yonge sonne hath in the ram his halfe cours yronne; * * * * than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages-- * * * * * * * * befelle, that in that seson, on a day."--_prologue._ i quote these lines because i wish to show that tyrwhitt, in taking them as indicative of the very day on which the journey to canterbury was performed, committed a great mistake. the whole of the opening of the prologue, down to the line last quoted, is descriptive, not of any particular day, but of the usual season of pilgrimages; and chaucer himself plainly declares, by the words "in _that_ seson, on _a_ day"--that the day is _as yet_ indefinite. { } but because tyrwhitt, who, although an excellent literary critic, was by no means an acute reader of his author's meaning, was incapable of appreciating the admirable combination of physical facts by which chaucer has not only identified the real day of the pilgrimage, but has placed it, as it were, beyond the danger of alteration by any possible corruption in the text, he set aside these physical facts altogether, and took in lieu of them the seventh and eighth lines of the prologue quoted above, which, i contend, chaucer did not intend to bear any reference to the day of the journey itself, but only to the general season in which it was undertaken. but tyrwhitt, having seized upon a favourite idea, seems to have been determined to carry it through, at any cost, even at that of altering the text from "_the ram_" into "_the bull_:" and i fear that he can scarcely be acquitted of unfair and intentional misquotation of chaucer's words, by transposing "his halfe cours" into "half his course," which is by no means an equivalent expression. here are his own words: "when he (chaucer) tells us that 'the shoures of april had _perced to the rote_ the drought of march' (ver. , .), we must suppose, in order to allow due time for such an operation, that april was far advanced; while, on the other hand, the place of the sun, 'having just run _half his course in the ram_' (ver. , .), restrains us to some day in the very latter end of march. this difficulty may, and, i think, should, be removed by reading in ver. . the bull, instead of the ram. all the parts of the description will then be consistent with themselves, and with another passage (ver. .), where, in the best mss., the _eighte and twenty_ day of april is named as the day of the journey to canterbury."--_introductory discourse._ accordingly, mr. tyrwhitt did not hesitate to adopt in his text the twenty-eighth of april as the true date, without stopping to examine whether that day would, or would not, be consistent with the subsequent phenomena related by chaucer. notwithstanding tyrwhitt's assertion of a difficulty only removable by changing the ram into the bull, there are no less than two ways of understanding the seventh and eighth lines of the prologue so as to be perfectly in accordance with the rest of the description. one of these would be to suppose the sign aries divided into two portions (not necessarily _equal_ in the phraseology of the time), one of which would appertain to march, anal the other to april--and that chaucer, by the "halfe cours yronne," meant the _last_, or _the april_, half of the sign aries. but i think a more probable supposition still would be to imagine the month of april, of which chaucer was speaking, to be divided into two "halfe cours," in one of which the sun would be in aries, and in the other in taurus; and that when chaucer says that "the yonge sonne had in the ram his halfe cours yronne," he meant that the _aries half of the month of april_ had been run through, thereby indicating _in general terms_ some time approaching to the middle of april. both methods of explaining the phrase lead eventually to the same result, which is also identical with the interpretation of chaucer's own contemporaries, as appears in its imitation by lydgate in the opening of his "story of thebes:" "whan bright phebus passed was the ram, midde of aprill, and into the bull came." and it is by no means the least remarkable instance of want of perception in tyrwhitt, that he actually cites these two lines of lydgate's _as corroborative of his own interpretation_, which places the sun _in the middle of taurus_. i enter into this explanation, not that i think it necessary to examine too curiously into the consistency of an expression which evidently was intended only in a general sense, but that the groundlessness of tyrwhitt's alleged necessity for the alteration of "the ram" into "the bull" might more clearly appear. i have said that tyrwhitt was not a competent critic of chaucer's practical science, and i may perhaps be expected to point out some other instance of his failure in that respect than is afforded by the subject itself. this i may do by reference to a passage in "the marchante's tale," which evinces a remarkable want of perception not only in tyrwhitt, but in all the editors of chaucer that i have had an opportunity of consulting. the morning of the garden scene is said in the text to be "er that dayes eight were passed of the month of _juil_"--but, a little further on, the same day is thus described: "bright was the day and blew the firmament, phebus of gold his stremes doun hath sent to gladen every flour with his warmnesse; he was that time in geminis, i gesse, but litel fro his declination in cancer." how is it possible that any person could read these lines and not be struck at once with the fact that they refer to the th of _june_ and not to the th of _july_? the sun would leave gemini and enter cancer on the th of june; chaucer was describing the th, and with his usual accuracy he places the sun "but litel fro" _the summer solstice_! since "juil" is an error common perhaps to all previous editions, tyrwhitt might have been excused for repeating it, if he had been satisfied with only that: but he must signalise _his edition_ by inserting in the glossary attached to it--"juil, _the month of july_," referring, as the sole { } authority for the word, to this very line in question of "the marchante's tale!" nor does the proof, against him in particular, end even there; he further shows that his attention must have been especially drawn to this garden scene by his assertion that pluto and proserpine were the prototypes of oberon and titania; and yet he failed to notice a circumstance that would have added some degree of plausibility to the comparison, namely, that chaucer's, as well as shakspeare's, was a _midsummer dream_. it is, perhaps, only justice to urry to state that _he_ appears to have been aware of the error that would arise from attributing such a situation of the sun to the month of july. the manner in which the lines are printed in _his_ edition is this:-- "ere the dayis eight were passid, er' the month july befill." it is just possible to twist the meaning of this into _the eighth of the kalends of july_, by which the blunder would be in some degree lessened; but such a reading would be as foreign to chaucer's astronomy as the lines themselves are to his poetry. a. e. b. leeds, april . . * * * * * the academies of sir francis kynaston and sir balthazar gerbier. among the many interesting associations connected with old covent garden and its neighbourhood, we ought not to overlook sir francis kynaston's "museum minervæ." in the year , king charles the first granted his letters patent to sir francis kynaston, "esquire of the body to his majesty," whereby a house in covent garden, which sir francis had purchased, and furnished with books, manuscripts, musical and mathematical instruments, paintings, statues, antiques, &c., was appropriated for ever as a college for the education of the young, nobility, and others, under the name of the "museum minervæ." sir francis kynaston was made the governor with the title of "regent;" edward may, thomas hunt, nicholas phiske, john spidell, walter salter, michael mason, fellows and professors of philosophy and medicine, music, astronomy, geometry, languages, &c. they had power to elect professors also of horsemanship, dancing, painting, engraving, &c.; were made a body corporate, were permitted to use a common seal, and to possess goods and lands in mortmain. (pat. car. pt. . no. .) in the following year, , was published, dedicated to the "regent and professors," _the constitutions of the museum minervæ; giving an account of an academy for teaching chiefly navigation, riding, fortification, architecture, painting, and other useful accomplishments_. the "museum" seems to have been highly patronised, for we find that on the th february, (the year of its foundation), prince charles, the duke of york, and the lady mary their sister, honoured it with their presence to witness a masque, entitled "corona minervæ," which was written and prepared for the occasion by sir francis kynaston. this masque was, i believe, printed in the year of its production, but i do not find it mentioned in the last edition of the _biographia dramatica_. mr. cunningham, in his _handbook of london_, mentions (p. .) that "sir francis kynaston, the poet, was living in covent garden in , on the east side of the street towards berrie" (bedfordbury). and again, in his notice of bedford street (p. .), he says, sir francis resided "on the west side in ." both these entries refer to the same residence--a noble mansion, built in the year , which, after being inhabited by several important families, finally passed into the possession of sir francis kynaston, who altered and adapted it (rebuilding some portions) as the college of the "museum minervæ." the ground plan, which is now before me, exhibits a well-arranged and commodious building with two fronts, one in what is now bedfordbury, and the other (probably added by sir francis) in the street now called bedford street. the building, when sir francis kynaston purchased it in , stood in the centre of a large garden. the surrounding streets,--king street, new street, bedford street, chandos street, henrietta street, and bedfordbury, were not commenced building until the year . the "museum minervæ" is not named in mr. cunningham's excellent _handbook_; but when we take into consideration the enormous amount of information required for a work of the kind, we ought not to blame the author for a few trifling omissions. sir balthazar gerbier, an enterprising projector of the same century, by profession a painter and an architect, but now scarcely remembered as either, seems to have imitated the "museum minervæ" in an academy opened at bethnal green in . here, in addition to the more common branches of education, he professed to teach astronomy, navigation, architecture, perspective, drawing, limning, engraving, fortification, fireworks, military discipline, the art of well speaking and civil conversation, history, constitutions and maxims of state, and particular dispositions of nations, "riding the great horse," &c. once in each week, at three o'clock in the afternoon, sir balthazar gave a public lecture gratis on the various sciences. the lectures were { } generally advertised in the _perfect diurnal_, and a few curious specimens of these advertisements may be seen in lysons' _environs of london_, ed. , vol. ii. p. . balthazar gerbier was born at antwerp about , came young into england, and was a retainer of the duke of buckingham as early as . upon the accession of charles the first, he was employed in flanders to negociate privately a treaty with spain. in he was knighted at hampton court; and, as he says himself in one of his books, was promised by the king the office of surveyor-general of the works, after the death of inigo jones. in he was employed in some private transactions of state; and on the th of july, , he took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, having a bill of naturalisation. in he appears to have projected the above-named academy, the failure of which very soon happened. sir balthazar then went to america, where he seems to have been very ill treated by the dutch, and narrowly escaped with his life. he afterwards returned to england, and designed the triumphal arch for the reception of charles the second. he died at hempsted-marshal, in , whilst engaged in superintending the mansion of lord craven, and was buried in the chancel of that church. in conclusion, it may be as well to mention, that, prior to the establishment of the "museum minervæ," a committee had been appointed in the house of lords, consisting of the duke of buckingham and others, for taking into consideration the state of the public schools, and method of education. what progress was made in this inquiry is not known, but in all probability the academies of sir francis kynaston and sir balthazar gerbier owed their origin to the meetings of this committee. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * shakspeare and fletcher. i feel greatly obliged to your correspondent c. b. for the attention he has bestowed on the question of fletcher's connexion with _henry viii._, as it is only through the concurrent judgments of those who think the subject worthy of their full and impartial consideration, that we can hope to arrive at the truth. his remarks (vol. iii., p. .) are the more valuable, as they coincide with a doubt in my own mind, which has, to a great extent, ripened since i last communicated with you on the subject; and, indeed, i have no need to hesitate in saying, that i had more difficulty in coming to a conclusion with regard to the scene (act iii. sc. .) in which the passages occur quoted by c. b., than with any other scene in the whole play. the suggestions, that shakspeare might have touched scenes of which the mass had been written by fletcher, is a point which i had not overlooked, and which indeed, to some extent, might be said to follow from the view i took of the relation of shakspeare and fletcher as master and scholar. yet this suggestion is especially valuable regarding this scene, and may account for that which, without it, is not so easily explained. if, however, there be any lurking notion in your correspondent's mind, that the scene in _antony and cleopatra_ (act iii. sc. ) referred to by x. z. (vol. iii., p. .) is, judging from certain coincidences of expression, an interpolation, and not by shakspeare, i beg at once to be allowed to express my total dissent from such a view. whether, also, there may have been any secondary allusion to some known event of the day, as x. z. supposes, and as is by no means improbable, i cannot say; but i protest against its being said that the scene referred to is "totally unconnected with what goes before, and what follows." antony is the hero of the play; and this scene shows the culminating point of antony's fortunes, when his very successes turn against him. to return to _henry viii._, the compliment to the queen, to which your correspondent refers, is, as he very justly observes, brought in in a very forced manner. this, to my mind, is very strong evidence; otherwise i should not think it unworthy of shakspeare. and it still has to be borne in mind, that he would have had to accommodate his characters and circumstances to the views of another writer. shakspeare's spirit was too catholic, too universal, to have allowed, in a work entirely his own, even his wolsey to have made use of the term "a spleeny lutheran;" yet neither in the passage in which this expression occurs, nor in the one above referred to, is the versification characteristic of fletcher. for my own part, however, i cannot recognise shakspeare's spirit in this antagonism of creeds, which is, perhaps, even more strongly displayed in the prophetic speech of cranmer's in the last scene, wherein he says, "god shall be truly known!" it may be said, that in both these instances the expressions are true to the characters of wolsey and cranmer. it may be so; for both are wanting in that ideal elevation which shakspeare never fails to give. that, with this reservation, he becomes the mouth-piece of each character, is most true; and a curious instance of the writer's utter forgetfulness of his assumed character of contemporary with the events he is relating, occurring in act. iv. sc. where griffiths says-- "he was most princely: ever witness for him those twins of learning, that he rais'd in you, ipswich and oxford! _one of which fell with him_, unwilling to outlive the good that did it; the other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous, so excellent in art, _and still so rising_,"-- { } has no parallel in shakspeare's works. to john fletcher, indeed, at the close of the reign of queen elizabeth, these things were known; but scarcely to the attendant of queen katherine, who has but just narrated the circumstances, then newly happened, of wolsey's fall. on maturer consideration, then, i am inclined to think that the whole of the scene (act iii. sc. .) to which your correspondent refers, was originally written by fletcher, although, as it now stands, it is strongly marked by the hand of shakspeare. in the same category, also, i am inclined to place scenes . and . of act ii. it will be observed that these changes are not inconsistent with the view i had previously taken; the effect being merely, that i am inclined to ascribe a little more than in the first instance to the hitherto unsuspected participator in the work. i am not sure, too, that i shall not be coming nearer to mr. spedding; as, if i am not mistaken, it is in some of these scenes that he imagines he detects "a third hand;" a theory which, though i do not adopt, i certainly have not confidence enough to reject altogether. but this view affects so very small a portion of the play, that it is of very little consequence. samuel hickson. * * * * * illustrations of tennyson. that great poets are sometimes obscure, needs no proof. that the greatest poets will necessarily be so to the ordinary reader, seems to me equally indisputable. not without effort can one enter into the spontaneous thought of another, or even of himself in another mood. how much more when that other is distinguished from his fellows by the _greatness_ and _singularity_ of his thoughts, and by the extreme subtilty of their connecting links. obscurity is not a blemish but an excellence, if the pains of seeking are more than compensated by the pleasures of finding, the luxury of [greek: mathêsis], where the concentrated energy of a passage, when once understood, gives it a hold on the imagination and memory such as were ill sacrificed to more diluted clearness. _grandis præfatio tenui incepto_--a sort of apology to tennyson for implying that he needs illustration. some time ago i made a few notes on particular passages in _locksley hall_, which i now enclose. some of them are, i dare say, superfluous--some, possibly, erroneous. if so, they will stand a fair chance of being corrected in your valuable publication. by the bye, if a "notes and queries" had existed in the days of Æschylus, we might have been saved from many a recourse to "corrupt text" and "lacunæ admodum deflendæ." _notes on locksley hall._ stanza . "dreary gleams:" in apposition with "curlews." i know the construction of this line has puzzled a good many readers. stanza . "yet it shall be." yet "decline" thou certainly wilt. stanza . "he will answer," &c. with an oath, it may be--at the least with a coarse rebuff. stanza . "the heart's disgrace." the disgrace, the injury, and degradation the heart has suffered--its prostitution to a mercenary service by a marriage of interest. stanza . "never." alas! i never can. stanza . "in division of the records of the mind." in dividing my recollections of her into two groups, and erasing the one. stanza . "the poet is" (as i think has been already pointed out) dante. stanza . "he hunts," &c. he--thy husband. stanza . "never, never," &c. never again! (joys never to return) sung by the ghosts of years departed. stanza . "i have but an angry fancy"--my only _qualification_. stanza . "but the jingling of the guinea," &c. but there is no fighting now: the nations get over their quarrels in another way--by the jingling of the guinea, instead of the clang of arms. stanzas . "mother-age."; . "mother-age, for mine i know not." this mother-age is a great difficulty. at first i took it for _the past of history_, but now understand by it _the past of his own life_, at least its earliest and brightest period--that age which had been as a mother, the only mother he ever knew. stanza . "youthful joys." the bright hopes of his youth. (?) stanza . "blinder motions," less rational, less well-guided emotions. stanza . "the distance." the distant future, the "good time coming." there are some lines in _in memoriam_ (i have not the book at hand, but any reader thereof will instantly recollect them), which indicate tennyson's acquaintance with and appreciation of jeremy taylor, who thus expresses the thoughts of the "wild fellow in petronius," suggested by the sight of a floating corpse. "that peradventure this man's wife, in some part of the continent, safe and warm, looks next month for the good man's return or, it may be, his son knows nothing of the tempest: or his father thinks of that affectionate kiss which is still warm upon the good old man's cheek ever since he took a kind farewell; and he weeps with joy to think how blessed he shall be when his beloved boy returns into the circle of his father's arms."--_holy dying._ compare with "sure never moon to evening," &c., in the same poem, and i think the same place: { } "nec nox ulla diem, neque noctem aurora secuta est, quæ non audierit mistos vagitibus ægris ploratus mortis comites, et funeris atri."--_lucretius_, ii. . g. p. * * * * * folk lore. _sacramental wine_ (vol. iii., p. .).--from a note by mr. albert way, on the use of sacramental wine, one would be led to infer that it was recommended on account of some superstitious belief in its superior excellency from having been used in religious worship; but i would suggest that the same reasons which recommend teynt wine, the kind generally used for the sacrament, are those which have established for it a reputation in cases of sickness: these are its rich red colour, and sweet and agreeable flavour. weakness is popularly supposed to be caused by a thinness and want of blood; if wine be recommended for this, there is a deeply rooted prejudice in favour of red wine because the blood is red, and upon no better principle than that which prescribes the yellow bark of the barberry for the yellow state of jaundice; the nettle, for the nettle-rash; and the navel-wort (_cotyledon umbilicus_), for weakness about the umbilical region. the truth is, that rustic practice is much influenced by the doctrine of similitudes, the principle of "_similia similibus curantur_" having been more extensively recognised in the olden time than since the days of hahnemann. the sweetness of teynt wine would recommend it for children, to whom a stronger wine is generally distasteful; but port is generally prescribed as a tonic for adults. it may further be remarked, that the recommendation to give sacramental wine might arise from the fact, that, as in some parishes more wine is provided than is required, the remainder is put by to be given to the poor who may require it at the hands of the clergyman. in sending these remarks, i am led to request that your correspondents would make notes upon such old wives' remedies as are employed upon the principles i have mentioned. james buckman. cirencester, april . _cure of disease by means of sheep._--a child in my parish has been for some time afflicted with disease of some of the respiratory organs. the mother was recommended to have it carried through a flock of sheep as they were let out of the fold in the morning. the time was considered to be of importance. [hebrew: b]. l---- rectory, somerset. * * * * * ancient inedited ballads, no. iv. i next transcribe the following lines from the same ms. as my last. it is another epitaph on the mr. browne that i mentioned in no. ii. it contains a curious illustration of a passage in shakspeare, which has been often debated in the pages of "notes and queries," and so deserves preservation. "vpon the death of that right worthye man, mr. browne, late of caius and gonville colledge disceased. epicedion."--(_harl. mss._, no. . fol. .) "if vowes or teares from heartes or eyes, could pearce the unpenitrable skyes, then might he live, that now heere lyes. but teares are tonguelesse, vowes are vaine, t' recall what fate calls; els how faine what death hath seis'd, wold i regaine. but sure th' immortal one belaves this wished soule in 's blissfull waves: ill comes too oft, when no man craves. rest, therefore, vrne, rest quietlye, and when my fates shall call on me, so may i rest, as i wish the. "r. constable, caio-gonvillensis." i need hardly point out the striking similarity between the expression in shakspeare-- "and the delighted spirit to bathe in fiery floods,"-- and the third stanza of this poem. kenneth r. h. mackenzie. * * * * * poetical coincidences, etc. _byron._ in the _jealous lovers_ of thomas randolph, the following passage occurs, which may possibly have suggested to lord byron the fearful curse he has put into the mouth of eve, in "the grand and tremendous drama of _cain_."[ ] "may perpetual jealousie wait on their beds, and poison their embraces with just suspitions; may their children be deform'd, and fright the mother at the birth: may they live long and wretched; all men's hate, and yet have misery enough for pity: may they be long a-dying--of diseases painful and loathsome," &c. that exquisite stanza in the third canto of _childe harold_, "even as a broken mirror," &c., has been often admired. in carew's poem, _the spark_, i find the following lines, which contain similar image: { } "and as a looking-glass, from the aspect, whilst it is whole, doth but one face reflect, but being crack'd, or broken, there are shown many half faces, which at first were one; so love," &c. to the coincidences which have been already pointed out regarding that exquisite line in the _bride of abydos_: "the mind, the music breathing from her face," the following from carew may perhaps be added: "the harmony of colours, features, grace, resulting airs (the magic of a face) of musical sweet tunes, all which combin'd, to crown one sovereign beauty, lie confined to this dark vault."--_epitaph on the lady s._ all will recollect the wonderful description of the shipwreck in _don juan_; and more particularly the incidents so graphically related in stanzas and of the second canto: to a part of which, the following passage fro lee's _oedipus_ bears some resemblance: "methought i heard a voice, now roaring like the ocean, when the winds fight with the waves; now in a still small tone your dying accents fell, as wrecking ships, after the dreadful yell, sink murm'ring down, and bubble up a noise." i have now before me a print of john, the first lord byron, engraved from a painting in the collection of lord delaware; in which he is pourtrayed in armour, with a truncheon in the left hand, and the _right arm bare_ to above the elbow. can this have suggested to lord byron the idea of describing "alp the renegade" as fighting with "the white arm bare," in the _siege of corinth_? byron refers to smollett as an authority for "blatant beast," apparently forgetting that the figure originated with spenser. again, in a note to _don juan_ respecting his use of the phrase "reformadoes," he remarks: "the baron bradwardine, in _waverley_, is authority for the word." it occurs, however, in ben jonson, and may be found in blount's _glossographia_; phillips's _world of words_, and other old dictionaries of the same period. t. c. smith. [footnote : sir walter scott.] * * * * * the republic of san marino. amidst the apennines, far removed from the ordinary track of tourists, is the diminutive republic of san marino, which boasts never to have been subjugated. whether it has escaped invasion because it has escaped notice, or because burglars never attack an empty cottage, is a point which i shall not stop to discuss. few travellers visit it, but the trouble of doing so would be amply repaid. the situation is highly romantic; and the view from the summit of the bold escarpment, upon which the town is perched, extends over a wilderness of mountains. the population of the territory is said not to exceed , or , souls. its whole income is derived from a moderate duty on tobacco; and its standing army (for it possesses this indispensable incident to political independence) is chiefly employed in vain attempts to prevent the evasion of that duty. among the greatest and most highly esteemed curiosities of the place, is a statue of christ on the cross, with a head of real hair, which is cut twice a year, and always grows again! this faculty of reproduction is as profitable as it is wonderful; for, besides the resort of pious visitors, drawn by the capillary attractions of such a miraculous piece of sculpture, the locks that are cut off are stated, by the ecclesiastical functionaries in charge of the statue, to be a sure preservative against all harm to the wearer, and are of course in request as an article of commerce. my object in communicating to you these notes, is to introduce to you a copy, which i transcribed myself, of one of the state papers preserved in the archives of the republic. it appears to be a letter of encouragement, addressed by the priors and gonfaloniere of the republic of florence to that of s. marino, during a siege that the latter was undergoing. perhaps some of your readers may be able to point out the precise occasion that called for the letter. sydney smirke. "magnifici viri amici ñri car^{mi}, habbiamo vedato la lettera vi scrive il governatore, et habbiamo inteso la voluntà dello exercito della chiesa. dovete essere di buono animo et stare constanti et fermi: et perdere la vita insieme con la libertà che è meglo allo huomo uso a essere libero, essere morto che essere servo. iddio a chi piace la libertà vi aiutera difenderai: et noi et la ñra lega non vi manchera: havete inteso le provisioni facte et di denari et di gente ad arimino; et faremo delle altre tante che saranno abastanza. valete. ex palatio ñro die viij. junij, m.cccclxviiij. "priores libertatis et } vexillifer justitiæ } populi florentinj. "barth. scala. "magnificis viris hominibus terræ s[=a] marini amicis ñris car^{mis}." * * * * * st. francis. i think mrs. jameson, in her _legends of the monastic orders_, has left unnoticed the very remarkable book of the _conformity of st. francis's life with that of jesus christ_, a work, the blasphemy of which is only equalled by its absurdity. the book was written by bartholomew of pisa, a monk of the order, and licensed in by the general of the minorites. "approbatum est a fr. henrico ord. frat. minorum generali ministro et servo et cæteris ministris et diffinitoribus capituli generalis apud sacrum locum de assisio die augusti a.d. ." { } the title of the first edition, which is very rare, is as follows: "liber conformitatum vitæ s. francisci ad vitam jesu christi. authore fr. bartholomæo degli albizzi, ex recens. fran. zenonis. impressum mediolani per gotardum ponticum apud templum sancti satyri. anno m.cccccx. die mensis septembris. in fol. literis quadratis." the second edition: "opus aur. et inexplicabilis bonitatis et continentiæ, conformitatum scilicet vitæ beati fr[=a]. ad vit[=a] d[=i]. [=n]ri jesu x[=p]i. mediolani, in edibus zanoti castilionei . in fol. goth." the third edition, also in folio, appeared at bologne ( ) as "liber aureus, inscriptus liber conformitatum, etc., per hierem bucchium," with some alterations in the text. fourth edition: "vita s. fra[=n]. conf. ad vit. xti., per s. bonaventuram conscriptu ab henr. sedulio co[=m]. illustrata, to., antr. ." another edition, by jer. bacch, in folio, appeared at bologne in ; and an abridged edition in octavo, by phil. bosquier, at cologne, under the title of _antiquitates franciscanæ_, a very good edition of the _liber conform._, "et ex annalibus madingi collecta per tibur. navarrum," was published in to. at rome in . the late dr. elrington had a very fine copy of the following french translation:-- "traite des conformités du disciple avec son maitre, c'est à dire, de saint françois avec j. c., etc., le tout recueilli par un frere mineur récollect. (valentin marée.) liege, - . part en vol. in to." in a small volume was put forth, containing choice passages from the _liber conformitatum_, with a preface and letter to the reader, purporting to be from martin luther. it was accordingly by many attributed to him; the real compiler was erasmus alberus. the title of the first edition is "alcoranus franciscorum, etc., ex libro conformitatum: francof. , parv. vo." it was reprinted, with a french translation, by conrad badius, at geneva, or ; so says brunet. the best edition of this work was that published at amsterdam in , in two vols. mo., with some capital plates by picart. the title is-- "l'alcoran des cordeliers, tant en latin qu'en françois; c'est à dire, recueil des plus notables bourdes et blasphemes de ceux qui ont osé comparer sainet françois à jesus christ; tiré du grand livre des _conformités_, jadis composé par frere barthelemi de pise, cordelier en son vivant. nouvelle edition, ornée de figures dessinées par b. picart. a amsterdam. aux defens de la compagnie. mdccxxxiv." another work, printed the same year, is often found with this:-- "legende dorée, ou sommaire de l'histoire des freres-mendians de l'ordre de saint françois. (par nic. vignier.) amsterdam, . mo. réimpr. sur l'ed. de leyde, in vo." thomas of celano, the friend and scholar of st. francis, and the author of the famous _dies iræ_, after the saint's death composed a brief account of his life, which he afterwards greatly enlarged, and which even now is the most authentic we possess. i should be glad to know the best, as well as the latest editions of this life. "francis," said luther, "was no doubt an honest and just man. he little thought that such superstition and unbelief should proceed out of his life."--_tischreden._ berington says of st. francis: "in an age of less intemperance in religion, miracles and the fancied intervention of peculiar favours from heaven, would not have been deemed necessary to stamp worth and admiration on a character which in itself possessed the purest excellences that fall to the lot of man. but this circumstance, and more than this, the reception which an institute so peculiarly framed met with, serve to manifest the singular taste of the age."--_berington's henry ii._, p. . "it is scarcely possible," says mr. massingberd, "to read the history of st. francis of assisi, without believing that there was in him a sincere and self-devoted, however ill-directed, piety." we must not let the foolish legends afterwards written of him lower him in our estimation, nor cease to regard him as a sincere and devoted christian. mariconda. * * * * * minor notes. _charles lamb's epitaph._--perhaps the following lines, which i have copied from the gravestone of charles lamb, who lies in the churchyard at edmonton, may be interesting to those of your readers who are among the admirers of the witty and gentle elia:-- "farewell, dear friend; that smile, that harmless mirth, no more shall gladden our domestic hearth; that rising tear, with pain forbid to flow, better than words, no more assuage our woe; that hand outstretch'd from small but well-earn'd store, yield succour to the destitute no more. yet art thou not all lost; thro' many an age with sterling sense and humour shall thy page win many an english bosom, pleased to see that old and happier vein revived in thee. this for our earth, and if with friends we share our joys in heav'n, we hope to meet thee there." i have heard it conjectured that the above were written by wordsworth. i shall feel obliged if any of your readers will inform me whether the late laureate was the author of them or not? maria s. edmonton. { } _m. or n._ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .).--there have been several suggestions as to the origin of the use of these letters in the services of the church, but i do not think that any correspondent has hit upon the very simple one which i have always considered to be most probably the true explanation; which is, that as these services were compiled when algebra stood much higher in the rank of sciences than it does at present, it is by no means unlikely that these two letters should be used to signify indefinite and variable _names_, as they are in algebra to represent indefinite or variable _numbers_, in the same manner as a. b. c. are as signs of known or definite, and x. y. z. of unknown sums. e. h. y. _henry viii. and sir thos. curwen._--the following quaint extract from sandford's ms. _history of cumberland_, now in the library of the dean and chapter of carlisle, exhibits that "reknowned king," henry viii., in so good-natured a light, that i think, if you can find a corner for it, it may amuse some of your readers. that the good knight and "excelent archer" should have been so outwitted by his son-in-law is a matter of some regret to one of his descendants:-- "sir thos. curwen, knight, in henry the eight's time, an excelent archer at twelvescore merks; and went up with his men to shoote with that reknowned king at the dissolution of abbeys: and the king says to him, curwen, why doth thee begg none of these abbeys? i wold gratify thee some way. quoth the other, thank yow, and afterward said he wold desire of him the abbie of ffurness (nye unto him) for ^{ty} one yeares. sayes the king: take it for ever: quoth the other, it is long enough, for youle set them up againe in that time: but they not likely to be set up againe, this sir tho. curwen sent mr. preston, who had married his daughter, to renew the lease for him; and he even rennewed in his own name; which when his father-in-law questioned, quoth mr. preston, you shall have it as long as you live; and i think i may as well have it with your daughter as another." after some descents, this family of preston, of the manor of furness, terminated in a daughter, who married sir william lowther, whose grandson left his estates in furness and cartmell to his cousin, lord george cavendish, through whom they are inherited by the earl of burlington. as harry the eighth's good intentions towards sir thomas curwen have been frustrated, his descendants must console themselves by knowing that the glorious old ruin of furness could not be in better hands than his lordship's. h. c. workington. _periodical literature_, .-- "the author of the _observator_ is mr. ridpath, y^e author of the _flying post_. the base author of the late paper, which has been some time since dropp'd, viz. _the observator reviv'd_, was one pearce, an exchange broker, some time since concerned in the paper called _legion's address_, and forced to fly on that account into holland. the publisher of the _phoenix_ is a presbyterian bookseller, named j. darby, in bartholomew close, who has told me that he was chiefly assisted therein by the famous mr. collins, the supposed author of _the use of reason in propositions_, &c., and dr. tindal's familiar acquaintance."--_original letter of the rev. robert watts, m.a._, dated london, feb. . - . p. b. _archbishop sancroft._--it is well known that dr. william dillingham, master of emanuel college, cambridge, published, in , a volume of latin poems, partly translations from george herbert, partly pieces of his own, with some few added from other sources. but it is not known that most of the pieces in this volume were corrected by the hand of archbishop sancroft, and that one certainly was from his own pen. it occurs at p. . of the octavo volume alluded to, and is entitled "hippodromus." this is a translation from an epigram by thomas bastard, first printed in , and beginning: "i mett a courtier riding on the plaine." that it is archbishop sancroft's is proved from an original letter addressed to him by dillingham in , and preserved in the bodleian. p. b. _sir henry slingsby._--this gallant cavalier, who was murdered (as lloyd says in his _memoirs_) by oliver cromwell in , wrote an account of the scenes in which he bore a part, from to , which he called "commentaries, containing many remarkable occurrences during the civil wars." can any of your correspondents tell me where the original manuscript is to be found, and whether it was ever printed? i have seen an indifferent transcript, beginning, "the chappel at red house was built by my father, sir henry slingsby." if it has never been published, it would be an acceptable contribution to the historical memoirs of the times, and worth the attention of the camden society. p. b. _origin of a surname._--martha denial, widow, aged seventy-five, was buried in ecclesfield churchyard, rd february, . her husband, joseph denial, told the parish clerk that his grandfather was found when an infant deserted in a church porch; and that he was surnamed denial, as one whom _all deny_; and was christened daniel, which is composed of the same letters. this is the tradition of the origin of a surname now common in this parish. a. g. ecclesfield. _madden's reflections._--madden's _reflections and resolutions for the gentlemen of ireland_. in the preface to the reprint of this work we meet with the following paragraph: "the very curious and interesting work which is { } now reprinted, and intended for a wide and gratuitous circulation, is also of uncommon rarity: there is not a copy of it in the library of trinity college, or in any of the other public libraries of this city [dublin], which have been searched on purpose. the profoundly-learned vice-provost, doctor barrett, never met with one; and many gentlemen well skilled in the literature of ireland, who have been applied to for information on the subject, are even unacquainted with the name of the book." the full title of the work to which i refer, and which is an vo. volume of or pages, is _reflections and resolutions proper for the gentlemen of ireland, as to their conduct for the service of their country_. it was printed in dublin in ; it was reprinted there in at the sole expense of the well-known philanthropist, thomas pleasants, and the author was samuel madden, d.d., the author of several publications: a great patron of arts and literature in his native land, and one of whom dr. johnson remarked with truth,--"his was a name ireland ought to honour." for some authentic information respecting him, see nichols's _literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century_, vol. ii. pp. . .; and grosley's _tour in england_, vol. ii p. . these writers, however, make no mention of his _reflections_. the original edition may indeed be looked upon as rather rare, but not so rare as some appear inclined to think. i have a copy, and until lately had two; and at different times i have met with copies for sale. however, the copy now in the library of the royal dublin society was purchased some years ago at a high price; and, unless i am mistaken, there is not one as yet in the british museum. the reprint which is there is much to be preferred by readers in general. abhba. * * * * * queries. the bellman, and his history. i have often read vincent bourne's poem, "ad davidem cook, westmonasterii custodem nocturnum et vigilantissimum, anno :" pickering's edition, p. . this nightly guardian, it appears, was accompanied by a dog: "cùm variis implent tenebræ terroribus orbem, tu comite assuetum cum cane carpis iter," was armed with a stout staff, or knotty club: "nec te perterrent, nodoso stipite fretum, subdola qui tacito pectore furta parant," and carried a bell: "tinnitu adventum signans, oriantur an astra, narras, an purè lucida luna micet." to the last-mentioned part of his equipment, he owed the title of "bellman." the bellman's duty, however, was not confined to crying the rising of the stars, or the shining of the moon, but he cheered his nightly round with many a chant: nocturnum multo carmine fallis iter." the next lines are descriptive of the bellman's poetry, and tell us the subjects of it. of some of these i want explanation; and of all, examples. i am at a loss to explain the following four lines: "divorum hyberni menses quotcunque celebrant, cuique locum et versum dat tua musa suum: _crispino_ ante omnes; neque enim sine carmine fas est nobile sutorum præteriisse decus." the next lines refer to the bellman's loyalty in ever remembering the royal family; to his salutation of masters and mistresses; to the useful instruction he pours forth in song to young men and maidens; and to the happy marriages he wishes to such as give heed to his warnings. the bellman then addresses himself to men-servants and maid-servants, enjoining honesty on the former, cleanliness on the latter. repeatedly wishing prosperity to his masters, he concludes with one pre-eminent exhortation to keep in mind, that the friendly hand of death levels the highest and the lowest. my ignorance asks several questions. when did the bellman lay aside his bell, and assume the rattle; and, with this change (i presume), drop the name of bellman for that of watchman, to whom the silent policeman has succeeded? was the dog the usual aide-de-camp of the bellman? are there any other instances in which the dog is mentioned as assisting the bellman in his nocturnal guardianship? as to the bellman's poetry, milton will occur to every one: "or the bellman's drowsy charm to bless the door from nightly harm."--_il penseroso._ . herrick's _hesperides_, p. ., is a bellman's song, a blessing, concluding: "past one o'clock, and almost two, my masters all, good-day to you." . ibid. p. . is another song; a warning to remember the judgment-day, and ending-- "ponder this when i am gone, by the clock 'tis almost one." see _the tatler_, no. ., for the bellman's salutation: "_good morrow, mr. bickerstaff, good morrow, my masters all._" "it was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, which gives the stern'st good night."--shakspeare, _macbeth_, act ii. sc. . gay refers to the bellman's song in the following lines: "behold that narrow street which steep descends, whose building to the slimy shore extends; { } here arundel's fam'd structure rear'd its frame, the street alone retains the empty name; where titian's glowing paint the canvass warm'd, and raphael's fair design, with judgment, charm'd, now hangs _the bellman's song_, and pasted here the colour'd prints of overton appear."--_trivia_, book ii. . in the _archaic and provincial dictionary_, the duty of the bellman in his poetic character seems to be limited to blessing the sleepers. it appears from the poem by vincent bourne, that his muse took a much more extensive range. can you inform me where i can find more about the bellman, his bell and his dog; and, especially, his songs? where can i find "the bellman's songs?" is "bellman" a name given to dogs in modern times? see _taming of the shrew_, induction. f. w. t. [we cannot insert f. w. t.'s query without referring to the admirable translation of vinny bourne's ode, which is to be found in our first volume, p. .] * * * * * was sallustius a lecturer?--connexion between sallustius and tacitus. sallustius, in his celebrated abstract of the punic records of thempsal, makes the following remark: "nam de carthagine silere melius puto, quam parum dicere, _quoniam alio properare tempus monet_."--_de bello jugurthino_, c. xix. ed. allen. does not this sound as if the history has been read out to an assembly? there is strong presumptive evidence in favour of such a supposition, in the tradition of herodotus having read aloud his history at the grecian games. besides, it was a common practice of cicero and plinius the younger to read out their orations and treatises. i cannot help thinking that the histories of sallustius were first delivered as lectures, _taken down by reporters_[ ] employed by himself for the purposes of preserving his words, as he had only notes before him, fairly transcribed from the stenographic character, and then, _but not till then_, made a subject of closet-study. this, i think, is easy of proof, and instances may be adduced (the expression i have quoted is one) where the lecturer peeps out. the interpolated state in which this classic has come down to us is indeed sad: there is scarcely a chapter throughout the catiline and jugurtha where some transcriber has not been at work, sticking in words and sometimes whole sentences, which, i am astonished to see, have escaped the notice of cortius, allen, and the older editors. i said above that sallustius made his lectures or orations on the history of his country a subject of closet study. he did so, and in an eminent degree. his conciseness, clearness (when relieved from the burden of interpolation), and usual impartiality, point to a careful and spiritual study of thucydides; but he could not attain to an equal degree of sweetness as the greek historian, on account of the general character of their several languages differing. as far, however, as roman could approach to greek, i conceive sallustius has approached to thucydides. tacitus (whose mind was impregnated with, and steeped in sallustius) rarely enounces a sentiment in his numerous works the origin of which is not referable to the latter author. it requires some careful thought sometimes, before the passages can be traced; but they _are_ traceable; and if we had the whole works of sallustius, i doubt not but that we should be able to trace them all much more easily. perhaps--i say it without stress, mind; it is a mere suggestion--it would be possible to restore, or rather connect some of the historical fragments of sallustius by means of the works of tacitus. when we find a sentiment of sallustius half expressed in the fragment, and trending towards the conclusion arrived at by tacitus, may we not, as we know how completely the latter had imbibed the thoughts of the former, reasonably suppose the remainder of the passage to be parallel; and, following out the idea, restore it, taking into consideration the difference of the mode of expression in the two eras? and this may hold good, not only between tacitus and sallustius, but between sallustius and thucydides. such is the aspect under which i endeavour to behold the classics, viz. as one great whole, having here and there pieces gone or faded (lost or hopelessly corrupted), and which fit into each other, showing the building which intellect erects, the only building calculated to withstand the hand of time. thanks be to printing, to cheap literature, and to english energy and investigation, antiquity may again rear her head, and fell that it is comprehended in all its varied bearings, and lights and shadows. to men like niebuhr, grote, layard, prescott, st. john, wilkinson, rawlinson, and norris, do we owe a debt of gratitude, for such patience and investigation; and no one cheers them on with a more sincere feeling, and thanks them for their past exertions, than kenneth r. h. mackenzie. [footnote : short-hand, we know, was in use at rome.] * * * * * the outer temple. mr. peter cunningham, in his delightful _handbook of london_, says that when the new temple "passed to the knights of st. john of jerusalem, the inner and middle temple were leased to the students of the common law; and the outer temple to walter stapleton, bishop of exeter:" and in describing essex house, by which name it { } was afterwards known, he repeats the same statement; as if the outer temple was part of the original property of the knights templars. i should be very glad to know what authority he has for this; because i have very great doubt whether the "outer temple" ever belonged to the knights templars or to the knights of st. john, or was in any manner comprehended within the property. the new temple, as the whole property was called, belonged to aymer de valence, earl of pembroke, at the time of his death, in june, . the council of vienna, in , bestowed all the lands of the knights templars on the knights of st. john. since my letter to you on the general subject of the temple, and l. b. l.'s obliging answer (vol. ii., pp. . .), i have been kindly furnished by mr. joseph burtt, of the chapter house, with a deed, dated june , , by which the knights of st. john granted the _whole_ of the new temple, "totum messuagium nostrum vocatum novum templum," to hugh le despencer the younger; describing it to be lying _between the house_ (hospicium) _of the bishop of exeter_ towards the west, and the house of hugo de courteneye towards the east. this shows manifestly that if the bishop of exeter's house ever belonged to the temple, it did not at that time; and i am not aware of any earlier evidence proving that the templars ever possessed it. i believe, though i have not seen the record, that, in the grant to sir william paget, temp. henry vi., it is described as the "outer temple;" but i am inclined to think, from various circumstantial testimonies, that it was merely so called because it was situate on the _outside_ of the temple. if any of your correspondents could illustrate this question, or that more curious one,--when the new temple was first divided between inner and middle,--i should feel infinitely obliged. edward foss. * * * * * bibliographical queries. . can any of your readers give me any information regarding a work which i find recorded in a catalogue thus:--_a catalogue of above coins of canute, king of denmark and england, found near kirkwall, with specimens._ to. london, ? i should like, if possible, to have a copy of the title-page, the size, and the number of pages; and, if possible, the name of the compiler. . i should like to find out the name of the translator into english, of pontoppidan's _natural history of norway_, published in folio in london in . . can any of your readers oblige me with the name of the author of a controversial sermon, entitled _whigs no christians_, preached at london, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of king charles, in - , and published in the same year? [greek: boreas]. * * * * * dutch books published out of the netherlands. although the dutch language is now regarded in foreign countries with a neglect bordering on contempt, and its study, when attended to at all, generally undertaken as a work of necessity rather than a labour of love, i have thought it would not be without interest to examine to what extent it was formerly cultivated (were it even chiefly by dutchmen) in foreign lands; to institute a search after the productions of the dutch mind in the dutch language brought forth on foreign soils; in a word, to pass in review the dutch books which have been published in other countries during the period included between the invention of printing and our own days. it appears to me that such a review would lead to much interesting research, and would tend not only to illustrate our literature, but also to clear up many points still obscure in our national, and more especially in our ecclesiastical, history. the review which i propose would be limited, in the first instance, to the formation of an exact and complete list of such _exotic_ works, with the addition of such notes as i might be able to add. a more experienced hand may then make use of these materials to form a more perfect treatise on this portion of our literature. in execution of this plan i have already compiled a list of names of books and authors; these have been gathered partly from an examination of the works themselves, partly from catalogues and other sources where such works are mentioned. now, however, as my resources are nearly exhausted, and my labours by no means complete, i take the liberty to lay my plan before those who may be disposed to concur with me, those who may be able to procure me information, those who have the possession or the care of libraries in which such books are to be found, and of which catalogues have not been printed; and, for the end i have in view, i invite them all to help me in the completion of my work. the editors of the _navorscher_ have consented to open their columns to contributors. to spare needless trouble, i wish it to be distinctly understood that i do not include any works published in _belgium_, or in the colonies now or formerly in our possession. martinus. amsterdam, march . . * * * * * what was the country of the angles? what country was inhabited by the angles before they occupied britain? adam of bremen (_hist. eccl._ c. .) says: "igitur saxones primo circa rhenum sedes habitant et vocati sunt angli quorum pars inde veniens in britanniam, etc." { } notwithstanding the opinion of turner, and most other historians, i venture to offer a few facts in confirmation of the monk's testimony. . the names of places on the lower rhine, and more especially in guelderland, point to an _anglian_ origin for instance, _engelanderholt_, _engelenburg_ and _engelenberg_, _angerlo_ olim _angelerlo_. _engeland_, near beekbergen, is mentioned in a charter[ ] dated as _villa englandi_. several other places bear the same name: two near hardenberg, one in the land of putten, another in our parish; which also contains _henschoten_ olim _hengestschoten_, and owes its own name to _woden_. near nimwegen, we have _horssen_. . many local names in the same district, which can only be explained by reference to the a.-s. _hulkestein_ on the zuyder sea, _hulkestein_ near arnhem, from a.-s. _hulc_, a dwelling: thus, stone buildings, castles. _thri_, a.-s., three, is mentioned in a charter dated as the name of a villa, now the hamlet _drie_, near ermelo. _hierd_ and _heerd_, from a.-s. _hierde_, perhaps also _hardewick_ or _harderwyk_ from the same. _braclog_, a wood near engelanderholt, from _brac_, enemy, and _locen_, an enclosure, is mentioned in a charter ( ). _luntern_ and _lunhorst_, from a.-s. _lun_, poor. _wigmond_, from _wig_, war; and _mund_, defence. _culenburg_, from _ciol_ or _ceol_, a ship. _klingelbeck_, near arnhem, from _clingan_, to shrink up. _ysseloord_ from _ord_, a point; and thus confluence of two rivers, as we see also on the rhine, _roerort_ and _angerort._ _herwynen_, _herveld_, _hernen_, _herwaarden_, _winden delwynen_, _sennewyn_, can be explained[ ] by a.-s. _here_ and _win_. . the agreement between the names of places here, and those of every part of england occupied by the angles. out of a great number of instances collected by mr. molhuysen (see nyhoff's _bijdragen_, vol. iii.) i will take a few. in kent we have appledore, appleton, appleby; here _appeldorn_, _appel_, _appeltern_, _appelenburg_ on the wahal. ashe and ash; _asch_, near buren, and others. barne; _bern_ near heusden, and _baarn_ near amersfoort. barnefield; _barneveld_. bonington, _boningen_. dover; _doveren_. gillingham; _gellinchem_. hearne; _hiern_, near waardenburg. herne; _hernen_. leisdon; _leusden_. lone; _loenen_. sandwich; _sandwyk_, near tiel. watchorne; _waghorn_, in the velume. in yorkshire: beel; _de beele_, near voorst. byland; _byland_. campe; _campen_. catwich; _katwyk_. dodworth; _dodewaard_. ecope; _heicop_. grimestone; _grimmestein_, on the eem. heck; _eck_. hampall; _empel_, near engelen. herfield; _herveld_. hewick; _ewyk_, &c. &c.--the evident similarity of names in this list, which might be extended through several pages, affords at least a strong presumption that a part of the land of our fathers is to be sought here. i will just add that there is a ms. containing copies of charters, registers, &c., collected by opstraeten van der moelen, a genealogist, who died in the early part of the seventeenth century, now in the possession of mr. van asch van wyck. in this is an article entitled "de nobili et antiqua familia dicta amersfoort seu potius heemsfurt vel hemefurt a vado heeme seu hemi fluvii." the writer makes mention of the well-known grant of charlemagne to the cathedral of utrecht, by which lisidunum (leusden) and four forests on the banks of the eem were ceded to this church: _hengestschoten_, _fornese_, _mocoroth_, and _widoc_. the writer considers the last-named forest to be that of _wede_ or _woden_; and derives thence the family-name _weede_. concerning _hengestschoten_ is remarked: "_hengist_, qui circum annum britanniam insulam cum suis frisonibus et saxonibus occupat." and further: "weede nomen adhunc retinere videtur a _woden_, qui fuit avus avi _hengesti_, sicut _hengestschoten_, nune prædium dominorum oestbroek, ab _hengisto_ nominatur." henschoten was ceded to the abbey of oestbroek in , and sold at the breaking up of the monasteries; and is now the property of mr. van asch van wyck. since, therefore, the above extract must have been written before the reformation, the belief that our forefathers proceeded from this country is by no means new; and the evidence in its support is, i think, stronger than that adduced by turner and lappenberg in favour of an immigration from sleswig; indeed it seems not improbable that the first settlers, with _hengist_ at their head, sailed from the mouth of the eem. i have more to add in a future number, if "notes and queries" can afford me space. j. s. woudenberg, april, . [footnote : bondam's _charter-boek_.] [footnote : see gibson, _a.-s. chron._] * * * * * minor queries. _villenage._--can any of your readers inform me at what period villenage became extinct in this kingdom? i have now before me a grant of a manor from the crown, in the third and fourth year of the reigns of king philip and queen mary, conveying, amongst other goods and chattels, the bondmen, bondwomen, and villeins, with their sequels,--"nativos, nativas, e villanos cum eoz sequelis." according to blackstone, the children of villeins were in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called, in latin, "nativi," which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a _neife_. what i wish to learn is, whether the old wording of crown grants had survived the { } existence of villenage; or whether bondage was a reality in the reign of philip and mary; and if so, at what it became extinct? h. c. workington. [our correspondent's query is an interesting one; but he does not seem to be aware that in our first vol., p. ., mr. e. smirke had given the names of three "bondmen of bloude" living near brighton in .] _roman roads near london._--in the most ancient maps of middlesex that i have seen, there are no roads marked out. in a folio coloured map of middlesex, published by bowen (the date of which is, i think, , although the same map has various dates, like those of speed, where the date only is altered several times), the roads are introduced. a roman road appears from the corner of the tottenham court road, where the hampstead road and the new road now meet, running through what must now be the regent's park, until it reaches edgeware, and thence to brockley hills, called sulloniacæ, an ancient city in antonine's _itinerary_. the lanes marking this road are so different from the other roads, as to show at once what is intended; and yet, either in this same map or in another with the same route, watling street is printed upon the highway that leads to tyburn turnpike, in a manner to show the whole of that distance is meant. the roman road from tottenham court, after making its appearance in a variety of other maps up to a certain date, about , is nowhere to be found since, in any of the middlesex maps. can any of your readers show by what authority this was first introduced, and why discontinued; and if the watling street branched off, upon its approach to london, where did the part crossing oxford street at tyburn lead to? john francis-x. _mrs. catherine barton._--in brewster's _life of sir isaac newton_, p. ., is the following passage: "this accomplished nobleman was created earl of halifax in , and after the death of his first wife he conceived a strong attachment for mrs. catherine barton, the widow of colonel barton, and the niece of newton." i wish particularly to know the _maiden_ name of this catherine barton; she married mr. conduitt, who succeeded sir i. newton as master of the mint. j. e. r. s. sampford, braintree, april . . _sempecta at croyland._--dr. maitland has so kindly answered your correspondent's query respecting his work on mesmerism, that i venture to ask him another, through the medium of your pages. where can be found the poem respecting the old soldier monk at croyland (or sempecta, as ingulphus calls him), from which dr. m. has given extracts in p. . of his _dark ages_? h. r. l. trin. coll. _schmidt's antiquitates neomagensis--roman medicine-stamps._--can any of your readers inform me,-- st. of the date when schmidt published his _antiquitates neomagensis_, and where: also in what libraries it is to be found? nd. of the existence of any roman medicine-stamps found in the british islands, as yet undescribed by those who have written on the subject. q. _sir harris nicolas' history of the royal navy._--is there any probability that the _history of the royal navy_, begun by sir n. h. nicolas, and carried by him to the reign of henry v., will ever be continued. it is a most valuable work, and was stopped by his lamented death, just as it was beginning to be most interesting. e. n. w. _wooden baldrocks._--_thanksgiving-book._--in the vestry-books of st. peter's, ruthin, co. denbigh, there are some entries, explanations of which will be very acceptable. from , and many subsequent years, there is a constant repetition in the churchwarden's account of "wooden baldrocks," from time to time supplied new to the parish. in , "a thanksgiving-book" is charged in the parish accounts. query the use and nature of baldrock? and what book is meant by a thanksgiving-book? about the above period, continual payments are made for the destruction of hedgehogs, which seem to be valued at sixpence a-piece, in some cases fourpence; and to have been allowed in the parish accounts. a churchwarden. _history of the jesuits._--who was the author of _a history of the jesuits; to which is prefixed a reply to mr. dallas's defence of that order_. it was published in two volumes vo., london, , by baldwin, cradock, and joy, paternoster row. h. r. l. trin. coll. _mind your p's and q's._--what is the origin of this phrase? i have heard one solution of it, but wish to ascertain whether there is any other? r. d. h. _mode of hiring domestic servants in holderness--sittings--fest._--it is customary once a year for men and women servants out of place to assemble in the market places of hedon and patrington, the two chief towns in holderness, and there to await being hired. this very ancient custom is called hedon _sittings_ or _statutes_. what is the name derived from? a small sum of money given to each servant hired, is supposed to legalise the contract, and is called the _fest_. from what is the word derived? f. r. r. _home-made wines._--it is stated in _the times_ of this morning (feb. ) that-- { } "we know from old chronicles that most of the wine drank by englishmen, under the plantagenets, was of home production." can any, and if so what, authority be shown for this statement? j. sn. _inscription on a clock._--under the curious clock in exeter cathedral are inscribed these words: "pereunt et imputantur, sc. horæ." i have been told that they are the concluding words of a longer inscription on some foreign clock. can any of your readers tell me if they be so? j. w. hewett. _inscription on the tomb of peter the hermit._--at huy, on the meuse, is shown the tomb where peter the hermit was buried: it is in the shape of an obelisk, and has an inscription on each of the four sides. of this inscription, which is curious, and which i copied when i was there, i have lost the greater part: can one of your correspondents supply it for me, or tell where the lines are originally to be found, as i fancy they are adapted to, and not made for, the monument. the part of the inscription which i have runs as follows: (inscription.) "soldat du pape urbain, aux cris de 'dieu le veut,' il a précipité l'europe sur l'asie; le péril arrivé, sa sainte frenesie n'a plus trouvé qu'un cri arrive 'sauve qui peut.' dieu, l'intolérant l'outrage, insulte à sa grandeur, tel masque qu'il affecte, il n'est qu'une imposteur." another two-lined motto is headed "les illusions;" and a third, "la liberté;" but neither these, nor a longer one (which i fancy introduces the names of molière, rousseau, and fénélon), am i able to quote. h. a. b. _wife of james torre._-james torre, the yorkshire antiquary, married for his first wife elizabeth lincolne (see _ducatus leod._, p. . whitaker's ed.); can any one inform me who was that lady's father, and if there is any pedigree known of the family? i have little doubt that the rev. william lincolne, rector of halton, lincolnshire, mentioned by walker, in his _sufferings of the clergy_, b. ii. p. ., was of the same family. edward peacock, jun. bottesford moors. _"the bear's bible."_--in the library of queen's college, oxon, is a copy of the spanish version of the bible, by cassiod. reyna ( ), with the following inscription:-- ampliss. antistiti. ac dño r^{mo} d. edmundo grindalo, archiepiscopo cantuariensi, et totius angliæ primati digniss. _ob erepta hujus hispanicæ versionis sacrorum librorum scripta ex hostium manibus_ cassiodorus reinius ejusdem versionis author gratitudinis ergo et in perpetuæ observantiæ pignus d.d.d." what are the circumstances here alluded to? h. h. w. _harris, painter in water-colours._--some friends of mine have a large paper copy of the edition of the bible, published in , by messrs. nicoll, of pall-mall, and known as "reeves' bible," which is adorned with a large number of small original drawings in water-colour by "j. harris, of walworth, surrey." i should be obliged if any of your correspondents can give me any information respecting mr. harris, and can tell me whether he is still living. the drawings were made before the year . t. c. w. _university hoods._--the scotch universities of aberdeen, st. andrew's, and glasgow had, before the reformation, or before the revolution rather, hoods for the several degrees of m.a., d.d., ll.d., and d.c.l. what these were, is a question which it is now very difficult to determine; but this much is known, that the hoods of aberdeen were identical with those of paris, those of st. andrew's with those of louvain, and those of glasgow with those of bologna. the revolution, however, has done much to obliterate the traces of even the parisian hoods, and the m.a. hood of paris is all that has hitherto rewarded the researches of the university antiquary. can any of your readers assist in the somewhat interesting investigation by endeavouring to discover, or informing us if they already know, what were the hoods of the universities of paris, louvain, and bologna, for the several degrees i have enumerated. g. a. j. _"nullis fraus tuta latebris."_--can any of your correspondents favour me with a reference to the above motto? s. s. _voltaire, where situated?_--the "_terre_," hamlet, or other _property_ of _voltaire_, from which the french poet took the addition to his paternal name of arouet,--where situated? that there is, or at least was, in voltaire's time, such an estate, condorcet's statement (_vide_ voltaire) makes apparent. but the locality is not pointed out. can any of your correspondents help me to it? v. _table of prohibited degrees, ._--by the th canon of the church of england the "table of prohibited degrees" set forth by authority in is ordered to "be in every church publicly set up and fixed at the charge of the parish." is this usually done now? and if not, why is it omitted to be done? what is the authority for the insertion of the canons, or the articles, or the table of the { } prohibited degrees found in the book of common prayer? j. o. m. _launcelot lyttleton._--i shall be greatly obliged to any genealogist who can tell me who was that launcelot lyttleton, a lichfield gentleman, whose eldest laughter, mary, married the hon. francis roper, and became the mother of the fourteenth lord teynham. was this launcelot a descendant of sir edward lyttleton, temp. eliz., who married a daughter of sir william devereux? i could answer my own question by an inspection of the "roper roll;" but unfortunately that is in ireland, and i may not soon discover the address of its possessor. h. g. r. c. erechtheum. _the antediluvians._--can you or any of your learned correspondents inform me of any work likely to assist me in my researches into the antediluvian history of our race? the curious treatise of reimmanus, and the erudite essay of j. joachimus maderus, i have now before me; but it occurs to me that, besides these and the more patent sources of information, such as bruckerus and josephus, there must be other, and perhaps more modern, works which may be more practically useful. perhaps the author of the elegant essay on the subject in _eruvin_ may be able to refer to such a a work. g. a. j. * * * * * minor queries answered. _wither's haleluiah._--mr. r. a. willmott, in his _lives of sacred poets_, has done himself credit by doing justice to george wither, and vindicating his claims as poet, whom it has long been the fashion to underrate, but who southey said "had the heart and soul of a poet in him."--(_life_, iii. .) in the _life_, mr. willmott says: "in appeared the _haleluiah, or britain's second remembrancer_ ... which book, now as scarce as the first _remembrancer_ is common, i have not seen." it is therefore very probable that the work is seldom to be met with. i have a copy, but it is unfortunately imperfect; wanting a few leaves (only a few i imagine) at the end. there is no index, nor table of contents, by which i might ascertain the extent of the deficiency. the last page is , and contains a portion of hymn , part iii. if any reader of "notes and queries" would kindly inform me what is the number of pages of the work, and where a copy may be seen, he will oblige s. s. s. [the work consists of pages, with an index of twelve more. a copy of it in in the library of the british museum.] _voltaire's henriade._--is it known who is the author of the english translation of this poem into blank verse, published in . the preface and the notes create a desire to know the author. in one of the notes ( ) he speaks of something as being "proved at large in my _history of christianity_ now ready for the press." i am not aware that any such work exists. was it ever published? if not what became of the manuscript? s. t. d. [voltaire's _henriade_ was translated by john lockman, a gentleman of great literary industry, who died feb. , . see nichols's _bowyer_, and chalmers's _biographical dictionary_. a list of his published works will be found in watt's _bibliotheca britan_.] _christ-crosse a._--in tatham's _fancie's theater_, mo., , is a poem in praise of sack, wherein the following lines occur: "the very children, ere they scarce can say their pater noster, or their _christ-crosse a_, will to their parents prattle, and desire to taste that drinke which gods doe so admire." can any of your readers inform me the meaning of "_christ-crosse a_" here mentioned? does it allude to some alphabet then in use? cato. [the alphabet was so designated, because in the old primers a cross was prefixed to it. nares tells us that in french it was called _croix de par dieu_; and upon reference to cotgrave for an expression of that term we find, "the christ's-cross-row; or the hornbook wherein a child learns it."] _apple-pie order._--_spick and span new._--my wife very much grudges my spending threepence a week for the "notes and queries", and threatens me with stopping the allowance unless i obtain from some of your correspondents answers to the two following queries:-- . what is the origin of the phrase "apple-pie order?" . ditto--of "spick and span new?" jerry sneak. [we leave to some of our friends the task of answering the first of the queries which our correspondent has put to us by desire of his "better-half." there is much curious illustration of the phrase _spick and span_ in todd's _johnson_, s. v. _spick_: and nares in his _glossary_ says, "_span-newe_ is found in chaucer: 'this tale was aie _span-newe_ to begin.'--_troil. and cres._, iii. . it is therefore of good antiquity in the language, and not having been taken from the french may best be referred to the saxon, in which _spannan_ means to stretch. hence _span-new_ is fresh from the _stretchers_, or frames, alluding to cloth, a very old manufacture of the country; and _spick_ and _span_ is fresh from the spike, or tenter, and frames. this is johnson's derivation, and i cannot but think it preferable to any other." a very early instance of the expression, not quoted by todd, may be found in the _romance of alexander_: { } "richelich he doth him schrede in _spon-neowe_ knightis weode."--l. - . and _weber_, in his _glossary_ (or rather, mr. douce, for the "d" appended to the note shows it to have proceeded from that accomplished antiquary), explains it, "_spon-neowe_, span-new, newly spun. this is probably the true explanation of spick and span new. ihre renders sping-spang, _plane novus_, in voce fick fack." the learned jamieson, in his _dictionary_, s. v. _split-new_ (which corresponds to the german _splitter neu_, i. e. as new as a splinter or chip from the block), shows, at greater length than we can quote, that _split_ and _span_ equally denote a splinter or chip; and in his _supplement_, s. v. _spang-new_, after pointing out the connexion between _spinga_ (assula) and _spaungha_ (lamina), shows that, if this be the original, the allusion must be to metal newly wrought, that has, as it were, the gloss from the fire on it: in short, that the epithet is the same as one equally familiar to us, i. e. _fire-new_, germ. _vier-neu_. we will bring this note to a close by a reference to sewell's _dutch dictionary_, where _spikspëlder nieuw_ is rendered "spick and span new."] _theory of the earth's form._--have any objections to the received theory of the earth's spherical form, or any revival of the old "plane" doctrine, been recently noticed and controverted by _scientific_ men of known standing? bruno. [the old theory has been advanced, and even lectured on, within these two years; but no notice has been taken of it by scientific men.] _carolus lawson._--who was "carolus lawson," of whom i have a good print, engraved by heath. he is called "scholæ mancuniensis archididascalus," . "pietas alumnorum" is inscribed underneath, and on the back is written, probably by some grateful pupil-- "cari propinqui, cari liberi, cari parentes, sed omnes omnium caritates _archididascalus noster_ comprehendit."--_cicero_ (verbis quibusdam mutatis). nemo. [mr. charles lawson was educated at corpus christi college, oxford, and was presented by the president, dr. randolph, in , to the place of second master of manchester grammar school; upon the death of mr. purnell, in , he succeeded him as head master. the colleges of st. john, in cambridge, and of brazenose, in oxford, can bear witness to the success with which he laboured for more than half a century in his profession, having received from the manchester school, whilst under his direction, a very considerable number of well-grounded classical scholars. he died at manchester on april , , aged seventy-nine. some further particulars respecting him may be found in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxxvii. part i. p. .] * * * * * replies. haybands in seals. (vol. iii., pp. . . .) i am sorry that in referring to a peculiarity in ancient seals under this title, mr. lower should have pinned to his notice a theory which i feel persuaded is quite untenable. it is surely something new to those who have directed their attention to the numerous devices upon seals to find that the husbandman had so low an opinion of his own social status as to reject the use of any emblematical sign upon his seal, when thomas the smith, roger the carpenter, and william the farrier, bore the elements of their respective crafts as proudly as the knight did his chevron or fess. but the question is one of facts. the following examples of the use of the "hayband" are now before me:-- june, henry iv. grant by john dursley, citizen and armorer of london, to william serjaunt taverner, of stanes, and another, of a messuage, &c. in westminster. seal of dark red was, about ½ inch in diameter; a hay-stalk twisted and pressed into the wax while hot, inclosing a space as large as a shilling, in which is a poor impression of a badly engraved seal; the whole very clumsy and rough. november, henry vi. grant by maurice brune, knight, robert darcy, john doreward, henry clovill, esquire, john grene, and henry stampe, to richard hill and others, of lands, &c., in sprinfield, &c., in essex. each seal is round and thick, and has the impression of a small armorial bearing. the st, nd, and th seals have a small plaited coil of hay pressed into the wax, and inclosing the impression. henry vi. receipt by jane grene for l. paid her by the earl of ormond. seal of diminutive size, and the impression nearly defaced. round the extreme edge is a "diminutive hayband." january, henry vi. grant by thomas tudenham, knight, john leventhorp, esquire, and thomas radclyff, of the reversion of the manor of newhall to john neell and others. all the seals, which are large and thick and more than two inches in diameter, have the impression of a signet ring inclosed with a "hayband" _of parchment_ pressed into them. one of these coils being loose shows itself to be a thin strip of the label itself brought through the wax. february, edward iv. lease by sir thomas urswyk, knight, chief baron of the exchequer, and thomas lovell, to john morton and others, of the manor of newhall, essex, and other lands, &c. the seal of lovell has his armorial bearings and legend; that of the lord chief baron is the impression of a signet ring, being a classical bust. the seal itself is a thick ball of wax about { } two inches across, pressed into the face of which is a "hayband" or twisted coil of _thin parchment_ inclosing the impression. i am sure that i have seen many examples much earlier and later, but those given are merely in reference to the theory of your lewes correspondent. even they are surely inconsistent with the idea of the practice being peculiar to any locality or distinctive of any class. my recollection would lead me to assign the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries as the period of its use. but still the question remains--has it any, and what signification? i have always considered it to have been a contrivance to strengthen the substance of the seal itself. the earliest instances i have seen were "appliqué" seals, such as the royal privy seals, and with these it would seem to have originated. their frail nature suggested the use of some substance to protect the thin layer of wax from damage by the crumpling of the parchment on which they were impressed. for some time its use was confined to this kind of seal; and fashion may perhaps have extended the practice to pendent seals, where, however, it was often efficacious in neutralising the bad quality of the wax so general in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. the plaiting of the hay or straw sometimes assumed a fanciful shape. although the impressions of seals of the time of henry vii. are often very bad, there are generally traces of their existence; these may perhaps be discovered in mr. lower's seals if he looks more to the enclosure than to the substance forming it. joseph burtt. _haybands in seals._--m. a. lower thinks that mr. t. hudson turner has misapplied his description of the seals in his possession. the seals are not _impressed upon haybands_, neither do "some ends of the hay or straw protrude from the surface." the little fillet or wreath of hay, about equal in diameter to a shilling, is _inlaid_ upon the pendent lump of wax, and forms the ornament or device of the seal, rather than an integral portion of it, like that in the specimens referred to by mr. turner. m. a. lower begs, under favour, to add, that the very fact of a query being inserted in the pages of this invaluable--one might almost say indispensable--publication, implies a candid avowal _pro tanto_ of ignorance on the part of the querist, who might reasonably expect a plain answer, unaccompanied by any ungracious reflection on the side of the more highly-gifted _savant_ that furnished the reply. as a simple matter of taste, many other correspondents besides mark antony lower may probably object, like the latter's eminent namesake, mr. tony weller, to being "pulled up so wery short," especially in cases where there is a clear misapprehension on the part of the respondent. _haybands in seals._--it is impossible for one moment to doubt the correctness of mr. hudson turner's remarks on this question, and i hasten to retract my own suggestions, frankly acknowledging them to be erroneous. i had always taken the same view as mr. turner (for it is very palpable to the eye, and speaks for itself), till diverted from it by one of those sudden fancies which, spite of all caution, will ever and anon unaccountably cross the mind and bewilder the better judgment. to have established my view, these rushes should have been proved to be affixed to deeds of _feoffment alone_; a point which, at the moment, i overlooked. even while i write, i have before me a _lease_ granted by the abbey of denney in the fifteenth century, with a rush in the seal; and mr. turner's cited instances of royal charters put an end to all question. lest others be led astray by my freak of fancy, without an opportunity of correcting it by mr. turner's statement, the proper course for me is to acknowledge myself wrong--palpably, unmistakeably wrong,--mr. turner's explanation is the correct one; thanks to him for it--_liberavi animam meam_. l. b. l. * * * * * north side of churchyards. (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., p. .) your correspondents on this subject have generally taken it as granted, that the prejudice against burying in this portion of the churchyard is almost universal. in a former communication (vol. ii., p. .) i stated that there are at least some exceptions. since that time i have visited perhaps a hundred churchyards in the counties of york, derby, stafford, bucks, herts, and oxford, and in nearly half of these burial had evidently been long since practised on the north side of the several churches. the parish church of ashby de la zouch is built so near the south wall of the churchyard, that the north must clearly have been designed for sepulture. i was incumbent of an ancient village church in that neighbourhood, which is built in the same manner, with scarcely any ground on the south, the north being large and considerably raised by the numerous interments which have taken place in it. it has also some old tombs, which ten years ago were fast falling to decay. the part south of the church contains very few graves, and all apparently of recent date. in my former communication i mentioned, that in this churchyard burial has been chiefly, till of late, on the north side of the church; and, since that communication, a vault has been made on the south side, which has convinced us the ground had never before been there broken up. the soil is chalk; whereas, whenever a grave is made on the north side, human dust and bones are so { } abundant, that the chalk soil has almost lost its nature. till more light can be thrown on the subject than what has yet appeared in "notes and queries," i cannot but retain my original opinion, viz., that the favourite part of interment, in earlier times, was that nearest the principal entrance into the church. the original object of burying in churches and churchyards was the better to insure for the dead the prayers of the worshippers, as they assembled for public devotion. hence the churchyard nearest the entrance into church would be most in request. the origin of the prejudice for the south side, which i believe to be of recent date, may, i doubt not, be ascertained from any superstitious cottager who entertains it. "it would be so cold, sir," said one to me, "to be always lying where the sun would never shine on me." if your correspondent on this subject in vol. iii., p. ., would ask an old inhabitant of his parish which is the _backside_ of their church, and why it is so called? he would probably come at the fact. i would refer him to burn's _history of parish registers_, page ., foot-note, where he will find it stated that "a part of the churchyard was sometimes left unconsecrated, for the purpose of burying excommunicated persons." w. hastings kelke. drayton beauchamp. _north side of churchyards._--your correspondents seem to be agreed as to the facts, not as to the origin of the objection. i suspect mr. hawker (vol. ii., p. .) is nearest the truth; and the following, from _coverdale on praying for the dead_, may help to strengthen his conjecture: "as men die, so shall they arise: _if in faith_ in the lord _towards the south_, they need no prayers; they are presently happy, and shall arise in glory: _if in unbelief_ without the lord _towards the north_, then are they past all hope." n. s. _north side of churchyards_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the subjoined extract from bishop wilkins's _discourse concerning a new planet, tending to prove that it is probable our earth is one of the planets_, vo., , pp. - ., will serve to illustrate the passage from milton, of the north being "the devoted region of satan and his hosts:" "it was the opinion of the jewish rabbies, that man was created with his face to the east; therefore the hebrew word signifies _ante_, or the east; _post_, or the west; _dextra_, or the south; _sinistra_, or the north. you may see all of them put together in that place of job xxiii. , .: 'behold i go forward, and he is not there; and backward, but i cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he doth work, but i cannot behold him. he hideth himself on the right hand, that i cannot see him.' which expressions are, by some interpreters, referred unto the four coasts of heaven, according to the common use of those original words. from hence it is that many of the ancients have concluded hell to be in the north, which is signified by the left hand; unto which side, our saviour tells us, that the goats shall be divided. which opinion likewise seems to be favoured by that place in job xxvi. , ., where it is said, "hell is naked before god, and destruction hath no covering.' and presently it is added, 'he stretcheth out the north over the empty place.' upon these grounds, st. jerome interprets that speech of the preacher, eccles. xi. .: 'if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be,' concerning those who shall go either to heaven or hell. and in this sense also do some expound that of zechariah (xiv. .), where it is said that 'the mount of olives shall cleave in the midst: half of it shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.' by which it is intimated, that amongst those gentiles, who shall take upon them the profession of christ, there are two sorts: some that go to the north, that is, to hell; and others to the south, that is, to heaven. and therefore it is, say they, that god so often threatens evil out of the north: and upon this ground it is, saith besoldus, that there is no religion that worships that way. we read of the mahometans, that they adore towards the south; the jews towards the west; christians towards the east; but none to the _north_." j. y. hoxton. * * * * * the rolliad, and some of its writers. (vol. iii., p. .) mr. dawson turner asks for information regarding three writers in the _rolliad_, viz.: tickell, richardson, and fitzpatrick. memoirs of the first two are given in chalmers's _dictionary_; but in moore's _life of sheridan_, mr. turner will find several notices of them, far more attractive than dry biographical details. they were both intimately associated with sheridan; tickell, indeed, was his brother-in-law. one would prefer calling them his _friends_, but steady friendship must rest upon a firmer basis than those gifts of wit, talent, and a keen sense of the ridiculous, which prevailed so largely amongst this clever trio. tickell's production, _anticipation_, is still remembered from its cleverness and humour; but when every speaker introduced into its pages has long been dead, and some of them were little known to fame, the pamphlet is preserved by a few solely from the celebrity which it once possessed. his death in was a most melancholy one. it is described by professor smyth in in his interesting _memoir of sheridan_, a book printed some years ago for distribution among his friends, and which well deserves publication. independent of his contributions to the _rolliad_, { } richardson did little as an author. his comedy of _the fugitive_, acted and published in , was well received, and is much praised. why has this production so completely disappeared? general fitzpatrick was born in , and died in . he was the second son of john, earl of upper ossory; twice secretary-at-war; once secretary to the lord lieutenant of ireland, the duke of portland, but what he regarded as his highest distinction, and it is recorded on his tomb, was the friendship of fox during forty years of their lives. some of his speeches on the union with ireland will be found in the thirty-fourth volume of the _parliamentary history_. his epitaph, by himself, is inscribed on a sarcophagus in the church-yard at sunning hill, in which he describes himself--what his friends admitted to be truth--a politician without ambition, a writer without vanity. which is the true reading in the following lines by fitzpatrick on fox? in my copy the word "course" in the third line is erased, and the word "mind" is substituted. "a patriot's even course he steered, mid faction's wildest storms unmoved: by all who marked his _course_ revered, by all who knew his heart beloved." sheridan says most justly: "wit being generally founded upon the manners and characters of its own day, is crowned in that day, beyond all other exertions of the mind, with splendid and immediate success. but there is always something that equalises. in return, more than any other production, it suffers suddenly and irretrievably from the hand of time." still some publications, from their wit and brilliancy, are sufficiently buoyant to float down to posterity. the publication in question, the _rolliad_, is one; the _anti-jacobin_ another. you may not be unwilling, in your useful pages, to give a list of some of the writers in the latter publication. my own copy of it is marked from that belonging to one of the writers, and is as follows:-- nos. . . . . , -- ., by mr george ellis. nos. . and ., by messrs. ellis and frere. nos. , , . -- ., by mr. canning. no. . by m.; no. . by c. b.; no. . by n. to the remaining numbers, neither names nor initials are affixed. can any of your readers explain the initials, m., c. b., and n., and give us the authors of the _remaining_ numbers? in replying to mr. turner's queries, i shall attend to the wish expressed by so old and so valued a friend, and substitute for initials, of which he disapproves, the name of j. h. markland. * * * * * richardson--tickell--fitzpatrick. (vol. iii., p. .) i am much surprised at mr. dawson turner's inquiry about these names. i will not say with him that, "not to know them argues himself unknown." on the contrary, my wonder is, that one, himself so well and so favourably known as mr. turner, should have need to ask such a question about men with whom, or, at least, with whose fame, he must have been a contemporary, presuming, as i do, that he is the same mr. dawson turner with whose works we have been acquainted for above half a century. since, however, he has made the query, i will answer it as succinctly as i can. the right honourable richard fitzpatrick was the only brother of the last earl of upper ossory, and prominent in fashion, in politics, and in elegant literature, and not undistinguished as a soldier. he sat in _nine_ successive parliaments (in two which i knew him). as early as he was secretary for ireland, and in secretary-at-war, which office he again filled in . in the galaxy of opposition wits, when opposition was wittiest, fitzpatrick was generally admitted to be the first, and there were those who thought him _in general powers_ superior even to fox and sheridan. his oratory, however, did not do justice to his talents, and he was both shy and indolent. his best speech was that in december, , for the release of lafayette, to which even the ridicule of the _anti-jacobin_ allowed the merit of pathetic eloquence. his share in the _rolliad_ was considerable, and there are many other sprightly and some elegant specimens of his poetical talents scattered through various publications. i wish they were collected. richard tickell, the grandson of addison's friend, and brother-in-law to sheridan, was the author of _anticipation_, one of the liveliest political pamphlets ever written. he published many occasional poems, the best of which is a poetical "epistle from charles fox, partridge shooting, to lord john townsend, cruising." mr. dawson turner will find more about him in the _biographical dictionary_. joseph richardson, who died in , was m.p. for newport in three parliaments. he was an intimate friend of sheridan's, and partner with him in drury lane theatre. he wrote a play, entitled _the fugitive_; but he is only remembered for his contributions (whatever they were) to the _rolliad_. in the _gentleman's magazine_ (vol. lxxiii. p. .), mr. dawson turner will find a longer notice of him. there are a few remarks on the authors of the _rolliad_ in moore's _life of sheridan_, i. . c. * * * * * { } quakers' attempt to convert the pope. (vol. iii., p. .) i have never met with any satisfactory account of this singular quaker aggression. perhaps it may be a contribution towards one if you can find room for some notice of a tract in my possession. it is entitled, _a narrative of some of the sufferings of j. p. in the city of rome. london, printed for thomas simmons, at the bull and mouth, near aldersgate_, , to., pp. . this narrative of john perrot's does not, however, give any particulars respecting his going to rome, or the proceedings which led to his captivity there, but begins with the words-- "when i was cast into prison, because i loved the souls of my enemies," &c.; and after eight pages, chiefly occupied by inflated description of his sorrows, from which one obtains no facts, he tells us that god took pity on him, "and raised up his little babe, my dear brother thomas hart, to set his tender soul nearer unto my sufferings, and made him take my burdens on his back, and the yoak of my tribulation on his neck, and made him sup of my sore sorrows, and drink of the bleedings of my grief,'-- and so he goes on; but we do not learn what thomas hart did, except that he comforted john perrot in his confinement. "moreover," he says, "the everlasting mercies of my god did stir up the bowels of other two of his tender babes, named in the tent jane stokes and charles baylie, to come to visit me whilest i was as forsaken of all men." they persevered, he tells us, "in their pilgrimage until they arrived to rome, where c. b. offered his life to ransom me, and both of them entered into captivity for the love which they bore to my life." his _narrative_ (strictly speaking) contains no further information, but that at the bottom of the tenth page it is dated and signed, "written in rome prison of madmen. john." the remaining six pages of the pamphlet consist of a letter from charles baylie, giving an account of his pilgrimage with jane stokes, from dover to calais, paris, marseilles, genoa, until "arriving," he says, "safe at rome, we were drawn in our lives directly to the place where the dearly beloved j. p. was, and coming to the prison door, i enquired for him, and having answer of his being there, i desired for to speak with him, but it would not be permitted us; so it was said in me, _write unto him_, which i did, the which he answered us in the fulness of love, which refreshed us after our weary steps; for our souls were refreshed one in another, though one another's faces we had never seen to the outward, and then we being kept in a holy fear not to do nor act one way nor other, but as we were moved of the lord, least we should add to his bonds,--i say, being thus kept, we were delivered out of the snare of the fowler, who secretly lay in wait to betray our innocency; and after a little time the lord showed me i should go to the inquisition, which i did, and enquired for the inquisitor, as i was showed of the lord i should do; and when i spoke to him i told him _i was come from england for to see my brother j. p._; to which he answered, _i should see him_, and appointed me to come to a certain place called _minerva_, and there, saith he, _i will procure you the liberty of the cardinalls to see him_; he had me also to the inquisition office, where he asked many questions of me concerning our religion, to which i answered in the simplicity of my heart in the fear of the lord; and at the appointed time i came to the place aforesaid, and there i was showed what further i should do, which was to tender my body for my brother; and so from that time i hardly missed opportunity to speak to them as often as they met: for their manner was thus to meet twice a-week, the one time at _minerva_, and the other time at _monte-cavallo_, where the pope's own dwelling is, where i also did the like, more than once, which stirred them up against me, in great enmity," &c. i am afraid i am trespassing on your overfilled columns; but--omitting his account of his going to the jews' synagogue, and of the command which he received to fast twenty days as a testimony against those who falsely stated that john luffe had fasted nineteen days and died on the twentieth--omitting this, i must give one more extract. having been detained in one of his visits to the _minerva_, he says: "from thence i was carried to the inquisition, where i was shut up close, and after i had been there dayes the lord said to me, _thou must go to the pazzarella_, which was the prison or hospital of mad men, where our dear brother was prisoner; and it was also said unto me, _thou shalt also speak to the pope_; and at the dayes end, i was led from the inquisition towards the other prison, and by the way i met the pope carried in great pomp; as it was the good will of the lord that i should speak unto him, men could not prevent it, for i met him towards the foot of a bridge, where i was something nigh him, and when he came against me, the people being on their knees on each side of him, i cried to him with a loud voice in the italian tongue, _to do the thing that was just, and to release the innocent_; and whilest i was speaking, the man which led me had not power to take me away until i had done, and then he had me to prison where my endeared brother was, where i fasted about dayes as a witness against that bloody generation," &c. as to how they got out, he only says: "soon after my fast, the lord, by an outstretched arm, wrought our deliverance, being condemned to perpetual galley-slavery, if ever we returned again unto rome." it appears, however, that though thus prevented from exercising his office of a missionary in rome, charles baylie did not relinquish it. in the letter just quoted he informs his correspondent (who this was does not appear), that since he had seen his face, he had been several times (as he was while { } writing) shut up in strong prisons; and the letter is dated "the third of the sixth month, . _from the common gaol in_ burkdou, _in_ france, _about thirty leagues from_ dover, _where i am a sufferer for speaking the word of the lord to two priests, saying_, all idols, all idolatries, and all idol priests must perish." john perrot seems to have considered that his mission extended over all the world. while in rome prison of madmen, he wrote an address "to all people upon the face of the earth," which he "sent thence the th of the th month, ;" and he was, no doubt, the author of the tract which follows it (and precedes the narrative) in my volume, entitled "blessed openings of a day of good things to the turks. written to the heads, rulers, ancients, and elders of their land, and whomsoever else it may concern," though it is only signed "john." to him also, i suppose, we must ascribe another tract, _discoveries of the day-dawning to the jewes. whereby they may know in what state they shall inherit the riches and glory of promise_. "j. p." is all that is given for the author's name on the title-page, but the tract is signed [hebrew: jwhn], that is, john. he too, i presume, was the author of another of the tracts, _an epistle to the greeks, especially to those in and about corinth and athens, &c. written in egripo in the island of negroponte, by a servant of the lord: j. p._ he seems to have been at athens on the th day of the th month, in the year accounted , being the first day of the week, the day of greek solemn worship, and to have been "conversant" with carlo dessio and gumeno stephaci, "called greek doctors." s. r. m. gloucester. * * * * * snail-eating. (vol. iii., p. .) snail-eating is by no means uncommon. when i was a youth i took a dozen snails every morning to a lady who was of a delicate constitution, and to whom they were recommended as wholesome food. they were boiled, and mixed up with milk. they were the common snail, usually found about old garden walls. a friend of mine, in walking round his garden, was in the habit of picking the snails off his fruit-trees and eating them raw. he was somewhat fastidious, for i have seen him take a snail, put it to his tongue, and reject it as not of a good flavour, and select another more agreeable to his taste. we are strange creatures of habit, especially in our feeding. i am fond of oysters, muscles, and cockles; but i do not think anything could induce me to taste a snail, a periwinkle, or a limpet. b. h. _snail-eating._--this practice is very general in italy. while residing near florence, my attention was often attracted by a heap of fifty or one hundred very clean, empty, snail-shells, in a ditch, or under a bush; and i indulged in many vain speculations, before i could account for so strange a phenomenon. one day, however, i happened to meet the _contadina_ coming out of my garden with a basket on her arm; and from her shy, conscious manner, and an evident wish to avoid my seeing the contents, i rather suspected she had been making free with my peaches. to my surprise, however, i found that she was laden with the delicious _frutta-di-terra_ (sometimes so called, as the echinus, so common along the italian coast, is called _frutta-di-mare_); and thinking that she had been collecting them simply from regard to my fruit and vegetables, i thanked her for her kind services. but she understood me ironically, and, with a good deal of confusion, offered to carry them to the kitchen, apologising most elaborately, and assuring me that she would on no account have taken them, had not our cook told her that we despised them, and that she would no doubt be welcome. i asked her what in the world she intended to do with them? and, with a look of amazement at my question, even surpassing mine at her reply, she informed me that her brother and his wife had come to pay them a visit, and that, with my kind permission, she would thus treat them to "_una bellissima cena_." she had collected about three quarts, during a search of two hours. the large brown kind only are eaten. among the poor they are generally esteemed a delicacy, and reputed to be marvellously nutritious. nocab. * * * * * sir john davies, davis, or davys. (vol. iii., p. .) the following additional particulars of this eminent lawyer and poet may be deemed interesting. in a letter from mr. pary to the rev. josiah mead, of the th november, , it is stated: "tomorrow, it is said sergeant richardson shall be lord chief justice of the common pleas, and sir john davis nominated to the king's bench, because he hath written a book in defence of the legality of this new loan." in another letter of the th december, , it is stated: "i heard last night that sergeant davis, who it is said looked to be lord chief justice of the king's bench, in place of sir randal crew, was found dead in his bed." and, again, in a letter from the rev. josiah mead to sir martin stuteville, of the th dec., : "this of the death of sir john davis, for aught i { } can hear, holds true. it is added, that he was at supper with my lord keeper that evening before i was told by him that he should be lord chief justice of the king's bench; but he lived not to see the morning. my lord of huntingdon rode up, upon this news, for he is his heir." ferdinando lord hastings, eldest son of henry, earl of huntingdon, married lucy, daughter and heiress of sir john davis, and in succeeded his father as earl of huntingdon. sir john davis married lady eleanor, only daughter of the earl of castlehaven, and sister of the infamous earl. she remarried sir archibald douglas, and died in . she was the lady of the anagram celebrity, "reveal, oh, daniel," and "never so mad a lady." there is no doubt that she and her brother were as mad as could well be. in a letter from mr. edward rossingham to sir thomas puckering, dated th january, , it is stated: "sunday before christmas the bishop, dean, and chapter of lichfield sent up a complaint against the lady eleanor davis. it seems the cathedral church in lichfield is lately very beautifully set out with hangings of arras behind the altar, the communion table handsomely railed in, and the table itself set out in the best manner, and the bishop's seat fairly built. this lady came one communion day, in the morning, with a kettle in one hand and a brush in the other, to sprinkle some of her holy water (as she called that in the kettle) upon these hangings and the bishop's seat, which was only a composition of tar, pitch, sink-puddle water, &c., and such kind of nasty ingredients, which she did sprinkle upon the aforesaid things. this being the act of a mad woman, the lords, to prevent further mischief, have given out two warrants, the one to bring the lady to bethlehem, the other to the keeper of bethlehem to receive her. there are messengers gone into staffordshire to bring her up." it appeared afterwards she was so poor, that it became a question at the council who should maintain her. she seems to have been wholly neglected by her second husband. sir john davis and his lady are buried in the church of st. martin's in the fields, and the following are their epitaphs, from strype's _stow_, book vi. p. .: "d. o. m. s. johannes davys, equestris ordinis quondam attornati regis generalis amplissima provincia in regno hib. functus. inde in patriam revocatus inter servientes domini regis ad legem primum locum sustinuit. ob. ." "acc[=u]bat dignissimo marito incomparabilis uxor, &c., ." "_note._--she was the lady eleanora, the only daughter of the earl of castlehaven, baron audley." w. h. lammin. fulham, april . . * * * * * locke mss. (vol. ii., p. .) in reference to an inquiry after mss. relating to locke, i enclose particulars of a small to. ms. volume in my possession. thomas kerslake. "_manuscript._--locke's (john, _an attorney living at publow, and father of the illustrious metaphysician of the same name_) common-place book, containing matters (relating to the hundreds of chew, chewton, kainsham, brewton, catsashe, norton ferris, horethorne, froome, wellowe, whitstone, wells forum, portbury, bathe forum, winterstoke, bempstone, kilmersdon, brent, hartliffe and bedminster, hampton and claverton, and phillips norton liberties, glaston, queene camell, &c.) of daily use to him as court keeper to col. alex. popham, a magistrate and leader of parliamentary forces in somersetsh., _variously dated from to , all in the handwriting of the elder john locke_,--also many entries by other hands of other matters, in the remaining leaves of the same volume, many of which are probably in the handwriting of the afterwards distinguished younger john locke, _ to. original vellum wrapper, l. s._ contains:-- entries of bailments and bindings over of prosecutors in cases of felony which occurred in the neighbourhood of pensford, for the assizes at bath, taunton, bridgewater, and wells, - . appointment at bathe of overseers of woollen cloth, , for chew, dundry, chewstoke, ubley, mids. norton, kainsham, publow, kelston, mounton coombe, bathford, bathwicke, freshford, weston, froome, rode, beckington, lullington, berkley, chew, mells, and leigh, colsford, hampton et claverton, batheaston, charterhouse hinton, with the names of the overseers. scotch postures (humorous). names of the tithings in the hundreds of chew, chewton, and kainsham. abp. usher on the liturgie and episcopall government, . the sums of the payment of each tithing of the above hundreds of the st of th and th of the subsidy of - ths and ths to k. james, to declare war against spain, - . the yearlie proportion of the severall hundreds of the easterne division of the countie towarde the releife of the hospitall, .--ditto, westerne division. the yearlie rate for the maymed soldiers of every hundred and libertie within this county of somerset. the rate of kainsham hundred, with the amount of each parish. a rate devised at hinton in , for the raising of men for ireland, with consent of the bath magistrates, and their names. the number and proportion of shipping within englande and wales, to be made readie against mar. , . hundred of kainsham, quarterlie payment of each tithing to the hospitalls and maymed soldiers. a rate made at pensford rd sept., , for the raising of l. { } the assizes holden at bathe, th july, , before the right honble. s. fynch,--the names of the justices (among whom are john stowell, ralph hopton, john horner, rob. hopton, john harington, &c.), and the names of the grand jury. subsidie th charles:--a particular how each tithing within the hundreds of chew, chewton, and kainsham stands chardged, for the reliefe of his maties army and the northerne parte of the kingdom, thomas hunt of dundry, collector. the protestation by order of parliament, ^o maij, ,--with jo. locke's acceptance of the protestation in the parish church of publoe, rd apr., . kainsham:--the "purblinde, partiall, and innovated rate" of this hund., th sept., . kainsham hund.--a rate for ship-money--with the particulars of every tithing, parish, and particular person chardged--contains the name of every rateable person in the parishes of burnet, preston, stanton drew, stanton prior, salford, publoe, marksbury, chelworth, shrubwell, belluton, compton dando, farmborrow, chewton, whitchurch, charlton, brislington, and kainsham, with the amount of this celebrated tax assessed to each person. the names of the lords lieutenants nominated by the howse of comons, . the muster roll of the collonell sir rawfe hopton, knight, his band of foote soldiers, within the eastern division, and regiment of the countie of somerset.--bathe, xxi^o xxij^{do} maij, .--(contains, a list of the officers, "william tynte," &c.--a list of bearers of pikes, with the names of the soldiers and of the gentlemen or tithings for whom they serve,--also a similar list of the bearers of "shott.") a list of parishes in the deaneries of froome and bedminster, with the name of the clergyman of each, the arms supplied by him, and the names of the men who bore them. a rate for raising £ - - per mensem, in the hund. of kainsham, for generall fairfax army, . several papers relating to differences concerning rates between the in hundred and out hundred of kainsham. particulars and value of feer's tenement, in belluton, now in the possession of henry stickland, given in by him this day, dec., . rente to my landlord, coll. alex. popham, out of the tenements i hold in publoe, and the lives thereon at the time of their obtaining, . a receipt for his rente at publoe, . bris & dec., . _the above are in the handwriting of jo. locke, the elder; in another hand, on blank covers, left by the former, are_--propositions on philosophy:--phisicke, ethike, and dialectike. de providentia dei et ad genus. de prædestinatione. propositiones catholicæ. n.b. one of the later chapters of the essay on the human understanding is treated under propositions nearly identical with the leaf of the ms. which is described in the preceding four lines. copia actus locationis mensæ dominicæ in ecclesia s. gregorij civitatis london. character of drunkenness (_rhyme_), &c. &c. at the end, in several hands, are various receipts: one in the elder locke's handwriting, 'the weapon salve, and the use thereof, as it was sent unto mee as a most excellent and rare secret from my cosin alderman john locke[ ], of bristoll, in his letter, dat. ^o apr. ,'--also 'to make shineing inke', signed 'j l: ox:' on the last leaf is a record of the births, marriages and deaths of the locke family, from to , including that of john locke, the father, april, ." [footnote : high sheriff of bristol in , and the mayor of bristol in who refused admittance to the royal forces. see barrett and seyer.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _defoe's anticipations_ (vol. iii., p. .).--defoe had probably seen the english translation, or rather abridgment, of father dos santos's _ethiopia oriental_, in purchas's _pilgrimes_ (vol. ii. , fol. ed.), in which some hints are given of the great lake (nyassi, _i. e._ sea) maravi, which lies nearly parallel with the eastern coast, and was known to d'anville, in whose map _massi_ is misengraved for niassi. a very careful examination of the portuguese expeditions across the continent of africa has been given by mr. cooley, in the _journal of the royal geographical society_ (vol. xv. p. .; xvi. p. .), and he has ascertained, approximately, the extent and position of that great lake, which, from distrust of d'anville, one of the most exact geographers, had been expunged from all modern maps. it is considerably to the n. and e. of the nyami lately determined, and of much greater extent. anatol. _epitaph in hall's discovery_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the work entitled _discovery of a new world, or a description of the south indies, hitherto unknown, by an english mercury, imprinted by e. blount_, no date, mo., is not, as our correspondent supposes, very rare, nor is it by bishop hall. it is a free translation, or rather paraphrase, and an excellent one in its way, by john healey, of bishop hall's very entertaining _mundus alter et idem_, first published in mo., francof., without date, afterwards reprinted with campanella's _civitas solis_ and bacon's _atlantis_ at utrecht, , mo., and subsequently included in the edition of bishop hall's works by pratt, vols., lond., , vo. the epitaph quoted is not a satire upon any statesman of the time. the writer is describing the land of changeableness, or, as it is called in the latin original, "variana vel moronia mobilis," and gives in the course of his description this epitaph on andreas vortunius (a vertendo), or, as he is styled in the english { } translation, "andrew turncoate." the epitaph occurs in p. . of the latin edition of , and is evidently, as indicated by the marginal notes, an imitation or parody of the famous one on Æelia lælia crispis, which has exercised the ingenuity of so many writers, and of which our own countryman, richard white, of basingstoke, the historian, has given three different interpretations. see his _Ælia lælia crispis, epitaphium antiquum quod in agro bononiensi adhuc videtur, a diversis interpretatum varie, novissime autem a richardo vito explicatum_, padua, , to. an article on this epitaph and its various interpreters, of whom i have collected about forty, might be made a very interesting one. james crossley. [we wish mr. crossley--than whom no one is more competent--would favour us with such an article. the following communication from mr. forbes is only one of several we have received, showing that the interest in this enigma is not abated.] _epitaph in hall's discovery_ (vol. iii., p. .).--when this epitaph is assigned to its right owner, it may perhaps throw some light on its twin-brother--the epitaph on "Ælia lælia crispis"--"_about which many of the learned have puzzled their heads_." (see _encyc. brit._, article "Ænigma.") i enclose a copy of this epitaph, which you can use or not, as you please. if you think that it might help to "unearth" mister andrew turnecoate, you may perhaps like to lay it before your readers; if, on the other hand, that it would but increase the difficulty of the operation by distracting attention needlessly, you can hand it over to "the editor's best friend"--the fire. "d. m. Ælia lælia crispis, nec vir, nec mulier, nec androgyna nec puella, nec juvenis, nec anus; nec casta, nec meretrix, nec pudica; sed omnia; sublata neque fame, neque ferro, neque veneno; sed omnibus: nec coelo, nec terris, nec aquis, sed ubique jacet. lucius agatho priscius, nec maritus, nec amator, nec necessarius; neque moerens, neque gaudens, neque flens; hanc, nec molem, nec pyramidem, nec sepulchrum, sed omnia, scit et nescit, cui posuerit." c. forbes. _saint thomas of lancaster._--the following passage in fuller's _worthies_ (of yorkshire) does not seem to have been noticed by either of your correspondents who replied to mr. r. m. milnes' query in vol. i., p. .: "thomas plantagenet. before i proceed, i must confess myself formerly at a great loss to understand a passage in an honourable author, speaking of the counterfeit reliques detected and destroyed at the reformation: 'the bell of saint guthlac, and the _felt_ of saint thomas of lancaster, both remedies for the headache.' (vice lord herbert's _life of henry viii._, p. .) but i could recover no saint _thomas_ (saving him of _canterbury_) in any english martyrology, till since, on enquiry, i find him to be this _thomas plantagenet_. he was earl of derby, lancaster, leicester, and (in the right of alice his wife) of lincoln. a popular person, and great enemy to the two spencers, minions to king edward ii, who being hated as devils for their pride, no wonder if this thomas was honored as a saint and martyr by the common sort.[ ] indeed he must be a very good chymist who can extract _martyr_ out of _malefactor_; and our chronicles generally behold him put to death for treason against king edward ii. but let him pass for a saint in this shire, though never solemnly canonised, it being true of such local saints, what servius honoratus observeth of topical gods, '_ad alias regiones nunquam transibant_,' they travelled not so far as to be honored in other countries. his beheading, _alias_ his martyrdom, happened at pomfret a.d. ." it would appear from the foregoing extract that thomas of lancaster was never admitted into the romish calendar of saints; though his memory was locally revered, especially for his opposition to the two spencers, or despensers, as they are called by hume. this historian had no respect for "the turbulent lancaster;" but the quaint old fuller seems to have thought well of him. as a _bell-man_ i am more interested in the virtues of the bell of saint guthlac, than in the hat of saint thomas, and i take this opportunity of asking assistance from the readers of "notes and queries" towards a collection of curious anecdotes and information about bells, which i am endeavouring to make. any contributions will be thankfully received by me. alfred gatty. ecclesfield. [footnote : "_in sanctorum numerum retulit vulgus._--camden's _brit._ in yorkshire. amongst other profits received by the abbey of leicester, in , from oblations at the church of st. martin in that town, occurs, _pes thomæ lancastriæ respondebat, l. s._"--_history of leicestershire_, vol. i. p. .] _francis moore_ (vol. iii., p. .).--that such a personage really did exist there can be little doubt. bromley (in _engraved portraits, &c._) gives as the date of his birth, and says that there was a portrait of him by drapentier _ad vivum_. lysons mentions him as one of the { } remarkable men who, at different periods, resided at lambeth, and says that his house was in calcott's alley, high street, then called back lane, where he seems to have enlightened his generation in the threefold capacity of astrologer, physician, and schoolmaster. j. c. b. lambeth. "_tickhill, god help me_" (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .).--although i am full late with my pendent, i am tempted to add the instance of "kyme god knows," well known to all explorers of the fens. the adjunct, "god knows," is supposed to be part of the following verse: "it's kyme, god knows, where no corn grows, and very little hay; and if there come a wet time, it _weshes_ all away." if i misquote, perhaps some fen man will set me right. as to the "lincoln-heath where should 'un?" instanced by your correspondent h. c. st. croix, in the no. for april , , it is quite unknown in this neighbourhood, and i believe must belong to some other locale. b. lincoln. _meaning of tye_ (vol. iii., p. .).--on or contiguous to the south downs, in sussex, there are several portions of land bearing this designation, as berwick tye, alfriston tye, telscombe tye, &c. they are all contiguous to the villages from which they derive their names. these lands were formerly held in common by the tenants of the respective manors, and i think the origin of the expression may be traced to the tethering or _tying_-up of cows, horses, &c., for the double purpose of preventing their straying, and of preserving the fences of the neighbouring tenements. i offer this conjecture with some diffidence, because the word is very often found in _composition_ with proper names of places, as lavortye, brambletye, holtye, puxtye, ollantigh. the vulgar notion, that it means a space which originally measured ten acres, is, i think, untenable. m. a. lower. lewes. _dutch church in norwich_ (vol. iii., p. .).--some interesting details connected with the establishment of the dutch church in norwich, as well as the first settlement of the walloons in that city, will be found in blomefield's _history of norfolk_, vol. iii. p. . et seq., edit. . j. y. _the dutch church, norwich._--some account of this church may be seen in burn's _history of the foreign refugees_, . it is to be regretted, however, that the registers and acts of vestry are missing. the _seal_ of the church has lately been discovered. j. s. b. _lost manuscripts_ (vol. iii., pp. . .)--in pursuance of mr. mackenzie's suggestions respecting the search for lost manuscripts, permit me to ask, if all hope must be considered as given up of decyphering any more of those discovered at herculaneum, or of resuming the excavations there, that have been so long discontinued? perhaps the improved chemical processes of recent days might be found more successful in facilitating the unrolling of the mss., than the means resorted to so long ago by sir h. davy. can any of your correspondents state whether anything has been done lately with the herculaneum mss.? eustace says that-- "as a very small part of herculaneum has hitherto been explored, it is highly probable that if a general excavation were made, ten times the number of mss. above mentioned ( ) might be discovered, and among them, perhaps, or very probably, some of the first works of antiquity, the loss of which has been so long lamented."--_classical tour_, vol. i. to., p. . j. m. oxford. _the circulation of the blood_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in a paraphrase on ecclesiastes xii. - ., entitled, _king solomon's portraiture of old age_, by john smith, m.d., london, , vo., , mo., the author attributes the discovery of the circulation of the blood to king solomon. mede also finds the same anticipation of science in "the pitcher broken at the fountain." who was the first to suggest the transfusion of blood? t. j. _alliteration_ (vol. iii., p. .)--your correspondent h. a. b., in quoting the seventh stanza from phineas fletcher's _purple island_, observes, that the second line, "a life that lives by love, and loves by light," is "noticeable" for its _alliteration_. but the best specimen that i have met with in english--after having read much verse, and published a volume, which my partial friends call poetry--will be found in quarles' _divine emblems_, book ii. emblem ii. beyond all question, quarles was a poet that needed not "apt alliteration's artful aid" to add to the vigour of his verse, or lend liquidity to his lines. quarles is often queer, quaint, and querulous, but never prolix, prosey, or puling. "we sack, we ransack to the utmost sands of native kingdoms, and of foreign lands: _we travel sea and soil; we pry, we prowl,_ _we progress, and we prog from pole to pole_." verily, old francis must have had a prophetic peep at the effects of _free trade_, and the growing greatness of great britain, in the gathering of the nations under a huge glass case in hyde park, in the present year ! c. g. edinburgh. { } _vineyards in england_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the lincoln "vine closes" may as well be added to the rest. they were given to the church here by henry i. see the charter, entitled _carta hen. i. de vinea sua linc._, in dugdale (caley's) vol. vi. p. . their site is a rather steep slope, facing the south, and immediately east of the city. the southern aspect of our hill was celebrated long ago by some poet, as quoted by h. huntingdon: "urbs in colle sita est, et collis vergit ad austrum". n.b. one of the abbey fields at bullington, a few miles east of lincoln, is known as the hopyard. the plant has never been cultivated in these parts within memory, or the range of the faintest tradition, but the character of the soil is clayey, and perhaps not unsuitable. were hopyards often attached to monasteries? the house at bullington was of the order of sempringham. b. lincoln. _countess of desmond_ (vol. iii., p. .).--if your correspondents on this subject should be wandering to the south-east of london, they may be interested in knowing that there are two very striking portraits of this lady in kent, one at knowle, near seven oaks; the other, which is the more remarkable picture of the two, at bedgebury, near cranbrook, the seat of viscount beresford. e. h. y. _st. john's bridge fair_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--i cannot agree with the conjecture that this was peterborough bridge fair. on the confines of gloucestershire and berkshire, at the distance of about miles from london, near lechlade, and on the road to farringdon, is a st. john's bridge, near which was a priory or hospital. it is at this place that the thames first becomes navigable. (leland's _itinerary_, vol. ii. fo. , , ; vol. iv. fo. ; bowles's _post chaise companion_, , pl. ; lysons' _berkshire_, vol. i. p. ., and map of county prefixed; _collectanea topographica et genealogica_, vol. i. p. .; _parliamentary gazetteer_, art. "lechlade.") whether there is or ever was a fair at this place is more than i can state; but perhaps some of your correspondents dwelling in those parts can give information on this point. c. h. cooper. cambridge, april . . _paring the nails unlucky on sundays_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii, p. .).--compare sir thomas browne's _vulgar errors_, lib. v. cap. xxi. § x. ache. _errata in braithwait's latin drinking-song_ (vol. iii., p. .).--it is well for us that honest barnaby is not alive to visit upon us the scandalous "negligences and ignorances" with which our transcript of his song abounds; and it is no excuse perhaps to say, that _the errors almost all of them exist in the ms. from whence the transcript was made_. sensitive as he has shown himself "upon the errata's," _he_ would not have accepted the apology from us which he makes for himself. "good reader, if this impression have errors in it, excuse it. _the copy was obscure_; neither was the _editor_, by reason of his distance, and employments of higher consequence, made acquainted with the publishing of it." "his patavinus _erravit prelis_, authorem suis lacerando telis." the following corrections, which are necessary to the sense, have been pointed out, and have no doubt been already silently made by many of our readers. _sic in ms._ _forsan._ stanza . hoc _te_ amoenum hoc amoenum reparare reperire stanza . m_e_mento m_o_mento gustabi_t_ gustabi_s_ stanza . solv_e_t solv_i_t pot_i_s pot_u_s stanza . friges_t_is friges_c_is stanza . succed_a_nt succed_u_nt omit the comma between _domum_ and _feram_, and disregard the erroneous punctuation generally. there may be other errors; for, as it stands at present, the song is inferior to the other known productions of the pleasant author of the itinerarium. we can only hope that its publication, in even this imperfect form, may lead to the discovery of a better text; and we must be content if the lines of the author are applied to our blunders: "delirans iste _sapiens gottam_, reddit _coetum_ propter _cotem_." ------ "quid si breves fiant longi? si vocales sint dipthongi? quid si graves sint acuti? si accentus fiant muti? quid si placidè, plenè, planè, fregi frontem prisciani? quid si sedem muto sede? quid si carmen claudo pede? quid si noctem sensi diem? quid si veprem esse viam? sat est, verbum declinavi, titubo--titubas--titubavi." in the last line of the extract from "phyllis and flora," _hinc_ is printed for _huic_; _inpares_, in the preceding line, is the correct reading for _impares_. "_impar_ richtiger inpar" (scheller). s. w. s. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the publication of _the national cyclopædia of useful knowledge_ has just been completed by the issue of { } the twelfth volume. we notice this useful condensation of _the penny cyclopædia_ principally, however, for a feature which we hope to see more widely extended, namely, that of issuing it in a strong and handsome half-binding, at the moderate charge of one shilling per volume extra. the practice of publishing books in a bound form (more especially such books as are intended for very general circulation) is one which we have no doubt may be widely extended with great satisfaction to purchasers. it has, generally speaking, been, up to the present time, too closely confined to books of high price, adapted only to wealthy purchasers, whom the words "bound by hayday," or "morocco extra," with the necessary increase of price, charm, rather than discourage. there is perhaps no work to which, at the present moment,--when the world's fair is about to commence, and we are sure to be visited by hundreds, or rather thousands, of our gallic friends, with whom we shall be in daily and hourly conversation,--we can more appropriately call the attention of our readers than to the second division (_partie française-anglaise_) of m. tarver's _dictionnaire phraséologique royal_, in which we can assure them they will find the readiest solution of all those phraseological queries which may arise during their intercourse with our lively neighbours. a very cursory examination of its pages will serve to convince the inquirer of the great learning and patient industry of m. tarver; and his interest in the work will not be diminished by the reflection that the name of its accomplished author will be found in the obituary of the present week. when noticing, a few weeks since, one of captain knox's interesting volumes, we spoke of the undying popularity of white's _selborne_. a proof at once of this popularity, and a means of increasing it, will be found in a new edition of this delightful book just issued as one of the volumes of _bohn's illustrated library_. it is entitled to its place in this series on account of forty admirable woodcuts by which it is illustrated; and to a place on the bookshelves of every naturalist, for the sake of the additional notes of sir w. jardine, and its present editor, mr. jesse. messrs. puttick and simpson ( . piccadilly) will sell on tuesday and wednesday next an exceedingly choice collection of autograph letters, comprising numerous letters of extraordinary rarity, selected principally from upcott's collection. we cannot attempt to particularise the many interesting lots which are to be found in the present collection, but recommend the catalogue to attention for the satisfactory manner in which the different documents are arranged and described. catalogues received.--b. quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) cheap book circular (no. xxviii.) of books in all languages; w. pedder's ( . holywell street) catalogue part ii. for , of books ancient and modern; r. saywell's ( . high holborn) select catalogue part xxi. of books in theology, classics, and general literature. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase brevarium romanum. pars verna. antverpiae. ex typ. plantinianæ. or . new england judged not by man's, but the spirit of the lord: and the summe sealed up of new england's persecutions. by george bishope. quarto, . wanted from page to the end. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. j. s. s. (leicester). the chaucer monument. _it will require about l. to make a complete restoration. not one-half that amount has yet been subscribed._ x. y. z. _the custom of_ "swearing on the horns at highgate" _is very ably treated by hone_, every-day book, vol. ii. p. _et seq. it probably arose from the graziers who put up at the gate-house on their way to smithfield, and were accustomed, as a means of keeping strangers out of their company, to bring an ox to the door as a test: those who did not like to be sworn of their fraternity, and kiss its horns, not being deemed fit members of their society._ w. r. m. _will this correspondent favour us with another copy of his queries, which were received and intended for insertion, but have apparently been omitted by some accident?_ a. w. h. _our correspondent will find that his query had been anticipated in_ vol. i., p. . _its appearance then brought it a mass of replies, mostly of a very unsatisfactory kind. we delayed repeating the query until we could find leisure to condense those replies, so as to prevent our correspondents furnishing us with information already in our possession. we hope to do this next week._ sing. _bryan waller procter, esq., one of the commissioners of lunacy._ replies received.--_nettle in--san graal--duchess of buckingham--newburgh hamilton--ex pede herculeum--knebsend--derivation of yankee--passage in virgil--bacon and fagan--solid-hoofed pigs--under the rose--stick at nothing--ejusdem farinæ--meaning of rack--meaning of tye--the tanthony--dog's head in the pot--baron munchausen--shakspeare's seamanship--criston--bigod de loges--god's acre--joseph nicolson--britt. rex--tradescant--moore's almanack--the mistletoe--st john's bridge fair--curious fact in natural history--pursuits of literature--burton's birthplace--engelbert of treves--god takes those soonest--tandem d. o. m. &c.--bartolomeo's pictures--herstmonceaux, &c._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * literary agency.--mr. f. g. tomlins (secretary to the shakspeare society, author of a brief view of the english drama; a variorum history of england; garcia, a tragedy; the topic, the self educator, &c. &c.) is desirous to make it known that a twenty years' experience with the press and literature, as author and publisher, enables him to give advice and information to authors, publishers, and persons wishing to communicate with the public, either as to the editing, advertising, or authorship of books, pamphlets, or literary productions of any kind. opinions obtained on manuscripts previous to publication, and works edited, written, or supervised for the press by acknowledged writers in their various departments. office, . southampton street, strand; where works of reference for literary purposes may be obtained or referred to. * * * * * { } provident life office, . regent street. city branch: . royal exchange buildings. established . policy holders' capital, , , l. annual income, , l.--bonuses declared, , l. claims paid since the establishment of the office, , , l. _president._ the right honourable earl grey. _directors._ the rev. james sherman, _chairman._ henry blencowe churchill, esq., _deputy-chairman._ henry b. alexander, esq. george dacre, esq. william judd, esq. sir richard d. king, bart. the hon. arthur kinnaird thomas maugham, esq. william ostler, esq. apsley pellatt, esq. george round, esq. frederick squire, esq. william henry stone, esq. capt. william john williams. j. a. beaumont, esq. _managing director._ _physician_--john maclean, m.d. f.s.s., . upper montague street, montague square. nineteen-twentieths of the profits are divided among the insured. examples of the extinction of premiums by the surrender of bonuses. ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | bonuses added | | date | sum | | subsequently, to be | | of | insured. | original premium. | further increased | | policy. | | | annually. | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | £ |£ extinguished| £ | | | | ditto | | | | | ditto | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- examples of bonuses added to other policies. ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | total with additions, | | policy | date. | sum | bonuses | to be further | | no. | | insured. | added. | increased. | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | £ | £ | £ | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained upon application to the agents of the office, in all the principal towns of the united kingdom, at the city branch, and at the head office, no. . regent street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. valuable new principle. payment of premiums may be occasionally suspended without forfeiting the policy, on a new and valuable plan, adopted by this society only, as fully detailed in the prospectus. a. scratchley, m.a., actuary and secretary: author of "industrial investment and emigration; being a second edition of a treatise on benefit building societies, &c." price s. d. london: j. w. parker, west strand. * * * * * books.--just published, a catalogue of three thousand volumes of rare and curious books, containing works on america, the occult sciences, books of prints, fine arts, free-masonry, jest-books and drolleries, hawking, language, popery, proverbs, facetiæ and miscellaneous literature,--may be had on application, or by forwarding four penny stamps to g. bumstead, . high holborn. * * * * * highly important autograph letters.--two days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on tuesday, april , and following day, a very important collection of autograph letters, the property of a gentleman. the collection includes an unusually complete series of english royal autographs, many being important letters, from the time of henry vii.; also letters of contemporary foreign sovereigns, with numerous rare and interesting letters in other classes. the whole in the finest preservation. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * this day is published, bohn's classical catalogue, comprising all the principal editions of the greek and latin classics. translations and commentaries, with prices annexed; royal vo. half morocco, price s. d.--allowed to purchasers. henry g. bohn, york street, covent garden. * * * * * london pictorially and historically described. edited by charles knight. vols. in , royal vo. with upwards of one thousand engravings on wood, cloth gilt, l. s. henry g. bohn, york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's scientific library for may. humboldt's cosmos; or sketch of a physical description of the universe. translated by e. c. otte. vol. , with an index. price s. d. henry g. bohn, york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for may. plato's works, translated by geo. burgess, m.a. vol. , containing philebus, charmides, laches, the two alcibiades, and ten other dialogues. price s. henry g. bohn, york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's standard library for may. neander's first planting of christianity. translated by ryland. post vo. price s. d. henry g. bohn, york street, covent garden. * * * * * the camden society for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the annual general meeting will be held at the freemason's tavern, great queen street, on friday the nd of may, at four o'clock precisely; the lord braybrooke, the president, in the chair. william j. thoms, secretary. the following are the publications of the society for the year - . i. a selection from the wills preserved in the will office at bury st. edmund's. edited by samuel tymms, esq. ii. walter mapes "de nugis curialium." a treatise on the political affairs of his time, written in . edited by thomas wright, esq., m.a. iii. sir richard guylforde's pilgrimage to the holy land, a. d. . edited from a copy believed to be unique from the press of richard pynson, by sir henry ellis, k.h., sec. s. a. the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due on the st of may. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary; or to messrs. nichols, no. . parliament street, westminster, by whom the subscriptions of all members resident in london are received. * * * * * to book buyers.--no. xiv. of t. d. thomson's catalogue of miscellaneous second-hand books, marked at very low prices, is just published, and may be had gratis and postage free. . upper king street, russell square. * * * * * { } books recently published by john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * parochial work. by the rev. e. monro, m.a., incumbent of harrow weald, stanmore. a second edition of this valuable work is nearly ready, and will, it is expected, be published in april. * * * * * sermons chiefly on the responsibilities of the ministerial office. by the rev. e. monro. vo. s. intended as a companion to the above. * * * * * poetÆ scenici grÆci. Æschyli, sophoclis, euripidis, et aristophanis fabulæ superstites et perditarum fragmenta. editio secunda, ex nova recognitione guil. dindorfii. royal vo. cloth, l. s.; or bound by hayday in calf extra for school prizes, l. s. * * * * * domestic architecture of the middle ages, with numerous engravings from existing remains, and historical illustrations from contemporary manuscripts. by t. hudson turner, esq. from the conquest to the th century. vol. vo. in a few days. * * * * * dr. pusey's defence of his own principles: a letter to the right hon. and right rev. the lord bishop of london in explanation of some statements contained in a letter by the rev. w. dodsworth. fifth and cheaper edition. mo. pp. ., s., or bound in cloth, s. d. * * * * * dr. pusey's reply to some remarks of mr. dodsworth's on the above letter, vo. s. * * * * * the calendar of the anglican church illustrated. with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names; or whose images are most frequently met with in england; the early christian and mediæval symbols; and an index of emblems. with numerous woodcuts. foolscap vo. s. d. * * * * * hymni ecclesiÆ e breviariis quibusdam et missalibus gallicanis, germanicis, hispanis desumpti. collegit et recensuit joannes m. neale, a.m., collegii sackvillensis custos. mo. s. * * * * * a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. exemplified by upwards of eighteen hundred illustrations, drawn from the best examples. fifth edition, vols. vo., cloth, gilt tops. l. s. * * * * * alison's history of europe. * * * * * i. the history of europe, from the commencement of the french revolution to the battle of waterloo. by archibald alison, ll.d. seventh edition, in vols. crown octavo, with a copious index, in cloth, price l. * * * * * ii. a library edition, handsomely printed on superfine paper, in demy octavo, to range with the standard editions of the english historians, in vols. including a copious index, and embellished with portraits. price l. s. a limited number are printed on thick paper, in royal octavo, with proof impressions of the portraits, price l. * * * * * iii. atlas to the history of europe, comprising maps and plans of countries, sieges, and battles, illustrative of alison's history of europe and of other contemporary histories; constructed and engraved by a. keith johnston, f.r.s.e., author of the "physical atlas," and of the "national atlas." a new edition. in crown quarto, uniform with the seventh edition of alison's history, bound in cloth, l. s. d. in demy quarto, to range with the "library edition" and early editions of alison's history in demy octavo, bound in cloth, l. s. in royal quarto, to accompany the royal octavo "library edition" of alison's history, l. s. * * * * * iv. epitome of alison's europe. for the use of schools and young persons. in one volume, post octavo, price s. d. bound in cloth. atlas to the above, s. * * * * * by the same author. i. essays, political, historical, and miscellaneous. in three vols. demy octavo, uniform with the "library edition" of alison's europe. price l. s. * * * * * ii. military life of john, duke of marlborough. in octavo, with maps and plans of battles. price s. * * * * * iii. the principles of population, and their connection with human happiness. two vols. octavo, s. william blackwood and sons, edinburgh and london. sold by all booksellers. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "from the common gaol in burkdou" - original reads 'burkdon', this corrected by the errata in issue which adds that burkdou is bourdeaux. page , "authorem suis lacerando telis." - original reads 'laurando', this corrected by the errata in issue . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page could shakespeare have designated cleopatra "yond ribald-rid nag of egypt?" by s. w. singer browne's britannia's pastorals, by c. forbes minor notes:--"in the sweat of thy brow"--anecdote of old times--foreign english--britannicus --honeymoon--fees at westminster abbey--turning the tables queries: authors of the rolliad--pursuits of literature, by dawson turner account of a large ancient wood-engraving minor queries:--viaggi di enrico wanton--gloucester alarm--where is criston, co. somerset?-- "there was a maid of westmoreland"--anthony bridges--barlaam and josaphat--"stick at nothing" --"ejusdem farinæ"--batail--the knights of malta --general pardons--"too wise to err" replies:-- thomas may duchess of buckingham san grail the frozen horn bab at the bowster oliver cromwell and his dealings with the devil replies to minor queries:--gig hill--epigram against burke--engraved portrait--salgado's slaughter-house --mathew's mediterranean passage--the mitre and the "cloven tongues"--slums--"god's acre"-- wages in the last century--tradesmen's signs-- standfast's cordial comforts, &c.--st. pancras-- lines on woman's will--scandal against queen elizabeth--coggeshall job--whale caught at greenwich before the death of cromwell--fronte capillatâ, &c.--john sanderson, or the cushion-dance--george steevens and william stevens--tradescant--origin of harlequins--"predeceased" and "designed"-- "quadrijugis invectus equis," &c.--st. john's bridge fair--anticipations of modern ideas by defoe--lord howard of effingham--separation of the sexes in church--vox populi vox dei--mazer wood--traditions from remote periods through few hands-- latin epigram on the duchess of eboli--"harry parry, when will you marry?"--visions of hell-- "laus tua non tua fraus," &c.--passage from cymbeline --engraved warming-pans--symbolism of the fir-cone--dr. robert thomlinson--touching for the evil--drax free school, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. could shakespeare have designated cleopatra "yond ribald-rid nag of egypt?" to judge of this question fairly, it will be necessary to cite the passage in which it occurs, as it stands in the folio, act iii. sc. ., somewhat at large. "_eno._ naught, naught, all naught! i can behold no longer; th' antoniad, the egyptian admiral, with all their sixty, fly, and turn the rudder; to see't, mine eyes are blasted. _enter_ scarus. _scar._ gods and goddesses, all the whole synod of them! _eno._ what's the passion? _scar._ the greater cantle of the world is lost with very ignorance; we have kiss'd away kingdoms and provinces. _eno._ how appears the fight? _scar._ on our side like the token'd pestilence, where death is sure. yond _ribaudred nagge_ of egypt, whom leprosy o'ertake, i' the midst o' the fight when vantage like a pair of twins appear'd, both as the same, or rather ours the elder, the breeze upon her, like a cow in june, hoists sail and flies. _eno._ that i beheld: mine eyes did sicken at the sight, and could not endure a further view. _scar._ she once being loof'd, the noble ruin of her magick, antony, claps on his sea-wing, and, like a doting mallard, leaving the fight in height, flies after her; i never saw an action of such shame; experience, manhood, honour, ne'er before did violate so itself. _eno._ alack, alack!" the notes in the variorum edition begin by one from johnson, in which he says: "the word is in the old edition _ribaudred_, which i do not understand, but mention it in hopes that others may raise some happy conjecture." then steevens, after having told us that a _ribald_ is a _lewd fellow_, says: "_ribaudred_, the old reading, is i believe no more than a corruption. shakspeare, who is not always very nice about his versification, might have written, 'yon _ribald-rid_ nag of egypt'-- _i.e._ yon strumpet, who is common to every wanton fellow." malone approves steevens's _ribald-rid_, but adds, "by _ribald_, scarus, i think, means the lewd antony in particular, not _every_ lewd fellow." { } tyrwhitt saw the necessity of reading _hag_ instead of _nag_, and says what follows seems to prove it: "she once being loof'd, the noble ruin of her magick, antony, claps on his sea-wing." it is obvious that the poet would not have made scarus speak of antony as the noble ruin of cleopatra's magick, and of his manhood and honour, and in the same breath designate him as a ribald. he would be much more likely to apply the epithet _lewd hag_ to such an enchantress as cleopatra, than that of _ribald-rid nag_, which i feel convinced never entered the imagination of the poet. imperfect acquaintance with our older language has been too frequently the weak point of the commentators; and we see here our eminent lexicographer confessing his ignorance of a word which the dictionaries of the poet's age would have enabled him readily to explain. for although we have not the participle _ribaudred_, which may be peculiar to the poet, in baret's _alvearie_ we find "_ribaudrie_, vilanie in actes or wordes, filthiness, uncleanness"--"a _ribaudrous_ and filthie tongue, os obscoenum et impudicum:" in minsheu, _ribaudrie_ and _ribauldrie_, which is the prevailing orthography of the word, and indicates its sound and derivation from the french, rather than from the italian _ribalderia_. that _nagge_ is a misprint for _hagge_, will be evident from the circumstance, that in the first folio we have a similar error in the _merry wives of windsor_, act iv. sc. ., where instead of "you witch, you _hagge_," it is misprinted "you witch, you _ragge_." it is observable that _hagge_ is the form in which the word is most frequently found in the folios, and it is the epithet the poet applies to a witch or enchantress. i cannot, therefore, but consider the alteration of the text by steevens as one of the most violent and uncalled-for innovations of which he has been guilty; and he himself seems to have had his misgivings, for his observation that shakspeare "is not always very nice about his versification" was meant as an apology for marring its harmony by the substitution of _ribald-rid_ for the poet's own _ribaudred_. it is to me a matter of surprise that mr. collier and mr. knight, in their laudable zeal for adherence as closely as possible to the old copies, should not have perceived the injury done both to the sense and harmony of the passage by this unwarrantable substitution. s. w. singer. * * * * * browne's britannia's pastorals. i have lately been amusing myself by reading the small volume with this title published in clarke's _cabinet series_, . among the many pleasing passages that i met with in its pages, _two_ in particular struck me as being remarkable for their beauty; but i find that neither of them is cited by either ellis or campbell. (see ellis, _specimens of the early english poets_, th edition, corrected, ; and the campbell, _specimens of the british poets_, .) indeed campbell says of browne: "his poetry is not without beauty; but it is the beauty of mere landscape and allegory, without the manners and passions that constitute human interest."--vol. iii. p. . qualified by some such expression as--_too often--generally--in almost every instance_,--the last clause might have passed,--standing as it does, it appears to me to give anything but a fair idea of the poetry of the _pastorals_. my two favourites are the "description of night"-- "now great hyperion left his golden throne," &c., (consisting of twenty-six lines)--book ii. song . (clarke, p. .) and the "lament of the little shepherd for his friend philocel"-- "with that the little shepherd left his task," &c., (forty-four lines)--book ii. song . (clarke, p. .) if you will allow me to quote a short extract from each passage, it may enable the reader to see how far i am justified in protesting against campbell's criticism; and i will then try to support the pretensions of the last, by showing that much of the very same imagery that it contains is to be found in other writings of acknowledged merit:-- i. from the "description of night." "and as night's chariot through the air was driven, clamour grew dumb, unheard was shepherd's song, and silence girt the woods: no warbling tongue talk'd to the echo; satyrs broke their dance, and all the upper world lay in a trance. only the curlëd streams soft chidings kept, and little gales that from the green leaf swept dry summer's dust, in fearful whisp'rings stirr'd, as loath to waken any singing bird." ii. from the "lament of the little shepherd." "see! yonder hill where he was wont to sit, a cloud doth keep the golden sun from it, and for his seat, (as teaching us) hath made a mourning covering with a scowling shade. the dew in every flower, this morn, hath lain, longer than it was wont, this side the plain, belike they mean, since my best friend must die, to shed their silver drops as he goes by. not all this day here, nor in coming hither, heard i the sweet birds tune their songs together, except one nightingale in yonder dell sigh'd a sad elegy for philocel. near whom a wood-dove kept no small ado, to bid me, in her language, '_do so too_'-- the wether's bell, that leads our flock around, yields, as methinks, this day a deader sound. { } the little sparrows which in hedges creep, ere i was up did seem to bid me weep. if these do so, can i have feeling less, that am more apt to take and to express? no--let my own tunes be the mandrake's groan, if now they tend to mirth when all have none." both these passages may have been quoted by some of campbell's predecessors. this might justify him in not repeating them, but _not_ in writing the criticism to which i have ventured to object. his work holds a high rank in english literature--it is taken as a text-book by _the generality of readers_; for which reasons i think that every dictum it lays down ought to be examined with more than usual care and attention. compare with different parts of the "lament:" "and ardennes waves above them her green leaves, dewy with nature's tear drops, as they pass, grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves, over the unreturning brave,--alas! ere evening to be trodden like the grass," &c.--_childe harold_, canto iii. st. . "the morning of the day on which the farmer was to be buried, was rendered remarkable by the uncommon denseness of an autumnal fog. to mrs. mason's eye, it threw a gloom over the face of nature; nor, when it gradually yielded to the influence of the sun, and slowly retiring from the valley, hung, as if rolled into masses, mid-way upon the mountains, did the changes thus produced excite any admiration. still, wherever she looked, all seemed to wear the aspect of sadness. as she passed from morrison's to the house of mourning, the shocks of yellow corn, spangled with dewdrops, appeared to her to stand as mementos of the vanity of human hopes, and the inutility of human labours. the cattle, as they went forth to pasture, lowing as they went, seemed as if lamenting that the hand which fed them was at rest; and even the robin-red-breast, whose cheerful notes she had so often listened to with pleasure, now seemed to send forth a song of sorrow, expressive of dejection and woe."--miss hamilton's _cottagers of glenburnie_, chap. xii. c. forbes. temple. * * * * * minor notes. "_in the sweat of thy brow_" (vol. ii., p. .).--to the scriptural misquotation referred to, you may add another: "in the sweat of thy _brow_ shalt thou eat bread." the true text reads,-- "in the sweat of thy _face_ shalt thou eat bread."--gen. iii. . the misquotation is so common, that a reference to a concordance is necessary for proving to many persons that it is not a scripture phrase. j. gallatly. [in the wickliffite bible lately published by the university of oxford, the words are, "swoot of thi cheer _or face_," and in some mss. "cheer _ether bodi_."] _anecdotes of old times_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a friend of mine has furnished me with the following particulars, which may, perhaps, be interesting to a. a. when the aunt of my friend married and began housekeeping, there were only two tea-kettles besides her own in the town of knighton, radnorshire. the clergyman of the parish forbad the use of tea in his family; but his sister kept a small tea service in the drawer of the table by which she sat at work in the afternoon, and secretly made herself a cup of tea at four o'clock, gently closing the drawer if she heard her brother approach. this clergyman's daughter died, at an advanced age, in . my friend's mother (who was born a year or two before the battle of culloden), having occasion to visit london while living at ludlow, went by the waggon, at that time the only public conveyance on that road. a friend of her's wished to place her daughter at a school in worcester, and as she kept no carriage, and was unable to ride on horseback, then the usual mode of travelling, she _walked_ from her residence in knighton to ludlow, and thence to worcester, accompanied by her daughter, who rode at a gentle pace beside her. wedsecnarf. _foreign english._--the following handbill is a specimen of german english, and is stuck up among other notices in the inn at rastadt: "advice of an hotel. "the underwritten has the honour of informing the public that he has made the acquisition of the hotel to the savage, well situated in the middle of this city. he shall endeavour to do all duties which gentlemen travellers can justly expect; and invites them to please to convince themselves of it by their kind lodgings at his house. basil jr. singisem. before the tenant of the hotel to the stork in this city." blowen. _britannicus._--i gather the following anecdote from the chapter "paper wars of the civil wars" in disraeli's _quarrels of authors_. sir john (birkenhead) is the representative of the _mercurius aulicus_, the court gazette; needham, of a parliamentary _diurnal_. "sir john never condescends formally to reply to needham, for which he gives this singular reason: 'as for this libeller, we are still resolved to take no notice, till we find him able to spell his own name, which to this hour britannicus never did.' in the next number of needham, who had always written it _brittanicus_, the correction was silently adopted." a similar error occurs on the shilling and six-penny pieces of george iii., circa (those { } most frequently met with in the present circulation), whilst the cotemporary crowns and half-crowns have the correct orthography. r. w. c. _honeymoon._--among my memoranda i find that, on january , , an accomplished welsh lady said to me, that the common expression "honeymoon" was "probably derived from the old practice in wales of drinking _methèglin_ for thirty days after the marriage of a bride and bridegroom. a _methèglin_ jollification for thirty days among the relatives and friends of the newly married pair." the _methèglin_ is a fermented liquor, of some potency, made from honey. the lady asked me, at the same time, if _honey_ was used by the ancient greeks or romans in the preparation of a fermented liquor. i said that i recollected no such use of honey among them, but that the ancient greeks seemed to have brewed a _beer_ of some kind from barley or other grain, as allusion was made to it by aristophanes. perhaps this notice of the "honeymoon" may draw forth some information from your correspondents who are learned in "folk lore." in the old testament there are many passages alluding to the use of honey, but none of them appear to indicate its having been employed in making a fermented beverage. lucretius alludes to the practice of enticing children to swallow disagreeable medicine by anointing the edge of the cup with honey. g. f. g. edinburgh. _fees at westminster abbey._--the custom of taking fees at westminster abbey is of very ancient date, and was always unpopular. shirley alludes to it in his pleasant comedy called _the bird in a cage_, when bonomico, a mountebank, observes-- "i talk as glib, methinks, as he that _farms the monuments_." the dean and chapter, however, in those days were more moderate in their demands, for the price of admission was but one penny to the whole. "this grant was made to the chapter in , on condition that, receiving the benefit of the exhibition of the monuments, they should keep the same monuments always clean," &c.--see _reply from the dean and chapter to an order of the house of commons_, . blowen. _turning the tables._--in bingley's _useful knowledge_, under the head of maple, i chanced to hit upon the following the other day: "by the romans maple wood, when knotted and veined, was highly prized for furniture. when boards large enough for constructing tables were found, the extravagance of purchasers was incredible: to such an extent was it carried, that when a roman accused his wife of expending his money on pearls, jewels, or similar costly trifles, she used to retort, and turn the tables on her husband. hence our expression of 'turning the tables.'" can any of your kind contributors supply a better derivation? [omega]. [phi]. * * * * * queries. authors of the rolliad--pursuits of literature. i cannot doubt but that many of your readers feel with me under great obligations to your very able and obliging correspondents, lord braybrooke and mr. markland, for the information afforded us upon the subject of the writers of the rolliad. and, though not many of them are, probably, sufficiently old to remember as i do--if not the actual publication of that work, yet, at least, the excitement produced by its appearance--i apprehend that the greater number are aware that it really did produce a great sensation; and that, as with the _letters of junius_ before it, and the _pursuits of literature_ subsequently, public curiosity for a long time busied itself in every direction to detect the able and daring authors. with this impression, i have been not a little surprised to find, since the notice of the work in your pages, that i have failed in tracing any account of it in the two books to which i naturally turned, the _gentleman's magazine_ and nichols' _literary anecdotes_. very thankful therefore should i be if any of our correspondents would direct my inquiries to a better channel, and particularly if they would guide me to information respecting the authors,--for here i am completely at fault. i allude more especially to richardson, tickell, and general fitzpatrick; who, i doubt not, were men of such notoriety and standing in their day, that "not to know them, argues myself unknown." and yet, humiliating as is this acknowledgment, it is far better to make it than to remain in ignorance; for the case can surely not be one "where ignorance is bliss," and where, consequently, "'tis folly to be wise." i need hardly beg it to be understood, that, in grouping together the _rolliad_, the _pursuits of literature_, and _junius' letters_, i by no means intended to place them upon an equality; and here i may inform your correspondent s. t. d. (what a pity that you do not require every one to give his name at length!) that the fact of mr. matthias being the author of the second of these works was scarcely made a secret by his family after he went to italy. indeed, for some time previously, it was well known to myself from what passed at this house, where he was a frequent visitor, and where i should at any time be happy to give s. t. d. ocular demonstration of it, by the production of the letters addressed to the { } "anonymous author of the _pursuits of literature_," accompanied in some cases with his own answers. dawson turner. yarmouth, april . . * * * * * account of a large ancient wood-engraving. perhaps some of your readers may be able to give me information regarding a large and very elaborate woodcut, which has been many years in my possession, and obviously has been used as the fly-leaf of some folio volume, though, of course not originally intended for such a purpose. it is so complicated, that i fear i shall have some difficulty in explaining it, and my explanation may require more space than you may be willing to afford me. you can, however, insert my query at any time when you have room to spare. the size of the engraving, is inches by , and it is divided into two large oblong circles, and a centre; a story being carried on, clearly allegorically, from the outer circle to the second, and from the second to the centre. i will speak of each, beginning with the outer, which is entered by a portico, consisting of two columns and a round arch; on the base of one of the columns is a monogran of the artist or of the engraver, formed of the letters r. d. under the arch is seated a lady richly attired, who holds a large cup and cover in her left hand, and around her are fourteen naked children, to one of which she seems tendering the chalice; while a bearded old man, with a scroll, is directing attention to what is going on in the outer circle. passing under this portico we see, immediately behind it, six ladies, three religious and three secular; while to the right of the three secular ladies is a naked, winged female figure, with her foot on a sphere, a large goblet in her right hand, and some objects that look like fetters in her left hand. to the right of this figure are many others of both sexes, but nearer the spectator, some tranquil and some in despair; while, within a sort of pavilion, we see a young lady and an old gentleman banquetting, and in another compartment in bed. still farther to the right of the winged figure are persons who appear to be escaping from torments, while a young man in rags is making his way towards a person in a religious habit, who has a scourge in his hand; behind these are two persons under a miserable thatched shed, while a lady is pointing out to a young man what is to be observed in the second circle. this division is entered by another gate consisting of two square ornamental columns supporting a low gable, beneath which a lady, with a cross on the cape of her dress, is receiving a young man. the persons in this circle are very variously employed: on the right of the spectator are rocks with one man climbing up them, and another fallen headlong: on the left are five persons, male and female, engaged in singing and playing, and near them two men performing military music on a drum and fife; to their right are groups of philosophers and men of science with spheres, astrolabes, books, compasses, &c., and one wearing a laurel crown with a scroll in his hand, probably a poet. we then come to the centre, or inner circle, which is entered by a wooden gate of the simplest construction, and under it is a religious lady with a young erect female on her right hand, and a supplicating male, in tattered garments, on her left. beyond these are six females, variously clad, some with flowing hair, some in close caps, and others with _nebulæ_ round their heads. a little to the right of these is a throned lady, with a crown of peculiar construction on her head, and a sceptre in her hand, before whom kneels a female figure, upon whose brows the throned lady is about to place a coronet. behind the throne is what appears to be a conventual building of rather singular appearance, with round, square, and octagon towers, and surrounded by a battlemented wall. considerably to the right of the throned lady is a figure clearly intended for some booted king wearing a crown and a collar of esses: on one side of him is a severe looking dame, fully clad and with flowing hair; and on the other a younger lady, also with flowing hair, and with her bosom bare. such is the woodcut regarding which i request some intelligence from your readers, as i have shown it to several persons, who i thought could enlighten me, but who could afford me no satisfaction. i suspect, from the costumes and the edificies, that it is german; and i ought to have mentioned that each circle is separated from the others by a low stone wall running all around, and that trees, hills, and fountains are not sparingly introduced. in the whole, it includes nearly a hundred figures of men, women, and children. the hermit of holyport. * * * * * minor queries. _viaggi di enrico wanton._--a fiction, upon the same plan as _gulliver's travels_, describing the visit of two europeans to communities of monkeys and cynocephali, and written by a venetian named zaccaria seriman, was printed at venice in , and again in . a third citation, with the title-page _delli viaggi de enrico wanton alle terre australi, nuova edizione_, was printed in london in , "presso tommaso brewman stampatore in wych street, temple bar," in vols. vo. this edition is dedicated to george iii. by "l'umilissimo e fedelissimo suddito, enrico wanton." can any of your correspondents explain how this work { } (which is of no great literary merit) came to be reprinted in england, and dedicated to the king? a notice of seriman's life may be found in the _biographie universelle_. l. _gloucester alarm._--in the archives of lyme regis is this entry: "_town accompt book._ " . for the four soldiers and drummers for service on the gloucester alarm and candles, s. d." what was the "gloucester alarm?" g. r. _where is criston, county somerset?_--mr. vaughan, a young man who was to have joined the duke of monmouth, was of that house or place. g. r. "_there was a maid of westmoreland._"--"some fifty summers past," i was in the habit of hearing sung a simple ballad, which commenced-- "there was a maid of westmoreland, who built her house upon the sand:" and the conclusion of which was, that, however desolate and exposed a situation that might be for her dwelling, it was better than in "the haunts of men." this was said to have been written by the late mr. thomas sheridan. i never heard by whom the music to it, which was very pretty, was composed; nor whether or not it was published. can any of your correspondents supply the words of this old ballad, and state the name of the composer of the music to it? also whether it was published, and, if so, by whom? e. h. _anthony bridges._--in the hampshire visitation of , harl. ms. . fo. ., appears the marriage of barbara, second daughter of sir richard pexsall, of beaurepaire, in co. southampton, by ellinor his wife, daughter of william pawlett, marquis of winchester, to "anthony bridges." that sir richard pexsall died in , is the only clue i have to the date of the match. query, who was this anthony bridges, and did he leave issue? is it possible that this is the identical anthony, third surviving son of sir john bridges, first baron chandos of sudeley, respecting whose fate there is so much uncertainty? he is presumed to have married a daughter of fortescue of essex, but the collateral evidence on which the supposition is founded is too slight to be satisfactory. little is known but that he was born before ; that he was living in (in which year he was presented to the living of meysey hampton in gloucestershire, the county in which he resided); and that he had a son robert, upon a presumed descent from whom the late sir egerton brydges founded his well-known claim to the barony of chandos of sudeley. o. c. _barlaam and josaphat_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i was much interested in mr. stephens' remarks on the rev. w. adams's beautiful allegory, and would be glad to know from him, or some other of your learned correspondents, _what english translations there are_ of this "spiritual romance in greek;" where i may find an account or notice of the work, or get a copy of it. jarltzberg. "_stick at nothing._"--the expression "stop at nothing" occurs in the following couplet in dryden's _aurengzebe_: "the world is made for the bold impious man, who _stops at nothing_, seizes all he can." and pope, in one of his letters, has the expression "stick at nothing," where he says: "the three chief qualifications of party-writers are, to _stick at nothing_, to delight in flinging dirt, and to slander in the dark by guess." can any of your correspondents explain the origin of the word "stick" in the sense in which it is used by pope; and how it came to supplant altogether the more intelligible word "stop," as employed by dryden? henry h. breen. st. lucia, january, . "_ejusdem farinæ._"--your readers are acquainted with the expression "ejusdem farinæ," and the derogatory sense in which it is employed to describe things or characters of the same calibre. it was in common use among clerical disputants after the reformation; and leland has it in the following remarks respecting certain fabulous interpolations in the _black book_ at cambridge: "centum sunt ibi, præterea, ejusdem farinæ fabulæ." i have no doubt, however, that the origin of the expression may be traced to the scholastic doctors and casuists of the middle ages. will any of your correspondents be good enough to explain the circumstances which gave rise to the adoption of "farina" as a term expressive of baseness and disparagement? henry h. breen. st. lucia, january, . _batail._--favine, in his _theatre of honour_ (b. ii. c. ), in speaking of a bell at menda, says of the clapper of a bell, that "it is a _bataill_ in armes." was this word ever introduced into english heraldry? the only instances of bells in english arms that i can discover in the books to which i have access at present are in the coats of bell, porter, osney, and richbell. h. n. e. _the knights of malta._--on the stone corbels which support the roof of one of the aisles of a church in my neighbourhood, there are carved the armorial badges of persons who are supposed to have contributed to the building of the church, which was erected in the thirteenth century. on one of the corbels (the nearest to the altar, and therefore in the most honourable place) there is a lamb bearing a flag. the lamb has a nimbus { } round its head, and the staff of the flag terminates in a cross like the head of a processional cross. the device, i have reason to think, was the badge of the knights of the order of saint john of jerusalem, who had a preceptory in this neighbourhood during the thirteenth century. in the history of these knights, first of jerusalem, then of rhodes, and afterwards of malta, i find it stated, that in the year pope innocent ii. commanded that the standard of the knights (at that time settled at jerusalem) should be "gules, a full cross argent." will any of your correspondents be so kind as to inform me if the device on the corbel was the badge of the knights of the order of st. john of jerusalem? and if so, at what time they first assumed it? s. s. s. _general pardons._--has any example of a general pardon under the great seal been ever printed at length? particularly any of those granted after the restoration of charles ii.? j. g. n. "_too wise to err._"--you will oblige many of your readers if you will inform them from whence the words "too wise to err, too good to be unkind," are quoted. t. w. a. * * * * * replies. thomas may. (vol. iii., p. .) thomas may, famous amongst the busy characters of his age, both as a politician and a poet, was the eldest son of sir thos. may, knt., of mayfield, in sussex, where he was born in . at the usual period of life, he was admitted a fellow-commoner of sidney sussex college, cambridge; and having taken the degree of b.a. he entered himself at gray's inn, with the intention of studying the law, which, however, it is uncertain whether he ever pursued as a profession. whilst he was a student of the law, he made the acquaintance of edward hyde, afterwards earl of clarendon; and became the intimate associate of ben jonson, selden, cotton, sir k. digby, thos. carew[ ], "and some others of eminent faculties in their several ways." "his parts of nature and art," writes clarendon[ ], in describing his character, "were very good, as appears by his translation of lucan (none of the easiest work of that kind), and more by his supplement to lucan, which being entirely his own, for the learning, the wit, and the language, may be well looked upon as one of the best epic poems in the english language." as an elegant writer, indeed, of latin verse, he is justly numbered amongst the most successful of the accomplished poets of our nation--ben jonson, cowley, milton, marvell, crashaw, addison, gray, smart, t. warton, sir w. jones, &c.--who have devoted their leisure to this species of composition. clarendon goes on to say that may was "born to a fortune, if his father had not spent it; so that he had only an annuity left him, not proportionable to a liberal education:" "yet since," continues this illustrious authority, "his fortune could not raise his mind, he brought his mind down to his fortune, by a great modesty and humility in his nature, which was not affected, but very well became an imperfection in his speech, which was a great mortification to him, and kept him from entering upon any discourse but in the company of his very friends," of whom he had not a few, for "he was cherished by many persons of honour, and very acceptable in all places." from charles i., no mean judge of poetry, and a liberal patron of the muses, may received much encouragement, and many substantial marks of favour in the shape of donatives; and it was at the express command of this monarch that he wrote his historical poem entitled _the victorious reigne of edward iii._ from disgust, however, at the appointment of d'avenant to the laureateship, on the death of jonson in ,--a post to which, according to what he considered to be his own superior deserts[ ], he was himself justly entitled,--"may fell from his duty, and all his former friends," and became an active agent in promoting the designs of the so-called popular leaders. through the interest of cromwell, he was nominated secretary to the parliament, in which capacity he wrote a history of its transactions, a work which was published in . this performance, which is highly commended by granger, rendered its author extremely obnoxious to the royal party, who exercised all their powers of pen to disparage both the book and its compiler. he is represented by clarendon, for instance, "as prostituting himself to the vile office of celebrating the infamous acts of those who were in rebellion against the king; which he did so meanly, that he seemed to all men to have lost his wits, when he left his honesty." anthony à wood's account[ ] of these matters, and of may himself, is that "he was graciously countenanced by k. charles i. and his royal consort; but he, finding not that preferment from either which he expected, grew discontented, sided with the presbyterians, and, upon the { } turn of the times, became a debauchee _ad omnia_; entertained ill principles as to religion, spoke often very slightly of the trinity, kept beastly and atheistical company, of whom thos. challoner, the regicide, was one, and endeavoured to his power to asperse and invalidate the king and his cause." his acquaintance with challoner is also alluded to by aubrey who says[ ], "that his translation of lucan's excellent poem, made him in love with the republique." aubrey adds, he was-- "a handsome man, debauched, and lodged in the little square by cannon row, as you go through the alley." clarendon concludes his notice of may by observing that-- "shortly after the publication of his parliamentary history he died, miserable and neglected, and deserves to be forgotten." the fact is, he was found dead in his bed in nov. ; but that he was "neglected" is not altogether correct. at any rate, he was honoured with a public funeral, a marble monument, and a laudatory epitaph in westminster abbey,--short-lived dignities! for, at the restoration, the memorial of his fame was torn down, whilst his body was exhumed, and, after being treated with much ignominy, hurled into a large pit in st. margaret's churchyard adjoining.--besides the works above noticed, may also wrote _the description of henry ii._, in verse, with _a short survey of the changes of his reign_, and _the single and comparative character of henry and richard his sons_, in prose. nor was that of lucan his only translation, for he rendered into english verse _virgil's georgics_ and _selected epigrams of martial_. he was also the author of five dramas, two of which are given in dodsley's _old plays_. a now forgotten critic, henry headley, b.a., of norwich, observes concerning his historical poetics, that may-- "has caught no small portion of the energy and declamatory spirit which characterises the roman poet, whom, as he translated, he insensibly made his model. his battle pieces," our critic continues, "highly merit being brought forward to notice; they possess the requisites, in a remarkable degree, for interesting the feelings of an englishman. while in accuracy they vie with a gazette, they are managed with such dexterity, as to busy the mind with unceasing agitation, with scenes highly diversified and impassioned by striking character, minute incident, and alarming situation."[ ] in confirmation of the general propriety and justness of these remarks, i would refer to the description of "the den of the vices" (h. ii. b. i.), and to the accounts of "the death of rosamond" (h. ii. b. v.), "the battle of cressy" (e. iii. b. iii.), and "the capture of mortimer" (e. iii. b. i.). these pieces can only be thus vindicated, being much too long for extracting; but i think a republication of the entire poems would be an acceptable boon to the public. cowgill. [footnote : _the life of edward, earl of clarendon, &c._, oxf. .] [footnote : the same.] [footnote : southey calls may "the very able competitor of d'avenant," and describes him as "a man so honourably known by his translation of lucan, and his supplement to that poet, that it were to be wished he were remembered for nothing else."--_biog. sketches._] [footnote : _athenæ oxon._ bliss's edit.] [footnote : in mss. ashmol., as quoted in _biog. britann._, from which, and chalmer's _biog. dict._, the dates, and such of the facts above given, not otherwise authenticated, are _principally_ derived.] [footnote : _biographical sketches,_ lond., mo. .] although may's version of cato's soliloquy is immeasurably below addison's, i am inclined to agree with j. h. l., that, on comparing them, it is more than probable, addison had may's description of cato's death in his mind at the same time he penned the justly celebrated soliloquy in the th act of his _cato_. e. b. price. cow cross. _thomas may, the author of the supplement to lucan_ (vol. iii., p. ), was the secretary and historian of the long parliament. he was born at mayfield in ; took the degree of b.a. at sydney-sussex college, cambridge, and afterwards entered gray's inn, but devoted himself to literature. he translated virgil's _georgics_, selected epigrams of martial, and in lucan's _pharsalia_; to the latter, in , he supplied an english continuation of his own in seven books; intituled, _ a continuation of the subject of lucan's historical poem till the death of julius cæsar_. it was dedicated to charles. he afterwards published at leyden a latin translation of the seven additional books; this was added to the amsterdam and other editions of lucan, and has established may's fame as a classic scholar. andrew marvell, who saw only an apology for the doings of the tyrannical parliament in the continuation of lucan's poem, calls may-- "most servile wit, and mercenary pen, polydore, lucan, allan, vandal, goth. malignant poet and historian both. go seek the novice statesmen and obtrude on them some roman cast similitude." he died suddenly in the night of th nov., , his death being attributed by marvell to a little too much indulgence in wine. "as one pot drunk into the packet-boat, tom may was hurry'd hence, and did not know't." w. durrant cooper. . guilford street. [we are also indebted to balliolensis and other correspondents for general replies to this query; and to w. s. (richmond) for a reference to baron maseres' account of him prefixed to his edition of may's _history of the long parliament._] * * * * * duchess of buckingham. (vol iii., pp. , .) p. c. s. s. believes that a reference to almost any peerage or work on british genealogy, would { } have saved mr. f. b. relton the trouble of addressing the inquiry at vol. iii., p. . katherine sedley, daughter of sir charles sedley, commemorated in johnson's line-- "and sedley cursed the form that pleased a king"-- was created countess of dorchester by james ii., and subsequently married david collyer, first earl of pontmore in scotland. she died in , having had by king james a natural daughter, to whom, by royal warrant, that monarch gave the rank and precedence of a duke's daughter; she was styled lady catherine darnley, and married first, in october , james, third earl of anglesey, from whom, on account of alleged cruelty on his part, she was separated by act of parliament in the following year. the earl died in , and his widow married, secondly, in , john sheffield, first duke of normanby and buckingham. she died on the th of march, , and was interred with almost regal pomp in westminster abbey. by her _first_ husband (the earl of anglesey) she had an only daughter, the lady catherine annesley, married to mr. william phipps, father of the first lord mulgrave, and, consequently, great-grandfather of the present marquis of normanby, who on his recent elevation to that dignity, has, it appears, preferred to take one of the ducal titles of a nobleman from whom he does _not_ descend, and of whose blood there does not flow a single drop in his veins, to the just assumption of the title of one from whom he _does_ descend, and whose sole representative he undoubtedly is. of the duchess of buckingham's inordinate pride, there are some curious stories in walpole's letters to sir horace mann (_sub anno_ ). but perhaps the most remarkable instance of it is to be found in a periodical paper called the _british champion_, which was published at that time, and which is now not commonly to be met. in the no. for april , , there is the following anecdote:-- "i have been informed that a lady of high rank, finding her end approaching, and feeling very uneasy apprehensions of this sort, came at length to a resolution of sending for a clergyman, of whom she had heard a very good character, in order to be satisfied as to some doubts. the first question she asked was whether in heaven (for she made no doubt of going thither) some respect would not be had to a woman of such birth and breeding? the good man, for such he really was, endeavoured to show her the weakness of this notion, and to convince her that there was, where she was going, no acceptance of persons, and much more to the same purpose. this the poor lady heard with much attention, and then said with a sigh, 'well, if it be so, this heaven must be, after all, a strange sort of a place!'" p. c. s. s. is unwilling to believe this painful story--the more so, as it must be recollected that the author of the paper was an inveterate whig, and the duchess (jure paterno) as inveterate a jacobite. p. c. s. s. * * * * * san grail. sir walter scott, in his _marmion_ (introduction to canto first), writes of sir lancelot of the lake, that-- "a sinful man and unconfessed, he took the sangreal's holy quest, and slumbering saw the vision high he might not view with waking eye." in his note on this passage, he refers to the romance of the morte arthur, and says: "one day when arthur was holding a high feast with his knights of the round table, the sangreal, a vessel out of which the last passover was eaten (a precious relic, which had long remained concealed from human eyes, because of the sins of the land), suddenly appeared to him and all his chivalry. the consequence of this vision was that all the knights took on them a solemn vow to seek the sangreal." the orthography of the word in the romance itself is _sancgreall_, which affords us a clue to what i believe to be its true etymology, _sang réel_ (sanguis realis), a name it derived from the tradition of its having been employed, not only to hold the paschal lamb at the last supper, but also by joseph of arimathea to catch the blood and water which flowed from the wounds of our blessed lord. archdeacon nares, in his _glossary_, pp. . ., enters largely into the legendary history of the sangreal, as well as the question of its orthography. he takes some pains to refute the etymology given above, and quotes roquefort (_dict. de la langue romane_) to prove that graal or _greal_ signifies _a broad open dish_. will any one who has the means of consulting roquefort inform us, whether he brings forward any instance of the existence of such a word in this sense? or, if so employed, whether such use may not have arisen from the ordinary erroneous orthography? it is a question well worth investigation, which i hope may call some abler pens than mine into exercise. this holy relic, the object of so much fruitless search to arthur and his knights, is now safely deposited in the cathedral of genoa, where all, holy or unholy, may behold it, on making the accustomed offering to its sanctity. of old, it concealed itself from the eyes of all but those free from mortal sin; but now, the ability to pay five francs puts one in possession of every christian virtue, and the _sacro catino_ (as it is called) is exhibited on the payment of that sum. in addition to the authorities quoted by nares, i would refer to sir f. palgrave, in _murray's handbook to northern italy_, st edition, p. . sa. ca. { } _the st. graal_ (vol. iii. p. .).--your correspondent w. m. k. will find the subject of "the sangreal's holy quest" treated in the late mr. price's elaborate preface to warton's _history of english poetry_ (ed. ), p. ; also an account of the ms. at c. c. c., cambridge, in the same work, vol. i. p. .; and a reference to walter map's translation of the latin romance of st. graal into french, vol. ii. p. . see also sismondi, _lit. of the south of europe_ (bohn, ), vol. i. p. ., and note. h. g. t. * * * * * the frozen horn. (vol. ii., p. . vol. iii., p. .) your correspondent j. m. g. quotes _hudibras_, p. i. c. i. l. .: "where truth in person does appear, like words congeal'd in northern air." zachary grey does _not_, in his note, refer to mandeville, but he says: "see an explication of this passage, and a merry account of words freezing in nova zembla, _tatler,_ no. .; and rabelais' account of the bloody fight of the arimasphians and nephelebites upon the confines of the frozen sea (vol. iv. c. . p. ., ozell's edit. ). to which mr. john done probably refers, in his panegyric upon t. coryat, and his crudities: 'it's not that french which made his giants see, those uncouth islands, where words frozen be, till by the thaw next year they've voice again." w. b. h. manchester. j. m. g. quotes sir john mandeville for the story of the congealed words falling like hail from the rigging of his ship in the arctic regions. i do not remember the passage, but there is one almost identical in rabelais' _pantagruel_, lib. iv. ch. lv., headed-- "comment en haulte mer pantagruel ouït diverses parolles desgelées." in the notes to bohn's translation it is said: "rabelais has borrowed these from the _courtisan_ of balthasar de castillon, of which a french translation was printed in , and from the _apologues_ of cælius caleagnnius of ferrara, published in ." w. j. bernhard smith. temple. * * * * * bab at the bowster. (vol. ii., p. .) your correspondent mac is mistaken when he says that no words are used in the scottish dance of "bab at the bowster:" i have myself "babbed at the bowster" within the last few years. upon that occasion the words sung by the company while dancing round the individual bearing the "bowster" were-- "wha learn'd you to dance, you to dance, you to dance, wha learn'd you to dance bab at the bowster brawly?" to which the "bowster-bearer" replies-- "my mither learned me to dance, me to dance, me to dance, my mither learned me to dance bab at the bowster brawly." after which, throwing down the "bowster" or cushion before one of the opposite sex, they both kneel upon it, and kiss one another _affectionately_. i never heard any words save the above; but a friend from a neighbouring county (dumbartonshire) informs me, that with them it is sometimes changed into "wha gi'ed you the keys to keep, the keys to keep," &c. there are also other variations which i believe i can procure, should they be desired by mac or others. i should perhaps mention, for the benefit of southrons, that almost all untravelled scotchmen in conversation use the verb _to learn_ in place of the verb _to teach_. y. glasgow. the dance in scotland called "bab at the bowster" is always the winding up at "kirns" and other merrymakings, and is most likely similar to the cushion-dance. the tune to which it is danced has words belonging to it. the beginning lines are-- "there's braw yill, down at the mill, bab at the bowster," &c. l. m. m. r. * * * * * oliver cromwell and his dealings with the devil. (vol. iii., p. .) among the papers of an old personal friend and correspondent of the "sylvanus urban" of his day,--a clergyman of the good old school, who died a quarter of a century ago, aged eighty-six, i find the inclosed. it may possibly lead to the further elucidation of one of the notes of b. b. it is unfortunate that no date is attached to it, nor any intimation of its history. its owner was the intimate friend of bennet, bishop of cloyne, of dr. farmer, of burgess, bishop of st. david's (afterwards salisbury), and other eminent divines of his time. with this ms. was inclosed another, in more modern writing; but, from the orthography, copied from an older paper, headed "private amours of oliver cromwell." it is very short, and also without date. it is at your service if desired. s. h. h. { } a narrative concerning cromwell's dealings with the d----l "on y^e d of sept., in y^e morning, cromwell took colonel lindsey, his intimate friend, and first capt. of his regiment, to a wood side not far from y^e army, and bid him alight and follow him into that wood, & take particular notice of what he saw & heard. "after they had both alighted & secured their horses, & walked some small way into the wood, lindsey began to turn pale, & to be seiz'd with horrour, from some unknown cause; upon wch cromwell askt him how he did, or how he felt himself. he answered, that he was in such a trembling & consternation that he never felt y^e like in all y^e conflicts and battles he had been engaged in: but wether it proceeded from the gloomyness of y^e place, or y^e temperament of his body, he knew not. 'how now?' said cromwell. 'what! trowbled with vapours? come forward, man.' they had not gon above yards before lindsey on a sudden stood still and cry'd out, by all that's good he was seized with such unaccountable terrours & astonishment that it was impossible for him to stir one step further. upon which cromwell call'd him faint-hearted fool, & bid him stand there & observe or be witness: and then advancing to some distance from him, he met with a grave elderly man, with a roll of parchment in his hand, who deliver'd it to cromwell, who eagerly perused it. lindsey, a little recover'd from his fear, heard severall loud words betwixt them: particularly cromwell said, 'this is but for seven year. i was to have it for , and it must and shall be so.' the other told him positively it could not be for above seven; upon which cromwell cry'd with a great fierceness, it shd be, however, for year; but the other person plorily declared it could not possibly be for any longer time: and if he woud not take it so, there was others that woud accept of it: upon which cromwell at last took y^e parchment, and returning to lindsey with great joy in his countenance, he cry'd, 'now, lindsey, the battle's our own: i long to be engag'd.' returning out of the wood, they rode to y^e army. cromwell with a resolution to engage as soon as possible, & y^e other with a design of leaving y^e army as soon. after y^e first charge lindsey deserted his post, and rode away with all possible speed, day and night, till he came into y^e county of norfolk, to y^e house of an intimate friend, and minister of that parish: cromwell, as soon as he mist him, sent all ways after him, with a promise of a great reward to any that w'd bring him alive or dead. "thus far y^e narrative of lindsey himself; but something further is to be remembered to complete & confirm y^e story. "when mr. thorowgood saw his friend lindsey come into his yard, his horse and himself just tired, in a sort of amaze he said, 'how, now, colonel; we hear there is like to be a battle shortly. what! fled from your colours?' 'a battle!' said y^e other; 'yes, there has bin a battle, and i am sure y^e king is beaten. if ever i strike a stroke for cromwell again, may i perish eternally, for i am sure he has made a league with y^e devil, and he will have him in due time.' then, desiring his protection from cromwell's inquisitors, he went in & related y^e whole story, and all the circumstances, concluding with these remarkable words, that cromwell w'd certainly die that day seven year that the battle was fought. "the strangeness of his relation caused mr. thorowgood to order his son john, then about years of age, to write it in full length in his common place book, & to take it from lindsey's own mouth. this common place book, and likewise y^e same story writen in other books, i am sure is still preserv'd in y^e family of y^e thorowgoods: but how far lindsey is to be believed, & how far y^e story is to be accounted incredible, is left to y^e reader's faith and judgment, & not to any determination of our own." * * * * * replies to minor queries. _gig hill_ (vol. iii., p. .).--perhaps your correspondent is mistaken in saying that "there is no indication of anything in the land to warrant the name." at least, the very fact of its being a hill is suspicious. if i could venture to affront you with a pun, i should say, that it seems to me very natural that the _top_ of a hill should look like a _gig_. mercy on us! do words wear out so fast? why, i have not reached three-score, and did not i "whip my gig" when i was an "infant"?--not an infant born in a remote province, sucking in archaism with my mother's milk, playing with heirloom toys, and calling them by obsolete names, but a smart little cockney, born and bred in the parish of st. andrew, holborn, where, no doubt, there were gig-whipping brats plenty. in the crowded state of your columns, you would not thank me for enlarging on the top-_hic_, or i should really feel disposed to enter into a dissertation on the nature and characteristic differences of whipping-tops, humming-tops, peg-tops, and gigs. as to the latter, it certainly occurs to me, now that the question is raised, that i have not seen such a thing for a long time; though i fancy _gigs_ lying in the shop-windows, as they did at a period when i was more likely to observe them; and if they have become so far forgotten, it may be worth while, for the sake of shakspeare, to say that they were generally (as far as i remember always) made of horn; and therefore, when holofernes says "go, whip thy gig" (which means just the same as mr. oldbuck's "sew your sampler, monkey!"), moth replies, "lend me your _horn_ to make one, and i will whip about your infamy _circum circa_; a gig of a cuckold's horn!" it is enough to add that the gig was made of the tip of the horn, and looked, while spinning, like an inverted extinguisher. it was hollow, but my impression is that there was sometimes lead at the bottom of the inside. even with the ballast, it was a ticklish, volatile, kickety thing, much more difficult to set up and to keep up than the sober whipping-top, and bearing somewhat the same relation to one in bulk and motion, { } that a ship's gig may do to herself, or a gig on land to a coach. as to gig hill, however, unless it has a conical top, some other explanation must be sought. n. b. [c., e. h., and numerous other correspondents, have also kindly replied to this query.] _epigram against burke_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "oft have i heard that ne'er on irish ground, a poisonous reptile ever yet was found; nature, though slow, will yet complete her work, she has saved her venom to create a burke." the author of these lines was warren hastings himself; his private secretary (mr. evans) sat by his side during the trial, and saw him write the above. my authority is a niece of mr. evans, who formed one of her uncle's family at the period of the trial. n. m. _engraved portrait_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this is the portrait of samuel clarke, the ejected minister of bennet fink, london. i have three impressions of this engraving now before me. two of these are in an illustrated granger, and are in different states, the earlier one having no shading in the background. the third copy is prefixed to-- "a collection of the lives of ten eminent divines, famous in their generations for learning, prudence, piety, and painfuless in the work of the ministry, &c. by sa. clarke, preacher of the gospel in st. bennet fink, london, ." to. very likely the same plate had been previously used for some other of clarke's numerous publications. at the end of the verses beneath the portrait, my copies have "p.v.a.m. _fecit_," which, i suppose, are the initials of peter vinke. john i. dredge. a full and interesting account of this worthy divine is given in _granger_, vol. v. p. .; and the quatrain will be found annexed to a brief account of the same portrait in ames's _english heads_, p. . j. f. y. _salgado's slaughter-house_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent asks, who was salgado? and his question has not yet, i believe, been answered. james salgado, whose name does not appear in any biographical dictionary, though it deserves to do, and whose pieces are unnoticed in peck's catalogue, though they should certainly not have been omitted, was a spanish priest, who renounced the roman catholic belief, and was imprisoned by the inquisition, and after undergoing many sufferings made his escape to england in the latter part of the reign of charles ii. his history is contained in _an account of his life and sufferings_, in a to. tract in my possession, entitled, _a confession of faith of james salgado, a spaniard, and sometimes a priest in the church of rome_, london, , to. watt and lowndes both notice some of his pieces, but their lists are very imperfect, and do not comprise the tract, of which your correspondent gives the title, and which is also in my possession, and several others which i have noted in my copy of my _confession_, but which it is perhaps unnecessary to enumerate here. james crossley. _mathew's (not ma_tt_hew's) mediterranean passage_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i have a copy of this work, and shall have pleasure in forwarding it to mercurii for perusal, if he will address a note to me, which the publisher of "notes and queries" will forward. nibor. oxford, march . . _the mitre and the "cloven tongues"_ (vol. iii., p. .).--my attention has just been directed to the remark of your correspondent l. m. m. r., who adduces the miracle of the "cloven tongues as of fire" as having supplied the form of the mitre. this is an old explanation; but your correspondent does not appear to be aware that "cloven" has been rejected by high classical authority, as not being a correct interpretation of the word [greek: diamerizomenai]. the exact translation is, "and tongues as of fire appeared, being distributed to them." the same verb is used in the passage, "they _parted_ my garments among them,"--parted or distributed--the exact equivalent. it appears to me that the translators have here made an extraordinary blunder. they have, i think, mistaken [greek: diamêrizô] for [greek: diamerizô]. for the peculiar meaning of the former verb i beg to refer those who have not observed it, to liddell and scott's _lexicon_. the substitution of a letter here ([eta] for [epsilon]) would give to the scripture term a significance, which, though analogous to that of the current translation, is immeasurably distant from the exact interpretation. hughes frazer halle. chudleigh, march . . _slums_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this word is, i take it, an americanism, being an abbreviation of _settlements_. the _back settlements_ and _back slums_ are used synonymously. d. q. "_god's acre_" (vol. ii., p. .).--on looking back to some of your old numbers i find w. h. k. has never been answered with regard to the above application of the term to churchyards. longfellow (liverpool edition, , p. .) commences one of his poems thus: "i like that ancient saxon phrase, which calls the burial-ground _god's acre_. it is just; it consecrates each grave within its walls, and breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust." whether this may be any help to w. h. k., i know not, but i cannot refrain from the query--what is the saxon phrase alluded to? w. h. p. { } _wages in the last century_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i have a note on this subject which is at a. a.'s service, extracted from the _gentleman's magazine_ for may , vol. ii p. .:-- "wages (yearly) appointed by the justices, a.d. , to be taken by the servants in the county of kent. £ s. d. head ploughman, waggoner, or seedsman his mate best woman servant second sort second ploughman his mate labourers by the day, in summer ditto, in winter _county of gloucester._ head servant in husbandry second servant driving boy under years head maid servant in dairy, and cook second maid servant mower in hay harvest, without drink, per day with drink, per day mower and reaper in corn harvest, with diet, per day other day labourer, from corn to hay harvest, with drink only, per day with diet, per day without diet or drink, per day carpenter, wheelwright, and mason, without drink, per day with drink, per day ." i send the note as i have it in my commonplace book; but i should think that the periodical from which the above is extracted, contains much that would suit a. a.'s purpose. e. s. taylor. martham, norfolk. _tradesmen's signs_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the _projecting_ signs over tradesmen's shop-doors were removed under the london paving act, geo. iii. c. . s. . in the _percy history of london_, i. ., the act is erroneously said to have been passed in . from malcolm's _anecdotes of london_, pp. , ., it seems that the clause in question was inserted in the act in consequence of inquiries by a committee appointed by the court of common council in . _mr. peter cunningham_, in the "london occurrences" prefixed to his _handbook for london_, says: " . the house-signs of london taken down." no doubt the existing metropolitan paving acts contain clauses which will prevent tradesmen from again putting up _projecting signs_. c. h. cooper. cambridge. _standfast's cordial comforts, &c._ (vol. iii., p. .).--abhba will find in a catalogue of curious books published by g. bumstead, . high holborn, an early edition of standfast. it is described thus: "standfast (r.), a little handful of cordial comforts, and a caveat against seducers; with the blind man's meditations, and a dialogue between a blind man and death, mo. ." this may assist abhba in his researches. z. _st. pancras_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent mr. yeowell asks where c. j. smith's collection of mss., cuttings and prints, &c. relating to the parish of st. pancras, are deposited? it is in the library of richard percival, esq., . highbury park, islington. can any of your readers give an account of st. pancras? he was martyred may , . r. [has our correspondent looked at the _calendar of the anglican church_, lately published by parker of oxford? a brief notice of st. pancras will be found on p. . of that useful little work.] _lines on "woman's will"_ (vol. i., p. .).--although somewhat late in the day, i send you the following paragraph from the _examiner_ of may , : "_woman's will._--the following lines (says a correspondent of the _brighton herald_) were copied from the pillar erected on the mount in the dane-john field, formerly called the dungeon field, canterbury: 'where is the man who has the power and skill to stem the torrents of a woman's will? for if she will, she will, you may depend on't, and if she won't, she won't so there's an end on't."' h. c. workington. _scandal against queen elizabeth_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--in _hubback on the evidence of succession_, p. , after some remarks on the word "natural," not of itself in former times denoting illegitimacy, this passage occurs: "but as early as the time of elizabeth the word _natural_, standing alone, had acquired something of its present meaning. the parliament, in debating upon the act establishing the title to the crown in the queen's issue, thought it proper to alter the words 'issue lawfully begotten,' into 'natural-born issue,' conceiving the latter to be a more delicate phrase. but this created a suspicion among the people, that the queen's favourite, leicester, intended after her death to set up some bastard of his own, pretending it was born of her, and bred up privately."--duke of buckingham _on treasons_, cited amos's _fortescue_, p. . j. h. l. _coggeshall job_ (vol. iii., p. .).--does j. c. allude to the tradition that the coggeshall people placed hurdles in the stream to turn the river, and chained up the wheelbarrow when the mad dog bit it? j. h. l. _whale caught at greenwich before the death of cromwell_ (vol. iii., p. .).--b. b. wishes a record { } of the capture of a whale at greenwich, immediately previous to cromwell's death. i take leave to inform him that, in a tract entitled _a catalogue of natural rarities, with great industry, cost and thirty years' travel in foreign countries collected, by robert hubert, alias forges, gent., and sworn servant to his majesty. and dayly to be seen at the place called the musick house, at the miter, near the west end of st. paul's church_, , there is the following item:-- "the vein of the tongue of that whale that was taken up at greenwich, a little before cromwell's death." w. pinkerton. ham. _fronte capillatâ, &c._ (vol. iii., pp. . . .).--the following lines from tasso's _amore fuggitivo_ contain the same figure as the latin quoted above: "crespe hà le chiome e d'oro, e in quella guisa appunto, che fortuna si pinge ha lunghi e folti in sulla fronte i crini; ma nuda hà poi la testa agli opposti confini." robert snow. the lines quoted by your correspondent are from peacock's "headlong hall," and are imitated from machiavelli's "capitolo dell' occasione." the whole air stands thus; the second stanza differing slightly from the version given by mr. burt. the lines are very pretty, at least in my opinion. "love and opportunity. "oh! who art thou, so swiftly flying? my name is love, the child replied; swifter i pass than south-winds sighing, or streams through summer vales that glide. and who art thou, his flight pursuing? 'tis cold neglect whom now you see: the little god you there are viewing, will die, if once he's touched by me. "oh! who art thou so fast proceeding, ne'er glancing back thine eyes of flame? mark'd but by few, through earth i'm speeding, and opportunity's my name. what form is that which scowls beside thee? repentance is the form you see: learn then, the fate may yet betide thee. she seizes them who seize not me." w. r. m. _john sanderson, or the cushion-dance_ (vol. ii., p. .).--though i am unable to answer your correspondent mac's inquiry as to the antiquity of this dance, it may interest him as well as others of the readers of "notes and queries" to know, that when walpole made up his mind to abandon his excise bill (which met with a still fiercer opposition out of doors than in the house of commons), he signified his intention to a party of his adherents at the supper-table, by quoting the first line of the accompanying song:-- "this dance it will no further go!"[ ] this, at least, shows the popularity of this dance in the reign of george ii. h. c. workington. [footnote : this occurred in the year .] _george steevens and william stevens_ (vol. iii, p. .).--the late sir j. a. park wrote _memoirs of william stevens_, the treasurer of queen anne's bounty, and the biographer of jones of nayland. as little resemblance must have existed between this gentleman and "the puck of commentators," george steevens, as between the two harveys: "the one invented sauce for fish the other meditations." j. h. m. _memoirs of stevens_ by the late sir james allan park have been published, and are well worth reading; but this stevens was not george steevens, the shakespearian commentator, but william, treasurer of queen anne's bounty, one of the most meek and humble minded of men. "he was inferior to none in profound knowledge, and steady practice of the doctrines and discipline of the church of england; austere to himself alone, charitable and indulgent towards others, he attracted the young by the cheerfulness of his temper, and the old by the sanctity of his life." miss bockett should not confound such a holy character with george steevens. e. h. _memoirs of george steevens, esq., f.r.s. and f.s.a._ (vol. iii., p. .).--in answer to a. z. it may be stated that a brief memoir of mr. steevens was given in nichols's _literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century_, vol. ii. p. .; further anecdotes, and some of his letters, in vol. v. of nichols's _literary illustrations_; and further letters (his correspondence with dr. percy, bishop of dromore), in vol. vii. of the latter work; besides many incidental notices, which will be found by reference to the indexes. on the last occasion a copy of his portrait by dance, was attached; and in vol. v. of the _literary illustrations_ is an engraving of his monument by flaxman, in poplar chapel. n. _tradescant_ (vol. iii., p. .).--at what period the elder tradescant came into england is not with certainty known, but it is supposed to have been about the end of queen elizabeth's reign, or the beginning of that of james i. he obtained the title of _royal gardener_ circa . it may not be superfluous to mention (on the authority of allen's _history of lambeth_, p. .) that formerly the three following lines were on the monument in lambeth churchyard, until its { } reparation by public subscription in , when they were left out: "this monument was erected at the charge of _hester tradescant_, the relict of _john tradescant_, late deceased, who was buried the th of april, ." alfred w. h. kennington. _origin of harlequins_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent and querist e. l. n. wishes for an account of the origin of harlequins. i beg to refer e. l. n. to an account of the hellequines, or "la mesnie hellequin," given by m. paul paris, in his work on the _manuscripts françois de la bib. du roi_, vol. i. p. . m. paris says: "on donnoit ce nom (hellequines) à des espèces de feux follets ou génies plutôt malfaisants que favorables, et plutôt moqueurs que malfaisants.... l'origine de la tradition de la mesnie hellequin se perd dans l'obscurité des temps. on l'entendoit surtout bruire dans les environs de la ville d'_arles_.... j'ignore la première origine de cette locution; mais ce qui me semble incontestable, c'est qu'on confondit facilement la mesnie hellequin avec celle '_de la mort_,' famille bariolée de rouge et de noir, et dont le manteau de cérémonie devoit être un grand pan de toile ou linceul. déjà le lecteur a devancé la conséquence qu'il faut tirer de tout cela; la mesnie hellequin, partie nécessaire des cortéges effrayants ou grotesques dans le moyen-âge, est devenue insensiblement, sous la main des arrangeurs, notre _famille d'arlequin_. le costume bariolé d'arlequin n'est rien autre que le fantastique costume du représentant de la mort.... et, si ce que je viens de dire est fondé, on ne répètera plus après ménage (gilles), que le mot _arlequin_ fut pris d'abord, sur la fin du xvi siècle, par un certain bouffon italien que le président _harlay_ avoit accueilli. il est certain que le mot _arlequin_ se trouve très-anciennement dans un grand nombre de mystères. "'numquid me velis,' ecrivoit jean raulin, mort en , 'antiquam illam familiam harlequini, revocare, ut videatur mortuus inter mundanæ curiæ nebulas et caligines equitare?'" by the above extracts, which i fear you will find too long, harlequinades would seem rather to be derived from the wanton pranks of sprites than the coarse gambols of buffoons; and this derivation would certainly best agree with the accepted character of the modern harlequin. h. c. c. "_predeceased_" and "_designed_" (vol. iii., p. .).--the former word is used in an active sense by shakspeare, in his "rape of lucrece:" "if children _predecease_ progenitors, we are their offspring, and they none of ours." "designed," in the sense of "designated," is employed by locke: "'tis not enough to make a man a subject, to convince him that there is regal power in the world; but there must be ways of _designing_ and knowing the person to whom the regal power of right belongs." cowgill. "_quadrijugis invectus equis," &c._ (vol. ii., p. .).--these lines, in which "veriis" and "antesolat" are, of course, misprints for "variis" and "antevolat," apply with such peculiar exactness to guido's celebrated aurora, at the rospigliosi palace, that i cannot but think the painting has given rise to the lines. besides, in the ancient mythology, the horæ are said to be _three_ in number, daughters of jupiter and themis, and one of their offices was harnessing the horses of the sun. it is unlikely, therefore, that any classic author would mention them as being seven in number. c. i. r. _st. john's bridge fair_ (vol. iii., p. .).--perhaps in the county of northampton, and in the city of peterborough, where a fair, commencing october d, is still called "bridge fair." the parish church of peterborough is dedicated to st. john baptist; but a fair on the saint's day would be too near the other, and probably more ancient fair, which is held on old st. peter's day, to whom the cathedral church is dedicated. arun. _anticipations of modern ideas by defoe_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--it is a singular fact, to which i do not remember a reference has hitherto been made, that defoe, in his _life and adventures of captain singleton_, has foreshadowed the discovery by recent travellers of a great inland lake in the south of africa. he describes his adventurous hero and companions, during their attempt to cross this vast continent from mozambique to angola, as having, on the ninth day of their journey, come in "view of a great lake of water." "the next day," he adds, "which was the tenth from our setting out, we came to the edge of this lake, and happily for us, we came to it at the south point of it, for to the north we could see no end of it; so we passed by it, and travelled three days by the side of it."--_life, adventures, and piracies of captain singleton_, chap. vi. according to a rough calculation by one of the party, they were, a few days before reaching it, miles from the coast of mozambique, and from the cape of good hope. now messrs. murray and oswell, the enterprising travellers to whom we owe the discovery of this vast south african lake, describe it as being in longitude ° east, latitude ° south; a position not very wide apart from that indicated in defoe's amusing fiction. t. c. smith. _lord howard of effingham_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i submit that the passages quoted by your correspondent are not sufficient evidence to lead us to conclude that that nobleman _ever_ was a protestant. as to the "neglect of reverence to the holy sacrament," it is only said that the priests might pretend _that_ as a cause; and it is not to be supposed that an ambassador would so far forget himself as to show any disrespect to the religion of the { } prince he was sent to. besides, it is likely that lord howard was chosen for the embassy as being a catholic, and therefore more acceptable to a prince of the same religion. nd. fuller's words only refer to testimony on a disputed fact, on which catholic evidence the effect quoted by him would have peculiar weight. rd. the words to garnet, who had declared his innocence and abhorrence of the imputed crime, are such as a catholic would be most likely to use. th. the word "_our_," in the royal instructions, is the word of form, and resembles the editorial "_we_." in royal instructions to mr. shiel at florence, mr. wyse at naples, or mr. more o'ferrall at malta, her majesty would use the words "our religion;" would that imply that any or all of those gentlemen were protestants? after all, lord howard may have conformed to the court religion after the period of the armada: occasional conformity was frequent at the period. kerriensis. _separation of the sexes in church_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--in _collectanea topographica, &c._, vol. iii. p. ., is printed the "account of the proctors of the church of yeovil, co. somerset, hen. vi. - ." the learned editor says: "the first item is remarkable, as affording an instance of seats being made subject to sale at so early a period;" and proceeds: "it may be observed that the two sexes must have sat in different parts of the church, as, with only one exception, the seats are let to other persons of the same sex as before." llewellyn. _separation of the sexes in time of divine service_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a proof of the correctness of the remark advanced in this note is afforded by the practice followed in the little church of covington, huntingdonshire, where a few of the old open seats remain towards the western end, in which each sex still sits on its proper side, although the custom does not hold with respect to the pews which some of the farmers and others have erected for themselves at the eastern end. arun. _separation of the sexes at church._--many of your correspondents have taken up the separation of the living at church, but none have alluded to the dead. i extract the following from a deed of the th of elizabeth:-- "but also in the two severall vawtes or towmbes in the sayd chappell, and in the sowthe syde of the same, and in the wall of the sayd church, ffor themselves only to bury in; that is to say, in the upper of the same, standing eastwards, to bury the deade bodyes of the men, being ancestors of the sayd a. b.; and in the lower, standing westwards, to bury the deade bodies of the women, being wyves or children female of his, the said a. b.'s ancestors." perhaps some of your correspondents can tell us whether such separate vaults were customary? _vox populi vox dei_ (vol. i., p. .).--your correspondent daniel rock states these words to have been chosen by the archbishop of canterbury, simon mepham, as his text for the sermon he preached when edward iii. was called to the throne; and in your notices to correspondents, vol. iii., p. ., you repeat the statement. the prelate by whom the sermon was preached was not simon mepham, but his predecessor, walter reynolds, who was archbishop of canterbury when the second edward was deposed, and when edward iii. was crowned, on february , . this walter reynolds died on november , , and simon mepham was appointed his successor on december , . john toland, in his _anglia libera_, p. ., has this reference to the sermon which was preached by the archbishop reynolds on the occasion of the king's coronation: "to edward i. succeeded his son edward ii., who growing an intolerable tyrant, was in a parliament summoned by himself formally accused of misgovernment, and on his own acknowledging the truth of this charge, solemnly deposed. when his son, edward iii., was elected with universal consent, walter, the archbishop of canterbury, preached the coronation sermon, and took these words for his text, "_vox populi vox dei_, the voice of the people is the voice of god,"--so little did they dream in those days of the divine right of monarchy, or that all power did not originally derive from the people, for whom and by whom all governments are erected and maintained." sir harris nicolas in his _synopsis of the peerage,_ and dugdale in his _monasticon_, give the name of this archbishop as walter reynolds. sir richard baker, in his _chronicle_, describes him as walter reginald; and in hume's _england_ he is called walter de reynel. st. johns. _mazer wood_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the querist asks, "has the word mazer any signification in itself?" it is used to signify a cup. vide walter scott's _lord of the isles_, where robert bruce is speaking: "bring here, he said, the mazers four, my noble fathers loved of yore." and it is probably derived from the irish "maeddher," a standing cup, generally of _wood_, of a quadrangular form, with a handle on each of the sides. the puzzle was how to drink out of it, which was done from the angles. a silver "maeddher" was presented to lord townshend when leaving ireland, who puzzled many of his english friends by placing it before them filled with claret. uninitiated persons usually attempted to drink from the flat side, and poured the wine over their clothes. i think another was presented to lord normanby when in ireland. we see _gutta percha_ { } cups and buckets everywhere now-a-days. perhaps such an utensil might have been among the dishes, &c. mentioned in the catalogue of the tradescant museum. kerriensis. [see a curious note on mazers, used as large drinking-cups, or goblets, in walter scott's _poetical works_, p. ., edit. .] _traditions from remote periods through few hands_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the following facts may not be uninteresting on this subject. the late maurice o'connell of derrynane, co. kerry, died early in , and would have completed years on the st of march in that year. the writer hereof has heard him tell anecdotes derived from the conversation of daniel m^ccarthy, of the same co., who died about , aged at least years. this daniel m^ccarthy was commonly known by the nick-name of "dhonald bhin," or "yellow dan," and was the first man that ran away from the battle of aughrim. there is a short account of him in smith's _history of kerry_, in which he is mentioned as lately deceased. you have thus a period of over years, the traditions of which might be derived through three persons, the survivor of whom, your correspondent, is but middle aged. i remember being told in the co. clare, circiter , of an individual then lately deceased, who remembered the siege of limerick by general ginkle, and the news of the celebrated treaty of limerick. it is to be wished that your readers who reside in, or may visit ireland, would take an interest in this subject. i am certain that in remote parts of the country much curious tradition could be thus brought to light; and it would be interesting to compare the accounts of great public events, as remembered and handed down by the peasantry, with those which we take on the faith of historians. as relating to this subject, i may refer to the allusion made in page . of the same number to the countess of desmond, who was said to have lived to so great an age. i have seen the picture alluded to at glanlearne in valencia, the seat of the knight of kerry; and it must have been taken at a comparatively early period of life, as the earl of desmond was outlawed, and his estates confiscated, in the reign of elizabeth. some record of how this old lady's jointure was provided for might yet be discovered, and the period of her decease thus ascertained. kerriensis. _latin epigram on the duchess of eboli_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this beautiful epigram, which c. r. h. has somewhat mutilated even in the two lines which he gives of it, was written by jerome amaltheus, who died in , the year in which henry iii. of france came to the throne; so that it is unlikely at least that the "amor" was meant for mangirow, his "minion." in the edition of the poems of the three brothers amalthei, which i possess, and which was printed at amsterdam in , the epigram runs-- "de gemellis fratre et sorore luscis. "lumine acon, dextro, capta est leonilla sinistro, et potis est forma vincere uterque deos. blande puer, lumen, quod habes concede _puellæ_, sic tu cæcus amor, sic erit illa venus." i have seen it thus translated: "one eye is closed to each in rayless night, yet each has beauty fit the gods to move, give, acon, give to leonill _thy_ light, she will be venus, and thou sightless love." the relationship between the duchess of eboli and mangirow i do not remember. were they brother and sister? or was she ever known as leonilla? among jerome amaltheus's other epigrams i find several about this "acon;" and one, entitled "de duabus amicis," begins-- "me _lætis leonilla oculis_, me _lydia torvis_ aspicit." the mistress of philip ii. (who here, by the by, seems to have recovered her lost eye) would hardly have been the mistress of an italian poet. h. a. b. trin. coll. cam. "_harry parry, when will you marry_" (vol. iii., p. .).--e. h. has omitted the last line, which, however, is well known. may it not have the same meaning as the lines in the "marquis de carabas" of béranger: "et tous vos tendrons, subiront l'honneur du droit du seigneur?" the nursery rhyme may have been sung to the young baron to teach him his feudal privileges, as the lines-- "hot corn, baked pears, kick nigger down stairs," are used to inculcate the rights of a white man on the minds of infant cotton planters in the southern states. j. h. l. _visions of hell_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in solving the query propounded by f. r. a. as to "whether bunyan was the author of the _visions_?" it is very necessary that all the editions should be known of and collated. i have one not yet referred to, styled _the visions of john bunyan, being his last remains, giving an account of the glories of heaven, the terrors of hell, and of the world to come_, london, printed and sold by j. hollis, shoemaker row, blackfriars, pp. ., with an address to the reader, subscribed "thy soul's well-wisher, john bunyan," without date. "thomas newby, of epping, essex," is written in it; he might have been only the first owner of the book, which was certainly published before the year or , but i should say not much earlier. blowen. { } _"laus tua non tua fraus," &c._ (vol. i., p. .). _verse lyon._--puttenham's _arte of english poesie_, published in , contains an earlier allusion to this epigram than any of those mentioned by your correspondents at vol. ii., p. ., and assigns to pope alexander [qy. vi.] the doubtful honour of being the subject of it. the passage is at p. ., and is as follows:-- "another of their pretie inuentions was to make a verse of such wordes as lay their nature and manner of construction and situation might be turned backward word by word, and make another perfit verse, but of quite contrary sence, as the gibing monke that wrote of pope alexander these two verses: 'laus tua non tua fraus, virtue non copia rerum, scandere te faciunt hoc decus eximium:' which if ye will turne backward, they make two other good verses, but of a contrary sence, thus: 'eximium decus hoc faciunt te scandere, rerum copia, non virtus, fraus tua, non tua laus;' and they call it _verse lyon_." query, why? and where else is verse lyon alluded to? j. f. m. [is not "_verse lyon_" puttenham's translation of _leonine verse_?] _passage from cymbeline_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "some jay of italy, whose mother was her _painting_, hath betrayed him."--act iii. sc. . the word _painting_ (your correspondent's stumbling-block) evidently means resemblance--resemblance of character, and as such exactly corresponds to the german word _ebenbild_, an image or painting, which is used in the same sense; _e.g._ _sie hat das ebenbild ihres mutters_, "she is the very image of her mother." cranmore. rue de cerf, . brussels. _engraved warming-pans_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--as an earlier instance of this custom, it may be worth notice that i have one which was purchased some years ago at the village of whatcote in warwickshire; it is engraved with a dragon, and the date . i think it probable that it originally came from compton wyniatt, the ancient seat of the earls [now marquis] of northampton; the supporters of the compton family being dragons, and whatcote being the next village to compton wyniatt. spes. _symbolism of the fir-cone_ (vol. i., p. .).--the fir-cone on the thyrsus--a practice very general throughout greece, but which is very prevalent at athens, may perhaps, in some degree, account for the connexion of the fir-cone (surmounting the thyrsus) with the worship of bacchus. incisions are made in the fir-trees for the purpose of obtaining the turpentine, which distils copiously from the wound. this juice is mixed with the new wine in large quantities; the greeks supposing that it would be impossible to keep it any length of time without this mixture. the wine has in consequence a very peculiar taste, but is by no means unpleasant after a little use. this, as we learn from plutarch, was an ancient custom (_sympos. quæst._ iii. and iv. p. . edn. wytten); the athenians, therefore, might naturally have placed the fir-cone in the hands of bacchus. ("lord aberdeen's journals," appendix to walpole's _memoirs of turkey, &c._, vol. i. p. .) f. b. relton. _dr. robert thomlinson_ (vol. i., p. .).--the gentleman who is very anxious for the communication of any matter illustrative of the life of the doctor, his family, &c., will find considerable useful and interesting information relating to him, his widow, and brother, by referring to the under-mentioned _reports from the commissioners for inquiring concerning charities_: th report, pages . .; rd report, pages . .; st report, pages . . there is a slight allusion to the doctor in the _returns of corporate offices and charitable funds, &c._, p. . h. edwards. _touching for the evil_ (vol. iii., p. .).--st. thomas aquinas refers the practice of touching for the evil by french kings to _clovis_. see a work published in , by simon favoul, entitled, _du pouvoir que les rois de france ont de guérir les ecrouelles_; also a work by du laurens, entitled, _de mirabili strumas sanandi vi, regibus galliarum christianis divinitus concessa, libri duo_, paris, , in vo. edward the confessor is said to have been the first english king who touched for the evil. consequently the english can hardly be said to have owed their supposed power to their pretensions to the crown of france. e. j. r. [we are indebted to mr. j. b. ditchfield and mr. joseph sulley for very elaborate notices of the custom of the french kings touching for the evil; but the principal facts contained in those communications have already been laid before our readers by mr. cooper (vide no. . p. . et seq.)] _drax free school_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it appears by the will of charles read, dated july , , that that gentleman had at his own charge erected a school-house at drax, which he designed for a free school, and for the habitation of a schoolmaster, to instruct the children of the inhabitants of that parish gratis, to read, write, and cast accounts, and in latin, greek, and hebrew, as occasion should require; and that he had erected six almshouses at drax, for six aged and impotent people at that parish, and the lodgment of six poor boys; and for the support and maintenance of the said school, master, alms people, and poor boys, he directed his executors to lay out l. in { } the purchase of freehold land of l. per annum in or near drax, to be conveyed to trustees to let such land at the best improved rent, for the purposes and uses mentioned in his will; and he appointed the lord mayor and aldermen of york, visitors of the school and almshouses. at the time of the inquiry by the charity commissioners, the estates purchaser in pursuance of the directions of mr. read's will amounted to acres of land, let at l. per annum, and there was an accumulation of stock of , l. in the three per cents, the whole income being l. s. d. per annum. mr. dyson will find a copious account of this school, &c., in the following reports of the commissioners: xxi. p. .; xxxii. part d. p. .; and the latter gives a full detail of proceedings in chancery, and other matters connected with the administration of the trust. henry edwards. _enigmatical epitaph on the rev. john mawer_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--perhaps it may be of service to j. h. to know that _arthur llewellyn tudor kaye mawer_, referred to by j. t. a., was a short time ago an assistant bookseller at oxford, and may be heard of by addressing a line to mr. vincent, herald office, or mr. wheeler, bookseller, oxford. nibor. _treatise by engelbert, archbishop of treves_ (vol. i., p. .).--mr. sanson may probably find the information he desires in the reprint of bishop cosin's _history of popish transubstantiation_, london, , in which the references are verified, and the quotations given in full length. t. j. _king john at lincoln_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is no question of matt. paris alluding here to the old prophecy which forbade a king's wearing his crown in lincoln, or, as some think, even entering the city. although he makes john the first to break through the superstition, yet the same is attributed to his predecessor stephen, who is described by h. huntingdon as entering the city fearlessly--"prohibentibus quibusdam superstitiosis." this was after the great disasters of stephen's reign; but as the succession eventually departed from his line, lord lyttleton observes that the citizens might nevertheless be strengthened in their credulity; and henry ii. certainly humoured it so far as to wear his crown only in the suburb of wigford. john seems to have been very partial to the place, and visited it repeatedly, as did many of his successors. many parallel superstitions might, no doubt, be gathered, as that of oxford, and alexander the great at babylon, &c. b. lincoln. _haybands in seals_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in your paper for march . i observe a query by mr. m. a. lower respecting seals. it appears that mr. lower has in his possession one or two seals, temp. henry vii., which are impressed on haybands, that is to say, the wax is encircled by a twisted wisp of hay, or split straw; and, if i rightly understand mr. lower, no device is apparent on the wax, but some ends of the hay or straw protrude from the surface of it. under these circumstances mr. lower states his opinion that such seals belonged to mediæval gentlemen who occupied their time in fattening stock,--simply graziers. it may be interesting to some of your correspondents, and especially to mr. lower, to know that a few seals, both pendent and impressed on the parchment itself, within haybands, may be found of as early a date as the reign of edward ii. from that time the fashion become very prevalent: in the reigns of richard ii., henry iv., henry v., henry vi., and, indeed, down to the period of elizabeth, it was the common practice to secure the wax impression in this manner. almost all the impressions of the privy seal of henry v., called "the eagle," are made on haybands. it is needless to give further examples, as they must be well known to all antiquaries who have studied the history of seals. it is not from the examination of a few specimens of early seals that a general conclusion is to be rationally drawn; and it is to be hoped that mr. lower may, even yet, be induced to abandon his singular theory of graziers' seals. t. hudson turner. if your correspondents on this subject will refer to the first volume of _kalendars and inventories of his majesty's exchequer_, published by the commissioners of public records, they will find in the introduction, written by sir francis palgrave, at page cxlvii., a fac-simile representation of a letter upon paper from james iv. of scotland to henry vii., dated july , , showing the seal encircled by a rush ring. at page cxxxvii. it is stated that in the fifteenth century a rush ring surrounding the fragile wax was not unfrequently used for the purpose of preserving it. s. s. s. _aver_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--spelman, in his _glossary_, derives _averia_ from _averare_ pro laborare. _averare_ he derives from the french _ouvre_ and _ouvrage_, "vel potius a latino _operare_, _o_ et _p_, ut solent, in _a_ et _u_, conversis." "hence," he says, "our ancestors called beasts of burden _averia_, and the scotch called them _avaria_." in northumberland, he elsewhere adds, "they call a lazy, sluggish horse 'a faulse aver,' or 'afer.'" _averum_ signified goods and chattels, and personal property in general, and, in this sense, is derived from the french _avoir_. it also signified the royal treasure, as appears from the following extract front the will of philip augustus, sub anno { } . after directing his rents, services, and oblations to be brought annually to paris, he adds-- "in receptionibus averi nostri, adam clericus noster presens erit, et eas scribet, et singuli habeant singulas claves de singulis archis in quibus reponetur averum nostrum in templo." the following story, which illustrates p.'s query, is told by blackstone:-- "sir thomas more (when a student on his travels) is said to have puzzled a pragmatic professor at bruges, who gave a universal challenge to dispute with any person in any science: in omni scibili, et de quolibet ente. upon which mr. more sent him this question, 'utrum averia carucæ, capta in vetito namio, sint irreplegibilia, whether beasts of the plough, taken in withernam, are incapable of being replevied:'" --a question likely enough to pose any man except an english lawyer. cudyn gwyn. _aver_ or _aiver_ is a word in common use in the south of scotland for a _horse_. in burns's poem entitled "the dream," there is this couplet: "yet aft a ragged cowte's been known to mak a noble aiver." j. ss. _aver_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondents g. m. and d. . are at cross purposes. the latter is unquestionably right in his opinion about _haver cake_, _haver_ in that instance being the german _hafer_, sw. _havre_, &c., as held by brockett (_north country words_) and carr (_craven glossary_). but _aver_, _averium_, on which g. m. descants, is altogether a different word. as d. . requires the authority of a dictionary, allow me to refer him to lacombe, _dictionnaire du vieux langage françois_, where he will find: "avoirs, animaux domestiques de la basse cour." "averlands, marchand de chevaux." and in the second, or supplementary volume of the same work: "'avers,' bestiaux qui nantissent une ferme à la campagne." see also jamieson (_scottish dictionary_): "aver, a cart-horse." a suggestion may also be gathered from webster under average. f. s. q. in the _chronicle of jocelyn de brakelond_, at p. . of tomlins's translation, mention is made of one beodric, "lord of that town, whose demesne lands are now in the demesne of the cellarer. and that which is now called _averland_ was the land of the rustics." again, at p. .: the cellarer was used freely to take all the dung-hills in every street, for his own use, unless it were before the doors of those who were holding _averland_; for to _them only_ was it allowable to collect dung and to keep it." to this a note is appended to the effect that "averland seems to have been ancient arable land so called, held by rustic drudges and villans." at p. . the said cellarer is stated to have _aver-peni_, to wit, for each thirty acres two pence."[ ] roquefort, in his _glossaire de la langue romane_, gives _aver_, from _avoir_: "bestiaux qui nantissent une ferme de campagne;" and _avè_, "un troupeau de brebis," from _ovis_. raynouard, in the _nouveau choix des poésies des troubadours_, vol. ii., which commences the _lexique roman_, derives "aver" also from _avoir_; to signify possession generally i take it. dly, troupeau, "e play mi quan li corredor fan las gens e 'ls _avers_ fugir." ("et il me plaît quand les coureurs font fuir les gens et les troupeaux.") _bertrand de born, be m play._ barbazan, in his short _glossary_, derives the word from _avarus_. h. c. c. [footnote : "averpenny was a sum paid as a composition for certain rustic services."] i would inform d. . and others (vol. iii., p. .) that _aver_, or _haver-cake_, which he states to be the name applied in north yorkshire to the thin oat-cake in use there, is evidently derived from the scandinavian words, _hafrar_, _havre_, _hafre_, oats. g. e. r. gordon. stockholm. "_the sword flamberg_" (vol. iii., p. .)--an english mother is informed that "flamberge," or "floberge," is the name of the sword won in battle from the saracen admiral anthenor by mangis d'aygremont, the hero of the romance of that name. ancient swords were frequently "flamboyant," or with waved edges; more especially those used for purposes of state. the dukes of burgundy bore a two-handed sword of this form. indeed, "flaming swords," as they were called, were worn down to the time of our charles ii., and perhaps later. it is rather singular that the ordinary synonyma for a sword should be "brand." the name of the weapon taken from king bucar by the cid was "tizona," or the fire-brand. the flamboyant type may possibly be of eastern origin. the krisses of the malays, at the present day have serpentine blades. w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _cockade_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--the _cockade_ was simply the knot of the riband that served to _cock_ the broad flapped hat worn by military men in the seventeenth century, and which in fine weather, or going into action, &c., they used to _cock_, by means of hooks, laces, and ribands. we see still in the { } cocked-hats of coachmen and beadles, the traces of these old ligaments. hence the phrase to _cock one's hat_. let me add one or two remarks on other points of dress arising out of old military habits. in old times coats were of the shape we now call frocks, and _lined_ throughout, generally with a different colour from the outside. when a person in one of these coats was going about any active work, and particularly into fight, he doubled back his sleeves, and folded back the collar, which, being of a different colour, came to be what we now call the _facings_ of military uniforms. the french, truer to their origin, still call them the "_revers_." so also on such occasions the broad skirts of the frock coat used to be hooked back not to impede the movements of the lower limbs, and thence the swallow tails of military uniforms. so also the high jack-boots, that covered the knees, used, in walking, to be turned down, and the inside being of a lighter colour, gave the idea of what are called _top-boots_. c. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. in the belief that the time has arrived when the history of our national architecture must be reconsidered, with a view to a revision of the classes or periods into which it has hitherto been divided, mr. sharpe has just put forth a handsomely illustrated volume, under the title of _the seven periods of english architecture defined and illustrated_. mr. sharpe's proposal is, that these seven periods should be thus formed:--three belonging to the division _romanesque_, under the titles of saxon, norman, and transitional periods; and the remaining four to the _gothic_, viz. the lancet, geometrical, curvilinear, and rectangular periods. we must, of course, refer our readers who desire to know the principles upon which mr. sharpe proposes this great change to the work itself, which is plain and to the purpose. mr. bohn some time since became the purchaser of a large number of the copper-plates of gillray's _caricatures_. having had impressions taken, and arranged them in one large volume, he sought the assistance of mr. wright, who had just then published his _history of the house of hanover, illustrated by caricatures_, and mr. r. h. evans, the well-known bibliopole, towards an anecdotical catalogue of the works of this clever satirist: and the result of the labours of these gentlemen has just been published under the title of _historical and descriptive account of the caricatures of james gillray, comprising a political and humorous history of the latter part of the reign of george iii._ the volume will be found not only an interesting key to mr. bohn's edition of gillray, and a guide to those who may be making a separate collection of his works, but a pleasant illustration of the wit and satire which lashed the politicians and amused the public "in the old time when george the third was king." those who know the value of those historical researches which sir f. palgrave has already given to the world, will be glad to hear that the first volume of his _history of normandy and of england_ will probably be published before the close of the present month. in this first volume, which is described in the advertisement as containing the general relations of mediæval europe, the carlovingian empire, and the danish expeditions into gaul, we understand the learned author has treated those expeditions at considerable length, and enters very fully into that of the decline of the carlovingian empire,--a portion of the work as important, as it is in a great measure new, to the english reader. not the least valuable part of the book will be sir francis palgrave's account of the nature and character of the continental chronicles, which form the substratum of his work, but which, existing only in the great collections of duchesne, bouquet, pertz, &c., are generally very imperfectly known to english students. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson will sell, on monday next, a collection of very rare and interesting autograph letters, more particularly illustrative of the period of the civil wars. on the same day they will also commence a four-days' sale of valuable books, and books of engravings, chiefly from the library of a gentleman deceased, including the original edition of stuart and revett's _athens_, a copy of merian's _topographia germaniæ_ containing nearly one thousand engravings, and many other works of high character. books received.--_boswell's life of johnson, illustrated_, vol. i. this is the first volume of the _national illustrated library_, which the projectors describe "as an endeavour to bestow upon half-crown volumes for the _many_ the same typographical accuracy, and the same artistic ability, hitherto almost exclusively devoted to high-priced books for the _few_." in choosing _boswell's johnson_ for their first work, the projectors have shown excellent judgment; and we are bound to add that the book is not only well selected, but neatly printed, and illustrated with a number of excellent woodcuts.--_illustrations of medieval costume in england, &c._, part ii. this second part deserves the same praise for cheapness as its predecessor.--_the cape and the kafirs_, the new volume of bohn's cheap series, is a well-timed reprint of mrs. ward's _five years in kafirland_, with some little alteration and abridgment, and the addition of some information for intending emigrants, from information supplied by published official reports. catalogues received.--j. miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. xx. of books old and new; t. kerslake's ( . park street, bristol) catalogue of books lately bought; w. s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) sixty-seventh catalogue of low-priced books, mostly second-hand; williams and norgate's ( . henrietta street, covent garden) catalogue no. iii. of foreign second-hand books, and books at reduced prices. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the complaynt of scotland, edited by leyden. vo. edinburgh, . thoms' lays and legends of various nations. parts i. to vii. mo. . { } passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. folio. basil, . cartari--la rosa d'oro pontificia. to. rome, . broemel, m. c. h., fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . pullen's etymological compendium. vo. cooper (c. p.), account of public records. vo. . vol. i. lingard's history of england. sm. vo. . vols. x. xi., xii., xiii. *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are again compelled by the number and value of the communications, which have reached us, to present our readers with an extra eight pages. we trust, therefore, we shall be excused if, with reference to what we stated a fortnight since, on the subject of making this enlargement_ permanent _instead of_ occasional, _we quote from a valued correspondent the mode he has kindly adopted with the view of promoting that increase of our circulation, upon which such_ permanent _enlargement of our paper must depend._ nocab _writes thus:--"whenever i find an article in any number which i know to be peculiarly congenial to the taste of any of my literary or scientific friends, i forward them a copy. a letter of thanks and an_ intention of future subscription _has almost invariably been the result." we are sure that this hint will not be lost upon our friends._ p. _will find his communication on_ averia _inserted in_ no. . p. . s. h. h. _received, and will be taken care of._ comets and eclipses. _we are requested by our valued correspondent_ c. _to say that his reply_, p. ., _should have been headed_ eclipses, _and was intended to refer to the list of_ eclipses (_not comets_) _in the work to which he refers. he was probably led into this slip of the pen by the manner in which_ s. p. o. r. _had, in_ no. . p. . _mixed up comets and eclipses in the same query._ jarltzberg _has our best thanks. we receive his friendly suggestions in the spirit in which they are offered; and will, as far as practicable, attend to them. we trust he will receive in the same spirit our explanation, that the delay in inserting his communications arises chiefly from the difficulty in deciphering them. our correspondents little know how greatly editorial labours are increased by this apparently trifling cause._ e. t. c. _our correspondent will find, on referring to our first vol._, p. ., _that the so-called french original of_ "not a drum was heard," _is only a clever literary hoax from the pen of father prout, which first appeared in_ bentley's miscellany. j. b. c. _a proof of the sovereign of ; and if in very good condition, would perhaps sell for two or three pounds._ llewellyn. _will this correspondent favour us with his address, that we may forward a communication which we have received for him?_ ache _is requested to say how a communication may reach him._ f. r. r. _we have a further query for this correspondent on the subject of sir andrew chadwick, if he will favour us with his address._ replies received.--_epitaph in hall's discovery--disinterment for heresy--mistletoe--the san grail--ms. cat. of norman nobility--inedited poetry--mazer--whale in the thames--facts in natural history--nicolson family--yankee--cowdray--scandal against elizabeth--capt. john stevens--shakspeare's captious--epitaph on countess of pembroke--king richard iii.--ten commandments--comets--edmund prideaux--lost mss.--shakspeare's use of "strained"--pilgrim's road to canterbury--solid-footed pigs--meaning of gig--swearing by swans--places called purgatory--tu autem--thomas may--pope joan--waste book--abbot eustacius--chiming, &c._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each._ notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels._ _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxvi., is just published. contents: . poultry literature. . women in france--madame de maintenon. . julius cÆsar--merivales's roman history. . the republic in the king's coaches. . sanitary movement--centralization. . lives of calvin. by dyer, &c. . lord holland's reminiscences. . lord john russell. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * to book collectors, auctioneers, and dealers in second-hand books.--the book containing the minutes of vestry of the parish of st. paul, covent garden, between the years and , having been (on examination of the books, and documents belonging to the parish) discovered to be missing, a reward of ten pounds will be paid to any person who shall forthwith cause the said minute-book to be delivered to mr. moseley, vestry clerk, . bedford street, covent garden. * * * * * this day is published. sketches of the poetical literature of the past half century. in six lectures, delivered at the edinburgh philosophical institution. by d. m. moir [delta]. in fcap. vo. (pp. .) price s. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. valuable new principle. payment of premiums may be occasionally suspended without forfeiting the policy, on a new and valuable plan, adopted by this society only, as fully detailed in the prospectus. a. scratchley, m.a. actuary and secretary; author of "industrial investment and emigration; being a second edition of a treatise on benefit building societies, &c." price s. d. london: j. w. parker, west strand. * * * * * freemason's quarterly magazine and review, no. , just published, price s. contents:--freemasonry during the great exhibition--love's triumph--the first offence--on the tabernacle and temple--notes upon funeral solemnities--the condition of scotch masonry--"thinking" and "working" freemasons--masonic processions--on the rhine--correspondence--obituary: dr. crucefix, peter thompson. sir w. lorraine, t. pryer, &c.--g. chapter and g. lodge report--the rd degree--the charities--metropolitan and provincial intelligence--scotland, ireland, the colonies, east indies, west indies, america, switzerland. r. spencer, . high holborn; and sold by all booksellers. * * * * * the edinburgh review, no. cxc., will be published on tuesday next. contents: . england as it is. . salmon fisheries. . southey's life and correspondence. . lamanism in tartary and thibet. . victor cousin. . spain and spanish politics. . shall we retain our colonies? . the defeat of italy. . ultramontane doubts. london: longman & co. edinburgh: a. & c. black. * * * * * john miller's catalogue of books.--the new number for april is ready this day, and can be had _gratis_, on application. amongst others, it contains a large selection of books on painting and the fine arts, from the library of the late sir m. a. shee, president of the royal academy; a few articles from the late duke of cambridge's collection; works on political economy and history; books of ballads; the drama, &c. &c. john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * { } just published, in one thick volume, vo. cloth, s. william penn; an historical biography, from new sources. with an extra chapter on "the macaulay charges." by william hepworth dixon. with a portrait. "within the compass of an octavo volume mr. dixon has compressed a great variety of facts, many original, and all skilfully arranged, so as to produce an authentic moral portrait of his hero. the literary merits of the volume include great research, and a narrative at once consecutive and vivid.... it makes an undeniable exposure of blunders committed by mr. macaulay in reference to its hero, which will go far to compromise his character as a historian."--_athenæum._ london: chapman and hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * the general land drainage and improvement company. incorporated by act of parliament, and vict. c. . directors. henry ker seymer, esq., m.p., hanford, dorset, chairman. john villiers shelley, esq., maresfield park, sussex, deputy-chairman. john chevallier cobbold, esq., m.p., ipswich. william cubitt, esq., great george street, westminster. henry currie, esq., m.p., west horsley, surrey. thomas edward dicey, esq., claybrook hall, lutterworth. william fisher hobbs, esq., boxted lodge, colchester. edward john hutchins, esq., m.p., eaton square, london. samuel morton peto, esq., m.p., great george street. colonel george alexander reid, m.p., bulstrode park, bucks. william tite, esq., f.r.s., lowndes square, london. william wilshere, esq., the frythe, welwyn, herts. this company is empowered to execute-- . all works of drainage (including outfalls through adjoining estates), irrigation, reclaiming, enclosing, and otherwise improving land. . to erect farm homesteads, and other buildings necessary for the cultivation of land. . to execute improvements, under contract, with commissioners of sewers, local boards of health, corporations, trustees, and other public bodies. . to purchase lands capable of improvement, and fettered by restrictions of entail; and having executed the necessary works, to resell them with a title communicated by the company's act. owners of entailed estates, trustees, mortgagees, corporations, incumbents, life tenants, and other persons having only limited interests may obtain the use of the company's powers to carry out every kind of permanent improvement, either by the application of their own or the company's funds, secured by a yearly charge on the property improved. proposals for the execution of works to be addressed to william clifford, secretary. offices, . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * arnold's select plays of sophocles, with english notes. in mo. price s. the philoctetes of sophocles, with english notes, translated from the german of f. w. schneidewin, by the rev. r. b. paul, m.a., and edited by the rev. t. k. arnold, m.a. rector of lyndon, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, uniformly printed and edited, . the ajax of sophocles, with english notes. s. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for april contains, among other articles:--the character of charles ii. by peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a., being chapter iv. of the history of nell gwyn.--unpublished poems of alex. gill.--the dukes of guise.--chalcondyles and the english.--bishop stanley--original letter of pres. john adams.--saint francis and the franciscans.--the bell of saint patrick.--totnes castle (with a plate).--anecdotes of the protectorate, by dr. h. sampson.--ancient scottish seals (with several engravings).--mr. macaulay and penn.--with notes of the month, review of new publications, reports of antiquarian societies. historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the marquess of northampton, countess of charleville, lord berners, lord bexley, sir f. lawley, sir wm. owen barlow, sir john tobin, charles spence, esq., q.c., james sedgwick, esq., joanna baillie, rev. a. brandram, rev. h. h. norris, and other eminent persons recently deceased. price s. d. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * stock of theological books of messrs. ives and swan, late of paternoster-row; an authentic portrait of william huntington; baily on annuities, copies, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on saturday, april , and five following days, sunday and good friday excepted, the extensive stock of theological books, ancient and modern, mostly in the english language, including a valuable collection of the works of the puritan divines, commentators on the scriptures, ecclesiastical historians, and miscellaneous writers. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * in the press, volumes iii. and iv. of the judges of england. by edward foss, f.s.a. comprehending the period from edward i. to richard iii., to . lately published, price s. volumes i. and ii. of the same work; from the conquest to the end of henry iii., to . "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation; and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * second edition, cloth, s. the greek church; a sketch. by the author of "proposals for christian union." "anything written by the author of 'proposals for christian union' is sure to be distinguished by an excellent spirit. the 'greek church,' a sketch, is well put together; and, though slight, will be found to contain as much real information as many a book of greater size and more pretension."--_the guardian._ by the same, now ready, price d. a supplement on the doctrine and discipline of the greek church. "we characterised the interesting little volume entitled 'the greek church' as historical rather than doctrinal. the title of this supplement shows that it expressly supplies the very material in which the original work was deficient."--_notes and queries._ this essay and supplement conclude the series. the four preceding essays of unity on sale. second edition, s. each. london: james darling, great queen street, lincoln's-inn-fields. { } * * * * * murray's english handbooks. * * * * * i. early in april will be published, as a pocket volume, mo., handbook of modern london; or, london as it is, in : giving full descriptions of all places and objects of interest in the metropolis, including the various palaces. public buildings. government offices. galleries of art. churches. parks and gardens. museums. private mansions. principal streets. hospitals and asylums. clubs. exhibitions. theatres. public monuments. river thames. docks. excursions in the environs. conveyances, &c. *** the aim of this work is to describe those features of the metropolis best worth seeing, and the way they may be seen to the best advantage, as well as to give some general hints as to hotels, lodgings, &c.; in other words, it is intended to make "murray's handbook of modern london" on the plan adopted with so much success in "murray's continental handbooks." * * * * * ii. westminster abbey: its art, architecture, and associations. by peter cunningham, f.s.a. new edition. mo. * * * * * iii. the british museum: its antiquities and sculpture. by w. s. w. vaux, f.s.a. woodcuts. post vo. (in april.) * * * * * iv. the galleries of pictures in and near london. including the national gallery; windsor castle; hampton court; dulwich gallery; soane's museum; barry's pictures. with catalogues, and biographical and critical notices. by mrs. jameson. post vo. s. * * * * * v. handbook of london: past and present. by peter cunningham, f.s.a. containing full descriptions of all the remarkable old inns, coffee houses, and taverns. town houses of the old nobility. old london sights. ancient theatres and crosses. the hostels of church dignitaries. privileged places for debtors. old london prisons. places referred to by old writers. the churches and wards of london. residences of remarkable men. remarkable streets. burial places of eminent individuals. second edition, revised. post vo. s. * * * * * vi. windsor and eton: the castle, st. george's chapel, and eton college. by edward jesse. new edition. mo. s. * * * * * vii. handbook of england and wales; giving an account of the places and objects in england best worth visiting, or likely to attract the notice of intelligent strangers and passing travellers; arranged in connexion with the most frequented roads and railways in england. with maps. post vo. part i. the eastern counties: essex, suffolk, norfolk, cambridge, and lincoln. (nearly ready.) part vii. devon and cornwall. (ready.) * * * * * viii. the official handbook; or, a manual of political and historical reference. fcap vo. *** this work shows concisely the machinery by which the government of the country is carried on, including the duties, authorities, and rights of the queen and royal family, and coupling with the names of all the chief functionaries and heads of offices, civil, military, judicial, and ecclesiastical, such a succinct account of the departments of each, with their political relations, as will, it is hoped, render it useful to all desirous to make themselves acquainted with british institutions. * * * * * john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page latin drinking song by richard braithwait, by s. w. singer strange appearances in the sky, by rev. a. gatty "after me the deluge," by douglas jerrold bishop thornborough's monument minor notes:--king richard iii.--shakspeare a thorough sailor--"a fellow-feeling." &c.--early instances of the word "news"--under the rose queries:-- portraits of spenser the vendace minor queries:--ex pede herculem--"to-day we purpose"--"god takes those soonest whom he loves the best"--quakers' attempt to convert the pope --whychcote of st. john's--meaning of rechibus-- family of queen katherine parr--skort--religious teaching in the german universities--epigram by dunbar--endymion porter--sathaniel--the scoute generall--anthony pomeroy, dean of cork minor queries answered:--civil war tract--trisection of the circle--wolsey's son--cardinals and abbots in the english church replies:-- sir balthazar gerbier, by j. crossley the travels of baron munchausen replies to minor queries:--tobacco in the east-- captain john stevens--ms. catalogue of norman nobility--illustrations of chaucer, no. iii.-- comets--pope joan--abbot euctacius--the vellum-bound junius--meaning of waste-book-- cowdray--solemnisation of matrimony--epitaph on the countess of pembroke--scandal against queen elizabeth--the tanthony--the hippopotamus --tu autem--places called purgatory--swearing by swans, &c.--edmund prideaux and the post-office --small words and "low" words--lord howard of effingham--obeahism, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. latin drinking song by richard braithwait. i have been surprised, from the facility with which the author of "drunken barnaby" seems to pour out his leonine verse, that no other productions of a similar character are known to have issued from his pen. i am not aware that the following drinking song, which may fairly be attributed to him, has ever appeared in print. it was evidently unknown to the worthy haslewood, the crowning glory of whose literary career was the happy discovery of the author, richard braithwait. i transcribe it from the ms. volume from which james boswell first gave to the world shakspeare's verses "on the king." southey has somewhere said that "the best serious piece of latin in modern metre is sir francis kinaston's _amores troili et cressidæ_, a translation of the two first books of chaucer's poem[ ]; but it was reserved for _famous_ barnaby to employ the barbarous ornament of rhyme, so as to give thereby point and character to good latinity." southey does not seem to have known those remarkable productions of the middle ages, which have been made accessible to us by the researches of docen, of grimm, of schmeller, and of mr. wright; and, above all, of that exquisite gem, "de phyllide et flora," first printed by docen[ ], and since given by mr. wright in his collection of _poems attributed to walter de mapes_. we have, however, a much better text from the hand of jacob grimm, in the _memoirs of the academy of berlin for _, p. . of this poem it is perhaps not exaggeration to say, that it is an idyll which would have done honour to the literature of any age or country; and if it is the production of walter de mapes, we have reason to be proud of it. it is a dispute between two maidens on the qualities of their lovers, the one being a soldier, the other a priest. it breathes of the spring, of nature, and of love: "erant ambæ virgines et ambæ reginæ phyllis coma libera flora comto crine, non sunt formæ virginum sed formæ divinæ, et respondent facies luci matutinæ. nec stirpe, nec facie, nec ornatu viles, et annos et animos habent juveniles sed sunt parum inpares, et parum hostiles nam hinc placet clericus illi vero miles." { } love is called in to decide the dispute, and it causes no surprise to find, after due ventilation of the cause, the judgment of the court to be: "secundum scientiam et secundum morem, ad amorem clericum dicunt aptiorem." your readers who are not already acquainted with this interesting picture of ancient manners will, i think, be pleased with having it pointed out to their notice. should the following song not be already in print, i can also furnish from the same source a version of the ballad on "robin goodfellow" by the same hand, should it be acceptable.[ ] s. w. singer. "cantio. "o pampine! quo venisti? cur me spectas fronte tristi? tolle caput, sis jucundus, tolle poculum exue fundus, et salutem jam bibamus, ad sodales quos amamus; o pampine! tibi primum haustum summus hunc ad imum. ecce de christallo factum purum vas, et hoc intactum, lympha nunc et succo plenum, nec includit hoc venenum; medicamen quod repellit omnes malos, nec fefellit, o pampine! invito momo, tibi, tu es meus homo. hic est sacer fons et flumen, quod qui potant vocant numen, iras pellit, demit lites, et superbos facit mites; et post flumen hoc te amoenum annos reparare senum: o pampine! tibi habe, bibe si sis dignus tabe. hoc si tu gustabit nectar, si sis paris fies hector, iras demit inquietas, in memento facit lætas; pro doloribus est solamen, pro pulicibus medicamen; o pampine! habe tibi, bibe tu cum ego bibi. hic est aqua vera fortis, vincula quæ solvet mortis, aut, si placet, aqua vitæ, roborans ab atra dite: hinc sunt uti qui potestis omnia, cibus, potis, vestis; o pampine! tibi cito bibe, aut ab hinc abito. si frigistis, sine joco, solo hoc utare foco, si esuries hic sunt oves, pulli, vituli, et boves; quod si sitis ecce montem, quem si scandes habet fontem; o pampine! bibe rursus, bibe, tu nam venit cursus. si ægrotas sume potum, vis ut valeas tolle totum, cape potum hunc paratum, sanus eris,--est probatum; si in corpore aut in mente dolebant in quavis dente; o pampine! tibi statim sume potum hinc gradatim. bacche jam et jam silene, pocula impleatis plene, ope jam adiutus vestra domum, feram e fenestra. Ædes vertunt jam rotundæ, et succedant res secundæ: o pampine! tibi bibo, bibe, vale! ego abibo." [footnote : southey was not aware that the whole of chaucer's poem, and the "testament of cressid," by henryson, was translated by kinaston and accompanied by a copious commentary in english, but only exists in one sole ms. the press of the camden society would be well employed on it.] [footnote : in baron von aretin's _beytrage zur geschichte und literatur_, vol. vii. p. .; but the copy, though a good text, was defective at the end.] [footnote : [we are sure we are only expressing the opinion of the majority of our readers when we say it will be _most acceptable_.--ed.]] * * * * * strange appearances in the sky. strange appearances in the sky have not been without their ominous signification from the time that the greater and lesser lights were placed there at the creation, to the rainbow after the deluge; and onward to the "star in the east" which announced our saviour's birth, and the "light from heaven" which accompanied st. paul's conversion. but the question is, whether there has since been any meaning in other like celestial illuminations? some historical credit is claimed for the fiery sword, and armies fighting in the air, which preceded the siege of jerusalem: for the cross of the emperor constantine: for the bow about the sun seen by augustus cæsar, when he took possession of the roman empire: and for stars, or other heavenly lights, which have seemed to herald the births or deaths of illustrious personages. but are these stories to be believed? and, if they are, where is the line of credibility to be drawn? people cannot come together, and talk either on this subject, or on that of ghosts, but every one "hath a revelation, hath an interpretation." the poet, walking on the mountains, looked into the sky, and "the appearance, instantaneously disclosed, was of a mighty city--boldly say a wilderness of building, sinking far, and self-withdrawn, into a wondrous depth, far sinking into splendour--without end?" the two following extracts are from private letters now before me. the first account was written in by a physician, still alive, and { } who at the time read an account of what he had seen at a meeting of the plinian society. he says, "i last evening read a paper upon an extraordinary appearance of letters, formed by the clouds, seen by a mr. t. and myself. we had also with us two little boys, one nine, the other eleven years of age, who were able to make out each letter equally with ourselves. these children were at the time walking some distance behind us: but, upon their coming up, and being shown the letters, they read them without having heard any observation of ours respecting them. we saw them for about two minutes, when they gradually changed their form--each letter changing its perpendicular for a horizontal position, and at length the whole becoming converted into that form of cloud denominated cirro-stratus. i will endeavour to give you a faint idea of the appearance, by forming the letters as well as my memory will enable me. i make no comment upon the words themselves, as they are too extraordinary for observation of any kind. it was upon the th of last month: several showers had fallen in the course of the day, but the afternoon was fine. the time seven in the evening. the letters were formed upon a fine blue surface, having no other clouds near them, except very small ones, which tended much to heighten the effect of the whole. [illustration: (eternal)] [illustration: (millennium)] "you will observe several deficiencies in the letters of the first word, viz. in the first 'e;' also in the 'n,' the second part being short; and a slight defect in the letter 'a.' with respect to the second word, the first six letters were very perfect: the others, with the exception of the 'm,' mere strokes; but in number sufficient to make up the word: and they had the appearance of having been perfect. i can assure you they were anything but obscure, and required very little stretch of the imagination. in the first word the letters were equidistant and beautifully uniform. the second word was not quite straight, being curved towards its termination. this appeared to me to arise from the change of position which the letters were undergoing, as before stated." my other extract is from a letter written in . the scene to which it refers is a sick chamber occupied by an octogenarian grandmother, who is _in extremis_. her daughter, who writes the account, is present, together with a grandchild, who is nearly eleven years old. the nurse has left the room. "we afterwards stood by poor grandmamma's fire, and then we sat at her window to see the moon rise. there were many clouds about it, and directly under it was the most marked figure of our saviour on the cross. the head was concealed in light, but the arms were outstretched, and the body quite distinct. m. saw it too, and said, 'how appropriate, aunt, for the beginning of lent!' she has never alluded to it since, nor, of course, have i; nor do i think any more of it, than that _there it was_: and there is something happy in the fancy, at all events, for it shone on her dying bed." as you admit folk lore into "notes and queries," also well-attested anecdotes, although these may not absolutely conduce to the advancement of learning or art, perhaps you will receive this paper for the amusement of those who, like myself, feel an interest in anything which takes us a little out of the _hardware facts_ of "the age we live in." alfred gatty. ecclesfield. * * * * * "after me the deluge." if stolen wisdom could be returned to its rightful authors, great, indeed, would be the transfer of property. prince metternich is said to be the sayer of "after me the deluge." and yet the prince took the saying from the mouth of madame pompadour; and she took it--from whom? it may be reasonably doubted that her brain originated it; for it was not an order of brain that packs wisdom in few syllables. "'after me the deluge,' said prince metternich; a fine saying, but a false prophecy we trust." i quote this from an admirable paper in _the times_ of to-day (april .) on the crystal palace, and quote the subscribed from an _essai sur la marquise de pompadour_, prefixed to the _mémoires de madame du hausset, femme de chambre de madame pompadour_, in barrière's _bibliothèque des mémoires_. "madame de pompadour, dans l'ivresse de la prospérité, répondit à toutes les menaces de l'avenir par ces trois [_quatre_] mots, "aprÈs nous, le dÉluge," qu'elle répétait souvent." in this case, "pompadour _v._ metternich," surely a verdict must be returned for the lady, unless voltaire puts in a future claim. douglas jerrold. west lodge, putney common. * * * * * bishop thornborough's monument. [the writer of the following interesting communication does not appear to be aware that he is obliging us and a correspondent d. y., who had asked (vol. iii., p. .) for an explanation of the phrase _denarius philosophorum_, in the bishop's monument.] our local antiquaries have long been puzzled by an inscription in the lady chapel of our cathedral. it stands on the monument of bishop thornborough, and was prepared by himself fourteen years before his decease in , at the age of ninety-four. he was addicted to alchymy, and published a book in , entitled [greek: lithotheôrikos], _sive_, _nihil aliquid_, _omnia_, _&c._ in the course of some recent studies in the pythagorean philosophy, my attention was accidentally engaged by this { } inscription; and it at once struck me that it was _thence_ that the explanation was to be derived. the epitaph is as follows: on one side, "denarius philosophorum, dum spiro, spero." on the other, "in uno, ^o. ^o. ^{or} . non spirans spera_bo_." the latter letters are now effaced. it is well known that the pythagoreans found all the modes of space in the relations of numbers. the monad, or unit, was not only the _point_ whence all extension proceeds, but it further symbolised the first principle, the origin of all. the duad represented the line, as being bounded by two points or monads. the triad stood for surface as length and width. the tetrad for the perfect figure, the cube, length, depth, and width. the decad, or denarius, indicated comprehensively all being, material and immaterial, in the utmost perfection: hence the term _decas_, or _denarius_, was used summarily for the whole science of numbers, as in the title of meursius's tract _de denario pythagorico_, which was published four years after the date of the inscription, and when the philosophy was attracting much attention among european scholars. to be as concise as possible then, i presume that the old bishop intended that the tomb on which his effigy lies was his access to that perfection of existence which philosophers had designated by the _decas_, or _denarius_. during the present life he was hoping for it, "dum spiro, spero."--on the other side: "in him, who is the source, the beginning, the middle, and the end of all existence and perfection (in uno, ^o. ^o. ^{or} . non spirans sperabo), though i breathe no more, yet shall i hope." such is probably the meaning of his pious conceit, and i offer it as a solution of what has long served for a riddle to the visitors of our cathedral. beyond this, your readers and myself may be equally indifferent to such cabalistical quaintness. but let us treat it with charity, as the devout consummation of an aged alchymist. o. f. college green, worcester, march, . * * * * * minor notes. _king richard iii._ (vol. iii., p. .).--on the th may, ( henry vii.), one master william burton, the schoolmaster of st. leonard's hospital, in the city of york, was accused before the magistrates of having said that "king richard was an hypocrite, a _crocheback_, and buried in a dike like a dog." this circumstance is recorded in a contemporary document of unquestionable authenticity (vide extracts from _york records in the fifteenth century_, p. .); and must remove all doubt as to the fact of richard's bodily deformity. the conjecture of dr. wallis, quoted by g. f. g., can have no weight when opposed by clear evidence that the word "crouchback," as a term of reproach or contempt, was applied to king richard within a few years after his death, by one to whom his person must have been familiarly known. [delta]. _shakespeare a thorough sailor._--let me point attention to a _genuine_ nautical expression, in the use of which shakespeare shows himself _a thorough sailor_: "the wind sits in the _shoulder_ of your sail."--_hamlet_, act i. sc. . in a "fore and aft sail" of the present day, the "shoulder" is the _foremost upper_ corner, and the _last part of the canvass_ on which the wind fixes its influence when a vessel is "sailing by the wind," or even "off the wind." the "veriest lout" in the "after-guard" will appreciate the truthfulness and beauty of the metaphor. a. l. _"a fellow-feeling," &c._-- "a fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind." this oft-quoted line is from garrick's epilogue on quitting the stage. [gamma]. _early instances of the world "news."_--without the slightest intention of re-opening the discussion as to whether the word "newes" be of native growth or imported, i would beg leave to suggest as a means of completing _its history_, that should any of the readers of "notes and queries," whose researches may lead amongst the authorities of the _fifteenth_ century, meet with instances of the word in familiar use between a.d. and a.d. , they would notify the same. the earliest date of its colloquial use as yet recorded in "notes and queries," is a.d. : on the other hand, the word, so far as i am aware, is nowhere used by chaucer, although his near approach to it in the following lines is very remarkable: "there is right now come into the toune a gest, a greek espie, and telleth _newe things_, for which i come to tell you newe tidings."--_troilus and creseide_, b. ii. . after this, the transition to the word itself is so extremely easy, that it could not be far distant. a. e. b. _under the rose._--it may interest the inquirers into the origin of this expression to know, that at lullingston castle in kent, the residence of sir percival dyke, there is in the hall an old picture, or painted carving (i forget which, as it is many years since i saw it), of a rose, some two feet in diameter, surrounded by an inscription, which, if i remember right, runs as follows, or nearly so:-- "kentish true blue; take this as a token, that what is said here under the rose is spoken." it is now, or was when i saw it, in the hall of that { } ancient mansion, but i believe had been brought from an old house in the neighbourhood. e. h. y. * * * * * queries. portraits of spenser. the engraved portraits of spenser differ so much from each other as to throw doubts on their resemblance to the poet. i have now before me the following: . that prefixed to bell's edition, , engraved by cook from "an original in lord chesterfield's collection." . prefixed to an edition in one volume published by spiers, . . prefixed to moxon's edition, . we are not told from what paintings nos. . and . are engraved, but they resemble each other, and are somewhat like that in bell's edition; so i shall set these three down as forming one class of portraits. no. . has, however, a curious inscription, _edmund spenser_, _obiit _, which would lead us to reject it altogether, and look on it as an imaginary likeness. . the portrait in pickering's aldine edition, : this bears no resemblance, either in costume or features, to those already mentioned; but, if i mistake not, is like that in todd's edition, published in ,--we may call these a second class. an original portrait of spenser is said to be in lord chesterfield's collection; another in duplin castle, the seat of lord kinnoul (of this there is a copy at althorpe by sir henry raeburn). mr. wright, in his _memorials of cambridge_, mentions a portrait at pembroke college, "a copy by wilson," but he does not say from what original: mr. craik, in _spenser and his writings_, speaks of _two_ as being in this college. the writer thinks he recollects a law-suit relative to a portrait of the poet, which had been sold to the late sir robert peel, and which was stated to have come from ireland. perhaps some of your readers could give information respecting this picture. it is clear, if the first three are all from the chesterfield original, that this painting, and the one from which mr. pickering's is taken, cannot both be portraits of spenser. the object of this query is to ascertain, if possible, which engraving, or class of engravings, resembles the poet. e. m. b. * * * * * the vendace. the very remarkable fish called the _vendace_ is to be found but in one place in the three kingdoms,--the castle loch of lochmaben, a parish to the south of dumfriesshire in scotland. the vendace, it is said, derives its name from _vendois_ in france, and was brought to this country by one of the james's. this, however, is mere conjecture, and, from its habits, highly improbable--because _they die the moment they are either touched or exposed to the air_. according to mr. stewart (_elements of natural hist._), the vendace belongs to a species which he calls _salmo albula_, or the "juvangis." "this species," he adds, "is found in lochmaben in scotland, and _nowhere else_: it is said to have been carried thither from england in the time of robert the bruce." mr. stewart describes the fish, but from his description it is evident he has never seen it. the following one is exact:-- "this beautiful fish measures from four to six inches in length, and tapers gradually to the tail. when taken out of the water, it has a bright silvery white appearance, with a slight tendency to a light blue along the back and part of the sides. in size it resembles a small herring or par, but particularly the former, not only in the mouth and external appearance, but also in the anatomical structure. _upon the top of the head_ there is a very distinct _shape of a heart_, covered with a transparent substance of a brownish colour, resembling a thin lamina of mica slate, _through which the brain is visible_. this peculiar mark proves it to be as yet a distinct and undescribed species. nothing is ever found visible to the naked eye in the stomach of the vendace. they are extremely delicate, and are allowed to be the most pleasing to the taste of all fish. the general mode of catching them is with a net, as there is no instance known of their having been caught either with bait or the artificial fly. the pike, with which this lake abounds, is their greatest enemy. it has been frequently stated that no fewer than fifteen distinct species of fish, fit for the table, have been found in the castle loch." dr. knox, sometime lecturer upon anatomy in edinburgh, states: "that he has not only discovered the food of the vendace, but actually exhibited it before the members of the royal society, and offers suggestions for the stocking of the various lakes in britain with this exquisite fish; pointing out first the necessity of locating its natural food, without which it cannot live." allowing, however, that some neighbouring lake could be covered with some of these invisible and "incredibly minute entomostraceous animals," which the learned lecturer says constitute their food, we should still find a difficulty in transferring the fish; as every attempt to do so, though conducted with the greatest possible care and nicety, _has failed_. in the preceding account, i have followed the rev. john gardiner of lochmaben, who, in , drew up an admirable account of his parish, which is inserted in the statistical survey of the county. the gentlemen of the county have formed a { } _vendace club_, which meets at lochmaben annually on the th and th of july, when they dine off the fish. i asked one of the members how long it had been in existence, and he said about thirty years. jarltzberg. * * * * * minor queries. _ex pede herculem._--i shall feel much obliged if any of your correspondents or readers can inform me of the origin of the proverb "ex pede herculem." in what classical author is it to be found? i have looked in vain through _erasmi adagia_ for it. h. h. "_to-day we purpose._"--will any one be good enough to say where these lines (quoted by mr. ruskin, _modern painters_, vol. ii. p. .) are to be found:-- "to-day we purpose, ay, this hour we mount to spur three leagues towards the apennine; come down, we pray thee, ere the hot sun count his dewy rosary on the eglantine" g. n. "_god takes those soonest whom he loves the best._"--where shall we find the origin of this expression, so frequently occurring on tombstones in almost all parts of the country? or how far back can it be traced? the following, in rainham church, kent, is of the year : "here slepes my babe in silence, heauen's his rest, for god takes soonest those he loueth best." t. h. k. malew, man. _quakers' attempt to convert the pope._--at what period, and in what author besides veryard's _tour in the low countries_, is the story of two quakers being imprisoned in the lazzaretto in rome, for attempting to convert the pope, to be found? were they persons of any standing in the society? b. s. s. _whychcote of st. john's._--in one of the volumes published under the foregoing title, in , there is a striking story, evidently fictitious in the main, but assuming, as an element of fact, the remembered existence of a head-stone over a grave in the little burial-ground, under the shadow of the venerable ruins of tynemouth priory in northumberland, containing the single word "fanny." does any one of the tyneside readers of the "notes and queries" personally recollect the actual existence of such a memorial? is the _real name_ of the author of the entertaining work disclosed in any subsequent publication, or is it generally known? j. d. _meaning of rechibus, &c._--among the rights claimed by the esturmys in savernak forest, edw. iii., occurs-- "et omnia placita de leporibus, rechibus, heymectis, tessonibus, vulpibus, murilegis, et perdricibus:" which i translate-- "and all pleas concerning hares, traps, hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, wild-cats, and partridges:" but i confess i have no confidence in some of these words, as the glossaries in the british museum library fail to explain them. i therefore solicit your courteous assistance. james waylen. _family of queen katherine parr._--the pedigree of the once eminent family of parr, as recorded in various printed works--dugdale, nicholls, burke, &c., is far from being complete or satisfactory. could any one versed in the genealogy of the northern counties supply any information on the following points?-- i. the early descent.--dugdale in his _baronage_, commences with sir william parr, who married elizabeth de ros, ; but he states the family to have been previously "of knightly degree." a ms. pedigree in the herald's college also mentions sir william as "descended from a race of knights." where is an account of this race to be found? ii. the separation between the two lines of parr and kendal.--sir thomas parr, father of queen katherine, died , and his _inq. p. m._ states him to have held manors, messuages, lands, woods, and rents, in parr, wigan, and sutton. ten years afterwards, , bryan parr was found by _inq. p. m._ to have held the manor, messauges, woods, lands, &c. of parr. how was bryan related to sir thomas? iii. the descendant in the fourth degree of bryan was henry parr, of parr, who was, according to a ms. in the college, aged twenty in . had he any descendants? if no positive information can be afforded, yet a clue to where it might be sought for would oblige. genealogicus lancastriensis. _skort._-- "or wily cyppus that can wink and snort, while his wife dallies on mæcenas' skort."--hall, _satires_, book iv. sat. . (whittingham's edition, .) of course the general meaning of these two verses is obvious enough. but how is the latter to be read? are we to read "dallies on," as one word, _i.e._ keeps dallying, and "skort" (as a mere abbreviation of the latin "scortum") as nominative in apposition with "wife?" if so, the verse is intelligible, though harsh enough even for hall. if not, the word "skort" must have some other meaning which i am unacquainted with. i cannot find it at all in halliwell, the only authority i have at hand to refer to. k. i. p. b. t. { } _religious teaching in the german universities._--will any of your numerous readers direct me to any book or books containing information on the _present state_ of religion and religious teaching in the german universities? rovert. _epigram by dunbar--endymion porter._--can any of your correspondents supply the deficient verses in the following epigram, addressed by thomas dunbar, keeper of the ashmolean museum from to , to miss charlotte ness, who required him to explain what was meant by the terms _abstract_ and _concrete?_ "say what is _abstract_, what _concrete_, their difference define? they both in one fair person meet, and that fair form is thine. * * * * * * * * for when i lovely charlotte view, i then view loveli_ness_." can any one substantiate the local tradition the endymion porter was born at the manor-house of aston subedge, in gloucestershire; or furnish any particulars of his life before he became gentleman of the bedchamber to prince charles? balliolensis. _sathaniel._--can any of your correspondents inform me in what book, play, poem, or novel, a character named sathaniel appears? there is a rather common picture bearing that title; it represents a dark young lady, in eastern dishabille, with a turban on her head, reclining on a many-cushioned divan, and holding up a jewel in one hand. i have seen the picture so often, that my curiosity as to the origin of the subject has been completely aroused; and i have never yet found any one able to satisfy it. f. t. c. _the scoute generall._--i have in my possession a small to. ms. of pages, entitled _the scoute generall_, "communicating (impartially) the martiall affaires and great occurrences of the grand councell (assembled in the lowest house of parliament) unto all kingdomes, by rebellion united in a covenant," &c., which is throughout written in verse, and particularly satirical against the roundheads of the period ( ), and remarkable for the following prognostication of the death of the unfortunate monarch charles i.: "roundheads bragge not, since 'tis an old decree, in time to come from chaines wee should be free: traytors shall rule, injustice then shall sway, subjects and nephewes shall their king betray; and he himselfe, o most unhappy fate! for kings' examples, kingdomes imitate: what he maintain'd, i know it was not good, brought in by force, and out shall goe by blood," &c. it occupies about thirty lines more. at the bottom of the title, and at the conclusion of the postscript, it has merely the initials s. d. could any of your worthy correspondents inform me who s. d. was? the ms. is evidently cotemporary, and, according to the introduction, was "ordered to be forthwith published, [mdcxlvi in apostrophus form].;" and as i cannot trace that such a production was ever issued, the answer would confer a favour on c. hamilton. city road, april . . _arthur pomeroy, dean of cork._--can any one of your genealogical readers assist me in ascertaining the parentage of arthur pomeroy, who was made dean of cork in ? he was fellow of trinity college, cambridge, in which university he graduated as a.b. in , m.a. in , and s.t.p. in . he is stated in archdale's edition of lodge's _peerage of ireland_ (article "harberton") to have sprung from the pomeroys of ingsdon in devonshire, and is stated to have gone to ireland as chaplain to the earl of essex, lord lieutenant. j. b. * * * * * minor queries answered. _civil war tract._-- "a letter sent from a worthy divine, to the right honourable the lord mayor of the city of london. being a true relation of the battaile fought betweene his majesty and his excellence the earle of essex. from warwicke castle, the . of october, , at two a clock in the morning. together with a prayer for the happy uniting of the king and parliament, fit to be used by all good christians, daily in their houses. london, octob. . printed for robert wood. ." the above is the title of a tract now in my possession. is it known to any collector of tracts relating to the battle of edgehill? who was the "worthy divine," the writer? p. q. [on the title-page of this tract among the king's pamphlets in the british museum, the name of mr. bifield has been written. no doubt it is the production of the rev. adoniram byfield, chaplain to col. cholmondeley's regiment, in the army of the earl of essex in , and who was subsequently one of the scribes to the assembly of divines, and a most zealous covenanter. see wood's _athenæ_, by bliss, vol. iii. p. .] _trisection of the circle._--has the problem of the trisection of the angle been solved? or, if not, is there any reward for its solution; and what steps should be taken to obtain it? john vincent lyster. [the problem of the trisection of the angle by aid of the straight line and circle, used as in euclid, has never been solved--no reward was ever offered for its solution.] _wolsey's son._--can any of your readers give an account of a son of cardinal wolsey, whose existence is recorded in a letter from eustace { } chapuys to the emperor charles v., october , , in the following words:-- "the cardinal has now retired with a very small train to a place about ten miles hence. a son of his has been sent for from paris, who was there following his studies, and of whom i have formerly made some mention to your majesty"--_correspondence of charles v._, p. . cardinal beaton had lots of bastards, but i never remember to have seen in any account of wolsey mention made of natural children. j. m. [the existence of a natural son of cardinal wolsey is a _fact_ as well ascertained as any other _fact_ of the cardinal's history, and referred to in the various biographies of him that have appeared. his name was thomas winter. in chalmers's _biographical dictionary_, vol. xxxii. pp. . and . _note_, reference is made to a bull of pope julius ii., dated august, , to be found in kennet's mss. in the british museum, in which he is styled, "dilecti filio thomæ wulcy," rector of lymington diocese of bath and wells, master of arts, "_pro dispensatione ad tertium incompatibile_." this is explained by the passage in wood's _athenæ oxon. fasti_, part i. p. . (bliss ed.), relating to him. "this tho. winter, who was nephew (or rather nat. son) to cardinal tho. wolsey, had several dignities confer'd upon him before he was of age, by the means of the said cardinal," viz. the archedeaconry of york, ; chancellorship of the church of sarum; the deanery of wells, ; the provostship of beverly; and the archdeaconry of richmond, &c.: on which there is a note by baker, that "this tho. winter is said to have held of the church's goods clearly more than pds. per an." wood adds, that about the time of the cardinal's fall, he gave up all or most of his dignities, keeping only the archdeaconry of york, which he resigned also in . in grove's _life and times of cardinal wolsey_, vol. iv. p. ., among the "articles" against the cardinal, article xxvii. expressly charges him, "that he took from his son winter his income of , l. a-year, applied it to his own use, and gave him only l. yearly to live on." a reference is made in sir h. ellis's _letters illustrative of english history_, nd series, vol. ii. p. ., to a letter of edmund harvel to dr. starkey, dated from venice, april , in which the writer expresses his obligations to mr. winter, for his "friendly mynde toward him," and begs him to return his thanks. in mr. galt's _life of wolsey_ (appendix iv. p. . of bogue's edition) will be found a copy of a letter from john clusy to cromwell, in relation to a natural daughter of wolsey's in the nunnery of shaftesbury.] _cardinals and abbots in the english church._--it may not be generally known, but the fact is so, that the english church numbers two cardinals and a lord abbot amongst her members. in whitaker's _clerical diary_, under the head of london diocese, there is attached to st. paul's a senior and a junior cardinal; and in ireland exists the exempt jurisdiction of newry and mourne, under the government of the lord abbot, who is the earl of kilmorey. can any of your readers give me any information respecting these officials? w. j. [_cardinal._--the title of cardinal (_cardinalis_) in early times was frequently applied to any bishop, priest, or deacon holding an official post. in france there were many cardinal priests: thus, the curate of the parish of st. john de vignes is called, in old charters, the cardinal priest of that parish. there were also cardinal deacons, who had the charge of hospitals for the poor, and who ranked above the other deacons. thus, two of the minor canons of st. paul's are called _cardinals of the choir_, whose duties are to preserve order in divine service, administer the eucharist, and officiate at funerals. in former times, they heard confessions and enjoined penances. (newcourt's _repertorium_, vol. i. p. .) it was not till the twelfth century that the sacred college of cardinals was organised; nor was it till that clergymen were forbidden by pius v. to assume the title of cardinal unless appointed by the pope. _lay abbots._--in early times we frequently find secular persons denominated "field abbots" and "abbot counts," upon whom the sovereign had bestowed certain abbeys, for which they were obliged to render military service, as for common fiefs. in the time of charles the bald many of the nobility in france were abbots, having a dean to officiate for them. thus, too, in scotland, james stuart, the natural son of james v., was, at the time of the reformation, prior of st. andrew's, although a secular person. the earl of kilmorey, who is impropriator of the tithes of st. mary, newry, is a lay abbot, or representative of the preceding abbots of a cistertian abbey which formerly existed in that town. his abbatial functions, however, are confined to convening ecclesiastical courts, and granting probates of wills, and licenses for marriages, subject only to the metropolitan jurisdiction of the archbishop of armagh. a remnant of the secularisation of ecclesiastical dignities has already been noticed in our pages (vol. ii., pp. . .), in the case of the late duke of york, who was at the same time commander-in-chief and bishop of osnaburg.] * * * * * replies. sir balthazar gerbier. (vol. ii., p. .) your correspondent j. mt. has great reason to congratulate himself on the possession of the singularly curious tract which he describes, and which gives an autobiography of this extraordinary adventurer. i am not aware of any other copy in any public or private collection. i have a to. tract in nineteen pages, evidently printed abroad, the title of which is-- "balthazar gerbier, knight, to all men that love truth." { } this gives a very interesting life of him by himself, perfectly distinct from, and containing many particulars not given in the tract possessed by your correspondent, which also contains matter not in the above. i have likewise another tract, privately printed in holland in english, french, and dutch, in fifteen pages mo., the english title to which is-- "a true manifest, by s^r b. gerbier. anno ." in this, which gives some curious particulars as to "mr. hughe peeters," and the book entitled _the nonsuch charles_, he refers to another "little manifest" published on the nd day of october, , "that the world might take notice that he was not at all invested with any foreigne engagement." of the tract so referred to, i regret to say no copy is known. none of the other three tracts appear to have been seen by horace walpole, who had collected a great number of gerbier's pamphlets, and also the ms. next mentioned, which, at the strawberry hill sale, came together into my possession. the ms. contains the original appointments of sir balthazar to the offices he held while in england, a pedigree of his family beautifully emblazoned, and a large quantity of ms., prose and poetry, in his autograph; including a most extensive collection of projects and proposals, which seem to have been equally at the service of england or france. the best account we have of gerbier is that which horace walpole has supplied in the _anecdotes of painting_ (see _works_, vol. iii. p. .); but his diplomatic negotiations, and his career as an artist and adventurer, never forgetting his academy at whitefriars and bethnal green, would furnish matter for a very amusing volume. the general biography, however, to which he would be most appropriately remitted, and which is still a desideratum in literature, is that which is proposed by dr. johnson, in chalmers's admirable parody: "i think a good book might be made of scoundrels. i would have a _biographia flagitiosa_, the lives of eminent scoundrels from the earliest accounts to the present day." jas. crossley. * * * * * the travels of baron munchausen. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .) is not your correspondent j. me. in error when he says the original travels of the baron were written to ridicule bruce? i think this will only apply to the second volume, or "sequel," seeing that there exists an edition of _gulliver revived_, printed at oxford, , four years before bruce published. j. me. further remarks, that there was at one time reason to believe that james graham was the author of the well-known book in question, but that circumstances have come to his knowledge altogether precluding the possibility that the author of _the sabbath_ and _the travels of baron munchausen_ are identical. to me it appears there were _two_ of these james grahams, and that from their being contemporaries, they are usually rolled into one. i have in my library a volume containing _wallace, a tragedy_, edinburgh, ; and _mary stewart, queen of scots, an historical drama_, edinburgh, , which appears to have belonged to mr. george chalmers, upon the titles of which that gentleman has written, "by james graham, advocate, edinburgh, son of t. graham, a writer of reputation in glasgow." from this one would think mr. chalmers had the author of _the sabbath_ in his eye: a conclusion, however, difficult to come to in the face of a critique which thus characterises the tragedy of _wallace_: "the play is not uninteresting, and the author has exhibited occasional proofs of poetical genius; but there are some passages in the piece that fall little short of blasphemy:" --a charge which, of course, could never apply to this "lovable" and subsequently _reverend_ author of _the sabbath_, a poem breathing the humblest piety, and published only five years after _wallace_; consequently here is, in the author of the tragedy of _wallace_, another james graham at the service of j. me., to whom, if his other proofs are strong, the baron may be assigned with more probability. i may add, taking it for granted that chalmers was right in claiming these two plays for a james graham, that there is the strongest corroborative proof of there being two of the name in the existence of _mary stewart, a dramatic poem_, the acknowledged performance of the author of _the sabbath_ (see his _poems_, vols. ), a production differing in title, and bearing no resemblance, i should think, to the first named. while upon the subject, and presuming that the tragedy of _wallace_ is known to j. me., i may take the opportunity to ask him, as he is _ayont the tweed_, whether there is really any authority for the assertion contained in the abbotsford library catalogue, and also in that of constable's library, sold in , that of this anonymous tragedy of _wallace_ there were _only six copies printed_? upon the face of mine there is nothing to indicate its rarity, it being an octavo, printed for a. constable; but the remarkable book may be some other: your correspondents will, however, i dare say, be able to enlighten me. a collector. _baron munchausen_ (vol. ii., p. .).--as it was nearly thirty years since i had seen the _percy anecdotes_, i was obliged to speak doubtfully of { } having derived from that work the statements that the author of _munchausen_ was a mr. "m----," and that he was a prisoner in france. accident has within the last few days thrown in my way the very volume of the _anecdotes_ in which this is stated (vol. v., _anecdotes of captivity_, p. .); and i find that i was mistaken only in supposing "m----'s" place of confinement to have been the bastile, whereas the time is said to have been the reign of terror, and therefore of course the bastile cannot have been the place. j. c. r. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _tobacco in the east_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--m. d. asks for "chapter and verse" of a. c. m.'s reference to sale's _koran_ respecting tobacco. had a. c. m. recollected that tobacco (_nicotiana_) is an american plant, he would hardly have asked whether "_tobacco_ is the word in the original" of the tradition mentioned by sale in his _preliminary discourse_, § . p. . ( to. ed. .) happily reland, whom sale quotes (_dissert. miscell._, vol. ii. p. .), gives his authority, the learned orientalist, dr. sike, who received the hadéth at leghorn from ibn sáleh, a young muselman. it says, in good arabic, that in the latter days moslims, undeserving of the name, shall drink hashish (hemp), and call it tabák; the last words, "_yukál lehn tabáku_," are no doubt a modern addition by those who had heard of _tambákó_ (the romaic [greek: tanpakon]). as the use of hashish or _hashishah_ (the herb), more completely _hashishata fukara_, i.e. monk's wort, a technical term for _hemp_, chewed as a narcotic by fakirs (monks), was not known till a.h. (a.d. ), it could not be mentioned in the koran unless mohammed were, as sale observes, "a prophet indeed." _tabakak_, a plate, dish, or shelf, is now sometimes used by ignorant persons in the east for _tambákó_, of which a complete account is given in the _karábádén_, or great treatise of materia medica in persian. of that work, there is a beautifully written copy, made, probably, for the late mr. colebrooke, by whom it was presented to the library of the royal asiatic society. i shall conclude by another query: what is the greek word transformed by asiatic scribes into _karábádén_? anatolicus. _captain john stevens_ (vol. ii., p. .).--this ingenious man, as to whom your correspondent inquires, was one of the hard-working translators in the early part of the last century. the materials for his biography are very scanty. he was a roman catholic, and at the revolution followed the fortunes of his abdicating master, in whose service he accepted a commission, and accompanied him in the wars in ireland. he was also employed in several other services, and died october , . see _biographia dramatica_, vol. i. p. ., edit. . he is not noticed in chalmers's _biographical dictionary_, though as the continuator of dugdale's _monasticon_ he unquestionably ought to have been. watt gives a list (_bib. brit._, vol. i. p. .) of his books and translations; but it is, as usual, very defective and erroneous. it does not include his translation of _don quixote_, of _dupin_, of _an evening's intrigue_ ( , vo.), and a great number of other works; and it ascribes to him the _history of the wars of charles xii., king of sweden_, london, , which was written, as it needs no great sagacity to discover, by daniel defoe, though chalmers and wilson have not noticed it. james crossley. _ms. catalogue of norman nobility_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the ms. catalogue of norman nobility referred to in no. ., a document of great value, is or was in the possession of sir william betham, having been purchased by him about six years ago, from mr. boone, of new bond street. your correspondent will find that odardus de loges was infeoffed by earl ranulph the st in the barony of wigton in cumberland, in which he was confirmed by henry i. bigod, whose name was attached to the charter of foundation of st. werburg's abbey, is elsewhere, according to ormerod, called robert. m. j. t. _illustrations of chaucer, no. iii._ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "_fro venus_ valanus _might this palais see._" (or) volant ? might venus, _volans_ fro this palais, see. (flying) [greek: phôs]. _comets_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--if your correspondent s. p. o. r. wish to go fully into the history of comets, and be not alarmed at the prospect of three thick folios, through which i have gone, i can assure him, with considerable interest, let me recommend to him _theatrum cometicum, auctore stanislao lubienietz lubieniecio rolitsio_, amst., in vols. (but generally bound in three) folio. the first contains an immense correspondence, not merely with astronomers, but with poets, critics, physicians, and philosophers, to whom the indefatigable editor wrote for their opinions on the subject of comets. the second vol. gives a history of comets from the deluge to , and is a repository of everything bearing upon the subject. from this work bayle derived his learning, when he wrote his most amusing work on comets. james crossley. _pope joan_ (vol. iii., p. .).--nemo will find much information on the question, "whether pope joan ever held the keys of st. peter?" in alexander cooke's _dialogue between a protestant and a papist; manifestly proving that a woman_ { } _called joane was pope of rome: against the surmises and objections made to the contrary by robert bellarmini and cæsar baronius, cardinals, florimondus ræmondus, and other popish writers, impudently denying the same_, to, pp. , . the work was dedicated to the archbishop of york, and was reprinted in in to., and in french, , vo. the author, in his address _to the popish reader_, says: "_i offer unto thee here a discourse touching_ pope joane _(if thou darest read it, for fear of falling into thy pope's curse), whose popedome i will make good unto thee, not by the testimonies of_ pantaleon, _and_ functius, _and_ sleidan, _and_ illyricus, _and_ constantinus phrygio, _and_ john bale, _and_ robert barnes, _because thou hast condemned their persons, and their books too, to hell; but by the testimonies of thy brethren, the sonnes of thine own mother; because, as one saith_, 'amici contra amicum, et inimici pro inimico, invincibile testimonium est.'" e. c. harington. the close, exeter. _abbot eustacius_ (vol. iii., p. .).--as j. l.'s inquiry after an abbot of that name has hitherto been unsuccessful, perhaps he would like to know that eustacia was abbess of the monastery at shaftesbury (founded by king alfred), tempore incerto, but probably in the time of stephen. see willis's _history of abbeys_, and a _history of the ancient town of shaftesbury_, p. . blowen. _the vellum-bound junius_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in the minor queries of your number ., you have kindly inserted my notice on the vellum-bound _junius_. i beg to state further, that the reason of my being so desirous to procure this copy at the stowe sale was, that it was not only bound in vellum, but was also _printed_ on that article. if any of your correspondents can inform me of another copy _printed_ on vellum, i should be glad. w. d. haggard. bank of england, april , . _meaning of waste-book_ (vol. iii., pp. . . .).--among a list of "the books printed for, and are to be sold by john hancock, at the sign of the three bibles in pope's-head alley, in cornhill," i find _the absolute accountant, or london merchant_, containing instructions and directions for the methodical keeping of merchant's accounts, after the most exact and concise way of debtor and creditor; also a _memorial_, vulgarly called a waste-book, and a cash-book, with a journal and a ledger, &c., . this is the first reference i have seen to the correct designation of the book, which might have received it vulgar name of _waste_ from wast, the second person of _was_--thus the memorial or the wast-book. blowen. _cowdray_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is a misprint here of _eastbourne_ for _easebourne_. there is a curious note on cowdray, and the superstition attached to it, in croker's _boswell_, p. . vo. edit. c. _solemnisation of matrimony_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a. a. will find, from blackstone's _commentaries_, vol. ii. p. ., that in feudal times a husband had the power of protecting his lands from the wife's claim to dower, by endowing her, _ad ostium ecclesiæ_, with specific estates to the exclusion of others; or, if he had no lands at the time of the marriage, by an endowment in goods, chattels, or money. when special endowments were thus made, the husband, after affiance made and troth plighted, used to declare with what specific lands he meant to endow his wife ("_quod dotat eam de tali manerio_," &c.); and therefore, in the old york ritual (_seld. ux. hebr._ l. ii. c. .) there is at this part of the matrimonial service the following rubric--"_sacerdos interroget dotem mulieris; et si terra ei in dotem detur, tunc dicatur psalmus iste_", &c. when the wife was endowed _generally_, the husband seems to have said "with all my lands and tenements i thee endow," and then they all became liable to her dower. when he endowed her with personalty only, he used to say, "with all my worldly goods (or, as the salisbury ritual has it, "with all my worldly chattels") i thee endow," which entitled the wife to her thirds, or _pars rationabilis_, of his personal estate, which is provided for by magna charta, cap. . the meaning, therefore, of the words noticed in a. a.'s query, if they can be said to have any meaning in the present state of the law, is simply that the wife's dower is to be general, and not specific, or, in other words, that she is to have her _pars rationabilis_ in _all_ her husband's goods. j. f. m. _epitaph on the countess of pembroke_ (vol. iii., p. .).--although j. h. m. has concluded that william browne was not the author of this epitaph, because it is not to be found amongst his _pastorals_, it would nevertheless appear that the lines are rightly attributed to him, if the following extract may be relied on: "the well-known epitaph of the celebrated countess of pembroke, the sister of sir philip sidney, has been generally ascribed to ben jonson. the first stanza is printed in jonson's poems; but it is found in the manuscript volume of poems by william browne, the author of _britannia's pastorals_, preserved in the lansdown collection, british museum, no. ., and on this evidence may be fairly appropriated to him, particularly as it is known that he was a great favourite with william, earl of pembroke, son of the countess."--_relics of literature_: london, boys, , p. . alfred gatty. _scandal against queen elizabeth_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . . . .).--your correspondents seem to have overlooked the celebrated { } letter of queen mary of scotland, printed in the _state trials_, and lately reprinted by lord campbell in his _lives of the chancellors_, tit. sir c. hatton. i may as well add (though i do not believe the fact) that my grandmother (herself a devereux) repeated to me the tradition of a son of queen elizabeth's having been sent to ireland. c. _the tanthony_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--i am obliged to a. for the trouble he has taken in reference to my query; but perhaps i may be correct in my suggestion, for on looking into the second volume of the _archæological journal_ the other day, i accidentally found an account of the discovery of a figure of st. anthony at merthyr, near truro, in which it is mentioned that "under the left arm appears to have passed a staff, and the pig, with _a large bell_ attached to its neck, appears in front of the figure."--p. . i shall be much obliged to anybody who will settle the point satisfactorily. the fair held on old st. andrew's day is always called in kimbolton and the neighbourhood "tandrew" fair, so why not "tanthony" for "saint anthony?" arun. _the hippopotamus_ (vol. iii., p. .).--your correspondent mr. e. s. taylor will find in vol. ii, p. , an example of the word [greek: hippopotamos] cited from lucian, a writer anterior both to horapollo and damascius. in the same page is a reference to the story of the wickedness of the hippopotamus in plutarch; so that horapollo and damascius, doubtless, borrowed from a common source, or repeated a current fable, to be found in many writings then extant. l. _tu autem_ (vol. iii., p. ).--the words "tu autem, domine, miserere nostri," "but thou, o lord! have mercy upon us," were originally a form of prayer used by the preacher at the end of his discourse, as a supplication for pardon for any sinful pride or vainglory, into which he might have been betrayed in addressing his congregation. hence the words "tu autem," as pegge properly says, came to denote a hint to the reader to leave off. the custom is still in constant use among the members of the cathedral church of durham. at the public dinners given by the canons, in what is there called "hospitality residence," one of the choristers comes in after dinner, dressed in his official costume, and, taking his station behind the canon in residence, reads, in the manner which is now well known as _intoning_, eight verses of the th psalm, first saying, "here beginneth the ---- part of the th psalm." when the eight verses are concluded, the canon turns round to the chorister, saying "tu autem," giving him a shilling; to which the chorister replies, "domine miserere nostri," and retires. the explanation of the words, as originally employed, is given by rupertus _de divinis officiis_, lib. i. c. xiv.: de "tu autem domine." "quodque in fine dicit, 'tu autem domine miserere nostri,' hoc innuit, ne ipsum quidem bonum officium prædicandi sine alicujus vel levis culpæ pulvere possa pagi. nam, ut ait b. augustinus, 'verbum prædicationis securiùs auditur quàm dicitur. prædicator quippe cùm benè dicere se sentit, difficile nimis est ut non quantulumcunque spiritu elationis tangat; et quia quasi per terram ambulat et pedes ejus pulvere sordidantur, idcirco misericordiâ dei indiget, ut in hâc parte lavetur, etiamsi mundus sit totus.'" from this explanation it is plain, that the monk of st. albans, writing to the abbot-- "si vis, veniam; sin autem, tu autem," would be understood to express-- "if you wish, i will come; but if otherwise, there is an end of the matter." t. c. durham, april . . _places called purgatory_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is a farm-house still called "purgatory," about two miles south of durham, east of the london road, and close to the left bank of the river wear. the farm is part of the estate of a highly respectable family, which has, i believe, always been roman catholic. no reason for the name is known in the neighbourhood. t. c. durham, april . . _swearing by swans, &c._ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . .).--in addition to what has already appeared on this subject, the following extract from tyrwhitt's _glossary to chaucer_ will, i hope, be acceptable. "ale and bred. this oath of sire thopas on ale and bred was perhaps intended to ridicule the solemn vows, which were frequently made in the days of chivalrie, to a peacock, a pheasant, or some other _noble bird_."--see m. de sainte palaye, _sur l'anc. cheval._, mem. iii^{me}. this practice is alluded to in "dunbar's wish that the king were johne thomsonnis man" (ms. maitland, st. v.): "i would gif all that ever i have to that condition, so god me saif, that ye had vowit to the swan ane yeir to be john thomsonnis man." and so in the _prol. to the contin. of the canterb. t._, ver. ., the hosteler says: "i make a vowe to the pecock, ther shall wake a foule mist." the instance given in vol. iii., p. ., is recorded by monstrelet, _hist. de france, charles vii._ t. j. _edmund prideaux and the post-office_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--in a ms. on parchment, now { } before me, are contained entries of the dates of the various letters patent and grants connected with the post-office, to the latter end of the reign of charles i., and the names of the persons to whom the grants were made. the earliest date is the th of henry viii., and the last the th of charles i. if an extract from the ms., which gives a similar index to the appointments in the courts of law, the customs, the forests, and a great variety of other offices, will assist your correspondent, i shall be happy to supply it. i may notice, what seems to have been overlooked by your two correspondents who have replied to the inquiry, that some account of prideaux is given by wood (vid. _fast._ vol. i. p. ., edit. bliss), from which it appears that he was m.a. of cambridge, member of the inner temple, member of parliament for lyme in dorsetshire, and recorder of exeter; and that his death took place on the th aug., (misprinted in this edit.), and that-- "from his employments gaining a vast estate, he left at the time of his death an incredible mass of gold (as the credible report then went), besides lands of very great demesnes." jas. crossley. _small words and "low" words_ (vol. ii., pp. . . .).--apropos to pope's use of "low words," in the sense of _short_ words, conf. boileau, satire iv. . . [illustration] "lui faisant voir ses vers et sans force et sans graces, montés sur deux grands mots, comme sur deux échasses." on which one of his commentators makes the following note: "boileau, pour se moquer des mots gigantesques, citoit ordinairement ce vers de chapelain: 'de ce sourcilleux roc l'inébranlable cime.' et il disposoit ce vers comme il est ici à côté. dans cette disposition il semble que le mot 'roc' soit monté sur deux échasses.' i commend to [phi].'s attention this instance of a "low" word supported on two "high" ones. k. i. p. b. t. _lord howard of effingham_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--it has been supposed that the earl of nottingham was a catholic, and having held office in the reign of queen mary, he probably was so at that time; but he certainly was a protestant during the reign of queen elizabeth, and in the beginning of james i. was at the head of a commission to discover and expel all catholic priests. (vide _memorials of the howard family_.) r. r. m. _obeahism.--ventriloquism_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--t. h. will find, in the authorities given below, that obeahism is not only a rite, but a religion, or rather superstition, viz. _serpent-worship_. _modern universal history_, fol. vol. vi. p. .; vo. vol. xvi. p. .; which is indebted for its information to the works of de marchais, barbot, atkyns, and bosman: the last of which may be seen in pinkerton's _collection_, vol. xvi., and a review of it in _acta eruditor._, lips. , p. ., under the form of an "essay on guinea." in astely's _collection of voyages_, there is an account compiled from every authority then known, and a very interesting description of the rites and ceremonies connected with this superstition. according to the same authors, the influence of the obeist does not depend on the exercise of any art or natural magic, but on the apprehensions of evil infused into his victim's mind. see also lewis's _journal of a residence among the negroes in the west indies_. the following references will furnish a reply at once to two queries; to that here noticed, and to that on "ventriloquism" (vol. ii., p. .). the name of the sacred serpent, which in the ancient language of canaan was variously pronounced, was derived from "ob" (inflare), perhaps from his peculiarity of inflation when irritated. see bryant's _analysis_, vol. i.; deane's _worship of the serpent_, p. . from a notion of the mysterious inflation produced by the presence of the divine spirit, those who had the spirit of ob, or python, received the names of ob, or pythia; according to the not unusual custom for the priest or priestess of any god to take the name of the deity they served. see selden, _de dis syris_, synt. . c. . it is a curious coincidence, that as the witch of endor is called "oub," and the african sorceress "obi," from the serpent-deity _oub_, so the old english name of a witch, "hag," bears apparent relationship to the word _hak_, the ancient british name of a species of snake. in yorkshire, according to stukeley, they call snakes "hags" and "hag-worms," (abury, p. .). in the breton language, _belech_ is "priest," and may similarly indicate a priest of bel-the-dragon. from the hebrew _ob_, the greek [greek: ophis] was probably derived; for the same word, in hebrew, arabic, and greek, which denotes "divination" denotes a "serpent." "nachash,"[ ] "ilahat,"[ ] "[greek: oiônizesthai],"[ ] have the same double signification as if the serpent were recognised as the grand inspirer of the heathen prophets. see faber's _horæ mosaicæ_, vol. i. p. . the word "ob" was translated by the lxx. [greek: engastrimuthos], "a ventriloquist," in { } accommodation to the received opinions respecting the pythian priestess. see the notes to creech's _lucretius_, book v.; jones's (of nayland) _physiolog. disquis._ p. . the deception practised by the witch of endor, and by the damsel mentioned in acts xvi. ., was of this description. see wierus de _præstig. dæmon._ p. .; and reginald scot's _discoverie of witchcraft_, p. . the serpent, which with heathen mythologists had various acceptations (see vossius, _theologia gent. et physiologia christ._), was also understood as a natural symbol or hieroglyphic of the air. can any of your learned correspondents furnish materials illustrative of this figurative relation between the serpent and the elements? t. j. [footnote : see parkhurst.] [footnote : dickinson's _delphi phoenic._, p. .] [footnote : stillingfleet's _orig. sacræ_, book iii. c. iii. s. .] _meaning of peep_ (vol. ii., p. .).--you have already told us the meaning of the word _peep_ in the phrase "wizards that _peep_ and that mutter;" in confirmation i may add that the noise made by the queen bee in the hive previous to swarming is in devonshire called _peeping_. j. m. ( .) _venwell or venville_ (vol. iii., p. .).--_venwell_ or _venville_ appears to me to be a corruption of the word _fengfield_; and the meaning of it seems to be, that custom of delivering possession of land to a purchaser by cutting a piece of turf from the field bought, and delivering it into his hands. i well remember, when a boy, accompanying my father to receive possession of an outlying field, distant from the main estate which he had bought; the seller's agent, i think, came with us and cut a small piece of turf from the ground, and delivered it into my father's hands, saying (if i recollect right), "by this turf i deliver this field into your possession." by this means my father "_fenged_" (took) the "_field_" into his own hands, and became the legal proprietor of it. p. _venville._--the peat or black earth of dartmoor is still called _ven_ or _fen_. is it not more probable that the adjoining parishes (or parts of them) are said to be in venville or fengfield, from their being within the peat district, than that an abbreviation of a legal term, _fines villarum_--_fin. vil._, should become naturalised among the peasantry, as is the case with the word venville? the second part of the word seems akin to the scottish _fail_, "a turf, or that clod covered with grass cut off from the rest of the sward." (jamieson.) k. _hand-bells at funerals_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the _testamenta eboracensia_, p. ., johannes esten de scardeburgh, le ankersymth, bequeaths d.-- "clerico ecclesiæ pro pulsacione campanarum, et le belman portand' campanam per villam excitandum populum ad orandum." a hand-bell (as i am informed by a roman catholic gentleman) often precedes the host, when carried in procession to the sick, &c., in order to clear the way, and remind passengers of the usual reverence paid at such times. b. lincoln. _shillings and sixpences of george iii._ (vol. iii., p. .).--r. w. c. has fallen into a misconception in supposing that these coins present an erroneous spelling of the latinized style of the monarch, whilst the contemporary crowns and half-crowns have the correct orthography. the spelling of the legend on the sixpences and shillings was intentional, and with a meaning, being inscribed in an abridged form--geor: iii. d: g: britt: rex f: d:--the reduplication of the t was designed, after classical precedent, to represent the plural _britanniarum_, i.e., great britain and ireland. n. _odour from the rainbow_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i hope that i have found jarltzberg's note in the following lines: "like to that smell which oft our sense descries within a field which long unploughëd lies, somewhat before the setting of the sun; and where the rainbow in the horizon doth pitch her tips; or as when in the prime, the earth being troublëd with a drought long time, the hand of heaven his spongy clouds doth strain, and throws into her lap a shower of rain; she sendeth up (conceivëd from the sun) a sweet perfume and exhalation." browne, _britannia's pastorals_, book i. song . [clarke's cabinet series, , p. .] c. forbes. _odour from the rainbow._--the following stanzas are from a poem, called "the blind girl," in a publication by pickering, , of _memorials of a tour, and miscellaneous poems_, by robert snow, esq. lond., :-- "once in our porch whilst i was resting, to hear the rain-drops in their mirth, you said you saw the rainbow cresting the heavens with colour, based on earth: and i believe it fills the showers with music; and when sweeter air than common breathes from briar-rose bowers, methinks, the rainbow hath touched there." [we have reason to believe that the idea was suggested to mr. snow neither from bacon's _sylva_, nor from any of our english poets, but from a greek writer after the christian era, referred to by coleridge in his _table talk_.] * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. mr. hepworth dixon, who is already favourably known as the author of a _life of howard_, has just published _william penn, an historical biography_. it is unquestionably a book of considerable talent; and even those who may be most inclined to dissent from the { } author's views of the political principles of the quakers (and we suspect many of the quakers themselves will be found among that number), will admit that in treating him not as a mere quaker, as preceding biographers had been too much disposed to do, but as "a great english historical character--the champion of the jury laws--the joint leader, with algernon sidney, of the commonwealth men--the royal councillor of - --the courageous defender of free thought--the founder of pennsylvania"--mr. dixon has succeeded in the task which he had proposed to himself, namely, that of transforming william penn "from a myth into a man." his vindication of this great man from what he designates "the macaulay charges" would not, however, have lost one iota of its efficiency, had it been couched in somewhat more measured terms. mr. murray announces _the grenville papers; being the private correspondence of richard grenville earl temple, his brother george grenville, their friends and contemporaries_, as in the press. it will contain some letters from junius, and mr. grenville's diary, particularly during his premiership, from to . the fifth and sixth volumes of lord mahon's _history of england from the peace of utrecht_ are also at press. lady theresa lewis is nearly ready with a work which cannot but be of great interest. it is entitled _lives of the friends and contemporaries of lord chancellor clarendon, illustrative of portraits in his gallery; with an account of the origin of the collection; and a descriptive catalogue of the pictures_. it will form two volumes, and be accompanied by illustrative portraits. mr. colburn announces a new library edition of miss strickland's _lives of the queens of england_. although revised and considerably augmented by new materials which have been placed at miss strickland's disposal since the appearance of the earlier impressions of her book, this edition is to be comprised in eight monthly volumes. books received.--_the buried city of the east: nineveh._ a popular view of the discovery of the remains of the great city, compiled principally from botta, and illustrated with numerous woodcuts, affords information enough, perhaps, for those who may be unable to consult the stirring narrative of layard himself, but must send to his pages a great number of readers, in whom it can only serve to waken a lively interest in this great triumph of individual perseverance.--_the iliad of homer, literally translated, with explanatory notes_, by t. a. buckley, b.a., is the new volume of bohn's _classical library_; and the editor expresses his hopes "that it will be found to convey, more accurately than any which has preceded it, the words and thoughts of the original." the work has obviously been executed with great care; and the notes, though brief, are to the point. catalogues received.--john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. xxi. of books old and new; j. russell smith's ( . old compton street) catalogue part iii. of choice useful and curious books, english and foreign; and catalogue of a singular collection of , ancient and modern tracts and pamphlets, part ii. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. clare's rural muse passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. folio. basil, . cartari--la rosa d'oro pontificia. to. rome, . broemel, m. c. h., fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _among many articles of great interest which are in type, but unavoidably postponed until next saturday, the fourth and last in the month, when we shall consequently publish a double number, are shakspeare and fletcher, by mr. hickson--illustrations of chaucer, no. iv.--illustrations of tennyson--sallust and tacitus--haybands in seals, by mr. lower, mr. burtt, and l. b. l.--north side of churchyards--sir f. kynaston's academy, by dr. rimbault--and several very important communications on the proposed_ monumentarium anglicanum. s. j. r. _is referred to our first volume, p. ., for information on the subject of may marriages being unlucky_. an old boy. _we will do our best to follow the good advice so pleasantly given; but he has little knowledge of the difficulty of pleasing all--to say nothing of our editorial selves. for instance, in the case to which has has referred in our second volume, we have ascertained that the second article was in type before the one which precedes it had reached us._ h. k. g. s. _received with great regret. we believe we best consulted the respect due to our correspondent by the course we followed, as we are certain that we adopted it with the best intentions towards him._ _we are this week compelled to go to press one day earlier than usual; we have to request the indulgence of our correspondents for the omission of our usual_ list of replies received, _and for not replying until next week to several inquiries which have been addressed to us_. vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price s. d. each_. notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * in royal vo., with numerous illustrations, price l. s. the archÆology and pre-historic annals of scotland. by daniel wilson. 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or miscellaneous essays on subjects connected with the nature, history, and destiny of man. by the rev. s. r. maitland, d.d., f.r.s., and f.s.a. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same author, . essays on the reformation in england. s. . essays on the dark ages. second edition. s. * * * * * original letters on the church in ireland. in post vo., price s. d. original letters and papers in illustration of the history of the church in ireland, during the reigns of edward vi., mary, and elizabeth. edited, with notes, from autographs in the state-paper office, by evelyn philip shirley, esq., m.a. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * maps and atlases of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, published by c. knight, . fleet street. atlas complete, with index, maps, plain, in vol., half morocco or russia, l. s. coloured, vol., half morocco or russia. l. s. library atlas, maps, volume, plain, l. s.; coloured, l. s. family atlas, maps, plain, l. s.; coloured l. s. school atlas, modern and ancient, maps, plain, l. s.; colored, l. s. outline maps, for learners, part i., maps, s.; part ii., maps, s. single maps, plain, d. each; coloured, d. map of london, for the convenience of visitors to the exhibition, plain, s.; coloured, s. d.; bound in cloth, s. the whole of the maps are corrected to the present time, and a prospectus, with full particulars, will be forwarded post-free on application to the publisher, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, foolscap vo., cloth with steel engraving, price s. d. the fairy godmothers and other tales. by mrs. alfred gatty. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * a new edition, mo., price s., of kempis de imitatione christi, et contemptu mundi, omniumque ejus vanitatum, libri iv. codex de advocatis seculi xiii. with life by charles butler. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * a new edition, vo., with frontispiece, "ecce homo," engraved by robinson, after a painting by guercino, s., of the imitation of jesus christ. translated from the latin original, ascribed to thomas À kempis. by t. f. dibdin, d.d. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april , . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "the duad represented the line" - original reads 'decad', making no sense in view of what follows. duad (more likely to be misread than dyad) seems correct. page , "there is a striking story" - original reads 'strlking'. page , "a letter from eustace chapuys" - original reads 'chaupys'. generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page illustrations of chaucer, no. v. foreign english--guide to amsterdam seven children at a birth three times following ramasshed, meaning of the term authors of the poetry of the anti-jacobin, by e. hawkins minor notes:--egg and arrow ornament--defoe's project for purifying the english language--great fire of london--noble or workhouse names queries:-- passages in the new testament illustrated from demosthenes the house of maillé minor queries:-- meaning of "eign"--the bonny crayat--what was the day of the accession of richard the third?--lucas family--watch of richard whiting--laurence howel, the original pilgrim--churchwardens' accounts, &c. of st. mary-de-castro, leicester--aristotle and pythagoras--when deans first styled very reverend--form of prayer at the healing--west chester--the milesians--round robbin--experto credo roberto--captain howe--bactria replies:-- the family of the tradescants, by dr. e. f. rimbault meaning of venville, by e. smirke replies to minor queries:--newburgh hamilton--pedigree of owen glendower--mind your p's and q's--the sempecta at croyland--solid-hoofed pigs--porci solide-pedes--sir henry slingsby's diary--criston, somerset--tradesmen's signs--emendation of a passage in virgil miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. illustrations of chaucer no. v. _the arke of artificial day_. before proceeding, to point out the indelible marks by which chaucer has, as it were, stereotyped the true date of the journey to canterbury, i shall clear away another stumbling-block, still more insurmountable to tyrwhitt than his first difficulty of the "halfe cours" in aries, viz. the seeming inconsistency in statements ( .) and ( .) in the following lines of the prologue to the man of lawe's tale:-- { "oure hoste saw wel that the bright sonne, ( .) { the arke of his artificial day, had ironne { the fourthe part and halfe an houre and more, * * * * { and saw wel that the shadow of every tree { was as in length of the same quantitie, { that was the body erecte that caused it, { and therefore by the shadow he toke his wit ( .) { that phebus, which that shone so clere and bright, { degrees was five and fourty clombe on hight, { and for that day, as in that latitude { it was ten of the clok, he gan conclude." the difficulty will be best explained in tyrwhitt's own words:-- "unfortunately, however, this description, though seemingly intended to be so accurate, will neither enable us to conclude with the mss. that it was '_ten of the clock_,' nor to fix upon any other hour; as the two circumstances just mentioned are not found to coincide in any part of the th, or of any other day of april, in this climate."--_introductory discourse_, § xiv. in a foot-note, tyrwhitt further enters into a calculation to show that, on the th of april, the fourth part of the day and half an hour and more (even with the liberal allowance of a quarter of an hour to the indefinite phrase '_and more_') would have been completed by nine o'clock a.m. at the latest, and therefore at least an hour too soon for coincidence with ( .). now one would think that tyrwhitt, when he found his author relating facts, "_seemingly intended to be so accurate_," would have endeavoured to discover whether there might not be some hidden meaning in them, the explaining of which might make that consistent, which, at first, was apparently the reverse. had he investigated with such a spirit, he must have discovered that the expression "arke of the artificial day" _could not_, in this instance, receive its obvious and usual meaning, of the horary duration from sunrise to sunset-- and for this simple reason: that such a meaning would _presuppose a knowledge of the hour_--of the very thing in request--and which was about { } to be discovered by "our hoste," who "toke his wit" from the sun's altitude for the purpose! but he knew already that the fourth part of the day in time had elapsed, he must necessarily have also known what that time was, without the necessity of calculating it! now, chaucer, whose choice of expression on scientific subjects is often singularly exact, says, "our hoste _saw_ that the sonne," &c.; he must therefore have been referring to some visible situation: because, afterwards, when the time of day has been obtained from calculation, the phrase changes to "_gan conclude_" that it was ten of the clock. it seems, therefore, certain that, even setting aside the question of consistency between ( .) and ( .), we must, _upon other grounds_, assume that chaucer had some meaning in the expression "arke of the artificial day," different from what must be admitted to be its obvious and received signification. to what other ark, then, could he have been alluding, if not to the _horary_ diurnal ark? i think, to the azimuthal arch of the horizon included between the point of sunrise and that of sunset! the situation of any point in that arch is called its bearing; it is estimated by reference to the points of the compass; it is therefore _visually_ ascertainable: and it requires no previous knowledge of the hour in order to determine when the sun has completed the fourth, or any other, portion of it. here, then, is _primâ facie_ probability established in favour of this interpretation. and if, upon examination, we find that it also clears away the discrepancy between ( .) and ( .), probability becomes certainty. assuming, upon evidence which i shall hereafter explain, that the sun's declination, on the day of the journey, was ° ' north, or thirteen degrees and half,--the sun's bearing at rising, in the neighbourhood of london, would be e.n.e., at setting w.n.w.; the whole included arch, °; and the time at which the sun would complete one-fourth, or have the bearing, s.e. by e., would be about minutes past nine a.m.,--thus leaving minutes to represent chaucer's "halfe an hour and more!" a very remarkable approximation--which converts a statement apparently contradictory, into a strong confirmation of the deduction to be obtained from the other physical facts grouped together by chaucer with such extraordinary skill! on the other hand, it is impossible to deny that the "hoste's" subsequent admonition to the pilgrims to make the best use of their time, warning them that "the fourthe partie of this day is gon," seems again to favour the idea that it is the day's actual horary duration that is alluded to. this can be only hypothetically accounted for by observing that in this, as in many other instances, chaucer seems to delight in a sort of disguised phraseology; as though to veil his true meaning, and designedly to create scientific puzzles to exercise the knowledge and discernment of his readers. a. e. b. leeds, april . . * * * * * foreign english--guide to amsterdam. i doubt not many of your readers will have been as much amused as myself with the choice specimens of foreign english enshrined in your pages. when at amsterdam, some years since, i purchased a _guide_ to that city, which i regard as a considerable literary curiosity in the same line. it was published at amsterdam, by e. maascamp, in , and contains from beginning to end a series of broken english, professing all the while to be written by an englishman. it commences with the following "advertisement:" "the city of amsterdam--remarkable as being one of the chief metropoles of europe, and as being in many respects the general market of whole the universe; justly celebrated for--its large interior canals, on both of their sides enlivened and sheltered by ranges of large, thick, and beautiful trees, and presenting, on large broad and neatly kept, most regularly pav'd quays, long chains of sumptuous habitations, or rather palaces of the principal and _weathy_ merchants; moreover remarkable by its museum for the objects of the fine arts, &c., its numberless public edifices adapted either to the _cultivation_ of arts, or to the exertions of trade, or to _establishments_ charitable purposes, or of temples of all manners of divine worship--the city of amsterdam, we say," &c. it is dated "this ^{the} of juin, ." in page . the author gives us an account of his habits, &c.:-- "i live in amsterdam since some considerable time i drink no strong liquors, nor do i smoke tobacco and with all this--i have not been _attacked_ by those agues and fevers w^h frequently reign here from the month of juin to the end of the autumn: and twenty foreigners whom i know, do follow the same system, and are still as healthy as i myself; while i have seen a great many of natives taking their drams and smoking their pipes _ad libitem_, and moreover _chawing_ tobacco in a quite disgusting manner, who," &c. an amsterdam sunday, p. .: "on sundays and holydays the shops and warehouses, and, _intra muros_, those of public entertainment are _close_: the devotees go to church, and sanctify the sabbath. others go to walk outside the towngates: after their walk, they hasten to fine public-play-gardens, where wine, thea, &c. is sold. neither the mobility remains idle at _these_ entertainments. every one invites his damsel, and joyously they enter play-gardens of a little less brilliancy than the former. there, at the crying sound of an instrument that _rents_ the ear, { } accompanied by the delightful handle-organs and the rustic triangle, their tributes are paid to terpsichore; every where a similitude of talents: the dancing outdoes not the musician." description of the assize court: "the forefront has a noble and sublime aspect, and is particularly characteristical to what it ought to represent. it is built in a division of three fronts in the corinthic order: each of them consists in four raizing columns, resting upon a general basement, from the one end of the forefront to the other, and supporting a cornish, equally running all over the face; upon this cornish rests a balustrad, like the other pieces altogether of bremen-hardstone. the middle front, serving for the chief entrance, is adorned with the provincial arms, sculpted by mr. gabriel, &c.... every where a sublime plan, and exact execution is exhibited here, and the whole tends as much to the architects, who are the undertakers of it, as they have earned great praizes by building anew the burnt lutheran church." i will not trespass on your space by any further extracts; but these will suffice to show that my book is _sui generis_, and worth commemoration. c. w. b. * * * * * seven children at a birth three times following. your correspondent n. d.'s papers (vol. ii., p. ., and vol. iii., p. ) have reminded me of another remarkable instance of fecundity related by the well-known civil engineer jan adriaensz. leeg-water, in his _kleyne chronycke_, printed at amsterdam in : "some years since," says he, p. ., "i was at _wormer_, at an inn near the town-hall: the landlady, whose name was _frankjen_, told me of the burgomaster of _hoorn_, who in the spring went over the (zuyder?) sea to buy oxen, and going into a certain house he found seven little children sitting by the fire, each with a porringer in its hand, and eating rice-milk, or pap, with a spoon; on which the burgomaster said 'mother, you are very kind to your neighbours, since they leave their children to your care.' 'no,' said the woman, they are all my own children, which i had at one birth; and if you will wait a moment, i will show you more that will surprise you.' she then fetched seven other children _a birth_ older: so she had fourteen children at two births. then the woman said to the burgomaster, 'i am now _enceinte_, and i think in the same way as before: if you come here next year, call upon me again.' and so, the next year, when the burgomaster went over the sea, he called upon the woman and the woman had again brought forth seven children at a birth. thus the woman had at three births twenty-one children." i subjoin the original of which the above is a literal translation. j. s. woudenberg, april, . * * * * * ramasshed, meaning of the term. in the curious volume recently edited by sir henry ellis for the camden society, entitled _the pilgrymage of syr r. guylforde, knyght_, a singular term occurs, which may claim a note of explanation. it is found in the following passage: "saterdaye to suse, noualassa, and to lyungborugh; and at the sayd noualassa we toke moyles to stey us vp the mountayne, and toke also marones to kepe vs frome fallynge. and from the hyght of the mounte down to lyuyngborugh i was ramasshed, whiche is a right strange thinge."--p. . sir henry has not bestowed upon us here any of those erudite annotations, which have customarily enhanced the interest of works edited under his care. sir richard guylforde was on his homeward course from the holy places by way of pavia, where he visited the convent and church which contained the shrine and relics of st. augustine, as also the tomb of lionel, duke of clarence, second son of edward iii., whose monumental inscription (not to be found in sandford's _genealogical history_) the worthy knight copied. on the th feb. , sir richard approached the ascent of mont cenis by the way of s. ambrogio and susa. at the village of novalese, now in ruins, the party took mules, to aid their ascent, and _marroni_, long-handled mattocks, or pick-axes, to prevent their falling on the dangerous declivities of the snow. the journey was formerly made with frightful expedition by means of a kind of sledge--an expedient termed _la ramasse_--which enabled the traveller, previously to the construction of that extraordinary road, well known to most readers, to effect in a few minutes a perilous descent of upwards of feet. the _ramasse_, as cotgrave informs us, was-- "a kind of high sled, or wheelbarrow, whereon travellers are carried downe certaine steep and slippery hils in piemont." its simplest form had probably been a kind of fagot of brushwood,--_ramazza_, or a besom, not much unlike the rapid locomotive of witches, who were called in old times _ramassières_, from their supposed practice of riding on a _ramée_, _ramasse_, or besom. at the present time even, it occasionally occurs that an adventurous traveller crossing the mont cenis is tempted to glide down the rapid descent, in preference to the long course of the zigzag road; and remember to have heard at lauslebourg the tale, doubtless often related, of an eccentric _milord_ who ascended the heights thrice from that place, a journey of some hours, for the gratification of the repeated excitement caused by a descent on the _ramasse_ in about as many minutes. the cranium of a horse, as it was stated, was the vehicle often preferred for this curious adventure: and the { } traveller guided or steadied his course by trailing a long staff, a practice for security well known to the alpine tourist. this may probably have been the use of the "marones" taken by sir richard guyldeford and his party at novalese. the terms, to be "ramasshed," is not, as i believe, wholly disused in france. it was brought to the metropolis with the strange amusement known as the _montagne russe_. in the valuable _complément du dictionnaire de l'académie_, compiled under the direction of louis barré, we find the following phrase: "se faire ramasser, se dit aujourd'hui, dans une acception particulière, pour, se faire lancer dans un char, du haut des élévations artificielles qui se trouvent dans les jardins publics." such a disport had been known previously to the expedition to moscow, and the favourite divertisement _à la russe_, so much in vogue amongst the parisians for a few subsequent years. roquefort informs us that-- "_ramasse_ étoit le nom d'un jeu que nous avions apporté des alpes, où il est encore en usage pendant l'hiver, et principalement en temps de neige." albert way. * * * * * authors of the poetry of the anti-jacobin. the following notices of the writers of many of the poetical pieces in the _anti-jacobin_ may prove interesting to many of your readers. they are derived from the following copies, and each name is authenticated by the initials of the authority upon which each piece is ascribed to particular persons: c. canning's own copy of the poetry. b. lord burghersh's copy. w. wright the publisher's copy. u. information of w. upcott, amanuensis. the copy of the _anti-jacobin_ to which i refer is the fourth, , vo. page. vol. i. . introd. to poetry canning. . inscript. for door of cell, canning,} &c. frere, } c. . sapphics: knifegrinder frere, } canning,} c. . invasio hely addington, w. . la sainte guillolem canning,} frere, } c. hammond, b. . soldier's friend canning,} frere, } c. ellis, b. sonnet to liberty lord carlisle, b. . dactylics canning, b. gifford, w. ipsa mali hortatrix, &c. marq. wellesley, u. frere, b. . parent of countless crimes, marq. wellesley, u. &c. frere, b. . the choice geo. ellis, b. . duke and taxing man bar. macdonald, c. ,b. . epigram frere, b. . ode to anarchy lord morpeth, b. . you have heard of reubel frere, b. . bard of the borrow'd lyre canning, c. hammond, b. . ode to lord moira geo. ellis, c., b. . bit of an ode to mr. fox geo. ellis, c. frere, b. . anne and septimius geo. ellis, c. . foe to thy country's foes geo. ellis, b. . lines under bust of ch. fox frere, b. . ----under bust of certain orator geo. ellis, b. . progress of man canning, c. gifford, w. frere, b. . progress of man canning, c. hammond, b. . vision geo. ellis, b. gifford, w. . ode: whither, o bacchus! canning, c. vol. ii. . chevy chace bar. macdonald, c., b. . progress of man canning, } frere, } c. geo. ellis, b. . jacobin nares, w. loves of the triangles frere, c. canning, b. . loves of the triangles geo. ellis, c., w. canning, b. . loves of triangles: so with dark dirge canning, w. . "romantic ashboun." the road down ashboun hill winds in front of ashboun hall, then the residence of the rev. ---- leigh, who married a relation of mr. canning's, and to whom mr. canning was a frequent visitor. e. h. . brissot's ghost frere, b. . loves of the triangles canning, } b., w., c. gifford, } c. frere, } c. . consolatory address lord morpeth, b. . elegy canning, } b., c. gifford, } c. frere, } c. . ode to my country frere, } b.b., } c. hammond, b. . ode to director merlin lord morpeth, b. . the lovers frere, } gifford, } c. g. ellis, } canning, } b. . frere, } b. gifford, } ellis, } c. canning, } . affectionate effusion lord morpeth, b. { } . translation of a letter gifford,} ellis, }c. canning,} b. frere, } . ballynahinch canning, c. viri eruditi canning, b. . new morality canning, }b. frere, } gifford, }c. g. ellis,} from mental mists frere, w. yet venial vices, &c. canning, w. . bethink thee, gifford, &c. these lines were written by mr. canning some years before he had any personal acquaintance with mr. gifford. . awake! for shame! canning, w. . fond hope! frere, w. . such is the liberal justice canning, w. . o nurse of crimes frere, } canning, }w. g. ellis,} . see louvet canning, w. . but hold severer virtue frere, } canning,}w. . to thee proud barras bows frere, } canning,}w. ellis, } . ere long perhaps gifford,} ellis, }w. couriers and stars frere, } canning,}w. . britain beware canning, w. wright, the publisher of the _anti-jacobin_, lived at . piccadilly, and his shop was the general morning resort of the friends of the ministry, as debrell's was of the oppositionists. about the time when the _anti-jacobin_ was contemplated, owen, who had been the publisher of burke's pamphlets, failed. the editors of the _anti-jacobin_ took his house, paying the rent, taxes, &c., and gave it up to wright, reserving to themselves the first floor, to which a communication was opened through wright's house. being thus enabled to pass to their own rooms through wright's shop, where their frequent visits did not excite any remarks, they contrived to escape particular observation. their meetings were most regular on sundays, but they not unfrequently met on other days of the week, and in their rooms were chiefly written the poetical portions of the work. what was written was generally left open upon the table, and as others of the party dropped in, hints or suggestions were made; sometimes whole passages were contributed by some of the parties present, and afterwards altered by others, so that it is almost impossible to ascertain the names of the authors. where, in the above notes, a piece is ascribed to different authors, the conflicting statements may arise from incorrect information, but sometimes they arise from the whole authorship being assigned to one person, when in fact both may have contributed. if we look at the references, vol. ii. pp. . . ., we shall see mr. canning naming several authors, whereas lord burghersh assigns all to one author. mr. canning's authority is here more to be relied upon. "new morality" mr. canning assigns generally to the four contributors; mr. wright has given some interesting particulars by appropriating to each his peculiar portion. gifford was the working editor, and wrote most of the refutations and corrections of the "lies," "mistakes," and "misrepresentations." the papers on finance were chiefly by pitt: the first column was frequently for what he might send; but his contributions were uncertain, and generally very late, so that the space reserved for him was sometimes filled up by other matter. he only once met the editors at wright's. upcott, who was at the time assistant in wright's shop, was employed as amanuensis, to copy out for the printer the various contributions, that the authors' handwriting might not be detected. edw. hawkins. _the anti-jacobin_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in a copy of the _poetry of the anti-jacobin_, now in my possession, occurs this note in the autograph of mr. james boswell:-- "these lines [_lines written by traveller at czarco-zelo_] were written by william pitt--as i learnt from his nephew on the th of may , at a dinner held in honour of his memory." the sirname is in large capital letters; the _year_ is indistinctly written. this is the note which is indicated in the auction-catalogue of the library of mr. boswell, no. . bolton corney. * * * * * minor notes. _egg and arrow ornament._--mr. ruskin, in his _stones of venice_, vol. i. p. ., says-- "the greek egg and arrow cornice is a nonsense cornice, very noble in its lines, but utterly absurd in its meaning. arrows have had nothing to do with eggs (at least since leda's time), neither are the so-called arrows like arrows, nor the eggs like eggs, nor the honeysuckles like honeysuckles: they are all conventionalized into a monotonous successiveness of nothing--pleasant to the eye, useless to the thought." the ornament of which mr. r. thus speaks is indifferently called egg and tongue, egg and dart, as well as egg and arrow. it seems to me that the _egg_ is a complete misnomer, although common to all the designations; and i fancy that the idea of what is so called was originally derived from the full-length shield, and therefore that the ornament should be named the _shield and dart_, an association more reasonable than is suggested by any of the ordinary appellations. can any of { } your correspondents offer any confirmation of this? b. j. liverpool, march . . _defoe's project for purifying the english language._--among the many schemes propounded by de foe, in his _essay upon projects_, published in , there is one which still remains a theory, although eminently practicable, and well worthy of consideration. he conceived that there might be an academy or society formed for the purpose of correcting, purifying, and establishing the english language, such as had been founded in france under cardinal richelieu. "the work of this society," says defoe, "should be to encourage polite learning, to polish and refine the english tongue, and advance the so much neglected faculty of correct language; also, to establish purity and propriety of style, and to purge it from all the irregular additions that ignorance and affectation have introduced; and all these innovations of speech, if i may call them such, which some dogmatic writers have the confidence to foster upon their native language, as if their authority were sufficient to make their own fancy legitimate." never was such society more needed than in the present day, when you can scarcely take up a newspaper, or a periodical, a new poem, or any modern literary production, without finding some new-coined word, perplexing to the present reader, and a perfect stumbling-block in the way of any future editor. some of these words are, i admit, a welcome addition to our common stock, but the greater part of them are mere abortions, having no analogy to any given root. a society similar to the one proposed by defoe might soon be established in this country, if a few such efficient authorities as dr. kennedy would take the initiative in the movement. he who should first establish such a society, and bring it to a practicable bearing, would be conferring an inestimable boon on society. i trust that these hints may serve to arouse the attention of some of the many talented contributors to the "notes and queries," and in due season bring forth fruit. david stevens. godalming, april . . _great fire of london_.--our popular histories of england, generally, contain very indefinite statements respecting the extent of destruction wrought upon the city of london by the great fire. i have therefore thought it may be interesting to others, as it has been to myself, to peruse the following, which purports to be "extracted from the certificates of the surveyors soon after appointed to survey the ruins." "that the fire that began in london upon the second of september, , at one mr. farryner's house, a baker in pudding lane, between the hours of one and two in the morning, and continued burning until the sixth of that month, did overrun the space of three hundred and seventy-three acres within the walls of the city of london, and sixty-three acres three roods without the walls. there remained seventy-five acres three roods standing within the walls unburnt. eighty-nine parish churches, besides chappels burnt. eleven parishes within the walls standing. houses burnt, thirteen thousand two hundred. "jonas moore, } "ralph gatrix, } surveyors." i copy this from a volume of tracts, printed to ; chiefly "narratives" of judicial and other proceedings relating to the (so called) "popish plots" in the reign of charles ii. wm. franks mathews. _noble or workhouse names_-- "the only three noble names in the county were to be found in the great house [workhouse]; mine [berners] was one, the other two were devereux and bohun."--_lavengro_, iii. . the above extract reminds me of a list of names of the poor about st. alban's, which i forwarded some months since, viz. brax, brandon, de amer, de ayton, fitzgerald, fitz john, gascoigne, harcourt, howard, lacey, stanley, ratcliffe. a. c. * * * * * queries. passages in the new testament illustrated from demosthenes. acts xvii. .: "for all the athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing." can any of your biblical correspondents inform me in what commentary upon the new testament the coincidence with the following passages in demosthenes is noticed, or whether any other source of the historical fact has been recorded? in the translation of petrus lagnerius, franc. (i have not at hand the entire works), we find these words: "nihil est omnium, athenienses, in præsentiâ nocentius, quam quod vos alienati estis a rebus, et tantisper operam datis, dum audientes sedetis, si quid novi nuntiatum fuerit" ( . contr. _phil_.). again: "nos vero, dicetur verum, nihil facientes, hic perpetuo sedemus cunctabundi, tum decernentes, tum interrogantes, si quid novi in foro dicatur."-- _orat. ad philipp. epist._ pricæus, in his very learned and valuable _commentarii in varios n.t. libros_, lond. , fol., at p. , in v. ., says only-- "videantur quæ ex demosthene, plutarcho, aliis, _eruditi_ annotarunt." { } matthew xiii. .: "and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of esaias, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive." this proverb seems to have been common to all ages and countries. it is of frequent occurrence in the new testament (mark iv. .; viii. .; john xii. .; acts xxviii. .; romans xi. .), and, as in matthew, is referred to isaiah. but, in the old testament, there is earlier authority for its use in deuteronomy xxix. . it occurs also in jeremiah v. .; in ezekiel xii. ., and, with a somewhat different application, in the psalms, cxv. .; cxxxv. . that it was employed as an established proverb by demosthenes seems to have been generally overlooked. he says: [greek: hoi men houtôs horôntes ta tôn êtuchêkotôn erga, hôste totês paroimias, horôntes mê horan, kai akouontas mê akouein. (kata aristogeitonos,] a taylor, cantab. vol. ii. pp. - .) it is quoted, however, by pricæus (p. .), who also supplies exactly corresponding passages from maximus tyrius (a.d. ), plutarch (a.d. - ), and philo (a.d. ). of these, the last only can have been prior to the publication of st. matthew's gospel, which saxius places, at the earliest, in the reign of claudius. hugo grotius has no reference to demosthenes in his _annotationes in vet. test.,_ vogel & doderein, ; but cites heraclitus the ephesian, who, according to saxius, flourished in the year b.c., and aristides, who, on the same authority, lived in the th year of the christian era. has any other commentator besides pricæus alluded to the passage in demosthenes? c. h. p. brighton, april . * * * * * the house of maillÉ. the house of maillé (vide lord mahon's _life of condé_) contributed to the crusades one of its bravest champions. can any of your numerous contributors give me information as to the name and achievements of the crusader? claire clémence de maillé, daughter of the maréchal duke de brezé, and niece of richelieu, was married in to the duc d'enghien, afterwards the great condé; and lord mahon, somewhere in his life of the hero, makes mention of the princess as the "last of her family." claire clémence had an only brother, who held the exalted post of high admiral of france, and in he commanded a french fleet which disembarked men in the marshes of sienna, and himself shortly afterwards fell at the siege of orbitello. the admiral having died unmarried, the brezé estates became the property of the princess, who transmitted them to her descendants, the last of whom was the unfortunate duc d'enghien, who perished at vincennes. thus much is patent; but i think it probable his lordship was not aware that a branch of the family was exiled, and with the la touches, la bertouches, &c., settled in the sister kingdom, most likely at the revocation of the edict of nantes. their descendants subsequently passed over into this country, and have contributed to the lists of the legal and medical professions. up to the present century a gentleman bearing the slightly altered name of mallié held a commission in the british army. even now, the family is not extinct, and the writer being lately on a visit to a lady, probably the sole representative _in name_ of this once powerful house, noticed in her possession a series of four small engravings, representing the great condé; his mother, a princess of montmorency, pronounced to be the "handsomest woman in europe;" the old maréchal de maillé brezé; and his daughter, claire clémence. our _pall mall_ is, i believe, derived from _pailée maillé_, a game somewhat analogous to cricket, and imported from france in the reign of the second charles: it was formerly played in st. james's park, and in the exercise of the sport a small hammer or _mallet_ was used to strike the ball. i think it worth noting that the _mallié_ crest _is_ a mailed arm and hand, the latter grasping a _mallet_. be it understood that the writer has no pretensions to a knowledge of heraldic terms and devices; so, without pinning any argument on the coincidence, he thought it not without interest. he is aware that the mere fact of a similarity between surnames and crests is not without its parallel in english families. a new subscriber. birmingham, april . . * * * * * minor queries. _meaning of "eign."_--what is the meaning of the word "eign" in presteign, also the name of a street and a brook? is it connected with the anglo-saxon _thegen_ or _theign?_ h. c. k. hereford. _the bonny cravat._--can any of your readers give a probable explanation of the meaning of the sign of an inn at woodchurch, in kent, which is "the bonny cravat," now symbolised as a huge white neckcloth, with a "waterfall" tie? e. h. y. _what was the day of the accession of richard iii.?_--sir harris nicolas, in his _chronology of history_ ( nd edition, p. .) decides for june , , giving strong reasons for such opinion. but his primary reason, founded on a fac-simile extract from the memoranda rolls in the office of the king's remembrancer in the exchequer of { } ireland, printed, with fac-simile, in the second _report of the commissioners on irish records_, , p. ., gives rise to a doubt; for, as sir harris colas states, "it is remarkable that the printed copy should differ from the fac-simile in the identical point which caused the letter to be published, for in the former the 'xxvij^{th} of june' occurs, whereas in the fac-simile it is the 'xxvj^{th} of june.' the latter is doubtless correct; for an engraver, who copies precisely what is before him, is less likely to err than a transcriber or editor." this is most probably the case; but perhaps some of your correspondents in ireland will settle the point accurately. j. e. _lucas family._--can any of your correspondents inform me what were the names of the sons of john lucas, of weston, co. suffolk, who lived at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century? one of them, thomas, was solicitor-general, and a privy councillor, to henry vii., and had estates in suffolk. w. l. _watch of richard whiting._--in warner's _history of glastonbury_ mention is made of the watch of richard whiting, the last abbot. it is stated in the _gentleman's magazine_ of to have been in the possession of the rev. mr. bowen, of bath. since then, i think, it was sold by auction; at least i have heard so. perhaps some of your readers know what has become of it, and can say where it now is. the name "richard whiting" is said to be engraved inside it. c. o. s. m. _laurence howel, the original pilgrim._--the unfortunate laurence howel published in (the year in which he was committed to newgate) a little volume, entitled _desiderius; or, the original pilgrim, a divine dialogue, showing the most compendious way to arrive at the love of god. rendered into english, and explained, with notes._ by laurence howel, a.m. london; printed by william redmayne, for the author, . in the preface he tells us, that the work was originally written in spanish; afterwards translated into italian, french, high-dutch and low-dutch, and about the year into latin from the high-dutch, by laurentius surius. there were subsequently two more latin versions: one by vander meer, from the french and dutch copies, compared with the original; and another by antonius boetzer in . the author's name, he says, was unknown to all the editors, and the several editions had different titles; by some it was called the _treasure of devotion_, by others the _compendious way to salvation_. the last, however (boetzer's, i presume), bears that of _desiderius_. as this was the author's title, mr. howel adopted it for his translation, adding, he says, that of the _original pilgrim_, to distinguish it from others of the same name, or very like it. he there informs us that mr. royston (the distinguished publisher in charles ii.'s and james ii.'s reigns) had declared that bishop patrick took his _parable of the pilgrim_ from it, and that it had formed the ground-work of the writings of many authors in that style. can any of your readers give me the titles of the editions in spanish, or any language, of this interesting little book? i should be much obliged for any information regarding it. is howel's little translation scarce? has the authorship of the original ever been hinted at? richard hooper. university club, march . . _the churchwardens' accounts, &c., of st. mary-de-castro, leicester._--nichols, in his _history of leicestershire_, has given numerous extracts from the accounts of this ancient collegiate establishment (founded in ), and also from a book relating to the religious guild of the trinity connected with the church. all these documents have now, however, entirely disappeared,--how, or at what period since the publication of the work, is unknown; but i find by a newspaper-cutting in my possession (unfortunately without date or auctioneer's name), that a very large collection of ancient documents, filling several boxes, and relating to this church and others in the county, was sold by auction in london some years ago, probably between the years and . i shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents can inform me in whose possession they now are, and if they can be consulted. leicestrensis. _aristotle and pythagoras._--what reason (if any) is there for supposing that aristotle derived his philosophy from pythagoras himself? d. k. _when deans first styled very reverend._--can any of your correspondents state at what period deans of cathedrals were first designated as "very reverend?" forty years ago they prayed at christ church, oxford, for the reverend the deans, the canons, &c. the inscription on the stone covering the remains of sir richard kaye, bart., dean of lincoln, who died in , terms him "the reverend." x. x. _form of prayer at the healing_ (vol. iii., pp. . . .).--as my note on this subject has been misunderstood, i would prefer this query. what is the earliest edition of the prayer book in which the form for the healing appears? mr. lathbury states , which is i believe the generally received date; but it is found in one printed in london in immediately before the articles. its appearance in the prayer book is entirely unauthorised; and it would be curious to ascertain also, whether it found a place in the prayer books printed at oxford or cambridge. n. e. r. (a subscriber). { } _west chester._--in maps of cheshire, , and perhaps later, the city of chester is thus called. why is it so designated? it does not appear to be so called now. passing through a village only six miles from london last week, i heard a mother saying to a child, "if you are not a good girl i will send you to west chester." "go to bath" is common enough; but why should either of these places be singled out? the cheshire threat seems to have been in use for some time, unless that city is still called west chester. john francis x. _the milesians._--with respect to the origin of the milesian race little seems to be known, even by antiquaries who have given their attention to the archæology of ireland, the inhabitants of which country are reputed to have been of milesian origin. the milesian race, also, is thought to have come over from spain, a conjecture which is rather confirmed by the etymology of the names of some irish towns, where the letters _gh_, as in drogheda and aghada, if so convertible, have the same pronunciation as the spanish _j_ in aranjuez and badajoz, and also by the expression and cast of features marked in many of the peasants of the south-west of ireland, which strikingly resemble those of the children of spain. there is also another subject of antiquity in ireland, and closely connected with her early history, of the true origin of which the world seems much in ignorance, viz. her round towers. possibly some of your able correspondents will kindly supply some information on one or both of these subjects. w. r. m. _round robbin._--in dr. heylin's controversy with fuller on his church history, the following quotation[ ] occurs: "that the sacrament of the altar is nothing else but a piece of bread, or a little _predie round robbin_." in the east riding of yorkshire the term is designative of a petition, in which all the names are signed radiating from a centre, so as to render it impossible to discover who was the first to sign it. what is the derivation of it? r. w. e. cor. chr. coll., cambridge. [footnote : _appeal of injured innocence_, p. .] _experto crede roberto._--what is the origin of this saying? n. b. _captain howe._-- captain howe, the king's (george ii.) nephew by an illegitimate source."--_pictorial history of england_, iv. . can you inform me how this captain was thus related to george ii.? f. b. relton. _bactria._--can you refer me to a work worthy the name of _the history of bactria_, or to detached information concerning bactriana, under the scythian kings? i also want a guide to the græco-bactrian series of coins. blowen. * * * * * replies. the family of the tradescants. (vol. ii., pp. . .) the family of the tradescants is involved in considerable obscurity, and the period of the arrival of the first of that name in england is not, for a certainty, known. there were, it seems, three of the tradescants at one time in this country--grandfather, father, and son. john tradescant (or tradeskin, as he was generally called by his contemporaries) the elder was, according to anthony wood, a fleming or a dutchman. he probably came to england about the latter end of the reign of elizabeth, or in the beginning of that of james the first. he is reported to have been a great traveller, and to have previously visited barbary, greece, egypt, and other eastern countries. upon his first arrival here he is said to have been successively gardener to the lord treasurer salisbury, lord weston, the duke of buckingham, and other noblemen of distinction. in these situations he remained until the office of royal gardener was bestowed upon him in . to john tradescant the elder, posterity is mainly indebted for the introduction of botany in this kingdom. "he, by great industry, made it manifest that there is scarcely any plant existing in the known world, that will not, with proper care, thrive in our climate." in a visit made by sir w. watson and dr. mitchell to tradescant's garden in , an account of which is inserted in the _philosophical transactions_, vol. xlvi. p. ., it appears that it had been many years totally neglected, and the house belonging to it empty and ruined; but though the garden was quite covered with weeds, there remained among them manifest footsteps of its founder. they found there the _borago latifolia sempervivens_ of caspar bauhine; _polygonatum vulgare latifolium_, c.b.; _aristolochia clematitis recta_, c.b.; and the _dracontium_ of dodoens. there were then remaining two trees of the _arbutus_, which from their being so long used to our winters, did not suffer from the severe cold of - , when most of their kind were killed in england. in the orchard there was a tree of the _rhamnus catharticus_, about twenty feet high, and nearly a foot in diameter. there are at present no traces of this garden remaining. in the ashmolean library is preserved (no. .) a folio manuscript (probably in the handwriting of the elder tradescant) which purports to be "the tradescants' orchard, illustrated in sixty-five coloured drawings of fruits, exhibiting various kinds of the apple, cherry, damson, date, { } gooseberry, peares, peaches, plums, nectarines, grape, hasell-nutt, quince, strawberry, with the times of their ripening." old john tradescant died in the year , at which period he was probably far advanced in years, leaving behind him a son (also of the same name) who seems to have inherited his father's talents and enthusiasm. there is a tradition that john tradescant the younger entered himself on board a privateer going against the algerines, that he might have an opportunity of bringing apricot-trees from that country. he is known to have taken a voyage to virginia, whence he returned with many new plants. the two tradescants were the means of introducing a variety of curious species into this kingdom, several of which bore their name. tradescants' _spiderwort_ and _aster_ are well known to this day, and linnæus has immortalised them among the botanists by making a new genus under their names of the _spiderwort_, which had been before called _ephemeron_. when the elder tradescant first settled in england, he formed a curious collection of natural history, coins, medals, and a great variety of "uncommon rarities." a catalogue of them was published in mo. in the year , by his son, under the name of _museum tradescantianum_; to which are prefixed portraits, both of the father and son, by hollar. this museum or "ark," as it was termed, was frequently visited by persons of rank, who became benefactors thereto; among these were charles the first, henrietta maria (his queen), archbishop laud, george duke of buckingham, robert and william cecil, earls of salisbury, and many other persons of distinction: among them also appears the philosophic john evelyn, who in his _diary_ has the following notice: "sept. , , i went to see sir robert needham, at lambeth, a relation of mine, and thence to john tradescant's museum." "thus john tradeskin starves our wondering eyes by boxing up his new-found rarities." ashmole, in his _diary_ (first published by charles burman in ), has three significant entries relating to the subject of our notice, which i transcribe _verbatim_: "decem. , . mr. tredescant and his wife told me they had been long considering upon whom to bestow their closet of curiosities when they died, and at last had resolved to give it unto me. "april , . mr. john tredescant died. "may , . this easter term i preferred a bill in chancery against mrs. tredescant, for the rarities her husband had settled on me." the success of ashmole's suit is well known; but the whole transaction reflects anything but honour upon his name. the loss of her husband's treasures probably preyed upon the mind of mrs. tradescant; for in the _diary_ before quoted, under april , , ashmole says: "my wife told me that mrs. tradescant was found drowned in her pond. she was drowned the day before at noon, as appears by some circumstance." this was the same hesther tradescant who erected the tradescant monument in lambeth churchyard. she was buried in the vault where her husband and his son john (who "died in his spring") had been formerly laid. the table monument to the memory of the tradescants was erected in . the sculptures on the four sides are as follows, viz. on the _north_, a crocodile, shells, &c., and a view of some egyptian buildings; on the _south_, broken columns, corinthian capitals, &c., supposed to be ruins in greece, or some eastern country; on the _east_, tradescant's arms, on a bend three fleurs-de-lys, impaling a lion passant; on the _west_, a hydra, and under it a skull; various figures of trees, &c., in relievo, adorn the four corners of the tomb; over it is placed a handsome tablet of black marble. the monument, by the contribution of some friends to their memory, was in the year repaired, and (according to sir john hawkins) the following lines, "_formerly_ intended for an epitaph, inserted thereon." other authorities say that they were merely _restored_. "know, stranger, ere thou pass beneath this stone, lye john tradescant, grandsire, father, son; the last dy'd in his spring; the other two liv'd till they had travell'd art and nature through, as by their choice collections may appear, of what is rare, in land, in sea, in air; whilst they (as homer's _iliad_ in a nut) a world of wonders in one closet shut; these famous antiquarians that had been _both gardeners to the rose and lily queen_, transplanted now themselves, sleep here; and when angels shall with their trumpets waken men, and fire shall purge the world, these hence shall rise, and change this garden for a paradise." a number of important errors concerning this once celebrated family have been made by different writers. sir john hawkins, in a note to his edition of walton's _angler_ (edit. , p. .), says: "there were, it seems, three of the tradescants, grandfather, father, and son: the son is the person here meant: the two former were gardeners to queen elizabeth, and the latter to king charles i." the epitaph above quoted satisfactorily proves, i think, that the tradescants were never gardeners to the maiden queen. "the rose and lily queen" was certainly henrietta maria, the queen of charles the first. i have now before me (from the cabinet of a friend) a small silver medal struck to commemorate the marriage of charles the first. it has on the obverse the busts of charles and henrietta, the sun shining from the clouds above { } them: the inscription is ch: mag: et: hen: ma: brit: rex: et: reg. the reverse contains in the field, cupid mixing _lilies with roses_; the legend being fvndit: amor: lilia: mixta: rosis. in the exergue is the date . the tradescant mentioned by walton in was the _second_ of that name, not the son, as stated by sir john hawkins. the editor of the last edition of evelyn's _diary_ (vol. ii. p. .) says, speaking of the tradescants: "they were all eminent gardeners, travellers, and collectors of curiosities. the two first came into this country in the reign of james i., and the second and third were employed in the royal gardens by charles i." here is a _positive_ statement that the elder tradescant and his son came into england in the reign of _james i._ but there is no _proof_ of this given. it is merely the writer's assertion. at the end of the same note, speaking of tradescant's ark, the editor observes: "it formed the foundation of the ashmolean museum at oxford, and a catalogue of its contents was printed by the youngest john tradescant in , with the title of _museum tradescantianum_. he died in ." it was not the _youngest_ john tradescant that died in , but the _oldest_, the _grandfather_--the first of that name that settled in england. the following is a list of the portraits of the tradescant family now in the ashmolean museum; both father and son are in these portraits called _sir_ john, though it does not appear that either of them was ever knighted. mr. black, in his excellent catalogue of the ashmolean library, also calls the elder tradescant _sir_ john. (see p. .) . sir john tradescant, sen., three-quarter size, ornamented with fruit, flowers, and garden roots. . the same, after his decease. . the same, a small three-quarter piece, in water colours. . a large painting of his wife, son, and daughter, quarter-length. . sir john tradescant, junior, in his garden, with a spade in his hand, half-length. . the same with his wife, half-length. . the same, with his friend zythepsa of lambeth, a collection of shells, &c. upon a table before them. . a large quarter piece inscribed sir john tradescant's second wife and son. granger says he saw a picture at a gentleman's house in wiltshire, which was not unlike that of the deceased tradescant, and the inscription was applicable to it: "mortuus haud alio quam quo pater ore quiesti, quam facili frueris nunc quoque nocte doces." i may add, in conclusion, that several beautiful drawings of the tradescant monument in lambeth churchyard are preserved in the pepysian library. these drawings were engraved for the _philosophical transactions_, vol. lxiii. p. .; and are printed from the same plates in the _bibliotheca topographica britannica_, vol. ii. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * meaning of venville. (vol. iii., pp. . .) i observe, in p. . of the present volume, that two correspondents, p. and k., have contributed conjectures as to the meaning and origin of the term _venville_, noticed and explained _antè_, p. . the _origin_ of the word is of course to some extent open to conjecture; but they may rest assured that the _meaning_ of it is not, nor ever has been, within the domain of mere conjecture with those who have had any opportunities of inquiry in the proper quarter. the term has not the slightest reference to the ceremony of delivering possession, which p. has evidently witnessed in the case of his father, and which lawyers call livery of seisin; nor is there on dartmoor any such word as _ven_ signifying peat, or as _fail_, signifying turf. no doubt a fen on the moor would probably contain "black earth or peat," like most other mountain bogs; and if (as k. says) _fail_ means a "turf or flat clod" in scotland, i think it probable that a scotchman on dartmoor might now and then so far forget himself as to call peat or turf by a name which would certainly not be understood by an aboriginal devonian. the local name of the peat or other turf cut for fuel is _vaggs_, and this has perhaps been confounded in the recollection of k.'s informant with _ven_. at all events, i can assure both p. and k. (who, i presume, are not familiar with the district) that the tenants of venville lands have no functions to perform, as such, in any degree connected with either turf-cutting, or "fenging fields," and that they do not necessarily, or generally, occupy peat districts, or rejoice in "all the infections that the sun sucks up from bogs, fens, flats," &c.; but, on the contrary, they are the owners of some of the most valuable, salubrious, and picturesque purlieus of the forest. with regard to the name "fengfield," although i am pretty familiar with the records of the forest extant for the last five hundred years past, i do not remember that it is ever so named or spelt in the muniments of the manor or forest. it is so written by risdon, and in some few other documents entitled to little weight, and from which no safe inference can be drawn. whatever be the etymological origin of the term, it should be assumed as indisputable by any one who may hereafter exercise his ingenuity or his fancy upon it, that the four most prominent { } incidents to the tenure are-- . payment of fines; . situation in an ancient vill; . attendance on the lord's court; . enjoyment of certain rights of common. it may be that neither the _fine_ nor the _vill_ forms a component part of the name; but k. need have no scruple in believing that an abbreviated latin or "legal term" (invented, of course, by the stewards or bailiffs of the lord) may have become naturalised among those of the inhabitants of the moor whom it concerns. the tenants or retainers of a manor have no alternative but to submit to any generic name by which the steward may please to distinguish them. thus the "priors" and "censors" of dartmoor forest are content to be called by those names, because they were designated as "prehurdarii" and "censarii" in the court rolls some hundred years ago. the tenants of a certain lordship in cornwall know and convey their tenements by the name of _landams_ to this day, merely because the stewards two hundred years ago, when the court rolls were in latin, well knowing that _landa_ was the latin for _land_, and that transitive verbs in that language require an accusative case, recorded each tenant as having taken of the lord "unam landam, vocatam tregollup," &c. indeed so easily does a clipt exotic take root and become acclimated among the peasantry of the moor, whose powers of appropriation are so much disparaged by the sceptical doubts of k., that since the establishment of local courts the terms _fifa_ and _casa_ have become familiar to them as household words and the name and uses of that article of abbreviated latinity called a '_bus_ are, as i am credibly informed, not unknown to them. e. smirke. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _newburgh hamilton_ (vol. iii, p. ).--in thomas whincop's _list of dramatic authors_, &c., the following notice of hamilton occurs:-- "mr. newburgh hamilton. a gentleman, who i think was related to, at least lived in the family of duke _hamilton_; he wrote two plays, called i. _the doating lovers_, or _the libertine tam'd_; a comedy acted at the theatre in _lincoln's inn_-_fields_, in the year , with no success: but supported to the third night, for the author's benefit; when the boxes and pit were laid together at the unusual price of six shillings each ticket. ii. _the petticoat plotter_; a comedy of two acts, performed at the theatre royal in _drury-lane_." t. c. t. _pedigree of owen glendower_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a contributor who is not a cambrian, sends the following pedigree of owen glyndowr, with the authority from whence he has obtained it, viz. harl. ms. ., robert glover's book of pedigrees and arms, drawn up in part about . h. e. lewellinus ultimus princeps walliæ. | |____________ | philip ap yevor, == unica, filia lord of iscoyd. | et hæres. |_____________ | | thomas ap llyn ap === alionora, owen ap meredeth | filia et ap owen ap rhese | hæres. ap griffin ap rese ap | thewdor. | __________________|____ | | | filia nupta tudor | ap grono. | |_________________________________ | madocus | | | griffith, dominus de bromfeld, == filia jacobi | obiit , sepultus apud valcraeys. | audley | | | | | ______________________________________|____________ | | | | | | madoc vichan, dñs leonlinus, griffith vawer filius, | de bromfeld, cujus dñs de gwynn, dñs de dñs de | custôdiam in minori chirke yale avus owyn kynllieth. | ætate, rex h. . glyndore | dedit johanni com. | | warennæ, , qui | | adificavit castrum | | de holt. | | | ______| | | griffith vichan, === elena. pater owyn | glyndoure | ____________| | owen glyndowre proditor rex h. . | | alicia, filia et hæres, nupta ---- scudamore. johannis scudamore, miles, duxit filiam et hæredam oweni glendoure proditoris regis h. . { } _mind your p's and q's_ (vol. iii., p. .)--this expression arose from the ancient custom of hanging a slate behind the alehouse door, on which was written p. or q. (i. e. _pint_ or _quart_) against the name of each customer, according to the quantity which he had drunk, and which was not expected to be paid for till the saturday evening, when the wages were settled. the expression so familiar to schoolboys of "_going tick_," may perhaps be traced to this, a _tick_ or mark being put for every glass of ale. c. de la pryme. _the sempecta at croyland_ (vol. iii., p. .).--he was not there, however; and i am sorry to say, i do not remember where he was personally, or exactly where the account of him is to be found. i have no doubt of its being in one or other of the fourteen volumes of martene's _thesaurus et amplissima collectio_. i do not now possess those books, and have not access to them; but i think your correspondent will find what he wants without much difficulty if (as i suspect) it is with some other pieces in rhyme, and therefore likely to catch the eye in turning over a volume chiefly in prose. perhaps the name "francis" may be in the index. if he does not, i shall be happy to seek for information. s. r. maitland. gloucester. _solid-hoofed pigs_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i saw a pig of this kind a few years ago, in possession of sir william homan, bart., of dromroe, near cappoquin, in the county of waterford. i do not know whether he has any of that breed at present; but have little doubt that a note, addressed to sir william on the subject, would receive a courteous reply. h. c. thurles, april . . _porci solide-pedes_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a correspondent of "notes and queries" inquires about the breed of solid-hoofed pigs. some years, perhaps twenty years, ago there were several pigs of that sort in the possession of robert ramsden, esq., of coulton hall, notts, of which he was good enough to give some to my father. i believe they were considered of chinese origins, but how remotely i do not know. they were very easily fattened, but always of small size; and i think, unless my memory much deceives me, on removing the horny portion of the hoof, the rudiments of a cloven hoof, like that of the ordinary swine, were to be seen. e. g. selwyn. blackheath, april . . _sir henry slingsby's diary_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the council of "the camden society" will no doubt be pleased to find that your correspondents are good enough to keep in view the welfare of that society, and to suggest works suitable for their publication. if sir henry slingsby's _diary_ had never been published, it would indeed have been an excellent book for the camden society; but be kind enough to inform your correspondent p. b. that, besides some quotations printed in seward's _anecdotes_, and large extracts published at edinburgh, in an octavo volume, in , the whole _diary_, with a great deal of illustrative matter relating to the slingsby family, was published in one volume, vo., london, , under the very competent editorship of the rev. daniel parsons, of oriel college, oxford. it appears from the preface to that publication, that the original ms. is not now known to be in existence. mr. parsons printed from a copy of the original, made by sir savile slingsby, in - , which then remained at scriven. ettie. _criston, somerset_ (vol. iii., p. .).--perhaps priston is the place inquired for. this is a village near keynshem, where a mr. _vaughan_ jenkins has some property. _criston_, as a place in somerset, is unknown to j. bath, april . _criston_ (vol. iii., p. .).--there is a small village in somersetshire called christon, about five miles n.w. of axbridge. c. i. r. _tradesmen's signs_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in the delightful little volume on chaucer, in knight's shilling series, entitled _pictures of english life_, the author has the following on the tabard, at p. .:-- "the sign and its supports were removed in , when all such characteristic features of the streets of london in the olden time, disappeared _in obedience to a parliamentary edict_ for their destruction." it would appear, however, by the subsequent quotation from brand's _antiquities_, vol. ii. p. ., that the edict above referred to was not carried into execution against all signs; or that, if so, it was soon repealed:-- "lord thurlow, in his speech for postponing the further reading of the surgeons' incorporation bill, july th, , stated 'that by a statute still in force, the barbers and surgeons were each to use a pole.'" r. w. e. cor. chr. coll., cambridge. _emendation of a passage in virgil_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the emendation of scriblerus is certainly objectionable, and by no means satisfactory, for these reasons:-- st. "ac sunt in spatio" is by no means elegant latin, which "addunt se in spatia" is; for the word "addunt" is constantly used in the same way elsewhere. nd. the word "spatium" is seldom used to signify a chariot course. "spatia," the plural, was the proper expression, and is only so deviated from in poetry in a single instance. (juv. _sat._ vi. .) it is used in { } the plural in virg. _Æn_. v. . . .; statius, _theb._ vi. .; horace, _epist._ . xiv. . _vide_ smith's _dictionary of antiquities_, under art. circus, p. . surely there is nothing unintelligible in the expression, "addunt se in spatia," which is the reading given in almost all the best editions. j. e. m. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. archdeacon cotton, whose endeavours to ascertain and record the succession of the prelates and members of the cathedral bodies in ireland are probably known to many of our readers (at least, by the queries which have appeared in our columns), has just completed his _fasti ecclesiæ hiberniæ_, in vols. vo. from the nature of the work, it is obvious that it could never have been undertaken with a view to profit. the printing, &c., has cost upwards of six hundred pounds, and the archdeacon, naturally unwilling to lose the whole of this outlay, is circulating a prospectus offering copies at fifty shillings the set. of these, there are but two hundred. the utility of a book which contains the names and preferments of every occupant of an irish see, dignity, or prebend, from the earliest period to the present day, so far as existing materials permits, is so obvious, that it can scarcely be doubted that it must eventually find a place in all public and official libraries. catalogues received.--j. miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. xxii. of books old and new; d. nutt's ( . strand) list of valuable books, foreign theology, canon law, monastic history, fathers of the church, &c.; nattali and bond's ( . bedford street, covent garden) catalogue of ancient and modern books in all languages; w. heath's ( ½. lincoln's inn fields) catalogue no. iii. for , of valuable second-hand books in all classes of literature; t. d. thomson's ( . upper king street, russell square) catalogue part xiv. of second-hand books english and foreign; j. tupling's ( . strand) catalogue of books on divinity, so classified as to form a guide to students in their choice; j. lilly's ( . pall mall) catalogue no. iii. of valuable books relating to english history, antiquities, &c.; olive lasbury's ( . park street, bristol) catalogue no. xi. of books now on sale; j. petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue part cxxii. of books old and new; w. s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) catalogue no. lxviii. of cheap second-hand books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. history of jenny spinner, the hertfordshire girl, written by herself. london. mo. j. wheble, warwick square. . anti-jacobin review. vols. li. and lii. britton's architectural antiquities. vol. iii., no. ., giving an account of st. nicholas' chapel in king's lynn, by rev. edw. edwards, with plate. _s_. will be given for this _separate number_. the prophetic messenger, edited by rev. j. baylee of birkenhead, nos. . and . la prison de dartmoor, ou rÉcit historique des infortunes, &c., des prisonniers franÇais en angleterre, &c. par l. catel. vo. tomes. paris, . cureton, pillar of the creed of the sunnites. pond's catalogue of stars reduced from observations made at greenwich from to . taylor, a general catalogue of the principal fixed stars, madras, . macdonald, dissertatio de necrose et callo, . edinburgh. dieffenback, travels in new zealand. to. . dianÆ (anton.) resolutionum moralium summa. to. * * * letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. our progress in the colonies. _we cannot resist bringing before our readers the following passage from a letter which accompanied some very interesting communications from_ adelaide, south australia, _received by us this week_:-- "_a lover and a student of all that is interesting or curious in literary antiquity_, _my position necessarily debars me from all access to original manuscripts_, _and to such volumes as are only to be found in large public libraries_; _and also keeps me in ignorance of much that is going on in the literary world_. _thus there is a blank in the course of my favourite study which is well filled up by your excellent and interesting periodical_. _it is indeed a great boon to all situated as i am at a distance from the fountain head of antiquarian knowledge._" _such an acknowledgment of our utility to our brethren abroad_, _is most gratifying to us_. _we trust those of our readers who have friends and relatives who are fond of literary pursuits_, _resident in the colonies_, _will do them and us the kindness of directing their attention to_ "notes and queries." v. _is requested to say how we can address a letter to him_. w. p. a. the catalogue of sir t. phillip's mss. _is privately printed_. _there are copies_, _we believe_, _at the bodleian_, _the athenæum_, _and the society of antiquaries._ e. b. p. _correct in this supposition._ w. a. _the camden society could not undertake the publication of the proposed_ monumentarium anglicanum, _without neglecting the objects for which it was more immediately instituted_. d. k.'s _query was in type before we received his reminder_. _we do not acknowledge the receipt of queries_, _from an anxiety not to occupy space unnecessarily_. c. w. _and_ b. w. e. _are both thanked for the friendly tone of their communications_. x. y. z. hallam's literature of europe. _the supplemental notes on the_ literature of europe _have not yet been incorporated in any edition of that work_. _they form a separate volume adapted to all the existing editions._ monumentarium anglicanum. _we continue to receive valuable communications upon this subject_, _which we shall take an early opportunity of bringing before our readers._ de h. _a private communication awaits this correspondent_. _will he furnish us with his address?_ _among many communications which we are this week obliged to postpone for want of room_, _we may mention_ mr. peter cunningham's _reply to_ mr. foss _on the_ outer temple--_an interesting paper on_ the lay of the last minstrel, _and many replies_. replies received. _post conquestum--quakers' attempt to convert the pope--statute sessions or sittings--thanksgiving book--locke mss.--poetry of the anti-jacobin--nullis fraus, &c.--meaning of tye--apple pie order--lancelot lyttelton--villenage--god takes those soonest--sir h. slingsby--inscription on a clock--christ's cross row--four want ways--francis moore--witte van hemstede--dutch church, peter sterry, &c.--mistletoe--obeism--san graal--cleopatra--auriga--shakespeare's use of delighted--dutch books._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index_, _may still be had_, _price_ s. d. _each_. notes and queries _may be procured_, _by order_, _of all booksellers and newsvenders_. _it is published at noon on friday_, _so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly_. _many of the country booksellers_, _&c_., _are_, _probably_, _not yet aware of this arrangement_, _which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * { } the gentleman's magazine for may contains, among other articles:--the sayings of charles ii, by peter cunningham, esq., being chapter v. of the story of nell gwyn.--fourier and fourierism.--a few facts about radulph agas, the land surveyor.--history of the puritans.--historical illustrations of the reign of henry vii. from the municipal archives of york.--original letter of lady mary wortley montagu.--biography of william penn.--the archæology of scotland (with several engravings).--origin and development of window tracery in england, &c. &c. with notes of the month, review of new publications, reports of antiquarian and other societies, historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of the earl of harrington, the earl of meath, lord dacre, lord de l'isle and dudley, lord moncrieff, sir alexander hood, alderman sir john pirie, lt.-gen. sir dudley hill, capt. j. d. cunningham, charles kirkpatrick sharpe, esq., t. s. davies, esq., and other eminent persons recently deceased. price s. d. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * provident life office, . regent street. city branch: . royal exchange buildings. established . policy holders' capital, , , l. annual income, , l.--bonuses declared, , l. claims paid since the establishment of the office, , , l. _president._ the right honourable earl grey. _directors._ the rev. james sherman, _chairman._ henry blencowe churchill, esq., _deputy-chairman._ henry b. alexander, esq. george dacre, esq. william judd, esq. sir richard d. king, bart. the hon. arthur kinnaird thomas maugham, esq. william ostler, esq. apsley pellatt, esq. george round, esq. frederick squire, esq. william henry stone, esq. capt. william john williams. j. a. beaumont, esq. _managing director._ _physician_--john maclean, m.d. f.s.s., . upper montague street, montague square. nineteen-twentieths of the profits are divided among the insured. examples of the extinction of premiums by the surrender of bonuses. ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | bonuses added | | date | sum | | subsequently, to be | | of | insured. | original premium. | further increased | | policy. | | | annually. | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | £ |£ extinguished| £ | | | | ditto | | | | | ditto | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- examples of bonuses added to other policies. ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | total with additions, | | policy | date. | sum | bonuses | to be further | | no. | | insured. | added. | increased. | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | £ | £ | £ | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained upon application to the agents of the office, in all the principal towns of the united kingdom, at the city branch, and at the head office, no. . regent street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. valuable new principle. payment of premiums may be occasionally suspended without forfeiting the policy, on a new and valuable plan, adopted by this society only, as fully detailed in the prospectus. a. scratchley, m.a., actuary and secretary; author of "industrial investment and emigration; being a second edition of a treatise on benefit building societies, &c." price _s_. d. london: j. w. parker, west strand. * * * * * the general land drainage and improvement company. incorporated by act of parliament, and vict. c. . directors. henry ker seymer, esq. m.p., hanford, dorset, chairman. john villiers shelley, esq. maresfield park, sussex, deputy-chairman. john chevallier cobbold, esq., m.p., ipswich. william cubitt, esq., great george street, westminster. henry currie, esq., m.p., west horsley, surrey. thomas edward dicey, esq., claybrook hall, lutterworth. william fisher hobbs, esq., boxted lodge, colchester. edward john hutchins, esq., m.p., eaton square, london. samuel morton peto, esq., m.p., great george street. colonel george alexander reid, m.p., bulstrode park, bucks. william tite, esq., f.r.s., lowndes square, london. william wilshere, esq., the frythe, welwyn, herts. this company is empowered to execute-- . all works of drainage (including outfalls through adjoining estates), irrigation, reclaiming, enclosing, and otherwise improving land. . to erect farm homesteads, and other buildings necessary for the cultivation of land. . to execute improvements, under contract, with commissioners of sewers, local boards of health, corporations, trustees, and other public bodies. . try purchase lands capable of improvement, and fettered by restrictions of entail; and having executed the necessary works, to resell them with a title communicated by the company's act. owners of entailed estates, trustees, mortgagees, corporations, incumbents, life tenants, and other persons having only limited interests may obtain the use of the company's powers to carry out every kind of permanent improvement, either by the application of their own or the company's funds, secured by a yearly charge on the property improved. proposals for the execution of works to be addressed to william clifford, secretary. offices, . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * in the press, volumes iii. and iv. of the judges of england. by edward foss, f.s.a. comprehending the period from edward i. to richard iii., to . lately published, price s. volumes i. and ii. of the same work; from the conquest to the end of henry iii., to . "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation; and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * { } gilbert's guide to london, with map, &c. this original work having long been in full preparation for publication is now ready. it is especially intended as a useful and indispensable pocket-companion to every visitor to the metropolis touring the great exhibition of . price only s. d. sewed, or s. bound; or postage free, d. extra. separate editions of the book are also issued in the french and german languages at d. each extra. now ready, in pages, demy mo., with illustrations, price, in fancy binding, only s. d., or post free, s., the second edition, dedicated to his royal highness prince albert, gilbert's popular narrative of the origin, history, progress, and prospects of the great industrial exhibition, ; with a guide to the future rules and arrangements. by peter berlyn, esq. "a useful record of the history and progressive development of the marking incident of our age and nation. the narrative is sufficiently full in its details for the general public now and hereafter."--_athenæum._ "we are bound to say that the work has been judiciously done, and the result is a very satisfactory review of all that has been effected in the way of industrial exhibitions up to the present time."--_literary gazette._ "it is a really useful volume of practical information to all exhibitors and visitors at the exhibition."--_expositor._ at least other equally laudatory criticisms have appeared in the various public journals. in a few days will be published, beautifully printed in vo., price only s. d., or postage free, s. d., illustrated by splendid pictures, engraved by george measom, dedicated to his royal highness prince albert, gilbert's description of the crystal palace; its architectural history and constructive marvels. by peter berlyn and charles fowler, jun., esqrs. the engravings will depict the various peculiarities and novelties of this wonderful building, as well as the machinery, &c., used in its construction. the combined object of the proprietor, authors, and artists, is to produce a work worthy of the occasion, and, in every sense, fit to be bought and preserved by every visitor as a memento of this universally interesting exhibition. gilbert's visitor's illustrated map of london, having in view the depicting of the principal roads and streets of the metropolis, with illustrations of its most important buildings and sights, engraved on their exact localities. this novel map will be found an interesting guide to all visitors of london. the price, in sheet, coloured, with letterpress keys and references, is _s_. d.; or in case for the pocket, s., or postage free, s. gilbert's guide to the streets of london, with with frontispiece and tables of cab fares; the rules and laws relative to metropolitan conveyances; and explanations in four languages. as a companion to the "visitor's illustrated map." with references, to enable the visitor to find his own way throughout the length and breadth of the metropolis. price d.; or, postage free, s. gilbert's key to london. on one large sheet, containing particulars of its palaces, parks, public buildings, hospitals, inns of court, bridges, gardens, museums, literary institutions, theatres, public amusements, exhibitions, cab fares, railway stations, ambassadors, bankers, hotels, docks, arcades, private galleries, curiosities, churches and chapels; cab, omnibus, and coach rules and laws; omnibus routes, environs, post-offices, steamers, foreign money tables, &c., &c. price, on a large sheet, s.; in case, s.; or postage free, s. extra; or on roller varnished, s. d. london: published by james gilbert, . paternoster row. orders received by all booksellers, stationers, &c. * * * * * [illustration] great exhibition. * * * * * central avenue. * * * * * an illustrated priced catalogue of church furniture contributed by gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, forwarded free by post on application. * * * * * parcels delivered carriage free in london, daily. * * * * * just published, no. viii., price s. d., royal to. details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples by j. k. colling, architect.--contents: font from greetwell church, lincolnshire; window from cottingham church, yorkshire; pulpit from westminster abbey; chimney shaft from southwell minster; five examples of closing rings. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, a new translation of heaven and its wonders; the world of spirits (or the intermediate region, which is the first receptacle of man after death); and hell: described by one who has heard and seen what he relates. from the latin of emanuel swedenborg. translated by the rev. samuel noble. second edition, carefully revised; with a new preface, by the translator, including explanatory notes and observations. together with the original english preface by the rev. thomas hartley, a.m., rector of winwick, northamptonshire. in vo. cloth, price s.; or without mr. hartley's preface, s. hodson, . portugal street, lincoln's inn; and all other booksellers. * * * * * instructive music.--hamilton's modern instructions for the piano, twenty-second edition, s.; his dictionary of , musical terms, thirty-fifth edition, s.; clarke's catechism of the rudiments of music, s.; clare's psalmody, books, s. each; warren's chanter's hand guide, chants, s.; psalmody, vols. each s.; his catechism of class singing, s., key to ditto, s.; his easy organ tutor, s.; hamilton's catechisms, to , each s. and s.; otto on the violin, s.; dubourg on ditto, s.; spohr's great school for the violin, s. d.; campagnoli's ditto, s.; baillot's method for the violoncello, s.; drouet's method for the flute, s.; berbiguer's method, s.; dressler's ditto, s.; richardson's method, books, s. d. each; goodban's method for the violin, s. d.; hamilton's catechism for the organ, new edition, s.; gottfried weber's complete theoretical works, by john bishop, s. d.; cherubini ditto on counterpoint and fugue, s. d.; albrechtsberger's complete theoretical works, s.; mozart's thorough bass, s.; done's ditto, s.; and danneley's encyclopædia of music, s.--london: r. cocks and co., new burlington street, publishers to her majesty.--n.b. a variety of the most elegant pianofortes (manufactured by messrs. cocks) from guineas upwards.--price list with drawings gratis, and postage free. pianos on hire at s. per month; cocks's musical miscellany for may, d., stamped, d.; s. glover's great globe quadrilles, d., stamped, d. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "between the years and " - original reads ' ' for the second date, this corrected by the errata in issue . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page proclamation of henry viii. against the possession of religious books, by joseph burtt latin: latiner inedited poems, by w. honeycombe round towers of the cyclades shakspeare correspondence, by c. mansfield ingleby, &c. general monk and the university of cambridge minor notes:--curiosities of railway literature-- cromwell's seal--rhymes upon places--tom track's ghost queries:-- jacob bobart and his dragon, &c., by h. t. bobart bishop berkeley's portrait, by dr. j. h. todd minor queries:--life--"the boy of heaven"-- bells--captain ayloff--robert johnson--selling a wife-- jock of arden--inigo jones--dean boyle--euphormio-- optical query--archbishop king--neal's manuscripts-- whence the word "cossack?"--picts' houses and argils-- the drummer's letter--the cardinal spider--new england genealogical society, &c. minor queries with answers:--dr. john harcliffe, dr. wm. cokayne, dr. samuel kettilby--"haulf naked" replies:-- the legend of lamech: hebrew etymology, by h. walter, t. j. buckton, and joseph rix lord coke's charge to the jury white roses, by james crossley burial of unclaimed corpse psalmanazar, by james crossley grafts and the parent tree photographic correspondence:--glass baths--securing calotype negatives replies to minor queries:--wood of the cross--bishops' lawn sleeves--inscriptions in books--lines quoted by charles lamb--parochial libraries--huet's navigations of solomon--derby municipal seal--annueller--rev. richard midgley, vicar of rochdale--nose of wax--canongate marriages--sculptured emaciated figures--do the sun's rays put out the fire?--spontaneous combustion--ecclesia anglicana--wyle cop--chaucer--campvere, privileges of--sir gilbert gerard--mistletoe--wild plants and their names--coninger or coningry miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. proclamation of henry viii. against the possession of religious books. the progress of the reformation in england must have been greatly affected by the extent to which the art of printing was brought to bear upon the popular mind. before the charms of anne boleyn could have had much effect, or "doubts" had troubled the royal conscience, wolsey had been compelled to forbid the introduction or printing of books and tracts calculated to increase the unsettled condition of the faith. the following proclamation, now for the first time printed, may have originated in the ineffectual result of the cardinal's directions. the readers of strype and fox will see that the threats which both contain were no idle ones, and that men were indeed "corrected and punisshed for theyr contempte and disobedience, to the terrible example of other lyke trangressours." the list of books prohibited by the order of contains all those mentioned by name in the present proclamation, except the _summary of scripture_; and it will be seen that such full, general terms are used that no obnoxious production could escape, if brought to light. the _revelation of antichrist_ was written by luther. strype does not seem to have been aware of the existence of this particular proclamation, which was issued in the year . under the year (_ecclesiastical memorials, &c._, oxford, , vol. i. part i. p. .), he thus refers to what he thought to be the first royal proclamation upon the subject: "much light was let in among the common people by the new testament and other good books in english, which, for the most part being printed beyond sea, were by stealth brought into england, and dispersed here by well-disposed men. for the preventing the importation and using of these books, the king this year issued out a strict proclamation, by the petition of the clergy now met in convocation, in the month of december. "nor was this the first time such books were prohibited to be brought in: for us small quantities of them were secretly conveyed into these parts from time to time, for the discovering, in that dark age, the { } gross papal innovations, as well in the doctrine of the sacrament as in image-worship, addressing to saints, purgatory, pilgrimages, and the like. "a previous order (in the year ) was issued by the bishop of london, by the instigation of cardinal wolsey, calling in all english translations of the scripture. and other books of this nature were then forbid." this proclamation, therefore, well merits preservation in your pages, as one of the hitherto unknown "evidences" of the terrible and trying times to which it refers. it shows, too, the value of the class of papers upon which the society of antiquaries are bestowing so much attention. the original was found among a miscellaneous collection in the chapter house, westminster. joseph burtt. a proclamation. ... nse junii anno regni metuendissimi domini nostri regis henrici octavi xxij. a proclamation, made and divysed by the kyngis highnes, with the advise of his honorable counsaile, for dampning of erronious bokes and heresies, and prohibitinge the havinge of holy scripture translated into the vulgar tonges of englische, frenche, or duche, in suche maner as within this proclamation is expressed. the kinge, oure most dradde soveraigne lorde, studienge and providynge dayly for the weale, benefite, and honour of this his most [n]oble realme, well and evidently perceiveth, that partly through the malicious suggestion of our gostly enemy, partly by the yvell and perverse inclination and sedicious disposition of sundry persons, divers heresies and erronio[us] [o]pinions have ben late sowen and spredde amonge his subjectes of this his said realme, by blasphemous and pestiferous englishe bokes, printed in other regions and sent into this realme, to the entent as well to perverte and withdrawe the people from the catholike and true fayth of christe, as also to stirre and incense them to sedition and disobedience agaynst their princes, soveraignes, and heedes, as also to cause them to contempne and neglect all good lawes, customes, and vertuous maners, to the final subversion and desolacion of this noble realme, if they myght have prevayled (which god forbyd) in theyr most cursed [p]ersuasions and malicious purposes. where upon the kynges hignes (_sic_), by his incomparable wysedome, forseinge and most prudently considerynge, hath invited and called to hym the primates of this his gracis realme, and also a sufficient nombre of discrete, vertuous, and well-lerned personages in divinite, as well of either of the universites, oxforde and cambrige, as also hath chosen and taken out of other parties of his realme; gyvinge unto them libertie to speke and declare playnly their advises, judgmentes, and determinations, concernynge as well the approbation or rejectynge of suche bokes as be in any parte suspected, as also the admission and divulgation of the olde and newe testament translated into englishe. wher upon his highnes, in his owne royall person, callynge to hym the said primates and divines, hath seriously and depely, with great leisure and longe deliberation, consulted, debated, inserched, and discussed the premisses: and finally, by all their free assentes, consentes, and agrementes, concluded, resolved, and determyned, that these bokes ensuynge, that is to say, the boke entitled the wicked mammona, the boke named the obedience of a christen man, the supplication of beggars, and the boke called the revelation of antichrist, the summary of scripture, and divers other bokes made in the englisshe tonge, and imprinted beyonde y^e see, do conteyne in them pestiferous errours and blasphemies; and for that cause, shall from hensforth be reputed and taken of all men, for bokes of heresie, and worthy to be dampned, and put in perpetuall oblivion. the kingis said highnes therfore straitly chargeth and commandeth, all and every his subjectes, of what astate or condition so ever he or they be, as they wyll avoyde his high indignacion and most grevous displeasure, that they from hensforth do not bye, receyve, or have, any of the bokes before named, or any other boke, beinge in the englisshe tonge, and printed beyonde the see, of what matter so ever it be, or any copie written, drawen out of the same, or the same bokes in the frenche or duche tonge. and to the entent that his highnes wylbe asserteyned, what nombre of the said erronious bokes shal be founde from tyme to tyme within this his realme, his highnes therfore chargeth and commaundeth, that all and every person or persones, whiche hath or herafter shall have, any boke or bokes in the englisshe tonge, printed beyonde the see, as is afore written, or any of the sayde erronious bokes in the frenche or duche tonge: that he or they, within fyftene dayes nexte after the publisshynge of this present proclamation, do actually delyver or sende the same bokes and every of them to the bisshop of the diocese, wherin he or they dwelleth, or to his commissary, or els before good testimonie, to theyr curate or parisshe preest, to be presented by the same curate or parisshe preest to the sayd bisshop or his commissary. and so doynge, his highnes frely pardoneth and acquiteth them, and every of them, of all penalties, forfaitures, and paynes, wherin they have incurred or fallen, by reason of any statute, acte, ordinaunce, or proclamation before this tyme made, concernynge any offence or transgression by than commytted or done, by or for the kepynge or holdynge of the sayde bokes. forseen and provided alwayes, that they from hensforth truely do observe, kepe, and obey this { } his present gracis proclamation and commaundement. also his highnes commaundeth all mayres, sheriffes, bailliffes, constables, bursholders, and other officers and ministers within this his realme, that if they shall happen by any meanes or wayes to knowe that any person or persons do herafter bye, receyve, have, or deteyne any of the sayde erronious bokes, printed or written anywhere, or any other bokes in englisshe tonge printed beyonde the see, or the saide erronious bokes printed or written in the frenche or duche tonge, contrarie to this present proclamation, that they beinge therof well assured, do immediatly attache the said person or persons, and brynge hym or them to the kynges highnes and his most honorable counsayle; where they shalbe corrected and punisshed for theyr contempte and disobedience, to the terrible example of other lyke transgressours. moreover his highnes commaundeth, that no maner of person or persons take upon hym or them to printe any boke or bokes in englisshe tonge, concernynge holy scripture, not before this tyme printed within this his realme, untyll suche tyme as the same boke or bokes be examyned and approved by the ordinary of the diocese where the said bokes shalbe printed: and that the printer therof, upon every of the sayde bokes beinge so examyned, do sette the name of the examynour or examynours, with also his owne name, upon the saide bokes, as he will answere to the kynges highnes at his uttermost peryll. and farthermore, for as moche as it is come to the herynge of our sayde soveraigne lorde the kynge, that reporte is made by dyvers and many of his subjectes, that it were to all men not onely expedyent, but also necessarye, to have in the englisshe tonge bothe the newe testament and the olde, and that his highnes, his noble men, and prelates, were bounden to suffre them so to have it: his highnes hath therfore semblably there upon consulted with the sayde primates ... discrete, and well lerned personages, in divinite forsayde, and by them all it is thought, that it is not necessary th ... to be in the englisshe tonge, and in the handes of the commen people; but that the distrib ... the said scripture ... denyenge therof dependeth onely upon the discretion of the superiours, as ... to the malignite of this present tyme, with the inclination of the people to erroni ... the olde in to the vulgare tonge of englysshe, shulde rather be the occasyon of ... people, than any benfyte or commodite to warde the weale of their soules. and ... e have the holy scripture expouned to them by preachers in theyr sermons, ac ... this tyme, all be it if it shall here after appere to the kynges highnes, that his sa ... rse, erronious, and sedicious opinyons, with the newe testment and the olde, corrup ... ge in printe: and that the same bokes and all other bokes of heresye, as well ... termynate and exiled out of this realme of englande for ever: his highnes e ... great lerned and catholyke persones, translated in to the englisshe tonge, if it sha[ll] than seme t ... conv ... his highnes at this tyme, by the hoole advise and full determination of all the said primates, and ... discrete and subs ... lerned personages of both universites, and other before expressed, and by the assent of his nobles and others of his moste hon[orab]le counsayle, wylleth and straytly commaundeth, that all and every person and persones, of what astate, degre, or condition so ever he or they be, whiche hath the newe testament or the olde translated in to englysshe, or any other boke of holy scripture so translated, beynge in printe, or copied out of the bokes nowe beinge in printe, that he or they do immediatly brynge the same boke or bokes, or cause the same to be broughte to the bysshop of the dyocese where he dwelleth, or to the handes of other the sayde persones, at the daye afore limytted, in fourme afore expressed and mencioned, as he wyll avoyde the kynges high indignation and displeasure. and that no person or persons from hensforth do bye, receyve, kepe, or have the newe testament or the olde in the englisshe tonge, or in the frenche or duche tonge, excepte suche persones as be appoynted by the kinges highnes and the bisshops of this his realme, for the correction or amending of the said translation, as they will answere to the kynges highnes at theyr uttermost perils, and wyll avoyde suche punisshement as they, doynge contrary to the purport of this proclamation shall suffre, to the dredefull example of all other lyke offenders. and his highnes further commaundeth, that all suche statutes, actes and ordinances, as before this tyme have been made and enacted, as well in y^e tyme of his moste gracious reigne, as also in the tyme of his noble progenitours, concernying heresies, and havynge and deteynynge erronyous bokes, contrary and agynst the faythe catholyke, shall immediatly be put in effectuall and due execution over and besyde this present proclamation. and god save the kynge. * * * * * tho. bertheletus, regius impressor excusit. cum privilegio. * * * * * latin--latiner. it is interesting to note the great variety of significations in which the word latin has been used. sometimes it means italian, sometimes spanish, sometimes the romance language. again, it has been used as synonymous with language, learning, discourse; or to express that a matter is plain and intelligible. { } muratori, in describing the "cangiamento dell' lingua latina nella volgare italiana," observes,-- "così a poco a poco il volgo di questa bella provincia [italia], oltre adottare moltissimi vocaboli forestieri, andò ancora alterando i proprj, cioè i latini, cambiando le terminazioni delle parole, accorciandole, allungandole, e corrompendole. in somma se ne formò un nuovo linguaggio, che _volgare_ si appellava, perchè usato dal _volgo d'italia._"--muratori, _della perfetta poesia italiana_, tomo i. p. ., ed. venez., . so boccaccio, giving an account of the intention of his poem, the "teseide," writes,-- "ma tu, o libro, primo al lor cantare di marte fai gli affanni sostenuti, nel _vulgar latino_ mai non veduti," where, as in the letter to la fiammetta, prefixed to this poem, _vulgar latino_ is evidently italian ("trovata una antichissima storia ... in _latino volgare_ ... ho ridotta"), and not the provençal tongue, as mr. craik suggests in his _literature and learning in england_, vol. ii. p. ., where he supposes boccaccio to have translated _from_, and not, as is clear, _into_, _latino volgare_. dante repeatedly uses latino for italiano, as in _purgatorio_, xi. .: "io fui latino, e nato d'un gran tosco." and in _inf._ xxii. .: "conosci tu alcun, che sia latino." in _paradiso_, iii. ., "sì che il raffigurar m' è più _latino_," _latino_ evidently means easy, clear, plain. "forse contrario di barbaro, strano," says volpi, "noi lombardi in questo significato diciamo _ladin_." the "discreto latino" of thomas aquinas, elsewhere in _paradiso_ (xii. .), must mean "sage discourse." chaucer, when he invokes the muse, in the proeme to the second book of "troilus and creseide," only asks her for rhyme, because, saith he,-- "of no sentement i this endite, but out of _latine_ in my tongue it write." where "latine," of course, means boccaccio's _filostrato_, from which chaucer's poem is taken. in the "poema del cid," _latinado_ seems to mean person conversant with the spanish or romance language of the period: "quando esta falsedad dicien los de carrion, un moro _latinado_ bien gelo entendio."--v. . mr. ticknor remarks, that when the christian conquests were pushed on towards the south of spain, the moors, who remained inclosed in the christian population, and spoke or assumed its language, were originally called _moros latinados_; and refers to the _cronica general_, where, respecting alfaraxi, a moor, afterwards converted, and a counsellor of the cid, it is said he was "de tan buen entendimento, e era tan _ladino_ que semejava christiano."--ticknor, _hist. span. lit._, iii. . cervantes (_don q._ parte i. cap. xli.) uses _ladino_ to mean spanish: "servianos de interprete a las mas destas palabras y razones el padre de zoraida como mas _ladino_." latin, in fact, was so much _the_ language as to become almost synonymous with _a_ language. so a _latiner_ was an interpreter, as it is very well expressed in selden's _table talk_, art. "language": "latimer is the corruption of _latiner_: it signifies he that interprets latin; and though he interpreted french, spanish, or italian, he was the king's latiner, that is, the king's interpreter." this use of the word is well illustrated in the following extracts: "a knight ther language lerid in youth; breg hight that knight, born bretoun, that lerid the language of sessoun. this breg was the _latimer_, what scho said told vortager."--robert de brunne's _metrical chronicle._ "par soen demein _latinier_ . . . . icil morice iert _latinier_ al rei dermot, ke mult l'out cher."--_norman-french chronicle of conquest of ireland_, edited by f. michel (as quoted in wright's _essays_, vol. ii. p. .). i here conclude, as i must not seek to monopolise space required for more valuable contributions. j. m. b. tunbridge wells. * * * * * inedited poems. i send you two poems which i have found in a little rough scrap-book of a literary character of last century, and which, not having myself met with in print, i trust you will consider worth preserving in your pages. the one styled "a scotch poem on the king and the queen of the fairies," has a vein of playful satire running through it, but i do not detect any word which justifies the ascription of its paternity to scotland. perhaps some of your readers would oblige me by indicating the source from which this poem has been taken, if it is already in print. a scotch poem on the king and the queen of the fairies. upon a time the fairy elves, being first array'd themselves, thought it meet to clothe their king in robes most fit for revelling. he had a cobweb shirt more thin than ever spider since could spin, bleach'd in the whiteness of the snow, when that the northern winds do blow. { } a rich waistcoat they did him bring, made of the troutfly's golden wing, dy'd crimson in a maiden's blush, and lin'd in humming-bees' soft plush. his hat was all of lady's love, so passing light, that it would move if any gnat or humming fly but beat the air in passing by. about it went a wreath of pearl, dropt from the eyes of some poor girl, pinch'd because she had forgot to leave clean water in the pot. his breeches and his cassock were made of the tinsel gossamer; down by its seam there went a lace drawn by an urchin snail's slow pace. no sooner was their king attir'd as never prince had been, but, as in duty was requir'd, they next array their queen. of shining thread shot from the sun and twisted into line, in the light wheel of fortune spun, was made her smock so fine. her gown was ev'ry colour fair, the rainbow gave the dip; perfumed from an amber air, breath'd from a virgin's lip. her necklace was of subtle tye of glorious atoms, set in the pure black of beauty's eye as they had been in jet. the revels ended, she put off, because her grace was warm; she fann'd her with a lady's scoff, and so she took no harm. mrs. barbauld wrote the following lines on a scroll within a kind of wreath, which hung over the chimney, the whole parlour being decorated with branches of ivy, which were made to run down the walls and hang down every pannel in festoons, at a country place called palgrave: surly winter, come not here, bluster in thy proper sphere; howl along the naked plain; there exert they joyless reign. triumph o'er the wither'd flow'r, the leafless shrub, the ruin'd bower; but our cottage come not near, other springs inhabit here, other sunshine decks our board than they niggard skies afford. gloomy winter, hence away, love and fancy scorn they sway; love, and joy, and friendly mirth shall bless this roof, these walls, this hearth, the rigor of the year control, and thaw the winter in the soul. will. honeycombe. liverpool. * * * * * round towers of the cyclades. on friday evening, nov. , , a lecture was delivered before the members of the literary and scientific institute of this island, by capt. graves, r.n., from which i have been permitted to take the following extract. the information contained in it, will doubtless be the more interesting to many of the reader of "n. & q.," when informed that the round towers of greece are fast disappearing; either from being pulled down for the erection of dwellings, or to be burnt into lime, by the greeks who dwell in their neighbourhood. what the original dimensions of these towers may have been in ancient times, or for what purposes they were erected, are alike unknown; but their present proportions are as follow, and drawn by the learned lecturer from personal observation: feet. in. "a. andros, near the port height b. zea overlooking perses bay { height { diameter { wall c. thermia { height { diameter d. serpho { height { diameter e. beach of port pharos { height { diameter { wall f. hillock, west side of pharos { height { diameter { wall g. village of herampili { height { diameter { wall to h. valley beyond villages { height { diameter { wall j. short distance west of mount elias { height { diameter { wall k. between elias and west coast { height { diameter { wall l. naxos, south-east end of the island height m. paros, north, port naussa. of this tower only a few courses of the stones are left. it is however supposed to have been of the same dimensions as that of naxos." w. w. malta. * * * * * { } shakspeare correspondence. _songs and rimes of shakspeare._--i find in mr. j. p. collier's _history of dramatic poetry_ (a work replete with dramatic lore and anecdote) the following note in p. ., vol. iii.: "the mitre and the mermaid were celebrated taverns, which the poets, wits, and gallants were accustomed to visit. mr. thorpe, the enterprising bookseller of bedford street, is in possession of a manuscript full of songs and poems, in the handwriting of a person of the name of richard jackson, all copied prior to the year , and including many unpublished pieces, by a variety of celebrated poets. one of the most curious is a song in five seven-line stanzas, thus headed: 'shakespeare's rime, which he made at the mytre in fleete streete.' it begins: 'from the rich lavinian shore;' and some few of the lines were published by playford, and set as a catch. another shorter piece is called in the margin,-- 'shakespeare's rime. give me a cup of rich canary wine, which was the mitres (drink) and now is mine; of which had horace and anacreon tasted, their lives as well as lines till now had lasted.' "i have little doubt," adds mr. collier, "that the lines are genuine, as well as many other songs and poems attributed to ben jonson, sir w. raleigh, h. constable, dr. donne, j. sylvester, and others." who was the purchaser of this precious ms.? in this age of shakspearian research, when every newly discovered relic is hailed with intense delight, may i inquire of some of your numerous readers, who seem to take as much delight as myself in whatever concerns our great dramatist and his writings, whether they can throw any light upon the subject? again: "a peculiar interest," mr. collier says, "attaches to one of the pieces in john dowland's _first book of songs_ (p. .), on account of the initials of 'w. s.' being appended to it, in a manuscript of the time preserved in the hamburgh city library. it is inserted in _england's helicon_, to., , as from dowland's _book of tablature_, without any name or initials; and looking at the character and language of the piece, it is at least not impossible that it was the work of our great dramatist, to whom it has been assigned by some continental critics. a copy of it was, many years ago, sent to the author by a german scholar of high reputation, under the conviction that the poem ought to be included in any future edition of the works of shakspeare. it will be admitted that the lines are not unworthy of his pen; and, from the quality of other productions in the same musical work, we may perhaps speculate whether shakspeare were not the writer of some other poems there inserted. if we were to take it for granted, that a sonnet in _the passionate pilgrim_, , was by shakspeare, because it is there attributed to him, we might be sure that he was a warm admirer of dowland, 'whose heavenly touch upon the lute doth ravish human sense.' however, it is more than likely, that the sonnet in which this passage is found was by barnfield, and not by shakspeare: it was printed by barnfield in , and reprinted by him in , notwithstanding the intermediate appearance of it in _the passionate pilgrim_." may i inquire if any new light has been thrown upon this disputed song since the publication of mr. collier's _lyric poems_ in ? the song is addressed to cynthia, and, as mr. collier says, is not unworthy of shakspeare's muse. as it is not of any great length, perhaps it may be thought worthy of insertion in "n. & q." "to cynthia. "my thoughts are wing'd with hopes, my hopes with love; mount, love, unto the moone in cleerest night, and say, as she doth in the heavens move, in earth so wanes and waxes my delight: and whisper this, but softly, in her eares, hope oft doth hang the head, and trust shed teares. "and you, my thoughts, that some mistrust do cary, if for mistrust my mistresse do you blame, say, though you alter, yet you do not vary, as she doth change, and yet remaine the same. distrust doth enter hearts, but not infect, and love is sweetest season'd with suspect. "if she for this with cloudes do maske her eyes, and make the heavens darke with her disdaine, with windie sighes disperse them in the skies, or with the teares dissolve them into rain. thoughts, hopes, and love return to me no more, till cynthia shine as she hath done before." j. m. g. worcester. _mr. collier's "notes and emendations:" passage in "all's well that ends well."_-- "o you leaden messengers, that ride upon the violent speed of fire, fly with false aim; move the still-peering air, that sings with piercing, do not touch my lord!" such is the text of the first folio. mr. payne collier, at p. . of his _notes and emendations_, informs us that the old corrector of his folio of reads _volant_ for "violent," _wound_ for "move," and _still-piecing_ for "still-peering." two of these substitutions are easily shown to be correct. in the _tempest_, act iii. sc. ., we read: "the elements, of whom your swords are tempered, may as well _wound the loud winds, or with bemockt-at stabs_ _kill the still-closing waters_." what is _still-closing_ but _still-piecing_, the silent reunion after severance? what is to _wound the loud winds_ but to _wound the air that sings with piercing_? but as to the third substitution, i beg permission through your pages to enter a _caveat_. if { } we had no proof from the text of shakspeare that _violent_ is the correct reading, i fancy that any reader's common sense would tell him that it is more an appropriate and trenchant term than _volant_. "what judgment would _stoop_ from this to this?" _volant_, moreover, is not english, but french, and as such is used in _henry v._; but happily, in this case, we have most abundant evidence from the text of shakspeare that he wrote _violent_ in the above passage. in _henry viii._, act i. sc. ., we have the passage, "we may outrun, by _violent swiftness_, that which we run at, and lose by over-running." in _othello_, act iii. sc. ., we have the passage, "even so my bloody thoughts, with _violent pace_, shall ne'er look back." these passages prove that _violent_ is a true shakspearian epithet for _velocity_. but how exquisitely appropriate is the epithet when applied to the velocity of a ball issuing from the mouth of a cannon: and here we have full confirmation from _romeo and juliet_, act v. sc. ., where we read: "as _violently_ as hasty powder fir'd doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb." i trust that mr. collier will not, in the teeth of such evidence, substitute _volant_ for _violent_ in correcting the text of his forthcoming edition. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * general monk and the university of cambridge. a document has recently come into my possession which may perhaps be deemed worth preserving in the pages of "n. & q." it is a letter from the university of cambridge to general monk, and, from the various corrections which occur in it, it has every appearance of being the original draft. unfortunately it is not dated; but there can, i presume, be little doubt of its having been written shortly before the assembling of the parliament in april, , which led to the restoration, and in which monk sat as member for the county of devon. the words erased in the original are here placed between parentheses, and those substituted are given in italics: my lord, as it hath pleased god to make your excell^{cie} eminently instrumental for the raising up of three gasping and dying nations, into the faire hopes and prospect of peace and settlement, so hath he engraven you (r name) in characters of gratitude upon the hearts of all (true) _to_ who_m_ (cordially wish) the welfare of _this_ church and state (are) _is_ deare and pretious. (out) from this principle it is that our university of cambridge hath, with great alacrity and unanimity, made choyse of your excellency with whom to deposite the(ire) managing of theire concernments in the succeeding parl^t, w^{ch}, if your excell^{cy} shall please to admitt into a favourable (interpretation) _acceptance_, (you will thereby) you will thereby (add) _put_ a further obligation of gratitude upon us all; w^{ch} none shalbe more ready to expresse than he who is your excell^{cies} most humble serv^t, w. d. [endorsed] to the l^d general monk. who was "w. d."? was he the then vice-chancellor? leicestriensis. * * * * * minor notes. _curiosities of railway literature._--has "bradshaw" had any reviewers? if not, an example or two from this neighbourhood, of the absurdities which reappear month after month in the time-tables, may show the necessity of them. a midland train proposes to leave gloucester at . p.m., and reach cheltenham at p.m. the great western company advertise an express train, on the _very same line_, to leave two minutes _later_ and arrive five minutes _earlier_. it is therefore obvious, that if these trains were to keep their proper time, the express must run into the slow coach in front. the great western railway company have also, in a very unassuming manner, been advertising a feat hitherto unparalleled in the annals of railway speed,--the mail from cheltenham at . a.m. to leave gloucester at . ; that is to say, seven miles, including starting, slackening speed at two or three "crossings," stopping, starting again, all in seven minutes! let the narrow gauge beat this if it can. h. h. gloucester. _cromwell's seal._--i am in possession of a fine seal; it is a beautiful engraving of the head of oliver cromwell, and was once his property: he presented it to a favourite officer, whose nephew, to whom it was bequeathed, gave it to the father of the lady from whom i received it a few years ago. thus i am in the singular position of being the _fifth_ holder of it from the protector. y. s. m. dublin. _rhymes upon places._--buckinghamshire: "brill upon the hill, oakley in the hole, shabby little ickford, dirty worminghall." h. t. ingatestow. _tom track's ghost._--the following piece of metrical romance has dwelt in my memory as long { } as i have been able to remember. i have never seen it in print, nor heard it, at least for some years, from any one else; and have not been able to discover who wrote it: "tom track he came from buenos ayres; and now, thought i, for him who cares: but soon his coming wrought me woe; he misled poll,--as you shall know. all in the togs that i had bought, with that ere tom she did consort, which gave my feelings great concern, and caused a row,--as you shall learn. so then challenge tom i did; we met, shook hands, and took a quid; i shot poor tom.--the worse for me; it brought his ghost,--as you shall see. says he, 'i'm tom track's ghost, that's flat.' says i, 'now only think on that.' says he, 'i'm come to torment you now;' which was hard lines,--as you'll allow. 'so, master ghost, belay your jaw; for if on me you claps a claw, my locker yonder will reveal, a tight rope's end, which you shall feel.' then off his winding-sheet he throwed, and by his trousers tom i knowed; he wasn't dead; but come to mess, so here's an end,--as you may guess." the _implicatio_, the _agnitio_, and the _peripetia_ are so well worked out, that aristotle would, i think, be compelled to admit it as an almost perfect specimen of that most ancient kind of drama which was recited by one actor. i refer especially to c. xxii. of the _poetics_, which says, that that _agnitio_ is most beautiful which is joined with the _peripetia_, of which here we have so striking an example. these reasons embolden me to ask if it be worth preserving in "n. & q," and who was the author? w. fraser. tor-mohun. * * * * * queries. jacob bobart and his dragon, etc. dr. zachary grey, in his edition of _hudibras_, vol. i. p. ., relates the following anecdote: "mr. jacob bobart, botany professor of oxford, did, about forty years ago (in ), find a dead rat in the physic garden, which he made to resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it mimicked wings. he let it dry as hard as possible. the learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an accurate description of it to dr. maliabechi, librarian to the grand duke of tuscany: _several fine copies of verses_ were wrote upon so rare a subject, but at last mr. bobart owned the cheat: however, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of art, and as such deposited in the anatomy schools (at oxford), where i saw it some years after." can any of the readers of "n. & q." inform me where i can procure the _several_ fine copies of verses, or where they are to be seen, and any other particulars relating to jacob bobart? where can i procure copies of the following, mentioned in wood's _athenæ oxon._, vol. iii. p. .: "poem upon mr. jacob bobards yew-man of the guards to the physic garden, to the tune of the 'counter-scuffle.' oxon. ." on one side of a sheet of paper. also: "a ballad on the gyants in the physic garden in oxon, who have been breeding feet as long as garagantua was teeth." on one side of a sheet of paper. h. t. bobart. * * * * * bishop berkeley's portrait. the following letter may perhaps have some interest in itself; but i send it for insertion in the pages of "n. & q." in the hope of obtaining some information about the pictures which it mentions. it is addressed on the back, "the reverend the provost and fellows, dublin college;" and in the corner, "pr. favour of the right hon. lord viscount molesworth;" and does not appear to have ever passed through the post. reverend sir, and gentlemen, my late dear husband, the rev. dr. berkeley, prebendary of canterbury, son of the late lord bishop of cloyne, having most generously appointed me sole executrix of his will, and having bequeathed to me all his fine collection of pictures, &c., i trouble you with this to beg to know whether a very remarkably fine, universally admired portrait of bishop berkeley, in his lawn sleeves, &c., painted by that famous artist vanderbank, which, together with its frame (now much broken by frequent removals), cost five hundred pounds: the back-ground, the frontispiece to his lordship's _minute philosopher_, and the broken cisterns from the prophet jeremiah: "they have hewn them out broken cisterns." the late archbishop of canterbury was perpetually entreating dr. berkeley to present it to the gallery of lambeth palace, where there is already a very good portrait of bishop b.--but _justice_ to my dear excellent son, then living, as dr. b. told his grace, precluded a _possibility_ of his complying with his request. if this picture will be an acceptable present to the rev. the provost, and the gentlemen fellows of the university of dublin, it is now offered for their acceptance, as a most grateful acknowledgment for the _very high_ honour[ ], they were pleased { } so graciously to confer on his lordship's only descendant, the late learned accomplished george monk berkeley, esq. (gentleman commoner of magdalene hall, in the university of oxon., and student of the inner temple, london), from his very sincerely grateful mother. some time after the death of his son, dr. berkeley told me that at my death he wished the wonderfully fine portrait of his father to be presented to some place of _consequence_. i immediately replied, "_to dublin college_." he said, "they have one already; perhaps it would be well to leave it as an heir-loom to the episcopal palace at cloyne." i said perhaps the gentlemen of dublin college would prefer this, esteemed one of the very finest pieces of painting in europe. the face certainly looks more like a fine cast in wax, than a painting on canvas, as numbers of the best judges have always exclaimed on seeing it. i request dr. berkeley's noble relation, the excellent lord molesworth, now on a visit in ireland, to deliver this, and to learn from the provost and gentlemen of the university of dublin, whether it would be agreeable to them to receive this, and transfer the one they at present have to dr. berkeley's highly respected friend, the _present_ bishop of cloyne, for the palace. lord molesworth will have the goodness to receive and transmit the answer of the provost and gentlemen to her who has the honour to subscribe herself, with the most perfect respect, their very sincerely grateful and (thro' her unspeakably dear excellent son) _most highly_ obliged, eliza berkeley. chertsey, surrey, england. the th of feb., . i cannot find any evidence to prove that this letter was ever so much as received by the university. it came into my possession amongst the papers of a private friend, a late distinguished ornament of the university, whose death has been an irreparable loss to the public, to the church of england, and to a large circle of friends. no notice of such a letter, or of so liberal a donation, is to be found in the register of the university, nor is there such a picture in our possession. i have made inquiry also, and find that it is not at cloyne. the conclusion therefore is, either that mrs. berkeley changed her mind, or that from some accident the letter never was presented: at all events, it is certain that the picture of bishop berkeley, to which it relates, was never in the possession of the university for whose halls it was intended. can any one tell me where it now is; and what was the fate of "the fine collection of pictures" which was the property of dr. berkeley of canterbury, and bequeathed by him to his widow, the writer of the above letter? j. h. todd. [footnote : this alludes to the honourable degree of ll.b. conferred upon george m. berkeley by the university of dublin, nov. , .] * * * * * minor queries. _life._--is it not the general feeling that man, in advancing years, would not like to begin his life again? i have noted that edgeworth, franklin, and sismondi express the contrary. a. c. "_the boy of heaven._"--i have a poem entitled _the boy of heaven_, copied some years ago from a manuscript. can any of your readers inform me who is the author, whether it has ever appeared in print, or give me any other information respecting it? w. p. _bells._--can any of your readers inform me why the bells of the convent of santa theresa, at madrid, alone have the privilege of tolling on good friday, in that city? in all roman catholic countries the bells on that day are forbidden to be rung; and there is no exception made, even in rome. as much has been said about the _baptizing_ of bells, as if it were a custom nearly or entirely obsolete, i beg to say that i was present at the baptizing of a bell in the south-west of france not very long ago; and have no doubt that the great bell at bordeaux, which is to have the emperor and empress as its sponsors, will undergo the full ceremony. ceridwen. _captain ayloff._--where can i find any notices of captain ayloff, one of the coadjutors of tom brown in the eccentric _letters from the dead to the living_? v. t. sternberg. _robert johnson._--perhaps some of your correspondents could give me some information relative to the pedigree of robert johnson, esq., who was a baron of the exchequer in ireland in ; his parentage and descent; his wife's name and family; his armorial bearings; and date of his birth and death. was he the robert johnson who entered trinity college, dublin, in , as a fellow commoner at the age of fourteen? if so, his birthplace was london, and his father's name was also robert. e. p. l. co. westmeath. _selling a wife._--what is the origin of the popular idea, that a man may legally dispose of his spouse by _haltering_ her, and exposing her for sale in a public market? some time ago the custom appears to have been very prevalent; and only a few months back there was a paragraph in _the times_, describing an occurrence of the kind at nottingham. french romancers and dramatists have seized upon it as a leading trait of english society; and in their remarkably-faithful delineations of english life it is not unusual to find the blue-beard milord anglais carting milady to smithfield, and { } enlarging upon her points in the cheap-jack style to the admiring drovers. v. t. sternberg. _jock of arden._--this worthy of the robin hood class of heroes, is understood to figure very prominently in the legendary history of warwickshire. where can any references to his real or supposed history be found, and what are the legends of which he is the hero? w. q. _inigo jones._--where can a full list of mansions and other important buildings, erected from designs after that great master architect inigo jones, be found? a correspondent. _dean boyle._--wanted, the pedigree of richard boyle, dean of limerick, and bishop of leighlin in . he had a brother roger, also in the church. was he a grandson of john boyle of hereford, eldest brother of roger, father of richard, first earl of cork? this john married alice, daughter of alex. hayworth, of burdun hall, herefordshire. y. s. m. dublin. _euphormio_ (vol. i., p. .).--mention is made of _censura euphormionis_ and other tracts, called forth by barclay's works: where can some account of these be found? p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _optical query._--last summer the following illusion was pointed out to me at sandwich, kent. the ingenious horizontal machine to enable the treadmill to grind the wind, in default of more substantial matter, although certainly revolving only in one direction, say from right to left, at intervals appeared to change its direction and turn from left to right. this change appeared to several persons to take place at the same time, and did not seem to be owing to any shifting of the perpendicular shutters for regulating the resistance of the air. the point from which i viewed it was near the south door of st. clement's church. have any of the readers of "n. & q." noticed a similar illusion, and can they explain it? h. h. gloucester. _archbishop king._--the well-known william king, archbishop of dublin, was interred in the graveyard of the parish of st. mary, donnybrook, near dublin, as appears from the following entry in the register of burials: "buried, archbishop king, may th, ." there is no stone to mark his grave. i would be glad to know whether there is any monument elsewhere, i would likewise be glad to know whether there is any good engraving of the archbishop in existence. i have lately procured a copy of a small and rather curious one, engraved by "kane o' hara," and "published, sept. th, , by william richardson, york house, . strand;" and i am informed by a friend that a portrait (of what size i am not aware) was sold by auction in london, th february, , for the sum of l. s. it was described at that time as "very rare." donnybrook graveyard, i may add, is rich in buried ecclesiastics, containing the remains of dr. robert clayton, bishop of clogher (a man of note in his day), and other dignitaries of our church. abhba. _neal's manuscripts._--in neal's _history of the puritans_, he frequently refers at bottom of the page to a manuscript in his possession thus (ms. penes me, p. .): will any of your readers inform me where this ms. is preserved, and whether i can have access to it? it was evidently a voluminous compilation, as it extended to many hundred pages. t. f. _whence the word "cossack?"_--alison says, on the authority of _koramsin_ (vi. .), "the word cossack means a volunteer or free partisan," &c. (vide _history of europe_, vol. ix. p. .) i have found the word "kasak" in the gulistan of saadi, which there means a robber of the kind called _rahzán_. from the word being spelt in the gulistan with a [arabic: q], it appears to me to be an arabic word. can any reader enlighten muhammed? a. n. club _picts' houses and argils._--the cimmerians, a people mentioned by herodotus, who occupied principally the peninsula of the crimea, are distinguished by prichard from the cimbri or kimbri, but supposed by m. amédée thierry to be a branch of the same race, and celtic. many of their customs are said to present a striking conformity with those of the cimbri of the baltic and of the gauls. those who inhabited the hills in the crimea bore the name of taures or tauri, a word, thierry says, signifying mountaineers in both the kimbric and gaulish idioms. the tribe of the plains, according to ephorus, a greek writer cotemporary with aristotle, mentioned in strabo, lib. v., dug subterraneous habitations, which they called _argil_ or _argel_, a pure kimbric word, which signifies a covered or deep place: [greek: ephoros phêsin autous en katageiois oikiais oikein has kalousin argillas.] having seen several of the rude and miserable buildings underground in the orkneys, called picts' houses, i should like to know something of these _argils_ or _argillæ_, but suppose them to be calculated for the requirements of a more advanced state of society than that of the dwellers in picts' houses. perhaps some of your correspondents could give information on this matter. { } for the above, vide introduction to amédée thierry's _histoire des gaulois, &c._, , p. . w. h. f. _the drummer's letter._--the letter from the drummer to the corporal's wife in _the sentimental journey_ (it is hardly possible to give a precise reference to any part of this little work) ends thus: "je suis, madame, "avec toutes les sentimens les plus respectueux et les plus tendres, tout à vous, "jaques rocque." why is the first of the adjectives agreeing with _les sentimens_ in the wrong gender? the blot may be a trifling one, but i think i may say that it defaces every copy of this well-known billet-doux. i have seen many editions of _the sentimental journey_, some by the best publishers of the time in which they lived, and i find the same mistake in all: i do not know of a single exception. if sterne wrote _toutes_, it must have been by accident; there is nothing to prove that he wished to make the poor drummer commit the solecism, for the rest of his letter is not only correctly, but even elegantly written. c. forbes. temple. _the cardinal spider._--i have read somewhere an account of a singular species of spider, which is of unusually large size, and is said to be found only in hampton court palace. it is supposed by superstitious persons that the spirits of cardinal wolsey and his retinue still haunt the palace in the shape of spiders; hence the name "cardinal." can any of your correspondents inform me where such an account is to be met with, as i have forgotten the name of the book in which i have seen it? w. t. norwich. _new england genealogical society, &c._--can any of your correspondents inform me where i can address a letter to, for dr. jenks, secretary to the new england genealogical society? and where can i see a copy of farmer's _new england genealogical register_, , and _the new england genealogical register and magazine for _, mentioned by your correspondent t. westcott, "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .? j. k. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _dr. john hartcliffe, dr. wm. cokayne, dr. samuel kettilby._--can any of your correspondents tell me whether john hartcliffe, d.d., fellow of king's, cambridge, and head-master of merchant taylors' from to , is _the dr. hartcliffe_ whom james ii. wishes to instal illegally in the provostship of king's, as he attempted to impose a president on magdalen, oxon? i should be glad also to know whether there is any continuation of ward's _lives of the gresham professors_, reaching to the present time; and, in particular, the dates of the appointments or deaths of william cokayne, d.d., professor of astronomy, and william roman, b.c.l., professor of geometry? likewise, of what faculty was samuel kettilby, d.d., professor; and when did he die? james hessey. merchant taylors'. [it was dr. john hartcliffe, of merchant taylors', that wished to become provost of king's college: but the mandate was obtained from king william, not from james ii. hartcliffe's _discourse against purgatory_, , which anthony à wood thinks was publicly burnt in france, was not likely to recommend him to the favour of the latter king. the affair of the provostship is thus stated by cole (_hist. of king's college_, vol. iv. addit. mss. .)--"on the death of dr. copleston, hartcliffe made a great stir, in order to become provost, and actually obtained a mandate of king william to the society to choose him; but he was far from being agreeable to the fellows of the college, who, when they heard he was in town, and upon what errand he came, directly shut up the college gates, and proceeded to an election, when dr. roderick was chosen, with the odds of ten votes to one. this being transacted in the infancy of king william's reign, he chose not to stir much in it; but after having shown the fellows, by the very petition they made to him, which was presented by mr. newborough and mr. fleetwood, that he had a right to present, he dismissed them." a biographical notice of dr. hartcliffe is given in nichols's _literary anecdotes_, vol. i. pp. , ., and in wood's _athenæ_ (bliss), vol. iv. p. . no one appears to have continued ward's _lives of the gresham professors_. maitland, in his _history of london_, has brought the history of the institution down to . dr. ward himself had prepared a new edition, containing considerable additions, which was presented to the british museum by his residuary legatee. among the additional mss. also will be found a large mass of papers and correspondence relating to the _lives_. from one document, entitled "minutes relating to the lives of the professors of gresham college, being additions to the printed work," we extract the following notice of "william cokayne, who was the son of george cokayne, of dovebridge in devonshire, clerk. he was educated at merchant taylors' school, in london, and from thence elected probationer fellow of st. john's college, where he was matriculated th july, . he commenced a.m. th july, ; made junior proctor ; and b.d. th july, ." the date of his appointment as astronomy professor is not given; but his resignation, in , will be found in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxv. p. . he appears to have died in (see _ib._, vol. lxviii. p. .), when the rev. joseph monkhouse succeeded him as rector of kilkhampton, co. cornwall. { } the ms. "minutes" also contain a notice of william roman, the thirteenth geometry professor, "who was educated at merchant taylors' school, london, and from thence elected to st. john's college, oxford, in , being matriculated as the son of richard roman, of london, gent., ætat. . he commenced b.c.l., may th, ; deacon at christ church, st sept., ; priest at christ church, th sept., ." no date of his appointment, but he was professor in , when maitland wrote his account of the college. dr. samuel kettilby succeeded the rev. samuel birch as geometry lecturer, and died june , .--see _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxxviii. p. .] "_haulf naked._"--in poring over an old deed the other night, i stumbled upon the above name, which i take to be that of a manor in the county of sussex. is it so? and, if so, by what name is the property now known? charles reed. [in dallaway's _western sussex_, art. washington, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. ., is the following entry:--"in , henry balduyne sold to walter de halfenaked one messuage, two acres of arable, and two acres of meadow, in washington and sullington. ped. fin. edw. ii."] * * * * * replies. the legend of lamech--hebrew etymology. (vol. vii., p. .) etymologists are a race who frequently need to be drawn up with a somewhat tight rein. our celtic fellow-subjects will not, perhaps, be much gratified by mr. crossley's tracing the first indications of their paternal tongue to the family of cain; and as every branch of that family was destroyed by the deluge, they may marvel what account he can give of its reconstruction amongst their forefathers. but as his manner of expressing himself may lead some of your readers to imagine that he is explaining cain, lamech, adah, zillah, from acknowledged hebrew meanings of any parts of those words, it may be as well to warn them that the hebrew gives no support to any one of his interpretations. if fancy be ductile enough to agree with him in seeing a representation of a human arm holding a sling with a stone in it in the hebrew letter called _lamed_, there would still be a broad hiatus between such a concession, and the conclusion he seems to wish the reader to draw from it, viz. that the word _lamed_ must have something to do with slinging, and that consequently _lamed_ must be a slinger. the hebrew scholar knows that _lamed_ indisputably signifies to _teach_; and though perhaps he may not feel sure that the hebrew consonant _l_ obtained its name from any connexion with that primary meaning of the root _lamed_, he will not think it improbable that as the letter _l_, when prefixed to a noun or verb, _teaches_ the reader the construction of the sentence, that may have been the reason for its being so named. as to a legend not traceable to within some thousand years of the facts with which it claims to be connected, those may take an interest in it who like so to do. but as far as we may regard lamech's address to his wives in the light of a philological curiosity, it is interesting to observe how naturally the language of passion runs into poetry; and that this, the most ancient poetry in existence, is in strict unison with the peculiar character of subsequent hebrew poetry; that peculiarity consisting of the repetition of clauses, containing either the same proposition in a slightly different form, or its antithesis; a rhyme of thoughts, if we may so say, instead of a rhyme of sounds, and consequently capable of being preserved by a literal translation. and lamech said unto his wives,-- "adah and zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of lamech, hearken unto my speech, for i have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man, to my hurt. if cain shall be avenged seventy-fold, truly lamech, seventy and seven-fold." the construction is more favourable to the belief that the _man_ of line third is the same as the _young man_ of the parallel clause, than that he had slain two; the word rendered _hurt_ is properly a _wheal_, the effect of a severe strife or wound. as to the etymologies of the names mentioned by mr. crossley, we gather from god's words that she called her first son cain, an acquisition (the latin _peculium_ expresses it more exactly than any english word), because she had gotten (literally _acquired_, or obtained possession of) a man. as for lamech, or more properly l[)e]m[)e]ch, its etymology must be confessed to be uncertain; but there is a curious and interesting explanation of the whole series of names of the patriarchs, noah's forefathers, in which the name of the other lemech, son of methusaleh, is regarded as made up of _l[)e]_, the prefixed preposition, and of _mech_, taken for the participle hophal of the verb to smite or bruise. adah, [hebrew: 'dh], is _ornament_; zillah, [hebrew: tslh] may mean the _shade_ under which a person reposes; or if the doubling of the _l_ is an indication that its root is [hebrew: tsll], it may mean a dancer. h. walter. allow me, in reference to mr. crossley's remarks, to say, that from the accidental resemblance of the hebrew and celtic words _lamech_ and _lamaich_, no philological argument can be drawn of identical meaning, any more than from the fact that the words nebuchadnezzar, belshazar, or belteshassar[ ], are significant in russian { } and sclavonian, as well as in chaldee. _lamache_ in arabic means (see freytag) "_levi intuitu et furtim adspicere_ aliquem;" also to _shine_, as lightning, or a star. _lamech_, therefore, is an appropriate designation for a man known to prowl about for plunder and murder, and whose eye, whether taking aim or not, would give a sudden and furtive glance. the word _lamed_ signifies, in hebrew, _teaching_; the word _talmud_ is from the same root. it is the same in syriac and chaldee. the _original_ significant of these three languages is to be found in the arabic _lamada_: "_se submisit_ alicui; _humiliter se gessit_ erga aliquem." (freytag.) no argument can be drawn from the shape of the letter [hebrew: l] (_lamed_), because, although popularly so called, it is _not_ a hebrew letter, but a chaldee one. the recent discoveries, published in layard's last work, demonstrate this fact; mr. layard falls into the mistake of calling the basin inscriptions hebrew, although mr. ellis, who had translated them, says expressly that the language is chaldee (_nineveh and babylon_, p. .), one of them only being syriac (p. .). chaldee and syriac, indeed, differ from each other as little as chaucer's and shakspeare's english, although the written characters are wholly distinct. davis, in his _celtic researches_, has done all that was possible, taking a very limited view, however, in fixing upon certain linguistic resemblances in some ancient tongues to the celtic; but a clear apprehension of the proper place which the celtic language and its congeners hold in comparative philology, can only be learnt from such works as adelung's _mithridates_, and adrien balbi's _atlas ethnographique du globe_. t. j. buckton. [footnote : the accidental resemblances are curious. thus, _nebucadnetzar_ is in russian _nebê kazenniy tzar_, "a lord or prince appointed by heaven;" or, _nebu godnoi_ _tzar_, "a prince fit for heaven." _belshatzar_ is also in russian _bolszoi tzar_, "a great prince;" and _belteshtzar_, daniel's chaldean pagan name, is _byl têsh tzar_, "he was also a prince," _i. e._ "of the royal family."] the interpretation of hessius (_geschichte der patriarchen_, i. .) is preferred by rosenmüller: "ex hujus doctissimi viri sententia lamechus _sese jactat_ propter filios suos, qui artium adeo utilium essent inventores: cainum progenitorem suum propter cædem non esse punitum, multo minus se posse puniri, si vel simile scelus commisisset. verba enim non significant, cædam ab eo revera esse paratam, sed sunt verba hominis admodum insolentis et profani. ceterum facile apparet, hæc verba a mose ex quodam carmine antiquo inserta esse: tota enim oratio poeticam quandam sublimitatem spirat." the sense of these two verses (gen. iv. , .) is, according to dathe: "_si propter viri aut juvenis cædem vulnera et plagæ mihi intendantur, cum de caino poena septuplex statuta fuerit, in lamecho id fiet septuagies septies._" herder, in his _geist der ebräischen poesie_ (i. .) says: "carmen hoc lamechi laudes canere gladii a filio inventi, cujus usum et præstantiam contra hostiles aliorum insultus his verbis prædicet: _lamechi mulieres audite sermonem meum, percipite dicta mea: occido jam virum, qui me vulneravit, juvenem, qui plagam mihi infligit. si cainus septies ulciscendus, in lamecho id fiet septuagies septies._" t. j. buckton. birmingham. the legend of the shooting of cain by lamech is detailed in _the creation of the world, with noah's flood_, a cornish mystery, translated into english by john keigwin, and edited by davies gilbert, esq. the legend and translation, in parallel columns, are given also at pp. , . of mr. gilbert's "collections and translations respecting st. neot," prefixed to descriptive account (in to., with sixteen coloured plates) of the windows of st. neot's church in cornwall, by mr. hedgeland, who restored them, - , at the expense of the rev. richard gerveys grylls, patron, and formerly incumbent of the living. joseph rix. st. neot's, huntingdonshire. * * * * * lord coke's charge to the jury. (vol. vii., p. .) _saltpetre-man._--an explanation of this title may be found in a proclamation of king charles i. ( ): "for the maintaining and increasing of the saltpetre mines of england, for the necessary and important manufacture of gunpowder." this proclamation states: "that our realm naturally yields sufficient mines of saltpetre without depending on foreign parts; wherefore, for the future, no dovehouse shall be paved with stones, bricks, nor boards, lime, sand, nor gravel, nor any other thing whereby the growth and increase of the mine and saltpetre may be hindered or impaired; but the proprietors shall suffer the ground or floors thereof, as also all stables where horses stand, to lie open with good and mellow earth, apt to breed increase of the said mine. and that none deny or hinder any _saltpetre-man_, lawfully deputed thereto, from digging, taking, or working any ground which by commission may be taken and wrought for saltpetre. neither shall any constable, or other officer, neglect to furnish any such _saltpetre-man_ with convenient carriages, that the king's service suffer not. _none shall bribe any saltpetre-man_ for the sparing or forbearing of any ground fit to be wrought for saltpetre," &c. it would appear that the _saltpetre-man_ abused his authority, and that the people suffered a good deal of annoyance from the manner in which this { } absurd system was carried out; for two years afterwards we find that another proclamation was published by the king, notifying, "that the practice of making saltpetre in england by digging up the floors of dwelling-houses, &c. &c., tended too much to the grievance of his loving subjects ... that notwithstanding all the trouble, not one third part of the saltpetre required could be furnished." it proceeds to state that sir john brooke and thomas russell, esq., had proposed a new method of manufacturing the article, and that an exclusive patent had been granted to them. the king then _commands_ his subjects in london and westminster, that after notice given, they "carefully keep in proper vessels all human urine throughout the year, and as much of that of beasts as can be saved." this appeared to fail; for at the end of the same year, the "stable" monarch proclaimed a return to the old method, giving a commission to the duke of buckingham, and some others, to "... break open ... and work for saltpetre," as might be found requisite; and in , a further proclamation was issued renewing the old ones, but excepting the houses, stables, &c. of _persons of quality_. during the commonwealth the nuisance was finally got rid of; for an act was passed in , directing that "none shall dig within the houses, &c. of any person _without their leave first obtained_." broctuna. bury, lancashire. j. o. treats _the lord coke, his speech and charge, with a discoverie of the abuses and corruptions of officers_, vo. london: n. butter, , as a genuine document; but it is not so; and, lest the error should gain ground, the following account of the book, from the preface, by lord coke, to the seventh part of his _reports_, is subjoined: "and little do i esteem an uncharitable and malicious practice in publishing of an erroneous and ill-spelled pamphlet under the name pricket, and dedicating it to my singular good lord and father-in-law, the earl of exeter, as a charge given at the assizes holden at the city of norwich, th august, , which i protest was not only published without my privity, but (beside the omission of divers principal matters) that there is no one period therein expressed in that sort and sense that i delivered: wherein it is worthy of observation, how their expectation (of scandalizing me) was wholly deceived; for behold the catastrophe! such of the readers as were learned in the laws, finding not only gross errors and absurdities on law, but palpable mistakings in the very words of art, and the whole context of that rude and ragged style wholly dissonant (the subject being legal) from a lawyer's dialect, concluded that _inimicus et iniquus homo superseminavit zizania in medio tritici_, the other discreet and indifferent readers, out of sense and reason, found out the same conclusion, both in respect of the vanity of the phrase, and for that i, publishing about the same time one of my commentaries, would, if i had intended the publication of any such matter, have done it myself, and not to have suffered any of my works pass under the name of pricket; and so _unâ voce conclamaverunt omnes_, that it was a shameful and shameless practice, and the author thereof to be a wicked and malicious falsary." j. g. exon. * * * * * white roses. (vol. vii., p. .) the allusion is to the well-known jacobite badge of the white rose, which was regularly worn on june , the anniversary of the old pretender's birthday, by his adherents. fielding refers to the custom in his _amelia_: "on the lovely th of june, under a serene sky, the amorous jacobite, kissing the odoriferous zephyr's breath, gathers a nosegay of white roses to deck the whiter breast of celia."--_amelia_, edit. , vol. i. p. . the following lines are extracted from a collection of considerable merit, now become uncommon, the authors of the different papers in which were dr. deacon and dr. byrom, and which is entitled _manchester vindicated_ (chester, , mo.). the occasion was on a soldier snatching a white rose from the bosom of a young lady on june , : i. "phillis to deck her snowy breast the rival-flowers around display'd, thraso, to grace his war-like crest of orange-knots a huge cockade, that reds and whites, and nothing else, should set the beaux against the belles! ii. "yet so it was; for yesterday thraso met phillis with her posies, and thus began th' ungentle fray, 'miss, i must _execute_ those roses.' then made, but fruitless made, a snatch, repuls'd with pertinacious scratch. iii. "surpriz'd at such a sharp rebuke, he cast about his cautious eyes, invoking _vict'ry_ and _the duke_, and once again attack'd the prize; again is taught to apprehend, how guardian thorns the rose defend. iv. "force being twice in vain apply'd, he condescended then to reason; 'ye _jacobitish_ ----,' he cry'd 'in open street, the love of treason with your white roses to proclaim! go home, ye rebel slut, for shame!' { } v. "'go you abroad to flanders yonder, and show your valour there, sir knight; what bus'ness have you here, i wonder, with people's roses, red or white? go you abroad, for shame,' says phillis, 'and from the frenchmen pluck their lilies.' vi. "'lilies!' says thraso, 'lilies too! the wench, i find, would be a wit, had she command of words eno', and on the right one chanced to hit: for pity, once, i'll set her clear: the laurels, you would say, my dear.' vii. "'no, but i would not, sir; you know what laurels are no more than i, upon your head they'll never grow, my word for that, friend, and good-bye: _he that of roses robs a wench,_ _will ne'er pluck laurels from the french._'" jas. crossley. * * * * * burial of unclaimed corpse. (vol. vii., pp. . .) a tradition of similar character with that mentioned by e. g. r., and noticed by j. h. l., is reported to have occurred between the parishes of shipdham and saham tony in norfolk, of a corpse being found on the common pasture of shipdham, which parish refused to bury it, and the parish of saham tony, therefore, was at the expense thereof, and claimed a considerable piece of the common pasture from shipdham, in consequence of the neglect of the latter parish. a fine continues to be paid by shipdham to saham to this time; and although many entries are made of such payments in the early parish accounts, beginning a.d. , yet in no instance is it said the reason or cause of these payments being annually made. the said payments are not always of the same amount; they are sometimes paid in money and sometimes in kind, as the following instances show. the first entry i meet with is in : payd the halffe mark at saham. . delyvyrd to same ij buschells of otts, viij^d; in sylv^r, ij^d. . the same payment as in . . no entry of any payment. . payd for _woots_ to saham, vj^d, and ij^d of mony. . payd to y^e hallemarke, j^d (not said if to saham or not). this entry "to y^e hallemark" may be an error of the scribe for "y^e halffe mark," as in the first entry under . . payd to y^e halffe mark, j^d (no doubt to saham). . no entry of payment to saham. . payd to same for ij barssels of owte, vj^d; to same, ij^d viij^d . payd for ij busschellys of otte to same, viij^d; and a henne, ij^d x^d . payd to same for ij buschells of ots, xj^d, and ij^d in sylver xiij^d . payd for y^e half marke, j^d; payd for oots to same, vij^d viij^d . payd for y^e halff mark (no doubt to saham) j^d . payd for otts to sam and wodlod viij^d . similar entry to the last. . payd for otts to same, viij^d; payd for wod led to same, j^d ix^d . payd the halffe mark, j^d; paid to the _comon_, to (two) bussells otts, ix^d, and a j^d in lieu of a henne xj^d . payd to same for the task x^d[ ] . payd to thomas lubard, for ij bs. of otts to saham viij^d payd to y^e seyd thomas for j heyn (hen) to saham ij^d on looking through the town accounts of shipdham, i find entries of-- payd to the half mark to saham j^d ij bushells oates, and in lieu of a hen ij^d the only entry in which i find anything at all apparently relative to the common is that under . whether the court books of saham would throw any light on the subject, i know not. should an opportunity offer for my searching them, i will do so. g. h. i. p.s.--although i have given several entries of the customary payments to saham, they are merely given to show the different modes of making those entries, and not in expectation of your giving all of them, unless you think any further light can be given on the subject. as before, perhaps the court books of the manor of saham would assist. it was an annual custom for shipdham people to "drive the common" (as it was called) once a year, in a night of an uncertain time, when all the cattle, &c. found within the limits or boundary of shipdham were impounded in a farm-yard adjoining. upon the common, all those belonging to owners residing in shipdham and claimed were set at liberty, while those belonging to saham had to be replevied by a small payment, which custom continued up to the period of the commons being inclosed. perhaps this custom was by way of retaliation, by which means the charge of payment of oats and a hen was recovered by the money paid for replevying their cattle, &c. so impounded. [footnote : no payment entered in the accounts between and . the average tenpence annually.] * * * * * psalmanazar. (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent inquires as to the real name of this most penitent of impostors. i fear that { } there is now no likelihood of its being discovered. his most intimate friends appear to have been kept in the dark on this subject. with respect to his country, the most probable conclusion seems to be, that he was born in the south of europe, in a city of languedoc. a very near approximation seems to be made to the exact locality by a careful collation of the circumstances mentioned in his autobiography, in the excellent summary of his life in the _gentleman's magazine_, vols. xxxiv. and xxxv., which is much better worth consulting than the articles in aikin or chalmers; which are poor and superficial, and neither of which gives any list of his works, or notices the _essay on miracles, by a layman_ (london, , vo.), which is one of them, though published anonymously. there is a very amusing account of conversations with him at oxford, in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. xxxv. p. ., in which, before a large company of ladies and gentlemen who were curious as to the customs of formosa, he gravely defended the practice which he said existed in that country, of cutting off the heads of their wives and eating them, in case of misconduct. "i think it is no sin," continued he, "to eat human flesh, but i must own it is a little unmannerly." he admitted that he once ate part of a black; but they being always kept to hard work, their flesh was tough and unsavoury. his grandfather, he said, lived to , and was as vigorous as a young man, in consequence of sucking the blood of a viper warm every morning; but they had been forced to kill him, he being attacked with a violent fit of the colic, and desiring them to stab him, which, in obedience to another "custom of the country," they had done. _splendidè mendax!_ was certainly, in his younger days, this much venerated friend of our great moralist. i should, however, feel inclined to forgive much of his extraordinary romancing for the admirable manner in which he settled that chattering twaddler, bishop burnet: "he was one day with dr. burnet, bishop of sarum, who, after his warm manner, cried, 'ay, you say so; but what proof can you give that you are not of china, japan, or any other country?' 'the manner of my flight,' replied he, 'did not allow me to bring credentials: but suppose your lordship were in formosa, and should say you are an englishman, might not the formosan as justly reply, you say you are an englishman; but what proof can you give that you are not of any other country? for you look as like a dutchman as any that ever traded to formosa.' this silenced his lordship." james crossley. * * * * * grafts and the parent tree. (vol. vii., p. .) i was surprised to find it stated as "a fact" by mr. ingleby, "that grafts, after some fifteen years, wear themselves out." a visit to one of the great orchard counties would assure him of the existence of tens of thousands of grafted apple and pear trees, still in a healthy state, and from forty to fifty years old, and more. there are grafted trees of various kinds in this country, which to my own knowledge are upwards of sixty years old; and i have little doubt but that there are some a good deal older. the ancient ribstone pippin, which stood in ribstone park, till it died in , was believed to have been grafted. such was the opinion of one of the gardeners there; and a writer in the _gardeners' chronicle_, , p. ., states that in he fell in with the ribstone pippin in great abundance in switzerland, in the valley of sarnen; and he remarks that it is more probable this apple was introduced into england from that country, than the reverse. the question has not been conclusively settled. notwithstanding "the belief that the graft perishes when the parent tree decays" is pronounced by mr. ingleby to be a fond superstition, yet there are certain facts, well known to orchard growers, which give some warrant for it. without committing myself altogether to this doctrine, i will state a few of them. it is well known that no cider or perry fruit is so good, on first being introduced, as it is after fifteen or twenty years of cultivation. a certain period seems to be required to mature the new sort, and bring it to its full vigour (long after it is in full bearing) before it is at its best. the tree, with all its grafted progeny, will last, perhaps fifty, perhaps more than one hundred years, in a flourishing state, and then they will begin everywhere to decay; nor has any device yet been successful in arresting that general decay. witness the rise, progress, and fall of the _forest stire_ of gloucestershire, the _foxwhelp_ and _redstreak_ of herefordshire, the _golden pippin_, and, more lately, the _ribstone pippin_, of which there is an increasing complaint, not to mention many others in the same condition. the first-named apple is very nearly extinct, and the small quantity of the fruit that is still to be had fetches enormous prices. whether this decay be owing to _grafting_, is a question which can be decided only by the future behaviour of the suckers from the original tree, several of which from the tree at ribstone park are now growing at chiswick and elsewhere. i am aware that dr. lindley combats very eagerly the doctrine that varieties of the apple and pear, or indeed of any tree, die naturally of old age; but the only incontrovertible fact which he adduces in support of his argument, is the existence of the french _white beurré_ pear, which has flourished from time immemorial. his denial of the decay of the _golden pippin_, the _golden { } harvey_, and the _nonpareil_, will not, i think, be allowed to be just by the experience of your readers; the existence of the last-named apple for three centuries, supposing it to be true, has not secured it exemption from the general fate. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _glass baths._--several of your correspondents finding a difficulty in making glass baths, i beg to communicate the way in which they may be very easily manufactured. having obtained two pieces of patent plate glass, grind the edges, which may readily be done by a scythe sand-stone, where other contrivances are not handy. cut for the bottom of the bath a slip of the same glass three-quarters of an inch in breadth; and for the sides, from ordinary window-glass, four wedges, being about three-fifths of an inch at one end, tapering down to the thickness of the piece of plate glass at the bottom. if several pieces are cut off promiscuously, four may be selected which have exactly the same angle, so as to form an even support to the sides. the glass being perfectly clean, dry, and as warm as can be conveniently held by the hand, fix the bottom and then the sides by means of the _very best_ sealing-wax, which will perfectly adhere to the glass. if the commoner sorts of wax are used, some marine glue must be added to it to temper it. the side slips should be fixed a quarter of an inch apart, so as to form a cavity, which must be entirely filled up with wax. the wax may be used as in sealing a letter in the first instance; but, in order to give the whole bath solidity, and expel every particle of air from between the glass, i use a heated pointed iron, as a plumber does in the act of soldering. this, passed over the external parts of the wax, also gives it a hardness and smooth finish. these details may appeal trifling, and others may have more ingenious modes of accomplishing the object; but having used baths so constructed upwards of twelve months without leakage, i believe they will be found to be most economical, and far more to be relied on than gutta percha. a good bath so made should require about six ounces of solution of nitrate of silver to take a picture eight inches square. your observations in a former number, respecting the uncertainty of gutta percha, i have found to be perfectly true. samples of gutta percha constantly vary; and one may contain impurities acted upon by the chemicals, which another does not. a small rim formed by sealing-wax dissolved in spirits of wine, and applied twice or thrice along the upper edge of the bath, is sufficient to protect the prepared glass from adhering to the front of the bath when in use. h. w. d. _securing calotype negatives._--will any of your correspondents be good enough to say what they consider the best method of securing a calotype paper negative for a few days or a week, in cases where it may be difficult, from lack of conveniences during that time, to use hyposulph., with its consequent washings, &c.? some, i believe, recommend bromide of potassium; some, the iodide; others, common salt: but i should like to know which is considered the _best_; what strength, and how applied. also, whether any subsequent treatment is necessary previous to the final application of the hypo. w. t. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _wood of the cross_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i find, in your th number, p. ., a communication on "the wood of the cross." mention is made of the several kinds of wood of which the cross is said to have been made--elder, olive, &c. it is a somewhat curious coincidence, that yesterday i was with a farmer in his garden, and observing on several apple-trees some luxuriant mistletoe, i remarked that it was principally found on that tree, sometimes on the oak, but rarely on other trees. the farmer, after inquiring whether it could be propagated by cuttings, &c., asked if i had ever understood that our saviour's cross was made of mistletoe? on replying in the negative, and remarking that it was altogether unsuitable for such a purpose, he rejoined, that, previously to that event, it was a large strong tree, but subsequently had been doomed to have only a parasitical (not that he used the term) existence. as ceyrep said "i never heard of our lord's cross having been made of elder wood," so i would also add, i never heard before of its being made of mistletoe. did any one else ever hear of this tradition? s. s. s. _bishops' lawn sleeves_ (vol. vi., p. .).--j. g. t. has inquired concerning the date and origin of the present robes of anglican bishops. mr. trevor thus describes the bishop's dress in convocation, which is the proper dress of the episcopate: "the chimere is the convocation habit of a doctor of divinity in oxford, made of silk instead of cloth, as the rochet is an alb of lawn in place of linen, _honoris causâ_: the detaching the sleeves from the rochet, and sewing them to the upper garment instead, is obviously a contrivance of the robe-makers. dr. hody says that the scarlet robe worn by the bishops in the house of lords is the doctor's gown at cambridge; the first archbishops after the reformation being of that university. (_hody_, .) at parker's consecration he appeared first in a scarlet gown and hood; then at the holy communion he and two of the consecrating bishops { } wore white surplices, while the senior had a cope: and after his consecration he and the two diocesan bishops endued themselves in the now customary dress of a bishop, the archbishop having about his neck a collar of sables (_cardw. doc. ann._, i. .). before the reformation, it was remarked as peculiar to the english bishops, that they always wore their white rochets, 'except when hunting.' (_hody_, .)"--_the two convocations, note on_, p. . w. fraser. tor-mohun. _inscriptions in books_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--the two accompanying inscriptions in books were given to me the other day. the second is, i believe, much in vogue at rugby. "si quis errantem videat libellum reddat, aut collo dabitur capistrum carnufex ejus tunicas habebit terra cadaver." "small is the wren, black is the rook, great is the sinner that steals this book." w. w. as your correspondent balliolensis inquires regarding inscriptions in books, perhaps the following may add to his proposed collection, being an old ditty much in use among schoolboys, &c.: "hic liber est meus, and that i will show; si aliquis capit, i'll give him a blow." n. n. _lines quoted by charles lamb_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the author of the lines quoted-- "bind me, ye woodbines, in your twines; curl me about, ye gadding vines," &c.-- is andrew marvell. they are taken from his fine poem on nun-appleton, lord fairfax's seat in yorkshire; and will be found in vol. iii. p. . of marvell's _works_, edit. , to. jas. crossley. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .).--upon visiting cartmel in lancashire ten years ago, i found a library in the vestry, and in my diary made the following entry: "there is a small library in the vestry, of a very miscellaneous description, left by a former incumbent, two hundred years ago, to the vicar for the time being, to be kept in the vestry. there is a fine copy, in small quarto, of spenser's _faery queene_ in the collection, of the date ." how i ascertained the date of the gift, or whether there were any other particulars worth recording, i do not remember. since taking "n. & q." i have learnt the benefit, i might say the necessity, of being more particular. brick. to your list of parochial libraries may be added one in swaffham church, norfolk, bequeathed to the parish by one of the spelman family. it contains several hundred volumes, and among them some of the elzevir classics. about seven years ago i visited swaffham, and found this collection of books in a most disgraceful state, covered with dust and the dung of mice and bats, and many of the books torn from their bindings. it would afford me great pleasure to hear that more care is taken of such a valuable collection of books. there is also a smaller library, in somewhat better preservation, in the vestry of st. peter's, mancroft church, in the city of norwich. e. g. r. there are parochial libraries at milden, brent eleigh, and at all saints, sudbury, suffolk. see rev. c. badham's _hist. and antiq. of all saints, sudbury_, vo. london, , pp. - . w. sparrow simpson, b.a. _huet's navigations of solomon_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to edina's query, huet's treatise _de navigationibus salomonis_ was published in , mo., at amsterdam, and before his work on the commerce of the ancients was printed. edina will find a short extract of its contents in vol. ii. p. . of dr. aikin's _translation of huet's autobiography_, published in in two volumes vo. the subject is a curious and interesting one; but, from my perusal of the tract, i should scarcely say that huet has treated it very successfully, or that the book is at all worthy of his learning or acuteness. jas. crossley. _derby municipal seal_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the "buck in the park," on the town seal of derby, is probably a punning allusion to the name of that place, anciently _deora-by_ or _deor-by_, i. e. the abode of the deer. c. w. g. _annueller_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--bishop ergham founded st. anne's college in wells, for the maintenance of societas (xiv.) presbyterorum annuellarum novæ aulæ wellensis. the _annuellar_ was a secular conduct, receiving a yearly stipend. these priests, probably, served his chantry at wells. mackenzie walcott, m.a. _reverend richard midgley, vicar of rochdale_ (vol. vii., p. ).--the collection of the lives of pious persons to which dr. whitaker refers, as containing a very interesting account of midgley, will undoubtedly be samuel clarke's _lives of thirty-two english divines_. the passage, which will scarcely be new to your correspondent, is at p. . of the life of "master richard rothwell" (clarkes's _lives_, edit. , fol.), and a very pleasing passage it is, and one that i might almost { } be justified in extracting. dr. whitaker and brook (_lives of the puritans_, vol. ii. p. .) seem to be at variance with regard to the midgleys, the former mentioning only one, and the latter two, vicars of the family. jas. crossley. _nose of wax_ (vol. vii., p. .).--allow me to refer to a passage in "ram alley, or merry tricks," by lodowick barry (which is reprinted in the fifth volume of dodsley's _old plays_), illustrative of this term. in act i. sc. ., _dash_ describes the law as "the kingdom's eye, by which she sees the acts and thoughts of men." whereupon _throate_ observes: "the kingdom's eye! i tell thee, fool, it is the kingdom's nose, by which she smells out all these rich transgressors; nor is't of flesh, but merely made of _wax_, and 'tis within the power of us lawyers, to wrest this _nose of wax_ which way we please." this illustration was overlooked by nares, to whose _glossary_ you refer. c. h. cooper. cambridge. _canongate marriages_ (vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--the correspondent who expressed his surprise some time ago at his query on this subject not having called forth any remark from your scotch friends, will perhaps find the explanation of this result in the fact, that in scotland we are guided by the civil or roman law on the subject of marriage; and consequently, with us marriage is altogether a civil contract; and we need the intervention neither of clergyman, gretna blacksmith, or the equally disreputable canongate coupler. the services of the last two individuals are only sought for by you deluded southerns. all we require here is the agreement or consent of the parties ("_consensus non_ concubitus facit matrimonium"); and the legal questions which arise have reference chiefly to the evidence of this consent. the agreement may be made verbally, or in writing, before witnesses or not, as the parties choose. or a marriage may be constituted and proved merely by habit and repute, _i. e._ by the parties living together as man and wife, and the man allowing the woman to be addressed as his wife. a promise of marriage, followed by _copula_, also constitutes a marriage. but it would be out of place here to enter into all the arcana of the scotch law of marriage: suffice it to say, that it prevails equally at john o' groat's house and aberdeen, as in the canongate or at gretna green. a _regular_ marriage requires certain formalities, such as the publication of banns, &c. an _irregular_ one is equally good in law, and may be contracted in various ways, as above explained. this law, though _at first sight_ likely to lead to great abuses, really works well in practice; and prevents the occurrence of those distressing cases, which not unfrequently happen in england, of seduction under promise of marriage, and subsequent desertion. scotus. _smock marriages_ (vol. vii., p. .).--according to scotch law, the marriage of the father and mother legitimises all children _previously_ born, however old they may be. this is called legitimisation _per subsequens matrimonium_, and is not unfrequently taken advantage of by elderly gentlemen, who, after having passed the heyday of youth, wish to give their children a position, and a legal right to inherit their property. like the rule as to marriage above explained, it is derived from the roman or civil law. there are very few, i should rather say _no_, legal fictions in the scotch law of the nature alluded to by your correspondent. scotus. _sculptured emaciated figures_ (vol. v., p .; vol. vi. _passim_).--in dickinson's _antiquities of nottinghamshire_, vol. i. p. ., is a notice with an engraving of a tomb in holme church, near southwell, bearing a sculptured emaciated figure of a youth evidently in the last stage of consumption, round which is this inscription: "miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei, quia manus domini tetigit me." j. p., jun. _do the sun's rays put out the fire_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it is known that solar light contains three distinct kinds of rays, which, when decomposed by a prism, form as many spectra, varying in properties as well as in position, viz. luminous, heating or calorific, and chemical or actinic rays. the greater part of the rays of heat are even less refrangible than the least refrangible rays of light, while the chemical rays are more refrangible than either. the latter are so called from their power of inducing many chemical changes, such as the decomposition of water by chlorine, and the reactions upon which photographic processes depend. the relative quantities of these several kinds of rays in sun-light varies with the time of day, the season, and the latitude of any spot. in general, where the luminous and heating rays are most abundant, the proportion of chemical rays is least; and, in fact, the two seem antagonistic to each other. thus, near the equator, the luminous and calorific rays being most powerful, the chemical are feeble, as is shown by the length of time required for the production of photographic pictures. hence, also, june and july are the worst months for the practice of photography, and better results are obtained before noon than after. it is precisely for a similar reason that the combustion of an ordinary fire, being strictly a chemical change, is retarded whenever the sun's heating and luminous rays are most powerful, as during bright { } sunshine, and that observe our fires to burn more briskly in summer than winter; in fact, that apparently "the sun's rays put out the fire." a. w. w. univ. coll., london. _spontaneous combustion_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a most interesting discussion of this question is to be found in liebig's _familiar letters upon chemistry_. that chemist proves conclusively:-- . that of the cases adduced none is well authenticated, while in most it is admitted that the victims were drunkards, and that generally a candle or lamp was in the room, and after the alleged combustion was found turned over. . that spontaneous combustion is absolutely impossible, the human frame containing or per cent. of water; and since flesh, when saturated with alcohol, is not consumed upon the application of a light, the alcohol burning off first, the causes assigned to account for the spontaneous ignition are _à priori_ extremely improbable. a. w. wills. univ. coll., london. _ecclesia anglicana_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this has always been the appellation of the church of england, just as much before the reformation as after. i copy for g. r. m. one rather forcible sentence from the articles of a provincial synod, holden a.d. : "et super istis articulis prænotatis fecit bonifacius, cant. arch. suorum suffraganeorum sibi subditorum universorum, prælatorum pariter et cleri procuratorum, convocationem isto anno apud londonias semel et secundo, propter gravamina et oppressiones, de die in diem per summum pontificem et d. henricum regem _ecclesiæ anglicanæ_ irrogatas."--wilkin's _concilia mag. brit. et hib._, vol. i. p. . for other examples of the ante-reformational use of _ecclesia anglicana_, i can give him so large a reference as to wilkins' book, _passim_; to the writs for parliament and mandates for convocation contained in the appendix to wake's _state of the church and clergy_; and to the extracts from _the annals of waverley_, and other old chronicles, quoted in hody's _history of english councils and convocations_. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _wyle cop_ (vol. iv., pp. . . .; vol. v., p. .; vol. vi., p. .).--the summit of a steep hill in the town of shrewsbury bears the name of _the wyle cop_. i think that these are two welsh words, _gwyl cop_, meaning watch mound, slightly altered. _gop_, near newmarket in flintshire, has a longer welsh name, which is written by english people _coperleni_. this, when correctly written, means, the mound of the light or fire-beacon. _mole cop_, the name of a lofty hill near congleton, appears to be a slight corruption of the welsh words _moel y cop_, the mountain of the mound. there is another lofty hill in staffordshire called _stiles cop_. it seems probable that on both of these hills mounds may have been made in ancient times for the erection of fire-beacons. it would appear that dr. plot did not understand the welsh language, as he has stated that he thought, in these instances, the word _cop_ meant a mountain. n. w. s. ( .) _chaucer_ (vol. vii., p. ).--no foreign original has ever been found for chaucer's "house of fame." warton fancied that it had been translated or paraphrased from the provençal, but could adduce no proof that it had. old geoffrey may have found the groundwork somewhere, in the course of his multifarious reading; but the main portion of the structure is evidently the work of his own hands, as the number of personal details and circumstances would tend to indicate. the forty lines comprising the "lai of marie," which chaucer has worked up into the "nonnes preestes tale" of some seven hundred lines, are printed in tyrwhitt's introductory discourse to the _canterbury tales_, and will be sufficient to show what use he made of the raw material at his disposal. we may fairly presume that emerson never took the trouble to investigate the matter, but contented himself with snatching up his materials from the nearest quarry, and then tumbling them out to the public. j. m. b. tunbridge wells. _campvere, privileges of_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. d. s. asks, "what were these privileges, and whence was the term campvere derived?" in scotland there exists an ancient institution called "the convention of royal burghs," which still meets annually in edinburgh, under the fixed presidency of the lord provost of that city. it is a representative body, consisting of delegates elected by the town councils of the royal burghs (not _boroughs_) of scotland; and their business is to attend to such public measures as may affect the general interests of their constituents. in former times, however their powers and duties were of far more importance than they are now. the convention seems to have exercised a general superintendence of the foreign trade of the kingdom. with a view to the promotion of that trade, they used to enter into commercial treaties, or _staple contracts_ as they were called, with the commercial cities of the continent; and i have now before me one of these staple contracts, made with the city of antwerp in ; and another with the city of middleburg, in zeeland, in ; but latterly they seem to have confined themselves to the town of _campvere_, in zeeland (island of walcheren). in all these contracts it was stipulated { } that the scottish traders should enjoy certain privileges, which were considered of such importance that the crown appointed a _conservator_ of them. the last of these staple contracts was made with campvere in the year ; but soon afterwards the increasing prosperity of scotland, and the participation of its burgesses in the foreign trade of england, rendered such partial arrangements useless, and the contracts and the privileges have long since been reckoned among the things that were. the office of conservator degenerated into a sinecure. it was held for some time by the _rev._ john home, author of the tragedy of _douglas_, who died in ; and afterwards by a sir alex. lenier, whose name is found in the _edinburgh almanack_ as "conservator at campvere" till , when the office and the officer seem to have expired together. j. l. _sir gilbert gerard_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--in addition to the information i formerly sent you in answer to mr. spedding's inquiry, i am now enabled to state two facts, which greatly reduce the period within which the date of sir gilbert gerard's death may be fixed. among the records in carlton ride, is an enrolment of his account as _custos domûs conversorum_ from january , eliz. ( ) to january , eliz. ( ). and a search in doctors' commons has resulted in the discovery, that sir gilbert's will was proved, not, as dugdale states, in april, , but on april , . he died therefore between january and april , . dugdale mentions that there is no epitaph on his monument. edward foss. _mistletoe_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i wish to mention that the mistletoe has been tried at the botanic gardens belonging to trinity college, dublin; and, after flourishing for some years, it died away. indeed, i think it has been repeatedly tried there, but without eventual success. y. s. m. dublin. _wild plants and their names_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_cowslip_, "palsy wort." culpepper says: "because they strengthen the brain and nerves, and remedy palsies, the greeks gave them the name _paralysis_." "the flowers preserved, or conserved, and the quantity of a nutmeg taken every morning, is a sufficient dose for inward disorders." for the ointment he gives the following receipt: "bruise the _flowers_; and to two handfuls of these, add a pound of hog's grease dried. put it in a stone pot, covered with paper, and set it in the sun or a warm place three or four days to melt. take it out and boil it a little; strain it out when hot; pressing it out very hard in a press. to this grease add as many herbs as before, and repeat the whole process, if you wish the ointment strong.--yet this i tell you, the fuller of juice the herbs are, the sooner will your ointment be strong; the last time you boil it, boil it so long till your herbs be crisp, and the juice consumed; then strain it, pressing it hard in a press; and to every pound of ointment, add two ounces of turpentine, and as much wax." ceridwen. _coninger or coningry, coneygar or conygre_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--there are many fields in the midland counties which bear the name of _conigree_. in some instances they are in the vicinity of manor-houses. the british name of a rabbit is _cwningen_, plural _cwning_. that of a rabbit warren is _cwning-gaer_, that is, literally, rabbits' camp. the term _coneygar_ is so like this, that it may be supposed to have been derived from it. n. w. s. ( ) * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. it would be difficult to find a book better calculated to prove the good service which the camden society is rendering to historical literature, than the one which has just been circulated among its members. the work, which is entitled _letters and papers of the verney family down to the end of the year . printed from the original mss. in the possession of sir harry verney, bart., edited by_ john bruce, esq., treas. s. a., is of direct historical value, although at the first glance it would seem rather to illustrate the fortunes of the verneys than the history of the country. for, as the editor well observes-- "the most valuable materials, even for general history, are to be found among the records of private and personal experience. more true knowledge of the spirit of an age, more real acquaintance with the feelings and actual circumstances of a people, may be gleaned from a delineation of the affairs of a single family, than from studied historical composition. the one is the expression of cotemporary and spontaneous feeling, and, although limited, is unquestionably genuine; the other is a deduction from knowledge, imperfect even when most extensive, and too frequently coloured by the feelings and prejudices of a subsequent and altered period." but, valuable as are the materials which the liberality of sir harry verney has placed at the disposal of the society, it is obvious that they are of a nature which a publisher might hesitate to produce, even if their owner, which is very doubtful, had thought fit to place them in the hands of one for that purpose. hence the utility of a society which has influence to draw from the muniment rooms of our old families, such materials as those found in the present volume, and which, strung together with the agreeable and instructive narrative with which mr. bruce has accompanied them, will secure for the _verney papers_ the character of being one of the very best, as well as of the most amusing books, which the camden society has given to the world. { } having had an opportunity of being present at the private view of messrs. de la motte and cundall's _photographic institution_, in new bond street, we were highly pleased with the interesting specimens of the art there collected, which in our opinion far exceed any similar productions which have come before the public. we strongly advise our readers to visit this exhibition, that they may see the rapid progress which the art is making, and how applicable it is to their archæological pursuits. books received.--_the vale royal of england, or the county palatine of chester illustrated. abridged and revised, &c._, by thomas hughes. the title-page of this little volume puts forth its claim to the attention of cheshire antiquaries.--_the family shakspeare_, by thomas bowdler, vol. vi. this volume completes this handsome reprint of an edition of shakspeare, which fathers and brothers, who may scruple at bringing before their daughters and sisters the blemishes which the character of the age has left in shakspeare's writings, may safely present to them; as in it nothing is added to the original text, from which only those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read in a family. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. tillotson. vols. i., ii., iv., v., xi. mo. tonson, london, . livy. vol i. mo. maittaire, london, . annals and magazine of natural history. vols. i., ii., iii., iv., v., xix., xx. s. each. the above in parts or monthly numbers will do. the aviary, or magazine of british melody. a collection of diverting songs, airs, &c.: both published about the middle of last century. churchman's sheet almanac: all the years. gretton's introduction to translation, &c. part ii. views of arundel house in the strand, . london, published by t. thane, rupert street, haymarket. . parker's glossary of architecture. nd edition. pickering's statutes at large. vo. edit. camb. from geo. iii. cap. . (vol. xlvi. part i.) to wm. iv. european magazine. nos. for may, ; january, february, may, june, ; april, june, july, october, and december, . stanhope's paraphrase of epistles and gospels. london, . vols. iii. and iv. the lawyer and magistrate's magazine, complete, or single volumes, _circa_ - . todd's cyclopÃ�dia of anatomy and physiology. phelps' history and antiquities of somersetshire. part ., and parts . to end. bayle's dictionary. english version, by de maizeaux. london, . vols. i. and ii. swift's (dean) works. dublin: g. faulkner. volumes . vol. i. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vol. i. and ii. archÃ�ologia. vols. iii., iv., v., vii. boards. martyn's plantÃ� cantabrigienses. mo. london, . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _owing to a necessity for going to press this week at an unusually early period, that the present number might be included in the monthly part, we are compelled to omit replies to many correspondents._ l. a. m. (great yarmouth) _will find several notes respecting the means of discovering the bodies of the drowned in our_ th vol., pp. . . . h. o. n. (brighton). _in our own practice we have never obtained pictures with the agreeable colour which is produced by the iodide of silver, when iodide of ammonium has been used. the flaking of the collodion would indicate an excess of iodide, and is often cured by the addition of about twenty drops of alcohol to an ounce of collodion. the feathery appearance is difficult to comprehend, without seeing a specimen. if you are using glass which has been previously used, the most minute remains of iron would cause a discoloration. muriatic acid is the most effectual remedy for cleaning glass so used. it may be procured at_ ½d. _per lb., and should be diluted with three parts of water._ an amateur (oxford). _we are not of opinion that mr. talbot could restrain any one from taking collodion portraits, as patentee of the talbotype process. it is done in many parts of london daily without any permission.--see _times'_ advertisements, &c._ c. e. f. _we think you use too strong a solution of the ammonio-nitrate of silver: thirty grains to the ounce of water, and then redissolved with the strong liq. ammon., give to us most satisfactory result,--the paper being prepared before with chloride of barium, chloride of sodium, and chloride of ammonia, of each half a drachm to the quart of water, in which half an ounce of mannite, or sugar of milk, has been previously dissolved. when sufficiently printed, put it into the hypo. sulph. solution, without previous immersion._ h. l. l. _we shall be happy to render you the best assistance we can, if you will communicate with us again. for iodized paper we may safely refer you to our advertising columns._ _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas, may now be had; for which early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * new achromatic microscopes on mr. pritchard's construction, micrometers, polarizing apparatus, object glasses, and eye-pieces. s. straker supplies any of the above of the first quality, and will forward by post free a new priced list of microscopes and apparatus. . fleet street, london. * * * * * pure nervous or mind complaints.--if the readers of notes and queries, who suffer from depression of spirits, confusion, headache, blushing, groundless fears, unfitness for business or society, blood to the head, failure of memory, delusions, suicidal thoughts, fear of insanity, &c., will call on, or correspond with, rev. dr. willis moseley, who, out of above , applicants, knows not fifty uncured who have followed his advice, he will instruct them how to get well, without a fee, and will render the same service to the friends of the insane.--at home from to . . bloomsbury street, bedford square. * * * * * spectacles.--wm. ackland applies his medical knowledge as a licentiate of the apothecaries' company, london, his theory as a mathematician, and his practice as a working optician, aided by smee's optometer, in the selection of spectacles suitable to every derangement of vision, so as to preserve the sight to extreme old age. achromatic telescopes, with the new vetzlar eye-pieces, as exhibited at the academy of sciences in paris. the lenses of these eye-pieces are so constructed that the rays of light fall nearly perpendicular to the surface of the various lenses, by which the aberration is completely removed; and a telescope so fitted give one-third more magnifying power and light than could be obtained by the old eye-pieces. prices of the various sizes on application to wm. ackland, optician, . hatton garden, london. * * * * * steel pens.--partridge & cozen's steel pens are the best; made of the purest steel, all selected and warranted. fine or medium points, s. d. per box of twelve dozen; broad ditto, s. d.; extra broad, s. d., a very easy pen--will write with comfort on brown paper; correspondence pen, s. d. per box--this pen adapts itself to any hand. p. & c. are the original makers, and although there are many imitations, it is still unequalled. best magnum bonums, s. d. per gross; silver pens, s., and gold ditto, s. each, warranted; patent holders, fit any pen, d. dozen, or s. gross. a liberal allowance to shippers and the trade. samples per post, on receipt of six stamps. partridge & cozen's cheap stationery warehouses, . and . chancery lane. * * * * * just published.--a catalogue of curious books, by j. crozier, . new turnstile, near lincoln's inn fields, holborn. catalogues sent on receipt of one postage stamp. { } * * * * * preparing for immediate publication. photographic notes: comprising plain directions for the practice of photography, including the collodion process on glass; the paper and wax-paper processes; printing from glass and paper negatives, &c. by dr. diamond, f.s.a. with notes on the application of photography to archæology, &c., by william j. thoms, f.s.a. london: george bell, , fleet street. * * * * * photographic school.--royal polytechnic institution. the spacious plate glass house, feet by , with the class rooms and ladies' apartment, being nearly completed. classes or private lessons, embracing all branches of photography, will commence may nd, , for gentlemen, and may rd, for ladies. a perfect apparatus with ross's finest lenses has been procured, and every new improvement will be added. the school will be under the joint direction of t. a. malone, esq., who has been long connected with photography, and j. h. pepper, esq., the chemist to the institution. a prospectus, with terms, may be had at the institution. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver)--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * clerical, medical, and general life assurance society. * * * * * established . * * * * * five bonuses have been declared; at the last in january, , the sum of , l. was added to the policies, producing a bonus varying with the different ages from ½ to per cent. on the premiums paid during the five years, or from l. to l. s. per cent. on the sum assured. the small share of profit divisible in future among the shareholders being now provided for, the assured will hereafter derive all the benefits obtainable from a mutual office, without any liability or risk of partnership. policies effected before the th june next, will be entitled, at the next division, to one year's additional share of profits over later assurers. on assurances for the whole of life only one half of the premiums need to be paid for the first five years. invalid lives may be assured at rates proportioned to the risk. claims paid _thirty_ days after proof of death, and all policies are _indisputable_ except in cases of fraud. tables of rates and forms of proposal can be obtained of any of the society's agents, or of george h. pinckard, resident secretary. _ . great russell street, bloomsbury, london._ * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. h. drew, esq. w. evans, esq. w. freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. j. hunt, esq. j. a. lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. j. lys seager, esq. j. b. white, esq. j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age _£ s. d._ arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. { } * * * * * bohn's standard library for may. de lolme on the constitution of england, or account of the english government; edited, with life and notes, by john macgregor, m.p. post vo., cloth s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for may. diogenes laertius, lives and opinions of the ancient philosophers, translated, with notes, by c. d. yonge, b.a. post vo., cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for may. norway and its scenery, comprising price's journal, with large additions, and a road-book. edited by thos. forester, esq., with illustrations, beautifully engraved on steel by lucas. post vo., cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's scientific library for april and may. humphrey's coin collector's manual: a popular introduction to the study of coins, ancient and modern; with elaborate indexes, and numerous highly-finished engravings on wood and steel. vols. post vo., cloth, s. per volume. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for may. pauli's life of alfred the great, translated from the german. to which is appended, alfred's anglo-saxon version of orosius, with a literal english translation interpaged, notes, and an anglo-saxon alphabet and glossary, by b. thorpe, esq. post vo. cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * price one shilling, post vo. in wrapper. gervinus' introduction to his history of the th century, translated from the german, with a memoir of the author. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * kennedy's selections of classical poetry, being principally translations from english poets. post vo., cloth, s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * mr. collier's new text of shakspeare. now ready, in one volume super-royal vo., s., cloth gilt, s., in morocco, by hayday; handsomely printed in a clear readable type, with portrait, vignette, and fac-simile, the plays of shakspeare. the text regulated by the old copies, and by the recently discovered folio of ; containing early manuscript emendations. edited by j. payne collier, esq., f.s.a. whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * mr. arnold's elementary latin books. in mo., price s., a new edition of henry's first latin book. *** the object of this work (which is founded on the principles of imitation and frequent repetition) is to enable the pupil to do exercises from the first day of his beginning his accidence. it is recommended by the oxford diocesan board of education as an useful work for middle or commercial schools; and adopted at the national society's training college at chelsea. by thomas kerchever arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivington's, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; and simpkin, marshall, & co. also, by the same author, . a second latin book and practical grammar. intended as a sequel to henry's first latin book. fifth edition. s. . a first verse book; being an easy introduction to the mechanism of the latin hexameter and pentameter. fifth edition. s. . companion to the first verse book, containing additional exercises. s. . eclogÃ� ovidianÃ�; with english notes, &c. eighth edition. s. d. this work is from the fifth part of the "lateinisches elementarbuch" of professors jacobs and döring, which has an immense circulation on the continent and in america. . eclogÃ� ovidianÃ�, part ii., containing selections from the "metamorphoses." with english notes. s. . historiÃ� antiquÃ� epitome, from "cornelius nepos," "justin," &c. with english notes, rules for construing, questions, geographical lists, &c. fifth edition. s. . cornelius nepos, part i. with critical questions and answers, and an imitative exercise on each chapter. third edition. s. * * * * * this day, foolscap octavo, price s. d. the poems of goethe, translated in the original metres. by edgar alfred bowring. preceded by a sketch of goethe's life. also, translated by mr. bowring, s. the poems of schiller complete. london: john w. parker & son. west strand. * * * * * the twenty-eighth edition. neurotonics, or the art of strengthening the nerves, containing remarks on the influence of the nerves upon the health of body and mind, and the means of cure for nervousness, debility, melancholy, and all chronic diseases, by dr. napier, m.d. london: houlston & stoneman. price d., or post free from the author for five penny stamps. "we can conscientiously recommend 'neurotonics,' by dr. napier, to the careful perusal of our invalid readers."--_john bull newspaper, june , _. * * * * * the camden society for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the annual general meeting will be held at the freemasons' tavern, great queen street, on monday, may nd, at o'clock. the lord braybrooke, the president, in the chair. * * * * * the following are the publications of the society for the year - : i. the camden miscellany, volume the second, containing:-- . account of the expenses of john of brabant, and henry and thomas of lancaster, - . . household account of the princess elizabeth - . . the request and suite of a true-hearted englishman, written by william cholmeley, . . discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell in march, - . . trelawny papers; and . autobiography of william taswell. d.d. ii. letters and papers of the verney family down to the end of the year . printed from the original mss. in the possession of sir harry verney, bart. edited by john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. iii. regulæ inclusarum: the ancren rewele: a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the th century. edited by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. (nearly ready.) the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due on the st of may. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or the messrs. nichols, no. . parliament street, westminster, by whom the subscriptions are received. * * * * * in volumes for the pocket, price five shillings each. now ready, in six volumes, fcp. vo., price s. each. bowdler's family shakspeare. in which nothing is added to the original text; but those words and expressions are _omitted_ which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family. a new edition. *** also a library edition, with wood engravings, from designs by smirke, howard, and other artists; complete in one volume, vo., price one guinea. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * this day, seventh edition, revised, s. view of the scripture revelations respecting a future state. by the same author, lectures on the characters of our lord's apostles. s. d. lectures on the scripture revelations respecting good and evil angels. s. d. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * now publishing, in post vo., price s. cloth. the learned societies and printing clubs of the united kingdom: being an account of their respective origin, history, objects, and constitution. by the rev. a. hume, ll.d. with a supplement, containing all the recently established societies and printing clubs, and complete lists of their publications to the present time, by a. i. evans. this work will be found of great utility to all literary men, public libraries, &c. g. willis, piazza, covent garden. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . none **** please see at the bottom of this page instructions for downloading this file**** moby (tm) language ii documentation notes this documentation, the software and/or database are: public domain material by grant from the author, january, . historical note: the ward word lists were some of the largest public domain word lists in the world, at the time they were added to the project gutenberg collection in . these word lists do not contain -bit accented characters or unicode, as would be found in a more recent project gutenberg ebook. instead, the lists include phonetic spelling, utilizing backslashes and other characters to indicate where accents would normally occur. there is no detailed guide on how these extra characters were used, and therefore it is likely infeasible to map from the word lists back to a correct representation of the word (i.e., to map from a word list entry with slashes or other characters, back to the actual non-english word with accents or other non-ascii characters). these lists may still be useful, but they are no longer the state-of-the-art in word lists. in the time since the lists were created, it has become much easier for anyone with interests to make their own lists of unique words from the project gutenberg collection or other sources. moby (tm) language ii for msdos operating systems is compressed and distributed as a single zip file. after decompression the language files included with this product is in ordinary ascii format with crlf (ascii / ) delimiters. moby language ii contents read me first file (aareadme.txt) french language list (french.txt) german language list (german.txt) italian language list (italian.txt) japanese language list (japanese.txt) spanish language list (spanish.txt) quick start ) insure you have at least mb of free disk space to hold the contents of this zip file. ) create a destination directory to hold the files listed above. ) on the pg catalog page click on the selection "more files". you will see a "files.zip" folder in the list. move this zipped folder to your computer. on your computer open "files.zip", double click on its "files" subdirectory and copy the contents into the destination directory on your computer. word lists in five of the world's great languages: french number of words size in bytes german number of words size in bytes italian number of words size in bytes japanese number of words size in bytes spanish number of words size in bytes total number of words size in bytes once decompressed, the vocabulary files may be viewed and used just as any text-type file might. none none proofreaders. produced from page scans provided by internet library of early journals. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . . [price threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- domingo lomelyn, jester to henry viii., by edward f. rimbault marlowe and the old taming of a shrew beetle mythology churchwardens' accounts of st. margaret's, westminster, by rev. m. walcott notes on cunningham's london, by e.f. rimbault old painted glass aelfric's colloquy, by s.w. singer logographic printing memorial of duke of monmouth's last days queries:-- catherine pegge, by lord braybrooke william basse and his poems, by j.p. collier minor queries:--christmas hymn--passage in pope--circulation of the blood--meaning of pallace--oliver cromwell--savegard and russells--pandoxare--lord bacon's psalms--festival of st. michael, &c.--luther and erasmus--lay of the phoenix--agricola--liturgy version of psalms miscellanies--including answers to minor queries:-- sir w. rider--sonnet--pilgrimage of princes, &c.--seal of killigrew--lacedaemonian black broth--epigram--bigotry--gowghe's dore of holy scripture--reinerius saccho--discurs modest--defoe--etymology of muffins--by hook or by crook--el buscapié, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * domingo lomelyn, jester to henry viii. shakespeare, in the _second part of henry iv._ act v. sc. makes silence sing the following scrap:-- "do me right, and dub me knight: _samingo_." and nash, in his _summer's last will and testament_, (reprinted in the last edition of dodsley's _old plays_, vol. xi. p. .) has "monsieur mingo for quaffing doth surpass, in cup, in can, or glass; god bacchus, do me right, and dub me knight, _domingo_" t. warton, in a note in vol. xvii. of the _variorum_ shakespeare, says, "_samingo_, that is _san domingo_, as some of the commentators have observed. but what is the meaning and propriety of the name here, has not yet been shown. justice silence is here introduced as in the midst of his cups; and i remember a black-letter ballad, in which either a _san domingo_ or a _signior domingo_, is celebrated for his miraculous feats in drinking. silence, in the abundance of his festivity, touches upon some old song, in which this convivial _saint_, or _signior_, was the burden. perhaps, too, the pronounciation in here suited to the character." i must own that i cannot see what san domingo has to do with a drinking song. may it not be an allusion to a ballad or song on _domingo_, one of king henry the eighth's jesters? "--_domyngo lomelyn_, that was wont to wyn moche money of the kynge, at the cardys and haserdynge." skelton's _why come ye not to courte_, ed. dyce, ii. p. . none of the commentators have noticed this, but i think my suggestion carries with it some weight. in the _privy purse expenses of king henry the eighth_ (published by sir h. nichols, in ), are many entries concerning this _domingo_, most of which relate to payments of money that he had won from the king at cards and dice. he was evidently, as sir harris nichols observes, one of king henry's "diverting vagabonds," and seems to have accompanied his majesty wherever he went, for we find that he was with him at calais in . in all these entries he is only mentioned as domingo; his surname, and the fact of his being a lombard, we learn from skelton's poem, mentioned above. the following story, told of _domingo_, occurs in mr. (afterwards sir john) harington's _treatise on playe_, , printed in the _nugae antiquae_, edit. park, vol. i. p. .:-- "the other tale i wold tell of a willinge and wise loss i have hearde dyversly tolde. some tell it of kyng phillip and a favoryte of his; some of our worthy king henry viii. and _domingo_; and i may call it a tale; becawse perhappes it is but a tale, but thus they tell it:--the kinge, eldest hand, set up all restes, and discarded flush; _domingo_ or _dundego_ (call him how you will), helde it upon , or som such game; when all restes were up and they had discarded, the kinge threw his on the boord open, with great lafter, supposing the game (as it was) in a manner sewer. _domingo_ was at his last carde incownterd flush, as the standers by saw, and tolde the day after; but seeing the king so mery, would not for a reste at primero, put him owt of that pleasawnt conceyt, and put up his cardes quietly, yielding it lost." park was not acquainted with any particulars of this _domingo lomelyn_, for he says, in a note, "query, jester to the king?" the first epigram in samuel rowland's entertaining tract, _the letting of humours blood in the head-waine_, &c. , is upon "monsieur domingo;" but whether it relates to king henry's jester is a matter of some question. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * marlowe and the old "taming of a shrew." having only just observed an announcement of a new edition of the works of marlowe, i take the earliest opportunity of calling the attention of the editor to a circumstance which it is important that he should know, and the knowledge of which,--should it have escaped his notice, as it has that of all other writers on the subject,--i trust may not be too late for his present purpose. without farther preface, i will introduce the subject, by asking mr. dyce to compare two passages which i shall shortly point out; and, having done so, i think he will agree with me in the opinion that the internal evidence, relating to our old dramatic literature, cannot have been very much studied, while such a discovery as he will then make still remained to be made. the first passage is from the so-called _old "taming of a shrew"_ (six old plays, , p. .), and runs as follows:-- "now that the gloomy shadow of the night, longing to view orion's drisling looks, leaps from th' antarctic world unto the sky, and dims the welkin with her pitchy breath;" the second is from _doctor faustus_ (marlowe's works, vol. ii. p. .), which, however, i shall save myself the trouble of transcribing; as, with the exception of "look" for "looks," in the second line, and "his" for "her," in the fourth, the two passages will be found identical. being, some years ago, engaged, in connection with the first of these plays, in the pursuit of a very different object,--in which i cannot say that i altogether failed, and the result of which i may take an opportunity of communicating,--i made a note of the above; and at the same time followed it up by a general examination of the style of marlowe. and, to make a long matter short, i may say that in this examination, besides meeting with a dozen instances of the identity of the writer of passages in the _taming of a shrew_ and of passages in marlowe's two plays, _doctor faustus_ and _tamburlaine_, i found such general resemblance in style as left no doubt upon my mind that, if one of these plays be his acknowledged work, as indisputable will be his claim to the other two. i was not aware at that time of the evidence, in henslow's _diary_, of marlowe's authorship of _tamburlaine_; but, so far from considering it inferior, i was inclined to place it, in some important respects, at the very head of his plays. i will not take up your space now with the parallel passages which i noted; but, should you wish it, and be able to make room for them, i will furnish you with a list. it is, of course, obvious that the one i have quoted proves nothing by itself; accumulated instances, in connection with the general question of style, alone become important. i will conclude, by giving a list which i have made out of marlowe's plays, in favour of which i conceive there to be either internal or external evidence:-- "locrine. tamburlaine the great (two parts). jew of malta. doctor faustus. edward the second. massacre of paris. taming of a shrew. dido, queen of carthage (with nash)." samuel hickson st. john's wood, jan. . [we trust our correspondent will favour us with the further communications he proposes on this very interesting point.] * * * * * beetle mythology. mr. editor,--i never thought of asking my low-norman fellow-rustics whether the ladybird had a name and a legend in the best preserved of the northern romance dialects: on the score of a long absence (eight-and-twenty years), might not a veteran wanderer plead forgiveness? depend upon it, sir, nevertheless, that should any reminiscences exist among my chosen friends, the stout-hearted and industrious tenants of a soil where every croft and paddock is the leaf of a chronicle, it will be communicated without delay. there is more than usual attractiveness in the astronomical german titles of this tiny "red chafer," or _rother kaefer_, sonnen kaefer and vnser frawen kvhlein, the sun-chafer, and our lady's little cow. (_isis_ or _io?_) with regard to its provincial english name, _barnabee_, the correct interpretation might be found in _barn-bie_, the burning, or fire-fly, a compound word of low-dutch origin. we have a small black beetle, common enough in summer, called pÂn, nearly hemispherical: you must recollect that the _â_ is as broad as you can afford to make it, and the final _n_ is nasal. children never forgot, whenever they caught this beetle, to place it in the palm of their left hand, when it was invoked as follows:-- "pÂn, pÂn, mourtre mé ten sang, et j'te doûrai de bouan vin blianc!" which means, being interpreted, "pÂn, pÂn, show me thy blood, and i will give thee good white wine!" as he uttered the charm, the juvenile pontiff spat on poor thammuz, till a torrent of blood, or what seemed such, "ran purple" over the urchin's fingers. paul-ernest jablonski's numerous readers need not be told that the said beetle is an egyptian emblem of the everlasting and universal soul, and that its temple is the equinoctial circle, the upper hemisphere.[ ] as a solar emblem, it offers an instructive object of inquiry to the judicious gleaners of the old world's fascinating nursery traditions. sicilian diodorus tells us that the earth's lover, attis (or adonis), after his resuscitation, acquired the divine title of papan.[ ] to hazard the inoffensive query, why one of our commonest great beetles is still allowed to figure under so distinguished a name, will therefore reflect no discredit upon a cautious student of nearly threescore years. the very welsh talked, in william baxter's time, of "heaven, as _bugarth_ papan," the sun's ox-stall or resting-place; and here you likewise find his beetle-majesty, in a low-norman collection of insular rhymes:-- "sus l'bord piâsottaient, côte-à-côte, les équerbots et leas papans, et ratte et rat laissaient leux crotte sus les vieilles casses et même dedans."[ ] by the help of horapollo, chiflet's gnostic gems, and other repertories of the same class, one might, peradventure, make a tolerable case in favour of the mythological identity of the legend of ladybird--that is, the _sun-chafer_, or _barn-bie_, the _fire-fly_, "whose house is burnt, and whose bairns are ten," of course the first ten days of the egyptian year[ ]--with the mystical stories of the said black or dark blue lords of radiance, _pân_ and _papân_. the egyptians revere the beetle as a living and breathing image of the sun, quoth porphyry.[ ] that will account for this restless delver's extraordinary talismanic renown. i think the lady-bird is "the speckled beetle" which was flung in hot water to avert storms.[ ] pignorius gives us the figure of the beetle, crowned with the sun, and encircled with the serpent of eternity; while another, an onyx in the collection of abraham gorlæus, threatens to gnaw at a thunderbolt.[ ] reuven's book on the egyptian museum, which i have not seen, notices an invocation to "the winged beetle, the monarch ([greek: tyrannos]) of mid-heaven," concluding with a devout wish that some poor creature "may be dashed to pieces." can any of your readers inform me what is meant by "the blood of the _phuôn_?" yours truly, ? st. martin's, guernsey, jan. . . * * * * * extracts from churchwardens' accounts of st. margaret's, westminster--weight of bells in ancient times--history of a rood-loft. i send you a few notes, collected out of the churchwardens' accounts of st. margaret's, westminster. stly. some regarding the weight of bells in ancient days:-- " . the first bell weith ccccc lb. the second bell weith ccccccxxj lb. the third bell weith ixcvj lb. the fourthe bell weith m.x lb. the fyfthe belonging to our grete lady bretherhed mvjcxiiij lb. the sume of all the weight mmmmviic li lb. " . the broken tennor waied xvjcxxj lb. the new tennor ys. xiijc di the greatest bell ys xxjc and di at lvjs. the c. the iiij bell ys xvijc and di and xiiij lb. the xiiij bell taken awaie was xiijc di. the ij bell carried awaie was viijciij qters. the new bell viijc di. som totall of the bells, yron, tymber, and workmanshipp lxxvl. vs. vd." this appears to have been a sorry bargain, for soon after occur sad complaints of these bells, "very falsly and deceytfully made by valentyne trever." perhaps your correspondent "cephas" may explain the following entry:-- " . item, paid for makying of a newe clapper to judas bell xd." ndly. some entries, which make up a little history of a rood-loft:-- " . item, sol' pro le skoryng de la belles sup' le rode lofte iiijd. " . item, paide for a doore in the rode lofte to save and kepe the people from the orgayns xijd. item, paide to a carpynter for makyng of the crucyfix and the beme he standeth upon xls. item, paide for kervying of mary and john and the makyng newe xxxiij_s_. iiij_d_. item, for gilding of the same mary and john and the crosse and iiij'or evangelysts vj_l_. vj_s_. viij_d_. " . item, payd to a labourer for helpying up the roode loft into the stepull viij_d_. " . payd for a present for mr. alford and mr. herytage for ther good wyll for tymber for the newe rode lofte ij_s_. ij_d_." the fickle tyrant henry viii. dies; a more consistent reign happily ensues. " . item, for the takying downe of the roode, the tabernacle, and the images iij_s_. vj_d_. also payd to thomas stokedale for xxxv ells of clothe for the frunte of the rode lofte whereas the x commandements be wrytten, price of the ell vj_d_. xxiij_s_. iiij_d_. also payd to hym that dyd wryght the said x commaundements and for ther drynking lxvj_s_. ix_d_." queen mary succeeds the boy-king edward vi., and restores the ritual of her church. " . item, payed for the roode, mary and john x_l_. " . item, for peyntyng the roode, mary and john xl_s_. for makyng xvij candilsticks for the roode-light xj_s_. iiij_d_." upon the accession of queen elizabeth once more, and this time for ever, the rood was destroyed, and the loft, though "reformed," did not long survive it. " . payde to john rialle for his iij dayse work to take downe the roode, mary and john ij_s_. viij_d_. for clevying and sawyng of the roode, mary and john xij_d_. " . rec'd for the beame the roode stood on, for boords and other tymber parcell of the roode loft xlij_s_. for the rest of the stuf belongying to the roode lofte ix_l_. for the great clothe that hong before the rode xx_s_. item, paide to joyners and labowrers abowt the takying downe and new reformyng of the roode loft, &c. xxxvij_l_. x_s_. ij_d_. item, paide for boordes, glew, nayles, and other neccessaries belonging to the saide loft xiiij_l_. xiij_s_. ix_d_. item, paide to a paynter for payntyng the same xij_d_. " . for bearinge stones for the muringe up of the dore of the late rood lofte viij_d_." the rapacious puritans, of course, did not suffer any portion of the church-goods to escape their sacrilegious and itching palms, if convertible into money, so we read-- " . received of arthur condall in part of li for the screen and organ-loft _s_." mackenzie walcott, m.a. s.m.w., dec. . . * * * * * notes upon cunningham's handbook for london. _the bagnio in long acre._--mr. cunningham mentions the queen's bagnio in long acre. query, was this the same as the duke of york's bagnio? s. haworth published, in a small mo. volume, without date, "a description of the duke of york's bagnio, in long acre, and of the mineral bath and new spaw thereunto belonging." _tavistock street, covent garden._--richard leveridge, the celebrated singer, after his retirement from the stage, kept a tavern in this street. here he brought out "a collection of songs, with the music, by mr. leveridge. in two volumes. london, engrav'd and printed for the author in tavistock street, covent garden, ." the frontispiece was designed and engraved by hogarth. _duke street, westminster._--miss hawkins, in her _anecdotes_, p. ., speaking of lady lucy meyrick, says, "on quitting her husband's family, she came to reside in duke street, westminster, and lived in that house which had been _prior's_, and which _exactly faces charles street_." _richmond buildings, soho._--horne tooke resided here in . he afterwards removed to frith street. _clare market_, originally called _new market_, was established about the year , by lord clare. "the city and my lord had a great lawsuit, which lasted many years, to the great expence of the city; but from the inequity of the times the city and my lord agreed, and gave it up to the lord; and now it is become one of the greatest markets in the adjacent parts; and from the success of this noble lord, they have got several charters for the erecting of several others since the year ; as that of st. james, by the earl of st. alban's; bloomsbury, by the earl of southampton; brook market, by the lord brook; hungerford market; newport market; besides the hay market, new charingcross, and that at petty france at westminster, with their mayfair in the fields behind piccadilly."--_harl. ms_. . _london house yard._--here was formerly the town house of the bishop of london, which, being consumed in the great fire, the house in aldersgate street, formerly called _petre house_, was rented for the town residence of the bishop, since which it obtained the title of _london house_. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * old painted glass for poor ignorant people like myself pray insert the following, as perhaps some of your heraldic correspondents may afford some information for the benefit of your very humble servant, f.e. newington, june . . _to take an account of what coats of arms or other paintings are in the windows of the house mercer lives of mr. filmer._ painted glass in y' windows at mr. merser house is as foloweth coote of armse in windowse in y' kichen surkelor coots of armse lians traveling flours of luse all rede & a holfe surkel a top with flours of luce y' glass painted rede blew yoler & of a green shaye. in y' hall one ouel pease of painted glass in chakers of yoler & green & blew yong hedge frougs two pikse of armse on each side w.b. there was in this rote on y' glass lyfford but there is only now _ford_ y' fust leters ar broken & lost oute one pecs of y' painted glass in y' frount chamber window as foloweth in a surkel flours of luse red lyans traveling rede roses purpul roses with a croune a tope with flours of luse & a crass and beedse all round y' crowne. in y' same window one more cootse of arms in a surkel devidet is as foloweth yoler lyans _passant_[ ] set in a silver coler flours of luse blew sete in green, y' seoch coote of arms on each side y' thisel & crown & y' flours coming out of the thistle y' croun yoler & y' flours y'e thisal of a silver coler _leopards_[ ] hedse silver & set in silver roses of a purpul couler one on each side spred eaguls one on each side & wingse of a goos in y' midel of y' arms of a goold culer & a vessel like a decanter between y'm a croun a toupe with flours of luse on each side of y'e croun on crass in y'e middel & holfe crasses on each side with white beadse all round y'e crounde a toupe. * * * * * aelfric's colloquy. the singular error which messrs. lye and thorpe have fallen in the passage pointed out by mr. hampson in aelfric's very interesting _colloquy_, is the more remarkable as aelfric himself afforded a complete illustration of the passage, in his _glossary_, where we have "bulga, _hýdig-faet_." it is possible, therefore, that _higdifatu_ is a mere error of the scribe. now du cange, v. _bulga_, cites this very passage from aelfric's _glossary_, and adds, "i.e. _vas ex corio confectum_," but his whole article is worth consulting. that the latin word in the _colloquy_ should be _cassidilia_ is quite clear. thus in an old ms. english gloss on the bible (penes me), the passage in tobit, viii. ., "protulit de _cassidili_ suo," is rendered, "brouzt forth of his _scrippe_." coverdale has it, "take out of his _bagge_," and luther, "langte aus seinem _sücklein_," which word is exchanged for _büdel_ in the saxon version. in two old teutonic glosses on the bible published by graff (_diutiska, ii. .), we have the following variations:-- _de cassidi_ burssa, _de sacello t. sacciperio_ kiula _de cassili_ burissa, _de sacello t. sacciperio_ kiulla. another gloss in graff's st vol. p. ., on the word _cadus_, may perhaps throw some light on the subject. the philological student need not be reminded of the wide application of the word _vas_, lat., _fazz_, o.g., and _faet_. a.s.; but for my own part, i conclude that the shoewright intended to designate by _higdifatu_ all sorts of _leathern budgets_. every anglo-saxon student must be so sensible of the great obligation he is under to our distinguished scholar mr. thorpe, that i trust it will not be deemed invidious or ungracious to point out another passage in this _colloquy_ which seems to have hitherto baffled him, but which it appears to me may be elucidated. to the question, "hwilce fixas gefehst thu?" the fisherman answers, "aelas aud hacodas, mynas, aud aelputan, sceotan aud lampredan, aud swa hwylce swa on waetere swymath, _sprote_." mr. thorpe, in the st edition of his _analecta_, says, "what is intended to be meant by this word [_sprote_], as well as by _salu_ [the correspondent word in the latin], i am at a loss to conjecture." in his second edition, mr. thorpe repeats, "i am unable to explain _salu_ otherwise than by supposing it may be an error for _salice_. in his _glossary_ he has "spro't, ii. .? sprout, rod?" with a reference to his note. i must confess i cannot see how the substitution of _salice_ for _salu_ would make the passage more intelligible, and the explanation of _spro'te_ in the _glossary_ does not help us. the sense required appears to me to be, _quickly, swiftly,_ and this will, i think, be found to be the meaning of _sprote_. in the moeso-gothic gospels the word _sprauto_ occurs several times and always in the sense of _cito, subito_; and though we have hitherto, i believe, no other example in anglo-saxon of this adverbial use of the word, we are warranted, i think, in concluding, from the analogy of a cognate language, that it did exist. in regard to the evidently corrupt latin word _salu_, i have nothing better to offer than the forlorn conjecture that, in monkish latin, "_saltu't_" may have been contractedly written for _saltuatim_." dr. leo, in his _angelsâchsiche sprachproben_, has reprinted the _colloquy_, but without the latin, and, among many other capricious deviations from mr. thorpe's text, in the answer of the shoewright has printed _hygefata_! but does not notice the word in his _glossary_. herr leo has entirely omitted the word _sprote_. s.w. singer. jan. . . * * * * * logographic printing. [naso has, in compliance with our request, furnished us with a facsimile of the heading of his early number of _the times_, which is as follows:--"the (here an engraving of the king's arms) times, or daily universal register, printed logographically, wednesday, march . ," and informs us that it was printed "by r. nutkins, at the logographic press, printing-house square, near apothecaries' hall, blackfriars," and the height to which the mr. walter of that day had brought his invention, by the same energy by which his successor has raised the times to its present position, is shown by the following note from a kind and most able correspondent.] a much more remarkable specimen of logographic printing than the number of the _times_ newspaper mentioned by naso, no. ., p. ., is an edition of anderson's _history of commerce_, with a continuation, in vols. to., printed by that method in - , "at the logographic press, by j. walter, printing-house square, blackfriars." the work, which makes in all not much short of pages, is very well printed in all respects; and the following interesting note on the subject of logographic printing is attached to the preface heading the continuation, or fourth volume. "mr. walter cannot here omit suggesting to the public a few observations on his improved mode of printing logographically. in all projects for the general benefit, the individual who conceives that the trade in which he is engaged diminishes in its emoluments from any improvement which another may produce in it, is too much disposed to become its enemy; and, perhaps, the interest of individuals never exerted itself with more inveteracy than has been experienced by mr. walter from many concerned in the trade into which he had entered. "the invention which he brought forward, promised to be of essential service to the public, by expediting the process and lessening the expense of printing. dr. franklin sanctioned it with his approbation, and sir joseph banks encouraged him with the most decided and animated opinion of the great advantages which would arise to literature from the logographic press. nevertheless mr. walter was left to struggle with the interest of some, and the prejudice of others, and, though he was honoured by the protection of several persons of high rank, it happened in his predicament, as it generally happens in predicaments of a similar nature, that his foes were more active than his friends, and he still continued to struggle with every difficulty that could arise from a very determined opposition to, and the most illiberal misrepresentations of, the logographic improvement. "mr. walter has, however, at length triumphed over the falsehood and malignity of his opponents; logographic printing, after having produced such a work as this, which he now presents to the public, with many excellent publications that he has already printed, can no longer be considered as an idle speculation: on the contrary, it is proved to be a practical improvement, that promises, under a due encouragement, to produce a great national benefit. to advance it to the perfection of which it is capable, mr. walter engages to employ his utmost exertions, and he takes the liberty of expressing his confidence, that he shall not be disappointed in the enjoyment of that public favour which now promises to reward his labours." c. old brompton, jan. . . [we may mention another work printed in this manner--an edition of _robinson crusoe_, in vols. vo. --_"printed at the logographic press, and sold by j. walter, no. . piccadilly, opposite old bond street."_] * * * * * memorials of the duke of monmouth's last days.[ ] at a recent meeting of the royal irish academy in dublin, dr. anster exhibited a manuscript volume of pages, which he declared to be the identical "album filled with songs, recipes, prayers, and charms," found in the duke of monmouth's pocket when he was seized. it was purchased at a book-stall in paris in by an irish divinity student, was given by him to a priest in the county of kerry, and, on the priest's death, became the property of the present possessor. respecting in its identity and history, from its removal from the rebel duke's pocket down to its production at the royal irish academy, dr. anster showed that after monmouth was beheaded--which he was on tower hill, by the too-celebrated john ketch, on the th july, --the articles found on his person were given to the king. at james's deposition, three years afterwards, all his manuscripts, including those that had belonged to monmouth, were carried into france, where they remained till the revolution in that country a century afterwards. dr. anster, in exhibiting the book, showed that the remains of silver clasps had been destroyed, and a part of the leather of the covers at each side torn away, seemingly for the purpose of removing some name on a coat of arms with which it had been once marked; and this he accounted for by the belief that at the period of the french revolution the persons in whose custody they were, being fearful of the suspicions likely to arise from their possession of books with royal arms on them, tore off the covers, and sent the books to st. omer's. the after-fate of the larger books was, that they were burned; some small ones, we are distinctly told, were saved from this fate, but seem to have been disregarded, and all trace of them lost. the abbé waters--a collateral descendant of lucy waters, the duke of monmouth's mother--was the person with whom george iv. negotiated for the stuart papers, and from whom the volumes which have since appeared as clark's _life of james the second_ were obtained; and it is from the abbé waters we have the account of the destruction of king james's autograph papers. dr. anster showed, written on the inner cover of this volume, the words, "baron watiers" or "watrers." as to the identity of the book, dr. anster quoted several passages from contemporary authors to test their account of the contents of the "album" with those of the book he was describing. in the _harleian miscellany_, vol. vi. p. ., it is stated in sir john reresby's memoirs, that "out of his [monmouth's] pocket were taken books, in his own handwriting, containing charms or spells to open the doors of a prison, to obviate the danger of being wounded in battle, together with songs and prayers." barillon describes the book in what is nearly a translation of this--"il y avoit des secrets de magie et d'enchantment, avec des chansons des recettes pour des maladies et des prieres." again, in a note by lord dartmouth to the modern editions of _burnet's own times_, we have the following statement:-- "my uncle colonel william legge, who went in the coach with him [monmouth] to london as a guard, with orders to stab him if there were any disorders on the road, showed me several charms that were tied about him when he was taken, and his table-book, which was full of astrological figures that nobody could understand; but he told my uncle that they had been given to him some years before in scotland, and he now found they were but foolish conceits." the actual contents of the manuscript volume show a great resemblance to these descriptions. the most curious passages which it contains are the duke's memorandums of his journey on two visits to the prince of orange, in the year previous to his last rash adventure. his movements up to the th of march, - , are given. the entries do not seem to be of much moment; but they may accidentally confirm or disprove some disputed points of history. there is an entry without a date, describing the stages of a journey in england, commencing with london and hampstead: it ends with toddington. this forms a strong link in the chain of identity; for toddington is a place remarkable in the history of the duke. near it was the residence of lady henrietta maria wentworth, baroness (in her own right) of nettlestead, only daughter and heir of thomas lord wentworth, grandchild and heir of the earl of cleveland. five years before the execution, her mother observed that, despite the duke being a married man, her daughter had, while at court, attracted his admiration, and she hurried her away to toddington. in , after the failure of the rye-house plot, monmouth was banished from the royal presence, and it was to toddington he retired. when, on retracting the confession he had made on the occasion, he was banished the kingdom, the companion of his exile was lady henrietta wentworth. "i dwell on this," said dr. anster, "because the accidental mention of toddington seems to authenticate the book: the name of lady henrietta wentworth does not occur in it, and the persons in whose hands the book has been since it was purchased in paris do not seem to have noticed the name of toddington, or to have known that it had any peculiar relation to the duke's history. it occurs twice in the book--once in the itinerary, and again in a trifling and unmetrical song, which is probably the duke's own composition; written probably on the eve of his flight with his romantic but guilty companion to holland:-- "'with joy we leave thee, false world, and do forgive all thy false treachery. for now we'll happy live. we'll to our bowers, and there spend our hours; happy there we'll be, we no strifes can see; no quarrelling for crowns, nor fear the great one's frowns; nor slavery of state, nor changes in our fate. from plots this place is free, there we'll ever be; we'll sit and bless our stars that from the noise of wars did this glorious place give (or did us toddington give) that thus we happy live.'" in macaulay's history we find that the latest act of the duke on the scaffold, before submitting to the stroke of the executioner, was to call his servant, and put into the man's hand a toothpick-case, the last token of ill-starred love. "give it," he said, "_to that person!_" after the description of monmouth's burial occurs the following affecting passage:-- "yet a few months and the quiet village of toddington, in bedfordshire, witnessed a yet sadder funeral. near that village stood an ancient and stately hall, the seat of the wentworths. the transept of the parish church had long been their burial-place. to that burial-place, in the spring which followed the death of monmouth, was borne the coffin of the young baroness wentworth of nettlestead. her family reared a sumptuous mausoleum over her remains; but a less costly memorial of her was long contemplated with far deeper interest: her name, carved by the hand of him she loved too well, was, a few years ago, still discernible on a tree in the adjoining park." in further proof of identity, dr. anster pointed out several charms and recipes which the manuscript volume contains. the conjurations are in general for the purpose of learning the results of sickness in any particular case, and of determining whether friends will be in certain circumstances faithful. there are also incantations for the use of several maladies, and one to make gray hair grow black. no "charms against being wounded in battle," such are sir john reresby mentions, are to be found in the volume; but there are some prayers against violent death, which have the appearance of having been transcribed from some devotional book. there is evidently a mistake in supposing that this book contains any charm for breaking open prison doors, and it is likely that sir john reresby was misled in this way:--there is in p. . a charm in french to procure repose of body and mind, and deliverance from pains; and the word for "pains" is written in a contracted form; it might as well stand for prisons; but, examining the context, it is plainly the former word which is meant. the rest of the entries consist of extracts from old recipe-books, mixed in the oddest way with abridgements of english history, and the most trifling memorandums, chiefly of a private and personal kind. altogether, this commonplace work is highly indicative of the weakness, vanity, and superstition which stood forward so prominently in the character of the rash but unfortunate duke of monmouth. * * * * * queries. catherine pegge. mr. cunningham was mistaken in supposing that i had overlooked catherine pegge, for i was well aware that she could not have been pepys's "pretty lady." she must, in fact, have attained her fortieth year, and there is no record of her being on the stage; whereas margaret hughes had, when pepys saluted her, recently joined the theatre royal, and she is expressly styled "peg hughes" by tom browne, in one of his "letters from the dead to the living." having disposed of this question, i am tempted to add that morant does not confirm the statement that catherine pegge married sir edward green, for he says that "sir edward greene, created a baronet, july, , was seated at little sampford in essex; he had wives, the first was jeronyma, daughter and coheir of william everard, of linsted, esq., and by her he had daughters; by mary, daughter of ---- tasborough, he had a son; and by the third lady ----, daughter of ---- simonds, he had a daughter. he was the last of the greenes that enjoyed this estate, having lost it by gaming."--morant's _essex_, vol. ii. p. . this account of the greene family is stated in a note to have been taken from a fine pedigree on vellum, penes t. wotton, gent. if catherine pegge was one the three ladies mentioned above, she must have changed her name previously to her marriage, in hopes of concealing her former history; but the circumstance of the baronetcy being conferred upon sir edward is very suspicious. probably some of your correspondents can settle the question. braybrooke. audley end, jan. . . * * * * * william basse, and his poems. can any of your readers inform me where a perfect or imperfect copy is to be found of a poem, of which i possess only a single half sheet, under the following title:-- "_great brittaines sunnes-set, bewailed with a shower of teares_. by william basse. at oxford, printed by joseph barnes. "? it is one of the many poems published on the death of prince henry; and although i have been in search of it, or of a fragment of it, for more than twenty years, i have never been able to obtain tidings of more than of that small portion in my possession; nor am i aware of the mention of it in any bibliographical authority. i have not at hand sir h. nicolas's edition of walton's _angler_, in which basse is spoken of, but i remember looking at that beautiful and costly work a long time ago, and, as far as i recollect, not finding in it anything to my purpose. i observe that a william basse (or _bas_, as the name is there spelt) printed in , to., a tract called _sword and buckler, or serving man's defence_; but i know no more of it than that it was sold in stevens's sale; and among the mss. of the late mr. heber was a volume of poems called _polyhymnia_, apparently prepared for the press, and dedicated by william basse to lady lindsey, which contained an "elegie on a rare singing bull-finch," dated th june, ; so that he was still living nearly half a century after he had printed his earliest known performance. the production that izaac walton refers to must be the ballad preserved in the pepys collection at cambridge, under the heading "maister basse his careere, or the new hunting of the hare. to a new court tune;" and beginning-- "long ere the morne expects the returne." it was "printed at london by e.a.," i.e. edward allde, without date; and it may have been duly noticed by the last editor of _the complete angler_. however, neither this nor heber's ms. throw any new light upon the small tract (in vo., and of perhaps not more than two sheets) with the title of which i commenced, and regarding which i request information. it is a poem in eight-line stanzas, and it is dedicated, at the back of the title-page, "to his honourable master, sir richard wenman, knight," without another word addressed to his patron. my fragment of four leaves, or half an vo. sheet, contains stanzas (one on each page), numbered , , , . , .; and the earliest of them is this:-- "to you i therefore weepe: to you alone i shew the image of your teares, in mine; that mine (by shewing your teares) may be show'n to be like yours, so faithfull so divine: such as more make the publique woe their owne, then their woe publique, such as not confine themselves to times, nor yet forms from examples borrow: where losse is infinit, there boundlesse is the sorrow." i have preserved even the printer's punctuation, for the sake of more perfect identification, if any of your readers are acquainted with the existence of a copy of the production, or of any portion of it. the above stanza, being numbered " ," of course it was preceded by four others, of which i can give no account. another stanza, from this literary and bibliographical rarity, may not be unacceptable; it is the eighth-- "here then run forth thou river of my woes in cease lesse currents of complaining verse: here weepe (young muse) while elder pens compose more solemne rites unto his sacread hearse. and, as when happy earth did, here, enclose his heavn'ly minde, his fame then heav'n did pierce. now he in heav'n doth rest, now let his fame earth fill; so, both him then posses'd: so both possesse him still." therefore, although basse had written his _sword and buckler_ in (if it were the same man), he still called his muse "young" in . i cannot call to mind any precedent for the form of stanza adopted by him, consisting, as it does, of six ten-syllable lines, rhyming alternately, followed by a twelve-syllable couplet. none of the other stanzas contain personal matter; the grief of the author of _great britain's sun's-set_ seems as artificial as might be expected; and his tears were probably brought to the surface by the usual pecuniary force-pump. i have some notion that william basse was a musical composer, as well as a writer of verses; but here, again, i am at fault, and particularly request the aid of dr. rimbault, who has paid special attention to such matters, and who has just published a learned and valuable work on the music of the ballads in percy's _reliques_. if the volume were not so indisputably excellent in its kind, there are reasons, connected with its dedication, which might make me hesitate in giving it even a just tribute of praise. j. payne collier. kensington, jan. . . * * * * * minor queries. _christmas hymn_.--can any of your readers inform me who was the author of the well-known christmas hymn, "hark the herald angels sing," which is so often found (of course without the slightest shadow of authority), at the end of our prayer-books? in the collection of poems entitled _christmas tyde_, published by pickering, the initials "j.c.w." are appended to it; the same in bickersteth's _hymn book_. in the last number of the _christian remembrancer_, it is incorrectly attributed to doddridge, who was the author of the other christmas hymn, "high let us swell our tuneful notes," frequently appended to tate and brady; as well as of the sacramental hymn, "my god and is thy table spread?" if the author of this hymn cannot be determined, it would be interesting to know its probable date, and the time when this and the other unauthorised additions were made to our prayer-book. the case of doddridge's hymn is more remarkable, as being the composition of a dissenter. e.v. _on a passage in pope_.--"p.c.s.s.," who is old-fashioned enough to admire and to study pope, would feel greatly obliged if any of your correspondents could help him to the interpretation of the following lines, in the "imitation" of horace's _epistle to augustus_:-- "the hero william, and the martyr charles, one knighted blackmore, and one pensioned quarles, which made old ben, and sturdy dennis swear, _no lord's annointed, but a russian bear!_" the passage in horace, of which this purports to be an "imitation," is the well-known "boeotum in crasso jurares äere natum," and it is clear enough that pope meant to represent kings charles and william as so devoid of the taste which should guide royal patronage, that, in selecting such objects of their favour as blackmore and quarles, they showed themselves to be as uncouth and unpolished as the animal to which he likens them. but the principal motive of this inquiry is to ascertain whether there exist in their writings any record of the indignation supposed to have been expressed by jonson and dennis at the favour shown by majesty to their less worthy rivals. p.c.s.s. _discovery of the circulation of the blood_.--there is a passage in longinus (ch. xxii.), familiar perhaps to some of the readers of the "notes and queries," which indicates that the fact of the circulation of the blood was well established in the days of plato. the father of critics, to exemplify, and illustrate the use and value of _trope_ in writing, has garbled from the timaeus, a number of sentences descriptive of the anatomy of the human body, where the circulation of the blood is pointed at in terms singularly graphic. the exact extent of professional knowledge arrived at in the time of the great philosopher is by no means clearly defined: he speaks of the fact, however, not with a view to prove what was contested or chimerical, but avails himself of it to figure out the surpassing wisdom of the gods in constructing the human frame. perhaps some of the readers of the "notes," who are more thoroughly conversant with the subject, may think it worth while to inquire how much was known on that subject before harvey wrote his _exercitationes anatomiae_. the _prooemium_ of that author seems hardly sufficient to satisfy the desire of every reader, who has looked with some care to the passage in longinus to which i have taken the liberty of calling public attention. a.w. brighton. _the meaning of "pallace_."--a lease granted by the corporation of totness in devon, in the year , demises premises by this description: "all that cellar and the chambers over the same, and the little _pallace_ and landing-place adjoining to the river dart." can your readers give an explanation of the term "pallace?" j.r. rogers. _did oliver cromwell write "the new star of the north?_"--perhaps some of your numerous correspondents, who have perused a curious letter of count de tessins, in clements' _bibliothèque curieuse_, tome ix. page ., can inform me what credit, or if any, is due to the count's conjecture, that oliver cromwell was the author of the book entitled _the new star of the north, shining upon the victorious king of sweden_, &c. to. london, . j.m. oxford. _meaning of savegard and russells_.--in the will of elizabeth coddington, lady of the manor of ixworth, , mention is made of "the red _russells_ quilt," of "a felde bed," and of "my cloke and _savegard of freseadon_." i shall be obliged by any description of the garment known as the _savegard_, and of the _russells quilt_. buriensis. _pandoxare_.--having met with an old volume containing the entire household expenses, as well as in some degree a diary, kept by a country gentleman during the reigns of james ii., william and mary, and anne, i observed that he has made use of a species of hieroglyphics, to facilitate his reference to his book, as it contained all the entries of all kinds, in chronological order. for instance, where mention is made of money spent on behalf of one person in his house, he puts at the side of the page a clay pipe, rudely drawn; an entry of the payment of wages to another servant has a jug of ale; another a quill pen; another a couple of brooms, as the housemaid; a fiddle for the dancing master for his daughter; payment made to the sexton or parish-clerk has a representation of the village church by its side, and the window-tax a small lattice-window; and on the days that they brewed, a small barrel is drawn by the side of the date. and the chief object of my letter is with respect to this last; a barrel is often drawn, and by its side the words, _primò relinitus_, and the date, naturally meaning the day it was tapped; and then shortly after comes another barrel, and to it is written the word _pandox_., or sometimes in full _pandoxavimus_; in some places at the end of the year there is a list to this effect:-- "( .) (------------------) _memoranda_. . mar.--pandoxe. . apr.--relinit. . apr.--relinit. . may.--pandoxe. . may.--relinit. . may.--relinit. . iun.--pandoxe." and at the top of the list the figure of a barrel. i should be glad if any of the readers of your paper could tell me the meaning of the word _pandoxare?_ whatever it was, it took place about once a month. h.b. [ducange explains _pandoxare_ "cauponum exercere, agere; cerevisiam venum exponere atque adeo conficere."] _lord bacon's metrical version of the psalms_.--in old izaak walton's _life of george herbert_, i find the following passage:-- "he (_i.e._ lord bacon) thought him so worthy of his friendship, that having translated many of the prophet david's psalms into english verse, he made george herbert his patron by a public dedication of them to him, as the best judge of divine poetry." can any one of your numerous readers inform me if these "metricals" are known?--if so it will greatly oblige a cornishman. _festival of st. michael and all angels_.--can any of your readers inform me why double second lessons are appointed in the book of common prayer for the festival of st. michael and all angels? first, among the "lessons proper for holy-days," we have, at matins, acts xii. to v. .; and at evensong, jude, v. to v. .: and then in the calendar, coming in ordinary course, we have, at morning prayer, mark. ii.; and at evening, cor. xiv. in every other case, where the second lessons are proper, there are none appointed in the calendar in ordinary course. k.m.p. _wood-cut likeness of luther and erasmus_.--perhaps you will permit me to inquire what are the earliest wood-cut likenesses of luther and erasmus. am i right in supposing that the image of the great reformer is found for the first time on the verse of the title-page of his treatise _de captivitate babylonica ecclesiae_, to., s.l.v.a.; and that the wished-for representation of erasmus may be seen in the small octavo volume, entitled _bellaria epistolarum erasmi rot. et ambrosii pelargi vicissim missarum_, colon. ? some of your readers will doubtless be acquainted with what seems to be a very accurate and complete performance, the _vita d. martini lutheri nummis atque inconibus illustrata_, studio m. christiani juncker, vo., francof. . in this work (p. .) there is an impression of a medal on which was exhibited the _imago ad vivam effigiem expressa_ of erasmus, anno . r.g. _anglo-saxon "lay of the phoenix_."--has any edition of the _lay of the phoenix_ been published, besides the english version in the _archaeologia_, vol. , and that which bears the date, "copenhagen, grundtvig, , vo"? can any light be thrown on the doubts respecting the era of the author of this lay? and is there any published edition of the hexameter poem by lactantius, which is said by stephens to have suggested the first idea of this beautiful anglo-saxon poem? seleucus. _c. agricola, propugnaculum anti-pistorianum_.--could any of your readers direct me to an accessible library which possess a copy of christian agricola's _propugnaculum anti-pistorianum_, or otherwise give me any account of that treatise? j. sansom. _the liturgy version of the psalms_.--in beloe's _anecdotes of literature_ (edition ), vol. i. p. . and vol. ii. p. . are notices of _the bishops' bible_, where mention is made of one edition of it containing two different versions of the psalms. the two statements, however, differ, making it doubtful of what is intended; the first speaking of one edition and the second of another. vol. i. p. . says-- "the first edition of this bible was published in . in this the new translation of the psalms was inserted alone. in the second edition the translation of the great bible was added in opposite columns, and in a different character." vol. ii. p. .:-- "bishops' bible, first edition, . there is also a double translation of the psalms, one from what is called the great bible, the other entirely a new one." will any of your correspondents be so obliging as to state what is the additional version--new or other--there alluded to, other than the present liturgy version? x.x. * * * * * miscellanies. _sir william rider_.--"p.c.s.s." is happy to be able to answer one of the questions of "h.f." (at p. . no. .), by referring him to the _extracts from the parish registers of st. olave's_, which were published in vol. ii. of the _collectanea topographica et genealogica_. at p. ., of that volume, he will find the following entry, which pretty nearly determines the date of sir william rider's death:--" , november . sir william rider diing at leyton, had his funeralle solemnized in our church, the hearss being brought from clothworkers' hall." in a note to the above entry a further reference is made to lyson's _environs_, vol. iv. pp. , . . sonnet. _written on the opening of the session_, . "for him was lever han at his beddes hed twenty bokes clothed in black or red, of aristotle, and his philosophie, than robes riche, or fidel, or sautrie." chaucer "me, poor man! my library was dukedom large enough."--shakspeare. farewell, my trusty leathern-coated friends! 'tis fitting, for a while, that we should part; for i, as duty points, must shape my ends, obey what reason bids, and not my heart. what though 'tis mine to listen in that hall where england's peers, "grave, rev'rend, potent," sit, to hear the classic words of stanley fall, brougham's biting sarcasm, lyndhurst's polished wit, the measur'd sentence of the great calm duke-- it is not mine to commune with the men. not so when i unfold some favorite book, chaucer and i grow boon companions then; and shakspeare, deigning at my hearth to sit, charms me with mingled love, philosophy, and wit. william j. thoms. _pilgrimages of princes--bernard calver--passage from hudibras_.--in reply to mr. beauchamp's query, no. . p. ., _the pilgrimage of princes, penned out of greek and latine authors, london_, , to., was written by ludowic lloyd. see watt's _bibliotheca brit_., vol. iii. p. . no. ., p. . mr. stevens will find some account of "bernard calver," in granger's _letters_, vo., but i have not the book to refer to. no. ., p. . menage observes, in speaking of monsieur perier's abuse of horace for running away from the battle of philippi, "relietâ non bene parmulâ," "mais je le pardonne, parce qu'il ne sait peut-être pas que les grecs ont dit en faveur des _fuiars_." "[greek: aner o pheugon kai palin machesetai]" _menagiana_, vol. i. p. . amst. . perhaps erasmus translated this "_apophthegme_." audley end, jan. . . braybrooke. _seal of killigrew, master of the revels_.--in the museum at sudbury, in the county of suffolk, is, or was when i made a note of it about three years since, a silver seal with a crystal handle, which is said to have belonged to killigrew, king charles's celebrated master of the revels. the arms are, argent, an eagle displayed with two heads within a bordure sable bezanty. _crest_. a demi-lion sable, charged with three bezants. buriensis. _lacedaemonian black broth_.--your correspondent "w." in no. ., is amusing as well as instructive; but it does not yet appear that we must reject the notion of coffee as an ingredient of the lacedaemonian black broth upon the score of _colour_ or _taste_. that it _was_ an ingredient has only as yet been mooted as a _probability_. pollux, to whom your correspondent refers us, says that [greek: zomos melas] was a lacedaemonian food; and that it was called [greek: aimatia], translated in scott and liddell's _lexicon_, "_blood-broth_." these lexicographers add, "the spartan black broth was made with blood," and refer to manso's _sparta_, a german work, which i have not the advantage of consulting. gesner, in his _thesaurus_, upon the word "jus," quotes the known passage of cicero, _tusc. disp_. v. ., and thinks the "jus nigrum" was probably the [greek: aimatia], and made with an admixture of blood, as the "botuli," the _black_ puddings of modern time, were. coffee would not be of much lighter colour than blood. a decoction of senna, though of a red-brown, is sometimes administered in medicine under the common name of a "_black_ dose." as regards the _colour_, then, whether blood or coffee were the ingredient, the mess would be sufficiently dark to be called "_black_." in respect of _taste_, it is well known, from the story told by cicero in the passage above referred to, that the lacedaemonian black broth was _disagreeable_, at least to dionysius, and the lacedaemonians, who observed to him that he wanted that best of sauces, hunger, convey a confession that their broth was not easily relished. the same story is told with a little variation by stobaeus, _serm_. xxix., and plutarch, _institut. lacon_., . the latter writer says, that the syracusan, having tasted the spartan broth, "spat it out in disgust," [greek: dyscheranunta apoptusai]. it would not have been unlike the lacedaemonians purposely to have established a disagreeable viand in their system of public feeding. men that used iron money to prevent the accumulation of wealth, and, as youths, had volunteered to be scourged, scratched, beat about, and kicked about, to inure them to pain, were just the persons to affect a nauseous food to discipline the appetite. r.o. _lacedaemonian black broth_.--i should be glad to know in what passages of ancient authors the lacedaemonian black broth is mentioned, and whether it is alluded to in such terms as to indicate the nature of the food. it has occurred to me that it is much more probable that it was the same _black broth_ which is now cooked in greece, where i have eaten of it and found it very good, although it looked as if a bottle of ink had been poured into the mess. the dish is composed of small cuttle-fish (with their ink-bags) boiled with rice or other vegetables. edinburgh, jan. . . w.c. trevelyan. on a lady who was painted. (_from the latin._) it sounds like a paradox--and yet 'tis true, you're like your picture, though it's not like you. rufus. _bigotry._--the word bigotry pervades almost all the languages of europe, but its etymology has not been satisfactory to noah webster. the application of it is generally intelligible enough; being directed against those who pertinaciously adhere to their own system of religious faith. but as early as the tenth century it appears, that the use of the word bigot originated in a circumstance, or incident, unconnected with religious views. an old chronicle, published by duchesne in the rd vol. of his _hist. francorum scriptores_, states that rollo, on receiving normandy from the king of france, or at least of that part of it, was called upon to kiss the foot of the king, a ceremony, it seems, in use not at the vatican only; but he refused "unless the king would raise his foot to his mouth." when the counts in attendance admonished him to comply with this usual form of accepting so valuable a fief, he still declined, exclaiming in pure anglo-saxon, "not he, by god,"--_ne se bigoth_; "quod interpetatur," says the chronicler, "non [ille] per deum." the king and his peers, deriding him, called him afterwards bigoth, or bigot, instead of rollo. "unde normanni," adds the writer, who brings his history down to the year , "adhuc bigothi dicuntur." this will account for the prepositive article "le" prefixed to the norman bigods, the descendants of those who followed william the conqueror into england, such as hugh le bigod, &c. among other innovations in france, the word bigotisme has been introduced, of which boiste gives an example as combined with philosophisme:--"le bigotisme n'est, comme le philosophisme, qu'un egoïsme systématique. le philosophisme et le bigotisme se traitent comme les chiens et les loups; cependant leurs espèces se rapprochent, et produisent des monstres." j.i. oxford. _gowghe's dore of holy scripture_.--if your correspondent "f.m." (no. . p. .) has not received a reply to his third query, i beg to submit that he will find the perusers of gowghe's work to be the individuals mentioned in different portions of foxe's _acts and monuments_, vol. v. edit. vo. pp. . . .; the less intelligible names, "doctor barons, master ceton," being intended for dr. barnes and alexander seton. anyhow, this reference may, it is hoped, lead to a fuller discovery of the parties intended. norris. _reinerius saccho_.--your correspondent "d." (no. . p. .) will find some account of reinerius saccho, if the source is accessible, in quetif and echard's _scriptores ord. praedicatt_. tom. i. . n. _discurs modest_.--your correspondent "a.t." (no. . p. ) may be informed that there can be no reasonable doubt, that the _original_ authority, for _rem transubstantiationis patres ne attigisse quidem_, is william watson in his _quodlibet_, ii. . p. .; that the _discurs. modest. de jesuitis_ borrowed it from him; that andrews _most probably_ derived it from the borrower; and that the date of the _discurs_. &c. must, therefore, be between and . probably there may be a copy in the lambeth library; there is none in the bodleian, british museum, or sion college, and placcius affords no reference. the _author_ may never have been known. n. _defoe's tour through great britain_.--i am much obliged to your correspondent "d.s.y" for the suggestion that the _tour through great britain, by a gentleman_, from which i sent you some extracts relating to the ironworks of sussex, is from the pen of daniel defoe. on referring to the list of his writings, given in vol. xx. of c. talboy's edition of defoe's works, i find this idea is correct. chalmers notices three editions of the work, in , , and , (numbered in his list " ," " ," " ,") and remarks that "all the subsequent editions vary considerably from the original" of . he states that "this work is frequently confounded with 'john macky's journey through england, in familiar letters from a gentleman here to his friend abroad,' ." i may take this opportunity of mentioning that, in the first volume of defoe's work, there are some very interesting particulars of the skirmish at reading, between the troops of the prince of orange and the irish forces of james ii., and the panic known as the "irish night," which deserve to be consulted by mr. macaulay, for the next edition of his history. the whole work will well repay a perusal, and what is there of defoe's writing which will not? d.s. _muffins_.--the correspondent who, in no. ., p. ., inquires the origin of the word "muffin," is referred to urquhart's _pillars of hercules_, vol. ii. p. ., just published, where he will find a large excursus on this subject. the word, he avers, is _phoenician_: from _maphula_, one of those kinds of bread named as such by athenaeus. "it was a _cake_," says athenaeus, "baked on a hearth or griddle." he derives this by taking away the final vowel, and then changing _l_ for _n_; thus: "maphula," "maphul," "mufun!!!" in this strange book there are fifty other etymologies as remarkable as this. the author plainly offers them in hard earnest. this is something worth _noting_. v. _by hook or crook_.--"as in the phrase 'to get by hook or crook;' in the sense of, to get by any expedient, to stick at nothing to obtain the end; not to be over nice in obtaining your ends--_by hucke o'er krooke_; e.g. _by bending the knees, and by bowing low_, or as we now say, by bowing and scraping, by crouching and cringing."--bellenden ker's _essay on the archaeology our popular phrases and nursery rhymes_, vol. i. p. . ed. . i wish your correspondent, "j.r.f.," had given a reference to the book or charter from which he copied his note. has mr. b. ker's work ever been reviewed? melanion. [mr. ker's book was certainly reviewed in _fraser's magazine_ at the time of its appearance, and probably in other literary journals.] _by hook or by crook_.--i have met with it somewhere, but have lost my note, that hooke and crooke were two judges, who in their day decided most unconscientiously whenever the interests of the crown were affected, and it used to be said that the king could get anything by hooke or by crooke. query, is _this_ the origin of the phrase? if i cannot give _my_ authority, perhaps "j.r.f." may be able to give _his_, for deriving it from "_forest customs_?" h.t.e. _el buscapié_.--a very full and able disquisition on the subject of mr. singer's query (no. ., p. .), respecting _el buscapié_, will be found in the appendix to a work which is just published, viz. ticknor's _history of spanish literature_, vol. iii. appendix d. . _et seq_. that writer, whose opinion is entitled to credit as that of a consummate student of spanish letters, and who gives good reasons for his conclusions in this instance, pronounces against the authenticity of the poor little pamphlet recently put forth as belonging to cervantes. those who take an interest in spanish literature will find this book of ticknor's a most valuable contribution to their knowledge of its whole compass, and worth "making a note of." v. _richard of cirencester, &c.--bishop barlow_.--your correspondent "s.a.a." (no. ., p. ), who is desirous of further information respecting richard of cirencester, will, i am sure, peruse with much interest and gratification a dissertation on that writer by k. wex, which first appeared in the _rheinisches museum für philologie_ for , and was shortly after translated and inserted in the _gentleman's magazine_, with valuable notes by the translator.--respecting the writers of notes on the margin of books, few notes of the kind, i apprehend, deserve better to be collected and published than those by the very learned bishop barlow, provost of queen's college from the year to , and who left the chief part of his library to that society. the rest of his books, being such as were not in the bodleian, he bequeathed to that library, of which he was for some years the librarian. the _biographia britannica_ represents him to have been "an universal lover and favourer of learned men, of what country or denomination soever." j.m. oxford _rev. j. edwards on metal for telescopes_.--"t.j." informs the correspondent who inquired (no. , p. .) respecting this valuable paper, that it was printed in the _nautical almanac_ for . e.b. price adds, "_a treatise on optical instruments_, published about twenty years ago by the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, contains much useful and general information upon this subject; and it is stated in that work that mr. edward's treatise, which is now very scarce, is republishing in the _technological repository_." while "g.b.s." furnishes the information that the treatise in question may be procured from mr. murray, of albemarle street. _ordination pledges_.--in reply to the inquiry of "clericus" (no. ., p. .) for manuals containing a complete list of ordination pledges, may be mentioned johnson's _clergyman's vade mecum_, vols. mo., and william's _laws relating to the clergy, being a practical guide to the clerical profession on the legal and canonical discharge of their various duties_, vo. the author of this useful work, which appears not to have been seen by lowndes, says, in his advertisement, "the works which are already extant on ecclesiastical law, being either too diffuse or too concise for ready reference and practical use, the compiler of this volume has endeavored to remedy this defect by the publication of the following compendium." t.j. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the percy society have just issued _a new and mery enterlude called the triall of treasure_, from the edition printed at london by thomas purfoote, , edited by mr. halliwell. the other works issued by the society since may last (when the year's subscription became due) have been _a poem_ (satirical) _of the times of edward ii_., edited by the rev. c. hardwick, from a ms. at st. peter's college, cambridge, of which a less perfect copy from an edinburgh ms. was printed by mr. wright, in the volume of _political songs_, edited by him for the camden society; _notices of fugitive tracts and chap-books, printed at aldermary churchyard, bow churchyard, &c._ by mr. halliwell; _the man in the moone, or the english fortune teller_, edited by the same gentleman, from the unique copy printed in , now in the bodleian; and lastly, _the religious poems of william de shoreham, vicar of chart-sutton in kent, in the reign of edward ii_., edited by mr. wright, from a contemporary manuscript. it is doubtful whether mr. shaw's skill as an artist, fidelity as a copyist, or taste in the selection of his subjects, entitle him to the higher praise. we leave to those who are familiar with his _dresses and decorations of the middle ages_, and other admirable productions, the settlement of this point. he has just published the first number of a new work, _the decorative arts of the middle ages_, the object of which is to exhibit the peculiar features and general characteristics of decorative art, from the byzantine or early christian period to the decline of that termed the _renaissance_. this beautiful work--for beautiful it is--is extremely well timed, as it appears at a moment when our manufacturers who desire to display their skill at the great exhibition of , must be most anxious to see "the principles by which our ancestors controlled their genius in producing articles of taste and beauty, from the precious metals, from enamels, from glass, from embroidery, and from the various other textures and materials on which they delighted to lavish their skill and ingenuity (both for the various services of the church, and also as accessories to the luxuries of the wealthy of all classes)." the present number contains: . "an exquisite cup, designed by holbein for queen jane seymour;" . "stained glass of the th century, from the cathedral of chartres;" . "an exquisite specimen of embroidery (of the date of ), from a picture of queen mary belonging to the society of antiquaries;" and, . "iron-work from the tomb of eleanor of castile." it will be seen, from this enumeration of them, how varied and well selected are the subjects of this new work of mr. shaw, and how well they are adapted to answer the end which he has in view. messrs. leigh sotheby & co. will sell on thursday next, and the two following days, "the valuable and select library of william ashby ashby, esq., of queenby hall, leicestershire," consisting of standard works in english history, and the best editions of latin, italian, and french classics, &c. all in the choicest old morroco, russia, and other handsome bindings. we have received the following catalogues:-- "number i., for , of john miller's catalogue of books, old and new, on sale at . chandos street, trafalgar square." "john petheram's catalogue of old and new books on sale, for cash only, at . high holborn (part cvii., no. i. for )." "catalogue d'une collection extraordinaire d'un choix de beaux livres gothiques romans de chevalerie, elzevirs, novellieri, manuscrits d'une superbe condition, recueillis pendant dix années et tous reliés par bauzonnet, niédrée, duru, capé, en vente chez m. gancia, . king's road, brighton." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) burton's anatomy of melancholy. to. burton's anatomy of melancholy. folio. _odd volumes_ dodsley's old plays. vo. . vols. ii. and iii. dodsley's old plays. suppl. or th vol. bewick's birds. vol. i. large paper; original edition, russia or uncut. bewick's birds. vol. ii. large paper; original edition. *.* letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. t.s.d. _(with many thanks.) we will communicate privately as soon as possible_. communications received.--_w. robson.--g.m.--c.h.--t.t.w.--j.j.-- _belvoir_.--c.h.c.--a.g.--j.o.h.--h.k.--g.w.(yes)--a.p.h.-- w.c.jun.--p.c.s.s.--r.s.s.--e.l.n.--j.f.m.--j.g.--j.w.g.g.--q.d.-- naso.--w.p.p.--j.c.--g.w.--hermes.--j.r.f.--b.c.(norwich)--a.h.e.-- rufa.--j.j.--j.m.--c.b.--c.h.--a.b.--j.p. jun. h.w.--g.o.--r.c.-- search.--f.m.--melanion._ _we are again compelled to omit notes, queries, and answers to queries, as well as answers to correspondents._ * * * * * published by george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * third edition, fcap. vo. s. d. plain sermons. addressed to country congregations. by the late rev. edward blencowe. curate of teversal, and formerly fellow of oriel college, oxford. by the same author, fcap. vo., s. d. plain sermons. second series. second edition. "in the statements of christian doctrine, the reality of mr. blencowe's mind is very striking. there is a strength, and a warmth, and a life, in his mention of the great truths of the gospel, which show that he spoke from the heart, and that, like the apostle of old, he could say.--'i believe, and therefore have i spoken.'"--_theologian_. "plain, short, and affectionate discourse."--_english review_. vols. mo., s. each, sold separately. sermons. by alfred gatty m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. "we say willingly of these sermons, what we can seldom say of sermons published at the request of parishioners, that they justify the respect paid to them; and appear to us in somewhat the same light as we should suppose they seemed to those who listened to and admired them. they are sermons of a high and solid character, and are the production of a good churchman. they are earnest and affectionate, and follow out of the church's doctrine."--_theologian_. "warm-hearted and thoughtful."--_guardian_. 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"we can recommend it not only as an answer to charges and insinuations, but also as an able and clear exposition of the meeting point of the jewish and christian dispensations; a distinct and lucid delineation, amidst apparent divergencies, of the coincidences of the animating principles of the law and the gospel."--_christian observer_. vo., cloth, s. the seven ages of the church; or, the seven apocalyptic epistles interpreted by church history. by the rev. henry cotterill, m.a., vice-president; and theological tutor of brighton college, and late fellow of st. john's college, cambridge. "clearly and thoughtfully written."--_english review_. * * * * * fcap. vo. s. d. sermons for schools and families. by the rev. a.j. macleane, m.a., trinity college, cambridge; principal of brighton college: author of "the unity of god's moral law, as revealed in the old and new testament." "this volume of sermons is of a different stamp from the generality of those which come under our notice. there is a vigour of thought and language throughout, without the slightest extravagance or exaggeration. there is no far-fetched strain of reasoning, nor any attempt at fine writing in these discourses; but the mind of the reader is directed, by a well-managed series of divisions, to the principal doctrines and duties derivable from the passages under consideration. these sermons will afford to the young clergyman excellent examples of the kind of composition which is calculated to render his pulpit-ministration effectual."--_english review_. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * books on sale by george bell, fleet street. shakspeare's plays and poems. vols. vo. bds. l, s. pickering. --milton's poetical works. vols vo. bds. s pickering, --chaucer's canterbury tales, edited by tyrwhitt, vols, vo. bds. s. pickering, --chaucer's romaunt of the rose, troilus and creseide, and minor poems, with life by sir h. nicolas. vols, vo, calf, old style (by hayday) s. pickering. --wilson's and bonaparte's natural history of the birds of the united states, edited by jameson. vols, mo. large paper, bds. s. edinburgh. --dr. johnson's works, by murphy, vols. vo. bds, uncut. l. .--dean swift's works, edited by hawkesworth, vols. mo. calf, neat. l. s. .--the pictorial edition of the prayer book, edited by stebbing, royal vo, bds, s d.--milton's poetical works, by todd, vols. vo. bds. s. .--white's natural history and antiquities of selborne. vo. bds. s. d.--bewick's quadrupeds. vo. half calf. s. --aristotelis opera, edited by bekker. vols. vo. calf, extra. l. s. d. g. hayday. oxford. .--rose's biographical dictionary. vols vo. half calf. l. s. . * * * * * maitland's illustrations of the history of the reformation. in vo. price s. essays on subjects connected with the reformation in england. by the rev. s.r. maitland, d.d.f.r.s., f.s.a. sometime librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, and keeper of the mss. at lambeth. rivingtons. st. paul's church-yard waterloo place: of whom may be had, by the same author, (uniformly printed,) the dark ages; essays illustrating the religion and literature of the th, th, th and th centuries. second editions. s. * * * * * arnold and paul's handbooks of geography and history. in mo. price s. d. handbook of mediÆval geography and history. translated from the german of pÜtz. by the rev. r.b. paul, m.a., vicar of st. augustine's, bristol, and late fellow of exeter college, oxford. rivingtons, st. paul's church-yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, (lately published,) by the same editors, the handbook of ancient geography and history. s. d. the handbook of modern geography and history is nearly ready. * * * * * mr. murray's list. . life of mahomet and his successors. by washington irving. vol i. vo. (to be completed in vols.) . on the causes of the success of the english revolution of - . by m. guizot. vo. . turkey and its destiny. by charles macfarlane, esq. vols. vo. (just ready.) . a history of spanish literature. by george ticknor. vols. vo. s. . lives of the chief justices of england. by lord campbell. vols. vo. s. . researches and discoveries at nineveh. by austen h. layard. th edition. plates. vols. vo. s. . the monuments of nineveh, illustrated from drawings made by mr. layard. plates. folio. . history of columbus and his companions. by washington irving. rd edition. vols. vo. s d. . lives of the lindsays; or, the houses of crawford and balcarres. by lord lindsay. vols. vo. s. . the monasteries of the levant. by the honourable robert curzon. rd edition. woodcuts. post vo. s. . life of john calvin. with extracts from his correspondence. by thomas h. dyer. portrait. vo. s. . a second visit to the united states. by sir charles lyell. vols. post vo. s. . hungary and transylvania. by john paget. nd edition. plates. vols. vo. s. . a tour in sutherland. by charles st. john. woodcuts. vols. post vo. s. . a history of the sikhs. by captain joseph d. cunningham. maps. vo. s. . etruria; its cities and cemeteries. by george dennis. plates. vols. vo. s. . dalmatia and montenegro. by sir j.g. wilkinson. plates. vols. vo. s. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * [footnote : pantheon Ægypt. tom. . p. .] [footnote : diodor. sic. biblioth. p. .] [footnote : rimes guernesiaises, p. .] [footnote : or the dog-days. each sign has three decans, or captains of ten.] [footnote : porphyr. apud euseb. præp. iii. .] [footnote : plin. nat. hist. lib. . cap. .] [footnote : chiflet, p. . a genuine _cockroach_, and a formidable one. i think the english word of spanish origin.] [footnote : corrections in the original.] [footnote : we are indebted to the last number of _chambers' edinburgh journal_ for this interesting supplement to the various particulars respecting the capture of the duke of monmouth which have already appeared in our columns. it there forms the conclusion of an article on the last days of this unfortunate nobleman, founded on the communications which have been made to the "notes and queries," and kindly adduced to show the utility of our paper.] * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. ., new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january , . buttered rum butterflies, to destroy c cabbage, to pickle water, to get rid of why boiled in two waters cabinet pudding work, italian, to varnish , cake, almond sponge banbury banbury, meat for belvidere drop fish ginger , gingerbread , luncheon meat mixed fruit nice and cheap plum , sally lunn soda sponge , unfermented - yule caledonians calf's feet, uses and properties of (ix) jelly calf's head pie to carve calico, cheap, no economy in (xxxii) to dye - calomel, uses of calves' heads, &c., uses and economy of (ix) cambridgeshire dialect camel-hair wool camomile flowers, to gather. tea uses of camp cookery camphorated dentifrice liniment ointment camphor, balls for chaps nature and uses of properties of tincture of uses of canaries, care of , candle-light reading by, hint on (xxiv) sewing by (xxiii) candles, to light, best way to preserve cane chairs to clean cantharides, uses of canvas work - cross stitch in designs on cloth for framing in materials used in mode of doing stitches in stretching in varieties of canvas for - capitalists, advice to, on embarking in business , carbolic powder and fluid as disinfectants carbonate of soda, uses of carded cotton, surgical uses of cards, games at - carminatives, properties of carpets, beating choosing cleaning elegant kind of few colours desirable light coloured middle tint in securing shaking stair, to sweep taste in selection worn, to repair carriage accidents, cautions respecting carrot poultice pudding soup carrots, cold, to dress carver, duties of room for, necessary carving art of, ceremonies of the table, &c. - remarks on carving-knives, to set cash and credit, advice on casks, to sweeten cassino, game of - laws of terms used in cast-iron work, to preserve castor oil enema properties and uses of and senna confection casts, gutta percha catarrh, homoeopathic treatment of symptoms of catechu ointment uses of caterpillars, to destroy cathartic mixture cathartics, properties of nature of cats, care of cauliflower, to pickle cautions for prevention of accidents in visiting the sick cayenne pepper adulteration of celery, essence of cement for broken china, &c. cheese diamond for leather and cloth lime and egg mastic paper preparation of red rice flour soft, for corks white lead as cerates - ceremonies, importance of chairs, cane, to clean chalk ointment properties and uses of champagne, english lemonade summer chandeliers, bronze, to clean chapped hands, ointment for chaps, camphor balls for character, manly, elements of charades, acted examples of words for acting, or written charcoal applied to sores as an antiseptic as a disinfectant , , , for cooking, caution respecting poultice powder for polishing knives respirators suffocation from fumes of, to treat charpie, or lint charts, to varnish chattels, personal , cheap calico, no economy in (xxxii) fuel cheese, blue mould on chemical barometer remedies chenille cheques, crossing banker's name across effect of words, "not negotiable" on cheshire dialect chess, laws of chicken, and ham patties pulled chicken-pox, remedy for chilblains, broken, ointment for homoeopathic treatment of remedy for , symptoms children, apple cake for bedsteads for, how to be placed blackberry jam for born at sea, directions for registration of bread as food for bringing up of , , choice of names for cookery for crying, cause of - cutlery, dangers of discipline of drink for - fruit for fruits for, most wholesome , indulging pernicious, effect of keep dry and warm (xxvii) luncheon for meats for medicines for - , milk for milk porridge for potatoes and peas for proper food for - proper time for feeding - puddings and pancakes for rice and apples for rice pudding with fruit for sleep of, duration - talking, to check vegetables for , chimaphila decoction chimney, fire in, to put out , , smoky, to guard against chimneypieces, marble, to clean china, to clean teapots, desirability of chinese porcelain, modern chintzes, to wash chloride of lime as a disinfectant of zinc, solution of chlorine, poisoning by, treatment for chocolate, adulteration of iceland moss choice of friends choking, treatment for cholera, asiatic or malignant bilious or english, remedies for , (i) homoeopathic treatment of special rules for prevention of symptoms of chops, relish for christening, ceremony and etiquette of christian name or initials, use of in letter-writing (iv) christian names of men of women chronograms churning, why action of, produces butter chutney (sauce) cider to bottle champagne properties of cinders, models of , circassian circle, dance citric acid, uses of civility in business clark's pills for nervous headache cleanliness, among the brute creation conducive to comfort desirability of, in towns - in eastern countries essential among sick persons estimable quality of in hospitals, etc. importance of indispensable moral influence of situation of english towns favourable to want of, a cause of fevers , cleansing purposes, borax for , clergy, how to address clerk, general terms of hiring clerks, law of, employment respecting - cloaks at funerals clocks, to oil closet for tools, &c. closets, to remove moths from cloth, black, reviver for cement for to dye - grease from, to remove clothes, balls for cleaning black cloth, to clean on fire, how to act loose, why warmer than tight garments mending to preserve from moths, &c. with smooth surfaces, why best for hot weather woollen, to wash clouds as a sign of the weather clyster, prescription for (xx) coaguline, kay's coal, best mode of purchasing how to put on the fire , cock-a-leekie cockney speakers, hints to cockroaches, to kill cocoa, adulteration of cod to choose head and shoulders of, to carve cod-liver oil coffee, adulteration of as a disinfectant to make milk standing in tin turkish mode of making coins, to take impressions from cold, to avoid catching cream, to make evaporating lotion fowl, nice way of dressing in the head, homeopathic treatment of meat, broiled with poached eggs meat, economy of mixture for symptoms of colic, homeopathic treatment of collops, minced collyria or eye-washes - colocynth, uses of colon, nature and value of colour of dresses, to preserve colours, classification of to restore various, and complexion comfort, home, hints for comma, nature and value of complexion, dark, various colours affecting to improve pale blonde, green favourable to ruddy, why green is unfavourable to why blue veils preserve why violet is unfavourable to composition (literary) art of compresses, surgical, nature of compression of the brain, treatment of concussion, treatment of conduct, rules of confections, various - connexions, game of, described , consistency, advisability of constipation, homeopathic treatment of remedy for consumption, remedy for contusions, to heal conundrums, selection of conversation and writing, arts of, difference between art of , of females mode of making interesting convulsions, cure for homeopathic treatment of remedy for cookery, borax in for children economy in meat for soldiers, &c. cooking, instruments loss in theory of various processes of copper, to clean poisoning by, treatment for sulphate of cordials, properties of cork models, to construct - , corks, soft cement for cornish dialect schoolboy corns, cure for , coronation braid corpulence, banting's hints on correct speaking, rules and hints for correction of errors in speaking corroborants, properties of cossack's plum pudding cotillon waltz cotton, balls or reels, place for (vii) carded, surgical uses of cough, bad, pills for common, remedy for , homeopathic treatment of mixture for , mixture for children pills remedies for ( ), - counsels for the young country dances covering for preserves cowhage confection properties and uses of crab, mock crabs, to choose cradle, for the protection of limbs, to form cramp in bathing, treatment of in the legs when swimming crape, black, to remove stains from china, to wash trimmings, to preserve (xxxvii) crayfish, to choose cream, pancakes substitute for of tartar, confection of tartar, properties and uses of credit, deceitful appearance of - creditor and debtor, laws of creosote lotion cress vinegar crewel work cribbage, game of , counting for game eight-card examples of hands five-card laws of maxims for laying out crib cards six-card terms used in three-hand , crochet, instructions in oriental popularity of square stitches in - tricotee to use several colours in to work cord over croquet, difference between old and new laws of game of, to play - implements for laws of supplementary laws of technical terms used in crossing letters croup, homeopathic treatment of remedy for crying of children, cause of - cryptography cucumbers, to pickle to preserve culinary economy cumberland dialect cup in pie-dish, use of cupping, dry ordinary curing of hams and bacon curiosity about contents of letters currant jelly, black red white , currant wine curried beef, madras fashion eggs oysters of any kind, to prepare powder - powder, true indian rice, to boil for curtailments curtains, choosing on fire, to extinguish thick, for beds, injurious cusparia, nature and uses of custard, almond apples with baked boiled cutaneous eruptions, remedy for cutlery and children, caution as to cuts and wounds, treatment of ordinary, to dress d dahlias, to protect from earwigs damages, recovery of by workmen from employers actions, where to bring amounts recoverable notice to employer damp linen, advice respecting situations, remedy for walls, to remedy , dances described - terms used to describe the movements of dandelion decoction darning on netting daughters, management of days, table of number of, from one month to another deafness, remedy for dealings, cash and credit, advice on death, apparent, from drink, treatment for certificate of observance of registration of , at sea, registration of debt, don't run in debtor and creditor, laws of - decalcomanie, art of - decapitations december, flowers for food in season in decoction of medicines decoctions decomposing substances, effect of deed of separation between man and wife delicacies, fish demulcents, nature of dentifrice, camphorated myrrh deobstruents, properties of dessert, how served ices, recipes for , detergents, properties of devil (in cookery) devonshire dialect junket dew as a sign of the weather dialects, provincial , diamond cement diaphanie, art of - diaphoretics, properties of nature of diarrhoea, homeopathic treatment of digestion of medicines digestives, properties of diluents, nature of dining tables, to polish dinner, napkins pills, prescription for ( ) table, appointments of - ceremonies of laying out of dirt in the eye, to remove dirty people to be avoided windows, what a sign of (ix) discipline of children discounts, table of discutient liniment discutients, properties of diseases, of the skin, to what attributable various remedies for - dish, economical disinfectant, borax as a carbolic acid as a charcoal as a , - chloride of lime as a coffee as a , disinfectants, various disinfecting fluid, sir william burnett's , fumigation liquid disinfection of rooms dislocated thumb dismissal, summary, of domestic servants disputation, avoidance of dissenters, marriage of distress for rent, legal and illegal under bill of sale in bankruptcy distinctness in speaking, importance of diuretic mixture diuretics, nature of properties of diving for eggs to test buoyancy of water , divorce, a mensâ et thoro, meaning of absolute and other matrimonial causes - grounds of documents, stamped, importance of dogs, care of - distemper in hydrophobia in mange in domestic hints - pharmacopoeia rules, mrs. hamilton's surgery dominoes, game of method of playing door, to keep open double accentuation of words drastics, properties of draughts, rules of the game dredgings for roast meats, &c. dress, etiquette of - faded, to bleach female, hints on on fire, how to act precaution mourning, to remove stains from officers', etiquette of simplicity of, becoming to preserve the colour of visiting, etiquette of dressing well, advice on dressings, surgical instruments for materials for rules to be observed in drink for children for the heartburn drinks, medicinal - drop cakes dropsy, prescription for ( ) drowning, treatment for drugs, preparation of, - their properties and doses drunkenness, apparent death from, treatment for avoidance of dry warmth to any part of body, to apply drying herbs duck, to carve to choose cold, to dress to hash ragoût of to roast stuffing wild, to dress sauce for dumplings, apple , (xiv) rice suet (xiv) dutch oven, to use dutch people, cleanliness of dwarf plants, management of dyeing - bonnets calico, linen and muslin - cloth - feathers - , - gloves - hair - , leather silk - wool - dysentery, homeopathic treatment, of simple remedy for dyspepsia, homoeopathic treatment of symptoms of e early rising, advantages of , earnings, &c., of married women earwigs, to kill , eat slowly (i) eating, moderation in ecarté - economical dish economy - culinary, practice of , of fat of fuel - of liquor from boiled meats , of ready-money purchases , , of soapsuds of tea in what it consists edinburgh ale, to brew education, first principle of - eels, to carve egg powders, action of and ham patties to cast in wax eggs curried fried with minced ham or bacon of birds to preserve for cabinets to pickle to preserve - eis wool elderberry wine elderflower lotion electuaries , , elephant penelope canvas embrocations - embroidery - application in braiding in braid stitches in couching in distinction in elaborate frame for instructions in materials for , netting silk in silk described stitches, fancy, in stitches, various, in - what it includes emetic, prescription for ( ) tartar emetics, nature of properties of emigrants, cookery for emmenagogues, properties of emollient lotion emollients, nature of properties of employer, bankrupt, law respecting wages due nature of contract entered into purchases made for, by servant responsibility of, for servant employers' liability act, recovery for damages under - employers and employed, laws relating to - employment, permanent, agreement to give emulsion, laxative purgative enemas - english champagne cholera, remedies for , ( - ), (i) enigmas, description of enunciation, imperfect envelope, place of stamp on envy, avoidance of epilepsy, remedies for , ( ) epispastics, nature of properties of epistolary correspondence, hints on epsom salts, properties and uses of errhines, properties of errors in speaking - correction of eruptions, cutaneous, remedy for of the skin, prescription for ( ) on the face, remedy for erysipelas, remedy for escharotics, nature of properties of esquire to be written in full (iii) essence of celery of mushrooms essex dialect, errors of ether, uses of nitric, uses of sulphuric, nature and uses of , sulphuric, compound spirit of, nature and uses of etiquette, books on, use of , hints upon euchre, game of , evaporating lotion, cold evening parties, etiquette of pastimes excess of lace and flowers in dress exclamation, note of, defined executors to will exercise, active, results of after meals before meals , beneficial in the forenoon best kind of best mode of taking duration of excessive, hurtful how to commence and finish importance of , , open air, superior advantages of passive, results of points to be observed in time for taking expectorants, nature of properties of expenses, table of extract of beef, to make extracts, how made eye, dirt in, to remove iron or steel spiculæ in lime in, to remove eyelashes, to strengthen and improve eyes, inflamed, remedy for weak and sore, cure for eye-washes, various - f face, blotched, wash for eruptions, on, remedy for faded dress, to bleach failures in business, hints on avoiding fainting, treatment for faintness, remedy for fair person, sky blue becoming to falling into water, how to act falsehood, avoidance of family circle, the clocks, oil for pudding fancy needlework fat, economy of a sign of young and tender meat feather beds, for children, pernicious to cleanse (xxi) feathers, to cleanse of animal oil to dye , , , , white ostrich, to clean febrifuges, properties of february, flowers for food in season in feet, blistered, remedy for importance of keeping warm (ii, xxvii) warm bathing of, healthy washing of, conducive to health female dress, hints on temper, management of fern root, male, uses of , fever, common continued, remedy for homeopathic remedy for how frequently caused , intermittent, remedies for , ( ) mixture, prescription for ( ) mixture (simple) powders, prescription for ( , ) scarlet, remedy for typhus, remedy for with debility, prescription for ( ) fifteen puzzle, or boss fig pudding filoselle silk filtering medicines finger glasses, use of fining liquors fire breaking out, first thing to be done buckets, &c., to be kept at hand in chimney, to extinguish , , to diminish risk from effect of on air to escape from precautions in case of - prevention of solution to extinguish fire-grate, economical brunswick black for fire-guards, necessity of (xxv) fire-irons, rusty, to clean fire-screens, paper, to make fish, cake to choose - flat, to carve freshwater, to choose fried, to carve how to send to table gold, care of poisonous, remedy for preserved as specimens remarks on carving sauces , when in season , (i) fits, treatment for fixature for hair flannel petticoat, preservation of (xvii) to shrink to wash flatulency, homeopathic treatment of flavouring, almond fleecy wool flesh, why some is white and some red flies, to destroy - flirtation, avoidance of floating in water, test of capability of , floors, to remove stains from floss silk flour of brimstone rye and wheat flowers, amount of heat for , artificial, excess of feather, to make - leaves for of the months: jan. feb. march april may june july aug. sept. oct. nov. dec. unfit for bedrooms waxen, to make - when to gather fluid, to drink, proper proportion of , fluor spar, use of, in modelling food, articles of, to choose and exercise, rationale of - for children for children, proper time of giving infants', to prepare seasons for various kinds of - food and drugs act, extracts from foppery, avoidance of forced vegetables, when in season - (v) forcemeat balls forks and knives, to clean uncleaned, don't put by (xx) fowl, to carve to choose cold, to dress , to fatten in a short time to grill pulled, to prepare fox and geese frame for embroidery frames, gilt, to preserve mahogany, to clean freckles, remedies for , freezing mixture, sal-ammoniac , nitrate of ammonium washing soda without ice or acids , french batter beans to cook beans to pickle bread, to make rolls, to make polish for boots and shoes polishes fresh-killed meat, time for cooking fresh-water fish, to choose fresh water, floating on friar's omelette friend, choice of conduct when on a visit to friendships, advice on fritters, apple observations on oyster potato to prepare frivolité, or tatting, instructions in frost bite, remedy for frugality, dr. franklin's maxims fruit bottling buds of, to prevent birds destroying for children for children, most wholesome kinds mixed, cake of to preserve - skeletons stains of, to remove from linen use of, as food waxen, to make , - when in season - (v) frying, rationale of frying-pan, to use fuel cheap economy of , , - full-point, nature and value of fumigator, disinfecting funerals, etiquette of - walking fungi, to preserve furnished apartment, agreement for letting house, agreement for letting lodgings furnishing house, hints for furniture, to clean , made in winter, liable to crack mahogany, to take stains out of , new, caution respecting to remove white spots from removed, liable to be seized for rent rosewood, to polish furs, to clean to rid of moths [little strokes fell great oaks.] g galbanum, uses of galling in invalids, prevention of galls, for lotion galopade, dance quadrilles gamboge, uses of game, to hash ragoût of to roast when in season - (iii) garden, borax in the labels, ink for a stands, paint for gardening operations for every month in the year - kitchen garden gargles, prescriptions for - , ( ) garlic, to pickle garnishes, various geese, to choose gentian, uses of gentleman, how to be a the true german paste, for birds gherkins, to pickle gilt frames, to preserve ginger beer beer powders biscuits cakes , properties and uses of to preserve gingerbread aperient cake snaps girls, management of glacialine glass, to anneal bottles, to clean to clean , , easy mode of breaking ground, to imitate powdered, use of in modelling stoppers, to loosen vessels, to clean glazing, for hams, tongues, &c. glauber's salts, properties and uses of gloves, care of to dye , french kid, to clean at funerals kid, to clean kid, to wash glue, common, to prepare liquid marine mouth gold, poisoning by, treatment for gold-fish, care of goods removed, seizure of goose, broiled to carve , cold, to dress to hash marbled mock to roast royal game of stuffing stuffing sauce gooseberry wine gorlitza (dance) gossiping, consequences of gout mixture pills for remedy for rheumatic, mixture for grammar, errors from imperfect knowledge of grape wine grate, the parson's brunswick black for gravel, remedy for gravy, brown soup, clear grease, oil, to remove to remove from cloth or velvet scouring drops to remove spots, to extract from books and papers spots, to remove from silk grecian netting green paint for garden stands why favourable to blonde complexions why unfavourable to ruddy complexions greengage jam greens, to choose grill sauce grilled fowl gridirons, how to use griffiths's mixture ( ) ground glass, to imitate grouse, to roast growth influenced by light grubs, to destroy guinea pigs, care of gum-arabic, mucilage starch gurnet, to carve gutta-percha casts soles, to put on tooth stopping h h, enigma on or no h? when silent wrong use of, enigma on habits of a man of business haddock, to carve hæmorrhage, how to stanch hæmorrhoids, ointment for hair, becoming arrangement of brushes, to clean compounds to promote growth of - dyes - , , oils, rose - to restore superfluous, to remove to test dye for wash for, excellent hake, to carve half-pay pudding ham, to carve to cure glazing for minced with fried eggs patties slices of, to dress handkerchief, etiquette of hands, chapped to remove stains from warm bathing of, salutary to whiten hanging, meat (x, xi) treatment for hard water, to soften hare, to carve to choose jugged smithfield (viii) stewed hashing cold meat, economy of hat, how to take care of hatbands at funerals headache, homoeopathic treatment of nervous, pills for to prevent (ii) tea a cure for head-dress, sky blue, why becoming to fair persons health, light necessary to (xviii) preservation of to preserve, in youth heartburn, effervescent drink for homoeopathic remedy for hearth, dirty, ill appearance of to remove oil or grease from hearth-rug, handsome kind of to choose heat and cold, sudden alternations of, injurious heavenly bodies as a sign of the weather herbs, pot, for drying, when in season (v)- (v) time for drying herefordshire dialect herrings, to choose hiccough, remedy for hidden words highland reel (dance) hints on barometer - to capitalists - to cockney speakers domestic - upon etiquette for home comfort on household management for husbands , , on making preserves on money matters on pianofortes on spelling for wives , , , hiring and dismissal of servants hitching, mrs. alexander hog pudding, black home comfort, hints for homeopathy - diet in extent of doses in medicines, how given principle of treatment of ailments by honesty, importance of honey soap water hooping cough, homoeopathic treatment of powders for remedies for , hops as a narcotic horn, to stain horseradish, why to be scraped just before being used powder vinegar hotch potch, summer winter hot water, efficacy of not good for china or glass weather, beverage for hours of labour and study must be regulated house, advice about taking agreement for annual tenancy agreement for taking for three years details to be considered before taking healthfulness of situation hints for furnishing rent to be considered household management, hint on how to learn husband and wife deed of separation between value of little attentions by (v) husbands, hints for , , hydragogues, properties of hydrochlorate of ammonia lotion hydrophobia in dogs hyphen, definition of hypnotics, properties of hysterical disorders, prescription for (xii) hysterics, remedy for treatment for i ice, lemon water orange water raspberry water strawberry water ice-creams , iceland moss chocolate ices, for desserts, recipes for , materials for, to be cool icing for wedding cakes , idle tales, avoid telling idleness, avoidance of illegitimate child, legacy to ill-temper, manifestations of, to avoid imitation tortoiseshell income, table of indemnification against rents, rates, and taxes, form of indenture, apprentice's, when void indian pickle, to make syrup indigestion, caution respecting (xxxiv) homeopathic treatment of , mixture for remedy for symptoms of , indulgence of appetite, pernicious effects of infants, aperient for food, to prepare how to feed - milk for, to prepare , infectious diseases, - notification of inflammation, prescription for ( ) of bladder , ( , , ) of the bowels of the brain of the eyes of the kidneys of the liver of the stomach of the throat inflammatory sore throat, remedy for influenza, remedy for infusion of medicines ink, dr. ure's for garden labels a marking, without preparation powder preparation of red writing ink-stains, to remove from boards from mahogany from silver from table covers , insects, bites of, remedy for to rid bird-cages, &c., of stings of, treatment for integrity in business intellectual superiority not to be boasted of interest-table for one year for savings and investments intermeddling, avoidance of intermittent fever, remedy for interrogation, note of, defined interruptions, rudeness of intestate's estate, division of introduction to society, etiquette of invalids, caution to visitors to (xii) ipecacuanha, nature and uses of irish brogue, hints for the correction of dialect, importance of correcting stew, to prepare iron, black staining for ship's guns, &c. new, treatment of polished, to preserve , rust on, to prevent to remedy spiculæ in the eye wipers, to make isinglass plaster italian cabinet work, varnish for , itch, ointment for remedy for ivory, to stain - j jack, to carve jactitation of marriage jalap, uses of jam, plum, greengage, or apricot january, flowers for food in season in japanned articles, to clean jaundice, remedy for , jelly, apricot arrowroot black currant calf's feet excellent for the sick room ox-heel red currant white currant , jersey wonders (cakes) jewellry, excess of, deprecated john dory, to carve joints of meat: english method of division names and situation of relative economy of scottish division of (vii) various, to carve judges, how to address judicial separation, costs of when obtainable jugged hare july, flowers for food in season in june, flowers for food in season in juniper, properties and uses of junket, devonshire k ketchup, oyster walnut kettle, to keep clean brass, to clean kidneys, to broil inflammation of, remedy for kind words, power of kindness in little things kino, uses of kitchen, chimney, to put out fire in floor, best covering for garden, operations in utility of the kitchiner's (dr.) rules for marketing kite, use of, in swimming knitting, abbreviations in casting off casting on decreasing instructions in improvements in implements for needles, size of plain purling in round, to join a stitches, mode of making knives and forks, to clean , (xxxv) caution when cleaning to polish uncleaned, not to be put by (xx) knowledge in housewifery, how gained kreosote lotion l labour and study, excessive, injurious proper order of lace, black, to revive blond, to revive excess of, to be avoided veil, white, to wash ladies, deference to be paid to dress, etiquette of treatment of, at table lamb to choose chops, or cutlets, to dress to dress, before carving fore-quarter of, to roast fore-quarter, dressing for grass, when in season hind-quarter of, to roast house, when in season leg of, to roast loin of, to roast quarter of, to carve ribs of, to roast shoulder of, to roast stove or stew various joints of described (iii) when in season , lambswool stockings, to mend thin, use of lamps, bronze, to clean oil for, the best to prevent the smoking of lancashire dialect lancers (dance) landlord, and tenant, laws relating to - stamped agreements between duty of, to repair premises notice to quit by , right of, to enter premises what taxes he has to pay lansquenet larder, to ventilate larks, care of laundry, borax in the late hours, effect of lavender scent bag water lawn billiards, or troco lawn tennis rules of three-handed and four-handed laws of employer and employed of landlord and tenant - laxative emulsion enema laxatives, properties of lead, poisoning by, treatment for leaf, facsimile of, on copper impressions, directions for taking printing skeletons lease, definition of a leases, agreement respecting rent and taxes copyholder's covenant for repairs covenants usual in how assignable precautions in taking special power of married women to grant and take termination of leather, cement for to dye enamelled, to polish ornamental seats, blacking for strap, convenience of (xxix) leaves, impressions of skeleton, to form leech barometer bites, treatment of , swallowed, remedy for leeches, amount of blood drawn by to apply to apply to gums changing the water of description of treatment of, after using legacy to illegitimate child legal separation, good reasons necessary for legs, cramp in leicestershire dialect lemon buns kali peel syrup peel, tincture of rice sponge water ice lemonade champagne milk lemons, uses of whole, preserved for dessert letters, addresses on , , , crossing of old, to preserve signature to letter-writing, hints respecting perspicuity in to strangers liability for debts contracted under age, acceptance of lice, to free plants from licences, common, for marriage special, for marriage life belts, excellent kinds of , light essential to health (xviii) influence of, on growth lightning, persons struck by, to treat lime and egg cement and oil embrocation in the eye, to remove poisoning by, treatment for washing with , lime-water a cure for burns limitation of recovery of land or real estate lincolnshire dialect linen, care of damp, caution to dye - mending mildewed, to restore , to overlook (xxx) rags, economy of to remove marking ink from to remove fruit stains from to remove wine stains from to render incombustible repairing sweet bags for liniments - linnets, care of linseed, properties and uses of lint, how made various forms and uses of lip salve, rose lipogram liquid glue liquor of boiled meat, economy of - liquorice, uses of listening preferable to talking little attentions (v) things, kindness in liver complaint inflammation of sauce, for fish living objects, to model lobscous, beef or mutton lobster butter to choose patties local stimulants, nature of localities for business, hints on lodgers, and lodgings, laws relating to - apartments, landlord using application to magistrate for restoration of goods broker entering apartments of distraint on furniture of goods, not liable for distress for rent due to superior landlord laws by which they are bound leaving apartments without notice weekly rent payable by lodgings, furnished, laws relating to let to immodest women, law respecting liability for rent quitted, rent recoverable removing goods from renting of, for specific term verbal agreements for taking yearly, of whom to be taken logograph logwood, decoction uses of london dialect postal district initials on letters londoners, advice to, on errors in speaking loo, game of - five-card laws of limited (iv) three-card unlimited (iv) looking glasses, to clean looseness of the bowels, remedy for loss of meat in cooking per cent., in cooking - , - lotions, prescriptions for ( , , , , , ) various , love's telegraph lumbago, remedy for lunar caustic, uses of luncheon, cakes for for children lungs, inflammation of, remedy for state of, to ascertain lustra painting [a sooty chimney costs many a beefsteak.] m maceration of medicines mackerel, to carve to choose mad animals, bite of, to treat magisterial order for protection of wife's property - magnesia, properties and uses of powders of rhubarb and mahogany, frames of, to clean to remove ink stains from to remove stains from male fern root, properties and uses of , mallow, uses of man and wife, deed of separation between man of business, habits of management, household, hints on how to learn mange in dogs mangoes, to pickle mania for greek and latin quotations manifold writing b manly character manna, to make palatable uses of manners, artificial personal, hints upon - maps, to varnish marble, to clean , , , to stain marbled goose march, flowers for food in season in margarine marine glue marketing, dr. kitchiner's rules for table for marking ink, without preparation to remove marmalade, apple orange marriage, banns of, how published breach of promise of - of dissenters etiquette of license, cost of , by registration married women, earnings of personal property of marrow bones, to cook marshmallow, uses of mastic cement matches, keep from children's reach (xiii) matrimonial causes and divorce - matrimony, game of matting, straw, to clean may, flowers for food in season in mazurka (dance) meaning of words indicated by accent varied by accentuation measles, homoeopathic treatment of remedy for symptoms of measures in medicine, signs of substitutes for meat, baking basting boiled, liquor from, use of - boiling, effect of, on broiling cakes for children cold, broiled with poached eggs cold, economy of cookery dredging fat of, what it indicates flesh of, why sometimes red and sometimes white fresh killed, length of time required for boiling frying hook, how to use how to cook properly hung, treatment of (x, xi) joints of, names and situations joints of, relative economy of marbled, why best method of cutting up pie, paste for potted (strasburg mode) to preserve , to be purchased in person (xvi) time required for boiling underdone when in season - (ii) mechanical remedies, enumeration of medical man's advice desirable in illness medicinal uses of vaseline medicine, administering, cautions aperients, various - articles required in mixing classification of climate decoction digestion directions for preparation doses, according to age extracts filtering forms best suited for general health habits homoeopathic, how given how to administer idiosyncrasy infusion maceration measuring accurately miscellaneous recipes - mixtures, various - pounding - preparation of process of making sex sifting signs for measures substitutes for signs for weights stains of, to remove stimulants and narcotics taste of, to prevent , temperament terms used to express properties of weights and measures melons, to pickle mending, best time for clothes menial servants, agreements with menstruation, excessive, remedy for painful scanty mental and bodily exercise, alternation of menu for large dinner parties mercury, poisoning by, treatment for merino wool metagram mice, white, care of mildew from linen, to remove , on trees, to prevent milk, adulteration of for children for infants, to prepare lemonade porridge for children to preserve of roses, recipe for when purest why it turns sour during thunderstorms minced beef collops mincemeat, to prepare minor operations in surgery mint, sauce, substitute for vinegar why it is eaten with pea soup mirrors, to clean misdivision of words mispronunciation of words mississippi, game of mistress and servants, table of expenses mixtures, medicinal, various - mock crab goose modelling - ancient cities, in cork cathedrals, churches, &c. - caves caves in cinders caves in cork caves, to represent water issuing from cities and temples, to construct cork, small countries finishing various parts houses , living objects - materials required in modern cities, in cork monuments mountains paper cement for public buildings ruins scale for stalactites starch paste temples tools required in topographical in various materials wax to make wooden - moderation in eating and drinking beneficial money, borrowed when under age, repayments of for daily expenses matters, hints upon monkeys, care of moral, a (poetry) mordants, in dyeing morning milk mortars, proper kinds of, for medicines mother eve's pudding moths, garden, to destroy to exterminate from clothes closets to preserve clothes from to preserve furs from to prevent , - mourning, dresses, to remove stains from economy in etiquette of families in, correspondence with mouth glue mucilage of gum arabic of starch muffins, to make mumps, homoeopathic treatment of remedy for mushrooms, artificial beds for essence of to distinguish from fungi to pickle to stew wholesome, to distinguish muslin, to dye - to wash mustard, adulteration of leaves, rigollot's medicinal uses of poultices mutton, advantages of hanging (x), breast of, to roast chine of, to roast choice of fed near sea, nutritious hashed - haunch of, to carve to roast leg of, to carve lobscous loin of, to carve to roast loss of, in roasting and boiling neck of, to roast pie saddle of, to carve to roast sausages, to make shanks for stock shoulder of, to carve to roast soup, to prepare stew various joints of, described (ii) venison fashion, to roast when in season (ii) myrrh dentifrice gargle n nail-box nails and screws , nails, finger, biting to whiten names, signification of naphtha polish napkins, table, to fold napoleon, game of narcotic poisons, treatment for narcotics, nature and uses of properties of needles, short ones the best (iv) how to thread (xxii) needlework, fancy nervous headache, pills for nervousness, remedy for netting - darning on diamond grecian implements used in regularity necessary in round square stiches in, how counted nettlerash, homoeopathic treatment of nettle-sting, cure for new neighbourhoods for business new paint, smell of, to remove newspapers, waste, care of unfit for wrappers nightcap for travellers nightlights, to make nipples, sore, ointment for nitrate of ammonium as freezing mixture of silver, properties and uses of nitre, poisoning by, treatment for uses of nitric ether, uses of nobility, directions for addressing nose, bleeding at, to arrest , notice to quit, form of, from landlord to tenant form of, from tenant to landlord given by landlord or tenant legal term of or pay increase of rent noun, accent on definition of november, flowers for food in season in noxious gases, how generated , nursery, borax in the children's servants sleeping in nutrients, properties of nutritive enema o oak bark, uses of october, flowers for food in season in offensive breath officers' dress, etiquette official members of the state, to address (x) oil, burning, best mode of keeping clocks, best for enema lamp, best for paint, smell of, to remove paintings, cautions respecting to remove from hearths of roses, for hair of turpentine, properties and uses of oilcloth, to clean ointments and cerates, various - proper employment of omelette, friars' ordinary observations on onions, to pickle smell of, to remedy open doors or windows in fire operations, surgical, minor opium enema lotion nature and uses of properties of orange confection marmalade peel as a tonic peel syrup. seville, properties and uses of water ice ordinary lotion organzine, what it is ornamental leather work ornaments, brass, to clean , personal, appropriateness of ostrich feathers, to clean ottomans, to clean oven, dutch revolving ox-cheek, to stew uses and economy of (vii) ox-heart (viii) ox-heel jelly ox-tail, uses and properties of (viii) ox-tongue (viii) oxalic acid, poisoning by, treatment for oxide of zinc, uses of oxygen of air, consumed by fire oyster fritters ketchup patties pie powder oysters, choosing curried fried raw, why most wholesome stewed why some have a green tinge p pads, surgical employment of pains in head and face paint for garden stands smell of, to remove , painted wainscot, to clean paintings, oil, caution respecting palatable stew palpitation of heart pancakes cream for children observations on rice paper cement for children hangings, to choose to clean patterns, black printed, unfit for wrapping to remove writing ink from to stain - wrapping papier-mâché articles, to clean parchment, to stain - paregorics, properties of parenthesis parliament, members of, to address (x), parrots, care of parsnip wine parson's grate parties, evening, etiquette of partridge, to carve to choose pie, cold pudding to roast paste for fruit or meat pies for meat or savoury pies permanent puff to prepare pastilles, for burning, to make pastime, evening, suggestions for pastry, flour for for tarts pasty, seven-bell patterns, black paper on cloth or muslin patties, chicken and ham egg and ham lobster oyster veal and ham pea soup, plain peaches in brandy to preserve pears baked for children, to prepare (xxviii) peas, to prepare for children powder pudding when best fit for eating pelote of lint, its use penelope canvas penny pot (billiards) pepper, adulteration of cayenne adulteration of percentage of loss in roasting - percentages, table of perfume, a pleasant period, or full-stop, nature and value of perry person on fire personal, chattels, meaning of term important provision respecting manners, hints upon - property of married women persons of rank, how to address perspiration peruvian bark, nature and uses of petticoat, flannel, economy of (xvii) pharmacopoeia, domestic pheasant, to carve to truss and roast phosphorus, poisoning by, treatment for pianofortes, hints on keeping pickle, indian, to make pickles, various kinds of - pickling, hints on - , pic-nic biscuits picquet, game of pie, apple calf's head fruit or meat, paste for mutton oyster partridge, cold raised rump steak savoury, paste for sea veal pie-dish, cup in, use of pigeon, to carve to choose cold, to dress pike, to carve piles, homoeopathic remedies for ointment for remedy for pills, aperient ( , , ), various - pitch, burgundy pitting in small-pox, to prevent - , plaice, to carve plant skeletons plants, to protect from leaf lice plaster, adhesive, to prepare of paris, to harden objects in plate, uncleaned, don't put by (xx) plated ware, to clean plum cake , jam pudding cold, to re-dress cossack's plums, to preserve - points in punctuation described - importance of properly placing relative duration of - sentence properly punctuated sentence without, illustrated poison, a, definition of poisoning, treatment for, by acids by alkalies by antimony by arsenic by bites of reptiles or animals , by baryta by bismuth by chlorine by copper by fish by gold by insect stings by lead by lime by mad animals, bites of by mercury by narcotics by nitre by oxalic acid by phosphorus by reptiles, bites of by silver by spanish flies by stings of insects by tin by vegetable irritant poisons by zinc how to act in cases of symptoms of poisons antidotes for general observations on various kinds of poker, or draw-poker, game of use of polish for enamelled leather polishes, french politeness, to practise polka country dances waltz pomade, castor oil, to make to remedy baldness pomatum, common directions for making hard pool (billiards) , poor, beds for the pope joan, game of porcelain to clean - red in pork, and beef, salted, to stew to choose fresh, to stew leg of, to carve loin of, to carve slices of, to dress spare rib of, to carve to roast various joints of, described (iv) porridge, scotch portable soup porter, to brew possession, giving up refused postage stamp, where to place on envelope postal districts in london potash and sulphur powders sulphate of potassa, acetate of potato balls ragoût colcanon potato, cheesecakes fritters pie pudding puffs scones snow potatoes boiled in bread for children cold, to dress escalloped fried in slices fried whole fried with fish mashed with onions with spinach and cabbage new, when best fit for eating to peel to preserve roasted under meat to steam pot-au-feu, to prepare pot-herbs for drying, when in season - (v) potichomanie, art of potted beef meat, strasburg poultices, uses of poultry, to fatten to hash hints respecting ragoût of to roast when in season - (iii) powders, medicinal - prawns, to choose precautions in beginning business in case of fire - in giving medicines prescriptions, various , presence of mind a safeguard against drowning , presentations, etiquette of preserves, covering for hints about making preserving eggs - fruit - press, direction for those who write for preston salts pride, avoidance of principles for government of personal conduct personal, avowal of printed papers, unfit for wrapping privileges of servants promise of marriage, breach of - promissory notes, stamps for pronunciation, definition of to obtain good knowledge of proper, of words often wrongly pronounced rules of prophylactics, properties of provincial brogues, hints for correction of - dialects, examples of provincialisms, effect of use of ptarmigan, to roast public places, behahaviour in pudding, almond sauce for apple boston barley batter baked or boiled black hog bread , cabinet carrot economical family fig half pay mother eve's peas plain suet plum cold, to re-dress cossack's potato rice, cold to re-dress with fruit for children without eggs yorkshire puddings for children puff paste puffs, potato pulled bread, to make punch, scotch punctuality, practice of punctuation, definition of importance of marks used in - pure air, necessity of purgative emulsion pills, mild ordinary strong powders purgatives, properties of put game of - laws of puzzle, diagonal diamond oblique puzzles, specimens of pyramids (billiards) q quadrille, game of quadrilles	 quadrupeds, to stuff quassia, uses of quinine tooth-powder quinsey, remedy for quinze, game of quotations, greek and latin, to be avoided r rabbits, care of to choose cold, to dress to hash radishes, turnip, to boil ragoût of cold veal of duck, poultry, or game potato balls rags, linen, economy of raised pie	 raspberry ice cream vinegar water ice rates and taxes in arrear, indemnification against rats, to destroy reading by candle light, best mode (xxiv) in bed ready money purchases, benefit of , , reckoner for marketing rebuses, example of receipts for wages paid recipes, miscellaneous medicinal - recovery of damages by workmen from employer - of land or real estate, limitation of red cabbage, to pickle cement currant jelly redowa waltz described refrigerants, nature of properties of registration of births of deaths	 , regularity in living, benefits of relish for chops remedies, chemical mechanical rent, care of receipts for distraining for, expenses broker's charges, delivery of legal and illegal due from bankrupts form of receipt , goods seized for, valuation and sale of illegal charges on distraining for legal tender of mode of recovering payment of, imperative receipt for, legal form of the proper person to demand it when legally payable repairs by tenant of household property, landlord's neglect of reptiles, bites of, to treat respirators, charcoal revolving ovens	 rheumatic gout, mixture for rheumatism, pills for remedy for , rhubarb, and magnesia powders to preserve uses of wine rice, and apples for children (xxviii), to boil, for curry bread, to make to dress, black man's recipe dumplings lemon pancakes pudding, cold, to re-dress with fruit for children without eggs yellow, to dress rickets, remedy for rigollot's mustard leaves for poultices rings, finger wedding , ringworm, remedy for treatment of roasting, loss occasioned by - rationale of remarks on - roche's embrocation for hooping cough rolls, to make french, to make roots, greens, salads, how to refresh rose leaves, uses of oil, red roses, milk of oil of rose-trees, to clear from blight rosewood furniture, to polish imitation of royal family, how to address , royal game of goose rubefacients, nature of properties of rules, and hints for correct speaking of conduct domestic, mrs. hamilton's for marketing, dr. kitchiner's for preservation of health of pronunciation special, for prevention of cholera rum, buttered rumpsteak, and onion sauce pie rust, on steel and iron, to remedy steel goods, to preserve from , rustic work seats for models rye and wheat flour			 s sage and onion sauce sailors, cookery for st. vitus's dance sal-ammoniac as a freezing mixture salad, french mode of dressing to choose to mix mixture in verse sale of food and drugs acts, extracts from salivation, gargle for sally lunn tea cakes, to make salmon to carve to choose salt, beef and pork, stew of drying for table, hint on (xix) liquor of boiled meat, how to use meat, treatment of, before boiling salts, preston salutations, advice on sal-volatile, to restore colours use of samphire, to pickle sandwiches, anchovy sarsaparilla, decoction of uses of satin to clean white, to clean sauce, apple beef gravy chutney fish grill liver, for fish sage and onions tomato wow-wow saucepan, uses of sausages adulteration of beef bologna mutton oxford to prepare skins for veal worcester saveloys, to make scalds, cure for treatment of - scammony, uses of scandal, live it down scarification, surgical use of scarlet fever, remedy for scent-bag, lavender schottische scones, to make scotch barley broth brose fingering wool porridge punch woodcock scottish brogue, hints for correction of dialect importance of correcting scouring bedrooms, hints about boards, directions for drops for removing grease scratches, treatment of screw-box screws and nails , scrofula, remedy for scrofulous ulcerations, ointment for scurf, ointment for treatment of scurvy, remedy for sea pie sea water, artificial, to prepare seaweeds, to collect and prepare sedative lotion sedatives, properties of seidlitz powders self-praise, avoidance of selling on credit, reasons for semicolon, nature and value of senna and manna, to render palatable confections , properties and uses of separation of man and wife, deed of september, flowers for food in season in servant, deceased, who may claim wages due to incapacitated from work, law relating to leaving without due notice liability of, for breakages medical attendance for, liability of employer purchases made by, for employer reservation of special privileges by seduced from employment, employer's recovery when he may refuse to perform certain duties woman, married, entitled to receive her wages servants, character, law respecting disabled by sickness, law relating to dismissal of dismissed, wages claimed by hired by the year, law relating to , hiring of ill-paid and young, caution as to (xxxvi) livery, special law concerning menial, agreements with responsibility of employers for should not sleep with children special hirings treatment of sesquicarbonate of ammonia, uses of of soda, uses of seven-bell pasty seville oranges, properties and uses of sewing, by candlelight, hint on (xxxiii) when best done shalots, to pickle shanks of mutton for stock sheep, fed near sea, why flesh of nutritious sheepskins, dried, for hearthrugs sheets, to mend (xv, xxiii) shelves in tool closet , sherbet, to prepare shetland wool shirts, to mend (xxiii) shocks, violent, treatment of shoes, blacking for to clean waterproofing for , shop, directions for taking - shopkeeper, duties of shopkeeping, useful work on shrimps, to choose sialogogues, nature of properties of sick, visiting the, cautious as to (xii), sick-room, borax in jelly for sideboard, utility of signature, how to write it signification of names signs of the weather silk, black, to revive to clean to dye - embroidery, stitches in flowered, to clean to remove grease spots from to renovate to restore colour of thread, how made various kinds of - silver, to clean nitrate of, uses of poisoning by, treatment of to remove ink stains from simmering meat (ii) simplicity and grace, desirability of singing, utility of single pool (billiards) sinks, to disinfect sir roger de coverley dance described skeleton fruits leaves skin, diseases of, how generally caused necessity of keeping it clean to soften skittle pool (billiards) sky, colour of, a sign of the weather skylarks, care of sleep, how to obtain of children, duration - sling for the arm sloe wine slugs, to destroy , , small birds, to stuff small-pox, pitting in, to prevent - , remedy for smell of paint, to remove , smithfield hare (viii) smoky chimney, to guard against snails, to destroy traps for snipe, to carve to choose soap, honey, to make liniment with spanish flies soapsuds, economy of sociable, how to be society, conduct in introduction to, etiquette of soda cake carbonate of, properties and uses of powders, compound soda-water powders sofa, to choose to clean soft water, to prepare , soldering, neat mode of soldiers, cookery for sole, to carve soles of boots, gutta percha, to put on solitaire, game of song birds, care of - soporifics, properties of sore nipples, ointment for throat, gargle for inflammatory, remedy for sores, charcoal applied to soup, asparagus carrot clear gravy french beef, to prepare mutton pea portable vegetable vermicelli spanish dance fly, poisoning by, treatment for uses of spasmodic disorders, prescription for ( ) speaking, correctly, rules and hints for errors in - correction of special marriage licences speculation, game of spelling, hints upon spirit polish spit, how to use splints, substitutes for sponge cake , almond lemon sponges, to clean spongio-piline for poultices spots from furniture, to remove sprains, homeopathic treatment of remedy for , spring aperients square words squills, uses of squinting, remedy for squirrels, care of stable, vaseline in the staining, general observations on stains from books, to extract floors, to remove the hands, to remove stair carpet, to sweep staircase on fire stamp on envelope, where to place stamped agreements between landlord and tenant correspondence respecting documents, importance of stamps for bills of exchange, &c. star (or asterisk) definition of starch, gum arabic mucilage of paste models, to form steel, rust on, to remedy goods, to preserve from rust , stew, irish, to prepare palatable, to prepare stimulant and tonic mixture gargle lotion stimulants, general local nature and uses of properties of sting of nettle, cure for stings of bees and wasps, cure for , of insects, to treat stock, brown , from shanks of mutton stockings, worsted and lambswool, to mend stomach, inflammation of, remedy for stomachic mixture stomachics, properties of stone, to stain stoppers of bottles, to loosen stoves, blacking for, to make brunswick black for strap, leather, convenience of (xxix) strasburg potted meat straw bonnets, to bleach to clean matting, to clean strawberry ice cream water ice stuffing birds, quadrupeds, &c. , stuffing for goose or duck styptics, properties of succedaneum, tooth stopping sucking pig, to carve , sudorific powders sudorifics, properties of suet dumplings, hint on boiling (xiv) pudding, plain suffocation from charcoal fumes, to treat from noxious gases, treatment for suffolk dialect sugar biscuits icing for wedding cake sulphate of copper, uses of of potash, properties and uses of of zinc eye-wash sulphur and potash powders and senna confection sulphuric ether, compound spirit, uses of nature and uses of summer champagne sun, warmth of, in dwelling, essential sunburn, wash for sunstroke, treatment for superiority, intellectual, rudeness in boasting of suppers, my wife's surgery, domestic surgical dressings instruments for materials for operations, minor swearing, avoidance of sweet bags for linen dishes, cold, to redress - sweetbread, to prepare , swimming - belts, to make comfort in cramp in dr. franklin's advice on - kite, aid of syrup, apples in indian to make orange or lemon peel t table of days from one month to another of expenses, income, and wages of interest for savings, investments, &c. of percentages table, dinner, how to lay neatly (vi) room, economy of table-covers, to remove ink stains from tables, dining, to polish to preserve tamarind drink - uses of tapestry of auxerre painting tart, cold apple, to re-dress tartar, cream of emetic ointment tartaric acid, uses of tarts, paste for taste of medicine, to prevent , tatting, or frivolité, instructions in - implements for picots in stitches in , trefoil taxes payable by landlord tea, adulteration of economy of to make - parties, my wife's standing in tin why made with boiling water why its first infusion has the most aroma why it often cures headache tea-cakes sally lunn, to make tea-kettle, to keep clean teal, to dress teapots, china, desirability of teeth, solution for teething homeopathic treatment of telegraph, love's temper, female, management of keep your (viii), temperance, benefits of - tenancies, notices relating to yearly, terms of tenant and landlord, law of - indemnity to incoming tenant notice to quit stamped agreements tent of lint termination of leases terra cotta painting theory of cooking thinning the blood, mode of thirty-four puzzle, the throat, bone in, treatment for inflamed, gargle for inflammatory sore, remedy for sore, gargle for thrush, remedy for thrushes, care of thumb, dislocated, remedy for tic-douloureux, remedy for , tincture of allspice of camphor, its uses of lemon peel tin, poisoning by, treatment for tin-ware, care of to clean titled persons, to address properly toads, uses of, in gardens toast, anchovy toddy, whisky toilet, borax for the etiquette of the vaseline for the young lady's tolu, uses of tomato sauce tongues, to carve to cure glazing for tonic, aperient, prescription for gargle pills powders and stimulant, mixture tonics, nature and uses of - prescriptions for ( , , ) properties of tools, family chests and closets of, to furnish - how to find when wanted how to keep in place , injured if kept in box necessary for household use suspension of, against walls visible when hung against wall toothache, cure for , tooth-powder, american camphorated myrrh quinine tooth-stopping, gutta percha succedaneum tortoiseshell, imitation of tow, surgical uses of towels, worn, to mend (xv) tracing paper, to make tragacanth, properties and uses of travellers, cookery for nightcap for trays, japanned, to clean trees, mildew on, to remove tricotee, or oriental crochet troco, or lawn billiards rules of trou madame trout, to carve turbot, to carve turkey, to carve , to choose cold, to dress pulled, to prepare turnip radishes, to boil turnips, cold, to dress turnip-wine turpentine enema liniment oil of venice tusseh silk typhus fever, remedy for u uncleanliness of person deprecated underdone meat unfermented cakes - unmarried ladies, how to address (v) ure's (dr.,) ink urns, japanned, to clean v v, use of, for w, enigma on valerian, nature and uses of valse a deux temps cellarius vapour bath, improvised - varnish for damp walls for cabinet work , vaseline, uses of - veal a la mode breast of, to carve to choose cold, ragoût of fillet of, to carve to roast and ham patties knuckle of, to carve loin of to carve to roast minced neck of, to roast pie rissoles to roast sausages, to make shoulder of, to roast to stew sweetbread, to roast various joints of, described (v) when in season (v) with white sauce vegetable irritant poisons, treatment for vegetables, to boil , - for children to choose to choose fresh to cleanse from insects to cut or gather for dinner, where to set them for drying (v)- (v) forced, when in season (v), ( v) for pickling (vi), (vi) to prepare for cooking preservation of quality of soup unripe to wash and clean when in season - (iv) when indigestible vegetation, maturity of - veil, white lace, to wash velvet, grease from, to remove to renovate venice turpentine, properties and uses of venison, to choose haunch of, to carve various joints of described (vi) when in season (vi) ventilation, best mode of (xxxi) in houses, necessity of simple method of verb, accent on vermicelli soup vermifuges , vermin, how generally bred - vermin-killer, borax as a vesicants, medical properties of vinegar, cheap and good cress horseradish mint poultice raspberry vingt-un, game of - method of playing natural in , violent shocks, effects of, treatment for violet, why unfavourable to every complexion visiting, dress, etiquette of etiquette of the sick, cautions as to (xii), visits of condolence, etiquette of vitremanie, art of vitriol, white, nature and uses of volatile salt, nature and uses of vowels, sounds of, influenced by accentuation vulgarity, avoidance of w w, use of, for v, enigma on wages, necessity of receipts for paid table of wainscot, painted to clean waiter at table, duties of - waiters, to clean walking, proper mode of walls, damp, to remedy , walnut ketchup walnuts, to pickle waltz à deux temps cellarius circular cotillon polka redowa warehouseman, general terms of hiring warmth, dry, to the body, best mode of applying for the body, desirability of exercise best for producing warts, cure for washing, economy of various processes frequent, good effects of lime, use of in - machinery for muslins and chintzes to prepare hard water for preventive of infection - saving of soap and labour in supremacy of soapsuds wasps, to destroy stings of, cure for , waste, caution against , waste-paper, economy of wasting of fluid part of body of solid part of body water, adulteration of as a beverage, excellence of on the brain, remedy for effect of, on meat, if left in, when cooked encrustation of certain vessels by erect position in - hard, to prepare for washing hard to soften hot, efficacy of in holland and england soft, to prepare watercress, to stew waterproofing for boots and shoes , wax flowers, to make - fruits, to make , - models, to make to remove from cloth weather, effects of, on the blood hot, beverage for precautions against signs of - wedding; breakfast, etiquette of bridegroom's position in church cake, almond icing for sugar icing for recipe for cards, etiquette of ceremony, formularies after dress, choice of fees, amount of order of going to and coming from church - position of bridesmaids reception after, etiquette of ring, why worn on fourth finger origin of wearing signature of register in vestry tour, best places for weights for medicines how marked wet blankets for fire wheeling yarn whey, alum whisky toddy whist, advice to players at laws of maxims for principles of - short , terms used in white-currant jelly , white-lead as cement white-mice, care of white-vitriol, nature and uses of whites, remedy for whiting, to carve whooping cough (see hooping cough, ) widow's claim on intestate estate wife, and husband, hints to debts of, before marriage, liability of husband for power of property of, order for protection of - wearing apparel, &c., of, cannot be willed away widgeon, to dress wild duck, to dress sauce for will, how to make - legal alteration in revoking - , to search for simple form of special, should be drawn by legal adviser validity of - what to be written on window-curtains on fire, how to act windows, dirty (ix) open at night, bad effect of wine, art of making biscuits blackberry elderberry home-made, varieties of, to make - parsnip to serve at dinner stains from linen to remove turnip wives, hints for , , , woman's conversation women, christian names of wood, models of, to construct - to stain - woodcock, to carve to choose scotch, to prepare wooden ware, care of wool, to dye - german or berlin other kinds of woollen clothes, to wash dresses, coloured, to clean words, mischoice of mispronunciation of often wrongly pronounced, proper pronunciation of whose meaning is not varied by accent whose meaning is varied by accent work by daylight preferable in winter (xxvi) how to accomplish wormwood, nature and uses of worms, homeopathic remedies for in the intestines, remedy for remedies for , worsted stockings, to mend wounds and cuts, treatment of homoeopathic treatment of wow-wow sauce wrapping-paper, to purchase writing, for the press, directions for ink, to remove from paper materials, advice respecting paper and books, economy of paper and envelopes should be clean - y yak lace and fringe yeast, economical, to make poultice to make - yellow blinds in smallpox lotion yorkshire, dialect, errors of example of pudding young, counsels for the ladies, advice to lady's toilette (poetry) youth, to preserve health in yule cake z zinc, chloride of, solution and camphor eyewash eyewash and lead eyewash oxide of, uses of poisoning by, treatment for sulphate of, nature and uses of "enquire within." by the editor. (_written on the publication of the four hundred and thirtieth thousand_.) only a few short years have sped since i this work of love begun; by thousands sought, by millions read, all their approving smiles i've won. now, while reflecting on the past, my day of life seems closing in, let me, while powers of reason last, "enquire within," oh, ye--who gentle are and fair-- who to these modest pages turn, to raise a smile, to soothe a care, or some moot point of duty learn,-- forget not this: that whilst you live, your hearts may yield to pride or sin, take, then, the warning here i give,-- "enquire within." would you acquire the greatest peace-- the sweetest joy--this world can give? bid hatred, pride, and envy cease, and learn a christian's life to live; each eve, before your eyelids close, and slumbers of the night begin, that your own heart may find repose, "enquire within." none proofreading team. with thanks to internet library of early journals. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents. notes:-- page periplus of hanno, by r.t. hampson pope vindicated the supper of the lorde folk lore:--palm sunday wind--curious symbolical custom--the wild huntsman on authors and books, no. vi, by bolton corney queries:-- nicholas breton's crossing of proverbs, by j.p. collier sword called curtana, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. is the dombec the domesday of alfred? by george munford minor queries:--wickliffite versions of the scriptures--gloves--law courts at st. alban's--milton pedigree--sapcote motto--scala coeli, &c. replies:-- the arabic numerals and cipher replies to minor queries, by sir w.c. trevelyan derivation of "news" replies to minor queries:--swot--pokership--vox populi--living dog better than dead lion--curious monumental brasses--chapels--forthlot--loscop-- smelling of the lamp--anglo-saxon ms. of orosius--golden frog--sword of charles i.--john bull--vertue mss.--lines attributed to tom brown, &c. miscellanies:-- epigram by la monnoye--spur money--minimum de malls--epigram on louis xiv.--macaulay's young levite--st. martin's lane--charles deering, m.d. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * periplus of hanno the carthaginian. i am not sufficiently quixotic to attempt a defence of the carthaginians on the western coast of africa, or any where else, but i submit that the accusation brought against them by mr. s. bannister, formerly attorney-general of new south wales, is not sustained by the only record we possess of hanno's colonising expedition. that gentleman, in his learned _records of british enterprise beyond sea_, just published, says, in a note, p. xlvii.:-- "the first nomade tribe they reached was friendly, and furnished hanno with _interpreters_. at length they discovered a nation _whose language was unknown to the interpreters_. these strangers they attempted to seize; and, upon their resistance, they took three of the women, whom they put to death, and carried their skins to carthage" (_geogr. græci minores_, paris, , p. .). hanno obtained interpreters from a people who dwelt on the banks of a large river, called the lixus, and supposed to be the modern st. cyprian. having sailed thence for several days, and touched at different places, planting a colony in one of them, he came to a mountainous country inhabited by savages, who wore skins of wild beasts, [greek: dermata thaereia enaemmenon]. at a distance of twelve days' sail he came to some ethiopians, who could not endure the carthaginians, and who spoke unintelligibly even to the lixite interpreters. these are the people whose women, mr. bannister says, they killed. hanno sailed from this inhospitable coast fifteen days, and came to a gulf which he calls [greek: notou kera], or south horn. "here," says the dr. hawkesworth, of carthage, "in the gulf, was an island, like the former, containing a lake, and in this another island, full of wild men; but the women were much more numerous, _with hairy bodies_ ([greek: daseiai tois somasin]), whom the interpreters called [greek: gorillas]. we pursued the men, who, flying to precipices, defended themselves with stones, and could not be taken. three women, who bit and scratched their leaders, would not follow them. having killed them, we brought their skins to carthage." he does not so much as intimate that the creatures who so defended themselves with stones, or those whose bodies were covered with hair, spoke any language. nothing but the words [greek: anthropoi agrioi] and [greek: gunaikes] can lead us to believe that they were human beings at all; while the description of the behaviour of the men, and the bodies of the women, is not repugnant to the supposition that they were large apes, baboons, or orang-outangs, common to this part of africa. at all events, the voyagers do not say that they flayed a people having the faculty of speech. it is not, however, improbable that the carthaginians were severe taskmasters of the people whom they subdued. such i understand those to have been who opened the british tin mines, and who, according to diodorus siculus, excessively overworked the wretches who toiled for them, "wasting their bodies underground, and dying, { } many a one, through extremity of suffering, while others perished under the lashes of the overseer." (_bibl. hist._ l. v. c. .) r.t. hampson. * * * * * pope vindicated. "p.c.s.s." is too great an admirer of pope not to seek to vindicate him from one, at least, of the blunders attributed to him by mr. d. stevens, at p. . of the "notes and queries." "singed are his _brows_, the scorching _lids_ grow black." now, if mr. s. will refer to homer, he will find that the original fully justifies the use of "brows" and "lids" in the _plural_. it runs thus (_od._ ix. v. .): "[greek: panta de ui blephar amphi kai ophruas eusen autmae]." "p.c.s.s." wishes that he could equally remove from pope the charge of inaccuracy respecting the _three_ cannibal meals of polyphemus. he fears that nothing can be alleged to impugn mr. stevens's perfectly just criticism. while on the subject of pope, "p.c.s.s." would wish to advert to a communication (no. . p. .) in which it is insinuated that pope was probably indebted to petronius arbiter for the well-known passage-- "worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; the rest is all but leather and prunella." with all respect for the ingenious author of that communication, "p.c.s.s." confesses that he is unable to discover such a similitude of expression as might warrant the notion that pope had been a borrower from petronius. he cannot suppose that mr. f. could have been led away by any supposed analogy between _corium_ and _coricillum_. the latter, mr. f. must know, is nothing more than a diminutive of a diminutive (coricillum, _not_ corcillum, from corculum); and the word is coined by petronius to ridicule one of the affectations of trimalchio (nero), who was wont to indulge, to an absurd extent, in the use of such diminutives (_vide_ burmann, _in loco_). "p.c.s.s." will now subjoin such translations of the passage in question as he has hitherto had opportunities of referring to. the first is from _the works of petronius arbiter, translated by several hands_, lond. vo. th edit. . at the beginning of the translation itself there is this heading--"made english by mr. wilson, of the middle temple, and several others." the passage in question is thus rendered:-- "come, my friends, let us see how merry you can be! for in my time, i have been no better than yourselves; but, by my own industry, i am what i am. _'tis the heart makes the man_; all the rest is but stuff!" in another translation, which, with grub-street audacity, the publisher, in his title-passage, presumes to attribute to addison! and which appeared in (lond. vo.), the passage is as follows:-- "i was once as you are: but now, thanks to my industry, i am what i am. _it is the heart that makes the man_; all the rest is but stuff!" be the translator who he may, this version, so impudently ascribed to the moral addison, is written with much spirit and power, and with a remarkable comprehension of the author's meaning. some of the poetical fragments at the end are, indeed, singularly well done. of the two french versions which "p.c.s.s." has examined, the one by levaur (paris, vo. ) thus translates the passage: "je vous prie, mes amis ... _c'est le coeur qui fait les hommes; je compte le reste pour un fétu_." in that of boispreaux (lond. ), it is simply rendered-- "mon sçavoir faire m'a tiré du pair. _c'est le coeur qui fait l'homme_ ..." no attempt is made to translate the _quisquilia_. p.c.s.s. * * * * * "the supper of the lorde." i shall be glad to find that your correspondent "c.h." (no. . p. .) receives a satisfactory answer to his inquiry, as such a reply would also satisfy my earlier query, no. . p. . i perceive, however, from his letter, that i can give him some information on other points noticed in it, though the absence of papers now passing through the press with the parker society's reprint of a third volume of tyndale, will prevent my replying with such precision as i could wish. that ancient tract on "the supper of the lorde, after the true meanyng of the sixte of john," &c., of which "c.h." says he possesses a copy, was reprinted at different intervals with the same date, viz., mcccccxxxiii, apryll v., on its title-page. the original edition has a final colophon, stating that it was "imprinted at nornberg, by nielas twonson," and is so rare, that i have not been able to discover the existence of any copy, but one recently deposited in the bodleian. that "c.h.'s" copy is not a specimen of that first edition, is apparent from two circumstances. the first is, that he has given you a quotation from his copy as follows:--"and as for m. more, whom the verity most offendeth, and doth but mocke it," whereas the original edition has, "and as for m. mocke," &c., and sir thomas more notices this mockage of his name in his reply. the next is, that his copy contains "crowley's epistle to the reader," which does not appear in any edition of an earlier date than . when first attached to this treatise, the epistle was anonymous, as may be seen in the lambeth copy; but crowley eventually { } affixed his name to the epistle, as it appears in "c.h.'s" and in other copies. robert crowley was a fellow of magdalen college, oxford; vicar of st. giles, cripplegate; a printer and publisher; but to his singular combination of titles, we cannot add that of author of the treatise in question. "c.h." has seen that he did not enter oxford till ; and in his prefatory epistle, crowley speaks of the author of the treatise as a person distinct from himself. i do not wish, however, to be considered as positively affirming the treatise to be tyndale's. foxe, the martyrologist, edited tyndale's works for day, and he has only said that this treatise was "compiled, as some do gather, by m. wm. tyndale, because the method and phrase agree with his, and the time of writing are [sic] concurrent." on the other hand, the authorship is unhesitatingly assigned to tyndale by mr. c. anderson (_annals of the english bible_, §ix. _ad finem_), and by mr. geo. offer (_mem. of tyndale_, p. .), the two most pains-taking and best informants as to his works. but still there are objections of such force, that i must confess myself rather inclined to attribute the treatise to joy's pen, if i could but be satisfied that he was capable of writing so correctly, and of keeping so clear of vulgarity in a controversy with a popish persecutor. h.w. * * * * * folk lore. _palm sunday wind_.--it is a common idea among many of the farmers and labourers of this immediate neighbourhood, that, from whatever quarter the wind blows for the most part on palm sunday, it will continue to blow from the same quarter for the most part during the ensuing summer. is this notion prevalent in other parts of the country, as a piece of "folk-lore?" r.v. winchester, march . _curious symbolical custom_.--on saturday last i married a couple in the parish church. an old woman, an aunt of the bridegroom, displeased at the marriage, stood at the church gate and pronounced an anathema on the married pair. she then bought a new broom, went home, swept her house, and hung the broom over the door. by this she intimated her rejection of her nephew, and forbade him to enter her house. is this a known custom? what is its origin? h. morland austen. st. peter's, thanet, march . . _the wild huntsman_.--the interesting contributions of your correspondent "seleucus," on "folk lore," brought to my recollection the "wild huntsman" of the german poet, tieck; of whose verses on that superstitious belief, still current among the imaginative peasantry of germany, i send you a translation, _done into english_ many years ago. the welsh dogs of annwn, or "couriers of the air"--the spirit-hounds who hunt the souls of the dead--are part of that popular belief existing among all nations, which delivers up the noon of night to ungracious influences, that "fade on the crowing of the cock." "the wild huntsman. "at the dead of the night the wild huntsman awakes, in the deepest recess of the dark forest's brakes; he lists to the storm, and arises in scorn. he summons his hounds with his far-sounding horn; he mounts his black steed; like the lightning they fly and sweep the hush'd forest with snort and with cry. loud neighs his black courser; hark his horn, how 'tis swelling! he chases his comrades, his hounds wildly yelling. speed along! speed along! for the race is all ours; speed along! speed along! while the midnight still lours; the spirits of darkness will chase him in scorn, who dreads our wild howl, and the shriek of our horn, thus yelling and belling they sweep on the wind, the dread of the pious and reverent mind: but all who roam gladly in forests, by night, this conflict of spirits will strangely delight." j.m. oxford, march . * * * * * on authors and books, no. vi. in the union of scholarship, polished manners, and amiability of character, we have had few men to surpass the reverend joseph spence. his career was suitable to his deserts. he was fortunate in his connections, fortunate in his appointments, and fortunate in his share of fame. his fame, however, is somewhat diminished. his _essay on the odyssey_, which procured him the friendship of pope, has ceased to be in request; his _polymetis_, once the ornament of every choice library, has been superseded by the publications of millin and smith; his poems are only to be met with in the collections of dodsley and nichols. if we now dwell with pleasure on his name, it is chiefly as a recorder of the sayings of others--it is on account of his assiduity in making _notes!_ i allude to the volume entitled _anecdotes, observations, and characters of books and men_, which was edited by my friend mr. singer, with his wonted care and ability in . the _essay on the odyssey_ was first published anonymously in - . it was reprinted in and . a copy of the latter edition, now in my possession, contains this curious note:-- "it is remarkable that of twelve passages objected to in this critique on the english odyssey, _two_ only are found in those books which were translated by pope. "from mr. langton, who had his information from mr. spence. "when spence carried his preface to gorboduc in { } to pope, he asked him his opinion. pope said 'it would do very well; there was nothing _pert_ or _low_ in it.' spence was satisfied with this praise, which however, was in implied censure on all his other writings.--he is very fond of the familiar vulgarisms of common talk, and is the very reverse of dr. johnson. "e.m." [edmond malone.] the note is not signed at length, but there can be no doubt as to its authorship, as i purchased the volume which contains it at the sale of the unreserved books of mr. malone in . bolton corney. * * * * * queries. nicholas breton's "crossing of proverbs." although my query respecting william basse and his poem, "great britain's sun's set," (no. . p. ), produced no positive information touching that production, it gave an opportunity to some of your correspondents to communicate valuable intelligence relating to the author and to other works by him, for which i, for one, was very much obliged. if i did not obtain exactly what i wanted, i obtained something that hereafter may be extremely useful; and that i could not, perhaps, have obtained in any other way than through the medium of your pleasant and welcome periodical. i am now, therefore, about to put a question regarding another writer of more celebrity and ability. among our early pamphleteers, there was certainly none more voluminous than nicholas breton, who began writing in , and did not lay down his pen until late in the reign of james i. a list of his pieces (by no means complete, but the fullest that has been compiled) may be seen in lowndes's _bibl. manual_; it includes several not by breton, among them sir philip sidney's _ourania_, , which in fact is by a person of the name backster; and it omits the one to which my present communication refers, and regarding which i am at some loss. in the late mr. heber's _catalogue_, part iv. p. ., i read as follows, under the name of nicholas breton:-- "crossing of proverbs. the second part, with certaine briefe questions and answeres, by n.b., gent. extremely rare and very curious, _but imperfect_. it appears to contain a portion of the first part, and also of the second; but it appears to be unknown." into whose hands this fragment devolved i know not; and that is one point i am anxious to ascertain, because i have another fragment, which consists of what is evidently the first sheet of the first part of the tract in question, with the following title-page, which i quote _totidem literis_:-- "crossing of proverbs. crosse-answeres. and crosse-humours. by b.n., gent. at london, printed for john wright, and are to be solde at his shop without newgate, at the signe of the bible, ." it is in vo., as heber's fragment appears to have been; but then the initials of the author are given as n.b., whereas in my fragment they stand b.n., a usual inversion with nicholas breton; the brief address "to the reader" is also subscribed b.n.; and then begins the body of the work, thus headed: "crosse and pile, or, crossing of proverbs." it opens as follows: "_proverb_. the more the merrier. _cross_. not so; one hand is enough in a purse. _p._ every man loves himselfe best. _c._ not so, when man is undone by suretyship. _p._ he that runnes fastest gets most ground. _c._ not so, for then foote-men would have more land than their masters. _p._ he runnes far that never turnes. _c._ not so, he may breake his necke in a short course. _p._ no man can call againe yesterday. _c._ yes, hee may call till his heart ake, though it never come. _p._ had i wist was a foole. _c._ no, he was a foole that said so." and so it proceeds, not without humour and point, here and there borrowing from known sources, as in the following:-- "_proverb._ the world is a long journey. _cros._ not so, the sunne goes it every day. _p._ it is a great way to the bottom of the sea. _c._ not so, it is but a stone's cast." however, my object is not to give specimens of the production further than are necessary for its identification. my queries are, st, who bought mr. heber's fragment, and where is it now to be found? nd, are any of your correspondents aware of the existence of a perfect copy of the work? i naturally take a peculiar interest about nicholas breton, because i have in my possession an unknown collection of amatory and pastoral poems by him, printed in quarto in , in matter and measure obvious imitations of productions in "the passionate pilgrim," , imputed to shakespeare, and some of which are unquestionably by richard barnfield. any new information regarding breton and his works will be most acceptable to me. i am already in possession of undoubted proof that he was the nicholas breton whose epitaph is on the chancel-wall of the church of norton, in northamptonshire, a point ritson seems to have questioned. j. payne collier. march . . * * * * * the sword called curtana. in the wardrobe account for the year , are "iij swerdes, whereof oon with a flat poynte, { } called _curtana_, and ij other swords, all iij swords covered in a yerde di of crymysym tisshue cloth of gold." the name of _curtana_ for many ages continued to be given to the first royal sword in england. it existed as long ago as the reign of henry iii., at whose coronation (a.d. ) it was carried by the earl of chester. we find it at the coronations of edward ii. and richard ii.; also in the time of henry iv., richard iii., and henry vii.; and among the royal arms of edward vi. we read of "a swerde called _curtana_." can any of your readers explain the origin of the name _curtana_, a sword so famous that it carries us back to the days of ancient chivalry, when it was wielded by the dane _uggiero_, or by the still more famed _orlando_. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * is the dombec the domesday of alfred? i beg to propose the following "query":--is the _dombec_, a work referred to in the laws of edward the elder, the same as what has been called the domesday or winchester book of alfred the great? i incline to think that it is not, and shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents, learned in the anglo-saxon period of our history, who will give himself the trouble of resolving my doubts. sir henry spelman, in his glossary _voce dombec_, calls it the _liber judicialis_ of the anglo-saxons; and says it is mentioned in the first chapter of the laws of edward the elder, where the king directs his judges to conduct themselves in their judicial proceedings as on [old english: thaere dom bec stand], that is, as _is enjoined in their dome book_.--"quod," he continues, "an de præcedentium regum legibus quæ hodie extant, intelligendum sit: an de alio quopiam libro hactenus non prodeunte, incertum est." but this uncertainty does not seem to have attached itself to the mind of sir william blackstone; for in the third section of the introduction prefixed to his _commentaries on the laws of england_, he informs us that our antiquaries "tell us that in the time of alfred, the local customs of the several provinces of the kingdom were grown so various, that he found it expedient to compile his _dome book_, or _liber judicialis_, for the general use of the whole kingdom." this book is said to have been extant so late as the reign of king edward iv., but is now unfortunately lost. it contained, we may probably suppose, the principal maxims of the common law, the penalties for misdemeanors, and the forms of judicial proceedings. thus much may be at least collected from that injunction to observe it, which we find in the laws of king edward the elder, the son of alfred.--"_omnibus qui reipublicæ præsunt etiam atque etiam mando, ut omnibus æquos se præbeant judices, perinde ac in judiciali libro_ (saxonice, [old english: dom bec]) _scriptum habetur: nec quidquid formident quin jus commune_ (saxonice, [old english: folcrihte]) _audactes libereque dicant._" but notwithstanding this, it appears to me by no means conclusive, that the _dombec_ referred to in the laws of edward the elder and the _liber judicialis_ of alfred are the same; on the contrary, alfred's _liber judicialis_ seems to have been known not under the name of _dombec_, but under that of the _winchester roll_, from the circumstance of its having been principally kept at winchester: and sir henry spelman says, the domesday book of william the conqueror was sometimes called _rotulus wintoniæ, a similitudine antiquoris_, from its resemblance to an older document preserved at winchester. and he quotes ingulphus abbot of croyland, who says, "iste rotulus (i.e. the domesday book of william) vocatus est rotulus wintoniæ, et ab anglicis pro sua generalitate, omnia tenementa totius terræ integre continente _domesday_ cognominatur." and the he proceeds, "talem rotulum et multum similem; ediderat quondam rex alfredus, in quo totam terram angliæ per comitatus, centurias, et decurias descripserat, sicut prænotatur. qui quidem rotulus wintoniæ vocatus est, quia deponebatur apud wintoniam conservandus," &c. here is nothing said of this work being called [old english: dom bec]: neither does spelman, in his enumeration of the works of alfred, give the least intimation that any one of his collections of laws was called [old english: dom bec]. we know, indeed, that alfred compiled a code of laws for his subjects; but whether any part of them has been preserved, or how much of them is embodied in subsequent codes, cannot now be determined. asser mentions that he frequently reprimanded the judges for wrong judgments; and spelman, that he wrote "a book against unjust magistrates," but any complete body of laws, if such was ever framed by alfred, is now lost; and that attributed to him in wilkin's _leges anglo-saxon_, is held in suspicion by most writers. for these reasons, and considering that sir william blackstone's knowledge of english history was rather superficial, i incline to the belief, that the [old english: dom bec] referred to in the laws of edward the elder, was some collection of laws made _prior_ to the time of alfred: this might clearly be the case, as sharon turner informs us that the saxon laws were committed to writing as early as the commencement of the th century. the opinions of your learned correspondents on this disputed point may be of much interest to many of your readers, and to none more than to george munford. east winch. * * * * *{ } minor queries. _mss. of the wycliffite translations of the scriptures_.--the add. ms. , ., in the british museum, contains a copy of lewis's edition of the _wycliffite new testament_, printed in , with manuscript notes by ames and lewis, and the former has transcribed into it some _additional prologues_, prefixed to each book of the new testament, which had not been printed by lewis, and were taken by ames from a ms. of the new testament, written in , and in in the possession of thomas granger. it would be very desirable to learn what became of this ms. subsequently. granger died in the following year, but the ms. does not appear in the sale catalogue of his library, nor is it found in the catalogue of ames's own library, dispersed in . any information relative to this remarkable copy of the new testament, would be very acceptable to the editors of the _wycliffite versions of the scriptures_, who are now, after a literary labour of more than twenty years, about to bring the work to a conclusion. they would also feel much obliged by the communication of any notices of mss. of the wycliffite versions, _existing in private hands_, exclusive of those copies of which they already possess descriptions, existing in the libraries of the following individuals:--mrs. allanson of farn, flintshire, the earl of ashburnham, sir thomas phillipps, bart., sir peregrine ackland, bart., sir david dundas, h.m. judge advocate, dr. cardwell, principal of st. alban's hall, oxford, and thomas bannister, esq. f. madden. british museum, march . _why are gloves not worn before royalty?_--can any of your readers inform me what is the origin of the custom observed at court, of persons in the royal presence not wearing gloves? is it a matter of pure etiquette, or does the observance of it derive its origins from barbarous times, when chivalry was little else than barbarism in armour? f.e. _law courts at st. albans_.--can any of your correspondents give me the reference to a communication in the _gentleman's magazine_ (between, i think, the years and ), in which a passage in massinger, which alludes to lawyers going to st. albans, is illustrated by an inscription in the nave of st. alban's abbey church, which records that the courts were held there on account of the sweating-sickness in the reign of elizabeth? [greek: sigma.] _richard haley, or hales.--milton pedigree_.--i should feel obliged by any particulars respecting richard haley, or hales, of idlestreete, otherwise ilstreyd, in com. hertford, yeoman; my object being to ascertain the nature of some transaction he had with milton, in july , referred to in a bond which the former executed, dated the th of that month, for performance of the covenants contained in an indenture of even date. is any thing known of richard milton, who signs his name as the attesting witness to the releases given by two of the poet's daughters for their share of his estate? is there any pedigree of the family of sir christopher milton, the poet's brother, drawn up with sufficient apparent accuracy to exclude the probability of richard milton being his son? i have referred to the pedigree in the british museum (harl. ms. . fo. b.), which makes no mention of the letter; but it is evidently so imperfect a notice, as to be of little authority one way or other. j.f.m. _sapcote motto_.--over the old gatehouse of elton, co. hunts., built by the family of sapcote, is their coat of arms, namely, "three dove-cotes;" and upon a scroll, surrounding the lower part of the shield, is carved a motto, evidently french, and as evidently cut by a person ignorant of that language. so far as i can decypher it, the letters appear to be sco toot x vinic [or umic] x poncs. possibly the first and last letters _s_ are only flourishes. i shall be glad of any suggestion as to its meaning. i have not been able to find the sapcote motto on record; and i believe the carysfoot family, the possessors of elton, and the duke of bedford, the heir in blood, to be ignorant of what this scroll is intended to represent. erminois. athenæum club. _scala coeli_.--in a will, dated hen. viii., the testator directs that there shall be four trentals of saint gregory said for his soul at london at "scala coeli." can any of your readers explain what place is meant by "scala coeli?" a subscriber. _illustrations of gresset's "vert vert," painted on enamel, &c._--in a paris edition of gresset's works (janet et cotelle, ), in the preface is the following passage.-- "vert-vert fut bientôt dans toutes les mains. le suffrage de la multitude se joignit à celui des connoisseurs; la mode, qui est aussi en possession de donner son suffrage, s'empressa de parer les ajustemens d'invention récente, du nom de l'illustre perroquet; _les vases d'ornement, les vases usuels_ qui sortoient des fabriques françoises, retraçoient presque tous quelques épisodes du petit poëme. un artist dont le nom est venu jusqu'à nous, raux, en _peignit sur émail les sujets les plus marquants_; et tandis qu'on faisoit passer dans une version latine les vers élégants du poëte jésuite, m. bertin, ministre d'état, le gratifioit d'un magnifique _cabaret_ de sèvres, dont toutes les pièces reproduisoient les aventures de son héros, ce qui fit dire à gresset, _qu'on le traduisoit aussi en porcelaine de sèvres_." { } the _query_ i wish to make is, have any of these illustrations or designs from gresset's poem of vert-vert, painted on enamel china, or earthenware of any sort, of french or any other manufacture, come to light of late years? or more lately still, among the articles that have been dispersed among various buyers of almost all nations, in the sales within these few weeks effected at paris? robert snow. _urbanus regius_.--a friend of mine, a delightful old lady, fresh, genial, and inquisitive, has in her possession an old volume, a family heir-loom, which is not the less dear to her for being somewhat dingy and dilapidated, and touching which she would gladly receive such information as your correspondents can supply. it is made up of three apparently distinct treatises; the first (of which several leaves are wanting) on the twelve articles of the apostles' creed. the second is "the ryght foundation, and pryncypall common places of the hole godly scripture," &c., by doctor urbanus regius. prefixed is an epistle to thomas, archbishop of canterbury (evidently cranmer), to whom "hys dayly oratoure, gwalter lynne (the writer of the epistle), wyssheth lyfe euerlastynge." between this second treatise and the third, and apparently belonging to the latter, is a title-page with the following inscription: "imprinted for gwalter lynne, dwelling upon somers kaye, by byllinges gate. in the yeare of oure lorde. mdxlviii. and they by [_sic_] to be solde at poules church yarde at the north doore, in the signe of the by-bell, by richard jugge." this last treatise is in smaller type than the others, and has no general designation: it contains chapters on various subjects, e.g. "the signification of baptism," &c. query . is this volume well known? . who were urbanus regius and walter lynne? g.p. march . . * * * * * replies. the arabic numerals and cipher. i might, with a little more consideration, have referred "e.v." to several other authorities which he will do well to consult. . wallis's _algebra_, p. . and p. . of the additions. . _phil. trans._, nos. . and . . montucla, _histoire des mathématiques_, tom. i. chap. . . baillie, _histoire de l'astronomie_. . delambre[ ], _hist. de l'astr. du moyen age_. . hutton's _tracts_ ( vo. ed. .), vol. ii. (subject "history of algebra") . huet, _demonstratio evangelica_. . dr. john taylor's translation of the _lilawati_. (bombay, .) . strachey's translation of the _bija ganita_[ ]. . colebrooke's _algebra of the hindus_. would it not be worth while to give a _facsimile_ of the "tabel for all manere of merchauntes," in the "notes and queries"? it is not only a curiosity, but an important element (and unique as far as is known) in the philosophic history of our arithmetic. it was, no doubt, an actual instrument in constant use in the merchant's office, as much so as an almanac, interest-tables, a "cambist" and a copying-press, are now. as regards the cipher, the difficulty only commenced with _writing numbers_ in the new symbology. with persons accustomed to the use of this instrument, there is no doubt that the mode of obviating the difficulty of "keeping the place," would suggest itself at once. in this instrument an empty hole (without its peg) _signified_ "none of this denomination." what then more simple than to make the outline of the empty hole which occupied the "local position" of any denomination, when none of that precise denomination occurred in the number itself? under this view the process at least becomes simple and natural; and as the early merchants contributed so largely to the improvement of our arithmetical processes, such a conclusion is wholly divested of improbability on any other ground. the circle would then naturally become, as it certainly has practically become, the most appropriate symbol of _nothingness_. as regards the term _cipher_ or _zero_ (which are so obviously the same as to need no remark), it is admitted on all hands to be derived from one or other of the semitic languages, the hebrew or the arabic. it is customery with the mathematical historians to refer it to the arabic, they being in general more conversant with it than with the hebrew. the arabic being a smaller hand than the hebrew, a dot was used instead of the circle for marking the "place" at which the hiatus of any "denomination" occurred. if we obtained our cipher from this, it would be made hollow (a mere _ceinture_, girdle, or ring) to save the trouble of making a dot sufficiently large to correspond in magnitude with our other numerals as we write them. either is alike possible--probability must be sought, for either over the other, from a slightly different source. the root-words in hebrew and in arabic are precisely the same (_ts-ph-r_), though in the two { } languages, and at different ages of the same language, they might have been vowelised differently. in some shape or other, this name is used in all countries that have derived their arithmetic from mediæval italy, or from the saracens. it is with some _cipher_, with others _chiffre_, and with all _zero_. the word is certainly no more italian than it is french or english. be it remembered, too, that _ezor_ (quoted at p. .), as a _girdle_, is radically the same word, somewhat mutilated. the cardinal meaning of the word (denuded of the conventional accretions of signification, which peculiar applications of it adds to the cardinal meaning) appears to be _emptiness_, _hollowness_, _nothingness_. it may be further remarked, that in the fine chartres ms. of boetius, described by chasles, the is called _sipos_:--the same name, he remarks, that graves found in use in the east. the modern turks call the , _tsifra_. it is curious enough that in all languages, the term _ciphering_ is popularly used to denote all arithmetical operations whatever. our schoolboys do their "ciphering," and write carefully in their "ciphering-books." this all seems to point to the art of dispensing with the use of the abacus or counting table. t.s.d. shooter's hill, march . [ ] the best account, because the most consistent and intelligible, of the greek arithmetic, is that by delambre, affixed to peyraud's edition of archimedes. [ ] at a period of leisure i may be tempted to send you a few extracts, somewhat curious, from some of the papers of mr. strachey in my possession. _arabic numerals_.--i had replied to "e.v." (no. . p. .), when i saw by your "notice to correspondents," that the question was answered. i therefore waited the publication of the replies, which i find do not embrace any one of the points to which i would call the attention of "e.v."--diophantus of alexandria, who flourished about years after christ, and who wrote thirteen books of algebra or arithmetic in the greek language, is generally supposed to be the oldest writer on the subject that has come down to our time; but it was not from him that we received the knowledge of algebra in europe. it appears certain that the first knowledge of this science in england was from italy or spain, after the moors settled in the latter country; and the arabians and persians appear to have derived their arithmetical method of computing by ten characters from the indians: who, in their turn, have most probably borrowed from the chinese, and improved on their method by the adoption of a zero, which was one of the most important improvements effected by the hindoos. in china, the words ancient and modern are almost synonymous; their usages and customs being so unchangeable, as appears by their instrument of computation, the _swanpan_, which is still used in all their calculations. the oriental scholar will find much curious and interesting information connected with this subject in the sanscrit _vija ganita_ and _lilivati_ of bhaskara acharya: the former was translated into persian at agra, or delhi, in , and the latter by fyzee in ; but there are also english translations, all of which are in the library of the royal asiatic society. the _khalasah-ul-hisah_ is another work of repute in india. mr. strachey wrote and printed in india, for the _asiatic researches_, a valuable paper, which contains most conclusive evidence of the indian (if not chinese) origin of our numerals. see also _astronomie indienne_, of m. bailly; d vol. _asiatic researches_, "on the astronomical computations of the hindoos," by saml. davis; "two dissertations on indian astronomy and trigonometry," by professor playfair, in the d and th vols. of the _edinburgh philosophical transactions_. and many others might be referred to; but all tending to prove that our numbers came originally from china and india, through persia, arabia, africa, spain, and italy, by gradual and successive changes in form, several of them still retaining a close resemblance to the ancient and modern sanscrit, chinese, arabic, persian, and hindoo numerals. henry wilkinson. * * * * * replies to minor queries. i send you a few notes on queries scattered through some of the later numbers of your very valuable publication: _anonymous ravennas_.--in the library of the royal geographical society, i believe there is a copy of an vo. edition of that cosmography. _selago_.--this plant, i should think it probable, is the _lycopodium clavatum_ of modern botanists; the seeds of which, when ripe, and when the plant is struck, rise like smoke ("fumum" of pliny), and may have been supposed, from their remarkable inflammability when dashed into a flame, igniting with a sudden flash, to have possessed wonderful virtues. the species known as _lycopodium selago_ is rare in comparison to the other. _portugal_.--in the library of the geographical society are some of the more recent works published in lisbon on the topography of that country, but they are generally very meagre and unsatisfactory. in a periodical published in lisbon in numbers, on the plan of the _penny magazine_, there is a good deal of information, with engravings, regarding many places of interest in portugal. i think it is called _the album_, but i am sorry i have not at present the power of sending you more correct particulars concerning it. it is in to. portugal is a country that is so little travelled in either by natives or foreigners, that information regarding places in the interior is not easily obtained; and facilities for travelling, as well as accommodation for travellers, is of a very limited description. _sir roger de coverley_.--in one of your early numbers was a query on this subject, which i do not think has been yet answered. i have a ms. { } account of the family of calverley, of calverley, in yorkshire, an autograph of ralph thoresby in the year , in which occurs the following passage:-- "_roger_, so named from the archbishop" (of york), "was a person of renowned hospitality, since, at this day, the obsolete known tune of _roger a calverley_ is referred to him, who, according to the custom of those times, kept his _minstrells_, from that their office named _harpers_, which became a family and possessed lands till late years in and about _calverley_, called to this day _harpersroids_ and _harper's spring_.... he was a knight, and lived in the time of k. richard st. his seal, appended to one of his charters, is large, with a chevalier on horseback." w. calverley trevelyan. * * * * * derivations of "news." it is not declared with what motive "mr. gutch" (no. . p. .) has laid before the readers of "notes and queries" the alleged derivation of n.e.w.s. it must therefore be supposed, that his object was to have its justness and probability commented upon; and it is quite time that they should be so, since the derivation in question has of late become quite a favourite authoritative dictum with etymology compilers. thus it may be found, in the very words and form adopted by your correspondent, in haydn's _dictionary of dates_, and in other authorities of equal weight. this sort of initial-letter derivation was probably brought into fashion in england by the alleged origin of "cabal," or, perhaps, by the many guesses at the much disputed word "Æra." i shall take the liberty of quoting a few sentences with reference to such etymologies, _as a class_, which i find in an unpublished manuscript upon a kindred subject. "besides, such a splitting up of a word of significant and perfect meaning in itself is always a bad and suspicious mode of derivation. "it is generally an after-thought, suggested by some fortuitous or fancied coincidence, that appropriateness of which is by no means a sufficient proof of probability. "of this there can scarcely be a better example than the english word 'news,' which, notwithstanding the felicity of its supposed derivation from the four cardinal points, must, nevertheless, so long as the corresponding words 'nova,' 'nouvelles,' &c. exist, be consigned to its more sober and common-place origin in the adjective '_new_.'" to this it must be added that the ancient orthography of the word _newes_, completely upsets the derivation mr. gutch has brought before your readers. hone quotes from "one burton, printed in : 'if any one read now-a-days, it is a play-book, or _a pamphlet_ of _newes_." i had been in two minds whether or not to send this communication, when the scale is completely turned by the apropos occurrence of a corroboration of this latter objection in "notes and queries" of this day. mr. rimbault mentions (at p. .), "a rare black letter volume entitled _newes from scotland_, ." here is one more proof of the usefulness of your publication, that i am thus enabled to strengthen the illustration of a totally different subject by the incidental authority of a fellow correspondent. a.e.b. leeds, march, . * * * * * replies to minor queries. _swot_ is, as the querist supposes, a military cant term, and a sufficiently vulgar one too. it originated at the great slang-manufactory for the army, the royal military college, sandhurst. you may depend upon the following account of it, which i had many years ago from the late thomas leybourne, f.r.s., senior professor of mathematics in that college. one of the professors, dr. william wallace, in addition to his being a scotchman, had a bald head, and an exceedingly "broad scotch" accent, besides a not very delicate discrimination in the choice of his english terms relating to social life. it happened on one hot summer's day, nearly half a century ago, that he had been teaching a class, and had worked himself into a considerable effusion from the skin. he took out his handkerchief, rubbed his head and forehead violently, and exclaimed in his perthshire dialect,--"_it maks one swot_." this was a god-send to the "gentlemen cadets," wishing to achieve a notoriety as wits and slangsters; and mathematics generally ever after became _swot_, and mathematicians _swots_. i have often heard it said:--"i never could do _swot_ well, sir;" and "these dull fellows, the _swots_, can talk of nothing but triangles and equations." i should have thought that the _sheer disgustingness_ of the idea would have shut the word out of the vocabularies of english _gentlemen_. it remains nevertheless a standard term in the vocabulary of an english soldier. it is well, at all events, that future ages should know its etymology. t.s.d. _pokership_, (_antè_, pp. . . . . , .)--i am sorry to see that no progress has yet been made towards a satisfactory explanation of this office. i was in hopes that something better than mere conjecture would have been supplied from the peculiar facilities of "t.r.f." "w.h.c." (p. .) has done little more than refer to the same instruments as had been already adverted to by me in p. ., with the new reading { } of _poulterer_ for poker! with repect to "t.r.f.'s" conjecture, i should be more ready to accept it if he could produce a single example of the word _pawker_, in the sense of a hog-warden. the quotation from the pipe-roll of john is founded on a mistake. the entry occurs in other previous rolls, and is there clearly explained to refer to the _porter of hereford castle_. thus, in pipe hen. ii. and hen. ii. we have, under hereford, "in liberatione portarii castelli ... s. d." in pipe ric. i. we have, "in liberatione constitutâ portarii de hereford, s. d." again, in pipe joh. "in liberatione constitutâ portario de hereford, s. d." a similar entry is to be found in other rolls, as well printed as inedited. i could indulge some other criticisms on the communication of your correspondent in spring gardens, but i prefer encouraging him to make further inquiries, and to produce from the records in his custody some more satisfactory solution of the difficulty. in the meantime, let me refer to a survey of wrigmore castle in the lansdowne collection, no. . fo. . the surveyor there reports, that the paling, rails, &c. of the park are much decayed in many and sundry places, and he estimates the repairs, with allowance of timber from the wood there, "by good surveye and oversight of the _poker_ and other officers of the said parke," at l. the date of the survey is may, . comparing this notice of the office with the receiver's accounts tempore hen. vii. and hen. viii. (_antè_, p. .), in which the officer is called "pocarius omnium boscorum," i cannot doubt that his duty, or at least one of his duties, was that of woodward, and that, as such, he assigned timber for repair of the premises. how he came by his local title and style of poker is a mystery on which we have all hitherto failed to throw any light. e.s. _vox populi vox dei_,--about the origin of which saying "quÆsitor" asks (no. . p. .),--were the words chosen by the archbishop of canterbury, simon mepham, as his text for the sermon which he preached when edward iii. was called to the throne, from which the nation had pulled down his father, edward ii. this we learn from walsingham, who says: "archiepiscopus verò cantuariæ præsenti consensit electioni, ut omnes prælati et archiepiscopus quidem assumpto themate, _vox populi vox dei_, sermonem fecit populo, exhortans omnes ut apud regem regum intercederent pro electo."--tho. walsingham, _hist. angl._ ed. camden, p. . daniel rock. _a living dog better than a dead lion_.--i no not know whether your correspondent (no. . p. .) ever goes to church; but if he is not prevented by rain next st. swithin's day, he will learn who was the author of this proverb. it will be a good thing, if your work should sometimes lead your readers to search the scriptures, and give them credit for wisdom that has flowed from them so long, and far, and wide, that its source is forgotten; but this is not the place for a sermon, and i now only add, "here endeth the first lesson" from ecclesiastes. ["j.e.," "d.d.," and other correspondents, have also replied to this query by references to eccl. ix. .] _curious monumental brass_ (no. . p. .)--if "rahere" will turn to mr. boutell's _monumental brasses and slabs_, p. ., he will there find a description as well as an engraving of what, from his account, i doubt not he will discover to be the identical fragment to which he refers. a foot legend, and what remains of a border inscription, is added to it. in the above work, pp. to , and in the oxford architectural society's _manual for the study of brasses_, p. ., "rahere" will find an account and references to numerous examples of palimpsest brasses, to which class the one in question belongs. i presume that "rahere" is a young brass-rubber, or the fact of a plate being engraved on both sides would have presented no difficulty to him. arun. [we have received several other replies to this query, referring to mr. boutell's _monumental brasses_: one from "w."; another from "a cornishman," who says,-- "the brass in question, when i saw it last, had been removed from the rectory and placed in the tomb of abbot wheathampstead, in company with the famous one of thomas delamere, another abbot of st. albans." another from "e.v.," who states,-- "other examples are found at st. margaret's, rochester (where the cause of the second engraving is found to be an error in costume in the first), st. martins at plain, norwich, hedgerly church, bucks, and burwell church, cambridgeshire. of this last, an engraving and description, by mr. a.w. franks, is given in the fourteenth part of the publications of the cambridge antiquarian society." one from "william sparrow simpson," who says,-- "it is also described in the oxford architectural society's _manual of mon. brasses_, no. . pp. , . other examples of which occur at rochester, kent, and at cobham, surrey. a small plate of brass, in the possession of a friend, has on one side a group of children, and on the reverse the uplifted hands of an earlier figure." and lastly, one from "a.p.h." (to which we cannot do ample justice, as we do not keep an engraver), from which we extract the following passages:-- "a friend of mine has a shield in his possession, taken from a slab, and which has been enamelled. it is of late date and rudely executed. on the back is { } seen the hands and breast of a small female figure, very nearly a century earlier in date. i can also remember an inscription in cuxton church, kent, which was loose, and had another inscription on the back in the same manner. "i am very much impressed with the idea that the destroyed brasses never had been used at all; but had been engraved, and then, from circumstances that of course we cannot hope to fathom, thrown on one side till the metal might be used for some other purpose. this, i think, is a more probable, as well as a more charitable explanation than the one usually given of the so-called palimpsest brasses."] _chapels_ (no. . p. .).--as to the origin of the name, will you allow me to refer mr. gatty to ducange's _glossary_, where he will find much that is to his purpose. as to its being "a legal description," i will not undertake to give an opinion without a fee; but i will mention a fact which may assist him in forming one. i believe that fifty years ago the word _chapel_ was very seldom used among those who formed what was termed the "dissenting interest;" that is, the three "denominations" of independents, baptists, and presbyterians. but i well recollect hearing, from good authority, nearly, or quite, forty years ago, that an eminent barrister (whom i might now describe as a late learned judge), who was much looked up to by the dissenters as one of their body, had particularly advised that in all trust-deeds relating to places of dissenting worship, they should be called "chapels." i do not know that he assigned any reason, but i know that the opinion was given, or communicated, to those who had influence; and, from my own observation, i believe that from about that time we must date the adoption of the term, which has now been long in general use. i do not imagine that there was any idea of either assistance or opposition to the church of england, in the mind of him who recommended, or those who adopted, the alteration, or that either of them expected or sought any thing by this measure but to obtain a greater security for property, or, rather, to avoid some real or imagined insecurity, found or supposed to attach to the form of description previously in use. a barrister. _forlot, forthlot_ (no. . p. .).--a measure of grain used throughout scotland at present--query _fourthlot_. see jamieson's _etymological dictionary of the scottish language_. "_firlot; fyrlot; furlet_.--a corn measure in s., the fourth part of a boll. "thay ordainit the boll to mat victual with, to be devidit in foure partis, _videlicet_, foure _fyrlottis_ to contene a boll; and that _fyrlot_ not to be maid efter the first mesoure, na efter the mesoure now usit, bot in middill mesoure betwixt the twa."--_acts jac._ l. . c. . edit. . "--ane furme, ane furlet, ane pott, ane pek." bannatyne _poems_, p. . skinner derives it from a.-s. _feower_, quatuor; and _lot_, _hlot_, portio (the fourth part); teut. "_viertel_." j.s. _loscop_ (no. . p. ).--to be "louecope-free" is one of the immunities granted to the cinque ports in their charters of liberties. jeakes explains the term thus:-- "the saxon word cope (in low dutch still kope or koope), for trade or merchandising, makes this as much as to trade freely for love. so that by no kind of monopoly patent, or company or society of traders or merchants, the portsmen be hindered from merchandising; but freely and for love, be permitted to trade and traffick, even by such company of merchants, whenever it shall happen their concerns lie together." in my mss., and in the print of jeakes, it is "louecope," with which "lofcope" may be readily identified; and _f_ may easily be misread for _s_, especially if the roll be obscured. if jeakes's etymology of the word be correct, the inference would rather be that "lovecope" was a tax for the goodwill of the port at which a merchant vessel might arrive; a "port duty" in fact, independent of "lastage" &c., chargeable upon every trader that entered the port, whatever her cargo might be. and the immunities granted to the portsmen were that they should be "port duty free." i do not venture to offer this as any thing more than a mere guess. among your contributors there are many more learned than myself in this branch of antiquarian lore, who will probably be able to give a more correct interpretation, and we shall feel obliged for any assistance that they can give us in elucidating the question. "lovecope" might perhaps be the designation of the association of merchants itself, to which jeakes alludes; and the liberty of forming such association, with powers of imposing port duties, may have been dependent on special grant to any port by royal charter, such as that which forms the subject of your correspondent's communication. after all, perhaps, "lovecope" was the word for an association of merchants; and "louecope-free" is to be freed from privileged taxation by this body. l.b.l. _smelling of the lamp_ (no. . p. .).--"x." will find the expression [greek: illuchnion ozein] attributed to pytheas by plutarch (_vit. demosth._, c. .). j.e.b. mayor. _anglo-saxon ms. of orosius_ (no. . p. .).--it may gratify mr. singer to be informed that the lauderdale ms., formerly in the library at ham house, is now preserved, with several other { } valuable manuscripts and books, in the library at helmingham hall, suffolk, the seat of the tollemache family. m. _golden frog_.--ingenious as is the suggestion of "r.r." (no. . p. .), that sir john poley stuck a golden frog in his ear from his affection for _tadpoles_, i think "r.r.'s" "rowley poley" may be dismissed with the "_gammon_ and spinach" of the amorous frog to which he alludes. conceiving that the origin of so singular a badge could hardly fail to be commemorated by some tradition in the family, i have made inquiry of one of sir john poley's descendants, and i regret to hear from him that "they have no authentic tradition respecting it, but that they have always believed that it had some connection with the service sir john rendered in the low countries, where he distinguished himself much by his military achievements." to the low countries, then, the land of frogs, we must turn for the solution of the enigma. gastras. cambridge, march . _sword of charles i._--mr. planché inquires (no. . p. .), "when did the real sword of charles the first's time, which, but a few years back, hung at the side of that monarch's equestrian figure at charing cross, disappear?"--it disappeared about the time of the coronation of her present majesty, when some scaffolding was erected about the statue, which afforded great facilities for removing the rapier (for such it was); and i always understood it found its way, by some means or other, to the museum, so called, of the notoriously frolicsome captain d----, where, in company with the wand of the great wizard of the north, and other well-known articles, it was carefully labelled and numbered, and a little account appended of the circumstances of its acquisition and removal. john street. [surely then burke was right, and the "age of chivalry is past!"--otherwise the idea of _disarming a statue_ would never have entered the head of any man of arms, even in his most frolicsome of moods.] _john bull_.--_vertue mss._--i always fancied that the familiar name for our countrymen, about the origin of which "r.f.h." inquires (no. . p. .), was adopted from swift's _history of john bull_, first printed in ; but i have no authority for saying so. if the vertue mss. alluded to (no. . p. .) were ever returned by mr. steevens to dr. rawlinson, they may be in the bodleian library, to which the doctor left all his collections, including a large mass of papers purchased by him long after pepys' death, as he described it, "thus et odores vendentibus." these "_pepys_ papers," as far as i can recollect, were very voluminous, and relating to all sorts of subjects; but i saw them in , and had only then time to examine and extract for publication portions of the correspondence. braybrooke. audley end, march . _vertue's manuscripts_.--the ms. quoted under this title by malone is printed entire, or rather all of it which refers to plays, by mr. peter cunningham, in the _papers of the shakspeare society_, vol. ii. p. ., from an interleaved copy of langbaine. since the publication of that paper, the entries relating to shakspeare's plays have been given from the original ms. in the bodleian library, in halliwell's _life of shakspeare_, p. . s.l. _vertue's mss_. (no. . p. .) were in horace walpole's possession, bought by him, i think, of vertue's widow; and his _anecdotes of painting_ were chiefly composed from them, as he states, with great modesty, in his dedication and his preface. i do not see in the strawberry-hill catalogue any notice of "vertue's mss.," though some vols. of his collection of engravings were sold. c. _lines attributed to tom brown_.--in a book entitled _liber facetiarum, being a collection of curious and interesting anecdotes_, published at newcastle-upon-tyne, by d. akenhead & sons, , the passage attributed to tom brown by your correspondent "j.t." is given to zacharias boyd. the only reference given as authority for the account is the initials h.b. "zacharias boyd, whose bust is to be seen over the entrance to the royal college in glasgow, while professor in that university, translated the old and new testament into scotch metre; and, from a laudable zeal to disseminate religious knowledge among the lower classes of the community, is said to have left a very considerable sum to defray the expense of the said work, which, however, his executors never printed." after a few specimens, the account goes on "but the highest flight of his muse appears in the following _beautiful alexandrine_: "and was not pharaoh a saucy rascal? that would not let the children of israel, their wives and their little ones, their flocks and their herds, go out into the wilderness forty days to eat the pascal. "h.b." speaking of zachariah boyd, granger says, (vol. ii. p. .): "his translation of the scripture in such uncouth verse as to amount to burlesque, has been often quoted, and the just fame of a benefactor to learning has been obscured by that cloud of miserable rhymes. candour will smile at the foible, but applaud the man. "macure, in his account of glasgow, p. ., informs us he lived in the reign of charles i." h.i. sheffield, march . . { } _passage in frith's works_ (no. . p. ).--this passage should be read, as i suppose, "ab inferiori ad suum superius confuse distribui." it means that there would be confusion, if what is said distributively or universally of the lower, should be applied distributively or universally to the higher; or, in other words, if what is said universally of a species, should be applied universally to the genus that contains that and other species: e.g., properties that are universally found in the human species will not be found universally in the genus mammalis, and universal properties of mammalia wil not be universal over the animal kingdom. t.j. _martins, the louvain printer_.--your correspondent "w." (no. . p. .) is informed, that in falkenstein's _geschichte der buchdrucherkunst_ (leipzig, , p. .), theoderich martens, printer in louvain and antwerp, is twice mentioned. i have no doubt but this is the correct german form of the name. mertens, by which he was also known, may very possibly be the flemish form. his christian name was also written dierik, a short form of dietrich, which, in its turn, is the same as theodorich. northman. _master of the revels_.--"dr. rimbault" states (no. . p. .), that solomon dayrolle was appointed master of the revels in , but does not know the date of his decease. it may be unknown to dr. rimbault, that solomon dayrolle_s_ was an intimate friend and correspondent of the great lord chesterfield: the correspondence continues from to in the selection of chesterfield's letters to which i am referring. dayrolles, during all that period, held a diplomatic appointment from this country at the hague. see lord chesterfield's letter to him of the d feb. , where lord c. suggests that by being cautious he (dayrolles) may be put _en train d'être monsieur l'envoye_. in several of the letters chesterfield warmly and familiarly commends his hopeful son, mr. stanhope, to the care and attention of dayrolles. i have not been able to ascertain when dayrolles died, but the above may lead to the discovery. w.h. lammin. _french maxim_.--the french saying quoted by "r.v." is the rd of _les réflexions morales du duc de la rochefoucauld_ (pougin, paris, ). i feel great pleasure in being able to answer your correspondent's query, as i hope that my reply may be the means of introducing to his notice one of the most delightful authors that has ever yet written: one who deserves far more attention than he appears to receive from general readers in this degenerate age, and from whom many of his literary successors have borrowed some of their brightest thoughts. i need not go far for an illustration: "praise undeserved, is scandal in disguise," is merely a condensation of, "louer les princes des vertus qu'ils n'ont pas, c'est leur dire impunément des injures."--la rochefoucauld, max. . i believe that pope marks it as a _translation--a borrowed thought--not as a quotation_. he has just before used the words "your majesty;" and i think the word "_scandal_" is employed "_consulto_," and alludes to the offence known in english law as "scandalum magnatum." your correspondent will, of course, read the work in the original; in fact, he _must_ do so _per force_. a good translation of _les maximes_ is still a desideratum in english literature. i have not yet seen one that could lay claim even to the meagre title of mediocrity; although i have spared neither time nor pains in the search. should any of your readers have been more fortunate, i shall feel obliged by their referring me to it. melanion. _endeavour_.--i have just found the following instance of "endeavour" used as an active verb, in dryden's translation of maimbourg's _history of the league_, . "on the one side the majestique house of bourbon,... and on the other side, that of two eminent families which endeavour'd their own advancement by its destruction; the one is already debas'd to the lowest degree, and the other almost reduc'd to nothing."--p. . c. forbes. temple. * * * * * miscellanies. _epigram by la monnoye_.--it has been ingeniously said, that "life is an epigram, of which death is the point." alas for human nature! good points are rare; and no wonder, according to this wicked, but witty, epigram by la monnoye. the world of fools has such a store, that he who would not see an ass, must bide at home, and bolt his door, and break his looking glass. s.w.s. mickleham, dec. . . _spur money_.--two or three years since, a party of sappers and miners was stationed at peterborough, engaged in the trigonometrical survey, when the officer entered the cathedral with his spurs on, and was immediately beset by the choristers, who demanded money of him for treading the sacred floor with armed heels. does any one know the origin of this singular custom? i inquired of some of the dignitaries of the cathedral, but they were not aware even of its existence. the boys, however, have more tenacious memories, at least where their interest is concerned; but we must not look to them for the origin of a { } custom which appears to have long existed. in the _memorials of john ray_, published by the ray society, p. ., there is the following entry in his second itinerary:-- "july the th, , we began our journey northwards from cambridge, and that day, passing through huntingdon and stilton, we rode as far as peterborough twenty-five miles. there i first heard the cathedral service. the choristers made us pay money for coming into the choir with our spurs on." east winch. [the following note from _the book of the court_ will serve to illustrate the curious custom referred to by our correspondent: "in _the privy purse expenses of king henry viii._ edited by sir harris nicolas, there occur several entries of payments made to the choristers of windsor 'in rewarde for the king's spurs'; which the editor supposes to mean 'money paid to redeem the king's spurs, which had become the fee of the choristers at windsor, perhaps at installations, or at the annual celebration of st. george's feast.' no notice of the subject occurs in ashmole's or anstis's _history of the order of the garter_. mr. markland, quoting a note to gifford's edition of ben jonson, vol. ii. p. ., says, 'in the time of ben jonson, in consequence of the interruptions to divine service occasioned by the ringing of the spurs worn by persons walking and transacting business in cathedrals, and especially in st. paul's, a small fine was imposed on them, called "spur-money," the exaction of which was committed to the beadles and singing-boys.' this practice, and to which, probably, the items in henry's household-book bear reference, still obtains, or, at least, did till very lately, in the chapel royal and other choirs. our informant himself claimed the penalty, in westminster abbey, from dr. fisher, bishop of rochester, and received from him an eighteenpenny bank token as the fine. he likewise claimed the penalty from the king of hanover (then duke of cumberland), for entering the choir of the abbey in his spurs. but his royal highness, who had been installed there, excused himself with great readiness, pleading 'his right to wear his spurs in that church, inasmuch as it was the place where they were first put on him!'--see further, _european mag._, vol. iii. p. ."] * * * * * minimum de malis. (_from the latin of buchanan._) calenus owed a single pound, which yet with all my dunning i could never get. tired of fair words, whose falsehood i foresaw, i hied to aulus, learned in the law. he heard my story, bade me "never fear, there was no doubt--no case could be more clear:-- he'd do the needful in the proper place, and give his best attention to the case." and this he may have done--for it appears to have been his business for the last ten years, though on his pains ten times ten pounds bestow'd have not regain'd that one calenus owed. now, fearful lest this unproductive strife consume at once my fortune and my life, i take the only course i can pursue, and shun my debtor and my lawyer too. i've no more hope from promises or laws, and heartily renounce both debt and cause-- but if with either rogue i've more to do, i'll surely choose my debtor of the two; for though i credit not the lies he tells, at least he _gives_ me what the other _sells_. rufus. * * * * * _epigram on louis xiv._--i find the following epigram among some old papers. the emperor would be leopold i., the king louis xiv. _epigram by the emperor, , and the king of france._ bella fugis, sequeris bellas, pugnæque repugnas, et bellatori sunt tibi bella tori. imbelles imbellis amas, totusque videris mars ad opus veneris, martis ad arma venus. j.h.l. _macaulay's young levite._--i met, the other day with a rather curious confirmation of a passage in macaulay's _history of england_, which has been more assailed perhaps than any other. in his character of the clergy, macaulay says, they frequently married domestics and retainers of great houses--a statement which has grievously excited the wrath of mr. babington and other champions. in a little book, once very popular, first published in , with the title _microcosmographie, or a piece of the world discovered_, and which is known to have been written by john earle, after the restoration bishop of worcester and then of salisbury, is the following passage. it occurs in what the author calls a character of "a young raw preacher." "you shall know him by his narrow velvet cape and serge facing, and his ruffe, next his hire, the shortest thing about him.... his friends, and much painefulnesse, may preferre him to thirtie pounds a yeere, and this meanes, to a chamber-maide: with whom we leave him now in the bonds of wedlocke. next sunday you shall have him againe." the same little book contains many very curious and valuable illustrations of contemporary manners, especially in the universities. that the usage macaulay refers to was not uncommon, we find from a passage in the _woman-hater_, by beaumont and fletcher ( ), act iii. sc. . lazarillo says, "farewell ye courtly chaplains that be there! all good attend you! may you never more marry your patron's lady's waiting-woman!" i.t. trin. coll. camb., march . . { } _st. martin's lane_.--the first building leases of st. martin's lane and the adjacent courts accidentally came under my notice lately. they are dated in and , and were granted by the then earl of bedford. arun. * * * * * charles deering, m.d. "author of the catalogue of plants in the neighbourhood of nottingham. 'catalogus stirpium, &c., or a catalogue of plants naturally growing and commonly cultivated in divers parts of england, and especially about nottingham,' vo. nottingh. . "he was in the suite of the english ambassador to russia, returned and practised physic in london married unfortunately, buried his wife, and then went to nottingham, where he lived several years. during his abode there he wrote a small _treatise on the small pocks_, this _catalogue of plants_, and the _history of nottingham_, the materials for which john plumtre, esq. of nottingham, was so obliging as to assist him with. he also was paid l. by a london bookseller for adding , words to an english dictionary. he was master of seven languages, and in he was favoured with a commission in the nottinghamshire foot, raised at that time. soon after died, and was buried in st. peter's churchyard. "william ayscough, father of the printer of this _catalogus stirpium_ (g. ayscough), in , first introduced the art of printing at nottingham. "mr. white was the same year the first printer at newcastle-upon-tyne; and mr. dicey at northampton."--_ms. note in the copy of the cat. stirpium, in the library of the british museum_. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. our advertising columns already show some of the good results of the _exhibition of the works of ancient and mediæval art_. mr. williams announced last week his _historic reliques_, to be etched by himself. mr. cundall has issued proposals for _choice examples of art workmanship_; and, lastly, we hear that an _illustrated catalogue of the exhibition_, prepared by mr. franks, the zealous honorary secretary of the committee, and so arranged as to form a _history of art_, may be expected. we mention these for the purpose of inviting our friends to contribute to the several editors such information as they may think likely to increase the value of the respective works. the second edition of our able correspondent, mr. peter cunningham's _handbook of london_, is on the eve of publication. there are few of our readers but will be glad to learn from the announcement in a previous column, that the edition of the _wickliffite versions of the scriptures_, upon which sir frederick madden and his fellow labourers have been engaged for a period of twenty years, is just completed. it forms, we believe, three quarto volumes. messrs. puttick and simpson lately disposed of a most select and interesting collection of autograph letters. we unfortunately did not receive the catalogue in time to notice it, which we the more regret, because, like all their catalogues of autographs, it was drawn up with amateur-like intelligence and care; so as to make it worth preserving as a valuable record of materials for our history and biography. we have received the following catalogues of books:--no. xxv. of thomas cole's ( . great turnstile): no. . for , of william heath's ( ½ lincoln's inn fields); and no. . of bernard quarritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue of oriental and foreign books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) mills, rev. isaac, of highcleer--account of the life and conversation of, with a sermon, vo., . mykur hazem, by marcus, london, . poems by a bornnatural, . _odd volumes_. proceedings of the philological society. vol. i. richardson's correspondence, vol. i. of the six-volume ed. todd's johnson's dictionary, to., . (part x. containing title, preface, &c.) partington's british cyclopædia--that portion of natural history which follows vol. i. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. burning for treason.--can the correspondent who furnished us with a curious note upon this subject favour us with a copy of it, the original having been accidentally mislaid? we are again compelled, from want of space, to omit many curious and interesting articles; and, after this statement, must beg our kind friends at leeds, brompton, &c., who complain of delay in the insertion of their communications, to do us the favour to refer to the notice on this very subject which appeared in our early numbers. notes and queries may be procured by the trade at noon on friday: so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels. part v. is now ready. * * * * *{ } the quarterly review, no. clxxii. is published this day. contents: i. giacomo leopardi and his writings. ii. ranke's house of brandenburg. iii. queen's college, london. iv. grote's history of greece. v. urquhart's pillars of hercules. vi. facts in figures. vii. the dutiful son. viii. cunningham's handbook of london. ix. baxter's impressions of europe. x. lord lieutenant clarendon. xi. louis philippe. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * nearly ready. [illustration: choice examples of art workmanship selected from the exhibition of ancient and mediÆval art at the society of arts] a prospectus, containing a specimen of the illustrations, will be sent on receipt of two postage stamps. joseph cundall, . old bond street. * * * * * miller's catalogue of ancient and modern books.--number four is ready this day, and can be had gratis, and sent, if required, postage free. address, john miller, , chandos street, trafalgar square. this list embraces numerous valuable and interesting books on english poetry, the drama, history, biography, voyages and travels, &c., with the works of a few of the best continental writers, a selection of pictorial books of scenery, costume, topography, and drawing-room table books. also, on forwarding four postage stamps, john miller's catalogue of books for the past quarter may be had stitched in a wrapper, with a table of contents, showing at one glance the range of subjects embraced, amongst which may be enumerated the following, viz., america, angling, banking and currency, coins, dictionaries, drawing-books, games, sports, &c., heraldry, genealogy and family history, ireland, its history and literature, kent, its history and topography, law, music, its history and theory, painting and the fine arts, shakspeariana, and a variety of other branches of literature comprised in upwards of articles. john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * the anglo-saxon, for april, price s. d. or s. post-free, contains england and her colonies: county colonisation, with maps--english church music--christian architecture--london: a poem, essay ii.--the alfred medals: three sonnets, by martin f. tupper--anglo-saxon literature: the jubilee edition of king alfred's works, with specimens and translations--wives and mothers--anglo-saxon colonies: victoria, cooksland, port essington, (papua--timor)--original ballads. the anglo-saxon for forms a handsome volume, price one guinea. london: t. bosworth, . regent street. * * * * * published every saturday, price d., or stamped, d., also in monthly parts. part v. (for march), price s. d., now ready. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, &c. the attention of publishers and booksellers is particularly requested to this periodical as a medium for advertising. it contains communications from the most eminent literary men, and is circulated largely amongst the best class of book-buyers. in addition to the valuable matter which will be found in its columns, it contains notices of book sales, booksellers' catalogues, and lists of books wanted to purchase,--features which it is believed will be found valuable to dealers in old books, as well as useful to purchasers. scale of prices. £ s. d. six lines and under . . . . above six lines, per line . half a column . . . . . . . column . . . . . . . . . . page . . . . . . . . . . . ***advertisements must be sent by the wednesday previous to the saturday on which they are intended to appear; notes and queries being issued to the trade on friday afternoon. opinions of the press. "as good a first number as we remember to have seen. the editor exhibits a phalanx of eminent assistants. * * there can be no doubt of the value of a literary medium of this peculiar kind."--_athenæum_. "we like the plan much. * * we wish success to a publication which promises to be agreeable, intelligent, and useful."--_literary gazette_. "we feel great pleasure in welcoming into the literary world this publication, which promises to fill up a void that has constantly been lamented by every person engaged in any particular branch of study that required experience and research. * * it is a publication in which all literary persons must feel a deep interest, and that has our heartiest wishes for its success."--_morning herald_. "this is a new periodical, with a new idea, and one that deserves and will be sure to receive encouragement amongst scholars and readers really deserving that appellation. * * it is a capital idea; and every one who makes notes or has queries should buy it and contribute to it."--_weekly news_. "that valuable publication the notes and queries, so auspiciously commenced."--_new bell's messenger_. "with whomsoever the idea of publishing this useful and interesting periodical first originated, that person is entitled to the thanks of every author, antiquary, and scholar, in the united kingdom. * * we recommend, in all sincerity, the notes and queries to the attention of lovers of literature in general."--_morning post_. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, parts and , imperial quarto. price _s._ each, tinted s. reliques of ancient english architecture, from drawings by john johnson, architect, f.s.a., lithographed by alfred newman. contents, part :--hawton church; notts.--st. mary's, stamford--aldwinkle, all saints, northamptonshire-wellingborough church, northamptonshire. part --skelton church, from the south-east and south-west--rye house, herts.--holbeach church, lincolnshire. this work is intended to embrace a series of examples of ecclesiastical, collegiate, and domestic architecture. it will be completed in twenty monthly parts, price s. each, tinted s. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * preparing for immediate publication, in vols. small octavo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april , . * * * * * proofreaders. produced from page scans provided by internet library of early journals. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december . . [price threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- otloh, the scribe, by s.w. singe notes on cunningham's london, by e. rimbault wives of ecclesiastics tower royal ancient inscribed dish, by albert way barnacles, by w. b. maccabe dorne the bookseller rev. w. stephen's sermons roger de coverley minor notes:--omission of dei gratia--grace's card--florins--john hopkins the psalmist notes in answer to minor queries:--genealogy of european sovereigns--countess of pembroke's letter, drayton's poems, &c.--viz. the corruption of videlicot--authors of old plays--birthplace of coverdale--caraccioli queries:-- love, the king's fool mare de saham, &c. the advent bells the poets mr. poore's literary collections, &c., by s. britton the middle temple, by e. foss minor queries:--henry lord darnley--coffee the lacedaemonian black broth--letters of mrs. chiffinch--sangred--dowts of scripture--catsup--nation's ballads--to endeavour oneself--date of anonymous ravennas--battle of towton--a peal of bells--lines quotes by goethe--ms. sermons by jeremy taylor--papers of john wilkes--john ross mackay miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * what books did otloh write? sir,--in dr. maitland's able vindication of the _dark ages_ (p. . st ed.), he concludes his interesting extract from the scribe otloh's account of himself by saying:--"one would like to know what books they were which otlohnus thus multiplied; but this, perhaps, is now impossible." i have it accidentally in my power to identify two at least of the number; and if it was his universal practice to subscribe his name, as he does in these instances, a search into the principal repositories of mss. would, no doubt, give a large list. a valuable ms. volume in my possession has been thus described by a learned benedictine: "codex membranaceus constans foliis numerando; sæculis ix. desinente, x. et xi. incipiente, variis manibus scriptus, per partes qui in unum collectus, ex scriptis variis natidæ scripturæ carlovingicæ, varia continens: ° vita et passio, seu martirium s. dionisii; scripta fuit ab hilduino abbate coenobii s. dionisii in francia sub ludovico pio." it is said that hilduinus was the first writer who gave the marvellous story of the saint carrying his own head in his hand for nearly two miles after his decapitation. but he tells us that he abridged his narration _ex græcam et latinorum historiis_. ° revelatio facta s. stephano papæ de consecratione altaris ss. petri et pauli ante sepulchrum s. martirii dionisii quæ consecratio facta fuit v. kal. aug. . this part of the ms. is remarkable for containing in one place the date written in roman ciphers, thus--dccliiii. v. kl. aug.; a circumstance so rare in mss. of this age, as to have astonished the learned diplomatists papebroch and germon. ° historia s. simeonis trevirensis solitarii. of whom it is recorded that he lived _sub poppone episcopo trevirense, in quædam cellula ad portam nigram sitâ_. at fol. . an interesting account of the death of the saint is given by the author, who was present, and with the assistance of two other monks, piously performed his obsequies. it appears that the abbey of s. maximin was about paces from the cell of the saint at treves, and it is therefore most probable that the writer was a monk of the benedictine order then belonging to that foundation; but he puts his name out of doubt by the following couplet, inscribed at the end of the narrative:-- "presbiter et monachus otloh quidam vocitatus sancte tibi librum bonifacii tradidit istum." this dedication of his labours to s. boniface may only indicate his veneration for the national saint; but, as he tells us he worked a great deal in the monastery at fulda (of which s. boniface was the patron saint and founder), may not this have been one of his labours there? at a subsequent period, it appears, he revised and amplified wilibald's _life of boniface_. i must summarily indicate the other contents of this interesting ms., which are: . passio ss sebastiani et vincentii. . vita s. burchardi. . vita et passio s. kiliani (genere scoti). . vita s. sole. . vita s. ciri. . depositio s. satiri. . alphabetum græcum. . officio pro choro cum notis musicis, pro festo s. pancratii; sequitur ipsiis martiriis passio. . vita s. columbani [this is anonymous, but is attributed to his disciple jonas, and contains much valuable historical matter]. lastly, . vita s. wolfgangi, by the hand of our interesting scribe otloh, written at the instance of the benedictine coenobites of his monastery of s. emmeram, at ratisbon, where the saint was buried. this, as in the case of the _life of s. boniface_, is a _rifaccimento_; it was made from two older lives of s. wolfgang, as otloh himself tells us, one of them by a certain monk named arnolfus, the other having been brought out of france. he is here, therefore, more an author than a scribe; but he declares modestly that it was a task he would willingly avoid for the future. the passage of his preface is worth transcribing: "fratrum quorundam nostrorum hortatu sedulo infimus ego, o coenobitarum s. emmerammi compulsus sum s. wolfgangi vitam in libellulis duobus dissimili interdum, et impolita materie descriptam in unum colligere, et aliquantulum sublimiori modo corrigere.... multa etiam quæ in libro neutro inveniebantur, fidelium quorundam attestatione compertâ addere studui, sicque quædam addendo, quædam vero fastidiose vel inepte dicta excerpendo, pluraque etiam corrigendo, sed et capitularia præponendo. vobis o fratres mei exactoresque hujus rei prout ingenioli mei parvitas permisit obedivi. jam rogo cessate plus tale quid exigere a me." at the end of the life he has written:-- "presul wolfgange cunctis semper vererande hæc tua qui scripsi jam memor esto milii presbiter et monachus otloh quidam vocitatus sancte tibi librum bonifacii tradidit istum." we have here sufficient evidence that otloh was a worthy predecessor of the distinguished benedictines to whom the world of letters has been so deeply indebted in more recent times. dr. maitland's mention of the calligraphic labours of the nun diemudis, otloh's contemporary, is not a solitary instance: in all ages, the world has been indebted to the pious zeal of these recluse females for the multiplication of books of devotion and devout instruction. an instance, of so late a date as the eve of the invention of printing, now lies before me, in a thick volume, most beautifully written by fair hands that must have been long practised in the art. as the colophon at the end preserves the names of the ladies, and records that the parchment was charitably furnished by their spiritual father, i think it worth transcribing:-- "expliciunt, deo laus omnipotente, quinque libri de vita & conversatione sanctorvm patrvm scripti per manibus sororum aue trici et gheeze ysenoudi in festivus diebus suis consororibus dilectis in memoriam earum. finiti ano dni m° cccc° xlix° in festo decollationis sci johannis baptiste ante sumam missam. et habebant ad hoc pergamenum sibi ex caritate provisum de venerabi li presbitero dno nicolao wyt tunc temporis earundem patre spirituali & sibi ipsiis spiritualiter ac in dno sat reverenter dilectio. ex caritativo amore sitis propter deum memores eorum cum uno ave maria." i omitted to mention that massmann, in his _kleinen sprachdenkmale des viii. bis xii. jahrhunderts_, leipsig, , p. , says: "the benedictine priest otloh, of regensburg, left behind him a work, _de ammonicione clericorum et laicorum_, in which is twice given a latin prayer (cod. monacens. emmeram. f. cxiii. mbr. sæc. xi.), at fol. . _d_., as _oratio ejus qui et suprascripta et sequentia edidit dicta_, and at fol. . as _oratio cuidam peccatoris_." on fol. . _b_. is an old german version, first printed by pez (thes. i. .), corrected by graff. diutiska, . ., by massmann, at p. . otloh mentions in this prayer the destruction of his monastery of st. emmeram, which took place in . i have advisedly called him otloh, and not otlohnus. s. w. singer. mickleham, dec. . . * * * * * notes upon cunningham's handbook for london. no. . "_gerrard street, soho._ * * * at the turk's head, in gerrard street, johnson and sir joshua reynolds founded, in the year , 'the literary club.'" it would appear from the following extracts in my common-place book, that the _original_ turk's head, at which the literary club first held their meetings, was in _greek_ street, soho, not in gerrard street:-- "the literary club was first held at the turk's head in greek street, which tavern was almost half a century since removed to gerrard street, where it continued nearly as long as the house was kept open."--_european mag._ jan. . "the turk's head, in gerrard street, soho, was, more than fifty years since, removed from a tavern of the same sign the corner of greek and compton streets. this place was a kind of head-quarters for the loyal association during the rebellion of ."--moser's _memorandum book_, ms. dated . no. . _storey's gate, birdcage walk, st. james's park._--i have seen it stated, but do not recollect where, that "storey's" was a house of public entertainment. "webb's," mentioned in the following extracts, was also a place of a similar description:-- "april . .--about nine, this night, it began to lighten, thunder, and rain. the next morning, there was the greatest flood in st. james's park ever remembered. it came round about the fences, and up to the gravel walks--people could not walk to _webb's_ and _storie's_. "april , .--this afternoon nine or ten houses were burned or blown up, that looked into s. james's park, between _webb's_ and _storie's_."--_diary of phillip madox_, ms. formerly in the possession of thorpe the bookseller. no. . _capel court_.--so named from sir william capell, draper, lord mayor in , whose mansion stood on the site of the present stock exchange.--pennant's _common-place book_. no. . _bloomsbury market_.--this market, built by the duke of bedford, was opened in march, . query, was there a market on the site before?--_ibid_. no. . _bartlet's buildings_.--_mackeril's quaker coffee-house_, frequently mentioned at the beginning of the last century, was in these buildings.--_ibid_. no. . _st. olave's, crutched friars_.--names of various persons who have occupied houses in this parish: lady sydney, --lady walsingham, --lady essex, --lord lumley, --viscount sudbury, --philip lord herbert, --dr. gibbon, --sir r. ford, --lord brounker, --sir cloudesley shovel, --_extracts from the registers made by the rev. h. goodhall_, . edward f. rimbault. * * * * * wives of ecclesiastics. in reply to your correspondent's query as to the "wives of ecclesiastics," i find amongst my notes one to this effect:-- error, to assume in ancient genealogies that a branch is necessarily extinct, simply because the last known representative is described as "clericus," and _ergo_, must have died s.p.l. it will be obvious to many of your readers that clericus is _nomen generale_ for all such as were learned in the arts of reading and writing, and whom the old law deemed capable of claiming benefit of clergy,--a benefit not confined to those in orders, if the ordinary's deputy standing by could say "_legit ut clericus_." the title of clericus, then, in earlier times as now, belonged not only to those in the holy ministry of the church, and to whom more strictly applied the term clergy, either regular or secular, but to those as well who by their function or course of life practised their pens in any court or otherwise, as clerk of the king's wardrobe, clerks of the exchequer, &c. though in former times clerks of this description were frequently in holy orders and held benefices, it must be evident that they were not all so of necessity; and the instances are so numerous where persons having the title of "clericus" appear nevertheless to have been in the married state, and to have discharged functions incompatible with the service of the church, that the assertion will not be denied that the restrictions as to contracting matrimonial alliances did not extend to clerks not in holy orders or below the grade of _subdiaconus_. the _registrum brevium_ furnishes a precedent of a writ, "_de clerico infra sacros ordines constituto non eligendo in officium_." this distinction alone would prove that other clerks were not ineligible to office. the various decrees of the church may be cited to show that the prohibition to marry did not include all clerks generally. pope gregory vii., in a synod held in , "interdixit clericis, maxime divino ministerio consecratis uxores habere, vel cum mulicribus habitare, nisi quas nicena synodus vel alii canones exceperunt." the statutes made by anselm, archbishop of canterbury, thomas, archbishop elect of york, and all the other bishops of england, in , in presence of king henry i., and with the assent of his barons, confine the interdiction respecting marriages to _presbyteri, diaconi et subdiaconi_, and a provision is made by them for those cases where marriages had been contracted since the interdict at the council of london (that probably in ), viz. that such should be precluded thereafter from celebrating mass, if they persist in retaining their wives. "illi vero presbyteri, diaconi, subdiaconi, qui post interdictum londoniensis concilii foeminas suas tenuerunt vel alins duxcrunt, si amplius missam celebrare voluerint, eas a se omnino sic facient alienas, ut nec illae in domos eorum, nec ipsi in domos earum intrent.... illi autem presbyteri qui divini altaris et sacrorum ordinum contemptores praelegerint cum mulicribus habitare a divino officio remoti, omnique ecclesiastico beneficio privati, extra chorum ponantur, infames pronunciati. qui vero rebellis et contemptor foeminam non reliquerit, et missam celebrare presumpserit, vocatus ad satisfactionem si neglexerit, viiij. die excommunicetur. eadem sententia archidiaconos et cononicos omnes complectitur, et de mulieribus relinquendis et de vitanda carum conversatione, et de districtione censurae si statuta transgressi fuerint.... presbyteri vero qui relictis mulieribus, deo et sacris altaribus servire elegerint, xl. dies ab officio cessantes, pro se interim vicarios habebunt, injuncta eis poenitentia secundum hoc quod episcopis corum visum fuerit." in the penalty for priests marrying was deprivation of their benefices, and exclusion from the celebration of divine service:--"sanctorum patrum vestigiis inhaerentes, presbyteros, diaconos, subdiaconos uxoratos, aut concubinarios, ecclesiasticis officiis et beneficiis privamus, ac ne quis eorum missam audire praesumat apostolica auctoriate prohibemus." many such decrees have been made at various synods and councils holden for reformation of the clergy, but i can find none wherein marriage is interdicted to clerks generally. i will refer to one more only, viz. that made in the council of london, held at westminster in . here it will be seen most distinctly that the prohibition against entering the marriage state was confined expressly to _clerici in sacris ordinibus constituti_, and that is was not only lawful for clerks below the grade of subdeacon to marry, but that having subsequently once entered the marriage state and being subsequently desirous _ad religionem transire_, and to continue in the service of the church, they could not do so and be separated from their wives unless _de communi consensu_; if they continued, however, to live with their wives, they could not hold an ecclesiastical benefice: "si quis sacerdos vel clericus in sacris ordinibus constitutus, ecclesiam vel ecclesiasticum beneficium habens publice fornicarium habeat," &c.... "si qui vero infra subdiaconatum constituti matrimonia contraxerint, ab uxoribus sius nisi de communi consensu ad religionem transire voluerint, et ibi in dei servitio vigilanter permanere, nullatenus separentur: sed cum uxoribus viventes, ecclesiastica benficia nullo modo percipiant. qui autem in subdiaconatu, vel supra, ad matrimonia convolaverint, mulieres etiam invitas et renitentes relinquant." this it will be seen that the title "clericus" under some circumstances, affords no certain indication that a lawful marriage may not have been contracted by the person so described and consequently that he might not have _prolem legitimam_. w.h. it does not follow that william de bolton was an ecclesiastic because he was called clericus; that designation being, even in that early time, often used in a lay sense. i have just come across an instance of a prior date. in the liberate roll of henry iii. the king directs a payment to be made "to isabella, the wife of our beloved clerk, robert of canterbury, to purchase a robe for our use." even in the reign of richard i. it may be doubtful whether the term was not used with both meanings; for in the charter of walter mapes, granting certain lands, among the witnesses are "rogero, capellano, willelmo, capellano, thoma, _clerico meo_, waltero, clerico, jacobo, clerico, bricio, fermario meo." [symbol: phi] [in addition to the information afforded by the preceding communications "a subscriber" will find much curious illustration of this subject in beveridge's _discourses on the thirty-nine articles_, where he treats of the thirty-second article "on the marriage of priests." he must however consult the edition printed at the oxford university press in , which contains for the first time beveridge's _discourses on the last nine articles_.] * * * * * tower royal. sir,--in your second number i find a query by mr. cunningham, respecting the origin of the name of _tower royal_; although i cannot satisfactorily explain it, i enclose a few notes relative to the early history of that place, which may, perhaps, afford a clue to its derivation. in early records it is invariably called "la real," "la reole," "la riole," or "la ryal or ryole;" and it is described simply as a "tenement;" i have never found an instance of its being called a "tower". at the close of the reign of henry iii. it was held by one thomas bat, citizen of london, who demised it to master simon of beauvais, surgeon to edward i.; this grant was confirmed by that sovereign by charter in . (rot. cart. edw. i. m. .--placita de quo warranto, p. .) this simon of _beauvais_ figures in stow and pennant as simon de beawmes. in edward iii. granted "la real" to his consort philippa, for the term of her life, that is might be used as a depository for her wardrobe. (rot. pat. edw. iii. nd part, m. .) by queen philippa it was extensively repaired, if not rebuilt, and the particulars of the works executed there by her direction, may be seen in the wardrobe account of the sixth year of her reign, preserved in the cottonian ms. galba e iii. fo. , et seq.; this account is erroneously attributed in the catalogue to eleanor, consort of edward i. one maria de beauvais, probably a descendant of master simon, received compensation for quitting a tenement which she held at the time philippa's operations commenced. in edward iii. granted to robert de corby, in fee, "one tenement in the street of la ryole, london" to hold by the accustomed services. finally, in edward gave the "inn (hospitium) with its appurtenances called le reole, in the city of london," to the canons of st. stephen's, westminster, as of the yearly value of _l_. (rot. pat. edw. iii. m. .) it is sufficiently clear that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries this place was not called _tower royal_; nor does there appear to be any ground for supposing it was so named in earlier times, or, indeed, that it was ever occupied by royalty before it became philippa's wardrobe. the question, therefore is narrowed to this point:--what is the significance of "la real, reole, or riole?" i should be glad if any of your correspondents would give their opinions on the subject. i may add, that the building was in the parish of st. thomas apostle, not in that of st. michael pater noster church, as stow wrote. (rot. pat. edw. iii. nd part, m. .) t.h.t let me refer mr. p. cunningham to "stow's _survey_, p. . . thoms' edition," for a full answer to his query. the passages are too long to cite, but mr. c. will find sufficient proof of the part of a royal residence having once stood in this obscure lane, now almost demolished in the sweeping city improvements, which threaten in time to leave us hardly a fragment of the london of the old chronicler. the tower was also called the queen's wardrobe, and it was there, froissart tells us, that joan of kent, the mother of richard ii., took refuge during wat tyler's rebellion, when forced to fly from the tower of london. the old historian writes that after the defeat of the rebels "pour le premier chemin que le roy fit, il vint deuers sa dame de mère, la princesse, qui estoit en un chastel _de la riolle_ (que l'on dit la garderobbe la reyne) et là s'estoit tenue deux jours et deux nuits, moult ébahie; et avoit bien raison. quand elle vit le roy son fils, elle fut toute rejouye, et luy dit, 'ha ha beau fils, comment j'ay eu aujourd'huy grand peine et angoisse pour vous.' dont respondit le roy, et dit, 'certes, madame, je le say bien. or vous rejouissez et louez dieu, car il est heure de le louer. j'ay aujourd'huy recouvré mon heritage et le royaume d'angleterre, que j'avoye perdu.' ainsi se tint le roy ce jour delez sa mère." (froissart, ii . par. .) in stow's time this interesting locality had been degraded into stable for the king's horses, and let out in divers tenements. e.v. [we are indebted to j.e., r.t.s., and other correspondents for replies to mr. cunningham's query; but as their answers contain only general references to works which it is reasonable to suppose that gentleman must have consulted during the preparation of his _handbook for london_ we have not thought it necessary to insert them.] * * * * * ancient inscribed dish. mr. editor,--the subject of inscribed dishes of latten, of which so many varieties have recently been imported, appears to be regarded with interest by several of your readers. i am indebted to the rev. william drake, of coventry, for a rubbing from one of these mysterious inscriptions, upon an "alms-plate" in his possession. in the centre is represented the temptation. there are two inscribed circles; on the inner and broader one appear letters, which have been read,--rahewishnby. they are several times repeated. on the exterior circle is the legend on the exterior circle is the legend--ich. sart. geluk. alzeit. this likewise is repeated, so as to fill the entire circle. i have never before met with these inscriptions in the large number of dishes of this kind which i have examined. the have been termed alms-dishes, and are used still in parochial collections in france, as doubtless they have been in england. they were also used in ancient times in the ceremony of baptism, and they are called baptismal basins, by some foreign writers. this use is well illustrated by the very curious early flemish painting in the antwerp gallery, representing the seven sacraments. the acolyte, standing near the font, bears such a dish, and a napkin. the proper use of these latten dishes was, as i believe, to serve as a laver, carried round at the close of the banquet in old times, as now at civic festivities. they often bear devices of a sacred character; but it is probable that they were only occasionally used for any scared purpose, and are more properly to be regarded as part of the domestic appliances of former times. albert way. * * * * * barnacles. in brand's _popular antiquities_, vol. iii. pp. , ., there is an account given of _the barnacle_, "a well-known kind of shell-fish, which is found sticking on the bottoms of ships," and with regard to which the author observes, that "it seems hardly credible in this enlightened age, that so gross an error in natural history should so long have prevailed," as that this shell-fish should become changed into "a species of goose." the author then quotes holinshed, hall, virgidemiarum, marston, and gerard; but he does not make the slightest reference to giraldus cambrensis, who is his _topographia hiberniae_ first gave the account of the barnacle, and of that account the writers referred to by brand were manifestly but the copyists. the passage referring to "the barnacle" will be found in the _topog. hiber._ lib. i. e. xi. i annex a translation of it, as it may be considered interesting, when compared with the passages quoted in brand:-- "there are," says giraldus, "in this country (ireland) a great number of birds called barnacles (bernacre), and which nature produces in a manner that is contrary to the laws of nature. the birds are not unlike to ducks, but they are somewhat smaller in size. they make their first appearance as drops of gum upon the branches of firs that are immersed in running waters; and then they are next seen hanging like sea-weed from the wood, becoming encased in shells, which at last assume in their growth the outward form of birds, and so hang on by their beaks until they are completely covered with feathers within their shells, and when they arrive at maturity, they either drop into the waters, or take their flight at once into the air. thus from the juice of this tree, combined with the water, are they generated and receive their nutriment until they are formed and fledged. _i have many times with my own eyes seen several thousand of minute little bodies of these birds attached to pieces of wood immersed in the sea, encased in their shells, and already formed._ these then are birds that never lay eggs, and are never hatched from eggs; and the consequence is, that in some parts of ireland, and at those seasons of fasting when meat is forbidden, bishops and other religious persons feed on these birds, because they are not fish, nor to be regarded as flesh meat. and who can marvel that this should be so? when our first parent was made of mud, can we be surprised that a bird should be born of a tree?" the notion of the _barnacle_ being considered a fish is, i am aware, one that still prevails on the western coast of ireland; for i remember a friend of mine, who had spent a few weeks in kerry, telling me of the astonishment he experienced upon seeing pious roman catholics eating barnacles on fridays, and being assured that they were nothing else than fishes! my friend added that they had certainly a most "fish-like flavour," and were, therefore, very nasty birds. w.b. maccabe. * * * * * dorne the bookseller. mr. editor,--i beg to add my protest to your own, respecting the conclusion drawn by your valuable correspondent w. as to his competency to his arduous task, which no person could doubt who knows him. my remarks had reference to the supposed scribe of the catalogue, whose brains, according to w., were in some degree of confusion at times. his name is still _in obscuro_, it seems. "henno rusticus" is clear. w., i trust, will accept my apology. i say with brutus, _verbis paulo mutatis_-- "by heaven, i had rather coin my heart, and drop my blood for drachmas, than to _plant in the kind bosom of a friend a thorn_, by any indirection." j.i. * * * * * rev. wm. stephens' sermons. sir,--amongst the books wanted in your sixth number is "a tract or sermon" of the rev. wm. stephens. it is a sermon, and one of four, all of which are far above the ordinary run of sermons, and deserving of a place in every clergyman's library. they are rarely met with together, though separately they turn up now and then upon book stalls amongst miscellaneous sermons; it is a pity they are not better known, and much is every day republished less deserving of preservation. the author's widow published her husband's sermons in two volumes; but, strange to say, these, which are worth all the rest, are not included in the collection. the titles of the four sermons are-- "the personality and divinity of the holy ghost proved from scripture, and the anti-nicene fathers." preached before the university of oxford, st. matthias' day, - . third edition, . "the catholic doctrine concerning the union of the two natures in the one person of christ stated and vindicated." preached at the visitation of the bishop of oxford, . second edition, . "the divine persons one god by an unity of nature: or, that our saviour is one god with his father, by an external generation from his substance, asserted from scripture and the anti-nicene fathers." preached before the university of oxford, . second edition, . "the several heterodox hypotheses, concerning both the persons and the attributes of the godhead, justly chargeable with more inconsistencies and absurdities than those which have been groundlessly imputed to the catholic system." preached at the visitation of the bishop of exeter, . i shall be glad to learn from any of your readers whether the author published any other sermons or tracts which are not included in the two volumes of his sermons. wm. denton shoreditch, dec. . . * * * * * roger de coverley. sir,--in no. of your "notes and queries" it is asked, if any notice of the tune called _roger de coverley_ is to be met with earlier than , when it was printed by h. playford in his _dancing master_? i am happy in being able to inform your correspondent that the tune in question may be found in a rare little volume in my possession, entitled "the division-violin, containing a choice collection of divisions to a ground for the treble-violin. being the first musick of this kind ever published. london, printed by j.p. and are sold by john playford, near the temple-church, , small oblong." i have every reason to believe, from considerable researches, that no earlier copy can be found in print. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * minor notes. _omission of the words dei gratia from the new florin._ ruding, in his _annals of the coinage_, iv. ., furnishes a precedent for the omission of the words dei gratia from the coinage, in the case of the irish half-pence and farthings coined at the tower in - . and he supplies, also, a precedent for the dissatisfaction with which their omission from the new florin has been received, in the shape of two epigrams written at that time, for which he is indebted (as what writer upon any point of english literature and history is not) to sylvanus urban. the first (from the _gentlemen's magazine_ for june, ) is as follows:-- "no christian kings that i can find, however match'd or odd, excepting ours have ever coin'd without the _grace of god_. "by this acknowledgment they show the mighty king of kings, as him from whom their riches flow, from whom their grandeur springs. "come, then, urania, aid my pen, the latent cause assign,-- all other kings are mortal men, but george, 'tis plain, 's divine." the next month produced this address:-- _to the author of the epigram on the new irish halfpence._ "while you behold th' imperfect coin receiv'd without the _grace of god_, all honest men with you must join, and even britons think it odd. the _grace of god_ was well left out, and i applaud the politician; for when an evil's done, no doubt, 'tis not by _god's grace_, but permission." _grace's card, the six of hearts._ as a note to the communications which have lately amused your readers, respecting the nine of diamonds, and the curse of scotland, allow me to remind you of another card which has a peculiar name, the origin of which is better ascertained. at the revolution of , one of the family of grace, of courtstown in ireland, raised and equipped a regiment of foot and a troop of horse, at his own expense, for the service of king james, whom he further assisted with money and plate, amounting, it is said, to , _l_. he was tempted with splendid promises of royal favour, to join the party of king william. a written proposal to that effect was sent to him by one of the duke of schomberg's emissaries. indignant at the insulting proposal, the baron of courtstown seized a card, which was accidentally lying near him, and wrote upon it this answer: "go, tell your master, i despise his offer! tell him that honour and conscience are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow!" the card happened to be the "six of hearts," and to this day that card is generally known by the name of "grace's card," in the city of kilkenny. i derive these particulars principally from the _memoirs of the family of grace_, by sheffield grace, esq. to. london, , p. . w.l. _florins._ the following extract from the issue roll of easter i edward iii. , may interest the inquirers into the antiquity of the florin, lately introduced into our coinage:-- "to robert de wodehouse, keeper of the king's wardrobe, for the price of florins from florence, price each florin as purchased, - / _d_. paid to the same keeper by the hands of john de houton, his clerk, for one pound and one mark of gold, to make oblations on the day of the coronation for the lord the king:--and in the manner was delivered florins and a mark of _s_. by the king's command, under the privy seal, which was used before he received the government of this kingdom,--£ . . ." [greek: phi]. _john hopkins, the psalmist._ sir,--little is known of the personal history of john hopkins, the coadjutor of sternhold in the translation of the psalms. it is generally agreed that he was a clergyman and a schoolmaster in suffolk, but no one has mentioned in what parish of that county he was beneficed. it is highly probably that the following notes refer to this person, and if so, the deficiency will have been supplied by them. in tanner's list of the rectors of great waldingfield in suffolk, taken from the institution book at norwich, there is this entry:-- "reg. xix. aug. joh. chetham, ad praes. willi spring, arm. jo. hopkins. . april, . tho. cooke, ad praes. edw. colman, b.d." in the parish register of great waldingfield is the following:-- "buried, . mr. john hopkins, rd oct." d. * * * * * notes in answer to minor queries. _genealogy of european sovereigns._ sir,--perhaps the following books will be of service to your correspondent q.x.z., viz.:-- "a genealogical history of the present royal families of europe, the stadtholders of the united states, and the succession of the popes from the th century, &c. &c., by the rev. mark noble." london, . "historical and genealogical, chronological, and geographical atlas, exhibiting all the royal families in europe, their origin, descent, &c., by m. le sage." london, . "complete genealogical, historical, chronological, and geographical atlas, &c., by c.v. lavoisne." philadelphia, . w.j.b. _countess of pembroke's letter--drayton's poems--a flemish account--bishop burnet._ your correspondent, at p. ., asks whether there is any contemporary copy of the celebrated letter, said to have been written by anne, countess of pembroke, to sir joseph williamson? i would refer him to mr. hartley coleridge's _lives of distinguished northerns_, , p. . his arguments for considering the letter _spurious_, if not conclusive, are very forcible, but they are too copious for this paper. your readers, who may not be conversant with that undeservedly neglected volume, will confess their obligation, when they have consulted its pages, in having been directed to so valuable and so original a work. it may be observed, that those letters of the countess which are authentic, are certainly written in a very different style to the one in question; but this letter, if addressed by her to sir joseph williamson, would be written under peculiar circumstances, and being in her th year, she might naturally have asked the assistance of the ablest pen within her reach. i have the copy of an interesting letter, addressed by the late mr. john baynes to ritson, in , stating his admiration of the countess's "spirit and industry, having seen the collections made by her order relative to the cliffords--such as no other noble family in the world can show." i join in wishing that mr. pickering would add a judicious selection from drayton's poetical works to his _lives of aldine poets_. to the list given by your correspondent (p. .), may be added a work entitled _ideas mirrour amours in quatorzains_ (london, , to. p. .), which was lent to me about forty years ago, but which i have not seen since. some notice of it, by myself, will be found in the _censura literaria_. with the following note by sir c. brydges:--"the extreme rarity of this publication renders a farther account desirable, and also more copious extracts. it appears wholly unknown to herbert, and to all the biographers of drayton." it is unnoticed by ritson also. chalmers, in his _series of english poets_, has referred to this communication, but he has not printed the poem amongst drayton's works. the expression "a flemish account" is probably not of very long standing, as it is not found in the most celebrated of our earlier dramatists, unless, indeed, mrs. page's remark on falstaff's letter may be cited as an illustration:--"what an unweighed behaviour hath this flemish drunkard _picked out of my conversation_, that he dares in this manner assay me." if the habit of drinking to excess prevailed in the low countries in the sixteenth century to the extent represented, may not the expression have arisen from that circumstance, and been equivalent to the contempt which is usually entertained for the loose or imperfect statements made by a tipsy or drunken man? when quoting opinions upon burnet, we must not forget the brief but pregnant character which burke has given of the bishop's _history of his own times_. in his admirable speech at bristol, previous to the election if , burke says, "look into the history of bishop burnet; _he is a witness without exception_." dr. johnson was not so laudatory:--"burnet is very entertaining. the style, indeed, is mere chit-chat. i do not believe that he intentionally lied; but he was so much prejudiced, that he took no pains to find out the truth." the reader may refer to dr. hickes's _criticism_ (atterbury's _correspondence_, i. .). calamy's expression is a significant, if not a very complimentary one, as regards burnet's candour (_life and times_, i. .). i.h.m. bath, dec. . _viz., why the contracted form of videlicet._ i shall be much obliged if any one of your readers can inform me of the _principle_ of the contraction viz. for videlicet, the letter _z_ not being at all a component part of the three final syllables in the full world. [cross symbol] [is not our correspondent a little mistaken in supposing that the last letter in "viz." as originally a letter z? was it not one of the arbitrary marks of contraction used by the scribes of the middle ages, and being in form something like a "z," came to be represented by the early printers by that letter? in short, the sign was a common abbreviation in records for terminations, as omnib for omnib_us_, hab for hab_et_. vi , corruptly viz. is still in use.] _authors of old plays._ we are enabled by the courtesy of several correspondents, to answer two of the queries of q.d., in no. . p. ., respecting the authors of certain old plays. g.h.b. informs us that _sicily and naples_ was written by samuel harding; of whom, as we learn from j.f.m., an account will be found in wood's _athenae_. naso informs q.d. that _nero_ was written by matthew gwinne; there are two editions of it, viz. and ,--and that a copy of it may be procured at . wellington street, strand, for _s_. _birthplace of coverdale._ can you inform me of the birthplace of miles coverdale? w.c. ["bishop myles coverdale is supposed to have been born in the year of our lord , in the district of coverdale, in the parish of coverham, near middleham, in the north riding of yorkshire; and it is the opinion of the learned historian of richmondshire, that it is an assumed, and not a family name." these are the words of the rev. geo. pearson, b.d., the very competent editor of the works of bishop coverdale, published by the parker society. his reference is to whitaker's _hist. of richmondshire_, vol. i. p. .] _caraccioli--author of life of lord clive._ in reply to k.'s query in no. ., i have to inform him that "charles caraccioli, gent." called himself "the master of the grammar school at arundel," and in published a very indifferent _history of the antiquities of arundel_; and deprecating censure, he says in his preface, "as he (the author) was educated and till within these few years has lived abroad, totally unconversant with the english tongue, he flatters himself that the inaccuracies so frequently interspersed through the whole, will be observed with some grains of allowance." his _life of lord clive_ was a bookseller's compilation. wm. durrant cooper. * * * * * queries. love, the king's fool of that name. in rawlinson's manuscripts in the bodleian (c. .), which i take to have been written either in, or very soon after, the reign of henry viii., there is a poem thus entitled:-- "the epitaphe of love, the kynge's foole." can any of your readers furnish me with information regarding him? he was clearly a man worthy of notice, but although i have looked through as many volumes of that period, and afterwards, as i could procure, i do not recollect meeting with any other mention of him. skelton, who must have been his contemporary, is silent regarding him; and john heywood, who was also living at the same time, makes no allusion to him that i have been able to discover. heywood wrote the "play of love," but it has nothing to do with the "king's fool." the epitaph in question is much in heywood's humorous and satirical style: it is written in the english ballad-metre, and consists of seven seven-line stanzas, each stanza, as was not unusual with heywood, ending with the same, or nearly the same, line. it commences thus: "o love, love! on thy sowle god have mercye; for as peter is _princeps apostolorum_, so to the[e] may be sayd clerlye, of all foolys that ever was _stultus stultorum_. sure thy sowle is in _regna polorum_, by reason of reason thou haddest none; yet all foolys be nott dead, though thou be gone." in the next stanza we are told, that love often made the king and queen merry with "many good pastimes;" and in the third, that he was "shaped and borne of very nature" for a fool. the fourth stanza, which mentions erasmus and luther, is the following:-- "thou wast nother erasmus nor luter; thou dyds medle no forther than thy potte; agaynst hye matters thou wast no disputer, amonge the innocentes electe was thy lotte: glad mayst thou be thou haddyst that knotte, for many foolys by the[e] thynke them selfe none, yet all be nott dead, though thou be gone." the next stanza speaks of "dye apguylamys," who is told to prepare the obsequy for love, and of "lady apylton," who had offered a "mass-penny," and the epitaph ends with these stanzas: "now, love, love! god have mercy on thy mery nowle; and love! god have mercye on thy foolysche face, and love! god have mercye on thy innocent sowle, which amonges innocentes, i am sure, hath a place, or ellys thy sowle ys yn a hevy case; ye, ye, and moo foolys many [a] one, for foolys be alyve, love, though thou be gone. "now, god have mercye on us all, for wyse and folysche all dyethe, lett us truly to our myndes call; and to say we be wyse owr dedes denyethe, wherefore the ende my reason thys aplyethe: god amend all foolys that thynke them selfe none, for many be alyve, thoughe love be gone." it is very possible that i have overlooked some common source of information to which i may be referred; and it is very possible also, that this epitaph has been reprinted in comparatively modern times, and i may not know of it. this is one of the points i wish to ascertain. j. payne collier. [was there no such person as love, and does the writer mean merely to pun upon the word? cupid certainly played the fool in the court of henry viii. as much as any body.] * * * * * mare de saham--postum pusillum--watewich. i am much obliged by j.f.m's answers respecting those places. if he will look to the _historia eliensis_, lib. ii. c. , . vol. i. pp. - . (_anglia christiana_), he may be certain whether or not he has correctly designated them. he may at the same time, if he be well acquainted with cambridgeshire, give me the modern interpretation for _watewich_, also mentioned in chap. . of the _hist. eliens_. w.b.m. * * * * * the advent bells. the advent bells are ringing in many parishes throughout various parts of england during this month of december, if i may judge from my own neighbourhood--on the western borders of berks--where, at least three times in the week, i hear their merry peals break gladsomely upon the dark stillness of these cold evenings, from many a steeple around. in the roman states and the kingdom of naples and sicily, the "pifferari" go about playing on a kind of rough hautboy and bag-pipes, before the pictures of the madonna, hung up at the corners of streets and in shops, all through advent time; but why are the church bells rung in england? what reference in ancient documents can be pointed out for the meaning or antiquity of the usage? he who draws upon a joint-stock bank of literature as rich as yours, mr. editor, already is, should bring a something to its capital, though it be a mite. allow me, then, to throw in mine. at p. . "a subscriber" asks, "if william de bolton was an ecclesiastic, how is it that his wife is openly mentioned?" for one of these two reasons: st. by the canon law, whether he be in any of the four minor orders, or in any of the three higher or holy orders, a man is, and was always, called "clericus," but clerks in lower or minor orders did, and still do, marry without censure; d. the church did, and still does, allow man and wife to separate by free mutual consent, and to bind themselves by the vows of perpetual continence and chastity, the man going into a monastery, or taking holy orders, the woman becoming a nun. such, i suspect, was the case with sir william de bolton ("sir" being the ancient title of a priest) and his wife, whose joint concurrence in the transfer of property by charter would be legally required, if, as is likely, she had an interest in it. your correspondent "musafir," while on the subject of the _flemish account_, p. ., is in error, in assigning to a count of flanders the "old story" of the cloaks; it belongs to robert, duke of normandy, who played off the joke at constantinople in the court of the greek emperor, as bromton tells us (ed. twysden, i. .) cephas * * * * * the poets. many years ago a _sonnet_, by leigh hunt, characterising the poets, appeared in the _examiner_. can any of your readers inform me whether the following, which i quote from memory, is correct? c. day. "were i to name, out of the times gone by, the poets dearest to me, i should say, pulci for spirits, and a fine, free way, chaucer for manners, and a close, silent eye; spenser for luxury and sweet sylvan play, horace for chatting with from day to day; milton for classic taste and harp strung high, shakspeare for all--but most, society. but which take with me could i take but one? shakspeare, as long as i was unoppress'd with the world's weight, making sad thoughts intenser; but did i wish out of the common sun to lay a wounded heart in leafy rest, and dream of things far off and healing--spenser." * * * * * mr. poore's literary collections--inigo jones--medal of stukeley--sir james thornhill. sir,--with thanks for the insertion of my former letter, i proceed to submit a few literary queries for solution through the medium of your pages. in connection with the country of wilts, i will first mention the literary collections of the late edward poore, esq., of north tidworth, which i examined, with much satisfaction, on my visits to him there, in the year and . mr. poore was a man of considerable attainments, and corresponded with many distinguished characters, both at home and abroad. he travelled over many parts of the continent, and his letters and notes relating to public and private occurrences and persons were remarkably curious and interesting. i have long lost all trace of them, and should be glad to ascertain where they are likely to be found. an immense boon would be conferred on the cause of architecture and archæology by the recovery of inigo jones's sketches and drawings of ancient castles. these, together with his plans, views, and restorations of _stonehenge_, probably descended to his nephew, webb. the latter were engraved, and published in webb's volume on stonehenge; but the sketches of castles have never yet been published. on the ground of inigo jones's intimacy with lord pembroke, i was referred to the library at wilton as a probable despositor of his drawings, but without success; as i am informed, they do not form a part of that valuable collection. perhaps i may be allowed to correct the error which so commonly ascribes the erection of wilton house to jones. in the _natural history of wiltshire_, by john aubrey, which i edited in ( to.), it is clearly shown that the mansion was built in by, or from the designs of, solomon de caus, architect, who was probably aided by his brother isaac, and that it was rebuilt in , after an extensive fire, by webb, who, as is well known, married a niece of inigo jones. the latter celebrated architect recommended the employment of these parties, and probably approved of their designs, but had no further share in their production. his advice, however, to the earl of pembroke, was the means of preserving the famous _porch at wilton_, ascribed to hans holbein, which gives him a peculiar claim to the gratitude of all architectural antiquaries. i possess a large collection of the manuscript journals, papers, drawings, and correspondence of dr. stukeley. to the kindness of my old friend dr. ingram, president of trinity college, oxford, i also owe a large bronze medal, with a medallion portrait of stukeley on the obverse, and a view of stonehenge on the reverse. this is evidently a cast from moulds, and rather crudely executed, and i am induced to regard it as unique. i shall be much gratified if any of your correspondents can furnish me with a clue to its history, or to the name of its maker. i would here venture to suggest some inquiry into the biography of _charles bertram_, of copenhagen, who furnished dr. stukeley with the manuscript of the _itinerary of richard of cirencester_, which has led to so much curious discussion. it would be interesting to learn whether bertram's papers were bequeathed to any public library at copenhagen. sir james thornhill was in the habit of making sketches and descriptive memoranda in his various travels and excursions. some years ago one of his pocket-books was lent to me, in which he had not only written notices of the places visited, but made very clever pen sketches of several objects. whilst in my possession, i copied many pages, and also traced some of the drawings. among the latter is a market cross at ipswich, long since destroyed, also the sessions house and the custom house of harwich, with various antiquities, &c., at ryswich, delph, tournay, brussels, and the hague. i have often regretted that i did not copy the whole volume, as it contained many curious facts and anecdotes. i have tried in vain to ascertain the name and address of the possessor. he was a country gentleman, and lodged in southampton row, russell square. the volume is dated , and contains full accounts of buildings and works of art. he says, "killigrew told king charles that ipswich had a large river without water, streets without names, and a town without people." in july, , i published a small volume entitled _antiquarian and architectural memoranda relating to norwich cathedral_, in which were two copper-plates, a ground-plan of the church, and a view of the west front; with woodcuts of the font, and of the erpingham gateway, both engraved by john thompson. the plates and cuts were sold by auction (by mr. southgate of fleet street), with the stock of the work, and have been resold by the purchaser. i have sought in vain to re-obtain the woodcuts, and shall be gratified to find that it is still practicable. after many years' search for the documents, &c., referred to in this and my preceding letter, i am still reluctant to abandon their pursuit. that valuable collections are sometimes protected from destruction, in obscurity, for years, is shown by the loss and recovery of the well-known collection of architectural designs and drawings by john thorpe, now in the soane museum. that singular and interesting series was in the possession of the earl of warwick, in the latter part of the last century. in i applied to his lordship for permission to examine it; but he informed me that richard cumberland, the author, had borrowed it many years before, in order to submit it to lord george germaine, and that it had not since been heard of. thus, from before , when lord george germaine died, the drawings were lost until about thirty years afterwards, when i purchased them for sir john soane, at the sale of the library of ---- brooke, esq., of paddington (probably a relative of the earl of warwick), into whose possession they had unaccountably passed. john britton. * * * * * the middle temple. in mr. frederick devon's _pell records_, vol. iii. p. ., there is an entry in the issue roll of easter, henry iii. , of a payment. "to the brethren of the _middle_ temple, £ . in part of £ . appointed alms for the support of three chaplains to celebrate divine service, at easter term, in the st year, by writ patent." and in p. . is the following writ for payment at easter term, edward i. :-- "pay out of our treasury, from the day of the death of the lord king henry, our father, of renowned memory, for each year, to our beloved master and brethren of the knights templars in england, £ . _which our father granted_ to them by his charter to be received yearly at our exchequer, for the support of three chaplains, daily for ever, to perform divine service in the new temple, london, one of whom is to perform service for our aforesaid father, the other for all christian people, and the third for the faithful deceased, as was accustomed to be done in the time of our aforesaid father. witness, &c." i presume that there can be no doubt that the grant referred to in the last extract is that which is mentioned in the first. but if so, what is meant by "brethren of the _middle temple?_" both entries are before the suppression of the order, and it was not till long after the suppression that the temple was occupied by the lawyers as a place of study; nor till long after the establishment of lawyers there, that is to say, more than a hundred years after the date of the first extract, that the temple was divided into two houses, called, as now, the inner temple and the middle temple. added to which, the church of the temple is in that division which is called the _inner_ temple. can any of your correspondents favour me with the precise words of the original record, or explain the meaning of the term used? edward foss. * * * * * minor queries. _henry lord darnley._ can any of your readers inform me where the celebrated darnley, second husband of mary, queen of scots, was born? his birth took place in england, where his father, matthew stuart, earl of lennox, was residing, being banished from scotland. henry viii. gave the earl his niece in marriage, and several estates in yorkshire; among others, the lands of jervaux abbey, and the adjacent manor of west scrafton. middleham castle, which was then perfect, and belonged to the king, lies between these, and was probably at least an occasional residence of the earl, though we have no correct account of its occupants after the death of richard iii. w.g.m.j. barker. banks of the yere, nov. . . _coffee, the lacedaemonion black broth._ your "notes on coffee" in no. . reminded me that i had read in some modern author a happy conjecture that "coffee" was the principal ingredient of the celebrated "lacedaemonian black broth," but as i did not "make a note of it" at the time, and cannot recollect the writer from whom i derived this very probable idea, i may perhaps be allowed to "make a query" of his name and work. r.o. eton, nov. . . _letters of mrs. chiffinch._ the chafins, of chettle, in dorsetshire, possessed at one time some interesting family memorials. in the third volume of hutchins's _dorset_, pp. , ., are printed two or three letters of thomas chafin on the battle of sedgemoor. in a manuscript note, hutchins alludes to letters, written by a female member of the family, which contain some notices of the court of charles ii. can your dorsetshire correspondents inform me whether these letters exist? i suspect that the lady was wife of the notorious chiffinch; and she must have seen and heard strange things. the letters may be worthless, and it is possible that the family might object to a disclosure of their contents. the manuscript memorandum is in gough's copy of the _history of dorset_ in the bodleian library. j.f.m. _sangred--dowts of holy scripture._ in the will of john hedge, of bury st. edmund's, made in , is this item:-- "i beqweth to the curat of the seid church iiij_s_. iiij_d_. for a _sangred_ to be prayed for in the bedroule for my soule and all my good ffrends soulls by the space of a yeer complete." in the same year thomas pakenham, of ixworth thorpe, bequeathed hives of bees to the sepulchre light, "to pray for me and my wyffe in y'e _comon sangered_;" and in , robert garad, of ixworth, bequeathed to the high altar ij_s_. "for _halfe a sangred_." can any of your reader explain what the _sangred_ is? or give me any information about the book referred to in the following extract from the will of william place, master of st. john's hospital, bury st. edmund's, made in :-- "item. i beqweth to the monastery of seynt edmund forseid my book of the _dowts of holy scryptur_, to ly and remain in the cloyster," &c. buriensis. _catsup, catchup, or ketchup._ will any of your philological readers be so obliging as to communicate any _note_ he may have touching the original or definition of the word _catchup?_ it does not appear in johnson's _dictionary_. mr. todd, in his edition, inserts it with an asterisk, denoting it as a new introduction, and under _catsup_ says, see _catchup_. under this latter word he says--"sometimes _improperly_ written _ketchup_, a poignant liquor made from boiled mushrooms, mixed with salt, used in cooking to add a pleasant flavour to sauces." he gives no _derivation_ of the word _itself_, and yet pronounces the very common way of spelling it improper. what reference to, or connexion with, _mushrooms_ has the word?--and why _catsup_, with the inference that it is synonymous with _catchup_? g. "_let me make a nation's ballads, who will may make their laws!_" one perpetually hears this exclamation attributed to different people. in a magazine which i took up this morning, i find it set down to "a certain orator of the last century;" a friend who is now with me, tells me that it was unquestionably the saying of the celebrated lord wharton; and i once heard poor edward irving, in a sermon, quote it as the exclamation of wallace, or some other scottish patriot. do relieve my uncertainty, and, for the benefit of our rising orator, tell us to whom the saying ought to be set down. c.u.b.e.r. _to endeavour oneself._ in the collect for the nd sunday after easter, in the preface to the confirmation service, and in the form of ordering of priest, the verb "endeavour" takes (clearly, i think) a middle-voice form, "to endeavour one's self." is there any other authority for this usage? no dictionary i have seen recognises it. g.p. _date of the anonymous ravennas._ can you inform me of the date of the _chorographia britanniæ anonymi ravennatis?_ w.c. [this is a very difficult question. we should be glad to hear any of our correspondents upon the subject.] _the battle of towton._ the "note" on the battle-field of sedgemoor, induces a "query" concerning another equally celebrated locality. it is well known in the neighbourhood, that the field of towton, at least that part of it which is now, and, according to tradition, has remained pasture since the days of the wars of york and lancaster, produces two species of roses, which grow in stunted patches throughout its extent. has their presence ever been noticed or accounted for? if we again allow tradition to give its evidence, we are told they were planted on the graves of the fallen combatants. peter h. jennings. tadcaster. _a peal of bells._ mr. editor,--the following question was put to me by a clergyman and a scholar, who, like myself, takes an interest in the subject of bells. at first sight i fancied that a satisfactory answer could easily be given: but i found that i was mistaken, and i shall be very glad if any of your correspondents will favour me with a solution of the difficulty. can you _define_ what is a _peal?_ of course we know what is meant by a _peal of bells_, and to _ring a peal_; but i want it defined as to duration, mode of ringing it, &c. &c. none of the old writers explain what they mean by ringing a _peal_. alfred gatty. ecclesfield vicarage, dec. . . _lines quoted by goethe._ if any of your readers can inform me who is the author of the following lines, quoted by goethe in his _autobiography_, he will greatly oblige me:-- "then old age and experience, hand in hand, lead him to death, and make him understand, after a search so painful and so long, that all his life he has been in the wrong." trebor. king's college, dec. . . _ms. sermons by jeremy taylor._ i venture to send you the following note, as embodying a query, which i am sure deserves, if possible, to be answered. "southey, _omniana_, i. . coleridge asserts (_literary remains_, i. .), that there is now extent, in ms., a folio volume of unprinted sermons by jeremy taylor. it would be very interesting to learn in what region of the world so great a treasure has been suffered to rust during a hundred and fifty years."--willmott's _life of bishop jeremy taylor_, p. . oxoniensis. _papers of john wilkes._ john wilkes, it is well known, sent to the newspapers copies of lord weymouth's and lord barrington's letters respecting the riots in st. george's fields in . we can easily conjecture how he did or how he might have, got possession of a copy of weymouth's letter, which was addressed to the magistrates of surrey; but barrington's letter was strictly official, and directed to the "field officers, in staff waiting, for the three regiments of foot guards." has the circumstance ever been explained? if so, where? can any of your readers inform me the _exact date_ of the first publication of barrington's letter in the newspaper? is it not time that wilkes' letters and mss. were deposited in some of our public libraries? they would throw light on many obscure points of history. they were left by miss wilkes to mr. elmsley, "to whose judgement and delicacy" she confided them. they were subsequently, i believe, in the legal possession of his son, the principal of st. alban's; but really of mr. hallam. w. _john ross mackay._ the following is from a work lately published, _chronicles and characters of the stock exchange_, by john francis:-- "'the peace of ,' said john ross mackay, private secretary to the earl of bute, and afterwards treasurer to the ordnance, 'was carried through and approved by pecuniary distribution.'" will mr. francis, or any of your contributors, inform me where i can find the original statement? d. * * * * * notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. mr. darling is preparing for publication a new edition of his _bibliotheca clericales, a guide to authors, preachers, students, and literary men_. the object of this very useful publication, which deserves to be made a note of by all who may have queries to solve in connection with the bibliography of theology, cannot be better described than in mr. darling's own words, namely, that it is intended to be "a catalogue of the books in the clerical library, greatly enlarged, so as to contain every author of any note, ancient and modern, in theology, ecclesiastical history, and the various departments connected therewith, including a selection in most branches of literature, with complete lists of the works of each author, the contents of every volume being minutely described; to which will be added an entirely new volume, with a scientific as well as alphabetical arrangement of subjects, by which a ready reference may be made to books, treatises, sermons, and dissertations, on nearly all heads of divinity, the books, chapters, and verses of holy scripture, the various festivals, fasts &c., observed throughout the year, and useful topics in literature, philosophy, and history, on a more complete system than has yet been attempted in any language, and forming an universal index to the contents of all similar libraries, both public and private." the work will be published in about monthly parts, and will be put to press so soon as a sufficient number of subscribers are obtained to cover the expense of printing. mr. jones, the modeller, of . drury lane, who as our readers may remember, produced some time since so interesting "a copy in little" of the monument of our great bard in the church of stratford-upon-avon, has just completed similar models of bacon's monument, in st. michael's church, st. alban's; of sir isaac newton's, in the chapel of trinity college, cambridge; and, lastly, of that of the "venerable stow," from the church of st. andrew undershaft. many of the admirers of those old english worthies will, we doubt not, be glad to possess such interesting memorials of them. mr. thorpe has published a _catalog of some interesting, rare, and choice books_, which he has recently purchased, and which had been collected by the celebrated antiquary and author, browne willis. many of them contain important manuscript notes and anecdotes by him, particularly in his own publications; and the catalogue, therefore, like all which mr. thorpe issues, contains numerous notes highly interesting to bibliographical and literary antiquaries. thus, in a copy of _antonini iter britanniarum_, he tells us browne willis has inserted the following biographical note:-- *.* "my very worthy friend roger gale, the author of this and many other learned works, dyed at his seat at scruton, co. york, june , , aged about , and was by his own direction buried obscurely in the churchyard there." the following interesting articles we reprint entire, as forming specimens of the rarities which mr. thorpe offers in the present catalogue, and the tempting manner in which he presents them:-- boeceus de consolacione philosophie, translated out of latin into english by maister geffrey chaucer, with epitaph for chaucer in latin verse by stephen surigo, poet laureate of milan, at the cost and instance of w. caxton, a most beautiful and quite perfect copy, without the slightest defect or repair, folio, _in old oxford calf binding, from browne willis's library, £ _. printed by caxton, with his name. *.* one of the most interesting specimens of caxton's press. no other perfect copy, i believe, has occurred for sale. the aleborne copy, (imperfect, wanting the epitaph upon chaucer, which is reprinted in some editions of his works, and other leaves,) sold for l. s. it is one of the earliest productions of the father of the english press, and claims a very great additional interest from being translated by the poet chaucer. caxton gives us the following reasons that induced chaucer to translate, and himself to print it:--"forasmoche as the stile of it is harde, and difficile to be understoode of simple persones, therefore the worshipful fader and first founder and embelisher of ornate eloquence in our _english_, i mene maister _geffrey chaucer_, hath translated it out of _latyn_, as neygh as is possible to be understande; wherin, in myne oppynon, he hath deserved a perpetual lawde and thanke of al this noble royame of _england_. thenne, forasmoche as this sayd boke so translated is rare, and not spred ne knowen as it is digne and worthy for the erudicion of such as ben ignoraunte, atte requeste of a singuler frend and gossop of myne, _i, william caxton_, have done my devoir temprynte it in fourme as is hereafore made." fox (edward) bishop of hereford, true dyfferens between ye regall power and the ecclesiasticall power, translated out of latyn by henry lord stafforde, _and dedicated by him to the protector somerset_, black letter, vo. _fine copy, morocco, gilt edges_, extremely rare, l. s. _imprinted at the sign of the rose garland, by w. copland, n.d._ *.* this extraordinarily rare volume was written by edward fox, bishop of hereford, according to strype and leland--_see the latter's encomium upon it_. lord herbert supposed it to have been written by king henry viii. it is one of the most interesting and rare volumes relative to church history. the noble translator states that it was lent him by his friend master morison, and finding the difference between the power regal and ecclesiastical so plainly set out, and so purely explained, that rather than his countrie should be utterly frustrated of so great fruyte as myght growe by redynge thereof, i thought it well-bestowed labour to turn it into englishe. lane (john) tom tel-troth's message and his pen's complaint, a worke not unpleasant to be read, nor unprofitable to be followed, in verse, _dedicated to george dowse_, to. _remarkably fine copy_, uncut, _morocco elegant, gilt edges_, excessively rare if not unique, l. s. _imprinted for r. howell, _. *.* this curious poem, consisting of verses of six lines each, is of such extraordinary rarity, as to have escaped the researches of all bibliographers. the author is styled by phillips, in his theatrum poetarum, as that "fine old queen elizabeth's gentleman," and is ranked in the class of poets next to spenser. the present volume acquires an additional interest from being the _first production of the author_, which is thus expressed in the dedication: "these first fruites of my barren braine, the token of my love, the seale of my affection, and the true cognizance of my unfained affection," &c. we have also received supplements a, b, c, and d, the last part issued, of the catalogue of miscellaneous books, in various languages, on sale by charles dolman, of . new bond street, which contain many rare and curious works, more especially in the department of foreign divinity. to these we may add parts v. and vi. of catalogues of "cheap books, autographs, &c.," on sale by bell, . bedford street, covent garden; the "cheap catalogue," part xxiv., of thomas cole, . great turnstile, holborn; a "miscellaneous catalogue of remarkably cheap old books," on sale by c. hamilton, . bridge place, city road; russell smith's catalogue of "choice, useful, and curious books," part vii., which he describes, very justly, as "containing some very cheap books;" parts cv. and cvi. of petheram's, . high holborn, "catalogue of old and new books," containing, among other things, collections of the works of the various publishing societies, such as the camden, calvin, parker, shakspeare, ray, &c., and also of the record publications; and lastly, which we have just received from the worthy bibliopole of auld reekie, t.g. stevenson, his curious "list of unique, valuable, and interesting works, chiefly illustrative of scottish history and antiquities, printed at private expense," and "bannatyniana,--catalogue of the privately printed publications of the bannatyne club from mdcccxxiii. to mdcccxlviii.," both of which are well deserving the attention of our bibliographical friends. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in nos. , , and ._) a discovery of the author of the letters of junius. lond. (taylor and hessey), . (seven shillings will be given for this if sent within a fortnight.) a collection of scarce tracts. published by debrett. vols. vo. . vox senatus. published between and . porta linguarum trilinguis reserata et aperta, sive seminarum linguarum et scientiarum onnium, etc. mo. or mo. london (e. griffin). . the hoop petticoat, a poem. . dr. s. clarke's essay to prove women have souls. art of cookery, a poem. folio. . _odd volumes._ greenhill on ezekiel. vols. iii. iv. and v. fasciculus rerum expetendarum atque fugiendarum. vol. ii. folio. lond. (brown), . a compleat history and mistery of the old and new testament. by christopher ness. vol. ii. fol. lond. . joannis forbesii a corse opera omnia. fol. amstelaedami apud wetstenium, . tom ii., continens instructiones historico-theologicas. q. sectani satyrae, concinnante p. antonlano. liber _primus_. vo. amstelod. apud elsevirios, . luke milbourn's vindications of the church of england from the objections of papists, etc., explaining the nature of schism. vol. ii. vo. lond. . *.* letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are sorry to have been unable to supply perfect sets of our paper to so many applicants. with the view of doing so, we will give_ sixpence _each for clean copies of no. ., and full price for no. _. _we have to explain to correspondents who inquire as to the mode of procuring_ "notes and queries," _that every bookseller and newsman will supply it_, if ordered, _and that gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the_ stamped _edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher_, mr. george bell, _ . fleet street, accompanied by a post office order for a quarter ( s. d.)._ b. _requests us to correct an omission in his transcript from mr. de morgan's note in our last week's number, p. .: johnson's remark should have been--"let me see: forty times forty is sixteen hundred._ as three to sixteen hundred, _so is the proportion, &c. the words in roman were omitted._" melanion _and other valued contributors are begged not to suppose their contributions are declined because they are postponed. we have procured the book_ melanion _has referred us to, and hope in the course of two or three weeks to bring the subject forward in a manner to give general satisfaction._ _greenhill's_ exposition of ezekiel with observations thereupon, _reprinted in , in imp. vo., is marked in c. j. stewart's catalogue, at s_. communications received._--c. s.--pwcca.--t.s.d.--w. bell.--e.w.e.--auctor.--f.e.m.--david stevens.--melanion.--w.h.c.--b.n.--vox.--s. beauchamp.--g.w.--c.w.g. (who is thanked for his private communication)--h.c. de st. c.--j.g.--c.b.b.--w.r.o. (thanks)--s.l.--j.p.--j.g. 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[price threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- sir e. dering's household book, by e. rimbault bayswater and its origin eva, daughter of d. macmurrough plagiarisms, or parallel passages billingsgate notes from fly-leaves, no. . opinions on english historians, no. ii.--lord clarendon miscellanies:-- books by the yard--thistle of scotland--miry-land town--richard greene of lichfield--lobster on medal of pretender--marescantia--macaulay's young levite--travelling in england--warning to watchmen --Ælfric's colloquy--humble pie--by hook or by crook--origin of grog--barnacles--vondel's lucifer--dr. faustus--to fettle, &c. queries:-- catacombs and bone-houses, by rev. a. gatty contradictions in don quixote, &c., by s.w. singer ancient alms-basins minor queries:--cupid crying--was sir g. jackson junius?--ballad of dick and the devil--erasmus' paraphrase--iland chest--court of wards--ancient tiles--pilgrimage of kings--anthony bek--welsh custom--fall of rain--metal for telescopes--colonel blood's house--lucas's ms.--theophania--ms. account of britain miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * sir edward dering's[ ] household book, a.d. - . about ten years since, i remember seeing, in the hands of a london bookseller, a curious ms. purporting to be the "household book of receipts and expences of sir edward dering, bart., of surrenden dering, kent, from lady-day, , to april, ." it was a think folio, in the original binding, entirely in the hand-writing of the distinguished baronet. sir edward was the only son of sir edward dering, the first baronet, by his second wife, anne, daughter of sir john ashburnham, of ashburnham, sussex, knt. he succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death of his father, in , and married mary, daughter of daniel harvey, esq., of combe, surrey, who was brother of the famous dr. harvey, the discoverer of the circulations of the blood. the volume commences at lady-day, , with the gifts of his grandmother cramond, and his uncles dr. harvey and eliab harvey. nov. . , is a memorandum of receipts of "the full remainder of the three thousand pounds he was to pay me on my marriage." the receipts close march . , with "a note of what money i have received for rent, wood, &c.; in effect, what i have to live upon, for four years, _l_. _s_." the expenses begin at the same period; and among the earliest is, "given my wife, in gold, _l_." under the date aug. . , we read, "item: paid mr. edward gibbes, to the use, and by the appointment of my sister dorothy, it being her portion, _l_." dorothy was probably sir edward's only sister, by the same mother, sir edward, the first baronet's second wife. her sun of life soon set; for feb. . , a whole page is occupied with items of mourning "at the death of my deare and only sister, the lady darell." independently of the frequent notices of relatives, almost serving as a family history, there are entries of high interest to the general historian and the antiquary. the costs of every article of use and virtue are set down in full, and a few of the items (which i find in my common-place book) will serve as a specimen of the general contents:-- " . july . it. for seeing two plaies with my wife, &c., coach hire, &c., _l_. _s_. -- sept. . it. paid the upholsterer for a counterpayne to the yellow petuana bed _l_. _s_. -- sept. . paid mr. winne, for a tippet of sables for my wife _l_. -- nov. . for a copy of marg. dering's office _s_. -- dec. . it. paid mr. le neve, in part for my wife's picture _l_. -- mar. . it. a velvet saddle furniture for my wife, _l_. it. black sattin, for a gown for her, _l_. it. two diamond rings _l_. " . april . it. given seeing rechampton-house _s_. -- april . it. paid mr. le neve, the remainder due for my wife's picture, _l_. s. it. paid him for a picture of the king. _l_. it. paid him for a new frame to my grandmother's -- _s_. " . may . item, given at john tradeskin's [tradescant] -- _s_. _d_. --- june . paid mr. lawes, a month's teaching of my wife -- _l_. _s_. --- sept . it. spent at tunbridge welles, in dayes stay -- _l_, _s_. " . april . it. paid mr. lilly [sir peter] for my wife's picture -- _l_. " . april . it. paid mr. lelie for my picture, _l_. it. paid him for my wife's picture, being larger, _l_. it. given mr. lelie's man, _s_. --- april . it. paid frank rower for a frame for my wife's picture _l_. --- aug. . spent in spring gardens, and coach hire thither -- _s_. --- sept. . baubles at bartholomew fayre, _s_. --- oct. . it. given the scots prisoners, _s_. --- nov. . it. paid for bringing a great cake from richborow -- _s_. --- march . twelve paire of gloves given my valentine, the lady palmer _l_. _s_. --- march . it. paid mr. lilly for mrs. montague's picture, the larger size _l_. the entry concerning the celebrated henry lawes, _milton's tuneful harry_, is very interesting, and is well illustrated by the following dedication, prefixed to lawes' _second book of ayres and dialogues_, :-- _"to the honourable the lady dering, wife to sir edward dering, of surenden dering, bart._ "madam,--i have consider'd, but could not finde it lay in my power, to offer this book to any but your ladiship. not only in regard of that honour and esteem you have for musick, but because those songs which fill this book have receiv'd much lustre by your excellent performance of them; and (which i confesse i rejoice to sepak of) some, which i esteem the best of these ayres, were of your own composition, after your noble husband was pleas'd to give the words. for (although your ladiship resolv'd to keep it private) i beg leave to declare, for my own honour, that you are not only excellent for the time you spent in the practice of what i set, but are yourself so good a composer, that few of any sex have arriv'd to such perfection. so as this book (at least a part of it) is not dedicated, but only brought home to your ladiship. and here i would say (could i do it without sadness), how pretious to my thoughts is the memory of your excellent mother (that great example of prudence and charity), whose pious meditations were often advanc'd by hearing your voice. i wish all prosperity to your ladiship, and to him who (like yourself) is made up of harmony; to say nothing of the rest of his high accomplishments of wisdome and learning. may you both live long, happy in each other, when i am become ashes; who, while i am in this world, shall be ever found, madame, "your ladiship's humble admirer "and faitnful servant, "henry lawes." the derings appear to have been great lovers and patrons of music; and one of their family, richard, practised the art as his profession. this excellent musician was educated in italy; and, when his education was completed, he returned to england with great reputation. he resided in his own country for some time, but, upon a very pressing invitation, went to brussels, and became organist to the convent of english nuns there. from the marriage of charles i., until the time when that monarch left england, he was organist to the queen. in he was admitted to the degree of bachelor in music at oxford, and died in the communion of the church of rome, about the year . edward f. rimbault. * * * * * bayswater and its origin. a piece of topographical history was disclosed at the recent trial of a cause at westminster, which it may be worth while to record among your "notes." the dean and chapter of westminster are possessed of the manor of westbourne green, in the parish of paddington, parcel of the possessions of the extinct abbey of westminster. it must have belonged to the abbey when _domesday_ was compiled; for, though neither westbourne nor knightsbridge (also a manor of the same house) is specially named in that survey, yet we know, from a later record, viz. a _quo warranto_ in edward i., that both of those manors were members, or constituent hamlets, of the vill of westminster, which is mentioned in _domesday_ among the lands of the abbey. the most considerable tenant under the abbot in this vill was _bainiardus_, probably the same norman associate of the conqueror who is called baignardus and bainardus in other parts of the survey, and who gave his name to baynard's castle. the descent of the land held by him of the abbot cannot be clearly traced: but his name long remained attached to part of it; and, as late as the year , a parliamentary grant of the abbey or chapter lands to foxcrafte and another, describes "the common field at paddington" as being "near a place commonly called _baynard's watering_." in , the lands of the dean and chapter in the same common field are described, in a terrier of the chapter, to be the occupation of alexander bond, of _bear's watering_, in the same parish of paddington. the common field referred to, is the well-known piece of garden ground lying between craven hill and the uxbridge road, called also _bayswater field_. we may therefore fairly conclude, that this portion of ground, always remarkable for its springs of excellent water, once supplied water to baynard, his household, or his cattle; that the memory of his name was preserved in the neighbourhood for six centuries; and that his watering-place now figures on the outside of certain green omnibuses in the streets of london, under the name of bayswater. e.s. * * * * * eva, daughter of dermot macmurrough. being a subscriber to mr. o'donovan's new translation of _the annals of the four masters_, i beg to inform your correspondent, "a hapless hunter" (no. , p. .), that the copy which i possess begins with the year ; consequently, it is hopeless to refer to the years and . in the death of mulmurry mac-murrough is recorded; as also of dermot o'kaelly, from whom the family name of kelly is derived; but i do not find any notice of the daughter of dermot macmurrough. j.i. oxford. if some earlier note-taker has not anticipated me, please to inform your correspondent from malvern wells that the published portion of the _annals of the four masters_, by o'donovan, commences with the year . the earlier portion of the _annals_ is in the press, and will shortly appear. when it sees the light, your querist will, it is to be hoped, find an answer. a query, addressed personally, to mr. o'donavan, queen's college, galway, would, no doubt, meet with a ready reply from that learned and obliging irish scholar and historian. j.g. kilkenny. "a hapless hunter" will find, in the _statute of kilkenny_ (edited by james hardiman, esq., m.r.i.a. for the irish archaeological society in ), pp. , , _note_, two incidental notices of eva, daughter of dermot mcmorrough; the first, her witnessing a grant made by richard strongbow, earl of pembroke, during his lifetime; and the second, a grant made by her to john comyn, archbishop of dublin, in the reign of richard i. (at least sixteen years after her husband's death), "pro salute anime mee et domini comitis ricardi," &c. should he not have an opportunity of consulting the work, i shall have much pleasure in furnishing the entire extract, on receiving a line from him. john powers. . dorchester place, blandford square. giraldus cambrensis mentions, that macmurrough, having, in the year , procured letters patent from henry ii., repaired to england, and there induced strongbow, earl of pembroke and strighul, to engage to aid him, on condition of receiving, in return, the hand of his _eldest_ daughter, eva, and the heirship of his dominions.--_girald. camb._ p. . and further, that strongbow did not arrive in ireland until the eve of st. bartholomew's day, september, ; he was joined at waterford by eva and her father, and the marriage took place a _few days after_, and _during_ the sacking of that place.--ibid. p. . "strongbow left, by his _second_ wife eva, one daughter, named isabella, an infant. * * * richard the first gave isabella in marriage to william de la grace, who thus became earl of pembroke, and was created first earl marshal of england," &c.--fenton's _hist. pembrokeshire._ seleucus. * * * * * plagiarisms, or parallel passages i have placed this title in my note-books, more than one instance of similarity of thought, incident, or expression that i have met with during a somewhat desultory course of reading. these instances i shall take the liberty of laying before you from time to time, leaving you and your readers to decide whether such similarity be the effect of _accident_ or _design_; but i flatter myself that they may be accepted as _parallel passages_ and _illustrations_, even by those who may differ from me in the opinion i have formed on the relation which my "loci inter se comparandi" bear to each other. in lady blessington's _conversations with lord byron_, pages , ., the poet is represented as stating that the lines-- "while memory, with more than egypt's art, embalming all the sorrows of the heart, sits at the altar which she raised to woe, and feeds the source whence tears eternal flow!" suggested to his mind, "by an unaccountable and incomprehensible power of association," the thought-- "memory, the mirror which affliction dashes to the earth, and, looking down upon the fragments, only beholds the reflection multiplied." afterwards apparently embodied in _childe harold_, iii. . "even as a broken mirror, which the glass in every fragment multiplies; and makes a thousand images of one that was, the same, and still the more, the more it breaks." now, byron was, by his own showing, _an ardent admirer_ of burton's _anatomy of melancholy_. see moore's _life of byron_, vol. i. page . notices of the year . turn to burton, and you will find the following passage:-- "and, as praxiteles did by his glass, when he saw a scurvy face in it, brake it to pieces, but for that one, he saw many more as bad in a moment."--part . sect. . mem. . i am uncharitable enough to believe that _childe harold_ owes far more to burton, than to "the unaccountable and incomprehensible power of association." melanion. * * * * * billingsgate. i think your correspondent in no. . p. ., starts on wrong premises; he seems to take for granted that such a structure as belin's gate really existed. now the story entirely rests on the assertion of geoffrey of monmouth. what amount of credit may be placed on that veracious and most unromantic historian, your correspondent doubtless knows better than myself. geoffrey says, in the th chap. of the rd book, that belin, among other great works, made a wonderful gate on the bank of the thames, and built over it a large tower, and under it a wharf for ships; and when he died his body was burned, and his ashes put into a golden urn on the top of the tower. stow seems to doubt it. in strype's edition, , he says, concerning this gate, "leaving out the fable thereof faming it to be builded by king belin, a briton, long before the incarnation of christ." burton, writing , mentions the legend, but adds, "but whether of that antiquity is doubted." and john brydall, in , mentions it only as a wharf or quay for ships. now, as geoffrey of monmouth's _chronicle_ is generally allowed by critics to be but a mass of romance and monkish legends, built on a slight foundation of truth, we may suppose this account to partake of the general character of the rest of the work. that some circumstance gave rise to the name is not doubted. "haply," says stow, "some person of that name lived near." i look on the name as only a corruption or romantic alteration of the word baal or bel; and, as we have every reason to suppose he was worshipped by part of the aborigines of this country, i deem it not improbable that on or near this spot might once have existed a temple for his worship, which afterwards gave a name to the place. it is true baal generally had his temples placed on the summit of lofty mountains or other eminences. but supposing a number of his votaries to have settled near london, and on the banks of the thames, nothing would be more likely than, to obviate the natural lowness of the ground, they would raise a tower for the better celebration of the ceremonies attendant on his worship. this might have been the foundation upon which geoffrey built his story. however, i only suggest this. the real origin of the name i am afraid is too far sunk in oblivion to hold out any hopes of its being rescued at the present day. vox. * * * * * if "william williams" will examine the map of london in , lately engraved from a drawing in the bodleian library, he will perceive the "water gate,", about which he inquires, defended on the west side by a lofty hexagonal machicolated tower. c.s. * * * * * notes from fly-leaves, no. . in order to forward your views as regards the valuable department of "notes from fly-leaves" i have spent some leisure hours in _beating the covers_ of a portion of my library. i send you the produce of my first day's sport, which, you will observe, has been in the fields of poetry. make what use of it you think fit, selecting such notes only as you think of sufficient interest for publication. i. note in the handwriting of richard farmer, in a copy of "canidia, or the witches; a rhapsody in five parts, by r.d." to. london, printed by s. roycroft for robert clavell, . "in mr. hutton's catale p. . n. . this strange composition is ascribed to one dixon. there was a robert dixon, an author about the time, and d.d. (woods's _fasti_, v. ii. p. .), but it surely must not be given to him! qu.? this is the only copy i have seen, ." [lowndes has the work under the name of robert dixon, d.d.] ii. note in the handwriting of james bindley, in a copy of an english translation of milton's "defensio pro populo anglicano," printed in the year . "translated into english by richard washington, esq., of the middle temple." on another page, however, he has written, "mem. in a miscellany called 'poems on affairs of state,' vo. th edit. , at page 'in memory of _joseph_ washington, esq., late of the middle temple, an elegy written by n. tate, servant to their majesties.' though mr. warton calls him _richard_, his name was, i believe, as above, and the translator most likely of this book.--j.b." to this is added, in the handwriting of the late mr. ford, bookseller, formerly of manchester-- "the note on the opposite side, signed j.b., stands for james bindley, who may be considered as good authority for what is here asserted. some curious information will be found relative to the original work in 'diction. des livres condamnés,' &c., par peignot. tom. ii. p ." iii. note in the handwriting of mr. ford, in a copy of fletcher's "purple island,", &c. . "see the lines at the end by francis quarles, which are ingenious and poetical. this curious and very rare volume i purchased out of longman's celebrated catalogue of old english poetry, called 'bib. ang. poet.,' where it will be found marked £ s. d., which is what it cost me. mr. montgomery, the poet, styles this poem a fantastical allegory describing the body and soul of man, but containing many rich and picturesque passages (v. his 'christian poem,' p. .) but there is a most excellent critique upon it in the 'retrosp. rev.' for nov. (v.p. .), but see also headley, who highly praises it. the name of fletcher ranks high in the list of our poets. he was born in , and was the son of dr. giles fletcher, who was himself a poet; the brother of giles fletcher, the author of 'christ's victory;' and the cousin of john fletcher, the celebrated dramatist." iv. in a note on a copy of "iter boreale, with large additions of several other poems, being an exact collection of all hitherto extant; never before published together. the author r. wild, d.d., printed for the booksellers in london, ,"--the author is described as "of tatenill, near burton supr trent." the note is apparently of contemporary date, or a little later. this edition is not noticed by lowndes, nor is another edition (anonymous), of which i have a copy, the date of which is (printed for r.j., and are to be sold in st. paul's churchyard). of course this date is a mistake, but query what is the real date? probably . the volume concludes with the th page, being identical with the nd page of the edition of . v. note in the handwriting of mr. ford, in a copy of "waller's poems," (after quoting "rymer on tragedy," pp. . and .):-- "the dedicatory epistle in this first and rare edition 'to my lady,' is omitted in all the subsequent editions, even in fenton's of (see dibdin).--i find it _is_ inserted in fenton's edition among the speeches and letters; but he adds, in his observations thereon, that it appears not to have been designed for a public dedication, though why or wherefore he assigns no reason; and he further adds, 'i never met with any tradition to what lady it was originally directed.' it certainly has as much the appearance of having been intended for a dedication, _if we may judge from internal evidence_, as such sort of things generally have. this is the first genuine edition and very scarce. it is priced in the 'bib. ang. poet.'; at gs. no. . the subsequent editions are of no particular value, exception fenton's elegant and complete edition in to., which is worth about the same sum." vi. note in a handwriting of the th century, in a copy of cawood's edition of the "ship of fools," opposite to the dedication, which is "venerandissimo in christo patri ac domino, domino thomæ cornissh, tenenensis pontifici, ac diocesis badonensis suffraganio vigilantissimo," &c. "thomas cornish, in - , was made suffragan bishop to rich. fox, bp of bath and wells, under ye title of 'episcopus tynensis,' by wh i suppose is meant tyne, ye last island belonging to ye republick of venice in ye archipelago. see more of him in 'athenæ oxoniens,' vol. i. p. ." vii. note by t. park, in a copy of the third edition of an "essay on human life," by the author of the "essay on man," . (printed for j. witford.) "by lord pagett. st edn . to. says lord orford. an edn in vo. was printed in 'for fletcher gyles against grays inn in holbourn,' and was called (as this is) the _third_; but it gave no delusive intimation in the title that pope was the author, honestly assigning it to the right hon. lord pagett. to the preface was added a short postscript." on another page he has written: "this is perhaps the most successful imitation of pope's ethic poem which has been produced. lord paget has had the credit of composing it." in another handwriting there is written: "from mr. newton, a valuable present, june . ." under which mr. park has added: "qu. from newton to cowper, whose handwriting resembles the above." viii. i have a little book entitled, "the original history of old robin gray; with the adventures of jenny and sandy: a scotch tale;" n.d. printed for h. turpin. a prose narrative, apparently intended for children, but which mr. haslewood has enriched with a number of newspaper cuttings and other illustrations, and has added the following note:-- "auld robin gray; a ballad by the right honourable lady anne barnard, born lady anne lindsay of balcarras; edin. printed by james ballantyne and co. , qto. this is the first authentic edition of this beautiful scottish ballad, and forms one of the publications by sir walter scott as a member of the bannatyne club. the publication gives an interesting account of the authoress--of the origin of the ballad--the ballad--continuation of auld robin gray, all from the same hand; it is to be regretted it is not published for wider circulation. it will, it may be expected, find a vent for the publick at some future period, and some of the gatherings in this volume swell a note or two, if not a page.--see 'cens. lib.' vol. ix. p. . for another ballad called, 'continuation of auld robin gray.' auld robin gray's ghaist begins 'right sweetly sang the nightingale,' among my scotch songs. the sequel to auld robin gray begins, 'full five long years' in do." j.f.m. * * * * * opinions on english historians. ii. _lord clarendon._ "this great historian is always too free with his judgments. but the piety is more eminent than the superstition in this great man's foibles."--bishop warburton, note, last edition, vol. vii. p. . "it is to be hoped no more chancellors will write our story, till they can divest themselves of that habit of their profession, apologising for a bad cause."--h. walpole, note in _historic doubts_. "clarendon was unquestionably a lover of truth, and a sincere friend to the free constitution of his country. he defended that constitution in parliament, with zeal and energy, against the encroachments of prerogative, and concurred in the establishment of new securities for its protection."--lord grenville, note in _chatham correspondence_, vol. i. p. . "we suffer ourselves to be delighted by the keenness of clarendon's observations, and by the sober majesty of his style, till we forget the oppressor and the bigot in the historian."--macaulay, _essays_, vol. ii. p. . "there is no historian, ancient or modern, with whose writings it so much behoves an englishman to be thoroughly conversant, as lord clarendon."--southey, _life of cromwell_. "the genuine text of the history has only been published in ," says mr. hallam, who speaks of "inaccuracy as habitual to him;" and further, "as no one, who regards with attachment the present system of the english constitution, can look upon lord clarendon as an excellent minister, or a friend to the soundest principles of civil and religious liberty, so no man whatever can avoid considering his incessant deviations from the great duties of an historian as a moral blemish on his character. he dares very frequently to say what is not true, and what he must have known to be otherwise; he does not dare to say what is true, and it is almost an aggravation of this reproach, that he aimed to deceive posterity, and poisoned at the fountain a stream from which another generation was to drink. no defence has ever been set up for the fidelity of clarendon's history; nor can men, who have sifted the authentic material, entertain much difference of judgment in this respect; though, as a monument of powerful ability and impressive eloquence, it will always be read with that delight which we receive from many great historians, especially the ancient, independent of any confidence in their veracity."--hallam, _constitutional history_, vo. vol. ii. p. . "his style is a little long-winded; but, on the other hand, his characters may match those of the ancient historians; and one thinks they would know the very men if you were to meet them in society. few english writers have the same precision, either in describing the actors in great scenes, or the deeds which they performed; he was himself deeply engaged in the scenes which he depicts, and therefore colours them with the individual feeling, and sometimes, doubtless, with the partiality of a partisan. yet, i think he is, on the whole, a fair writer; for though he always endeavours to excuse king charles, yet he points out his mistakes and errors, which certainly were neither few nor of slight importance."--scott, _life by lockhart_, vol. v. p. . other opinions as to the noble writer will be found in the _life of calamy_, and in lord dover's _essay_; but i have perhaps trespassed too much on your space. m. * * * * * miscellanies. _books by the yard_.--many of your readers have heard of books bought and sold by weight,--in fact it is questionable whether the _number_ of books sold in that way is not greater than those sold "over the counter,"--but few have probably heard of books sold "by the yard." having purchased at st. petersburg, the library left by an old russian nobleman of high rank, i was quite astonished to find a copy of _oeuvres de frederic ii_. originally published in vols., divided into , to each of which a new title had been printed; and several hundred volumes lettered outside _oeuvres de miss burney, oeuvres de swift,_ &c., but containing, in fact, all sorts of french waste paper books. these, as well as three editions of _oeuvres de voltaire_, were all very neatly bound in calf, gilt and with red morrocco backs. my curiosity being roused, i inquired into the origin of these circumstances, and learnt that during the reign of catherine, every courtier who had hopes of being honoured by a visit from the empress, was expected to have a library, the greater or smaller extent of which was to be regulated by the fortune of its possessor, and that, after voltaire had won the favour of the autocrat by his servile flattery, one or two copies of his works were considered indispensable. every courtier was thus forced to have rooms filled with books, by far the greater number of which he never read or even opened. a bookseller of the name of klostermann, who, being of an athletic stature, was one of the innumerable favourites of the lady, "who loved all things save her lord," was usually employed, not to select a library, but to fill a certain given space of so many yards with books, at so much per volume, and mr. klostermann, the "libraire de la cour imperiale," died worth a plum, having sold many thousand yards of books (among which i understood there were several hundred copies of voltaire), at from to roubles a yard, "according to the binding." a. asher. berlin. dec. . _thistle of scotland_.--r.l. will find the thistle first introduced on coins during the reign of james v., although the motto "nemo me impune lacessit" was not adopted until two reigns later.--see lindsay's _coinage of scotland_, longman, . b.n. _miry-land town_. in the _athenaeum_, in an article on the tradition respecting sir hugh of lincoln, the bishop of dromore's version of the affair is thus given:-- "the rain rins doun through mirry-land toune, sae dois it doune the pa'; sae dois the lads of mirry-land toune. quhan they play at the ba'." in explanation of part of this stanza, dr. percy is stated to have considered "mirry-land toune" to be "_probably_ a corruption of milan (called by the dutch meylandt) town," and that the pa' was "_evidently_ the river po, though the adige, not the po, runs through milan;" and it is observed that it could not have occasioned dr. jamieson _much trouble_ to conjecture as he did that "mirry-land toune" was a corruption of "merry lincolne," and that, in fact, in , pinkerton commenced his version of the ballad thus-- "the bonnie boys o' merry lincoln;" and it is added, very truly, that with all his haste and petulance, pinkerton's critical acumen was far from inconsiderable. now, there appears to me to have been a very simple solution of the above words, so simple that perhaps it was beneath the critical acumen of the said commentators. my note on the subject is, that mirry-land toune means nothing more than miry-, muddy-land town, a designation that its situation certainly entitles it to; and pa' is certainly not the po, but an abbreviated form of pall, i.e. a place to play ba' or ball in, of which we have a well-known instance in pall mall. since writing the above, i recollect that romsey, in hampshire, has been designated "romsey-in-the-mud." j.r.f. _richard greene of lichfield_.--h.t.e. is informed that there is a medal or token (not difficult to obtain) of this zealous antiquary. obv. his bust, in the costume of the period; legend, "richard greene, collector of the lichfield museum, died june , , aged ." rev. a gothic _window_, apparently; legend, "west porch of lichfield cathedral, ." b.n. _the lobster in the medal of the pretender_.--the "notes" by your correspondents, mr. edward hawkins and mr. j.b. yates, relative to this medal, are very curious and interesting, and render it probable that the device of the lobster has a religious rather than a political allusion. but it strikes us that the _double_ introduction of this remarkable emblem has a more important signification than the mere insidious and creeping characteristics of jesuitism. the lines beneath the curious print in brandt's _stultifera nuvis_ throw no light on the meaning of the lobster. we think the difficulty yet remains unsolved. b.n. _marescautia_.--your correspondent "d.s." who asks (in no. .) for information upon the word "marescautia," may consult du cange with advantage, _s. v._ "marescallus;" the "u," which perhaps was your correspondent's difficulty, being often written for "l," upon phonotypic principles. it was anciently the practice to apportion the revenues of royal and great monastic establishments to some specific branch of the expenditure; and as the profits of certain manors, &c., are often described as belonging to the "infirmaria," the "camera abbatis," &c., so, in the instance referred to by "d.s." the lands at cumpton and little ongar were apportioned to the support of the royal stable and farriery. j.b. _macaulay's "young levite_.--the following is an additional illustration of mr. macaulay's sketch, from bishop hall's _byting satyres_, :-- "a gentle squire would gladly entertaine into his house some _trencher-chapelaine_; some willing man, that might instruct his sons, and that would stand to good conditions. first, that he lie upon the truckle-bed, while his young master lieth o'er his head; second, that he do, upon no default, never to sit above the salt; third, that he never change his trencher twise; fourth, that he use all common courtesies, sit bare at meales, and one half rise and wait; last, that he never his young master beat, but he must aske his mother to define how manie jerks she would his breech should line; all these observ'd, he could contented be, to give five markes, and winter liverie." r. _travelling in england._--i forward you a note on this subject, extracted, some years ago, from a very quaintly-written _history of england_, without title-page, but apparently written in the early part of the reign of george the first. it is among the remarkable events of the reign of james the first:-- "a.d. , july the th, bernart calvert of andover, rode from st. george's church in southwark to dover, from thence passed by barge to callais in france, and from thence returned back to saint george's church the same day. this his journey he performed betwixt the hours of three in the morning and eight in the afternoon." this appears to me such a surprising feat, that i think some of your correspondents may be interested in it; and also may be able to append farther information. david stevens. _warning to watchmen._--the following _warning_, addressed to the watchmen of london on the occasion of a great fire, which destroyed nearly houses in the neighbourhood of exchange alley, birchin lane, the back of george yard, &c., among which were garraway's, the jerusalem coffee house, george and vulture, tom's, &c. &c., is extracted from the _london magazine_ for , and is very characteristic of the then state of the police of the metropolis:-- "mr. touchit's _warning to the watchmen of london_. from the _westminster journal_, april nd, no. . ( ). "whereas it has been represented to me, _thomas touchit_, watchman extraordinary of the city of _westminster_, that the watchmen of _london_ were very remiss during the dreadful fire on _friday_ morning, _march_ , in not giving timely notice of that calamity over their several _beats_, whereby the friends of many of the unhappy sufferers, who would have flown to their assistance, were ignorant of their distress till it was too late to do them service; and also that most of the said watchmen, on other occasions, are very negligent, whence it happens that many robberies, burglaries, and other offences, which their care might prevent, are committed; and that even some of them are in fee with common harlots and streetwalkers, whom they suffer at unseasonable hours, unmolested to prey on the virtue, health and property of his majesty's liege subjects: be it known to the said watchmen, and their masters, that, having taken the premises into consideration, i intend whenever i set out from _spring gardens_ with my _invisible cap_, my _irradiating lanthorn_, and my _oken staff_ of correction, to take the city of _london_, under leave of the right hon. the lord mayor, into my rounds, and to detect, expose, and punish all defaulters in the several stands and beats: whereof this fair warning is given, that none may be surprized in neglect of duty, i being determined to shew no favour to such offenders." euston square, th dec. . _aelfric's colloquy_.--permit me to correct a singular error into which the great anglo-saxon scholars, messrs. lye and b. thorpe, have been betrayed by some careless transcriber of the curious _monastic colloquy_ by the celebrated aelfric. this production of the middle ages is very distinctly written, both in the saxon and latin portions, in the cotton ms. (tiberius, a , fol. _b_.) mr. lye frequently cites it, in his _saxon dictionary_, as "_coll. mon._," and mr. thorpe gives it entire in his _analecta anglo-saxonica_. the former loosely explains _higdifatu_, which occurs in the reply of the shoewright (_sceowyrhta_), thus--"ca_l_idilia, sc. vasa _quoedam.--coll. mon._"--and mr. thorpe prints both _higdifatu_ and _ca_l_idilia_. _higdifatu_ is manifestly vessels of hides, such as skin and leather bottles and buckets. the _ig_ is either a clerical error of the monkish scribe for _y_, or the _g_ is a silent letter producing the quantity of the vowel. "i buy hides and fells," says the workman, "and with my craft i make of them shoes of different kinds; leathern hose, flasks, and _higdifatu_." the latin word in this ms. is _casidilia_, written with the long straight _s_. du cange explains _capsilis_ to be a vessel of leather, and quotes matt. westmon.: "portans _cassidile_ toxicum mellitum."--_gloss_. tom. ii. col. . the root _caps_, or _cas_, does not appear to have any teutonic correspondent, and may merit a philological investigation. r.t. hampson. _humble pie_.--the proverbial expression of "eating humble pie," explained by a.g., will be found also explained in the same manner in the appendix to forby's _vocabulary_, where it is suggested that the correct orthography would be "umble pie," without the aspirate. bailey, in his valuable old _dictionary_, traces the word properly to _umbilicus_, the region of the intestines, and acknowledges in his time the perquisite of the game-keeper. j.i. oxford. _by hook or by crook_.--you have noted the origin of humble pie. may i add a note of a saying, in my opinion also derived from forest customs, viz. "by hook or by crook?" persons entitled to fuel wood in the king's forest, were only authorised to take it of the dead wood or branches of trees in the forest, "with a cart, a hook, and a crook." the answer to the query respecting the meaning of "per serjantiam marescautiae," is the serjeantry of farriery, i.e. shoeing of the king's horses. in maddox, vol. i. p. . you will find a very full account of the office of marescallus. j.r.f. the origin of grog. "written on board the berwick, a few days before admiral parker's engagement with the dutch fleet, on the th of august, . by dr. trotter. "'tis sung on proud olympus' hill the muses bear record, ere half the gods had drank their fill the sacred nectar sour'd. "at neptune's toast the bumper stood, britannia crown'd the cup; a thousand nereids from the flood attend to serve it up. "'this nauseous juice,' the monarch cries, 'thou darling child of fame, tho' it each earthly clime denies, shall never bathe thy name. "'ye azure tribes that rule the sea, and rise at my command, bid _vernon_ mix a draught for me to toast his native land.' "swift o'er the waves the nereids flew, where _vernon's_ flag appear'd; around the shores they sung 'true blue,' and britain's hero cheer'd. "a mighty bowl on deck he drew, and filled it to the brink; such drank the burford's[ ] gallant crew, and such the gods shall drink. "the sacred robe which vernon wore was drenched within the same; and hence his virtues guard our shore, and _grog_ derives its name." w.h.s. [the gallant correspondent to whom we are indebted for the foregoing satisfactory, because early and documentary, evidence of the etymology of the now familiar term grog, informs us that there is a still earlier ballad on the subject. we trust that he will be enabled to recover that also, and put it on record in our columns.] _barnacles_.--in a _chorographical description of west, or il-jar connaught_, by rhoderic o'flaherty, esq., , published by the irish archaeological society in , the bernacle goose is thus mentioned:-- "there is the bird engendered by the sea out of timber long lying in the sea. some call them _clakes_, and _soland geese_, and some puffins; others _bernacles_, because they resemble them. we call them _girrinn_." martin, in his _western isles of scotland_, says:-- "there are also the _cleek geese_. the shells in which this fowl is said to be produced, are found in several isles sticking to trees by the bill; of this kind i have seen many,--the fowl was covered by a shell, and the head stuck to the tree by the bill,--but never saw any of them with life in them upon the tree; but the natives told me that they had observed them to move with the heat of the sun."--see also gratianus, lucius, ware's _antiquities_, &c. eating sea-birds on fast days is a very ancient custom. socrates mentions it in the th century: "some along with fish eat also birds, saying, that according to moses, birds like fish were created out of the waters." mention is made in martin's _western isles_, of a similar reason for eating _seals_ in lent. _cormorants_, "as feeding only on fish," were allowable food on fast days, as also were _otters_. ceredwyn. _vondel's lucifer_.--i cannot inform your correspondent f. (no. p. .), whether vondel's _lucifer_ has ever been translated into english, but he will find reasons for its not being worth translating, in the _foreign quarterly review_ for april, , where the following passage occurs:-- "compare with him milton, for his _lucifer_ gives the fairest means of comparison. how weak are his highest flights compared with those of the bard of paradise! and how much does vondel sink beneath him in his failures! now and then the same thought may be found in both, but the points of resemblance are not in passages which do milton's reputation the highest honour." the scene of this strange drama is laid in heaven, and the _dramatis personæ_ are as follows:-- beelzebub } belial } disobedient officers. apollion } gabriel (interpreter of god's secrets). troop of angels. lucifer. luciferists (rebellious spirits). michael (commander-in-chief). rafael (guardian angel). uriel (michael's esquire). act i. scene . beelzebub, belial, apollion, &c. i give this from the original dutch now before me. hermes. _dutch version of dr. faustus_.--can any of your correspondents give me information as to the author of a dutch _history of dr. faustus_, without either author's name or date, and illustrated by very rude engravings? there is no mention of where it was printed, but at the bottom of the title-page is the following notice:-- "compared with the high dutch copy, and corrected in many places, and ornamented with beautiful copper plates."[ ] there is also a promise of a latin copy soon to follow. hermes. [the first german chap-book upon _faust_ appeared in . a translation of it into dutch was published as early as , at emmerich. it was again printed at delft in ; and there have been several editions since that date. the curious history of this romance has been well investigated by h. düntzer, _die sage von doctor johannes faust_, in the th volume of _das kloster_; and even more fully by the freiherr v. reichlien meldegg, in the th volume of the same work.] _to fettle_.--your correspondent l.c.r. (p. ) is referred to the late mr. roger wilbraham's _cheshire glossary_, or (as he modestly termed it) _an attempt_, &c. this work, privately printed in , is the republication, but with _very considerable additions_, of a paper in the _archaeologia_, vol. xix. the explanation of the present word is an instance of this expansion. your correspondent and mr. w. agree as to the meaning of this verb, viz. "to mend, to put in order any thing which is broken or defective." being used in this sense, mr. w. differs from johnson and todd, and he is inclined to derive fettle from some deflection of the word _faire_, which comes from latine _facere_. i must not crowd your columns further, but refer to the _glossary_. may i point out rather a ludicrous misprint (doubtless owing to an illegible ms.) at p. . for mr. pickering's _lives_, read _series_ of aldine poets. j.h.m. to fetyl, _v. n._ to join closely. see g. _factil. ligamen._--wyntown. fettil, fettle, s. energy, power.--s.b. to fettle, _v. a._ to tie up.--s. fettle, _adj._ . neat, tight.--s.b. . low in stature, but well-knit.--s.b. fetous, _adj._ neat, trim. fetously, _adv._ featly. jamieson's _dictionary_, abridged vo. edition. fettle, _v._ to put in order, to repair or mend any thing that is broken or defective. i am inclined to consider it as from the same root as feat,--viz. sue got. _fatt_, apt, ready. swed. _fatt_, disposed, inclined; _fatta_, to comprehend.--brockett's _glossary_. _ptolemy of alexandria_.--your correspondent, "query," wishes to be informed what works of ptolemy have been translated. the following, as far as i can learn, is a list of them, viz.:-- "the compost of ptholomeus, prynce of astronomye, translated out of the frenche into englysshe." london, printed by robert wyer, no date, mo. there is also another edition of the same work, london, printed by t. colwell, without date, mo. "the bounding of greece-land, according to ptolomeus; englished out of the greek, by thos. wilson." london, , to. n.b. this is included in wilson's translation of demosthenes' _olynthiacs_. "the geography of ptolemy, so far as it relates to britain; in greek and english, with observations by j. horsley." london, , folio. n.b. this forms a part of the _britannia romana_. "quadripartite; or four books concerning the influence of the stars, faithfully rendered into english, from leo allatius; with notes, explaining the most difficult and obscure passages, by john whalley." london, and , mo. "tetrabiblos, or quadripartite; being four books, of the influence of the stars, newly translated from the greek paraphrase of proclus; with a preface, explanatory notes, and an appendix containing extracts from the almagest of ptolemy, and the whole of his colloquy, &c. by j.m. ashmand." london, , vo. i am indebted to watt's _bibliotheca britannica_ for the titles of the first three of these works. the others i have in my possession. w.j. brown. old street. there are several real or pretended translations of the _astrological_ work--some certainly pretended--and ptolemy's name is on many astrological titlepages which do not even pretend to translate. the geography, as far as britain is concerned, is said to be in dr. henry's _history of great britain_, . some works in harmonics appear in lists as translations or close imitations of ptolemy, as john keeble's, , francis styles, _phil. trans_. vol. li. various dissertations on minor pieces exist: but there is no english translation of the _almagest_, &c., though it exists in french (see smith's _biograph. dict_. art. ptolemy). if an english reader wants to know ptolemy's astronomical methods and hypotheses, nothing will suit him better than narrien's _history of astronomy_. m. _accuracy of references_.--in connection with the article on "misquotations," in no. . p. ., will you impress upon your correspondents the necessity of exact references? it is rather hard when, after a long search, a sought reference has been obtained, to find that the reference itself is, on examination, incorrect. to illustrate my position: at p. ., in an article relating to judge skipwyth, and at p. ., in an article relating to the lions in the tower, references to certain "pp." of the issue rolls of the exchequer. now if any person with these references were to search the issue rolls, he would be much surprised to find that the rolls are rolls, and not books, and that "pp." is not the correct reference. the fact is that neither of your correspondents are quoting from the rolls themselves, but from a volume, published in , under the direction of the comptroller general of the exchequer, by mr. f. devon, called _issue roll of thomas de brantingham, bishop of exeter, lord high treasurer of england_, &c. edward iii. and while on the subject, permit me to remark, with reference to the article on the domestic expenses of queen elizabeth (page .), that there are plenty of such documents in existence, and that the only test of their value and authenticity is a reference to where they may be found, which is wanting in the article in question. j.e. _a peal of bells_.--in no. of your interesting and valuable journal, i find a query, from the rev. a. gatty, relative to a peal of bells. now the science of bell-ringing being purely english, we can expect to find the explanation sought for, only in english authors. dr. johnson says peal means a "succession of sounds;" and in this way it is used by many old writer, thus:-- "a peal shall rouse their sleep."--milton. and again addison:-- "oh for a peal of thunder that would make earth, sea, and air, and heaven, and cato tremble." bacon also hath it:-- "woods of oranges will smell into the sea perhaps twenty miles; but what is that, since a peal of ordnance will do as much, which moveth in a small compass?" it is once used by shakespeare, _macbeth_:-- "ere to black hecate's summons the shard-borne beetle, with drowsy hums, hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done a deed of dreadful note." will not ringing a peal, then, mean a succession of sweet sounds caused by the ringing of bells in certain keys? some ringers begin with d flat; others, again, contend they should begin in c sharp. in your last number is a query about _scarborough warning_. grose, in his _provincial glossary_, give the meaning as "a word and a blow, and the blow first;" it is a common proverb in yorkshire. he gives the same account of its origin as does ray, extracted from fuller, and gives no notion that any other can be attached to it. r.j.s. * * * * * queries. catacombs and bone-houses. i should be very glad to have some distinct information on the above subject, especially in explanation of any repositories of human bones in england? was the ancient preservation of these skeleton remains always connected with embalming the body?--or drying it, after the manner described by captain smythe, r.n., to be still practised in sicily?--and, in cases in which dry bones only were preserved, by what process was the flesh removed from them? for, as addison says, in reference to the catacombs at naples, "they must have been full of stench, _if_ the dead bodies that lay in them were left to rot in open niches." the catacombs at paris seem to have been furnished with bones from the emptyings of the metropolitan churchyards. in some soils, however, the bones rot almost as soon as the flesh decays from them. there are, possibly, many bone-houses in england. i have seen two of considerable extent, one at ripon minster, the other at rothwell church, in northamptonshire; and at both places skulls and thigh bones were piled up, in mural recesses, with as much regularity as bottles in the bins of a wine-cellar. at rothwell there was (twenty years ago) a great number of these relics. the sexton spoke of there being , skulls, but this, no doubt, was an exaggeration; and he gave, as the local tradition, that they had been gathered from the neighbouring field of naseby. a similar story prevails at ripon, viz. that the death-heads and cross-bones, which are arranged in the crypt under the minster, are the grisly gleanings of some battle-field. now, if these, and other like collections, were really made after battles which took place during any of the civil wars of england, some details would not be unworthy of the notice of the picturesque historian; _e.g._, was it the custom in those unhappy days to disinter, after a time, the slightly-buried corpses, and deposit the bones in the consecrated vault?--or was this the accidental work of some antiquarian sexton of the "old mortality" species?--or was the pious attention suggested by the ploughman's later discoveries-- "agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro," &c.? any report from the places where there happen to be bone-houses, together with the local tradition assigning their origin, would i think, throw light on an interesting and rather obscure subject. ecclesfield, dec. . . alfred gatty * * * * * contradictions in don quixote; and query as to the buscapiÉ. in answer to the question of "melanion" (in no. p. .), it may be sufficient to refer him to the spanish editions with notes, viz. that of pellicer in ; the th edition of the spanish academy in ; and that of d. diego clemencin in , where he will find the discrepancies he mentions pointed out. in the first edition of there was another instance in the same chapter, which cervantes corrected in the edition of , but overlooked the other two. it was one of those lapses, _quas incuria fudit_, which great writers as well as small are subject to. clemencin laughs at de los rios for thinking it a chracteristic of great geniuses so to mistake; and at the enthusiasm of some one else, who said that he preferred the don quixote with the defects to the don quixote without them. having answered one query, i presume i may be permitted to propose one, in which i feel much interested. is the recently published buscapiÉ the work of cervantes? we have now been favoured with two translations, one by thomasina ross, the other by a member of the university of cambridge, under the title of _the squib, or searchfoot_; the latter i have read with some attention, but not having been able to procure the spanish original, i should be glad to have the opinion of some competent spanish scholar who has read it, as to its genuineness. my own impression is that it will prove an ingenious (perhaps innocent?) imposture. the story of its discovery in a collection of books sold by auction at cadiz, and its publication _there_ by don adolfo de castro, in the first place, rather excites suspicion. my impression, however, is formed from the evident artificial structure of the whole. still, not having seen the original, i confess myself an imperfect judge, and hope that this may meet the eye of one competent to decide. s.w. singer * * * * * ancient alms-basins. i have read the various notices in nos. , , and . on the subject of these dishes. i have an electrotype copy from such a dish, the original of which is in manchester. the device is like no. . of those of clericus (no. . p. .); but two circles of inscription extend round the central device (the grapes of escol), in characters which are supposed to be saracenic. the inner inscription is five times, the outer seven times, repeated in the round. i see by the _archaeological journal_, no. , for sept. (pp. - .), that at the meeting of archaeological institute, on the st june last, mr. octavius morgan, m.p., exhibited a collection of ancient salvers or chargers, supposed to be of latten; several ornamented with sacred devices and inscriptions, including some remarkable examples of the curious florid letter, forming legends, which have so long perplexed antiquaries in all parts of europe. mr. morgan arranged the devices in four classes, the first being chargers or large dishes, supposed by him to have been fabricated at nuremburg. the northern antiquary, sjöborg, who has written much on the subject, calls them baptismal or alms dishes. their most common devices are, adam and eve (probably the no. . of clericus), st. george, and the grapes of eschol (no. . of clericus). on one of those exhibited was the annunciation (no. . of clericus). on these facts i wish to put the following queries:-- . are sjöborg's works known to any of your readers? . in what language does he suppose the characters to be? melandra. [while we are very happy to promote the inquiries of our correspondent, we think it right to apprise him that the opinions of the swedish antiquary whom he has named, are received with great caution by the majority of his archæological brethren.] * * * * * minor queries. _cupid crying._--i shall be obliged if you, or any of your correspondents, can tell me who was the author of the epigram, or inscription, of which i subjoin the english translation. i am sure i have seen the latin, but i do not know whose it was or where to find it; i think it belongs to one of the italian writers of the fifteenth or sixteenth century:-- "cupid crying. "why is cupid crying so?-- because his jealous mother beat him.-- what for?--for giving up his bow to coelia, who contrived to cheat him. "the child! i could not have believed he'd give his weapons to another.-- he would not; but he was deceived: she smiled; he thought it was his mother." rufus. _was not sir george jackson "junius?"_--among the names which have been put forward as claimants to be "junius," i beg to propose the name of sir george jackson, who was, i believe, about that time secretary to the admiralty. i shall be glad to know what obstacles are opposed to this theory, as i think i have some presumptive evidence (i do not call it strong), which seems to show either that he was "junius," or a party concerned. p. _ballad of dick and the devil._--about the middle of the seventeenth century, occasionally resided, on the large island in windermere, a member of the ancient but now extinct family of philipson, of crooke hall. he was a dashing cavalier, and, from his fearless exploits, had acquired among the parliamentarians the significant, though not very respectable, cognomen of "robin the devil." on one of these characteristic adventures, he rode, heavily armed, into the large old church at kendal, with the intention of there shooting an individual, from whom he had received a deeply resented injury. his object, however, was unaccomplished, for his enemy was not present; and in the confusion into which the congregation were thrown by such a warlike apparition, the dauntless intruder made his exit, though subjected to a struggle at the church door. his casque, which was captured in the skirmish that there took place, is yet to be seen in the church, and the fame of this redoubtable attempt, which was long held in remembrance through the country side, excited the poetic genius of a rhymer of the day to embody it in a ballad, entitled "dick and the devil," which is now rare and difficult to be met with. as my endeavours to light on a copy have been unavailing, and my opportunities for research are limited, perhaps some one of your numerous readers who may be versed in the ballad poetry of the age of my hero, will kindly take the trouble to inform me whether he has ever met with the ballad in question, or direct me to where it may most likely be found. i trust that from the obliging communications of some of your valuable literary correspondents, i may be so fortunate as to meet with the object of my query. h.j.m. dec. . ambleside. _erasmus' paraphrase on the gospels._--i have in my charge the mutilated remains of an old black-letter copy of _erasmus' paraphrase on the gospels_, not of any great value perhaps, but interesting to me from its having been chained from time immemorial (so to speak) to one of the stalls in our parish church; it is only perfect from mark, fol. lxiiii. to john fol. cxiii., but i should be glad to know the date, &c. of its publication. presuming, therefore, that one of the objects of your interesting publication is to aid in solving the _minor_ difficulties of persons like myself, who have no means of consulting any large collection of books, i have the less scruple in forwarding the accompanying "notes" from my copy, for the guidance of any one who will be at the trouble of comparing them with any copy to which he may have access. the spelling of the word "gospel" varies throughout; thus, in mark, fols. lxiiii-lxxii., xci., xciv., xcv., xcvii., and xcviii. it is "ghospel;" on lxxiii-lxxvi., lxxviii., it is "gospell;" on the rest "gospel." so also throughout st. luke, which occupies cc. foll., it varies in like manner, "ghospell" being there the more common form. the initial letter to st. luke represents jacob's dream; on the first page of fol. vi. of st. luke the translator's preface ends, "geven at london the last day of septembre, in the yere of our lorde m.d.xlv." on fol. xiii. of the same, erasmus' own preface ends, "geven at basill the xxii. dai of august ye yere of our lord, m.d." (the rest effaced). on the first page of fol. viii. of st. john's gospel the preface ends, "geven at basile the yere of our lord, m.d.xxiii. the v daye of januarye." if these notes are sufficient to identify my copy with any particular edition, it will afford a real pleasure to a yorkshire subscriber. _iland chest._--in some wills of bristol merchants of the latter part of the th century, i have met with the bequest of a chattel called an _"iland chest:"_ thus, ex.g. "item: to edmond poyley i give the iland chest in the great chamber wherein his linen was." mention is made of the like article in two or three other instances. an explanation of the word and an account of the kind of chest will much oblige. b.w.g. _d'israeli on the court of wards._--d'israeli, in his article upon "usurers of the seventeenth century" (_curios. of lit._ iii. . old ed.), which is chiefly upon hugh audley, a master of the court of wards and liveries, speaks of that court as "a remarkable institution, on which i purpose to make some researches." can any of your readers inform me if d'israeli acted upon this resolve, and, if so, where the results of labours are to be found? j.b. _ancient tiles._--two birds, back to back, with heads turned to each other, were common on ancient tiles. what are they intended to represent or to emblemise? b. _pilgrimage of kings, &c.--blind man's buff--muffin--hundred weight, &c.--_ . can your readers oblige me with the name of the author and the date of a work entitled _the pilgrimage of kings and princes_, of which i possess an imperfect copy--a small quarto? . what is the etymology of the game blind man's _buff?_ i am led to doubt whether that was the old spelling of it, for in a catalogue now before me i find a quarto work by martin parker, entitled _the poet's blind man's bough, or have among you my blind harpers,_ . . what is the origin of the word _muffin?_ it is not in _johnson's dictionary._ perhaps this sort of tea-cake was not known in his day. . by what logic do we call one hundred and _twelve_ pounds merely a hundred weight? . i shall feel still more obliged if your readers can inform me of any works on natural history, particularly adapted for a literary man to refer to at times when poetical, mythological, scriptural, and historical associations connected with animals and plants are in question. i am constantly feeling the want of a work of the kind to comprehend zoological similes and allusions, and also notices of customs and superstitions connected with animals, when reading our old poets and chroniclers. even the most celebrated zoological works are of no use to me in such inquiries. stephen beauchamp. _anthony bek, bishop of durham._--having employed my leisure for many years in collecting _materials_ for the biography of the famous anthony bek, bishop of durham, i am baffled by the conflicting and contradictory accounts of,--( .) the title by which he became possessed of the _vesci_ estates; ( .) _when_ and by what authority he took upon him the title of "king of the isle of man;" and ( .) how he became dispossessed of that title, which it is well known that edward ii. bestowed upon gaveston; and whether that circumstance did not induce him to take part with the confederate barons who eventually destroyed that favourite. other incongruities occur in my researches, but the above are the most difficult of solution. i am, dear sir, one that intends to be a regular subscriber to the "notes and queries." _curious welsh custom._--a custom prevails in wales of carrying about at christmas time a horse's skull dressed up with ribbons, and supported on a pole by a man who is concealed under a large white cloth. there is a contrivance for opening and shutting the jaws, and the figure pursues and bites every body it can lay hold of, and does not release them except on payment of a fine. it is generally accompanied by some men dressed up in a grotesque manner, who, on reaching a house, sing some extempore verses requesting admittance, and are in turn answered by those within, until one party or the other is at a loss for a reply. the welsh are undoubtedly a poetical people, and these verses often display a good deal of cleverness. this horse's head is called _mari lwyd,_ which i have heard translated "grey mare." _llwyd_ certainly is grey, but _mari_ is not a mare, in welsh. i think i have heard that there is some connection between it and the camel which often appears in old pictures of the magi offering their gifts. can any of your readers inform me of the real meaning of the name, and the origin of the custom, and also whether a similar custom does not prevail in some parts of oxfordshire? pwcca. _fall of rain in england._--can you give me any information respecting the fall of rain in england? i mean the quantity of rain that has fallen in various parts of the island, from month to month, during the last ten, fifteen, or twenty years. if any of your correspondents can do that, or can give me a list of works, periodical or otherwise, in which such information is to be found, they will greatly oblige me. can any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of the following lines?-- "though with forced mirth we oft may soothe a smart, what seemeth well, is oft not well, i ween; for many a burning breast and bleeding heart, hid under guise of mirth is often seen." roydon. _rev. j. edwards on metals for telescopes_.--i shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents can inform me where i can find a paper, called "directions for making the best composition for the metals of reflecting telescopes, and the method of grinding, polishing, and giving the great speculum the true parabolic figure," by the rev. john edwards, b.a. i saw it some years ago in on old journal or transactions, but capt. cuttle's maxim not having been then given to the world, and being now unable to make a search, i avail myself of your valuable publication. [hebrew] _colonel blood's house_.--the notorious colonel blood is said to have resided at a house in peter street, westminster. tradition points out the corner of tufton street. can any of your readers give me information as to the correctness of this statement? e.f.r. _john lucas's ms. collection of english songs_.--ames, the author of the _typographical antiquities_, is said to have had in his possession a folio ms. volume of english songs or ballads, composed or collected by one john lucas, about the year . if this ms. is in private hands, the possessor would confer an essential service on the antiquarian public by informing them of its contents. e.f.r. _theophania_.--i send you a copy, _verbatim et literatim_, of the title-page of an old book in my possession, in the hope that some one of your correspondents may be able to furnish me with information respecting its author. i believe the work to be a very scarce one, having never seen or heard of any other copy than my own. "theophania; or severall modern histories represented by way of romance; and politickly discours'd upon: by an english person of quality. "stat. theb, nec divinam sydneida tenta séd longe sequere, & vestigia semper adora. "london, printed by t. newcomb, for thomas heath and are to be sold at his shop in russel-street, near the piazza of covent garden, ." henry kersley. _ancient ms. account of britain_.--i find the following note in cooper's _thesaurus linguæ romanæ et britannicæ_, impressum londini, , under the word _britannia_:-- "about yeares since it happend in wilshire, at juy church, about twoo miles from salisbury, as men digged to make a foundation, they founde an hollowe stone covered with another stone, wherein they founde a booke, having in it little above xx leaves, (as they sayde) of verye thicke velume, wherein was some thing written. but when it was shewed to priestes and chanons, which were there, they would not read it. wherefore after they had tossed it from one to another (by the meanes whereof it was torne) they did neglect and cast it aside. long after, a piece thereof happened to come to my handes; which notwithstanding it was al to rent and defaced, i shewed to mayster richarde pace, then chiefe secretarie to the kinges most royall maiestie, whereof he exceedingly reioysed. but because it was partly rent, partly defaced and bloured with weate which had fallen on it, he could not find any one sentence perfite. notwithstanding after long beholding, hee showed mee, it seemed that the sayde booke contayned some auncient monument of this ile, and that he perceyved this word _prytania_ to bee put for _brytannia_. but at that time he said no more to me." cooper's conjecture founded on this is that britain is derived from the greek word prytania, which, according to suidas, "doth," with a circumflexed aspiration, "signifie metalles, fayres, and markets." "calling the place by that which came out of it, as one would say, _hee went to market_, when he goeth to antwarpe," &c. has this been noticed elsewhere? j.g. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the announcement recently made in _the athenæum_ of the intention of the government to print in a neat and inexpensive form, a series of calendars or indices of the valuable historical documents in the state paper office, cannot but be very gratifying to all students of our national history--in the first place, as showing an intention of opening those documents to the use of historical inquirers, on a plan very different from that hitherto pursued; and, in the next, it is to be hoped, as indicating that the intention formerly announced of placing the state paper office under the same regulation as the _record offices_, with the drawback of fees for searches, is not to be persevered in. to the citizens of london, to its occasional visitants, as well as to the absent friends and relatives of those who dwell within its walls, mr. archer's projected work, entitled _vestiges of old london, a series of finished etchings from original drawings, with descriptions, historical associations and other references_, will be an object of especial interest. the artistical portion will, we believe, be mainly founded on the collection of drawings in the possession of william twopeny, esq., while the literary illustrations will be derived entirely from original sources, and from the results of careful observation and inquiry. it is said to have been a rule with charles fox to have every work bound in one volume if possible, although published in two or three. the public have long felt the convenience of such an arrangement; and the great booksellers have very wisely gratified their wishes in that respect. the handsome "monotome" edition of _the doctor_ is doubtless well known to our readers. the success of that experiment has, we presume, induced messrs. longman to announce the _complete works of the rev. sydney smith_, and _mr. macaulay's critical essays_, in the same cheap and convenient form. we believe, too, that another (the sixth) edition of that gentleman's _history of england from the accession of james ii._, is on the eve of publication. those of our readers who take an interest in that widely spread and popular subject, _the dance of death_, will remember that one of the most exquisite works of art in which expression is given to the idea on which this pictorial morality is founded, is the alphabet dance of death--so delicately engraved on wood, (it is sometimes said by holbein, who designed it,) but really by h. lutzelburger, that the late mr. douce did not believe it could ever be copied so as to afford any adequate impression of the beauty of the original. a german artist, heinrich loedel, has, however, disproved the accuracy of this opinion; and the amateur may now, for a few shillings, put himself in possession of most admirable copies of a work which is a masterpiece of design, and a gem in point of execution, and of which the original is of the extremest rarity. there are two editions of this alphabet; one published at gottingen, with an accompanying dissertation by dr. adolf ellisen; and the other at cologne, with corresponding borders by georg osterwald. the revised and much enlarged edition of dr. lingard's _history of england_, handsomely printed in ten large octavo volumes, is, we understand, nearly ready for publication. mr. m.a. lower, whose _curiosities of heraldry_ and _english surnames_ are no doubt well known to many of our readers, is preparing for publication a translation, from a ms. in the british museum, of _the chronicle of battel abbey from the vow of its foundation by william the conqueror, to the year , originally compiled in latin, by a monk of the establishment._ mr. thorpe, . henrietta street, has just issued "a catalogue of most choice, curious, and excessively rare books, particularly rich in early poetry, mysteries, pageants, and plays, and romances of chivalry." this catalogue is also extremely rich in madrigals set to music, by eminent composers of queen elizabeth's reign--and contains an unrivalled series of jest books, and also of song books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) m'cullum's observations on h.r.h. the duke of kent's shameful persecution since his recal from gibraltar, &c. london, . [ten shillings will be given for a clean and perfect copy.] dalton's (edward) doubting's downfall. [ten shillings, if a pamphlet, twenty shillings, if a book, will be given for a clean and perfect copy.] holloway's letter and spirit. oxon. . phillip's divine visions of engelbrecht. northampton. . kennet, a brand plucked from the burning. . bordelion (abbe) gomgam, oc l'homme prodigieux. vols. amsterdam. linguet. philosophical essays on monachism. . priests unmasked. vols. . enchiridion leonis papÆ. macnab's theory of the universe. . *.* letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notice to correspondents a.b. _will not be surprised at our omitting his quotations from eugene aram's curious account of the melsupper _and shouting the churn, _when he learns that they are already to be found in brand's_ popular antiquities (vol. ii ed. ), _and in hampson's medii Ævi kalendarium_ (vol i). _we have no doubt some of our correspondents will furnish_ a.b. _with a list of eugene aram's published writings._ s.t.p. _there would be no objection to the course proposed, if a sufficient number of subscribers should desire it, except that it could not take a retrospective effect._ _will_ melandra _enable us to communicate with him by letter?_ communications received. _--j.u.g.g.---g.h.b. ---j.r.w.---r.v.---m.a.l.---p.c.s.s. ---h.w.---b.w.---hermes.---j.h.t.---archæus.---j.i.---w.---r.h.--- e.v.---alpha.---arthur griffinhoof, jun.---clericus.---hibernicus. ---g.h.b.---etoniensis.---j.r.p.---a bibliopolist--p. o'c.---c.f.---f.e.---e.v.---s.w.s._ _we have again to explain to correspondents who inquire as to the mode of procuring_ "notes and queries," _that every bookseller and newsman will supply it,_ if ordered, _and that gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher,_ mr. george bell, . _fleet street, accompanied by a post office order for a quarter ( s. d.)._ _an neat case for holding the numbers of_ "notes and queries," _until the completion of each volume, is now ready, price s. d., and may be had_, by order, _of all booksellers and newsmen_. _we are again compelled to omit many notes, queries, and answers to queries, as well as answers to correspondents._ new works nearly ready. i. modern state trials, revised and illustrated. by william charles townsend, esq. m.a. vols. vo. ii. impressions of central and southern europe: being notes of successive journeys. by william edward baxter, esq. vo. iii. norway in and . by thomas forester, esq. with illustrations, &c. by lieut. biddulph, royal artillery. vo. map, plates, &c. iv. the social condition and education of the people in england and europe. by joseph kay, esq. m.a. vols. post. vo. v. mr. c.d. yonge's latin gradus, for the use of eton, westminster, winchester, harrow, and charterhouse schools; king's college, london, and marlborough college. post vo. [on january th. vi. reason and faith; their claims and conflicts. by henry rogers. reprinted (with additions) from the edinburgh review, no. clxxxii. fcap. vo. vii. historical memoirs of cardinal pacca. translated form the italian by sir george head. vols. vo. 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"science in fable." john van voorst, . paternoster row. * * * * * gray's elegy in a country church-yard. each stanza illustrated with an engraving, from original drawings by the most eminent artists. post vo. price s. cloth. a polyglot edition of this volume, with inter-paged translations in the greek, latin, german, italian, and french languages. price s. and, of uniform size. the bard. by gray. with illustrations by the hon. mrs. john talbot. post vo. s. john van voorst, . paternoster row. * * * * * [footnote : the successor of the sir edward dering, from whose _household book_ the rev. lambert b. larking communicated the interesting entries in no. . p. .] [footnote : flag-ship at the taking of porto-bello.] [footnote : uyt den hoogduitschen exemplar overgezien, en op veele plaatzen gecorrigeert, en met schoone kopere figuuren vercierd.] * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . proofreaders. produced from page scans provided by internet library of early journals. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december , . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:--marriage contract of mary queen of scots bill of fare of , by rev. l.b. larking moneta sanctae helenae, by t. hudson turner translations of gray's elegy on authors and books, no. , by bolton corney minor notes:--quotations from pope--angels' visits --extract from register of north runcton--the norman crusader--lady jane of westmoreland notes in answer to queries:--lobster in medal of pretender--straw necklaces answers to minor queries:--ancient motto--political maxim--annus trabeationis--betterton's duties of a player--betterton's essay--incumbents of church livings--mare de saham--reinerius--whelps-- cowley or cowleas queries:--berkeley's theory of vision dr. johnson and professor de morgan caracciolli's life of lord clive suppressed passages in cartwright's poems minor queries:--christencat--hexameter verses in the scriptures miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * marriage contract of mary queen of scots and the earl of bothwell. [among the curious documents which have been produced from time to time before the house of lords in support of peerage claims, there have been few of greater historical interest than the one which we now reprint from the fourth part of the evidence taken before the committee of privileges on the claim of w. constable maxwell, esquire, to the title of lord herries of terregles. it is a copy of the contract of marriage between queen mary and the earl of bothwell, which, although it is said to have been printed by carmichael, in his _various tracts relating to the peerage of scotland, extracted from the public records_, has not been referred to by robertson, or other historians of scotland, not even by the most recent of them, mr. tytler. mr. tytler tells us that on the th of may, , bothwell was created duke of orkney, "the queen with her own hands placing the coronet on his head," and that the marriage took place on the th of may, at four o'clock in the morning in the presence-chamber at holyrood; and that on the following morning a paper, with this ominous verse, was fixed on the palace gate:-- "mense malas maio nubere vulgus ait." the contract, which is dated on the fourteenth of may, is preserved in the register of deeds in the court of session (vol. ix. p. .), and as the copy produced before the house is authenticated--and consequently it may be presumed a more strictly accurate one than that which carmichael has given--it seems well deserving of being transferred to our columns, and so made more available to the purposes of the historian, than it has been found to be in carmichael's _tract_, or is likely to be when buried in a parliamentary blue book.] * * * * * "decimo quarto maij anno domini ts. lxvij, "sederunt dni sessionis clericus regri. "in pns of ye lordis of counsale comperit personale ane ry't excellent ry't heicht and michte princes marie be ye grace of god queene of scottis douieier of france on that ane pairt and ane ry't noble and potent prince james duk of orkney erl bothule lord hales crychtoun and liddisdeall great admiral of the realm of scotland on y't vy'r p't and gaif in yis contract and appointnament following subscriuit w't y'r handis and desyrit ye samen to be insert in ye bukis of counsale to haif ye strenth force and effect of y'r act and decreit thereupoun the q'lk desyre ye saidis lordis thocht reasonable and y'rfor hes decernit and decernis ye said contract and appointnament to be insert and registret in ye said bukis to haif ye strenth force and effect of y'r act and decreit in tyme to cum et ad perpetuam rei memoriam and hes interponit and interponis y'r autoritie y'rto and ordenis y'r autentik extract of the samen to be deliuerit to the foirsaid partiis and the principale to remane apud registrum off ye q'lk contract ye tennor followis at edinburgh ye xiiii. day of may the year of god i'mv'c thrie score sevin yeris it is appointit aggreit contractit and finale concordit betwix ye r't excellent ry't heich and mychte princess marie be ye grace of god queen of scottis douarrier of france on that ane pairt and ye ry't noble and potent prince james duke of orkney erle bothul lord hales creychtoun and liddisdeall great admiral of yis realm of scotland on y't vy'r p't in manner forme and effect as efter follow is that is to say fforsamekle as her majestie considering w't herself how almyete god hes not onlie placit and constitut hir hienes to reigne over this realme and during hir liftyme to governe ye peple and inhabitants y'r of hir native subjects bot als that of hir royall persoun succession my't be producit to enioy and possess yis kingdome and dominionis y'r of quhen god sall call hir hienes to his mercie out of yis mortale life and how grecousle it hes plesit him alredy to respect her hienes and yis hir realm in geving vnto hir maistie of her mest deir and onlie sone ye prince baith her hienes self and hir heill subjects are detbond to render vnto god immortale prayss and thankis and now hir maistie being destitute of ane husband levand solditerie in ye estate of wedoheid and yet young and of flurisshing aige apt and able to procreat and bring furth ma childreyn hes been pressit and humble requirit to yield vnto sum mariege quhilk petitioun hir grece weying and teking in gud pairt bot cheifle regarding ye preservatioun and continewance of hir posteritie hes condescendit y'r to and mature deliberatioun being had towert psonage ye maist p't of hir nobilite by way of adviss hes humblie preyit hir maistie and thocht bettir that she seuld sefar humble hirself as to accept ane of hir awin borne subiectis in y't state and place that war accustomet w't ye manneris lawis and consuctud of yis cuntre rether yan ony foreyne prince and hir maistie preferrand their aduyse and preyeris with ye welfeir of hir relm to the avansment and promotion qlk hir hienes in pticuler mycht heve be foreyn marriage hes in that point likwis inclinit to ye suit of hir said nobilitie and yai bemand ye said noble prince now duke of orkney for ye speciall personage hir maistie well aduisit hes allowit yair motioun and nominatioun and gratiouslie accedit y'r vnto having recent memorie of the notable and worthie actis and gude service done and performit by him to hir ma'tje als weill sen hir returning and arivall in this realme as of befoir in hir hienes minoritie and dureing the tyme of governament of umq'll hir dearest moder of gude memorie in the forth setting of her ma'ties authoritie agains all impugnaris and ganestanders y'r of quhais magnanimitie couraige and constant trewth towert her ma'tie in preservation of hir awn person from mony evident and greit dangers and in conducting of heich and profitable purposes tending to her hienes avancement and establissing of this countre to hir profite and universall obedience hes sa fer movit her and procurit hir favour and affectioun that abuist the common and accustomat gude grace and benevolence quhilk princesses usis to bestow on noblemen thair subjectis weill deserving hir ma'tie wil be content to resaue and tak to hir husband the said noble prince for satisfaction of the hearts of hir nobilitie and people and to the effect that hir ma'tie may be the mair able to govern and rewill this realme in tyme to cum dureing hir liftyme and that issue and succession at goddis plesure may be producit of hir maist noble persoun quhilkis being sa dear and tender to hit said dearest son efter hir ma'ties deceas may befoir all oyris serve ayd and comfort him quhairfore the said excellent and michtie princesse and queene and the said noble and potent prince james duke of orknay sall god willing solemnizat and compleit the band of metrimony aither of them with vther in face of haly kirk w't all gudly diligence and als hir ma'tie in respect of the same metrimony and of the succession at goddis plesure to be procreat betwix thame and producit of hir body sall in her nixt parliament grant ane ratificatioun w't aviss of hir thrie estates quhilk hir ma'tie sall obtene of the infeftment maid be hir to the said noble prince then erll boithuill and his airis maill to be gottin of his body quhilkis failzeing to hir hienes and hir crown to returne off all & haill the erldome landis and ilis of orknay and lordship of zetland with the holmes skeireis guylandis outbrekkis castells towrs fortalices manner places milns multures woddis cunninghares ffishings as weill in ffresh watters as salt havynis portis raidis outsettis parts pendicles tennentis tennendries service of frie tennents advocation donation and richt of patronage of kirkis benefices & chaplanries of the samyn lyand w'tin the sherifdom of orknay and ffowdry of zetland respective with the toll and customs within the saidis boundis togidder with the offices of sherifship of orknay and ffowdry of zetland and office of justiciarie w'tin all the boundis als weill of orknay as zetland with all priviledges fies liberties and dewities perteining and belanging y'rto and all thair pertinentis erectit in ane haill and frie dukrie to be callit the dukrie of orknay for evir and gif neid be sall mak him new infeftment thairvpoun in competent and dew form quhilk hir ma'tie promittis in verbo principis and in caiss as god forbid thair beis na airis maill procreat betwix hir ma'tie and the said prince he obleiss his other airis maill to be gotten of his body to renunce the halding of blenchferme contenit in the said infeftment tackand alwyis and ressavand new infeftment of the saidis landis erlldome lordships ilis toll customs and offices abovewryten and all thair pertinents erectit in an dukrie as said is quhilk name and titill it sall alwyis retene notwithstanding the alteratioun of the halding his saidis airis maill to be gotten of his body payand zeirlie thairfore to our said soverane ladies successoris y'r comptrollaris in y'r name and soume of twa thousand pundis money of this realme lykas the samyn wes sett in the tyme of the kingis grace her gracious ffader of maist worthie memorie mairowir the said noble and potent prince and duke obleiss him that he sall no wayis dispone nor putt away ony of his lands heretages possessiones and offices present nor quhilkis he sall happen to obtene and conquies heireftir dureing the mariage fre the airis maill to be gottin betwix him & her m'tie bot yai to succeid to the same als weil as to the said dukrie of orknay. furthermair it is concludit and accordit be hir ma'tie that all signateurs tres and wrytingis to be subscrivit be hir ma'tie in tyme to cum eftir the completing and solemnization of the said mariage other of gifts dispositiones graces privileges or vtheris sic thingis quhatsumevir sal be alsua subscrivit be the said noble prince and duke for his interesse in signe and taken of his consent and assent y'rto as her ma'ties husband. likas it is alsua aggreit and accordit be the said noble prince and duke that na signateurs tres nor writingis othir of giftis dispositions graces priviledges or others sic thingis concerning the affairs of the realme sall be subscrivit be him onlie and w'tout hir ma'ties aviss and subscription and giff ony sic thing happin the samyn to be of nane availl. and for observing keiping and fulfilling of the premisses and every poynt and article y'r of the said noble and michte princesse and the said noble prince and duke hes bundin and obleissit thame faithfullie to otheris and ar content and consentis that this present contract be actit and registrat in the buiks of counsale and session ad perpetuam rei memoriam and for acting and registring hereof in the samyn buiks her ma'tie ordains hir advocattis and the said noble prince & duke hes maid and constitute m'rs david borthuik alex'r skeyn his prors con't'lie and sea'tie promittand de rato. in witness of the quhilk thing hir ma'tie and the said noble prince and duke hes subscrivit this present contract with thair hands day yeir and place foirsaids befoir thir witnesses ane maist reverend ffader in god johnne archbishop of sant andrews commendator of paisly & george erll of huntlie lord gordon and badzeneth chencelar of scotland &c. dauid erll of craufurd lord lindsay andro erll of rothes lord leslie alexander bishop of galloway commendator of inchaffray john bishop of ross johnne lord fflemyng johnne lord hereiss w'm maitland of lethington youngar secretar to our soverane ladie sir johne bellanden of auchnoule kny't justice clerk and m'r robert crichton of elioh advocat to hir hienes with oy's diverss." (signed) marie rx. james duke of orknay. * * * * * bill of fare of . if an _actual_ bill of fare in a gentleman's house, anno , be worth your acceptance, as a pendant to the one _prescribed_ in your fourth number, you are welcome to the following extract from the account book of sir edward dering, knt. and bart.:-- "a dinner att london, made when my lady richardson, my sister e ashbornham, and kate ashb,--my brother john ashb, my cosen walldron and her sister, and s'r john skeffington, were with me att aldersgate streete, december , . my sister fr ashb and cosen mary hill did fayle of coming. wine s. d. stourgeon s. a joll of brawne s. pickled oystres a barrell s. d. viniger d. rabbets a couple--larkes a dozen--plovers and snikes s. carrowaye and comfites d. a banquet and dozen and a half of glass plates to sett it out in l. s. half a doe--which in y'e fee and charge of bringing itt out of northampton s. a warden py that the cooke made--we finding y'e wardens s. d. ffor a venison pasty, we finding y'e venison s. ffor minct pyes s. d. a breast of veale s. d. a legg of mutton s. ------------ sum totall expended l. s. d. ------------ the dinner was at y'e first course-- a peece of brawne. a boiled ducke in white broathe. a boiled haunch of powdered venison. minct pyes. a boyled legge of mutton. a venison pasty. a roast ducke. a powdered goose roasted. a breast of veale. a cold capon py. second course-- a couple of rabbitts. plovers. larks. snikes. pickled oysters-- dishes. a cold warden py. a joull of sturgeon. complement-- apples and carrawayes. wardens bakt and cold. a cake and cheese. a banquett ready in y'e next room. mem'd--we had out of y'e country y'e goose, y'e duckes, y'e capon py, y'e cake and wardens, and y'e venison; but that is allways p'd for, though given." the above seems to have been a family dinner. sir edward married, for his second wife, a daughter of sir ashbornham, as appears by the following entry:-- " . january / , beeing saturday, at sixe of y'e clocke att night, atte whitehall, in y'e duke of buckingham's lodgings, i married anne ashbornham, third dâ of sir ashbornham, late of ashbornham, kt." in another entry we have-- "... dec. , being thursday, elizabeth lady ashbornham widor of s'r jno ashbornham, was married in s't giles his church in y'e feildes, nere london, to s'r thomas richardson, k't, then lo. cheife justice of y'e common pleas." the day of the month is torn out. it would almost seem as if this was the wedding dinner, on the occasion of the marriage of the chief justice with lady dering's mother; at all events the reunion of the family in london was caused by that event. banquet was the name given to a dessert, and it was usually set out in another room. the large baking pear is still called warden in many counties. appended to the above is a bill of the items of the "banquet," with the cost of hire for the glass plates; but it is so hopelessly illegible that i will not venture to give it. many of the items, as far as i can read them, are not to be found in "the books," and are quite new to me. having had no small experience in deciphering hopeless scribblings, i think i may pronounce this to be better left alone than given in its present confused state. lambert b. larking ryarsh vicarage. * * * * * moneta sanctÆ helenÆ. as a subscriber to your valuable publication, allow me to suggest that it might, from time to time, be open to contributions explaining obscure passages or words, which often occur in the works of mediæval writers, and more especially in early english records. so far as english usages and customs are concerned, the glossary of du cange is of comparatively little value to the english student; many terms, indeed, being wrongly interpreted in all editions of that work. take, for example, the word "tricesima," the explanation of which is truly ridiculous; under "berefellarii," the commentary is positively comic; and many other instances might be cited. at the same time, it would be presumptuous to speak otherwise than in terms of the highest respect and admiration of du cange and his labours. the errors to which i allude were the natural consequences of a foreigner's imperfect knowledge of english law and english customs; still it is to be lamented that they should have remained uncorrected in the later editions of the glossary; and i take it to be our duty to collect and publish, where feasible, materials for an english dictionary of mediæval latin. it is in your power materially to advance such a work, and under that impression i venture to send the present "note." in the wardrobe account of the th year of henry the third, it is stated that among the valuables in the charge of the keeper of the royal wardrobe, there was a silken purse, containing "_monetam sancte helene_." it is well known that, during the middle ages, many and various objects were supposed to possess talismanic virtues. of this class were the coins attributed to the mother of constantine, the authenticity of which is questioned by du cange, in his treatise "_de inferioris ævi numismatibus_." he observes, also, that the same name was given, vulgarly, to almost all the coins of the byzantine emperors, not only to those bearing the effigies of st. helena, but indeed to all marked with a cross, which were commonly worn suspended from the neck as phylacteries; "hence," he subjoins, "we find that these coins are generally perforated." it was quite in accordance with the superstitious character of henry the third that coins of st. helena should be preserved in his wardrobe, among numerous other amulets and relics. but what was the peculiar virtue attributed to such coins? du cange, in the same treatise, says, on the authority of "bosius," that they were a remedy against the "_comitialem morbum_," or epilepsy. the said "bosius," or rather "bozius," wrote a ponderous work, "_de signis ecclesiæ dei_" (a copy of which, by the by, is not to be seen in the library of the british museum, although there are two editions of it in the bodleian), in which he discourseth as follows:--"monetæ adhuc aliquot exstant, quæ in honorem helenæ augustæ, et inventæ crucis, cum hujusmodi imaginibus excusæ antiquitus fuerunt. illis est præsens remedium adversus morbum comitialem: et qui hodie vivit turcarum rex amurathes, quamvis a nobis alienus, vim sanctam illarum expertus solet eas gestare; e morbo namque hujusmodi interdum laborat. nummi quoque sancti ludovici francorum regis mirifice valent adversus nonnullos morbos."--lib. xv. sig. . this mention of the sultan amurath carrying these coins about his person as a precaution against a disease to which he was subject, and indeed the whole passage shows a belief in their efficacy was still prevalent in the sixteenth century, when bozius wrote. it only remains to add, that du cange, in his glossary, does not enumerate the "money of st. helena" under the word "moneta;" nor does he allude to the coins of st. louis, which, according to bozius, were endowed with similar properties. having sent you a "note," permit me to make two or three "queries." . what is the earliest known instance of the use of a beaver hat in england? . what is the precise meaning of the term "pisan," so often used, in old records, for some part of defensive armour, particularly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries? it does not bear any relation to the fabrics of pisa. t. hudson turner. * * * * * translations of gray's elegy. sir,--my best apology for troubling you with such a lengthened query is, that it will serve, to some extent, as a note. will any of your correspondents inform me of any additions to the following list of translations of gray's _elegy?_ it may possibly be more incomplete than i am aware of, as it is drawn up, with two exceptions, from copies in my own library only. greek: . by professor cooke, printed with his edition of aristotle's _poetics_, cantab. . it begins:-- [greek: "nux pelei, oud an agros pura kaietai, oud ana komas."] . by dr. norbury. to. eton. :-- [greek: "atgellei kodon barus aeelion katadunta."] . by dr. sparke, bishop of ely. to. lond. :-- [greek: "kodon aematos oichomenoio baruktupos aechei."] . by dr. coote. to. lond. :-- [greek: "kodon daeta, phaous tekmor apiontos, epaechei."] . by stephen weston. to. london, :-- [greek: "aematos oichomenoio boai chalkos baruaechaes."] . by edward tew. to. lond. :-- [greek: "tael' aechei kodon neon aematos anomenoio."] there is also a greek version of the epitaph only, by j. plumptre, printed with his greek version of pope's _messiah._ to. . in a biographical notice of dr. sparke, it is stated that he was among the thirteen candidates when the competition took place for the best translation of gray's _elegy_ into greek. query, what was this competition, and were any of the other versions published? latin: . by lloyd. query, when and where originally published? my copy, which is among some collections of the late mr. haselwood, appears to have been cut out of a dublin edition. it begins:-- "audistin! quam lenta sonans campana per agros." . by signor gio. costa. mo. in eblana, :-- "Æs triste ingeminat cedentis signa diei." . by gilbert wakefield, in his "poemata partim scripta, partim reddita." cambridge, :-- "vesper adest, lugubre sonat campanula; tardis." . by c.a. et w.h.r. [c. anstey and w.h. roberts.] to. london, :-- "ingeminat signum occiduæ campana diei." . the last-mentioned version originally appeared anonymously in a somewhat different form ( to. cantab. ), the first line being:-- "audin' ut occiduæ signum campana diei." . an anonymous version, "by a member of the university of cambridge," printed with the french translation of m. guedon de berchere, mentioned below. i have no copy, and do not know the opening line. . by s.n.e. to. london, . query, the name of the author. it may perhaps appear on the title-page, which is wanting in my copy:-- "triste sonans, lentè tinnit campana per agros." . by the rev. j.h. macauley, in the "arundines cami:"-- "funebris insonuit morituræ nænia lucis." italian: . by cesarotti. vo. in padova, :-- "parte languido il giorno: odine il segno." . by crocchi. query, when and where originally published? my copy is from the same source as the latin version by lloyd:-- "il bronzo vespertin con flebil rombo." . by gennari, printed on the same pages with the latin version by costa:-- "nunzio del dì che parte intorno suona." . by giannini. nd ed. to. london, :-- "piange la squilla 'l giorno, che si muore." . by torelli. vo. cambridge, :-- "segna la squilla il dì che già vien manco." the latin version by costa, and the italian by cesarotti and torelli, were reprinted by bodoni in , in to., as a supplement to his edition of gray. french: . by mons. p. guedon de berchere. i have no copy, and do not know the opening line. perhaps you will oblige me by inserting it in your list of books wanted to purchase. it is entitled "elégie composée dans un cimetière de campagne." vo. hookham, &c. . . by l.d. vo. chatham, . query, what name is represented by these initials?-- "le rappel a marqué le jour en son déclin." . prose version. anonymous. vo. a paris. an vi.:-- "la cloche du couvre-feu tinte le clas du jour qui expire." german: a translation appeared in the _kaleidoscope_, a weekly paper published in liverpool, in may, . it was communicated by a correspondent who had obtained a copy from the writer in germany:-- "des dorfes glocke schallt den moor entlang." i must frankly avow that i have no present object in seeking information beyond the gratification of curiosity; but i would venture to throw out a hint that an edition of this _elegy_, exhibiting all the known translations, arranged in double columns, might be made a noble monument to the memory of gray. the plan would involve the necessity for a folio size, affording scope for pictorial illustration, on a scale capable of doing justice to "the most finished poem in the english language." j.f.m. * * * * * on authors and books, no. to revive the memory of estimable authors, or of estimable books, is a pursuit to which a man of leisure may devote himself under the certainty that he can neither want materials to proceed with, not miss the reward of commendation. it is by the extensive circulation of biographical dictionaries, and the re-productive agency of the press, that the fame of authors and their works is chiefly perpetuated. general biographers, however, relying too much on the intelligence and tact of their precursors, are frequently the dupes of tradition; and the press, like other descriptions of machinery, requires a _double_ motive-power. a remedy happily presents itself. as it appears, a short note is sufficient to raise inquiry; and inquiry may lead to new fact, or advance critical equity. it may rescue a meritorious author from oblivion, and restore him to his true position on the roll of fame. it is near a century and a half since ant. wood printed a notice of the reverend thomas powell, and more than a century since the inquisitive oldys devoted eighteen pages to an abstract of his _human industry_;--yet we search in vain for the name of powell in the dictionaries of aikin, watkins, chalmers, gorton, &c.--it is even omitted in the _cambrian biography_ of his countryman william owen, f.s.a. an exact transcript of the title of the work, and of the manuscript notes which enrich my own copy of it, may therefore be acceptable:-- "humane industry; or, a history of most manual arts, deducing the original, progress, and improvement of them. furnished with variety of instances and examples, shewing forth the excellency of humane wit. [_anonymous._] london, for henry herringman, ." º. [_on the title._] "e libris rarioribus joannis brand, coll. line. oxon. ." [_on a fly-leaf._] "this book is ascribed by wood to dr. tho'm. powell, canon of st. david's, who was, says he, 'an able philosopher, a curious critic, and well versed in various languages.' see an abstract of this scarce book in oldys's _british librarian_, p. ." "n.b.--the above is the hand-writing of the rev'd. m'r. granger, author of the _biographical history._--i bought it of mr. prince, at oxford, who purchased his books." [john brand.] i have now only to consign the learned powell to future biographers, and to recommend the volume as one which deserves a place in every choice collection of english books. bolton corney. * * * * * minor notes. _quotations from pope._ d***n**r. (p. .), gives, as an instance of misquotation, a passage from pope, as it appeared in the _times_, and adds a correction of it. as my _memory_ suggested a version different from both that of the _times_, and the correction of your correspondent, i turned to pope (bowles edition, ), and found the passage there, precisely as it is given from the _times_. has your correspondent any authority for his reading? no various reading of the lines is given by bowles. while on the subject of pope, i will make a note (as i have not seen it noticed by his commentators), that the well-known line, "the proper study of mankind is man," is literally from charron (_de la sagesse_, i. i. ch. .)-- "la vraye science et le vray etude de l'homme c'est l'homme." f.f.b. [we may add, that in the aldine edition of pope, which was produced under the editorial superintendence of the rev. a. dyce, the lines are given as quoted from the _times_, and without any various reading. see vol. ii. p. .] _angels' visits._ campbell's famous line, "like angels visits, few and far between," has been clearly shown by a correspondent in another paper, to be all but copied from blair:-- ----"like an ill-used ghost not to return;--or if it did, its visits _like those of angels, short and far between._" blair's _grave_. but the same phrase, though put differently, occurs in a religious poem of norris of bemerton, who died in :-- "but those who soonest take their flight, are the most exquisite and strong, _like angels visits, short_ and bright, mortality's too weak to bear them long." wiccamecus. _extract from parish register of north runcton, norfolk_. sir,--as a pendant to the extracts from the register of east peckham, kent, in your third number, i send the following, which i copied some time ago from one of the register books of the parish of north runcton, norfolk, and which may prove interesting to some of your readers. c.w.g "jun. . . "reader,--lest whatever pseudography (as there is much thereof) occurring to thy intentionall or accidentall view of the following pages in this book should prove offensive to thee, i thought good to give thee an account of what hath occasioned the same, viz. in the woful days of the late usurper, the registring of births, not baptisms, was injoyned and required, to give a liberty to all the adversaries of pedobaptisme, &c., and, besides some circumstances, too unhandsome for the calling and person of a minister, were then allso annexed to him that was to keep a register of all, &c.; and so it came to passe, that persons of no learning, for many places, were chosen by y'e parish, and ministers declined the office. nath rowles." _the norman crusader_. "the norman crusader," in the horse-armoury in the tower of london, or a part of it, came from green's museum. he obtained the hauberk from tong castle. at the dispersion of the museum, the hauberk was purchased by bullock, of liverpool (afterwards of the egyptian hall), in whose catalogue for it appears as a _standing_ figure, holding a brown bill in the right hand, and resting the left upon a heater shield. bullock at this time added the chauses.--in , the "london museum" was opened at the "egyptian temple" (hall), the figure as before; but, in the catalogue for , we have the man _and horse_ standing in front of the gallery, and named "the norman crusader." at the "decline and fall" of bullock's museum, mr. gwennap purchased the crusader for, it is said, guineas; and after being put in thorough repair, it was placed in the "aplotheca," brook street, mr. gwennap, jun. adding the sword. during its repair, it was discovered that the armour was not originally made for a horse, but for an elephant; and, on inquiry, it appeared that bullock had purchased it, together with other curiosities, of a sailor, had taken it to pieces, and formed the armour for the horse. at the sale of gwennap's collection, "the norman crusader" was knocked down by geo. robins to a mr. bentley, for _l_., and he being unable to _polish_ it, as he had intended, sold it to the authorities at the tower for one hundred guineas, where it is exhibited as "the norman crusader." naso. _lady jane of westmoreland._ sir,--on page . of mr. collier's second volume of _extracts from the registers of the stationers' company,_ the following entry occurs:--" - . cold and uncoth blowes, of the lady jane of westmorland." and on page ., "a songe of lady jane of westmorland." mr. collier considers these entries to refer to the same production. the name of lady jane of westmoreland does not occur in park's edition of _royal and noble authors_; but it would clearly be entitled to a place there, if we can ascertain who she was. i have little doubt she was jane, daughter of thomas manvers, first earl of rutland, and first wife of henry nevill, fifth earl of westmoreland, by whom she was mother of charles, earl of westmoreland, one of the chiefs of the northern rebellion. collins, under the title "rutland," states that _anne_, daughter of thomas, first earl of rutland, married henry, earl of westmoreland; but under the title "abergavenny" he states that the same henry, earl of westmoreland, married _jane_, daughter of thomas, first earl of rutland. the last statement i presume to be the correct one. i can find no other person, at the period in question, to whom the title of lady jane of westmoreland could have been attributed; and her sister frances, who also married a henry nevill (fourth lord abergavenny of that name), is known to have been an authoress. an account of her will be found in the first volume of the _royal and noble authors_, by park. lady frances abergavenny (whose work is entered on page . of mr. collier's second volume), had an only daughter, who married sir thomas fane, and from this marriage the present earl of westmoreland is descended. q.d. * * * * * notes in answer to queries. _the lobster in the medal of the pretender._ your correspondent, mr. b. nightingale, desires an answer to his query (in your no. ), why is the figure of _a lobster_ introduced into the impression upon the rare medal struck th june, , in contempt or ridicule of prince james edward, the newly-born son of king james ii.? a reference to the two following works will, perhaps, supply the answer:-- st. in philemon holland's translation of pliny's _natural history_ (a great authority at the time) this passage occurs in book ix. cap. .:-- "lobsters, so long as they are secure of any fear and danger, go directly straight, letting down their hornes at length along their sides; ... but if they be in any fear, up go their hornes straight--and then they creep byas and go sidelong." and in the next chapter ( .):-- "crabs" (which were often confounded with lobsters) "when they will be afraid, will recule backward, as fast as they went forward." nd. in the celebrated work of sebastian brandt, entitled _stultifera naxis_ (which went through many editions after its first appearance in ), is an engraving of a fool, wearing cap and bells, seated astride on the back of a lobster, with a broken reed in his hand, and a pigeon flying past him as he stares vacantly at it with open mouth. the following lines are attached:-- de predestinatione "qui pretium poseit quod non meruisse videtur, atque super fragilem ponit sua brachia cannam illius in dorso cancrorum semita stabit; devolet inque suum rictum satis assa columba." it appears, then, to me, that the design of the medallist was to hold up to the exceration of the english people the machinations of father petre, who (together with sunderland) guided the councils of the king at the juncture. the jesuits, like the crustaceous fish above-mentioned, were alleged to accomplish their dark and crooked designs by creeping and sedulously working their way straight forward through the mud, until some real danger presented itself, and then _reculing_ with equal adroitness. at this time, too, the bigoted and superstitious adherents of james had been offering their vows at every shrine, and even making pilgrimages, to induce heaven to grant a male heir to the throne, and thus exclude the protestant daughters of the king. the premature and unexpected event, therefore, of the birth of a son, was pronounced by james's friends to have been predestined by the special grace of the most high. all this, i apprehend, was intended to be typified by the figure of the _jesuit petre riding upon a lobster_. jos. brooks yates _straw necklaces--method of keeping notes, &c._ sir,--as i see this matter is not yet explained, i venture a suggestion. wheat straw was an emblem of peace among heathen nations; in it the first-fruits brought by abaris the hyperborean to delos were wrapped; and when commerce, or rather trade by barter, had rendered transmission from hand to hand practicable, wheat straw was still used. with the worship of diana the offering of wheat straw passed over to thrace, where it was a recognition of that goddess as the patron of chastity. in judea the wheat harvest was later than that of barley, the jews therefore offered a sheaf of the latter grain as first-fruits; it is, however, extraordinary that moses orders barley-meal as the offering for jealousy (numbers, v .), though the price of barley was but half that of wheat. it seems as if there were the same connection between this peace-offering and that of the first-fruits with the jews, that we see between the offering to diana and the first-fruits of the hyperboreans; both may have been derived from egypt, in the learning of which, we are told, moses was skilled. the straw necklace or chaplet of erasmus' pilgrim might be worn to secure him from molestation in travelling, or it may refer to the patroness of walsingham, the virgin mary. i dare say many persons have thought with me, that a poet's promise of a "belt of straw" to his love, was not a very complimentary one; one possible meaning never struck me till this moment: it may be a compliment unconsciously drawn from a heathen source, and perpetuated, like so many of our old-world customs, among a class of people the least likely to understand the meaning. another corroboration of macaulay's young levite may be found in _the tatler_, no. , sixty years later than burton. i beg to suggest a method of keeping "notes," which i have found useful. i have a blank book for each quarter of the world, paged alphabetically; i enter my notes and queries according to the subject for which they are most likely to be required; if relating to mere geography or history, under the name of place or person. i also keep a list (with dates) of all the books i read, with a note of any use to be made of them; i also keep a list of all books to be read, and the reasons for reading them. i tried various ways of keeping my notes, and found no classification so easy for reference as the plan i have mentioned; it may not, however, suffice to those whose reading is much more extensive than mine; i mention it as a _working_ plan. f.c.b. * * * * * answers to minor queries _ancient motto_ sir,--in your sixth number, p. , j.e.m. wishes to know whence the motto, "si quis amicum absentum rodere delectat," &c. is taken. allow me to refer your correspondent to horace, sat. i. iv. sqq. "absentem qui rodit amicum, qui non defendit, alio culpante, * * * * * hic niger est, hanc tu, romane, caveto." the inscription would seem to be but an adaptation of horace's maxim. c.b.b. _political maxim--when first used._ the political maxim, or phrase, inquired after by c. is burke's. it occurs in his celebrated _thoughts on the cause of the present discontent_, published in , in the course of his defence of party, a few pages from the end. a short extract will show the connection in which it is introduced:-- "no man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice, in a contemptible struggle." i have some suspicion that the maxim may be found, with probably a slight variation of expression, repeated in one of burke's later tracts. but this is certainly its first appearance. g.l.c. old brompton, dec. . . _annus trabeationis._ sir harris nicholas, in his _chronology of history_, p. , gives "annus trabeationis" as one way in which the year of our lord is designated in ancient documents. would any of your readers favour me with the meaning of the word trabeatio? g.p. [our correspondent will find, on referring to mr. hampson's useful work, _medii Ævi kalendarium_, vol. ii. s. v. annus trabentionis, "according to du cange, this is the year of the crucifixion--'annus trabeationis christi (annus quo christus _trabi_ affixus est);' but according to _l'art de vérifier les dates_, it is the same as the year of the incarnation." mr. hampson adds, "the import of the word is the year of the crucifixion, and cannot well be reconciled with that of the incarnation." but, upon referring to du cange, s. v. _trabeatio_, our correspondent will find that du cange regards it as the year of the incarnation--"_trabeatio_ autem, non a _trabe_, quà crux intelligi posset, sed a _trabea_ togæ species, deducitur"--quoting, as his authority for this interpretation, a sermon of st. fulgentius on st. stephen, in which he says, "heri enim rex noster _trabea carnis_ indutus."] _betterton's duties of a player._ sir,--betterton's _instructions on the art of playing and public speaking_, queried in your th number, were published by the well-known dramatic critic, charles gildon, and form a portion of his _life of betterton_. as this work is little known, i shall quote the title at length:--"the life of mr. thomas betterton, the late eminent tragedian, wherein the action and utterance of the stage, bar, and pulpit, are distinctly considered; with the judgment of the late ingenious monsieur de st. evremond, upon the italian and french music and operas, in a letter to the duke of buckingham. to which is added, the amorous widow, or the wanton wife, a comedy, written by mr. betterton, now first printed from the original copy. _london, printed for robert gosling, at the miter, near the inner temple gate in fleet street_, . vo." gildon was intimately acquainted with betterton, and he gives an interesting account of a visit paid to that great actor, the year before his death, at his country house at reading. it was on this occasion that gildon came into the possession of betterton's manuscripts. thirty-one years after the publication of betterton's life, curll, the notorious bookseller, put forth a mutilated copy of the _instructions on playing_, in a work bearing the following title:--"the history of the english stage, from the restauration to the present time, including the lives, character, and amours, of the most eminent actors and actresses; with instructions for public speaking, wherein the action and utterance of the bar, stage, and pulpit, are distinctly considered. by thomas betterton. _london, printed for e. curll, at pope's head in rose-street, covent garden_, . vo." from this title it would appear (as indeed curll wished it) that betterton was the author of the entire work; but he is only accountable for the brief _instructions for public speaking_, which, as before stated, were pillaged from gildon. reverting to colley cibber's _lives_, i beg to point out a curious and rare tract in connection with them, entitled, "a brief supplement to colley cibber, esq.; his lives of the late famous actors and actresses. by anthony (vulgò tony) aston. printed for the author. vo. pp. ." the copy now before me, which was isaac reed's, sold at his sale for _l_. _s_. it is reprinted in a literary journal called _the cabinet_, and in bell-chambers' excellent edition of cibber's _apology_. whilst on the subject of the stage, i should be glad if any of your correspondents could inform me what has become of "dick leveridge's history of the stage and actors in his own time?" leveridge himself informed oldys that he had compiled such a work, and oldys, with his usual care, noted the fact in one of his numerous memorandum books. i have been long engaged in a history of _the life and times of henry purcell_, and the said ms., if it could be recovered, would, without doubt, enlighten us much upon the subject of purcell's career as a dramatic composer. edward f. rimbault. _betterton's essay._ the "best piece" of betterton, for which t.j.l. inquires (p. .), is contained in his life, printed by gosling, ; in fact, this is merely a vehicle to introduce the treatise, the life filling only from p. . to , and thus concluding:--"he was bury'd with great decency in westminster abbey." "the year before his death, (he) being at his country house in reading, my friend and i travelled that way.... one day, after dinner, we retired to his garden, and fell into the discourse of acting." thus is introduced his _essay_, &c., continuing to p. , where it abruptly ends thus:--"after this discourse, we took our leaves of mr. betterton, and returned to london. i was pleased with his story," &c. my copy is dedicated to richard steele, esq., by charles gildon, and has prefixed to it the beautiful portrait of betterton, engraved by vander gucht, from kneller's picture, and, at its close (but separately paged), "the amorous widow or the wanton wife, now first printed from the original copy," . e. _incumbents of church livings._ a correspondent in number , writes to inquire for information relative to the "names and birthplaces of incumbents of church livings prior to , and the patrons of them." it may slightly help his investigations to know that there is a latin ms. in the british museum, numbered additional mss. , , with the title "ecclesiastical visitation of hampshire and the isle of wight, held in march and april , by nicholas harpisfelde, official of the archdeacon of winchester," folio, containing the names of the incumbents and churchwardens of the livings in those counties. w.m. kingsmill. westminster, december . _mars de saham--portum pusillum._ the first appears to be soham, in cambridgeshire; described in _liber eliensis_ as "terra de saham, quæ est ad stagnum juxta ely." does "mare" stand for "stagnum," "palus," "mariscus," or our english "mere?" can portum pusillum be littleport, in the same country? j.f.m. _reinerius--inquisition in france._ sir,--faber, in his work on the waldenses, quotes _reinerius_, _in biblio. patrum_. i have in vain looked in modern biographical dictionaries for any account of reinerius, so am constrained to inquire of some of your readers, who and what he was, or to beg the favour of a reference to some accessible account of him. i think faber says he was an inquisitor; and this is the extent of the information which i have been able to collect respecting him. i wish also to inquire whether his work on heretics (his only work, i presume) has been published in any other and more accessible form than that in which it was referred to by faber; and, particularly, whether it has ever been translated into english. i have often wished to know whether the tribunal of the inquisition was ever established elsewhere in france than at toulouse. can any of your correspondents enlighten me on the point, and give me references in proof? d. [the work of reinerius saccho was first published by the jesuit gretser in , and has since been reprinted in the different editions of the _bibliotheca patrum_. it has never been translated into english.] _whelps._ the following extracts from the _travels of sir william brereton_ may answer the inquiry respecting the ships called "whelps":-- "waterford, july, . about six hour i went aboard one of the kings ships, called the ninth _whelp_, which is in the king's books ton and tonnage in kings books. she carries sixteen pieces of ordinance, two brass rakers, six iron demiculverin drakes, four iron whole culverin drakes, and four iron demicannon drakes. they are called drakes. they are taper-bored in the camber, and are tempered with extraordinary metal to carry that shot; these are narrower where the powder is put in, and wider where the shot is put in, and with this kind of ordinance his majesty is much affected. this ship is manned with sixty men."--p. . " . this th of february, attending the officers of the navy at sir sackville crowes house by charing cross, sir john pennington came thither to acquaint them with a warrant from the lord duke (of buckingham) directed to him and myself, for present bargaining with the yard keepers of the river for the building of ten small vessels, for the enterprise of rochel, of some tons a piece, with one deck and quarter only, to row as well as sail. the th of the same month we concluded our bargains with the general yard keepers, and drew convenants between us, and delivered to them accordingly. in this business i was employed till the latter end of july that the ships set sail to portsmouth. my son john was placed captain in the sixth _whelp_, built by my kinsman peter pett. having liberty from my lord duke to make choice from among them all, i chose that pinnace before the rest, supposing she would have proved the best, which fell out afterwards cleane contrary. the th september my son john took leave of me in the evening, and went on board his ship, whom i never saw after, being unfortunately cast away in the return from rochel. " . in this interim i received certain intelligence of the great loss of my son john, his ship and all his company, who foundered in the sea about the seames in a great storm, about the beginning of november; not one man saved to bring the doleful news, nor no ship near them to deliver the certainty but a small pinnace belonging to the fleet that was within ken of her, and saw her shoot nine pieces of ordinance hoping of succour."--_journal of phineas pett. mss. in brit. mus._ . "at the return of this fleet (from rochel) two of the _whelps_ were cast away, and three ships more, and some five ships who had some of those great stones, that were brought to build pauls, for ballast and for other uses within them, which could promise no good success, for i never heard of any thing that prospered which being once designed for the honour of god was alienated from that use."--howel's _letters_, sect. v. lett. . the name _whelp_ was probably given them facetiously in reference to their designation as barks. edw. hawkins. _cowley or cowleas_. your correspondent w. asks the etymon of "cowley;"--probably "cow leas," or cow pasture. in ancient records it is written "couelee." i have before me a survey or "extent" of the hospitalers' lands in england, including those formerly belonging to the templars. in this record, as in most that i have seen, it is written, "templecouelee," and it is entered as a limb of the commandry of saunford or sandford. l.b.l. _cowley or coverley--statistics of roman catholic church--whelps--discovery of america_. i can answer pretty confidently the query ii. in number , p. , about the etymon of _cowley_, for i have, on a farm of my own, two denominations of land, called _ox-ley_ and _cow-ley_, and i believe that both these names are common all through england. like _horseley, ashley, oakley_ and a thousand other _leas_ or _leys_ distinguished from each other by some local characteristic. _coverley_ was probably not _cowley_, but, like _woodley_, _orchardleigh_, &c., derived from its local position. in answer to the query as to the statistics of the roman catholic church, p. . number , i think i may say there is no such _general_ work, though the _propaganda_ of rome was said to register something of that sort. the information is only to be picked up from various and (as far as i know) all imperfect publications. the least so that i can just now refer to is the _statistics of the roman catholic church of ireland_, in thom's _dublin almanack_--a very curious and useful compilation. in reply to the inquiry as to a _priest's wife_, p. number , i would suggest that married persons may have separated, and retired each into the celibacy of a convent, yet might join, when necessary, in a legal conveyance; but i should examine closely the word deciphered _clericus_. to j.j., who inquires about "_whelps_," and refers to howell's _letters_, sect. p. , i beg leave to suggest more precision in his future references. the passage is in one (viz. the viii.) of the letters of the th section; but in the last and best edition (lond. ) it is p. . i note this to inculcate the necessity of accurate references and mention of the edition quoted. as to the query itself, i can answer that the "_whelps_" were a class, perhaps i might say a _litter_, of light men-of-war of the fifth rate, which were so called, perhaps, after one named the "_lion's whelp_," in queen elizabeth's navy, and distinguished by numbers, as "_ st whelp_," "_ nd whelp_," and so on to at least "_ th whelp_," which is to be found in a list of the navy in . she was of tons, and carried guns and men. it seems not easy to account for this class of vessels having been rated so high as th rates, but i suppose they were a favourite and favoured class. in reference to the discovery of america by madoc, pp. , it may amuse your readers to be informed that seneca shadows forth such a discovery:-- "venient annis sæcula seris quibus oceanus vincula rerum laxet, et ingens pateat tellus, ichthysque novos deteget orbes; nec sit terris ultima thule." _medea_, act ii, ad finem, v. . "a vaticination," says the commentator, "of the spanish discovery of america." it is certainly a curious passage. c. * * * * * queries. berkeley's theory of vision vindicated. in mr. dugald stewart's _dissertation on the progress of metaphysical philosophy_ he says of lord shaftesbury's work entitled _characteristics_-- "it seemed to have the power of changing the temper of its critics. it provoked the amiable berkeley to a harshness equally unwonted and unwarranted; while it softened the rugged warburton so far as to dispose the fierce, yet not altogether ungenerous, polemic to price an enemy in the very heat of conflict." to this passage is appended the following note:-- "berkeley's _minute philosopher_, dialogue ; but especially his _theory of vision vindicated_, london, (not republished in the quarto edition of his works), where this most excellent man sinks for a moment to the level of a railing polemic." can you or any of your readers do me the favour to inform me whether the tract here referred to has been included in any subsequent edition of the bishop's works, and, if not, where it is to be met with? b.g. * * * * * dr. johnson and professor de morgan. mr. editor,--although your cleverly conceived publication may be considered as more applicable to men of letters than to men of figures, yet i doubt not you will entertain the subject i am about to propound: because, in the first place, "whole generations of men of letters" are implicated in the criticism; and, in the next place, because however great, as a man of figures, the critic may be, the man of letters criticised was assuredly greater. professor de morgan has discovered a flaw in the great johnson! and, in obedience to your epigraph, "_when found make a note of it_," he _has_ made a note of it at the foot of page , of _the companion to the almanac for _,--eccola:-- "the following will show that a palpable absurdity will pass before the eyes of _generations of men of letters_ without notice. in boswell's _life of johnson_ (chapter viii. of the edition with chapters), there is given a conversation between dr. adams and johnson, in which the latter asserts that he could finish his dictionary in three years. "adams. 'but the french academy, which consists of forty members, took forty years to compile their dictionary.'--johnson. 'sir, thus it is. this is the proportion. let me see: forty times forty is sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an englishman to a frenchman.' no one of the numerous editors of boswell has _made a note upon this_, although many things as slight have been commented upon: it was certainly not johnson's mistake, for he was a clear-headed arithmetician. how many of our readers will stare and wonder what we are talking about, and what the mistake is!" certes, i for one, plead guilty to staring, and wondering what the professor is talking about. i cannot for a moment imagine it possible, that he could base such a criticism, so announced, upon no better foundation than that mere verbal transposition of the words englishman and frenchman. the inversion deceives no person, and it is almost more appropriate to the colloquial jocularity of the great lexicographer's bombast than if the enunciation had been more strictly according to rule. besides, the correctness of the expression, even as it stand, is capable of defence. let the third and fourth terms be understood as referring to _time_ instead of to _power_, and the proportion becomes "as three to sixteen hundred, so is" (the time required by) "an englishman to" (that required for the same work by) "a frenchman." or, if natives be referred to in the plural,--then, as three to sixteen hundred, so are englishmen to frenchmen; that is, such is the number of each required for the same amount of work. but i repeat that i cannot conceive a criticism so trifling and questionable can have been the true aim of professor de morgan's note, and as i am unable to discover any other flaw in the doctor's proportion, according to the premises, _my query_, mr. editor, has for its object to learn _"what the mistake is?"_ b. * * * * * caraccioli's life of lord clive. sir,--can you, or any of your readers, give me any information relating to caraccioli's _life of lord clive_? it is a book in four bulky octavo volumes, without date published, i believe, at different periods, about the year --perhaps some years later. it enjoys the distinction of being about the worst book that was ever published. it bears, on its title-page, the name of "charles caraccioli, gent." a writer in the _calcutta review_, incidentally alluding to the book, says that "it is said to have been written by a member of one of the councils over which clive presided; but the writer, being obviously better acquainted with his lordship's personal doings in europe than in asia, the work savours strongly of home-manufacture, and has all the appearance of being the joint composition of a discarded valet and a bookseller's hack." the last hypothesis appears very probable. internal evidence is greatly in its favour. can any of your readers tell me who was "charles caraccioli, gent.,"--when the atrocity which bears his name was published,--or any thing about the man or his book? probably some notice of it may be found in the _monthly review_, the _gentleman's magazine_, or some other periodical of the last century. the writer, indeed, speaks of his first volume having been reviewed with "unprecedented" severity. perhaps you can help me to the dates of some notices of this book. the work i believe to be scarce. the copy in my possession is the only complete one i have seen; but i once stumbled upon an odd volume at a book-stall. it is such a book as lord clive's family would have done well in buying up; and it is not improbable that an attempt was made to suppress it. the success of your journal is greatly dependent upon the brevity of your correspondents; so no more, even in commendation of its design, from yours obediently, k. covent garden, dec. . . * * * * * on some suppressed passages in w. cartwright's poems. as i want my doubts cleared up on a literary point of some importance, i thought i could not do better than state them in your "notes and queries." i have before me a copy of the not by any means rare volume, called _comedies, tragi-comedies, with other poems, by mr. william cartwright_, vo. , with the portrait by lombart. though the book may be called a common one, i apprehend that my copy of it is in an uncommon state, for i find in it certain leaves as they were originally printed, and certain other leaves as they were afterwards substituted. the fact must have been that after the volume was published by h. moseley, the bookseller, it was called in again, and particular passages suppressed and excluded. these passages are three in number, and occur respectively on pp. , , and ; and the two first occur in a poem headed "on the queen's return from the low countries," an event which occurred only shortly before the death of cartwright, which took place on d dec. . this poem consists, in my perfect copy, of eight stanzas, but two stanzas are expunged on the cancelled leaf, viz. the second and the fifth; the second runs as follows:-- "when greater tempests, than on sea before, receiv'd her on the shore, when she was shot at _for the king's own good_, by legions hir'd to bloud; how bravely did she do, how bravely bear! and shew'd, though they durst rage, she durst not fear." the queen landed at burlington on nd feb. , so that cartwright may have written what precedes; but how could he have written what follows, the fifth stanza of the poem, which mentions an event that did not occur until six or seven years afterwards? "look on her enemies, on their godly lies, their holy perjuries, their curs'd encrease of much ill gotten wealth, by rapine or by stealth, their crafty friendship knit in equall guilt, and the crown-martyr's bloud so lately spilt." hence arises my first question--if cartwright were not the author of this poem, who was? although izaac walton, jasper mayne, james howell, sir john birkenhead, and a host of other versifyers, introduce the volume with "laudatory lays," we are not to suppose that they meant to vouch for the genuineness of every production therein inserted and imputed to cartwright. was the whole poem "on the queen's return" foisted in, or only the two stanzas above quoted, which were excluded when the book was called in? the next poem on which i have any remark to make immediately succeeds that "on the queen's return," and is entitled "upon the death of the right valiant sir bevill grenvill, knight," who, we know from lord clarendon, was killed at lansdown on th july, , only five months before the death of cartwright, who is supposed to have celebrated his fall. this production is incomplete, and the subsequent twelve lines on p. , are omitted in the ordinary copies of cartwright's _comedies, tragi-comedies, with other poems_:-- "you now that boast the spirit, and its sway, shew us his second, and wee'l give the day: we know your politique axiom, _lurk, or fly_; ye cannot conquer, 'cause you dare not dye: and though you thank god that you lost none there, 'cause they were such who _liv'd_ not when they were; yet your great generall (who doth rise and fall, as his successes do, whom you dare call, as fame unto you doth reports dispence, either a---- or his excellence) howe'r he reigns now by unheard-of laws, could wish his fate together with his cause." it is clear to me, that these lines could not have been written in , soon after the death of sir b. grenvill; and, supposing any part of the poem to have come from the pen of cartwright, they must have been interpolated after the elevation of cromwell to supreme power. i have thrown out these points for information, and it is probable that some of your readers will be able to afford it: if able, i conclude they will be willing. it may be an error to fancy that the copy of cartwright now in my hands, containing the cancelled and uncancelled leaves, is a rarity; but although in my time i have inspected at least thirty copies of his _comedies, tragi-comedies, with other poems_, i certainly never met with one before with this peculiarity. on this matter, also, i hope for enlightenment. do the stanzas "on the queen's return" and the lines on the death of sir b. grenvill exist in any of the various collections of state poems? investigator. * * * * * minor queries. _christencat._ in day's edition of tyndale's works, lond. , at p. , tyndale says:-- "had he" [sir thomas more] "not come begging for the clergy from purgatory, with his _supplication of souls_--nor the poor soul and proctor been there with his bloody bishop christen catte, so far conjured into his own utopia." i take the word to be _christencat_; but its two parts are so divided by the position of _christen_ at the end of one line, and _catte_ at the beginning of the next as to prevent it from being certain that they form one word. but i would gladly learn from any of your correspondents, whether the name of christencat, or christian-cat, is that of any bishop personified in the _old moralities_, or known to have been the satirical sobriquet for any bishop of henry viii's time. the text would suggest the expectation of its occurring either in more's _utopia_, or in his _supplication of souls_, but i cannot find it in either of them. henry walter. * * * * * _hexameter verses in the scriptures._ sir,--i shall feel obliged to any of your readers who will refer me to an hexameter line in the authorised english version of the _old testament_. the following are two examples in the _new testament._ _ u u | _ _ | _ _ | _ _ | _ u u|_ _ || art thou he | that should | come or | do we | look for a|nother. || _ _ | _ _ | _ _ | _ _ | _ u u| _ _ || husbands | love your | wives and | be not | bitter a|gainst them. || w.j.b.r. notes on books--catalogues, sales, etc. the extraordinary collection of the works of daniel defoe formed by mr. walter wilson, his biographer, which at his sale realised the sum of _l_., and which had been rendered still further complete by the addition of upwards of forty pieces by the recent possessor, when sold by messrs. puttick and simpson, on wednesday, the th instant, produced no less than _l_. mr. toovey was the purchaser. the shakspeare society have just issued a very interesting volume, the nature of which is well described by its ample title-page:-- "inigo jones. a life of the architect, by peter cunningham, esq. remarks on some of his sketches for masques and dramas, by j.r. planché, esq.; and five court masques. edited from the original mss. of ben jonson, john marston, etc., by john payne collier, esq.; accompanied by facsimiles of drawings by inigo jones; and by a portrait from a painting by vandyck." many particulars in the memoir are new in the biography of the great architect. mr. planché's too brief _remarks on the costume_ make us join with mr. collier in regretting that he did not extend to all the plates "the resources of his attainments and talents;" while the five masques and the general preface, contributed by mr. collier, form by no means the least valuable portion of a volume which cannot fail to give satisfaction to all the members of the society by which it is issued. mr. kerslake, of bristol, has just issued a small catalogue of books bought at brockley hall, and some which formerly belonged to browne willis, which contains some interesting articles, such as no. , m'cormick's memoirs of burke, with numerous ms. notes throughout by j. horne tooke; the first edition of wit's recreation, , with a ms. note by sir f. freeling:--"i have never seen another perfect copy of the first edition." that in longman's _bib. ang. poetica_, wanted frontispiece and leaves, and was priced _l_. _s_. messrs. puttick and simpson, who have during the present week been selling the curious dramatic library, printed and manuscript, and the theatrical portraits of the late mr. james winston, will commence, on monday, the sale of mr. mitchell's collection of autograph letters. the most interesting portion of these are eight-and-forty unpublished letters by garrick, among which is one written to his brother peter, commenced on the day on which he made his appearance on the london boards and finished on the following. in it he communicates his change of occupation to his brother, premising that since he had been in business he had "run out four hundred pounds, and found trade not increasing," and had now begun to think of some way of redeeming his fortune. "_my mind (as you know) has always been inclined to the stage_; nay, so strongly so, that all my illness and lowness of spirits was owing to my want of resolution to tell you my thoughts when here.... though i know you will be displeased with me, yet i hope when you shall find that i may have the genius of an actor without the vices, you will think less severe of me, and not be ashamed to own me for a brother." he makes an offer as to the transfer of his business, stock, &c. "_last night i played richard the third to the surprise of every body_; and as i shall make very near _l_. per annum of it, and as it is really what i doat upon, i am resolved to pursue it." in a postscript, he adds, "i have a farce (_the lying valet_), coming out at drury-lane." and his progress in his new profession is shown in another letter, addressed also to his brother peter, on the th of april following, in which, after mentioning some affairs of business connected with their wine trade, he says: "the favour i have met with from the greatest men has made me far from repenting of my choice. i am very intimate with mr. glover, who will bring out a tragedy next winter on my account. i have supp'd with the great mr. murray, counsellor, and shall with mr. pope by his introduction. i supp'd with mr. littleton, the prince's favourite, last thursday night, and met with the highest civility and complaisance; he told me he never knew what acting was till i appeared, and said i was only born to act what shakspeare writ.... i believe nobody as an actor was ever more caressed, and my character as a private man makes 'em more desirous of my company (all this _entre nous_ as one brother to another). i am not fixed for next year, but shall certainly be at the other end of the town. i am offered guineas and a clear benefit, or part of the management," &c. the whole collection forms, indeed, a curious and new contribution towards the biography of that distinguished actor. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in nos. . and ._) elÉgie composÉe dans un cimetiÈre de campagne. vo. . lives of alchymistical philosophers, etc. vo. london, . flamma sine fumo, or poems without fictions, by r.w. mo. . hooker's childbirth, or woman's lecture. to. bl. lett. . greene's never too late, etc. to. . the celestial beds, a poem. . wanstead gardens, a poem. . _odd volumes_. shakspeare's works. vols. iv. and xiv. of malone's edition. vo. dublin. . larcher's notes on herodotus. cooley's edition. vol. i. vo. murray's history of european languages. vol. ii. vo. edinburgh, . jugemens des savans sur les maÎtres de l'eloquence. vols. i. and ii. mo. paris, . vellum. tacitus. vol. iv. to. edinburgh, . herodotus. vol. i. mo. glasgow, foulis, . *.* letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents communications received._--t.h.t.--l.c.r. --alicui.--w.j.b.--f.e.b.--trebor.--[greek: d].--f.e.m.--d.--w.d.--w. robson.--a.t.--a.t.h.--a.d.j.i.--eliza caroline.--p.h.j.--s.h.--oxoniensis--g.h.b.--g.b.--e.n.--a.w.f. --a.g.--j.m.t.--s.--melanion.--f.--r.g._ auctor.--_we quite agree with our correspondent that such contributions as that of_ beta _in no. , entitled "prison discipline and execution of justice," illustrate the manners and customs of the olden times far better than a whole volume of dissertations; and we gladly adopt his suggestion of inviting similar communications._ w.--_we are happy to be enabled to inform our correspondent that the index to the quarterly review,_ vols. lx. to lxxx. _is to be published in february._ w.h.--_the transcript kindly forwarded appears to be part of a copy of one of the anonymous ms. journals used by sir simonds d'ewes in the compilation of his_ journals of all the parliaments of elizabeth. lond. folio. . _it is all substantially in d'ewes, and generally speaking it is there verbatim._ _many notes, queries, and answers to queries, which are in type, are unavoidably postponed until our next number._ _a neat case for holding the numbers of_ "notes and queries" _is now ready, price s. d., and may be had_ by order, _of all booksellers and newsmen._ * * * * * preparing for publication, handsomely printed in vo. a series of editions of the greek and latin classics, to be issued under the general title of bibliotheca classica edited by various hands, under the direction of george long, esq., m.a., late fellow of trinity college, cambridge, classical lecturer of brighton college; and the rev. arthur john macleane, m.a., trinity college, cambridge, and principal of brighton college. early in the ensuing year will be commenced a series of the greek and roman authors, carefully edited with english notes, on a uniform plan. the series will be especially adapted to the wants of students in the higher forms of public schools and at the universities, and will embrace, in the first instance, those works which are usually read in the course of a classical education. the works will be edited by various hands; and, to secure uniformity and consistency in execution, the series will be under the united management of mr. long and mr. macleane. the first volume will be ready early in . the subsequent volumes will be published at intervals, as regularly as may be found practicable, at the rate of four or five volumes in the year. the following works are undertaken by the gentlemen whose names are set opposite:-- homer: illiad, - rev. benjamin hall kennedy. d.d., odyssey late fellow of st. john's college, cambridge; head master of shrewsbury school. hesiod - edward law lushington, esq., m.a., late fellow of trinity college, cambridge; professor of greek in the university of glasgow. herodotus - rev. j.w. blakesley, m.a., late fellow aristotle: and tutor of trinity college, cambridge. nicomachean ethics thucydides - george long, esq., m.a., late fellow of xenophon: trinity college, cambridge. hellenica plato: republic, - rev. w.h. thompson, m.a., fellow and and selections tutor of trinity college, cambridge. of dialogues livy - dr. william smith, editor of the dictionary of greek and roman antiquities, and of the greek and roman biography and mythology. tacitus - wm. b. donne, esq. virgil - rev. charles merivale, m.a.. late fellow lucan and tutor of st. john's college, cambridge. cicero: orations - george long, esq. and philosophical works sallust - w. ramsay, esq., m.a., trinity college, juvenal cambridge: professor of humanity in and persius the university of glasgow. horace - rev. arthur john macleane, m.a., trinity college, cambridge; principal of brighton college. the undermentioned volumes are already in progress, and are expected to appear during - :-- herodotus, three volumes. iliad, one volume. horace, two volumes. cicero, orations, vol. i. plato, dialogues, vol. i. tacitus, vol. i. each work will be sold separately; but, as the publishers expect that they will be enabled to extend the series until it shall approximate to a complete collection of the greek and latin classics, and as they have reason to think that such a collection would be found an acceptable addition to all public and private libraries, they hope to receive the names of persons who are willing to give encouragement to the scheme, as subscribers to the entire series. whittaker & co. ave maria lane; and george bell, . fleet street. vols. i. and ii. vo. price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest by edward foss, f.s.a. "it supplies what was much wanted--a regular and progressive account of english legal institutions. the result is, a correction of many errors, an addition of much new information, and a better general view of our strictly legal history than any other jurist, historian, or biographer, had heretofore attempted to give."--_examiner_ longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * book-buyers. there are some very cheap and good library books, purchased during the last month, in part vii. for (out to-day) of john russell smith's catalogue. it may be had gratis on application, or sent by post on receipt of a postage label. , old compton street, soho, london. * * * * * published by george bell, . fleet street. now ready, folded in a folio case, price s. a chromo-lithographic drawing of the painted ceiling in the nave of peterborough cathedral, coloured as in the original, by g. strickland. this curious relic of ecclesiastical decoration of the twelfth century is considered to be the finest specimen of its character and period in great britain; it is in a high state of preservation and no representation of it exists. the drawing is six feet long, and its details all bear the same relative proportions as the original. on a large sheet, price s. d. plain, s. richly coloured; in case, s. d. plain, s. coloured. a chart of ancient armour from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries: containing eighteen figures, with a description and a sketch of the progress of european armour. by john hewitt. "a graphic outline of the subject of military costume during the period of its greatest interest to the english antiquary. the author has made a judicious selection of examples, chiefly from the rich series of monumental effigies; and, in the brief text which accompanies these illustrations, a useful résumé will be found of a subject which, not many years since, was attainable only through the medium of costly publications"--_archaeological journal._ publishing in parts, impl. to. price s., tinted, s. reliques of ancient english architecture. from drawings by john johnston, architect, f.s.a. lithographed by alfred newman. this work is intended to embrace a series of examples of ecclesiastical, collegiate, and domestic architecture. it will be completed in twenty monthly parts, at s. plain, s. tinted. parts are now published. published by george bell, . fleet street, (_continued_). royal to. cloth, vol i., price l. s. d. gothic ornaments; being a series of examples of enriched details and accessories of the architecture of great britain. drawn from existing authors. by james k. colling, architect. the particular object of this work is "to exhibit such a number of examples of foliage and other ornamental details of the different styles as clearly to elucidate the characteristic features peculiar to each period; and drawn sufficiently large in scale to be practically useful in facilitating the labours of the architect and artist." the first volume consists of plates--nineteen of which are highly finished in colours. the second volume, which will complete the work, is now in progress, and will be completed early in . two vols. fcap. vo., with figures of apparatus, price s. the history and art of warming and ventilating rooms and buildings. with notices of the progress of personal and fireside comfort and of the management of fuel. by walter bernan, c.e. in the third essay a minute description is given of the roman hypocaust. "the whole of the work seems to be arranged skilfully, and drawn up with care; it comprises much information valuable to the student of antiquities, and will well repay the perusal of those who are interested in the theories and practice of warming and ventilating houses"--_archaeological journal_. "expedients of all time and nations collected with research, selected with judgment, and skilfully arranged and described."--_athenæum_ vo., price s. illustrations of the tragedies of Æschylus and sophocles, from the greek, latin, and english poets, with an introductory essay by j.f. boyes, m.a., st. john's college, oxford. a few copies of the illustrations of Æschylus may still be had separately, price s. also copies of parts ii. and iii. to complete sets, price s. each. "mr. boyes has collected these illustrations more for the purpose of determining the heads of thought by a comparison of minds, than for the detection of plagiarism. his work will amuse those whose days of study are gone by, but who love to review their classic recollections, and to recall those images of sublimity and beauty which had delighted their young hearts and charmed their youthful fancy. to use the language of cicero, he has rendered those studies which nurtured boyhood delightful to age"--_athenæum_ "this is one of the most pleasing classical works that we have lately read. the author shows very extensive poetical reading, a quick perception, accurate memory, and well-formed taste"--_gentleman's magazine_ * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. , new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. , fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december . . credits: jon ingram, susan lucy and pg distributed proofreaders. produced from page scans provided by internet library of early journals. { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . . [price threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page passage in hudibras, by e.f. rimbault field of the brothers' footsteps notes on books and authors, by bolton corney receipts of the beggar's opera notes on cunningham's london, by e.f. rimbault sewerage in etruria andrew frusius opinions respecting burnet queries:-- st. thomas of lancaster, by r. monckton milnes shield of the black prince, &c. by j.r. planché fraternitye of vagabondes, &c. the name of shylock, by m.a. lower transposition of letters, by b. williams pictures in churches flaying in punishment of sacrilege minor queries:--pokership or parkership--boduc or boduoc--origin of snob--mertens the printer-- queen's messengers--bishop of ross' epitaph, &c.-- origin of cannibal--sir w. rider--origin of word poghele, &c. miscellanies--including answers to minor queries:-- darkness at the crucifixion--high doctrine--wife of king robert bruce--the talisman of charlemagne --sayers the caricaturist--may-day--dr. dee's petition --lines quoted by goethe--queen mary's expectations --ken's hymns--etymology of daysman, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * origin of a well-known passage in hudibras. the often-quoted lines-- "for he that fights and runs away may live to fight another day," generally supposed to form a part of _hudibras_, are to be found (as mr. cunningham points out, at p. . of his _handbook for london_), in the _musarum deliciæ_, mo. ; a clever collection of "witty trifles," by sir john mennis and dr. james smith. the passage, as it really stands in _hudibras_ (book iii. canto iii. verse .), is as follows:-- "for those that fly may fight again, which he can never do that's slain." but there is a much earlier authority for these lines than the _musarum deliciæ_; a fact which i learn from a volume now open before me, the great rarity of which will excuse my transcribing the title-page in full:-- "apophthegmes, that is to saie, prompte, quicke, wittie, and sentencious saiynges, of certain emperours, kynges, capitaines, philosophiers, and oratours, as well grekes as romaines, bothe veraye pleasaunt and profitable to reade, partely for all maner of persones, and especially gentlemen. first gathered and compiled in latine by the right famous clerke, maister erasmus, of roteradame. and now translated into englyshe by nicolas udall. _excusam typis ricardi grafton_, . vo." a second edition was printed by john kingston, in , with no other variation, i believe, than in the orthography. haslewood, in a note on the fly-leaf of my copy, says:-- "notwithstanding the fame of erasmus, and the reputation of his translator, this volume has not obtained that notice which, either from its date or value, might be justly expected. were its claim only founded on the colloquial notes of udall, it is entitled to consideration, as therein may be traced several of the familiar phrases and common-place idioms, which have occasioned many conjectural speculations among the annotators upon our early drama." the work consists of only two books of the original, comprising the apophthegms of socrates, aristippus, diogenes, philippus, alexander, antigonus, augustus cæsar, julius cæsar, pompey, phocion, cicero, and demosthenes. on folio . occurs the following apophthegm, which is the one relating to the subject before us:-- "that same man, that renneth awaie, may again fight, on other daie. "¶ judgeyng that it is more for the benefite of one's countree to renne awaie in battaile, then to lese his life. for a ded man can fight no more; but who hath saved hymself alive, by rennyng awaie, may, in many battailles mo, doe good service to his countree. "§ at lest wise, if it be a poinet of good service, to renne awaie at all times, when the countree hath most neede of his helpe to sticke to it." thus we are enabled to throw back more than a century these famous hudibrastic lines, which have occasioned so many inquiries for their origin. i take this opportunity of noticing a mistake which has frequently been made concerning the _french_ translation of butler's _hudibras_. tytler, in his _essay on translation_; nichols, in his _biographical anecdotes of hogarth_; and ray, in his { } _history of the rebellion_, attributes it to colonel francis towneley; whereas it was the work of _john_ towneley, uncle to the celebrated charles towneley, the collector of the marbles. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * field of the brothers' footsteps. i do not think that mr. cunningham, in his valuable work, has given any account of a piece of ground of which a strange story is recorded by southey, in his _common-place book_ (second series, p. .). after quoting a letter received from a friend, recommending him to "take a view of those wonderful marks of the lord's hatred to _duelling_, called _the brothers' steps_," and giving him the description of the locality, mr. southey gives an account of his own visit to the spot (a field supposed to bear ineffaceable marks of the footsteps of two brothers, who fought a fatal duel about a love affair) in these words:--"we sought for near half an hour in vain. we could find no steps at all, within a quarter of a mile, no nor half a mile, of montague house. we were almost out of hope, when an honest man who was at work directed us to the next ground adjoining to a pond. there we found what we sought, about three quarters of a mile north of montague house, and about yards east of tottenham court road. the steps answer mr. walsh's description. they are of the size of a large human foot, about three inches deep, and lie nearly from north-east to south-west. we counted only seventy-six, but we were not exact in counting. the place where one or both the brothers are supposed to have fallen, is still bare of grass. the labourer also showed us the bank where (the tradition is) the wretched woman sat to see the combat." mr. southey then goes on the speak of his full confidence in the tradition of their indestructibility, even after ploughing up, and of the conclusions to be drawn from the circumstance. to this long note, i beg to append a query, as to the latest account of these footsteps, previous to the ground being built over, as it evidently now must be. g.h.b. * * * * * on authors and books, no. . verse may picture the feelings of the author, or it may only picture his fancy. to assume the former position, is not always safe; and in two memorable instances a series of sonnets has been used to construct a _baseless fabric_ of biography. in the accompanying sonnet, there is no such uncertainty. it was communicated to me by john adamson, esq., m.r.s.l., &c., honourably known by a translation of the tragedy of _dona ignez de castro_, from the portuguese of nicola luiz, and by a _memoir of the life and writings of camoens_, &c. it was not intended for publication, but now appears, at my request. mr. adamson, it should be stated, is a corresponding member of the royal academy of sciences of lisbon, and has received diplomas of the orders of christ and the tower-and-sword. the _coming storm_ alludes to the menace of invasion by france. "sonnet. "o portugal! whene'er i see thy name what proud emotions rise within my breast! to _thee_ i owe--from _thee_ derive that fame which here may linger when i lie at rest. when as a youth i landed on thy shore, how little did i think i e'er could be worthy the honours thou has giv'n to me; and when the coming storm i did deplore, drove me far from thee by its hostile threat-- with feelings which can never be effaced, i learn'd to commune with those writers old who had the deeds of they great chieftains told; departed bards in converse sweet i met, i'd seen where they had liv'd--the land camoens grac'd." i venture to add the titles of two interesting volumes which have been printed subsequently to the publications of lowndes and martin. it may be a useful hint to students and collectors:-- "bibliotheca lusitana, or catalogue of books and tracts, relating to the history, literature, and poetry, of portugal: forming part of the library of john adamson, m.r.s.l. etc. _newcastle on tyne_, . vo. "lusitania illustrata; notices on the history, antiquities, literature, etc. of portugal. literary department. part i. selection of sonnets, with biographical sketches of the author, by john adamson, m.r.s.l. etc. _newcastle upon tyne_, . vo." bolton corney. * * * * * receipts to the beggar's opera on its production. every body is aware of the prodigious and unexpected success of gay's _beggar's opera_ on its first production; it was offered to colley cibber at drury lane, and refused, and the author took it to rich, at the lincoln's-inn-fields theatre, by whom it was accepted, but not without hesitation. it ran for nights (not nights, as has been stated in some authorities) in the season of - ; of these, nights were in succession; and, from the original account-book of the manager, c.m. rich, i am enabled to give an exact statement of the money taken at the doors on each night, distinguishing such performances as were for the benefit of the author, viz. the rd, th, th, and th nights, which put exactly l. s. d. into gay's pocket. this is a new circumstance in the biography of one of our most fascinating english writers, whether in prose or verse. rich records that the king, queen, and { } princesses were present on the st repetition, but that was by no means one of the fullest houses. the very bill sold at the doors on the occasion has been preserved, and hereafter may be furnished for the amusement of your readers. it appears, that when the run of the _beggar's opera_ was somewhat abruptly terminated by the advance of the season and the benefits of the actors, the "takings," as they were and still are called, were larger than ever. the performances commenced on th january, , and that some striking novelty was required at the lincoln's-inn-fields theatre, to improve the prospects of the manager, may be judged from the fact that the new tragedy of _sesostris_, brought out on the th january, was played for the benefit of its author (john sturm) on its th night to only l. s., while the house was capable of holding at least l. in the following statement of the receipts to the _beggar's opera_, i have not thought it necessary to insert the days of the months:-- £ s. d. night - - - - - - (author) - - - - - - - - - (author) - - - - - - - - - (author) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (author) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - therefore, when the run was interrupted, the attraction of the opera was greater than it had been on any previous night, excepting the th, which was one of those set apart for the remuneration of the author, when the receipt was l. s. the total sum realised by the successive performances was l. s., of which, as we have already shown, gay obtained l. s d. to him it was all clear profit; but from the sum obtained by rich are, of course, to be deducted the expenses of the company, lights, house-rent, &c. the successful career of the piece was checked, as i have said, by the intervention of benefits, and the manager would not allow it to be repeated even for walker's and miss fenton's nights, the macheath and polly of the opera; but, in order to connect the latter with it, when miss fenton issued her bill for _the beaux's stratagem_, on th april, it was headed that it was "for the benefit of polly." an exception was, however, made in favour of john rich, the brother of the manager, for whose benefit the _beggar's opera_ was played on th february, when the receipt was l. s. miss fenton was allowed a second benefit, on the th may, in consequence, we may suppose, of her great claims in connection with the _beggar's opera_, and then it was performed to a house containing l. s. the greatest recorded receipt, in its first season, was on the th april, when, for some unexplained cause the audience was so numerous that l. s. were taken at the doors. after this date there appears to have been considerable fluctuation in the profits derived from repetitions of the _beggar's opera_. on the th may, the day after polly fenton's (her real name was lavinia) second benefit, the proceeds fell to l. s., the th night produced l. s., and the st only l. s. d. the next night the receipt suddenly rose again to l. s. d., and it continued to range between l. and l. until the nd and last night ( th june), when the sum taken was l. s. d. miss fenton left the stage at the end of the season, to be made duchess of bolton, and in the next season her place, as regards the _beggar's opera_, was taken by miss warren, and on th september it attracted l. s.; at the end of november it drew only l., yet, on the th december, for some reason not stated by the manager, the takings amounted to l. s. d. on january st a new experiment was tried with the opera, for it was represented by children, and the prince of wales commanded it on one or more of the eight successive performances it thus underwent. on th may we find miss cantrell taking miss warren's character, and in the whole, the _beggar's opera_ was acted more than forty times in its second year, - , including the performances by "lilliputians" as well as comedians. this is, perhaps, as much of its early history as your readers will care about. dramaticus. * * * * * { } notes upon cunningham's handbook for london. _lady dacre's alms-houses, or emanuel hospital._--"jan. . , died, in emanual hospital, mrs. wyndymore, cousin of mary, queen of william iii., as well as of queen anne. strange revolution of fortune, that the cousin of two queens should, for fifty years, by supported by charity."--_ms. diary_, quoted in collett's _relics of literature_, p. . _essex buildings._--"on thursday next, the nd of this instant, november, at the _musick-school in essex buildings_, over against st. clement's church in the strand, will be continued a concert of vocal and instrumental musick, beginning at five of the clock, every evening. composed by mr. banister."--_lond. gazette_, nov. . . "this famous 'musick-room' was afterwards paterson's auction-room."--pennant's _common-place book_. _st. antholin's._--in thorpe's catalogue of mss. for appears for sale, art. ., "the churchwarden's accounts, from to , of the parish of _st. antholin's_, london." again, in the same catalogue, art. ., "the churchwardens and overseers of the parish of _st. antholin's_, in london, accounts from to inclusive." verily these books have been in the hands of "unjust stewards!" _clerkenwell._--names of eminent persons residing in this parish in :--earl of carlisle, earl of essex, earl of aylesbury, lord barkely, lord townsend, lord dellawar, lady crofts, lady wordham, sir john keeling, sir john cropley, sir edward bannister, sir nicholas stroude, sir gower barrington, dr. king, dr. sloane. in - :--duke of newcastle, lord baltimore, lady wright, lady mary dormer, lady wyndham, sir erasmus smith, sir richard cliverton, sir john burdish, sir goddard nelthorpe, sir john king, sir william bowles, sir william boulton.--_extracted from a ms. in the late mr. upcott's collection._ _tyburn gallows._--no. . connaught square, is built on the spot where this celebrated gallows stood; and, in the lease granted by the bishop of london, this is particularly mentioned. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * sewerage in etruria. i have been particularly struck, in reading _the cities and cemeteries of etruria_, of george dennis, by the great disparity there appears between the ancient population of this country and the present. the ancient population appears, moreover, to have been located in circumstances not by any means favourable to the health of the people. those cities surrounded by high walls, and entered by singularly small gateways, must have been very badly ventilated, and very unfavourable to health; and yet it is not reasonable to suppose they could have been so unhealthy then as the author describes the country at present to be. it is hardly possible to imagine so great a people as the etruscans, the wretched fever-stricken objects the present inhabitants of the maremna are described to be. to what, then, can this great difference be ascribed? the etruscans appear to have taken very great pains with the drainage of their cities; on many sites the cloaca are the only remains of their former industry and greatness which remain. they were also careful to bury their dead outside their city walls; and it is, no doubt, to these two circumstances, principally, that their increase and greatness, as a people, are to be ascribed. but why do not the present inhabitants avail themselves of the same means to health? is it that they are idle, or are they too broken spirited and poverty-stricken to unite in any public work? or has the climate changed? perhaps it was owing to some defect in their civil polity that the ancients were comparatively so easily put down by the roman power, which might have been the superior civilisation. possibly the great majority of the people may have been dissatisfied with their rulers, and gladly removed to another place and another form of government. it is even possible, and indeed likely, that these great public works may have been carried on by the forced labour of the poorest and, consequently, the most numerous class of the population, and that, consequently, they had no particular tie to their native city, as being only a hardship to them; and they may even have had a dislike to sewers in themselves, as reminding them of their bondage, and which dislike their descendants have inherited, and for which they are now suffering. at any rate, it is an instructive example to our present citizens of the value of drainage and sanitary arrangements, and shows that the importance of these things was recognised and appreciated in the earliest times. c.p.f. * * * * * andrew frusius--andrÉ des freux. many of your readers, as well as "roterodamus," will be ready to acknowledge their obligation to mr. bruce for his prompt identification of the author of the epigram against erasmus (pp. , .). i have just referred to the catalogue of the library of this university, and i regret to say that we have no copy of any of the works of frusius. mr. bruce says he knows nothing of frusius as an author. i believe there is no mention of him in any english bibliographical or biographical work. there is, however, a notice { } of him in the _biographie universelle_, vol. xvi. (paris), and in the _biografia universale_, vol. xxi. (venezia). as these works have, perhaps, found their way into very few private english libraries, i send you the following sketch, which will probably be acceptable to your readers. it is much to be lamented that sufficient encouragement cannot be given in this country for the production of a _universal biography_. roses's work, which promised to be a giant, dwindled down to a miserable pigmy; and that under "the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge" was strangled in its birth. andré des freux, better known by his latin name, frusius, was born at chartres, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. he embraced the life of an ecclesiastic, and obtained the cure of thiverval, which he held many years with great credit to himself. the high reputation of ignatius loyola, who was then at rome, with authority from the holy see to found the society of the jesuits, led frusius to that city, where he was admitted a member of the new order in , and shortly after became secretary to loyola. he contributed to the establishment of the society at parma, venice, and many towns of italy and sicily. he was the first jesuit who taught the greek language at messina; he also gave public lectures on the holy scriptures in rome. he was appointed rector of the german college at rome, shortly before his death, which occurred on the th of october, , three months and six days after the death of loyola. frusius had studied, with equal success, theology, medicine, and law: he was a good mathematician, an excellent musician, and made latin verses with such facility, that he composed them, on the instant, on all sorts of subjects. but these verses were neither so elegant nor so harmonious, as alegambe asserts[ ], since he adds, that it requires close attention to distinguish them from prose. frusius translated, from spanish into latin, the _spiritual exercises_ of loyola. he was the author of the following works:--two small pieces, in verse, _de verborum et rerum copia_, and _summa latinæ syntaxeos_: these were published in several different places; _theses collectæ ex interpretatione geneseos; assertiones theologicæ_, rome, ; _poemata_, cologne, --this collection often reprinted at lyons, antwerp and tournon, contains [ ] epigrams against the heretics, amongst whom he places erasmus;--a poem _de agno dei_; and, lastly, another poem, entitled _echo de presenti christianæ religionis calamitate_, which has been sometimes cited as an example of a great _difficulté vaincue_. the edition of tournon contains also a poem, _de simplicitate_, of which alegambe speaks with praise. to frusius was also owing an edition of martial's _epigrams_, divested of their obscenities. edw. ventris. cambridge, jan. . . [our valued correspondent, mr. maccabe, has also informed us that the "_epigrams_ of frusius were published at antwerp, , in vo., and at cologne, , in mo. see feller's _biographie_."] [ ] i presume in his _bibliotheca scriptorum societatis jesu_. [ ] duthilloeul, according to mr. bruce, says . * * * * * opinions respecting burnet a small _catena patrum_ has been given respecting burnet, as a historian, in no. . pp. , ., to which two more _scriptorum judicia_ have been appended in no. . p. ., by "i.h.m.". as a sadly disparaging opinion had been quoted, at p. ., from lord dartmouth, i hope you will allow the following remarks on the testimony of that nobleman to appear in your columns:-- "no person has contradicted burnet more frequently, or with more asperity, than dartmouth. yet dartmouth wrote, 'i do not think he designedly published anything he believed to be false.' at a later period, dartmouth, provoked by some remarks on himself in the second volume of the bishop's history, retracted this praise; but to such a retraction little importance can be attached. even swift has the justice to say, 'after all he was a man of generosity and good nature.'"--_short remarks on bishop burnet's history_. "it is usual to censure burnet as a singularly inaccurate historian; but i believe the charge to be altogether unjust. he appears to be singularly inaccurate only because his narrative has been subjected to a scrutiny singularly severe and unfriendly. if any whig thought it worth while to subject reresby's _memoirs_, north's _examen_, mulgrave's _account of the revolution_, or the _life of james the second_, edited by clarke, to a similar scrutiny, it would soon appear that burnet was far indeed from being the most inexact writer of his time."--macaulay, _hist. england_, vol. ii. p. , rd. ed. t. bath. * * * * * queries saint thomas of lancaster. sir,--i am desirous of information respecting the religious veneration paid to the memory of thomas, earl of lancaster, cousin-german to king edward the second. he was taken in open rebellion against the king on the th of march, , condemned by a court-martial, and executed, with circumstances of great indignity, on the rising ground above the castle of pomfret, which at the time was in his possession. his body was probably given to the monks of the adjacent priory; and soon after his death miracles were said to be performed at his tomb, and at the place of { } execution; a curious record of which is preserved in the library of corpus christi college, at cambridge, and introduced by brady into his history of the period. about the same time, a picture or image of him seems to have been exhibited in st. paul's church, in london, and to have been the object of many offerings. a special proclamation was issued, denouncing this veneration of the memory of a traitor, and threatening punishment on those who encouraged it; and a statement is given by brady of the opinions of an ecclesiastic, who thought it very doubtful how far this devotion should be encouraged by the church, the earl of lancaster, besides his political offences, having been a notorious evil-liver. as soon, however, as the king's party was subdued, and the unhappy sovereign, whose acts and habits had excited so much animosity, cruelly put to death, we find not only the political character of the earl of lancaster vindicated, his attainder reversed, his estates restored to his family, and his adherents re-established in all their rights and liberties, but within five weeks of the accession of edward the third, a special mission was sent to the pope from the king, imploring the appointment of a commission to institute the proper canonical investigation for his admission into the family of saints. his character and his cause are described, in florid language, as having been those of a christian hero; and the numberless miracles wrought in his name, and the confluence of pilgrims to his tomb, are presumed to justify his invocation. in june of the same year ( ), a "king's letter" is given to robert de weryngton, authorising him and his agents to collect alms throughout the kingdom for the purpose of building a chapel on the hill where the earl was beheaded, and praying all prelates and authorities to give him aid and heed. this sanction gave rise to imposture; and in december a proclamation appeared, ordering the arrest and punishment of unauthorised persons collecting money under this pretence, and taking it for their own use. in , the same clerical personages were sent again to the pope, to advance the affair of the canonization of the earl, and were bearers of letters on the same subject from the king to five of the cardinals, all urging the attention of the papal court to a subject that so much interested the church and people of england. it would seem, however, that some powerful opposition to this request was at work at the roman see. for in the april of the following year another commission, composed of a professor of theology, a military personage, and a magistrate of the name of john de newton, was sent with letters to the pope, to nine cardinals, to the referendary of the papal court, and to three nephews of his holiness, entreating them not to give ear to the invectives of malignant men ("commenta fictitia maliloquorum"), who here asserted that the earl of lancaster consented to, or connived at, some injury or insult offered to certain cardinals at durham in the late king's reign. so far from this being true, the letters assert that the earl defended these prelates to the utmost of his power, protected them from enemies who had designs on their lives, and placed them in security at his own great peril. the main point of the canonization is again urged, and allusion made to former repeated supplications, and the sacred promise, "knock, and it shall be opened unto you," appealed to. the vindication of the earl from the malicious charge against him is omitted in the letters to two of the cardinals and the lay personages. were these the two cardinals who fancied themselves injured? this, then, is all i can discover in the ordinary historical channels respecting this object of ancient public reverence in england. the chapel was constructed and officiated in till the dissolution of the monasteries; the image in st. paul's was always regarded with special affection; and the cognomen of _saint_ thomas of lancaster was generally accepted and understood. five hundred years after the execution of the earl of lancaster, a large stone coffin, massive and roughly hewn, was found in a field that belonged of old to the priory of pomfret, but at least a quarter of a mile distant from the hill where the chapel stood. within was the skeleton of a full-grown man, partially preserved; the skull lay between the thighs. there is no record of the decapitation of any person at pomfret of sufficient dignity to have been interred in a manner showing so much care for the preservation of the body, except the earl of lancaster. the coffin may have been removed here at the time the opposite party forbade its veneration, from motives of precaution for its safety. now, i shall be much obliged for information on the following points:-- is any thing known, beyond what i have stated, as to the communications with rome on the subject of his canonization, or as to the means by which he was permitted by the english church to become a fit object for invocation and veneration? what are the chief historical grounds that endeared his memory to the church or the people? the compassion for his signal fall can hardly account for this, although a similar motive was sufficient to bring to the tomb of edward ii., in gloucester cathedral, an amount of offerings that added considerably to the splendour of the edifice. are any anecdotes or circumstances recorded, respecting the worship of this saint in later times, than i have referred to? { } what is the historic probability that the stone coffin, discovered in , contained the remains of this remarkable man? i have no doubt that much curious and valuable matter might be discovered, by pursuing into the remote receptacles of historical knowledge the lives and characters of persons who have become, in catholic times, the unauthorised objects of popular religious reverence after death. rich. monckton milnes. . pall mall, jan. th. [to this interesting communication we may add that "_the office of st. thomas of lancaster_," which begins, "gaude thoma, ducum decus, lucerna lancastriæ," is printed in the volume of "_political songs_" edited by mr. wright for the camden society, from a royal ms. in the british museum.--ms. reg. .] * * * * * shield of the black prince--sword of charles i. in bolton's _elements of armories_, , p. ., is an engraving of a very interesting shield, of the kind called "pavoise," which at that period hung over the tomb of edward the black prince, at canterbury, in addition to the shield still remaining there. bolton says, "the sayd victorious princes tombe is in the goodly cathedral church erected to the honour of christ, in canterburie; there (beside his quilted coat-armour, with half-sleeves, taberd fashion, and his triangular shield, both of them painted with the royall armories of our kings, and differenced with silver labels) hangs this kind of pavis or target, curiously (for those times) embost and painted, and the scutcheon in the bosse being worne out, and the armes (which, it seemes, were the same with his coate armour, and not any particular devise) defaced, and is altogether of the same kinde with that upon which (froissard reports) the dead body of the lord robert of dvras, and nephew to the cardinall of pierregoort, was laid, and sent unto that cardinale, from the battell of poictiers, where the blacke prince obtained a victorie, the renowne whereof is immortale." can any of your correspondents inform me when this most interesting relic disappeared? sandford, whose _genealogical history_ was published some sixty or seventy years later, says, "on an iron barr over the tombe are placed the healme and crest, coat of maile, and gantlets, and, on a pillar near thereunto, his shield of armes, richly diapred with gold, all which he is said to have used in battel;" but he neither mentions the missing "pavoise," engraved in bolton, or the scabbard of the sword which yet remains, the sword itself having been taken away, according to report, by oliver cromwell. did that unscrupulous protector(?) take away the "pavoise" at the same time, or order his ironsides to "remove that bauble?"--and how came he to spare the helmet, jupon, gauntlets, shield, and _scabbard_? i have strong doubts of his being the purloiner of the sword. the late mr. stothard, who mentions the report, does not quote his authority. i will add another query, on a similar subject:--when did the _real_ sword of charles the first's time, which, but a few years back, hung at the side of that monarch's equestrian figure at charing cross, disappear?--and what has become of it? the question was put, at my suggestion, to the official authorities, by the secretary of the british archæological association; but no information could be obtained on the subject. that the sword _was_ a real one of that period, i state upon the authority of my lamented friend, the late sir samuel meyrick, who had ascertained the fact, and pointed out to me its loss. j.r. planchÉ. * * * * * fratenrnitye of vagabondes--rev. mr. genesse--red maids. [we have for some time past been obliged, by want of space, to omit all the kind expressions towards ourselves, in which friendly correspondents are apt to indulge; but there is something so unusual in the way in which the following letter begins, that we have done violence to our modesty, in order to admit the comments of our kind-hearted correspondent. we have no doubt that all his questions will be answered in due course.] never, during my life (more than half a century), do i remember hailing the appearance of any new publication with such unfeigned delight. i had hugged myself on having the friendship of a certain "bookworm," possessing a curious library, of some three or four thousand volumes; how much must i have rejoiced, therefore, at finding that, through the medium of your invaluable journal, my literary friends were likely to be increased one hundred-fold; and that, for the small sum of three pence weekly, i could command the cordial co-operation, when at a loss, of all the first scholars, antiquaries, and literary men of the country; that without the trouble of attending meetings, &c., i could freely become a member of the "society of societies;" that the four thousand volumes, to which i had, previously, access, were increased more than ten thousand-fold. it is one of the peculiar advantages of literary accumulation, that it is only by diffusing the knowledge of the materials amassed, and the information gained, that their value is felt. unlike the miser, the scholar and antiquary, by expending, add to the value of their riches. permit me to avail myself of the "good the bounteous gods have sent me," and make one or two inquiries through the medium of your columns. { } in the first place, can any of your readers inform me by whom a pamphlet, of the elizabethan period, noticed in the _censura literaria_, and entitled _the fraternitye of vagabondes_, was reprinted, some years since?--was it by machelle stace, of scotland yard, who died a brother of the charter-house? in the second place, can any of your clerical readers tell me where i can find any account of the late rev. mr. genesse, of bath, author of a _history of the stage_, in ten volumes, one of the most elaborate and entertaining works ever published, which must have been a labour of love, and the labour of a life? and, in the third and last place, i find, in the _bristol gazette_ of the early part of last month, the following paragraph:--"the red maids, in number, enjoyed their annual dinner in honour of the birthday of their great benefactor, alderman whitson. the dinner consisted of joints of _veal_ (which they only have on this occasion), and some dozens of plum puddings. the mayor and mayoress attended, and were much pleased to witness the happy faces of the girls, to whom the mayoress distributed one shilling each." can any of your curious contributors give me any account of these _red maids_?--why they are so called, &c., &c.?--and, in fact, of the charity in general? it will not be one of the least of many benefits of your publication, that, in noticing from time to time the real intention of many ancient charitable bequests, the purposes of the original benevolent founder may be restored to their integrity, and the charity devoted to the use of those for whom it was intended, and who will receive it as a charity, and not, as is too often the case, be swallowed up as a mere place,--or worse, a sinecure. arthur griffinhoof, jun. * * * * * the name of shylock. dr. farmer has stated that shakspere took the name which he has given to one of the leading characters in the _merchant of venice_ from a pamphlet entitled _caleb shilloche, or the jew's prediction_. the date of the pamphlet, however, being some years posterior to that of the play, renders this origin impossible. mr. c. knight, who points out this error, adds--"_scialac_ was the name of a marionite of mount libanus." but "query," was not _shylock_ a proper name among the jews, derived from the designation employed by the patriarch jacob in predicting the advent of the messiah--"until _shiloh_ come"? (gen. xlix. .) the objection, which might be urged, that so sacred a name would not have been applied by an ancient jew to his child, has not much weight, when we recollect that some christians have not shrunk from the blasphemous imposition of the name _emanuel_ ("god with us") upon their offspring. st. jerome manifestly reads shiloach, for he translates it by _qui mittendus est. (lond. encyc_. in voc. "shiloh.") now the difference between _shiloach_ and _shylock_ is very trivial indeed. i shall be very glad to have the opinion of some of your numerous and able contributors on this point. but, after all, shylock may have been a _family name_ familiar to the great dramatist. in all my researches on the subject of _english surnames,_ however, i have but once met with it as a generic distinction. in the _battel abbey deeds_ (penes sir t. phillipps, bart.) occurs a power of attorney from john pesemershe, esq., to _richard shylok_, of hoo, co. sussex, and others, to deliver seizin of all his lands in sussex to certain persons therein named. the date of this document is july , . mark antony lower. * * * * * transposition of letters. i should be obliged if any of your readers would give me the reason for the transposition of certain letters, chiefly, but not exclusively, in proper names, which has been effected in the course of time. the name of our queen bertha was, in the seventh century, written beorhte. the duke brythnoth's name was frequently written byrthnoth, in the tenth century. in eardweard, we have dropped the _a_; in ealdredesgate, the _e_. in aedwini, we have dropped the first letter (or have sometimes transposed it), although, i think, we are wrong; for the given name adwin has existed in my own family for several centuries. john was always written jhon till about the end of the sixteenth century; and in chaucer's time, the word _third_, as every body knows, was written _thridde_, or _thrydde_. i believe that the _h_ in jhon was introduced, as it was in other words in german, to give force to the following vowel. certain letters were formerly used in old french in like manner, which were dropped upon the introduction of the accents. b. williams. hillingdon, jan. . * * * * * pictures of queen elizabeth and charles i. in churches. your correspondent "r.o." will find two pictures of charles i. of the same allegorical character as that described by him in his note (_antè_, p. .), one on the wall of the stairs leading to the north gallery of the church of st. botolph, bishopsgate, and the other in the hall of the law courts in guildhall yard. i know nothing of the history of the first-mentioned picture; the latter, until within a few years, hung on the wall, above the { } gallery, in the church of st. olave, jewry, when, upon the church undergoing repair, it was taken down, and, by the parishioners, presented to the corporation of london, who placed it in its present position. in the church of st. olave there were two other pictures hung in the gallery, one representing the tomb of queen elizabeth, copied from the original at westminster, the other of time on the wing, inscribed with various texts from scripture. both these pictures were presented at the same time with the picture of charles i. to the corporation, and are now in the hall in guildhall yard. the representation of queen elizabeth's tomb is to be met with, i believe, in some other of the london churches. the picture in bishopsgate church is fully described in the st vol. of malcolm's _londinium redivivum_, p. ., and the st. olave's pictures are mentioned in the th vol. of the same work, p. . malcolm states he was not able to find any account of the bishopsgate painting in the parish books. hitherto i have not been able to discover anything connected with the history of the st. olave's pictures, which, as the old church was destroyed in the great fire of , were doubtless placed there subsequently to that year. i shall be glad if any of your readers can throw any light as to the time when, and the circumstances under which, such pictures as i have mentioned, referring to queen elizabeth and charles i., were placed in our churches. james crosby. * * * * * flaying in punishment of sacrilege. in the _journal of the archæological institute_, for september, , there are some most interesting notes on the subject of "flaying in punishment of sacrilege," by mr. way. since then i have felt peculiar interest in the facts and traditions recorded by mr. way. can any of your correspondents, or mr. way himself, give any further references to authors by whom the subject is mentioned, besides those named in the paper to which i allude? a few weeks ago i received a piece of skin, stated to be human, and taken from the door of the parish church of hadstock, in essex. together with this i received a short written paper, apparently written some fifty years ago, which ascribes the fact of human skin being found on the door of that church, to the punishment, _not_ of _sacrilege_, but of a somewhat different crime. the piece of skin has been pronounced to be human by the highest authority. as the above query might lead to some lengthy "notes," i desire only to be informed of the titles of any works, ancient or modern, in which distinct mention, or allusion, is made of the punishment of flaying. r.v. winchester. * * * * * minor queries. _pokership or parkership_.--in collins' _peerage_, vol. iv. p. ., th edition, , we are told that sir robert harley, of wigmore castle, in , was made forester of boringwood, alias bringwood forest, in com. hereford, _with the office of the 'pokership_,' and custody of the forest or chase of prestwood for life. the same word occurs in the edition (the rd) of , and in that edited by sir egerton brydges in (vol. iv. p. .). if _pokership_ be not a misprint or misreading of the original authority, viz. _pat. . jac. i._ p. ., for _parkership_, can any of your readers tell me the meaning of "the _pokership_," which is not to be found in any book of reference within my reach? i like the "notes and queries" very much. audley end, jan. . . braybrooke. _boduc or boduoc on british coins._--i observe there is a prevailing opinion that the inscription on the british coin, "boduc or boduoc," must be intended for the name of our magnanimous queen boadicea. i am sorry to cast a cloud over so pleasant a vision, but your little book of queries tempts me to throw in a doubt. although the name budic is not met with in the pedigrees of england, commonly given by welsh heralds, yet it is often found among the families of the welsh in brittany, and as they are reported to be early descendants of the welsh of england, there can be little doubt that the name was once common in england. i beg leave, therefore, to _query_, whether the inscription is not intended for a regulus of britain of that name? p. _the origin of the word snob._--can any of your valuable correspondents give me the origin or derivation of the word snob? when, and under what peculiar circumstances, was it first introduced into our language? in the town in which i reside, in the north of england, the word snob was formerly applied to a _cobbler_, and the phrase was in use, "_snip_ the _tailor_, and _snob_ the _cobbler_." i cannot discover how and why the word snob was enlarged into its present comprehensive meaning. explanations of many of the slang phrases met with in the dramatic works of the last century, such as, "thank you, sir, i owe you one," "a rowland for an oliver," "keep moving, dad," &c. &c. would perhaps give much light upon the manners of the times, and an interesting history might be compiled of the progress of slang phrases to the present day. alpha. _mertens, martins, or martini, the printer._--can any of your correspondents inform me what was really the surname of theodoric mertens, martins, or martini, the printer of louvain, and who { } was a friend of erasmus? in a small volume of his, now before me, printed in , the colophon gives: "lovanii apud theodoricum martinum anno mdxvii mense april;" while, on the reverse of _the same leaf_, is a wooden block, of his device, occupying the whole page, and beneath it are inscribed the words "theodoricus martini." this appears to put _mertens_ out of the question. w. _queen's messengers_.--i should esteem it a favour conferred if any of your readers could give me any memoranda touching the early origin of the corps now termed queen's messengers, the former "knightes caligate of armes." the only mention that i have read of their origin is a brief notice in knight's _london_, no. . p. ; but doubtless there exists, did i know what works to consult, many more voluminous a history of their origin and proceedings than the short summary given in the work of mr. knight. in whose reign were they first created? and by whom were they appointed? in fact, any data relating to their early history would very much oblige, j.u.g.g. _bishop lesly of ross' epitaph.--machoreus or macorovius, "de prælio aveniniano."_--would any of your readers be so kind as to favour me with a copy of the latin epitaph of bishop lesly, of ross, inscribed on his tomb in the abbey church of gurtenburg, near brussels? can any one furnish the _entire_ title and imprint of a latin poem, _de prælio aveniniano_, said to have been written in , by a scottish jesuit named alexander macorovius, or machoreus? any particulars concerning this author would gratify llewelyn st. george. _the word "cannibal."_--when was the word _cannibal_ first used in english books?--to what language does it belong?--and what is its exact meaning? w. _sir william rider_.--"h.f." would feel obliged by a reference to any work containing an account of sir william rider and his family. he was lord mayor of london in ; and his daughter mary was married to sir thomas lake, of cannons, secretary of state temp. james i. he wishes more particularly to ascertain the date of sir william rider's death. _the word "poghele."_--what is the etymology and precise meaning of the word "poghele" (pronounced poughley), or rather the first part of it, which occurs occasionally as the name of a place in the county of berks, and perhaps elsewhere? w. _duncan campbell._--was the duncan campbell, of whom memoirs were written by defoe, a real or an imaginary person? if the former, where can one find any authentic account of him? l.b. _boston de bury de bib. monasteriorum._--can any of your correspondents give me a reference to the original ms. of _boston de bury de bibliothecis monasteriorum_? p. _cazena on the inquisition_.--can any one tell me what is the public opinion of cazena's work on the inquisition? i see limborch and many others quoted concerning that tribunal, but never cazena. is the book scarce?--or is it not esteemed? i never saw but one copy. p. _the reconciliation_, .--in , cardinal pole directed a register to be kept in every parish of all the parishioners who, on a certain day, were to be reconciled to the church of rome and absolved. (burnet's _ref_. vol. iii. p. .) the bishop of london's declaration thereon (feb. . ) runs thus:-- "and they not so reconciled, every one of them shall have process made agaynst him accordyng to the canons, as the case shall requyre; for which purpose the pastours and curates of every paryshe shall be commanded by their archedeacon to certyfye me in writinge of every man and woman's name that is not so reconciled." have any of your readers at any time seen and made a _note_ of such a register? the most probable place of deposit would be the bishop's registry, but i have never yet been fortunate enough to meet with one of these curious returns. j.s.b. * * * * * miscellanies. _darkness at the crucifixion_.--the following passage, in a volume of lectures by the rev. h. blunt, has fallen under my notice:-- "it was this dionysius (the areopagite) of whom the earliest christian historians relate that, being at heliopolis, in egypt, at the time of our lord's crucifixion, when he beheld the mid-day darkness which attended that awful event, he exclaimed, 'either the god of nature suffers, or the frame of the world will be dissolved.'" having very limited opportunity of studying the ancient historians, i should be greatly obliged if you would inform me from what work this account is derived; or refer me to any authors, _not_ having embraced christianity, who give a description of the crucifixion of our saviour; and especially with reference to the "darkness over all the earth" at the time of that event, mentioned by st. luke, who also adds, that "the sun was darkened." your kindly consenting, as you did in your second number, to receive queries respecting references, has induced me to trouble you so far. s.a.m. [our correspondent will find much that is to his purpose, both in the way of statements and of reference { } to original authorities, in lardner's _jewish and heathen testimonies_, chap. xiii. of the heathen authors; vol. ii. p. . of the original to. edition; or vol. vii. p. . of the vo. edition of his works by kippis, .] _high-doctrine_.--in the cambridgeshire fens there are a great number of dissenters, and i believe cromwell's ironsides were chiefly recruited from those districts. on the higher lands adjoining are the old parish churches; and in conversation it is not uncommon to hear the tenets of the church of england described as _high land doctrine_, in contra-distinction to the _low land_, or dissenters' doctrine. the thing is amusing, if nothing else, and i heard it while staying some few years ago with my brother, who lives on the edges of the cambridgeshire fens. e.h. _wife of robert de bruce_.--in the surrenden collection is an interesting roll, entitled "liberatio facta ingelardo de warlee custodi garderobe, e. ." it is, as its title imports, the release to the keeper of the wardrobe, for one year's accounts, aº. e. . i shall probably be able to send you therefrom a few "notes" illustrative of the history of that time. as a commencement, i think that the subjoined "note" will interest your historical readers. it appears that the unfortunate wife of robert bruce was then consigned to the care of the abbess of barking, with an allowance of s. per week for the same. she was, i believe, the daughter of henry de burgh, earl of ulster, and died in . in the above roll there is the following entry:-- "cs liberati anne de veer abbatisse de berkyng, per manus domini roberti de wakfeld clerici, super expensis domine elizabethe uxoris roberti de brus, percipientis per ebdomadum xxs., et ibidem perhendinantis." "cs liberati johanni de stystede valletto abbatisse de berkyng, per manus proprias, super expensis domine de brus in abbathia de berkyng perhendinantis." it does not appear, in the above roll, how long the hapless queen remained in the abbey. lambert b. larking. ryarsh vicarage. dec. . . _the talisman of charlemagne_.--i beg to refer your correspondent, on the subject of charlemagne's talisman, to what professes to be a correct representation of this antique relic, in _the illustrated london news_, of march th, ; but it is not there described as "a small nut, in a gold filigree envelopment," and gives the idea of an ornament much too large for the finger or even wrist of any lady: that paper says,-- "this curious object of virtu is described in the parisian journals as, 'la plus belle relique de l'europe;' and it has, certainly, excited considerable interest in the archæological and religious circles of the continent. the talisman is of fine gold, of round form, as our illustration shows, set with gems, and in the centre are two rough sapphires, and a portion of the holy cross; besides other relics brought from the holy land." the rest of the description much resembles your correspondent's, and asserts the talisman to be at that time the property of prince louis napoleon, then a prisoner in the château of ham. s.a.m. _sayers the caricaturist._--in wright's _england under the house of hanover_, vol. ii. p. _n_., it is stated that james sayer, the caricaturist, "died in the earlier part of the present century, no long time after his patron, pitt." in _sepulchral reminiscences of a market town_, by mr. dawson turner (yarmouth, vo. ), p. _n_., the caricaturist is called sayers, and is said to have died on the th of april, . c.h. cooper. cambridge, dec. . . _may-day_.--to what old custom does the following passage allude? "it is likewise on the first day of this month [may] that we see the ruddy milk-maid exerting herself in a most sprightly manner under a pyramid of silver tankards, and, like the virgin tarpeia, oppressed by the costly ornaments which her benefactors lay upon her." --_spectator_, no. . melanion. [our correspondent will find much curious illustration of this now obsolete custom in strutt's _sports and pastimes_ p. . (ed. hone), where the preceding passage from the _spectator_ is quoted; and we are told "these decorations of silver cups, tankards, &c. were borrowed for the purpose, and hung round the milk pails (with the addition of flowers and ribands), which the maidens _carried upon their heads_ when they went to the houses of their customers, and danced in order to obtain a small gratuity from each of them." in tempest's _cryes of london_ there is a print of a well-known merry milk-maid, kate smith, dancing with the milk pail decorations upon her head. see also hone's _every day book_, i. p. .] _dr. dee's petition_.--there is no mention of dr. dee's petition to king james in the list of his works in tanner's _bibliotheca britannica_; but in beloe's _anecdotes_, vol. ii. p. ., is an account of the preface to a scarce work of his, in which he defends himself from the charge of being a conjurer, or caller of divels, &c. tanner mentions his _supplication to queen mary for the recovery of ancient writings and monuments_. i fear, however, that your correspondent is { } acquainted with these more easily obtained accounts of dr. dee's works. the _dictionary_ of m. l'abbé ladoocat states that he died in england, a.d. , at the age of ; so that his petition to james must have been made at the close of his life. hermes. _lines quoted by goethe_.--i beg to inform your correspondent "trebor," that he will find the lines quoted by goethe in his _autobiography_, in rochester's _satire against mankind_. j.s. _queen mary's expectations_.--most persons have heard of the anxiety of queen mary i., for the birth of a child, and of her various disappointments; but many may not be aware that among the royal letters in the state paper office, are letters in french, prepared in expectation of the event, addressed by queen mary, without date, except "hampton court, " (probably about may), to her father-in-law, the emperor charles v., to henry ii., king of france, to eleonora, queen dowager of france, to ferdinand i., king of bohemia, to mary, the queen dowager of bohemia, to the doge of venice, to the king of hungary, and to the queen dowager of hungary, announcing to each the birth of her child, the word being so written _fil_, as to admit of being made _filz_, or of an easy alteration to the feminine _fille_, if necessary. j.e. _ken's morning and evening hymns_.--i saw it mentioned in a review in the _guardian_ some few weeks ago, as one merit of the last edition of the book of common prayer, published by eyre and spottiswoode, that it had restored bishop ken's morning and evening hymns to their original purity. i have no means of accurately testing this assertion by reference to any undoubted version of the date of the original publication, but i have no doubt that this might easily be done through the medium of your paper; and i think you will agree with me that, if it should be substantiated, not only is credit due to the queen's printers, but also that it is an example which ought to be followed, without exception, in all future editions of the prayer book. the variations, which i have noted in the ordinary version of the hymns, as given in other prayer books, are too numberous to be inserted here, not to mention the omission of several stanzas, three in the morning hymn, together with the doxology, and one in the evening hymn. if they be false readings, no doubt they have been allowed to creep in inadvertently, and need only pointing out to be corrected. it occurred to me that this might be done more effectually in your columns, and i venture to hope that you will not consider it a task unworthy the high aim which you have in view in your admirable publication. oxoniensis. [bishop ken's morning and evening hymns have been restored in messrs. eyre and spottiswoode's last rubricated edition of the common prayer, as far as was practicable; they were carefully collated with the original, and all variations corrected, except those which would materially affect immemorial use. the entire hymns are of great length, but all those verses which have been at all generally sung in churches are to be found in the edition to which we refer. we may take this opportunity of noticing that the queen's printers have lately restored the lesser saints' days to the kalendar in their smaller editions of the common prayer. we are not aware of any other similar editions in which the kalendar appears thus complete.] _etymology of "daysman_."--what is the etymology of _daysman_, which, in the book of job, and in some of our provincial dialects, means a mediator or arbitrator? mark antony lower. [nares defines _daysman_, an umpire or arbitrator, from his fixing a day for decision; and adds, "mr. todd shows that _day_ sometimes meant judgment." jacob, in his _law dictionary_, tells us, "days-man signifies, in the north of england, an arbitrator or person chosen to determine an affair in dispute, who is called a _dies-man_ or _days-man_." jacob's definition may be again illustrated from nares:--"in switzerland (as we are informed by simlerus) they had some common arbitrators, or _dayesmen_, in every towne, that made a friendly composition betwixt man and man."--burton, _anat_.] _roland monoux_.--in answer to your correspondent "m", p. ., the monumental brass in his possession is, no doubt, from the church at _edmonton_, middlesex. lysons (_environs of london_, vol. ii. p. .), in his description of edmonton church, says, "near the door is a brass plate, with some english verses to the memory of roland monoux (no date)." he subjoins, in a _note_, "arms--on a chevron betw. oak-leaves as many bezants, on a chief anchors, a market for difference. on the brass plate are some english verses, nowise remarkable." these arms (omitting the _chief_) are those borne by the baronet monnoux of sandy in bedfordshire (extinct in ), who was descended from sir george monox, of walthamstow, lord mayor of london, who died in , to whom and his lady there are brasses in walthamstow church. roland of edmonton was doubtless of the same family. i am not able to give an opinion of the _date_ of the brass in question; but it might be readily conjected from the style of its execution. your readers will, i am sure, all unite with me in commendation of your correspondent "m's" correct feeling in offering to restore this monument to its original site. i hope "m's" example will find many followers. there are hundreds of { } these pillaged brasses in the hands of "collectors," and your admirable publication will have effected a great public good, if it shall have been instrumental in promoting their restoration. cambridge, jan. . . e. ventris. * * * * * _ancient motto_.--in reference to a query (no. . p. .), and a reply (no. . p. .), permit me to remark, that st. augustine, the celebrated bishop of hippo, was the person who caused to be engraved on his table the distich against detractors. possidius, in his life of that father (s. augustini, _opera omnia_, paris, , vol. x. part ii. p. .), gives the verses--no doubt an adaptation of horace--thus:-- "quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam hanc mensam indignam noverit esse sibi." the benedictine editors subjoin two readings of the pentameter:-- "hac mensa indignam noverit esse suam." "hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi." llewelyn st. george. * * * * * _mr. cresswell and miss warneford_.--at p. . of the "notes and queries," your correspondent "b." inquires about a pamphlet relating to the marriage, many years ago, of mr. cresswell and miss warneford. "p.c.s.s." cannot give the precise title of that pamphlet in question; but he is enabled to state, on the authority of watts (_biblioth. brit._), and on that of his old friend sylvanus urban (_gent. mag._ vol. xvii. p. .), that it was published in london, towards the end of the year , and that the very remarkable and very disgraceful transactions to which it refers were afterwards (in ) made the subject of a novel, called _dalinda_, or _the double marriage_. lond. mo. price threepence. the gentleman who was the hero of this scandalous affair was mr. thomas estcourt cresswell, of pinkney park, wilts, m.p. for wootton bassett. he married anne, the sole and very wealthy heiress of edward warneford, esq. as it cannot be the object of the "notes and queries" to revive a tale of antiquated scandal, "p.c.s.s." will not place upon its pages the details of this painful affair--the cruel injury inflicted upon miss scrope (the lady to whom mr. cresswell was said to have been secretly married before his union with miss warneford)--and the base and unmanly contrivance by which, it was stated, that he endeavoured to keep possession of both wives at the same time. miss scrope appears to have retained, for a considerable time, a deep sense of her injuries; for in she published a pamphlet, in her own name, called _miss scrope's answer to mr. cresswell's narrative_. (lond. baldwin. price s. d.) if "b." should be desirous of further information, he is referred, by "p.c.s.s.," to the _general evening post_ of oct. . and . , to the _gentleman's magazine_ for that month and year, and to the same work, vol. xix. pp. . . p.c.s.s. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. little as public attention has of late years been devoted to commentating upon pope, his writings and literary history, there are no doubt many able and zealous illustrators of them among lovers of literature for its own sake: and many a curious note upon the bard of twickenham and his works will probably be evoked by the announcement, that now is the moment when they may be produced with most advantage, when mr. murray is about to bring forth a new edition of pope, under the able and experienced editorship of mr. croker. besides numerous original inedited letters, mr. croker's edition will have the advantage of some curious books bought at the brockley hall sale, including four volumes of libels upon pope, and a copy of ruffhead's life of him, with warburton's manuscript notes. no one has rendered better service to the study of gothic architecture in this country than mr. j.h. parker, of oxford. the value of his admirable _glossary of terms used in architecture_, is attested by the fact, that it has already reached a fourth edition, and that another will soon be called for. but we doubt whether he has done any thing better calculated to promote this interesting branch of archæology than by the production of his _introduction to the study of gothic architecture_, which--originally written as part of a series of elementary lectures recommended by the committee of the oxford architectural society to be delivered to the junior members, and considered useful and interesting by those who heard them--is now published at the request of the society. a more interesting volume on the subject, or one better calculated to give such a knowledge of it, as is essential to any thing like a just appreciation of the peculiar characteristics of our church architecture, could scarcely have been produced, while its compact size and numerous illustrations fit it to become a tourist's travelling companion. we have great pleasure in directing attention to the advertisement inserted in another column respecting some improvements about to be introduced into the gentleman's magazine. this venerable periodical has maintained its station uninterruptedly in our literature from the year . from the times of johnson and cowper it has been the medium by which many men of the greatest eminence have communicated with the public. at all times it has been the sole depository of much valuable information of a great variety of kinds. we are confident that under the new management { } it will put forth fresh claims to the favour of the public. many writers of high reputation in historical and antiquarian literature are henceforth to be enlisted in its service. we shall look for the forthcoming number with great interest. scheible, of stuttgart, who is doubtless known to our readers as the publisher of some very curious works illustrative of the popular literature of germany of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has just commenced a new library of magic, &c., or _bibliothek der zanber-geheimnisse-und offenbarungs-bucher_. the first volume of it is devoted to a work ascribed to that prince of magicians, our old familiar, dr. faustus, and bears the imposing title _doktor johannes faust's magia naturalis et innaturalis, oder dreifacher höllenzwang, leiztes testament und siegelkunst_. it is taken from a ms. of the last century, filled with magical drawings and devices enough to summon back again from the red sea all the spirits that ever were laid in it. it is certainly a curious book to publish in the middle of the nineteenth century. messrs. sotheby and co. will sell the extensive and valuable collection of mss. in all languages formed by the late mr. rodd, on monday the th of february, and five following days. the catalogue deserves the attention of all collectors of manuscripts, as it is, as far as circumstances will admit, a classified one. there are upwards of one thousand lots in the sale--many of a very curious and interesting character. there are greek and latin versions of the scriptures, manuscripts of the th century, ruding's original collections for his _history of the coinage of great britain_; which work, it is stated, contains only a very small portion of the materials he had brought together. one lot consists of a mass of documents and papers contained in eight large packing cases, and weighing from ten to fifteen hundred weight, of the families of eyre, of derbyshire and berkshire, and their intermarriages from the reign of henry ii. to the present time. well may mr. sotheby talk of their proving a source of amusement to any person having room to sort them, and time to devote to their arrangement. messrs. puttick and simpson, of piccadilly, commence their sales on monday next, with a four days' miscellaneous sale of works on theology, history, classics, voyages and travels, and standard works in foreign and english general literature. they have some important sales coming on, of which our readers shall have due notice. we have received the following new catalogues:-- "catalogue of valuable second-hand books in divinity, the classics, law, and miscellaneous, on sale by william heath, / . lincoln's inn fields." "catalogue of curious and rare books, all recently purchased, now on sale by george bumstead, no. . high holborn." "catalogue of choice, useful and interesting books, in fine condition, on sale at the low prices affixed, by w. waller and son, . fleet street." messrs. waller have also forwarded to us a catalogue recently published by them, which contains some curious "manuscripts, historical documents, and autograph letters." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) propositiones geometricÆ, more veterum demonstratÆ, auctore matthÆo stewart, s.t.d. edinburgi. . huddesford's wyccamical chaplet. vo. london, . _odd volumes_. nares' life of lord burleigh. to. vol. iii. (in boards.) dodd's church history. small folio, . vol. ii. (or vol. iii. would be given for it.) knight's illustrated edition of arabian nights. (last part.) leybourn's mathematical repository. new series. vols. iv. v. vi. london. , , . the liverpool apollonius. no. i. by j.h. swale. . letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. t. _will find every information upon the bibliography of proverbs in m.g. duplessis_' bibliographie parémiologique, vo., _paris_, . mr. hickson's _interesting paper upon "marlowe," in our next number. the sale catalogue of dr. graham's library reached us too late for notice_. communications received.--_k.m.p.--p.h.f.--gomer.--b.--a.d.m.-- e.l.n.--d.--a templar.--d. stevens.--l.r.--j.e.b.m.--s.d.-- archæus.--norris.--f.d.--melanion.--a cornishman.--r.j.s.-- j.s.--v.--a.f.h.--seleucus.--b.--m.--r.g.--nathan.--j.m.--w.d.b._ _we have again to explain to correspondents who inquire as to the mode of procuring_ "notes and queries," _that every bookseller and newsman will supply it,_ if ordered_, and that gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher_, mr. george bell, . _fleet street, accompanied by a post-office order for a quarter ( s. d.). a neat case for holding the numbers of_ "notes and queries" _until the completion of each volume, is now ready, price s. d., and may be had_, by order, _of all booksellers and newsmen. we are again compelled to omit many notes, queries, and answers to queries, as well as answers to correspondents_. * * * * * { } illustrated by the etching club. in one volume, square crown vo. s. cloth; or, s. bound in morocco, by hayday. goldsmith's poetical works. edited by bolton corney. with engravings on wood, from designs by members of the etching club. "that edition of the poetical works which had the benefit of mr. bolton corney's care and judgment in its preparation; and which, apart from the grace and beauty of the illustrations contributed to it by the etching club, is by far the most correct and careful of the existing editions of goldsmith's poetry."--forster's _life of goldsmith_, p. . london: longman, brown, breen, and longmans; of whom may be had, uniform with the above in size and price, thomson's seasons. edited by bolton corney. with wood engravings, by members of the etching club. * * * * * just published, a new edition, three vols., crown vo., l. s. d., of the dramatic works of kit marlowe, with some account of his life and writings by the rev. alexander dyce. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * just published, part i. of the decorative arts of the middle ages. by henry shaw, f.s.a. the object of the present publication is to exhibit, by means of a series of carefully executed engravings (taken from some of the best authorities now remaining) the peculiar features, and general characteristics of decorative art, as applied to the various materials on which it was employed, whether for sacred or domestic purposes, from the byzantine, or early christian period, to the decline of that termed the renaissance. a number will appear on the st of each month, containing four plates, one of which will be coloured. imperial vo., price s.; and in imperial to., price s.; to be completed in twenty-four parts. a more detailed prospectus, and list of mr. shaw's other works, may be had of the publisher, or through any bookseller. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * just published, price s. d. pinacothecÆ historicÆ specimen; sive illvstrivm qvorvundam ingenia, mores, fortvnæ, ad inscriptionvm formam expressæ. avctore f. kilvert, a.m. pars secvnda. "i am struck with the successful endeavour, in each case, to say much in few words.--those words remarkably select, and expressive, and appropriate,--exhibiting the noble characteristics of the latin language, as compared with every other, ancient or modern. this is a rare excellence, and, therefore, i mention it first. but it is not the greatest merit of your performance. there is a truth in the delineation of character, and a devotion to rectitude and virtue in your moral estimate, quite as remarkable as the felicity of diction by which the varieties of each portrait are denoted. you have also escaped the snare to which brevity (according to horace's well-known line), is exposed--obscurity."--_from a letter of the late bishop of llandoff._ london: george bell, . fleet street; of whom part i., price s., may be had. * * * * * just published, price s. vo. sewed. practical remarks on belfries and ringers. by the rev. h.f. ellacombe, m.a., oriel college, oxford, vicar of bitton, gloucestershire. george bell, . fleet street; ridler, bristol. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine and historical review. the next number of the "gentleman's magazine" (which will be published on the st of february, ), will exhibit several alterations in the character and arrangement of its contents, which have been determined upon after due consideration of the present state of our literature. time was when the whole field of english literature was before us, and we were its only reapers. at that time the harvest was scarcely rich enough to supply materials for our monthly comment. one hundred and twenty years have produced a marvelous revolution. our literature has grown and expanded, and been divided and subdivided, and has still gone on growing and increasing, until--such is its wonderful extent and fertility--every separate branch maintains its independent organ, and we ourselves, overpowered by a growth which we were the first to foster, have gradually been compelled, by our limited space, to allow one subject after another to drop from under our notice. still, amidst many minor alterations, we have kept an unweakened hold upon certain main subjects. history, biography, and archÆology have never been neglected, and our obituary has grown into a record which, even we ourselves may say, has become a permanent and important portion of the literature of our country. the changes we are now about to introduce have for their design a more strict adherence to what we look upon as our peculiar path. we shall henceforth devote ourselves more particularly--we may say almost exclusively--to the great subjects we have mentioned. space that has been given to other matters will be curtailed, variations in type and arrangement will afford additional room, and all that can in any way be gained will be devoted to our main and peculiar purpose. we have made arrangements to secure for our pages, by a liberal outlay, contributions from gentlemen most competent to write upon their respective subjects of study, and shall strive, more than ever, to be a worthy organ and representative of that most valuable and peculiarly interesting branch of literature which has for its object the instruction of mankind by the study and the perpetuation of whatever is now doing, or whatever has been done in times past, which is worthy of being kept in remembrance. we shall endeavour to put forth a miscellany which will be attractive from its variety, and from the skill with which its several subjects are treated, and will be permanently valuable from the importance of the matters to which it relates. in principles and general tone of management we have nothing to retract, nothing to alter. history is truth, or it is a mere delusion. the discovery and the establishment of historical truth, in all its branches, are our objects, and we shall continue to pursue them, as we have done in times past, faithfully and honestly, but, as we purpose and intend, more diligently and more undividedly. contributions should be addressed, post paid, to the editor of the "gentleman's magazine" to the care of messrs. nichols and son, . parliament street, westminster. the "gentleman's magazine" is published by messrs. j.b. nichols and son, . parliament street, westminster, on the first day of every month, price s. d. and may be obtained of all booksellers. * * * * * { } no. i., for , of john miller's catalogue of books, old and new, on sale at . chandos street, trafalgar square, is ready this day, to be had gratis, and is sent (if required) postage free to any book-buyer. the prices are for ready money only. the following list has been made with a view to exhibit the character of the selections for the catalogue generally, as well as the moderate prices affixed. it is published regularly every month, with occasional supplemental sheets and classed catalogues, embodying in its contents, throughout the year, works on archæology, history, biography, topography, classics, divinity, language, &c. together with poetry and the drama, collections relating to irish history and antiquities, books of prints, architecture, books of sports, and treatises on geology and mineralogy, botany, gardening, and domestic economy. angling books:--fisher's angling souvenir, beautifully illustrated. fcap. vo. half morocco binding, s. d.--hofland's british angler's manual, by jesse. nearly engravings. post vo. s. d--chitty's fly-fisher's text-book. beautiful steel plates. vo. half calf, gilt, s. d. ballad collections:--evans' old ballads. best edition. vols. vo. s. d. --gutch's robin hood garlands and ballads, profusely illustrated by fairholt. vols. vo. s. d. .--nichol's select collection of fugitive poetry. vols. mo. half calf. portraits. s. d.--ritson's english anthology. vols. post vo. half morocco extra. s. d. .--ritson's select collections of english songs. vols. post vo. calf neat, with music, s. .--rowton's female poets of great britain, chronologically arranged. square vo. s. d. . books of sports:--blome's gentleman's recreation in the sports of horsemanship, hawking, hunting, fowling, fishing, &c. folio, calf neat, fine plates. l. s. .--gallery of english race-horses and portraits of sportsmen. plates. imp. vo. cloth, gilt, s. .--morley's essay on archery, vo. plates. half calf, gilt, s. . boswell's (j.) life of dr. s. johnson, including his tour to the hebrides, to which is added anecdotes by hawkins, piozzi, murphy, tyers, reynolds, stevens, &c. edited by j.w. croker. cloth. plates, l. s. . brown's (sir thomas) complete works, containing his vulgar errors, religio medici, and miscellaneous writings, complete in vol. folio, calf, gilt, fine port, by white, s. buckland's reliquiÆ diluvinÆ, on observations on the organic remains, contained in caves, fissures, and diluvian gravel, and of other geological phenomena. to. fine plates, some coloured, scarce, l. s. burton's (t.) cromwellian diary, from to , published from the original autograph manuscript, with an introduction, containing an account of the parliament of , edited and illustrated with notes, by j.t. rutt. vols. vo. front., neatly bound in half calf, gilt, s. byron's (lord) letters and journals, with notices of his life, by thomas moore, vols. vo., illustrated with engravings by the findens, from designs by turner, stanfield, &c., elegantly half-bound morocco, marble edges, by hayday, l. s. coverdale's bible. the holy scriptures faithfully and truly translated by miles coverdale, bishop of exeter, , reprinted from the duke of sussex's copy. to. very elegantly bound in purple calf, blind tooled in antique style, gilt edges, fine copy. l. s. bagster, . daniell's (wm.) sketches, representing the native tribes, animals, and scenery of southern africa, from drawings made by s. daniell. royal to. half bd. morocco, uncut, consisting of fine engravings of animals, scenery, portraits of the various tribes, &c. proofs on india paper, l. s. . early english drama. dodsley's select collection of old plays. vols. mo. old calf, gilt, neat. l. s.--dryden's entire dramatic works. vols. mo. calf, neat print. s. d. .--shirley's dramatic works and poems. by the rev. a. dyce. vols. vo., portrait. l. s. .--middleton's (thomas) dramatic works, with life and notes, by the rev. a. dyce. vols. vo. with autograph of leigh hunt. l. s. . freemasons' (the) quarterly review, from its commencement in , to the year , inclusive. vols. vo. newly and elegantly half bound, purple calf, backs emblematically tooled, only l. s. - . gibbon's (e.) history of the decline and fall of the roman empire. vols. to. calf, gilt, good copy. l. s. . kay's series of original portraits and caricature etchings, with biographical sketches and illustrative anecdotes. thick vols. to. half bd., morocco, marbled edges. engraved portraits. l. s. d. . nicolas's (sir h.) testamenta vetusta, being illustrations from wills of manners and customs as well as of the descents and possessions of many distinguished families, from the reign of henry the second, to the accession of queen elizabeth, with notes by sir harris nicolas. vols. royal vo. bds. s. . payne's royal dresden gallery, from pictures of the great masters. vols. to. complete in parts: a subscriber's copy, fine plates. l. s. . plowdon's (dr. f.) historical review of the state of ireland, from the invasion of henry ii. to its union with great britain in ; with appendices of original papers. portrait. vols. to. half calf, uncut. l. s. . scriptores rei resticÆ. opera agricolationum columellæ, varronis, catonisque, nec non paladii. annot. beroaldi. folio, calf, fine copy, rubricated capitals, gilt edges. s. bononiæ, . strutt's chronicle of england, or a complete history, civil and ecclesiastical, of the ancient britons and saxons, from cæsar to the conquest, with a view of manners, customs, habits, &c. many plates, vols. to. half bd. russia, neat, l. s. . wilberforce (william), the life and correspondence of, edited and 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library of early journals. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. ] saturday, december , . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- lord chatham--queen charlotte, original letter respecting cibber's apology ancient tapestry, by j.r. planché travelling in england prison discipline and execution of justice medal of the pretender, by edw. hawkins john aubrey, by j. britton inedited song by suckling white gloves at maiden assizes, by william j. thomas adversaria--don quixote--dr. dove inscription on church plate anecdotes of books, by joseph hunter queries answered, no. .--flemish account answer to minor queries:--richard greene, &c. queries:-- sanuto's doges of venice mss. of sir roger twysden minor queries:--honnore pelle--bust of sir walter raleigh, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * lord chatham--queen charlotte. _original letter, written on the resignation of mr. pitt, in --public feeling on the subject, and changes at court in consequence--first impressions of queen charlotte._ [the following valuable original letter is now published for the first time. it will be found to be of very considerable historical curiosity and interest. the resignation of the great commoner in , and his acceptance at the same time of a pension and a peerage for his family, were events which astonished his admirers as much as any thing else in his wonderful career. even now, after the recent publication of all the letters relating to these transactions, it is difficult to put any construction on mr. pitt's conduct which is consistent with the high-spirited independence which one desires to believe to have been a leading feature of his character. there may have been great subtlety in the way in which he was tempted; that may be admitted even by the stoutest defenders of the character of george iii; but nothing can excuse the eager, rapturous gratitude with which the glittering bait was caught. the whole circumstances are related in the _chatham correspondence_, ii. , coupled with adolphus's _hist. of england._ a kind judgment upon them may be read in lord mahon's _hist. of england_, iv. , and one more severe--perhaps, more just--in lord brougham's _historical sketches_, in the article on lord chatham. see also the _pictorial history of the reign of george iii_, i. . after consulting all these authorities the reader will still find new facts, and a vivid picture of the public feeling, in the following letter.] dear robinson,--i am much obliged to you for both your letters, particularly the last, in which i look upon the freedom of your expostulations as the strongest mark of your friendship, and allow you to charge me with any thing that possibly can be brought against one upon such an occasion, except forgetfulness of you. i left town soon after receiving your first letter, and was moving about from place to place, till the coronation brought me to town again, and has fixed me here for the winter; however i do not urge my unsettled situation during the summer as any excuse for my silence, but aim to lay it upon downright indolence, which i was ashamed of before i received your second letter, and have been angry with myself for it since; however, as often as you'll do me the pleasure, and a very sincere one it is i assure you, of letting me hear how you do, you may depend upon the utmost punctuality for the future, and i undertake very seriously to answer every letter you shall write me within a fortnight. the ensuing winter may possibly produce many things to amaze you; it has opened with one that i am sure will; i mean mr. pitt's resignation, who delivered up the seals to the king last monday. the reason commonly given for this extraordinary step is a resolution taken in council contrary to mr. pitt's opinion, concerning our conduct towards the spaniards, who upon the breaking off of the negotiations with france and our sending mr. bussy away, have, it is said, made some declarations to our court which mr. pitt was for having the king treat in a very different manner from that which the rest of the cabinet advised; for they are said to have been all against mr. pitt's opinion, except lord temple. the effect of this resignation you'll easily imagine. it has opened all the mouths of all the news-presses in england, and, from our boasted unanimity and confidence in the government, we seem to be falling apace into division and distrust; in the meantime mr. pitt seems to have entered, on this occasion, upon a new mode of resignation, at least for him, for he goes to court, where he is much taken notice of by the king, and treated with great respect by everybody else, and has said, according to common report, that he intends only to tell a plain story, which i suppose we are to have in the house of commons. people, as you may imagine, are very impatient for his own account of a matter about which they know so little at present, and which puts public curiosity to the rack. fresh matter for patriots and politicians! since writing the former part of this letter, i have been at the coffee-house, and bring you back verbatim, a very curious article of the _gazette_. "st. james's, oct. . the right hon. william pitt having resigned the seals into the king's hands, his majesty was this day pleased to appoint the earl of egremont to be one of his principal secretaries of state, and in consideration of the great and important services of the said mr. pitt, his majesty has been graciously pleased to direct that a warrant be prepared for granting to the lady hester pitt, his wife, a barony of great britain, by the name, style and title of baroness of chatham to herself, and of baron of chatham to her heirs male; and also to confer upon the said william pitt, esq. an annuity of _l_. sterling during his own life, that of lady hester pitt, and that of their son john pitt, esq!" a report of this matter got about the day before, and most unfortunately all the newspapers contradicted it as a scandalous report, set on foot with a design to tarnish the lustre of a certain great character. this was the style of the morning and evening papers of saturday, and of those who converse upon their authority; so that upon the coming in of the _gazette_ about ten o'clock at night, it was really diverting to see the effect it had upon most people's countenances at dick's coffee house, where i was; it occasioned a dead silence, and i think every body went away without giving their opinions of the matter, except dr. collier, who has always called mr. pitt all the rogues he can set his mouth on. it appears at present a most unaccountable proceeding in every part of it, for he seems to have forfeited his popularity, on which his consequence depended, for a consideration which he might have commanded at any time; and yet he does not make an absolute retreat, for in that case one should think he would have taken the peerage himself. lord temple has resigned the privy seal, which is commonly said to be intended for lord hardwycke; some comfort to him for the loss of his wife, who died a few weeks ago. so that we seem to be left in the same hands out of which mr. pitt gloried in having delivered us; for, as you have probably heard before this time, mr. legge was removed from his place in the spring, for having refused to support any longer our german measures, as has been commonly said and not contradicted that i know of. every body agrees that he was quite tired of his place, as is generally said on account of the coolness between him and mr. pitt, the old quarrel with the duke of newcastle, and some pique between him and lord bute on account of the hampshire election. people were much diverted with the answer he is said to have made to the duke of newcastle when he went to demand the seal of his office. he compared his retirement to elysium, and told the duke he thought he might assure their common friends there, that they should not be long without the honour of his grace's company; however, he seems to be out in his guess, for the newcastle junta, strengthened by the duke of bedford, who has joined them, seems to be in all its glory again. this appeared in the church promotions the other day, for dr. young was translated, the master of bennet made a bishop, and mr. york dean: however, as you will probably be glad of a more particular account of our church promotions, i am to tell you that the scene opened soon after the king's accession with the promotion of dr. squire to the bishoprick of st. david's, upon the death of ellis. some circumstances of this affair inclined people to think that the old ecclesiastical shop was quite shut up; for the duke of newcastle expressed great dissatisfaction at squire's promotion, and even desired bishop young to tell every body that he had no hand in it. young answered, that he need not give himself that trouble, for dr. squire had told every body so already, which is generally said to be very true: for he did not content himself with saying how much he was obliged to lord bute, but seemed to be afraid lest it should be thought he was obliged to any body else. what an excellent courtier! the next vacancy was made by hoadly, upon which thomas was translated from salisbury to winchester, drummond from st. asaph to salisbury, newcome from llandaff to st. asaph, and that exemplary divine dr. ewer made bishop of llandaff. these were hardly settled when sherlock and gilbert dropt almost together. drummond has left salisbury for york, thomas is translated from lincoln to salisbury, green made bishop of lincoln, and succeeded in his deanery by mr. york: hayter is translated from norwich to london, young from bristol to norwich, and newton is made bishop of bristol; and i must not forget to tell you, that, among several new chaplains, beadon is one. this leads me naturally to lord bute, who, though the professed favourite of the king, has hitherto escaped the popular clamour pretty well: the immense fortune that is come into his family by the death of old wortley montague has added much to his consequence, and made him be looked upon as more of an englishman, at least they can no longer call him a poor scot. his wife was created a peeress of great britain at the same time that mr. spencer, mr. doddington, sir richard grosvenor, sir nat. curzen, sir thomas robinson, and sir william irby were created peers. he has married his eldest daughter to sir james lowther and is himself, from being groom of the stole, become secretary of state--lord holderness being removed with very little ceremony indeed, but with a pension, to make room for him. he and mr. pitt together have made good courtiers of the tories; lords oxford, litchfield, and bruce, being supernumerary lords, and norbonne berkeley, northey, and i think george pitt, supernumerary grooms of the bedchamber. sir francis dashwood is treasurer of the chamber, in the room of charles townshend, who was made secretary at war upon lord barrington's succeeding mr. legge as chancellor of the exchequer. lord talbot, who is in high favour, is steward of the household, and with his usual spirit has executed a scheme of economy, which, though much laughed at at first, is now much commended. they made room for him upon lord bute's being made secretary, at which time lord huntingdon was made groom of the stole, and succeeded as master of the horse by the duke rutland, who was before steward of the household. thus have i concluded this series of removals, which was first begun, after the old king's death, by lord bute's being groom of the stole in the room of lord rochford, who has a pension, and lord huntingdon's being made master of the horse instead of lord gower, who was made master of the wardrobe in the room of sir thomas robinson, who has his peerage for a recompense; and written you a long letter, which may perhaps be no better for you upon the whole than an old newspaper. however, i was determined your curiosity should be no sufferer by my long silence if i could help it. i must not conclude without saying something of our new queen. she seems to me to behave with equal propriety and civility, though the common people are quite exasperated at her not being handsome, and the people at court laugh at her courtesies. all our friends are well, and have had nothing happen to them that i know of which requires particular mention. gisborne either has or will write to you very soon. convince me, dear robinson, by writing soon that you forgive my long silence, and believe me to be, with the sincerest regard for you and yours, your most affectionate friend, g. cruch.[ ] mrs. wilson's, lancaster court, oct'r. th. (addressed) to the ho'd mr. will'm robinson _recomende a messieurs tierney & merry_[ ] _a naples_. (memorandum indorsed) _ring just rec'd that of 't sept. th oct'r. _. [footnote : the name is not easy to be made out; but as far as it is determinable by comparison of hand-writing, it is "cruch." the letter passed through the post-office.] [footnote : the part printed in _italics_ was added by some other person than the writer of the letter.] * * * * * characters of actors in cibber's apology. reverting to a query in your second number, p. , your correspondent dramaticus may rest assured that colley cibber's characters of actors and actresses (his contemporaries and immediate predecessors) _first_ appeared in his _apology_, to. , and were transferred _verbatim_, as far as i have been able to consult them, to the subsequent editions of that very entertaining and excellent work. if colley cibber were not a first-rate dramatist, he was a first-rate critic upon performers; and i am disposed to place his abilities as a play-wright much higher than the usual estimate. probably the doubt of your correspondent arose from the fact, not hitherto at all noticed, that these characters no sooner made their appearance, than they were pirated, and pirated work may have been taken for the original. it is a scarce tract, and bears the following title--_the theatrical lives and characters of the following celebrated actors;_ and then follow sixteen names, beginning with betterton, and ending with mrs. butler, and we are also told that _a general history of the stage during their time_ is included. the whole of this, with certain omissions, principally of classical quotations, is taken from cibber's _apology_, and it professed to be "printed for j. miller, in fleet street, and sold at the pamphlet shops," without date. the whole is nothing but an impudent plagiarism, and it is crowned and topped by a scrap purporting to be from shakespeare, but merely the invention of the compiler. in truth, it is the only original morsel in the whole seventy pages. at the end of the character of betterton, the following is subjoined, and it induces a query, whether any such work, real or pretended, as regards betterton, is in existence? "n.b. the author of this work has, since he began it, had a very curious manuscript of mr. betterton's communicated to him, containing the whole duty of a player; interspersed with directions for young actors, as to the management of the voice, carriage of the body, &c. &c., reckoned the best piece that has ever been wrote on the subject," p. . this "best piece" on the subject is promised in the course of the volume, but it is not found in it. did it appear anywhere else and in any other shape? as the query of dramaticus is now answered, perhaps he may be able to reply to this question from t.j.l. i should have sent this note sooner, had i not waited to see if any body else would answer the query of dramaticus, and perhaps afford some additional information. * * * * * ancient tapestry. sir,--i believe i can answer a query in your third number, by n., respecting the whereabouts of a piece of ancient tapestry formerly in the possession of mr. yarnold, of great st. helen's, london, described, upon no satisfactory authority, as "the plantagenet tapestry." it is at present the property of thos. baylis, esq., of colby house, kensington. a portion of it has been engraved as representing richard iii, &c.; but it is difficult to say what originated that opinion. the subject is a crowned female seated by a fountain, and apparently threatening two male personages with a rod or slight sceptre, which she has raised in her _left_ hand, her arm being stayed by another female standing behind her. this has been said to represent elizabeth of york driving out richard iii, which, i need scarcely say, she did not do. there are nineteen other figures, male and female, looking on or in conversation, all attired in the costume of the close of the th century, but without the least appearance of indicating any historical personage. it is probably an allegorical subject, such as we find in the tapestry of the same date under the gallery of wolsey's hall at hampton court, and in that of nancy published by mons. juninal. i believe one of the seven pieces of "the siege of troy," mentioned in query, no. , or an eighth piece unmentioned, is now in the possession of mr. pratt, of bond street, who bought it of mr. yarnold's widow. i may add that the tapestry in st. mary's hall, coventry, contains, undoubtedly, representations of king henry vi, queen margaret, and cardinal beaufort. it is engraved in mr. shaw's second volume of _dresses and decorations_; but the date therein assigned to it (_before_ ) is erroneous, the costume being, like that in the tapestries above mentioned, of the _very end_ of the th century. j.r. planchÉ. brompton, nov. . . [to this note, so obligingly communicated by mr. planché, we may add, that the tapestry in question was exhibited to the society of antiquaries at their opening meeting on the nd ultimo.] * * * * * travelling in england. mr. editor,--your no. . has just fallen into my hands, with the wonderful account of schultz's journey of fifty miles in six hours, a hundred years ago. i am inclined to think the explanation consists in a misprint. the distances are given in figures, and not in words at length, if we may trust your correspondent's note on p. . may not a have "dropped" before the , so that the true lection will be, "dass wir auf dem ganzen wege kaum stunden gefahren sind"? this time corresponds with the time of return, on which he set out in the evening (at ?) of one day and arrived at noon the next. it was also most likely that the spring carriages of fifteen years later date should go much faster than the old springless vehicles. any one who has corrected proofs will appreciate the "dropping" of a single type, and may be ready to admit it on such circumstantial evidence. i may remark that was still old style in england; but the german schultz, in dating his expedition on _sunday_, aug. , has used the _new style_, then prevalent in germany. sunday, aug. , o.s., was on thursday, july, , n.s. the york coach-bill cited on the same page is in o.s. is not "_stäts_-kutsche," in the same communication, a misprint? a.j.e. g.g. has perhaps a little overrated the import of the passage he quotes from schultz's travels. "_dass wir kaum stunden gefahren sind_"--even supposing there is no misprint of a for an or , which is quite possible--will not, i apprehend, bear the meaning he collects from the words, viz. that _the journey occupied no more than six hours_, or less even than so much. in the first place, i believe it will be allowed by those familiar with german idioms, that the phrase _kaum stunden_, is not to be rendered as though it meant _no more or less than _; but rather thus: "but little more than ;"--the "_little more_," in this indefinite form of expression, being a very uncertain quantity, it may be an hour or so. then he says merely that they "kaum stunden _gefahren_ sind," which may mean that the time _actually spent in motion_ did not exceed the number of hours indicated, whatever that may be; and not that the journey itself, "_including stoppages_," took up no more. had he meant to say this, i imagine he would have used a totally different phrase: e. g. _dass wir binnen kaum mehr als stunden nach london schön gekommen sind;_ or something like these words. making these allowances, the report is conceivably true, even of a period a century old, as regards the rate of day-travelling on the high road to norwich, still at that time a place of much business with london. the second journey of the pastor on the same road was, it seems, _by night_: but what perhaps is of more consequence to explain is the apparent difference between it and the other. it appears that in the second instance we are told _when_ he arrived at his journey's end; in the former, nothing beyond the number of hours he was actually moving, may have been communicated to us. v. * * * * * mr. editor,--i close copies of advertisements which appear in some old newspapers in my possession, and which in some degree illustrate the history of travelling, and in themselves show, i imagine, the advance made between and , since i consider that "the old constant froom flying waggon," of the former date, was the parent of "the frome stage machine" of the latter. i notice in the sherborne paper all public stage conveyances are designated as _machines_. copies of advertisements in _the daily advertiser_ of the th april, :-- "for bath. a good coach and able horses will set out from the black swan inn, in holborn, on wednesday or thursday. enquire of william maud." * * * * * "exeter flying stage coach in three days, and dorchester and blandford in two days. go from the saracen's head inn, in friday street, london, every monday, wednesday, and friday, and from the new inn, in exeter, every tuesday and thursday, perform'd by joan payne, john sanderson, thomas bury. _note_.--once a week there is an entire dorchester and blandford coach from dorchester on mondays, and from london on fridays. the stage begins _flying_ on monday next, the th instant." * * * * * "the old standing constant froom flying waggon in three days sets out with goods and passengers from froom for london, every monday, by one o'clock in the morning, and will be at the king's arms inn, at holborn bridge, the wednesday following by twelve o'clock at noon; from whence it will set out on thursday morning, by one o'clock, for amesbury, shrewton, chittern, heytesbury, warminster, froom, and all other places adjacent, and will continue allowing each passenger fourteen pounds, and be at froom, on saturday by twelve at noon. if any passengers have occasion to go from either of the aforesaid places they shall be supplied with able horses and a guide by joseph clavey; the proprietor of the said flying waggon. the waggon calls at the white bear in piccadilly coming in and going out. _note_.--attendance is constantly given at the king's arms, holborn bridge aforesaid, to take in goods and passengers' names; but no money, plate, bank notes, or jewels will be insured unless delivered as such, perform'd by joseph clayey. n.b. his other waggons keep their stages as usual." from cruttwell's _sherborne, shaftesbury, and dorchester journal_, or _yeovil, taunton, and bridgewater chronicle_, of friday, february th, th, and th, . "taunton flying machine, hung on steel springs, in two days sets out from the saracen's head inn in friday street, london, and taunton, every monday, wednesday and friday, at three o'clock in the morning: and returns every tuesday, thursday, and saturday, lays at the antelope in salisbury, going up and down; to carry six inside passengers, each to pay £ s. d. to taunton ilminster yeovil sherborne shaftesbury outside passengers and children in the lap, half-fare as above, each inside passenger allowed fourteen pounds luggage; all above, to taunton two-pence per pound and so in proportion to any part of the road. _note_. no money, plate, jewels, or writings, will be accounted for if lost, unless entered as such, and paid for accordingly. performed by {john whitmash, thomas liley.}" from the same paper of friday, april th, th, and may st, :-- "frome, . the proprietors of the frome stage machine in order to make it more agreeable to their friends in the west, have engaged to set out post chaises from the christopher inn, in wells, every sunday, tuesday, and thursday evenings, at five o'clock, to stop at the george inn, at shepton mallet, and set out from thence at a quarter past six, to carry passengers and parcels to frome, to be forwarded from thence to london in the one day flying machine, which began on sunday the th of april, ; also a chaise from frome every tuesday, thursday, and saturday evenings to shepton and wells, as soon as the coach arrives from london, if any passengers, &c. go down, at the following prices:--from wells to frome four shillings, from shepton three shillings, small parcels from wells to frome d. each, from shepton d., large ditto a halfpenny per pound from each place. all passengers who intend taking the advantage of this method of travelling, are desired to take their places at the above inns in wells and shepton as follows: viz. those who intend going on sunday enter the tuesday before going, those who go on tuesday enter the thursday before, and for thursday the sunday before, that proper notice may be given at frome to secure the places: if at any time more than three passengers an extra chaise to be provided. fare to and from london £ s. d. trowbridge, £ s. d. devizes £ s. d. one half to be paid at booking, the other at entering the machine. inside passengers allowed lb. wt., all above three half-pence per pound from frome as usual. the coach will set out from the crown inn in frome, at ten o'clock in the evening of every sunday, tuesday, and thursday; and from the bull inn in holborne, london, every monday, wednesday, and friday evening, at the same hour.--books are kept, places taken, and parcels received, at the christopher in wells, the george in shepton, the crown in frome, the woolpack in trowbridge, and the bull in holborne, london; calls going in and coming out, at the white bear inn, piccadilly, and the new white horse cellar. perform'd by r. messeter, at the crown, at thatcham, and j. hitchcock, at the catherine wheel, beckhampton. "n.b. no jewels, plate, money, writings, or other things of value, will be paid for if lost, unless enter'd as such, and paid for accordingly." with regard to g.g.'s query as to the time occupied in the journey of schultz from colchester to london, do not the circumstances sufficiently prove that by some means _six_ must have been written for _sixteen?_ sixteen hours would give a rate of travelling nearer the average of those days, and was about the time occupied on the return to colchester. for if we allow a due time after twelve for dinner, settling accounts, and going to the inn whence the "stäts-kutsche" started, and for partaking of the meal there provided, we shall very easily get to seven or eight in the evening; _sixteen_ hours after that time would be "towards noon" in the following day. a.d.m * * * * * prison discipline and execution of justice. sir,--i am glad that you devote some part of your columns to the good work of bringing forward facts and anecdotes which, though not generally known, your readers individually may have happened to notice, and which illustrate the manners of our ancestors. i dare say few of your correspondents have met with the _london magazine_ for the year of . an imperfect copy fell into my hands when a lad; ever since which time i have been in a state of great wonderment at the story contained in the leaf which i enclose. i need hardly say that the _italics_ are mine; and perhaps they are hardly necessary. yours, &c., beta. "tuesday, [june]. "a very extraordinary affair happen'd at the county gaol in hertford, where four highwaymen, very stout lusty fellows, viz. theophilus dean, charles cox (alias bacon-face), james smith, and luke humphrys, lay under sentence of death, pass'd on them the last assizes, and were intended to have been executed the following day; mr. oxenton, the gaoler, _who keeps an inn opposite to the prison_, went into the gaol about four a clock in the morning, as was his custom, attended by three men, to see if all was safe, and, having lock'd the outward door, sent _one_ of his men down to the dungeon, where the four felons had found means to disengage themselves from the pillar and chain to which they had been lock'd down, and one of them, viz. bacon-face, had got off both his hand-cuffs and fetters; on opening the door, they disabled the man and all rush'd out; then coming up stairs they met the gaoler and his other two men, of whom they demanded the keys, threatening to murder them if their request was not immediately comply'd with: they then forced his men into the yard beyond the hatchway, and a battle ensu'd, in which the gaoler behav'd so manfully, tho' he had but one man to assist him, that he maintain'd the possession of his keys till he was heard by his wife, then in bed, to call out for assistance, who _fortunately having another key to the gaol_, ran to rescue him; the fellows saw her coming and demanded her key, threatening to murder her if she offer'd to assist her husband: by this time the neighbourhood was alarm'd, and several persons got to the gaol door, when mrs. oxenton, notwithstanding their threats, at the utmost hazard of her life, open'd the same and caught hold of her husband, who was almost spent, and with the assistance of some persons, got him out and lock'd the door without suffering the fellows to escape: they continued cursing and swearing that they would murder the first man that attempted to enter the gaol. in the mean time robert hadsley, esq., high-sheriff, who lives about a mile from the town, was sent for, and came immediately; he parley'd with them some time to no purpose, then order'd fire-arms to be brought, and, in case they would not submit, to shoot at them, which these desparadoes refusing to do, they accordingly fired on them, and theophilus dean receiving a shot in the groin, dropt; then they surrender'd, and the sheriff instantly caus'd bacon-face _to be hang'd on the arch of the sign iron belonging to the gaoler's house_, in the sight of his companions and great numbers of people; the other three were directly put into a cart and carried to the usual place of execution, and there hang'd before seven a clock that morning."--_lond. mag._ july, , p. . * * * * * satirical medal of the pretender. i am well acquainted with the medal described by mr. nightingale, and can confirm his statement of the difficulties which numismatists have experienced in attempting to explain the circumstances alluded to by the lobster which is the badge of "the order of the pretended prince of wales," and upon which, on the other side of the medal, father petre is represented as riding with the young prince in his arms. upon other medals also the jesuit appears carrying the prince, who is decorated, or amusing himself, with a windmill. there is likewise a medal on which a jesuit is represented concealed within a closet or alter, and raising or pushing up through the top the young prince to the view of the people, while truth is opening the door and exposing the imposition. similar representations of the jesuit's interference occur upon caricatures and satirical prints executed in holland. upon one, entitled, "arlequin sur l'hippogryphe, a la croisade lojoliste," the lobster, on which the jesuit is mounted, carries a book in each claw; the young prince's head is decorated with a windmill. all these intimate the influence of father petre upon the proceedings of james ii, and of the jesuits in general in the imposition, as was by many supposed, of the pretended prince. the imputation upon the legitimacy of the young child was occasioned in a great degree, and almost justified, by the pilgrimages and superstitious fooleries of his grandmother, increased by his mother's choosing st. francis xavier as one of her ecclesiastical patrons, and with her family attributing the birth of the prince to his miraculous interference. this may have provoked the opposers of popery to take every means of satirising the jesuits; and the following circumstances related in the _life of xavier_ probably suggested the idea of making the lobster one of the symbols of the superstitions and impositions of the jesuits, and a means of discrediting the birth of the prince by ridiculing the community by whose impositions they asserted the fraud to have been contrived and executed. the account is given by a portuguese, called fausto rodriguez, who was a witness of the fact, has deposed it upon oath, and whose juridical testimony is in the process of the saint's canonization. "'we were at sea,' says rodriguez, 'father francis, john raposo, and myself, when there arose a tempest which alarmed all the mariners. then the father drew from his bosom a little crucifix, which he always carried about him, and leaning over deck, intended to have dipt it into the sea; but the crucifix dropt out of his hand, and was carried off by the waves. this loss very sensibly afflicted him, and he concealed not his sorrow from us. the next morning we landed on the island of baranura; from the time when the crucifix was lost, to that of our landing, it was near twenty-four hours, during which we were in perpetual danger. being on shore, father francis and i walked along by the sea-side, towards the town of tamalo, and had already walked about paces, when both of us beheld, arising out of the sea, a crab fish, which carried betwixt his claws the same crucifix raised on high. i saw the crab fish come directly to the father, by whose side i was, and stopped before him. the father, falling on his knees, took his crucifix, after which the crab-fish returned into the sea. but the father still continuing in the same humble posture, hugging and kissing the crucifix, was half an hour praying with his hands across his breast, and myself joining with him in thanksgiving to god for so evident a miracle; after which we arose and continued on our way.' thus you have the relation of rodriguez."--dryden's _life of st. francis xavier_, book iii. edw. hawkins. * * * * * john aubrey. as the biographer and editor of that amiable and zealous antiquary john aubrey, i noticed with peculiar interest the statement of your correspondent, that the date of your first publication coincided with the anniversary of his birthday; but, unhappily, the coincidence is imaginary. your correspondent has, on that point, adopted a careless reading of the first chapter of aubrey's _miscellanies_, whereby the rd of november, the birthday of the duke of york, afterwards james the second, has been frequently stated as that of the antiquary himself. see my _memoir of aubrey_, to. , p. . in the same volume, p. , will be found an engraving of the horoscope of his nativity, from a sketch in his own hand. so far as his authority is of any value, that curious sketch proves incontestably that "the native" was born at minutes and seconds past o'clock (astronomical time) on the _th of march_, - ; that is, at minutes and seconds past o'clock a.m. on the _th of march_, instead of the rd of november. few things can be more mortifying to a biographer, or an antiquary, than the perpetuation of an error which he has successfully laboured to correct. it is an evil, however, to which he is often subjected, and which your valuable publication will go far to remedy. in the present case it is, doubtless, to be ascribed to the peculiar nature of my _memoir of aubrey_, of which but a limited number of copies were printed for the _wiltshire topographical society_. the time and labour which i bestowed upon the work, the interesting character of its contents, and the approbation of able and impartial public critics, justify me in saying that it deserves a far more extensive circulation. after this allusion to john aubrey, i think i cannot better evince my sympathy with your exertions than by requesting the insertion of a query respecting one of his manuscripts. i allude to his _monumenta brittanica_, in four folio volumes--a dissertation on avebury, stonehenge, and other stone circles, barrows, and similar druidical monuments--which has disappeared within the last thirty years. fortunately a large portion of its contents has been preserved, in extracts made by mr. hutchins, the historian of dorsetshire, and by the late sir richard colt hoare, bart.; but the manuscript certainly contained much more of great local interest, and some matters which were worthy of publication. in the memoir already mentioned, p. , the history of the manuscript down to the time of its disappearance is fully traced. referring such of your readers as may feel interested in the subject to that volume, and reserving for the future numbers a long list of other interesting queries which are now before me, it will gratify me to obtain, through your medium, any information respecting the ms. referred to. i remain, sir, yours truly, john britton. [our modesty has compelled us to omit from this letter a warm eulogium on our undertaking, well as we know the value of mr. britton's testimony to our usefulness, and much as we esteem it.] * * * * * inedited song by sir john suckling. i do not remember to have seen the following verses in print or even in ms. before i accidentally met with them in a small quarto ms. collection of english poetry, in the hand-writing of the time of charles i. they are much in suckling's manner; and in the ms. are described as-- _sir john suckling's verses_. i am confirm'd a woman can love this, or that, or any other man: this day she's melting hot, to-morrow swears she knows you not; if she but a new object find, then straight she's of another mind; then hang me, ladies, at your door, if e'er i doat upon you more. yet still i'll love the fairsome (why?-- for nothing but to please my eye); and so the fat and soft-skinned dame i'll flatter to appease my flame; for she that's musical i'll long, when i am sad, to sing a song; then hang me, ladies, at your door, if e'er i doat upon you more. i'll give my fancy leave to range through every where to find out change; the black, the brown, the fair shall be but objects of variety. i'll court you all to serve my turn, but with such flames as shall not burn; then hang me, ladies, at your door, if e'er i doat upon you more. a.d. * * * * * white gloves at a maiden assize. the practice of giving white gloves to judges at maiden assizes is one of the few relics of that symbolism so observable in the early laws of this as of all other countries; and its origin is doubtless to be found in the fact of the hand being, in the early germanic law, a symbol of power. by the hand property was delivered over or reclaimed, hand joined in hand to strike a bargain and to celebrate espousals, &c. that this symbolism should sometimes be transferred from the hand to the glove (the _hand-schuh_ of the germans) is but natural, and it is in this transfer that we shall find the origin of the white gloves in question. at a maiden assize no criminal has been called upon to plead, or to use the words of blackstone, "called upon by name to hold up his hand;" in short, no guilty hand has been held up, and, therefore, after the rising of the court our judges (instead of receiving, as they did in germany, an entertainment at which the bread, the glasses, the food, the linen--every thing, in short--was white) have been accustomed to receive a pair of white gloves. the spaniards have a proverb, "_white hands never offend_;" but in their gallantry they use it only in reference to the softer sex; the teutonic races, however, would seem to have embodied the idea, and to have extended its application. william j. thoms. a limb of the law, to a portion of whose query, in no. . (p. .), the above is intended as a reply, may consult, on the symbolism of the hand and glove, _grimm deutsches rechtsaltherthümer_, pp. . and , and on the symbolical use of white in judicial proceedings, and the after feastings consequent thereon, pp. . . and . of the same learned work. [on this subject we have received a communication from f.g.s., referring to brand's _popular antiquities_, vol. ii. p. , ed. , for a passage from fuller's _mixed contemplations_, london, , which proves the existence of the practice at the time; and to another in clavell's _recantation of an ill-led life_, london, , to show that prisoners, who received pardon after condemnation, were accustomed to present gloves to the judges:-- "those pardoned men who taste their prince's loves, (as married to new life) do give you gloves."] mr. editor,--"anciently it was prohibited the judges to wear gloves on the bench; and at present in the stables of most princes it is not safe going in without pulling off the gloves."--chambers' _cyclopaedia_, a.d. mdccxli. was the presentation of the gloves a sign that the judge was not required to sit upon the bench--their colour significant that there would be no occasion for capital punishment? embroidered gloves were introduced about the year into england. or were gloves proscribed as the remembrances of the gauntlet cast down as a challenge? "this is the form of a trial by battle; a trial which the tenant or defendant in a writ of right has it in his election at this day to demand, and which was the only decision of such writ of right after the conquest, till henry ii, by consent of parliament, introduced the _grand assise_, a peculiar species of trial by jury."--blackstone, _commentaries_, vol. iii. p. . perhaps after all it was only an allusion to the white hand of justice, as seems probably from the expression _maiden_-assize. yours, &c. m.w. nov. . . p.s. perhaps the "lady-bird" in suffolk derives its episcopal title, alluded to by legour, from appearing in june, in which month falls the festival of st. barnabas. * * * * * adversaria. _don quixote._ sir,--have the following contradictions in cervantes' account of sancho's ass "dapple" ever been noticed or accounted for? in _don quixote_, part. i. chap. , we find dapple's abduction at night by gines de passamonte; only a few lines afterwards, lo! sancho is seated on her back, sideways, like a woman, eating his breakfast. in spite of which, chap. . proves that she is still missing. sancho tacitly admits the fact, by invoking "blessings on the head of the man who had saved him the trouble of unharnessing her." chap. . contains her rescue from passamonte. melanion. _doctor dove, of doncaster_. the names of "_doctor dove, of doncaster_," and his steed "_nobbs_," must be familiar to all the admirers, in another word, to all the readers, of southey's _doctor_. many years ago there was published at canterbury a periodical work called _the kentish register_. in the no. for september, , there is a ludicrous letter, signed "agricola," addressed to sir john sinclair, then president of the royal agricultural society; and in that letter there is frequent mention made of "doctor _dobbs, of doncaster_, and _his horse nobbs_." this coincidence appears to be too remarkable to have been merely accidental; and it seems probably that, in the course of his multifarious reading, southey had met with the work in question, had been struck with the comical absurdity of these names, and had unconsciously retained them in his memory. p.c.s.s. * * * * * inscription on ancient church plate. mr. editor,--herewith i have the pleasure of sending you a tracing of the legend round a representation of st. christopher, in a latten dish belonging to a friend of mine, and apparently very similar to the alms-basins described by clericus in no. . the upper line--"in frid gichwart der," written from right to left, is no doubt to be read thus: _derin frid gichwart_. the lower line contains the same words transposed, with the variation of "gehwart" for "gichwart." the words "gehwart" and "gichwart" being no doubt blunders of an illiterate artist. in modern german the lines would be:-- darin frieden gewarte--_therein peace await, or look for_. gewarte darin frieden--_await, or look for, therein peace_. in allusion, perhaps, to the eucharist of alms, to hold one or the other of which the dish seems to have been intended. þ. * * * * * anecdotes of books. _ms. of english gesta romanorum_. your work, which has so promising a commencement, may be regarded as, in one department, a depository of anecdotes of books. under this head i should be disposed to place notes of former possessors of curious or important volumes: and, as a contribution of this kind, i transmit a note on the former possessors of the ms. of the _gesta romanorum_ in english, which was presented to the british museum in , by the rev. w.d. conybeare, now dean of llandaff, and has been printed at the expense of a member of roxburgh club. it is no. of the mss. call additional. looking at it some years ago, when i had some slight intention of attacking the various mss. of the _gesta_ in the museum, i observed the names of gervase lee and edward lee, written on a fly-leaf, in the way in which persons usually inscribe their names in books belonging to them; and it immediately occurred to me that these could be no other lees than members of the family of lee of southwell, in nottinghamshire, who claimed to descent from a kinsman of edward lee, who was archbishop of york in the reign of henry viii, and who is so unmercifully handled by erasmus. the name of gervase was much used by this family of lee, and as there was in it an edward lee who had curious books in the time of charles ii, about whose reign the names appears to have been written, there can, i think, be little reasonable doubt that this most curious ms. formed a part of his library, and of his grandfather or father, gervase lee, before him. edward lee, who seems to have been the last of the name who lived in the neighbourhood of southwell, died on the rd of april, , aged . that he possessed rare books i collect from this: that the author of _grammatica reformata_, mo. , namely john twells, master of the free school at newark, says, in his preface, that he owed the opportunity of perusing _matthew of westminster_ "to the kindness of that learned patron of learning, edward lee, of norwell, esquire." and now, having given you a note, i will add a query, and ask, can any one inform me what became of this library, or who were the representatives and heirs of edward lee, through whom this ms. may have passed to mr. conybeare, or give me any further particulars respecting this edward lee? a person who asks a question in such a publication as yours ought to endeavour to answer one. i add therefore that mr. thorpe--no mean authority on such a point--in his _catalogue_ for , no. , says the e.f. in the title-page of _the life of king edward ii_, represents "e. falkland:" but he does not tell us who e. falkland was, and it is questionable whether there was any person so named living at the time when the book in question was written. there was no edward lord falkland before the reign of william iii. also, in answer to dr. maitland's query respecting the fate of bindley's copy of _borde's dyetary of health_, , in a priced copy of the catalogue now before me, the name of rodd stands as the purchaser for eleven shillings. joseph hunter. nov. . * * * * * queries answered, no. . _a flemish account, &c._ the readiness with which we adopt a _current saying_, though unaware of its source and therefore somewhat uncertain as to the proper mode of applying it, is curiously exemplified by the outstanding query on the origin and primary signification of the phrase _a flemish account_. i have consulted, in search of it, dictionaries of various dates, the glossaries of our dramatic annotators, and the best collections of proverbs and proverbial sayings--but without success. the _saying_ casts no reproach on the flemings. it always means, i believe that the sum to be received turns out less than had been expected. it is a commercial joke, and admits of explanation by reference to the early commercial transactions between the english and the flemings. i rely on the authority of _the merchants mappe of commerce_, by lewes roberts, london, , folio, chap. :-- in antwerp, which _gave rule in trade_ to most other cities, the accounts were kept in _livres, sols, and deniers_; which they termed pounds, shillings, and pence _of grosses_. now the _livre_ was equal only to twelve shillings sterling, so that while the antwerp merchant stated a balance of l. s. d., the london merchant would receive only l.--which he might fairly call _a flemish account!_ the same instructive author furnishes me with a passage in illustration of a recent question on the _three golden balls_, which seem to require additional research. it occurs in chap. :-- "this citie [bruges] hath an eminent market in place with a publicke house for the meeting of all _marchants_, at noone and evening: which house was called the _burse_, of the houses of the _extinct families bursa_, bearing _three purses for their armes_, ingraven upon their houses, from whence these meeting places to this day are called _burses_ in many countries, which in _london_ wee know by the name of the _royall exchange_ and of _britaines burse_." bolton corney. i think it probably that the expression "flemish account" may have been derived from the fact that the flemish ell measures only three quarters of our yard, while the english ell measures five quarters, and that thence the epithet flemish was adopted as denoting something _deficient_. q.q. when commerce was young, the flemings were the great merchants of western europe; but these worthies were notorious, when furnishing their accounts current, for always having the balance at the right side (for themselves), and hence arose the term. i am not at this moment able to say where this information is to be had, but have met it somewhere. junior. i wonder that some better scholar than myself should not have explained the phrase "flemish account;" but though i cannot quote authority for the precise expression, i may show whence it is derived. to _flem_, in old scotch (and in old english too, i believe), is to "run away;" in modern slang, to "make oneself scarce," "to levant." _flemen_ is an outcast, an outlaw. it is easy to understand the application of the word to accounts. your querist should consult some of the old dictionaries. scotus. there is an old story that a count of flanders once gave an entertainment to some flemish merchants, but that the seats on which they sat were without cushions. these "princes of the earth" thereupon folded up their costly velvet cloaks, and used them accordingly. when reminded, on their departure, of having left their cloaks behind, they replied, that when asked to a feast they were not in the habit of carrying away with them the chair cushions. could this have originated the expression "flemish account?" in this case the proud merchants gave such an account of a valuable article in their possession, as made it out to be quite worthless to the owner. musafir. * * * * * answers to minor queries. _richard greene, apothecary._ mr. richard green, the subject of h.t.e.'s query (no. . p. .), was an apothecary at lichfield, and related to dr. johnson. he had a considerable collection of antiquities, &c., called "green's museum," which was sold, after his death, for a thousand pounds. see boswell's _johnson_, croker's edition, vol. v. p. . * * * * * _form of petition._ sir,--in reply to b. in your third number, who requests information as to the meaning of the "&c." at the foot of a petition, i fear i must say, that at the present day, it means nothing at all. in former times it had a meaning. i send you a few instances from the _chancery records_ of the year . these petitions to sir e. phillips or phelips, m.r., end thus:-- "and he and his wife and six children shall dailie praie for your worship's health and happines! "and shee shall accordinge to her bounden duetie pray for your good worship in health and happinesse longe to continewe! "and both your said supliants and their children shal be bound dailie to praie for your worship's health and happines with increase of honour!" these instances are taken at random from amongst many others. the _formula_, slightly varied, is the same in all. the modern form was, however, even at that early date, creeping in, for i see a petition to l.c. ellesmere, of the same year, has "and he shall dailie, praie, &c." this will probably suffice to answer b.'s query. cecil monro. registrar's office, court of chancery, nov. . . * * * * * _greene of greensnorton._ sir thomas greene, of greensnorton, co. northampton, knt. died nov. -- hen. vii. by jane, daughter of sir john fogge, knt., he left issue two daughters and coheirs: _ann, the eldest_, aet. , at her father's death, was wife of nicholas vaux, lord vaux, of harrowden, who died in , now represented by george mostyn, baron vaux, and robert henry, earl of pembroke, and edward bourchier hartopp, esq. _matilda, the youngest_, was aged at her father's death, and married sir thomas parr, by whom she had william marquess of northampton (who died s.p. ); anne, wife of william herbert, earl of pembroke (now represented by robert henry, earl of pembroke); and catherine, queen consort of king henry viii. the assumption of arms, by richard green, the apothecary, in , will afford no ground for presuming his descent from the greensnorton family. g. * * * * * _cottle's life of coleridge, when reviewed in the times._ the _times_ review of joseph cottle's _reminiscences of coleridge and southey_, appeared nov. . ; and on the following day, mr. thomas holcroft complained by letter of a misrepresentation of his father by mr. cottle. * * * * * * _times, herald, chronicle, &c., when first established._ we are enabled, by the courtesy of several correspondents, to furnish some reply to the query of d. (no. p. ) _the times_ first appeared under that title on the st january, , but bore the number , it being a continuation, under a new name, of the _universal register_, of which numbers had been published.--_the morning chronicle_ must have commenced in , as a correspondent, f.b., writes to tell us that he possesses no. . dated monday, th march, . see further nichol's _literary anecdotes_, i. ; and for _morning advertiser_, established in , the same volume, p. . another correspondent writes:--during the _morning chronicle_ has completed its st year; next in seniority stands the _morning post_, at ; and the _morning herald_, at . _the times_ in the numbering of its days, is in its th year, but has not really reached its grand climacteric, for its three years of infancy passed under the name of _the universal register_, it having only received its present appellation in the opening of . _the morning advertiser_ is wearing away its th year. _the public ledger_, commenced in , or , is however, the oldest daily paper. * * * * * _dorne the bookseller--henno rusticus, etc._ sir,--in answer to w. in page . of no. , i beg to suggest that dormer, written dõmr in the ms.--a common abbreviation--may be the name of the oxford bookseller, and _henno rusticus_ may be _homo rusticus_, "the country gentleman." the hand-writing of this ms. is so small and illegible in some places, that it requires an oedipus to decipher it; and the public will have much reason to thank those lynx-eyed antiquaries who have taken great pains to render it intelligible. "the _sige_ of the end," is of course properly explained to be "the signe of the end." j.i. * * * * * sanuto's doges of venice. sir,--the high value of your journal as a repertory of interesting literary information, which without it might be lost to the world, is becoming daily more apparent from the number and character of your correspondents. you have my best wishes for its success. the communication of sir frederick madden respecting the singular and obvious error in marin sanuto's _lives of the doges of venice_, has renewed in me a desire for information which i have hitherto been unable to obtain; and i will, therefore, with your permission, put it here as a _query_. who was the _foreigner_ who gave to the world the very interesting book respecting _sanuto_ under the following title?--_ragguagli sulla vita e sulle opere di marin sanuto, &c. intitolati dall' amicizia di_ _uno straniere al nobile jacopo vicenzo foscarini.--opera divise in trè perti_, venezia, - . in vo. the able writer has noticed that the very mutilated and incorrect manner in which muratori has printed all that he has given of sanuto, and especially _le vite de' dogi_, of which the original copy still remains inedited in the estensian library at modena. there can be no doubt that some ignorant or indolent transcriber made the mistake of _iudeo_ for _richo_, so satisfactorily and happily elucidated by sir frederick madden. how much it is to be regretted that the _diary_ of sanuto, so remarkable for it simplicity and ingenuous truthful air, should still remain inedited. it relates to an epoch among the most interesting of modern history, and the extracts given in the _ragguagli_ only make us wish for more. from this diary it appears that the valori were among the most distinguished citizens of a state which could boast that its merchants were princes. the palace they inhabited is no known by the name of the altoviti, its more recent owners, and many of the tombs of the valori are to be found in the church of st. proculus. macchiavelli mentions bartolomeo valori among the _cittadini d' autorita_, and, according to nardi, he was gonfaloniere in the first two months of the years , , and . he was also one of the platonic academy that ficino assembled around him. in this diary of sanuto will be found many minute and interesting details respecting savonarola, and the relation of the tragical death of francisco valor, who had also been several times gontaloniere, and whom savonarola, in his confession, said it was his intention to have made perpetual dictator. i would have given a specimen of this very interesting diary, but that i scrupled to occupy space which your correspondents enable you to fill so effectively, for i fully subscribe to the dictum of the _ragguagliatore_, "il sanuto si presenta come la scott degli storiei, compincendosi come sir walter delle giostre, delle feste, e delle narrazioni piacevole e di dolce pietà. s.w.s. mickleham, nov. , . * * * * * mss. of roger twysden. sir,--an answer to the following "query" would be most interesting to myself, and, perhaps, not altogether without its value to the literary world. among sir roger twysden's mss. i have a letter from him to his son at oxford, requesting his intercession with the university for the loan of the ms. of walter mapes "_de nugis curialium_," in order that he might prepare it for publication. he instances the liberality of the archbishop of canterbury in having lent him from lambeth the _epistles of amselm and becket_; and adds, that, by being permitted to retain these mss. in his hands for some years, he had now prepared them for the press. i cannot learn that they were ever printed, and among the voluminous ms. remains of sir roger now in my hands, i cannot find the smallest trace of them. can any one your readers inform me what became of this collection, which, by sir roger's statement, was finished and completely ready for the press? to this "query" i may as well add a "note," which may be interesting to some of your readers. in sir roger's ms. journal of his persecutions by the parliament, he states: "it is sayd king charles subscribed the byll for taking away the votes of bishops, in y't very house where christian religion was first preached,--viz. st. augustines by canterbury." lambert b. larking. ryarsh vicarage, nov. . * * * * * minor queries. _honnore pelle_. who was "honnore pell, "? my reason for asking this is, i have a marble bust of charles ii. of colossal size, most splendidly sculptured, with the long curling hair and full court dress of the period, and the execution and workmanship of which would do honour to any sculptor of the past or present time. on the stump of the arm are the name and date which i have given above, and i have in vain looked into biographical works. w.l. _bust of sir walter raleigh_. is there an authentic bust of sir walter raleigh in existence? and if so, where is it to be found? j.b. _motto of university of cambridge_. from what author, "chapter and verse," comes the motto of the university of cambridge, hinc lucem et pocula sagra? it is used as a quotation in leighton on st. peter's epistle, but in the last edition the learned editor does not give a reference. j.j.s. _family of giles of worcestershire_. can you tell me any thing of a family named "_giles_," whose crest was a horse's head? they were connected with worcestershire. * _passage from an old play._ can any of your many readers oblige me by informing me where the following very striking passage can be found? i have seen the lines quoted as from an "old play;" but a tolerable extensive knowledge of old plays, and a diligent search, have not hitherto enabled me to find them:-- "call you the city gay, its revels joyous? they may be so to you, for you are young, belike and happy. she was young in years, but often in mid-spring will blighting winds do autumn's work; and there is grief at heart can do the work of years, can pale the cheek, and cloud the brow, and sober down the spirit. this gewgaw scene hath fewer charms for her than for the crone, that numbering sixty winters, pronounceth it all folly.--marvel not 'tis left thus willingly." c.a.h. athenæum club, nov. , . _dalton's doubting's downfall._ about thirty years ago the following appeared in lackington and co.'s book catalogue: "dalton (edward) doubting's downfall, _s._ _d._" application was made, when other books were ordered, three several times; in each case the answer was "_sold_." since that date inquiries have been instituted from time to time, in the usual quarters, but always unsuccessfully. no clue can be given as to the size or date, but from the quaintness of the title it is presumed to be about the period of the commonwealth. should any of your readers procure this work, the liberal price of _s._ if a book, or _s._ if a pamphlet, will be paid for it through your medium, by g. _authors of old plays._ query the authors of the following plays?-- . the tragedy of nero newly written. london, printed by aug. mathewes for thomas jones, and are to be sold at his shoppe in saint dunstane's churchyard in fleete street. . . sicily and naples, or the fatall vnion, a tragædy. by s h. a b è c. ex. oxford: printed by william turner, . . emilia. london: printed for the author, . . sir gyles goose-cappe knight, a comedy lately acted with great applause at the private house in salisbury court. london: printed for hugh perry, and are to be sold by roger ball, at the golden anchor in the strand, neere temple barre, . i have given the title-pages in full, omitting a latin motto which adorns the title-page of the m.a. of exeter college. q.d. _periwinkle--a mocking emblem._ can any of your readers, learned in the language of flowers, inform me why, when sir w. fraser (the last of wallace's adherents) was led in triumph through the streets of london, with his legs tied under his horse's belly--"a garland of periwinkle was in mockery placed upon his head?" see tytler's _history of scotland_, cap. . melanion. _wives of ecclesiastics._ sir,--in looking over some ancient charters a few days ago, i met with one dated edw. iii, by which "willielmus de bolton clericus et goditha uxor ejus," release a claim to certain lands. if william de bolton was an ecclesiastic, as i suppose, how is it that his wife is openly mentioned? i shall be must obliged to any of your readers for an explanation. a subscriber. _whelps._ sir,--in howell's _letters_, sect. . p. . the following words occur:-- "at the return of this fleet two of the _whelps_ were cast away, and three ships more." i should feel obliged to any of your correspondents who may be able to favour me with an explanation of the word _whelps_ in this passage. j.j. * * * * * notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. j.j.s. informs us, with reference to a note in no. . (p. .), "that an account of anglesey abbey, in cambridgeshire, is ready, and will be published ere long." our attention has been directed to the prospectus of a series of "cottage prints from sacred subjects, intended chiefly for distribution among the poor," which will be so produced as to form a set of illustrations to the bible; "although it is chiefly contemplated that the prints, protected by a small frame, should find their way into the homes of the poor, and decorate their walls." the editors, the rev. h. j. rose and rev. j.w. burgon, well observe: "we shall in vain preach reverence to the ear on sundays, if the eyes may be familiarised with what is irreverent for the six days following. on the other hand, we shall surely be supplying ourselves with a powerful aid, if we may direct the eye to forms of purity and beauty; and accustom our village children, (who are now our hope,) from infancy, to look daily on what is holy, and pure, and good."--subscribers of one guinea in advance are promised, in the course of the year, at least fifty such engravings as the four which accompany the prospectus. messrs. puttick and simpson commenced on thursday a nine days' sale of the "curious, rare, and valuable library of a well-known collector, deceased;" also another collection, including-- theology; spanish, english, and other chronicles: specimens of the early typography of english and foreign printers; a very complete series of the productions of the family of aldus; rare editions of the classics; numerous interesting and important spanish books; a very extensive collection of works relating to the discovery, history, natural history, language, literature, and government of america and it dependencies, mexico, the east and west indies, &c. voyages, travels, and itineraries: fine books of prints; botanical works; natural history and philosophy; works containing specimens of early engraving, wood-cuts, and emblems; a most interesting collection of english poetry, plays, and works illustrative of the history and progress of the english language and literature, including a perfectly unique collection of the works of daniel de foe; several hundred rare tracts, particularly an extensive series relating to charles i. and his contemporaries, others of a local and personal character, biographies, rare histories of remarkable characters, facetiae, and an unusually large assemblage of curious and rare articles in almost every class of literature; a few mss. &c. among the lots deserving attention in the course of the coming week, are nos. to , a large collection of publications relative to america; nos. to , relating to canada. barros (joan, de) decades da asia. decada , . lisboa, - ; decada , _ib_. ; decada , madrid, ; couto, decada , , , lisboa, - ; decada , , . _ib_. --together vols. morocco nearly all the copies of the th decade were destroyed by fire, and the few that are to be met with are generally, if not always, deficient in some leaves. the title-page to this copy (as in mr. grenville's) is supplied by the title to the th decade, and a few leaves are wanting. for the rarity of this work, see _bibliotheca grenvilliana_, vol. i. p. . and, lastly, lot ; which contains a matchless series, in vols., of the works of daniel de foe, whom coleridge was inclined to rank higher than addison for his humour and as a writer of racy vigorous english. the lot is thus described:-- "this matchless series of the works of this distinguished author was formed with unwearied diligence by his biographer, the late mr. walter wilson, during the greater portion of his life. "the numbers to refer to the catalogue of the works as published in his _life of defoe_, vols. ; those following have been discovered by mr. wilson since the period of the publication. this collection is rendered still further to complete by the addition of upwards of forty pieces by a recent possessor. the extreme difficulty of forming such a collection as the present is very apparent when we compare its voluminous contents with those very few collections which, during the last fifty years, have on the dispersion of celebrated libraries occurred for sale." we have this week received a most important and valuable "catalogue of bibles and biblical literature, containing the best works, ancient and modern, on the criticism, interpretation, and illustration of holy scripture, and including such of the fathers and ecclesiastical writers as have treated on these subjects, _classified_ with analytical table of contents and alphabetical indexes of subjects and authors, &c. on sale, by c.j. stewart, . king william st., west strand." mr. stewart explains that in addition to what are "strictly regarded as biblical, there will be found in it the works of those fathers, mediæval and more recent writers, who treat upon subjects connected with scripture, each accompanied with an enumeration of such portions of his works; and under heads (more especially extensive under commentators) references are given to these writers, so as to afford a condensed view of authorities or sources of information." mr. stewart states also that he has other catalogues in preparation,--we presume in continuation of the present one, and exhibiting the same system of arrangement,--and if so, we feel that the series will be of the greatest value to all theological students. collectors of autographs and engraved portraits will thank us for directing their attention to a "catalogue of books, prints, manuscripts, and autograph letters; being a part of the stock of horatio rodd, brother and successor to the late thomas rodd, no. . little newport street," in which they will find many interesting autographs and curious portraits. we have also received "a list of secondhand books on sale by george honnor, . strand;" and "a catalogue of books. ancient and modern, on sale, by w. pedder, . holywell st. part vi. ." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the women's petition against coffee. vo. . job's lamentation for his children. . harrod's sevenoake, a poem. to. . burney's treatise on music (not his history). gray's elegy (professor young of glasgow's criticism of). life of hon. robert price, chief justice of the common pleas, london. . flores bernardi. rhonorum provinciatum civitatumque nomina latina (coronelli, potius alphonsus lasor a varea), fol. vols. venet, . or the nd vol. only. budden's discourse for parents' honour and authoritie. vo. . the two wolves in lamb's skins, or old eli's lamentation over his two sons. vo. . averell's four notable histories, etc. to. . nature, a poem. folio. . barnefield's plowman's complaint. to. . gill's instructions for children, in verse. . jermin's father's institution of his child. . southey's cowper. vols. x. xii. xiii. xiv. cairn's edition of goldsmith's miscellaneous works, edinburgh. . vol. iii. cooper's (c.p.) account of the most important public records. vo. .--the first volume of. livy.--vol. i. of crevier's edition, vols. to. paris, . ogilby's britannia. folio, . vol. ii. swift's works. adams' moral tales, london. autobiography of dr. johnson. published in . *.* letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _the matter is generally understood with regard to the management of periodical works, that it is hardly necessary for the editor to say that _he cannot undertake to return manuscripts_; but on one point he wishes to offer a few words of explanation to his correspondents in general, and particularly to those who do not enable him to communicate with them except in print. they will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly his interest to take all he can get, and make the most and the best of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received, and appreciated, even if the succeeding number bears no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgement will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation, when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and if they understood an editor's position they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves undervalued; but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from an opposite course._ * * * * * communications received.--_j.w.m.----anglo-cambrian---- j.a.g.----j.f.m.----j. britton.----t.w.----j.s.----f.e.m.----a.g.----w. williams----w. figg.----l. ** b.----e.v.---- l.b.l.----h.g. (milford), whose suggestion will not be lost sight of.----g.m.----s.a.a.----trin. coll. dubl.----j.w. burrows.----s.a.----a.f.---- w. robson.----j.s.b.----wicamicus----c.b.---- d.----h. andrews.----r. snow.----c.w.g. ----naso.----scotus.----rev. f.m. answers to queries respecting rev. t. reman, katherine pegg, &c. in our next. will _musarum studiosus_ enable us to communicate with him directly? _philo_ is thanked for his proposed endeavours to enlarge our circulation. we trust all our friends and correspondents will follow _philo's_ example by bringing _notes and queries_ under the notice of such of their friends as take an interest in literary pursuits. for it is obvious that they will extend the usefulness of our paper, in proportion as they increase its circulation. we have received many complaints of a difficulty in procuring our paper. every bookseller and newsvender will supply it _if ordered_, and gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher, _mr. george bell, . fleet street_, accompanied by a post office order for a quarter ( s. d.). all communications should be addressed _to the editor of "_notes and queries_," . fleet street. a neat case for holding a year's numbers ( ) of _notes and queries_ is preparing, in consequence of the suggestion of several subscribers, and will very soon be ready._ * * * * * eight days' sale of highly interesting british historical portraits, forming the second portion of the very important and valuable stock of prints, the property of messrs. w. and g. smith, the long-established, well-known, and eminent print-sellers of lisle-street, having retired from business. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and co., auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, december . and seven following days, (sunday excepted), at precisely each day, the second portion of the important and valuable stock of prints, the property of messrs. w. and g. smith; comprising one of the most numerous and interesting collections of british historical portaits ever offered for sale, and containing a vast number of extremely rare prints by the most eminent english engravers, generally in the finest condition, and a large number of fine proofs and prints after the works of sir joshua reynolds. may be viewed four days prior to the sale, and catalogues had. * * * * * recently published in vols. vo., price _l_. _s_. cloth a new edition of shakspeare's works, (comprising the plays and poems,) the text formed from an entirely new collation of the old editions; with the various readings, notes, a life of the poet, and a history of the early english stage. by j. payne collier, esq., f.s.a. author of "the history of english dramatic poetry and the stage," &c. &c. the type of this edition has been expressly cast for it, and is the largest used for shakespeare's works for these twenty years. "the most perfect text with the fewest possible notes. whoever wants to know what shakespeare wrote must refer to collier's edition."--_monthly magazine_. "mr. collier has brought to his task the aid of great research, discrimination, and intimate knowledge of the true mode of treating his subject."--_age_. whittaker and co., ave maria lane. * * * * * miller's catalogue of books; ready this day, will be found to contain an extremely valuable, interesting, and highly curious collection, comprising works on freemasonry, history, biography, poetry, and the drama, books of wit and humour, with choice pictorial publications and modern table books, many in first-rate bindings suitable for the drawing-room; also a few bibles and a small portion of divinity and controversial works, with collections of tracts, trials, and illustrated scraps for fireside amusement, and a few pieces of irish history, antiquities, and biography; with varieties in greek, latin, french, italian, german, and spanish. to be had gratis, and can be sent postage free to any book-buyer on receipt of an address. john miller, . chandos-street, king william-street, strand. * * * * * mr. murray's list of works lord campbell's lives of the chief justices of england. vols. vo. s. (on dec. th) lord campbell's lives of the lord chancellors of england. rd edition. vols. vo. l. s. hallam's europe during the middle ages. ninth edition. vols. vo. s. notes supplemental vo. s. d. hallam's history of england from the accession of henry vii. to the death of george ii. fifth edition. vols. vo. s. hallam's literary history of europe during the th, th, and th centuries. third edition. vols. vo. s. tickner's history of spanish literature. with criticisms and biographical notices. vols. vo. (next week.) marryat's history of pottery and porcelain, from the earliest period in various countries. with coloured plates and woodcuts, vo. (nearly ready.) the romanesque and pointed styles of architecture in france; with notices of some of the principal buildings on which it is founded. vo. (in dec.) dyer's life of john calvin; from authentic sources, and particularly his correspondence. with a portrait. vo. (on dec. ) irving's life of columbus, with his voyages and those of his companions. a new edition, thoroughly revised by the author. with maps. vols. vo. (next week.) cunningham's handbook for london; past and present. a new and revised edition. vol. post vo. (in jan.) "we can conceive no companion more welcome to an enlightened foreigner visiting the metropolis than mr. cunningham with his laborious research, his scrupulous exactness, his alphabetical arrangement, and his authorities from every imaginable source. as a piece of severe compact and finished structure, the 'handbook' is not to be surpassed."--_the times_. "in the production of the 'handbook for london' must be recognised the fulfilment of a work useful in purpose, and national in character."--_morning chronicle_. * * * * * milman's life and works of horace now ready, vol. ( pp.) crown vo. s. horace: a new edition of the text, beautifully printed, and illustrated by upwards of vignettes of coins, gems, bas-reliefs, statues, views, &c., taken chiefly from the antique. with a life, by rev. h.h. milman, dean of st. paul's. "not a page can be opened where the eye does not light upon some antique gem. mythology, history, art, manners, topography, have all their fitting representatives. it is the highest praise to say, that the designs throughout add to the pleasure with which horace is read. many of them carry us back to the very portraitures from which the old poets drew their inspirations."--_classical museum_. for the convenience of purchasers, the work is arranged so as to be bound in two volumes, for which proper titles are given. john murray, albermarle street. * * * * * a catalogue of english and foreign theology including some of the rarest works of our early english divines, nearly a complete series of the fathers of the church, the various councils, and most important ecclesiastical historians, liturgical writers, &c. the whole in very fine condition on sale at the prices affixed, for ready money only. by john leslie, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields, london. the above will be forwarded to any part of the kingdom, upon receipt of six postage stamps. * * * * * biblical literature just published, and may be had, postage free, on a remittance of postage stamps. a classified catalogue of editions and versions of holy scripture: and of critical, explanatory, and illustrative works: including such patristic and ecclesiastical writers as have treated on scriptural topics, the latter arranged so as to exhibit a chronological series of biblical interpretation down to the reformation; with references under each head to authorities or sources of information. on sale by c.j. stewart, . king william street, west strand, london. "there is no branch of literature in which classed catalogues are of so much importance as in biblical, and we therefore feel bound to notice a very excellent volume lately issued by mr. stewart under the title of 'a catalogue of bibles and biblical literature.' it is excellently well arranged, and will afford important facilities to those in search of books in particular departments... the preparation of such catalogues is a work of expense and labour, but must be well repaid (?) by the facilities afforded to purchasers."--_kitte's journal of sacred literature_. "we have much pleasure in recommending to our readers' attention this valuable and well arranged catalogue. mr. stewart's collection of works, in all the branches of a theological library, ranks high, both for number and selectness, among the very best in the country."--_christian observer_. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december , . produced from page scans provided by the internet library of early journals. notes and queries a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * +"when found, make a note of."+--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents. notes:-- parish registers--statistics the hudibrastic verse, by s.w. singer custom of presenting gloves, by jas. crosby folk lore: exhumation of body ominous to family of the deceased--suffolk folk lore--cure for fits--bible and key notes on jeremy taylor's life of christ, &c., by j.e.b. mayor unpublished epigrams in the british museum on authors and books, no. ., by bolton corney queries:-- punishment of death by burning cornelis drebble verses attributed to charles yorke cultivation of geometry in lancashire asinorum sepultura by w.b. maccabe minor queries:--ransom of an english nobleman--when does easter end?--carucate of land--members for calais--members for durham--leicester and the reputed poisoners of his time--lord john townshend's poetical works--martello towers--mynyddyslwyn--three dukes--bishops and their precedence--guineas--parish registers tax--charade replies:-- howkey or horkey, by s.w. singer charles martel "feast" and "fast" replies to minor queries:--the badger's legs--twm sion catti--christian captives--cannibals--symbols of the four evangelists--turkish spy--dr. maginn's miscellanies--trianon--pimlico--the arms of godin--title of d.d.--emancipation of the jews--sneck-up or snick-up miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notice to correspondents advertisements * * * * * our second volume. we cannot resist the opportunity which the commencement of our second volume affords us, of addressing a few words of acknowledgment to our friends, both contributors and readers. in the short space of seven months, we have been enabled by their support to win for "notes and queries" no unimportant position among the literary journals of this country. we came forward for the purpose of affording the literary brotherhood of this great nation an organ through which they might announce their difficulties and requirements, through which such difficulties might find solution, and such requirements be supplied. the little band of kind friends who first rallied round us has been reinforced by a host of earnest men, who, at once recognising the utility of our purpose, and seeing in our growing prosperity how much love of letters existed among us, have joined us heart and hand in the great object we proposed to ourselves in our prospectus; namely, that of making "notes and queries" by mutual intercommunication, "a most useful supplement to works already in existence--a treasury for enriching future editions of them--and an important contribution towards a more perfect history than we yet possess of our language, our literature, and those to whom we owe them." thanks, again and again, to the friends and correspondents, who, by their labours, are enabling us to accomplish this great end. to them be the honour of the work. we are content to say with the arabian poet: "with conscious pride we view the band of faithful friends that round us stand; with pride exult, that we alone can join these scattered gems in one; rejoiced to be the silken line on which these pearls united shine." * * * * * notes. parish registers.--statistics. among the good services rendered to the public by yourself and your correspondents, few, i think will be found more important than that of having drawn their attention to mr. wyatt edgell's valuable suggestions on the transcription of parochial registers. the supposed impracticability of his plan has perhaps hitherto deterred those most competent to the work from giving it the consideration which it deserves. i believe the scheme to be perfectly practicable; and, as a first move in the work, i send you the result of my own dealings with the registers of my parish. it is many years since i felt the desideratum which mr. edgell has brought before the public;{ } and, by way of testing the practicability of transcribing, and printing the parochial registers of the entire kingdom in a form convenient for reference, i made an alphabetical transcript of my own, which is now complete. the _modus operandi_ which i adopted was this:-- . i first transcribed, on separate slips of paper, each baptismal entry, with its date, and a reference to the page of the register, tying up the slips in the order in which the names were entered in the register; noting, as i proceeded, on _another_ paper, the number of males and females in each year. . the slips being thus arranged, they came in their places handy for collation with the original. i then collated each, year by year; during the process depositing the slips one by one in piles alphabetically, according to the initial letter of the surnames. . this done, i sorted each pile in an order as strictly alphabetical as that used in dictionaries or ordinary indices. . i then transcribed them into a book, in their order, collating each page as the work proceeded. . i then took the marriages in hand, adopting the same plan; entering each of these twice, viz. both under the husband's and the wife's name. . next, the burials, on the same plan. . i then drew up statistical tables of the number of baptisms, marriages, and burials in each year, males and females separately where the register appeared badly kept, making notes of the fact, and adding such observations as occasionally seemed necessary. . i then drew up lists of vicars, transcripts of miscellaneous records of events, and other casual entries that appeared in the register.[ ] i noted, as i went on, the time occupied in each of these operations. it was as follows:-- . the first transcripts on slips, with addition of statistical tables-- baptisms marriages, , each twice burials ____ total ... / hours. . collecting and filing alphabetically ---- . sorting in strict alphabetical order / ---- . transcribing into book / ---- . copying statistical tables into book ---- transcripts of miscellaneous entries, lists of vicars, &c. &c. ---- ______ total / hours. my registers begin in the year , and the present population of the parish is about , so that you have here an account of the labour necessary to complete an alphabetical transcript of the register of a rural parish of that extent in population. i send you the result as a first step to a work of great national importance, and of inestimable value with relation to family descent, title to property long in abeyance, &c. &c. as to statistics, i doubt whether any data worthy of consideration can be obtained from these sources, owing to the constant irregularities which occur in keeping the registers. no man, much less the minister of a parish, who has abundant calls upon his time, can be expected to sit down to the task of transcribing his registers through many _consecutive_ hours; but there are few who could not give occasionally one or two hours to the work. in this way i effected my transcripts; the work of hours being distributed through nearly five months--no great labour after all. on an average, twelve words, with the figures, may be calculated for each entry, which will give for this parish about folios. each entry having been transcribed twice, we may call it, at a rough calculation, folios written out ready for printing. if the authorities at the registrar-general's office would give their attention to it, they must have _there_ abundant data on which to form calculations as to the probable cost of the undertaking and i cannot help thinking that, setting aside printing as an after consideration, alphabetical transcripts, at least, might be obtained of all the parochial registers in the kingdom, and deposited in that office, at no insurmountable expense; and if the cost appear too heavy, the accomplishment of the work might be distributed through a given number of years; say ten, or even twenty. parliament might, perhaps, be induced to vote an annual grant for so important a work till it was accomplished; albeit, when we think of their niggardly denial of any thing to the printing, or{ } even the conservation of the public records, sanguine hopes from that quarter can hardly be indulged. to insure correctness, without which the scheme would be utterly valueless, i would propose that a certain number of competent transcribers be appointed for each county, either at a given salary, or at a remuneration of so much per entry, to copy the registers of those parishes the ministers of which are unwilling to do it, or feel themselves unequal to the task. the option, however, should always, in the first instance, be given to the minister, as the natural custos of the registers, and as one, from local knowledge, likely to do the work correctly. to each county there should also be appointed one or more competent persons as collators, to correct the errors of the transcribers. i throw out these rough hints in the hope that some of your correspondents will furnish their ideas on the subject, till we at last arrive at a fully practicable plan of carrying out mr. wyatt edgell's suggestions, and, at all events, obtain transcripts, if not printed copies, of every register in the kingdom. l.b.l. [ ] to obviate the difficulties arising from capricious spelling, i assumed that which i thought to be the correct one, and entered all of the name under that one, placing, however, in parenthesis, the actual mode of spelling adopted in the instance in question, and also entering the name, as actually spelt, in its proper place, with reference to the place where the searcher would find it; e.g. in my register, the name of "caiser" appears under more than twenty varieties of form. i enter them all under "cayser". in the _margin_, opposite the first of these entries, i write consecutively the different modes of spelling the name--"caisar", "caiser", "casiar", "kayser", &c. &c. &c. in the table itself, i write, cayser, john. [casiar] john. [kaysar] john, &c. &c. &c. then, "casiar", "kaysar", &c., appear in their respective places _sic_, "casiar", _v_. "cayser", "kaysar", _v_. "cayser", &c., nearly on the plan adopted by mr. duffus hardy in his admirable indices to the _close rolls_. * * * * * the hudibrastic verse. _"he that fights and runs away," &c._--your correspondent melanion may be assured that the orations of demosthenes do not afford any trace of the proverbial senarius, [greek: anaer d pheugon kai palin machaesetai]; and it does not appear quite clear how the apophthegm containing it (which has been so generally attributed to plutarch) has been concocted. heeren, in doing full justice to the biographical talent of the chæronean, has yet observed, "we may easily see that in his lives he only occasionally indicates his authorities, because his own head was so often the source." it is in the life of demosthenes that the story of his flight is told, but briefly; and for that part which relates to the inscription on the shield of demosthenes, he says, [greek: hos elege putheas]. the other life among those of the ten orators, the best critics think not to be plutarch's; and the relation in it is too ridiculous for credit; yet it is repeated by photius. the first writer in which the story takes something of the form in which erasmus gives it is aulus gellius (_noct. att._ l. xvii. c. .):-- "post inde aliquanto tempore philippus apud chaeroneam proelio magno athenienses vicit. tum demosthenes orator ex eo proelio salutem fuga quaesivit: quumque id ei, quod fugerat, probrose objiceretur; _versu illo notissimo_ elusit, [greek: anaer d pheugon], inquit, [greek: kai palin machaesetai]." we here see that the senarius is designated as _a well-known verse_, so that it must have been in the mouths of the people long before it was applied to this piece of gossip. i have hitherto not been able to trace it to an earlier writer. the apophthegmata of erasmus were first published, i believe, in , in six books. i have an edition printed by frobenius, at basle, in , in which two more books are added; and, in an epistle prefixed to the seventh book, erasmus says,-- "prodiit opus, tanta aviditate distractum est, ut protinus à typographo coeperit efflagitare denuo." he names twenty-one ancient greek and latin authors from which the apophthegms had been collected; and, with regard to what he has taken from plutarch, he mentions the licence he has used:-- "nos plutarchum multis de causis sequi maluimus quam interpretari, explanare quam vertere." it is from this book of erasmus that the worthy nicolas udall selected his _two bookes of apophthegmes_; and he tells his readers,-- "i have been so bold with mine author as to make the first booke and second booke, which he maketh third and fowerth." udall has occasionally added further explanations of his own to those translated from erasmus. he promises, in good time, the remaining, books, but says,-- "i have thought better, with two of the eight, to minister unto you a taste of this bothe delectable and fruitefull recreation." those who are desirous of knowing at large the course pursued by erasmus in the compilation of this amusing and once popular work, will find it fully stated in his preface; one passage of which will show the large licence he allowed himself:-- "sed totum opus quodammodo meum feci, dum et explanatius effero qua graece referuntur, interjectis interdum quæ apud alios autores additur comperissem," &c. the only sure ground, as far as i can discover, for this gradually constructed legend, is the mention of the flight of demosthenes by Æschines and dinarchus. in the more amplified editions of erasmus's _adages_, after the publication of the apophthegmata, he repeats the story in illustration of a latin proverb (probably only a version of the greek), "vir fugiens et denuo pugnabitur;" and i find in some collections of the sixteenth century both the latin and greek given upon the authority of plutarch! langius, in his _polyanthea_ (a copious common-place book which would outweigh twenty of our late laureate's) has given the apophthegm verbatim from erasmus, and has boldly appended plutarch's name. but the more extraordinary course is that which one gualandi took, who published, at venice, in ,{ } in to., an _omnium gatherum_, in five books, from various sources, in which there is much taken from erasmus, and yet the title is _apoftemmi di plutarco_. in this book, the whole of the twenty-three apophthegms of erasmus which relate to demosthenes are given, and two more added at the end. it appears that philelphus, and after him raphael regius, had printed, in the fifteenth century, latin collections under the title of _plutarch's apophthegms_, and, according to erasmus, had both taken liberties with their original. i have not seen either of these latin versions, of which there were several editions. as far as regards demosthenes, i think we may fairly conclude that the story is apocryphal. the greek proverbial verse was no doubt a popular saying, which aulus gellius thought might give a lively turn to his story, of which an italian would say, "se non vero è ben trovato." s.w. singer. feb. . . * * * * * custom of presenting gloves. the following extracts from a ms. "day-book" of the celebrated anne countess of pembroke, recording the daily events of the last few months of her life passed at brougham castle in , afford a further illustration of the custom of presenting gloves (vol. i. pp. . .) as a matter of courtesy and kindness; and show, also, that it was not unusual to make presents of small sums of money in exhibition of the same feelings on the part of the donor:-- "january, as the year begins on new year's day. " th day, and to-day there dined here with my folks my cousin thomas sandford's wife, of askham, and her second son; so after dinner i had them into my chamber and kissed her, and took him by the hand, and i gave her a pair of buckskin gloves, and him _s_., and then they went away. " th day. there dined here in the painted chamber with my folks mrs. jane carleton, the widow, sister to sir w'm. carleton, deceased. so after dinner i had her into my chamber, and kissed her and talked with her awhile, and i gave her _s_., and she went away. " th day, to-day there dined with my folks my cousin, mr. thomas burbeck, of hornby, and his wife and their little daughter, and his father-in-law, mr. cotterick, and his wife and his mother; and there also dined here mr. robert carleton, only son to the widow, lady carleton. so after dinner i had them all into my chamber, and kissed the women, and took the men by the hand, and i gave to my cousin, mr. burbeck, and his wife each _s_., and his mother _s_., and his father-in-law, mr. cotterick, and his wife, each of them _s_., and _s_. to the child, and i gave mr. carleton a pair of buckskin gloves, and then they all went away." in another entry the countess records the gift to a mrs. winch of settra park of "four pair of buckskin gloves that came from kendall." it does not appear that any present was made to the countess in return. as in the case of archbishop laud and master prynne (vol. i. p. .), these gifts were evidently expressions of condescension and good will by one in a high position to another in a somewhat lower station. it is, i take it, evident that the money-gifts, from the rank in life of the parties, and their connection with the countess, could have been made with no other meaning or intention. jas. crosby. streatham, april . . * * * * * folk lore. _exhumation of a body ominous to family of the deceased._--in the counties of leicester and northampton, and i doubt not in other parts of england, there is a superstitious idea that the removal or exhumation of a body after interment bodes death or some terrible calamity to the surviving members of the deceased's family. turner, in his _history of remarkable providences_, lond. , p. ., thus alludes to this superstition:-- "thomas fludd of kent, esq., told me that it is an old observation which was pressed earnestly to king james i., that he should not remove the queen of scots' body from northamptonshire, where she was beheaded and interred. for that it always bodes ill to the family when bodies are removed from their graves. for some of the family will die shortly after, as did prince henry, and, i think, queen anne." in the above-named counties, _nine roasted mice_, three taken each third morning, constitutes the common charm for the hooping-cough. t.s. _suffolk folk lore._--i send you a few articles on "folk lore", now, or not long ago, current in the county of suffolk, in addition to what is to be found in the latter part of the second volume of forby's _vocabulary of east anglia_. . to ascertain whether her pretended lovers really love her or not, the maiden takes an apple-pip, and naming one of her followers, puts the pip in the fire. if it makes a noise in bursting from the heat, it is a proof of love; but if it is consumed without a crack, she is fully satisfied that there is no real regard towards her in the person named. . "i remember the wooing of a peascod instead of her." (_shakesp._)--the efficacy of peascods in the concerns of sweethearts is not yet forgotten among our rustic vulgar. the kitchen-maid, when she shells green peas, never omits, when she finds one having _nine_ peas, to lay it on the lintel of the kitchen door; and the first clown who enters it is infallibly to be her husband, or at least her sweetheart. . if you have your clothes mended upon your back, you will be ill spoken of.{ } . if you sweep the house with blossomed broom in may, y're sure to sweep the head of the house away. similar to which is the following:-- . to sleep in a room with the whitethorn bloom in it during the month of may, will surely be followed by some great misfortune. . _cure for fits._--if a young woman has fits, she applies to ten or a dozen unmarried men (if the sufferer be a man, he applies to as many maidens) and obtains from each of them a small piece of silver of any kind, as a piece of a broken spoon, or ring, or brooch, buckle, and even sometimes a small coin, and a penny; the twelve pieces of silver are taken to a silversmith or other worker in metal, who forms therefrom a ring, which is to be worn by the person afflicted. if any of the silver remains after the ring is made, the workman has it as his perquisite; and the twelve pennies also are intended as the wages for his work, and he must charge no more. in i went into a gunsmith's shop in the village where i then resided, and seeing some fragments of silver in a saucer, i had the curiosity to inquire about them, when i was informed that they were the remains of the contributions for a ring for the above purpose which he had lately been employed to make. d. _bible and key._--mr. stevens's note on divination (vol. i. p. .) reminds me of another use to which the bible and key are made subservient by the rustics in this locality. when some choice specimen of the "lancashire witches" thinks it necessary to decide upon selecting a suitor from among the number of her admirers, she not unfrequently calls in the aid of these auxiliaries to assist in determining her choice. having opened the bible at the passage in ruth which states, "whither thou goest i will go," &c., and having carefully placed the wards of the key upon the verses, she ties the book firmly with a piece of cord; and, having mentioned the name of an admirer, she very solemnly repeats the passage in question, at the same time holding the bible suspended _by joining the ends of her little fingers_ inserted under the handle of the key. if the key retain its position during the repetition, the person whose name has been mentioned is considered to be rejected and so another name is tried until the book turns round and falls through the fingers, which is said to be a sure token that the name just mentioned is that of an individual who will certainly marry her. t.w. burnley, april . p.s. in confirmation of the above, i may state that i have a bible in my possession which bears evidence of having seen much service of this description. notes on jeremy taylor's life of christ. (_eden's edit._) part i. _ad_ sect. . § . p. .--"it was tertullian's great argument in behalf of christians, 'see how they love one another.'"--_apol._ c. . part i. discourse iv. § . p. .--"a cook told dionysius the tyrant, the black broth of lacedæmon would not do well at syracuse, unless it be tasted by a spartan's palate."--cicero, _tusc. d._ v. § . stob. _flor. tit._ . n. . plut. _inst. lac._ . [these have been already referred to in "notes and queries"]: and compare plutarch (_vit. lycurgi_, c. .). part ii. _ad_ sect. . § . p. .--"if a man throw away his gold, as did crates the theban."--diog. laert. vi. § . ibid. § . p. . note _b_.--"gaudet patientia duris."--lucan. ix. . ibid. § . p. . note _y_.--"plato vocat puritatem [greek: apokrisin cheironon apo beltionon.]" _definit._ p. . d. ibid. § . (on the tenth commandment) p. . note _z_.--"non minus esse turpe oculos quam pedes in aliena immittere, dixit xenocrates."--Ælian. _var. hist._ xiv. . plutarch _de curiositate_, c. . part ii. sect. . discourse xi. § . p .--"harpaste, seneca's wife's fool."--seneca, _epist_. . part ii. sect. . discourse xiv. § . p. .--"vespasian, by the help of apollonius tyaneus, who was his familiar."--see philostratus (_vit. apollon._ v. . § .). part iii. sect. . discourse xv. § . p. .--"what the roman gave as an estimate of a rich man, saying, 'he that can maintain an army, is rich.'"-cicero _off_. i. § . plutarch _vit. crassi_, c. . part iii. sect. . discourse xvi. § . p. . note _e_.--"hic felix, nullo turbante deorum; is, nullo parcente, miser."--lucan, viii. . notes on jeremy taylor's sermons. (_eden's edit_.) serm. xviii. part i. sect. . § .--"alexander, that wept because he had no more worlds to conquer."--plutarch _de tranquillitate animi_, c. . serm. xxiii. part i. p. .--"[greek: ophrus hepaerkotes, kai to phronimon zaetountes en tois peripatois.]"--plato _comicus apud athenæum_, p. . _d_. lib. iii. c. . § . cfr. bato _comicus apud eundem_, p. . _b_. lib. iv. c. . § . serm. xxiv. § . p. .--"lysander was [greek: panourgos]."--plutarch, _lysand_. c. . note on taylor's holy dying. (_eden's edit_.) cap. iii. sect. . § . p. .--"when men saw the graves of calatinus, of the servilii, the scipios, the metelli, did ever any man amongst the wisest{ } romans think them unhappy?" translated from cicero (_tusc. disc_. . c. . § .) cap. iii. sect. . § . p. .--"brutus, ... when furius came to cut his throat, after his defeat by anthony, he ran from it like a girl."--valer. max. ix. . § senec. _epist_. . j.e.b. mayor. marlborough college, may . * * * * * unpublished epigrams in the british museum. i am not aware that the following epigrams have ever been printed. i transferred them to my note-book some time ago from the letters of mr. martyn, a _littérateur_ of temporary fame in the first half of the eighteenth century, addressed to dr. birch; which are among the birch mss. in the british museum. mr. martyn, if i remember right, gives them as not his own. you may think them worth printing in your agreeable miscellany:-- epitaph on archbishop potter. "alack and well-a-day potter himself is turned to clay." two epigrams on the coffins of dr. sacheverel and sally salisbury being found together in the vault of st. andrew's:-- "lo! to one grave consigned, of rival fame, a reverend doctor and a wanton dame. well for the world both did to rest retire, for each, while living, set mankind on fire." "a fit companion for a high-church priest; he non-resistance taught, and she profest." ch. * * * * * on authors and books, no. . the author of the volume of which i am about to give a character, from the ms. of sir william musgrave, seems to be the person who is described by gough as "arthur dobbs, esq. of castle dobbs, promoter of the discovery of the n.w. passage." the note may interest both historians and collectors of books. an essay on the trade and improvement of ireland. by arthur dobbs, esq. _dublin_, - . vo. "this volume contains both the parts of the work and is a most curious collection of facts and accounts respecting the population revenue and trade of ireland; and i believe it is scarce, as i have not often met with it, nor do i remember to have heard it quoted on either side during the warm disputes about the commercial intercourse between england and ireland in the year ." [w. musgrave.] i procured this volume from the collection of mr. heber, vii. .--sir william musgrave was a _trustee_ of the british museum, and bequeathed near two thousand volumes to that incomparable establishment. he was partial to biography, and gave much assistance to granger. his _adversaria_ and _obituary_, i often consult. the latter work is an excellent specimen of well-applied assiduity. ob. . bolton corney. * * * * * +queries+ punishment of death by burning. judging from the astonishment with which i learned from an eye-witness the circumstance, i think that some of your readers will be surprised to learn that, within the memory of witnesses still alive, a woman was burnt to death under sentence of the judge of assize, for the murder of her husband. this crime--petty treason--was formerly punished with fire and faggot; and the repeal of the law is mentioned by lord campbell in a note to his life of one of our recent chancellors, but i have not his work to refer to. the post to which this woman was bound stood, till recently, in a field adjoining winchester. she was condemned to be burnt at the stake; and a marine, her paramour and an accomplice in the murder, was condemned to be hanged. a gentleman lately deceased told me the circumstances minutely. i think that he had been at the trial, but i know that he was at the execution, and saw the wretched woman fixed to the stake, fire put to the faggots, and her body burnt. but i know two persons still alive who were present at her execution, and i endeavoured, in , to ascertain from one of them the date of this event, and "_made a note_" of his answer, which was to this effect:-- "i can't recollect the year; but i remember the circumstance well. it was about sixty-five years ago. i was there alone with the crowd. i sat on my father's shoulder, and saw them bring her and the marine to the field. they fixed her neck by a rope to the stake, and then set fire to the faggots, and burnt her." she was probably strangled by this rope. one query which i would ask is, was this execution at winchester, in (or thereabouts), the last instance in england? and another is, are you aware of any other instance in the latter part of the last century? e.s.s.w. * * * * * cornelis drebbel. in a very curious little book, entitled _kronÿcke van alemaer_, and published in that town anno , i read the following particulars about cornelis drebbel, a native of the same city. being justly renowned as a natural philosopher, and having made great progress in mechanics,{ } our drebbel was named tutor of the young prince of austria, by the emperor ferdinandus ii.; an office which he fulfilled so well, that he was afterwards chosen councillor to his majesty, and honoured with a rich pension for past services. but, alas! in the year , prague, the place he dwelt in, was taken by frederick, then king of bohemia, several members of the imperial council were imprisoned, and some of them even put to death. bereft of every thing he possessed, a prisoner as well as the others, poor drebbel would perhaps have undergone the same lot if the high mighty states of the united provinces had not sent a message to the king of england, asking him to interfere in their countryman's favour. they succeeded in their benevolent request for his english majesty obtained at last from his son-in-law, the dutch philosopher's liberation, who (i don't exaggerate) was _made a present of_ to the british king; maybe as a sort of _lion_, which the king of morocco had never yet thought of bestowing upon the monarch as a regal offering. drebbel, however, did not forget how much he owed to the intercession of king james, and, to show his gratitude, presented him with an object of very peculiar make. i will try to give you an exact version of its not very clear description in the dutch book. "a glass or crystal globe, wherein he blew or made a perpetual motion by the power of the four elements. for every thing which (by the force of the elements) passes, in a year, on the surface of the earth (sic!) could be seen to pass in this cylindrical wonder in the shorter lapse of twenty-four hours. thus were marked by it, all years, months, days, hours; the course of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, &c. it made you understand what cold is, what the cause of the _primum mobile_, what the first principle of the sun, how it moves the firmament, all stars, the moon, the sea, the surface of the earth, what occasions the ebb, flood, thunder, lightning, rain, wind, and how all things wax and multiply, &c.,--as every one can be informed of by drebbel's own works; we refer the curious to his book, entitled _eeuwige beweginghe_ (perpetual motion)." can this instrument have been a kind of orrery? "he built a ship, in which one could row and navigate _under water_, from westminster to greenwich, the distance of two dutch miles; even five or six miles, as far as one pleased. in this boat, a person could see under the surface of the water, and without candlelight, as much as he needed to read in the bible or any other book. not long ago, this remarkable ship was yet to be seen lying on the thames or london river. "aided by some instruments of his own manufacture, drebbel could make it rain, lighten, and thunder at every time of the year, so that you would have sworn it came in a natural way from heaven. "by means of other instruments, he could, in the midst of summer, so much refrigerate the atmosphere of certain places, that you would have thought yourself in the very midst of winter. this experiment he did once on his majesty's request, in the great hall of westminster; and although a hot summer day had been chosen by the king, it became so cold in the hall, that james and his followers took to their heels in hasty flight. "with a certain instrument, he could draw an incredible quantity of water out of a well or river. "by his peculiar ingenuity, he could, at all times of the year, even in the midst of winter, hatch chickens and ducklings without using hens or ducks. "he made instruments, by means of which were seen pictures and portraits; for instance, he could show you kings, princes, nobles, although residing at that moment in foreign countries. and there was no paint nor painter's work to be seen, so that you saw a picture in appearance, but not in reality." perhaps a magic lantern? "he could make a glass, that placed in the dark near him or another, drew the light of a candle, standing at the other end of a long room, with such force, that the glass near him reflected so much light as to enable him to see to read perfectly." was this done by parallel parabolical mirrors? "he could make a plane glass without grinding it on either side, in which people saw themselves reflected seven times. "he invented all these and many other curiosities, too long to relate, without the aid of the black art; but by natural philosophy alone, if we may believe the _tongues_ whose _eyes_ saw it. by these experiments, he so gained the king's favour, his majesty granted him a pension of guilders. he died in london, anno , the sixtieth year of his age." thus writes the alkmaar chronicler. if you, or any of your learned correspondents, can elucidate the history of the instruments made by my countryman, he will much oblige all scientific antiquarians, and me, though not a dr. heavybottom, especially. i need not make apologies for my bad english, and hope none of your many readers will criticise it in a _dutch_ periodical. janus dousa. amsterdam, april, . * * * * * verses attributed to charles yorke. i have in my possession a ms. book, in his own handwriting, of the late rev. martin stafford smith of bath, formerly chaplain to bishop warburton, containing, amongst other matter, a series of letters, and extracts of letters, from the amiable and gifted, but unfortunate, charles yorke, to bishop warburton. at the close of this series, is the following note and extract:-- "verses transcribed from the original, in mr. c. yorke's own writing, among his letters to bishop warburton; probably manuscript, and certainly his own composition: written from the _shades_." "stript to the naked soul, escaped from clay, from doubts unfetter'd, and dissolv'd in day, unwarm'd by vanity, unreach'd by strife, and all my hopes and fears thrown off with life,--{ } why am i charm'd by friendship's fond essays, and, tho' unbodied, conscious of thy praise? has pride a portion in the parted soul? does passion still the formless mind controul? can gratitude out-pant the silent breath, or a friend's sorrow pierce the glooms of death? no; 'tis a spirit's nobler taste of bliss, that feels the worth it left, in proofs like this; that not its own applause but thine approves, whose practice praises, and whose virtue loves; who lov'st to crown departed friends with fame, then dying late, shalt all thou gav'st reclaim." it is my own impression, as well as that of an eminent critic to whom i communicated these lines, that they have been printed. if any contributor to "notes and queries" can tell where they are to be found, or can throw any light on their authorship, it will gratify the editor of bp. warburton's literary remains. bath, may . . * * * * * cultivation of geometry in lancashire. it has been a frequent subject of remark, that geometry in its purest form has been cultivated in the northern counties, but more especially in lancashire, with extraordinary ardour and success; and this by a class of men placed in a position the most unpropitious that can be conceived for the study--by operatives of the humblest class, and these chiefly _weavers_. the geometrical labours of these men would have gladdened the hearts of euclid, apollonius and archimedes, and would have been chronicled by pappus with his usual truthfulness and judicious commendation; had they only but so laboured in greece, antecedently to, or cotemporarily with, those "fathers of geometry," instead of in modern england, cotemporarily with the hargreaves, the peels, and the arkwrights. yet not one in a thousand of your readers, perhaps, has ever heard of these men; and the _visible_ traces of their existence and labours are very few, scarce, and scattered. a vague general statement respecting the prevalence of geometrical studies amongst the "middle-classes" of england was made by playfair in the _edinburgh review_ many years ago, which is quite calculated to mislead the reader; and the subject was dwelt upon at some length, and eloquently, by harvey, at the british association in . attention has been more recently directed to this subject by two living geometers--one in the _philosophical magazine_, and the other in the _mechanics'_; but they both have wholly untouched a question of primary importance--even almost unmentioned:--it is, _how_, _when_, _where_, and by _whom_, was this most unlikely direction given to the minds of these men? an answer to this question would form an important chapter in the history of human development, and throw much light upon the great educational questions of the present day. it may furnish useful hints for legislation, and would be of singular aid to those who were appointed to work out legislative objects in a true spirit. it cannot be doubted that a succinct account of the origin of this taste, and of the influences by which it has been maintained even to the present hour, would be a subject of interest to most of your readers, quite irrespective the greater or less importance and difficulty of the studies themselves, as the result would show how knowledge cannot only be effectively diffused but _successfully extended_ under circumstances apparently the most hopeless. nor does manchester stand as the only instance, for the _weavers_ of spitalfields display precisely the same singular phenomenon. what is still more singular is, that the same class in both localities have shown the same ardent devotion to natural history, and especially to botany; although it is to be remarked that, whilst the botanists of spitalfields have been horticulturists, those of manchester have confined themselves more to english field flowers, the far more worthy and intellectual of the two. we could add a "note" here and there on some points arising out of this question; but our want of definite and complete information, and of the means of gaining it (except through you), compels us to leave the subject to others, better qualified for its discussion. pray, sir, open your pages to the question, and oblige, your ever obedient servants, pen-and-ink. hill top, may , . * * * * * asinorum sepultura. in former times it was the practice, upon the demise of those who died under sentence of excommunication, not merely to refuse interment to their bodies in consecrated ground, but to decline giving them any species of interment at all. the corpse was placed upon the surface of the earth, and there surrounded and covered over with stones. it was _blocked up_, "imblocatus," and this mode of disposing of dead bodies was designated "_asinorum sepultura._" ducange gives more than one instance, viz., "sepultura asini sepeliantur"--"ejusque corpus exanime asinorum accipiat sepulturam." wherefore was this mode of disposing of the dead bodies called "an ass's sepulture?" it is not sufficient to say that the body of a human being was buried like that of a beast, for then the term would be general and not particular; neither can i imagine that christian writers used the phrase for the purpose of repudiating the accusation preferred against them by pagans, of worshipping an ass. (see baronius, ad. an. . § .) the dead carcasses{ } of dogs and hounds were sometimes attached to the bodies of criminals. (see grinds, _deutsche rechte alterthum_, pp. , .) i refer to this to show that there must have been some special reason for the term "_asinorum sepultura_". that reason i would wish to have explained; ducange does not give it, he merely tells what was the practice; and the attention of grimm, it is plain, from his explanation of the "unehrliches begräbnis" (pp. , , .), was not directed towards it. w.b. maccabe. * * * * * +minor queries.+ _ransom of an english nobleman_.--at page . vol. ii. of the _secret history of the court of james i._, edinburgh, (a reprint), occurs the following:-- "nay, to how lowe an ebbe of honor was this our poore despicable kingdome brought, that (even in queen elizabeth's time, the glory of the world) a great nobleman being taken prisoner, was freely released with this farewell given him, that they desired but two mastieffes for his ransome!" who was this great nobleman, and where may i find the fullest particulars of the whole transaction? h.c. _when does easter end_?--an enactment of the legislature directs a certain act to be done "_within two months after easter_" in , under a penalty for non-performance. i have no difficulty in finding that two calendar months are meant, but am puzzled how to compute when they should commence. i should be much obliged by being informed when easter ends? that question set at rest, the other part is easily understood and obeyed. h. edwards. _carucate of land_.--will any one inform me what were the dimensions of a carucate of land, in edward iii.'s time? also, what was the comparative value of money at the same date? are tables, giving the value of money at various periods in our history, to be found in any readily accessible source? e.v. _members for calais_.--henry viii. granted a representative in the english parliament to the town of calais. can any of your correspondents inform me whether this right was exercised till the loss of that town, and, if so, who were the members? o.p.q. _members for durham_.--what was the reason that neither the county nor the city of durham returned members to parliament previous to - ? o.p.q. _leicester, and the reputed poisoners of his time_.--at page . vol. ii. of d'israeli's _amenities of literature_, london, , is as follows:-- "we find strange persons in the earl's household (leicester). salvador, the italian chemist, a confidential counsellor, supposed to have departed from this world with many secrets, succeeded by dr. julio, who risked the promotion. we are told of the lady who had lost her hair and her nails," ... "of the cardinal chatillon, who, after being closeted with the queen, returning to france, never got beyond canterbury; of the sending a casuist with a case of conscience to walsingham, to satisfy that statesman of the moral expediency of ridding the state of the queen of scots by an italian philtre." where may i turn for the above, more particularly for an account of the lady who had lost her hair and her nails? h.c. april . . _lord john townshend's poetical works_.--can any of your readers inform me whether the poetical works of lord john townshend, m.p., were ever collected and published, and, if so, when, and by whom? his lordship, who, it will be remembered, successively represented cambridge university, westminster, and knaresborough, was considered to be the principal contributor to the _rolliad_, and the author of many odes, sonnets, and other political effusions which circulated during, the eventful period - . oxoniensis. may . _martello towers_.--is it the fact that the towers erected along the low coasts of kent and sussex during the prevalent dread of the french invasion received their designation from a town in spain, where they were first built? by whom was the plan introduced into england? is any account of their erection to be found in any _blue book_ of the period? e.v. _mynyddyslwyn_.--the name of the parish mynyddyslwyn, in monmouthshire. this name, so full of druidic suggestion, was lost from general use at, and anterior to, the incorporation of wales with england by the statute of rhudolan. in a list of the names of welsh parishes at that time, the parish is called _the parish of tudor ab howell_. has any reader of the "notes and queries" met with mynyddyslwyn in any document bearing an earlier date? d. rhys stephen. abergwyddon. _three dukes_.--who were the three dukes who killed the beadle on sunday morning, th february, , as commemorated by verses in _poems on state affairs_, vol. i. p. .? e. _bishops and their precedence_.--bishops, in all tables of precedency, have place before the temporal barons. no reason is assigned but it is generally supposed to be from the respect due to{ } the church and their high calling which might have placed them higher. can any of your readers tell where any _authority_ or _reason_ is given by writers upon precedence why the precedence is given to them over the temporal barons? e. _guineas_.--what is the earliest instance of the use of the word _guinea_ as a name for a coin? the common story is, that the piece of twenty-one shillings was so called in the reign of charles ii. from being made of gold from guinea. what coin is meant in the following receipt?-- "sachent tous que mons. gualhard de dureffourt ... ad recue ... quatorze _guianois_ dour et dys sondz de la mon[oye] currant a burdeux." the date is . nov. . the document is quoted in madox's _baronia anglica_, p. . note _d_. a.j.h. _parish registers tax_.--in the parish register of wigston magna, leicestershire, are the following entries against several dates in the baptisms and burials:-- . septr. th (burials), "p'd tax to y's day." ---- novr. th (baptisms), "p'd tax." . octr. th (baptisms), "p'd tax to this day." . septr. th (christenings), "p'd tax to this day." . septr. st (burials), "p'd tax to this day." . july st (baptisms), "p'd tax to this day." ---- septr. th (burials), "p'd tax to this day." i should be glad to be informed what tax is here referred to. these are all the entries of the kind. arun. _charade_.--can any of your readers help me to a solution of the following poetical charade, which i believe appeared in the _times_ newspaper a few years back with this heading to it:-- "the following piece of mysticism has been sent to us as original, with a request for a solution. the authorship is among the secrets of literature: it is said to have been by fox, sheridan, gregory, psalmenazar, lord byron, and the wandering jew. we leave the question to our erudite readers." "i sit on a rock while i'm raising the wind, but the storm once abated, i'm gentle and kind; i see kings at my feet, who wait but my nod, to kneel in the dust which my footsteps have trod. though seen by the world, i'm known but to few; the gentiles detest me, i'm pork to the jew. i never have past but one night in the dark, and that was with noah, alone, in the ark. my weight is three pounds, my length is a mile, and when i'm discover'd, you'll say, with a smile, my first and my last are the wish of our isle." i should be obliged if any body could give me a key to this. quaestor. * * * * * +replies.+ howkey or horkey. _howkey_ or _horkey_ (vol. i. p. .) is evidently, as your east anglian correspondent and j.m.b. have pointed out, a corrupt pronunciation of the original _hockey_; _hock_ being a heap of sheaves of corn, and hence the _hock-cart_, or cart loaded with sheaves. herrick, who often affords pleasing illustrations of old rural customs and superstitions, has a short poem, addressed to lord westmoreland, entitled "the hock-cart, or harvest home," in which he says:-- "the harvest swains and wenches bound, for joy to see the hock-cart crown'd." _die hocke_ was, in the language of lower saxony, _a heap of sheaves_. _hocken_ was the act of piling up these sheaves; and in that valuable repertory of old and provincial german words, the _wörterbuch_ of j.l. frisch, it is shown to belong to the family of words which signify a _heap_ or _hilly protuberance_. we should have been prepared to find the word in east anglia; but from herrick's use of it, and others, it must have formerly been prevalent in the west of england also. it has nothing to do with _hock-tide_, which is the _hoch-zeit_ of the germans, and is merely [transcriber's note: illegible] _feast_ or _highday_ of which a very satisfactory account will be found in mr. hampson's "glossary" annexed to his _medii aevi kalendarium_. an interesting account of the _hoch-zeit_ of the germans of lower saxony occurs where we should little expect it, in the _sprichwörter_ of master egenolf, printed at francfort in , to.; and may perhaps serve to illustrate some of our obsolete rural customs:-- "we germans keep carnival (all the time between epiphany and ash-wednesday) st. bernard's and st. martin's days, whitsuntide and easter, as times, above all other periods of the year, when we should eat, drink, and be merry. st. burchard's day, on account of the fermentation of the new must. st. martin's, probably on account of the fermentation of the new wine: then we roast fat geese, and all the world enjoy themselves. at easter we bake pancakes (_fladen_); at whitsuntide we make bowers of green boughs, and keep the feast of the tabernacle in saxony and thuringia; and we drink, whitsun-beer for eight days. in saxony, we also keep the feast of st. panthalion with drinking and eating sausages and roast legs of mutton stuffed with{ } garlic. to the _kirmse_, or church feast, which happens only once a year, four or five neighbouring villages go together, and it is a praiseworthy custom, as it maintains a neighbourly and kindly feeling among the people." the pleasing account of the english harvest feast in gage's _hengrave_, calls it _hochay_. pegge, in his supplement to grose's _provincial words, hockey_. dr. nares notices it in his _glossary_, and refers to an account of its observance in suffolk given in the _new monthly magazine_ for november, . see also major moor's _suffolk words_, and forby's _vocabulary of east anglia_, who says that bloomfield, the rustic poet of suffolk, calls it the _horky_; dr. nares having said that bloomfield does not venture on this provincial term for a _harvest-home_. s.w. singer. may . . * * * * * charles martel. (vol. i. pp. . .) if charles _martel_ must no longer be the _mauler_, he will only be excluded from a very motley band. here are a few of his repudiated namesakes:-- . the _maccabæi_ from hebr. _makkab_, a hammer. . edward i., "_malleus_ scotorum." . "st. augustine, that _maul_ of heretics, was in chief repute with" josias shute, among the latin fathers. (lloyd's _memoires_, p. .) "god make you as augustine, _malleum hæreticorum_." (edward's _gangraena_, part ii. p. . .) . "robertus grossetest, episcopus lincolniensis, _romanorum malleus_, ob. ." (fulman, _notitia oxon_. p. . nd ed.) . "petrus de alliaco, circ. a.d. , _malleus a veritate aberrantium indefessus_ appellari solebat." (wharton in _keble's hooker_, i. .) . t. cromwell, "_malleus monachorum_:" "_mauler_ of monasteries" [fuller, if i recollect rightly, quoted by carlyle]. also, "_mawling_ religious houses." (lloyd's _state worthies_, i. . vo. ed.) . bishop prideaux, "_malleus hærese[=o]s_." (wood, _ath. oxon_. iii. .) . hooker, "_schismaticorum malleus_," bp. h. king's letter to iz. walton. . peter gunning, "_schismaticorum malleus_." (barwick's _life_, p. . latin ed.) . archbishop usher, "_errorum malleus_." (univ. of oxford. parr's _life of usher_, p. .) . henry hammond, _errorum maleus, &c._. (lloyd's _memoires_, p. .) . dean comber, "_falsi malleus_". (ib. v. .) the reader will at once recollect "the hammer of the whole earth," in jeremiah, l. . grotius, in his note on the "_malleus_ universæ terræ" of that passage, says,-- "sic vocat chaldæos, pari de causâ ut ob quam francorum quidam dictus est _martellus_". compare george herbert of lord bacon,--"sophismatum _mastix ... securis_ que errorum," &c. &c. (_poems_, p. , ed. .) nor must we forget attila, "the _scourge_ of god." r.a. _charles martel_ (vol. i. p. .)--the following note may perhaps be acceptable in conjunction with that of g.j.k. (p. .), on charles martel. it is taken from michelet's _history of france_, an easily accessible work. "charlemagne is usually considered as the translation of carolus magnus. 'challemaines si vaut autant comme grant challes.' (_chro. de st. denis_, . i. c. .) charlemagne is merely a corruption of carloman, karlmann, the strong man. in the above-cited chronicle itself, the words challes and challemaines are used for charles and carloman (_maine_, a corruption of _mann_, as _leine_ of _lana_). in the _chronicle of theophanes_ a still more conclusive text is found: he calls carloman [greek: karoullomagnos]; _scr. fr._ v. . the two brothers must have borne the same name. in the th century, charles the bald was dignified, though most undeservedly, with the same title of great, through the ignorance of the latin monks.--_epitaph. ap scrip. fr_. vii. . ... nomen qui nomine duxit de magni magnus, de caroli carolus. a similar kind of blunder was made by the greek writers in the name elagabal, which they transformed into heliogabal, from "[greek: helios], the sun." with regard to charles martel, michelet does not allude to m. collin de plaucy's explanation, and adopts the old version-- "son surnom païen de marteau me ferait volontiers douter s'il était chrétien. on sait que le marteau est l'attribut de thor, le signe de l'association païcune, celui de la propriété de la conquête barbare."--vide michelet's _origines du droit français_. charles was notoriously at variance with the church. i should consider michelet a much better authority than m. collin de plaucy, who, to judge from his preface to another work, _le dictionnaire infernal_, slavishly submits his critical acuteness to the dicta of his church. j.b.d. * * * * * "feast" and "fast." i am not going to take part in the game of _hockey_, started by lord braybrooke, and carried on with so much spirit by several of your correspondents in no. .; but i have a word to say to one of the hockey-players, c.b., who, _per fas et nefas_, has mixed up "feast and fast" with the game. c.b. asks, "is not the derivation of 'feast' and 'fast' originally the same? that which is appointed connected with 'fas,' and that from 'fari?'" i should say no; and let me cite the familiar lines from the beginning of ovid's _fasti_:--{ } "ne tamen ignores variorum jura dierum non habet officii lucifer omnis idem. ille nefastus erit per quem tria verba silentur: fastus, erit per quem lege licebit agi. neu toto perstare die sua jura putâris; qui jam fastus erit, manè nefastus erat. nam simul exta deo data sunt, licet omnia fari; verbaque honoratus libera praetor habet." the _dies festus_ was not only not _dies fastus_, but _dies nefastus_. without going beyond _feast_ and _fast_, i see nothing in c.b.'s suggestion better than the old derivations of the words _feast_ from _festus -um_, and _fast_ from the anglo-saxon; nor indeed anything half so good. _feast_ and _fast_ are opposed in meaning: our word _fast_ has a meaning which neither _fas, fari_, nor _fastus_, nor all three together, will explain. ch. * * * * * +replies to minor queries.+ _the badger's legs_ (vol. i., p. .).--in answer to one of your correspondents, who inquires whether there is any allusion to the inequalities of the badger's legs previous to that made by sir t. browne:-- "and as that beast hath legs (which shepherds fear, 'yclept a badger, which our lambs doth tear), one long, the other short, that when he runs upon the plain, he halts, but when he runs on craggy rocks, or steepy hills, we see none runs more swift or easier than he." browne's _britannia's pastorals_, b.i. song . a.d. . j.f. boyes. _twm sion catti_ (vol. i., p. .).--seleucus observes that twm catti flourished between the years and . i have seen the original pardon, under the great seal, countersigned vaughan, and bearing date th jan., st of elizabeth ( ). the pardon extends to-- "thome johns, alias cattye, nuper de tregaen in com. cardigan, genº., alias dict. thome johns, alias catty ae tregaem, in com. cardigan, generoso, alias dict. thome jones, alias catty, gent., sen quocunque alio nomine vel cognomine seu additione hominis cognitionis dignitatis, officii sen losi idem thomas cognatur, vocetur seu nuncupetur," &c. &c.; and includes "omnia escapia et cautiones." i have written the extract without all the contractions in the original. j.m.t. may . . _christian captives_ (vol. i., p. .).--r.w.b. may probably obtain valuable information from the trustees of lady mico's charity. see attorney-general _v_. gibson, _beavan_, . (_n_.) a note on that case may not be uninteresting, as showing the vast increase of a fund originally small. lady mico, in , gave _l_. to redeem poor slaves. in this fund was laid out in the purchase of land. in an information was filed against mr. gibson and others and at that time the rental of the purchased land amounted to something like _l_. a year, and the trustees had accumulated upwards of , _l_. consols. trustees were appointed in , and their office is no. . buckingham street, strand. the funds are applied towards the education of our emancipated slaves. q.d. _cannibals_.--your correspondent w. (vol. i., p. .) will field the origin of this word in stillingfleet's _origines sacrae_, part ii. book i. c. i., where there are traced the gradations observed by travellers in the savagery of the several natives of america. has it been recorded of any people in europe, asia, or africa, that they were addicted to the practice of scalping? t.j. _symbols of the four evangelists_.--the misappropriation of the four faces of the cherubim, originally designed to shadow forth the incarnate deity, to the four evangelists, with whom these emblematic representations are still, as anciently, associated in architectural decorations and heraldic bearings, appear to have originated, among the early christians, in the reverence with which they regarded the four gospels. jarlzberg (vol. i., p. .) explains why the lion is assigned to st. mark, and desires to know the reasons assigned for the three other evangelists' emblems. "aquila", says aringhi, "dignissimum ilium ac lynceum in arcanarum rerum ac mysteriorum sublimitate speculatorem, joannem evangelistam sublimi velocium pennarum symbolo portendit." the ox, according to the same author, has been assigned as well to st. matthew as to st. luke, as all laborious ministers of the gospel are aptly represented by the "animal natum tolerare labores." t.j. _turkish spy_ (vol. i., p. ).--in the _gent. mag._ for march last, it is well observed that "it is a great fault in an historical writer not to be well read in sylvanus urban." the remark will apply to your inquirer concerning these celebrated letters, and indeed, to many others who devote much labour in exploring the contents of mss., without being aware of what lies on the surface of literature. the late d'israeli is a striking instance of this art of _discovering_ in an old ms. what had been long known in print. in consequence of what mr. hallam stated concerning these _letters of a turkish spy_, i sent a communication to the _gent. mag._, which appeared{ } in vol. xiv. n.s. ., on the subject, which gave rise to several interesting articles in the same and subsequent vol. from other more able writers. to these i would refer dr. rimbault, and it will afford me much satisfaction if he will aid in elucidating what still remains a _vexata questio_. f.r.a. _dr. maginn's miscellanies_ (vol. i., p. .).--in reply to j.m.b., i beg to state that the "_magazine miscellanies_" of dr. maginn were published in numbers, at _d_. each, by dodsley and co., crane court, fleet st. i have nine numbers of it, all that were published, i believe, containing several tales, serious and humorous poems, irish melodies, maxims of mr. o'doherty, miscellaneous papers, the tobias correspondence, a translation of lucian's timon, shakspere papers on sir john falstaff jaques, romeo, bottom the weaver, lady macbeth, and timon; a translation of the batrachomyomachia, and three or four of the homeric ballads. william carpenter. adelphi. as your correspondent j.m.b. appears to be inquiring into the earliest contributions of dr. maginn to the periodical press in england, you may inform him that he communicated a great number of papers, &c., to the _literary gazette_ before he left cork, and wrote articles in _blackwood's magazine_. the former were his first appearances in print in england, though the cork journals published many of his productions whilst yet a mere boy. teutha. _trianon_ (vol. i., p. .).--the meaning of this word is "a pavilion," and was applied, doubtless, to the elegant structures to which your correspondent refers, on account of the light and graceful style of their architecture. j.k.r.w. _lee trianons_.--i have always understood that these gardens, &c., took their name from the village of trianon, the site of which they occupy, and which village louis xiv. purchased from the monks of st. geneviève. aredjid kooez. _pimlico_ (vol. i. p. . and .).--would it not be worth the while of some of your ingenious correspondents to inquire whether the following extract may not give a clue to the origin of this word? in an enumeration of "strange birds" to be found in barbadoes, there is mention of "the egge bird, the cahow, the tropick bird, _the pemlico which presageth storms_." america painted to the life. (_the true history of the spaniards' proceedings in america_, by ferdinando gorges, esq., lond. to. .) br. _the arms of godin_.--my attention has been drawn to a query from mr. kersley, in page . of vol. i., relative to the arms of godin. i have seen these arms blazoned variously. mr. godin shiffner bears them quarterly with his own coat of shiffner, and blazons them thus:--_party per fess, azure and gules, a barr or; in chief, a dexter and sinister hand grasping a cup, all proper_. i am inclined to think this is an innovation upon the original arms, as i have them painted on an old piece of china _azure, a cup or_. they are here impaled with the arms of du fon, an ancient french family that intermarried with the godins. in the _théâtre de la noblesse de brabant_, i find that "françois godin, secrétaire ordinaire du roy philippe ii., en grand conseil séant à malines," was ennobled by letters patent, dated madrid, th january, , and "port les armoiries suivantes, qui sont, _un escu de sinople à une coupe lasalade, ou couverture ouverte d'or; ledit escu sommé d'un heaume d'argent grillé et liséré d'or; aux bourlet et hachements d'or et de sinople: cimier une coupe de l'escu_." this blazoning is corrected in the index, where the arms are stated to be "_un escu de sinople à la coupe couverte d'or_." in the _nobiliaire des pays-bas_, i find that daniel godin, seigneur de beauvois, was enobled by philip iv. in , and "les armes sont, _de sinople à une coupe couverte d'or_." in , "jean-françois godin, seigneur de baumez, baillé et haut justicier de reumes" (son of françois godin, who was ennobled by philip ii.), obtained permission from philip iv. to alter his paternal coat, and to carry "_un écu de sinople à trois coupes couvertes d'or; cet écu timbré d'un casque d'argent, grillé, liséré, et couronné d'or, orné de ses lambrequins d'or et de sinople, et au-dessus en cimier, une tête et col de licorne au naturel_." his son, jaques-françois godin, appears afterwards to have obtained the title of baron. the earliest mention i can find of the godin arms is in , when christopher godin carried "_de sinople à une coupe couverte d'or_." he was a son of jacques seigneur d'aubrecicourt and of françoise lettin, and brother to the first-named françois godin. there appears to have been another brother, jaques; and they were all three ennobled by philip ii., probably for their public services, as christopher was conseiller et receveur-général des domaines et finances des pays-bas; jacques, conseiller et maître de la chambre des comptes en hollande; and françois, secrétaire du grand conseil à malines. i am not aware what connection existed between these godins and the family of that name in normandy (now extinct); but the _cup_ in the arms, though borne differently, proves that they were of the same race. j.r.c. may , . _the title of d.d._--the remarks of your correspondent "brown rappee" (vol. i. p. .){ } induced me to turn to the list of the fellows of the society of antiquaries, and i find it in my power to exonerate the compiler of the list on one point from the carelessness he imputes. "brown rappee" says, "we see one or two d.d.'s deprived of their titles of 'rev.'" i find but one d.d. in that condition, and in that instance the list is correct, and the usual prefix would have been an error; the gentleman in question _not_ being in orders, although his services in biblical literature have been acknowledged with the degree of d.d. your correspondent does not seem to be aware that this doctorate is, like all others, an academical, and not a clerical, distinction and that, although it is seldom dissociated from the clerical office in this country, any lay scholar of adequate attainments in theology is competent to receive this distinction, and any university to bestow it upon him. eye-snuff. _emancipation of the jews_ (vol. i. p. .).--the following extract from tovey's _anglia judaica_, p. ., may be acceptable in connection with this subject:-- "as soon as king charles was murther'd, the jews petitioned the council of war to endeavour a repeal of that act of parliament which had been made against them; promising, in return, to make them a present of five hundred thousand pounds: provided that they could likewise procure the cathedral of st. paul to be procured them for a synagogue, and the bodleian library at oxford to begin their traffic with, which piece of service it seems was undertaken by those _honest men_, at the solicitation of hugh peters and henry masters, whom the jews employed as their brokers but without any success." afterwards, however, the jews of holland sent a deputation, consisting of the famous rabbi manasseh ben israel, and several wealthy jewish merchants. when cromwell came into full power their hopes were raised, for he was known to be favourable to their re-admission; but after much discussion, the popular feeling, and the voices of many influential preachers, were found to be so much against the measure that nothing was eventually done; and charles ii. must be regarded as the restorer of the jews to this country. tovey says that the rabbi netto, "the governor of the synagogue" in his time, had searched the jewish registers at his request, and had found that, so late as , there were but twelve jews in england. it seems that while these negotiations were in hand, all sorts of absurd and idle rumours were afloat. among these i incline to reckon the alleged proposal to purchase st. paul's for a synagogue. it seems to be sufficiently refuted by the intrinsic absurdity of the thing. but beyond this we have the express denial, made on the spot and at the time, by rabbi manasseh ben israel himself. on turning to his _vindiciæ judæorum_, written in this country, i find that after recapitulating various calumnies on his people--such as their sacrificing christian children, etc.--he thus goes on:-- "'love and hatred,' says plutarch, 'corrupt the truth of every thing;' as experience sufficiently declares it, when we see that which comes to pass, that one and the same thing, in one and the same city, at one and the same time, is related in different manners. i myself, in my own negociation here, have found it so. for it hath been rumoured abroad, that our nation had purchased st. paul's church, for to make it their synagogue, notwithstanding it was a temple formerly consecrated to diana. and many other things have been reported of us that never entered the thought of our nation." j.k. _sneck-up or snick-up._--surely this means nothing more or less than what we should write _hiccup!_ or _hiccough!_ so, at least, i have always supposed; misled, perhaps, by sir toby's surname, and his parenthetical imprecation on "pickle herring". i do not pretend to be a critic of shakspeare, and must confess that i do not possess a copy of the "twelfth night" but after seeing your correspondent r.r.'s letter (vol. i., p. .), i resolved to write you a note. first, however, i called on a neighbour to get a look at the text, and he brought me down theobald's edition of , where it stands,-- "_sir to._ we did keep time, sir, in our catches. sneck up!" [_hiccoughs._ the effort necessary to pronounce the word "catches" might help to produce a catch of another sort in the stomach of a gentleman oppressed with drink and pickle herring; and it seems likely that some such idea was in the author's mind. davus. * * * * * +miscellaneous+ notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. the readiness which many of our friends have evinced to illustrate that most curious, interesting, and valuable of all gossiping histories, the recently completed edition of _the diary of samuel pepys_, for which the public is indebted to our noble correspondent lord braybrooke, tempts us to call their attention to the no less important work now in course of publication, _the diary and correspondence of john evelyn._ this we are the more anxious to do, inasmuch as, although the two volumes already issued complete the diary, there remains still an opportunity of introducing into the concluding volumes such farther notes and illustrations as any of our readers may be enabled and disposed to furnish and who would not gladly so show his reverence for the memory of such a man as john evelyn? _a list of printed service books according to the ancient uses of the anglican church_ has recently been{ } printed by mr. f. dickenson (late m.p. for somersetshire), as a first attempt towards getting a complete account of all such books, and of all copies of each class that are extant. mr. dickenson's object is, eventually to produce a complete _catalogue raisonnée_ of all books of this class, whether printed or mss., comprising, as to the mss., a careful abstract of the contents of each, with a notice of its probable age and of anything that may help to fix the place where it was written, or intended to be used; and as to the printed copies, supplying the title, colophon, foliation, and any peculiarities of type, woodcuts, or ornaments, and including besides, an account of the origin and history of the anglican uses. any information on these heads with which that gentleman may be favoured, our readers may calculate on seeing turned to good account. we have tested de la rue and co.'s _improved pamphlet binder_ (registered by james maccabe), for the purpose of facilitating the binding or extracting of any letter or pamphlet, without the possibility of deranging the consecutive order of any others that may be contained in it, and have found it answer extremely well the purpose for which it was intended. whether containing one pamphlet or fifty,--and we tried with the numbers of our valued contemporary, the _athenæum_,--it equally forms a perfect book; and we have therefore no doubt of its practical utility. messrs. sotheby and co., wellington street, strand, will commence on wednesday next a nine days' sale of the philological, philosophical, historical, classical, and general library of the late dr. scott, of bedford square, a library particularly rich in oriental works. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._): arcana of science, . _odd volumes_. erasmus's paraphrase of the new testament, vol. ii., and title-page to vol. i. bloomfield's norfolk, vol. iii. trial of the earl of strafford (being vol. viii. of "rushworth's historical collections"). *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * +notices to correspondents.+ _the matter is so generally understood with regard to the management of periodical works, that it is hardly necessary for the editor to say that_ he cannot undertake to return manuscripts; _but on one point he wishes to offer a few words of explanation to his correspondents in general, and particularly to those who do not enable him to communicate with them except in print. they will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly his interest to take all he can get, and make the most, and the best of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received, and appreciated, even if two or three succeeding numbers bear no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgment will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation, when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and if they understood an editor's position they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves undervalued; but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from an opposite course._ index and title-page to volume the first. _the index is preparing as rapidly as can be, consistently with fullness and accuracy, and we hope to have that and the title page ready by the th of the month._ _our readers will perceive some few alterations in the mechanical arrangement of our paper. these have been adopted for the purpose of procuring additional space for their communications._ _errata in vol. i._--p. . col. ., for "taxall" and "texshall," read "paxall" and "pexshall," and for "bacon," read "becon;" p. . col. . l. ., for "audato" read "andato," l. ., for "ginnone," read "giunone," l. ., for "delle," read "dette," l. , for "gopelin," read "gosselin;" p . col. ., for "estruscilla," read "etruscilla;" p. col. ., for "prominens," read "proximus," and for "proprior," read "propior;" p. . col. . l. ., for "vespertionum," read "vespertilionum." * * * * * just published, price _s._ each. the university commission; or, lord john russell's post bag of april . . parts and . part _in a few days_. oxford: printed by w. baxter. london: f. and j. rivington, st. paul's church yard; and george bell, fleet street. * * * * * royal mo., cloth, _s._; morocco (hayday), _s._ selden's table talk. royal mo., price _s._ _d._ cloth, _s._ _d._ morocco (hayday). the temple, sacred poems, and private ejaculations. by george herbert. also, by the same author, price _s._ cloth, _s._ morocco (hayday) a priest to the temple; or, the country parson: his character, and rule of holy life, &c. london: george bell, fleet street. leicester j.s. crossley. * * * * * on a large sheet, price _s._ _d._ plain, _s._ richly coloured; in case, _s._ _d._ plain; _s._ coloured. a chart of ancient armour, from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries; containing eighteen figures, with a description and a sketch of the progress of european armour. by john hewitt. "a graphic outline of the subject of military costume during the period of its greatest interest to the english antiquary. the author has made a judicious selection of examples, chiefly from the rich series of monumental effigies; and, in the brief text which accompanies these illustrations, a useful resumé will be found of a subject which, not many years since, was attainable only through the medium of costly publications."--_archaeological journal_. george bell, . fleet street.{ } new works in general literature. * * * * * i. memoirs of the dukes of urbino ( to ). by james dennistoun, of dennistoun. with numerous portraits, plates, facsimiles, and woodcuts. vols. square crown vo. _l_. _s_. ii. sir roger de coverley. from "the spectator". with notes, &c., by w.h. willis; and twelve fine woodcuts from drawings by f. tayler. crown vo. _s_.; morocco, _s_. iii. mrs. jameson's sacred and legendary art; or, legends of the saints and martyrs. new edition, complete in one volume with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. _s_. iv. mrs. jameson's legends of the saints and martyrs, as represented in the fine arts. with etchings by the author, and woodcuts. square crown vo. _s_. v. the church in the catacombs: a description of the primitive church of rome. by charles maitland. new edition, with woodcuts. vo. _s_. vi. mr. macaulay's history of england, from the accession of james ii. new edition. vols. i. and ii. vo. _s_. vii. john coad's memorandum of the sufferings of the rebels sentenced to transportation by judge jeffreys. square fcap. vo. _s_. _d_. viii. an introduction to english antiquities. intended as a companion to the history of england. by james eccleston. with many wood engravings. vo. _s_. ix. mr. a. rich's illustrated companion to the latin dictionary and greek lexicon. with about , woodcuts, from the antique. post vo. _s_. x. maunder's treasury of knowledge and library of reference: a compendium of universal knowledge. new edition. fcap. vo. _s_.; bound _s_. xi. maunder's biographical treasury; a new dictionary of ancient and modern biography comprising about , memoirs. new edition, with supplement. fcap. vo. _s_.; bound, _s_. xii. maunder's scientific and literary treasury; a copious portable encyclopaedia of science and the belles lettres. new edition. fcap. vo. _s_.; bound, _s_. xiii. maunder's historical treasury comprising an outline of general history, and a separate history of every nation. new edition. fcp. vo. _s_.; bound, _s_. xiv. maunder's treasury of natural history, or, a popular dictionary of animated nature. new edition; with woodcuts. fcap. vo. _s_.; bound, _s_. xv. southey's common-place book first series--choice passages, &c. second edition with medallion portrait. square crown vo. _s_. xvi. southey's common-place book second series--special collections. edited by the rev. j.w. warter, b.d., the author's son-in-law. square crown vo. _s_. xvii. southey's common-place book third series--analytical readings. edited by mr. southey's son-in-law, the rev. j.w. warter, b.d. square crown vo. _s_. xviii. southey's common-place book fourth and concluding series--original memoranda &c. edited by the rev. j.w. warter, b.d., mr. southey's son-in-law. square crown vo. 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[price threepence. stamped edition, d.] contents. notes:-- pages the taming of the shrew, by samuel hickson proverbial sayings and their origins william basse and his poems folk lore:--something else about salting. norfolk weather proverb, irish medical charms. death-bed superstitions note on herodotus by dean swift herrick's hesperides, by j.m. gutch queries:-- rev. dr. thomlinson minor queries:--"a" or "an"--the lucky have whole days--line quoted by de quincey--bishop jewel's papers--allusion in friar brackley's sermon--quem deus vult perdere--snow of chicksand priory--the bristol riots--a living dog better than a dead lion--american bittern--inquisition in mexico--masters of st. cross--etymology of "dalston"--"brown study"--coal-brandy--swot replies:-- the dodo, by s.w. singer watching the sepulchre, by rev. dr. rock, and e.v. poem by sir e. dyer robert crowley, by rev. dr. maitland replies to minor queries:--john ross mackay--shipster--gourders-- rococo--god tempers the wind--guildhalls--treatise of equivocation-- judas bell--grummet miscellanies:-- duke of monmouth--to philautus--junius--arabic numerals miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements the taming of the shrew. in two former communications on a subject incidental to that to which i now beg leave to call your attention, i hinted at a result far more important than the discovery of the author of the _taming of a shrew_. that result i lay before your readers, in stating that i think i can show grounds for the assertion that the _taming of the shrew_, by shakspeare, is the _original_ play; and that the _taming of a shrew_, by marlowe or what other writer soever, is a _later_ work, and an _imitation_. i must first, however, state, that having seen mr. dyce's edition of marlowe, i find that this writer's claim to the latter work had already been advanced by an american gentleman, in a work so obvious for reference as knight's _library edition of shakspeare_. i was pretty well acquainted with the contents of mr. knight's _first_ edition; and knowing that the subsequent work of mr. collier contained nothing bearing upon the point, i did not think of referring to an edition published, as i understood, rather for the variation of form than on account of the accumulation of new matter. mr. dyce appears to consider the passages cited as instances of imitation, and not proofs of the identity of the writer. his opinion is certainly entitled to great respect: yet it may, nevertheless, be remarked, first that the instance given, supposing marlowe not to be the author, would be cases of theft rather than imitation, and which, done on so large a scale, would scarcely be confined to the works of one writer; and, secondly, that in original passages there are instances of an independence and vigour of thought equal to the best things that marlowe ever wrote--a circumstance not to be reconciled with the former supposition. the following passage exhibits a freedom of thought more characteristic of this writer's reputation than are most of his known works:-- "and custom-free, you marchants shall commerce and interchange the profits of your land, sending you gold for brasse, silver for lead, casses of silke for packes of wol and cloth, to bind this friendship and confirme this league." _six old plays_, p. . a short account of the process by which i came to a conclusion which, if established, must overthrow so many ingenious theories, will not, i trust, be uninteresting to your readers. in the relationship between these two plays there always seemed to be something which needed explanation. it was the only instance among the works of shakspeare in which a direct copy, even to matters of detail, appeared to have been made; and, in spite of all attempts to gloss over and palliate, it was impossible to deny that an unblushing act of mere piracy seemed to have been committed, of which i never could bring myself to believe that shakspeare had been guilty. the readiness to impute this act to him was to me but an instance of the unworthy manner in which he had almost universally been treated; and, without at the time having any suspicion of what i now take to be the fact, { } i determined, if possible, to find it out. the first question i put to myself was, had shakspeare himself any concern in the older play? a second glance at the work sufficed for an answer in the negative. i next asked myself on what authority we called it an "older" play. the answer i found myself obliged to give was, greatly to my own surprise, on no authority whatever! but there was still a difficulty in conceiving how, with shakspeare's work before him, so unscrupulous an imitator should have made so poor an imitation. i should not have felt this difficulty had i then recollected that the play in question was not published; but, as the case stood, i carefully examined the two plays together, especially those passages which were identical, or nearly so, in both, and noted, in these cases, the minutest variations. the result was, that i satisfied myself that the original conception was invariably to be found in shakspeare's play. i have confirmed this result in a variety of ways, which your space will not allow me to enter upon; therefore, reserving such circumstances for the present as require to be enforced by argument, i will content myself with pointing out certain passages that bear out my view. i must first, however, remind your readers that while some plays, from their worthlessness, were never printed, some were withheld from the press on account of their very value; and of this latter class were the works of shakspeare. the late publication of his works created the impression, not yet quite worn out, of his being a later writer than many of his contemporaries, solely because their printed works are dated earlier by twenty or thirty years. but for the obstinate effects of this impression, it is difficult to conceive how any one could miss the original invention of shakspeare in the induction, and such scenes as that between grumio and the tailor; the humour of which shines, even in the feeble reflection of the imitation, in striking contrast with those comic(?) scenes which are the undisputed invention of the author of the _taming of a shrew_. the first passage i take is from act iv. sc. . "_grumio_. thou hast fac'd many _things_? "_tailor_. i have. "_gru._ face not me: thou hast brav'd many men; brave not me. i will neither be fac'd nor brav'd." in this passage there is a play upon the terms "fac'd" and "brav'd." in the tailor's sense, "things" may be "fac'd" and "men" may be "brav'd;" and, by means of this play, the tailor is entrapped into an answer. the imitator, having probably seen the play represented, has carried away the words, but by transposing them, and with the change of one expression--"men" for "things"--has lost the spirit: there is a pun no longer. he might have played upon "brav'd," but there he does not wait for the tailor's answer; and "fac'd," as he has it, can be understood but in one sense, and the tailor's admission becomes meaningless. the passage is as follows:-- "_saudre_. dost thou hear, tailor? thou hast brav'd many men; brave not me. th'ast fac'd many men. "_tailor_. well, sir? "_saudre_. face not me; i'll neither be fac'd nor brav'd at thy hands, i can tell thee."--p. . a little before, in the same scene, grumio says, "master, if ever i said loose-bodied gown, sew me in the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread." i am almost tempted to ask if passages such as this be not evidence sufficient. in the _taming of a shrew_, with the variation of "sew me in a _seam_" for "sew me in _the skirts of it_," the passage is also to be found; but who can doubt the whole of this scene to be by shakspeare, rather than by the author of such scenes, intended to be comic, as one referred to in my last communication (no. . p. ., numbered .), and shown to be identical with one in _doctor faustus_? i will just remark, too, that the best appreciation of the spirit of the passage, which, one would think, should point out the author, is shown in the expression, "sew me in the _skirts of it_," which has meaning, whereas the variation has none. a little earlier, still in the same scene, the following bit of dialogue occurs:-- "_kath._ i'll have no bigger; this doth fit the time, and gentlewomen wear such caps as these. "_pet._ when you are gentle, you shall have one too, and not till then." katharine's use of the term "gentlewomen" suggests here petruchio's "gentle." in the other play the reply is evidently imitated, but with the absence of the suggestive cue:-- "for i will home again unto my father's house. "_ferando_. i, when y'are meeke and gentle, but not before."--p. . petruchio, having dispatched the tailor and haberbasher, proceeds-- "well, come my kate: we will unto your father's, even in these honest mean habiliments; our purses shall be proud, our garments poor;"--p. . throughout continuing to urge the vanity of outward appearance, in reference to the "ruffs and cuffs, and farthingales and things," which he had promised her, and with which the phrase "honest mean habiliments" is used in contrast. the sufficiency _to the mind_ of these, "for 'tis the mind that makes the body rich," is the very pith and purpose of the speech. commencing in nearly the same words, the imitator entirely mistakes this, in stating the object of clothing to be to "shrowd us from the winter's rage;" which is, nevertheless, true enough, though completely beside the purpose. in act ii. sc. ., petruchio says,-- { } "say that she frown; i'll say she looks as clear as morning roses newly wash'd with dew." here is perfect consistency: the clearness of the "morning _roses_," arising from their being "wash'd with dew;" at all events, the quality being heightened by the circumstance. in a passage of the so-called "older" play, the duke is addressed by kate as "fair, lovely lady," &c. "as glorious as the morning wash'd with dew."--p. as the morning does not derive its glory from the circumstance of its being "wash'd with dew," and as it is not a peculiarly apposite comparison, i conclude that here, too, as in other instances, the sound alone has caught the ear of the imitator. in act v. sc. ., katharine says,-- "then vail your stomachs; for it is no boot; and place your hand below your husband's foot; in token of which duty, if he please, my hand is ready: may it do him ease." though shakspeare was, in general, a most correct and careful writer, that he sometimes wrote hastily it would be vain to deny. in the third line of the foregoing extract, the meaning clearly is, "as which token of duty;" and it is the performance of this "token of duty" which katharine hopes may "do him ease." the imitator, as usual, has caught something of the words of the original which he has laboured to reproduce at a most unusual sacrifice of grammar and sense; the following passage appearing to represent that the wives, by laying their hands under their husbands' feet--no reference being made to the act as a token of duty--in some unexplained manner, "might procure them ease." "laying our hands under their feet to tread, if that by that we might procure their ease, and, for a precedent, i'll first begin and lay my hand under my husband's feet."--p. . one more instance, and i have done. shakspeare has imparted a dashing humorous character to this play, exemplified, among other peculiarities, by such rhyming of following words as-- "haply to _wive_ and _thrive_ as least i may." "we will have _rings_ and _things_ and fine array." "with _ruffs_, and _cuffs_, and farthingales and things." i quote these to show that the habit was shakspeare's. in act i. sc. . occurs the passage--"that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her." the sequence here is perfectly natural: but observe the change: in ferando's first interview with kate, he says,-- "my mind, sweet kate, doth say i am the man must wed and bed _and marrie_ bonnie kate."--p. . in the last scene, petruchio says,-- "come, kate, we'll to bed: we three are married, but you two are sped." ferando has it thus:-- "'tis kate and i am wed, and you are sped: and so, farewell, for we will to our bed."--p. . is it not evident that shakespeare chose the word "sped" as a rhyme to "bed," and that the imitator, in endeavouring to recollect the jingle, has not only spoiled the rhyme, but missed the fact that all "three" were "married," notwithstanding that "two" were "sped"? it is not in the nature of such things that instances should be either numerous or very glaring; but it will be perceived that in all of the foregoing, the purpose, and sometimes even the meaning, is intelligible only in the form in which we find it in shakespeare. i have not urged all that i might, even in this branch of the question; but respect for your space makes me pause. in conclusion, i will merely state, that i have no doubt myself of the author of the _taming of a shrew_ having been marlowe; and that, if in some scenes it appear to fall short of what we might have expected from such a writer, such inferiority arises from the fact of its being an imitation, and probably required at a short notice. at the same time, though i do not believe shakspeare's play to contain a line of any other writer, i think it extremely probable that we have it only in a revised form, and that, consequently, the play which marlow imitated might not necessarily have been that fund of life and humour that we find it now. samuel hickson. st. john's wood, march . . * * * * * proverbial sayings and their origins--plagiarisms and parallel passages. "[greek: 'on oi theoi philousin apothnaeskei neos]." brunck, _poëtæ gnomici_, p. ., quoted by gibbon, _decl. and fall_ (milman. lond. . vo.), xii. . (_note_ .) "quem jupiter vult perdere, priùs dementat." these words are barnes's translation of the following fragment of euripides, which is the th in barnes' ed. (see _gent.'s mag._, july, , p. , _note_):-- "[greek: 'otan de daimon andri porsynae kaka, ton noun exlapse proton]." this, or a similar passage, may have been employed proverbially in the time of sophocles. see l. . et seq. of the _antigone_ (ed. johnson. londini. . vo.); on which passage there is the following scholium:-- "[greek: meta sophias gar upo tinos aoidimou kleinon epos pephantai, 'otan d' o daimon andri porsynae kaka, ton noun exlapse proton o bouleuetai.]" { } respecting the lines referred to in the chorus, dr. donaldson makes the following remarks, in his critical edition of the _antigone_, published in :-- "the parallel passages for this adage are fully given by ruhnken on velleius paterculus, ii. . ( , .), and by wyttenbach on plutarch, _de audiendis poetis_, p. . b. (pp. , .)" * * * * * "music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." congreve's _mourning bride_, act i. sc. i. l. . * * * * * "l'appetit vient en mangeant." rabelais, _gargantua_, liv. i. chap. . (vol. i. p. , ed. variorum. paris, . vo.) this proverb had been previously used by amyot, and probably also by jerome le (or de) hangest, who was a doctor of the sorbonne, and adversary of luther, and who died in .--ibid. p. (_note_ .). * * * * * i know not how old may be "to put the cart before the horse." rabelais (i. .) has-- "il mettoyt la charrette devant les beufz." * * * * * "if the sky falls, we shall catch larks." rabelais (i. , .):-- "si les nues tomboyent, esperoyt prendre alouettes." * * * * * "good nature and good sense must ever join; to err is human, to forgive divine." pope's _essay on criticism_, pp. , . * * * * * "nay, fly to altars, there they'll talk you dead; for fools rush in where angels fear to tread." ib. pp. , . * * * * * the emperor alexander of russia is said to have declared himself "un accident heureux." the expression occurs in mad. de staël's _allemagne_, § xvi.:-- "mais quand dans un état social le bonbeur lui-même n'est, pour ainsi dire, _qu'un accident heureux_ ... le patriotisme a peu de persévérance." * * * * * gibbon, _decl. and fall_ (lond. . vo.), i. .:-- "his (t. antoninus pius') reign is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materíals for history; which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." gibbon's first volume was published in , and voltaire's _ingenii_ in . in the latter we find-- "en effet, l'historie n'est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs."--_oeuvres de voltaire_ (ed. beuchot. paris, . vo.), tom. xxxiii. p. . * * * * * gibbon, vol. ix. p. .:-- "in every deed of mischief, he (andronicus comnenus) had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute." cf. voltaire, "siècle de louis xv." (_oeuvres_, xxi. p. .):-- "il (le chevalier de belle-isle) était capable de tout imaginer, de tout arranger, et de tout faire." * * * * * "guerre aux chateaux, paix à la chaumière," ascribed to condorcet, in _edin. rev._ april, . p. . (_note_*) by thiers (_hist. de la rév. franç._ par. . vo. ii. .), these words are attributed to cambon; while, in lamartine's _hist. des girondins_ (par. . vo.), merlin is represented to have exclaimed in the assembly, "déclarez la guerre aux rois et la paix aux nations." * * * * * macaulay's _hist. of england_ ( st ed.), ii. :-- "but the iron stoicism of william never gave way: and he stood among his weeping friends calm and austere, as if he had been about to leave them only for a short visit to his hunting-grounds at loo." "... non alitèr tamen dimovit obstantes propinquos, et populum reditus morantem, quàm si clientum longa negotia dijudicatâ lite relinqueret, tendens venafranos in agros, aut lacedæmonium tarentum." hor. _od._ iii. v. - . * * * * * "de meretrice puta quòd sit sua filia puta, nam sequitur levitèr filia matris iter." these lines are said by ménage (_menagiana_, amstm. . mo., iii. mo.) to exist in a commentary "in composita verborum joannis de galandiâ." f.c.b. * * * * * william basse and his poems. your correspondent, the rev. t. corser, in his note on william basse, says, that he has been informed that there are, in winchester college library, in a to. volume, some poems of that writer. i have the pleasure of assuring him that his information is correct, and that they are the "three pastoral elegies" mentioned by ritson. the title-page runs thus:-- "three pastoral elegies of anander, anetor, and muridella, by william bas. printed by v.s. for j.b., and are to be sold at his shop in fleet street, at the sign of the great turk's head, ." then follows a dedication, "to the honourable { } and virtuous lady, the lady tasburgh;" from which dedication it appears that these pastoral elegies were among the early efforts of his muse. the author, after making excuses for not having repaid her ladyship's encouragement earlier, says,-- "finding my abilitie too little to make the meanest satisfaction of so great a principall as is due to so many favourable curtesies, i am bold to tende your ladyship this unworthy interest, wherewithal i will put in good securitie, that as soone as time shall relieve the necessitie of my young invention, i will disburse my muse to the uttermost mite of my power, to make some more acceptable composition with your bounty. in the mean space, living without hope to be ever sufficient inough to yeeld your worthinesse the smallest halfe of your due, i doe only desire to leave your ladyship in assurance-- "that when increase of age and learning sets my mind in wealthi'r state than now it is, i'll pay a greater portion of my debts, or mortgage you a better muse than this; till then, no kinde forbearance is amisse, while, though i owe more than i can make good, this is inough, to shew how faine i woo'd, your ladyship's in all humblenes "willum bas." the first pastoral consists of thirty-seven stanzas; the second of seventy-two; the third of forty-eight; each stanza of eight ten-syllable verses, of which the first six rhyme alternately; the last two are a couplet. there is a short argument, in verse, prefixed to each poem. that of the first runs thus:-- "anander lets anetor wot his love, his lady, and his lot." of the second,-- "anetor seeing, seemes to tell the beauty of faire muridell, and in the end, he lets hir know anander's plaint, his love, his woe." of the third,-- "anander sick of love's disdaine doth change himself into a swaine; while dos the youthful shepherd show him his muridellaes answer to him." this notice of these elegies cannot fail to be highly interesting to your correspondent on basse and his works, and others of your readers who feel an interest in recovering the lost works of our early poets. w.h. gunner winchester, march . . * * * * * folk lore. _something else about "salting."_--on the first occasion, after birth, of any children being taken into a neighbour's house, the mistress of the house always presents the babe with an egg, a little flour, and some salt; and the nurse, to ensure good luck, gives the child a taste of the pudding, which is forthwith compounded out of these ingredients. this little "mystery" has occurred too often to be merely accidental; indeed, all my poorer neighbours are familiarly acquainted with the custom; and they tell me that money is often given in addition at the houses of the rich. what is the derivation of _cum grano salis_ as a hint of caution? can it come from the m.d.'s prescription; or is it the grain of attic salt or wit for which allowance has to be made in every well-told story? a.g. ecclesfield vicarage, march , . _norfolk-weather-rhyme_. "first comes david, then comes chad, and then comes winneral as though he was mad, white or black, or old house thack." the first two lines of this weather proverb may be found in hone's _every-day book_, and in denham's _proverbs and popular sayings relating to the seasons_ (edited for the percy society): but st. winwaloe, whose anniversary falls on the rd of march, is there called "winnold," and not, as in our bit of genuine norfolk, _winneral_. those versions also want the explanation, that at this time there will be either snow, rain, or wind; which latter is intended by the "old house thack," or thatch. _medical charms used in ireland--charm for toothache_.--it is a singular fact, that the charm for toothache stated (no. . p. .) to be prevalent in the south-eastern counties of england, is also used by the lower orders in the county of kilkenny, and perhaps other parts of ireland. i have often heard the charm: it commences, "peter sat upon a stone; jesus said, 'what aileth thee, peter?'" and so on, as in the english form. _to cure warts_, the following charm is used:--a wedding-ring is procured, and the wart touched or pricked with a gooseberry thorn through the ring. _to cure epilepsy_, take three drops of sow's milk. _to cure blisters_ in a cow's mouth, cut the blisters; then slit the upper part of the tail, insert a clove of garlic, and tie a piece of _red cloth_ round the wound. _to cure the murrain in cows_.--this disease is supposed to be caused by the cow having been stung about the mouth while feeding, in consequence of contact with some of the larger larvæ of the moth (as of the death's-head sphynx, &c.), which have a soft fleshy horn on their tails, erroneously believed to be a sting. if a farmer is so lucky as to procure one of these rare larvæ, he is to bore a hole in an _ash tree_, and plug up the unlucky caterpillar alive in it. the leaves of that ash tree will, from thenceforth, be a specific against the disease. the universal prevalence of the superstition concerning the ash is extremely curious. j.g. kilkenny. { } _death-bed superstition_.--see _guy mannering_, ch. xxvii. and note upon it:-- "the popular idea that the protracted struggle between life and death is painfully prolonged by keeping the door of the apartment shut, was received as certain by the superstitious eld of scotland." in my country (west gloucestershire) they throw open the windows at the moment of death. the notion of the escape of the soul through an opening is probably only in part the origin of this superstition. it will not account for opening _all_ the locks in the house. there is, i conceive, a notion of analogy and association. "nexosque et solveret artus," says virgil, at the death of dido. they thought the soul, or the life, was tied up, and that the unloosing of any knot might help to get rid of the principle, as one may call it. for the same superstition prevailed in scotland as to marriage (dalyell, p. .). witches cast knots on a cord; and in a parish in perthshire both parties, just before marriage, had every knot or tie about them loosened, though they immediately proceeded, in private, severally to tie them up again. and as to the period of childbirth, see the grand and interesting ballad in walter scott's _border poems_, vol. ii. p. ., "willye's lady." c.b. * * * * * note on herodotus by dean swift. the inclosed unpublished note of dean swift will, i hope, be deemed worthy of a place in your columns. it was written by him in his herodotus, which is now in the library of winchester college, having been presented to it in , by john smyth de burgh, earl of clanricarde. the genuineness of the handwriting is attested by a certificate of george faulkner, who, it appears, was well qualified to decide upon it. the edition is jungerman's, folio, printed by paul stephens, in . w.h. gunner. "_judicium de herodoto post longum tempus relicto_:-- "ctesias mendacissimus herodotum mendaciorum arguit, exceptis paucissimis (ut mea fert sententia) omnimodo excusandum. cæterum diverticulis abundans, hic pater historicorum, filum narrationis ad tædium abrumpit; unde oritur (ut par est) legentibus confusio, et exinde oblivio. quin et forsan ipsæ narrationes circumstantiis nimium pro re scatent. quod ad cætera, hunc scriptorem inter apprimè laudandos censeo, neque græcis, neque barbaris plus æquo faventem, aut iniquum: in orationibus fere brevem, simplicem, nec nimis frequentem: neque absunt dogmata, e quibus eruditus lector prudentiam, tam moralem, quam civilem, haurire poterit. "julii : . j. swift" "i do hereby certify that the above is the handwriting of the late dr. jonathan swift, d.s.p.d., from whom i have had many letters and printed several pieces from his original ms. "dublin, aug. . . george faulkner." * * * * * herrick's hesperides. there can be few among your subscribers who are unacquainted with the sweet lyric effusion of herrick "to the virgins, to make much of time," beginning-- "gather you rose-buds while ye may, old time is still a-flying; and this same flower, that smiles to-day, to-morrow will be dying." the following "answer" appeared in a publication not so well known as the _hesperides_. i have therefore made a note of it from _cantos, songs, and stanzas_, &c., rd ed. printed in aberdeen, by john forbes, . "i gather, where i hope to gain, i know swift time doth fly; those fading buds methinks are vain, to-morrow that may die. "the higher phoebus goes on high, the lower is his fall; but length of days gives me more light, freedom to know my thrall. "then why do ye think i lose my time, because i do not marrie; vain fantasies make not my prime, nor can make me miscarrie." j.m. gutch. worcester. * * * * * queries. rev. dr. tomlinson. mr. g. bouchier richardson, of newcastle-upon-tyne, who is at present engaged in compiling the life and correspondence of robert thomlinson, d.d., rector of whickham, co. dur.; lecturer of st. nicholas, newcastle-upon-tyne, and founder of the thomlinson library there; prebendary of st. paul's; and vice-principal of edmund hall, oxon., is very anxious for the communication of any matter illustrative of the life of the doctor, his family and ancestry; which, it is presumed, is derivable from the family of that name long seated at howden, in yorkshire. * * * * * minor queries. _"a" or "an," before words, beginning with a vowel._--your readers are much indebted to dr. kennedy for his late exposure of the erroneous, though common, use of the phrase "mutual friend," and i am convinced that there are many similar solecisms which only require to be denounced to ensure their disuse. i am anxious to ask the opinion of dr. k., and others of your subscribers, on another point in the english language, namely, the principles which should guide our use of "a" or "an" before a word beginning with a vowel, as the practice does not appear to be uniform in this respect. the { } minister of my parish invariably says in his sermon, "such an one," which, i confess, to my ear is grating enough. i conclude he would defend himself by the rule that where the succeeding word, as "one," begins with a vowel, "an," and not "a," should be used; but this appears to me not altogether satisfactory, as, though "one" is spelt as beginning with a vowel, it is _pronounced_ as if beginning with a consonant thus, "won." the rule of adding or omitting the final "n," according as the following word commences with a vowel or a consonant, was meant, i conceive, entirely for elegance in _speaking_, to avoid the jar on the ear which would otherwise be occasioned, and has no reference to _writing_, or the appearance on paper of the words. i consider, therefore, that an exception must be made to the rule of using "an" before words beginning with a vowel in cases where the words are pronounced as if beginning with a consonant, as "one," "use," and its derivatives, "ubiquity," "unanimity," and some others which will no doubt occur to your readers. i should be glad to be informed if my opinion is correct; and i will only further observe, that the same remarks are applicable towards words beginning with "_h_." _an horse_ sounds as bad as _a hour_; and it is obvious that in these cases employment of "a" or "an" is dictated by the consideration whether the aspirate is _sounded_ or is _quiescent_, and has no reference to the spelling of the word. priscian. _the lucky have whole days._--i, like your correspondent "p.s." (no. ., p. .), am anxious to ascertain the authorship of the lines to which he refers. they stand in my common-place book as follows, which i consider to be a more correct version than that given by "p.s.":-- "fate's dark recesses we can never find, but fortune, at some hours, to all is kind: the lucky have whole days, which still they choose; the unlucky have but hours, and those they lose." h.h. _line quoted by de quincey._--"s.p.s." inquires who is the author of the following line, quoted by de quincey in the _confessions of an english opium eater_:-- "battlements that on their restless fronts bore stars." _bishop jewel's papers._--it is generally understood that the papers left by bishop jewel were bequeathed to his friend dr. garbrand, who published some of them. the rest, it has been stated, passed from dr. g. into the possession of new college, oxford. are any of these still preserved in the library of that college? or, if not, can any trace be found of the persons into whose hands they subsequently came, or of the circumstances under which they were lost to new college? a.h. _allusion in friar brackley's sermon_.--in fenn's _paston letters_, xcviii. (vol. iii., p. ., or vol. i., p. . bohn), entitled "an ancient whitsunday sermon, preached by friar brackley (whose hand it is). at the friers minors church in norwich" occurs the following:-- "semiplenum gaudium est quando quis in præsenti gaudet et tunc cogitans de futuris dolet; ut in quodam libro græco, &c." "quidam rex græciæ, &c.; here ye may see but half a joy; who should joy in this world if he remembered him of the pains of the other world?" what is the greek book, and who is the king of greece alluded to? n.e.r. _selden's titles of honour_.--does any gentleman possess a ms. index to selden's _titles of honour_? such, if printed, would be a boon; for it is a dreadful book to wade through for what one wants to find. b. _colonel hyde seymour_.--in a book dated , is written "borrow the book of col. hyde seymour." i am anxious to know who the said colonel was, his birth, &c.? b. _quem deus vult perdere, &c._--prescot, in his _history of the conquest of peru_ (vol. ii., p. ., vo. ed.), says, while remarking on the conduct of gonzalo pisaro, that it may be accounted for by "the insanity," as the roman, or rather grecian proverb calls it, "with which the gods afflict men when they design to ruin them." he quotes the greek proverb from a fragment of euripides, in his note:-- "[greek: otan de daimon andri parsunei kaka ton noun eblapse proton.]" i wish to know whether the roman proverb, _quem vult perdere deus prius dementat_, is merely a translation of this, or whether it is to be found in a latin author? if the latter, in what author? is it in seneca? edward s. jackson. _southwell's supplication_.--can any one inform me where i can see a copy of _robert southwell's supplication to queen elizabeth_, which was printed, according to watts, in ? or can any one, who has seen it, inform me what is the style and character of it? j.s. _gesta grayorum_.--in nichol's _progresses of queen elizabeth_, vol. iii., p. ., a tract is inserted, entitled "gesta grayorum; or, history of the high and mighty prince henry, prince of purpoole, &c., who lived and died in a.d. ." the original is said to have been printed in , by mr. henry keepe. is any copy of it to be had or seen? j.s. _snow of chicksand priory_.--"a.j.s.p." desires information respecting the immediate descendants of r. snow, esq., to whom the site of { } chicksand priory, bedfordshire, was granted, : it was alienated by his family, about , to sir john osborn, knt., whose descendants now possess it. in berry's _pedigrees of surrey families_, p. ., i find an edward snowe of chicksand mentioned as having married emma, second daughter of william byne, esq., of wakehurst, sussex. what was his relationship to r. snow, mentioned above? the arms of this family are, per fesse nebulée azure, and argent three antelopes' heads, erased counterchanged, armed or. _the bristol riots_.--"j.b.m." asks our bristol readers what compilation may be relied on as an accurate description of the bristol riots of ? and whether _the bristol riots, their causes, progress, and consequences, by a citizen_, is generally received as an accurate account? , union place, lisson grove. _a living dog better that a dead lion_.--can any of your readers inform me with whom the proverb originated: "_a living dog is better than a dead lion?_" f. domin. bannez (or bannes), in his defence of cardinal cajetan, after his death, against the attacks of cardinal catharinus and melchior canus (_comment. in prim. par. s. thom._ p. . ed. duaci, ), says-- "certe potest dici de istis, quod de græcis insultantibus hectori jam mortuo dixit homerus, quòd _leoni mortuo etiam lepores insultant_." query? is this, or any like expression, to be found in homer? if so, i should feel much obliged to any of your correspondents who would favour me with the reference. john sansom. _author of "literary leisure_."--can any of your readers inform me of the name of the author of _literary leisure_, published by miller, old bond street, , in volumes? it purports to have come out in weekly parts, of which the first is dated sept. . . it contains many interesting papers in prose and verse: it is dedicated to the editors of the _monthly review_. the motto in the title-page is-- "saiva res est: philosophatur quoque jam; quod erat ei nomen? thesaurochrysonicochrysides."--plautus. is the work noticed in the _monthly review_, about that time? nemo. _the meaning of "complexion."_--is the word "complexion," used in describing an individual, to be considered as applied to the _tint_ of the skin only, or to the colour of the hair and eyes? can a person, having dark eyes and hair, but with a clear white skin, be said to be fair? nemo. _american bittern--derivation of "calamity."_--it has been stated of an american bittern, that it has the power of admitting rays of light from its breast, by which fish are attracted within its reach. can any one inform me as to the fact, or refer me to any ornithological work in which i can find it? in answer to "f.s. martin"--calamity (_calamitas_), not from _calamus_, as it is usually derived, but perhaps from obs. _calamis_, i.e. _columis_, from [greek: kholo, kolhao, kolhazo] to maim, mutilate, and so for _columitas_. (see riddle's _lat.-eng. dictionary_.) augustine. _inquisition in mexico._--"d." wishes to be furnished with references to any works in which the actual establishment of the inquisition in mexico is mentioned or described, or in which any other information respecting it is conveyed. _masters of st. cross_.--"h. edwards" will be obliged by information of any work except _dugdale's monasticon_, containing a list of the names of the master of the hospital of st. cross, winchester; or of the masters or priors of the same place before humphry de milers; and of the masters between bishop sherborne, about , and bishop compton, about . _etymology of "dalston."_--the hamlet of hackney, now universally known only as _dalston_, is spelt by most topographists _dorleston_ or _dalston_. i have seen it in one old gazette _darlston_, and i observed it lately, on a stone let in to an old row of houses, _dolston_; this was dated . i have searched a great many books in vain to discover the etymology, and from it, of course, the correct spelling of the word, the oldest form of which that i can find is _dorleston_. the only probable derivations of it that i can find are the old words _doles_ and _ton_ (from saxon _dun_), a village built upon a slip of land between furrows of ploughed earth; or _dale_ (dutch _dal_), and _stone_, a bank in a valley. the word may, however, be derived from some man's name, though i can find none at all like it in a long list of tenants upon hackney manor that i have searched. if any of your readers can furnish this information they will much oblige. h.c. de st. croix. _"brown study"_--a term generally applied to intense reverie. why "brown," rather than blue or yellow? _brown_ must be a corruption of some word. query of "barren," in the sense of fruitless or useless? d.v.s. _coal brandy_.--people now old can recollect that, when young, they heard people then old talk of "coal-brandy." what was this? _cold_? or, in modern phase, _raw_, _neat_, or _genuine_? cantab. _swot_.--i have often heard military men talk of _swot_, meaning thereby mathematics; and persons eminent in that science are termed "_good swots_." as i never heard the word except amongst the military, but there almost universally in "free and { } easy," conversation, i am led to think it a cant term. at any rate, i shall be glad to be informed of its origin,--if it be not lost in the mists of soldierly antiquity. cantab. * * * * * replies. the dodo. mr. strickland has justly observed that this subject "belongs rather to human history than to pure zoology." though i have not seen mr. strickland's book, i venture to offer him a few suggestions, not as _answers_ to his questions, but as slight aids towards the resolution of some of them. qu. . there can be no doubt about the discovery of mauritius and bourbon by the portuguese; and if not by a mascarhenas, that the islands were first so named in honour of some member of that illustrious family, many of whom make a conspicuous figure in the decads of the portuguese livy. i expected to have found some notice of the discovery in the very curious little volume of antonio galvaõ, printed in , under the following title:--_tratado dos descobrimentos antigos, e modernos feitos até a era de _; but i merely find a vague notice of several nameless islands--"alguma ilheta sem gente: onde diz que tomaraõ agoa e lenha"--and that, in , jorge mascarenhas was despatched by sea to the coast of china. this is the more provoking, as, in general, galvaõ is very circumstantial about the discoveries of his countrymen. qu. . the article in ree's _cyclopædia_ is a pretty specimen of the manner in which such things are sometimes concocted, as the following extracts will show:-- "of _bats_ they have as big as hennes about java and the neighbor islands. clusius bought one of the hollanders, which they brought from the island of swannes (ilha do cisne), newly styled by them maurice island. it was about a foot from head to taile, above a foot about; the wings one and twenty inches long, nine broad; the claw, whereby it hung on the trees, was two inches," &c. "here also they found a fowle, which they called walgh-vogel, of the bigness of a swanne, and most deformed shape." (_purchas his pilgrimage_, , p. .) and afterward, speaking of the island of madura, he says,-- "in these partes are battes as big as hennes, which the people roast and eat." in the _lettres édifiantes_ (edit. , t. xiii. p. .) is a letter from père brown to madame de benamont concerning the isle of bourbon, which he calls "_l'isle de mascarin_" erroneously saying it was discovered by the dutch about sixty years since. (the letter is supposed to have been written about the commencement of the eighteenth century.) he then relates how it was peopled by french fugitives from madagascar, when the massacre there took place on account of the conduct of the _french_ king and his court. in describing its production, he says,-- "vers l'est de cette isle il y a une petite plaine au haut d'une montagne, qu'on appelle la plaine des _caffres_, où l'on trouve un gros _oiseau bleu_, dont la couleur est fort éclatante. il ressemble à un pigeon ramier; il vole rarement, et toujours en rasant la terre, mais il marche avec une vitesse surprenante; les habitans ne lui ont point encore donné d'autre nom que celui _d'oiseau bleu_; sa chair est assez bonne et se conserve longtemps." not a word, however, about the _dodo_, which had it then existed there, would certainly have been noticed by the observant jesuit. but now for the _bat_:-- "la _chauve-souris_ est ici de la grosseur d'une poule. cet _oiseau_ ne vit que de fruits et de grains, et c'est un mets fort commun dans le pays. j'avois de la répugnance à suivre l'exemple de ceux qui en mangeoient; mais en ayant goûté par surprise, j'en trouvai la chair fort délicate. on peut dire que cet _animal_, qu'on abhorre naturellement, n'a rien de mauvais que la figure." the italics are mine; but they serve to show how the confusion has arisen. the writer speaks of the almost entire extinction of the land turtles, which were formerly abundant; and says, that the island was well stocked with goats and wild hogs, but for some time they had retreated to the mountains, where no one dared venture to wage war upon them. again, in the _voyage de l'arabie heureuse par l'océan oriental et le détroit de la mer rouge, dans les années - _ (paris, , mo.), the vessels visit both mauritius and bourbon, and some account of the then state of both islands is given. at the mauritius, one of the captains relates that, foraging for provisions,-- "toute notre chasse se borna à quelques pigeons rougeâtres, que nous tuâmes, et qui se laissent tellement approcher, qu'on peut les assommer à coup de pierres. je tuai aussi deux _chauve-souris_ d'une espèce particulière, _de couleur violette_, avec de petites taches jaunes, ayant une espèce de crampon aux ailes, par où cet _oiseau_ se pend aux branches des arbres, et _un bec de perroquet_. les hollandois disent qu'elles sont bonnes à manger; et qu'en certaine saison, elles valent bien nos bécasses." at bourbon, he says,-- "on y voit grandes nombres _d'oiseau bleu_ qui se nichent dans les herbes et dans les fougères." this was in the year . there were then, he says, not more than forty dutch settlers on the island of mauritius, and they were daily hoping and expecting to be transferred to batavia. as editor (la roque) subjoins a relation furnished on the authority of m. de vilers, who had been governor there for the india company, in which it is said,-- { } "the island was uninhabited when the portuguese, after having doubled the cape of good hope, discovered it. they gave it the name of mascarhenas, _à cause que leur chef se nommoit ainsi_; and the vulgar still preserve it, calling the inhabitants _mascarins_. it was not decidedly inhabited until , when m. de flacour, commandant at madagascar, sent some invalids there to recover their health, that others followed; and since then it has been named the isle of bourbon." still no notice of the _dodo!_ but "on y trouve des oiseaux appelez _flamans_, qui excedent la hauteur d'un grand homme." qu. . i know not whether mr. s. is aware that there is the head of a dodo in the royal museum of natural history at copenhagen, which came from the collection of paludanus? m. domeny de rienzi, the compiler of _océanie, ou cinquième partie du globe_ ( , t. iii. p. .), tells us, that a javanese captain gave him part of a _dronte_, which he unfortunately lost on being shipwrecked; but he forgot where he said he obtained it. qu. . _dodo_ is most probably the name given at first to the bird by the portuguese; _doudo_, in that language, being a fool or _lumpish_ stupid person. and, besides that name, it bore that of _tölpel_ in german, which has the same signification. the _dod-aers_ of the dutch is most probably a vulgar epithet of the dutch sailors, expressive of its _lumpish_ conformation and inactivity. our sailors would possibly have substituted heavy-a----. i find the dodo was also called the _monk-swan_ of st. maurice's island at the commencement of last century. the word _dronte_ is apparently neither portugese nor spanish, though in connelly's _dictionary_ of the latter language we have-- "_dronte_, cierto páxaro de indias de alas muy cortas--an appellation given by some to the dodo." it seems to me to be connected with _drone_; but this can only be ascertained from the period and the people by whom it was applied. that the bird once existed there can be no doubt, from the notice of sir hamon l'estrange, which there is no reason for questioning; and there seems to be as little reason to suppose that tradescant's stuffed specimen was a fabrication. he used to preserve his own specimens; and there could be no motive at that period for a fabrication. i had hoped to have found some notice of it in the _diary_ of that worthy virtuoso zacharias conrad von uffenbach, who visited the ashmolean museum in ; but though he notices other natural curiosities, there is no mention of it. this worthy remarks on the slovenly condition and inadequate superintendence of our museums, and especially of that of gresham college; but those who recollect the state of our great national museum forty years since will not be surprised at this, or at the calamitous destruction of tradescant's specimen of the dodo. that the bird was extinct above years ago i think we may conclude from the notices i have extracted from la roque, and the letter of the jesuit brown. mr. strickland has done good service to the cause of natural science by his monograph of this very curious subject; and to him every particle of information must be acceptable: this must be my excuse for the almost nothing i have been able to contribute. s.w. singer. march . . * * * * * the watching of the sepulchre. inquired about by "t.w." (no. . p. .), is a liturgical practice, which long was, and still is, observed in holy week. on maundy thursday, several particles of the blessed eucharist, consecrated at the mass sung that day, were reserved--a larger one for the celebrating priest on the morrow, good friday; the smaller ones for the viaticum of the dying, should need be, and carried in solemn procession all round the church, from the high altar to a temporary erection, fitted up like a tomb, with lights, and the figure of an angel watching by, on the north side of the chancel. therein the eucharist was kept till easter sunday morning, according to the salisbury ritual; and there were people kneeling and praying at this so-called sepulchre all the time, both night and day. to take care of the church, left open throughout this period, and to look after the lights, it was necessary for the sacristan to have other men to help him; and what was given to them for this service is put down in the church-wardens' books as money for "watching the sepulchre." by the roman ritual, this ceremony lasts only from maundy thursday till good friday. this rite will be duly followed in my own little church here at buckland, where some of my flock, two and two, in stated succession, all through the night, as well as day, will be watching from just after mass on maundy thursday till next morning's service. in some of the large catholic churches in london and the provinces, this ceremony is observed with great splendour. daniel rock. buckland, farringdon. _watching the sepulchre._--if no one sends a more satisfactory reply to the query about "watching the sepulchre," the following extract from parker's _glossary of architecture_ ( rd edit. p. .) will throw some light on the matter:-- "in many churches we find a large flat arch in the north wall of the chancel near the alter, which was called the holy sepulchre; and was used at easter for the performance of solemn rites commemorative of the resurrection of our lord. on this occasion there was usually a temporary wooden erection over the arch; but, occasionally, the whole was of stone, and very richly ornamented. there are fine specimens at navenby and heckington churches, lincolnshire, and { } hawton church, notts. all these in the decorated style of the fourteenth century; and are of great magnificence, especially the last." to this account of the sepulchre i may add, that one principal part of the solemn rites referred to above consisted in depositing a consecrated wafer or, as at durham cathedral, a crucifix within its recess--a symbol of the entombment of our blessed lord--and removing it with great pomp, accompanied sometimes with a mimetic representation of the visit of the marys to the tomb, on the morning of easter sunday. this is a subject capable of copious illustration, for which, some time since, i collected some materials (which are quite at your service); but, as your space is valuable, i will only remark, that the "watching the sepulchre" was probably in imitation of the watch kept by the roman soldiers round the tomb of our lord, and with the view of preserving the host from any casualty. at rome, the ceremony is anticipated, the wafer being carried in procession, on the thursday in passion week, from the sistine to the paoline chapel, and brought back again on the friday; thus missing the whole intention of the rite. dr. baggs, in his _ceremonies of holy week at rome_, says (p. .):-- "when the pope reaches the altar (of the capella paolina), the first cardinal deacon receives from his hands the blessed sacrament, and, preceded by torches, carries it to the upper part of the _macchina_; m. sagrista places it within the urn commonly called the sepulchre, where it is incensed by the pope.... m. sagrista then shuts the sepulchre, and delivers the key to the card. penitentiary, who is to officiate on the following day." e.v. * * * * * poem by sir edward dyer. _dr. rimbault's th qu._ (no. . p. .).--"my mind to me a kingdom is" will be found to be of much earlier date than nicholas breton. percy partly printed it from william byrds's _psalmes, sonets, and songs of sadnes_ (no date, but according to ames), with some additions and _improvements (?)_ from a b.l. copy in the pepysian collection. i have met with it in some early poetical miscellany--perhaps tottel, or _england's helicon_--but cannot just now refer to either. the following copy is from a cotemporary ms. containing many of the poems of sir edward dyer, edward earl of oxford, and their cotemporaries, several of which have never been published. the collection appears to have been made by robert mills, of cambridge. dr. rimbault will, no doubt, be glad to compare this text with breton's. it is, at least, much more genuine than the _composite_ one given by bishop percy. "my mynde to me a kyngdome is, suche preasente joyes therin i fynde, that it excells all other blisse, that earth affordes or growes by kynde; thoughe muche i wante which moste would have, yet still my mynde forbiddes to crave. "no princely pompe, no wealthy store, no force to winne the victorye, no wilye witt to salve a sore, no shape to feade a loving eye; to none of these i yielde as thrall, for why? my mynde dothe serve for all. "i see howe plenty suffers ofte, and hasty clymers sone do fall, i see that those which are alofte mishapp dothe threaten moste of all; they get with toyle, they keepe with feare, suche cares my mynde coulde never beare. "content to live, this is my staye, i seeke no more than maye suffyse, i presse to beare no haughty swaye; look what i lack, my mynde supplies; lo, thus i triumph like a kynge, content with that my mynde doth bringe. "some have too muche, yet still do crave, i little have and seek no more, they are but poore, though muche they have, and i am ryche with lyttle store; they poore, i ryche, they begge, i gyve, they lacke, i leave, they pyne, i lyve. "i laughe not at another's losse, i grudge not at another's payne; no worldly wants my mynde can toss, my state at one dothe still remayne: i feare no foe, i fawn no friende, i lothe not lyfe nor dreade my ende. "some weighe their pleasure by theyre luste, theyre wisdom by theyre rage of wyll, theyre treasure is theyre onlye truste, a cloked crafte theyre store of skylle: but all the pleasure that i fynde is to mayntayne a quiet mynde. "my wealthe is healthe and perfect ease, my conscience cleere my chiefe defence, i neither seek by brybes to please, nor by deceyte to breede offence; thus do i lyve, thus will i dye, would all did so as well as i. "finis. [symbol: crown] e. dier." s.w.s. * * * * * robert crowley. "be pleased to observe," says herbert, "that, though 'the supper of the lorde' and 'the vision of piers plowman' are inserted among the rest of his writings, he wrote only the prefixes to them" (vol. ii. p. .). farther on he gives the title of the book, and adds, "though this treatise is anonymous, will. tindall is allowed to have been the author; crowley wrote only the preface." it was originally printed at nornberg, and dated as above [the same date as that given by "c.h.," no. . p. .]. "bearing no printer's name, nor date of printing, i have placed it to crowley, being a printer, as having the justest claim to it" (p. .). { } there is a copy in the lambeth library, no. . p. . in my "list," of which i have said (on what grounds i do not now know), "this must be a different edition from that noticed by herbert (ii. .) and dibdin (iv. . no. .)." i have not dibdin's work at hand to refer to, but as i see nothing in herbert on which i could ground such a statement, i suppose that something may be found in dibdin's account; though probably it may be only my mistake or his. as to foreign editions, i always feel very suspicious of their existence; and though i do not remember this book in particular, or know why i supposed it to differ from the edition ascribed to crowley, yet i feel pretty confident that it bore no mark of "nornberg." according to my description it had four pairs of [symbol: pointing hands] on the title, and contained e iv., in eights, which should be thirty _six_ leaves. s.r. maitland. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _john ross mackay_ (no. . p. .).--in reply to the query of your correspondent "d.," i beg to forward the following quotation from sir n.w. wraxall's _historical memoirs of his own time_, rd edition. speaking of the peace of fontainbleau, he says,-- "john ross mackay, who had been private secretary to the earl of bute, and afterwards during seventeen years was treasurer of the ordnance, a man with whom i was personally acquainted, frequently avowed the fact. he lived to a very advanced age, sat in several parliaments, and only died, i believe in . a gentleman of high professional rank, and of unimpeached veracity, who is still alive, told me, that dining at the late earl of besborough's, in cavendish square, in the year , where only four persons were present, including himself, ross mackay, who was one of the number, gave them the most ample information upon the subject. lord besborough having called after dinner for a bottle of champagne, a wine to which mackay was partial, and the conversation turning on the means of governing the house of commons, mackay said, that, 'money formed, after all, the only effectual and certain method.' 'the peace of ,' continued he, 'was carried through and approved by a pecuniary distribution. nothing else could have surmounted the difficulty. i was myself the channel through which the money passed. with my own hand i secured above one hundred and twenty votes on that most important question to ministers. eighty thousand pounds were set apart for the purpose. forty members of the house of commons received from me a thousand pounds each. to eighty others, i paid five hundred pounds apiece.'" david steward. godalming, march . . _shipster_.--_gourders_.--as no satisfactory elucidation of the question propounded by mr. fox (no. . p. .) has been suggested, and i think he will scarcely accept the conjecture of "f.c.b.," however ingenious (no. . p. .), i am tempted to offer a note on the business or calling of a shipster. it had, i believe, no connection with nautical concerns; it did not designate a skipper (in the dutch use of the word) of the fair sex. that rare volume, caxton's _boke for travellers_, a treasury of archaisms, supplies the best definition of her calling:--"mabyll the shepster cheuissheth her right well; she maketh surplys, shertes, breches, keuerchiffs, and all that may be wrought of lynnen cloth." the french term given, as corresponding to shepster, is "_cousturière._" palsgrave also, in his _Èclaircissement de la langue françoyse_, gives "schepstarre, _lingière_:--sheres for shepsters, _forces_." if further evidence were requisite, old elyot might be cited, who renders both _sarcinatrix_ and _sutatis_ (? _sutatrix_) as "a shepster, a seamester." the term may probably be derived from her skill in shaping or cutting out the various garments of which caxton gives so quaint an inventory. her vocation was the very same as that of the _tailleuse_ of present times--the _schneiderinn_, she-cutter, of germany. palsgrave likewise gives this use of the verb "to shape," expressed in french by "_tailler_." he says, "he is a good tayloure, and _shapeth_ a garment as well as any man." it is singular that nares should have overlooked this obsolete term; and mr. halliwell, in his useful _glossarial collections_, seems misled by some similarity of sound, having noticed, perhaps, in palsgrave, only the second occurrence of the word as before cited, "sheres for shepsters." he gives that author as authority for the explanation "shepster, a sheep-shearer" (_dict. of archaic words_, in v.). it has been shown, however, i believe, to have no more concern with a sheep than a ship. the value of your periodical in eliciting the explanation of crabbed archaisms is highly to be commended. shall i anticipate mr. bolton corney, or some other of your acute glossarial correspondents, if i offer another suggestion, in reply to "c.h." (no. . p. .), regarding "gourders of raine?" i have never met with the word in this form; but gouldman gives "a gord of water which cometh by rain, _aquilegium_." guort, gorz, or gort, in domesday, are interpreted by kelham as "a wear"; and in old french, _gort_ or _gorz_ signifies "_flot, gorgées, quantité_" (roquefort). all these words, as well as the low latin _gordus_ (ducange), are doubtless to be deduced, with _gurges, a gyrando_. albert way. _rococo_ (no. . p. .).--the _history_ of this word appears to be involved in uncertainty. some french authorities derive it from "_rocaille_," rock-work, pebbles for a grotto, &c.; others from "_rocco_," an architect (whose existence, however, i cannot trace), the author, it is to be supposed, { } of the antiquated, unfashionable, and false style which the word "rococo" is employed to designate. the _use_ of the word is said to have first arisen in france towards the end of the reign of louis xv. or the beginning of that of louis xvi., and it is now employed in the above senses, not only in architecture, but in literature, fashion, and the arts generally. j.m. oxford, march . _rococo_.--this is one of those cant words, of no very definite, and of merely conventional, meaning, for any thing said or done in ignorance of the true propriety of the matter in question. "_c'est du rococo_," it is mere stuff, or nonsense, or rather twaddle. it was born on the stage, about ten years ago, at one of the minor theatres at paris, though probably borrowed from a wine-shop, and most likely will have as brief an existence as our own late "flare-up," and such ephemeral colloquialisms, or rather vulgarisms, that tickle the public fancy for a day, till pushed from their stool by another. x. march . . _god tempers the wind, &c._--the french proverb, "a brebis tondue dieu mesure le vent" (god tempers the wind to the shorn lamb), will be found in quitard's _dictionnaire étymologique, historique et anecdotique, des proverbes, et des locutions proverbiales de la langue française_, vo. paris, . mons. quitard adds the following explanation of the proverb:--"dieu proportionne à nos forces les afflictions qu'il nous envoie." i have also found this proverb in furetière's _dictionnaire universal de tous les mots français_, &c. vols. folio, la haye, . j.m. oxford. march . the proverb, "a brebis pres tondue, dieu luy mesure le vent," is to be found in jan. gruter. _florileg. ethico-polit. part. alt. proverb. gallic._, p. . vo. francof. . m. oxford. _guildhalls_ (no. . p. )--these were anciently the halls, or places of meeting, of guilds, or communities formed for secular or religious purposes, none of which could be legally set up without the king's licence. trade companies were founded, and still exist, in various parts of the kingdom, as "gilda mercatorum;" and there is little doubt that this was the origin of the municipal or governing corporate bodies in cities and towns whose "guildhalls" still remain--"gildated" and "incorporated" were synonymous terms. in many places, at one time of considerable importance, where guilds were established, though the latter have vanished, the name of their halls has survived. your correspondent "a subscriber ab initio" is referred to madox, _firma burgi_, which will afford him much information on the subject. t.e.d. exeter. _treatise of equivocation_.--in reply to the inquiry of your correspondent "j.m." (no. . p. .), i beg to state that, as my name was mentioned in connection with the query, i wrote to the rev. james raine, the librarian of the durham cathedral library, inquiring whether _the treatise of equivocation_ existed in the chapter library. from that gentleman i have received this morning the following reply:--"i cannot find, in this library, the book referred to in the 'notes and queries,' neither can i discover it in that of bishop cosin. the catalogue of the latter is, however, very defective. the said publication ('notes and queries') promises to be very useful." although this information is of a purely negative character, yet i thought it right to endeavour to satisfy your correspondent's curiosity. beriah botfield. nortan hall. _judas bell_ (no. . p. .; no. . p. .).--the lines here quoted by "c.w.g.," from "a singular scotch poem," evidently mean to express or examplify discord; and the words "to jingle _judas bells_," refer to "bells _jangled, out of tune, and harsh_." the maltese at valletta, a people singularly, and, as we should say, morbidly, addicted to the seeming enjoyment of the most horrid discords, on good friday eve, have the custom of _jangling_ the church bells with the utmost violence, in execration of the memory of judas; and i have seen there a large wooden machine (of which they have many in use), constructed on a principle similar to that of an old-fashioned watchman's rattle, but of far greater power in creating an uproar, intended to be symbolical of the rattling of _judas's bones, that will not rest in his grave_. the maltese, as is well known, are a very superstitious people. the employment of _judas candles_ would, no doubt, if properly explained, turn out to mean to imply execration against the memory of judas, wherever they may be used. but in the expression _judas bell_, the greatest conceivable amount of _discord_ is that which is intended to be expressed. robert snow. . chesterfield street, mayfair, march . . [to this we may add, that the question at present pending between this country and greece, so far as regards the claim of m. pacifico, appears, from the papers laid before parliament, to have had its origin in what sir edward lyon states "to have been the custom in athens for some years, to burn an effigy of judas on easter day." and from the account of the origin of the riots by the council of the criminal court of athens, we learn, that "it is proved by the { } investigation, that on march , , easter day, a report was spread in the parish of the church des incorporels, that the jew, d. pacifico, by paying the churchwarden of the church, succeeded in preventing the effigy of judas from being burnt, which by annual custom was made and burnt in that parish on easter day." from another document in the same collection it seems, that the greek government, out of respect to m. charles de rothschild, who was at athens in april, , forbid in all the greek churches of the capital the burning of judas.] _grummett_ (no. . p. .).--the following use of the word whose definition is sought by "[greek: sigma]" occurs in a description of the _members_ or adjuncts of the cinque port of hastings in :-- "servicia inde debita domino regi xxi. naves, et in qualibet nave xxi. homines, cum uno garcione qui dicitur _gromet_." in quoting this passage in a paper "on the seals of the cinque ports," in the _sussex archæological collections_ (vol. i. p. .), i applied the following illustration:-- "_gromet_ seems to be a diminutive of '_grome_', a serving-man, whence the modern groom. the provincialism _grummet_, much used in sussex to designate a clumsy, awkward youth, has doubtless some relation to this cabin-boy of the ports' navy." i ought to add, that the passage above given is to be found in jeake's _charters of the cinque ports_. mark antony lower. lewes, march . . _grummett_.--bailey explains, "_gromets_ or _gromwells_, the most servile persons on ship-board," probably, metaphorically, from "_gromet_ or _grummet_," "small rings," adds bailey, "fastened with staples on the upper side of the yard." the latter term is still in use; the metaphorical one is, i believe, quite obsolete. c. _meaning of "grummett," &c_.--the word is derived from the low latin "_gromettus_", the original of our "groom" (see ducange's, _gromes_ and _gromus_), and answers to the old french _gourmète_, i.e. _garçon_. in old books he is sometimes called a "novice" or "page," and may be compared with the "apprentice" of our marine. he was employed in waiting on the sailors, cooking their victuals, working the pumps, scouring the decks, and, in short, was expected to lend a hand wherever he was wanted, except taking the helm (clairac, _commentaire du premier article des rooles d'oléron_); and, consequently, is always distinguished from, and rated below, the mariner or able-bodied seaman. the information here given is taken from jal, _archéologie navale_, vol. ii. p. . a. rich, jun. * * * * * miscellanies. _the duke of monmouth_.--i made the following note many years ago, and am now reminded of its existence by your admirable periodical, which must rouse many an idler besides myself to a rummage amongst long-neglected old papers. this small piece of tradition indicates that the adventurous but ill-advised duke was a man of unusual muscular power and activity. "on the th of july, , the duke of monmouth was brought a prisoner to ringwood, and halted at an inn there. my mother, who was a native of ringwood, used to relate that her grandmother was one of the spectators when the royal prisoner came out to take horse; and that the old lady never failed to recount, how he rejected any assistance in mounting, though his arms were pinioned; but placing his foot in the stirrup, sprang lightly into his saddle, to the admiration of all observers." elijah waring. dowry parade, clifton hotwells, march . . * * * * * to philautus. (_from the latin of buchanan_.) narcissus loved himself we know, and you, perhaps, have cause to show why you should do the same; but he was wrong: and, if i may, philautus, i will freely say, i think you more to blame. he loved what others loved; while you admire what other folks eschew. rufus. * * * * * _junius_.--nobody can read, without being struck with the propriety of it, that beautiful passage in the th letter--"examine your own breast, sir william, &c. &c. &c." a parallel passage may however be found in _bevill higgons's short view of english history_ (temp. hen. vi.), a work written before , and not published till thirty-four years afterwards:-- "so weak and fallible is that admired maxim, 'factum valet, quot fieri non debuit,' an excuse first invented to palliate the unfledged villainy of some men, _who are ashamed to be knaves, yet have not the courage to be honest_." i have not quoted the whole of the passage from _junius_, as i consider it to be in almost every body's hands. i am collecting some curious, and i hope valuable, information about that work. b.g. _arabic numerals_.--your correspondent t.s.d.'s account of a supposed date upon the church of st. brelade, jersey, brings to my mind a circumstance that once occurred to myself, which may, perhaps, be amusing to date-hunters. some years ago i visited a farm-house in the north of england, whose owner had a taste for collecting curiosities of all sorts. not the least valuable of his collection was a splendidly carved oak bedstead, which he considered of great antiquity. its date, plainly marked upon the panels at the bottom of the front posts, was, he told me, . on { } examining this astounding date a little closely, i soon perceived that the two middle strokes had a slight curvature, a tendency to approach the shape of an s, which distinguished them from the two exterior lines. the date was, in fact, ; yet so small was the difference of the figures, that the mistake was really a pardonable one. is your correspondent "e.v." acquainted with the _history of castle acre priory_, published some years ago? if my memory fails me not, there is a date given in that work, as found inscribed on the plaster of the priory wall, much more ancient than . has the derivation of the first four arabic numerals, and probably of the ninth, from the ancient egyptian hieratic and enchorial characters, for the ordinals corresponding with those numbers, ever been noticed by writers upon the history of arithmetical notation? the correspondence will be obvious to any one who refers to the table given in the th vol. of sir g. wilkinson's _ancient egyptians_ ( rd edit.), p. . c.w.g. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) mcculloch's isles of scotland, vols. vo. . arnot's elements of physics. lady mary fox--idea of a country house. _odd volumes._ mad. de stael--considerations on the french revolution, in vols. vol. ii. wordsworth's poetical works, in vols. vol ii. james' naval history, in vols. vols. ii. and iii. young's annals of agriculture, fortieth and five remaining volumes. * * * * * notices to correspondents. we are compelled to omit our usual _notes on books_, &c., as well as many interesting communications. notes and queries may be procured by the trade at noon on friday: so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels. t.i. (lincoln's inn.) we fear there are mechanical difficulties (besides others) to prevent our adopting the suggestion of our correspondent. * * * * * london library, . st. james's square. patron--his royal highness prince albert. this institution, originating in the want, so long felt, of a large and comprehensive lending library in the metropolis, to which subscribers might resort for books of a superior class to those supplied by the circulating libraries, now offers to its members a collection of upwards of fifty thousand volumes, to which additions are constantly making, including almost every new work of interest and importance, either in english or foreign literature. price of the large catalogue already published, s. terms of admission:--entrance free, l.; annual subscription, l.; or entrance fee and life subscription, l. the library is open every day except sunday, from eleven to six o'clock. by order of the committee, j.g. cochrane, secretary and librarian. march th, . * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxii. is published this day. contents: i. giacomo leopardi and his writings. ii. ranke's house of brandenburg. iii. queen's college, london. iv. grote's history of greece. v. urquhart's pillars of hercules. vi. facts in figures. vii. the dutiful son. viii. cunningham's handbook of london. ix. baxter's impressions of europe. x. lord lieutenant clarendon. xi. louis philippe. john murray, albermarle street. * * * * * archÆologia cambrensis, a record of the antiquities of wales and its marches, and the journal of "the cambrian archÆological association," published quarterly. price s. d. no. . new series, will be published on the st. of april, containing papers by j.o. westwood, rev. j. williams, w.w. ffoulkes, e.a. freeman (architecture of llandaff cathedral), &c., &c., with illustrations by jewitt. also, now completed, price s. cloth lettered, vol. iv., first series, for . vols. ii. and iii. may still be had, price s. each, with numerous illustrations on copper and wood. on the th of april will be published, reprinted from the archÆologia cambrensis, notes on the architectural antiquities of the district of gower, in glamorganshire. with illustrations on copper. by e.a. freeman, m.a., late fellow of trinity college, oxford, author of the "history of architecture," price s. observations on the stone of st. cadfan, at towyn. with an illustration. by j.o. westwood, esq., f.s.a., f.l.s., and the rev. j. williams, (ab ithel), price s. druidic stones. by the rev. j. williams. price s. the subscription to the cambrian archæological association is l. annually, for which members will have forwarded to them the journal as published, quarterly, and in addition, an annual volume of important antiquarian matter, and a ticket of admission to the general meeting. london: w. pickering. tenby: r. mason. * * * * * the attention of readers of the notes and queries is respectfully called to part ii. for of john russell smith's catalogue of books, containing articles, of an old and curious kind, marked at very low prices. it may be had _gratis_ on application, or sent by post on receipt of two postage labels to frank it. part iii. will be published april th, and will contain entirely old books and autographs. . old compton street, soho, london. * * * * * published every saturday, price d., or stamped, d., also in monthly parts. part v. (for march), price s. d., now ready. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, &c. the attention of publishers and booksellers is particularly requested to this periodical as a medium for advertising. it contains communications from the most eminent literary men, and is circulated largely amongst the best class of book-buyers. in addition to the valuable matter which will be found in its columns, it contains notices of book sales, booksellers' catalogues, and lists of books wanted to purchase,--features which it is believed will be found valuable to dealers in old books, as well as useful to purchasers. scale of prices. £ s. d. six lines and under above six lines, per line half a column column page *** advertisements much be sent by the wednesday previous to the saturday on which they are intended to appear: notes and queries being issued to the trade on friday afternoon. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * *{ } new works to be published in april and may. i. col. w. mure's critical history of the language and literature of ancient greece. vols. vo. ii. the rev. c. merivale's history of rome under the empire. vols. i. and ii. vo. iii. modern state trials revised and illustrated. by w.c. townsend, esq. m.a. q.c. vols. vo. iv. mr. s. laing's observations on the social and political state of the european people in and . vo. v. essays selected from contributions to the edinburgh review. by henry rogers. vols. vo. vi. james montgomery's poetical works. complete in one volume, with portrait and vignette. square crown vo. vii. aletheia; or, the doom of mythology: with other poems. by william c.m. kent. mo. viii. the statistical companion for . by t.c. banfield and c.r. weld. fcap. vo. ix. mr. a.k. johnston's new geographical dictionary: forming a complete general gazetteer. vo. x. loudon's encyclopÆdia of gardening. new edition ( ). corrected, &c. by mrs. loudon. vo. with , woodcuts. *** also in monthly parts, s. each, from may . xi. loudon's hortus britannicus. new edition ( ). corrected, &c. by mrs. loudon and w.h. baxter. vo. xii. sir w.j. hooker's british flora. new edit. ( ). corrected by the author and dr. walker-arnott. fcap. vo. plates. xiii. health, disease, and remedy familiarly and practically considered in relation to the blood. by dr. g. moore. post vo. xiv. the acts of the apostles: with commentary, and practical and devotional suggestions. by the rev. f.c. cook, m.a. post vo. xv. the domestic liturgy. by the rev. thomas dale, m.a. new edition, separated from 'the family chaplain.' to. s. d. xvi. the family chaplain. by the rev. thomas dale, m.a. new edition, separated from 'the domestic liturgy.' to. s. xvii. the earl's daughter. by the author of 'amy herbert,' 'lancton parsonage,' &c. fcap. vo. xviii. practical horsemanship. by harry hieover. with two plates--'going like workmen,' and 'going like muffs.' fcap. vo. s. xix. mr. thomas tate's experimental chemistry: or, familiar introduction to the science of agriculture. fcap. vo. with woodcuts. xx. dr. copland on the causes, nature, and treatment of palsy and apoplexy. post vo. xxi. sir b.c. brodie's pathological and surgical observations on diseases of the joints. new edition. vo. xxii. dr. reece's medical guide. new edition ( ), thoroughly revised, corrected, and improved. vo. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * on the st of may next will be published, historic reliques; a series of representations of arms, jewellery, gold and silver plate, furniture, armour, &c. in royal and noble collections, colleges, and public institutions, &c., and which formerly belonged to individuals eminent in history, drawn from the originals and etched by joseph lionel williams. relics of antiquity, in themselves most interesting and instructive, become doubly so when they have belonged to individuals whose deeds are chronicled in history. who is there, "to dell forgetfulness a prey," who does not look with intense interest on objects connected with the "mighty victor, mighty lord," edward the third, the black prince, henry viii., the imperious elizabeth, the ill-fated mary of scotland, or the unhappy charles i.? not only of kings, but of their favourites, and of the illustrious men who have shed lustre on the various epochs of history, are the relics most instructive and important. the aim of the present publication is to illustrate, by a series of original drawings, the various relics which have historical interest, such as armour, dresses, jewellery, gold and silver plate, furniture, &c. formerly belonging to persons celebrated in history, and which are still treasured up in her majesty's collections, in the museums of the nobility and gentry, in colleges, halls, and public museums, &c. some few of the relics of the past, having historical associations connected with them, have been represented in archæological works; but it is necessary to search through many volumes to find even a limited number of them, and the present work would embrace a great variety hitherto unrepresented; at the same time, its peculiar feature, that every subject would be historical, renders it a book of great novelty and importance. to the historian and antiquary the proposed series of illustrations recommends itself by its character and importance; to the lover of ancient art, for the beauty of most of the objects represented; and its claims on the general reader are the connexion of the relics with the dead whose actions are the theme of history and romance. to the artist these illustrations will be of essential importance; and to the manufacturer of scarcely less value, as the relics themselves are, in most cases, either of exquisite beauty of form or striking and characteristic style, and by furnishing data, will enable him to carry out designs in the style peculiar to all periods. it is proposed to publish the work in monthly parts, containing three etchings drawn with the most scrupulous fidelity, and illustrative vignettes beautifully engraved on wood. the plates will be coloured, and the size of the work be imperial vo.; a limited number in imperial to.; the subjects fully coloured, and the initial letters also. the editor will be greatly obliged by communications respecting relics of historic interest being forwarded to . strand. price s. d. each part; to be completed in ten parts. office, . strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . credits: jon ingram, william flis and pg distributed proofreaders. produced from page scans provided by internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. ] saturday, november , . [price threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * *{ } contents. notes:-- page travelling in england .................................... sanuto's doges of venice, by sir f. madden ............... letters of lord nelson's brother, immediately after the battle of trafalgar, by the rev. a. gatty .............. misquotations ............................................ herbert's and dibdin's ames--rowland's choise of change--greene's royal exchange ........................ notes from fly leaves, no. . ............................ abdication of james ii. .................................. writers on english history ............................... queen elizabeth's domestic establishment ................. register of east peckham church, kent .................... pawnbrokers' golden balls ................................ lions in the tower ....................................... notes on authors and books, no. , by belton corney ...... queries:-- form of petition ......................................... query as to notes--greene of green's norton .............. busts of charles i. and james i.--ancient tapestry ....... origin of the term "factotum" ............................ inscriptions on ancient church plate ..................... miscellaneous:-- notes of book-sales, catalogues, &c. ..................... queries still on our list ................................ books and odd volumes wanted ............................. notices to correspondents ................................ advertisements ........................................... * * * * * travelling in england. i suppose that the history of travelling in this country, from the creation to the present time, may be divided into four periods--those of no coaches, slow coaches, fast coaches, railways. whether balloons, or rockets, or some new mode which as yet has no name, because it has no existence, may come next, i cannot tell, and it is hardly worth while to think about it; for, no doubt, it will be something quite inconceivable. the third, or fast-coach period was brief, though brilliant. i doubt whether fifty years have elapsed since the newest news in the world of locomotive fashion was, that--to the utter confusion and defacement of the "sick, lame, and lazy," a sober vehicle so called from the nature of its cargo, which was nightly disbanded into comfortable beds at newbury--a new post-coach had been set up which performed the journey to bath in a single day. perhaps the day extended from about five o'clock in the morning to midnight, but still the coach was, as it called itself, a "_day_-coach," for it travelled all day; and if it did somewhat "add the night unto the day, and so make up the measure," the passengers had all the more for their money, and were incomparably better off as to time than they had ever been before. but after this many years elapsed before "old quicksilver" made good its ten miles an hour in one unbroken trot to exeter, and was rivalled by "young quicksilver" on the road to bristol, and beaten by the light-winged hirondelle, that flew from liverpool to cheltenham, and troops of others, each faster than the foregoing, each trumpeting its own fame on its own improved bugle, and beating time (all to nothing) with sixteen hoofs of invisible swiftness. how they would have stared if a parliamentary train had passed them, especially if they could have heard its inmates grumbling over their slow progress, and declaring that it would be almost quicker to get out and walk whenever their jealousy was roused by the sudden flash of an express. certainly i was among those who rejoiced in the increased expedition of the fast-coach period; not because i loved, but because i hated, travelling, and was glad to have periods of misery abridged. i used to listen with delight to the stories of my seniors, and to marvel that in so short a space of time so great an improvement had been made. one friend told me that in earlier life he had travelled from gloucester to hereford in a coach, which performed the journey of about thirty miles between the hours of five in the morning and seven in the evening. i took it for granted that they stopped on the road to dine, and spent a long afternoon in smoking, { } napping, or playing at bowls. but he would not acknowledge anything of the kind, and the impression on his mind was that they kept going (such going as it was), except during the time necessarily expended in baiting the horses, who, i think, were not changed--unless indeed it were from bad to worse by fatigue. another friend, a physician at sheffield, told me that one of the first times (perhaps he may have said, the first) that a coach started for london, he was a passenger. without setting out unreasonably early in the morning, or travelling late at night they made such progress, that the first night they lay at nottingham, and the second at market harborough. the third morning they were up early, and off at five o'clock; and by a long pull and a strong pull through a long day, they were in time to hear bow church clock strike eleven or twelve (i forget which) as they passed through cheapside. in fact such things have always seemed to me to be worth noting, for you never can tell to what extent, or even in what direction, they may throw some little ray of light on an obscure point of history. on this principle i thought it worth while to copy an original bill which lately fell into my hands. many such have been reprinted, but i am not aware that this one has; and as what is wanted is a series, every little may help. it is as follows:-- "york four dayes "stage-coach "begins on monday the of march . "all that are desirous to pass from london to york, or return from york to london or any other place on that road; let them repair to the black swan in holborn in london and the black swan in cony-street in york. "at both which places they may be received in a stage-coach every monday, wednesday and friday, which performs the whole journey in four days (if god permit) and sets forth by six in the morning. "and returns from york to doncaster in a forenoon, to newark in a day and a half, to stamford in two days, and from stamford to london in two days more. / henry moulen "performed by < margaret gardner \ francis gardner." but i cannot deny that, while i have listened to, and rejoiced in, these stories, i have had some doubt whether full justice has been done to the other side of the question. i have always felt as if i had a sort of guilty knowledge of one contradictory fact, which i learned between twenty and thirty years ago, and which no one whom i have yet met with has been able to explain. for this reason i am desirous to lay it before you and your readers. just one hundred years ago--that is to say, on sunday, the th of august, --two german travellers landed at harwich. the principal one was stephen schultz, who travelled for twenty years through various parts of europe, asia, and africa, in the service of the callenberg institution at halle, of which he was afterwards director, being at the same time pastor of st. ulrich's church in that city, where his picture is (or was about twenty years ago) to be seen affixed to the great pillar next the organ. it represents him as an elderly divine in a black cap, and with a grave and prediger-like aspect; but there is another likeness of him--an engraved print--in which he looks more like a turk than a christian. he is dressed in a shawl turban, brickdust-red mantle, and the rest of the costume which he adopted in his eastern travels. our business, however, is with his english adventures, which must, i think, have astonished him as much as anything that he met with in arabia, even if he acted all the thousand and one nights on the spot. as i have already said, he and his companion (albrecht friedrich woltersdorf, son of the pastor of st. george's church in berlin), landed at harwich on sunday, august . they staid there that night, and on monday they walked over to colchester. there (i presume the next morning) they took the "land-kutsche," and were _barely six hours_ on the road to london. this statement seems to me to be so at variance with notorious facts, that, but for one or two circumstances, i should have quietly set it down for a mistake; but as i do not feel that i can do this, i should be glad to obtain information which may explain it. it is no error of words or figures, for the writer expresses very naturally the surprise which he certainly must have felt at the swiftness of the horses, and the goodness of the roads. he was a man who had seen something of { } the world, for he had lived five-and-thirty years, thirteen of which had elapsed since he began his travels. as a foreigner he was under no temptation to exaggerate the superiority of english travelling, especially to an extent incomprehensible by his countrymen; and, in short, i cannot imagine any ground for suspecting mistake or untruth of any kind.[ ] i have never been at colchester, but i believe it is, and always was, full fifty miles from london. ipswich, i believe, is only eighteen miles farther; and yet _fifteen years_ later we find an advertisement (_daily advertiser_, thursday, aug. , ), announcing that london and ipswich post coaches on _steel springs_ (think of that, and think of the astonished germans careering over the country from colchester without that mitigation), from london to ipswich in _ten hours_ with postillions, set out every morning at seven o'clock, sundays excepted, from the black bull inn, in bishopsgate street. it is right, however, to add that the herr preniger schultz and his companion appear to have returned to colchester, on their way back to germany, at a much more moderate pace. the particulars do not very exactly appear; but it seems from his journal that on the th of september they dined with the herr prediger pittius, minister of the german church in the savoy, at twelve o'clock (_nach teutscher art_, as the writer observes). they then went to their lodging, settled their accounts, took up their luggage, and proceeded to the inn from which the "stäts-kutsche" was to start; and on arriving there found some of their friends assembled, who had ordered a meal, of which they partook. how much time was occupied in all this, or when the coach set out, does not appear; but they travelled the whole night, and until towards noon the next day, before they got to colchester. this is rather more intelligible; but as to their up-journey i really am puzzled, and shall be glad of any explanation. yours, &c. g.g. [ ] it is perhaps right to give his words. speaking of a person who acted as their guide, he says:--"des folgenden tages gieng er mit uns engl. meilen bis colchester zu fuss; wo wir uns auf die land-kutsche verdungen, mit welcher wir englische meilen d. i. teutsche meilen bis london, in solcher geschwindigkeit endigten, dass wir auf dem ganzen wege kaum stunden gefahren sind; so schnell gehen die englischen pferde; aber auch so schön sind die englischen wege." _der leitungen des höchsten_, &c. zw. theil. halle, , p. . * * * * * sanuto's doges of venice. mr. editor,--among the well-wishers to your projected periodical, as a medium of literary communication, no one would be more ready to contribute to it than myself, did the leisure i enjoy permit me often to do so. i have been a maker of _notes and queries_ for above twenty-five years, and perhaps should feel more inclined to trouble you with the latter than the former, in the hope of clearing up some of the many obscure points in your history, biography, and poetical literature, which have occurred to me in the course of my reading. at present, as a very inadequate specimen of what i once designed to call _leisure moments_, i beg to copy the following note from one of my scrap-books:-- in the year , the florentines sent an embassy to the state of venice, to solicit them to unite in a league against the ambitious progress of filippo maria visconti, duke of milan; and the historian daru, in his _histoire de venise_, vo., paris, , has fallen into more than one error in his account of the transaction. marino sanuto, who wrote the lives of the doges of venice in (daru says, erroneously, some fifty years afterwards), has preserved the orations made by the doge tomaso mocenigo, in opposition to the florentine proposals; which he copied, according to his statement, from a manuscript that belonged to the doge himself. daru states, that the ms. was communicated to him by the doge; but that could not be, since the doge died in , and sanuto was not born till . an abridged translation of these orations is given in the _histoire de venise_, tom. ii, pp. - .; and in the first of these, pronounced in january, ( , daru), he is made to say, in reference to an ambassador sent by the florentines to the duke of milan, in , as follows: "l'ambassadeur fut _un juif_, nommé valori, banquier de sa profession,", p. . as a commentary on this passage, daru subjoins a note from the abbé laugier, who, in his _histoire de venise_, liv. ., remarks, . that it appears strange the florentines should have { } chose a _jew_ as an ambassador; . that his surname was bartolomeo, which could not have been borne by a jew; . that the florentine historian poggio speaks of valori as having been one of the principal members of the council of florence. the abbé thence justly concludes, that the ambassador could not have been a jew; and it is extraordinary that daru, after such a conclusive argument, should have admitted the term _jew_ into his text. but the truth is, that this writer (like many others of great reputation) preferred blindly following the text of sanuto, as printed by muratori[ ], to the trouble of consulting any early manuscripts. it happens, however, that in a manuscript copy of these orations of mocenigo, written certainly earlier than the period of sanuto, and preserved in the british museum, ms. _add._ , ., the true reading of the passage may be found thus:--"fo mandato bartolomio valori, _homo richo_, el qual viveva de cambij." by later transcribers the epithet _richo_, so properly here bestowed on the florentine noble, was changed into _iudio_ (_giudeo_), and having been transferred in that shape into sanuto, has formed the groundwork of a serious error, which has now existed for more than three centuries and a half. frederick madden. british museum, nov. . [ ] in the _rerum italicarum scriptores_, tom. xxii. col. ., the passage stands thus: "fu mandato bartolomeo valori, _hom giudeo_, el qual vivea di cambi." two late copies of sanuto, formerly in the guildford collection, and now in the british museum, ms. _add._ , , read, "bartoli valori, hom iudio." * * * * * letters of lord nelson's brother immediately after the battle of trafalgar. [the following letters will be best illustrated by a few words derived from the valuable life of our great naval hero lately published by mr. pettigrew. besides his last will, properly so called, which had been some time executed, lord nelson wrote and signed another paper of testamentary character immediately before he commenced the battle of trafalgar. it contained an enumeration of certain public services performed by lady hamilton, and a request that she might be provided for by the country. "could i have rewarded those services," lord nelson says, "i would not now call upon my country; but as that has not been in my power, i leave emma hamilton, therefore, a legacy to my king and country, that will give her ample provision to maintain her rank in life." he also recommended to the beneficence of his country his adopted daughter. "my relations," he concludes, "it is needless to mention; they will of course be amply provided for." this paper was delivered over to lord nelson's brother, together with his will. "earl nelson, with his wife and family, were then with lady hamilton, and had indeed been living with her many months. to their son horatio, afterwards viscount trafalgar, she was as attentive as a mother, and their daughter had been almost exclusively under her care for education for six years. the earl kept the codicil in his pocket until the day , l. was voted for him by the house of commons. on that day he dined with lady hamilton in clarges street, and learning at table what had been done, he brought forth the codicil, and throwing it to lady hamilton, coarsely said, she might now do with it as she pleased."--pettigrew's _memoirs of nelson_, ii. , . lady hamilton took the paper to doctors' commons, where it stands registered as a codicil to nelson's will. a knowledge of these circumstances is necessary to the full understanding of our correspondents communication.] sir,--the following letters may be found interesting as illustrative of the private history of lord nelson, to which public attention has been strongly drawn of late by the able work of mr. pettigrew. the letters were addressed by earl nelson to the rev. a.j. scott, the friend and chaplain of the fallen hero. , charles street, berkeley square, dec. . . dear sir,--i am this day favoured with your obliging letter of october .[ ] the afflicting intelligence you designed to prepare me for had arrived much sooner; but i am duly sensible of the kind motive which inducted this mark of your attention and remembrance. the king has been pleased to command that his great and gallant servant shall be buried with funeral honours suitable to the splendid services he rendered to his country, and that the body shall be conveyed by water to greenwich, in order to be laid in state. for myself i need not say how anxious i am to pay every tribute of affection and of respect to my honoured and lamented brother's remains. and it affords me great satisfaction to learn your intention of accompanying them till deposited in their last earthly mansion. the coffin made of the l'orient's mast will be sent to greenwich to await the arrival of the body, and i hope there to have an opportunity of making my acknowledgments in person. believe me, dear sir, your faithful friend, and obedient humble servant, nelson. { } i beg the favour of your transmitting to me by the first safe opportunity such of my dear brother's papers (not of a public nature) as are under your care, and of making for me (with my sincere regards and kind compliments) to captain hardy the like request. please to let me hear from you the moment you arrive at portsmouth and direct to me as above, when i will send you any further directions i may have received from ministers. charles street, berkeley square, dec. . . my dear sir,--i have this moment received your kind letter. i do not know i can add any thing to my former letter to you, or to what i have written to captain hardy. i will speak fully to mr. chevalier[ ] before he leaves me. your faithful and obliged humble servant, nelson. it will be of great importance that i am in possession of his _last will_ and _codicils_ as soon as possible--no one can say that it does not contain among other things, many directions relative to his funeral. charles street, berkeley square, dec. . . dear sir,--i have been to the admiralty, and i am assured that leave will be sent to you to quit the ship, and follow the remains of my dear brother when you please. we have determined to send mr. tyson with the coffin to the victory, when we know she is at the nore. he, together with captain hardy and yourself, will see the body safely deposited therein. i trust to the affection of all for that. the admiralty will order the commissioner's yacht at sheerness to receive it, and bring it to greenwich. i suppose an order from the admiralty will go to captain hardy to deliver the body to mr. tyson, and you will of course attend. but if this should be omitted by any mistake of office, i trust captain hardy will have no difficulty. there is no hurry in it, as the funeral will not be till the th or th of january. we do not wish to send tyson till we have the will and codicil, which captain hardy informed me was to come by captain blackwood from portsmouth on tuesday last. we are surprised he is not here. compts. to captain hardy. write to me as soon as you get to the nore, or before, if you can. believe me, yours faithfully, nelson excuse this hasty and blotted scrawl, as i have been detained so long at the admiralty that i have scarce time to save the post. canterbury, dec. , dear sir,--i received your letters of the rd and th this morning. i am glad to hear the remains of my late dear and most illustrious brother are at length removed to mr. peddieson's coffin, and safely deposited in greenwich hospital. your kind and affectionate attention throughout the whole of this mournful and trying scene cannot fail to meet my sincere and grateful thanks, and that of the whole family. i am perfectly satisfied with the surgeon's reports which have been sent to me, that every thing proper has been done. i could wish to have known what has been done with the bowels--whether they were thrown overboard, or whether they were preserved to be put into the coffin with the body. the features being now lost, the face cannot, as mr. beatty very properly observes, be exposed; i hope therefore everything is closed and soldered down. i wrote to mr. tyson a few days ago, and should be glad to hear from him. i mean to go towards london about the st, nd or rd of jan (the day not yet fixed), and call at greenwich for a moment, just to have a melancholy sight of the coffin, &c. &c., when i hope i shall see you. i shall be glad to hear from you as often as you have any thing new to communicate, and how the preparations go on. every thing now is in the hands of government, but, strange to tell, i have not yet heard from the herald's office, whether _i_ am to attend the procession or _not_. believe me, your much obliged humble servant, nelson. the _codicil_ referred to in these letters proved to be, or at least to include, that memorable document which the earl suppressed, when he produced the will, lest it should curtail his own share of the amount of favour which a grateful country would be anxious to heap on the representative of the departed hero. by this unworthy conduct the fortunes of lady hamilton and her still surviving daughter were at once blighted. the earl as tightly held all he had, as he grasped all he could get. it was expected that he would resign his stall at canterbury in favour of his brother's faithful chaplain and when he "held on" notwithstanding his peerage and riches, he was attacked in the newspapers. the following letter is the last communication with which dr. scott was honoured, for his work was done:-- canterbury, may , . sir,--i am glad to find, by your letter, that you are not concerned in the illiberal and { } unfounded paragraphs which have appeared and daily are appearing in the public prints. i am, sir, your very humble servant, nelson. the rev. dr. scott. the above have never been printed, and i shall be glad if they are thought worthy of a place in your very useful and interesting periodical. i am, sir, &c., alfred gatty. ecclesfield, th nov. . [ ] the battle of trafalgar was fought october . [ ] lord nelson's steward in the victory. * * * * * misquotations. mr. editor,--the offence of misquoting the poets is become so general, that i would suggest to publishers the advantage of printing more copious indexes than those which are now offered to the public. for the want of these, the newspapers sometimes make strange blunders. the _times_, for instance, has lately, more than once, given the following version of a well-known couplet:-- "vice is a monster of _so frightful_ mien, _as_ to be hated needs but to be seen." the reader's memory will no doubt instantly substitute _such hideous_ for "so frightful," and _that_ for "as." the same paper, a short time since, made sad work with moore, thus:-- "you may break, you may ruin the vase if you will, but the scent of the roses will _hang by_ it still." moore says nothing about the scents _hanging by_ the vase. "hanging" is an odious term, and destroys the sentiment altogether. what moore really does say is this:-- "you may break, you may ruin the vase if you will, but the scent of the roses will _cling round_ it still." now the couplet appears in its original beauty. it is impossible to speak of the poets without thinking of shakspeare, who towers above them all. we have yet to discover an editor capable of doing him full justice. some of johnson's notes are very amusing, and those of recent editors occasionally provoke a smile. if once a blunder has been made it is persisted in. take, for instance, a glaring one in the nd part of henry iv., where, in the apostrophe to sleep, "clouds" is substituted for "shrouds." "wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast, seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains in cradle of the rude imperious surge, and in the visitation of the winds, who take the ruffian billows by the top, curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them with deafening clamours in the slippery _clouds_, that with the hurly death itself awakes?" that _shrouds_ is the correct word is so obvious, that it is surprising any man of common understanding should dispute it. yet we find the following note in knight's pictorial edition:-- "_clouds_.--some editors have proposed to read _shrouds_. a line in julius cæsar makes shakspere's meaning clear:-- "'i have seen th' ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam, to be exalted with the threatening _clouds_.'" _clouds_ in this instance is perfectly consistent; but here the scene is altogether different. we have no ship-boy sleeping on the giddy mast, in the midst of the shrouds, or ropes, rendered slippery by the perpetual dashing of the waves against them during the storm. if in shakspeare's time the printer's rule of "following copy" had been as rigidly observed as in our day, errors would have been avoided, for shakspeare's ms. was sufficiently clear. in the preface to the folio edition of , it is stated that "his mind and hand went together; and what he thought he uttered with that easinesse that wee have scarse received from him a blot in his papers." d***n**r. th nov. . * * * * * herbert and dibdin's ames. borde's boke of knowledge--bowland's choise of change--greene's royal exchange. mr. editor,--i am induced to mention the following misstatement in herbert's edition of ames' _typographical antiquities_, enlarged by dibdin, not by its importance, but by its supplying an appropriate specimen of the benefits which would be conferred on bibliography by your correspondents complying with dr. maitland's recommendations. "mr. bindley," says dibdin, "is in possession of the original impression of borde's _boke of the introduction of knowledge_, which was successively in the collection of west and pearson. this copy, and another in the chetham library at manchester, are the only ones known with the following { } imprint: 'copland in fletestrete, at the signe of the rose garland.' in the selden collection, in the bodleian library, and in the copy from which mr. upcott published his reprint, we read on the recto of the last leaf, 'imprented at london in lothbury ouer agaynste sainct margaryte's church, by me wyllyam copland.'" the copy in the chetham library, now lying before me, corresponds with the description of the latter impression. dibdin's mistake perhaps originated in the last page of the work preceding borde, which is bound up with four other works, having the following: "imprinted at london in _fleetestrete_ by henry wykes." this volume contains-- "the choise of change: containing the triplicitie of diuinitie, philosophie, and poetrie, short for memorie, profitable for knowledge, and necessary for maners; whereby the learned may be confirmed, the ignorant instructed, and all men generally recreated. newly set forth by s.r., gent and student in the universitie of cambridge. tria sunt omnia. at london, printed by roger warde, dwelling neere holborne conduite, at the sign of the talbot, an. dom. ." these letters, s.r., are the well known initials of samuel rowlands, who appears to have been a welshman, from his love of triads, and from the dedications found in this the rarest of his works, and those described by mr. collier in his _catalogue of the bridgewater house collection_. in the same volume is comprised a tract by greene, with a copy of which mr. dyce could never meet, entitled _the royal exchange_, printed in . t. jones. * * * * * notes from fly leaves, no. the following lines are copied from the fly leaf of a copy of the _necessary doctrine and erudition_. are they original? anno dni md . _e p_ davyd's seat vnto the we comend salomon's wysdome god the send iohnes valiauntnesse in the reste theys iij in oon be in thy brest. _a description of a kyng after scripture._ _prov._ the hart of a kyng is in goddes hande _sap._ the strengthe of a realme ys a ryghteouse kyng _deut._ the kyng ought to kepe hym in the bande _reg._ of the lawe of god the same readynge _prov._ kyngs be happye in mercy doyng _reg._ askynge wysdome of god omnipotent to discerne good from an evyll thyng _prov._ take away vngodlines from the kyng and his seat shall be stablyshed with ryght judgmet let vs pray for the kyng and hym honour edward the sext our earthlye socour god save ye kyng. * * * * * abdication of james ii. mr. editor,--the recent publication of macaulay's _history of england_, and the fresh prominence given thereby to the occurrences of the revolution of , have induced me, joined to a wish for the success of your happily-conceived work, to send you the following "note." it was drawn up by the late sir harris nicolas, and printed in the _proceedings_ of the late record commissioners. as, however, only fifty copies were printed for the use of the commissioners, and a copy is rarely met with, perhaps this note may have sufficient novelty for insertion. sir harris nicolas, as editor of the _proceedings of the privy council_, would doubtless, had that work been continued to , have used the mss. if attainable. "notice of manuscript in the possession of the rev. sir thomas miller, bart., containing the original minutes of the assembly of peers and privy councillors that met at guildhall, upon the flight of james ii. from london. "extracts from memorandum of a ms. in the possession of the rev. sir thomas miller, bart. shown to mr. cooper, secretary to the record commissioners, to sir harris nicolas, and to mr. hardy, in may, , at sir thomas miller's lodgings in the edgeware road. "immediately after the flight of james the second from london, on the th of december, , a tumult arose among the citizens which created considerable alarm; and with the view of preserving the peace, of imparting public confidence, and of providing for the extraordinary state of affairs, all the peers and privy councillors then in the vicinity of the metropolis assembled at guildhall. of this important assembly bishop burnet's notice is very brief, and it would appear from his statement that it was called by the lord mayor.[ ] a more full account of the convention { } is, however, given in the memoir of james the second published by dr. clarke: 'it seems, upon the king's withdrawing from london, the lords about town met at guildhall to consult what was fit to be done. they looked upon the present state of affairs as an interregnum, that the government was in a manner devolved upon them, and were in great haste to make a present of it to the prince of orange.'[ ] other acts of this assembly are then mentioned; and its proceedings are among the most interesting and important events in english history, not only from their forming a precedent in a conjuncture of affairs for which no express provision is to be found in the constitution, but from the first regular offer of the throne to the prince of orange having emanated from this convention. no record of its proceedings has, it is presumed, been hitherto known to exist; and the fact that so valuable a document is extant, cannot be too generally stated, for it is obvious that it has high claims to the attention of historians. "sir thomas miller possesses the original minutes of this assembly of the peers in the handwriting of a mr. glyn, who acted as secretary. his appointment to that situation is also preserved; and, as it is signed by all the lords who were present, it affords evidence of the names of the peers who took part in the business of the assembly, and contains a very interesting collection of autographs. "the ms. itself is a small folio, but not above fifty pages are filled. it comprises the period between the th and the th december, , both days inclusive, and appears to be a perfect record of every act of that memorable assembly. the indorsement on the cover merits notice: it states with singular minuteness the precise hour of james's abdication, namely at _one in the morning_ of the th of december, ." sir thomas miller also possessed a manuscript, containing an "account of the earl of rochester, captain kendall, and the narrator's journey to salisbury with king james, monday, nov. . to friday, nov. . , inclusive." in connection with this subject, it may be noticed that there is no entry of any payment in the _issue books_ of the clerks of the pells between tuesday, th december, and monday, th december, . j.e. [perhaps some of our correspondents could inform us where the mss. in question are now deposited.] [ ] after mentioning the excesses committed by the mob, and the arrest of judge jefferies, bishop burnet says: "the lord mayor was so struck with the terror of this rude populace, and with the disgrace of a man who had made all people tremble before him, that he fell into fits upon it, of which he died soon after. "to prevent the further growth of such disasters, he called a meeting of the privy councillors and peers, who meet at guildhall," &c. the pronoun _he_ must relate to the lord mayor, but the sentence is obscurely expressed. [ ] vol. ii. pp. , . * * * * * opinions of writers on english history, no. . "oh, do not read history, for that i _know_ must be false."--sir robert walpole. sir,--i have, from time to time, made a few _notes_ on our historical writers--rather i should say the conflicting opinions of critical writers on their relative value, and the dependence to be placed on them as historical guides. they are so opposite, as would in a great measure confirm the opinion of the celebrated statesman above quoted. i send, as a specimen, the opinions upon burnet, and should its insertion in your "notes and queries" be deemed advisable, i will from time to time send others which i have in my note-book. m. burnet, "a good historian and an honest man."--_lord brougham_. "the history of his own times, which burnet left behind him, is a work of great instruction and amusement.... his ignorance of parliamentary forms has led him into some errors, it would be absurd to deny, but these faults do not detract from the general usefulness of his work."--_lord john russell_. "the most partial, malicious heap of scandal and misrepresentation, that was ever collected for the laudable design of giving a false impression of persons and things to all future ages."--_lord dartmouth: note in dr. routh's edition_. "a rash and partial writer."[ ]--_macaulay_. "it is a piece of justice i owe to historical truth to say, that i have never tried burnet's facts by the tests of dates and of original papers, without finding them wrong."--_sir j. dalrymple_. "burnet had all the merits and all the faults of an ardent, impetuous, headstrong man, whose mind was honest, and whose objects were noble. whatever he reports himself to have heard or seen, the reader may be assured he really did hear and see. but we must { } receive his representations and conclusions with that caution which must ever be observed when we listen to the relation of a warm and busy partizan, whatever be his natural integrity and good sense."--_smyth's lectures on modern history._ "his history is one which the present editor (dr. routh) truly says will never lose its importance, but will continue to furnish materials for other historians, and to be read by those who wish to derive their knowledge of facts from the first sources of information. the accuracy of his narrative has often been attacked with vehemence, and often, it must be confessed, with success, but not so often as to overthrow the general credit of his work."--_quarterly review._ "rarely polished, i never read so ill a style."--_swift._ [ ] our correspondent should have added exact references to the places where these passages are to be found. mr. macaulay may have written these words quoted by our correspondent, in some hasty moment, but his summary of the character of burnet in his _history of england_, ii. . nd edition--a very noble and well considered passage--gives a very different and far juster estimate of burnet's character. * * * * * queen elizabeth's domestic establishment. your readers may be curious to see a list of the persons composing the domestic establishment (as it may be called) of queen elizabeth in the middle of her reign, and an account of the sums of money severally allowed to them out of the privy purse of the sovereign. the payments will seem remarkably small, even allowing for the great difference in the value of money then and now. what that difference may be, i am not prepared to say; and i will venture here to put it as a "query," to be answered by some competent person who may read this "note." i have seen it stated by more than one writer, that the difference in the value of money at the end of elizabeth's reign was at least five times, i.e. that one pound then would go as far as five pounds now; but i am not aware of the _data_ upon which the calculation was made. i apprehend, besides, that the difference was greater in , to which what follows applies, than afterwards, and i should be glad to have the matter cleared up. the subsequent account is indorsed in the hand-writing of lord burghley, lord treasurer, in these words:--" . the payment of the ladies of the privy chamber;" but it applies also to the gentlemen. _wages paid to the privy chamber by the year._ the bedchamber: £ s. d. the lady cobham, by the year the lady carewe mrs. blanch apprye[ ] gentlewomen of the privy chamber: bridget cave the lady howard the lady stafford the lady arundell the lady leighton frances howard dorothy edmundes chamberers: the lady bartlett the lady drury mrs. mary skydmore mrs. katherine newton mrs. jane brucella gentlemen of the privy chamber: sir christopher hatton, knight john ashley, esq. gentlemen usher of the privy chamber: sir drew drury, knight grooms of the privy chamber: thomas ashley henry sackford john baptiste thomas knevett edward carey thomas george william killigrew --------- summa totalis ========= the above l. s. d. was the whole sum paid out of the privy purse; but it is to be borne in mind that these persons were allowed diet and lodging in the court, so that, after all, the payments were not quite as insignificant as they may at first seem. whatever also may have been the case with the ladies, it is certain that the gentlemen had other sources of emolument derived from the crown, such as monopolies, valuable grants of royal domains, leases of customs, &c., which altogether made up an ample income. sir christopher hatton, for instance, could not have built holdenby out of his l. a year as gentleman of the privy chamber. antiquarius. [ ] the names are spelt precisely as they stand in the document itself. * * * * * extracts from parish registers of east peckham, kent. sir,--in my commonplace book i find the following notes, being extracts from the ancient registers of east peckham church, kent, which have never (i believe) been published, and which may perhaps be of service to the historian or antiquary. . this yeare was the communion-table rayled in by the appointment of dr. ryves, dean of shorham { } deanery, and chancellor to the most reverend father in god, william laud, archbishop of canterbury, who commanded this uniformity to be general throughout the kingdom. . this time of lent being to be kept holy by fasting and abstinence from flesh, notwithstanding sir roger twisden, knt and baronett and dame isabella his wife, being both very sick and weake, in my judgement and opinion [are] to be tolerated for the eating of flesh. francisc. worrall, vicar. a similar entry occurs for the three following years. . upon the third of june the following infants all born in the parish of brenchley were baptized in this parish church, by an order granted from sir john sedley, knight and baronett, sir john rayney, and sir isaac sedley, knights:-- "whereas complaints have often been made unto us by many of the principal inhabitants of the parish of brenchley, that they having desired mr. gilbert, minister of the said parish, to baptize their children, and according to the directorie offered to present them before the congregation, he hath neglected or refused so to do; whereby divers infants remain unbaptized, some of them above a year old, expressly contrary to the said directorie. "we do therefore order that the parents of such children do bring them unto the parish church of east peckham, where we desire that mr. topping, minister of the said parish, would baptize them according to the sayd directorie, they acquainting him with the day they intend to bring them beforehand. "dated ye th of may . "john sedley. "john rayney. "isaac sedley." the last extract may illustrate the progress of anabaptism, under the parliamentary rule, and serves by way of curious sequel to the preceding excerpta. in a window of the same church i observed this inscription:--"here stoode the wicked fable of mychael waying of [souls]. by the law of qvene elizabeth according to god[s] word is taken away." c.f.s. * * * * * pawnbrokers' three balls. mr. editor,--the edinburgh reviewer, cited by your correspondent mr. w.j. thoms, seems to have sought rather too far for the origin of a pawnbroker's golden balls. he is right enough in referring their origin to the italian bankers, generally called lombards; but he has overlooked the fact that the greatest of those traders in money were the celebrated and eventually princely house of the medici of florence. they bore pills on their shield, (and those pills, as usual then, were gilded,) in allusion to the professional origin from whence they had derived the name of medici; and their agents in england and other countries put that armorial bearing over their doors as their sign, and the reputation of that house induced others to put up the same sign. h.w. * * * * * the lions in the tower. mr. editor,--some one of your readers may be interested in knowing that there was a royal menagerie in the tower of london in the reign of edward iii. in the issue roll of the forty-fourth year of his reign, , there are five entries of payments made to "william de garderobe, keeper of the king's lions and leopards" there, at the rate of d. a day for his wages, and d. a day for each beast.--pp. . . . . . the number of "beasts" varied from four to seven. two young lions are specially mentioned; and a "lion lately sent by the lord the prince from gascony to england to the lord the king." [greek: phi] [our correspondent's note is an addition to what bayley has given us on this subject; who tells us, however, that as early as , henry iii. sent to the tower a white bear, which had been brought to him as a present from norway, when the sheriffs of london were commanded to pay four pence every day for its maintenance.] * * * * * notes on authors and books, no. . the "bibliographie biographique." a lover of literature, and aspiring to promote its extension and improvement, i sometimes form projects for the adoption of others--sensible, be it also said, of the extent of my own engagements with certain learned societies. one of these projects has been a tabular view of the literary biography of the british islands. in the midst of my reflections on the plans of blair, priestly, playfair, oberlin, tytler, jarry de mancy, &c. i received a specimen of a _bibliographie biographique_, by edouard-marie oettinger, now in the press at leipzic. as books multiply, the inexpediency of attempting general bibliography becomes more { } and more apparent. meritorious as are the works of brunet and ebert, and useful as they may be to _collectors_, they are inadequate to the wants of _men of letters_. henceforth, the bibliographer who aims at completeness and accuracy must restrict himself to one class of books. m. oettinger appears to have acted on this principle, and has been happy in the choice of his subject-- "the proper study of mankind is man." the work is comprehensive in its object, judicious in its plan, accurate in its details, as far as the specimen proceeds, and an unquestionable desideratum in literature. ainsi, vive m. edouard-marie oettinger! vive la _bibliographie biographique_! bolton corney. * * * * * form of petition. when a petition ends with "your petitioner shall ever pray, &c." what form of words does the "&c." represent? b. * * * * * query as to notes--greene of green's norton. mr. editor,--i congratulate you on your happy motto, but will you give your readers the results of your own experience and practice, and tell them the simplest _mode of making notes_, and when made, how to arrange _them_ so _as to find them when required?_ i have been in the habit of using slips of paper--the blank turn-overs of old-fashioned letters before note paper came into fashion--and arranging in subjects as well as i could; but many a note so made has often caused me a long hour's looking after: this ought not so to be; pigeon-holes or portfolios, numbered or lettered, seem to be indispensable. has any reader a _note_ whereby to tell who are the present representatives of greenes of "green's norton?" or who was "richard greene, apothecary," who was living , and bore the arms of that family? h.t.e. [our answer to our correspondent's first query is, send your notes to us, who will print _and index_ them.--ed.] * * * * * busts of charles i. and james i.--ancient tapestry. . where is now the bust of charles i., formerly in westminster hall, and engraved by peter mazell, for pennant's _london_, in which engraving the bust is attributed to bernini, though vertue thought differently? (see dallaway's _walpole_, , ii. .) . also, where is the correspondent bust of james i., formerly at whitehall, of which there is an engraving by n. smith? . what has become of the tapestry of the reign of henry vi. which formerly adorned the painted chamber in the ancient palace of westminster? it appears that it remained in one of the lower apartments from the time when it was taken down in until the year ; that it was then sold to charles yarnold, esq., of great helen's, bishopsgate street, for l. after his death in , in the auction of his collection at southgate's (june . that year, lot ), it was sold as "seven pieces representing the siege of troy, for l. to mr. matheman." who was mr. matheman? and what has now become of his acquisition? another piece of tapestry in mr. yarnold's possession, but it may be presumed in far better condition, was bought by mr. teschmaker, his executor, for l. this was described as "the plantagenet tapestry, in fine preservation, containing full-sized portraits of the different branches of the houses of york and lancaster: among the most prominent are margaret of anjou; cicely, duchess of york; the duke of gloucester, afterwards richard iii.; edward of lancaster, henry vi.; earl of march, son of richard (duke of york and) afterwards edward iv.; henry vii.; clarence [?] duke of york," &c. this description raises one's curiosity greatly, and query, has this tapestry been elsewhere described? at the meeting of the archæological association at warwick in , it was supposed to have come from st. mary's hall, coventry; but that idea seems to have arisen merely from its similarity of design to the tapestry which is now there. n. * * * * * origin of epithet "factotum." sir,--the following expression in cavendish's _life of wolsey_, p. .--"he was { } dominus fac totum with the king"--seems to point us to some ecclesiastical origin for the derivation of our familiar word "factotum." does any one know the precise whereabouts of such a phrase in the ancient service books? c.f.s. * * * * * inscription on ancient alms-basins. mr. editor,--in the parish church in which i officiate are preserved four ancient and curious alms-basins, of latten; they appear to be of flemish workmanship, and, from inventories of the church goods, made at different times, we may gather that they were given for their present use during the seventeenth century. they represent:-- . the martyrdom of st. sebastian; . the annunciation of the blessed virgin; . the temptation in eden; and . the spies bearing the grapes. around each of these subjects is a legend in foreign characters, "der. infrid. gehwart." i have submitted this inscription to antiquaries and german scholars in vain; it still remains a puzzle. it has been suggested that it may have been only an arbitrary mark of the maker. is this probable? if not, will you, or one of your readers, give the interpretation to clericus? nov. , . [we have much pleasure in inserting the foregoing query, and trust that many of our correspondents will follow the example of _clericus_, by furnishing us with copies of the inscriptions on any ancient church plate in their possession, or which may come under their notice. a comparison of examples will often serve to remove such difficulties as the present, which perhaps may be read derin frid gehwart, "therein peace approved;" _gewären_ being used in the sense of _bewähren_, authority for which may be found in wackernagel.] * * * * * notes of book sales--catalogues, etc. it is our purpose from time to time to call the attention of our book-buying friends to the approaching sales of any collections which may seem to us to deserve their attention; and to any catalogues which may reach us containing books of great rarity and curiosity. had we entertained no such intention we should have shown our respect for the memory of that intelligent, obliging, and honourable member of the bookselling profession (to whom a literary man rarely addressed a query, without receiving in reply a note of information worth preserving), the late mr. thomas rodd, by announcing that the sale of the first portion of his extensive and valuable stock of books will commence on monday next, the th instant, and occupy the remainder of that week. the following lots are among the specimens of the rarities contained in this portion of mr. rodd's curious stock:-- acts of parliament, orders, declarations, proclamations, &c. to , _the original papers and broadsides collected and bound in vol. calf_ - *** this very important volume contains the acts, &c. during the period intervening between scobell's collection and the recognized statutes of charles ii. as the laws during this period have never been collected into a regular edition, a series of them is of the greatest rarity. Æsop, fables, translated from the french william caxton, _curious wood engravings_ black letter, very rare, _imperfect, old russia_ emprynted by richard pynson (no date) *** this edition is altogether unknown and undescribed. the present copy commences with signature c , and extends to sig. s(v) in sixes, on the reverse of which is the colophon, with pynson's device underneath. _it wants sheets a and b, and e_ (iiii). cellii (e.) eques auratus anglo-wirtembergieus; id est, actus admodum solennis; quo jacobus rex angliæ, &c. regii garteriorum supremus ac frid. ducem wirtembergicum, per rob. spencer barnoem declaravit, _portrait woodcut tubing. _ *** this was sir wm. dethick's copy, garter king at arms, who accompanied lord spencer in his journey; in it he has written some very curious circumstances respecting the journey, and of the ill-treatment he experienced from sir rob. spencer and wm. seager, "a poore paynter, sonne of a base fleminge and spawne of a jew," with an account of the family of dethick, or de dyk, of derbyshire and staffordshire. christine of pisa. the fayt of armes and of chyvalrye black letter, _one leaf inlaid and three or four beautifully fac-similed, otherwise a fine and perfect copy, russia extra, gilt leaves, by c. lewis_ westmestre, per caxton, mcccclxxxix *** this work consists of leaves, exclusive of the table, occupying two leaves. the colophon of the printer is one of great interest, filling the two last pages. it thus commences:--"thur endeth this boke, whiche xpyne of pyse made drewe out of the boke named vegecius de re militari and out of tharbre of bataylles wyth many other thynges sett in to the same requisite to werre and batailles, which boke beyng in frenshe was delyvered to me willm caxton by the most crysten kinge and sedoubted prynce, my naturel and souvrayn { } lord kyng henry the vii, kyng of england and of france, in his palais of westmestre, the day of janyuere, the iii of his regne, and desire and wylsed me to translate this said boke and reduce it into our enlish natural tonge and to put it in enprynte, &c." england:--copy of a letter written by a spanish gentleman to his friend in england in refutation of sundry calumnies there falsely bruited among the people, --an advertisement written to a secretarie of my lord treasurer of ingland by an inglish intelligencer as he passed through germanie towards italie; also a letter written by the lord treasurer, . *** two very rare and curious historical pieces, written by a zealous catholic in defence of philip ii. neumayr van ramszla (j.w.) johann fursten des jungern hertzogen zu sachsen, reise in franckreich engelland und nederland, _port. and plates_ _russia extra, gilt leaves lips. _ *** the volume contains accounts of many of the pictures and curiosities in the royal palaces of westminster, st. james, &c. on the following monday will commence the sale of the theological portion of his collection, which will occupy eight days, and conclude on the th of december. the sales are entrusted to the management of messrs. s. leigh sotheby & co. of wellington street. we have also received from mr. asher of berlin, a copy of the _bibliotheca tieckiana_--the sale catalogue of the library of ludwig tieck, the distinguished german poet, novelist, and critic. the sale will commence at berlin on the th december, with the english portion of the library, which besides the nd, rd, and th folios, is particularly rich in works illustrative of shakespeare, and of translations of various portions of our great dramatist's writings. the following lot, comprising an edition, we believe, not very generally known, and containing the manuscript notes and comments of so profound a critic as ludwig tieck, ought to find an english purchaser. the plays of w. shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators, to which are added notes by johnson and steevens. vols. gr. in vo. basil - "exemplaire unique et de la plus grande importance, contenant des notes sans nombre de la main de m. tieck. ces notes renferment les fruits d'une étude de plus de ans sur le grand poète, par son plus grand traducteur et commentateur, et forment le texte du grand ouvrage sur shakspeare, promis depuis si longtemps." one of the most curious articles in this catalogue, copies of which may be obtained from the london agent for the sale, mr. nutt, of the strand, is no. , a copy of lilly's _sixe court comedies_, which had belonged to oliver cromwell, and appears to contain his autograph. there are few literary men who have not, in the course of some one or other of their inquiries, experienced the difficulty there is in procuring copies of pamphlets which being for the most part originally published for purposes of temporary interest, are rarely preserved by binding, and consequently when afterwards wanted become extremely difficult of attainment. we all remember the valuable catalogue published many years since by mr. rodd, of newport street, the father of mr. thomas rodd, and have often regretted the loss of our copy of that extensive collection; and we record now for the information of our readers the publication by mr. russell smith, of . old compton street, of part i. of a catalogue of a singular and unique collection of , ancient and modern tracts and pamphlets: containing i. biography, literary history, and criticism; ii. trials, civil and criminal; iii. bibliography and typography; iv. heraldry and family history; v. archæology; vi. architecture, painting, and sculpture; vii. music; viii. metaphysics. * * * * * queries still on our list. no. page the times, chronicle, and herald, when first established i. lord chatham's speech on american stamp act, notes of i. dorne, the bookseller i. henno rusticus i. the signe of the end i. lines in the style of suckling ii. pedlar's song, attributed to shakspeare, and tradition respecting hamlet ii. sir william skipwith ii. thistle of scotland ii. sermones sancti borromæi ii. luther and erasmus, lines on ii. tower royal ii. constitution hill ii. countess of pembroke's letter ii. tennison's sermon on nell gwynne ii. colley cibber's apology ii. white gloves at maiden assizes ii. flemish account i. grog, origin of word ii. bishop barnaby, why lady-birds so called ii. * * * * *{ } books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. jones' (edmund) geographical, historical and religious accounts of aberystwith, vo. trevecka, . cartari.--la rosa d'oro pontifica, etc. to. rome. . shakspeare's dramatic works--the _fourth_ volume of whittingham's edition, in vols. mo. chiswick. . m.c.h. broemel, fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena. . budden's discourse for parent's honour and authoritie. vo. . the two wolves in lamb's skins, or old eli's lamentations over his two sons. vo. . averell's four notable histories, etc. to. . nature, a poem. folio. . barnefield's plowman's complaint. to. . gill's instruction for children, in verse. . jermin's father's institution of his child. . cooper's (c.p.) account of the most important public records. vo. .--the first volume of. passionael efte dat levent der helligen. folio. basil. mdxxii. livy.--vol. i. of crevier's edition. vols. to. paris. . *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. the matter is so generally understood with regard to the management of periodical works, that it is hardly necessary for the editor to say that he cannot undertake to return manuscripts; but on one point he wishes to offer a few words of explanation to his correspondents in general, and particularly to those who do not enable him to communicate with them except in print. they will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly his interest to take all he can get, and make the most, and the best, of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received, and appreciated, even if the succeeding number bears no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgment will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation, when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and if they understood an editor's position they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves under-valued; but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from an opposite course. * * * * * pasquin will find his suggestion attended to very shortly. communications received--w.b.b.--e.h.--r.v.--philo.--j.b.-- philobiblion.--j.m.w.--w.--anglo cambrian (with many thanks for his excellent suggestion).--a.t.--odo.--j. miland--l.--g.j.k.--melanion. contents and index.--our correspondents will see that their wish for a _table of contents_ to each number has been complied with. we are fully aware how much the value of a work like "notes and queries" is enhanced by a good index. it is intended to give a very copious one at the end of each volume, so as to make the work one not merely of temporary interest, but of permanent utility. books and odd volumes wanted. we believe that this will prove one of the most useful divisions of our weekly sheet. gentlemen who may be unable to meet with any book or volume, of which they are in want, may be upon furnishing name, date, size, &c., have it inserted in this list, _free of cost_. persons having such volumes to dispose of are requested to send reports of price, &c. to mr. bell, our publisher. we have received many complaints of a difficulty in procuring our paper. every bookseller and newsvendor will supply it _if ordered_, and gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition by giving their orders direct to the publisher, mr. george bell, . fleet street, accompanied by a post office order for a quarter ( s. d.). all communications should be addressed to the editor of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo. price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "it supplies what was much wanted--a regular and progressive account of english legal institutions. the result is a correction of many errors, in addition of much new information, and a better general view of our strictly legal history than any other jurist, historian, or biographer had hitherto attempted to give."--_examiner._ longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * *{ } six days sale of the first portion of the extensive and valuable stock of books of the late eminent bookseller, mr. thos. rodd, of great newport street. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and co., auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, nov. and five following days, the first portion of the extensive and valuable, stock of books of the late eminent bookseller mr. thomas rodd, of great newport street, london; comprising among other important works, anselme (p.) histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de france, vols., a fine copy of the best edition, on large paper; clutterbuck's (r.) history and antiquities of the county of hertford, vols., large paper, uncut; christina of pisa, the fayt of armes and of chyvalrye, by caxton, in russia extra, by lewis; Æsop's fables, a very rare edition, by r. pynson, unknown and undescribed; critici sacri, a fine copy, in vols.; dumont et rousset, corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens, a fine copy of this truly important work, on large paper, in vols.; edmondson (j.) baronagium genealogicum, vols. large paper; dugdale's origines juridiciales, a fine illustrated copy, in russia extra; grævii et gronovii thesaurus antiquitatem, vols.; holinshed's (r.) chronicles of england, scotland, and ireland, black letter, a choice copy of the best edition; grafton's chronicle at large, fine copy, by c. lewis, from the grenville collection; monstrelet chroniques, large paper, very scarce; pellerin oeuvres sur les médailles; somer's (lord) collection of tracts, by sir walter scott, vols., russia extra; surtees' history of durham, vols.; a large collection of the works of tempesta, in vols.; bryan's biographical dictionary of painters and engravers, extensively illustrated with an assemblage of plates; versions of the scriptures; various works relating to america, private acts of parliament, rare and curious historical pieces and tracts, pageants, &c. eight day's sale of highly interesting british historical portraits, forming the second portion of the very important and valuable stock of prints, the property of messrs. w. and g. smith, the long-established, well-known, and eminent printsellers, of lisle street, having retired from business. messrs.s. leigh sotheby and co., auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, dec , and seven following days (sunday excepted), at one precisely each day, the second portion of the important and valuable stock of prints, the property of messrs. w. and g. smith; comprising one of the most numerous and interesting collections of british historical portraits ever offered for sale, and containing a vast number of extremely rare prints by the most eminent english engravers, generally in the finest condition, and a large number of fine proofs and prints after the works of sir joshua reynolds. may be viewed four days prior to the sale and catalogues had. university press, oxford books recently published. a greek-english lexicon, based on the german work of f. passow, by henry george liddell, m.a., and robert scott, m.a. third editions, crown to. l. s. in boards; l. s. d. in russia. a lexicon, chiefly for the use of schools, abridges from the greek-english lexicon of h.g. liddell, m.a., and r. scott, m.a., third edition, square mo. s. d. in boards; s. bound. grÆcÆ grammaticÆ rudiments in usum scholarum. seventh edition, mo. s. d. in boards; s. bound. apsinis et longini rhetorica e codicibus mss., adhibita supellectili ruhukeniana recensuit joh. bakius. vo. s. d. in boards. demosthenes ex recensione g. dindorfii. vols. i.--iv. vo. textus. l. s. in boards. vols. v. vi. vii. annotationes interpretum. l. s. d. in boards. etymologicon magnum seu verius lexicon sæpissime vocabulorum origines indagans ex pluribus lexicis scholiastis grammaticis anonymi cujusdam opera concinnatum. ad codd. mss. recensuit et notis variorum instruxit t. gaisford, s.t.p. folio. l. s. in boards; l. bound. reliquiÆ sacrÆ, secundi tertiique sæculi. ad codices mss recensuit notisque illustravit martinus josephus routh, s.t.p. collegii s. magdalenæ oxon. præses. second edition. vol. v. vo. s. in boards. sophoclis tragoediæ et fragmenta, ex recensione et cum notis g. dindorfii. third edition, vols. vo. s. in boards. vetus testamentum ex versione septuaginta interpretum, secundum exemplar vaticanum romæ editum. accedit potior varietas codicis alexandrini. vols. mo. s. d. in boards. novum testamentum grÆcum accedunt parallela s. scripturæ loca, necnon vetus capitulorum notatio et canones eusebii, mo, s. d. in boards. the above volumes neatly bound uniform, in old style l. s. a history of conferences, and other proceedings connected with the revision of the book of common prayer, from to . by edward cardwell, d.d., principal of st. alban's hall. third edition, vo. s. { } clarendon's history of the rebellion and civil wars in england, together with an historical view of the affairs in ireland, now for the first time carefully printed from the original ms. preserved in the bodleian library. to which are subjoined the notes of bishop warburton. vols. vo. l. s. in boards. bishop jewel's works. by rev. r.w. jelf, d.d. a new edition. vols. vo. l. s. in boards. pearson's exposition of the creed. revised and corrected by the rev. e. burton, d.d. a new edition, vols. vo. s. in boards. three primers put forth in the reign of king henry the eighth. a new edition. vo. s. in boards. shuckford's sacred and profane history of the world connected. a new edition. vols. vo. s. in boards. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; t. payne and h. foss, pall mall; and e. gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * folio, price s. the choral responses and litanies of the united church of england and ireland. collected from authentic sources, by the rev. john jebb, a.m., rector of peterstow. the present work contains a full collection of the harmonized compositions of ancient date, including nine sets of pieces and responses, and fifteen litanies, with a few of the more ancient psalm chants. they are given in full score, and in their proper cliffs. in the upper part, however, the treble is substituted for the "cantus" or "medius" cliff: and the whole work is so arranged as to suit the library of the musical student, and to be fit for use in the choir. post vo. cloth. s. d. the history of junius and his works, and a review of the controversy respecting junius, with an appendix, containing portraits and sketches, by junius, selected from the letters. by john jaques. "this is a very able book; well arranged in its plan, and complete in its matter. to those who are interested in the controversy, or even to any readers of junius who wish for further information than the common editions furnish, we strongly recommend this volume. they will find it full, without being overcharged; and it possesses an advantage even over woodfall's edition, in only containing what is essential to the point, besides exhibiting much which does not appear in that elaborate publication. the 'history of junius and his works' is an essential companion to the 'letters of junius.'"--_spectator_, march . . now ready, royal to, price l. s. example of ancient pulpits existing in england. selected and drawn from sketches and measurements taken on the spot, with descriptive letter-press. by francis t. dollman, architect. this work contains quarto plates, three of which are highly finished in colours, restored accurately from the existing indications. the pulpits delineated are: st. westburga, chester; ss. peter and paul, shrewsbury; st. michael, coventry; st. mary, wendon; st. mary and all saints, fotheringay; all saints, north cerney; holy trinity, nailsea; st. peter, winchcombe; st. john baptist, cirencester; st. mary, totness; st. mary, frampton; holy trinity, old aston; st. benedict, glastonbury; st. peter, wolverhampton; st. andrew, cheddar (coloured); st. andrew, banwell; st. george, brokworth; holy trinity, long sutton (coloured); st. saviour, dartmouth (coloured); all saints, sudbury; all saints, hawstead; st. mary de lode, gloucester; st. mary, north petherton. royal to, cloth, vol. i. price l. s. d. gothic ornaments; being a series of examples of enriched details and accessories of the architecture of great britain. drawn from existing authorities. by james k. colling, architect. the particular object of this work is "to exhibit such a number of examples of foliage and other ornamental details of the different styles as clearly to elucidate the characteristic features peculiar to each period; and drawn sufficiently large in scale to be practically useful in facilitating the labours of the architect and artist." the first volume consists of plates, of which are highly finished in colours. the second volume, which will complete the work, is now in progress, and will be finished during . vols. fcap. vo, with figures, price s. on the history and art of warming and ventilating rooms and buildings by open fires, hypocausts, german, dutch, russia, and swedish stoves, steam, hot water, heated air, heat of animals, and other methods; with notices of the progress of personal and fireside comfort, and of the management of fuel. by walter bernan, civil engineer. "since stuart's 'anecdotes of the steam engine,' there has been no such bit of delicious mechanical gossip as this little book of mr. bernan.... for six months or more every year, we must depend much more on the resources of science and the practical arts for our health and comfort, than on the natural climate: in short, we must create our own climate. to help us to the means of doing this appears to be one of the objects of these little volumes, in which, as we have shown, are collected a multitude of expedients of all times and nations, collected with research, selected with judgment, and skilfully arranged and described. the interest with which one reads is sustained and continuous, and you devour a two-volume inventory of stoves, grates, and ovens, with the voracity of a parish school-boy, and then--ask for more."--_the athenæum_. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november . . notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents. notes:--page alfred's orosius, by r.t. hampson folk lore--omens from cattle--horse's head--rush-bearings on authors and books, no. ., by bolton corney plagiarisms, or parallel passages, no. . st. antholin's queries:-- college salting, by rev. dr. maitland a few dodo queries, by h.e. strictland coleridge's christabel, byron's lara: tablet to napoleon minor queries:--howkey or horkey--lord bacon's psalms--treatise of equivocation replies:-- etymology of armagh, by rev. dr. todd william hasse and his poems, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. beaver hats--pisan, by t. hudson turner replies to minor queries:--norman pedigrees--translation of Ælian--ave trici--daysman--saveguard--calamity--zero--complutensian polyglot--sir w. rider--pokership--havior, heavier or hever--sir w. hamilton--dr. johnson's library miscellanies:-- etymology of news--the golden age miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * king alfred's geography of europe. the sketch of europe, which our illustrious alfred has inserted in his translation of _orosius_, is justly considered, both here and on the continent, as a valuable fragment of antiquity[ ]; and i am sorry that i can commend little more than the pains taken by his translators, the celebrated daines barrington and dr. ingram, to make it available to ordinary readers. the learned judge had very good intentions, but his knowledge of anglo-saxon was not equal to the task. dr. ingram professedly applied himself to correct both alfred's text and barrington's version, so far as relates to the description of europe; but in two instances, occurring in one passage, he has adopted the judge's mistake of proper names for common nouns. i do not call attention to the circumstance merely as a literary curiosity, but to preserve the royal geographer from liability to imputations of extraordinary ignorance of his subject, and also to show the accuracy of his delineation of europe at that interesting epoch, whence the principal states of europe must date their establishment. king alfred, mentioning the seat of the obotriti, or obotritæ, as they are sometimes named, a venedic nation, who, in the th century, occupied what is now the duchy of mecklenburg, calls them _apdrede_, and says--"be nor than him is apdrede, and cast north wylte the man æfeldan hæt."[ ] barrington translates the words thus:--"to the north is aprede, and to the north east the wolds which are called Æfeldan."[ ] dr. ingram has the following variation:--"and to the east north are the wolds which are called heath wolds."[ ] to the word _wolds_ he appends a note:--"_wylte_. see on this word a note hereafter." very well; the promised note is to justify the metamorphosis of the warlike tribe, known in the annals and chronicles of the th century as the wilti, wilzi, weleti, and welatibi, into heaths and wolds. thirty pages further on there is a note by j. reinhold forster, the naturalist and navigator, who wrote it for barrington in full confidence that the translation was correct:--"the Æfeldan," he says, "are, as king alfred calls them, _wolds_; there are at present in the middle part of jutland, large tracts of high moors, covered with _heath_ only." of _wylte_, dr. ingram writes:--"this word has never been correctly explained; its original signification is the same, whether written felds, fields, velts, welds, wilds, wylte, wealds, walds, walz, wolds, &c. &c." and on _heath_, he says:--"mr. forster seems to have read hæfeldan (or hæthfeldan), which indeed, i find in the junian ms. inserted as a various reading by dr. marshall (_mss. jun. _.). it also occurs, further on in the ms., without any various reading. i have therefore inserted it in the text." { } dr. marshall seems to have understood the passage. what king alfred says and means is this:--"on the north are the apdrede (obotritæ), and on the north east of them are the wylte, who are called hæfeldi." the anonymous saxon poet, who wrote the life of charlemagne, gives the same situation as alfred to the wilti:-- "gens est slavorum wilti cognomine dicta, proxima litoribus quæ possidet arva supremis jungit ubi oceano proprios germania fines."[ ] helmold says that they inhabited the part of the coast opposite to the island of rugen; and hereabouts adam of bremen places the _heveldi_, and many other slavonic tribes.[ ] i am not aware that any other author than alfred says, that the wilti and heveldi were the same people; but the fact is probable. the heveldi are of rare occurrence, but not so the wilti.[ ] ptolemy calls them [greek: beltai]--veltæ or weltæ--and places them in prussian pomerania, between the vistula and niemen. eginhard says that "they are slavonians who, in our manner, are called wilsi, but in their own language, welatibi."[ ] their country was called wilcia,[ ] and, as a branch of them were settled in batavia about , it does not seem very improbable that from them were derived the wilsæton of the anglo-saxon chronicles, meaning the _wilts seated_, or settlers in wilts-shire. the name, as eginhard has noticed, is slavic, and is an adoption of _welot_ or _weolot_, a giant, to denote the strength and fierceness which rendered them formidable neighbours. _heveldi_ seems to be the same word made emphatic with a foreign addition. two other names have been given much trouble to the translators, as well as to mr. forster. these are, _mægtha land_ and _horiti_ or _horithi_, for both occur, and the latter is not written with the letter _thorn_, but with a distinct _t_ and _h_. alfred has, unquestionably, met with the slavic _gorod_, which so frequesntly occurs as the termination of the names of cities in the region where he indicates the seat of his horiti to be. it signifies a city, and is an etymological equivalent of goth. _gards_, a house, lat. _cors, cortis_; o.n. _gardr_, a district, a.-sax. _geard_, whence our _yard_. the polish form is _grodz_, and the sorabic, _hrodz_. he places the horiti to the east of the slavi dalamanti, who occupied the district north east of moravia, with the _surpe_, that is, serbi, servi, on their north, and the _sisle_, slusli, another slavonic people, on the west. this appears to be the site possessed by the hunnic founders of kiow. in helmold, chunigord, _the city or station of the huns_, is the name of the part of russia containing kiow.[ ] to the north of horiti, says alfred, is _mægtha land_.--a finnic tribe, called magyar, were settled in the th century in mazovia, whence a part of them descended into hungary. according to mr. forster, mazovia has been called _magan land_; but i can find no trace of that name. i can easily conceive, however, that _magyar_ and _land_ might become, in saxon copying, mægtha land, for the country of the magyar. elsewhere, alfred uses mægtha land, the land of the medes, for persia. is there any other printed copy of the saxon _orosius_ than barrington's? for that forbids confidence by a number of needless and unauthorised alterations in most of the pages. r.t. hampson [ ] "la précieuse géographie d'alfred, roi d'angleterre."--le comte j. gräberg. _la scandinavie vengée_, p. . [ ] cotton mss., _tiberius_, b. i. fol. b. [ ] transl. of _orosius_, p. . [ ] _inaugural lecture_, p. . [ ] _vita karoli magni_, ann. . [ ] "sunt et alii slavorum populi qui inter albiam et oderam degunt, sicut heveldi, qui juxta haliolam fluvium, et doxani, liubuzzi, wilini, et stoderani, cum multis aliis."--_hist. eccl._ p. , . [ ] _annales sangall. brev._, ann. .--_ann. lauresham_, &c. [ ] _vit. kar. mag._ and _annal. francor._, ann. . [ ] _annal. petav._, ann . [ ] _chron. slavorum_, l. i, c. . * * * * * folk lore. _omens from cattle_.--i forward to you a _note_, which, many years ago, i inserted in my interleaved brand's _observations on popular antiquities_, vol. ii. p. . to., in the hope that, as the subject interested me _then_, it may not prove uninteresting to some _now_:-- "a bad omen seems to be drawn from _an ox or cow breaking into a garden_. though i laugh at the superstition, the omen was painfully fulfilled in my case. "about the middle of march, , some cattle were driven close to my house; and, the back door being open, _three_ got into our little bit of garden, and trampled it. when our school-drudge came in the afternoon, and asked the cause of the confusion, she expressed great sorrow and apprehension on being told--said it was a bad sign--and that we should hear of _three_ deaths within the next six months. alas! in april, we heard of dear j----'s murder; a fortnight after, a---- died; and to-morrow, august th, i am to attend the funeral of my excellent son-in-law. "i have just heard of the same omen from another quarter." this was added the next day:-- "but what is still more remarkable is, that when i went down to mr. ----'s burial, and was mentioning the superstition, they told me that, while he was lying ill, a cow got into the front garden, and was driven out with great difficulty." l.s. _the horse's head--rush-bearings._--the account of the welch custom of the "grey mare" in a late number reminded me of something very similar in cheshire. in the parish of lynn it is customary, for a week or ten days before the th { } of november, for the skeleton of a horse's head, dressed up with ribbons, &c., having glass eyes inserted in the sockets, and mounted on a short pole by way of handle, to be carried by a man underneath, covered with a horse-cloth. there is generally a chain attached to the nose, which is held by a second man, and they are attended by several others. in houses to which they can gain access, they go through some kind of performance, the man with the chain telling the horse to rear, open its mouth, &c. their object, of course, is to obtain money. the horse will sometimes seize persons, and hold them fast till they pay for being set free; but he is generally very peaceable,--for in case of resistance being offered, his companions frequently take flight, and leave the poor horse to fight it out. i could never learn the origin of this strange custom. i remember, when very young, having a perfect horror of meeting this animal in the dark. another custom, which i suppose prevails in some other places, is the "rush-bearing." at the annual wakes a large quantity of rushes are collected together, and loaded on a cart, almost to the height of a load of hay. they are bound on the cart, and cut evenly at each end. on the saturday evening a number of men sit on the top of the rushes, holding garlands of artificial flowers, tinsel, &c. the cart is drawn round the parish by three or four spirited horses, decked out with ribbons,--the collars being surrounded with small bells. it is attended by morris-dancers, dressed in strange style,--men in women's clothes, &c. one big man in woman's clothes, with his face blacked, has a belt round his waist, to which is attached a large bell, and carries a ladle, in which he collects money from the spectators. the company stop and dance at the principal public-houses in their route, and then proceed to the parish church(!), where the rushes are deposited, and the garlands hung up very conspicuously, to remain till the next year. i believe a custom somewhat similar exists in the adjoining parish of warburton, but not carried out in such grand style. it would be very interesting if your correspondents in different parts of the country would send accounts of these relics of the barbarous ages. julius. runcorn, feb. . . * * * * * on authors and books, no. . as a writer of dedications, samuel johnson was the giant of his time. he once said to boswell, the subject arising at a dinner-party, "why, i have dedicated to the royal family all round,"--and the _honest chronicler_ proves that he spoke advisedly. compositions of this nature admit much variety of character. a dedication may be the pure homage which we owe to merit, or the expression of gratitude for favours received, or a memorial of cherished friendship; and such dedications, in point of motive, are beyond the reach of censure--i may fairly assert, are very commendable. nevertheless, johnson left no compositions of either class: "the _loftiness_ of his mind," as boswell gravely states, "prevented him from ever dedicating in his own person." a more equivocal sort of dedication also prevailed. a book was supposed to require the prefix of some eminent name as its patron, in order to ensure its success. now the author, though very capable of writing with propriety on his chosen theme, might be unequal to the courtly style which dedicators were wont to display, and as the _complement_ was to be returned _substantially_, he might be tempted to employ a superior artist on the occasion. it was chiefly under such circumstances that the powers of johnson were called into action. by what arguments the stern moralist would have endeavoured to justify the deception, for it deserves no better name, is more than i can undertake to decide, and i submit the query to his enthusiastic admirers. to the dedications enumerated by the faithful boswell, and by his sharp-sighted editors, malone and croker, i have to announce on _internal_ evidence, a gorgeous addition! it is the dedication to edward augustus, duke of york, of _an introduction to geometry_, by william payne, london: t. payne, at the mews gate, . º., . º. i transcribe it _literatim_. it wants no comment:-- "to his royal highness the duke of york. "sir, "they who are permitted to prefix the names of princes to treatises of science generally enjoy the protection of a patron, without fearing the censure of a judge. "the honour of approaching your royal highness has given me many opportunities of knowing, that the work which i now presume to offer will not partake of the usual security. for as the knowledge which your royal highness has already acquired of geometry extends beyond the limits of an introduction. i expect not to inform you; i shall be happy if i merit your approbation. "an address to such a patron admits no recommendation of the science. it is superfluous to tell your royal highness that geometry is the primary and fundamental art of life; that its effects are extended through the principal operations of human skill; that it conducts the soldier in the field, and the seaman in the ocean; that it gives strength to the fortress, and elegance to the palace. to your royal highness all this is already known; geometry is secure of your regard, and your opinion of its usefulness and value has sufficiently appeared, by the condescension in which you have been pleased to honour { } one who has so little pretension to the notice of princes, as "sir, "your royal highnesses [sic]' "most obliged, "most obedient, "and most humble servant, "william payne." a short preface follows, which bears marks of reparation. it may have received some touches from the same masterly hand. the _external_ evidence in favour of the ascription of the above piece to johnson, if slight in itself, is not devoid of significance. he had dedicated a book for the same author, which book was also published by mr. thomas payne, who was his brother, in . bolton corney. * * * * * plagiarisms, or parallel passages. no. . [_continued from no. . p. ._] "dans les premières passions les femmes aiment l'amant; dans les autres elles aiment l'amour."--la rouchefoucauld, _max._ . "in her first passions woman loves her lover, in all the others all she loves is love, which grows a habit she can ne'er get over, and fits her loosely--like an easy glove," etc. _don juan_, canto iii. st. iii. there is no note on _this_ passage; but on the concluding lines of the _very next_ stanza, "although, no doubt, her first of love affairs is that to which her heart is wholly granted; yet there are some, they say, who have had _none_, but those who have ne'er end with only _one_, we have the following editorial comment:--"these two lines are a versification of a saying of montaigne." (!!!) the saying is _not_ by montaigne, but by la rochefoucauld:-- "on peut trouver des femmes qui n'ont jamais eu de galanterie; mais il est rare d'en trouver qui n'en aient jamais eu qu'une."--_max._ . byron borrows the same idea again:-- "writing grows a habit, like a woman's gallantry. there are women who have had no intrigue, but few who have had but one only; so there are millions of men who have never written a book, but few who have written only one."--_observations upon an article in blackwood's magazine_; _byron's works_, vol. xv. p. , moore's edition, vols duod. london, . both the silence of the author, and the blunder of his editor, seem to me to prove that _les maximes_ are not as _generally_ known and studied as they deserve to be. melanion. * * * * * st. antholin's. your correspondent mr. rimbault (no. .) has made rather a grave charge against my predecessors in office as churchwardens and overseers of this parish; and although, i regret to say, such accusations of unjust stewardship and dereliction of duty are frequently and with justice imputed to some parish officers, yet i am happy to be able, in this instance, to remove the stigma which would otherwise attach to those of st. antholin. the churchwardens' accounts are in good preservation, and present (in an unbroken series) the parish expenditure for nearly three centuries. mr. rimbault has doubtless been misled by some error in the description of the mss. in mr. thorpe's catalogue (as advertised by him for sale), which were probably merely extracts from the original records. the first volume commences with the year , and finishes in ; the accounts are all written at the time of their respective dates, and regularly signed by the auditors then and there present as correct. i have made numerous extracts from these interesting documents, and _notes_ thereon, which i shall at some future time be happy to lay before your readers, if you should consider them of sufficient importance. as a voucher for what i have stated with regard to their existence, and to give some idea of their general character, i have selected (at random) a few items from the year - :-- "the accompte of henrie jaye, churchwarden of the parishe of st. antholyne, from the feaste of the anunciacon of our ladye in anno unto the same feaste followinge in anno ." among the "receaittes" we have-- "r'd of mr. thorowgoode for an olde font stone, by the consente of a vestrie v's iiij'd "r'd for the clothe of _bodkine_[ ] y't ser roger marten hade before in keppinge, and now sold by the consente of a vestry and our mynnister iij'll vj's viij'd "the payments as followithe:-- "p'd to the wife of john bakone _gwder_ of the lazer cotte at myle end[ ] in full of her due { } for keppinge of evan redde y't was mr. hariots mane till his departtur and for his shete and burialle as dothe apere xl's viij'd "p'd for makinge of the longe pillowe & the pulpit clothe ij's "p'd for a yard and a nale of fustane for the same pillowe xvj'd "p'd for silke to the same pillowe xvj'd "p'd for xj'li of fethers for the same pillowe, at v'd iiij's vij'd "p'd for brede and beer that day the quen cam in xij'd "p'd for candells and mendinge the _baldrocke_[ ] vj'd "p'd for paynttinge y'e stafe of the survayer iij'd "p'd for mendynge the lytell bell iij's "pd to mr. sanders for the yearly rent of the laystall and skowringe the _harnes_[ ] for his yer iij's viij'd "p'd to mr. wright for the makinge of the cloke[ ] mor than he gatheride, agred one at the laste vestrie xvij's "p'd to peter medcalfe for mending the cloke when it neade due at o'r ladies daye laste past in anno iij's "p'd for entringe this account xx'd." w.c., junior, overseer of st. antholin, . [ ] _brodekine_. a richly-gilt stuff. [ ] it appears from an entry in the preceding year, that this man was first sent to "sentt thomas spittell in soughwork," when it was discovered that he was afflicted with the leprosy, or some cutaneous disease, and immediately removed to the lazar-house at mile end, it being strictly forbidden that such cases should remain in the hospitals. these lazar-houses were built away from the town; one was the lock hospital, in southwark; one at kingsland, another at knightsbridge, and that mentioned above between mile end and stratford. the laws were very strict in the expulsion of leprous people from the city; and if they attempted to force their way into the hospitals, they were bound fast to horses, and dragged away to the lazar-houses. [ ] the _baldricke_ was the garter and buckle by means of which the clapper was suspended inside the bell. [ ] _harnes_, or armour, which perhaps hung over some of the monuments in the church. [ ] it was about this time that clocks began to be generally used in churches (although of a much earlier invention); and in subsequent years we have several items of expenditure connected with that above mentioned. in :-- "paid for a small bell for the _watche_ iiij's "paid to the smith for iron worke to it xx'd "paid for a waight for the clocke wayinge 'lb and for a ringe of iron v's." still, however, the hour-glass was used at the pulpit-desk, to determine the length the parson should go in his discourse; and xij'd for a new hour-glass frequently occurs. * * * * * queries. college salting. mr. editor.--if your very valuable work had existed in october, , when i published in the _british magazine_ a part of archibishop whitgift's accounts relative to his pupils while he was master of trinity college, cambridge, i should certainly have applied to you for assistance. in several of the accounts there is a charge for the pupil's "salting;" and after consulting gentlemen more accurately informed with regard to the customs of the university than myself, i was obliged to append a note to the word, when it occurred for the first time in the account of lord edward zouch, in which i said, "i must confess my inability to explain this word; and do not know whether it may be worth while to state that, on my mentioning it to a gentleman, once a fellow-commoner of the college, he told me, that when, as a freshman, he was getting his gown from the maker, he made some remark on the long strips of sleeve by which such gowns are distinguished, and was told that they were called 'salt-bags,' but he could not learn why; and an oxford friend tells me, that going to the buttery to drink salt and water was part of the form of his admission.... this nobleman's (i.e. lord edward zouch's) amounted to s., and that of the earl of cumberland to s. d., while in other cases it was as low as d." to this i added the suggestion that it was probably some fee, or expense, which varied according to the rank of the parties. it afterwards occurred to me that this "salting" was, perhaps, some entertainment given by the new-comer, from and after which he ceased to be "fresh;" and that while we seem to have lost the "salting" both really and nominally, we retain the word to which it has reference. be this as it may, my attention has just now been recalled to the question by my accidentally meeting with one of owen's epigrams, which shows that in his time there was some sort of salting at oxford, and also of peppering at winchester. as i doubt not that you have readers well acquainted with the customs of both these seats of learning, perhaps some may be good enough to afford information. owen was at oxford not many years after whitgift had been master of trinity at cambridge, if (as wood states) he took his bachelor's degree in . the epigram is as follows:-- "oxoniæ salsus (juvenis tum) more vetusto; wintoniæque (puer tum) piperatus eram. si quid inest nostro piperisve salisve libello, oxoniense sal est, wintoniense piper." it is no. in that book of epigrams which owen inscribed "ad carolum eboracensem, fratrem principis, filium regis," p. , edit. elz, . mo. i give this full reference in order to express my most hearty sympathy with the righteous indignation of my highly respected friend, your correspondent "l.s." (no. p. .), against imperfect references. i do not, however, agree with him in thinking it fortunate that he is not a "despotic monarch;" on the contrary, now that i have not to take up verses, or construe greek to him, i should like it of all things; and i am sure the world would be much the better for it. s.r. maitland. gloucester, feb. . . * * * * * a few dodo queries. the discovery and speedy extinction of that extraordinary bird the dodo, belongs rather to { } human history than to pure zoology, and i therefore hope that a few queries relating to this curious subject will be admissible into your publication. i have already, in the work entitled _the dodo and its kindred_, and in the supplementary notices inserted last year in the _annals and magazine of natural history_ (ser. . vol. iii. pp. , ; vol. iv. p. ), endeavoured to collect together the _omne scitum_ of the dodo-history, but i am satisfied that the _omne scibile_ is not yet attained. _query i._--is there any historical record of the first discovery of mauritius and bourbon by the portuguese? these islands bore the name of _mascarenhas_ as early as , when they were so indicated on one of the de bry's maps. subsequent compilers state that they were thus named after their portuguese discoverer, but i have not succeeded in finding any notice of them in the histories of portuguese expeditions to the east indies which i have consulted. the only appartently authentic indication of their discovery, that i am aware of, is the pillar bearing the name of john iii. of portugal, and dated , which is stated by leguat, on du quesne's authority, to have been found in bourbon by flacour, when he took possession of the island in . _query ii_.--it appears from leguat's _new voyage to the east indies_, london, , pp. , ., that the marquis du quesne, being desirous of sending out a colony from holland to the isle of bourbon in or , published (probably in dutch) an account of that island, with a view of inducing emigrants to go thither. i should be greatly obliged if any of your readers can tell me the title, date, and place of publication of this book, and where a copy of it is to be seen or procured. _query iii_.--are there in existence any original oil-paintings of the dodo by savery or any other artist, besides the five described in the _dodo and its kindred_--viz., the one at the hague, at berlin, at vienna, at the british museum, and at oxford? and are there any original engravings of this bird, besides that in de bry, in clusius, in van den broecke, in herbert, in bontekoc, and in bontius, of all which i have published fac-similes? _query iv_.--are there any _original_ authors who mention the dodo as a living bird, besides van neck, clusius, heemskerk, willem van west-zanen, matelief, van der hagen, verhuffen, van den broecke, bontekoe, herbert, cauche, lestrange, and benjamin harry? or any authority for the _solitaire_ of rodriguez besides leguat and d'heguerty; or for the dodo-like birds of bourbon besides castelton, carré sieur d.b., and billiard? _query v_--in rees' _cyclopæia_, article bourbon, we are told that in that island there is "a kind of large bat, denominated _l'oiseau bleu_, which are skinned and eaten as a great delicacy." where did the compiler of the article pick up this statement? _query vi_.--is there in existence any figure, published or unpublished, of the dodo-like bird which once inhabited the isle of bourbon? _query vii_--what is the derivation or meaning of the words _dodaers_ and _dronte_, as applied to the dodo? _query viii_.--sir hamon lestrange has recorded that about he saw a living dodo exhibited in london. (see _sloane mss_. , v. p. . in brit. mus.; wilkin's ed. of _sir t. browne's works_, vol. i. p. .; vol. ii, p. .; _the dodo and its kindred_, p. .) is there any contemporary notice extant in print or in ms. which confirms this statement? a splendidly bound copy of _the dodo and its kindred_ will be given to any one who can answer this query affirmatively. _query ix_.--in holme's _academy of armory and blazou_, chester, , p. , we find a dodo figured as an heraldic device, a fac-simile of which is given in the _annals of natural history_, nd series, vol. iii. p. . the author thus describes it: "he beareth sable a _dodo_ or _dronte_ proper. by the name of _dronte_. this exotic bird doth equal a swan in bigness," &c. &c. now i wish to ask, where did this family of _dronte_ reside? is anything known concerning them? how did they come by these arms? and are any members of the family now living? _query x._--from a passage in the _histoire de l'académie royale des sciences_, , p. , it appears that pingré the french astronomer, published, or at least wrote, a relation of his voyage to rodriguez, in which he speaks of _solitaires_. is this the fact? and if so, what is the title of his work? h.e. strickland. * * * * * on passages in coleridge's christadel and byron's lara. tablet to napoleon. i am one of those who look upon the creations of our great poets as deserving illustration almost as much as actual history; and i am always distressed when i meet with passages representing events with respect to which i cannot make up my mind as to what the author meant, or intended his readers to believe. two of these occur to me at this moment, and i shall be much obliged by any of your correspondents giving, in your pages, brief replies to my queries, or referring me to any published works where i may find their solution. . what did coleridge mean to represent or imply in his tale of _christabel_? who or what was geraldine? what did christabel see in her, at times, so unutterably horrible? what is meant by "the ladye strange" making christabel _carry_ her over the sill of the portal? &c., &c. { } . what does byron mean us to infer that lara _saw_ in his hall that midnight, when he so alarmed his household with "a sound, a voice, a shriek, a fearful call, a long loud shriek--and silence."? the poet, it is true, seems to refuse, purposely, to let his readers into the truth, telling them:-- "whate'er his frenzy dream'd or eye beheld, if yet remember'd, ne'er to be reaveal'd, rests at his heart." but still, i conceive there can be no doubt that _he knew the truth_ (i speak as of realities), --knew what he intended to represent by so full and elaborate a delineation of a scene. and it is the author's meaning and intention that i wish to come at. i will ask one more question relative to this magnificent poem (which i don't think has had justice done it by the critics), but one respecting which i hardly think there can be any doubt as to the author's secret meaning:--is not the _kaled_ of _lara_ the _gulnare_ of the _giaour_? before concluding, i will add a query on a very different subject. . many of your readers have, doubtless, seen the large marble tablet erected by the vallaisians in honour of napoleon, in the convent of the great st. bernard. a recent traveller in switzerland (dr. forbes) has, i find, noticed the inscription, and questioned, as i had done, both its meaning and latinity. i extract this author's note as expressing exactly the point on which i desiderate information:-- "having doubts both as to the precise meaning and lingual purity of the compound epithet _bis italicus_, here applied to napoleon, i subjoin the passage in which it occurs, for the judgement of the learned:-- 'napoleoni ... Ægyptiaco bis italico semper invicto ... grata respublica.'"--_a physician's holiday_, p. . emdee. athenæum, january . . * * * * * minor queries. _howkey or horkey._-- can anybody explain the etymology of the word _howkey_ or _horkey_, generally used to denote a harvest-home merriment in our eastern counties? forbes speaks of it as an intractable word, and neither he nor sir j. cullum have succeeded in explaining it satisfactorily. braybrooke. audley end, feb. . _lord bacon's metrical version of the psalms._--the answer in no. . p. . to a cornishman's query (no. . p. ) respecting "bacon's metrical version of the psalms," suggests another query. the work in question was a mere "exercise of sickness;" it contains only seven psalms (the st, th, th, th, th, th, and th), and is, without pretension of any kind, a very proper diversion for a mind that could not be inactive and yet required rest; and very good verses for a man unpractised in metrical composition. the _collection of apophthegms_ (also a recreation in sickness), though considerably larger and altogether weightier, was considered so trifling a work that dr. rawley, in his "perfect list of his lordship's true works, &c.," appended to the first edition of the _resuscitatio_ ( ), either forgot or did not think fit to mention it. yet both these trifles were not only written but _published_, by bacon himself the year before his death--a thing quite contrary to his practice; for though he had written and carefully preserved and circulated in manuscript so much, he had till then published nothing that was not of the weightiest and most solid kind. can any of your correspondents inform me how much two such books may possibly have been _worth_ to a publisher in the year ; being works of low price and popular character, proceeding from an author of great name? how much is it reasonable to suppose that a publisher may have given for the copyright? or how far may it have gone towards the payment of a bookseller's bill? j.s. feb. . . _treatise of equivocation._--i shall feel happy if, through your very opportune medium, i can obtain some information respecting a very extraordinary and mysterious book, as to its existence, local habitation, and any other _material_ circumstance, which has the title of _a treatise of equivocation._ the first recognition of the work is in the _relation of the proceedings in the trial for the powder plot_, . at signat. i. the attourney-general, sir e. coke, appeals to it, and affirms that it was allowed by the archpriest blackwel, and that the title was altered to _a treatise against lying and fraudulent dissimulation_. he proceeds to describe some of its contents, as if he were himself acquainted with the book. thomas morton, bishop of lichfield, and coventry, afterwards of durham, in his _full satisfaction concerning a double romish iniquitie; rebellion and equivocation_, , refers to the work as familiarly acquainted with it. (see ep. dedic. a. .; likewise pages & .) he gives the authorship to creswell or tresham. he refers likewise to a latin work entitled _resolutio casuum_, to the same effect, possibly a translation, to which he subjoins the names of parsons and allen. robert abbot, in his _antilogia_, , pp. , . emphatically and at length produces the same book and facts; but they are merely copied from the _relation_ of the powder-treason trial. henry mason, in his most satisfactory work, _the new art of lying, &c._, , has spoken of the { } _treatise_ with the same familiarity (see p. .), and elsewhere, if my memory does not deceive me. dodd, in his _church history_,--when will the new edition begin to move again? can stonyhurst tell?--ascribes the work to tresham. hardly any of the similar works in these times belong to _one_ author. it may just be added, that parson's _mitigation_ contains, perhaps, all the substance of the roman equivocation, with not much reserve or disguise. it was published in answer to bishop morton's work in . foulis has, of course, substantially all the above, but nothing more. now, the questions which i want to have solved are these:--was the book ever extant in ms. or print? is it now extant, and where? who has seen a copy? what is its size, date, and extent? has the durham cathedral library, in particular, a copy? mr. botfield might have informed us. in fact, where is any effectual intelligence of the fugitive to be found? j.m. feb. . . * * * * * replies. etymology of "armagh." some of your correspondents have taken up the not unnatural idea, that the last syllable of the word "armagh" is identical with the celtic word _magh_, a plain. but there are two objections to this. in the first place, the name is never spelt in irish _armagh_, nor even _ardmagh_, but always ardmacha. _ardmagh_ or _armagh_ is only the anglicised spelling, adapted to english tongues and ears. it is therefore clearly absurd to take this corrupt form of the word as our _datum_, in the attempt to search for its etymology. secondly, the irish names of places which are derived from, or compounded of, _magh_, a plain, are always anglicised, _moy, moi, mow_, or _mo_, to represent the pronunciation: as fermoy, athmoy, knockmoy, moira, moyagher, moyaliffe (or me-aliffe, as it is now commonly spelt), moville, moyarta, and thousands of other cases. and those who are acquainted with the irish language will at once tell, by the ear, that _armagh_, as the word is pronounced by the native peasantry, even by those who have lost that language (as most of them in that district now have), could not be a compound of _magh_, a plain. the work of m. bullet, quoted by your correspondent "hermes," is full of ignorant blunders similar to that which he commits, when he tells us that armagh in compounded of "_ar_, article, and _mag_, ville." the article, in irish, is _an_, not _ar_; and _mag_ does not signify a town. he adopts, your readers will perceive, the modern english spelling, which could not lead to a correct result, even if m. bullet had been acquainted with the celtic languages. the same remark applies to the explanation given by the author of _circles of gomer_. _ard_, not _ar_, is the word to be explained; and therefore, even though _ar_ and _ararat_ meant, as he tells us, "earth, country, or upon and on the earth," this would throw no light on the etymology of ard_macha_. "hibernicus" (no. . p. .) is partly right and partly wrong; he adopts the anglicised spelling of the second syllable, although he seems aware that the first syllable ought to be _ard_; and he admits also that this word is a substantive, signifying a _height_, not the adjective _high_. "a high plain," in irish, would be, not ardmagh, or ardmoy (as it would have been anglicised), but _magh-ard_ (anglice _moyard_). great light will be thrown on the whole subject of the etymology of irish typographical names, when the index to my friend mr. o'donovan's edition of the _annals of the four masters_ makes its appearance. i may add too, in conclusion, that camden is wrong in suggesting that _armach_ (as he spells it, retaining, curiously enough, the correct etymology of the last syllable) is identical with _dearmach_ (where the last syllable ought to be _magh_). this latter place is the well-known durrow, in the county westmeath; and its name, in irish, is _duir-magh_, which is really a compound from _magh_, a plain. bede tells us, that the word signified, in the scottish language, _campus roborum_ (see bede, _hist. eccl._ lib. iii. c. .); but adamson (_vit. columbæ_, c. .) more correctly translates it, "monasterium _roboreti campi_." it is not likely that such authorities could confound durrow, in westmeath, with the ecclesiastical metropolis of ireland, and patriarchal see of st. patrick. whoever the mach or macha was from whom ardmacha has its name (whether the queen called macha-mong-ruadh, whose reign is assigned by o'flaherty to a.m. , or the older macha, who is said to be the wife of nemedius), it should be borne in mind, that the word whose etymology is required is ardmacha[ ], and not _armagh._ what would be thought of the critic who would now attempt to investigate the etymology of the english word _bishop_, by dividing it into two syllables, and seeking analogies in sound for each syllable. i have ventured to go at greater length into this matter than its importance may seem to warrant, because it illustrates so clearly a very general error, from which celtic literature has deeply suffered, of inventing fanciful etymologies adapted to the modern english spellings, instead of the original celtic forms of names; and this error, as the question before us proves, is as old as camden's time, and older. j.h. todd. trin. coll. dublin, feb. , . [ ] those who have access to colgan's _acta sanctorum hiberniæ_ will see that he always spells armagh, _ardmacha_; and durrow, _durmugia_. * * * * *{ } william basse and his poems. i read with great pleasure mr. collier's interesting paper on "william basse and his poems," inserted in your th number. very little is known of this once popular poet, but it is very desirable that that little should be collected together, which cannot be better effected than through the friendly system of inter-communication established by your valuable journal. from my limited researches upon this subject, it appears that there were two poets of the name of william basse. anthony wood (_athen. oxon._, edit. bliss. iv. .) speaks of one william basse, of moreton, near thame, in oxfordshire, who was some time a retainer of lord wenman, of thame park, i.e. richard viscount wenman, in the peerage of ireland. and i find among my ms. biographical collections that a william basse, of suffolk, was admitted a sizar of emanuel college, cambridge, in . a.b. , and a.m. in . the william basse who wrote _great brittaines sunnes-set_ in , was also the author of the ms. collection of poems entitled _polyhymnia_, mentioned by mr. collier. in proof of this it is merely necessary to notice the dedication of the former "to his honourable master, sir richard wenman, knight," and the verses and acrostics in the ms. "to the right hon. the lady aungier wenman, mrs. jane wenman, and the truly noble, vertuous, and learned lady, the lady agnes wenman." basse's poems were evidently intended for the press, but we may conjecture that the confusion of the times prevented them from appearing. thomas warton, in his _life and literary remains of ralph bathurst, m.d._, has a copy of verses by the dr. "to mr. w. basse, upon the intended publication of his poems, january , ;" to which the learned editor adds, "i find no account of this writer or his poems." the whole consists of forty-four verses, from which i extract the beginning and the end:-- basse, whose rich mine of wit we here behold as porcelain earth, more precious, 'cause more old; who, like an aged oak, so long hath stood, and art religion now as well as food: though thy grey muse grew up with elder times, and our deceased grandsires lisp'd thy rhymes; yet we can sing thee too, and make the lays which deck thy brow look fresher with thy praise. * * * * * though these, your happy births, have silent past more years than some abortive wits shall last; he still writes new, who once so well hath sung: that muse can ne'er be old, which ne'er was young." these verses are valuable as showing that basse was living in , and that he was then an aged man. the emanuelian of the same name, who took his m.a. degree in , might possibly be his son. at any rate, the latter was a poet. there are some of his pieces among the mss. in the public library, cambridge; and i have a small ms. volume of his rhymes, scarcely soaring above mediocrity, which was presented to me by an ancient family residing in suffolk. a poem by william basse is inserted in the _annalia dubrensia_, , in praise of robert dover and his revival of the cotswold games; but it is not clear to which of these poets we may ascribe it. malone attributes two rare volumes to one or other of these poets. the first, a translation or paraphrase of juvenal's tenth satire, entitled _that which seems best is worst_, mo., ; the second, "a miscellany of merriment," entitled _a helpe to discourse_, nd edit. vo., : but the former is more probably the work of william barkstead. i may mention that a copy of basse's _sword and buckler, or serving man's defence_, , is among malone's books in the bodleian. izaac walton speaks of william basse, "one that hath made the choice songs of the _hunter in his career_, and of _tom of bedlam_, and many others of note." the ballad mentioned by mr. collier, "maister basse his career, or the hunting of the hare," is undoubtably the one alluded to by walton. i may add, that it is printed in _wit and drollery_, edit. . p. .; and also in _old ballads_, , vol. iii. p. . the tune is contained in the _shene ms._, a curious collection of old tunes in the advocate's library, edinburgh; and a ballad entitled _hubert's ghost_, to the tune of _basse's carrier_, is preserved among the bagford collection of old ballads in the british museum. with regard to the second ballad mentioned by walton, our knowledge is not so perfect. sir john hawkins in a note (_complete angler_, th edit. p. .) says:-- "this song, beginning-- 'forth from my dark and dismal cell,' with the music to it, set by hen. lawes, is printed in a book, entitled _choice ayres, songs and dialogues, to sing to the theorbo lute, and bass viol_, folio. , and in playfield's _antidote against melancholy_, vo. , and also in dr. percy's _reliques of ancient english poetry_, vol. ii. p. ; but in the latter with a mistake in the last line of the third stanza, of the word _pentarchy_ for _pentateuch_." a copy of the _choice ayres_, , is now before me, but henry lawes's name does not appear to the song in question. sir john has evidently made a mistake; the air of _mad tom_ was composed by john cooper, alias _giovanni coperario_, for one of the masques perfomed by the gentlemen of gray's inn. (see _the english dancing master_, , in the british museum, and additional ms. , , in the same repository.) with regard to the ballad itself, there is an early copy (of the latter part of the sixteenth century) { } preserved in the harleian mss., no. , fol. . it purports to have been "written (i.e. transcribed) be feargod barebone, who being at many times idle and wanting employment, wrote out certain songs and epigrams, with the idea of mending his hand in writing." there is another copy among malone's mss. in the bodleian (no. . p. .), where it is entitled _a new tom of bedlam_. but i contend there is no evidence to show that this is the ballad alluded to by walton; none of the copies having the name of the author. we have two other songs (probably more) bearing the same title of _tom of bedlam_; one beginning, "from the top of high caucasus;" the other commencing, "from the hag and hungry goblin;" either of which are quite as likely to have been intended as that mentioned above. it still remains a question, i think, which of the two basses was the author of the ballads mentioned by walton. but i have already trespassed so long upon your valuable space that i will leave the further consideration of the subject until a future period: in the meantime, perhaps some of your correspondents may be enabled to "illuminate our darkness" upon the various knotty points. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * beaver hats--pisan. allow me to say a few words in reply to your correspondent "gastros." his quotation from fairholt (_costume in england_), who cites stubbes's _anatomy of abuses_ as the earliest authority for the use of beaver hats in england, is not a satisfactory reply to my query; inasmuch as i am aware that beaver hats were occasionally worn by great people in this country some centuries before stubbes was born. for example, henry iii. possessed "unum capellum de bevre cum apparatu auri et lapidibus preciosis;" as appears from the "wardrobe account," of the th year of his reign. i have, therefore, still to ask for the _earliest_ instance of the use of hats or caps of this material in england; such hats, as well as gloves, are mentioned in several english inventories made between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. is there any example earlier than the time of henry iii.? "gastros" has also obligingly replied to my query as to "the meaning of the term _pisan_, used in old records for some part of defensive armour," but he seems to have forgotten that i expressly stated that term had no relation to "the fabrics of pisa;" at least such is my belief. with regard to the inventory of the arms and armour of louis le hutin, taken in , printed in meyrick's _ancient armour_, to which he kindly refers me, it may be observed that the said inventory is so perversely translated in the first edition of that work (just now i have no means of consulting the second), as to be all but useless; indeed it might be termed one of the most extraordinary literary performances of modern times, as the following instance may suffice to show. one of the items of the inventory is, "une cote gamboisée à arbroissiaus d'or broudées à chardonereus;" and it is thus rendered into english, "a gamboised coat with a rough surface (like a thicket;--_note_) of gold embroidered on the nap of the cloth!" the real signification is "a gamboised coat embroidered in gold, with little bushes (or trees), with gold-finches [on them]." but i am rather wandering from my point: i never could ascertain on what authority sir samuel meyrick asserted that "jazeran armour," as he calls it, was formed of "overlapping plates." the french word _jazeran_ was derived from the italian _ghiazarino_, or _ghiazzerino_, which signified "a gorget of mail," or what some of our antiquaries have termed "a standard of mail;" in france this word always preserved its relation to mail, and in process of time came to be applied to so lowly an object as a flagon-chain: see cotgrave's _fr. dict._ ed. . roquefort, indeed, says a "jaserans" was a cuirass, but to my apprehension the passage which he quotes from the _roman d'alexandre_-- "es haubers, _jazerans_, et ès elmes gemez"-- seems to prove that, in that instance at least, a gorget is meant. at any rate, the translation of the passage in the inventory to which "gastros" refers should be, "three pisan collerets of steel mail," not that given by meyrick. here we have clearly a fabric of pisa: whereas the _pisan_, of which i desire to know the meaning, invariable occurs as an independent term, e.g. "_item, unum pisanum_," or "_unum par pisanorum_." of course i have my own conjecture on the subject, but should be glad to hear other opinions; so i again put the question to your correspondents. in conclusion i would observe to "gastros" that they must be _very_ late mss. indeed in which such a contraction as _pisan_ for _partisan_ can be found. if you have room, and think it worth while, i will from time to time send you some corrections of the more flagrant errors of meyrick. t. hudson turner. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _norman pedigrees_. in reference to your correspondent "b.'s" inquiries, he will find much information in the publications de la société des antiquaires de normandie. under their auspices, m. estancelin published in a full history of the earls of eu. i am not aware of any full collection of pedigrees of the companions of william the conqueror: the names of several of the lands from which they took their designations yet remain. w. durrant cooper. { } _norman pedigrees._--in answer to "b.'s" query (no. . p. .), an excellent gazetteer was published in paris, , entitled _dictionnaire complet géographique, statistique, et commercial de la france et de ses colonies; par m. briand-de-verzé_, pp. . many of the names of the conqueror's norman companions will be found in that work; as, for instance, geoffrey de "_mandeville_, village. calvados arrondissement, ½ o.n.o. de bayeaux," &c. norman de _beauchamp_: three beauchamps are mentioned; that . from avranches will be the one in question. c.i.r. oxford, feb. . . _norman pedigrees._--your correspondent "b." (no. . p. .) would probably find part of the information he seeks in _domesday book, seu censualis willelmi primi regis angliæ_. but query? is "b." right in supposing the prefix "de" to be _french_? does it not rather originate in the _latin_? "domesday" is written in latin throughout; and the "de," denoting the place, is there occasionally followed by what seems to be the latin ablative case. i copy an example:-- "canonici de hansone ten. l. hida de sansone," (i.e. loc. in co. stafford.) then of the person it is said-- "sanson ten. de rege, &c.... iii. hid. træ in hargedone," &c. j.s. _translation of Ælian._--in answer to the query of "g.m." in no. . p. ., i beg to state that in lowndes's _manual_, vol. i. p. ., is the following notice under the head of "Ælianus claudius:"-- "various histories translated by t. stanley, london, , vo. s. this translation is by the son of the learned editor of Æschylus, and was reprinted . ." c.i.r. _ave trici and gheeze ysenoudi._--i regret that i cannot give "h.l.b." any further information about these ladies than the colophon i transcribed affords. to me, however, it is quite clear that they were sisters of some convent in flanders or holland; the name of their spiritual father, nicolas wyt, and the names of the ladies, clearly indicate this. s.w.s. _daysman_ (no. . p. .)-- it seems to me that a preferable etymology may be found to that given by nares and jacob. the arbiter or judge might formerly have occupied a _dais_ or _lit de justice_, or he might have been selected from those entitled to sit on the raised parts of the courts of law, i.e. jurisconsulti, or barristers as we call them. i have heard another etymology, which however i do not favour, that the arbiter, chosen from men of the same rank as the disputants, should be paid for loss of his day's work. george oliver. perhaps the following may be of some use in clearing up this point. in the _graphic illustrator_, a literary and antiquarian miscellany edited by e.w. brayley, london, , at p. , towards the end of an article on the tudor style of architecture, signed t.m. is the following:-- "this room (talking of the great halls in old manor-houses) was in every manor-house a necessary appendage for holding 'the court,' the services belonging to which are equally denominated 'the homage,' with those of the king's palace. the _dais_, or raised part of the _upper end_ of the hall, _was so called_, from the administration of justice. a _dais-man_ is still a popular term for an arbitrator in the north, and _domesday-book_ (with the name of which i suppose every one to be familiar) is known to be a list of manor-houses." c.d. lamont. greenock. [our correspondents will probably find some confirmation of their ingenious suggestion in the following passage from _the vision of piers ploughman_:-- "and at the day of dome at the heighe deys sitte." ll. - . ed. wright.] _saveguard_.--"buriensis" (no. . p. .) is informed that a _saveguard_ was an article of dress worn by women, some fifty or sixty years ago, over the skirts of their gowns when riding on horseback, chiefly when they sat on pillions, on a _double horse_, as it was called. it was a sort of outside petticoat, usually made of serge, linsey-wolsey, or some other strong material: and its use was to _guard_ the gown from injury by the dirt of the (then very dirty) roads. it was succeeded by the well-known riding-habit; though i have seen it used on a side-siddle by a rider who did not possess the more modern dress. p.h.f. amongst the bequests to the clothworkers' company of london is one by barbara burnell, by will dated th june, , wherein she directs the company to bestow l. s. yearly in woollen cloth to make six waistcoats and six _safeguards_ for six poor women.[ ] also we find that john skepworth, by will dated th oct. , gave two closes of land to the parish of louth, to the intent that the churchwardens and overseers of the poor there should apply the rents and profits of the same in providing so much coarse woollen cloth as would make ten suits yearly to be given to ten poor people of louth, the men to have coats and breeches, and the women to have waistcoats and _safeguards_.[ ] { } if "buriensis" has a friend belonging to the clothworkers' company, it is probable that he will acquire much information on this subject from their old records. h. edwards. [ ] reports from the commissioners of charities b. . nd part .-- . [ ] ibid. _derivation of "calamity"_ (no. . p. .)--"calamity" is from the latin _calamitas_, from _calamus_ a straw or stalk of corn, signifying, st, the agricultural misfortune of the corn being beaten down or laid by a storm; and thence, any other trouble or disaster:-- "ipsa egreditur nostri fundi _calamitas_." ter. _eun_. i. . upon which the commentator in the delph. ed. has this note:-- "_calamitas_ est grando et tempestas, quæ calamos segetum prosternit et conterit. unde cicero verrem vocat '_calamitosam tempestatem_.'" ainsworth, quoting the above passage from terence, adds:-- "ubi donatus. proprie _calamitatem_ rustici vocant quod comminuat _calamum_; h.e. culmen et segetem." the etymology of its synonym, "_disaster_," is more direct--[greek: dhus hasthaer], a star of evil influence, or, as we say, "born under an ill planet." [greek: philologos] forcellini, _s.v. calamitas_, says:-- "proprie significat imminutionem clademque calamorum segetis, quæ grandine vel impetuoso aliquo turbine aut alia quapiam de causa fit." he then quotes servius, _ad georg_, i. :-- "robigo genus est vitii, quo culmi pereunt, quod a rusticanis calamitas dicitur." then follows the note of donatus on ter. _eun_. i. . . it appears to me, if "_calamitas_" were derived from _calamus_, it would mean something very different from what it does. another suggestion is, that the first syllable is the same as the root of _cad-o_, to fall; _l_ and _d_, everybody knows, are easily interchangeable: as odysseus, ulixes: [greek: dakruon], _lacrima_, _tear_, &c. &c. if so, _calamitas_ is a corrupted form of _cadamitas_. mar. victorinus, _de orthogr_. p. ., says:-- "gueius pompeius magnus et scribebat et dicebat _kadamitatem_ pro _kalamitatem_."--(quoted from bothe's _poetæ_," _scenici latinorum_, vol. v. p. .) but how is the -_amitas_ to be explained? i may as well add, that döderlein, with his usual felicity, derives it from [greek: kolouo]. edward s. jackson. i beg to refer mr. f.s. martin (no. . p. .), for the derivation of "calamity," to the _etymologicon linguæ latinæ_ of gerard vossius, or to the _totius latinitatis lexicon_ of facciolatus and forcellinus. he will there find that the word _calamitas_ was first used with reference to the storms which destroyed the stalks (_calami_) of corn, and afterwards came to signify metaphorically, any severe misfortune. the terrific hail-storm of the summer of , which destroyed the crops of corn through several of the eastern and midland counties of this kingdom, was a _calamity_ in the original sense of the word. "w.p.p." has also kindly replied to this query by furnishing a part of the article on _calamitas_ in vossius; and "j.f.m." adds, _calamitas_ means-- "the spindling of the corn, which with us is rare, but in hotter countries common: insomuch as the word _calamitas_ was first derived from _calamus_, when the corn could not get out of the stalk."--bacon, _nat. hist_. sect. . _derivation of "zero"_ (no. . p. .).--_zero_ ital.; fr. _un chiffre_, _un rien_, a cipher in arithmetic, a nought; whence the proverb _avere nel zero, mépriser souverainement_, to value at nothing, to have a sovereign contempt for. i do not know what the etymology of the word may be; but the application is obvious to that point in the scale of the thermometer below the numbered degrees to which, in ordinary temperatures, the mercury does not sink. [greek: philologos] deanery of gloucester, feb. . . "_zero_" (no. . p. .)--_zero_, as is well known, is an italian word signifying the arithmetical figure of nought ( ). it has been conjectured that it is derived from the transposition from the hebrew word _ezor_, a girdle, the zero assuming that form. (see furetière, vol. iii.) prof. le moine, of leyden (quoted by ménage), claims for it also an eastern origin, and thinks we have received it from the arabians, together with their method of reckoning ciphers. he suggests that it may be a corruption from the hebrew [hebrew: rphs], _safara_, to number. _complutensian polyglot_.--i cannot pretend to reply to "mr. jebb's" inquiry under this head in no. . p. .; but perhaps it may assist him in his researches, should he not have seen the pamphlet, to refer to bishop smallridge's "enquiry into the authority of the primitive complutensian edition of the new testament, as principally founded on the most ancient vatican ms., together with some research after that ms. in order to decide the dispute about john v. . in a letter to dr. bentley. vo. london, ." j.m. oxford, feb. . _sir william rider_.--in reply to the queries of "h.f.," no. . p. ., respecting sir william rider, i beg to say that among the many ms. notes which i have collected relating to the rider family, { } &c., i find the following from the _visitation of surry_, , and from a ms. book of _pedigrees of peers_ in the herald's college, with additions. "thomas rider married a daughter of ---- poole of stafforde, by whom he had sir william rider, born at muchalstone, co. stafforde, sheriff of london, , citizen and haberdasher, lord mayor, . will dated nov., and proved nov. , jas. i. ( wood); buried at low layton, essex, &c. sir william married elizabeth, da. of r. stone, of helme, co. norfolk; by whom he had, besides other children and descendants, mary daughter and coheiress, who married sir thomas lake, of canons, middlesex, from whose issue descended viscount lake." s.s. _pokership_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--it is to be regretted that no information has been supplied respecting the meaning of this remarkable word, either from local sources or from the surveys of crown lands in the exchequer or land revenue offices. in one or the other of these quarters we should surely find something which would dispense with further conjecture. in the meantime the following facts, obtained from records easily accessible, will probably be sufficient to dispose of the explanations hitherto suggested, and to show that the _poker_ of bringwood forest was neither a _parker_ nor a _purser_. the offices conveyed to sir r. harley by james i. had been, before his reign, the subject of crown grants, after the honor of wigmore had become vested in the crown by the merger of the earldom of march in the crown. hence, i find that in the act edward iv. (a.d. ), for the resumption of royal grants, there is a saving of a prior grant of the "office of keeper of oure forest or chace of boryngwode," and of the fees for the "kepyng of the dikes within oure counte of hereford, parcelles of oure seid forest." ( _rot. parl._ p. .) in a similar act of resumption, henry vii., there is a like saving in favour of thomas grove, to whom had been granted the keepership of boryngwood chase in "wigmoresland," and "the _pokershipp_ and keping of the diche of the same." the _parkership_ of wigmore park is saved in the same act. ( _rot. parl._ p. and .) in the first year of henry viii. there is a receiver's account of wigmore, in which i observe the following deductions claimed in respect of the fees and salaries of officers:- "in feodo thomæ grove, forestarii de bringewod, l. s. d. -- ejusdem thomæ, fossat'de prestwode dych, d. -- edm. sharp, parcarii parci de wiggemour, l. s. d. -- thomæ grove, pocar' omnium boscorum in wiggemourslonde s. d." there is another like account rendered in & hen. vii. these, and no doubt many other accounts and documents respecting the honor of wigmore and its appartenances, are among the exchequer records, and we are entitled to infer from them, firstly, that a _parcarius_ and a _pocarius_ are two different offices; secondly, that, whether the duty of the latter was performed on the dikes or in the woods of boringwood chase, the theory of mr. bolton corney (pace cl. viri dixerim) is very deficient in probability. if the above authorities had not fallen under my notice, i should have confidently adopted the conjecture of the noble querist, who first drew attention to the word, and, so far from considering the substitution of "poker" for "parker" an improbable blunder of the copyist, i should have pronounced it fortunate for the house of harley that their founder had not been converted into a porcarius or pig-driver. e. smirke. _pokership_.--i had flattered myself that _parkership_ was the real interpretation of the above word, but i have once more doubts on the subject. i this morning accidentally stumbled upon the word "porcellagium," which is interpreted in ducange's _glossary_, "tributum ex porcis seu porcellis." _porcarius_ also occurs as _porcorum custos_, and mention is made of "porcorum servitium quo quis porcos domini sui pascentes servare tenetur." now, considering how much value was formerly attached to the right of turning out swine in wooded wastes, during the acorn season, it seems probable that sir r. harley might be the king's "porcarius," or receiver of the money paid for an annual license to depasture hogs in the royal forests; and, after all, _porkership_ is as like to _pokership_ as _parkership_, and one mistake would be as easily made as the other. braybrooke. audley end, feb. . [we are enabled to confirm the accuracy of lord braybrooke's conjecture as to _pokership_ being the office conferred upon sir robert harley, inasmuch as we are in expectation of receiving an account of the various forms of its name from a gentleman who has not only the ability, but also peculiar facilities for illustrating this and similar obscure terms.] _havior--heavier or hever_.-supposed etymology of _havior, heavier_, and _hever_, as applied by park-keepers to an emasculated male deer.--"notes and queries," (no. . p. .) pennant, in his _british zoology_, vo. edition, , vol. i. p. ., and vo. edition, , vol. i. p. ., under the article, "goat" says:-- "the meat of a castrated goat of six or seven years old, (which is called _hyfr_,) is reckoned the best; being generally very sweet and fat. this makes an excellent pasty, goes under the name of rock venison, and is little inferior to that of the deer." as pennant was a welchman, a scholar and a { } naturalist, he will probably be considered good authority; and _hyfr_, the most likely origin of the altered terms of the deer park-keepers. the word occurs twice in page . vol. ii. of the _sportsman's cabinet_, in the article on the stag or red deer, where it is printed _heavier_; and it will be found also as _hever_, in mr. jesse's _scenes and tales of country life_, at page . wm. yarrell. ryder street, st. james, feb. . . mr. halliwell gives the words _haver_ and _havering_, in the same sense as _havior_. are not these words identical with _aver, averium_, in the sense of cattle, tame beasts? _averium_, from the old french, _aveir_, i.e. _avoir_, originally meant any personal property; but like _catalla_, chattels, it came to signify more particularly the most important part of a peasant's possessions--namely, his live stock. thus, in the laws of william the conqueror (thorpe's _ancient laws_, vol. ii. p. .), we find:-- "si præpositus hundredi equos aut boves aut oves aut porcos vel cujuscumque generis averia vagancia restare fecerit," &c. the word may naturally enough have been applied to deer reduced to the state of tame and domesticated cattle. c.w.g. [trebor furnishes us with a reference to _pegge's anonymiana_, who endeavours to show that the proper term is "halfer;" on the same principle that an entire horse is spoken of, the word being pronounced "hâver" by those who call half "hâfe," while those who pronounce half with the open _a_ say "hauver:" while j. westby gibson suggests that havior is _evir_, from the latin "_eviro, eviratus, eviratio_," but admits that he can give no authority for the use of _evir_.] _sir w. hamilton_ (no. . p. .).--douglas says, that this sir w. hamilton was not _son_, but grandson and brother of the st and nd earls of abercorn, his father having died _vitâ patris_. i therefore doubt that the inscription has been miscopied. "he was," douglas says, "resident at rome, on the part of the queen dowager;" but this could hardly be the service alluded to. c. _dr. johnson's library_ (no. . p. .).--i have a copy of dr. johnson's sale catalogue. the title is as follows: "a catalogue of the valuable library of books of the late learned samuel johnson, esq., ll.d., deceased, which will be sold by auction (by order of the executors) by mr. christie, at his great room in pall mall, on wednesday, february . . and three following days. to be viewed on monday and tuesday preceding the sale, which will begin each day at o'clock. catalogues may be had as above." it is a catalogue of pages and lots, of which are books. the twelve last are prints, chiefly "framed and glazed." the catalogue is very rare; there is not a copy in the british museum, and messrs. christie and manson are without one. i may add, as your correspondent is curious about johnson's library, that i have the presentation copy to the doctor of twiss's _travels in spain_, with "the gift of the author" in johnson's handwriting, immediately beneath twiss's ms. presentation. the twiss was in lot . peter cunningham. * * * * * miscellanies. _etymology of "news_."--the word "news" is not derived, as many suppose, from the adjective new, but from a practice that obtained in newspapers of an early date, of prefixing to the title the letters expressive of the cardinal points, thus:-- n. e. w. s. meaning that their intelligence was derived from all quarters of the globe. this must, at any rate, be allowed as ingenious etymology. j.u.g. gutch. the golden age. (_from the latin_.) why "golden," when that age alone, we're told, was blest with happy ignorance of gold-- more justly we our venal times might call "the golden age," for gold is all in all. rufus. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. messrs. sotheby and co. will sell on monday next two collections of autographs; the first consisting of autograph letters, the property of a gentleman; which will be immediately followed by that belonging to the late mr. rodd, and the extensive correspondence of the late william upcott, esq., comprising several thousand autograph letters. mr. rodd's collection comprises many letters of great historical and literary interest. messrs. puttick and simpson will sell by auction on friday, march the th, and seven following days, the extensive and very important stock of books of mr. james carpenter, of bond street, who is retiring from business. the characteristics of this fine collection are the numerous books of prints and illustrated works which it contains, such as the matchless series of piranesi's works, being the dedication copy to the king of sweden: a copy of boswell's _life of johnson_, in vols. { } folio, illustrated with nearly six hundred portraits and views. we heard some time since that the long-established and highly-respectable house of payne and foss, of pall mall, had succeeded the late mr. rodd in the agency of purchasing for the british museum. the rumour proved to be unfounded, and now receives a formal contradiction by the announcement that messrs. payne and foss are retiring from business, and that the first portion of their extensive and valuable stock of books will be sold by auction by messrs. sotheby and co.; the first division in a ten days' sale, commencing on the th and terminating on the th march; which will be followed by the second division, which will also occupy ten days, and commence on monday the th april. the lovers of choice copies of fine editions of first-class books will have, on this occasion, such an opportunity of enriching their collections as rarely presents itself. we have received the following catalogues:-- "number two, for , of john miller's catalogue of books, old and new, on sale at . chandos street, trafalgar square." "catalogue of curious and rare books, recently purchased, now on sale by george bumstead, . high holborn." "catalogue (no. .) of books, theological and miscellaneous, and catalogue (no. .) of books, consisting chiefly of foreign literature and theology, on sale by andrew clark, no. . city road." "cheap list of useful and curious books relating to ecclesiastical history, councils, ceremonies, the puritans, &c., on sale by s. and i. palmer, . red lion street, holborn." "a list of books, chiefly curious ones, now selling by thomas kerslake, bookseller, at no. . park street, bristol." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) hieronymus magius de tintinabilis. mo. and . a. stockfleet de campanarum usu. reimanu's dissertatio de campanis. nicol. egger's dissertatio de origine et nomine campanarum. ejusdem dissertatio de campanarum materia et forma. pacichelli de tintinabulo notano lucubratio. walleri dissertatio de campanis et prÆcipuis earum usibus. hilcher de campanis templorum. arnoldus de campanarum usu. mo. . roccha de campanis commentarius. . thiers, traite des cloches. mitzler de campanis. eschenwecker de eo quod iustum est circa campanis. pingre's account of his voyage to rodriguez, published (?) at paris about . dudley ryder's report on the petition of berkeley seymour, esq., claiming the barony of seymour and dukedom of somerset. published , pp. . folio. private act, wm ., for the sale of the estates of arthur lacy, esq., co. somerset. bell on the hand. bridgewater treatises. _odd volumes._ madras journal of literature and science. vols i. to ix. catalogue of harleian mss., vol. iv. woods's athenÆ oxonienses (ed. bliss.), vol. iii. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price. _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. among the many papers which we are unavoidably obliged to postpone are an original and inedited _letter by horace walpole_, mr. singer's reply to c.w.g. on _Ælfric's colloquies_, an interesting communication from mr. coles respecting _arabella stuart_, a paper by mr. rye on the _queen of robert bruce_, and t.s.d.'s able article on _arabic numerals_. the erectheum club (like "the parthenon") takes its name from the erectheum at athens. h.m.a. declined with thanks. x.p. is informed that the _monotome_ edition of boswell's johnson edited by croker, is not an abridgment of the larger work, but a new and thoroughly revised edition of it; and with a really good index. to correspondents inquiring as to the mode of procuring "notes and queries," we have once more to explain, that every bookseller and newsman will supply it regularly, if ordered; and that gentlemen residing in the country, who may find a difficulty in getting it through any bookseller in their neighbourhood, may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher, mr. george bell, fleet street, accompanied by a post-office order for a quarter, s. d.; a half year, s. d.; or one year, s. d. errata. p. . col. . l. ., for "coheir" read "cognate;" and line , for "argidius" "Ægidius;" and p. , col . l. . read "anecdote of dionysius related by cicero and by plutarch, in his _laconic apophthegms_, which stobæus evidently followed." * * * * * just published, in post vo., s. d., the third volume of the romance of the peerage; or, curiosities of family history. by george lillie craik. with a portrait of sir robert dudley. contents:--the hereditary principle; aristocracy and democracy--charles brandon's widow and her second marriage--the lady mary grey--sir robert dudley--bess of hardwick and the talbots--the cavendishes and the stanhopes--lord pembroke and sir richard wharton--the wharton and stuart duel--the bruce and sackville duel--the lord crichton of sanquahar--the earldom of monteith, &c. &c. &c. london: chapman and hall, . strand. * * * * * on the st of march will be published, price one shilling, model prisons; being no. . of latter-day pamphlets. edited by thomas carlyle. london: chapman and hall, . strand. * * * * *{ } early antiquities of england illustrated. the primÆval antiquities of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaae, m.r.s.a., of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. illustrated with numerous woodcuts. vo. s. d. "this is the best antiquarian handbook we have ever met with--so clear is its arrangement, and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well-executed engravings, that confusion for the future is impossible upon a variety of points on which the most grievous mistakes have hitherto been made by anxious and zealous antiquarians. * * * it is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquarians. it is a book of which it may be said, that in every sentence is to be found an interesting fact, and that every page teems with instruction, and may be regarded as a sure guide to all antiquarians in their future archæological inquiries."--_morning herald_. see also _gentleman's magazine_ for february, . john henry parkes, oxford, and . strand, london. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo., price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * just published, price s. d. cloth. pinacothecÆ historicÆ specimen; sive illustrium quorundam ingenia, mores, fortunæ, ad inscriptionum formam expressæ. auctore f. kilvert, a.m. pars secunda. "the production of an english clergyman, and bears unequivocal marks of refined taste, elegant scholarship, and a liberal, generous, and candid mind. the idea--to us a novel one--carried out in this work is, to bring up for judgment (as the egyptians used to do with their departed kings) the characters that figure most in the page of history, and to pass sentence upon them. summoning them, as it were, into his presence with the lamp of history to guide him, _exquiritque auditque dolos_; and whether it be praise or blame, or a mixture of both, that he awards, the judgment is pronounced in a temperate spirit, and with judicial impartiality; and it is expressed in pure and elegant latin, and often with epigrammatic felicity."--_scotsman_. london: george bell, . fleet street; of whom part i., price s., may be had. * * * * * just published, price s. d. mo. cloth, s. calf or morocco. the english gentleman: his principles, his feelings, his manners, his pursuits. "we like him so well as to wish heartily we might meet many such."--_theologian_. "the object of the first of the four essays is to form the principles of a gentleman on a christian standard. in the other three subjects, of feelings, manners, and pursuits, the views, though strict, are of a more worldly kind."--_spectator_. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, mo. cloth, s.; morocco (hayday), s., a selection from percy's reliques of ancient english poetry, and from evans's old ballads, with short introductions and notes. by the rev. henry tripp, m.a., sub warden of st. columba's college. "the selection is made with good taste and judgment."--_christian remembrancer_. mo., cloth, s. d., selections from herrick, for translation into latin verse, with a short preface. by the rev. a.j. macleane, m.a., trinity college, cambridge, principal of brighton college. "we cordially recommend it as a book well adapted to promote a superior style of versification to that which has hitherto prevailed even in the highest classes of our german schools."--_educational times_. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * mo. boards. s. d. lyra memorialis: original epitaphs and churchyard thoughts. in verse. by joseph snow. with an essay, by william wordsworth. reprinted by his permission. a new edition, remodelled and enlarged. "the object of mr. snow in the volume before us is to suggest a purer taste and a more impressive style in our churchyard memorials, and by every word and thought to point through the shadow of the tomb to the brightness and light beyond it. his work is, in truth, a treasury of feeling, and we find in its simplicity its highest merit. to the clergy this volume may be of signal use."--_theologian_. "this is truly a book of the affections; there is scarcely a page which will not touch tenderly a chord in the heart of every reader."--_church of england quarterly_. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * on a large sheet, price s. d. plain; s. richly coloured; in case, s. d. plain; s. coloured. a chart of ancient armour, from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries; containing eighteen figures, with a description and a sketch of the progress of european armour. by john hewitt. "a graphic outline of the subject of military costume during the period of its greatest interest to the english antiquary. the author has made a judicious selection of examples, chiefly from the rich series of monumental effigies; and, in the brief text which accompanies these illustrations, a useful resumé will be found of a subject which, not many years since, was attainable only through the medium of costly publications."--_archæological journal_. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * royal mo., cloth, s.; morocco (hayday), s. selden's table talk. royal mo., price s. d. cloth, s. d. morocco (hayday). the temple, sacred poems, and private ejaculations. by george herbert. also, by the same author, price s. cloth, s. morocco (hayday). a priest to the temple; or, the country parson: his character, and rule of holy life, &c. london: george bell, fleet street. leicester: j.s. crossley. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . the nuttall encyclopÆdia being a concise and comprehensive dictionary of general knowledge consisting of over , terse and original articles on nearly all subjects discussed in larger encyclopÆdias, and specially dealing with such as come under the categories of history, biography, geography, literature, philosophy, religion, science, and art edited by the rev. james wood editor of "nuttall's standard dictionary" and compiler of the "dictionary of quotations" _the sixty-first thousand_ preface "the nuttall encyclopÆdia" is the fruit of a project to provide, in a concise and condensed form, and at a cheap rate, an epitome of the kind of information given in the larger encyclopædias, such as may prove sufficient for the ordinary requirements, in that particular, of the generality of people, and especially of such as have not the means for purchasing or the leisure for studying the larger. an encyclopædia is now recognised to be as indispensable a book of reference as a dictionary; for while the latter explains and defines the vehicle of _thought_, the former seeks to define the subject-matter. now the rapid increase in the vocabulary of a nation, which makes the possession of an up-to-date dictionary almost one of the necessaries of life, is evidently due to the vast increase in the number of _facts_ which the language has to describe or interpret; and if it is difficult to keep pace with the growth in the language, it is obviously more difficult to attain even a working knowledge of the array of facts which in this age come before us for discussion. no man can now peruse even a daily newspaper without being brought face to face with details about questions of the deepest interest to _him_; and he is often unable to grasp the meaning of what he reads for want of additional knowledge or explanation. in short, it becomes more and more a necessity of modern life to know something of everything. a little knowledge is not dangerous to those who recognise it to be little, and it may be sufficient to enable those who possess it to understand and enjoy intelligently what would otherwise only weigh as a burdensome reflection upon their ignorance. even a comparatively exhaustive treatment of the multitudinous subjects comprehended under the term universal knowledge would demand a library of large volumes, hence the extent and heavy cost of the great encyclopædias. but it is doubtful whether the mass of information contained in those admirable and bulky works does not either go beyond, or, more frequently than not, fall short of the requirements of those who refer to them. for the special student there is too little, for the general reader too much. detailed knowledge of any subject in this age of specialisation can be acquired only by study of the works specifically devoted to it. what is wanted in a popular encyclopædia is succinct information--the more succinct the better, so long as it gives what is required by the inquiry, leaving it to the authorities in each subject to supply the information desired by those intent on pursuing it further. the value of an encyclopædia of such small scope must depend, therefore, upon the careful selection of its materials, and in this respect it is hoped the one now offered to the public will be found adequate to any reasonable demands made upon it. if the facts given here are the facts that the great majority are in search of when they refer to its pages, it may be claimed for "the nuttall encyclopædia" that, in one respect at all events it is more valuable for instant reference than the best encyclopædia in many volumes; for "the nuttall" can lie on the desk for ready-to-hand reference, and yields at a glance the information wanted. within the necessary limits of a single volume the editor persuades himself he has succeeded in including a wide range of subjects, and he trusts that the information he has given on these will meet in some measure at least the wants of those for whom the book has been compiled. to the careful newspaper reader; to heads of families, with children at school, whose persistent questions have often to go without an answer; to the schoolmaster and tutor; to the student with a shallow purse; to the busy man and man of business, it is believed that this volume will prove a solid help. the subjects, as hinted, are various, and these the editor may be permitted to classify in a general way under something like the following rubrics:-- . noted people, their nationality, the time when they flourished, and what they are noted for. . epochs, important movements, and events in history, with the dates and their historical significance. . countries, provinces, and towns, with descriptions of them, their sizes, populations, etc., and what they are noted for. . heavenly bodies, especially those connected with the solar system, their sizes, distances, and revolutions. . races and tribes of mankind, with features that characterise them. . mythologies, and the account they severally give of the divine and demonic powers, supreme and subordinate, that rule the world. . religions of the world, with their respective credos and objects and forms of worship. . schools of philosophy, with their theories of things and of the problems of life and human destiny. . sects and parties, under the different systems of belief or polity, and the specialities of creed and policy that divide them. . books of the world, especially the sacred ones, and the spiritual import of them; in particular those of the bible, on each of which a note or two is given. . legends and fables, especially such as are more or less of world significance. . characters in fiction and fable, both mediæval and modern. . fraternities, religious and other, with their symbols and shibboleths. . families of note, especially such as have developed into dynasties. . institutions for behoof of some special interest, secular or sacred, including universities. . holidays and festivals, with what they commemorate, and the rites and ceremonies connected with them. . science, literature, and art in general, but these chiefly in connection with the names of those distinguished in the cultivation of them. such, in a general way, are some of the subjects contained in the book, while there is a number of others not reducible to the classification given, and among these the editor has included certain subjects of which he was able to give only a brief definition, just as there are doubtless others which in so wide an area of research have escaped observation and are not included in the list. in the selection of subjects the editor experienced not a little embarrassment, and he was not unfrequently at a loss to summarise particulars under several of the heads. such as it is, the editor offers the book to the public, and he hopes that with all its shortcomings it will not be unfavourably received. notes. ( ) the figures in brackets following geographical names indicate the number of _thousands of population_. ( ) the figures in brackets given in biographical references indicate the _dates_ of birth and death where both are given. the nuttall encyclopÆdia a a'ali pasha, an eminent reforming turkish statesman ( - ). aachen. see aix-la-chapelle. aalborg ( ), a trading town on the liimfiord, in the n. of jutland. aar, a large swiss river about m. long, which falls into the rhine as it leaves switzerland. aargau, a fertile swiss canton bordering on the rhine. aarhuus ( ), a port on the e. of jutland, with a considerable export and import trade, and a fine old gothic cathedral. aaron, the elder brother of moses, and the first high-priest of the jews, an office he held for forty years. abaca, manila hemp, or the plant, native to the philippines, which yield it in quantities. abacus, a tablet crowning a column and its capital. abaddon, the bottomless pit, or the angel thereof. abarim, a mountain chain in palestine, ne. of the dead sea, the highest point being mount nebo. abatement, a mark of disgrace in a coat of arms. abauzit, firmin, a french protestant theologian and a mathematician, a friend of newton, and much esteemed for his learning by rousseau and voltaire ( - ). abbadie, two brothers of french descent, abyssinian travellers in the years - ; also a french protestant divine ( - ). abbas, uncle of mahomet, founder of the dynasty of the abbasides ( - ). abbas pasha, the khedive of egypt, studied five years in vienna, ascended the throne at eighteen, accession hailed with enthusiasm; shows at times an equivocal attitude to britain; _b_. . abbas the great, shah of persia, of the dynasty of the sophis, great alike in conquest and administration ( - ). abbas-mirza, a persian prince, a reformer of the persian army, and a leader of it, unsuccessfully, however, against russia ( - ). abbasides, a dynasty of caliphs who ruled as such at bagdad from to . ab`bati, niccolo dell', an italian fresco-painter ( - ). abbÉ, name of a class of men who in france prior to the revolution prepared themselves by study of theology for preferment in the church, and who, failing, gave themselves up to letters or science. abbeville ( ), a thriving old town on the somme, m. up, with an interesting house architecture, and a cathedral, unfinished, in the flamboyant style. abbot, head of an abbey. there were two classes of abbots: abbots regular, as being such in fact, and abbots commendatory, as guardians and drawing the revenues. abbot, george, archbishop of canterbury in the reigns of james i. and charles i., and one of the translators of king james's bible; an enemy of laud's, who succeeded him ( - ). abbot of misrule, a person elected to superintend the christmas revelries. abbotsford, the residence of sir walter scott, on the tweed, near melrose, built by him on the site of a farm called clarty hole. abbott, edwin, a learned broad church theologian and man of letters; wrote, besides other works, a volume of sermons "through nature to christ"; esteemed insistence on miracles injurious to faith; _b_. . abdal`lah, the father of mahomet, famed for his beauty ( - ); also a caliph of mecca ( - ). abdalrah`man, the moorish governor of spain, defeated by charles martel at tours in . abdals (lit. servants of allah), a set of moslem fanatics in persia. abd-el-ka`dir, an arab emir, who for fifteen years waged war against the french in n. africa, but at length surrendered prisoner to them in . on his release in he became a faithful friend of france ( - ). abde`ra, a town in ancient thrace, proverbial for the stupidity of its inhabitants. abdications, of which the most celebrated are those of the roman dictator sylla, who in b.c. retired to puteoli; of diocletian, who in a.d. retired to salone; of charles v., who in retired to the monastery st. yuste; of christina of sweden, who in retired to rome, after passing some time in france; of napoleon, who in and retired first to elba and then died at st. helena; of charles x. in , who died at goritz, in austria; and of louis philippe, who in retired to end his days in england. abdiel, one of the seraphim, who withstood satan in his revolt against the most high. abdul-aziz, sultan of turkey from , in succession to abdul-medjid ( - ). abdul-aziz, sultan of morocco, was only fourteen at his accession; _b_. . abdul-ha`mid ii., sultan of turkey in , brother to abdul-aziz, and his successor; under him turkey has suffered serious dismemberment, and the christian subjects in armenia and crete been cruelly massacred; _b_. . abd-ul-med`jid, sultan, father of the two preceding, in whose defence against russia england and france undertook the crimean war ( - ). abdur-rah`man, the ameer of afghanistan, subsidised by the english; _b_. . À'becket, gilbert, an english humourist, who contributed to _punch_ and other organs; wrote the "comic blackstone" and comic histories of england and rome ( - ). À'becket, a. w., son of the preceding, a littérateur and journalist; _b_. . abel, the second son of adam and eve; slain by his brother. the death of abel is the subject of a poem by gessner and a tragedy by legouvé. abel, sir f. a., a chemist who has made a special study of explosives; _b_. . abel, henry, an able norwegian mathematician, who died young ( - ). ab`elard, peter, a theologian and scholastic philosopher of french birth, renowned for his dialectic ability, his learning, his passion for héloïse, and his misfortunes; made conceivability the test of credibility, and was a great teacher in his day ( - ). abelli, a dominican monk, the confessor of catharine de medici ( - ). abencerra`ges, a powerful moorish tribe in grenada, whose fate in the th century has been the subject of interesting romance. aben-ez`ra, a learned spanish jew and commentator on the hebrew scriptures ( - ). abera`von ( ), a town and seaport in glamorganshire, with copper and iron works. abercrombie, sir ralph, a distinguished british general of scottish birth, who fell in egypt after defeating the french at aboukir bay ( - ). aberdeen ( ), the fourth city in scotland, on the e. coast, between the mouths of the dee and don; built of grey granite, with many fine public edifices, a flourishing university, a large trade, and thriving manufactures. old aberdeen, on the don, now incorporated in the municipality, is the seat of a cathedral church, and of king's college, founded in , united with the university in the new town. aberdeen, earl of, a shrewd english statesman, prime minister of england during the crimean war ( - ).--grandson of the preceding, gov.-gen. of canada; _b_. . aberdeenshire ( ), a large county in ne. of scotland; mountainous in sw., lowland n. and e.; famed for its granite quarries, its fisheries, and its breed of cattle. abernethy, a small burgh in s. perthshire, with a pictish round tower, and once the capital of the pictish kingdom. aberration of light, an apparent motion in a star due to the earth's motion and the progressive motion of light. aberyst`with ( ), a town and seaport in cardiganshire, wales, with a university. ab`gar xiv., a king of edessa, one of a dynasty of the name, a contemporary of jesus christ, and said to have corresponded with him. abhorrers, the royalist and high church party in england under charles ii., so called from their abhorrence of the principles of their opponents. abigail, the widow of nabal, espoused by david. abich, w. h., a german mineralogist and traveller ( - ). abingdon ( ), a borough in berks, m. s. of oxford. abiogenesis, the doctrine of spontaneous generation. abipones, a once powerful warlike race in la plata, now nearly all absorbed. able man, man with "a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute" (gibbon). abner, a hebrew general under saul; assassinated by joab. abo, the old capital of finland and seat of the government, on the gulf of bothnia. ab`omey, the capital of dahomey, in w. africa. abou`kir, village near alexandria, in egypt, on the bay near which nelson destroyed the french fleet in ; where napoleon beat the turks, ; and where abercrombie fell, . about, edmond, spirited french littérateur and journalist ( - ). abraham, the hebrew patriarch, ancestor of the jews, the very type of an eastern pastoral chief at once by his dignified character and simple faith. abraham, the plains of, a plain near quebec. abraham-men, a class of lunatics allowed out of restraint, at one time, to roam about and beg; a set of impostors who wandered about the country affecting lunacy. abran`tes, a town in portugal, on the tagus; taken by marshal junot, , and giving the title of duke to him. abraxas stones, stones with cabalistic figures on them used as talismans. abruz`zi, a highland district in the apennines, with a pop. of , . absalom, a son of david, who rebelled against his father, and at whose death david gave vent to a bitter wail of grief. a name given by dryden to the duke of monmouth, son of charles ii. absolute, the, the philosophical name for the uncreated creator, or creating cause of all things, dependent on nothing external to itself. absyrtus, a brother of medea, whom she cut in pieces as she fled with jason, pursued by her father, throwing his bones behind her to detain her father in his pursuit of her by stopping to pick them up. abt, franz, a german composer of song-music ( - ). abu, a mountain ( ft.) in rajputana, with a footprint of vishnu on the top, and two marble temples half-way up, held sacred by the jains. ab`ubekr, as the father of ayesha, the father-in-law of mahomet, the first of the caliphs and the founder of the sunnites; _d_. . ab`u-klea, in the soudan, where the mahdi's forces were defeated by sir h. stewart in . a`bul-faraj, a learned armenian jew, who became bishop of aleppo, and wrote a history of the world from adam onwards ( - ). abul-fazel, the vizier of the great mogul emperor akbar, and who wrote an account of his reign and of the mogul empire; he was assassinated in . abul-feda, a moslem prince of hamat in syria, who in his youth took part against the crusaders, and wrote historical works in arabic ( - ). abu-tha`leb, uncle of mahomet, and his protector against the plots of his enemies the koreish. aby`dos, a town on the asiatic side of the hellespont, famous as the home of leander, who swam the hellespont every night to visit hero in sestos, and as the spot where xerxes built his bridge of boats to cross into europe in b.c.; also a place of note in upper egypt. abyssin`ia, a mountainous country se. of nubia, with an area of , sq. m., made up of independent states, and a mixed population of some four millions, the abyssinians proper being of the semite stock. it is practically under the protectorate of italy. acacia, a large group of trees with astringent and gum-yielding properties, natives of tropical africa and australia. academy, a public shady park or place of groves near athens, where plato taught his philosophy and whence his school derived its name, of which there are three branches, the _old_, the _middle_, and the _new_, represented respectively by plato himself, arcesilaos, and carneades. the _french academy_, of forty members, was founded by richelieu in , and is charged with the interests of the french language and literature, and in particular with the duty of compiling an authoritative dictionary of the french language. besides these, there are in france other four with a like limited membership in the interest of other departments of science and art, all now associated in the _institute of france_, which consists in all of members. there are similar institutions in other states of europe, all of greater or less note. acadia, the french name for nova scotia and new brunswick. acanthus, a leaf-like ornament on the capitals of the columns of certain orders of architecture. acapul`co, a mexican port in the pacific, harbour commodious, but climate unhealthy. acarna`nia, a province of greece n. of gulf of corinth; its pop. once addicted to piracy. acca`dians, a dark, thick-lipped, short-statured mongol race in central asia, displaced by the babylonians and assyrians, who were semitic. acca-laurentia, the wife of faustulus, shepherd of numitor, who saved the lives of romulus and remus. acciaioli, a florentine family of th century, illustrious in scholarship and war. accolade, a gentle blow with a sword on the shoulder in conferring knighthood. accol`ti, a tuscan family, of th century, famous for their learning. accor`so, the name of a florentine family, of th and th centuries, great in jurisprudence. accra ( ), capital and chief port in british gold coast colony. accrington ( ), a manufacturing town m. n. of manchester. accum, friedrich, a german chemist, the first promoter of gas-lighting ( - ). accumulator, a hydraulic press for storing up water at a high pressure; also a device for storing up electric energy. acerra ( ), an ancient city m. ne. of naples; is in an unhealthy district. acetic acid, the pure acid of vinegar; the salts are called _acetates_. acetone, a highly inflammable liquid obtained generally by the dry distillation of acetates. acet`ylene, a malodorous gaseous substance from the incomplete combustion of hydro-carbons. achÆan league, a confederation of towns in the peloponnesus, formed especially against the influence of the macedonians. achÆ`ans, the common name of the greeks in the heroic or homeric period. achai`a, the n. district of the peloponnesus, eventually the whole of it. achard, a prussian chemist, one of the first to manufacture sugar from beetroot ( - ). achard`, louis amÉdÉe, a prolific french novelist ( - ). acha`tes, the attendant of Æneas in his wandering after the fall of troy, remarkable for, and a perennial type of, fidelity. achelo`Üs, a river in greece, which rises in mt. pindus, and falls into the ionian sea; also the god of the river, the oldest of the sons of oceanus, and the father of the sirens. achen, an eminent german painter ( - ). achenwall, a german economist, the founder of statistic science ( - ). ach`eron, a river in the underworld; the name of several rivers in greece more or less suggestive of it. ach`ery, a learned french benedictine of st. maur ( - ). ach`ill, a rocky, boggy island, sparsely inhabited, off w. coast of ireland, co. mayo, with a bold headland ft. high. achille`id, an unfinished poem of statius. achil`les, the son of peleus and thetis, king of the myrmidons, the most famous of the greek heroes in the trojan war, and whose wrath with the consequences of it forms the subject of the iliad of homer. he was invulnerable except in the heel, at the point where his mother held him as she dipt his body in the styx to render him invulnerable. achilles of germany, albert, third elector of brandenburg, "fiery, tough old gentleman, of formidable talent for fighting in his day; a very blazing, far-seen character," says carlyle ( - ). achilles tendon, the great tendon of the heel, where achilles was vulnerable. achmed pasha, a french adventurer, served in french army, condemned to death, fled, and served austria; condemned to death a second time, pardoned, served under the sultan, was banished to the shores of the black sea ( - ). ach`met i., sultan of turkey from to ; a. ii., from to ; a. iii., from to , who gave asylum to charles xii. of sweden after his defeat by the czar at pultowa. achit`ophel, name given by dryden to the earl of shaftesbury of his time. achromatism, transmission of light, undecomposed and free from colour, by means of a combination of dissimilar lenses of crown and flint glass, or by a single glass carefully prepared. acierage, coating a copper-plate with steel by voltaic electricity. a`ci-rea`lË ( ), a seaport town in sicily, at the foot of mount etna, in ne. of catania, with mineral waters. a`cis, a sicilian shepherd enamoured of galatea, whom the cyclops polyphemus, out of jealousy, overwhelmed under a rock, from under which his blood has since flowed as a river. ack`ermann, r., an enterprising publisher of illustrated works in the strand, a native of saxony ( - ). acland, sir henry, regius professor of medicine in oxford, accompanied the prince of wales to america in , the author of several works on medicine and educational subjects, one of ruskin's old and tried friends ( ). aclinic line, the magnetic equator, along which the needle always remains horizontal. acne, a skin disease showing hard reddish pimples; acne rosacea, a congestion of the skin of the nose and parts adjoining. acoemetÆ, an order of monks in the th century who by turns kept up a divine service day and night. aconca`gua, the highest peak of the andes, about m. ne. of valparaiso, , ft. high; recently ascended by a swiss and a scotchman, attendants of fitzgerald's party. aconite, monk's-hood, a poisonous plant of the ranunculus order with a tapering root. aconitine, a most virulent poison from aconite, and owing to the very small quantity sufficient to cause death, is very difficult of detection when employed in taking away life. acorn-shells, a crustacean attached to rocks on the sea-shore, described by huxley as "fixed by its head," and "kicking its food into its mouth with its legs." acoustics, the science of sound as it affects the ear, specially of the laws to be observed in the construction of halls so that people may distinctly hear in them. acrasia, an impersonation in spenser's "faërie queen," of intemperance in the guise of a beautiful sorceress. acre, st. jean d' ( ), a strong place and seaport in syria, at the foot of mount carmel, taken, at an enormous sacrifice of life, by philip augustus and richard coeur de lion in , held out against bonaparte in ; its ancient name ptolemaïs. acres, bob, a coward in the "rivals" whose "courage always oozed out at his finger ends." acroamatics, esoteric lectures, i. e. lectures to the initiated. acrolein, a light volatile limpid liquid obtained by the destructive distillation of fats. acroliths, statues of which only the extremities are of stone. acrop`olis, a fortified citadel commanding a city, and generally the nucleus of it, specially the rocky eminence dominating athens. acrote`ria, pedestals placed at the middle and the extremities of a pediment to support a statue or other ornament, or the statue or ornament itself. acta diurna, a kind of gazette recording in a summary way daily events, established at rome in b.c., and rendered official by cæsar in b.c. acta sanctorum, the lives of the saints in vols. folio, begun in the th century by the jesuits, and carried on by the bollandists. actÆon, a hunter changed into a stag for surprising diana when bathing, and afterwards devoured by his own dogs. actinic rays, "non-luminous rays of higher frequency than the luminous rays." actinism, the chemical action of sunlight. actinomycosis, a disease of a fungous nature on the mouth and lower jaw of cows. actium, a town and promontory at the entrance of the ambracian gulf (arta), in greece, where augustus gained his naval victory over antony and cleopatra, sept. , b.c. acton, an adventurer of english birth, who became prime minister of naples, but was driven from the helm of affairs on account of his inveterate antipathy to the french ( - ). acton, lord, a descendant of the former, who became a leader of the liberal catholics in england, m.p. for carlow, and made a peer in ; a man of wide learning, and the projector of a universal history by experts in different departments of the field; _b_. . acts of the apostles, a narrative account in the new testament of the founding of the christian church chiefly through the ministry of peter and paul, written by luke, commencing with the year , and concluding with the imprisonment of paul in rome in . acun`ha, tristram d', a portuguese navigator, companion of albuquerque; nuna d', his son, viceroy of the indies from to ; rodrique d', archbishop of lisbon, who in freed portugal from the spanish domination, and established the house of braganza on the throne. acupressure, checking hemorrhage in arteries during an operation by compressing their orifices with a needle. acupuncture, the operation of pricking an affected part with a needle, and leaving it for a short time in it, sometimes for as long as an hour. adair, sir robert, a distinguished english diplomatist, and frequently employed on the most important diplomatic missions ( - ). adal, a flat barren region between abyssinia and the red sea. adalbe`ron, the archbishop of rheims, chancellor of lothaire and louis v.; consecrated hugh capet; _d_. . adalbert, a german ecclesiastic, who did much to extend christianity over the north ( - ). adalbert, st., bishop of prague, who, driven from bohemia, essayed to preach the gospel in heathen prussia, where the priests fell upon him, and "struck him with a death-stroke on the head," april , , on the anniversary of which day a festival is held in his honour. ada`lia ( ), a seaport on the coast of asia minor, on a bay of the same name. adam (i. e. man), the first father, according to the bible, of the human race. adam, alex., a distinguished latin scholar, rector for years of the edinburgh high school, scott having been one of his pupils ( - ). adam, lambert, a distinguished french sculptor ( - ). adam, robert, a distinguished architect, born at kirkcaldy, architect of the register house and the university, edinburgh ( - ). adam bede, george eliot's first novel, published anonymously in , took at once with both critic and public. adam kadmon, primeval man as he at first emanated from the creator, or man in his primeval rudimentary potentiality. adam of bromen, distinguished as a christian missionary in the th century; author of a celebrated church history of n. europe from to , entitled _gesta hammenburgensis ecclesiæ pontificum_. adamas`tor, the giant spirit of storms, which camoëns, in his "luciad," represents as rising up before vasco de gama to warn him off from the cape of storms, henceforth called, in consequence of the resultant success in despite thereof, the cape of good hope. adamawa, a region in the lower soudan with a healthy climate and a fertile soil, rich in all tropical products. adamites, visionaries in africa in the nd century, and in bohemia in the th and th, who affected innocence, rejected marriage, and went naked. adamnan, st., abbot of iona, of irish birth, who wrote a life of st. columba and a work on the holy places, of value as the earliest written ( - ). adams, dr. f., a zealous student and translator of greek medical works ( - ). adams, john, the second president of the united states, and a chief promoter of their independence ( - ). adams, john quincy, his eldest son, the sixth president ( - ). adams, john couch, an english astronomer, the discoverer simultaneously with leverrier of the planet neptune ( - ). adams, parson, a country curate in fielding's "joseph andrews," with a head full of learning and a heart full of love to his fellows, but in absolute ignorance of the world, which in his simplicity he takes for what it professes to be. adams, samuel, a zealous promoter of american independence, who lived and died poor ( - ). adam's bridge, a chain of coral reefs and sandbanks connecting ceylon with india. adam's peak, a conical peak in the centre of ceylon ft. high, with a foot-like depression ft. long and ½ broad atop, ascribed to adam by the mohammedans, and to buddha by the buddhists; it was here, the arabs say, that adam alighted on his expulsion from eden and stood doing penance on one foot till god forgave him. ada`na ( ), a town se. corner of asia minor, m. from the sea. adanson, michel, a french botanist, born in aix, the first to attempt a natural classification of plants ( - ). ad`da, an affluent of the po, near cremona; it flows through lake como; on its banks bonaparte gained several of his famous victories over austria. addington, henry, lord sidmouth, an english statesman was for a short time prime minister, throughout a supporter of pitt ( - ). addison, joseph, a celebrated english essayist, studied at oxford, became fellow of magdalen, was a whig in politics, held a succession of government appointments, resigned the last for a large pension; was pre-eminent among english writers for the purity and elegance of his style, had an abiding, refining, and elevating influence on the literature of the country; his name is associated with the _tatler, spectator_, and _guardian_, as well as with a number of beautiful hymns ( - ). a`delaar, the name of honour given to cort sivertsen, a famous norse seaman, who rendered distinguished naval services to denmark and to venice against the turks ( - ). adelaide ( ), the capital of s. australia, on the river torrens, which flows through it into st. vincent gulf, m. se. of port adelaide; a handsome city, with a cathedral, fine public buildings, a university, and an extensive botanical garden; it is the great emporium for s. australia; exports wool, wine, wheat, and copper ore. adelaide, eldest daughter of louis xv. of france ( - ). adelaide, port, the haven of adelaide, a port of call, with a commodious harbour. adelaide, queen, consort of william iv. of england ( - ). adelaide of orleans, sister of louis philippe, his egeria ( - ). adelberg, a town of carniola, m. from trieste, with a large stalactite cavern, besides numerous caves near it. adelung, johann christoph, a distinguished german philologist and lexicographer, born in pomerania ( - ). a`den ( ), a fortified town on a peninsula in british territory s. of arabia, m. e. of bab-el-mandeb; a coaling and military station, in a climate hot, but healthy. ad`herbal, son of micipsa, king of numidia, killed by jugurtha, b.c. adi granth, the sacred book of the sikhs. adiaph`orists, lutherans who in th century maintained that certain practices of the romish church, obnoxious to others of them, were matters of indifference, such as having pictures, lighting candles, wearing surplices, and singing certain hymns in worship. ad`ige, a river of italy, which rises in the rhetian alps and falls into the adriatic after a course of m.; subject to sudden swellings and overflowings. adipocere, a fatty, spermaceti-like substance, produced by the decomposition of animal matter in moist places. adipose tissue, a tissue of small vesicles filled with oily matter, in which there is no sensation, and a layer of which lies under the skin and gives smoothness and warmth to the body. adirondack mountains, a high-lying, picturesque, granite range in the state of new york; source of the hudson. adjutant, a gigantic indian stork with an enormous beak, about ft. in height, which feeds on carrion and offal, and is useful in this way, as storks are. adler, hermann, son and successor of the following, born in hanover; a vigorous defender of his co-religionists and their faith, as well as their sacred scriptures; was elected chief rabbi in ; _b_. . adler, nathan marcus, chief rabbi in britain, born in hanover ( - ). adlercreutz, a swedish general, the chief promoter of the revolution of , who told gustavus iv. to his face that he ought to retire ( - ). adme`tus, king of pheræ in thessaly, one of the argonauts, under whom apollo served for a time as neat-herd. _see_ alcestis. admirable doctor, a name given to roger bacon. admiral, the chief commander of a fleet, of which there are in britain three grades--admirals, vice-admirals, and rear-admirals, the first displaying his flag on the main mast, the second on the fore, and the third on the mizzen. admiralty, board of, board of commissioners appointed for the management of naval affairs. admiralty island, an island off the coast of alaska. admiralty islands, a group ne. of new guinea, in the pacific, which belong to germany. adolf, friedrich, king of sweden, under whose reign the nobles divided themselves into the two factions of the caps, or the peace-party, and the hats, or the war-party ( - ). adolph, st., a spanish martyr: festival, sept. . adolph of nassau, kaiser from to , "a stalwart but necessitous herr" carlyle calls him; seems to have been under the pay of edward longshanks. adolphus, john, an able london barrister in criminal cases, and a voluminous historical writer ( - ). adona`i, the name used by the jews for god instead of jehovah, too sacred to be pronounced. adona`is, shelley's name for keats. ado`nis, a beautiful youth beloved by aphrodité (venus), but mortally wounded by a boar and changed by her into a flower the colour of his blood, by sprinkling nectar on his body. adoptionists, heretics who in the th century maintained that christ was the son of god, not by birth, but by adoption, and as being one with him in character and will. ador`no, an illustrious plebeian family in genoa, of the ghibelline party, several of whom were doges of the republic. adour, a river of france, rising in the pyrenees and falling into the bay of biscay. adowa`, a highland town in abyssinia, and chief entrepôt of trade. adras`tus, a king of argos, the one survivor of the first expedition of the seven against thebes, who died of grief when his son fell in the second. adrets, baron des, a huguenot leader, notorious for his cruelty; died a catholic ( - ). a`dria, an ancient town between the po and the adige; a flourishing seaport at one time, but now m. from the sea. a`drian, name of six popes: a. i., from to , did much to embellish rome; a. ii., from to , zealous to subject the sovereigns of europe to the popehood; a. iii., from to ; a. v., from to , the only englishman who attained to the papal dignity; a. v., in ; a. vi., from to . see breakspeare. adrian, st., the chief military saint of n. europe for many ages, second only to st. george; regarded as the patron of old soldiers, and protector against the plague. adriano`ple ( ), a city in european turkey, the third in importance, on the high-road between belgrade and constantinople. adria`tic, the, a sea m. long separating italy from illyria, dalmatia, and albania. adullam, david's hiding-place ( sam. xxii. ), a royal canaanitish city m. nw. of hebron. adullamites, an english political party who in deserted the liberal side in protest against a liberal franchise bill then introduced. john bright gave them this name. see sam. xxii. adumbla, a cow, in old norse mythology, that grazes on hoar-frost, "licking the rime from the rocks--a hindu cow transported north," surmises carlyle. advocate, lord, chief counsel for the crown in scotland, public prosecutor of crimes, and a member of the administration in power. advocates, faculty of, body of lawyers qualified to plead at the scottish bar. advocates' library, a library belonging to the faculty of advocates in edinburgh, founded in ; it alone of scotch libraries still holds the privilege of receiving a copy of every book entered at stationers' hall. advocatus diaboli, the devil's advocate, a functionary in the roman catholic church appointed to show reason against a proposed canonization. Æacus, a greek king renowned as an administrator of distributive justice, after death appointed one of the three judges in hades. _see_ minos and rhadamanthus. Ædiles, magistrates of ancient rome who had charge of the public buildings and public structures generally. Æe`tis, king of colchis and father of medea. Æge`an sea, the archipelago. Ægeus, the father of theseus, who threw himself into the Ægean sea, so called after him, in the mistaken belief that his son, who had been to slay the minotaur, had been slain by him. Ægi`na, an island m. sw. of athens, in a gulf of the same name. Ægir, the god of the sea in the norse mythology. Ægis (lit. a goat's skin), the shield of zeus, made of the hide of the goat amalthea (q. v.), representing originally the storm-cloud in which the god invested himself when he was angry; it was also the attribute of athena, bearing in her case the gorgon's head. Ægis`thus. see agamemnon. Æl`fric, a saxon writer of the end of the th century known as the "grammarian." Ælia`nus, claudius, an italian rhetorician who wrote in greek, and whose extant works are valuable for the passages from prior authors which they have preserved for us. Æmi`lius paulus, the roman consul who fell at cannæ, b.c.; also his son, surnamed macedonicus, so called as having defeated perseus at pydna, in macedonia. Æne`as, a trojan, the hero of virgil's "Æneid," who in his various wanderings after the fall of troy settled in italy, and became, tradition alleges, the forefather of the julian gens in rome. Æneas silvius. see piccolomini. Æ`neid, an epic poem by virgil, of which Æneas is the hero. Ænesidemus, a sceptical philosopher, born in crete, who flourished shortly after cicero, and summed up under ten arguments the contention against dogmatism in philosophy. see "schwegler," translated by dr. hutchison stirling. Æolian action, action of the wind as causing geologic changes. Æolian islands, the lipari islands (q. v.). Æo`lians, one of the greek races who, originating in thessaly, spread north and south, and emigrated into asia minor, giving rise to the Æolic dialect of the greek language. Æolotropy, a change in the physical properties of bodies due to a change of position. Æ`olus, the greek god of the winds. Æon, among the gnostics, one of a succession of powers conceived as emanating from god and presiding over successive creations and transformations of being. Æpyor`nis, a gigantic fossil bird of madagascar, of which the egg is six times larger than that of an ostrich. Æ`qui, a tribe on ne. of latium, troublesome to the romans until subdued in b.c. aerated bread, bread of flour dough charged with carbonic acid gas. aerated waters, waters aerated with carbonic acid gas. Æs`chines, a celebrated athenian orator, rival of demosthenes, who in the end prevailed over him by persuading the citizens to believe he was betraying them to philip of macedon, so that he left athens and settled in rhodes, where he founded a school as a rhetorician ( - b.c.). Æs`chylus, the father of the greek tragedy, who distinguished himself as a soldier both at marathon and salamis before he figured as a poet; wrote, it is said, some seventy dramas, of which only seven are extant--the "suppliants," the "persæ," the "seven against thebes," the "prometheus bound," the "agamemnon," the "choephori," and the "eumenides," his plays being trilogies; born at eleusis and died in sicily ( - b.c.). Æscula`pius, a son of apollo and the nymph coronis, whom, for restoring hippolytus to life, zeus, at the prayer of pluto, destroyed with a thunderbolt, but afterwards admitted among the gods as god of medicine and the healing art; the cock, the emblem of vigilance, and the serpent, of prudence, were sacred to him. aeson, the father of jason, was restored to youth by medea. Æ`sop, a celebrated greek fabulist of the th century b.c., of whose history little is known except that he was originally a slave, manumitted by iadmon of samos, and put to death by the delphians, probably for some witticism at their expense. Æso`pus, a celebrated roman actor, a friend of pompey and cicero. Æsthetics, the science of the beautiful in nature and the fine arts. ae`tius, a roman general, who withstood the aggressions of the barbarians for twenty years, and defeated attila at châlons, ; assassinated out of jealousy by the emperor valentinian iii., . Æto`lia, a country of ancient greece n. of the gulf of corinth. affre, archbishop of paris, suffered death on the barricades, as, with a green bough in his hand, he bore a message of peace to the insurgents ( - ). afghan`istan` ( , ), a country in the centre of asia, between india on the east and persia on the west, its length about m. and its breadth about m., a plateau of immense mountain masses, and high, almost inaccessible, valleys, occupying , sq. m., with extremes of climate, and a mixed turbulent population, majority afghans. the country, though long a bone of contention between england and russia, is now wholly under the sphere of british influence. af`ghans, the, a fine and noble but hot-tempered race of the mohammedan faith inhabiting afghanistan. the afghans proper are called pathans in india, and call themselves beni israel (sons of israel), tracing their descent from king saul. afra`nius, a latin comic poet who flourished b.c.; also a roman consul who played a prominent part in the rivalry between cæsar and pompey, b.c. africa, one of the five great divisions of the globe, three times larger than europe, seven-tenths of it within the torrid zone, and containing over , , inhabitants of more or less dark-skinned races. it was long a _terra incognita_, but it is now being explored in all directions, and attempts are everywhere made to bring it within the circuit of civilisation. it is being parcelled out by european nations, chiefly britain, france, and germany, and with more zeal and appliance of resource by britain than any other. africa`nus, julius, a christian historian and chronologist of the rd century. afridis, a treacherous tribe of eight clans, often at war with each other, in a mountainous region on the north-western frontier of india w. of peshawar. afrikan`der, one born in s. africa of european parents. afrit`, a powerful evil spirit in the mohammedan mythology. aga`des, a once important depôt of trade in the s. of the sahara, much decayed. agag, a king of the amalekites, conquered by saul, and hewn in pieces by order of samuel. agamem`non, a son of atreus, king of mycenæ and general-in-chief of the greeks in the trojan war, represented as a man of stately presence and a proud spirit. on the advice of the soothsayer calchas sacrificed his daughter iphigenia (q. v.) for the success of the enterprise he conducted. he was assassinated by Ægisthus and clytæmnestra, his wife, on his return from the war. his fate and that of his house is the subject of Æschylus' trilogy "oresteia." agamogenesis, name given to reproduction without sex, by fission, budding, &c. aganippe, a fountain in boeotia, near helicon, dedicated to the muses as a source of poetic inspiration. ag`ape, love-feasts among the primitive christians in commemoration of the last supper, and in which they gave each other the kiss of peace as token of christian brotherhood. agar-agar, a gum extracted from a sea-weed, used in bacteriological investigations. aga`sias, a sculptor of ephesus, famous for his statue of the "gladiator." agass`iz, a celebrated swiss naturalist, in the department especially of ichthyology, and in connection with the glaciers; settled as a professor of zoology and geology in the united states in ( - ). ag`athe, st., a sicilian virgin who suffered martyrdom at palermo under decius in ; represented in art as crowned with a long veil and bearing a pair of shears, the instruments with which her breast were cut off. festival, feb. . aga`thias, a byzantine poet and historian ( - ). agath`ocles, the tyrant of syracuse, by the massacre of thousands of the inhabitants, was an enemy of the carthaginians, and fought against them; was poisoned in the end ( - b.c.). ag`athon, an athenian tragic poet, a rival of euripides ( - b.c.). ag`athon, st., pope from to . ag`de ( ), a french seaport on the hérault, m. from the mediterranean. a`gen ( ), a town on the garonne, m. above bordeaux. ages, in the greek mythology four--the golden, self-sufficient; the silver, self-indulgent; the brazen, warlike; and the iron, violent; together with the heroic, nobly aspirant, between the third and fourth. in archeology, three--the stone age, the bronze, and the iron. in history, the middle and dark, between the ancient and the modern. in fichte, five--of instinct, of law, of rebellion, of rationality, of conformity to reason. in shakespeare, seven--infancy, childhood, boyhood, adolescence, manhood, age, old age. agesan`der, a sculptor of rhodes of the first century, who wrought at the famous group of the laocoon. agesila`us, a spartan king, victorious over the persians in asia and over the allied thebans and athenians at coronea, but defeated by epaminondas at mantinea after a campaign in egypt; _d_. b.c., aged . aggas, ralph, a surveyor and engraver of the th century, who first drew a plan of london as well as of oxford and cambridge. agglutinate languages, languages composed of parts which are words glued together, so to speak, as cowherd. agincourt`, a small village in pas-de-calais, where henry v. in a bloody battle defeated the french, oct. , . a`gis, the name of several spartan kings, of whom the most famous were agis iii. and iv., the former famous for his resistance to the macedonian domination, _d_. b.c.; and the latter for his attempts to carry a law for the equal division of land, _d_. b.c. aglaia. see graces. ag`nadel, a lombard village, near which louis xii. defeated the venetians in , and vendôme, prince eugène in . agna`no, lake of, a lake near naples, now drained; occupied the crater of an extinct volcano, its waters in a state of constant ebullition. agnello, col d', passage by the s. of monte viso between france and italy. agnes, an unsophisticated maiden in molière's _l'École des femmes_, so unsophisticated that she does not know what love means. agnes, st., a virgin who suffered martyrdom, was beheaded because the flames would not touch her body, under diocletian in ; represented in art as holding a palm-branch in her hand and a lamb at her feet or in her arms. festival, jan. . agnes de mÉranie, the second wife of philip augustus by a marriage in , declared null by the church, who, being dismissed in consequence, died broken-hearted in . agnes sorel, surnamed _dame de beauté_, mistress of charles vii. of france ( - ). agne`si, maria gÆtana, a native of milan, a woman of extraordinary ability and attainments, prelected for her father in mathematics in the university of bologna under sanction of the pope; died a nun at her birthplace ( - ). ag`ni, the god of fire in the vedic mythology, begets the gods, organises the world, produces and preserves universal life, and throughout never ceases to be fire. one of the three terms of the vedic trinity, soma and indra being the other two. agnolo, a florentine artist, friend of michael angelo and raphael, distinguished for his carvings in wood ( - ). agnosticism, the doctrine which disclaims all knowledge of the supersensuous, or denies that we know or can know the absolute, the infinite, or god. agnus dei, the figure of a lamb bearing a cross as a symbol of christ, or a medal with this device; also a prayer in the mass beginning with the words, "lamb of god." agonic line, line along which the needle points due north and south. agora, the forum of a grecian town. agos`ta, a city on east coast of sicily. agoult, countess of, a french authoress under the pseudonym of daniel stern ( - ). agoust, capt. de, a "cast-iron" captain of the swiss guards, who on may , , by order of the court of versailles, marched the parliament of paris out of the palais de justice and carried off the key. see carlyle's "french revolution," bk. i. chap. viii. agou`ti, a rodent, native of brazil, paraguay, and guiana; very destructive to roots and sugar-canes. a`gra ( ), a handsome city on the jumna, in nw. province of india, famous for, among other monuments, the taj mahal, a magnificent mausoleum erected near it by the emperor shah jehan for himself and his favourite wife; it is a centre of trade, and seat of manufactures of indian wares. ag`ram, ( ), a hungarian town, the capital of croatia, with a fine gothic cathedral and a university; is subject to earthquakes. agrarian laws, laws among the romans regulating the division of lands. agric`ola, a roman general, father-in-law of tacitus, who conquered great britain in , recalled by the emperor domitian in , and retired into private life ( - ). agricola, johann, a follower and friend of luther, who became his antagonist in the matter of the binding obligation of the law on christians ( - ). agricola, rudolphus, a learned and accomplished dutchman, much esteemed by erasmus, and much in advance of his time; his most important work, "dialectics," being an attack on the scholastic system ( - ). agrigen`tum, an ancient considerable city, now girgenti, on the s. of sicily, of various fortune, and still showing traces of its ancient grandeur. agrippa, h. cornelius, a native of cologne, of noble birth, for some time in the service of maximilian, but devoted mainly to the study of the occult sciences, which exposed him to various persecutions through life ( - ). agrippa, herod. see herod. agrip`pa, m. vipsanius, a roman general, the son-in-law and favourite of augustus, who distinguished himself at the battle of actium, and built the pantheon of rome ( - b.c.). agrippi`na, the daughter of vipsanius agrippa and julia, and thus the granddaughter of augustus; married germanicus, accompanied him in his campaigns, and brought his ashes to rome on his death, but was banished from rome by tiberius, and _d_. in . agrippina, the daughter of germanicus and the former, born at cologne, and the mother of nero. her third husband was her uncle, the emperor claudian, whom she got to adopt her son, and then poisoned him, in order to place her son on the throne; but the latter, resenting her intolerable ascendancy, had her put to death in . agtelek, a village ne. of pesth, in hungary with vast stalactite caverns, some of them of great height. agua`do, a. m., an enormously wealthy banker of spanish-jewish descent, born in seville, and naturalised in france ( - ). aguas calientes ( ), a high-lying inland trading town in mexico. ague-cheek, sir andrew, a silly squire in "twelfth night." aguesseau`, d', a french magistrate under louis xiv. and louis xv., of unimpeachable integrity and unselfish devotion, a learned jurist and law reformer, and held high posts in the administration of justice ( - ). aguilar, grace, a jewess, born at hackney; authoress of "magic wreath," "home influence," "vale of cedars"; of a delicate constitution, died young ( - ). a`gulhas, cape (i. e. the needles), the most southerly point of africa, m. ese. of the cape, and along with the bank of the whole south coast, dangerous to shipping. a`hab, a king of israel fond of splendour, and partial to the worship of baal ( - b.c.). ahasue`rus, a traditionary figure known as the wandering jew; also the name of several kings of persia. ahaz, a king of judah who first brought judea under tribute to assyria. ahlden, castle of, a castle in lüneburg heath, the nearly lifelong prison-house of the wife of george i. and the mother of george ii. and of sophie dorothea of prussia. ahmadabad ( ), a chief town of guzerat, in the bombay presidency, a populous city and of great splendour in the last century, of which gorgeous relics remain. ahmed, a prince in the "arabian nights," noted for a magic tent which would expand so as to shelter an army, and contract so that it could go into one's pocket. ah`med shah, the founder of the afghan dynasty and the afghan power ( - ). ahmednug`ar ( ), a considerable hindu town m. e. of bombay. aholibah, prostitution personified. see ezek. xxiii. aholibamah, a grand daughter of cain, beloved by a seraph, who at the flood bore her away to another planet. ah`riman, the zoroastrian impersonation of the evil principle, to whom all the evils of the world are ascribed. aidan, st., the archbishop of lindisfarne, founder of the monastery, and the apostle of northumbria, sent thither from iona on the invitation of king oswald in . aignan, st., the bishop of orleans, defended it against attila and his huns in . aiguillon, duke d', corrupt minister of france, previously under trial for official plunder of money, which was quashed, at the corrupt court of louis xv., and the tool of mme. du barry, with whom he rose and fell ( - ). aikin, dr. john, a popular writer, and author, with mrs. barbauld, his sister, of "evenings at home" ( - ). aikman, w., an eminent scotch portrait-painter ( - ). ailly, pierre d', a cardinal of the romish church, and eminent as a theologian, presided at the council of constance which condemned huss ( - ). ailsa craig, a rocky islet of ayrshire, m. nw. of girvan, m. in circumference, which rises abruptly out of the sea at the mouth of the firth of clyde to a height of ft. aimard, gustave, a french novelist, born in paris; died insane ( - ). aimÉ, st., archbishop of sens, in france; _d_. ; festival, th sept. ain, a french river, has its source in the jura mts., and falls into the rhône; also a department of france between the rhône and savoy. ainmiller, a native of münich, the reviver of glass-painting in germany ( - ). ai`nos, a primitive thick-set, hairy race, now confined to yezo and the islands n. of japan, aboriginal to that quarter of the globe, and fast dying out. ainsworth, r., an english latin lexicographer ( - ). ainsworth, w. h., a popular english novelist, the author of "rookwood" and "jack sheppard," as well as novels of an antiquarian and historical character ( - ). ain-tab ( ), a syrian garrison town m. ne. of aleppo; trade in hides, leather, and cotton. aird, thomas, a scottish poet, author of the "devil's dream," the "old bachelor," and the "old scotch village"; for nearly years editor of the _dumfries herald_ ( - ). airdrie ( ), a town in lanarkshire, m. e. of glasgow, in a district rich in iron and coal; is of rapid growth; has cotton-mills, foundries, etc. airds moss, a moor in ayrshire, between the rivers ayr and lugar. aire, a yorkshire river which flows into the ouse; also a french river, affluent of the aisne. airy, sir g. b., an eminent english astronomer, mathematician, and man of science, astronomer-royal from to , retired on a pension; was the first to enunciate the complete theory of the rainbow. aisne, a french river which, after a course of m., falls into the oise near compiègne; also a department in the n. of france. aÏsse, mlle., a circassienne brought to france about ; left letters on french society in the eighteenth century, sparkling with wit and full of interest. aiton, wm., a botanist, born in lanarkshire, the first director of the royal gardens at kew ( - ). aitzema, leo, historian of friesland ( - ). aix ( ), a town, the ancient capital of provence, m. n. of marseilles, the seat of an archbishop and a university; founded by the romans b.c.; near it marius defeated the teutons. aix, isle of, island in the atlantic, at the mouth of the charente. aix-la-chapelle` ( ), in rhenish prussia, one of the oldest cities in germany, made capital of the german empire by charlemagne; derives its name from its mineral springs; is a centre of manufacturing industries and an important trade; is celebrated for its octagonal cathedral (in the middle of which is a stone marking the burial-place of charlemagne), for treaties of peace in and , and for a european congress in . aix-les-bains`, a small town near chambéry, in the dep. of savoy, and much frequented by invalids for its waters and baths. ajac`cio ( ), the capital of corsica, the birthplace of the bonaparte family, of cardinal fesch, and bacciochi. ajalon, valley of, in palestine, scene of a battle between joshua and five canaanitish kings, during which the sun and moon stood still at the prayer of joshua, to enable him to finish his victory. a`jan coast, a district on the e. coast of africa, from cape guardafui to the mouth of the juba, under the protectorate of germany. a`jax the name of two greek heroes in the trojan war, and the synonym of a fiery and impetuous warrior: ajax, the son of telamon of sparta, one of the bravest of the greeks, who, on the death of achilles, contended with ulysses for his arms, but was defeated, in consequence of which he lost his reason and put an end to his life; and ajax, the son of oïleus, swift of foot, like achilles, who suffered shipwreck on his homeward voyage, as a judgment for an outrage he perpetrated on the person of cassandra in the temple of athena in troy. ajmere` ( ), a city in a small territory in the heart of rajputana, under the rule of the viceroy; well built, and contains some famous edifices. ajodhya, an ancient city of oudh, m. e. of lucknow, once, on religious grounds, one of the largest and most magnificent cities of india, now in ruins; the modern town is an insignificant place, but has an annual fair, attended by often , pilgrims. ak`aba, a gulf forming the ne. inlet of the red sea. akakia, doctor, a satire of a very biting nature by voltaire, directed against pretentious pedants of science in the person of maupertuis, the president of the royal academy of sciences at berlin, which so excited the anger of frederick the great, the patron of the academy, that he ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman, after , copies of it had been sold in paris! akakia, martin, physician of francis i., born at châlons-sur-marne, his real name being sans-malice; _d_. . ak`bar, the great mogul emperor of india, who, after a minority of a few years, assumed the reins of government at the age of eighteen, and in ten or twelve years, such was his power of conquest, had the whole of india north of the vindhya mts. subject to his rule. he was wise in government as well as powerful in war, and one of the most large-minded and largest-hearted rulers recorded in history. he reigned half a century ( - ). akenside, mark, an english physician, who wrote, among other productions and pieces, the "hymn to the naiads," especially a poem entitled the "pleasures of imagination," much quoted from at one time, and suggested by the study of addison on the imagination in the _spectator_ ( - ). akers, b. p., an able american sculptor ( - ). akerman` ( ), a fortified town in bessarabia, at the mouth of the dniester. akiba, ben joseph, a famous jewish rabbi of the nd century, a great authority in the matter of jewish tradition, flayed alive by the romans for being concerned in a revolt in . akkas, a wandering race of negro dwarfs in central africa, with large heads and slender necks, who live by hunting. akron ( ), a town in ohio, u.s., seat of manufactures and centre of traffic. aksakof`, a russian littérateur and advocate of panslavism ( - ). aksu ( ), a trading town in e. turkestan, m. ne. of yarkand. ak`yab ( ), the capital of aracan, in british burmah, m. se. of calcutta. al rakim, the dog that guarded the seven sleepers (q. v.), and that stood by them all through their long sleep. alaba`ma ( , ), one of the united states of n. america, traversed by a river of the name, a little larger than england, highly fertile and a great cotton-growing country, and abounding in iron, coal, and marble, bounded on the w. by the mississippi, on the n. by tennessee, and the e. by georgia. alabama, the, a vessel built in birkenhead for the confederates in the late american civil war, for the devastation done by which, according to the decision of a court of arbitration, the english government had to pay heavy damages of three millions of money. alacoque, marie, a french nun of a mystic tendency, the founder of the devotion of the sacred heart ( - ). alad`din, one of the chiefs of the assassins in the th century, better known by the name of the old man of the mountain. aladdin, a character in the "arabian nights," who became possessed of a wonderful lamp and a wonderful ring, by rubbing which together he could call two evil genii to do his bidding. aladinists, free-thinkers among the mohammedans. alago`as ( ), a maritime province of brazil, n. of pernambuco, with tropical products as well as fine timber and dye-woods. alain de l'isle, a professor of theology in the university of paris, surnamed the _doctor universel_ ( - ). alains. see alans. alais` ( ), a town at the foot of the cévennes, in the centre of a mining district; once the stronghold of french protestantism. alaman`ni, luigi, an italian poet and diplomatist, born at florence ( - ). aland isles, a group of small islands in the gulf of bothnia, of which are inhabited; fortified by russia. alans, a barbarous horde from the east, who invaded w. europe in the th and th centuries, but were partly exterminated and partly ousted by the visigoths. alar`con y mendo`za, juan ruiz de, a spanish dramatist born in mexico, who, though depreciated by his contemporaries, ranks after years of neglect among the foremost dramatic geniuses of spain, next even to cervantes and lope de vega; he was a humpback, had an offensive air of conceit, and was very unpopular; he wrote at least twenty dramas, some of which have been translated into french; _d_. in . al`aric i., the king of the visigoths, a man of noble birth, who, at the end of the th and beginning of the th century, ravaged greece, invaded italy, and took and pillaged rome; died at cosenza, in calabria, in , at the early age of thirty-four. alaric ii., king of the visigoths, whose dominions included all gaul and most of spain; defeated by the franks at poitiers, and killed by the hand of clovis, their king, in . alaric cotin, voltaire's nickname for frederick the great, the former in recognition of him as a warrior, the latter as a would-be littérateur, after an indifferent french poet of the name of cotin. alas`co, john, the uncle of sigismund, king of poland, and a zealous promoter in poland of the reformation, the friend of erasmus and zwinglius ( - ). alas`ka ( ), an immense territory belonging to the u.s. by purchase from russia, extending from british n. america to behring strait; it is poor in resources, and the inhabitants, who are chiefly indians and eskimos, live by hunting and fishing, and by the export of salmon; seal fishery valuable, however. alasnam, a hero related of in the "arabian nights" as having erected eight statues of gold, and in quest of a statue for a ninth unoccupied pedestal, finding what he wanted in the person of a beautiful woman for a wife. alas`tor, an avenging spirit, given to torment families whose history has been stained by some crime. a`lava ( ), the southernmost of the three basque provinces of spain, largest, but least populous; rich in minerals, and fertile in soil. alava, ricardo de, a spanish general, born in vittoria, joined the national party, and was aide-de-camp to the duke of wellington, and became eventually ambassador to london and paris ( - ). alba longa, a city of latium older than rome. albacete ( ), a province in spain, with a capital ( ) of same name, m. se. of madrid. alban lake, near alban mount, m. in circuit, occupying the basin of an extinct volcano, its surface ft. above the sea-level. alban mount, a small mountain overlooking alba longa. alban, st., the first martyr in britain to the christian faith in ; represented in art as carrying his head between his hands, having been beheaded. alba`ni, an italian painter, a disciple of caracci, born at bologna; surnamed the anacreon of painting; his pictures more distinguished for grace than vigour. alba`ni, an illustrious roman family, members of which attained the highest dignities in the church, one, clement xi., having been pope. albani, mme., _née_ emma la jeunesse, a well-known and highly popular operatic singer of french-canadian descent; _b_. . alba`nia, a region in balkan peninsula, on the adriatic, extending from servia to greece. albano, lake of, a small crater-like lake m. se. of rome, near which rises the castel gandolfo, where the pope has a villa. albany, the old celtic name for the scottish highlands. albany, a town in w. australia, on king george sound, m. se. of perth, a port of call for australian liners; also the capital ( ) of the state of new york, on the hudson river, a well-appointed city; seat of justice for the state, with a large trade and numerous manufactures. albany, countess of, wife of english pretender, prince charles stuart, a dissolute woman ( - ). albany, the duke of, a title formerly given to a member of the royal family, and revived in the present reign. albany, duchess of, daughter of prince waldeck pyrmont and widow of prince leopold of england; _b_. , widow since . albategni, a distinguished arabian astronomer, born in mesopotamia in the th or th century of our era; his observations extended over years; he so improved the methods and instruments of observation as to earn the title of the ptolemy of the arabs. albatross, the largest and strongest of sea-birds, that ranges over the southern seas, often seen far from land; it is a superstition among sailors that it is disastrous to shoot one. albero`ni, an italian of humble birth, became a cardinal of the church and prime minister to philip v. of spain, wrought hard to restore spain to its ancient grandeur, was defeated in his project by the quadruple alliance of england, france, austria, and holland, and obliged to retire ( - ). albert, archbishop of mainz, a dignity granted him by pope leo x. at the ransom of £ , , which he was unable to pay, and which, as the pope needed it for building st. peter's, he borrowed, the pope granting him the power to sell indulgences in order to repay the loan, in which traffic tetzel was his chief salesman, a trade which roused the wrath of luther, and provoked the german reformation ( - ). albert, the last grandmaster of the teutonic knights, who being "religious in an eminent degree and shaken in his belief" took zealously to protestantism and came under the influence of luther, who advised him to declare himself duke of prussia, under the wing of sigismund of poland, in defiance of the teutonic order as no longer worthy of bed and board on the earth, and so doing, became founder of the prussian state ( - ). albert, markgrave of brandenburg, defined by carlyle "a failure of a fritz," with "features" of a frederick the great in him, "but who burnt away his splendid qualities as a mere temporary shine for the able editors, and never came to anything, full of fire, too much of it wildfire, not in the least like an alcibiades except in the change of fortune he underwent" ( - ). albert, prince, second son of ernest, duke of saxe-coburg-gotha, born aug. , , an accomplished man with a handsome presence, who became the consort of queen victoria in , and from his prudence and tact was held in the highest honour by the whole community, but died at windsor of typhoid fever, dec. , , to the unspeakable sorrow of both queen and country. albert, st., bishop of liège, was assassinated by the emissaries of the emperor henry vi. in . festival, nov. . albert edward. see wales, prince of. albert i., emperor of germany from to , eldest son of rudolf of hapsburg, "a most clutching, strong-fisted, dreadfully hungry, tough, and unbeautiful man, whom his nephew at last had to assassinate, and did assassinate, as he crossed the river reuss with him in a boat, may , ." albert ii., a successor, "who got three crowns--hungary, bohemia, and the imperial--in one year, and we hope a fourth," says the old historian, "which was a heavenly and eternal one," for he died the next year, . albert iii., elector of brandenburg. see achilles of germany. albert medal, a medal of gold and of bronze, instituted in , awarded to civilians for acts of heroism by sea or land. albert the bear, markgrave of brandenburg, called the bear, "not from his looks or qualities, for he was a tall handsome man, but from the cognisance on his shield, an able man, had a quick eye as well as a strong hand, and could pick what way was straightest among crooked things, was the shining figure and the great man of the north in his day, got much in the north and kept it, got brandenburg for one there, a conspicuous country ever since," says carlyle, "and which grows more so in our late times" ( - ). albert nyan`za, a lake in equatorial africa, in the nile basin, discovered by sir samuel baker in , m. long by broad, and feet above sea-level. alber`ta ( ), a fertile region with large forests in british america, on the e. slope of the rocky mountains, the south abounding in cattle ranches, and the mountainous districts in minerals. alberti, an illustrious florentine family, rivals of the medicis and the albrizzi. alber`tus magnus, one of the greatest of the scholastic philosophers and theologians of the middle ages, teacher of thomas aquinas, supreme in knowledge of the arts and sciences of the time, and regarded by his contemporaries in consequence as a sorcerer ( - ). albi, a town of some antiquity and note in s. of france, m. ne. of toulouse. albigen`ses, a religious sect, odious, as heretical, to the church, which sprung up about albi, in the s. of france, in the th century, against which pope innocent iii. proclaimed a crusade, which was carried on by simon de montfort in the th century, and by the inquisition afterwards, to their utter annihilation. albinos, persons or animals with preternaturally pale skin and fair hair, also with pupils of a red or pink colour, and eyes too weak to bear full light. albinus, an able professor of anatomy and therapeutics at leyden ( - ). albion, a white cliff, the ancient name of great britain. alboin, king of the lombards in the th century, from to ; invaded italy as far as the tiber, and set up his capital in pavia; incurred the resentment of his wife, who had him assassinated for forcing her to drink wine out of the skull of her father. alborak, a wonderful horse of mahomet, an impersonation of the lightning as his steed. albor`noz, a spanish statesman, archbishop of toledo, a bold defender of the faith against the moor and a plain-spoken man in the interest of christianity ( - ). albrecht. see albert. albrizzi, a powerful florentine family, rivals of the medicis and the alberti. albue`ra, a spanish village m. se. of badajoz, scene of a victory (may , ) of general beresford over marshal soult. albufe`ra, a lake on the coast of spain, m. s. of valencia, near which marshal suchet gained a victory over the english in . al`bula, swiss mountain pass in the canton of grisons, ft. high. albumen, a glairy substance a constituent of plants and animals, and found nearly pure in the white of an egg or in the serum of the blood. albuquerque`, alfonso d', a celebrated portuguese patriot and navigator, the founder of the portuguese power in india, who, after securing a footing in india for portugal that he sought for, settled in goa, where his recall at the instance of jealous rivals at home gave him such a shock that he died of a broken heart just as he was leaving. the indians long remembered his benign rule, and used to visit his tomb to pray him to deliver them from the oppression of his successors ( - ). albyn, ancient celtic name of scotland. alcÆ`us of mitylene, a greek lyric poet, an aristocrat by birth, a contemporary and an alleged lover of sappho, and much admired by horace; flourished about b.c. alca`la de hena`res ( ), a town in spain, the birthplace of cervantes, m. e. of madrid, long the seat of a famous university founded by cardinal ximenes. alcan`tara, a town of spain, on the tagus, near portugal, with a bridge of six arches, ft. long and ft. high, built in honour of trajan in . the order of alcantara, a religious and military order, was established in here, for defence against the moors, and was suppressed in . alceste, the chief character in molière's _misanthrope_. alces`tis, the wife of admetus, who gave herself up to death to save her husband. hercules descended to the lower world and brought her back. she is the subject of one of the tragedies of euripides. alchemy, the early analysis of substances which has in modern times developed into chemistry, and which aimed chiefly at the discovery of the philosopher's stone, of a universal solvent, and of the elixir of life; it has been defined to be "an art without art, which has its beginning in falsehood, its middle in toil, and its end in poverty." alcibi`ades, an athenian of high birth, and related to pericles, possessed of a handsome person, brilliant abilities, and great wealth, but was of a wayward temper and depraved, whom socrates tried hard to win over to virtue, but failed. he involved his country in a rash expedition against sicily, served and betrayed it by turns in the peloponnesian war, and died by assassination in exile ( - b.c.). alci`des, the grandson of alcæus, a patronymic of hercules. alcin`ous, a king of the phæacians, the father of nausicaa, who figures in the odyssey as the host of ulysses, who had been shipwrecked on his shore. alci`ra ( ), a walled town in spain, on an island m. sw. of valencia. alcman, an early greek lyric poet, born at sardis. alcme`ne, the wife of amphitryon and the mother of hercules. alcmeonidÆ, a powerful athenian family, of which pericles and alcibiades were members, who professed to be descended from alcmæon, the grandson of nestor. alcock, john, an eminent ecclesiastic of the reign of edward iv., distinguished for his love of learning and learned men; _d_. . alcohol, pure or highly rectified spirit obtained from fermented saccharine solutions by distillation, and the intoxicating principle of all spirituous liquors. alcoholism, the results, acute or chronic, of the deleterious action of alcohol on the human system. alcoran`. see korÂn. alcott, louisa mary, a popular american authoress, who acted as a nurse to the wounded during the civil war; her works mostly addressed to the young ( - ). alcoy ( ), a town in spain, n. of alicanti; staple manufacture, paper. al`cuin, a learned englishman, a disciple of bede; invited by charlemagne to introduce scholarly culture into the empire and establish libraries and schools of learning; was one of those men whose work lies more in what they influence others to do than in what they do themselves ( - ). alcy`one, daughter of Æolus, who threw herself into the sea after her husband, who had perished in shipwreck, and was changed into the kingfisher. alde`baran, the bull's-eye, a star of the first magnitude in the eye of the constellation taurus; it is the sun in the arabian mythology. aldehyde, a limpid, very volatile liquid, of a suffocating odour, obtained from the oxidation of alcohol. al`derney ( ), one of the channel islands, or m. long by broad, celebrated for its breed of cows; separated from cape de la hogue by the dangerous race of alderney. al`dershot, a permanent camp, established in , for instruction in military manoeuvres, on a moorland m. sw. of london. aldine editions, editions, chiefly of the classics, issued from the press of aldus manutius in venice in the th century, and remarkable for the correctness of the text and the beauty and clearness of the printing. aldingar, sir, legendary character, the steward of eleanor, wife of henry ii., who accused her of infidelity, and offered to substantiate the charge by combat, when an angel in the form of a child appeared and certified her innocence. aldobrandini, a florentine jurisconsult ( - ). al`dred, bishop of worcester in the reign of edward the confessor, made a pilgrimage to jerusalem, became archbishop of york, and crowned the last of the saxon and the first of the norman kings of england; _d_. . al`drich, dean of oxford, an accomplished ecclesiastic; was a skilful musician, and composed many services for the church; wrote a system of logic, long in use in oxford university ( - ). aldrovan`di, ulysses, a famous italian naturalist of bologna, who collected an immense body of interesting facts in natural history, published partly in his lifetime and partly after his death ( - ). aldus manutius, or aldo manuzio, an italian printer, born at bassano, established a printing-office in venice in , issued the celebrated aldine editions of the classics, and invented the italic type, for the exclusive use of which for many years he obtained a patent, though the honour of the invention is more probably due to his typefounder, franciso de bologna, than to him ( - ). alec`to, one of the three eumenides or furies. aleman`, a spanish novelist, author of the celebrated romance _guzman de alfarache_, which in years ran through editions, was translated several times into french; died in mexico in . aleman`ni, a confederacy of tribes which appeared on the banks of the rhine in the rd cent., and for long gave no small trouble to rome, but whose incursions were arrested, first by maximinus, and finally by clovis in , who made them subject to the franks, hence the modern names in french for germany and the germans. alemte`jo ( ), a southern province of portugal; soil fertile to the east. alenÇon ( ), a town in the dep. of orne, m. w. of paris, once famous for its lace. alenÇon, counts and dukes of, a title borne by several members of the house of valois--e. g. charles of valois, who fell at crécy ( ); jean iv., who fell at agincourt ( ). alep`po ( ), a city in northern syria, one of the finest in the east, once one of the greatest trading centres in the world. ale`sia, a strong place in the e. of gaul, which, as situated on a hill and garrisoned by , gauls, cost cæsar no small trouble to take. alesius, or alane, a noted reformer, born in edinburgh, converted to protestantism by patrick hamilton; was driven first from scotland and then from england, till he settled as a theological professor in germany, and took an active part in the reformation there ( - ). alessandria ( ), a strongly fortified and stirring town on the tenaro, in northern italy, the centre of railways, m. se. of turin. alessi, architect, born at perugia, architect of the monastery and church of the escurial, q. v. ( - ). aletsch glacier, the, the largest of the glaciers of the alps, which descends round the south of the jungfrau into the valley of the upper rhône. aleu`tian islands ( ) a chain of volcanic islands, in number, stretching over the n. pacific from alaska in n. america, to kamchatka, in asia. alexander the great, the king of macedonia, son of philip by olympias, daughter of neoptolemus, king of epirus; born at pella, b.c.; had the philosopher aristotle for tutor, and being instructed by him in all kinds of serviceable knowledge, ascended the throne on the death of his father, at the age of ; after subduing greece, had himself proclaimed generalissimo of the greeks against the persians, and in years after his accession crossed the hellespont, followed by , foot and horse; with these conquered the army of darius the persian at granicus in and at issus in ; subdued the principal cities of syria, overran egypt, and crossing the euphrates and tigris, routed the persians at arbela; hurrying on farther, he swept everything before him, till the macedonians refusing to advance, he returned to babylon, when he suddenly fell ill of fever, and in eleven days died at the early age of . he is said to have slept every night with his homer and his sword under his pillow, and the inspiring idea of his life, all unconsciously to himself belike, is defined to have been the right of greek intelligence to override and rule the merely glittering barbarity of the east. alexander, st., patriarch of alexandria from to , contributed to bring about the condemnation of arius at the council of nice; festival, feb . alexander, solomon, first protestant bishop of jerusalem, of jewish birth, cut off during a journey to cairo ( - ). alexander iii., pope, successor to adrian iv., an able man, whose election barbarossa at first opposed, but finally assented to; took the part of thomas à becket against henry ii. and canonised him, as also st. bernard. pope from to . alexander vi., called borgia from his mother, a spaniard by birth, obtained the popehood by bribery in in succession to innocent viii., lived a licentious life and had several children, among others the celebrated lucretia and the infamous cæsar borgia; _d_. in , after a career of crime, not without suspicion of poison. in addition to alexanders iii. and vi., six of the name were popes: alexander i., pope from to ; alexander ii., pope from to ; alexander iv., pope from to ; alexander v., pope from to ; alexander vii., pope from to , who was forced to kiss his hand to louis xiv.; alexander viii., pope from to . alexander i., king of scotland, son of malcolm canmore and margaret, sister of edgar atheling, a vigorous prince, surnamed on that account _the fierce_; subdued a rising in the north, and stood stoutly in defence of the independent rights of both crown and church against the claim of supremacy over both on the part of england; _d_. . alexander ii., of scotland, successor of william the lion, his father, a just and wise ruler, aided the english barons against john, and married joan, the sister of henry iii.; _d_. . alexander iii., son of the preceding, married a daughter of henry iii., sided with him against the barons, successfully resisted the invasion of haco, king of norway, and on the conclusion of peace gave his daughter in marriage to haco's successor eric; accidentally killed by falling over a cliff near kinghorn when hunting in . alexander i., emperor of russia, son and successor of paul i., took part in the european strife against the encroachments of napoleon, was present at the battle of austerlitz, fought the french at pultusk and eylau, was defeated at friedland, had an interview with napoleon at tilsit in , entered into a coalition with the other powers against france, which ended in the capture of paris and the abdication of napoleon in . under his reign russia rose into political importance in europe ( - ). alexander ii., emperor of russia, son and successor of nicholas i., fell heir to the throne while the siege of sebastopol was going on; on the conclusion of a peace applied himself to reforms in the state and the consolidation and extension of the empire. his reign is distinguished by a ukase decreeing in the emancipation of the serfs numbering millions, by the extension of the empire in the caucasus and central asia, and by the war with turkey in the interest of the slavs in - , which was ended by the peace of san stephano, revised by the treaty of berlin. his later years were clouded with great anxiety, owing to the spread of nihilism, and he was killed by a bomb thrown at him by a nihilist ( - ). alexander iii., emperor of russia, son of the preceding, followed in the footsteps of his father, and showed a marked disposition to live on terms of peace with the other powers; his reign not distinguished by any very remarkable event. the present czar is his son and successor ( - ). alexander i., king of servia, _b_. . alexander nevsky, grand-duke of russia, conquered the swedes, the danes, and the teutonic knights on the banks of the neva, freed russia from tribute to the mongols, is one of the saints of the russian church. alexander of hales, the _doctor irrefragabilis_ of the schools, an english ecclesiastic, a member of the franciscan order, who in his "summa universæ theologiæ" formulated, by severe rigour of aristotelian logic, the theological principles and ecclesiastical rites of the romish church; _d_. in . alexander of paris, a norman poet of the th century, who wrote a poem on alexander the great in twelve-syllabled lines, called after him alexandrines. alexander of the north, charles xii. of sweden. alexander seve`rus, a roman emperor, a wise, virtuous, and pious prince, conquered artaxerxes, king of persia, in an expedition against him, but setting out against the germans, who were causing trouble on the frontiers of the empire, fell a victim, along with his mother, to an insurrection among his troops not far from mainz ( - ). alexan`dria ( ), a world-famous city, the chief port of egypt, founded by alexander the great in b.c., at one time a great centre of learning, and in possession of the largest library of antique literature in the world, which was burned by the caliph omar in ; at one time a place of great commerce, but that has very materially decayed since the opening of the suez canal. alexandria, from its intimate connection with both east and west, gave birth in early times to a speculative philosophy which drew its principles from eastern as well as western sources, which was at its height on the first encounter of these elements. alexandria ( ), a town on the potomac, m. s. of washington, accessible to vessels of the largest size; also a thriving town ( ) on the river leven, m. n. of dumbarton. alexandrian codex, an ms. on parchment of the septuagint scriptures in greek in uncial letters, which belonged to the library of the patriarchs of alexandra. alexandrian library, the library burned by the caliph omar in , said to have contained , volumes. alexandri`na lake, a lake in australia into which the river murray flows. alexandrine philosophy, a gnostic philosophy, combining eastern with western forms of thought. alexandrines. see alexander of paris. alexan`dropol ( ), the largest town in the erivan district of russian armenia, and a fortress of great strength. alexis, st., the patron saint of beggars and pilgrims, represented in art with a staff and in a pilgrim's habit; sometimes lying on a mat, with a letter in his hand, dying. alexis michaelovitch, czar of russia, the father of peter the great, the first czar who acted on the policy of cultivating friendly relations with other european states ( - ). alexis petrovitch, son of peter the great, conspired against his father as he had broken the heart of his mother, was condemned to death; after his trial by secret judges he was found dead in prison ( - ). alexius comne`nus, emperor of the east, began life as a soldier, was a great favourite with the soldiers, who, in a period of anarchy, raised him to the throne at the period of the first crusade, when the empire was infested by turks on the one hand and normans on the other, while the crusaders who passed through his territory proved more troublesome than either. he managed to hold the empire together in spite of these troubles, and to stave off the doom that impended all through his reign of thirty-seven years ( - ). alfa, an esparto grass valuable for making paper. al`fadur, the all-father or uncreated supreme in the norse mythology. alfara`bi, an arabian philosopher of the th century, had avicenna for a disciple, wrote on various subjects, and was the first to attempt an encyclopedic work. alfie`ri, an italian dramatist, spent his youth in dissipation before he devoted himself to the dramatic art; on the success of his first drama "cleopatra," met at florence with the countess of albany, the wife of charles edward stuart, on whose death he married her; was at paris when the revolution broke out, and returned to florence, where he died and was buried. tragedy was his _forte_ as a dramatist ( - ). alfonsine tables, astronomical tables drawn up at toledo by order of alfonso x. in to correct the anomalies in the ptolemaic tables; they divided the year into days, hours, minutes, seconds. alfonso i., the "conqueror," founder of the kingdom of portugal, was the first king, originally only count, as his father before him; in that capacity took up arms against the moors, and defeating them had himself proclaimed king on the field of battle, a title confirmed to him by the pope and made good by his practically subjecting all portugal to his sway ( - ). alfonso x., the wise, or the astronomer, king of castile and leon, celebrated as an astronomer and a philosopher; after various successes over the moors, first one son and then another rose against him and drove him from the throne; died of chagrin at seville two years later. his fame connects itself with the preparation of the alfonsine tables, and the remark that "the universe seemed a crank machine, and it was a pity the creator had not taken advice." it was a saying of his, "old wood to burn, old books to read, old wine to drink, and old friends to converse with" ( - ). alfonso iii., surnamed the great, king of asturias, ascended the throne in , fought against and gained numerous victories over the moors; the members of his family rose against him and compelled him to abdicate, but on a fresh incursion of the moors he came forth from his retreat and triumphantly beat them back; died in zamora, . alford, henry, vicar of wymeswold and afterwards dean of canterbury; his works and writings were numerous, and included poems and hymns. his great work, however, was an edition of the greek new testament, with notes, various readings, and comments ( - ). alford, michael, a learned english jesuit, left two great works, "britannia illustrata" and "annales ecclesiastici et civiles britannorum." alfred, duke of saxe-coburg and gotha, son of prince albert and queen victoria; _b_. . alfred the great, king of the west saxons, and the most celebrated and greatest of all the saxon kings. his troubles were with the danes, who at the time of his accession infested the whole country north of the thames; with these he fought nine battles with varied success, till after a lull of some years he was surprised by gunthrum, then king, in , and driven to seek refuge on the island of athelney. not long after this he left his retreat and engaged gunthrum at edington, and after defeating him formed a treaty with him, which he never showed any disposition to break. after this alfred devoted himself to legislation, the administration of government, and the encouragement of learning, being a man of letters himself. england owes much to him both as a man and a ruler, and it was he who in the creation of a fleet laid the first foundation of her greatness as monarch of the deep. his literary works were translations of the "general history" of orosius, the "ecclesiastical history" of bede, boëthius's "consolations of philosophy," and the "cura pastoralis" of pope gregory, all executed for the edification of his subjects ( - ). algÆ, sea-weeds and plants of the same order under fresh water as well as salt; they are flowerless, stemless, and cellular throughout. algar`di, an italian sculptor of note, born at bologna; his greatest work is an alto-relievo, the largest existing, of pope leo restraining attila from marching on rome ( - ). algaro`tti, francesco, a clever italian author, born at venice, whom, for his wit, frederick the great was attached to and patronised, "one of the first _beaux esprits_ of the age," according to wilhelmina, frederick's sister. except his wit, it does not appear frederick got much good out of him, for the want of the due practical faculty, all the faculty he had having evaporated in talk ( - ). algar`ve ( ), the southernmost province of portugal, hilly, but traversed with rich valleys, which yield olives, vines, oranges, &c. algebra, a universal arithmetic of arabian origin or arabian transmission, in which symbols are employed to denote operations, and letters to represent number and quantity. alge`ria, in the n. of africa, belongs to france, stretches between morocco on the w. and tripoli and tunis on the e., the country being divided into the tell along the sea-coast, which is fertile, the atlas highlands overlooking it on the s., on the southern slopes of which are marshy lakes called "shotts," on which alfa grows wild, and the sahara beyond, rendered habitable here and there by the creation of artesian wells; its extent nearly equal in area to that of france, and the population numbers about four millions, of which only a quarter of a million is french. the country is divided into departments, of which algiers, oran, and constantine are the respective capitals. it has been successively under the sway of the carthaginians, the romans, the vandals, the arabs, the byzantines, and the berbers, which last were in the th century supplanted by the turks. at the end of this period it became a nest of pirates, against whom a succession of expeditions were sent from several countries of europe, but it was only with the conquest of it by the french in that this state of things was brought to an end. algesi`ras ( ), a town and port in spain on the bay of gibraltar, m. across the bay; for centuries a stronghold of the moors, but taken from them by alfonso ix. after a siege of twenty months. algiers` ( ), the capital of algeria, founded by the arabs in , called the "silver city," from the glistening white of its buildings as seen sloping up from the sea, presenting a striking appearance, was for centuries under its bey the head-quarters of piracy in the mediterranean, which only began to cease when lord exmouth bombarded the town and destroyed the fleet in the harbour. since it fell into the hands of the french the city has been greatly improved, the fortifications strengthened, and its neighbourhood has become a frequent resort of english people in winter. algine, a viscous gum obtained from certain sea-weeds, used as size for textile fabrics, and for thickening soups and jellies. algo`a bay, an inlet at the e. of cape colony, m. wide, on which port elizabeth stands, m. e. of the cape of good hope. al`gol, a double star in the constellation perseus, of changing brightness. algonquins, one of the three aboriginal races of n. american indians, originally occupying nearly the whole region from the churchill and hudson bay southward to n. carolina, and from the e. of the rocky mts. to newfoundland; the language they speak has been divided into five dialects. alham`bra (red castle), an ancient palace and stronghold of the moorish kings of granada, founded by muhammed ii. in , decorated with gorgeous arabesques by usuf i. ( ), erected on the crest of a hill which overlooks granada; has suffered from neglect, bad usage, and earthquake. a`li, the cousin of mahomet, and one of his first followers at the age of sixteen, "a noble-minded creature, full of affection and fiery daring. something chivalrous in him; brave as a lion; yet with a grace, a truth and affection worthy of christian knighthood." became caliph in , died by assassination in the mosque at bagdad; the sheiks yearly commemorate his death. see carlyle's "heroes." ali baba. see baba, ali. a`li pasha, pasha of janina, a bold and crafty albanian, able man, and notorious for his cruelty as well as craft; alternately gained the favour of the porte and lost it by the alliances he formed with hostile powers, until the sultan sentenced him to deposition, and sent hassan pasha to demand his head; he offered violent resistance but being overpowered at length surrendered, when his head was severed from his body and sent to constantinople ( - ). alican`te ( ), the third seaport-town in spain, with a spacious harbour and strongly fortified, in a province of the same name on the mediterranean. aligarh` ( ), a town with a fort between agra and delhi, the garrison of which mutinied in . alighie`ri, the family name of dante. al`ima, an affluent on the right bank of the congo, in french territory. alimentary canal, a passage or times the length of the body, lined throughout with mucous membrane, extends from the mouth to the anus, and includes mouth, fauces, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines. alison, archibald, an episcopal clergyman in edinburgh, of which he was a native, best known for his "essay on the nature and principles of taste" ( - ). alison, sir archibald, son of the preceding, a lawyer who held several prominent legal appointments, and a historian, his great work being a "modern history of europe from the french revolution to the fall of napoleon," afterwards extended to the "accession of louis napoleon" ( - ). alison, w. pulteney, brother of the preceding, professor of medicine in edinburgh university, and a philanthropist ( - ). aliwal`, a village in the punjab, on the sutlej, where sir harry smith gained a brilliant victory over the sikhs, who were provided with forces in superior numbers, in . al`kahest, the presumed universal solvent of the alchemists. alkalies, bodies which, combining with acids form salts, are soluble in water, and properly four in number, viz., potash, soda, lithia, and ammonia. alkaline earths, earths not soluble in water, viz., lime, magnesia, strontia, and baryta. alkaloids, bodies of vegetable origin, similar in their properties, as well as toxicologically, to alkalies; contain as a rule carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen; many of them are poisonous and invaluable in medicine. alkmaar` ( ), the capital of n. holland, m. nw. of amsterdam, with a large trade in cattle, grain, and cheese. alkmer, henrik van, the reputed author of the first german version of "reynard the fox." all the talents, administration of, a ministry formed by lord grenville on the death of pitt in . al`lah, the adorable, the arab name for god, adopted by the mohammedans as the name of the one god. allahabad` ( ), the city of god, a central city of british india, on the confluence of the ganges and the jumna, m. from calcutta, and on the railway between that city and bombay. allan, david, a scottish portrait and historical painter, born at alloa; illustrated ramsay's "gentle shepherd"; his greatest work is the "origin of painting," now in the national gallery at edinburgh ( - ). allan, sir william, a distinguished scottish historical painter, born at edinburgh, many of his paintings being on national subjects; he was a friend of scott, who patronised his work, and in succession to wilkie, president of the royal scottish academy; painted "circassian captives" and "slave-market at constantinople" ( - ). allantois, a membrane enveloping the foetus in mammals, birds, and reptiles. allard`, a french general, entered the service of runjeet singh at lahore, trained his troops in european war tactics, and served him against the afghans; died at peshawar ( - ). allegha`ny ( ), a manufacturing city in pennsylvania, on the ohio, opposite pittsburg, of which it is a kind of suburb. allegha`ny mountains, a range in the appalachian system in u.s., extending from pennsylvania to n. carolina; do not exceed ft. in height, run parallel with the atlantic coast, and form the watershed between the atlantic rivers and the mississippi. allegorical interpretation, assigning a higher than a literal interpretation to the scripture record of things, in particular the old testament story. allegory, a figurative mode of representation, in which a subject of a higher spiritual order is described in terms of that of a lower which resembles it in properties and circumstances, the principal subject being so kept out of view that we are left to construe the drift of it from the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject. allegri, the family name of correggio; the name of an italian composer, born at rome, the author of a still celebrated _miserere_ ( - ). al`leine, joseph, a puritan writer, author of a book once, and to some extent still, much in favour among religious people, entitled "alarm to the unconverted" ( - ). allen, bog of, a dreary expanse of bogs of peat e. of the shannon, in king's co. and kildare, ireland; lough of, an expansion of the waters of the shannon. allen, ethan, one of the early champions of american independence, taken prisoner in a raid into canada; wrote a defence of deism and rational belief ( - ). allen, grant, man of letters, born in kingston, canada, , and a prolific writer; an able upholder of the evolution doctrine and an expounder of darwinism. allen, john, an m.d. of scotch birth, and a contributor to the _edinburgh review_ ( - ). allen, wm., a distinguished chemist and philanthropist, son of a spitalfields weaver, a member of the society of friends, and a devoted promoter of its principles ( - ). allentown ( ), a town on the lehigh river, m. nw. of philadelphia, the great centre of the iron trade in the u.s. alle`rion, in heraldry, an eagle with expanded wings, the points turned downwards, and without beak or feet. alleyn, edward, a celebrated actor in the reigns of elizabeth and james i., the founder of dulwich college, and was voluntarily along with his wife one of its first beneficiaries and inmates; was a contemporary of shakespeare ( - ). al`lia, a stream flowing into the tiber m. from rome, where the romans were defeated by the gauls under brennus, b.c. alliance, the triple, in , between england, holland, and sweden against louis xiv.; the quadruple, in , between france, england, holland, and the empire to maintain the treaty of utrecht; the holy, in , between russia, austria, and prussia against liberal ideas; the triple, in , between germany, austria, and russia, at the instigation of bismarck, from which russia withdrew in , when italy stepped into her place. under it the signatories in guarantee the integrity of their respective territories. allier, a confluent of the river loire, in france, near nevers; also the department through which it flows. allies, the name generally given to the confederate powers who in and entered france and restored the bourbons. allies, thomas william, an english clergyman who turned roman catholic, and wrote, in defence of the step, among others, the "see of st. peter, the rock of the church." alligator, a n. american fresh-water crocodile, numerous in the mississippi and the lakes and rivers of louisiana and carolina; subsists on fish, and though timid, is dangerous when attacked; is slow in turning, however, and its attacks can be easily evaded. allingham, william, a poet and journalist, born in ireland, of english origin; his most celebrated works are "day and night songs" and "lawerence bloomfield in ireland"; was for a time editor of _fraser's magazine_ ( - ). allman, george j., m.d., emeritus professor of natural history in edinburgh, an eminent naturalist; born in ireland ( - ). alloa ( ), a thriving seaport on north bank of the forth, in clackmannan, m. below stirling, famous for its ale. allob`roges, a celtic race troublesome to the romans, who occupied the country between the rhône and the lake of geneva, corresponding to dauphiné and savoy. allopathy, in opposition to homoeopathy, the treatment of disease by producing a condition of the system different from or opposite to the condition essential to the disease to be cured. allotropy, the capability which certain compounds show of assuming different properties and qualities, although composed of identical elements. alloway, the birthplace of burns, on the doon, m. from ayr, the assumed scene of tam o' shanter's adventure. alloway kirk, a ruin s. of ayr, celebrated as the scene of the witches' dance in "tam o' shanter." all-saints' day, the st of november, a feast dedicated to all the saints. all-souls' day, a festival on the nd november to pray for the souls of the faithful deceased, such as may be presumed to be still suffering in purgatory. allspice, the berry of the pimento, or jamaica pepper. allston, washington, an american painter and poet, whose genius was much admired by coleridge ( - ). alma, a river in the crimea, half-way between eupatoria and sebastopol, where the allied english, french, and turkish armies defeated the russians under prince menschikoff, sept. , . almack's, a suite of assembly rooms, afterwards known as willis's rooms, where select balls used to be given, admission to which was a certificate of high social standing. almaden ( ), a town on the northern slope of the sierra morena, in spain, with rich mines of quicksilver. alma`gro, diego d', a confederate of pizzaro in the conquest of peru, but a quarrel with the brothers of pizzaro about the division of the spoil on the capture of cuzco, the capital of chile, led to his imprisonment and death ( - ).--diego d', his son, who avenged his death by killing pizzaro, but being conquered by vaca de castro, was himself put to death ( - ). al-mamoun, the son of haroun-el-raschid, the th abbaside caliph, a great promoter of science and learning; _b_. . almanach de gotha, a kind of european peerage, published annually by perthes at gotha; of late years extended so as to include statesmen and military people, as well as statistical information. almansur, abu giafar, the nd abbaside caliph and the first of the caliphs to patronise learning; founded bagdad, and made it the seat of the caliphate; _d_. . almansur, abu mohammed, a great moorish general in the end of the th century, had overrun and nearly made himself master of all spain, when he was repulsed and totally defeated by the kings of leon and navarre in . al`ma-tad`ema, laurence, a distinguished artist of dutch descent, settled in london; famous for his highly-finished treatment of classic subjects; _b_. . almaviva, a character in beaumarchais' _marriage de figaro_, representative of one of the old noblesse of france, recalling all their manners and vices, who is duped by his valet figaro, a personification of wit, talent, and intrigue. almeida, a strong fortress in the province of beira, on the spanish frontier of portugal. almeida, francesco, the first portuguese viceroy of india, a firm and wise governor, superseded by albuquerque, and killed on his way home by the kaffirs at the cape in .--lorenzo, his son, acting under him, distinguished himself in the indian seas, and made ceylon tributary to portugal. almeria ( ), a chief town and seaport in the s. of spain, an important and flourishing place, next to granada, under the moors, and at one time a nest of pirates more formidable than those of algiers. almighty dollar, the almighty whom the americans are charged with worshipping, first applied to them, it would seem, by washington irving. almohades, a moslem dynasty which ruled in n. africa and spain from to . almo`ra, a high-lying town at the foot of the himalayas, m. n. of bareilly. almoravides, a moslem dynasty which subdued first fez and morocco, and then s. spain, from to . alnwick, the county town of northumberland, on the aln; at the north entrance is alnwick castle, the seat of the duke of northumberland, one of the most magnificent structures of the kind in england, and during the border wars a place of great strength. aloe, a genus of succulent plants embracing species, the majority natives of s. africa, valuable in medicine, in particular a purgative from the juice of the leaves of several species. aloes wood, the heart of certain tropical trees, which yields a fragrant resinous substance and admits of high polish. alost ( ), a belgian town on the dender, m. nw. from brussels, with a cathedral, one of the grandest in belgium, which contains a famous painting by rubens, "st. roche beseeching christ to arrest the plague at alost." aloysius, st., see gonzaga. aloysius, st., an italian nobleman, who joined the society of jesus; canonised for his devotion to the sick during the plague in rome, to which he himself fell a victim, june , . alpaca, a gregarious ruminant of the camel family, a native of the andes, and particularly the tablelands of chile and peru; is covered with a long soft silky wool, of which textile fabrics are woven; in appearance resembles a sheep, but is larger in size, and has a long erect neck with a handsome head. alp-arslan (brave lion), a sultan of the seljuk dynasty in persia, added armenia and georgia to his dominions ( - ). alpes, three departments in se. france: the basses-a, in ne. part of provence, bounded by hautes-alpes on the n. and var on the s., sterile in the n., fertile in the s., cap. digne; hautes-a., forming part of dauphiné, traversed by the cottian alps, climate severe, cap. gap; a. maritimes, e. of the basses-a., bordering on italy and the mediterranean, made up of the territory of nice, ceded by italy, and of monaco and var; cap. nice. alphe`us, a river in the peloponnesus, flowing west, with its source in arcadia; also the name of the river-god enamoured of the nymph arethusa, and who pursued her under the sea as far as sicily, where he overtook her and was wedded to her. alpine club, a club of english gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the alps, members of which have successfully addressed themselves to attempts of the kind on loftier mountains. alpine plants, plants whose natural habitat approaches the line of perpetual snow. alps, the, the vastest mountain system in europe; form the boundary between france, germany, and switzerland on the n. and w., and italy on the s., their peaks mostly covered with perpetual snow, the highest being mont blanc, within the frontiers of france. according to height, they have been distributed into _fore, middle_, and _high:_ the fore rising to the limit of trees; the middle, to the line of perpetual snow; and the high, above the snow-line. in respect of range or extent, they have been distributed into _western, middle_, and _eastern:_ the western, including the maritime, the cottian, the dauphiné, and the graian, extend from the mediterranean to mont blanc; the middle, including the pennine and bernese, extend from mont blanc to the brenner pass; and the eastern, including the dolomite, the julian, and the dinaric, extend from the brenner and hungarian plain to the danube. these giant masses occupy an area of , sq. m., and extend from the th to the th parallel of latitude. alpujar`ras, a rich and lovely valley which stretches s. from the sierra nevada in spain. alruna-wife, the household goddess of a german family. alsace-lorraine` ( , ), a territory originally of the german empire, ceded to louis xiv. by the peace of westphalia in , but restored to germany after the franco-german war in - , by the peace of frankfort; is under a governor general bearing the title of "statthalter"; is a great wine-producing country, yields cereals and tobacco, its cotton manufacture the most important in germany. alsa`tia, whitefriars, london, which at one time enjoyed the privilege of a debtors' sanctuary, and had, till abolished in , become a haunt of all kinds of nefarious characters. alsen ( ), a danish island adjacent to sleswig, one of the finest in the baltic, now ceded to germany. al-sirat, the hair-narrow hell-bridge of the moslem, which every mohammedan must pass to enter paradise. alsten, an island off the coast of northland, norway, with seven snow-capped hills, called the seven sisters. altai` mountains, in central asia, stretching w. from the desert of gobi, and forming the s. boundary of asiatic russia, abounding, to the profit of russia, in silver and copper, as well as other metals. altdor`fer, albrecht, a german painter and engraver, a distinguished pupil of albert dürer, and as a painter, inspired with his spirit; his "battle of arbela" adorns the münich picture gallery ( - ). al`ten, karl august, a distinguished officer, native of hanover, who entered the british service, bore arms under sir john moore, was chief of a division, under wellington, in the peninsular war, and closed his military career at the battle of waterloo ( - ). al`tenburg ( ), capital of saxe-altenburg, and m. s. of leipsic; its castle is the scene of the famous "prinzenraub" (q. v.), related by carlyle in his "miscellanies." althen, a persian refugee, who introduced into france the cultivation of madder, which became one of the most important products of the s. of france. alton locke, a novel, by charles kingsley, written in sympathy with the chartist movement, in which carlyle is introduced as one of the personages. alto`na ( ), a town and seaport of sleswig-holstein, now belonging to germany, close to hamburg, on the right bank of the elbe, and healthier, and as good as forming one city with it. alto-relievo, figures carved out of a tablet so as to project at least one half from its surface. al`torf, an old town in the canton uri, at the s. end of the lake of lucerne; associated with the story of william tell; a place of transit trade. altruism, a comtist doctrine which inculcates sacrifice of self for the good of others as the rule of human action. alumbra`do, a member of a spanish sect that laid claim to perfect enlightenment. alured of beverley, an english chronicler of the th century; his annals comprise the history of the britons, saxons, and normans up to his own time; _d_. . alva, duke of, a general of the armies of charles v. and philip of spain; his career as a general was uniformly successful, but as a governor his cruelty was merciless, especially as the viceroy of philip in the low countries, "very busy cutting off high heads in brabant, and stirring up the dutch to such fury as was needful for exploding spain and him" ( - ). alvara`do, pedro de, one of the spanish conquerors of mexico, and comrade of cortez; was appointed governor of guatemala by charles v. as a reward for his valiant services in the interest of spain; was a generous man as well as a brave. alvarez, francesco, a portuguese who, in the th century, visited abyssinia and wrote an account of it. alvarez, don josÉ, the most distinguished of spanish sculptors, born near cordova, and patronised by napoleon, who presented him with a gold medal, but to whom, for his treatment of his country, he conceived so great an aversion, that he would never model a bust of him ( - ). alviano, an eminent venetian general, distinguished himself in the defence of the republic against the emperor maximilian ( - ). amadeus, lake, a lake in the centre of australia, subject to an almost total drying-up at times. amade`us v., count of savoy, surnamed the great from his wisdom and success as a ruler ( - ). amadeus viii., st duke of savoy, increased his dominions, and retired into a monastery on the death of his wife; he was elected pope as felix v., but was not acknowledged by the church ( - ). amadeus i., of spain, nd son of victor emmanuel of italy, elected king of spain in , but abdicated in ( - ). am`adis de gaul, a celebrated romance in prose, written partly in spanish and partly in french by different romancers of the th century; the first four books were regarded by cervantes as a masterpiece. the hero of the book, amadis, surnamed the knight of the lion, stands for a type of a constant and deferential lover, as well as a model knight-errant, of whom don quixote is the caricature. amadou, a spongy substance, consisting of slices of certain fungi beaten together, used as a styptic, and, after being steeped in saltpetre, used as tinder. amaimon, a devil who could he restrained from working evil from the third hour till noon and from the ninth till evening. amalaric, king of the visigoths, married a daughter of clovis; _d_. . amalekites, a warlike race of the sinaitic peninsula, which gave much trouble to the israelites in the wilderness; were as good as annihilated by king david. amal`fi, a port on the n. of the gulf of salerno, m. se. of naples; of great importance in the middle ages, and governed by doges of its own. amalfian laws, a code of maritime law compiled at amalfi. ama`lia, anna, the duchess of weimar, the mother of the grand-duke; collected about her court the most illustrious literary men of the time, headed by goethe, who was much attached to her ( - ). amalric, one of the leaders in the crusade against the albigenses, who, when his followers asked him how they were to distinguish heretics from catholics, answered, "kill them all; god will know his own;" _d_. . amalthe`a, the goat that suckled zeus, one of whose horns became the cornucopia--horn of plenty. ama`ra sinha, a hindu buddhist, left a valuable thesaurus of sanskrit words. ama`ri, michele, an italian patriot, born at palermo, devoted a great part of his life to the history of sicily, and took part in its emancipation; was an orientalist as well; he is famous for throwing light on the true character of the sicilian vespers ( - ). amaryl`lis, a shepherdess in one of virgil's pastorals; any young rustic maiden. ama`sia ( ), a town in asia minor, once the capital of the kings of pontus. ama`sis, king of egypt, originally a simple soldier, took part in an insurrection, dethroned the reigning monarch and assumed the crown, proved an able ruler, and cultivated alliances with greece; reigned from to b.c. ama`ti, a celebrated family of violin-makers; andrea and niccolo, brothers, at cremona, in the th and th centuries. amatitlan ( ), a town in guatemala, the inhabitants of which are mainly engaged in the preparation of cochineal. amaurosis, a weakness or loss of vision, the cause of which was at one time unknown. amazon, a river in s. america and the largest on the globe, its basin nearly equal in extent to the whole of europe; traverses the continent at its greatest breadth, rises in the andes about m. from the pacific, and after a course of m. falls by a delta into the atlantic, its waters increased by an immense number of tributaries, of which are above m. in length, one m., its mouth m. wide; its current affects the ocean m. out; is navigable m. up, and by steamers as far as the foot of the andes. amazons, a fabulous race of female warriors, who had a queen of their own, and excluded all men from their community; to perpetuate the race, they cohabited with men of the neighbouring nations; slew all the male children they gave birth to, or sent them to their fathers; burnt off the right breasts of the females, that they might be able to wield the bow in war. ambassador, "an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth" (_wotton_). amber, a fossil resin, generally yellow and semi-transparent, derived, it is presumed, from certain extinct coniferous trees; becomes electric by friction, and gives name to electricity, the greek word for it being _electron_; has been fished up for centuries in the baltic, and is now used in varnishes and for tobacco pipes. amberger, a painter of nürnberg in the th century, a disciple of holbein, his principal work being the history of joseph in twelve pictures. ambergris, an ashy-coloured odorous substance used in perfumery, presumed to be a morbid fragment of the intestines of the spermaceti whale, being often found floating on the ocean which it frequents. amberley, lord, son of lord john russell, wrote an "analysis of religious belief," which, as merely sceptical, his father took steps to secure the suppression of, without success. ambleside, a small market-town near the head of lake windermere, in the wordsworth or so-called lake district. amblyopsis, a small fish without eyes, found in the mammoth cave, u.s. amboise ( ), a town on the loire, m. e. of tours, with a castle, once the residence of the french kings. the conspiracy of a., the conspiracy of condé and the huguenots in against francis ii., catharine de medici, and the guises. the edict of a. ( ) conceded the free exercise of their worship to the protestants. amboise, george de, cardinal, the popular prime minister of louis xii., who, as such, reduced the public burdens, and as the pope's legate in france effected a great reform among the religious orders; is said to have died immensely rich ( - ). amboyna ( ), with a chief city of the name, the most important of the moluccas, in the malay archipelago, and rich before all in spices; it belongs to the dutch, who have diligently fostered its capabilities. am`brose, st., bishop of milan, born at trèves, one of the fathers of the latin church, and a zealous opponent of the arian heresy; as a stern puritan refused to allow theodosius to enter his church, covered as his hands were with the blood of an infamous massacre, and only admitted him to church privilege after a severe penance of eight months; he improved the church service, wrote several hymns, which are reckoned his most valuable legacy to the church; his writings fill two vols. folio. he is the patron saint of milan; his attributes are a _scourge_, from his severity; and a _beehive_, from the tradition that a swarm of bees settled on his mouth when an infant without hurting him ( - ). festival, dec. . ambro`sia, the fragrant food of the gods of olympus, fabled to preserve in them and confer on others immortal youth and beauty. amelia, a character in one of fielding's novels, distinguished for her conjugal affection. amende honorable, originally a mode of punishment in france which required the offender, stripped to his shirt, and led into court with a rope round his neck held by the public executioner, to beg pardon on his knees of his god, his king, and his country; now used to denote a satisfactory apology or reparation. amerbach, johann, a celebrated printer in basel in the th century, the first who used the roman type instead of gothic and italian; spared no expense in his art, taking, like a true workman, a pride in it; _d_. . america, including both north and south, m. in length, varies from m. to m. in breadth, contains ½ millions of sq. m., is larger than europe and africa together, but is a good deal smaller than asia; bounded throughout by the atlantic on the e. and the pacific on the w. america, british n., is bounded on the n. by the arctic ocean, on the e. by the atlantic, on the s. by the united states, and on the w. by the pacific; occupies one-third of the continent, and comprises the dominion of canada and newfoundland. america, central, extends from mexico on the north to panama on the south, and is about six times as large as ireland; is a plateau with terraces descending to the sea on each side, and rich in all kinds of tropical vegetation; consists of seven political divisions: guatemala, san salvador, british honduras, honduras, nicaragua, mosquitia, and costa rica. america, north, is m. in length, contains over ½ millions sq. m., is less than half the size of asia, consists of a plain in the centre throughout its length, a high range of mountains, the rocky, on the w., and a lower range, the appalachian, on the e., parallel with the coast, which is largely indented with gulfs, bays, and seas; has a magnificent system of rivers, large lakes, the largest in the world, a rich fauna and flora, and an exhaustless wealth of minerals; was discovered by columbus in , and has now a population of millions, of which a fourth are negroes, aborigines, and half-caste; the divisions are british north america, united states, mexico, central american republics, british honduras, the west indian republics, and the spanish, british, french, and dutch west indies. america, russian, now called alaska; belongs by purchase to the united states. america, south, lies in great part within the tropics, and consists of a high mountain range on the west, and a long plain with minor ranges extending therefrom eastward; the coast is but little indented, but the amazon and the plate rivers make up for the defect of seaboard; abounds in extensive plains, which go under the names of llanos, selvas, and pampas, while the river system is the vastest and most serviceable in the globe; the vegetable and mineral wealth of the continent is great, and it can match the world for the rich plumage of its birds and the number and splendour of its insect tribes. america, spanish, the islands of cuba and puerto rico, till lately belonging to spain, though the designation is often applied to all the countries in n. america where spanish is the spoken language. american fabius, george washington. american indians, a race with a red or copper-coloured skin, coarse black straight hair, high cheek-bones, black deep-set eyes, and tall erect figure, limited to america, and seems for most part fast dying out; to be found still as far south as patagonia, the patagonians being of the race. ameri`go-vespuc`ci, a florentine navigator, who, under the auspices first of spain, and afterwards of portugal, four times visited the new world, just discovered by columbus, which the first cartographers called america, after his name; these visits were made between and , while columbus's discovery, as is known, was in ( - ). ames, joseph, historian of early british typography, in a work which must have involved him in much labour ( - ). amha`ra, the central and largest division of abyssinia. amherst, lord, a british officer who distinguished himself both on the continent and america, and particularly along with general wolfe in securing for england the superiority in canada ( - ). amice, a flowing cloak formerly worn by pilgrims, also a strip of linen cloth worn over the shoulder of a priest when officiating at mass. am`iel, a professor of æsthetics, and afterwards of ethics at geneva, who is known to the outside world solely by the publication of selections from his journal in - , which teems with suggestive thoughts bearing on the great vital issues of the day, and which has been translated into english by mrs. humphrey ward. amiens` ( ), the old capital of picardy, on the somme, with a cathedral begun in , described as the "parthenon of gothic architecture," and by ruskin as "gothic, clear of roman tradition and of arabian taint, gothic pure, authoritative, unsurpassable, and unaccusable"; possesses other buildings of interest; was the birthplace of peter the hermit, and is celebrated for a treaty of peace between france and england concluded in . amiran`tes, a group of small coral islands ne. of madagascar, belonging to britain; are wooded, are in number, and only a few feet above the sea-level. ammana`ti, bartolomeo, a florentine architect and sculptor of note, was an admirer of michael angelo, and executed several works in rome, venice, and padua ( - ). ammia`nus marcelli`nus, a greek who served as a soldier in the roman army, and wrote a history of the roman empire, specially valuable as a record of contemporary events; _d_. . ammirato, an italian historian, author of a history of florence ( - ). am`mon, an egyptian deity, represented with the head of a ram, who had a temple at thebes and in the lybian desert; was much resorted to as an oracle of fate; identified in greece with zeus, and in rome with jupiter. ammonia, a pungent volatile gas, of nitrogen and hydrogen, obtained from sal-ammonia. ammonio, andrea, a latin poet born in lucca, held in high esteem by erasmus; sent to england by the pope, he became latin secretary to henry and a prebendary of salisbury; _d_. . ammonites, a semitic race living e. of the jordan; at continual feud with the jews, and a continual trouble to them, till subdued by judas maccabæus. ammonites, a genus of fossil shells curved into a spiral form like the ram-horn on the head of the image of ammon. ammo`nius saccas, a philosopher of alexandria, and founder of neo-platonism; longinus, origen, and plotinus were among his pupils; _d_. , at a great age. amnion, name given to the innermost membrane investing the foetus in the womb. amoeba, a minute animalcule of the simplest structure, being a mere mass of protoplasm; absorbs its food at every point all over its body by means of processes protruded therefrom at will, with the effect that it is constantly changing its shape. amomum, a genus of plants, such as the cardamom and grains of paradise, remarkable for their pungency and aromatic properties. amorites, a powerful canaanitish tribe, seemingly of tall stature, ne. of the jordan; subdued by joshua at gibeon. amory, thomas, an eccentric writer of irish descent, author of the "life of john buncle, esq.," and other semi-insane productions; he was a fanatical unitarian ( - ). amos, a poor shepherd of tekoa, near bethlehem, in judah, who in the th century b.c. raised his voice in solitary protest against the iniquity of the northern kingdom of israel, and denounced the judgment of god as lord of hosts upon one and all for their idolatry, which nothing could avert. amoy` ( ), one of the open ports of china, on a small island in the strait of fukien; has one of the finest harbours in the world, and a large export and import trade; the chief exports are tea, sugar, paper, gold-leaf, &c. ampÈre`, andrÉ marie, a french mathematician and physicist, born at lyons; distinguished for his discoveries in electro-dynamics and magnetism, and the influence of these on electro-telegraphy and the general extension of science ( - ). ampÈre, jean jacques, son of the preceding; eminent as a littérateur, and a historian and critic of literature; attained to the rank of a member of the french academy ( - ). amphic`tyonic council, a council consisting of representatives from several confederate states of ancient greece, twelve in number at length, two from each, that met twice a year, sitting alternately at thermopylæ and delphi, to settle any differences that might arise between them, the decisions of which were several times enforced by arms, and gave rise to what were called _sacred wars_, of which there were three; it was originally instituted for the conservation of religious interests. amphi`on, a son of zeus and antiope, who is said to have invented the lyre, and built the walls of thebes by the sound of it, a feat often alluded to as an instance of the miraculous power of music. amphisbÆna, a genus of limbless lizards; a serpent fabled to have two heads and to be able to move backward or forward. am`phitrite, a daughter of oceanus or nereus, the wife of neptune, mother of triton, and goddess of the sea. amphit`ryon, the king of tiryns, and husband of alcmene, who became by him the mother of iphicles, and by zeus the mother of hercules. amphitryon the true, the real host, the man who provides the feast, as zeus proved himself to the household to be when he visited alcmene. am`ran range, pronounced the "scientific frontier" of india towards afghanistan. amrit`sar ( ), a sacred city of the sikhs in the punjab, and a great centre of trade, m. e. of lahore; is second to delhi in northern india; manufactures cashmere shawls. am`ru, a mohammedan general under the caliph omar, conquered egypt among other military achievements; he is said to have executed the order of the caliph omar for burning the library of alexandria; _d_. . amsterdam ( ), the capital of holland, a great trading city and port at the mouth of the amsel, on the zuyder zee, resting on islands connected by bridges, the houses built on piles of wood driven into the marshy ground; is a largely manufacturing place, as well as an emporium of trade, one special industry being the cutting of diamonds and jewels; birthplace of spinoza. amur`, a large eastward-flowing river, partly in siberia and partly in china, which, after a course of m., falls into the sea of okhotsk. amurnath, a place of pilgrimage in cashmere, on account of a cave believed to be the dwelling-place of siva. amyot, jacques, grand-almoner of france and bishop of auxerre; was of humble birth; was tutor of charles, who appointed him grand-almoner; he was the translator, among other works, of plutarch into french, which remains to-day one of the finest monuments of the old literature of france, it was much esteemed by montaigne ( - ). amyot, joseph, a french jesuit missionary to china, and a learned orientalist ( - ). anabaptists, a fanatical sect which arose in saxony at the time of the reformation, and though it spread in various parts of germany, came at length to grief by the excesses of its adherents in münster. see baptists. anab`asis, an account by xenophon of the ill-fated expedition of cyrus the younger against his brother artaxerxes, and of the retreat of the , greeks under xenophon who accompanied him, after the battle of cunaxa in b.c. anacharsis, a scythian philosopher of the th century b.c., who, in his roamings in quest of wisdom, arrived at athens, and became the friend and disciple of solon, but was put to death on his return home by his brother; he stands for a scythian savant living among a civilised people, as well as for a wise man living among fools. anacharsis clootz. see clootz. anacon`da, a gigantic serpent of tropical america. anac`reon, a celebrated greek lyric poet, a native of teos, in asia minor; lived chiefly at samos and athens; his songs are in praise of love and wine, not many fragments of them are preserved ( - b.c.). anacreon of painters, francesco albani; a. of persia, häfiz; a. of the guillotine, barère. anadyom`ene, aphrodité, a name meaning "emerging," given to her in allusion to her arising out of the sea; the name of a famous painting of apelles so representing her. anadyr, a river in siberia, which flows into behring sea. anag`ni, a small town m. se. of rome, the birthplace of several popes. anahuac`, a plateau in central mexico, ft. of mean elevation; one of the names of mexico prior to the conquest of it by the spaniards. an`akim, a race of giants that lived in the s. of palestine, called also sons of anak. anam`alah mountains, a range of the w. ghâts in travancore. anamu`di, the highest point in the anamalah mts., ft. anarchism, a projected social revolution, the professed aim of which is that of the emancipation of the individual from the present system of government which makes him the slave of others, and of the training of the individual so as to become a law to himself, and in possession, therefore, of the right to the control of all his vital interests, the project definable as an insane attempt to realise a social system on the basis of absolute individual freedom. anasta`sius, the name of four popes: a. i., the most eminent, pope from to ; a. ii., pope from to ; a. iii., pope from to ; a. iv., pope from to . anastasius, st., a martyr under nero; festival, april . anastasius i., emperor of the east, excommunicated for his severities to the christians, and the first sovereign to be so treated by the pope ( - ). anato`lia, the greek name for asia minor. anatomy of melancholy, a "mosaic" work by burton, described by professor saintsbury as "a wandering of the soul from dan to beersheba, through all employments, desires, pleasures, and finding them barren except for study, of which in turn the _tædium_ is not obscurely hinted." anaxag`oras, a greek philosopher of clazomenæ, in ionia, removed to athens and took philosophy along with him, i. e. transplanted it there, but being banished thence for impiety to the gods, settled in lampsacus, was the first to assign to the _nous_, conceived of "as a purely immaterial principle, a formative power in the origin and organisation of things"; _d_. b.c. anaxar`chus, a greek philosopher of the school of democritus and friend of alexander the great. anaximander, a greek philosopher of miletus, derived the universe from a material basis, indeterminate and eternal ( - b.c.). anaxim`enes, also of miletus, made air the first principle of things; _d_. b.c.; a., of lampsacus, preceptor and biographer of alexander the great. ancÆus, a son of neptune, who, having left a flagon of wine to pursue a boar, was killed by it. ancelot, a french dramatic poet, distinguished both in tragedy and comedy; his wife also a distinguished writer ( - ). ancenis ( ), a town on the loire, m. ne. of nantes. ancestor-worship, the worship of ancestors that prevails in primitive nations, due to a belief in animism (q. v.). anchieta, a portuguese jesuit, born at teneriffe, called the apostle of the new world ( - ). anchi`ses, the father of Æneas, whom his son bore out of the flames of troy on his shoulders to the ships; was buried in sicily. anchitherium, a fossil animal with three hoofs, the presumed original of the horse. anchovy, a small fish captured for the flavour of its flesh and made into sauce. anchovy pear, fruit of a w. indian plant, of the taste of the mango. ancient mariner, a mariner doomed to suffer dreadful penalties for having shot an albatross, and who, when he reaches land, is haunted by the recollection of them, and feels compelled to relate the tale of them as a warning to others; the hero of a poem by coleridge. ancillon, frederick, a prussian statesman, philosophic man of letters, and of french descent ( - ). anco`na ( ), a port of italy in the adriatic, second to that of venice; founded by syracusans. ancre, marshal, a profligate minister of france during the minority of louis xiii. ancus marcius, th king of rome, grandson of numa, extended the city and founded ostia. andalusia ( , ), a region in the s. of spain watered by the guadalquivir; fertile in grains, fruits, and vines, and rich in minerals. andamans, volcanic islands in the bay of bengal, surrounded by coral reefs; since used as a penal settlement. andelys, les, a small town on the seine, m. ne. of evreux, divided into great and little. andermatt, a central swiss village in uri, m. s. of altorf. andersen, hans christian, a world-famous story-teller of danish birth, son of a poor shoemaker, born at odense; was some time before he made his mark, was honoured at length by the esteem and friendship of the royal family, and by a national festival on his seventieth birthday ( - ). anderson, james, a scotch lawyer, famous for his learning and his antiquarian knowledge ( - ). anderson, james, native of hermiston, near edinburgh, a writer on agriculture and promoter of it in scotland ( - ). anderson, john, a native of roseneath, professor of physics in glasgow university, and the founder of the andersonian college in glasgow ( - ). anderson, lawrence, one of the chief reformers of religion in sweden ( - ). anderson, mary, a celebrated actress, native of california; in married m. navarro de viano of new york; _b_. . anderson, sir edmund, lord chief-justice of common pleas under elizabeth, sat as judge at the trial of mary, queen of scots. anderson's reports is still a book of authority; _d_. . andes, an unbroken range of high mountains, of them actively volcanic, which extend, often in double and triple chains, along the west of south america from cape horn to panama, a distance of m., divided into the southern or chilian as far as ½° s., the central as far as ° s., and the northern to their termination. andocides, an orator and leader of the oligarchical faction in athens; was four times exiled, the first time for profaning the eleusinian mysteries ( - b.c.). andor`ra ( ), a small republic in the e. pyrenees, enclosed by mountains, under the protection of france and the bishop of urgel, in catalonia; cattle-rearing is the chief occupation of the inhabitants, who are a primitive people and of simple habits. andover, an old municipal borough and market-town in hampshire, m. sw. of london; also a town m. from boston, u.s., famous for its theological seminary, founded in . andral, gabriel, a distinguished french pathologist, professor in paris university ( - ). an`drassy, count, a hungarian statesman, was exiled from to , became prime minister in , played a prominent part in diplomatic affairs on the continent to the advantage of austria ( - ). andre, john, a brave british officer, tried and hanged as a spy in the american war in ; a monument is erected to him in westminster abbey. andrÉ ii., king of hungary from to , took part in the fifth crusade. andrea del sarto. see sarto. andrea pisano, a sculptor and architect, born at pisa, contributed greatly to free modern art from byzantine influence ( - ). andreossy, count, an eminent french general and statesman, served under napoleon, ambassador at london, vienna, and constantinople, advocated the recall of the bourbons on the fall of napoleon. andreossy, franÇois, an eminent french engineer and mathematician ( - ). andrew, st., one of the apostles, suffered martyrdom by crucifixion, became patron saint of scotland; represented in art as an old man with long white hair and a beard, holding the gospel in his right hand, and leaning on a transverse cross. andrew, st., russian order of, the highest order in russia. andrew, st., the cross of, cross like a x, such having, it is said, been the form of the cross on which st. andrew suffered. andrewes, lancelot, an english prelate, born in essex, and zealous high churchman in the reign of elizabeth and james i.; eminent as a scholar, a theologian, and a preacher; in succession bishop of ely, chichester, and winchester; was one of the hampton court conference, and of the translators of the authorised version of the bible; he was fervent in devotion, but of his sermons the criticism of a scotch nobleman, when he preached at holyrood once, was not inappropriate: "he rather plays with his subject than preaches on it" ( - ). andrews, joseph, a novel by fielding, and the name of the hero, who is a footman, and the brother of richardson's pamela. andrews, thomas, an eminent physicist, born and professor in belfast ( - ). andrieux, st., a french littérateur and dramatist, born at strassburg, professor in the college of france, and permanent secretary to the academy ( - ). andro`clus, a roman slave condemned to the wild beasts, but saved by a lion, sent into the arena to attack him, out of whose foot he had long before sucked a thorn that pained him, and who recognised him as his benefactor. androm`ache, the wife of hector and the mother of astyanax, famous for her conjugal devotion; fell to pyrrhus, achilles' son, at the fall of troy, but was given up by him to hector's brother; is the subject of tragedies by euripides and racine respectively. androm`eda, a beautiful ethiopian princess exposed to a sea monster, which perseus slew, receiving as his reward the hand of the maiden; she had been demanded by neptune as a sacrifice to appease the nereids for an insult offered them by her mother. androni`cus, the name of four byzantine emperors: a. i., comnenus, killed his ward, alexis ii., usurped the throne, and was put to death, ; a. ii., lived to see the empire devastated by the turks ( - ); a. iii., grandson of the preceding, dethroned him, fought stoutly against the turks without staying their advances ( - ); a. iv. dethroned his father, soter v., and was immediately stripped of his possessions himself ( - ). andronicus, livius, the oldest dramatic poet in the latin language ( b.c.). andronicus of rhodes, a disciple of aristotle in the time of cicero, and to whom we owe the preservation of many of aristotle's works. andros ( ), the most northern of the cyclades, fertile soil and productive of wine and silk. androuet du cerceau`, an eminent french architect who designed the pont neuf at paris ( - ). andujar ( ), a town of andalusia, on the guadalquivir, noted for the manufacture of porous clay water-cooling vessels. anemometer, an instrument for measuring the force, course, and velocity of the wind. aneroid, a barometer, consisting of a small watch-shaped, air-tight, air-exhausted metallic box, with internal spring-work and an index, affected by the pressure of the air on plates exposed to its action. aneu`rin, a british bard at the beginning of the th century, who took part in the battle of cattraeth, and made it the subject of a poem. aneurism, a tumour, containing blood, on the coat of an artery. angara, a tributary of the yenisei, which passes through lake baikal. angel, an old english coin, with the archangel michael piercing the dragon on the obverse of it. angel-fish, a hideous, voracious fish of the shark family. angelic doctor, thomas aquinas. angel`ica, a faithless lady of romance, for whose sake orlando lost his heart and his senses. angelica draught, something which completely changes the affection. angelico, fra, an italian painter, born at mugello, in tuscany; became a dominican monk at fiesole, whence he removed to florence, and finally to rome, where he died; devoted his life to religious subjects, which he treated with great delicacy, beauty, and finish, and conceived in virgin purity and child-like simplicity of soul; his work in the form of fresco-painting is to be found all over italy ( - ). an`gelus, a devotional service in honour of the incarnation. angers` ( ), on the maine, the ancient capital of anjou, m. sw. of paris, with a fine cathedral, a theological seminary, and a medical school; birthplace of david the sculptor. angerstein, john, born in st. petersburg, a distinguished patron of the fine arts, whose collection of paintings, bought by the british government, formed the nucleus of the national gallery ( - ). angi`na pec`toris, an affection of the heart of an intensely excruciating nature, the pain of which at times extends to the left shoulder and down the left arm. angler, a fish with a broad, big-mouthed head and a tapering body, both covered with appendages having glittering tips, by which, as it burrows in the sand, it allures other fishes into its maw. angles, a german tribe from sleswig who invaded britain in the th century and gave name to england. an`glesea ( ), i. e. island of the angles, an island forming a county in wales, separated from the mainland by the menai strait, flat, fertile, and rich in minerals. anglesey, marquis of, eldest son of the first earl of uxbridge, famous as a cavalry officer in flanders, holland, the peninsula, and especially at waterloo, at which he lost a leg, and for his services at which he received his title; was some time viceroy in ireland, where he was very popular ( - ). anglia, east territory in england occupied in the th century by the angles, corresponding to counties of norfolk and suffolk. ang`lican church, the body of episcopal churches all over the british empire and colonies, as well as america, sprung from the church of england, though not subject to her jurisdiction, the term _anglo-catholic_ being applied to the high church section. anglo-saxon, the name usually assigned to the early inflected form of the english language. ango`la ( , ), a district on the w. coast of africa, between the congo and benguela, subject to portugal, the capital of which is st. paul de loando. ango`ra ( ), a city in the centre of anatolia, in a district noted for its silky, long-haired animals, cats and dogs as well as goats. angostu`ra, capital of the province of guayana, in venezuela, m. up the orinoco; also a medicinal bark exported thence. angoulÊme` ( ), an old french city on the charente, m. ne. of bordeaux, with a fine cathedral, the birthplace of marguerite de valois and balzac. angoulÊme, charles de valois, duc d', natural son of charles ix., gained great reputation as a military commander, left memoirs of his life ( - ). angoulÊme, duc d', the eldest son of charles x., after the revolution of gave up his rights to the throne and retired to goritz ( - ). angoulÊme, duchesse d', daughter of louis xvi. and wife of the preceding ( - ). an`gra, the capital of the azores, on the island of terceira, a fortified place. an`gra peque`na, a port in sw. africa, n. of the orange river, and the nucleus of the territory belonging to germany. ang`strom, a swedish physicist and professor at upsala, distinguished for his studies on the solar spectrum; _b_. . anguil`la ( ), or snake island, one of the lesser antilles, e. of porto rico, belonging to britain. anguier, the name of two famous french sculptors in the th century. an`halt ( ), a duchy of central germany, surrounded and split up by prussian saxony, and watered by the elbe and saale; rich in minerals. anhalt-dessau, leopold, prince of, a prussian field-marshal, served and distinguished himself in the war of the spanish succession and in italy, was wounded at cassano; defeated charles xii. at the isle of rügen, and the saxons and austrians at kesseldorf ( - ). anichini, an italian medallist of the th century; executed a medal representing the interview of alexander the great with the high priest of the jews, which michael angelo pronounced the perfection of the art. aniline, a colourless transparent oily liquid, obtained chiefly from coal-tar, and extensively used in the production of dyes. animal heat, the heat produced by the chemical changes which go on in the animal system, the intensity depending on the activity of the process. animal magnetism, a name given to the alleged effects on the animal system, in certain passive states, of certain presumed magnetic influences acting upon it. animism, a belief that there is a psychical body within the physical body of a living being, correspondent with it in attributes, and that when the connection between them is dissolved by death the former lives on in a ghostly form; in other words, a belief of a ghost-soul existing conjointly with and subsisting apart from the body, its physical counterpart. an`io, an affluent of the tiber, m. above rome; ancient rome was supplied with water from it by means of aqueducts. anise, an umbelliferous plant, the seed of which is used as a carminative and in the preparation of liqueurs. anjou`, an ancient province in the n. of france, annexed to the crown of france under louis xi. in ; belonged to england till wrested from king john by philip augustus in . ankarstrÖm, the assassin of gustavus iii. of sweden, at a masked ball, march , , for which he was executed after being publicly flogged on three successive days. anklam ( ), an old hanse town in pomerania, connected by railway with stettin. ankobar, capital of shoa, in abyssinia; stands ft. above the sea-level. ann arbor ( ), a city of michigan, on the huron, with an observatory and a flourishing university. anna comne`na, a byzantine princess, who, having failed in a political conspiracy, retired into a convent and wrote the life of her father, alexius i., under the title of the "alexiad" ( - ). an`na ivanov`na, niece of peter the great, empress of russia in succession to peter ii. from to ; her reign was marred by the evil influence of her paramour biren over her, which led to the perpetration of great cruelties; was famed for her big cheek, "which, as shown in her portraits," carlyle says, "was comparable to a westphalian ham" ( - ). an`nam ( , ), an empire, of the size of sweden, along the east coast of indo-china, under a french protectorate since ; it has a rich well-watered soil, which yields tropical products, and is rich in minerals. an`nan ( ), a burgh in dumfries, on river annan; birthplace of edward irving, and where carlyle was a schoolboy, and at length mathematical schoolmaster. annap`olis ( ), seaport of nova scotia, on the bay of fundy; also the capital ( ) of maryland, u.s., m. e. of washington. anne, queen, daughter of james ii.; by the union of scotland with england during her reign in became the first sovereign of the united kingdom; her reign distinguished by the part england played in the war of the spanish succession and the number of notabilities, literary and scientific, that flourished under it, though without any patronage on the part of the queen ( - ). anne, st., wife of st. joachim, mother of the virgin mary, and the patron saint of carpentry; festival, july . anne of austria, the daughter of philip iii. of spain, wife of louis xiii., and mother of louis xiv., became regent on the death of her husband, with cardinal mazarin for minister; during the minority of her son, triumphed over the fronde; retired to a convent on the death of mazarin ( - ). anne of brittany, the daughter of francis ii., duke of brittany; by her marriage, first to charles viii. then to louis xii., the duchy was added to the crown of france ( - ). anne of clÈves, daughter of duke of clèves, a wife of henry viii., who fell in love with the portrait of her by holbein, but being disappointed, soon divorced her; _d_. . annecy ( ), the capital of haute-savoie, in france, on a lake of the name, m. s. of geneva, at which the counts of geneva had their residence, and where francis of sales was bishop. annobon, a spanish isle in the gulf of guinea. annonay ( ), a town in ardèche, france; paper the chief manufacture. annunciation day, a festival on the th of march in commemoration of the salutation of the angel to the virgin mary on the incarnation of christ. anquetil`, louis pierre, a french historian in holy orders, wrote "précis de l'histoire universelle" and a "histoire de france" in vols.; continued by bouillet in more ( - ). anquetil`-duperron, brother of the preceding, an enthusiastic orientalist, to whom we owe the discovery and first translation of the zend-avesta and schopenhauer his knowledge of hindu philosophy, and which influenced his own system so much ( - ). ansbach ( ), a manufacturing town in bavaria, m. sw. of nürnberg, the capital of the old margraviate of the name, and the margraves of which were hohenzollerns (q. v.). anschar or ansgar, st., a frenchman born, the first to preach christianity to the pagans of scandinavia, was by appointment of the pope the first archbishop of hamburg ( - ). anselm, st., archbishop of canterbury, a native of aosta, in piedmont, monk and abbot; visited england frequently, gained the favour of king rufus, who appointed him to succeed lanfranc, quarrelled with rufus and left the country, but returned at the request of henry i., a quarrel with whom about investiture ended in a compromise; an able, high-principled, god-fearing man, and a calmly resolute upholder of the teaching and authority of the church ( - ). see carlyle's "past and present." anson, lord, a celebrated british naval commander, sailed round the world, during war on the part of england with spain, on a voyage of adventure with a fleet of three ships, and after three years and nine months returned to england, his fleet reduced to one vessel, but with £ , of spanish treasure on board. anson's "voyage round the world" contains a highly interesting account of this, "written in brief, perspicuous terms," witnesses carlyle, "a real poem in its kind, or romance all fact; one of the pleasantest little books in the world's library at this time" ( - ). anstruther, east and west, two contiguous royal burghs on the fife coast, the former the birthplace of tennant the poet, thomas chalmers, and john goodsir the anatomist. antÆus, a mythical giant, a _terræ filius_ or son of the earth, who was strong only when his foot was on the earth, lifted in air he became weak as water, a weakness which hercules discovered to his discomfiture when wrestling with him. the fable has been used as a symbol of the spiritual strength which accrues when one rests his faith on the immediate fact of things. antal`cidas, a spartan general, celebrated for a treaty which he concluded with persia whereby the majority of the cities of asia minor passed under the sway of the persians, to the loss of the fruit of all the victories gained over them by athens ( b.c.). antananari`vo ( ), the capital of madagascar, in the centre of the island, on a well-nigh inaccessible rocky height ft. above the sea-level. antar, an arab chief of the th century, a subject of romance, and distinguished as a poet. ant-eaters, a family of edentate mammals, have a tubular mouth with a small aperture, and a long tongue covered with a viscid secretion, which they thrust into the ant-hills and then withdraw covered with ants. antelope, an animal closely allied to the sheep and the goat, very like the latter in appearance, with a light and elegant figure, slender, graceful limbs, small cloven hoofs, and generally a very short tail. anteque`ra ( ), a town in andalusia, m. n. of malaga, a stronghold of the moors from to . anthe`lia, luminous rings witnessed in alpine and polar regions, seen round the shadow of one's head in a fog or cloud opposite the sun. anthe`mius, the architect of the church of st. sophia in constantinople; _d_. . anthon, charles, a well-known american classical scholar and editor of the classics ( - ). anthrax, a disease, especially in cattle, due to the invasion of a living organism which, under certain conditions, breeds rapidly; called also splenic fever. anthropoid apes, a class of apes, including the gorilla, chimpanzee, orang-outang, and gibbon, without tails, with semi-erect figures and long arms. anthropology, the science of man as he exists or has existed under different physical and social conditions. anthropomorphism, the ascription of human attributes to the unseen author of things. anti`bes ( ) a seaport and place of ancient date on a peninsula in the s. of france, near cannes and opposite nice. antichrist, a name given in the new testament to various incarnations of opposition to christ in usurpation of his authority, but is by st. john defined to involve that form of opposition which denies the doctrine of the incarnation, or that christ has come in the flesh. anticosti, a barren rocky island in the estuary of st lawrence, frequented by fishermen, and with hardly a permanent inhabitant. antig`one`, the daughter of oedipus, king of thebes, led about her father when he was blind and in exile, returned to thebes on his death; was condemned to be buried alive for covering her brother's exposed body with earth in defiance of the prohibition of creon, who had usurped the throne; creon's son, out of love for her, killed himself on the spot where she was buried. she has been immortalised in one of the grandest tragedies of sophocles. antigone, the modern, the duchess of angoulême, daughter of louis xv. see the parting scene in carlyle's "french revolution." antig`onus, surnamed the cyclops or one-eyed, one of the generals of alexander the great, made himself master of all asia minor, excited the jealousy of his rivals; was defeated and slain at ipsus, in phrygia, b.c. antigonus, the last king of the jews of the asmonean dynasty; put to death in b.c. antigonus gonatas, king of macedonia, grandson of the preceding; twice deprived of his kingdom, but recovered it; attempted to prevent the formation of the achæan league ( - b.c.). antigua, one of the leeward islands, the seat of the government; the most productive of them belongs to britain. antilles, an archipelago curving round from n. america to s. america, and embracing the caribbean sea; the greater a., on the n. of the sea, being cuba, hayti, jamaica, and porto rico; and the lesser a., on the e., forming the leeward islands, the windward islands, and the venezuelan islands--the leeward as far as dominica, the windward as far as trinidad, and the venezuelan along the coast of s. america. antimony, a brittle white metal, of value both in the arts and medicine. antinomianism, the doctrine that the law is superseded in some sense or other by the all-sufficing, all-emancipating free spirit of christ. antinomy, in the transcendental philosophy the contradiction which arises when we carry the categories of the understanding above experience and apply them to the sphere of that which transcends it. antin`ous, a bithynian youth of extraordinary beauty, a slave of the emperor hadrian; became a great favourite of his and accompanied him on all his journeys. he was drowned in the nile, and the grief of the emperor knew no bounds; he enrolled him among the gods, erected a temple and founded a city in his honour, while artists vied with each other in immortalising his beauty. an`tioch ( ), an ancient capital of syria, on the orontes, called the queen of the east, lying on the high-road between the e. and the w., and accordingly a busy centre of trade; once a city of great splendour and extent, and famous in the early history of the church as the seat of several ecclesiastical councils and the birthplace of chrysostom. there was an antioch in pisidia, afterwards called cæsarea. anti`ochus, name of three syrian kings of the dynasty of the seleucidæ: a. i., soter, i. e. saviour, son of one of alexander's generals, fell heir of all syria; king from to b.c. a. ii., theos, i. e. god, being such to the milesians in slaying the tyrant timarchus; king from to . a. iii., the great, extended and consolidated the empire, gave harbour to hannibal, declared war against rome, was defeated at thermopylæ and by scipio at magnesia, killed in attempting to pillage the temple at elymaïs; king from to . a. iv., epiphanes, i. e. illustrious, failed against egypt, tyrannised over the jews, provoked the maccabæan revolt, and died delirious; king from to . a. v., eupator, king from to . anti`ope, queen of the amazons and mother of hippolytus. _the sleep of antiope_, _chef-d'oeuvre_ of correggio in the louvre. antip`aros ( ), one of the cyclades, w. of paros, with a stalactite cavern. antip`ater, a macedonian general, governed macedonia with great ability during the absence of alexander, defeated the confederate greek states at cranon, reigned supreme on the death of perdiccas ( - b.c.). antiph`ilus, a greek painter, contemporary and rival of apelles. an`tiphon, an athenian orator and politician, preceptor of thucydides, who speaks of him in terms of honour, was the first to formulate rules of oratory ( - b.c.). antipope, a pope elected by a civil power in opposition to one elected by the cardinals, or one self-elected and usurped; there were some of such, first and last. antipyretics, medicines to reduce the temperature in fever, of which the chief are quinine and salicylate of soda. antipyrin, a febrifuge prepared from coal-tar, and used as a substitute for quinine. antisa`na, a volcano of the n. andes, in ecuador, , ft. high; also a village on its flanks, , ft. high, the highest village in the world. antise`mites, a party in russia and the e. of germany opposed to the jews on account of the undue influence they exercise in national affairs to the alleged detriment of the natives. antiseptics, substances used, particularly in surgery, to prevent or arrest putrefaction. antis`thenes, a greek philosopher, a disciple of socrates, the master of diogenes, and founder of the cynic school; affected to disdain the pride and pomp of the world, and was the first to carry staff and wallet as the badge of philosophy, but so ostentatiously as to draw from socrates the rebuke, "i see your pride looking out through the rent of your cloak, o antisthenes." anti-taurus, a mountain range running ne. from the taurus mts. antium, a town of latium on a promontory jutting into the sea, long antagonistic to rome, subdued in b.c.; the beaks of its ships, captured in a naval engagement, were taken to form a rostrum in the forum at home; it was the birthplace of caligula and nero. antiva`ri, a fortified seaport lately ceded to montenegro. antofagas`ta ( ), a rising port in chile, taken from bolivia after the war of ; exports silver ores and nitrate of soda. antommar`chi, napoleon's attached physician at st. helena, wrote "the last moments of napoleon" ( - ). antonelli, cardinal, the chief adviser and prime minister of pope pius ix., accompanied the pope to gaeta, came back with him to rome, acting as his foreign minister there, and offered a determined opposition to the revolution; left immense wealth ( - ). antonel`lo, of messina, italian painter of the th century, introduced from holland oil-painting into italy ( - ). antoni`nus, itinerary of, a valuable geographical work supposed of date b.c. antoni`nus, marcus aurelius, roman emperor, successor to the following, and who surpassed him in virtue, being also of the stoic school and one of its most exemplary disciples, was surnamed the "philosopher," and has left in his "meditations" a record of his religious and moral principles ( - ). antoni`nus pius, a roman emperor, of stoic principles, who reigned with justice and moderation from to , during which time the empire enjoyed unbroken peace. antoni`nus, wall of, an earthen rampart about m. in length, from the forth to the clyde, in scotland, as a barrier against invasion from the north, erected in the year a.d. anto`nius, marcus, a famous roman orator and consul, slain in the civil war between marius and sulla, having sided with the latter ( - b.c.). anto`nius, marcus (mark antony), grandson of the preceding and warm partisan of cæsar; after the murder of the latter defeated brutus and cassius at philippi, formed a triumvirate with octavius and lepidus, fell in love with the famous cleopatra, was defeated by octavius in the naval battle of actium, and afterwards killed himself ( - b.c.). an`tony, st., a famous anchorite of the thebaïd, where from the age of thirty he spent years of his life, in a lonely ruin by himself, resisting devils without number; left his retreat for a while to institute monasteries, and so became the founder of monachism, but returned to die; festival, jan. ( - ). antony of padua, a minorite missionary to the moors in africa; preached to the fishes, who listened to him when no one else would; the fishes came in myriads to listen, and shamed the pagans into conversion, says the fable; festival, june ( - ) antraigues, count d', one of the firebrands of the french revolution; "rose into furor almost pythic; highest where many were high," but veered round to royalism, which he at length intrigued on behalf of--to death by the stiletto ( - ). ant`rim ( ), a maritime county in the ne. of ulster, in ireland; soil two-thirds arable, linen the chief manufacture, exports butter, inhabitants mostly protestant. antwerp ( ), a large fortified trading city in belgium, on the scheldt, m. from the sea, with a beautiful gothic cathedral, the spire ft. high; the burial-place of rubens; has a large picture-gallery full of the works of the dutch and flemish artists. anu`bis, an egyptian deity with the body of a man and the head of a jackal, whose office, like that of hermes, it was to see to the disposal of the souls of the dead in the nether world, on quitting the body. anwari, a persian lyric poet who flourished in the th century. an`ytus, the most vehement accuser of socrates; banished in consequence from athens, after socrates' death. aos`ta ( ), a town of italy, n. of turin, in a fertile alpine level valley, but where goitre and cretinism prevail to a great extent; the birthplace of anselm. apa`ches, a fierce tribe of american indians on the s. and w. of the united states; long a source of trouble to the republic. apel`les, the most celebrated painter of antiquity; bred, if not born, at ephesus; lived at the court of alexander the great; his great work "aphroditÉ anadyomene" (q. v.); a man conscious, like dürer, of mastery in his art, as comes out in his advice to the criticising shoemaker to "stick to his last." ap`ennines, a branch of the alps extending, with spurs at right angles, nearly through the whole length of italy, forming about the middle of the peninsula a double chain which supports the tableland of abruzzi. apes, dead sea, dwellers by the dead sea who, according to the moslem tradition, were transformed into apes because they turned a deaf ear to god's message to them by the lips of moses, fit symbol, thinks carlyle, of many in modern time to whom the universe, with all its serious voices, seems to have become a weariness and a humbug see "past and present," bk. iii. chap. iii. aph`ides, a family of insects very destructive to plants by feeding on them in countless numbers. aphrodi`te, the greek goddess of love and beauty, wife of hephæstos and mother of cupid; sprung from sea-foam; as queen of beauty had the golden apple awarded her by paris, and possessed the power of conferring beauty, by means of her magic girdle, the cestus, on others. api`cius, the name of three famous roman epicures, the first of whom was contemporary with sulla, the second with augustus, and the third with trajan. a`pion, an alexandrian grammarian of the st century, and an enemy of the jews, and hostile to the privileges conceded them in alexandria. a`pis, the sacred live bull of the egyptians, the incarnation of osiris; must be black all over the body, have a white triangular spot on the forehead, the figure of an eagle on the back, and under the tongue the image of a scarabæus; was at the end of years drowned in a sacred fountain, had his body embalmed, and his mummy regarded as an object of worship. apocalyptic writings, writings composed among the jews in the nd century b.c., and ascribed to one and another of the early prophets of israel, forecasting the judgments ordained of god to overtake the nation, and predicting its final deliverance at the hands of the messiah. apocrypha, the, a literature of sixteen books composed by jews, after the close of the hebrew canon, which though without the unction of the prophetic books of the canon, are instinct, for most part, with the wisdom which rests on the fear of god and loyalty to his law. the word apocrypha means hidden writing, and it was given to it by the jews to distinguish it from the books which they accepted as canonical. apol`da ( ), a town in saxe-weimar with extensive hosiery manufactures; has mineral springs. apollina`ris, bishop of laodicea, denied the proper humanity of christ, by affirming that the logos in him took the place of the human soul, as well as by maintaining that his body was not composed of ordinary flesh and blood; _d_. . apollo, the god _par excellence_ of the greeks, identified with the sun and all that we owe to it in the shape of inspiration, art, poetry, and medicine; son of zeus and leto; twin brother of artemis; born in the island of delos (q. v.), whither leto had fled from the jealous hera; his favourite oracle at delphi. appllodo`rus ( ), an athenian painter, the first to paint figures in light and shade, b.c.; ( ) a celebrated architect of damascus, _d_. a.d. ; and ( ), an athenian who wrote a well-arranged account of the mythology and heroic age of greece. apollonius of rhodes, a grammarian and poet, flourished in the rd century b.c., author of the "argonautica," a rather prosaic account of the adventures of the argonauts. apollonius of tyana, a pythagorean philosopher, who, having become acquainted with some sort of brahminism, professed to have a divine mission, and, it is said, a power to work miracles; was worshipped after his death, and has been compared to christ; _d_. . apol`los, a jew of alexandria, who became an eloquent preacher of christ, and on account of his eloquence rated above st. paul. apollyon, the destroying angel, the greek name for the hebrew abaddon. apologetics, a defence of the historical verity of the christian religion in opposition to the rationalist and mythical theories. apostate, an epithet applied to the emperor julian, from his having, conscientiously however, abjured the christian religion established by constantine, in favour of paganism. apostle of germany, st. boniface; a. of ireland, st. patrick; of the english, st. augustine; of the french, st. denis; of the gauls, irenæus; of the gentiles, st. paul; of the goths, ulfilas; of the indian, john eliot; of the scots, columba; of the north, ansgar; of the picts, st. ninian; of the indies, francis xavier; of temperance, father mathew. apostles, the four, picture of st. john, st. peter, st. mark, and st. paul, in the museum at münich, painted by albert dürer. apostolic fathers, fathers of the church who lived the same time as the apostles: clemens, barnabas polycarp, ignatius, and hermas. apostolic succession, the derivation of episcopal power in an unbroken line from the apostles, a qualification believed by high churchmen to be essential to the discharge of episcopal functions and the transmission of promised divine grace. appala`chians, a mountainous system of n. america that stretches ne. from the tablelands of alabama to the st. lawrence, and includes the alleghanies and the blue mountains; their utmost height, under feet; do not reach the snow-line; abound in coal and iron. appenzell` ( ), a canton in the ne. of switzerland, enclosed by st. gall, divided into outer rhoden, which is manufacturing and protestant, and inner rhoden, which is agricultural and catholic; also the name of the capital. ap`pian, an alexandrian greek, wrote in nd century a history of rome in books, of which remain. ap`pian way, a magnificent highway begun by appius claudius, b.c., and finished by augustus, from rome to brundusium. apple of discord, a golden apple inscribed with the words, "to the most beautiful," thrown in among the gods of olympus on a particular occasion, contended for by hera, athena, and aphrodité, and awarded by paris of troy, as referee, to aphrodité, on promise that he would have the most beautiful woman of the world for wife. appleby, the county town of westmorland, on the eden; is a health resort. applegath, augustus, inventor of the vertical printing-press ( - ). appleton ( ), a city of wisconsin, u.s., on the fox river. appleton, ch. edward, founder and editor of the _academy_ ( - ). appomattox courthouse, a village in virginia, u.s., where gen. lee surrendered to gen. grant in . apraxen, count, a celebrated naval commander under peter the great and his right-hand man in many enterprises ( - ). april, the fourth month of the year, the month of "opening of the light in the days, and of the life of the leaves, and of the voices of the birds, and of the hearts of men." ap`teryx, a curious new zealand bird with rudimentary wings, plumage like hair, and no tail. apule`ius, a student of plato, of n. african birth, lived in the nd century; having captivated a rich widow, was charged at one time with sorcery; his most celebrated work was the "golden ass," which contains, among other stories, the exquisite apologue or romance of psyche and cupid (q. v.). apu`lia ( , ), an ancient province in se. of italy, which extends as far n. as monte gargano, and the scene of the last stages in the second punic war. apu`re, a river in venezuela, chief tributary of the orinoco, into which it falls by six branches. aqua tofa`na, tofana's poison, some solution of arsenic with which a sicilian woman called tofana, in th century, poisoned, it is alleged, people. aqua`rius, the water-bearer, th sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters jan. . aquaviva, a general of the jesuits of high authority ( - ). a`quila ( ), capital of the province of abruzzo ulteriora, on the alterno, founded by barbarossa; a busy place. a`quila, a judaised greek of sinope, in pontus, executed a literal translation of the old testament into greek in the interest of judaism versus christianity in the first half of the nd century a.d. a`quila, gaspar, a friend of luther who aided him in the translation of the bible. aquileia, an italian village, m. w. of trieste, once a place of great importance, where several councils of the church were held. aqui`nas, thomas, the angelic doctor, or doctor of the schools, an italian of noble birth, studied at naples, became a dominican monk despite the opposition of his parents, sat at the feet of albertus magnus, and went with him to paris, was known among his pupils as the "dumb ox," from his stubborn silence at study, prelected at his alma mater and elsewhere with distinguished success, and being invited to assist the council at lyons, fell sick and died. his "summa theologiæ," the greatest of his many works, is a masterly production, and to this day of standard authority in the romish church. his writings, which fill folio vols., along with those of duns scotus, his rival, constitute the high-water mark of scholastic philosophy and the watershed of its divergence into the philosophico-speculative thought on the one hand, and the ethico-practical or realism of modern times on the other, q. v. ( - ). aquitaine`, a division of ancient gaul between the garonne and the pyrenees, was from the time of henry ii. till an appanage of the english crown. arabella stuart, a cousin of king james i., the victim all her days of jealousy and state policy, suspected of aspiring to the crown on the death of queen elizabeth, was shut up in the tower of london, where she died bereft of reason in at the age of . arabesque, an ornamentation introduced by the moors, consisting of imaginary, often fantastic, mathematical or vegetable forms, but exclusive of the forms of men and animals. ara`bi, ahmed pasha, leader of an insurrectionary movement in egypt in ; he claimed descent from the prophet; banished to ceylon; _b_. . arabia ( , ), the most westerly peninsula of asia and the largest in the world, being one-third the size of the whole of europe, consisting of (_a_) a central plateau with pastures for cattle, and fertile valleys; (_b_) a ring of deserts, the nefud in the n., stony, the great arabian, a perfect sahara, in the s., sandy, said sometimes to be ft. deep, and the dahna between; and (_c_) stretches of coast land, generally fertile on the w. and s.; is divided into eight territories; has no lakes or rivers, only wadies, oftenest dry; the climate being hot and arid, has no forests, and therefore few wild animals; a trading country with no roads or railways, only caravan routes, yet the birthland of a race that threatened at one time to sweep the globe, and of a religion that has been a life-guidance to wide-scattered millions of human beings for over twelve centuries of time. arabia felix, the w. coast of arabia, contains yemen and el hejaz (q. v.), and is subject to turkey. arabian desert. see arabia. arabian nights, or the thousand and one nights, a collection of tales of various origin and date, traceable in their present form to the middle of the th century, and first translated into french by galland in . the thread on which they are strung is this: a persian monarch having made a vow that he would marry a fresh bride every night and sacrifice her in the morning, the vizier's daughter obtained permission to be the first bride, and began a story which broke off at an interesting part evening after evening for a thousand and one nights, at the end of which term the king, it is said, released her and spared her life. arabs, the, "a noble-gifted people, swift-handed, deep-hearted, something most agile, active, yet most meditative, enthusiastic in their character; a people of wild, strong feelings, and iron restraint over these. in words too, as in action, not a loquacious people, taciturn rather, but eloquent, gifted when they do speak, an earnest, truthful kind of men, of jewish kindred indeed, but with that deadly terrible earnestness of the jews they seem to combine something graceful, brilliant, which is not jewish." such is carlyle's opinion of the race from whom mahomet sprang, as given in his "heroes." aracan. see arakan. arach`ne, a lydian maiden, who excelled in weaving, and whom athena changed into a spider because she had proudly challenged her ability to weave as artistic a work; she had failed in the competition, and previously hanged herself in her despair. arad ( ), a fortified town in hungary, seat of a bishop, on the right bank of the maros; manufactures tobacco, trades in cattle and corn. araf, the mohammedan sheol or borderland between heaven and hell for those who are from incapacity either not morally bad or morally good. arafat`, a granite hill e. of mecca, a place of pilgrimage as the spot where adam received his wife after years separation from her on account of their disobedience to the lord in deference to the suggestion of satan. ar`ago, franÇois, an eminent physicist and astronomer, born in the s. of france, entered the polytechnic school of paris when seventeen, elected a member of the academy of sciences at the early age of twenty-three, nominated director of the observatory in , was member of the provisional government in , refused to take the oath to louis napoleon after the _coup d'état_, would rather resign his post at the observatory, but was retained, and at his death received a public funeral ( - ). arago, jacques, a brother of the preceding, a littérateur and a traveller, author of a "voyage round the world" ( - ). ar`agon ( ), a territory in the ne. of spain, traversed by the ebro, and divided as you proceed southward into the provinces of huesca, saragossa, and teruel, mountainous in the n.; with beautiful fertile valleys, rather barren, in the s; was a kingdom till . araguay, an affluent of the tocantins, in brazil, which it joins after a course of m., augmented by subsidiary streams. arakan ( ), a strip of land in british burmah, on the e. of the bay of bengal, m. long and from to m. broad, a low, marshy country; produces and exports large quantities of rice, as well as sugar and hemp. the natives belong to the burman stock, and are of the buddhist faith, though there is a sprinkling of mohammedans among them. aral, the sea of, a lake in turkestan, m. long and broad, larger than the irish sea, m. e. of the caspian; has no outlet, shallow, and is said to be drying up. aram, eugene, an english school-usher of scholarly attainments, convicted of murder years after the act and executed , to whose fate a novel of bulwer lytton's and a poem of hood's have lent a romantic and somewhat fictitious interest. aramÆa, the territories lying to ne. of palestine, the inhabitants of which spoke a semitic dialect called aramaic, and improperly chaldee. arama`ic, the language of palestine in the days of christ, a semitic dialect that has now almost entirely died out. aramÆ`ans, a generic name given to the semitic tribes that dwelt in the ne. of palestine, also to those that dwelt at the mouths of the euphrates and the tigris. aran, val d', a pyrenean valley, source of the garonne, and one of the highest of the pyrenees. aran islands, three islands with antique relics across the mouth of galway bay, to which they form a breakwater. aranda, count of, an eminent spanish statesman, banished the jesuits, suppressed brigandage, and curtailed the power of the inquisition, was prime minister of charles iv., and was succeeded by godoy ( - ). aranju`ez ( ), a town m. se. of madrid, long the spring resort of the spanish court. ar`any, janos, a popular hungarian poet of peasant origin, attained to eminence as a man of letters ( - ). ar`arat, a mountain in armenia on which noah's ark is said to have rested, , ft. high, is within russian territory, and borders on both turkey and persia. ara`tus, native of sicyon, in greece, promoter of the achæan league, in which he was thwarted by philip of macedon, was poisoned, it is said, by his order ( - b.c.); also a greek poet, author of two didactic poems, born in cilicia, quoted by st paul in acts xvii. . arauca`nia ( ), the country of the araucos, in chile, s. of concepcion and n. of valdivia, the araucos being an indian race long resistant but now subject to chilian authority, and interesting as the only one that has proved itself able to govern itself and hold its own in the presence of the white man. arauca`ria, tall conifer trees, natives of and confined to the southern hemisphere. arbe`la, a town near mosul, where alexander the great finally defeated darius, b.c. arbroath ( ), a thriving seaport and manufacturing town on the forfarshire coast, m. n. of dundee, with the picturesque ruins of an extensive old abbey, of which cardinal beaton was the last abbot. it is the "fairport" of the "antiquary." arbuthnot, john, a physician and eminent literary man of the age of queen anne and her two successors, born in kincardineshire, the friend of swift and pope and other lights of the time, much esteemed by them for his wit and kind-heartedness, joint-author with swift, it is thought, of the "memoirs of martinus scriblerus" and the "history of john bull" ( - ). ar`cachon ( ), a popular watering-place, with a fine beach and a mild climate, favourable for invalids suffering from pulmonary complaints, m. sw. of bordeaux. arca`dia, a mountain-girt pastoral tableland in the heart of the morea, m. long by broad, conceived by the poets as a land of shepherds and shepherdesses, and rustic simplicity and bliss, and was the seat of the worship of artemis and pan. arca`dius, the first emperor of the east, born in spain, a weak, luxurious prince, leaving the government in other hands ( - ). arcesila`us, a greek philosopher, a member of the platonic school and founder of the new academy, who held in opposition to the stoics that perception was not knowledge, denied that we had any accurate criterion of truth, and denounced all dogmatism in opinion. archÆology, the study or the science of the monuments of antiquity, as distinct from palæontology, which has to do with extinct organisms or fossil remains. archangel ( ), the oldest seaport of russia, on the dvina, near its mouth, on the white sea, is accessible to navigation from july to october, is connected with the interior by river and canal, and has a large trade in flax, timber, tallow, and tar. archangels, of these, according to the korân, there are four: gabriel, the angel who reveals; michael, the angel who fights; azrael, the angel of death; azrafil, the angel of the resurrection. archela`us, king of macedonia, and patron of art and literature, with whom euripides found refuge in his exile, _d_. b.c.; a general of mithridates, conquered by sulla twice over; also the ethnarch of judea, son of herod, deposed by augustus, died at vienne. archer, james, portrait-painter, born in edinburgh, . archer, wm., dramatic critic, born in perth, . ar`ches, court of, an ecclesiastical court of appeal connected with the archbishopric of canterbury, the judge of which is called the dean. ar`chil, a purple dye obtained from lichens. archil`ochus, a celebrated lyric poet of greece; of a satiric and often bitter vein, the inventor of iambic verse ( - b.c.). archima`go, a sorcerer in spenser's "faërie queene," who in the disguise of a reverend hermit, and by the help of duessa or deceit, seduces the red-cross knight from una or truth. archime`des of syracuse, the greatest mathematician of antiquity, a man of superlative inventive power, well skilled in all the mechanical arts and sciences of the day. when syracuse was taken by the romans, he was unconscious of the fact, and slain, while busy on some problem, by a roman soldier, notwithstanding the order of the roman general that his life should be spared. he is credited with the boast: "give me a fulcrum, and i will move the world." he discovered how to determine the specific weight of bodies while he was taking a bath, and was so excited over the discovery that, it is said, he darted off stark naked on the instant through the streets, shouting "_eureka! eureka!_ i have found it! i have found it!" ( - b.c.). archimed`es screw, in its original form a hollow spiral placed slantingly to raise water by revolving it. archipel`ago, originally the Ægean sea, now the name of any similar sea interspersed with islands, or the group of islands included in it. architrave, the lowest part of an entablature, resting immediately on the capital. ar`chon, a chief magistrate of athens, of which there were nine at a time, each over a separate department; the tenure of office was first for life, then for ten years, and finally for one. archy`tas of tarentum, famous as a statesman, a soldier, a geometrician, a philosopher, and a man; a pythagorean in philosophy, and influential in that capacity over the minds of plato, his contemporary, and aristotle; was drowned in the adriatic sea, th century b.c.; his body lay unburied on the shore till a sailor humanely cast a handful of sand on it, otherwise he would have had to wander on this side the styx for a hundred years, such the virtue of a little dust, _munera pulveris_, as horace calls it. arcis`-sur-aube ( ), a town m. n. of troyes, in france, birthplace of danton; scene of a defeat of napoleon, march . ar`cot, the name of two districts, n. and s., in the presidency of madras; also chief town ( ) in the district, m. sw. of madras; captured by clive in ; once the capital of the carnatic. arctic ocean, a circular ocean round the n. pole, its diameter °, with low, flat shores, covered with ice-fields, including numerous islands; the gulf stream penetrates it, and a current flows out of it into the atlantic. arctu`rus, star of the first magnitude and the chief in the n. constellation boötes. ardÈche, an affluent of the rhône, source in the cévennes; gives name to a department traversed by the cévennes mountains. arden, a large forest at one time in england, e. of the severn. arden, enoch, hero of a poem by tennyson, who finds, on his return from the sea, after long absence, his wife, who believed him dead, married happily to another; does not disclose himself, and dies broken-hearted. ardennes, a forest, a tract of rugged woodland on the confines of france and belgium; also department of france ( ), on the borders of belgium. ar`doch, a place in perthshire, m. from crieff, with the remains of a roman camp, the most complete in britain. arends, leopold, a russian of literary ability, inventor of a system of stenography extensively used on the continent ( - ). areopagitica, a prose work of milton's, described by prof. saintsbury as "a magnificent search for the dead truth." areop`agus, the hill of ares in athens, which gave name to the celebrated council held there, a tribunal of members, charged with judgment in criminal offences, and whose sentences were uniformly the awards of strictest justice. arequi`pa ( ), a city in peru, founded by pizarro in , in a fruitful valley of the andes, ft. above the sea, m. inland; is much subject to earthquakes, and was almost destroyed by one in . a`rÉs, the greek god of war in its sanguinary aspects; was the son of zeus and hera; identified by the romans with mars, was fond of war for its own sake, and had for sister eris, the goddess of strife, who used to pander to his passion. aretÆ`us, a greek physician of st century; wrote a treatise on diseases, their causes, symptoms, and cures, still extant. arethu`sa, a celebrated fountain in the island of ortygia, near syracuse, transformed from a nereid pursued thither from elis, in greece, by the river-god alphæus, so that the waters of the river henceforth mingled with those of the fountain. areti`no, pietro, called the "scourge of princes," a licentious satirical writer, born at arezzo, in tuscany, alternately attached to people and repelled from them by his wit, moved from one centre of attraction to another; settled in venice, where he died after an uncontrollable fit of laughter which seized him at the story of the adventure of a sister ( - ). arezzo ( ), an ancient tuscan city, m. se. of florence, and eventually subject to it; the birthplace of mæcenas, michael angelo, petrarch, guido, and vasari. ar`gali, a sheep of siberia, as large as a moderately-sized ox, with enormous grooved curving horns, strong-limbed, sure-footed, and swift. argan`, the hypochondriac rich patient in molière's "le malade imaginaire." argand, a swiss physician and chemist, born at geneva; inventor of the argand lamp, which, as invented by him, introduced a circular wick ( - ). argelan`der, a distinguished astronomer, born at memel, professor at bonn; he fixed the position of , stars, and recorded observations to prove that the solar system was moving through space ( - ). ar`gens, marquis d', a french soldier who turned to letters, author of sceptical writings, of which the best known is entitled "lettres juives" ( - ). argenson, renÉ-louis, marquis d', french statesman, who left "memoirs" of value as affecting the early and middle part of louis xv.'s reign ( - ). argentine republic, or argentina ( , ), a confederation like that of the united states of states and territories, occupying the eastern slopes of the andes and the vast level plain extending from them to the atlantic, bounded on the n. by bolivia and paraguay; its area ten times that of great britain and ireland; while the population includes , foreigners, italians, french, spaniards, english, and germans. ar`go, the fifty-oared ship of the argonauts (q. v.). ar`golis, the north-eastern peninsula of the morea of greece, and one of the provinces of greece, is m. long by m. broad. ar`gon, a new element lately discovered to exist in a gaseous form in the nitrogen of the air. argonautica, the title of a poem on the argonautic expedition by apollonius of rhodes. ar`gonauts, the greek heroes, sailors in the _argo_, who, under the command of jason, sailed for colchis in quest of the golden fleece, which was guarded by a dragon that never slept, a perilous venture, but it proved successful with the assistance of medea, the daughter of the king, whom, with the fleece, jason in the end brought away with him to be his wife. argonne`, forest of, "a long strip of rocky mountain and wild wood" in the ne. of france, within the borders of which the duke of brunswick was outwitted by dumouriez in . ar`gos ( ), the capital of argolis, played for long a prominent part in the history of greece, but paled before the power of sparta. ar`gus, surnamed the "all-seeing," a fabulous creature with a hundred eyes, of which one half was always awake, appointed by hera to watch over io, but hermes killed him after lulling him to sleep by the sound of his flute, whereupon hera transferred his eyes to the tail of the peacock, her favourite bird. also the dog of ulysses, immortalised by homer; he was the only creature that recognised ulysses under his rags on his return to ithaca after twenty years' absence, under such excitement, however, that immediately after he dropped down dead. argus, a pheasant, a beautiful oriental game-bird, so called from the eye-like markings on its plumage. argyll ( ), a large county in the w. of scotland, consisting of deeply indented mainland and islands, and abounding in mountains, moorlands, and lochs, with scenery often picturesque as well as wild and savage. argyll, a noble family or clan of the name of campbell, the members of which have held successively the title of earl, marquis, and duke, their first patent of nobility dating from , and their earldom from . argyll, archibald campbell, st marquis of, sided with the covenanters, fought against montrose, disgusted with the execution of charles i., crowned charles ii. at scone, after the restoration committed to the tower, was tried and condemned, met death nobly ( - ). argyll, archibald campbell, th earl of, son of the preceding, fought for charles ii., was taken prisoner, released at the restoration and restored to his estates, proved rebellious at last, and was condemned to death; escaped to holland, made a descent on scotland, was captured and executed in . argyll, george john douglas campbell, th duke of, as marquis of lorne took a great interest in the movement which led to the disruption of the church of scotland in , a whig in politics, was a member of the cabinets of aberdeen, palmerston, and gladstone; of late has shown more conservative tendencies; takes a deep interest in the scientific theories and questions of the time; wrote, among other works, a book in entitled "the reign of law," in vindication of theism, and another in the same interest in entitled "the unity of nature"; _b_. . argyll, john campbell, nd duke of, favoured the union, was created an english peer, fought under marlborough, opposed the return of the stuarts, defeated mar at sheriffmuir, ruled scotland under walpole ( - ). ariad`ne, daughter of minos, king of crete, gave to theseus a clue by which to escape out of the labyrinth after he had slain the minotaur, for which theseus promised to marry her; took her with him to naxos and left her there, where, according to one tradition, artemis killed her, and according to another, dionysos found her and married her, placing her at her death among the gods, and hanging her wedding wreath as a constellation in the sky. arianism, the heresy of arius (q. v.). aria`no ( ), a city with a fine cathedral, ft. above the sea-level, ne. of naples; has a trade in wine and butter. ari`ca, a seaport connected with tacna, s. of peru, the chief outlet for the produce of bolivia; suffers again and again from earthquakes, and was almost destroyed in . ariÈge, a department of france, at the foot of the northern slopes of the pyrenees; has extensive forests and is rich in minerals. a`riel, in shakespeare's "tempest," a spirit of the air whom prospero finds imprisoned by sycorax in the cleft of a pine-tree, and liberates on condition of her serving him for a season, which she willingly engages to do, and does. ariel, an idol of the moabites, an outcast angel. aries, the ram. the first of the signs of the zodiac, which the sun enters on march , though the constellation itself, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, is no longer within the limits of the sign. ari`on, a lyrist of lesbos, lived chiefly at the court of periander, corinth; returning in a ship from a musical contest in sicily laden with prizes, the sailors plotted to kill him, when he begged permission to play one strain on his lute, which being conceded, dolphins crowded round the ship, whereupon he leapt over the bulwarks, was received on the back of one of them, and carried to corinth, arriving there before the sailors, who, on their landing, were apprehended and punished. arios`to, ludovico, an illustrious italian poet, born at reggio, in lombardy; spent his life chiefly in ferrara, mostly in poverty; his great work "orlando furioso" (q. v.), published the first edition, in cantos, in , and the third in cantos, in ; the work is so called from the chief subject of it, the madness of roland induced by the loss of his lady-love through her marriage to another ( - ). ariovistus, a german chief, invaded gaul, and threatened to overrun it, but was forced back over the rhine by cæsar. aristÆ`us, a son of apollo, the guardian divinity of the vine and olive, of hunters and herdsmen; first taught the management of bees, some of which stung eurydice to death, whereupon the nymphs, companions of orpheus, her husband, set upon his bees and destroyed them. in this extremity aristæus applied to proteus, who advised him to sacrifice four bullocks to appease the manes of eurydice; this done, there issued from the carcasses of the victims a swarm of bees, which reconciled him to the loss of the first ones. aristar`chus of samos, a greek astronomer, who first conceived the idea of the rotundity of the earth and its revolution both on its own axis and round the sun, in promulgating which idea he was accused of impiously disturbing the serenity of the gods ( b.c.). aristarchus of samothrace, a celebrated greek grammarian and critic, who devoted his life to the elucidation and correct transmission of the text of the greek poets, and especially homer ( - b.c.). ariste`as, a sort of wandering jew of greek fable, who turns up here and there in greek tradition, and was thought to be endowed with a soul that could at will leave and enter the body. aristi`des, an athenian general and statesman, surnamed the just; covered himself with glory at the battle of marathon; was made archon next year, in the discharge of the duties of which office he received his surname; was banished by ostracism at the instance of his rival, themistocles; recalled three years after the invasion of xerxes, was reconciled to themistocles, fought bravely at salamis, and distinguished himself at platæa; managed the finances of the state with such probity that he died poor, was buried at the public charges, and left the state to provide for his children. aristion, a philosopher, tyrant of athens, put to death by order of sylla, b.c. aristip`pus of cyrene, founder of the cyrenaic school of philosophy, a disciple of socrates; in his teaching laid too much emphasis on one principle of socrates, apart from the rest, in insisting too exclusively upon pleasure as the supreme good and ultimate aim of life. aristobu`lus i., son of john hyrcanus, first of the asmonæan dynasty in judea to assume the name of king, which he did from - b.c., a pronounced helleniser; a. ii., twice carried captive to rome, assassinated b.c.; a. iii., last of asmonæan dynasty, drowned by herod in the jordan, b.c. aristode`mus, king of messenia, carried on for years a war with sparta, till at length finding resistance hopeless he put an end to his life on the tomb of his daughter, whom he had sacrificed to ensure the fulfilment of an oracle to the advantage of his house; _d_. b.c. also a greek sculptor, th century b.c. aristom`enes, a mythical king of messenia, celebrated for his struggle with the spartans, and his resistance to them on mount ira for years, which at length fell to the enemy, while he escaped and was snatched up by the gods; died at rhodes. aristophanes, the great comic dramatist of athens, lived in the th century b.c.; directed the shafts of his wit, which were very keen, against all of whatever rank who sought in any way to alter, and, as it was presumed, amend, the religious, philosophical, social, political, or literary creed and practice of the country, and held up to ridicule such men as socrates and euripides, as well as cleon the tanner; wrote plays, of which have come down to us; of these the "clouds" aim at socrates, the "acharnians" and the "frogs" at euripides, and the "knights" at cleon; _d_. b.c. ar`istotle, a native of stagira, in thrace, and hence named the stagirite; deprived of his parents while yet a youth; came in his th year to athens, remained in plato's society there for years; after the death of plato, at the request of philip, king of macedon, who held him in high honour, became the preceptor of alexander the great, then only years old; on alexander's expedition into asia, returned to athens and began to teach in the lyceum, where it was his habit to walk up and down as he taught, from which circumstance his school got the name of peripatetic; after years he left the city and went to chalcis, in euboea, where he died. he was the oracle of the scholastic philosophers and theologians in the middle ages; is the author of a great number of writings which covered a vast field of speculation, of which the progress of modern science goes to establish the value; is often referred to as the incarnation of the philosophic spirit ( - b.c.). aristox`enus of tarentum, a greek philosopher, author of the "elements of harmony," the only one of his many works extant, and one of the oldest writers on music; contemporary of aristotle. a`rius, a presbyter of alexandria in the th century, and founder of arianism, which denied the consubstantiality of the son with the father in the so-called trinity, a doctrine which hovered for a time between acceptance and rejection throughout the catholic church; was condemned first by a local synod which met at alexandria in , and then by a general council at nice in , which the emperor constantine attended in person; the author was banished to illyricum, his writings burned, and the possession of them voted to be a crime; after three years he was recalled by constantine, who ordered him to be restored; was about to be readmitted into the church when he died suddenly, by poison, alleged his friends--by the judgment of god, said his enemies ( - ). arizo`na ( ), a territory of the united states n. of mexico and w. of new mexico, nearly four times as large as scotland, rich in mines of gold, silver, and copper, fertile in the lowlands; much of the surface a barren plateau , ft. high, through which the cañon of the colorado passes. see caÑon. ark of the covenant, a chest of acacia wood overlaid with gold, ½ cubits long and ½ in breadth; contained the two tables of stone inscribed with the ten commandments, the gold pot with the manna, and aaron's rod; the lid supported the mercy-seat, with a cherub at each end, and the shekinah radiance between. arkans`as ( , ), one of the southern states of america, n. of louisiana and w. of the mississippi, a little larger than england; rich in metals, grows cotton and corn. arkwright, sir richard, born at preston, lancashire; bred to the trade of a barber; took interest in the machinery of cotton-spinning; with the help of a clockmaker, invented the spinning frame; was mobbed for threatening thereby to shorten labour and curtail wages, and had to flee; fell in with mr. strutt of derby, who entered into partnership with him; prospered in business and died worth half a million. "french revolutions were a-brewing; to resist the same in any way, imperial cæsars were impotent without the cotton and cloth of england; and it was this man," says carlyle, "that had to give to england the power of cotton" ( - ). arlberg, a mountain mass between the austrian provinces of vorarlberg and tyrol, pierced by a tunnel, one of the three that penetrate the alps, and nearly four miles in length. arles ( ), a city, one of the oldest in france, on the rhône, m. n. of marseilles, where constantine built a palace, with ruins of an amphitheatre and other roman works; the seat of several church councils. ar`lincourt, viscount d', a french romancer, born near versailles ( - ). ar`lington, henry bennet, earl of, served under charles i., and accompanied charles ii. in his exile; a prominent member of the famous cabal; being impeached when in office, lost favour and retired into private life ( - ). ar`lon ( ), a prosperous town in belgium, capital of luxemburg. arma`da, named the invincible, an armament fitted out in by philip ii. of spain against england, consisting of war-vessels, mounted with cannon, and manned by , soldiers; was defeated in the channel on july by admiral howard, seconded by drake, hawkins, and frobisher; completely dispersed and shattered by a storm in retreat on the coasts of scotland and ireland, the english losing only one ship; of the whole fleet only ships found their way back to spain, and these nearly all _hors de combat_. armageddon, a name given in apocalypse to the final battlefield between the powers of good and evil, or christ and antichrist. armagh ( ), a county in ulster, ireland, m. long by m. broad; and a town ( ) in it, m. sw. of belfast, from the th to the th century the capital of ireland, as it is the ecclesiastical still; the chief manufacture linen-weaving. armagnac, a district, part of gascony, in france, now in dep. of gers, celebrated for its wine and brandy. armagnacs, a faction in france in time of charles vi. at mortal feud with the bourguignons. armato`les, warlike marauding tribes in the mountainous districts of northern greece, played a prominent part in the war of independence in . armed soldier of democracy, napoleon bonaparte. arme`nia, a country in western asia, w. of the caspian sea and n. of kurdistan mts., anciently independent, now divided between turkey, russia, and persia, occupying a plateau interspersed with fertile valleys, which culminates in mt. ararat, in which the euphrates and tigris have their sources. armenians, a people of the aryan race occupying armenia, early converted to christianity of the eutychian type; from early times have emigrated into adjoining, and even remote, countries, and are, like the jews, mainly engaged in commercial pursuits, the wealthier of them especially in banking. armentiÈres ( ), a manufacturing and trading town in france, m. n. of lille. armi`da, a beautiful enchantress in tasso's "jerusalem delivered," who bewitched rinaldo, one of the crusaders, by her charms, as circe did ulysses, and who in turn, when the spell was broken, overpowered her by his love and persuaded her to become a christian. _the almida palace_, in which she enchanted rinaldo, has become a synonym for any merely visionary but enchanting palace of pleasure. arminianism. see arminius. armin`ius, or hermann, the deliverer of germany from the romans by the defeat of varus, the roman general, in a.d., near detmold (where a colossal statue has been erected to his memory); killed in some family quarrel in his th year. arminius, jacobus, a learned dutch theologian and founder of arminianism, an assertion of the free-will of man in the matter of salvation against the necessitarianism of calvin ( - ). armor`ica, a district of gaul from the loire to the seine. armstrong, john, a scotch doctor and poet, born in roxburghshire, practised medicine in london; friend of poet thomson, as well as of wilkes and smollett, and author of "the art of preserving health" ( - ). armstrong, william george, lord, born at newcastle, produced the hydraulic accumulator and the hydraulic crane, established the elswick engine works in the suburbs of his native city, devoted his attention to the improvement of heavy ordnance, invented the armstrong gun, which he got the government to adopt, knighted in , and in raised to the peerage; _b_. . ar`naud, henri, a pastor of the vaudois, turned soldier to rescue, and did rescue, his co-religionists from their dispersion under the persecution of the count of savoy; but when the vaudois were exiled a second time, he accompanied them in their exile to schomberg, and acted pastor to them till his death ( - ). arnauld, antoine, the "great arnauld," a french theologian, doctor of the sorbonne, an inveterate enemy of the jesuits, defended jansenism against the bull of the pope, became religious director of the nuns of port royal des champs, associated here with a circle of kindred spirits, among others pascal; expelled from the sorbonne and banished the country, died at brussels ( - ). arnauld, marie ange`lique, _la mère angelique_ as she was called, sister of the preceding and abbess of the port royal, a victim of the persecutions of the jesuits to very death ( - ). arndt, ernst moritz, a german poet and patriot, whose memory is much revered by the whole german people, one of the first to rouse his countrymen to shake off the tyranny of napoleon; his songs and eloquent appeals went straight to the heart of the nation and contributed powerfully to its liberation; his "geist der zeit" made him flee the country after the battle of jena, and his "was ist des deutschen vaterland?" strikes a chord in the breast of every german all the world over ( - ). arndt, john, a lutheran theologian, the author of "true christianity," a work which, in germany and elsewhere, has contributed to infuse a new spirit of life into the profession of the christian religion, which seemed withering away under the influence of a lifeless dogmatism ( - ). arne, thomas augustine, a musical composer of versatile genius, produced, during over years, a succession of pieces in every style from songs to sonatas and oratorios, among others the world-famous chorus "rule britannia"; mrs. cibber was his sister ( - ). arn`heim ( ), the capital of guelderland, is situated on the right bank of the rhine, and has a large transit trade. arnim, bettine von, sister of clemens brentano, wife of ludwig arnim, a native of frankfort; at conceived a passionate love for goethe, then in his th year, visited him at weimar, and corresponded with him afterwards, part of which correspondence appeared subsequently under the title of "goethe's correspondence with a child" ( - ). arnim, count, ambassador of germany, first at rome and then at paris; accused in the latter capacity of purloining state documents, and sentenced to imprisonment; died in exile at nice ( - ). arnim, ludwig achim von, a german poet and novelist ( - ). arno, a river of italy, rises in the apennines, flows westward past florence and pisa into the mediterranean, subject to destructive inundations. arnobius, an african rhetorician who, in the beginning of the th century, embraced christianity, and wrote a book in its defence, still extant, and of great value, entitled "disputations against the heathen." arnold, benedict, an american military general, entered the ranks of the colonists under washington during the war of independence, distinguished himself in several engagements, promoted to the rank of general, negotiated with the english general clinton to surrender an important post entrusted to him, escaped to the english ranks on the discovery of the plot, and served in them against his country; _d_. in england in . arnold, matthew, poet and critic, eldest son of thomas arnold of rugby; professor of poetry in oxford from to ; inspector of schools for years from ; commissioned twice over to visit france, germany, and holland, to inquire into educational matters there; wrote two separate reports thereon of great value; author of "poems," of a highly finished order and showing a rich poetic gift, "essays on criticism," "culture and anarchy," "st. paul and protestantism," "literature and dogma," &c.; a man of culture, and especially literary culture, of which he is reckoned the apostle; died suddenly at liverpool. he was more eminent as a poet than a critic, influential as he was in that regard. "it is," says swinburne, "by his verse and not his prose he must be judged," and is being now judged ( - ). arnold, sir edwin, poet and journalist, familiar with indian literature; author of the "light of asia," "light of the world," and other works in prose and verse; _b_. , at gravesend. arnold, thomas, head-master of rugby, and professor of modern history at oxford; by his moral character and governing faculty effected immense reforms in rugby school; was liberal in his principles and of a philanthropic spirit; he wrote a "history of rome" based on niebuhr, and edited thucydides; his "life and correspondence" was edited by dean stanley ( - ). arnold of brescia, an italian monk, and disciple of abelard; declaimed against the temporal power of the pope, the corruptions of the church, and the avarice of the clergy; headed an insurrection against the pope in rome, which collapsed under the pope's interdict; at last was burned alive in , and his ashes thrown into the tiber. arnold of winkelried, the decius of switzerland, a peasant of the canton of unterwald, who, by the voluntary sacrifice of his life, broke the lines of the austrians at sempach in and decided the fate of the battle. arnott, dr. neil, a native of arbroath, author of the "elements of physics" and of several hygienic inventions ( - ). arou`et, the family name of voltaire; his name formed by an ingenious transposition he made of the letters of his name, arouet l. j. (jeune). ar`pad, the national hero of hungary; established for the magyars a firm footing in the country; was founder of the arpad dynasty, which became extinct in ; _d_. . arpi`no (arpinium), an ancient town in latium, s. of rome, birthplace of cicero and marius. arqua, a village m. sw. of padua, where petrarch died and was buried. arrack, a spirituous liquor, especially that distilled from the juice of the cocoa-nut tree and from fermented rice. ar`rah, a town in bengal, m. from patna; famous for its defence by a handful of english and sikhs against thousands during the mutiny. arran ( ), largest island in the firth of clyde, in buteshire; a mountainous island, highest summit goatfell, ft, with a margin of lowland round the coast; nearly all the property of the duke of hamilton, whose seat is brodick castle. arras ( ), a french town in the dep. of pas-de-calais, long celebrated for its tapestry; the birthplace of damiens and robespierre. ar`ria, a roman matron, who, to encourage her husband in meeting death, to which he had been sentenced, thrust a poniard into her own breast, and then handed it to him, saying, "it is not painful," whereupon he followed her example. ar`rian, flavius, a bithynian, a friend of epictetus the stoic, edited his "enchiridion"; wrote a "history of alexander the great," and "periplus," an account of voyages round the euxine and round the red sea; _b_. , and died at an advanced age. arrow-headed characters, the same as the cuneiform (q. v.). arru islands ( ), a group of coralline islands, belonging to holland, w. of new guinea; export mother-of-pearl, pearls, tortoise-shell, &c. ar`saces i., the founder of the dynasty of the arsacidæ, by a revolt which proved successful against the seleucidæ, b.c. arsacidÆ, a dynasty of parthian kings, who wrested the throne from antiochus ii., the last of the seleucidæ, b.c. arsin`oË, the name of several egyptian princesses of antiquity; also a prude in molière's "misanthrope." arta, gulf of, gulf forming the nw. frontier of greece. arts, the. there are three classes of these, the liberal, the fine, and the mechanical: the liberal, implying scholarship, graduation in which is granted by universities, entitling the holder to append m.a. to his name; the mechanical, implying skill; and the fine, implying the possession of a soul, discriminated from the mechanical by the word spiritual, as holding of the entire, undivided man, heart as well as brain. artaxer`xes, the name of several persian monarchs: a. i., called the "long-handed," from his right hand being longer than his left; son of xerxes i.; concluded a peace with greece after a war of years; entertained themistocles at his court; king from to b.c. a. ii., mnemon, vanquished and killed his brother cyrus at cunaxa in , who had revolted against him; imposed in on the spartans the shameful treaty of antalcidas (q. v.); king from to b.c. a. iii., ochus, son of the preceding, slew all his kindred on ascending the throne; in egypt slew the sacred bull apis and gave the flesh to his soldiers, for which his eunuch bagsas poisoned him; king from to b.c. a. iv., grandson of sassan, founder of the dynasty sassanidæ; restored the old religion of the magi, amended the laws, and promoted education; king from a.d. to . arte`di, a swedish naturalist, assisted linnæus in his "systema naturæ"; his own great work, "ichthyologia," published by linnæus after his death ( - ). ar`tegal, the impersonation and champion of justice in spenser's "faërie queene." ar`temis, in the greek mythology the daughter of zeus and leto, twin sister of apollo, born in the isle of delos, and one of the great divinities of the greeks; a virgin goddess, represented as a huntress armed with bow and arrows; presided over the birth of animals, was guardian of flocks, the moon the type of her and the laurel her sacred tree, was the diana of the romans, and got mixed up with deities in other mythologies. artemi`sia, queen of halicarnassus, joined xerxes in his invasion of greece, and fought with valour at salamis, b.c. a. ii., also queen, raised a tomb over the grave of her husband mausolus, regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world, b.c. artemi`sium, a promontory n. of euboea, near which xerxes lost part of his fleet, b.c. artemus ward. see c. f. browne. artesian wells, wells made by boring for water where it is lower than its source, so as to obtain a constant supply of it. ar`tevelde, jacob van, a wealthy brewer of ghent, chosen chief in a revolt against count louis of flanders, expelled him, made a treaty with edward iii. as lord-superior of flanders, was massacred in a popular tumult ( - ). artevelde, philip van, son of the preceding, defeated louis ii. and became king; but with the help of france louis retaliated and defeated the flemings, and slew him in . artful dodger, a young thief, an expert in the profession in dickens' "oliver twist." ar`thur, a british prince of wide-spread fame, who is supposed to have lived at the time of the saxon invasion in the th century, whose exploits and those of his court have given birth to the tradition of the round table, to the rendering of which tennyson devoted so much of his genius. arthur, chester alan, twenty-first president of the united states, a lawyer by profession, and a prominent member of the republican party ( - ). arthur, prince, duke of brittany, heir to the throne of england by the death of his uncle richard i.; supplanted by king john. arthur seat, a lion-shaped hill ft., close to edinburgh on the e., from the top of which the prospect is unrivalled; "the blue, majestic, everlasting ocean, with the fife hills swelling gradually into the grampians behind it on the n.; rough crags and rude precipices at our feet ('where not a hillock rears its head unsung'), with edinburgh at their base, clustering proudly over her rugged foundations, and covering with a vapoury mantle the jagged, black, venerable masses of stone-work, that stretch far and wide, and show like a city of fairyland"--such the view carlyle had in a clear atmosphere of , whatever it may be now. articles, the thirty-nine, originally forty-two, a creed framed in , which every clergyman of the church of england is bound by law to subscribe to at his ordination, as the accepted faith of the church. artist, according to a definition of ruskin, which he prints in small caps., "a person who has submitted to a law which it was painful to obey, that he may bestow a delight which it is gracious to bestow." artists, prince of, albert dürer, so called by his countrymen. ar`tois, an ancient province of france, comprising the dep. of pas-de-calais, and parts of the somme and the nord; united to the crown in . artois, monseigneur d', famed, as described in carlyle's "french revolution," for "breeches of a new kind in this world"; brother of louis xvi., and afterwards charles x. (q. v.). ar`undel ( ), a municipal town in sussex, on the arun, m. e. of chichester, with a castle of great magnificence, the seat of the earls of arundel. arundel, thomas, successively bishop of ely, lord chancellor, archbishop of york, and archbishop of canterbury; a persecutor of the wickliffites, but a munificent benefactor of the church ( - ). arundel marbles, ancient grecian marbles collected at smyrna and elsewhere by the earl of arundel in , now in the possession of the university of oxford, the most important of which is one from paros inscribed with a chronology of events in grecian history from to b.c.; the date of the marbles themselves is b.c. aruns, son of tarquinus superbus, who fell in single combat with brutus. aruwi`mi, an affluent of the congo on the right bank below the stanley falls. arva`tes, fratres, a college of twelve priests in ancient rome whose duty it was to make annual offerings to the lares for the increase of the fruits of the field. arve, a river that flows through the valley of chamouni and falls into the rhône below geneva. arveyron, an affluent of the arve from the mer de glace. ar`yans, or indo-europeans, a race that is presumed to have had its primitive seat in central asia, e. of the caspian sea and n. of the hindu-kush, and to have branched off at different periods north-westward and westward into europe, and southward into persia and the valley of the ganges, from which sprung the greeks, latins, celts, teutons, slavs, on the one hand, and the persians and hindus on the other, a community of origin that is attested by the comparative study of their respective languages. ar`zew, a seaport in algeria, m. from oran, with roman remains; exports grain and salt. asafoe`tida, a fetid inspissated sap from an indian umbelliferous tree, used in medicine. asaph, a musician of the temple at jerusalem. asaph, st., a town in flintshire, m. from chester; seat of a bishopric. asbes`tos, an incombustible mineral of a flax-like fibrous texture, which has been manufactured into cloth, paper, lamp-wick, steam-pipes, gas-stoves, &c. asbjÖrn`sen, a dane, distinguished as a naturalist, and particularly as a collector of folk-lore, as well as an author of children's stories ( - ). as`bury, francis, a zealous, assiduous methodist preacher and missionary, sent to america, was consecrated the first bishop of the newly organised methodist church there ( - ). as`calon, one of the five cities of the philistines, much contested for during the crusades. asca`nius, the son of Æneas, who trotted _non passibus æquis_ ("with unequal steps") by the side of his father as he escaped from burning troy; was founder of alba longa. as`capart, a giant conquered by bevis of southampton, though so huge as to carry bevis, his wife, and horse under his arm. ascension, a bare volcanic island in the atlantic, rising to nearly ft., belonging to britain, m. nw. of st. helena, and m. from the coast of africa; a coaling and victualling station for the navy. aschaf`fenburg ( ), an ancient town of bavaria, on the main, m. from frankfort, with an old castle and cathedral. ascham, roger, a yorkshireman, fellow of cambridge, a good classical, and particularly greek, scholar; wrote a book on archery, deemed a classic, entitled "toxophilus," for which henry viii. settled a pension on him; was tutor and latin secretary to queen elizabeth, and much esteemed by her; his chief work, the "schoolmaster," an admirable treatise on education, held in high regard by dr. johnson, the sum of which is _docendo discas_, "learn by teaching" ( - ). aschersle`ben ( ), a manufacturing town in the magdeburg district of prussia. asclepi`ades, a bithynian who practised medicine with repute at rome in cicero's time, and was great in hygiene. as`cot, a racecourse in berks, m. sw. of windsor, the races at which, instituted by queen anne, take place a fortnight after the derby. as`gard, the garden or heaven of the asen or gods in the norse mythology, in which each had a separate dwelling, and who held intercourse with the other spheres of existence by the bridge bifröst, i. e. the rainbow. asgill, john, an eccentric englishman, wrote a book to prove that death was due to want of faith, and to express his belief that he would be translated, and translated he was, to spend years, apparently quite happily, writing pamphlets, and end his days in the debtors' prison. ash, john, a dissenting divine, author of an english dictionary, valuable for the number of obsolete and provincial words contained in it ( - ). ash`anti, or ashantee, a negro inland kingdom in the upper soudan, n. of gold coast territory, wooded, well watered, and well cultivated; natives intelligent, warlike, and skilful; twice over provoked a war with great britain, and finally the despatch of a military expedition, which led to the submission of the king and the appointment of a british resident. ashburnham, john, a member of the long parliament, a faithful adherent and attendant of charles i., and assistant to him in his troubles ( - ). ashburnham, th earl of, collected a number of valuable mss. and rare books known as the ashburnham collection; _d_. . ashburton, alexander baring, lord, second son of sir francis baring, a liberal politician, turned conservative, member of peel's administration in - , sent special ambassador to the united states in ; concluded the boundary treaty of washington, known as the ashburton treaty; in his retirement "a really good, solid, most cheery, sagacious, simple-hearted old man" ( - ). ashburton, william bingham baring, son of the preceding, "a very worthy man," an admirer, and his wife, lady harriet, still more, of thomas carlyle ( - ). ashby-de-la-zouch, a small market-town m. w. of leicester, figures in "ivanhoe," with the ruins of a castle in which queen mary was immured. ashdod, a maritime philistine city m. s. of jaffa, seat of the dagon worship. ashe`ra, an image of astarte (q. v.), and associated with the worship of that goddess. ash`mole, elias, a celebrated antiquary and authority on heraldry; presented to the university of oxford a collection of rarities bequeathed to him, which laid the foundation of the ashmolean collection there ( - ). ashmun, jehudi, an american philanthropist, founder of the negro republic of liberia, on the w. coast of africa ( - ). ash`taroth. see astarte. ash`ton-under-lyne ( ), a cotton-manufacturing town near manchester. asia, the largest of the four quarters of the globe, and as good as in touch with the other three; contains one-third of all the land, which, from a centre of high elevations, extensive plains, and deep depressions, stretches southward into three large peninsulas separated by three immense arms of the sea, and eastward into three bulging masses and three pronounced peninsulas forming seas, protected by groups of islands; with rivers the largest in the whole world, of which four flow n., two se., and eight s.; with a large continental basin, also the largest in the world, and with lakes which though they do not match those of america and africa, strikingly stand at a higher level as we go e.; with every variety of climate, with a richly varied flora and fauna, with a population of , , , being the half of that of the globe, of chiefly three races, caucasian, mongolian, and malay, at different stages of civilisation, and as regards religion, by far the majority professing the faith of brahma, buddha, mahomet, or christ. asia minor, called also anatole`, a peninsular extension westward of the armenian and kurdistan highlands in asia, bounded on the n. by the black sea, on the w. by the archipelago, and on the s. by the levant; indented all round, mainland as well as adjoining islands, with bays and harbours, all more or less busy centres of trade; is as large as france, and consists of a plateau with slopes all round to the coasts; has a population of over , , . askew, anne, a lady of good birth, a victim of persecution in the time of henry viii. for denying transubstantiation, tortured on the rack and burnt at the stake, . askew, antony, a physician and classical scholar, a collector of rare and curious books ( - ). asmode`us, a mischievous demon or goblin of the jewish demonology, who gloats on the vices and follies of mankind, and figures in le sage's "le diable boiteux," or the "devil on two sticks," as lifting off the roofs of the houses of madrid and exposing their inmost interiors and the secret doings of the inhabitants. asmonÆ`ans, a name given to the maccabees, from asmon, the place of their origin. aso`ka, a king of behar, in india; after his accession in b.c. became an ardent disciple of buddha; organised buddhism, as constantine did christianity, into a state religion; convened the third great council of the church of that creed at patna; made a proclamation of this faith as far as his influence extended, evidence of which is still extant in pillars and rocks inscribed with his edicts in wide districts of northern india; _d_. b.c. asp, a poisonous egyptian viper of uncertain species. aspa`sia, a woman remarkable for her wit, beauty, and culture, a native of miletus; being attracted to athens, came and settled in it; became the wife of pericles, and her home the rendezvous of all the intellectual and wise people of the city, socrates included; her character was often both justly and unjustly assailed. as`pern, a village in austria, on the danube, m. ne. of vienna, where a charge of the austrians under the archduke charles was defeated by napoleon, may , , and marshal lannes killed. asphalt, a mineral pitch of a black or brownish-black colour, consisting chiefly of carbon; also a limestone impregnated with bitumen, and more or less in every quarter of the globe. asphaltic lake, the dead sea (q. v.), so called from the asphalt on its surface and banks. as`phodel, a lily plant appraised by the greeks for its almost perennial flowering, and with which they, in their imagination, covered the elysian fields, called hence the asphodel meadow. asphyx`ia, suspended respiration in the physical life; a term frequently employed by carlyle to denote a much more recondite, but a no less real, corresponding phenomenon in the spiritual life. aspinwall, a town founded by an american of the name in , at the atlantic extremity of the panama railway; named colon, since the empress eugenie presented it with a statue of columbus. aspromon`te, a mountain close by reggio, overlooking the strait of messina, near which garibaldi was defeated and captured in . asquini, count, a rural economist who did much to promote silk culture in italy ( - ). assab bay, a coaling-station belonging to italy, on the w. coast of the red sea. assam` ( , ), a province e. of bengal, ceded to britain after the burmese war in ; being an alluvial plain, with ranges of hills along the brahmapootra, m. long and broad; the low lands extremely fertile and productive, and the hills covered with tea plantations, yielding at one time, if not still, three-fourths of the tea raised in india. assarotti, an italian philanthropist, born at genoa; the first to open a school for deaf-mutes in italy, and devoted zealously his fortune and time to the task ( - ). as`sas, nicolas, captain of the french regiment of auvergne, whose celebrity depends on a single act of defiance: having entered a wood to reconnoitre it the night before the battle of kloster kampen, was suddenly surrounded by the enemy's (the english) soldiers, and defied with bayonets at his breast to utter a cry of alarm; "ho, auvergne!" he exclaimed, and fell dead on the instant, pierced with bayonets, to the saving of his countrymen. assassins, a fanatical moslem sect organised in the th century, at the time of the crusades, under a chief called the old man of the mountain, whose stronghold was a rock fortress at alamut, in persia, devoted to the assassination of all enemies of the moslem faith, and so called because they braced their nerves for their deeds of blood by draughts of an intoxicating liquor distilled from hashish (the hemp-plant). a tartar force burst upon the horde in their stronghold in , and put them wholesale to the sword. assaye`, a small town m. ne. of aurungabad, where sir arthur wellesley gained a victory over the mahrattas in . assegai, a spear or javelin of wood tipped with iron, used by certain s. african tribes with deadly effect in war. assembly, general, the chief court of the presbyterian church, a representative body, half clergymen and half laymen, which sits in edinburgh for ten days in may, disposes of the general business of the church, and determines appeals. assembly, national, the commons section of the states-general of france which met on may , , constituted itself into a legislative assembly, and gave a new constitution to the country. assembly, westminster, a body composed of members, of which were clergymen, convened at westminster to determine questions of doctrine, worship, and discipline in the national church, and which held its sittings, over of them, from july , , to feb. , , with the result that the members of it were unanimous in regard to doctrine, but were divided in the matter of government. assemani, giuseppe, a learned syrian maronite, librarian of the vatican, wrote an account of syrian writers ( - ); stephano, nephew, held the same office, wrote "acta sanctorum martyrum" ( - ). asser, john, monk of st. david's, in wales, tutor, friend, and biographer of alfred the great; is said to have suggested the founding of oxford university; _d_. . assien`to, a treaty with spain to supply negroes for her colonies, concluded in succession with the flemings, the genoese, a french company, the english, and finally the south sea company, who relinquished their rights in on compensation by spain. as`signats, bills or notes, to the number of thousand million, issued as currency by the revolutionary government of france in , and based on the security of church and other lands appropriated by it, and which in course of time sunk in value, to the ruin of millions. assiniboi`a, a province in canada between saskatchewan and the united states. assiniboines, certain aborigines of canada; the few of whom that remain do farming on the banks of the saskatchewan. assi`si ( ), a town in central italy, m. se. of perugia, the birthplace and burial-place of st. francis, and the birthplace of metastasio; it was a celebrated place of resort of pilgrims, who sometimes came in great numbers. association of ideas, a connection in the mind between two ideas, such that the consciousness of one tends to recall the other, a fact employed to explain certain recondite psychological phenomena. assouan`, the ancient syene, the southernmost city of egypt, on the right bank of the nile, near the last cataract. assoucy, d', a french burlesque poet ridiculed by boileau ( - ). assumption, feast of the, festival in honour of the translation of the virgin mary to heaven, celebrated on the th of august, the alleged day of the event. assur, mythical name of the founder of assyria. assyr`ia, an ancient kingdom, the origin and early history of which is uncertain, between the niphates mountains of armenia on the n. and babylonia on the s., m. long and broad, with a fertile soil and a population at a high stage of civilisation; became a province of media, which lay to the e., in b.c., and afterwards a satrapy of the persian empire, and has been under the turks since , in whose hands it is now a desert. assyriology, the study of the monuments of assyria, chiefly in a biblical interest. astar`te, or ashtoreth, or ist`ar, the female divinity of the phoenicians, as baal was the male, these two being representative respectively of the conceptive and generative powers of nature, and symbolised, the latter, like apollo, by the sun, and the former, like artemis or diana, by the moon; sometimes identified with urania and sometimes with venus; the rites connected with her worship were of a lascivious nature. aster, of amphipolis, an archer who offered his services to philip of macedon, boasting of his skill in bringing down birds on the wing, and to whom philip had replied he would accept them when he made war on the birds. aster, to be revenged, sped an arrow from the wall of a town philip was besieging, inscribed, "to the right eye of philip," which took effect; whereupon philip sped back another with the words, "when philip takes the town, aster will hang for it," and he was true to his word. as`teroids, or planetoids, small planets in orbits between those of mars and jupiter, surmised in , all discovered in the present century, the first on jan. , , and named ceres; gradually found to number more than . as`ti ( ), an ancient city in piedmont, on the tanaro, m. se. from turin, with a gothic cathedral; is noted for its wine; birthplace of alfieri. astley, philip, a famous equestrian and circus manager, along with franconi established the cirque olympique in paris ( - ). astolfo, a knight-errant in mediæval legend who generous-heartedly is always to do greater feats than he can perform; in "orlando furioso" he brings back orlando's lost wits in a phial from the moon, and possesses a horn that with a blast can discomfit armies. aston, luise, german authoress, championed the rights of women, and went about in male attire; _b_. . aston manor ( ), a suburb of birmingham. astor, john jacob, a millionaire, son of a german peasant, who made a fortune of four millions in america by trading in furs ( - ). his son doubled his fortune; known as the "landlord of new york" ( - ). astor, william waldorf, son of the preceding, devoted to politics; came to london, ; became proprietor of the _pall mall gazette_ and _budget_ in ; _b_. . asto`ria, in oregon, a fur-trading station, with numerous salmon-tinning establishments. astrÆ`a, the daughter of zeus and themis, the goddess of justice; dwelt among men during the golden age, but left the earth on its decline, and her sister pudicitia along with her, the withdrawal explained to mean the vanishing of the ideal from the life of man on the earth; now placed among the stars under the name of virgo. astrÆa redux, the name given to an era which piques itself on the return of the reign of justice to the earth. as`trakhan ( ), a russian trading town on the volga, m. from its mouth in the caspian sea, of which it is the chief port. astral body, an ethereal body believed by the theosophists to invest the animal, to correspond to it, and to be capable of bilocation (q. v.) astral spirits, spirits believed to animate or to people the heavenly bodies, to whom worship was paid, and to hover unembodied through space exercising demonic influence on embodied spirits. astrology, a science founded on a presumed connection between the heavenly bodies and human destiny as more or less affected by them, a science at one time believed in by men of such intelligence as tacitus and kepler, and few great families at one time but had an astrologer attached to them to read the horoscope of any new member of the house. astruc, jean, a french physician and professor of medicine in paris, now noted as having discovered that the book of genesis consists of elohistic and jehovistic portions, and who by this discovery founded the modern school called of the higher criticism ( - ). astu`rias ( ), an ancient province in the n. of spain, gives title to the heir to the crown, rich in minerals, and with good fisheries; now named oviedo, from the principal town. asty`ages, last king of the medes; dethroned by cyrus, b.c. asty`anax, the son of hector and andromache; was cast down by the greeks from the ramparts after the fall of troy, lest he should live and restore the city. asun`cion, or assumption ( ), the capital of paraguay, on the left bank of the paraguay, so called from having been founded by the spaniards on the feast of the assumption in . asuras, the, in the hindu mythology the demons of the darkness of night, in overcoming whom the gods asserted their sovereignty in the universe. asymptote, a line always approaching some curve but never meeting it. ataca`ma, an all but rainless desert in the n. of chile, abounding in silver and copper mines, as well as gold in considerable quantities. atahualpa, the last of the incas of peru, who fell into pizarro's hands through perfidy, and was strangled by his orders in , that is, little short of a year after the spaniards landed in peru. atalan`ta, a beautiful grecian princess celebrated for her agility, the prize of any suitor who could outstrip her on the racecourse, failure being death; at last one suitor, hippomenes his name, accepted the risk and started along with her, but as he neared the goal, kept dropping first one golden apple, then another, provided him by venus, stooping to lift which lost her the race, whereupon hippomenes claimed the prize. at`avism, name given to the reappearance in progeny of the features, and even diseases, of ancestors dead generations before. atba`ra, or black river, from the highlands of abyssinia, the lowest tributary of the nile, which it joins near berber. ate`, in the greek mythology the goddess of strife and mischief, also of vengeance; was banished by her father zeus, for the annoyance she gave him, from heaven to earth, where she has not been idle since. athaba`sca, a province, a river, and a lake in british n. america. athalia, the queen of judah, daughter of ahab and jezebel, celebrated for her crimes and impiety, for which she was in the end massacred by her subjects, th century b.c. athanasian creed, a statement, in the form of a confession, of the orthodox creed of the church as against the arians, and damnatory of every article of the heresy severally; ascribed to athanasius at one time, but now believed to be of later date, though embracing his theology in affirmation of the absolute co-equal divinity of the father, the son, and the holy ghost in the trinity. athanasius, christian theologian, a native of alexandria, and a deacon of the church; took a prominent part against arius in the council at nice, and was his most uncompromising antagonist; was chosen bishop of alexandria; driven forth again and again from his bishopric under persecution of the arians; retired into the thebaïd for a time; spent the last years of his life as bishop at alexandria, where he died; his works consist of treatises and orations bearing on the arian controversy, and in vindication of the doctrine of the trinity viewed in the most absolute sense ( - ). atheism, disbelief in the existence of god, which may be either theoretical, in the intellect, or practical, in the life, the latter the more common and the more fatal form of it. atheism, modern, ascribed by ruskin to "the unfortunate persistence of the clergy in teaching children what they cannot understand, and in employing young consecrate persons to assert in pulpits what they do not know." athelney, isle of, an island in a marsh near the confluence of the tone and parret, somerset; alfred's place of refuge from the danes. athe`na, the greek virgin goddess of wisdom, particularly in the arts, of war as of peace, happily called by ruskin the "'queen of the air,' in the heavens, in the earth, and in the heart"; is said to have been the conception of metis, to have issued full-armed from the brain of zeus, and in this way the child of both wisdom and power; wears a helmet, and bears on her left arm the ægis with the medusa's head; the olive among trees, and the owl among animals, were sacred to her. athenÆum, a school of learning established in rome about by hadrian. athenÆus, a greek writer of the rd century, wrote a curious miscellany of a book entitled "deipnosophistæ, or the suppers of the learned," extant only in an imperfect state. athenag`oras, an able christian apologist of the nd century, was athenian and a pagan by birth, but being converted to christianity, wrote an apology in its defence, and a treatise on the resurrection of the dead. ath`ens, the capital of attica, and the chief city of ancient greece, at once the brain and the heart of it; the resort in ancient times of all the able and wise men, particularly in the domain of literature and art, from all parts of the country and lands beyond; while the monuments of temple and statue that still adorn it give evidence of a culture among the citizens such as the inhabitants of no other city of the world have had the genius to surpass, though the name athens has been adopted by or applied to several cities, edinburgh in particular, that have been considered to rival it in this respect, and is the name of over twenty places in the united states. the two chief monuments of the architecture of ancient athens, both erected on the acropolis, are the parthenon (q. v.), dedicated to athena, the finest building on the finest site in the world, and the erechtheum, a temple dedicated to poseidon close by; is the capital ( ) of modern greece, the seat of the government, and the residence of the king. athlone ( ), a market-town on the shannon, which divides it, and a chief military station. athole, a district in the n. of perthshire, which gives name to a branch of the murray family. athole-brose, oatmeal, honey, and whisky mixed. athole, sir john james hugh stewart-murray, th duke of, honourably distinguished for having devoted years of his life to editing the records of the family and the related history; _b_. a`thos, mount, or monte santo ( ), a mountain ft. high at the southern extremity of the most northerly peninsula of salonica, in turkey, covered with monasteries, inhabited exclusively by monks of the greek church, and rich in curious manuscripts; the monks devote themselves to gardening, bee-culture, and other rural occupations, the more devout among them at one time celebrated for the edification they derived from the study of their own navels. atlanta ( ), the largest city in georgia, u.s.; a large manufacturing and railway centre. atlantes, figures of men used in architecture instead of pillars. atlantic, the, the most important, best known, most traversed and best provided for traffic of all the oceans on the globe, connecting, rather than separating, the old world and the new; covers nearly one-fifth of the surface of the earth; length m., its average breadth m.; its average depth , ft., or from to m., with waves in consequence of greater height and volume than those of any other sea. atlan`tis, an island alleged by tradition to have existed in the ocean w. of the pillars of hercules; plato has given a beautiful picture of this island, and an account of its fabulous history. the new, a utopia figured as existing somewhere in the atlantic, which lord bacon began to outline but never finished. at`las, a titan who, for his audacity in attempting to dethrone zeus, was doomed to bear the heavens on his shoulders; although another account makes him a king of mauritania whom perseus, for his want of hospitality, changed into a mountain by exposing to view the head of the medusa. atlas mountains, a range in n. africa, the highest , feet, the greater in morocco, the lesser extending besides through algeria and tunis, and the whole system extending from cape nun, in morocco, to cape bon, in tunis. atman, the, in the hindu philosophy, the divine spirit in man, conceived of as a small being having its seat in the heart, where it may be felt stirring, travelling whence along the arteries it peers out as a small image in the eye, the pupil; it is centred in the heart of the universe, and appears with dazzling effect in the sun, the heart and eye of the world, and is the same there as in the heart of man. at`oll, the name, a polynesian one, given to a coral island consisting of a ring of coral enclosing a lagoon. atomic theory, the theory that all compound bodies are made up of elementary in fixed proportions. atomic weight, the weight of an atom of any body compared with that of hydrogen, the unit. atra`to, a river in colombia which flows n. into the gulf of darien; is navigable for m., proposed, since the failure of the panama scheme, to be converted, along with san juan river, into a canal to connect the atlantic and the pacific. a`treus, a son of pelops and king of mycenæ, who, to avenge a wrong done him by his brother thyestes, killed his two sons, and served them up in a banquet to him, for which act, as tradition shows, his descendants had to pay heavy penalties. atri`des, descendants of atreus, particularly agamemnon and menelaus, a family frequently referred to as capable of and doomed to perpetrating the most atrocious crimes. at`ropos, one of the three fates, the one who cut asunder the thread of life; one of her sisters, clotho, appointed to spin the thread, and the other, lachesis, to direct it. at`talus, the name of three kings of pergamos: a. i., founded the library of pergamos and joined the romans against philip and the achæans ( - b.c.); a. ii., kept up the league with rome ( - ); a. iii., bequeathed his wealth to the roman people ( - ). atterbury, francis, an english prelate, in succession dean of christ church, bishop of rochester, and dean of westminster; a zealous churchman and jacobite, which last brought him into trouble on the accession of the house of hanover and led to his banishment; died in paris. he was a scholarly man, an eloquent preacher, and wrote an eloquent style ( - ). attic bee, sophocles, from the sweetness and beauty of his productions. attic faith, inviolable faith, opposed to punic. attic muse, xenophon, from the simplicity and elegance of his style. attic salt, pointed and delicate wit. attic style, a pure, classical, and elegant style. at`tica, a country in ancient greece, on the ne. of the peloponnesus, within an area not larger than that of lanarkshire, which has nevertheless had a history of world-wide fame and importance. atticism, a pure and refined style of expression in any language, originally the purest and most refined style of the ancient literature of greece. atticus, titus p., a wealthy roman and a great friend of cicero's, devoted to study and the society of friends, took no part in politics, died of voluntary starvation rather than endure the torture of a painful and incurable disease ( - b.c.). at`tila, or etzel, the king of the huns, surnamed "the scourge of god," from the terror he everywhere inspired; overran the roman empire at the time of its decline, vanquished the emperors of both east and west, extorting heavy tribute; led his forces into germany and gaul, was defeated in a great battle near châlons-sur-marne by the combined armies of the romans under aëtius and the goths under theodoric, retreated across the alps and ravaged the n. of italy; died of hemorrhage, it is alleged, on the day of his marriage, and was buried in a gold coffin containing immense treasures in , the slaves who dug the grave having, it is said, been killed, lest they should reveal the spot. at`tock ( ), a town and fortress in the punjab, on the indus where the kabul joins it--a river beyond which no hindu must pass; it was built by akbar in . attorney-general, the name given the first law officer and legal adviser of the crown in england and ireland. attwood, george, a mathematician, invented a machine for illustrating the law of uniformly accelerated motion, as in falling bodies ( - ). attwood, thomas, an eminent english musician and composer, wrote a few anthems ( - ). a`tys, a beautiful phrygian youth, beloved by cybele, who turned him into a pine, after she had, by her apparition at his marriage to forbid the banns, driven him mad. aube ( ), a dep. in france, formed of champagne and a small part of burgundy, with troyes for capital. au`ber, a popular french composer of operas, born at caen; his operas included "la muette de portici," "le domino noir," "fra diavolo," &c. ( - ). au`bert, the abbÉ, a french fabulist, born at paris ( - ). aub`rey, john, an eminent antiquary, a friend of anthony wood's; inherited estates in wilts, hereford, and wales, all of which he lost by lawsuits and bad management; was intimate with all the literary men of the day; left a vast number of mss.; published one work, "miscellanies," being a collection of popular superstitions; preserved a good deal of the gossip of the period ( - ). aub`riot, a french statesman, born at dijon, provost of paris under charles v.: built the famous bastille; was imprisoned in it for heresy, but released by a mob; died at dijon, . aubry de montdidier, french knight murdered by robert macaire (q. v.), the sole witness of the crime and the avenger of it being his dog. aubusson, a french town on the creuse, manufactures carpets and tapestry. aubusson, pierre d', grand-master of the knights of st. john of jerusalem, of french descent, who in gallantly defended rhodes when besieged by mahomet ii., and drove the assailants back, amounting to no fewer than , men ( - ). auch ( ), capital of the dep. of gers, france, m. w. of toulouse, with a splendid cathedral perched on a hill, and accessible only by a flight of steps; has a trade in wine and brandy. auchinleck, a village m. e. of ayr, with the mansion of the boswell family. auchterar`der, a village in perthshire, where the forcing of a presentee by a patron on an unwilling congregation awoke a large section in the established church to a sense of the wrong, and the assertion of the rights of the people and led to the disruption of the community, and the creation of the free church in . auck`land ( ), the largest town in new zealand, in the n. island, with an excellent harbour in the gulf of hauraki, and the capital of a district of the name, m. long, and m. broad, with a fertile soil and a fine climate, rich in natural products of all kinds; was the capital of new zealand till the seat of government was transferred to wellington. auckland, bishop ( ), a town on the wear, m. sw. of durham and in the county of durham, with the palace of the bishop. auckland, george eden, lord, son of the following, a whig in politics, first lord of the admiralty, governor-general of india; gave name to auckland; returned afterwards to his post in the admiralty ( - ). auckland, william eden, lord, diplomatist, and an authority on criminal law ( - ). auckland islands, a group of small islands m. s. of new zealand, with some good harbours, and rich in vegetation. aude ( ), a maritime dep. in the s. of france, being a portion of languedoc; yields cereals, wine, &c., and is rich in minerals. audebert, jean baptiste, a french artist and naturalist; devoted himself to the illustration in coloured plates of objects of natural history, such especially as monkeys and humming-birds, all exquisitely done ( - ). audhumbla, the cow, in the norse mythology, that nourished hymir, and lived herself by licking the hoar-frost off the rocks. audley, sir thomas, lord, born in essex, son of a yeoman; became speaker of the house of commons and lord chancellor of england; the selfish, unscrupulous tool of henry viii. ( - ). au`douin, jean victor, an eminent french entomologist; was employed by the french government to inquire into and report on the diseases of the silkworm, and the insects that destroy the vines ( - ). audran, gerard, an engraver, the most eminent of a family of artists, born at lyons; engraved the works of lebrun, mignard, and poussin; he did some fine illustrations of the battles of alexander the great ( - ). au`dubon, john james, a celebrated american ornithologist of french huguenot origin; author of two great works, the "birds of america" and the "quadrupeds of america," drawn and illustrated by himself, the former characterised by cuvier as "the most magnificent monument that art up to that time had raised to nature" ( - ). au`enbrugger, an austrian physician, discoverer of the method of investigating diseases of the chest by percussion ( - ). au`erbach, bertholo, a german poet and novelist of jewish birth, born in the black forest; his novels, which have been widely translated, are in the main of a somewhat philosophical bent, he having been early led to the study of spinoza, and having begun his literary career as editor of his works; his "village tales of the black forest" were widely popular ( - ). au`ersperg, count von, an austrian lyrical and satirical poet, of liberal politics, and a pronounced enemy of the absolutist party headed by metternich ( - ). auf`recht, theodor, eminent sanskrit scholar, born in silesia; was professor of sanskrit in edinburgh university; returning to germany, became professor at bonn; _b_. . aufklÄrung, the, or illuminationism, a movement, conspicuously of the present time, the members of which pique themselves on ability to disperse the darkness of the world, if they could only persuade men to forego reason, and accept sense, common-sense, as the only test of truth, and who profess to settle all questions of reason, that is, of faith, by appeal to private judgment and majorities, or as dr. stirling defines it, "that stripping of us naked of all things in heaven and upon earth, at the hands of the modern party of unbelief, and under the guidance of so-called rationalism." auge`as, a legendary king of elis, in greece, and one of the argonauts; had a stable with oxen, that had not been cleaned out for years, but was cleansed by hercules turning the rivers peneus and alpheus through it; the act a symbol of the worthless lumber a reformer must sweep away before his work can begin, the work of reformation proper. auger, a french littérateur, born at paris, renowned as a critic ( - ). au`gereau, pierre franÇois charles, marshal of france and duke of castiglione, born at paris; distinguished in the campaigns of the republic and napoleon; executed the _coup d'état_ of the th sept. ; his services were rejected by napoleon on his return from elba, on account of his having supported the bourbons during his absence. he was simply a soldier, rude and rough-mannered, and with no great brains for anything else but military discipline ( - ). au`gier, Émile, able french dramatist, produced brilliant comedies for the french stage through a period of years, all distinctly on the side of virtue. his only rivals were dumas _fils_ and m. sardou ( - ). augs`burg ( ), a busy manufacturing and trading town on the lech, in bavaria, once a city of great importance, where in the protestants presented their confession to charles v., and where the peace of augsburg was signed in , ensuring religious freedom. augsburg confession, a document drawn up by melanchthon in name of the lutheran reformers, headed by the elector of saxony in statement of their own doctrines, and of the doctrines of the church of rome, against which they protested. augurs, a college of priests in rome appointed to forecast the future by the behaviour or flight of birds kept for the purpose, and which were sometimes carried about in a coop to consult on emergencies. august, originally called sextilis, as the sixth month of the roman year, which began in march, and named august in honour of augustus, as being the month identified with remarkable events in his career. augusta ( ), a prosperous town in georgia, u.s., on the savannah, m. from its mouth; also a town ( ) the capital of maine, u.s. augustan age, the time in the history of a nation when its literature is at its best. augusti, a german rationalist theologian of note, born near gotha ( - ). augustin, or austin, st., the apostle of england, sent thither with a few monks by pope gregory in to convert the country to christianity; began his labours in kent; founded the see, or rather archbishopric, of canterbury; _d_. . au`gustine, st., the bishop of hippo and the greatest of the latin fathers of the church; a native of tagaste, in numidia; son of a pagan father and a christian mother, st. monica; after a youth of dissipation, was converted to christ by a text of st. paul (rom. xiii. , ), which his eyes first lit upon, as on suggestion of a friend he took up the epistle to read it in answer to an appeal he had made to him to explain a voice that was ever whispering in his ears, "take and read"; became bishop in , devoted himself to pastoral duties, and took an active part in the church controversies of his age, opposing especially the manichæans, the donatists, and the pelagians; his principal works are his "confessions," his "city of god," and his treatises on grace and free-will. it is safe to say, no churchman has ever exercised such influence as he has done in moulding the creed as well as directing the destiny of the christian church. he was especially imbued with the theology of st. paul ( - ). augustinians, (_a_) canons, called also black cenobites, under a less severe discipline than monks, had houses in england and wales at the reformation; (_b_) friars, mendicant, a portion of them barefooted; (_c_) nuns, nurses of the sick. augustus, called at first caius octavius, ultimately caius julius cÆsar octavianus, the first of the roman emperors or cæsars, grand-nephew of julius cæsar, and his heir; joined the republican party at cæsar's death, became consul, formed one of a triumvirate with antony and lepidus; along with antony overthrew the republican party under brutus and cassius at philippi; defeated antony and cleopatra at actium, and became master of the roman world; was voted the title of "augustus" by the senate in b.c.; proved a wise and beneficent ruler, and patronised the arts and letters, his reign forming a distinguished epoch in the history of the ancient literature of rome ( b.c.-a.d. ). augustus, the name of several princes of saxony and poland in the th and th centuries. augustus i., elector of saxony, a lutheran prince, whose reign was peaceful comparatively, and he was himself both a good man and a good ruler, a monarch surnamed the "pious" and the "justinian of saxony" ( - ). augustus ii., elector of saxony and king of poland; forced himself on poland; had twice to retire, but was reinstated; is known to history as "the strong"; "attained the maximum," says carlyle, "in several things,--of physical strength, could break horse-shoes, nay, half-crowns with finger and thumb; of sumptuosity, no man of his means so regardless of expense; and of bastards, three hundred and fifty-four of them (marshal saxe one of the lot); baked the biggest bannock on record, a cake with eggs and a tun of butter." he was, like many a monarch of the like loose character, a patron of the fine arts, and founded the dresden picture gallery ( - ). augustus iii., son of the preceding; beat stanislaus leszcynski in the struggle for the crown of poland; proved an incompetent king ( - ). aulic council, supreme council in the old german empire, from which there was no appeal, of date from to ; it had no constitution, dealt with judicial matters, and lived and died with the emperor. aulis, a port in boeotia, where the fleet of the greeks assembled before taking sail for troy, and where iphigeneia, to procure a favourable wind, was sacrificed by her father agamemnon, an event commemorated in the "iphigeneia in aulis" of euripides. aumale, duc d', one of the chiefs of the league, became governor of paris, which he held against henry iv., leagued with the spaniards, was convicted of treason, and having escaped, was burned in effigy; died an exile at brussels ( - ). aumale, duc d', fourth son of louis philippe, distinguished himself in algiers, and was governor of algeria, which he resigned when his father abdicated; lived in england for twenty years after, acknowledged the republic, and left his estate and valuables to the french nation ( - ). aungerville, richard, or richard de bury, tutor to edward iii., bishop of durham, sent on embassies to various courts, was a lover and collector of books, and left a curious work called "philobiblon" ( - ). aunoy, comtesse d', a french authoress, known and appreciated for her fairy tales ( - ). aurelia`nus, lucius domitius, powerful in physique, and an able roman emperor; son of a peasant of pannonia; distinguished as a skilful and successful general; was elected emperor, ; drove the barbarians out of italy; vanquished zenobia, queen of palmyra, carrying her captive to rome; subdued a usurper in gaul, and while on his way to crush a rebellion in persia was assassinated by his troops ( - ). aure`lius, marcus. see antoni`nus. aure`lius, victor sextus, a roman consul and a latin historian of the th century. aureola, a wreath of light represented as encircling the brows of the saints and martyrs. aurillac ( ), capital of the dep. of cantal, on the jourdanne, affluent of the dordogne, built round the famous abbey of st. geraud, now in ruins. au`rochs, a german wild ox, now extinct. auro`ra, the roman goddess of the dawn, charged with opening for the sun the gates of the east; had a star on her forehead, and rode in a rosy chariot drawn by four white horses. see eos. aurora ( ), a city in illinois, u.s., m. sw. of chicago, said to have been the first town to light the streets with electricity. aurora borealis, or northern lights, understood to be an electric discharge through the atmosphere connected with magnetic disturbance. aurun`gabad` ( ), a city in hyderabad, in the nizam's dominions; once the capital, now much decayed, with the ruins of a palace of aurungzebe. au`rungzebe, mogul emperor of hindustan, third son of shah jehan; ascended the throne by the deposition of his father, the murder of two brothers and of the son of one of these; he governed with skill and courage; extended his empire by subduing golconda, the carnatic, and bengal, and though fanatical and intolerant, was a patron of letters; his rule was far-shining, but the empire was rotten at the core, and when he died it crumbled to pieces in the hands of his sons, among whom he beforehand divided it ( - ). auscultation, discerning by the sound whether there is or is not disease in the interior organs of the body. auscultator, name in "sartor resartus," the hero as a man qualified for a profession, but as yet only expectant of employment in it. ausonia, an ancient name of italy. ausonius, decimus magnus, a roman poet, a native of gaul, born in bordeaux; tutor to the emperor gratian, who, on coming to the throne, made him prefect of latium and of gaul, and consul of rome. he was a good versifier and stylist, but no poet ( - ). austen, jane, a gifted english novelist, daughter of a clergyman in n. hampshire; member of a quiet family circle, occupied herself in writing without eye to publication, and only in mature womanhood thought of writing for the press. her first novel, "sense and sensibility," was published in , and was followed by "pride and prejudice," her masterpiece, "persuasion," and others, her interest being throughout in ordinary quiet cultured life, and the delineation of it, which she achieved in an inimitably charming manner. "she showed once for all," says professor saintsbury, "the capabilities of the very commonest and most ordinary life, if sufficiently observed and selected, and combined with due art, to furnish forth prose fiction not merely that would pass, but that should be of the absolutely first quality as literature. she is the mother of the english th-century novel, as scott is the father of it" ( - ). aus`terlitz ( ), a town in moravia, near brünn, where napoleon defeated the emperors of russia and of austria, at "the battle of the three emperors," dec. , ; one of napoleon's most brilliant victories, and thought so by himself. austin ( ), the capital of texas, on the colorado river, named after stephen austin, who was chiefly instrumental in annexing texas to the states. austin, alfred, poet-laureate in succession to tennyson, born near leeds, bred for the bar, but devoted to literature as journalist, writer, and poet; has written "the golden age, a satire," "savonarola," "english lyrics," and several works in prose; _b_. . austin, john, a distinguished english jurist, professor of jurisprudence in london university; mastered the science of law by the study of it in germany, but being too profound in his philosophy, was unsuccessful as professor; his great work, "the province of jurisprudence determined," and his lectures, were published by his widow after his death ( - ). austin, mrs. j., (_née_ sarah taylor), wife of the preceding, executed translations from the german, "falk's characteristics of goethe" for one; was, like her husband, of the utilitarian school; was introduced to carlyle when he first went up to london; he wrote to his wife of her, "if i 'swear eternal friendship' with any woman here, it will be with her" ( - ) austin friars. see augustinians. australasia (i. e. southern asia), a name given to australia, new zealand, and the islands adjoining. australia, a continent entirely within the southern hemisphere, about one-fourth smaller than europe, its utmost length from e. to w. being m., and breadth ; the coast has singularly few inlets, though many and spacious harbours, only one great gulf, carpentaria, on the n., and one bight, the great australian bight, on the s.; the interior consists of a low desert plateau, depressed in the centre, bordered with ranges of various elevation, between which and the sea is a varying breadth of coast-land; the chief mountain range is in the e., and extends more or less parallel all the way with the e. coast; the rivers are few, and either in flood or dried up, for the climate is very parching, only one river, the murray, m. long, of any consequence, while the lakes, which are numerous, are shallow and nearly all salt; the flora is peculiar, the eucalyptus and the acacia the most characteristic, grains, fruits, and edible roots being all imported; the fauna is no less peculiar, including, in the absence of many animals of other countries, the kangaroo, the dingo, and the duck-bill, the useful animals being likewise all imported; of birds, the cassowary and the emu, and smaller ones of great beauty, but songless; minerals abound, both the precious and the useful; the natives are disappearing, the colonists in numbering close upon , , ; and the territory divided into victoria, new south wales, queensland, s. australia, and w. australia, which with tasmania federated in and became the commonwealth. austrasia, or the east kingdom, a kingdom on the e. of the possessions of the franks in gaul, that existed from to , capital of which was metz; it was celebrated for its rivalry with the kingdom of neustria, or the western kingdom. austria, or austro-hungary, is a country of every variety of surface and scenery; is inhabited by peoples of different races and nationalities, speaking different languages, as many as , and composed of different states, of them kingdoms; occupies the centre of europe, yet has free communication with the seas on all sides of it; is the third country for size in it; is divided by the leitha, a tributary of the danube, into cis-leithan on the w. and trans-leithan on the e.; has next to no coast-line; its chief seaport, trieste; is watered by rivers, the danube in chief, all of which have their mouths in other countries; has three zones of climate with corresponding zones of vegetation; is rich in minerals; is largely pastoral and agricultural, manufacturing chiefly in the w.; the capital vienna, and the population over , , . austrian lip, a thick under-lip characteristic of the house of hapsburg. auteuil, a village in the dep. of the seine, now included in paris. authorised version of the bible was executed between the years and at the instance of james i., so that it is not undeservedly called king james's bible, and was the work of men selected with marked fairness and discretion, divided into three groups of two sections each, who held their sittings for three years severally at westminster, cambridge, and oxford, the whole being thereafter revised by a committee of six, who met for nine months in stationers' hall, london, and received thirty pounds each, the rest being done for nothing. the result was a translation that at length superseded every other, and that has since woven itself into the affectionate regard of the whole english-speaking people. the men who executed it evidently felt something of the inspiration that breathes in the original, and they have produced a version that will remain to all time a monument of the simplicity, dignity, grace, and melody of the english language; its very style has had a nobly educative effect on the national literature, and has contributed more than anything else to prevent it from degenerating into the merely frivolous and formal. autochthons, greek for aborigines. auto-da-fÉ, or act of faith, a ceremony held by the court of the inquisition in spain, preliminary to the execution of a heretic, in which the condemned, dressed in a hideously fantastic robe, called the san benito, and a pointed cap, walked in a procession of monks, followed by carts containing coffins with malefactors' bones, to hear a sermon on the true faith, prior to being burned alive; the most famous auto-da-fé took place in madrid in . autol`ycus, in the greek mythology a son of hermes (q. v.), and maternal grandfather of ulysses by his daughter anticlea; famed for his cunning and robberies; synonym for thief. autom`edon, the charioteer of achilles. autonomy (i. e. self-law), in the kantian metaphysics denotes the sovereign right of the pure reason to be a law to itself. autran`, joseph, a french poet and dramatist, born at marseilles; he was of the school of lamartine, and attained distinction by the production of the tragedy "la fille d'eschyle" ( - ). autun` ( ), an ancient city in the dep. of saône-et-loire, on the arroux, m. nw. from châlons, where talleyrand was bishop, with a fine cathedral and rich in antiquities; manufactures serges, carpets, velvet, &c. auvergne`, an ancient province of france, united to the crown under louis xiii. in , embracing the deps. of puy-de-dôme, cantal, and part of haute-loire, the highlands of which separate the basin of the loire from that of the garonne, and contain a hardy and industrious race of people descended from the original inhabitants of gaul; they speak a strange dialect, and supply all the water-carriers and street-sweepers of paris. auxerre` ( ), an ancient city, capital of the dep. of yonne, m. se. of paris; has a fine cathedral in the flamboyant style; drives a large trade in wine. ava, capital of the burmese empire from to and from to ; now in ruins from an earthquake in . av`alon, in the celtic mythology an island of faërie in the region where the sun sinks to rest at eventide, and the final home of the heroes of chivalry when their day's work was ended on earth. avars, a tribe of huns who, driven from their home in the altai mts. by the chinese, invaded the e. of europe about , and committed ravages in it for about three centuries, till they were subdued by charlemagne, and all but exterminated in . avatar`, or descent, the incarnation and incarnated manifestation of a hindu deity, a theory both characteristic of vishnuism and marking a new epoch in the religious development of india. ave maria, an invocation to the virgin, so called as forming the first two words of the salutation of the angel in luke i. . avebury, or abery, a village in wiltshire, m. w. of marlborough, in the middle of a so-called druidical structure consisting of monoliths, surmised to have been erected and arranged in memory of some great victory. avelli`no ( ), chief town in a province of the name in campania, m. e. of naples, famous for its trade in hazel-nuts and chestnuts; manufactures woollens, paper, macaroni, &c.; has been subject to earthquakes. aventine hill, one of the seven hills of rome, the mount to which the plebs sullenly retired on their refusal to submit to the patrician oligarchy, and from which they were enticed back by menenius agrippa by the well-known fable of the members of the body and the stomach. aventi`nus, a bavarian historian, author of the "chronicon bavariæ" (annals of bavaria), a valuable record of the early history of germany ( - ). avenzo`ar, an arabian physician, the teacher of averroës ( - ). avernus, a deep lake in italy, near naples, ½ m. in circumference, occupying the crater of an extinct volcano, at one time surrounded by a dark wood, and conceived, from its gloomy appearance, as well as from the mephitic vapours it exhaled, to be the entrance to the infernal world, and identified with it. aver`roËs, an arabian physician and philosopher, a moor by birth and a native of cordova; devoted himself to the study and the exposition of aristotle, earning for himself the title of the "commentator," though he appears to have coupled with the philosophy of aristotle the oriental pantheistic doctrine of emanations ( - ). aversa ( ), an italian town m. from naples, amid vineyards and orange groves; much resorted to by the neapolitans. aveyron`, a mountainous dep. in the s. of france, with excellent pastures, where the roquefort cheese is produced. avicen`na, an illustrious arabian physician, surnamed the prince of physicians, a man of immense learning and extensive practice in his art; of authority in philosophy as well as in medicine, his philosophy being of the school of aristotle with a mixture of neoplatonism, his "canon of medicine," being the supreme in medical science for centuries ( - ). avie`nus, rufus festus, a geographer and latin poet, or versifier rather, of the th century. avign`on ( ), capital of the dep. of vaucluse, france; an ancient city beautifully situated on the left bank of the rhône, near the confluence of the durance, of various fortune from its foundation by the phocæans in b.c.; was the seat of the papacy from to , purchased by pope clement vi. at that period, and belonged to the papacy from that time till , when it was appropriated to france; it contains a number of interesting buildings, and carries on a large trade in wine, oil, and fruits; grows and manufactures silk in large quantities. a`vila ( ), a town in spain, in a province of the name, in s. of old castile, ft. above the sea-level, with a gothic cathedral and a moorish castle; birthplace of st. theresa. avila, juan d', a spanish priest, surnamed the apostle of andalusia, for his zeal in planting the gospel in its mountains; _d_. . avila y zinuga, a soldier, diplomatist, and historian under charles v. avlo`na ( ), or valona, a port of albania, on an inlet of the adriatic. av`ola ( ), a seaport on the e. coast of sicily, ruined by an earthquake in , rebuilt since; place of export of the hybla honey. a`von, the name of several english rivers, such as shakespeare's in warwickshire, of salisbury in wiltshire, and of bristol, rising in wiltshire. avranches` ( ), a town in dep. of manche, normandy; the place, the spot marked by a stone, where henry ii. received absolution for the murder of thomas à becket; lace-making the staple industry, and trade in agricultural products. awe, loch, in the centre of argyllshire, overshadowed by mountains, m. in length, the second in size of scottish lakes, studded with islands, one with the ruin of a castle; the scenery gloomily picturesque; its surface is ft. above the sea-level. axel, archbishop of lund; born in zealand; a danish patriot with norse blood; subdued tribes of wends, and compelled them to adopt christianity. axholme, isle of, a tract of land in nw. lincolnshire, m. long and m. broad; once a forest, then a marsh; drained in , and now fertile, producing hemp, flax, rape, &c. axim, a trading settlement on the gold coast, africa, belonging to britain; belonged to holland till . ax`olotl, a batrachian, numerous in mexico and the western states, believed to be in its preliminary or tadpole state of existence. ax`um, capital of an ethiopian kingdom in abyssinia, now in ruins, where christianity was introduced in the th century, and which as the outpost of christendom fell early before the mohammedan power. ayacu`cho, a thriving town in peru, founded by pizarro in , where the peruvians and colombians achieved their independence of spain in , and ended the rule of spain in the s. american continent. aya`la, pedro lopez d', a spanish soldier, statesman, and diplomatist, born in murcia; wrote a "history of the kings of castile," which was more than a chronicle of wars, being also a review of them; and a book of poems entitled the "rhymes of the court" ( - ). aye-aye, a lemur found in the woods of madagascar. ayesha, the daughter of abubekr, and favourite wife of mahomet, whom he married soon after the death of kadijah; as much devoted to mahomet as he was to her, for he died in her arms. "a woman who distinguished herself by all manner of qualities among the moslems," who is styled by them the "mother of the faithful" (see kadijah). she was, it is said, the only wife of mahomet that remained a virgin. on mahomet's death she opposed the accession of ali, who defeated her and took her prisoner, but released her on condition that she should not again interfere in state matters ( - ). ayles`bury ( ), a borough and market-town in buckinghamshire, m. nw. of london, in an agricultural district; supplies the london market with ducks. aylmer, john, tutor to lady jane grey, bishop of london, a highly arbitrary man, and a friend to neither papist nor puritan; he is satirised by spenser in the "shepherd's calendar" ( - ). ayloffe, sir joseph, english antiquary, born in sussex ( - ). ayma`ras, the chief native race of peru and bolivia, from which it would appear sprang the quinchuas, the dominant people of peru at the time of the spanish conquest; attained a high degree of civilisation, and number to-day , . aymon, the count of dordogne, the father of four sons, renaud, guiscard, alard, and richard, renowned in the legends of chivalry, and particularly as paladins of charlemagne. ay`mar-ver`nay, a peasant of dauphiné, who in the th century professed to discover springs and treasures hid in the earth by means of a divining rod. ayr ( ), the county town of ayrshire, at the mouth of a river of the same name, a clean, ancient town, its charter, granted by william the lion, dating from ; well built, with elegant villas in the suburbs, a good harbour and docks for shipping; famous in early scottish history, and doubly so among scottish towns as the birthplace near it of robert burns. ayr`er, jacob, a german dramatist in the th century, of the style of hans sachs (q. v.). ayrshire ( ), a large and wealthy county in the w. of scotland, bordered on the w. by the firth of clyde, agricultural and pastoral, with a large coal-field and thriving manufactures; its divisions, carrick, to the s. of the doon; kyle, between the doon and the irvine, and cunningham, on the n.; concerning which there is an old rhyme: "kyle for a man, carrick for a coo, cunningham for butter and cheese, galloway for 'oo." ayton, sir robert, a poet of considerable merit, a native of fife, born at kinaldie, who made his fortune by a latin panegyric to king james i. on his accession; was on friendly terms with the eminent literary men of his time, ben jonson in particular; his poems are written in pure and even elegant english, some in latin, and have only recently been collected together ( - ). aytoun, william edmondstoune, poet and critic, a native of edinburgh, professor of rhetoric and english literature in edinburgh university, author of the "lays of the scottish cavaliers"; he was also editor, along with sir theodore martin, of the "gaultier ballads," an admirable collection of light verse ( - ). azeglio, marchese d', an italian patriot and statesman, native of turin; wounded at vicenza in , fighting for italian independence; entered the piedmontese parliament, was victor emanuel's right-hand man, retired in favour of cavour; he was not altogether engrossed with politics, being an amateur in art ( - ). azerbijan ( , ), prov. of armenian persia, s. of the river aras, with fertile plains, cattle-breeding, and rich in minerals. azores, i. e. hawk islands ( ), a group of nine volcanic islands in the atlantic, m. w. of portugal, and forming a province of it; are in general mountainous; covered with orange groves, of which the chief are st. michael's and fayal; and m. w. of it, in the latitude of lisbon; the climate is mild, and good for pulmonary complaints; they were known to the carthaginian mariners, but fell out of the map of europe till rediscovered in . azov, sea of, an opening from the black sea, very shallow, and gradually silting up with mud from the don. az`rael, the angel of death according to rabbinical tradition. az`tecs, a civilised race of small stature, of reddish-brown skin, lean, and broad featured, which occupied the mexican plateau for some centuries before the spaniards visited it, and were overthrown by the spaniards in . azuni, dominico alberto, an italian jurist, born in sardinia; president of the court of appeal at genoa; made a special study of maritime law; author of "droit maritime de l'europe" ( - ). azymites, the name given to a party in the church who insisted that only unleavened bread should be used in the eucharist, and the controversy hinged on the question whether the lord's supper was instituted before the passover season was finished, or after, as in the former case the bread must have been unleavened, and in the latter leavened. b baader, franz xavier von, a german philosopher, born at münich; was patronised by the king of bavaria, and became professor in münich, who, revolting alike from the materialism of hume, which he studied in england, and the transcendentalism of kant, with its self-sufficiency of the reason, fell back upon the mysticism of jacob boehme, and taught in vols. what might rather be called a theosophy than a philosophy, which regarded god in himself, and god even in life, as incomprehensible realities. he, however, identified himself with the liberal movement in politics, and offended the king ( - ). ba`al (meaning lord), _pl_. baalim, the principal male divinity of the canaanites and phoenicians, identified with the sun as the great quickening and life-sustaining power in nature, the god who presided over the labours of the husbandman and granted the increase; his crowning attribute, strength; worshipped on hill-tops with sacrifices, incense, and dancing. baal-worship, being that of the canaanites, was for a time mixed up with the worship of jehovah in israel, and at one time threatened to swamp it, but under the zealous preaching of the prophets it was eventually stamped out. baal`bek (i. e. city of baal, or the sun), an ancient city of syria, m. nw. of damascus; called by the greeks, heliopolis; once a place of great size, wealth, and splendour; now in ruins, the most conspicuous of which is the great temple to baal, one of the most magnificent ruins of the east, covering an area of four acres. baalism, the name given to the worship of natural causes, tending to the obscuration and denial of the worship of god as spirit. baba, ali, the character in the "arabian nights" who discovers and enters the den of the forty thieves by the magic password "sesamË" (q. v.), a word which he accidentally overheard. baba, cape, in asia minor, the most western point in asia, in anatolia, with a town of the name. babbage, charles, a mathematician, born in devonshire; studied at cambridge, and professor there; spent much time and money over the invention of a calculating machine; wrote on "the economy of manufactures and machinery," and an autobiography entitled "passages from the life of a philosopher"; in his later years was famous for his hostility to street organ-grinders ( - ). babbington, antony, an english catholic gentleman; conspired against elizabeth on behalf of mary, queen of scots, confessed his guilt, and was executed at tyburn in . bab-el-mandeb (i. e. the gate of tears), a strait between asia and africa forming the entrance to the red sea, so called from the strong currents which rush through it, and often cause wreckage to vessels attempting to pass it. baber, the founder of the mogul empire in hindustan, a descendant of tamerlane; thrice invaded india, and became at length master of it in ; left memoirs; his dynasty lasted for three centuries. babes in the wood, irish banditti who infested the wicklow mountains in the th century, and were guilty of the greatest atrocities. see children. bÂbis, a modern persian sect founded in , their doctrines a mixture of pantheistic with gnostic and buddhist beliefs; adverse to polygamy, concubinage, and divorce; insisted on the emancipation of women; have suffered from persecution, but are increasing in numbers. baboeuf, franÇois noel, a violent revolutionary in france, self-styled gracchus; headed an insurrection against the directory, "which died in the birth, stifled by the soldiery"; convicted of conspiracy, was guillotined, after attempting to commit suicide ( - ). baboo, or babu, name applied to a native hindu gentleman who has some knowledge of english. baboon, lewis, the name arbuthnot gives to louis xiv. in his "history of john bull." ba`brius, or gabrius, a greek poet of uncertain date; turned the fables of Æsop and of others into verse, with alterations. baby-farming, a system of nursing new-born infants whose parents may wish them out of sight. babylon, the capital city of babylonia, one of the richest and most magnificent cities of the east, the gigantic walls and hanging gardens of which were classed among the seven wonders of the world; was taken, according to tradition, by cyrus in b.c., by diverting out of their channel the waters of the euphrates, which flowed through it and by darius in b.c., through the self-sacrifice of zophyrus. the name was often metaphorically applied to rome by the early christians, and is to-day to great centres of population, such as london, where the overcrowding, the accumulation of material wealth, and the so-called refinements of civilisation, are conceived to have a corrupting effect on the religion and morals of the inhabitants. babylo`nia, the name given by the greeks to that country called in the old testament, shinar, babel, and "the land of the chaldees"; it occupied the rich, fertile plain through which the lower waters of the euphrates and the tigris flow, now the turkish province of irak-arabi or bagdad. from very early times it was the seat of a highly developed civilisation introduced by the sumero-accadians, who descended on the plain from the mountains in the nw. semitic tribes subsequently settled among the accadians and impressed their characteristics on the language and institutions of the country. the th century b.c. was marked by a fierce struggle with the northern empire of assyria, in which babylonia eventually succumbed and became an assyrian province. but nabopolassar in b.c. asserted his independence, and under his son nebuchadnezzar, babylonia rose to the zenith of its power. judah was captive in the country from to b.c. in that year cyrus conquered it for persia, and its history became merged in that of persia. babylonish captivity, the name given to the deportation of jews from judea to babylon after the capture of jerusalem by the king of babylon, and which continued for years, till they were allowed to return to their own land by cyrus, who had conquered babylon; those who returned were solely of the tribes of judah, benjamin, and levi. bacchanalia, a festival, originally of a loose and riotous character, in honour of bacchus. bacchantes, those who took part in the festival of bacchus, confined originally to women, and were called by a number of names, such as mænads, thyads, &c.; they wore their hair dishevelled and thrown back, and had loose flowing garments. bac`chus, son of zeus and semele, the god of the vine, and promoter of its culture as well as the civilisation which accompanied it; represented as riding in a car drawn by tame tigers, and carrying a thyrsus (q. v.); he rendered signal service to zeus in the war of the gods with the giants (q. v.). see dionysus. bacchyl`ides, a greek lyric poet, th century b.c., nephew of simonides and uncle of eschylus, a rival of pindar; only a few fragments of his poems extant. baccio della porto. see bartolomeo, fra. baccio`chi, a corsican officer, who married maria bonaparte, and was created by napoleon prince of lucca ( - ). bach, johann sebastian, one of the greatest of musical composers, born in eisenach, of a family of hungarian origin, noted--sixty of them--for musical genius; was in succession a chorister, an organist, a director of concerts, and finally director of music at the school of st. thomas, leipzig; his works, from their originality and scientific rigour, difficult of execution ( - ). bache, a. dallas, an american physicist, born at philadelphia, superintended the coast survey ( - ). bachelor, a name given to one who has achieved the first grade in any discipline. bacil`lus (lit. a little rod), a bacterium, distinguished as being twice as long as it is broad, others being more or less rounded. see bacteria. back, sir george, a devoted arctic explorer, born at stockport, entered the navy, was a french captive for five years, associated with franklin in three polar expeditions, went in search of sir john ross, discovered instead and traced the great fish river in , was knighted in , and in made admiral ( - ). backhuy`sen, ludolph, a dutch painter, famous for his sea-pieces and skill in depicting sea-waves; was an etcher as well as painter ( - ). bacon, delia, an american authoress, who first broached, though she did not originate, the theory of the baconian authorship of shakespeare's works, a theory in favour of which she has received small support ( - ). bacon, francis, lord verulam, the father of the inductive method of scientific inquiry; born in the strand, london; son of sir nicholas bacon; educated at cambridge; called to the bar when , after study at gray's inn; represented successively taunton, liverpool, and ipswich in parliament; was a favourite with the queen; attached himself to essex, but witnessed against him at his trial, which served him little; became at last in succession attorney-general, privy councillor, lord keeper, and lord chancellor; was convicted of venality as a judge, deposed, fined and imprisoned, but pardoned and released; spent his retirement in his favourite studies; his great works were his "advancement of learning," "novum organum," and "de augmentis scientiarum," but is seen to best advantage by the generality in his "essays," which are full of practical wisdom and keen observation of life; indeed, these show such shrewdness of wit as to embolden some (see _supra_) to maintain that the plays named of shakespeare were written by him ( - ). bacon, roger, a franciscan monk, born at ilchester, somerset; a fearless truth-seeker of great scientific attainments; accused of magic, convicted and condemned to imprisonment, from which he was released only to die; suggested several scientific inventions, such as the telescope, the air-pump, the diving-bell, the camera obscura, and gunpowder, and wrote some eighty treatises ( - ). bacon, sir nicholas, the father of francis, lord bacon, privy councillor and keeper of the great seal under queen elizabeth; a prudent and honourable man and minister, and much honoured and trusted by the queen ( - ). bacsanyi, janos, a hungarian poet; he suffered from his liberal political opinions, like many of his countrymen ( - ). bacte`ria, exceedingly minute organisms of the simplest structure, being merely cells of varied forms, in the shape of spheres, rods, or intermediate shapes, which develop in infusions of organic matter, and multiply by fission with great rapidity, fraught, as happens, with life or death to the higher forms of being; conspicuous by the part they play in the process of fermentation and in the origin and progress of disease, and to the knowledge of which, and the purpose they serve in nature, so much has been contributed by the labours of m. pasteur. bac`tria, a province of ancient persia, now balkh (q. v.), the presumed fatherland of the aryans and the birthplace of the zoroastrian religion. bactrian sage, a name given to zoroaster as a native of bactria. bacup ( ), a manufacturing town in lancashire, about m. ne. of manchester. badajoz` ( ), capital of a spanish province of the name, on the guadiana, near the frontier of portugal; a place of great strength; surrendered to soult in , and taken after a violent and bloody struggle by wellington in ; the scene of fearful outrages after its capture. badakans, a dravidian people of small stature, living on the nilghiri mountains, in s. india. badakhshan` ( ), a mohammedan territory ne. of afghanistan, a picturesque hill country, rich in minerals; it is m. from e. to w. and from n. to s.; it has been often visited by travellers, from marco polo onwards; the inhabitants, called badakhshans, are of the aryan family and speak persian. badalo`na ( ), a seaport m. ne. of barcelona. ba`den ( ), a town in the canton of aargau, switzerland, m. nw. of zurich, long a fashionable resort for its mineral springs; also a town near vienna. bad`en, the grand-duchy of ( , ), a german duchy, extends along the left bank of the rhine from constance to mannheim; consists of valley, mountain, and plain; includes the black forest; is rich in timber, minerals, and mineral springs; cotton fabrics, wood-carving, and jewellery employ a great proportion of the inhabitants; there are two university seats, heidelberg and freiburg. baden-baden ( ), a town in the duchy of baden, m. from carlsruhe and from strassburg, noted for its hot mineral springs, which were known to the romans, and is a popular summer resort. bad`enoch, a forest-covered district of the highlands of scotland, m. long by broad, traversed by the spey, in the se. of inverness-shire; belonged originally to the comyns, but was forfeited by them, was bestowed by bruce on his nephew; became finally the property of the earl of huntly. badi`a-y-lablich, a spaniard, born at barcelona; travelled in the east; having acquired a knowledge of arabic and arab customs, disguised himself as a mohammedan under the name of ali-bei; his disguise was so complete that he passed for a mussulman, even in mecca itself; is believed to be the first christian admitted to the shrine of mecca; after a time settled in paris, and wrote an account of his travels ( - ). badrinath, a shrine of vishnu, in n.w. india, , ft. high; much frequented by pilgrims for the sacred waters near it, which are believed to be potent to cleanse from all pollution. baedeker, karl, a german printer in coblenz, famed for the guide-books to almost every country of europe that he published ( - ). baer, karl ernst von, a native of esthonia; professor of zoology, first in königsberg and then in st. petersburg; the greatest of modern embryologists, styled the "father of comparative embryology"; the discoverer of the law, known by his name, that the embryo when developing resembles those of successively higher types ( - ). baffin, william, an early english arctic explorer, who, when acting as pilot to an expedition in quest of the n.w. passage, discovered baffin bay ( - ). baffin bay, a strait stretching northward between n. america and greenland, open four months in summer to whale and seal fishing; discovered in by william baffin. bagdad ( ), on the tigris, m. from its mouth, and connected with the euphrates by canal; is the capital of a province, and one of the most flourishing cities of asiatic turkey; dates, wool, grain, and horses are exported; red and yellow leather, cotton, and silk are manufactured; and the transit trade, though less than formerly, is still considerable. it is a station on the anglo-indian telegraph route, and is served by a british-owned fleet of river steamers plying to basra. formerly a centre of arabic culture, it has belonged to turkey since . an imposing city to look at, it suffers from visitations of cholera and famine. bagehot, walter, an english political economist, born in somerset, a banker by profession, and an authority on banking and finance; a disciple of ricardo; wrote, besides other publications, an important work, "the english constitution"; was editor of the _economist_; wrote in a vigorous style ( - ). bagge`sen, jens emmanuel, a danish poet, travelled a good deal, wrote mostly in german, in which he was quite at home; his chief works, a pastoral epic, "parthenais oder die alpenreise," and a mock epic, "adam and eve"; his minor pieces are numerous and popular, though from his egotism and irritability he was personally unpopular ( - ). baghelkand, name of five native states in central india, rewah the most prosperous. baghe`ria, a town in sicily, m. from palermo, where citizens of the latter have more or less stylish villas. bagir`mi, a mohammedan kingdom in central africa, se. of lake tehad, m. from n. to s. and m. from e. to w. baglio`ni, an italian fresco-painter of note ( - ). bagli`vi, giorgio, an illustrious italian physician, wrote "de fibra motrice" in defence of the "solidist" theory, as it is called, which traced all diseases to alterations in the solid parts of the body ( - ). bagnÈres, two french towns on the pyrenees, well-known watering-places. bagnes, name given to convict prisons in france since the abolition of the galleys. bagra`tion, prince, russian general, distinguished in many engagements; commanded the vanguard at austerlitz, eylau, and friedland, and in , against napoleon; achieved a brilliant success at smolensk; fell at borodino ( - ). bagstock, joe, a "self-absorbed" talking character in "dombey & son." baha`mas, the ( ), a group of over low, flat coral islands in the w. indies, and thousands of rocks, belonging to britain, of which are inhabited, and on one of which columbus landed when he discovered america; yield tropical fruits, sponges, turtle, &c.; nassau the capital. bahar ( ), a town on the ganges, m. se. of patna; after falling into decay, is again rising in importance. bahawalpur ( ), a feudatory state in the nw. of india, with a capital of the name; is connected administratively with the punjab. bahi`a, or san salvador ( ), a fine city, one of the chief seaports of brazil, in the bay of all saints, and originally the capital in a province of the name stretching along the middle of the coast. bahr, an arabic word meaning "river," prefixed to the name of many places occupied by arabs. bÄhr, felix, classical scholar, burn at darmstadt; wrote a "history of roman literature," in high repute ( - ). bahrein` islands ( ), a group of islands in the persian gulf, under the protection of britain, belonging to muscat, the largest m. long and broad, cap. manamah ( ); long famous for their pearl-fisheries, the richest in the world. bahr-el-ghazal, an old egyptian prov. including the district watered by the tributaries of the bahr-el-arab and the bahr-el-ghazal; it was wrested from egypt by the mahdi, ; a district of french congo lies w. of it, and it was through it marchand made his way to fashoda. baiÆ, a small town near naples, now in ruins and nearly all submerged; famous as a resort of the old roman nobility, for its climate and its baths. baÏf, a french poet one of a group of seven known in french literature as the "pléiade," whose aim was to accommodate the french language and literature to the models of greek and latin. baikal, a clear fresh-water lake, in s. of siberia, m. long and from to wide, in some parts ft. deep, and at its surface ft. above the sea-level, the third largest in asia; on which sledges ply for six or eight months in winter, and steamboats in summer; it abounds in fish, especially sturgeon and salmon; it contains several islands, the largest olkhin, m. by m. baikie, w. balfour, an orcadian, born at kirkwall, surgeon in the royal navy; was attached to the niger expedition in , and ultimately commanded it, opening the region up and letting light in upon it at the sacrifice of his life; died at sierra leone ( - ). bailey, nathan, an early english lexicographer, whose dictionary, very popular in its day, was the basis of johnson's; _d_. . bailey, philip james, english poet, born in nottingham; author of "festus," a work that on its appearance in was received with enthusiasm, passed through editions in england and in america, was succeeded by "the angel world," "the mystic," "the universal hymn," and "the age"; he has been rated by some extravagantly high; _b_. . bailey, samuel, an english author, born in sheffield, a liberal-minded man, a utilitarian in philosophy, who wrote on psychology, ethics, and political economy, and left a fortune, acquired in business, to his native town ( - ). baillie, joanna, a poetess, born at bothwell, child of the presbyterian manse there; joined a brother in london, stayed afterwards with a sister at hampstead; produced a series of dramas entitled "plays of the passions," besides many others, both comedies and tragedies, one of which, the "family legend," was acted in the theatre royal, edinburgh, under the auspices of sir walter scott; she does not stand high either as a dramatist or a writer ( - ). baillie, lady grizel, an heroic scotch lady, famous for her songs, "and werena my heart licht i wad dee" is well known ( - ). baillie, matthew, physician, brother of joanna, wrote on morbid anatomy ( - ). baillie, robert, a scotch presbyterian divine, born in glasgow; resisted laud's attempt to thrust episcopacy on the scotch nation, and became a zealous advocate of the national cause, which he was delegated to represent twice over in london; he was a royalist all the same, and was made principal of glasgow university; "his letters and journals" were published by the bannatyne club, and are commended by carlyle as "veracious," forming, as they do, the subject of one of his critical essays ( - ). baillie, robert, a zealous scotch presbyterian, tried for complicity in the rye house plot, and unfairly condemned to death, and barbarously executed the same day (in ) for fear he should die afterwards and cheat the gallows of its victim. bailly, jean sylvain, an astronomer, born at paris; wrote the "history of astronomy, ancient and modern," in five volumes; was distracted from further study of the science by the occurrence of the revolution; elected president of the national assembly; installed mayor of paris; lost favour with the people; was imprisoned as an enemy of the popular cause and cruelly guillotined. exposed beforehand "for hours long, amid curses and bitter frost-rain, 'bailly, thou tremblest,' said one; 'mon ami,' said he meekly, 'it is for cold.' crueller end," says carlyle, "had no mortal." baily, e. h., a sculptor, born in bristol, studied under flaxman; his most popular works were, "eve listening to the voice," "the sleeping girl," and the "graces seated" ( - ). bain, alexander, born at aberdeen, professor of logic in the university, and twice lord rector, where he was much esteemed by and exercised a great influence over his pupils; his chief works, "the senses and the intellect," "the emotions and the will," and "mental and moral science"; has written on composition in a very uninteresting style; his psychology, which he connected with physiology, was based on empiricism and the inductive method, to the utter exclusion of all _a priori_ or transcendental speculation, such as hails from kant and his school; he is of the school of john stuart mill, who endorsed his philosophy; _b_. . bairam, a mohammedan festival of three days at the conclusion of the ramadan, followed by another of four days, seventy days later, called the second bairam, in commemoration of the offering up of isaac, and accompanied with sacrifices. baird, james, ironmaster, founder of the baird lectureship, in vindication of scotch orthodoxy; bequeathed £ , to support churches ( - ). baird, sir david, a distinguished english general of scotch descent, born at newbyth, aberdeenshire; entered the army at ; served in india, egypt, and at the cape; was present at the taking of seringapatam, and the siege of pondicherry; in command when the cape of good hope was wrested from the dutch, and on the fall of sir john moore at corunna, wounded; he afterwards retired ( - ). baird, s. fullerton, an american naturalist, wrote, along with others, on the birds and mammals of n. america, as well as contributed to fish-culture and fisheries ( - ). bai`reuth ( ), the capital of upper franconia, in bavaria, with a large theatre erected by the king for the performance of wagner's musical compositions, and with a monument, simple but massive, as was fit, to the memory of jean paul, who died there. baireuth, wilhelmina, margravine of, sister of frederick the great, left "memoirs" of her time ( - ). bajazet` i., sultan of the ottoman turks, surnamed ilderim, _i. e_. lightning, from the energy and rapidity of his movements; aimed at constantinople, pushed everything before him in his advance on europe, but was met and defeated on the plain of angora by tamerlane, who is said to have shut him in a cage and carried him about with him in his train till the day of his death ( - ). ba`jus, michael, deputy from the university of louvain to the council of trent, where he incurred much obloquy at the hands of the jesuits by his insistence of the doctrines of augustine, as the jansenists did after him ( - ). baker, mount, a volcano in the cascade range, , ft.; still subject to eruptions. baker, sir richard, a country gentleman, born in kent, often referred to by sir roger de coverley; author of "the chronicle of the kings of england," which he wrote in the fleet prison, where he died ( - ). baker, sir samuel white, a man of enterprise and travel, born in london; discovered the albert nyanza; commanded an expedition under the khedive into the soudan; wrote an account of it in a book, "ismailia"; visited cyprus and travelled over india; left a record of his travels in five volumes with different titles ( - ). bakshish, a word used all over the east to denote a small fee for some small service rendered. baku ( ), a russian port on the caspian sea, in a district so impregnated and saturated in parts with petroleum that by digging in the soil wells are formed, in some cases so gushing as to overflow in streams, which wells, reckoned by hundreds, are connected by pipes with refineries in the town; a district which, from the spontaneous ignition of the petroleum, was long ago a centre of attraction to the parsees or fire-worshippers of the east, and resorted to by them as holy ground. baku`nin, michael, an extreme and violent anarchist, and a leader of the movement; native of moscow; was banished to siberia, but escaped; joined the international, but was expelled ( - ). bala, the county town of merioneth, in wales. bala lake, the largest lake in wales, m. long, and with a depth of ft. ba`laam, a midianitish soothsayer; for the account of him see num. xxii.-xxiv., and carlyle's essay on the "corn-law rhymes" for its application to modern state councillors of the same time-serving type, and their probable fate. balacla`va, a small port m. se. of sebastopol, with a large land-locked basin; the head-quarters of the british during the crimean war, and famous in the war, among other events, for the "charge of the six hundred." balance of power, preservation of the equilibrium existing among the states of europe as a security of peace, for long an important consideration with european statesmen. balance of trade, the difference in value between the exports and the imports of a country, and said to be in favour of the country whose exports exceed in value the imports in that respect. balanoglos`sus, a worm-like marine animal, regarded by the zoologist as a possible connecting link between invertebrates and vertebrates. balata, a vegetable gum used as a substitute for gutta-percha, being at once ductile and elastic; goes under the name of bully. bal`aton, lake, the largest lake in hungary, m. long, and m. broad, m. sw. of pesth; slightly saline, and abounds in fish. balbi, adriano, a geographer of italian descent, born at venice, who composed in french a number of works bearing on geography ( - ). balbo, cÆsare, an italian statesmen and publicist, born at turin; devoted his later years to literature; wrote a life of dante; works in advocacy of italian independence ( - ). balbo`a. vasco nuÑez de, a castilian noble, established a settlement at darien; discovered the pacific; took possession of territory in the name of spain; put to death by a new governor, from jealousy of the glory he had acquired and the consequent influence in the state ( - ). baldachino, a tent-like covering or canopy over portals, altars, or thrones, either supported on columns, suspended from the roof, or projecting from the wall. bald`er, the sun-god of the norse mythology, "the beautiful, the wise, the benignant," who is fated to die, and dies, in spite of, and to the grief of, all the gods of the pantheon, a pathetic symbol conceived in the norse imagination of how all things in heaven, as on earth, are subject in the long-run to mortality. balderstone, caleb, the faithful old domestic in scott's "bride of lammermoor," the family he serves his pride. baldrick, an ornamental belt worn hanging over the shoulder, across the body diagonally, with a sword, dagger, or horn suspended from it. baldung, hans, or hans grÜn, a german artist, born in suabia; a friend of dürer's; his greatest work, a masterpiece, a painting of the "crucifixion," now in freiburg cathedral ( - ). baldwin, archbishop of canterbury; crowned richard coeur de lion; accompanied him on the crusade; died at acre in . baldwin, the name of several counts of flanders, eight in all. baldwin i., king of jerusalem; succeeded his brother godfrey de bouillon; assuming said title, made himself master of most of the towns on the coast of syria; contracted a disease in egypt; returned to jerusalem, and was buried on mount calvary; there were five of this name and title, the last of whom, a child of some eight years old, died in ( - ). baldwin i., the first latin emperor of constantinople; by birth, count of hainault and flanders; joined the fourth crusade, led the van in the capture of constantinople, and was made emperor; was defeated and taken prisoner by the bulgarians ( - ). b. ii., nephew of baldwin i., last king of the latin dynasty, which lasted only years ( - ). bale, john, bishop of ossory, in ireland; born in suffolk; a convert from popery, and supported by cromwell; was made bishop by edward vi.; persecuted out of the country as an apostate from popery; author of a valuable account of early british writers ( - ). balearic isles ( ), a group of five islands off the coast of valencia, in spain, majorca the largest; inhabitants in ancient times famous as expert slingers, having been one and all systematically trained to the use of the sling from early childhood; cap. palma ( ). balfe, michael william, a musical composer, of irish birth, born near wexford; author of "the bohemian girl," his masterpiece, and world-famous ( - ). balfour, a. j., of whittinghame, east lothian; educated at eton and cambridge; nephew of lord salisbury, and first lord of the treasury and leader of the house of commons in lord salisbury's ministry; author of a "defence of philosophic doubt" and a volume of "essays and addresses"; _b_. . balfour, francis maitland, brother of the preceding; a promising biologist; career was cut short by death in attempting to ascend the wetterhorn ( - ). balfour, sir james, lord president of the court of session; native of fife; an unprincipled man, sided now with this party, now with the opposite, to his own advantage, and that at the most critical period in scottish history; _d_. . balfour of burley, leader of the covenanters in scott's "old mortality." bali, one of the samoa islands, m. long by m. broad; produces cotton, coffee, and tobacco. baliol, edward, son of the following, invaded scotland; was crowned king at scone, supported by edward iii.; was driven from the kingdom, and obliged to renounce all claim to the crown, on receipt of a pension; died at doncaster, . baliol, john de, son of the following; laid claim to the scottish crown on the death of the maid of norway in ; was supported by edward i., and did homage to him for his kingdom, but rebelled, and was forced publicly to resign the crown; died in in normandy, after spending some three years in the tower; satirised by the scotch, in their stinging humorous style, as king toom tabard, i. e. empty king cloak. baliol, sir john de, of norman descent; a guardian to the heir to the scottish crown on the death of alexander iii.; founder of baliol college, oxford; _d_. . balize, or belize, the capital of british honduras, in central america; trade in mahogany, rosewood, &c. balkan peninsula, the territory between the adriatic and the Ægean sea, bounded on the n. by the save and the lower danube, and on the s. by greece. balkans, the, a mountain range extending from the adriatic to the black sea; properly the range dividing bulgaria from roumania; mean height, ft. balkash, lake, a lake in siberia, ft. above sea-level, the waters clear, but intensely salt, m. long and m. broad. balkh, anciently called bactria, a district of afghan turkestan lying between the oxus and the hindu-kush, m. long and m. broad, with a capital of the same name, reduced now to a village; birthplace of zoroaster. ball, john, a priest who had been excommunicated for denouncing the abuses of the church; a ringleader in the wat tyler rebellion; captured and executed. ball, sir r. s., mathematician and astronomer, born in dublin; astronomer-royal for ireland; author of works on astronomy and mechanics, the best known of a popular kind on the former science being "the story of the heavens"; _b_. . ballad, a story in verse, composed with spirit, generally of patriotic interest, and sung originally to the harp. ballanche, pierre simon, a mystic writer, born at lyons, his chief work "la palingénésie sociale," his aim being the regeneration of society ( - ). ballantine, james, glass-stainer and poet, born in edinburgh ( - ). ballantine, serjeant, distinguished counsel in celebrated criminal cases ( - ). ball`antyne, james, a native of kelso, became a printer in edinburgh, printed all sir walter scott's works; failed in business, a failure in which scott was seriously implicated ( - ). ballantyne, john, brother of preceding, a confidant of sir walter's in the matter of the anonymity of the waverley novels; an inimitable story-teller and mimic, very much to the delight of sir walter ( - ). ballarat` ( ), a town in victoria, and since the second city in the province, about m. nw. of melbourne; the centre of the chief gold-fields in the colony, the precious metal being at first washed out of the soil, and now crushed out of the quartz rocks and dug out of deep mines; it is the seat of both a roman catholic and a church of england bishopric. ball`ater, a clean aberdeenshire village on the dee, a favourite summer resort, stands ft. above sea-level. balmat, jacques, of chamounix, a celebrated alpine guide ( - ). balmawhapple, a prejudiced scotch clergyman in "waverley." bal`mez, an able spanish journalist, author of "protestantism and catholicism compared in their effects on the civilisation of europe" ( - ). balmor`al, a castle on the upper valley of the dee, at the foot of braemar, ½ m. from aberdeen, m. from ballater; the highland residence of queen victoria, on a site which took the fancy of both the queen and the prince consort on their first visit to the highlands. balmung, the sharp-cutting sword of siegfried, so sharp that a smith cut in two by it did not know he was so cut till he began to move, when he fell in pieces. balnaves, henry, coadjutor of john knox in the scottish reformation, and a fellow-sufferer with him in imprisonment and exile; afterwards contributed towards formulating the creed of the scotch church; born at kirkcaldy, and educated in germany; _d_. . balsall, a thriving suburb of birmingham, engaged in hardware manufacture. baltic provinces, russian provinces bordering on the baltic. baltic sea, an inland sea in the n. of europe, m. long and from to m. broad, about the size of england and wales; comparatively shallow; has no tides; waters fresher than those of the ocean, owing to the number of rivers that flow into it and the slight evaporation that goes on at the latitude; the navigation of it is practically closed from the middle of december to april, owing to the inlets being blocked with ice. baltimore ( ), the metropolis of maryland, on an arm of chesapeake bay, m. from the atlantic; is picturesquely situated; not quite so regular in design as most american cities, but noted for its fine architecture and its public monuments. it is the seat of the john hopkins university. the industries are varied and extensive, including textiles, flour, tobacco, iron, and steel. the staple trade is in bread-stuffs; the exports, grain, flour, and tobacco. balue, cardinal, minister of louis xi.; imprisoned, for having conspired with charles the rash, by louis in an iron cage for eleven years ( - ). baluchistan, a country lying to the s. of afghanistan and extending to the persian gulf. see beluchistan. balzac, honorÉ de, native of tours, in france; one of the most brilliant as well as prolific novelwriters of modern times; his productions remarkable for their sense of reality; they show power of observation, warmth and fertility of imagination, and subtle and profound delineation of human passion, his design in producing them being to make them form part of one great work, the "comédie humaine," the whole being a minute dissection of the different classes of society ( - ). balzac, jean louis guez de, born at angoulême, a french littérateur and gentleman of rank, who devoted his life to the refinement of the french language, and contributed by his "letters" to the classic form it assumed under louis xiv.; "he deliberately wrote," says prof. saintsbury, "for the sake of writing, and not because he had anything particular to say," but in this way did much to improve the language; _d_. . bambar`ra ( , ), a soudan state on the banks of the upper niger, opened up to trade; the soil fertile; yields grain, dates, cotton, and palm-oil; the natives are negroes of the mohammedan faith, and are good husbandmen. bamberg ( ), a manufacturing town in upper franconia, bavaria; once the centre of an independent bishopric; with a cathedral, a magnificent edifice, containing the tomb of its founder, the emperor henry ii. bambino, a figure of the infant christ wrapped in swaddling bands, the infant in pictures surrounded by a halo and angels. bamborough castle, an ancient fortress e. of belford, on the coast of northumberland, now an alms-house. bambouk ( ), a fertile but unhealthy negro territory, with mineral wealth and deposits of gold, w. of bambarra. bamian`, a high-lying valley in afghanistan, ft. above sea-level; out of the rocks on its n. side, full of caves, are hewn huge figures of buddha, one of them ft. high, all of ancient date. bampton lectures, annual lectures on christian subjects, eight in number, for the endowment of which john bampton, canon of salisbury, left property which yields a revenue worth £ a year. banbury, a market-town in oxfordshire, celebrated for its cross and its cakes. banca ( ), an island in the eastern archipelago, belonging to the dutch, with an unhealthy climate; rich in tin, worked by chinese. bancroft, george, an american statesman, diplomatist, and historian, born in massachusetts; his chief work "the history of the united states," issued finally in six vols., and a faithful account ( - ). bancroft, hubert, an american historian, author of a "history of the pacific states of n. america"; _b_. . bancroft, richard, archbishop of canterbury, a zealous churchman and an enemy of the puritans; represented the church at the hampton court conference, and was chief overseer of the authorised version of the bible ( - ). bancroft, sir squire, english actor, born in london, made his first appearance in birmingham in ; married mrs. wilton, an actress; opened with her the haymarket theatre in ; retired in , at which time both retired, and have appeared since only occasionally. banda isles, a group of the moluccas, some twelve in number, belonging to holland; yield nutmegs and mace; are subject to earthquakes. banda oriental, see uruguay. bandello, an italian dominican monk, a writer of tales, some of which furnished themes and incidents for shakespeare, massinger, and other dramatists of their time ( - ). bandie`ra, brothers, born in venice; martyrs, in , to the cause of italian independence. bandinelli, a florentine sculptor, tried hard to rival michael angelo and cellini; his work "hercules and cacus" is the most ambitious of his productions; did a "descent from the cross" in bas-relief, in milan cathedral ( - ). banff ( ), county town of banffshire, on the moray firth, at the mouth of the deveron; the county itself ( ) stretches level along the coast, though mountainous on the s. and se.; fishing and agriculture the great industries. banffy, baron, premier of hungary, born at klausenburg; became in provincial prefect of transylvania; was elected a peer on the formation of the upper hungarian chamber, and was made premier in ; he is a strong liberal; _b_. . banga, the hindu name for the delta of the ganges. ban`galore ( ), the largest town in mysore, and the capital; stands high; is manufacturing and trading. banghis, a low-caste people in the ganges valley. bangk`ok ( ), the capital of siam, on the menam; a very striking city; styled, from the canals which intersect it, the "venice of the east"; m. from the sea; the centre of the foreign trade, carried on by europeans and chinese; with the royal palace standing on an island, in the courtyard of which several white elephants are kept. bangor ( ), an episcopal city in carnarvon, n. wales, with large slate quarries; a place of summer resort, from the beauty of its surroundings. bangorian controversy, a controversy in the church of england provoked by a sermon which hoadley, bishop of bangor, preached before george i. in , which offended the sticklers for ecclesiastical authority. bangweo`lo, a lake in equatorial africa, discovered by livingstone, and on the shore of which he died; m. long, and half as wide; ft. above sea-level. banian days, days when no meat is served out to ships' crews. banjari, a non-aryan race in central india, the carriers and caravan-conductors of the region. banim, john, irish author, a native of kilkenny, novelist of irish peasant life on its dark side, who, along with his brother michael, wrote vols. of irish stories, &c.; his health giving way, he fell into poverty, but was rescued by a public subscription and a pension; michael survived him years ( - ). banks, sir joseph, a zealous naturalist, particularly in botany; a collector, in lands far and wide, of specimens in natural history; left his collection and a valuable library and herbarium to the british museum; president of the royal society for years ( - ). banks, thomas, an eminent english sculptor, born at lambeth; first appreciated by the empress catharine; his finest works, "psyche" and "achilles enraged," now in the entrance-hall of burlington house; he excelled in imaginative art ( - ). bannatyne club, a club founded by sir walter scott to print rare works of scottish interest, whether in history, poetry, or general literature, of which it printed , all deemed of value, a complete set having been sold for £ ; dissolved in . ban`nockburn ( ), a manufacturing village m. se. of stirling, the scene of the victory, on june , , of robert the bruce over edward ii., which reasserted and secured scottish independence; it manufactures carpets and tartans. ban`shee, among the irish, and in some parts of the highlands and brittany, a fairy, believed to be attached to a family, who gave warnings by wailings of an approaching death in it, and kept guard over it. bantam, a chief town in java, abandoned as unhealthy by the dutch; whence the bantam fowl is thought to have come. banting system, a dietary for keeping down fat, recommended by a mr. banting, a london merchant, in a "letter on corpulence" in ; he recommended lean meat, and the avoidance of sugar and starchy foods. bantry bay, a deep inlet on the sw. coast of ireland; a place of shelter for ships. bantu, the name of most of the races, with their languages, that occupy africa from ° n. lat. to ° s.; are negroid rather than negro, being in several respects superior; the name, however, suggests rather a linguistic than an ethnological distinction, the language differing radically from all other known forms of speech--the inflection, for one thing, chiefly initial, not final. banville, theodore de, a french poet, born at moulins; well characterised as "_roi des rimes_," for with him form was everything, and the matter comparatively insignificant, though, there are touches here and there of both fine feeling and sharp wit ( - ). banyan, the indian fig; a tree whose branches, bending to the ground, take root and form new stocks, till they cover a large area and become a forest. ba`obab, a large african tropical tree, remarkable for the girth of its trunk, the thickness of its branches, and their expansion; its leaves and seeds are used in medicine. baphomet, a mysterious image, presumed represent mahomet, which the templars were accused of worshipping, but which they may rather be surmised to have invoked to curse them if they failed in their vow; carlyle refers to this cult in "sartor," end of bk. ii. chapter vii., where he speaks of the "baphometic fire-baptism" of his hero, under which all the spectres that haunted him withered up. baptism, the christian rite of initiation into the membership of the church, identified by st. paul (rom. vi. ) with that no to the world which precedes or rather accompanies yea to god, but a misunderstanding of the nature of which has led to endless diversity, debate, and alienation all over the churches of christendom. baptiste, jean, a name given to the french canadians. baptistry, a circular building, sometimes detached from a church, in which the rite of baptism is administered; the most remarkable, that of pisa. baptists, a denomination of christians, sometimes called anabaptists to distinguish them from pædobaptists, who, however they may and do differ on other matters, insist that the rite of initiation is duly administered only by immersion, and to those who are of age to make an intelligent profession of faith; they are a numerous body, particularly in america, and more so in england than in scotland, and have included in their membership a number of eminent men. baptismal regeneration, the high church doctrine that the power of spiritual life, forfeited by the fall, is bestowed on the soul in the sacrament of baptism duly administered. baraguay d'hilliers`, achille, a french marshal who fought under napoleon at quatre-bras; distinguished himself under louis philippe in algeria, as well as under louis napoleon; presided at the trial of marshal bazaine ( - ). barataria, the imaginary island of which sancho panza was formally installed governor, and where in most comical situations he learned how imaginary is the authority of a king, how, instead of governing his subjects, his subjects govern him. barbacan, or barbican, a fortification to a castle outside the walls, generally at the end of the drawbridge in front of the gate. barba`does ( ), one of the windward islands, rather larger than the isle of wight; almost encircled by coral reefs; is the most densely peopled of the windward islands; subject to hurricanes; healthy and well cultivated; it yields sugar, arrowroot, ginger, and aloes. barbara, st., a christian martyr of the rd century; beheaded by her own father, a fanatical heathen, who was immediately after the act struck dead by lightning; she is the patron saint of those who might otherwise die impenitent, and of mantua; her attributes are a tower, a sword, and a crown. festival, dec. . barbarians, originally those who could not speak greek, and ultimately synonymous with the uncivilised and people without culture, particularly literary; this is the sense in which matthew arnold uses it. barbarossa, the surname of frederick i., emperor of germany, of whom there is this tradition, that "he is not yet dead; but only sleeping, till the bad world reach its worst, when he will reappear. he sits within a cavern near saltzburg, at a marble table, leaning on his elbow; winking, only half-asleep, as a peasant once tumbling into the interior saw him; beard had grown through the table, and streamed out on the floor. he looked at the peasant one moment, asked something about the time it was; then drooped his eyelids again: 'not yet time, but will be soon.'" barbarossa (i. e. red-beard), horuk, a native of mitylene; turned corsair; became sovereign of algiers by the murder of selim the emir, who had adopted him as an ally against spain; was defeated twice by the spanish general gomarez and slain ( - ). barbarossa, khair-eddin, brother and successor of the preceding; became viceroy of the porte, made admiral under the sultan, opposed andrea doria, ravaged the coast of italy, and joined the french against spain; died at constantinople in . barbaroux, charles, advocate, born at marseilles, of which he became town-clerk; came to paris "a young spartan," and became chief of the girondins in the french revolution; represented marseilles in the constituent assembly and the convention; joined the rolands; sent "fire-eyed" message to marseilles for six hundred men "who knew how to die"; held out against marat and robespierre; declared an enemy of the people, had to flee; mistook a company approaching for jacobins, drew his pistol and shot himself, but the shot miscarried; was captured and guillotined ( - ). barbary ape, a tailless monkey of gregarious habits, native of the mountainous parts of barbary, and of which there is a colony on the rock of gibraltar, the only one in europe. barbary states, the four states of morocco, algeria, tunis, and tripoli, so called from the berbers who inhabit the region. barbauld, anna lÆtitia, _née_ aiken, an english popular and accomplished authoress, wrote "hymns in prose for children," "evenings at home," in which she was assisted by a brother, &c. ( - ). barbazan, a french general under charles vi. and vii., who deservedly earned for himself the name of the irreproachable knight; _d_. . bar`becue, a feast in the open air on a large scale, at which the animals are roasted and dressed whole, formerly common in the sw. states of n. america. barberi`ni, an illustrious and influential florentine family, several of the members of which were cardinals, and one made pope in under the name urban viii. barberton, a mining town and important centre in the transvaal, m. e. of pretoria. barbÈs, armand, a french politician, surnamed the bayard of democracy; imprisoned in , liberated in ; expatriated himself voluntarily; died at the hague ( - ). barbier, antoine alex., a french bibliographer, author of a "dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous works" ( - ). barbier, ed. fr., jurisconsult of the parliament, born in paris; author of a journal, historical and anecdotical, of the time of louis xv. ( - ). barbier, henry, a french satirical poet, born in paris; wrote vigorous political verses; author of "iambics" ( - ). barbour, john, a scotch poet and chronicler, archdeacon of aberdeen, a man of learning and sagacity; his only extant work a poem entitled "the bruce," being a long history in rhyme of the life and achievements of robert the bruce, a work consisting of , octosyllabic lines, and possessing both historical and literary merit; "represents," says stopford brooke, "the whole of the eager struggle for scottish freedom against the english, which closed at bannockburn, and the national spirit in it full grown into life;" _d_. . barca ( ), a turkish province in the n. of africa, between tripoli and egypt; produces maize, figs, dates, and olives. barca, name of a carthaginian family to which hamilcar, hasdrubal, and hannibal belonged, and determinedly opposed to the ascendency of rome; known as the barcine faction. barcelo`na ( ), the largest town in spain next to madrid, on the mediterranean, and its chief port, with a naval arsenal, and its largest manufacturing town, called the "spanish manchester," the staple manufacture being cotton; is the seat of a bishopric and a university; has numerous churches, convents, and theatres. barclay, alex., a poet and prose-writer, of scotch birth; bred a monk in england, which he ceased to be on the dissolution of the monasteries; wrote "the ship of fools," partly a translation and partly an imitation of the german "narrerschiff" of brandt. "it has no value," says stopford brooke; "but it was popular because it attacked the follies and questions of the time; and its sole interest to us is in its pictures of familiar manners and popular customs" ( - ). barclay, john, born in france, educated by the jesuits, a stanch catholic; wrote the "argenis," a latin romance, much thought of by cowper, translated more than once into english ( - ). barclay, john, leader of the sect of the bereans ( - ). barclay, robert, the celebrated apologist of quakerism, born in morayshire; tempted hard to become a catholic; joined the society of friends, as his father had done before him; his greatest work, written in latin as well as in english, and dedicated to charles ii., "an apology for the true christian divinity, as the same is held forth and preached by the people called in scorn quakers," a great work, the leading thesis of which is that divine truth is not matter of reasoning, but intuition, and patent to the understanding of every truth-loving soul ( - ). barclay, william, father of john ( ), an eminent citizen and professor of law at angers; _d_. . all these barclays were of scottish descent. barclay de tolly, a russian general and field-marshal, of scottish descent, and of the same family as robert barclay the quaker; distinguished in successive russian wars; his promotion rapid, in spite of his unpopularity as german born; on napoleon's invasion of russia his tactic was to retreat till forced to fight at smolensk; he was defeated, and superseded in command by kutusow; on the latter's death was made commander-in-chief; commanded the russians at dresden and leipzig, and led them into france in ; he was afterwards minister of war at st. petersburg, and elevated to the rank of prince ( - ). bard of avon, shakespeare; of ayrshire, burns; of hope, campbell; of imagination, akenside; of memory, rogers; of olney, cowper; of rydal mount, wordsworth; of twickenham, pope. bardell`, mrs., a widow in the "pickwick papers," who sues pickwick for breach of promise. bardolph, a drunken, swaggering, worthless follower of falstaff's. bardon hill, a hill in leicestershire, from which one can see right across england. bar-durani, the collective name of a number of afghan tribes between the hindu-kush and the soliman mountains. barebone's parliament, cromwell's little parliament, met th july ; derisively called barebone's parliament, from one praise-god barebone, a member of it. "if not the remarkablest assembly, yet the assembly for the remarkablest purpose," says carlyle, "that ever met in the modern world; the business being no less than introducing of the christian religion into real practice in the social affairs of this nation.... in this it failed, could not but fail, with what we call the devil and all his angels against it, and the little parliament had to go its ways again," th december in the same year. barÈges, a village on the hautes-pyrénées, at ft. above the sea-level, resorted to for its mineral waters. bareilly ( ), a city in nw. india, the chief town in rohilkhand, m. e. of delhi, notable as the place where the mutiny of first broke out. barentz, an arctic explorer, born in friesland; discovered spitzbergen, and doubled the ne. extremity of nova zembla, in , and died the same year. barÈre, french revolutionary, a member of the states-general, the national assembly of france, and the convention; voted in the convention for the execution of the king, uttering the oft-quoted words, "the tree of liberty thrives only when watered by the blood of tyrants;" escaped the fate of his associates; became a spy under napoleon; was called by burke, from his flowery oratory, the anacreon of the guillotine, and by mercier, "the greatest liar in france;" he was inventor of the famous fable "his masterpiece," of the "sinking of the _vengeur_," "the largest, most inspiring piece of _blaque_ manufactured, for some centuries, by any man or nation;" died in beggary ( - ). see vengeur. baretti, giuseppe, an italian lexicographer, born in turin; taught italian in london, patronised by johnson, became secretary of the royal academy ( - ). barfleur, a seaport m. e. of cherbourg, where william the conqueror set out with his fleet to invade england. bÂrfrÜsh ( ), a town s. of the caspian, famous for its bazaar. bar`guest, a goblin long an object of terror in the n. of england. bari, the, a small negro nation on the banks of the white nile. baring, sir francis, founder of the great banking firm of baring brothers & co.; amassed property, value of it said to have been nearly seven millions ( - ). baring-gould, sabine, rector of lew-trenchard, devonshire, celebrated in various departments of literature, history, theology, and romance, especially the latter; a voluminous writer on all manner of subjects, and a man of wide reading; _b_. . barham, richard harris, his literary name thomas ingoldsby, born at canterbury, minor canon of st. paul's; friend of sidney smith; author of "ingoldsby legends," published originally as a series of papers in _bentley's miscellany_ ( - ). barkis, a carrier-lad in "david copperfield," in love with peggotty. "barkis is willin'." barker, e. henry, a classical scholar, born in yorkshire; edited stephens' "thesaurus linguæ græcæ," an arduous work; died in poverty ( - ). barking, a market-town in essex, m. ne. of london, with the remains of an ancient benedictine convent. barlaam and josaphat, a mediæval legend, being a christianised version of an earlier legend relating to buddha, in which josaphat, a prince like buddha, is converted by barlaam to a like ascetic life. barleycorn, john, the exhilarating spirit distilled from barley personified. barlow, joel, an american poet and diplomatist; for his republican zeal, was in accorded the rights of citizenship in france; wrote a poem "the vision of columbus" ( - ). barlowe, a french watchmaker, inventor of the repeating watch; _d_. . barmacide feast, an imaginary feast, so called from a story in the "arabian nights" of a hungry beggar invited by a barmacide prince to a banquet, which proved a long succession of merely empty dishes, and which he enjoyed with such seeming gusto and such good-humour as to earn for himself a sumptuous real one. bar`macides, a persian family celebrated for their magnificence, and that in the end met with the cruellest fate. yâhyá, one of them, eminent for ability and virtue, was chosen by the world-famous haroun-al-raschid on his accession to the caliphate to be his vizier; and his four sons rose along with him to such influence in the government, as to excite the jealousy of the caliph so much, that he had the whole family invited to a banquet, and every man, woman, and child of them massacred at midnight in cold blood. the caliph, it is gratifying to learn, never forgave himself for this cruelty, and was visited with a gnawing remorse to the end of his days; and it had fatal issues to his kingdom as well as himself. bar`men ( ), a long town, consisting of a series of hamlets, m. in extent, in rhenish prussia; the population consists chiefly of protestants; the staple industry, the manufacture of ribbons, and it is the centre of that industry on the continent. barnabas, st., a member of the first christian brotherhood, a companion of st. paul's, and characterised in the acts as "a good man"; stoned to death at cyprus, where he was born; an epistle extant bears his name, but is not believed to be his work; the epistle to the hebrews has by some been ascribed to him; he is usually represented in art as a venerable man of majestic mien, with the gospel of st. matthew in his hand. festival, june . barnabites, a proselytising order of monks founded at milan, where barnabas was reported to have been bishop, in ; bound, as the rest are, by the three monastic vows, and by a vow in addition, not to sue for preferment in the church. barnaby rudge, one of dickens' novels, published in . barnard, henry, american educationist, born in connecticut, . barnard, lady anne, daughter of lindsay, the th earl of balcarres, born in fife; authoress of "auld robin gray," named after a balcarres herd; lived several years at the cape, where her husband held an appointment, and after his death, in london ( - ). barnard castle, an old tower w. of darlington, in durham; birthplace of john baliol, and the scene of scott's "rokeby." bar`nardine, a reckless character in "measure for measure." barnave, joseph marie, french lawyer, born at grenoble; president of the french constitutional assembly in ; one of the trio in the assembly of whom it was said, "whatsoever those three have on hand, dupont thinks it, barnave speaks it, lameth does it;" a defender of the monarchy from the day he gained the favour of the queen by his gallant conduct to her on her way back to paris from her flight with the king to varennes; convicted by documentary evidence of conspiring with the court against the nation; was guillotined ( - ). barn-burners, name formerly given to an extreme radical party in the united states, as imitating the dutchman who, to get rid of the rats, burned his barns. barnes, thomas, editor of the _times_, under whom the paper first rose to the pre-eminent place it came to occupy among the journals of the day ( - ). barnes, william, a local philologist, native of dorsetshire; author of "poems of rural life in dorset," in three vols.; wrote on subjects of philological interest ( - ). barnet ( ), a town in hertfordshire, almost a suburb of london; a favourite resort of londoners; has a large annual horse and cattle fair; scene of a battle in , at which warwick, the king-maker, was slain. barnett, john, composer, born at bedford; author of operas and a number of fugitive pieces ( - ). barneveldt, johann van olden, grand pensionary of holland, of a distinguished family; studied law at the hague, and practised as an advocate there; fought for the independence of his country against spain; concluded a truce with spain, in spite of the stadtholder maurice, whose ambition for supreme power he courageously opposed; being an arminian, took sides against the gomarist or calvinist party, to which maurice belonged; was arrested, tried, and condemned to death as a traitor and heretic, and died on the scaffold at years of age, with sanction, too, of the synod of dort, in . barnsley ( ), a manufacturing town in w. yorkshire, m. n. of sheffield; manufactures textile fabrics and glass. barnum, an american showman; began with the exhibition of george washington's reputed nurse in ; picked up tom thumb in ; engaged jenny lind for concerts in , and realised a fortune, which he lost; started in with his huge travelling show, and realised another fortune, dying worth five million dollars ( - ). barocci, a celebrated italian painter, imitator of the style of correggio ( - ). baroche, pierre-jules, a french statesman, minister of napoleon iii. ( - ). baro`da ( , ), a native state of gujerat, in the prov. of bombay, with a capital ( ) of the same name, the sovereign of which is called the guicowar; the third city in the presidency, with hindu temples and a considerable trade. baro`nius, cÆsar, a great catholic ecclesiastic, born near naples, priest of the congregation of the oratory under its founder, and ultimately superior; cardinal and librarian of the vatican; his great work, "annales ecclesiastici," being a history of the first centuries of the church, written to prove that the church of rome was identical with the church of the st century, a work of immense research that occupied him years; failed of the popehood from the intrigues of the spaniards, whose political schemes he had frustrated ( - ). barons' war, a war in england of the barons against henry iii., headed by simon de montfort, and which lasted from to . baroque, ornamentation of a florid and incongruous character, more lavish and showy rather than true and tasteful; much in vogue from the th to the th centuries. barra, a small island, one of the hebrides, m. sw. of s. uist, the inhabitants of which are engaged in fisheries. bar`rackpur ( ), a town on the hooghly, m. above calcutta, where the lieutenant-governor of bengal has a residence; a healthy resort of the europeans. barrack-room ballads, ballads by rudyard kipling, with a fine martial strain. barras, paul franÇois, a member of the jacobin club, born in provence; "a man of heat and haste,... tall, and handsome to the eye;" voted in the national convention for the execution of the king; took part in the siege of toulon; put an end to the career of robespierre and the reign of terror; named general-in-chief to oppose the reactionaries; employed bonaparte to command the artillery, "he the commandant's cloak, this artillery officer the commandant;" was a member of the directory till bonaparte swept it away ( - ). bar`ratry, the offence of inciting and stirring up riots and quarrels among the queen's subjects, also a fraud by a ship captain on the owners of a ship. barrÉ, isaac, soldier and statesman, born in dublin, served under wolfe in canada, entered parliament, supported pitt, charged with authorship of "junius' letters"; _d_. . barrel mirabeau, viscount de mirabeau, brother of the great tribune of the name, so called from his bulk and the liquor he held. barrÈre. see barÈre. barrett, wilson, english actor, born in essex; made his _début_ at halifax; lessee of the grand theatre, leeds, and of the court and the princess's theatres, london; produced his hamlet in ; _b_. . barrie, james matthew, a writer with a rich vein of humour and pathos, born at kirriemuir ("thrums"), in forfarshire; began his literary career as a contributor to journals; produced, among other works, "auld licht idylls" in , and "a window in thrums," in , and recently "margaret ogilvie," deemed by some likely to prove the most enduring thing he has yet written; _b_. . barrier reef, the great, a slightly interrupted succession of coral reefs off the coast of queensland, of m. extent, and m. wide at the s., and growing narrower as they go n.; are from to m. off the coast, and protect the intermediate channel from the storms of the pacific. barriÈre, jean franÇois, french historian of the revolution ( - ). barriÈre, pierre, would-be assassin of henry iv. of france; broken on the wheel in . barriers, battle of the, a battle fought within the walls of paris in between napoleon and the allies, which ended in the capitulation of the city and the abdication of napoleon. barrington, john shute, st viscount, gained the favour of the nonconformists by his "rights of dissenters," and an irish peerage from george i. for his "dissuasive from jacobitism"; left six sons, all more or less distinguished, particularly daines, the fourth, distinguished in law ( - ), and samuel, the fifth, st lord of the name, distinguished in the naval service, assisted under lord howe at the relief of gibraltar, and became an admiral in ( - ). barros, joÃo de, a distinguished portuguese historian; his great work. "asia portugueza," relates, in a pure and simple style, the discoveries and conquests of the portuguese in the indies; he did not live to complete it ( - ). barrot, odilon, famous as an advocate, born at villefort; contributed to the revolutions of both and ; accepted office under louis napoleon; retired after the _coup d'état_, to return to office in ( - ). barrow, a river in ireland rising in the slievebloom mts.; falls into waterford harbour, after a course of m. barrow, isaac, english scholar, mathematician, and divine, born in london; a graduate of cambridge, and fellow of trinity college; appointed professor of greek at cambridge, and soon after gresham professor of geometry; subsequently lucasian professor of mathematics (in which he had newton for successor), and master of trinity, and founder of the library; a man of great intellectual ability and force of character; besides mathematical works, left a "treatise on the pope's supremacy," and a body of sermons remarkable for their vigour of thought and nervousness of expression ( - ). barrow, sir john, secretary to the admiralty for years, and much esteemed in that department, distinguished also as a man of letters; wrote the lives of macartney, anson, howe, and peter the great ( - ). barrow-in-furness ( ), a town and seaport in n. lancashire, of recent rapid growth, owing to the discovery of extensive deposits of iron in the neighbourhood, which has led to the establishment of smelting works and the largest manufacture of steel in the kingdom; the principal landowners in the district being the dukes of devonshire and buccleuch. barry, james, painter, born in cork; painted the "death of general wolfe"; became professor of painting at the royal academy, but was deposed; died in poverty; his masterpiece is the "victors at olympia" ( - ). barry, sir charles, architect, born at westminster; architect of the new palace of westminster, besides other public buildings ( - ). barry cornwall. see procter. bart, or barth, jean, a distinguished french seaman, born at dunkirk, son of a fisherman, served under de ruyter, entered the french service at , purchased a ship of two guns, was subsidised as a privateer, made numerous prizes; having had other ships placed under his command, was captured by the english, but escaped; defeated the dutch admiral, de vries; captured his squadron laden with corn, for which he was ennobled by louis xiv.; he was one of the bravest of men and the most independent, unhampered by red-tapism of every kind ( - ). barth, heinrich, a great african explorer, born at hamburg; author of "travels in the east and discoveries in central africa," in five volumes ( - ). barthÉlemy, auguste-marseille, a poet and politician, born at marseilles; author of "nemesis," and the best french translation of the "Æneid," in verse; an enemy of the bourbons, an ardent imperialist, and warm supporter of louis napoleon ( - ). barthÉlemy, the abbÉ, jean jacques, a french historian and antiquary, born at cassis, in provence; educated by the jesuits; had great skill in numismatics; wrote several archæological works, in chief, "voyage du jeune anacharsis en grèce;" long treated as an authority in the history, manners, and customs of greece ( - ). barthÉlemy saint-hilaire, jules, a french baron and politician, born at paris; an associate of odilon barrot in the revolutions of and , and subsequently a zealous supporter of m. thiers; for a time professor of greek and roman philosophy in the college of france; an oriental as well as greek scholar; translated the works of aristotle, his greatest achievement, and the "iliad" into verse, as well as wrote on the vedas, buddhism, and mahomet; _b_. . barthez, paul joseph, a celebrated physician, physiologist, and encyclopædist, born at montpellier, where he founded a medical school; suffered greatly during the revolution; was much esteemed and honoured by napoleon; is celebrated among physiologists as the advocate of what he called the vital principle as a physiological force in the functions of the human organism; his work "nouveaux eléments de la science de l'homme" has been translated into all the languages of europe ( - ). bartholdi, a french sculptor, born at colmar; his principal works, "lion le belfort," and "liberté éclairant le monde," the largest bronze statue in the world, being ft. high, erected at the entrance of new york harbour; _b_. . bartholomew, st., an apostle of christ, and martyr; represented in art with a knife in one hand and his skin in the other; sometimes been painted as being flayed alive, also as headless. festival, aug. . bartholomew fair, an annual market held at smithfield, london, and instituted in by henry i., to be kept on the saint's day, but abolished in , when it ceased to be a market and became an occasion for mere dissipation and riot. bartholomew hospital, an hospital in smithfield, london, founded in ; has a medical school attached to it, with which the names of a number of eminent physicians are associated. bartholomew's day, st., th august, day in memorable for the wholesale massacre of the protestants in france at the instance of catharine de medici, then regent of the kingdom for her son, charles ix., an event, cruelly gloried in by the pope and the spanish court, which kindled a fire in the nation that was not quenched, although it extinguished protestantism proper in france, till charles was coerced to grant liberty of conscience throughout the realm. bartizan, an overhanging wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of ancient fortifications. bartlett, john h., an american ethnologist and philologist, born at rhode island, u.s.; author of "dictionary of americanisms," among other works particularly on ethnology ( - ). bartoli, daniele, a learned italian jesuit, born at ferrara ( - ). bartoli, pietro, italian engraver, engraved a great number of ancient works of art ( - ). bartolini, lorenzo, a florentine sculptor, patronised by napoleon; produced a great number of busts ( - ). bartolomme`o, fra, a celebrated florentine painter of sacred subjects, born at florence; an adherent of savonarola, friend of raphael; "st. mark" and "st. sebastian" among his best productions ( - ). bartoloz`zi, francesco, an eminent engraver, born at florence; wrought at his art both in england and in portugal, where he died; his chief works, "clytie," after annibale caracci, the "prometheus," after michael angelo, and "virgin and child," after carlo dolci; he was the father of madame vestris ( - ). barton, bernard, the "quaker poet," born in london; a clerk nearly all his days in a bank; his poems, mostly on homely subjects, but instinct with poetic feeling and fancy, gained him the friendship of southey and charles lamb, as well as more substantial patronage in the shape of a government pension ( - ). barton, elizabeth, "the maid of kent," a poor country servant-girl, born in kent, subject from nervous debility to trances, in which she gave utterances ascribed by archbishop warham to divine inspiration, till her communications were taken advantage of by designing people, and she was led by them to pronounce sentence against the divorce of catharine of aragon, which involved her and her abettors in a charge of treason, for which they were all executed at tyburn ( - ). baruch, ( ) the friend of the prophet jeremiah, and his scribe, who was cast with him into prison, and accompanied him into egypt; ( ) a book in the apocrypha, instinct with the spirit of hebrew prophecy, ascribed to him; ( ) also a book entitled the apocalypse of baruch, affecting to predict the fall of jerusalem, but obviously written after the event. barye, a french sculptor, distinguished for his groups of statues of wild animals ( - ). basaiti, a venetian painter of the th and th centuries, a rival of bellini; his best works, "christ in the garden" and the "calling of st. peter and st. andrew." basedow, johann bernard, a zealous educational reformer, born at hamburg; his method modelled according to the principles of rousseau; established a normal school on this method at dessau, which, however, failed from his irritability of temper, which led to a rupture with his colleagues ( - ). basel ( ), in the nw. of switzerland, on the rhine, just before it enters germany; has a cathedral, university, library, and museum; was a centre of influence in reformation times, and the home for several years of erasmus; it is now a great money market, and has manufactures of silks and chemicals; the people are protestant and german-speaking. basel, council of, met in , and laboured for years to effect the reformation of the church from within. it effected some compromise with the hussites, but was hampered at every step by the opposition of pope eugenius iv. asserting the authority of a general council over the pope himself, it cited him on two occasions to appear at its bar, on his refusal declared him contumacious, and ultimately endeavoured to suspend him. failing to effect its purpose, owing to the secession of his supporters, it elected a rival pope, felix v., who was, however, but scantily recognised. the emperor frederick iii. supported eugenius, and the council gradually melted away. at length, in , the pope died, felix resigned, and nicholas v. was recognised by the whole church. the decrees of the council were directed against the immorality of the clergy, the indecorousness of certain festivals, the papal prerogatives and exactions, and dealt with the election of popes and the procedure of the college of cardinals. they were all confirmed by nicholas v., but are not recognised by modern roman canonists. ba`shan, a fertile and pastoral district in ne. palestine of considerable extent, and at one time densely peopled; the men of it were remarkable for their stature. bashahr, a native hill state in the punjab, traversed by the sutlej; tributary to the british government. bashi-bazouks`, irregular, undisciplined troops in the pay of the sultan; rendered themselves odious by their brutality in the bulgarian atrocities of , as well as, more or less, in the time of the crimean war. bashkirs, originally a finnish nomad race (and still so to some extent) of e. russia, professing mohammedanism; they number some , . bashkirtseff, marie, a precocious russian young lady of good family, but of delicate constitution, who travelled a good deal with her mother, noted her impressions, and left a journal of her life, which created, when published after her death, an immense sensation from the confessions it contains ( - ). basil, st., the great, bishop of cæsarea, in cappadocia, his birthplace; studied at athens; had julian the apostate for a fellow-student; the lifelong friend of gregory nazianzen; founded a monastic body, whose rules are followed by different monastic communities; a conspicuous opponent of the arian heresy, and defender of the nicene creed; tried in vain to unite the churches of the east and west; is represented in christian art in greek pontificals, bareheaded, and with an emaciated appearance ( - ). there were several basils of eminence in the history of the church: basil, bishop of ancyra, who flourished in the th century; basil, the mystic, and basil, the friend of st. ambrose. basil i., the macedonian, emperor of the east; though he had raised himself to the throne by a succession of crimes, governed wisely; compiled, along with his son leo, surnamed the philosopher, a code of laws that were in force till the fall of the empire; fought successfully against the saracens; _d_. . basilica, the code of laws, in books, compiled by basil i., and leo, his son and successor, first published in , and named after the former. basilica, a spacious hall, twice as long as broad, for public business and the administration of justice, originally open to the sky, but eventually covered in, and with the judge's bench at the end opposite the entrance, in a circular apse added to it. they were first erected by the romans, b.c.; afterwards, on the adoption of christianity, they were converted into churches, the altar being in the apse. basilicon doron (i. e. royal gift), a work written by james i. in , before the union of the crowns, for the instruction of his son, prince henry, containing a defence of the royal prerogative. basili`des, a gnostic of alexandria, flourished at the commencement of the nd century; appears to have taught the oriental theory of emanations, to have construed the universe as made up of a series of worlds, some it is alleged, each a degree lower than the preceding, till we come to our own world, the lowest and farthest off from the parent source of the series, of which the god of the jews was the ruler, and to have regarded jesus as sent into it direct from the parent source to redeem it from the materialism to which the god of the jews, as creator and lord of the material universe, had subjected it; which teaching a sect called after his name accepted and propagated in both the east and the west for more than two centuries afterwards. bas`ilisk, an animal fabled to have been hatched by a toad from the egg of an old cock, before whose breath every living thing withered and died, and the glance of whose eye so bewitched one to his ruin that the bravest could confront and overcome it only by looking at the reflection of it in a mirror, as perseus (q. v.) was advised to do, and did, when he cut off the head of the medusa; seeing itself in a mirror, it burst, it as said, at the sight. baskerville, john, a printer and typefounder, originally a writing-master in birmingham; native of sion hill, worcestershire; produced editions of classical works prized for their pre-eminent beauty by connoisseurs in the art of the printer, and all the more for their rarity ( - ). basnages, jacques, a celebrated protestant divine, born at rouen; distinguished as a linguist and man of affairs; wrote a "history of the reformed churches" and on "jewish antiquities" ( - ). basoche, a corporation of lawyers' clerks in paris. see bazoche. basque provinces, a fertile and mineral district in n. of spain, embracing the three provinces of biscaya, guipuzcoa, and alava, of which the chief towns are respectively bilbao, st. sebastian, and vittoria; the natives differ considerably from the rest of the spaniards in race, language, and customs. see basques. basque roads, an anchorage between the isle of oléron and the mainland; famous for a naval victory gained in over a french fleet under vice-admiral allemand. basques, a people of the western pyrenees, partly in france and partly in spain; distinguished from their neighbours only by their speech, which is non-aryan; a superstitious people, conservative, irascible, ardent, proud, serious in their religious convictions, and pure in their moral conduct. bas-relief (i. e. low relief) a term applied to figures very slightly projected from the ground. bass rock, a steep basaltic rock at the mouth of the firth of forth, ft. high, tenanted by solan geese; once used as a prison, specially in covenanting times. bass strait, strait between australia and tasmania, about m. broad. bassanio, the lover of portia in the "merchant of venice." bassano, a town in italy, on the brenta, m. nw. of padua; printing the chief industry. bassano, duc de, an intriguing french diplomatist in the interest of bonaparte, and his steadfast auxiliary to the last ( - ). bassano, jacopo da ponte, an eminent italian painter, chiefly of country scenes, though the "nativity" at his native town, bassano, shows his ability in the treatment of higher themes ( - ). bassompierre, franÇois de, a marshal of france, born in lorraine; entered military life under henry iv., was a gallant soldier, and one of the most brilliant wits of his time; took part in the siege of rochelle; incurred the displeasure of richelieu; was imprisoned by his order twelve years in the bastille; wrote his memoirs there; was liberated on the death of richelieu; his memoirs contain a lively description of his contemporaries, the manners of the time, his own intrigues, no less than those of his friends and enemies ( - ). bassorah ( ), a port in asiatic turkey, on the shatt-el-arab; a place of great commercial importance when bagdad was the seat of the caliphate; for a time sank into insignificance, but has of late revived. basti`a ( ), a town in ne. corsica, the most commercial in the island, and once the capital; was founded by the genoese in , and taken by the french in ; exports wine, oil, fruits, &c. bastian, adolf, an eminent ethnologist, born at bremen; travelled over and surveyed, in the interest of his science, all quarters of the globe, and recorded the fruits of his survey in his numerous works, no fewer than thirty in number, beginning with "der mensch in der geschichte," in three vols.; conducts, along with virchow and r. hartman, the _zeitschrift für ethnologie_; _b_. . bastian, dr. h. c., a physiologist, born at truro; a materialist in his theory of life; a zealous advocate of the doctrine of spontaneous generation; _b_. . bastiat, frÉdÉric, an eminent political economist, born at bayonne; a disciple of cobden's; a great advocate of free trade; wrote on behalf of it and against protection, "sophismes economiques"; a zealous anti-socialist, and wrote against socialism ( - ). bastide, jules, french radical writer, born in paris; took part in the revolution of , and became minister of foreign affairs ( - ). bastille (lit. the building), a state prison in paris, built originally as a fortress of defence to the city, by order of charles v., between and , but used as a place of imprisonment from the first; a square structure, with towers and dungeons for the incarceration of the prisoners, the whole surrounded by a moat, and accessible only by drawbridges; "tyranny's stronghold"; attacked by a mob on th july ; taken chiefly by noise; overturned, as "the city of jericho, by miraculous sound"; demolished, and the key of it sent to washington; the taking of it was the first event in the revolution. see carlyle's "french revolution" for the description of the fall of it. basutoland ( ), a fertile, healthy, grain-growing territory in s. africa, se. of the orange free state, under protection of the british crown, of the size of belgium; yields large quantities of maize; the natives keep large herds of cattle. basutos, a s. african race of the same stock as the kaffirs, but superior to them in intelligence and industry. batangas, a port in the island of luzon, one of the philippine islands, which has a considerable trade. batavia ( ), the capital of java, on the n. coast, and of the dutch possessions in the eastern archipelago; the emporium, with a large trade, of the far east; with a very mixed population. also the ancient name of holland; _insula batavorum_ it was called--that is, island of the batavi, the name of the native tribes inhabiting it. bates, henry walter, a naturalist and traveller, born at leicester; friend of, and a fellow-labourer with, alfred r. wallace; author of "the naturalist on the amazons"; an advocate of the darwinian theory, and author of contributions in defence of it ( - ). bath ( ), the largest town in somerset, on the avon; a cathedral city; a place of fashionable resort from the time of the romans, on account of its hot baths and mineral waters, of which there are six springs; it was from to the scene of beau nash's triumphs; has a number of educational and other institutions, and a fine public park. bath, major, a gentleman in fielding's "amelia," who stoops from his dignity to the most menial duties when affection prompts him. bath, order of the, an english order of knighthood, traceable to the reign of henry iv., consisting of three classes: the first, knights grand cross; the second, knights commanders, and the third, knights companions, abbreviated respectively into g.c.b., k.c.b., and c.b.; initiation into the order originally preceded by immersion in a bath, whence the name, in token of the purity required of the members by the laws of chivalry. it was originally a military order, and it is only since that civil knights, knights commanders, and companions have been admitted as knights. the first class, exclusive of royal personages and foreigners, is limited to military and civil; the second, to military and civil; and the third, to military and civil. the motto of the order is _tria juncta in uno_ (three united in one); and henry vi.'s chapel at westminster is the chapel of the order, with the plates of the knights on their stalls, and their banners suspended over them. bathgate ( ), largest town in linlithgowshire; a mining centre; the birthplace of sir j. simpson, who was the son of a baker in the place. bathilda, st., queen of france, wife of clovis ii., who governed france during the minority of her sons, clovis iii., childéric ii., and thierry; died , in the monastery of chelles. bath`ori, elizabeth, a polish princess, a woman of infamous memory, caused some young girls to be put to death, in order, by bathing in their blood, to renew her beauty; immersed in a fortress for life on the discovery of the crime, while her accomplices were burnt alive; _d_. . bathos, an anti-climax, being a sudden descent from the sublime to the commonplace. bath`urst ( ), the capital of british gambia, at the mouth of the river gambia, in western africa; inhabited chiefly by negroes; exports palm-oil, ivory, gold dust, &c. bathurst ( ), the principal town on the western slopes of new south wales, second to sydney, with gold mines in the neighbourhood, and in a fertile wheat-growing district. bathurst, a district in upper canada, on the ottawa, a thriving place and an agricultural centre. bathyb`ius, (i. e. living matter in the deep), substance of a slimy nature found at great sea depth, over-hastily presumed to be organic, proved by recent investigation to be inorganic, and of no avail to the evolutionist. batley ( ), a manufacturing town in the w. riding of yorkshire, m. sw. of leeds; a busy place. batn-el-hajar, a stony tract in the nubian desert, near the third cataract of the nile. baton-rouge ( ), a city on the e. bank of the mississippi, m. above new orleans, and capital of the state of louisiana; originally a french settlement. baton-sinister, a bend-sinister like a marshal's baton, an indication of illegitimacy. batoum` ( ), a town in transcaucasia, on the e. of the black sea; a place of some antiquity; recently ceded by turkey to russia, but only as a mere trading port; has an excellent harbour, and has improved under russian rule. batrachomyomachia, a mock-heroic poem, "the battle of the frogs and mice," falsely ascribed to homer. battas, a malay race, native to sumatra, now much reduced in numbers, and driven into the interior. battersea, a suburb of london, on the surrey side of the thames, opposite chelsea, and connected with it by a bridge; with a park acres in extent; of plain and recent growth; till lately a quite rural spot. batthya`ni, count, an hungarian patriot, who fought hard to see his country reinstated in its ancient administrative independence, but failed in his efforts; was arrested, tried for high treason by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot, to the horror, at the time, of the civilised world ( - ). battle, a market-town in sussex, near hastings, so called from the battle of senlac, in which william the conqueror defeated harold in . battle of the spurs, (_a_) an engagement at courtrai in where the burghers of the town beat the knighthood of france, and the spurs of knights were collected after the battle; (_b_) an engagement at guinegate, , in which henry viii. made the french forces take to their spurs; of the barriers (see barriers); of the books, a satire by swift on a literary controversy of the time; of the standard, a battle in , in which the english, with a high-mounted crucifix for a standard, beat the scots at northallerton. battue, method of killing game after crowding them by cries and beating them towards the sportsmen. baucis. see philemon. baudelaire, charles, french poet of the romantic school, born in paris; distinguished among his contemporaries for his originality, and his influence on others of his class; was a charming writer of prose as well as verse, as his "petits poèmes" in prose bear witness. victor hugo once congratulated him on having "created a new shudder"; and as has been said, "this side of his genius attracted most popular attention, which, however, is but one side, and not really the most remarkable, of a singular combination of morbid but delicate analysis and reproduction of the remotest phases and moods of human thought and passion" ( - ). baudricourt, a french courtier whom joan of arc pressed to conduct her into the presence of charles vii. baudry, paul, french painter, decorated the _foyer_ of the grand opera in paris; is best known as the author of the "punishment of a vestal virgin" and the "assassination of marat" ( - ). bauer, bruno, a daring biblical critic, and violent polemic on political as well as theological subjects; born at saxe-altenburg; regarded the christian religion as overlaid and obscured by accretions foreign to it; denied the historical truth of the gospels, and, like a true disciple of hegel, ascribed the troubles of the th century to the overmastering influence of the "enlightenment" or the "aufklÄrung" (q. v.) that characterised the th. his last work was entitled "disraeli's romantic and bismarck's socialistic imperialism" ( - ). baumgarten, alexander gottlieb, professor of philosophy at frankfort-on-the-oder; disciple of wolf; born at berlin; the founder of Æsthetics as a department of philosophy, and inventor of the name ( - ). baumgarten-crusius, a german theologian of the school of schleiermacher; professor of theology at jena; born at merseburg; an authority on the history of dogma, on which he wrote ( - ). baur, ferdinand christian, head of the tübingen school of rationalist divines, born near stuttgart; distinguished by his scholarship and his labours in biblical criticism and dogmatic theology; his dogmatic treatises were on the christian gnosis, the atonement, the trinity, and the incarnation, while his biblical were on certain epistles of paul and the canonical gospels, which he regarded as the product of the nd century; regarded christianity of the church as judaic in its origin, and paul as distinctively the first apostle of pure christianity ( - ). bausset, cardinal, born at pondicherry, who wrote the lives of bossuet and fénélon ( - ). bautzen, a town of saxony, an old town on the spree, where napoleon defeated the prussians and russians in ; manufactures cotton, linen, wool, tobacco, paper, etc. bavaria ( , ), next to prussia the largest of the german states, about the size of scotland; is separated by mountain ranges from bohemia on the e. and the tyrol on the s.; würtemburg lies on the w., prussia, meiningen, and saxony on the n. the country is a tableland crossed by mountains and lies chiefly in the basin of the danube. it is a busy agricultural state: half the soil is tilled; the other half is under grass, planted with vineyards and forests. salt, coal, and iron are widely distributed and wrought. the chief manufactures are of beer, coarse linen, and woollen fabrics. there are universities at münich, würzburg, and erlangen. münich, on the isar, is the capital; nüremberg, where watches were invented, and angsburg, a banking centre, the other chief towns. formerly a dukedom, the palatinate, on the banks of the rhine, was added to it in . napoleon i. raised the duke to the title of king in . bavaria fought on the side of austria in , but joined prussia in - . bavie`ca, the famous steed of the cid, held sacred after the hero's death. bavou, st., a soldier monk, the patron saint of ghent. baxter, richard, an eminent nonconformist divine, native of shropshire, at first a conformist, and parish minister of kidderminster for years; sympathised with the puritans, yet stopped short of going the full length with them; acted as chaplain to one of their regiments, and returned to kidderminster; became, at the restoration one of the king's chaplains; driven out of the church by the act of uniformity, was thrown into prison at , let out, spent the rest of his days in peace; his popular works, "the saint's everlasting rest," and his "call to the unconverted" ( - ). bay city ( ), place of trade, and of importance as a great railway centre in michigan, u.s.; the third city in it. bayadere, a dancing-girl in india, dressed in loose eastern costume. bayard, a horse of remarkable swiftness belonging to the four sons of aymon, and which they sometimes rode all at once; also a horse of amadis de gaul. bayard, chevalier de, an illustrious french knight, born in the château bayard, near grenoble; covered himself with glory in the wars of charles viii., louis xii., and francis i.; his bravery and generosity commanded the admiration of his enemies, and procured for him the thrice-honourable cognomen of "the knight _sans peur et sans reproche_"; one of his most brilliant feats was his defence, single-handed, of the bridge over the garigliano, in the face of a large body of spaniards; was mortally wounded defending a pass at abblategrasso; fell with his face to the foe, who carried off his body, but restored it straightway afterwards for due burial by his friends ( - ). bayeux ( ), an ancient norman city in the dep. of calvados, france; manufactures lace, hosiery, &c.; is a bishop's seat; has a very old gothic cathedral. bayeux tapestry, representations in tapestry of events connected with the norman invasion of england, commencing with harold's visit to the norman court, and ending with his death at the battle of hastings; still preserved in the public library of bayeux; is so called because originally found there; it is ft. long by in. wide, divided into scenes, and contains a variety of figures. it is a question whose work it was. bayle, pierre, a native of languedoc; first protestant (as the son of a calvinist minister), then catholic, then sceptic; professor of philosophy at padua, then at rotterdam, and finally retired to the boompjes in the latter city; known chiefly as the author of the famous _dictionnaire historique et critique_, to the composition of which he consecrated his energies with a zeal worthy of a religious devotee, and which became the fountain-head of the sceptical philosophy that flooded france on the eve of the revolution; pronounced by a competent judge in these matters, a mere "imbroglio of historical, philosophical, and anti-theological marine stores" ( - ). baylen, a town in the province of jaen, spain, where general castaños defeated dupont, and compelled him to sign a capitulation, in . bayley, sir john, a learned english judge; author of a standard work "on the law of bills of exchange"; _d_. . bayonne ( ), a fortified french town, trading and manufacturing, in the dep. of basses-pyrénées, at the confluence of the adour and nive, m. from the bay of biscay; noted for its strong citadel, constructed by vauban, and one of his _chef-d'oeuvres_, and its th-century cathedral church; it belonged to the english from to . bazaine, franÇois achille, a marshal of france, born at versailles; distinguished himself in algiers, the crimea, and mexico; did good service, as commander of the army of the rhine, in the franco-german war, but after the surrender at sedan was shut up in metz, surrounded by the germans, and obliged to surrender, with all his generals, officers, and men; was tried by court-martial, and condemned to death, but was imprisoned instead; made good his escape one evening to madrid, where he lived to write a justification of his conduct, the sale of the book being prohibited in france ( - ). bazard, saint-amand, a french socialist, founder of the _charbonnerie française_; a zealous but unsuccessful propagator of st. simonianism, in association with enfantin (q. v.), from whom he at last separated ( - ). bazoche, a guild of clerks of the parliament of paris, under a mock king, with the privilege of performing religious plays, which they abused. beaches, raised, elevated lands, formerly sea beaches, the result of upheaval, or left high by the recession of the sea, evidenced to be such by the shells found in them and the nature of the débris. beachy head, a chalk cliff in sussex, ft. high, projecting into the english channel; famous for a naval engagement between the allied english and dutch fleets and those of france, in which the latter were successful. beaconsfield, capital of the gold-mining district in tasmania; also a town in buckinghamshire, m. n. of windsor, from which benjamin disraeli took his title on his elevation to the peerage. beaconsfield, benjamin disraeli, earl of, english novelist and politician, born in london; son of isaac d'israeli, littérateur, and thus of jewish parentage; was baptized at the age of ; educated under a unitarian minister; studied law, but did not qualify for practice. his first novel, "vivian grey," appeared in , and thereafter, whenever the business of politics left him leisure, he devoted it to fiction. "contarini fleming," "coningsby," "tancred," "lothair," and "endymion" are the most important of a brilliant and witty series, in which many prominent personages are represented and satirised under thin disguises. his endeavours to enter parliament as a radical failed twice in ; in he was unsuccessful again as a tory. his first seat was for maidstone in ; thereafter he represented shrewsbury and buckinghamshire. for years he was a free-lance in the house, hating the whigs, and after leading the young england party; his onslaught on the corn law repeal policy of made him leader of the tory protectionists. he was for a short time chancellor of the exchequer under lord derby in , and coolly abandoned protection. returning to power with his chief six years later, he introduced a franchise bill, the defeat of which threw out the government. in office a third time in , he carried a democratic reform bill, giving household suffrage in boroughs and extending the county franchise. succeeding lord derby in , he was forced to resign soon afterwards. in he entered his second premiership. two years were devoted to home measures, among which were plimsoll's shipping act and the abolition of scottish church patronage. then followed a showy foreign policy. the securing of the half of the suez canal shares for britain; the proclamation of the queen as empress of india; the support of constantinople against russia, afterwards stultified by the berlin congress, which he himself attended; the annexation of cyprus; the afghan and zulu wars, were its salient features. defeated at the polls in he resigned, and died next year. a master of epigram and a brilliant debater, he really led his party. he was the opposite in all respects of his protagonist, mr. gladstone. lacking in zeal, he was yet loyal to england, and a warm personal friend of the queen ( - ). bear, name given in the stock exchange to one who contracts to deliver stock at a fixed price on a certain day, in contradistinction from the _bull_, or he who contracts to take it, the interest of the former being that, in the intervening time, the stocks should fall, and that of the latter that they should rise. bear, great. see ursa major. beam, an ancient prov. of france, fell to the crown with the accession of henry iv. in ; formed a great part of the dep. of basses-pyrénées, capital pau. beatification, religious honour allowed by the pope to certain who are not so eminent in sainthood as to entitle them to canonisation. beaton, or bethune, david, cardinal, archbishop of st. andrews, and primate of the kingdom, born in fife; an adviser of james v., twice over ambassador to france; on the death of james secured to himself the chief power in church and state as lord high chancellor and papal legate; opposed alliance with england; persecuted the reformers; condemned george wishart to the stake, witnessed his sufferings from a window of his castle in st. andrews, and was assassinated within its walls shortly after; with his death ecclesiastical tyranny of that type came to an end in scotland ( - ). beaton, james, archbishop of glasgow and st. andrews, uncle of the preceding, a prominent figure in the reign of james v.; was partial to affiliation with france, and a persecutor of the reformers; _d_. . beattie, james, a poet and essayist, born at laurencekirk; became professor of logic and moral philosophy at marischal college, aberdeen; wrote an "essay on truth" against hume; his most admired poem, "the minstrel," a didactic piece, traces the progress of poetic genius, admitted him to the johnsonian circle in london, obtained for him the degree of ll.d. from oxford, and brought him a pension of £ per annum from the king; died at aberdeen ( - ). beatrice, a beautiful florentine maiden, portinari, her family name, for whom dante conceived an undying affection, and whose image abode with him to the end of his days. she is his guide through paradise. beau nash, a swell notability at bath; died in beggary ( - ). beau tibbs, a character in goldsmith's "citizen of the world," noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty. beaucaire ( ), a french town near avignon, on the rhône, which it spans with a magnificent bridge; once a great centre of trade, and famous, as it still is, for its annual fair, frequented by merchants from all parts of europe. beauchamp, alphonse de, a historian, born at monaco; wrote the "conquest of peru," "history of brazil," &c. ( - ). beauclerk, henry i. of england, so called from his superior learning. beauclerk, topham, a young english nobleman, the only son of lord sydney beauclerk, a special favourite of johnson's, who, when he died, lamented over him, as one whose like the world might seldom see again ( - ). beaufort, duke of, grandson of henry iv. of france; one of the chiefs of the fronde; was surnamed roi des halles (king of the market-folk); appointed admiral of france; did good execution against the pirates; passed into the service of venice; was killed at the siege of candia in . beaufort, henry, cardinal, bishop of winchester, son of john of gaunt, learned in canon law, was several times chancellor; took a prominent part in all the political movements of the time, exerted an influence for good on the nation, lent immense sums to henry v. and henry vi., also left bequests for charitable uses, and founded the hospital of st. cross at winchester ( - ). beauhar`nais, alexandre, vicomte de, born at martinique, where he married a lady who, afterwards as wife of napoleon, became the empress joséphine; accepted and took part in the revolution; was secretary of the national assembly; coolly remarked, on the news of the flight of the king, "the king's gone off; let us pass to the next business of the house"; was convicted of treachery to the cause of the revolution and put to death; as the father of hortense, who married louis, napoleon's brother, he became grandfather of napoleon iii. ( - ). beauharnais, eugene de, son of the preceding and of joséphine, born at paris, step-son of napoleon, therefore was made viceroy of italy; took an active part in the wars of the empire; died at münich, whither he retired after the fall of napoleon ( - ). beauharnais, hortense eugenie, sister of the preceding, ex-queen of holland; wife of louis bonaparte, an ill-starred union; mother of napoleon iii., the youngest of three sons ( - ). beaumar`chais, pierre augustin caron de, a dramatist and pleader of the most versatile, brilliant gifts, and french to the core, born in paris, son of a watchmaker at caen; ranks as a comic dramatist next to molière; author of "le barbier de seville" ( ), and "le mariage de figaro" ( ), his masterpiece; astonished the world by his conduct of a lawsuit he had, for which "he fought against reporters, parliaments, and principalities, with light banter, clear logic, adroitly, with an inexhaustible toughness of resource, like the skilfullest fencer." he was a zealous supporter of the revolution, and made sacrifices on its behalf, but narrowly escaped the guillotine; died in distress and poverty. of the two plays he wrote, saintsbury says, "the wit is indisputable, but his chansons contain as much wit as the figaro plays." he made a fortune by speculations in the american war, and lost by others, one of them being the preparation of a sumptuous edition of voltaire. for the culmination and decline, as well as appreciation, of him, see the "french revolution," by carlyle ( - ). bauma`ris, principal town in anglesea, wales, on the menai strait, near bangor, a favourite watering-place, with remains of a castle erected by edward i. beaumont, christophe de, archbishop of paris, born at périgord, "spent his life in persecuting hysterical jansenists and incredulous non-confessors"; but scrupled to grant, though he fain would have granted, absolution on his deathbed to the dissolute monarch of france, louis xv.; issued a charge condemnatory of rousseau's "Émile," which provoked a celebrated letter from rousseau in reply ( - ). beaumont, francis, dramatic poet, born in leicestershire, of a family of good standing; bred for the bar, but devoted to literature; was a friend of ben jonson; in conjunction with his friend fletcher, the composer of a number of plays, about the separate authorship of which there has been much discussion, the dramatic power of which comes far short of that so conspicuous in the plays of their great contemporary shakespeare, though it is said contemporary criticism gave them the preference ( - ). beaumont, jean baptiste Élie de, french geologist, born in calvados; became secretary to the academy of sciences; was joint-editor of a geological map of france. he had a theory of his own of the formation of the crust of the earth ( - ). beauregard, pierre gustave toutant, american confederate general, born at new orleans; adopted the cause of the south, and fought in its behalf ( - ). beaurepaire, a french officer, noted for his noble defence of verdun against the prussians; preferred death by suicide to the dishonour of surrender ( - ). beausobre, isaac, a huguenot divine, born at poitou; fled to holland on the revocation of the edict of nantes, settled in berlin, and became a notability in high quarters there; attracted the notice of the young frederick, the great that was to be, who sought introduction to him, and the young frederick "got good conversation out of him"; author of a "history of manichæism," praised by gibbon, and of other books famous in their day, a translation of the new testament for one ( - ). beautiful parricide, beatrice cenci (q. v.). beauty and the beast, the hero and heroine of a famous fairy tale. beauty falls in love with a being like a monster, who has, however, the heart of a man, and she marries him, upon which he is instantly transformed into a prince of handsome presence and noble mien. beauvais ( ), capital of the dep. of oise, in france, in. sw. of amiens, an ancient town, noted for its cathedral, its tapestry weaving, and the feat of jeanne-hachette and her female following when the town was besieged by charles the bold. beauvais, a french prelate, born at cherbourg, bishop of senez, celebrated as a pulpit orator ( - ). beauvillier, a statesman, patron of letters, to whom louis xiv. committed the governorship of his sons; died of a broken heart due to the shock the death of the dauphin gave him ( - ). bebek bay, a fashionable resort on the bosphorus, near constantinople, and with a palace of the sultan. beccafumi, domenico, one of the best painters of the sienese school, distinguished also as a sculptor and a worker in mosaic ( - ). becca`ria, cÆsare bonesana, marquis of, an italian publicist, author of a celebrated "treatise on crimes and punishments," which has been widely translated, and contributed much to lessen the severity of sentences in criminal cases. he was a utilitarian in philosophy and a disciple of rousseau in politics. beche-de-mer, a slug, called also the trepang, procured on the coral reefs of the pacific, which is dried and eaten as a dainty by the chinese. becher, johann joachim, chemist, born at spires; distinguished as a pioneer in the scientific study of chemistry ( - ). bechstein, a german naturalist, wrote "natural history of cage birds" ( - ). bechuana-land, an inland tract in s. africa, extends from the orange river to the zambesi; has german territory on the w., the transvaal and matabele-land on the e. the whole country is under british protection; that part which is s. of the river molopo was made a crown colony in . on a plateau ft. above sea-level, the climate is suited for british emigrants. the soil is fertile; extensive tracts are suitable for corn; sheep and cattle thrive; rains fall in summer; in winter there are frosts, sometimes snow. the kalahari desert in the w. will be habitable when sufficient wells are dug. gold is found near sitlagoli, and diamonds at vryburg. the bechuanas are the most advanced of the black races of s. africa. bechua`nas, a wide-spread s. african race, totemists, rearers of cattle, and growers of maize; are among the most intelligent of the bantu peoples, and show considerable capacity for self-government. becker, karl, german philologist; bred to medicine; author of a german grammar ( - ). becker, nicolaus, author of the "wacht am rhein," was an obscure lawyer's clerk, and unnoted for anything else ( - ). becker, william adolphe, an archæologist, born at dresden; was professor at leipzig; wrote books in reproductive representation of ancient greek and roman life; author of "manual of roman antiquities" ( - ). becket, thomas a, archbishop of canterbury, born in london, of norman parentage; studied at oxford and bologna; entered the church; was made lord chancellor; had a large and splendid retinue, but on becoming archbishop, cast all pomp aside and became an ascetic, and devoted himself to the vigorous discharge of the duties of his high office; declared for the independence of the church, and refused to sign the constitutions of clarendon (q. v.); king henry ii. grew restive under his assumption of authority, and got rid of him by the hands of four knights who, to please the king, shed his blood on the steps of the altar of canterbury cathedral, for which outrage the king did penance four years afterwards at his tomb. the struggle was one affecting the relative rights of church and king, and the chief combatants in the fray were both high-minded men, each inflexible in the assertion of his claims ( - ). beckford, william, author of "vathek," son of a rich alderman of london, who bequeathed him property to the value of £ , per annum; kept spending his fortune on extravagancies and vagaries; wrote "vathek," an arabian tale, when a youth of twenty-two, at a sitting of three days and two nights, a work which established his reputation as one of the first of the imaginative writers of his country. he wrote two volumes of travels in italy, but his fame rests on his "vathek" alone ( - ). beckmann, a professor at göttingen; wrote "history of discoveries and inventions" ( - ). beckx, peter john, general of the jesuits, born in belgium ( - ). becquerel, antoine cÆsar, a french physicist; served as engineer in the french army in - , but retired in , devoting himself to science, and obtained high distinction in electro-chemistry, working with ampère, biot, and other eminent scientists ( - ). bed of justice, a formal session of the parlement of paris, under the presidency of the king, for the compulsory registration of the royal edicts, the last session being in , under louis xvi., at versailles, whither the whole body, now "refractory, rolled out, in wheeled vehicles, to receive the order of the king." bedchamber, lords or ladies of, officers or ladies of the royal household whose duty it is to wait upon the sovereign--the chief of the former called groom of the stole, and of the latter, mistress of the robes. beddoes, thomas lovell, born at clifton, son of thomas beddoes; an enthusiastic student of science; a dramatic poet, author of "bride's tragedy"; got into trouble for his radical opinions; his principal work, "death's jest-book, or the fool's tragedy," highly esteemed by barry cornwall ( - ). bede, or beda, surnamed "the venerable," an english monk and ecclesiastical historian, born at monkwearmouth, in the abbey of which, together with that of jarrow, he spent his life, devoted to quiet study and learning; his writings numerous, in the shape of commentaries, biographies, and philosophical treatises; his most important work, the "ecclesiastical history" of england, written in latin, and translated by alfred the great; completed a translation of john's gospel the day he died. an old monk, it is said, wrote this epitaph over his grave, _hac sunt in fossâ bedæ ... ossa_, "in this pit are the bones ... of beda," and then fell asleep; but when he awoke he found some invisible hand had inserted _venerabilis_ in the blank which he had failed to fill up, whence bede's epinomen it is alleged. bedell, bishop of kilmore and ardagh, born in essex; studied at cambridge; superintended the translation of the old testament into irish; though his virtues saved him and his family for a time from outrage by the rebels in , he was imprisoned at the age of , and though released, died soon after ( - ). bedford ( ), a midland agricultural county of england, generally level, with some flat fen-land; also the county town ( ), on the great ouse, clean and well paved, with excellent educational institutions, famous in connection with the life of john bunyan, where relics of him are preserved, and where a bronze statue of him by boehm has been erected to his memory by the duke of bedford in ; manufactures agricultural implements, lace, and straw plaiting; elstow, bunyan's birthplace, is not far off. bedford, john, duke of, brother of henry v., protector of the kingdom and regent of france during the minority of henry vi., whom, on the death of the french king, he proclaimed king of france, taking up arms thereafter and fighting for a time victoriously on his behalf, till the enthusiasm created by joan of arc turned the tide against him and hastened his death, previous to which, however, though he prevailed over the dauphin, and burnt joan at the stake, his power had gone ( - ). bedford level, a flat marshy district, comprising part of six counties, to the s. and w. of the wash, about m. in extent each way, caused originally by incursions of the sea and the overflowing of rivers; received its name from the earl of bedford, who, in the th century, undertook to drain it. bedlam, originally a lunatic asylum in london, so named from the priory "bethlehem" in bishopsgate, first appropriated to the purpose, bedlam being a corruption of the name bethlehem. bedmar, marquis de, cardinal and bishop of oviedo, and a spanish diplomatist, notorious for a part he played in a daring conspiracy in aimed at the destruction of venice, but which, being betrayed, was defeated, for concern in which several people were executed, though the arch-delinquent got off; he is the subject of otway's "venice preserved"; it was after this he was made cardinal, and governor of the netherlands, where he was detested and obliged to retire ( - ). bedouins, arabs who lead a nomadic life in the desert and subsist by the pasture of cattle and the rearing of horses, the one element that binds them into a unity being community of language, the arabic namely, which they all speak with great purity and without variation of dialect; they are generally of small stature, of wiry constitution, and dark complexion, and are divided into tribes, each under an independent chief. bee, the, a periodical started by goldsmith, in which some of his best essays appeared, and his "citizen of the world." beecher, henry ward, a celebrated american preacher, born at litchfield, connecticut; pastor of a large congregational church, brooklyn; a vigorous thinker and eloquent orator, a liberal man both in theology and politics; wrote "life thoughts"; denied the eternity of punishment, considered a great heresy by some then, and which led to his secession from the congregational body ( - ). beecher-stowe, harriet elizabeth, sister of the above, authoress of "uncle tom's cabin," of which probably over a million copies have been sold. born at litchfield, connecticut, u.s.a., in ; _d_. . beechy, rear-admiral, born in london, son of the following; accompanied franklin in and parry in to the arctic regions; commanded the _blossom_ in the third expedition of - to the same regions; published "voyage of discovery towards the north pole" ( - ). beechy, sir william, portrait-painter, born in oxfordshire; among his portraits were those of lord nelson, john kemble, and mrs. siddons ( - ). beef-eaters, yeomen of the royal guard, whose institution dates from the reign of henry vii., and whose office it is to wait upon royalty on high occasions; the name is also given to the warders of the tower, though they are a separate body and of more recent origin; the name simply means (royal) dependant, a corruption of the french word _buffetier_, one who attends the sideboard. beehive houses, small stone structures, of ancient date, remains of which are found (sometimes in clusters) in ireland and the w. of scotland, with a conical roof formed of stones overlapping one another, undressed and without mortar; some of them appear to have been monks' cells. beel`zebub, the god of flies, protector against them, worshipped by the phoenicians; as being a heathen deity, transformed by the jews into a chief of the devils; sometimes identified with satan, and sometimes his aide-de-camp. beerbohm tree, herbert, actor, born in london, son of a grain merchant; his first appearance was as the timid curate in the "private secretary," and then as the spy macari in "called back"; is lessee of the haymarket theatre, london, and has had many notable successes; he is accompanied by his wife, who is a refined actress; _b_. . beer`sheba, a village in the s. of canaan, and the most southerly, m. from hebron; associated with dan, in the n., to denote the limit of the land and what lies between; lies in a pastoral country abounding in wells, and is frequently mentioned in patriarchal history; means "the well of the oath." beeswing, a gauze-like film which forms on the sides of a bottle of good port. beethoven, ludwig von, one of the greatest musical composers, born in bonn, of dutch extraction; the author of symphonies and sonatas that are known over all the world; showed early a most precocious genius for music, commenced his education at five as a musician; trained at first by a companion named pfeiffer, to whom he confessed he owed more than all his teachers; trained at length under the tuition of the most illustrious of his predecessors, bach and händel; revealed the most wonderful musical talent; quitted bonn and settled in vienna; attracted the attention of mozart; at the age of was attacked with deafness that became total and lasted for life; continued to compose all the same, to the admiration of thousands; during his last days was a prey to melancholy; during a thunderstorm he died. goethe pronounced him at his best "an utterly untamed character, not indeed wrong in finding the world detestable, though his finding it so did not," he added, "make it more enjoyable to himself or to others" ( - ). beets, nicolas, a dutch theologian and poet, born at haarlem; came, as a poet, under the influence of byronism; _b_. . befa`na, an italian female santa claus, who on twelfth night fills the stockings of good children with good things, and those of bad with ashes. begg, james, scotch ecclesiastic, born at new monkland, lanark; was a stalwart champion of old scottish orthodoxy, and the last ( - ). beghards, a religious order that arose in belgium in the th century, connected with the beguins, a mystic and socialistic sect. beguins, a sisterhood confined now to france and germany, who, without taking any monastic vow, devote themselves to works of piety and benevolence. begum, name given in the e. indies to a princess, mother, sister, or wife of a native ruler. behaim, martin, a geographer and chartographer, born in nüremberg; accompanied diego cam on a voyage of discovery along w. coast of africa; constructed and left behind him a famous terrestrial globe; some would make him out to be the discoverer of america ( - ). behar ( , ), a province of bengal, in the valley of the ganges, which divides it into two; densely peopled; cradle of buddhism. behe`moth, a large animal mentioned in job, understood to be the hippopotamus. behis`tun, a mountain in irak-ajemi, a prov. of persia, on which there are rocks covered with inscriptions, the principal relating to darius hystaspes, of date about b.c., bearing on his genealogy, domains, and victories. behm, ernst, a german geographer, born in gotha ( - ). behn, afra, a licentious writer, born in kent, for whom, for her free and easy ways, charles ii. took a liking; sent by him as a spy to holland, and through her discovered the intention of the dutch to burn the shipping in the thames. she wrote plays and novels ( - ). behring strait, a strait about m. wide between asia and n. america, which connects the arctic ocean with the pacific; discovered by the danish navigator vitus behring in , sent out on a voyage of discovery by peter the great. beira ( , ), a central province of portugal, mountainous and pastoral; gives title to the heir-apparent to the portuguese throne. beke, dr., traveller, born in london; travelled in abyssinia and palestine; author of "origines biblicæ," or researches into primeval history as shown not to be in keeping with the orthodox belief. bekker, immanuel, philologist, born in berlin, and professor in halle; classical textual critic; issued recensions of the greek and latin classics ( - ). bel and the dragon, history of, one of the books of the apocrypha, a spurious addition to the book of daniel, relates how daniel persuaded cyrus of the vanity of idol-worship, and is intended to show its absurdity. bela i., king of hungary from to ; an able ruler; introduced a great many measures for the permanent benefit of the country, affecting both religion and social organisation. bela iv., king of hungary, son of andreas ii., who had in been compelled to sign the golden bull, the _magna charta_ of hungarian liberty; faithfully respected the provisions of this charter, and incurred the enmity of the nobles by his strenuous efforts to subdue them to the royal power. belch, sir toby, a reckless, jolly, swaggering character in "twelfth night." belcher, sir edward, admiral, was engaged in several exploring and surveying expeditions; sailed round the world, and took part in the operations in china ( - ). belfast ( ), county town of antrim, and largest and most flourishing city in the n. of ireland; stands on the lagan, at the head of belfast lough, m. n. of dublin; is a bright and pleasant city, with some fine streets and handsome buildings, presbyterian, catholic, and methodist colleges. it is the centre of the irish linen and cotton manufactures, the most important shipbuilding centre, and has also rope-making, whisky, and aerated-water industries. its foreign trade is larger than even dublin's. it is the capital of ulster, and head-quarters of presbyterianism in ireland. belfort ( ), a fortified town in dep. of haut-rhin, and is its capital, m. w. by n. of basel; capitulated to the germans in ; restored to france; its fortifications now greatly strengthened. the citadel was by vauban. belgÆ, cæsar's name for the tribes of the celtic family in gaul n. of the seine and marne; mistakenly rated as germans by cæsar. belgium ( , ), a small european state bordering on the north sea, with holland to the n., france to the s., and rhenish prussia and luxemburg on the e.; is less than a third the size of ireland, but it is the most densely populated country on the continent. the people are of mixed stock, comprising flemings, of teutonic origin; walloons, of celtic origin; germans, dutch, and french. roman catholicism is the predominant religion. education is excellent; there are universities at ghent, liège, brussels, and louvain. french is the language of educated circles and of the state; but the prevalence of dialects hinders the growth of a national literature. the land is low and level and fertile in the n. and w., undulating in the middle, rocky and hilly in the s. and e. the meuse and scheldt are the chief rivers, the basin of the latter embracing most of the country. climate is similar to the english, with greater extremes. rye, wheat, oats, beet, and flax are the principal crops. agriculture is the most painstaking and productive of the world. the hilly country is rich in coal, iron, zinc, and lead. after mining, the chief industries are textile manufactures and making of machinery: the former at antwerp, ghent, brussels, and liège; the latter at liège, mons, and charleroi. the trade is enormous; france, germany, and britain are the best customers. exports are coal to france; farm products, eggs, &c., to england; and raw material imported from across seas, to france and the basin of the rhine. it is a small country of large cities. the capital is brussels ( ), in the centre of the kingdom, but communicating with the ocean by a ship canal. the railways, canals, and river navigation are very highly developed. the government is a limited monarchy; the king, senate, and house of representatives form the constitution. there is a conscript army of , men, but no navy. transferred from spain to austria in . belgium was under french sway from till , when it was united with holland, but established its independence in . belgrade ( ), the capital of servia, on the confluence of the save and danube; a fortified city in an important strategical position, and the centre of many conflicts; a commercial centre; once turkish in appearance, now european more and more. belgra`via, a fashionable quarter in the southern part of the west end of london. belial, properly a good-for-nothing, a child of worthlessness; an incarnation of iniquity and son of perdition, and the name in the bible for the children of such. belief, a word of various application, but properly definable as that which lies at the heart of a man or a nation's convictions, or is the heart and soul of all their thoughts and actions, "the thing a man does practically lay to heart, and know for certain concerning his vital relations to this mysterious universe, and his duty and destiny there." belinda, arabella fermor, the heroine in pope's "rape of the lock." belisa`rius, a general under the emperor justinian, born in illyria; defeated the persians, the vandals, and the ostrogoths; was falsely accused of conspiracy, but acquitted, and restored to his dignities by the emperor; though another tradition, now discredited, alleges that for the crimes charged against him he had his eyes put out, and was reduced to beggary ( - ). belize, british honduras, a fertile district, and its capital ( ); exports mahogany, rosewood, sugar, india-rubber, &c. bell, acton. see brontË. bell, andrew, ll.d., educationist, born at st. andrews; founder of the monitorial system of education, which he had adopted, for want of qualified assistants, when in india as superintendent of an orphanage in madras, so that his system was called "the madras system"; returned from india with a large fortune, added to it by lucrative preferments, and bequeathed a large portion of it, some £ , , for the endowment of education in scotland, and the establishment of schools, such as the madras college in his native city ( - ). bell, bessy, and mary gray, the "twa bonnie lassies" of a scotch ballad, daughters of two perthshire gentlemen, who in built themselves a bower in a spot retired from a plague then raging; supplied with food by a lad in love with both of them, who caught the plague and gave it to them, of which they all sickened and died. bell, book, and candle, a ceremony at one time attending the greater excommunication in the romish church, when after sentence was read from the "book," a "bell" was rung, and the "candle" extinguished. bell, currer. see brontË. bell, ellis. see brontË. bell, george joseph, a brother of sir charles, distinguished in law; author of "principles of the law of scotland" ( - ). bell, henry, bred a millwright, born in linlithgowshire; the first who applied steam to navigation in europe, applying it in a small steamboat called the _comet_, driven by a three horse-power engine ( - ). bell, henry glassford, born in glasgow, a lawyer and literary man, sheriff of lanarkshire; wrote a vindication of mary, queen of scots, and some volumes of poetry ( - ). bell, john, of antermony, a physician, born at campsie; accompanied russian embassies to persia and china; wrote "travels in asia," which were much appreciated for their excellency of style ( - ). bell, peter, wordsworth's simple rustic, to whom the primrose was but a yellow flower and nothing more. bell, robert, journalist and miscellaneous writer, born at cork; edited "british poets, from chaucer to cowper," his best-known work, which he annotated, and accompanied with careful memoirs of each ( - ). bell, sir charles, an eminent surgeon and anatomist, born in edinburgh, where he became professor of surgery; distinguished chiefly for his discoveries in connection with the nervous system, which he published in his "anatomy of the brain" and his "nervous system," and which gained him european fame; edited, along with lord brougham, paley's "evidences of natural religion" ( - ). bell, thomas, a naturalist, born at poole; professor of zoology in king's college, london; author of "british quadrupeds" and "british reptiles," "british stalk-eyed crustacea," and editor of "white's natural history of selborne" ( - ). bell rock, or inchcape rock, a dangerous reef of sandstone rocks in the german ocean, m. se. of arbroath, on which a lighthouse ft. high was erected in - ; so called from a bell rung by the sway of the waves, which the abbot of arbroath erected on it at one time as a warning to seamen. bell-the-cat, archibald douglas, earl of arran, so called from his offer to dispose by main force of an obnoxious favourite of the king, james iii. bella, stephano della, a florentine engraver of great merit, engraved over plates; was patronised by richelieu in france, and the medici in florence ( - ). bell`amy, jacob, a dutch poet, born at flushing; his poems highly esteemed by his countrymen ( - ). bellange, a celebrated painter of battle-pieces, born at paris ( - ). bellar`mine, robert, cardinal, born in tuscany; a learned jesuit, controversial theologian, and in his writings, which are numerous, a valiant defender at all points of roman catholic dogma; the greatest champion of the church in his time, and regarded as such by the protestant theologians; he was at once a learned man and a doughty polemic ( - ). bellay, joachim du, french poet; author of sonnets entitled "regrets," full of vigour and poetry; wrote the "antiquités de rome"; was called the apollo of the pléiade, the best poet and the best prose-writer among them ( - ). belle france, (i. e. beautiful france), a name of endearment applied to france, like that of "merry" applied to england. belle-isle ( ), a fortified island on the w. coast of france, near which sir edward hawke gained a brilliant naval victory over the french, under m. de conflans, in . belleisle, charles louis auguste fouquet, count of, marshal of france; distinguished in the war of the spanish succession; an ambitious man, mainly to blame for the austrian succession war; had grand schemes in his head, no less than the supremacy in europe and the world of france, warranting the risk; expounded them to frederick the great; concluded a fast and loose treaty with him, which could bind no one; found himself blocked up in prague with his forces; had to force his way out and retreat, but it was a retreat the french boast comparable only to the retreat of the ten thousand; was made war minister after, and wrought important reforms in the army ( - ). see carlyle's "frederick" for a graphic account of him and his schemes, specially in bk. xii. chap. ix. bellenden, john, of moray, a scottish writer in the th century; translated, at the request of james v., hector boece's "history of scotland," and the first five books of livy, which remain the earliest extant specimens of scottish prose, and remarkable specimens they are, for the execution of which he was well rewarded, being made archdeacon of moray for one thing, though he died in exile; _d_. . bellenden, william, a scottish writer, distinguished for diplomatic services to queen mary, and for the purity of his latin composition; a professor of belles-lettres in paris university ( - ). beller`ophon, a mythical hero, son of glaucus and grandson of sisyphus; having unwittingly caused the death of his brother, withdrew from his country and sought retreat with proetus, king of argos, who, becoming jealous of his guest, but not willing to violate the laws of hospitality, had him sent to iobates, his son-in-law, king of lycia, with instructions to put him to death. iobates, in consequence, imposed upon him the task of slaying the chimæra, persuaded that this monster would be the death of him. bellerophon, mounted on pegasus, the winged horse given him by pallas, slew the monster, and on his return received the daughter of iobates to wife. bellerophon, letters of, name given to letters fraught with mischief to the bearer. see supra. belles-lettres, that department of literature which implies literary culture and belongs to the domain of art, whatever the subject may be or the special form; it includes poetry, the drama, fiction, and criticism. belleville, a low suburb of paris, included in it since ; the scene of one of the outrages of the communists. belliard, comte de, a french general and diplomatist; fought in most of the napoleonic wars, but served under the bourbons on napoleon's abdication; was serviceable to louis philippe in belgium by his diplomacy ( - ). belli`ni, the name of an illustrious family of venetian painters. bellini, gentile, the son of jacopo bellini, was distinguished as a portrait-painter; decorated along with his brother the council-chamber of the ducal palace; his finest picture the "preaching of st. mark" ( - ). bellini, giovanni, brother of the preceding, produced a great many works; the subjects religious, all nobly treated; had giorgione and titian for pupils; among his best works, the "circumcision," "feast of the gods," "blood of the redeemer"; did much to promote painting in oil ( - ). bellini, jacopo, a painter from florence who settled in venice, the father and founder of the family; _d_. . bellini, vincenzo, a musical composer, born at catania, sicily; his works operas, more distinguished for their melody than their dramatic power; the best are "il pirati," "la somnambula," "norma," and "il puritani" ( - ). bellmann, the poet of sweden, a man of true genius, called the "anacreon of sweden," patronised by gustavus adolphus ( - ). bello`na, the goddess of fury in war among the romans, related by the poets to mars as sister, wife, or daughter; inspirer of the war-spirit, and represented as armed with a bloody scourge in one hand and a torch in the other. bellot, joseph renÉ, a naval officer, born in paris, distinguished in the expedition of to madagascar, and one of those who went in quest of sir john franklin; drowned while crossing the ice ( - ). belloy, a french poet, born at st. flour; author of "le siège du calais" and numerous other dramatic works ( - ). belon, pierre, a french naturalist, one of the founders of natural history, and one of the precursors of cuvier; wrote in different departments of natural history, the chief, "natural history of birds"; murdered by robbers while gathering plants in the bois de boulogne ( - ). bel`phegor, a moabite divinity. belphoebe (i. e. beautiful diana), a huntress in the "faërie queene," the impersonation of queen elizabeth, conceived of, however, as a pure, high-spirited maiden, rather than a queen. belsham, thomas, a unitarian divine, originally calvinist, born at bedford; successor to the celebrated priestley at hackney, london; wrote an elementary work on psychology ( - ). belshazzar, the last chaldean king of babylon, slain, according to the scripture account, at the capture of the city by cyrus in b.c. belt, great and little, gateways of the baltic: the great between zealand and fünen, m. broad; the little, between fünen and jutland, half as broad; both m. long, the former of great depth. belt of calms, the region in the atlantic and pacific, ° or ° latitude broad, where the trade-winds meet and neutralise each other, in which, however, torrents of rain and thunder-storms occur almost daily. beltane, or beltein, an ancient celtic festival connected with the sun-worship, observed about the st of may and the st of november, during which fires were kindled on the tops of hills, and various ceremonies gone through. belted will, name given to lord william howard, warden in the th and th centuries of the western marches of england. belu`chistan ( to ), a desert plateau lying between persia and india, afghanistan and the arabian sea; is crossed by many mountain ranges, the suliman, in the n., rising to , ft. rivers in the ne. are subject to great floods. the centre and w. is a sandy desert exposed to bitter winds in winter and sand-storms in summer. fierce extremes of temperature prevail. there are few cattle, but sheep are numerous; the camel is the draught animal. where there is water the soil is fertile, and crops of rice, cotton, indigo, sugar, and tobacco are raised; in the higher parts, wheat, maize, and pulse. both precious and useful metals are found; petroleum wells were discovered in the n. in . the population comprises beluchis, robber nomads of aryan stock, in the e. and w., and mongolian brahuis in the centre. all are mohammedan. kelat is the capital; its position commands all the caravan routes. quetta, in the n., is a british stronghold and health resort. the khan of kelat is the ruler of the country and a vassal of the queen. be`lus, another name for baal (q. v.), or the legendary god of assyria and chaldea. bel`vedere, name given a gallery of the vatican at rome, especially that containing the famous statue of apollo, and applied to picture-galleries elsewhere. belzo`ni, giovanni battista, a famous traveller and explorer in egypt, born at padua, of poor parents; a man of great stature; figured as an athlete in astley's circus, london, and elsewhere, first of all in london streets; applied himself to the study of mechanics; visited egypt as a mechanician and engineer at the instance of mehemet ali; commenced explorations among its antiquities, sent to the british museum trophies of his achievements; published a narrative of his operations; opened an exhibition of his collection of antiquities in london and paris; undertook a journey to timbuctoo, was attacked with dysentery, and died at gato ( - ). bem, joseph, a polish general, born in galicia; served in the french army against russia in ; took part in the insurrection of ; joined the hungarians in ; gained several successes against austria and russia, but was defeated at temesvar; turned mussulman, and was made pasha; died at aleppo, where he had gone to suppress an arab insurrection; he was a good soldier and a brave man ( - ). bemba, a lake in africa, the highest feeder of the congo, of an oval shape, m. long and over m. broad, ft. above the sea-level. bembo, pietro, cardinal, an erudite man of letters and patron of literature and the arts, born at venice; secretary to pope leo x.; historiographer of venice, and librarian of st. mark's; made cardinal by paul iii., and bishop of bergamo; a fastidious stylist and a stickler for purity in language ( - ). ben lawers, a mountain in perthshire, ft. high, on the w. of loch tay. ben ledi, a mountain in perthshire, ft. high, ½ m. nw. of callander. ben lomond, a mountain in stirlingshire, ft. high, on the e. of loch lomond. ben nevis, the highest mountain in great britain, in sw. inverness-shire, ft. high, and a sheer precipice on the ne. ft. high, and with an observatory on the summit supported by the scottish meteorological society. ben rhydding, a village in the west riding of yorkshire, m. nw. of leeds, with a thoroughly equipped hydropathic establishment, much resorted to. benares ( ), the most sacred city of the hindus, and an important town in the nw. provinces; is on the ganges, m. by rail nw. of calcutta. it presents an amazing array of temples and mosques with towers and domes and minarets innumerable. the bank of the river is laid with continuous flights of steps whence the pilgrims bathe; but the city itself is narrow, crocked, crowded, and dirty. many thousand pilgrims visit it annually. it is a seat of hindu learning; there is also a government college. the river is spanned here by a magnificent railway bridge. there is a large trade in country produce, english goods, jewellery, and gems; while its brass-work, "benares ware," is famous. benbow, john, admiral, born at shrewsbury; distinguished himself in an action with a barbary pirate; rose rapidly to the highest post in the navy; distinguished himself well in an engagement with a french fleet in the w. indies; he lost a leg, and at this crisis some of his captains proved refractory, so that the enemy escaped, were tried by court-martial, and two of them shot; the wound he received and his vexation caused his death. he was a british tar to the backbone, and of a class extinct now ( - ). bencoolen, a town and a dutch residency in sw. of sumatra; exports pepper and camphor. bender, a town in bessarabia, remarkable for the siege which charles xii. of sweden sustained there after his defeat at pultowa. benedek, ludwig von, an austrian general, born in hungary; distinguished himself in the campaigns of - ; was defeated by the prussians at sadowa; superseded and tried, but got off; retired to grätz, where he died ( - ). benedetti, count vincent, french diplomatist, born at bastia, in corsica; is remembered for his draft of a treaty between france and prussia, published in , and for his repudiation of all responsibility for the franco-german war; _b_. . benedict, the name of fourteen popes: b. i., from to ; b. ii., from to ; b. iii., from to ; b. iv., from to ; b. v., from to ; b. vi., from to ; b. vii., from to ; b. viii., from to ; extended the territory of the church by conquest, and effected certain clerical reforms; b. ix., from to , a licentious man, and deposed; b. x., from to ; b. xi., from to ; b. xii., from to ; b. xiii., from to ; b. xiv., from to . of all the popes of this name it would seem there is only one worthy of special mention. benedict xiv., a native of bologna, a man of marked scholarship and ability; a patron of science and literature, who did much to purify the morals and elevate the character of the clergy, and reform abuses in the church. benedict, biscop, an anglo-saxon monk, born in northumbria; made two pilgrimages to rome; assumed the tonsure as a benedictine monk in provence; returned to england and founded two monasteries on the tyne, one at wearmouth and another at jarrow, making them seats of learning; _b_. . benedict, st., the founder of western monachism, born near spoleto; left home at ; passed three years as a hermit, in a cavern near subiaco, to prepare himself for god's service; attracted many to his retreat; appointed to an abbey, but left it; founded monasteries of his own; though possessed of no scholarship, composed his "regula monachorum," which formed the rule of his order; represented in art as accompanied by a raven with sometimes a loaf in his bill, or surrounded by thorns or by howling demons ( - ). see benedictines. benedict, sir julius, musician and composer, native of stuttgart; removed to london in ; author of, among other pieces, the "gipsy's warning," the "brides of venice," and the "crusaders"; conducted the performance of "elijah" in which jenny lind made her first appearance before a london audience, and accompanied her as pianist to america in ( - ). benedictines, the order of monks founded by st. benedict and following his rule, the cradle of which was the celebrated monastery of monte casino, near naples, an institution which reckoned among its members a large body of eminent men, who in their day rendered immense service to both literature and science, and were, in fact, the only learned class of the middle ages; spent their time in diligently transcribing manuscripts, and thus preserving for posterity the classic literature of greece and rome. benedictus, part of the musical service at mass in the roman catholic church; has been introduced into the morning service of the english church. benefit of clergy, exemption of the persons of clergymen from criminal process before a secular judge. be`neke, friedrich eduard, a german philosopher and professor in berlin of the so-called empirical school, that is, the baconian; an opponent of the methods and systems of kant and hegel; confined his studies to psychology and the phenomena of consciousness; was more a british thinker than a german ( - ). benenge`li, an imaginary moorish author, whom cervantes credits with the story of "don quixote." bÉnetier, the vessel for holding the holy water in roman catholic churches. benevento ( ), a town m. ne. of naples, built out of and amid the ruins of an ancient one; also the province, of which talleyrand was made prince by napoleon. benevolence, the name of a forced tax exacted from the people by certain kings of england, and which, under charles i., became so obnoxious as to occasion the demand of the petition of rights (q. v.), that no tax should be levied without consent of parliament; first enforced in , declared illegal in . benfey, theodor, orientalist, born near göttingen, of jewish birth; a great sanskrit scholar, and professor of sanskrit and comparative philology at his native place; author of "lexicon of greek roots," "sanskrit grammar," &c. ( - ). bengal ( , ), one of the three indian presidencies, but more particularly a province lying in the plain of the lower ganges and the delta of the ganges-brahmaputra, with the himalayas on the n. at the base of the mountains are great forests; along the seaboard dense jungles. the climate is hot and humid, drier at behar, and passing through every gradation up to the snow-line. the people are engaged in agriculture, raising indigo, jute, opium, rice, tea, cotton, sugar, &c. coal, iron, and copper mines are worked in burdwân. the manufactures are of cotton and jute. the population is mixed in blood and speech, but hindus speaking bengali predominate. education is further advanced than elsewhere; there are fine colleges affiliated to calcutta university, and many other scholastic institutions. the capital, calcutta, is the capital of india; the next town in size is patna ( ). benga`zi ( ), the capital of barca, on the gulf of sidra, in n. africa, and has a considerable trade. bengel, johann albrecht, a distinguished biblical scholar and critic, born at würtemberg; best known by his "gnomon novi testamenti," being an invaluable body of short notes on the new testament; devoted himself to the critical study of the text of the greek testament ( - ). bengue`la, a fertile portuguese territory in w. africa, s. of angola, with considerable mineral wealth; has sunk in importance since the suppression of the slave-trade. benicia, the former capital of california, m. ne. of san francisco; has a commodious harbour and a u.s. arsenal. beni-hassan, a village in middle egypt, on the right bank of the nile, above minieh, with remarkable catacombs that have been excavated. beni-israel (i. e. sons of israel), a remarkable people, few in number, of jewish type and customs, in the bombay presidency, and that have existed there quite isolatedly for at least years, with a language of their own, and even some literature; they do not mingle with the jews, but they practise similar religious observances. benin`, a densely populated and fertile country in w. africa, between the niger and dahomey, with a city and river of the name; forms part of what was once a powerful kingdom; yields palm-oil, rice, maize, sugar, cotton, and tobacco. beni-souef`, a town in middle egypt, on the right bank of the nile, m. above cairo; a centre of trade, with cotton-mills and quarries of alabaster. benjamin, jacob's youngest son, by rachel, the head of one of the twelve tribes, who were settled in a small fertile territory between ephraim and judah; the tribe to which st. paul belonged. bennett, james gordon, an american journalist, born at keith, scotland; trained for the catholic priesthood; emigrated, a poor lad of , to america, got employment in a printing-office in boston as proof-reader; started the _new york herald_ in at a low price as both proprietor and editor, an enterprise which brought him great wealth and the success he aimed at ( - ). bennett, james gordon, son of preceding, conductor of the _herald_; sent stanley out to africa, and supplied the funds. bennett, sir sterndale, an english musical composer and pianist, born at sheffield, whose musical genius recommended him to mendelssohn and schumann; became professor of music in cambridge, and conductor of the philharmonic concerts; was president of the royal academy of music ( - ). bennett, wm., a high-churchman, celebrated for having provoked the decision that the doctrine of the real presence is a dogma not inconsistent with the creed of the church of england ( - ). ben`ningsen, count, a russian general, born at brunswick; entered the russian service under catherine ii.; was commander-in-chief at eylau, fought at borodino, and victoriously at leipzig; he died at hanover, whither he had retired on failure of his health ( - ). bentham, george, botanist, born near plymouth, nephew of jeremy and editor of his works, besides a writer on botany ( - ). bentham, jeremy, a writer on jurisprudence and ethics, born in london; bred to the legal profession, but never practised it; spent his life in the study of the theory of law and government, his leading principle on both these subjects being utilitarianism, or what is called the greatest happiness principle, as the advocate of which he is chiefly remembered; a principle against which carlyle never ceased to protest as a philosophy of man's life, but which he hailed as a sign that the crisis which must precede the regeneration of the world was come; a lower estimate, he thought, man could not form of his soul than as "a dead balance for weighing hay and thistles, pains and pleasures, &c.," an estimate of man's soul which he thinks mankind will, when it wakes up again to a sense of itself, be sure to resent and repudiate ( - ). bentinck, lord george, statesman and sportsman, a member of the portland family; entered parliament as a whig, turned conservative on the passing of the reform bill of ; served under sir robert peel; assumed the leadership of the party as a protectionist when sir robert peel became a free-trader, towards whom he conceived a strong personal animosity; died suddenly; the memory of him owes something to the memoir of his life by lord beaconsfield ( - ). bentinck, lord william henry cavendish, indian statesman, governor of madras in , but recalled for an error which led to the mutiny at vellore; but was in appointed governor-general of india, which he governed wisely, abolishing many evils, such as thuggism and suttee, and effecting many beneficent reforms. macaulay held office under him. he returned to england in , became member for glasgow in , and died before he made any mark on home politics ( - ). bentinck, william, a distinguished statesman, first earl of portland, born in holland; a favourite, friend, and adviser of william iii., whom he accompanied to england, and who bestowed on him for his services great honours and large domains, which provoked ill-will against him; retired to holland, after the king died in his arms, but returned afterwards ( - ). bentivoglio, an italian family of princely rank, long supreme in bologna; b., guido, cardinal, though a disciple of galileo, was one of the inquisitors-general who signed his condemnation ( - ). bentley, richard, scholar and philologist, born in yorkshire; from the first devoted to ancient, especially classical, learning; rose to eminence as an authority on literary criticism, his "dissertation upon the epistles of phalaris," which he proved to be a forgery, commending him to the regard and esteem of all the scholars of europe, a work which may be said to have inaugurated a new era in literary historical criticism ( - ). benuË, an affluent of the niger, m. long, falling into it m. up, described by dr. barth and explored by dr. baikic, and offers great facilities for the prosecution of commerce. benvolio, a cantankerous, disputatious gentleman in "romeo and juliet." benyow`sky, count, a hungarian, fought with the poles against russia; taken prisoner; was exiled to kamchatka; escaped with the governor's daughter; came to france; sent out to madagascar; was elected king by the natives over them; fell in battle against the french ( - ). benzene, a substance compounded of carbon and hydrogen, obtained by destructive distillation from coal-tar and other organic bodies, used as a substitute for turpentine and for dissolving grease. benzoin, a fragrant concrete resinous juice flowing from a styrax-tree of sumatra, used as a cosmetic, and burned as incense. beowulf, a very old anglo-saxon romance consisting of short alliterative lines, and the oldest extant in the language, recording the exploits of a mythical hero of the name, who wrestled hercules-wise, at the cost of his life, with first a formidable monster, and then a dragon that had to be exterminated or tamed into submission before the race he belonged to could live with safety on the soil. bÉranger, pierre jean de, a celebrated french song-writer, born at paris, of the lower section of the middle class, and the first of his countrymen who in that department rose to the high level of a true lyric poet; his first struggles with fortune were a failure, but lucien bonaparte took him up, and under his patronage a career was opened up for him; in appeared as an author, and the sensation created was immense, for the songs were not mere personal effusions, but in stirring accord with, and contributed to influence, the great passion of the nation at the time; was, as a republican--which brought him into trouble with the bourbons--a great admirer of napoleon as an incarnation of the national spirit, and contributed not a little to the elevation of his nephew to the throne, though he declined all patronage at his hands, refusing all honours and appointments; has been compared to burns, but he lacked both the fire and the humour of the scottish poet. "his poetical works," says professor saintsbury, "consist entirely of chansons political, amatory, bacchanalian, satirical, philosophical after a fashion, and of almost every other complexion that the song can possibly take" ( - ). berar` ( ), one of the central provinces of india, e. of bombay; it occupies a fertile, well-watered valley, and yields large quantities of grain, and especially cotton. berat, frÉdÉric, a french poet and composer, author of a great number of popular songs ( - ). berber, native language spoken in the mountainous parts of barbary. berber ( ), a town in nubia, on the nile, occupied by the english; starting-point of caravans for the red sea; railway was begun to suakim, but abandoned. ber`berah, the seaport of somaliland, under britain, with an annual fair that brings together at times as many as , people. berbers ( , ), a race aboriginal to barbary and n. africa, of a proud and unruly temper; though different from the arab race, are of the same religion. berbice, the eastern division of british guiana; produces sugar, cocoa, and timber. berbrugger, a french archæologist and philologist; wrote on algiers, its history and monuments ( - ). berchta, a german hulda, but of severer type. see bertha. bercy, a commune on the right bank of the seine, outside paris, included in it since ; is the great mart for wines and brandies. bere`ans, a sect formed by john barclay in , who regard the bible as the one exclusive revelation of god. berenger, or berenga`rius, of tours, a distinguished theologian, born at tours; held an ecclesiastical office there, and was made afterwards archdeacon of angers; ventured to deny the doctrine of transubstantiation, a denial for which he was condemned by successive councils of the church, and which he was compelled more than once publicly to retract, though he so often and openly recalled his retractation that the pope, notwithstanding the opposition of the orthodox, deemed it prudent at length to let him alone. after this he ceased to trouble the church, and retired to an island on the loire, where he gave himself up to quiet meditation and prayer ( - ). berenger i., king of italy, grandson of louis the débonnaire, an able general; provoked the jealousy of the nobles, who dreaded the abridgment of their rights, which led to his assassination at their hands in . b. ii., king of italy, grandson of the preceding, was dethroned twice by the emperor otho, who sent him a prisoner to bamberg, where he died, . berenger, thomas, a french criminalist and magistrate ( - ). bereni`ce, a jewish widow, daughter of herod agrippa, with whom titus was fascinated, and whom he would have taken to wife, had not the roman populace protested, from their anti-jewish prejudice, against it. the name was a common one among egyptian as well as jewish princesses. beresford, william carr, viscount, an english general, natural son of the first marquis of waterford; distinguished himself in many a military enterprise, and particularly in the peninsular war, for which he was made a peer; he was a member of the wellington administration, and master-general of the ordnance ( - ). beresi`na, a russian river, affluent of the dnieper, into which it falls after a course of m.; it is serviceable as a water conveyance for large rafts of timber to the open sea, and is memorable for the disastrous passage of the french in their retreat from moscow in . berezov`, a town in siberia, in the government of tobolsk; a place of banishment. berg, duchy of, on right bank of the rhine, between düsseldorf and cologne, now part of prussia; murat was grand-duke of it by napoleon's appointment. ber`gamo ( ), a lombard town, in a province of the same name, and m. ne. of milan, with a large annual fair in august, the largest in italy; has grindstone quarries in the neighbourhood. bergasse, french jurisconsult, born at lyons; celebrated for his quarrel with beaumarchais; author of an "essay on property" ( - ). bergen ( ), the old capital of norway, on a fjord of the name, open to the gulf stream, and never frozen; the town, consisting of wooden houses, is built on a slope on which the streets reach down to the sea, and has a picturesque appearance; the trade, which is considerable, is in fish and fish products; manufactures gloves, porcelain, leather, etc.; the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral. bergen-op-zoom ( ), a town in n. brabant, once a strong place, and much coveted and frequently contested for by reason of its commanding situation; has a large trade in anchovies. ber`genroth, gustav adolph, historian, born in prussia; held a state office, but was dismissed and exiled because of his sympathy with the revolutionary movement of ; came to england to collect materials for a history of the tudors; examined in simancas, in spain, under great privations, papers on the period in the public archives; made of these a collection and published it in - , under the title of "calendar of letters, despatches, &c., relating to negotiations between england and spain" ( - ). bergerac ( ), a manufacturing town in france, m. e. of bordeaux, celebrated for its wines; it was a huguenot centre, and suffered greatly in consequence. bergerac, savinien cyrano de, an eccentric man with comic power, a gascon by birth; wrote a tragedy and a comedy; his best work a fiction entitled "histoire comique des États et empires de la lune et du soleil"; fought no end of duels in vindication, it is said, of his preposterously large nose ( - ). berghaus, heinrich, a geographer of note, born at clèves; served in both the french and prussian armies as an engineer, and was professor of mathematics at berlin; his "physical atlas" is well known ( - ). berghem, a celebrated landscape-painter of the dutch school, born at haarlem ( - ). bergman, torbern olof, a swedish chemist, studied under linnæus, and became professor of chemistry at upsala; discovered oxalic acid; was the first to arrange and classify minerals on a chemical basis ( - ). beri, a town in the punjab, m. nw. of delhi, in a trading centre. berkeley, a town in gloucestershire, famous for its cattle. berkeley, george, bishop of cloyne, born in kilkenny; a philanthropic man, who conducted in a self-sacrificing spirit practical schemes for the good of humanity, which failed, but the interest in whom has for long centred, and still centres, in his philosophic teaching, his own interest in which was that it contributed to clear up our idea of god and consolidate our faith in him, and it is known in philosophy as idealism; only it must be understood, his idealism is not, as it was absurdly conceived to be, a denial of the existence of matter, but is an assertion of the doctrine that the universe, with every particular in it, _as man sees it and knows it_, is not the creation of matter but the creation of mind, and a reflex of the eternal reason that creates and dwells in both it and him; for as dr. stirling says, "the object can only be known in the subject, and therefore is subjective, and if subjective, ideal." the outer, as regards our knowledge of it, is within; such is berkeley's fundamental philosophical principle, and it is a principle radical to the whole recent philosophy of europe ( - ). berkshire ( ), a midland county of england, with a fertile, well-cultivated soil on a chalk bottom, in the upper valley of the thames, one of the smallest but most beautiful counties in the country. in the e. part of it is windsor forest, and in the se. bagshot heath. it is famous for its breed of pigs. berlichingen, goetz von, surnamed "the iron hand," a brave but turbulent noble of germany, of the th and th centuries, the story of whose life was dramatised by goethe, "to save," as he said, "the memory of a brave man from darkness," and which was translated from the german by sir walter scott. berlin` ( , ), capital of prussia and of the german empire; stands on the spree, in a flat sandy plain, m. by rail se. of hamburg. the royal and imperial palaces, the great library, the university, national gallery and museums, and the arsenal are all near the centre of the city. there are schools of science, art, agriculture, and mining; technical and military academies; a cathedral and some old churches; zoological and botanical gardens. its position between the baltic and north seas, the spree, the numerous canals and railways which converge on it, render it a most important commercial centre; its staple trade is in grain, cattle, spirits, and wool. manufactures are extensive and very varied; the chief are woollens, machinery, bronze ware, drapery goods, and beer. berlin decree, a decree of napoleon of nov. , , declaring britain in a state of blockade, and vessels trading with it liable to capture. berlioz, hector, a celebrated musical composer and critic, born near grenoble, in the dep. of isère, france; sent to study medicine in paris; abandoned it for music, to which he devoted his life. his best known works are the "symphonie fantastique," "romeo and juliet," and the "damnation of faust"; with the "symphonie," which he produced while he was yet but a student at the conservatoire in paris, paganini was so struck that he presented him with , francs ( - ). ber`mondsey, a busy se. suburb of london, on the s. bank of the thames. bermoo`thes, the bermudas. bermu`das ( ), a group of coral islands (five inhabited) in mid-atlantic, m. se. of new york; have a delightful, temperate climate, and are a popular health resort for americans. they produce a fine arrowroot, and export onions. they are held by britain as a valuable naval station, and are provided with docks and fortifications. bernadotte, jean baptiste jules, a marshal of france, born at pau; rose from the ranks; distinguished himself in the wars of the revolution and the empire, though between him and napoleon there was constant distrust; adopted by charles xiii., king of sweden; joined the allies as a naturalised swede in the war against france in alliance with russia; became king of sweden himself under the title of charles xiv., to the material welfare, as it proved, of his adopted country ( - ). bernard, claude, a distinguished french physiologist, born at st. julien; he studied at paris; was majendie's assistant and successor in the college of france; discovered that the function of the pancreas is the digestion of ingested fats, that of the liver the transformation into sugar of certain elements in the blood, and that there are nervous centres in the body which act independently of the great cerebro-spinal centre ( - ). bernard, st., abbot of clairvaux, born at fontaines, in burgundy; pronounced one of the grandest figures in the church militant; studied in paris, entered the monastery of citeaux, founded in a monastery at clairvaux, in champagne; drew around him disciples who rose to eminence as soldiers of the cross; prepared the statutes for the knights-templar; defeated abelard in public debate, and procured his condemnation; founded monasteries; awoke europe to a second crusade; dealt death-blows all round to no end of heretics, and declined all honours to himself, content if he could only awake some divine passion in other men; represented in art as accompanied by a white dog, or as contemplating an apparition of the virgin and the child, or as bearing the implements of christ's passion ( - ). festival, aug. . bernard, simon, a french engineer, born at dôle; distinguished as such in the service of napoleon, and for vast engineering works executed in the united states, in the construction of canals and forts ( - ). bernard of menthon, an ecclesiastic, founder of the monasteries of the great and the little st. bernard, in the passage of the alps ( - ). festival, june . bernard of morlaix, a monk of cluny, of the th century; wrote a poem entitled "de contemptu mundi," translated by dr. neale, including "jerusalem the golden." bernardin de saint-pierre, commonly called saint-pierre simply, a celebrated french writer, born at havre; author of "paul and virginia," written on the eve of the revolution, called by carlyle "the swan-song of old dying france," ( - ). bernardine, st., of siena, born at massa carrara, in italy, of noble family; founder of the observantines, a branch, and restoration on strict lines, of the franciscan order; established monasteries of the said branch; his works, written in a mystical vein, fill five folio vols. ( - ). bernauer, agnes, wife of duke albrecht of bavaria, whom his father, displeased at the marriage, had convicted of sorcery and drowned in the danube. berne ( ), a fine swiss town on the aar, which almost surrounds it, in a populous canton of the same name; since the capital of the swiss confederation; commands a magnificent view of the bernese alps; a busy trading and manufacturing city. berners, john bouchier, lord, writer or translator of romance; was chancellor of the exchequer in , and governor of calais from ; translated froissart's "huon of bordeaux," &c. berners, juliana, writer on hunting and hawking; lived in the th century; said to have been prioress of a nunnery. bernese alps, a chain in the middle alps, of which the eastern half is called the bernese oberland; form the watershed between the aar and the rhône. bernhard, duke of weimar, a great german general; distinguished himself on the protestant side in the thirty years' war; fought under the standard of gustavus adolphus; held command of the left wing at the battle of lützen, and completed the victory after the fall of gustavus; died at neuburg, as alleged, without sufficient proof, by poison ( - ). bernhardt, sarah, a dramatic artiste, born in paris; of jewish descent, but baptized as a christian; distinguished specially as a tragédienne; of abilities qualifying her to shine in other departments of the profession and of art, of which she has given proof; _b_. . berni, francesco, an italian poet, born in tuscany, who excelled in the burlesque, to whom the italian as a literary language owes much; remodelled boiardo's "orlando innamorato" in a style surpassing that of the original. bernier, a french physician and traveller, born at angers; physician for years to aurungzebe, the great mogul; published "travels," a work full of interest, and a model of exactitude ( - ). bernier, the abbÉ, born in mayenne, france; one of the principal authors of the concordat; promoted afterwards to be bishop of orleans ( - ). berni`na, a mountain in the swiss canton of grisons, , ft. high, remarkable for its extensive glaciers. bernini, giovanni lorenzo, an italian painter, sculptor, and architect, born at naples; produced his "apollo and daphne" at eighteen, his masterpiece; was architect to the pope, and designed the colonnade of st. peter's; he died wealthy ( - ). bernouil`li, name of a swiss family of mathematicians, born at basel, though of dutch origin--james, john, and daniel, of whom john is the most celebrated; was professor first at st. petersburg and then at basel; discovered the exponential calculus and the method of integrating rational fractions, as well as the line of swiftest descent ( - ). bernstorff, count, a celebrated statesman, diplomatist, and philanthropist of denmark; called the danish oracle by frederick the great; founded an agricultural society and an hospital at copenhagen, and obtained the emancipation of the serfs ( - ). bernstorff, count, a nephew of the preceding; also statesman and diplomatist ( - ). bernstorff, pierre, danish minister, son of the preceding, a guardian of civil and political liberty ( - ). bero`sus, a priest of the temple of belus in babylon, who, rd century b.c., translated into greek certain records of babylonish history, valuable fragments of which are preserved by josephus and eusebius; these have been collected and published by w. richter, in germany. berri, an ancient province of france, forms dep. of indre and cher, which became crown property in under philippe i., and a duchy in , giving title to a succession of french princes. berri, duc de, second son of charles x. and father of count de chambord, a benevolent man; assassinated by a fanatic, louvel, as he was leaving the opera house ( - ). berri, duchesse de, dowager of preceding, distinguished herself by her futile efforts to restore the bourbon dynasty in the reign of louis philippe ( - ). berryer, pierre antoine, an eminent french barrister, born at paris; a red-hot legitimist, which brought him into trouble; was member of the national assembly of ; inimical to the second empire, and openly protested against the _coup d'état_ ( - ). ber`serker, a norse warrior who went into battle unharnessed, whence his name (which means bare of sark or shirt of mail), and is said to have been inspired with such fury as to render him invulnerable and irresistible. bert, paul, a french physiologist and statesman, born at auxerre; was professor of physiology at paris; took to politics after the fall of the empire; minister of public instruction under gambetta; sent governor to tonquin; died of fever soon after; wrote a science primer for children entitled "la première année d'enseignement scientifique" ( - ). bertha, goddess in the s. german mythology, of the spinning-wheel principally, and of the household as dependent on it, in behalf of which and its economical management she is often harsh to idle spinners; at her festival thrift is the rule. bertha, st., a british princess, wife of ethelbert, king of kent; converted him to christianity. berthe "au grand pied" (i. e. long foot), wife of pepin the short, and mother of charlemagne, so called from her club foot. berthelier, a swiss patriot, an uncompromising enemy of the duke of savoy in his ambition to lord it over geneva. berthelot, pierre eugÈne, a french chemist, born at paris; professor in the college of france; distinguished for his researches in organic chemistry, and his attempt to produce organic compounds; the dyeing trade owes much to his discoveries in the extraction of dyes from coal-tar; he laid the foundation of thermo-chemistry; _b_. . berthier, alexandre, prince of wagram and marshal of france, born at versailles; served with lafayette in the american war, and rose to distinction in the revolution; became head of napoleon's staff, and his companion in all his expeditions; swore fealty to the bourbons at the restoration of ; on napoleon's return retired with his family to bamberg; threw himself from a window, maddened at the sight of russian troops marching past to the french frontier ( - ). berthollet, count, a famous chemist, native of savoy, to whom we owe the discovery of the bleaching properties of chlorine, the employment of carbon in purifying water, &c., and many improvements in the manufactures; became a senator and officer of the legion of honour under napoleon; attached himself to the bourbons on their return, and was created a peer ( - ). berthoud, a celebrated clockmaker, native of switzerland; settled in paris; invented the marine chronometer to determine the longitude at sea ( - ). bertin "l'ainé," or the elder, a french journalist, born at paris; founder and editor of the _journal des débats_, which he started in ; friend of châteaubriand ( - ). bertin, pierre, introduced stenography into france, invented by taylor in england ( - ). bertin, rose, milliner to marie antoinette, famed for her devotion to her. bertinazzi, a celebrated actor, born at turin, long a favourite in paris ( - ). bertrand and raton, two personages in la fontaine's fable of the monkey and the cat, of whom r. cracks the nut and b. eats it. ber`trand, henri gratien, comte, a french general, and faithful adherent of napoleon, accompanied him in all his campaigns, to and from elba, as well as in his exile at st. helena; conducted his remains back to france in ( - ). bertrand de molleville, minister of marine under louis xvi.; a fiery partisan of royalty, surnamed the _enfant terrible_ of the monarchy ( - ). berton, pierre, french composer of operas ( - ). henri, his son, composed operas; wrote a treatise on harmony ( - ). bÉrulle, cardinal, born at troyes; founder of the order of carmelites, and of the congregation of the oratory ( - ). berwick, james fitz-james, duke of, a natural son of james ii., a naturalised frenchman; defended the rights of his father; was present with him at the battle of the boyne; distinguished himself in spain, where he gained the victory of almanza; was made marshal of france; fell at the siege of philippsburg; left "memoirs" ( - ). berwick, north, a place on the s. shore of the forth, in haddingtonshire; a summer resort, specially for the golfing links. berwick-on-tweed ( ), a town on the scotch side of the tweed, at its mouth, reckoned since in northumberland, though at one time treated as a separate county; of interest from its connection with the border wars, during which it frequently changed hands, till in the english became masters of it. berwickshire ( ), a fertile scottish county between the lammermoors, inclusive, and the tweed; is divided into the merse, a richly fertile plain in the s., the lammermoors, hilly and pastoral, dividing the merse from mid and east lothian, and lauderdale, of hill and dale, along the banks of the leader; greenlaw the county town. berze`lius, johan jakob, baron, a celebrated swedish chemist, one of the creators of modern chemistry; instituted the chemical notation by symbols based on the notion of equivalents; determined the equivalents of a great number of simple bodies, such as cerium and silenium; discovered silenium, and shared with davy the honour of propounding the electro-chemical theory; he ranks next to linnæus as a man of science in sweden ( - ). besanÇon ( ), capital of the dep. of doubs, in france; a very strong place; fortified by vauban; abounds in relics of roman and mediæval times; watchmaking a staple industry, employing some , of the inhabitants; manufactures also porcelain and carpets. besant, mrs. annie, _née_ wood, born in london; of irish descent; married to an english clergyman, from whom she was legally separated; took a keen interest in social questions and secularism; drifted into theosophy, of which she is now an active propagandist; is an interesting woman, and has an interesting address as a lecturer; _b_. . besant, sir walter, a man of letters, born at portsmouth; eminent chiefly as a novelist of a healthily realistic type; wrote a number of novels jointly with james rice, and is the author of "french humourists," as well as short stories; champion of the cause of authors _versus_ publishers, and is chairman of the committee; _b_. . besenval, baron, a swiss, commandant of paris under louis xvi.; a royalist stunned into a state of helpless dismay at the first outbreak of the revolution in paris; could do nothing in the face of it but run for his life ( - ). besika bay, a bay on the asiatic coast, near the mouth of the dardanelles. besme, a bohemian in the pay of the duke of guise; assassinated coligny, and was himself killed by berteauville, a protestant gentleman, in . bess, good queen, a familiar name of queen elizabeth. bessara`bia ( , ), a government in the sw. of russia, between the dniester and the pruth; a cattle-breeding province; exports cattle, wool, and tallow. bessar`ion, john, cardinal, native of trebizond; contributed by his zeal in greek literature to the fall of scholasticism and the revival of letters; tried hard to unite the churches of the east and the west; joined the latter, and was made cardinal; too much of a grecian to recommend himself to the popehood, to which he was twice over nearly elevated ( - ). bessel, friedrich wilhelm, a prussian astronomer of prominent ability, born at minden; professor of mathematics at königsberg, and director of the observatory; discovered--what was a great achievement--the parallax of the fixed star cygne; his greatest work, "fundamenta astronomiæ," on which he spent years, a marvel, like all he did, of patient toil and painstaking accuracy ( - ). bessemer, sir henry, civil engineer and inventor, born at charlton, herts; of his many inventions the chief is the process, named after him, of converting pig-iron into steel at once by blowing a blast of air through the iron while in fusion till everything extraneous is expelled, and only a definite quantity of carbon is left in combination, a process which has revolutionised the iron and steel trade all over the world, leading, as has been calculated, to the production of thirty times as much steel as before and at one-fifth of the cost per ton ( - ). bessemer process. see bessemer. bessiÈres, jean baptiste, duke of istria, marshal of france, born at languedoc, of humble parentage; rose from the ranks; a friend and one of the ablest officers of napoleon, and much esteemed by him; distinguished himself in the italian campaign, in egypt, and at marengo; was shot at lützen the day before the battle ( - ). bessus, a satrap of bactria under darius, who assassinated his master after the battle of arbela, but was delivered over by alexander to darius's brother, by whom he was put to death, b.c. bestiary, a name given to a class of books treating of animals, viewed allegorically. bethany, village on e. of the mount of olives, abode of lazarus and his sisters. bethel (i. e. house of god), a place m. n. of jerusalem, scene of jacob's dream, and famous in the history of the patriarchs. bethencourt, a norman baron, in discovered and conquered the canaries, and held them as a fief of the crown of castile. bethlehem ( ), a village m. s. of jerusalem, the birthplace of jesus christ and king david, with a convent containing the church of the nativity; near it is the grotto where st. jerome translated the bible into latin. bethlen-gabor, prince of transylvania, assumed the title of king of hungary; assisted bohemia in the thirty years' war ( - ). bethnal green ( ), an eastern suburb of london, a parliamentary borough, a poor district, and scene of benevolent enterprises. betterton, thomas, born at westminster, a tragic actor, and as such an interpreter of shakespeare on, it is believed, the traditional lines. bettina, the countess of arnim, a passionate admirer of goethe. betty, w. henry, a boy actor, known as the infant roscius; amassed a fortune; lived afterwards retired ( - ). beule, a french statesman and archæologist; superintended excavations on the acropolis of athens; held office under macmahon ( - ). beust, count von, a german statesman, born at dresden; minister for foreign affairs in saxony; of strong conservative leanings, friendly to austria; became chancellor of the austro-hungarian empire; adopted a liberal policy; sympathised with france in the franco-german war; resigned office in ; left "memoirs" ( - ). beuthen ( ), a manufacturing town in prussian silesia, in the centre of a mining district. beverley ( ), a yorkshire manufacturing town, m. nw. of hull, with a gothic minster, which contains the tombs of the percys. beverley, john, a learned man, tutor to the venerable bede, archbishop of york, and founder of a college for secular priests at beverley; was one of the most learned men of his time; _d_. . bevis of southampton, or hampton, sir, a famous knight of english mediæval romance, a man of gigantic stature, whose marvellous feats are recorded in drayton's "polyolbion." bewick, thomas, a distinguished wood-engraver, born in northumberland, apprenticed to the trade in newcastle; showed his art first in woodcuts for his "history of quadrupeds," the success of which led to the publication of his "history of british birds," in which he established his reputation both as a naturalist, in the truest sense, and an artist ( - ). bewick, william, a great wood-engraver; did a cartoon from the elgin marbles for goethe ( - ). beyle, marie henri, french critic and novelist, usually known by his pseudonym "de stendal," born at grenoble; wrote in criticism "de l'amour," and in fiction "la chartreuse de parme" and "le rouge et le noir"; an ambitious writer and a cynical ( - ). beypur, a port in the madras presidency, a railway terminus, with coal and iron in the neighbourhood. beyrout ( ), the most nourishing commercial city on the coast of syria, and the port of damascus, from which it is distant m.; a very ancient place. beza, theodore, a french protestant theologian, born in burgundy, of good birth; professor of greek at lausanne; deputed from germany to intercede for the huguenots in france, persuaded the king of navarre to favour the protestants; settled in geneva, became the friend and successor of calvin; wrote a book, "de hereticis a civili magistratu puniendis," in which he justified the burning of servetus, and a "history of the reformed churches" in france; died at ( - ). bezants, byzantine gold coins of varying weight and value, introduced by the crusaders into england, where they were current till the time of edward iii. bÉziers ( ), a manufacturing town in the dep. of hérault, m. sw. of montpellier; manufactures silk fabrics and confectionary. bhagalpur` ( ), a town in bengal, on the right bank of the ganges, m. nw. of calcutta. bhagavad gÎtÂ, (i. e. song of krishna), a poem introduced into the mahâbhârata, divided into three sections, and each section into six chapters, called upanishads; being a series of mystical lectures addressed by krishna to his royal pupil arjuna on the eve of a battle, from which he shrunk, as it was with his own kindred; the whole conceived from the point of view or belief, calculated to allay the scruples of arjuna, which regards the extinction of existence as absorption in the deity. bhamo` ( ), a town in burmah, the chief centre of trade with china, conducted mainly by chinese, and a military station, only m. from the chinese frontier. bhartpur` ( ), a town in rajputana, in a native state of the name; yielding wheat, maize, cotton, sugar, with quarries of building stone; m. w. of agra; carries on an industry in the manufacture of chowries. bhartrihari, indian author of apothegms, who appears to have lived in the th century b.c., and to have been of royal rank. bhils, a rude pro-aryan race of central india, still untrained to settled life; number , . bhod-pa, name given to the aborigines of thibet, and applied by the hindus to all the thibetan peoples. bhopal` ( ), a well-governed native state in central india, under british protection, with a capital city ( ) of the same name; under a government that has been always friendly to britain. bhutan ( ), an independent state in the eastern himalayas, with magnificent scenery; subsidised by britain; has a government like that of thibet; religion the same, though the people are at a low stage of civilisation; the country exports horses, musk, and salt. biaf`ra, bight of, a large bay in the gulf of guinea, in w. africa; includes several islands, and receives into it the waters of the calabar rivers. biard, auguste franÇois, french _genre_ painter, born at lyons; journeyed round the world, sketching by the way; was successful in rendering burlesque groups ( - ). biarritz, a bathing-place on the bay of biscay, m. sw. of bayonne; became a place of fashionable resort by the visits of the empress eugenie. bias, one of the seven wise men of greece, born at priene, in ionia; lived in the th century b.c.; many wise sayings are ascribed to him; was distinguished for his indifference to possessions, which moth and rust can corrupt, and thieves break through and steal. bible, the (i. e. the book _par excellence_, and not so much a book as a library of books), a collection of sacred writings divided into two parts, the old testament and the new; the old, written in hebrew, comprehending three groups of books, the pentateuch, the prophets, and the hagiographa, bearing on the religion, the history, the institutions, and the manners of the jews; and the new, written in greek, comprehending the four gospels, the acts of the apostles, and the epistles. the old testament was translated into greek at alexandria by jews, b.c., and is known as the septuagint; and the whole book, old and new, was translated into latin in a grotto near bethlehem by st. jerome, a.d. - , and is known as the vulgate, after which the two came to be regarded by the church as of equal divine authority and as sections of one book. it may be permitted to note that the bible is written throughout, not in a speculative or a scientific, but a spiritual interest, and that its final aim is to guide men in the way of life. the spirit in which it is composed is the spirit of conviction; its essence, both in the root of it and the fruit of it, is faith, and that primarily in a moral power above, and ultimately a moral principle within, both equally divine. the one principle of the book is that loyalty to the divine commands is the one foundation of all well-being, individual and social. biblia pauperum (i. e. bible of the poor), a book consisting of some leaves, with pictures of scenes in the life of christ, and explanatory inscriptions, printed, from wooden blocks, in the th century, and before the invention of printing by movable types. bibulus, a colleague of julius cæsar; a mere cipher, a _fainéant_. bicÊtre, a hospital, originally a carthusian monastery, in the s. side of paris, with a commanding view of the seine and the city; since used for old soldiers, and now for confirmed lunatics. bichÂt, marie franÇois xavier, an eminent french anatomist and physiologist; physician to the hôtel-dieu, paris; one of the first to resolve the structure of the human body into, as "sartor" has it, "cellular, vascular, and muscular tissues;" his great work "anatomie générale appliquée à la physiologie et à la medecine"; died at ( - ). bickerstaff, isaac, an irish dramatist of th century, whose name was adopted as a _nom de plume_ by swift and steele. bickersteth, edward, english clergyman; author of several evangelical works, and one of the founders of the evangelical alliance ( - ). bickerton, sir richard, vice-admiral, served in several naval engagements, and died commander-in-chief at plymouth in . biddery ware, ware of tin, copper, lead, and zinc, made at bidar, in india. bidding prayer, an exhortation to prayer in some special reference, followed by the lord's prayer, in which the congregation joins. biddle, john, a socinian writer in the time of charles i. and the commonwealth; much persecuted for his belief, and was imprisoned, but released by cromwell; regarded as the founder of english unitarianism; author of a "confession of faith concerning the holy trinity" ( - ). bidpaÏ, or pilpaÏ, the presumed author of a collection of hindu fables of ancient date, in extensive circulation over the east, and widely translated. biela's comet, a comet discovered by biela, an austrian officer, in ; appears, sometimes unobserved, every six years. bielefeld ( ), a manufacturing town in westphalia, with a large trade in linen, and the centre of the trade. bielu`ka, with its twin peaks, highest of the altai mountains, , ft. bienne, lake of, in the swiss canton of berne; the aar is led into it when in flood, so as to prevent inundation below; on the shores of it are remains of lake-dwellings, and an island in it, st. pierre, the retreat of rousseau in . bifrÖst, a bridge in the norse mythology stretching from heaven to earth, of firm solidity and exquisite workmanship, represented in the rainbow, of which the colours are the reflections of the precious stones. bigelow, erastus brigham, american inventor of weaving machines, born in massachusetts ( - ). big-endians, a name given to the catholics, as little-endians is the name given to the protestants, in the imaginary kingdom of lilliput, of which the former are regarded as heretics by the latter because they break their eggs at the big end. biggar, a town in lanarkshire, birthplace of dr. john brown and of the gladstone ancestry. biglow, imaginary author of poems in the yankee dialect, written by james russell lowell. bijapur`, city in the presidency of bombay, once the capital of an extensive kingdom, now deserted, but with remains of its former greatness. bilba`o ( ), capital of the basque prov. of biscay, in spain; a commercial city of ancient date, famous at one time for its steel, specially in queen elizabeth's time, when a rapier was called a "bilbo." bilderdijk, willem, dutch poet, born at amsterdam ( - ). bile, a fluid secreted from the blood by the liver to aid in digestion, the secretion of which is most active after food. billaud-varennes, jean nicolas, "a grim, resolute, unrepentant" member of the jacobin club; egged on the mob during the september massacres in the name of liberty; was president of the convention; assisted at the fall of robespierre, but could not avert his own; was deported to surinam, and content to die there rather than return to france, which bonaparte made him free to do; died at port-au-prince ( - ). billaut, adam, the carpenter poet, called "maître adam," born at nevers, and designated "virgile au rabot" (a carpenter's plane); _d_. . billings, robert william, architect, born in london; delineator of old historical buildings; his great work "baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities of scotland," richly illustrated; was engaged in the restoration of old buildings, as well as delineating them ( - ). billingsgate, a fish-market in london, below london bridge; also a name given to low, coarse language indulged in there. billington, elizabeth, _née_ weichsel, a celebrated singer, born in london, of german descent; kept up her celebrity to the last; died at venice in . bilney, thomas, martyr, born in norfolk, a priest who adopted the reformed doctrine; was twice arraigned, and released on promise not to preach, but could not refrain, and was at last burned as a heretic in . bilocation, the power or state, ascribed to certain of the saints, of appearing in two places at the same time. bimetallism, the employment of two metals (gold and silver) in the currency of a country as legal tender at a fixed relative value, the ratio usually proposed being to ½. bimini, a fabulous island with a fountain possessed of the virtue of restoring youth. binet, a french littérateur, translator of horace and virgil ( - ). bingen, a manufacturing and trading town on the left bank of the rhine, in grand-duchy of hesse darmstadt, opposite which is the tower associated with the myth of bishop hatto. bingham, joseph, an english divine, born at wakefield; author of "origines ecclesiasticæ," a laborious and learned work; lost his all in the south-sea scheme and died ( - ). biogenesis, name of the theory that derives life from life, and opposed to abiogenesis (q. v.). biology, the science of animal life in a purely physical reference, or of life in organised bodies generally, including that of plants, in its varied forms and through its successive stages. bion, a greek pastoral poet of rd century b.c., born at smyrna; a contemporary of theocritus; settled in sicily; was poisoned, it is said, by a rival; little of his poetry survives. biot, jean baptiste, an eminent french mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, born at paris; professor of physics in the college of france; took part in measuring an arc of the meridian along with arago; made observations on the polarisation of light, and contributed numerous memoirs to scientific journals; wrote works on astronomy ( - ). birague, renÉ de, cardinal and chancellor of france, born at milan; charged, especially by contemporary historians, as the chief instigator of the st. bartholomew massacre ( - ). birch, samuel, archæologist and egyptologist, born in london; keeper of oriental antiquities in the british museum; had an extensive knowledge of egyptology, wrote largely, and contributed articles on that and kindred archæological subjects ( - ). birch, thomas, antiquary, born in london; wrote a history of the royal society ( - ). birch-pfeiffer, charlotte, actress, born in stuttgart; acted in berlin; wrote dramas ( - ). bird, edward, an english _genre_ painter, born in wolverhampton, settled in bristol; among his works are the "choristers rehearsing," the "field of chevy chase," and the "day after the battle," pronounced his masterpiece ( - ). bird, golding, m.d., a great authority in kidney disease, of which he himself died ( - ). bird, william, a musician in the time of elizabeth, composed madrigals; "non nobis, domine," is ascribed to him ( - ). bird's nest, the nest of a species of swift, formed from a marine plant that has been first digested by a bird, and esteemed a great luxury by the chinese. biren, duke of courland, son of a peasant, favourite of the russian empress anne; held the reins of government even after her death; ruled with great cruelty; was banished to siberia, but recalled, and had his honours restored to him, which in six years after he relinquished in favour of his eldest son ( - ). birkbeck, george, m.d., a yorkshireman, a zealous promoter all over the country of mechanics' institutes, was founder of the london institute, in consociation with brougham and others interested in the diffusion of useful knowledge ( - ). birkenhead ( ), in cheshire, on the mersey, opposite liverpool and a suburb of it; a town of rapid growth, due to the vicinity of liverpool; has large shipbuilding-yards and docks. birkenhead, sir john, a political writer, several times imprisoned during the commonwealth for his obtrusive royalism ( - ). birmingham ( ), in the nw. of warwickshire, m. nw. of london by rail; is the chief town of the midlands, and celebrated all over the world for its metal ware. all kinds of engines and machinery, fine gold, silver, copper, and brass ware, cutlery and ammunition are made here; steel pens, buttons, nails, and screws are specialties. it is a picturesque town with many fine buildings, libraries, art gallery and museums, educational institutions, a cathedral, and a great town-hall, where the triennial musical festival is held. of this town burne-jones was a native, and priestley, george dawson, and dale were dissenting ministers. birnam, a hill near dunkeld, in perthshire; contains part of a forest mentioned in "macbeth." biron, a madcap lord in "love's labour's lost." biron, baron de, marshal of france, born at périgord; served bravely under henry iv.; though a catholic, favoured the huguenots; narrowly escaped at the massacre of st. bartholomew; was killed at the siege of Épernay; carried a note-book with him everywhere, and so observant was he that it passed into proverb, "you will find it in biron's note-book" ( - ). biron, duc de, son of the preceding; served also bravely under henry iv.; but being a man of no principle and discontented with the reward he got for his services, intrigued with the duke of savoy and with spain against henry; was arrested and sent to the bastille, where, after trial, he was beheaded ( - ). biscay, bay of, a bay in the atlantic, extending from cape ortegal, in spain, to cape finisterre, in france, and m. broad, of depth varying from to fathoms, and, under sw. winds particularly, one of the stormiest of seas. bischof, karl gustav, chemist, born at nüremberg, professor at bonn; experimented on the inflammable power of gas ( - ). bischoff, theodor ludwig wilhelm, distinguished biologist, born at hanover; made a special study of embryology; was professor of anatomy at heidelberg, of physiology at giessen, and of both at münich ( - ). bishop, originally an overseer of souls, eventually an overseer of churches, especially of a district, and conceived of by high-churchmen as representing the apostles and deriving his powers by transmission from them. bishop, sir henry rowley, an english composer, born in london, composer and director of music in covent garden theatre for years; produced pieces, of which "guy mannering," "the miller and his men," are still in favour; was for a brief space professor of music in edinburgh university, and eventually held a similar chair in oxford ( - ). bishop of hippo, st. augustine, as once in office there. bishop-auckland ( ), a market-town m. sw. of durham, where the bishop of durham has his residence, a palatial structure; it has coal-mines close by; manufactures machinery and cotton goods. bismarck archipelago ( ), an archipelago formerly called new britain, ne. of new guinea; under the protectorate of germany. bismarck-schÖnhausen, eduard leopold, prince von, born at schönhausen; woke up into civil life by the events of ; took a bold stand against revolutionary ideas and measures; conceived the idea of freeing the several states of germany from foreign control, and welding them into one under the crown of prussia. summoned in by king william to be his political adviser, his influence was at first distrusted, but the annexation of sleswig-holstein by force of arms in raised him into general favour. his next feat, the humiliation of austria at königgrätz in , and the consequent erection of a german confederation, with prussia at its head, made him the idol of the nation. his treatment of napoleon iii. provoked the latter into a declaration of war, and to an advance on the part of the french against berlin. to the surprise of nearly all europe, the germans proved to be a nation of soldiers, marshalled as army never was before, and beat the french ignominiously back from the rhine. count bismarck had the satisfaction of seeing the power of france, that still threatened, as well as that of austria, helpless at his feet, the german empire restored under a hohenzollern king, and himself installed as chancellor of the monarch he had served so well. nothing he did after this--though he reformed the coinage, codified the law, established protection, increased the army, and repressed socialism--equalled this great feat, and for this a grateful nation must ever honour his name. if he ceased to be chancellor of germany on the accession of william ii., it was because the young king felt he would have a freer hand with a minister more likely to be under his control ( - ). bissa`gos, a group of some volcanic islands off the coast of senegambia, with a large negro population; yield tropical products, and belong now to portugal. bissen, a danish sculptor, born in sleswig; a pupil of thorwaldsen; intrusted by him to finish a statue he left unfinished at his death; he produced some fine works, but his best known are his "cupid sharpening his arrow" and "atalanta hunting" ( - ). bithur, a town on the right bank of the ganges, m. above cawnpore, where nana sahib lived, and concocted the conspiracy which developed into the mutiny of . bithynia, a country in the nw. of asia minor, anciently so called; the people of it were of thracian origin. bitlis ( ), a high-lying town in asiatic turkey, m. w. of van; stands in a valley ft. above, the sea-level, with a population of mohammedans and armenians. bitumen, an inflammable mineral substance, presumably of vegetable origin, called naphtha when liquid and light-coloured, petroleum when less fluid and darker, maltha when viscid, and asphalt when solid. bitzius, a swiss author, composed stories of swiss life under the _nom de plume_ of jeremias gotthelf, fascinating from their charming simplicity and truth; he is much admired by ruskin; was by profession a protestant pastor, the duties of which he continued to discharge till his death ( - ). bizerta ( ), a seaport of tunis, northernmost town in africa, m. nw. of the capital, with an excellent harbour. bizet, georges, an operatic composer, born at paris; his greatest work "carmen"; died of heart-disease shortly after its appearance ( - ). bjÖrnsen, a norwegian author, born at kvikne; composed tales, dramas, and lyrics, all of distinguished merit and imbued with a patriotic spirit; his best play "sigurd the bastard"; an active and zealous promoter of liberalism, sometimes extreme, both in religion and politics; his writings are numerous, and they rank high; his songs being highly appreciated by his countrymen; _b_. . black, joseph, a celebrated chemist, born at bordeaux, of scotch parents; the discoverer of what has been called latent heat, but what is really transformed energy; professor of chemistry, first in glasgow, then in edinburgh, where his lectures were very popular; his discoveries in chemistry were fruitful in results ( - ). black, william, novelist, born in glasgow; started life as a journalist in connection with the _morning star_; has written several novels, over in number, about the west highlands of scotland, rich in picturesque description; the best known and most admired, "a daughter of heth," the "madcap violet," "macleod of dare," "the strange adventures of a phæton," and "a princess of thule." "but when are you going to write a book, mr. black?" said carlyle to him one day ( - ). black art, name given to the presumed power of evoking evil spirits. black assize, a plague at oxford in , which carried off victims; caught at the assize from the prisoners under trial. black death, a name given to a succession of fatal epidemics that devastated the world from china to ireland in the th century, believed to be the same as the oriental plague, though attended with peculiar symptoms; the most serious was that of , which, as is reckoned, stripped england alone of one-third of its inhabitants. black forest ( ), a wooded mountain chain ft. high (so called from the black pines that cover it), which runs parallel with the rhine, and e. of it, through würtemberg and baden, from the swiss frontier to carlsruhe; is remarkable for its picturesque scenery and its mineral wealth; it possesses many health resorts, as baden-baden and wildbad, where are mineral springs; silver, copper, cobalt, lead, and iron are wrought in many places; the women and children of the region make articles of woodwork, such as wooden clocks, &c. black friars, monks of the dominican order; name of a district in london where they had a monastery. black hole of calcutta, a confined apartment ft. square, into which english prisoners were crammed by the orders of surajah dowia on the th june ; their sufferings were excruciating, and only survived till morning. black lands, lands in the heart of russia, extending between the carpathians and the urals, constituting one-third of the soil, and consisting of a layer of black earth or vegetable mould, of from to ft. in thickness, and a chief source, from its exhaustless fertility, of the wealth of the country. black monday, easter monday in , remarkable for the extreme darkness that prevailed, and an intense cold, under which many died. black prince, prince of wales, son of edward iii., so called, it is said, from the colour of his armour; distinguished himself at crécy, gained the battle of poitiers, but involved his country in further hostilities with france; returned to england, broken in health, to die ( - ). black rod, gentleman usher of, an official of the house of lords, whose badge of office is a black rod surmounted by a gold lion; summons the commons to the house, guards the privileges of the house, &c. black saturday, name given in scotland to saturday, th august ; a stormy day of great darkness, regarded as a judgment of heaven against acts then passed in the scottish parliament tending to establish episcopacy. black sea, or euxine, an inland sea, lying between europe and asia, twice the size of britain, being m. in greatest length and m. in greatest breadth; communicates in the n. with the sea of azov, and in the sw., through the bosphorus, the sea of marmora, and the dardanelles, with the mediterranean. it washes the shores of turkey, rumelia, bulgaria, russia, and asia minor; receives the waters of the danube, dneister, bug, and don, from europe, and the kizil-irmak and sakaria from asia--three times as much as is received by the mediterranean. it has but one island, adassi, off the mouths of the danube; no reefs or shoals; hence in summer navigation is very safe. in winter it is harassed by severe storms. among the chief ports are odessa, kherson, batoum, trebizond, and sinope; the first two are ice-bound in january and february. for three centuries the turks excluded all other nations from its waters; but the russians ( ), austrians ( ), french and english ( ) secured trading rights. russia and turkey keep fleets in it, but other warships are excluded. its waters are fresher than those of the ocean, and it has no noticeable tides. black watch, two highland regiments, the nd and rd, so called from the dark colour of the tartan; raised originally for the preservation of the peace in the highlands. blackburn ( ), a manufacturing town in lancashire, m. nw. of manchester, a centre of the cotton industry, and the greatest in the world; is the birthplace of hargreaves, the inventor of the spinning-jenny. blackheath, a common m. se. of london, once a favourite haunt of highwaymen, now a place of holiday resort for londoners; for long provided the only golfing-course in england. blackie, john stuart, a man of versatile gifts and warm human sympathies, born in glasgow; bred to the bar, but devoted to literary pursuits; studied german; executed a metrical translation of goethe's "faust," part i.; filled the chair of humanity in aberdeen, and afterwards that of greek in edinburgh; was a zealous educational reformer; took an active interest in everything affecting the welfare and honour of scotland; founded a celtic chair in edinburgh university; spoke much and wrote much in his day on manifold subjects; Æschylus, and homer's "iliad" in verse; among his works, which are numerous, "self-culture" is the most likely to survive him longest ( - ). blacklock, thomas, a clergyman, born in annan, blind from early infancy; after occupying a charge for two years, set up as a teacher in edinburgh; was influential in inducing burns to abandon his intention to emigrate, and may be credited, therefore, with saving for his country and humanity at large one of the most gifted of his country's sons ( - ). blackmore, richard doddridge, novelist, born in berks; bred to the bar; has written several novels, the best known "lorna doone," which, though coldly received at first, became highly popular; he is pronounced unrivalled in his day as a writer of rustic comedy; _b_. . blackmore, sir richard, physician, born in wilts; the most voluminous of poetasters, published four long worthless poems, besides essays and psalms, &c., and made himself the butt of all the wits of the period; _d_. . blackpool ( ), a watering-place on the coast of lancashire, m. nw. of preston, sometimes called the "brighton of the north." blackstone, sir william, an eminent jurist and judge, born in london, the son of a silk-mercer; was fellow of pembroke college, oxford, and in called to the bar; became first vinerian professor of law at oxford; had jeremy bentham for one of his pupils; author of the well-known "commentaries on the laws of england," an authority on the subject and a work that has appeared in many editions ( - ). blackwell, alexander, adventurer, born in aberdeen; studied medicine; took to printing; thrown into prison for debt; was supported by his wife; on his release went to sweden, was patronised by the king; convicted of conspiracy, and beheaded in . blackwell, elizabeth, a lady doctor, born in bristol, and the first to hold a medical diploma in the united states; graduated in ; was admitted into the maternity hospital in paris, and to st. bartholomew's in london, and has since distinguished herself as a social reformer; _b_. . blackwood, sir henry, british admiral, much trusted by nelson; distinguished at aboukir bay and trafalgar; was present at nelson's death; held subsequently high naval positions ( - ). blackwood, william, born in edinburgh, originator of _blackwood's magazine_; originally a bookseller; started _maga_, as it was called, in , his principal literary advisers being professor wilson and lockhart; conducted it as editor till his death ( - ). john, his third son, his successor, no less distinguished in the cause of literature ( - ). blaeu, willem janzsoon, dutch cartographer, born at alkmaar; his terrestrial and celestial globes have been admired for their excellence and accuracy ( - ). his son jan edited a valuable atlas called "atlas major," in volumes; _d_. . blainville, henri marie, a french naturalist; devoted himself to medicine; became assistant to cuvier; succeeded him as professor of comparative anatomy; wrote largely on natural science, and particularly on subjects connected with his appointment as a professor ( - ). blair, hugh, clergyman, born in edinburgh; held in succession several charges in scotland, and became professor of rhetoric in edinburgh university; author of "lectures on rhetoric" and "sermons," which latter are of the nature of moral essays rather than sermons, were much esteemed at one time for their polished style, and procured him a pension of £ from the king; he was a man of great critical acumen, and the celebrated schleiermacher did not think it beneath him to translate some of them into german ( - ). blair, robert, author of "the grave," a thoughtful and cultured man, born in edinburgh; minister of athelstaneford, where he was succeeded by home, the author of "douglas." his poem has the merit of having been illustrated by william blake ( - ). blake, robert, the great english admiral and "sea king," born at bridgewater; successful as a soldier under the commonwealth, before he tried seamanship; took first to sea in pursuit of prince rupert and the royalist fleet, which he destroyed; beat the dutch under van tromp de ruyter and de witt; sailed under the great guns of tunis into the harbour, where he fired a fleet of turkish pirates; and finally, his greatest feat, annihilated a spanish fleet in santa cruz bay under the shadow of the peak of teneriffe, "one of the fiercest actions ever fought on land or water" ( - ). blake, william, poet, painter, and engraver, born in london, where, with rare intervals, he spent his life a mystic from his very boyhood; apprenticed to an engraver, whom he assisted with his drawings; started on original lines of his own as illustrator of books and a painter; devoted his leisure to poetry; wrote "songs of innocence," "marriage of heaven and hell," "gates of paradise," and "songs of experience"; was an intensely religious man of deep spiritual insight, most vivid feeling and imagination; illustrated young's "night thoughts," blair's "grave," and the "book of job." he was a man of stainless character but eccentric habits, and had for wife an angel, catherine boucher ( - ). blanc, charles, a french art critic, brother of louis blanc ( - ). blanc, jean joseph louis, a french socialist, born at madrid; started as a journalist, founded the _revue du progrès_, and published separately in "organisation of labour," which had already appeared in the _revue_, a work which gained the favour of the working-classes; was member of the provisional government of , and eventually of the national assembly; threatened with impeachment, fled to england; returned to france on the fall of the empire, and was elected to the chamber of deputies in ; wrote an "elaborate and well-written" "history of the french revolution"; died at cannes ( - ). blanc, mont, the highest mountain in europe, , ft., almost entirely within france; sends numerous glaciers down its slopes, the mer de glace the chief. blanchard, franÇois, a celebrated french aëronaut, inventor of the parachute; he fell from his balloon and was killed at the hague ( - ). blanchard, laman, a prolific periodical and play writer, born at yarmouth; a man of a singularly buoyant spirit, crushed by calamities; died by suicide ( - ). blanche of castile, wife of louis viii. of france and mother of st. louis; regent of france during the minority of her son and during his absence in crusade; governed with great discretion and firmness; died of grief over the long absence of her son and his rumoured intention to stay in the holy land ( - ). blanchet, the abbÉ, french littérateur; author of "apologues and tales," much esteemed ( - ). blandrata, giorgio, piedmontese physician, who for his religious opinions was compelled to take refuge, first in poland, then in transylvania, where he sowed the seeds of unitarianism ( - ). blanqui, adolphe, a celebrated french publicist and economist, born at nice; a disciple of j. b. say, and a free-trader; his principal work, "history of political economy in europe" ( - ). blanqui, louis auguste, a brother of the preceding, a french republican of extreme views and violent procedure; would appear to have posed as a martyr; spent nearly half his life in prison ( - ). blarney-stone, a stone in castle blarney, cork, of difficult access, which is said to endow whoso kisses it with a fair-spoken tongue, hence the application of the word. blasius, st., bishop of sebaste, in armenia; the patron of wool-combers; suffered martyrdom in . blasphemy, defined by ruskin as the opposite of euphemy, and as wishing ill to anything, culminating in wishing ill to god, as the height of "ill-manners." blatant beast, spenser's name for the ignorant, slanderous, clamour of the mob. blavatsky, mme., a theosophist, born in russia; a great authority on theosophy, the doctrines of which she professed she derived from the fountain-head in thibet ( - ). bleek, friedrich, eminent german biblical exegete and critic of the schleiermacher school, born in holstein; professor at bonn; his chief work, "commentary on the hebrews," a great work; others are introductions to the old and to the new testaments ( - ). bleek, wm., son of preceding, a philologist; accompanied colenso to natal; author of "comparative grammar of the s. african languages" ( - ). blefuscu, an island separated from lilliput by a strait yards wide, inhabited by pigmies; understood to represent france. blenheim, a village in bavaria, near augsburg; famous for marlborough's victory in , and giving name to it. blenheim park, near woodstock, oxford, the gift, with the woodstock estate, of the country to the duke of marlborough, for his military services in the spanish succession war. blessington, countess of, an irish lady celebrated for her beauty and wit; figured much in intellectual circles in london; had her salon at kensington; was on intimate terms with byron, and published "conversations with byron," and wrote several novels; being extravagant, fell into debt, and had to flee the country ( - ). blicher, steen steensen, danish poet of rural life ( - ). bligh, wm., a naval officer; served under captain cook; commanded the _bounty_ at tahiti, when his crew mutinied under his harsh treatment, and set him adrift, with others, in an open boat, in which, after incredible privations, he arrived in england; was afterwards governor of n.s. wales, but dismissed for his rigorous and arbitrary conduct ( - ). blimber, mrs. cornelia, a prim school-matron in "dombey & son." blind, karl, revolutionist and journalist, born at mannheim; took part in the risings of , and sentenced to prison in consequence of a pamphlet he wrote entitled "german hunger and german princes," but rescued by the mob; found refuge in england, where he interested himself in democratic movements, and cultivated his literary as well as his political proclivities by contributing to magazines, and otherwise; _b_. . blind harry, a wandering scottish minstrel of the th century; composed in verse "the life of that noble champion of scotland, sir william wallace." blinkert dune, a dune near haarlem, ft. above the sea-level. bloch, marcus elieser, a naturalist, born at anspach, of jewish descent; his "ichthyology" is a magnificent national work, produced at the expense of the wealthiest princes of germany ( - ). bloemÆrt, a family of flemish painters and engravers in th and th centuries. blois, capital of the deps. of loire and cher, france, on the loire, m. s. of orleans; a favourite residence of francis i. and charles ix., and the scene of events of interest in the history of france. blomefleld, francis, a clergyman, born at norfolk; author of "topographical history of the county of norfolk" ( - ). blomfield, bishop of london, born at bury st. edmunds; greek scholar; active in the church extension of his diocese ( - ). blondel, a troubadour of the th century; a favourite of richard coeur de lion, who, it is said, discovered the place of richard's imprisonment in austria by singing the first part of a love-song which richard and he had composed together, and by the voice of richard in responding to the strain. blondin, charles, an acrobat and rope-dancer, born at st. omer, france; celebrated for his feats in crossing niagara falls on the tight-rope; _b_. . blood, thomas, colonel, an irish desperado, noted for his daring attempts against the life of the duke of ormonde, and for carrying off the regalia in the tower; unaccountably pardoned by charles ii., and received afterwards into royal favour with a pension of £ per annum. he was afterwards charged with conspiracy, and committed to the king's bench, and released. bloody assizes, the judicial massacres and cruel injustices perpetrated by judge jeffreys during circuit in . bloody bones, a hobgoblin feared by children. bloody statute, statute of henry viii. making it a crime involving the heaviest penalties to question any of the fundamental doctrines of the romish church. bloomfleld, robert, an english poet, born in suffolk, by trade a shoemaker; author of the "farmer's boy," a highly popular production, translated into french and italian; spent his last days in ill-health struggling with poverty, which brought on dejection of mind ( - ). blount, charles, a deist, born in london; assailant of revealed religion; was involved in all the controversies of the time; died by his own hand ( - ). blowpipe, a contrivance by which a current of air is driven through a flame, and the flame directed upon some fusible substance to fuse or vitrify it. blÜcher, prussian field-marshal, familiarly named "marshal forwards," born at rostock; served first in the swedish army, then in the prussian; distinguished as a leader of cavalry, and met with varying fortune; at the age of commanded the centre of the allied army in ; distinguished himself at lützen and leipzig; pursued the french across the rhine; pressed forward to paris at the time of napoleon's abdication; defeated by napoleon at ligny, th june ; arrived on the field of waterloo just as the french were preparing to make their last charge, and contributed to decide the fate of the day ( - ). blue mountains, a range of thickly wooded mountains traversing jamaica from e. to w., from to ft. in height; also a chain of mountains in new south wales of two parallel ranges, with a deep chasm between, and full of gloomy ravines and beetling precipices, the highest ft. blue nose, a nickname given to an inhabitant of nova scotia or new brunswick. bluebeard, a wealthy seigneur, the owner of a castle; marries a beautiful woman, and leaves her in charge of the keys of the apartments in his absence, with injunctions not to unlock any of the doors, an injunction which she fails to respect, and finds to her horror the remains of his former wives locked up in one of them; her disobedience is discovered, and she is to prepare for death, but is rescued, as she lies with her head on the block, by the timely arrival of her brothers, who at once despatch the husband to his merited doom. blue-books, parliamentary documents bound in _blue_ paper, as the corresponding documents in france are in _yellow_; they have been published regularly since the beginning of the th century, those of a single session now forming a collection of some folio volumes. blue-coat school, a name given to christ's hospital, london, founded in the reign of edward vi., from the blue coats worn by the boys. blue-gown, in scotland a beggar, a bedesman of the king, who wore a blue gown, the gift of the king, and had his license to beg. blue-stocking, a female pedant or _femme savante_, a name derived from a learned coterie, formed in the th century, at venice, who wore blue stockings as a badge. bluff hal, or harry, henry viii. of england. blum, a german politician, born at cologne; tried by court-martial and shot for abetting a political movement in vienna in , a proceeding which created a wide-spread sensation at the time all over europe; _b_. . blumenbach, johann friedrich, a distinguished german naturalist and ethnologist, born at gotha; studied at jena; became professor at göttingen, an office he filled for years; his works gave a great impulse to scientific research in all directions; the chief were "institutiones physiologicæ," "manual of natural history," "manual of comparative anatomy and physiology"; he made craniology a special study; was a great advocate for religious liberty ( - ). blumenthal, leonard von, field-marshal in the prussian army; distinguished in the wars with denmark, austria, and france; an eminent strategist; _b_. . blumi`ne, the siren that calypsowise in "sartor" seduced teufelsdröckh at the commencement of his career, but who opened his eyes to see that it is not in sentiment, however fine, that the soul's cravings can find satisfaction. blunt, john henry, d.d., born at chelsea; wrote largely on theological and ecclesiastical subjects ( - ). bluntschli, johann kaspar, a distinguished jurist, born at zurich; an authority in international law; a liberal conservative both in church and state; founder and president of the protestant union called the _protestantenverein_ ( - ). boabdil, or abu-abdallah, surnamed "the unfortunate," the last moorish king of granada, from to ; expelled from his throne by ferdinand of castile and aragon; as he rode off he halted on a hill called "the last sigh of the moor," and wept as he looked back on the alhambra, while his mother added to his bitterness with the cutting sarcasm, "weep as a woman for a throne you have not been able to defend as a man"; died shortly after in africa, recklessly throwing away his life on a field of battle. boadice`a, a british heroine, queen of the iceni, who occupied norfolk and suffolk; roused by indignity done to her and her people by the romans, gathered round her an army, who, with a murderous onslaught, attacked their settlements and destroyed them; but being attacked and defeated in turn by suetonius paulinus, the roman governor, she put, in her despair, an end to her life by poison, a.d. . cowper made her the theme of one of his poems. boanerges (i. e. sons of thunder), applied by christ to the sons of zebedee for the vehemence of their zeal. boaz and jachin, two pillars of brass at the entrance of solomon's temple, signifying respectively strength and stability. bob`adil, captain, a braggadocio in ben jonson's "every man in his humour." bobÈche, a french theatrical clown, under the empire and the restoration, son of an upholsterer of the st. antoine faubourg, the type of the merry-andrew at country fairs. boccaccio, giovanni, the celebrated italian _raconteur_, born near florence; showed early a passion for literature; sent by his father to naples to pursue a mercantile career; gave himself up to story-telling in prose and verse; fell in love with maria, a beautiful woman, daughter of the king, styled by him fiammetta, for whom he wrote several of his works, and his great work, the "decameron"; early formed a lifelong friendship with petrarch, along with whom he contributed to the revival and study of classic literature; lectured on dante in florence; petrarch's death deeply affected him, and he died the year after ( - ). boccherini, luigi, a celebrated italian musical composer, born at lucca; was associated with manfredi, the violinist; his works were numerous; appears to have lived in poverty and obscurity ( - ). bochart, samuel, a protestant divine, born at rouen; pastor at caen; a geographer and an orientalist; wrote a treatise on sacred geography; celebrated for a nine-days' discussion with the jesuit verin ( - ). bode, johann elert, an astronomer, born at hamburg; was professor of astronomy and director of observatory at berlin; produced a number of astronomical works, one of his best, "an introduction to the knowledge of the starry heavens;" gave name to the law of the planetary distances, called bode's law, although it was observed by kepler long before his day ( - ). bodel, a celebrated troubadour of the th century, born at arras. bodensee, another name for the lake of constance, well called the filter of the rhine. bodin, jean, a publicist and diplomatist, born at angers; author of "the republic," in six books, published at first in french and then in latin, which summed up all the political philosophy of his time, and contributed to prepare the way for subsequent speculations; was the precursor of hobbes and montesquieu ( - ). bodleian library, the university library of oxford, founded, or rather restored, by sir thomas bodley in ; enlarged from time to time by bequests, often munificent. it possesses , printed volumes and , mss. bodley, sir thomas, born at exeter; employed on embassies by elizabeth on the continent, where he collected a number of valuable books; bequeathed them and his fortune to the university library of oxford, named after him ( - ). bodmer, johann jacob, a distinguished swiss critic, born near zurich; the first, by study of the masters in literature of greece and rome, france, england, and italy, to wake up germany to a sense of its poverty in that line, and who aided, along with others, in the inauguration of a new era, which he did more by his republication of the minnesingers and part of the "nibelungen lied" than by his advocacy ( - ). bodmin ( ), the county town of cornwall, supersedes truro as capital; an important agricultural centre; has large annual fairs for cattle, horses, and sheep. bodoni, an italian printer; settled at parma, where his press was set up in the ducal palace, whence issued magnificent editions of the classics, horace, virgil, tacitus, tasso, and, last of all, homer. he was often tempted to rome, but he refused to quit parma and the patronage of the ducal house there ( - ). bÖdtcher, ludwig, a danish lyric poet, born at copenhagen; lived chiefly in italy ( - ). boece, hector, a humanist and scottish historian, born at dundee; professor of philosophy at paris; friend of erasmus; was principal of university at aberdeen; wrote "history of bishops of mortlach and aberdeen," and "history of scotland" in excellent latin ( - ). boeckh, philip august, classical antiquary, born at carlsruhe; professor of ancient literature in berlin; a classic of the first rank, and a contributor on a large scale to all departments of greek classical learning; was an eminently learned man, and an authority in different departments of learning ( - ). boehm, sir joseph edgar, sculptor, born in vienna, of hungarian parentage; settled in england; executed a colossal statue of the queen at windsor, a seated statue of carlyle on the thames embankment, a statue of bunyan at bedford, &c.; patronised by the queen and royal family; buried in st. paul's by the queen's desire ( - ). boehme, jacob, a celebrated german mystic, born at görlitz; of an imaginatively meditative turn from boyhood as a neat-herd, and afterwards in his stall as a shoemaker; spent his whole life in meditation on divine things; saw in the bible a revelation of these as in no other book; seemed to have eyes given him to see visions of these things himself, for which he felt he had no organ to express, and which he conveyed to others in mystical, apocalyptical speech; a thinker very fascinating to all minds of the seer class. he was subject to persecution, as all of his stamp are, by the men of the letter, and bore up with the meekness which all men of his elevation of character ever do--"quiet, gentle, and modest," as they all are to the very core, in his way of thinking; and his philosophy would seem to have anticipated the secret of hegel, who acknowledges him as one of the fathers of german philosophy. he left writings which embody a scheme of mystical theology, setting forth the trinity in unity of the hegelian system, that is, viewing the divine as it is in itself, as it comes out in nature, and as it returns to itself in the human soul ( - ). boehmer, a german historian, born at frankfort; author of works on the carlovingian period of history ( - ). boeo`tia, a country of ancient greece, n. of the gulf of corinth; the natives, though brave, were mere tillers of the soil under a heavy atmosphere, innocent of culture, and regarded as boors and dullards by the educated classes of greece, and particularly of athens, and yet hesiod, pindar, and plutarch were natives of boeotia. boerhaave, a great physician, born near leyden, and son of a pastor; ultimately professor of medicine and botany there, as well as of chemistry; chairs of which he filled and adorned with the greatest distinction; his reputation spread over europe, and even as far as china--a letter from which bore the simple address, "to m. boerhaave, europe," and found him; his system was adopted by the profession, and patients from far and wide came to consult him--among others, pope benedict viii. and peter the great; his character was as noble as his abilities were great; his principal works were "institutiones medicæ," "aphorismi de cognoscendis et curandis morbis," "libellus de materia medica," and "institutiones chemicæ" ( - ). boers (i. e. peasants engaged in tillage), dutch colonists of an independent republican temper, who in the th century squatted in s. africa; gave themselves to agriculture and cattle-rearing; settled at length in the transvaal in a self-governed community by themselves. boËthius, anicius manlius severinus, a roman statesman, born at rome, of consular rank, a profoundly learned man, held the highest offices, consul among others, under theodoric the goth; his integrity and opposition to injustice procured him enemies, who accused him of treason; he was cast into prison, and finally put to death; wrote in prison his "de consolatione philosophiæ," in five parts, employing verse and prose alternately, which king alfred translated into anglo-saxon; he was canonised as a martyr, and his influence was great during the middle ages ( - ). boeuf, front de, a character in "ivanhoe." bogatzky, karl heinrich von, religious writer; wrote hymns and an autobiography; is best known as the author of the "golden treasury" ( - ). bogdanovitch, a russian poet, called by his countrymen the "russian anacreon"; his best-known poem "psyche" ( - ). bogermann, johann, dutch divine, translated the bible into dutch, and was president of the synod of dort ( - ). bogota` ( ), capital of the united state of colombia, situated on a remarkable, almost mountain-encircled, plateau, on the river bogotá, m. se. of its port, honda, the highest navigable point of the magdalena, is ft. above sea-level, and has a spring-like climate. it is regularly built, with innumerable churches, a mint, university, library, and observatory, and several schools. though the country is fertile and the mountains rich in coal, iron, salt, and precious metals, its situation and the want of a railway hinder trade. bog-trotter, a name given to the scottish moss-troopers, now to certain irish for their agility in escaping over bogs. bogue, david, born in berwickshire, a congregational minister; one of the founders of the london foreign missionary, the foreign bible, and the religious tract societies ( - ). bohemia ( , ), the most northerly province in austria, two-thirds the size of scotland; is encircled by mountains, and drained by the upper elbe and its tributaries. the erzgebirge separate it from saxony; the riesengebirge, from prussia; the böhmerwald, from bavaria; and the moravian mountains, from moravia. the mineral wealth is varied and great, including coal, the most useful metals, silver, sulphur, and porcelain clay. the climate is mild in the valleys, the soil fertile; flax and hops the chief products; forests are extensive. dyeing, calico-printing, linen and woollen manufactures, are the chief industries. the glassware is widely celebrated; there are iron-works and sugar-refineries. the transit trade is very valuable. the people are mostly czechs, of the slavonic race, roman catholics in religion; there is a large and influential german minority of about two millions, with whom the czechs, who are twice as numerous, do not amalgamate; the former being riled at the official use of the czech language, and the latter agitating for the elevation of the province to the same status as that of hungary. education is better than elsewhere in austria; there is a university at prague, the capital. in the th century the crown was united with the austrian, but in religious questions led to the election of the protestant frederick v. this was followed by the thirty years' war, the extermination of the protestants, and the restoration of the austrian house. bohemian, name given to one who lives by his wits and shuns conventionality. bohemian brethren, a fraternity of an extreme sect of the hussites, organised as united brethren in ; broken up in the thirty years' war, met in secret, and were invited, under the name of moravians or herrnhuters, by count zinzendorf to settle on his estate. bohemond, first prince of antioch, son of robert guiscard; set out on the first crusade; besieged and took antioch; was besieged in turn by the saracens, and imprisoned for two years; liberated, he collected troops and recaptured the city ( - ). bohlen, von, a german orientalist, professor at königsberg ( - ). bonn, henry george, an enterprising publisher, a german, born in london; issued a series of works identified with his name ( - ). bÖhtlingk, otto, sanskrit scholar, a german, born in st. petersburg; author, among other works, of a sanskrit dictionary in vols.; _b_. . boiardo, matteo maria, count of scandiano, surnamed the "flower of chivalry"; an italian poet, courtier, diplomatist, and statesman; author of "orlando innamorato" ( ), the model of ariosto's "orlando furioso," which eclipsed it ( - ). boieldieu, adrien franÇois, a distinguished french musical composer of operas; author of the "calife de bagdad," "télémaque," and "la dame blanche," reckoned his masterpiece; called the french mozart ( - ). boigne, count de, a french soldier of fortune, born at chambéry; served under france, russia, east india company, and the prince of the mahrattas, to whom he rendered signal service; amassed wealth, which he dealt out generously and for the benefit of his country ( - ). boii, an ancient people of gaul, occupying territory between the allier and the loire. boileau, nicolas (surnamed despréaux, to distinguish him from his brother), poet and critic, born in paris; brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, associating himself with la fontaine, racine, and molière; author of "satires" and "epistles," "l'art poétique," "le lutrin," &c., in which he attached and employed his wit against the bad taste of his time; did much to reform french poetry, as pascal did to reform the prose, and was for long the law-giver of parnassus; was an imitator of pope, but especially of horace ( - ). boisard, a french fabulist of remarkable fecundity ( - ). bois-guillebert, a french economist, cousin of vauban; advocate of free trade; _d_. . bois-le-duc ( ), capital of north brabant, m. se. of amsterdam, and with a fine cathedral; seat of an archbishop. boismont, the abbÉ, one of the best french pulpit orators of the th century ( - ). boisrobert, the abbÉ, a french poet, one of the first members of the french academy; patronised by richelieu ( - ). boissonade, jean franÇois, a french greek scholar; for a time carried away by the revolutionary movement, but abandoned politics for letters ( - ). boissiere, a french lexicographer ( - ). boissy d'anglas, count, a member and president of the convention in paris, noted for his firmness and coolness during the frenzy of the revolution: one day the parisian mob burst in upon the convention, shot dead a young deputy, féraud, "sweeping the members of it before them to the upper-bench ... covered, the president sat unyielding, like a rock in the beating of seas; they menaced him, levelled muskets at him, he yielded not; they held up féraud's bloody head to him; with grave, stern air he bowed to it, and yielded not"; became a senator and commander of the legion of honour under napoleon; was made a peer by louis xviii. ( - ). boiste, a french lexicographer ( - ). bokha`ra ( , ), a mohammedan state in central asia, n. of afghanistan, nominally independent; but the khan is a vassal of the czar. the surface is arid, and cultivation possible only near the rivers-the oxus, zarafshan, and karshi. in the sands of the oxus, gold and salt are found. rice, cotton, and cereals are grown; silk, cotton-thread, jewellery, cutlery, and firearms are manufactured. the people are of turk and persian origin. the capital, bokhara ( ), is on the plain of the zarafshan, a walled, mud-built city, or m. in circumference, with numerous colleges and mosques, the centre of learning and religious life in central asia. it has important trade and large slave markets. bolan` pass, a high-lying, deep, narrow gorge, extending between quetta (beluchistan) and kandahar (afghanistan), sloping upwards at an inclination of ft. a mile; is traversed by a torrent. boleslaus, the name of several dukes of poland, of whom the most famous is boleslaus i. the great, who ruled from to . boleyn, anne, or bullen, second wife of henry viii. and mother of elizabeth, daughter of sir thoman bullen (afterwards earl of wiltshire); after a three years' residence at the french court became maid of honour to queen katherine; attracted the admiration of henry; was married to him, and became queen; charged with adultery and conspiracy, was found guilty and beheaded; was of the reformed faith; her marriage with henry had important bearings on the english reformation ( - ). bolingbroke, henry st. john, viscount, english statesman, orator, and political writer, born at battersea; prime minister of queen anne in the tory interest, after her dismissal of the whigs; on the accession of george i. fled to france and joined the pretender; was impeached and attainted; returned in to his estates, but denied a seat in the house of lords, an indignity which he resented by working the overthrow of walpole; was the friend of pope and swift, and the author of "letters" bearing upon politics and literature. "bolingbroke," says prof. saintsbury, "is a rhetorician pure and simple, but the subjects of his rhetoric were not the great and perennial subjects, but puny ephemeral forms of them--the partisan and personal politics of his day, the singularly shallow form of infidelity called deism and the like; and his time deprived him of many, if not most, of the rhetorician's most telling weapons. the 'letter to windham,' a sort of apologia, and the 'ideal of a patriot king,' exhibit him at his best." it was he who suggested to pope his "essay on man" ( - ). bolivar, simon, surnamed the liberator, general and statesman, born at caracas; a man of good birth and liberal education; seized with the passion for freedom during a visit to madrid and paris, devoted himself to the cause of s. american independence; freed from the yoke of spain venezuela and new grenada, which, in , he erected into a republic under the name of colombia; achieved in the same for upper peru, henceforth called bolivia, after his name; accused of aspiring to the dictatorship, he abdicated, and was preparing to leave the country when he died of fever, with the sage reflection on his lips, "the presence of a soldier, however disinterested he may be, is always dangerous in a state that is new to freedom"; he has been called the washington of s. america ( - ). bolivia ( , ), an inland republic of s. america, occupying lofty tablelands e. of the andes, and surrounded by peru, brazil, paraguay, argentina, and chili. the s. is chiefly desert; in the n. are lake titicaca and many well-watered valleys. the very varied heights afford all kinds of vegetation, from wheat and maize to tropical fruits. in the lower plains coffee, tobacco, cotton, and cinchona are cultivated. the most important industry is mining: gold, silver, copper, and tin. trade is hampered by want of navigable rivers, but helped by railways from chili, peru, and argentina. silver is the chief export; manufactured goods are imported. the country has been independent since ; it lost its sea provinces in the war with chili, - . the capital is sucre ( ), but la pay ( ) and cochabamba ( ) are larger towns. bolland, john, a jesuit of antwerp, born in belgium; compiled five vols. of the lives of the saints called "acta sanctorum," which was continued by others, called after him "bollandists." bollandists, a succession of jesuits who produced the lives of the saints, now extended to sixty vols. bologna ( ), an ancient walled city of italy, on a fertile plain, at the foot of the lower apennines, m. n. of florence; has many fine buildings, a university, one of the oldest in europe, schools of music and art, libraries, and art collections. there are some silk and other industries, and considerable trade. bologna, john of, one of the most celebrated sculptors of art in his time, born at douai, settled at florence ( - ). bolor-tagh, a high tableland in central asia, stretching from the hindu kush mountains northwards to the tian shan. bolse`na, a small town in italy, on the e. shore of lake bolsena. bolsena, a lake with clear water in a hollow crater of a volcano, and abounding with fish, but with an unwholesome atmosphere. bolton ( ), manufacturing town of lancashire. bolton abbey, an old abbey in yorkshire, m. e. of skipton; was founded by the augustinian canons. boma, a station on the lower congo, in the congo independent state; once a great slave mart. bomarsund, a fortress of the island of aland occupied by russia, destroyed by the anglo-french fleet in ; the russians bound not to restore it. bomba, nickname of ferdinand ii., late king of the two sicilies, given him, it is alleged, from his calling upon his soldiers to bombard his people during an insurrection. bombastes furioso, an opera by thomas rhodes in ridicule of the bombastic style of certain tragedies in vogue. bombay ( , ), the western presidency of india, embraces british districts and feudatory states. n. of the nerbudda river the country is flat and fertile; s. of it are mountain ranges and tablelands. in the fertile n. cotton, opium, and wheat are the staple products. in the s., salt, iron, and gold are mined; but coal is wanting. the climate is hot and moist on the coast and in the plains, but pleasant on the plateaux. cotton manufacture has developed extensively and cotton cloths, with sugar, tea, wool, and drugs are exported. machinery, oil, coal, and liquors are imported. bombay ( ), the chief city, stands on an island, connected with the coast by a causeway, and has a magnificent harbour and noble docks. it is rapidly surpassing calcutta in trade, and is one of the greatest of seaports; its position promises to make it the most important commercial centre in the east, as it already is in the cotton trade of the world. it swarms with people of every clime, and its merchandise is mainly in the hands of the parsees, the descendants of the ancient fire-worshippers. it is the most english town in india. it came to england from portugal as dowry with catherine of braganza, wife of charles ii., who leased it to the east india company for £ a year. its prosperity began when the civil war in america afforded it an opening for its cotton. bon gaultier, _nom de plume_ assumed by professor aytoun and sir theodore martin. bona ( ), a seaport in algeria, in the province of constantine, on a bay of the mediterranean, with an excellent harbour and a growing trade; is much improved since its occupation by the french in . near it are the ruins of hippo, the episcopal city of augustine. bona, an ascetic writer, surnamed the fénélon of italy, one of feuillant order of monks ( - ). bona dea (the good goddess), a roman goddess of fertility, worshipped by women; her priests vestals and her worship by rites from which men were excluded. her symbol was a serpent, but the name under which she was worshipped is not known. bonald, vicomte de, a french publicist, a violent royalist and ultramontanist; looked upon the catholic religion and the royal authority as fundamental to the stability of the social fabric, and was opposed to the law of divorce, which led to its alteration. he denied that language was innate, but revealed, and that causation was inherent in matter ( - ). bonaparte, name of a celebrated family of italian origin settled in corsica; the principal members of it were: charles marie, born at ajaccio, ; died at montpellier, ; married, . marie-lÆtitia ramolino, born at ajaccio, ; died at rome, ; of this union were born eight children: joseph, became king of naples, ; king of spain from to ; retired to united states after waterloo; returned to europe, and died at florence, . napoleon i. (q. v.). lucien, _b_. ; became president of the council of the five hundred, and prince of canino; died in viterbo, . marie-anne-eliza, _b_. ; married felix bacciochi, who became prince of lucca; died at trieste, . louis, _b_. ; married hortense de beauharnais; father of napoleon iii.; king of holland (from to ); died at leghorn, . marie pauline, _b_. ; married general leclerc, ; afterwards, in , prince camille borghese; became duchess of guastalla; died at florence, . caroline-marie, _b_. ; married marat in ; became grand-duchess of berg and clèves, then queen of naples; died at florence, . jerome, _b_. , king of westphalia (from to ); marshal of france in ; married, by second marriage, princess catherine of würtemburg; died in ; his daughter, the princess mathilde, _b_. , and his son, prince napoleon, called jerome, _b_. , married princess clothilde, daughter of victor emmanuel, of which marriage was born prince victor napoleon in . bonar, horatius, a clergyman of the free church of scotland, and a celebrated hymn writer, born at edinburgh ( - ). bonaventura, st., cardinal, surnamed the seraphic doctor, his real name john fidenza, born in tuscany; entered the franciscan order; was chosen general of the order and papal legate at the council of lyons in , during the session of which he died; was a mystic in theology; ascribed knowledge of the truth to union with god, such as existed between man and his maker prior to the fall, a state which could be recovered only by a life of purity and prayer; his writings were admired by luther ( - ). bonchamp, charles, marquis de, french general, born in anjou, served in the american war; became one of the chiefs of the vendéan army; fell at the battle of cholet, and when dying, relented over the blood already shed; ordered the release of prisoners which his party, in their revenge, was about to massacre; _d_. . bond, william, a distinguished american astronomer ( - ), who with his son, george phillips, discovered a satellite of neptune and an eighth satellite of saturn ( - ). bondu ( ), a country of senegambia, a dependency of france; yields maize, cotton, fruits. bone, henry, a celebrated enamel painter, especially in miniature on ivory; born at truro ( - ). boner, ulrich, a german fabulist and dominican monk of the th century, author of "der edelstein" (the jewel), a book of fables. bonheur, rosa, a celebrated french animal painter, born at bordeaux; brought up in poverty from ill-fortune; taught by her father; exhibited when she was ; her best-known works are the "horse fair" and the "hay harvest in auvergne," "ploughing with oxen," considered her masterpiece; through the empress eugenie she received the cross of the legion of honour; during the siege of paris her studio was spared by order of the crown prince; _b_. . bonhomme, jacques, a name of contempt given by the nobility of france to the peasants in the th century. boniface, the name of nine popes. b. i., pope from to , assumed the title of first bishop of christendom; b. ii., pope from to ; b. iii., pope for months, from to ; b. iv., pope from to ; b. v., pope from to ; b. vi., pope in ; b. vii., pope from to ; b. viii., pope from to , a strenuous assertor of the papal supremacy over all princes, and a cause of much turmoil in europe, provoked a war with philip the fair of france, who arrested him at anagni, and though liberated by the citizens died on his way to rome; b. ix., pope from to , the first pope to wear the triple crown. boniface, st., the apostle of germany, born in devonshire, his real name winfried; consecrated pepin le bref; was made primate of germany; was, with companions, massacred by the barbarians of friesland, whom he sought to convert ( - ). bonin`, a group of rocky islands se. of japan, and since subject to it. bonington, richard, an eminent english landscape painter of exceptional precocity, born near nottingham; painted the "ducal palace" and "grand canal" at venice, his masterpieces ( - ). bonivard, franÇois de, a genevese patriot and historian, twice imprisoned by charles iii., a duke of savoy, for his sympathy with the struggles of the genevese against his tyranny, the second time for six years in the castle of chillon; immortalised by lord byron in his "prisoner of chillon"; he was released at the reformation, and adopted protestantism ( - ). bonn ( ), a prussian town on the rhine, se. of cologne, an old roman station, with a famous university; the birthplace of beethoven, with a monument to his memory; it is a stronghold of the old catholics. bonnat, joseph leon, a french painter, born at bayonne; imitated for a time the religious paintings of the old masters, but since has followed a style of his own; "christ at the cross" in the palais de justice, paris, is his work; _b_. . bonner, edmund, bishop of london, born at worcester; was chaplain to wolsey; sided with henry viii. against the pope; fell into disgrace under edward vi.; was restored by mary, whom he served in her anti-protestant zeal; affected to welcome elizabeth to the throne; was again deposed and imprisoned for refusing to take the oath of supremacy under elizabeth; died in the marshalsea prison: he does not deserve all the odium that has been heaped on his memory; he was faithful as a bishop, consistent in his conduct, and bore the indignities done him with manly fortitude ( - ). bonnet, charles de, swiss naturalist and philosopher, born at geneva; his studies as a naturalist gave a materialistic cast to his philosophy; though he did not deny the existence of mind, still less that of its sovereign author, he gave to material impressions a dominant influence in determining its manifestations ( - ). bonnet-piece, a gold coin of james v. of scotland, so called from the king being represented on it as wearing a bonnet instead of a crown. bonneval, claude-alexandre, comte de. see achmed pasha. bonnie dundee, graham of claverhouse, viscount dundee. bonpland, aimÉ, a french botanist and traveller, born at rochelle; companion of alexander von humboldt in his s. american scientific explorations; brought home a large collection of plants, thousands of species of them new to europe; went out again to america, arrested by dr. francia in paraguay as a spy, kept prisoner there for about nine years; released, settled in the prov. of corrientes, where he died; wrote several works bearing on plants ( - ). bonstetten, charles victor de, a swiss publicist and judge, born at berne; wrote on anthropology, psychology, &c. ( - ). bontemps, roger, a french personification of a state of leisure and freedom from care. bonze, a buddhist priest in china, japan, burmah, &c. boole, english mathematician, born at lincoln; mathematical professor at cork; author of "laws of thought," an original work, and "differential equations" ( - ). boomerang, a missile of hard curved wood used by the australian aborigines of ½ ft. long; a deadly weapon, so constructed that, though thrown forward, it takes a whirling course upwards till it stops, when it returns with a swoop and falls in the rear of the thrower. boone, daniel, a famous american backwoodsman; _d_. , aged . boÖtes (the ox-driver or waggoner), a son of ceres; inventor of the plough in the greek mythology; translated along with his ox to become a constellation in the northern sky, the brightest star in which is arcturus. booth, barton, english actor, acted shakespearean, characters and hamlet's ghost ( - ). booth, john wilkes, son of an actor, assassinated lincoln, and was shot by his captors ( - ). booth, william, founder and general of the salvation army, born in nottingham; published "in darkest england"; a man of singular self-devotion to the religious and social welfare of the race; _b_. . boothia, a peninsula of british n. america, w. of the gulf of boothia, and in which the n. magnetic pole of the earth is situated; discovered by sir john boss in . booton, an island in the malay archipelago, se. of celebes; subject to the dutch. bopp, franz, a celebrated german philologist and sanskrit scholar, born at mayence; was professor of oriental literature and general philology at berlin; his greatest work, "a comparative grammar of sanskrit, zend, greek, latin, lithuanian, old slave, gothic, and german"; translated portions of the "mahÂbhÂrata," q. v. ( - ). bora, katharina, the wife of luther, born in meissen, originally a nun, who, with eight others, was at luther's instance released from her convent; proved "a pious and faithful wife" to luther, as he says of her, and became the mother to him of six children, three sons and three daughters ( - ). borda, a french mathematician and physicist, born at dax, in the dep. of landes, served in both army and navy; one of those employed in measuring an arc of the meridian to establish the metric system in france ( - ). bordeaux ( ), a great industrial and commercial city, and chief seat of the wine trade in france and the third seaport on the garonne; cap. of the dep. of gironde; the birthplace of rosa bonheur and richard ii., his father, the black prince, having had his seat here as governor of aquitaine. there are sugar-refineries, potteries, foundries, glass and chemical works. the cod-fishing industry has its base here. a cathedral dates from the th century. there are schools of science, art, theology, medicine, and navigation, a library, museum, and rich picture-gallery. border minstrel, sir walter scott. borders, the, the shifting boundary between scotland and england before the union, a centre of endless fighting and marauding on the opposite sides for centuries. bordone, an italian painter, born at treviso, a pupil of titian and giorgione; his most celebrated picture, "the gondolier presenting the ring of st. mark to the doge" ( - ). bore, a watery ridge rushing violently up an estuary, due to a strong tidal wave travelling up a gradually narrowing channel. bores are common in the estuary of the ganges and other asiatic rivers, in those of brazil, and at the mouth of the severn, in england. boreas, the god of the north wind, and son of the titan astræus and of aurora. borghese, name of a family of high position and great wealth in rome: camillo, having become pope in under the title of paul v.; and prince borghese having married pauline bonaparte, sister of napoleon, who separated himself from her on the fall of her brother ( - ); the palace of the family one of the finest in rome, and has a rich collection of paintings. borghesi, count, an italian savant skilled in numismatics ( - ). borgia, cÆsar, fourth son of pope alexander vi.; was made cardinal at the age of , an honour he relinquished to become a soldier, in which capacity it is alleged he gave himself up to deeds of inhumanity, which have made his name a synonym for every action that is most crafty, revolting, and cruel; a portrait of him by raphael, in the borghese gallery, is a masterpiece. notwithstanding the execration in which his memory is held, he is reputed to have been just as a ruler in his own domain, and a patron of art and literature; _d_. . borgia, franceso, third general of the order of the jesuits, a post he filled with great zeal as well as prudent management; was beatified by urban viii., and canonised by clement ix., ( - ). borgia, lucretia, sister of cæsar borgia, born at rome; her father annulled her first marriage, and gave her to a nephew of the king of naples, who was murdered by her brother's assassins, when she married the duke of ferrara; was celebrated for her beauty and her patronage of letters, though she has been accused of enormities as well as her brother ( - ). borgu, fertile and densely-peopled state in africa, traversed by the niger, subject to the royal niger company, in one of the chief towns of which mungo park lost his life. borlase, william, antiquary and naturalist, born in st. just, cornwall; author of "observations on the antiquities of cornwall" and "natural history of cornwall"; was vicar in his native parish ( - ). born, bertrand, one of the most celebrated troubadours of the th century, born in périgord; aggravated the quarrel between henry ii. of england and his sons; is placed by dante in the "inferno." borne, ludwig, a political writer, born at frankfort, of jewish parentage; disgusted with the state of things in germany, went to paris after the revolution there of ; was disappointed with the result, and turned radical; he and heine were at deadly feud ( - ). borneo ( , ), an island in the malay archipelago, the third largest in the globe, australia and new guinea being larger; its length m., and its breadth , covered with mountains in the interior, kinabalu the highest ( , ft.); has no volcanoes; bordered all round with wide plains and low marshy ground; rich in vegetation and in minerals, in gold and precious stones; its forests abound with valuable timber, teak, ebony, &c.; all tropical crops and spices are cultivated; the population is dyak, malay, and chinese; possessed in great part by the dutch, and in the north part by the british. bornholm ( ), an island belonging to denmark, in the baltic; has no good harbour; agriculture, cattle-breeding, and fishing the occupation of the inhabitants. bornu ( , ), a mohammedan state in the central soudan, w. and s. of lake tehad; famed for a breed of horses; population mostly negroes; the ruling race of arab descent, called shuwas; climate hot and unhealthy in the low ground, but temperate in the high. boro budor, the ruin of a magnificent buddhist temple in java, ornamented with figures of buddha and scenes in his life, with representations of battles, processions, chariot races, &c. borodino, a village m. w. of moscow; the scene of a bloody battle between napoleon and the russians, sept. , . bororo, a large brazilian nation between cuyaba and goyaz. borough, in scotland burgh, is in its modern sense primarily a town that sends a representative to parliament; but it is further an area of local government, exercising police, sanitary, and sometimes educational, supervision, and deriving its income from rates levied on property within its bounds, and in scotland sometimes from "common good" and petty customs. its charter may be held from the crown or granted by parliament. borough english, descent of lands to a youngest son. borowlaski, count, a polish dwarf, of perfect symmetry, though only three feet in height; attained the age of . borrome`an islands, four islands in lago maggiore, of which three were converted into gardens by count borromeo in , on one of which stands a palace of the borromeos, enriched with fine paintings and other works of art. borrome`o, st. carlo, cardinal and archbishop of milan, a prominent member of the council of trent, and contributed to the tridentine catechism; conspicuous by his self-sacrificing offices during a plague in the city of which he was the archbishop ( - ). borromeo, frederigo, nephew and successor of the preceding, of equal status in the church, and similar character ( - ). borrow, george henry, traveller and philologist, born in norfolk; showed early a passion for adventure and a facility in languages; was appointed agent for the bible society in russia and spain; in his fondness for open-air life, associated much with the gipsies; wrote an account of those in spain, and a famous book, entitled "the bible in spain"; wrote "lavengro," his masterpiece (a gipsy designation applied to him, meaning "word-master," which he was), which is chiefly autobiography ( - ). borrowdale, a valley in the lake district, w. cumberland, celebrated for its beautiful scenery. borthwick castle, a ruined peel tower, m. se. of edinburgh, where queen mary and bothwell spent four days together in june . bory de saint-vincent, jean baptiste, a french traveller and naturalist ( - ). boscawen, edward, a british admiral, known from his fearlessness as "old dreadnought"; distinguished himself in engagements at puerto bello, cathagena, cape finisterre, and the bay of lagos, where, after a "sea hunt" of hours, he wrecked and ruined a fine french fleet, eager to elude his grasp ( - ). boscovich, roger joseph, an italian mathematician and astronomer, born at ragusa; entered the order of the jesuits; was professor in pavia, and afterwards at milan; discovered the equator of the sun and the period of its rotation; advocated the molecular theory of physics, with which his name is associated; died insane ( - ). bosio, baron, a celebrated italian sculptor; patronised in france ( - ). bosna-serai ( ), capital of bosnia, and seat of authority. bosnia ( , ), a province in nw. of the balkan peninsula, under austria-hungary; the inhabitants of servian nationality. bos`phorus (ox-ford), a channel m. long and from to ½ m. broad, and about fathoms deep, strongly defended by forts, extending from the sea of marmora to the black sea; subject to turkey. it derives its name from the channel which, according to the greek myth, zeus, in the form of an ox, crossed into europe with europa on his back. bos`quet, pierre franÇois joseph, a marshal of france, distinguished in algiers and the crimea; was wounded at the storming of the malakoff ( - ). bos`suet, jacques bÉnigne, bishop of meaux, born at dijon, surnamed the "eagle of meaux," of the see of which he became bishop; one of the greatest of french pulpit orators, and one of the ablest defenders of the doctrines of the catholic church; the great aim of his life the conversion of protestants back to the catholic faith; took a leading part in establishing the rights of the gallican clergy, or rather of the crown, as against the claims of the pope; proved himself more a time-server than a bold, outspoken champion of the truth; conceived a violent dislike to madame guyon, and to fénélon for his defence of her and her quietists; and he is not clear of the guilt of the revocation of the edict of nantes; wrote largely; his "discourse on universal history" is on approved lines, and the first attempt at a philosophy of history; his funeral orations are monuments of the most sublime eloquence; while his "politique founded on holy scripture" is a defence of the divine right of kings. "bossuet," says professor saintsbury, "was more of a speaker than a writer. his excellence lies in his wonderful survey and grasp of the subject, in the contagious enthusiasm and energy with which he attacks his point, and in his inexhaustible metaphors and comparisons.... though he is always aiming at the sublime, he scarcely ever oversteps it, or falls into the bombastic or ridiculous.... the most unfortunate incident of his life was his controversy with fénélon" ( - ). bossut, charles, french mathematician, born near lyons, _confrère_ of the encyclopaedists; his chief work "l'histoire générale des mathématiques"; edited pascal's works ( - ). boston ( ), a lincolnshire seaport, on the witham, m. se. of lincoln; exports coal, machinery, corn, and wool, and imports timber and general goods. there is a large cattle and sheep market, also canvas and sail-cloth works. fox, the martyrologist, was a native. it has a spacious church, which is a conspicuous landmark and beacon at sea. boston ( ), on massachusetts bay, is the capital of massachusetts and the chief city of new england, one of the best-built and best-appointed cities of the union. with an excellent harbour and eight converging railways it is an emporium of trade, and very wealthy. sugar, wool, hides, and chemicals are imported; farm produce, cattle, cotton, and tobacco exported; boot and shoe making is one of many varied industries. the many educational institutions and its interest in literature and art have won for it the title of american athens. among famous natives were franklin, poe, and emerson; while most american men of letters have been associated with it. the boston riots of and were the heralds of the revolution, and the first battle was fought at bunker hill, not far off, now included in it. boston, thomas, a scottish divine, born at duns, educated at edinburgh, became minister of ettrick; author of the "fourfold state," a popular exposition of calvinism, and "the crook in the lot," both at one time much read and studied by the pious presbyterian burghers and peasantry of scotland; the former an account of the state of man, first in innocence, second as fallen, third as redeemed, and fourth as in glory. he was a shrewd man and a quaint writer; exercised a great influence on the religious views of the most pious-minded of his countrymen ( - ). boston tea-party, the insurgent american colonists who, disguised as indians, boarded, on dec. , , three english ships laden with tea, and hurled several hundred chests of it into boston harbour, "making it black with unexpected tea." boswell, james, the biographer of johnson, born at edinburgh, showed early a penchant for writing and an admiration for literary men; fell in with johnson on a visit to london in , and conceived for him the most devoted regard; made a tour with him to the hebrides in , the "journal" of which he afterwards published; settled in london, and was called to the english bar; succeeded, in , to his father's estate, auchinleck, in ayrshire, with an income of £ a year. johnson dying in , boswell's "life" of him appeared five years after, a work unique in biography, and such as no man could have written who was not a hero-worshipper to the backbone. he succumbed in the end to intemperate habits, aggravated by the death of his wife ( - ). boswell, sir alexander, son and heir of the preceding, an antiquary; mortally wounded in a duel with james stuart of dunearn, who had impugned his character, for which the latter was tried, but acquitted ( - ). bosworth, a town in leicestershire, near which richard iii. lost both crown and life in , an event which terminated the wars of the roses and led to the accession of the tudor dynasty to the throne of england in the person of henry vii. bosworth, joseph, an anglo-saxon scholar, born in derbyshire; became professor of anglo-saxon at oxford; was the author of an anglo-saxon grammar and dictionary ( - ). botany bay, an inlet in new south wales, m. s. of sydney; discovered by captain cook in ; so called, by sir joseph banks, from the variety and beauty of its flora; was once an english convict settlement. both, john and andrew, flemish painters of the th century, the former a landscape and the latter a figure painter; worked frequently on the same canvas. bothnia, a prov. of sweden, divided into e. and w. by a gulf of the name. bothwell, a village in lanarkshire, on the clyde, m. se. of glasgow; scene of a battle between monmouth and the covenanters in . bothwell, james hepburn, earl of, one of the envoys sent in to convey mary, queen of scots, from france home; was made privy councillor the year after; had to flee to france for an act of conspiracy; was recalled by mary on her marriage with darnley; was a great favourite with the queen; was believed to have murdered darnley, though when tried, was acquitted; carried off mary to dunbar castle; pardoned; was made duke of orkney, and married to her at holyrood; parted with her at carberry hill; fled to norway, and was kept captive there at malmöe; after ten years of misery he died, insane, as is believed ( - ). botocudos, a wandering wild tribe in the forests of brazil, near the coast; a very low type of men, and at a very low stage of civilisation; are demon-worshippers, and are said to have no numerals beyond _one_. bo-tree, a species of ficus, sacred to the buddhists as the tree under which buddha sat when the light of life first dawned on him. see buddha. botta, carlo giuseppe, an italian political historian, born in piedmont; his most important work is his "history of italy from to "; was the author of some poems ( - ). botta, paul Émile, assyriologist, born at turin, son of the preceding; when consul at mosul, in , discovered the ruins of nineveh; made further explorations, published in the "memoire de l'ecriture cunéiform assyrienne" and "monuments de ninive" ( - ). bÖttger, an alchemist who, in his experiments on porcelain, invented the celebrated meissen porcelain ( - ). botticelli, sandro, or alessandro, a celebrated painter of the florentine school; began as a goldsmith's apprentice; a pupil of fra lippo lippi; the best-known examples of his art are on religious subjects, though he was no less fascinated with classical--mythological conceptions; is distinguished for his attention to details and for delicacy, particularly in the drawing of flowers; and it is a rose on the petticoat of one of his figures, the figure of spring, which ruskin has reproduced on the title-page of his recent books, remarking that "no one has ever yet drawn, or is likely to draw, roses as he has done;... he understood," he adds, "the thoughts of heathens and christians equally, and could in a measure paint both aphrodité and the madonna" ( - ). bÖttiger, karl auguste, german archæologist, was a voluminous writer on antiquities, especially classical ( - ). bottom, a weaver in the interlude in "midsummer-night's dream," whom, with his ass's head, titania falls in love with under the influence of a love-potion. botzaris, one of the heroes of the war of greek independence ( - ). bouchardon, a celebrated french sculptor ( - ). boucher, a french painter, born at paris ( - ). boucher de perthes, french naturalist and anthropologist, born in ardennes ( - ). boucicault, dion, a dramatic writer, author of popular irish pieces, as "the colleen bawn" and "the shaughraun" ( - ). boucicaut, marshal de, one of the bravest and noblest of french soldiers, born at tours; distinguished in several famous battles; was taken captive by the english at agincourt; died in england ( - ). boufflers, chevalier de, field-marshal of france, courtier and author ( - ). boufflers, marquis de, marshal of france, distinguished for his defence of namur ( ) and of lille ( ), and his masterly retreat from malplaquet ( - ). bougainville, louis antoine de, a french navigator, born in paris; voyaged round the world, which occupied him two years and a half; his "travels" had a remarkably stimulating effect on the imaginations of the "philosophies," as described by him in "un voyage autour du monde" ( - ). bough, sam, landscape painter, born at carlisle, and settled in edinburgh for years ( - ). bouguer, pierre, french physicist, born in brittany; wrote on optics and the figure of the earth ( - ). bouguereau, adolphe, a distinguished french painter, born at rochelle in ; his subjects both classical and religious, as well as portraits. bouhour, le pÈre, french littérateur, born at paris ( - ). bouillÉ, marquis de, a french general, born in auvergne, distinguished in the seven years' war, in the west indies and during the revolution; "last refuge of royalty in all straits"; favoured the flight of louis xvi.; a "quick, choleric, sharp-discerning, stubbornly-endeavouring man, with suppressed-explosive resolution, with valour, nay, headlong audacity; muzzled and fettered by diplomatic pack-threads,... an intrepid, adamantine man"; did his utmost for royalty, failed, and quitted france; died in london, and left "memoirs of the french revolution" ( - ). see for the part he played in it, carlyle's "french revolution." bouillon, district in belgium, originally a german duchy; belonged to godfrey, the crusader, who pledged it to raise funds for the crusade. bouilly, jean nicolas, a french dramatist, born near tours, nicknamed, from his sentimentality "poète lacrymal" ( - ). boulainvilliers, a french historian, author of a "history of mahomet" ( - ). boulak ( ), the port of cairo, on the nile. boulan`ger, jean marie, a french general, born at rennes; of note for the political intrigues with which he was mixed up during the last years of his life, and the dangerous popular enthusiasm which he excited; accused of peculation; fled the country, and committed suicide at brussels ( - ). boulay de la meurthe, a french statesman, distinguished as an orator; took part in the redaction of the civil code; was a faithful adherent of napoleon ( - ). henri, a son, vice-president of the republic from to ( - ). boulder, a large mass or block of rock found in localities often far removed from the place of its formation, and transported thither on the ice of the glacial age. boulevard, the rampart of a fortified city converted into a promenade flanked by rows of trees and a feature of paris in particular, though the boulevard is not always on the line of a rampart. boulogne, bois de, a promenade between paris and st. cloud, much frequented by people of fashion, and a favourite place of recreation; it rivals that of the champs elysées. boulogne-sur-mer ( ), a fortified seaport in france, on the english channel, in the dep. of pas-de-calais, m. sw. of calais, one of the principal ports for debarkation from england; where napoleon collected in a flotilla to invade england; is connected by steamer with folkestone, and a favourite watering-place; the chief station of the north sea fisheries; is the centre of an important coasting trade, and likely to become a naval station. boulogne-sur-seine ( ), a town on the right bank of the seine, m. sw. of paris, from which it is separated by the bois-de-boulogne. boulton, matthew, an eminent engineer, born at birmingham; entered into partnership with james watt, and established with him a manufactory of steam-engines at soho, on a barren heath near his native place; contributed to the improvement of the coinage ( - ). "bounty," mutiny of the, a mutiny which took place on the ship _bounty_, on the th april , bound from otaheite to the west indies, on the part of of the crew, who returned to otaheite after setting the captain (bligh) adrift with others in an open boat. bligh reached england after a time, reported the crime, to the seizure at length of certain of the offenders and the execution of others. those who escaped founded a colony on pitcairn island. bourbaki, charles denis soter, a french general, born at pau, served in the crimean war and in italy, suffered disastrously in the franco-german war, and attempted suicide; served for a time under gambetta, afterwards retired; _b_. . bourbon, a family of french origin, hailing from bourbonnais, members of which occupied for generations the thrones of france, naples, and spain, and who severally ruled their territories under a more or less overweening sense of their rights as born to reign. two branches, both of which trace back to henry iv., held sway in france, one beginning with louis xiv., eldest son of louis xiii., and the other, called the orleans, with philip of orleans, second son of louis xiii., the former ending with charles x. and his family, and the latter ending with louis philippe and his line. the branches of the family ruling in spain and naples began with philip vi., grandson of louis xiv., the former branch still ( ) in power, the latter ending with francis ii. in . bourbon, charles de, styled the constable de bourbon, acquired immense wealth by the death of an elder brother and by his marriage, and lived in royal state; was for his daring in the field named constable of france by francis i.; offended at some, perhaps imaginary, injustice francis did him, he clandestinely entered the service of the emperor charles v., defeated the french at pavia, and took francis captive; parted from charles, laid siege to rome, and fell in the assault, mortally wounded, it is said, by benvenuto cellini ( - ). bourbonnais, ancient province in the centre of france, being the duchy of bourbon; united to the crown in ; cap. moulins. bourdaloue, louis, a french jesuit, born at bourges, called the "king of preachers, and preacher of kings"; one of the most eloquent pulpit orators of france; did not suffer by comparison with bossuet, his contemporary, though junior; one of the most earnest and powerful of his sermons, the one entitled "the passion," is deemed the greatest. his sermons are ethical in their matter from a christian standpoint, carefully reasoned, and free from ornament, but fearless and uncompromising ( - ). bourdon, sebastian, a french painter, born at montpellier; his _chef-d'oeuvre_ "the crucifixion of st. peter," executed for the church of notre dame ( - ). bourdon de l'oise, a french revolutionist, member of the convention; banished to guiana, where he died in . bourgelat, a famous french veterinary surgeon, born at lyons, and founder of veterinary colleges at lyons in ; was an authority on horse management, and often consulted on the matter ( - ). bourgeois, sir francis, painter to george iii.; left his collection to dulwich college, and £ , to build a gallery for them ( - ). bourgeoisie, the name given in france to the middle class, professional people, and merchants, as distinguished from the nobles and the peasants, but applied by the socialists to the capitalists as distinct from the workers. bourges ( ), a french town in the dep. of cher; birthplace of louis xi. and bourdaloue. bourget, paul, an eminent french novelist and essayist, born at amiens; a subtle analyst of character, with a clear and elegant style, on which he bestows great pains; his novels are what he calls "psychological," and distinct from the romantist and naturalistic; _b_. . bourignon, antoinette, a flemish visionary and fanatic; resolved religion into emotion; brought herself into trouble by the wild fancies she promulgated, to the derangement of others as well as herself ( - ). bourmont, louis auguste victor, comte de, a french marshal; at the revolution joined the bourbons on the frontiers; served the royal cause in la vendée; held high commands under napoleon; commanded under ney on napoleon's return from elba; deserted on the eve of waterloo to louis xviii.; gave evidence against ney to his execution; commanded the expedition against algiers; refused allegiance to louis philippe on his accession, and was dismissed the service ( - ). bourne, hugh, founder of the primitive methodists, and a zealous propagator of their principles; he was a carpenter by trade, and he appears to have wrought at his trade while prosecuting his mission, which he did extensively both in britain and america ( - ). bournemouth ( ), a town in hants, on poole bay, m. sw. of southampton, with a fine sandy beach; a great health resort; is of recent, and has been of rapid, growth. bourrienne, louis antoine fauvelet, secretary of napoleon, and a school friend, born at sens; held the post for five years, but dismissed for being implicated in disgraceful money transactions; joined the bourbons at the restoration; the revolution of and the loss of his fortune affected his mind, and he died a lunatic at caen; wrote "memoirs" disparaging to napoleon ( - ). boussa, a town in central africa, capital of a state of the same name, where mungo park lost his life as he was going up the niger. boustrophe`don, an ancient mode of writing from right to left, and then from left to right, as in ploughing a field. bouterwek, friedrich, a german philosopher and professor of philosophy at göttingen; a disciple of kant, then of jacobi, and expounder of their doctrines; wrote "history of poetry and eloquence among the modern races" ( - ). bowdich, thomas edward, an english traveller, born at bristol; sent on a mission to guinea, and penetrated as far as coomassie; wrote an interesting account of it in his "mission to ashanti" ( - ). bowditch, nathaniel, american mathematician, born at salem, massachusetts; a practical scientist; published "practical navigation," translated the "mécanique céleste" of laplace, accompanied with an elaborate commentary ( - ). bowdler, thomas, an english physician; edited expurgated editions of shakespeare and gibbon in the interest of moral purity; added in consequence a new term to the english language, bowdlerism ( - ). bowdoin, james, an american statesman, born in boston, of french extraction; a zealous advocate of american independence; author of "discourse on the constitution of the united states" ( - ). bowen, richard, a gallant british naval commander, distinguished himself in several engagements, and by his captures of the enemy's ships; killed by grape-shot at the storming of santa cruz, at the moment when nelson was wounded ( - ). bower, walter, abbot of inchcolm, scottish chronicler; continued fordun's history down to the death of james i. in from ( - ). bowles, william lisle, a poet, born in northamptonshire; his sonnets, by their "linking," as professor saintsbury has it, "of nature's aspect to human feeling," were much admired by coleridge, and their appearance is believed to have inaugurated a new era in english poetry, as developed in the lake school ( - ). bowling, tom, a typical british sailor in "roderick random." bowling, sir john, linguist and political writer, born at exeter; friend and disciple of bentham as well as editor of his works; first editor of _westminster review_; at the instance of the english government visited the continental states to report on their commercial relations; became governor of hong-kong; ordered the bombardment of canton, which caused dissatisfaction at home ( - ). bowyer, william, printer and scholar, born in london; wrote on the origin of printing, and published an edition of the greek new testament with notes ( - ). "box and cox," a farce by j. m. morton, remarkable for a successful run such as is said to have brought the author £ . boy bishop, a boy chosen on th december, st. nicholas' day, generally out of the choir, to act as bishop and do all his episcopal duties, except celebrate mass. for the term of his office, which varied, he was treated as bishop, and if he died during his tenure of it was buried with episcopal honours. the term of office was limited in to hours. boyars, the old nobility of russia, whose undue influence in the state was broken by peter the great; also the landed aristocracy of roumania. boyce, william, composer, chiefly of church music, born in london; published a collection of the "cathedral music of the old english masters"; composed "hearts of oak," a naval song sung by ships' crews at one time before going into action ( - ). boycott, captain, an irish landlord's agent in connemara, with whom the population of the district in refused to have any dealings on account of disagreements with the tenantry. boyd, andrew kennedy hutchison, a scottish clergyman and writer; bred for the bar, but entered the church; known to fame as a. k. h. b.; author of "recreations of a country parson," which was widely read, and of reminiscences of his life; died at bournemouth by mischance of swallowing a lotion instead of a sleeping-draught ( - ). boyd, zachary, a scottish divine; regent of a protestant college at samur, in france; returned to scotland in consequence of the persecution of the huguenots; became minister of barony parish, glasgow, and rector of the university; preached before cromwell after the battle of dunbar; author of the "last battell of the soule in death" and "zion's flowers," being mainly metrical versions of scripture, called "boyd's bible" ( - ). boydell, john, an english engraver and print-seller, famous for his "shakespeare gallery," with plates in illustration of shakespeare, and the encouragement he gave to native artists; he issued also hume's "history of england," with plates in illustration ( - ). boyer, baron, french anatomist and surgeon; attendant on napoleon, afterwards professor in the university of paris; wrote works on anatomy and surgical diseases, which continued for long text-books on those subjects; was a man of very conservative opinions ( - ). boyer, jean pierre, president of hayti, born at port-au-prince of a negress and a creole father; secured the independence of the country; held the presidency for years from , but suspected of consulting his own advantage more than that of the country, was driven from power by a revolution in ; retired to paris, where he spent the rest of his life and died ( - ). boyle, charles, fourth earl of orrery, distinguished for the connection of his name with the bentley controversy, and for its connection with an astronomical contrivance by one graham to illustrate the planetary system ( - ). boyle, richard, first and great earl of cork, distinguished among irish patriots and landlords for what he did to improve his estates and develop manufactures and the mechanical arts in ireland, also for the honours conferred upon him for his patriotism; when cromwell saw how his estates were managed he remarked, that had there been one like him in every province in ireland rebellion would have been impossible ( - ). boyle, the hon. robert, a distinguished natural philosopher, born at lismore, of the orrery family; devoted his life and contributed greatly to science, especially chemistry, as well as pneumatics; was one of the originators of the "royal society"; being a student of theology, founded by his will an endowment for the "boyle lectures" in defence of christianity against its opponents and rivals; refused the presidentship of the royal society, and declined a peerage ( - ). boyle lectures, the lectureship founded by the hon. robert boyle in , and held for a tenure of three years, the endowment being £ per annum; the lecturer must deliver eight lectures in defence of christianity, and some of the most eminent men have held the post. boyle's law, that the volume of a gas is inversely as the pressure. boyne, a river in ireland, which flows through meath into the irish sea; gives name to the battle in which william iii. defeated the forces of james ii. on th july . boz, a _nom de plume_ under which dickens wrote at first, being his nickname when a boy for a little brother. bozzy, johnson's familiar name for boswell. brabant, in mediæval times was an important prov. of the low countries, inhabitants dutch, cap. breda; is now divided between holland and belgium. it comprises three provs., the n. or dutch brabant; antwerp, a belgian prov., inhabitants flemings, cap. antwerp; and s. brabant, also belgian, inhabitants walloons, cap. brussels; the whole mostly a plain. bracton, henry de, an english "justice itinerant," a writer on english law of the th century; author of "de legibus et consuetudinibus angliæ," a "treatise on the laws and customs of england," and the first attempt of the kind; _d_. . bradamante, sister to rinaldo, and one of the heroines in "orlando furioso"; had a lance which unhorsed every one it touched. braddock, edward, british general, born in perthshire; entered the coldstream guards, and became major-general in ; commanded a body of troops against the french in america, fell in an attempt to invest fort duquesue, and lost nearly all his men ( - ). braddon, miss (mrs. john maxwell), a popular novelist, born in london; authoress of "lady audley's secret," "aurora floyd," and some other novels; contributed largely to magazines; _b_. . bradford ( ), a yorkshire manufacturing town, on a tributary of the aire, m. w. of leeds; it is the chief seat of worsted spinning and weaving in england, and has an important wool market; coal and iron mines are at hand, and iron-works and machinery-making are its other industries. also the name of a manufacturing town on the avon, in wilts. bradlaugh, charles, a social reformer on secularist lines, born in london; had a chequered career; had for associate in the advocacy of his views mrs. annie besant; elected m.p. for northampton thrice over, but not allowed to sit till he took the oath, which he did in ; died respected by all parties in the house of commons; wrote the "impeachment of the house of brunswick" ( - ). bradley, james, astronomer, born in gloucestershire; professor of astronomy at oxford, and astronomer-royal at greenwich; discovered the aberration of light and the nutation of the earth's axis; made , astronomical observations ( - ). bradshaw, george, an engraver of maps in manchester; published maps illustrative of certain canal systems, and did the same service for railways, which developed into the well-known "railway guide" ( - ). bradshaw, john, president of the high court of justice for trial of charles i., born at stockport; bred for the bar; a friend of milton; a thorough republican, and opposed to the protectorate; became president of the council on cromwell's death; was buried in westminster; his body was exhumed and hung in chains at the restoration ( - ). bradwardin, thomas, archbishop of canterbury, surnamed "doctor profundus" from his treatise "de causa dei" against pelagianism; chaplain to edward iii.; was present at crécy and at the taking of calais; died of the black death shortly after his consecration ( - ). bradwardine, the name of a baron and his daughter, the heroine of "waverley." braemar`, a scottish highland district sw. of aberdeenshire; much frequented by tourists, and resorted to for summer country quarters. brag, jack, a pretender who ingratiates himself with people above him. braga ( ), a city, m. ne. of oporto, portugal; the residence of the primate; the capital of minho. braganza, capital of traz-os-montes, in portugal; gives name to the ruling dynasty of portugal, called the house of braganza, the eighth duke of braganza having ascended the throne in , on the liberation of portugal from the yoke of spain. bragi, the norse god of poetry and eloquence, son of odin and frigga; represented as an old man with a long flowing beard and unwrinkled brow, with a mild expression of face; received in valhalla the heroes who fell in battle. braham, john, a celebrated tenor singer, the most so in europe of his day, and known all over europe; was particularly effective in rendering the national songs; born in london, of jewish parents; composed operas, which, however, were only dramas interspersed with songs. scott described him as "a beast of an actor, but an angel of a singer" ( - ). brahÉ, tycho, a swedish astronomer, of noble birth; spent his life in the study of the stars; discovered a new star in cassiopeia; had an observatory provided for him on an island in the sound by the king, where he made observations for years; he was, on the king's death, compelled to retire under persecution at the hand of the nobles; accepted an invitation of the kaiser rudolf ii. to prague, where he continued his work and had kepler for assistant and pupil ( - ). brahma, in the hindu religion and philosophy at one time the formless spirit of the universe, from which all beings issue and into which they all merge, and as such is not an object of worship, but a subject of meditation; and at another the creator of all things, of which vishnu (q. v.) is the preserver and siva (q. v.) the destroyer, killing that he may make alive. see trimurti. brahman, or brahmin, one of the sacred caste of the hindus that boasts of direct descent from, or immediate relationship with, brahma, the custodians and mediators of religion, and therefore of high-priestly rank. brahmanas, treatises on the ceremonial system of brahminism, with prescriptions bearing upon ritual, and abounding in legends and speculations. brahmaputra (i. e. son of brahma), a river which rises in tibet, circles round the e. of the himalayas, and, after a course of some m., joins the ganges, called the sampo in tibet, the dihong in assam, and the brahmaputra in british india; it has numerous tributaries, brings down twice as much mud as the ganges, and in the lower part of its course overflows the land, particularly assam, like an inland sea. brahminism, the creed and ritual of the brahmans, or that social, political, and religious organisation which developed among the aryans in the valley of the ganges under the influence of the brahmans. according to the religious conception of this class, brahma, or the universal spirit, takes form or incarnates himself successively as brahma, vishnu, and siva, which triple incarnation constitutes a trimurti or trinity. in this way brahma, the first incarnation of the universal spirit, had four sons, from whom issued the four castes of india--brahmans, kshatriyas, vaisyas, and sudras--all the rest being outcasts or pariahs. see caste. brahmo-somaj (i. e. church of god), a secession from traditional hinduism, originated in by rammohun roy, and developed by chunder sen; founded on theistic, or rather monotheistic, i. e. unitarian, principles, and the rational ideas and philosophy of europe, as well as a profession of a sense of the brotherhood of man no less than the unity of god. brahms, johannes, a distinguished composer, born at hamburg; of great promise from a boy; settled in vienna; has no living rival; the appearance of compositions of his an event in the musical world; approaches beethoven as no other does; distinguished as a performer as well as a composer; _b_. . braidwood, james, born in edinburgh; director of the london fire brigade; distinguished for his heroism on the occasion of great fires both in edinburgh and london ( - ). braille, a blind frenchman, invented printing in relief for the blind ( - ). brainerd, american missionary to the red indians, born in connecticut; his life was written by jonathan edwards, in whose house he died ( - ). bramah, joseph, an engineer, born in barnsley, yorkshire; author of many mechanical inventions, of which were patented, among others the hydraulic press, named after him ( - ). bramante, donato, architect; laid the foundation of st. peter's at rome, which he did not live to complete ( - ). bramble, matthew, a gouty humorist in "humphrey clinker"; of a fretful temper, yet generous and kind, who has a sister, miss tabitha, an ungainly maiden at forty-five, and of anything but a sweet temper. bramhall, john, archbishop of armagh, born in yorkshire, a high-handed churchman and imitator of laud; was foolhardy enough once to engage, nowise to his credit, in public debate with such a dialectician as thomas hobbes on the questions of necessity and free-will ( - ). bramwell, sir frederick, civil engineer, president of the british association in , and previously of association of engineers; _b_. . bran, name given to fingal's dog. brand, john, antiquary, born in durham, wrote a "popular antiquities" ( - ). brandan, st., island of, an island reported of by st. brandan as lying w. of the canary islands, and that figured on charts as late as , in quest of which voyages of discovery were undertaken as recently as the beginning of the th century, up to which time it was believed to exist. brande, chemist, born in london; author of "manual of chemistry" and other works ( - ). brandenburg ( , ), in the great northern plain of germany, is a central prussian province, and the nucleus of the prussian kingdom; most of it a sandy plain, with fertile districts and woodlands here and there. brandenburg, the house of, an illustrious german family dating from the th century, from which descended the kings of prussia. brandes, george, a literary critic, born at copenhagen, of jewish parents; his views of the present tendency of literature in europe provoked at first much opposition in denmark, though they were received with more favour afterwards; the opposition to his views were such that he was forced to leave copenhagen, but, after a stay in berlin, he returned to it in , with the support of a strong party in his favour. brandt, a swedish chemist; chanced on the discovery in of phosphorus while in quest of a solvent to transmute metals, such as silver, into gold; _d_. . brandt, sebastian, a satirical writer, born at strassburg; author of the "narrenschiff" or "ship of fools," of which there have been many translations and not a few imitations ( - ). brandy nan, a nickname for queen anne, from her fondness for brandy. brandywine creek, a small river in delaware; scene of a victory of the british over the americans in . brangtons, the, a vulgar, evil-spoken family in miss burney's "evelina." brant, joseph, indian chief who sided with the british in the american war; a brave and good man; _d_. . brantÔme, pierre de bourdeilles, a french chronicler, contemporary of montaigne, born in périgord; led the life of a knight-errant, and wrote memoirs remarkable for the free-and-easy, faithful, and vivid delineations of the characters of the most celebrated of his contemporaries ( - ). brasidas, a spartan general, distinguished in the peloponnesian war; his most celebrated action, the defeat at the expense of his life, in b.c., of the flower of the athenian army at amphipolis, with a small body of helots and mercenaries. brass, sampson, a knavish attorney in "old curiosity shop"; affected feeling for his clients, whom he fleeced. brasses, sepulchral tablets of a mixed metal, called latten, inlaid in a slab of stone, and insculpt with figures and inscriptions of a monumental character; the oldest in england is at stoke d'abernon, in surrey. brassey, thomas, a great railway contractor, born in cheshire; contracted for the construction of railways in all parts of the world ( - ). braun, auguste emil, german archæologist, born at gotha; works numerous, and of value ( - ). bravest of the brave, marshal ney, so called from his fearlessness in battle; napoleon had on one occasion said, "that man is a lion." braxy, an inflammatory disease in sheep, due to a change in food from succulent to dry; and the name given to the mutton of sheep affected with it. bray, a berkshire village, famous for simon aleyn, its vicar from to , who, to retain his living, never scrupled to change his principles; he lived in the reigns of charles ii., james ii., william iii., queen anne, and george i. brazen age, in the greek mythology the age of violence, that succeeded the weak silver age. see ages. brazil ( , ), the largest south american state, almost equal to europe, occupies the eastern angle of the continent, and comprises the amazon basin, the tablelands of matto grosso, the upper basin of the paraguay, and the maritime highlands, with the valleys of the paraná and san francisco. great stretches of the interior are uninhabitable swamp and forest lands; forests tenanted by an endless variety of brilliant-plumed birds and insects; the coasts are often humid and unhealthy, but the upper levels have a fine climate. almost all the country is within the tropics. the population at the seaports is mostly white; inland it is negro, mulatto, and indian. vegetable products are indescribably rich and varied; timber of all kinds, rubber, cotton, and fruit are exported; coffee and sugar are the chief crops. the vast mineral wealth includes diamonds, gold, mercury, and copper. most of the trade is with britain and america. the language is portuguese; the religion, roman catholic; education is very backward, and government unsettled. discovered in , and annexed by portugal; the portuguese king, expelled by the french in , fled to his colony, which was made a kingdom , and an empire in . the emperor, pedro ii., was driven out in , and a republic established on the federal system, which has been harassed ever since by desultory civil war. the capital is rio janeiro; bahia and pernambuco, the other seaports. brazil-wood, a wood found in brazil, of great value for dyeing red, the colouring principle being named brasilin. brazza ( ), an island in the adriatic, belonging to austria; is richly wooded; noted for its wines; yields marble. brazza, pierre savorgnan de, explorer, born in rome; acquired land n. of the congo for france, and obtained a governorship; _b_. . breadfruit-tree, a south sea island tree producing a fruit which, when roasted, is used as bread. brÉal, michel, a french philologist, born at landau; translator into french of bopp's "comparative grammar"; _b_. . brÈche-de-roland, a gorge in the dep. of the haute-pyrénées, which, according to tradition, charlemagne's paladin of the name of roland cleft with one stroke of his sword when he was beset by the gascons. brechin, a town in forfarshire, w. of montrose, on the s. esk, with a cathedral and an old round tower near it, ft. high, the only one of the kind in scotland besides being at abernethy. breda ( ), fortified town, the capital of n. brabant; a place of historical interest; charles ii. resided here for a time during his exile, and issued hence his declaration prior to his restoration. breeches bible, the geneva bible, so called from its rendering in gen. iii. , in which "aprons" is rendered "breeches." breeches review, the _westminster_, so called at one time, from one place, an authority in it, who had been a leather-breeches maker at charing cross. brÉgnet, a french chronometer-maker, born at neuchâtel; a famous inventor of astronomical instruments ( - ). brehm, alfred edmund, german naturalist; his chief work "illustrirtes thierleben" ( - ). brehon laws, a body of judge-created laws that for long formed the common law of ireland, existed from prehistoric times till cromwell's conquest. the origin of the code is unknown, and whether it was at first traditional; many manuscript redactions of portions exist still. bremen ( ), the chief seaport of germany, after hamburg; is on the weser, m. from its mouth, and is a free city, with a territory less than rutlandshire. its export and import trade is very varied; half the total of emigrants sail from its docks; it is the head-quarters of the north german lloyd steamship company. textiles, tobacco, and paper industries add to its prosperity; was one of the principal cities of the hanseatic league. bremer, fredrika, a highly popular swedish novelist, born in finland; "the neighbours," "the president's daughter," and "strife and peace," are perhaps her best stories; has been called the jane austen of sweden. bremer, sir james, rear-admiral; distinguished in the burmese and chinese wars ( - ). bremerhaven, the port of bremen, on the estuary of the weser, founded for the accommodation of large vessels in , with a large hospice for emigrants. brendan, st., an irish saint, born at tralee, celebrated for his voyages in quest of "a land beyond human ken" and his discovery of "a paradise amid the waves of the sea"; founded a monastery at clonfert; died in , in his ninety-fourth year. brenner pass, pass on the central tyrolese alps, ft. high, between innsbruck and botzen, crossed by a railway, which facilitates trade between venice, germany, and austria. brennus, a gallic chief, who, b.c., after taking and pillaging rome, invested the capitol for so long that the romans offered him a thousand pounds' weight of gold to retire; as the gold was being weighed out he threw his sword and helmet into the opposite scale, adding _væ victis_, "woe to the conquered," an insolence which so roused camillus, that he turned his back and offered battle to him and to his army, and totally routed the whole host. brenta, an italian river; rises in the tyrol, waters bassano, and debouches near venice. brentano, clemens, poet of the romanticist school, born at frankfort-on-the-main, brother of goethe's bettina von arnim; was a roving genius ( - ). brentford, market-town in middlesex, on the brent, m. w. of london, that figures in history and literature. brenz, johann, the reformer of würtemberg, and one of the authors of the würtemberg confession, as well as a catechism extensively used ( - ). brescia ( ), a city of lombardy, on the mella and garza, m. e. of milan; has two cathedrals, an art gallery and library, a roman temple excavated in , and now a classical museum; its manufactures are woollens, silks, leather, and wine. breslau ( ), the capital of silesia, second city in prussia; an important commercial and manufacturing centre, and has a first-class fortress; is on the oder, m. by rail se. of frankfort; it stands in the centre of the baltic, north sea, and danube trade, and has a large woollen industry and grain market; there are a cathedral, university, and library. bressay, one of the shetland isles, near lerwick, with one of the best natural harbours in the world. brest ( ), a strongly-fortified naval station in the extreme nw. of france; one of the chief naval stations in france, with a magnificent harbour, and one of the safest, first made a marine arsenal by richelieu; has large shipbuilding yards and arsenal; its industries are chiefly related to naval equipment, with leather, waxcloth, and paper manufactures. brÉton, jules adolphe, a french _genre_ and landscape painter, born at courrières, in pas-de-calais, . breton de los herreros, spanish poet and dramatist; wrote comedies and satires in an easy, flowing style ( - ). breteuil, baron de, an ex-secretary of louis xvi. ( - ). brethren of the common life, a dutch branch of the "friends of god," founded at deventer by gerard groote. bretschneider, henry gottfried von, a german satirical writer, born at gera; led a bohemian life; served in the army; held political posts; composed, besides satirical writings, "almanach der heiligen auf das jahr, ," "wallers leben und sitten," and the comic epic, "graf esau" ( - ). bretschneider, karl gottlieb, a german rationalistic theologian; much regarded for his sound judgment in critical matters; his theological writings are of permanent value; his chief works, "handbuch der dogmatik," and an edition of melanchthon's works. bretwalda, a title apparently of some kind of acknowledged supremacy among the anglo-saxon kings, and the leader in war. breughel, a family of butch painters, a father and two sons, the father, peter, called "old" b. ( - ); a son, john, "velvet" b., either from his dress or from the vivid freshness of his colours ( - ); and the other, peter, "hellish" b., from his fondness for horrible subjects ( - ). brevet`, a commission entitling an officer in the army to a nominal rank above his real rank. breviary, a book containing the daily services in the roman catholic church and corresponding to the english prayer-book; differs from the "missal," which gives the services connected with the celebration of the eucharist, and the "pontifical," which gives those for special occasions. brewer, john sherren, historian, professor of english literature in king's college, london; author of "calendar of letters and papers of henry viii.'s reign," his work the sole authority on henry's early reign ( - ). brewer of ghent, jacob arteveld. brewster, sir david, an eminent scottish natural philosopher, born at jedburgh; edited the "edinburgh encyclopædia," in the pages of which carlyle served his apprenticeship; specially distinguished for his discoveries in light, his studies in optics, and for his optical inventions, such as the kaleidoscope and the stereoscope; connected with most scientific associations of his time; wrote largely on scientific and other subjects, e. g., a life of newton, as well as lives of euler, kepler, and others of the class; principal of the united colleges of st. andrews, and afterwards of edinburgh, being succeeded at st. andrews by james david forbes, who years before defeated him as candidate for the natural philosophy chair in edinburgh; bred originally for the church, and for a time a probationer ( - ). brewster, william, leader of the pilgrim fathers in the _mayflower_, who conveyed them to plymouth, massachusetts, in ; had been a clergyman of the church of england. brian boroihme, an irish chief, who early in the th century established his rule over a great part of ireland, and made great efforts for the civilisation of the country; died defeating the danes at clontarf, being, it is said, the twenty-fifth battle in which he defeated them. brianÇon, the highest town in france, ft. above sea-level, m. se. from grenoble, with a trade in cutlery. briareus, a uranid with heads and arms, son of ouranos and gaia, i. e. heaven and earth, whom poseidon cast into the sea and buried under etna, but whom zeus delivered to aid him against the titans; according to another account, one of the giants (q. v.). brice, st., bishop of tours in the beginning of the th century, and disciple of st. martin. festival, nov. . brice's, st., a day in on which a desperate attempt was made to massacre all the danes in england and stamp them wholly out, an attempt which was avenged by the danish king, sweyn. brick, jefferson, an american politician in "martin chuzzlewit." bride of the sea, venice, so called from a ceremony in which her espousals were celebrated by the doge casting a ring into the adriatic. bridewell, a house of correction in blackfriars, london, so called from st. bridget's well, near it. bridge of allan, a village on allan water, m. n. of stirling, with a mild climate and mineral waters. bridge of sighs, a covered way in venice leading from the ducal palace to the state prison, and over which culprits under capital sentence were transported to their doom, whence the name. bridgenorth, major ralph, a roundhead in "peveril of the peak." bridgeport ( ), a thriving manufacturing town and seaport of connecticut, u.s., m. ne. from new york. bridget, mrs., a character in "tristram shandy." bridget, st., an irish saint, born at dundalk; entered a monastery at ; founded monasteries; takes rank in ireland with st. patrick and st. columba. festival, feb. ( - ). also the name of a swedish saint in the th century; founded a new order, and monasteries of the order. bridgeton, a manufacturing town in new jersey, m. s. of philadelphia. bridgetown ( ), capital of barbadoes, seat of the government, the bishop, a college, &c.; it has suffered frequently from hurricane and fever. bridgewater, francis egerton, rd duke of, celebrated for his self-sacrificing devotion to the improvement and extension of canal navigation in england, embarking in it all his wealth, in which he was aided by the skill of brindley; he did not take part in politics, though he was a supporter of pitt; died unmarried ( - ). bridgewater, francis henry egerton, th earl of, educated for the church, bequeathed £ for the best work on natural theology, which his trustees expended in the production of eight works by different eminent men, called "bridgewater treatises," all to be found in bohn's scientific library ( - ). bridgman, laura, a deaf, dumb, and blind child, born in new hampshire, u.s.; noted for the surprising development of intellectual faculty notwithstanding these drawbacks; dickens gives an account of her in his "american notes" ( - ). bridgwater, a seaport town in somersetshire, m. sw. of bristol. bridlegoose, judge, a judge in rabelais' "pantagruel," who decided cases by the throw of dice. bridlington, a watering-place in yorkshire, m. sw. of flamborough head, with a chalybeate spring. bridport, viscount, a british admiral, distinguished in several engagements ( - ). brieg ( ), a thriving, third, commercially speaking, town in prussian silesia, m. se. of breslau. brienne, jean de, descendant of an old french family; elected king of jerusalem, then emperor of constantinople; _d_. . brienz, lake of, lake in the swiss canton of bern, m. long, m. broad, over ft. above sea-level, and of great depth in certain parts, abounding in fish. town of, a favourite resort for tourists. brieuc, st., ( ), a seaport and an episcopal city in the dep. of côtes-du-nord, france. brigade, a body of troops under a general officer, called brigadier, consisting of a number of regiments, squadrons, or battalions. brigantes, a powerful british tribe that occupied the country between the humber and the roman wall. briggs, henry, a distinguished english mathematician; first savilian professor at oxford; made an important improvement on the system of logarithms, which was accepted by napier, the inventor, and is the system now in use ( - ). brigham young, the chief of the mormons ( - ). bright, james franck, historian, master of university college, oxford; author of "english history for the use of public schools," a book of superior literary merit; _b_. . bright, john, english statesman, son of a lancashire cotton spinner, born near rochdale; of quaker birth and profession; engaged in manufacture; took an early interest in political reform; he joined the anti-corn-law league on its formation in , and soon was associated with cobden in its great agitation; entering parliament in , he was a strong opponent of protection, the game laws, and later of the crimean war; he advocated financial reform and the reform of indian administration; and on the outbreak of the american civil war supported the north, though his business interests suffered severely; he was closely associated with the reform act, irish church disestablishment , and the irish land act; his ministerial career began in , but was interrupted by illness; in , and again in , he was chancellor of the duchy of lancaster; he seceded from gladstone's government on the egyptian policy in , and strenuously opposed home rule in ; in he was lord rector of glasgow university; he was a man of lofty and unblemished character, an animated and eloquent orator; at his death mr. gladstone pronounced one of the noblest eulogiums one public man has ever paid to another ( - ). brighton ( ), a much-frequented watering-place in sussex, m. s. of london, of which it is virtually a suburb; a place of fashionable resort ever since george iv. took a fancy to it; a fine parade extends along the whole length of the sea front; has many handsome edifices, a splendid aquarium, a museum, schools of science and art, public library and public gallery; the principal building is the pavilion or marine palace, originally built for george iv. also the name of a suburb of melbourne. blight's disease, a disease in the kidneys, due to several diseased conditions of the organ, so called from dr. richard bright, who first investigated its nature. bril brothers, matthew and paul, landscape painters, born at antwerp; employed in the th century by successive popes to decorate the vatican at rome; of whom paul, the younger, was the greater artist; his best pictures are in rome. brillat-savarin, a french gastronomist, author of "physiologie du goût," a book full of wit and learning, published posthumously; was professionally a lawyer and some time a judge ( - ). brin`disi ( ), a seaport of southern italy, on the adriatic coast; has risen in importance since the opening of the overland route as a point of departure for the east; it is hours by rail from london, and three days by steam from alexandria; it was the port of embarkation for greece in ancient times, and for palestine in mediæval. brindley, james, a mechanician and engineer, born in derbyshire; bred a millwright; devoted his skill and genius to the construction of canals, under the patronage of the duke of bridgewater, as the greatest service he could render to his country; regarded rivers as mere "feeders to canals" ( - ). brink, jan ten, a dutch writer, distinguished as a critic in the department of belles-lettres; _b_. . brinvilliers, marquise de, notorious for her gallantries and for poisoning her father, brother, and two sisters for the sake of their property; was tortured and beheaded; the poison she used appears to have been the tofana poison, an art which one of her paramours taught her ( - ). see aqua tofana. brisbane ( ), capital of queensland, on the brisbane river, m. from the sea, m. n. of sydney, is the chief trading centre and seaport of the colony; it has steam communication with australian ports and london, and railway communication with sydney, melbourne, and adelaide; prosperity began when the colony was opened to free settlement in ; it was dissociated from new south wales and the city incorporated in . brisbane, admiral sir charles, a naval officer of distinction under lords hood and nelson; captured in dutch warships, three ships of the line among them, in saldanha bay, and in the island of curaçoa; was made governor of st. vincent ( - ). brisbane, sir james, naval officer, brother of the preceding, served under lord howe and under nelson at copenhagen ( - ). brisbane, sir thomas macdougall, british general, a man of science and an astronomer, born near largs, ayrshire; saw service as a soldier; was appointed governor of new south wales to the profit of the colony; gave name to the capital of queensland; catalogued over stars; succeeded scott as president of the royal society ( - ). brise`is, a young virgin priestess, who fell to the lot of achilles among the spoil of a victory, but whom agamemnon carried off from him, whereupon he retired to his tent and sullenly refused to take any further part in the war, to its prolongation, in consequence, as homer relates, for ten long years; the theme of the "iliad" being the "wrath of achilles" on this account, and what it led to. brissac, the name of a noble family which supplied several marshals to france. brisson, henri, french publicist and journalist; after holding presidentships in the chamber became premier in , but resigned after a few months; formed a radical administration in , which was short-lived; _b_. . brissot de warville, jean pierre, a french revolutionary, born at chartres, son of a pastry-cook; bred to the bar, took to letters; became an outspoken disciple of rousseau; spent some time in the bastille; liberated, he went to america; returned on the outbreak of the revolution, sat in the national assembly, joined the girondists; became one of the leaders, or rather of a party of his own, named after him brissotins, midway between the jacobins and them; fell under suspicion like the rest of the party, was arrested, tried and guillotined ( - ). bristol ( ), on the avon, m. from its mouth, and m. w. of london, is the largest town in gloucestershire, the seventh in england, and a great seaport, with irish, w. indian, and s. american trade; it manufactures tobacco, boots and shoes; it has a cathedral, two colleges, a library and many educational institutions; by a charter of edward iii. it forms a county in itself. bristol channel, an inlet in sw. of england, between s. wales and devon and cornwall, m. in length, from to in breadth, and with a depth of from to fathoms; is subject to very high tides, and as such dangerous to shipping; numerous rivers flow into it. britannia, a name for britain as old as the days of cæsar, and inhabited by celts, as gaul also was. britannia tubular bridge, a railway bridge spanning the menai strait, designed by robert stephenson, and completed in ; consists of hollow tubes of wrought-iron plates riveted together, and took five years in erecting. britannicus, the son of claudius and messalina, poisoned by nero. british aristides, name applied to andrew marvell from his corresponding incorruptible integrity in life and poverty at death. british association, an association, of sir david brewster's suggestion, of men of all departments of science for the encouragement of scientific research and the diffusion of scientific knowledge, which holds its meetings annually under the presidency of some distinguished scientist, now in this, now in that selected central city of the country; it is divided into eight sections--mathematical, chemical, geological, biological, geographical, economic, mechanical, and anthropological. british columbia ( ), a western fertile prov. of british america, extending between the rocky mountains and the pacific, and from the united states on the s. to alaska on the n., being m. long and four times the size of great britain; rich in timber and minerals; rain is abundant, and cereals do well. british lion, the name given to john bull when roused by opposition. british museum, a national institution in london for the collection of mss., books, prints and drawings, antiquities, and objects of natural history, ethnology, &c.; founded as far back as , though not opened, in montagu house as it happened, for the public benefit till . britomart, is a lady knight in the "faërie queene," representing chastity with a resistless magic spear. brittany ( , ), an old french prov., land of the bretons, comprising the peninsula opposite devon and cornwall, stretching westward between the bays of cancale and biscay, was in former times a duchy; a third of its inhabitants still retain their breton language. britton, john, topographer and antiquary, born in wiltshire in humble position; author of "beauties of wiltshire," instalment of a work embracing all the counties of england and wales; his principal works, and works of value, are "antiquities of great britain" and "cathedral antiquities of england"; his chief work is volumes; the "antiquities in normandy" did much to create an interest in antiquarian subjects ( - ). brixton, a southern suburb of london, on the surrey side, a district of the city that has of late years extended immensely. broad arrow, a stamp like an arrow-head to indicate government property. broad bottom ministry, a coalition of great weight under mr. pelham, from nov. to mar. , so called from the powerful parties represented in it. broad church, that section of the church which inclines to liberal opinions in theology, and is opposed to the narrowing of either spirit or form, perhaps to an undue degree and to the elimination of elements distinctive of the christian system. broads, the norfolk, are a series of inland lakes in the e. of norfolkshire, which look like expansions of the rivers; they are favourite holiday resorts on account of the expanse of strange scenery, abundant vegetation, keen air, fishing and boating attractions. brob`dingnag, an imaginary country in "gulliver's travels," inhabited by giants, each as tall "as an ordinary spire-steeple"; properly a native of the country, in comparison with whom gulliver was a pigmy "not half so big as a round little worm plucked from the lazy finger of a maid." broca, paul, an eminent french surgeon, anthropologist, and one of the chief french evolutionists; held a succession of important appointments, and was the author of a number of medical works ( - ). brochant de villiers, a mineralogist and geologist, born in paris; director of the st. gobin manufactory ( - ). brochs, dry-stone circular towers, called also picts' towers and duns, with thick cyclopean walls, a single doorway, and open to the sky, found on the edge of straths or lochs in the n. and w. of scotland. brocken, or blocksberg, the highest peak ( ft.) of the harz mts., cultivated to the summit; famous for a "spectre" so called, long an object of superstition, but which is only the beholder's shadow projected through, and magnified by, the mists. brockhaus, friedrich arnold, a german publisher, born at dortmund; a man of scholarly parts; began business in amsterdam, but settled in leipzig; publisher of the famous "conversations lexikon," and a great many other important works ( - ). brocoliando, a forest in brittany famous in arthurian legend. brodie, sir benjamin, surgeon, born in wiltshire; professor of surgery; for years surgeon in st. george's hospital; was medical adviser to three sovereigns; president of the royal society ( - ). brodie, william, a scottish sculptor, born in banff; did numerous busts and statues ( - ). broglie, albert, son of the following, a conservative politician and littérateur, author of "the church and the roman empire in the th century"; _b_. broglie, charles victor, duc de, a french statesman, born at paris; a liberal politician; was of the party of guizot and royer-collard; held office under louis philippe; negotiated a treaty with england for the abolition of slavery; was an orleanist, and an enemy of the second empire; retired after the _coup d'état_ ( - ). broglie, victor franÇois, duc de, marshal of france, distinguished in the seven years' war, being "a firm disciplinarian"; was summoned by royalty to the rescue as "war god" at the outbreak of the revolution; could not persuade his troops to fire on the rioters; had to "mount and ride"; took command of the emigrants in , and died at münster ( - ). broke, sir philip bowes vere, rear-admiral, born at ipswich, celebrated for the action between his ship _shannon_, guns, and the american ship _chesapeake_, guns, in june , in which he boarded the latter and ran up the british flag; one of the most brilliant naval actions on record, and likely to be long remembered in the naval annals of the country ( - ). bromberg ( ), a busy town on the brahe, in prussian posen; being a frontier town, it suffered much in times of war. brome, alexander, a cavalier, writer of songs and lampoons instinct with wit, whim, and spirit; and of his songs some are amatory, some festive, and some political ( - ). brome, richard, an english comic playwright, contemporary with ben jonson, and a rival; originally his servant; his plays are numerous, and were characterised by his enemies as the sweepings of jonson's study; _d_. . bromine, an elementary fluid of a dark colour and a disagreeable smell, extracted from bittern, a liquid which remains after the separation of salt. bromley ( ), a market-town in kent, m. se. of london, where the bishops of rochester had their palace, and where there is a home called warner's college for clergymen's widows. brompton, sw. district of london, in kensington, now called s. kensington; once a rustic locality, now a fashionable district, with several public buildings and the oratory. brÖndsted, peter olaf, a danish archæologist; author of "travels and researches in greece," where by excavations he made important discoveries; his great work "travels and archæological researches in greece" ( - ). brongniart, adolphe, french botanist, son of the succeeding, the first to discover and explain the function of the pollen in plants ( - ). brongniart, alexandre, a french chemist and zoologist, collaborateur with cuvier, born at paris; director of the porcelain works at sèvres; revived painting on glass; introduced a new classification of reptiles; author of treatises on mineralogy and the ceramic arts ( - ). bronte ( ), a town in sicily, on the western slope of etna, which gave title of duke to nelson. brontË, the name of three ladies, charlotte, emily, and anne, daughters of a yorkshire clergyman of irish extraction: charlotte, born at thornton, yorkshire; removed with her father, at the age of four, to haworth, a moorland parish, in the same county, where she lived most of her days; spent two years at brussels as a pupil-teacher; on her return, in conjunction with her sisters, prepared and published a volume of poems under the pseudonyms respectively of "currer, ellis, and acton bell," which proved a failure. nothing daunted, she set to novel writing, and her success was instant; first, "jane eyre," then "shirley," and then "villette," appeared, and her fame was established. in she married her father's curate, mr. nicholls, but her constitution gave way, and she died ( - ). emily (ellis), two years younger, poet rather than novelist; wrote "wuthering heights," a remarkable production, showing still greater genius, which she did not live to develop. anne (acton), four years younger, also wrote two novels, but very ephemeral productions. bronze age, the age in the history of a race intermediate between the stone age and the iron, and in some cases overlapping these two, when weapons and tools were made of bronze. bronzi`no, a florentine painter, painted both in oil and fresco; a great admirer of michael angelo; his famous picture, "descent of christ into hell" ( - ). brook farm, an abortive literary community organised on fourier's principles, m. from boston, u.s., by george ripley in ; nathaniel hawthorne was one of the community, and wrote an account of it. brooke, henry, irish dramatist and novelist, born in co. cavan; author of the "fool of quality," a book commended by john wesley and much lauded by charles kingsley, and the only one of his works that survives; wrote, among other things, a poem called "universal beauty," and a play called "gustavus vasa" ( - ). brooke, sir james, rajah of sarawak, born at benares, educated in england; entered the indian army; was wounded in the burmese war, returned in consequence to england; conceived the idea of suppressing piracy and establishing civilisation in the indian archipelago; sailed in a well-manned and well-equipped yacht from the thames with that object; arrived at sarawak, in borneo; assisted the governor in suppressing an insurrection, and was made rajah, the former rajah being deposed in his favour; brought the province under good laws, swept the seas of pirates, for which he was rewarded by the english government; was appointed governor of labuan; finally returned to england and died, being succeeded in sarawak by a nephew ( - ). brooke, stopford, preacher and writer, born in donegal; after other clerical appointments became incumbent of bedford chapel, bloomsbury, and queen's chaplain; from conscientious motives seceded from the church, but continued to preach in bloomsbury; wrote the "life of robertson of brighton," a "primer of english literature," "history of english poetry," "theology in the english poets," and "life of milton," all works in evidence of critical ability of a high order; _b_. . brooklyn ( ), a suburb of new york, on long island, though ranking as a city, and the fourth in the union; separated from new york by the east river, a mile broad, and connected with it by a magnificent suspension bridge, the largest in the world, as well as by some lines of ferry boats plied by steam; it is now incorporated in greater new york; has m. of water front, extensive docks and warehouses, and does an enormous shipping trade; manufactures include glass, clothing, chemicals, metallic wares, and tobacco; there is a naval yard, dock, and storehouse; the city is really a part of new york; has many fine buildings, parks, and pleasure grounds. brooks, charles william shirley, novelist and journalist, born in london; was on the staff of the _morning chronicle_; sent to russia to inquire into and report on the condition of the peasantry and labouring classes there, as well as in syria and egypt; his report published in his "russians of the south"; formed a connection with _punch_ in , writing the "essence of parliament," and succeeded mark lemon as editor in ; he was the author of several works ( - ). brosses, charles de, a french archæologist, born at dijon; wrote among other subjects on the manners and customs of primitive and prehistoric man ( - ). brossette, a french littérateur, born at lyons; friend of boileau, and his editor and commentator ( - ). brothers, richard, a fanatic, born in newfoundland, who believed and persuaded others to believe that the english people were the ten lost tribes of israel ( - ). brougham, henry, lord brougham and vaux, born in edinburgh, and educated at the high school and university of that city; was admitted to the scotch bar in ; excluded from promotion in scotland by his liberal principles, he joined the english bar in , speedily acquired a reputation as a lawyer for the defence in crown libel actions, and, by his eloquence in the cause of queen caroline, , won universal popular favour; entering parliament in , he associated with the whig opposition, threw himself into the agitation for the abolition of slavery, the cause of education, and law reform; became lord chancellor in , but four years afterwards his political career closed; he was a supporter of many popular institutions; a man of versatile ability and untiring energy; along with horner, jeffrey, and sidney smith, one of the founders of the _edinburgh review_, also of london university, and the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge; a writer on scientific, historical, political, and philosophical themes, but his violence and eccentricity hurt his influence; spent his last days at cannes, where he died ( - ). broughton, lord. see hobhouse. broughton, rhoda, novelist, her best work "not wisely but too well"; wrote also "cometh up as a flower," "red as a rose is she," &c.; _b_. . broughton, william robert, an english seaman, companion of vancouver; discovered a portion of oceania ( - ). broughty ferry ( ), a watering-place, with villas, near dundee, and a favourite place of residence of dundee merchants. broussa ( ), a city in the extreme nw. of asiatic turkey, at the foot of mt. olympus, m. from the sea of marmora; the capital of the turkish empire till the taking of constantinople in ; abounds in mosques, and is celebrated for its baths. broussais, joseph victor, a french materialist, founder of the "physiological school" of medicine; resolved life into excitation, and disease into too much or too little ( - ). broussel, a member of the parlement of paris, whose arrest, in , was the cause of, or pretext for, the organisation of the fronde. brousson, a french huguenot who returned to france after the revocation of the edict of nantes, and was broken on the wheel, . brouwer, a dutch painter, mostly of low, vulgar life, which, as familiar with it, he depicted with great spirit ( - ). brown, amy, the first wife of the duc de berri, born in england, died in france; the pope, in , annulled her marriage, but declared her two daughters legitimate ( - ). brown, charles brockden, an american novelist, born in philadelphia, of quaker connection; his best-known fictions are "wieland," "edgar huntly," &c. ( - ). brown, ford madox, an english painter, born at calais; his subjects nearly all of a historical character, one of which is "chaucer reciting his poetry at the court of edward iii."; anticipated pre-raphaelitism ( - ). brown, sir george, british general, born near elgin, distinguished both in the peninsular and in the crimean war, was severely wounded at inkerman, when in command of the light division ( - ). brown, henry kirke, an american sculptor, did a number of statues, a colossal one of washington among them ( - ). brown, john, american slavery abolitionist; settled in kansas, and resolutely opposed the project of making it a slave state; in the interest of emancipation, with six others, seized on the state armoury at harper's ferry in hope of a rising, entrenched himself armed in it, was surrounded, seized, tried, and hanged ( - ). brown, john, of haddington, a self-educated scotch divine, born at carpow, near abernethy, perthshire, son of a poor weaver, left an orphan at , became a minister of a dissenting church in haddington; a man of considerable learning, and deep piety; author of "dictionary of the bible," and "self-interpreting bible" ( - ). brown, john, m.d., great-grandson of the preceding, born at biggar, educated in edinburgh high school and at edinburgh university, was a pupil of james syme, the eminent surgeon, and commenced quiet practice in edinburgh; author of "horæ subsecivæ," "rab and his friends," "pet marjorie," "john leech," and other works; was a fine and finely-cultured man, much beloved by all who knew him, and by none more than by john ruskin, who says of him, he was "the best and truest friend of all my life.... nothing can tell the loss to me in his death, nor the grief to how many greater souls than mine that had been possessed in patience through his love" ( - ). brown, john, m.d., founder of the brunonian system of medicine, born at bunkle, berwickshire; reduced diseases into two classes, those resulting from redundancy of excitation, and those due to deficiency of excitation; author of "elements of medicine" and "observations on the old and new systems of physic" ( - ). see broussais. brown, jones, and robinson, three middle-class englishmen on their travels abroad, as figured in the pages of _punch_, and drawn by richard doyle. brown, mount ( , ft.), the highest of the rocky mts., in n. america. brown, oliver madox, son of ford madox, a youth of great promise both as an artist and poet; died of blood-poisoning ( - ). brown, rawdon, historical scholar, spent his life at venice in the study of italian history, especially in its relation to english history, which he prosecuted with unwearied industry; his great work, work of years' hard labour, "calendar of state papers and manuscripts relating to english affairs existing in the archives of venice and northern italy," left unfinished at his death; died at venice, where he spent a great part of his life, where ruskin found him and conceived a warm friendship for him ( - ). brown, robert, a distinguished botanist, born at montrose, son of an episcopal clergyman; accompanied an expedition to survey the coast of australia in , returned after four years' exploration, with plants mostly new to science, which he classified and described in his "prodromus floræ novæ hollandiæ"; became librarian to, and finally president of, the linnean society; styled by humboldt _botanicorum facile princeps_; he was a man of most minute and accurate observation, and of a wide range of knowledge, much of which died along with him, out of the fear of committing himself to mistakes ( - ). brown, samuel, m.d., chemist, born in haddington, grandson of john brown of haddington, whose life was devoted, with the zeal of a mediæval alchemist, to a reconstruction of the science of atomics, which he did not live to see realised: a man of genius, a brilliant conversationist and an associate of the most intellectual men of his time, among the number de quincey, carlyle, and emerson; wrote "lay sermons on the theory of christianity," "lectures on the atomic theory," and two volumes of "essays, scientific and literary" ( - ). brown, thomas, scottish psychologist, born in kirkcudbrightshire, bred to medicine; professor of moral philosophy in the university of edinburgh, colleague and successor to dugald stewart; his lectures, all improvised on the spur of the moment, were published posthumously; "lectures on the philosophy of the human mind" established a sixth sense, which he called the "muscular." he was a man of precocious talent, and a devoted student, to the injury of his health and the shortening of his life; he was obliged from ill-health to resign his professorship after years ( - ). brown willy, the highest peak ( ft.) in cornwall. browne, charles farrar, a humorist and satirist, known by the pseudonym of "artemus ward," born in maine, u.s.; his first literary effort was as "showman" to an imaginary travelling menagerie; travelled over america lecturing, carrying with him a whimsical panorama as affording texts for his numerous jokes, which he brought with him to london, and exhibited with the same accompaniment with unbounded success; he spent some time among the mormons, and defined their religion as singular, but their wives plural ( - ). browne, hablot knight, artist, born in london; illustrated dickens's works, "pickwick" to begin with, under the pseudonym of "phiz," as well as the works of lever, ainsworth, fielding, and smollett, and the abbotsford edition of scott; he was skilful as an etcher and an architectural draughtsman ( - ). browne, robert, founder of the brownists, born in rutland; the first seceder from the church of england, and the first to found a church of his own on congregational principles, which he did at norwich, though his project of secession proved a failure, and he returned to the english church; died in jail at northampton, where he was imprisoned for assaulting a constable; he may be accounted the father of the congregational body in england ( - ). browne, sir thomas, physician and religious thinker, born in london; resided at norwich for nearly half a century, and died there; was knighted by charles ii.; "was," professor saintsbury says, "the greatest prose writer perhaps, when all things are taken together, in the whole range of english"; his principal works are "religio medici," "inquiries into vulgar errors," and "hydriotaphia, or urn-burial, a discourse of the sepulchral urns found in norfolk"; "all of the very first importance in english literature,..." adds the professor, "the 'religio medici' the greatest favourite, and a sort of key to the others;" "a man," says coleridge, "rich in various knowledge, exuberant in conceptions and conceits, contemplative, imaginative, often truly great, and magnificent in his style and diction.... he is a quiet and sublime enthusiast, with a strong tinge of the fantastic. he meditated much on death and the hereafter, and on the former in its relation to, or leading on to, the latter" ( - ). browne william, english pastoral poet, born at tavistock; author of "britannia's pastorals" and "the shepherd's pipe," a collection of eclogues and "the inner temple and masque," on the story of ulysses and circe, with some opening exquisitely beautiful verses, "steer hither, steer," among them; was an imitator of spenser, and a parallel has been instituted between him and keats ( - ). brownie, a good-natured household elf, believed in scotland to render obliging services to good housewives, and his presence an evidence that the internal economies were approved of, as he favoured good husbandry, and was partial to houses where it was observed. browning, elizabeth barrett, _née_ barrett, poetess, born at carlton hall, durham; a woman of great natural abilities, which developed early; suffered from injury to her spine; went to torquay for her health; witnessed the death by drowning of a brother, that gave her a shock the effect of which never left her; published in "the seraphim," and in "the cry of the children"; fell in with and married robert browning in , who immediately took her abroad, settling in florence; wrote in "sonnets from the portuguese," in "casa guidi windows," and in "aurora leigh," "a novel in verse," and in "poems before congress"; ranks high, if not highest, among the poetesses of england; she took an interest all through life in public affairs; her work is marked by musical diction, sensibility, knowledge, and imagination, which no poetess has rivalled ( - ). browning, robert, poet, one of the two greatest in the victorian era, born in camberwell; early given to write verses; prepared himself for his literary career by reading through johnson's dictionary; his first poem "pauline" (q. v.) published in , which was followed by "paracelsus" in , "sordello" in ; after a time, in which he was not idle, appeared, with some of his "dramatic romances and lyrics," in his "men and women," and in "the ring and the book" (q. v.), his longest poem, and more analytic than poetic; this was succeeded by a succession of others, finishing up with "asolando," which appeared the day he died at venice; was a poet of great subtlety, deep insight, creative power, and strong faith, of a genius and learning which there are few able to compass the length and breadth of; lies buried in westminster abbey; of browning it has been said by professor saintsbury, "timor mortis non conturbabat, 'the fear of death did not trouble him.' in the browner shades of age as well as in the spring of youth he sang, not like most poets, love and death, but love and life.... 'james lee,' 'rabbi ben ezra,' and 'prospice' are among the greatest poems of the century." his creed was an optimism of the brightest, and his restful faith "it is all right with the world" ( - ). brown-sÉquard, physiologist, born in mauritius, of american parentage; studied in paris; practised in new york, and became a professor in the collège de france; made a special study of the nervous system and nervous diseases, and published works on the subject; _b_. . bruant, a french architect, born in paris; architect of the invalides and the salpétrière; _d_. . bruat, a french admiral, commanded the french fleet at the crimea ( - ). bruce, a family illustrious in scottish history, descended from a norman knight, robert de bruis, who came over with the conqueror, and who acquired lands first in northumberland and then in annandale. bruce, james, traveller, called the "abyssinian," born at kinnaird house, stirlingshire, set out from cairo in in quest of the source of the nile: believed he had discovered it; stayed two years in abyssinia, and returned home by way of france, elated with his success; felt hurt that no honor was conferred on him, and for relief from the chagrin wrote an account of his travels in five quarto vols., the general accuracy of which, as far as it goes, has been attested by subsequent explorers ( - ). bruce, michael, a scotch poet, born near loch leven, in poor circumstances, in the parish of portmoak; studied for the church; died of consumption; his poems singularly plaintive and pathetic; his title to the authorship of the "ode to the cuckoo" has been matter of contention ( - ). bruce, robert, rival with john baliol for the crown of scotland on the death of margaret, the maiden of norway, against whose claim edward i. decided in favour of baliol ( - ). bruce, robert, son of the preceding, earl of carrick, through marjory his wife; served under edward at the battle of dunbar for one instance; sued for the scottish crown in vain ( - ). bruce, robert, king of scotland, son of the preceding, did homage for a time to edward, but joined the national party and became one of a regency of four, with comyn for rival; stabbed comyn in a quarrel at dumfries, , and was that same year crowned king at scone; was defeated by an army sent against him, and obliged to flee to rathlin, ireland; returned and landed in carrick; cleared the english out of all the fortresses except stirling, and on th june defeated the english under edward ii. at bannockburn, after which, in , the independence of scotland was acknowledged as well as bruce's right to the crown; suffering from leprosy, spent his last two years at cardross castle, on the clyde, where he died in the thirty-third year of his reign ( - ). brucin, an alkaloid, allied in action to strychnine, though much weaker, being only a twenty-fifth of the strength. brÜckenau, small town in bavaria, m. nw. of kissingen, with mineral springs good for nervous and skin diseases. brucker, historian of philosophy, born at augsburg, and a pastor there; author of "historia critica philosophiæ" ( - ). brueys, david augustin de, french dramatist, born at aix, an abbé converted by bossuet, and actively engaged in propagating the faith; managed to be joint editor with palaprat in the production of plays ( - ). bruges ( ), cap. of w. flanders, in belgium, intersected by canals crossed by some bridges, whence its name "bridges"; one of these canals, of considerable depth, connecting it with ostend; though many of them are now, as well as some of the streets, little disturbed by traffic, in a decayed and a decaying place, having once had a population of , ; has a number of fine churches, one specially noteworthy, the church of notre dame; it has several manufactures, textile and chemical, as well as distilleries, sugar-refineries, and shipbuilding yards. brugsch, heinrich karl, a german egyptologist, born at berlin; was associated with mariette in his excavations at memphis; became director of the school of egyptology at cairo; his works on the subject are numerous, and of great value; _b_. . brÜhl, heinrich, count von, minister of augustus iii., king of poland, an unprincipled man, who encouraged his master, and indulged himself, in silly foppery and wasteful extravagance, so that when the seven years' war broke out he and his master had to flee from dresden and seek refuge in warsaw ( - ). bruin, the bear personified in the german epic of "reynard the fox." brumaire, the th (i. e. the th november , the foggy month), the day when napoleon, on his return from egypt, overthrew the directory and established himself in power. brummell, beau, born in london, in his day the prince of dandies; patronised by the prince of wales, afterwards george iv.; quarrelled with the prince; fled from his creditors to calais, where, reduced to destitution, he lived some years in the same reckless fashion; settled at length in caen, where he died insane ( - ). brunck, an able french hellenist, classical scholar, and critic, born at strassburg; edited several classical works, played a perilous part in the french revolution; was imprisoned, and, on his release, had to sell his library in order to live ( - ). brune, g. marie, french marshal, saw service in the vendéan war and in italy, distinguished himself under napoleon in italy and holland; submitted to bourbons in ; joined napoleon on his return from elba; was appointed to a post of command in the s. of france, but had to surrender after waterloo, and was attacked by a mob of royalists at avignon as he was setting out for paris, and brutally murdered and his body thrown into the rhône ( - ). brunel, sir isambard, engineer, born in rouen, entered the french navy, emigrated to the united states; was chief engineer of new york; settled in england, became block-maker to the royal navy; constructed the thames tunnel, begun in and finished in ( - ). brunel, isambard kingdom, son of the preceding, assisted his father in his engineering operations, in particular the thames tunnel; was engineer of the great western railway; designed the _great western_ steamship, the first to cross the atlantic; was the first to apply the screw propeller to steam navigation; designed and constructed the _great eastern_; constructed bridges and naval docks ( - ). brunelleschi, italian architect, born in florence, bred a goldsmith, studied at rome; returned to his native city, built the duomo of the cathedral, the pitti palace, and the churches of san lorenzo and spirito santo ( - ). brunetiÈre, french critic, connected with the _revue des deux mondes_ and now editor; a very sound and sensible critic; his chief work, begun in the form of lectures in , entitled "l'Évolution des genres de l'histoire de la littérature française"; according to prof. saintsbury, promises to be one of the chief monuments that the really "higher" criticism has yet furnished; _b_. . brunetto-latini, an italian writer, who played an important part among the guelfs, and was obliged to flee to paris, where he had dante for a pupil ( - ). brunhilda, a masculine queen in the "nibelungen lied" who offered to marry the man that could beat her in feats of strength, was deceived by siegfried into marrying gunther, and meditated the death of siegfried, who had married her rival chriemhilda, which she accomplished by the hand of hagen. also a queen of austrasia, who, about the th century, had a lifelong quarrel with fredegunde, queen of neustria, the other division of the frankish world, which at her death she seized possession of for a time, but was overthrown by clothaire ii., fredegunde's son, and dragged to death at the heels of an infuriated wild horse. bruni, leonardo, italian humanist, born at arezzo, hence called aretino; was papal secretary; settled in florence, and wrote a history of it; did much by his translations of greek authors to promote the study of greek ( - ). brÜnn ( ), austrian city, capital of moravia, beautifully situated, m. n. of vienna, with large manufactures; woollens the staple of the country; about one-half of the population czechs. brunnow, count von, a russian diplomatist, born at dresden; represented russia in several conferences, and was twice ambassador at the english court ( - ). bruno, giordano, a bold and fervid original thinker, born at nola, in italy; a dominican monk, quitted his monastery, in fact, was for heterodoxy obliged to flee from it; attached himself to calvin for a time, went for more freedom to paris, attacked the scholastic philosophy, had to leave france as well; spent two years in england in friendship with sir philip sidney, propagated his views in germany and italy, was arrested by the inquisition, and after seven years spent in prison was burned as a heretic; he was a pantheist, and regarded god as the living omnipresent soul of the universe, and nature as the living garment of god, as the earth-spirit does in goethe's "faust"--a definition of nature in relation to god which finds favour in the pages of "sartor resartus"; _d_. . bruno, st., born at cologne, retired to a lonely spot near grenoble with six others, where each lived in cells apart, and they met only on sundays; founder of the carthusian order of monks, the first house of which was established in the desert of chartreuse ( - ). festival, oct. . bruno the great, third son of henry the fowler; archbishop of cologne, chancellor of the empire, a great lover of learning, and promoter of it among the clergy, who he thought should, before all, represent and encourage it ( - ). brunonian system, a system which regards and treats diseases as due to defective or excessive excitation, as sthenic or asthenic. see brown, john. brunswick ( ), a n. german duchy, made up of eight detached parts, mostly in the upper basin of the weser; is mountainous, and contains part of the harz mts.; climate and crops are those of n. germany generally. brunswick ( ), the capital, a busy commercial town, once a member of the hanseatic league, and fell into comparative decay after the decay of the league, on the oker, m. sw. of berlin; an irregularly built city, it has a cathedral, and manufactures textiles, leather, and sewing-machines. brunswick, charles william, duke of, prussian general, commanded the prussian and austrian forces levied to put down the french revolution; emitted a violent, blustering manifesto, but a revolutionary army under dumouriez and kellermann met him at valmy, and compelled him to retreat in ; was beaten by davout at auerstädt, and mortally wounded ( - ). brunswick, frederick william, duke of, brother of queen caroline; raised troops against france, which, being embarked for england, took part in the peninsular war; fell fighting at ligny, two days before the battle of waterloo ( - ). brussels ( ), on the senne, m. s. of antwerp, is the capital of belgium, in the heart of the country. the old town is narrow and crooked, but picturesque; the town-hall a magnificent building. the new town is well built, and one of the finest in europe. there are many parks, boulevards, and squares; a cathedral, art-gallery, museum and library, university and art schools. it is paris in miniature. the manufactures include linen, ribbons, and paper; a ship-canal and numerous railways foster commerce. brutus, lucius junius, the founder of republican rome, in the th century b.c.; affected idiocy (whence his name, meaning stupid); it saved his life when tarquin the proud put his brother to death; but when tarquin's son committed an outrage on lucretia, he threw off his disguise, headed a revolt, and expelled the tyrant; was elected one of the two first consuls of rome; sentenced his two sons to death for conspiring to restore the monarchy; fell repelling an attempt to restore the tarquins in a hand-to-hand combat with aruns, one of the sons of the banished king. brutus, marcus junius, a descendant of the preceding, and son of cato uticensis's sister; much beloved by cæsar and cæsar's friend, but persuaded by cassius and others to believe that cæsar aimed at the overthrow of the republic; joined the conspirators, and was recognised by cæsar among the conspirators as party to his death; forced to flee from rome after the event, was defeated at philippi by antony and augustus, but escaped capture by falling on a sword held out to him by one of his friends, exclaiming as he did so, "o virtue, thou art but a name!" ( - b.c.). bruyÈre, a french writer, author of "charactères de théophraste," a satire on various characters and manners of his time ( - ). bryan, william jennings, american statesman, born in salem, illinois; bred to the bar and practised at it; entered congress in as an extreme free silver man; lost his seat from his uncompromising views on that question; was twice nominated for the presidency in opposition to mr mckinley, but defeated; _b_. . bryant, william cullen, american poet; his poems were popular in america, the chief, "the age," published in ; was years editor of the _new york evening post_; wrote short poems all through his life, some of the later his best ( - ). bryce, james, historian and politician, born at belfast; fellow of oriel college, oxford; bred to the bar; for a time professor of civil law at oxford; entered parliament in ; was member of mr. gladstone's last cabinet; his chief literary work, "the holy roman empire," a work of high literary merit; _b_. . brydges, sir samuel egerton, english antiquary, born at wootton house, in kent; called to the bar, but devoted to literature; was m.p. for maidstone for six years; lived afterwards and died at geneva; wrote novels and poems, and edited old english writings of interest ( - ). bubastis, an egyptian goddess, the egyptian diana, the wife of ptah; and a city in lower egypt, on the eastern branch of the nile. buccaneers, an association, chiefly english and french, of piratical adventurers in the th and th centuries, with their head-quarters in the caribbean sea, organised to plunder the ships of the spaniards in resentment of the exclusive right they claimed to the wealth of the s. american continent, which they were carrying home across the sea. buccleuch, a glen m. sw. of selkirk, with a stronghold of the scott family, giving the head the title of earl or duke. bucen`taur, the state galley, worked by oars and manned by rowers, in which the doge of venice used to sail on the occasion of the annual ceremony of wedding anew the adriatic sea by sinking a ring in it. buceph`alus (i. e. ox-head), the horse which alexander the great, while yet a youth, broke in when no one else could, and on which he rode through all his campaigns; it died in india from a wound. the town, bucephala, on the hydaspes, was built near its grave. bucer martin, a german reformer, born at strassburg; originally a dominican, adopted the reformed faith, ministered as pastor and professor in his native place, differed in certain matters from both luther and zwingli, while he tried to reconcile them; invited by cranmer to england, he accepted the invitation, and became professor of divinity at cambridge, where he died, but his bones were exhumed and burned a few years later ( - ). buch, leopold von, a german geologist, a pupil of werner and fellow-student of alexander von humboldt, who esteemed him highly; adopted the volcanic theory of the earth; wrote no end of scientific memoirs ( - ). buchan, a district in the ne. of aberdeenshire, between the rivers deveron and ythan; abounds in magnificent rock scenery. the comyns were earls of it till they forfeited the title in . buchanan, claudius, born at cambuslang, near glasgow, chaplain in barrackpur under the east india company, vice-provost of the college at fort william, calcutta; one of the first to awaken an interest in india as a missionary field; wrote "christian researches in asia" ( - ). buchanan, george, a most distinguished scholar and humanist, born at killearn, stirlingshire; educated at st. andrews and paris; professor for three years in the college at st. barbe; returned to scotland, became tutor to james v.'s illegitimate sons; imprisoned by cardinal beaton for satires against the monks, escaped to france; driven from one place to another, imprisoned in a monastery in portugal at the instance of the inquisition, where he commenced his celebrated latin version of the psalms; came back to scotland, was appointed in tutor to queen mary, in principal of st. leonard's college, in st. andrews, in moderator of the general assembly in tutor to james vi., and had several offices of state conferred on him; wrote a "history of scotland," and his book "de jure regni," against the tyranny of peoples by kings; died in edinburgh without enough to bury him; was buried at the public expense in greyfriars' churchyard; when dying, it is said he asked his housekeeper to examine his money-box and see if there was enough to bury him, and when he found there was not, he ordered her to distribute what there was among his poor neighbours and left it to the city to bury him or not as they saw good ( - ). buchanan, james, statesman of the united states, was ambassador in london in , made president in , the fifteenth in order, at the time when the troubles between the north and south came to a head, favoured the south, retired after his presidentship into private life ( - ). buchanan, robert, a writer in prose and verse, born in warwickshire, educated at glasgow university; his first work, "undertones," a volume of verse published by him in , and he has since written a goodly number of poems, some of them of very high merit, the last "the wandering jew," which attacks the christian religion; besides novels, has written magazine articles, and one in particular, which involved him in some trouble; _b_. . buchanites, a fanatical sect who appeared in the w. of scotland in , named after a mrs. buchan, who claimed to be the woman mentioned in rev. xii. bucharest ( ), capital of roumania, picturesquely situated on the dambovitza, a tributary of the danube, in a fertile plain, m. from the black sea; is a meanly built but well-fortified town, with the reputation of the most dissolute capital in europe; there is a catholic cathedral and a university; it is the emporium of trade between the balkan and austria; textiles, grain, hides, metal, and coal are the chief articles in its markets. buchez, joseph, a french historian, politician, and socialist; joined the st. simonian society, became a christian socialist, and a collaborateur in an important historical work, the "parliamentary history of the french revolution"; figured in political life after the revolution of , but retired to private life after the establishment of the empire ( - ). bÜchner, ludwig, physician and materialist, born at darmstadt; lectured at tübingen university; wrote a book entitled "kraft und stoff," i. e. force and matter, and had to retire into private practice as a physician on account of its materialistic philosophy, which he insisted on teaching ( - ). buchon, a learned frenchman; wrote chronologies of french history ( - ). buckingham, george villiers, duke of, favourite of james i. and charles i., born in leicestershire; rose under favour of the former to the highest offices and dignities of the state; provoked by his conduct wars with spain and france; fell into disfavour with the people; was assassinated at portsmouth by lieutenant felton, on the eve of his embarking for rochelle ( - ). buckingham, george villiers, duke of, son of the preceding; served under charles i. in the civil war, was at the battle of worcester; became minister of charles ii.; a profligate courtier and an unprincipled man ( - ). buckingham, james silk, traveller and journalist, born in falmouth; conducted a journal in calcutta, and gave offence to the east india company by his outspokenness; had to return to england, where his cause was warmly taken up; by his writings and speeches paved the way for the abolition of the company's charter ( - ). buckinghamshire ( ), english s. midland county, lying e. of oxford, w. of bedford and hertford, is full of beautiful and varied scenery; hill, dale, wood, and water. the thames forms the southern boundary, the ouse flows through the n., and the thame through the centre. the chiltern hills cross the county. agriculture is the prevailing industry; dairy produce, cattle and poultry feeding, and sheep rearing the sources of wealth. the county town is buckingham ( ), on the ouse, m. nw. of london. buckland, francis (frank), naturalist, son of the succeeding, bred to medicine; devoted to the study of animal life; was inspector of salmon fisheries; wrote "curiosities of natural history," "familiar history of british fishes," &c.; contributed largely to the journals, such as the _field_, and edited _land and water_, which he started in ( - ). buckland, william, a distinguished geologist, born at tiverton; had a predilection from boyhood for natural science; awoke in oxford university an interest in it by his lectures on mineralogy and geology; his pen was unceasingly occupied with geological subjects; exerted himself to reconcile the teachings of science with the accounts in genesis; was made dean of westminster by sir robert peel; his intellect gave way in , and he remained in mental weakness till his death ( - ). buckle, george earle, editor of the _times_, born near bath; studied at oxford, where he distinguished himself; is a fellow of all souls' college; became editor in , having previously belonged to the editorial staff; _b_. . buckle, henry thomas, an advanced thinker, born in lee, in kent; in delicate health from his infancy, too ambitious for his powers, thought himself equal to write the "history of civilisation in england," in connection with that of europe, tried it, but failed; visited the east for his health, and died at damascus; his theory as regards the development of civilisation is, that national character depends on material environment, and that progress depends upon the emancipation of rationality, an extremely imperfect reading and rendering of the elements at work, and indeed a total omission of nearly all the more vital ones; he was distinguished as a chess-player ( - ). buckstone, john baldwin, an able comic actor and popular dramatist, born in london; for a long period the lessee of the haymarket theatre, london ( - ). buda-pesth ( ), a twin city, the capital of hungary, on the danube; buda (ger. ofen) on the right bank and pesth on the left, the two cities being connected by a suspension bridge, the former on a rocky elevation and the latter on level ground; a great commercial centre. budastis, an ancient town in lower egypt, where festivals in honour of bacchus used to be held every year. buddha, gautama, or sakya-muni, the founder of buddhism about the th century b.c., born a hindu, of an intensely contemplative nature, the son of a king, who did everything in his power to tempt him from a religious life, from which, however, in his contemplation of the vanity of existence, nothing could detain him; retired into solitude at the age of , as sakyamuni, i. e. solitary of the sakyas, his tribe; consulted religious books, could get no good out of them, till, by-and-by, he abstracted himself more and more from everything external, when at the end of ten years, as he sat brooding under the bo-tree alone with the universe, soul with soul, the light of truth rose full-orbed upon him, and he called himself henceforth and gave himself out as buddha, i. e. the enlightened; now he said to himself, "i know it all," as mahomet in his way did after him, and became a preacher to others of what had proved salvation to himself, which he continued to do for years, leaving behind him disciples, who went forth without sword, like christ's, to preach what they, like christ's, believed was a gospel to every creature. buddhism, the religion of buddha, a religion which, eschewing all speculation about god and the universe, set itself solely to the work of salvation, the end of which was the merging of the individual in the unity of being, and the "way" to which was the mortification of all private passion and desire which mortification, when finished, was the buddhist nirvâna. this is the primary doctrine of the buddhist faith, which erelong became a formality, as all faiths of the kind, or of this high order, ever tend to do. buddha is not answerable for this, but his followers, who in three successive councils resolved it into a system of formulæ, which buddha, knowing belike how the letter killeth and only the spirit giveth life, never attempted to do. buddha wrote none himself, but in some years after his death his teachings assumed a canonical form, under the name of tripitaka, or triple basket, as it is called. buddhism from the first was a proselytising religion; it at one time overran the whole of india, and though it is now in small favour there, it is, in such form as it has assumed, often a highly beggarly one, understood to be the religion of millions of the human race. bude-light, a very brilliant light produced by introducing oxygen into the centre of an argand burner, so called from the place of the inventor's abode. budweis ( ), a bohemian trading town on the moldau, m. nw. of vienna. buenos ayres ( ), capital of the argentine republic, stands on the right bank of the broad but shallow river plate, m. from the atlantic; it is a progressing city, improving in appearance, with a cathedral, several protestant churches, a university and military school, libraries and hospitals; printing, cigar-making, cloth and boot manufacture are the leading industries; it is the principal argentine port, and the centre of export and import trade; the climate does not correspond with the name it bears; a great deal of the foreign trade is conducted through monte video, but it monopolises all the inland trade. buffalo ( ), a city of new york state, at the e. end of lake erie, m. due nw. of new york; is a well-built, handsome, and healthy city; the railways and the erie canal are channels of extensive commerce in grain, cattle, and coal; while immense iron-works, tanneries, breweries, and flour-mills represent the industries; electric power for lighting, traction, &c., is supplied from niagara. buffon, george louis leclerc, comte de, a great french naturalist, born at montbard, in burgundy; his father one of the _noblesse de robe_; studied law at dijon; spent some time in england, studying the english language; devoted from early years to science, though more to the display of it, and to natural science for life on being appointed intendant of the jardin du roi; assisted, and more than assisted, by daubenton and others, produced vols. of his world-famous "histoire naturelle" between the years and . the saying "style is the man" is ascribed to him, and he has been measured by some according to his own standard. neither his style nor his science is rated of any high value now: "buffon was as pompous and inflated as his style" ( - ). bugeaud, thomas, marshal of france, born at limoges; served under napoleon; retired from service till ; served under louis philippe; contributed to the conquest of algiers; was made governor, and created duke for his victory over the forces of the emperor of morocco at the battle of isly in ; his motto was _ense et aratro_, "by sword and plough" ( - ). bugenhagen, johann, a german reformer, a convert of luther's and coadjutor; helpful to the cause as an organiser of churches and schools ( - ). bugge, norwegian philologist, professor at christiania; _b_. . buhl, ornamental work for furniture, which takes its name from the inventor (see infra), consisted in piercing or inlaying metal with tortoise-shell or enamel, or with metals of another colour; much in fashion in louis xiv.'s reign. buhl, charles andrÉ, an italian cabinet-maker, inventor of the work which bears his name ( - ). bukowina ( ), a small prov. and duchy in the e. of austria-hungary; rich in minerals, breeds cattle and horses. bulgaria, with eastern roumelia ( , ), constitutes a balkan principality larger than ireland, with hills and fertile plains in the n., mountains and forests in the s.; turkey is the southern boundary, servia the western, the danube the northern, while the black sea washes the eastern shores. the climate is mild, the people industrious; the chief export is cereals; manufactures of woollens, attar of roses, wine and tobacco, are staple industries; the chief import is live stock. sofia ( ), the capital, is the seat of a university. varna ( ), on the black sea, is the principal port. bulgaria was cut out of turkey and made independent in , and eastern roumelia incorporated with it in . bull, an edict of the pope, so called from a leaden seal attached to it. bull, george, bishop of st. davids, born at wells; a stanch churchman; wrote "harmonia apostolica" in reconciliation of the teachings of paul and james on the matter of justification, and "defensio fidei nicenæ," in vindication of the trinity as enunciated in the athanasian creed (q. v.), and denied or modified by arians, socinians, and sabellians ( - ). bull, john, a humorous impersonation of the collective english people, conceived of as well-fed, good-natured, honest-hearted, justice-loving, and plain-spoken; the designation is derived from arbuthnot's satire, "the history of john bull," in which the church of england figures as his mother. bull, ole bornemann, a celebrated violinist, born in bergen, norway, pupil of paganini; was a wise man at making money, but a fool in spending it ( - ). bull run, a stream in virginia, u.s., m. from washington, where the union army was twice defeated by the confederate, july and august . bullant, a french architect and sculptor; built the tombs of montmorency, henry ii., and catherine de medicis, as well as wrought at the tuileries and the louvre ( - ). buller, charles, a politician, born in calcutta, pupil of thomas carlyle; entered parliament at , a liberal in politics; held distinguished state appointments; died in his prime, universally beloved and respected ( - ). buller, general sir redvers henry, served in china, ashanti, south africa, egypt, and the soudan, with marked distinction in the th king's royal rifles; has held staff appointments, and was for a short time under-secretary for ireland; _b_. . bullinger, heinrich, a swiss reformer, born in aargau; friend and successor of zwingli; assisted in drawing up the helvetic confession; was a correspondent of lady jane grey ( - ). bulls and bears, in the stock exchange, the bull being one who buys in the hope that the value may rise, and the bear one who sells in the hope that it may fall. see bear. bÜlow, bernard von, foreign secretary of the german empire; early entered the foreign office, and has done important diplomatic work in connection with it, having been secretary to several embassies and chargé d'affaires to greece during the russo-turkish war; _b_. . bÜlow, friedrich wilhelm, baron von, a prussian general; served his country in the war with revolutionary france; defeated the french under the empire in several engagements, and contributed to the victory at waterloo, heading the column that first came to wellington's aid at the decisive moment ( - ). bÜlow, guido von, a famous pianist, pupil of liszt ( - ). buloz, a french littérateur, born near geneva; originator of the _revue des deux mondes_ ( - ). bulwer, henry lytton, an experienced and successful diplomatist, served the liberal interest; was party to the conclusion of several important treaties; wrote several works, "an autumn in greece," a "life of byron," &c. ( - ). bumble, mr., a beadle in "oliver twist." bunau, a german historian, author of a "history of the seven years' war" ( - ). buncombe, a district in n. carolina, for the ears of the constituency of which a dull speech was some years ago delivered in the u.s. congress, whence the phrase to "talk buncombe," i. e. to please one's constituency. bundelkhand ( , ), a territory in nw. provinces, india, between the chambal and the jumna; has been extensively irrigated at great labour and expense. bunker hill, an eminence ft., now included in boston, the scene on th june of the first great battle in the american war of independence. bunsby, jack, commander of a ship in "dombey & son," regarded as an oracle by captain cuttle. bunsen, baron von, a diplomatist and man of letters, born at korbach; in waldeck; studied at marburg and göttingen; became acquainted with niebuhr at berlin; studied oriental languages under silvestre de sacy at paris; became secretary, under niebuhr, to the prussian embassy at rome; recommended himself to the king, and succeeded niebuhr; became ambassador in switzerland and then in england; was partial to english institutions, and much esteemed in england; wrote the "church of the future," "hippolytus and his age," &c. ( - ). bunsen, robert william, a distinguished german chemist, born at göttingen, settled as professor of chemistry at heidelberg; invented the charcoal pile, the magnesian light, and the burner called after him; discovered the antidote to arsenic, with hydrate of iron and the spectrum analysis (q. v.); _b_. . bunsen burner, a small gas-jet above which is screwed a brass tube with holes at the bottom of it to let in air, which burns with the gas, and causes at the top a non-luminous flame; largely used in chemical operations. bunyan, john, author of the "pilgrim's progress," born in elstow, near bedford, the son of a tinker, and bred himself to that humble craft; he was early visited with religious convictions, and brought, after a time of resistance to them, to an earnest faith in the gospel of christ, his witness for which to his poor neighbours led to his imprisonment, an imprisonment which extended first and last over twelve and a half years, and it was towards the close of it, and in the precincts of bedford jail, in the spring of , that he dreamed his world-famous dream; here two-thirds of it were written, the whole finished the year after, and published at the end of it; extended, it came out eventually in two parts, but it is the first part that is the pilgrim's progress, and ensures it the place it holds in the religious literature of the world; encouraged by the success of it--for it leapt into popularity at a bound--bunyan wrote some sixty other books, but except this, his masterpiece, not more than two of these, "grace abounding" and the "holy war," continue to be read ( - ). buontalenti, an italian artist, born at florence, one of the greatest, being, like michael angelo, at once architect, painter, and sculptor ( - ). burbage, richard, english tragedian, born in london, associate of shakespeare, took the chief rôle in "hamlet," "king lear," "richard iii.," &c. ( - ). burchell, mr., a character in the "vicar of wakefield," noted for his habit of applying "fudge" to everything his neighbours affected to believe. burckhardt, swiss historian and archæologist, born at bâle, author of "civilisation in italy during the renaissance"; _b_. . burckhardt, john ludvig, traveller, born at lausanne, sent out from england by the african association to explore africa; travelled by way of syria; acquired a proficiency in arabic, and assumed arabic customs; pushed on to mecca as a mussulman pilgrim--the first christian to risk such a venture; returned to egypt, and died at cairo just as he was preparing for his african exploration; his travels were published after his death, and are distinguished for the veracious reports of things they contain ( - ). burder, george, congregational minister, became secretary to the london missionary society, author of "village sermons," which were once widely popular ( - ). burdett, sir francis, a popular member of parliament, married sophia, the youngest daughter of thomas coutts, a wealthy london banker, and acquired through her a large fortune; becoming m.p., he resolutely opposed the government measures of the day, and got himself into serious trouble; advocated radical measures of reform, many of which have since been adopted; was prosecuted for a libel; fined £ for condemning the peterloo massacre, and imprisoned three months; joined the conservative party in , and died a member of it ( - ). burdett-coutts, the right honourable angela georgina, baroness, daughter of sir francis, inherited the wealth of thomas coutts, her grandfather, which she has devoted to all manner of philanthropic as well as patriotic objects; was made a peeress in ; received the freedom of the city of london in , and in married mr. william lehman ashmead-bartlett, an american, who obtained the royal license to assume the name of burdett-coutts; _b_. . bureau, a name given to a department of public administration, hence bureaucracy, a name for government by bureaux. bÜrger, gottfried august, a german lyric poet, author of the ballads "lenore," which was translated by sir walter scott, and "the wild huntsman," as well as songs; led a wild life in youth, and a very unhappy one in later years; died in poverty ( - ). burgkmair, hans, painter and engraver, born at augsburg; celebrated for his woodcuts, amounting to nearly ( - ). burgos ( ), ancient cap. of old castile, on the arlanzon, m. n. of madrid by rail; boasts a magnificent cathedral of the early pointed period, and an old castle; was the birthplace of the cid, and once a university seat; it has linen and woollen industries. burgoyne, john, english general, and distinguished as the last sent out to subdue the revolt in the american colonies, and, after a victory or two, being obliged to capitulate to general gates at saratoga, fell into disfavour; defended his conduct with ability and successfully afterwards; devoted his leisure to poetry and the drama, the "heiress" in the latter his best ( - ). burgoyne, sir john, field-marshal, joined the royal engineers, served under abercromby in egypt, and under sir john moore and wellington in spain; was present at the battles of alma, balaclava, and inkerman in the crimea; was governor of the tower ( - ). burgundy was, prior to the th century, a teutonic duchy of varying extent in the se. and e. of france; annexed to france as a province in the th century; the country is still noted for its wines. burhanpur ( ), a town in the central provinces of india, in the nimar district, m. ne. of bombay; was at one time a centre of the mogul power in the deccan, and a place of great extent; is now in comparative decay, but still famous, as formerly, for its muslins, silks, and brocades. buridan, jean, a scholastic doctor of the th century, born in artois, and famous as the reputed author, though there is no evidence of it in his works, of the puzzle of the hungry and thirsty ass, called after him buridan's ass, between a bottle of hay and a pail of water, a favourite illustration of his in discussing the freedom of the will. burke, edmund, orator and philosophic writer, born at dublin, and educated at dublin university; entered parliament in ; distinguished himself by his eloquence on the liberal side, in particular by his speeches on the american war, catholic emancipation, and economical reform; his greatest oratorical efforts were his orations in support of the impeachment of warren hastings; he was a resolute enemy of the french revolution, and eloquently denounced it in his "reflections," a weighty appeal; wrote in early life two small but notable treatises, "a vindication of natural society," and another on our ideas of the "sublime and beautiful," which brought him into contact with the philosophic intellects of the time, and sometime after planned the "annual register," to which he was to the last chief contributor. "he was," says professor saintsbury, "a rhetorician (i. e. an expert in applying the art of prose literature to the purpose of suasion), and probably the greatest that modern times has ever produced" ( - ). burke, sir john bernard, genealogist, born in london, of irish descent, author of the "peerage and baronetage of the united kingdom"; produced, besides editing successive editions of it, a number of works on aristocratic genealogies ( - ). burke, robert o'hara, australian explorer, born in galway; conducted an expedition across australia, but on the way back both he and his companion wells perished, after terrible sufferings from privation and drought ( - ). burke, william, a notorious murderer, native of ireland; executed in for wholesale murders of people in edinburgh by suffocation, after intoxicating them with drink, whose bodies he sold for dissection to an edinburgh anatomist of the name of knox, whom the citizens mobbed; he had an accomplice as bad as himself, who, becoming informer, got off. burkitt, william, biblical expositor, born in suffolk; author of "expository notes on the new testament," once held in high esteem ( - ). burleigh, william cecil, lord, a great statesman, born in lincolnshire; bred to the legal profession, and patronised and promoted by the protector somerset; managed to escape the marian persecution; queen elizabeth recognised his statesman-like qualities, and appointed him chief-secretary of state, an office which, to the glory of the queen and the good of the country, he held for forty years, till his death. his administration was conducted in the interest of the commonweal without respect of persons, and nearly all his subordinates were men of honour as well as himself ( - ). burlingame, anson, american diplomatist; sent ambassador to china, and returned as chinese envoy to the american and european courts; concluded treaties between them and china ( - ). burma ( , ), a vast province of british india, lying e. of the bay of bengal, and bounded landward by bengal, tibet, china, and siam; the country is mountainous, drained by the irawadi, salween, and sittang rivers, whose deltas are flat fertile plains; the heights on the chinese frontier reach , ft; the climate varies with the elevation, but is mostly hot and trying; rice is the chief crop; the forests yield teak, gum, and bamboo; the mines, iron, copper, lead, silver, and rubies. lower burma is the coast-land from bengal to siam, cap. rangoon, and was seized by britain in and . upper burma, cap. mandalay, an empire nearly as large as spain, was annexed in . burn, richard, english vicar, born in westmoreland; compiled several law digests, the best known his "justice of the peace" and "ecclesiastical law" ( - ). burnaby, colonel, a traveller of daring adventure, born at bedford, a tall, powerful man; colonel of the horse guards blue; travelled in south and central america, and with gordon in the soudan; was chiefly distinguished for his ride to khiva in across the steppes of tartary, of which he published a spirited account, and for his travels next year in asia minor and persia, and his account of them in "on horseback through asia minor"; killed, pierced by an arab spear, at abu klea as he was rallying a broken column to the charge; he was a daring aëronaut, having in crossed the channel to normandy in a balloon ( - ). burnand, francis cowley, editor of _punch_; studied for the church, and became a roman catholic; an expert at the burlesque, and author of a series of papers, entitled "happy thoughts," which give evidence of a most keen, observant wit: _b_. . burne-jones, sir edward, artist, born at birmingham, of welsh descent; came early under the influence of the pre-raphaelite movement, and all along produced works imbued with the spirit of it, which is at once mystical in conception and realistic in execution; he was one of the foremost, if not the foremost, of the artists of his day; imbued with ideas that were specially capable of art-treatment; william morris and he were bosom friends from early college days at oxford, and used to spend their sunday mornings together ( - ). burnes, sir alexander, born at montrose, his father a cousin of robert burns; was an officer in the indian army; distinguished for the services he rendered to the indian government through his knowledge of the native languages; appointed resident at cabul; was murdered, along with his brother and others, by an afghan mob during an insurrection ( - ). burnet, gilbert, bishop of salisbury, born at edinburgh, of an old aberdeen family; professor of divinity in glasgow; afterwards preacher at the rolls chapel, london; took an active part in supporting the claims of the prince of orange to the english throne; was rewarded with a bishopric, that of salisbury; wrote the "history of the reformation," an "exposition of the thirty-nine articles," the "history of his own times"; he was a whig in politics, a broad churchman in creed, and a man of strict moral principle as well as christian charity; the most famous of his works is his "history of his own times," a work which pope, swift, and others made the butt of their satire ( - ). burnet, john, engraver and author, born at fisherrow; engraved wilkie's works, and wrote on art ( - ). burnet, thomas, master of the charterhouse, born in yorkshire, author of the "sacred theory of the earth," eloquent in descriptive parts, but written wholly in ignorance of the facts ( - ). burnett, frances hodgson, novelist, born in manchester, resident for a time in america; wrote "that lass o' lowrie's," and other stories of lancashire manufacturing life, characterised by shrewd observation, pathos, and descriptive power; _b_. . burney, charles, musical composer and organist, born at shrewsbury; a friend of johnson's; author of "the history of music," and the father of madame d'arblay; settled in london as a teacher of music ( - ). burney, charles, son of preceding, a great classical scholar; left a fine library, purchased by the british museum for £ , ( - ). burney, james, brother of preceding, rear-admiral, accompanied cook in his last two voyages; wrote "history of voyages of discovery" ( - ). burnley ( ), a manufacturing town in lancashire, m. n. of manchester; with cotton mills, foundries, breweries, &c. burnouf, eugene, an illustrious orientalist, born in paris; professor of sanskrit in the college of france; an authority on zend or zoroastrian literature; edited the text of and translated the "bhâgavata purána," a book embodying hindu mythology; made a special study of buddhism; wrote an introduction to the history of the system ( - ). burns, john, politician and socialist, born at vauxhall, of humble parentage; bred to be an engineer; imbibed socialistic ideas from a fellow-workman, a frenchman, a refugee of the commune from paris; became a platform orator in the interest of socialism, and popular among the working class; got into trouble in consequence; was four times elected member of the london county council for battersea; and has been twice over chosen to represent that constituency in parliament; _b_. . burns, robert, celebrated scottish poet, born at alloway, near ayr, in , son of an honest, intelligent peasant, who tried farming in a small way, but did not prosper; tried farming himself on his father's decease in , but took to rhyming by preference; driven desperate in his circumstances, meditated emigrating to jamaica, and published a few poems he had composed to raise money for that end; realised a few pounds thereby, and was about to set sail, when friends and admirers rallied round him and persuaded him to stay; he was invited to edinburgh; his poems were reprinted, and money came in; soon after he married, and took a farm, but failing, accepted the post of exciseman in dumfries; fell into bad health, and died in , aged . "his sun shone as through a tropical tornado, and the pale shadow of death eclipsed it at noon.... to the ill-starred burns was given the power of making man's life more venerable, but that of wisely guiding his own life was not given.... and that spirit, which might have soared could it but have walked, soon sank to the dust, its glorious faculties trodden under foot in the blossom; and died, we may almost say, without ever having lived." see carlyle's "miscellanies" for by far the justest and wisest estimate of both the man and the poet that has yet by any one been said or sung. he is at his best in his "songs," he says, which he thinks "by far the best that britain has yet produced.... in them," he adds, "he has found a tune and words for every mood of man's heart; in hut and hall, as the heart unfolds itself in many-coloured joy and woe of existence, the _name_, the _voice_ of that joy and that woe, is the name and voice which burns has given them." burra-burra, a copper-mine in s. australia, about m. ne. of adelaide. burrard inlet, an inlet of river fraser, in british columbia, forming one of the best harbours on the pacific coast. burritt, elihu, a blacksmith, born in connecticut; devoted to the study of languages, of which he knew many, both ancient and modern; best known as the unwearied advocate of peace all over america and a great part of europe, on behalf of which he ruined his voice ( - ). burroughs, john, popular author, born in new york; a farmer, a cultured man, with a great liking for country life and natural objects, on which he has written largely and _con amore_; _b_. . burrus, a roman general, who with seneca had the conduct of nero's education, and opposed his tyrannical acts, till nero, weary of his expostulations, got rid of him by poison. burschenschaft, an association of students in the interest of german liberation and unity; formed in , and broken up by the government in . burslem ( ), a pottery-manufacturing town in staffordshire, and the "mother of the potteries"; manufactures porcelain and glass. burton, john hill, historian and miscellaneous writer, born at aberdeen; an able man, bred for the bar; wrote articles for the leading reviews and journals, "life of hume," "history of scotland," "the book-hunter," "the scot abroad," &c.; characterised by lord rosebery as a "dispassionate historian"; was historiographer-royal for scotland ( - ). burton, sir richard francis, traveller, born in hertfordshire; served first as a soldier in scind under sir c. napier; visited mecca and medina as an afghan pilgrim; wrote an account of his visit in his "personal narrative of a pilgrimage, &c."; penetrated central africa along with captain speke, and discovered lake tanganyika; visited utah, and wrote "the city of the saints"; travelled in brazil, palestine, and western africa, accompanied through many a hardship by his devoted wife; translated the "arabian nights"; his works on his travels numerous, and show him to have been of daring adventure ( - ). burton, robert, an english clergyman, born in leicestershire; scholar of christ church, oxford; lived chiefly in oxford, spending his time in it for some years in study; author of "the anatomy of melancholy," which he wrote to alleviate his own depression of mind, a book which is a perfect mosaic of quotations on every conceivable topic, familiar and unfamiliar, from every manner of source ( - ). see anatomy of melancholy. burton-on-trent ( ), a town in staffordshire; brews and exports large quantities of ale, the water of the place being peculiarly suitable for brewing purposes. bury ( ), a manufacturing town in lancashire, m. nw. of manchester; originally but a small place engaged in woollen manufacture, but cotton is now the staple manufacture in addition to paper-works, dye-works, &c. bury st. edmunds, or st. edmundsbury ( ), a market-town in suffolk, m. nw. of ipswich, named from edmund, king of east anglia, martyred by the danes in , in whose honour it was built; famous for its abbey, of the interior life of which in the th century there is a matchlessly graphic account in carlyle's "past and present." busa`co, a mountain ridge in the prov. of beira, portugal, where wellington with , troops beat masséna with , . busby, richard, distinguished english schoolmaster, born at lutton, lincolnshire; was head-master of winchester school; had a number of eminent men for his pupils, among others dryden, locke, and south ( - ). bÜsching, anton friedrich, a celebrated german geographer; his "erdbeschreibung," the first geographical work of any scientific merit; gives only the geography of europe ( - ). bushire ( ), the chief port of persia on the persian gulf, and a great trading centre. bushmen, or bosjesmans, aborigines of south-west africa; a rude, nomadic race, at one time numerous, but now fast becoming extinct. bushrangers, in australia a gang made up of convicts who escaped to the "bush," and there associated with other desperadoes; at one time caused a great deal of trouble in the colony by their maraudings. busiris, a king of egypt who used to offer human beings in sacrifice; seized hercules and bound him to the altar, but hercules snapped the bonds he was bound with, and sacrificed him. busk, hans, one of the originators of the volunteer movement, born in wales; author of "the rifle, and how to use it" ( - ). buskin, a kind of half-boot worn after the custom of hunters as part of the costume of actors in tragedy on the ancient roman stage, and a synonym for tragedy. bute, an island in the firth of clyde, about m. long and from to broad, n. of arran, nearly all the marquis of bute's property, with his seat at mount stuart, and separated from the mainland on the n. by a winding romantic arm of the sea called the "kyles of bute." bute, john stuart, third earl of, statesman, born of an old scotch family; secretary of state, and from may to april prime minister under george iii., over whom he had a great influence; was very unpopular as a statesman, his leading idea being the supremacy of the king; spent the last years of his life in retirement, devoting himself to literature and science ( - ). bute, marquis of, son of the second marquis, born in bute; admitted to the roman catholic church in ; devoted to archæological studies, and interested in university education; _b_. . butler, alban, hagiographer, born in northampton; head of the college at st. omer; wrote "lives of the saints" ( - ). butler, charles, an english barrister, born in london; wrote "historical account of the laws against the catholics" ( - ). butler, joseph, an eminent english divine, born at wantage, in berks; born a dissenter; conformed to the church of england; became preacher at the rolls, where he delivered his celebrated "sermons," the first three of which contributed so much to the stability of moral science; was raised, in virtue of his merits alone, to the see of bristol; made dean of st. paul's, and finally bishop of durham; his great work, "the analogy of religion, natural and revealed, to the constitution and course of nature," the aim of which is twofold--first, to show that the objections to revealed religion are equally valid against the constitution of nature; and second, to establish a conformity between the divine order in revelation and the order of nature; his style is far from interesting, and is often obscure ( - ). butler, samuel, a master of burlesque, born at strensham, in worcestershire, the son of a small farmer; the author of "hudibras," a poem of about , octosyllabic lines, in which he subjects to ridicule the ideas and manners of the english puritans of the civil war and the commonwealth; it appeared in three parts, the first in , the second soon after, and the third in ; it is sparkling with wit, yet is hard reading, and few who take it up read it through; was an especial favourite with charles ii., who was never weary of quoting from it. "it represents," says stopford brooke, "the fierce reaction that (at the restoration) had set in against puritanism. it is justly famed," he adds, "for wit, learning, good sense, and ingenious drollery, and, in accordance with the new criticism, is absolutely without obscurity. it is often as terse as pope's best work; but it is too long; its wit wearies us at last, and it undoes the force of its attacks on the puritans by its exaggeration" ( - ). butler, william archer, a philosophical writer, born near clonmel, ireland; professor of moral philosophy at dublin; author of "lectures on the history of ancient philosophy" ( - ). butt, clara, operatic singer, born in sussex; made her _début_ in london at the albert hall in the "golden legend," and in "orfeo" at the lyceum, ever since which appearances she has been much in demand as a singer; _b_. . butt, isaac, irish patriot, distinguished for his scholarship at dublin university; became editor of the _dublin university magazine_; entered parliament, and at length took the lead of the "home rule" party, but could not control it, and retired ( - ). buttmann, philipp, a german philologist, born at frankfort-on-the-main; professor of philology in berlin; best known by his "greek grammar" ( - ). buxton, a high-lying town in derbyshire, noted for its calcareous and chalybeate springs, and a resort for invalids; is also famous for its rock crystals, stalactite cavern, and fine scenery. buxton, sir thomas fowell, a philanthropist, born in essex, a tall man of energetic character; entered life as a brewer, and made his fortune; was conspicuous for his interest in benevolent movements, such as the amelioration of criminal law and the abolition of slavery; represented weymouth in parliament from to ; was made a baronet in ; he was wilberforce's successor ( - ). buxton, sir thomas fowell, once governor of s. australia, grandson of the preceding; educated at harrow and cambridge; a liberal in politics, and member for king's lynn from to ; a philanthropist and evangelical churchman; _b_. . buxtorf, a celebrated hebraist, born in westphalia, member of a family of orientalists; professor of hebrew for years at basle; was known by the title, "master of the rabbis" ( - ). byblis, in the greek mythology a daughter of miletus, in love with her brother caunus, whom she pursued into far lands, till, worn out with sorrow, she was changed into a fountain. byng, george, viscount torrington, admiral, favoured the prince of orange, and won the navy over to his interest; commanded the squadron that took gibraltar in : conquered the spaniards off cape passaro; was made first lord of the admiralty in , an office he held till his death ( - ). byng, john, admiral, fourth son of the preceding; having failed to compel the french to raise the blockade of minorca, was recalled, in deference to popular clamour, and being tried and condemned as guilty of treason, was shot at portsmouth, a fate it is now believed he did not deserve, and which he bore like a man and a christian ( - ). byrom, john, poet and stenographer, born near manchester; invented a system of shorthand, now superseded, and which he had the sole right of teaching for years; contributed as "john shadow" to the _spectator_; author of the pastoral, "my time, o ye muses, was happily spent"; his poetry satirical and genial ( - ). byron, george gordon, sixth lord, an english poet, born in london, son of captain byron of the guards, and catherine gordon of gight, aberdeenshire; spent his boyhood at aberdeen under his mother, now a widow, and was educated at harrow and cambridge, spending, when at the latter, his vacations in london, where his mother had taken a house; wrote "hours of idleness," a poor first attempt, which called forth a severe criticism in the _edinburgh review_, and which he satirised in "english bards and scotch reviewers," and soon afterwards left england and spent two years in foreign travel; wrote first part of "childe harold," "awoke one morning and found himself famous"; produced the "giaour," "bride of abydos," "hebrew melodies," and other work. in his school days he had fallen in love with mary chaworth, but she had not returned his affection, and in he married miss millbank, an heiress, who in a year left him never to return, when a storm raised against him on account of his private life drove him from england, and he never came back; on the continent, moved from place to place, finished "childe harold," completed several short poems, and wrote "don juan"; threw himself into revolutionary movements in italy and greece, risked his all in the emancipation of the latter, and embarking in it, died at missolonghi in a fit, at the age of . his poems, from the character of the passion that breathed in them, made a great impression on his age, but the like interest in them is happily now passing away, if not already past; the earth is looking green again once more, under the breath, it is believed, of a new spring-time, or anyhow, the promise of such. see "organic filaments" in "sartor resartus" ( - ). byron, henry james, dramatist, born in manchester, wrote "our boys" ( - ). byron, john, naval officer, grandfather of the poet, nicknamed from his misfortunes "foul-weather jack"; accompanied anson in his voyage round the world, but was wrecked in his ship the _wager_; suffered almost unexampled hardships, of which he wrote a classical account on his safe return home; he rose to the rank of admiral, and commanded the squadron in the west indies during the american war; died in england ( - ). byrsa, a celebrated citadel of carthage. byzantine art, a decorative style of art patronised by the romans after the seat of empire was removed to the east; it has been described by mr. fairholt as "an engraftment of oriental elaboration of detail upon classic forms, ending in their debasement." byzantine empire, called also the eastern, the lower, or the greek empire; dates from a.d., when, by the death of theodosius, the roman empire was divided between his two sons, arcadius and honorius, the eastern section falling to the share of the former, who established the seat of his government at byzantium; the empire included syria, asia minor, pontus, egypt in africa, and ancient greece, and it lasted with varied fortune for ten centuries after the accession of arcadius, till constantinople was taken by the turks in . byzantium, the ancient name of constantinople; founded by greek colonists in b.c. c caaba, an ancient arab temple, a small square structure in the grand mosque of mecca, with a mysterious black stone, probably an aerolite, built in it, on which all pilgrims who visit the shrine imprint a kiss; "the keblah of all moslem, the eyes of innumerable praying men being turned towards it from all the quarters of the compass five times a day." cabal`, a secret intriguing faction in a state, a name applied to a junto of five ministers of charles ii. in power from to , the initials of whose names go to make up the word; their names were clifford, ashley, buckingham, arlington, and lauderdale; derived from cabala (q. v.). cab`ala, a secret science alleged to have been divinely imparted to moses and preserved by tradition, by means of which the rabbis affected to interpret the pretended mystic sense of the words, letters, and very accents of the hebrew scriptures, a science which really owes its existence to a dissatisfaction in the rabbinical mind with the traditional literal interpretation, and a sense that there is more in scripture than meets the ear. the name comes from a hebrew word suggesting "to receive," and denotes "that which is received" or tradition. caballero, fernan, the _nom de plume_ of cecilia boehl, a popular spanish authoress, born in switzerland, of german descent; a collector of folk tales; wrote charmingly; told stories of spanish, particularly andalusian, peasant life ( - ). cabanel, alexandre, a french painter, born at montpellier ( - ). cabanis, pierre jean george, a celebrated french medical man, born in cosnac, in the dep. of charente inférieure, a pronounced materialist in philosophy, and friend of mirabeau; attended him in his last illness, and published an account of it; his materialism was of the grossest; treated the soul as a nonentity; and held that the brain secretes thought just as the liver secretes bile ( - ). cabel, a celebrated painter of the dutch school, born at ryswick ( - ). cabet, Étienne, a french communist, born in dijon; a leader of the carbonari; provoked prosecution, and fled to england; wrote a history of the first revolution, in which he defended the jacobins; author of the "voyage en icarie," in description of a communistic utopia, which became the text-book of a communistic sect called "icarians," a body of whom he headed to carry out his schemes in america, first in texas and then at nauvoo, but failed; died at st. louis broken-hearted ( - ). cabi`ri, certain mysterious demonic beings to whom mystic honours were paid in lemnos and elsewhere in greece, in connection with nature-worship, and especially with that of demeter and dionysus (q. v.). cable, george washington, a journalist, born at new orleans, has written interestingly on, and created an interest in, creole life in america; _b_. . cabot, giovanni, a venetian pilot, born at genoa, settled in bristol, entered the service of henry vii., and discovered part of the mainland of n. america, at labrador, about : _d_. . cabot, sebastian, son of the preceding, born either in venice or bristol; accompanied his father to n. america; sought service as a navigator, first in spain then in england, but failed; returned to spain; attempted under charles v. to plant colonies in brazil with no success, for which he was imprisoned and banished; was the first to notice the variation of the magnetic needle, and to open up to england trade with russia ( - ). cabral, pedro alvarez, a portuguese navigator, sailing for the indies, drifted on the coast of brazil, on which he planted the portuguese flag, , and of which he is accounted by some the discoverer, continued his course, and established a factory at calicut in ( - ). cabre`ra, one of the balearic isles, used as a penal settlement by spain, produces wild olives. cabrera, a spanish general, born at tortosa, catalonia, a zealous supporter of the claims of don carlos, took up arms in his behalf; died in england; he was an unscrupulous adversary ( - ). cabul`, or kabul ( ), cap. of a province of the name in afghanistan, in a mild climate, on an elevated plateau of great fertility, ft. in height, on the high route between central asia and the punjab, a great highway of trade, and a depôt for european goods. caccia, italian fresco-painter, did altar-pieces; his best work, "deposition from the cross," at novara; _d_. . caceras ( ), a spanish province in the n. of estremadura; the name also of its capital ( ), famous for its bacon and sausages, as the province is for cattle-rearing. cachar ( ), a great tea-growing district in assam. cache, name given in canada to a hole in the ground for hiding provisions when they prove cumbersome to carry. cachet, lettre de, a warrant issued in france before the revolution, under the royal seal, for the arrest and imprisonment of a person, often obtained to gratify private ends; abolished in . ca`cus, a mythological brigand of gigantic stature who occupied a cave in mount aventine, represented by virgil as breathing smoke and flames of fire; stole the oxen of hercules as he was asleep, dragging them to his cave tail foremost to deceive the owner; strangled by hercules in his rage at the deception quite as much as the theft. cadastre, a register of the landed proprietors of a district, and the extent of their estates, with maps illustrative called cadastral maps. cade, jack, an irish adventurer, headed an insurrection in kent, in , in the reign of henry vi.; encamped with his following on blackheath; demanded of the king redress of grievances; was answered by an armed force, which he defeated; entered the city, could not prevent his followers from plundering; the citizens retaliating, he had to flee, but was overtaken and slain. cademosto, a venetian in the service of portugal, discovered the cape de verde islands in ; wrote the first book giving an account of modern voyages, published posthumously ( - ). cadiz ( ), one of the chief commercial ports in spain, in andalusia; founded by the phoenicians about b.c.; called gades by the romans; at the nw. extremity of the isle of leon, and separated from the rest of the island by a channel crossed by bridges; it is m. from xeres and m. from gibraltar, and carries on a large export trade. cad`mus, a semi-mythological personage, founder of thebes, in boeotia, to whom is ascribed the introduction of the greek alphabet from phoenicia and the invention of writing; in the quest of his sister europa, was told by the oracle at delphi to follow a cow and build a city where she lay down; arrived at the spot where the cow lay down, he sent, with a view to its sacrifice, his companions to a well guarded by a dragon, which devoured them; slew the dragon; sowed its teeth, which sprang up into a body of armed men, who speared each other to death, all but five, who, the story goes, became the forefathers of thebes. cadoudal, georges, a brave man, chief of the chouans (q. v.), born in brittany, the son of a farmer; tried hard and took up arms to restore the bourbons in the teeth of the republic, but was defeated; refused to serve under bonaparte, who would fain have enlisted him, having seen in him "a mind cast in the true mould"; came over from london, whither he had retired, on a secret mission from charles x.; was suspected of evil designs against the person of bonaparte; arrested, and, after a short trial, condemned and executed, having confessed his intention to overthrow the republic and establish louis xviii. on the throne ( - ). caduceus, the winged rod of hermes, entwined with two serpents; originally a simple olive branch; was in the hands of the god possessed of magical virtues; it was the symbol of peace. cÆdmon, an english poet of the th century, the fragment of a hymn by whom, preserved by bede, is the oldest specimen extant of english poetry; wrote a poem on the beginning of things at the call of a voice from heaven, saying as he slept, "cædmon, come sing me some song"; and thereupon he began to sing, as stopford brooke reports, the story of genesis and exodus, many other tales in the sacred scriptures, and the story of christ and the apostles, and of heaven and hell to come. caen ( ), a fine old norman town, capital of calvados, about m. se. of cherbourg; lace the chief manufacture; the burial-place of william the conqueror, and the native place of charlotte corday; it is a well-built town, and has fine old public buildings, a large library, and a noble collection of pictures. caer`leon, a small old town in monmouthshire, on the usk, ½ m. ne. of newport; celebrated by tennyson in connection with arthurian legend; it is a very ancient place, and contains relics of roman times. cÆsalpinus, italian natural philosopher, born at arezzo; was professor of botany at pisa; was forerunner of harvey and linnæus; discovered sex in plants, and gave hints on their classification ( - ). cÆsar, name of an old roman family claiming descent from the trojan Æneas, which the emperors of rome from augustus to nero of right inherited, though the title was applied to succeeding emperors and to the heirs-apparent of the western and the eastern empires; it survives in the titles of the kaiser of germany and the czar of russia. cÆsar, caius julius, pronounced the greatest man of antiquity, by birth and marriage connected with the democratic party; early provoked the jealousy of sulla, then dictator, and was by an edict of proscription against him obliged to quit the city; on the death of sulla returned to rome; was elected to one civic office after another, and finally to the consulship. united with pompey and crassus in the first triumvirate ( b.c.); was appointed to the government of gaul, which he subdued after nine years to the dominion of rome; his successes awoke the jealousy of pompey, who had gone over to the aristocratic side, and he was recalled; this roused cæsar, and crossing the rubicon with his victorious troops, he soon saw all italy lying at his feet ( b.c.); pursued pompey, who had fled to greece, and defeated him at pharsalia ( b.c.); was thereupon elected dictator and consul for five years, distinguishing himself in egypt and elsewhere; returned to rome ( b.c.); conceived and executed vast schemes for the benefit of the city, and became the idol of its citizens; when he was assassinated on the ides (the th) of march, b.c., in the fifty-sixth year of his age; _b_. b.c. cÆsarea, a syrian seaport, m. n. of joppa, built in honour of augustus cæsar by herod the great, now in ruins, though a place of note in the days of the crusades. also c. philippi, at the source of the jordan, whence christ, on assuring himself that his disciples were persuaded of his divine sonship, turned to go up to jerusalem, and so by his sacrifice perfect their faith in him. cagliari ( ), the cap of sardinia, and the chief port, on the s. coast, was a colony of jews from the time of tiberius till , whence they were expelled by the spaniards; lies on the slopes of a hill, the summit of which is ft. high, and is on the site of an ancient carthaginian town. cagliari, paolo, proper name of paul veronese (q. v.). cagliostro, count alessandro di, assumed name of an arch-impostor, his real name being giuseppe balsamo, born in palermo, of poor parents; early acquired a smattering of chemistry and medicine, by means of which he perpetrated the most audacious frauds, which, when detected in one place were repeated with even more brazen effrontery in another; married a pretty woman named lorenza feliciani, who became an accomplice; professed supernatural powers, and wrung large sums from his dupes wherever they went, after which they absconded to paris and lived in extravagance; here he was thrown into the bastille for complicity in the diamond necklace affair (q. v.); on his wife turning informer, he was consigned to the tender mercies of the inquisition, and committed to the fortress of san leone, where he died at , his wife having retired into a convent ( - ). see carlyle's "miscellanies" for an account of his character and career. cagnola, luigi, marquis of, italian architect, born at milan; his greatest work, the "arco della pace," of white marble, in his native city, the execution of which occupied him over years ( - ). cagots, a race in the sw. of france of uncertain origin; treated as outcasts in the middle ages, owing, it has been supposed, to some taint of leprosy, from which, it is argued, they were by their manner of life in course of time freed. cahors ( ), a town in the dep. of lot, in the s. of france, m. n. of toulouse, with interesting roman and other relics of antiquity. caiaphas, the high-priest of the jews who condemned christ to death as a violator of the law of moses. caiapos, a wild savage race in the woods of brazil, hard to persuade to reconcile themselves to a settled life. caicos, a group of small islands connected with the bahamas, but annexed to jamaica since . caille, louis de la, astronomer, studied at the cape of good hope, registered stars of the southern hemisphere, numbering , before unknown; calculated the table of eclipses for years ( - ). caillet, a chief of the jacquerie, a peasant insurrection in france in , taken prisoner and tortured to death. cailliaud, french mineralogist, born in nantes, travelled in egypt, nubia, and ethiopia, collecting minerals and making observations ( - ). cailliÉ, renÉ, french traveller in africa, born in poitou, the first european to penetrate as far as timbuctoo, in central africa, which he did in ; the temptation was a prize of , marks offered by the geographical society of paris, which he received with a pension of besides ( - ). cain, according to genesis, the first-born of adam and eve, and therefore of the race, and the murderer of his brother abel. cain, thomas henry hall, eminent novelist, born in cheshire, of manx blood; began life as architect and took to journalism; author of a number of novels bearing on manx life, such as the "deemster" and the "manxman"; his most recent novel, the "christian," his greatest but most ambiguous work, and much challenged in england, though less so in america; it has been translated into most of the languages of europe, where the verdict is divided; _b_. . Ça ira, "it will go on," a popular song in france during the revolution, said to have been a phrase of benjamin franklin's, which he was in the habit of using in answering inquirers about the progress of the american revolution by his friends in france. caird, edward, brother of the following, interpreter of kant and hegel; succeeded jowett as master of balliol; has written on the "evolution of religion," and edited the lectures and sermons of his brother; _b_. . caird, john, an eloquent scotch preacher, born at greenock, principal of glasgow university, famous for a sermon entitled "the religion of common life" preached before the queen at crathie in ; made a special study of the philosophy of religion, and wrote eloquently on it, more especially the christian version of it ( - ). cairn, a heap of stones often, though not always, loosely thrown together, generally by way of a sepulchral monument, and it would seem sometimes in execration of some foul deed. cairnes, john elliot, a political economist of the school of john stuart mill with modifications, born in co. louth, ireland; professor successively in dublin, galway, and london; author of works on political economy ( - ). cairngorm, a yellowish-brown variety of rock-crystal, so called from being found, among other places, on one of the scottish grampians, in aberdeenshire, so named. cairns, hugh maccalmont, earl, lawyer and politician, born in co. down, ireland; called to the english bar; entered parliament, representing belfast; became lord chancellor under disraeli's government in , and again in ; took an active interest in philanthropic movements ( - ). cairo ( ), cap. of egypt, and largest city in africa, on the right bank of the nile, just above the delta, m. se. of alexandria, covers an extensive area on a broad sandy plain, and presents a strange agglomeration of ancient and modern elements. the modern city is the fourth founded in succession on the same site, and remains of the former cities are included in it, old walls, gateways, narrow streets, and latticed houses, palaces, and mosques. these, though much spoiled by time and tourists, still represent the brightest period of saracenic art. the most modern part of the city consists of broad boulevards, with european-built villas, hotels, &c., and has all the advantages of modern civic appliances. there is a rich museum, and university with students. extensive railway communication and the nile waterway induce a large transport trade, but there is little industry. the population is mixed; the townsfolk are half arab, half egyptian, while copts, turks, jews, italians, and greeks are numerous; it is a centre of mohammedan learning, and since the centre of british influence in egypt. caithness ( ), a level, except in the w. and s., bare, and somewhat barren, county in the ne. of scotland, m. by m., with a bold and rocky coast; has flagstone quarries; fishing the chief industry, of which wick is the chief seat; the inhabitants are to a great extent of scandinavian origin, and english, not gaelic, is the language spoken. cajetan, cardinal, general of the dominicans, born in gaeta; represented the pope at the diet of augsburg, and tried in vain to persuade luther to recant; wrote a commentary on the bible, and on the "summa theologiæ" of aquinas. calabar`, a district under british protection on the coast of upper guinea, the country flat and the climate unhealthy. calabar bean, seed of an african bean, employed in medicine, known as the ordeal bean, as, being poisonous, having been used to test the innocence of people charged with witchcraft. calabria ( , ), a fertile prov. embraced in the sw. peninsula of italy, and traversed by the apennines, with tunny and anchovy fisheries; yields grains and fruits, and a variety of minerals; is inhabited by a race of somewhat fiery temper; is much subject to earthquakes. calais ( ), a fortified seaport in france, on the strait of dover, where it is m. across; was in possession of the english from to , and the last town held by them on french soil; is the chief landing-place for travellers from england to the continent, and has considerable export trade, as well as cotton and tulle manufactures. calamy, edmund, a presbyterian divine, born in london; favourable to royalty, but zealously opposed to episcopacy, against which he vigorously protested with his pen; opposed the execution of charles i. and the protectorate of cromwell; made chaplain to charles ii. after the restoration; refused a bishopric, which he could not, on conscientious grounds, accept ( - ). calamy, edmund, a grandson of the preceding, an eminent nonconformist minister in london, on whom, for the high esteem in which he was held, honorary degrees were conferred by the edinburgh, glasgow, and aberdeen universities ( - ). calas, jean, a tradesman of toulouse, whose son committed suicide, and who was charged with murdering him to prevent his going over to the catholic church; was tried, convicted, and sentenced to torture and death on the wheel ( ); after which his property was confiscated, and his children compelled to embrace the catholic faith, while the widow escaped into switzerland. voltaire, to his immortal honour, took up her case, proved to the satisfaction of the legal authorities in france the innocence of the victims, got the process revised, and louis xv. to grant a sum of money out of the royal bounty for the benefit of the family. calave`ras, an inland county of california, e. of san francisco, rich in minerals, with copper and gold mines. calchas, the soothsayer who accompanied agamemnon to the siege of troy; enjoined the sacrifice of iphigenia to propitiate the gods, foretold the length or the war, and advised the construction of the wooden horses, a device by means of which troy was surprised and taken. calculus, differential and integral, in mathematics, is the method by which we discuss the properties of continuously varying quantities. the nature of the method and the necessity for it may be indicated by a simple example; e. g. the motion of a train in a track, or the motion of a planet in its orbit. if we know the successive positions of the moving body at successive short intervals of time, the rules of the differential calculus enable us to calculate the speed, the change of speed, the change of direction of motion (i. e. the curvature of the path), and the effective force acting on the body. conversely, given the force at every point, and the initial position and velocity, the rules of the integral calculus assist us in calculating the position and velocity of the body at any future time. expressed somewhat crudely, the differential calculus has to do with the _differentials_ (increments or decrements) of varying quantities; while the integral calculus is a process of summation or _integration_ of these differentials. calcutta ( ), on the left bank of the hooghly, the largest and westernmost branch of the ganges delta, about m. from the sea; is the capital of bengal and the indian empire, and the residence of the governor-general; the government buildings, bishop's college (now an engineering school) high court, town hall, bank, museum, university, st. paul's cathedral, and many other english buildings have earned for it the name "city of palaces"; but the native quarters, though being improved, are still squalid, the houses of mud or bamboo; an esplanade, numerous quays, an excellent water-supply, gas, and tramway services, add to the amenities; there are extensive dockyards, warehouses, iron-works, timber yards, and jute mills; extensive railway and steamboat communications make it the chief emporium of commerce in asia; ships of tons enter the docks; founded in , calcutta was captured by surajah dowlah, and the "black hole" massacre perpetrated in ; became the capital of india in , and has suffered frequently from cyclones; the population are two-thirds hindus, less than a third mohammedan, and ½ per cent. christian. caldecott, randolph, artist, born in chester; exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations, which were full of life, and instinct with a kindly, graceful humour; though professionally untrained, his abilities as an artist were promptly and generously recognised by the academy; he suffered from ill-health, and died in florida, whither he had gone to recruit ( - ). calder, sir robert, british naval officer; served bravely in several naval engagements; was tried by court-martial, and reprimanded for not following up a victory which he had gained, a sentence which was afterwards found to be unjust; attained afterwards the rank of admiral ( - ). calderon de la barca, the great spanish dramatist, born at madrid; entered the army, and served in italy and flanders, producing the while dramas which were received with great enthusiasm; took holy orders, and became a canon of toledo, but to the last continued to write poems and plays; he was a dramatist of the first order, and has been ranked by the more competent critics among the foremost of the class in both ancient and modern times ( - ). calderwood, david, a scotch ecclesiastic, born at dalkeith; became minister of crailing; first imprisoned, and then banished for resisting the attempts of james vi. to establish episcopacy in scotland; wrote a book, "altare damascenum," in holland, whither he had retired, being a searching criticism of the claims of the episcopacy; returned on the death of the king, and wrote a "history of the kirk" ( - ). caledonia, the roman name for scotland n. of the wall of antoninus, since applied poetically to the whole of scotland. caledonian canal, a canal across the nw. of scotland, executed by telford, for the passage of ships between the atlantic and the north sea, m. long, m. of which consist of natural lakes; begun , finished ; cost £ , , ; has locks; was constructed for the benefit of coasting vessels to save the risks they encountered in the pentland firth. calends, the first day of the roman month, so called as the day on which the feast days and unlucky days of the month were announced. cal`gary, the capital of alberta, in nw. territory of canada. calhoun, john caldwell, an american statesman, born in s. carolina, of irish descent; all through his public life in high civic position; leader of "the states rights" movement, in vindication of the doctrine that the union was a mere compact, and any state had a right to withdraw from its conditions; and champion of the slave-holding states, regarding slavery as an institution fraught with blessing to all concerned. his chief work is a treatise on the "nature of government" ( - ). caliban, a slave in shakespeare's "tempest," of the grossest animality of nature. calicut ( ), chief town on the malabar coast, in the madras presidency of india, the first port at which vasco da gama landed in , whence the cotton cloth first imported from the place got the name "calico." california ( , ), the most south-westerly state in the american union; occupies the pacific seaboard between oregon and mexico, and is bounded landward by nevada and arizona. it is the second largest state, larger by a quarter than the united kingdom. in the n. the rainfall is excessive, and winters severe; in the s. there is little rain, and a delightful climate. wheat is the most important product; the grape and all manner of fruits grow luxuriantly. mineral wealth is great: it is the foremost state for gold and quicksilver; lead, silver, copper, iron, sulphur, coal, and many other minerals abound. the industries include brandy and sugar manufactures, silk-growing, shipbuilding, and fishing. all products are exported, eastward by the great central, union, and southern pacific railroads; and seaward, the chief port being san francisco, the largest city, as sacramento is the capital of the state. the yosemite valley, in the sierra nevada, through which falls the merced river, is the most wonderful gorge in the world. captured from mexico in , the discovery of gold next year raised great excitement, and brought thousands of adventurers from all over the world. constituted a state in , the original lawlessness gradually gave way to regular administration, and progress has since been steady and rapid. california, lower ( ), an extensive, mountainous, dry, and scarcely habitable peninsula, stretching southward from the state, in mexican territory; agriculture is carried on in some of the valleys, and pearl and whale fisheries support some coast towns. caligula, roman emperor from a.d. to , youngest son of germanicus and agrippina, born at antium; having ingratiated himself with tiberius, was named his successor; ruled with wisdom and magnanimity at first, while he lived in the unbridled indulgence of every lust, but after an illness due to his dissipation, gave way to the most atrocious acts of cruelty and impiety; would entertain people at a banquet and then throw them into the sea; wished rome had only one head, that he might shear it off at a blow; had his horse installed as consul in mockery of the office; declared himself a god, and had divine honours paid to him, till a conspiracy was formed against him on his return from an expedition into gaul, when he was assassinated ( - ). caliph, the title adopted by the successors of mahomet, as supreme in both civil and religious matters. the principal caliphates are: ( ) the caliphate of the east, established by abubekr at mecca, transferred to bagdad by the abassides ( - ); ( ) the caliphate of cordova, established at cordova by abderrahman ( - ); ( ) the caliphate of egypt, established by the fatimites ( - ). it was at bagdad that moslem civilisation achieved its final development. calisto, daughter of lycaon, king of arcadia; changed by juno into a she-bear, and placed by jupiter among the stars. calixtus, the name of three popes: c. i., pope from to ; c. ii., pope from to ; c. iii., pope from to . calixtus, george, a lutheran theologian of an eminently tolerant type, born at sleswick; travelled for four years in germany, belgium, england, and france; accused of heresy, or rather apostasy, for the liberal spirit in which he had learned in consequence to treat both catholics and calvinists, and for considering the apostles' creed a broad enough basis for christian union and communion, which might embrace both; his friends, however, stood by him, and he retained the position he held in the lutheran church ( - ). calla`o ( ), a port in peru, m. from lima, with a fine harbour the safest on the coast, if not in the world; its prosperity depends on trade, which is less than it was before the annexation of the nitrate fields to chile. callcott, john wall, an eminent musical composer, born at kensington; was a pupil of händel's, and is celebrated for his glee compositions ( - ). sir augustus wall, landscape painter, brother; was knighted for his eminent skill as an artist ( - ). lady maria, wife of sir augustus, author of "little arthur's history of england" ( - ). callernish, a district in the w. of the island of lewis, m. from stornoway; noted for its circles of standing stones, from to ft. in height, the whole in cruciform arrangement. callic`rates, along with ictinos, architect of the parthenon in athens. callim`achus, greek architect, inventor of the corinthian order, th century b.c. callimachus, greek poet, born in cyrena; taught grammar and belles-lettres at alexandria; was keeper of the library there; of his writings, which are said to have been on a variety of subjects and very numerous, only a few epigrams and hymns remain; was admired by catullus, ovid, and propertius, and flourished in the rd century b.c. calli`ope, the muse of epic poetry and eloquence, is represented with a tablet and stylus, and sometimes with a paper roll. see muses. callis`thenes, a disciple of aristotle, who accompanied alexander the great to india, and was put to death by his order for remonstrating with him on his adoption of the manners and style of the potentates of the east, but professedly on a charge of treason. callis`tratus, an athenian orator, who kindled in demosthenes a passion for his art; his spartan sympathies brought him to grief, and led to his execution as a traitor. callot, jacques, engraver and etcher, born at nancy; his etchings, executed many of them at the instance of the grand-duke of tuscany and louis xiii. of france, amounted to pieces, such as those of the sieges of breda and rochelle, which are much admired, as also those of the gipsies with whom he associated in his youth ( - ). calmet, augustine, a learned benedictine and biblical scholar, born in lorraine, but known in england by his "historical, critical, and chronological dictionary of the bible," the first published book of its kind of any note, and much referred to at one time as an authority; he wrote also a "commentary on the bible" in vols., and a "universal history" in vols. ( - ). calms, the, tracts of calm in the ocean, on the confines of the trade winds, and which lasts for weeks at a time. calomar`de, duke, a spanish statesman; minister of ferdinand vii.; a violent enemy of liberal principles and measures, and a reactionary; obnoxious to the people; arrested for treachery, escaped into france by bribing his captors ( - ). calonne, charles alexandre de, french financier under louis xvi., born at douay; a man of "fiscal genius; genius for persuading, before all things for borrowing"; succeeded necker in as comptroller-general of the finances in france; after four years of desperate attempts at financial adjustment, could do nothing but convoke the notables in ; could give no account of his administration that would satisfy them; was dismissed, and had to quit paris and france; "his task to raise the wind and the winds," says carlyle, "and he did it," referring to the revolution he provoked; was permitted by napoleon to return to france, where he died in embarrassed circumstances ( - ). caloric, the name given by physicists to the presumed subtle element which causes heat. calorius, abraham, a fiery lutheran polemic, a bitter enemy of george calixtus ( - ). calotype, a process of photography invented by fox talbot in , by means of the action of light on nitrate of silver. calpË, gibraltar, one of the pillars of hercules (q. v.). calpurnia, the last wife of julius cæsar, daughter of the consul piso, who, alive to the danger of conspiracy, urged cæsar to stay at home the day he was assassinated. caltagirone ( ), a city m. sw. of catania; the staple industry is pottery and terra-cotta ware. cal`umet, among the american indians a pipe for smoking, which if accepted when offered, was an emblem of peace, and if rejected, a declaration of war. calvados ( ), a maritime dep. in n. of france, skirted by dangerous rocks of the same name, with a fertile soil and a moist climate. calvaert, denis, a painter, born at antwerp; settled at bologna, where he founded a school, from whence issued many eminent artists, among others guidi reni, domenichino, and albani; his masterpiece, "st. michael" in st. peter's, bologna ( - ). calvary, the place of the crucifixion, identified with a hill on the n. of jerusalem, looked down upon from the city, with a cliff on which criminals were cast down prior to being stoned; also name given to effigies of the crucifixion in catholic countries, erected for devotion. calverley, charles stuart, a clever english parodist, fellow of christ's church, oxford; wrote "fly-leaves" and "verses and translations"; his parodies among the most amusing of the century, flavoured by the author's scholarship ( - ). calvert, george and cecil, father and son, lords baltimore; founders, under charter from james i., of maryland, u.s. calvin, john, or cauvin, the great reformer, born at noyon, in picardy; devoted for a time to the law, was sent to study at the university of orleans, after having mastered latin as a boy at paris; became acquainted with the scriptures, and acquired a permanently theological bent; professed the protestant faith; proceeded to paris; became the centre of a dangerous religious excitement; had to flee for his life from france; retired to basel, where he studied hebrew and wrote his great epoch-making book, the "institutes of the christian religion"; making after this for strassburg, he chanced to pass through geneva, was arrested as by the hand of god to stay and help on god's work in the place, but proceeded with such rigour that he was expelled, though recalled after three years; on his return he proposed and established his system of church government, which allowed of no license in faith any more than conduct, as witness the burning of servetus for denying the doctrine of the trinity; for twenty years he held sway in geneva, and for so long he was regarded as the head of the reformed churches in scotland, switzerland, holland, and france. besides his "institutes," he found time to write commentaries on nearly all the books of the bible; was a man of masculine intellect and single-hearted devotion to duty, as ever in the "great taskmaster's" eye. his greatest work was his "institutes," published in basel in - . it was written in latin, and four years after translated by himself into french. "in the translated form," says prof. saintsbury, "it is beyond all question the first serious work of great literary merit not historical in the history of french prose.... considering that the whole of it was written before the author of it was seven-and-twenty, it is perhaps the most remarkable work of its particular kind to be anywhere found; the merits of it being those of full maturity and elaborate preparation rather than of youthful exuberance" ( - ). calvinism, the theological system of calvin, the chief characteristic of which is that it assigns all in salvation to the sovereign action and persistent operation of divine grace. calvo, charles, an argentine publicist, born at buenos ayres in ; author of "international law, theoretical and practical." calypso, in the greek mythology a nymph, daughter of atlas, queen of the island of ogygia, who by her fascinating charms detained ulysses beside her for of the years of his wanderings home from troy; she died of grief on his departure. camarilla, a name of recent origin in spain for a clique of private counsellors at court, who interpose between the legitimate ministers and the crown. cambacÉrÈs, jean jacques rÉgis de, duke of parma, born at montpellier; bred to the legal profession, took a prominent part as a lawyer in the national convention; after the revolution of the th brumaire, was chosen second consul; was sincerely attached to napoleon; was made by him high chancellor of the empire as well as duke of parma; his "projet de code" formed the basis of the _code napoléon_ ( - ). cambay ( ), a town and seaport n. of bombay, on a gulf of the same name, which is fast silting up, in consequence of which the place, once a flourishing port, has fallen into decay. cambo`dia ( , ), a small kingdom in indo-china, occupying an area as large as scotland in the plains of the lower mekong. the coast-line is washed by the gulf of siam; the landward boundaries touch siam, annam, and french cochin-china; in the n. are stretches of forest and hills in which iron and copper are wrought; a branch of the mekong flows backward and forms the great lake; most of the country is inundated in the rainy season, and rice, tobacco, cotton, and maize are grown in the tracts thus irrigated; spices, gutta-percha, and timber are also produced; there are iron-works at kompong soai; foreign trade is done through the port kampot. the capital is pnom-penh ( ), on the mekong. the kingdom was formerly much more extensive; remarkable ruins of ancient grandeur are numerous; it has been under french protection since . cambrai ( ), a city in the dep. of nord, in france, on the scheldt; famous for its fine linen fabrics, hence called _cambrics_. fénélon was archbishop here, in the cathedral of which is a monument to his memory. cambria, the ancient name of wales, country of the kymry, a celtic race, to which the welsh belong. cambridge ( ), county town of cambridgeshire, stands in flat country, on the cam, m. ne. of london; an ancient city, with interesting archæological remains; there are some fine buildings, the oldest round church in england, holy sepulchre, and a roman catholic church. the glory of the city is the university, founded in the th century, with its colleges housed in stately buildings, chapels, libraries, museums, &c., which shares with oxford the academic prestige of england. it lays emphasis on mathematical, as oxford on classical, culture. among its eminent men have been bacon, newton, cromwell, pitt, thackeray, spenser, milton, dryden, wordsworth, and tennyson. cambridge ( ), a suburb of boston, u.s., one of the oldest towns in new england; seat of harvard university; the centre of the book-making trade; here longfellow resided for many years. cambridge, first duke of, seventh and youngest son of george iii.; served as volunteer under the duke of york, and carried a marshal's baton; was made viceroy of hanover, which he continued to be till, in , the crown fell to the duke of cumberland ( - ). cambridge, second duke of, son of the preceding and cousin to the queen, born in hanover; served in the army; became commander-in-chief in on the resignation of viscount hardinge; retired in , and was succeeded by lord wolseley; _b_. . cambridge university contains colleges: peterhouse, founded ; clare college, ; pembroke, ; gonville and caius, ; trinity hall, ; corpus christi, ; king's, ; queens', ; st. catherine's, ; jesus, ; christ's, ; st john's, ; magdalene, ; trinity, ; emmanuel, ; sidney sussex, ; and downing, . each college is a corporation by itself, governed by statutes sanctioned by the crown, and capable of holding landed or other property. cambridgeshire ( ), an inland agricultural county, nine-tenths of its surface under cultivation; famed for its butter and cheese; very flat, marshy in the n., with a range of chalk-hills, the gog-magog in the s.; is rich in roman remains. cambronne, french general, born at nantes; served under the republic and the empire; accompanied napoleon to elba in ; commanded a division of the old guard at waterloo; fought to the last; though surrounded by the enemy and summoned to surrender, refused, and was taken prisoner; is credited with the saying, _la garde meurt, et ne se rend pas_, "the guard dies, but does not surrender" ( - ). cambus`can, king of tartary, identified with genghis khan, who had a wonderful steed of brass, magically obedient to the wish of the rider, together with a magical mirror, sword, and ring. camby`ses, king of persia, succeeded his father, the great cyrus; invaded and subdued egypt, but afterwards suffered serious reverses, and in the end gave himself up to dissipation and vindictive acts of cruelty, from which not only his subjects suffered, but the members of his own family; _d_. b.c. cambyses, king, a ranting character in a play called "the lamentable tragedy"; referred to by falstaff in i henry iv., act ii. sc. . camden ( ), a busy town in new jersey, u.s., on the left bank of the delaware, opposite philadelphia; the terminus of six railways. camden, charles pratt, first earl of, a distinguished british lawyer and statesman, chief-justice of the king's bench in george i.'s reign, and ultimately lord chancellor of england; opposed, as judge in the case, the prosecution of wilkes as illegal, and as a statesman the policy and action of the government towards the american colonies; he was created earl in ( - ). camden, william, a learned english antiquary, the first and most famous born in london; second master, and eventually head-master in westminster school, during which time he gave proof of his antiquarian knowledge, which led to his appointment as clarencieux king-at-arms; author of "britannia," a historical and topographical account of the british isles, his most widely known work, and "annals of elizabeth's reign," both, as all the rest of his works, written in latin; he has been surnamed the strabo and the pausanias of england ( - ). camelot, a place in somerset, where, it is presumed, king arthur held his court, and where entrenchments of an old town are still to be seen. camenÆ, in the roman mythology a set of nymphs endowed with semi-prophetic powers, and sometimes identified with the muses. cameo, a precious stone cut in relief; consists generally of two or three different colours, the upper cut in relief and the under forming the ground. camera lucida, an optical instrument or contrivance, by means of which the image of an object may be made to appear on a light or white surface. camera obscura, an optical contrivance, by means of which the images of external objects are exhibited distinctly on a surface in the focus of the lens. camerarius, a distinguished scholar, born at bamberg; active as a german reformer; played a prominent part in the religious struggles of his time; friend and biographer of melanchthon; collaborated with him in drawing up the augsburg confession ( - ). cameron, john, a learned divine, born in glasgow, who held several professorial appointments on the continent; was for a time principal of glasgow university; his knowledge was so extensive that he was styled a "walking library," but he fell in disfavour with the people for his doctrine of passive obedience, and he died of a wound inflicted by an opponent of his views ( - ). cameron, richard, a scotch covenanter of the th century, born in falkland, fife; a ringleader of the persecuted presbyterians, took to arms along with sixty others in defence of his rights; was surprised by a body of dragoons at airds moss (q. v.), and after a brave fight slain, his head and hands cut off, and fixed on the netherbow port, at the head of the canongate, edinburgh, in . cameron, verney lovett, african explorer, born near weymouth; traversed africa all the way from east to west ( - ); he was on the track of important discoveries, but his explorations were cut short by the natives; wrote "across africa" ( - ). cameronians ( ), a presbyterian body in scotland who derived their name from richard cameron, contended like him for the faith to which the nation by covenant had bound itself, and even declined to take the oath of allegiance to sovereigns such as william iii. and his successors, who did not explicitly concede to the nation this right. ( ) also a british regiment, originally raised in defence of scottish religious rights; for long the th regiment of the british line, now the scottish rifles. cameroon, ( ) a river in w. africa, falling by a wide estuary into the bight of biafra, known as the oil river, from the quantities of palm-oil exported; ( ) a mountain range, a volcanic group, the highest peak nearly , ft., nw. of the estuary; ( ) also a german colony, extending m. along the coast. camilla, ( ) a virgin queen of the volsci, one of the heroines in the "Æneid," noted for her preternatural fleetness on the racecourse, and her grace; ( ) also a sister of the horatii (q. v.), killed by her brother because she wept at the death of her affiancé, one of the curiatii (q. v.), whom the horatii slew. camillus, marcus furius, a famous patrician of early rome; took veii, a rival town, after a ten years' siege; retired into voluntary exile at ardea on account of the envy of his enemies in rome; recalled from exile, saved rome from destruction by the gauls under brennus, was five times elected dictator, and gained a succession of victories over rival italian tribes; died at eighty of the plague, in b.c., lamented by the whole nation, and remembered for generations after as one of the noblest heroic figures in roman history. camisards, huguenots of the cévennes, who took up arms by thousands in serious revolt against louis xiv., in which others joined, under jean cavalier their chief, after, and in consequence of, the revocation of the edict of nantes ( ); so called because they wore a _camiso_ (fr. a _chemise_), a blouse over their armour; were partly persuaded and partly compelled into submission by marshal villars in . camoËns, the poet of portugal, born at lisbon, studied at coimbra; fell in passionate love with a lady of high rank in lisbon, as she with him, but whom he was not allowed to marry; left lisbon, joined the army, and fought against the moors; volunteered service in india, arrived at goa, and got into trouble with the portuguese authorities; was banished to macao, and consoled himself by writing his "lusiad"; coming home he lost everything but his poem; died neglected and in poverty; the title of the poem is properly "the lusiads," or the lusitanians, i. e. the portuguese, and is their national epic, called, not inaptly, the "epos of commerce"; it has been translated into most european languages, and into english alone no fewer than six times ( - ). camorra, a secret society in naples with wide ramifications, which at one time had by sheer terrorism considerable political influence in the country; when steps were taken by francis ii. to suppress it, the members of it joined the revolutionary party, and had their revenge in the expulsion eventually of the bourbons from italy. campagna, ( ) an unhealthy flat district round rome, co-extensive with ancient latium, infested with malaria; ( ) a town in italy, in salerno, with a cathedral, and a trade in wine, oil, and fruit. campaign, the, poem by addison in celebration of marlborough's victory at blenheim. campan, mme. de, born at paris, faithful friend and confidante of marie antoinette; after the revolution opened a boarding-school at st. germain; became under napoleon matron of an institution for daughters of officers of the legion of honour; wrote the "private life of marie antoinette" ( - ). campanella, tommaso, an italian philosopher of the transition period, originally a dominican monk, born in calabria; contemporary of bacon; aimed, like him, at the reform of philosophy; opposed scholasticism, fell back upon the ancient systems, and devoted himself to the study of nature; was persecuted all along by the church, and spent years of his life in a neapolitan dungeon; released, he retired to france, and enjoyed the protection of richelieu; he was the author of sonnets as well as philosophical works ( - ). campania, an ancient prov. in the w. of italy, of great fertility, and yields corn, wine, and oil in great abundance; capua was the capital, the chief towns of which now are naples, salerno, and gaeta; it was a favourite resort of the wealthy families of ancient rome. campanile, a tower for bells constructed beside a church, but not attached to it; very common in italian cities, the leaning tower of pisa being one, and that of florence one of the most famous. campbell, a celebrated scottish highland clan, the members of which have played an important role in english and scottish history. campbell, alexander, an anti-calvinistic baptist, born in antrim; emigrated to america in , and founded a sect called the "disciples of christ"; disowned creeds, and owned no authority in religion but the bible; the sect has upwards of meeting-houses in america, and over half a million members. campbell executed a translation of the new testament, in which he employed the words "immercer" and "immersion" for "baptist" and "baptism" ( - ). campbell, sir colin, lord clyde, born in glasgow, son of a carpenter named macliver; entered the army, and rose rapidly; served in china and the punjab; commanded the highland brigade in the crimea; won the day at alma and balaclava; commanded in india during the mutiny; relieved lucknow, and quelled the rebellion; was made field-marshal, with a pension of £ , and created lord clyde; he was one of the bravest soldiers of england ( - ). campbell, george, a scotch divine, principal of aberdeen university; wrote "philosophy of rhetoric," and an able reply to hume's argument against miracles, entitled "dissertation on miracles" ( - ). campbell, john, lord chancellor of england, born at cupar-fife; a son of the manse; destined for the church, but took the study of law; was called to the bar; did journalistic work and law reports; was a whig in politics; held a succession of offices both on the bench and in the cabinet; wrote the "lives of the chancellors" and the "lives of the chief justices" ( - ). campbell, john francis, born at islay, author of, among other works, "popular tales of the west highlands, orally collected," a collection all his own, and a remarkable one for the enthusiasm and the patriotic devotion it displays ( - ). campbell, john macleod, a scotch clergyman, born in argyll; deposed from the ministry of the scotch church in for his liberal theological sentiments; a saintly man, whose character alone should have protected him from such an indignity; his favourite theme was the self-evidencing character of revelation, while the doctrine for which he was deposed, the fatherhood of god, is being now adopted as the central principle of scotch theology; he continued afterwards to ply his vocation as a minister of christ in a quiet way to some quiet people like himself, and before his death a testimonial and address in recognition of his worth was presented to him by representatives of nearly every religious community in scotland ( - ). campbell, thomas, poet, born in glasgow; studied with distinction at the university; when a student of law in edinburgh wrote "the pleasures of hope"; the success of the work, which was great, enabled him to travel on the continent, where he wrote the well-known lines, "ye mariners of england," "hohenlinden," and "the exile of erin"; married, and settled in london, where he did writing, lecturing, and some more poetry, in particular "the last man"; after settling in london a pension of £ was awarded him through the influence of fox; he wrote in prose as well as verse; he was elected rector of glasgow university in , and again in the following year: buried in westminster ( - ). campbeltown, a town in kintyre, argyllshire, with a fine harbour; is a great fishing centre; and has over whisky distilleries. campe, joachim heinrich, german educationist; disciple of basedow, and author of educational works ( - ). campeachy ( ), a mexican seaport on a bay of the same name; manufactures cigars. campeggio, lorenzo, cardinal; twice visited england as legate, the last time in connection with the divorce between henry viii. and catherine, with the effect of mortally offending the former and being of no real benefit to the latter, whom he would fain have befriended; his mission served only to embitter the relations of henry with the see of rome ( - ). camper, peter, a dutch anatomist, born at leyden; held sundry professorships; made a special study of the facial angle in connection with intelligence; he was an artist as well as a scientist, and a patron of art ( - ). camperdown, a tract of sandy hills on the coast of n. holland, near which admiral duncan defeated the dutch fleet under van winter in . camphuysen, a dutch landscape painter of the th century, famous for his moonlight pieces. campi, a family of painters, distinguished in the annals of italian art at cremona in the th century. campine, a vast moor of swamp and peat to the e. of antwerp, being now rendered fertile by irrigation. campion, edmund, a jesuit, born in london; a renegade from the church of england; became a keen catholic propagandist in england; was arrested for sedition, of which he was innocent, and executed; was in beatified by pope leo xiii. ( - ). campo-formio, a village near udine, in venetia, where a treaty was concluded between france and austria in , by which the belgian provinces and part of lombardy were ceded to france, and certain venetian states to austria in return. campo santo (_holy ground_), italian and spanish name for a burial-place. campos ( ), a trading city of brazil, in the prov. of rio janeiro. campvere, now called vere, on the ne. of the island of walcheren; had a scotch factory under scotch law, civil and ecclesiastical. camus, bishop of belley, born at paris; a violent enemy of the mendicant monks ( - ). camus, a learned french jurisconsult, member of the national convention; a determined enemy of the court party in france; voted for the execution of the king as a traitor and conspirator; was conservator of the national records, and did good service in preserving them ( - ). canaan, originally the coast land, but eventually the whole, of palestine w. of the jordan. canaanites, a civilised race with towns for defence; dependent on agriculture; worshippers of the fertilising powers of nature; and the original inhabitants of palestine, from which they were never wholly rooted out. canada ( , ), which with newfoundland forms british north america, occupies the northern third of the continent, stretches from the atlantic to the pacific, from the united states to alaska and the arctic ocean; nearly as large as europe, it comprises a lofty and a lower tableland w. and e. of the rocky mountains, the peninsulas of labrador and nova scotia, and between these a vast extent of prairie and undulating land, with rivers and lakes innumerable, many of them of enormous size and navigable, constituting the finest system of inland waterways in the world; the rocky mountains rise to , ft., but there are several gorges, through one of which the canadian pacific railroad runs; the chief rivers are the fraser, mackenzie, saskatchewan, and st. lawrence; great slave, great bear, athabasca, winnipeg, manitoba, superior, huron, erie, and ontario are the largest lakes; the climate is varied, very cold in the north, very wet west of the rockies, elsewhere drier than in europe, with hot summers, long, cold, but bracing and exhilarating winters; the corn-growing land is practically inexhaustible; the finest wheat is grown without manure, year after year, in the rich soil of manitoba, athabasca, and the western prairie; the forests yield maple, oak, elm, pine, ash, and poplar in immense quantities, and steps are taken to prevent the wealth of timber ever being exhausted; gold, coal, iron, and copper are widely distributed, but as yet not much wrought; fisheries, both on the coasts and inland, are of great value; agriculture and forestry are the most important industries; the chief trade is done with england and the united states; the twelve provinces, quebec, ontario, new brunswick, nova scotia, prince edward island, british columbia, manitoba, keewatin, assiniboia, saskatchewan, alberta, and athabasca, each with its own parliament, are united under the dominion government; the governor-general is the viceroy of the queen; the dominion parliament meets at ottawa, the federal capital; nearly every province has its university, that of toronto being the most important; the largest town is montreal; toronto, quebec, hamilton, and halifax are all larger than the capital; taken possession of by france in , settlement began at quebec in ; by the treaty of utrecht, , hudson bay, nova scotia, and newfoundland passed to england; the rest of french territory was ceded to england in ; constituted at different times, the various provinces, except newfoundland, were finally confederated in . canaletto, antonio, a venetian painter, famous for his pictures of venice and handling of light and shade ( - ). canaletto, bernardo bellotto, nephew and pupil of preceding; distinguished for his perspective and light and shade ( - ). canaris, constantine, a greek statesman, did much to free and consolidate greece, more than any other statesman ( - ). canary islands ( ), a group of mountainous islands in the atlantic, off the nw. african coast, belonging to spain, with rocky coasts, and wild, picturesque scenery; on the lower levels the climate is delightful, and sugar, bananas, and dates grow; farther up there are zones where wheat and cereals are cultivated; the rainfall is low, and water often scarce; sugar, wine, and tobacco are exported; the islands are a health resort of growing favour. cancan, the name of an ungraceful and indecent dance practised in the paris dancing saloons. candia ( ), the ancient name of crete, now the name of the capital, in the centre of the n. coast. candide, a philosophic romance by voltaire, and written in ridicule of the famous maxim of leibnitz, "all for the best in the best of all possible worlds"; it is a sweeping satire, and "religion, political government, national manners, human weakness, ambition, love, loyalty, all come in for a sneer." candlemas, a festival in commemoration of the purification of the virgin, held on february , celebrated with lighted candles; an old roman custom in honour of the goddess februa. candlish, robert smith, a scottish ecclesiastic, born in edinburgh; distinguished, next to chalmers, for his services in organising the free church of scotland; was an able debater and an eloquent preacher ( - ). candolle. see de candolle. candour, mrs., a slanderess in sheridan's "rivals." canea ( ), chief commercial town in crete, on nw. coast; trades in wax, oil, fruit, wool, and silk. canina, luigi, italian architect; wrote on the antiquities of rome, etruria, &c. ( - ). cannÆ, ancient town in apulia, near the mouth of the aufidus, where hannibal, in a great battle, defeated the romans in b.c., but failing to follow up his success by a march on rome, was twitted by maherbal, one of his officers, who addressing him said, "you know how to conquer, hannibal, but not how to profit by your victory." cannes ( ), a french watering-place and health resort on the mediterranean, in the se. of france, where napoleon landed on his return from elba. canning, charles john, earl, grandson of the succeeding; after service in cabinet offices, was made governor-general of india, , in succession to lord dalhousie; held this post at the time of the mutiny in ; distinguished himself during this trying crisis by his discretion, firmness, and moderation; became viceroy on the transfer of the government to the crown in ; died in london without issue, and the title became extinct ( - ). canning, george, a distinguished british statesman and orator, born in london; studied for the bar; entered parliament as a protégé of pitt, whom he strenuously supported; was rewarded by an under-secretaryship; married a lady of high rank, with a fortune; satirised the whigs by his pen in his "anti-jacobin"; on the death of pitt became minister of foreign affairs; under portland distinguished himself by defeating the schemes of napoleon; became a member of the liverpool ministry, and once more minister of foreign affairs; on the death of liverpool was made prime minister, and after a period of unpopularity became popular by adopting, to the disgust of his old colleagues, a liberal policy; was not equal to the opposition he provoked, and died at the age of ( - ). cano, alonzo, a celebrated artist, born at granada; surnamed the michael angelo of spain, having been painter, sculptor, and architect ( - ). cano, sebastian del, a spanish navigator, the first to sail round the world; perished on his second voyage to india ( - ). canon, the name given to the body of scripture accepted by the church as of divine authority. caÑon of colorado, a gorge in arizona through which the colorado river flows, the largest and deepest in the world, being m. long, with a wall from to ft. in perpendicular height. canonisation, in the romish church, is the solemn declaration by the pope that a servant of god, renowned for his virtue and for miracles he has wrought, is to be publicly venerated by the whole church, termed saint, and honoured by a special festival. a preparatory stage is beatification, and the beatification and canonisation of a saint are promoted by a long, tedious, and costly process, much resembling a suit at law. canopus, the blue vault of heaven with its stars, revered and worshipped by the son of the sandy desert as a friend and guide to him, as he wanders over the waste at night alone. canosa ( ), a town in apulia, abounding in roman remains, on the site of ancient canusium. canossa, a town nw. of bologna, in the courtyard of the castle of which the emperor henry iv. stood three days in the cold, in january , bareheaded and barefooted, waiting for pope gregory vii. to remove from him the sentence of excommunication. canova, antonio, a great italian sculptor, born in venetia; gave early proof of his genius; his first great work, and which established his fame, was the group of "theseus and the minotaur," which was by-and-by succeeded by his "cupid and psyche," distinguished by a tenderness and grace quite peculiar to him, and erelong by "perseus with the head of medusa," perhaps the triumph of his art; his works were numerous, and brought him a large fortune, which he made a generous use of ( - ). canrobert, franÇois, marshal of france; served for some years in algeria; was a supporter of napoleon iii., and a tool; commanded in the crimea, first under, and then in succession to st. arnaud; fought in italy against austria; was shut up in metz with bazaine, and made prisoner; became a member of the senate under the republic ( - ). cant, affectation of thinking, believing, and feeling what one in his heart and reality does not, of which there are two degrees, insincere and sincere; insincere when one cants knowing it, and sincere when one cants without knowing it, the latter being of the darker and deeper dye. cant, andrew, a scotch presbyterian minister, who had an equal zeal for the scotch covenant and the cause of charles stuart ( - ). a son of his was principal of edinburgh university from to . cantabri, the original inhabitants of the n. of spain; presumed to be the ancestors of the basques. cantacuze`nus, john, emperor of the east; an able statesman, who acting as regent for the heir, had himself crowned king, but was driven to resign at length; retired to a monastery on mount athos, where he wrote a history of his time; died in , years old. cantarini, simone, an italian painter, born at pesaro; a pupil of guido and a rival, but only an imitator from afar ( - ). canterbury ( ), in e. kent, on the stour, by rail m. se. of london; is the ecclesiastical capital of england; the cathedral was founded a.d. by st. augustin; the present building belongs to various epochs, dating as far back as the th century; it contains many interesting monuments, statues, and tombs, among the latter that of thomas à becket, murdered in the north transept, ; the cloisters, chapter-house, and other buildings occupy the site of the old monastic houses; the city is rich in old churches and ecclesiastical monuments; there is an art gallery; trade is chiefly in hops and grain. kit marlowe was a native. canterbury ( ), a district in new zealand, in the centre of the south island, on the east side of which are the canterbury plains or downs, a great pasture-land for sheep of over three million acres. canterbury tales, a body of tales by chaucer, conceived of as related by a small company of pilgrims from london to the shrine of thomas à becket at canterbury. they started from the tabard inn at southwark, and agreed to tell each a tale going and each another coming back, the author of the best tale to be treated with a supper. none of the tales on the homeward journey are given. canticles, a book in the bible erroneously ascribed to solomon, and called in hebrew the song of songs, about the canonicity and interpretation of which there has been much debate, though, as regards the latter, recent criticism inclines, if there is any unity in it at all, to the conclusion that it represents a young maiden seduced into the harem of solomon, who cannot be persuaded to transfer to the king the affection she has for a shepherd in the northern hills of galilee, her sole beloved; the aim of the author presumed by some to present a contrast between the morals of the south and those of the north, in justification possibly of the secession. it was for long, and is by some still, believed to be an allegory in which the bridegroom represents christ and the bride his church. canton ( , ), chief commercial city and port of southern china; stands on a river almost on the seaboard, m. nw. of hong-kong, and is a healthy town, but with a heavy rainfall; it is surrounded by walls, has narrow crooked streets, temples, mostly buddhist, and two pagodas, and centuries old respectively; great part of the population live in boats on the river; the fancy goods, silk, porcelain, ivory, and metal work are famous; its river communication with the interior has fostered an extensive commerce; exports, tea, silk, sugar, cassia, &c. canton, john, an ingenious experimentalist in physics, and particularly in electricity, born at stroud; discovered the means of making artificial magnets and the compressibility of water ( - ). cantÙ, cÆsare, an italian historian, born in lombardy; imprisoned by the austrian government for his bold advocacy of liberal views, but at length liberated; wrote, among a number of other works, literary as well as historical, a "universal history" in vols. ( - ). canute, or cnut, the dane, called the great, son of sweyn, king of denmark; invaded england, and after a success or two was elected king by his fleet; the claim was repudiated by the saxons, and he had to flee; returned in , and next year, though london held out for a time, carried all before him; on the death of his sole rival became undisputed king of england, and ruled it as an englishman born, wisely, equitably, and well, though the care of governing denmark and norway lay on his shoulders as well; died in england, and was buried in winchester minster; every one is familiar with the story of the rebuke he administered to the courtiers by showing how regardless the waves of the sea were of the authority of a king ( - ). cape breton ( ), the insular portion of the prov. of nova scotia at its eastern extremity, m. long and broad; is covered with forests of pine, oak, &c., and exports timber and fish. cape coast castle ( ), capital of the gold coast colony. cape colony ( , ), comprises the extremity of the african continent south of the orange river and natal, and is nearly twice the size of the united kingdom; the nieuwveld berge, running e. and w., divides the country into two slopes, the northern slope long and gradual to the orange river, the southern shorter and terraced to the sea; two-thirds of the country is arid plain, which, however, only requires irrigation to render it very fertile; the climate is dry and healthy, but hot in summer; the prevalent vegetation is heath and bulbous plants. sheep and ostrich farming are the chief industries; wool, goats' hair, ostrich feathers, hides, diamonds from kimberley and copper from namaqualand are the chief exports; two-thirds of the people are of african race, chiefly kaffirs, who flourish under british rule; the remainder are of dutch, english, french, and german origin; cape town is the capital, kimberley and port elizabeth the only other large towns, but there are many small towns; roads are good; railway and telegraph communication is rapidly developing. the government is in the hands of a governor, appointed by the crown, assisted by an executive council of five and a parliament of two houses; local government is in vogue all over the country; education is well cared for; the university of the cape of good hope was founded in . discovered by the portuguese diaz in , the cape was taken possession of by the dutch in , from whom it was captured by great britain in . various steps towards self-government culminated in . in recent years great tracts to the n. have been formally taken under british protection, and the policy of extending british sway from the cape to cairo is explicitly avowed. cape horn, a black, steep, frowning rock at the se. extremity of the fuegean islands; much dreaded at one time by sailors. cape of good hope, a cape in south africa, discovered by diaz in ; called at first "cape of storms," from the experience of the first navigators; altered in consideration of the promised land reached beyond. cape town ( ), capital of cape colony, situated at the head of table bay, on the sw. coast, with table mountain rising behind it; is a regularly built, flat-roofed, imposing town, with handsome buildings and extensive government gardens; well drained, paved, and lit, and with a good water supply. the government buildings and law courts, museum and art gallery, bank and exchange, are its chief architectural features. it has docks, and a graving dock, and is a port of call for vessels of all nations, with a thriving commerce. cape verde islands ( ), a group of mountainous, volcanic islands, belonging to portugal, m. from cape verde, on the w. of africa, of which are inhabited, the largest and most productive santiago and st. vincent, with an excellent harbour, oftenest visited. these islands are unhealthy, and cattle-breeding is the chief industry. capell, edward, an inspector of plays, born at bury st. edmunds; spent years in editing the text of shakespeare, in three vols., with notes and various readings ( - ). capella, a reddish star of the first magnitude in the northern constellation of auriga. capella, an encyclopædist, born in north africa in the th century; author of a work called the "satiricon," a strange medley of curious learning. capercailzie, the wood-grouse, a large game-bird found in fir woods in mountainous districts, and highly esteemed for table. capernaum, a town on the n. side of the sea of galilee, the centre of christ's labours, the exact site of which is uncertain. capet, the surname of hugh, the founder, in , of the third dynasty of french kings, which continued to rule france till , though the name is applied both to the valois dynasty, which ruled till , and the bourbon, which ruled till , louis xvi. having been officially designated as a capet at his trial, and under that name sentenced to the guillotine. capgrave, john, augustine friar, wrote "chronicle of england," and voluminously both in french and english ( - ). capistrano, giovanni da, an italian franciscan, a rabid adversary of the hussites, aided john hunniades in in defending belgrade against the turks ( - ). capitol, a temple and citadel erected by tarquin on the capitoline hill, one of the seven hills of rome, and where victors who were voted a triumph were crowned; terminated at its southern extremity by tarpeian rock, from which criminals guilty of treason were precipitated; hence the saying, "the tarpeian rock is near the capitol," to denote the close connection between glory and disgrace. capitularies, collections of royal edicts issued by the frankish kings of the carlovingian dynasty, with sanction of the nobles, for the whole frankish empire, as distinct from the laws for the separate peoples comprising it, the most famous being those issued or begun by charlemagne and st. louis. capo d'istria, count of, born in corfu; entered the russian diplomatic service; played a prominent part in the insurrection of the greeks against turkey; made president of the greek republic; assassinated at nauplia from distrust of his fidelity ( - ). capo d'istria, a port of a small island in the government of trieste, connected with the mainland by a causeway half a mile in length. cappadocia, an ancient country in the heart of asia minor, of varied political fortune; a plateau with pastures for immense flocks. caprara, cardinal, born at bologna, legate of pius vii. in france, concluded the "concordat" of ( - ). capre`ra, a small, barren island off the n. coast of sardinia, the home of garibaldi, where he died, and his burial-place. capri, a small island at the entrance from the s. of the bay of naples, with a capital of the same name on the eastern side; a favourite retreat of the emperors augustus and tiberius, and noted for its fine air and picturesque scenery. caprivi, count, born in berlin, entered the army in ; held chief posts in the austrian and franco-german wars; in succeeded bismarck as imperial chancellor; resigned in ( - ). capua ( ), a fortified city in campania, on the volturno, m. n. of naples, where, or rather near which, in a place of the same name, hannibal, at the invitation of the citizens, retired with his army to spend the winter after the battle of cannæ, b.c., and where, from the luxurious life they led, his soldiers were enervated, after which it was taken by the romans, destroyed by the saracens in , and the modern city built in its stead. capuchins, monks of the franciscan order, founded in , so called from a cowl they wear; they were a mendicant order, and were twice over suppressed by the pope, though they exist still in austria and switzerland. capulets, a celebrated ghibelline family of verona at mortal feud with that of the montagues, familiar to us through shakespeare's "romeo and juliet," romeo being of the latter and juliet of the former. capyba`ra, the water-hog, the largest rodent extant, in appearance like a small pig. caracalla, a roman emperor, son of septimius severus, born at lyons; his reign ( - ) was a series of crimes, follies, and extravagances; he put to death , persons, among others the jurist papinianus, and was assassinated himself by one of his guards. caracas or carracas ( ), the cap. of venezuela, stands at an altitude ft. above the level of the sea; subject to earthquakes, in one of which ( ) , perished, and great part of the city was destroyed; it contains the tomb of bolivar. caracci or carracci, a family of painters, born at bologna: ludovico, the founder of a new school of painting, the principle of which was eclecticism, in consequence of which it is known as the eclectic school, or imitation of the styles of the best masters ( - ); annibale, cousin and pupil, did "st. roche distributing alms," and his chief, "three marys weeping over christ"; went to rome and painted the celebrated farnese gallery, a work which occupied him four years ( - ); agostino, brother of above, assisted him in the frescoes of the gallery, the "communion of st. jerome" his greatest work ( - ). caractacus, a british chief, king of the silures, maintained a gallant struggle against the romans for nine years, but was overthrown by ostorius, a.d., taken captive, and led in triumphal procession through rome, when the emperor claudius was so struck with his dignified demeanour, that he set him and all his companions at liberty. caradoc, a knight of the round table, famous for his valour and the chastity and constancy of his wife. caraffa, a distinguished neapolitan family, which gave birth to a number of distinguished ecclesiastics, paul iv. one of them. caraglio, an eminent italian engraver, born at verona, engraved on gems and medals as well as copper-plate, after the works of the great masters ( - ). caravaggio, an italian painter, disdained the ideal and the ideal style of art, and kept generally to crass reality, often in its grossest forms; a man of a violent temper, which hastened his end; a painting by him of "christ and the disciples at emmaus" is in the national gallery, london ( - ). caravanserai, a large unfurnished inn, with a court in the middle for the accommodation of caravans and other travellers at night in the east. carbohydrates, a class of substances such as the sugars, starch, &c., consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the latter in the proportion in which they exist in water. carbonari (lit. _charcoal burners_), a secret society that, in the beginning of the th century, originated in italy and extended itself into france, numbering hundreds of thousands, included lord byron, silvio pellico, and mazzini among them, the object of which was the overthrow of despotic governments; they were broken up by austria, and absorbed by the young italy party. cardan, jerome, italian physician and mathematician, born at pavia; was far-famed as a physician; studied and wrote on all manner of known subjects, made discoveries in algebra, believed in astrology, left a candid account of himself entitled "de vita propria"; was the author of "cardan's formula" a formula for the solution of cubic equations; he is said to have starved himself to death so as to fulfil a prophecy he had made as to the term of his life ( - ). cardiff ( ), county town of glamorganshire, s. wales, on the river taff, the sea outlet for the mineral wealth and products of the district, a town that has risen more rapidly than any other in the kingdom, having had at the beginning of the century only inhabitants; it has a university, a number of churches, few of them belonging to the church of england, and has also three daily papers. cardigan, earl of, a british officer; commanded the light cavalry brigade in the crimean war, and distinguished himself in the famous charge of the six hundred, which he led; his favourite regiment, the th hussars, on the equipment of which he lavished large sums of money ( - ). cardiganshire ( ), a county in s. wales, low-lying on the coast, level towards the coast, and mountainous in the interior, but with fertile valleys. cardinal virtues, these have been "arranged by the wisest men of all time, under four general heads," and are defined by ruskin as "prudence or discretion (the spirit which discerns and adopts rightly), justice (the spirit which rules and divides rightly), fortitude (the spirit that persists and endures rightly), and temperance (the spirit which stops and refuses rightly). these cardinal and sentinel virtues," he adds, "are not only the means of protecting and prolonging life itself, but are the chief guards or sources of the material means of life, and the governing powers and princes of economy." cardinalists, name given to the partisans in france of richelieu and mazarin. carducci, florentine artists, brothers, of the th century; did their chief work in spain. carducci, giosue, an italian poet and critic; author of "hymn to satan," "odi barbari," "commentaries on petrarch," &c.; _b_. . carew, thomas, english courtier poet; his poems, chiefly masks and lyrics ( - ). carey, henry, english poet and musician, excelled in ballads; composed "sally in our alley"; _d_. . carey, sir robert, warden of the border marches under elizabeth; present at her deathbed rode off post-haste on the occurrence of the death with the news to edinburgh to announce it to king james ( - ). carey, william, celebrated baptist missionary, born in northamptonshire; founder of the baptist missionary society, and its first missionary; founded the mission at serampore and directed its operations, distributing bibles and tracts by thousands in native languages, as well as preparing grammars and dictionaries; was years oriental professor in the college of fort william. calcutta ( - ). cargill, donald, a scotch covenanter, born in perthshire; was minister of the barony parish, glasgow; fought at bothwell brig; suffered at the cross of edinburgh for daring to excommunicate the king; died with the faith and courage of a martyr ( - ). caria, a sw. country in asia minor, bordering on the archipelago, of which the mæander is the chief river. caribbean sea, an inland sea of the atlantic, lying between the great antilles and south america, subject to hurricanes; it corresponds to the mediterranean in europe, and is the turning-point of the gulf stream. caribs, a race of american indians, originally inhabiting the west indies, now confined to the southern shores of the caribbean sea, as far as the mouth of the amazon; they are a fine race, tall, and of ruddy-brown complexion, but have lost their distinctive physique by amalgamation with other tribes; they give name to the caribbean sea. carinthia ( ), since crownland of austria, near italy; is a mountainous and a mineral country; rears cattle and horses; manufactures hardware and textile fabrics; the principal river is the drave; capital, klagenfurt. carisbrooke, a village in the isle of wight, in the castle of which, now in ruins, charles i. was imprisoned months before his trial; it was at one time a roman station. carlÉn, emilia, swedish novelist; her novels, some in number, treat of the everyday life of the lower and middle classes ( - ). carleton, william, irish novelist; his first work, and the foundation of his reputation, "traits and stories of the irish peasantry," followed by others of a like class ( - ). carli, italian archæologist, numismatist, and economist, born at capo d'istria; wrote as his chief work on political economy; president of the council of commerce at milan ( - ). carlile, richard, english radical and freethinker, born in devonshire; a disciple of tom paine's, and propagandist of his views with a zeal which no prosecution could subdue, although he time after time suffered imprisonment for it, as well as those who associated themselves with him, his wife included; his principal organ was "the republican," the first twelve volumes of which are dated from his prison; he was a martyr for the freedom of the press, and in that interest did not suffer in vain ( - ). carlisle ( ), county town of cumberland, on the eden; a great railway centre; with an old castle of historical interest, and a cathedral founded by william rufus and dedicated to henry i. carlisle, george frederick william howard, earl of, a whig in politics; supported the successive whig administrations of his time, and became eventually lord-lieutenant of ireland under palmerston ( - ). carlists, a name given in france to the partisans of charles x. ( ), and especially in spain to those of don carlos ( ), and those of his grandson ( - ). carloman, son of charles martel, and brother of pepin le bref, king of austrasia from to ; abdicated, and retired into a monastery, where he died. carloman, son of pepin le bref, and brother of charlemagne, king of austrasia, burgundy, and provence in ; _d_. . carloman, king of france conjointly with his brother louis iii.; _d_. . carlos, don, son of philip ii. of spain, born at valladolid, and heir to the throne, but from incapacity, or worse, excluded by his father from all share in the government; confessed to a priest a design to assassinate some one, believed to be his father; was seized, tried, and convicted, though sentence against him was never pronounced; died shortly after; the story of don carlos has formed the subject of tragedies, especially one by schiller, the german poet ( - ). carlos, don, the brother of ferdinand vii. of spain, on whose death he laid claim to the crown as heir, against isabella, ferdinand's daughter who by the salic law, though set aside in her favour by her father, had, he urged, no right to the throne; his cause was taken up by a large party, and the struggle kept up for years; defeated at length he retired from the contest, and abdicated in favour of his son ( - ). carlos, don, grandson of the preceding, and heir to his rights; revived the struggle in , but fared no better than his grandfather; took refuge in london; _b_. . carlovingians, or karlings, the name of the second dynasty of frankish kings, in succession to the merovingian, which had become _fainéant_; bore sway from to , pepin le bref the first, and louis v. the last; charlemagne was the greatest of the race, and gave name to the dynasty. callow ( ), an inland county in leinster, ireland; also the county town. carlowitz, a town on the danube, m. nw. of belgrade, where a treaty was concluded in between turkey and other european powers, very much to the curtailment of the territories of the former. carlsbad ( ), a celebrated watering-place in bohemia, of aristocratic resort, the springs being the hottest in europe, the water varying from ° to °; population nearly trebled in the season; the inhabitants are engaged in industries which minister to the tastes of the visitors and their own profit. carlscrona ( ), a swedish town, strongly fortified, on the baltic, with a spacious harbour, naval station, and arsenal; it is built on five rocky islands united by dykes and bridges. carlsruhe ( ), the capital of the grand-duchy of baden, a great railway centre; built in the form of a fan, its streets, in number, radiating so from the duke's palace in the centre. carlstadt, a german reformer, associated for a time with luther, but parted from him both on practical and dogmatical grounds; succeeded zwingli as professor at basel ( - ). carlton club, the conservative club in london, so called, as erected on the site of carlton house, demolished in , and occupied by george iv. when he was prince of wales. carlyle, alexander, surnamed jupiter carlyle, from his noble head and imposing person, born in dumfriesshire; minister of inveresk, musselburgh, from to his death; friend of david hume, adam smith, and home, the author of "douglas"; a leader of the moderate party in the church of scotland; left an "autobiography," which was not published till , which shows its author to have been a man who took things as he found them, and enjoyed them to the full as any easy-going, cultured pagan ( - ). carlyle, thomas, born in the village of ecclefechan, annandale, dumfriesshire; son of james carlyle, a stone-mason, and afterwards a small farmer, a man of great force, penetration, and integrity of character, and of margaret aitken, a woman of deep piety and warm affection; educated at the parish school and annan academy; entered the university of edinburgh at the age of , in the arts classes; distinguished himself early in mathematics; enrolled as a student in the theological department; became a teacher first in annan academy, then at kirkcaldy; formed there an intimate friendship with edward irving; threw up both school-mastering and the church; removed to edinburgh, and took to tutoring and working for an encyclopedia, and by-and-by to translating from the german and writing criticisms for the reviews, the latter of which collected afterwards in the "miscellanies," proved "epoch-making" in british literature, wrote a "life of schiller"; married jane welsh, a descendant of john knox; removed to craigenputtock, in dumfriesshire, "the loneliest nook in britain," where his original work began with "sartor resartus," written in , a radically spiritual book, and a symbolical, though all too exclusively treated as a speculative, and an autobiographical; removed to london in , where he wrote his "french revolution" ( ), a book instinct with the all-consuming fire of the event which it pictures, and revealing "a new moral force" in the literary life of the country and century; delivered three courses of lectures to the _élite_ of london society ( - ), the last of them "heroes and hero-worship," afterwards printed in ; in appeared "chartism," in "past and present," and in "latter-day pamphlets"; all on what he called the "condition-of-england-question," which to the last he regarded, as a subject of the realm, the most serious question of the time, seeing, as he all along taught and felt, the social life affects the individual life to the very core; in he dug up a hero literally from the grave in his "letters and speeches of oliver cromwell," and after writing in a brief biography of his misrepresented friend, john sterling, concluded ( - ) his life's task, prosecuted from first to last, in "sore travail" of body and soul, with "the history of friedrich ii. of prussia, called frederick the great," "the last and grandest of his works," says froude; "a book," says emerson, "that is a judgment day, for its moral verdict on men and nations, and the manners of modern times"; lies buried beside his own kindred in the place where he was born, as he had left instructions to be. "the man," according to ruskin, his greatest disciple, and at present, as would seem, the last, "who alone of all our masters of literature, has written, without thought of himself, what he knew to be needful for the people of his time to hear, if the will to hear had been in them ... the solitary teacher who has asked them to be (before all) brave for the help of man, and just for the love of god" ( - ). carmagnole, a red-republican song and dance. carmarthenshire ( ), a county in s. wales, and the largest in the principality; contains part of the coal-fields in the district; capital carmarthen, on the right bank of the towy, a river which traverses the county. carmel, a nw. extension of the limestone ridge that bounds on the s. the plain of esdraëlon, in palestine, and terminates in a rocky promontory ft. high; forms the southern boundary of the bay of acre; its highest point is ft. above the sea-level. carmelites, a monastic order, originally an association of hermits on mount carmel, at length mendicant, called the order of our lady of mount carmel, i. e. the virgin, in consecration to whom it was founded by a pilgrim of the name berthold, a calabrian, in . the order is said to have existed from the days of elijah. carmen sylva, the _nom-de-plume_ of elizabeth, queen of roumania; lost an only child, and took to literature for consolation; has taken an active interest in the elevation and welfare of her sex; _b_. . carmontel, a french dramatist; author of little pieces under the name of "proverbes" ( - ). carnac, a seaside fishing-village in the bay of quibéron, in the dep. of morbihan, france, with interesting historical records, particularly celtic, many of them undecipherable by the antiquary. carnarvon, a maritime county in n. wales, with the highest mountains and grandest scenery in the principality, and a capital of the same name on the menai strait, with the noble ruins of a castle, in which edward ii., the first prince of wales, was born. carnarvon, henry howard, earl of, conservative statesman; held office under lord derby and disraeli; was a good classical scholar; wrote the "druses of mount lebanon" ( - ). carnatic, an old prov. in the madras presidency of india that extended along the coromandel coast from cape comorin, m. n. carneades, a greek philosopher, born at cyrene; his whole philosophy a polemic against the dogmatism of the stoics, on the alleged ground of the absence of any criterion of certainty in matters of either science or morality; conceded that truth and virtue were admirable qualities, but he denied the reality of them; sent once on an embassy to rome, he propounded this doctrine in the ears of the conscript fathers, upon which cato moved he should be expelled from the senate-house and sent back to athens, where he came from ( - b.c.). carnegie, andrew, ironmaster, born in dunfermline, the son of a weaver; made a large fortune by his iron and steel works at pittsburg, u.s., out of which he has liberally endowed institutions and libraries, both in america and his native country; _b_. . carniola ( ), a crownland of the austrian empire, sw. of austria, on the adriatic, s. of carinthia; contains quicksilver mines, second only to those of almaden, in spain; the surface is mountainous, and the soil is not grain productive, though in some parts it yields wine and fine fruit. carnival, in roman catholic countries the name given to a season of feasting and revelry immediately preceding lent, akin to the saturnalia of the romans. carnot, leonard sadi, son of nicolas, founder of thermo-dynamics; in his "reflexions sur la puissance du feu" enunciates the principle of reversibility, considered the most important contribution to physical science since the time of newton ( - ). see dr. knott's "physics." carnot, marie franÇois, civil engineer and statesman, born at limoges, nephew of the preceding; finance minister in and ; became president in ; was assassinated at lyons by an anarchist in . carnot, nicolas, french mathematician and engineer, born at nolay, in burgundy; a member of the national convention; voted for the death of the king; became member of the committee of public safety, and organiser of the armies of the republic, whence his name, the "organiser of victory"; minister of war under napoleon; defender of antwerp in ; and afterwards minister of the interior ( - ). caro, annibale, an italian author and poet, notable for his classic style ( - ). caro, marie, a french philosopher, born at poitiers; a popular lecturer on philosophy, surnamed _le philosophe des dames_; wrote on mysticism, materialism, and pessimism ( - ). carolina, north, one of the original states of n. america, on the atlantic, about the size of england, s. of virginia, m. from e. to w. and m. from n. to s.; has a fertile, well-watered subsoil in the high lands; is rich in minerals and natural products; the mountains are covered with forests, and the manufactures are numerous. carolina, south, s. of n. carolina, is alluvial with swamps, m. inland from the coast, is well watered; produces rice and cotton in large quantities and of a fine quality. caroline islands ( ), a stretch of lagoon islands, m. from e. to w., belonging to spain, n. of new guinea and e. of the philippine islands; once divided into eastern, western, and central; the soil of the western is fertile, and there is plenty of fish and turtle in the lagoons. caroline of brunswick, queen of george iv. and daughter of the duke of brunswick; married george, then prince of wales, in ; gave birth to the princess charlotte the year following, but almost immediately after her husband abandoned her; she retired to a mansion at blackheath; was allowed to go abroad after a time; on the accession of her husband she was offered a pension of £ , if she stayed out of the country, but rejected it and claimed her rights as queen; was charged with adultery, but after a long trial acquitted; on the day of the coronation sought admission to westminster abbey, but the door was shut against her; she died a fortnight after ( - ). caron, lieutenant-colonel, under the first empire; head of the belford conspiracy in under the restoration; executed . carpaccio, vittore, a venetian painter of great celebrity, particularly in his early pieces, for his truth of delineation, his fertile imagination, and his rich colouring; his works are numerous, and have nearly all of them sacred subjects; an italian critic says of him, "he had truth in his heart" ( - ). carpathians, a range of wooded mountains in central europe, m. long, which, in two great masses, extend from presburg to orsova, both on the danube, in a semicircle round the greater part of hungary, particularly the whole of the n. and e., the highest of them negoi, ft., they are rich in minerals, and their sides clothed with forests, principally of beech and pine. carpeaux, jean baptiste, sculptor, born at valenciennes; adorned by his art, reckoned highly imaginative, several of the public monuments of paris, and the façade of the opera house ( - ). carpentaria, gulf of, a broad, deep gulf in the n. of australia; contains several islands, and receives several rivers. carpenter, mary, a philanthropist, born at exeter, daughter of dr. lant carpenter, unitarian minister; took an active part in the establishment of reformatory and ragged schools, and a chief promoter of the industrial schools act; her philanthropic efforts extended to india, which, in her zeal, she visited four times, and she was the founder of the national indian association ( - ). carpenter, william benjamin, biologist, brother of the preceding; author, among other numerous works, of the "principles of general and comparative physiology" ( ); contributed to mental physiology; held several high professional appointments in london; inaugurated deep-sea soundings, and advocated the theory of a vertical circulation in the ocean ( - ). carpi, girolamo da, italian painter and architect, born at ferrara; successful imitator of correggio ( - ). carpi, ugo da, italian painter and wood engraver; is said to have invented engraving in chiaroscuro ( - ). carpini, a franciscan monk, born in umbria; headed an embassy from pope innocent iv. to the emperor of the mogul tartars to persuade him out of europe, which he threatened; was a corpulent man of ; travelled from lyons to beyond lake baikal and back; wrote a report of his journey in latin, which had a quieting effect on the panic in europe ( - ). carpio, a legendary hero of the moors of spain; is said to have slain roland at roncesvalles. carpoc`rates, a gnostic of alexandria of the nd century, who believed in the transmigration of the soul and its final emancipation from all external bonds and obligations, by means of concentrated meditation on the divine unity, and a life in conformity therewith; was the founder of a sect called after his name. carrara ( ), a town in n. italy, m. nw. of leghorn; famous for its quarries of white statuary marble, the working of which is its staple industry; these quarries have been worked for years, are in number, and employ as quarrymen alone regularly over men. carrel, armand, french publicist, born at rouen; a man of high character, and highly esteemed; editor of the _national_, which he conducted with great ability, and courage; died of a wound in a duel with Émile de girardin ( - ). carrick, the southern division of ayrshire. see ayrshire. carrickfergus ( ), a town and seaport n. of belfast lough, ½ m. from belfast, with a picturesque castle. carrier, jean baptiste, one of the most blood-thirsty of the french revolutionists, born near aurillac; an attorney by profession; sent on a mission to la vendée; caused thousands of victims to be drowned, beheaded, or shot; was guillotined himself after trial by a revolutionary tribunal ( - ). see noyades. carriÈre, moritz, a german philosopher and man of letters, born in hesse, author of works on æsthetics and art in its relation to culture and the ideal; advocated the compatibility of the pantheistic with the deistic view of the world ( - ). carrol, lewis, pseudonym of c. l. dodgson (q. v.), the author of "alice in wonderland," with its sequel, "through the looking-glass." carse, the name given in scotland to alluvial lands bordering on a river. carson, kit, american trapper, born in kentucky; was of service to the states in expeditions in indian territories from his knowledge of the habits of the indians ( - ). carstairs, william, a scotch ecclesiastic, born at cathcart, near glasgow; sent to utrecht to study theology; recommended himself to the regard of the prince of orange, and became his political adviser; accompanied him to england as chaplain in , and had no small share in bringing about the revolution; controlled church affairs in scotland; was made principal of edinburgh university; was chief promoter of the treaty of union; was held in high esteem by his countrymen for his personal character as well as his public services; was a most sagacious man ( - ). carstens, asmus jakob, danish artist, born in sleswig; on the appearance of his great picture, "the fall of the angels," rose at once into fame; was admitted to the berlin academy; afterwards studied the masters at rome; brought back to germany a taste for art; was the means of reviving it; treated classical subjects; quarrelled the academy; died in poverty at rome ( - ). cartagena ( ), a naval port of spain, on the mediterranean, with a capacious harbour; one of the oldest towns in it, founded by the carthaginians; was once the largest naval arsenal in europe. also capital ( ) of the bolivar state in colombia. carte, thomas, historian, a devoted jacobite, born near rugby; wrote a "history of england," which has proved a rich quarry of facts for subsequent historians ( - ). carte-blanche, a blank paper with a signature to be filled up with such terms of an agreement as the holder is authorised to accept in name of the person whose signature it bears. carter, elizabeth, an accomplished lady, born at deal, friend of dr. johnson, sir joshua reynolds, and others; a great greek and italian scholar; translated epictetus and algarotti's exposition of newton's philosophy; some of her papers appear in the _rambler_ ( - ). carteret, john, earl granville, eminent british statesman, orator, and diplomatist, entered parliament in the whig interest; his first speech was in favour of the protestant succession; after service as diplomatist abroad, was made lord-lieutenant of ireland, in which capacity he was brought into contact with swift, first as an enemy but at length as a friend, and proved a successful viceroy; in parliament was head of the party opposed to sir robert walpole and of the subsequent administration; his foreign policy has been in general approved of; had the satisfaction of seeing, which he was instrumental in securing, the elder pitt installed in office before he retired; was a "fiery, emphatic man" ( - ). carteret, philip, english sailor and explorer, explored in the southern seas, and discovered several islands, pitcairn's island among the number; _d_. . carthage, an ancient maritime city, on a peninsula in the n. of africa, near the site of tunis, and founded by phoenicians in b.c.; originally the centre of a colony, it became the capital of a wide-spread trading community, which even ventured to compete with, and at one time threatened, under hannibal, to overthrow, the power of rome, in a series of protracted struggles known as the punic wars, in the last of which it was taken and destroyed by publius cornelius scipio in b.c., after a siege of two years, though it rose again as a roman city under the cæsars, and became a place of great importance till burned in a.d. by hassan, the arab; the struggle during the early part of its history was virtually a struggle for the ascendency of the semitic people over the aryan race in europe. carthusians, a monastic order of a very severe type, founded by st. bruno in , each member of which had originally a single cell, eventually one consisting of two or three rooms with a garden, all of them opening into one corridor; they amassed considerable wealth, but were given to deeds of benefaction, and spent their time in study and contemplation, in consequence of which they figure not so much in the outside world as many other orders do. cartier, a french navigator, born at st. malo, made three voyages to n. america in quest of a north-west passage, at the instance of francis i.; took possession of canada in the name of france, by planting the french flag on the soil ( - ). cartoons, drawings or designs made on stiff paper for a fresco or other paintings, transferred by tracing or pouncing to the surface to be painted, the most famous of which are those of raphael. cartouche, a notorious captain of a band of thieves, born in paris, who was broken on the wheel alive in the place de grève ( - ). cartwright, edmund, inventor of the powerloom and the carding machine, born in nottinghamshire; bred for the church; his invention, at first violently opposed, to his ruin for the time being, is now universally adopted; a grant of £ , was made him by parliament in consideration of his services and in compensation for his losses; he had a turn for versifying as well as mechanical invention ( - ). cartwright, john, brother of the preceding; served in the navy and the militia, but left both services for political reasons; took to the study of agriculture, and the advocacy of radical political reform much in advance of his time ( - ). carus, karl gustav, a celebrated german physiologist, born at leipzig; a many-sided man; advocate of the theory that health of body and mind depends on the equipoise of antagonistic principles ( - ). cary, henry francis, translator of dante, born at gibraltar; his translation is admired for its fidelity as well as for its force and felicity ( - ). caryatides, draped female figures surmounting columns and supporting entablatures; the corresponding male figures are called atlantes. casa, italian statesman, secretary of state under pope paul iv.; wrote "galateo; or, the art of living in the world" ( - ). casabianca, louis, a french naval officer, born in corsica, who, at the battle of aboukir, after securing the safety of his crew, blew up his ship and perished along with his son, who would not leave him ( - ). casa`le ( ), a town on the po; manufactures silk twist. casanova, painter, born in london, of venetian origin; painted landscapes and battle-pieces ( - ). casanova de seingalt, a clever venetian adventurer and scandalous impostor, of the cagliostro type, who insinuated himself into the good graces for a time of all the distinguished people of the period, including even frederick the great, voltaire, and others; died in bohemia after endless roamings and wrigglings, leaving, as carlyle would say, "the smell of brimstone behind him"; wrote a long detailed, brazen-faced account of his career of scoundrelism ( - ). casas, bartolomeo de las, a spanish prelate, distinguished for his exertions in behalf of the christianisation and civilisation of the indians of s. america ( - ). casaubon, isaac, an eminent classical scholar and commentator, born in geneva; professor of greek at geneva and montpellier, and afterwards of belles-lettres at paris, invited thither by henry iv., who pensioned him; being a protestant he removed to london on henry's death, where james i. gave him two prebends; has been ranked with lepsius and scaliger as a scholar ( - ). casaubon, meric, son of preceding; accompanied his father to england; held a church living under the charleses; became professor of theology at oxford, and edited his father's works ( - ). cascade mountains, a range in columbia that slopes down toward the pacific from the western plateau, of which the rocky mountains form the eastern boundary; they are nearly parallel with the coast, and above m. inland. caserta ( ), a town in italy, m. from naples, noted for a magnificent palace, built after plans supplied by vanvitelli, one of the architects of st. peter's at rome. cashel, a town in tipperary, ireland, m. ne. of cork; a bishop's see, with a "rock" ft. high, occupied by interesting ruins; it was formerly the seat of the kings of munster. cashmere or kashmir ( , ), a native indian state, bordering upon tibet, m. long and m. wide, with beautiful scenery and a delicious climate, in a valley of the himalayas, forming the basin of the upper indus, hemmed in by deep-gorged woods and snow-peaked mountains, and watered by the jhelum, which spreads out here and there near it into lovely lakes; shawl weaving and lacquer-work are the chief occupations of the inhabitants. casimir, the name of five kings of poland; the most eminent, casimir iii., called the great, after distinguishing himself in wars against the teutonic knights, was elected king in ; recovered silesia from bohemia in two victories; defeated the tartars on the vistula, and annexed part of lithuania; formed a code of laws, limiting both the royal authority and that of the nobles ( - ). casimir-perier, president of the french republic, born in paris; a man of moderate views and firm character; was premier in ; succeeded carnot in ; resigned , because, owing to misrepresentation, the office had become irksome to him; _b_. . casino, a club-house or public building in continental towns provided with rooms for social gatherings, music, dancing, billiards, &c. casiri, a syro-maronite religious, and a learned orientalist ( - ). caspari, karl paul, german theologian, born at dessau; professor at christiania ( - ). caspian sea, an inland sea, partly in europe and partly in asia, the largest in the world, being m. from n. to s. and from to m. in breadth, with the caucasus mts. on the w. and the elburz on the s., is the fragment of a larger sea which extended to the arctic ocean; shallow in the n., deep in the s.; the waters, which are not so salt as the ocean, abound in fish, especially salmon and sturgeon. cass, lewis, an eminent american statesman, a member of the democratic party, and openly hostile to great britain; though in favour of slave-holding, a friend of union; wrote a "history of the u.s. indians" ( - ). cassagnac, granier de, a french journalist; at first an orleanist, became a supporter of the empire; started several journals, which all died a natural death; edited _le pays_, a semi-official organ; embroiled himself in duels and lawsuits without number ( - ). cassagnac, paul, son of preceding; editor of _le pays_ and the journal _l'autorité_; an obstinate imperialist; _b_. . cassander, king of macedonia, passed over in the succession by his father antipater; allied himself with the greek cities; invaded macedonia and ascended the throne; married thessalonica, the sister of alexander the great, but put alexander's mother to death, thus securing himself against all rival claimants; left his son philip as successor ( - b.c.). cassandra, a beautiful trojan princess, daughter of priam and hecuba, whom apollo endowed with the gift of prophecy, but, as she had rejected his suit, doomed to utter prophecies which no one would believe, as happened with her warnings of the fate and the fall of troy, which were treated by her countrymen as the ravings of a lunatic; her name is applied to any one who entertains gloomy forebodings. cassano, a town in the s. of italy; also a town near milan, scene of a french victory under vendôme in , and a french defeat under moreau in . cassation, court of, a court of highest and last appeal in france, appointed in the case of appeal to revise the forms of a procedure in an inferior court; it consists of a president and vice-president, judges, a public prosecutor called the _procureur-général_, and six advocates-general; it consists of three sections: first, one to determine if the appeal should be received; second, one to decide in civil cases; and third, one to decide in criminal cases. cassel ( ), capital of hesse-cassel, an interesting town, m. from frankfort-on-main; it is the birthplace of bunsen. cassell, john, the publisher, born in manchester; a self-made man, who knew the value of knowledge and did much to extend it ( - ). cassianus, joannus, an eastern ascetic; came to constantinople, and became a pupil of chrysostom, who ordained him; founded two monasteries in marseilles; opposed the extreme views of augustine in regard to grace and free-will, and human depravity; and not being able to go the length of pelaganism, adopted semi-pelagianism, q. v. ( - ). cassini, name of a family of astronomers of the th and th centuries, of italian origin; distinguished for their observations and discoveries affecting the comets, the planets, and the moon; they settled, father and son and grandson, in paris, and became in succession directors of the observatory of paris, the last of whom died in , after completing in a great topographical map of france begun by his father. cassiodo`rus, a latin statesman and historian, born in calabria; prime minister of theodoric the great and his successor; retired into a monastery about , and lived there nearly years; wrote a history of the goths, and left letters of great historical value ( - ). cassiope`ia, queen of ethiopia, mother of andromeda, placed after death among the constellations; a constellation well north in the northern sky of five stars in the figure of a w. cassiquia`ri, a remarkable river in venezuela, which, like a canal, connects the rio negro, an affluent of the amazon, with the orinoco. cassiter`ides, islands in the atlantic, which the phoenician sailors visited to procure tin; presumed to have been the scilly islands or cornwall, which they adjoin. cassius, caius, chief conspirator against cæsar; won over brutus to join in the foul plot; soon after the deed was done fled to syria, made himself master of it; joined his forces with those of brutus at philippi; repulsed on the right, thought all was lost; withdrew into his tent, and called his freedmen to kill him; brutus, in his lamentation over him, called him the "last of the romans"; _d_. b.c. cassius, spurius, a roman, thrice chosen consul, first time b.c.; subdued the sabines, made a league with the latins, promoted an agrarian law, the first passed, which conceded to the plebs a share in the public lands. cassivellaunus, a british warlike chief, who unsuccessfully opposed cæsar on his second invasion of britain, b.c.; surrendered after defeat, and became tributary to rome. castalia, a fountain at the foot of parnassus sacred to the muses; named after a nymph, who drowned herself in it to escape apollo. castanet, bishop of albi; procured the canonisation of st. louis ( - ). castaÑos, a spanish general; distinguished for his victory over the french under dupont, whom he compelled to surrender and sign the capitulation of baylen, in ; after this he served under wellington in several engagements, and was commander of the spanish army, ready, if required, to invade france in ( - ). caste, rank in society of an exclusive nature due to birth or origin, such as prevails among the hindus especially. among them there are originally two great classes, the twice-born and the once-born, _i. e_. those who have passed through a second birth, and those who have not; of the former there are three grades, brahmans, or the priestly caste, from the mouth of brahma; kshatriyas, or the soldier caste, from the hands of brahma; and vaisyas, or the agricultural caste, from the feet of brahma; while the latter are of one rank and are menial to the other, called sudras, earth-born all; notwithstanding which distinction often members of the highest class sink socially to the lowest level, and members of the lowest rise socially to the highest. castel, renÉ-richard, french poet and naturalist ( - ). castelar, emilio, a spanish republican, born in cadiz; an eloquent man and a literary; appointed dictator of spain in , but not being equal to the exigency in the affairs of the state, resigned, and made way for the return of monarchy, though under protest; wrote a history of the "republican movement in europe" among other works of political interest; _b_. . castellamare ( ), a port on the coast of italy, m. se. of naples, the scene of pliny's death from the eruption of vesuvius in a.d. . it takes its name from a castle built on it by the emperor frederick ii.; has a cathedral, arsenal, and manufactures. castellio, protestant theologian, a protégé of calvin's for a time, till he gave expression to some heretical views, which led to a rupture; he ventured to pronounce the song of solomon a mere erotic poem ( - ). castiglione, a town of sicily, on n. slope of etna, m. sw. of messina; famed for hazel nuts. castiglione, count, an accomplished italian, born in mantua; author of "ii cortegiano," a manual for courtiers, called by the italians in admiration of it "the golden book"; had spent much of his time in courts in england and spain, as well as rome, and was a courtly man ( - ). castile, a central district of spain, divided by the mountains of castile into old castile ( , ) in the n., and new castile ( , ) in the s.: the former consisting of a high bare plateau, bounded by mountains on the n. and on the s., with a variable climate, yields wheat and good pasturage, and is rich in minerals; the latter, also tableland, has a richer soil, and yields richer produce, breeds horses and cattle, and contains besides the quicksilver mines of almaden. both were at one time occupied by the moors, and were created into a kingdom in the th century, and united to the crown of spain in by the marriage of ferdinand and isabella. castle garden, the immigration depôt of new york where immigrants land, report themselves, and are advised where to settle or find work. castle of indolence, a poem of thomson's, a place in which the dwellers live amid luxurious delights, to the enervation of soul and body. castleford ( ), a town m. se. of leeds, with extensive glass-works, especially bottles. castlereagh, lord, entered political life as a member of the irish parliament, co-operated with pitt in securing the union, after which he entered the imperial parliament, became war minister ( ), till the ill-fated walcheren expedition and a duel with canning obliged him to resign; became foreign secretary in , and the soul of the coalition against napoleon; represented the country in a congress after napoleon's fall; succeeded his father as marquis of londonderry in , and committed suicide the year following; his name has been unduly defamed, and his services to the country as a diplomatist have been entirely overlooked ( - ). castles in spain, visionary projects. castletown, a seaport in the isle of man, m. sw. of douglas, and the former capital. castlewood, the heroine in thackeray's "esmond." castor and pollux, the dioscuri, the twin sons of zeus by leda; great, the former in horsemanship, and the latter in boxing; famed for their mutual affection, so that when the former was slain the latter begged to be allowed to die with him, whereupon it was agreed they should spend a day in hades time about; were raised eventually to become stars in the sky, the gemini, twin signs in the zodiac, rising and setting together; this name is also given to the electric phenomenon called st. elmo's fire (q. v.). castren, mathias alexander, an eminent philologist, born in finland, professor of the finnish language and literature in helsingfors; travelled all over northern europe and asia, and left accounts of the races he visited and their languages; translated the "kalevala" (q. v.) the epic of the finns; died prematurely, worn out with his labours ( - ). castres ( ), a town in the dep. of tarn, m. e. of toulouse; was a roman station, and one of the first places in france to embrace calvinism. castro, guillen de, a spanish dramatist, author of the play of "the cid," which gained him european fame; he began life as a soldier, got acquainted with lope de vega, and took to dramatic composition ( - ). castro, inez de, a royal heiress of the spanish throne in the th century, the beloved wife of don pedro, heir of the portuguese throne; put to death out of jealousy of spain by the latter's father, but on his accession dug out of her grave, arrayed in her royal robes, and crowned along with him, after which she was entombed again, and a magnificent monument erected over her remains. castro, juan de, a portuguese soldier, born at lisbon, distinguished for his exploits in behalf of portugal; made viceroy of the portuguese indies, but died soon after in the arms of francis xavier ( - ). castro, vaca de, a spaniard, sent out by charles v. as governor of peru, but addressing himself to the welfare of the natives rather than the enrichment of spain, was recalled, to pine and die in prison in . castrogiovanni ( ), a town in a strong position in the heart of sicily, ft. above the sea-level; at one time a centre of the worship of ceres, and with a temple to her. castruccio-castracani, duke of lucca, and chief of the ghibelline party in that town, the greatest war-captain in europe in his day; lord of hundreds of strongholds; wore on a high occasion across his breast a scroll, inscribed, "he is what god made him," and across his back another, inscribed, "he shall be what god will make"; _d_. , "crushed before the moth." catacombs, originally underground quarries, afterwards used as burial-places for the dead, found beneath paris and in the neighbourhood of rome, as well as elsewhere; those around rome, some in number, are the most famous, as having been used by the early christians, not merely for burial but for purposes of worship, and are rich in monuments of art and memorials of history. catalani, angelica, a celebrated italian singer and prima donna, born near ancona; began her career in rome with such success that it led to engagements over all the chief cities of europe, the enthusiasm which followed her reaching its climax when she came to england, where, on her first visit, she stayed eight years; by the failure of an enterprise in paris she lost her fortune, but soon repaired it by revisiting the capitals of europe; died of cholera in paris ( - ). catalonia ( , ), old prov. of spain, on the ne.; has a most fertile soil, which yields a luxuriant vegetation; chief seat of manufacture in the country, called hence the "lancashire of spain"; the people are specially distinguished from other spaniards for their intelligence and energy. catamar`ca (iso), nw. prov. of the argentine republic; rich in minerals, especially copper. cata`nia ( ), an ancient city at the foot of etna, to the s., on a plain called the granary of sicily; has been several times devastated by the eruptions of etna, particularly in , , and ; manufactures silk, linen, and articles of amber, &c., and exports sulphur, grain, and fruits. catanza`ro ( ), a city in calabria, m. from the gulf of squillace, with an old castle of robert guiscard. categorical imperative, kant's name for the self-derived moral law, "universal and binding on every rational will, a commandment of the autonomous, one and universal reason." categories are either classes under which all our notions of things may be grouped, or classes under which all our thoughts of things may be grouped; the former called logical, we owe to aristotle, and the latter called metaphysical, we owe to kant. the logical, so derived, that group our notions, are ten in number: substance or being, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, possession, action, passion. the metaphysical, so derived, that group our thoughts, are twelve in number: ( ) as regards _quantity_, totality, plurality, unity; ( ) as regards _quality_, reality, negation, limitation; ( ) as regards _relation_, substance, accident, cause and effect, action and reaction; ( ) as regards _modality_, possibility and impossibility, existence and nonexistence, necessity and contingency. john stuart mill resolves the categories into five, existence, co-existence, succession, causation, and resemblance. catesby, mark, an english naturalist and traveller, wrote a natural history of carolina, florida, and the bahamas ( - ). catesby, robert, born in northamptonshire, a catholic of good birth; concerned in the famous gunpowder plot; shot dead three days after its discovery by officers sent to arrest him ( - ). cath`ari, or catharists, i. e. purists or puritans, a sect of presumably gnostic derivation, scattered here and there under different names over the s. and w. of europe during the middle ages, who held the manichæan doctrine of the radically sinful nature of the flesh, and the necessity of mortifying all its desires and affections to attain purity of soul. catharine, st., of alexandria, a virgin who, in , suffered martyrdom after torture on the wheel, which has since borne her name; is represented in art as in a vision presented to christ by his mother as her sole husband, who gives her a ring. festival, nov. . catharine i., wife of peter the great and empress of russia, daughter of a livonian peasant; "a little stumpy body, very brown,... strangely chased about from the bottom to the top of the world,... had once been a kitchen wench"; married first to a swedish dragoon, became afterwards the mistress of prince menschikoff, and then of peter the great, who eventually married her; succeeded him as empress, with menschikoff as minister; for a time ruled well, but in the end gave herself up to dissipation, and died ( - ). catharine ii. the great, empress of russia, born at stettin, daughter of prince of anhalt-zerbst; "a most-clever, clear-eyed, stout-hearted woman"; became the wife of peter iii., a scandalous mortal, who was dethroned and then murdered, leaving her empress; ruled well for the country, and though her character was immoral and her reign despotic and often cruel, her efforts at reform, the patronage she accorded to literature, science, and philosophy, and her diplomatic successes, entitle her to a high rank among the sovereigns of russia; she reigned from to , and it was during the course of her reign, and under the sanction of it, that europe witnessed the three partitions of poland ( - ). catharine de' medici, daughter of lorenzo de' medici, wife of henry ii. of france, and mother of his three successors; on the accession of her second son, charles ix.--for the reign of her first, francis ii., was very brief--acted as regent during his minority; joined heart and soul with the catholics in persecuting the huguenots, and persuaded her son to issue the order which resulted in the massacre of st. bartholomew; on his death, which occurred soon after, she acted as regent during the minority of her third son, henry iii., and lived to see both herself and him detested by the whole french people, and this although she was during her ascendency the patroness of the arts and of literature ( - ). catharine of aragon, fourth daughter of ferdinand and isabella of spain, and wife of henry viii., her brother-in-law as widow of arthur, from whom, and at whose instance, after years of married life, and after giving birth to five children, she was divorced on the plea that, as she had been his brother's wife before, it was not lawful for him to have her; after her divorce she remained in the country, led an austere religious life, and died broken-hearted. the refusal of the pope to sanction this divorce led to the final rupture of the english church from the church of rome, and the emancipation of the nation from priestly tyranny ( - ). catharine of braganza, the wife of charles ii. of england, of the royal house of portugal; was unpopular in the country as a catholic and neglected by her husband, on whose death, however, she returned to portugal, and did the duties ably of regent for her brother don pedro ( - ). catharine of sienna, born at sienna, a sister of the order of st. dominic, and patron saint of the order; celebrated for her ecstasies and visions, and the marks which by favour of christ she bore on her body of his sufferings on the cross ( - ). festival, april . besides her, are other saints of the same name. catharine of valois, daughter of charles vi. of france, and wife of henry v. of england, who, on his marriage to her, was declared heir to the throne of france, with the result that their son was afterwards, while but an infant, crowned king of both countries; becoming a widow, she married owen tudor, a welsh gentleman, whereby a grandson of his succeeded to the english throne as henry vii., and the first of the tudors ( - ). catharine parr, the sixth wife of henry viii. and the daughter of a westmoreland knight; was of the protestant faith and obnoxious to the catholic faction, who trumped up a charge against her of heresy and treason, from which, however, she cleared herself to the satisfaction of the king, over whom she retained her ascendency till his death; _d_. . catharine theot, a religious fanatic, born in avranches; gave herself out as the mother of god; appeared in paris in , and declared robespierre a second john the baptist and forerunner of the word; the committee of public safety had her arrested and guillotined. cathay, the name given to china by mediæval writers, which it still bears in central asia. cathcart, earl, a british general and diplomatist, born in renfrewshire; saw service in america and flanders; distinguished himself at the bombardment of copenhagen; represented england at the court of russia and the congress of vienna ( - ). cathcart, sir george, a lieutenant-general, son of the preceding; enlisted in the army; served in the later napoleonic wars; was present at quatre-bras and waterloo; was governor of the cape; brought the kaffir war to a successful conclusion; served in the crimea, and fell at inkerman ( - ). cathedral, the principal church in a diocese, and which contains the throne of the bishop as his seat of authority; is of a rank corresponding to the dignity of the bishop; the governing body consists of the dean and chapter. cathelineau, jacques, a famous leader of the vendéans in their revolt against the french republic on account of a conscription in its behalf; a peasant by birth; mortally wounded in attacking nantes; he is remembered by the peasants of la vendée as the "saint of anjou" ( - ). catholic emancipation, the name given to the emancipation in of the roman catholics of the united kingdom from disabilities which precluded their election to office in the state, so that they are eligible now to any save the lord chancellorship of england and offices representative of royalty. catholic epistles, the name, equivalent to encyclical, given to certain epistles in the new testament not addressed to any community in particular, but to several, and given eventually to all not written by st. paul. catholic majesty, a title given by the pope to several spanish monarchs for their zeal in the defence of the catholic faith. catiline, or lucius sergius catilina, a roman patrician, an able man, but unscrupulously ambitious; frustrated in his ambitious designs, he formed a conspiracy against the state, which was discovered and exposed by cicero, a discovery which obliged him to leave the city; he tried to stir up hostility outside; this too being discovered by cicero, an army was sent against him, when an engagement ensued, in which, fighting desperately, he was slain, b.c. catinat, nicolas, a marshal of france, born in paris; one of the greatest military captains under louis xiv.; defeated the duke of savoy twice over, though defeated by prince eugene and compelled to retreat; was an able diplomatist as well as military strategist ( - ). catlin, george, a traveller among the north american indians, and author of an illustrated work on their life and manners; spent eight years among them ( - ). cato dionysius, name of a book of maxims in verse, held in high favour during the middle ages; of unknown authorship. cato, marcus portius, or cato major, surnamed censor, priscus, and sapiens, born at tusculum, of a good old family, and trained to rustic, frugal life; after serving occasionally in the army, removed to rome; became in succession censor, ædile, prætor, and consul; served in the second punic war, towards the end of it, and subjugated spain; was a roman of the old school; disliked and denounced all innovations, as censor dealt sharply with them; sent on an embassy to africa, was so struck with the increasing power and the threateningly evil ascendency of carthage, that on his return he urged its demolition, and in every speech which he delivered afterwards he ended with the words, _ceterum censeo carthaginem esse delendam_, "but, be that as it may, my opinion is carthage must be destroyed" ( - b.c.). cato, marcus portius, or cato the younger, or uticensis, great-grandson of the former, and a somewhat pedantic second edition of him; fortified himself by study of the stoic philosophy; conceived a distrust of the public men of the day, cæsar among the number; preferred pompey to him, and sided with him; after pompey's defeat retired to utica, whence his surname, and stabbed himself to death rather than fall into the hands of cæsar ( - b.c.). cato-street conspiracy, an insignificant, abortive plot, headed by one thistlewood, to assassinate castlereagh and other ministers of the crown in ; so called from their place of meeting off the edgeware road, london. catrail, an old roman earthwork, m. long, passing s. from near galashiels, through selkirk and roxburgh, or from the cheviots; it is known by the name of the "devil's dyke." cats, jacob, a dutch poet and statesman, venerated in holland as "father cats"; his works are written in a simple, natural style, and abound in wise maxims; he did service as a statesman; twice visited england as an envoy, and was knighted by charles i. ( - ). catskill mountains, a group of mountains, of steep ascent, and with rocky summits, in new york state, w. of the hudson, none of them exceeding feet; celebrated as the scene of rip van winkle's long slumber; belong to the appalachians. cattegat, an arm of the sea, m. in length and of greatest width, between sweden and jutland; a highway into the baltic, all but blocked up with islands; is dangerous to shipping on account of the storms that infest it at times. cattermole, george, artist, born in norfolk; illustrated britton's "english cathedrals," "waverley novels," and the "historical annual" by his brother; painted mostly in water-colour; his subjects chiefly from english history ( - ). cattle plague, or rinderpest, a disease which affects ruminants, but especially bovine cattle; indigenous to the east, russia, persia, india, and china, and imported into britain only by contagion of some kind; the most serious outbreaks were in and . catullus, caius valerius, the great latin lyric poet, born at verona, a man of wealth and good standing, being, it would seem, of the equestrian order; associated with the best wits in rome; fell in love with clodia, a patrician lady, who was the inspiration, both in peace and war, of many of his effusions, and whom he addresses as lesbia; the death of a brother affected him deeply, and was the occasion of the production of one of the most pathetic elegies ever penned; in the civic strife of the time he sided with the senate, and opposed cæsar to the length of directing against him a coarse lampoon ( - b.c.). cauca, a river in colombia, s. america, which falls into the magdalena after a northward course of m. caucasia, a prov. of russia, geographically divided into cis-caucasia on the european side, and trans-caucasia on the asiatic side of the caucasus, with an area about four times as large as england. caucasian race, a name adopted by blumenbach to denote the indo-european race, from the fine type of a skull of one of the race found in georgia. caucasus, an enormous mountain range, m. in length, extending from the black sea ese. to the caspian, in two parallel chains, with tablelands between, bounded on the s. by the valley of the kur, which separates it from the tableland of armenia; snow-line higher than that of the alps; has fewer and smaller glaciers; has no active volcanoes, though abundant evidence of volcanic action. cauchon, bishop of beauvais, infamous for the iniquitous part he played in the trial and condemnation of joan of arc; _d_. . cauchy, augustin louis, mathematician, born in paris; wrote largely on physical subjects; his "memoir" on the theory of the waves suggested the undulatory theory of light; professor of astronomy at paris; declined to take the oath of allegiance to napoleon iii., and retired ( - ). caucus, a preliminary private meeting to arrange and agree on some measure or course to propose at a general meeting of a political party. caudine forks, a narrow mountain gorge in samnium, in which, during the second samnite war, a roman army was entrapped and caught by the samnites, who obliged them to pass under the yoke in token of subjugation, b.c. caudle, mrs., an imaginary dame, a conception of douglas jerrold, famous for her "curtain lectures" all through the night for years to her husband mr. job caudle. caul, a membrane covering the head of some children at birth, to which a magical virtue was at one time ascribed, and which, on that account, was rated high and sold often at a high price. caulaincourt, armand de, a french general and statesman of the empire, a faithful supporter of napoleon, who conferred on him a peerage, with the title of duke of vicenza, of which he was deprived at the restoration; represented napoleon at the congress of châtillon ( - ). caus, salomon de, a french engineer, born at dieppe; discovered the properties of steam as a motive force towards ; claimed by arago as the inventor of the steam-engine in consequence. causality, the philosophic name for the nature of the relation between cause and effect, in regard to which there has been much diversity of opinion among philosophers. cauterets, a fashionable watering-place in the dep. of the hautes-pyrénées, ft. above the sea, with sulphurous springs of very ancient repute, in number, and of varying temperature. cavaignac, louis eugÈne, a distinguished french general, born in paris; appointed governor of algeria in , but recalled to be head of the executive power in paris same year; appointed dictator, suppressed the insurrection in june, after the most obstinate and bloody struggle the streets of paris had witnessed since the first revolution; stood candidate for the presidency, to which louis napoleon was elected; was arrested after the _coup d'état_, but soon released; never gave in his adherence to the empire ( - ). cavalcaselle, giovanni battista, italian writer on art; joint-author with j. a. crowe of works on the "early flemish painters" and the "history of painting in italy"; chief of the art department under the minister of public instruction in rome; _b_. . cavalier, jean, leader of the camisards (q. v.), born at ribaute, in the dep. of gard; bred a baker; held his own against montreval and villars; in concluded peace with the latter on honourable terms; haughtily received by louis xiv., passed over to england; served against france, and died governor of jersey ( - ). cavaliers, the royalist partisans of charles i. in england in opposition to the parliamentary party, or the roundheads, as they were called. cavallo, a distinguished italian physicist, born at naples ( - ). cavan ( ), inland county s. of ulster, ireland, with a poor soil; has minerals and mineral springs. cave, edward, a london bookseller, born in warwickshire; projected the gentleman's magazine, to which dr. johnson contributed; was the first to give johnson literary work, employing him as parliamentary reporter, and johnson was much attached to him; he died with his hand in johnson's ( - ). cave, william, an english divine; author of works on the fathers of the church and on primitive christianity, of high repute at one time ( - ). cavendish, the surname of the devonshire ducal family, traceable back to the th century. cavendish, george, the biographer of wolsey; never left him while he lived, and never forgot him or the lesson of his life after he was dead; this appears from the vivid picture he gives of him, though written years after his death ( - ). cavendish, lord frederick, brother of the ninth duke of devonshire, educated at trinity college, cambridge, and a liberal; was made chief-secretary for ireland in , but chancing to walk home one evening through the phoenix park, he fell a victim, stabbed to the heart, of a conspiracy that was aimed at mr. burke, an unpopular subordinate, who was walking along with him, and came to the same fate. eight months after, men were arrested as concerned in the murder, when one of the informed; five of them were hanged; the informer carey was afterwards murdered, and his murderer, o'donnel, hanged ( - ). cavendish, henry, natural philosopher and chemist, born at nice, of the devonshire family; devoted his entire life to scientific investigations; the first to analyse the air of the atmosphere, determine the mean density of the earth, discover the composition of water, and ascertain the properties of hydrogen; was an extremely shy, retiring man; born rich and died rich, leaving over a million sterling ( - ). cavendish, spencer compton, ninth duke of devonshire, for long known in public life as marquis of hartington; also educated at trinity college, and a leader of the liberal party; served under gladstone till he adopted home rule for ireland, but joined lord salisbury in the interest of union, and one of the leaders of what is called the liberal-unionist party; _b_. . cavendish, thomas, an english navigator, fitted out three vessels to cruise against the spaniards; extended his cruise into the pacific; succeeded in taking valuable prizes, with which he landed in england, after circumnavigating the globe; he set out on a second cruise, which ended in disaster, and he died in the island of ascension broken-hearted ( - ). cavendish, william, english courtier and cavalier in the reigns of james i. and charles i.; joined charles ii. in exile; returned at the restoration; was made duke of newcastle; wrote on horsemanship ( - ). cavendish, william, first duke of devonshire; friend and protector of lord william russell; became a great favourite at court, and was raised to the dukedom ( - ). caviare, the roe (the immature ovaries) of the common sturgeon and other kindred fishes, caught chiefly in the black and caspian seas, and prepared and salted; deemed a great luxury by those who have acquired the taste for it; largely imported from astrakhan. cavour, count camillo benso de, one of the greatest of modern statesmen, born the younger son of a piedmontese family at turin; entered the army, but was precluded from a military career by his liberal opinions; retired, and for years laboured as a private gentleman to improve the social and economic condition of piedmont; in he threw himself into the great movement which resulted in the independence and unification of italy; for the next years, as editor of _il risorgimento_, member of the chamber of deputies, holder of various portfolios in the government, and ultimately as prime minister of the kingdom of sardinia, he obtained a constitution and representative government for his country, improved its fiscal and financial condition, and raised it to a place of influence in europe; he co-operated with the allies in the crimean war; negotiated with napoleon iii. for the expulsion of the austrians from italy, and so precipitated the successful war of ; he encouraged garibaldi in the expedition of , which liberated sicily and southern italy, and saw the parliament of summoned, and victor emmanuel declared king of italy; but the strain of his labours broke his health, and he died a few months later ( - ). cawnpore ( ), a city on the right bank of the ganges, in the north-western provinces of india, m. sw. of lucknow, and nw. of calcutta; the scene of one of the most fearful atrocities, perpetrated by nana sahib, in the indian mutiny in . caxton, william, the first english printer, born in kent, bred a mercer, settled for a time in bruges, learned the art of printing there, where he printed a translation of the "recuyell of the historyes of troyes," and "the game and playe of chesse"; returning to england, set up a press in westminster abbey, and in issued "dictes and sayings of the philosophers," the first book printed in england, which was soon followed by many others; he was a good linguist, as well as a devoted workman ( - ). cayenne ( ), cap. and port of french guiana, a swampy, unhealthy place, rank with tropical vegetation; a french penal settlement since . cayla, countess of, friend and confidante of louis xviii. ( - ). cayley, arthur, an eminent english mathematician, professor at cambridge, and president of the british association in ( - ). cayley, charles bagot, a linguist, translated dante into the metre of the original, with annotations, besides metrical versions of the "iliad," the "prometheus" of Æschylus, the "canzoniere" of petrarch, &c. ( - ). caylus, count, a distinguished archæologist, born in paris; author of a "collection of antiquities of egypt, etruria," &c., with excellent engravings ( - ). caylus, marquise de, born in poitou, related to mme. de maintenon; left piquant souvenirs of the court of louis xiv. and the house of st. cyr ( - ). cazalÈs, a member of french constituent assembly, a dragoon captain, a fervid, eloquent orator of royalism, who "earned thereby," says carlyle, "the shadow of a name" ( - ). cazotte, author of the "diable amoureux"; victim as an enemy of the french revolution; spared for his daughter's sake for a time, but guillotined at last; left her a "lock of his old grey hair" ( - ). cean-bermudez, a spanish writer on art; author of a biographical dictionary of the principal artists of spain ( - ). ceara ( ), cap. of the prov. ( ) of the name, in n. of brazil. ce`bes, a greek philosopher, disciple and friend of socrates, reputed author of the "pinax" or tablet, a once popular book on the secret of life, being an allegorical representation of the temptations that beset it. cecil, robert, earl of salisbury, succeeded his father, lord burleigh, as first minister under elizabeth, and continued in office under james i., whose friendship he sedulously cultivated before his accession, and who created him earl ( - ). see burleigh, lord. cecilia, st., a roman virgin and martyr, a.d. , patron saint of music, especially church music, and reputed inventor of the organ; sometimes represented as holding a small organ, with her head turned heavenwards as if listening to the music of the spheres, and sometimes as playing on an organ and with a heavenly expression of face. festival, nov. . cecrops, the mythical first king and civiliser of attica and founder of athens with its citadel, dedicated by him to athena, whence the name of the city. cedar rapids ( ), a manufacturing town in iowa, u.s.; a great railway centre. celadon, poetical name for a languid swain, all sighs and longings. celÆno, name of one of the harpies (q. v.). celebes ( , ), an island in the centre of the eastern archipelago, third in size, in the shape of a body with four long limbs, traversed by mountain chains, and the greater part of it a dutch possession, though it contains a number of small native states; it yields among its mineral products gold, copper, tin, &c.; and among its vegetable, tea, coffee, rice, sugar, pepper, &c.; capital. macassar. cÉleste, mme., a dancer, born in paris; made her _début_ in new york; in great repute in england, and particularly in the states, where she in her second visit realised £ , ( - ). celestial empire, china, as ruled over by a dynasty appointed by heaven. celestine, the name of five popes: c. i., pope from to ; c. ii., pope from to ; c. iii., pope from to ; c. iv., pope for days in ; c. v., pope in , a hermit for years; nearly when elected against his wish; abdicated in five months; imprisoned by order of boniface viii.; _d_. ; canonised . celestines, an order of monks founded by celestine v. before he was elected pope in ; they followed the rule of the benedictine order, and led a contemplative life. cellini, benvenuto, a celebrated engraver, sculptor, and goldsmith, a most versatile and erratic genius, born at florence; had to leave florence for a bloody fray he was involved in, and went to rome; wrought as a goldsmith there for years, patronised by the nobles; killed the constable de bourbon at the sack of the city, and for this received plenary indulgence from the pope; francis i. attracted him to his court and kept him in his service five years, after which he returned to florence and executed his famous bronze "perseus with the head of medusa," which occupied him four years; was a man of a quarrelsome temper, which involved him in no end of scrapes with sword as well as tongue; left an autobiography, from its self-dissection of the deepest interest to all students of human nature ( - ). celsius, a distinguished swedish astronomer, born at upsala, and professor of astronomy there; inventor of the centigrade thermometer ( - ). celsus, a celebrated roman physician of the age of augustus, and perhaps later; famed as the author of "de medicina," a work often referred to, and valuable as one of the sources of our knowledge of the medicine of the ancients. celsus, a philosopher of the nd century, and notable as the first assailant on philosophic grounds of the christian religion, particularly as regards the power it claims to deliver from the evil that is inherent in human nature, inseparable from it, and implanted in it not by god, but some inferior being remote from him; the book in which he attacked christianity is no longer extant, only quotations from it scattered over the pages of the defence of origen in reply. celtibe`ri, an ancient spanish race occupying the centre of the peninsula, sprung from a blending of the aborigines and the celts, who invaded the country; a brave race, divided into four tribes; distinguished in war both as cavalry and infantry, and whom the romans had much trouble in subduing. celts. the w. of europe was in prehistoric times subjected to two invasions of aryan tribes, all of whom are now referred to as celts. the earlier invaders were goidels or gaels; they conquered the ivernian and iberian peoples of ancient gaul, britain, and ireland; their successors, the brythons or britons pouring from the e., drove them to the westernmost borders of these countries, and there compelled them to make common cause with the surviving iberians in resistance; in the eastern parts of the conquered territories they formed the bulk of the population, in the w. they were in a dominant minority; study of languages in the british isles leads to the conclusion that the irish, manx, and scottish celts belonged chiefly to the earlier immigration, while the welsh and cornish represent the latter; the true celtic type is tall, red or fair, and blue-eyed, while the short, swarthy type, so long considered celtic, is now held to represent the original iberian races. cenci, the, a roman family celebrated for their crimes and misfortunes as well as their wealth. francesco cenci was twice married, had had twelve children by his first wife, whom he treated cruelly; after his second marriage cruelly treated the children of his first wife, but conceived a criminal passion for the youngest of them, a beautiful girl named beatrice, whom he outraged, upon which, being unable to bring him to justice, she, along with her stepmother and a brother, hired two assassins to murder him; the crime was found out, and all three were beheaded ( ); this is the story on which shelley founded his tragedy, but it is now discredited. cenis, mont, one of the cottian alps, over which napoleon constructed a pass ft. high in - , through which a tunnel ½ m. long passes from modane to bardonnêche, connecting france with italy; the construction of this tunnel cost £ , , , and napoleon's pass a tenth of the sum. censors, two magistrates of ancient rome, who held office at first for five years and then eighteen months, whose duty it was to keep a register of the citizens, guard the public morals, collect the public revenue, and superintend the public property. cen`taurs, a savage race living between pelion and ossa, in thessaly, and conceived of at length by pindar as half men and half horses, treated as embodying the relation between the spiritual and the animal in man and nature, in all of whom the animal prevails over the spiritual except in chiron, who therefore figures as the trainer of the heroes of greece; in the mythology they figure as the progeny of centaurus, son of ixion (q. v.) and the cloud, their mothers being mares. central america ( , ), territory of fertile tableland sloping gradually to both oceans, occupied chiefly by a number of small republics, lying between tehuantepec and panama in n. america; it includes the republics of guatemala, honduras, st. salvador, nicaragua, and costa rica, and a few adjoining fractions of territory. central india ( , ), includes a group of feudatory states lying between rajputana in the n. and central provinces in the s. central provinces ( , ), states partly british and partly native, occupying the n. of the deccan, and lying between the nerbudda and the godavary. ceos, one of the cyclades, a small island m. by m., yields fruits; was the birthplace of simonides and bacchylides. cephalonia ( ), the largest of the ionian islands, m. long, the ancient samos; yields grapes and olive oil. cephalus, king of thessaly, who having involuntarily killed his wife procris, in despair put himself to death with the same weapon. ceram` ( ), the largest of s. moluccas; yields sago, which is chiefly cultivated and largely exported. cerberus, the three-headed or three-throated monster that guarded the entrance to the nether world of pluto, could be soothed by music, and tempted by honey, only hercules overcame him by sheer strength, dragging him by neck and crop to the upper world. ceres, the latin name for demeter (q. v.); also the name of one of the asteroids, the first discovered, by piazzi, in . ceri`go ( ), an ionian island, the southernmost, the ancient cythera; yields wine and fruits. cerinthus, a heresiarch of the first century, whom, according to tradition, st. john held in special detestation, presumably as denying the father and the son. cerro de pasco, a town in peru, , ft. above the sea-level, with the richest silver mine in s. america. cerutti, a jesuit, born at turin; became a revolutionary in france; pronounced the funeral oration at the grave of mirabeau in . cervantes-saavedra, miguel de, the author of "don quixote," born at alcalá de henares; was distinguished in arms before he became distinguished in letters; fought in the battle of lepanto like a very hero, and bore away with him as a "maimed soldier" marks of his share in the struggle; sent on a risky embassy, was captured by pirates and remained in their hands five years; was ransomed by his family at a cost which beggared them, and it was only when his career as a soldier closed that he took himself to literature; began as a dramatist before he devoted himself to prose romance; wrote no fewer than dramas; the first part of the work which has immortalised his name appeared in , and the second in ; it took the world by storm, was translated into all the languages of europe, but the fortune which was extended to his book did not extend to himself, for he died poor, some ten days before his great contemporary, william shakespeare; though carelessly written, "don quixote" is one of the few books of all time, and is as fresh to-day as when it was first written ( - ). cervin, mont, the french name for the matterhorn, ft., the summit of the pennine alps, between valais and piedmont. cesarewitch, the eldest son and heir of the czar of russia. ce`sari, giuseppe, sometimes called arpino, an eminent italian painter; painted a series of frescoes in the conservatorio of the capitol, illustrative of events in the history of rome ( - ). cesarotti, an italian poet, translator of the "iliad" and "ossian" into italian ( - ). cestus, a girdle worn by greek and roman women, specially the girdle of aphrodité, so emblazoned with symbols of the joys of love that no susceptible soul could resist the power of it; it was borrowed by hera to captivate zeus. cetinje, the capital of montenegro, in a valley ft. high; smallest of capital cities, with a population under . cette ( ), a seaport, trading, and manufacturing town, on a tongue of land between the lagoon of thau and the mediterranean, m. sw. of montpellier, with a large safe harbourage. ce`uta ( ), a port opposite gibraltar belonging to spain, on the coast of morocco, guarded by a fort on one of the pillars of hercules, overlooking it; of importance as a military and convict station. cÉvennes, a range of low mountains on the eastern edge of the central plateau of france, separating the basin of the rhône from those of the loire and garonne; average height from to ft.; the chief scene of the dragonnades against the huguenots under louis xiv. ceylon ( , ), a pear-shaped island about the size of scotland, separated from india, to which it geographically belongs, and se. of which it lies, by palk strait, m. broad; comprises a lofty, central tableland with numerous peaks, the highest tallagalla, ft., and a broad border of well-watered plains. it was an ancient centre of civilisation; the soil is everywhere fertile; the climate is hot, but more equitable than on the mainland; the chief products are tea, cinnamon, and tobacco; the forests yield satin-wood, ebony, &c.; the cocoa-nut palm abounds; there are extensive deposits of iron, anthracite, and plumbago; precious stones, sapphires, rubies, amethysts, &c., are in considerable quantities; the pearl fisheries are a valuable government monopoly. the chief exports are tea, rice, cotton goods, and coals. two-thirds of the people are singhalese and buddhists, there are europeans. the island is a crown colony, the largest in the british empire, administered by a governor with executive and legislative councils; the capital and chief port is colombo ( ). chabas, franÇois, a french egyptologist, born in briançon; his works have contributed much to elucidate the history of the invasion and repulsion of the hyksos in egypt ( - ). chabot, a member of the national convention of france, a "disfrocked capuchin," adjured "heaven," amid enthusiasm, "that at least they may have done with kings"; guillotined ( - ). chacktaw indians. see chocktaw. chad, lake, a shallow lake in the sahara, of varied extent, according as the season is dry or rainy, at its largest covering an area as large as england, and abounding in hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, &c., as well as waterfowl and fish. chadband, rev. mr., a character in "bleak house." chadwick, sir edwin, an english social reformer, born in manchester, associated with measures bearing upon sanitation and the improvement of the poor-laws, and connected with the administration of them ( - ). chÆronea, a town in boeotia, where philip of macedon defeated the athenians, and extinguished the liberties of greece. chalais, count de, a favourite of louis xiii., accused of conspiracy against richelieu, arrested at nantes, and beheaded ( - ). chalaza, one of the two filaments attached to the ends of the yoke of an egg to steady it in the albumen. chalcedon, a city of bithynia, at the entrance of the thracian bosphorus, where the fourth council of the church was held in , which defined the orthodox conception of christ as god-man. chalcidicÉ, the -fingered peninsula of the balkan territory stretching into the Ægean sea. chalcis, the ancient capital of euboea or negropont. chaldea, ancient name for babylonia. chalier, a piedmontese, head of the party of the mountain at lyons; his execution the signal for an insurrection at lyons against the convention ( - ). challenger expedition, a scientific expedition sent out by the british government in the _challenger_ in in the interest of science, and under the management of scientific experts, to various stations over the globe, to explore the ocean, and ascertain all manner of facts regarding it open to observation, an expedition which concluded its operations in , of which as many as volumes of reports have been compiled. challis, james, an astronomer, born in essex, noted the position of the planet neptune before its actual discovery ( - ). challoner, richard, a roman catholic bishop, born at lewes; a zealous catholic, author of "garden of the soul," a popular devotional book, as well as several controversial books ( - ). chalmers, alexander, a miscellaneous writer, born at aberdeen; settled in london; edited the "british essayists" in vols., and author of "a general biographical dictionary." chalmers, george, an english publicist, born at fochabers, author of "an account, historical and topographical, of north britain" ( - ). chalmers, thomas, a celebrated scotch ecclesiastic and pulpit orator, born at anstruther, fife; studied for the church, and entered the ministry; after he did so was for some years more engrossed with physical studies and material interests than spiritual, but he by-and-by woke up to see and feel that the spiritual interest was the sovereign one, and to the promotion of that he henceforth devoted himself body and soul; it was for the sake of the spiritual he took the interest he did in the ecclesiastical affairs of the nation, and that the church might have scope and freedom to discharge its spiritual functions was one chief ruling passion of his life, and it is no wonder he bent all his energies on a movement in the church to secure this object; he was not much of a scholar or even a theologian, but a great man, and a great force in the religious life of his country; though the first pulpit-orator of his day, and though he wrote largely, as well as eloquently, he left no writings worthy of him except the "astronomical discourses" perhaps, to perpetuate his memory; he was distinguished for his practical sagacity, and was an expert at organisation; in his old age he was a most benignant, venerable-looking man: "it is a long time," wrote carlyle to his mother, just after a visit he had paid him a few days before he died--"it is a long time since i have spoken to so _good_ and really pious-hearted and beautiful old man" ( - ). chÂlons-sur-marne ( ), capital of the french dep. of marne, m. e. of paris, where attila was defeated by the romans and goths in ; napoleon iii. formed a camp near it for the training of troops. chÂlons-sur-saÔne ( ), a trading centre some m. n. of lyons; manufactures machinery, glass, paper, and chemicals. chains, chief town of the french dep. of haute vienne, where richard coeur de lion was mortally wounded in by a shot with an arrow. cham, the pseudonym of the french caricaturist amédee de noé, famous for his humorous delineations of parisian life ( - ). chamber of commerce, an association of merchants to promote and protect the interests of trade, particularly of the town or the district to which they belong. chamber of deputies, a french legislative assembly, elected now by universal suffrage. chamberlain, right hon. joseph, born in london, connected as a business man with birmingham; after serving the latter city in a municipal capacity, was elected the parliamentary representative in ; became president of the board of trade under mr. gladstone in , and chief promoter of the bankruptcy bill; broke with mr. gladstone on his home rule measure for ireland, and joined the liberal-unionists; distinguished himself under lord salisbury as colonial secretary; _b_. . chambers, ephraim, an english writer, born in kendal, author of a cyclopædia which bears his name, and which formed the basis of subsequent ones, as johnson confessed it did of his dictionary ( - ). chambers, george, an english marine painter, born at whitby; _d_. . chambers, robert, brother of the succeeding and in the same line of life, but of superior accomplishments, especially literary and scientific, which served him well in editing the publications issued by the firm; was the author of a great many works of a historical, biographical, and scientific, as well as literary interest; wrote the "vestiges of creation," a book on evolutionary lines, which made no small stir at the time of publication, , and for a time afterwards, the authorship of which he was slow to own ( - ). chambers, sir william, born at peebles; apprenticed to a bookseller in edinburgh, and commenced business on his own account in a small way; edited with his brother the "gazetteer of scotland"; started, in , _chambers's edinburgh journal_ to meet a demand of the time for popular instruction in company with his brother founded a great printing and publishing establishment, from which there has issued a number of valuable works in the interest especially of the propagation of useful knowledge of all kinds; was a distinguished edinburgh citizen, and did much for the expansion and improvement of the city ( - ) chambers, sir william, architect, born at stockholm, of scotch origin; architect of somerset house; was of the johnson circle of wits ( - ) chambÉry ( ), chief town of dep. of savoy, in a beautiful district; is the ancient capital, and contains the castle, of the dukes of savoy; manufactures cloth, wines, soap, and textile fabrics; is also a summer resort. chambeze, a head-stream of the congo, n. of lake nyassa. chambord, spacious château in the dep. of loire-et-cher, france, built by francis i.; after being long a residence for royalty and people of distinction, was presented in to the duc de bordeaux, the comte de chambord. chambord, comte de, duc de bordeaux, son of the duc de berri and grandson of charles x., born at paris; exiled in , he retired to the château of frohsdorf, in austria, where he died without issue; his father and grandfather being dead, the monarchical party resolved to attempt a restoration in his behalf in , but he refused to adopt the tricolor flag of the revolution, and the scheme was abandoned, a like opportunity offering itself twice before being let slip ( - ). chambre ardente, a name given to certain courts of justice established to try certain cases that required to be sharply dealt with; they were held at night, and even when held in the daytime with lighted torches; a court of the kind was instituted for trial of the huguenots in , and again in and . chamfort, a french wit and littérateur, born in auvergne; took to the revolution, but offended the leaders, and being threatened with arrest committed suicide, "cutting and slashing with frantic, uncertain hand, gaining, not without difficulty, the refuge of death"; he was a born cynic, and was famous for his keen insight into human nature and his sharp criticisms of it, summed up in a collection of maxims he left, as well as for his anecdotes in incisive portraiture of character. "he was a man," says professor saintsbury, "soured by his want of birth, health, and position, and spoilt by hanging on to the great persons of his time. but for a kind of tragi-comic satire, a _soeva indignatio_, taking the form of contempt for all that is exalted and noble, he has no equal in literature except swift" ( - ). chamillard, minister of finance and of war under louis xiv.; "distinguished himself by his incapacity" ( - ). chamisso, adalbert von, a german naturalist and littérateur born in france, but educated in berlin; is famous for his poetical productions, but especially as the author of "peter schlemihl," the man who lost his shadow, which has been translated into nearly every european language; he wrote several works on natural history ( - ). chamouni, or chamonix, a village in the dep. of haute-savoie, m. se. of geneva, in a valley forming the upper basin of the arve, famous for its beauty and for its glaciers; it is from this point that the ascent of mont blanc is usually made. chamousset, a french philanthropist, born in paris; the originator of mutual benefit societies ( - ). champagne, an ancient province of france, m. long by broad, annexed to the crown , and including the deps. of aube, haute-marne, marne, and ardennes; the province where the wine of the name is principally manufactured. champ-de-mars, a large space, of ground in paris, between the front of the École militaire and the left bank of the seine; the site of recent expositions, and the scene of the federation féte, th july . champlain`, a beautiful lake between the states of new york and vermont; it is m. in length, and from m. at its s. end to m. at its n. end broad. champlain, samuel de, a french navigator, born at brouage, in saintonge, was founder of quebec, and french governor of canada; wrote an account of his voyages ( - ). champollion, jean franÇois, a celebrated french egyptologist, born in figeac, dep. of lot; early gave himself to the study of coptic and egyptian antiquities; was the first to decipher the hieroglyphics of ancient egypt, a great discovery; conducted a scientific expedition to egypt in , and returned in with the fruits of his researches; a chair of egyptology was in consequence instituted in the college of france, and he was installed as the first professor; his writings on the science, of which he laid the foundation, are numerous ( - ). champs-elysÉes, a parisian promenade between the place de la concorde and the arc de triomphe. chancellor, richard, an english seaman, voyaging in northern parts, arrived in the white sea, and travelled to moscow, where he concluded a commercial treaty with russia on behalf of an english company; wrote an interesting account of his visit; after a second visit, in which he visited moscow, was wrecked on the coast of aberdeenshire in . chandernagore ( ), a small town and territory on the hooghly, m. n. of calcutta, belonging to france. chandler, richard, a learned hellenistic archæologist, born in hants; travelled in asia minor and greece, along with two artists, to examine and describe the antiquities; the materials collected were published in his "ionian antiquities," "travels in asia minor," &c. ( - ). chandos, an english title inherited by the grenville family, of norman origin. chandos, john, a celebrated english general in the th century; was present at crécy, governor of english provinces in france ceded by treaty of bretigny; defeated and took prisoner du guesclin of auray; served under the black prince, and was killed near poitiers, . changarnier, nicolas, french general, born at autun; distinguished himself in algeria, was exiled after the _coup-d'état_, returned in , served in the franco-german war; surrendered at metz, at the close of the war came back, and assisted in reorganising the army ( - ). channel, the english, an arm of the atlantic between france and england, m. long and m. wide at the mouth; the french call it _la manche_ (the sleeve) from its shape. channel islands ( ), a group of small islands off the nw. coast of france, of which the largest are jersey, guernsey, alderney, and sark; formerly part of the duchy of normandy, and now all that remains to britain of her french dominions, being subject to it since ; have a delightful climate mild and bright, and varied and beautiful scenery; the soil is fertile; flowers and fruit are grown for export to britain, also early potatoes for the london market; guernsey pears and jersey cows are famous; valuable quarries of granite are wrought; the language is norman-french. channing, william ellery, a unitarian preacher and miscellaneous writer, born at newport, rhode island, u.s.; a man of the most liberal sentiments, who shrank from being classed with any sect; ranked high in point of moral character; was a vigorous thinker, and eloquent with the pen; "a man of faithful, long-continued striving towards what is best" ( - ). chanson de gestes (i. e. songs of deeds), poems of a narrative kind much in favour in the middle ages, relating in a legendary style the history and exploits of some famous hero, such as the "chanson de roland," ascribed to théroulde, a trouvère of the th century. chantrey, sir francis, an english sculptor, born in derbyshire; was apprenticed to a carver and gilder in sheffield; displayed a talent for drawing and modelling; received a commission to execute a marble bust for the parish, church, which was so successful as to procure him further and further commissions; executed four colossal busts of admirals for greenwich hospital; being expert at portraiture, his busts were likenesses; executed busts of many of the most illustrious men of the time, among them of sir walter scott, wordsworth, southey, and wellington, as well as of royal heads; made a large fortune, and left it for the encouragement of art ( - ). chanzy, a french general, born at nouart, ardennes; served in algeria; commanded the army of the loire in - ; distinguished himself by his brilliant retreat from mans to laval; was afterwards governor-general in algeria; died suddenly, to the regret of his country ( - ). chaos, a name in the ancient cosmogomy for the formless void out of which everything at first sprang into existence, or the wide-spread confusion that prevailed before it shaped itself into order under the breath of the spirit of life. chapelain, a french poet, protégé of richelieu, born at paris; composed a pretentious poem on joan of arc, entitled "pucelle," which was laughed out of existence on the appearance of the first half, consisting of only of the books promised, the rest having never passed beyond the ms. stage ( - ). chapman, george, english dramatic poet, born at hitchin, hertfordshire; wrote numerous plays, both in tragedy and comedy, as well as poems, of unequal merit, but his great achievement, and the one on which his fame rests, is his translation into verse of the works of homer, which, though not always true to the letter, is instinct with somewhat of the freshness and fire of the original; his translation is reckoned the best yet done into english verse, and the best rendering into verse of any classic, ancient or modern ( - ). chappell, musical amateur, collector and editor of old english airs, and contributor to the history of english national music; was one of the founders of the musical hungarian society, and the percy society ( - ). chaptal, a distinguished french chemist and statesman, born at nogaret, lozère; author of inventions in connection with the manufacture of alum and saltpetre, the bleaching and the dyeing of cotton; held office under napoleon, and rendered great service to the arts and manufactures of his country ( - ). charcot, jean martin, a french pathologist; made a special study of nervous diseases, including hypnotism, and was eminent for his works in connection therewith ( - ). chardin, sir john, traveller, born in paris; author of "travels in india and persia," valuable for their accuracy ( - ). charente ( ), a dep. of france, w. of the gironde, capital angoulême; with vast chestnut forests; produces wines, mostly distilled into brandy. charente-infÉrieure ( ), a maritime dep. of france, w. of the former; includes the islands of rhé, oléron, aix, and madame; capital, la rochelle. chariva`ri, a satirical journal, such as the english _punch_; originally a discordant mock serenade. charlemagne i. e. charles or karl the great, the first carlovingian king of the franks, son and successor of pepin le bref (the short); became sole ruler on the death of his brother carloman in ; he subjugated by his arms the southern gauls, the lombards, the saxons, and the avares, and conducted a successful expedition against the moors in spain, with the result that his kingdom extended from the ebro to the elbe; having passed over into italy in support of the pope, he was on christmas day crowned emperor of the west, after which he devoted himself to the welfare of his subjects, and proved himself as great in legislation as in arms; enacted laws for the empire called capitularies, reformed the judicial administration, patronised letters, and established schools; kept himself in touch and _au courant_ with everything over his vast domain; he died and was buried at aix-la-chapelle ( - ). charleroi ( ), a manufacturing town in hainault, belgium, m. se. of brussels. charles ii., surnamed the bald, son of louis "le débonnaire"; after conquering his brother lothaire at fontenoy in , became by the treaty of verdun king of france, ; was unable to defend his kingdom against the normans; went to italy, and had himself crowned emperor at rome: _d_. . charles iii., surnamed the simple, became king of france in ; his reign one long struggle against the normans, which ended by conceding normandy to rollo; was conquered by hugh capet, a rival for the crown, at soissons, and dethroned in ; died in captivity, . charles iv., the fair, third son of philip the fair, king of france from to ; lost to france guienne, which was taken from him by the english; was the last of the capetians; _d_. . charles v., the wise, son of john ii., king of france from to ; recovered from the english almost all the provinces they had conquered, successes due to his own prudent policy, and especially the heroism of du guesclin, de clisson, and de boucicaut; france owed to him important financial reforms, the extension of privileges to the universities, and the establishment of the first national library, into which were gathered together thousands of mss.; the bastille was founded in his reign. charles vi., the well-beloved, king of france from to , was son and successor of charles v.; began his reign under the guardianship of his uncles, who rifled the public treasury and provoked rebellion by their exactions; gained a victory at rossbach over the flemings, then in revolt, and a little after dismissed his uncles and installed in their stead the wise councillors of his father, whose sage, upright, and beneficent administration procured for him the title of "well-beloved," a state of things, however, which did not last long, for the harassments he had been subjected to drove him insane, and his kingdom, torn in pieces by rival factions, was given over to anarchy, and fell by treaty of troyes almost entirely into the hands of the english conquerors at agincourt ( - ). charles vii., the victorious, son of charles vi., became king of france in ; at his accession the english held possession of almost the whole country, and he indolently made no attempt to expel them, but gave himself up to effeminate indulgences; was about to lose his whole patrimony when the patriotism of the nation woke up at the enthusiastic summons of joan of arc; her triumphs and those of her associates weakened the english domination, and even after her death the impulse she gave continued to work, till at the end of years the english were driven out of france, and lost all they held in it except the town of calais, along with havre, and guines castle ( - ). charles viii., king of france, son and successor of louis xi.; during his minority the kingdom suffered from the turbulence and revolts of the nobles; married anne of brittany, heiress of the rich duchy of that name, by which it was added to the crown of france; sacrificed the interests of his kingdom by war with italy to support the claims of french princes to the throne of naples, which, though successful in a military point of view, proved politically unfruitful ( - ). charles ix., second son of henry ii. and catharine de' medici, became king of france in ; the civil wars of the huguenots and catholics fill up this reign; the first war concluded by the peace of amboise, during which francis of guise was assassinated; the second concluded by the peace of longjumeau, during which montmorency fell; the third concluded by the peace of st. germain, in which condé and moncontour fell, which peace was broken by the massacre of st. bartholomew, into the perpetration of which charles was inveigled by his mother and the guises; incensed at this outrage the huguenots commenced a fourth war, and were undertaking a fifth when charles died, haunted by remorse and in dread of the infinite terror ( - ). charles x., brother of louis xvi. and louis xviii., the latter of whom he succeeded on the throne of france in ; was unpopular in france as duc d'artois in the time of the revolution, and had to flee the country at the outbreak of it, and stayed for some time as an exile in holyrood, edinburgh; on his accession he became no less unpopular from his adherence to the old régime; at an evil hour in he issued ordinances in defiance of all freedom, and after an insurrection of three days in the july of that year had again to flee; abdicating in favour of his son, found refuge for a time again in holyrood, and died at görtz in his eightieth year ( - ). charles v., (i. of spain), emperor of germany, son of philip, archduke of austria, born at ghent; became king of spain in , on the death of his maternal grandfather ferdinand, and emperor of germany in on the death of his paternal grandfather maximilian i., being crowned at aix-la-chapelle in ; reigned during one of the most important periods in the history of europe; the events of the reign are too numerous to detail; enough to mention his rivalry with francis i. of france, his contention as a catholic with the protestants of germany, the inroads of the turks, revolts in spain, and expeditions against the pirates of the mediterranean; the ambition of his life was the suppression of the protestant reformation and the succession of his son philip to the imperial crown; he failed in both; resigned in favour of his son, and retired into the monastery of st. yuste, in estremadura, near which he built a magnificent retreat, where, it is understood, notwithstanding his apparent retirement, he continued to take interest in political affairs, and to advise in the management of them ( - ). charles vi., emperor of germany from to , as well as king of spain from , was son of the emperor leopold i., and father of maria theresa. charles xii., king of sweden, son of charles xi., a warlike prince; ascended the throne at the age of ; had to cope with denmark, russia, and poland combined against him; foiled the danes at copenhagen, the russians at narva, and augustus ii. of poland at riga; trapped in russia, and cooped up to spend a winter there, he was, in spring , attacked by peter the great at pultowa and defeated, so that he had to take refuge with the turks at bender; here he was attacked, captured, and conveyed to demotica, but escaping, he found his way miraculously back to sweden, and making peace with the czar, commenced an attack on norway, but was killed by a musket-shot at the siege of friedrickshall; "the last of the swedish kings"; "his appearance, among the luxurious kings and knights of the north" at the time, carlyle compares to "the bursting of a cataract of bombshells in a dull ballroom" ( - ). charles i., king of england, third son of james i., born at dunfermline; failing in his suit for the infanta of spain, married henrietta maria, a french princess, a devoted catholic, who had great influence over him, but not for good; had for public advisers strafford and laud, who cherished in him ideas of absolute power adverse to the liberty of the subject; acting on these ideas brought him into collision with the parliament, and provoked a civil war; himself the first to throw down the gauntlet by raising the royal standard at nottingham; in the end of which he surrendered himself to the scots army at newark, who delivered him to the parliament; was tried as a traitor to his country, condemned to death, and beheaded, th january, at whitehall ( - ). charles ii., king of england, son of charles i., horn at st. james's palace, london; was at the hague, in holland, when his father was beheaded; assumed the royal title; was proclaimed king by the scots; landed in scotland, and was crowned at scone; marching into england, was defeated by cromwell at worcester, rd september ; fled to france; by the policy of general monk, after cromwell's death, was restored to his crown and kingdom in , an event known as the restoration; he was an easy-going man, and is known in history as the "merry monarch"; his reign was an inglorious one for england, though it is distinguished by the passing of the habeas corpus act, one of the great bulwarks of english liberty next to the magna charta ( - ). charles, a french physicist, born at beaugency; was the first to apply hydrogen to the inflation of balloons ( - ). charles, archduke, of austria, son of the emperor leopold ii. and younger brother of francis ii., one of the ablest generals of austria in the wars against the french republic and the empire; lost the battle of wagram, after which, being wounded, he retired into private life ( - ). charles albert, king of sardinia, succeeded charles felix in ; conceived a design to emancipate and unite italy; in the pursuit of this object he declared war against austria; though at first successful, was defeated at novara, and to save his kingdom was compelled to resign in favour of his son victor emmanuel; retired to oporto, and died of a broken heart ( - ). charles edward, the young pretender, grandson of james ii. of england, born at rome, landed in scotland ( ); issued a manifesto in assertion of his father's claims; had his father proclaimed king at edinburgh; attacked and defeated general cope at prestonpans; marched at the head of his adherents into england as far as derby; returned, and defeated the king's force at falkirk, but retired before the duke of cumberland, who dispersed his army at culloden; wandered about thereafter in disguise; escaped to france, and died at florence ( - ). charles martel (i. e. "charles the hammer"), son of pépin d'héristal and grandfather of charlemagne; became mayor of the palace, and as such ruler of the franks; notable chiefly for his signal victory over the saracens at poitiers in , whereby the tide of mussulman invasion was once for all rolled back and the christianisation of europe assured; no greater service was ever rendered to europe by any other fighting man ( - ). charles of anjou, brother of st. louis, king of naples; lost sicily after the sicilian vespers ( - ). charles of valois, third son of philip the bold, one of the greatest captains of his age ( - ). charles the rash, last duke of burgundy, son of philip the good, born at dijon; enemy of louis xi. of france, his feudal superior; was ambitious to free the duchy from dependence on france, and to restore it as a kingdom, and by daring enterprises tried hard to achieve this; on the failure of the last effort was found lying dead on the field ( - ). charles's wain, the constellation of ursa major, a wagon without a wagoner. charleston ( ), the largest city in s. carolina, and the chief commercial city; also a town in western virginia, u.s., with a spacious land-locked harbour; is the chief outlet for the cotton and rice of the district, and has a large coasting trade. charlet, nicolas toussaint, a designer and painter, born in paris; famous for his sketches of military subjects and country life, in which he displayed not a little humour ( - ). charleville ( ), a manufacturing and trading town in the dep. of ardennes, france; exports iron, coal, wines, and manufactures hardware and beer. charlevoix, a jesuit and traveller, born at st. quentin, explored the st. lawrence and the mississippi ( - ). charlotte, princess, daughter and only child of george iv. of england, married to prince leopold of saxe-coburg, afterwards king of belgium; died after giving birth to a still-born boy, to the great grief of the whole nation ( - ). charlotte elizabeth of bavaria, second wife of the duke of orleans, brother of louis xiv., called the princess palatine ( - ). charlottenburg ( ), a town on the spree, m. w. of berlin, with a palace, the favourite residence of sophie charlotte, the grandmother of frederick the great, and so named by her husband frederick i. after her death; contains the burial-place of william i., emperor of germany. charlottetown ( ), the capital of prince edward island. charmettes, a picturesque hamlet near chambéry, a favourite retreat of rousseau's. charnay, a french traveller; a writer on the ancient civilisation of mexico, which he has made a special study; _b_. . charon, in the greek mythology the ferryman of the ghosts of the dead over the styx into hades, a grim old figure with a mean dress and a dirty beard, peremptory in exacting from the ghosts he ferried over the obolus allowed him for passage-money. charondas, a sicilian law-giver, disciple of pythagoras; is said to have killed himself when he found he had involuntarily broken one of his own laws ( b.c.). charron, pierre, a french moralist and theologian, as well as pulpit orator, born in paris; author of "les trois vérités," the unity of god, christianity the sole religion, and catholicism the only christianity; and of a sceptical treatise "de la sagesse"; a friend and disciple of montaigne, but bolder as more dogmatic, with less _bonhommie_ and originality, and much of a cynic withal ( - ). charterhouse, a large london school, originally a carthusian monastery, and for a time a residence of the dukes of norfolk. chartier, alain, an early scholarly french poet and prose writer of note, born at bayeux; secretary to charleses v., vi., and vii. of france, whom margaret, daughter of james i. of scotland and wife of louis xi., herself a poetess, once kissed as he lay asleep for the pleasure his poems gave her; was a patriot, and wrote as one ( - ). chartism, a movement of the working-classes of great britain for greater political power than was conceded to them by the reform bill of , and which found expression in a document called the "people's charter," drawn up in , embracing six "points," as they were called, viz., manhood suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, abolition of a property qualification in the parliamentary representation, and payment of members of parliament, all which took the form of a petition presented to the house of commons in , and signed by , , persons. the refusal of the petition gave rise to great agitation over the country, which gradually died out in . chartres ( ), the capital of the french dep. of eure-et-lois, m. sw. of paris; gave title of duke to the eldest of the orleanist bourbons. chartreuse, la grande, a monastery founded by st. bruno in in the dep. of isère, m. ne. of grenoble; famous as the original place of the manufacture of the chartreuse liqueur, held in much repute; it was honoured by a visit of queen victoria in ; ruskin was disappointed with both monks and monastery. charybdis. see scylla. chase, salmon portland, chief-justice of the united states; a great anti-slavery advocate and leader of the free-soil party; aimed at the presidency, but failed ( - ). chasi`dim, a party among the jews identified with the pharisees, their supreme concern the observance of their religion in its purity. chasles, michel, an eminent french mathematician, and held one of the first in the century; on the faith of certain autographs, which were afterwards proved to be forgeries, he in astonished the world by ascribing to pascal the great discoveries of newton, but had to admit he was deceived ( - ). chasles, philarÈte, a french littérateur, born near chartres, a disciple of rousseau; lived several years in england, and wrote extensively on english subjects, shakespeare, mary stuart, charles i., and cromwell among the chief ( - ). chassÉ, david hendrik, baron, a dutch soldier; served france under napoleon, who called him "general baïonnette," from his zealous use of the bayonet; fought at waterloo on the opposite side; as governor of antwerp, gallantly defended its citadel in against a french and belgian force twelve times larger than his own ( - ). chassepot, a french breech-loading rifle named from the inventor. chasseurs, picked bodies of light cavalry and infantry in the french service, called respectively _chasseurs-à-cheval_ and _chasseurs-à-pied_. chastelard, pierre de boscosel de, grandson of bayard; conceived an insane passion for queen mary, whom he accompanied to scotland; was surprised in her bedchamber, under her bed, and condemned to death, it being his second offence ( - ). chat moss, a large bog in lancashire, m. w. of manchester, which is partly reclaimed and partly, through the ingenuity of george stephenson, traversed by the liverpool and manchester railway. chÂteaubriand, franÇois renÉ de, eminent french littérateur, born in st. malo, younger son of a noble family of brittany; travelled to n. america in ; returned to france on the arrest of louis xvi., and joined the emigrants (q. v.) at coblenz; was wounded at the siege of thionville, and escaped to england; wrote an "essay on revolutions ancient and modern," conceived on liberal lines; was tempted back again to france in ; wrote "atala," a story of life in the wilds of america, which was in followed by his most famous work, "génie du christianisme"; entered the service of napoleon, but withdrew on the murder of the duc d'enghien; though not obliged to leave france, made a journey to the east, the fruit of which was his "itinéraire de paris à jerusalem"; hailed with enthusiasm the restoration of the bourbons in ; supported the bourbon dynasty all through, though he wavered sometimes in the interest of liberty; withdrew from public life on the elevation of louis philippe to the throne; he was no thinker, but he was a fascinating writer, and as such exercised no small influence on the french literature of his day; he lived in a transition period, and hovered between legitimism and liberty, the revolution and reaction, and belonged to the romantic school of literature--was perhaps the father of it in france ( - ). chÂteaux en espagne, castles in spain, visionary projects. chÂtelet, marquise de, a learned frenchwoman, born at paris, with whom voltaire kept up an intimate acquaintanceship ( - ). chÂtellerault ( ), a town in the dep. of vienne, m. ne. of poitiers; gave title to the scottish regent, the earl of arran; manufactures cutlery and small-arms for the government. chatham ( ), a town in kent, on the estuary of the medway, a fortified naval arsenal; is connected with rochester. chatham, william pitt, earl of, a great british statesman and orator, born in cornwall; determined opponent of sir robert walpole; succeeded in driving him from power, and at length installing himself in his place; had an eye to the greatness and glory of england, summoned the english nation to look to its laurels; saw the french, the rivals of england, beaten back in the four quarters of the globe; driven at length from power himself, he still maintained a single regard for the honour of his country, and the last time his voice was heard in the parliament of england was to protest against her degradation by an ignoble alliance with savages in the war with america; on this occasion he fell back in a faint into the arms of his friends around, and died little more than a month after; "for four years" (of his life), says carlyle, "king of england; never again he; never again one resembling him, nor indeed can ever be." see smelfungus on his character and position in carlyle's "frederick," book xxi. chap. i. ( - ). chatham islands, a group of islands m. e. of new zealand, and politically connected with it; the chief industry is the rearing of cattle. chatsworth, the palatial seat of the duke of devonshire, in derbyshire, m. w. of chesterfield, enclosed in a park, with gardens, m. in circumference. chatterton, thomas, a poet of great promise, had a tragic fate, born at bristol, passed off while but a boy as copies of ancient mss., and particularly of poems which he ascribed to one rowley, a monk of the th century, what were compositions of his own, exhibiting a genius of no small literary, not to say lyric, power; having vainly endeavoured to persuade any one of their genuineness, though he had hopes of the patronage of sir robert walpole, he left bristol for london, and made vehement efforts with his pen to bespeak regard, but failed; grew desperate, and committed suicide at the early age of ( - ). chaucer, geoffrey, the great early english poet, and father of english poetry, the son of a vintner and taverner, born probably in london, where he lived almost all his days; when a lad, served as page in the royal household; won the favour and patronage of the king, edward iii. and his son, john of gaunt, who pensioned him; served in an expedition to france; was made prisoner, but ransomed by the king; was often employed on royal embassies, in particular to italy; held responsible posts at home; was thus a man of the world as well as a man of letters; he comes first before us as a poet in ; his poetic powers developed gradually, and his best and ripest work, which occupied him at intervals from to , is his "canterbury tales" (q. v.), characterised by stopford brooke as "the best example of english story-telling we possess"; besides which he wrote, among other compositions, "the life of st. cecilia," "troilus and cressida," the "house of fame," and the "legend of good women"; his influence on english literature has been compared to that of dante on italian, and his literary life has been divided into three periods--the french, the italian, and the english, according as the spirit of it was derived from a foreign or a native source ( - ). chaumette, pierre gaspard, a violent member of the extreme party in the french revolution, could "recognise the suspect from the very face of them"; provoked the disgust of even robespierre, and was arrested amid jeers and guillotined ( - ). chautauqua, a summer resort on a lake of the name in the w. of new york state, centre of a novel institution, which prescribes a four years' course of private readings, and grants diplomas to those who anywhere achieve it. chauvinism, a name among the french for what is known as jingoism among the english, i. e. an extravagant zeal for the glory of one's country or party, from one _chauvin_, who made threatening displays of his devotion to napoleon after his fall in . cheddar, a village in somersetshire, on the mendip hills, famous for its cheese. cheke, sir john, a zealous greek scholar, born at cambridge, and first regius professor of greek there; did much to revive in england an interest in greek and greek literature; was tutor to edward vi., who granted him landed estates; favouring the cause of lady jane grey on the accession of mary, left the country, was seized, and sent back; for fear of the stake abjured protestantism, but never forgave himself, and died soon after; he introduced the mode of pronouncing greek prevalent in england ( - ). chelmsford ( ), the county town of essex, on the chelmer. chelsea ( ), a western suburb of london, on the n. of the thames; famous for its hospital for old and disabled soldiers, and the place of residence of sundry literary celebrities, among others sir thomas more, swift, steele, and carlyle. cheltenham ( ), a healthy watering-place and educational centre in gloucestershire; first brought into repute as a place of fashionable resort by the visits of george iii. to it; contains a well-equipped college, where a number of eminent men have been educated. chelyuskin, cape, in siberia, the most northerly point in the eastern hemisphere. chemical affinity, the tendency elementary bodies have to combine and remain in combination. chemism, in the hegelian philosophy "the mutual attraction, interpenetration, and neutralisation of independent individuals which unite to form a whole." chemistry, the science that treats of elementary bodies and their combinations: _inorganic_, relating to physical compounds; _organic_, relating to vegetable and animal compounds. chemnitz ( ), a manufacturing town in saxony, called the "saxon manchester," at the foot of the erzgebirge, in a rich mineral district; manufactures cottons, woollens, silks, machinery, &c. chemnitz, martin, an eminent lutheran theologian, born in brandenburg, a disciple of melanchthon; author of "loci theologici," a system of theology; took a leading part in procuring the adoption of the "formula of concord"; his chief work "examen concilii tridentini" ( - ). chemosh, the national god of the moabites, akin to moloch, and their stay in battle, but an abomination to the children of jehovah. chemulpo, a town on the w. coast of corea; a thriving town since it became a treaty-port in . chenab`, an affluent on the left bank of the indus, and one of the five rivers, and the largest, which give name to the punjab; is m. long. chenery, thomas, a journalist; became editor of the _times_; was distinguished for his knowledge of arabic and hebrew, and was one of the old testament revisers ( - ). chÉnier, marie-andrÉ, french poet, greatest in the th century, born at constantinople; author of odes, idylls, and elegies, which place him high among french poets; took part in the revolution as a lover of order as well as of liberty; offended robespierre, and was guillotined two days before the fall of robespierre; as a poet he was distinguished for the purity of his style and his originality ( - ). chenonceaux, a magnificent château near amboise, in, france; built by francis i. for the duchesse d'etampes, afterwards the property of the condés, and afterwards of madame dupont. chenu, a french naturalist; author of an "encyclopædia of natural history" ( - ). cheophren, king of egypt, brother and successor of cheops; built the second great pyramid. cheops, king of memphis, in egypt, of the th dynasty; builder of the largest of the pyramids about b.c. chepstow ( ), a port on the wye, monmouthshire, m. n. of newport; with a tubular suspension bridge, and where the tides are higher than anywhere else in britain. cher, an affluent of the loire below tours; also the dep. in france ( ) to which it gives name; an agricultural and pastoral district; capital bourges. cherbourg ( ), a french port and arsenal in the dep. of manche, opposite the isle of wight, m. distant, on the construction and fortifications of which immense sums were expended, as much as eight millions; the fortifications were begun by vauban. cherbuliez, victor, novelist, critic, and publicist, born at geneva, of a distinguished family; professor of greek at geneva; holds a high place, and is widely known, as a writer of a series of works of fiction; _b_. . cher`ibon ( ), a seaport of java, on the n. of the island. cherith, a brook e. of the jordan, elijah's hiding-place. cherokees, a tribe of american indians, numbering some , , in the nw. of the indian territory, u.s.; civilised, self-governing, and increasing; formerly occupied the region about the tennessee river. cherone`a, a town in boeotia, where philip of macedon conquered the athenians and thebans, b.c., and sulla defeated mithridates, b.c.; the birthplace of plutarch, who is hence called the cheronean sage. cherra punji ( ), a village in the khasi hills, assam, with the heaviest rainfall of any place on the globe. chersone`sus (i. e. continent island), a name which the greeks gave to several peninsulas, viz., the tauric c., the crimea, the thracian c., gallipoli; the cimbric c., jutland; the golden c., the malay peninsula. chertsey ( ), a very old town of surrey, m. sw. of london, on the right bank of the thames. cherubim, an order of angelic beings conceived of as accompanying the manifestations of jehovah, supporting his throne and protecting his glory, guarding it from profane intrusion; winged effigies of them overshadowed the mercy seat (q. v.). cherubim, a character in the "mariage de figaro"; also the th hussars, from their trousers being of a cherry colour. cherubini, a celebrated musical composer, born at florence; naturalised in france; settled in paris, the scene of his greatest triumphs; composed operas, of which the chief were "iphigenia in aulis," and "les deux journeés; or, the water-carrier," his masterpiece; also a number of sacred pieces and requiems, all of the highest merit; there is a portrait of him by ingres ( ) in the louvre, representing the muse of his art extending her protecting hand over his head ( - ). chÉruel, adolphe, french historian, born at rouen; author of "history of france during the minority of louis xiv."; published the "memoirs of saint-simon" ( - ). cherusci, an ancient people of germany, whose leader was arminius, and under whom they defeated the romans, commanded by varus, in a.d. chesapeake bay, a northward-extending inlet on the atlantic coast of the united states, m. long and from to m. broad, cutting maryland in two. cheselden, william, an english anatomist and surgeon, whose work, "anatomy of the human body," was long used as a text-book on that science ( - ). cheshire ( ), a western county of england, between the mersey and the dee, the chief mineral products of which are coal and rock-salt, and the agricultural, butter and cheese; has numerous manufacturing towns, with every facility for inter-communication, and the finest pasture-land in england. cheshunt ( ), a large village in hertfordshire, m. n. of london, with rose gardens, and a college founded by the countess of huntingdon. chesil beach, a neck of land on the devonshire coast, m. long, being a ridge of loose pebbles and shingle. chesney, c. cornwallis, professor of military history, nephew of the succeeding, author of "waterloo lectures" ( - ). chesney, francis rawdon, explorer, born in co. down, ireland; explored with much labour the route to india by way of the euphrates, though his labours were rendered futile by the opposition of russia; proved, by survey of the isthmus, the practicability of the suez canal ( - ). chester ( ), the county town of cheshire, on the dee, m. se. of liverpool; an ancient city founded by the romans; surrounded by walls nearly m. long, and from to ft. thick, forming a promenade with parapets; the streets are peculiar; along the roofs of the lower storeys of the houses there stretch piazzas called "rows," at the original level of the place, ft. wide for foot-passengers, approached by steps; it abounds in roman remains, and is altogether a unique town. chesterfield ( ), a town in derbyshire, m. n. of derby; in a mineral district; manufactures cotton, woollen, and silk; has a canal connecting it with the trent. chesterfield, philip dormer stanhope, earl of, statesman, orator, and man of letters, eldest son of the third earl, born in london; sat in the house of commons from to ; was an opponent of walpole; held office under the pelhams; in retired from deafness, or perhaps disgust, into private life; celebrated for his "letters to his son," models of elegance, though of questionable morality, which it appears he never intended to publish, and for the scorn with which dr. johnson treated him when he offered to help him, after he no longer needed any, in a letter which gave the death-blow to the patronage of literature; is credited by carlyle with having predicted the french revolution; it should be added, the "letters" were printed by his son's widow ( - ). chevalier, michel, a celebrated french economist, born at limoges; originally a socialist of the st. simonian school; for defending socialism was imprisoned, but recanted, and wrote ably against socialism; was a free-trader and coadjutor of cobden ( - ). chevalier, sulpice. see gavarni. chevalier d'industrie, one who lives by his wits, specially by swindling. chevalier st. george, the pretender. chevaux-de-frise, a military fence composed of a beam or a bar armed with long spikes, literally friesland horses, having been first used in friesland. chevert, a french general, born at verdun; "a bit of right soldier stuff"; distinguished himself in many engagements, and especially at the siege of prague in ( - ). cheviot hills, a range on the borders of england and scotland, extending m. south-westwards, the highest in northumberland ft., the carter fell being ft.; famous for its breed of sheep. chevreul, michel eugÈne, a french chemist, born at angers; an expert in the department of dyeing, and an authority on colours, as well as the chemistry of fats; was director in the dyeing department in the gobelins manufactory; he lived to witness the centenary of his birth ( - ). chevreuse, duchesse de, played an important part in the fronde and in the plots against richelieu and mazarin; her life has been written by victor cousin ( - ). chevron, in heraldry an ordinary of two bands forming an angle descending to the extremities of the shield; representing the two rafters of a house, meeting at the top. chevy chase, the subject and title of a highly popular old english ballad, presumed to refer to an event in connection with the battle of otterburn; there were strains in it which sir philip sidney said moved his heart more than with a trumpet. cheyenne indians, a warlike tribe of red indians, now much reduced, and partially settled in the indian territory, u.s.; noted for their horsemanship. cheyne, george, a physician and medical writer, born in aberdeenshire, in practice in london; suffered from corpulency, being stone in weight, but kept it down by vegetable and milk diet, which he recommended to others in the like case; wrote on fevers, nervous disorders, and hygiene; wrote also on fluxions ( - ). cheyne, thomas kelly, an eminent biblical scholar, born in london; oriel professor of scripture exegesis, oxford, and canon of rochester; author of numerous works on the old testament, particularly on "isaiah" and the "psalms," in which he advocates conclusions in accord with modern critical results; _b_. . chÉzy, de, a french orientalist, born at neuilly; the first to create in france an interest in the study of sanskrit ( - ). chiabrera, gabriello, an italian lyric poet, born at savona; distinguished, especially for his lyrics; surnamed the "pindar of italy," pindar being a greek poet whom it was his ambition to imitate ( - ). chia`na, a small, stagnant, pestilential affluent of the tiber, now deepened into a healthful and serviceable stream, connecting the tiber with the arno. chiapas, las ( ), a pacific state of mexico, covered with forests; yields maize, sugar, cacao, and cotton. chiaroscuro, the reproduction in art of the effects of light and shade on nature as they mutually affect each other. chibchas or muyscas, a civilised people, though on a lower stage than the peruvians, whom the spaniards found established in new granada in the th century, now merged in the spanish population; they worship the sun. chica, an orange-red colouring matter obtained from boiling the leaves of the _bignonia chica_, and used as a dye. chicago ( , ), the metropolis of illinois, in the ne. of the state, on the sw. shore of lake michigan, is the second city in the union; its unparalleled growth, dating only from --in a mere log-fort, and now covering an area of sq. m., being m. in length and m. in breadth--is due to its matchless facilities for communication. situated in the heart of the continent, a third of the united states railway system centres in it, and it communicates with all canada, and with the ocean by the great lakes and the st. lawrence river; laid out with absolute regularity, it has many magnificent buildings, enormously tall office "sky-scrapers," and an unrivalled system of parks and avenues; there are a university, medical, commercial, and theological colleges, an art institute, libraries, and observatory; it suffered severely from fire in and ; it is the greatest grain and pork market in the world, and its manufactures include almost every variety of production; the population is a mixture of all european peoples; native-born americans are a small minority, outnumbered by the germans and almost equalled by the irish. chicard, the harlequin of the modern french carnival, grotesquely dressed up. chicheley, henry, archbishop of canterbury, a scholar and statesman, often employed on embassies, a moderate churchman; accompanied henry v. to agincourt ( - ). chichester ( ), a cathedral city in the w. of sussex, m. ne. of portsmouth, with a port on the channel m. sw. of it; chief trade in agricultural produce. chichevache, a monster fabled to feed on good women, and starved, from the scarcity of them, to skin and bone, in contrast with another called bicorn, that fed on good men, who are more plentiful, and was fat and plump. chickasaws, n. american indians, allied to the chocktaws, settled in a civilised state in the indian territory like the cherokees. chiclana ( ), a watering-place m. sb. of cadiz, with mineral baths. chief, the upper part of an escutcheon cut off by a horizontal line. chiem-see, a high-lying lake in upper bavaria, m. from münich, adorned with three islands; famous for its fish. chien de jean de nivelle, the dog that never came when it was called. see nivelle. chiË`ti ( ), a city in central italy, m. ne. of rome, with a fine gothic cathedral. chigi, a distinguished italian family, eminent in the church. chigoe, an insect which infests the skin of the feet, multiplies incredibly, and is a great annoyance to the negro, who, however, is pretty expert in getting rid of it. chihua`hua ( ), a town in mexico; capital of a state ( ), the largest in mexico, of the same name, with famous silver and also copper mines. child, francis james, an american scholar, born in boston; professor of anglo-saxon and early english literature at harvard; distinguished as the editor of spenser and of "english and scottish ballads," "a monumental collection"; _b_. . child, lydia maria, an american novelist and anti-slavery advocate ( - ). child, sir joshua, a wealthy london merchant, author of "discourse on trade," with an appendix against usury; advocated the compulsory transportation of paupers to the colonies ( - ). childe, the eldest son of a nobleman who has not yet attained to knighthood, or has not yet won his spurs. childe harold, a poem of byron's, written between and , representing the author himself as wandering over the world in quest of satisfaction and returning sated to disgust; it abounds in striking thoughts and vivid descriptions; in his "dernier chant of c. h." lamartine takes up the hero where byron leaves him. childerbert i., son of clovis, king of paris, reigned from to . c. ii., son of siegbert and brunhilda, king of austrasia, reigned from to . c. iii., son of thierri iii., reigned over all france from to , under the mayor of the palace, pépin d'héristal. childerbrand, a frank warrior, who figures in old chronicles as the brother of charles martel, signalised himself in the expulsion of the saracens from france. childÉric i., the son of merovig and father of clovis, king of the franks; _d_. . c. ii., son of clovis ii., king of austrasia in , and of all france in ; assassinated . c. iii., son of the preceding, last of the merovingian kings, from to ; was deposed by pepin le bref; died in the monastery of st. omer in . childermas, a festival to commemorate the massacre of the children by herod. childers, robert c., professor of pâli and buddhistic literature in university college, and author of pâli dictionary ( - ). children of the wood, two children, a boy and girl, left to the care of an uncle, who hired two ruffians to murder them, that he might inherit their wealth; one of the ruffians relented, killed his companion, and left the children in a wood, who were found dead in the morning, a redbreast having covered their bodies with strawberry leaves; the uncle was thereafter goaded to death by the furies. chile ( , ), the most advanced and stable of the s. american states, occupies a strip of country, m. broad, between the andes and the pacific ocean, and stretching from cape horn northward m. to peru, with argentine and bolivia on its eastern borders. the climate is naturally various. in the n. are rainless tracts of mountains rich in copper, manganese, silver, and other metals, and deserts with wonderful deposits of nitrate. in the s. are stretches of pastoral land and virgin forest, with excessive rains, and cold, raw climate. the central portion enjoys a temperate climate with moderate rainfall, and produces excellent wheat, grapes, and fruits of all kinds. the andes tower above the snow-line, aconcagua reaching , ft. the rivers are short and rapid, of little use for navigation. the coast-line is even in the n., but excessively rugged and broken in the s., the most southerly regions being weird and desolate. the people are descendants of spaniards, mingled with araucanian indians; but there is a large european element in all the coast towns. mining and agriculture are the chief industries; manufactures of various kinds are fostered with foreign capital. the chief trade is with britain: exports nitre, wheat, copper, and iodine; imports, textiles, machinery, sugar, and cattle. santiago ( ) is the capital; valparaiso ( ) and iquique the principal ports. the government is republican; roman catholicism the state religion; education is fairly well fostered; there is a university at santiago. the country was first visited by magellan in . in pedro valdivia entered it from peru and founded santiago. during colonial days it was an annex of peru. in the revolt against spain broke out. independence was gained in . settled government was established in . since then a revolution in , successful wars with spain - , with bolivia and peru - , and a revolution in , have been the most stirring events in its history. chillianwalla, a village in the punjab, m. nw. of lahore, the scene in of a bloody battle in the second sikh war, in which the sikhs were defeated by gen. gough; it was also the scene of a battle between alexander the great and porus. chillingham, a village in northumberland, m. sw. of belford, with a park attached to the castle, the seat of the earl of tankerville, containing a herd of native wild cattle. chillingworth, william, an able english controversial divine, who thought forcibly and wrote simply, born at oxford; championed the cause of protestantism against the claims of popery in a long-famous work, "the religion of protestants the safe way to salvation," summing up his conclusion in the oft-quoted words, "the bible, the bible alone, is the religion of protestants"; though a protestant, he was not a puritan or a man of narrow views, and he suffered at the hands of the puritans as an adherent of the royalist cause ( - ). chillon, castle of, a castle and state prison built on a rock, ft. from the shore, at the eastern end of the lake of geneva; surnamed the bastille of switzerland, in which bonivard, the genevese patriot, was, as celebrated by byron, incarcerated for six years; it is now an arsenal. chiloË ( ), a thickly wooded island off the coast, and forming a province, of chile, m. long from n. to s., and m. broad; inhabited chiefly by indians; exports timber; is said to contain vast deposits of coal. chiltern hills, a range of chalk hills extending about m. ne. from the thames in oxfordshire through bucks, from to m. broad, the highest wendover, ft. chiltern hundreds, a wardship of beech forests on the chiltern hills against robbers, that at one time infested them; now a sinecure office, the acceptance of which enables a member of parliament to resign his seat if he wishes to retire, the office being regarded as a government one. chimÆra, a fire-breathing monster of the greek mythology, with a goat's body, a lion's head, and a dragon's tail; slain by bellerophon, and a symbol of any impossible monstrosity. chimbora`zo, one of the loftiest peaks of the andes, in ecuador, , ft.; is an extinct volcano, and covered with perpetual snow. chimpanzee, a large african ape, from to ft. in height, and more allied in several respects to man than any other ape: it is found chiefly in w. africa. china ( , to , ), which, with tibet, mongolia (from which it is separated by the great wall), and parts of turkestan, forms the chinese empire; is a vast, compact, and densely peopled country in eastern asia; bounded on the n. by mongolia; w. by tibet and burmah; s. by siam, annam, and the china sea; and e. by the pacific. in the w. are lofty mountain ranges running n. and s., from which parallel ranges run e. and w., rising to greatest height in the s. two great rivers traverse the country, the hoang-ho and the yangtse-kiang, the latter with many large lakes in its course, and bearing on its waters an innumerable fleet of boats and barges. between the lower courses of these rivers lies the great plain, one of the vastest and richest in the world, whose yellow soil produces great crops with little labour and no manure. the coast-line is long and much indented, and out of it are bitten the gulfs of pe-che-lee, the yellow sea, and hang-chou. there are many small islands off the coast; the mountainous hainau is the only large one still chinese. the climate in the n. has a clear frosty winter, and warm rainy summer; in the s. it is hot. the country is rich in evergreens and flowering plants. in the n. wheat, millet, and cotton are grown; in the s. rice, tea, sugar, silk, and opium. agriculture is the chief industry, and though primitive, it is remarkably painstaking and skilful. forests have everywhere been cleared away, and the whole country is marvellously fertile. its mineral wealth is enormous. iron, copper, and coal abound in vast quantities; has coal-fields that, it is said, if they were worked, "would revolutionise the trade of the world." the most important manufactures are of silk, cotton, and china. commerce is as yet chiefly internal; its inter-provincial trade is the largest and oldest in the world. foreign trade is growing, almost all as yet done with britain and her colonies. tea and silk are exported; cotton goods and opium imported. about twenty-five ports are open to british vessels, of which the largest are shanghai and canton. there are no railways; communication inland is by road, river, and canals. the people are a mixed race of mongol type, kindly, courteous, peaceful, and extremely industrious, and in their own way well educated. buddhism is the prevailing faith of the masses, confucianism of the upper classes. the government is in theory a patriarchal autocracy, the emperor being at once father and high-priest of all the people, and vicegerent of heaven. the capital is pekin ( ), in the ne. chinese history goes back to b.c. english intercourse with the chinese began in a.d., and diplomatic relations between london and pekin were established this century. the anglo-chinese wars of , , and broke down the barrier of exclusion previously maintained against the outside world. the japanese war of - betrayed the weakness of the national organisation; and the seizure of formosa by japan, the russo-japanese protectorate over manchuria and corea, the french demand for kwang-si and kwang-tung, enforced lease of kiao-chau to germany, and of wei-hai-wei to britain ( ), seem to forebode the partition of the ancient empire among the more energetic western nations. china, the great wall of, a wall, with towers and forts at intervals, about m. long, from to ft. high, and ft. broad, which separates china from mongolia on the n., and traverses high hills and deep valleys in its winding course. chinampas, floating gardens. chincha islands, islands off the coast of peru that had beds of guano, often ft. thick, due to the droppings of penguins and other sea birds, now all but, if not quite, exhausted. chinchilla, a rodent of s. america, hunted for its fur, which is soft and of a grey colour; found chiefly in the mountainous districts of peru and chile. chinese gordon, general gordon, killed at khartoum; so called for having, in , suppressed a rebellion in china which had lasted years. chinook, a tribe of indians in washington territory, noted for flattening their skulls. chinsura, a dutch-built town on the right bank of the hoogly, m. n. of calcutta, with a college; is famous for cheroots. chinz, a calico printed with flowers and other devices in different colours; originally of eastern manufacture. chioggia ( ), a seaport of venetia, built on piles, on a lagoon island at the mouth of the brenta, connected with the mainland by a bridge with arches. chios, or scio ( ), a small island belonging to turkey, in the grecian archipelago; subject to earthquakes; yields oranges and lemons in great quantities; claims to have been the birthplace of homer. chippendale, thomas, a cabinet-maker, born in worcestershire; famous in the last century for the quality and style of his workmanship; his work still much in request. chippeways, a red indian tribe, some , strong, located in michigan, u.s., and in canada adjoining; originally occupied the n. and w. of lake superior. chiquitos, indians of a low but lively type in bolivia and brazil. chiriqui, an archipelago and a lagoon as well as province in costa rica. chiron, a celebrated centaur, in whose nature the animal element was subject to the human, and who was intrusted with the education of certain heroes of greece, among others peleus and achilles; was endowed with the gift of prophecy, and skilled in athletics as well as music and the healing art. see centaurs. chislehurst ( ), a village in kent, m. se. of london, where napoleon iii. died in exile in . chiswick ( ), a suburb of london, m. sw. of st. paul's; the church of st. nicholas has monuments to several people of distinction. chitin, a white horny substance found in the exoskeleton of several invertebrate animals. chitral, a state on the frontier of india, nw. of cashmere; since occupied by the british; a place of great strategical importance. chittagong ( ), a seaport in the bay of bengal, m. e. of calcutta; exports rice, gum, tobacco, and jute. chittim, the bible name for cyprus. chivalry, a system of knighthood, for the profession of which the qualifications required were dignity, courtesy, bravery, generosity; the aim of which was the defence of right against wrong, of the weak against the strong, and especially of the honour and the purity of women, and the spirit of which was of christian derivation; originally a military organisation in defence of christianity against the infidel. chivalry, court of, a court established by edward iii., which took cognisance of questions of honour and heraldry, as well as military offences. chladni, friedrich, a physicist, born at wittenberg; one of the earliest investigators of the phenomena of sound; wrote also on aërolites ( - ). chlopicki, joseph, a polish hero, born in galicia; fought against russia under napoleon; was chosen dictator in , but was forced to resign; fought afterwards in the ranks, and was severely wounded ( - ). chloral, a colourless narcotic liquid, obtained at first by the action of chlorine on alcohol; treated with water it produces _chloral hydrate_. chlorine, elementary, greenish-yellow gas obtained from common salt; powerful as a disinfectant, and a bleaching agent. chloris, the wife of zephyrus, the goddess of flowers. chloroform, a limpid, volatile liquid, in extensive use as an anæsthetic; produced by treating alcohol with chloride of lime. chlorophyll, the green colouring matter in plants, especially the leaves; due to the presence and action of light. chlorosis, green sickness, a disease incident to young females at a critical period of life, causing a pale-greenish complexion. chocolate, a paste made by grinding the kernels of cocoa-nuts. chocktaws, or chactaws, a tribe of american indians, settled to civilised life in the indian territory, u.s.; the chactaw indian, with his proud array of scalps hung up in his wigwam, is, with carlyle, the symbol of the pride of wealth acquired at the price of the lives of men in body and soul. choiseul, duc de, minister of louis xv.; served his master in various capacities; was rewarded with a peerage; effected many reforms in the army, strengthened the navy, and aided in bringing about the family compact of the bourbons; exercised a great influence on the politics of europe; was nicknamed by catharine of russia _le cocher de l'europe_, "the driver of europe"; but becoming obnoxious to mme. du barry, "in whom he would discern nothing but a wonderfully dizened scarlet woman," was dismissed from the helm of affairs, louis's "last substantial man" ( - ). choisy, abbÉ, a french writer, born in paris; author of a "history of the church" ( - ). cholera morbus, an epidemic disease characterised by violent vomiting and purging, accompanied with spasms, great pain, and debility; originated in india, and has during the present century frequently spread itself by way of asia into populous centres of both europe and america. cholet ( ), a french manufacturing town, m. sw. of angers. cholula, an ancient city, m. se. of mexico; the largest city of the aztecs, with a pyramidal temple, now a catholic church. chopin, a musical composer, born near warsaw, of polish origin; his genius for music early developed itself; distinguished himself as a pianist first at vienna and then in paris, where he introduced the mazurkas; became the idol of the _salons_; visited england twice, in and , and performed to admiration in london and three of the principal cities; died of consumption in paris; he suffered much from great depression of spirits ( - ). chorley ( ), a manufacturing town in n. lancashire, m. ne. of liverpool, with mines and quarries near it. chorus, in the ancient drama a group of persons introduced on the stage representing witnesses of what is being acted, and giving expression to their thoughts and feelings regarding it; originally a band of singers and dancers on festive occasions, in connection particularly with the bacchus worship. chosroËs i., surnamed the great, king of persia from to , a wise and beneficent ruler; waged war with the roman armies successfully for years. ch. ii., his grandson, king from to ; made extensive inroads on the byzantine empire, but was defeated and driven back by heraclius; was eventually deposed and put to death. chouans, insurrectionary royalists in france, in particular brittany, during the french revolution, and even for a time under the empire, when their head-quarters were in london; so named from their muster by night at the sound of the _chat-huant_, the screech-owl, a nocturnal bird of prey which has a weird cry. chrÉtien, or chrestien, de troyes, a french poet or trouvère of the last half of the th century; author of a number of vigorously written romances connected with chivalry and the round table. chriemhilde, a heroine in the "niebelungen" and sister of gunther, who on the treacherous murder of her husband is changed from a gentle woman into a relentless fury. chrisaor, the sword of sir artegal in the "faërie queene"; it excelled every other. christ church, a college in oxford, founded by wolsey ; was gladstone's college and john ruskin's, as well as john locke's. christabel, a fragmentary poem of coleridge's; characterised by stopford brooke as, for "exquisite metrical movement and for imaginative phrasing," along with "kubla khan," without a rival in the language. christadelphians, an american sect, called also thomasites, whose chief distinctive article of faith is conditional immortality, that is, immortality only to those who believe in christ, and die believing in him. christchurch ( ), capital of the province of canterbury, new zealand, m. from the sea; littleton the port. christian, the name of nine kings of denmark, of whom the first began to reign in and the last in , and the following deserve notice: christian ii., conquered sweden, but proving a tyrant, was driven from the throne by gustavus vasa in , upon which his own subjects deposed him, an act which he resented by force of arms, in which he was defeated in , his person seized, and imprisoned for life; characterised by carlyle as a "rash, unwise, explosive man" ( - ). christian iv., king from to ; took part on the protestant side in the thirty years' war, and was defeated by tilly; he was a good ruler, and was much beloved by his subjects; was rather unsteady in his habits, it is said ( - ). christian ix., king from ; son of duke william of sleswick-holstein, father of the princess of wales, george i., king of greece, and the dowager empress of russia; _b_. . christian connection, a sect in the united states which acknowledges the bible alone as the rule of faith and manners. christian king, the most, a title of the king of france conferred by two different popes. christian knowledge, society for promoting (s. p. c. k.), a religious association in connection with the church of england, under the patronage of the queen and the presidency of the archbishop of canterbury, established , the object of which is to disseminate a knowledge of christian doctrine both at home and abroad by means of churches, schools, and libraries, and by the circulation of bibles and christian literature. christiania ( ), the capital of norway, romantically situated at the head of christiania fiord; the residence of the king and the seat of government; a manufacturing and trading city, but it is blocked up against traffic for four months in the year. christianity, belief (q. v.) that there is in christ, as in no other, from first to last a living incarnation, a flesh and blood embodiment, for salvation of the ever-living spirit of the ever-living god and father of man, and except that by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, that is, except by participating in his divine-human life, or except in his spirit, there is no assurance of life everlasting to any man; but perhaps it has never been defined all round with greater brevity and precision than it is by ruskin in his "præterita," under the impression that the time is come when one should say a firm word concerning it: "the total meaning of it," he says, "was, and is, that the god who made earth and its creatures, took, at a certain time upon the earth, the flesh and form of man; in that flesh sustained the pain and died the death of the creature he had made; rose again after death into glorious human life, and when the date of the human race is ended, will return in visible human form, and render to every mail according to his work. _christianity is the belief in, and love of, god thus manifested_. anything _less_ than this," he adds, "the mere acceptance of the sayings of christ, or assertion of any less than divine power in his being, may be, for aught i know, enough for virtue, peace, and safety; but they do not make people christians, or enable them to understand the heart of the simplest believer in the old doctrine." christiansand ( ), a town and seaport in the extreme s. of norway, with a considerable trade. christie, william henry mahoney, astronomer-royal, born at woolwich, of trinity college, cambridge; author of "manual of elementary astronomy"; _b_. . christina, queen of sweden, daughter and only child of gustavus adolphus; received a masculine education, and was trained in manly exercises; governed the country well, and filled her court with learned men, but by-and-by her royal duties becoming irksome to her, she declared her cousin as her successor, resigned the throne, and turned catholic; her cousin dying, she claimed back her crown, but her subjects would not now have her; she stayed for a time in france, but was obliged to leave; retired to rome, where she spent years of her life engaged in scientific and artistic studies, and died ( - ). christina, maria, daughter of francis i. of naples, and wife of ferdinand vii. of spain, on whose death she acted for four years as regent, during the infancy of her daughter isabella ( - ). christison, sir robert, toxicologist, born at edinburgh, and professor, first of medical jurisprudence and then of materia medica, in his native city; wrote a "treatise on poison," a standard work ( - ). christmas, the festival in celebration of the birth of christ now celebrated all over christendom on th december, as coinciding with an old heathen festival celebrated at the winter solstice, the day of the return of the sun northward, and in jubilation of the prospect of the renewal of life in the spring. christology, the department of theology which treats of the person of christ. christophe, henri, a negro, born in grenada; one of the leaders of the insurgent slaves in hayti, who, proving successful in arms against the french, became king under the title of henry i., but ruling despotically provoked revolt, and shot himself through the heart; he was a man of powerful physique; _b_. . christopher, st., (the christ-bearer), according to christian legend a giant of great stature and strength, who, after serving the devil for a time, gave himself up to the service of christ by carrying pilgrims across a bridgeless river, when one day a little child, who happened to be none else than christ himself, appeared to be carried over, but, strange to say, as he bore him across, the child grew heavier and heavier, till he was nearly baffled in landing him on the opposite shore. the giant represented the church, and the increasing weight of the child the increasing sin and misery which the church has from age to age to bear in carrying its christ across the time-river; the giant is represented in art as carrying the infant on his shoulder, and as having for staff the stem of a large tree. christopher north, the name assumed by john wilson (q. v.) in _blackwood's magazine_. christopher's, st., ( ), popularly called _st. kitts_, one of the leeward islands, discovered by columbus ( ), who named it after himself; belongs to england; has sugar plantations. christ's hospital, the blue-coat school, london, was founded in , a large institution, on the foundation of which there are now pupils instead of as formerly; entrance to it is gained partly by presentation and partly by competition, and attached are numerous exhibitions and prizes; among the _alumni_ have been several noted men, such as bishop stillingfleet, coleridge, leigh hunt, and charles lamb. chromatics, that department of optics which treats of colours, and resolves the primary colours into three--red, yellow, and blue. chroniclers, the rhyming, a series of writers who flourished in england in the th century, and related histories of the country in rhyme, in which the fabulous occupies a conspicuous place, among which layamon's "brut" ( ) takes the lead. chronicles i. and ii., two historical books of the old testament, the narratives of which, with additions and omissions, run parallel with those of samuel and kings, but written from a priestly standpoint, give the chief prominence to the history of judah as the support in jerusalem of the ritual of which the priests were the custodians; ezra and nehemiah are continuations. chrysËis, the daughter of chryses, priest of apollo, a beautiful maiden who fell among the spoils of a victory to agamemnon, and became his slave, and whom he refused to restore to her father until a deadly plague among the greeks, at the hands of apollo, whose priest her father was, compelled him to give her up. chrysippus, a greek philosopher, born at soli, in cilicia, and lived in athens; specially skilled in dialectic; the last and greatest expounder and defender of the philosophy of the stoa, so pre-eminent, that it was said of him, "if chrysippus were not, the stoa were not"; is said to have written books, not one of which, however, has come down to us save a few fragments ( - b.c.). see stoicism. chrysolo`ras, a grecian scholar, born at constantinople, left his native country and lived in florence, where he, in the th century, became a teacher of greek literature, and contributed thereby to the revival of letters in italy; _d_. . chrysostom, st. john, that is, mouth of gold, so called from his eloquence, born at antioch; converted to christianity from a mild paganism; became one of the fathers of the church, and patriarch of constantinople; he was zealous in suppressing heresy, as well as corruption in the church, and was for that reason thrice over subjected to banishment; in the course of the third of which and while on the way, he died, though his remains was brought to constantinople and there deposited with great solemnity; he left many writings behind him--sermons, homilies, commentaries, and epistles, of which his "homilies" are most studied and prized ( - ). festival, jan. . chubb, thomas, an english deist, born near salisbury; he regarded christ as a divine teacher, but held reason to be sovereign in matters of religion, yet was on rational grounds a defender of christianity; had no learning, but was well up in the religious controversies of the time, and bore his part in them creditably ( - ). chunder sen, one of the founders of the brahmo-somaj (q. v.); he visited europe in , and was welcomed with open arms by the rationalist class of churchmen and dissenters. chuquisa`ca ( ), (i. e. bridge of gold), the capital of bolivia, in a sheltered plain ft. above the sea-level; is a cathedral city; has a mild climate; it was founded in by the spaniards on the site of an old peruvian town. church, richard william, dean of st. paul's, born in lisbon; a scholarly man; distinguished himself first as such by his "essays and reviews," wrote thoughtful sermons, and "a life of anselm," also essays on eminent men of letters, such as dante, spenser, and bacon ( - ). church, states of the, the papal states, extending irregularly from the po to naples, of which the pope was the temporal sovereign, now part of the kingdom of italy. churchill, charles, an english poet, born at westminster; began life as a curate, an office which he was compelled to resign from his unseemly ways; took himself to the satire, first of the actors of the time in his "rosciad," then of his critics in his "apology," and then of dr. johnson in the "ghost"; he wrote numerous satires, all vigorous, his happiest being deemed that against the scotch, entitled "the prophecy of famine"; his life was a short one, and not wisely regulated ( - ). churchill, lord randolph, an english conservative politician, third son of the th duke of marlborough, who, though a man of mark, and more than once in office, could never heart and soul join any party and settle down to steady statesmanship; set out on travel, took ill on the journey, and came home in a state of collapse to die ( - ). chuzzlewit, martin, the hero of a novel by dickens of the name. james, a character in the same novel, a man distinguished for his mean and tyrannical character. chusan ( or ), principal island in the chusan archipelago, m. long and broad; near the estuary of the yangtse-kiang, has been called "the key of china." chyle, a fluid of a milky colour, separated from the chyme by the action of the pancreatic juice and the bile, and which, being absorbed by the lacteal vessels, is gradually assimilated into blood. chyme, the pulpy mass into which the food is converted in the stomach prior to the separation in the small intestines of the chyle. cialdini, enrico, an italian general and politician, born at modena; distinguished himself in spain against the carlists, and both as a soldier and diplomatist in connection with the unification of italy ( - ). cibber, colley, actor and dramatist, of german descent; was manager and part-proprietor of drury lane; wrote plays, one in particular, which procured for him the post of poet-laureate, which he held till his death; was much depreciated by pope; wrote an "apology for his life," the most amusing autobiography in the language ( - ). cibrario, luigi, an italian historian and statesman, born at turin; he held office under charles albert of sardinia ( - ). cicero, marcus tullius, a roman orator, statesman, and man of letters, born near arpinum, in latium; trained for political life partly at rome and partly at athens; distinguished himself as the first orator at the roman bar when he was , and afterwards rose through the successive grades of civic rank till he attained the consulship in b.c.; during this period he acquired great popularity by his exposure and defeat of the conspiracy of catiline, by which he earned the title of _father of his country_, though there were those who condemned his action and procured his banishment for a time; on his recall, which was unanimous, he took sides first with pompey, then with cæsar after pharsalia, on whose death he delivered a philippic against antony; was proscribed by the second triumvirate, and put to death by antony's soldiers; he was the foremost of roman orators, the most elegant writer of the latin language, and has left behind him orations, letters, and treatises, very models of their kind; he was not a deep thinker, and his philosophy was more eclectic than original ( - b.c.). cicero of germany, john iii., elector of brandenburg, "could speak 'four hours at a stretch, in elegantly flowing latin,' with a fair share of meaning in it too" ( - ). cicognara, count, an italian writer, born at ferrara; author of a "history of sculpture" ( - ). cid campeador, a famed castilian warrior of the th century, born at burgos; much celebrated in spanish romance; being banished from castile, in the interest of which he had fought valiantly, he became a free-lance, fighting now with the christians and now with the moors, till he made himself master of valencia, where he set up his throne and reigned, with his faithful wife ximena by his side, till the news of a defeat by the moors took all spirit out of him, and he died of grief. faithful after death, his wife had his body embalmed and carried to his native place, on the high altar of which it lay enthroned for years; his real name was don rodrigo diaz of bivar, and the story of his love for ximena is the subject of corneille's masterpiece, "the cid." cigoli, a florentine painter, called the florentine correggio, whom he specially studied in the practice of his art; "the apostle healing the lame," in st. peter's, is by him, as also the "martyrdom of st. stephen," in florence ( - ). cilicia, an ancient province in s. of asia minor. cilician gates, the pass across mount taurus by which alexander the great entered cilicia. cimabu`e, a florentine painter, and founder of the florentine school, which ranked among its members such artists as michael angelo, raphael, and leonardo da vinci; was the first to leave the stiff traditional byzantine forms of art and copy from nature and the living model, though it was only with the advent of his great disciple giotto that art found beauty in reality, and florence was made to see the divine significance of lowly human worth, at sight of which, says ruskin, "all italy threw up its cap"; his "madonna," in the church of santa maria, has been long regarded as a marvel of art, and of all the "mater dolorosas" of christianity, ruskin does not hesitate to pronounce his at assisi the noblest; "he was the first," says ruskin, "of the florentines, first of european men, to see the face of her who was blessed among women, and with his following hand to make visible the magnificat of his heart" ( - ). cimarosa, domenico, a celebrated italian composer; composed between and operas, mostly comic, his masterpiece being "ii matrimoneo segreto"; he was imprisoned for sympathising with the principles of the french revolution, and treated with a severity which shortened his life; said by some to have been poisoned by order of queen caroline of naples ( - ). cimber, a friend of cæsar's who turned traitor, whose act of presenting a petition to him was the signal to the conspirators to take his life. cimbri, a barbarian horde who, with the teutons, invaded gaul in the nd century b.c.; gave the romans no small trouble, and were all but exterminated by marius in b.c.; believed to have been a celtic race, who descended on southern europe from the n. cimerians, an ancient people n. of the shores of the black sea, fabled to inhabit a region unvisited by a single ray of the sun. cimon, an athenian general, son of miltiades; distinguished himself in the struggle of athens against persia in b.c.; gained two victories over the persians in one day, one by land and another by sea, was banished by the democratic party, and after four years recalled to continue his victories over his old foes, and died at cyprus ( - b.c.). cincinnati ( ), the metropolis of ohio, stands on the ohio river, opposite covington and newport, by rail m. se. of chicago; the city stands on hilly ground, and is broken and irregular; there are many fine buildings, among them a roman catholic cathedral, and large parks; there is a university, the lane theological seminary (presbyterian), schools of medicine, law, music, and art, an observatory, zoological garden, and large libraries; it is a centre of culture in the arts; manufactures include clothing, tobacco, leather, moulding and machine shops; there is some boat-building and printing; but the most noted trade is in pork and grain; is the greatest pork market in the world; a third of the population is of german origin. cincinnatus, lucius quinctius, an old hero of the roman republic, distinguished for the simplicity and austerity of his manners; was consul in b.c., and on the defeat of a roman army by the Æqui, called to the dictatorship from the plough, to which he returned on the defeat of the Æqui; he was summoned to fill the same post a second time, when he was , on the occasion of the conspiracy of mælius, with the like success. cincinnatus, the order of, an american order founded by officers of the revolutionary army at its dissolution in ; was denounced by franklin as anti-republican in its spirit and tendency; it still survives in a feeble way; the order is hereditary. cincinnatus of the americans, george washington. cinderella (the little cinder-girl), the youngest member of a family who must drudge at home while her elder sisters go to balls, till one day a fairy befriends her and conveys her to a ball, where she shines as the centre of attraction, and wins the regard of a prince. on quitting the hall she leaves a slipper behind her, by means of which she is identified by the prince, who finds that hers is the only foot that the slipper will fit, and marries her. the story in one version or another is a very ancient and wide-spread one. cineas, the minister of pyrrhus, king of epirus; was the ablest orator of his time, and his master was in the habit of saying of him, that his eloquence had gained him more cities than his own arms; sent on a mission to rome, the senate refused to hear him, lest his eloquence should prove too fascinating. cingalese, a native of ceylon. cinna, lucius cornelius, a roman patrician, a friend and supporter of marius; drove sulla from rome and recalled marius from exile; participated in the murders which followed his recall, and after the death of marius was assassinated when organising an expedition against sulla, b.c. cinnabar, a sulphide of mercury from which the mercury of commerce is obtained. cinq-mars, henri, marquis de, a french courtier, a favourite of louis xiii.; a man of handsome figure and fascinating manners; died on the scaffold for conspiring with his friend de thou against richelieu ( - ). cinquÉ cento (lit. five hundred), the renaissance in literature and art in the th century, the expression hundred standing for hundred. cinque ports, the five ports of hastings, romney, hythe, dover, and sandwich, to which were added winchelsea and rye, which possessed certain privileges in return for supplying the royal power with a navy; the lord warden of the cinque ports is only an honorary dignity. cintra, a portuguese town, m. nw. of lisbon, where a much reprobated convention between the french under marshal junot and the english under sir hew dalrymple was signed in , whereby the former were let off with all their arms and baggage on condition of evacuating portugal. cipango, an island on the eastern ocean, described by marco polo as a sort of el dorado, an object of search to subsequent navigators, and an attraction among the number to columbus, it is said. cipriani, an italian painter and etcher, born in florence; settled in london; was an original member of the royal academy, and designed the diploma ( - ). circars, the, a territory in india along the coast of the bay of bengal, from to m. wide; ceded first to the french and in to the east india company, now of course under the crown, and forming part of the madras presidency. circassia, a territory on the western caucasus, now subject to russia; celebrated for the sturdy spirit of the men and the beauty of the women; the nobles professing mohammedanism and the lower classes a certain impure form of christianity; they are of the semite race, and resemble the arabs in their manners. circe, a sorceress who figures in the "odyssey." ulysses having landed on her isle, she administered a potion to him and his companions, which turned them into swine, while the effect of it on himself was counteracted by the use of the herb moly, provided for him by hermes against sorcery; she detained him with her for years, and disenchanted his companions on his departure. circean poison, a draught of any kind that is magically and fatally infatuating, such as the effect often of popular applause. circuits, districts outside of london into which england is divided for judicial purposes, for the trial of civil as well as criminal cases connected with them; are seven in number--the midland, the oxford, the north-eastern, the south-eastern, the northern, the western, and north wales and south wales; the courts are presided over by a judge sent from london, or by two, and are held twice a year, or oftener if the number of cases require it. circulation of the blood, the course of the blood from the heart through the arteries to the minute vessels of the body, and from these last through the veins back to the heart again. circumcision, the practice of cutting away the foreskin, chiefly of males, as observed by the jews and the mohammedans, as well as other nations of remote antiquity; regarded by some as a mark of belonging to the tribe, and by others as a sacrifice in propitiation by blood. circumlocution office, a name employed by dickens in "little dorrit" to designate the wearisome routine of public business. cisalpine gaul, territory occupied by gauls on the italian or south side of the alps. cisalpine republic, a republic so called on both sides of the po, formed out of his conquests by napoleon, ; became the italian republic in , with milan for capital, and ceased to exist after the fall of napoleon. cisleithania, austria proper as distinguished from hungary, which is called transleithania, on account of the boundary between them being formed by the river leitha. cistercians, a monastic order founded by abbot robert in at citeaux, near dijon; they followed the rule of st. benedict, who reformed the order after it had lapsed; became an ecclesiastical republic, and were exempt from ecclesiastical control; contributed considerably to the progress of the arts, if little to the sciences. cithÆron, a wood-covered mountain on the borders of boeotia and attica; famous in greek legend. cities of refuge, among the jews; three on the e. and three on the w. of the jordan, in which the manslayer might find refuge from the avenger of blood. cities of the plain, sodom and gomorrah, with adjoining cities under the like doom. citizen king, louis philippe of france, so called as elected by the citizens of paris. city of bells, strasburg. city of churches, brooklyn, now incorporated with new york. city of destruction, bunyan's name for the world as under divine judgment. city of god, augustine's name for the church as distinct from the cities of the world, and the title of a book of his defining it. city of palaces, calcutta and rome. city of the prophet, medina, where mahomet found refuge when driven out of mecca by the koreish and their adherents. city of the seven hills, rome, as built on seven hills--viz., the aventine, coelian, capitoline, esquiline, palatine, quirinal, and viminal. city of the sun, baalbek (q. v.); and a work by campanella, describing an ideal republic, after the manner of plato and sir thomas more. city of the violet crown, athens. ciudad real (royal city) ( ), a spanish town in a province of the same name, m. s. of madrid, where sebastian defeated the spaniards in . ciudad rodrigo ( ), a spanish town near the portuguese frontier, m. sw. of salamanca; stormed by wellington, after a siege of days, in , for which brilliant achievement he earned the title of earl in england, and duke of ciudad rodrigo in spain. Çiva, or siva, the third member of the hindu trinity, the destroyer of what vishnu is the preserver and brahma is the creator, is properly brahma undoing what he has made with a view to reincarnation. civil law, a system of laws for the regulation of civilised communities formed on roman laws, digested in the pandects of justinian. civil list, the yearly sum granted by the parliament of england at the commencement of each reign for the support of the royal household, and to maintain the dignity of the crown: it amounts now to £ , . civil service, the paid service done to the state, exclusive of that of the army and navy. civilis, claudius, a batavian chief who revolted against vespasian, but on defeat was able to conclude an honourable peace. civita vecchia ( ), a fortified port on the w. coast of italy, m. nw. of rome, with a good harbour, founded by trajan; exports wheat, alum, cheese, &c. clackmannanshire ( ), the smallest county in scotland, lies between the ochils and the forth; rich in minerals, especially coal. clair, st., a lake m. long by broad, connecting lake erie with lake huron. clairaut, alexis claude, a french mathematician and astronomer, born at paris, of so precocious a genius, that he was admitted to the academy of sciences at the age of ; published a theory of the figure of the earth, and computed the orbit of halley's comet ( - ). clairvaux, a village of france, on the aube, where st. bernard founded a cistercian monastery in , and where he lived and was buried; now used as a prison or reformatory. clairvoyance, the power ascribed to certain persons in a mesmeric state of seeing and describing events at a distance or otherwise invisible. clan, a tribe of blood relations descended from a common ancestor, ranged under a chief in direct descent from him, and having a common surname, as in the highlands of scotland; at bottom a military organisation for defensive and predatory purposes. clan-na-gael, a fenian organisation founded at philadelphia in , to secure by violence the complete emancipation of ireland from british control. clapham, a sw. suburb of london, in the county of surrey, m. from st. paul's, and inhabited by a well-to-do middle-class community, originally of evangelical principles, and characterised as the _clapham set_. clapperton, captain hugh, an african explorer, born at annan; bred in the navy, joined two expeditions into central africa to ascertain the length and course of the niger, but got no farther than sokoto, where he was attacked with dysentery and died ( - ). clÄrchen, a female character in goethe's "egmont." clare ( ), a county in munster, ireland; also an island at the mouth of clew bay, county mayo. clare, john, the peasant poet of northamptonshire, born near peterborough; wrote "poems descriptive of rural life and scenery," which attracted attention, and even admiration, and at length with others brought him a small annuity, which he wasted in speculation; fell into despondency, and died in a lunatic asylum ( - ). clare, st., a virgin and abbess, born at assisi; the founder of the order of poor clares ( - ). festival, aug. . claremont, a mansion in surrey, m. sw. of london, built by lord clive, where princess charlotte lived and died, as also louis philippe after his flight from france; is now the property of the queen, and the residence of the duchess of albany. clarence, duke of, brother of edward iv.; convicted of treason, he was condemned to death, and being allowed to choose the manner of his death, is said to have elected to die by drowning in a butt of malmsey wine ( - ). clarenceux, or clarencieux, the provincial king-at-arms, whose jurisdiction extends from and includes all england s. of the trent. clarendon, a place m. se. of salisbury, where the magnates of england, both lay and clerical, met in under henry ii. and issued a set of ordinances, called the _constitutions of clarendon_, in number, to limit the power of the church and assert the rights of the crown in ecclesiastical affairs. clarendon, edward hyde, earl of, sat in the short parliament and the long on the popular side, but during the civil war became a devoted royalist; was from one of the chief advisers of the king; on the failure of the royal cause, took refuge first in jersey, and then in holland with the prince of wales; contributed to the restoration; came back with charles, and became lord chancellor; fell into disfavour, and quitted england in ; died at rouen; wrote, among other works, a "history of the great rebellion," dignifiedly written, though often carelessly, but full of graphic touches and characterisations especially of contemporaries; it has been called an "epical composition," as showing a sense of the central story and its unfolding. "few historians," adds prof. saintsbury, "can describe a given event with more vividness. not one in all the long list of the great practitioners of the art has such skill in the personal character" ( - ). clarendon, george villiers, earl of, a whig statesman; served as a cabinet minister under lord melbourne, lord john russell twice, lord aberdeen, lord palmerston, and mr. gladstone; held the office of foreign secretary under the three preceding; was lord-lieutenant of ireland at the time of the potato failure, and represented britain at the congress of paris; died in harness, deeply lamented both at home and abroad ( - ). clarÉtie, jules, a french journalist, novelist, dramatic author, and critic, born at limoges; has published some volumes of _causeries_, history, and fiction; appointed director of the theatre français in ; _b_. . clarissa harlowe, the heroine of one of richardson's novels, exhibiting a female character which, as described by him, is pronounced to be "one of the brightest triumphs in the whole range of imaginative literature," is described by stopford brooke "as the pure and ideal star of womanhood." clark, sir andrew, an eminent london physician, born near cargill, in perthshire, much beloved, and skilful in the treatment of diseases affecting the respiratory and digestive organs ( - ). clark, sir james, physician to the queen, born in cullen; an authority on the influence of climate on chronic and pulmonary disease ( - ). clark, thomas, chemist, born in ayr; discovered the phosphate of soda, and the process of softening hard water ( - ). clarke, adam, a wesleyan divine, of irish birth; a man of considerable scholarship, best known by his "commentary" on the bible; author also of a "bibliographical dictionary" ( - ). clarke, charles cowden, a friend of lamb, keats, and leigh hunt; celebrated for his shakespearian learning; brought out an annotated shakespeare, assisted by his wife; lectured on shakespeare characters ( - ). clarke, dr. samuel, an english divine, scholar and disciple of newton, born at norwich; author, as boyle lecturer, of a famous "demonstration of the being and attributes of god," as also independently of "the evidences of natural and revealed religion"; as a theologian he inclined to arianism, and his doctrine of morality was that it was congruity with the "eternal fitness of things" ( - ). clarke, edward daniel, a celebrated english traveller, born in sussex; visited scandinavia, russia, circassia, asia minor, syria, palestine, egypt, and greece; brought home mss. to enrich the library of cambridge, the colossal statue of the eleusinian ceres, and the sarcophagus of alexander, now in the british museum; his "travels" were published in six volumes ( - ). clarke, henri, duc de feltre, of irish origin, french marshal, and minister of war under napoleon; instituted the prevotal court, a _pro re nata_ court without appeal ( - ). clarke, mary cowden, _née_ novello, of italian descent, wife of charles cowden, assisted her husband in his shakespeare studies, and produced amid other works "concordance to shakespeare," a work which occupied her years ( - ). clarke, william george, english man of letters; fellow of trinity college, cambridge; edited the "cambridge shakespeare," along with mr. aldis wright ( - ). clarkson, thomas, philanthropist, born in wisbeach, cambridgeshire; the great english anti-slavery advocate, and who lived to see in the final abolition in the british empire of the slavery he denounced, in which achievement he was assisted by the powerful advocacy in parliament of wilberforce ( - ). classic races, the english horse-races at newmarket--derby, the oaks, and the st. leger. classics, originally, and often still, the standard authors in the literature of greece or rome, now authors in any literature that represent it at its best, when, as goethe has it, it is "vigorous, fresh, joyous, and healthy," as in the "nibelungen," no less than in the "iliad." claude, jean, a french protestant controversial divine, a powerful antagonist of bossuet and other catholic writers, allowed only hours to escape on the eve of the revocation of the edict of nantes, though other protestant ministers were allowed days ( - ). claude lorraine, a great landscape painter, born in lorraine, of poor parents, and apprenticed to a pastry-cook; went as such to rome; became servant and colour-grinder to tassi, who instructed him in his art; by assiduous study of nature in all her aspects attained to fame; was eminent in his treatment of aërial perspective, and an artist whom it was turner's ambition to rival; he was eminent as an etcher as well as a painter; turner left one of his finest works to the english nation on condition that it should hang side by side of a masterpiece of claude, which it now does; his pictures are found in every gallery in europe, and a goodly number of them are to be met with in england; there are in the st. petersburg gallery four pieces of exquisite workmanship, entitled "morning," "noon," "evening," and "twilight" ( - ). claudian, a latin epic poet of the th century, born in alexandria, panegyrist of stilicho on his victory over alaric; a not unworthy successor of catullus and propertius, though his native tongue was greek. claudius, appius, a roman decemvir and patrician in b.c.; outraged virginia, a beautiful plebeian damsel, whom her father, on discovering of the crime, killed with a knife snatched from a butcher's stall, rousing thereby the popular rage against the decemvir, who was cast into prison, where he put an end to himself, b.c. claudius, appius, censor in - b.c.; wrought important changes in the roman constitution; set on foot the construction of the appian way and the appian aqueduct, named after him. claudius i, tiberius drusus, surnamed germanicus, brother of tiberius, emperor of rome from to , born at lyons; after spending years of his life in private, occupying himself in literary study, was, on the death of caligula, raised very much against his wish by the soldiers to the imperial throne, a post which he filled with honour to himself and benefit to the state; but he was too much controlled by his wives, of whom he had in succession four, till the last of them, agrippina, had him poisoned to make way for her son nero. claudius ii., surnamed gothicus, roman emperor from to ; an excellent prince and a good general; distinguished himself by his ability and courage against the goths and other hordes of barbarians. clausel, bertrand, marshal of france, born at mirepoix; served under napoleon in holland, italy, austria, and spain; was defeated at salamanca, executing thereafter a masterly retreat; left france for america in on the fall of napoleon, to whom he was devoted; returned in , became commander-in-chief in algeria, and ultimately governor ( - ). clausewitz, karl von, a prussian general, born at burg; distinguished himself against napoleon in russia in ; an authority on the art of war, on which he wrote a treatise in three volumes, entitled "vom krieg" ( - ). clausius, rudolf, an eminent german physicist, born at köslin, in pomerania; professor of natural philosophy at bonn; specially distinguished for his contributions to the science of thermo-dynamics, and the application of mathematical methods to the study, as also to electricity and the expansion of gases ( - ). claverhouse, john graham of, viscount dundee, commenced life as a soldier in france and holland; on his return to scotland in was appointed by charles ii. to the command of a troop to suppress the covenanters; was defeated at drumclog , but by the help of monmouth had his revenge at bothwell brig; affected to support the revolution, but intrigued in favour of the stuarts; raised in scotland a force in their behalf; was met at killiecrankie by general mackay, where he fell ( - ). claviÈre, minister of finance in france after necker, born at geneva; projector of the _moniteur_; friend of mirabeau; committed suicide in prison ( - ). clavije`ro, a jesuit missionary, born in vera cruz; laboured for years as missionary in mexico; on the suppression of his order went to italy, and wrote a valuable work on mexico ( - ). clavigo, a drama by goethe in five acts, the first work to which he put his name; was received with disfavour. clavileÑo, don quixote's wooden horse. clay, henry, an american statesman, born in virginia; bred for the bar, and distinguished for his oratory; was for many years speaker of the house of representatives; was a supporter of war with britain in - , and party to the treaty which ended it; was an advocate of protection; aspired three times unsuccessfully to the presidency; his public career was a long one, and an honourable ( - ). clear the causeway riots, bickerings in the streets of edinburgh in between the rival factions of angus and arran, to the utter rout of the former, or the douglas party. cleanthes, a stoic philosopher, born at assos, in troas, of the rd century b.c.; wrought as a drawer of water by night that he might earn his fee as pupil of zeno's by day; became zeno's successor and the head of his school; regarded "pleasure as a remission of that moral energy of the soul, which alone is happiness, as an interruption to life, and as an evil, which was not in accordance with nature, and no end of nature." clear, cape, a headland s. of clear island, most southerly point of ireland, and the first land sighted coming from america. clearchus, a spartan general who accompanied cyrus on his expedition against artaxerxes; commanded the retreat of the ten thousand; was put to death by tissaphernes in b.c., and replaced by xenophon. clearing-house, a house for interchanging the respective claims of banks and of railway companies. cleishbotham, jedediah, an imaginary editor in scott's "tales of my landlord." clelia, a roman heroine, who swam the tiber to escape from porsenna, whose hostage she was; sent back by the romans, she was set at liberty, and other hostages along with her, out of admiration on porsenna's part of both her and her people. clemenceaux, georges benjamin, french politician, born in la vendée; bred to medicine; political adversary of gambetta; proprietor of _la justice_, a paris journal; an expert swordsman; _b_. . clemencet, charles, a french benedictine, born near autun; one of the authors of the great chronological work, "art de vérifier les dates," and wrote the history of the port royal ( - ). clemencin, diego, a spanish statesman and littérateur; his most important work a commentary on "don quixote." clemens, samuel langhorne, an american humorist with the pseudonym of "mark twain," born at florida, missouri, u.s.; began his literary career as a newspaper reporter and a lecturer; his first book "the jumping frog"; visited europe, described in the "innocents abroad"; married a lady of fortune; wrote largely in his peculiar humorous vein, such as the "tramp abroad"; produced a drama entitled the "gilded age," and compiled the "memoirs of general grant"; _b_. . clemens alexandrinus, one of the greek fathers of the church, of the nd and rd centuries; had origen for pupil; brought up in greek philosophy; converted in manhood to christianity from finding in his appreciation of knowledge over faith confirmations of it in his philosophy, which he still adhered to; his "stromata" or "miscellanies" contain facts and quotations found nowhere else. clement, the name of popes: c. i., pope from to ; one of the apostolic fathers; wrote an epistle to the church of corinth, with references to the canonical books. c. ii., pope from to . c. iii., pope from to . c. iv., pope from to . c. v., bertrand de goth, pope from to ; transferred the seat of the papacy to avignon, and abolished the order of the knights templars. c. vi. pope from to ; resided at avignon. c. vii., giulio de medici, pope from to ; celebrated for his quarrels with charles v. and henry viii., was made prisoner in rome by the constable of bourbon; refused to sanction the divorce of henry viii., and brought about the schism of england from the holy see. c. viii., pope from to ; a patron of tasso's; readmitted henry iv. to the church and the jesuits to france. c. ix., pope from to . c. x., pope from to . c. xi., pope from to ; as francesco albani opposed the jansenists; issued the bull _unigenitus_ against them; supported the pretender and the claims of the stuarts. c. xii., pope from to . c. xiii., pope from to . c. xiv., pope from to , ganganelli, an able, liberal-minded, kind-hearted, and upright man; abolished the order of the jesuits out of regard to the peace of the church; his death occurred not without suspicions of foul-play. clement, french critic, born at dijon, surnamed by voltaire from his severity the "inclement" ( - ). clement, a french manufacturer and savant, born near dijon; author of a memoir on the specific heat of the gases ( - ). clement, jacques, a dominican monk; assassinated henry iii. of france in . clement, st., st. paul's coadjutor, the patron saint of tanners; his symbol an anchor. clementi, muzio, a musical composer, especially of pieces for the pianoforte, born in rome; was the father of pianoforte music; one of the foremost pianists of his day; was buried in westminster ( - ). clementine, the lady, a lady, accomplished and beautiful, in richardson's novel, "sir charles grandison," in love with sir charles, who marries another he has no partiality for. cleobulus, one of the seven sages of greece; friend of plato; wrote lyrics and riddles in verse, b.c. cleom`brotus, a philosopher of epirus, so fascinated with plato's "phædon" that he leapt into the sea in the expectation that he would thereby exchange this life for a better. cleome`des, a greek astronomer of the st or nd century; author of a treatise which regards the sun as the centre of the solar system and the earth as a globe. cleomenes, the name of three spartan kings. cleomenes, an athenian sculptor, who, as appears from an inscription on the pedestal, executed the statue of the venus de medici towards b.c. cleon, an athenian demagogue, surnamed the tanner, from his profession, which he forsook that he might champion the rights of the people; rose in popular esteem by his victory over the spartans, but being sent against brasidas, the spartan general, was defeated and fell in the battle, b.c.; is regarded by thucydides with disfavour, and by aristophanes with contempt, but both these writers were of the aristocracy, and possibly prejudiced, though the object of their disfavour had many of the marks of the vulgar agitator, and stands for the type of one. cleopa`tra, queen of egypt, a woman distinguished for her beauty, her charms, and her amours; first fascinated cæsar, to whom she bore a son, and whom she accompanied to rome, and after cæsar's death took mark antony captive, on whose fall and suicide at actium she killed herself by applying an asp to her arm, to escape the shame of being taken to rome to grace the triumph of the victor ( - b.c.). cleopatra's needle, an obelisk of tons weight and ½ ft. high, brought from alexandria to london in , and erected on the thames embankment, london. clerc, or leclerc, jean, a french theologian of the arminian school, born at geneva; a prolific author; wrote commentaries on all the books of the old testament, on lines since followed by the rationalist school or neologians of germany ( - ). clerfayt, comte de, an austrian general, distinguished in the seven years' war; commanded with less success the austrian army against the french armies of the revolution ( - ). clerk, john, of eldin, of the penicuik family, an edinburgh merchant, first suggested the naval manoeuvre of "breaking the enemy's lines," which was first successfully adopted against the french in ( - ). clerk, john, son of preceding, a scottish judge, under the title of lord eldin, long remembered in edinburgh for his wit ( - ). clerkenwell ( ), a parish in finsbury, london, originally an aristocratic quarter, now the centre of the manufacture of jewellery and watches. clermont, robert, comte de, sixth son of st. louis, head of the house of bourbon. clermont ferrand ( ), the ancient capital of auvergne and chief town of the dep. puy-de-dôme; the birthplace of pascal, gregory of tours, and dessaix, and where, in , pope urban ii. convoked a council and decided on the first crusade; it has been the scene of seven church councils. clermont-tonnerre, marquis, minister of france under the restoration of the bourbons ( - ). clery, louis xvi.'s valet, who waited on him in his last hours, and has left an account of what he saw of his touching farewell with his family. cleveland, a hilly district in the north riding of yorkshire, rich in iron-stone. cleveland ( ), the second city of ohio, on the shores of lake erie, m. ne. of cincinnati; is built on a plain considerably above the level of the lake; the winding cuyahoga river divides it into two parts, and the industrial quarters are on the lower level of its banks; the city is noted for its wealth of trees in the streets and parks, hence called "the forest city," and for the absence of tenement houses; it has a university, several colleges, and two libraries; it is the terminus of the ohio canal and of seven railways, and the iron ore of lake superior shores, the limestone of lake erie islands, and the ohio coal are brought together here, and every variety of iron manufacture carried on; there is a great lumber market, and an extensive general trade. cleveland, grover, president of the united states, born in new jersey, son of a presbyterian minister; bred for the bar; became president in the democratic interest in ; unseated for his free-trade leaning by senator harrison, ; became the president a second time in ; retired in . cleveland, john, partisan of charles i.; imprisoned for abetting the royalist cause against the parliament, but after some time set at liberty in consequence of a letter he wrote to cromwell pleading that he was a poor man, and that in his poverty he suffered enough; he was a poet, and used his satirical faculty in a political interest, one of his satires being an onslaught on the scots for betraying charles i.; _d_. . clÈves ( ), a prussian town m. nw. of düsseldorf, once the capital of a duchy connected by a canal with the rhine; manufactures textile fabrics and tobacco. clichy ( ), a manufacturing suburb of paris, on the nw. and right bank of the seine. clifford, george, earl of cumberland, a distinguished naval commander under queen elizabeth, and one of her favourites ( - ). clifford, john, d.d., baptist minister in london, author of "is life worth living?" _b_. . clifford, paul, a highwayman, the subject of a novel by bulwer lytton, who was subdued and reformed by the power of love. clifton ( ), a fashionable suburb of bristol, resorted to as a watering-place; romantically situated on the sides and crest of high cliffs, whence it name. climacteric, the grand, the rd year of a man's life, and the average limit of it; a climacteric being every seven years of one's life, and reckoned critical. clinker, humphry, the hero of smollett's novel, a poor waif, reduced to want, who attracts the notice of mr. bramble, marries mrs. bramble's maid, and proves a natural son of mr. bramble. clinton, george, american general and statesman; was governor of new york; became vice-president in ( - ). clinton, sir henry, an english general; commanded in the american war; censured for failure in the war; wrote an exculpation, which was accepted ( - ). clinton, henry fynes, a distinguished chronologist, author of "fasti hellenici" and "fasti romani" ( - ). clio, the muse of history and epic poetry, represented as seated with a half-opened scroll in her hand. clisson, olivier de, constable of france under charles vi.; companion in arms of du gueselin, and victor at roosebeke ( - ). clisthenes, an athenian, uncle of pericles, procured the expulsion of hippias the tyrant, b.c., and the establishment of ostracism (q. v.). clitus, a general of alexander, and his friend, who saved his life at the battle of granicus, but whom, at a banquet, he killed when heated with wine, to his inconsolable grief ever afterwards. clive, robert, lord clive and baron plassey, the founder of the dominion of britain in india, born in shropshire; at went out a clerk in the east india company's service, but quitted his employment in that capacity for the army; distinguishing himself against the rajah of tanjore, was appointed commissary; advised an attack on arcot, in the carnatic, in ; took it from and held it against the french, after which, and other brilliant successes, he returned to england, and was made lieutenant-colonel in the king's service; went out again, and marched against the nabob surajah dowlah, and overthrew him at the battle of plassey, ; established the british power in calcutta, and was raised to the peerage; finally returned to england possessed of great wealth, which exposed him to the accusation of having abused his power; the accusation failed; in his grief he took to opium, and committed suicide ( - ). clodius, a profligate roman patrician; notorious as the enemy of cicero, whose banishment he procured; was killed by the tribune milo, b.c. clodomir, the second son of clovis, king of orleans from to ; fell fighting with his rivals; his children, all but one, were put to death by their uncles, clotaire and childebert. clootz, anacharsis, baron jean baptiste de clootz, a french revolutionary, born at clèves; "world-citizen"; his faith that "a world federation is possible, under all manner of customs, provided they hold men"; his pronomen anacharsis suggested by his resemblance to an ancient scythian prince who had like him a cosmopolitan spirit; was one of the founders of the worship of reason, and styled himself the "orator of the human race"; distinguished himself at the great federation, celebrated on the champ de mars, by entering the hall on the great federation day, june , , "with the human species at his heels"; was guillotined under protest in the name of the human race ( - ). clorinda, a female saracen knight sent against the crusaders, whom tancred fell in love with, but slew on an encounter at night; before expiring she received christian baptism at his hands. clotaire i., son and successor of clovis, king of the franks from ; cruel and sanguinary; along with childebert murdered the sons of his brother clodomir. c. ii., son of chilpéric and fredigonda, king of the franks from to ; caused brunhilda to be torn in pieces. c. iii., son of clovis ii., king of neustria and burgundy from to . c. iv., king of ditto from to . clothes, carlyle's name in "sartor resartus" for the guises which the spirit, especially of man, weaves for itself and wears, and by which it both conceals itself in shame and reveals itself in grace. clotho, that one of the three fates which spins the thread of human destiny. clotilda, st., the wife of clovis i.; persuaded her husband to profess christianity; retired into a monastery at tours when he died ( - ). festival, june . cloud, st., the patron saint of smiths. cloud, st., or clodoald, third son of clodomir, who escaped the fate of his brothers, and retired from the world to a spot on the left bank of the seine, m. sw. of paris, named st. cloud after him. clouds, the, the play in which aristophanes exposes socrates to ridicule. clough, arthur hugh, a lyric poet, born at liverpool; son of a cotton merchant; educated at rugby under dr. arnold, whom he held in the highest regard; was at oxford, as a fellow of oriel, at the time of the tractarian movement, which he arrayed himself against, and at length turned his back upon and tore himself away from by foreign travel; on his return he was appointed examiner in the education office; falling ill from overwork he went abroad again, and died at florence; he was all alive to the tendencies of the time, and his lyrics show his sense of these, and how he fronted them; in the speculative scepticism of the time his only refuge and safety-anchor was duty; matthew arnold has written in his "thyrsis" a tribute to his memory such as has been written over few; his best-known poem is "the bothie of tober-na-vuolich" ( - ). clovis i., king of the franks, son of childéric i.; conquered the romans at soissons , which he made his centre; married clotilda (q. v.) ; beat the germans near cologne , by assistance, as he believed, of the god of clotilda, after which he was baptized by st. remi at rheims; and overthrew the visigoths under alaric ii. near poitiers in , after which victories he made paris his capital. c. ii., son of dagobert; was king of neustria and burgundy from to . c. ill, son of thierry iii., and king of ditto from to , and had pépin d'héristal for mayor of the palace. cluny ( ), a town in the dep. of saône-et-loire, on an affluent of the saône; renowned in the middle ages for its benedictine abbey, founded in , and the most celebrated in europe, having been the mother establishment of others of the like elsewhere; in ecclesiastical importance it stood second to rome, and its abbey church second to none prior to the erection of st. peter's; a great normal school was established here in . clusium, the ancient capital of etruria and porsenna's. clutha, the largest river in new zealand, in otago, very deep and rapid, and m. long. clutterbuck, the imaginary author of the "fortunes of nigel," and the patron to whom the "abbot" is dedicated. clyde, a river in the w. of scotland which falls into a large inlet or firth, as it is called, the commerce on which extends over the world, and on the banks of which are shipbuilding yards second to none in any other country; it is deepened as far as glasgow for ships of a heavy tonnage. clyde, lord. see campbell, colin. clytemnestra, the wife of agamemnon, and the mother of iphigenia, electra, and orestes; killed her husband, and was killed by her son, orestes, seven years after. clytie, a nymph in love with apollo, god of the sun, who did not respond to her; but, with all the passion he durst show to her, turned her into a sunflower. coanza, a w. african river, which rises in the mossamba mountains, falling into the sea after a course of m.; owing to falls is navigable for only m. from its mouth. coast range, a range in the u.s., w. of the sierra nevada, parallel to it, with the sacramento valley between. cobbett, william, a political and miscellaneous writer, born at farnham, sussex; commenced life as a farm labourer, and then as copying clerk; enlisted, and saw seven years' service in nova scotia; being discharged, travelled in france and america; on his return started the _weekly register_, at first tory, then radical; published a libel against the government, for which he was imprisoned; on his release issued his _register_ at a low price, to the immense increase of its circulation; vain attempts were made to crush him, against which he never ceased to protest; after the passing of the reform bill he got into parliament, but made no mark; his writings were numerous, and include his "grammar," his "cottage economy," his "rural rides," and his "advice to young men"; his political opinions were extreme, but his english was admirable ( - ). cobbler poet, hans sachs (q. v.). cobden, richard, a great political economist and the apostle of free trade, born near midhurst, sussex; became partner in a cotton-trading firm in manchester; made a tour on the continent and america in the interest of political economy; on the formation of the corn-law league in , gave himself heart and soul to the abolition of the corn laws; became member of parliament for stockport in ; on the conversion of sir robert peel to free-trade principles saw these laws abolished in ; for his services in this cause he received the homage of his country as well as of continental nations, but refused all civic honours, and finished his political career by negotiating a commercial treaty with france ( - ). cobentzell, comte de, an austrian diplomatist, born at brussels; negotiated the treaties of campo formio and lunéville; founded the academy of sciences at brussels ( - ). coblenz ( ), a fortified city, manufacturing and trading town, in prussia, at the junction of the rhine and the moselle, so called as at the confluence of the two; opposite it is ehrenbreitstein. coburg ( ), capital of the duchy of saxe-coburg-gotha, on the itz, the old castle on a height ft. above the town; gave shelter to luther in , and was besieged by wallenstein. coburg, field-marshal of austria; vanquished dumouriez at neerwinden; was conquered by moreau and jourdan ( - ). cocaine, an alkaloid from the leaf of the coca plant, used as an anæsthetic. cocceius, or koch, johann, a dutch divine, professor at leyden; held that the old testament was a type or foreshadow of the new, and was the founder of the federal theology, or the doctrine that god entered into a threefold compact with man, first prior to the law, second under the law, and third under grace ( - ). cocceji, henry, learned german jurist, born at bremen; an authority on civil law; was professor of law at frankfurt ( - ). cocceji, samuel, son of the preceding; minister of justice and chancellor of prussia under frederick the great; a prince of lawyers, and "a very hercules in cleansing law stables" as law-reformer ( - ). cochabamba ( ), a high-lying city of bolivia, capital of a department of the name; has a trade in grain and fruits. cochin ( ), a native state in india n. of travancore, cooped up between w. ghâts and the arabian sea, with a capital of the same name, where vasco da gama died; the first christian church in india was built here, and there is here a colony of black jews. cochin-china ( , ), the region e. of the mekong, or annam proper, called high cochin-china (capital hué), and low cochin-china, a state s. of indo-china, and s. of cambodia and annam; belonging to france, with an unhealthy climate; rice the chief crop; grows also teak, cotton, &c.; capital saigon. cochlÆus, johann, an able and bitter antagonist of luther's; _d_. . cochrane, the name of several english naval officers of the dundonald family; sir alexander forrester inglis ( - ); sir thomas john, his son ( - ); and thomas, lord. see dundonald. cock lane ghost, a ghost which was reported in a lane of the name in smithfield, london, in , to the excitement of the public, due to a girl rapping on a board in bed. cockaigne, an imaginary land of idleness and luxury, from a satirical poem of that name (_coquina_, a kitchen), where the monks live in an abbey built of pasties, the rivers run with wine, and the geese fly through the air ready roasted. the name has been applied to london and paris. cockatrice, a monster with the wings of a fowl, the tail of a dragon, and the head of a cock; alleged to have been hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg; its breath and its fatal look are in mediæval art the emblem of sin. cockburn, sir alexander, lord chief-justice of england from ; called to the bar in ; became liberal member for southampton in , and solicitor-general in ; was prosecutor in the palmer case, judge in the tichborne, and an arbitrator in the _alabama_ ( - ). cockburn, alison, author of "flowers of the forest"; in her day the leader of edinburgh society; was acquainted with burns, and recognised in his boyhood the genius of scott ( - ). cockburn, sir george, an english admiral, born in london; rose by rapid stages to be captain of a frigate; took an active part in the expedition to the scheldt, in the defence of cadiz, and of the coast of spain; was second in command of the expedition against the united states; returned to england in , and was selected to convey napoleon to st. helena ( - ). cockburn, henry, lord, an eminent scotch judge, born in edinburgh; called to the bar in ; one of the first contributors to the _edinburgh review_; was solicitor-general for scotland in , and appointed a judge four years after; was a friend and colleague of lord jeffrey; wrote jeffrey's life, and left "memorials of his own time" and "journals"; he was a man of refined tastes, shrewd common-sense, quiet humour, and a great lover of his native city and its memories; described by carlyle as "a bright, cheery-voiced, hazel-eyed man; a scotch dialect with plenty of good logic in it, and of practical sagacity; a gentleman, and perfectly in the scotch type, perhaps the very last of that peculiar species" ( - ). cocker, edward, an arithmetician, and a schoolmaster by profession; wrote an arithmetic, published after his death, long the text-book on the subject, and a model of its kind; gave rise to the phrase "according to cocker" ( - ). cockney, a word of uncertain derivation, but meaning one born and bred in london, and knowing little or nothing beyond it, and betraying his limits by his ideas, manners, and accent. cockney school, a literary school, so called by lockhart, as inspired with the idea that london is the centre of civilisation, and including leigh hunt, hazlitt, and others. cockpit of europe, belgium, as the scene of so many battles between the powers of europe. cockton, henry, a novelist, born in london, author of "valentine vox" ( - ). cocles, horatius, a roman who defended a bridge against the army of porsenna till the bridge was cut down behind him, when he leapt into the river and swam across scatheless amid the darts of the enemy. cocos islands, a group of small coral islands about m. sw. of sumatra. cocytus, a dark river which environed tartarus with bitter and muddy waters. codrington, sir edward, a british admiral; entered the navy at ; served under howe at brest, in the capacity of captain of the _orion_ at trafalgar, in the walcheren expedition, in north america, and at navarino in , when the turkish fleet was destroyed; served also in parliament from to , when he was appointed commander-in-chief at portsmouth ( - ). codrington, sir william john, a british general; served in the crimean war, and commander-in-chief after the death of general simpson ( - ). codrus, the last king of athens; sacrificed his life to fulfil an oracle, which promised victory to the side whose king fell in an engagement between the athenians and dorians in b.c. coehoorn, baron van, a dutch military engineer; fortified namur, and defended it against vauban; was successful in besieging many towns during the war of the spanish succession; author of a treatise on fortification ( - ). coelebs (a bachelor), the title of a novel by hannah more. coele-syria (the howe of syria), or el buka'a, a valley between the lebanons, about m. long by m. broad. coelian, one of the seven hills of rome, s. of the capitoline. coello, the name of two spanish painters in the th and th centuries, whose works are in the escurial. coeur, jacques, a rich merchant of bourges, financier to charles vii., for whom he provided the sinews of war against the english, but who banished him at the instigation of detractors; he was reinstated under louis xi. ( - ). coeur de lion (lion-hearted), a surname on account of their courage given to richard i. of england ( ), louis viii. of france ( ), and boselas i. of poland ( ). cogito, ergo sum, "i think, therefore i am." descartes' principle of certainty, and on which, as on a stable basis, he reared his whole philosophy. see descartes. "alas, poor cogitator," carlyle exclaims, "this takes us but a little way. sure enough, i am; and lately was not; but whence? how? whereto?" cognac ( ), a french town in the dep. of charente, birthplace of francis i.; famous for its vines and the manufacture of brandy. cogniet, a french painter, author of "tintoret painting his dead daughter" ( - ). coila, a poetic name for kyle, the central district of ayrshire. coimbatore ( ), a town of strategic importance in the madras presidency, m. sw. of madras, situated in a gorge of the ghâts, ft. above the sea-level, in a district ( , ) of the same name. coimbra ( ), a rainy town in portugal, of historical interest, m. nne. of lisbon, with a celebrated university, in which george buchanan was a professor, where he was accused of heresy and thrown into prison, and where he translated the psalms into latin. coke, coal with a residue of carbon and earthy matter after the volatile constituents are driven off by heat in closed spaces. coke, sir edward, lord chief-justice of england, born at milcham, norfolk; being a learned lawyer, rose rapidly at the bar and in offices connected therewith; became lord chief-justice in ; was deposed in for opposing the king's wishes; sat in his first and third parliaments, and took a leading part in drawing up the petition of rights; spent the last three years of his life in revising his works, his "institutes," known as "coke upon littleton," and his valuable "reports" ( - ). colbert, jean baptiste, a french statesman, of scotch descent, born in rheims, the son of a clothier; introduced to louis xiv. by mazarin, then first minister; he was appointed controller-general of the finances after the fall of fouquet, and by degrees made his influence felt in all the departments of state affairs; he favoured, by protectionist measures--free trade not yet being heard of--french industry and commerce; was to the french marine what louvois was to the army, and encouraged both arts and letters; from his influence began to decline; he was held responsible for increased taxation due to louis xiv.'s wars, while the jealousy of louvois weakened his credit at court; he became so unpopular that on his death his body was buried at night, but a grateful posterity has recognised his services, and done homage to his memory as one of the greatest ministers france ever had ( - ). colburn, zerah, an american youth, with an astonishing power of calculation, born in vermont, and exhibited as such, a faculty which he lost when he grew up to manhood ( - ). colchester ( ), the largest town in essex, m. from london, on the right bank of the colne, of great antiquity, and with roman remains; has been long famous for its oyster fishery; has silk manufactures; is the port of outlet of a large corn-growing district. colchester, charles abbot, lord, english statesman; sometime chief secretary of ireland, and speaker of the house of commons; raised to the peerage in response to an address of the house of commons ( - ). colchis, a district on the e. of the black sea, and s. of caucasus, where the argonauts, according to greek tradition, found and conquered the golden fleece; the natives had a reputation for witchcraft and sorcery. coldstream guards, one of the three regiments of foot guards; was raised by general monk in scotland in , and marched under him from coldstream to place charles ii. on the throne; originally called monk's regiment. cole, henry an english ecclesiastical zealot, who held handsome preferments under henry viii. and mary, but was stripped of them under edward vi. and elizabeth. cole, king, a legendary jovial british king, celebrated in song. colebrooke, henry thomas, a celebrated indianist, born in london; served under the east india company, and devoted his spare time to indian literature; studied the sanskrit language, wrote on the vedas, translated the "digest of hindu law" compiled by sir william jones, compiled a sanskrit dictionary, and wrote various treatises on the law and philosophy of the hindus; he was one of the first scholars in europe to reveal the treasures that lay hid in the literature of the east ( - ). colenso, dr., an english clergyman and mathematician; was appointed bishop of natal in ; applied himself to the study of the zulu language, and translated parts of the bible and prayer-book into it; calling in question the accuracy and mosaic authorship of the pentateuch, was deposed by his metropolitan, which deposition was declared null and void by the privy council; besides his theological work, produced text-books on arithmetic and algebra; died at durban, natal; he favoured the cause of the zulus against the boers, and did his utmost to avert the zulu war ( - ). coleridge, hartley, an english man of letters, eldest son of samuel taylor coleridge, born at clevedon, somerset; lived with his father in the lake district, and grew up in the society of wordsworth, de quincey, and others; gained a fellowship at oxford, but forfeited it through intemperance; tried school-mastering at ambleside, but failed, and took to literature, in which he did some excellent work, both in prose and poetry, though he led all along a very irregular life; had his father's weaknesses, and not a little of his ability; his best memorials as a poet are his sonnets, of which two have been especially admired, "the soul of man is larger than the sky," and "when i survey the course i have run" ( - ). coleridge, henry nelson, nephew of samuel taylor coleridge, and a great admirer; editor of many of his works, his "table talk" in especial ( - ). coleridge, john duke, lord, an english lawyer, cousin of hartley coleridge; after serving in inferior appointments, appointed lord chief-justice of england in ; when at the bar he was prominent in connection with tichborne case. coleridge, sir john taylor, an english judge, nephew of samuel taylor coleridge; was editor of the _quarterly_, edited "blackstone," &c.; wrote a "memoir of the rev. john keble" ( - ). coleridge, samuel taylor, poet, philosopher, and critic, born in devonshire; passionately devoted to classical and metaphysical studies; educated at christ's hospital; had charles lamb for schoolmate; at cambridge devoted himself to classics; falling into debt enlisted as a soldier, and was, after four months, bought off by his friends; gave himself up to a literary life; married, and took up house near wordsworth, in somersetshire, where he produced the "ancient mariner," "christabel," and "remorse"; preached occasionally in unitarian pulpits; visited germany and other parts of the continent; lectured in london in ; when there took to opium, broke off the habit in , and went to stay with the gillmans at highgate as their guest, under whose roof, after four years' confinement to a sick-room, he died; among his works were "the friend," his "biographia literaria," "aids to reflection," &c., published in his lifetime, and "confessions of an inquiring spirit," "literary remains," and "table talk" after his death; he was a man of subtle and large intellect, and exercised a great influence on the thinkers of his time, though in no case was the influence a decisive one, as it had the most opposite effects on different minds; his philosophy was hazy, and his life was without aim, "once more the tragic story of a high endowment with an insufficient will" ( - ). see carlyle's estimate of him in the "life of sterling." coleridge, sarah, poetess, only daughter of preceding; her sole poem, "phantasmion"; left "letters" of interest ( - ). coles, cowper phipps, an english naval captain and architect; entered the navy at ; distinguished himself at sebastopol; designer of the turret-ship the _captain_, which capsized off finisterre, himself on board, and drowned with a crew of men ( - ). colet, john, dean of st. paul's, a patron of learning, a friend and scholar of erasmus, a liberal and much persecuted man; far in advance of his time; founded and endowed st. paul's school; wrote a number of works, chiefly theological, and "letters to erasmus"' ( - ). colet, louise, a french literary lady, born at aix; wrote numerous works for the young ( - ). coligny, gaspard de, french admiral, born at châtillon; a leader of the huguenots; began his life and distinguished himself as a soldier; when the guises came into power he busied himself in procuring toleration for the huguenots, and succeeded in securing in their behalf what is known as the pacification of amboise, but on st. bartholomew's eve he fell the first victim to the conspiracy in his bed; was thrown out of the window, and exposed to every manner of indignity in the streets, though it is hard to believe that the duke of guise, as is said, demeaned himself to kick the still living body ( - ). colima ( ), capital of a state of the same name in mexico. colin clout, the name spenser assumes in the "shepherd's calendar." colin tampon, the nickname of a swiss, as john bull of an englishman. colise`um, a magnificent amphitheatre in rome, begun under vespasian and finished under titus; it rose from the area by tiers of seats, and could contain , spectators; it was here the gladiators fought with wild beasts, and also the early christians. collatinus, the nephew of tarquinius priscus, the husband of lucretia, and with brutus, her avenger, the first consul of rome. collectivism, the socialistic doctrine that industry should be carried on by capital as the joint property of the community. collÈge de france, an institution founded at paris by francis i. in , where instruction is given to advanced students in several departments of knowledge. collier, arthur, an english metaphysician, born in wilts; studied descartes and malebranche, and who, anticipating berkeley, published a "demonstration of the non-existence and the impossibility of an external world" ( - ). see berkeley. collier, jeremy, an english non-juring divine, refused to take oath at the revolution; was imprisoned for advocating the rights of the stuarts; had to flee the country at length, and was outlawed; wrote with effect against "the profaneness and immorality of the stage," as well as an "ecclesiastical history of great britain," and a translation of the "meditations of marcus aurelius" ( - ). collier, john payne, a shakespearian commentator and critic; wrote a great deal on various subjects, but got into trouble by his emendations of shakespeare ( - ). collingwood, cuthbert, lord, a celebrated english admiral, entered the navy at ; his career was intimately connected all along with that of nelson; succeeded in command when nelson fell at trafalgar, and when he died himself, which happened at sea, his body was brought home and buried beside nelson's in st. paul's cathedral ( - ). collins, anthony, an english deist, an intimate friend of locke; his principal works were "discourse on freethinking," "philosophical inquiry into liberty and necessity," and "grounds and reasons of the christian religion," which gave rise to much controversy; he was a necessitarian, and argued against revelation ( - ). collins, mortimer, a versatile genius, born at plymouth; wrote poems, novels, and essays; was the author of "who was the heir?" and "sweet anne page"; was a tall, handsome man, fond of athletics, a delightful companion, and dear to his friends ( - ). collins, wilkie, english novelist, son of the succeeding, born in london; tried business, then law, and finally settled to literature; his novel "the woman in white" was the first to take with the public, and was preceded and succeeded by others which have ensured for him a high place among the writers of fiction ( - ). collins, william, a gifted and ill-fated english poet, born at chichester; settled in london; fell into dissipated habits and straitened circumstances; had £ left him by an uncle, but both health and spirits were broken, and he died in mental imbecility; his "odes" have not been surpassed, among which the most celebrated are the "odes to the passions," to "simplicity," and to "evening" ( - ). collins, william, r.a., a distinguished english painter, born in london; he made his reputation by his treatment of coast and cottage scenes, and though he tried his skill in other subjects, it was in the subjects he started with that he achieved his greatest triumphs; among his best-known works are "the blackberry gatherers," "as happy as a king," "the fisherman's daughter," and "the bird-catchers" ( - ). collinson, peter, an english horticulturist, to whom we are indebted for the introduction into the country of many ornamental shrubs ( - ). collot d'herbois, jean marie, a violent french revolutionary, originally a tragic actor, once hissed off the lyons stage, "tearing a passion to rags"; had his revenge by a wholesale butchery there; marched men across the rhône to be shot; by-and-by was banished beyond seas to cayenne, and soon died there ( - ). collyer, joseph, an eminent stipple engraver, born in london ( - ). colman, george, an english dramatist, born at florence; bred for and called to the bar; author of a comedy entitled "the jealous wife," also of "the clandestine marriage"; became manager of drury lane, then of the haymarket ( - ). colman, george, son of the preceding, and his successor in the haymarket; author of "the iron chest," "john bull," "the heir at law," &c. ( - ). colmar ( ), the chief town of upper alsace, on the lauch, on a plain near the vosges, m. sw. of strasburg; passed into the hands of the french by treaty of ryswick in , was ceded to germany in . colocetronis, a greek patriot, born in messina, distinguished himself in the war of independence, which he chiefly contributed to carry through to a successful issue ( - ). cologne ( ), in german kÖln, capital of rhenish prussia, and a fortress of first rank, on the left bank of the rhine, m. se. of rotterdam; is a busy commercial city, and is engaged in eau-de-cologne, sugar, tobacco, and other manufactures. it has some fine old buildings, and a picture gallery; but its glory is its great cathedral, founded in the th century, burnt in , since which time the rebuilding was carried on at intervals, and only completed in ; it is one of the masterpieces of gothic architecture. cologne, the three kings of, the three magi who paid homage to the infant christ, and whose bones were consigned to the archbishop in ; they were called gaspar, melchior, and balthazar. colombia ( , ), a federal republic of nine states, occupying the isthmus of panama and the nw. corner of s. america, between venezuela and ecuador. the country, nearly three times the size of france, though it has only a ninth of the population, comprises in the w. three chains of the andes and the plateaus between them, in the e. plains well watered by tributaries of the orinoco. the upper valleys of the magdalena and cauca are the centres of population, where the climate is delightful, and grain grows. every climate is found in colombia, from the tropical heats of the plains to the arctic cold of the mountains. natural productions are as various: the exports include valuable timbers and dye-woods, cinchona bark, coffee, cacao, cotton, and silver ore. most of the trade is with britain and the united states. manufactures are inconsiderable. the mineral wealth is very great, but little wrought. the panama railway, from colon to panama, connects the atlantic and the pacific oceans, and is a most important highway of commerce. the people are descendants of spaniards and indians; education is meagre, but compulsory; the state church is roman catholic. the capital is bogotá. panama and cartagena the chief ports. colombo ( ), the capital of ceylon, and the chief port on the w. coast; it is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and on the other by a lake and moat; is supplied with water and gas; has many fine buildings; has a very mixed population, and has belonged to britain since ; communicates with kandy by railway. colon, a town at the atlantic terminus of the panama railway. see aspinwall. colonna, an illustrious italian family, to which belonged popes, cardinals, and generals. colonna, victoria, a poetess, married to a member of the above family, who consoled herself for his early death by cultivating her poetic gift; one of her most devoted friends was michael angelo ( - ). colonne, edouard, musical conductor, born at bordeaux, conductor of what are known as "colonne concerts"; _b_. . colonus, a demos of attica, a mile nw. of athens, the birthplace of sophocles. colophon, an ionian city in asia minor, n. of ephesus, is supposed to give name to the device at the end of books, the cavalry of the place being famous for giving the finishing stroke to a battle. colora`do ( ), an inland state of the american union, traversed by the rocky mountains, and watered by the upper reaches of the s. platte and arkansas rivers, is twice as large as england. the mountains are the highest in the states ( , to , ft.), are traversed by lofty passes through which the railways run, have rich spacious valleys or parks among them, and have great deposits of gold, silver, lead, and iron. there are also extensive coal-beds; hence the leading industries are mining and iron working. the eastern portion is a level, treeless plain, adapted for grazing. agriculture, carried on with irrigation, suffers from insect plagues like the colorado potato beetle. the climate is dry and clear, and attracts invalids. acquired partly from france in , and the rest from mexico in ; the territory was organised in , and admitted to the union in . the capital is denver ( ). there is a small spanish-speaking population in the s. colossÆ, a city in the s. of phrygia, in asia minor, and the site of one of the earliest christian churches. colossians, the epistle to the, by st. paul, directed mainly against two errors of that early date, that the fleshly nature of man is no adequate vehicle for the reception and revelation of the divine nature, and that for redemption recourse must be had to direct mortification of the flesh. colossus, any gigantic statue, specially one of apollo in bronze, ft. high, astride over the mouth of the harbour at rhodes, reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world, erected in b.c., destroyed by an earthquake years after, and sold to a jew centuries later for old metal; besides this are celebrated the statue of memnon at thebes, the colossi of athene in the parthenon at athens, and of zeus at olympia and at tarentum, as well as others of modern date; for instance, germania, ft. high, in the niederwald, and liberty enlightening the world, ft. high, in new york harbour. colot, the name of a family of french surgeons in the th and th century, distinguished for their skill in operating in the case of stone. colour-blindness, inability, still unaccounted for, to distinguish between colours, and especially between red and green, more common among men than women; a serious disqualification for several occupations, such as those connected with the study of signals. colour-sergeant, a sergeant whose duty is to guard the colours and those who carry them. colquhoun, john, a noted sportsman and writer on sport in scotland, born in edinburgh ( - ). colston, edward, an english philanthropist, founded and endowed a school in bristol for the education of boys, as well as almshouses elsewhere ( - ). colt, samuel, the inventor of the revolver, born in hartford, connecticut, u.s.; having difficulty in raising money to carry out his invention it proved a commercial failure, but being adopted by the government in the mexican war it proved a success, since which time it has been everywhere in use ( - ). columba, st., the apostle of christianity to the scots, born in donegal; coming to scotland about , in his forty-second year, founded a monastery in iona, and made it the centre of his evangelistic operations, in which work he was occupied incessantly till , when his health began to fail, and he breathed his last kneeling before the altar, june , . columban, st., an irish missionary, who, with twelve companions, settled in gaul in ; founded two monasteries, but was banished for the offence of rebuking the king; went to italy, founded a monastery at bobbio, where he died . columbia, a district of sq. m. in the state of maryland, u.s., in which washington, the capital of the union, stands. columbia, british ( ), the most westerly province in canada, lies between the rocky mountains and the pacific, the united states and alaska, and is four times the size of great britain. it is a mountainous country, rugged and picturesque, containing the highest peaks on the continent, mount hooker, , ft., and mount brown, , ft, with a richly indented coast-line, off which lie queen charlotte islands and vancouver. the chief river is the frazer, which flows from the lake region southwards through the centre and then westward to the gulf of georgia; the upper waters of the columbia flow southward through the e. of the state. the climate resembles that of northern england, but is in some parts very rainy. the chief industries are lumbering--the forests are among the finest in the world, fishing--the rivers abound in salmon and sturgeon, and mining--rich deposits of gold, silver, iron, copper, mercury, antimony, and many other valuable minerals are found; there are great coal-fields in vancouver. in vancouver and in the river valleys of the mainland are extensive tracts of arable and grazing land; but neither agriculture nor manufactures are much developed. made a crown colony in , it joined the dominion as a province in . the completion of the canadian pacific railway in joined it to the eastern provinces. the capital is victoria ( ), in the s. of vancouver. columbus ( ), capital of ohio, u.s., a manufacturing town. columbus, bartholomew, cosmographer, brother of christopher columbus; accompanied him to st. domingo, and became governor; _d_. . columbus, christopher, discoverer of america, on oct. , , after two months of great peril and, in the end, mutiny of his men, born in genoa; went to sea at ; cherished, if he did not conceive, the idea of reaching india by sailing westward; applied in many quarters for furtherance; after seven years of waiting, was provided with three small vessels and a crew of men; first touched land at the bahamas, visited cuba and hayti, and returned home with spoils of the land; was hailed and honoured as king of the sea; he made three subsequent visits, and on the third had the satisfaction of landing on the mainland, which sebastian cabot and amerigo vespucci had reached before him; he became at last the victim of jealousy, and charges were made against him, which so cut him to the heart that he never rallied from the attack, and he died at valladolid, broken in body and in soul; carlyle, in a famous passage, salutes him across the centuries: "brave sea-captain, norse sea-king, columbus my hero, royalist sea-king of all" ( - ). columella, junius, a latin writer of the st century, born at cadiz; author of "de re rustica," in books, on the same theme as virgil's "georgics," viz., agriculture and gardening; he wrote also "de arboribus," on trees. colu`thus, a greek epic poet of th century, born in egypt; wrote the "rape of helen." colvin, sidney, fellow of trinity college, cambridge, slade professor of art at cambridge, born at norwood; contributor to the journals on art and literature; has written lives of keats and landor; friend of robert louis stevenson, and his literary executor; _b_. . comacchio ( ), a walled town, m. se. of ferrara; famous for fish, specially eel-culture in a large lagoon adjoining, in. in circumference. combe, andrew, m.d., a physician and physiologist, born in edinburgh; studied under spurzheim in edinburgh and paris, but on his return to his native city was seized with pulmonary consumption, which rendered him a confirmed invalid, so that he had to spend his winters abroad; was eminent as a physician; was a believer in phrenology; produced three excellent popular works on physiology, digestion, and the management of infancy ( - ). combe, george, brother of the preceding, born in edinburgh; trained to the legal profession; like his brother, he became, under spurzheim, a stanch phrenologist and advocate of phrenology; but his ablest and best-known work was "the constitution of man," to the advocacy of the principles of which and their application, especially to education, he devoted his life; he married a daughter of the celebrated mrs. siddons ( - ). combe, william, born in bristol; author of the "three tours of dr. syntax"; inherited a small fortune, which he squandered by an irregular life; wrote some works ( - ). combermere, viscount, a british field-marshal, born in denbighshire; served in flanders, at the cape of good hope, and in india; was present at the siege of seringapatam; was sent to spain in ; distinguished himself in the peninsula, and particularly at talavera; received a peerage in ; was made commander-in-chief in india, and constable of the tower in succession to wellington in ( - ). comenius, john amos, a moravian educational reformer, particularly as regards the acquisition of languages in their connection with the things they denote; his two most famous books are his "janua linguarum" and his "orbis sensualium pictus"; his principle at bottom was, words must answer to and be associated with things and ideas of things, a principle still only very partially adopted in education, and that only at the most elementary stages. comet, a member of the solar system under control of the sun, consisting of a bright nucleus within a nebulous envelope, generally extended into a tail on the rear of its orbit, which is extremely eccentric, pursuing its course with a velocity which increases as it approaches the sun, and which diminishes as it withdraws from it; these bodies are very numerous, have their respective periods of revolution, which have been in many cases determined by observation. comines, a french town in the dep. of nord, france, m. sw. of courtrai. comines, philippe de, a french chronicler, born at comines; was of flemish origin; served under charles the bold, then under louis xi. and charles viii.; author of "memoires," in seven vols., of the reigns of these two monarchs, which give a clear and faithful picture of the time and the chief actors in it, but with the coolest indifference as to the moral elements at work, with him the end justifying the means, and success the measure of morality ( - ). comitia, constitutional assemblies of the roman citizens for electing magistrates, putting some question to the vote of the people, the declaration of war, &c. comity of nations, the name given for the effect given in one country to the laws and institutions of another in dealing with a native of it. commandite, sociÉtÉ en, partnership in a business by a supply of funds, but without a share in the management or incurring further liability. commelin, isaac, dutch historian; wrote the "lives of the stadtholders william i. and maurice" ( - ). commentaries of julius cÆsar, his memoirs of the gallic and civil wars, reckoned the most perfect model of narration that in such circumstances was ever written, and a masterpiece. committee of public safety, a committee of nine created by the french convention, april , , to concentrate the power of the executive, "the conscience of marat, who could see salvation in one thing only, in the fall of , aristocrats' heads"; notable, therefore, for its excesses in that line; was not suppressed till oct. , , on the advent of the directory to power. com`modus, lucius aurelius, roman emperor, son and successor of marcus aurelius; carefully trained, but on his father's death threw up the reins and gave himself over to every form of licentiousness; poison administered by his mistress marcia being slow in operating, he was strangled to death by a hired athlete in . common law is law established by usage and confirmed by judicial decision. common-sense, philosophy of, the philosophy which rests on the principle that the perceptions of the senses reflect things as they actually are irrespectively of them. commune, the, a revolutionary power installed in paris after the "admonitory" insurrection of march , , and overthrown in the end of may. communism, community of property in a state. comne`nus, name of a dynasty of six emperors of constantinople. como, lake of, one of the chief lakes of lombardy and the third in size, at the foot of the pennine alps, m. long and ½ at greatest breadth; is traversed by the adda, and is famed for the beauty and rich variety of its scenery. comorin, cape, a low sandy point, the most southerly of india, from which the seaman is beckoned off by a peak m. inland. comoro isles ( ), an archipelago of four volcanic islands at the n. of the channel of mozambique; under the protectorate of france since ; the people are mohammedans, and speak arabic. comparetti, an italian philologist; his writings are numerous; _b_. . compiÈgne ( ), a quiet old town in the dep. of oise, m. ne. of paris; has some fine old churches, but the chief edifice is the palace, built by st. louis and rebuilt by louis xiv., where the marriage of napoleon to maria louisa was celebrated; here joan of arc was made prisoner in , and louis napoleon had hunting ground. compton, henry, bishop of london, son of the earl of northampton; fought bravely for charles i.; was colonel of dragoons at the restoration; left the army for the church; was made bishop; crowned william and mary when the archbishop, sancroft, refused; _d_. . comrie ( ), a village in perthshire, on the earn, m. w. of perth, in a beautiful district of country; subject to earthquakes from time to time; birthplace of george gilfillan. comte, auguste, a french philosopher, born at montpellier, the founder of positivism (q. v.); enough to say here, it consisted of a new arrangement of the sciences into abstract and concrete, and a new law of historical evolution in science from a theological through a metaphysical to a positive stage, which last is the ultimate and crowning and alone legitimate method, that is, observation of phenomena and their sequence; comte was first a disciple of st. simon, but he quarrelled with him; commenced a "cours de philosophie positive" of his own, in six vols.; but finding it defective on the moral side, he instituted a worship of humanity, and gave himself out as the chief priest of a new religion, a very different thing from carlyle's hero-worship ( - ). comus, the roman deity who presided over festive revelries; the title of a poem by milton, "the most exquisite of english or any masks." comyn, john (the black comyn), lord of badenoch, a scottish noble of french descent, his ancestor, born at comines, having come over with the conqueror and got lands given him; was one of the competitors for the scottish crown in , and lost it. comyn, john (the red comyn), son of the preceding; as one of the three wardens of scotland defended it against the english, whom he defeated at roslin; but in submitted to edward i., and falling under suspicion of bruce, was stabbed by him in a monastery at dumfries in . concepcion ( ), a town in chile, s. of valparaiso, with its port, talcahuano, m. off, one of the safest and most commodious in the country, and ranks next to valparaiso as a trading centre. conception of our lady, an order of nuns founded in portugal in ; at first followed the rule of the cistercians, but afterwards that of st. clare. conciergerie, a prison in the palais de justice, paris. conclave, properly the room, generally in the vatican, where the cardinals are confined under lock and key while electing a pope. concord, a town in u.s., m. nw. of boston; was the residence of emerson, thoreau, and hawthorne; here the first engagement took place in the american war in . concord ( ), capital of new hampshire, u.s., a thriving trading place. concordat, the, a convention of july , , between bonaparte and pius v., regulative of the relations of france with the holy see. concorde, place de la, a celebrated public place, formed by louis xv. in , adorned by a statue of him; at the revolution it was called place de la revolution; here louis xvi. and his queen were guillotined. concordia, the roman goddess of peace, to whom camillus the dictator in b.c. dedicated a temple on the conclusion of the strife between the patricians and plebeians. condÉ, henry i., prince of, fought in the ranks of the huguenots, but escaped the massacre of st. bartholomew by an oath of abjuration ( - ). condÉ, house of, a collateral branch of the house of bourbon, the members of which played all along a conspicuous rôle in the history of france. condÉ, louis i., prince of, founder of the house of condé, a brave, gallant man, though deformed; distinguished himself in the wars between henry ii. and charles v., particularly in the defence of metz; affronted at court, and obnoxious to the guises, he became a protestant, and joined his brother the king of navarre; became the head of the party, and was treacherously killed after the battle of jarnac; he had been party, however, to the conspiracy of amboise, which aimed a death-blow at the guises ( - ). condÉ, louis ii., prince of, named "the great condé," born at paris; was carefully educated; acquired a taste for literature, which stood him in good stead at the end of his career; made his reputation by his victory over the spaniards at recroi; distinguished himself at fribourg, nordlingen, and lens; the settlement of the troubles of the fronde alienated him, so that he entered the service of spain, and served against his country, but was by-and-by reconciled; led the french army to success in franche-comté and holland, and soon after retired to chantilly, where he enjoyed the society of such men as molière, boileau, and la bruyère, and when he died bossuet pronounced a funeral oration over his grave ( - ). condÉ, louis joseph, prince de, born at chantilly; served in the seven years' war; attended in the antechamber in the palace when louis xv. lay dying; was one of the first to emigrate on the fall of the bastille; seized every opportunity to save the monarchy; was declared a traitor to the country, and had his estates confiscated for threatening to restore louis xvi.; organised troops to aid in the restoration; settled at malmesbury, in england, during the empire; returned to france with louis xviii. ( - ). condillac, Étienne bonnot, a french philosopher, born at grenoble, of good birth; commenced as a disciple of locke, but went further, for whereas locke was content to deduce empirical knowledge from sensation and reflection, he deduced reflection from sensation, and laid the foundation of a sensationalism which, in the hands of his successors, went further still, and swamped the internal in the external, and which is now approaching the stage of self-cancelling zero; he lived as a recluse, and had rousseau and diderot for intimate friends ( - ). conditional immortality, the doctrine that only believers in christ have any future existence, a dogma founded on certain isolated passages of scripture. condorcet, marquis de, a french mathematician and philosopher, born near st. quentin; contributed to the "encyclopédie"; was of the encyclopedist school; took sides with the revolutionary party in the interest of progress; voted with the girondists usually; suspected by the extreme party; was not safe even under concealment; "skulked round paris in thickets and stone-quarries; entered a tavern one bleared may morning, ragged, rough-bearded, hunger-stricken, and asked for breakfast; having a latin horace about him was suspected and haled to prison, breakfast unfinished; fainted by the way with exhaustion; was flung into a damp cell, and found next morning lying dead on the floor"; his works are voluminous, and the best known is his "exquisse du progrès de l'esprit humain"; he was not an original thinker, but a clear expositor ( - ). condottie`ri, leaders of italian free-lances, who in the th and th centuries lived by plunder or hired themselves to others for a share in the spoils. confederate states, southern states of the american union, which seceded in on the question of slavery, and which occasioned a civil war that lasted till . confederation of the rhine, a confederation of german states, which in dissolved their connection with germany and leagued with france, and which lasted till disaster overtook napoleon in russia, and then broke up; the germanic confederation, or union of all the states, took its place, till it too was dissolved by the defeat of austria in , and which gave ascendency to prussia and ensured the erection of the german empire on its ruins. conference, a stated meeting of wesleyan ministers for the transaction of the business of their church. confessions of faith, are statements of doctrine very similar to creeds, but usually longer and polemical, as well as didactic; they are in the main, though not exclusively, associated with protestantism; the th century produced many, including the _sixty-seven articles_ of the swiss reformers, drawn up by zwingli in ; the _augsburg confession_ of , the work of luther and melanchthon, which marked the breach with rome; the _tetrapolitan confession_ of the german reformed church, ; the _gallican confession_, ; and the _belgic confession_ of . in britain the _scots confession_, drawn up by john knox in ; the _thirty-nine articles_ of the church of england in ; the _irish articles_ in ; and the _westminster confession of faith_ in ; this last, the work of the westminster assembly of divines, has by its force of language, logical statement, comprehensiveness, and dependence on scripture, commended itself to the presbyterian churches of all english-speaking peoples, and is the most widely recognised protestant statement of doctrine; it has as yet been modified only by the united presbyterian church of scotland, which adopted a declaratory statement regarding certain of its doctrines in , and by the free church of scotland, which adopted a similar statement in . confessions of rousseau, memoirs published after his death in , in which that writer makes confession of much that was good in him and much that was bad. confessions of st. augustine, an account which that father of the church gives of the errors of his youth and his subsequent conversion. confucius, the latin form of the name of the great sage of china, kung futsze, and the founder of a religion which is based on the worship and practice of morality as exemplified in the lives and teachings of the wise men who have gone before, and who, as he conceived, have made the world what it is, and have left it to posterity to build upon the same basis; while he lived he was held in greater and greater honour by multitudes of disciples, till on his death he became an object of worship, and even his descendants came to be regarded as a kind of sacred caste; he flourished about b.c. congÉ d'Élire, a warrant granted by the crown to the dean and chapter of a cathedral to elect a particular bishop to a vacant see. congo, the second in length and largest in volume of the african rivers, rises ne. of the muchinga mountains in rhodesia, flows sw. through lake bangueola, then n. to the equator; curving in a great semicircle it continues sw., passes in a series of rapids through the coast range, and enters the s. atlantic by an estuary m. broad. it brings down more water than the other african rivers put together. the largest affluents are the kassai on the left, and the mobangi on the right bank; m. are navigable to ocean steamers, then the cataracts intervene, and m. of railway promote transit; the upper river is to m. broad, and navigable for small craft up to stanley falls, m. the name most associated with its exploration is h. m. stanley; during its course of m. it bears several names. congo, french ( , ), a continuous and connected territory extending westward along the right bank of the congo from brazzaville to the mouth of the mobangi, and as far as ° n. run n. behind the cameroons, and along the e. of shari to lake tchad. congo free state embraces most of the basin of the congo, touching british territory in uganda and rhodesia, with a very narrow outlet to the atlantic at the river mouth. it is under the sovereignty of leopold ii. of belgium, who, in , made over his rights to belgium with power to annex the state in . it is nine times the size of great britain, and continual native unrest gives great trouble to its administrators. its waters are open to all nations, and traders exchange manufactured goods for ivory, palm-oil, coffee and caoutchouc, bees-wax and fruits. the climate is tropical, on the lower levels malarial. the population is from to millions. the centre of administration is boma, m. from the sea. congregationalism, the ecclesiastical system which regards each congregation of believers in christ a church complete in itself, and free from the control of the other christian communities, and which extends to each member equal privileges as a member of christ's body. it took its rise in england about , and the most prominent name connected with its establishment is that of robert brown (q. v.), who seceded from the church of england and formed a church in norwich in . the body was called brownists after him, and separatists, as well as "independents." the several congregations are now united in what is called "the congregational union of england and wales." congress is a diplomatic conference at which the representatives of sovereign states discuss matters of importance to their several countries, the most celebrated of which are those of münster and osnabrück, which issued in the treaty of westphalia in , at the end of the thirty years' war; of rastadt, at the end of spanish succession war, in ; of vienna, at the end of napoleon's wars, in ; of paris, in , at the end of russian war; and of berlin, in , at the end of russo-turkish war; but the name has come to be applied in federal republics to the legislative assembly which directs national as distinct from state concerns. in the united states, congress consists of the senate, elected by the state legislatures and the house of representatives, elected directly by the people. it meets on the first monday in december, and receives the president's message for the year. it imposes taxes, contracts loans, provides for national defence, declares war, looks after the general welfare, establishes postal communication, coins money, fixes weights and measures, &c. &c., but it is prohibited from preferential treatment of the several states, establishing or interfering with religion, curtailing freedom of speech, or pursuing towards any citizen, even under legal forms, a course of conduct which is unjust or even oppressive. congress, the belgian constituent assembly, - . congreve, richard, author of political tracts, was a pupil of dr. arnold's, and a disciple of comte in philosophy; _b_. . congreve, william, english comic dramatist, born near leeds; entered a student of the middle temple, but soon abandoned law for literature; the "old bachelor" first brought him into repute, and a commissionership of substantial value; the production of "love for love" and the "mourning bride," a stilted tragedy, added immensely to his popularity, but his comedy "the way of the world" being coldly received, he gave up writing plays, and only wrote a few verses afterwards; he was held in great esteem by his contemporaries, among others dryden, pope, and steele ( - ). congreve, sir william, an english artillery officer, inventor of the rocket which bears his name ( - ). coningsby, a novel by disraeli. conington, john, classical scholar and professor of latin at oxford, born at boston, translator of the "Æneid" of virgil, "odes, satires, and epistles" of horace, and books of the "iliad" into verse, as well as of other classics; his greatest work is his edition of "virgil" ( - ). conisburgh castle, an old round castle referred to in "ivanhoe," in. sw. of doncaster. coniston water, a lake m. long and ½ m. broad, at the foot of coniston fells, in lancashire, with brantwood on the e. side of it, the residence of john ruskin. conkling, roscoe, an american politician, a leading man on the republican side; was a member of the house of representatives, and also of the senate; retired from politics, and practised law at new york ( - ). connaught ( ), a western province of ireland, m. long and m. broad, divided into five counties; is the smallest and most barren of the provinces, but abounds in picturesque scenery; the people are pure celts. connaught, duke of, the third son of queen victoria, bred for the army, has held several military appointments; was promoted to the rank of general in , and made commander-in-chief at aldershot; _b_. . connecticut ( ), southernmost of the new england states, is washed by long island sound, has new york on the w., rhode island on the e., and massachusetts on the n. it is the third smallest state, rocky and uneven in surface, unfertile except in the connecticut river valley. streams abound, and supply motive-power for very extensive manufactures of clocks, hardware, india-rubber goods, smallwares, textiles, and firearms. there are iron-mines in the nw., stone-quarries, lead, copper, and cobalt mines. climate is healthy, changeable, and in winter severe. education is excellently provided for. yale university, at new haven, is thoroughly equipped; there are several divinity schools, trinity college at hartford, and the wesleyan university at middleton. the capital is hartford ( ); new haven ( ) is the largest town and chief port. the original colony was a democratic secession from massachusetts in . the constitution of was the first written democratic constitution on record. its present constitution as a state dates from . connecticut, a river in the united states which rises on the confines of canada, and, after a course of m., falls into the atlantic at long island. connemara, a wild district with picturesque scenery in w. of co. galway, ireland. conolly, john, physician, born in lincolnshire, studied at edinburgh, settled in london, distinguished for having introduced and advocated a more rational and humane treatment of the insane ( - ). conrad, cadet of the house of hohenzollern, served under the illustrious barbarossa; proved a capable young fellow under him; married the heiress of the vohburgs; was appointed burggraf of nürnberg, , and prince of the empire; "he is the lineal ancestor of frederick the great, twentieth in direct ascent, let him wait till nineteen generations, valiantly like conrad, have done their part, conrad will find he has come to this," that was realised in frederick and his time. conrad, marquis of tyre, threw himself into tyre when beset by saladin, and held it till richard coeur de lion and philip augustus arrived; was assassinated by emissaries of the old man of the mountain in . conrad i., count of franconia, elected on the extinction of the carlovingian line emperor of the germans, which he continued to be from to ; fell wounded in battle with the huns, egged on by a rival. conrad ii., the salic, of the same family as the preceding; elected emperor of germany in ; reigned years, extending the empire, suppressing disorders, and effecting reforms. conrad iii., founder of the hohenstaufen dynasty; elected emperor of germany in ; had henry the proud, as head of the german guelfs, for rival; crushed him at weinsberg; joined louis vii. of france on a third crusade, and returning, overthrew the guelfs again, leaving barbarossa as his heir; _d_. . conrad of thÜringia, a proud, quick, fiery-tempered magnate, seized the archbishop of mainz once, swung him round, and threatened to cut him in two; stormed, plundered, and set fire to an imperial free town for an affront offered him; but admonished of his sins became penitent, and reconciled himself by monastic vow to the pope and mankind about . conradin the boy, or conrad v., the last representative of the hohenstaufen dynasty of romish kaisers, had fallen into the pope's clutches, who was at mortal feud with the empire, and was put to death by him on the scaffold at naples, october , , the "bright and brave" lad, only , "throwing out his glove (in symbolic protest) amid the dark mute neapolitan multitudes" that idly looked on. see carlyle's "frederick the great" for the conrads. consalvi, italian cardinal and statesman, born at rome, secretary of pius vii.; concluded the concordat with napoleon in ; represented the pope at the congress of vienna; was a liberal patron of literature, science, and arts; continued minister of the pope till his death ( - ). conscience, hendrik, a brilliant flemish novelist, born at antwerp; rose to popularity among his countrymen by his great national romance the "lion of flanders," a popularity which soon extended all over europe; his writings display great descriptive power and perfect purity of sentiment ( - ). conscript fathers, the collective name of members of the roman senate, and addressed as such, fathers as seniors and conscripts as enrolled. conservation of energy, the doctrine that, however it may be transformed or dissipated, no fraction of energy is ever lost, that the amount of force, as of matter, in the universe, under all mutation remains the same. conservatism, indisposition to change established laws and customs that have wrought beneficially in the past and contributed to the welfare of the country; in practical politics often a very different thing, and regarded by carlyle in his time "a portentous enbodied sham; accursed of god, and doomed to destruction, as all lies are." considÉrant, victor prosper, a french socialist and disciple of fourier; founded a colony in texas on fourier's principles, which proved a failure; wrote much in advocacy of his principles, of which the most important is "la destinée sociale"; _b_. . consols, the consolidated fund, loans to government made at different times and at different rates of interest, consolidated for convenience into one common loan, bearing interest at per cent., reduced in to ¾, and in to ½. constable, a high officer of state in the roman empire, in france, and in england, charged at one time with military, judicial, and regulative functions. constable, archibald, edinburgh publisher, born in carnbee, fife; started as a bookseller near the cross in edinburgh; published the _scots magazine_, the _edinburgh review_, and the "encyclopædia britannica," and from to the works of sir walter scott, when the bankruptcy connected with the publication of these so affected him that it ruined his health, though he lived after the crash came to start the "miscellany" which bears his name ( - ). constable, henry, english poet, author of sonnets, in number, under the title of "diana" ( - ). constable, john, an eminent landscape-painter, born in suffolk; his works were more generously appreciated in france than in his own country, as they well might be, where they had not, as in england, to stand comparison with those of turner; but he is now, despite the depreciation of ruskin, becoming recognised among us as one of our foremost landscapists, and enormous prices have been given of late for his best pictures; some of his best works adorn the walls of the national gallery; ruskin allows his art is original, honest, free from affectation, and manly ( - ). constable de bourbon, charles, duc de bourbon, a brilliant military leader, and a powerful enemy of francis i.; killed when leading the assault on rome ( - ). constance ( ), a city of the grand-duchy of baden, on the s. bank of the rhine, at its exit from the lake; famous for the seat of the council ( - ) which condemned john huss and jerome of prague to death; long famous for its linen manufacture. constance, lake, or bodensee, partly in germany and partly in switzerland; is about m. long and m. broad at most; is traversed by the rhine from w. to e., is ft. above sea-level; is surrounded by vineyards, cornfields, and wooded slopes; its waters are hardly ever frozen, and often rise and fall suddenly. constant, benjamin, a highly popular french painter of the realistic school, born at paris; his first picture was "hamlet and the king"; afterwards he took chiefly to oriental subjects, which afforded the best scope for his talent; occupies a high place in the modern french school, and has been promoted to the rank of officer of the legion of honour; _b_. . constant de rebecque, henry benjamin de, a french politician, of liberal constitutional principles, born at lausanne, of huguenot parents; settled in paris at the commencement of the revolution, where he distinguished himself by his political writings and speeches; was expelled from france in , along with mme. de staël, for denouncing the military ascendency of napoleon; lived for a time at weimar in the society of goethe and schiller; translated schiller's "wallenstein"; returned to france in ; declared for the bourbons, and pled in favour of constitutional liberty; he was a supporter of louis philippe, and a rationalist in religion, and declared himself opposed to the supernatural element in all religions ( - ). constantia, a wine district of cape colony under e. flank of table mountain. constantine ( ), inland city of algeria, on a rocky height; leather-working its staple industry. constantine, the name of emperors who reigned at rome or byzantium between and . constantine i., called the great, born in moesia, son of constantius chlorus by helena; on the death of his father at york, where he accompanied him, was proclaimed emperor by the troops; this title being challenged by maximian, his father-in-law, and maxentius, his brother-in-law, he took up arms against first the one and then the other, and defeated them; when one day he saw a cross in the sky with the words _by this conquer_ in greek, under this sign, known as the _labarum_, which he adopted as his standard, he accordingly marched straight to rome, where he was acknowledged emperor by the senate in ; and thereafter an edict was issued named of milan, granting toleration to the christians; he had still to extend his empire over the east, and having done so by the removal of lucinius, he transferred the seat of his empire to byzantium, which hence got the name of constantinople, i. e. constantine's city; had himself baptized in as a christian, after having three years before proclaimed christianity the state religion ( - ). constantine nicolaievitch, second son of the czar nicholas i.; was appointed grand-admiral while but a boy; had command of the baltic fleet during the crimean war; came under suspicion of sinister intriguing; became insane, and died in seclusion ( - ). constantine paulovitch, grand-duke of russia, son of paul i.; distinguished himself at austerlitz; was commander-in-chief in poland, where he ruled as despot; waived his right to the throne in favour of his brother nicholas ( - ). constantine xiii., palæologus, the last of the greek emperors; had to defend constantinople against a besieging force of , under mahomet ii., and though he defended it bravely, the city was taken by storm, and the eastern empire ended in . constantinople ( , ), capital of the turkish empire, on the bosphorus, situated on a peninsula washed by the sea of marmora on the s. and by the golden horn on the n., on the opposite side of which creek lie the quarters of galata and pera, one of the finest commercial sites in the world; it became the capital of the roman empire under constantine the great, who gave name to it; was capital of the eastern empire from the days of theodosius; was taken by the crusaders in , and by mahomet ii. in , at which time the greek and latin scholars fled the city, carrying the learning of greece and rome with them, an event which led to the revival of learning in europe, and the establishment of a new era--the modern--in european history. constantius chlorus, or the pale, roman emperor; after a struggle of three years reunited britain with the empire, which had been torn from it by allectus; was equally successful against the alemanni, defeating them with great loss; died at york, on an expedition against the picts; was succeeded by constantine, his son ( - ). constituent assembly, the legislative body which the national assembly of france resolved itself into in , a name it assumed from the task it imposed on itself, viz., of making a constitution, a task which, from the nature of it proved impossible, as a constitution is an entity which grows, and is not made, _nascitur, non fit_. consuelo, the heroine of george sand's novel of the name, her masterpiece; the impersonation of the triumph of moral purity over manifold temptations. consul, ( ) one of the two magistrates of rome elected annually after the expulsion of the kings, and invested with regal power; ( ) a chief magistrate of the french republic from to ; ( ) one commissioned to protect, especially the mercantile rights of the subjects of a state in foreign country. consulate, name given to the french government from the fall of the directory till the establishment of the empire. at first there were three provisional consuls, bonaparte, siéyès, and roger ducos; then three consuls for ten years, bonaparte, cambacérès, and lebrun, which was dissolved with the establishment of the empire on the th may . contari`ni, an illustrious venetian family, which furnished eight doges to the republic, as well as an array of men eminent in the church, statecraft, generalship, art, and letters. conte, nicolas jacques, a french painter; distinguished for his mechanical genius, which was of great avail to the french army in egypt ( - ). conti, an illustrious french family, a younger branch of the house of bourbon-condé, all more or less distinguished as soldiers; franÇois louis especially, who was a man of supreme ability both in war and science, and had the merit to be elected king of poland ( - ). continental system, napoleon's scheme for interdicting all commerce between the continent and great britain, carried out with various issues till the fall of napoleon. see berlin and milan decrees. contrat, social, rousseau's theory of society that it is based on mere contract, each individual member of it surrendering his will to the will of all, under protection of all concerned, a theory which led to the conclusion that the rule of kings is an usurpation of the rights of the community, and which bore fruit as an explosive in the revolution at the end of the century. convention, national, a revolutionary convention in france which, on september , , succeeded the legislative assembly, proclaimed the republic, condemned the king to death, succeeded in crushing the royalists of la vendée and the south, in defeating all europe leagued against france, and in founding institutions of benefit to france to this day; it was dissolved on october , , to make way for the directory. conversations lexicon, a popular german encyclopædia of vols., started in , and since published by brockhaus, in leipzig. conversion, "the grand epoch for a man," says carlyle, "properly the one epoch; the turning-point, which guides upwards, or guides downwards, him and his activities for evermore." convocation, an assemblage of the english clergy, with little or no legislative power, summoned and prorogued by an archbishop under authority of the crown; one under the archbishop of canterbury, held at canterbury, and one under the archbishop of york, held at york, consisting each of two bodies, an upper of bishops, and an under of lesser dignitaries and inferior clergy, in separate chambers, though they originally met in one. conway, a port in carnarvon, on the river conway, with a massive castle, one of those built by edward i. to keep wales in check; is a favourite summer resort, and is amid beautiful scenery. conway, hugh, the _nom de plume_ of frederick fargus, born in bristol; bred to the auctioneer business; author of "called back," a highly sensational novel, and a success; gave up his business and settled in london, where he devoted himself to literature, and the production of similar works of much promise, but caught malarial fever at monte carlo and died ( - ). conway, moncure, an american writer, born in virginia; began life as a unitarian preacher; came to england as a lecturer on war; became leader of the advanced school of thought, so called; was a great admirer of emerson, and wrote, among other works, "emerson at home and abroad"; _b_. . conybeare, william daniel, an english clergyman, devoted to the study of geology and palæontology, and a bampton lecturer ( - ). conybeare, william john, son of the preceding; author, along with dean howson, of the "life and epistles of st. paul," and of an "essay on church parties" ( - ). cook, dutton, novelist, dramatic author, and critic; born in london, and bred a solicitor; contributed to several periodicals, and the "dictionary of national biography" ( - ). cook, edward t., journalist, born at brighton; educated at oxford; had been on the editorial staff of the _pall mall gazette_ and the _westminster gazette_, became, in , editor of the _daily news_; is an enthusiastic disciple of ruskin; wrote "studies on ruskin"; _b_. . cook, eliza, a writer of tales, verses, and magazine articles; born in southwark; daughter of a merchant; conducted, from to , a journal called by her name, but gave it up from failing health; enjoyed a pension of £ on the civil list till her death; was the authoress of "the old arm-chair" and "home in the heart," both of which were great favourites with the public, and did something for literature and philanthropy by her _journal_ ( - ). cook, james, the distinguished english navigator, born at marton, yorkshire; was the son of a farm labourer; began sea-faring on board a merchantman; entered the navy in , and in four years became a master; spent some nine years in survey of the st. lawrence and the coasts of newfoundland; in , in command of the _endeavour_, was sent out with an expedition to observe the transit of venus, and in as commander of two vessels on a voyage of discovery to the south seas; on his return, receiving further promotion, he set out on a third voyage of farther exploration in the pacific, making many discoveries as far n. as behring strait; lost his life, on his way home, in a dispute with the natives, at owhyhee, in the sandwich islands, being savagely murdered, a fate which befell him owing to a certain quickness of temper he had displayed, otherwise he was a man of great kindness of heart, and his men were warmly attached to him ( - ). cook, joseph, a popular lecturer, born near new york; delivered monday lectures at boston in the discussion of social questions, and the alleged discrepancy between science and religion or revelation; _b_. . cook, mount, the highest point, , ft., in the southern alps, canterbury island, new zealand. cook strait, strait between the north and the south island, new zealand. cooke, sir antony, an eminent scholar, tutor to edward vi.; of his daughters, one was married to lord burleigh and another to sir nicholas bacon, who became the mother of lord bacon ( - ). cooke, benjamin, composer, born in london; organist in westminster abbey; author of "how sleep the brave," "hark! the lark," and other glees, as well as some excellent church music ( - ). cooke, george frederick, an actor, famous for his representation of richard iii.; stood in his day next to kemble in spite of his intemperate habits ( - ). cooke, t. p., an actor in melodrama; began life at sea; took to the stage; his most popular representations were william in "black-eyed susan" and long tom coffin in the "pilot" ( - ). coolgardie, a mining district and head-quarters of rich gold-fields in w. australia. coolies, labourers from india and china, who now emigrate in large numbers, especially from china, often to where they are not wanted, and where they, as in the british colonies and the united states, are much disliked, as they bring down the wages of native labourers. coomassie, the capital of the negro kingdom of ashanti, m. nnw. of cape coast castle; once a large populous place; was much reduced after its capture by wolseley in , though it is being rebuilt. cooper, anthony ashley. see shaftesbury. cooper, sir astley, english surgeon, born in norfolk; was great in anatomy and a skilful operator, stood high in the medical profession; contributed much by his writings to raise surgery to the rank of a science; was eminent as a lecturer as well as a practitioner ( - ). cooper, james fenimore, an american novelist, born in burlington, new jersey; having a passion for the sea, he entered the navy as a midshipman in , but in three years resigned his commission, married, and settled to literature; his novels, which are well known, achieved instant popularity, made him a great favourite with boys, in which he showed himself an expert in the narration of events, the description of scenes, as well as in the delineation of character; he came to loggerheads with the newspaper press, had recourse to actions for libel, conducted his own cases himself, and was always successful ( - ). cooper, thomas, a self-taught man, born in leicester; bred a shoemaker; became a schoolmaster, a methodist preacher, and then a journalist; converted to chartism; was charged with sedition, and committed to prison for two years; wrote here "purgatory of suicides"; after liberation went about lecturing on politics and preaching scepticism; returning to his first faith, he lectured on the christian evidences, and wrote an autobiography ( - ). cooper, thomas sidney, a distinguished animal-painter, born in canterbury; struggled with adversity in early life: rose to be supreme in his own department of art; he has written an account of his career; _b_. . cooperage, a system of barter which has for some time gone on in the north seas, consisting of exchange of spirits and tobacco for other goods or money, a demoralising traffic, which endeavours are now being made to suppress. cooper's hill, a hill of slight elevation near runnymede, with a government civil engineering college, originally for the training for the service in india, now for education in other departments of the government service, forestry especially. coorg ( ), an inland high-lying province, about the size of kent, on the eastern slope of the w. ghâts, on the sw. border of mysore, under the indian government; it is covered with forests, infested with wild animals; the natives, a fine race, are distinguished for their loyalty to the british. coote, sir eyre, a general, born in co. limerick, ireland; distinguished himself at plassey; gained victories over the french in india; afterwards routed hyder ali at porto novo; died at madras ( - ). cope, charles west, a painter, born at leeds; his pictures have for subjects historical or dramatic scenes, and were very numerous; executed the frescoes that adorn the peers' corridor at westminster; was professor of painting to the royal academy ( - ). cope, sir john, a british general; was in command at prestonpans, and defeated by the pretender there in , in connection with which his name is remembered in scotland as not having been ready when the highlanders attacked him, by the song "heigh! johnnie cowp, are ye wauken yet?" _d_. . copenhagen ( ), the capital of denmark, and the only large town in it; lies low, and is built partly on the island of seeland and partly on the island of amager, the channel between which forms a commodious harbour; is a thriving place of manufacture and of trade, as its name "merchants' haven" implies; has also a university, an arsenal, and numerous public buildings. copernicus, nicolas, founder of modern astronomy, born at thorn, in poland, and educated at cracow and bologna; became canon of frauenburg, on the frisches haff; studied medicine; was doctor to a wealthy uncle, with whom he lived, and became his heir when he died; his chief interest lay in the heavenly bodies, and his demonstrations regarding their movements, which yet he deferred publishing till he was near his end; and indeed it was only when he was unconscious and dying that the first printed copy of the work was put into his hands; it was entitled "de orbium revolutionibus," and was written in proof of the great first principle of astronomy, that the sun is the centre of the solar system, and that the earth and planets circle round it; the work was dedicated to pope paul iii., and was received with favour by the catholic church, though, strange to say, it was denounced by luther and melanchthon as contrary to the scriptures of truth ( - ). copiapÓ, a river, a village, a city, and a district in chile. copley, john singleton, portrait and historical painter, born in boston, u.s.; painted washington's portrait at the age of eighteen; came to england in , having previously sent over for exhibition sundry of his works; painted portraits of the king and the queen; began the historical works on which his fame chiefly rests, the most widely known perhaps of which is the "death of chatham," now in the national gallery ( - ). coppÉe, franÇois, a poet, born in paris; has produced several volumes of poetry, excellent dramas in verse, and tales in prose; his poetry is the poetry of humble life, and "has given poetic pleasure," as professor saintsbury says, "to many who are not capable of receiving it otherwise, while he has never sought to give that pleasure by unworthy means"; _b_. . copper captain, a brummagem captain; the name given to percy in beaumont and fletcher's play, "rule a wife and have a wife." copper nose, name given to oliver cromwell, from a brownish tinge on his nose. copperheads, secret foes in one's own camp, so called from a set of serpents which conceal their purpose to attack. coppermine, a river in nw. canada which falls into the arctic ocean after a broken course of m. coppet, a swiss village in the canton de vaud, on the lake of geneva; celebrated as the abode of mme. de staël, her burial-place and that of necker, her father. copts, the christian descendants of the ancient egyptians, who are monophysites in belief, some regarding the patriarch of alexandria and some the pope as their head; they adhere to the ancient ritual, are prelatic, sacramentarian, and exclusive; they speak arabic, their original coptic being as good as dead, though the grammar is taught in the schools. copyright, the sole right of an author or his heirs to publish a work for a term of years fixed by statute, a book for years, or the author's lifetime and years after, whichever is longer; copyright covers literary, artistic, and musical property. by the act an author must present one copy of his work, if published, to the british museum, and one copy, if demanded, to the bodleian library, oxford; the university library, cambridge; the advocates' library, edinburgh; and trinity college library, dublin. coquelin, benoit constant, a noted french actor, born at boulogne; played in classical pieces and others, composed for himself in the théâtre français from to ; since then in london, s. america, and the united states; without a rival in the broader aspects of comedy; _b_. . coquerel, athanase, a pastor of the french reformed church, born in paris, where he preached eloquently from till his death; was elected in deputy for the seine to the national assembly, but retired from political life after the _coup d'état_; wrote a reply to strauss ( - ). coquerel, athanase, a protestant pastor, son of preceding, born at amsterdam; celebrated for his liberal and tolerant views, too much so for m. guizot; edited voltaire's letters on toleration; his chief work, "jean calas et sa famille" ( - ). coquimbo ( ), capital of a mining province of chile ( ) of the name; exports minerals and cattle. coraÏs, a distinguished hellenist, born in smyrna, of the mercantile class; settled in paris, where he devoted himself to awakening an interest in greek literature and the cause of the greeks ( - ). coram, thomas, english philanthropist, the founder of the foundling hospital, born at lyme regis; a man of varied ventures by sea and land; settled in london; was touched by the sufferings of the poor, where, with warm support from hogarth, he founded the said institution; his charity so impoverished him that he ended his days as an object of charity himself, being dependent on a small annuity raised by subscription ( - ). corato ( ), a town in a fertile region in s. italy, m. w. of bari. corble-steps, or crow-steps, steps ascending the gable of a house, common in old scotch gables as well as in the netherlands and elsewhere in old towns. cor`bulo, a distinguished general under claudius and nero, who conquered the parthians; nero, being jealous of him, invited him to corinth, where he found a death-warrant awaiting him, upon which he plunged his sword into his breast and exclaimed, "well deserved!" in a.d. corcy`ra, an ionian island, now corfu (q. v.). corday, charlotte, a french heroine, born at st. saturnin, of good birth, granddaughter of corneille; well read in voltaire and plutarch; favoured the revolution, but was shocked at the atrocities of the jacobins; started from caen for paris as an avenging angel; sought out marat, with difficulty got access to him, stabbed him to the heart as he sat "stewing in slipper-bath," and "his life with a groan gushed out, indignant, to the shades below"; when arrested, she "quietly surrendered"; when questioned as to her motive, she answered, "i killed one man to save a hundred thousand"; she was guillotined next day ( - ). cordelia, the youngest and favourite daughter of king lear. cordeliers, ( ) the strictest branch of the franciscan order of monks, so called from wearing a girdle of knotted cord; ( ) also a club during the french revolution, founded in , its prominent members, danton, camille desmoulins, and marat; was a secession from the jacobin club, which was thought lukewarm, and met in what had been a convent of the cordeliers monks; it expired with danton. corderius, a grammarian, born in normandy; being a protestant settled in geneva and taught; author of latin "colloquies," once very famous ( - ). cordilleras, the name of several chains of mountains in s. america. cordite, a smokeless powder, invented by sir f. a. abel, being composed principally of gun-cotton and glycerine. cordon blue, formerly the badge of the order of the holy ghost, now the badge of highest excellence in a cook. cordouan, a lighthouse at the mouth of the gironde. cor`dova ( ), a city on the paraná, in the argentine; also a town ( ) in andalusia, spain, on the right bank of the guadalquivir, in a province of the name, m. ne. of seville; once a moorish capital, and famous for its manufacture of goat leather; has a cathedral, once a magnificent mosque. corea ( , ), an eastern asiatic kingdom occupying the mountainous peninsula between the yellow and japan seas, in the latitude of italy, with manchuria on its northern border, a country as large as great britain. the people, an intelligent and industrious race, are mongols, followers of confucius and buddha. after being for years tributary to china, it passed under japanese influence, and by the chinese defeat in the war with japan, - , was left independent. the climate is healthy, but subject to extremes; rivers are ice-bound for four months. wheat, rice, and beans are grown. there are gold, silver, iron, and coal mines, and great mineral wealth. there are extensive manufactures of paper, and some silk industry. three ports are open to foreigners; but most of the trade is with japan; exports hides, beans, and paper; imports cotton goods. the capital is seoul ( ). corelli, arcangelo, an italian musical composer, celebrated for his skill on the violin; his compositions mark a new musical epoch; he has been called the father of instrumental music ( - ). corelli, marie, a novelist, a prolific authoress, and very popular; her first work "the romance of two worlds," one of her latest "the sorrows of satan"; _b_. . corfe castle, a village in the isle of purbeck, dorsetshire, round a castle now in ruins, and the scene of martyrdoms and murders not a few in its day. corfu ( ), the most northerly of the ionian islands and the largest, m. long, from to broad; was under the protection of britain, - ; has since belonged to greece; has a capital ( ) of the same name. corin`na, a poetess of ancient greece, born in boeotia; friend and rival of pindar; only a few fragments of her poetry remain. corinne, the heroine and title of a novel of mme. de staël's, her principal novel, in which she celebrates the praises of the great men and great masterpieces of italy; her heroine is the type of a woman inspired with poetic ideas and the most generous sentiments. corinth, an ancient city of greece, and one of the most flourishing, on an isthmus of the name connecting the peloponnesus with the mainland; a great centre of trade and of material wealth, and as a centre of luxury a centre of vice; the seat of the worship of aphrodité, a very different goddess from athene, to whom athens was dedicated. corinthians, epistles to the, two epistles of st. paul to the church he had established in corinth, the chief object of which was to cleanse it of certain schisms and impurities that had arisen, and to protest against the disposition of many in it to depart from simple gospel which they had been taught. coriola`nus, a celebrated roman general of patrician rank, who rallied his countrymen when, in besieging corioli, they were being driven back, so that he took the city, and was in consequence called coriolanus; having afterwards offended the plebs, he was banished from the city; took refuge among the people he had formerly defeated; joined cause with them, and threatened to destroy the city, regardless of every entreaty to spare it, till his mother, his wife, and the matrons of rome overcame him by their tears, upon which he withdrew and led back his army to corioli, prepared to suffer any penalty his treachery to them might expose him. corioli, a town of ancient latium, capital of the volsci. cork ( ), a fine city, capital of a county ( ) of the same name in munster, ireland, on the lee, m. from its mouth; with a magnificent harbour, an extensive foreign trade, and manufactures of various kinds. cormenin, a french statesman and jurist, born at paris; had great influence under louis philippe; his pamphlets, signed _timon_, made no small stir; left a work on administrative law in france ( - ). cormontaigne, a celebrated french engineer, born at strasburg; successor of vauban ( - ). cornaro, an illustrious patrician family in venice, from which for centuries several doges sprung. corn-cracker, the nickname of a kentucky man. corneille, pierre, the father of french tragedy, born at rouen, the son of a government legal official; was bred for the bar, but he neither took to the profession nor prospered in the practice of it, so gave it up for literature; threw himself at once into the drama; began by dramatising an incident in his own life, and became the creator of the dramatic art in france; his first tragedies are "the cid," which indeed is his masterpiece, "horace," "cinna," "polyeucte," "rodogune," and "le menteur"; in his verses, which are instinct with vigour of conception as well as sublimity of feeling, he paints men as they should be, virtuous in character, brave in spirit, and animated by the most exalted sentiments. goethe contrasts him with racine: "corneille," he says, "delineated great men; racine, men of eminent rank." "he rarely provokes an interest," says professor saintsbury, "in the fortunes of his characters; it is rather in the way that they bear their fortune, and particularly in a kind of haughty disdain for fortune itself... he shows an excellent comic faculty at times, and the strokes of irony in his serious plays have more of true humour in them than appears in almost any other french dramatist" ( - ). corneille, thomas, younger brother of the preceding, a dramatist, whose merits were superior, but outshone by those of his brother ( - ). cornelia, the daughter of scipio africanus and the mother of the gracchi (q. v.), the roman matron who, when challenged by a rival lady to outshine her in wealth of gems, proudly led forth her sons saying, "these are my jewels"; true to this sentiment, it was as the mother of the gracchi she wished to be remembered, and is remembered, in the annals of rome. cornelius, peter von, a distinguished german painter, born at düsseldorf; early gave proof of artistic genius, which was carefully fostered by his father; spent much time as a youth in studying and copying raphael; before he was he decorated a church at neuss with colossal figures in chiaroscuro; in executed designs for goethe's "faust"; in the year after went to rome, where, along with others, he revived the old art of fresco painting, in which he excelled his rivals; the subjects of these were drawn from greek pagan as well as christian sources, his "judgment" being the largest fresco in the world; the thought which inspires his cartoons, critics say, surpasses his power of execution; it should be added, he prepared a set of designs to illustrate the "nibelungen" ( - ). cornell university, a university in ithaca, new york state, founded in at a cost of £ , , named after its founder, ezra cornell; it supports a large staff of teachers, and gives instruction in all departments of science, literature, and philosophy; it provides education to sundry specified classes free of all fees, as well as means of earning the benefits of the institution to any who may wish to enjoy them. corn-laws, laws in force in great britain regulating the import and export of corn for the protection of the home-producer at the expense of the home-consumer, and which after a long and bitter struggle between these two classes were abolished in . corn-law rhymer, the, ebenezer elliott (q. v.) who, in a volume of poems, denounced the corn-laws and contributed to their abolition. corno, monte, the highest peak of the apennines, ft. cornwall ( ), a county in the sw. extremity of england, forming a peninsula between the english and the bristol channels, with a rugged surface and a rocky coast, indented all round with more or less deep bays inclosed between high headlands; its wealth lies not in the soil, but under it in its mines, and in the pilchard, mackerel, and other fisheries along its stormy shores; the county town is bodmin ( ), the largest penzance ( ), and the mining centre truro ( ). cornwall, barry, the _nom de plume_ of b. w. procter (q. v.). cornwallis, lord, an english general and statesman; saw service in the seven years' and the american wars; besieged in the latter at york town, was obliged to capitulate; became governor-general of india, and forced tippoo sahib to submit to humiliating terms; as lord-lieutenant of ireland crushed the rebellion of ' ; re-appointed governor-general of india; died there ( - ). coromandel coast, e. coast of hindustan, extending from the krishna to cape comorin. coronation chair, a chair inclosing a stone carried off by edward i. from scone in , on which the sovereigns of england are crowned. corot, jean baptiste, a celebrated french landscape-painter, born at paris; was years of age before he began to apply himself to art, which he did by study in italy and rome, returning to paris in , where he began to exhibit, and continued to exhibit for nearly years; it was long before his pieces revealed what was in him and the secret of his art; he appeared also as a poet as well as a painter, giving free play to his emotions and moving those of others ( - ). corps lÉgislatif, the lower house of the french legislature, consisting of deputies. corpuscular philosophy, the philosophy which accounts for physical phenomena by the position and the motions of corpuscles. corr, erin, an eminent engraver, born in brussels, of irish descent; spent years in engraving on copper-plate rubens's "descent from the cross" ( - ). corrector, alexander the, alexander cruden, who believed he had a divine mission to correct the manners of the world. correggio, antonio allegri da, an illustrious italian painter, born at correggio, in modena; founder of the lombard school, and distinguished among his contemporaries for the grace of his figures and the harmony of his colouring; he has been ranked next to raphael, and it has been said of him he perfected his art by adding elegance to truth and grandeur; he is unrivalled in chiaroscuro, and he chose his subjects from pagan as well as christian legend ( - ). corrib, lough, an irregularly shaped lake in galway and mayo, m. long and from to m. broad, with stone circles near it. corrientes ( ), a province of the argentine republic, between the paraná and the uruguay; also its capital ( ), surrounded by orange-groves; so called from the currents that prevail in the river, along which steamers ply between it and buenos ayres. corrugated iron, in general, sheet-iron coated with zinc. corsair, the, a poem of byron's, in which the author paints himself in heroic colours as an adventurer who drowns reflection in the intoxication of battle. corsica ( ), an island belonging to france, in the mediterranean, ceded to her by genoa in , but by position, race, and language belongs to italy; has been subject by turns to the powers that in succession dominated that inland sea; is m. long and broad; it abounds in mountains, attaining ft.; covered with forests and thickets, which often serve as shelter for brigands; it affords good pasturage, and yields olive-oil and wine, as well as chesnuts, honey, and wax. corsica paoli, a native of corsica, who vainly struggled to achieve the independence of his country, and took refuge in england, where he enjoyed the society of the johnson circle, and was much esteemed. see paoli. corssen, william paul, a learned german philologist, born at bremen; made a special study of the latin languages, and especially the etruscan, which he laboured to prove was cognate with that of the romans and of the races that spoke it ( - ). cort, an eminent dutch engraver, went to venice, lived with titian; engraved some of his pictures; went to rome and engraved raphael's "transfiguration"; executed over plates, all displaying great accuracy and refinement ( - ). cortes, the name given in spain and portugal to the national assembly, consisting of nobles and representatives of the nation. cortes, a spanish soldier and conqueror of mexico, born in estremadura; went with velasquez to cuba; commanded the expedition to conquer mexico, and by burning all his ships that conveyed his men, cut off all possibility of retreat; having conquered the tribes that he met on landing, he marched on to the capital, which, after a desperate struggle, he reduced, and laid waste and then swept the country, by all which he added to the wealth of spain, but by his cruelty did dishonour to the chivalry of which spain was once so proud ( - ). cortona, pietro da, an italian painter, born at cortona, in tuscany, and eminent as an architect also; decorated many of the finest buildings in rome ( - ). coruÑa ( ), a fortified town on nw. of spain, with a commodious harbour, where sir john moore fell in while defending the embarkation of his army against soult, and where his tomb is. corvÉe, obligation as at one time enforced in france to render certain services to seigneurs, such as repairing of roads, abolished by the contituent assembly. coryat, thomas, an english traveller and wit, who, in his "crudities," quaintly describes his travels through france and italy ( - ). corybantes, priests of cybele (q. v.), whose religious rites were accompanied with wild dances and the clashing of cymbals. corydon, a shepherd in virgil, name for a lovesick swain. coryphÆus, originally the leader of the chorus in a greek drama, now a leader in any dramatic company, or indeed in any art. cos ( ), an island in the Ægean sea, birthplace of hippocrates and apelles. cosenza ( ), a town in calabria, in a deep valley, where alaric died. cosin, john, a learned english prelate, dean of peterborough, deposed by the puritans for his ritualistic tendencies; exiled for years in paris; returned at the restoration, and was made bishop of durham, where he proved himself a bishop indeed, and a devoted supporter of the church which he adorned by his piety ( - ). cosmas, st., arabian physician and patron of surgeons, brother of st. damian; suffered martyrdom in . festival, sept. . cosmas indicopleustes (i. e. voyager to india), an egyptian monk of the th century, born in alexandria, singular for his theory of the system of the world, which, in opposition to the ptolemaic system, he viewed as in shape like that of the jewish tabernacle, with eden outside, and encircled by the ocean, a theory he advanced as in conformity with scripture. cosmo i., grand-duke of tuscany, head of the republic of florence, of which he made himself absolute master, a post he held in defiance of all opposition, in order to secure the independence of the state he governed, as well as its internal prosperity ( - ). cosmography, any theory which attempts to trace the system of things back to its first principle or primordial element or elements. cosquin, emmanuel, a french folk-lorist, and author of "popular tales of lorraine," in the introduction to which he argues for the theory that the development as well as the origin of such tales is historically traceable to india; _b_. . cossacks, a military people of mixed origin, chiefly tartar and slav, who fought on horseback, in their own interest as well as that of russia, defending its interests in particular for centuries past in many a struggle, and forming an important division of the russian army. costa rica ( ), a small republic of central america; it is mostly tableland; contains many volcanoes; is chiefly agricultural, though rich in minerals. costard, a clown in "love's labour lost," who apes the affected court-wits of the time in a misappropriate style. costello, louisa stuart, an english authoress; her descriptive powers were considerable, and her novels had a historical groundwork ( - ). coster, _alias_ laurens janszoon, born at haarlem, to whom his countrymen, as against the claims of gutenberg, ascribe the invention of printing ( - ). cosway, richard, a distinguished miniature portrait-painter, born at tiverton; correggio his model ( - ). cÔte d'or, a range of hills in the ne. of france, connecting the cévennes with the vosges, which gives name to a department ( ) famed for its wines. cotentin, a peninsula nw. of normandy, france, jutting into the english channel, now forms the northern part of the dep. la manche, the fatherland of many of the norman conquerors of england. cotes, roger, an english mathematician of such promise, that newton said of him, "if he had lived, we should have known something" ( - ). cÔtes du nord ( ), a dep. forming part of brittany; the chief manufacture is linen. cotin, the abbÉ, a french preacher, born in paris; a butt of the sarcasm of molière and boileau ( - ) cotman, john sell, an english painter, born at norwich; made turner's acquaintance; produced water-colour landscapes, growing in repute; has been pronounced "the most gifted of the norwich school" ( - ). cotopaxi, a volcano of the andes, in ecuador, the highest and most active in the world, nearly , ft., m. se. of quito; it rises in a perfect cone, ft. above the plateau of quito. cotswold hills, in gloucestershire, separating the lower severn from the sources of the thames; they are of limestone rock, m. long, and extend n. and s. cotta, caius, a distinguished roman orator, st century b.c.; mentioned with honour by cicero. cotta, german publisher, born at stuttgart; established in tübingen; published the works of goethe, schiller, jean paul, herder, and others of note among their contemporaries ( - ). cottian alps, the range n. of the maritime between france and italy. cottin, sophie, a celebrated french authoress; wrote, among other romances, the well-known and extensively translated "elizabeth; or, the exiles of siberia," a wildly romantic but irreproachably moral tale ( - ). cottle, joseph, a publisher and author; started business in bristol; published the works of coleridge and southey on generous terms; wrote in his "early recollections" an exposure of coleridge that has been severely criticised and generally condemned ( - ). cotton, bishop, born at chester; eminent as a master at rugby under dr. arnold, and as head-master at marlborough college; was appointed bishop of calcutta, an office he fulfilled zealously; was drowned in the ganges; he figures as "the young master" in "tom brown's school-days" ( - ). cotton, charles, a poet, born in staffordshire; his poetry was of the burlesque order, and somewhat gross; chiefly famous for his translation of "montaigne's essays"; was friend and admirer of isaak walton, and wrote a supplement to his "angler" ( - ). cotton, sir robert bruce, a distinguished antiquary, and founder of the cottonian library, now in the british museum, born at denton; was a friend of camden, and assisted him in his great work; was a great book-collector; was exposed to persecution for his presumed share in the publication of an obnoxious book, of which the original was found in his collection; had his books, in which he prided himself, taken from him, in consequence of which he pined and died ( - ). coucy, an old noble family of picardy, who had for device, "roi ne suis, ne duc, ne comte aussi; je suis le sire de coucy." raoul, a court-poet of the family in the th century, lost his life at the siege of acre in the third crusade. coulomb, a learned french physicist and engineer, born at angoulême; the inventor of the torsion balance, and to whose labours many discoveries in electricity and magnetism are due; lived through the french revolution retired from the strife ( - ). councils, church, assemblies of bishops to decide questions of doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline. they are oecumenical, national, or provincial, according as the bishops assembled represented the whole church, a merely national one, or a provincial section of it. eastern: nice, (at which arius was condemned), ; constantinople, (at which apollinaris was condemned), , , ; ephesus, (at which nestorius was condemned); chalcedon, (at which eutyches was condemned). western: lateran, , , , , ; synod of vienne, ; constance, ; basel, - ; trent, - ; vatican, . courayes, a french roman catholic ecclesiastic who pled on behalf of anglican orders; was censured; fled to england, where he was welcomed, and received academic honours ( - ). courbet, a french vice-admiral, born at abbeville; distinguished himself by his rapid movements and brilliant successes in the east ( - ). courbet, gustave, french painter, born at ornans; took to landscape-painting; was head of the realistic school; joined the commune in ; his property and pictures were sold to pay the damage done, and especially to restore the vendôme column; died an exile in switzerland ( - ). courier, paul louis, a french writer, born at paris; began life as a soldier, but being wounded at wagram, retired from the army, and gave himself to letters; distinguished himself as the author of political pamphlets, written with a scathing irony such as has hardly been surpassed, which brought him into trouble; was assassinated on his estate by his gamekeeper ( - ). courland ( ), a partly wooded and partly marshy province of russia, s. of the gulf of riga; the population chiefly german, and protestants; agriculture their chief pursuit. court de gÉbelin, a french writer, born at nîmes, author of a work entitled "the primitive world analysed and compared with the modern world" ( - ). courtney, william, archbishop of canterbury, no match for wickliffe in debate, but had his revenge in persecuting his followers ( - ). courtois, jacques, a french painter of battle-pieces; became a jesuit, died a monk ( - ). courtrais ( ), a belgian town on the lys. cousin, victor, a french philosopher, born in paris; founder of an eclectic school, which derived its doctrines partly from the scottish philosophy and partly from the german, and which dr. chalmers in his class-room one day characterised jocularly as neither scotch nor german, but just half seas over; he was a lucid expounder, an attractive lecturer, and exerted no small influence on public opinion in france; had a considerable following; retired from public life in , and died at cannes; he left a number of philosophic works behind him, the best known among us "discourses on the true, the beautiful, and the good" ( - ). cousin michael, a disparaging designation of our german kindred, as slow, heavy, unpolished, and ungainly. cousin-montauban, a french general, commanded the chinese expedition of , and, after a victory over the chinese, took possession of pekin ( - ). cousins, samuel, a mezzotint engraver, born at exeter; engraved "bolton abbey," "marie antoinette in the temple," and a number of plates after eminent painters; left a fund to aid poor artists ( - ). couston, the name of three eminent french sculptors: nicolas ( - ); guillaume, father ( - ); and guillaume, son ( - ). couthon, georges, a violent revolutionary, one of a triumvirate with robespierre and st. just, who would expel every one from the jacobin club who could not give evidence of having done something to merit hanging, should a counter-revolution arrive; was paralysed in his limbs from having had to spend a night "sunk to the middle in a cold peat bog" to escape detection as a seducer; trapped for the guillotine; tried to make away with himself under a table, but could not ( - ). coutts, thomas, a banker, born in edinburgh, his father having been lord provost of that city; joint-founder and eventually sole manager of the london banking house, coutts & co.; left a fortune of £ , ( - ). couvade, a custom among certain races of low culture in which a father before and after childbirth takes upon himself the duties and cares of the mother. couza, prince, born at galatz, hereditary prince of moldavia and wallachia; reigned from to ; died in exile, . covenant, solemn league and, an engagement, with representatives from scotland, on the part of the english parliament to secure to the scotch the terms of their national covenant, and signed by honourable members in st. margaret's church, westminster, september , , on the condition of assistance from the scotch in their great struggle with the king. covenant, the national, a solemn engagement on the part of the scottish nation subscribed to by all ranks of the community, the first signature being appended to it in the greyfriars' churchyard, edinburgh, on february , , to maintain the presbyterian church and to resist all attempts on the part of charles i. to foist episcopacy upon it; it was ratified by the scottish parliament in , and subscribed by charles ii. in and . covenanters, a body of strict presbyterians who held out against the breach of the solemn league and covenant. covent garden, properly convent garden, as originally the garden of westminster abbey, the great fruit, flower, and vegetable market of london; is one of the sights of london early on a summer morning. coventry ( ), a town in warwickshire, ½ m. se. of birmingham; famous for the manufacture of ribbons and watches, and recently the chief seat of the manufacture of bicycles and tricycles; in the old streets are some quaint old houses; there are some very fine churches and a number of charitable institutions. coventry, sir john, a member of the long parliament; when, as a member of parliament in charles ii.'s reign, he made reflections on the profligate conduct of the king, he was set upon by bullies, who slit his nose to the bone; a deed which led to the passing of the coventry act, which makes cutting and maiming a capital offence ( - ). coverdale, miles, translator of the english bible, born in yorkshire; his translation was the first issued under royal sanction, being dedicated to henry viii.; done at the instance of thomas cromwell, and brought out in , and executed with a view to secure the favour of the authorities in church and state, displaying a timid hesitancy unworthy of a manly faith in the truth; both he and his translation nevertheless were subjected to persecution, copies of the latter, printed in paris, having been seized by the inquisition and committed to the flames ( - ). coverley, sir roger de, member of the club under whose auspices the _spectator_ is professedly edited; represents an english squire of queen anne's reign. cowell, john, an english lawyer, author of "institutes of the laws of england" and of a law dictionary burnt by the common hangman for matter in it derogatory to the royal authority; _d_. . cowen, frederick hymen, a popular english composer, born in kingston, jamaica; his works consist of symphonies, cantatas, oratories, as well as songs, duets, &c.; is conductor of the manchester subscription concerts in succession to sir charles hallé; _b_. . cowes, a watering-place in the n. of the isle of wight, separated by the estuary of medina into e. and w.; engaged in yacht-building, and the head-quarters of the royal yacht club. cowley, abraham, poet and essayist, born in london; a contemporary of milton, whom he at one time outshone, but has now fallen into neglect; he was an ardent royalist, and catered to the taste of the court, which, however, brought him no preferment at the restoration; he was a master of prose, and specially excelled in letter-writing; he does not seem to have added much to the literature of england, except as an essayist, and in this capacity has been placed at the head of those who cultivated that clear, easy, and natural style which culminated in addison ( - ). cowley, henry wellesley, earl, an eminent diplomatist, brother of the duke of wellington; served as a diplomatist in vienna, constantinople, and switzerland, and was ambassador to france from to ( - ). cowper, william, a popular english poet, born at great berkhampstead, hertford, of noble lineage; lost his mother at six, and cherished the memory of her all his days; of a timid, sensitive nature, suffered acutely from harsh usage at school; read extensively in the classics; trained for and called to the bar; was appointed at a clerk to the house of lords; qualifying for the duties of the appointment proved too much for him, and he became insane; when he recovered, he retired from the world to huntingdon beside a brother, where he formed an intimacy with a family of the name of unwin, a clergyman in the place; on mr. unwin's death he removed with the family to olney, in buckinghamshire, where he lived as a recluse and associated with the rev. john newton and mrs. unwin; shortly after he fell insane again, and continued so for two years; on his recovery he took to gardening and composing poems, his first the "olney hymns," the melancholy being charmed away by the conversation of a lady austin, who came to live in the neighbourhood; it was she who suggested his greatest poem, the "task"; then followed other works, change of scene and associates, the death of mrs. unwin, and the gathering of a darker and darker cloud, till he passed away peacefully; it is interesting to note that it is to this period his "lines to mary unwin" and his "mother's picture" belong ( - ). cox, david, an eminent landscape painter, rated by some next to turner, born at birmingham; began his art as a scene-painter; painted as a landscapist first in water-colour, then in oil; many of his best works are scenes in n. wales; his works have risen in esteem and value; an ambition of his was to get £ for a picture, and one he got only £ for brought £ ( - ). cox, sir george, an english mythologist, specially distinguished for resolving the several myths of greece and the world into idealisations of solar phenomena; he has written on other subjects, all of interest, and is engaged with w. t. brande on a "dictionary of science, literature, and art"; _b_. . coxcie, michael, a celebrated flemish painter, born at mechlin ( - ). coxe, henry octavius, librarian, became assistant-librarian of the bodleian library, oxford, in , and ultimately head-librarian in ; under his direction the catalogue, consisting of folio volumes, was completed; held this post till his death; has edited several works of value; is one of dean burgon's "twelve good men" ( - ). coxe, william, a historical writer, heavy but painstaking, born in london; wrote "history of the house of austria" and the "memoirs of marlborough," and on "sir robert walpole and the pelham administrations" ( - ). coxwell, a celebrated english aëronaut; bred a dentist; took to ballooning; made ascents; reached with glaisher an elevation of m.; _b_. . cozens, john robert, a landscape painter, a natural son of peter the great; pronounced by constable the greatest genius that ever touched landscape, and from him turner confessed he had learned more than from any other landscapist; his mind gave way at last, and he died insane ( - ). crabbe, george, an english poet, born at aldborough, in suffolk; began life as apprentice to an apothecary with a view to the practice of medicine, but having poetic tastes, he gave up medicine for literature, and started for london with a capital of three pounds; his first productions in this line not meeting with acceptance, he was plunged in want; appealing in vain for assistance in his distress, he fell in with burke, who liberally helped him and procured him high patronage, under which he took orders and obtained the living of trowbridge, which he held for life, and he was now in circumstances to pursue his bent; his principal poems are "the library," "the village," "the parish register," "the borough," and the "tales of the hall," all, particularly the earlier ones, instinct with interest in the lives of the poor, "the sacrifices, temptations, loves, and crimes of humble life," described with the most "unrelenting" realism; the author in byron's esteem, "though nature's sternest painter, yet the best" ( - ). cracow ( ), a city in galicia, the old capital of poland; where the old polish kings were buried, and the cathedral of which contains the graves of the most illustrious of the heroes of the country and thorwaldsen's statue of christ; a large proportion of the inhabitants are jews. cradle mountain, a mountain in the w. of tasmania. craig, john, a scottish reformer, educated at st. andrews, and originally a dominican monk; had been converted to protestantism by study of calvin's "institutes," been doomed to the stake by the inquisition, but had escaped; the coadjutor in edinburgh of knox, and his successor in his work, and left a confession and catechism ( - ). craig, sir thomas, an eminent scottish lawyer, author of a treatise on the "jus feudale," which has often been reprinted, as well as three others in latin of less note; wrote in latin verse a poem on queen mary's marriage to darnley ( - ). craigenputtock, a craig or whinstone hill of the puttocks (small hawks), "a high moorland farm on the watershed between dumfriesshire and galloway, m. from dumfries," the property for generations of a family of welshes, and eventually that of their heiress, jane welsh carlyle, "the loneliest spot in all the british dominions," which the carlyles made their dwelling-house in , where they remained for seven years, and where "sartor" was written. "it is certain," carlyle says of it long after, "that for living and thinking in i have never since found in the world a place so favourable.... how blessed," he exclaims, "might poor mortals be in the straitest circumstances if their wisdom and fidelity to heaven and to one another were adequately great!" craik, george little, an english author, born in fife, educated at st. andrews; settled early in london as a littérateur; was associated with charles knight in his popular literary undertakings; was author of the "pursuit of knowledge under difficulties," and the "history of english literature and learning"; edited "pictorial history of england," contributed to "penny cyclopædia," and became professor of english literature, queen's college, belfast ( - ). craik, mrs., _née_ mulock, born at stoke-upon-trent; authoress of "john halifax, gentleman," her chief work, which has had, and maintains, a wide popularity; married in a nephew and namesake of the preceding, a partner of the publishing house of macmillan & co.; wrote for the magazines, besides some more novels ( - ). crail, a little old-fashioned town near the east neuk of fife, where james sharp was minister; a decayed fishing-place, now a summer resort. cramer, johann baptist, a distinguished german composer and pianist ( - ). cranach, lucas, a celebrated german painter, born at kronach, in the bishopric of bamberg; was patronised by frederick the wise, elector of saxony, whom he accompanied in to the holy land; was engraver as well as painter, skilled in portraiture as well as in historical scenes; was intimately associated with the german reformers luther and melanchthon, whose portraits he painted among others; the works of his that remain are chiefly altar-pieces; his chief work is the "crucifixion" in weimar, where he died ( - ). crane, ichabod, a tall, lean, lank, yankee schoolmaster in irving's "legend of sleepy hollow." crane, walter, poet and painter; has published various illustrated books and poems illustrated by himself, and is an authority on decorative art; _b_. . cranmer, thomas, archbishop of canterbury, born in nottinghamshire; educated at jesus college, cambridge; recommended himself to henry viii. by favouring his divorce, writing in defence of it, and pleading for it before the pope, the latter in vain, as it proved; on his return was elevated to the archbishopric, in which capacity he proved a zealous promoter of the reformation, by having the bible translated and circulated, and by the suppression of monasteries; pronounced sentence of divorce of catharine, and confirmed the king's marriage with anne boleyn; by these and other compliances he kept the favour of henry, but on the accession of mary he was committed to the tower and persuaded to recant, and even signed a recantation, but on being called to recant in public, and refusing to do so, he was dragged to the stake, thrust his right hand into the flames, and exclaimed, "oh, this unworthy hand" ( - ). crannoge, a species of lake-dwelling and stronghold, of which remains are found in scotland and ireland. crapaud, jean, a nickname of the frenchmen. crashaw, richard, a minor poet, born in london; bred for the english church; went to paris, where he became a roman catholic; fell into pecuniary difficulties, but was befriended by cowley and recommended to a post; was an imitator of george herbert, and his poems were of the same class, but more fantastical; his principal poems were "steps to the temple" and the "delights of the muses"; both milton and pope are indebted to him ( - ). crassus, lucius licinius, the greatest roman orator of his day, became consul b.c.; during his consulship a law was passed requiring all but citizens to leave rome, an edict which provoked the social war ( - b.c.). crassus, marcus licinius, the triumvir with pompey and cæsar; was avaricious, and amassed great wealth; appointed to the province of syria, provoked out of cupidity war with the parthians, in which he was treacherously slain; orodes, the king, cut off his head, and poured melted gold into his mouth, saying as he did so, "now sate thyself with the metal of which thou wert so greedy when alive" ( - b.c.). crates, a greek cynic philosopher, disciple of diogenes; th century b.c. cratinus, a greek comic poet, born at athens; limited the actors in a piece to three, and the first to introduce into the drama attacks on public men, wrote also satires on vice ( - b.c.). cratippus, a peripatetic philosopher of mytilene, contemporary of pompey and cicero; soothed the sunken spirit of the former after the defeat at pharsalia with the consolations of philosophy. cratylus, a dialogue of plato's on the connection between language and thought. crawford, marion, a novelist, born in tuscany, of american origin, son of the succeeding; spent a good deal of his early years in india, and now lives partly in new york and partly in italy; his works, which are numerous, are chiefly novels, his first "mr. isaacs" ( ), original and striking; an able writer, and a scholarly; _b_. . crawford, thomas, an american sculptor, studied at rome under thorwaldsen; his "orpheus in search of eurydice" brought him into notice, and was followed by an array of works of eminent merit; died in london from a tumour on the brain, after being struck with blindness ( - ). crawford and balcarres, earl of, better known as lord lindsay, and as the author of "letters from the holy land," "progression by antagonism," and "sketches of the history of christian art"; died at florence, and was entombed at dunecht, whence his body was abstracted and found again in a wood near by after a seven months' search ( - ). crayer, caspar de, a celebrated flemish painter, born at antwerp; pictures and altar-pieces by him are to be seen in brussels and ghent ( - ). creakle, mr., a bullying schoolmaster in "david copperfield." creasy, sir edward, chief-justice of ceylon, author of "the fifteen decisive battles of the world," "rise and progress of the british constitution," &c. ( - ). creatin, a substance found in the muscles of vertebrate animals, but never in invertebrate. crÉbillon, a french dramatist, born at dijon, bred to the law, devoted to literature and the composition of tragedies, of which he produced several, mostly on classical subjects, such as "atreus and thyestes," "electra," of unequal merit, though at times of great power; he ranked next voltaire among the dramatists of the time ( - ). crÉcy, a french village, m. ne. of abbeville, where edward iii., with , , defeated the french with , , and destroyed the flower of the chivalry of france, aug. , . crÉdit foncier, a system of credit originating in france on the security of land, whereby the loan is repayable so that principal and interest are extinguished at the same time. creech, william, an edinburgh bookseller, for years the chief publisher in the city; published the first edinburgh edition of burns's poems ( - ). creeks, a tribe of american indians settled in indian territory. creighton, mandell, bishop of london, born at carlisle; previously bishop of peterborough; has written on simon de montfort, on wolsey, and on the tudors and the reformation, but his great work is the "history of the papacy from the great schism to the sack of rome," a work of great value; _b_. . crÉmieux, a french advocate and politician, born at nîmes, of jewish birth; a member of the provisional government of , and of the national defence in ; took a deep interest in the destiny of his race ( - ). cremona, old town on the po, in lombardy, m. se. of milan; interesting for its churches, with their paintings and frescoes; noted at one time for the manufacture of violins. cremorne ( ), gardens in chelsea; a popular place of amusement, now closed. creole state, louisiana, u.s. crescent city, new orleans, u.s., as originally occupying a convex bend of the mississippi. crescentini, a celebrated italian soprano ( - ). crescentius, a patrician of rome who, in the th century, sought to destroy the imperial power and restore the republic; on this he was defeated by otho iii., to whom he surrendered on promise of safety, but who hanged and beheaded him; stephano, his widow, avenged this treachery by accepting otho as her lover, and then poisoning him. crespi, giuseppe, an italian painter; copied the works of correggio, caracci, and other masters ( - ). creswell, sir creswell, judge, born in newcastle; represented liverpool in parliament; was raised to the bench by peel, and, on the establishment of the divorce court, was in named first judge ( - ). creswick, thomas, an english landscape painter, born in sheffield; simple, pleasantly-suggestive, and faithfully-painted scenes from nature were the subjects of his art; was employed a good deal in book illustrations ( - ). crete or candia ( ), a mountainous island in the mediterranean, m. long and from to m. broad; in nominal subjection to turkey after , it was in perpetual revolt. the rising of led to the intervention of the great powers of europe, and the turkish troops having been withdrawn in under pressure from great britain, russia, france, and italy, prince george of greece was appointed high commissioner, ruling on behalf of these powers. turkey still retains the nominal suzerainty. cretinism, a disease prevalent in valleys as those of the alps, characterised by mental imbecility, and associated with abnormal and arrested physical development. creusa, a wife of Æneas, fell behind her husband, lost her way in escaping from troy, and perished. creusot, le ( ), a town in the dep. saône-et-loire, near autun, which owes its importance to the large iron-works established there; is a district rich in coal and iron. creuzer, a learned german philologist, born at marburg; became professor of ancient history and philology at heidelberg; his chief work, and one by which he is most widely known, "symbolik und mythologie der alten völker, besonders der griechen," "symbolism and mythology of ancient peoples, especially the greeks"; left an autobiography ( - ). crewe ( ), a town in cheshire, m. se. of liverpool, a great railway junction, and where the london and north-western railway company have their works. crichton, james, surnamed the admirable, a scotchman of gentle, even noble birth, educated at st. andrews, had george buchanan for tutor; early developed the most extraordinary gifts of both body and mind; travelled to paris, rome, venice, milan, and mantua; astonished every one by his strength and skill as an athlete, and his dexterity and agility in debate; at mantua he became tutor to the son of the duke, when one night he was attacked in the streets by a band of masked men, whom he overcame by his skill, recognised his pupil among them, and presented to him his sword, upon which, it is said, the young man immediately ran him through with it ( - ). crieff ( ), a town in perthshire, at the foot of the grampians, m. w. of perth, amid exquisite scenery; has a climate favourable for invalids. crillon, a french military captain, born at mars, in provence; distinguished himself through five reigns, those of henry ii., francis ii., charles ix., henry iii., and henry iv., of the last of whom he became companion in arms, who designated him _le brave des braves_, and who wrote to him this famous note after the victory of arques: "where were you, brave crillon? we have conquered, and you were not there." ( - ). crimea ( ), a peninsula in the s. of russia, almost surrounded by the black sea and the sea of azov, being connected with the mainland by the narrow isthmus of perekop; has a bold and precipitous coast m. in length; is barren in the n., but fertile and fruitful in the s.; population chiefly russians and tartars. crimean war, a war carried on chiefly in the crimea, on the part of turkey aided by britain and france, in which sardinia eventually joined them, against the encroachments of russia in the e., and which was proclaimed against russia, march , , and ended by the fall of sebastopol, september , , the treaty of peace following having been signed at paris, march . crinan canal, a canal for vessels of light burden, m. long, from loch fyne, in argyllshire, constructed to avoid sailing round the mull of kintyre, thereby saving a distance of m. crispi, francesco, an italian statesman, born in sicily; co-operated with garibaldi in the sicilian revolution, and since active as a member of the government in the kingdom of italy; _b_. . crispin, the patron saint of shoemakers, of noble birth, who with his brother had to flee from persecution in rome to gaul, where they settled at soissons; preached to the people and supported themselves by shoemaking; they finally suffered martyrdom in . festival, oct. . critias, a pupil of socrates, who profited so little by his master's teaching that he became the most conspicuous for his cruelty and rapacity of all the thirty tyrants set up in athens by the spartans ( - b.c.). criton, a rich athenian, friend and disciple of socrates; supported him by his fortune, but could not persuade him to leave the prison, though he had procured the means of escape. croa`tia and slavonia ( , ), a hungarian crownland, lying between the drave and save, tributaries of the danube, and stretching westward to the adriatic. it is half as large as ireland, wooded and mountainous, with marshy districts along the river courses. the soil is fertile, growing cereals, fibres, tobacco, and grapes; silkworms and bees are a source of wealth; horses, cattle, and swine are raised in large numbers. the province is poor in minerals, and lacks a harbour. the people are slavs, of roman catholic faith; backward in education, but showing signs of progress. crockett, samuel rutherford, novelist, born near new galloway, kirkcudbright; bred for the church, and for some time free church minister at penicuik, midlothian, a charge he resigned in , having previously published a volume of sketches entitled "the stickit minister," which was so received as to induce him to devote himself to literature, as he has since done with more or less success; _b_. . croesus, the last of the kings of lydia, in the th century b.c.; celebrated for his wealth, so that his name became a synonym for a man overwhelmed by the favours of fortune; being visited by solon, he asked him one day if he knew any one happier than he was, when the sage answered, "no man can be counted happy till after death." of the truth of this croesus had ere long experience; being condemned to death by cyrus, who had defeated him and condemned him to be burnt, and about to be led to the burning pile, he called out thrice over the name of solon; when cyrus, having learned the reason, moved with pity, ordered his release, retained him among his counsellors, and commended him when dying to the care of his son. croker, john wilson, a politician and man of letters, born in galway, though of english descent; bred for the bar; wrote in advocacy of catholic emancipation; represented downpatrick in parliament; was in appointed secretary to the admiralty, a post he held for years; was one of the founders of the _quarterly review_, to which, it is said, he contributed articles; edited boswell's "life of johnson" with notes; was an obstinate tory, satirised by disraeli and severely handled by macaulay; founded the athenæum club ( - ). croker, t. crofton, irish folk-lorist, born in cork; held a well-paid clerkship in the admiralty; collected and published stories, legends, and traditions of the s. of ireland; he wrote with a humour which was heartily irish; his most original work being "the adventures of barney mahoney"; he was a zealous antiquary; he was a brilliant conversationalist ( - ). croll, james, a geologist, born near coupar-angus; contributed materially to geology by his study of the connection between alterations of climate and geological changes ( - ). croly, george, a versatile author; designed for the church; took to literature, and wrote in all kinds, poetry, biography, and romance; his best romance "salathiel"; died rector of st. stephen's, walbrook ( - ). cromarty, a county in the n. of scotland, consisting of ten fragments scattered up and down ross-shire; the county town, the birthplace of hugh miller, being on the n. side of cromarty firth, which opens eastward into the moray firth, and forms a large harbour m. long and broad, protected at the mouth by two beetling rocks called sutors, one on each side, and ft. high. crome, john, usually called old crome, a landscape-painter, born in norwich, of poor parents; began as a house-painter and then a drawing-master; one of the founders of the norwich society of artists; took his subjects from his native county, and treated them with fidelity to nature; his pictures have risen in value since his death ( - ). crompton, samuel, inventor of the spinning-mule, born near bolton; for five years he worked at his project, and after he got it into shape was tormented by people prying about him and trying to find out his secret; at last a sum was raised by subscription to buy it, and he got some £ for it, by which others became wealthy, while he had to spend, and end, his days in comparative poverty, all he had to subsist on being a life annuity of £ which some friends bought him ( - ). cromwell, oliver, lord-protector of the commonwealth of england, born at huntingdon, the son of robert cromwell, the younger son of sir henry cromwell, and of elizabeth steward, descended from the royal family of scotland, their third child and second boy; educated at huntingdon and afterwards at cambridge; left college at his father's death, and occupied himself in the management of his paternal property; entered parliament in , and represented cambridge in , where to oppose the king he, by commission in from essex, raised a troop of horse, famous afterwards as his "ironsides"; with these he distinguished himself, first at marston moor in , and next year at naseby; crushed the scots at preston in , who had invaded the country in favour of the king, now in the hands of the parliament, and took berwick; sat at trial of the king and signed his death-warrant, ; sent that same year to subdue rebellion in ireland, he sternly yet humanely stamped it out; recalled from ireland, he set out for scotland, which had risen up in favour of charles ii., and totally defeated the scots at dunbar, sept. , , after which charles invaded england and the royalists were finally beaten at worcester, sept. , , upon which his attention was drawn to affairs of government; taking up his residence at hampton court, his first step was to dissolve the rump, which he did by military authority in ; a new parliament was summoned, which also he was obliged to dismiss, after being declared lord-protector; from this time he ruled mainly alone, and wherever his power was exercised, beyond seas even, it was respected; at last his cares and anxieties proved too much for him and wore him out, he fell ill and died, sept. , , the anniversary of his two great victories at dunbar and worcester; they buried him in westminster, but his body was dug up at the restoration, hanged at tyburn, and buried under the gallows; such treatment his body was subjected to after he was gone, and for long after he was no less ignobly treated by several succeeding generations as a hypocrite, a fanatic, or a tyrant; but now, thanks to carlyle, he is come to be regarded as one of the best and wisest rulers that ever sat on the english throne ( - ). see "cromwell's letters and speeches," edited by carlyle. cromwell, richard, son of the protector; appointed to succeed him; was unequal to the task, and compelled to abdicate, april , ; retired into private life; went after the restoration for a time abroad; returned under a feigned name, and lived and died at cheshunt ( - ). cromwell, thomas, minister of henry viii., and _malleus monachorum_, the "mauler of the monks," born at putney; the son of a blacksmith; led a life of adventure for eight or nine years on the continent; settled in england about the beginning of henry's reign; came under notice of wolsey, whose confidant he became, and subordinate agent in suppressing the smaller monasteries; on his master's fall rose into favour with henry by suggesting he should discard the supremacy of the pope, and assume the supremacy of the church himself; attained, in consequence, the highest rank and authority in the state, for the proposal was adopted, with the result that the crown remains the head of ecclesiastical authority in england to this day; the authority he thus acquired he employed in so high-handed a fashion that he lost the favour of both king and people, till on a sudden he was arrested on charges of treason, was condemned to death, and beheaded on tower hill ( - ). cronstadt ( ), the port of st. petersburg, at the mouth of the neva; a strongly fortified place, and the greatest naval station in the country; it is absolutely impregnable. crookes, william, an eminent chemist and physicist, born in london; distinguished for researches in both capacities; discovered the metal thallium, and invented the radiometer; _b_. . cross, mrs., george eliot's married name. cross, southern, a bright constellation in the southern hemisphere, consisting of four stars. cross, victoria, a naval and military decoration instituted in ; awarded for eminent personal valour in the face of the enemy. cross fell, one of the pennine range of mountains in the n. of england, ft., on the top of which five counties meet. crosse, andrew, electrician, born at somersetshire; made several discoveries in the application of electricity; he was a zealous scientist, and apt to be over-zealous ( - ). crossraguel, an abbey, now in ruins, m. sw. of maybole, ayrshire, where john knox held disputation with the abbot, and of which in his "history of the reformation" he gives a humorous account ( ). crotch, william, musical composer of precocious gifts, and writer in music, born in norwich; became, in , professor of music in oxford, and in principal of the royal academy; his anthems are well known ( - ). crotona, an ancient large and flourishing greek city, magna græcia, in italy; the residence of the philosopher pythagoras and the athlete milo. crowe, eyre evans, historian and miscellaneous writer, born in hants; editor of the _daily news_; author of the "history of france" and "lives of eminent foreign statesmen" ( - ). crowe, sir james archer, writer on art and a journalist, born in london, son of the preceding; is associated with cavalcaselle in several works on art and famous artists; _b_. . crowne, john, playwright, born in nova scotia, a contemporary and rival of dryden; supplied the stage with plays for nearly years ( - ). crowther, samuel adjai, bishop of the niger territory; an african by birth; was captured to be sold as a slave, but released by an english cruiser; baptized a christian in ; joined the first niger expedition in ; sent out as a missionary in ; appointed bishop in , the duties of which he discharged faithfully, zealously, and well ( - ). croydon ( ), the largest town in surrey, on the wandle, m. sw. of london bridge, and practically now a suburb of london. cruden, alexander, author of a "complete concordance of the holy scriptures," with which alone his name is now associated; born in aberdeen; intended for the church, but from unsteadiness of intellect not qualified to enter it; was placed frequently in restraint; appears to have been a good deal employed as a press corrector; gave himself out as "alexander the corrector," commissioned to correct moral abuses ( - ). cruikshank, george, a richly gifted english artist, born in london, of scotch descent; the first exhibition of his talent was in the illustration of books for children, but it was in the line of humorous satire he chiefly distinguished himself; and he first found scope for his gifts in this direction in the political squibs of william hone, a faculty he exercised at length over a wide area; the works illustrated by him include, among hundreds of others, "grimm's stories," "peter schlemihl," scott's "demonology," dickens's "oliver twist," and ainsworth's "jack shepherd"; like hogarth, he was a moralist as well as an artist, and as a total abstainer he consecrated his art at length to dramatise the fearful downward career of the drunkard; his greatest work, done in oil, is in the national gallery, the "worship of bacchus," which is a vigorous protestation against this vice ( - ). crusades, the, military expeditions, organised from the th century to the th, under the banner of the cross for the recovery of the holy land from the hands of the saracens, to the number of eight. _the first_ ( - ), preached by peter the hermit, and sanctioned by the council of clermont ( ), consisted of two divisions: one, broken into two hordes, under peter the hermit and walter the penniless respectively, arrived decimated in syria, and was cut to pieces at nicæa by the sultan; while the other, better equipped and more efficiently organised, laid siege to and captured in succession nicæa, antioch, and jerusalem, where godfrey of bouillon was proclaimed king. _the second_ ( - ), preached by st. bernard, consisting of two armies under conrad iii. of germany and louis vii. of france, laid siege in a shattered state to damascus, and was compelled to raise the siege and return a mere remnant to europe. _the third_ ( - ), preached by william, archbishop of tyre, and provoked by saladin's capture of jerusalem, of which one division was headed by barbarossa, who, after taking iconium, was drowned while bathing in the orontes, and the other, headed by philippe augustus and richard coeur de lion, who jointly captured acre and made peace with saladin. _the fourth_ ( - ), under sanction of pope innocent iii., and undertaken by baldwin, count of flanders, having got the length of venice, was preparing to start for asia, when it was called aside to constantinople to restore the emperor to his throne, when, upon his death immediately afterwards, the crusaders elected baldwin in his place, pillaged the city, and left, having added it to the domain of the pope. _the fifth_ ( - ), on the part of john of brienne, king of jerusalem, and andrew ii., king of hungary, who made a raid upon egypt against the saracens there, but without any result. _the sixth_ ( - ), under conduct of frederick ii. of germany, as heir through john of brienne to the throne of jerusalem, who made a treaty with the sultan of egypt, whereby the holy city, with the exception of the mosque of omar, was made over to him as king of jerusalem. _the seventh_ ( - ), conducted by st. louis in the fulfilment of a vow, in which louis was defeated and taken prisoner, and only recovered his liberty by payment of a heavy ransom. _the eighth_ ( ), also undertaken by st. louis, who lay dying at tunis as the towns of palestine fell one after another into the hands of the saracens. the crusades terminated with the fall of ptolemaïs in . crusoe, robinson, the hero of defoe's fiction of the name, a shipwrecked sailor who spent years on an uninhabited island, and is credited with no end of original devices in providing for his wants. see selkirk. csoma de kÖrÖs, alexander, a hungarian traveller and philologist, born in körös, transylvania; in the hope of tracing the origin of the magyar race, set out for the east in , and after much hardship by the way arrived in thibet, where, under great privations, though aided by the english government, he devoted himself to the study of the thibetan language; in settled in calcutta, where he compiled his thibetan grammar and dictionary, and catalogued the thibetan works in the library of the asiatic society; died at darjeeling just as he was setting out for fresh discoveries ( - ). ctesias, greek physician and historian of persia; was present with artaxerxes mnemon at the battle of cunaxa, b.c., and stayed afterwards at the persian court, where he got the materials for his history, of which only a few fragments are extant. ctesiphon, an athenian who, having proposed that the city should confer a crown of gold on demosthenes, was accused by Æschines of violating the law in so doing, but was acquitted after an eloquent oration by demosthenes in his defence. cuba ( , ), the largest of the west india islands, m. long and from m. to m. in breadth; belonged to spain, but is now under the protection of the united states; is traversed from e. to w. by a range of mountains wooded to the summit; abounds in forests--ebony, cedar, mahogany, &c.; soil very fertile; exports sugar and tobacco; principal town, havana. cubbit, sir william, an eminent english engineer, born in norfolk; more or less employed in most of the great engineering undertakings of his time ( - ). cudworth, ralph, an eminent english divine and philosopher, born in somerset; his chief work, a vast and discursive one, and to which he owes his fame, "the true intellectual system of the universe," in which he teaches a philosophy of the platonic type, which ascribes more to the abiding inner than the fugitive outer of things; he defends revealed religion on grounds of reason against both the atheist and the materialist; his candour and liberality exposed him to much misconstruction, and on that account was deemed a latitudinarian. "he stands high among our early philosophers for his style, which, if not exactly elegant and never splendid, is solid and clear" ( - ). cuenca, a fine old city in spain, m. e. of madrid; also a high-lying city of ecuador, over m. s. of quito, with a delightful climate; both in provinces of the same name. cujas, or cujacius, a celebrated french jurist, born at toulouse; devoted to the study of roman law in its historical development, and the true founder of the historical school in that department ( - ). culdees, fraternities of uncertain origin and character scattered up and down ireland, and especially scotland, hardly at all in england, from the th or th to the th century; instituted, as would appear, to keep alive a religious spirit among themselves and disseminate it among their neighbours, until on the establishment of monastic orders in the country they ceased to have a separate existence and lost their individuality in the new communities, as well as their original character; they appear to have been originally, whatever they became at length, something like those fraternities we find later on at deventer, in holland, with which thomas à kempis was connected, only whereas the former sought to plant christianity, the latter sought to purify it. the name disappears after , but traces of them are found at dunkeld, st. andrews, brechin, and elsewhere in scotland; in ireland they continued in armagh to the reformation, and were resuscitated for a few years in the th century. cullen, paul, cardinal, catholic primate of ireland, born in kildare; was an extreme ultramontanist; vigorously opposed all secret societies in the country with revolutionary aims, as well as the system of mixed education then in force ( - ). cullen, william, physician, born at hamilton; studied in glasgow; held successively the chairs of chemistry, the institutes of medicine, and medicine in edinburgh university; author of several medical works; did much to advance the science of medicine; the celebrated dr. black was one of his pupils in chemistry ( - ). culloden, a moor, m. ne. of inverness, where the duke of cumberland defeated prince charles in , and finally wrecked the stuart cause in the country. culpeper, nicholas, a herbalist, born in london, who practised medicine and associated therewith the art of the astrologer as well as the faith of a puritan; was a character and a phenomenon of his time ( - ). culverwel, nathaniel, an english author, born in middlesex; educated at cambridge, and one of the platonist school there; wrote "light of nature," "spiritual optics," "worth of souls," &c., works which evince vigour of thinking as well as literary power ( - ). cumÆ, a considerable maritime city of campania, now in ruins; alleged to be the earliest greek settlement in italy; famous as the residence of the sibyl (q. v.), and a place of luxurious resort for wealthy romans. cumberland ( ), a county in n. of england, of mountain and dale, with good agricultural and pasture land, and a rich coal-field on the coast, as well as other minerals in the interior. cumberland, dr. richard, bishop of peterborough, born in london, educated at cambridge, wrote several works, the chief "an inquiry into the laws of nature," in reply to hobbes, in which he elevates the tendency to produce happiness into something like a moral principle; wrought hard, lived to a great age, and is credited with the saying, "better wear out than rust out" ( - ). cumberland, richard, dramatist, great-grandson of the preceding; was a prolific writer for the stage; the play "the west indian," which established his reputation, was his best ( - ). cumberland, william augustus, duke of, second son of george ii., was defeated at fontenoy by the french in ; defeated the pretender next year at culloden; earned the title of "the butcher" by his cruelties afterwards; was beaten in all his battles except this one ( - ). cumbria, a country of the northern britons which, in the th century, extended from the clyde to the dee, in cheshire. cumming, gordon, the african lion-hunter, of celtic origin; served for a time in the army; wrote an account of his hunting exploits in his "five years of a hunter's life" ( - ). cumming, john, a scotch clergyman, popular in london, born at fintray, in aberdeenshire; of a highly combative turn, and rather foolhardy in his interpretations of prophecy ( - ). cunard, sir samuel, founder of cunard line of steamships, born in halifax, nova scotia ( - ). cunaxa, a town in babylonia, on the euphrates, m. n. of babylon. cunctator, a name given to fabius maximus on account of the tantalising tactics he adopted to wear out his adversary hannibal. cune`iform, an epithet applied to the wedge-shaped characters in which the assyrian and other ancient monumental inscriptions are written. cunningham, allan, poet and man of letters, born in the parish of keir, dumfriesshire; bred to the mason craft, but devoted his leisure hours to study and the composition of scottish ballads, which, when published, gained him the notice of sir walter scott; in he went to london, where he wrote for periodicals, and obtained employment as assistant to chantrey the sculptor, in which post he found leisure to cultivate his literary proclivities, collating and editing tales and songs, editing burns with a life, and writing the lives of famous artists, and died in london; "a pliant, _naturmensch_," carlyle found him to be, "with no principles or _creed_ that he could see, but excellent old _habits_ of character" ( - ). cunningham, peter, son of the preceding, author of the "life of drummond of hawthornden," "handbook of london," &c. ( - ). cunningham, william, a scotch divine, born in hamilton, well read in the reformation and puritan theology, a vigorous defender of scottish orthodoxy, and a stanch upholder of the independence of the church of state control; was a powerful debater, and a host in any controversy in which he embarked ( - ). cupid, or amor, the god of love, viewed as a chubby little boy, armed with bow and arrows, and often with eyes bandaged. cupid and psyche, an allegorical representation of the trials of the soul on its way to the perfection of bliss, being an episode in the "golden ass" of apuleius. see psyche. curaÇa`o ( ), one of antilles, in the west indies, belonging to the dutch, m. long by about broad; yields, along with other west indian products, an orange from the peel of which a liqueur is made in holland. curÉ of meudon, rabelais. cure`tes, priests of cybele, in crete, whose rites were celebrated with clashing of cymbals. cureton, william, syriac scholar, born in shropshire, assistant-keeper of mss. at the british museum; applied himself to the study and collation of syriac mss., and discovered, among other relics, a version of the epistle of ignatius; was appointed canon of westminster ( - ). curiatii, three alban brothers who fought with the three horatii roman brothers, and were beaten, to the subjection of alba to rome. curle, edmund, a london bookseller, notorious for the issue of libellous and of obscene publications, and for prosecutions he was subjected to in consequence ( - ). curling, a scottish game played between rival clubs, belonging generally to different districts, by means of cheese-shaped stones hurled along smooth ice, the rules of which are pretty much the same as those in bowling. curran, john philpot, an irish orator and wit, born in co. cork; became member of parliament in ; though a protestant, employed all his eloquence to oppose the policy of the government towards ireland, together with the union; retired on the death of pitt; was master of the rolls for a time; was irish to the core ( - ). currie, james, a liverpool physician, born in kirkpatrick-fleming, dumfriesshire; was the earliest biographer and editor of burns, in vols., a work he undertook for behoof of his widow and family, and which realised £ , involved no small labour, was done _con amore_, and done well ( - ). currie, sir philip, her majesty's ambassador at constantinople since ; has been connected with the foreign office since ; had been attaché at st. petersburg, and was secretary to lord salisbury; _b_. . curtis, george william, an american writer, born in rhode island, distinguished as contributor or editor in connection with several american journals and magazines; _b_. . curtius, a noble youth of roman legend who leapt on horseback full-armed into a chasm in the forum, which the soothsayers declared would not close unless at the sacrifice of what rome held dearest, and which he did, judging that the wealth of rome lay in its citizens, and tradition says the chasm thereupon immediately closed. curtius, ernst, a german archæologist and philosopher, born at lübeck; travelled in greece and asia minor; contributed much by his researches to the history of greece, and of its legends and works of art; his jubilee as a professor was celebrated in , when he received the congratulations of the emperor william ii., to whose father he at one time had acted as tutor; _b_. . curtius, georg, german philologist, born at lübeck, brother of the preceding; held professorial appointments in prague, kiel, and berlin; one of the best greek scholars in germany, and contributed largely to the etymology and grammar of the greek language ( - ). curtius, quintus rufus, a roman historian of uncertain date; wrote a history of alexander the great in ten books, two of which have been lost, the rest surviving in a very fragmentary state. curtmantle, a surname of henry ii., from a robe he wore shorter than that of his predecessors. curule chair, a kind of ivory camp-stool, mounted on a chariot, on which a roman magistrate, if consul, prætor, censor, or chief edile, sat as he was conveyed in state to the senate-house or some public function. curwen, john, an independent clergyman, born in yorkshire; the founder of the tonic sol-fa system in music; from gave himself up to the advocacy and advancement of his system ( - ). curzon, george nathaniel, lord, english statesman, son of a clergyman, educated at eton and oxford; became fellow of all souls; became under-secretary for india in ; travelled in the east, and wrote on eastern topics, on which he became an authority; was appointed viceroy of india in ; _b_. . cushing, an american jurist and diplomatist ( - ). cushman, charlotte, an american actress, born in boston; represented, among other characters, lady macbeth, rosalind, meg merilees, and romeo ( - ). custine, count de, a french general, born at metz; seized and occupied mayence, ; was forced out of it by the prussians and obliged to retreat; was called to account and sent to the guillotine; "unsuccessfulness," his crime; "had fought in america; was a proud, brave man, and his fortune led him _hither_" ( - ) cÜstrin, a strong little town, or m. e. of berlin, where young frederick the great was kept in close confinement by his father. cutch, a native state in the bombay presidency, in the country called gujarat. cutch, rann of, a salt-water morass between gujarat and scinde, which becomes a lake during the sw. monsoon. cuthbert, a monk of jarrow, a disciple of bede; was with him when he died, and wrote in a letter a graphic and touching account of his death. cuthbert, st., born in northumbria; originally a shepherd; saw a vision in the night-watches of the soul of st. aidan ascending to heaven, which determined his destiny, and he became a monk; entered the monastery of melrose, and eventually became prior, but devoted most of his time to mission-work in the surrounding districts; left melrose to be prior of lindisfarne, but longing for an austerer life, he retired to, and led the life of a hermit on, an island by himself; being persuaded to come back, he acted as bishop of lindisfarne, and continued to act as such for two years, but his previous longings for solitude returned, and he went back to a hermit life, to spend a short season, as it happened, in prayer and meditation; when he died; what he did, and the memory of what he did, left an imperishable impression for good in the whole n. of england and the scottish borders; his remains were conveyed to lindisfarne, and ere long to durham ( - ). cuttack ( ), capital of a district in s. of bengal, at the apex of the delta formed by the mahanuddy; noted for its gold and silver filigree work. cuvier, georges, a celebrated naturalist, born at montebéliard, of huguenot ancestry; the creator of comparative anatomy and palæontology; was educated at stuttgart, where he studied natural science; but the observation of marine animals on the coast of normandy, where he held a tutorship, first led him to the systematic study of anatomy, and brought him into correspondence with geoffroy st. hilaire and others, who invited him to paris, where he prosecuted his investigations, matured his views, and became professor of comparative anatomy at the jardin des plantes, a member of the french institute, and permanent secretary of the academy of sciences, and eventually a peer of france; his labours in the science to which he devoted his life were immense, but he continued to the last a determined opponent of the theory, then being broached and now in vogue, of a common descent ( - ). cuxhaven, a german watering-place at the mouth of the elbe, on the southern bank. cuyp, albert, a celebrated dutch landscape-painter, son of jacob cuyp, commonly called old cuyp, also a landscapist, born at dort; painted scenes from the banks of the meuse and the rhine; is now reckoned a rival of claude, though he was not so in his lifetime, his pictures selling now for a high price; he has been praised for his sunlights, but these, along with claude's, have been pronounced depreciatively by ruskin as "colourless" ( - ). cuzco ( ), a town in peru, about , ft. above the sea-level, the ancient capital of the incas; still retains traces of its former extent and greatness, the inhabitants reckoned as then numbering , , and the civilisation advanced. cybele, a nature-goddess worshipped in phrygia and w. asia, whose worship, like that of the nature divinities generally, was accompanied with noisy, more or less licentious, revelry; identified by the greeks with rhea (q. v.), their nature-goddess. cyclades, islands belonging to greece, on the east or the Ægean sea, so called as forming a circle round delos, the most famous of the group. cyclic poets, poets who after homer's death caught the contagion of his great poem and wrote continuations, additions, &c. cyclopean walls, a name given to structures found in greece, asia minor, italy, and sicily, built of large masses of unhewn stone and without cement, such as it is presumed a race of gigantic strength like the cyclops ( ) must have reared. cyclops, a name given to three distinct classes of mythological beings: ( ) a set of one-eyed savage giants infesting the coasts of sicily and preying upon human flesh; ( ) a set of titans, also one-eyed, belonging to the race of the gods, three in number, viz., brontes, steropes, and arges--three great elemental powers of nature, subjected by and subject to zeus; and ( ) a people of thrace, famed for their skill in building. cymbeline, a legendary british king, and the hero of shakespeare's romance play of the name. cynÆgirus, a brother of Æschylus; distinguished himself at marathon; is famed for his desperate attempt to seize a retreating ship. cynewulf, a saxon poet, flourished at the second half of the th century; seems to have passed through two phases, first as a glad-hearted child of nature, and then as a devout believer in christ; at the former stage wrote "riddles" and "ode to the west wind," at the latter his themes were the lives of christ and certain saints. cynics, a sect of greek philosophers, disciples of antisthenes, who was a disciple of socrates, but carried away with him only part of socrates' teaching and enforced that as if it were the whole, dropped all regard for humanity and the universal reason, and taught that "virtue lay wholly in the avoidance of evil, and those desires and greeds that bind us to enjoyments," so that his disciples were called the "capuchins of the old world." these in time went further than their master, and conceived a contempt for everything that was not self-derived; they derived their name from the gymnasium in athens, where their master taught. cyprian, st., one of the fathers of the church, born at carthage, about the year , converted to christianity in ; devoted himself thereafter to the study of the bible, with the help of tertullian his favourite author; became bishop of carthage in ; on the outbreak of the decian persecution had to flee for his life, ministering to his flock the while by substitutes; on his return, after two years, he was involved in the discussion about the reception of the lapsed; under the valerian persecution was banished; being recalled, he refused to sacrifice to the gods, and suffered martyrdom in ; he was a zealous bishop of the high church type, and the father of such, only on broader lines. festival, sept. . cyprus ( ), a fertile, mountainous island in the levant, capital nicosia ( ); geographically connected with asia, and the third largest in the mediterranean, being m. long and m. broad; government ceded to great britain in by the sultan, on condition of an annual tribute; is a british colony under a colonial governor or high commissioner; is of considerable strategic importance to britain; yields cereals, wines, cotton, &c., and has m. of good road, and a large transit trade. cyrenaics, a sect of greek philosophers, disciples of aristippus, who was a disciple of socrates, but who broke away from his master by divorcing virtue from happiness, and making "pleasure, moderated by reason, the ultimate aim of life, and the supreme good." cyre`ne, a town and greek colony in africa, e. of egypt, extensive ruins of which still exist, and which was the capital of the state, called cyrenaica after it, and the birthland of several illustrious greeks. cyril, st., surnamed the philosopher, along with his brother methodius, the "apostle of the slavs," born in thessalonica; invented the slavonic alphabet, and, with his brother's help, translated the bible into the language of the slavs; _d_. . festival, march . cyril of alexandria, st., born at alexandria, and bishop there; an ecclesiastic of a violent, militant order; persecuted the novatians, expelled the jews from alexandria, quarrelled with the governor, excited a fanaticism which led to the seizure and shameful murder of hypatia; had a lifelong controversy with nestorius, and got him condemned by the council of ephesus, while he himself was condemned by the council at antioch ( ), and both cast into prison; after release lived at peace ( - ). festival, jan. . cyril of jerusalem, st., patriarch of jerusalem, elected , and a father of the greek church; in the arian controversy then raging was a semi-arian, and was persecuted by the strict arians; joined the nicene party at the council of constantinople in ; was an instructor in church doctrine to the common people by his catechisms ( - ). festival, march . cyropÆdia, a work by xenophon, being an idealistic account of the "education of cyrus the great." cyrus, surnamed the great, or the elder, the founder of the persian empire; began his conquests by overthrowing his grandfather astyages, king of the medes; subdued croesus, king of lydia; laid siege to babylon and took it, and finished by being master of all western asia; was a prince of great energy and generosity, and left the nations he subjected and rendered tributary free in the observances of their religions and the maintenance of their institutions; this is the story of the historians, but it has since been considerably modified by study of the ancient monuments ( - b.c.). cyrus, surnamed the younger, second son of darius ii.; conspired against his brother artaxerxes mnemon, was sentenced to death, pardoned, and restored to his satrapy in asia minor; conspired anew, raised a large army, including greek mercenaries, marched against his brother, and was slain at cunaxa, of which last enterprise and its fate an account is given in the "anabasis" of xenophon; _d_. b.c. cythera, the ancient name of cerigo; had a magnificent temple to venus, who was hence called cytheræa. czartoryski, a polish prince, born at warsaw; passed his early years in england; studied at edinburgh university; fought under kosciusko against the russians, and was for some time a hostage in russia; gained favour at the court there, and even a high post in the state; in threw himself into the revolutionary movement, and devoted all his energies to the service of his country, becoming head of the government; on the suppression of the revolution his estates were confiscated; he escaped to paris, and spent his old age there, dying at ( - ). czechs, a branch of the slavonic family that in the later half of the th century settled in bohemia; have a language of their own, spoken also in moravia and part of hungary. czerno`witz ( ), the capital of the austrian province of bukowina, on the pruth. czerny, charles, a musical composer and pianist, born at vienna; had liszt and thalberg for pupils ( - ). czerny, george, leader of the servians in their insurrection against the turks; assisted by russia carried all before him; when that help was withdrawn the turks gained the advantage, and he had to flee; returning after the independence of servia was secured, he was murdered at the instigation of prince milosch ( - ). d dacca ( ), a city m. ne. of calcutta, on a branch of the brahmaputra, once the capital of bengal, and a centre of mohammedanism; famous at one time for its muslins; the remains of its former grandeur are found scattered up and down the environs and half buried in the jungle; it is also the name of a district ( , ), well watered, both for cultivation and commerce. dacia, a roman province, n. of the danube and s. of the carpathians. dacier, andrÉ, a french scholar and critic, born at castres, in languedoc; assisted by his wife, executed translations of various classics, and produced an edition of them known as the "delphin edition" ( - ). dacier, madame, distinguished hellenist and latinist, wife of the preceding, born in saumur ( - ). dacoits, gangs of semi-savage indian brigands and robbers, often or in a gang. da costa, isaac, a dutch poet, born at amsterdam, of jewish parents; turned christian, and after the death of bilderdijk was chief poet of holland ( - ). dÆdalus, an architect and mechanician in the greek mythology; inventor and constructor of the labyrinth of crete, in which the minotaur was confined, and in which he was also imprisoned himself by order of minos, a confinement from which he escaped by means of wings fastened on with wax; was regarded as the inventor of the mechanic arts. daghestan ( ), a russian province w. of the caspian sea, traversed by spurs of the caucasus mountains; chief town derbend. dago, a marshy russian island, n. of the gulf of riga, near the entrance of the gulf of finland. dagobert i., king of the franks, son of clotaire ii., reformed the laws of the franks; was the last of the merovingian kings who knew how to rule with a firm hand; the sovereign power as it passed from his hands was seized by the mayor of the palace; _d_. . dagon, the national god of the philistines, represented as half-man, sometimes half-woman, and half-fish; appears to have been a symbol to his worshippers of the fertilising power of nature, familiar to them in the fruitfulness of the sea. daguerreotype, a process named after its inventor, louis daguerre, a frenchman, of producing pictures by means of the camera on a surface sensitive to light and shade, and interesting as the first step in photography. dahl, a norwegian landscape-painter, born at bergen; died professor of painting at dresden ( - ). dahlgren, john adolph, a u.s. naval officer and commander; invented a small heavy gun named after him; commanded the blockading squadron at charleston ( - ). dahlmann, friedrich christoph, a german historian and politician, born at wismar; was in favour of constitutional government; wrote a "history of denmark," "histories of the french revolution and of the english revolution"; left an unfinished "history of frederick the great" ( - ). dahn, felix, a german jurist, historian, novelist, and poet, born in hamburg; a man of versatile ability and extensive learning; became professor of german jurisprudence at königsberg; _b_. . dahna desert, the central division of the arabian desert. dahomey ( ), a negro kingdom of undefined limits, and under french protectorate, in w. africa, n. of the slave coast; the religious rites of the natives are sanguinary, they offer human victims in sacrifice; is an agricultural country, yields palm-oil and gold dust, and once a great centre of the slave-trade. daÏri, the mikado's palace or his court, and sometimes the mikado himself. dako`ta, north and south ( ), three times as large as england, forming two states of the american union; consist of prairie land, and extend n. from nebraska as far as canada, traversed by the missouri; yield cereals, especially wheat, and raise cattle. dalai-lama, chief priest of lamaism, reverenced as a living incarnation of deity, always present on earth in him. see lamaism. dalayrac, celebrated french composer; author of a number of comic operas ( - ). dalberg, baron de, an eminent member of a noble german family; trained for the church; was a prince-bishop; a highly cultured man, held in high esteem in the weimar court circles, and a friend of goethe and schiller; an ecclesiastic, as one might suppose, only in name ( - ). dalberg, duc de, nephew of the preceding; contributed to political changes in france in , and accompanied talleyrand to the congress of vienna ( - ). d'albret, jeanne, queen of navarre, and mother of henry iv. of france; came to paris to treat about the marriage of her son to charles ix.'s sister; died suddenly, not without suspicion of foul-play, after signing the treaty; she was a protestant ( - ). d'alembert, a french philosopher, devoted to science, and especially to mathematics; along with diderot established the celebrated "encyclopédie," wrote the preliminary discourse, and contributed largely to its columns, editing the mathematical portion of it; trained to quiet and frugality, was indifferent to wealth and honour, and a very saint of science; no earthly bribe could tear him away from his chosen path of life ( - ). dalgarno, lord, a heartless profligate in the "fortunes of nigel." dalgetty, dugald, a swaggering soldier of fortune in the "legend of montrose," who let out his services to the highest bidder. dalhousie, james andrew broun-ramsay, marquis of, governor-general of india, third son of the ninth earl; as lord ramsay served in parliament as member for haddingtonshire; on his father's death in entered the house of lords; held office under sir robert peel and lord russell; went to india as governor-general in ; ruled vigorously, annexed territory, developed the resources of the country, projected and carried out important measures for its welfare; his health, however, gave way at the end of eight years, and he came home to receive the thanks of the parliament, elevation in the peerage, and other honours, but really to end his days in pain and prostration; dying without male issue, he was succeeded in the earldom by fox maule, lord panmure ( - ). dalkeith ( ), a grain-market town in midlothian, m. se. of edinburgh, with a palace adjoining, a seat of the duke of buccleuch. dallas, george mifflin, an american diplomatist, born in philadelphia; represented the united states as ambassador at st. petersburg and at london, and was from to vice-president ( - ). dalmatia ( ), a crownland of austria, lying along the ne. coast of the adriatic, and bounded on the land side by croatia, bosnia, and herzegovina; half the land is pasture, only one-ninth of it arable, which yields cereals, wine, oil, honey, and fruit. dalri`ads, a celtic race who came over from ireland to argyllshire, and established a kingdom in the sw. of scotland, till king kenneth macalpin succeeded in , who obtained rule both over it and the northern kingdom of the picts, and became the first king of scotland. dalrymple, alexander, hydrographer to the admiralty and the east india company, born at new hailes, and brother of lord hailes; produced many good maps ( - ). dalton, john, chemist and physicist, born near cockermouth, of a quaker family; took early an interest in meteorology, and kept through life a record of meteorological observations; taught mathematics and physics in manchester; made his first appearance as an author in in a volume of his observations and essays, and in published "a new system of chemical philosophy," which he finished in ; famous for his experiments on the elastic force of steam, for his researches on the proportional weights of simple bodies, for his discovery of the atomic theory, as also for his investigations on colour-blindness by experimenting on himself and his brother, who along with himself was colour-blind ( - ). daltonism, colour-blindness (q. v.). see dalton, john. dalziel, thomas, general, born in linlithgowshire; being hand-idle at home, entered the russian service against the turks; returning at the request of charles ii., was appointed commander-in-chief in scotland; suppressed a rising of the covenanters at pentland in ; never once shaved his beard after the execution of charles i. ( - ). daman, a portuguese settlement with a port of the same name in gujarat, india, m. n. of bombay. dam`araland, a territory on the w. coast of south africa, n. of namaqualand; the chief industry is pastoral; the mountain districts, which are rich in minerals, particularly copper, are inhabited by damaras, who are nomads and cattle-rearers; it is a german protectorate since . damas, colonel comte de, a devoted adherent of louis xvi., and one of his convoys on his attempt at flight. damascus ( ), the capital of syria, one of the oldest cities in the world; stands ft. above the sea-level; is a great centre of the caravan trade; is embosomed in the midst of gardens and orchards, hence its appearance as the traveller approaches it is most striking; its history goes as far back as the days of abraham; it was the scene of two great events in human destiny--the conversion of st. paul, and, according to moslem tradition, a great decisive moment in the life of mahomet, when he resolutely turned his back once for all on the pleasures of the world. damasus, st., pope from to , a spaniard; a zealous opponent of the arians and a friend of st. jerome, who, under his sanction, executed his translation of the bible into the vulgate; there was a damasus ii., pope in . dame aux camÉlias, la, a romance and a drama by alexander dumas _fils_, one of his best creations. damien, father, a french priest, born at louvain; devoted his life to nurse and instruct the lepers in an island of the hawaian group, and, though after years infected with the disease himself, continued to minister to them till his death ( - ). damiens, robert franÇois, the would-be assassin of louis xv., born near arras; aimed at the king as he was entering his carriage at trianon, but failed to wound him mortally; was mercilessly tortured to death; was known before as _robert le diable_; his motive for the act was never known ( - ). damietta ( ), a town, the third largest, in egypt, on an eastern branch of the nile, m. from its mouth; has a trade in grain, rice, hides, fish, &c.; was taken by st. louis in , and restored on payment of his ransom from captivity. damocles, a flatterer at the court of the elder dionysius, tyrant of syracuse, whom, after one day extravagantly extolling the happiness of kings, dionysius set down to a magnificent banquet, but who, when seated at it, looked up and saw a sword hanging over his head suspended by a single hair; a lesson this which admonished him, and led him to change his views of the happiness of kings. damon and pythias, two pythagoreans of syracuse of the days of dionysius i., celebrated for their friendship; upon the latter having been condemned to death, and having got leave to go home to arrange his affairs beforehand, the former pledged his life for his return, when just as, according to his promise, he presented himself at the place of execution, pythias turned up and prepared to put his head on the block; this behaviour struck the tyrant with such admiration, that he not only extended pardon to the offender, but took them both into his friendship. dampier, william, an english navigator and buccaneer; led a roving and adventurous life, and parting company with his comrades, set off on a cruise in the south seas; came home and published a "voyage round the world"; this led to his employment in further adventures, in one of which alexander selkirk accompanied him, but was wrecked on juan fernandez; in his last adventure, it is said, he rescued selkirk and brought him home ( - ). dana, charles anderson, american journalist, member of brook farm (q. v.), and became editor of the _new york tribune_, the _sun_, and a cyclopædia: _b_. . dana, james dwight, american mineralogist and geologist, born at utica, new york state; was associated as scientific observer with commodore wilkes on his arctic and antarctic exploring expeditions, on the results of which he reported; became geological professor in yale college; author of works on mineralogy and geology, as also on south sea volcanoes ( - ). dana, richard henry, an american poet and critic; editor of the _north american review_, author of the "dying raven," the "buccaneer," and other poems ( - ). dana, richard henry, a son of the preceding, lawyer; author of "two years before the mast" ( - ). danaË, daughter of acrisius, king of argos, confined by her father in an inaccessible tower of brass to prevent the fulfilment of an oracle that she should be the mother of a son who would kill him, but zeus found access to her in the form of a shower of gold, and she became the mother of perseus, by whose hand acrisius met his fate. see perseus. dana`ides, daughters of danaüs, who, for murdering their husbands on the night after marriage, were doomed in the nether world to the impossible task of filling with water a vessel pierced with holes. see danaÜs. danaÜs, son of belus, and twin-brother of Ægyptus, whom fearing, he fled from with his fifty daughters to argos, where he was chosen king; by-and-by the fifty sons of Ægyptus, his brother, came to argos to woo, and were wedded to, their cousins, whom their father provided each with a dagger to murder her husband, which they did, all except hypermnestra, whose husband, lynceus, escaping, succeeded her father as king, to the defeat of the old man's purpose in the crime. danby, francis, painter, born near wexford; settled for a time in bristol, then in switzerland, and finally at exmouth; his works are mostly landscape, instinct with feeling, but some of them are historical, the subjects being taken from scripture, as the "passage of the red sea," or from pagan sources, as "marius among the ruins of carthage" ( - ). dance, george, english architect; was architect to the city of london, and designed the mansion house, his chief work ( - ). george, his son, built newgate prison ( - ). dance of death, an allegorical representation in a dramatic or pictorial form of death, figuring, originally as a skeleton, and performing his part as a chief actor all through the drama of life, and often amid the gayest scenes of it; a succession of woodcuts by holbein in representation of this dance is well known. dancing mania, an epidemic of frequent occurrence, especially in german towns, during the middle ages, of the nature of hysteria, showing itself in convulsive movements beyond the control of the will, and in delirious acts, sometimes violently suicidal; the most signal occurrence of the mania was at aix-la-chapelle in july . dancourt, florent carton, french dramatist, a prolific author; a favourite of louis xiv.; wrote comedies, chiefly on the follies of the middle classes of the time ( - ). dandie dinmont, a humorous, jovial store-farmer in "guy mannering." dandin, george, one of molière's comedies, illustrative of the folly a man commits when he marries a woman of higher rank than his own, george being his impersonation of a husband who has patiently to endure all the extravagant whims and fancies of his dame of a wife. dandin, perrin, a simple citizen in the "pantagruel" of rabelais, who seats himself judge-wise on the first stump that offers, and passes offhand a sentence in any matter of litigation; a character who figures similarly in a comedy of racine's, and in a fable of la fontaine's. dan`dolo, a venetian family that furnished four doges to the republic, enrico being the most illustrious; chosen doge in his eighty-fourth year, assisted the crusaders of the fourth crusade with ships; joined them, when blind and aged , in laying siege to constantinople; led the attack by sea, and was the first to leap ashore; was offered the imperial crown, but declined it; died instead "despot" of roumania in , at . danegelt, originally a tax imposed on land to buy off the danes from the shores of england, and subsequently for other objects, such as the defence of the coast; abolished by henry ii., though re-imposed subsequently under other names. danelagh, a district in the e. of england, n. of the thames; dominated at one time more or less by the danes; of vague extent. dangeau, marquis, author of "memoirs" affecting the court of louis xiv. and its manners ( - ). d'angoulÊme, duchesse, daughter of louis xvi. and marie antoinette; was released from restraint after the execution of her parents in exchange for prisoners in the royalist's hands; fled to vienna, where she was driven forth; married her cousin, to whom she was early betrothed; could find no place of safe refuge but in england; returned to france on napoleon's exile to elba, and headed a body of troops against him on his return; after waterloo, returned to france and stayed till july , and lived to see louis philippe, in , driven from the throne; napoleon called her "the only man of her family"; left "memoirs" ( - ). dangs, the, a forest district in the n. of the presidency of bombay, occupied by fifteen wild tribes, each under a chief. daniel, a hebrew of fine physique and rare endowment, who was, while but a youth, carried captive to babylon, and trained for office in the court of the king; was found, after three years' discipline, to excel "in wisdom and understanding" all the magicians and enchanters of the realm, of which he gave such proof that he rose step by step to the highest official positions, first in the babylonian and then in the persian empire. he was a hebrew prophet of a new type, for whereas the old prophet had, for the most part, more regard to the immediate present and its outlooks, his eye reached forth into the future and foresaw in vision, as his book has foretold in symbol, the fulfilment of the hope for which the fathers of his race had lived and died. daniel, samuel, english poet, born near taunton; wrote dramas and sonnets; his principal production a "history of the civil wars" of york and lancaster, a poem in seven books; is called the "well-englished daniel," and is much admired for his style; in prose he wrote a "history of england," and a "defence of rhyme," which swinburne pronounces to be "one of the most perfect examples of sound sense, of pure style, and of just judgment in the literature of criticism"; he is associated with warner and drayton as having given birth to "a poetry which has devoted itself to extol the glory of england" ( - ). daniell, john frederick, a distinguished chemist, born in london; professor of chemistry in king's college, london; wrote "meteorological essays," and "introduction to chemical philosophy"; invented a hygrometer and an electric battery ( - ). daniell, william, an eminent draughtsman; spent his early life in india; author of "oriental scenery," in six folio vols. ( - ). danites, or destroying angels, a band of mormons organised to prevent the entrance into mormon territory of other than mormon immigrants, but whose leader, for a massacre they perpetrated, was in convicted and shot. dannecker, johann heinrich von, a distinguished german sculptor, born near stuttgart, and educated by the duke of würtemberg, who had become his patron; became professor of sculpture in the academy at stuttgart; his earlier subjects were from the greek mythology, and his later christian, the principal of the latter being a colossal "christ," which he took eight years to complete; he executed besides busts of contemporaries, which are wonderful in expression, such as those of schiller, lavater, and glück; "ariadne on the panther" is regarded as his masterpiece ( - ). dante alighieri, the great poet of italy, "the voice of ten silent centuries," born in florence; was of noble birth; showed early a great passion for learning; learned all that the schools and universities of the time could teach him "better than most"; fought as a soldier; did service as a citizen; at thirty-five filled the office of chief magistrate of florence; had, while but a boy of ten, "met a certain beatrice portinari, a beautiful girl of his own age and rank, and had grown up in partial sight of her, in some distant intercourse with her," who became to him the ideal of all that was pure and noble and good; "made a great figure in his poem and a great figure in his life"; she died in ; he married another, "not happily, far from happily; in some civic guelf-ghibelline strife he was expelled the city, and his property confiscated; tried hard to recover it, even 'with arms in his hand,' but could not, and was doomed, 'whenever caught, to be burned alive'; invited to confess his guilt and return, he sternly answered: 'if i cannot return without calling myself guilty, i will never return.'" from this moment he was without home in this world; and "the great soul of dante, homeless on earth, made its home more and more in that awful other world ... over which, this time-world, with its florences and banishments, flutters as an unreal shadow." dante's heart, long filled with this, brooding over it in speechless thought and awe, bursts forth at length into "mystic unfathomable song," and this, his "divine comedy" (q. v.), the most remarkable of all modern books, is the result. he died after finishing it, not yet very old, at the age of . he lies buried in his death-city ravenna, "shutout from my native shores." the florentines begged back his body in a century after; the ravenna people would not give it ( - ). see carlyle's "heroes and hero-worship," and dean plumptre's "life of dante." danton, georges jacques, "the titan of the forlorn hope" of the french revolution, born at arcis-sur-aube, "of good farmer people ... a huge, brawny, black-browed man, with a waste energy as of a hercules"; an advocate by profession, "esurient, but with nothing to do; found paris and his country in revolt, rose to the front of the strife; resolved to do or die"; the cause threatened, he threw himself again and again into the breach defiant, his motto "to dare, and to dare, and again to dare," so as to put and keep the enemy in fear; "let my name be blighted," he said, "what am i? the cause alone is great, and will live and not perish"; but the "sea-green" (q. v.) viewed him with jealousy, held him suspect, had him arrested, brought before the revolutionary tribunal, the severity of whose proceedings under him he had condemned, and sentenced to the guillotine; a reflection of his in prison has been recorded: "oh, it were better to be a poor fisherman than to meddle with governing of men." "no weakness, danton," he said to himself on the scaffold, as his heart began to sink within him as he thought of his wife. his last words were to samson the headsman: "thou wilt show my head to the people, it is worth showing"; words worthy of the brother of mirabeau, who died saying, "i wish i could leave my head behind me, france needs it just now"; a man fiery-real, as has been said, genuine to the core, with many sins, yet lacking that greatest of sins, cant. "he was," says mr. belloc, "the most french, the most national, the nearest to the mother of all the revolutionary group. he summed up france ... when we study him, we see france" ( - ). see carlyle's "french revolution." dantzig ( ), the capital of w. prussia, once a hanse town, on the vistula, m. from the mouth; one of the great ports and trading centres of germany and in the n. of europe; it is traversed by canals, and many of the houses are built on piles of wood; exports grain brought down the river on timber rafts from the great grain country in the s.; it is one of the chief stations of the german navy. danube, the, the great south-eastward-flowing river of europe, m. in length, rises in the black forest, and is divided into upper, middle, and lower; the upper extends as far as pressburg, begins to be navigable to ulm, flows ne. as far as ratisbon, and then bends se. past vienna; the middle extends from pressburg to the iron gate, enclosing between its gorges a series of rapids, below orsova; and the lower extends from the iron gate to the black sea. it receives numerous tributary rivers, of them navigable, in its course; forms with them the great water highway of the se. of europe, and is of avail for traffic to all the races and nations whose territories it traverses; the navigation of the river is free indeed to all nations. danubian principalities, moldavia and wallachia. danville, the name of several towns in the united states. d'anville, geographer to the king of france; left numerous valuable maps and geographical works ( - ). daphne (lit. a laurel), a nymph chased by apollo, transformed into a laurel as he attempts to seize her; henceforth sacred to the god. daphnis, a sicilian shepherd, the mythical inventor of pastoral poetry. dapsang, the highest of the karakorum mountains. d'arblay, madame, a distinguished novelist, daughter of dr. burney, the historian of music; authoress of "evelina" and "cecilia," the first novels of the time, which brought her into connection with all her literary contemporaries, johnson in chief; left "diary and letters" ( - ). darboy, georges, archbishop of paris: was a defender of the gallican liberties of the church; had been assiduous in offices of benevolence during the siege of paris; was arrested as a hostage by the communists, and shot ( - ). darby and joan, a married couple celebrated for their mutual attachment. darbyites, the plymouth brethren (q. v.), from the name of one of their founders, a man of scholarly ability and culture, and the chief expounder of their views ( - ). dardanelles, a strait extending between the archipelago and the sea of marmora, anciently called the hellespont, m. long, from to broad; commanded by turkey, both sides of the strait being strongly fortified. dardanus, a son of zeus and electra, mythical ancestor of the trojans; originally a king in greece. darfur ( ), a district in the egyptian soudan, in which vegetation is for the most part dormant all the year round, except from june to september, when it is rank and rich; was snatched from egypt by the mahdi, but is now restored. d'argens, marquis, born at aix; disinherited owing to his misconduct; turned author, and became a protégé of frederick the great, but lost caste with him too, and was deprived of his all once more ( - ). d'argenson, comte, an eminent french statesman, head of the police in paris; introduced _lettres de cachet_, and was a patron of the french philosophes; had the "encyclopédie" dedicated to him; fell out of favour at court, and had to leave paris, but returned to die there ( - ). daric, a gold coin current in ancient persia, stamped with an archer kneeling, and weighing little over a sovereign. darien, gulf of, an inlet of the caribbean sea, nw. of s. america. for isthmus of, see panama. darien scheme, a project to plant a colony on the atlantic side of the isthmus, which was so far carried out that some left scotland in to establish it, but which ended in disaster, and created among the scotch, who were the chief sufferers, an animus against the english, whom they blamed for the disaster, an animus which did not for long die out. darius i., eldest son of hystaspes, king of the persians; subdued subject places that had revolted, reorganised the empire, carried his conquests as far as india, subdued thrace and macedonia, declared war against the athenians; in b.c. sent an expedition against greece, which was wrecked in a storm off athos; sent a second, which succeeded in crossing over, but was defeated in a famous battle at marathon, b.c. darius ii., called ochus or nothus, king of the persians; subject to his eunuchs and his wife parysatis; his reign was a succession of insurrections; he supported the spartans against the athenians, to the ascendency of the former in the peloponnesus; _d_. b.c. darius iii., surnamed codomannus, king of the persians, a handsome man and a virtuous; could not cope with alexander of macedon, but was defeated by him in successive engagements at granicus, issus, and arbela; was assassinated on his flight by bessus (q. v.), one of his satraps, in b.c.; with him the persian empire came to an end. darjeeling ( ), a sanitary station and health resort in the lower himalayas, and the administrative head-quarters of the district, ft. above the level of the sea; it has greatly increased of late years. darley, george, poet and critic, born in dublin; author of "sylvia" and "nepenthe"; wrote some good songs, among them "i've been roaming," once very popular; much belauded by coleridge; contributed to the _athenæum_ ( - ). darling, a tributary of the murray river, in australia, now stagnant, now flooded. darling, grace, a young maiden, daughter of the lighthouse keeper of one of the farne islands, who with her father, amid great peril, saved the lives of nine people from the wreck of the _forfarshire_, on sept. , ; died of consumption ( - ). darlington ( ), a town in s. of durham, on the tees, with large iron and other works; a considerable number of the inhabitants belong to the society of friends. darmesteter, james, orientalist, born in lorraine, of jewish descent; a distinguished zend scholar and authority in zend literature; in the interpretation of the zend and other ancient literatures was of the modern critical school ( - ). darmstadt ( ), the capital of the grand-duchy of hesse-darmstadt, on the darm, an affluent of the rhine, m. s. of frankfort; is divided into an old and a new town; manufactures tobacco, paper, carpets, chemicals, &c. darnley, henry stuart, lord, eldest son of the earl of lennox and grand-nephew of henry viii.; husband of queen mary; was murdered on feb. , , in kirk-o'-field, which stood on the site of the present university of edinburgh. dartmoor, moor in devonshire, a tableland of an average height of ft. above the sea-level, and of upwards of , acres in extent, incapable of cultivation, but affording pasturage for sheep, of which it breeds a small hardy race; it has rich veins of minerals; abounds in british remains, and contains a large convict prison. daru, comte, a french administrator and littérateur, born at montpellier; translated horace when in prison during the reign of terror; served as administrator under napoleon; on the return of the bourbons devoted himself to letters, and wrote the "history of the republic of venice" ( - ). darwin, charles robert, great english naturalist and biologist, born at shrewsbury, grandson of erasmus darwin on his father's side, and of josiah wedgwood on his mother's; studied at edinburgh and cambridge; in accompanied as naturalist without salary the _beagle_ in her voyage of exploration in the southern seas, on the condition that he should have the entire disposal of his collections, all of which he got, and which he ultimately distributed among various public institutions; he was absent from england for five years, and on his return published in his "naturalist's voyage round the world," in - accounts of the fruits of his researches and observations in the departments of geology and natural history during that voyage, in his treatise on the "structure and distribution of coral reefs," and in his work on the "origin of species by means of natural selection," a work which has proved epoch-making and gone far to revolutionise thought in the scientific study of, especially, animated nature, and is being applied to higher spheres of being; this work was followed by others more or less confirmatory, finishing off with "the descent of man" in , in which he traces the human race to an extinct quadrumanous animal related to that which produced the orang-outang, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla. he may be said to have taken evolution out of the region of pure imagination, and by giving it a basis of fact, to have set it up as a reasonable working hypothesis. prof. a. r. wallace claims for darwin "that he is the newton of natural history, and has ... by his discovery of the law of natural selection and his demonstration of the great principles of the preservation of useful variations in the struggle for life, not only thrown a flood of light on the process of development of the whole organic world, but also established a firm foundation for the future study of nature." he was buried in westminster abbey ( - ). darwin, erasmus, physician and natural philosopher, born in nottinghamshire; studied at cambridge and edinburgh; practised medicine in lichfield, and finally settled in derby; occupied his mind with the study of fanciful analogies in the different spheres of nature, and committed his views, often not without genuine poetic sentiment and melody of expression, to verse, while in the views themselves there have been recognised occasional glimpses of true insight, and at times a foreshadow of the doctrine developed on strict scientific lines by his illustrious grandson. his chief poetic works were the "botanic garden" and the "zoonomia; or, the laws of organic life," deemed, in the philosophy of them, not unworthy of criticism by such sane thinkers as paley and dugald stewart ( - ). darwinian theory, the theory established by darwin that the several species of plants and animals now in existence were not created in their present form, but have been evolved by natural law of descent, with modifications of structure, from cruder forms. see darwin, c. r. dasent, sir george webbe, icelandic scholar, born at st. vincent, west indies; studied at oxford; from to was assistant-editor of the _times_; has translated "the prose, or younger, edda" and norse tales and sagas; written also novels, and contributed to reviews and magazines; _b_. . dash, countess, the _nom de plume_ of the viscountess de saint-mars, a french novelist, born at poitiers; in straits for a living, took desperately to writing; treated of aristocratic life and its hollow artificialities and immoralities ( - ). dashkoff, a russian princess of note; played a part in the conspiracy which ended in the elevation of catharine ii. to the throne; was a woman of culture; founded the russian academy; projected and assisted in the compilation of a russian dictionary; died at moscow ( - ). dates of epoch-making events, the ascendency in athens of pericles ( b.c.); the fall of the persian empire ( b.c.); the death of alexander the great ( b.c.); the reduction of greece to a roman province, and the ruin of carthage ( b.c.); the battle of actium ( b.c.); birth of christ, th year of augustus; commencement of the middle ages ( ); ruin of the roman empire by the barbarians ( ); clovis, ruler of gaul ( ); the flight of mahomet ( ); charlemagne, emperor of the west ( ); treaty of verdun ( ); the crusades ( - ); employment of cannon at crécy ( ); invention of printing ( ); taking of constantinople by mahomet ii. ( ); discovery of america by columbus ( ); copernican system published ( ); accession of leo x. as pope ( ); the reformation of luther ( ); publication of bacon's "novum organon" ( ); publication of descartes's "discourse on method" ( ); the peace of westphalia ( ); reign of louis xiv. at its height, and peace of nimeguen ( ); publication of newton's theory of gravitation ( ); watt's invention of the steam-engine ( ); independence of the united states ( ); _coup d'état_ of th brumaire ( ); waterloo, and congress of vienna ( ); introduction of railroads into england ( ); first attempt at electric telegraphy in france ( ); africa traversed by livingstone ( - ); publication of darwin's "origin of species" ( ); opening of the suez canal ( ); proclamation of the german empire ( ); congress of berlin ( ). daubenton, louis jean marie, a french naturalist, born at montbard; associated with buffon in the preparation of the first vols. of his "histoire naturelle," and helped him materially by the accuracy of his knowledge, as well as his literary qualifications; contributed largely to the "encyclopédie," and was years curator of the cabinet of natural history at paris ( - ). daubeny, charles, english chemist and botanist, author of "a description of active and extinct volcanoes," an "introduction to the atomic theory," and other works, all like the latter more or less related to chemistry ( - ). d'aubignÉ, merle, a popular church historian, born near geneva; studied under neander at berlin; became pastor at hamburg, court-preacher at brussels, and professor of church history at geneva; his reputation rests chiefly on his "history of the reformation in the sixteenth century" ( - ). d'aubignÉ, theodore agrippa, a historian, bred to the military profession; held appointments under henry iv., on whose assassination he returned to geneva, where he wrote his "histoire universelle," which had the honour to be burned by the common hangman in paris; was a satirical writer; grandfather to mme. de maintenon ( - ). daubigny, charles franÇois, a french landscape painter and skilful etcher, born in paris, attained distinction as an artist late in life ( - ). d'aubusson, pierre, grand-master of the order of st. john of jerusalem, of french origin; served under the emperor sigismund against the turks; went to rhodes; became a knight of st. john, and was chosen grand-master; defended rhodes against , turks, and thus stayed the career of mahomet ii., who, after establishing himself in constantinople, was threatening to overrun europe ( - ). daudet, alphonse, a noted french novelist of great versatility, born at nîmes, of poor parents; early selected literature as his career in life; wrote poems and plays, and contributed to the _figaro_ and other journals; worked up into his novels characters and situations that had come under his own observation, often in too satirical a vein to become universally popular; has been likened to dickens in his choice of subjects and style of treatment; died suddenly ( - ). d'aulnoy, the countess, authoress of charmingly-written "contes des fées" (fairy tales), and on which her reputation rests ( - ). daumier, henri, a french caricaturist of great fertility and playfulness of genius, born at marseilles; became blind in his old age ( - ). daun, karl, german theologian, born at cassel, professor at heidelberg, sought to ground theology on a philosophic basis, and found what he sought in the philosophy of hegel ( - ). daun, leopold, graf von, an able austrian general, born at vienna; distinguished himself by his prudence and valour in the seven years' war, gained a victory over frederick the great at kolin in , and another at hochkirch in ; could prevail little or not at all against frederick afterwards as soon as frederick saw through his tactics, which he was not long in doing ( - ). dauphin, a name originally given to the _seigneurs_ of the province of dauphiné, in allusion to the dolphin which several members of the family wore as a badge, but in given to the heir-presumptive to the crown of france, when humbert ii., dauphin of vienne, ceded dauphiné to philippe of valois, on condition that the eldest son of the king of france should assume the title, a title which was abolished after the revolution of . the word signifies dolphin in french. dauphinÉ, a sw. province of france, of which the capital was grenoble; annexed to the french crown under philippe ii. in . daurat, jean, french scholar, a member of the pléiade (q. v.), and who figures as one of the leading spirits in the fraternity ( - ). davenant, sir william, an english playwright, born at oxford, who succeeded ben jonson as poet-laureate, and was for a time manager of drury lane; was knighted by charles i. for his zeal in the royalist cause; his theatrical enterprise had small success during the commonwealth, but interest in it revived with the restoration, at which time "the drama broke loose from the prison of puritanism to indulge in a shameless license" ( - ). david, fÉlicien, a french composer, born at vaucluse; author, among other compositions, of the "desert," a production which achieved an instant and complete triumph; was in his youth an ardent disciple of st. simon ( - ). david, gerhard, a flemish painter; painted religious subjects, several from the life of christ ( - ). david, king of israel, th century b.c., born in bethlehem; tended the flocks of his father; slew goliath with a stone and a sling; was anointed by samuel, succeeded saul as king; conquered the philistines; set up his throne in jerusalem, and reigned thirty-three years; suffered much from his sons, and was succeeded by solomon; the book of psalms was till recently accepted as wholly his by the church, but that hypothesis no longer stands the test of criticism. david, louis, a french historical painter, born in paris; studied in rome and settled in paris; was carried away with the revolution; joined the jacobin club, swore eternal friendship with robespierre; designed "a statue of nature with two _mammelles_ spouting out water" for the deputes to drink to, and another of the sovereign people, "high as salisbury steeple"; was sentenced to the guillotine, but escaped out of regard for his merit as an artist; appointed first painter by napoleon, but on the restoration was banished and went to brussels, where he died; among his paintings are "the oath of the horatii," "the rape of the sabines," "the death of socrates," and "the coronation of napoleon" ( - ). david d'angers, a french sculptor, born at angers; came to paris and became a pupil of the preceding, afterwards proceeded to rome and associated with canova; executed in paris a statue of the great condé, and thereafter the pediment of the pantheon, his greatest work, as well as numerous medallions of great men; on a visit to weimar he modelled a bust of goethe ( - ). david i., king of scotland, youngest son of malcolm canmore and queen margaret; was brought up at the english court; was prince of cumbria under the reign of his brother alexander, on whose decease he succeeded to the throne in ; on making a raid in england to avenge an insult offered to his son henry, was defeated at northallerton in the battle of the standard; addressed himself after this to the unification of the country and civilisation of his subjects; founded and endowed bishoprics and abbeys at the expense of the crown, on account of which he was called st. david, and characterised by james vi., a successor of his, as a "sair saunt to the croon"; the death of his son henry was a great grief to him, and shortened his days ( - ). david ii., king of scotland, son of king robert the bruce, born at dunfermline; succeeded his father when a boy of four; spent from to in france; was taken prisoner by the english at the battle of neville's cross, and was afterwards, till his death, dependent on england ( - ). david, st., or dewi, the patron saint of wales, lived about the th century; archbishop of caerleon; transferred his see to st. david's; founded churches, opposed pelagianism, and influenced many by the odour of his good name. davids, rhys, professor of pâli and buddhist literature, born in colchester; author of "buddhism: a sketch of the life and teachings of gautama, the buddha," and of other works in that department of literature; _b_. . davidson, andrew bruce, hebrew scholar and professor, born in aberdeenshire; a most faithful, clear, and effective interpreter of the spirit of hebrew literature, and influential for good as few men of the time have been in matters of biblical criticism; _b_. . davidson, john, poet and journalist, born at barrhead, renfrewshire; has written novels and plays as well as poems; _b_. . davidson, samuel, biblical scholar and exegete, born near ballymena; wrote introductions to the old and the new testaments; was pioneer in the higher criticism ( - ). davies, ben, a popular tenor vocalist, born near swansea in . davies, sir john, poet and statesman, born in wiltshire; wrote two philosophic poems, "the orchestra," a poem in which the world is exhibited as a dance, and "nosce teipsum" (know thyself), a poem on human learning and the immortality of the soul; became a favourite with james i., and was sent attorney-general to ireland ( - ). davila, a celebrated historian, born near padua, brought up in france; served in the french army under henry iv.; did military and other service in venice; was assassinated; his great work "the history of the civil war in france" ( - ). davis, jefferson, president of the confederate states, born in kentucky; entered the army; fought against the indians; turned cotton-planter; entered congress as a democrat; distinguished himself in the mexican war; defended slave-holding and the interests of slave-holding states; was chosen president of the confederate states; headed the conflict with the north; fled on defeat, which he was the last to admit; was arrested and imprisoned; released after two years; retired into private life, and wrote a "history of the rise and fall of the confederate government" ( - ). davis, john, an english navigator, born near dartmouth; took early to the sea; conducted ( - ) three expeditions to the arctic seas in quest of a nw. passage to india and china, as far n. as °; discovered the strait which bears his name; sailed as pilot in two south sea expeditions, and was killed by japanese pirates near malacca; wrote the "seaman's secret" ( - ). davis, thomas, an irish patriot, born at mallow; educated at trinity college, dublin, and called to the irish bar; took to journalism in the interest of irish nationality; founded the _nation_ newspaper, and by his contributions to it did much to wake up the intelligence of the country to national interests; died young; was the author of "songs of ireland" and "essays on irish songs" ( - ). davis strait, strait connecting baffin's bay with the atlantic, discovered by john davis (q. v.). davitt, michael, a noted irish patriot, born in co. mayo, son of a peasant, who, being evicted, settled in lancashire; joined the fenian movement, and was sentenced to years' penal servitude; released on ticket-of-leave after seven years; founded the land league; was for over a year imprisoned again for breaking his ticket-of-leave; published in "leaves from a prison diary"; entered parliament in for co. mayo; _b_. . davos-platz, a village ft. above the sea-level, in a valley of the east grisons; a place frequented in winter by invalids suffering from chest disease, the dry air and sunshine that prevail being favourable for patients of that class. davout, duke of auerstädt, prince of eckmühl, marshal of france, born at annoux, in burgundy; was fellow-student with napoleon at the military school in brienne; entered the army in , served in the revolutionary wars under dumouriez and desaix, and became general; served under bonaparte in egypt; distinguished himself at austerlitz, auerstädt, eckmühl, and wagram; was made governor of hamburg; accompanied napoleon to moscow; returned to hamburg, and defended it during a siege; was made minister of war in , and assisted napoleon in his preparations for the final struggle at waterloo; commanded the remains of the french army which capitulated under the walls of paris; adhered to the bourbon dynasty on its return, and was made a peer; was famous before all the generals of napoleon for his rigour in discipline ( - ). davy, sir humphry, a great english chemist, born at penzance; conceived early in life a passion for the science in which he made so many discoveries; made experiments on gases and the respiration of them, particularly nitrous oxide and carbonic acid; discovered the function of plants in decomposing the latter in the atmosphere, and the metallic bases of alkalies and earths; proved chlorine to be a simple substance and its affinity with iodine, which he discovered; invented the safety-lamp, his best-known achievement; he held appointments and lectured in connection with all these discoveries and their applications, and received knighthood and numerous other honours for his services; died at geneva ( - ). davy jones's locker, the sailors' familiar name for the sea as a place of safe-keeping, though why called of davy jones is uncertain. davy-lamp, a lamp encased in gauze wire which, while it admits oxygen to feed the flame, prevents communication between the flame and any combustible or explosive gas outside. dawkins, william boyd, geologist and palæontologist, born in montgomeryshire; has written "cave hunting," "early man in britain," &c.; _b_. . dawson, george, a popular lecturer, born in london; educated in aberdeen and glasgow; bred for the ministry by the baptist body, and pastor of a baptist church in birmingham, but resigned the post for ministry in a freer atmosphere; took to lecturing on a purely secular platform, and was for thirty years the most popular lecturer of the day; no course of lectures in any institute was deemed complete if his name was not in the programme; did much to popularise the views of carlyle and emerson ( - ). dawson, sir john william, geologist and naturalist, born in pictou, nova scotia; studied in edinburgh; distinguished himself as a palæontologist; published in , "story of the earth and man"; in , "origin of the world"; and recently, "geology and history"; called in question the darwinian theory as to the origin of species; _b_. . day, john, an english dramatist, contemporary of ben jonson; author of the "parliament of bees," a comedy in which all the characters are bees. day, thomas, an eccentric philanthropist, born in london; author of "sandford and merton"; he was a disciple of rousseau; had many a ludicrous adventure in quest of a model wife, and happily fell in with one to his mind at last; was a slave-abolitionist and a parliamentary reformer ( - ). dayaks. see dyaks. dayton ( ), a prosperous town in ohio, u.s.; a great railway centre, with a court-house of marble, after the parthenon in athens. d'azara, a spanish naturalist, born in aragon; spent years in south america; wrote a "natural history of the quadrupeds in paraguay" ( - ). dead sea, called also the salt sea and 'the asphalt lake, a sea in palestine, formed by the waters of the jordan, m. long, m. broad, and in some parts ft. deep, while its surface is ft. below the level of the mediterranean, just as much as jerusalem is above it; has no outlet; its waters, owing to the great heat, evaporate rapidly, and are intensely salt; it is enclosed e. and w. by steep mountains, which often rise to a height of ft. deÁk, francis, an eminent hungarian statesman, born at kehida, of an ancient noble magyar family; his aim for hungary was the same as that of cavour (q. v.) for italy, the establishment of constitutional government, and he succeeded; standing all along as he did from hungarian republicanism on the one hand, and austrian tyranny on the other, he urged on the emperor of austria the demand of the diet, of which he had become leader, at first without effect, but after the humiliation of austria in , all that he asked for was conceded, and the austrian emperor received the hungarian crown ( - ). deal ( ), a town, one of the old cinque ports, oil the e. of kent, opposite the goodwin sands, m. from london, with a fine sea-beach; much resorted to for sea-bathing quarters. dean, forest of, a forest of , acres in the w. of gloucestershire, between the severn and the wye; the property of the crown for the most part; the inhabitants are chiefly miners, who at one time enjoyed special privileges. dean of guild, a burgh magistrate in scotland who has the care of buildings, originally the head of the guild brethren of the town. dean of st. patrick's, jonathan swift, who held that post from till his death. deans, davie, effie, and jeanie, characters in the "heart of midlothian." dÉbats, journal des, a daily paper, established in ; it defends at present the conservative republican policy, and publishes often remarkable literary articles. debenture, a deed acknowledging a debt on a specified security. debo`rah, a hebrew prophetess; reckoned one of the judges of israel by her enthusiasm to free her people from the yoke of the canaanites; celebrated for her song of exultation over their defeat, instinct at once with pious devotion and with revengeful feeling; coleridge calls her "this hebrew boadicea." debreczen ( ), a hungarian town, m. e. of buda-pesth; is the head-quarters of protestantism in the country, and has an amply equipped and a largely attended protestant college; is a seat of manufactures and a large trade. decameron, a collection of a hundred tales, conceived of as rehearsed in ten days at a country-house during the plague at florence; are of a licentious character, but exquisitely told; were written by boccaccio; published in ; the name comes from _deka_, ten, and _hemera_, a day. decamps, alexandra gabriel, a distinguished french painter, born in paris; brought up as a boy among the peasants of picardy; represented nature as he in his own way saw it himself, and visited switzerland and the east, where he found materials for original and powerful pictures; his pictures since his death have brought great prices ( - ). de candolle, augustin pyrame, an eminent botanist, born at geneva, of huguenot descent; studied in paris; attracted the attention of cuvier and lamarck, whom he assisted in their researches; published his "flore française," in six vols.; became professor at montpellier, and then at geneva; is the historical successor of jussieu; his great contribution to botanical science is connected with the classification of plants ( - ). deca`tur, stephen, an american naval commodore; distinguished for his feats of valour displayed in the war with tripoli and with england ( - ). deccan, a triangular plateau of from to ft. of elevation in the indian peninsula, extending s. of the vindhya mountains; is densely peopled, and contains some of the richest soil in the globe. december, the twelfth month of the year, so called, i. e. tenth, by the romans, as their year began with march. dec`emvirs, the patricians of rome, with consular powers, appointed in b.c. to prepare a code of laws for the republic, which, after being agreed upon, were committed first to ten, then to twelve tables, and set up in the forum that all might read and know the law they lived under. decius, roman emperor from to ; was a cruel persecutor of the christians; perished in a morass fighting with the goths, who were a constant thorn in his side all through his reign. decius mus, the name of three romans, father, son, and grandson, who on separate critical emergencies ( , , b.c.) devoted themselves in sacrifice to the infernal gods in order to secure victory to the roman arms; the name is mostly employed ironically. decline and fall of the roman empire, the immortal work of gibbon, of which the first volume was published in . decretals, the, a collection of laws added to the canon law of the church of rome, being judicial replies of the popes to cases submitted to them from time to time for adjudication. dee, john, an alchemist, born in london; a man of curious learning; earned the reputation of being a sorcerer; was imprisoned at one time, and mobbed at another, under this imputation; died in poverty; left works, the majority of which were never printed, though still extant in ms. in the british museum and other places of safe-keeping ( - ). defauconpret, french littérateur; translator of the novels of sir walter scott and fenimore cooper ( - ). defender of the faith, a title conferred by pope leo x. in upon henry viii. for his defence of the catholic faith in a treatise against luther, and retained ever since by the sovereigns of england, though revoked by pope paul iii. in in consequence of henry's apostasy. deffand, marie, marquise du, a woman of society, famed for her wit and gallantry; corresponded with the eminent philosophes of the time, in particular voltaire, as well as with horace walpole; her letters are specially brilliant, and display great shrewdness; she is characterised by prof. saintsbury as "the typical french lady of the eighteenth century"; she became blind in , but retained her relish for society, though at length she entered a monastery, where she died ( - ). defoe, daniel, author of "robinson crusoe," born in london; bred for the dissenting ministry; turned to business, but took chiefly to politics; was a zealous supporter of william iii.; his ironical treatise, "the shortest way with dissenters" ( ), which, treated seriously, was burned by order of the house of commons, led to his imprisonment and exposed him for three days to the pillory, amidst the cheers, however, not the jeers, of the mob; in prison wrote a "hymn to the pillory," and started his _review_; on his release he was employed on political missions, and wrote a "history of the union," which he contributed to promote. the closing years of his life were occupied mainly with literary work, and it was then, in , he produced his world-famous "robinson crusoe"; has been described as "master of the art of forging a story and imposing it on the world for truth." "his circumstantial invention," as stopford brooke remarks, "combined with a style which exactly fits it by its simplicity, is the root of the charm of his great story" ( - ). dege`rando, baron, a french philanthropist and philosopher, born at lyons, of italian descent; wrote "history of philosophy," long in repute as the best french work on the subject ( - ). deianeira, the wife of hercules, whose death she had been the unwitting cause of by giving him the poisoned robe which nessus (q. v.) had sent her as potent to preserve her husband's love; on hearing the fatal result she killed herself in remorse and despair. deiphobus, a son of priam and hecuba, second in bravery to hector; married helen after the death of paris, and was betrayed by her to the greeks. deir-al-kamar, a town in syria, once the capital of the druses, on a terrace in the heart of the lebanon mountains. deism, belief on purely rational grounds in the existence of god, and distinguished from theism as denying his providence. deists, a set of free-thinkers of various shades, who in england, in the th and th centuries, discarded revelation and the supernatural generally, and sought to found religion on a purely rational basis. dÉjazet, virginie, a celebrated french actress, born in paris; made her _début_ at five years of age ( - ). dekker, thomas, a dramatist, born in london; was contemporary of ben jonson, between whom and him, though they formerly worked together, a bitter animosity arose; wrote lyrics as well as dramas, which are light comedies, and prose as well as poetry; the most famous among his prose works, "the gull's hornbook," a pamphlet, in which he depicts the life of a young gallant; his pamphlets are valuable ( - ). de la beche, sir henry thomas, geologist, born in london; wrote the "depth and temperature of the lake of geneva," and published a "manual of geology" and the "geological observer"; was appointed head of the geological survey in england ( - ). delacroix, eugÈne, a french painter, born at charenton, dep. of seine; one of the greatest french painters of the th century; was the head of the french romantic school, a brilliant colourist and a daring innovator; his very first success, "dante crossing acheron in charon's boat," forms an epoch in the history of contemporary art; besides his pictures, which were numerous, he executed decorations and produced lithographic illustrations of "hamlet," "macbeth," and goethe's "faust" ( - ). delagoa bay, an inlet in the se. of africa, e. of the transvaal, subject to portugal; stretches from ° ' to ° ' s.; extends m. inland, where the transvaal frontier begins, and between which and it a railway of m., constructed by an english company, extends. delaistre, a french statuary, born in paris ( - ). delambre, jean joseph, an eminent french astronomer, born at amiens, a pupil of lalande; measured with méchain the arc of the meridian between dunkirk and barcelona towards the establishment of the metric system; produced numerous works of great value, among others "theoretical and practical astronomy" and the "history of astronomy" ( - ). delane, john thadeus, editor of the _times_, born in london; studied at oxford; after some experience as a reporter was put on the staff of the _times_, and in became editor, a post he continued to hold for years; was the inspiring and guiding spirit of the paper, but wrote none of the articles ( - ). delaroche, paul, a french historical painter and one of the greatest, born in paris; was the head of the modern eclectic school, so called as holding a middle place between the classical and romantic schools of art; among his early works were "st. vincent de paul preaching before louis xiii." and "joan of arc before cardinal beaufort"; the subjects of his latest pictures are from history, english and french, such as "the princes in the tower" and "cromwell contemplating the corpse of charles i.," a great work; but the grandest monument of his art is the group of paintings with which he adorned the wall of the semicircle of the palais des beaux arts in paris, which he completed in ( - ). delaunay, le vicomte, the _nom de plume_ of mme. delphine, under which she published her "parisian letters." delaunay, louis arsÈne, a great french actor, born in paris; made his _début_ in , retired . delavigne, casimir, a popular french lyric poet and dramatist, born at havre; his verse was conventional and without originality ( - ). delaware ( ), one of the atlantic and original states of the american union, as well as the smallest of them; the soil is rather poor, but porcelain clay abounds. delcassÉ, thÉophile, french minister of foreign affairs, born at pamiers; began life as a journalist; was elected to the chamber in ; became colonial minister; advocated colonial expansion; dealt skilfully with the fashoda affair as foreign minister; _b_. . delectable mountains, mountains covered with sheep in the "pilgrim's progress," from which the pilgrim obtains a view of the celestial city. delescluze, a french communist, born at dreux; was imprisoned and transported for his extreme opinions; started a journal, the _rèveil_, in , to advocate the doctrines of the international; was mainly answerable for the atrocities of the paris commune; was killed in the barricades ( - ). delft ( ), a dutch town, s m. nw. of rotterdam, once famous for its pottery; is intersected by canals; has an important polytechnic school. delgado, a cape of e. africa, on the border between zanzibar and mozambique. delhi ( ), on the right bank of the jumna, once the capital of the mogul empire and the centre of the mohammedan power in india; it is a great centre of trade, and is situated in the heart of india; it contains the famous palace of shah jahan, and the jama masjid, which occupies the heart of the city, and is the largest and finest mosque in india, which owes its origin to shah jahan; it is walled, is m. in circumference, and divided into hindu, mohammedan, and european quarters; it was captured by lord lake in , and during the mutiny by the sepoys, but after a siege of seven days retaken in . delight of mankind, the roman emperor trajan. delilah, the philistine woman who beguiled and betrayed samson. delille, jacques, a french poet, born at aigues perse, in auvergne; translator of the "georgics" of virgil into verse, afterwards the "Æneid" and "paradise lost," besides producing also certain didactic and descriptive works; was a good versifier, but properly no poet, and much overrated; died blind ( - ). delitzsch, franz, a learned biblical scholar and exegete, born at leipzig; his commentaries, which are numerous, were of a conservative tendency; he wrote on jewish antiquities, biblical psychology, and christian apologetics; was professor at erlangen and leipzig successively, where his influence on the students was distinctly marked ( - ). delius, nicolaus, a german philologist, born at bremen; distinguished especially as a student of shakespeare and for his edition of shakespeare's works, which is of transcendent merit ( - ). delia cruscans, a set of english sentimental poetasters, the leaders of them hailing from florence, that appeared in england towards the close of the th century, and that for a time imposed on many by their extravagant panegyrics of one another, the founder of the set being one robert merry, who signed himself _della crusca_; he first announced himself by a sonnet to love, in praise of which anne matilda wrote an incomparable piece of nonsense; "this epidemic spread for a term from fool to fool," but was soon exposed and laughed out of existence. dellys ( ), a seaport in algeria, m. e. of algiers. delolme, john louis, a writer on state polity, born at geneva, bred to the legal profession; spent some six years in england as a refugee; wrote a book on the "constitution of england," and in praise of it, which was received for a time with high favour in the country, but is now no longer regarded as an authority; wrote a "history of the flagellants," and on "the union of scotland with england" ( - ). delorme, a french architect, born at lyons; studied in rome; was patronised by catherine de medici; built the palace of the tuileries, and contributed to the art of building ( - ). delorme, marion, a frenchwoman celebrated for her wit and fascination, born at châlons-sur-marne; came to paris in the reign of louis xiii., where her drawing-room became the rendezvous of all the celebrities of the time, many of whom were bewitched by her charms; she gave harbour to the chiefs of the fronde, and was about to be arrested when she died; the story that her death was a feint, and that she had subsequent adventures, is distrusted; she is the subject of a drama by victor hugo ( - ). delos, the smallest and central island of the cyclades, the birthplace of apollo and artemis, and where the former had a famous oracle; it was, according to the greek mythology, a floating island, and was first fixed to the spot by zeus to provide leda with a place, denied her elsewhere by hera, in which to bring forth her twin offspring; it was at one time a centre of apollo worship, but is now uninhabited, and only frequented at times by shepherds with their flocks. delphi, a town of ancient greece in phocis, at the foot of parnassus, where apollo had a temple, and whence he was wont to issue his oracles by the mouth of his priestess the pythia, who when receiving the oracle used to sit on a tripod over an opening in the ground through which an intoxicating vapour exhaled, deemed the breath of the god, and that proved the vehicle of her inspiration; the pythian games were celebrated here. delphin classics, an edition of the greek and roman classics, edited by bossuet and huet, assisted by thirty-nine scholars, for the use of the dauphin of louis xiv.; of little use now. delphine, a novel by mme. de staël; presumed to be an idealised picture of herself. delta, the signature of d. macbeth moir in _blackwood's magazine_. deluc, jean andrÉ, geologist, born in geneva; lived in england; was reader to queen charlotte, and author of several works ( - ). deluge, name given to the tradition, common to several races, of a flood of such universality as to sweep the land, if not the earth, of all its inhabitants, except the pair by whom the land of the earth was repeopled. dem`ades, an athenian orator, a bitter enemy of demosthenes, in the interest of philip of macedon; put to death for treason by antipater, b.c.; was a man of no principle, but a great orator. demara`tus, king of sparta from to b.c.; dispossessed of his crown, fled to persia and accompanied xerxes into greece. demavend, mount, an extinct volcano, the highest peak ( , ft.) of the elburz chain, in persia. dembea, a lake, the largest in abyssinia, being m. long and ft. above the sea-level, from which the blue nile issues. dembinski, henry, a polish general, born near cracow; served under napoleon against russia, under kossuth against austria; fled to turkey on the resignation of kossuth; died in paris ( - ). demerara, a division of british guiana; takes its name from the river, which is m. long, and falls into the atlantic at georgetown. demeter (lit. earth-mother), the great greek goddess of the earth, daughter of kronos and rhea and sister of zeus, and ranks with him as one of the twelve great gods of olympus; is specially the goddess of agriculture, and the giver of all the earth's fruits; the latins call her ceres. demetrius, the name of two kings of macedonia who ruled over the country, the first from to b.c., and the second from to b.c. demetrius, or dimitri, the name of several sovereigns of russia, and of four adventurers called the four false dimitri. demetrius i., soter (i. e. saviour), king of syria from to b.c.; was grandson of antiochus the great. d. ii., nicator (i. e. conqueror), king of syria from to b.c. d. iii., eucæros (i. e. the happy), king of syria in , died in b.c. demetrius phalereus, an eminent athenian orator, statesman, and historian, born at phalerus, a seaport of athens; was held in high honour in athens for a time as its political head, but fell into dishonour, after which he lived retired and gave himself up to literary pursuits; died from the bite of an asp; left a number of works ( - b.c.). demidoff, a russian family distinguished for their wealth, descended from a serf of peter the great, and who amassed a large fortune by manufacturing firearms for him, and were raised by him to the rank of nobility; they were distinguished in the arts, in arms, and even literature; anatol in particular, who travelled over the se. of europe, and wrote an account of his travels, a work magnificently illustrated. demigod, a hero elevated in the imagination to the rank of a divinity in consequence of the display of virtues and the achievement of feats superior to those of ordinary men. demi-monde, a class in parisian society dressing in a fashionable style, but of questionable morals. demiurgus, a name employed by plato to denote the world-soul, the medium by which the idea is made real, the spiritual made material, the many made one, and it was adopted by the gnostics to denote the world-maker as a being derived from god, but estranged from god, being environed in matter, which they regarded as evil, and so incapable as such of redeeming the soul from matter, from evil, such as the god of the jews, and the son of that god, conceived of as manifest in flesh. democracy has been defined to be government of the people by the people and for the people, or as a state in which the government rests directly with the majority of the citizens, but this under the protest of some that it is not an end but a means "to the attainment of a truer and truer aristocracy, or government again by the best." democrats, a political party in the united states that contends for the rights of the several states to self-government as against undue centralisation. democritus, a greek philosopher, born in abdera, thrace, of wealthy parents; spent his patrimony in travel, gathered knowledge from far and near, and gave the fruits of it in a series of writings to his contemporary compatriots, only fragments of which remain, though they must have come down comparatively entire to cicero's time, who compares them for splendour and music of eloquence to plato's; his philosophy was called the _atomic_, as he traced the universe to its ultimate roots in combinations of atoms, in quality the same but in quantity different, and referred all life and sensation to movements in them, while he regarded quiescence as the _summum bonum_; he has been called the laughing philosopher from, it is alleged, his habit of laughing at the follies of mankind; _b_. b.c. democritus junior, a pseudonym under which burton published his "anatomy of melancholy." demogeot, french littérateur, born at paris; wrote a history of literature, chiefly french ( - ). demogorgon, a terrible deity, the tyrant of the elves and fairies, who must all appear before him once every five years to give an account of their doings. demoivre, abraham, a mathematician, born in champagne; lived most of his life in england to escape, as a protestant, from persecution in france; became a friend of newton, and a fellow of the royal society, and was of such eminence as a mathematician that he was asked to arbitrate between the claims of newton and leibnitz to the invention of fluxions ( - ). demon, or daimon, a name which socrates gave to an inner divine instinct which corresponds to one's destiny, and guides him in the way he should go to fulfil it, and is more or less potent in a man according to his purity of soul. de morgan, augustus, an eminent mathematician, born in madura, s. india; was professor of mathematics in london university from till his death, though he resigned the appointment for a time in consequence of the rejection of a candidate, james martineau, for the chair of logic, on account of his religious opinions; wrote treatises on almost every department of mathematics, on arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, differential and integral calculus, the last pronounced to be "the most complete treatise on the subject ever produced in england"; wrote also "formal logic" ( - ). demosthenes, the great athenian orator, born in athens; had many impediments to overcome to succeed in the profession, but by ingenious methods and indomitable perseverance he subdued them all, and became the first orator not of greece only, but of all antiquity; a stammer in his speech he overcame by practising with pebbles in his mouth, and a natural diffidence by declaiming on the sea-beach amid the noise of the waves; while he acquired a perfect mastery of the greek language by binding himself down to copy five times over in succession thucydides' "history of the peloponnesian war"; he employed years of his life in denunciation of philip of macedon, who was bent on subjugating his country; pronounced against him his immortal "philippics" and "olynthiacs"; took part in the battle of cheronea, and continued the struggle even after philip's death; on the death of alexander he gave his services as an orator to the confederated greeks, and in the end made away with himself by poison so as not to fall into the hands of autipater ( - b.c.). see ctesiphon. dempster, thomas, a learned scotchman, born in aberdeenshire; held several professorships on the continent; was the author of "historia ecclesiastica gentis scotorum," a work of great learning, but of questionable veracity; has been reprinted by the bannatyne club; his last days were embittered by the infidelity of his wife ( - ). denarius, a silver coin among the romans, first coined in b.c., and worth ½ d. denbigh ( ), the county town of denbighshire, in the vale of the clwyd, m. w. of chester; manufactures shoes and leather. denbighshire ( ), a county in north wales, of rugged hills and fertile vales, m. long and m. on an average broad, with a coal-field in the ne., and with mines of iron, lead, and slate. dendera, a village in upper egypt, on the left bank of the nile, m. n. of thebes, on the site of ancient tentyra, with the ruins of a temple in almost perfect preservation; on the ceiling of a portico of which there was found a zodiac, now in the museum of the louvre in paris, and dates from the period of cleopatra and the early roman emperors, and has sculptured portraits of that queen and her son cæsarion. dengue, a disease peculiar to the tropics, occurs in hot weather, and attacks one suddenly with high fever and violent pains, and after a relapse returns in a milder form and leaves the patient very weak. denham, dixon, an english traveller, companion of clapperton; visited bornu and lake tchad ( - ). denham, sir john, an english poet, born at dublin, the son of an irish judge; took to gambling and squandered his patrimony; was unhappy in his marriage, and his mind gave way; is best known as the author of "cooper's hill," a descriptive poem, interspersed with reflections, and written in smooth flowing verse ( - ). denina, carlo, an italian historian, born in piedmont; banished from italy for a cynical remark injurious to the monks; paid court to frederick the great in berlin, where he lived a good while, and became eventually imperial librarian in paris under napoleon ( - ). denis, a king of portugal from to ; the founder of the university of coimbra and the order of christ. denis, st., the apostle of the gauls, the first bishop of paris, and the patron saint of france; suffered martyrdom in . denis, st., a town m. n. of paris, within the line of the fortifications, with an abbey which contains the remains of st. denis, and became the mausoleum of the kings of france. denison, edward, philanthropist; distinguished by his self-denying benevolent labours in the east end of london ( - ). denison, george anthony, archdeacon of taunton, born in notts; was charged with holding views on the eucharist inconsistent with the teaching of the church of england, first condemned and then acquitted on appeal; a stanch high churchman, and equally opposed to broad church and low; _b_. . denison, john evelyn, speaker of the house of commons from to , brother of the above ( - ). denman, lord, lord chief-justice of england from to , born in london; was along with brougham counsel for queen caroline ( - ). denmark ( , ), the smallest of the three scandinavian kingdoms, consisting of jutland and an archipelago of islands in the baltic sea, divided into counties, and is less than half the size of scotland; is a low-lying country, no place in it more above the sea-level than ft., and as a consequence has no river to speak of, only meres or lakes; the land is laid out in cornfields and grazing pastures; there are as good as no minerals, but abundance of clay for porcelain; while the exports consist chiefly of horses, cattle, swine, hams, and butter; it has m. of railway, and of telegraph wires; the government is constitutional, and the established religion lutheran. dennewitz, a village in brandenburg, m. sw. of berlin, where marshal ney with , was defeated by marshal bülow with , . dennis, john, a would-be dramatist and critic, born in london, in constant broils with the wits of his time; his productions were worth little, and he is chiefly remembered for his attacks on addison and pope, and for the ridicule these attacks brought down at their hands on his own head, from pope in "narrative of the frenzy of john dennis," and "damnation to everlasting fame" in "dunciad"; he became blind, and was sunk in poverty, when pope wrote a prologue to a play produced for his benefit ( - ). dens, peter, a catholic theologian, born at boom near antwerp; author of a work entitled "theologia moralis et dogmatica," a minute and casuistic vindication in catechetical form of the tenets of the catholic church, and in use as a text-book in catholic colleges ( - ). dentatus, m. curius, a roman of the old stamp; as consul gained two victories over rival states and two triumphs in one year; drove pyrrhus out of italy ( b.c.), and brought to rome immense booty, of which he would take nothing to himself; in his retirement took to tilling a small farm with his own hand. denver ( ), the capital of colorado, u.s., on a plain ft. above the sea-level; originally founded as a mining station in , now a large and flourishing and well-appointed town; is the centre of a great trade, and a great mining district. deodar ( ), a small protected independent state in the nw. of gujarat, india. deodoraki, a glacier in the caucasus mountains. deparcieux, french mathematician, born at cessoux, dep. of gard; known for the "tables" which bear his name, containing a reckoning of the chances of longevity for different ages ( - ). department, a territorial division in france instituted in , under which the old division into provinces was broken up; each department, of which there are now , is broken up into arrondissements. depping, a learned french historian, born at münster; wrote a "history of normandy," and on "trade of europe with the levant" ( - ). deptford ( ), a town on the s. bank of the thames, partly in kent and partly in surrey, now forming part of london; once with an extensive government dockyard and arsenal, the site of it purchased by the corporation of london as a market for foreign cattle; is now the central station for the electric light company. de quincey, thomas, a great english prose writer, born in manchester; son of a merchant called quincey; his father dying, he was under a guardian, who put him to school, from which in the end he ran away, wandered about in wales for a time, and by-and-by found his way to london; in was sent to oxford, which in he left in disgust; it was here as an anodyne he took to opium, and acquired that habit which was the bane of his life; on leaving oxford he went to bath beside his mother, where he formed a connection by which he was introduced to wordsworth and southey, and led to settle to literary work at grasmere, in the lake district; here he wrote for the reviews and magazines, particularly _blackwood's_, till in he went up to london and published his "confessions" under the _nom de plume_ of "the english opium-eater"; leaving grasmere in he settled in edinburgh, and at polton, near lasswade, where he died; is characterised by stopford brooke as "owing to the overlapping and involved melody of his style one of our best, as he is one of our most various miscellaneous writers"; he was a writer of very miscellaneous ability and acquirement ( - ). derbend ( ), capital of russian daghestan, on the w. of the caspian sea, m. nw. of baku. derby ( ), county town of derbyshire, on the derwent, with manufactures of silk, cotton hosiery, lace, porcelain, &c.; it is the centre of a great railway system. derby, charlotte countess of, wife of the th earl who was taken prisoner at worcester in , and was beheaded at bolton; famous for her gallant defence of lathom house against the parliamentary forces, which she was obliged to surrender; lived to see the restoration; _d_. . derby, th earl of, british statesman, born at knowsley hall, lancashire; entered parliament in in the whig interest, and was hailed as an accession to their ranks by the whigs; supported the cause of reform; in became chief secretary for ireland under earl grey's administration; introduced a coercive measure against the repeal agitation of o'connell; contributed to the passing of the reform bill in ; seceded from the whigs in , and became colonial secretary in under a conservative administration, but when sir robert peel brought in a bill to repeal the corn laws, he retired from the cabinet, and in became the head of the protectionist party as earl of derby, to which title he succeeded in ; was after that prime minister three times over, and it was with his sanction disraeli carried his reform act of , though he spoke of it as "a leap in the dark"; he resigned his premiership in , and the last speech he made was against the irish disestablishment bill; was distinguished for his scholarship as well as his oratory, and gave proof of this by his scholarly translation of the "iliad" of homer ( - ). derby, th earl of, eldest son of the preceding; entered parliament as lord stanley in ; was a member of the three derby administrations, in the first and third in connection with foreign affairs, and in the second as secretary for india, at the time when the government of india passed from the company to the crown; became earl in ; was foreign secretary under mr. disraeli in , but retired in ; in joined the liberal party, and held office under mr. gladstone, but declined to follow him in the matter of home rule, and joined the unionist ranks; was a man of sound and cool judgment, and took a deep interest in economical questions ( - ). derby day, the last wednesday in may, or, as may happen, the st of june, being the second day of the summer meeting at epsom, on which the derby stakes for colts and fillies three years old are run for, so called as having been started by the th earl of derby in ; the day is held as a great london holiday, and the scene is one to which all london turns out. the stakes run for are £ , of which the winner gets £ . derbyshire ( ), a northern midland county of england, hilly in the n., undulating and pastoral in the s., and with coal-fields in the e.; abounds in minerals, and is more a manufacturing and mining county than an agricultural. derg, lough, an expansion of the waters of the shannon, ireland, m. long, from to broad; also a small lake in the s. of donegal, with small islands, one of which, station island, was, as the reputed entrance to st. patrick's purgatory, a place of pilgrimage to thousands at one time. dervishes, a name given to members of certain mendicant orders connected with the mohammedan faith in the east. of these there are various classes, under different regulations, and wearing distinctive costumes, with their special observances of devotion, and all presumed to lead an austere life, some of whom live in monasteries, and others go wandering about, some of them showing their religious fervour in excited whirling dances, and others in howlings; all are religious fanatics in their way, and held sacred by the moslems. derwentwater, one of the most beautiful of the cumberland lakes, in the s. of the county; extends s. from keswick; is over m. long, and over m. broad; is dotted with wooded islands, and is overlooked by skiddaw; it abounds with perch. derwentwater, earl of, a jacobite leader; was rd earl and the last; several warrants were issued for his apprehension in ; he joined the jacobite rising in ; was taken prisoner at preston, and beheaded on tower hill, london, next year, after trial in westminster hall, confession of guilt, and pleadings on his behalf with the king. derzhaven, gabriel, a russian lyric poet, born at kasan; rose from the ranks as a common soldier to the highest offices in the state under the empress catharine ii. and her successors; retired into private life, and gave himself up to poetry; the ode by which he is best known is his "address to the deity" ( - ). desaix, louis charles antoine, a distinguished french general, born at the château d'ayat, auvergne, of a noble family; entered the army at ; commanded a division of the army of the rhine in , and after the retreat of moreau defended kehl against the austrians for two months; accompanied bonaparte to the east, and in conquered upper egypt; contributed effectively to the success at marengo, and fell dead at the moment of victory, shot by a musket-ball; he was an upright and a chivalrous man, known in egypt as "the just sultan," and in germany as "the good general" ( - ). desaugiers, marc, a celebrated french composer of songs and vaudevilles; "stands second to béranger as a light song-writer," and is by some preferred to him ( - ). desault, a french surgeon, born in dep. of haute-saône; his works contributed largely to the progress of surgery ( - ). desbarres, joseph frederick, military engineer and hydrographer, aide-de-camp of general wolfe at quebec; fortified quebec; surveyed the st. lawrence; revised the maps of the american coast at the outbreak of the american war; died at halifax, nova scotia, aged ( - ). descamps, a french painter, born at dunkirk; painted village scenes ( - ). descartes, renÉ, the father of modern philosophy, born at la haye, in touraine; was educated at the jesuit college of la flèche, where he made rapid progress in all that his masters could teach him, but soon grew sceptical as to their methods of inquiry; "resolved, on the completion of his studies, to bid adieu to all school and book learning, and henceforth to gain knowledge only from himself, and from the great book of the world, from nature and the observation of man"; in he entered the army of the prince of orange, and after a service of five years quitted it to visit various centres of interest on the continent; made a considerable stay in paris; finally abandoned his native land in , and betook himself to seclusion in holland in order to live there, unknown and undisturbed, wholly for philosophy and the prosecution of his scientific projects; here, though not without vexatious opposition from the theologians, he lived twenty years, till in , at the invitation of christina of sweden, he left for stockholm, where, the severe climate proving too much for him, he was carried off by pneumonia next year; descartes' philosophy starts with doubt, and by one single step it arrives at certainty; "if i doubt, it is plain i exist," and from this certainty, that is, the existence of the thinking subject, he deduces his whole system; it all comes from the formula _cogito, ergo sum_, "i think, therefore i exist," that is, the thinking _ego_ exists; in which thinking philosophy ere long sums the universe up, regarding it as a void, without thought; descartes' philosophy is all comprehended in two works, his "discourse on method," and his "meditations" ( - ). deschamps, Émile, a french poet, born at bourges, one of the chiefs of the romantic school ( - ). deschamps, eustache, a french poet, born at vertus, in champagne; studied in orleans university; travelled over europe; had his estate pillaged by the english, whom, in consequence, he is never weary of abusing; his poems are numerous, and, except one, all short, consisting of ballads, as many as of them, a form of composition which he is said to have invented; he deals extensively in satire, and if he wields the shafts of it against the plunderers of his country, he does no less against the oppressors of the poor ( - ). desdemona, the wife of othello the moor, who, in shakespeare's play of that name, kills her on a groundless insinuation of infidelity, to his bitter remorse. desÈze, a french advocate, had the courage, along with advocate tronchet, to defend louis xvi. when dragged to judgment by the convention, and who, honourably fulfilling his perilous office, pled for the space of three hours, an honourable pleading "composed almost overnight; courageous, yet discreet; not without ingenuity, and soft pathetic eloquence"; he was imprisoned for a time, but escaped the scaffold; on the return of the bourbons he was made a peer ( - ). desmond, earldom of, an irish title long extinct by the death of the last earl in ; he had rebelled against elizabeth's government, been proclaimed, and had taken refuge in a peasant's cabin, and been betrayed. des moines ( ), the largest city in iowa, u.s., and the capital, founded in . desmoulins, camille, one of the most striking figures in the french revolution, born at guise, in picardy; studied for the bar in the same college with robespierre, but never practised, owing to a stutter in his speech; was early seized with the revolutionary fever, and was the first to excite the same fever in the parisian mob, by his famous call "to arms, and, for some rallying sign, cockades--green ones--the colour of hope, when," as we read in carlyle, "as with the flight of locusts, the green tree-leaves, green ribbons from the neighbouring shops, all green things, were snatched to make cockades of"; was one of the ablest advocates of the levelling principles of the revolution; associated himself first with mirabeau and then with danton in carrying them out, and even supported robespierre in the extreme course he took; but his heart was moved to relent when he thought of the misery the guillotine was working among the innocent families, the wives and the children, of its victims, would, along with danton, fain have brought the reign of terror to a close; for this he was treated as a renegade, put under arrest at the instance of robespierre, subjected to trial, sentenced to death, and led off to the place of execution; while his young wife, for interfering in his behalf, was arraigned and condemned, and sent to the guillotine a fortnight after him ( - ). de soto, a spanish voyager, was sent to conquer florida, penetrated as far as the mississippi; worn out with fatigue in quest of gold, died of fever, and was buried in the river ( - ). des periers, bonaventure, a french humanist and story-teller, born at autun, in burgundy; valet-de-chamber of margaret of valois; wrote "cymbalum mundi," a satirical production, in which, as a disciple of lucian, he holds up to ridicule the religious beliefs of his day; also "novelles recréations et joyeux devis," a collection of some short stories admirably told; was one of the first prose-writers of the century, and is presumed to be the author of the "heptameron," ascribed to margaret of valois; _d_. . despre`aux. see boileau. dessalines, jean jacques, emperor of hayti, born in guinea, w. africa, a negro imported into hayti as a slave; on the emancipation of the slaves there he acquired great influence among the insurgents, and by his cruelties compelled the french to quit the island, upon which he was raised to the governorship, and by-and-by was able to declare himself emperor, but his tyranny provoked a revolt, in which he perished ( - ). dessau ( ), a north german town, the capital of the duchy of anhalt, on the mulde, affluent of the elbe, some m. sw. of berlin; it is at once manufacturing and trading. dessauer, the old. see leopold of dessau. destouches, a french dramatist, born at tours; his plays were comedies, and he wrote , all excellent ( - ); also a french painter ( - ). detmold ( ), capital of lippe, m. sw. of hanover, with a bronze colossal statue of arminius (q. v.) near by. detroit ( ), the largest city in michigan, u.s., a great manufacturing and commercial centre, situated on a river of the same name, which connects lake st. clair with lake erie; is one of the oldest places in the states, and dates from , at which time it came into the possession of the french; is a well-built city, with varied manufactures and a large trade, particularly in grain and other natural products. dettingen, a village in bavaria, where an army of english, hanoverians, and austrians under george ii., in defeated the french under duc de noailles. deucalion, son of prometheus, who, with his wife pyrrha, by means of an ark which he built, was saved from a flood which for nine days overwhelmed the land of hellas. on the subsidence of the flood they consulted the oracle at delphi as to re-peopling the land with inhabitants, when they were told by themis, the pythia at the time, to throw the bones of their mother over their heads behind them. for a time the meaning of the oracle was a puzzle, but the readier wit of the wife found it out; upon which they took stones and threw them over their heads, when the stones he threw were changed into men and those she threw were changed into women. deus ex machina, the introduction in high matters of a merely external, material, or mechanical explanation instead of an internal, rational, or spiritual one, which is all a theologian does when he simply names god, and all a scientist does when he simply says evolution (q. v.). deuteronomy (i. e. the second law), the fifth book of the pentateuch, and so called as the re-statement and re-enforcement, as it were, by moses of the divine law proclaimed in the wilderness. the mosaic authorship of this book is now called in question, though it is allowed to be instinct with the spirit of the religion instituted by moses, and it is considered to have been conceived at a time when that religion with its ritual was established in jerusalem, in order to confirm faith in the divine origin and sanction of observances there. deutsch, emanuel, a distinguished hebrew scholar, born at neisse, in silesia, of jewish descent; was trained from his boyhood to familiarity with the hebrew and chaldea languages; studied under boeckh at the university of berlin; came to england, and in obtained a post in the library of the british museum; had made a special study of the "talmud," on which he wrote a brilliant article for the _quarterly review_, to the great interest of many; his ambition was to write an exhaustive treatise on the subject, but he did not live to accomplish it; died at alexandria, whither he had gone in the hope of prolonging his days ( - ). deutz ( ), a prussian town on the right bank of the rhine, opposite cologne. deux ponts, french name for zweibrÜcken (q. v.). deva, the original hindu name for the deity, meaning the shining one, whence _deus_, god, in latin. devanag`ari, the character in which sanskrit works are printed. development, the biological doctrine which ascribes an innate expansive power to the organised universe, and affirms the deviation of the most complex forms through intermediate links from the simplest, without the intervention of special acts of creation. see evolution. dev`enter ( ), a town in holland, in the province of overyssel, m. se. of amsterdam; has carpet manufactures; is celebrated for its gingerbread; was the locality of the brotherhood of common life, with which the life and work of thomas à kempis are associated. de vere, thomas aubrey, poet and prose writer, born in co. limerick, ireland; educated at trinity college, dublin; wrote poetical dramas of "alexander the great" and "st. thomas of canterbury"; his first poem "the waldenses"; also critical essays; _b_. . devil, the, a being regarded in scripture as having a personal existence, and, so far as this world is concerned, a universal spiritual presence, as everywhere thwarting the purposes of god and marring the destiny of man; only since the introduction of christianity, which derives all evil as well as good from within, he has come to be regarded less as an external than an internal reality, and is identified with the ascendency in the human heart of passions native to it, which when subject ennoble it, but when supreme debase it. he is properly the spirit that deceives man, and decoys him to his eternal ruin from truth and righteousness. devil, the, is an ass, a farce by ben jonson, full of vigour, but very coarse. devil-worship, a homage paid by primitive tribes to the devil or spirit of evil in the simple-hearted belief that he could be bribed from doing them evil. devonport ( ), a town in devonshire, adjoining plymouth to the w., and the seat of the military and naval government of the three towns, originally called plymouth dock, and established as a naval arsenal by william iii. devonshire, a county in the s. of england, with exmoor in the n. and dartmoor in the s.; is fertile in the low country, and enjoys a climate favourable to vegetation; it has rich pasture-grounds, and abounds in orchards. devonshire, duke of. see cavendish. devrient, ludwig, a popular german actor, born in berlin, of exceptional dramatic ability, the ablest of a family with similar gifts ( - ). d'ewes, sir simonds, antiquary, born in dorsetshire; bred for the bar; was a member of the long parliament; left notes on its transactions; took the puritan side in the civil war; his "journal of all the parliaments of elizabeth" is of value; left an "autobiography and correspondence" ( - ). de wette, wilhelm martin leberecht, a german theologian, born near weimar; studied at jena, professor of theology ultimately at basel; was held in high repute as a biblical critic and exegete; contributed largely to theological literature; counted a rationalist by the orthodox, and a mystic by the rationalists; his chief works "a critical introduction to the bible" and a "manual to the new testament" ( - ). de witt, jan, a dutch statesman, born at dort; elected grand pensionary in ; like his father, jacob de witt, before him, was a declared enemy of the house of orange, and opposed the stadtholdership, and for a time he carried the country along with him, but during a war with england his influence declined, the orange party prevailed, and elected the young prince of orange, our william iii., stadtholder. he and his brother cornelius were murdered at last by the populace ( - ). dewsbury ( ), a town in the west riding of yorkshire, m. sw. of leeds; engaged in the manufacture of woollens, blankets, carpets, and yarns. dextrine, a soluble matter into which the interior substance of starch globules is converted by acids or diastase, so called because when viewed by polarised light it has the property of turning the plane of polarisation to the right. deyster, louis de, a flemish painter, born at bruges; was of a deeply religious temper, and his character was reflected in his choice of subjects, such as the "death of the virgin," "the resurrection of christ," &c.; he was a recluse ( - ). dezobry, charles, a french writer, born at st. denis; author of "rome in the time of augustus" ( - ). dhagoba, a mound with a dome-shaped top, found to contain buddhist relics. dharma, the name given to the law of buddha, as distinct from the sangha, which is the church. dharwar ( ), a town in the s. of the bombay presidency, a place of considerable trade in a district noted for its cotton growing. dhwalagiri, one of the peaks of the himalayas, the third highest, , ft. high. diabetes, a disease characterised by an excessive discharge of urine, and accompanied with great thirst; there are two forms of this disease. diab`lerets, a mountain of the bernese alps, between the cantons de vaud and de valois. diafoirus, thomas, the name of two pedantic doctors, father and son, who figure in molière's "malade imaginaire." diagoras, a greek philosopher, born in melos, one of the cyclades, th century b.c., surnamed the atheist, on account of the scorn with which he treated the gods of the popular faith, from the rage of whose devotees he was obliged to seek safety by flight; died in corinth. dialectic, in the hegelian philosophy the logic of thought, and, if of thought, the logic of being, of essential being. dialogues of plato, philosophical dialogues, in which socrates figures as the principal interlocutor, although the doctrine expounded is rather plato's than his master's; they discuss theology, psychology, ethics, æsthetics, politics, physics, and related subjects. dialysis, the process of separating the crystalloid or poisonous ingredients in a substance from the colloid or harmless ingredients. diamante, a spanish dramatic poet, who plagiarised corneille's "cid" and passed it off as original; _b_. . diamantina ( ), a district in brazil, in the province of minas geraes, rich in diamonds. diamond, the name of newton's favourite dog that, by upsetting a lamp, set fire to mss. containing notes of experiments made over a course of years, an irreparable loss. diamond necklace, a necklace consisting of diamonds, and worth £ , , which one madame de la motte induced the jeweller who "made" it to part with for marie antoinette, on security of cardinal de rohan, and which madame made away with, taking it to pieces and disposing of the jewels in london; the swindle was first discovered when the jeweller presented his bill to the queen, who denied all knowledge of the matter; this led to a trial which extended over nine months, gave rise to great scandal, and ended in the punishment of the swindler and her husband, and the disgrace of the unhappy, and it is believed innocent, queen. see carlyle's "miscellanies." diamond net, a name given in the hegelian philosophy to "the _connective tissue_, so to speak, that not only supports, but even in a measure constitutes, the various organs" of the universe. see hegelianism. diamond state, delaware, u.s., from its small size and great wealth. diana, originally an italian deity, dispenser of light, identified at length with the greek goddess artemis, and from the first with the moon; she was a virgin goddess, and spent her time in the chase, attended by her maidens; her temple at ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the world. see artemis. diana de poitiers, the mistress of henry ii. of france, for whom he built the magnificent château d'anet, in eure-et-loir; she had a great influence over him, and the cruel persecutions of the huguenots in his reign were due to her instigation ( - ). diana of france, the duchess of angoulême, the natural daughter of henry ii. and the duchess de castro ( - ). diarbekir ( ), the largest town in the kurdistan highlands, on the tigris, m. ne. of aleppo, and on the highway between bagdad and constantinople, with a large and busy bazaar. diastase, a nitrogenous substance developed during the germination of grain, and having the property of converting starch first into dextrine and then into sugar. diavolo, fra (lit. brother devil), michele porsa, a calabrian, originally a monk, who left his monastery and joined a set of bandits, who lent themselves to and conducted insurrectionary movements in italy; taken prisoner, was hanged at naples; auber's opera, "fra diavolo," has no connection with him except the name ( - ). diaz, barthÉlemy, a portuguese navigator, sent on a voyage of discovery by john ii., in the command of two ships; sailed down the w. coast of africa and doubled the cape of good hope, which, from the storm that drove him past it, he called the cape of storms; returning to lisbon he was superseded by vasco da gama, or rather subordinated to him; subsequently accompanied cabral on his voyage to brazil, and was lost in a storm in . diaz miguel, governor of porto rico, born in aragon; friend and companion of columbus; suffered from the usual jealousies in enterprises of the kind, but prevailed in the end; _d_. . diaz de la peÑa, a french painter, born at bordeaux, of spanish descent; a landscapist of the romantic school, eminent as a colourist ( - ). diaz del castello, historian; accompanied cortes to mexico; took part in the conquest, and left a graphic, trustworthy account of it; died in mexico, . dibdin, charles, musician, dramatist, and song-writer, born in southampton; began life as an actor; invented a dramatic entertainment consisting of music, songs, and recitations, in which he was the sole performer, and of which he was for the most part the author; wrote some dramatic pieces, and it is said songs; his celebrity is wholly due to his sea songs, which proved of the most inspiring quality, and did much to man the navy during the war with france; was the author of "tom bowling"; left an account of his "professional life" ( - ). dibdin, thomas, dramatic author and song-writer, son of the preceding; was an actor as well as an author, and a most versatile one; performed in all kinds of characters, and wrote all kinds of plays, as well as numerous songs ( - ). dibdin, thomas frognall, bibliographer, nephew of charles dibdin, born in calcutta; took orders in the church of england; held several preferments; wrote several works all more or less of a bibliographical character, which give proof of extensive research, but are lacking often in accuracy and critical judgment; was one of the founders of the roxburghe club ( - ). dicÆarchus, an ancient geographer, born at messina, th century b.c.; a disciple of aristotle. dick, james, a west indian and london merchant, born in forres; bequeathed £ , to encourage learning and efficient teaching among the parish schoolmasters of elgin, banff, and aberdeen shires; it is known as the dick bequest, and the property is vested in a governing body of thirteen duly elected ( - ). dickens, charles, celebrated english novelist, born at landport, portsmouth; son of a navy clerk, latterly in great straits; was brought up amid hardships; was sent to a solicitor's office as a clerk, learned shorthand, and became a reporter, a post in which he learned much of what afterwards served him as an author; wrote sketches for the _monthly magazine_ under the name of "boz" in , and the "pickwick papers" in - , which established his popularity; these were succeeded by "oliver twist" in , "nicholas nickleby" in , and others which it is needless to enumerate, as they are all known wherever the english language is spoken; they were all written with an aim, and as ruskin witnesses, "he was entirely right in his main drift and purpose in every book he has written," though he thinks we are apt "to lose sight of his wit and insight, because he chooses to speak in a circle of stage fire.... allowing for his manner of telling them, the things he tells us are always true"; being a born actor, and fain in his youth to become one, he latterly gave public readings from his works, which were immensely popular; "acted better," says carlyle, who witnessed one of these performances, "than any macready in the world; a whole tragic, comic, heroic _theatre_ visible, performing under one _hat_, and keeping us laughing--in a sorry way some of us thought--the whole night"; the strain proved too much for him; he was seized with a fit at his residence, gad's hill, near rochester, on june , , and died the following morning; he was a little man, with clear blue intelligent eyes, a face of most extreme mobility, and a quiet shrewdness of expression ( - ). dictator, a magistrate invested with absolute authority in ancient republican rome in times of exigence and danger; the constitution obliged him to resign his authority at the end of six months, till which time he was free without challenge afterwards to do whatever the interest of the commonwealth seemed to him to require; the most famous dictators were cincinnatus, camillus, sulla, and cæsar, who was the last to be invested with this power; the office ceased with the fall of the republic, or rather, was merged in the perpetual dictatorship of the emperor. dictator of letters, voltaire. dictys cretensis (i. e. of crete), the reputed author of a narrative of the trojan war from the birth of paris to the death of ulysses, extant only in a latin translation; the importance attached to this narrative and others ascribed to the same author is, that they are the source of many of the greek legends we find inwoven from time to time in the mediæval literature that has come down to us. diddler, jeremy, a needy, artful swindler in kenny's farce of "raising the wind." diderot, denis, a french philosopher, born at langres, the son of a cutler there; a zealous propagator of the philosophic ideas of the th century, and the projector of the famous "encyclopédie," which he edited along with d'alembert, and which made a great noise in its day, but did not enrich its founder, who was in the end driven to offer his library for sale to get out of the pecuniary difficulties it involved him in, and he would have been ruined had not catharine of russia bought it, which she not only did, but left it with him, and paid him a salary as librarian. diderot fought hard to obtain a hearing for his philosophical opinions; his first book was burnt by order of the parlement of paris, while for his second he was clapped in jail; and all along he had to front the most formidable opposition, so formidable that all his fellow-workers were ready to yield, and were only held to their task by his indomitable resolution and unquenchable ardour. "a deist in his earlier writings," says schwegler, "the drift of his subsequent writings amounts to the belief that all is god. at first a believer in the immateriality and immortality of the soul, he peremptorily declares at last that only the race endures, that individuals pass, and that immortality is nothing but life in the remembrance of posterity; he was kept back, however, from the materialism his doctrines issued in by his moral earnestness"; that diderot was at heart no sceptic is evident, as dr. stirling suggests, from his "indignation at the _darkness_, the miserable _ignorance_ of those around him, and his resolution to dispel it" ( - ). didius, julianus, a roman emperor who in purchased the imperial purple from the prætorian guards, and was after two months murdered by the soldiers when severus was approaching the city. dido, the daughter of belus, king of tyre, and the sister of pygmalion, who, having succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, put sichæus, her husband, to death for the sake of his wealth, whereupon she secretly took ship, sailed away from the city with the treasure, accompanied by a body of disaffected citizens, and founded carthage, having picked up by the way virgins from cyprus to make wives for her male attendants; a neighbouring chief made suit for her hand, encouraged by her subjects, upon which, being bound by an oath of eternal fidelity to sichæus, she erected a funeral pile and stabbed herself in presence of her subjects; virgil makes her ascend the funeral pile out of grief for the departure of Æneas, of whom she was passionately in love. didot, the name of a french family of paper-makers, printers, and publishers, of which the most celebrated is ambroise firmin, born in paris, a learned hellenist ( - ). didymus (twin), a surname of st. thomas; also the name of a grammarian of alexandria, a contemporary of cicero, and who wrote commentaries on homer. diebitsch, count, a russian general, born in silesia; commander-in-chief in of the russian army against turkey, over the forces of which he gained a victory in the balkans; commissioned to suppress a polish insurrection, he was baffled in his efforts, and fell a victim to cholera in . dieffenbach, johann friedrich, an eminent german surgeon, born at königsberg; studied for the church; took part in the war of liberation, and began the study of medicine after the fall of napoleon; was appointed to the chair of surgery in berlin; his fame rests on his skill as an operator ( - ). dieffenbach, lorenz, a distinguished philologist and ethnologist, born at ostheim, in the grand-duchy of hesse; was for years a pastor; in the end, until his death, librarian at frankfort-on-the-main; his literary works were numerous and varied; his chief were on philological and ethnological subjects, and are monuments of learning ( - ). diego suarez, bay of, is situated on the ne. of madagascar, and has been ceded to france. diemen, antony van, governor of the dutch possessions in india, born in holland; was a zealous coloniser; at his instance abel tasman was sent to explore the south seas, when he discovered the island which he named after him van diemen's land, now tasmania after the discoverer ( - ). diepenbeck, abraham van, a flemish painter and engraver ( - ). dieppe ( ), a french seaport on the english channel, at the mouth of the river arques, m. nw. of paris; a watering and bathing place, with fisheries and a good foreign trade. dies irae (lit. the day of wrath), a latin hymn on the last judgment, so called from first words, and based on zeph. i. - ; it is ascribed to a monk of the name of thomas de celano, who died in , and there are several translations of it in english, besides a paraphrastic rendering in the "lay of the last minstrel" by scott, and it is also the subject of a number of musical compositions. diet, a convention of the princes, dignitaries, and delegates of the german empire, for legislative or administrative purposes, of which the most important in a historical point of view are diets held at augsburg in , at worms in , at nüremberg in , , at spires in , , at augsburg in , at cologne in , at worms in , at frankfort in , at ratisbon in , at spires in , at augsburg in , , , and at ratisbon in . dietrich, mayor of strasburg, at whose request rouget de lisle composed the "marseillaise"; was guillotined ( - ). dietrich of bern, a favourite hero of german legend, who in the "nibelungen" avenges the death of siegfried, and in the "heldenbuch" figures as a knight-errant of invulnerable prowess, from whose challenge even siegfried shrinks, hiding himself behind chriemhilda's veil; has been identified with theodoric the great, king of the ostrogoths. diez, friedrich christian, a german philologist, born at giessen; after service as a volunteer against napoleon, and a tutorship at utrecht, went to bonn, where, advised by goethe, he commenced the study of the romance languages, and in became professor of them, the philology of which he is the founder; he left two great works bearing on the grammar and etymology of these languages ( - ). diez, juan martin, a spanish brigadier-general of cavalry, born at valladolid, the son of a peasant; had, as head of guerilla bands, done good service to his country during the peninsular war and been promoted; offending the ruling powers, was charged with conspiracy, tried, and executed ( - ). digby, a seaport on the bay of fundy, nova scotia; noted for the curing of pilchards, called from it digbies. digby, sir everard, member of a roman catholic family; concerned in the gunpowder plot, and executed ( - ). digby, sir kenelm, a son of the preceding; was knighted by james i.; served under charles i.; as a privateer defeated a squadron of venetians, and fought against the algerines; was imprisoned for a time as a royalist; paid court afterwards to the protector; was well received at the restoration; was one of the first members of the royal society, and a man of some learning; wrote treatises on the nature of bodies and man's soul, on the corpuscular theory ( - ). dihong, the name given to the brahmaputra as it traverses assam; in the rainy season it overflows its channel and floods the whole lowlands of the country. dijon ( ), the ancient capital of burgundy, and the principal town in the dep. of côte d'or, m. se. of paris, on the canal of bourgogne; one of the finest towns in france, at once for its buildings, particularly its churches, and its situation; is a centre of manufacture and trade, and a seat of learning; the birthplace of many illustrious men. dikË (i. e. justice), a greek goddess, the daughter of zeus and themis; the guardian of justice and judgment, the foe of deceit and violence, and the accuser before zeus of the unjust judge. diktys, the fisherman of seriphus; saved perseus and his mother from the perils of the deep. dilettante society, the, a society of noblemen and gentlemen founded in england in , and which contributed to correct and purify the public taste of the country; their labours were devoted chiefly to the study of the relics of ancient greek art, and resulted in the production of works in illustration. dilettantism, an idle, often affected, almost always barren admiration and study of the fine arts, "in earnest about nothing." dilke, charles wentworth, english critic and journalist; served for years in the navy pay-office; contributed to the _westminister_ and other reviews; was proprietor and editor of the _athenæum_; started the _daily news_; left literary papers, edited by his grandson ( - ). dilke, sir charles wentworth, english publicist and politician, grandson of the preceding, born at chelsea; called to the bar; travelled in america and the english colonies, and wrote a record of his travels in his "greater britain"; entered parliament as an extreme liberal; held office under mr. gladstone; from exposures in a divorce case had to retire from public life, but returned after a time; _b_. . dillmann, a great german orientalist, born at illingen, a village of würtemberg; studied under ewald at tübingen; became professor at kiel, at giessen, and finally at berlin; as professor of old testament exegesis made a special study of the ethiopic languages, and is the great authority in their regard; wrote a grammar and a lexicon of these, as well as works on theology; _b_. . dillon, a general in the service of france, born in dublin; was butchered by his troops near lille ( - ). dillon, john, an irish patriot, born in new york; entered parliament in as a parnellite; was once suspended, and four times imprisoned, for his over-zeal; sat at first for tipperary, and since for east mayo; in threw in his lot with the m'carthyites; _b_. . dimanche, m. (mr. sunday), a character in molière's "don juan," the type of an honest merchant, whom, on presenting his bill, his creditor appeases by his politeness. dime, a u.s. silver coin, worth the tenth part of a dollar, or about fivepence. dinan ( ), an old town in the dep. of côtes du nord, france, m. s. of st. malo; most picturesquely situated on the top of a steep hill, amid romantic scenery, of great archæological interest; the birthplace of duclos. dinant, an old town on the meuse, m. s. of namur, belgium; noted for its gingerbread, and formerly for its copper wares, called dinanderie. dinapur ( ), a town and military station on the right bank of the ganges, m. nw. of patna. dinarchus, an orator of the phocion party in athens, born at corinth. dinaric alps, a range of the eastern alps in austria, runs se. and parallel with the adriatic, connecting the julian alps with the balkans. dindorf, wilhelm, a german philologist, born at leipzig; devoted his life to the study of the ancient greek classics, particularly the dramatists, and edited the chief of them, as well as the "iliad" and "odyssey" of homer, with notes; was joint-editor with his brothers ludwig and hase of the "thesaurus græcæ linguæ" of stephanus ( - ). dingelstedt, a german poet, novelist, and essayist, born near marburg; was the duke of würtemberg's librarian at stuttgart, and theatre superintendent at münich, weimar, and vienna successively; his poems show delicacy of sentiment and graphic power ( - ). dingwall, the county town of ross-shire, at the head of the cromarty firth. dinkas, an african pastoral people occupying a flat country traversed by the white nile; of good stature, clean habits; of semi-civilised manners, and ferocious in war. dinmont, dandie, a jovial, honest-hearted store-farmer in scott's "guy mannering." dinocrates, a macedonian architect, who, in the time of alexander the great, rebuilt the temple of ephesus destroyed by the torch of erostratus; was employed by alexander in the building of alexandria. diocletian, roman emperor from to , born at salona, in dalmatia, of obscure parentage; having entered the roman army, served with distinction, rose rapidly to the highest rank, and was at chalcedon, after the death of numerianus, invested by the troops with the imperial purple; in he associated maximianus with himself as joint-emperor, with the title of augustus, and in resigned the empire of the west to constantius chlorus and galerius, so that the roman world was divided between two emperors in the e. and two in the w.; in , at the instance of galerius, he commenced and carried on a fierce persecution of the christians, the tenth and fiercest; but in , weary of ruling, he abdicated and retired to salona, where he spent his remaining eight years in rustic simplicity of life, cultivating his garden; bating his persecution of the christians, he ruled the roman world wisely and well ( - ). diodati, a calvinistic theologian, born at lucca; was taken while a child with his family to geneva; distinguished himself there in the course of the reformation as a pastor, a preacher, professor of hebrew, and a professor of theology; translated the bible into italian and into french; a nephew of his was a school-fellow and friend of milton, who wrote an elegy on his untimely death ( - ). diodorus siculus, historian, born in sicily, of the age of augustus; conceived the idea of writing a universal history; spent years at the work; produced what he called "the historical library," which embraced the period from the earliest ages to the end of cæsar's gallic war, and was divided into books, of which only a few survive entire, and some fragments of the rest. diogenes laËrtius, a greek historian, born at laerte, in cilicia; flourished in the nd century a.d.; author of "lives of the philosophers," a work written in books; is full of interesting information regarding the men, but is destitute of critical insight into their systems. diogenes of apollonia, a greek philosopher of the ionic school, and an adherent of anaximenes (q. v.), if of any one, being more of an eclectic than anything else; took more to physics than philosophy; contributed nothing to the philosophic movement of the time. diogenes the cynic, born in sinope, in pontus, came to athens, was attracted to antisthenes (q. v.) and became a disciple, and a sansculotte of the first water; dressed himself in the coarsest, lived on the plainest, slept in the porches of the temples, and finally took up his dwelling in a tub; stood on his naked manhood; would not have anything to do with what did not contribute to its enhancement; despised every one who sought satisfaction in anything else; went through the highways and byways of the city at noontide with a lit lantern in quest of a man; a man himself not to be laughed at or despised; visiting corinth, he was accosted by alexander the great: "i am alexander," said the king, and "i am diogenes" was the prompt reply; "can i do anything to serve you?" continued the king; "yes, stand out of the sunlight," rejoined the cynic; upon which alexander turned away saying, "if i were not alexander, i would be diogenes." d'alembert declared diogenes the greatest man of antiquity, only that he wanted decency. "great truly," says carlyle, but adds with a much more serious drawback than that ( - b.c.). see "sartor resartus," bk. iii. chap. . diogenes the stoic, born in seleucia; a successor of zeno, and head of the school at athens, nd century b.c. diomedes, king of argos, called tydides, from his father; was, next to achilles, the bravest of the greeks at the trojan war; fought under the protection of athene against both hector and Æneas, and even wounded both aphrodité and ares; dared along with ulysses to carry off the palladium from troy; was first in the chariot race in honour of patroclus, and overcame ajax with the spear. diomedes, king of thrace; fed his horses with human flesh, and was killed by hercules for his inhumanity. dion cassius, a greek historian, born at nicæa, in bithynia, about a.d. ; went to rome, and served under a succession of emperors; wrote a "history of rome" from Æneas to alexander severus in books, of which only survive entire; took years to prepare for and compose it; it is of great value, and often referred to. dion chrysostomus (dion with the golden, or eloquent, mouth), a celebrated greek rhetorician, born at prusa, in bithynia, about the middle of the st century; inclined to the platonic and stoic philosophies; came to rome, and was received with honour by nerva and trajan; is famous as an orator and as a writer of pure attic greek. dion of syracuse, a pupil of plato, and an austere man; was from his austerity obnoxious to his pleasure-loving nephew, dionysius the younger; subjected to banishment; went to athens; learned his estates had been confiscated, and his wife given to another; took up arms, drove his nephew from the throne, usurped his place, and was assassinated in b.c., the citizens finding that in getting rid of one tyrant they had but saddled themselves with another, and greater. dione, a greek goddess of the earlier mythology; figures as the wife of the dodonian zeus; drops into subordinate place after his nuptials with hera. dionysius the elder, tyrant of syracuse from to b.c.; at first a private citizen; early took interest in public affairs, and played a part in them; entered the army, and rose to be head of the state; subdued the other cities of sicily, and declared war against carthage; was attacked by the carthaginians, and defeated them three times over; concluded a treaty of peace with them, and spent the rest of his reign, some years, in maintaining and extending his territory; was distinguished, it is said, as he might well be, both as a poet and a philosopher; tradition represents him as in perpetual terror of his life, and taking every precaution to guard it from attack. dionysius the younger, tyrant of syracuse, son of the preceding, succeeded him in b.c. at the age of thirty; had never taken part in public affairs; was given over to vicious indulgences, and proved incapable of amendment, though dion (q. v.) tried hard to reform him; was unpopular with the citizens, who with the help of dion, whom he had banished, drove him from the throne; returning after years, was once more expelled by timoleon; betook himself to corinth, where he associated himself with low people, and supported himself by keeping a school. dionysius of alexandria, patriarch from , a disciple of origen, and his most illustrious pupil; a firm but judicious defender of the faith against the heretics of the time, in particular the sabellians and the chiliasts; _d_. . dionysius, st., the areopagite (i. e. judge of the areopagus), according to acts xvii. , a convert of st. paul's; became bishop of athens, and died a martyr in ; was long regarded as the father of mysticism in the christian church, on the false assumption that he was the author of writings of a much later date imbued with a pantheistic idea of god and the universe. dionysius of halicarnassus, a greek historian and rhetorician of the age of augustus; came to italy in b.c., and spent years in rome, where he died; devoted himself to the study of the roman republic, its history and its people, and recorded the result in his "archæologia," written in greek, which brings down the narrative to b.c.; it consisted of books, of which only have come down to us entire; he is the author of works in criticism of the orators, poets, and historians of greece. dionysius periegetes, a greek geographer who lived about the th century, and wrote a description of the whole earth in hexameters and in a terse and elegant style. dionysus, the god of the vine or wine; the son of zeus and semele (q. v.), the "twice born," as plucked first from the womb of his dead mother and afterwards brought forth from the thigh of zeus, which served to him as his "incubator." see bacchus. diophantus, a greek mathematician, born in alexandria; lived presumably about the th century; left works in which algebraic methods are employed, and is therefore credited with being the inventor of algebra. dioscor`ides, a greek physician, born in cilicia, lived in the st century; left a treatise in books on materia medica, a work of great research, and long the standard authority on the subject. dioscuri, twin sons of zeus, castor and pollux, a stalwart pair of youths, of the doric stock, great the former as a horse-breaker and the latter as a boxer; were worshipped at sparta as guardians of the state, and pre-eminently as patrons of gymnastics; protected the hearth, led the army in war, and were the convoy of the traveller by land and the voyager by sea, which as constellations they are still held to be. diphilus, a greek comic poet, born at sinope; contemporary of menander; was the forerunner of terence and plautus, the roman poets. diphtheria, a contagious disease characterised by the formation of a false membrane on the back of the throat. dippel, johann konrad, a celebrated german alchemist; professed to have discovered the philosopher's stone; did discover prussian blue, and an animal oil that bears his name ( - ). dippel's oil, an oil obtained from the distinctive distillation of horn bones. dircÆan swan, pindar, so called from the fountain dirce, near thebes, his birthplace. dirce, the wife of lycus, king of thebes, who for her cruelty to antiope, her divorced predecessor, was, by antiope's two sons, zethos and amphion, tied to a wild bull and dragged to death, after which her carcass was flung by them into a well; the subject is represented in a famous antique group by apollonius and tauriscus. directory, the, the name given to the government of france, consisting of a legislative body of two chambers, the council of the ancients and the council of five hundred, which succeeded the fall of the convention, and ruled france from october , , till its overthrow by bonaparte on the th brumaire (november , ). the directors proper were five in number, and were elected by the latter council from a list presented by the former, and the chief members of it were barras and carnot. dirschau ( ), a prussian town on the vistula, m. se. of danzig, with iron-works and a timber trade. dis, a name given to pluto and the nether world over which he rules. discipline, the two books of, books of dates and , regulative of ecclesiastical order in the presbyterian churches of scotland, of which the ground-plan was drawn up by knox on the geneva model. discobolus, the, an antique statue representing the thrower of the discus, in the louvre, and executed by the sculptor myron. discord, apple of. see _infra_. discord, the goddess of, a mischief-making divinity, daughter of night and sister of mars, who on the occasion of the wedding of thetis with peleus, threw into the hall where all the gods and goddesses were assembled a golden apple inscribed "to the most beautiful," and which gave rise to dissensions that both disturbed the peace of olympus and the impartial administration of justice on earth. see paris. dismal science, carlyle's name for the political economy that with self-complacency leaves everything to settle itself by the law of supply and demand, as if that were all the law and the prophets. the name is applied to every science that affects to dispense with the spiritual as a ruling factor in human affairs. dismas, st., the good thief to whom christ promised paradise as he hung on the cross beside him. disraeli, benjamin. see beaconsfield. d'israeli, isaac, a man of letters, born at enfield, middlesex; only son of a spanish jew settled in england, who left him a fortune, which enabled him to cultivate his taste for literature; was the author of several works, but is best known by his "curiosities of literature," a work published in six vols., full of anecdotes on the quarrels and calamities of authors; was never a strict jew; finally cut the connection, and had his children baptized as christians ( - ). dithyramb, a hymn in a lofty and vehement style, originally in honour of bacchus, in celebration of his sorrows and joys, and accompanied with flute music. ditmarsh ( ), a low-lying fertile district in west holstein, between the estuaries of the elbe and the eider; defended by dykes; it had a legal code of its own known as the "ditmarisches landbuch." ditton, humphry, author of a book on fluxions ( - ). diu ( ), a small portuguese island, with a port of the same name, in the gulf of cambay, s. of the peninsula of gujarat, india; was a flourishing place once, and contained a famous hindu temple; inhabited now chiefly by fishermen. divan, the, a collection of poems by häfiz, containing nearly odes; also a collection of lyrics in imitation of goethe, entitled "westöstlicher divan." dives, the name given, originally in the vulgate, to the rich man in the parable of the rich man and lazarus. dividing range, a range of mountains running e. from melbourne, and then n., dividing the basin of the murray from the plain extending to the coast. divine comedy, the, the great poem of dante, consisting of three compartments, "inferno," "purgatorio," and "paradiso"; "three kingdoms ... dante's world of souls...; all three making up the true unseen world, as it figured in the christianity of the middle ages; a thing for ever memorable, for ever true in the essence of it, to all men ... but delineated in no human soul with such depth of veracity as in this of dante's ... to the earnest soul of dante it is all one visible fact--hell, purgatory, paradise, with him not mere emblems, but indubitable awful realities." see dante, and carlyle's "heroes and hero-worship." divine doctor, jean de ruysbroek, the mystic ( - ). divine pagan, hypatia (q. v.). divine right, a claim on the part of kings, now all but extinct, though matter of keen debate at one time, that they derive their authority to rule direct from the almighty, and are responsible to no inferior power, a right claimed especially on the part of and in behalf of the bourbons in france and the stuart dynasty in england, and the denial of which was regarded by them and their partisans as an outrage against the ordinance of very heaven. dixie land, nigger land in u.s. dixon, w. hepworth, an english writer and journalist, born in manchester; called to the bar, but devoted himself to literary work; wrote lives of howard, penn, robert blake, and lord bacon, "new america," "spiritual wives," &c.; was editor of the _athenoeum_ from to ; died suddenly ( - ). dizier, st. ( ), a flourishing french town, m. from châlons-sur-marne. dizzy, a nickname given to benjamin disraeli. djezzar (i. e. butcher), the surname of achmed pasha, pacha of acre; was born at bosnia; sold as a slave, and raised himself by his servility to his master to the length of executing his cruellest wishes; in withstood a long siege of acre by bonaparte, and obliged him to retire ( - ). djinnestan, the region of the jinns. dnieper, a river of russia, anciently called the borysthenes, the third largest for volume of water in europe, surpassed only by the danube and the volga; rises in the province of smolensk, and flowing in a generally southerly direction, falls into the black sea below kherson after a course of m.; it traverses some of the finest provinces of the empire, and is navigable nearly its entire length. dniester, a river which takes its rise in austria, in the carpathians, enters russia, flows generally in a se. direction past bender, and after a rapid course of m. falls into the black sea at akjerman. doab, the, a richly fertile, densely peopled territory in the punjab, between the jumna and ganges, and extending m. n., that is, as far as the himalayas; it is the granary of upper india. dobell, sidney, poet, born at cranbrook, in kent; wrote, under the pseudonym of sidney yendys, the "roman," a drama, "balder," and, along with alexander smith, sonnets on the war (the crimean); suffered much from weak health ( - ). dÖbereiner, a german chemist, professor at jena; inventor of a lamp called after him; goethe was much interested in his discoveries ( - ). dÖbereiner's lamp, a light caused by a jet of hydrogen passing over spongy platinum. dobrovski, joseph, a philologist, born in gyarmet, in hungary; devoted his life to the study of the bohemian language and literature; wrote a history of them, the fruit of immense labour, under which his brain gave way more than once; was trained among the jesuits ( - ). dobrenter, hungarian archæologist; devoted years of his life to the study of the magyar language; author of "ancient monuments of the magyar language" ( - ). dobrudja ( ), the part of roumania between the danube and the black sea, a barren, unwholesome district; rears herds of cattle. dobson, austin, poet and prose writer, born at plymouth, is in a department of the civil service; wrote "vignettes in rhyme," "proverbs in porcelain," "old world idylls," in verse, and in prose lives of fielding, hogarth, steele, and goldsmith; contributed extensively to the magazines; _b_. . dobson, william, portrait-painter, born in london; succeeded vandyck as king's serjeant-painter to charles i.; painted the king and members of his family and court; supreme in his art prior to sir joshua reynolds; died in poverty ( - ). docetÆ, a sect of heretics in the early church who held that the humanity of christ was only seeming, not real, on the gnostic or manichæan theory of the essential impurity and defiling nature of matter or the flesh. doctor (lit. teacher), a title implying that the possessor of it is such a master of his art that he can teach it as well as practise it. doctor mirabilis, roger bacon. doctor my-book, john abernethy, from his saying to his patients, "read my book." doctor of the incarnation, cyril of alexandria, from his controversy with the nestorians. doctor slop, a doctor in "tristram shandy," fanatical about a forceps he invented. doctor squintum, george whitfield. doctor syntax. see combe, william. doctors' commons, a college of doctors of the civil law in london, where they used to eat in common, and where eventually a number of the courts of law were held. doctrinaires, mere theorisers, particularly on social and political questions; applied originally to a political party that arose in france in , headed by roger-collard and represented by guizot, which stood up for a constitutional government that should steer clear of acknowledging the divine right of kinghood on the one hand and the divine right of democracy on the other. dodabetta, the highest peak, ft., in the nilgherries. dodd, dr. william, an english divine, born at bourne, lincolnshire; was one of the royal chaplains; attracted fashionable audiences as a preacher in london, but lived extravagantly, and fell hopelessly into debt, and into disgrace for the nefarious devices he adopted to get out of it; forged a bond for £ on the earl of chesterfield, who had been a pupil of his; was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, a sentence which was carried out notwithstanding the great exertions made to procure a pardon; wrote a "commentary on the bible," and compiled "the beauties of shakespeare" ( - ). doddridge, philip, a nonconformist divine, born in london; was minister at kebworth, market harborough, and northampton successively, and much esteemed both as a man and a teacher; suffered from pulmonary complaint; went to lisbon for a change, and died there; was the author of "the family expositor," but is best known by his "rise and progress of religion in the soul," and perhaps also by his "life of colonel gardiner" ( - ). dÖderlein, ludwig, a german philologist, born at jena; became professor of philology at erlangen; edited tacitus, horace, and other classic authors, but his principal works were on the etymology of the latin language ( - ). dodger, the artful, a young expert in theft and other villanies in dickens's "oliver twist." dodgson, charles lutwidge, english writer and man of genius, with the _nom de plume_ of lewis carroll; distinguished himself at oxford in mathematics; author of "alice's adventures in wonderland," with its sequel, "through the looking-glass," besides other works, mathematical, poetic, and humorous; mingled humour and science together ( - ). dodington, george bubb, an english politician, notorious for his fickleness, siding now with this party, now with that; worked for and won a peerage before he died; with all his pretensions, and they were many, a mere flunkey at bottom ( - ). dodo, an ungainly bird larger than a turkey, with short scaly legs, a big head and bill, short wings and tail, and a greyish down plumage, now extinct, though it is known to have existed in the mauritius some years ago. dodo`na, an ancient oracle of zeus, in epirus, close by a grove of oak trees, from the agitation of the branches of which the mind of the god was construed, the interpreters being at length three old women; it was more or less a local oracle, and was ere long superseded by the more widely known oracle of delphi (q. v.). dods, meg, an old landlady of consistently inconsistent qualities in "st. ronan's well"; also the pseudonym of the authoress of a book on cookery. dodsley, robert, an english poet, dramatist, and publisher; wrote a drama called "the toyshop," which, through pope's influence, was acted in drury lane with such success as to enable the author to commence business as a bookseller in pall mall; projected and published the _miscellany_, and continued to write plays, the most popular "cleone"; is best known in connection with his "collection of old plays"; he was a patron of johnson, and much esteemed by him ( - ). doeg, a herdsman of saul ( sam. xxi. ); a name applied by dryden to elkanah settle in "absalom and achitophel." dogberry, a self-satisfied night constable in "much ado about nothing." dog-days, days before and after the rising of the dog-star sirius, at present from rd july to th august. doge, the name of the chief magistrate of venice and genoa, elected at first annually and then for life in venice, with, in course of time, powers more and more limited, and at length little more than a figure-head; the office ceased with the fall of the republic in , as it did in genoa in . dogger bank, a sandbank in the north sea; a great fishing-field, extending between jutland in denmark and yorkshire in england, though distant from both shores, m. long, over m. broad, and from to fathoms deep. dogs, isle of, a low-lying projection of a square mile in extent from the left bank of the thames, opposite greenwich, and ½ m. e. of st. paul's. dog-star, sirius (q. v.). dolabella, son-in-law of cicero, a profligate man, joined cæsar, and was raised by him to the consulship; joined cæsar's murderers after his death; was declared from his profligacy a public enemy; driven to bay by a force sent against him, ordered one of his soldiers to kill him. dolci, carlo, a florentine painter, came of a race of artists; produced many fine works, the subjects of them chiefly madonnas, saints. &c. ( - ). dolcino, a heresiarch and martyr of the th century, of the apostolic brethren, a sect which rose in piedmont who made themselves obnoxious to the church; was driven to bay by his persecutors, and at last caught and tortured and burnt to death; a similar fate overtook others of the sect, to its extermination. doldrums, a zone of the tropics where calms, squalls, and baffling winds prevail. dÔle ( ), a town in the dep. of jura, on the doubs, and the rhône and rhine canal, m. se. of dijon, with iron-works, and a trade in wine, grain, &c. dolet, Étienne, a learned french humanist, born at orleans, became, by the study of the classics, one of the lights of the renaissance, and one of its most zealous propagandists; suffered persecution after persecution at the hands of the church, and was burned in the place maubert, paris, a martyr to his philosophic zeal and opinions ( - ). dolgelly, capital of merioneth, wales, with manufactures of flannel. dolgorouki, the name of a noble and illustrious russian family. dollart zee, a gulf in holland into which the ems flows, m. long by broad, and formed by inundation of the north sea. dÖllinger, a catholic theologian, born in bamberg, bavaria, professor of church history in the university of münich; head of the old catholic party in germany; was at first a zealous ultramontanist, but changed his opinions and became quite as zealous in opposing, first, the temporal sovereignty, and then the infallibility of the pope, to his excommunication from the church; he was a polemic, and as such wrote extensively on theological and ecclesiastical topics; lived to a great age, and was much honoured to the last ( - ). dollond, john, a mathematical instrument-maker, born in spitalfields, london, of dutch descent; began life as a silk-weaver; made good use of his leisure hours in studies bearing mainly on physics; went into partnership with his son, who was an optician; made a study of the telescope, suggested improvements which commended themselves to the royal society, and in especial how, by means of a combination of lenses, to get rid of the coloured fringe in the image ( - ). dolmen, a rude structure of prehistoric date, consisting of upright unhewn stones supporting one or more heavy slabs; long regarded as altars of sacrifice, but now believed to be sepulchral monuments; found in great numbers in bretagne especially. dolomite alps, a limestone mountain range forming the s. of the eastern alps, in the tyrol and n. italy, famous for the remarkable and fantastic shapes they assume; named after dolomieu, a french mineralogist, who studied the geology of them. domat, jean, a learned french jurist and friend of pascal, regarded laws and customs as the reflex of political history ( - ). dombasle, an eminent french agriculturist, born at nancy ( - ). dom-boke (i. e. doom-book), a code of laws compiled by king alfred from two prior saxon codes, to which he prefixed the ten commandments of moses, and rules of life from the christian code of ethics. dombrowski, john henry, a polish general, served in the polish campaigns against russia and prussia in - ; organised a polish legion which did good service in the wars of napoleon; covered the retreat of the french at the beresina in ( - ). domdaniel, a hall under the ocean where the evil spirits and magicians hold council under their chief and pay him homage. domenichi`no, a celebrated italian painter, born at bologna; studied under calvaert and caracci; was of the bolognese school, and reckoned one of the first of them; his principal works are his "communion of st. jerome," now in the vatican, and the "martyrdom of st. agnes," at bologna, the former being regarded as his masterpiece; he was the victim of persecution at the hands of rivals; died at naples, not without suspicion of having been poisoned ( - ). domesday book, the record, in vols., of the survey of all the lands of england made in - at the instance of william the conqueror for purposes of taxation; the survey included the whole of england, except the four northern counties and part of lancashire, and was made by commissioners appointed by the king, and sent to the different districts of the country, where they held courts, and registered everything on evidence; it is a valuable document. dominic de guzman, st., saint of the catholic church, born in old castile; distinguished for his zeal in the conversion of the heretic; essayed the task by simple preaching of the word; sanctioned persecution when persuasion was of no avail; countenanced the crusade of simon de montfort against the albigenses for their obstinate unbelief, and thus established a precedent which was all too relentlessly followed by the agents of the spanish inquisition, the chiefs of which were of the dominican order, so that he is ignominiously remembered as the "burner and slayer of heretics" ( - ). festival, aug. . dominica, or dominique ( ), the largest and most southerly of the leeward islands, and belongs to britain; one-half of the island is forest, and parts of it have never been explored; was discovered by columbus on sunday, november , , whence its name. dominical letter, one of seven letters, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, used to mark the sundays throughout the year, so that if a denote the first sunday, it will denote all the rest, and so on with b, c, &c., till at the end of seven years a becomes the dominical letter again. dominican republic, or st. domingo ( ), a republic forming the e. part of the island of haiti, and consisting of two-thirds of it; it belonged alternately to france and spain till , when, on revolt, the spaniards were expelled, and a republic established; the capital is st. domingo ( ), and the chief port puerto plata. dominicans, a religious order of preaching friars, founded at toulouse in by st. dominic, to aid in the conversion of the heretic albigenses to the faith, and finally established as the order whose special charge it was to guard the orthodoxy of the church. the order was known by the name black friars in england, from their dress; and jacobins in france, from the street of paris in which they had their head-quarters. dominie, sampson, a schoolmaster in "guy mannering," "a poor, modest, humble scholar, who had won his way through the classics, but fallen to the leeward in the voyage of life." dominis, marco antonio de, a vacillating ecclesiastic, born in dalmatia; was educated by the jesuits; taught mathematics in padua; wrote a treatise in which an explanation was for the first time given of the phenomenon of the rainbow; became archbishop of spalatro; falling under suspicion he passed over to england, professed protestantism, and was made dean of windsor; reconciled to the papacy, returned to the church of rome, and left the country; his sincerity being distrusted, was cast into prison, where he died, his body being afterwards disinterred and burned ( - ). domitian, roman emperor, son of vespasian, brother of titus, whom he succeeded in , the last of the twelve cæsars; exceeded the expectations of every one in the beginning of his reign, as he had given proof of a licentious and sanguinary character beforehand, but soon his conduct changed, and fulfilled the worst fears of his subjects; his vanity was wounded by the non-success of his arms, and his vengeful spirit showed itself in a wholesale murder of the citizens; many conspiracies were formed against his life, and he was at length murdered by an assassin, who had been hired by his courtiers and abetted by his wife domitia, in . domrÉmy, a small village on the meuse, in the dep. of vosges; the birthplace of joan of arc. don, a russian river, the ancient tanaïs; flows southward from its source in the province of tula, and after a course of m. falls into the sea of azov; also the name of a river in aberdeenshire, and another in yorkshire. don juan, the member of a distinguished family of seville, who seduces the daughter of a noble, and when confronted by her father stabs him to death in a duel; he afterwards prepares a feast and invites the stone statue of his victim to partake of it; the stone statue turns up at the least, compels don juan to follow him, and delivers him over to the abyss of hell, the depths of which he had qualified himself for by his utter and absolute depravity. don quixote, the title of a world-famous book written by miguel cervantes, in satire of the romances of chivalry with which his countrymen were so fascinated; the chief character of which gives title to it, a worthy gentleman of la mancha, whose head is so turned by reading tales of knight-errantry, that he fancies he is a knight-errant himself, sallies forth in quest of adventures, and encounters them in the most commonplace incidents, one of his most ridiculous extravagancies being his tilting with the windmills, and the overweening regard he has for his dulcinea del tobosa. donaldson, john william, a philologist, born in london; fellow of cambridge and tutor of trinity college; author of "new cratylus; or contributions towards a more accurate knowledge of the greek language," a work of great erudition and of value to scholars; contributed also to the philological study of latin, and wrote a grammar of both languages; he failed when he intruded into the field of biblical criticism ( - ). donatello, a great italian sculptor, born at florence, where he was apprenticed to a goldsmith; tried his hand at carving in leisure hours; went to rome and studied the monuments of ancient art; returned to florence and executed an "annunciation," still preserved in a chapel in santa croce, which was followed by marble statues of st. peter, st. mark, and st. george, before one of which, that of st. mark, michael angelo exclaimed, "why do you not speak to me?"; he executed tombs and figures, or groups in bronze as well as marble; his schoolmasters were the sculptors of greece, and the real was his ultimate model ( - ). donati, an italian astronomer, born at pisa; discoverer of the comet of , called donati's comet ( - ). donatists, a sect in n. africa, founded by donatus, bishop of carthage, in the th century, that separated from the rest of the church and formed itself into an exclusive community, with bishops and congregations of its own, on the ground that no one was entitled to be a member of christ's body, or an overseer of christ's flock, who was not of divine election, and that in the face of an attempt, backed by the emperor constantine, to thrust a bishop on the church at carthage, consecrated by an authority that had betrayed and sold the church to the world; the members of it were subject to cruel persecutions in which they gloried, and were annihilated by the saracens in the th century. donatus, a latin grammarian and rhetorician of the th century, the teacher of st. jerome; the author of treatises in grammar known as donats, and, along with the sacred scriptures, the earliest examples of printing by means of letters cut on wooden blocks, and so appreciated as elementary treatises that they gave name to treatises of the kind on any subject; he wrote also _scholia_ to the plays of terence. donau, the german name for the danube. doncaster ( ), a market and manufacturing town in the west riding of yorkshire, well built, in a pleasant country, on the right bank of the don, m. s. of york; famous for its races, the st. leger in particular, called after colonel st. leger, who instituted them in . dondra head, the southern extremity of ceylon, once the site of the capital. donegal ( ), a county in the nw. of ireland, in the province of ulster, the most mountainous in the country; is mossy and boggy, and is indented along the coast with bays, and fringed with islands. donetz, a tributary of the russian don, the basin of which forms one large coal-field, reckoned to be as large as all yorkshire, and is reckoned one of the largest of any in the world. dongola, new, a town in nubia, on the left bank of the nile, above the third cataract, ° n. and over m. from cairo; was founded by the mamelukes. donizetti, a celebrated italian composer, born at bergamo, lombardy, and studied at bologna; devoted himself to dramatic music; produced over operas, among the number "lucia di lammermoor," the "daughter of the regiment," "lucrezia borgia," and "la favorita," all well known, and all possessing a melodious quality of the first order ( - ). donne, john, english poet and divine, born in london; a man of good degree; brought up in the catholic faith; after weighing the claims of the romish and anglican communions, joined the latter; married a young lady of sixteen without consent of her father, which involved him in trouble for a time; was induced to take holy orders by king james; was made his chaplain, and finally became dean of st. paul's; wrote sermons, some letters and essays, as well as poems, the latter, amid many defects, revealing a soul instinct with true poetic fire ( - ). see "professor saintsbury on donne." donnybrook, a village now included in dublin, long celebrated for its fairs and the fights it was the scene of on such occasions. donon, the highest peak of the vosges mountains. doo, george thomas, a celebrated english line-engraver, and one of the best in his day ( - ). doon, a river rendered classic by the muse of burns, which after a course of m. joins the clyde m. s. of ayr. dora, the child-wife of "david copperfield," dickens's novel. dora d'istria, the pseudonym of helena ghika, born in wallachia, of noble birth; distinguished for her beauty and accomplishments; was eminent as a linguist; translated the "iliad" into german; wrote works, the fruits of travels ( - ). doran, john, an english man of letters, born in london, of irish descent; wrote on miscellaneous subjects; became editor of the _athenæum_ and _notes and queries_ ( - ). dorat, jean, a french poet, born at limoges; a greek scholar; contributed much to the revival of classical literature in france, and was one of the french plÉiade (q. v.); _d_. . dorcas society, a society for making clothing for the poor. see acts ix. . dorchester ( ), the county town of dorset, on the frome; was a roman town, and contains the ruins of a roman amphitheatre. dordogne, a river in the s. of france, which, after a course of m., falls into the estuary of garonne; also a dep. ( ) through which it flows. dorÉ, gustave, a french painter and designer, born in strasburg; evinced great power and fertility of invention, having, it is alleged, produced more than , designs; had a wonderful faculty for seizing likenesses, and would draw from memory groups of faces he had seen only once; among the books he illustrated are the "contes drolatiques" of balzac, the works of rabelais and montaigne, dante's "inferno," also his "purgatorio" and "paradiso," "don quixote," tennyson's "idylls," milton's works, and coleridge's "ancient mariner"; among his paintings were "christ leaving the prætorium," and "christ's entry into jerusalem"; he has left behind him works of sculpture as well as drawings and pictures; his art has been severely handled by the critics, and most of all by ruskin, who treats it with unmitigated scorn ( - ). doria, andrea, a naval commander, born in genoa, of noble descent, though his parents were poor; a man of patriotic instincts; adopted the profession of arms at the age of ; became commander of the fleet in ; attacked with signal success the turkish corsairs that infested the mediterranean; served under francis i. to free his country from a faction that threatened its independence, and, by his help, succeeded in expelling it; next, in fear of the french supremacy, served, under charles v., and entering genoa, was hailed as its liberator, and received the title of "father and defender of his country"; the rest of his life, and it was a long one, was one incessant wrestle with his great rival barbarossa, the chief of the corsairs, and which ended in his defeat ( - ). dorians, one of the four divisions of the hellenic race, the other three being the achæans, the Æolians, and the ionians; at an early period overran the whole peloponnesus; they were a hardy people, of staid habits and earnest character. doric, the oldest, strongest, and simplest of the four grecian orders of architecture. dorine, a petulant domestic in molière's "tartuffe." doris, a small mountainous country of ancient greece, s. of thessaly, and embracing the valley of the pindus. doris, the wife of nereus, and mother of the nereids. dorislaus, isaac, a lawyer, born at alkmaar, in holland; came to england, and was appointed judge-advocate; acted as such at king charles's trial, and was for that latter offence assassinated at the hague one evening by certain high-flying royalist cut-throats, scotch several of them; "his portrait represents him as a man of heavy, deep-wrinkled, elephantine countenance, pressed down by the labours of life and law" ( - ). dorking ( ), a market-town picturesquely situated in the heart of surrey, m. sw. of london; gives name to a breed of fowls; contains a number of fashionable villas. dorn, a distinguished german orientalist; wrote a history of the afghans, and on their language ( - ). dorner, isaak august, a german theologian, born at würtemberg; studied at tübingen; became professor of theology in berlin, after having held a similar post in several other german universities; his principal works were the "history of the development of the doctrine of the person of christ," and the "history of protestant theology" ( - ). dornoch, the county town of sutherland, a small place, but a royal burgh; has a good golf course. doros, a son of helen and grandson of deucalion, the father of the dorians, as his brother Æolis was of the Æolians. dorothea, st., a virgin of alexandria, suffered martyrdom by being beheaded in . festival, feb. . dorpat ( ), a town on the embach, in livonia, russia, m. ne. of riga, with a celebrated university founded by gustavus adolphus in ; it has a well-equipped staff, and is well attended; the majority of the population is german. d'orsay, count, a man of fashion, born in paris; entered the french army; forsook it for the society of lord and lady blessington; married lady b.'s daughter by a former marriage; came to england with her ladyship on her husband's death; started a joint establishment in london, which became a rendezvous for all the literary people and artists about town; was "phoebus apollo of dandyism"; paid homage to carlyle at chelsea one day in ; "came whirling hither in a chariot that struck all chelsea into mute amazement with splendour," says carlyle, who thus describes him, "a tall fellow of six feet three, built like a tower, with floods of dark auburn hair, with a beauty, with an adornment unsurpassable on this planet: withal a rather substantial fellow at bottom, by no means without insight, without fun, and a sort of rough sarcasm, rather striking out of such a porcelain figure"; having shown kindness to louis napoleon when in london, the prince did not forget him, and after the _coup d'état_ appointed him to a well-salaried post, but he did not live to enjoy it ( - ). dorset ( ), maritime county in the s. of england, with a deeply indented coast; it consists of a plain between two eastward and westward reaching belts of downs; is mainly a pastoral county; rears sheep and cattle, and produces butter and cheese. dort, or dordrecht ( ), a town on an island in the maas, in the province of south holland, m. se. of rotterdam; admirably situated for trade, connected as it is with the rhine as well, on which rafts of wood are sent floating down to it; is famous for a synod held here in - , at which the tenets of arminius were condemned, and the doctrines of calvin approved of and endorsed as the doctrines of the reformed church. dortmund ( ), a town in westphalia; a great mineral and railway centre, with large iron and steel forges, and a number of breweries. dory, john, the hero of an old ballad. do-the-boys'-hall, a scholastic establishment in "nicholas nickleby." douay ( ), a town on the scarpe, in the dep. of nord, france, m. s. of lille, and one of the chief military towns of the country; has a college founded in for the education of catholic priests intended for england, and is where a version of the bible in english for the use of catholics was issued. doubs, a tributary of the saône, which it falls into below dôle; gives name to the dep. ( ), which it traverses. doubting castle, a castle belonging to giant despair in the "pilgrim's progress," which only one key could open, the key promise. douce, francis, a learned antiquary, born in london; for a time keeper of mss. in the british museum; author of "illustrations of shakespeare," and an illustrated volume, "the dance of death"; left in the museum a chest of books and mss. not to be opened till ; was a man of independent means, and a devoted archæologist ( - ). douglas ( ), the largest town and capital as well as chief port of the isle of man, m. from liverpool; much frequented as a bathing-place; contains an old residence of the dukes of atholl, entitled castle mona, now a hotel. see man, isle of. douglas, the name of an old scotch family, believed to be of celtic origin, and that played a conspicuous part at one time in the internal and external struggles of the country; they figure in scottish history in two branches, the elder called the black and the later the red douglases or the angus branch, now represented by the houses of hamilton and home. the eldest of the douglases, william, was a kinsman of the house of murray, and appears to have lived about the end of the th century. one of the most illustrious of the family was the good sir james, distinguished specially as the "black" douglas, the pink of knighthood and the associate of bruce, who carried the bruce's heart in a casket to bury it in palestine, but died fighting in spain, . douglas, gawin or gavin, a scottish poet and bishop of dunkeld, third son of archibald, earl of angus, surnamed "bell-the-cat"; political troubles obliged him to leave the country and take refuge at the court of henry vii., where he was held in high regard; died here of the plague, and was buried by his own wish in the savoy; besides ovid's "art of love," now lost, he translated ( - ) the "Æneid" of virgil into english verse, to each book of which he prefixed a prologue, in certain of which there are descriptions that evince a poet's love of nature combined with his love as a scotchman for the scenery of his native land; besides this translation, which is his chief work, he indited two allegorical poems, entitled the "palace of honour," addressed to james iv., and "king hart" ( - ). douglas, sir howard, an english general and writer on military subjects, born at gosport; saw service in the peninsula; was governor of new brunswick and lord high commissioner of the ionian islands ( - ). douglas, john, bishop of salisbury, born at pittenweem, fife; wrote "the criterion of, or a discourse on, miracles" against hume; was a friend of samuel johnson's ( - ). douglas, stephen arnold, an american statesman, born in brandon, vermont; a lawyer by profession, and a judge; a member of congress and the senate; was a democrat; stood for the presidency when lincoln was elected; was a leader in the western states; a splendid monument is erected to his memory in chicago ( - ). douglass, frederick, american orator, born a slave in maryland; wrought as a slave in a baltimore shipbuilder's yard; escaped at the age of to new york; attended an anti-slavery meeting, where he spoke so eloquently that he was appointed by the anti-slavery society to lecture in its behalf, which he did with success and much appreciation in england as well as america; published an autobiography, which gives a thrilling account of his life ( - ). doulton, sir henry, the reviver of art pottery, born in lambeth; knighted in the jubilee year for his eminence in that department; _b_. . douro, a river, and the largest, of the spanish peninsula, which rises in the cantabrian mountains; forms for m. the northern boundary of portugal, and after a course of m. falls into the atlantic at oporto; is navigable only where it traverses portugal. douster-swivel, a german swindling schemer in the "antiquary." dove, in christian art the symbol of the holy ghost, or of a pure, or a purified soul, and with an olive branch, the symbol of peace and the gospel of peace. dove, heinrich wilhelm, a german physicist, born at liegnitz, silesia; professor of natural philosophy in berlin; was eminent chiefly in the departments of meteorology and optics; he discovered how by the stereoscope to detect forged bank-notes ( - ). dover ( ), a seaport on the e. coast of kent, and the nearest in england to the coast of france, m. se. of london, and with a mail service to calais and ostend; is strongly fortified, and the chief station in the se. military district of england; was the chief of the cinque ports. dover, strait of, divides france from england and connects the english channel with the north sea, and at the narrowest m. across; forms a busy sea highway; is called by the french _pas de calais_. dovrefeld, a range of mountains in norway, stretching ne. and extending between ° and ° n. lat., average height ft. dow or douw, gerard, a distinguished dutch genre-painter, born at leyden; a pupil of rembrandt; his works, which are very numerous, are the fruit of a devoted study of nature, and are remarkable for their delicacy and perfection of finish; examples of his works are found in all the great galleries of europe ( - ). dowden, edward, literary critic, professor of english literature in dublin university, born in cork; is distinguished specially as a shakesperian; is author of "shakespeare: a study of his mind and art," "introduction to shakespeare," and "shakesperian sonnets, with notes"; has written "studies in literature," and a "life of shelley"; is well read in german as well as english literature; has written with no less ability on goethe than on shakespeare; _b_. . down ( ), a maritime county in the se. of the province of ulster, ireland, with a mostly level and fairly fertile soil, and manufactures of linen. downs, the, a safe place of anchorage, m. long by m. broad, for ships between goodwin sands and the coast of kent. downs, the north and south, two parallel ranges of low broad hills covered with a light soil and with a valley between, called the weald, that extend eastward from hampshire to the sea-coast, the north terminating in dover cliffs, kent, and the south in beachy head, sussex; the south famous for the breed of sheep that pastures on them. doyle, dr. conan, novelist, nephew of richard and grandson of john, born in edinburgh; studied and practised medicine, but gave it up after a time for literature, in which he had already achieved no small success; several of his productions have attracted universal attention, especially his "adventures" and his "memoir of sherlock holmes"; wrote a short play "a story of waterloo," produced with success by sir henry irving; _b_. . doyle, sir francis hastings, an english poet, born near tadcaster; bred to the bar, but devoted to poetry and horse-racing; became professor of poetry at oxford; author of "miscellaneous verses," "two destinies," "retreat of the guards," "the thread of honour," and "the private of the buffs" ( - ). doyle, john, an eminent caricaturist, of irish origin, under the initials h. b. ( - ). doyle, richard, eminent caricaturist, born in london, son of the preceding; contributed to _punch_, of which he designed the cover, but left the staff, in owing to the criticisms in the journal adverse to the catholic church; devoted himself after that chiefly to book illustration and water-colour painting ( - ). dozy, reinhart, an orientalist and linguist, born at leyden, where he became professor of history; devoted himself to the study of the history of the arabs or moors in north-western africa and spain, his chief work being "the history of the mussulmans of spain"; wrote also a "detailed dictionary of the names of the dress of the arabs" ( - ). drachenfels (dragon's rock), one of the siebengebirge, m. se. of bonn, ft. above the rhine, and crowned by a castle with a commanding view; the legendary abode of the dragon killed by siegfried in the "lay of the nibelungen." draco, a celebrated athenian law-giver, who first gave stability to the state by committing the laws to writing, and establishing the ephetæ, or court of appeal, b.c.; only he punished every transgressor of his laws with death, so that his code became unbearable, and was superseded ere long by a milder, instituted by solon, who affixed the penalty of death to murder alone; he is said to have justified the severity of his code by maintaining that the smallest crime deserved death, and he knew no severer punishment for greater; it is said he was smothered to death in the theatre by the hats and cloaks showered on him as a popular mark of honour; he was archon of athens. dragon, a fabulous monster, being a hideous impersonation of some form of deadly evil, which only preternatural heroic strength and courage can subdue, and on the subdual and slaying of which depends the achievement of some conquest of vital moment to the human race or some members of it; is represented in mediæval art as a large, lizard-like animal, with the claws of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a serpent, with open jaws ready and eager to devour, which some knight high-mounted thrusts at to pierce to death with a spear; in the greek mythology it is represented with eyes ever on the watch, in symbol of the evil that waylays us to kill us if we don't kill it, as in guarding the "apples of the hesperides" and the "golden fleece," because these are prizes that fall only to those who are as watchful of him as he is of them; and it is consecrated to minerva to signify that true wisdom, as sensible of the ever-wakeful dragon, never goes to sleep, but is equally ever on the watch. dragonnades, the name given to the persecution at the instance of louis xiv. to force the huguenots of france back into the bosom of the catholic church by employment of dragoons. dragon's teeth, the teeth of the dragon that cadmus slew, and which when sown by him sprang up as a host of armed men, who killed each other all to the five who became the ancestors of the thebans, hence the phrase to "sow dragon's teeth," to breed and foster strife. drake, sir francis, a great english seaman of the reign of queen elizabeth, born near tavistock, in devon; served in the royal navy under his relative, sir john hawkins, and distinguished himself with signal success by his valour and daring against the pride of spain, towards which, as the great catholic persecuting power, he had been taught to cherish an invincible hatred; came swoop down like a hawk on its ports across seas, and bore himself out of them laden with spoil; in sailed for america with five ships, passed through the strait of magellan, the first englishman to do it; plundered the w. coast as far as peru; lost all his ships save one; crossed the pacific, and came home by way of the cape--the first to sail round the world--with spoil to the value of £ , , his successes contributing much to embolden his countrymen against the arrogance of the catholic king; and he was vice-admiral in the fleet that drove back the armada from our shores ( - ). drake, friedrich, a german sculptor, born at pyrmont; studied under rauch; executed numerous statues and busts, among others busts of oken and ranke, bismarck and moltke; his chief works are the "eight provinces of prussia," represented by large allegorical figures, and the "warrior crowned by victory" ( - ). drake, nathan, a physician, born at york; author of "shakespeare and his times" ( - ). drakenberg mountains, a range of mountains in s. africa, ft. high, between natal and the orange free state. dramatic unities, three rules of dramatic construction prescribed by aristotle, observed by the french dramatists, but ignored by shakespeare, that ( ) a play should represent what takes place within eight hours, ( ) there must be no change of locality, and ( ) there must be no minor plot. drammen ( ), a norwegian seaport on a river which falls into christiania bay, m. sw. of christiania; trade chiefly in timber. draper, john william, a chemist, scientist, and man of letters, born at liverpool; settled in the united states; wrote on chemistry, physiology, and physics generally, as well as works of a historical character, such as the "history of the intellectual development of europe" and the "history of the conflict between science and religion," an able book ( - ). drapier, a pseudonym adopted by swift in his letters to the people of ireland anent wood's pence, and which led to the cancelling of the patent. drave, a river from the eastern alps which flows eastward, and after a course of miles falls into the danube m. below essek. dravidians, races of people who occupied india before the arrival of aryans, and being driven s. by them came to settle chiefly in the s. of the dekkan; they are divided into numerous tribes, each with a language of its own, but of a common type or group, some of them literary and some of them not, the chief the tamil; the tribes together number over millions. drawcansir, a blustering, bullying boaster in buckingham's play the "rehearsal"; he kills every one of the combatants, "sparing neither friend nor foe." drayton, michael, an english poet, born in warwickshire, like shakespeare; was one of the three chief patriotic poets, warner and daniel being the other two, which arose in england after her humiliation of the pride of spain, although he was no less distinguished as a love poet; his great work is his "polyolbion," in glorification of england, consisting of books and , lines; it gives in alexandrines "the tracts, mountains, forests, and other parts of this renowned isle of britain, with intermixture of the most remarkable stories, antiquities, wonders, pleasures, and commodities of the same digested in a poem"; this was preceded by other works, and succeeded by a poem entitled "the ballad of agincourt," pronounced one of the most spirited martial lyrics in the language ( - ). drelincourt, a french protestant divine, born at sedan; author of "consolations against the fear of death" ( - ). drenthe ( ), a province of holland lying between hanover and the zuyder zee; the soil is poor, and the population sparse. dresden ( ), the capital of saxony, on the elbe, m. se. of berlin; a fine city, with a museum rich in all kinds of works of art, and called in consequence the "florence of germany"; here the allies were defeated by napoleon in , when he entered the city, leaving behind him , men, who were besieged by the russians and compelled to surrender as prisoners of war the same year. dreyfus, l'affaire. on rd december , alfred dreyfus, an alsatian jew, captain of french artillery; was by court-martial found guilty of revealing to a foreign power secrets of national defence, and sentenced to degradation and perpetual imprisonment; he constantly maintained his innocence, and, in time, the belief that he had been unjustly condemned became prevalent, and a revision of the trial being at length ordered, principally through the exertions of colonel picquart and zola, the well-known author, dreyfus was brought back from cayenne, where he had been kept a close prisoner and cruelly treated, and a fresh trial at rennes began on th august , and lasted till th september; the proceedings, marked by scandalous "scenes," and by an attempt to assassinate one of prisoner's counsel--disclosed an alarmingly corrupt condition of affairs in some lines of french public life under the republic of the time, and terminated in a majority verdict of "guilty"; m. dreyfus was set at liberty on th september, the sentence of ten years' imprisonment being remitted; _b_. . dreyse, nicholaus von, inventor of the needle-gun, born at sömmerda, near erfurt, the son of a locksmith, and bred to his father's craft; established a large factory at sömmerda for a manufactory of firearms; was ennobled ( - ). drogheda ( ), a seaport in co. louth, near the mouth of the boyne, m. n. of dublin, with manufactures and a considerable export trade; was stormed by cromwell in "after a stout resistance," and the garrison put to the sword; surrendered to william iii. after the battle of the boyne in . dromore, a cathedral town in co. down, ireland, m. sw. of belfast, of which jeremy taylor was bishop. droogs, steep rocks which dot the surface of mysore, in india, and resemble hay-ricks, some of these ft. high, some with springs on the top, and scalable only by steps cut in them. droste-hÜlshoff, fraulein von, a german poetess, born near münster; was of delicate constitution; wrote tales as well as lyrics in record of deep and tender experiences ( - ). drouet, jean baptiste, notable king-taker, a violent jacobin and member of the council of the five hundred; had been a dragoon soldier; was postmaster at st. menehould when louis xvi., attempting flight, passed through the place, and by whisper of surmise had the progress of louis and his party arrested at varennes, june , , for which service he received honourable mention and due reward in money; was taken captive by the austrians at last; perched on a rock ft. high, descended one night by means of a paper kite he had constructed, but was found at the foot helpless with leg broken ( - ). drouet, jean baptiste, comte d'erlon, marshal of france, born at rheims; distinguished in the wars of the republic and the empire; on napoleon's return from elba seized on the citadel of lille, and held it for the emperor; commanded the first _corps d'armée_ at waterloo; left france at the restoration; returned after the july revolution; became governor of algiers, and was created marshal ( - ). drouot, a french general, son of a baker at nancy; napoleon, whom, as commander of artillery, he accompanied over all his battlefields in europe and to elba, used to call him the _sage of the grande armée_ ( - ). drouyn de lhuys, french statesman and diplomatist, born in paris; was ambassador at the hague and madrid; distinguished himself by his opposition to guizot; served as minister of foreign affairs under louis napoleon; withdrew into private life after the collapse at sedan ( - ). droysen, a german historian, born in pomerania; professor in berlin; author of the "history of prussian policy," "history of alexander the great," and "history of hellenism" ( - ). droz, the name of a swiss family of mechanicians, one of them, jean pierre, an engraver of medals ( - ); also of a french moralist and historian, author of "history of louis xvi." ( - ). droz, gustav, a highly popular and brilliant novelist, born in paris; author of "monsieur, madam, et bébé," "entre nous," and "cahier bleu de mlle. cibot" ( - ). druids, a sacred order of learned men under a chief called the archdruid, among the ancient celtic nations, particularly of gaul and britain, who, from their knowledge of the arts and sciences of the day, were the ministers of religion and justice, as well as the teachers of youth to the whole community, and exercised an absolute control over the unlearned people whom they governed; they worshipped in oak groves, and the oak tree and the mistletoe were sacred to them; the heavenly bodies appear to have been also objects of their worship, and they appear to have believed in the immortality and transmigration of the soul; but they committed nothing to writing, and for our knowledge of them we have to depend on the reports of outsiders. drumclog moss, a flat wilderness of broken bog and quagmire in lanarkshire, where the covenanters defeated claverhouse's dragoons in . drummond, henry, popular scientist and christian teacher, born in stirling; was educated at edinburgh and tübingen; studied for the free church; lectured on natural science; became famous by the publication of "natural law in the spiritual world," a book which took with the christian public at once, and had an enormous sale, which was succeeded by "tropical africa," a charmingly-written book of travel, and by a series of booklets, commencing with "the greatest thing in the world," intended to expound and commend the first principles of the christian faith; his last work except one, published posthumously, entitled the "ideal life," was the "ascent of man," in which he posits an altruistic element in the process of evolution, and makes the goal of it a higher and higher life ( - ). drummond, captain thomas, civil engineer, born in edinburgh; inventor of the drummond light; was employed in the trigonometrical survey of great britain and ireland; became under-secretary for ireland, and was held in high favour by the irish ( - ). drummond, william, of hawthornden, a scottish poet, named the "petrarch of scotland," born in hawthornden; studied civil law at bourges, but poetry had more attractions for him than law, and on the death of his father he returned to his paternal estate, and devoted himself to the study of it and the indulgence of his poetic tastes. "his work was done," as stopford brooke remarks, "in the reign of james i., but is the result of the elizabethan influence extending to scotland. drummond's sonnets and madrigals have some of the grace of sidney, and he rose at intervals into grave and noble verse, as in his sonnet on john the baptist." he was a devoted royalist; his first poem was "tears" on the death of james i.'s eldest son henry, and the fate of charles i. is said to have cut short his days; the visit of ben jonson to him at hawthornden is well known ( - ). drummond light, an intensely-brilliant and pure white light produced by the play of an oxyhydrogen flame upon a ball of lime, so called from the inventor, captain thomas drummond. drury, dru, a naturalist, born in london; bred a silversmith; took to entomology; published "illustrations of natural history"; his principal work "illustrations of exotic entomology" ( - ). drury lane, a celebrated london theatre founded in , in what was a fashionable quarter of the city then; has since that time been thrice burnt down; was the scene of garrick's triumphs, and of those of many of his illustrious successors, though it is now given up chiefly to pantomimes and spectacular exhibitions. druses, a peculiar people, numbering some , , inhabiting the s. of lebanon and anti-lebanon, with the maronites on the n., whose origin is very uncertain, only it is evident, though they speak the arab language, they belong to the aryan race; their religion, a mixture of christian, jewish, and mohammedan beliefs, is grounded on faith in the unity and the incarnation of god; their form of government is half hierarchical and half feudalistic; in early times they were under emirs of their own, but in consequence of the sanguinary, deadly, and mutually exterminating strife between them and the christian maronites in , they were put under a christian governor appointed by the porte. drusus, m. livius, a tribune of the people at rome in b.c., but a stanch supporter of the aristocracy; after passing a veto on a popular measure proposed by gracchus his democratic colleague, proposed the same measure himself in order to show and prove to the people that the patricians were their best friends; the success of this policy gained him the name of "patron of the senate." drusus, m. livius, tribune of the people, b.c., son of the preceding, and an aristocrat; pursued the same course as his father, but was baffled in the execution of his purpose, which was to broaden the constitution, in consequence of which he formed a conspiracy, and was assassinated, an event which led to the social war (q. v.). drusus, nero claudius, surnamed "germanicus," younger brother of tiberius and son-in-law of marc antony; distinguished himself in four successive campaigns against the tribes of germany, but stopped short at the elbe, scared by the apparition of a woman of colossal stature who defied him to cross, so that he had to "content himself with erecting some triumphal pillars on his own safe side of the river and say that the tribes across were conquered"; falling ill of a mortal malady, his brother the emperor hastened across the alps to close his eyes, and brought home his body, which was burned and the ashes buried in the tomb of augustus. dryads, nymphs of forest trees, which were conceived of as born with the tree they were attached to and dying along with it; they had their abode in wooded mountains away from men; held their revels among themselves, but broke them off at the approach of a human footstep. dryas, the father of lycurgus, a thracian king, and slain by him, who, in a fit of frenzy against the bacchus worshippers, mistook him for a vine and cut him down. see lycurgus. dryasdust, a name of sir walter scott's invention, and employed by him to denote an imaginary character who supplied him with dry preliminary historical details, and since used to denote a writer who treats a historical subject with all due diligence and research, but without any appreciation of the human interest in it, still less the soul of it. dryburgh, an abbey, now a ruin, founded by david i., on the tweed, in berwickshire, m. se. of melrose; the burial-place of sir walter scott. dryden, john, a celebrated english poet, "glorious john," born in northamptonshire, of a good family of puritan principles; educated at westminster school and cambridge; his first poetic production of any merit was a set of "heroic stanzas" on the death of cromwell; at the restoration he changed sides and wrote a poem which he called "astræa redux" in praise of the event, which was ere long followed by his "annus mirabilis," in commemoration of the year , which revealed at once the poet and the royalist, and gained him the appointment of poet-laureate, prior to which and afterwards he produced a succession of plays for the stage, which won him great popularity, after which he turned his mind to political affairs and assumed the role of political satirist by production of his "absalom and achitophel," intended to expose the schemes of shaftesbury, represented as achitophel and monmouth as absalom, to oust the duke of york from the succession to the throne; on the accession of james ii. he became a roman catholic, and wrote "the hind and the panther," characterised by stopford brooke as "a model of melodious reasoning in behalf of the milk-white hind of the church of rome," and really the most powerful thing of the kind in the language; at the revolution he was deprived of his posts, but it was after that event he executed his translation of virgil, and produced his celebrated odes and "fables" ( - ). dualism, or manichÆism, the doctrine that there are two opposite and independently existing principles which go to constitute every concrete thing throughout the universe, such as a principle of good and a principle of evil, light and darkness, life and death, spirit and matter, ideal and real, yea and nay, god and devil, christ and antichrist, ormuzd and ahriman. du barry, countess, mistress of louis xv., born at vaucouleurs, daughter of a dressmaker; came to paris, professing millinery; had fascinating attractions, and was introduced to the king; governed france to its ruin and the dismissal of all louis' able and honourable advisers; fled from paris on the death of louis, put on mourning for his death; was arrested, brought before the revolutionary tribunal, condemned for wasting the finances of the state, and guillotined ( - ). du bellay, a french general, born at montmirail; served under francis i. ( - ). dublin ( ), the capital of ireland, at the mouth of the liffey, which divides it in two, and is crossed by bridges; the principal and finest street is sackville street, which is about yards long and wide; it has a famous university and two cathedrals, besides a castle, the residence of the lord-lieutenant; and a park, the phoenix, one of the finest in europe; manufactures porter, whisky, and poplin. dubois, guillaume, cardinal and prime minister of france; notorious for his ambition and his debauchery; appointed tutor to the duke of orleans; encouraged him in vice, and secured his attachment and patronage in promotion, so that in the end he rose to the highest honours, and even influence, in both church and state; notwithstanding his debauchery he was an able man and an able minister ( - ). dubois, reymond, a german physiologist, born in berlin, of french descent; professor of physiology at berlin; distinguished for his researches in animal electricity; _b_. . dubois de crancÉ, a violent french revolutionary, born at charleville; besieged and captured lyons, giving no quarter; was minister of war under the directory; secured the adoption of the principle of conscription in recruiting the army ( - ). dubourg, a french magistrate, member of the parlement of paris; burnt as a heretic for recommending clemency in the treatment of the huguenots ( - ). dubufe, a distinguished french portrait-painter ( - ). dubuque ( ), a town in iowa, u.s., on the mississippi, with lead-mines and a trade in grain, timber, &c. ducamp, maxime, a french littérateur, born in paris; has written "travels in the east"; is the author of "paris," its civic life, as also an account of its "convulsions"; _b_. . du cange, charles, one of the most erudite of french scholars, born at amiens, and educated among the jesuits; wrote on language, law, archæology, and history; devoted himself much to the study of the middle ages; contributed to the rediscovery of old french literature, and wrote a history of the latin empire; his greatest works are his glossaries of the latin and greek of the middle ages ( - ). ducat, a coin, generally in gold, that circulated in venice, and was current in germany at one time, of varied value. du chaillu, paul belloni, an african traveller, born in louisiana; his principal explorations confined to the equatorial region of west africa, and the result an extension of our knowledge of its geography, ethnology, and zoology, and particularly of the character and habits of the ape tribes, and above all the gorilla; _b_. . du chÂtelet, marquise de, a scientific lady and friend of voltaire's, born in paris; "a too fascinating shrew," as he at length found to his cost ( - ). duchesne, andrÉ, french historian and geographer, born in touraine; styled the "father of french history"; famous for his researches in it and in french antiquities, and for histories of england, scotland, and ireland respectively; his industry was unwearied; he left more than folios in ms. ( - ). duchobortzi, a religious community in russia of quaker principles, and of a creed that denied the doctrine of the trinity and the divinity of christ; they became a cause of trouble to the empire by their fanaticism, and were removed to a high plateau in transcaucasia, where they live by cattle-rearing. ducis, jean, a french dramatist, born at versailles; took shakespeare for his model; declined napoleon's patronage, thinking it better, as he said, to wear rags than wear chains ( - ). ducking stool, a stool or chair in which a scolding woman was confined, and set before her own door to be pelted at, or borne in a tumbrel through the town to be jeered at, or placed at the end of a see-saw and _ducked_ in a pool. duclos, charles, a witty and satirical french writer, born at dinan; author of "observations," and "a history of the manners of the eighteenth century," and "mémoires of the reigns of louis xiv. and louis xv."; he mingled much in french society of the period, and took studious note of its passing whims ( - ). ducornet, a french historical-painter, born at lille; being born without arms, painted with his foot ( - ). ducos, roger, french politician, born at bordeaux, member of the national convention and of the directory ( - ). ducrot, a french general, born at nivers; served in algeria, in the italian campaign of , and as head of a division in the german war; was imprisoned for refusing to sign the capitulation treaty of sedan, but escaped and took part in the defence of paris when besieged by the germans ( - ). du deffand, marquise. see deffand. dudley ( ), the largest town in worcestershire, ½ m. nw. of birmingham, in the heart of the "black country," with coal-mines, iron-works, and hardware manufactures. dudley, edmund, an english lawyer and privy-councillor; was associated with empson as an agent in carrying on the obnoxious policy of henry vii., and beheaded along with him at the instance of henry viii. on a charge of high treason in . dudley, john, grand-marshal of england, son of the preceding, father-in-law of lady jane grey; beheaded in for his part in an insurrection in her favour. duff, alexander, an eminent indian missionary, born at moulin, near pitlochry, perthshire; a man of celtic blood, apostolic zeal, and fervid eloquence; was the first missionary sent out to india by the church of scotland; sailed in , returned in , in , and finally in , stirring up each time the missionary spirit in the church; he was the originator of a new method of missionary operations in the east by the introduction of english as the vehicle of instruction in the christian faith, which met at first with much opposition, but was finally crowned with conspicuous success; died in edinburgh ( - ). duff, james grant, indian soldier and statesman, born at banff; conspicuous as a soldier for his services in subduing the mahratta chiefs, and as a statesman for establishing friendly relations between the mahrattas and the east india company ( - ). dufferin, marquis of, and earl of ava, statesman and diplomatist; held office under lord john russell and mr. gladstone; was in succession governor-general of canada, ambassador first at st. petersburg, then at constantinople, and finally governor-general of india; has since acted as ambassador at rome and paris; is a man of literary as well as administrative ability; _b_. . duffy, sir charles gavan, an irish patriot, born in co. monaghan; bred for the bar; took to journalism in the interest of his country's emancipation; was one of the founders of the _nation_ newspaper; was twice over tried for sedition, but acquitted; emigrated at length to australia, where he soon plunged into colonial politics, and in his political capacity rendered distinguished services to the australian colonies, especially in obtaining important concessions from the mother-country; he is the author of the "ballad poetry of ireland," and an interesting record of his early experiences in "young ireland"; _b_. . dufour, a swiss general, born at constance; commanded the army directed against the sonderbund (q. v.), and brought the war there to a close ( - ). dufresne, charles. see du cange. dufresny, french painter and poet, born at paris ( - ). dufresny, charles riviÈre, french dramatist, a universal genius, devoted to both literature and the arts; held in high esteem by louis xiv.; wrote a number of comedies, revealing a man of the world, instinct with wit, and careless of style ( - ). dugdale, sir william, antiquary, born in warwickshire; was made chester herald, accompanied charles i. throughout the civil war; his chief work was the "monasticum anglicanum," which he executed conjointly with roger duckworth; wrote also on the antiquities of warwickshire and heraldry; left folio mss. now in the bodleian library ( - ). dugommier, french general, pupil of washington, born at guadeloupe; distinguished himself in italy; commanded at the siege of toulon, which he took; fell at the battle of sierra-negra, in spain, which he had invaded ( - ). duguay-trouin, renÉ, a celebrated french sea-captain, born at st. malo; distinguished at first in privateer warfare during the reign of louis xiv., and afterwards as a frigate captain in the royal navy, to which the royal favour promoted him; was much beloved by the sailors and subordinate officers; died poor ( - ). du guesclin, bertrand, constable of france, born in côtes du nord; one of the most illustrious of french war-captains, and distinguished as one or the chief instruments in expelling the english from normandy, guienne, and poitou; was taken prisoner at the battle of auray in , but ransomed for , francs, and again by the black prince, but soon liberated; he was esteemed for his valour by foe and friend alike, and he was buried at st. denis in the tomb of the kings of france ( - ). duhesme, a french general; covered with wounds at waterloo, he was cruelly massacred by the brunswick hussars in the house to which he had fled for refuge ( - ). duilius, caius, a roman consul; distinguished for having on the coast of sicily gained the first naval victory recorded in the annals of rome, b.c. dulce domum (for sweet home), a song sung by the pupils at winchester college on the approach of and at the break-up of the school for the summer holidays. dulcinea del tobosa, the name don quixote gave to his beloved aldonza lorenzo, a coarse peasant-girl of tobosa, conceived by him as a model of all feminine perfection, and as such adored by him. dulia, an inferior kind of worship paid to angels and saints, in contradistinction to latria (q. v.). dulong, a french chemist, born at rouen; discoverer, by accidental explosion, of the chloride of nitrogen ( - ). duluth ( ), a port on lake superior, with a fine harbour, and a great centre of commerce. dulwich, a southern surrey suburb of london, with a flourishing college founded in , and a picture gallery attached, rich especially in dutch paintings. see alleyn, edward. dumachus, the impenitent thief, figures in longfellow's "golden legend" as one of a band of robbers who attacked st. joseph on his flight into egypt. dumas, alexandre, the elder, a celebrated french author, born at villers-cotterets, son of general dumas, a creole; lost his father at four, and led for a time a miscellaneous life, till, driven by poverty, he came to paris to seek his fortune; here he soon made his mark, and became by-and-by the most popular dramatist and romancier of his time; his romances are numerous, and he reached the climax of his fame by the production of "monte cristo" in , and the "three musketeers" the year after; he was unhappy in his marriage and with his wife, as afterwards, he squandered his fortune in reckless extravagance; before the end it was all spent, and he died at dieppe, broken in health and impaired in intellect, ministered to by his son and daughter ( - ). dumas, alexandre, the younger or _fils_, dramatist and novelist, born in paris, son of the preceding; he made his _début_ as a novelist with "la dame aux camélias" in , which was succeeded by a number of other novels; he eventually gave himself up to the production of dramas, in which he was more successful than in romance ( - ). dumas, jean baptiste andrÉ, a distinguished french chemist, born at alais; was admitted to the académie française at the age of ; at the revolution of he became a member of the national assembly; was created a senator under the empire, but retired into private life after sedan; he was distinguished for his studies in chemistry, both theoretical and practical, and ranks among the foremost in the science ( - ). du maurier, artist, born in paris; started in london as a designer of wood engravings; did illustrations for _once a week_, the _cornhill magazine, &c._., and finally joined the staff of _punch_, to which he contributed numerous clever sketches; he published a novel, "peter ibbetson," in , which was succeeded in by "trilby," which had such a phenomenal success in both england and america ( - ). dumb ox, thomas aquinas (q. v.), so called from his taciturnity before he opened his mouth and began, as predicted, to fill the world with his lowing. dumbarton ( ), the county town of dumbartonshire, and a royal burgh, at the mouth of the leven, on the clyde, m. from glasgow; shipbuilding the chief industry; it was the capital of the kingdom of strathclyde; adjoining is a castle of historic interest, ft. high, kept up as a military fortress; the county, which is fertile, and was originally part of lennox, is traversed by the leven, with its bleach-fields and factories. dumbdrudge, an imaginary village referred to in "sartor," where the natives toil and _drudge_ away and _say nothing_ about it, as villagers all over the world used contentedly to do, and did for most part, at the time "sartor" was written, though less so now. dumbiedikes, a scotch laird who figures in the "heart of midlothian," in love with jeanie deans. dumesnil, marie franÇoise, a celebrated french tragédienne, born near alençon; like mrs. siddons, surpassed all others at the time in the representation of dignity, pathos, and strong emotion; made her first appearance in , retired in ( - ). dumfries ( ), an agricultural market-town, county town of dumfriesshire and a seaport, stands on the left bank of the nith, with maxwelltown as suburb on the right, m. sw. of edinburgh; manufactures tweeds and hosiery, and trades in cattle; here robert burns spent the last five years of his life, and his remains lie buried. dumfriesshire ( ), a south-western border county of scotland; an agricultural district, which slopes from a northern pastoral region to the solway, and is traversed by the fertile valleys of nithsdale and annandale. dumnorix, a chief of the Æduan nation in gaul, who gave some trouble to cæsar in his conquest of gaul. dumont, augustin-alexandre, a sculptor, born in paris ( - ). dumont, jean, an eminent french publicist, who settled in austria and served the emperor; wrote on international law ( - ). dumont, louis, a french publicist, born at geneva, a friend of mirabeau, memoirs of whom he wrote, and who, coming to england, formed a close intimacy with jeremy bentham, and became his disciple and expounder ( - ). dumont d'urville, jules, a celebrated french navigator, born at condé-sur-noireau; made a three years' voyage round the world, and visited the antarctic regions, of which he made a survey; he was distinguished as a scientist no less than a sea-captain; lost his life in a railway accident at versailles ( - ). dumoulin, a celebrated french jurist, born at paris; did for french law what cujas (q. v.) did for roman ( - ). dumouriez, a french general, born at cambrai, "a wiry, elastic, unwearied man ... creature," as he boasted in his old age, "of god and his own sword ... on the whole, one of heaven's swiss"; took when already grey to the revolution and fought on its behalf; gained the battles of valmy and jemmapes; conquered belgium, but being distrusted, passed over to the ranks of the enemies of france; a man really "without faith; wanted above all things work, work on any side"; died an exile in england ( - ). see carlyle's "french revolution." dÜna, a river of russia, which rises near the source of the volga, and after a w. and nw. course of m. falls into the gulf of riga; it is connected with the dnieper by the beresina canal. dunbar, an ancient seaport and town of haddingtonshire, on the coast of the forth, m. e. of edinburgh; is a fishing station, and manufactures agricultural implements and paper; was, with its castle, which has stood many a siege, a place of importance in early scottish history; near it cromwell beat the scots under leslie on september , . dunbar, william, a scottish poet, entered the franciscan order and became an itinerant preaching friar, in which capacity he wandered over the length and breadth of the land, enjoying good cheer by the way; was some time in the service of james iv., and wrote a poem, his most famous piece, entitled "the thistle and the rose," on the occasion of the king's marriage with the princess margaret tudor, daughter of henry vii. his poems were of three classes--allegoric, moral, and comic, the most remarkable being "the dance," in which he describes the procession of the seven deadly sins in the infernal regions. scott says he "was a poet unrivalled by any that scotland has produced" ( - ). dunblane, a town in perthshire, m. n. of stirling, with a beautiful cathedral, which dates back as far as ; of the diocese the saintly leighton was bishop. duncan, adam, viscount, a british admiral, born at dundee; entered the navy in ; steadily rose in rank till, in , he became admiral of the blue and commander of the north sea fleet in ; kept watching the movements of the dutch squadron for two years, till, at the end of that term, it put to sea, and came up with it off camperdown, and totally defeated it, june , ( - ). duncan, thomas, a scotch artist, born at kinclaven, perthshire; painted fancy and scoto-historical subjects, and a number of excellent portraits; his career, which was full of promise, was cut short by an early death ( - ). dunciad, the, a satire of pope's in four books, the "fiercest" as well as the best of his satires, in which, with merciless severity, he applies the lash to his critics, and in which colley cibber figures as the king of dunces. duncker, max, a historical writer, born in berlin; held a professorship at halle and tübingen, and became a minister of state; wrote among other works a work of great learning, in seven vols., entitled the "history of antiquity" ( - ). duncombe, t. s., an english politician, m.p. for finsbury, one of the extreme liberal party of the time, presented to the house of commons the chartist petition in ; denounced sir james graham, the home secretary of the day, for opening mazzini's letter, and advocated jewish emancipation ( - ). dundalk ( ), capital of co. louth, ireland, m. n. of dublin; a place of considerable trade and manufactures; is an ancient city; edward bruce, the last king of all ireland, was crowned and resided here; it was besieged and taken more than once, by cromwell for one. dundas (of arniston), the name of a scottish family, many of the members of which have distinguished themselves at the bar and on the bench. dundas, henry, viscount melville, a junior member of the above family; trained for the bar; rose to be lord advocate for scotland and m.p. for the county of edinburgh; opposed at first to pitt, he became at last his ablest coadjutor in parliament, and did important services in connection with the military and naval defences of the country; his power was sovereign in scotland; his statue, mounted on a lofty column, adorns one of the principal squares of the new town of edinburgh ( - ). dundee ( ), the third largest city in scotland, stands on the firth of tay, m. from the mouth; has a large seaport; is a place of considerable commercial enterprise; among its numerous manufactures the chief is the jute; it has a number of valuable institutions, and sends two members to parliament. dundonald, thomas cochrane, earl of, entered the navy at the age of ; became captain of the _speedy_, a sloop-of-war of guns and men; captured in ten months vessels; was captured by a french squadron, but had his sword returned to him; signalised himself afterwards in a succession of daring feats; selected to burn the french fleet lying at anchor in the basque roads, he was successful by means of fire-ships in destroying several vessels, but complained he was not supported by lord gambier, the admiral, a complaint which was fatal to his promotion in the service; disgraced otherwise, he went abroad and served in foreign navies, and materially contributed to the establishment of the republic of chile and the empire of brazil; in he was restored by his party, the whigs, to his naval rank, as a man who had been the victim of the opposite party, and made a vice-admiral of the blue in ; he afterwards vindicated himself in his "autobiography of a seaman" ( - ). dundreary, lord, a character of the play "our american cousin"; the personification of a good-natured, brainless swell; represented uniquely on the stage by mr. sothern. dunedin ( ), the capital of otago, in new zealand, situated well south on the e. side of the south isle, at the head of a spacious bay, and the largest commercial city in the colony; founded by scotch emigrants in , one of the leaders a nephew of robert burns. dunes, low hills of sand extending along the coast of the netherlands and the n. of france. dunfermline ( ), an ancient burgh in the w. of fife; a place of interest as a residence of the early kings of scotland, and as the birthplace of david ii., james i., and charles i., and for its abbey; it stands in the middle of a coal-field, and is the seat of extensive linen manufactures. dunkeld, a town in perthshire, m. nw. of perth, with a fine th-century cathedral. dunkers, a sect of quakerist baptists in the united states. dunkirk ( ), the most northern seaport and fortified town of france, on the strait of dover; has manufactures and considerable trade. dunnet head, a rocky peninsula, the most northerly point in scotland, the rocks from to ft. high. dunnottar castle, an old castle of the keiths now in ruins, on the flat summit of a precipitous rock ½ m. s. of stonehaven, kincardineshire, scotland, and connected with the mainland by a neck of land called the "fiddle head"; famous in scottish history as a state prison, and as the place of safe-keeping at a troubled period for the scottish regalia, now in edinburgh castle. dunois, jean, a french patriot, called the bastard of orleans, born in paris, natural son of louis of orleans, brother of charles vi.; one of the national heroes of france; along with joan of arc, compelled the english to raise the siege of orleans, and contributed powerfully, by his sword, to all but expel the english from france after the death of that heroine ( - ). duns scotus, johannes, one of the most celebrated of the scholastics of the th century, whether he was native of england, scotland, or ireland is uncertain; entered the franciscan order, and from his acuteness got the name of "doctor subtilis"; lectured at oxford to crowds of auditors, and also at paris; was the contemporary of thomas aquinas, and the head of an opposing school of scotists, as against thomists, as they were called; whereas aquinas "proclaimed the understanding as principle, he proclaimed the will, from whose spontaneous exercise he derived all morality; with this separation of theory from practice and thought from thing (which accompanied it) philosophy became divided from theology, reason from faith; reason took a position above faith, above authority (in modern philosophy), and the religious consciousness broke with the traditional dogma (at the reformation)." dunstan, st., an english ecclesiastic, born at glastonbury; a man of high birth and connection as well as varied accomplishments; began a religious life as a monk living in a cell by himself, and prevailed in single combat on one occasion with the devil; became abbot of glastonbury, in which capacity he adopted the rôle of statesman, and arose to great authority during the reign of edgar, becoming archbishop of canterbury, ruling the nation with vigour and success, but with the death of edgar his power declined, and he retired to canterbury, where he died of grief and vexation; he is the patron saint of goldsmiths ( - ). dunton, watts. see watts, theodore. dupanloup, a french prelate, bishop of orleans, born at st. felix, in savoy; a singularly able and eloquent man; devoted himself to educational emancipation and reform; protested vigorously against papal infallibility; yielded at length, and stood up in defence of the church ( - ). duperrÉ, a french admiral, born at la rochelle; contributed along with marshal bourmont to the taking of algiers ( - ). duperron, cardinal, a swiss by birth and a calvinist by religious profession; went to paris, turned papist, and rose to ecclesiastical eminence in france under henry iv. ( - ). dupin, andrÉ, french jurist and statesman; distinguished at the time of the revolution of the three days as a supporter of louis philippe, and of the house of orleans after him ( - ). dupleix, joseph, a french merchant, head of a factory at chandernagore, who rose to be governor of the french settlements in india, and in the management of which he displayed conspicuous ability, defending them against the english and receiving the dignity of marquis; jealousy at home, however, led to his recall, and he was left to end his days in neglect and poverty, though he pled hard with the cabinet at versailles to have respect to the sacrifices he made for his country ( - ). duplessis, mornay, a soldier, diplomatist, and man of letters; a leader of the huguenots, who, after the massacre of st. bartholomew, visited england, where he was received with favour by elizabeth in ; entered the service of the king of navarre, afterwards henry iv. of france, but on henry's reconciliation with the church of rome, retired into private life and devoted himself to literary pursuits; he was called the "pope of the huguenots"; _d_. . dupont, pierre, french song-writer; his songs, "le chant des ouvriers" and "les boeufs," the delight of the young generation of ( - ). dupont de l'eure, a french politician, born at neubourg; filled several important offices in the successive periods of revolution in france; was distinguished for his integrity and patriotism, and made president of the provisional government in ( - ). dupont de nemours, french political economist; took part in the revolution; was opposed to the excesses of the jacobin party, but escaped with his life; wrote a book entitled "philosophie de l'universe" ( - ). dupuis, charles franÇois, a french savant; was a member of the convention of the council of the five hundred, and president of the legislative body during the revolution period; devoted himself to the study of astronomy in connection with mythology, the result of which was published in his work in vols., entitled "origine de tous les cultes, ou la religion universelle"; he advocated the unity of the astronomical and religious myths of all nations ( - ). dupuy, m. charles, french statesman, born at puy; elected to the chamber in ; became premier in and in ; was in office when dreyfus was condemned and degraded, and resigned in ; _b_. . dupuytren, baron, a celebrated french surgeon, born at pierre-buffière; he was a man of firm nerve, signally sure and skilful as an operator, and contributed greatly, both by his inventions and discoveries, to the progress of surgery; a museum of pathological anatomy, in which he made important discoveries, bears his name ( - ). duquesne, abraham, marquis, an illustrious naval officer of france, born at dieppe; distinguished himself in many a naval engagement, and did much to enhance the naval glory of the country; among other achievements plucked the laurels from the brow of his great rival, de ruyter, by, in , defeating the combined fleets of spain and holland under his command; louis xiv. offered him a marshal's baton if he would abjure calvinism, but he declined; he was the only one of the huguenots excepted from proscription in the revocation of the edict of nantes, but his last days were saddened by the banishment of his children ( - ). dura den, a glen near cupar-fife, famous for the number of ganoid fossil fishes entombed in its sandstone. durance, a tributary of the rhône, which, after a rapid course of m., falls into that river by its left bank m. below avignon. durand, an indian officer; served in the afghan and sikh wars, and became lieutenant-governor of the punjab ( - ). durandal, the miraculous sword of orlando, with which he could cleave mountains at a blow. durban ( ), the port of natal, largest town in the colony, with a land-locked harbour. durbar, a ceremonious state reception in india. dÜrer, albert, the great early german painter and engraver, born at nürnberg, son of a goldsmith, a good man, who brought him up to his own profession, but he preferred painting, for which he early exhibited a special aptitude, and his father bound him apprentice for three years to the chief artist in the place, at the expiry of which he travelled in germany and other parts; in he visited venice, where he met bellini, and painted several pictures; proceeded thence to bologna, and was introduced to raphael; his fame spread widely, and on his return he was appointed court-painter by the emperor maximilian, an office he held under charles v.; he was of the reformed faith, and a friend of melanchthon as well as an admirer of luther, on whose incarceration in wartburg he uttered a long lament; he was a prince of painters, his drawing and colouring perfect, and the inventor of etching, in which he was matchless; he carved in wood, ivory, stone, and metal; was an author as well as an artist, and wrote, among other works, an epoch-making treatise on proportion in the human figure; "it could not be better done" was his quiet, confident reply as a sure workman to a carper on one occasion ( - ). d'urfey, tom, a facetious poet; author of comedies and songs; a great favourite of charles ii. and his court; of comedies he wrote some , which are all now discarded for their licentiousness, and a curious book of sonnets, entitled "pills to purge melancholy"; came to poverty in the end of his days; addison pled on his behalf, and hoped that "as he had made the world merry, the world would make him easy" ( - ). durgÂ, in the hindu mythology the consort of siva. durham ( ), an ancient city on the wear, with a noble cathedral and a castle, once the residence of the bishop, now a university seat, in the heart of a county of the same name ( , ), rich in coal-fields, and with numerous busy manufacturing towns. durham, admiral, entered the navy in ; was officer on the watch when the _royal george_ went down off spithead, and the only one with captain waghorn who escaped; served as acting-lieutenant of a ship under lord howe at the relief of gibraltar, and commanded the _defence_, a ship of guns, at the battle of trafalgar ( - ). durham, john g. l., earl of, an english statesman, born in durham co.; a zealous liberal and reformer, and a member of the reform government under earl grey, which he contributed much to inaugurate; was ambassador in st. petersburg, and was sent governor-general to canada in , but owing to some misunderstanding took the extraordinary step of ultroneously returning within the year ( - ). durward, quentin, a scottish archer in the service of louis xi., the hero of a novel of scott's of the name. dÜsseldorf ( ), a well-built town of rhenish prussia, on the right bank of the rhine; it is a place of manufactures, and has a fine picture-gallery with a famous school of art associated. dutens, joseph, a french engineer and political economist ( - ). dutens, louis, a french savant, born at tours; after being chaplain to the british minister at turin, settled in england, and became historiographer-royal; was a man of varied learning, and well read in historical subjects and antiquities ( - ). dutrochet, a french physiologist and physicist, known for his researches on the passage of fluids through membranous tissues ( - ). duumvirs, the name of two roman magistrates who exercised the same public functions. duval, claude, a french numismatist, and writer on numismatics; keeper of the imperial cabinet of vienna; was originally a shepherd boy ( - ). dwight, timothy, an american theologian, grandson of jonathan edwards, and much esteemed in his day both as a preacher and a writer; his "theology explained and defended," in vols., was very popular at one time, and was frequently reprinted ( - ). dwina, a russian river, distinguished from the dÜna (q. v.), also called duna, and an important, which flows n. to the white sea. dyaks, the native name of tribes of malays of a superior class aboriginal to borneo. dyce, alexander, an english literary editor and historian, born in edinburgh; edited several of the old english poets and authors, some of them little known before; also the poems of shakespeare, pope, &c.; was one of the founders of the percy society, for the publication of old english works ( - ). dyce, william, a distinguished scottish artist, born in aberdeen, studied in rome; settled for a time in edinburgh, and finally removed to london; painted portraits at first, but soon took to higher subjects of art; his work was such as to commend itself to both german and french artists; he gave himself to fresco-painting, and as a fresco-painter was selected to adorn the walls of the palace of westminster and the house of lords; his "baptism of ethelbert," in the latter, is considered his best work ( - ). dyck, van. see vandyck. dyer, john, english poet; was a great lover and student of landscape scenery, and his poems, "grongar hill" and the "fleece," abound in descriptions of these, the scenery of the former lying in s. wales ( - ). dynam, the unit of work, or the force required to raise one pound one foot in one second. dynamite, a powerful explosive substance, intensely local in its action; formed by impregnating a porous siliceous earth or other substance with some per cent. of nitro-glycerine. dynamo, a machine by which mechanical work is transformed into powerful electric currents by the inductive action of magnets on coils of copper wire in motion. e eacus. see Æacus. eadmer, a celebrated monk of canterbury; flourished in the th century; friend and biographer of st. anselm, author of a history of his own times, as also of many of the lives of the saints; elected to the bishopric of st. andrews in ; resigned on account of alexander i. refusing to admit the right of the english archbishop of canterbury to perform the ceremony of consecration. eadric, a saxon, notorious for his treachery, fighting now with his countrymen against the danes and now with the danes against them, till put to death by order of canute in . eads, james buchanan, an american engineer, born in laurenceburg, indiana; designed ingenious boats for floating submerged ships; built with remarkable speed warships for the federalists in ; constructed a steel bridge spanning the mississippi at st. louis, noteworthy for its central span of ft. ( - ). eagle, the king of birds, and bird of jove; was adopted by various nations as the emblem of dominant power, as well as of nobility and generosity; in christian art it is the symbol of meditation, and the attribute of st. john; is represented now as fighting with a serpent, and now as drinking out of a chalice or a communion cup, to strengthen it for the fight. eagle, order of the black, an order of knighthood founded by the elector of brandenburg in ; with this order was ultimately incorporated the order of the red eagle, founded in by the markgraf of bayreuth. eagle of brittany, du guesclin (q. v.). eagle of meaux, bossuet (q. v.). eagre, a name given in england to a tidal wave rushing up a river or estuary on the top of another, called also a bore (q. v.). earl, a title of nobility, ranking third in the british peerage; originally election to the dignity of earl carried with it a grant of land held in feudal tenure, the discharge of judicial and administrative duties connected therewith, and was the occasion of a solemn service of investiture. in course of time the title lost its official character, and since the reign of queen anne all ceremony of investiture has been dispensed with, the title being conferred by letters-patent. the word is derived from the anglo-saxon _eorls_ which signified the "gentle folk," as distinguished from the _ceorls_, the "churls" or "simple folk." earl marshal, a high officer of state, an office of very ancient institution, now the head of the college of arms, and hereditary in the family of the dukes of norfolk; formerly one of the chief officers in the court of chivalry, a court which had to do with all matters of high ceremonial, such as coronations. earlom, richard, a mezzotint engraver, born in london; celebrated for his series of prints after the original designs of claude de lorraine ( - ). earlston or ercildoune, a village in berwickshire, with manufactures of ginghams and other textiles. in its vicinity stand the ruins of the "rhymer's tower," alleged to have been the residence of thomas the rhymer. early english, a term in architecture used to designate that particular form of gothic architecture in vogue in england in the th century, whose chief characteristic was the pointed arch. earth houses, known also as yird houses, weems and picts' houses, underground dwellings in use in scotland, extant even after the roman evacuation of britain. entrance was effected by a passage not much wider than a fox burrow, which sloped downwards or ft. to the floor of the house; the inside was oval in shape, and was walled with overlapping rough stone slabs; the roof frequently reached to within a foot of the earth's surface; they probably served as store-houses, winter-quarters, and as places of refuge in times of war. similar dwellings are found in ireland. earthly paradise, poem by william morris, his greatest effort, considered his masterpiece; consists of tales by travellers in quest of an earthly paradise. east india company, founded in ; erected its first factories on the mainland in at surat, but its most profitable trade in these early years was with the spice islands, java, sumatra, &c.; driven from these islands by the dutch in , the company established itself altogether on the mainland; although originally created under royal charter for purely commercial purposes, it in entered upon a career of territorial acquisition, which culminated in the establishment of british power in india; gradually, as from time to time fresh renewals of its charter were granted, it was stripped of its privileges and monopolies, till in , after the mutiny, all its powers were vested in the british crown. east river, the strait which separates brooklyn and new york cities, lying between long island sound and new york bay, about m. long; is spanned by a bridge. eastbourne ( ), a fashionable watering-place and health resort on the sussex coast, between brighton and hastings, and m. s. of london; has roman remains, and is described in "domesday book." easter, an important festival of the church commemorating the resurrection of christ; held on the first sunday after the first full moon of the calendar which happens on or next after st of march, and constituting the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the date of it determines the dates of other movable festivals; derives its name from eastre, a saxon goddess, whose festival was celebrated about the same time, and to which many of the easter customs owe their origin. eastern states, the six new england states in n. america--maine, new hampshire, vermont, massachusetts, rhode island, and connecticut. eastlake, sir charles lock, artist and author, born at plymouth; studied painting in london and in paris; produced the last portrait of napoleon, which he executed from a series of sketches of the emperor on board the _bellerophon_ in plymouth harbour; he travelled in greece, and from to made his home at rome; "christ weeping over jerusalem," his greatest work, appeared in ; was president of the royal academy; wrote several works on subjects relating to his art, and translated goethe's "farbenlehre" ( - ). eastwick, edward backhouse, orientalist and diplomatist, born at warfield, in berkshire; went to india as a cadet, acquired an extensive knowledge of indian dialects and eastern languages, and passed an interpretership examination, gaining the high proficiency reward of rupees; carried through peace negotiations with china in ; invalided home, he became professor of hindustani at haileybury college; afterwards studied law and was called to the bar; entered parliament, and held various political appointments, including a three years' embassy in persia; was a fellow of many antiquarian and philological societies; amongst his numerous philological productions and translations his "gulistan" and "life of zoroaster" from the persian are noted ( - ). eau creole, a liqueur from the distillation of the flowers of the mammee apple with spirits of wine. eau-de-cologne, a perfume originally manufactured at cologne by distillation from certain essential oils with rectified spirit. ebal, mount, a mountain with a level summit, which rises to the height of ft. on the n. side of the narrow vale of shechem, in palestine, and from the slopes of which the people of israel responded to the curses which were pronounced by the levites in the valley. eberhard, johann august, german philosophical writer, born at halberstadt; professor at halle; rationalistic in his theology, and opposed to the kantian metaphysics; was a disciple of leibnitz; wrote a "new apology of socrates," in defence of rationalism in theology, as well as a "universal history of philosophy," and a work on german synonyms ( - ). ebers, george moritz, german egyptologist, born at berlin; discovered an important papyrus; was professor successively at jena and leipzig; laid aside by ill-health, betook himself to novel-writing as a pastime; was the author of "aarda, a romance of ancient egypt," translated by clara bell ( - ). ebert, karl egon, a bohemian poet, born at prague; his poems, dramatic and lyric, are collected in vols., and enjoy a wide popularity in his country ( - ). ebionites, a sect that in the nd century sought to combine judaism and the hopes of judaism with christianity, and rejected the authority of st. paul and of the pauline writings; they denied the divinity of christ, and maintained that only the poor as such were the objects of salvation. eblis, in mohammedan tradition the chief of the fallen angels, consigned to perdition for refusing to worship adam at the command of his creator, and who gratified his revenge by seducing adam and eve from innocency. ebony, a name given to blackwood by james hogg, and eventually applied to his magazine. ebro, a river of spain, rises in the cantabrian mountains, flows se. into the mediterranean m. sw. of barcelona, after a course of m. ecbatana, the ancient capital of media, situated near mount orontes (now elvend); was surrounded by seven walls of different colours that increased in elevation towards the central citadel; was a summer residence of the persian and parthian kings. the modern town of hamadan now occupies the site of it. ecce homo (i. e. behold the man), a representation of christ as he appeared before pilate crowned with thorns and bound with ropes, as in the painting of correggio, a subject which has been treated by many of the other masters, such as titian and vandyck. ecchymosis, a discolouration of the skin produced by extravasated blood under or in the texture of the skin, the result of a blow or of disease. ecclefechan, a market-town of dumfriesshire, consisting for the most part of the high street, m. s. of lockerbie, on the main road to carlisle, m. to the s.; noted as the birth and burial place of thomas carlyle. ecclesiastes (i. e. the preacher), a book of the old testament, questionably ascribed to solomon, and now deemed of more recent date as belonging to a period when the reflective spirit prevailed; and it is written apparently in depreciation of mere reflection as a stepping-stone to wisdom. the standpoint of the author is a religious one; the data on which he rests is given in experience, and his object is to expose the vanity of every source of satisfaction which is not founded on the fear, and has not supreme regard for the commandments, of god, a doctrine which is the very ground-principle of the jewish faith; but if vanity is written over the whole field of human experience, he argues, this is not the fault of the system of things, but due, according to the author, to the folly of man (chap. vii. ). ecclesiastical polity, the law of, a vindication of the anglican church against the puritans, written by richard hooker; the most splendid and stately piece of literary prose that exists in the language. ecclesiastical states, territories in italy once subject to the pope as a temporal prince as well as ecclesiastically. ecclesiasticus, one of the books of the apocrypha, ascribed to jesus, the son of sirach, admitted to the sacred canon by the council of trent, though excluded by the jews. it contains a body of wise maxims, in imitation, as regards matter as well as form, of the proverbs of solomon, and an appendix on the men who were the disciples of wisdom. its general aim, as has been said, is "to represent wisdom as the source of all virtue and blessedness, and by warnings, admonitions, and promises to encourage in the pursuit of it." it was originally written in hebrew, but is now extant only in a greek translation executed in egypt, professedly by the author's grandson. ecclesiology, the name given in england to the study of church architecture and all that concerns the ground-plan and the internal arrangements of the parts of the edifice. ecgberht, archbishop of york; was a pupil of bede, and the heir to his learning; founded a far-famed school at york, which developed into a university; flourished in . echidna, a fabulous monster that figures in the greek mythology, half-woman, half-serpent, the mother of cerberus, the lernean hydra, the chimæra, the sphinx, the gorgons, the nemean lion, the vulture that gnawed the liver of prometheus, &c. echo, a wood-nymph in love with narcissus, who did not return her love, in consequence of which she pined away till all that remained of her was only her voice. eck, john, properly maÍer, a german theologian, of swabian birth, professor at ingolstadt; a violent, blustering antagonist of luther and luther's doctrines; in his zeal went to rome, and procured a papal bull against both; undertook at the augsburg diet to controvert luther's doctrine from the fathers, but not from the scriptures; was present at the conferences of worms and regensburg ( - ). eckermann, johann peter, a german writer, born at winsen, in hanover; friend of goethe, and editor of his works; the author of "conversations with goethe in the last years of his life, - ," a record of wise reflections and of goethe's opinions on all subjects, of the utmost interest to all students of the german sage ( - ). eckhart, meister, a german philosopher and divine, profoundly speculative and mystical; entered the dominican order, and rapidly attained to a high position in the church; arraigned for heresy in , and was acquitted, but two years after his death his writings were condemned as heretical by a papal bull; died in . eckmÜhl, a village in bavaria where napoleon defeated the austrians in , and which gave the title of duke to davout (q. v.), one of napoleon's generals. eclectics, so-called philosophers who attach themselves to no system, but select what, in their judgment, is true out of others. in antiquity the eclectic philosophy is that which sought to unite into a coherent whole the doctrines of pythagoras, plato, and aristotle, such as that of plotinus and proclus was. there is an eclecticism in art as well as philosophy, and the term is applied to an italian school which aimed at uniting the excellencies of individual great masters. ecliptic, the name given to the circular path in the heavens round which the sun appears to move in the course of the year, an illusion caused by the earth's annual circuit round the sun, with its axis inclined at an angle to the equator of ½ degrees; is the central line of the zodiac (q. v.), so called because it was observed that eclipses occurred only when the earth was on or close upon this path. economy, "the right arrangement of things," and distinct from frugality, which is "the careful and fitting use of things." ecorcheurs (lit. flayers properly of dead bodies), armed bands who desolated france in the reign of charles vii., stripping their victims of everything, often to their very clothes. ecstatic doctor, jean ruysbroek, a schoolman given to mysticism ( - ). ecuador ( , ), a republic of s. america, of spanish origin, created in ; derives its name from its position on the equator; lies between columbia and peru; is traversed by the andes, several of the peaks of which are actively volcanic; the population consists of peruvian indians, negroes, spanish creoles; exports cocoa, coffee, hides, and medicinal plants; the administration is vested in a president, a vice-president, two ministers, a senate of , and a house of deputies of , elected by universal suffrage. ecumenical council, an ecclesiastical council representative, or accepted as representative, of the church universal or catholic. see councils. eczema, a common skin disease, which may be either chronic or acute; develops in a red rash of tiny vesicles, which usually burst and produce a characteristic scab; is not contagious, and leaves no scar. edda (lit. grandmother), the name given to two collections of legends illustrative of the scandinavian mythology: the elder, or poetic, edda, collected in the th century by sæmund sigfusson, an early christian priest, "with perhaps a lingering fondness for paganism," and the younger, or prose, edda, collected in the next century by snorri sturleson, an icelandic gentleman ( - ), "educated by sæmund's grandson, the latter a work constructed with great ingenuity and native talent, what one might call unconscious art, altogether a perspicuous, clear work, pleasant reading still." eddystone lighthouse, situated on a low reef of rocks submerged at high tide, m. sw. of plymouth; first built of wood by winstanley, ; destroyed by a storm in ; rebuilt of wood on a stone base by rudyard; burnt in , and reconstructed by smeaton of solid stone; the present edifice, on a different site, was completed by sir james douglas in , is ft. in height, and has a light visible ½ m. off. edelinck, gerard, a flemish copper-plate engraver, born at antwerp; invited to france by colbert, and patronised by louis xiv.; executed in a masterly manner many works from historical subjects ( - ). eden (i. e. place of delight), paradise, the original spot referred to by tradition wholly uncertain, though believed to have been in the far east, identified in moslem tradition with the moon. edessa ( ), an ancient city in mesopotamia; figures in early church history, and is reputed to have contained at one time monasteries; it fell into the hands of the turks in ; is regarded as the sacred city of abraham by orientals. edfu, a town in upper egypt, on the left bank of the nile; has unique ruins of two temples, the larger founded by ptolemy iv. philopater before b.c. edgar, a king of saxon england from to , surnamed the peaceful; promoted the union and consolidation of the danish and saxon elements within his realm; cleared wales of wolves by exacting of its inhabitants a levy of wolves' heads yearly; eight kings are said to have done him homage by rowing him on the dee; st. dunstan, the archbishop of canterbury, was the most prominent figure of the reign. edgar the atheling, a saxon prince, the grandson of edmund ironside; was hurriedly proclaimed king of england after the death of harold in the battle of hastings, but was amongst the first to offer submission on the approach of the conqueror; spent his life in a series of feeble attempts at rebellion, and lived into the reign of henry i. edgehill, in the s. of warwickshire, the scene of the first battle in the civil war, in , between the royal forces under charles i. and the parliamentary under essex; though the royalists had the worst of it, no real advantage was gained by either side. edgeworth, henry essex, known as the "abbé" edgeworth, born in ireland, son of a protestant clergyman; educated at the sorbonne, in paris; entered the priesthood, and became the confessor of louis xvi., whom he attended on the scaffold; exclaimed as the guillotine came down, "son of st. louis, ascend to heaven!" left france soon after; was subsequently chaplain to louis xviii. ( - ). edgeworth, maria, novelist, born at blackbourton, berks; from her fifteenth year her home was in ireland; she declined the suit of a swedish count, and remained till the close of her life unmarried; amongst the best known of her works are "moral tales," "tales from fashionable life," "castle rackrent," "the absentee," and "ormond"; her novels are noted for their animated pictures of irish life, and were acknowledged by scott to have given him the first suggestion of the waverley series; the russian novelist, turgenief, acknowledges a similar indebtedness; "in her irish stories she gave," says stopford brooke, "the first impulse to the novel of national character, and in her other tales to the novel with a moral purpose" ( - ). edgeworth, richard lovell, an irish landlord, father of maria edgeworth, with a genius for mechanics, in which he displayed a remarkable talent for invention; was member of the last irish parliament; educated his son in accordance with the notions of rousseau; wrote some works on mechanical subjects in collaboration with his daughter ( - ). edict of nantes, an edict issued in by henry iv. of france, granting toleration to the protestants; revoked by louis xiv. in . edie ochiltree, a character in scott's "antiquary." edina, poetic name for edinburgh. edinburgh ( ), the capital of scotland, on the firth of forth, picturesquely situated amid surrounding hills; derives its name from edwin, king of northumbria in the th century; was created a burgh in by robert the bruce, and recognised as the capital in the th century, under the stuarts; it has absorbed in its growth adjoining municipalities; is noted as an educational centre; is the seat of the supreme courts; has a university, castle, and royal palace, and the old scotch parliament house, now utilised by the law courts; brewing and printing are the chief industries, but the upper classes of the citizens are for the most part either professional people or living in retirement. edinburgh review, a celebrated quarterly review started in october in edinburgh to further the whig interest; amongst its founders and contributors were horner, brougham, jeffrey, and sidney smith, the latter being editor of the first three numbers; jeffrey assumed the editorship in , and in his hands it became famous for its incisive literary critiques, carlyle and macaulay contributing some of their finest essays to it. edinburgh university, founded in ; was the last of the scotch universities to receive its charter; was raised to an equal status with the others in ; its site was the famous kirk o'field, the scene of the darnley tragedy; now consists of two separate buildings, one entirely devoted to medicine, and the other to arts and training in other departments; has an average matriculation roll of about . edison, thomas alva, a celebrated american inventor, born at milan, ohio; started life as a newsboy; early displayed his genius and enterprise by producing the first newspaper printed in a railway train; turning his attention to telegraphy, he revolutionised the whole system by a series of inventions, to which he has since added others, to the number of , the most notable being the megaphone, phonograph, kinetoscope, a carbon telegraph transmitter, and improvements in electric lighting; _b_. . edith, the alleged name of lot's wife. edithe, st., an english princess, the natural daughter of edgar, king of england ( - ). festival, sept. . edmund, st., king or "landlord" of east anglia from to ; refused to renounce christianity and accept heathenism at the hands of a set of "mere physical force" invading danes, and suffered martyrdom rather; was made a saint of and had a monastery called "bury st. edmunds," in norfolk, raised to his memory over his grave. edmund, st., edmund rich, archbishop of canterbury, born at abingdon; while still at school made a vow of celibacy and wedded the virgin mary; sided as archbishop with the popular party against the tyranny of both pope and king; coming into disfavour with the papal court retired to france, where, on his arrival, the mother of st. louis with her sons met him to receive his blessing, and where he spent his last days in a monastery; died in , and was canonised six years after by innocent iv., somewhat reluctantly it is said. edmund ironside, succeeded to the throne of england on the death of his father ethelred the unready in , but reigned only seven months; he struggled bravely, and at first successfully, against canute the dane, but being defeated, the kingdom ultimately was divided between them ( - ). edom, or idumÆa, a mountainous but not unfertile country, comprising the s. of judæa and part of the n. of arabia petræa, m. long by m. broad, peopled originally by the descendants of esau, who were ruled by "dukes," and were bitterly hostile to the jews. edred, king of the anglo-saxons, son of edward the elder; subdued northumbria; had in the end of his reign st. dunstan for chief adviser; _d_. . edrisi, an arabian geographer, born at ceuta, in spain; by request of roger ii. of sicily wrote an elaborate description of the earth, which held a foremost place amongst mediæval geographers ( - ). education, as conceived of by ruskin, and alone worthy of the name, "the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them"; and attained, "not by telling a man what he knew not, but by making him what he was not." edui, an ancient gallic tribe, whose capital was bibracte (autun). edward, thomas, naturalist, born at gosport; bred a shoemaker; settled in banff, where he devoted his leisure to the study of animal nature, and collected numerous specimens of animals, which he stuffed and exhibited, but with pecuniary loss; the queen's attention being called to his case, settled on him an annual pension of £ , while the citizens of aberdeen presented him in march with a gift of sovereigns, on which occasion he made a characteristic speech ( - ). edward i., surnamed longshanks, king of england, born at westminster, son of henry iii., married eleanor (q. v.) of castile; came first into prominence in the barons' war; defeated the nobles at evesham, and liberated his father; joined the last crusade in , and distinguished himself at acre; returned to england in to assume the crown, having been two years previously proclaimed king; during his reign the ascendency of the church and the nobles received a check, the growing aspiration of the people for a larger share in the affairs of the nation was met by an extended franchise, while the right of parliament to regulate taxation was recognised; under his reign wales was finally subdued and annexed to england, and a temporary conquest of scotland was achieved ( - ). edward ii., king of england ( - ), son of the preceding; was first prince of wales, being born at carnarvon; being a weakling was governed by favourites, gaveston and the spencers, whose influence, as foreigners and unpatriotic, offended the barons, who rose against him; in scotland rose in arms under bruce, and an ill-fated expedition under him ended in the crushing defeat at bannockburn; in he was deposed, and was brutally murdered in berkeley castle ( - ). edward iii., king of england ( - ), son of the preceding, married philippa of hainault; during his boyhood the government was carried on by a council of regency; in the independence of scotland was recognised, and nine years later began the hundred years' war with france, memorable in this reign for the heroic achievements of edward the black prince (q. v.), the king's eldest son; associated with this reign are the glorious victories of crécy and poitiers, and the great naval battle at sluys, one of the earliest victories of english arms at sea; these successes were not maintained in the later stages of the war, and the treaty of bretigny involved the withdrawal of edward's claim to the french crown; in the black prince died. edward iv., king of england ( - ), son of richard, duke of york, and successor to the lancastrian henry vi., whom he defeated at towton; throughout his reign the country was torn by the wars of the roses, in which victory rested with the yorkists at hedgeley moor, hexham, barnet, and tewkesbury; in this reign little social progress was made, but a great step towards it was made by the introduction of printing by caxton ( - ) edward v., king of england for three months in , son of the preceding; deposed by his uncle, richard, duke of gloucester; was ultimately murdered in the tower, along with his young brother ( - ). edward vi., king of england ( - ), son of henry viii. and jane seymour; his reign, which was a brief one, was marked by a victory over the scots at pinkie ( ), catholic and agrarian risings, and certain ecclesiastical reforms ( - ). edward vii., king of great britain and ireland and "all the british dominions beyond the seas," born th november , succeeded his mother, queen victoria, nd jan. . on th march he married princess alexandra, eldest daughter of christian ix. of denmark, and has four surviving children: george, prince of wales, _b_. ; louise, duchess of fife, _b_. ; victoria, _b_. ; and maud, _b_. , who married prince charles of denmark. the king's eldest son, albert victor, _b_. , died january , . edward the confessor, king of england, married edith, daughter of the great earl godwin (q. v.); was a feeble monarch of ascetic proclivities; his appeal to the duke of normandy precipitated the norman invasion, and in him perished the royal saxon line; was canonised for his piety ( - ). edward the elder, king of the anglo-saxons from to ; was the son and successor of alfred the great; extended the anglo-saxon dominions. edwardes, sir herbert benjamin, soldier and administrator in india, born at frodesley, shropshire; was actively engaged in the first sikh war and in the mutiny; served under sir henry lawrence, whose life he partly wrote ( - ). edwards, bryan, historian, born at westbury; traded in jamaica; wrote a "history of british colonies in the west indies" ( - ). edwards, jonathan, a celebrated divine, born at e. windsor, connecticut; graduated at yale; minister at northampton, mass.; missionary to housatonnuck indians; was elected to the presidency of princeton college; wrote an acute and original work, "the freedom of the will," a masterpiece of cogent reasoning; has been called the "spinoza of calvinism" ( - ). edwin, king of northumbria in the th century; through the influence of his wife ethelburga christianity was introduced into england by st. augustine; founded edinburgh; was defeated and slain by the mercian king penda in . edwy, king of the anglo-saxons from to ; offended the clerical party headed by dunstan and odo, who put his wife elgiva to death, after which he soon died himself at the early age of . eeckhout, a dutch portrait and historical painter, born at antwerp; the most eminent disciple of rembrandt, whose style he successfully imitated ( - ). effen, van, a dutch author, who wrote chiefly in french; imitated the _spectator_ of addison, and translated into french swift's "tale of a tub" and defoe's "robinson crusoe" ( - ). effendi, a title of honour among the turks, applied to state and civil officials, frequently associated with the name of the office, as well as to men of learning or high position. egalitÉ, philippe, duke of orleans, born april th, , father of louis philippe; so called because he sided with the republican party in the french revolution, and whose motto was "liberté, fraternité, et egalité." see orleans, duke of. egates, three islands on the w. coast of sicily. egbert, king of wessex, a descendant of cedric the founder; after an exile of years at the court of charlemagne ascended the throne in ; reigned till , governing his people in tranquillity, when, by successful wars with the other saxon tribes, he in two years became virtual king of all england, and received the revived title of bretwalda; _d_. . egede, hans, a norwegian priest, founder of the danish mission in greenland, whither he embarked with his family and a small colony of traders in ; leaving his son to carry on the mission, and returning to denmark, he became head of a training school for young missionaries to greenland ( - ). egede, paul, son of hans; assisted his father in the greenland mission, and published a history of the mission; translated part of the bible into the language of the country, and composed a grammar and a dictionary of it; _d_. . eger ( ), a town in bohemia, on the river eger, m. w. of prague, a centre of railway traffic; wallenstein was murdered here in ; the river flows into the elbe after a ne. course of m. egeria, a nymph who inhabited a grotto in a grove in latium, dedicated to the camenæ, some m. from rome, and whom, according to tradition, numa was in the habit of consulting when engaged in framing forms of religious worship for the roman community; she figures as his spiritual adviser, and has become the symbol of one of her sex, conceived of as discharging the same function in other the like cases. egerton, francis. see bridgewater, earl of. egger, Émile, a french hellenist and philologist ( - ). egham ( ), a small town in surrey, on the thames, m. w. of london; has in its vicinity runnymede, where king john signed _magna charta_ in . eginhard, or einhard, a frankish historian, born in mainyan, in east franconia; a collection of his letters and his annals of the franks, as well as his famous "life of charlemagne," are extant; was a favourite of the latter, who appointed him superintendent of public buildings, and took him with him on all his expeditions; after the death of charlemagne he continued at the court as tutor to the emperor louis's son; died in retirement ( - ). eglantine, madame, the prioress in the "canterbury tales" of chaucer. eglinton and winton, earl of, archibald william montgomerie, born at palermo; became lord-lieutenant of ireland; rector of glasgow university; was a noted sportsman and patron of the turf; is chiefly remembered in connection with a brilliant tournament given by him at eglinton castle in , in which all the splendour and detail of a mediæval tourney were spectacularly reproduced ( - ). egmont, lamoral, count of, born in hainault; became attached to the court of charles v., by whom, for distinguished military and diplomatic services, he was appointed governor of flanders; fell into disfavour for espousing the cause of the protestants of the netherlands, and was beheaded in brussels by the duke of alva; his career and fate form the theme of goethe's tragedy "egmont," a play nothing as a drama, but charming as a picture of the two chief characters in the piece, egmont and clärchen. egmont, mount, the loftiest peak in the north island, new zealand, is ft. in height, and of volcanic origin. ego and non-ego (i. e. i and not-i, or self and not-self), are terms used in philosophy to denote respectively the subjective and the objective in cognition, what is from self and what is from the external to self, what is merely individual and what is universal. egoism, the philosophy of those who, uncertain of everything but the existence of the ego or i, resolve all existence as known into forms or modifications of its self-consciousness. egoist, a novel by george meredith, much admired by r. l. stevenson, who read and re-read it at least five times over. egypt ( , ), a country occupying the ne. corner of africa, lies along the w. shore of the red sea, has a northern coast-line on the mediterranean, and stretches s. as far as wady halfa; the area is nearly , sq. m.; its chief natural features are uninhabitable desert on the e. and w., and the populous and fertile valley of the nile. cereals, sugar, cotton, and tobacco are important products. mohammedan arabs constitute the bulk of the people, but there is also a remnant of the ancient coptic race. the country is nominally a dependency of turkey under a native government, but is in reality controlled by the british, who exercise a veto on its financial policy, and who, since , have occupied the country with soldiers. the noble monuments and relics of her ancient civilisation, chief amongst which are the pyramids, as well as the philosophies and religions she inherited, together with the arts she practised, and her close connection with jewish history, give her a peculiar claim on the interested regard of mankind. nothing, perhaps, has excited more wonder in connection with egypt than the advanced state of her civilisation when she first comes to play a part in the history of the world. there is evidence that years before the christian era the arts of building, pottery, sculpture, literature, even music and painting, were highly developed, her social institutions well organised, and that considerable advance had been made in astronomy, chemistry, medicine, and anatomy. already the egyptians had divided the year into days and months, and had invented an elaborate system of weights and measures, based on the decimal notation. egyptian night, such as in egypt when, by judgment of god, a thick darkness of three days settled down on the land. see exodus x. . egyptians, the, of antiquity were partly of asiatic and partly of african origin, with a probable infusion of semitic blood, and formed both positively and negatively a no inconsiderable link in the chain of world-history, positively by their sense of the divinity of nature-life as seen in their nature-worship, and negatively by the absence of all sense of the divinity of a higher life as it has come to light in the self-consciousness or moral sense and destiny of man. egyptology, the science, in the interest of ancient history, of egyptian antiquities, such as the monuments and their inscriptions, and one in which of late years great interest has been taken, and much progress made. egyptus, the brother of danaüs, whose sons, all but one, were murdered by the daughters of the latter. see danaÜs. ehkili, a dialect of s. arabia, interesting to philologists as one of the oldest of semitic tongues. ehrenberg, a german naturalist, born in delitsch; intended for the church; devoted himself to medical studies, and graduated in medicine in ; acquired great skill in the use of the microscope, and by means of it made important discoveries, particularly in the department of infusory animals; contributed largely to the literature of science ( - ). ehrenbreitstein ( ) (i. e. broad stone of honour), a strongly fortified town in prussia, on the rhine, opposite coblentz, with which it has communication by a bridge of boats and a railway viaduct; the fortress occupies the summit of the rock, which is precipitous; is about ft. high, and has large garrison accommodation. eichhorn, johann gottfried, a german theologian and orientalist, born at dorrenzimmern, franconia; a man of extensive scholarship; held the chair of oriental languages in jena, and afterwards at göttingen; was the first to apply a bold rationalism to the critical treatment of the scriptures; he was of the old school of rationalists, now superseded by the historico-critical; his chief works are a universal library of biblical literature, in vols., introductions to the old and to the new testament, each in vols., and an introduction to the apocrypha ( - ). eichthal, gustave d', a french publicist, born at nancy; an adherent of st. simonianism; wrote "les evangiles"; mrs. carlyle describes him as "a gentle soul, trustful, and earnest-looking, ready to do and suffer all for his faith" ( - ). eichwald, charles edward, an eminent russian naturalist, born in mitau, russia; studied science at berlin and vienna; held the chairs of zoology and midwifery at kasan and wilna, and of palæontology at st. petersburg; his explorations, which led him through most of europe, persia, and algeria, and included a survey of the baltic shores, as well as expeditions into the caucasus, are described in his various works, and their valuable results noted ( - ). eiffel, gustave, an eminent french engineer, born at dijon; early obtained a reputation for bridge construction; designed the great garabit viaduct, and also the enormous locks for the panama canal; his most noted work is the gigantic iron tower which bears his name; in became involved in the panama scandals, and was fined, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment; _b_. . eiffel tower, a structure erected on the banks of the seine in paris, the loftiest in the world, being ft. in height, and visible from all parts of the city; it consists of three platforms, of which the first is as high as the towers of notre dame; the second as high as strasburg cathedral spire, and the third ft; it was designed by gustave eiffel, and erected in - ; there are cafés and restaurants on the first landing, and the ascent is by powerful lifts. eigg or egg, a rocky islet among the hebrides, m. sw. of skye; st. donnan and monks from iona were massacred here in by the queen, notwithstanding a remonstrance on the part of the islanders that it would be an irreligious act; here also the macleods of the th century suffocated in a cave of the macdonalds, including women and children. eighteenth century, "a sceptical century and a godless," according to carlyle's deliberate estimate, "opulent in accumulated falsities, as never century before was; which had no longer the consciousness of being false, so false has it grown; so steeped in falsity, and impregnated with it to the very bone, that, in fact, the measure of the thing was full, and a french revolution had to end it"; which it did only symbolically, however, as he afterwards admitted, and but admonitorily of a doomsday still to come. see "frederick the great," bk. i. chap, ii., and "heroes." eikon basilikË (i. e. the royal likeness), a book containing an account of charles i. during his imprisonment, and ascribed to him as author, but really written by bishop gauden, though the ms. may have been perused and corrected by the king; it gives a true picture of his character and possible state of mind. eildons, the, a "triple-crested eminence" near melrose, ft., and overlooking teviotdale to the s., associated with sir walter scott and thomas the rhymer; they are of volcanic origin, and are said to have been cleft in three by the wizard michael scott, when he was out of employment. eimeo, one of the french society islands; is hilly and woody, but well cultivated in the valleys; missionary enterprise in polynesia first found a footing here. einsiedeln ( ), a town in the canton of schwyz, switzerland; has a benedictine abbey, containing a famous black image of the virgin, credited with miraculous powers, which attracts, it is said, , pilgrims annually. eisenach ( ), a flourishing manufacturing town in saxe-weimar, close to the thuringian forest and m. w. of weimar; is the birthplace of sebastian bach; in the vicinity stands the castle of wartburg, the hiding-place for months of luther after the diet of worms. eisleben ( ), a mining town in prussian saxony, m. nw. of halle; the birthplace and burial-place of luther. eisteddfod, a gathering of welsh bards and others, now annual, at which, out of a patriotic motive, prizes are awarded for the encouragement of welsh literature and music and the preservation of the welsh language and ancient national customs. ekaterinburg ( ), a russian town on the isset, on the e. side of the ural mountains, of the mining industry in which it is the chief centre; has various manufactures, and a trade in the cutting and sorting of precious stones. ekron, a town in n. palestine, m. n. from gaza and m. from the sea. elaine, a lady of the court of king arthur in love with lancelot, and whose story is related by malory in his "history" and by tennyson in his "idylls of the king." elaterium, a drug obtained from the mucus of the fruit of the squirting cucumber; is a most powerful purgative, and was known to the ancients. elba, a small and rocky island in the mediterranean between corsica and tuscany, with a bold precipitous coast; belongs to italy; has trade in fish, fruits, and iron ore; famous as napoleon's place of exile from may to february . elbe, the most important river in n. germany; rises in the riesengebirge, in austria, flows nw. through germany, and enters the north sea at cuxhaven, m. long, navigable m.; abounds in fish. elberfeld ( ), an important manufacturing commercial centre, m. ne. of düsseldorf; noted for its textiles and dye-works. elboeuf ( ), a town on the seine, m. nw. of paris; has flourishing manufactures in cloths, woollens, &c. elburz, a lofty mountain range in n. persia, s. of the caspian; also the name of the highest peak in the caucasus ( , ft.). elder, a name given to certain office-bearers in the presbyterian church, associated with the minister in certain spiritual functions short of teaching and administering sacraments; their duties embrace the general oversight of the congregation, and are of a wider nature than those of the deacons, whose functions are confined strictly to the secular interests of the church; they are generally elected by the church members, and ordained in the presence of the congregation; their term of office is in some cases for a stated number of years, but more generally for life. eldon, john scott, lord, a celebrated english lawyer, born at newcastle, of humble parentage; educated at oxford for the church, but got into difficulties through a runaway marriage; he betook himself to law, rose rapidly in his profession, and, entering parliament, held important legal offices under pitt; was made a baron and lord chancellor, , an office which he held for years; retired from public life in , and left a large fortune at his death; was noted for the shrewd equity of his judgments and his delay in delivering them ( - ). el dorado (lit. the land of gold), a country which orellana, the lieutenant of pizzaro, pretended to have discovered in s. america, between the amazon and orinoco, and which he represented as abounding in gold and precious gems; now a region of purely imaginary wealth. eleanor, queen of edward i. of england and sister of alfonso x. (q. v.) of castile, surnamed the wise, accompanied her husband to the crusade in , and is said to have saved him by sucking the poison from a wound inflicted by a poisoned arrow; was buried at westminster ( - ). eleatics, a school of philosophy in greece, founded by xenophanes of elia, and of which parmenides and zeno, both of elia, were the leading adherents and advocates, the former developing the system and the latter completing it, the ground-principle of which was twofold--the affirmation of the unity, and the negative of the diversity, of being--in other words, the affirmation of pure being as alone real, to the exclusion of everything finite and merely phenomenal. see "sartor," bk. i. chap. . election, the doctrine of, the doctrine that the salvation of a man depends on the election of god for that end, of which there are two chief phases--the one is election _to be_ christ's, or unconditional election, and the other that it is election _in_ christ, or conditional election. electors, the, or kurfÜrsts, of germany, german princes who enjoyed the privilege of disposing of the imperial crown, ranked next the emperor, and were originally six in number, but grew to eight and finally nine; three were ecclesiastical--the archbishops of mayence, cologne, and trèves, and three secular--the electors of saxony, the palatinate, and bohemia, to which were added at successive periods the electors of brandenburg, of bavaria, and hanover. "there never was a tenth; and the holy roman empire, as it was called, which was a grand object once, but had gone about in a superannuated and plainly crazy state some centuries, was at last put out of pain by napoleon, august , , and allowed to cease from the world." electra (i. e. the bright one), an ocean nymph, the mother of isis (q. v.). electra, the daughter of agamemnon and clytemnestra, who, with her brother orestes, avenged the death of her father on his murderers. electric light, a brilliant white light due to positive and negative currents rushing together between two points of carbon or (the "incandescent" light) to the intense heat in a solid body, caused by an electric current passing through it. electricity, the name given to a subtle agent called the electric fluid, latent in all bodies, and first evolved by friction, and which may manifest itself, under certain conditions, in brilliant flashes of light, or, when in contact with animals, in nervous shocks more or less violent. it is of two kinds, negative and positive, and as such exhibits itself in the polarity of the magnet, when it is called magnetic (q. v.), and is excited by chemical action, when it is called voltaic (q. v.). elegy, a song expressive of sustained earnest yearning, or mild sorrow after loss. elemental spirits, a general name given in the middle ages to salamanders, undines, sylphs, and gnomes, spirits superstitiously believed to have dominion respectively over, as well as to have had their dwelling in, the four elements--fire, water, air, and earth. elements, originally the four forms of matter so deemed--fire, air, earth, and water, and afterwards the name for those substances that cannot be resolved by chemical analysis, and which are now found to amount to sixty-seven. elephant, a genus of mammals, of which there are two species, the indian and the african; the latter attains a greater size, and is hunted for the sake of its tusks, which may weigh as much as lbs.; the former is more intelligent, and easily capable of being domesticated; the white elephant is a variety of this species. elephant, order of the white, a danish order of knighthood, restricted to knights, the decoration of which is an elephant supporting a tower; it was instituted by canute iv., king of denmark, at the end of the th century. elephanta, an island m. in circuit in bombay harbour, so called from its colossal figure of an elephant which stood near the landing-place; it contains three temples cut out of solid rock, and covered with sculptures, which, along with the figure at the landing, are rapidly decaying. elephantiasis, a peculiar skin disease, accompanied with abnormal swelling; so called because the skin becomes hard and stiff like an elephant's hide; attacks the lower limbs and scrotum; is chiefly confined to india and other tropical countries. elephantine, a small island below the first cataract of the nile; contains interesting monuments and ruins of the ancient roman and egyptian civilisations. eleusinian mysteries, rites, initiation into which, as religiously conducive to the making of good men and good citizens, was compulsory on every free-born athenian, celebrated annually at eleusis in honour of demeter and persephone, and which lasted nine days. eleusis, a town in ancient attica, nw. of athens, with a temple for the worship of demeter, the largest in greece; designed by the architect of the parthenon (q. v.). eleutheria, the goddess of liberty, as worshipped in ancient greece. elf-arrows, arrow-heads of flint used in hunting and war by the aborigines of the british isles and of europe generally, as they still are among savages elsewhere; derived their name from the superstitious belief that they were used by the fairies to kill cattle and sometimes human beings in their mischief-joy; they were sometimes worn as talismans, occasionally set in silver, as a charm against witchcraft. elgin or moray ( ), a northern scottish county, fronting the moray firth and lying between banff and nairn, mountainous in the s. but flat to the n., watered by the spey, lossie, and findhorn; agriculture, stone-quarrying, distilling, and fishing are the staple industries; has some imposing ruins and interesting antiquities. elgin ( ), the county town of above, on the lossie; created a royal burgh by david i.; has ruins of a fine gothic cathedral and royal castle. elgin ( ), a city in illinois, on the fox, m. nw. of chicago; watchmaking the chief industry. elgin, james bruce, th earl of, statesman and diplomatist, born in london; governor of jamaica and canada; negotiated important treaties with china and japan; rendered opportune assistance at the indian mutiny by diverting to the succour of lord canning an expedition that was proceeding to china under his command; after holding office as postmaster-general he became viceroy of india ( ), where he died; his journal and letters are published ( - ). elgin marbles, a collection of ancient sculptured marbles brought from athens by the earl of elgin in , and now deposited in the british museum, after purchase of them by the government for £ , ; these sculptures adorned certain public buildings in the acropolis, and consist of portions of statues, of which that of theseus is the chief, of alto-reliefs representing the struggle of the centaurs and lapithæ, and of a large section of a frieze. elia, the _nom de plume_ adopted by charles lamb in connection with his essays. elias, mount, a mountain in nw. coast of n. america; conspicuous far off at sea, being about , ft. or ½ m. above it. elijah, a jewish prophet, born at tishbe, in gilead, near the desert; prophesied in the reign of ahab, king of israel, in the th century b.c.; revealed himself as the deadly enemy of the worship of baal, of whose priests he is said to have slain with his own hand; his zeal provoked persecution at the hands of the king and his consort jezebel, but the lord protected him, and he was translated from the earth in a chariot of fire, "went up by a whirlwind into heaven." see prophets, the. eliot, george, the _nom de plume_ of mary ann evans, distinguished english novelist, born at arbury, in warwickshire; was bred on evangelical lines, but by-and-by lost faith in supernatural christianity; began her literary career by a translation of strauss's "life of jesus"; became in a contributor to the _westminster review_, and formed acquaintance with george henry lewes, whom she ere long lived with as his wife, though unmarried, and who it would seem discovered to her her latent faculty for fictional work; her first work in that line was "scenes from clerical life," contributed to _blackwood_ in ; the stories proved a signal success, and they were followed by a series of seven novels, beginning in with "adam bede," "the finest thing since shakespeare," charles reade in his enthusiasm said, the whole winding up with the "impressions of theophrastus such" in ; these, with two volumes of poems, make up her works; lewes died in , and two years after she formally married an old friend, mr. john cross, and after a few months of wedded life died of inflammation of the heart; "she paints," says edmond scherer, "only ordinary life, but under these externals she makes us assist at the eternal tragedy of the human heart... with so much sympathy," he adds, "the smile on her face so near tears, that we cannot read her pages without feeling ourselves won to that lofty toleration of hers" ( - ). eliot, john, the apostle of the indians, born in hertfordshire; entered the church of england, but seceded and emigrated to new england; became celebrated for his successful evangelistic expeditions amongst the indians during his lifelong occupancy of the pastorate at roxbury ( - ). elis, a district of greece, on the w. coast of the peloponnesus, sacred to all hellas as the seat of the greatest of the greek festivals in connection with the olympian games, a circumstance which imparted a prestige to the inhabitants. elisa or elissa, dido, queen of carthage, in love with Æneas. elisha, a jewish prophet, the successor of elijah, who found him at the plough, and consecrated him to his office by throwing his mantle over him, and which he again let fall on him as he ascended to heaven. he exercised his office for years, but showed none of the zeal of his predecessor against the worship of baal; was, however, accredited as a prophet of the lord by the miracles he wrought in the lord's name. elizabeth, sister of louis xvi.; was guillotined ( - ). elizabeth farnese, queen of spain, a daughter of odoardo ii. of parma; in she married philip v. of spain, when her bold and energetic nature soon made itself felt in the councils of europe, where she carried on schemes for territorial and political aggrandisement; was an accomplished linguist; is called by carlyle "the termagant of spain"; her memoirs are published in four volumes ( - ). elizabeth, empress of russia, daughter of peter the great and catharine i.; assisted maria theresa in the war of the austrian succession; opposed frederick the great in the seven years' war; indolent and licentious, she left the affairs of the state mainly in the hands of favourites ( - ). elizabeth, queen of bohemia, daughter of james vi. of scotland and i. of england; married frederick v., elector palatine, who for a brief time held the throne of bohemia; her daughter sophia, by marrying the elector of hanover, formed a tie which ultimately brought the crown of england to the house of brunswick ( - ). elizabeth, queen of england ( - ), daughter of henry viii. and anne boleyn, born in greenwich palace; was an indefatigable student in her youth; acquired greek and latin, and a conversational knowledge of german and french; the pope's opposition to her succession on the ground of being judged illegitimate by the church strengthened her attachment to the protestant faith, which was her mother's, and contributed to its firm establishment during the reign; during it the power of spain was crushed by the defeat of the armada; maritime enterprise flourished under drake, raleigh, and frobisher; commerce was extended, and literature carried to a pitch of perfection never before or since reached; masterful and adroit, elizabeth yet displayed the weakness of vanity and vindictiveness; the execution of mary, queen of scots, is a blot upon her fame, and her intrigues with seymour, leicester, and essex detract from her dignity; her wisdom was manifested in her wise choice of counsellors and leaders, and her patriotism won her a secure place in the hearts of her people ( - ). elizabeth, st., "a very pious, but also a very fanciful young woman; her husband, a thuringian landgraf, going to the crusade, where he died straightway," carlyle guesses, "partly the fruit of the life she led him; lodging beggars, sometimes in her very bed; continually breaking his night's rest for prayer and devotional exercises of undue length, 'weeping one moment, then smiling in joy the next'; meandering about, capricious, melodious, weak, at the will of devout whim mainly; went to live at marburg after her husband's death, and soon died there in a most melodiously pious sort" in , aged . elizabethan architecture, a term applied to the style of architecture which flourished in the reigns of elizabeth and james i., and which was characterised by a revival of classic designs wrought into the decadent gothic style. lord salisbury's house at hatfield is a good specimen of this mixed style. elizabethan era, according to carlyle, "the outcome and flowerage of all which had preceded it... in that old age lies the _only_ true _poetical_ literature of england. the poets of the last ago took to pedagogy (pope and his school), and shrewd men they were; those of the present age to ground-and-lofty tumbling; and it will do your heart good," he adds, "to see how they vault." elkargeh ( ), a town in the great oasis in the libyan desert; has ancient remains, and is an important resting stage in crossing the desert. ellenborough, edward law, earl of, an english conservative statesman, son of baron ellenborough, lord chief-justice of england; entered parliament in ; held office under the duke of wellington and sir robert peel; appointed governor-general of india ( ); recalled in ; subsequently first lord of the admiralty and indian minister under lord derby ( - ). ellenrieder, marie, a painter of great excellence, born at constance; studied in rome; devoted herself to religious subjects, such as "christ blessing little children," "mary and the infant jesus," &c. ( - ). ellesmere, francis egerton, earl of, statesman and author, born in london, second son of the duke of sutherland; was secretary for ireland and war secretary; author of some books of travel, and a translation of "faust" ( - ). elliot, george augustus. see heathfield. elliotson, john, an english physician, born in london; lost his professorship in london university on account of employing mesmerism for medical purposes; promoted clinical instruction and the use of the stethoscope; founded the phrenological society ( - ). elliott, ebenezer, poet, known popularly as the "corn-law rhymer," born in rotherham parish, yorkshire; an active worker in iron; devoted his leisure to poetic composition; proved a man that could handle both pen and hammer like a man; wrote the "corn-law rhymes" and other pieces; his works have been "likened to some little fraction of a rainbow, hues of joy and harmony, painted out of troublous tears; no full round bow shone on by the full sun, and yet, in very truth, a little prismatic blush, glowing genuine among the wet clouds, ... proceeds from a sun cloud-hidden, yet indicates that a sun does shine...; a voice from the deep cyclopean forges where labour, in real soot and sweat, beats with his thousand hammers, doing personal battle with necessity and her brute dark powers to make _them_ reasonable and serviceable" ( - ). ellis, alexander j., an eminent english philologist, born at horeton; published many papers on phonetics and early english pronunciation; was president of the philological society; his name, originally sharpe, changed by royal license ( - ). ellis, george, literary critic, born in london; did much to promote the study of early english literature; contributed to the _anti-jacobin_, and was joint-author of the "rolliad," a satire on pitt, and of "specimens of early english metrical romances"; scott declared him to be the best conversationalist he had ever met ( - ). ellis, sir henry, chief librarian of the british museum from to , born in london; edited various works on antiques; wrote an "introduction to domesday book"; knighted in ( - ). ellis, william, a missionary and author, born in london; laboured in the south sea islands, and afterwards in madagascar; wrote various works descriptive of these islands; he married sarah stickney, who is the authoress of a number of popular works, including "the women of england," "the daughters of england," &c. ( - ). elliston, robert william, a celebrated actor, born in london; ran away from home and joined the stage, rose to the front rank both as comedian and tragedian ( - ). ellora, an indian village in hyderabad, m. nw. of aurungabad, famed for its buddhist and hindu cave and monolithic temples, the most magnificent of which is hewn out of a solid hill of red stone, the most beautiful being the hindu temple of kailás. ellwood, thomas, a celebrated quaker, born at crowell, oxfordshire; the intimate friend of milton, to whom he suggested the idea of "paradise regained" by remarking to him, "thou hast said much of paradise lost, but what hast thou to say of paradise found?" his autobiography is still read ( - ). elmo's fire, st., a popular name for the display of electric fire which sometimes plays about the masts of ships, steeples, &c., accompanied at times with a hissing noise; commoner in southern climates, known by other names, e. g. fire of st. clara, of st. elias. eloge, a discourse in panegyric of some illustrious person deceased, in which composition fontenelle took the lead, and in which he was followed by d'alembert, condorcet, flourens, and others. elohim, a hebrew word in the plural number, signifying god or one as god, but with a verb in the singular, signifying generally the one true god; according to the talmud it denotes god as just in judgment to all in contradistinction to jehovah, which denotes god as merciful to his people. elohist, a name given by the critics to the presumed author of the earlier part of the pentateuch, whose work in it they allege is distinguished by the use of the word elohim for god; he is to be distinguished from the jehovist, the presumed author of the later portions, from his use, on the other hand, of the word jehovah for god. elphinstone, george keith, admiral. see keith. elphinstone, mountstuart, a noted indian civil servant and historian; co-operated with wellesley in firmly establishing british rule in india; was governor of bombay, where he accomplished many useful reforms, and issued the elphinstone code of laws; wrote a "history of india," which earned for him the title of the "tacitus of india" ( - ). elphinstone, william, an erudite and patriotic scottish ecclesiastic and statesman, born in glasgow; took holy orders; went to paris to study law, and became a professor in law there, and afterwards at orleans; returned to scotland; held several high state appointments under james iii. and james iv.; continued a zealous servant of the church, holding the bishoprics of ross and of aberdeen, where he founded the university ( - ). elsass (french alsace), a german territory on the left bank of the rhine, traversed by the vosges mountains; taken from the french in - . elsinore, a seaport on the island of zeeland, in denmark, m. n. of copenhagen; has a good harbour; the scene of shakespeare's "hamlet." elswick ( ), a town in the vicinity of newcastle, noted for the great engineering and ordnance works of sir w. g. (now lord) armstrong. elton, a salt lake of se. russia, in the government of astrakhan; has an area of about sq. m., but is very shallow; yields annually some , or , tons of salt, which is shipped off _viâ_ the volga. elton, charles isaac, jurist and ethnologist, born in somerset; held a fellowship in queen's college, oxford; called to the bar in , and in was returned to parliament as a conservative; his first works were juridical treatises on the tenure of land, but in he produced a learned book on the origins of english history; _b_. . elvas, a strongly fortified town in portugal, in the province of alemtejo, m. w. of badajoz; is a bishop's see; has a moorish aqueduct ½ m. long and ft. high. ely ( ), a celebrated cathedral city, in the fen-land of cambridgeshire, on the ouse, m. se. of peterborough; noted as the scene of hereward's heroic stand against william the conqueror in ; the cathedral, founded in , is unique as containing specimens of the various gothic styles incorporated during the course of years. ely, isle of, a name given to the n. portion of cambridgeshire on account of its having been at one time insulated by marshes; being included in the region of the fens, has been drained, and is now fertile land. elyot, sir thomas, author and ambassador, born in wiltshire; ambassador to the court of charles v.; celebrated as the author of "the governour," the first english work on moral philosophy, and also of the first latin-english dictionary ( - ). elysium the abode of the shades of the virtuous dead in the nether world as conceived of by the poets of greece and rome, where the inhabitants live a life of passive blessedness, which, however, is to such a man as achilles a place of woe rather and unrest, where he would fain exchange places with the meanest hind that breathes in the upper world. elze, frederick carl, a german shakespearian scholar, born at dessau; early devoted himself to the study of english literature; lived some time in england and scotland; in became professor of english literature at halle; his various publications on shakespeare and the elizabethan dramatists are full of excellent criticisms; also wrote lives of scott and byron ( - ). elzevir, the name of an eminent family of printers residing in amsterdam and leyden, louis the first of them, who started in leyden; their publications date from to . elzevir editions, editions of the classics printed at amsterdam and leyden during the th and th centuries by a family of the elzevirs, and considered to be immaculate. emanation, the doctrine of, a doctrine of eastern origin, which derives everything that exists from the divine nature by necessary process of emanation, as light from the sun, and ascribes all evil and the degrees of it to a greater and greater distance from the pure ether of this parent source, or to the extent in consequence to which the being gets immersed in and clogged with matter. emancipation, originally a term in roman law and name given to the process of the manumission of a son by his father; the son was sold to a third party and after the sale became _sui juris_; it is now applied to the remission of old laws in the interest of freedom, which carlyle regards in his "shooting niagara," as the sum of nearly all modern recent attempts at reform. emanuel i., king of portugal from to ; his reign inaugurated the golden period of portuguese history, during which portugal became the first maritime and commercial power in europe; was the patron of vasco da gama and albuquerque; issued an edict for the expulsion of the jews from his kingdom, and wrote to the elector of saxony begging him to get rid of luther ( - ). embalming, the art of preserving dead bodies from decay by means of antiseptic agents applied both externally and internally; although known to other people, e. g. the peruvians, the art was chiefly practised among the egyptians, and the practice of it dates back to b.c.; the thoroughness of the process depended on the money expended, but it usually involved the removal of the viscera, save the heart and kidneys, the extraction of the brain, the introduction of drugs to the cavities, and the pickling of the body in native carbonate of soda, and the wrapping of it in linen; experiments in embalming, more or less successful, have been made in recent times, and even still are. ember days, four annually recurring periods of three days each, appointed by the romish and english churches to be devoted to fasting and praying; they are the wednesday, friday, and saturday after the first sunday in lent, after pentecost, after the th september, and after the th december. embryo, the scientific term for the young of an animal while yet in the initial stage of development in the womb; also applied to the plant in its rudimentary stage within the seed. embryology, the section of biology which treats of the development of the embryo. emden ( ), the chief part of the province of hanover, in prussia, situated at the outlet of the river ems; is intersected by canals; shipbuilding and brewing are the chief industries. emerald, a precious stone of great value, allied in composition to the beryl; is of a beautiful transparent green colour; the finest specimens are found in colombia and venezuela. emerald isle, ireland, from the fresh verdure of its herbage. emerson, ralph waldo, an american philosophic thinker and poet, of english puritan descent, born at boston, where he started in life as a unitarian preacher and pastor, an office he resigned in for literature, in which he found he would have freer and fuller scope to carry out his purpose as a spiritual teacher; in he paid a visit to england, and in particular a notable one to craigenputtock (q. v.), with the inmates of which he formed a lifelong friendship; on his return the year after, he married, a second time as it happened, and, settling down in concord, began his career as a lecturer and man of letters; by his "essays," of which he published two series, one in and a second in , he commended himself to the regard of all thinking men in both hemispheres, and began to exercise an influence for good on all the ingenuous youth of the generation; they were recognised by carlyle, and commended as "the voice of a man"; these embraced subjects one and all of spiritual interest, and revealed transcendent intellectual power; they were followed by "representative men," lectures delivered in manchester on a second visit to england in , and thereafter, at successive periods, by "society and solitude," "english traits," "the conduct of life," "letters and social aims," besides a long array of poems, as well as sundry remarkable addresses and lectures, which he published; he was a man of exceptional endowment and great speculative power, and is to this day the acknowledged head of the literary men of america; speculatively, carlyle and he were of the same school, but while carlyle had "descended" from the first "into the angry, noisy forum with an argument that could not but exasperate and divide," he continued pretty much all his days engaged in little more than in a quiet survey and criticism of the strife; carlyle tried hard to persuade him to "descend," but it would appear emerson never to his dying day understood what carlyle meant by the appeal, an appeal to take the devil by the throat and cease to merely speculate and dream ( - ). emerson tennent, sir james, bred for the bar; was from to colonial secretary and lieutenant-governor of ceylon, and became on his return joint-secretary to the board of trade; wrote "christianity in ceylon" and "ceylon: an account of the island" ( - ). emery, a dull, blue-black mineral, allied in composition to the sapphire, but containing a varying quantity of iron oxide; is found in large masses; is exceedingly hard, and largely used in polishing metals, plate-glass, and precious stones. emigrants, the (_les emigrés_), the members of the french aristocracy and of the partisans of the ancient régime who at the time of the revolution, after the fall of the bastille, fled for safety to foreign lands, congregating particularly in coblenz, where they plotted for its overthrow, to the extent of leaguing with the foreigner against their country, with the issue of confiscation of their lands and properties by the republic that was set up. Émile, the hero of a philosophic romance by rousseau of the same name, in which the author expounds his views on education, and presents his reasons, with his ideal of what, according to him, a good education is, a theory practically adopted by many would-be educationists with indifferent fruit. emir, a title bestowed on the descendants of mahomet's daughter fatima, the word denoting a "prince" or "ruler"; has lost this its primary meaning; the emirs, of whom there are large numbers in turkey, enjoying no privileges save the sole right to wear a green turban, the supposed favourite colour of mahomet, though they hold a high social position; the title is also given to chieftains of n. africa. emmet, robert, a patriotic irishman, born in dublin; bred for the bar; took part in the irish rebellion; was hanged for his share in attempting to seize dublin castle ( - ). empe`docles, a philosopher of agrigentum, in sicily; "extolled in antiquity as a statesman and orator, as physicist, physician, and poet, and even as prophet and worker of miracles," who flourished about the year b.c.; he conceived the universe as made up of "four eternal, self-subsistent, mutually underivative, but divisible, primal material bodies, mingled and moulded by two moving forces, the uniting one of friendship and the disuniting one of strife"; of him it is fabled that, to persuade his fellow-citizens, with whom he had been in high favour as their deliverer from the tyranny of the aristocracy, of his bodily translation from earth to heaven, he threw himself unseen into the crater of etna, but that at the next eruption of the mountain his slipper was cast up and revealed the fraud. empires: the roman, capital rome, dates from the reign of augustus, b.c., to that of theodosius, a.d. ; of the east, or low empire, capital constantinople, being part of the roman empire, dates from to ; of the west, capital rome, dates from to ; the holy, or second empire of the west, founded by charlemagne, dates from to ; the latin, capital constantinople, founded by the crusaders, dates from to ; the german, founded by otho the great in , ended by abdication of francis ii. of austria in , and restored under william i. in ; the french, founded by napoleon i., dates from to , and as established by napoleon iii. dates from to ; of the indies, founded in under the crown of england. empiric, the name given to any who practises an art from the mere experience of results, apart from all reference to or knowledge of the scientific explanation. empiricism, a philosophical term applied to the theory that all knowledge is derived from the senses and experience alone, to the rejection of the theory of innate ideas; locke, in modern times, is the great representative of the school that advocates this doctrine supported by aristotle. empson, sir richard, a lawyer in the reign of henry vii.; was speaker of the house of commons; incurred the hatred of the populace by acting as the king's agent in forcing payment of taxes and penalties; was convicted of tyranny and treason, and beheaded in . empyema, a medical term signifying a diseased condition of the chest, in which pus accumulates in the pleura, cures of which are sometimes effected by drawing off the pus by means of tubes. empyrean, the highest heaven, or region of pure elemental fire, whence everything of the nature of fire has been conceived to emanate, whether in the phenomena of nature or the life of man. ems, , a river of nw. germany, rises in westphalia, and after a course of m. discharges into dollart bay, an inlet of the north sea; is navigable, and is joined to the lippe by means of a canal, and also similarly to dortmund. , a celebrated german watering-place, on the lahn, near coblenz; its mineral springs, known to the romans, vary in warmth from ° to ° f. enamel, a vitreous compound, easily fusible, and coloured in various tints by the admixture of different metallic oxides; is fused to the surface of metals for utility and ornament; was known to the european and asiatic ancients, and has maintained its popularity to the present day. various schools have been formed, of which the byzantine, rhenish, and limoges are the most noted. encaustic painting, an ancient style of decorative art somewhat similar to enamelling, which consisted in overlaying the surface (e. g. of walls) with wax, then inlaying a coloured design, the whole being subsequently polished. enceladus, one of the chief giants that revolted against zeus, and who, as he fled and took refuge in sicily, was transfixed by a thunderbolt, and buried under etna. the fiery eruptions of the mountain are his breath, and the shaking of it ascribed to his shifting from one side to another. in the latter regard he serves in literature as the symbol of a blind, often impotent, struggle to throw off some oppressive incubus. enceladus, manuel blanco, a distinguished chilian statesman and soldier, born in buenos ayres; trained for the navy in spain, but joined the chilian revolutionaries; served with distinction under lord cochrane, and rose to high rank both in the army and navy; was commander of the chilian forces in , and for two months in the following year president of the republic; was subsequently governor of valparaiso, and minister to france ( - ). enchiridion of epictetus. see epictetus. encina or enzina, juan de la, a spanish dramatist, whose works mark the rise of the spanish drama, born at salamanca; was at one time secretary to the duke of alva, and afterwards conductor of music in the chapel of leo x. at rome ( - ). encke, johann franz, a celebrated german astronomer, born at hamburg; determined the sun's distance, and the orbit of the comet of ; calculated the time of the revolution of the comet which now bears his name, and which appeared in ; determined also the distance of the sun by the two transits of venus in and ( - ). encyclical letter, a letter addressed by the pope to the bishops of the church, condemnatory of prevailing errors or counselling them how to act in connection with public questions of the day. encyclopÆdia, a name of greek derivation, given to works which embrace within their pages a more or less complete account, in alphabetical order, of the whole round of human knowledge, or of some particular section of it. attempts in this direction were made as far back as aristotle's day, and various others have since been made from time to time, according as the circle of knowledge widened. amongst famous encyclopædias which have appeared, mention may be made of the french "encyclopÉdie" (q. v.); the "encyclopædia britannica," edinburgh ( - ), now in its ninth edition ( ); the german "encyclopedie," begun in by ersch and gruber, and not yet completed, although volumes have appeared; while the largest of all is the chinese encyclopædia, in vols., printed in pekin in . encyclopÉdie, a french encyclopædia consisting of vols., to which a supplement of vols. was added; edited by d'alembert and diderot; contributed to by a number of the eminent savants of france, and issued in - , and which contributed to feed, but did nothing to allay, or even moderate, the fire of the revolution. encyclopedist, generally a man of encyclopedic knowledge, or who conducts or contributes to an encyclopædia; specially one who has, as the french encyclopedists, an overweening, false, and illusory estimate of the moral worth and civilising power of such knowledge. see carlyle's "sartor," bk. i. chap. , on the "encyclopedic head." endemic, a term applied to diseases which affect the inhabitants of certain countries and localities, and which arise from strictly local causes, _e. g_. neighbouring swamps, bad sanitation, impure water, climate, &c. endogens, those plants in which the new fibrous matter is developed in the centre of the stem, and which is pushed outward by the formation of new tissue within, thus developing the stem outwards from the inside. see exogens. endor, a place on the s. of mount tabor, in palestine, where the sorceress lived who was consulted by saul before the battle of gilboa, and who professed communication with the ghost of samuel ( sam, xxviii. ). endosmose, a word used in physics to describe the intermingling of two liquids of different densities, in close juxtaposition, but separated by a thin membranous tissue. the liquid of lesser density passes more rapidly through the dividing tissue, and raises the level of the liquid in the other vessel, this action is named endosmose; while the flowing of the liquid of greater density into the vessel whose level is falling, is called exosmose. endymion, a beautiful shepherd, son of zeus, whom selene (q. v.) carried off to mount lemnos, in caria, where, as she kissed him, he sank into eternal sleep. this is one version of the story. eneid, an epic poem of virgil, the hero of which is Æneas of troy. energy, conservation of, the doctrine that, however it may change in form and character, or be dissipated, no smallest quantity of force in the universe is ever lost. enfantin, barthÉlemy prosper, a socialist and journalist, born in paris, adopted the views of saint-simon (q. v.); held subversive views on the marriage laws, which involved him in some trouble; wrote a useful and sensible book on algerian colonisation, and several works, mainly interpretative of the theories of saint-simon ( - ). enfield ( ), a town in middlesex, m. ne. of london, has a celebrated government rifle factory; was for six years the dwelling-place of charles lamb. engadine, a noted swiss valley in the canton of the grisons, stretches about m. between the lepontine or rhætian alps; is divided into the lower engadine, wild and desolate, and the upper engadine, fertile and populous, and a favourite health resort; the river inn flows through it, its waters collected here and there into lakes. engedi, an oasis, a spot of rare beauty, once a place of palm-trees, m. w. of the n. end of the dead sea. enghien, louis de bourbon, duc d', an ill-fated french royalist, born at chantilly; joined the royalists under his grandfather, prince of condé, and took part in the rhine campaign against the republicans; was suspected of being concerned in a bourbon plot to assassinate the emperor napoleon; was seized in the neutral territory of baden, brought to vincennes, and, after an inconclusive and illegal trial, shot by napoleon's orders, a proceeding which gave rise to fouché's remark, "it is worse than a crime--it is a blunder" ( - ). engineers, royal naval, since have ranked as commissioned officers; salaries vary from £ to £ a year; admission is by examination; duties include the entire oversight and management of the ship-machinery; there are three ranks--inspectors of machinery, chief engineers, and assistants, the latter being of three grades; in engineer studentships were created. engineers, the corps of royal, in the british army, instituted in , consists of about officers and non-commissioned officers and men, usually recruited from skilled artisans; their duties comprise the undertaking of all engineering operations necessary in the conduct of war, e. g. bridging and mining, road and railway and telegraph construction, building of fortifications, &c.; their term of service is years in the active army and in the reserve, or maybe in the former and in the latter. england ( , ), the "predominant partner" of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland, comprises along with wales the southern, and by far the greater, portion of great britain, the largest of the european islands; it is separated from the continent on the e. and s. by the north sea and english channel, and from ireland on the w. by st. george's channel, while scotland forms its n. boundary; its greatest length n. and s. is m., and greatest breadth (including wales) . it is of an irregular triangular shape; has a long and highly-developed coast-line ( m.); is divided into counties (with wales ); has numerous rivers with navigable estuaries, while transit is facilitated by a network of railways and canals; save the highlands in the n., and the pennine range running into derby, england is composed (if we except the mountainland of wales) of undulating plains, per cent, of which is arable; while coal and iron are found in abundance, and copper, lead, zinc, and tin in lesser quantities; in the extent and variety of its textile factories, and in the production of machinery and other hardware goods, england is without an equal; the climate is mild and moist, and affected by draughts; but for the gulf stream, whose waters wash its western shores, it would probably resemble that of labrador. under a limited monarchy and a widely embracing franchise, the people of england enjoy an unrivalled political freedom. since henry viii.'s time, the national religion has been an established protestantism, but all forms are tolerated. in education was made free. the name england is derived from engle-land, or land of the angles, a teutonic people who, with kindred saxons and jutes, came over from the mainland in the th century, and took possession of the island, driving britons and celts before them. admixtures to the stock took place during the th century through the danish and norman conquests. e. annexed wales in , and was united with scotland under one crown in , and under one parliament in . england, the want of, "england needs," says ruskin, "examples of people who, leaving heaven to decide whether they are to rise in the world, decide for themselves that they will be happy in it, and have resolved to seek, not greater wealth, but simpler pleasures; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity; making the first of possessions self-possession, and honouring themselves in the harmless pride and calm pursuits of peace." engles, friedrich, a socialist, the friend of karl marx; an active propagandist of socialistic theories; author of several works on socialism ( - ). enid, the daughter of yniol and the wife of geraint; one of the ladies of the court of king arthur; celebrated for her steadfast conjugal affection, the story regarding whom is given in tennyson's "idylls of the king." enniskillen ( ), the county town of fermanagh, ireland, on an isle in the river which joins lower and upper loughs erne; the scene of the defeat of james ii.'s troops by those of william of orange; gives its name to a well-known dragoon regiment. ennius, an early roman poet, the father of roman epic poetry, born in rudiæ, calabria; promoted the study of greek literature in rome; of his poems, dramatic and epic, only a few fragments are extant ( - b.c.). enoch, a godly man, who lived in antediluvian times among a race gone godless, and whom the lord in judgment removed from the earth to return himself by-and-by with a flood in order to clear the world of the ungodly. enoch, the book of, an apocryphal book, quoted from by jude, discovered over a century ago, composed presumably about the nd century, though subsequently enlarged and ascribed to enoch; it professes to be a series of revelations made to the patriarch bearing upon the secrets of the material and spiritual universe and the course of providence, and written down by him for the benefit of posterity. enoch arden, a poem of tennyson, and one of his happiest efforts to translate an incident of common life into the domain of poetry; the story is: a sailor, presumed to be lost, and whose wife marries another, returns, finds her happily wedded, and bears the sorrow rather than disturb her felicity by revealing himself. entablature, a term in classic architecture applied to the ornamented portion of a building which rests in horizontal position upon supporting columns; is subdivided into three parts, the lower portion being called the _architrave_, the middle portion the _frieze_, and the uppermost the _cornice_; the depth assigned to these parts varies in the different schools, but the whole entablature generally measures twice the diameter of the column. entail, a term in law which came to be used in connection with the practice of limiting the inheritance of estates to a certain restricted line of heirs. attempts of the kind, which arise naturally out of the deeply-seated desire which men have to preserve property--especially landed estates--in their own families, are of ancient date; but the system as understood now, involving the principle of primogeniture, owes its origin to the feudal system. sometimes the succession was limited to the male issue, but this was by no means an invariable practice; in modern times the system has been, by a succession of acts of parliaments (notably the cairns act of ), greatly modified, and greater powers given to the actual owner of alienating the estates to which he has succeeded, a process which is called "breaking the entail." entsagen, the renunciation with which, according to goethe, life, strictly speaking, begins, briefly explained by froude as "a resolution, fixedly and clearly made, to do without pleasant things--wealth, promotion, fame, honour, and the other rewards with which the world recompenses the services it appreciates," or, still more briefly, the renunciation of the flesh symbolised in the christian baptism by water. environment, a term of extensive use in biological science, especially employed to denote the external conditions which go to determine modifications in the development of organic life to the extent often of producing new species. eolus. see Æolus. eon. see Æon. eon de beaumont, charles d', the "chevalier d'eon," a noted french diplomatist, born at tonnerre, burgundy; notorious as having, while on secret missions, adopted a woman's dress for purposes of disguise; was ambassador at the english court, but degraded and recalled by louis xvi., and condemned to wear feminine garb till the close of his life; died in destitution, when the popular doubt as to his real sex was set at rest ( - ). eos, the goddess of the dawn, the daughter of hyperion, and the sister of helios and selene. see aurora. eÖtvÖs, jozsef, hungarian statesman and author, born at buda; adopted law as a profession, but devoted himself to literature, and eventually politics; minister of public instruction, and then of worship and education; published some powerful dramas and novels, notably "the village notary," a work pronounced equal in many respects to the best of scott's novels; also vigorous political essays ( - ). epact, a name given to the excess of the solar month over the lunar, amounting to day hours minutes and seconds, and of the solar year over the lunar amounting to days. epaminondas, a famous theban statesman and soldier, defeated sparta in the great victory of leuctra, and during his lifetime raised thebes to a position of dominant power; was slain in the battle of mantinea when again successfully engaging the spartans; blameless in his private life as he was heroic in the field, he figures as the great hero of theban history; born about the close of the th century b.c. epÉe, charles michel, abbÉ de l', a noted philanthropist, born at versailles; took holy orders, but was divested of them on account of jansenist views; devoted his life to the instruction of deaf-mutes, for whom he founded an institute, and invented a language of signs ( - ). epeius, the contriver of the wooden horse, by means of which the greeks entered and took possession of troy, and who was assisted by athena in the building of it. Épernay ( ), a french town on the marne, m. nw. of châlons; the chief emporium of the champagne district. ephesians, the epistle to, a presumably circular letter of st. paul to the church at ephesus, among other churches in the east, written to show that the gentile had a standing in christ as well as the jew, and that it was agreeable to the eternal purpose of god that the two should form one body in him; it contains paul's doctrine of the church, and appears to have been written during his first imprisonment in rome ( - ); it appears from the spirit that breathes in it and the similar thoughts and exhortations, contained to have been written at the same time as the epistle to the colossians. ephialtes, one of the giants who revolted against zeus and threatened to storm heaven; he appears to have been maimed by apollo and hercules. ephialtes, a malian greek who led the persians across a pass in the mountains, whereby they were able to surround and overcome leonidas and his spartans at thermopylæ. ephod, a richly and emblematically embroidered vestment worn by the high-priest of the jews, and consisting of two parts, one covering the breast and supporting the breastplate, and the other covering the back, these being clasped to the shoulders by two onyx stones, with names inscribed on them, six on each, of the tribes, and the whole bound round the waist with a girdle of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine-twined linen. eph`ori (i. e. overseers), the name of five magistrates annually elected in ancient sparta from among the people as a countercheck to the authority of the kings and the senate; had originally to see to the execution of justice and the education of youth; their authority, which resembled that of the tribunes in rome, was at last destroyed in b.c. ephraem syrus, the most famous of the church fathers in syria, and called "prophet of the syrians," also "pillar of the church" and "help of the holy ghost," born at nisibis, mesopotamia; lived a hermit's life in a cave near edessa; left exegetical writings, homilies, and poems, and so great was his piety and self-denial, that he was looked upon as a saint, and is still so reverenced in several churches ( - ). ephraim, one of the tribes of israel, the one to which joshua belonged, located in the centre of the land; powerful in the days of the judges, the chief of the tribes that revolted under jeroboam after the death of solomon, and is found often to give name to the whole body of them. epic, a poem that treats of the events in the life of a nation or a race or the founder of one, agreeably to the passion inspiring it and in such form as to kindle and keep alive the heroism thereof in the generations thereafter; or a poem in celebration of the thoughts, feelings, and feats of a whole nation or race; its proper function is to _disimprison_ the soul of the related facts and give a noble rendering of them; of compositions of this kind the "iliad" of homer, the "Æneid" of virgil, and the "divine comedy" of dante take the lead. epic melody, melody in accord with the feeling of the whole race or the subject as a whole. epicharis, a roman lady who conspired against nero and strangled herself rather than reveal her accomplices after undergoing the cruellest tortures. epicharmus, a greek philosopher and poet in the island of cos; studied philosophy under pythagoras; conceived a taste for comedy; gave himself up to that branch of the drama, and received the name of the "father of comedy"; lived eventually at the court of hiero of syracuse ( - b.c.). epictetus, a celebrated stoic philosopher of the st century, originally a slave; lived and taught at rome, but after the expulsion of the philosophers retired to nicopolis, in epirus; was lame, and lived in poverty; his conversations were collected by arrian, and his philosophy in a short manual under the greek name of "enchiridion of epictetus," written, as is alleged, in utter obliviousness of the fact that "the end of man is an action, not a thought." epicureans, a sect of philosophers who derived their name from epicurus, and who divided the empire of philosophy with the stoics (q. v.), at the birth of christ; they held that the chief end of man was happiness, that the business of philosophy was to guide him in the pursuit of it, and that it was only by experience that one could learn what would lead to it and what would not; they scouted the idea of reason as regulative of thought, and conscience as regulative of conduct, and maintained that our senses were our only guides in both; in a word, they denied that god had implanted in man an absolute rational and moral principle, and maintained that he had no other clue to the goal of his being but his experience in life, while the distinction of right and wrong was only a distinction of what was found conducive to happiness and what was not; they had no faith in or fear of a divine being above man any more than of a divine principle within man, and they scorned the idea of another world with its awards, and concerned themselves only with this, which, however, in their hands was no longer a cosmos but a chaos, out of which the quickening and ordinative spirit had fled. epicurus, a greek philosopher, born at samos, of athenian origin; settled at athens in his thirty-sixth year, and founded a philosophical school there, where he taught a philosophy in opposition to that of the stoics; philosophy he defined as "an activity which realises a happy life through ideas and arguments," summing itself up "in ethics, which are to teach us how to attain a life of felicity"; his system comprised "the three branches included in philosophy, viz., logic, physics, and ethics," but he arranges them in reverse order, logic and physics being regarded only as the handmaids of ethics; for he "limited logic to the investigation of the criterion of truth," and physics he valued as disillusioning the mind of "the superstitious fear that went to disturb happiness"; he was a man of a temperate and blameless life, and it is a foul calumny on him to charge him with summing up happiness as mere self-indulgence, though it is true he regarded "virtue as having no value in itself, but only in so far as it offered us something--an agreeable life." epicycle, an expression used in the ptolemaic (q. v.) system of astronomy; the old belief that the celestial bodies moved in perfect circles round the earth was found to be inadequate to explain the varying position of the planets, a difficulty which led ptolemy to invent his theory of epicycles, which was to the effect that each planet revolved round a centre of its own, greater or less, but that all these centres themselves moved in procession round the earth, a theory which fell to pieces before the investigations of kepler and newton. epidaurus, a town of ancient greece, in argolis, on the eastern shore of the peloponnesus; was at one time an independent state and an active centre of trade, but was chiefly noted for its famous temple of Æsculapius, to which people flocked to be cured of their diseases, and which bore the inscription "open only to pure souls"; ruins of a magnificent theatre are still extant here. epidemic, a name given to contagious diseases which, arising suddenly in a community, rapidly spread through its members, often travelling from district to district, until often a whole country is affected; the theory of the transmission of disease by microbes has largely explained the spread of such scourges, but the part which atmospheric and other physical, and perhaps psychic, causes play in these disorders is still matter of debate, especially as regards epidemic mental diseases. see endemic. epigoni (the descendants), the name given to the sons of the seven who perished before thebes; they avenged the death of their fathers by razing thebes to the ground; the war first and last has been made the subject of epic and tragic poems. epigram, in modern usage, is a neat, witty, and pointed utterance briefly couched in verse form, usually satiric, and reserving its sting to the last line; sometimes made the vehicle of a quaintly-turned compliment, as, for example, in pope's couplet to chesterfield, when asked to write something with that nobleman's pencil;-- "accept a miracle; instead of wit, see two dull lines by stanhope's pencil writ." the latin epigrammatists, especially martial and catullus, were the first to give a satirical turn to the epigram, their predecessors the greeks having employed it merely for purposes of epitaph and monumental inscriptions of a laudatory nature. epilepsy, a violent nervous affection, manifesting itself usually in sudden convulsive seizures and unconsciousness, followed by temporary stoppage of the breath and rigidity of the body, popularly known as "falling sickness"; origin as yet undecided; attributed by the ancients to demoniacal possession. epimenides, a philosopher of crete of the th century b.c., of whom it is fabled that he fell asleep in a cave when a boy, and that he did not awake for years, but it was to find himself endowed with all knowledge and wisdom. he was invited to athens during a plague to purify the city, on which occasion he performed certain mysterious rites with the effect that the plague ceased. the story afforded goethe a subject for a drama entitled "das epimenides erwachen," "in which he symbolises his own aloofness from the great cause of the fatherland, the result of want of faith in the miraculous power that resides in an enthusiastic outbreak of patriotic feeling." epimetheus (i. e. afterthought), the brother of prometheus (forethought), who in spite of the warnings of the latter opened pandora's box, and let loose a flood of evils on the earth, which oppress it to this day. epinal ( ), the capital of the dep. of vosges, in france, charmingly situated at the foot of the vosges mountains, on the moselle; is elegantly built, and has ruins of an old castle, surrounded by fine gardens, a th-century church, and a fine library, &c.; a suspension bridge spans the moselle; there is industry in cotton, paper, &c. epinay, madame d', a french writer, unhappily married in her youth; became notorious for her illicit intimacy with rousseau and grimm; her "mémoires et correspondence" give a lively picture of her times ( - ). epiphanius, st., one of the fathers of the greek church; of jewish descent; flourished in the th century; led a monastic life, and founded a monastery in eleutheropolis; was bishop of constantia in ; bigoted and tyrannical, he became notorious for his ecclesiastical zeal, and for his indictments of origen and st. chrysostom; left writings that show great but indiscriminate learning ( - ). epiphany, as observed in the christian church, is a festival held on the th day after christmas, in commemoration of the manifestation of christ to the magi of the east; but up to the close of the th century the festival also commemorated the incarnation of christ as well as the divine manifestation at his baptism. epi`rus, was the nw. portion of ancient hellas, dodona its capital, and acheron one of its rivers; in became part of the ottoman empire, but in a portion was ceded to greece. episcopacy, the name given to the form of church government in which there are superior and inferior orders among the clergy, as between that of bishop and that of a presbyter; called also prelacy. episcopius, simon, a dutch theologian, born at amsterdam; the head of the arminian party after the death of arminius; was unjustly misrepresented, and tyrannically, even cruelly, treated by the opposite party; he was a man of great ability, enlightened views, and admirable temper, and set more store by integrity and purity of character than orthodoxy of belief ( - ). epistolÆ obscurorum virorum (i. e. letters of obscure men), a celebrated collection of latin letters which appeared in the th century in germany, attacking with merciless severity the doctrines and modes of living of the scholastics and monks, credited with hastening the reformation. epitaph, an inscription placed on a tombstone in commemoration of the dead interred below. the natural feeling which prompts such inscriptions has manifested itself among all civilised peoples, and not a little of a nation's character may be read in them. the greeks reserved epitaphs for their heroes, but amongst the romans grew up the modern custom of marking the tombs of relatives with some simple inscription, many of their sepulchres being placed on the side of the public roads, a circumstance which explains the phrase, _siste, viator_--stay, traveller--found in old graveyards. epithalamium, a nuptial song, sung before the bridal chamber in honour of the newly-wedded couple, particularly among the greeks and romans, of whom theocritus and catullus have left notable examples; but the epithalamium of edmund spenser is probably the finest specimen extant of this poetic form. epping forest, as it now exists in the se. of essex, is a remnant-- acres--of the famous epping or waltham forest, which once extended over all essex, and which then served as a royal hunting-ground, is now a favourite pleasure-ground and valuable field for explorations of botanical and entomological collectors. epsom, a market-town in surrey, skirting banstead downs, m. sw. of london; formerly noted for its mineral springs, now associated with the famous derby races. equinoctial points are the two points at which the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic (q. v.), so called because the days and nights are of equal duration when the sun is at these points. equinoxes, the two annually recurring times at which the sun arrives at the equinoctial points (q. v.), viz., st march and nd september, called respectively the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes in the northern hemisphere, but vice versa in the southern; at these times the sun is directly over the equator, and day and night is then of equal length over the whole globe. equites, the, a celebrated equestrian order in ancient rome, supposed to have been instituted by romulus; at first purely military, it was at length invested with the judicial functions of the senate, and the power of farming out the public revenues; gradually lost these privileges and became defunct. erasmus, desiderius, a famous scholar and man of letters, born at rotterdam; illegitimate son of one gerhard; conceived a disgust for monkish life during six years' residence in a monastery at steyn; wandered through europe and amassed stores of learning at various universities; visited oxford in , and formed a lifelong friendship with sir thomas more; was for some years professor of divinity and greek at cambridge; edited the first greek testament; settled finally at basel, whence he exercised a remarkable influence over european thought by the wit and tone of his writings, notably the "praise of folly," the "colloquia" and "adagia"; he has been regarded as the precursor of the reformation; is said to have laid the egg which luther hatched; aided the reformation by his scholarship, though he kept aloof as a scholar from the popular movement of luther ( - ). erastianism, the right of the state to override and overrule the decisions of the church that happen to involve civil penalties. see erastus. erastus, an eminent physician, born at baden, in switzerland, whose fame rests mainly on the attitude he assumed in the theological and ecclesiastical questions of the day; he defended zwingli's view of the eucharist as a merely symbolical ordinance, and denied the right of the church to inflict civil penalties, or to exercise discipline--the power of the keys--that belonging, he maintained, to the province of the civil magistrate and not to the church ( - ). erato (i. e. the lovely), the muse of erotic poetry and elegy, represented with a lyre in her left hand. eratosthenes, surnamed the philologist, a philosopher of alexandria, born at cyrene, b.c.; becoming blind and tired of life, he starved himself to death at the age of ; he ranks high among ancient astronomers; measured the obliquity of the ecliptic, and estimated the size of the earth ( - b.c.). ercilla y zuÑiga, a spanish poet, born at madrid; took part in the war of the spaniards with the araucos in chile, which he celebrated in an epic of no small merit called "la araucana"; he ended his days in poverty ( - ). erdgeist, the spirit of the earth, represented in goethe's "faust" as assiduously weaving, at the time-loom, night and day, in death as well as life, the earthly vesture of the eternal, and thereby revealing the invisible to mortal eyes. erdmann, a german philosopher, born at wolmar, professor at halle; was of the school of hegel, an authority on the history of philosophy ( - ). erebus, a region of utter darkness in the depths of hades, into which no mortal ever penetrated, the proper abode of pluto and his queen with their train of attendants, such as the erinnyes, through which the spirits of the dead must pass on their way to hades; equivalent to the valley of the shadow of death. erectheus or erichthonius, the mythical first king of athens; favoured and protected from infancy by athena, to whom accordingly he dedicated the city; he was buried in the temple of athena, and worshipped afterwards as a god; it is fabled of him that when an infant he was committed by athena in a chest to the care of agraulos and herse, under a strict charge not to pry into it; they could not restrain their curiosity, opened the chest, saw the child entwined with serpents, were seized with madness, and threw themselves down from the height of the acropolis to perish at the foot. erfurt ( ), a town in saxony, on the gera, m. w. of weimar, formerly capital of thüringia, and has many interesting buildings, amongst the number the th-century gothic cathedral with its great bell, weighing ½ tons, and cast in ; the monastery of st. augustine (changed into an orphanage in ), in which luther was a monk; the academy of sciences, and the library with , vols. and mss.; various textile factories flourish. ergot, a diseased state of grasses, &c., but a disease chiefly attacking rye, produced by a fungus developing on the seeds; the drug "ergot of rye" is obtained from a species of this fungus. eric, the name of several of the kings of denmark, and sweden, and norway, the most notorious being the son of the noble swedish king gustavus vasa (q. v.), who aspired to the hand of elizabeth of england and challenged his rival leicester to a duel; afterwards sought mary of scotland, but eventually married a peasant girl who had nursed him out of madness brought on by dissipation; was deposed after a state trial instigated by his own brothers, and ultimately poisoned himself in prison eight years later ( - ). eric the red, a norwegian chief who discovered greenland in the th century, and sent out expeditions to the coast of north america. ericsson, john, a distinguished swedish engineer, born at langbanshyttan; went to england in and to united states of america in , where he died; invented the screw propeller of steamships; built warships for the american navy, and amongst them the famous _monitor_; his numerous inventions mark a new era in naval and steamship construction ( - ). erie, lake, the fourth in size among the giant lakes of north america, lies between lakes huron and ontario, on the canadian border, is m. long and varies from to m. in breadth; is very shallow, and difficult to navigate; ice-bound from december till about april. erigena, johannes scotus, a rationalistic mystic, the most distinguished scholar and thinker of the th century, of irish birth; taught at the court of charles the bald in france, and was summoned by alfred to oxford in ; died abbot of malmesbury; held that "damnation was simply the consciousness of having failed to fulfil the divine purpose"; he derived all authority from reason, and not reason from authority, maintaining that authority unfounded on reason was of no value; _d_. . erin, the ancient celtic name of ireland, used still in poetry. erinna, a greek poetess, the friend of sappho, died at ; wrote epic poetry, all but a few lines of which has perished; born about b.c. erinnyes, the (i. e. the roused-to-anger, in latin, the furies), the greek goddesses of vengeance, were the daughters of gaia, begotten of the blood of the wounded uranus, and at length reckoned three in number, alecto, tisiphone, and megara; they were conceived of as haunting the wicked on earth and scourging them in hell; they were of the court of pluto, and the executioners of his wrath. eris, the greek goddess of strife or discord, sowing the seeds thereof among the gods to begin with, which she has since continued to do among men. erivan ( ), a fortified town in transcaucasia, situated m. ne. of mount ararat on an elevated plateau; was ceded to russia in by persia. erlangen ( ), a bavarian town on the regnitz, has a celebrated protestant university, founded by wilhelmina, sister of frederick the great, who was the electress; was a place of refuge for the huguenots in ; manufactures in gloves, mirrors, and tobacco are carried on, and brewing. erlau ( ), an ecclesiastical city of hungary, on the erlau, m. ne. of pesth; is the seat of an archbishop; has a fine cruciform cathedral, built since , several monasteries, a lyceum with a large library and an observatory; is noted for its red wine. erl-king, a norse impersonation of the spirit of superstitious fear which haunts and kills us even in the guardian embrace of paternal affection. erminia, a syrian, the heroine of tasso's "jerusalem delivered," in love with the christian prince tancred. ernesti, johann august, a celebrated german classicist and theologian, called the "german cicero," born at tennstädt, thüringia; professor of philology in leipzig, and afterwards of theology; edited various classical works, his edition of cicero specially noted; was the first to apply impartial textual criticism to the bible, and to him, in consequence, we owe the application of a more correct exegesis to the biblical writings ( - ). ernst, elector of saxony, founder of the ernestine line of saxon princes, ancestor of prince consort, born at altenburg; was kidnapped along with his brother albert in , an episode famous in german history as the "prinzenraub" (i. e. the stealing of the prince); succeeded his father in ; annexed thüringia in , and three years later shared his territory with his brother albert ( - ). ernst i., duke of saxe-gotha and altenburg; served in the thirty years' war under gustavus adolphus, and shared in the victory of lützen; was an able and wise ruler, and gained for himself the surname of "the pious" ( - ). eros (in latin, cupido), the greek god of love, the son of aphrodité, and the youngest of the gods, though he figures in the cosmogony as one of the oldest of the gods, and as the uniting power in the life of the gods and the life of the universe, was represented at last as a wanton boy from whose wiles neither gods nor men were safe. erostratus, an obscure ephesian, who, to immortalise his name, set fire to the temple of ephesus on the night, as it happened, when alexander the great was born; the ephesians thought to defeat his purpose by making it death to any one who named his name, but in vain, the decree itself giving wider and wider publicity to the act. erpenius (thomas van erpen), arabic scholar, born at gorkum, in holland; after completing his studies at leyden and paris, became professor of oriental languages there; famed for his arabic grammar and rudiments, which served as text-books for upwards of years ( - ). ersch, johann samuel, a bibliographer, born at grossglogau; after a college career at halle devoted himself to journalism, and in became librarian of the university of jena; subsequently filled the chair of geography and statistics at halle; his "handbook of german literature" marks the beginning of german bibliography; began in , along with gruber, the publication of an encyclopædia which is still unfinished ( - ). erskine, ebenezer, founder of the secession church of scotland, born at chirnside, berwickshire; minister at portmoak for years; took part in the patronage dispute, and was deposed ( ), when he formed a church at gairney bridge, near kinross, the nucleus of the secession church ( - ). erskine, henry, a famous scotch lawyer, second son of the earl of buchan, born at edinburgh; called to the bar and became lord advocate; a whig in politics; brought about useful legal reforms; noted as a brilliant wit and orator ( - ). erskine, john, a scottish jurist; called to the bar in ; became professor of scots law in edinburgh university in , resigned ; author of two important works on scots law, "the institutes" and "principles" ( - ). erskine, john, d.d., son of the preceding; a celebrated scotch preacher and author of various essays and pamphlets; a prominent leader on the evangelical side in the general assemblies; was minister of the old greyfriars, edinburgh, and the colleague of principal robertson; is remembered for a retort in the pulpit and for another in the general assembly; the former was to a remark of his colleague, principal robertson, "if perfect virtue were to appear on earth we would adore it." ... "perfect virtue did appear on earth and we crucified it"; and that other in the general assembly was "rax (reach) me that bible," as certain moderates in the court began derisively to scoff at the proposal to send missions to the heathen ( - ). erskine, john, of dun, a scotch reformer, supported knox and wishart; was several times moderator of the general assembly, and assisted in the formation of "the second book of discipline" ( - ). erskine, ralph, a scotch divine, brother of ebenezer (q. v.), with whom he co-operated in founding the secession church; his sermons and religious poems, called "gospel sonnets," were widely read; one of the first of the scotch seceders, strange to contemplate, "a long, soft, poke-shaped face, with busy anxious black eyes, looking as if he could not help it; and then such a character and form of human existence, conscience living to the finger ends of him, in a strange, venerable, though highly questionable manner ... his formulas casing him all round like the shell of a beetle"; his fame rests chiefly on his "gospel sonnets," much appreciated at one time ( - ). erskine, thomas, lord, a famous lawyer, youngest son of the earl of buchan, born in edinburgh; spent his early years in the navy, and afterwards joined the army; resigned in to enter upon the study of law; called to the bar in ; a king's counsel in ; created a baron and lord chancellor in ; was engaged in all the famous trials of his time; an unrivalled orator in the law courts; his speeches rank as masterpieces of forensic eloquence ( - ). erskine, thomas, of linlathen, member of the scottish bar, but devoted in an intensely human spirit to theological interests, "one of the gentlest, kindliest, best bred of men," says carlyle, who was greatly attached to him; "i like him," he says, "as one would do a draught of sweet rustic mead served in cut glasses and a silver tray ... talks greatly of symbols, seems not disinclined to let the christian religion pass for a kind of mythus, provided one can retain the spirit of it"; he wrote a book, much prized at one time, on the "internal evidences of revealed religion," also on faith; besides being the constant friend of carlyle, he corresponded on intimate terms with such men as maurice and dean stanley ( - ). erwin, a german architect, born at steinbach, baden; the builder of the western façade of the cathedral of strasburg ( - ). erymanthus, a mountain in arcadia that was the haunt of the boar killed by hercules. erysipelas, known popularly as st. anthony's fire and rose, a febrile disease, manifesting itself in acute inflammation of the skin, which becomes vividly scarlet and ultimately peels; confined chiefly to the head; is contagious, and recurrent. erythema, a medical term used loosely to designate a diseased condition of the skin; characterised by a scarlet or dark-red rash or eruption, distinct from erysipelas. erythrea ( ), a colony belonging to italy, extending from cape kasar m. along the western shore of the red sea to a point in the strait of bab-el-mandeb; massowah the capital. erythrean sea, a name of the red sea. erzerum ( ), a city in turkish armenia, capital of the province of the same name, m. se. of trebizond; situated on a fertile plain ft. above sea-level; is an important entrepôt for commerce between europe and asia; is irregularly built, but contains imposing ruins; has a fortress, and in the suburbs a number of mosques and bazaars; is famed for its iron and copper ware; fell into the hands of the turks in ; figured as a military centre in many turkish wars; was reduced by the russians in ; was a scene of armenian massacres by the turks in . erzgebirge, a range of mountains lying between saxony and bohemia; the highest peak is the keilberg, ft.; is rich in various metallic ores, especially silver and lead. eryx, an ancient town in the nw. of sicily, at the foot of a mountain of the same name, with a temple to venus, who was hence called erycina. esau, the eldest son of isaac, who sold his birthright to jacob for a mess of lentils; led a predatory life, and was the forefather of the edomites. eschatology, the department of theology which treats of the so-called last things, such as death, the intermediate state, the millennium, the return of christ, the resurrection, the judgment, and the end of the world. eschenbach, wolfram von, a famous minnesinger, born at eschenbach, in bavaria, at about the close of the th century; was of good birth, and lived some time at the thuringian court; enjoyed a wide reputation in his time as a poet; of his poems the epic "parzival" is the most celebrated, and records the history of the "grail." escher, johann heinrich alfred. swiss statesman, born at zurich; bred for the law, and lectured for a while in his native town; became president of the council of zurich; co-operated with farrer in expelling the jesuits; became member of the diet; supported federal union, and did much to promote and establish state education in switzerland; _b_. . eschines. see Æschines; as also esculapius, eschylus, esop, &c., under Æ. escobar, mendoza antonio, a spanish jesuit and casuist, born at valladolid, a preacher and voluminous writer ( - ). escurial, a huge granite pile, built in the form of a gridiron, m. nw. from madrid, and deemed at one time the eighth wonder of the world; was built in - ; was originally dedicated as a monastery to st. lorenzo in recognition of the services which the saint had rendered to philip ii. at the battle of st. quentin, and used at length as a palace and burial-place of kings. it is a mere shadow of what it was, and is preserved from ruin by occasional grants of money to keep it in repair. esdraËlon, a flat and fertile valley in galilee, called also the valley of jezreel, which, with a maximum breadth of m., extends in a nw. direction from the jordan at bathshean to the bay of acre. esdras, the name of two books of the apocrypha, the first, written nd century b.c., containing the history of the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of its cultus, with a discussion on the strangest of all things, ending in assigning the palm to truth; and the second, written between and b.c., a forecast of the deliverance of the jews from oppression and the establishment of the messianic kingdom. esk, the name of several scottish streams: ( ) in dumfriesshire, the esk of young lochinvar, has a course of m. after its formation by the junction of the north and south esks, and flows into the solway; ( ) in edinburgh, formed by the junction of the north and south esks, joins the firth of forth at musselburgh; ( ) in forfarshire, the south esk discharges into the north sea at montrose, and the north esk also flows into the north sea m. n. of montrose. eskimo or esquimaux, an aboriginal people of the mongolian or american indian stock, in all not amounting to , , thinly scattered along the northern seaboard of america and asia and in many of the arctic islands; their physique, mode of living, religion, and language are of peculiar ethnological interest; they are divided into tribes, each having its own territory, and these tribes in turn are subdivided into small communities, over each of which a chief presides; the social organisation is a simple tribal communism; christianity has been introduced amongst the eskimo of south alaska and in the greater part of labrador; in other parts the old religion still obtains, called shamanism, a kind of fetish worship; much of their folk-lore has been gathered and printed; fishing and seal-hunting are their chief employments; they are of good physique, but deplorably unclean in their habits; their name is supposed to be an indian derivative signifying "eaters of raw meat." eskimo dog, a dog found among the eskimo, about the size of a pointer, hair thick, and of a dark grey or black and white; half tamed, but strong and sagacious; invaluable for sledging. esmond, henry, the title of one of thackeray's novels, deemed by the most competent critics his best, and the name of its hero, a chivalrous cavalier of the time of queen anne. "esmond" is pronounced by prof. saintsbury to be "among the very summits of english prose fiction, exquisitely written in a marvellous resurrection of eighteenth-century style, touched somehow with a strange modernity and life which make it no _pastiche_, containing the most brilliant passages of mere incident, and, above all, enshrining such studies of character ... as not four other makers of english prose and verse can show." esnÉ, a town in upper egypt, on the left bank of the nile, and m. s. of thebes; famous for the ruins of a temple. esoteric, a term used to denote teaching intended only for the initiated, and intelligible only to them. espartero, a celebrated spanish general and statesman, born at granatula; supported, against the carlist faction, the claims of isabella to the throne of spain; was for his services made duke of vittoria, and in elected regent; compelled to abdicate, he fled to england, but afterwards returned for a time to the head of affairs; an able man, but wanting in the requisite astuteness and tact for such a post ( - ). espinasse, clare franÇoise, a wit and beauty, born at lyons, illegitimate child of the countess d'albon; went to paris as companion to madame du deffand, with whom she quarrelled; set up a salon of her own, and became celebrated for her many attractions; d'alembert was devoted to her; many of her letters to her lovers, the marquis de mora and m. de guilbert in particular, have been published, and display a charming personality ( - ). espinel, vincent de, a spanish poet and musician, born at ronda, granada; first a soldier and then a priest, the friend of lope de vega, and author of a work which le sage made free use of in writing "gil blas"; was an expert musician; played on the guitar, and added a fifth string ( - ). espiritu santo, ( ) a small and swampy maritime province of brazil ( ), lying on the n. border of rio de janeiro; does some trade in timber, cotton, coffee, and sugar; victoria is the capital; ( ) a town ( ) in central cuba; ( ) the largest of the new hebrides (q. v.) ( ); the climate is unhealthy, but the soil fertile. esprit des lois (i. e. the spirit of laws), the title of montesquieu's great work, at once speculative and historical, published in , characterised in "sartor" as the work, like many others, of "a clever infant spelling letters from a hieroglyphic book the lexicon of which lies in eternity, in heaven." espy, james pollard, a meteorologist, born in pennsylvania; did notable work in investigating the causes of storms, and in published "the philosophy of storms"; was appointed to the washington observatory, where he carried on experiments in the cooling of gases and atmospheric expansion ( - ). esquire, originally meant a shield-bearer, and was bestowed upon the two attendants of a knight, who were distinguished by silver spurs, and whose especial duty it was to look after their master's armour; now used widely as a courtesy title. esquiros, henry alphonse, poet and physician, born at paris; his early writings, poems and romances, are socialistic in bias; member of the legislative assembly in ; retired to england after the _coup d'état_; returned to france and rose to be a member of the senate ( ); wrote three works descriptive of the social and religious life of england ( - ). essen ( ), a town in the rhine province of prussia, m. ne. of düsseldorf, the seat of the famous "krupp" steel-works. essenes, a religious communistic fraternity, never very numerous, that grew up on the soil of judea about the time of the maccabees, and had establishments in judea when christ was on earth, as well as afterwards in the time of josephus; they led an ascetic life, practised the utmost ceremonial cleanness, were rigorous in their observance of the jewish law, and differed from the pharisees in that they gave to the pharisaic spirit a monastic expression; they represented judaism in its purest essence, and in the spirit of their teaching came nearer christianity than any other sect of the time; "essenism," says schürer, "is first and mainly of jewish formation, and in its non-jewish features it had most affinity with the pythagorean tendency of the greeks." essequibo, an important river in british guiana, m. long, rises in the sierra acaray, navigable for m. to small craft, flows northward into the atlantic. essex ( ), a county in the se. of england, between suffolk on the n. and kent in the s., faces the german ocean on the e.; is well watered with streams; has an undulating surface; is chiefly agricultural; brewing is an important industry, and the oyster fisheries of the colne are noted; chelmsford is the county town. essex, robert devereux, earl of, a favourite of queen elizabeth, born at netherwood, hereford; served in the netherlands under leicester, his stepfather; won the capricious fancy of elizabeth; lost favour by marrying clandestinely the widow of sir philip sidney, but was restored, and led a life of varying fortune, filling various important offices, till his final quarrel with the queen and execution ( - ). essex, robert devereux, earl of, son of preceding; commander of the parliamentary forces against charles i.; the title died with him, but was conferred again upon the present family in ( - ). essling, a village near vienna, where the french gained a bloody victory over the austrians in , and which gave the title of prince to masséna. esslingen ( ), an old historic and important manufacturing town in würtemberg, on the neckar, m. se. of stuttgart; has a citadel and the liebfrauen church, which is a fine gothic structure with a spire ft.; is a noted hardware centre, and celebrated for its machinery; a good trade is done in textiles, fruit, and sparkling champagne. estaing, comte d', a french admiral, "one of the bravest of men," fought against the english in the indies and in america; winced as a royalist at the outbreak of the french revolution; his loyalty to royalty outweighed, it was thought, his loyalty to his country, and he was guillotined ( - ). este, an ancient and illustrious italian family from which, by an offshoot founded by welf iv., who became duke of bavaria in the th century, the guelph houses of brunswick and hanover, also called the este-guelphs, trace their descent. of the italian branch the most noted descendant was alphonso i., a distinguished soldier and statesman and patron of art, whose second wife was the famous lucrezia borgia. his son, alphonso ii., is remembered for his cruel treatment of tasso, placing him in prison for seven years as a madman who dared to make love to one of the princesses. este ( ), an italian town, m. sw. of padua, on the s. side of the euganean hills; has a castle and church with a leaning campanile. esterhazy, the town of a noble austrian family of ancient date, and that gave birth to a number of illustrious men. esterhazy de galantha, the name of a powerful and famous hungarian family holding the rank of princes of the empire since the th century. their estates include upwards of villages, market-towns, many castles and lordships, but they are heavily mortgaged. esther, the book of, a book of the old testament, which takes its name from the chief figure in the story related, an orphan jewess and ward of her cousin mordecai, who, from her beauty, was chosen into the royal harem and raised to be consort to the king. it is read through in the jewish synagogues at the feast of purim (q. v.). it is observed that the name of god does not occur once in the book, but the story implies the presence of an overruling providence, responding to the cry of his oppressed ones for help. esthonia ( ), one of the russian baltic provinces, has a northern foreshore on the gulf of finland, and on the w. abuts on the baltic; what of the country that is free from forest and marsh is chiefly agricultural, but fishing is also an important industry; the people are a composite of finns and immigrant germans, with latterly russians superimposed. estienne, the name of a family of french painters. see stephens. est-il-possible? the name given by james ii. to prince george of denmark, the husband of princess anne, from his invariable exclamation on hearing how one after another had deserted the stuart cause; he ended with deserting it himself. estrades, count d', a french diplomatist ( - ). estremadura ( , ), a coast province of portugal, between beira and alemtejo, watered by the tagus; richly fertile in many parts, but sparely cultivated; silk is an important industry, and an increasing; lisbon is the chief city, and with setubal monopolises the trade; salt, fruits, wine, and oil are exported; also name of a district in spain between portugal and new castile, now divided into the provinces of badajoz and cácéres. etÉocles, a son of oedipus, king of thebes, agreed on the banishment of his father to govern the state alternately with his brother polynices, but failing to keep his engagement, the latter appealed to his guardian, out of which there arose the war of the seven against thebes, which ended in the slaughter of the whole seven, upon which the brothers thought to end the strife in single combat, when each fell by the sword of the other. eternal city, ancient rome in the esteem of its inhabitants, in accordance with the promise, as virgil feigns, of jupiter to venus, the goddess-mother of the race. eternities, the conflux of, carlyle's expressive phrase for time, as in every moment of it a centre in which all the forces to and from eternity meet and unite, so that by no past and no future can we be brought nearer to eternity than where we at any moment of time are; the present time, the youngest born of eternity, being the child and heir of all the past times with their good and evil, and the parent of all the future, the import of which (see matt. xvi. ) it is accordingly the first and most sacred duty of every successive age, and especially the leaders of it, to know and lay to heart as the only link by which eternity lays hold of it and it of eternity. ethelbert, a king of kent, in whose reign christianity was introduced by st. augustin and a band of missionaries in ; drew up the first saxon law code ( - ). etheldreda, a saxon princess, whose name, shortened into st. audrey, was given to a certain kind of lace, whence "tawdry"; she took refuge from the married state in the monastery of st. abb's head, and afterwards founded a monastery in the isle of ely ( - ). ethelred i., king of saxon england ( - ), predecessor and brother of alfred; his reign was a long and unsuccessful struggle with the danes. ethelred ii., the unready, a worthless king of saxon england ( - ), married emma, daughter of richard, duke of normandy, a step which led in the end to the claim which issued in the norman conquest ( - ). ether, a volatic liquid prepared from the distillation of alcohol and sulphuric acid at high temperature; is colourless, and emits a sweet, penetrating odour; is highly combustible; a useful solvent, and an important anæsthetic. ether, a subtle element presumed to pervade all interstellar space, vibrations in which are assumed to account for the transmission of light and all radiant energy. etheredge, sir george, the originator of the kind of comedy "containing a vein of lively humour and witty dialogue which were afterwards displayed by congreve and farquhar"; has been called the "founder of the comedy of intrigue"; he was the author of three clever plays, entitled "love in a tub," "she would if she could," and "sir fopling flutter" ( - ). ethics, the science which treats of the distinction between right and wrong and of the moral sense by which they are discriminated. ethics of dust, the, "a book by ruskin about crystallography, but it twists symbolically in the strangest way all its geology into morality, theology, egyptian mythology, with fiery cuts at political economy, pretending not to know whether the forces and destinies and behaviour of crystals are not very like those of a man." ethiopia, a term loosely used in ancient times to indicate the territory inhabited by black or dark-coloured people; latterly applied to an undefined tract of land stretching s. of egypt to the gulf of aden, which constituted the kingdom of the ethiopians, a people of semitic origin and speaking a semitic language called ge'ez, who were successively conquered by the egyptians, persians, and romans; are known in the bible; their first king is supposed to have been menilehek, son of solomon and the queen of sheba; their literature consists mostly of translations and collections of saws and riddles; the language is no longer spoken. ethnology, a science which treats of the human race as grouped in tribes or nations, but limits itself to tracing the origin and distribution of races, and investigating the physical and mental peculiarities and differences exhibited by men over all parts of the globe; the chief problem of the science is to decide between the monogenous and polygenous theories of the origin of the race, and investigation inclines to favour the former view. the polygenous argument, based on the diversity of languages, has been discarded, as, if valid, necessitating about a thousand different origins, while the monogenous position is strengthened by the ascertained facts that the different racial groups are fruitful amongst themselves, and present points of mental and physical similarity which accord well with this theory. ethnologists now divide the human race into three main groups: the _ethiopian or negro_, the _mongolic or yellow_, and the _caucasic or white_. Étienne, st., ( ), an important french town, capital of the dep. of the loire, on the furens, m. sw. of lyons; chief seat of the iron-works of france; also has noted ribbon factories. etive, a sea-loch in argyllshire, scotland, is an inland extension of the firth of lorne, about m. in length, and varying in breadth from to ¼ m.; the mountain scenery along the shores grandly picturesque; the river which bears the same name rises in rannoch moor, and joins the loch after a sw. course of m.; both loch and river afford salmon-fishing. etna, a volcanic mountain on the e. coast of sicily, , ft. high; a striking feature is the immense ravine, the val del bove, splitting the eastern side of the mountain, and about m. in diameter; on the flanks are many smaller cones. etna is celebrated for its many and destructive eruptions; was active in ; its observatory, built in , at an elevation of ft. above sea-level, is the highest inhabited dwelling in europe. eton, a town in buckinghamshire, on the thames, m. sw. of london; celebrated for its public school, eton college, founded in by henry vi., which has now upwards of scholars. Être suprÊme, the supreme being agreeably to the hollow and vacant conception of the boasted, beggarly th-century enlightenment of revolutionary france. etruria, the ancient roman name of a region in italy, w. of the apennines from the tiber to the macra in the n.; inhabited by the etruscans, a primitive people of italy; at one time united in a confederation of twelve states; gradually absorbed by the growing roman power, and who were famous for their artistic work in iron and bronze. many of the etruscan cities contain interesting remains of their early civilised state; but their entire literature, supposed to have been extensive, has perished, and their language is only known through monumental inscriptions. their religion was polytheistic, but embraced a belief in a future life. there is abundant evidence that they had attained to a high degree of civilisation; the status of women was high, the wife ranking with the husband; their buildings still extant attest their skill as engineers and builders; vases, mirrors, and coins of fine workmanship have been found in their tombs, and jewellery which is scarcely rivalled; while the tombs themselves are remarkable for their furnishings of chairs, ornaments, decorations, &c., showing that they regarded these sanctuaries more as dwellings of departed spirits than as sepulchres of the dead. ettmÜller, ernst moritz ludwig, a german philologist, born at gerfsdorf, saxony, professor of german literature in zurich in ; did notable work in connection with anglo-saxon and in middle german dialects ( - ). ettrick, a scottish river that rises in selkirkshire and joins the tweed, m. below selkirk; the yarrow is its chief tributary; a forest of the same name once spread over all selkirkshire and into the adjoining counties; the district is associated with some of the finest ballad and pastoral poetry of scotland. ettrick shepherd, james hogg (q. v.). etty, william, a celebrated painter, born at york; rose from being a printer's apprentice to the position of a royal academician; considered by ruskin to have wasted his great powers as a colourist on inadequate and hackneyed subjects ( - ). euboea ( ), the largest of the grecian isles, skirts the mainland on the se., to which it is connected by a bridge spanning the talanta channel, yards broad; it is about m. in length; has fine quarries of marble, and mines of iron and copper are found in the mountains; chalcis is the chief town. euclid of alexandria, a famous geometrican, whose book of "elements," revised and improved, still holds its place as an english school-book, although superseded as such in america and the continent; founded a school of mathematics in alexandria; flourished about b.c. euclid of megara, a greek philosopher, a disciple of socrates, was influenced by the eleatics (q. v.); founded the megaric school of philosophy, whose chief tenet is that the "good," or that which is one with itself, alone is the only real existence. eudÆmonism, the doctrine that the production of happiness is the aim and measure of virtue. eudocia, the ill-fated daughter of an athenian sophist, wife of theodosius ii., embraced christianity, her name athenais previously; was banished by her husband on an ill-founded charge of infidelity, and spent the closing years of her life in jerusalem, where she became a convert to the views of eutyches (q. v.) ( - ). eudoxus of cnidus, a grecian astronomer, was a pupil of plato, and afterwards studied in egypt; said to have introduced a ½ day year into greece; flourished in the th century b.c. eugene, franÇois, prince of savoy, a renowned general, born at paris, and related by his mother to cardinal mazarin; he renounced his native land, and entered the service of the austrian emperor leopold; first gained distinction against the turks, whose power in hungary he crushed in the great victory of pieterwardein ( ); co-operated with marlborough in the war of the spanish succession, and shared the glories of his great victories, and again opposed the french in the cause of poland ( - ). eugÉnie, ex-empress of the french, born at granada, second daughter of count manuel fernandez of montigos and marie manuela kirkpatrick of closeburn, dumfriesshire; married to napoleon iii. in ; had to leave france in , and has since january lived as his widow at chiselhurst, kent; _b_. . eugenius, the name of four popes. e., st., i., pope from to (festival, august ); e. ii., pope from to ; e. iii., pope from to ; e. iv., pope from to . eugenius iv., pope, born at venice; his pontificate was marked by a schism created by proceedings in the council of basel towards the reform of the church and the limitation of the papal authority, the issue of which was that he excommunicated the council and the council deposed him; he had an unhappy time of it, and in his old age regretted he had ever left his monastery to assume the papal crown. eugubine tables, seven bronze tablets discovered in near eugubium, in italy, containing inscriptions which supply a key to the original tongues of italy prior to latin. euhemerism, the theory that the gods of antiquity are merely deified men, so called from euhemeros, the greek who first propounded the theory, and who lived b.c. eulenspiegel (i. e. owl-glass), the hero of a popular german tale, which relates no end of pranks, fortunes, and misfortunes of a wandering mechanic born in a village in brunswick; buried in at mölln, in lauenburg, where they still show his tombstone sculptured with an owl and a glass. euler, leonhard, a celebrated mathematician, born at basel; professor in st. petersburg successively of physics and mathematics; came to reside in berlin in at the express invitation of frederick the great; returned to st. petersburg in , where he died; besides many works issued in his lifetime, he left mss., which were published after his death ( - ). eumenides (i. e. the well-meaning), a name given to the erinnyes (q. v.) or furies, from a wholesome and prudent dread of calling them by their true name. eumolpus, the founder of the eleusinian mysteries, alleged to have been a priest of demeter or ceres. eunomians, an ultra-arian sect of the th century, which soon dwindled away after breaking from the orthodox church; called after eunomius (q. v.). eunomius, an arian divine, born in cappadocia; head of a sect who maintained that the father alone was god, that the son was generated from him, and the spirit from the son; was bishop of cyzicum, a post he by-and-by resigned; _d_. . eupatoria ( ), a russian town on the crimean coast, in the government of taurida, m. nw. of simferopol; has a fine tartar mosque, and does a large export trade in hides and cereals; during the crimean war was an important military centre of the allies. euphemism, is in speech or writing the avoiding of an unpleasant or indelicate word or expression by the use of one which is less direct, and which calls up a less disagreeable image in the mind. thus for "he died" is substituted "he fell asleep," or "he is gathered to his fathers"; thus the greeks called the "furies" the "eumenides," "the benign goddesses," just as country people used to call elves and fairies "the good folk neighbours." euphrates, a river in west asia, formed by the junction of two armenian streams; flows se. to kurnah, where it is joined by the tigris. the combined waters--named the shat-el-arab--flow into the persian gulf; is m. long, and navigable for m. euphrosyne, the cheerful one, or life in the exuberance of joy, one of the three graces. see graces. euphuism, an affected bombastic style of language, so called from "euphues," a work of sir john lyly's written in that style. eure ( ), a dep. of france, in normandy, so called from the river eure which traverses it. eure-et-loir ( ), a dep. of france lying directly s. of the preceding; chief rivers the eure in the n. and the loir in the s. eureka (i. e. i have found it), the exclamation of archimedes on discovering how to test the purity of the gold in the crown of hiero (q. v.); he discovered it, tradition says, when taking a bath. euripides, a famous greek tragic dramatist, born at salamis, of wealthy parents; first trained as an athlete, and then devoted himself to painting, and eventually to poetry; he brought out his first play at the age of , and is reported to have written plays, of which only are extant, besides fragment of others; of these plays the "alcestes," "bacchæ," "iphigenia at aulis," "electra," and "medea" may be mentioned; he won the tragic prize five times; tinged with pessimism, he is nevertheless less severe than his great predecessors sophocles and Æschylus, surpassing them in tenderness and artistic expression, but falling short of them in strength and loftiness of dramatic conception; sophocles, it is said, represented men as they ought to be, and euripides as they are; he has been called the sophist of tragic poets ( - b.c.). europa, a maiden, daughter of agenor, king of phoenicia, whom zeus, disguised as a white bull, carried off to crete, where she became by him the mother of minos, rhadamanthus, and sarpedon (q. v.). europe ( , ), the most important, although the second smallest, of the five great land divisions of the globe; is, from a geographical point of view, a peninsula of asia; the caspian sea, ural river and mountains, form its asiatic boundary, while on the other three sides it is washed by the mediterranean on the s., atlantic on the w., and arctic ocean on the n.; its coast-line is so highly developed that to every sq. m. of surface there is m. of coast; this advantage, combined with the varied adaptability of its land, rivers, and inland seas, and its central position, has made it the centre of civilisation and the theatre of the main events of the world's history. its greatest length is m. from cape st. vincent to the urals, and its greatest breadth m. from cape matapan to nordkyn, while its area is about , , sq. m.; it is singularly free from wild animals, has a fruitful soil richly cultivated, and possesses in supreme abundance the more useful metals. its peoples belong to the two great ethnological divisions, the caucasian and mongolian groups; to the former belong the germanic, romanic, slavonic, and celtic races, and to the latter the finns, magyars, and turks. christianity is professed throughout, except amongst the jews, of whom there are about six millions, and in turkey, where mohammedanism claims about seven millions; of catholics there are about millions, of protestants , and of the greek church . amongst the countries the form of government most prevailing is the hereditary monarchy, resting more and more on a wide representation of the people. eurotas, the classic name of the iri, a river of greece, which flows past sparta and discharges into the gulf of laconia, m. long. eurus, the god of the withering east wind. eurydice. see orpheus. eurystheus, the king of mycenæ, at whose command, as subject to him by fate, hercules was required to perform his labours, on the achievement of which depended his admission to the rank of an immortal. eusebius pamphili, a distinguished early christian writer, born in palestine, bishop of cæsarea in ; headed the moderate arians at the council of nice, who shrank from disputing about a subject so sacred as the nature of the trinity; wrote a history of the world to a.d. ; his "ecclesiastical history" is the first record of the christian church up to ; also wrote a life of constantine, who held him in high favour; many extracts of ancient writers no longer extant are found in the works of eusebius (about - ). eustachio, bartolommeo, an italian physician of the th century; settled at rome, made several anatomical discoveries, among others those of the _tube_ from the middle ear to the mouth, and a _valve_ on the wall of the right auricle of the heart, both called _eustachian_ after him. eustathius, archbishop of thessalonica, a greek commentator of homer, born in constantinople; a man of wide classical learning, and his work on homer of value for the extracts of writings that no longer exist; _d_. . euterpË, the muse of lyric poetry, represented in ancient works of art with a flute in her hand. eutropius, flavius, a roman historian, secretary to the emperor constantine; wrote an epitome of roman history, which from its simplicity and accuracy still retains its position as a school-book; _d_. about . eutyches, a byzantine heresiarch, who, in combating nestorianism (q. v.), fell into the opposite extreme, and maintained that in the incarnation the human nature of christ was absorbed in the divine, a doctrine which was condemned by the council of chalcedon in ( - ). eutychianism. see supra. euxine, a greek name for the black sea (q. v.). evander, an arcadian, who is said to have come from greece with a colony to latium and settled in it years before the trojan war, and with whom Æneas formed an alliance when he landed in italy; he is credited with having introduced the civilising arts of greece. evangelical, a term applied to all those forms of christianity which regard the atonement of christ, or his sacrifice on the cross for sin, as the ground and central principle of the christian faith. evangelical alliance, an alliance of christians of all countries and denominations holding what are called evangelical principles, and founded in . evangelical union, a religious body in scotland which originated in under the leadership of james morison of kilmarnock, and professed a creed which allowed them greater freedom as preachers of the gospel of christ. see morisonianism. evangeline, the heroine of a poem by longfellow of the same name, founded on an incident connected with the expulsion of the natives of acadia from their homes by order of george ii. evangelist, a name given in the early church to one whose office it was to persuade the ignorant and unbelieving into the fold of the church. evans, sir de lacy, an english general, born at moeg, ireland; served in the peninsular war; was present at quatre-bras and waterloo; commanded the british legion sent to assist queen isabella in spain, and the second division of the army in the crimea and the east; was for many years a member of parliament ( - ). evans, mary ann, the real name of george eliot (q. v.). evelyn, john, an english writer, born at wotton, surrey; travelled in france and italy during the civil war, where he devoted much time to gardening and the study of trees; was author of a celebrated work, entitled "sylva; or, a discourse of forest trees," &c.; did much to improve horticulture and introduce exotics into this country; his "memoirs," written as a diary, are full of interest, "is justly famous for the fulness, variety, and fidelity of its records" ( - ). everest, mount, the highest mountain in the world; is one of the himalayan peaks in nepal, india; is , ft. above sea-level. everett, alexander hill, an american diplomatist and author, born at boston; was u.s. ambassador at the hague and madrid, and commissioner to china; wrote on a variety of subjects, including both politics and belles-lettres, and a collection of critical and miscellaneous essays ( - ). everett, edward, american scholar, statesman, and orator, brother of the preceding; was a unitarian preacher of great eloquence; distinguished as a greek scholar and professor; for a time editor of the _north american review_; was a member of congress, and unsuccessful candidate for the vice-presidency of the republic; his reputation rests on his "orations," which are on all subjects, and show great vigour and versatility of genius ( - ). everlasting no, the, carlyle's name for the spirit of unbelief in god, especially as it manifested itself in his own, or rather teufelsdröckh's, warfare against it; the spirit, which, as embodied in the mephistopheles (q. v.) of goethe, is for ever denying,--_der stets verneint_--the reality of the divine in the thoughts, the character, and the life of humanity, and has a malicious pleasure in scoffing at everything high and noble as hollow and void. see sartor resartus. everlasting yea, the, carlyle's name for the spirit of faith in god in an express attitude of clear, resolute, steady, and uncompromising antagonism to the everlasting no, an the principle that there is no such thing as faith in god except in such antagonism, no faith except in such antagonism against the spirit opposed to god. eversley, a village in hampshire, m. ne. of basingstoke; the burial-place of charles kingsley, who for years was rector of the parish. eversley, charles shaw lefevre, viscount, politician; graduated at cambridge; called to the bar; entered parliament, and in became speaker of the house of commons, a post he held with great acceptance for years; retired, and was created a peer ( - ). evil eye, a superstitious belief that certain people have the power of exercising a baneful influence on others, and even animals, by the glance of the eyes. the superstition is of ancient date, and is met with among almost all races, as it is among illiterate people and savages still. it was customary to wear amulets toward the evil off. evolution, the theory that the several species of plants and animals on the globe were not created in their present form, but have all been evolved by modifications of structure from cruder forms under or coincident with change of environment, an idea which is being applied to everything organic in the spiritual as well as the natural world. see darwinian theory. ev`ora, a city of portugal, beautifully situated in a fertile plain m. e. of lisbon, once a strong place, and the seat of an archbishop; it abounds in roman antiquities. evremond, saint, a lively and witty frenchman; got into trouble in france from the unbridled indulgence of his wit, and fled to england, where he became a great favourite at the court of charles ii., and enjoyed himself to the top of his bent; his letters are written in a most graceful style ( - ). evreux ( ), capital of the dep. of eure, on the iton, m. nw. of paris; is an elegant town; has a fine th-century cathedral, an episcopal palace with an old clock tower; interesting ruins have been excavated in the old town; is the seat of a bishop; paper, cotton, and linen are manufactured, and a trade is carried on in cereals, timber, and liqueurs. ewald, georg heinrich august von, a distinguished orientalist and biblical scholar, born at göttingen, and professor both there and at tübingen; his works were numerous, and the principal were "the poetic books of the old testament," "the prophets," and "the history of the people of israel"; he was a student and interpreter of the concrete, and belonged to no party ( - ). ewald, johannes, a danish dramatist and lyrist, born at copenhagen; served as a soldier in the german and austrian armies; studied theology at copenhagen; disappointed in love, he devoted himself to poetical composition; ranks as the founder of danish tragedy, and is the author of some of the finest lyrics in the language ( - ). ewige jude, the everlasting jew, the german name for the wandering jew. excalibur, the magic sword of king arthur, which only he could unsheathe and wield. when he was about to die he requested a knight to throw it into a lake close by, who with some reluctance threw it, when a hand reached out to seize it, flourished it round three times, and then drew it under the water for good. excommunication, an ecclesiastical punishment inflicted upon heretics and offenders against the church laws and violators of the moral code; was formulated in the christian church in the nd and rd centuries. it varied in severity according to the degree of transgression, but in its severest application involved exclusion from the eucharist, christian burial, and the rights and privileges of the church; formerly it had the support of the civil authority, but is now a purely spiritual penalty. exelmans, remy joseph isodore, comte, a distinguished french marshal, born at bar-le-duc; entered the army at ; won distinction in the naples campaign, and for his services at eylau in was made a brigadier-general; was taken prisoner in spain while serving under murat, and sent to england, where he was kept prisoner three years; liberated, took part in napoleon's russian campaign, for his conduct in which he was appointed a general of division; after napoleon's fall lived in exile till ; received honours from louis philippe, and was created a marshal of france by louis napoleon in ( - ). exeter ( ), the capital of devonshire, on the exe, m. sw. of bristol, a quaint old town; contains a celebrated cathedral founded in . exeter hall, a hall in the strand, london; head-quarters of the y.m.c.a.; erected in for holding religious and philanthropic meetings. exmoor, an elevated stretch of vale and moorland in the sw. of somerset, ne. of devonshire; has an area of over sq. m., of which are covered with forest. exmouth ( ), a noted seaside resort on the devonshire coast, at the mouth of the exe, m. se. of exeter; has a fine beach and promenade. exodus (i. e. the going out), the book of the old testament which records the deliverance of the children of israel from egyptian bondage, and the institution of the moral and ceremonial laws for the nation; consists partly of history and partly of legislation. "exodus from houndsditch," the contemplated title of a work which carlyle would fain have written, but found it impossible in his time. "out of houndsditch indeed!" he exclaims. "ah, were we but out, and had our own along with us" (our inheritance from the past, he means). "but they that have come hitherto have come in a state of brutal nakedness, scandalous mutilation" (having cast their inheritance from the past away), "and impartial bystanders say sorrowfully, 'return rather; it is better even to return!'" houndsditch was a jew's quarter, and old clothesmarket in london, and was to carlyle the symbol of the alarming traffic at the time in spiritualities fallen extinct. had he given a list of these, as he has already in part done, without labelling them so, he would only, he believed, have given offence both to the old-rag worshippers and those that had cast the rags off, and were all, unwittingly to themselves, going about naked; considerate he in this of preserving what of worth was in the past. exogens, the name for the order of plants whose stem is formed by successive accretions to the outside of the wood under the bark. exorcism, conjuration by god or christ or some holy name, of some evil spirit to come out of a person; it was performed on a heathen as an idolater, and eventually on a child as born in sin prior to baptism. exoteric, a term applied to teaching which the uninitiated may be expected to comprehend, and which is openly professed, as in a public confession of faith. externality, the name for what is _ab extra_ as apart from what is _ab intra_ in determining the substance as well as form of things, and which in the hegelian philosophy is regarded as working conjointly with the latter. extreme unction, one of the seven sacraments of the catholic church; an anointing of consecrated or holy oil administered by a priest in the form of a cross to a sick person upon the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, and face at the point of death, which is presumed to impart grace and strength against the last struggle. eyck, jan van, a famous flemish painter, born at mass-eyck; was instructed by his eldest brother hubert ( - ), with whom he laboured at bruges and ghent; reputed to have been the first to employ oil colours ( - ). eylau, a small town, m. s. of königsberg, the scene of a great battle between napoleon and the russian and prussian allies in february , ; the fight was interrupted by darkness, under cover of which the allies retreated, having had the worst of it. eyre, edward john, explorer and colonial governor, born in yorkshire; emigrated to australia in ; successfully explored the interior of sw. australia in ; governor of new zealand in , of st. vincent in , and of jamaica in ; recalled in , and prosecuted for harsh treatment of the natives, but was acquitted; his defence was championed by carlyle, ruskin, and kingsley, while j. s. mill supported the prosecution; _b_. . eyre, jane, the heroine of a novel of charlotte brontë's so called, a governess who, in her struggles with adverse fortune, wins the admiration and melts the heart of a man who had lived wholly for the world. ezekiel, a hebrew prophet, born in jerusalem; a man of priestly descent, who was carried captive to babylon b.c., and was banished to tel-abib, on the banks of the chebar, m. from the city, where, with his family about him, he became the prophet of the captivity, and the rallying centre of the dispersion. here he foretold the destruction of jerusalem as a judgment on the nation, and comforted them with the promise of a new jerusalem and a new temple on their repentance, man by man, and their return to the lord. his prophecies arrange themselves in three groups--those denouncing judgment on jerusalem, those denouncing judgment on the heathen, and those announcing the future glory of the nation. ezra, a jewish scribe of priestly rank, and full of zeal for the law of the lord and the restoration of israel; author of a book of the old testament, which records two successive returns of the people from captivity, and embraces a period of years, from to b.c., being a continuation of the book of chronicles, its purpose being to relate the progress of the restored theocracy in judah and jerusalem, particularly as regards the restoration of the temple and the re-institution of the priesthood. f faber, frederick william, a catholic divine and hymn-writer, born at calverley, yorkshire; at oxford he won the newdigate prize in ; for three years was rector of elton, but under the influence of newman joined the church of rome ( ), and after founding a brotherhood of converts at birmingham in , took under his charge a london branch of the oratory of st. philip neri; wrote several meritorious theological works, but his fame chiefly rests on his fine hymns, the "pilgrims of the night" one of the most famous ( - ). faber, george stanley, an anglican divine, born in holland; a voluminous writer on theological subjects and prophecy ( - ). fabian, st., pope from to ; martyred along with st. sebastian during the persecution of decius. fabian society, a middle-class socialist propaganda, founded in , which "aims at the reorganisation of society by the emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual and class ownership, and vesting of them in the community for the general benefit"; has lectureships, and issues "essays" and "tracts"; it watches and seizes its opportunities to achieve socialist results, and hence the name. see fabius quintus ( ). fabii, a family of ancient rome of members, all of whom perished in combat with the veii, b.c., all save one boy left behind in rome, from whom descended subsequent generations of the name. fabius pictor, the oldest annalist of rome; his annals of great value; b.c. fabius quintus, (maximus verrucosus), a renowned roman general, five times consul, twice censor and dictator in b.c.; famous for his cautious generalship against hannibal in the second punic war, harassing to the enemy, which won him the surname of "cunctator" or delayer; _d_. b.c. fabius quintus (rullianus), a noted roman general, five times consul and twice dictator; waged successful war against the samnites in b.c. fabius, the american, general washington, so called from his fabian tactics. see fabius quintus ( ). fable of the bees, a work by mandeville, a fable showing how vice makes some people happy and virtue miserable, conceived as bees. fabliaux, a species of metrical tales of a light and satirical nature in vogue widely in france during the th and th centuries; many of the stories were of oriental origin, but were infused with the french spirit of the times; la fontaine, boccaccio, and chaucer drew freely on them; they are marked by all the vivacity and perspicuity, if also lubricity, of their modern successors in the french novel and comic drama. fabre, jean, a french protestant, celebrated for his filial piety; he took the place of his father in the galleys, who had been condemned to toil in them on account of his religious opinions ( - ). fabre d'eglantine, a french dramatic poet, born at carcassonne; wrote comedies; was a member of the convention and of the committee of public safety, of the extreme party of the revolution; falling under suspicion, was guillotined along with danton ( - ). fabricius, caius, a roman of the old school, distinguished for the simplicity of his manners and his incorruptible integrity; his name has become the synonym for a poor man who in public life deals honourably and does not enrich himself; was consul b.c. fabricius or fabrizio, girolamo, a famous italian anatomist, born at aquapendente; became professor at padua in , where he gained a world-wide reputation as a teacher; harvey declares that he got his first idea of the circulation of the blood from attending his lectures ( - ). fabroni, angelo, a learned italian, born in tuscany; wrote the lives of the illustrious literati of italy in the th and th centuries, and earned for himself the name of the "plutarch" of his country ( - ). facciolati, jacopo, lexicographer, born at torreglia; became a professor of theology and logic at padua; chiefly interested in classical literature; he, in collaboration with an old pupil, egidio forcellini ( - ), began the compilation of a new latin dictionary, which was completed and published two years after his death by his colleague; this work has been the basis of all subsequent lexicons of the latin language ( - ). facial angle, an angle formed by drawing two lines, one horizontally from the nostril to the ear, and the other perpendicularly from the advancing part of the upper jawbone to the most prominent part of the forehead, an angle by which the degree of intelligence and sagacity in the several members of the animal kingdom is by some measured. faËrie queene, the name of an allegorical poem by edmund spenser, in which knights were, in twelve books, to represent as many virtues, described as issuing forth from the castle of gloriana, queen of england, against certain impersonations of the vices and errors of the world. such was the plan of the poem, but only six of the books were finished, and these contain the adventures of only six of the knights, representing severally holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice, and courtesy. faed, john, a scottish artist, son of a millwright, born at barley mill, kirkcudbright; was elected an a.r.s.a. in , and r.s.a. in ; his paintings are chiefly of humble scottish life, the "cottar's saturday night" among others; _b_. . faed, thomas, brother of the preceding, born at barley mill; distinguished himself in his art studies at edinburgh; went to london, where his pictures of scottish life won him a foremost place among those of his contemporaries; was elected r.a. in and honorary member of the vienna royal academy; _b_. . faenza ( ), an old italian cathedral town, m. se. of bologna; noted for its manufacture of majolica ware, known from the name of the town as "faience." fagel, gaspar, a dutch statesman, distinguished for his integrity and the firmness with which he repelled the attempts of louis xiv. against his country, and for his zeal in supporting the claims of the prince of orange to the english throne ( - ). fagot vote, a vote created by the partitioning of a property into as many tenements as will entitle the holders to vote. fahrenheit, gabriel daniel, a celebrated physicist, born at danzig; spent much of his life in england, but finally settled in holland; devoted himself to physical research; is famed for his improvement of the thermometer by substituting quicksilver for spirits of wine and inventing a new scale, the freezing-point being ° above zero and the boiling ° ( - ). faineant, le noir, richard coeur-de-lion in "ivanhoe." faineants (i. e. the do-nothings), the name given to the kings of france of the merovingian line from to , from thierry iii. to childéric iii., who were subject to their ministers, the mayors of the palace, who discharged all their functions. fair city, perth, from the beauty of its surroundings. fair maid of kent, the countess of salisbury, eventually wife of the black prince, so called from her beauty. fair maid of norway, daughter of eric ii. of norway, and granddaughter of alexander iii. of scotland; died on her way from norway to succeed her grandfather on the throne of scotland, an event which gave rise to the famous struggle for the crown by rival competitors. fair maid of perth, a beauty of the name of kate glover, the heroine of scott's novel of the name. fair rosamond, the mistress of henry ii.; kept in a secret bower at woodstock, in the heart of a labyrinth which only he could thread. fairbairn, andrew m., able and thoughtful theologian, born in edinburgh where he also graduated ( ); received the charge of the evangelical church at bathgate, and subsequently studied in berlin. in became principal of the airedale congregational college at bradford; was muir lecturer on comparative religions in edinburgh university in - , and five years later was elected principal of mansfield college at oxford; author of "the place of christ in modern theology," and several other scholarly works; _b_. . fairbairn, sir william, an eminent engineer, born at kelso; served an apprenticeship in n. shields, and in started business in manchester, where he came to the front as a builder of iron ships; improved upon robert stephenson's idea of a tubular bridge, and built upwards of of these; introduced iron shafts into cotton mills, and was employed by government to test the suitability of iron for purposes of defence; created a baronet in ( - ). fairfax, edward, translator of tasso, born at denton, yorkshire, where he spent a quiet and studious life; his stately translation of tasso's "gerusalemme liberata" was published in , and holds rank as one of the best poetical translations in the language; he wrote also a "discourse" on witchcraft (about - ). fairfax, thomas, lord, a distinguished parliamentary general, nephew of the preceding, born at denton, yorkshire; served in holland, but in joined the parliamentarians, of whose forces he became general ( ); after distinguishing himself at marston moor and naseby, was superseded by cromwell ( ), and retired into private life until cromwell's death, when he supported the restoration of charles ii. to the english throne ( - ). fairies, imaginary supernatural beings conceived of as of diminutive size but in human shape, who play a conspicuous part in the traditions of europe during the middle ages, and are animated more or less by a spirit of mischief out of a certain loving regard for, or humorous interest in, the affairs of mankind, whether in the way of thwarting or helping. fairservice, andrew, a shrewd gardener in "rob roy." fairy rings, circles of seemingly withered grass often seen in lawns and meadows, caused by some fungi below the surface, but popularly ascribed in superstitious times to fairies dancing in a ring. faith, in its proper spiritual sense and meaning is a deep-rooted belief affecting the whole life, that the visible universe in every section of it, particularly here and now, rests on and is the manifestation of an eternal and an unchangeable unseen power, whose name is good, or god. faith, st., a virgin martyr who, in the th century, was tortured on an iron bed and afterwards beheaded. fakir (lit. poor), a member of an order of monkish mendicants in india and adjoining countries who, from presumed religious motives, practise or affect lives of severe self-mortification, but who in many cases cultivate filthiness of person to a disgusting degree. falaise ( ), a french town in the dep. of calvados, m. sw. of caen; the birthplace of william the conqueror. falconer, hugh, botanist and palæontologist, born at forres, elginshire; studied at aberdeen and edinburgh; joined the east india company's medical service; made large collections of fossils and plants; became professor of botany in calcutta; introduced the tea-plant into india, and discovered the asafoetida plant; died in london ( - ). falconer, ion keith, missionary and arabic scholar, the third son of the earl of kintore; after passing through harrow and cambridge, his ardent temperament carried him into successful evangelistic work in london; was appointed arabic professor at cambridge, but his promising career was cut short near aden while engaged in missionary work; translated the fables of bidpaï; a noted athlete, and champion cyclist of the world in ( - ). falconer, william, poet, born in edinburgh; a barber's son; spent most of his life at sea; perished in the wreck of the frigate _aurora_, of which he was purser; author of the well-known poem "the shipwreck" ( - ). falconry, the art and practice of employing trained hawks in the pursuit and capture on the wing of other birds, a sport largely indulged in by the upper classes in early times in europe. falk, adalbert, prussian statesman, born at metschkau, silesia; as minister of public worship and education he was instrumental in passing laws designed to diminish the influence of the clergy in state affairs; retired in ; _b_. . falkirk ( ), a town in stirlingshire, m. nw. of edinburgh, noted for its cattle-markets and the iron-works in its neighbourhood; wallace was defeated here in by edward i. falkland ( ), a royal burgh in fifeshire, m. sw. of cupar; has ruins of a famous palace, a royal residence of the stuart sovereigns, which was restored by the marquis of bute in . falkland, lucius gary, viscount, soldier, scholar, and statesman, son of sir henry cary, viscount falkland; was lord-deputy of ireland under james i.; entered the service of the new dutch republic, but soon returned to england and settled at tew, oxfordshire, where he indulged his studious tastes, and entertained his scholarly friends clarendon, chillingworth, and others; after joining essex's expedition into scotland he sat in parliament, and in became secretary of state; suspicious of charles's weakness and duplicity, he as much distrusted the parliamentary movement, and fell at newbury fighting for the king ( - ). falkland islands ( ), a group of islands in the s. atlantic, m. e. of tierra del fuego; discovered in by davis; purchased from the french in by spain, but afterwards ceded to britain, by whom they were occupied in and used as a convict settlement until ; besides e. and w. falkland there are upwards of small islands, mostly barren; wheat and flax are raised, but sheep-farming is the main industry. fall, the, the first transgression of divine law on the part of man, conceived of as involving the whole human race in the guilt of it, and represented as consisting in the wilful partaking of the fruit of the forbidden tree of the _knowledge_ of both good and evil. the story of the fall in genesis has in later times been regarded as a spiritual allegory, and simply the hebrew attempt, one amongst many, to explain the origin of evil. it is worthy of note that a narrative, similar even to detail, exists in the ancient religious writings of the hindus and persians. fallopius, gabriello, anatomist, born at modena; professor of anatomy at pisa and at padua; the fallopian tubes which connect the ovaries with the uterus, first accurately described by him, are called after his name, as also the duct which transmits the facial nerve after it leaves the auditory nerve ( - ). falloux, frÉdÉric alfred pierre, vicomte de, author and statesman, born at angers; member of the house of deputies; favoured the revolutionaries of , and under the presidency of louis napoleon became minister of public instruction; retired in , and became a member of the french academy ( ); author of a "history of louis xvi." and a "history of pius v.," both characterised by a strong legitimist bias ( - ). falmouth ( ), a seaport on the cornish coast, on the estuary of the fal, m. ne. of the lizard; its harbour, one of the finest in england, is defended e. and w. by st. mawes castle and pendennis castle; pilchard fishing is actively engaged in, and there are exports of tin and copper. falstaff, sir john, a character in shakespeare's "henry iv." and the "merry wives of windsor"; a boon companion of henry, prince of wales; a cowardly braggart, of sensual habits and great corpulency. see fastolf. familiar spirits, certain supernatural beings presumed, agreeably to a very old belief (lev. xix. ), to attend magicians or sorcerers, and to be at their beck and call on any emergency. familists, or the brotherhood of love, a fanatical sect which arose in holland in , and affected to love all men as brothers. family compact, a compact concluded in between the bourbons of france, spain, and italy to resist the naval power of england. fan, a light hand implement used to cause a draught of cool air to play upon the face; there are two kinds, the folding and non-folding; the latter, sometimes large and fixed on a pole, were known to the ancients, the former were invented by the japanese in the th century, and became popular in italy and spain in the th century; but paris soon took a lead in their manufacture, carrying them to their highest pitch of artistic perfection in the reign of louis xiv. fanariots, the descendants of the greeks of noble birth who remained in constantinople after its capture by mahomet ii. in , so called from fanar, the quarter of the city which they inhabited; they rose at one time to great influence in turkish affairs, though they have none now. fandango, a popular spanish dance, specially in favour among the andalusians; is in ¾ time, and is danced to the accompaniment of guitars and castanets. fans, an aboriginal tribe dwelling between the gaboon and ogoway rivers, in western equatorial africa; are brave and intelligent, and of good physique, but are addicted to cannibalism. fanshawe, sir richard, diplomatist and poet, born at ware park, hertford; studied at the inner temple, and after a continental tour became attached to the english embassy at madrid; sided with the royalists at the outbreak of the civil war; was captured at the battle of worcester, but escaped and shared the exile of charles ii.; on the restoration negotiated charles's marriage with catharine, and became ambassador at the court of philip iv. of spain; translated camoëns's "lusiad" and various classical pieces ( - ). fantine, one of the most heart-affecting characters in "les misérables" of victor hugo. fantis, an african tribe on the gold coast, enemies of their conquerors the ashantis; fought as allies of the british in the ashanti war ( - ), but, although of strong physique, proved cowardly allies. farad, the unit of electrical energy, so called from faraday. faraday, michael, a highly distinguished chemist and natural philosopher, born at newington butts, near london, of poor parents; received a meagre education, and at was apprenticed to a bookseller, but devoted his evenings to chemical and electrical studies, and became a student under sir h. davy, who, quick to detect his ability, installed him as his assistant; in he succeeded davy as lecturer at the royal institution, and became professor of chemistry in ; was pensioned in , and in was allotted a residence in hampton court; in chemistry he made many notable discoveries, e. g. the liquefaction of chlorine, while in electricity and magnetism his achievements cover the entire field of these sciences, and are of the first importance ( - ). faraizi, a mohammedan sect formed in , and met with chiefly in eastern bengal; they discard _tradition_, and accept the korân as their sole guide in religious and spiritual concerns, in this respect differing from the sunnites, with whom they have much else in common; although of a purer morality than the main body of mohammedans, they are narrow and intolerant. farel, william, a swiss reformer, born at dauphiné; introduced, in , after two futile attempts, the reformed faith into geneva, where he was succeeded in the management of affairs by john calvin; he has been called the "pioneer of the reformation in switzerland and france" ( - ). faria y sousa, manuel de, a portuguese poet and historian; entered the diplomatic service, and was for many years secretary to the spanish embassy at rome; was a voluminous writer of history and poetry, and did much to develop the literature of his country ( - ). farinata, a florentine nobleman of the ghibelline faction, whom for his infidelity and sensuality dante has placed till the day of judgment in a red-hot coffin in hell. farinelli, carlo, a celebrated singer, born in naples; his singing created great enthusiasm in london, which he visited in ( - ). farini, luigo carlo, an italian statesman and author, born at russi; practised as a doctor in his native town; in was forced, on account of his liberal sympathies, to withdraw from the papal states, but returned in on the proclamation of the papal amnesty, and afterwards held various offices of state; was premier for a few months in ; author of "il stato romano," of which there is an english translation by mr. gladstone ( - ). farmer, richard, an eminent scholar, born at leicester; distinguished himself at cambridge, where he became classical tutor of his college, and in the end master ( ); three years later he was appointed chief-librarian to the university, and afterwards was successively canon of lichfield, canterbury, and st. paul's; wrote an erudite essay on "the learning of shakespeare" ( - ). farmer george, george iii., a name given to him from his plain, homely, thrifty manners and tastes. farmers-general, a name given in france prior to the revolution to a privileged syndicate which farmed certain branches of the public revenue, that is, obtained the right of collecting certain taxes on payment of an annual sum into the public treasury; the system gave rise to corruption and illegal extortion, and was at best an unproductive method of raising the national revenue; it was swept away at the revolution. farne or ferne isles, the, also called the staples, a group of isles m. off the ne. coast of northumberland, many of which are mere rocks visible only at low-water; are marked by two lighthouses, and are associated with a heroic rescue by grace darling (q. v.) in ; on house isle are the ruins of a benedictine priory; about people have their homes upon the larger isles. farnese, the surname of a noble italian family dating its rise from the th century. farnese, alessandro, attained the papal chair as paul iii. in ; the excommunication of henry viii. of england, the founding of the order of the jesuits ( ), the convocation of the council of trent ( ), mark his term of office ( - ). farnese, alessandro, grandson of the following, and rd duke of parma, a famous general; distinguished himself at the battle of lepanto; was governor of the spanish netherlands, and fought successfully against france, defeating henry iv. before the walls of paris, and again two years later at rouen, where he was mortally wounded ( - ). farnese, pietro luigi, a natural son of pope paul iii., who figures in benvenuto cellini's life; received in fief from the papal see various estates, including the dukedom of parma; he ill requited his father's trust and affection by a life of debauchery and finally suffered assassination in . faroe islands ( ), a group of islands of basaltic formation, about m. nw. of the shetlands; originally norwegian, they now belong to denmark; agriculture is limited, and fishing and sheep-farming chiefly engage the natives; there is an export trade in wool, fish, and wild-fowl leathers. the people, who still speak their old norse dialect, although danish is the language of the schools and law courts, are lutherans, and enjoy a measure of self-government, and send representatives to the danish _rigsdag_. farquhar, george, comic dramatist, born at londonderry; early famous for his wit, of which he has given abundant proof in his dramas, "love and a bottle" being his first, and "the beaux' stratagem" his last, written on his deathbed; died young; he commenced life on the stage, but threw the profession up in consequence of having accidentally wounded a brother actor while fencing ( - ). farr, william, statistician, born at kenley, shropshire; studied medicine, and practised in london; obtained a post in the registrar-general's office, and rose to be head of the statistical department; issued various statistical compilations of great value for purposes of insurance ( - ). farragut, david glasgow, a famous american admiral, of spanish extraction, born at knoxville, tennessee; entered the navy as a boy; rose to be captain in , and at the outbreak of the civil war attached himself to the union; distinguished himself by his daring capture of new orleans; in was created rear-admiral, and two years later gained a signal victory over the confederate fleet at mobile bay; was raised to the rank of admiral in , being the first man to hold this position in the american navy ( - ). farrar, frederick william, a celebrated divine and educationalist, born at bombay; graduated with distinction at king's college, london, and at cambridge; was ordained in , and became head-master of marlborough college; was for some years a select preacher to cambridge university, and held successively the offices of honorary chaplain and chaplain-in-ordinary to the queen; became canon of westminster, rector of st. margaret's, archdeacon, chaplain to the house of commons, and dean of canterbury; his many works include the widely-read school-tales, "eric" and "st. winifred's," philological essays, and his vastly popular lives of christ and st. paul, besides the "early days of christianity," "eternal hope," and several volumes of sermons; in recent years have appeared "darkness and dawn" ( ) and "gathering clouds" ( ); _b_. . fasces, a bundle of rods bound round the helve of an axe, and borne by the lictors before the roman magistrates in symbol of their authority at once to scourge and decapitate. fascination, the power, originally ascribed to serpents, of spell-binding by the eye. fasti, the name given to days among the romans on which it was lawful to transact business before the prætor; also the name of books among the romans containing calendars of times, seasons, and events. fastolf, sir john, a distinguished soldier of henry v.'s reign, who with sir john oldcastle shares the doubtful honour of being the prototype of shakespeare's falstaff, but unlike the dramatist's creation was a courageous soldier, and won distinction at agincourt and at the "battle of the herrings"; after engaging with less success in the struggle against joan of arc, he returned to england and spent his closing years in honoured retirement at norfolk, his birthplace; he figures in the "paston letters" ( - ). fata morgana, a mirage occasionally observed in the strait of messina, in which, from refraction in the atmosphere, images of objects, such as men, houses, trees, etc., are seen from the coast under or over the surface of the water. fatalism, the doctrine that all which takes place in life and history is subject to fate, that is is to say, takes place by inevitable necessity, that things being as they are, events cannot fall out otherwise than they do. fates, the, in the greek mythology the three goddesses who presided over the destinies of individuals--clotho, lachesis, and atropos (q. v.). see parcÆ. father of comedy, aristophanes (q. v.). father of ecclesiastical history, eusebius (q. v.). father of french history, duchesne (q. v.). father of german literature, lessing (q. v.). father of history, herodotus (q. v.). father of tragedy, eschylus (q. v.). father paul, paul sarpi (q. v.). fathers of the church, the early teachers of christianity and founders of the christian church, consisting of live _apostolic fathers_--clement of home, barnabas, hermes, ignatius, and polycarp, and of nine in addition called _primitive fathers_--justin, theophilus of antioch, irenæus, clemens of alexandria, cyprian of carthage, origen, gregory thaumaturgus, dionysius of alexandria, and tertullian. the distinctive title of _apostolic fathers_ was bestowed upon the immediate friends and disciples of the apostles, while the _patristic_ period proper may be said to commence with the nd century, but no definite date can be assigned as marking its termination, some closing it with the deaths of gregory the great ( ) and john of damascus ( ), while catholic writers bring it down as far as the council of trent ( ); discarded among protestants, the fathers are regarded by catholics as decisive in authority on points of faith, but only when they exhibit a unanimity of opinion. fathom, a measure of ft. used in taking marine soundings, originally an anglo-saxon term for the distance stretched by a man's extended arms; is sometimes used in mining operations. fathom, count ferdinand, a villain in the novel of smollett so named. fatima, the last of bluebeard's wives, and the only one who escaped being murdered by him; also mahomet's favourite daughter. fatimides, a mohammedan dynasty which assumed the title of caliphs and ruled n. africa and egypt, and later syria and palestine, between the th and th centuries inclusive; they derived their name from the claim (now discredited) of their founder, obeidallah almahdi, to be descended from fatima, daughter of mahomet and wife of ali; they were finally expelled by saladin in . faucher, lÉon, a political economist, brought into notice by the revolution of ; edited _le temps_; opposed louis philippe's minister, m. guizot; held office under the presidency of louis napoleon, but threw up office on the _coup d'état_ of ( - ). fauchet, abbÉ, a french revolutionary, a girondin; blessed the national tricolor flag; "a man of _te deums_ and public consecrations"; was a member of the first parliament; stripped of his insignia, lamented the death of the king, perished on the scaffold ( - ). faucit, helen, a famous english actress; made her _début_ in london ( ), and soon won a foremost place amongst english actresses by her powerful and refined representations of shakespeare's heroines under the management of macready; she retired from the stage in after her marriage with theodore martin (q. v.); in she published a volume of studies "on some of shakespeare's female characters" ( - ). fauns, divinities of the woods and fields among the romans, and guardians of flocks against the wolf. fauntleroy, henry, banker and forger; in his twenty-third year became a partner in the bank of marsh, sibbald, & co., london; was put on trial for a series of elaborate forgeries, found guilty, and hanged; the trial created a great sensation at the time, and efforts were made to obtain a commutation of the sentence ( - ). faunus, a god, grandson of saturn, who figures in the early history of latium, first as the god of fields and shepherds, and secondly, as an oracular divinity and founder of the native religion, afterwards identified with the greek pan. faure, franÇois felix, president of the french republic, born in paris; carried on business in touraine as a tanner, but afterwards settled in havre and became a wealthy shipowner; he served with distinction as a volunteer in the franco-german war; entered the assembly in , where he held office as colonial and commercial minister in various cabinets; was elected president in ( - ). faust, johannes. see fust. faust, or doctor faustus, a reputed professor of the black art, a native of germany, who flourished in the end of the th century and the beginning of the th century, and who is alleged to have made a compact with the devil to give up to him body and soul in the end, provided he endowed him for a term of years with power to miraculously fulfil all his wishes. under this compact the devil provided him with a familiar spirit, called mephistopheles, attended by whom he traversed the world, enjoying life and working wonders, till the term of the compact having expired, the devil appeared and carried him off amid display of horrors to the abode of penal fire. this myth, which has been subjected to manifold literary treatment, has received its most significant rendering at the hands of goethe, such as to supersede and eclipse every other attempt to unfold its meaning. it is presented by him in the form of a drama, in two parts of five acts each, of which the first, published in , represents "the conflicting union of the higher nature of the soul with the lower elements of human life; of faust, the son of light and free-will, with the influences of doubt, denial, and obstruction, or mephistopheles (q. v.), who is the symbol and spokesman of these; and the second, published in , represents faust as now elevated, by the discipline he has had, above the hampered sphere of the first, and conducted into higher regions under worthier circumstances." fausta, the wife of constantino the great. faustina, annia galeri, called faustina, senior, wife of antoninus pius, died three years after her husband became emperor ( - ). faustina, annia, junior, wife of the emperor marcus aurelius, daughter of the preceding. both she and her mother are represented by historians as profligate and unfaithful, and quite unworthy the affection lavishly bestowed upon them by their husbands. faustulus, the shepherd who, with his wife laurentia, was the foster-parent of romulus and remus, who, as infants, had been exposed on the palatine hill. favart, charles simon, french dramatist, born at paris, where he became director of the opéra comique; was celebrated as a vivacious playwright and composer of operas; during a temporary absence from paris he established his comedy company in the camp of marshal saxe during the flanders campaign; his memoirs and correspondence give a bright picture of theatrical life in paris during the th century ( - ). favonius, the god of the favouring west wind. favre, jules claude gabriel, a french republican statesman, born at lyons; called to the paris bar in ; a strong republican, he joined the revolutions of and ; held office as minister of the interior in the new republic, and disapproving of the _coup d'état_, resumed practice at the bar; defended the italian conspirator orsini (q. v.), and in , on the dissolution of the empire, became minister of foreign affairs; mistakes in his negotiations with bismarck led to his resignation and resumption of his legal practice ( - ). fawcett, henry, statesman and political economist, born at salisbury; though blind, it was his early ambition to enter the arena of politics, and he devoted himself to the study of political economy, of which he became professor at cambridge; entering parliament, he became postmaster-general under mr. gladstone in ; he wrote and published works on his favourite study ( - ). fawkes, guy, a notorious english conspirator, born of a respected yorkshire family; having spent a slender patrimony, he joined the spanish army in flanders; was converted to the catholic faith; and on his return to england allied himself with the conspirators of the gunpowder plot (q. v.), and was arrested in the cellars of the house of commons when on the point of firing the explosive; was tried and executed ( - ). fay, andreas, hungarian dramatist and novelist, born at kohany; studied law, but the success of a volume of fables confirmed him in his choice of literature in preference; wrote various novels and plays; was instrumental in founding the hungarian national theatre; was a member of the hungarian diet ( - ). fayal ( ), a fruit-bearing island among the azores (q. v.), exports wine and fruits; horta, with an excellent bay, is its chief town. fayyum ( ), a fertile province of central egypt, lies w. of the nile, miles from cairo, is in reality a southern oasis in the libyan desert, irrigated by means of a canal running through a narrow gorge to the nile valley; its area is about sq. m., a portion of which is occupied by a sheet of water, the birket-el-kern ( m. long), known to the ancients as lake moeris, and by the shores of which stood one of the wonders of the world, the famous "labyrinth." feasts, jewish, of dedication, a feast in commemoration of the purification of the temple and the rebuilding of the altar by judas maccabæus in b.c., after profanation of them by the syrians: of the passover, a festival in april on the anniversary of the exodus from egypt, and which lasted eight days, the first and the last days of solemn religious assembly: of pentecost, a feast celebrated on the fiftieth day after the second of the passover, in commemoration of the giving of the law on mount sinai; both this feast and the passover were celebrated in connection with harvest, what was presented in one in the form of a sheaf being in the other presented as a loaf of bread: of purim, a feast in commemoration of the preservation of the jews from the wholesale threatened massacre of the race in persia at the instigation of haman: of tabernacles, a festival of eight days in memory of the wandering tentlife of the people in the wilderness, observed by the people dwelling in bowers made of branches erected on the streets or the roofs of the house; it was the feast of ingathering as well. february, the second month of the year, was added along with january by numa to the end of the original roman year of months; derived its name from a festival offered annually on the th day to februus, an ancient italian god of the nether world; was assigned its present position in the calendar by julius cæsar, who also introduced the intercalary day for leap-year. fÉcamp ( ), a seaport in the dep. of seine-inférieure, m. ne. of havre; has a fine gothic benedictine church, a harbour and lighthouse, hardware and textile factories; fishing and sugar refineries also flourish; exports the celebrated benedictine liqueurs. fechner, gustav theodor, physicist and psychophysicist, born at gross-särchen, in lower lusatia; became professor of physics in leipzig, but afterwards devoted himself to psychology; laid the foundations of the science of psychophysics in his "elements of pyschophysics"; wrote besides on the theory of colour and galvanism, as well as poems and essays ( - ). fechter, charles albert, a famous actor, born in london, his father of german extraction and his mother english; made his _début_ in paris at the age of ; after a tour through the european capitals established himself in london as the lessee of the lyceum theatre in ; became celebrated for his original impersonations of hamlet and othello; removed to america in , where he died ( - ). feciales, a college of functionaries in ancient rome whose duty it was to make proclamation of peace and war, and confirm treaties. federal government, in modern parlance is the political system which a number of independent and sovereign states adopt when they join together for purposes of domestic and especially international policy; local government is freely left with the individual states, and only in the matter of chiefly foreign relations is the central government paramount, but the degree of freedom which each state enjoys is a matter of arrangement when the contract is formed, and the powers vested in the central authority may only be permitted to work through the local government, as in the german confederation, or may bear directly upon the citizens throughput the federation, as in the u.s. of america, and since in switzerland. federalist, a name in the united states for a supporter of the union and its integrity as such; a party which was formed in , but dissolved in ; has been since applied to a supporter of the integrity of the union against the south in the late civil war. federation, the champs-de-mars, a grand féte celebrated in the champs-de-mars, paris, on july , , the anniversary of the taking of the bastille, at which deputies from the newly instituted departments assisted to the number of , , as well as deputies from other nations, "swedes, spaniards, polacks, turks, chaldeans, greeks, and dwellers in mesopotamia," representatives of the human race, "with three hundred drummers, twelve hundred wind-musicians, and artillery planted on height after height to boom the tidings all over france, the highest recorded triumph of the thespian art." louis xvi. too assisted at the ceremony, and took solemn oath to the constitution just established in the interest of mankind. see carlyle's "french revolution." fehmgericht. see vehmgerichte. feith, a dutch poet, born at zwolle, where, after studying at leyden, he settled and died; his writings include didactic poems, songs, and dramas; had a refining influence on the literary taste of his countrymen ( - ). fÉlicitÉ, st., a roman matron, who with her seven sons suffered martyrdom in . festival, july . felix, the name of five popes: f. i., st., pope from to , said to have been a victim of the persecution of aurelius; f. ii., pope from to , the first anti-pope having been elected in place of the deposed liberius who had declined to join in the persecution of athanasius (q. v.), was banished on the restoration of liberius; f. iii., pope from to , during his term of office the first schism between the eastern and western churches took place; f. iv., pope from to , was appointed by theodoric in face of the determined opposition of both people and clergy; f. v., pope from to . see amadeus viii.. felix, claudius, a roman procurator of judæa in the time of claudius and nero; is referred to in acts xxiii. and xxiv. as having examined the apostle paul and listened to his doctrines; was vicious in his habits, and formed an adulterous union with drusilla, said by tacitus to have been the granddaughter of antony and cleopatra; was recalled in a.d. . felix holt, a novel of george eliot's, written in . fell, john, a celebrated english divine; royalist in sympathy, he continued throughout the puritan ascendency loyal to the english church, and on the restoration became dean of christ church and a royal chaplain; was a good man and a charitable, and a patron of learning; in was raised to the bishopric of oxford; was the object of the well-known epigram, "i do not like thee, dr. fell, the reason why i cannot tell" ( - ). fellah, the name applied contemptuously by the turks to the agricultural labourer of egypt; the fellahin (pl. of fellah) comprise about three-fourths of the population; they are of good physique, and capable of much toil, but are, despite their intelligence and sobriety, lazy and immoral; girls marry at the age of , and the children grow up amidst the squalor of their mud-built villages; their food is of the poorest, and scarcely ever includes meat; tobacco is their only luxury; their condition has improved under british rule. fellows, sir charles, archæologist, born at nottingham; early developed a passion for travel; explored the xanthus valley in asia minor, and discovered the ruins of the cities teos and xanthus, the ancient capital of lycia ( ); returned to the exploration of lycia in and again in , discovering the ruins of other ancient cities; accounts of these explorations and discoveries are fully given in his various published journals and essays; was knighted in ( - ). fellowship, a collegiate term for a status in many universities which entitles the holder (a fellow) to a share in their revenues, and in some cases to certain privileges as regards apartments and meals in the college, as also to a certain share in the government; formerly fellowships were usually life appointments, but are now generally for a prescribed number of years, or are held during a term of special research; the old restrictions of celibacy and religious conformity have been relaxed. felo-de-se, in english law the crime which a man at the age of discretion and of a sound mind commits when he takes away his life. felony, "a crime which involves a total forfeiture of lands or goods or both, to which capital or other punishment may be superadded, according to the degree of guilt." felton, cornelius conway, american scholar, born at west newbury, massachusetts; graduated at harvard in , and became professor of greek there, rising to the presidency of the same college in ; edited greek classics, and made translations from the german; most important work is "greece, ancient and modern," in vols. ( - ). felton, john, the irish assassin of the duke of buckingham in . femmes savantes, a comedy in five acts by molière, and one of his best, appeared in . fenella, a fairy-like attendant of the countess of derby, deaf and dumb, in scott's "peveril of the peak," a character suggested by goethe's mignon in "wilhelm meister." fÉnÉlon, franÇois de salignac de la mothe, a famous french prelate and writer, born in the château de fénélon, in the prov. of périgord; at the age of came to paris, and, having already displayed a remarkable gift for preaching, entered the plessis college, and four years later joined the seminary of st. sulpice, where he took holy orders in ; his directorship of a seminary for female converts to catholicism brought him into prominence, and gave occasion to his well-known treatise "de l'Éducation des filles"; in , after the revocation of the edict of nantes, he conducted a mission for the conversion of the huguenots of saintonge and poitou, and four years later louis xiv. appointed him tutor to his grandson, the duke of burgundy, an appointment which led to his writing his "fables," "dialogues of the dead," and "history of the ancient philosophers"; in he became abbé of st. valery, and in the following year archbishop of cambrai; soon after this ensued his celebrated controversy with bossuet (q. v.) regarding the doctrines of quietism (q. v.), a dispute which brought him into disfavour with the king and provoked the pope's condemnation of his "explication des maximes des saints sur la vie intérieure"; the surreptitious publication of his most famous work "télémache," the ms. of which was stolen by his servant, accentuated the king's disfavour, who regarded it as a veiled attack on his court, and led to an order confining the author to his own diocese; the rest of his life was spent in the service of his people, to whom he endeared himself by his benevolence and the sweet piety of his nature; his works are extensive, and deal with subjects historical and literary, as well as philosophical and theological ( - ). fenians, an irish political organisation having for its object the overthrow of english rule in ireland and the establishment of a republic there. the movement was initiated in the united states soon after the great famine in ireland of - , which, together with the harsh exactions of the landlords, compelled many irishmen to emigrate from their island with a deeply-rooted sense of injustice and hatred of the english. the fenians organised themselves so far on the model of a republic, having a senate at the head, with a virtual president called the "head-centre," and various "circles" established in many parts of the u.s. they collected funds and engaged in military drill, and sent agents to ireland and england. an invasion of canada in and a rising at home in proved abortive, as also the attack on clerkenwell prison in the same year. another attempt on canada in and the formation of the _skirmishing fund_ for the use of the _dynamitards_ and the institution of the _clan-na-gael_ leading to the "invincibles," and the phoenix park murders ( ) are later manifestations of this movement. the home rule and land league movements practically superseded the fenian. the name is taken from an ancient military organisation called the fionna eirinn, said to have been instituted in ireland in b.c. ferdinand the catholic, v. of castile, ii. of aragon and sicily, and iii. of naples, born at sos, in aragon, married isabella of castile in , a step by which these ancient kingdoms were united under one sovereign power; their joint reign is one of the most glorious in the annals of spanish history, and in their hands spain quickly took rank amongst the chief european powers; in columbus discovered america, and the same year saw the jews expelled from spain and the moorish power crushed by the fall of granada. in - ferdinand joined the french in his conquest of naples, and three years later managed to secure the kingdom to himself, while by the conquest of navarre in the entire spanish peninsula came under his sway. he was a shrewd and adroit ruler, whose undoubted abilities, both as administrator and general, were, however, somewhat marred by an unscrupulous cunning, which found a characteristic expression in the institution of the notorious inquisition, which in was started by him, and became a powerful engine for political as well as religious persecution for long years after ( - ). ferdinand i., emperor of germany ( - ), born at alcalá, in spain, son of philip i., married anna, a bohemian princess, in ; was elected king of the romans ( ), added bohemia and hungary to his domains ( - ). ferdinand ii., emperor of germany ( - ), grandson of the preceding and son of charles, younger brother of maximilian ii., born at grätz; his detestation of the protestants, early instilled into him by his mother and the jesuits, under whom he was educated, was the ruling passion of his life, and involved the empire in constant warfare during his reign; an attempt on the part of bohemia, restless under religious and political grievances, to break away from his rule, brought about the thirty years' war; by ruthless persecutions he re-established catholicism in bohemia, and reduced the country to subjection; but the war spread into hungary and germany, where ferdinand was opposed by a confederacy of the protestant states of lower saxony and denmark, and in which the protestant cause was in the end successfully sustained by the swedish hero, gustavus adolphus (q. v.), who had opposed to him the imperial generals tilly and wallenstein (q. v.); his reign is regarded as one of disaster, bloodshed, and desolation to his empire, and his connivance at the assassination of wallenstein will be forever remembered to his discredit ( - ). ferdinand iii., emperor of germany ( - ), son of the preceding, born at grätz; more tolerant in his views, would gladly have brought the war to a close, but found himself compelled to face the swedes reinforced by the french; in the desolating struggle was terminated by the peace of westphalia; the rest of his reign passed in tranquillity ( - ). ferdinand i., king of the two sicilies, third son of charles iii. of spain, succeeded his father on the neapolitan throne ( ), married maria caroline, daughter of maria-theresa; joined the allies in the struggle against napoleon, and in was driven from his throne by the french, but was reinstated at the congress of vienna; in he constituted his two states (sicily and naples) into the kingdom of the two sicilies, and in the last four years of his reign ruled, with the aid of austria, as a despot, and having broken a pledge to his people, was compelled ere his return to grant a popular constitution ( - ). ferdinand ii., king of the two sicilies, grandson of the preceding and son of francis i.; after the death of his first wife, a daughter of victor emmanuel i., he married the austrian princess maria-theresa, and fell under the influence of austria during the rest of his reign; in he was compelled to grant constitutional rights to his people, but was distrusted, and an insurrection broke out in sicily; with merciless severity he crushed the revolt, and by his savage bombardment of the cities won him the epithet "bomba"; a reign of terror ensued, and in europe was startled by the revelations of cruel injustice contained in mr. gladstone's famous neapolitan letters ( - ). ferdinand iii., grand-duke of tuscany and archduke of austria, born at florence; succeeded to the government of tuscany in ; introduced many wise measures of reform, which brought peace and prosperity to his state; reluctantly joined the coalition against napoleon in , but two years later entered into friendly relations with france, and in , in order to save his states being merged in the cisalpine republic, undertook to make payment of an annual subsidy; later he formed an alliance with austria, and was by napoleon driven from his possessions, which were, however, restored to him in by the peace of paris ( - ). ferdinand vii. of spain, son of charles iv. of spain; too weak to steer his way through the intrigues of the court, he appealed to napoleon in to support the king, his father, and himself; but his letter was discovered, and his accomplices exiled; the following year the french entered spain, and charles abdicated in favour of his son ferdinand; but soon after, under napoleon's influence, the crown was surrendered to the french, and joseph bonaparte became king; in ferdinand was reinstated, but found himself immediately met by a demand of his people for a more liberal representative government; the remaining years of his reign were spent in an internecine struggle against these claims, in which he had french support under louis xviii. ( - ). ferdusi. see firdausi. feretrum, the shrine containing the sacred effigies and relics of a saint. fergus, the name of three scottish kings: f. i., _d_. ; f. ii., king from to ; and f. iii., king from to . ferguson, adam, a scotch philosopher and historian, born at logierait, perthshire; after passing through the universities of st. andrews and edinburgh, he in was appointed gaelic chaplain to the black watch highland regiment, and was present at the battle of fontenoy; in he became keeper of the advocates' library in edinburgh; two years later professor of natural philosophy, and subsequently of moral philosophy in the university there; during his professorship he, as secretary, was attached to the commission sent out by lord north to bring about a friendly settlement of the dispute pending between england and the north american colonies; resigning his chair in he retired to neidpath castle, to engage in farming at hallyards, an estate in the same neighbourhood; died at st. andrews; his best-known works are "institutes of moral philosophy," "history of the roman republic," and "principles of moral and political science" ( - ). ferguson, james, a popular writer on astronomy and mechanics, born at rothiemay, banff, son of a labourer; his interest in astronomy was first aroused by his observation of the stars while acting as a "herd laddie," and much of his time among the hills was spent in the construction of mechanical contrivances; compelled by circumstances to betake himself to various occupations, pattern-drawing, clock-mending, copying prints, and portrait sketching, he still in his leisure hours pursued those early studies, and coming to london in (after a residence of some years in edinburgh), began lecturing on his favourite subjects; a pension of £ was granted him out of the privy purse, and in he was elected an f.r.s.; besides publishing lectures on mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, &c., he wrote several works on astronomy, chiefly popular expositions of the methods and principles of sir isaac newton ( - ). ferguson, patrick, soldier and inventor of the breech-loading gun, born at pitfour, aberdeenshire; served in the english army in germany and tobago; brought out his new rifle in , which was tried with success in the american war of independence; rose to be a major, and fell at the battle of king's mountains, in south carolina ( - ). ferguson, robert, a notorious plotter, who took part in monmouth's invasion in and was prominent in the various plots against charles ii. and james ii., but after the revolution turned jacobite; published a history of the revolution in ; died in poverty (about - ). fergusson, james, a writer on the history and art of architecture, born at ayr; went to india as an indigo-planter, but afterwards gave himself up to the study of the rock-temples; published various works, and in his later years interested himself in the fortifications of the united kingdom; his "history of architecture," in vols., is a standard work ( - ). fergusson, robert, a scottish poet, born in edinburgh; after a university course at st. andrews he obtained a post in the office of the commissionary-clerk of edinburgh; his first poems appeared in _ruddiman's weekly magazine_, and brought him a popularity which proved his ruin; some years of unrestrained dissipation ended in religious melancholia, which finally settled down into an incurable insanity; his poems, collected in , have abundant energy, wit, and fluency, but lack the passion and tenderness of those of burns; he was, however, held in high honour by burns, who regarded him as "his elder brother in the muses." "in his death," says mr. henley, "at four-and-twenty, a great loss was inflicted to scottish literature; he had intelligence and an eye, a right touch of humour, the gifts of invention and observation and style, together with a true feeling for country and city alike ... burns, who learned much from him, was an enthusiast in his regard for him, bared his head and shed tears over 'the green mound and the scattered gowans,' under which he found his exemplar lying in canongate churchyard, and got leave from the managers to put up a headstone at his own cost there" ( - ). see mr. henley's "life of burns" in the centenary burns, published by the messrs. t. c. and e. c. jack. fergusson, sir w., surgeon, born at prestonpans; graduated at edinburgh; was elected to the chair of surgery in king's college, london, and in was made a baronet; was serjeant-surgeon to the queen, and president of the royal college of surgeons; fergusson was a bold and skilful surgeon; is the author, amongst other treatises, of a "system of practical surgery," besides being the inventor of many surgical instruments ( - ). ferishtah, a persian historian, born at astrabad, on the black sea; went at an early age, accompanied by his father, to india, where his life was spent in the service, first of murtaza nizam shah, in ahmednagar, and afterwards at the court of the prince of bijapur; his famous history of the mohammedan power in india, finished in , and the writing of which occupied him for years, is still a standard work, and has been translated into english (about - ). fermanagh ( ), an irish county in the sw. corner of ulster, of a hilly surface, especially in the w.; is well wooded, and produces indifferent crops of oats, flax, and potatoes; some coal and iron, and quantities of limestone, are found in it; the upper and lower loughs erne form a waterway through its centre; chief town, enniskillen. fermat, pierre de, a french mathematician, born near montauban; made important discoveries in the properties of numbers, and with his friend pascal invented a calculus of probabilities; was held in high esteem by hallam, who ranks him next to descartes ( - ). fernandez, juan, a spanish navigator, discovered the island off the coast of chile that bears his name; _d_. in . fernando po ( ), a mountainous island, with an abrupt and rocky coast, in the bight of biafra, w. africa; the volcano, mount clarence ( ft.), rises in the n.; is covered with luxuriant vegetation, and yields maize and yams, some coffee, and palm-oil and wine; is inhabited by the bubis, a bantu tribe; is the chief of the spanish guinea isles. ferozepore ( ), the chief town of the district of the same name in the punjab, india, a few miles s. of the sutlej; is strongly fortified, and contains a large arsenal; the present town was laid out by lord lawrence. f. district ( ), lies along the s. bank of the sutlej; came into the possession of the british in ; cereals, cotton, sugar, and tobacco are cultivated. ferrar, nicholas, a religious enthusiast in the reign of charles i.; was elected a fellow of clare hall, cambridge, in ; afterwards devoted himself to medicine and travelled on the continent; subsequently joined his father in business in london, and entered parliament in ; but a year later retired to the country, and at little gidding, huntingdonshire, founded, with some of his near relations, a religious community, known as the "arminian nunnery," some account of which is given in shorthouse's "john inglesant"; it was broken up by the puritans in ; he was the intimate friend of george herbert; this community consisted of some "fourscore persons, devoted to a kind of protestant monasticism; they followed celibacy and merely religious duties, employed themselves in binding prayer-books, &c., in alms-giving and what charitable work was possible to them in their desert retreat, kept up, night and day, a continual repetition of the english liturgy, never allowing at any hour the sacred fire to go out" ( - ). ferrar, robert, an english prelate, born at halifax, was prior of the monastery of st. oswald's, embraced the reformation, and was made bishop of st. david's by edward vi.; suffered martyrdom under mary in . ferrara, a broadsword bearing the name of andrea ferrara, one of an italian family famous in the th and th centuries for the quality of their swords. ferrara ( ), a fortified and walled italian city, capital of the province of the name, situated on a low and marshy plain between the dividing branches of the po, m. from the adriatic; it has many fine ecclesiastical buildings and a university founded in , with a library of , vols., but now a mere handful of students; a fine old gothic castle, the residence of the estes (q. v.), still stands; it was the birthplace of savonarola, and the sometime dwelling-place of tasso and ariosto; once populous and prosperous, it has now fallen into decay. ferrari, gaudenzio, italian painter and sculptor, born at valduggia, in piedmont; studied at rome under raphael; many of his paintings and frescoes are to be found in the lombard galleries, and principally in milan; his work is characterised by bold and accurate drawing, inventiveness, and strong colouring, but it somewhat lacks the softer qualities of his art ( - ). ferrari, paolo, italian dramatist, born at modena; produced his first play at the age of ; his numerous works, chiefly comedies, and all marked by a fresh and piquant style, are the finest product of the modern italian drama; in he was appointed professor of history at modena and afterwards at milan; his dramatic works have been published in vols. ( - ). ferrier, david, a distinguished medical scientist, born at woodside, aberdeen; graduated in arts there; studied at heidelberg, and coming to edinburgh graduated in medicine with high distinction in ; in became professor of forensic medicine at king's college, london, and afterwards physician to the national hospital for the paralysed and epileptic; his most notable work has been done in connection with the brain, and his many experiments on the brains of living animals have resulted in much valuable information, embodied in his various writings; is editor and co-founder of the periodical _brain_; _b_. . ferrier, james frederick, a metaphysician of singular ability and originality, born at edinburgh; after graduating at oxford was called to the scotch bar in ; but under the influence of sir w. hamilton, metaphysics became his dominant interest, and he found an outlet for his views in the pages of _blackwood_ by a paper on "consciousness," which attracted the attention of emerson; in was appointed professor of history in edinburgh university, and three years later of moral philosophy in st. andrews; published the "institutes of metaphysics," a lucid exposition of the berkleian philosophy, and "lectures on greek philosophy," and edited the works of his uncle and father-in-law, christopher north; "he belongs," says dr. stirling, "to an era of thought that was inaugurated by thomas carlyle" ( - ). ferrier, susan edmonston, a scottish novelist, aunt of the preceding, born in edinburgh, where her life was chiefly spent, her father being clerk in the court of session, and a colleague of sir walter scott; her novels, "marriage," "the inheritance," and "destiny," &c., are rich in humour and faithful in their pictures of scottish life and character; scott held her in high esteem, and kept up a warm friendship with her till his death ( - ). ferrol ( ), a strongly fortified seaport in galicia, spain, m. ne. of coruña, on a narrow inlet of the sea which forms a splendid harbourage, narrow at the entrance and capacious within, and defended by two forts; it possesses one of the largest spanish naval arsenals; manufactures linen and cotton, and exports corn, brandy, and sardines. ferry, jules franÇois camille, a distinguished french statesman, born at saint dié, in the vosges; called to the paris bar in , he speedily plunged into the politics of the time, and offered uncompromising opposition to the party of louis napoleon; as a member of the _corps législatif_ he opposed the war with prussia, but as central mayor of paris rendered signal service during the siege by the germans; during his tenure of office as minister of public instruction in was instrumental in bringing about the expulsion of the jesuits; as prime minister in and again in - he inaugurated a spirited colonial policy, which involved france in war in madagascar, and brought about his own downfall ( - ). fesch, joseph, an eminent french ecclesiastic, born at ajaccio, the half-brother of napoleon's mother; was educated for the church, but, on the outbreak of the revolution, joined the revolutionaries as a storekeeper; co-operated with his illustrious nephew in restoring catholicism in france, and became in archbishop of lyons, and a cardinal in ; as ambassador at rome in he won the pope's favour, and brought about a more friendly understanding between him and napoleon; later he lost favour with the emperor, and retired to lyons, whence in he fled to rome, there to end his life; was a lover of art, and left a magnificent collection of pictures ( - ). festus, the name of a poem by philip james bailey (q. v.), first published in , but extended to three times its length since, a poem that on its first production produced no small sensation. festus, sextus pompeius, a latin grammarian of probably the rd century; noted for an epitome of a great work by verrius flaccus on the meaning and derivation of latin words, which, although only a portion of it exists, is regarded as an invaluable document, and is preserved at naples. fetichism, the worship of a fetich, an object superstitiously invested with divine or demonic power, and as such regarded with awe and worshipped. feudalism, or the feudal system, that system which prevailed in europe during the middle ages and in england from the norman conquest, by which vassals held their lands from the lord-superior on condition of military service when required, for "the extreme unction day" of which see carlyle's "french revolution," vol. i. bk. . feuerbach, ludwig andreas, german philosopher, son of the succeeding, born at landshut; studied theology at hiedelberg, but coming under the influence of hegel went to berlin and devoted himself to philosophy; after failing in an attempt to support himself by lecturing in erlangen, he was fortunate in his marriage, and upon his wife's means lived a retired and studious life at bruckberg; in his philosophy, which is a degeneracy and finally total departure from hegel, he declines to find a higher sanction for morality than man's own conception of right and wrong as based on a doctrine of hedonism (q. v.); his chief work, on the nature of christianity, which was translated into english by george eliot, is extravagant in its departure from orthodox lines of thought; his influence has been trifling outside his own country; he began with hegel, but "descended at last from hegel's logical idea to naked sense," and what guidance for life might be involved in it ( - ). feuerbach, paul johann anselm von, a highly distinguished criminal jurist, born at jena, where he studied philosophy and law; at came into prominence by a vigorous criticism of hobbes's theory on civil power; and soon afterwards, in lectures on criminal jurisprudence he set forth his famous theory, that in administering justice judges should be strictly limited in their decisions by the penal code; this new doctrine gave rise to a party called "rigorists," who supported his theory; he held professorships in jena and in kiel, and in was appointed to an official post in münich; in he became president of the court of appeal at anspach; his chief work was the framing of a penal code for bavaria, which became a model for several other countries ( - ). feuillans, a reformed brotherhood of cistercian monks, founded in by jean de la barrière, abbot of the cistercian monastery at feuillans, in languedoc. the movement thus organised was a protest against the laxity which had crept into the church, and probably received some stimulus from the reformation, which was then in progress. the feuillans settled in a convent in the rue st. honoré, paris, which in after years became the meeting-place of a revolutionary club, which took the name of feuillans; founded in by lafayette, la rochefoucauld, &c., and which consisted of members of the respectable property classes, whose views were more moderate than those of the jacobins. they could not hold out against the flood of revolutionary violence, and on march , , a mob burst into their place of meeting and dispersed them. fÉuillet, octave, a celebrated french novelist, born at saint-lò, in la manche; started his literary career as one of dumas' assistants, but made his first independent success in the _revue des deux mondes_ by a series of tales, romances, &c., begun in ; in he was elected a member of the academy, and later became librarian to louis napoleon; his novels, of which "le roman d'un jeune homme pauvre" and "sibylle" are the most noted, are graceful in style, and reveal considerable dramatic force, but often lapse into sentimentality, and too often treat of indelicate subjects, although in no spirit of coarseness ( - ). fez ( ), the largest city in morocco, of which it is the second capital; is surrounded by walls and prettily situated in the valley of the sebu, a stream which flows through its centre and falls into the atlantic m. to the e. it has been for many centuries one of the most important of the sacred cities of the moslem; has many fine mosques, the sultan's palace, and an important university; is yet a busy commercial centre, although signs of decay appear all over the city, and carries on an active caravan trade with central africa. fezzan ( ), a turkish province lying to the s. of tripoli, to which it is politically united; in character partakes of the desert region to which it belongs, being almost wholly composed of barren sandy plateaux, with here and there an oasis in the low valleys, where some attempt at cultivation is made. the people, who belong to the berber stock, are mohammedans, honest, but lazy and immoral. murzuk ( ) is the chief town. fiars, an expression in scotch law given to the prices of grain which are determined, by the respective sheriffs in the various counties assisted by juries. the court for "striking the fiars" is held towards the end of february in accordance with acts of sederunt of the court of session. the prices fixed are used in the settling of contracts where no prices have been determined upon, e. g. in fixing stipends of ministers of the church of scotland, and are found useful in other ways. fichte, johann gottlieb, a celebrated german philosopher, born in upper lusatia; a man of an intensely thoughtful and noble nature; studied theology at jena, and afterwards philosophy; became a disciple of kant, and paid homage to him personally at königsberg; was appointed professor of philosophy at jena, where he enthusiastically taught, or rather preached, a system which broke away from kant, which goes under the name of "transcendental idealism," and which he published in his "wissenschaftslehre" and his "system der sittenlehre"; obliged to resign his chair at jena on a charge of atheism, he removed to berlin, where he rose into favour by his famous "address to the germans" against the tyranny of napoleon, and after a professorate in erlangen he became head of the new university, and had for colleagues such men as wolff, humboldt, scheiermacher, and neander; he fell a victim to the war of independence which followed, dying of fever caught through his wife and her nursing of patients in the hospitals, which were crowded with the wounded; besides his more esoterico-philosophical works, he was the author of four of a popular cast, which are worthy of all regard, on "the destiny of man," "the nature of the scholar," "the characteristics of the present age," and "the way to the blessed life"; "so robust an intellect, a soul so calm," says carlyle, "so lofty, massive, and immovable, has not mingled in philosophic discussion since the time of luther ... the cold, colossal, adamantine spirit, standing erect and clear, like a cato major among degenerate men; fit to have been the teacher of the stoa, and to have discoursed of beauty and virtue in the groves of academe" ( - ). fichtelgebirge, a mountain chain in north-east bavaria, so called from its having once been covered with pines, fichtel meaning a pine. in its valleys rise the elbe, rhine, and danube; considerable quantities of iron, copper, and lead are found, which give rise to a smelting industry, while mother-of-pearl is obtained from the streams. the climate is cold and damp, but the district has of late become a favourite resort of tourists. ficino, marsilio, an eminent italian platonist, born at florence; in became president of a platonic school, founded by cosmo de' medici, where he spent many years spreading and instilling the doctrines of plato, and, indeed, ancient philosophy generally; entered the church in , and under the patronage of lorenzo de' medici was appointed to the canonry of florence cathedral; his religious beliefs were a strange blend of platonism and christianity, but were the foundation of a pure life, while his interest in classical studies helped considerably to further the renaissance ( - ). fick, august, a german philologist, born at petershagan; spent his life chiefly at göttingen, where he first studied philology under benfey; became a teacher in the gymnasium, and eventually in professor of comparative philology in the university; in accepted a professorship in breslau, but retired four years later; author of a variety of learned works on philology; _b_. . fidelio, a celebrated opera by beethoven, and his only one. fi`des, the roman goddess of fidelity, or steadfast adherence to promises and engagements. numa built a shrine for her worship and instituted a festival in her honour; in later times a temple containing a statue of her dressed in white adjoined the temple of jupiter, on the capitol at rome. field, cyrus west, brother of the following, born at stockbridge, massachusetts; was first a successful paper manufacturer, but turning his attention to submarine telegraphy was instrumental in establishing cable communication between england and america, and founded the atlantic telegraph company in ; on the successful laying of the cable, since which time communication between the old and new worlds has never been interrupted, he was awarded a gold medal and the thanks of the nation; afterwards interested himself in developing the overhead railway in new york ( - ). field, david dudley, an eminent american jurist, born in haddam, connecticut; for years a prominent member of the new york bar, during which time he brought about judiciary reforms, and drew up, under government directions, political, civil, and penal codes; interested himself in international law, and laboured to bring about an international agreement whereby disputes might be settled by arbitration and war done away with; was president of the london peace congress in ( - ). field of the cloth of gold, a plain near guisnes, where henry viii. had an interview with francis i.; was so called from the magnificence displayed on the occasion on the part of both sovereigns and their retinue. fielding, copley, an eminent english water-colour painter; became secretary and treasurer and finally president of the society of water-colour painters ( - ). fielding, henry, a famous novelist, who has been styled by scott "the father of the english novel," born at sharpham park, glastonbury, son of general edmund fielding and a cousin of lady mary wortley montagu (q. v.); was educated at eton and at leyden, where he graduated in ; led for some years a dissipated life in london, and achieved some celebrity by the production of a series of comedies and farces, now deservedly sunk into oblivion; in he married miss charlotte cradock, and after a brief experiment as a theatre lessee studied law at the middle temple, and was called to the bar; literature was, however, his main pursuit, and in he came to the front with "joseph andrews," a burlesque on richardson's "pamela," in which his powers as a novelist first showed themselves; in followed three volumes of "miscellanies," including "jonathan wild"; after his wife's death he turned again to law, but in we find him once more engaged in literature as editor of the _true patriot_ and afterwards of the _jacobite's journal_; "tom jones," his masterpiece, appeared in , and three years later "amelia"; journalism and his duties as a justice of the peace occupied him till , when ill-health forced him abroad to lisbon, where he died and was buried. fielding is a master of a fluent, virile, and attractive style; his stories move with an easy and natural vigour, and are brimful of humour and kindly satire, while his characters in their lifelike humanness, with all their foibles and frailties, are a marked contrast to the buckram and conventional figures of his contemporary richardson; something of the laxity of his times, however, finds its way into his pages, and renders them not always palatable reading to present-day readers ( - ). fieschi, count, a genoese of illustrious family who conspired against andrea doria, but whose plot was frustrated on the eve of its fulfilment by his falling into the sea and being drowned as he stept full-armed from one of his ships into another ( - ). fieschi, joseph marco, a corsican conspirator; served under murat and in russia in ; obtained a government post in , and in consequence of his discharge from this five years later he, by means of an infernal machine, made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate louis philippe, for which, along with his accomplices, he was tried and executed ( - ). fiesole, a small town, m. from florence, where the wealthy florentines have villas, and near which fra angelico lived as a monk. fife ( ), a maritime county in the e. of scotland, which juts out into the german ocean and is washed by the firths of tay and forth on its n. and s. shores respectively, thus forming a small peninsula; has for the most part a broken and hilly surface, extensively cultivated however, while the "how of fife," watered by the eden, is a fertile valley, richly wooded; and valuable coal deposits are worked in the s. and w.; its long coast-line is studded with picturesque towns, many of them of ancient date, a circumstance which led james vi. to describe the county as "a beggar's mantle fringed with gold"; it is associated with much that is memorable in scottish history. fifth-monarchy men, a set of fanatics of extreme levelling tendencies, who, towards the close of the protectorate, maintained that jesus christ was about to reappear on the earth to establish a fifth monarchy that would swallow up and forcibly suppress all that was left of the four preceding--the assyrian, the persian, the macedonian, and the roman; their standard exhibited the lion of the tribe of judah couchant, with the motto, "who will rouse him up?" some of them conspired to murder the protector, but were detected and imprisoned till after his death. figaro, a name given by the french dramatist beaumarchais to a cunning and intriguing barber who figures in his "barbier de seville" and his "mariage de figaro," and who has since become the type of all such characters. the name has been adopted by various journals in england and in france. figaro, mariage de, a play by beaumarchais, "issued on the stage in paris , ran its hundred nights; a lean and barren thing; succeeded, as it flattered a pruriency of the time and spoke what all were feeling and longing to speak." figuier, louis, a popular writer on scientific subjects, born at montpellier, where he became professor of pharmacy in , and subsequently in paris; his voluminous writings have done much to popularise science, and they comprise a volume on alchemy and one in defence of immortality; many of these have been received with favour in england ( - ). fiji ( ), a group of islands in the s. pacific ocean, known also as the viti islands; they lie between °- ° s. lat. and ° e.- ° w. long., and are a dependency of britain; sighted by tasman in , though first discovered, properly speaking, by cook in , came first into prominence in , when the sovereignty was offered to england and declined, but in were taken over and made a crown colony; they number over islands, of which viti leon and vanua leon are by far the largest; suva is the capital; sugar, cotton, vanilla, tea, and coffee are cultivated, besides fruit. fildes, s. luke, artist, born in lancashire; made his mark first as a designer of woodcuts; contributed to various magazines and illustrated books, notably dickens's "edwin drood"; his most noted pictures are "applicants for a casual ward," "the widower," and "the doctor"; he was made an r.a. in ; _b_. . filibuster, a name given to buccaneers who infested the spanish-american coasts or those of the west indies, but more specially used to designate the followers of lopez in his cuban expedition in , and those of walker in his nicaraguan in ; a name now given to any lawless adventurers who attempt to take forcible possession of a foreign country. filigree, a name given to a species of goldsmith's ornamental work fashioned out of fine metallic (usually gold or silver) wire into lace-like patterns; the art is of ancient date, and was skilfully practised by the etruscans and egyptians, as well as in central asia and india. filioque controversy, a controversy which ended in the disruption of the western from the eastern church on the question whether the spirit proceeded from the father and the son or from the father only, the western maintaining the former and the eastern the latter. fillan, st., a name borne by two scottish saints: ( ) the son of a munster prince, lived in the th century, was first abbot of the monastery on the holy loch in argyll, and afterwards laboured at strathfillan, perthshire; some of his relics are to be seen in the edinburgh antiquarian museum; ( ) or faolan, known as "the leper," had his church at the end of loch earn, perthshire; a healing well and chair are associated with his name. fillmore, president of the united states from to . finality john, lord john russell, from his complacently pronouncing the reform bill of a final measure. finch, heneage, first earl of nottingham and lord chancellor of england, born in kent, studied at oxford, and was called to the bar in ; at the restoration he was appointed solicitor-general, and took an active part in prosecuting the regicides; in he became attorney-general, and in lord-chancellor; he presided as lord-high steward at the trial of stafford in , and pronounced judgment in a speech of great eloquence ( - ). findlater, andrew, encyclopedist, born near aberdour, in aberdeenshire, of humble parentage; graduated at aberdeen, and became a schoolmaster at tillydesk, and afterwards held the post of head-master of gordon's hospital in aberdeen; in joined the staff of messrs. w. & r. chambers, edinburgh, and became eventually editor of the first edition of their encyclopedia ( - ); amongst other work done for the messrs. chambers were various manuals on astronomy, geography, &c.; was a man of wide and accurate scholarship ( - ). fingal or fionn, the great hero of gaelic mythology, represented by ossian (q. v.) to have ruled over the kingdom of morven, which may be said to have been then co-extensive with argyllshire and the west highlands; in ballad literature he is represented as belonging also to ireland. fingal's cave, a remarkable cave of basaltic formation on the coast of the isle of staffa (q. v.); entrance to the cave is effected in boats through a natural archway ft. wide and ft. high, and the water fills the floor of this great hall to a distance of ft. finisterre or finistÈre ( ), the most westerly department of france, washed on the n. by the english channel, and on the s. and w. by the atlantic; has a rugged and broken coast-line, but inland presents a picturesque appearance with tree-clad hills and fertile valleys; the climate is damp, and there is a good deal of marshy land; mines of silver, lead, &c., are wrought, and quarries of marble and granite; fishing is largely engaged in; and the manufacture of linen, canvas, pottery, &c., are important industries, while large quantities of grain are raised. finland ( , ), a grand-duchy forming the nw. corner of russia; was ceded by the swedes in , but still retains an independent administration. the coast-line is deeply indented, and fringed with small islands; the interior, chiefly elevated plateau, consists largely of forest land, and is well furnished with lakes, many of which are united by canals, one m. connecting lake saima with the gulf of finland. various cereals (barley, oats, &c.) are grown, and there is a varied and valuable fauna; fishing is an extensive industry, and no less than kinds of fish are found in the rivers, lakes, and coast waters. the country is divided into eight counties, and is governed by a senate and diet, the reigning russian emperor holding rank as grand-duke; education is highly advanced; swedish and finnish are the two languages of the country, russian being practically unknown. there is an excellent saga literature, and the beginnings of a modern literature. the finns came under the dominion of the swedes in the th and th centuries, and were by them christianised. finlay, george, a distinguished historian, horn at faversham, kent, but of scotch parents; received a university training at glasgow and göttingen, and in went to greece, where he met byron and fought in the war of independence; henceforth greece became his home, and there, after an unavailing effort to promote agriculture, he betook himself to a studious life and to writing the history of his adopted country; his valuable history, published in various parts, traces the national life of greece from b.c. to a.d. ( - ). finmark ( ), a province of norway, lying in the extreme n., with a rocky and indented coast and a barren and mountainous interior; fishing is the main industry of the inhabitants, who are chiefly lapps. finns, the native inhabitants of finland, and originally of the districts in sweden and norway as well, are of the mongolian type, and were settled in europe before the arrival of the slavic and teutonic races. fiords, deep indentations forming inlets of the sea, especially on the coast of norway, overlooked by high mountains and precipitous cliffs. firdausi or firdusi, the pseudonym of abu-'l kasim mansur, the great poet of persia, born near tûs, in khorassan; flourished in the th century b.c.; spent years in writing the "shah nama," a national epic, but having been cheated out of the reward promised by sultan mahmud, he gave vent to bitter satire against his royal master and fled the court; for some time he led a wandering life, till at length he returned to his birthplace, where he died; a complete translation of his great poem exists in french. fire-worship, worship of fire, especially as embodied in the sun viewed as the most express and emphatic exhibition of beneficent divine power. firmament, a name given to the vault of the sky conceived as a solid substance studded with stars, so applied in the vulgate. firman, a persian word denoting a mandate or decree; among the turks the term is applied to such decrees as issue from the ottoman porte, and also to passports, the right of signing which lies with the sultan or a pasha; the word is also used in india to denote a permit to trade. firmin, st., bishop of amiens, who suffered martyrdom in . festival, sept. . first gentleman of europe, george iv., from his fine style and manners. fischart, johann, a german satirist; an imitator of rabelais ( - ). fischer, ernst kuno berthold, a german historian of philosophy, born at sandewalde, silesia; as a student of erdmann at halle he was smitten with the love of philosophy, and gave his life to the study of it; after graduating he went to heidelberg and there established himself as a private lecturer, in which capacity he was eminently successful, but in was deprived of his status by government, probably on account of the alleged pantheistic trend of his teaching; in , however, he was elected to the chair of philosophy in jena, and years later was called back to heidelberg as zeller's successor; his chief work is a "history of modern philosophy"; _b_. . fisher, john, bishop of rochester, born at beverley; was distinguished at cambridge, and became chaplain and confessor to the countess of richmond, henry vii.'s mother, who had him appointed professor of divinity at his _alma mater_; in he was elected chancellor of the university and made bishop of rochester, but incurred the royal displeasure by opposing henry viii.'s divorce of catherine of aragon, and by upholding the pope's supremacy; became involved in the deceptions of elizabeth barton, maid of kent, and was sent to the tower in for refusing to take the oath of succession; was created a cardinal, but was beheaded by order of the king ere his hat arrived; was beatified in ( - ). fiske, john, american writer, born at hartford, conn., u.s.; studied at harvard; in lectured at his old university as a positivist, and was under-librarian from to ; he is the author of a number of works on darwinism, american history, philosophy, etc.; _b_. . fitch, john, an american inventor, born in connecticut; led a life of adventure, at one time acting as gunsmith to the american revolutionaries and at another falling into the hands of indians whilst trading in the west; in he brought out a model steamboat with side wheels, and in and in constructed larger vessels, one of the latter being for some time employed as a passenger boat; some of his plans are said to have fallen into robert fulton's hands and given him the idea of his steamship; disheartened by the ill-success of a trip to france he committed suicide at bardstown, kentucky ( - ). fitz-boodle, george, thackeray's pseudonym in _fraser's magazine_. fitzgerald, edward, english scholar, born in suffolk; at cambridge, where he graduated in , he formed close friendships with james spedding and thackeray, and afterwards was on intimate terms with carlyle and tennyson; his life was quietly spent in his country residence in suffolk, varied by yachting expeditions and visits to london, where he made the round of his friends; his first book, "euphranor," a dialogue on youth, appeared when he was , "polonius" followed and some spanish translations, but his fame rests on his translations of persian poetry, and especially on his rendering of the th-century poet, omar khayyám ( - ). fitzgerald, lady, a daughter of egalité and mme. genlis, called pamela; distinguished for her beauty and enthusiasm for liberty, and who became the wife of lord fitzgerald, the irish patriot (q. v.); _d_. . fitzgerald, lord edward, the younger son of the duke of leinster, born at carlton castle, near dublin; spent his early years in france; joined the english army and served with distinction in the american war; in he was elected to the irish parliament, and opposed the english government; was attracted to france by the revolution, but returned to ireland and joined the united irishmen in , and began plotting the rising of ; his scheme was betrayed, and he was arrested in dublin after a determined resistance, during which he received wounds of which he died in prison ( - ). fitzherbert, mrs., a roman catholic lady, maiden name maria anne smythe, with whom, after her second widowhood, george iv., while prince of wales, contracted a secret marriage in , which, however, under the royal marriage act, was declared invalid ( - ). fitzroy, robert, admiral, navigator, and meteorologist, born at ampton hall, near bury st. edmunds; entered the navy at , and in - conducted a survey of the coasts of patagonia and tierra del fuego, a work he continued while commanding the _beagle_ ( - ), in which darwin accompanied him; in - was governor of new zealand; in his later years devoted himself to meteorology, and, on the retired list, rose to be vice-admiral; published accounts of his voyages, etc.; under pressure of work his mind gave way, and he committed suicide ( - ). fitzwilliam, william, earl, a politician of george the third's time; the excesses of the french revolution caused him to come over from the whigs and support pitt; favoured catholic emancipation during his lord-lieutenancy of ireland, but was recalled; held office under grenville in , and took some part in the reform bill agitation of the day ( - ). fiume ( ), a seaport of hungary, on the adriatic, at the rocky entrance of the fiumara, m. se. of trieste; a new town of spacious and colonnaded streets and many fine buildings, has grown up on the ground sloping down from the old town; has an excellent harbour, and flourishing industries in paper, torpedoes, tobacco, etc., besides being the entrepôt of an important and increasing commerce. flacius or vlacich, matthias, surnamed illyricus, a german theologian, born at albona, in illyria; was the pupil of luther and melanchthon; became professor of the old testament scriptures at wittenberg, but four years later lost his position on account of certain attacks he made on melanchthon; subsequently he was elected professor at jena, but was again deposed for heterodox notions on original sin; died in poverty; was author of an ecclesiastical history and other works ( - ). flagellants, a set of medieval fanatics, who first arose in italy in , and subsequently appeared in other quarters of europe, and who thought by self-flagellation to atone for sin and avert divine judgment, hoping by a limited number of stripes to compensate for a century of scourgings; the practice arose at a time when it was reckoned that the final judgment of the world was at hand. flahault de la billarderie, auguste charles joseph, comte de, a french soldier and diplomatist, born at paris; was aide-de-camp to napoleon, and for distinguished services in the peninsular war and at leipzig was made a general and count; fought at waterloo, and two years later married margaret elphinston, who by inheritance became baroness keith; he was ambassador at the courts of venice ( - ) and at london ( ) ( - ). flambard, randolph, a norman who came over with the conqueror to england and became chaplain to william rufus, whom he abetted and pandered to in his vices, in return for which, and a heavy sum he paid, he was in made bishop of durham. flamboyant, the name given, from the flame-like windings of its tracery, to a florid style of architecture in vogue in france during the th and th centuries. flamens, priests elected in rome by the people and consecrated by the chief pontiff to the service of a particular god, such as jupiter, mars, &c. flaminius, caius, a roman tribune and consul, who constructed the flaminian way; perished at lake trasimene, where he was defeated by hannibal in the second punic war, b.c. flaminius, t. quintus, a roman consul, who defeated philip of macedon and proclaimed the freedom of greece, and it was his close neighbourhood to hannibal that induced the latter to take poison rather than fall into his hands ( - b.c.). flammarion, camille, french astronomer, born at montigny-le-roi; he was attached to the paris observatory in , and by means of books and lectures has spent a busy life in popularising his science; many of his works have been translated into english; _b_. . flamsteed, john, the first astronomer-royal of england, born near derby; his devotion to astronomy gained him the favour of sir jonas moore, who was the means of getting him the appointment of astronomer-royal in ; from the observatory of greenwich, specially built for his use, he catalogued the fixed stars and supplied newton with useful information bearing on his lunar theory; in he took holy orders, and was presented to the living of burstow in surrey, which he held till his death ( - ). flanders, the land of the flemings, borders upon the north sea, formerly extended from the scheldt to the somme, and included, besides the present belgian provinces of east and west flanders, part of zealand, and also of artois, in france; the ancient county dates from , in which year charles the bold of france, as suzerain, raised it to the status of a sovereign county, and bestowed it upon his son baldwin i.; it has successively belonged to spain and austria, and in louis xiv.'s reign a portion of it was ceded to france, now known as french flanders, while zealand passed into the hands of the dutch; the remainder was in made the austrian netherlands, and in was incorporated with the new kingdom of belgium (q. v.). flandrin, a french painter, born at lyons; was a pupil of ingres; represented the religious movement in art in the th century ( - ). flaubert, gustave, a realistic romancer, born at rouen; author of "madame bovary," a study of provincial life, which became the subject of a prosecution, and "salammbô," wonderful for its vigour and skill in description; he indulged in repulsive subjects ( - ). flavel, john, an english nonconformist divine of spiritualising tendencies, much read by pious people of his class; _d_. . flaxman, john, an eminent sculptor, born at york; was brought up in london, where his father carried on business as a moulder of plaster figures; his love of drawing and modelling soon marked him out as an artist, and helped by friends he devoted himself to art; exhibited at the age of , and won the silver medal of the royal academy at ; for some years he supplied the wedgwoods with designs for their famous pottery, and in he went to rome, which for seven years became his home; in became professor of sculpture to the royal academy; besides many fine statues of eminent men and much exquisite work in bas-reliefs, he executed a series of noble designs illustrating homer, dante, and Æschylus; he was a swedenborgian by religious creed ( - ). flechier, a famous french pulpit orator, bishop of nîmes; his funeral orations compare with bossuet's ( - ). fleet marriages, clandestine marriages, suppressed in , performed without license by the chaplains of fleet prison, london. fleet prison, a celebrated london jail in farringdon street; was a debtor's prison as far back as the th century. fleetwood, charles, a cromwellian officer; fought as lieutenant-general against the king at worcester, and acted as lord-deputy in ireland; on the death of cromwell advised the abdication of richard; _d_. . flegel, african explorer, born in wilna, of german descent; made three journeys from europe to explore the niger territory, in which he made important discoveries; was suddenly stricken down in the last ( - ). fleischer, heinrich leberecht, orientalist, born at schandau, saxony; after a university training at leipzig he undertook a catalogue of the oriental mss. in the royal library at dresden, and in became professor of oriental languages at leipzig; did important work as a critical editor of oriental works and mss. ( - ). fleming, paul, a celebrated german poet, born at hartenstein, vogtland; received a medical training at leipzig, and was engaged in embassies in russia and persia; settled in hamburg in , but died the following year; as a lyrist he stood in the front rank of german poets ( - ). flemish school, a school of painting established in the th century, and to which reubens, vandyck, and teniers belonged. fleshly school, a name given by robert buchanan to a realistic school of poets, to which rossetti, william morris, and swinburne belong. flesselles, the last provost of the merchants of the hôtel de ville, paris; "shot by an unknown hand at the turn of a street" after the fall of the bastille ( - ). fletcher, andrew, of saltoun, a scottish patriot and politician; after travelling on the continent for four years he entered the scottish parliament, but got into trouble through his opposition to james, duke of york, the royal commissioner in scotland, and fled to holland; his estates were confiscated, and for the next seven years he was a political refugee; he took part in the rye house plot and in monmouth's invasion; his estates were restored in , and he again sat in the scottish parliament; he was an active promoter of the abortive darien scheme, and a strong opponent of the union of ( - ). fletcher, giles, an english poet, born in london; was the unappreciated rector of alderton, in suffolk, and author of a fervid and imaginative poem, "christ's victory and triumph," which won the admiration of milton ( - ). fletcher, john, english dramatist, the son of a bishop of london; was left an orphan and in poverty; collaborated with beaumont (q. v.) in the production of the plays published under their joint names; died of the plague ( - ). fletcher, phineas, poet, brother of preceding; was rector of hilgay, norfolk; celebrated for his poem the "purple island, or the isle of man," an ingenious allegory descriptive of the human body--i. e. the purple island--and its vices and virtues. fleurant, monsieur, a character in molière's "malade imaginaire." fleur-de-lis (i. e. lily-flower), a badge of ultimately three golden _fleurs-de-lis_ on a blue field, borne from the days of clovis on their arms by the kings of france. fleury, andrÉ hercule de. cardinal, french statesman, born at lodève, in languedoc; studied philosophy in paris; became a doctor of the sorbonne and almoner to the queen and king louis xiv., who subsequently made him bishop of frèjus and tutor to his son louis; in he was chosen prime minister by louis xv., and created a cardinal; he carried through a successful war with germany, which resulted in the acquisition of lorraine by france, but although honest and cautious, he cannot be styled a great statesman ( - ). fleury, claude, abbÉ, an ecclesiastical historian, born in paris; was at the outset of his career a successful advocate, but afterwards entered the church; as tutor he educated various princes, including an illegitimate son of louis xiv., who in reward appointed him to the priory of argenteuil; was chosen confessor to the young louis xv., and in was elected to the academy; his chief work is his great "ecclesiastical history" in vols., on which he laboured for years, and the learning, ability, and impartiality of which procured for him the esteem of all parties ( - ). flinders, matthew, a naval officer, born in lincolnshire; explored the coast of australia, experiencing not a few adventures, and adding materially to our geographical knowledge ( - ). flint, , a maritime county ( ) of north wales, between lancashire and denbigh, of which a detached portion lies to the n. of shropshire; low stretches of sand form its foreshore, but inland it is hilly, with here and there a picturesque and fertile valley in which dairy-farming is extensively carried on. , a seaport ( ), on the estuary of the dee, m. nw. of chester; has ruins of a castle with interesting historical associations; in the neighbourhood are copper-works and lead and coal mines. flint, robert, a theologian, born in dumfriesshire; professor of divinity in edinburgh university; an eminent scholar, a vigorous thinker, and a man of broad sympathies, who takes a deep interest in all the vital questions of the times, and has contributed to the solution of them; has written on theism, the philosophy of history, socialism, &c.; _b_. . floating islands are sometimes formed of masses of driftwood on which débris, vegetation, &c., gradually form a soil, but are more commonly portions of river banks detached by the force of the current when swollen and drifted put, sometimes as much as m., to sea, carrying with them plants, reptiles, and larger animals, and thus contributing to the distribution to distant shores of animal and vegetable life; they are to be met with off the mouths of the larger american, asian, and african rivers, and sometimes in inland seas and lakes; derwent lake, in england, has a notable one, which sinks, and rises periodically; they are also made artificially in districts subject to floods as asylums of refuge. flodden, battle of, fought on flodden hill, a low spur of the cheviots, m. s. of coldstream, between james iv. of scotland and the english under the earl of surrey on the th of september , which resulted in the crushing defeat of the scots, who lost their king and the flower of their nobility, an event celebrated in jean elliot's "flowers of the forest"; a spirited account is given in the sixth canto of scott's "marmion." flood, henry, an irish nationalist, trained at dublin and oxford universities; entering the irish parliament, he by his fervid oratory soon won a place in the front rank of irish politicians; in he was put on trial for killing an opponent in a duel, but was acquitted; from to he was vice-treasurer of ireland; to grattan's irish bill of right he offered bitter opposition, holding it to be an altogether inadequate measure; in he was returned to the english house of commons, but failed to make his mark ( - ). flora, goddess of the blossom of flowers and the spring, an early roman divinity; had in the time of numa a flamen (q. v.) to herself. florence ( ), a famous italian city, situated m. from the sea; it lies in the valley of the arno, and is built on both sides of the river, but chiefly on the n.; the outlying suburbs are singularly beautiful, and are surrounded by finely wooded hills, bright with gay villas and charming gardens; the old city itself is characterised by a sombre grandness, and is full of fine buildings of historic and artistic interest; chief amongst these is the cathedral, or duomo, begun in , with its grand dome and campanile ( ft.), by giotto. it is the city of dante, petrarch, michael angelo, leonardo da vinci, boccaccio, machiavelli, galileo and many more of italy's great men, and has a history of exceptional interest; it has many fine art galleries; is an educational centre, and carries on a trade in straw-plaiting and silk. florian, jean pierre de, a french novelist and writer of fables; was the friend of voltaire, from whom he received his first literary impulse; was the author of several romances plays, &c., but his finest work is found in his fables, in which department of literature he ranks next la fontaine ( - ). florida ( ), "land of flowers," the most southern of the american states, forms a bold peninsula on the e. side of the gulf of mexico, and has on its eastern shore the atlantic; has a coast-line of m.; the chief physical feature is the amount of water surface, made up of navigable rivers and lakes and ponds to the number of , besides swamps and marshes; the climate is, however, equable, and for the most part healthy; fruit-growing is largely engaged in; the timber trade flourishes, also the phosphate industry, and cotton and the sugar-cane are extensively cultivated; a successful business in cigar-making has also of recent years sprung up, and there are valuable fisheries along the coast; florida was admitted into the union in ; the capital is tallahassee. florio, john, the translator of montaigne, born in london, of italian parents; was a tutor of foreign languages for some years at oxford, and in became a member of magdalen college and teacher of french and italian; published two works of a miscellaneous character, called "first fruits" and "second fruits," and an english-italian dictionary called a "world of words," but his fame rests on his translation of montaigne, which shakespeare used so freely ( - ). florus, a latin historian, contemporary of trajan. fludd, robert, physician and theosophist, born at milgate, kent; studied at oxford, and travelled on the continent, where he came under the influence of paracelsus's writings; settled in london as a doctor, and published a work embodying a vague theosophy ( - ). flushing ( ), a dutch seaport, strongly fortified, on the island of walcheren, at the mouth of the western scheldt; has an active shipping trade, docks, arsenals, &c. fluxions, a method, invented by sir isaac newton, of determining the rate of increase or decrease of a quantity or magnitude whose value depends on that of another which itself varies in value at a uniform and given rate. see calculus, differential, and integral. flying dutchman, a dutch captain, fated for his sins to scour the sea and never reach port, who appeared from time to time to sea-captains as on a black spectral ship, and from the very terror he inspired made them change their course; there are many versions of this fable in the german mythology. fo, the name in china for buddha. fo-hi, or fuh-he, the mythical founder of the chinese dynasty, is said to have introduced cattle-rearing, instituted marriage, and invented letters. foix, gaston de, illustrious french captain, nephew of louis xii., was from his daring exploits called the thunderbolt of italy; he beat the swiss, routed the papal troops, captured brescia from the venetians, and gained the battle of ravenna against the spaniards, but was slain when pursuing the fugitives ( - ). foix, gaston iii. de, french captain, surnamed phoebus on account of his beauty and handsome presence; distinguished in the wars against the english and in the jacquerie revolt, in which he rescued the dauphin at meaux ( - ). foley, john henry, an eminent sculptor, born in dublin; his first success was achieved in a series of classical figures, including some shakespearian subjects; statues of hampden, burke, j. s. mill, goldsmith, &c., brought him further fame, and he was commissioned by the queen to execute the figure of prince albert in the albert memorial; his vigour and genius were further revealed in the noble equestrian statues of hardinge and outram ( - ). folkestone ( ), a seaport and watering-place on the coast of kent, m. sw. of dover; has a fine harbour and esplanade; is much engaged in the herring and mackerel fisheries, and is steam-packet station for boulogne; a fine railway viaduct spans the valley in which the old town lies. fonblanque, albany william, journalistic editor, after serving on the staff of the _times_ and the _morning chronicle_ became editor of the _examiner_, which he conducted successfully from to ; carlyle was introduced to him on his visit to london in , and describes him as "a tall, loose, lank-haired, wrinkly, wintry, vehement-looking flail of a man," but "the best of the fourth estate" then extant; "i rather like the man," he adds, "has the air of a true-hearted radical" ( - ). fontainebleau, a town on the left bank of the seine, m. se. of paris, and famous for a château or palace of the kings of france, and the forest that surrounds it. this château, founded towards the end of the th century, was enlarged and embellished by successive kings, beginning with francis i., and was the place where napoleon signed his abdication in . fontanes, louis, marquis de, poet and man of letters, born at niort, poitou; came to paris and achieved some celebrity by his poems and translations from pope and gray; changing from the royalist side, he, during the revolution, edited two journals in the republican interest, and held the post of professor of literature at the college of the four nations; was for some time a refugee in england, but afterwards returned and became a zealous supporter of napoleon, on the downfall of whom he embraced the bourbon cause, and was raised to the peerage ( - ). fontenelle, bernard le bovier de, a miscellaneous french writer, born at rouen, a nephew of corneille, whose life he wrote; was designed for the bar, but under his uncle's patronage embarked on a literary career in paris; he vehemently upheld the moderns in the famous literary quarrel of moderns _versus_ ancients, and brought upon himself the satirical attacks of boileau and racine; became secretary and then president of the académie des sciences; died in his hundredth year; his vigorous and versatile nature found vent in a wide variety of writings--literary, scientific, and historical; author of "dialogues of the dead," in imitation of lucian, and "conversations on the plurality of worlds"; is credited with the saying, "a man may have his hand full of truth, and yet only care to open his little finger," and this other, "no man was ever written down but by himself" ( - ). fontenoy, a village in belgium, m. sw. of tournay, where marshal saxe beat the english, dutch, and austrians under the duke of cumberland in . foochow ( ), a chinese city, the capital of the province of fu-chien, situated on the min, m. ne. of amoy. massive walls ft. high enclose the original town, but the extensive suburbs reach down to the river, which is bridged, and is a convenient waterway for trading with the interior; it was made a free port in , and is the centre of a busy trade in tea, timber, and textiles. fools, feast of, a festival of wild mirth in the middle ages, held on st january, in which the ass of scripture celebrity played a chief part, and in which many of the rites and ceremonies of the church were travestied. foot-pound, the name given in mechanics to the force required to raise lb. through foot, the unit of work. foote, samuel, a celebrated english actor and playwright, born at truro, cornwall, of a good family; was educated at oxford, and studied law, but ruined himself by gaming, and took to the stage; he became the successful lessee of haymarket theatre in , where, by his inimitable powers of mimicry and clever comedies, he firmly established himself in popular favour ( - ). forbes, archibald, a noted war-correspondent, born in morayshire; was educated at aberdeen university; served in a cavalry regiment, acted as war-correspondent for the _daily news_ during the franco-german war, and has since been the brilliant chronicler of war news in all parts of the globe; has published several volumes; _b_. . forbes, duncan, of culloden, a distinguished lawyer and patriotic politician, born at bunchrew; was trained at edinburgh and leyden, and called to the scotch bar in ; took an active part in putting down the rebellion of , and in entered parliament; three years later he was appointed lord advocate and lord president of the court of session; succeeded his brother in the estates of culloden and bunchrew; during the rebellion he was active in the hanoverian interest, and did much to quell the uprising; forbes was a devoted scot, and unweariedly strove to allay the jacobite discontent and to establish the country in peace, and used his great influence and wealth to further these ends, services which, in the end, impoverished him, and received little or no recognition at the hands of government ( - ). forbes, edward, a noted naturalist, born at douglas, in the isle of man; studied medicine at edinburgh, where he became smitten with the love of natural science, to which he devoted his life; in he accompanied the _beacon_ as naturalist, and returning in found himself elected to the chair of botany in king's college, london; various geological appointments followed, and in he became president of the geological society, and two years later received the chair of natural history in edinburgh; forbes was a prolific author, and his writings cover the whole field of natural science, to every section of which he has made contributions of great value ( - ). forbes, james david, physicist, born at edinburgh, the grandson of sir william, and the son of the first lady-love of sir walter scott, and very like her; was called to the bar in ; physical science, however, was his ruling passion, and in he became professor of natural philosophy in edinburgh university, from which he was called in to the principalship of the united college, st. andrews, in which he succeeded sir david brewster, whom he had defeated in obtaining the edinburgh chair; he made some valuable contributions to natural science, including discoveries in the polarisation of heat and in regard to the motion of glaciers, to investigate which he travelled in norway and in the alps ( - ). forbes, sir john, physician, born at cuttlebrae, banffshire; entered the navy as assistant-surgeon in , and became m.d. of edinburgh ten years later; practised at penzance and chichester, but finally settled at london in , where he became physician to the queen; was for twelve years editor of the _british and foreign medical review_, which he founded in , and was joint-author of the "cyclopædia of practical medicine"; first to use the stethoscope in england ( - ). forbes, sir william, an eminent banker, son of a scotch advocate and baronet, born in edinburgh; became partner in the banking firm of messrs. john coutts & co.; two years later a new company was formed, of which he rose to be manager, and which in became the union bank of scotland; he is author of a life of his friend beattie, the scottish poet, and of "memoirs of a banking-house" ( - ). ford, john, dramatist, born at islington, north devon; studied at oxford, and entered the middle temple in , but was never called to the bar; in appeared his first poetic work "fame's memorial," an elegy on the death of the earl of devonshire, and for the next years he was a prolific writer of plays, chiefly tragedies, collaborating in some cases with dekker and webster; "the broken heart" was greatly admired by charles lamb, and "perkin warbeck" is considered by stopford brooke the best historical drama after shakespeare; there is little of the lighter graces about his work, and he is prone to go beyond the bounds of nature in his treatment of the tragic, but his grip on the greater human passions, and his power of moving presentment, are undoubted ( - ). fordun, john of, a scottish chronicler; lived in the th century; was a canon of aberdeen cathedral, and wrote a chronicle of scottish history, bringing the story up to ; materials for further volumes, which he left, were utilised by walter bower, an abbot of inchcolm, in the forth, who extended the account to , but often tampered with fordun's narrative; the work is the chief authority in scottish history up to the time it treats of. foreland, north and south, two rocky promontories on the e. coast of kent, which lie m. apart; have the downs and goodwin sands between them; they are well marked with lighthouses. forensic medicine, or medical jurisprudence, a branch of legal science in which the principles of medicine are applied to the purposes of the law, and originating out of the frequency with which medical points arise in the administration of justice, e. g. in murder trials and in cases where insanity is involved. forest laws, laws enacted in ancient times for the purpose of guarding the royal forest lands as hunting preserves, and which were up to the time of henry iii. of excessive harshness, death being a not infrequent penalty for infringement. the privileges of forest (at one time the sole prerogative of the sovereign, but by him capable of being vested in another), which might include the right to the wild animals in the forests lying in the domains of a private estate, have now fallen into abeyance, as also the special forest courts, while many of the royal forests, which in henry viii.'s time numbered , have been disafforested. forfar ( ), the county town of forfarshire, m. ne. of dundee; manufactures linen; was once an important royal residence, and was made a royal burgh by david i. forfarshire or angus ( ), a maritime county on the e. side of scotland, lying n. of the firth of tay; strathmore and the carse of gowrie are fertile valleys, where agriculture and cattle-rearing flourish, and which, with the braes of angus in the n. and the sidlaw hills to the s., make up a finely diversified county; jute and linen are the most important articles of manufacture, of which dundee and arbroath are centres; forfarshire is a county particularly rich in antiquities--roman remains, castles, priories, &c. formosa ( , ), a large island off the coast of china, from which it is separated by the fukien channel, m. broad. formosa was ceded to japan by the chinese in ; it is an island of much natural beauty, and is traversed n. and s. by a fine range of hills; is famed for its bamboos, and exports coal, rice, tea, &c. name also of a large territory in the argentine. fornarina, a roman lady of great beauty, a friend of raphael's, and who frequently posed as a model to him. forres ( ), a royal burgh in elginshire, on the findhorn, m. from the sea and m. sw. of elgin by railway; has ruins of a castle--once a royal residence--and a famous "stan'in stane," sueno's stone, ft. high, placed in the year . forrest, edwin, a celebrated american actor, born in philadelphia; went on the stage at , and from the provinces made his way to new york, where his rendering of othello at the age of raised him to the front rank among actors; he made three tours in england, but during his last in he entirely lost the popular favour through his conduct in an embittered quarrel with macready; after his final appearance on the stage in he continued for a short while to give shakespearian readings; he was a tragedian of the highest order, and in his profession amassed a large fortune ( - ). fors clavigera, the name given by ruskin to a series of letters to workmen, written during the seventies of this century, and employed by him to designate three great powers which go to fashion human destiny, viz., _force_, wearing, as it were, (_clava_) the club of hercules; _for_titude, wearing, as it were, (_clavis_) the key of ulysses; and _for_tune, wearing, as it were, (_clavus_) the nail of lycurgus; that is to say, faculty waiting on the right moment, and then striking in. see shakespeare's "time and tide in the affairs of men," &c., the "flood" in which is the "third fors." the letters are represented as written at the dictation of the third fors, or, as it seems to the author, the right moment, or the occurrence of it. fÖrster, ernst, an art critic, brother of succeeding, author of a number of elaborate and important works bearing on the history of art in germany and italy; was the son-in-law of jean paul, whose works he edited, and to whose biography he made contributions of great value ( - ). fÖrster, friedrich christoph, german poet and historian; his poetic gifts were first called into exercise during the war of liberation, in which he served as a volunteer, and the series of spirited war-songs he then wrote procured him a wide-spread fame; afterwards he lived in berlin, teaching in the school of artillery, and subsequently becoming custodian of the royal art museum; besides poems he wrote several historical and biographical works ( - ). forster, johann george adam, naturalist, son of the succeeding; accompanied his father in the voyage with cook, and contributed to the literature anent the expedition; subsequently became professor of natural history at cassel and at wilna, and eventually librarian to the elector of mayence in ; his works are published in vols. ( - ). forster, johann reinhold, a german naturalist and traveller, born in prussia; accompanied captain cook as a naturalist on his second expedition to the south seas, and in connection with which he wrote a volume of observations; died professor of natural history and mineralogy at halle ( - ). forster, john, a noted english writer, born at newcastle; was educated for the bar, but took to journalism, and soon made his mark as a political writer in the _examiner_; he subsequently edited the _foreign quarterly review_, the _daily news_ (succeeding dickens), and the _examiner_ ( - ); he was the author of several historical sketches, but his best-known works are the admirable biographies of goldsmith, landor, and dickens ( - ). forster, william edward, statesman, born at bradpole, dorset, son of a quaker; entered upon a commercial career in a worsted manufactory at bradford, but from the first politics engaged his paramount attention, and in he became member of parliament for bradford; became in succession under-secretary for the colonies, vice-president of the council of education, and a privy councillor; his chief legislative measure was the elementary education bill of , which, as a member of mr. gladstone's cabinet, he carried through parliament, two years after which the ballot act was introduced by him; in he visited the united states, and on his return was elected lord rector of aberdeen university; as irish secretary in he made an earnest effort to grapple with the irish problem, but losing the support of his colleagues, over the imprisonment of mr. parnell and other land league leaders, he resigned; he was married to jane, eldest daughter of dr. arnold of rugby; his transparent honesty and rugged independence of character won him universal esteem ( - ). fort augustus, a small village on the caledonian canal, m. sw. of inverness; the fort, built in and enlarged in , was utilised as a barrack during the disturbances in the highlands, but after being dismantled and again garrisoned down to , it finally, in , passed into the hands of the benedictines (q. v.), who have converted it into an abbey and college. fort george, a fortress on the moray firth, m. ne. of inverness; was built in , and is now the head-quarters of the seaforth highlanders. fort william, a small police-burgh in inverness-shire, m. sw. of inverness, near the southern end of the caledonian canal; the railway station stands on the site of the old fort, which in was built by monk; a meteorological observatory was erected here in . fortescue, sir john, an eminent english lawyer, born in somersetshire; flourished in the th century; was called to the bar at lincoln's inn, and in became lord chief-justice of the court of king's bench; he was a staunch lancastrian during the wars of the roses, and shared the exile of queen margaret and her son edward, for whom he wrote in dialogue form his famous "de laudibus legum," a treatise still read; the fate of the lancastrian cause was sealed on the field of tewkesbury, and he himself was taken prisoner; he died at the advanced age of . forth, a river of scotland, formed by the junction of duchray water and the avondhu, streams which rise one on ben lomond and the other on ben venue, and which, after and m., unite at aberfoyle; the river thence flows with many windings, called links, through some of the fairest country of the eastern lowlands to alloa ( ½ m.), where begins the firth, which stretches m. to the german ocean, and which at queensferry is spanned by a massive railway bridge known as the forth bridge ( - ). fortuna, a roman divinity, the goddess of luck, and especially good luck, to whom servius tullius, in acknowledgment of her favours to him, erected several temples in rome; is represented in art as standing poised on a globe or a wheel, to express her inconstancy. fortunatus, a character in a popular german legend, who possessed a _purse_ out of which he was able to provide himself with money as often as he needed it and _cap_, by putting on of which, and wishing to be anywhere, he was straightway there; these he got, by his own free election and choice, conceded to him by the upper powers, and they proved a curse to him rather than a blessing, he finding out when too late that "the god wish is not the true god." forty thieves, a fraternity in the "arabian nights" who inhabited a secret den in a forest, the gate of which would open only to the magic word "sesamë." forum, a public place in rome and roman cities where the courts of justice were held, and popular assemblies for civic business. forwards, marshal, marshal blÜcher (q. v.). foscari, a doge of venice from to his death; his reign was distinguished by the glories of conquest, but his life was embittered by the misfortunes of his sons, and the judicial tortures inflicted on one of them which he was compelled to witness; he died at the age of , broken-hearted ( - ). foscolo, ugo, an italian patriot and author, born at zante; his literary career began in venice with the successful performance of his tragedy "trieste," but on the austrian occupation of the town he joined the french army; disappointed in the hope that france would unite with and free italy, he returned to literary work in milan, and in was called to the chair of eloquenco in pavia; but the conquering austrians again forced him to become a refugee, first in switzerland and finally in england, where he died; he was the author of various essays, poems, etc., and of a translation of sterne's "sentimental journey" ( - ). foster, birket, a celebrated artist, born at north shields; his earliest work was done in wood-engraving under the direction of landells, and many of his sketches appeared in the _illustrated london news_; following this he executed, in collaboration with john gilbert, a series of illustrations for the works of goldsmith, cowper, scott, and other poets, in which he exhibited a rare skill in rural scenes; subsequent work has been in water-colours, and in he was elected a member of the water-colour society ( - ). foster, john, an english essayist, born in halifax, yorkshire; was trained for the baptist ministry, and for years officiated in various congregations, but met with little success; from he devoted himself solely to literature, and became a contributor to the _eclectic review_, for which he wrote no fewer than articles; his best-known work is an "essay on the evils of popular ignorance," in which he advocates a system of national education ( - ). fotheringay, a village in northamptonshire, on the nen, m. sw. of peterborough; the ruined castle there was the scene of the execution of mary, queen of scots, in . foucault, john bernard, a french physicist, born in paris; distinguished for his studies in optics and problems connected with light; demonstrated the rate of the rotation of the globe by the oscillation of a pendulum ( - ). fouchÉ, joseph, duke of otranto, born at nantes, a member of the national convention, and voted for the death of louis xvi.; became minister of police under napoleon; falling into disfavour, was sent into exile, but recalled to paris in ; advised napoleon to abdicate at that time and again after waterloo; served under louis xviii. for a time, but was obliged at length to quit france for good; died at trieste ( - ). foula, a high and rocky islet among the shetlands, m. w. of lerwick; its sandstone cliffs on the nw. are ft. in height, and rise sheer from the water; it is sparsely peopled; fishing is the almost sole pursuit. fould, achille, french statesman, born at paris; entered political life in ; became an authority in finance, served in that capacity under louis napoleon ( - ). foulis, robert and andrew, celebrated printers; were brought up in glasgow, where robert, the elder, after practising as a barber, took to printing, and in became printer to the university; his press was far-famed for the beauty and accuracy of editions of the classics; andrew was trained for the ministry, but subsequently joined his brother; an academy, started by the brothers in for engraving, moulding, etc., although a complete success artistically, involved them in expense, and eventually financial ruin; they have been called the "scottish elzevirs" (robert, - ; andrew, - ). foulon, a french financier, nicknamed the _ame damnée_, familiar demon, of the parlement of paris prior to the revolution; "once, when it was objected to some financial scheme of his, 'what will the people do?' made answer, 'the people may eat grass,'" words which the people never forgot; when attacked by them "he defended himself like a mad lion, but was borne down, trampled, hanged, and mangled," his head thereafter paraded through the city on a pike and the mouth stuffed with grass ( - ). foundling hospitals are institutions for the rearing of children who have been deserted by their parents, and exist with varying regulations in most civilised countries; the first foundling hospital was established at milan in , and others arose in germany, italy, and france before the th century; the paris foundling hospital is a noted institution of the kind, and offers every encouragement for children to be brought in, and admits legitimate orphans and children pronounced incorrigible criminals by the court; the london foundling hospital was founded by captain thomas coram, and supports about illegitimates. fouquier-tinville, a merciless revolutionary, born near artois; member of the jacobin club, attorney-general of the revolutionary tribunal, purveyor of the guillotine; was guillotined himself after the fall of robespierre ( - ). fourth estate, the daily press, so called by edmund burke, pointing, in the house of commons, to the reporters' gallery. fourth of july, the anniversary of the declaration of american independence in . fowler, sir john, k.c.m.g., civil engineer, born at sheffield; was actively engaged in the construction of numerous railways (notably the london and brighton), and in dock and bridge building; carried through important works in egypt in , and, along with sir b. baker, he designed the forth bridge, on the completion of which he received a baronetcy ( - ). fox, charles james, an eminent whig statesman, third son of henry fox, first lord holland, born in london; was educated at eton and oxford, and at the age of sat in parliament for midhurst; under lord north he held office, but quarrelled with the premier and went over to the whigs, then led by rockingham; here he came under the influence of burke, and with him offered uncompromising opposition to the american war; in the rockingham ministry which followed he was foreign secretary, and subsequently joined north in the short-lived coalition ministry of ; during the next years he was the great opponent of pitt's government, and his brilliant powers of debate were never more effectively displayed than in his speeches against warren hastings and in the debates arising out of the french revolution, in which he advocated a policy of non-intervention; his sympathy with the french revolutionaries cost him the friendship of burke; during a retirement of five years he wrote his "history of james ii."; on pitt's death in he again came into office as foreign secretary, but died shortly afterwards when about to plead in the house of commons the cause of slave abolition; fox stands in the front rank of our parliamentary debaters, and was a man of quick and generous sympathies, but the reckless dissipation of his private life diminished his popular influence, and probably accounts for the fact that he never reached the highest office of state ( - ). fox, george, the first of the quakers, born at drayton, leicestershire; son of a poor weaver, and till his twentieth year plied the trade of a shoemaker; conceived, as he drudged at this task, that he had a call from above to withdraw from the world and give himself up to a higher ministry; stitched for himself one day a suit of leather, and so encased wandered through the country, rapt in his thoughts and bearing witness to the truth that god had revealed to him; about began his crusade against the religion of mere formality, and calling upon men to trust to the "inner light" alone; his quaint garb won him the title of "the man with the leather breeches," and his mode of speech with his "thou's" and "thee's" subjected him to general ridicule; but despite these eccentricities he by his earnestness gathered disciples about him who believed what he said and adopted his principles, and in the prosecution of his mission he visited wales, scotland, america, and various parts of germany, not without results; he had no kindly feeling towards cromwell, with whom he had three interviews, and who in his public conduct seemed to him to pay no regard to the claims of the "inner light" and the disciples of it ( - ). see "sartor resartus," book iii. chap. i. fox, william johnson, religious and political orator, born near southwold, suffolk; was trained for the independent ministry, but seceded to the unitarians, and subsequently established himself as a preacher of pronounced rationalism at finsbury; as a supporter of the anti-corn-law movement he won celebrity as an impassioned orator, and from to represented oldham in parliament; he was editor of the _monthly repository_, and a frequent contributor to the _westminster review_, and published various works on political and religious topics ( - ). foxe, john, martyrologist, born at boston, lincolnshire; in he resigned his fellowship in magdalen college, oxford, on account of his espousing the doctrines of the reformation, and for some years after he acted as a private tutor in noble families; during queen mary's reign he sought refuge on the continent, where he formed acquaintance with knox and other leading reformers; he returned to england on the accession of elizabeth, and was appointed a prebend in salisbury cathedral, but his nonconformist leanings precluded his further preferment; his most famous work is his "book of martyrs," first published in latin on the continent, the noble english version appearing in ( - ). foyers, fall of, a fine cascade, having a fall of ft., on the lower portion of the foyers, a river of inverness-shire, which enters loch ness on the e. side, in. ne. of fort augustus. fra diavolo, chief of a band of italian brigands, born in calabria; leader in sundry italian insurrections; was hanged at naples for treachery, in spite of remonstrances from england; gave name to an opera by auber, but only the name ( - ). fracas`toro, girolamo, a learned physician and poet, born at verona; became professor of dialectic at padua in his twentieth year; subsequently practised as a physician, but eventually gave himself up to literature ( - ). fragonard, jean honorÉ, a french artist, born at grasse; gained the "prix de rome" in , and afterwards studied in rome; was a member of the french academy, and during the revolution became keeper of the musée; many of his paintings are in the louvre, and are characterised by their free and luscious colouring ( - ). franc, a silver coin / fine, the monetary unity of france since , weighs grammes and equals about ½ d. in english currency (£ = . francs); has been adopted by belgium and switzerland, while under other names a similar coin is in use in spain (peseta), italy (lira), and greece (drachma). france ( , ), the land of the french; a nation standing in the front rank among the powers of europe. it occupies a geographical position of peculiar advantage in the western portion of it, having a southern foreshore on the mediterranean and a western and northern seaboard washed by the atlantic and the english channel, possessing altogether a coast-line, rather undeveloped however, of upwards of m., while to the e. it abuts upon belgium, germany, switzerland, and italy. it is divided into departments, including corsica. it is mainly composed of lowland and plateau, but has the cévennes in the s., while the pyrenees and alps (with the vosges and ardennes farther n.) lie on its southern and eastern boundaries. rivers abound and form, with the splendid railway, canal, and telegraph systems, an unrivalled means of internal communication; but there are singularly few lakes. it enjoys on the whole a fine climate, which favours the vineyards in the centre (the finest in the world), the olive groves in the s., and the wheat and beetroot region in the n. the mineral wealth is inconsiderable, and what of coal and iron there is lies widely apart. her manufactures, which include silk, wine, and woollen goods, are of the best, and in fine artistic work she is without an equal. the colonies are together larger in area than the mother-country, and include algeria, madagascar, and cochin china. the french are a people of keen intelligence, of bright, impulsive, and vivacious nature; urbane, cultured, and pleasure-loving in the cities, thrifty and industrious in the country; few races have given so rich a bequest to the literature and art of the world. roman catholicism is the dominant form of religion, but protestantism and the jewish religion are also state supported, as also mohammedanism in algiers. free compulsory education is in vogue. the government is a republic, and there are two chambers--a senate and a chamber of deputies. originally occupied by celts, the country, then called gallia, was conquered by the romans between and b.c., who occupied it till the th century, when it was overrun by the teutons, including the franks, who became dominant; and about the country, under charles the bald, became known as france. the unsettling effects of the great cataclysm of have been apparent in the series of political changes which have swept across the country this century; within that time it has been thrice a monarchy, thrice an empire, and thrice a republic. francesca, pistro della, an italian painter, sometimes called piero borghese after his native place; did fresco-work in florence and at loretto; painted pictures for the duke of rimini, notably "the flagellation"; was a friend of raphael's father; some of his pictures are in the london national gallery ( - ). francesca da rimini, a beautiful italian lady of the th century, whose pathetic love story finds a place in dante's "inferno"; she was betrothed by her father, the lord of ravenna, to giovanni of rimini, but her affections were engaged by paolo, his brother; the lovers were found together by giovanni and murdered by him. francesco di paula or st. francis of paola, founder of the order of the minims, born at paula, in calabria; was trained in a franciscan convent, but at the age of took up his abode in a cave, where the severe purity and piety of his life attracted to him many disciples; subsequently he founded an ascetic brotherhood, first called the hermits of st. francis of assisi, but afterwards changed to minim-hermits of st. francis of paola; he eventually lived in france, where convents were built for him and his brotherhood under royal patronage ( - ). franche-comtÉ, an ancient province in the e. of france, added to the crown of france in the reign of louis xiv. at the peace of nimeguen in . francia, dr. josÉ gaspar rodriguez da, dictator of paraguay, born near asunçion, in paraguay; graduated as a doctor of theology, but subsequently took to law, in the practice of which profession he was engaged for years, and won a high reputation for ability and undeviating honesty; in the revolutionary uprising which spread throughout spanish south america, paraguay played a conspicuous part, and when in she declared her independence, francia was elected secretary of the first national junta, and two years later one of two consuls; eventually, in , he became dictator, a position he held till his death; he ruled the country with a strong hand and with scrupulous, if somewhat rough, justice, making it part of his policy to allow no intercourse, political or commercial, with other countries; the country flourished under his rule, but fell into disorder after his death; he is the subject of a well-known essay by carlyle, who finds him a man very much after his own heart ( - ). francis, st., of assisi, founder of the franciscan order, born at assisi, in umbria; began life as a soldier, but during a serious illness his thoughts were turned from earth to heaven, and he devoted himself to a life of poverty and self-denial, with the result that his enthusiasm provoked emulation, and some of his neighbours associated with him and formed a brotherhood, which gave rise to the order; st. dominic and he were contemporaries, "the former teaching christian men how to behave, and the latter what they should think"; each sent a little company of disciples to teach and preach in florence, where their influence soon made itself felt, st. francis in and st. dominic in . francis, st., of sales, bishop of geneva, born in the château of sales, near amiens, founder of the order of the visitation; was sent to persuade the calvinists of geneva back to the church of rome, and applied himself zealously to the reform of his diocese and the monasteries ( - ). francis joseph, emperor of austria and king of hungary; succeeded to the throne in on the abdication of his uncle, ferdinand i.; the hungarian difficulty has been the chief problem of his reign, with which he at first dealt in a spirit of harsh oppression, but since a milder policy has been adopted, and the desire for national autonomy was met by the creation of a dual monarchy in , francis being crowned king of hungary; other important events have been the cession of lombardy to sardinia in and of venetia in , after an unsuccessful war with prussia; _b_. . franciscans, or minorites, an order of monks founded by st. francis of assisi in ; according to ruskin, they were the order that preached with st james the gospel of works as distinct from the dominicans, who preached with st. paul the gospel of faith, and their gospel required three things: "to work without money and be poor, to work without pleasure and be chaste, and to work according to orders and be obedient"; these were the rules they were sworn to obey at first, but they gradually forsook the austerity they enjoined, acquired great wealth, instituted a highly sensuous ceremonial, and became invested with privileges which excited the jealousy of the regular clergy; with the order were associated a number of men eminent in the church, and many no less so in philosophy, literature, and art. franck, sebastian, early german writer, born at donauwörth; from a catholic priest became a protestant, but fell into disfavour for promulgating the doctrine that regeneration of life is of more importance than reform of dogma, and in was banished from strasburg; subsequently he became a soap-boiler and eventually a printer; his most noted work is his "chronica," a rough attempt--the first in germany--at a general history ( - ). francke, august hermann, a german religious philanthropist, born at lübeck; was professor of oriental languages and subsequently of theology at halle; he founded various educational institutions and a large orphanage, all of which still exist and afford education for some children annually; he was active in promoting pietism, q. v. ( - ). franconia, the name formerly applied to a loosely defined district in central germany, which, as the home of the franks, was regarded as the heart of the holy roman empire; the emperors long continued to be crowned within its boundaries; subsequently it was divided into two duchies, east franconia and rhenish franconia; the latter was abolished in and the former much diminished; from to the name had no official existence, but in the names upper, middle, and lower franconia were given to the three northern divisions of bavaria. franc-tireurs (i. e. free-shooters), french volunteers, chiefly peasants, who carried on a guerilla warfare against the germans in the franco-german war; were at first denied the status of regular soldiers by the germans and mercilessly shot when captured, but subsequently, having joined in the movements of the regular army, they were when captured treated as prisoners of war. frankenstein, a monster of romance created without a soul, yet not without craving for human sympathy, who found existence on these terms a curse, as a man with high cravings might find science to be without god. frankfort-on-the-main ( ), one of the old free cities of germany, a centre of importance under the kaisers and the seat of the diet of the germanic confederation, and one of the great banking cities of the world; it is the birthplace of the poet goethe, and is associated with his early history. frankfort-on-the-oder ( ), a town of prussia, in the province of brandenburg, m. se. of berlin, is a well-built town; has a university incorporated with breslau in , and is actively engaged in the manufacture of machinery, chemicals, paper, &c. frankland, sir edward, an eminent chemist, born at churchtown, lancashire; has held successively the chairs of chemistry in owens college, in bartholomew's hospital, in the royal institution, in the royal college of chemistry, and in the normal school of science, south kensington, the latter of which he resigned in ; has published various works, and was engaged with lockyer in researches on the atmosphere of the sun; _b_. . franklin, benjamin, born in boston, was the youngest son of a tallow-chandler and one of a family of ; received a meagre education, and at the age of became apprenticed to his brother, a printer and proprietor of a small newspaper, to whose columns he began to contribute; but subsequently quarrelling with him made his way almost penniless to philadelphia, where he worked as a printer; in he came to england under promises of assistance, which were not fulfilled, and for months laboured at his printing trade in london, when he returned to philadelphia, and there, by steady industry, won a secure position as a printer and proprietor of the _pennsylvania gazette_; in began to appear his _poor richard's almanac_, which, with its famous maxims of prudential philosophy, had a phenomenal success; four years later he entered upon a public career, rising through various offices to the position of deputy postmaster-general for the colonies, and sitting in the assembly; carried through important political missions to england in and , and was prominent in the deliberations which ended in the declaration of american independence in ; he visited france and helped to bring about the french alliance, and made an unavailing effort to bring in canada, and, as american minister, signed the treaty of independence in ; was subsequently minister to france, and was twice unanimously elected president of pennsylvania; his name is also associated with discoveries in natural science, notably the discovery of the identity of electricity and lightning, which he achieved by means of a kite; received degrees from oxford and edinburgh universities, and was elected an f.r.s.; in he married deborah reid, by whom he had two children ( - ). franklin, sir john, a famous arctic explorer, born at spilsby, lincolnshire; entered the navy in ; was a midshipman; was present at the battle of copenhagen; shortly afterwards accompanied an expedition, under captain minders, to explore and survey the coasts of australia; was wrecked, and returned home on board the _camden_ as a signal-midshipman; he subsequently distinguished himself at the battle of trafalgar, and took part in the attack on new orleans; in he was second in command of an expedition sent out under captain buchan to discover a north-west passage, which, although unsuccessful, contributed to reveal franklin's admirable qualities as a leader, and in he was chosen to head another arctic expedition, which, after exploring the saskatchewan and copper-mine rivers and adjacent territory, returned in ; franklin was created a post-captain, and for services in a further expedition in search of a north-west passage was, in , knighted; after further services he was in put in command of an expedition, consisting of the _erebus_ and _terror_, for the discovery of the north-west passage; the expedition never returned, and for many years a painful interest was manifested in the various expeditions ( in all) which were sent out to search for the lost party; many relics of this unfortunate explorer were found, demonstrating the discovery of the north-west passage; but the story of his fate has never been precisely ascertained ( - ). franks, the name given in the rd century to a confederation of germanic tribes, who subsequently grouped themselves into two main bodies called the salians and the ripuarians, the former dwelling on the upper rhine, and the latter on the middle rhine. under their king, clovis, the salians overran central gaul, subjugating the ripuarians, and extending their territory from the scheldt to the loire, whence in course of time there generally developed the kingdom of france. the franks were of a tall and martial bearing, and thoroughly democratic in their political instincts. franz, robert, musical composer, born at halle; his first songs appeared in , and were cordially appreciated by mendelssohn and other masters; in ill-health forced him to resign his musical appointments in halle, but by the efforts of liszt, joachim, and others, funds were raised by means of concerts to ensure him a competence for life; he published upwards of songs ( - ). franzensbad or franzensbrunn ( ), a watering-place on the nw. frontier of bohemia, m. nw. of eger; is ft. above sea-level, amidst a mountainous country; is much frequented by invalids for its mineral springs. franz-josef land, an archipelago in the arctic ocean, n. of nova zembla; was discovered and partly explored in - by payer and weyprecht; consists of two main divisions, wilczek land to the e., and zichy land to the w., between which runs austria sound. arctic animals are found in good numbers. it is considered an excellent base for expeditions in quest of the north pole. fraser, alexander campbell, philosopher, born at ardchattan, argyllshire; after a university training at edinburgh and glasgow he entered the free church; was for a brief term free church minister of cramond, from which he was transferred to a chair in the free church college, but in succeeded sir william hamilton as professor of logic and metaphysics at edinburgh, a position he held till , when he resigned; his writings include the standard edition of berkeley, with notes and a life, monographs on locke and berkeley in the series of "philosophical classics," and two vols. on the "philosophy of theism," being the gifford lectures delivered - ; _b_. . fraser, james, bishop of manchester, born near cheltenham, became a fellow of oriel after graduating with highest honours, and in was appointed to a college living; he issued in - valuable reports on education in canada and the united states after visiting these countries; and in was appointed bishop by mr. gladstone; his strong sense and wide sympathy and interest in the labour questions won him universal respect ( - ). fraser river, the chief river of british columbia, is formed by the junction near fort george of two streams, one rising in the rockies, the other flowing out of the lakes stuart and fraser; it discharges into the georgian gulf, m. below fort george. rich deposits of gold are found in the lower basin, and an active industry in salmon-catching and canning is carried on. fraticelli (i. e. little brethren), a religious sect which arose in italy in the th century, and continued to exist until the close of the th. they were an offshoot from the franciscans (q. v.), who sought in their lives to enforce more rigidly the laws of st. francis, and declined to accept the pontifical explanations of monastic rules; ultimately they broke away from the authority of the church, and despite the efforts of various popes to reconcile them, and the bitter persecutions of others, maintained a separate organisation, going the length of appointing their own cardinals and pope, having declared the church in a state of apostasy. their régime of life was of the severest nature; they begged from door to door their daily food, and went clothed in rags. fraunhofer, joseph von, german optician, born in straubing, bavaria; after serving an apprenticeship as a glass-cutter in münich, he rose to be manager of an optical institute there, and eventually attained to the position of professor in the academy of sciences; his name is associated with many discoveries in optical science as well as inventions and improvements in the optician's art; but he is chiefly remembered for his discovery of the dark lines in the solar spectrum, since called after him the fraunhofer lines ( - ). fredegonda, wife of chilpéric i. of neustria; a woman of low birth, but of great beauty and insatiable ambition, who scrupled at no crime to attain her end; made away with galswintha, chilpéric's second wife, and superseded her on the throne; slew siegbert, who had been sent to avenge galswintha's death, and imprisoned brunhilda, her sister, of austrasia, and finally assassinated her husband and governed neustria in the name of her son, clotaire ii. ( - ). frederick i., surnamed barbarossa (red-beard), of the house of swabia, emperor of the holy roman empire (q. v.) from till ; "a magnificent, magnanimous man, the greatest of all the kaisers"; his reign is the most brilliant in the annals of the empire, and he himself among the most honoured of german heroes; his vast empire he ruled with iron rigour, quelling its rival factions and extending his sovereign rights to poland, hungary, denmark, and burgundy; the great struggle of his reign, however, was with pope alexander iii. and the lombard cities, whose right to independence he acknowledged by the treaty of constanz ( ); he "died some unknown sudden death" at in the crusade against saladin and the moslem power; his lifelong ambition was to secure the independence of the empire, and to subdue the states of italy to the imperial sway ( - ). frederick ii., called the wonder of the world, grandson of the preceding; he was crowned emperor in , at aix-la-chapelle, having driven otto iv. from the throne; he gave much attention to the consolidating of his italian possessions, encouraged learning and art, founded the university of naples, and had the laws carefully codified; in these attempts at harmonising the various elements of his empire he was opposed by the papal power and the lombards; in he gained possession of jerusalem, of which he crowned himself king; his later years were spent in struggles with the papal and lombard powers, and darkened by the treachery of his son henry and of an intimate friend; he was a man of outstanding intellectual force and learning, but lacked the moral greatness of his grandfather ( - ). frederick iii., emperor of germany, born at potsdam; bred for the army; rose to command; did signal service at königgratz in , and again in in the franco-german war; married the princess royal of england; succeeded his father, but fell a victim to a serious throat malady after a reign of only days, june ( - ). frederick v., electoral prince palatine; succeeded to the palatinate in , and three years later married elizabeth, daughter of james i. of england; an attempt to head the protestant union of germany and his usurpation of the crown of bohemia brought about his ruin and expulsion from the palatinate in by the spaniards and bavarians; he took refuge in holland, but two years later his principality was given to bavaria by the emperor ( - ). frederick iii., of denmark, succeeded to the throne in ; during his reign the arrogance and oppression of the nobles drove the commons, headed by the clergy, to seek redress of the king by proclaiming the constitution a hereditary and absolute monarchy ( - ). frederick v., of denmark, ascended the throne in ; during his reign denmark made great progress, manufactures were established, commerce extended, while science and the fine arts were liberally patronised ( - ). frederick vi., of denmark, became regent in during the insanity of his father, who died in ; his reign is noted for the abolishment of feudal serfdom and the prohibition of the slave-trade in danish colonies, and the granting of a liberal constitution in ; while his participation in the maritime confederation between russia, sweden, and prussia led to the destruction of the danish fleet off copenhagen in by the british, and his sympathy and alliance with napoleon brought about the bombardment of copenhagen in , and the cession of norway to sweden in ( - ). frederick i., first king of prussia, third elector of brandenburg, and son of the great elector frederick-william, whom as elector he succeeded in ; he extended his territory by purchase; supported william of orange in his english expedition, and lent assistance to the grand alliance against france, for which he received the title of king of prussia, being crowned such in königsberg in ; he was "an expensive herr, and much given to magnificent ceremonies, etiquettes, and solemnities" ( - ). frederick ii., king of prussia from to , surnamed "the great," grandson of the preceding, and nephew of george i. of england, born at berlin; the irksome restraints of his early military education induced him to make an attempt, which failed, to escape to england, an episode which incensed his father, and nearly brought him to the scaffold; after his marriage in he resided at rheinsburg, indulging his taste for music and french literature, and corresponding with voltaire; he came to the throne with the ambition of extending and consolidating his power; from austria, after two wars ( - ), he wrested silesia, and again in the seven years' war ( - ), and in by force of arms acquired the duchy of franconia; as administrator he was eminently efficient, the country flourished under his just, if severe, rule; his many wars imposed no debt on the nation; national industries were fostered, and religious toleration encouraged; he was not so successful in his literary attempts as his military, and all he wrote was in french, the spirit of it as well as the letter; he is accounted the creator of the prussian monarchy "the first," says carlyle, "who, in a highly public manner, announced its creation; announced to all men that it was, in very deed, created; standing on its own feet there, and would go a great way on the impulse it got from him and others" ( - ). frederick charles, prince, nephew of william i. of germany; bred for the army; distinguished himself in the wars against denmark and austria, and in the franco-german war ( - ). frederick-william i., king of prussia, born at berlin, ascended the throne in ; in , at the peace of stockholm, he received part of pomerania with stettin for espousing the cause of denmark in her war with russia and poland against sweden; the rest of his reign was passed in improving the internal conditions of his country and her military resources; in praise of him as a sternly genuine man and king, carlyle has much to say in the early volumes of his "frederick"; "no baresark of them" ("the primeval sons of thor"), among whom he ranks him, "no baresark of them, not odin's self, i think, was a bit of truer human stuff; his value to me in these times, rare and great" ( - ). frederick-william ii., king of prussia, nephew of frederick the great (q. v.); succeeded to the throne in , but soon lost favour by indolence and favouritism; in the freedom of the press was withdrawn, and religious freedom curtailed; he involved himself in a weak and vacillating foreign policy, wasting the funds accumulated by his uncle in a useless war with holland; at the partition of poland in and various districts were added to the kingdom ( - ). frederick-william iii., king of prussia from till ; incited by the queen and the commons he abandoned his position of neutrality towards napoleon and declared war in ; defeat followed at jena and in other battles, and by the treaty of tilsit ( ) prussia was deprived of half her possessions; under the able administration of stein the country began to recover itself, and a war for freedom succeeded in breaking the power of france at the victory of leipzig ( ), and at the treaty of vienna ( ) her lost territory was restored; his remaining years were spent in consolidating and developing his dominions, but his policy was sometimes reactionary in its effects ( - ). frederick-william iv., king of prussia from till ; his reign is marked by the persistent demands of the people for a constitutional form of government, which was finally granted in ; a year previous he had declined the imperial crown offered by the frankfort diet; in he became insane, and his brother was appointed regent ( - ). frederikshald, a fortified seaport of norway, m. se. of christiania; was burnt in , but handsomely restored in modern style; timber is the main trade; in the immediate neighbourhood is the impregnable fortress of frederiksteen, associated with the death of charles xii. of sweden, who fell fighting in the trenches before its walls in . free church of scotland, an ecclesiastical body formed by those who left the established church in on the ground that they were not free in their connection with the state to enforce certain obligations which they considered lay on them as a church of christ, to whom, and not to the state, they held themselves as a church subject. free cities of germany, were cities which enjoyed sovereign rights within their own walls, independent representation in the diet, and owned allegiance solely to the emperor. their internal government was sometimes democratic, sometimes the opposite. their peculiar privileges were obtained either by force of arms, by purchase, or by gift of the emperors, who found in them a convenient means of checking the power of their feudal lords. most of them lost their privileges in , and since only lübeck, bremen, and hamburg remain in the category of free cities. free port, name given to a port at which ships of all nations may discharge or load cargo without payment of customs or other duties, save harbour dues. they were created in various continental countries during the middle ages for the purpose of stimulating trade, but copenhagen and, in a restricted sense, hamburg and bremen are now the only free ports in europe. the system of bonded warehousing has superseded them. free soilers, a political party which arose in the united states in to oppose slave-extension. in their principles were adopted, and the party absorbed in the newly-formed republican party. free trade, the name given to the commercial policy of england, first elaborately set forth with cogent reasoning by adam smith in his "wealth of nations," and of which the repeal of the corn laws in was the first step towards its adoption. strictly used, the term is applicable only to international or foreign trade, and signifies a policy of strict non-intervention in the free competition of foreign goods with home goods in the home markets. differential duties, artificial encouragements (e. g. bounties, drawbacks), to the home producer, all of which are characteristic of a protective system of trading, are withheld, the belief being entertained by free-traders that the industrial interests of a country are best served by permitting the capital to flow into those channels of trade into which the character and resources of the country naturally dispose it to do, and also by bringing the consumer as near as possible to the cheapest producer. but it is not considered a violation of the free trade principles to impose a duty for revenue purposes on such imported articles as have no home competitor, e. g. tea. freeman, edward augustus, historian, born at mitchley abbey, staffordshire; was a fellow of trinity college, oxford; examiner in the school of law and modern history; in he was elected regius professor of modern history at oxford; most of his life was spent in country retirement at somerleaze, varied by continental travel; he is the author of many scholarly works ranging over the whole field of history, his fame, however, mainly resting on his great "history of the norman conquest" ( - ). freemasonry, in modern times is the name given to a world-wide institution of the nature of a friendly benevolent society, having for its objects the promotion of social intercourse amongst its members, and, in its own language, "the practice of moral and social virtue," the exercise of charity being particularly commended. by a peculiar grip of the hand and certain passwords members are enabled to recognise each other, and the existence of masonic lodges in all countries enables the freemason to find friendly intercourse and assistance wherever he goes. its origin is found in the masonic brotherhoods of the middle ages, and some of the names, forms, and symbols of these old craft guilds are still preserved. in an age when great cathedrals and monasteries were rapidly springing up masons were in great demand, and had to travel from place to place, hence signs were adopted by which true masons might be known amongst each other and assisted. the idea of utilising this secret method of recognition for general, social, and charitable purposes, without reference to the mason's craft, seems to have originated in the edinburgh lodge, where, in , speculative or theoretical masons were admitted. in its present form of organisation it dates back to , when the "united grand lodge of ancient free and accepted masons of england" was formed, and of which, since , the prince of wales has been grand-master, and which has nearly local lodges under its protection. freeport, sir andrew, a london merchant; a member of the imaginary club under whose auspices the _spectator_ was issued. freiberg ( ), in the centre of the saxon mining district, m. sw. of dresden; is an old town, which arose upon the discovery of its silver mines in . it has a fine old cathedral, and a famous school of mines; and the manufactures comprise gold and silver work, wire, chemicals, etc. freiburg, , a swiss canton ( ) between bern and vaud, and having three esclaves in the latter; the population consists chiefly of french catholics; is hilly; dairy-farming, watchmaking, and straw-plaiting are the chief industries. , capital ( ) of the canton, is situated on the saane, m. sw. of bern; the river is spanned by a suspension bridge, and there is an old gothic cathedral with one of the finest-toned organs in europe. freiburg ( ), in breisgau, an important town in baden, at the w. side of the black forest, and m. ne. of basel; has a gothic cathedral famous for its architectural beauty, a university with professors and teachers and students; has important manufactures in silk, cotton, thread, paper, etc.; is the seat of a catholic archbishop, and is associated with many stirring events in german history. freiligrath, ferdinand, a popular german poet, born at detmold; was engaged in commerce in his early years, but the success of a small collection of poems in induced him to adopt a literary career; subsequently his democratic principles, expressed in stirring verse, involved him in trouble, and in he became a refugee in london; he was permitted to return in , and shortly afterwards was the successful defendant in a celebrated trial for the publication of his poem "the dead to the living," after which fresh prosecution drove him to london in , where, till his return in , he engaged in poetical work, translating burns, shakespeare, and other english poets ( - ). freischÜtz (i. e. freeshooter), a legendary hunter who made a compact with the devil whereby of seven balls six should infallibly hit the mark, and the seventh be under the direction of the devil, a legend which was rife among the troopers in the th and th centuries, and has given name to one of weber's operas. frÉmont, john charles, an american explorer, born at savannah, georgia; at first a teacher of mathematics in the navy, subsequently took to civil-engineering and surveying; in explored the south pass of the rockies, and proved the practicability of an overland route; explored the great salt lake, the watershed between the mississippi and pacific, and the upper reaches of the rio grande; he rendered valuable services in the mexican war, but was deprived of his captaincy for disobedience; after unsuccessfully standing for the presidency in the anti-slavery interest, he again served in the army as major-general; a scheme for a southern railway to the pacific brought him into trouble with the french government in , when he was tried and condemned for fraud, unjustly it would seem; from to he was governor of arizona; he was the recipient of distinctions from various geographical societies ( - ). french philosophism, an analysis of things conducted on the presumption that scientific knowledge is the key to unlock the mystery and resolve the riddle of the universe. french revolution, according to carlyle "the open violent revolt, and victory, of disimprisoned anarchy against corrupt, worn-out authority, the crowning phenomenon of our modern time," but for which, he once protested to mr. froude, he would not have known what to make of this world at all; it was a sign to him that the god of judgment still sat sovereign at the heart of it. frere, sir henry bartle edward, a distinguished diplomatist and colonial governor, born near abergavenny; entering the east india company in , he rendered important services as administrator in mahratta and as resident in sattara in ; as the chief-commissioner in sind he did much to open up the country by means of canals, roads, etc.; during the mutiny, which arrested these works of improvement, he distinguished himself by the prompt manner in which he suppressed the rising in his own province; from to he was governor of bombay; in was knighted, and five years later carried through important diplomatic work in zanzibar, signing the treaty abolishing the slave-trade; his last appointment was as governor of the cape and high-commissioner for the settlement of south african affairs; the kaffir and zulu wars involved him in trouble, and in he was recalled, having effected little ( - ). frere, john hookham, english politician and author, born in london, uncle of the preceding; he was a staunch supporter of pitt, and in became under-secretary for foreign affairs; a year later he was envoy to lisbon, and subsequently minister to spain; in he retired to malta, where he devoted himself to scholarly pursuits, twice declining a peerage; in his early days he was a contributor to the _anti-jacobin_, and shares with his school-fellow canning the authorship of the "needy knife-grinder"; but he is best known by his fine translations of some of aristophanes' plays ( - ). fresco, the art of painting on walls freshly laid with plaster, or which have been damped so as to permit of the colour sinking into the lime; there were two methods, the _fresco secco_ and the _fresco buon_; in the first the wall was sprinkled with water, and the colours were then worked into the damp surface; in the second process, in which finer and more permanent effects were obtained, the artist worked upon the fresh plaster of the wall (which is laid for him as he proceeds), pouncing or tracing his designs with a stylus; only colours which are natural earths can be employed, as they require to be mixed with lime ere being applied, and are subject to the destroying effect of that substance; as a method of mural decoration it was known to the ancients, and some of the finest specimens are to be seen in the italian cathedrals of the th and th centuries; the art is still in vogue, but can only be practised successfully in a dry climate. fresnel, augustin jean, french physicist, born at broglie, eure; as an engineer he rose to be head of the department of public works at paris; in he was elected an f.r.s. of london; he made discoveries in optical science which helped to confirm the undulatory theory of light, also invented a compound lighthouse lens ( - ). fresno ( ), a town in california, on the southern pacific railway, m. se. of san francisco; the surrounding district, extensively irrigated, produces abundance of fruit, and raisins and wine are largely exported. freund, wilhelm, german philologist, born at kempen, in posen; studied education at berlin and breslau, and was chiefly occupied in teaching till , when he retired in order to devote himself to his literary pursuits; besides classical school-books and some works on philology, he compiled an elaborate latin dictionary in vols., which has been the basis of the standard english-latin dictionaries since; _b_. . freyr, figures in the scandinavian mythology as the god who rules the rain and sunshine, and whose gifts were peace, wealth, and abundant harvests; the wooing of gerda, daughter of the giant gymer, by freyr is one of the most beautiful stories in the northern mythology; his festival was celebrated at christmas, and his first temple was built at upsala by the swedes, who especially honoured him. freytag, gustav, an eminent german novelist and dramatist, born at kreuzburg, silesia; from was teacher of german language and literature at breslau, and became editor of a journal, a position he held till ; was a member of the north german diet, and accompanied the crown prince during the war of - ; from resided at wiesbaden; his many novels and plays and poems, which reveal a powerful and realistic genius, place him in the front rank of modern german littérateurs; several of his novels have been translated into english, amongst which his masterpiece, "soll und haben" (debit and credit) ( - ). friar (i. e. brother), a name applied generally to members of religious brotherhoods, but which in its strict significance indicated an order lower than that of priest, the latter being called "father," while they differed from monks in that they travelled about, whereas the monk remained secluded in his monastery; in the th century arose the grey friars or franciscans, the black friars or dominicans, the white friars or carmelites, augustinians or austin friars, and later the crutched friars or trinitarians. friar john, a friar of seville, in rabelais' "pantagruel," notorious for his irreverence in the discharge of his religious duties and for his lewd, lusty ways. friar tuck, robin hood's chaplain and steward, introduced by scott into "ivanhoe" as a kind of clerical falstaff. friday, the young savage, the attendant of robinson crusoe, so called as discovered on a friday. friday, the sixth day of the week, so called as consecrated to freyia or frigga, the wife of odin; is proverbially a day of ill luck; held sacred among catholics as the day of the crucifixion, and the mohammedan sunday in commemoration as the day on which, as they believe, adam was created. friedland, valentin, an eminent scholar and educationist, born in upper lusatia; friend of luther and melanchthon; his fame as a teacher attracted to goldberg, in silesia, where he taught, pupils from far and near; the secret of his success lay in his inculcating on his pupils respect for their own honour; had a great faith in the intelligence that evinced itself in clear expression ( - ). friend of man, marquis de mirabeau, so called from the title of one of his works, "l'ami des hommes." friendly islands, islands of the s. pacific, some in number, mostly of coral or volcanic origin, and of which are inhabited; the natives rank high among the south sea islanders for intelligence. see tonga islands. friendly societies, associations of individuals for the purpose of mutual benefit in sickness and distress, and of old and wide-spread institution and under various names and forms. friends, society of, a community of christians popularly known as quakers, founded in by george fox (q. v.), distinguished for their plainness of speech and manners, and differing from other sects chiefly in the exclusive deference they pay to the "inner light," and their rejection of both clergy and sacrament as media of grace; they refuse to take oath, are averse to war, and have always been opposed to slavery. friends of the people, an association formed as far back as to secure by constitutional means parliamentary reform. fries, elias, swedish cryptogamic botanist, professor at upsala; wrote on fungi and lichens ( - ). fries, jakob friedrich, a german kantian philosopher; was professor at jena; aimed at reconciling the kantian philosophy with faith, or the intuitions of the pure reason ( - ). friesland, the most northerly province of holland, with a rich soil; divided into east and west friesland; low-lying and pastoral; protected by dykes. frigga, a scandinavian goddess, the wife of odin; worshipped among the saxons as a goddess mother; was the earth deified, or the norse demeter. frisians, a low german people, who occupied originally the shores of the north sea from the mouths of the rhine and ems; distinguished for their free institutions; tribes of them at one time invaded britain, where traces of their presence may still be noted. frith, william powell, an english painter, born near ripon, yorkshire; his works are numerous, his subjects varied and interesting, and his most popular pictures have brought large sums; _b_. . fritz, father, name given to frederick the great by his subjects "with a familiarity which did not breed contempt in his case." frobisher, sir martin, famous english sailor and navigator, born near doncaster; thrice over enthusiastically essayed the discovery of the north-west passage under elizabeth; accompanied drake to the west indies; was knighted for his services against the armada; conducted several expeditions against spain; was mortally wounded when leading an attack on brest, and died on his passage home ( - ). froebel, friedrich, a devoted german educationist on the principles of pestalozzi, which combined physical, moral, and intellectual training, commencing with the years of childhood; was the founder of the famous _kindergarten_ system ( - ). frogmore, a royal palace and mausoleum in windsor park, the burial-place of prince albert. froissart, jean, a french chronicler and poet, born at valenciennes; visited england in the reign of edward iii., at whose court, and particularly with the queen, he became a great favourite for his tales of chivalry, and whence he was sent to scotland to collect more materials for his chronicles, where he became the guest of the king and the earl of douglas; after this he wandered from place to place, ranging as far as venice and rome, to add to his store; he died in flanders, and his chronicles, which extend from to , are written without order, but with grace and _naïveté_ ( - ). fromentin, eugÈne, an eminent french painter and author, born at rochelle; was the author of two travel-sketches, and a brilliant novel "dominique" ( - ). fronde, a name given to a revolt in france opposed to the court of anne of austria and mazarin during the minority of louis xiv. the war which arose, and which was due to the despotism of mazarin, passed through two phases: it was first a war on the part of the people and the parlement, called the old fronde, which lasted from till , and then a war on the part of the nobles, called the new fronde, which lasted till , when the revolt was crushed by turenne to the triumph of the royal power. the name is derived from the mimic fights with slings in which the boys of paris indulged themselves, and which even went so far as to beat back at times the civic guard sent to suppress them. froude, hurrell, elder brother of the succeeding, a leader in the tractarian movement; author of tracts ix. and lxiii. ( - ). froude, james anthony, an english historian and man of letters, born at totnes, devon; trained originally for the church, he gave himself to literature, his chief work being the "history of england from the fall of wolsey to the defeat of the spanish armada," in vols., of which the first appeared in and the last in , but it is with carlyle and his "life of carlyle" that his name has of late been most intimately associated, and in connection with which he will ere long honourably figure in the history of the literature of england, though he has other claims to regard as the author of the "nemesis of faith," "short studies on great subjects," a "life of cæsar," a "life of bunyan," "the english in ireland in the eighteenth century," and "english seamen in the sixteenth century"; he ranks as one of the masters of english prose, and as a man of penetration, insight, and enlarged views, if somewhat careless about minor details ( - ). froude, william, another brother, a civil engineer, assistant to brunel; made important discoveries in hydro-dynamics of great practical avail ( - ). fry, mrs. elizabeth, philanthropist, born at norwich, third daughter of john gurney, the quaker banker; married joseph fry of plashet, essex; devoted her life to prison reform and the reform of criminals, as well as other benevolent enterprises; she has been called "the female howard" ( - ). fuad-mahmed, pasha, a turkish statesman, diplomatist, and man of letters; studied medicine, but soon turned himself to politics; was much esteemed and honoured at foreign courts, at which he represented turkey, for his skill, sagacity, and finesse; became minister of foreign affairs in ; was hostile to the pretensions of russia, and gave umbrage to the czar; published a turkish grammar, which is received with favour ( - ). fudge family, the, a satiric piece by thomas moore, published in . fuentes, count, a spanish general and statesman, eminent both in war and diplomacy; commanded the spanish infantry at the siege of rocroi when he was eighty-two, borne on a litter in the midst of the fight, and perished by the sword, the great condé having attacked the besiegers ( - ). fuero-fuego, a wisigoth spanish law of the th century, a curious monument of the legislation of the middle ages. fugger, the name of a family of augsburg who rose from the loom by way of commerce to great wealth and eminence in germany, particularly under the emperors maximilian and charles v., the real founder of the wealth being jacob, who died . fulham, a suburb of london, on the middlesex bank of the thames, opposite putney, with the palace and burying-place of the bishops of london. fullah, a people of the upper soudan whose territory extends between senegal and darfur, a race of superior physique and intelligence, and of a certain polish of manners, and with caucasian type of feature. fuller, andrew, an eminent baptist minister, born in cambridgeshire, was settled at kettering, and a zealous controversialist in defence of the gospel against hyper-calvinism on the one hand and socinianism on the other, but he is chiefly distinguished in connection with the foundation of the baptist missionary society, to which he for most part devoted the energies of his life ( - ). fuller, margaret, an american authoress, born at cambridgepont, mass., a woman of speculative ability and high aims, a friend of emerson, and much esteemed by carlyle, though he thought her enthusiasm extravagant and beyond the range of accomplishment; she was one of the leaders of the transcendental movement in america; visited europe, and italy in particular; engaged there in the struggle for political independence; married the young marquis of ossoli; sailed for new york, and was drowned with her husband and child on the sand-bars of long island ( - ). fuller, thomas, historian, divine, and wit, born in northamptonshire, son of the rector of sarum; entering into holy orders, he held in succession several benefices in the church of england, and was a prebend in salisbury cathedral; taking sides with the king, he lost favour under the commonwealth; wrote a number of works, in which one finds combined gaiety and piety, good sense and whimsical fancy; composed among other works the "history of the holy war," a "history of the crusades," "the holy and the profane states," the "church history of great britain," and the "worthies of england," the last his principal work, and published posthumously; he was a man of great shrewdness, broad sympathies, and a kindly nature; was an author much admired by charles lamb ( - ). fulton, robert, an american engineer, born in pennsylvania; began life as a miniature portrait and landscape painter, in which he made some progress, but soon turned to engineering; he was one of the first to apply steam to the propulsion of vessels, and devoted much attention to the invention of submarine boats and torpedoes; he built a steamboat to navigate the hudson river, with a very slow rate of progress however, making only five miles an hour ( - ). fum, a grotesque animal figure, six cubits high, one of four presumed to preside over the destinies of china. funchal ( ), the capital of madeira, at the head of a bay on the s. coast, and the base of a mountain ft. high, extends a mile along the shore, and slopes up the sides of the mountain; famous as a health resort, more at one time than now. fundy bay, an arm of the sea between new brunswick and nova scotia; it is of difficult navigation owing to the strong and rapid rush of the tides. fÜnen ( ), the second in size of the danish islands, separated from zealand on the e. by the great belt and from jutland on the w. by the little belt; is flat except on s. and w., fertile, well cultivated, and yields crops of cereals. furies. see erinnyes. furnivall, frederick james, english barrister, born at egham, in surrey; devoted to the study of early and middle english literature; founder and director of numerous societies for promoting the study of special works, such as the early english text, chaucer, ballad, and new shakespeare societies, and editor of publications in connection with them; was in his early days a great authority on boating and boat-building; _b_. . fÜrst, julius, a distinguished german orientalist, born in posen, of jewish descent; a specialist in hebrew and aramaic; author of a hebrew and chaldee manual ( - ). fÜrst, walter, of uri, a swiss patriot, who, along with william tell, contributed to establish the liberty and independence of switzerland; _d_. . fuseli, henry, properly fusoli, a famous portrait-painter, born at zurich; coming to england at the age of , he became acquainted with sir joshua reynolds, who advised him to go to rome; after eight years spent in study of the italian masters, and michael angelo in particular, he returned to england and became an r.a.; he painted a series of pictures, afterwards exhibited as the "milton gallery" ( - ). fust johann, a rich burgher of mainz, associated with gutenberg and schöffer, to whom along with them the invention of printing has been ascribed; _d_. . fyne, loch, an argyllshire arm of the sea, extending n. from bute to inveraray, and from m. to m. broad; famed for its herrings. fyzabad ( ), capital of oudh, in india, at one time, m. e. of lucknow; much decayed. g gabelentz, hans conon von der, a distinguished german philologist, born at altenburg: was master, it is said, of languages, contributed treatises on several of them, his most important work being on the melanesian ( - ). gabelle, an indirect tax, specially one on salt, the term applied to a state monopoly in france in that article, and the exaction in connection with which was a source of much discontent; the people were obliged to purchase it at government warehouses and at extravagant, often very unequal, rates; the impost dates from ; was abolished in . gabelsberger, franz xavier, inventor of the shorthand in use in german countries as well as elsewhere ( - ). gaberlunzie, a licensed beggar, or any of the mendicant class, so called from the wallet he carried. gabinus, a roman tribune in b.c., afterwards consul; party to the banishment of cicero, b.c. gaboon and french congo ( , ), a french colony in w. africa fronting the atlantic, between the cameroon country and the congo state, and stretching inland as far as the head-waters of the congo river; in the nw. is the great gaboon estuary, m. long and broad at its mouth, with libreville on its n. bank; along the coast the climate is hot and unhealthy, but it improves inland; the natives belong to the bantu stock; the french settled in it first in , but only since the explorations of de brazza in - have they begun to extend and colonise it. gabriel, an angel, one of the seven archangels, "the power of god," who is represented in the traditions of both the jews and the moslems as discharging the highest functions, and in christian tradition as announcing to the virgin mary her election of god to be the mother of the messiah; he ranks fully higher among moslems than jews. gabriel, a french architect, born in paris ( - ). gabrielles d'estrÉes, the mistress of henry iv. of france, who for state reasons was not allowed to marry her ( - ). gad, one of the jewish tribes inhabiting the e. of the jordan. gadames or ghadames ( to ), an oasis and town in africa, situated in the sw. corner of tripoli, on the n. border of the sahara; the fertility of the oasis is due to hot springs, from which the place takes its name; high walls protect the soil and the fruit of it, which is abundant, from sand-storms; it is an entrepôt for trade with the interior; the inhabitants are berber mohammedans. gaddi, gaddo, a florentine painter and worker in mosaic, friend of cimabue and giotto ( - ). gaddi, taddeo, son of the preceding, and pupil of giotto both in architecture and fresco-painting ( - ). gaddi, agnolo, son of the preceding, and a painter of frescoes ( - ). gades, the ancient name of cadiz (q. v.). gadshill, an eminence in kent, m. nw. of rochester, associated with the name of falstaff, also of dickens, who resided here from to , and where he died. gaeta ( ), a fortified seaport of s. italy, finely situated on a steep promontory m. nw. of naples; it was a favourite watering-place of the ancient roman nobility, and the beauty of its bay is celebrated by virgil and horace; it is rich in classic remains, and in its day has witnessed many sieges; the inhabitants are chiefly employed with fishing and a light coast trade. gage, thomas, english general, son of viscount gage; he served in the seven years' war, and took part in in braddock's disastrous expedition in america; in he became military governor of montreal, and three years later commander-in-chief of the british forces in america; as governor of massachusetts he precipitated the revolution by his ill-timed severity, and after the battle of bunker's hill was recalled to england ( - ). gaia or ge, in the greek mythology the primeval goddess of the earth, the _alma mater_ of living things, both in heaven and on earth, called subsequently demeter, i. e. gemeter, earth-mother. gaillard, french historian, born at amiens; devoted his life to history ( - ). gainsborough, thomas, one of england's greatest artists in portrait and landscape painting, born at sudbury, suffolk; he early displayed a talent for drawing, and at was sent to london to study art; when he started as a portrait-painter at ipswich, having by this time married margaret burr, a young lady with £ a year; patronised by sir philip thicknesse, he removed in to bath, where he rose into high favour, and in he sought a wider field in london; he shared the honours of painting portraits with reynolds and of landscape with wilson; his portraits have more of grace, if less of genius, than reynolds, while his landscapes inaugurated a freer and more genial manner of dealing with nature, while as a colourist ruskin declares him the greatest since rubens; among his most famous pictures are portraits of mrs. siddons, the duchess of devonshire, and the hon. mrs. graham, "shepherd boy in the shower," "the seashore," &c. ( - ). gaius, a roman jurist of the nd century, whose "institutes" served for the basis of justinian's. galahad, sir, son of lancelot, one of the knights of the round table; distinguished for the immaculate purity of his character and life; was successful in his search for the holy graal. galaor, a hero of spanish romance, brother of amadis de gaul, the model of a courtly paladin, and always ready with his sword to avenge the wrongs of the widow and the orphan. galapÁgos, a sparsely populated group of islands ( in number), barren on the n., but well wooded on the s., situated on the equator, m. w. of ecuador, and which, although belonging to ecuador, all bear english names, bestowed upon them, it would appear, by the buccaneers of the th century; albemarle island makes up more than half of their area; they are volcanic in formation, and some of their craters are not yet inactive; their fauna is of peculiar scientific interest as exhibiting many species unknown elsewhere; besides the islands proper there is a vast number of islets and rocks. galata, a faubourg of constantinople where the european merchants reside. galatea, a nymph whom polyphemus made love to, but who preferred acis to him, whom therefore he made away with by crushing him under a rock, in consequence of which the nymph threw herself into the sea. galatia, a high-lying roman province in asia minor that had been invaded and taken possession of by a horde of gauls in the rd century b.c., whence the name. galatians, epistle to the, an epistle of st. paul to the churches in galatia, which was an especial favourite with luther, as, with its doctrine of spiritual freedom in christ, it might well be, for it corroborated the great revelation first made to him by a neighbour monk; "man is not saved by singing masses, but by the grace of god"; it is a didactic epistle, in assertion, on the one hand, of freedom from the law, and, on the other, of the power of the spirit. galatz or galacz ( ), the great river-port of roumania, on the danube, m. above the sulina mouth of the river and m. ne. of bucharest; the new town is well laid out, and contains some fine buildings; its harbour is one of the finest on the danube; a great export trade is carried on in cereals, while textiles and metals are the chief imports. galaxy, the milky way, a band of light seen after sunset across the heavens, consisting of an innumerable multitude of stars, or suns rather, stretching away into the depths of space. galba, a roman emperor from june to january , elected at the age of by the gallic legions to succeed nero, but for his severity and avarice was slain by the prætorian guard, who proclaimed otho emperor in his stead. gale, theophilus, a nonconformist divine; author of the "court of the gentiles," in which he attempts to prove that the theology and philosophy of the gentiles was borrowed from the scriptures ( - ). gale, thomas, dean of york; edited classics, wrote on early english history ( - ). galen, or claudius galenus, a famous greek physician, born at pergamus, in illyria, where, after studying in various cities, he settled in ; subsequently he went to rome, and eventually became physician to the emperors m. aurelius, l. verus, and severus; of his voluminous writings treatises are still extant, and these treat on a varied array of subjects, philosophical as well as professional; for centuries after his death his works were accepted as authoritative in the matter of medicine ( - ). gale`rius, valerius maximus, roman emperor, born in dacia, of lowly parentage; rose from a common soldier to be the son-in-law of the emperor diocletian, who in raised him to the dignity of a cæsar; in , on the death of diocletian, he became head of the eastern empire, which he continued to be till his death in ; his name is associated with a cruel persecution of the christians under diocletian. galgacus, a caledonian chief defeated by agricola at the battle of the grampians in , after a desperate resistance. galia`ni, ferdinando, an italian political economist, man of letters, and a wit; held with honour several important offices under the neapolitan government; was attaché to the embassy at paris, and the associate of grimm and diderot ( - ). galicia, , an old province ( , ) of spain, formerly a kingdom in the nw. corner of it, fronting the bay of biscay and the atlantic; now divided into the four minor provinces, coruña, lugo, orense, pontevedra; the county is hilly, well watered, fertile, and favoured with a fine climate, but cultivated only very partially; some mining is carried on. , a crownland ( , ) in the ne. of austria, between russia and the carpathians; the inhabitants are mainly slavs, but there is a goodly number of jews, germans, poles, &c.; the land is fertile, consists chiefly of extensive plains, well watered by the dneister and other large rivers, and yields abundance of cereals, while one-fourth is covered with forest; timber is largely exported, and salt; many of the useful metals are found, and productive petroleum wells; it has an independent diet, but an austrian governor; austria annexed it in . galilÆans, a fanatical sect, followers of one judas of galilee, who fiercely resented the taxation of the romans, and whose violence contributed to induce the latter to vow the extermination of the whole race. galilee, the northern division of palestine, divided into upper, hilly, lower, level, about m. long and broad. galilee, sea of, an expansion of the jordan, ½ m. long, and at the most m. broad, enclosed by steep mountains, except on nw. galileo, an illustrious italian mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, born at pisa, demonstrated the isochronism of the pendulum, invented the thermometer and the hydrostatic balance, propounded the law of falling bodies, constructed the first astronomical telescope, and by means of it satisfied himself of, and proved, the truth of the copernican doctrine, that the sun and not the earth is the centre of the planetary system, and that the earth revolves round it like the other planets which reflect its light; his insistence on this truth provoked the hostility of the church, and an ecclesiastical decree which pronounced the copernican theory heresy; for the profession of it he was brought to the bar of the inquisition, where he was compelled to forswear it by oath, concluding his recantation, it is said, with the exclamation, "still, it moves"; before his end he became blind, and died in florence at , the year newton was born ( - ). galitzin, the name of a russian family distinguished for their ability and success in both war and peace from the th century onwards. gall, franz joseph, the founder of phrenology, born at tiefenbronn, on the borders of baden and würtemberg; in he established himself as a physician in vienna, where for many years he carried on a series of elaborate investigations on the nature of the brain and its relation to the outer cranium, visiting with that view lunatic asylums, &c.; in he gave publicity to his views in a series of lectures in vienna, which were, however, condemned as subversive of morality and religion; being joined by spurzheim, who adopted his theories, he undertook a lecturing tour through a large part of europe, and eventually settled at paris, where he published his phrenological work "fonctions du cerveau"; it is a curious fact that on his death his skull was found to be twice the usual thickness, and that there was a tumour in the cerebellum ( - ). gall, st., an irish monk who, about , accompanied st. columban to france in his missionary labours, banished from which he went to switzerland, and founded a monastery on the lake of constance, which bore his name; _d_. about . galland, antoine, french orientalist, born in picardy, professor of arabic in the college of france; was the first to translate the "arabian nights" into any european tongue ( - ). gallas, an ethiopian race occupying the s. and e. of abyssinia, energetic, intelligent, and warlike; follow mostly pastoral occupations; number over four millions, and are mostly heathens. galle or point de galle ( ), fortified seaport town, prettily situated on a rocky promontory in the sw. of ceylon; there is a good harbour, but the shipping, which at one time was extensive, has declined since the rise of colombo. gallican church, the catholic church in france which, while sincerely devoted to the catholic faith and the holy see, resolutely refused to concede certain rights and privileges which belonged to it from the earliest times; it steadfastly contended that infallibility was vested not in the pope alone, but in the entire episcopal body under him as its head; maintained the supreme authority of general councils and that of the holy canons in the government of the church, and insisted that there was a distinction between the temporal and the spiritual power; contentions summed up in a declaration of the french clergy in , the body of whom opposed to which are known by the name of "ultramontanists." gallicanism, the name given to the contention of the gallican church (q. v.). gallienus, publius licinius, roman emperor from to , and for seven years ( - ) associated in the government with his father, the emperor valerian; under his lax rule the empire was subjected to hostile inroads on all sides, while in the provinces a succession of usurpers, known as the thirty tyrants, sprang up, disowning allegiance, and aspiring to the title of cæsar; in his later years he roused himself to vigorous resistance, but in was murdered by his own soldiers whilst pressing the rebel aureolus at the siege of milan. galligantua, the wizard giant slain by jack the giant-killer. gallio, the roman proconsul of achaia in the days of st. paul, before whom the jews of corinth brought an appeal against the latter, but which he treated with careless indifference as no affair of his, in consequence of which his name has become the synonym of an easy-going ruler or prince. gallipoli, , a fortified seaport town ( ) in southern italy, m. s. of brindisi; stands on a rocky islet in the gulf of taranto, close to the mainland, with which it is connected by a bridge of arches; a fine cathedral and huge tanks hewn out of the solid rock for the storage of olive-oil are objects of interest. , a seaport ( ) of turkey in europe, stands on a peninsula of the same name at the western end of the sea of marmora, at the mouth of the dardanelles, m. s. of adrianople; it was the first city captured by the turks in europe ( ), and is now the naval arsenal of turkey and head-quarters of the turkish navy. galloway, a district in the sw. of scotland, co-extensive with wigtown and kirkcudbright, though formerly of considerably greater extent; the lack of mineral wealth has retarded its development, and the industry of the population is limited chiefly to agriculture, the rearing of sheep and cattle, and fishing, and it is still noted for a small but hardy breed of horses called galloways; the province derives its name from gall-gael, or foreign gaels, as the early inhabitants were called, who up to the time of the reformation maintained the characteristics, language, &c., of a distinct people; in galloway ceased to exist as a separate lordship; in the extreme s. of wigtown is the bold and rocky promontory, the mull of galloway, the extremity of the peninsula called the rhinns of galloway; the mull, which is the most southerly point in scotland, rises to a height of ft., and is crowned by a powerful lighthouse. galswinthe, the sister of brunhilda and the second wife of chilpéric i.; was strangled to death in . galt, john, scotch novelist, born at irvine; educated at greenock, where he held a post in the custom-house for a time; essayed literature, wrote "the ayrshire legatees," "the annals of the parish," "sir andrew wylie," "the entail," and "the provost"; died of paralysis at greenock; carlyle, who met him in london in , says, "he had the air of a broad, gaucie, greenock burgher; mouth indicating sly humour and self-satisfaction; eyes, old and without lashes, gave me a _wae_ interest for him; says little, but that little peaceable, clear, and _gutmüthig_" ( - ). galvanised iron, plate-iron coated with zinc, which renders it less liable to be affected by moisture and subject to corrosion. galvanism, the mere contact with two dissimilar metals, the science of what is now called voltaic or current electricity, produced, as in the above instance, from the contact of dissimilar metals, especially that of acids on metals. galvani, luigi, an italian physician, born at bologna; celebrated for his discoveries in animal magnetism called after him galvanism, due to an observation he made of the convulsive motion produced in the leg of a recently-killed frog ( - ). galveston ( ), the chief seaport of texas, situated on a low island of the same name at the entrance of galveston bay into the gulf of mexico; it has a splendid harbour, and is an important centre of the cotton trade, ranking as the third cotton port of the world; the city is well laid out, and is the see of a roman catholic bishop; it has a medical college and several foundries. galway ( ), a maritime county in the w. of ireland, in the province of connaught; lough corrib ( m. long) and lough mask ( m. long), stretching n. and s., divide the county into east and west districts; the former is boggy, yet arable; the latter, including the picturesque district known as connemara, is wild and hilly, and chiefly consists of bleak morass and bogland; its rocky and indented coast affords excellent harbourage in many places; the suck, shannon, and corrib are the chief rivers; the slieve boughta mountains in the s. and in the w. the twelve pins ( ft.) are the principal mountains; fishing, some agriculture, and cattle-rearing are the chief employments; it contains many interesting cromlechs and ruins. galway ( ), the capital of connaught and of the county of that name; is situated on the n. side of galway bay, at the mouth of the corrib river, m. nw. of limerick; it is divided into the old and new town, and contains several interesting ecclesiastical buildings, e. g. the cruciform church of st. nicholas ( ), and is the seat of a queen's college; fishing is an important industry, while wool and black marble are exported. gama, vasco da, a famous portuguese navigator, the discoverer of the route to india round the cape of good hope, born at sines, in portugal, of good family; he seems to have won the favour of king emmanuel at an early age, and already an experienced mariner, was in despatched on his celebrated voyage, in which he rounded the cape; on that occasion he made his way to calicut, in india, where he had to contend with the enmity of the natives, stirred against him by jealous arabian merchants; in he returned to lisbon, was received with great honour, and had conferred on him an array of high-sounding titles; three years later he was appointed to the command of an expedition to calicut to avenge the massacre of a small portuguese settlement founded there a year previous by cabrat; in connection with this expedition he founded the colonies of mozambique and sofala, and after inflicting a cruel punishment upon the natives of calicut, he returned to lisbon in ; the following years of his life were spent in retirement at evora, but in he was appointed viceroy of portuguese india, a position he held only for a short time, but sufficiently long to re-establish portuguese power in india; he died at cochin; the incidents of his famous first voyage round the cape are celebrated in camoëns' memorable poem "the lusiad" ( - ). gamaliel, a jewish rabbi, the instructor of st. paul in the knowledge of the law, and distinguished for his tolerant spirit and forbearance in dealing with the apostles in their seeming departure from the jewish faith. gambetta, lÉon michel, a french republican leader, born at cahors, of italian descent; intended for the church, to which he evinced no proclivity; he early showed a _penchant_ for politics and adopted the profession of law, in the prosecution of which he delivered a speech which marked him out as the coming man of the french republic, from the spirit of hostility it manifested against the empire; at the fall of the empire he stood high in public regard, assumed the direction of affairs, and made desperate attempts to repel the invading germans; though he failed in this, he never ceased to feel the shame of the loss of alsace and lorraine, and strove hard to recover them, but all his efforts proved ineffectual, and he died in dec. , to the grief of the nation ( - ). gambia, , a river of w. africa, that flows through senegambia and discharges itself into the atlantic at bathurst after a course of more than m. into a splendid estuary which, in some parts, has a breadth of m. but contracts to m. at the seaward end; light craft can ascend as far as barraconda, m. from the mouth. . a british settlement ( ) lying along the banks of the gambia as far as georgetown, with a protectorate to barraconda (pop. ); it enjoys a separate government under a british administrator, and produces hides, cotton, rice, &c. gambier, james, lord, british admiral, born in the bahamas; at he was created a post-captain; in distinguished himself in an engagement against the french at jersey; and again under lord howe in he rendered material service in repulsing the french off ushant; in the following year he was made rear-admiral, and in vice-admiral; for his gallant conduct as commander of the english fleet at the bombardment of copenhagen he was made a baron; a dispute with lord cochrane at the battle of aix roads against the french led to his being court-martialled, but he was honourably acquitted; on the accession of william iv. he was made admiral of the fleet ( - ). gamp, sarah, a nurse in "martin chuzzlewit," famous for her bulky umbrella, and for confirming her opinions of things by a constant reference to the authority of an imaginary mrs. harris. gando ( , ), a native state traversed by the niger in western soudan, lying upon the nw. border of sokoto, of which it is a dependency; like sokoto it has been brought within the sphere of influence of the british royal niger company; the inhabitants belong to the fulah race, and profess the mohammedan religion; gando is also the name of the capital, an active centre of the cotton trade. ganega, the hindu god with an elephant's head and four arms; the inspirer of cunning devices and good counsel, afterwards the patron of letters and learned men. ganelon, a count of mayence, one of charlemagne's paladins; trusted by him but faithless, and a traitor to his cause; is placed by dante in the lowest hell. ganges, the great sacred river of india, which, though somewhat shorter than the indus, drains a larger area and traverses a more fertile basin; it has its source in an ice-cave on the southern side of the himalayas, m. above gangotri, at an elevation of , ft. above the sea-level; at this its first stage it is known as the bhagirathi, and not until m. from its source does it assume the name of ganges, having already received two tributaries; issuing from the himalayas at sukhi, it flows in a more or less southerly course to allahabad, where it receives the jumna, and thence makes its way by the plains of behar and past benares to goalanda, where it is joined by the brahmaputra; the united stream, lessened by innumerable offshoots, pursues a se. course till joined by the meghna, and under that name enters the bay of bengal; its most noted offshoot is the hooghly (q. v.), which pursues a course to the s. of the meghna; between these lies the great delta, which begins to take shape m. inland from the bay of bengal; the ganges is m. in length, and offers for the greater part an excellent waterway; it is held in great reverence as a sacred stream whose waters have power to cleanse from all sin, while burial on its banks is believed to ensure eternal happiness. ganges canal, constructed mainly for the purpose of irrigating the arid land stretching between the ganges and the jumna rivers, originally extended from hardwár to cawnpore and etawah, but has since been greatly enlarged, and at present (including branches) has a total extent of m., of which m. are navigable; it has contributed to mitigate suffering caused by famines by affording a means of distributing ready relief. gangrene, the first stage of mortification in any part of a living body. gangway, a passage in the house of commons, running across the house, which separates the independent members from the supporters of the government and the opposition. ganymedes, a beautiful youth, whom zeus, attracted by his beauty, carried off, disguised as an eagle, to heaven, conferred immortality on, and made cup-bearer of the gods instead of hebe. gao, karveh or karvah, a persian blacksmith, whose sons had been slain to feed the serpents of the reigning tyrant, raised his leather apron on a spear, and with that for a standard excited a revolt; the revolt proved successful, and the apron became the standard of the new dynasty, which it continued to be till supplanted by the crescent. garay, jÁnos, hungarian poet, born at szegszard; his life was spent chiefly in pesth, where he held a post in the university library; he published a number of dramas which show traces of german influence, and was also the author of a book of lyrics as well as tales ( - ). garcia, manuel, a noted singer and composer, born at seville; in he went to paris with a reputation already gained at madrid and cadiz; till he was of high repute in london and paris as an operatic tenor; and in the following year visited the united states; when on the road between mexico and vera cruz he was robbed of all his money; he spent his closing years in paris as a teacher of singing, his voice being greatly impaired by age as well as fatigue; his eldest daughter was the celebrated madame malibran ( - ). garcias, don pedro, a mythical don mentioned in the preface to "gil blas" as buried with a small bag of doubloons, and the epitaph, "here lies interred the soul of licentiate pedro garcia." garcilaso, called the inca, as descended from the royal family of peru; lived at cordova; wrote "history of peru," as well as a "history of florida" ( - ). garcilaso de la vega, a spanish poet, born in toledo, a soldier by profession; accompanied charles v. on his expeditions; died fighting bravely in battle; his poems consist of sonnets, elegies, &c., and reveal an unexpected tenderness ( - ). garcin de tassy, indian orientalist, born at marseilles ( - ). gard ( ), a dep. in the s. of france, between the cévennes and the rhône; slopes to the rhône and the sea, with a marshy coast; produces wine and olives, and is noted for its silkculture and breed of horses. garda, lago di, the largest of the italian lakes; stretches, amidst beautiful alpine scenery, between lombardy and venetia. it is m. long, and from to broad. its water is remarkably clear, and has a depth of ft. it is studded with many picturesque islands, and is traversed by steamers. garde nationale, of france, a body of armed citizens organised in paris in for the defence of the citizen interest, and soon by extensions throughout the country became a force of great national importance; the colours they adopted were the famous tricolor of red, white, and blue, and their first commandant was lafayette. in they helped to repress the paris mob, and under napoleon were retained in service. they played a prominent part in the revolutions of and , supporting the revolutionists; but in their powers were curtailed, and in they were dissolved by the national assembly. gardes suisses, a celebrated corps of the french army, formed in for defence of royalty, and numbering . during the great revolution they gallantly defended the louvre, but were overawed and overpowered almost to annihilation by the infuriated paris mob. "their work to die, and they did it," at that moment. the corps was finally disbanded in . gardiner, colonel james, soldier, captain of dragoons, noted for his bravery and piety; served under marlborough; fell at prestonpans; his life was written by dr. doddridge, and is much prized by religious people ( - ). gairdner, james, historian, born in edinburgh, assistant-keeper record office, london; edited a series of historical documents, and wrote among other historical works the "life and reign of richard iii."; _b_. . gardiner, samuel rawson, english historian, born at ropley, hants; his chief historical works include "history of england" in the reign of james i. and charles i.; "history of the civil war," in four vols., and the "history of the protectorate," on which he is still engaged; a most impartial and accurate historian; _b_. . gardiner, stephen, bishop of winchester, born at bury st. edmunds; was secretary to wolsey; promoted the divorce of queen catharine, and made bishop; imprisoned in the tower under edward vi.; restored to his see, and made chancellor under mary ( - ). garfield, james abram, president of the united states, born in orange, ohio; reared amid lowly surroundings; at the age of ten began to help his widowed mother by working as a farmservant; an invincible passion for learning prompted him to devote the long winters to study, till he was able as a student to enter hiram college, and subsequently to william's college, massachusetts, where, in , he graduated; in the following year he became president of hiram college, and devoting his attention to the study of law, in became a member of the state senate; he took an active part on the side of the federalists in the civil war, and distinguished himself in several engagements, rising to be major-general; in his thirty-third year he entered congress, and soon came to the front, acting latterly as leader of the republican party; in he became a member of the senate, and in the same year was elected to the presidency; he signalised his tenure of the presidential office by endeavouring to purify and reform the civil service, but this attempt drew on him the odium of a section of his party, and on the nd july he was shot down by charles guiteau, a disappointed place-hunter; after a prolonged struggle with death he succumbed on the th of september ( - ). gargantua, a gigantic personage, in rabelais, of preternally lusty appetite and guzzling and gourmandising power; lived several centuries, and begat pantagruel. garibaldi, italian patriot, began life as a sailor, associated himself enthusiastically with mazzini for the liberation of his country, but being convicted of conspiracy fled to south america, where, both as a privateer and a soldier, he gave his services to the young republics struggling there for life; returned to europe, and took part in the defence of rome against france, but being defeated fled to new york, to return to the isle of caprera, biding his time; joined the piedmontese against austria, and in set himself to assist in the overthrow of the kingdom of naples and the union of italy under victor emmanuel, landing in calabria and entering naples, driving the royal forces before him without striking a blow, after which he returned to his retreat at caprera, ready still to draw sword, and occasionally offering it again, in the cause of republicanism ( - ). garment of god, living, living nature, so called by goethe, nature being viewed by him as the garment, or vesture, with which god invests himself so as to reveal and impart himself to man. garnet, a well-known precious stone of a vitreous lustre, and usually of a dark-red colour, resembling a ruby, but also found in various other shades, e. g. black, green, and yellow. the finest specimens are brought from ceylon, pegu, and greenland. the species of garnet crystal known as pyrope, when cut in the shape of a tallow drop, is called a carbuncle. garnet, henry, a noted jesuit, son of a nottingham schoolmaster, implicated in the gunpowder plot; bred in the protestant faith, he early turned catholic and went abroad and joined the jesuit order; in he returned to england as superior of the english jesuits, and engaged in various intrigues; on the discovery of the gunpowder plot he was arrested, found guilty of cognisance of the plot, and executed ( - ). garnett, richard, philologist, born at otley, yorkshire, keeper of the printed books in the british museum, and one of the founders of the philological society, and contributor to its _proceedings_ ( - ). garnett, richard, an acute critic, born in lichfield, son of preceding; long associated with the book department of the british museum; an admirer of shelley, and biographer of carlyle and emerson; _b_. . garonne, an important river of sw. france, which rises in the val d'aran in the spanish pyrenees; m. from its source it enters france near pont du roi, and after it passes toulouse flows in a north-westerly direction; joined by the dordogne, m. below toulouse, it gradually widens into the gironde estuary, which opens on the bay of biscay; it has a length of m., and is freely navigable as far as toulouse. garrick, david, a famous english actor and dramatist, born at hereford; was educated at lichfield, the home of his mother, and was for some months in his nineteenth year a pupil of samuel johnson; in he accompanied johnson to london, with the intention of entering the legal profession, but soon abandoned the purpose, and started in the wine business with his brother; in he commenced his career as an actor, making his first appearance at ipswich; in the autumn of the same year he returned to london, and as richard iii. achieved instant success; with the exception of a sojourn upon the continent for two years, his life was spent mainly in the metropolis in the active pursuit of his profession; in he became patentee, along with james lacy, of drury lane theatre, which he continued to direct until his retirement from the stage in ; three years later he died, and was buried in westminster abbey; he was the author of many comedies and farces, which, however, are of no great merit, but his abiding fame rests upon his powers as an actor, his remarkable versatility enabling him to act with equal ease and success in farce, comedy, and tragedy; his admirable naturalness did much to redeem the stage from the stiff conventionalism under which it then laboured; his wife, eva maria violette, a celebrated dancer of viennese birth, whom he married in , survived him till , dying at the advanced age of ( - ). garrison, william lloyd, american journalist and abolitionist, born at newburyport, mass.; in his native town he rose to be editor of the _herald_ at , and five years later became joint-editor of the _genius of universal emancipation_; his vigorous denunciation of slavery involved him in a charge of libel and brought about his imprisonment, from which he was liberated by a friend paying his fine; at boston, in , he founded his celebrated _liberator_, a paper in which he unweariedly, and in the face of violent threats, advocated his anti-slavery opinions till , when the cause was won; he visited england on several occasions in support of emancipation, and in his great labours in the cause were recognised by a gift of , dollars from his friends ( - ). garter, the most noble order of the, a celebrated order of knighthood instituted in by king edward iii.; the original number of the knights was , of whom the sovereign was head; but this number has been increased by extending the honour to descendants of george i., ii., and iii., and also to distinguished foreigners; it is the highest order of knighthood, and is designated k.g.; the insignia of the order includes surcoat, mantle, star, &c., but the knights are chiefly distinguished by a garter of blue velvet worn on the left leg below the knee, and bearing the inscription in gold letters _honi soit qui mal y pense_, "evil be to him that evil thinks"; election to the order lies with the sovereign. garth, sir samuel, a distinguished physician, born in co. durham; had an extensive practice; author of a mock-heroic poem entitled "the dispensary" ( - ). gascoigne, sir william, english judge, born at gawthorpe, yorkshire; during richard ii.'s reign he practised in the law courts, and in became king's serjeant; three years later he was raised to the lord chief-justiceship; his single-eyed devotion to justice was strikingly exemplified in his refusal to pass sentence of death on archbishop scrope; the story of his committing prince henry to prison, immortalised by shakespeare, is unauthenticated ( - ). gascony, an ancient province of sw. france, lying between the atlantic, the pyrenees, and the garonne; it included several of the present departments; the province was of basque origin, but ultimately became united with aquitaine, and was added to the territory of the french crown in ; the gascons still retain their traditional characteristics; they are of dark complexion and small in stature, vivacious and boastful, but have a high reputation for integrity. gaskell, mrs., _née_ stevenson, novelist and biographer, born at cheyne row, chelsea; authoress of "mary barton," "ruth," "silvia's lovers," &c., and the "life of charlotte brontë," her friend ( - ). gassendi, pierre, a french mathematician and philosopher, born in provence; declared against scholastic methods out of deference to the empirical; controverted the metaphysics of descartes; became the head of a school opposed to him; adopted the philosophy of epicurus and contributed to the science of astronomy, and was the friend of kepler, galileo, and hobbes; was a great admirer of bayle, the head of his school, a school of pyrrhonists, tending to materialism ( - ). gassner, johann joseph, a noted "exorcist," born at bludenz, in the tyrol; while a catholic priest at klösterle he gained a wide celebrity by professing to "cast out devils" and to work cures on the sick by means simply of prayer; he was deposed as an impostor, but the bishop of ratisbon, who believed in his honesty, bestowed upon him the cure of bendorf ( - ). gataker, thomas, an english divine, member of the westminster assembly; disapproved of the introduction of the covenant, declared for episcopacy, and opposed the trial of charles i. ( - ). gate of tears, the strait of bab-el-mandeb, so called from the shipwrecks frequent in it. gates, horatio, an american general, born at maldon, essex, in england; served as an english officer in america till the peace of , and then retired to virginia; in the war of independence he fought on the side of america, and, as commander of the northern army, defeated the english at saratoga in ; so great was his popularity in consequence of this victory that ill-advised efforts were made to place him over washington, but in he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the british at camden, and was court-martialled; acquitted in , he again retired to virginia, and subsequently in removed to new york, having first emancipated and provided for his slaves ( - ). gateshead ( ), an english town, situated on the tyne, on n. border of durham; it is united to newcastle by three bridges spanning the river; it contains some handsome and interesting buildings, besides extensive iron-works, foundries, soap, glass, and chemical manufactories; it was here defoe lived when he wrote "robinson crusoe." gath, goliath's town, a city of the philistines, on a cliff m. ne. of ashdod. gatling, richard jordan, the inventor of the gatling gun, born in hertford county, n. carolina, u.s.; he was bred to and graduated in medicine, but in settled in indianapolis and engaged in land and railway speculation; his famous machine-gun, capable of firing shots a minute, was brought out in ; another invention of his is a steam-plough; _b_. . gatty, mrs., writer of tales for young people, "parables from nature," and editor of _aunt judy's magazine_; daughter of the chaplain of the _victory_, nelson's ship at trafalgar, in whose arms nelson breathed his last ( - ). gauchos, a name bestowed upon the natives of the pampas of s. america; they are of indo-spanish descent, and are chiefly engaged in pastoral pursuits, herding cattle, &c.; they are dexterous horsemen, and are courteous and hospitable; the wide-brimmed sombrero and loose poncho are characteristic articles of their dress. gauden, john, bishop of worcester; protested against the trial of charles i., and after his execution published "eikon basilikË" (q. v.), or the "portraiture of his sacred majesty in his solitude and sufferings," which he declared was written by him ( - ). gaul, the name the ancients gave to two distinct regions, the one cisalpine gaul, on the roman side of the alps, embracing the n. of italy, as long inhabited by gallic tribes; and the other transalpine gaul, beyond the alps from rome, and extending from the alps to the pyrenees, from the ocean to the rhine, inhabited by different races; subdued by julius cæsar - b.c., and divided by augustus into four provinces. gaunt, john of, duke of lancaster, third son of edward iii., born at ghent, who in succeeded to the estates of his father-in-law, the duke of lancaster; having in married, as his second wife, the daughter of the king of castile, he made an unsuccessful attempt to seize the castilian throne; in the later years of edward iii.'s reign he took an active part in public affairs, and by his opposition to the national party and overbearing conduct towards the commons made himself obnoxious to the people; for selfish motives he for a time supported wycliffe, but in the peasant revolt drove him into scotland; in he made another ineffectual attempt to gain the crown of castile; in his later years he was engaged in various embassies in france ( - ). gaur or lakhnauti, the ancient capital of bengal, now in ruins, but with hindu remains of exceptional interest, is situated m. s. of malda, between the rivers ganges and mahananda; the city is believed to have been founded in the th century; it fell into decay after the mogul conquest in , but pestilence and the deflection of the ganges into a new channel accelerated its fate. gauss, karl friedrich, a celebrated german mathematician and astronomer, born at brunswick; was director of the observatory at göttingen for years; was equally great on theory of numbers and practice of calculation; he made important discoveries in magnetism, and was pronounced by laplace the greatest mathematician in europe ( - ). gautama, the name of the family buddha belonged to, a rajput clan which at the time of his birth was settled on the banks on the rohini, a small affluent of the gogra, about m. n. of benares. gautier, thÉophile, a distinguished french poet, novelist, and critic, born at tarbes; began life as a painter, but turning to literature soon attracted the attention of sainte-beuve by some studies in the old french authors; by-and-by he came under the influence of victor hugo, and in started his career as a poet by the publication of "albertus," five years after which appeared his famous novel "mademoiselle de maupin"; for many years he was engaged in the work of art criticism for the paris newspapers, and those of his critiques dealing with the drama have been republished, and fill six vols.; both as poet and novelist his works have been numerous, and several delightful books of travel in spain, turkey, algeria, &c., have come from his pen; as a literary artist gautier has few equals to-day in france, but his work is marred by a lax and paradoxical philosophy of life, which has, by his more enthusiastic admirers, been elevated into a "cult" ( - ). gautier and garguille, all the world and his wife. gavarni, paul, the _nom de plume_ of sulpice guillaume chevalier, caricaturist, born in paris; began life as an engineer's draughtsman, but soon turned his attention to his proper vocation as a cartoonist; most of his best work appeared in _le charivari_, but some of his bitterest and most earnest pictures, the fruit of a visit to london, appeared in _l'illustration_; he also illustrated balzac's novels, and sue's "wandering jew" ( - ). gavazzi, alessandro, an italian anti-papal agitator, born at bologna; admitted into the order of barnabite monks; he became professor of rhetoric at naples; one of the most energetic supporters of pius ix. in his liberal policy, he afterwards withdrew his allegiance; joined the revolution of , and ultimately fled to england on the occupation of rome by the french; as an anti-papal lecturer he showed considerable oratorical powers; delivered addresses in italian in england and scotland against the papacy, which were received with enthusiasm, although in canada they led to riots; he was taken by some for an italian knox; "god help them," exclaimed carlyle, who regarded him as a mere wind-bag ( - ). gavelkind, descent of property to all the sons alike, the oldest to have the horse and arms and the youngest the homestead. gawain, sir, one of the knights of the round table, king arthur's nephew; celebrated for his courtesy and physical strength. gay, john, an english poet, born at barnstaple the same year as pope, a friend of his, to whom he dedicated his "rural sports"; was the author of a series of "fables" and the "beggar's opera," a piece which was received with great enthusiasm, and had a run of nights, but which gave offence at court, though it brought him the patronage of the duke and duchess of queensberry, with whom he went to reside, and tinder whose roof he died; was buried in westminster ( - ). gaya ( ), chief town of a district of the same name in bengal, on the phalgu, m. s. of patna; it is a great centre of pilgrimage for hindus, and has associations with buddha; , pilgrims visit it annually. gay-lussac, louis joseph, french chemist and physicist, born at st. leonard, haute-vienne; at the polytechnic school, paris, his abilities attracted the attention of berthollet (q. v.), who appointed him his assistant in the government chemical works at arcueil; here he assiduously employed himself in chemical and physical research, in connection with which he made two balloon ascents; in he became professor of chemistry at the paris polytechnic school; in was elected to a similar chair at the jardin des plantes; seven years later was created a peer of france, while in he became chief assayer to the mint; his name is associated with many notable discoveries in chemistry and physics, e. g. the law of volumes, isolation of cyanogen, &c. ( - ). gaza, a philistine town, the gates of which samson carried off by night; situated on a mound at the edge of the desert, m. from the sea, a considerable place to this day. gazette the, an official newspaper in which government and legal notices are published, issued on tuesdays and fridays; originally a venetian newspaper, the first of the kind so called as issued for a farthing. gebir or geber, the name under which several works on alchemy and chemistry were written by jabir ihn haijan, an arabic alchemist of the th century; his birthplace is unknown, but he is said to have lived at damascus and kufa. ged, william, the inventor of stereotyping, born in edinburgh, where he carried on business as a goldsmith; he endeavoured to push his new process of printing in london by joining in partnership with a capitalist, but, disappointed in his workmen and his partner, he returned despondent to edinburgh; an edition of sallust and two prayer-books (for cambridge) were stereotyped by him ( - ). geddes, alexander, biblical scholar, born at arradowl, banffshire; was trained for the catholic church, and after prosecuting his studies at paris was appointed to the charge of a catholic congregation at auchinhalrig; ten years later he was deposed for heresy, and removing to london took to literary work; his most notable performance is his unfinished translation of the scriptures, and the notes appended, in which he reveals a very pronounced rationalistic conception of holy writ; this work, which anticipated the views of such men as eichhorn and paulus, lost him his status as a priest, although to the end he professed a sincere belief in christianity; he was the author of volumes of poems, &c. ( - ). geddes, jenny, an edinburgh worthy who on rd july immortalised herself by throwing her stool at the head of laud's bishop as he proceeded from the desk of st. giles's in the city to read the _collect_ for the day, exclaiming as she did so, "deil _colic_ the wame o' thee, fause loon, would you say _mass_ at my lug," which was followed by great uproar, and a shout, "a pape, a pape; stane him"; "a daring feat, and a great," thinks carlyle, "the first act of an audacity which ended with the beheading of the king." geefs, guillaume, belgian sculptor, born at antwerp; executed a colossal work at brussels, "victims of the revolution," and numerous statues and busts as well as imaginative productions; had two brothers distinguished also as sculptors ( - ). geelong ( ), a prettily laid out city of victoria, on corio bay, m. sw. of melbourne. the gold discoveries of gave a stimulus to the town, which is now a busy centre of the wool trade, and has tanneries and paper works, &c. the harbourage is excellent, and in summer the town is a favourite resort as a watering-place. gefle ( ), a seaport, and the third commercial town in sweden; capital of the _län_ of gefleborg; is situated on an inlet of the gulf of bothnia, midway between fahlun and upsala; has an interesting old castle, a school of navigation, and, since a destructive fire in , has been largely rebuilt. gehenna, the valley of hinnom, on the s. of jerusalem, with tophet (q. v.) at its eastern end; became the symbol of hell from the fires kept burning in it night and day to consume the poisonous gases of the offal accumulated in it. gehenna bailiffs, ministers of hell's justice, whose function is to see to and enforce the rights of hell. geibel, emanuel von, a celebrated german poet, born at lübeck; was professor of Æsthetics at münich; the tender, sentimental passion that breathed in his poetry procured for him a wide-spread popularity, especially among women ( - ). geiger, abraham, an eminent hebrew scholar and rabbi, born at frankfort-on-the-main, and editor of the _zeitschrift für jüdische theologie_; strove hard to break down the barrier of jewish exclusiveness ( - ). geijer, erik gustav, great swedish historian, born in vermland; held a post in the record office, stockholm; was a poet as well as a historian, his principal work being "history of the swedish people" ( - ). geikie, sir archibald, geologist, born at edinburgh; at the age of he joined the geological survey of scotland, and in became director; in he became murchison professor of geology at edinburgh, and in was appointed chief director of the geological survey of great britain; in he was knighted, and from to was president of the british association; he is the author of various works on geology, written with great lucidity, as well as essays much appreciated; _b_. . geikie, james, geologist, brother of the preceding, born at edinburgh; in , after serving years in the geological survey of scotland, he succeeded his brother in the chair of geology at edinburgh; his principal work as a scientist is "the great ice age"; his literary sympathies appear in his admirable volume of translations of, "songs and lyrics of heine"; _b_. . geÏler von kaiserberg, johann, a famous german pulpit orator, born at schaffhausen; strasburg was the principal scene of his labours; his writings, though numerous, are rare, among them the "narrenschiff, or ship of fools" ( - ). gelasius i., st., pope from to ; a vigorous man and strong assertor of the supremacy of the chair of st. peter; g. ii., also pope from to . gell, sir william, archæologist, born at hopton, derbyshire; after graduating at cambridge was elected to a fellowship at emmanuel college; his passion for classical antiquities led him latterly to settle in italy, which bore fruit in various valuable works on the topography and antiquities of troy, pompeii, rome, attica, &c.; he had for some time previously been chamberlain to queen caroline, and appeared as a witness at her trial ( - ). gellert or killhart, a famous dog which figures in welsh tradition of the th century, and whose devotion and sad death are celebrated in a fine ballad written by the hon. william robert spencer ( - ). the story is as follows: prince llewellyn on returning one day from the chase discovered the cradle of his child overturned and blood-stains on the floor. immediately concluding that gellert, whom he had left in charge of the child, had been the culprit, he plunged his sword into the breast of the dog and laid it dead. too late he found his child safe hidden in the blankets, and by its side the dead body of an enormous wolf. gellert's tomb is still pointed out in the village of beddgelert on the s. of snowdon. a story similar even to details is current in the traditionary lore of many other lands. gellert, christian, a german poet, fabulist, and moralist, born in saxony; professor of philosophy at leipzig; distinguished for the influence of his character and writings on the literature of the period in germany, in the effect of it culminating in the literature of schiller and goethe; frederick the great, who had an interview with him, pronounced him the most rational of german professors ( - ). gellus, aulus, a latin grammarian, born at rome; author of "noctes atticæ," a miscellany professing to have been composed in a country house near athens during winter nights, and ranging confusedly over topics of all kinds, interesting as abounding in extracts from ancient writings no longer extant. gelon, tyrant of syracuse from to b.c.; rose from the ranks, gained a victory in b.c. on the day of the battle of salamis over a large host of carthaginians who had invaded sicily; _d_. b.c., leaving behind him an honoured memory. gemara, the second part of the talmud, being a body of notes, comments, &c. on the mishna or text. gemini, the twins, two stars in the southern hemisphere named castor and pollux; also the name of a sign of the zodiac. gendarmes (i. e. men-at-arms), a military police in france organised since the revolution, and charged with maintaining the public safety. the gendarmerie is considered a part of the regular army, and is divided into legions and companies; but the pay is better than that of an ordinary soldier. in the th and th centuries the name was applied to the heavy french cavalry, and later to the royal bodyguard of the bourbons. genesis, the first book in the bible, so called in the septuagint, as containing an account of the origin of the world, of the human family, and of the jewish race; a book of the oldest date possessing any human interest. geneva: . the smallest canton ( ) of switzerland, situated at the western extremity of the lake of the name; the surface is hilly, but not mountainous, and is watered by the rhône and arve; the soil is unfertile, but the patient industry of the inhabitants has made it fruitful; the cultivation of the vine, fruit-growing, and the manufacture of watches, &c., are the chief industries; per cent, of the people speak french. . capital ( ) of the canton, occupies a splendid geographical position at the south-western end of the lake, at the exit of the rhône; the town existed in cæsar's time, and after being subject in turn to rome and burgundy, ere long won its independence in conjunction with bern and freiburg. in calvin's time it became a centre of protestantism, and its history, down to the time of its annexation by napoleon in , is mainly occupied with the struggles between the oligarchical and democratic factions. on the overthrow of napoleon it joined the swiss confederation. since the town has been largely rebuilt, and handsomely laid out. among many fine buildings are the transition cathedral of st. peter ( ), the academy founded by calvin and others. the rhône flows through it, and compasses an island which forms part of the city. it has many literary and historical associations, and was the birthplace of rousseau. geneva, lake of, or lake leman, stretches in crescent shape between switzerland and france, curving round the northern border of the french department of haute-savoie; length, m.; greatest breadth, m.; maximum depth, ft. on the french side precipitous rocks descend to the water's edge, and contrast with the wooded slopes of the north. the water is of a deep-blue colour; many streams flow into it, notably the rhône, which flows out at geneva. geneviÈve, the patron saint of paris, born at nanterre; by her prayer the city, then called lutetia (q. v.) was saved from the ravages of attila ( - ) and his huns. genghis khan (i. e. very mighty ruler), a celebrated mongol conqueror, born near lake baikal, the son of a mongol chief; his career as a soldier began at the age of , an age at which he boldly assumed the reins of government in succession to his father; by his military skill and daring example he gradually raised his people to a position of supremacy in asia, and established by means of them a kingdom which, at his death, stretched from the volga to the pacific, and from siberia to the persian gulf; he regarded himself as commissioned by heaven to conquer the world, a destiny which he almost fulfilled ( - ). genlis, stephanie fÉlicitÉ, comtesse de, a celebrated french novelist, born at champceri, near autun, burgundy; at the age of she was married to the comte de genlis, who eventually fell a victim to the fury of the revolution; in she was a lady-in-waiting to the duchesse de chartres, and years later became governess to the children of the duc d'orléans, amongst whom was the future king of the french, louis-philippe; the revolution drove her to switzerland, but on the elevation of napoleon she returned to paris, and received from him a pension, which continued to be paid her even under the restored bourbon dynasty: she was a voluminous writer of moral tales, comedies, &c., and her works amount to about vols., among them the celebrated "mémoirs" of her life and times; she was ill-natured, and in her "memoirs" inaccurate, as well as prejudiced ( - ). gen`oa ( ), a city and chief commercial seaport of italy, built at the foot of the apennines as they slope down to the gulf of the name. the encircling hills behind, which are strongly fortified, form a fine background to the picturesquely laid-out city. there is excellent harbourage for the extensive shipping, and an active export and import trade is carried on. in the city are iron-works, cotton and cloth mills, match factories, &c.; the streets are narrow and irregular, but many of the buildings, especially the ducal palaces and the cathedral, are of great historical and architectural interest; there is an excellent university, a public library, and an academy of fine arts; columbus was born here. genre painting, name given to paintings embracing figures as they appear in ordinary life and in ordinary situations. gens, the name among the romans for what we understand by the word clan as consisting of families. gens braccata, the gauls, from wearing _braccæ_ or breeches. gens togata, the roman, from wearing the toga (q. v.) as their distinguishing dress. gen`seric, king of the vandals, son of godigiselus, founder of the vandal kingdom in spain, and bastard brother of gunderic, whom he succeeded in a.d. ; from spain he crossed to africa, and in conjunction with the moors added to his kingdom the land lying w. of carthage, ultimately gaining possession of carthage itself; he next set himself to organise a naval force, with which he systematically from year to year pillaged spain, italy, greece, and the opposite lands of asia minor, sacking rome in ; until his death in he continued master of the seas, despite strenuous efforts of the roman emperors to crush his power. gentilly, a southern suburb of paris, once a village beyond the fortifications. gentle shepherd, a famous pastoral by allan ramsay, with some happy descriptive scenes and a pleasant delineation of manners, published in . gentle shepherd, a nickname george grenville bore from a retort of the elder pitt one day in parliament. gentlemen-at-arms, next to the yeomen of the guard the oldest corps in the british army, is the bodyguard of the sovereign; was formed by henry viii. in ; now consists of a captain, lieutenant, standard-bearer, adjutant, and members, whose duties are limited to attendance at state ceremonies. gentz, friedrich von, german politician and author, born at breslau; while in the prussian civil service he warmly sympathised with the french revolution, but his zeal was greatly modified by perusal of burke's "reflections," a treatise he subsequently translated, and in entered the austrian public service; in the capacity of a political writer he bitterly opposed napoleon, but for other purposes his pen and support were at the service of the highest bidder; he was secretary at the congress of vienna, and held a similar post in many of the subsequent congresses ( - ). geoffrey of monmouth, a celebrated chronicler and ecclesiastic of the th century, born in monmouth, where he was educated in a benedictine monastery; in he was made bishop of st. asaph; his latin "chronicon sive historia britonum" contains a circumstantial account of british history compiled from gildas, nennius, and other early chroniclers, interwoven with current legends and pieced together with additions from his own fertile imagination, the whole professing to be a translation of a chronicle found in brittany; this remarkable history is the source of the stories of king lear, cymbeline, merlin, and of arthur and his knights as they have since taken shape in english literature; _d_. about . geoffrey saint-hilaire, Étienne, zoologist and biologist, born at Étampes; he was educated for the church, but while studying theology at paris his love for natural science was awakened, and the study of it henceforth became the ruling passion of his life; was made professor of zoology in the museum of natural history in paris; accompanied napoleon to egypt as a member of the scientific commission, and returned with rich collections, while his labours were rewarded by his election to the academy of sciences; a scientific mission to portugal in next engaged him, and a year later he was nominated to the chair of zoology in the faculty of sciences at paris; the main object of his scientific writing was to establish, in opposition to the theories of his friend cuvier, his conception of a grand unity of plan pervading the whole organic kingdom ( - ). geoffrin, marie thÉrÈse, a french patroness of letters, born at paris, the daughter of a _valet-de-chambre_; in her fifteenth year she married a wealthy merchant, whose immense fortune she inherited; her love of letters--which she cherished, though but poorly educated herself--and her liberality soon made her _salon_ the most celebrated in paris; the _encyclopédists_, diderot, d'alembert, and marmontel, received from her a liberal encouragement in their great undertaking; walpole, hume, and gibbon were among her friends; and stanislas poniatowsky, who became king of poland, acknowledged her generosity to him by styling himself her son and welcoming her royally to his kingdom ( - ). george i., king of great britain from to , and first of the hanoverian line; son of ernest augustus, elector of hanover, and of sophia, granddaughter of james i. of england; born in hanover; in he married his cousin, the princess sophia dorothea of zell, and in became elector of hanover; he co-operated actively with marlborough in opposing the schemes of louis xiv., and commanded the imperial forces; in accordance with the act of settlement, he succeeded to the english throne on the death of queen anne; his ignorance of english prevented him taking part in cabinet councils, a circumstance which had important results in the growth of constitutional government, and the management of public affairs during his reign devolved chiefly upon sir robert walpole; the abortive jacobite rising of , the south sea bubble ( ), and the institution of septennial parliaments ( ), are among the main events of his reign; in he divorced his wife on account of an amour with count königsmark, and kept her imprisoned abroad till her death in , while he himself during these years lived in open profligacy with his mistresses ( - ). george ii., king of great britain from to , and elector of hanover, born in hanover, son of preceding; in he married caroline of anspach, and in was declared prince of wales; he joined his father in the struggle with louis xiv., and distinguished himself on the side of the allies at the battle of oudenarde; the period of his reign is one of considerable importance in english history; walpole and subsequently pitt were the great ministers of the age; war was waged against spain and france; the last jacobite rising was crushed at culloden ( ); english power was established in canada by the brilliant victory of wolfe at quebec ( ); an empire was won in india by clive; the victory of minden ( ) was gained in the seven years' war; methodism sprang up under wesley and whitfield; while a great development in literature and art took place; against these, however, must be set the doubling of the national debt, mainly due to the seven years' war, and a defeat by the french at fontenoy ( ) ( - ). george iii., king of great britain from to , and king of hanover (elector from to ), eldest son of frederick lewis, prince of wales, and grandson of preceding, born in london; in he married princess charlotte sophia of mecklenburg-strelitz, by whom he had fifteen children; more english in sentiment and education than his two predecessors, george's main interest was centred in his english kingdom, and never during his long life did he once set foot in his hanoverian possessions; the purity of his domestic life, his devotion to england, and the pathos attaching to his frequent fits of insanity, won him the affections of his people, an affection, however, sorely tried by his obstinate blundering; the years of his reign present a succession of domestic episodes, far-reaching in their consequences to england and to the civilised world; the conclusion of the seven years' war left england predominant in north america, and with increased colonial possessions in the west indies, &c., but under the ill-guided and obstinate policy of lord north she suffered the loss of her american colonies, an event which also involved her in war with france and spain; in the famous trial of warren hastings (q. v.) began, and two years later came the french revolution; the great struggle with napoleon followed, and gave occasion for the brilliant achievements of nelson and wellington; during these long years of war the commercial prosperity of england never slackened, but through the inventions of hargreaves, arkwright, and compton increased by leaps and bounds; freedom of the press was won by wilkes; and in the union with ireland took place; the majestic figure of pitt stands out amidst a company of brilliant politicians that included burke and fox and sheridan; literature is represented by a line of brilliant writers that stretches from johnson to keats, and includes the names of burns, cowper, shelley, and byron ( - ). george iv., king of great britain and of hanover from to , eldest son of the preceding, born in london; in consequence of his father's insanity he became regent in ; a tendency to profligacy early displayed itself in an intrigue with mrs. robinson, an actress; and two years afterwards in defiance of the royal marriage act he secretly married mrs. fitzherbert (q. v.), a roman catholic; in he publicly espoused princess caroline of brunswick, whom later he endeavoured to divorce; a burmese war ( ), the victory of admiral codrington at navarino ( ), the repeal of the test and corporation acts ( ), and the passing of the catholic emancipation bill ( ), were occurrences of some importance in an uneventful reign ( - ). george i., king of greece, son of king christian of denmark, and brother of the princess of wales; became king of greece in ; _b_. . george, henry, an american writer on social and economic questions, born in philadelphia; he first tried life on the sea, but in settled in california as a printer, and there married; in course of time he took to journalism, became an editor, and zealously addressed himself to the discussion of public affairs; his peculiar views on the question of land reform were set forth in "our land and land policy," published in , and nine years later appeared his more famous and widely popular work "progress and poverty," in which he promulgated the theory that to the increase in economic rent and land values is due the lack of increase in wages and interest which the increased productive power of modern times should have ensured; he proposed the levying of a tax on land so as to appropriate economic rent to public uses, and the abolition of all taxes falling upon industry and thrift; he lectured in great britain and ireland, australia, &c.; in founded the _standard_ paper in new york; he died during his candidature for the mayoralty of greater new york ( - ). george, st., the patron saint of chivalry and of england; adopted as such in the reign of edward iii.; believed to have been born in armorica, and to have suffered martyrdom under diocletian in a.d. ; he is represented as mounted on horseback and slaying a dragon (q. v.), conceived as an incarnation of the evil one. georgetown: ( ), capital of british guiana, at the mouth of the demerara river; is the see of an anglican bishop; is neatly laid out, and has some handsome buildings, but is considered unhealthy; the staple industries are sugar and coffee. ( ), a port of entry in the district of columbia, on the potomac, m. nw. of washington; is a terminus of the chesapeake and ohio canal. georgia: ( , ), one of the original states of the american union, lies to the s., fronting the atlantic between florida and s. carolina; is divided into counties, atlanta being the capital and savannah the chief port; it is well watered with rivers; is low and swampy for some miles inland, but it rises into plateaux in the interior, and the appalachians and blue mountains intersect it in the nw.; excellent crops of wheat and fruit are grown among the hills, rice in the lowlands, while immense quantities of cotton are raised on the islands skirting the coast; the vast forests of pitch-pine supply an increasing lumber trade; the mountain lands are rich in minerals; the state was named after george ii. in by the founder, james oglethorpe. , the former name of an independent kingdom, which extended along the southern slopes of the caucasus, and which, since the beginning of the century, has belonged to russia under the name of gruzia, and now forms the central portion of russian transcaucasia; the georgians number at present about a million; they are a people of splendid physique, whose history reaches back to the time of alexander the great, and who attained their zenith in the th century; subsequently they suffered from persian and turkish invasion, and eventually, as we have said, fell into the hands of russia; at present there is a georgian literature growing, especially in tiflis, if that is any sign of advance. gera ( ), a thriving city on the white elster, m. sw. of leipzig; has broad streets and fine buildings, with a castle; chief manufactures woollen. geraint, sir, one of the knights of the round table, the husband of enid, whose fidelity he for a time distrusted, but who proved herself a true wife by the care with which she nursed him when he was wounded. gÉrard, Étienne maurice, comte, marshal of france, born at damvillers, lorraine; in he entered the army and fought under bernadotte in various campaigns; at austerlitz he won his brigade, and subsequently fought at jena, erfurt, and wagram; he joined napoleon after his flight from elba, and was wounded at wavre; on the downfall of the emperor he quitted france, but returned in ; in he was elected to the chamber of deputies, and in assisted in driving the dutch out of flanders; he was war minister under louis philippe ( - ). gÉrard, franÇois pascal simon, baron, painter, born at rome, of french and italian parentage; came to paris when a youth, where he studied painting under david; in his "blind belisarius" brought him to the front, whilst subsequent work as a portrait-painter raised him above all his contemporaries; his masterpiece, "entry of henri iv. into paris," brought him a barony at the hands of louis xviii.; his historical paintings, characterised by minute accuracy of detail, include "napoleon in his coronation robes," "battle of austerlitz," &c. ( - ). gerhardt, karl friedrich, chemist, born at strasburg; after a training at carlsruhe and leipzig, worked in liebig's laboratory at giessen; in he began lecturing in paris, and made experiments along with cahours on essential oils, which bore fruit in an important treatise; in he received the chair of chemistry at montpellier, but returned to paris four years later; there he matured and published his theories of types, homologous series, &c., which have greatly influenced the science of chemistry; in he became professor of chemistry in strasburg ( - ). gerhardt, paul, a celebrated german hymn-writer of the lutheran church, born at gräfenhainichen, in saxony; in he became dean of st. nicholas in berlin, an appointment he held till , when he was deposed for his embittered opposition to the union of the lutheran and reformed churches; he was subsequently pastor at lübben; his hymns, in number, rank amongst the finest of their class ( - ). gerizzim, a mountain of ft. in height in the s. of the valley of shechem, opposite ebal (q. v.), and from the slopes of which the blessings were responded to by half the tribes of israel on their arrival in canaan (josh. viii. - ); the samaritans erected a temple on this mountain, ruins of which still remain. germ theory, the doctrine that certain diseases are due to fermentation caused by the presence of germs in the system in the form of minute organisms called bacteria. german catholics, a sect formed in by secession from the catholic church of germany, under the leadership of johann ronge, on account of the mummery under papal patronage connected with the exhibition of the holy coat of trèves and the superstitious influence ascribed to it. german voltaire, name given sometimes to wieland and sometimes, but less appropriately, to goethe. germanicus, cÆsar, roman general, son of nero claudius drusus and antonia, daughter of mark antony; he served with distinction under his uncle tiberius in dalmatia and pannonia; was awarded a triumph, and in a.d. was elected consul; his success and popularity as leader of the army on the rhine provoked the jealousy of tiberius, who transferred him to the east, where he subsequently died; his son caligula succeeded tiberius on the imperial throne ( b.c.-a.d. ). germany ( , ), constituted an empire in , occupies a commanding position in central europe, and stretches from switzerland in the s. to the german ocean and baltic sea on the n.; austria lies to the se., russia to the ne., while france, belgium, and the netherlands flank the w.; is made up of states of widely varying size and importance, comprising four kingdoms (of which prussia is by far the largest and most influential), six grand-duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free towns (lübeck, bremen, hamburg), and one imperial province, alsace-lorraine; the main physical divisions are ( ) the great lowland plain stretching from the centre to the baltic and north sea, well watered by the ems, weser, elbe, oder, vistula, and their tributaries, in which, bating large sandy tracts, agriculture employs a large class, and cereals, tobacco, and beetroot are raised; ( ) the mountainous district, in the interior of which the fichtelgebirge is the central knot, in which vast forests abound, and rich deposits of coal, fire-clays, iron, and other metals are worked, giving rise to iron-works and potteries; ( ) the basin of the rhine, on the w., where the vine is largely cultivated, and extensive manufactures of silks, cottons, and hardware are carried on; fine porcelain comes from saxony and vast quantities of beer from bavaria; westphalia is the centre of the steel and iron works; throughout germany there are , m. of railway line (chiefly state railways), , m. of telegraph line, while excellent roads, canals, and navigable rivers facilitate communication; per cent. of the people are protestants; education is compulsory and more highly developed than in any other european country; the energies of the increasing population have in recent years found scope for their action in their growing colonial possessions; the military system imposes upon every german a term of seven years' service, three in active service, and the remainder in the reserve, and till his forty-sixth year he is liable to be called out on any great emergency; under the emperor the government is carried on by a _federal council_, the members of which are appointed by the governments of the various estates, and the _reichstag_, elected by universal suffrage and ballot for three years. gÉrÔme, lÉon, a celebrated french painter, born at vésoul; he studied at paris under paul delaroche, with whom he subsequently travelled in italy; he travelled in the east and familiarised himself with eastern scenes; in he was appointed professor of painting in the paris school of fine arts; among his most famous pictures, all characterised by vivid colouring and strong dramatic effect, are "the age of augustus and the birth of christ," "roman gladiators in the amphitheatre," "cleopatra and cæsar," &c.; _b_. . gerry, elbridge, american statesman, born in marblehead, mass.; in , eight years after graduating at harvard, he was elected to the massachusetts assembly, and in to the first national congress; as envoy to france in he assisted in establishing diplomatic relations with that country, and after his recall in was chosen governor of his native state; during his tenancy of this office, by an unfair redistribution of the electoral districts in the state he gave undue advantage to his own political party, a proceeding which led to the coining of the word "gerrymandering"; subsequently he held office as vice-president of the republic ( - ). gerson, john charlier de, an eminent ecclesiastical scholar, born at gerson, in the diocese of rheims; in he became chancellor of his old university at paris, and earned in that office a high reputation for learning, becoming known as doctor christianissimus; he was a prominent member of the councils of pisa and constance, advocating, as a remedy for the western schism, the resignation of the rival popes; in consequence of his denunciation of the duke of burgundy for the murder of the duke of orleans he was forced to become a refugee in germany for some time, but finally retired into the monastery of lyons; his various works reveal an intellect of keen intelligence, but somewhat tinged with a cloudy mysticism ( - ). gerstÄcker, friedrich, german author and traveller, born in hamburg; when he emigrated to new york, and for six years led a wandering life in different parts of america, working the while now at one occupation now at another, a narrative of which he published on his return to germany; in he undertook a journey round the world which occupied him three years; in - he crossed s. america; in he was in africa with duke ernst of gotha, and in in central america; his many writings, descriptive of these countries, exhibit a fresh and graphic style, and have had a wide popularity; he is the author also of several thrilling stories ( - ). gervase of tilbury, a mediæval historical writer, born at tilbury, in essex; said to have been a nephew of king henry ii.; he held a lectureship in canon law at bologna, and through the influence of emperor otto iv. was made marshal of the kingdom of arles; he was the author of "otia imperiala," a historical and geographical work; _d_. about . gervinus, georg gottfried, german historian and shakespearian critic, born at darmstadt; he was elected to the chair of history at göttingen in , an appointment which was cancelled the following year by his signing the protest against the abolition of the hanoverian constitution; in he was appointed honorary professor at heidelberg, and subsequently contributed greatly to the establishment of constitutional liberty in germany by means of his writings and by founding the _deutsche zeitung_ there; in he became a member of the national assembly, but shortly afterwards withdrew, disgusted with the course things were taking; he now engaged in literary studies, the fruit of which appeared in his celebrated volumes of shakespearian criticism ( - ). geryon, a king of erytheia (i. e. red island), on the western borders of the world, with three bodies and three heads, who had a herd of oxen guarded by a giant shepherd and his dog, the two-throated orthros, which were carried off by hercules at the behest of his fate. gesenius, an eminent german hebraist and biblical scholar, born in prussian saxony, whose labours form an epoch in the study of the hebrew scriptures; was years professor of the language in halle; produced a hebrew grammar and lexicon, and commentary on isaiah on rationalistic lines ( - ). gesner, konrad von, swiss scholar and naturalist, born at zurich; hampered by ill-health and poverty in his youth, he yet contrived by unremitting diligence to obtain an excellent education at strasburg, bourges, and paris; in his twenty-first year he obtained an appointment in zurich university, and in became professor of greek at lausanne; abandoning the idea he entertained of entering the church, he determined to adopt the medical profession instead, graduated at basel in , and a year later went to zurich to occupy the chair of natural history and to practise as a doctor; his chief works are the "bibliotheca universalis" (a catalogue and summary of all hebrew, greek, and latin works then known to exist), and the "historia animalium"; these monuments of learning have won him the cognomen of the german pliny ( - ). gessler, albrecht, a governor of the forest cantons of switzerland, who figures in swiss legend as an oppressor who was shot as related in the tradition of tell. gessner, salomon, swiss poet and artist, born at zurich; served an apprenticeship to a bookseller in berlin, and after a sojourn in hamburg returned to zurich, where the rest of his life was spent; he published several volumes of poetry, chiefly pastoral and of no great value; his "death of abel" is his most notable performance; his paintings are mainly landscapes of a conventional type, several of which he engraved, revealing better abilities as an engraver than as an artist ( - ). gesta romanorum (the exploits of the romans), a collection of short didactic stories, not however solely roman, written in the latin tongue, probably towards the close of the th century, the authorship of which is uncertain, though it is generally recognised as of english origin; the stories are characterised by naïve simplicity, and have served as materials for many notable literary productions; thus shakespeare owes to this work the plot of pericles and the incidents of the caskets and the pound of flesh in the "merchant of venice," parnell his "hermit," byron his "three black crows," and longfellow his "king robert of sicily." gethsemane, somewhere on the e. of kedron, half a mile from jerusalem, at the foot of mount olivet, the scene of the agony of christ. gettysburg ( ), a town in pennsylvania, built on a group of hills m. sw. of harrisburg; during the civil war it was the scene of general meade's famous victory over the confederates under general lee on july , . geyser, fountains which from time to time, under the expansion of steam, eject columns of steam and hot water, and which are met with in iceland, north america, and new zealand, of which the most remarkable is the great geyser, m. n. of reikiavik, in iceland, which ejects a column of water to ft. in height, accompanied with rumblings underground; these eruptions will continue some minutes, and they recur every few hours. gfrÖrer, august friedrich, a learned german historian, born in the black forest; educated for the protestant ministry; in , after residence at geneva and rome, started as a tutor of theology, and two years later became librarian at stuttgart; published a number of historical works, including a "life of gustavus adolphus," "pope gregory vii.," a "history of primitive christianity," "church history to the fourteenth century"; in this last work he showed a strong leaning to catholicism; was appointed to the chair of history in the university of freiburg; was elected to the frankfort parliament, and finally openly professed the catholic faith ( - ). ghÂts, or ghauts, eastern and western, two mountain ranges running parallel with the e. and w. coasts of s. india, the latter skirting the malabar coast between and m. from the sea, rising to nearly ft., and exhibiting fine mountain and forest scenery, and the former skirting the e. of the deccan, of which tableland it here forms the buttress, and has a much lower mean level; the two ranges converge into one a short distance from cape comorin. ghazali, abu mohammed al-, arabian philosopher, born at tûs, persia; in he was appointed professor of philosophy in bagdad; four years later he went to mecca, and subsequently taught at damascus, jerusalem, and alexandria; finally, he returned to his native town and there founded a sufic college; of his numerous philosophic and religious works the most famous is the "destruction of the philosophers," in which he combats the theories and conclusions of the current arabian scholasticism ( - ). ghazipur ( ), a city of india, on the ganges, m. ne. of benares, capital of the district of that name ( , ), in the north-west provinces; is the head-quarters of the government opium department, and trades in rose-water, sugar, tobacco, &c.; contains the ruins of the palace of forty pillars. ghazni ( ), a fortified city of afghanistan, ft. above the sea, m. sw. of cabul; it is the chief strategical point on the military route between kandahar and cabul; in the th and th centuries it was the capital of the kingdom of ghaznevids, which stretched from the plains of delhi to the black sea, and which came to an end in . gheel ( ), a town in belgium, situated on a fertile spot in the midst of the sandy plain called the campine, m. se. of antwerp; it has been for centuries celebrated as an asylum for the insane, who (about ) are now boarded out among the peasants; these cottage asylums are under government control, and the board of the patients in most cases is guaranteed. ghent ( ), a city of belgium, capital of east flanders, situated at the junction of the scheldt and the lys, m. nw. of brussels; rivers and canals divide it into quarters, connected by bridges; in the older part are many quaint and interesting buildings, notably the cathedral of st. bavon ( th century); it is the first industrial city of belgium, and is a great emporium of the cotton, woollen, and linen trades; the floriculture is famed, and the flower-shows have won it the name of the "city of flowers." ghetto, an italian word applied to the quarters set apart in italian cities for the jews, and to which in former times they were restricted; the term is now applied to the jews' quarters in any city. ghibellines, a political party in italy who, from the th to the th centuries, maintained the supremacy of the german emperors over the italian states in opposition to the guelphs (q. v.). ghiberti, lorenzo, an italian sculptor and designer, born at florence; his first notable work was a grand fresco in the palace of malatesta at rimini in , but his most famous achievement, which immortalised his name, was the execution of two doorways, with bas-relief designs, in the baptistery at florence; he spent years at this work, and so noble were the designs and so perfect the execution that michael angelo declared them fit to be the gates of paradise (about - ). ghika, helena. see dora d'istria. ghilan ( ), a province of nw. persia, between the sw. border of the caspian sea and the elburz mountains; is low-lying, swampy, and unhealthy towards the caspian, but the rising ground to the s. is more salubrious; wild animals are numerous in the vast forests; the soil, where cleared, is fertile and well cultivated; the caspian fisheries are valuable; the people are of iranian descent, and speak a persian dialect. ghirlandajo (i. e. garland-maker), nickname of domenico curradi, an italian painter, born at florence; acquired celebrity first as a designer in gold; he at turned to painting, and devoted himself to fresco and mosaic work, in which he won wide-spread fame; amongst his many great frescoes it is enough to mention here "the massacre of the innocents," at florence, and "christ calling peter and andrew," at rome; michael angelo was for a time his pupil ( - ). ghuzni. see ghazni. giants, in the greek mythology often confounded with, but distinct from, the titans (q. v.), being a mere earthly brood of great stature and strength, who thought by their violence to dethrone zeus, and were with the assistance of hercules overpowered and buried under etna and other volcanoes, doomed to continue their impotent grumbling there. giant's causeway, a remarkable headland of columnar basaltic rock in north ireland, projecting into the north channel from the antrim coast at bengore head, m. ne. of portrush; is an unequal surface yds. long and ft. wide, formed by the tops of the , closely packed, vertical columns which rise to a height of ft. the legend goes that it was the beginning of a roadway laid down by a giant. giaour, the turkish name for an unbeliever in the mohammedan faith, and especially for a christian in that regard. gibbon, edward, eminent historian, born at putney, near london, of good parentage; his early education was greatly hindered by a nervous complaint, which, however, disappeared by the time he was ; a wide course of desultory reading had, in a measure, repaired the lack of regular schooling, and when at the age of he was entered at magdalen college, oxford, he possessed, as he himself quaintly puts it, "a stock of erudition which might have puzzled a doctor, and a degree of ignorance of which a schoolboy might have been ashamed"; months later he became a convert to roman catholicism, and in consequence was obliged to quit oxford; in the hope of reclaiming him to the protestant faith he was placed in the charge of the deistical poet mallet, and subsequently under a calvinist minister at lausanne; under the latter's kindly suasion he speedily discarded catholicism, and during five years' residence established his learning on a solid foundation; time was also found for the one love episode of his life--an amour with suzanne curchod, an accomplished young lady, who subsequently became the wife of the french minister m. neckar, and mother of madame de staël; shortly after his return to england in he published in french an essay on the study of literature, and for some time served in the militia; in , having four years previously inherited his father's estate, he entered parliament, and from to was one of the lords commissioners of trade and plantations; in appeared the first volume of his great history "the decline and fall of the roman empire," the conception of which had come to him in in rome whilst "musing amongst the ruins of the capitol"; in his great work was finished at lausanne, where he had resided since ; modern criticism, working with fresh sources of information, has failed to find any serious flaw in the fabric of this masterpiece in history, but the cynical attitude adopted towards the christian religion has always been regarded as a defect; "a man of endless reading and research," was carlyle's verdict after a final perusal of the "decline," "but of a most disagreeable style, and a great want of the highest faculties of what we would call a classical historian, compared with herodotus, for instance, and his perfect clearness and simplicity in every part"; he, nevertheless, characterised his work to emerson once as "a splendid bridge from the old world to the new" ( - ). gibbons, grinling, a celebrated wood-carver, born at rotterdam, but brought up in england; through the influence of evelyn he obtained a post in the board of works, and his marvellous skill as a wood-carver won him the patronage of charles ii., who employed him to furnish ornamental carving for the chapel of windsor; much of his best work was done for the nobility, and in many of their mansions his carving is yet extant in all its grace and finish, the ceiling of a room at petworth being considered his masterpiece; he also did some notable work in bronze and marble ( - ). gibbons, orlando, an eminent english musician, composer of many exquisite anthems, madrigals, &c., born at cambridge; in he obtained the post of organist in the chapel royal, london, and two years later received the degree of mus. bac. of cambridge, while oxford recognised his rare merits in by creating him a mus. doc.; in the following year he became organist of westminster abbey, and in was in official attendance at canterbury on the occasion of charles i.'s marriage, but he did not live to celebrate the ceremony, for which he wrote the music; he is considered the last and greatest of the old church musicians of england ( - ). gibeon, a place on the northern slopes of a hill or m. s. of bethel, and the spot over which joshua bade the sun stand still; its inhabitants, for a trick they played on the invading israelites, wore condemned to serve them as "hewers of wood and drawers of water." gibraltar, a promontory of rock, in the s. of spain, about m. square and over ft. in height, connected with the mainland by a spit of sand, forming a strong fortress, with a town ( ) of the name at the foot of it on the w. side, and with the strait of gibraltar on the s., which at its narrowest is m. broad; the rock above the town is a network of batteries, mounted with heavy cannon, and the town itself is a trade entrepôt for n. africa; the rock has been held as a stronghold by the british since . gibson, john, sculptor, born at gyffin, near conway, wales, of humble parentage; after serving an apprenticeship to a cabinet-maker in liverpool, he took to carving in wood and stone, and supported by roscoe became a pupil of canova and afterwards of thorwaldsen in rome; here he made his home and did his best work; mention may be made of "theseus and the robber," "amazon thrown from her horse," statues of george stephenson, peel, and queen victoria; in he was elected a member of the royal academy ( - ). gibson, thomas milner, politician, born at trinidad; graduated at cambridge; entered parliament in the conservative interest, but becoming a convert to free-trade principles, he went over to the liberal ranks, and became an active and eloquent supporter of the manchester policy; returned for manchester in and , was made a privy councillor and vice-president of the board of trade; his earnest advocacy of peace at the crimean crisis lost him his seat in manchester, but ashton-under-lyne returned him the same year; under palmerston he was for seven years ( - ) president of the board of trade; his name is honourably associated with the repeal of the advertisement, newspaper stamp, and paper duties; in he retired from public life ( - ). gideon, one of the most eminent of the judges of israel, famous for his defeat of the midianites at gilboa, and the peace of years' duration which it ensured to the people under his rule. giesebrecht, wilhelm von, historian, born at berlin; was professor of history at königsberg and at münich; his chief work is "geschichte der deutschen kaiserzeit" ( - ). gieseler, johann karl ludwig, a learned church historian, born near minden; after quitting halle university adopted teaching as a profession, but in served in the war against france; on the conclusion of the war he held educational appointments at minden; was nominated in to the chair of theology at bonn, and in was appointed to a like professorship in göttingen; his great work is a "history of the church" in vols. ( - ). giessen ( ), the chief town of hesse-darmstadt, situated at the confluence of the wieseck and the lahn, m. n. of frankfort-on-the-main; has a flourishing university, and various manufactories. gifford, adam, lord, a scottish judge, born in edinburgh; had a large practice as a barrister, and realised a considerable fortune, which he bequeathed towards the endowment of four lectureships on natural theology in connection with each of the four universities in scotland; was a man of a philosophical turn of mind, and a student of spinoza; held office as a judge from to ( - ). gifford, william, an english man of letters, born in ashburton, devonshire; left friendless and penniless at an early age by the death of his parents, he first served as a cabin-boy, and subsequently for four years worked as a cobbler's apprentice; through the generosity of a local doctor, and afterwards of earl grosvenor, he obtained a university training at oxford, where in he graduated; a period of travel on the continent was followed in by his celebrated satire the "baviad," and in two years later by the "mæviad"; his editorship of the _anti-jacobin_ ( - ) procured him favour and office at the hands of the tories; the work of translation, and the editing of elizabethan poets, occupied him till , when he became the first editor of the _quarterly review_; his writing is vigorous, and marked by strong partisanship, but his bitter attacks on the new literature inaugurated by wordsworth, shelley, keats, and others reveal a prejudiced and narrow view of literature ( - ). gigman, carlyle's name for a man who prides himself on, and pays all respect to, respectability; derived from a definition once given in a court of justice by a witness who, having described a person as respectable, was asked by the judge in the case what he meant by the word; "one that keeps a gig," was the answer. gil blas, a romance by le sage, from the name of the hero, a character described by scott as honestly disposed, but being constitutionally timid, unable to resist temptation, though capable of brave actions, and intelligent, but apt to be deceived through vanity, with sufficient virtue to make us love him, but indifferent to our respect. gilbert, sir humphrey, navigator, born in devonshire, half-brother of sir walter raleigh; in established a settlement in newfoundland. gilbert, sir john, english artist, president of the royal society of water-colour painters; was for long an illustrator of books, among the number an edition of shakespeare; he was a chevalier of the legion of honour ( - ). gilbert, william schwenck, barrister, notable as a play-writer and as the author of the librettos of a series of well-known popular comic operas set to music by sir arthur sullivan; _b_. . gilbert islands, or kingsmill group ( ), a group of islands in the pacific, of coral formation, lying on the equator between ° and ° e. long; they are in number, were discovered in , and annexed by britain in . gilboa, mount, a range of hills on the se. of the plain of esdraëlon, in palestine, attaining a height of ft. gilchrist, alexander, biographer of william blake (q. v.), born at newington green, son of a unitarian minister; although called to the bar, literary and art criticism became his main pursuit; settled at guildford in , where he wrote his life of the artist etty; became in a next-door neighbour of carlyle at chelsea, and had all but finished his life of blake when he died ( - ).--his wife, anne gilchrist, née burrows, was during her life an active contributor to magazines; she completed her husband's life of blake, and in published a life of mary lamb ( - ). gildas, a monkish historian of britain, who wrote in the th century a latin work entitled "de excidio britanniæ," which afterwards appeared in two parts, a history and an epistle. gilead, a tableland extending along the e. of the jordan, at a general level of ft. above the sea, the highest point near ramoth-gilead being ft. giles, st., the patron saint of cripples, beggars, and lepers; was himself a cripple, due to his refusal to be cured of a wound that he might learn to mortify the flesh; was fed by the milk of a hind that visited him daily; had once at his monastery a long interview with st. louis, without either of them speaking a word to the other. gilfillan, george, a critic and essayist, born at comrie, minister of a dissenting congregation in dundee from to his death; a writer with a perfervid style; author of "gallery of literary portraits," "bards of the bible," etc., and editor of nichol's "british poets," which extended to vols. ( - ). gillespie, george, a celebrated scotch divine, born at kirkcaldy; trained at st. andrews, and ordained to a charge at wemyss; in he was called to edinburgh, and in the following year appointed one of a deputation of four to represent scotland at the westminster assembly; his chief work is "aaron's rod blossoming," a vigorous statement and vindication of his presbyterianism; in he was moderator of the general assembly ( - ). gilpin, john, a london citizen, on an adventure of whose life cowper has written a humorous poem. gilpin, william, of boldre, an english author, who by his series of "picturesque tours" exercised an influence on english literature similar to that of white's "selborne," at the same time ( - ). gilray, james, english caricaturist, born in chelsea; distinguished for his broad humour and keen satire; his works were numerous and highly popular; died insane ( - ). gioberti, vincenzo, an italian philosophical and political writer, born at turin; in he was appointed to the chair of theology in his native city, and in chaplain to the court of charles albert of sardinia; two years later was exiled on a charge of complicity in the plots of the young italy party, and till remained abroad, chiefly in brussels, busy with his pen on literary, philosophical, and political subjects; in he was welcomed back to italy, and shortly afterwards rose to be prime minister of a short-lived government; his later years were spent in diplomatic work at paris; in philosophy he reveals platonic tendencies, while his political ideal was a confederated italy, with the pope at the head and the king of sardinia as military guardian ( - ). giordano, luca, italian painter, born at naples; studied under various celebrated masters at naples, rome, lombardy, and other places, finally returning to naples; in he received a commission from charles ii. of spain to adorn the escurial, and in the execution of this work remained at madrid till , when he again settled in his native city; he was famous in his day for marvellous rapidity of workmanship, but this fluency combined with a too slavish adherence to the methods of the great masters has somewhat robbed his work of individuality; his frescoes in the escurial at madrid and others in florence and rome are esteemed his finest work ( - ). giorgione (i. e. great george), the sobriquet given to giorgio barbarella, one of the early masters of the venetian school, born near castelfranco, in the ne. of italy; at venice he studied under giovanni bellini, and had titian as a fellow-pupil; his portraits are among the finest of the italian school, and exhibit a freshness of colour and conception and a firmness of touch unsurpassed in his day; his works deal chiefly with scriptural and pastoral scenes, and include a "holy family" in the louvre, "virgin and child" in venice, and "moses rescued" ( - ). giotto, a great italian painter, born at a village near florence; was a shepherd's boy, and at years of age, while tending his flock and drawing pictures of them, was discovered by cimabue, who took him home and made a pupil of him; "never," says ruskin, "checked the boy from the first day he found him, showed him all he knew, talked with him of many things he himself felt unable to paint; made him a workman and a gentleman, above all, a christian, yet left him a shepherd.... his special character among the great painters of italy was that he was a practical person; what others dreamt of he did; he could work in mosaic, could work in marble, and paint; could build ... built the campanile of the duomo, because he was then the best master of sculpture, painting, and architecture in florence, and supposed in such business to be without a superior in the world.... dante was his friend and titian copied him.... his rules in art were: you shall see things as they are; and the least with the greatest, because god made them; and the greatest with the least, because god made you, and gave you eyes and a heart; he threw aside all glitter and conventionality, and the most significant thing in all his work is his choice of moments." cimabue still painted the holy family in the old conventional style, "but giotto came into the field, and saw with his simple eyes a lowlier worth; and he painted the madonna, st. joseph, and the christ,--yes, by all means if you choose to call them so, but essentially--mamma, papa, and the baby; and all italy threw up its cap" ( - ). see ruskin's "mornings in florence." giotto's o, a perfectly round o, such as giotto is said to have sent the pope in evidence of his ability to do some decorative work for his holiness. giraldus cambrensis (i. e. giraldus of cambria), ecclesiastic and author, born in pembrokeshire, of norman descent; studied with distinction in paris; was a zealous churchman; obtained ecclesiastical preferment in england; was twice elected bishop of st. david's, but both times set aside; travelled in ireland as well as wales, and left record of his impressions, which give an entertaining picture and a valuable account of the times, though disfigured by credulity and personal vanity ( - ). girard, stephen, a philanthropist, born at bordeaux; in early life followed the career of a seaman and rose to be captain of an american coast-trader; in set up as a trader in philadelphia, and in course of time establishing a bank, accumulated an immense fortune; during his lifetime he exhibited a strange mixture of niggardliness, scepticism, public charitableness, and a philanthropy which moved him during a yellow-fever epidemic to labour as a nurse in the hospital; at his death he bequeathed $ , , to found an orphanage for boys, attaching to the bequest the remarkable condition, that no clergyman should ever be on the board or ever be permitted to enter the building ( - ). girardin, Émile de, journalist and politician, born in switzerland, the natural son of general alexandre de girardin; took to stockbroking, but quitting it for journalism he soon established a reputation as a ready, vivacious writer, and in started _la presse_, the first french penny paper; his rapid change of front in politics earned for him the nickname of "the weathercock"; latterly he adhered to the republican cause, and founded _la france_ in its interest; he published many political brochures and a few plays, and was for some years editor of _la liberté_ ( - ).--his wife, delphine gay, enjoyed a wide celebrity both as a beauty and authoress; her poems, plays, and novels fill six vols. ( - ). girardin, franÇois saint-marc, a french professor and littérateur, born at paris; in was professor in the college louis-le-grand, and in was nominated to the chair of literature in the sorbonne; as leader-writer in the _journal des débats_ he vigorously opposed the democrats, and sat in the senate from to ; in , as saint-beuve's successor, he took up the editorship of the _journal des savants_, and in became a member of the national assembly; he published his collected essays and also his popular literary lectures ( - ). gironde ( ), a maritime department in sw. france, facing the bay of biscay on the w. and lying n. and s. between charente-inférieure and landes; the garonne and the dordogne flowing through it form the gironde estuary, and with their tributaries sufficiently water the undulating land; agriculture and some manufactories flourish, but wine is the chief product. girondins or girondists, a party of moderate republican opinions in the french revolution; "men," says carlyle, "of fervid constitutional principles, of quick talent, irrefragable logic, clear respectability, who would have the reign of liberty establish itself, but only by respectable methods." the leaders of it were from the gironde district, whence their name, were in succession members of the legislative body and of the convention, on the right in the former, on the left in the latter, and numbered among them such names as condorcet, brissot, roland, carnot, and others; they opposed the court and the clerical party, and voted for the death of the king, but sought to rescue him by a proposal of appeal to the people; overpowered by the jacobins in june , with whom they came to open rupture, they sought in vain to provoke a rising in their favour; on october they were arraigned before the revolutionary tribunal, and on the st twenty-one of them were brought to the guillotine, singing the "marseillaise" as they went and on the scaffold, while the rest, all to a few, perished later on either the same way or by their own hands. girtin, thomas, a landscape-painter, born in london; painted in water-colour views of scenes near paris and london; was a friend of turner ( - ). girton college, a celebrated college for women, founded in at hitchin, but since located at girton, near cambridge; the ordinary course extends to three years, and degree certificates of the standard of the cambridge b.a. are granted; the staff consists of a "head" and five resident lecturers, all women, but there is a large accession of lecturers from cambridge; the students number upwards of , the fee for board and education £ per term. gizeh or ghizeh ( ), a town in egypt, on the nile, opposite old cairo, to which it is joined by a suspension bridge spanning the river; in the neighbourhood are the great pyramids. glacier, a more or less snow-white mass of ice occupying an alpine valley and moving slowly down its bed like a viscous substance, being fed by semi-melted snow at the top called _nevé_ and forming streams at the bottom; it has been defined by prof. j. d. forbes (q. v.) as "a viscous body which is urged down slopes of a certain inclination by the mutual pressure of its parts"; in the alps alone they number over , have an utmost depth of ft., and an utmost length of m. gladiator, one who fought in the arena at rome with men or beasts for the amusement of the people, originally in connection with funeral games, under the belief, it is said, that the spirits of the dead were appeased at the sight of blood; exhibitions of the kind were common under the emperors, and held on high occasions; if the gladiator was wounded in the contest, the spectators decided whether he was to live or die by, in the former case, turning their thumbs downwards, and in the latter turning them upwards. gladstone, william ewart, statesman, orator, and scholar, born at liverpool, son of a liverpool merchant, sometime of leith, and of ann, daughter of andrew robertson, stornoway; educated at eton and oxford; entered parliament in as member for newark in the tory interest; delivered his maiden speech on slavery emancipation on may , ; accepted office under sir robert peel in , and again in and ; and as member for oxford, separating from the tory party, took office under lord aberdeen, and in , under lord palmerston, became chancellor of the exchequer; elected member for south lancashire, , he became leader of the commons under lord john russell; elected for greenwich, he became premier for the first time in , holding office till ; after a brilliant campaign in midlothian he was returned for that county in , and became premier for the second time; became premier a third time in , and a fourth time in . during his tenure of office he introduced and carried a great number of important measures, but failed from desertion in the liberal ranks to carry his pet measure of home rule for ireland, so he retired from office into private life in ; his last days he spent chiefly in literary work, the fruit of which, added to earlier works, gives evidence of the breadth of his sympathies and the extent of his scholarly attainments; but being seized by a fatal malady, his strong constitution gradually sank under it, and he died at hawarden, may , ; he was buried in westminster abbey at the expense of the nation and amid expressions of sorrow on the part of the whole community; he was a man of high moral character, transcendent ability, and strong will, and from the day he took the lead the acknowledged chief of the liberal party in the country ( - ). glaisher, james, meteorologist and founder of the royal meteorological society, born in london; his first observations in meteorology were done as an officer of the irish ordnance survey; in , after service in the cambridge observatory, he went to greenwich, and from to he superintended the meteorological department of the royal observatory; in connection with atmospheric investigations he made a series of balloon ascents, rising on one occasion to a height of m., the greatest elevation yet attained: _b_. . glamorganshire ( ), a maritime county in s. wales, fronting the bristol channel, between monmouth and carmarthen; amid the hilly country of the n. lie the rich coal-fields and iron-stone quarries which have made it by far the most populous and wealthiest county of wales; the s. country--the garden of wales--is a succession of fertile valleys and wooded slopes; dairy-farming is extensively engaged in, but agriculture is somewhat backward; the large towns are actively engaged in the coal-trade and in the smelting of iron, copper, lead, and tin; some interesting roman remains exist in the county. glanvill, joseph, born at plymouth, graduated at oxford; was at first an aristotelian and puritan in his opinions, but after the restoration entered the church, and obtained preferment in various sees; his fame rests upon his eloquent appeal for freedom of thought in "the vanity of dogmatising" ( ) and upon his two works in defence of a belief in witches; he was one of the first fellows of the royal society; he seems to have made sir thomas browne his model, though he is not equal to him in the vigour of his thinking or the harmony of his style ( - ). glanvill, ranulf de, chief-justiciary of england in the reign of henry ii., born at stratford, in suffolk; is the author of the earliest treatise on the laws of england, a work in books; was deposed by richard i., and, joining the crusaders, fell before acre; _d_. . glasgow ( , including suburbs), the second city of the empire and the chief centre of industry in scotland, is situated on the clyde, in lanarkshire, m. w. from edinburgh and from london; it is conjectured that the origin of the name is found in cleschu ("beloved green spot"), the name of a celtic village which occupied the site previously, near which st. mungo, or kentigern, erected his church about a.d. ; although a royal burgh in , it was not till after the stimulus to trade occasioned by the union ( ) that it began to display its now characteristic mercantile activity; since then it has gone forward by leaps and bounds, owing not a little of its success to its exceptionally favourable situation; besides the advantages of waterway derived from the clyde, it is in the heart of a rich coal and iron district; spinning and weaving, shipbuilding, foundries, chemical and iron works, and all manner of industries, flourish; the city is spaciously and handsomely laid out; the cathedral ( ) is the chief building of historical and architectural interest; there is a university ( ) and a variety of other colleges, besides several public libraries and art schools; glasgow returns seven members of parliament. glasse, mrs., authoress, real or fictitious, of a cookery book, once in wide-spread repute; credited with the sage prescription, "first catch your hare." glassites, a christian sect founded in scotland about by john glas ( - ), a minister of the church of scotland, who in was deposed for denouncing all national establishments of religion as "inconsistent with the true nature of the church of christ," and maintaining that a church and its office-bearers owed allegiance to none other than christ; the sect, which developed peculiarities of doctrine and worship in conformity with those of the primitive church, spread to england and america, where they became known as _sandemanians_, after robert sandeman ( - ), son-in-law to glas, and his zealous supporter. glastonbury ( ), an ancient town in somersetshire, m. s. of bristol, on the brue; it is associated with many interesting legends and historical traditions that point to its existence in very early times; thus it was the _avalon_ of arthurian legend, and the place where joseph of arimathea, when he brought the holy grail, is said to have founded the first christian church; ruins are still extant of the old abbey founded by henry ii., which itself succeeded the ancient abbey of st. dunstan ( ); there is trade in gloves, mats, rugs, &c. glein, ludwig, german lyric poet, known as father glein for the encouragement he gave to young german authors; composed war songs for the prussian army ( - ). glencoe, a wild and desolate glen in the n. of argyllshire, running eastward from ballachulish m.; shut in by two lofty and rugged mountain ranges; the coe flows through the valley and enhances its lonely grandeur. see following. glencoe, massacre of, a treacherous slaughter of the macdonalds of that glen on the morning of th february , to the number of , in consequence of the belated submission of macian, the chief, to william and mary after the revolution; the perpetrators of the deed were a body of soldiers led by captain campbell, who came among the people as friends, and stayed as friends among them for days. glendower, owen, a welsh chief and patriot, a descendant of the old welsh princes who stirred up a rebellion against the english under henry iv., which, with the help of the percies of northumberland and charles vi. of france, he conducted with varied success for years, but eventual failure ( - ). see shakespeare's "henry iv." glenlivet, a valley in banffshire, through which the livet water runs, about m. sw. of huntly; famed for its whisky. glenroy, a narrow glen m. long, in inverness-shire, in the lochaber district; fort william lies m. ne. of its sw. extremity; the roy flows through the valley; the steep sides are remarkable for three regular and distinctly-formed shelves or terraces running parallel almost the entire distance of the glen, the heights on either side exactly corresponding; these are now regarded as the margins of a former loch which gradually sank as the barrier of glacial ice which dammed the waters up slowly melted. glogau ( ), a town with a strong fortress in silesia, on the oder, m. nw. of liegnitz; is a place of manufacture; was brilliantly taken by frederick the great in the silesian war on the th march by scalade, in one hour, at the very break of day. glommen or stor-elv (i. e. great river), the largest river in norway; has its source in lake aursund, and, after a southward course of m., broken by many falls, and for the most part unnavigable, discharges into the skager rack at frederikstad. gloriana, queen elizabeth, represented in her capacity as sovereign in spenser's "faërie queen." gloucester: ( ), the capital of gloucestershire, on the severn, m. ne. of bristol; a handsomely laid out town, the main lines of its ground-plan testifying to its roman origin; conspicuous among several fine buildings is the cathedral, begun in (restored in ) and exhibiting features of perpendicular and norman architecture; the river, here tidal, is spanned by two stone bridges, and a flourishing commerce is favoured by fine docks and a canal; chemicals, soap, &c., are manufactured. ( ), a seaport of massachusetts, u.s., m. ne. of boston; is a favourite summer resort, an important fishing-station, and has an excellent harbour; granite is hewn in large quantities in the neighbouring quarries. gloucester, robert of, english chronicler; was a monk of gloucester abbey, and lived in the th century; his chronicle, which is in verse, traces the history of england from the siege of troy to , the year before the accession of edward i. gloucestershire ( ), a west midland county of england, which touches warwick in the centre of the country, and extends sw. to the estuary of the severn; it presents three natural and well-defined districts known as the hill, formed by the cotswold hills in the e.; the vale, through which the severn runs, in the centre; the forest of dean (the largest in england) in the w.; coal is wrought in two large fields, but agricultural and dairy-farming are the main industries; antiquities abound; the principal rivers are the wye, severn, lower and upper avon, and thames; bristol (q. v.) is the largest town. glÜck, christoph von, a german musical composer and reformer of the opera; made his first appearance in vienna; studied afterwards for some years under san-martini of milan, and brought out his first opera "artaxerxes," followed by seven others in the italian style; invited to london, he studied händel, attained a loftier ideal, and returned to the continent, where, especially at vienna and paris, he achieved his triumphs, becoming founder of a new era in operatic music; in paris he had a rival in piccini, and the public opinion was for a time divided, but the production by him of "iphigénie en aulide" established his superiority, and he carried off the palm ( - ). gnomes, a set of imaginary beings misshapen in form and of diminutive size, viewed as inhabiting the interior of the earth and presiding over its secret treasures. gnostics, heretics, consisting of various sects that arose in the apostolic age of christianity, and that sought, agreeably to the philosophic opinions which they had severally embraced, to extract an esoteric meaning out of the letter of scripture and the facts especially of the gospel history, such as only those of superior speculative insight could appreciate; they set a higher value on knowledge (_gnosis_, whence their name) than faith; thus their understanding of christianity was speculative, not spiritual, and their knowledge of it the result of thinking, not of life; like the jews they denied the possibility of the word becoming flesh and of a realisation of the infinite in the finite; indeed, gnosticism was at once a speculative and a practical denial that christ was god manifest in the flesh, and that participation in christianity was, as he presented it (john vi. ), participation in his flesh. see christianity. goa ( ), a portuguese possession in w. india, lying between the western ghâts and the sea-coast, m. se. of bombay; large quantities of rice are raised in it; is hilly on the e. and covered with forests; it was captured in by albuquerque. old goa, the former capital, has fallen from a populous and wealthy city into utter decay, its place being taken by nova goa or panjim ( ), on the mandavi, m. from the coast. gobelins, gilles and jean, brothers, celebrated dyers, who in the th century introduced into france the art of dyeing in scarlet, subsequently adding on tapestry-weaving to their establishment; their works in paris were taken over by government in louis xiv.'s reign, and the tapestry, of gorgeous design, then put forth became known as gobelins; le brun, the famous artist, was for a time chief designer, and the tapestries turned out in his time have a world-wide celebrity; the works are still in operation, and a second establishment, supported by government, for the manufacture of gobelins exists at beauvais. godav`ari, an important river of india, rises on the e. side of w. ghâts, traverses in a se. direction the entire deccan, and forming a large delta, falls into the bay of bengal by seven mouths after a course of m.; its mighty volume of water supplies irrigating and navigable canals for the whole deccan; it is one of the sacred rivers of india, and once in years a bathing festival is celebrated on its banks. godet, frederick, swiss theologian, born at neuchâtel; became professor of theology there; author of commentaries on st. john's and luke's gospels and on the epistles to the romans and the corinthians, along with other works; _b_. . godfrey of bouillon, a renowned crusader, eldest son of eustace ii., count of boulogne; he served with distinction under the emperor henry ii., being present at the storming of rome in ; his main title to fame rests on the gallantry and devotion he displayed in the first crusade, of which he was a principal leader; a series of victories led up to the capture of jerusalem in , and he was proclaimed "defender and baron of the holy sepulchre," but declined to wear a king's crown in the city where his saviour had borne a crown of thorns; his defeat of the sultan of egypt at ascalon in the same year confirmed him in the possession of palestine ( - ). godiva, lady, wife of leofric, earl of mercia and lord of coventry, who pled in vain with her husband on behalf of the inhabitants of the place for relief from heavy exactions he had laid upon them, till one day he relented and consented he would grant her prayer if she would ride through coventry on horseback naked, which, with his leave, she at once undertook to do, and did, not one soul of the place peering through to look at her save peeping tom, who paid for his curiosity by being smitten thereafter with blindness. godolphin, sydney godolphin, earl of, a celebrated english statesman and financier, born at godolphin hall, near helston, cornwall; at was a royal page in the court of charles ii., and in engaged on a political mission in holland; in the following year entered parliament and was appointed to a post in the treasury, of which, five years later, he became first commissioner, being at the same time raised to the peerage; under james ii, was again at the head of the treasury, and at the revolution supported james, till the abdication, when he voted in favour of a regency; on the elevation of william to the throne was immediately reinstated at the treasury, where he continued eight years, till the whig ascendency brought about his dismissal; for six months in he once more assumed his former post, and under anne fulfilled the duties of lord high-treasurer from to , administering the finances with sagacity and integrity during the great campaigns of his friend marlborough, and in he was created an earl ( - ). godoy, manuel de, minister of charles iv. of spain, born at badajoz; played a conspicuous part in the affairs of spain during the french revolution and the empire; received the title of prince of peace for an offensive and defensive treaty he concluded with france in , in opposition to the general wish of the nation; lost all and died in paris ( - ). godwin, earl of the west saxons, a powerful english noble of the th century and father of harold ii.; first comes into prominence in the reign of cnut; was created an earl previous to , and shortly afterwards became related to the king by marriage; he was a zealous supporter of harthacnut in the struggle which followed the demise of cnut; subsequently was instrumental in raising edward the confessor to the throne, to whom he gave his daughter edith in marriage; continued for some years virtual ruler of the kingdom, but in his opposition to the growing norman influence brought about his banishment and the confiscation of his estates; in he returned to england and was received with so great popular acclaim that the king was forced to restore to him his estates and offices; _d_. . godwin, mary wollstonecraft, an english authoress, and first to publicly assert the rights of women, born at hoxton, of humble irish parentage; at she began to support herself by teaching, and continued to do so till , when she established herself in london to push her way as a writer, having already published "thoughts on the education of daughters"; in she replied to burke's "reflections," and in the following year appeared her famous "vindication of the rights of women"; while in paris in she formed a _liaison_ with an american, captain imlay, whose cruel desertion of her two years later induced her to attempt suicide by drowning; in she became attached to william godwin, a friend of five years' standing, and with him lived for some months, although, in accord with their own pronounced opinions, no marriage ceremony had been performed; in deference to the opinions of others, however, they departed from this position, and a marriage was duly celebrated five months before the birth of their daughter mary (shelley's second wife); contemporary opinion shows her to have been generous and gentle of nature, and animated throughout by a noble zeal for the welfare of humanity ( - ). godwin, william, a political writer and novelist, the son of a presbyterian minister, born at wisbeach, somersetshire; was educated for the church, and was for five years in the ministry; during this period his opinions on politics and religion underwent a radical change, and when in he threw up his holy office to engage in literature, he had become a republican in the one and a free-thinker in the other; various works had come from his pen, including three novels, before his celebrated "political justice" appeared in , "caleb williams," a novel, and his best-known work, being published in the following year; in he married mary wollstonecraft (_see_ preceding), who died the same year, and four years later he married a widow, mrs. clement; to the close of his long life he was a prolific writer on literary, historical, and political subjects, but his carelessness and lack of business habits left him little profit from all his literary activity; his writings are clear and vigorous in the expression, if visionary and impracticable in theory ( - ). goethe, johann wolfgang von, a great poet and wise man, the greatest, it is alleged, the world has seen since shakespeare left it, and who, being born in frankfort-on-the-main years before robert burns, died in the small duchy of weimar the same year as sir walter scott; was the son of an imperial chancellor, a formal man and his pedagogue in boyhood, and of elizabeth textor, daughter of the chief magistrate of the city, a woman of bright intelligence, who was only eighteen at the time of his birth. spiritually and bodily he was the most perfectly formed, symetrically proportioned, justly balanced, and completely cultivated man perhaps that ever lived, whose priceless value to the world lies in this, that in his philosophy and life there is found the union in one of what to smaller people appears entirely and absolutely antagonistic, of utmost scientific scepticism and highest spiritual faith and worth. "he was filled full with the scepticism, bitterness, hollowness, and thousandfold contradictions of his time, till his heart was like to break; yet he subdued all this, rose victorious over this, and manifoldly, by word and act, showed others that came after how to do the like." carlyle, who is never done recalling his worth, confesses an indebtedness to him--which he found it beyond his power to express: "it was he," he writes to emerson, "that first proclaimed to me (convincingly, for i saw it _done_): 'behold, even in this scandalous sceptico-epicurean generation, when all is gone but hunger and cant, it is still possible that man be man.'" "he was," says he, "king of himself and his world;... his faculties and feelings were not fettered or prostrated under the iron sway of passion, but led and guided in kindly union under the mild sway of reason; as the fierce primeval elements of chaos were stilled at the coming of light, and bound together, under its soft vesture, into a glorious and beneficent creation." his life lies latent in his successive works, above all in "goetz," in "werter," in "faust," and in "meister"; but as these have not been duly read it has not yet been duly written, though an attempt is being made to do so in the said connection. of the last of the four works named, carlyle, who has done more than any one else yet to bring goethe near us, once said, "there are some ten pages of that book that, if ambition had been my object, i would rather have written than all the literature of my time." "one counsel," says carlyle, "he has to give, the secret of his whole poetic alchemy, 'think of living! thy life is no idle dream, but a solemn reality. it is thy own, it is all thou hast to front eternity with.'" "never thought on thinking," he has said, _nie ans denken gedacht_. "what a thrift," exclaims carlyle, "of faculty here!" some think he had one weakness: he lived for culture, believed in culture, irrespective of the fact and the need of individual regeneration. and emerson, who afterwards in his "representative men" did goethe full justice, in introducing him as, if not a world-wise man, at all events as a world-related, once complained that "he showed us the _actual_ rather than the _ideal_." to which carlyle answered, "that is true; but it is not the whole truth. the actual well seen _is_ the ideal. the actual, what really is and exists; the past, the present, and the future do all lie _there_" ( - ). goetz von berlichingen (of the iron hand), a german knight of the th century; was involved in turbulent movements, and lost his right hand at the siege of landshut, which he replaced by one of his own invention made of steel; spent his life in feuds, and left an autobiography which interested goethe, who dramatised his story, "to save," as he said, "the memory of a brave man from darkness," a drama that had the honour of being translated by sir walter scott. gog and magog, names that occur in the bible of foes of israel, and designative in the apocalypse of enemies of the kingdom of god, as also of a scythian tribe n. of the caucasus. the names are applied likewise to two giants, survivors of a race found in britain by brute of troy, effigies of whom stood at the guildhall gate, symbolic defenders of the city. gogol, nicolai vasilievitch, a popular russian novelist, born in poltava; in he started as a writer in st. petersburg, but met with little success till the appearance of his "evenings in a farm near dikanka"; the success of the included sketches of provincial life induced him to produce a second series in , which are characterised by the same freshness and fidelity to nature; in appeared his masterpiece "dead souls," in which all his powers of pathos, humour, and satire are seen at their best; for some time he tried public teaching, being professor of history at st. petersburg, and from to lived chiefly at rome; many of his works, which rank beside those of puschkin and turgenieff, are translated into english ( - ). golconda, a fortified town in the nizam's dominions, m. w. of hyderabad; famous for its diamonds, found in the neighbourhood; beside it are the ruins of the ancient city, the former capital of the old kingdom; the fort is garrisoned, and is the treasury of the nizam; it is also a state prison. gold coast ( , , of whom are europeans), a british crown colony on the gulf of guinea, west africa, with a coast-line of m.; from the low and marshy foreshore the country slopes upward and inward to ashanti; the climate is very unhealthy; palm-oil, india-rubber, gold dust, &c., are exported; cape coast castle is the capital. golden age, the age of happy innocence under the reign of cronos or saturn, in which, as fabled, the earth yielded all fulness without toil, and every creature lived at peace with every other; the term is applied to the most flourishing period in the history of a nation. see ages. golden ass, a romance of apuleius (q. v.). golden bull, an imperial edict, issued by the emperor charles iv., which determined the law in the matter of the imperial elections, and that only one member of each electoral house should have a vote; so called from the gold case enclosing the imperial seal attached. golden fleece, the fleece of a ram which phryxos (q. v.), after he had sacrificed him to zeus, gave to Æëtes, king of colchis, who hung it on a sacred oak, and had it guarded by a monstrous dragon, and which it was the object of the argonautic expedition under jason to recover and bring back to greece, an object which they achieved. see argonauts. golden fleece, order of the, an order of knighthood founded by philip iii., duke of burgundy and the netherlands in , and instituted for the protection of the church. golden horn, the inlet on which constantinople is situated. golden legend, a collection of lives of saints and other tales, such as that of the "seven sleepers" and "st. george and the dragon," made in the th century by jacques de voragine, a dominican monk, to the glory especially of his brotherhood. golden rose, a cluster of roses on a thorny stem, all of gold; perfumed, and blessed by the pope on the fourth sunday in lent, and sent to a prince who has during the year shown most zeal for the church. goldoni, carlo, the founder of italian comedy, born at venice; in his youth he studied medicine and subsequently law, but in appeared as a dramatist with his tragedy "belisario"; moving from place to place as a strolling-player, he in returned to venice, and finding his true vocation in comedy-writing, turned out a rapid succession of sparkling character plays after the manner of molière; in he went to paris as a playwright to the italian theatre; became italian master to louis xv.'s daughters, and subsequently was pensioned; his comedies displaced the burlesques and farces till then in vogue on the stage in italy ( - ). goldschmidt, madame. see lind, jenny. goldsmith, oliver, english man of letters, born at pallas or pallasmore, co. longford, ireland, and celebrated in english literature as the author of the "vicar of wakefield"; a born genius, but of careless ways, and could not be trained to any profession, either in the church, in law, or in medicine, though more or less booked for all three in succession; set out on travel on the continent without a penny, and supported himself by his flute and other unknown means; came to london, tried teaching, then literature, doing hack-work, his first work in that department being "an inquiry into the present state of polite learning in europe," which was succeeded by his "citizen of the world"; became a member of the "literary club," and associated with johnson, reynolds, burke, and others; produced poems, "the traveller" and the "deserted village," besides comedies, such as "she stoops to conquer"; lived extravagantly, and died in debt; wrote histories of greece and rome, and "animated nature"; was a charming writer ( - ). golf, a game played with a bent club and a small ball on commons with short grass, in which the player who drives the ball into a succession of small holes in the ground, usually , with the fewest strokes, or who reckons up the most holes in the round by taking them with the fewest strokes, is the winner; an old popular scotch game, and first introduced into english on blackheath by james i., which has of late years been revived, and in connection with which clubs have established themselves far and wide over the globe, even at bagdad. goliath, a philistine giant of gath slain by david with pebbles from a brook by a sling ( sam. xvii.). gomarists, a sect of calvinists in holland, so called from their leader gomarus ( - ), a bitter enemy of arminius (q. v.). goncourt, edmond and jules de, french novelists, born, the former at nancy, the latter at paris; a habit of elaborate note-taking whilst on sketching tours first drew the brothers towards literature, and inoculated them with the habit of minute and accurate observation which gave value to their subsequent writings; their first real venture was a series of historical studies, designed to reproduce with every elaboration of detail french society in the later half of the th century, including a "history of french society during the revolution"; later they found their true province in the novel, and a series of striking works of fiction became the product of their joint labours, works which have influenced subsequent novelists not a little; "les hommes de lettres" ( ) was the first of these, and "madame gervaisais" ( ) is perhaps their best; their collaboration was broken in by the death of jules; but edmond still continued to write, and produced amongst other novels "la fille Élisa"; the "journal" of the brothers appeared in in six vols. (edmond, - ; jules, - ). gondar ( ), a once populous city and the capital of amhara (q. v.), situated on a basaltic ridge in the wogra mountains, m. n. of lake tzana; there are ruins of an old castle, churches and mosques, and establishments for the training of abyssinian priests. goneral, an unnatural daughter of king lear. gonsalez, a spanish hero of the th century, celebrated for his adventures, and whose life was twice saved by his wife. gonzaga, the name of a princely family from germany, settled in mantua, from which the dukes were descended who ruled the territory from to . gonzalvo di cordova (the popular name of gonzalo hernandez y aguilar), a renowned spanish soldier, born at montilla, near cordova; he first became prominent in the wars with the moors of granada and with portugal, and was rewarded with an estate and pensioned; in he so distinguished himself in assisting the king of naples (ferdinand ii.) to drive out the french that he became known henceforth as _el gran capitan_, and was created duke of san angelo; subsequent heroic achievements in naples, which won the kingdom for spain ( ), roused a feeling of jealousy in the spanish king, so that gonzalvo was recalled and ill-requited for his great services ( - ). good friday, the friday before easter, held sacred from early times by the church in commemoration of the crucifixion of christ, observed originally with fasting and prayer. good regent, the regent murray (q. v.). good templars, a total abstinence fraternity organised in new york in , which has lodges, subordinate, district, and grand, now all over the world; they exact a pledge of lifelong abstinence, and advocate the suppression of the vice by statute; there is a juvenile section pledged to abstinence from tobacco, gambling, and bad language, as well as drink. goodfellow, robin, a merry domestic spirit, full of tricks and practical jokes, and a constant attendant upon the english fairy court. goodman of ballengeich, a name assumed by james v. of scotland in his disguised perambulations about edinburgh o' nights. goodsir, john, eminent scotch anatomist, born at anstruther; was trained at st. andrews and edinburgh, in which latter city he served an apprenticeship in dentistry; he settled in anstruther and there wrote his noted essay on "teeth"; in he became keeper of the museum of the royal college of surgeons in edinburgh, and lecturer on diseases of the bone in ; four years later he succeeded dr. monro in the chair of anatomy in edinburgh university, which he adorned, having for some time previously acted as assistant ( - ). goodwin sands, a famous sandbank stretching m. along the e. coast of kent, about ½ m. from the shore; with the flowing of the tidal current the hidden sands are apt to shift and change their outline, and when storms of great violence sweep over them, despite their being well marked by four lightships and nine buoys, they have often been the occasion of a long series of melancholy shipwrecks; the shoal forms a splendid breakwater for the downs, an excellent anchorage, stretching between the goodwins and the shore; they are supposed popularly to be the remnants of an estate which belonged to the great earl of godwin (q. v.), but this supposition is a mere fable. goody two shoes, a character in a nursery story published in , and supposed to have been written by goldsmith when in straits. goodyear, charles, the inventor of vulcanised rubber, born at new haven, connecticut; his career was a troubled one; he failed as an iron-founder, and when, after years labour, amidst every disadvantage of poverty and privation, he in produced his new method of hardening rubber by means of sulphur, he became involved in a fresh series of troubles, as well as poverty, consequent on the infringement of his inventions; his patents latterly amounted to , and medals and honours, were awarded him both in london and paris ( - ). goorkhas or gurkhas, a brave and powerful native race in nepal claiming hindu descent; in they were subdued by the british, and have since rendered valuable service to britain in the mutiny, in the afghan and in the sikh wars; there are now ten regiments of goorkhas. gordian knot, a knot by which the yoke was fastened to the beam of the chariot of gordius (q. v.), and which no one could untie except the man who was destined to be the conqueror of asia; alexander the great being ambitious to achieve this feat, tried hard to undo it, but failing, cut it with his sword and marched on to conquest. gordianus, the name of three roman emperors, father, son, and grandson. marcus antonius gordianus, surnamed africanus, rose to be an ædile, consul twice, and subsequently became proconsul of africa; on the deposition of the emperor maximinus in , he, then in his eightieth year, was proclaimed emperor, his son (_b_. a.d. ) being associated with him in the imperial office; grief at the death of his son, killed in battle, caused him to commit suicide a month after he had assumed the purple; he was a man of refined and generous nature. marcus antonius gordianus, grandson of preceding, was early raised to the dignity of cæsar, and in rose to the rank of augustus; his most important achievement was his driving back of the persians beyond the euphrates and his relief of antioch; he was assassinated in by his own soldiers while preparing to cross the euphrates. gordius, a boor, the father of midas (q. v.), who was proclaimed king of phrygia because he happened, in response to the decree of an oracle, to be the first to ride into gordium during a particular assembly of the people; he rode into the city on a waggon, to which the yoke was attached by the gordian knot, and which he dedicated to zeus. gordon, general charles george, born at woolwich, son of an artillery officer; entered the royal engineers; served in the crimea as an officer in that department, and was, after the war, employed in defining the boundaries of asiatic turkey and russia; being employed in on a mission to square up matters with the chinese, on the settlement of the quarrel lent himself to the emperor in the interest of good order, and it was through him that the taiping rebellion in - was extinguished, whereby he earned the title of "chinese" gordon; he returned to england in , and was for the next six years engaged in completing the defences of the thames at gravesend; he was vice-consul of the delta of the danube during - , at the end of which term he conducted an expedition into africa under the khedive of egypt, and was in appointed governor of the soudan, in which capacity, by the confidence his character inspired, he succeeded in settling no end of troubles and allaying lifelong feuds; he relinquished this post in , and in , the english government having resolved to evacuate the soudan, he was commissioned to superintend the operation; he started off at once, and arrived at khartoum in february of that year, where, by the end of april, all communication between him and cairo was cut off; an expedition was fitted out for his relief, but was too late in arriving, the place was stormed by the arabs, and he with his comrades fell dead under a volley of arab musketry, january ; from the commencement to the close of his career he distinguished himself as a genuine christian and a brave man ( - ). gordon, lord george, anti-papal agitator, born in london, son of the duke of gordon; he adopted the navy as a profession, and rose to be lieutenant; entered parliament, and soon made himself conspicuous by his indiscriminate attacks on both whigs and tories; gave a passionate support to the london protestant association formed for the purpose of bringing about the repeal of the catholic emancipation bill of ; in , as president of the association, took the leading part in the famous no popery riots in london; was tried but acquitted, mainly through the eloquent defence of erskine; subsequently he was excommunicated for contempt of court, and eventually, after endeavouring to escape prosecution for two treasonable pamphlets, was apprehended, and died in newgate ( - ). gordon, sir john watson, a portrait-painter, born in edinburgh; was a pupil of raeburn's, and his successor as a painter of portraits; executed portraits of most of the eminent scotchmen of his time, and among the number sir walter scott, the duke of buccleuch, lord cockburn, dr. chalmers, and professor wilson ( - ). gore, charles, canon of westminster, a fellow of trinity college, oxford, is an exponent of high church tenets; the editor of _lux mundi_, and the author of the bampton lecture for , on "the incarnation of the son of god"; _b_. . gÖrgei, arthur, a hungarian patriot; at the age of entered the army, and designed to devote himself to the study of chemistry and the administration of his estate; but on the outbreak of the revolution in he joined the revolutionists; crushed the croatians at ozora; at the head of a patriot army faced the austrians under windischgrätz on the western frontier, and despite a temporary repulse, succeeded in asserting the supremacy of the hungarian cause in a series of victories; russian assistance accorded to austria, however, changed the fortune of war; kossuth resigned, and görgei became dictator; but hopeless of success, he immediately negotiated a peace with the russians; in he published a vindication of his policy and surrender, and in was exonerated by his compatriots from the charges of treachery brought against him by kossuth; _b_. . gorgias, a celebrated greek sophist, born at syracuse, in sicily; settled in athens, a swashbuckler of a man, who attached himself to the eleatics (q. v.), and especially zeno, in order that by their dialectic "he might demonstrate that nothing exists, or if something exists, that it cannot be known, or if it can be known, that it cannot be communicated"; his work bore characteristically enough the title "of the non-existent, or of nature"! gorgons, three sisters, medusa, euryale, and stheino, with hissing serpents on their heads instead of hair, of whom medusa, the only one that was mortal, had the power of turning into stone any one who looked on her. see perseus. gorham, george cornelius, an english ecclesiastic; being presented to the vicarage of bramford speke, n. devon, was refused institution by dr. philpotts, the bishop of exeter, because he was unsound in the matter of baptismal regeneration, upon which he appealed to the court of arches, which confirmed the bishop's decision, but the sentence of the court was reversed by the privy council, and institution granted ( - ). gÖrlitz ( ), a fortified town in prussian silesia, m. w. of liegnitz, on the meuse, where jacob boehme (q. v.) lived and died. gortschakoff, michael, russian general, brother of the succeeding; served in the war between russia and turkey in - ; commanded in the danubian principalities in ; distinguished himself in the defence of sebastopol ( - ). gortschakoff, prince, an eminent russian general; was engaged in finland in , in the turkish war in , in the french war - , and the crimean war ( - ). goschen, george joachim, english statesman, born in london; entered parliament in the liberal interest in ; served in office under lord john russell and mr. gladstone; was opposed to home rule, joined the liberal-unionist party and holds office under lord salisbury as first lord of the admiralty; _b_. . goshen, a fertile district along a branch of the nile, in the eastern part of the delta of lower egypt; assigned by pharaoh to the children of israel when they came to sojourn in the land. gospels, the name by which the four accounts in the new testament of the character, life, and teaching of christ are designated; have been known since as early as the rd century, of which the first three are called "synoptic," because they are summaries of the chief events, and go over the same ground in the history, while the author of the fourth gospel follows lines of his own; the former aim mainly at mere narrative, while the object of the latter is dogmatic, as well as probably to supply deficiencies in the former; moreover, the interest of john's account centres in the person of christ and that of the others in his gospel; the writers were severally represented as attended, matthew by a man, mark by a lion, luke by an ox, and john by an eagle. gosport ( ), a fortified port and market-town in hants, on the w. side of portsmouth harbour, opposite portsmouth, with which it is connected by a floating bridge; its industries embrace flourishing iron-works, barracks, the royal clarence victualling yard, and haslar shipyard for the repair of gunboats. gosse, edmund, poet, essayist, and critic, born in london, the son of the succeeding; author of "history of eighteenth century literature," a collection of lyrics, and a series of monographs, in particular "life of gray"; _b_. . gosse, philip henry, naturalist, horn at worcester, in business in newfoundland, canada, and the united states; spent his leisure hours in the study of natural history, chiefly insects; after a visit of two years to jamaica wrote an account of its birds; compiled several works introductory to the study of animal life, and latterly devoted himself to the study of marine animals ( - ). gotha ( ), northern capital of the duchy of saxe-coburg-gotha and seat of the reigning prince, the present duke of edinburgh, situated on the leine canal, m. from the northern border of the thuringian forest; is picturesquely laid out, and has considerable manufactures, the famous perthes' geographical publishing-house; friedenstein castle, the ducal residence, built in , has a library of , vols. and mss. gotham, a village of n. nottinghamshire, the natives of which were made a laughing-stock of for their foolish sayings and doings, an instance of the latter being their alleged joining hand in hand round a bush to hedge in a cuckoo. gothamites, american cockneys, new york being called gotham. gothard, st., the central mountain mass ( ft. high) of the middle alps and core of the whole alpine system; it forms a watershed for rivers flowing in four different directions, including the rhône and the rhine; the famous pass ( ft.) from lake lucerne to lake maggiore forms an excellent carriage-way, has two hotels and a hospice at its summit; on the lower slopes is the st. gothard railway (opened ), with its celebrated tunnel ( ¼ m.), the longest in the world. gothenburg ( ), the second town of sweden, at the mouth of the gotha, m. sw. of stockholm, is a clean and modernly built town, intersected by several canals; it has a splendid harbour, and one of the finest botanical gardens in europe; its industries include shipbuilding, iron-works, sugar-refining, and fisheries; its licensing system has become famous; all shops for the sale of liquor are in the hands of a company licensed by government; profits beyond a five per cent. dividend to the shareholders are handed over to the municipality. gothic architecture, a varied style of architecture distinguished by its high and sharply-pointed arches, clustered columns, which had its origin in the middle ages, and prevailed from the th to the th centuries, though the term gothic was originally applied to it as indicating a _barbarous_ degeneracy from the _classic_, which it superseded. gothland: ( , ), the southernmost of the three old provinces of sweden; chiefly mountainous, but with many fertile spaces; forest and lake scenery give a charm to the landscape; gothenburg is the chief town. ( ), a swedish island in the baltic, m. e. of the mainland, area sq. m.; forms, with other islands, the province of gothland or wisby; agriculture, fishing, and shipping are the main industries; wisby is the chief town (also called gottland). goths, a tribe of teutons who in formidable numbers invaded the roman empire from the east and north-east from as early as the third century, and though they were beaten back at the battle of châlons, eventually broke it up. gottfried von strasburg, a medieval german poet and one of the famous _minnesingers_; flourished in strasburg at the close of the th century and beginning of the th; his great poem "tristan und isolde," completed in , extends to , lines, and has a grace and freshness suggestive of chaucer. gÖttingen ( ), an ancient hanoverian town, prettily situated in the valley of the leine, m. s. of hanover; is chiefly noteworthy on account of its university ( ), with its library of , vols. and mss.; the students exceed , and are instructed by professors; there is a flourishing book-trade. gottsched, johann christoph, a german literary notability, born near königsberg, professor of philosophy and belles-lettres at leipzig; was throughout his life the literary dictator of germany; did much to vindicate the rights and protect the purity of the german tongue, as well as to improve the drama, but he wrote and patronised a style of writing that was cold, stiff, and soulless ( - ). gough, hugh, viscount, a distinguished english general, born at woodstown, in limerick; he first saw service at the cape and in the west indies; afterwards fought with distinction in the peninsular war; subsequently, as major-general, he took part in the indian campaign of , and in commanded the forces in china; during seven years ( - ) he was commander-in-chief of the indian army, and carried through successfully the sikh wars, which added the punjab to the british dominions; in he was created a viscount, and a field-marshal in ( - ). gough, j. b., temperance orator, born in kent; bred a bookbinder; early a victim to intemperance; took the pledge in , and became an eloquent and powerful advocate of the temperance cause both in england and america ( - ). goujon, jean, a celebrated french sculptor and architect, born at paris; he did the reliefs on the fountain of the innocents and the façade of the old louvre; was a huguenot, but died before the massacre of st. bartholomew in . gould, john, eminent ornithologist, born at lyme regis, devonshire; his works are entitled "a century of birds from the himalaya mountains," "the birds of europe," "the birds of australia," "the birds of asia," "the birds of great britain," and "humming-birds," of which last he had an almost complete collection, only one wanting; the volumes in which these works were published were large folios and very expensive, with coloured illustrations of the birds described, the whole done under mr. gould's own eye, and in many cases by his own hand ( - ). gounod, charles franÇois, an eminent french composer, born at paris; a prize gained at the paris conservatoire followed by a government pension enabled him to continue his studies at rome, where he gave himself chiefly to the study of religious music; the "messe solenelle" was published on his return to paris; turning his attention to opera he produced "sappho" in , a popular comic opera "le médecin malgré lui" in , and a year later his famous setting of "faust," which placed him in the front rank of composers; other operas followed, with various masses, anthems, hymns, &c.; his oratorio "redemption," perhaps his masterpiece, appeared in ( - ). govan ( ), a town in lanarkshire, scotland, on s. bank of the clyde, virtually a western suburb of glasgow; the staple industry is shipbuilding. gow, nathaniel, youngest son of neil, won celebrity as a composer of songs and other pieces; his compositions include the popular "caller herrin'" ( - ). gow, neil, a famous scotch fiddler, born at inver, near dunkeld, of lowly origin; during his long life he enjoyed a wide popularity amongst the scotch nobility, his especial patron being the duke of atholl; raeburn painted his portrait on several occasions; he composed over a hundred strathspeys, laments, &c., giving a fresh impulse and character to scotch music, but his fame rests mainly on his violin playing ( - ). gower, john, an english poet, contemporary and friend of chaucer, but of an older school; was the author of three works: "speculum meditantis," the "thinker's mirror," written in french, lost for long, but recovered lately; "vox clamantis," the "voice of one crying," written in latin, an allegorising, moralising poem, "cataloguing the vice of the time," and suggested by the wat tyler insurrection, ; and "confessio amantis," "confession of a lover," written in english, treating of the course of love, the morals and metaphysics of it, illustrated by a profusion of apposite tales; was appropriately called by chaucer the "moral grower"; his tomb is in st. mary's, southwark ( - ). gowkthrapple, a "pulpit-drumming" covenanter preacher in "waverley," described by scott as in his own regard a "chosen vessel." gowrie conspiracy, a remarkable and much disputed episode in the reign of james vi. of scotland; the story goes that alexander ruthven and his brother, the earl of gowrie, enticed the king to come to gowrie house in perth on the th august for the purpose of murdering or kidnapping him, and that in the scuffle ruthven and gowrie perished. historians have failed to trace any motive incriminating the brothers, while several good reasons have been brought to light why the king might have wished to get rid of them. gozo ( ), an island in the mediterranean which, together with malta and comino, forms a british crown colony; lies m. nw. of malta. babato is the chief town. gozzi, count carlo, italian dramatist, born at venice; was when his first dramatic piece, "three oranges," brought him prominently before the public; he followed up this success with a series of dramas designed to uphold the old methods of italian dramatic art, and to resist the efforts of goldoni and chiari to introduce french models; these plays dealing with wonderful adventures and enchantments in the manner of eastern tales ("dramatic fairy tales," he called them), enjoyed a wide popularity, and spread to germany and france. schiller translated "turandot" ( - ).--his elder brother, count gasparo gozzi, was an active littérateur; the author of various translations, essays on literature, besides editor of a couple of journals; was press censor in venice for a time, and was in his later days engaged in school and university work ( - ). gracchus, caius sempronius, roman tribune and reformer, brother of the succeeding, nine years his junior; devoted himself and his oratory on his brother's death to carry out his measures; was chosen tribune in b.c., and re-elected in ; his measures of reform were opposed and undone by the senate, and being declared a public enemy he was driven to bay, his friends rallying round him in arms, when a combat took place in which fell, upon which gracchus made his slave put him to death; "overthrown by the patricians," he is said, "when struck with the fatal stab, to have flung dust toward heaven, and called on the avenging deities; and from this dust," says one, "there was born marius--not so illustrious for exterminating the cimbri as for overturning in rome the tyranny of the nobles." gracchus, tiberius sempronius, roman tribune and reformer, eldest son of cornelia, and brought up by her; proposed, among others, a measure for the more equal distribution of the public land, which he had to battle for against heavy odds three successive times, but carried it the third time; was killed with others of his followers afterwards in a riot, and his body thrown into the tiber and refused burial, b.c., aged . grace, the term in scripture for that which is the free gift of god, unmerited by man and of eternal benefit to him. grace, dr. w. g., the celebrated cricketer, born near bristol; distinguished as a batsman, fielder, and bowler; earned the title of champion, which was spontaneously and by universal consent conferred on him; has written on cricket; _b_. . grace cup, a silver bowl with two handles passed round the table after grace at all banquets in london city. graces, the, reckoned at one time two in number, but originally they appear to have been regarded as being, what at bottom they are, _one_. at last they are spoken of as _three_, and called aglaia, euphrosyne, and thalia: thalia, the blooming one, or life in full bloom; euphrosyne, the cheerful one, or life in the exuberance of joy and sympathy; and aglaia, the shining one, or life in its effulgence of sunny splendour and glory. but these three are one, involved each in the other, and made perfect in one. there is not thalia by herself, or aglaia, but where one truly is, there, in the same being also, the other two are. they are three sisters, as such always inseparable, and in their inseparability alone are graces. their secret is not learned from one, but from all three; and they give grace only with fulness, buoyancy, and radiancy of soul, or life, united all in one. they are in essence the soul in its fulness of life and sympathy, pouring itself rhythmically through every obstruction, before which the most solid becomes fluid, transparent, and radiant of _itself_. graciosa, a princess in a fairy tale, persecuted by her stepmother, and protected by prince percinet, her lover. gracioso, a fool in a spanish comedy, who ever and anon appears on the stage during the performance with his jokes and gibes. gradgrind, a character in "hard times," who weighs and measures everything by a hard and fast rule and makes no allowances. grafton, augustus henry fitzroy, duke of, english statesman in the reign of george iii.; held various offices of state under rockingham, chatham, and north; was bitterly assailed in the famous "junius letters" ( - ). graham, sir john, companion of sir william wallace, who fell at the battle of falkirk. graham, john, viscount dundee. see claverhouse. graham, thomas, celebrated scottish chemist, born in glasgow, where in he became professor of chemistry in the andersonian university; seven years later he was appointed to a similar chair in university college, london; in he resigned his professorship on succeeding herschel as master of the mint; his name is honourably associated with important researches relating to the diffusion of gases and liquids, and with contributions to the atomic theory of matter ( - ). grahame, james, a scottish poet, born in glasgow; bred a lawyer; took to the church; author of a poem on the "sabbath," instinct with devout feeling, and containing good descriptive passages ( - ). graham's dyke, a roman wall extending between the firths of forth and clyde. grahamstown ( ), capital of the eastern province of cape colony, m. from the sea and m. ne. of port elizabeth; is beautifully situated ft. above sea-level at the base of the zuurberg mountains; has an exceedingly salubrious climate; some fine buildings, and is the seat both of a catholic and a protestant bishop. graiÆ, three old women in the greek mythology, born with grey hair, had only one tooth and one eye among them, which they borrowed from each other as they wanted them; were personifications of old age. grail, the holy, the cup or vessel, said to have been made of an emerald stone, that was used by christ at the last supper, and in which joseph of arimathea caught up the blood that flowed from his wounds on the cross; it was brought to england by joseph, it is alleged, but after a term disappeared; to recover it formed an object of quest to the knights of the round table, in which sir galahad succeeded, when it was seen by certain other knights, but it has not been seen since, for none is permitted to see it or can set eye on it but such as are of a pure heart. gramont or grammont, philibert, comte de, a celebrated french courtier in the age of louis xiv.; he greatly distinguished himself in the army, as also at the court by his lively wit and gallant bearing, and soon established himself in the king's favour, but an intrigue with one of the royal mistresses brought about his exile from france; at the profligate court of charles ii of england he found a warm welcome and congenial surroundings; left memoirs which were mainly the work of his brother-in-law, anthony hamilton, and which give a marvellously witty and brilliant picture of the licentiousness and intrigue of the th-century court life ( - ). grampians, , a name somewhat loosely applied to the central and chief mountain system of scotland, which stretches e. and w. right across the country, with many important offshoots running n. and s.; the principal heights are ben nevis ( ft), ben macdhui ( ft.), cairntoul ( ft.). , a range of mountains in the w. of victoria, australia, highest elevation ft. granada, the last of the ancient moorish kingdoms to be conquered ( ) in spain, in the se. of andalusia, fronting the mediterranean, now divided into granada, almeria, and malaga; the modern province ( ) has an area of sq. m.; granada ( ), the capital, is beautifully situated at the foot of the sierra nevada, on an eminence ft. above sea-level, m. se. of seville; the jenil flows past it; has a large university, a cathedral, and monastery; was founded by the moors in the th century, but has been largely rebuilt on modern principles. granada, new ( ), a commercial town in nicaragua, central america, on the nw. shore of lake nicaragua. granby, john manners, marquis of, an english general, eldest son of the third duke of rutland; rose to be commander-in-chief of the british army in germany during the seven years' war; distinguished himself at warburg; in he was master-general of the ordnance, and in commander-in-chief of the army; was the victim of some of junius's most scathing invectives ( - ). grand alliance, an alliance signed at vienna by england, germany, and the states-general to prevent the union of france and spain. grand jury, a jury appointed to decide whether there are grounds for an accusation to warrant a trial. grand lamaism, a belief of the people of thibet that providence sends down always an incarnation of himself into every generation. grand monarque, the, louis xiv. (q. v.) of france, so called. grand pensionary, a state official in the dutch republic; in earlier times the grand pensionary was secretary and also advocate-general of the province of holland; later his duties embraced the care of foreign affairs; held office for five years, but was generally re-elected; the office was abolished in . grandison, sir charles, the hero of one of richardson's novels, a character representative of an ideal christian and gentleman. grandville, the pseudonym of jean ignace isidore gÉrard, a french caricaturist, born at nancy; his fame was first established by the "metamorphoses du jour," a series of satirical sketches representing men with animal faces characteristic of them; his subsequent work embraced political cartoons and illustrations for "gulliver's travels," "don quixote," "robinson crusoe," la fontaine's "fables," &c. ( - ). grangemouth ( ), a busy port in stirlingshire, on the forth, m. ne. of falkirk; exports iron-ware and coal; has excellent docks, and does some shipbuilding. grani`cus, a river in asia minor, flowing from the slopes of mount ida and falling into the sea of marmora, where alexander gained, b.c., the first of the three victories which ended in the overthrow of the persian empire. grant, sir alexander, of dalvey, born at new york; graduated at oxford, and became a fellow of oriel college; in he succeeded to the baronetcy; was appointed inspector of schools at madras; two years later was appointed professor of history and principal in elphinstone college there; at bombay he became vice-chancellor of elgin college, and in succeeded sir david brewster as principal of edinburgh university; wrote "the story of edinburgh university," various essays, and edited aristotle's ethics; was married to a daughter of professor ferrier of st. andrews ( - ). grant, mrs. anne, _née_ m'vicar, authoress, born in glasgow; took to literature as a means of livelihood after the death of her husband, and produced several volumes descriptive of the highlands of scotland and the character of the people; "letters from the mountains" enjoyed a wide popularity, and first gave to the public some adequate conception of the charm and character of the highlands ( - ). grant, sir francis, artist, born in edinburgh; was educated for the scottish bar, but took to painting, and became celebrated for his hunting pictures, into which portraits of well-known sportsmen were introduced; also executed portraits of the queen and prince consort on horseback, of palmerston, macaulay, and others, and became president of the royal academy ( - ). grant, james, novelist, born in edinburgh; joined the army as an ensign at , but after a few years resigned and adopted literature as his profession; "the romance of war" ( ), his first book, was followed by a series of stirring novels which are yet in repute, and have most of them been translated into danish, german, and french; he turned catholic in ( - ). grant, sir james hope, general, brother of sir francis grant, born at kilgraston, perthshire; first distinguished himself in the sikh wars, and took a leading part in the suppression of the indian mutiny; in he commanded the british forces in china, and captured pekin; was created a g.c.b. in and a general in ; he published several works bearing upon the wars in which he had been engaged ( - ). grant, ulysses simpson, general, born at mount pleasant, ohio; bred to the military profession, served in mexico, and held several appointments in the army; retired to civic life in , but on the outbreak of the civil war he entered the army and fought on the side of the north with such success that in he was appointed general-in-chief; he was eventually raised to the presidency in , and re-elected in ; on the expiry of this second term he made a tour round the world, and was everywhere received with the distinction he deserved ( - ). grantham ( ), a market-town in lincolnshire, on the witham, m. sw. of lincoln, and has a fine th-century church; in the grammar-school newton was educated, and in cromwell won his first victory here; its industries embrace agricultural-implement making, malting, &c.; a m. canal connects it with the trent. granville, george leveson-gower, second earl, statesman; entered parliament as a liberal in , and became a supporter of free trade; in succeeded to the peerage, and in became foreign minister under lord john russell; four years later became leader of the lords; figured in every liberal cabinet till , usually as colonial or foreign secretary; in he failed to form a ministry of his own; was a staunch supporter of mr. gladstone's home rule policy ( - ). gratian, a celebrated canonist of the th century, born at chiusi, tuscany; was a benedictine monk at bologna, and compiled the "decretum gratiani" between and . gratianus, augustus, roman emperor from to , eldest son of valentinian i., born in pannonia; at , in conjunction with his four-year-old brother, valentinian ii., became ruler over the western empire, and three years later found himself, by the death of his uncle valens, head also of the eastern empire, a year after which he summoned theodosius to be his colleague; his reign is noted for the stern repression of the remains of the heathen worship; in , while endeavouring to combat the usurper maximus, he was captured at lyons and there put to death ( - ). grattan, henry, great irish patriot and orator, born in dublin, and by birth a protestant; studied at trinity college, where he stood high in classics; was called to the irish bar in , and entered the irish parliament three years after, where he distinguished himself as the champion of legislative freedom, by maintaining that the crown had no right to legislate on matters affecting irish interests, and particularly irish commercial interests, without consulting the irish parliament, and by securing thereby in a measure the legislative independence of ireland; on the question of irish parliamentary reform he quarrelled with his compatriots, and he confined his own efforts to catholic emancipation; in he retired from public life, but came forth as an opponent of the union in , though, on its accomplishment, he represented first malton in yorkshire, and then dublin in the united parliament, devoting the rest of his life to the political emancipation of his catholic fellow-subjects; before the rupture referred to fell out, he received a grant of £ , from the irish parliament; in private as in public life, he was a man of irreproachable character, while as an orator he ranks among the foremost of his time ( - ). gratz or grÄtz ( ), capital of styria, in austria, picturesquely situated on the mur, m. sw. of vienna; its many old and interesting buildings include a cathedral ( ), four monasteries, and the landhaus, an ancient ducal residence; there is a flourishing university, with upwards of students; its industries embrace iron and steel works, sugar-refining, soap and candle factories, &c. gravelotte, a village in lorraine, m. w. of metz; was the scene of a german victory over the french in . gravesend ( ), a thriving river-port and watering-place in kent, on the thames, opposite tilbury fort, m. se. of london; the new town rises amid picturesque surroundings above the old town; it is the chief pilot station for the river; there is a busy trade in shipbuilding, iron-founding, brewing, &c. gray, asa, a distinguished american botanist, born at paris, oneida county, new york; graduated in medicine in ; became fisher professor of natural history at harvard, and in succeeded agassiz as regent of the smithsonian institution; his writings did much to promote the study of botany in america on a sound scientific basis, and also to forward the theories of darwin; in conjunction with dr. torrey he wrote "the flora of north america," and by himself various manuals of botany and "natural science and religion" ( - ). gray, auld robin, the title of a ballad by lady anne lindsay, from the name of its hero, a good old man who married a young girl whose lover is thought to be dead, but who turns up to claim her a month after. gray, john edward, english naturalist, born at walsall; studied medicine, and at entered the british museum as an assistant in the natural history department; in he became keeper of the zoological collections, of which he made a complete catalogue, enriched with most valuable notes; is the author of books and papers to the number of , and was an active promoter of scientific societies in london ( - ). gray, thomas, english poet, born in cornhill, london, for whom horace walpole conceived a warm attachment, which, after a brief rupture, lasted with life; gave himself up to the study of greek literature, and began to cultivate the muse of poetry; produced in "ode on a distant prospect of eton college," and in his well-known "elegy written in a country churchyard"; these were followed by the "pindaric odes," the "progress of poesy," and the "bard," which was finished in ; in he was presented by the duke of grafton with the professorship of modern history in cambridge, a sinecure office with £ a year. "all is clear light," says stopford brooke, "in gray's work. out of the love of greek he drew his fine lucidity.... he moved with easy power over many forms of poetry, but there is naturalness and no rudeness in the power. it was adorned by high ornament and finish.... the 'elegy' will always remain one of the beloved poems of englishmen; it is not only a piece of exquisite work; it is steeped in england" ( - ). great commoner, william pitt, who became earl chatham (q. v.). great duke, duke of wellington (q. v.). great eastern, the name of the largest ship ever built; was designed by brunel and scott russell; laid down at milwall in , and launched in , having cost £ , ; it did not prove a successful venture; was latterly used for laying the atlantic cables; subsequently became a coal-hulk at gibraltar, and in the end was sold in for old iron. great elector, frederick william, elector of brandenburg ( - ). great harry, a man-of-war built by henry vii., the first of any size built in england. great magician, sir walter scott. great moralist, samuel johnson (q. v.), from the character of his writings. great salt lake, in n. of utah, u.s., stretches upwards of m. along the western base of the wahsatch mountains, about ft. above the sea-level; it is from to m. broad, and very shallow; antelope island, m. long, is the largest island; the coast is rugged and desolate; its clear waters hold no fish, and the surplus inflow is carried off by evaporation only. great slave lake, m. long and at its greatest breadth; lies within the canadian nw. territory; the mackenzie river carries its overflow to the arctic ocean. great unknown, the, author of "waverley" and waverley novels. great unwashed, the, the artisan class. greatheart, in the "pilgrim's progress," the guide of christiana and her family to the celestial city. greece ( , ), a kingdom of s. europe occupying the southern portion of a peninsula which projects into the mediterranean between the peninsula of italy and the mainland of turkey in asia; the n. is bounded by turkey in europe; it is made up of the n. and s. divisions connected by the narrow and canalled isthmus of corinth, the ionian islands in the w., and the cyclades and sporades in the e.; it is a mountainous region, and many of the peaks are rich in classic associations, e. g. olympus, parnassus, and helicon; the rivers are of no great size, and the lakes though numerous are inconsiderable; in the valleys the soil is fertile and agriculture is actively engaged in, although the methods adopted are still somewhat primitive; but favoured by a delightful climate the vine, olive, and other fruit-trees flourish; currants are the chief article of export, and textiles and cereals the principal imports; milling, dyeing, distilling, and tanning are important industries; various minerals are found, and the marble from paros is famed as the finest for statue carving; there is a considerable mercantile marine, and a busy shipping trade of a small kind among the islands and along the deeply indented coast, and also valuable coral and sponge fisheries; the government is a limited and hereditary monarchy, and the legislative power is vested in an elected chamber of, at least, paid representatives, called the boul[=e]; universal suffrage obtains, and the period of election is for four years; the bulk of the people belong to the established greek church, but in thessaly and epirus there are about , mohammedans; education is free and compulsory, but is badly administered, and a good deal of illiteracy exists; the glory of greece lies in her past, in the imperishable monuments of her ancient literature and art; by b.c. she had fallen before the growing power of the romans and along with the rest of the byzantine or eastern empire was overrun by the turks in a.d. ; her renascence as a modern nation took place between and , when she threw off the turkish yoke and reasserted her independence, which she had anew to attempt by arms in , this time with humiliation and defeat, till the other powers of europe came to the rescue, and put a check to the arrogance of the high-handed turk. greek or eastern church, that section of the church which formerly separated from the roman or western in , which assumed an independent existence on account of the arrogant claims of the latter, and which acknowledges the authority of only the first seven general councils; they dissent from the _filioque_ doctrine (q. v.), administer the eucharist in both kinds to the laity, and are zealously conservative of the orthodoxy of the church. greek fire, a combustible of highly inflammable quality, but of uncertain composition, used by the greeks of the byzantine empire against the saracens; a source of great terror to those who were assailed by it, as it was difficult to extinguish, so difficult that it was said to burn under water. greeley, horace, american journalist and politician, born at amherst, new hampshire, the son of a poor farmer; was bred a printer, and in settled in new york; in a few years he started a literary paper the _new yorker_, and shortly afterwards made a more successful venture in the _log cabin_, a political paper, following that up by founding the _new york tribune_ in , and merging his former papers in the _weekly tribune_; till his death he advocated temperance, anti-slavery, socialistic and protectionist principles in these papers; in he entered congress and became a prominent member of the republican party; he visited europe, and was chairman of one of the juries of the great exhibition; in he unsuccessfully opposed grant for the presidency; in religion he was a universalist; his works include "the american conflict," "recollections," "essays," &c. ( - ). green, john richard, historian, born at oxford; took orders, and was for a time vicar of st. philip's, stepney, contributing articles the while on historical subjects to the _saturday review_, and pursuing his historical studies with a zeal that undermined his health; in he published his "short history of the english people," which was speedily adopted in schools, and was accepted at large as one of the ablest summaries of the history of the country; the welcome with which this small work was received induced the author to essay a larger, which he accordingly by-and-by published in volumes, and which he dedicated to "my masters in the study of english history, bishop stubbs and professor freeman"; this was followed by "the making of england" and "the conquest of england," the latter being published after his decease ( - ). green, nathanael, a celebrated american general, born at warwick, rhode island; though the son of a quaker, he promptly took up arms on the outbreak of hostilities with the mother-country, and in , as brigadier-general, headed the force in rhode island; his gallant conduct at the battles of princeton and brandywine won him promotion, and in he was advanced to the command of the army of the south; after a temporary reverse from cornwallis at guildford court, he conducted his operations with so much success that, with the crowning victory at eutaw springs ( ), he cleared the british from the states; his last days were spent on his estate in georgia, a gift from government in recognition of his services; next to washington he was the great hero of the war ( - ). green, thomas hill, philosopher, born in yorkshire; studied at balliol college, oxford; was elected a fellow and became eventually whyte's professor of moral philosophy; his philosophy had a kantian root, developed to a certain extent on the lines of hegel, which, however, he applied less in speculative than a spiritual interest, though he was not slow, on the ground of it, to assail the evolution theory of herbert spencer and g. h. lewes; he was a great moral force in oxford, and that apart from his philosophical speculations, though there can be little doubt that the philosophy which he had embraced was a potent element in his moral character and his influence; his views on the purely spiritual nature and derivation of the christian religion have, since his death, attracted attention, and are regarded with some anxiety by those whose faith requires a historical basis ( - ). greenbacks, a name given to the inconvertible paper currency issued in the united states during the civil war, so called from the colour of the notes, bonds, &c.; the name has since been popularly applied to the paper money of the states; the notes were made convertible in . greenland ( ), an extensive but imperfectly defined territory lying mostly within the arctic circle to the ne. of north america, from which it is separated by davis strait and baffin bay; the area is variously estimated from , to , sq. m.; the land lies submerged beneath a vast plain of ice, pierced here and there by mountain tops, but it is conjectured to consist of one large island-continent engirt by groups of smaller islands; only on the s. coast, during the meagre summer, is there any appearance of vegetation; there is a great variety of birds, and the animals include the wolf, fox, bear, reindeer, musk ox, and arctic hare, while whales, seals, and many kinds of fish are found; the inhabitants are chiefly esquimaux, but there are some danish settlements, begun in , and the trade is a danish monopoly; the country was known in early times to the scandinavians (of whose settlements there are interesting remains), and was rediscovered by john davis in . greenock ( ), a flourishing seaport of renfrewshire, on the firth of clyde, m. w. of glasgow; it stretches some m. along the shore and climbs the hill slopes behind, whence it commands a splendid view of the river and highlands beyond; the west end is handsomely laid out, and contains some fine buildings, including the watt institute, with library of , vols.; the harbourage is excellent, and favours a large foreign shipping trade; the staple industries are shipbuilding, engineering, spinning, sugar-refining, &c.; coal and iron are the chief exports, and sugar and timber the largest imports. greenough, horatio, an american sculptor, spent most of his life in rome and florence; executed the colossal statue of washington in front of the capitol in washington city, and a group of figures entitled "the rescue" ( - ). greenwich ( ), an important borough of kent (officially within the county of london), on the thames, m. se. of london bridge; its active industries embrace engineering, telegraph works, chemical works, &c.; the royal observatory, founded by charles ii. in , occupies a commanding site within the park; it is from this point that degrees of longitude with us are reckoned. greenwich hospital, founded in by queen mary after designs by christopher wren, was from till an asylum for disabled sailors; since then the funds, amounting to £ , a year, have been distributed in pensions and also utilised for the upkeep of greenwich hospital schools (where children of seamen receive board and education); since this hospital has served as the college for the royal navy. greenwood, frederick, publicist and journalist; editor of _cornhill magazine_, author of life of napoleon iii., "lover's lexicon," and "dreams"; _b_. . greg, william rathbone, literary and political essayist, born in manchester; in became a commissioner of customs, and from till his resignation in acted as controller of h.m. stationery office; his works embrace "the creed of christendom," "enigmas of life," "political problems," &c., and are marked by vigorous thought couched in a lucid, incisive style; was from his evil prognostications designated cassandra greg ( - ). grÉgoire, henri, bishop of blois, born at vého, near lunéville, one of the clerical deputies to the states-general of ; attached himself to the tiers-état, was a member of the national convention, and a staunch advocate for civil and religious liberty, but refused resolutely to follow "goose gobel," the archbishop of paris, and renounce the christian religion and deny his master ( - ). see carlyle's "french revolution." gregorian calendar, the regulation of the year according to the correction introduced by gregory xiii. in of the julian calendar, which allowed the year minutes and seconds too much. gregorian year, the civil year according to the correction of the gregorian calendar. gregory, the name of popes: g. i., the great, pope from to ; g. ii., st., pope from to ; g. iii., pope from to ; g. iv., pope from to ; g. v., pope from to ; g. vi., pope from to ; g. vii., pope from to ; g. viii., pope in ; g. ix., pope from to ; g. x., pope from to ; g. xi, pope from to ; g. xii., pope from to ; g. xiii., pope from to ; g. xiv., pope from to ; g. xv., pope from to ; g. xvi., pope from . of these the following are worthy of note:-- gregory i., the great, and st., born in rome, son of a senator; made prætor of rome; relinquished the office and became a monk; devoted himself to the regulation of church worship (instituting, among other things, the liturgy of the mass), to the reformation of the monks and clergy, and to the propagation of the faith; saw some fair-haired british youths in the slave-market at rome one day; on being told they were angles, he said they should be angels, and resolved from that day on the conversion of the nation they belonged to, and sent over seas for that purpose a body of monks under augustin. gregory ii., st., born at rome and bred a benedictine; is celebrated for his zeal in promoting the independence of the church and the supremacy of the see of rome, and for his defence of the use of images in worship. gregory iii., born in syria; was successor of gregory ii., and carried out the same policy to the territorial aggrandisement of the holy see at a time when it might have been overborne by secular invasions. gregory vii., hildebrand, born in tuscany; bred up as a monk in a life of severe austerity, he became sensible of the formidable evils tending to the corruption of the clergy, due to their dependence on the emperor for investiture into their benefices, and he set himself with all his might to denounce the usurpation and prohibit the practice, to the extent of one day ex-communicating certain bishop who had submitted to the royal claim and those who had invested them; his conduct roused the emperor, henry iv., who went the length of deposing him, upon which the pope retaliated with a threat of excommunication; it ended in the final submission of henry at canossa (q. v.); the terms of submission imposed were intolerable, and henry broke them, elected a pope of his own, entered rome, was crowned by him, and besieged gregory in san angelo, from which guiscard delivered him to retire to salerno, where he died, ; he was a great man and a good pope. gregory ix., ugolino, born in campania; had during his pontificate contests with the emperor barbarossa, whom he twice over excommunicated; was the personal friend of st. francis of assisi, whom he canonised; died at a very advanced age. gregory xiii., born in bologna; was skilled in canon law; distinguished himself in the council of trent, and by his zeal against the protestants; celebrated the bartholomew massacre by public thanksgivings in rome, and reformed the calendar. gregory xvi., born at belluno; occupied the papal chair at a time of great civil commotion, and had much to do to stem the revolutionary movements of the time; developed ultramontanist notions, and paved the way for the hierarchical policy of his successor pio nono. gregory nazianzen, st., bishop of constantinople, born in cappadocia; studied in athens, where he became the friend of st. basil, and held discussions with julian, afterwards emperor and apostate, who was also studying there; had been bishop of nazianzus before he was raised by theodosius to the bishopric of constantinople, which he held only for a year, at the end of which he retired into solitude; he was the champion of orthodoxy, a defender of the doctrine of the trinity, and famed for his invectives against julian; he has left writings that have made his name famous, besides letters, sermons, and poems ( - ). festival, may . gregory of nyssa, st., one of the fathers of the greek church, brother of st. basil, and bishop of nyssa, in cappadocia; he was distinguished for his zeal against the arians, and was banished from his diocese at the instance of the emperor valens, who belonged to that sect, but returned to it after his death; he was an eminent theologian and a valiant defender of orthodoxy, on, according to harnack, something like hegelian lines ( - ). festival, march . gregory of tours, st., bishop of tours, french theologian and historian, born at clermont; was mixed up a good deal in the political strife of the time, and suffered not a little persecution; was the author of a "history of the franks," the earliest of french chronicles, entitling him to be regarded as the "father of frankish history"; his history contains a great number of valuable documents, though it is written in a barbarous style, and not unfrequently evinces a lack of moral sensibility ( - ). gregory thaumaturgus, st., a theologian of the greek church, and a convert and disciple of origen; became bishop of neo-cæsarea in pontus; was present at the council of antioch; numerous conversions from paganism are ascribed to him, as well as numerous miracles; _d_. . festival november . gregory, david, nephew of succeeding, born at aberdeen; became professor of mathematics in edinburgh at the age of , and in was appointed savilian professor of astronomy at oxford; was one of the first to publicly teach the principles of newton's philosophy ( - ). gregory, james ( ), inventor of the reflecting telescope, born in aberdeen; after a three years' residence in padua received the appointment of professor of mathematics in st. andrews, which he held from to , when he was elected to the corresponding chair in edinburgh; author of various mathematical treatises which display a fine originality; he was struck blind whilst working at his telescope ( - ). gregory, james ( ), son of succeeding, was his successor in the chair of medicine at edinburgh, and wrote "philosophical and literary essays"; compounded "gregory's mixture" ( - ). gregory, john, grandson of james ( ), born at aberdeen, where he became professor of medicine in , whence ten years later he was translated to fill the corresponding chair in edinburgh; his works include, among others, "a comparative view of the state and faculties of man with those of the animal world" ( - ). gregory, william, son of james ( ); held successively the chairs of chemistry in glasgow, aberdeen, and edinburgh; he translated liebig's "agricultural chemistry," and was the first to advance and expound liebig's theories ( - ). grenada ( ), one of the most picturesque of the windward islands, in the british west indies, of volcanic origin; lies about m. n. of venezuela; the harbour of st. george, the capital, is the most sheltered anchorage in the windward islands; fruits, cocoa, and coffee are cultivated; it was ceded by france in . grenfell, sir francis wallace, major-general, late sirdar of the egyptian army, born in london; distinguished himself in zulu, transvaal, egyptian, and nile expeditions ( - ), and commanded forces in egypt ( - ); was presented by the khedive with a sword of honour on his retirement, in souvenir of the victories of giniss, gamaizo, and toski; _b_. . grenoble ( ), a strongly fortified city of france, capital of the dep. of isère, on the river isère, m. se. of lyons; there are several fine old cathedrals, and a university with a library of , vols.; the manufacture of kid gloves is the staple industry. grenville, george, statesman, younger brother of earl temple; was called to the bar in , and six years later entered parliament; held various offices of state, and in succeeded bute as prime minister; his administration is noted for the prosecution of wilkes (q. v.), and the passing of the american stamp act, a measure which precipitated the american revolution ( - ). grenville, sir richard, a gallant seaman of queen elizabeth's time; already a knight, commanded the first expedition sent by raleigh to colonise virginia; took part in the defeat of the armada, and in , while commanding the _revenge_ in lord howard's squadron, engaged single-handed the entire spanish fleet off the azores; after a desperate fight of about hours, during which time four of the spanish vessels were sunk, and upwards of of their men slain or drowned, he surrendered, was carried wounded on board a spanish ship, in which he died; the fight is celebrated in tennyson's noble ballad "the revenge." grenville, william wyndham, lord, statesman; entered parliament in ; was not a man of brilliant parts, but his integrity and capacity for work raised him to the highest offices of state; in he was speaker of the house of commons, and a year later was raised to the peerage and made home secretary under pitt; in he was foreign secretary; supported catholic emancipation and the abolition of the slave-trade; he was premier from to ; later he supported canning and earl grey ( - ). gresham, sir thomas, founder of the royal exchange, born in london; son of sir richard gresham, a wealthy mercer, who was knighted and made lord mayor in henry viii.'s reign; after studying at cambridge entered the mercers' company, and in , as "king's agent" in antwerp, negotiated important loans with the flemish merchants; under the catholic régime of mary he was dismissed, but was shortly after restored, and in appointed ambassador in antwerp; between and he carried through his project of erecting an exchange, and his munificence was further displayed in the founding of a college and eight almshouses; in he was instrumental in bringing about the important fiscal arrangement of borrowing from home merchants instead of as formerly from foreign merchants ( - ). gresham college, college founded by sir thomas gresham in , and managed by the mercer's company, london, where lectures are delivered, twelve each year, by successive lecturers on physics, rhetoric, astronomy, law, geometry, music, and divinity, to form part of the teaching of university college. gretchen, the german diminutive for margaret, and the name of the guileless girl seduced by faust in goethe's tragedy of the name. gretna green, a village in dumfriesshire, over the border from england, famous from to for clandestine marriages, which used latterly to be celebrated in the blacksmith's shop. grÉtry, a celebrated musical composer, born at liège, composed operas marked by feeling and expression, the "deux avares," "zemire et azor," and "richard coeur de lion" among them; he bought rousseau's hermitage at montmorency, where he died ( - ). greuze, jean baptiste, a french painter, much esteemed for his portraits and exquisite _genre_ pieces; he died in poverty ( - ). grÈve, place de, place of public execution in paris at one time. greville, charles cavendish fulke, celebrated for his "memoirs"; after quitting oxford he acted as private secretary to earl bathurst, and from to was clerk of the council in ordinary; it was during his tenure of this office that he enjoyed exceptional opportunities of meeting the public men of his times, and of studying the changing phases of political and court-life of which he gives so lively a picture in his "memoirs" ( - ). greville, fulke, a minor english poet, born at beauchamp court, warwickshire; was educated at cambridge and oxford; travelled on the continent; played a part in the court-life of elizabeth's time; was knighted in , and in was created lord brooke; he was murdered in a scuffle with his valet ( - ). grÉville, henry, the pseudonym of madame alice durand (_née_ fleury), novelist, born at paris; her works, which are numerous, contain lively pictures of life in russia, in which country, in st. petersburg, she spent years of her life ( - ), and married Émile durand, a french professor of law; since she has lived in france; _b_. . grÉvy, franÇois, paul jules, french president, born at mont-sous-vaudrey, jura; became prominent at the paris bar, and after the ' revolution entered the constituent assembly, of which he became vice-president; his opposition to louis napoleon, and disapproval of his _coup d'état_, obliged him to retire; but in he again entered the political arena, and was four times chosen president of the national assembly; in he was elected president of the republic for seven years, and in was confirmed in his position for a similar period, but ministerial difficulties induced him to resign two years later ( - ). grey, charles, first earl, soldier; as sir charles grey of howick he distinguished himself in the wars with the american colonies and the french republic, and in was rewarded with a barony, and two years later was made earl grey ( - ). grey, charles, nd earl, party to the impeachment of warren hastings; tried to impeach pitt; denounced union with ireland; became leader of the house of commons in ; carried act for the abolition of the african slave-trade; succeeded to the earldom in , and denounced the bill against queen caroline; becoming prime minister in he was defeated, and resigned twice over the reform bill; returning to power in , with permission to make as many peers as might be needed, he succeeded at last in passing the bill; he was head of a powerful party in the reformed parliament, and carried the bill abolishing slavery in the colonies, but resigned over irish troubles in ( - ). grey, sir george, colonial governor and statesman, born at lisburn, ireland; while a captain in the army he, in and , explored central australia and the swan river district; in , having retired from the army, he became governor of south australia; was made k.c.b. for his services: in was governor of new zealand, and in governor and commander-in-chief of the cape of good hope, where he conciliated the kaffirs; in a difference with the home government led him to resign, but he was soon re-established; from to he was at his former post in new zealand, where he pacified the maories; in he was superintendent of auckland, and in - was premier of new zealand; he is the author of "journals of discovery in australia," "polynesian mythology," &c. ( - ). grey, lady jane, the ill-fated "nine days' queen," born at bradgate, leicestershire; was the daughter of the duke of suffolk and the great-granddaughter of henry vii.; her talents were of a rare order, and sedulously cultivated; she attained to great proficiency in greek, latin, and also in modern languages, while she was skilled in all the accomplishments of womanhood; a plot entered into by suffolk and the duke of northumberland, whose son lady jane had been forced to espouse at , brought about her proclamation as queen in ; the attempted usurpation was crushed in ten days, and four months later lady jane and her husband were executed ( - ). grey friars, the franciscans (q. v.), from their grey habit. grieg, edoard, norwegian composer, born at bergen, of scotch descent; received his first musical lessons from his mother, and at went to leipzig; in was at copenhagen and then established himself as a teacher at christiania, where he continued eight years and became intimate with ibsen; subsequently, after leading an unsettled life, he received a government pension, and after that devoted himself to musical composition; his music, chiefly pianoforte pieces and songs, achieved a wide popularity in england and scotland; _b_. . grierson, sir robert, of lag, a notorious persecutor of the covenanters, whose memory is still regarded with odium among the peasants of galloway; was for some years steward of kirkcudbright; was in made a nova scotia baronet, and awarded a pension ( - ). griesbach, johann jacob, german theologian and biblical critic, born in hesse-darmstadt; produced a critical revision of the text of the new testament, the chief labour of his life, for which he visited and ransacked the various libraries of europe ( - ). griffin or griffon, a chimerical fabulous animal with the body and legs of a lion in symbol of strength, with the wings and beak of an eagle in symbol of swiftness, with the ears of a horse in symbol of watchfulness, and instead of a mane the fin of a fish; figures among heraldic symbols with the significance here indicated. grillparzer, franz, popular austrian dramatist, born at vienna; studied law and then entered the civil service, in which he remained from to ; his first notable drama was the tragedy "die ahnfrau," the _motif_ of which is an extreme fatalism; "sappho," "das goldene vliess," and many others followed, all of which are marked by dramatic power and lyric grace; he stands in the front rank of austrian poets ( - ). grimaldi, joseph, a famous english clown, son of an italian dancing-master, born in london; was bred to the stage from his infancy, appearing on the boards when not yet two years old; his memoirs were edited by dickens, who describes him as "the genuine droll, the grimacing, filching, irresistible clown" ( - ). grimm, baron, a german littérateur and critic, born at ratisbon; a man of versatile powers and vast attainments; settled in paris and became acquainted with rousseau and the leading encyclopédists and madame d'epinay; on the breaking out of the revolution he retired to the court of gotha and afterwards to that of catharine ii. of russia, who made him her minister at hamburg; his correspondence is full of interest, and abounds in piquant literary criticism ( - ). grimm, jacob ludwig, german philologist, born at hanau; held office as librarian to jerome bonaparte, king of westphalia, and afterwards to göttingen university, as well as a professorship there, devoting himself the while chiefly to studies in early german lore, and afterwards with his brother settled in berlin; his principal works were, "deutsche grammatik," "deutsche mythologie," "geschichte der deutschen sprache," and the "kinder-und-haus-märchen" in collaboration with his brother ( - ). grimm, wilhelm karl, philologist, younger brother of the preceding, born at hanau; was associated both in his appointments and work with his brother, the two being known as the brothers grimm; edited several old german poems, his principal work "die deutsche heldensage" ( - ). grimm's law, as enunciated by j. l. grimm, is the law regulating the interchange of mute consonants in languages of aryan origin, aspirates, flats, and sharps in the classical languages corresponding respectively to flats, sharps, and aspirates in low german, and to sharps, aspirates, and flats in high german tongues. grimsby or great grimsby ( ), a seaport of lincolnshire, on the s. shore of the humber, opposite spurn head, m. se. of hull; was a port of importance in edward iii.'s time; is now noted as the largest fishing-port in the kingdom; has extensive docks, shipbuilding, tanning, brewing, and other industries. grindal, edmund, archbishop of canterbury; was suspended for respecting his conscience more than the queen (elizabeth), but restored; offered to resign, but the queen would not accept his resignation; became in the end blind from grief ( - ). grindelwald, a winter resort in bernese oberland, in switzerland, in a beautiful valley ½ m. long and m. broad, and nearly ft. above sea-level. gringo, a name of contempt in mexico and south america for interlopers of english descent or speech. gringore, a french poet; flourished in the reigns of louis xii. and francis i.; was received with favour at court for political reasons, though he lashed its vices and those of the clergy; wrote satirical farces, and one especially at the instance of louis against pope julius ii., entitled "le jeu du prince des sots" ( - ). griqualand, west and east, british territories in south africa. the former ( , whites) lies to the n.e. of cape colony, between the orange river on the s. and bechuanaland on the n.; the diamond industry, of which kimberley is the centre, is the chief source of wealth, and was begun in ; kimberley is also the seat of government. the latter ( , whites), situated in no-man's-land, between the kaffir country and s. natal, is chiefly inhabited by griquas and basutos. the first has been part of cape colony since , and the second was annexed to that colony in , though it is controlled by a chief-magistrate. griqua is a name given to half-bloods of dutch fathers and hottentot mothers. griselda or griseldis, a famous heroine of mediæval tradition; figures in boccaccio, petrarch, and chaucer, and in later dramatists of england, germany, and spain; the beautiful daughter of a piedmontese peasant, she was loved and married by the marquis walter of saluzzo; his jealous affection subjected her to several cruel tests of love, which she bore with "wyfly pacience," and in the end "love was aye between them twa." grisi, giulia, a celebrated singer, born in milan; paris and london were the chief scenes of her triumphs; her greatest triumph was in playing the part of "norma," in the opera of the name; she was famous alike for the beauty of her person and the quality of her voice ( - ). grisnez, cape, a headland with a lighthouse on the french coast opposite dover, and the nearest point in france to england. grisons ( ), the largest of the swiss cantons, lies in the se. between tyrol and lombardy; consists of high mountains and valleys, amongst which are some of the most noted alpine glaciers; the engadine valley, through which flows the inn, is a celebrated health resort, as also the davos valley in the e.; some cereals are raised, but pasture and forest land occupy a large part of the canton, and supply the cattle and timber export trade; the population, which is small for the extent of territory, is a mixture of german, romanic, and italian elements. grocyn, william, classical scholar, born at bristol; was the first to teach greek at oxford, and the tutor in that department of sir thomas more and erasmus ( - ). grodno, a province and town of russia; the latter ( ) is on the niemen, m. ne. of warsaw; has a polish palace and medical school. the former ( , ) is a wide, pine-covered, swampy, yet fertile district, which produces good crops of cereals, and is a centre of the woollen industry. grolier, jean, a famous bibliophile, whose library was dispersed in ; the bindings of the books being ornamented with geometric patterns, have given name to bindings in this style; they bore the inscription, "io. grolieri et amicorum" (the property of jean grolier and his friends). grÖningen ( ), a low-lying province in the ne. of holland, fronting the german ocean on the n., and having hanover on its eastern border; its fertile soil favours extensive farming and grazing; shipbuilding is an important industry. the capital ( ) is situated on the hunse, m. ne. of amsterdam; has several handsome buildings, a university ( ), botanic gardens, shipbuilding yards, and tobacco and linen factories. gronovius, the name of two dutch scholars, father and son, professors successively of belles-lettres at leyden; john died , and jacob . gros, antoine jean, baron, a french historical painter, born at paris; his subjects were taken from events in the history of france, and especially in the career of napoleon; his first work, received with unbounded enthusiasm, was "pestiféré's de jaffa," and his latest, a picture in the cupola of the church of geneviève, in paris ( - ). grose, captain francis, an english antiquary, born at greenford, middlesex; was educated for an artist, and exhibited; proved a good draughtsman; became captain of sussex militia; published the "antiquities of england and wales" ( - ); came to scotland in on an antiquarian tour, and made the acquaintance of burns, who celebrated him in his "hear, land o' cakes and brither scots," as "a chield's amang you takin' notes, and faith he'll prent it"; was an easy-going man, with a corpulent figure, a smack of humour, and a hearty boon companion; lived to publish his "antiquities of scotland and ireland"; died at dublin in an apoplectic fit ( - ). grossmith, george, actor, famous for leading parts in gilbert and sullivan's operas, and since as giving single-handed dramatic sketches and songs, written by himself and set to music by himself; _b._ . grossmith, weedon, actor, artist, and contributor to _art magazine_ and _punch_; brother of preceding. grosseteste, robert, a famous bishop of lincoln, born at stradbroke, suffolk, of peasant parents; a man of rare learning, he became a lecturer in the franciscan school at oxford, and rose through various stages to be bishop of lincoln in ; he was an active parliamentarian, and gave valuable assistance to his friend simon de montfort in the struggle with henry iii., and headed the church reform party against the nepotism of innocent iv.; according to stubbs, "he was the most learned, the most acute, and most holy man of his time" ( - ). grote, george, historian and politician, born at clay hill, near beckenham, of german descent; was a banker to business; spent his leisure time in the study of philosophy and history; contributed to the _westminster review_, a philosophical radical organ at that time; represented the city of london in that interest from to , when he retired to devote all his time to his "history of greece," of which the first volumes appeared in and the last in , making volumes in all; this work contributed to dispel many erroneous impressions, in regard particularly to athens and its political constitution; wrote on plato and aristotle, but his philosophical creed made it impossible for him to do justice to the greek metaphysics ( - ). grotefend, georg friedrich, antiquary and philologist, born at minden, hanover; was director of the lyceum, hanover; was the first to decipher the cuneiform inscriptions, a discovery which he gave to the world in ( - ). grotesque, the, the combination in art of heterogeneous parts, suggested by some whimsically designed paintings in the artificial grottoes of roman houses. grotius, hugo, or huig van groot, a celebrated dutch jurist and theologian, born at delft; studied at leyden under scaliger, and displayed an extraordinary precocity in learning; won the patronage of henri iv. while on an embassy to france; practised at the bar in leyden, and in was appointed pensionary of rotterdam; he became embroiled in a religious dispute, and for supporting the arminians was sentenced to imprisonment for life; escaped in a book chest (a device of his wife), fled to paris, and was pensioned by louis xiii.; in he published his famous work on international law, "de jure belli et pacis"; from to he acted as swedish ambassador at paris; his acute scholarship is manifested in various theological, historical, and legal treatises; his work "de veritate religionis christiana;" is well known ( - ). grouchy, emmanuel, marquis de, a french marshal, born at paris; entered the army in , and later gave enthusiastic support to the revolution, laying aside his title; took part in the vendéan campaign, the abortive attempt on ireland, and, under joubert, in the conquest of italy; was a gallant and daring commander in the piedmontese, austrian, and russian campaigns of napoleon, and by skilful generalship covered the retreat of the french at leipzig; he was among the first to welcome napoleon back from elba, defeated blücher at ligny, but failed to be forward in the field of waterloo; led the remnants of the french army back to paris afterwards, and then retired to the united states; in he returned, and in was reinstated as marshal ( - ). grove, sir george, born at clapham; trained as a civil engineer, and assisted robert stephenson in constructing the britannia tubular bridge; in he became secretary to the society of arts, a position he held till , when he became secretary and director of the crystal palace company; subsequently he was editor of _macmillan's magazine_, a contributor to smith's "dictionary of the bible," and is best known for the "dictionary of music and musicians" which he edited and partly wrote; was knighted in ; _b_. . grove. sir william robert, lawyer and physicist, burn at swansea; called to the bar; was made a judge in , and knighted a year later, and from to he was one of the judges in the high court of justice; throughout his life he busied himself in optical and electrical research; in invented the electric battery named after him, and from to lectured on natural science in the london institution; in he was president of the british association; his scientific publications are various, and are important contributions to their subjects ( - ). grub street, a street in london near moorfields, formerly inhabited by a needy class of jobbing literary men, and the birthplace of inferior literary productions. grundtvig, nikolai frederik severin, danish poet and theologian, born in zealand; was early smitten with a passion for the old saga literature of the north, and published in "northern mythology," which was followed by other works of a similar nature, patriotic songs, and a translation of "beowulf"; he entered the church as a curate in ; engaged in ardent controversy with the rationalists; became leader of a church reform party, the grundtvigians; was for seven years suspended from preaching, and eventually rose to be a bishop in copenhagen, but had no see ( - ). grundy, mrs., an old lady referred to in thomas morgan's comedy of "speed the plough," personifying the often affected extreme offence taken by people of the old school at what they consider violations of propriety. gruyÈre, a small town in freiburg (q. v.), where whole-milk cheese is made. guacho, a native of the south american pampas. guadalquivir, the most important river of spain, rises in the sierra de cazorla, in the southern province of jaen, and flows in a sw. direction through andalusia, passing cordova and seville, to which town it is navigable for steamers; after a course of m. it discharges into the gulf of cadiz at san lucar de barrameda. guadeloupe ( ), a french island among the lesser antilles, in the w. indies; is subject to earthquakes; produces sugar and coffee; has belonged to france since . guadiana, an important river of spain, has its source in the e. of the plateau of mancha, and for a short distance is known as the zancara, flows in a westerly direction as far as badajoz, where it bends to the s., then forms the border between portugal and spain for a short distance, bends into alemtejo, and again, ere reaching the gulf of cadiz, divides the two countries; it is m. long, of which only are navigable. guanajuato ( , ), a central province of mexico; is rich in minerals, especially silver, and mining is the chief occupation; but stock-raising is of some importance, and large cotton and woollen factories have of recent years been introduced. the capital, guanajuato ( ), is built on both sides of a deep ravine traversed by a dashing torrent; it is the centre of the mining industry. guatemala ( , ), a republic of central america, fronting the pacific on the w., between mexico on the n., and san salvador and honduras on the s.; is for the most part mountainous, with intervening valleys of rich fertility, little explored; minerals are abundant, and gold and silver are worked, but the wealth of the country lies in its fertile soil, which produces abundance of coffee, sugar, cotton, tobacco, and fruits of all kinds; there is some manufacture of textiles, pottery, &c.; the want of good roads has hindered the development of the country; roman catholicism prevails, and the government is vested in a president and council; its independence was proclaimed in . the capital, guatemala ( ), stands on a plateau m. ne. of its port, san josé; there is a cathedral and an archbishop's palace, also electric light, and tramway conveyance. guayaquil ( ), the principal port of ecuador, stands at the entrance of the river guayaquil into the gulf of guayaquil; the foreign trade is centred here; there are sawmills and iron-works; coffee is by far the largest export; the town is badly laid out, and yellow fever is common. gubernatis, angelo de, a distinguished italian scholar, born at turin; in he was appointed professor of sanskrit at florence; was for a time smitten with the anarchist ideas of bakunin, whose daughter he married, and resigned his chair, but soon returned to his professional labours; in he became professor of sanskrit at rome; his numerous writings witness to his unceasing industry and versatility, and deal with orientalism, mythology, archæology, and general literature; his work "zoological mythology," published in english by mr. trübner, is not unknown to scholars among us; _b_. . gudrun, a heroine in an old german epic so called; betrothed to herwig, king of zealand, and carried off by hochmut, king of norway, a rejected suitor; preferred out of respect to her vow to serve as a menial in his mother's kitchen rather than be his wife; was rescued from durance by her brother and her betrothed, and being married to herwig, pardoned the suitor that had stolen her from his embraces. guelderland ( ), a province of holland, stretching from the zuider zee on the nw. to prussia on the se.; agriculture is the staple industry; the rhine crosses it in the s. guelphs, a political party in italy, who from the th to the th centuries maintained, against the claims of the emperors, the independence of italy, and the supremacy of the pope, in opposition to the ghibellines (q. v.). guericke, otto von, a german physicist, born at magdeburg; experimented on air, and invented the air-pump ( - ). guerin, maurice de, a french poet, of noble birth; bred for the church, but broke away from it; of a genius of marked promise, whose days were cut short by an early death; his works included a prose poem called the "centaur" ( - ). guerin, pierre, a french painter; treated classical subjects in the classical style ( - ) guernsey ( ), the second in size of the channel islands (q. v.); fruit and vegetables are largely exported, and it is noted for a fine breed of cows; st. peter's port is the only town, and has an excellent harbour. guerrazzi, francesco domenico, an italian patriot and author, born at leghorn; was trained to the law, but took to literature and produced a number of brilliant political novels; after the flight of the duke of tuscany in he was proclaimed dictator of the duchy, although little in sympathy with the republican government, and on the restoration of the duke was imprisoned for three years and banished to corsica; later he sat in the turin parliament from to ( - ). guesclin, bertrand du. see du guesclin, bertrand. guest, edwin, master of caius college, cambridge, antiquary; wrote only one book "history of english rhythms," a work of great learning, but contributed papers of great value on the early history of england in learned journals ( - ). gueux, "the beggars," the name assumed by the nobles and others in the low countries in the war of independence against philip ii. of spain; being called beggars in reproach by the court party, they adopted the name as well as the dress, wore a fox's tail for a plume and a platter for a brooch. guiana, an extensive tract of country in the n. of s. america fronting the atlantic, bordering on venezuela on the w., and for the rest hemmed in by brazil; it is divided into british, dutch, and french guiana, all fronting the sea; the physical characteristics of all three are practically the same; a fertile alluvial foreshore, with upward-sloping savannahs and forests to the unexplored highlands, dense with luxuriant primeval forest; rivers numerous, climate humid and hot, with a plentiful rainfall; vegetation, fauna, &c., of the richest tropical nature; timber, balsams, medicinal barks, fruits, cane-sugar, rice, cereals, &c., are the chief products; also some gold. british guiana ( ) is the most westerly, and borders on venezuela; area, , sq. m., divided into berbice, demerara, and essequibo; georgetown (q. v.) is the capital. dutch guiana or surinam ( ) occupies the central position; area, , sq. m.; capital paramaribo (q. v.). french guiana or cayenne ( ) lies to the e.; area, , sq. m; capital, cayenne (q. v.). guicciardini, an italian statesman and historian, born in florence; studied law; became professor of jurisprudence there; was a disciple of macchiavelli; did service as a statesman in the papal territories; took a leading part in the political changes of florence; secured the restoration of the medici to power, and on his retirement composed a "history of italy during his own time," which he had all but completed when he died ( - ). guichard, karl, a prussian officer, born at magdeburg; joined frederick the great at breslau, "a solid staid man, of a culture unusual for a soldier; brought with him his book, 'memoirs militaires sur les grecs et les romans,' a solid account of the matter by the first man who ever understood both war and greek; very welcome to frederick, whom he took to very warmly; dubbed him quintus icilius, and had his name so entered as major on the army books; promoted at length to colonel, a rank he held till the end of the war" ( - ). see carlyle's "frederick." guicowar, the hereditary title of the mahratta princes who rule over baroda (q. v.), in gujarat, east india. guido aretinus, a benedictine monk who flourished at arezzo, in italy, during the th century, the first to promote the theoretical study of music; he is credited, amongst other things, with the invention of counterpoint, and was the first to designate notes by means of alphabetical letters, and to establish the construction of the stave. guido reni, italian painter of the school of bologna; best known by his masterpiece "aurora and the hours" at rome, painted on a ceiling, and his unfinished "nativity" at naples ( - ). guienne (a corruption of aquitania), an ancient province of sw. france, now subdivided into the departments of gironde, dordogne, lot, aveyron, and embraces parts of lot-et-garonne and tarn-et-garonne. guignes, joseph de, an eminent french orientalist, and sinologist especially; was author of "histoire générale des huns, des turcs, des moguls, &c.," a work of vast research ( - ). guildford ( ), capital of surrey, on the wey, m. sw. of london, a quaint old town with several interesting buildings, and the ruins of a norman castle; is noted for its "surrey wheats" and live-stock markets; and has corn, paper, and powder-mills, also iron-works. guildhall, a building in london and a hall for banquets of the city corporation; destroyed by the fire of and rebuilt in . guildhall school of music, an institution established by the corporation of london to provide advanced and thorough instruction in music at a moderate rate, a fine building in connection with which was erected in ; started with , and has now pupils. the corporation have expended £ , on it, besides an annual contribution of £ . guilds, associations of craftsmen or tradesmen in the middle ages to watch over and protect the interests of their craft or trade, and to see that it is honourably as well as economically conducted, each with a body of officials to superintend its affairs; they were associations for mutual help, and of great benefit to the general community, religiously and morally, as well as municipally. guillotine, a beheading-machine invented by a dr. guillotin, and recommended by him to the national convention, which adopted it; "with my machine, messieurs, i whisk off your head in a twinkling, and you have no pain;" it was anticipated by the _maiden_ in scotland. guinea, a name somewhat loosely applied to an extensive tract of territory on the w. coast of africa, generally recognised as extending from the mouth of the senegal in the n. to cape negro in the s., and is further designated as lower and upper guinea, the boundary line being practically the equator; the territory is occupied by various colonies of britain, france, germany, portugal, belgium, and the negro republic of liberia. guinegate, a village in hainault, sw. of belgium, where henry viii. defeated the french in in the battle of the spurs (q. v.). guinevere, the wife of king arthur; the most beautiful of women, conceived a guilty passion for lancelot, one of arthur's knights, and married modred, her husband's nephew, in the latter's absence on an expedition against the romans, on hearing of which he returned, met modred on the field of battle, whom he slew, fell mortally wounded himself, while she escaped to a nunnery. tennyson gives a different version in his "idylls." guiscard, robert, duke of apulia and calabria, born at coutances, in normandy; along with his brothers, sons of tancred de hauteville, he, the sixth of twelve, following others of the family, invaded s. italy; won renown by his great prowess, and in the end the dukedom of apulia; he engaged in war with the emperor of the east, but returned to suppress a revolt in his own territory; when pope gregory vii. was besieged in san angelo by henry iv. of germany he came to the rescue and the emperor made off ( - ). guise, a celebrated french ducal family deriving its title from the town of guise in aisne. guise, charles, cardinal of lorraine, duke of, son of the succeeding, and considered the ablest of the guise family; was archbishop of rheims in , and cardinal of lorraine in ; was prominent at the council of trent, and in conjunction with his brother fiercely opposed protestantism ( - ). guise, claude of lorraine, first duke of, fifth son of rené ii., duke of lorraine; distinguished himself in the service of francis i., who conferred on him the dukedom of guise; was the grandfather of mary, queen of scots, through his daughter marie, wife of james v. of scotland ( - ). guise, francis, second duke of, and son of preceding; rose, to the highest eminence as a soldier, winning, besides many others, the great victory of metz ( ) over the germans, and capturing calais from the english in ; along with his brother charles (q. v.) he was virtual ruler of france during the feeble rule of francis ii., and these two set themselves to crush the rise of protestantism; he was murdered by a huguenot at the siege of orleans ( - ). guise, henry i., third duke of, son of francis; the murder of his father added fresh zeal to his inborn hatred of the protestants, and throughout his life he persecuted them with merciless rigour; he was a party to the massacre of st. bartholomew ( ); his ambitious designs on the crown of france brought about his assassination ( - ). guise, henry ii., fifth duke of, grandson of preceding; at he became archbishop of rheims, but the death of his brother placed him in the dukedom ( ); he opposed richelieu, was condemned to death, but fled to flanders; with masaniello he made a fruitless attempt to seize the kingdom of naples, and eventually settled in paris, becoming grand-chamberlain to louis xiv. ( - ). guizot, franÇois pierre guillaume, a celebrated french historian and statesman, born at nîmes; his boyhood was spent at geneva, and in he came to paris to study law, but he soon took to writing, and in his twenty-fourth year had published several works and translated gibbon's great history; in he was appointed to the chair of history in the sorbonne; on the second restoration ( ) became secretary-general of the ministry of the interior; the return of napoleon drove him from office, but on the downfall of the corsican he received the post of secretary to the ministry of justice; in he threw in his lot with louis philippe, became minister of public instruction, foreign minister, and prime minister; his political career practically closed with the downfall of louis philippe; his voluminous historical works, executed between his terms of office and in his closing years, display wide learning and a great faculty of generalisation; the best known are "the history of the english revolution" and "the history of civilisation"; as a statesman he was honest, patriotic, but short-sighted ( - ). gujarat ( , ), a n. maritime province of the presidency of bombay, lying between the gulfs of cutch and cambay; it is a rich alluvial country, and chiefly comprises the native states of kathiawar, cutch, and baroda. gulf stream, the most important of the great ocean currents; it issues by the strait of florida from the gulf of mexico (whence its name), a vast body of water m. wide, with a temperature of ° and a speed of m. an hour; flows along the coast of the u.s. as far as newfoundland, whence it spreads itself in a ne. direction across the atlantic, throwing out a branch which skirts the coasts of spain and africa, while the main body sweeps n. between the british isles and iceland, its influence being perceptible as far as spitzbergen; the climate of britain has been called "the gift of the gulf stream," and it is the genial influence of this great current which gives to great britain and norway their warm and humid atmosphere, and preserves them from experiencing a climate like labrador and greenland, a climate which their latitude would otherwise subject them to. gull, sir william withey, physician, born at thorpe-le-soken; received his medical training at london, and in became professor of physiology at the royal institution; four years later he was appointed clinical lecturer at guy's hospital; in his attendance on the prince of wales brought him a baronetcy; published various lectures and papers on cholera, paralysis, &c. ( - ). gulliver, the hero of swift's satirical romance entitled "gulliver's travels," which records his adventures among the pigmies of lilliput, the giants of brobdingnag, the quacks of laputa, and the houyhnhnms (q. v.). gully, right hon. william court, speaker of the house of commons since ; has represented carlisle since , is son of dr. gully of water-cure celebrity; _b_. . gun-cotton, a powerful explosive formed by the action of nitric or sulphuric acid on cotton or some similar vegetable fibre. gun-metal, a tough, close-grained alloy of copper and tin. gunnings, two beautiful irish girls, maria ( - ) and elizabeth ( - ), the elder of whom became countess of cromarty, and the younger married first the duke of hamilton ( ) and afterwards the first duke of argyll ( ). gunpowder plot, an attempt on the part of a conspiracy to blow up the parliament of england on nov. , , on the day of the opening, when it was expected the king, lords, and commons would be all assembled; the conspirators were a small section of roman catholics dissatisfied with king james's government, and were headed by robert catesby, the contriver of the plot; the plot was discovered, and guy fawkes was arrested as he was proceeding to carry it into execution, while the rest, who fled, were pursued, taken prisoners, and the chief of them put to death. gunter, edmund, mathematician, born in hertfordshire; was educated at oxford for the church, but his natural bent was towards mathematical science, and in he became professor of astronomy in gresham college, london, a position he held till his death; his "canon triangulorum" ( ) was the first table of logarithmic sines and tangents drawn up on briggs's system; amongst other of his inventions was the surveying chain, a quadrant, gunter's scale, and he was the first to observe the variations of the compass ( - ). gunther, king of burgundy and brother of chriemhild; his ambition was to wed brunhilda (q. v.), who could only be won by one who surpassed her in three trials of skill and strength; by the help of siegfried, who veiled himself in a cloak of darkness, he succeeded not only in winning her hand, but in reducing her to wifely subjection after she was wed. guppy, the name of a pert, conceited lawyer's clerk who figures in dickens's "bleak house." gurney, joseph john, a quaker philanthropist and writer, born at earlham hall, near norwich; in he became a quaker minister; he energetically co-operated with his sister, mrs. elizabeth fry, in bringing about a reform of the prison system, and otherwise spent his life in philanthropic work; his works include "prison discipline," , "religious peculiarities of the society of friends," ( - ). gustavus (i.) vasa or gustavus ericssen, king of sweden from to , born at lindholm, in upland; having conceived the idea of freeing his country from the yoke of denmark, under which it had fallen in , and his early efforts to infuse a spirit of patriotic rebellion into the swedes proving ineffectual, he was captured by the danes; escaping from captivity, he became a wanderer in his own land, working in mines and enduring great privations, but at last, in , the swedes were goaded to rebellion, and under him eventually drove the danes from their land in ; during his long reign gustavus gradually brought his at first disorganised empire into a peaceful and united realm ( - ). gustavus (ii.) adolphus, king of sweden from to , born at stockholm, grandson of preceding and son of charles ix.; successful territorial wars with denmark and russia occupied him during the early years of his reign, and in he concluded an advantageous truce for six years with poland; next he espoused the protestant cause in germany against the catholic league; victory crowned his efforts at every step, but in the great battle of lützen (near leipzig), whilst facing wallenstein (q. v.), his most powerful opponent, he fell in the act of rallying his forces, and in the hour of success, not without suspicion of having been assassinated; he ranks amongst the greatest of champions ( - ). gustavus iii., king of sweden from to ; succeeded his father adolphus frederick; he found himself early at conflict with his nobles, and in , supported by popular feeling, imposed a new constitution on the country greatly diminishing their power; gustavus was an enlightened ruler, but somewhat alienated his people from him by his extravagance and fondness for french modes of life; in he became embroiled in a purposeless war with russia; he was assassinated when about to take up arms in behalf of the bourbon cause against the french republicans ( - ). gustavus iv., king of sweden from to , son of preceding; his incompetency and stubbornness made him an ill ruler; territory was lost to the french, and finland to russia, while an attack on norway proved a failure; popular indignation rose to a height in ; he was deposed, and the crown given to his uncle, charles xiii.; after this he lived on the continent ( - ). gutenburg, johannes or henne, also called gensfleisch, claimed by the germans to have been the inventor of the art of printing with movable types, born at mainz; for some time lived in strasburg as a polisher of precious stones, mirrors, &c.; he set up his first printing-press at mainz about ( - ). guthrie, thomas, a scottish clergyman, distinguished as a pulpit orator and a philanthropist, born in brechin; was minister at arbirlot, near arbroath, and then in edinburgh; left the established church at the disruption, and became minister of st. john's; traversed the country ( - ) to raise a fund to provide manses for the disruption ministers, and realised £ , for the object; came forward as an advocate for ragged schools, and founded one in edinburgh; he was a warm-hearted man as well as an eloquent, who could both move his audience to tears and rouse it to enthusiasm ( - ). gutta-percha, the inspissated juice of a tree found in the malay archipelago. guy, thomas, founder of guy's hospital, london, born at horsleydown, southwark, london; he started as a bookseller in , and after the importation of english bibles from holland was stopped he obtained the privilege of printing bibles for oxford university; lucky speculation in south sea stock, combined with his printing business, enabled him to amass an immense fortune, which he devoted largely to charitable purposes; from to he sat in parliament ( - ). guy of warwick, a hero of english romance of the th century, who won the hand of the daughter of the earl of warwick by a succession of astonishing feats of valour, but repented of the slaughter he had made, and went a pilgrimage to the holy land; returned to his wife disguised as a palmer; retired into a hermitage; when about to die sent a ring to her, upon which she came and interred him; she died days after him, and was buried by his side. guyon, sir, a knight in spenser's "faërie queene," the impersonation of temperance and self-control; he subdued the sorceress acrasia (i. e. intemperance), and was the destroyer of her "bower of bliss." gwalior ( , ), a native state of central india, under british protection since ; governed by the maharajah sindhia; area, , sq. m.; consists of scattered districts in the basins of the jumna and nerbudda; opium is the chief export. gwalior, the capital ( , ), is situated m. s. of agra; the citadel is very strongly posted on a steep rocky base ft. high. gwynn, nell, a "pretty, witty" actress of drury lane, who became mistress of charles ii., whose son by her was created duke of st. albans; the king was very fond of her and took special thought of her when he was dying ( - ). gyges, a young shepherd of lydia, who, according to classic legend, possessed a magic ring of gold by which he could render himself invisible; he repaired to the court of candaules, whose first minister he became, whose chamber he entered invisibly, and whom he put to death to reign in his stead. gymnosophists, a set of contemplative philosophers among the hindus who practised an extreme asceticism and went about almost naked. gymnotus, an electric eel of south america, and found in the fresh waters of brazil and guiana. gypsies, a race of people of wandering habits, presumed to be of indian origin, found scattered over europe, asia, and africa, and even in america, who appear to have begun to migrate westward from the valley of the indus about a.d. , and to have reached europe in the th century, and to owe their name gypsies to their supposed origin in egypt. they in general adhere to their unsettled habits wherever they go, show the same tastes, and follow the same pursuits, such as tinkering, mat-making, basket-making, fortune-telling. on their first appearance they were mere vagabonds and thieves. h haafiz. see hÄfiz. haarlem ( ), a handsome town in the province of n. holland on the spaarne, m. from the sea, and m. w. of amsterdam; has a fine th-century church with a famous organ ( pipes), linen and other factories, &c., and is noted for its tulip-gardens and trade in flower-bulbs; it is intersected by several canals as well as the rivers; there existed at one time a lagoon of the zuyder zee called haarlem lake, which stretched southward as far as leyden, between amsterdam and haarlem; but destructive inundations, caused by the tidal advance in , compelled the government to set about draining it, and this difficult engineering operation was successfully carried through by an english company during - . habakkuk, a book of the old testament by a levite, whose name it bears, and who appears to have flourished in the th century b.c., containing a prophecy which belongs, both in substance and form, to the classic period of hebrew literature, and is written in a style which has been described as being "for grandeur and sublimity of conception, for gorgeousness of imagery, and for melody of language, among the foremost productions of that literature." the spirit of it is one: faith, namely, in the righteous ways of the lord; but the burden is twofold; to denounce the judgment of god on the land for the violence and wrong that prevailed in it, as about to be executed on it by a power still more violent and unjust in its ways; and to comfort the generation of the righteous with the assurance of a time when this very rod of god's wrath shall in the pride of its power be broken in pieces, and the lord be revealed as seated in his holy temple. habberton, john, author of "helen's babies," born in brooklyn, new york; was first a clerk and then a journalist; his other works include "other people's children," "the worst boy in town," &c.; _b_. . habeas corpus, an act of parliament passed in the reign of charles ii. to ensure the protection of one accused of a crime prior to conviction in an open court of justice. habington, thomas, a worcester gentleman of fortune, involved at one time in a conspiracy to release mary, queen of scots, from prison, and convicted at another of concealing some of the agents in the gunpowder plot ( - ). habington, william, poet and historian, son of the preceding; a devoted catholic, "who did not run with the times"; author of "castara," a collection of exquisite lyrics in homage to his wife, and in celebration of her charms and virtues ( - ). hachette, jean, french mathematician; one of the founders of the École polytechnique ( - ). hachette, jeanne, a french heroine, born in beauvais, who took part in the defence of her native town when besieged in by charles the bold. hacklÄnder, german novelist and dramatist, born near aix-la-chapelle; his writings, which show a genial humour, have been compared to those of dickens ( - ). hackney ( ), an important parish and borough of middlesex, a suburb of london, m. ne. of st. paul's; returns three members of parliament. haco v., king of norway from to ; was defeated by alexander iii. of scotland at largs, and died at the orkneys on his way home. haddington ( ), the county town, on the tyne, m. e. of edinburgh; has interesting ruins of an abbey church, called the "lamp of lothian," a cruciform pile with a central tower, a corn exchange, &c.; was the birthplace of john knox, samuel smiles, and jane welsh carlyle. haddingtonshire or east lothian ( ), a maritime county of scotland, on the e. fronting the firth of forth and the north sea, n. of berwickshire; on the southern border lie the lammermuir hills; the tyne is the only river; considerable quantities of coal and limestone are wrought, but agriculture is the chief industry, per cent, of the land being under cultivation. haden, sir francis seymour, an etcher and writer on etching, born in london; was bred to medicine, and in became f.r.c.s.; in he took up etching as a pastime and has since pursued it with enthusiasm and conspicuous success; he has won medals in france, america, and england for the excellency of his workmanship, while his various writings have largely contributed to revive interest in the art; he is president of the society of painters, and in a knighthood was conferred upon him; _b_. . hades (lit. the unseen), the dark abode of the shades of the dead in the nether world, the entrance into which, on the confines of the western ocean, is unvisited by a single ray of the sun; originally the god of the nether world, and a synonym of pluto (q. v.). hadith, the mohammedan talmud, being a traditional account of mahomet's sayings and doings. hadji, a mohammedan who has made his hadj or pilgrimage to mecca, and kissed the black stone of the caaba (q. v.); the term is also applied to pilgrims to jerusalem. hadleigh ( ), an interesting old market-town of suffolk, on the bret, ½ m. w. of ipswich; its cloth trade dates back to ; guthrum, the danish king, died here in , and dr. rowland taylor suffered martyrdom in . also a small parish of essex, near the n. shore of the thames estuary, m. e. of london, where in the salvation army planted their farm-colony. hadley, james, an american greek scholar, and one of the american committee on the revision of the new testament ( - ). hadley, john, natural philosopher; invented a ft. reflecting telescope, and a quadrant which bears his name, though the honour of the invention has been assigned to others, newton included ( - ). hadramaut ( ), a dry and healthy plateau in arabia, extending along the coast from aden to cape ras-al-hadd, nominally a dependency of turkey. hadrian, roman emperor, born in rome; distinguished himself under trajan, his kinsman; was governor of syria, and was proclaimed emperor by the army on trajan's death in a.d. ; had troubles both at home and abroad on his accession, but these settled, he devoted the last years of his reign chiefly to the administration of affairs throughout the empire; visited gaul in , whence he passed over to britain, where he built the great wall from the tyne to the solway; he was a greek scholar, had a knowledge of greek literature, encouraged industry, literature, and the arts, as well as reformed the laws ( - ). haeckel, ernst heinrich, an eminent german biologist, born at potsdam; carried through his medical studies at berlin and vienna; early evinced an enthusiasm for zoology, and, after working for some time at naples and messina, in became professor of zoology at jena; here he spent a life of unceasing industry, varied only by expeditions to arabia, india, ceylon, and different parts of europe in the prosecution of his scientific theories; he was the first among german scientists to embrace and apply the evolutionary theories of darwin, and along these lines he has produced several works of first-rate importance in biology; his great works on calcareous sponges, on jelly-fishes, and corals are enriched by elaborate plates of outstanding value; he made important contributions to the _challenger_ reports, and was among the first to outline the genealogical tree of animal life; his name is associated with far-reaching speculations on heredity, sexual selection, and various problems of embryology; "the natural history of creation," "treatise on morphology," "the evolution of man," are amongst his more popular works; _b_. . hÄfiz, his real name shems-eddin-mohammed, the great lyric poet of persia, born in shiraz, where he spent his life; he has been called the anacreon of persia; his poetry is of a sensuous character, though the images he employs are interpreted by some in a supersensuous or mystical sense; goethe composed a series of lyrics in imitation; the name häfiz denotes a mohammedan who knows the korân and the hadith by heart ( - ). hagar, sarah's maid, of egyptian birth, who became by abraham the mother of ishmael and of the ishmaelites. hagedorn, a german poet, born at hamburg; was secretary to the english factory there; wrote fables, tales, and moral poems ( - ). hagen, king of burgundy; the murderer of siegfried in the "nibelungen lied," who is in turn killed by chriemhild, siegfried's wife, with siegfried's sword. hagenau ( ), a town of alsace-lorraine, situated in the hagenau forest, on the moder, m. ne. of strasburg; has two quaint old churches of the th and the th century respectively; hops and wine are the chief articles of commerce; was ceded to germany in . hagenbach, karl, a german theologian, born at basel, and professor there; was a disciple of schleiermacher; wrote a church history; is best known by his "lehrbuch der dogmengeschichte," or "history of dogmas" ( - ). haggadah, a system of professedly traditional, mostly fanciful, amplifications of the historical and didactic, as distinct from the legal, portions of jewish scripture; is a reconstructing and remodelling of both history and dogma; for the jews seem to have thought, though they were bound to the letter of the law, that any amount of licence was allowed them in the treatment of history and dogma. haggai, one of the hebrew prophets of the restoration (of jerusalem and the temple) after the captivity, and who, it would seem, had returned from babylon with zerubbabel and joshua. signs of the divine displeasure having appeared on account of the laggard spirit in which the restoration was prosecuted by the people, this prophet was inspired to lift up his protest and rouse their patriotism, with the result that his appeal took instant effect, for in four years the work was finished and the temple dedicated to the worship of jehovah, as of old, in b.c.; his book is a record of the prophecies he delivered in that connection, and the style, though prosaic, is pure and clear. haggard, rider, novelist, born in norfolk; after service in a civic capacity in natal, and in partly civil and partly military service in the transvaal, adopted the profession of literature; first rose into popularity as author in by the publication of "king solomon's mines," the promise of which was sustained in a measure by a series of subsequent novels beginning with "she" in ; _b_. . haggis, a scotch dish, "great chieftain o' the puddin' race," composed of the chopped lungs, heart, and liver of a sheep, mixed with suet and oatmeal, seasoned with onions, pepper, salt, &c., and boiled in a sheep's stomach. hagiographa, the third division of the jewish canon of scripture, which included the books of job, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, canticles, ruth, lamentations, esther, daniel, chronicles, ezra, and nehemiah. hague, the ( ), the capital of the netherlands, seat of the court and of the government, m. nw. of rotterdam and m. from the north sea; is handsomely laid out, in spacious squares and broad streets, with stately buildings, statues, and winding canals, beautifully fringed with lindens and spanned by many bridges; has a fine picture-gallery, a royal library ( , vols.), archives rich in historical documents of rare value, an ancient castle, palace, and a gothic church of the th century; industries embrace cannon-foundries, copper and lead smelting, printing, &c.; it is connected by tramway with scheveningen, a fashionable watering-place on the coast. hahn-hahn, ida, a german authoress of aristocratic birth and prejudice, who, on the dissolution of an unhappy marriage, sought consolation in travel, and literature of a rather sickly kind ( - ). hahnemann, samuel, a german physician, the founder of homoeopathy (q. v.), born at meissen; established himself in practice in dresden on orthodox lines and enjoyed a high reputation, but retired to revise the whole system of medicine in vogue, of which he had begun to entertain misgivings, and by various researches and experiments came to the conclusion that the true principle of the healing art was _similia similibus curantur_, "like things are cured by like," which he announced as such to the medical world in , and on which he proceeded to practise first in leipzig and finally in paris, where he died ( - ). haidee, a beautiful greek girl in "don juan," who, falling in love with the hero and losing him, came to a tragic end. haiduk or hajduk (i. e. cowherd), a name bestowed on a body of irregular infantry in hungary who kept up a guerilla warfare in the th century against the turks; in a stretch of territory on the left bank of the theiss was conferred upon them, together with a measure of local government and certain other privileges; but in their territory was incorporated in the county of hajdu; the name was in later times applied to the hungarian infantry and to noblemen's retainers. hailes, lord, sir david dalrymple, scottish judge and antiquary, born at edinburgh; was called to the scotch bar in , and raised to the bench in ; ten years later he became a justiciary lord; he devoted his vacations to literary pursuits, and a series of valuable historical works came from his pen, which include "annals of scotland from malcolm iii. to robert i." and "annals of scotland from robert i. to the accession of the house of stuart," "a discourse on the gowrie conspiracy," &c. ( - ). haileybury college, lies m. se. of hertford; was founded in by the east india company as a training institution for their cadets, and was in use till , when the company ceased to exist; in it was converted into a public school. hainan ( , ), an island of china, in the extreme s., between the gulf of tongking and the china sea, m. s. of the mainland; agriculture is the staple industry; the mountainous and wooded interior is occupied by the aboriginal les. hainault ( , ), a southern province of belgium bordering on france, between w. flanders and namur; the n. and w. is occupied by fertile plains; the forest of ardennes extends into the s., where also are the richest coal-fields of belgium; iron and lead are wrought also; the chief rivers are the scheldt, sambre, dender, and haine; textiles, porcelain, and iron goods are manufactured; mons is the capital. hakim or hakem, a mohammedan name for a ruler, a physician, or a wise man. hakim ben allah or ben hashem, surnamed mokanna (i. e. the veiled or the one-eyed); the founder of a religious sect in khorassan, persia, in the th century; he pretended to be god incarnate, and wore over his face a veil to shroud, as his followers believed, the dazzling radiance of his countenance, but in reality to hide the loss of an eye, incurred in earlier years when he had served as a common soldier; the sect was after fierce fighting suppressed by the caliph, and hakim is said to have flung himself into a vessel of powerfully corrosive acid in the hope that, his body being destroyed, a belief in his translation to heaven might spread among his followers; the story of hakim is told in moore's "lalla rookh." hakluyt, richard, english author; was educated at oxford, and became chaplain to the english embassy in paris; wrote on historical subjects; his principal work, published in , "principal navigations, voyages, and discoveries of the english nation by land and sea," a work which, detailing as it does the great deeds of englishmen, particularly on the sea, has borne very considerable fruit in english life and literature since ( - ). hakodate ( ), one of the open ports of yezo in japan, with a large harbour and large export trade. hal ( ), a town of belgium, m. sw. from brussels; noted for its th-century church, which contains a black wooden image of the virgin credited with miraculous powers, and resorted to by pilgrims. halacha, the jewish law as developed into validity by the decisions of the scribes, on the basis of inferential reasoning or established custom; it was of higher authority than the law as written, though not held valid till sanctioned by a majority of the doctors. halberstadt ( ), an interesting old town in prussian saxony, m. sw. of magdeburg; the th-century cathedral is a fine specimen of pointed gothic, and the church of our lady, a th-century structure, is in the byzantine style; its industries embrace gloves, cigars, machines, sugar, &c. halcyon days, days of peace, happiness, and prosperity, properly the seven days before and the seven after the winter solstice, days of quiet, during which the halcyon, or kingfisher, is fabled to be breeding. haldane, robert, born in london, and james, born in dundee, brothers; entered the english navy, and after distinguishing themselves in it, left the service, and devoted their time and their wealth to evangelistic labours and the building of "tabernacles," as they were called, for religious worship in connection eventually with the baptist body; they both contributed to theological literature in the calvinistic interest; robert died in , being born in , and james in , being born in . hale, sir matthew, lord chief-justice of england, born at alderley, gloucestershire: in he entered lincoln's inn after some years of roving and dissipation, and eight years later was called to the bar; as he held aloof from the strife between king and commons, his service as advocate were in requisition by both parties, and in he was raised to the bench by cromwell; on the death of the protector he declined to receive his commission anew from richard cromwell, and favoured the return of charles; after the restoration he was made chief baron of the exchequer and knighted; in he was created lord chief-justice; charges of "trimming" have been made against him, but his integrity as a lawyer has never been impugned ( - ). hales, alexander of, a scholastic philosopher, surnamed "doctor irrefragabilis," who flourished in the th century; author of "summa theologiæ." hales, john, the "ever-memorable," canon of windsor; a most scholarly man, liberal-minded and highly cultured; was professor of greek at oxford; suffered great hardships under the puritan supremacy ( - ). hales, stephen, scientist, born at beckesbourn, kent; became a fellow of cambridge in ; took holy orders, and in settled down in the curacy of teddington, middlesex; science was his ruling passion, and his "vegetable staticks" is the first work to broach a true morphology of plants; his papers on ventilation led to a wide-spread reform in prison ventilation, and his method of collecting gases greatly furthered the work of subsequent chemists ( - ). halÉvy, jacques franÇois elias, a french operatic composer, born at paris; became a professor at the conservatoire; wrote a large number of operas, of which "la juive" and "l'Éclair" were the best, and enjoyed a european reputation ( - ). halÉvy, joseph, french orientalist and traveller, born at adrianople; his most notable work was done in yemen, which he crossed during - in search of sabæan inscriptions, no european having traversed that land since a.d. ; the result was a most valuable collection of inscriptions, &c.; his works are numerous, and deal with various branches of oriental study; _b_. . haliburton, thomas chandler, nova scotian judge and author, born at windsor, nova scotia; was called to the bar in , and soon after was elected a member of the house of assembly; in he became judge of the supreme court, and two years later retired to england, where, in , he entered parliament; he wrote several books bearing on nova scotia and aspects of colonial life, but is best known as the author of "sam slick," yankee clockmaker, peripatetic philosopher, wit, and dispenser of "soft sawder" ( - ). halicarnassus, a greek city, and the chief of caria, in asia minor, on the sea-coast opposite the island of cos, the birthplace of herodotus; celebrated for the tomb of mausolus, called the mausoleum (q. v.). halidon hill, an eminence in northumberland, on the tweed, m. from berwick, the scene of a bloody battle in between the english and scots, to the defeat of the latter. halifax, , a prosperous manufacturing town ( ), in the west riding of yorkshire, situated amid surrounding hills on the hebble, m. sw. of york; the staple industries are carpet and worsted manufacturing, the carpet works being the largest in the world; cotton, merinos, and damasks are also woven and dyed. , capital ( ), of nova scotia; the naval and military head-quarters of the british in north america, and the chief port in east canada; is situated near the head of chebucto bay, which forms a magnificent harbour; a citadel and masked batteries defend the town; it is an important railway and shipping terminus and coaling station; its gravingdock is the largest in america; it is the seat of dalhousie university. halifax, charles montague, earl of, a celebrated whig statesman, born at horton, northamptonshire; a clever skit on dryden's "hind and panther," entitled "the town and country mouse," written in collaboration with prior after he had left cambridge, brought him some reputation as a wit; in he entered the convention parliament, and attached himself to william's party, when his remarkable financial ability soon brought him to the front; in he brought forward his scheme for a national debt, and two years later founded the bank of england in accordance with the scheme of william paterson; in the same year he became chancellor of the exchequer, and in prime minister; in conjunction with sir isaac newton, master of the mint, he carried through a re-coinage, and was the first to introduce exchequer bills; in he was created a baron, and subsequently was made the victim of a prolonged and embittered but unsuccessful impeachment; with the accession of george i. he came back to power as prime minister, and received an earldom ( - ). halifax, george saville, marquis of, a noted statesman who played a prominent part in the changing politics of charles ii.'s and james ii.'s reigns, and whose apparently vacillating conduct won him the epithet of "trimmer"; he was an orator of brilliant powers and imbued with patriotic motives, and through his various changes may be seen a real desire to serve the cause of civil and religious liberty, but he was never a reliable party man; on the abdication of james ii. he, as president of the convention parliament, proffered the crown to william of orange; he rose through successive titles to be a marquis in ; his writings, chief of which is "character of a trimmer" (practically a defence of his own life), are marked by a pungent wit and graceful persuasiveness (about - ). hall, basil, explorer and miscellaneous writer, born in edinburgh, son of sir james hall of dunglass, a noted chemist and geologist; rose to be a post-captain in the navy, and in made a voyage of discovery on the coast of the corea and the great loo choo islands, his account of which forms a fascinating and highly popular book of travel; during - he commanded the _conway_ on the w. coast of south america, and his published journals covering that period of spain's struggle with her colonies are of considerable historical value; "travels in north america in - " is an entertaining record of travel; was also author of some tales, &c.; he died insane ( - ). hall, charles francis, arctic explorer, born at rochester, new hampshire; the mystery surrounding franklin's fate awakened his interest in arctic exploration, and during - he headed a search party, and again in - ; during the latter time he lived amongst the eskimo, and returned with many interesting relics of franklin's ill-fated expedition; in he made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the north pole, and died at thank god harbour in greenland; he published accounts of his expeditions ( - ). hall or halle, edward, english lawyer and historian, born in london; studied law at gray's inn; in he became one of the judges of the sheriff's court; his fame rests on his history "the union of the two noble families of lancaster and yorke," a work which sheds a flood of light on contemporary events, and is, moreover, a noble specimen of english prose ( - ). hall, joseph, bishop first of exeter and then of norwich, born at ashby-de-la-zouch; was accused of favouring puritanism, and incurred the enmity of laud; was sent to the tower for joining prelates who had protested against certain laws passed in parliament during their enforced absence from the house; being released on bail, be returned to norwich, and was persecuted by the puritans, who plundered his house and spoiled the cathedral; was the author of a set of political satires and of "meditations," early instances in english literature of an interest in biography ( - ). hall, robert, an eminent baptist minister and pulpit orator, born near leicester; began his ministry in bristol, and ended it there after a pastorate in cambridge; was an intimate friend of sir james mackintosh ( - ). hall, samuel carter, founder and editor of the _art journal_, born at geneva barracks, co. waterford; was for a time a gallery reporter; succeeded campbell, the poet, as editor of the _new monthly magazine_, and after other journalistic work started in the well-known periodical the _art journal_, which he continued to edit for upwards of years; in he received a civil-list pension ( - ); his wife, anna maria fielding, was in her day a popular and voluminous writer of novels and short tales ( - ). hallam, arthur henry, eldest son of the succeeding, the early friend of tennyson, who died suddenly at vienna to the bitter grief of his father and of his friend, whose "in memoriam" is a long elegy over his loss ( - ). hallam, henry, english historian, born at windsor, of which his father was a canon; bred for the bar; was one of the first contributors to the _edinburgh review_; was the author of three great works, "the state of europe during the middle ages," published in ; "the constitutional history of england from the accession of henry vii. to the death of george ii.," published in ; and the "introduction to the literature of europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries," published in ; "was the first," says stopford brooke, "to write history in this country without prejudice" ( - ). halle ( ), a flourishing city in prussian saxony, on the saale, m. nw. of leipzig; has a splendid university attended by upwards of students, and a library of , vols.; some fine old gothic churches, medical institutes, hospitals, &c.; it is is an important railway centre, and is famed for its salt-works. hallÉ, sir charles, an eminent pianist, born at hagen, in westphalia; in he came to england, with a reputation already gained at paris, and settled down in manchester; his fine orchestra, which from year to year visited the important cities of the kingdom, did a great work in popularising classical music, and educating the public taste in its regard; in he was knighted ( - ). his wife, _née_ wilhelmine néruda, a violinist of rare talent, born at brünn, in moravia, appeared first in vienna when only seven years old; in she married normann, a swedish composer, and in became the wife of sir charles; _b_. . halleck, henry wager, an american general; distinguished himself on the side of the north in the civil war, and was promoted to be commander-in-chief; was author of "elements of military art and science" ( - ). hallel, name given to psalms cxiii.-cxviii. chanted by the jews at their great annual festivals. haller, albert von, a celebrated anatomist, physiologist, botanist, physician, and poet, born at bern; professor of medicine at göttingen; author of works in all these departments; took a keen interest in all the movements and questions of the day, literary and political, as well as scientific; was a voluminous author and writer ( - ). halley, edmund, astronomer and mathematician, born near london; determined the rotation of the sun from the spots on its surface, and the position of stars; discovered in the great comet called after his name, which appeared again in ; was entrusted with the publication of his "principia" by sir isaac newton; made researches on the orbits of comets, and was appointed in astronomer-royal ( - ). halliwell-phillipps, james orchard, a celebrated shakespearian scholar and antiquary, born at chelsea; studied at cambridge; his love for literary antiquities manifested itself at an early age, and his research in ballad literature and folk-lore, &c., had gained him election as fellow to the royal and antiquarian societies at the early age of ; devoting himself more particularly to shakespeare, he in published his famous "outlines of the life of shakespeare," which has grown in fulness of detail with successive editions, and remains the most authoritative account of shakespeare's life we have; his "dictionary of archaic and provincial words" is also a work of wide scholarship; having succeeded in to the property of his father-in-law, thomas phillipps, he added phillipps to his own surname ( - ). hall-mark, an official mark or attestation of the genuineness of gold and silver articles. hallowed fire, an expression of carlyle's in definition of christianity "at its rise and spread" as sacred, and kindling what was sacred and divine in man's soul, and burning up all that was not. hallowe'en, the eve of all saints' day, st october, which it was customary, in scotland particularly, to observe with ceremonies of a superstitious character, presumed to have the power of eliciting certain interesting secrets of fate from wizard spirits of the earth and air, allowed, as believed, in that brief space, to rove about and be accessible to the influence of the charms employed. halogens (i. e., salt producers), name given to the elementary bodies, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and fluorine as in composition with metals forming compounds similar to sea-salt. hals, frans, an eminent dutch portrait-painter, born at antwerp; is considered to be the founder of the dutch school of _genre_-painting; his portraits are full of life and vigour; vandyck alone among his contemporaries was considered his superior ( - ). halsbury, hardinge stanley gifford, lord, lord chancellor of england, born in london; was called to the bar in ; he was solicitor-general in the last disraeli government; entered parliament in , and in was raised to the peerage and made lord-chancellor, a position he has held in successive conservative governments; _b_. . halyburton, thomas, scottish divine, known as "holy halyburton," born at dupplin, near perth; was minister of ceres, in fife, and from professor of divinity in st. andrews; was the author of several widely-read religious works ( - ). ham, a son of noah, and the biblical ancestor of the southern dark races of the world as known to the ancients. ham, a town in the dep. of somme, france, m. ne. of paris, with a fortress, used in recent times as a state prison, in which louis napoleon was confined from to . hamadan ( ), an ancient persian town, at the foot of mount elwend, m. sw. of teheran, is an important _entrepôt_ of persian trade, and has flourishing tanneries; it is believed to stand on the site of ecbatana (q. v.). hamadryad, a wood-nymph identified with a particular tree that was born with it and that died with it. hamah ( ), the hamath of the bible, an ancient city of syria, on the orontes, m. ne. of damascus; manufactures silk, cotton, and woollen fabrics; is one of the oldest cities of the world; has some trade with the bedouins in woollen stuffs; during the macedonian dynasty it was known as epiphania; in burckhardt discovered stones in it with hittite inscriptions. haman, an enemy of the jews in persia, who persuaded the king to decree the destruction of them against a particular day, but whose purpose was defeated by the reversal of the sentence of doom. hamann, johann georg, a german thinker, born at königsberg; a man of genius, whose ideas were appreciated by such a man as goethe, and whose writings deeply influenced the views of herder ( - ). hamburg, a small german state ( ) which includes the free city of hamburg ( ; suburbs, ), bergedorf, and cuxhaven; the city, the chief emporium of german commerce, is situated on the elbe, m. e. of the north sea and nw. of berlin; was founded by charlemagne in , and is to-day the fifth commercial city of the world; the old town is intersected by canals, while the new portion, built since , is spaciously laid out; the town library, a fine building, contains , volumes; its principal manufactures embrace cigar-making, distilling, brewing, sugar-refining, &c. hameln ( ), a quaint old prussian town and fortress in the province of hanover, situated at the junction of the hamel with the weser, m. sw. of hanover city; associated with the legend of the pied piper; a fine chain bridge spans the weser; there are prosperous iron, paper, and leather works, breweries, &c. hÄmerkin or hÄmmerlein, the paternal name of thomas À kempis (q. v.). hamerling, robert, austrian poet, born at kirchberg in the forest, lower austria; his health gave way while teaching at trieste, and while for upwards of years an invalid in bed, he devoted himself to poetical composition; his fame rests chiefly on his satirical epics and lyric compositions, among the former "the king of iron," "the seven deadly sins," and "cupid and psyche," and among the latter "venus in exile" ( - ). hamerton, philip gilbert, english critic, particularly of art; edited the portfolio, an art magazine; author of a story of life in france entitled "marmorne," and of a volume of essays entitled "the intellectual life" ( - ). hamilcar barca, a carthaginian general and one of the greatest, the father of hannibal, commanded in sicily, and held his ground there against the romans for six years; concluded a peace with them and ended the first punic war; invaded spain with a view to invade italy by the alps, and after gaining a footing there fell in battle; had his son with him, a boy of nine, and made him swear upon the altar before he died eternal enmity to rome; _d_. b.c. hamilton ( ), a town of lanarkshire, on the clyde, m. se. of glasgow; mining is the chief industry. also a city ( ) of canada, on burlington bay, at the west end of lake ontario, m. sw. of toronto; is an important railway centre, and has manufactories of iron, cotton, and woollen goods, &c. hamilton, alexander, american soldier and statesman, born in west indies; entered the american army, fought in the war of independence, became commander-in-chief, represented new york state in congress, contributed by his essays to the favourable reception of the federal constitution, and under it did good service on behalf of his country; was mortally wounded in a duel ( - ). hamilton, elizabeth, novelist and essayist, born, of scottish parentage, in belfast; is remembered for her early advocacy of the higher education of women and for her faithful pictures of lowly scottish life; "letters of a hindoo rajah" and "modern philosophers" were clever skits on the prevailing scepticism and republicanism of the time; "the cottagers of glenburnie" is her best novel ( - ). hamilton, emma, lady, _née_ amy lyon or "hart," born at ness, cheshire, a labourer's daughter; appeared as the lady in the charlatan graham's "temple of health," london; became the mother of two illegitimate children, and subsequently was the "geliebte" of the hon. charles greville and of his uncle sir wm. hamilton, whose wife she became in ; her notorious and lawless intimacy with lord nelson began in , and in their daughter horatia was born; although left a widow with a goodly fortune, she fell into debt and died in poverty ( - ). hamilton, patrick, a scottish martyr, born at the close of the th century, probably in glasgow; returning from his continental studies at paris and louvain he came to st. andrews university, where his lutheran sympathies involved him in trouble; he escaped to the continent, visited wittenberg, the home of luther, and then settled in marburg, but returned to scotland at the close of the same year ( ) and married; the following year he was burned at the stake in st. andrews for heresy; his eager and winning nature and love of knowledge, together with his early martyrdom, have served to invest him with a special interest. hamilton, william, a minor scottish poet, born near uphall, linlithgowshire; was a contributor to ramsay's _tea-table miscellany_; became involved in the second jacobite rising and fled to france; subsequently he was permitted to return and take possession of his father's estate of bangour, near uphall; his collected poems include the beautiful and pathetic ballad, "the braes of yarrow" ( - ). hamilton, sir william, distinguished philosopher of the scotch school, born in glasgow; studied there and in oxford with distinction; bred for the bar, but hardly ever practised; contributed to the _edinburgh review_, having previously published "discussions in philosophy"; in he became professor of logic and metaphysics in edinburgh university, in which capacity he exercised a great influence in the domain of philosophic speculation; his lectures were published after his death; his system was attacked by john stuart mill, and criticised in part by dr. hutchison stirling, who, while deducting materially from his repute as an original thinker, describes his "writings as always brilliant, forcible, clear, and, where information is concerned, both entertaining and instructive"; was "almost the only _earnest_ man," carlyle testifies, he found in edinburgh on his visit from craigenputtock to the city in ( - ). hamilton, sir william rowan, an eminent mathematician, born in dublin; such was his precocity that at he was versed in thirteen languages, and by was an acknowledged master in mathematical science; while yet an undergraduate at trinity college, dublin, he was appointed in professor of astronomy in dublin university, and astronomer-royal of ireland; his mathematical works and treatises, of the most original and a far-reaching character, brought him a european reputation, and embraced his "theory of systems of rays," "a general method in dynamics," and the invention of "quaternions"; he was knighted in ( - ). hamiltonian system, a system of teaching languages by interlinear translation. hammer, german orientalist and historian, born at grätz; author of a "history of the ottoman empire" ( - ). hammerfest ( ), the most northerly town in europe; is situated on the barren island of kvalö, and is the port of the norwegian province of finmark; fishing is the staple industry; during two months in summer the sun never sets. hammersmith ( ), a parliamentary borough of middlesex, on the n. side of the thames, forms a part of w. london. hammond, henry, english divine, born at chertsey; suffered as an adherent of the royal cause, being chaplain to charles i.; author of "paraphrase and annotations of the new testament" ( - ). hampden, john, a famous english statesman and patriot, cousin to oliver cromwell, born in london; passed through oxford and studied law at the inner temple; subsequently he settled down on his father's estate, and in entered parliament, joining the opposition; he came first into conflict with the king by refusing to contribute to a general loan levied by charles, and subsequently became famous by his resistance to the ship-money tax; he was a member of the short parliament, and played a prominent part in the more eventful transactions of the long parliament; an attempt on charles's part to seize hampden and four other members precipitated the civil war; he took an active part in organising the parliamentary forces, and proved himself a brave and skilful general in the field; he fell mortally wounded while opposing prince rupert in a skirmish at chalgrove field; historians unite in extolling his nobility of character, statesmanship, and single-minded patriotism ( - ). hampden, renn dickson, theologian and bishop, born in barbadoes; became a fellow of oriel college, oxford, and in delivered his celebrated bampton lectures on the "scholastic philosophy considered in its relation to christian theology," which drew upon him the charge of heresy and produced an embittered controversy in the church of england; he was successively principal, professor of moral philosophy, and of divinity at st. mary's hall, and became bishop of hereford in ( - ). hampole, richard rolle, "the hermit of hampole," born at thornton, yorkshire; studied at oxford, and at the age of turned hermit; was the author of "the pricke of conscience," a lengthy poem of a religious character ( - ). hampshire, hants ( ), a maritime county of s. england, fronting the english channel between dorset on the w. and sussex on the e.; in the ne. are the "rolling downs," affording excellent sheep pasturage, while the sw. is largely occupied by the new forest; the test, itchen, and avon are principal rivers flowing to the s.; besides the usual cereals, hops are raised, while hampshire bacon and honey are celebrated; southampton, portsmouth, and gosport are the chief trading and manufacturing towns. hampstead ( ), a parliamentary borough of middlesex, has a hilly and bright situation, m. nw. of london; is a popular place of resort with londoners, and contains many fine suburban residences; beyond the village is the celebrated heath; many literary associations are connected with the place; the famous kit-cat club of steele and addison's time is now a private house on the heath; here lived keats, leigh hunt, coleridge, hazlitt, &c. hampton ( ), a village of middlesex, on the thames, m. sw. of london; in the vicinity is hampton court palace, a royal residence down to george ii.'s time, and which was built originally by wolsey, who presented it to henry viii.; in william iii.'s time considerable alterations were made under the guidance of wren; there is a fine picture-gallery and gardens; it is now occupied by persons of good family in reduced circumstances; the hampton court conference to settle ecclesiastical differences took place here in under the presidency of james i., and the decisions at which proved unsatisfactory to the puritan members of it; it was here at the suggestion of dr. reynolds the authorised version of the bible was undertaken. hanau ( ), a prussian town in hesse-nassau, at the junction of the kinzig and the main, m. ne. of frankfurt; is celebrated for its jewellery and gold and silver work, and is otherwise a busy manufacturing town; it is the birthplace of the brothers grimm. hancock, winfield scott, a noted american general, born near philadelphia; he had already graduated and served with distinction in the mexican war, when, on the outbreak of the civil war, he received a commission as brigadier-general of volunteers; he led a heroic charge at fredericksburg, and in his gallant conduct in many a hard-fought battle was rewarded by promotion to a major-generalship in the regular army; subsequently he held important commands in the departments of missouri, dakota, &c., and in unsuccessfully opposed garfield for the presidency ( - ). hÄndel, musical composer, born at halle; distinguished for his musical ability from his earliest years; was sent to berlin to study when he was ; began his musical career as a performer at hamburg in ; produced his first opera in ; spent six years in italy, devoting himself to his profession the while; came, on invitation, to england in , where, being well received, he resolved to remain, and where, year after year--as many as nearly fifty of them--he added to his fame by his diligence as a composer; he produced a number of operas and oratorios; among the latter may be noted his "saul," his "samson," and "judas maccabæus," and pre-eminently the "messiah," his masterpiece, and which fascinates with a charm that appeals to and is appreciated by initiated and uninitiated alike ( - ). hang-chow ( ), a chinese town, a treaty-port since the recent war with japan; is at the mouth of the tsien-tang at the entrance of the imperial canal, m. sw. of shanghai; it is an important literary, religious, and commercial centre; has flourishing silk factories, and is noted for its gold and silver ware. hanging gardens, the, of babylon, one of the seven wonders of the world, had an area of four acres, formed a square, were a series of terraces supported by pillars sloping upwards like a pyramid and seeming to hang in air; they are ascribed to semiramis. hanif, name given to a mohammedan or an arab of rigidly monotheistic belief. hankow ( ), a chinese river-port, at the confluence of the han and yangtsze rivers; it is properly an extension of the large towns wu-chang and han-yang; there is a considerable amount of shipping; tea is the principal article of export, and a large trade is carried on with the inland provinces. hanley ( ), a busy manufacturing town in the "potteries," m. n. of stafford; coal and iron are wrought in the neighbourhood. hanmer, sir thomas, speaker of the house of commons; elected in , discharged the duties of the office with conspicuous impartiality; published an edition of shakespeare ( - ). hannay, james, a novelist and critic, born in dumfries; spent his boyhood in the navy, on quitting which he settled in london and took to letters; was for a time editor of the _edinburgh courant_, a tory paper, and subsequently consul at barcelona, where he died; he knew english literature and wrote english well ( - ). hannibal, the great carthaginian general, son of hamilcar (q. v.); learned the art of war under his father in spain; subjugated all spain south of the ebro by the capture of the roman allied city of saguntum, which led to the outbreak of the second punic war and his leading his army through hostile territory over the pyrenees and the alps into italy; defeated the romans in succession at the ticinus, the trebia, and lake trasimenus, to the extirpation of the army sent against him; passed the apennines and descended into apulia, where, after being harassed by the tantalising policy of fabius maximus, he met the romans at cannæ in b.c. and inflicted on them a crushing defeat, retiring after this into winter quarters at capua, where his soldiers became demoralised; he next season began to experience a succession of reverses, which ended in the evacuation of italy and the transfer of the seat of war to africa, where hannibal was met by scipio on the field of zama in b.c. and defeated; he afterwards joined antiochus, king of syria, who was at war with rome, to his defeat there also, upon which he fled to prusias, king of bithynia, where, when his surrender was demanded, he ended his life by poisoning himself ( - b.c.). hannington, james, first bishop of eastern equatorial africa, born at hurstpierpoint, sussex; was ordained in after passing through oxford, and in undertook missionary work in uganda, under the auspices of the church missionary society; his health breaking down when he had gone as far as victoria nyanza, he returned home; but two years later as bishop he entered upon his duties at frere town, near mombasa; in the following year he was killed by natives when making his way to the mission station at rubaga, in uganda ( - ). hanno, the name of several eminent carthaginians, one of whom, surnamed the great, was a persistent opponent of the barcine faction, headed by hamilcar; and another was a navigator who made a voyage round the western coast of africa, of which he left an account in his "periplus" or "circumnavigating voyage." hanover ( , ), a prussian province since , formerly an independent kingdom; stretches n. from westphalia to the german ocean, between holland on the w. and saxony on the e.; the district is well watered by the elbe, weser, and ems; in the s. are the harz mountains; for the rest the land is flat, and much of it is occupied by uncultivated moors; agriculture and cattle-rearing are, however, the chief industries, while the minerals of the harz are extensively wrought; in george ludwig, second elector of hanover, succeeded anne on the english throne as her nearest protestant kinsman, and till the dual rule was maintained, hanover meanwhile in having been made a kingdom; in the hanoverian crown passed to the duke of cumberland, queen victoria, as a woman, being ineligible; in the kingdom was conquered and annexed by prussia. hanover ( ), the capital, is situated on the leine, m. se. of bremen; it consists of an old and a new portion; presents a handsome appearance, and its many fine buildings include the royal library ( , vols.), the kestner museum, several palaces and art-galleries, &c.; it is the centre of the north german railway system, and its many industries embrace iron-works, the manufacture of pianos, tobacco, linen, &c. hansard, record of the proceedings and debates in the british parliament, published by the printers hansard, the founder of the firm being luke hansard, a printer of norwich, who came to london in as a compositor, and succeeded as proprietor of the business in which he was a workman; _d_. . hanseatic league, a combination of towns in north-western germany for the mutual protection of their commerce against the pirates of the baltic and the mutual defence of their liberties against the encroachments of neighbouring princes; it dates from , and flourished for several centuries, to the extension of their commerce far and wide; numbered at one time towns, and possessed fleets and armies, an exchequer, and a government of their own; the league dwindled down during the thirty years' war to six cities, and finally to three, hamburg, lübeck, and bremen. hansteen, christoph, a norwegian astronomer and mathematician, born in christiania, where he became professor of mathematics; is famous for his researches and discoveries in connection with the magnetism of the earth, and the impetus he gave to the study of it; he prosecuted his magnetic researches as far as the e. of siberia, and published the results ( - ). hanswurst (i. e. jack pudding), a pantomimic character in comic performances on the german stage; a great favourite at one time with the vulgar; distinguished for his awkwardness, his gluttonous appetite, and his rotundity. hanuman, the monkey-god of the hindus, a friend of râma, for whose benefit he reared a causeway across seas to ceylon. hanway, jonas, a traveller and philanthropist, born in portsmouth; travelled through russia and persia, and settled in london as one of the navy commissariat; devoted himself to the reclaiming and befriending of unfortunates of all kinds; was a man of very eccentric ways ( - ). hapsburg or habsburg, house of, a famous royal house which has played a leading part in the history of continental europe from its foundation in the th century by albert, count of hapsburg, and which is represented to-day by the imperial family of austria. representatives of this family wore the imperial crown of the holy roman empire for centuries. it takes its name from the castle of habsburg or habichtaburg, on the aar, built by werner, bishop of strasburg, in the th century, a castle, however, which has long since ceased to be in the possession of the family. harbour grace ( ), a seaport and the second town of newfoundland, lies on the w. side of conception bay, m. nw. of st. john's; its commodious harbour is somewhat exposed; it is the seat of a roman catholic bishop, and has a cathedral and convent. harburg ( ), a prospering prussian seaport in lüneburg, on the elbe, m. s. of hamburg; its industries embrace gutta-percha goods, oil, chemicals, &c.; is a favourite watering-place. harcourt, sir william vernon, statesman, born, a clergyman's son, at nuneham park, oxfordshire; was highly distinguished at cambridge, and in was called to the bar; was a q.c. in , and professor of international law at cambridge ( - ); he won considerable repute by his articles in the _saturday review_ and his "historicus" letters to the _times_, and in entered parliament, representing oxford in the liberal interest; in he became solicitor-general, and received a knighthood; he was a vigorous opponent of the disraeli government, and on the return of the liberals to power in became home secretary; under mr. gladstone in , and again in , he held the office of chancellor of the exchequer; he staunchly supported mr. gladstone in his home rule policy; became leader of the opposition in the house of commons on mr. gladstone's retirement, a post which for party reasons he resigned in ; _b_. . hardenberg, friedrich von. see novalis. hardenberg prince von, a prussian statesman, born in hanover; after service in hanover and brunswick entered that of prussia under william ii., and became chancellor of state under william iii.; distinguished himself by the reforms he introduced in military and civic matters to the benefit of the country, though he was restrained a good deal by the reactionary proclivities of the king ( - ). hardicanute, king of england and denmark, the son of canute and his successor on the danish throne; was king of england only in part till the death of his brother harold, whom he survived only two years, but long enough to alienate his subjects by the re-imposition of the danegelt; _d_. . harding, john, or hardyng, an english rhyming chronicler in the reign of edward iv.; had been a soldier, and fought at agincourt ( - ). harding, stephen, a benedictine monk, born in devonshire, of noble descent, a born ascetic, who set himself to restore his order to its primitive austerity; retired with a few others into a dismal secluded place at citeaux, and became abbot; was joined there by the great st. bernard, his kindred, and followers, to the great aggrandisement of the order; _d_. . hardinge, henry, viscount, a distinguished soldier and governor-general of india, born at wrotham, kent; joined the army in , and served through the peninsular and waterloo campaigns, but wounded at ligny he was unable to take part in the final struggle with napoleon; he now turned his attention to politics; was secretary of war under wellington, and subsequently twice chief secretary for ireland; in he was appointed governor-general of india, and later distinguished himself under gough in the first sikh war; a viscountship and pension followed in , and seven years later he succeeded wellington as commander-in-chief of the british army ( - ). hardouin, jean, a french classical scholar, born at quimper, brittany; early entered the jesuit order; was from librarian of the college of louis le grand in paris; he is chiefly remembered for his wild assertion that the bulk of classical literature was spurious, and the work of th-century monks; virgil's "Æneid" he declared to be an allegorical account of st. peter's journey to rome, and the original language of the new testament to be latin; his edition of pliny, however, evinces real scholarship ( - ). hardwÁr, a town on the ganges, m. ne. of saharunpur, north-west provinces; famous for its large annual influx of pilgrims seeking ablution in the sacred river; a sacred festival held every twelfth year attracts some , persons. hardy, thomas, novelist, born in dorsetshire, with whose scenery he has made his readers familiar; bred an architect; first earned popularity in by his "far from the madding crowd," which was followed by, among others, "the return of the native," "the woodlanders," and "tess of the d'urbervilles," the last in , books which require to be read in order to appreciate the genius of the author; _b_. . hardy, sir thomas duffus, an eminent palæographer, born in jamaica; he acquired his skill in ms. deciphering as a clerk in the record office in the tower; in he was elected deputy-keeper of the public records, and nine years later received a knighthood; his great learning is displayed in his editions of various "rolls" for the record commission, in his "descriptive catalogue of mss.," &c. ( - ). hardy, sir thomas masterman, bart., a brave naval officer, whose name is associated with the closing scene of nelson's life, born at portisham, in dorsetshire; as a commander in the battle of the nile he greatly distinguished himself, and gained his post-commission to nelson's flagship, the _vanguard_; at trafalgar he commanded the _victory_, and subsequently brought nelson's body to england; he received a baronetcy, and saw further service, eventually attaining to the rank of vice-admiral ( - ). hare, julius charles, archdeacon of lewes, born at vicenza; took orders in the church, and in became, in succession to his uncle, rector of hurstmonceaux, in sussex, the advowson of which was in his family, in which rectory he laboured till his death; he was of the school of maurice; wrote "the mission of the comforter," and with his brother augustus "guesses at truth"; had john sterling as his curate for a short time, and edited his remains as well as wrote his life, the latter in so exclusively ecclesiastical a reference as to dissatisfy carlyle, his joint-trustee, and provoke him, as in duty bound, to write another which should exhibit their common friend in the more interesting light of a man earnestly struggling with the great burning problems of the time, calling for some wise solution by all of us, church and no church ( - ). harem, the apartment or suite of apartments in a mohammedan's house for the female inmates and their attendants, and the name given to the collective body of them. harfleur, a village in france with a strong fortress, m. s. of havre, taken by henry v. in , and retaken afterwards by both french and english, becoming finally french in . hargraves, edmund, discoverer of the gold-field in australia, born at gosport, devon; had been to california, concluded that as the geological formation was the same in australia where he had come from, he would find gold there too and found it in new south wales in , for which the government gave him £ , ( - ). hargreaves, james, inventor of the spinning-jenny, born at standhill, near blackburn; was a poor and illiterate weaver when in he, in conjunction with robert peel, brought out a carding-machine; in he invented the spinning-jenny, a machine which has since revolutionised the cotton-weaving industry, but which at the time evoked the angry resentment of the hand-weaver; he was driven from his native town and settled in nottingham, where he started a spinning-mill; he failed to get his machine patented, and died in comparative poverty ( - ). hari-kari, called also a "happy despatch," a form of suicide, now obsolete, permitted to offenders of high rank to escape the indignity of a public execution; the nature of it may be gathered from the name, "a gash in the belly." hÄring, wilhelm, german novelist, born at breslau; bred for law, but abandoned it for literature; wrote two romances, "walladmor" and "schloss avalon," under the pseudonym of "walter scott," which imposed upon some; he afterwards assumed the name of wilibald alexis, a name by which he was long honourably known ( - ). harington, sir john, courtier and miscellaneous writer, translated by desire of queen elizabeth ariosto's "orlando furioso" ( - ). hariri, arabic philologist and poet of the th century, born at bassorah; celebrated far and wide as the author of "makameat," a collection of tales in verse, the central figure in which is one abu seid, a clever and amusing production, and evincing a unique mastery of arabic. harlaw, battle of, a battle fought at harlaw, m. nw. of aberdeen, on th july , which decided the supremacy of the lowland scots over the highland. harlech, an old welsh town in merionethshire, facing the sea, m. n. of barmouth; its grim old castle by the shore was a lancastrian fortress during the wars of the roses, and its capture by the yorkists in was the occasion of the well-known song, "the march of the men of harlech." harlequin, a character in a christmas pantomime, in love with columbine, presumed to be invisible, and deft at tricks to frustrate those of the clown, who is his rival lover. harley, robert, earl of oxford, a celebrated english politician, born of good family; entered parliament shortly after the revolution ( ) as a whig, but after a period of vacillation threw in his lot with tories and in became speaker of the house; in he was associated with st. john (bolingbroke) in the cabinet as secretary of state, and set about undermining the influence of godolphin and marlborough; he became chancellor of the exchequer and head of the government; was created earl of oxford and lord high treasurer; from this point his power began to wane; was displaced by bolingbroke at last in ; was impeached for intriguing with the jacobites and sent to the tower; two years later he was released, and the remainder of his life was spent in the pursuit of letters and in the building up of his famous collection of mss., now deposited in the british museum ( - ). harmattan, a hot withering wind blowing over the coast of guinea to the atlantic from the interior of africa, more or less from december to february. harmodius, an athenian who in b.c. conspired with aristogeiton, his friend, against hipparchus and his brother hippias, the tyrant, but being betrayed were put to death; they figured in the traditions of athens as political martyrs, and as such were honoured with statues. harnack, adolf, a german theologian, born at dorpat; professor successively at giessen, marburg, and berlin; has written on the history of dogma in the christian church, on gnosticism, early christian literature, and the apostles' creed, on the latter offensively to the orthodox; b. . harold i., king of england from to , younger son of cnut; the kingdom was practically divided between him and his brother harthacnut; but the latter remaining in denmark to protect his possessions there, england passed into harold's hands. harold ii., the last of the saxon kings of england, held the crown for a few months in , was the second son of the great earl godwin (q. v.); in he succeeded his father in the earldom of the west saxons, and during the later years of edward's feeble rule was virtual administrator of the kingdom; on his accession to the throne his title was immediately challenged by his brother tostig, and william, duke of normandy; having crushed his brother's invasion at stamford bridge, he immediately hurried s. to meet the forces of william at hastings. norman strategy won the day, and harold fell in the battle pierced through the eye by an arrow; historians unite in ascribing to him every kingly quality--a noble presence, sagacity, and a brave yet gentle nature. harold i. of norway, surnamed _haarfager_ (fair-haired), by him the petty kingdoms of norway were all conquered and knit into one compact realm; the story goes that he undertook this work to win the hand of his lady-love, and that he swore an oath neither to cut nor comb his hair till his task was done; _d_. . haroun-al-raschid ("aaron the orthodox or just"), the most renowned of the abbaside caliphs; succeeded to the caliphate in on the death of his elder brother, el hádi, and had for grand-vizier the barmacide yâhyá, to whom with his four sons he committed the administration of affairs, he the while making his court a centre of attraction to wise men, scholars, and artists, so that under him bagdad became the capital of the civilised world; his glory was tarnished by one foul blot towards the end of his reign, and that was the massacre out of jealousy of the barmacide family, members of which had contributed so much to his fame, an act which he had soon occasion to repent, for it was followed by an insurrection which cost him his life; the halo that invests his memory otherwise was, however, more fabulous than real, and history shows him at his best to have been avaricious, resentful, and cruel. harpies, fabulous ravenous creatures, living in filth and defiling everything they touch, with the head and breast of a woman, the wings and claws of a bird, and a face pale with hunger, the personification of whirlwinds and storms, conceived of as merely ravening, wasting powers. harrington, james, political writer; author of a political romance entitled "the commonwealth of oceana," in which he argued that all secure government must be based on property, and for a democracy on this basis ( - ). harris, howel, a noted welsh methodist, born at trevecca, brecon; embracing calvinism, he at the age of became an itinerant preacher, confining himself chiefly to wales; in he took up his abode at trevecca, where he erected a large house to accommodate those who sought his ministrations ( - ). harris, joel chandler, american writer, born in georgia, u.s.; author of "uncle remus," his chief work a study of negro folk-lore, followed by interesting sketches and stories; _b_. . harris, luke, founder of the "brotherhood of the new life," born in buckinghamshire, a spiritualistic socialist; his system founded on swedenborgianism (q. v.) on the one hand and a form of communism on the other, with a scriptural christianity spiritualised as backbone; the destiny of man he regards as angelhood, or a state of existence like that of god, in which the unity of sex, or fatherhood and motherhood, meet in one; the late laurence oliphant and the late john pulsford were among his disciples; _b_. . harrisburg ( ), capital of pennsylvania, is beautifully situated on the susquehanna, m. nw. of philadelphia; the industries include extensive iron and steel works and a flourishing lumber trade. harrison, benjamin. president of the united states and grandson of william henry harrison, a former president, born at north bend, ohio; started as a lawyer in indianapolis, became an important functionary in the court of indiana, and subsequently proved himself a brave and efficient commander during the civil war; engaging actively in politics, he in became a united states senator; as the nominee of the protectionist and republican party he won the presidency against cleveland, but at the election of the positions were reversed; in he became a professor in san francisco; _b_. . harrison, frederic, barrister, born in london, professor of jurisprudence in the inns of court; author of articles contributed to reviews and essays, and of lectures on a variety of current questions, historical, social, and religious, from the standpoint of the positivism of auguste comte, with his somewhat vague "religion of humanity" is the author of "order and progress," the "choice of books," &c.; _b_. . harrison, john, a celebrated mechanician, born at foulby, yorkshire; was the first to invent a chronometer which, by its ingenious apparatus for compensating the disturbing effects caused by variations of climate, enabled mariners to determine longitude to within a distance of m.; by this invention he won a prize of £ , offered by government; amongst other things he invented the compensating _gridiron pendulum_, still in use ( - ). harrison, william, a noted historical writer, born in london; graduated at cambridge, and after serving as chaplain to lord cobham, received the rectorship of radwinter, in essex; subsequently he became canon of windsor; his fame rests on two celebrated historical works, "description of england," an invaluable picture of social life and institutions in elizabethan times, and "description of britain," written for holinshed's "chronicle" ( - ). harrogate or harrowgate ( ), a popular watering-place, prettily situated amid forest and moorland, in the west riding of yorkshire, m. nw. of york; it enjoys a wide repute for its sulphurous, saline, and chalybeate springs. harrow ( ), a town of middlesex, built on an eminence ft. high, m. from st. paul's, london; its church, st. mary's, founded by lanfranc, is a gothic structure of great architectural interest. harrow school, a celebrated public school, was founded in for the free education of poor boys of the parish, but subsequently opened its doors to "foreigners," and now numbers upwards of pupils. harry, blind, a famous scottish minstrel who flourished in the th century; the few particulars of his life which have come down to us represent him as a blind and vagrant poet, living by reciting poems "before princes and peers"; to him is attributed the celebrated poem, "the life of that noble champion of scotland, sir william wallace, knight," completed about , a spirited, if partly apocryphal, account of wallace, running to , lines in length. hart, solomon alexander, born at plymouth; served as an engraver's apprentice in london; studied at the royal academy, and excelled in miniature painting; he became celebrated as a painter of historical scenes and characters, and in was appointed professor of painting in the royal academy, and subsequently librarian; his works include "henry i. receiving intelligence of the death of his son," "milton visiting galileo in prison," "wolsey and buckingham," "lady jane grey in the tower," &c. ( - ). harte, bret, american humourist, born at albany, new york; went to california at ; tried various occupations, mining, school-mastering, printing, and literary sketching, when he got on the staff of a newspaper, and became eventually first editor of the _overland monthly_, in the columns of which he established his reputation as a humourist by the publication of the "heathen chinee" and other humorous productions, such as "the luck of roaring camp"; he wields a prolific pen, and all he writes is of his own original coinage; _b_. . hartford ( ), the capital of connecticut, u.s., on the connecticut, m. from its mouth and m. ne. of new york; is handsomely laid out, and contains an imposing white marble capitol, episcopalian and congregational colleges, hospitals, libraries, &c.; is an important depôt for the manufacture of firearms, iron-ware, tobacco, &c., and is an important banking and insurance centre. hartlepool ( ), a seaport of durham, situated on a tongue of land which forms the bay of hartlepool, m. n. of the tees estuary; the chief industries are shipbuilding, cement works, and a shipping trade, chiefly in coal and iron. west hartlepool ( ), lies on the opposite and south side of the bay, m. distant, but practically forming one town with hartlepool, and carries on a similar trade, but on a somewhat larger scale; the extensive docks, stretching between the two towns, cover an area of acres. hartley, david, an english philosopher and physician; wrote "observations on man, his frame, his duty, and his expectations"; ascribed sensation to vibration in the nerves, and applied the doctrine of the association of ideas to mental phenomena ( - ). hartmann, a german philosopher, born at berlin; established his fame by a work entitled the "philosophy of the unconscious," which rapidly passed through nine editions; he has since written on pessimism, the moral and the religious consciousness, the philosophy of the beautiful, and spiritualism; he is the founder of a new school of philosophy, which professes to be a synthesis of that of hegel and that of schopenhauer, and to aim at the reconciliation of philosophic results with scientific; _b_. . hartmann, moritz, a german poet; had a keen sympathy with the liberal political ideas that prevailed in , and which his poems contributed to foster, and on account of which he got into trouble ( - ). hartzenbusch, juan eugenio, spanish dramatist, born at madrid, of german extraction; was educated under the jesuits, but abandoned his intention of joining the church, took to literature, and was given a post in the national library at madrid; his dramas are fresh and vigorous, and enjoy a wide popularity; he rose to be director of the national library, and in was president of the theatrical council ( - ). harus`pices, among the romans, soothsayers who affected to foretell future events by the inspection of the entrails of animals offered in sacrifice, as well as by study of abnormal phenomena. harvard university, the oldest and premier educational institution in the united states, is located at cambridge, massachusetts, m. w. of boston; it is named after the rev. john harvard, a graduate of cambridge, who by the bequest of his library and small fortune helped to launch the institution in ; it was originally intended for the training of youths for the puritan ministry, but it has during the present century been extended into a university of the first rank, under emancipation from all sectarian control; it has a student roll of about , is splendidly equipped, and now richly endowed. harvest-moon, the full moon which in our latitude, at the autumnal equinox, rises for an evening or two about the same time. harvey, sir george, a scotch artist, born at st. ninians, stirling; was one of the original associates of the royal scottish academy, of which he at length became president; among his paintings are the "covenanters' preaching," "the curlers," and "john bunyan in jail" ( - ). harvey, william, a celebrated english physician, born at folkestone, in kent; graduated at cambridge, and in received his medical diploma at padua; settling in london, he in a few years became physician to st. bartholomew's hospital, and subsequently lecturer at the college of physicians; in he announced in a published treatise his discovery of the circulation of the blood; for many years he was court physician, and attended charles i. at the battle of edgehill ( - ). harwich ( ), a seaport and market town of essex; is situated on a headland on the s. side of the conjoined estuaries of the stour and the orwell, m. n. of the naze and m. ne. of london; it is an important packet station for holland, has a good harbour and docks, with an increasing commerce. harz mountains, a mountain range of n. germany, stretching for m. between the weser and the elbe to the s. of brunswick; it forms a picturesque and diversified highland, is a favourite resort of tourists, and rises to its greatest elevation in the far-famed _brocken_ (q. v.); the scene of the walpurgisnacht in "faust"; silver, iron, and other metals are found in considerable quantities, and, with the extensive forests, give rise to a prosperous mining and timber industry. hasdrubal, the name of several distinguished carthaginian generals, of whom the most noted were ( ), the son of hamilcar barca (q. v.) and brother of hannibal (q. v.); he played a prominent part in the second punic war, conquered cn. scipio in spain ( b.c.), and subsequently commanded the carthaginian army in italy; he fell at the battle of the metaurus in b.c.: ( ) the brother-in-law of hamilcar barca, whom he succeeded in b.c. as administrator of the new empire in the iberian peninsula; he pushed the western frontiers back to the tagus, and by his strong yet conciliatory government firmly established the carthaginian power; he was assassinated in b.c. hase, karl august, an eminent german theologian, born at steinbach, saxony, professor at jena; author of a "text-book of evangelical dogma," a "life of christ," a "church history," &c., was equally opposed to orthodoxy and rationalism, and sought to reconcile the creed of the church with the conclusions of science ( - ). hashish, an intoxicant made from indian hemp, having different effects on different individuals according to the dose and to the constitution of the individual. haslingden ( ), a busy market-town of lancashire, m. nw. of manchester; has flourishing cotton, silk, and woollen factories, and in the vicinity are coal-mines, iron-works, &c. hassan pasha, a turkish grand-vizier of african birth; twice reduced the beys of egypt; commanded, at the age of , the turkish forces against russia in , but being defeated, was dismissed and put to death in . hasselt ( ); a belgian town, capital of the province of limburg, m. ne. of brussels; distilling, and the manufacture of lace, linen, and tobacco are the staple industries. hastings ( ), a popular holiday and health resort in sussex; occupies a fine situation on the coast, with lofty cliffs behind, m. e. of brighton; has a splendid esplanade m. long, parks, public gardens, &c., and ruins of a castle. hastings, battle of, fought on th october , on senlac hill, m. nw. of hastings (where now stands the little town of battle), between william, duke of normandy and harold ii., king of england; victory rested with the normans, and harold was slain on the field. hastings, francis rawdon-hastings, marquis of, governor-general of india; entering the army in , he saw active service in the american war and in holland; succeeded his father in the earldom of moira; was in appointed to the governor-generalship of india; he was instrumental in extending the company's territories, and pacifying the warlike goorkhas, for which, in , he was created marquis of hastings; latterly he held the governorship of malta ( - ). hastings, warren, first governor-general of india, born at churchill, oxfordshire; early left an orphan, he was maintained at westminster school by his uncle, and at received a clerkship in the east india company; for years his life was occupied in mercantile and political work, at the close of which time he returned to england; in he was back in india as a member of the madras council; married the divorced wife of baron imhoff, and in was appointed president of the council in bengal; under the new arrangement for the governing of the provinces, hastings was raised to the position of governor-general in ; despite jealousies and misrepresentations both among his colleagues in india and the home authorities, he steadily, and with untiring energy, extended and brought into orderly government the british dominions; in he voluntarily resigned, and on his return he was impeached before the house of lords for oppression of the natives, and for conniving at the plunder of the begums or dowager-princesses of oudh; the trial brought forth the greatest orators of the day, burke, fox, and sheridan leading the impeachment, which, after dragging on for nearly eight years, resulted in the acquittal of hastings on all the charges; his fortune having been consumed by the enormous expenses of the trial, he was awarded a handsome pension by the company, and thereafter lived in honoured retirement ( - ). hatch, edwin, theologian, born at derby; graduated at oxford, and was for some years professor of classics in trinity college, toronto; in was appointed vice-principal of st. mary hall, oxford; rector of purleigh, essex, in ; reader in ecclesiastical history at oxford; he held the grinfield, bampton, and hibbert lectureships at different times, and established a reputation, both abroad and at home, for wide and accurate scholarship; harnack (q. v.) translated his learned lectures on "the organisation of the early christian churches"; and "the growth of church institutions" displayed his rare gift of combining profound scholarship with popular presentation ( - ). hatfield, or bishop's hatfield ( ), a market-town of hertfordshire, m. nw. of london; its parish church dates from the th century, and in the vicinity stands hatfield house, a noble architectural pile of james i.'s time, the seat of the marquis of salisbury. hatherley, baron, barrister, elected to represent oxford in parliament; in was solicitor-general, in raised to the bench, and in made lord chancellor; retired in from failing sight ( - ). hathras ( ), an important commercial town in the nw. provinces, india, m. se. of delhi; exports large quantities of sugar, grain, cotton, &c., and is famed for its beautiful carved stone-and-wood-work. hats and caps, the name of two political factions in sweden in the middle of the th century, the former favouring france and the latter russia. hatteras, cape, a low sandy headland of a small island separated from the mainland of n. carolina, u.s., by pimlico sound; it is a storm-swept and treacherous point, and is marked by a powerful light, ft. high. hatti-sheriff, a name given to an edict of the sultan which is irrevocable, though many a one of them has proved a dead letter. hatto, archbishop of mainz, of whom tradition alleges that he was assailed in his palace by an army of mice, to escape whose ravages he retired to a tower on the rhine, whither the mice followed him and ate him up, a judgment due, as is alleged, to his having, during a great famine in , gathered the poor into a barn and burnt them to death, as "like mice, good only for devouring corn," he said. hauberk, a coat or tunic of mail made of interwoven steel rings and extending below the knees. hauch, hans carsten, danish poet and novelist, born at frederikshald, in norway; in he became professor of northern literature at kiel, and four years later of Æsthetics at copenhagen; his historical tragedies, lyrics, tales, and romances are instinct with true poetic feeling, and are widely popular in denmark ( - ). hauff, wilhelm, a german prose writer, born in stuttgart, who died young; wrote "memoirs of satan" and "the man in the moon," and a number of charmingly told "tales," which have made his name famous among ourselves ( - ). haug, a german orientalist, professor of sanskrit at poona, and afterwards at münich; devoted himself to the exposition of the zendavesta ( - ). hauser, kaspar, a young man of about who mysteriously appeared in nürnberg one day in , was found to be as helpless and ignorant as a baby, and held a letter in his hand giving an account of his history. the mystery of his case interested lord stanhope, who charged himself with the care of him, but he was enticed out of the house he was boarded in one day, returned mortally wounded, and died soon after. haussa or houssa, a subject people of central soudan, whose language has become the common speech of some millions of people between the mediterranean and the gulf of guinea. the language is allied to the hamitic tongues, and is written in modified arabic characters. haussman, george eugÈne, a celebrated préfect of the seine, who, while holding that position ( - ), carried through extensive architectural improvements in paris, which transformed it into one of the handsomest cities of europe; the enormous cost entailed brought about his dismissal, but not before he had received many distinctions, and been ennobled by napoleon iii.; in he was elected to the chamber of deputies ( - ). haÜy, renÉ just, known as the abbé haüy, a french mineralogist, born at st. just; propounded the theory of crystallisation founded on geometrical principles; absorbed in study, was caught napping during the revolution; got consequently into trouble, but was extricated out of it by his friend and pupil, geoffrey st.-hilaire; was appointed professor of mineralogy by napoleon ( - ). havana ( ), fortified capital of the island of cuba, in the west indies; has a spacious and securely sheltered harbour, an old spanish cathedral, a university, botanical garden, and several fine theatres; the town is ill laid out, badly drained, and subject to yellow fever; the staple industries are the raising of tobacco and sugar, and the manufacture of cigars. havel, an important tributary of the lower elbe, which it joins a few miles from wittenberg; it rises in mecklenburg, and takes a circuitous course past potsdam of m. havelock, sir henry, british general, born at bishop wearmouth; entered the army in , and embarked in the service for india in ; served in the afghan and sikh wars, as also in persia; on the outbreak of the mutiny he was in sent to the relief of cawnpore and lucknow, the latter of which places he entered on th sept., where, being beleagured, he entrenched himself in the residency, and held his own until november, when sir colin campbell came to his relief, but his health had been undermined from his anxieties, and he died on the nd of that month; for his services on this occasion a baronetcy and a pension of £ was conferred on him, but it was too late, and the honour with the pension was transferred to his son; he was a christian soldier, and a commander of the puritan type ( - ). haverfordwest ( ), seaport and capital of pembroke, wales, prettily situated on the cleddan, m. ne. of milford; has a th-century castle and a ruined priory; the chief industry is paper-making. havergal, frances ridley, a hymn-writer, born at astley, where her father, known as a musical composer, was rector; was authoress of "ministry of song," and collections which have been highly popular ( - ). haversian canals, canals in the bones to convey the vessels that nourish them. havre, le ( ), the second commercial port in france, on the n. side of the seine estuary, m. nw. of paris, in the dep. of seine-inférieure; has a fine harbour, docks, &c., but shipping is incommoded by the shifting sandbanks of the estuary, and railway facilities are poor; it is an important centre of emigration, and its industries embrace shipbuilding, iron-works, flour-mills, &c. hawaiian islands (named by cook the sandwich islands) ( ), a group of volcanic islands, in number, situated in the north pacific; total area somewhat larger than yorkshire. of the five inhabited islands hawaii is the largest; it contains the famous volcano, kilauea, whose crater is one of the world's wonders, being m. in circumference, and filled with a glowing lake of molten lava which ebbs and flows like an ocean tide. the island of maui has the largest crater on the earth. the climate of the group is excellent, and vegetation (including forests) is abundant; sugar and rice are the chief crops. honolulu (on oahu), with a splendid harbour, is the capital. the islands are now under the jurisdiction of the united states. hawarden, a town m. w. of chester, near which is hawarden castle, where mr. gladstone resided and died. haweis, hugh reginald, english churchman, born at egham, surrey, incumbent of st. james's, marylebone; was present in italy during the revolution there, and at several of the battles; is popular as a preacher and lecturer, and has written a number of works on the times, on music, christ and christianity, &c.; _b_. . hawes, stephen, an english poet; held a post in the household of henry vii.; author of an allegorical poem on the right education of a knight, entitled "the pastime of pleasure"; _d_. _d_. . hawick ( ), a prosperous and ancient town of roxburghshire, at the confluence of the teviot and slitrig, m. se. of edinburgh; is a flourishing centre of the tweed, yarn, and hosiery trade, and has besides dye-works, tanneries, &c. hawk-eye state, iowa, u.s., so called from the name of an indian chief once a terror in those parts. hawke, lord, an english admiral, born in london; entered the navy at an early age in ; defeated a french fleet off finisterre and captured six ships of the line in ; defeated admiral conflans off belleisle; was made a peer in ; _d_. . hawker, robert stephen, a cornish clergyman and poet; was vicar for years of morwenstow, a parish on the n. cornwall coast; author of "cornish ballads"; was a humane man, of eccentric ways, and passionately fond of animals; was the author of several works besides his ballads, in particular "echoes from old cornwall" and "footprints of former men in far cornwall" ( - ). hawkesworth, john, a miscellaneous writer; wrote a book of "voyages," an account of the first voyage of captain cook; was a friend of johnson's, and associated with him in literary work ( - ). hawkins, sir john, an english navigator and admiral, born at plymouth; was rear-admiral of the fleet sent against the armada and contributed to its defeat; has the unenviable distinction of having been the first englishman to traffic in slaves, which he carried off from africa and imported into the west indies ( - ). hawkins, sir john, retired attorney, born in london; wrote a "history of music," and edited walton's "complete angler" with notes ( - ). hawkwood, sir john, an english captain, born in essex; embracing the profession of arms, served with distinction at crécy and poitiers, and was in consequence knighted by edward iii.; afterwards fought as free-lance with his white company in the wars of italy, and finally in the service of florence, where he spent his last days and died in . for an account of his character, military ability, and manner of warfare, see ruskin's "fors clavigera." haworth ( ), a village of yorkshire, situated on a rising moorland in the w. biding, m. sw. of keighley, memorable as the lifelong home of the brontës, and their final resting-place. hawthorne, nathaniel, american novelist, born at salem, massachusetts; his early ambition was to be a literary man, and "twice-told tales" was the first production by which he won distinction, after the publication of which he spent some months at brook farm (q. v.), leaving which he married and took up house at concord; from to he held a state appointment, and in his leisure hours wrote his "scarlet letter," which appeared in the latter year, and established his fame as a master of literature; this was followed by "the house of the seven gables," "the snow image," "the blithedale romance," and by-and-by "the marble faun," and "our old home" ( - ). haydn, joseph, german composer, born at rohrau, in austria, of poor parents; early evinced a musical talent, and became at the age of eight a cathedral chorister; came into notice first as a street musician; soon became a popular music-master in vienna, and, under the patronage of the esterhazys, kapellmeister to prince nicolaus, a passionate lover of music; he produced operas, symphonies, and oratorios, &c.; he is at his best in quartettes and symphonies, and in "the creation" and "the seasons"; he was a man of a happy disposition, and his character appears in his music; he was known at length as father haydn ( - ). haydon, benjamin robert, an english historical painter, born at plymouth; studied at the royal academy, and in exhibited "joseph and mary resting on the road to egypt"; two years later occurred his memorable split with the royal academy over a supposed slight to his picture, "dentatus"; "christ's entry into jerusalem" brought him £ by exhibition, and his "judgment of solomon," considered his finest work, sold for guineas; despite large sums obtained for "the mock election," "the reform banquet," &c., he was continually in debt, and his high-strung, sensitive temperament, smarting under imaginary slights and weary of unrealised ambitions, led him to commit suicide by shooting himself in his studio; he was an artist of great but unequal genius; he was fascinated with the elgin marbles, and the admiration he expressed for them contributed to persuade the government to purchase them ( - ). hayes, isaac israel, arctic explorer, born in pennsylvania; after graduating in medicine, joined the kane expedition in search of franklin in , and subsequently made two other voyages to the arctic regions, accounts of which are given in his "an arctic boat-journey," "the land of desolation," &c.; subsequently he served as a surgeon during the civil war, and sat in the new york assembly ( - ). hayes, rutherford birchard, president of the united states, born at delaware, ohio; graduated at kenyon college, ohio; studied law at harvard, and started practice at cincinnati; he served with distinction through the civil war, entered congress in , and was thrice governor of ohio; in he was elected president in the republican interest after a protracted and bitterly disputed election; he did much to pacify the south, reform the civil service, advance education, and to bring about resumption of specie payments, measures which greatly restored the prosperity of the country ( - ). hay-fever, a sort of catarrh, accompanied with paroxysms of sneezing, irritation in the eyes, pains in the head, &c., most frequent in early summer. hayley, william, poet, the friend and biographer of cowper; wrote "triumphs of temper," a poem ( - ). haym, rudolf, professor of philosophy at halle; wrote biographies of hegel, w. von humboldt, and schopenhauer; _b_. . haynau, julius jakob, baron von, a notorious austrian general, born at cassel, germany; entered the army in , and while holding a command during the italian campaigns of - , crushed the revolt at brescia with such brutal ferocity as to gain him the name of the "hyæna of brescia"; he was for a time dictator of hungary, but his murderous cruelty towards the subjugate people became a european scandal and led to his removal; in london he was mobbed and narrowly escaped with his life ( - ). hayti (hispaniola or santo domingo), next to cuba the largest of the w. indian islands, in the group of the greater antilles, lies midway between cuba on the w. and porto rico on the e.; its area, somewhat larger than scotland, is apportioned between the negro republic of hayti in the e. and the mulatto dominican republic in the w.; the island is mountainous, and forests of valuable timber abound; a warm, moist climate favours rice, cotton, &c., and minerals are plentiful; but during this century, under native government, the island has been retrogressive; agriculture and mining are practically at a standstill, while the natives seem incapable of self-government; the language spoken is a corrupt french; port-au-prince and san domingo are the chief towns; discovered in by columbus, the island was soon denuded of its aboriginals, then peopled by imported negroes, joined latterly by french buccaneers; in the island was ceded to france, but in , under toussaint l'ouverture (q. v.), the blacks, after a bloody revolution, swept the island clear of europeans; population of island somewhat over a million. hayward, abraham, english essayist; bred to law, but took to literature; executed a prose translation of "faust," pt. i. ( - ). hazlitt, william, critic and essayist, born in maidstone, of irish descent; began life as an artist, but abandoned art for letters, and contributed to the reviews; wrote on the english poets and dramatists, the "characters of shakespeare's plays," "the spirit of the age," a "life of napoleon," &c.; criticism was his _forte_, and he ranks among the foremost devoted to that art; his life was not well regulated, his health gave way, and he died in poverty ( - ). head, sir edmund walker, bart., writer on art, born near maidstone, kent, succeeded to the baronetcy in ; became lieutenant-governor of new brunswick in , and governor-general of canada in ; wrote "handbook of spanish painting," also "french art," and some poems ( - ). head, sir francis bond, soldier and author; governor of upper canada; suppressed an insurrection; wrote a "life of bruce the african traveller," "bubbles from the brunnen of nassau," "a faggot of french sticks," &c. ( - ). head-hunters, name given to the dyaks of borneo, from their habit of preserving in the way of trophy the heads of those whom they slay in battle, as the red indians did the scalps. headrigg, cuddie (i. e. cuthbert), a ploughman in "old mortality." healy, timothy michael, irish nationalist, born at bantry, cork; came into prominence during the land league agitation in , and in the same year was returned to parliament; was called to the irish bar in , and has since been active in promoting the interests of the home rule movement; in he was one of the leaders in the revolt against parnell; _b_. . hearne, thomas, a noted english antiquary, born in white waltham, berks; graduated at oxford in , and subsequently became second keeper of the bodleian library; his compilations and editions of old english texts, e. g. camden's "annals," robert of gloucester's "chronicle," display wide and ingenious scholarship; he figures in pope's "dunciad" ( - ). heart of midlothian, the old tolbooth or jail of edinburgh, the capital of midlothian, which gives name to one of scott's best novels. heathenism, as defined by carlyle, "plurality of gods, mere sensuous representation of the mystery of life, and for chief recognised element therein physical force, as contrasted with christianism, or faith in an invisible, not as real only, but as the only reality; time, through every meanest moment of it, resting on eternity; pagan empire of force displaced by a nobler supremacy, that of holiness." heathfield, george augustus eliott, lord, a gallant general, the defender of gibraltar, son of sir gilbert eliott, born at stobs, in roxburghshire; saw service first in the war of the austrian succession, fighting at dettingen and fontenoy; as a colonel he fought with english troops in alliance with frederick the great against austria; for his heroic defence of gibraltar ( - ) against the combined forces of france and spain he was raised to the peerage as baron of gibraltar ( - ). heaven, in christian theology the place of the immediate divine presence, where god manifests himself without veil, and his saints enjoy that presence and know as they are known. in scripture it denotes, ( ) the atmosphere, ( ) the starry region, ( ) a state of bliss, ( ) as defined, the divine presence, and ( ) god himself. heave-offering, among the jews, an offering for the support of divine service, so called as, when offered, lifted up in presence of the people. hebbel, friedrich, lyrist and dramatist, born at weselburen, ditmarsh; settled in vienna in ; "die nibelungen" is his best play, others are "judith," "maria magdalena," &c.; his dramas are vigorous and original, but ill-proportioned, and in the passions they depict abnormal; his works are collected in vols. ( - ). hebe, goddess of eternal youth, daughter of zeus and hera; was the cup-bearer of the gods; was superseded by ganymedes, and became the wife of hercules after his admission among the immortals. heber, reginald, bishop of calcutta, born in cheshire, author of a prize poem entitled "palestine" and a volume of "hymns," several of them famous; died at his post in trichinopoly; left a narrative of a "journey through india" ( - ). hÉbert, jacques renÉ, commonly called per duchesne as editor of a journal of that name, a violent revolutionary organ; took part in the september massacres; brutally insulted the queen at her trial, to the disgust of robespierre; was arrested by his colleagues, whom he dared to oppose, and guillotined, his widow found weeping, following him to his doom ( - ). hebrew, a semitic language, the ancient language of the jews, and that in which the old testament is written, the words of which, as indeed of others of the same stock, are derived from triliteral roots, and the verb in which has no present tense, only a past and a future, convertible, moreover, into one another. hebrew poetry is of two kinds, either lyric or gnomic, i. e. subjectively emotional or sententiously didactic, the former belonging to the active or stirring, and the latter to the reflective or quiet, periods of hebrew history, and whether expressed in lyric or gnome rises in the conscience and terminates in action; for hebrew thought needs to go no higher, since therein it finds and affirms god; and it seeks to go no farther, for therein it compasses all being, and requires no epic and no drama to work out its destiny. however individualistic in feature, as working through the conscience, it yet relates itself to the whole moral world, and however it may express itself, it beats in accord with the pulse of eternity. the lyric expression of the hebrew temper we find in the psalms and the lamentations of jeremiah, and the gnomic in the books of proverbs and ecclesiastes, while the book of job, which is only dramatic in form, is partly lyric and partly dramatic. hebrew prophecy had throughout regard for the jews as a nation and to see that it fulfilled its destiny as such in the world. this purpose we see carried out by five steps or stages. it taught, first, by the nebiim (q. v.), that the nation must regard itself as one nation; secondly, by elijah, that it must have jehovah alone for its god; thirdly, by amos, that as a nation it was not necessarily god's chosen; fourthly, by isaiah, that it existed for the preservation of a holy seed; and finally, that it ceased to exist when it was felt that religion primarily concerned the individual and was wholly an affair of the conscience. thus does hebrew prophecy terminate when it leads up to christianity, the first requirement of which is a regeneration of the heart (john iii. ), and the great promise of which is the outpouring of a spirit that "will guide into all truth" (john xvi. ). hebrews, epistle to the, an epistle of the new testament of uncertain authorship addressed to christians of jewish descent, who were strongly tempted, by the persecution they were subjected to at the hands of their jewish brethren, to renounce the cross of christ, which it was feared they would too readily do, and so to their own ruin crucify the son of god afresh, there being only this alternative for them, either crucifixion _with_ christ or crucifixion _of_ christ, and death of all their hopes founded on him. hebrides, or western islands, a general name for the islands on the west coast of scotland (save the islands of the firth of clyde), about in number, of which are inhabited; they belong to the counties of ross, inverness, and argyll, and are divided by the little minch and the minch into the outer hebrides, of which the chief are lewis, harris, north and south uist, benbecula, &c.; and the inner hebrides, including skye, rum, mull, iona, staffa, &c.; they have wild and rocky coasts, but are picturesque and verdurous, and are much frequented by tourists; the climate is mild and moist; cattle and sheep rearing and fishing are the chief industries. hebron, an ancient town and city of refuge, originally called kirjath-arba, i. e. four cities, only m. s. of jerusalem; it is a poor place now, but still abounds in orchards and vineyards. hecatÆus of miletus, styled the "logographer," who flourished about b.c.; visited many countries, and wrote two books, "the tour of the world" and "genealogies or histories," the former containing descriptions of the places he visited, and the latter an account of the poetical fables and traditions of the greeks. hecate, in the greek mythology a mysterious divinity of the titan brood and held in honour by all the gods, identified with phoebe in heaven, artemis on earth, and persephone in hades, as being invested with authority in all three regions; came to be regarded exclusively as an infernal deity, having under her command and at her beck all manner of demons and phantom spirits. hecker, friedrich karl franz, a german revolutionary, born at eichtersheim, baden; practised as an advocate in mannheim, and in became an active democrat and socialist; frustrated in an attempt during the ' revolution to create a republican assembly, he headed a revolutionary attack upon baden, was defeated, and subsequently settled in the united states, where he took to farming; took part in the civil war at the head of a regiment of germans, and became a commander of a brigade ( - ). hecker, justus friedrich karl, author of a great work on the "epidemics of the middle ages"; was a professor of medicine at berlin ( - ). heckmondwike ( ), a market-town in yorkshire, m. ne. of huddersfield; is the principal seat of the carpet and blanket manufactures in the west riding. hecla or hekla, the loftiest of active volcanoes in iceland ( ft.); is an isolated peak with five craters, m. e. of reykjavik; its most violent outbreak in recent times continued from to ; its last eruption was in march . hectic fever, a fever connected with consumption, and showing itself by a bright pink flush on the cheeks. hector, the chief hero of troy in the war with the greeks, the son of priam and hecuba; fought with the bravest of the enemy and finally slew patroclus, the friend of achilles (q. v.), which roused the latter from his long lethargy to challenge him to fight; achilles chased him three times round the city, pierced him with his spear, and dragged his dead body after his chariot round ilium; his body was at the command of zeus delivered up to priam and buried with great pomp within the city walls. hecuba, the wife of priam, king of troy; distinguished both as a wife and a mother; on the fall of the city she fell into the hands of the greeks, and, according to one tradition, was made a slave, and, according to another, threw herself in despair into the sea. hedonism, the doctrine of the cyrenaics that pleasure is the end of life, and the measure of virtue, or the _summum bonum_. heem, jan davidsz van, a famous dutch painter, born at utrecht; had a prosperous and uneventful career in antwerp, where in he became a member of the guild of painters; he is considered the greatest of the "still life" painters; his pictures, masterpieces of colouring and chiaroscuro, have a great monetary value, and are to be found in the famous galleries of amsterdam, vienna, berlin, st. petersburg, &c. ( - ). heeren, ludwig, a german historian; professor of history at göttingen; wrote on ancient and modern history, specially the ancient and its antiquities; eminent in both ( - ). hefele, karl joseph von, a catholic church historian, born at unterkochen, in würtemberg; in became professor of church history and christian archæology in the catholic theological faculty in tübingen university, and in bishop of rottenburg; was for some time zealously opposed to the doctrine of the papal infallibility, but subsequently acquiesced, putting, however, his own construction on it; his best-known works are the "history of the christian councils" and "contributions to church history" ( - ). hegel, georg wilhelm friedrich, german philosopher, the greatest of all, born in stuttgart; studied first at tübingen, with a view to theology; as a student attracted no particular attention, was outstript by schelling; did domestic tutoring for a time; qualified at jena for an academic career; adhered to and collaborated with schelling in philosophy; first announced himself in by his work, "phenomenology of the spirit"; became rector of the academy at nürnberg, where in - he composed his "logic"; was in appointed professor of philosophy at heidelberg, whence he was removed to berlin in , where, his philosophy being now matured, he began to apply it with intense earnestness to every subject of human interest; he was the last of a line of thinkers beginning with kant, with whom, however, he affiliated directly, and in his idealism philosophy first reached the goal which it was till then with hesitating steps only stretching forward to; his works fill goodly sized volumes, and his system may be grouped under three heads, the "science of logic," the "philosophy of nature," and the "philosophy of spirit" ( - ). hegelianism, the philosophy of hegel, which resolves being into thought, and thought into the unity of the logical moments of simple apprehension, judgment, and reason, all purely spiritual acts, whereby being in itself, or _seyn_, becomes other than itself, or _daseyn_, and returns into itself, or _für sich seyn_, the universal being first by separating from itself particularised, and then by return into itself individualised, the whole being what hegel characterises as _der process des geistes_, "the process of the spirit." something like this is what dr. stirling calls "the secret of hegel," and an open secret it is, for he finds it pervading the whole system; "open where you will in hegel," he says, "you find him always engaged in saying pretty well the same thing"; always identity by otherness passing into selfness, or making that _for_ itself which is at first _in_ itself;--a philosophy which is anticipated by the doctrine of st. paul, which represents god as the one _from_ whom are all things as father, and _through_ whom are all things as son, and _to_ whom are all things as spirit, the one who is thus all; it is also involved in the doctrine of christ when he says god is spirit, or the living one who lives, and manifests himself in life, for himself, from himself, and through himself, who, so to say, thus concretes himself throughout the universe. hege`sias, a cyrenaic philosopher, who held that life was full of evils, that it was in vain to seek after pleasure, and that all a wise man could do was to fortify himself as best he could against pain. hegesippus, a church historian of the nd century, a convert from judaism; only fragments of his "memoirs of ecclesiastical affairs" remain. heidelberg ( ), a celebrated german city, in baden, situated amid beautiful surroundings, on the neckar, m. se. of mannheim; has many interesting buildings, including ruins of a splendid th-century castle, but is chiefly celebrated for its flourishing university (student roll, ; professors, ; library, , ), whose professoriate has included many of the most distinguished german scholars; it was long the centre of calvinism; its chief trade is in books, tobacco, wine, and beer. heijn, or heyn, peter petersen, a famous dutch admiral, born at delftshaven; from being a cabin-boy rose to be commander of the dutch fleet; off the east coast of s. america he twice defeated the spanish fleet, securing an immense booty, and in captured a flotilla of spanish galleons with silver and jewels equal to , , dutch guilders; fell in an action off dunkirk ( - ). heilbronn ( ), a quaint old town of würtemberg, on the neckar, m. n. of stuttgart; has a fine th-century gothic church, and the thief's tower (diebsthurm); is associated with the captivity of goetz von berlichingen (q. v.); it is now a busy commercial centre, and manufactures silverware, paper, beet-sugar, chemicals, &c. heilsbronn, a bavarian market-town, m. sw. of nüremberg; is celebrated for its cistercian monastery, now suppressed, but whose church still contains monuments and art relics of great historic interest. heine, heinrich, a german lyric poet, born at düsseldorf, of jewish parents; was bred to law, but devoted himself to literature, and mingled with literary people, and associated in particular with the varnhagen von ense circle; first became notable by the publication of his "reisebilder" and his "buch der lieder," the appearance of which created a wide-spread enthusiasm in germany in he abandoned the jewish faith and professed the christian, but the creed he adopted was that of a sceptic, and he indulged in a cynicism that outraged all propriety, and even common decency; in he quitted germany and settled in paris, and there a few years afterwards married a rich lady, who alleviated the sufferings of his last years; an attack of paralysis in left him only one eye, and in the following year he lost the other, but under these privations and much bodily pain he bore up with a singular fortitude, and continued his literary labours to the last; in his songs he was at his best, and by these alone it is believed he will be chiefly remembered ( - ). heineccius, johann gottlieb, a celebrated german jurist, born at eisenberg; was successively professor of philosophy and subsequently of law at several universities of germany; he wrote several learned works in law treated from a philosophical standpoint; mention may be made of his "historia juris civilis romani" and "elementa juris naturæ gentium" ( - ). heinsius, anthony, a noted dutch statesman, born at delft; became grand pensionary of holland; was the intimate friend and correspondent of william iii. of england, who left the guidance of dutch affairs largely in his hands ( - ). heir apparent, one whose right of succession is sure if he survive the present holder. heir presumptive, one whose right of succession is sure if not barred by the birth of one nearer. hejaz, el, the holy land of the moslems, a district of arabia felix, and so called by containing the sacred cities of mecca and medina. hejira or hejra (arabic, "going away"), a word applied to mahomet's flight from mecca to medina in a.d. ; calif omar, years later, adopted this date as the starting-point of a new mohammedan calendar. hel or hela, in scandinavian mythology an inexorable divinity, the death-goddess who presides over the icy realm of the dead; her maw was insatiable and her heart pitiless. heldenbuch, a collection of german heroic poems relating heroic deeds and events connected with the inroads of the barbarians on the empire. helder, the ( ), a strongly fortified and flourishing seaport in north holland, on the marsdiep, at the n. end of the north holland canal, m. nw. of amsterdam; is an important naval centre, and has an excellent harbour. helen, the daughter of zeus and leda, and the wife of menelaus, king of sparta; the most beautiful of women, who was carried off to troy by paris, to revenge whose abduction the princes of greece, who had pledged themselves to protect her, made war on troy, a war which lasted ten years. helena, st., the mother of constantine the great; is said to have visited jerusalem and discovered the holy sepulchre and the cross on which christ was crucified; _d_. , at the age of . festival, aug. . there are several other saints of the same name. helensburgh ( ), a pleasantly situated watering-place in dumbarton, on the firth of clyde, at the entrance of the gareloch, m. n. of greenock. helenus, a son of priam and hecuba, celebrated for his prophetic foresight; is said to have deserted his countrymen and joined the greeks. heliand, an old saxon poem of the th century, of great philological value, but of no great literary merit; deals with the life and work of christ; of the two extant mss. one is in the british museum. helicon, a mountain in boeotia, greece, sacred to apollo and the muses; famous for the fountains on its slopes dedicated to the latter. heligoland ( , but rising to in summer), an islet of the north sea, m. from the mouths of the elbe and the weser; german since ; consists of the _oberland_, a plateau, with some houses, and the _unterland_ on the shore, ft. beneath, with a group of dwellings. in the summer it is crowded with visitors, bathing being the chief attraction; fishing is the staple industry of the native frisians. heliodorus, the most noted and earliest of the greek romancists, born at emesa, syria; flourished in the second half of the rd century a.d.; his romance "Æthiopica" is a love tale of great beauty and told with naïve simplicity; has had considerable influence over subsequent romance writers, e. g. tasso. helioga`balus, a roman emperor; invested, while yet a youth, with the imperial purple by the army in ; ruled with a show of moderation at first, but soon gave way to every manner of excess; was after four years put to death by the prætorian guard, and his body thrown into the tiber. heliography, a method of signalling from distant points by means of the sun's rays flashed from mirrors; messages can in this manner be transmitted a distance of m.; it has been found of great practical value in military operations. heliopolis (i. e. city of the sun), in egyptian _on_, one of the oldest and most sacred cities of egypt; was situated about m. n. of cairo, on the eastmost branch of the nile; it was the centre of egyptian learning; solon and plato are said to have studied there, and potiphar was one of its chief priests; the famous obelisk pharaoh's needle stands near; and cleopatra's needle, now on the thames embankment, was originally of this city. also the name of baalbec. helios, the god of the sun, mistakenly identified with apollo, but of an older dynasty, was the brother of selene (q. v.) and eos (q. v.); a god of the brood of the titans (q. v.), and the source of light to both gods and men; he rises from the bosom of okeanos (q. v.) in the morning, and loses himself in his dark abyss every evening. heliotrope or bloodstone, a variety of quartz (chalcedony or jasper) of a deep green colour, with bright red spots. the finest specimens, which come from south asia, are of fairly translucent chalcedony; those of jasper are opaque; they are used as seals, ring-stones, &c. hell fire, the infinite terror to a true man, the infinite misery which he never fails to realise must befall him if he come short in his loyalty to truth and duty. hell gate or hurl gate, a narrow pass in the east river, between the city of new york and long island; at one time its hidden shoals and swift narrow current were dangerous to ships, but extensive blasting operations, completed in , have greatly widened and cleared the pass. hellas, the name of the abode of the ancient greeks, and of greater extent than greece proper. helle, a maiden who, with her brother phrixus, fled on the golden-fleeced ram to escape from the cruelty of her step-dame ino, and fell into the strait called the hellespont after her, in which she was drowned. see golden fleece. hellenists, originally jews who would fain have seen jewish thought and life more or less transformed in spirit as well as fashion after a greek pattern; eventually those who by contact with greek civilisation became grecianised, and were open to learn as much from the civilisation of the greeks as was consistent with the maintenance in their integrity of the principles of their own religion. heller, stephen, a distinguished pianist and composer, born at pesth; made his _début_ at nine, and by had won a reputation throughout the great cities of europe; in he settled in paris, and gave himself to teaching and composition; he ranks beside chopin as a master of technique; his works are almost entirely pianoforte pieces ( - ). helmholtz, hermann von, an eminent german scientist, born at potsdam, brandenburg; was first an army doctor, and in became professor of physiology in königsberg, and subsequently in bonn and heidelberg; in he became professor of physics in berlin; was ennobled, and in nominated head of the charlottenburg institute; to physiology he made contributions of great value on the various sense-organs, and to physics on the conservation of energy; but his most original work was done in connection with acoustics in its relation to optics; his published works include "theory of sound sensations'" and "sensations of tone as a physiological basis for the theory of music" ( - ). helmont, jean baptist van, a celebrated german chemist, the father of chemistry, born at brussels; his early years were divided between the study of medicine and the practice of a religious mysticism; the works of paracelsus stimulated his interest in chemistry and physics, and having married a noble brabant lady, he settled down on the family estate near vilvorde, where he devoted himself to scientific research; mixed up a good deal of mysticism and alchemy with his scientific discoveries, and made a special study of gases; he was the first to prove the indestructibility of matter in chemical changes by utilising the balance in analysis; he invented the word gas, first used the melting-point of ice and the boiling-point of water as limits of a thermometric scale, and his physiological speculations led him to regard the stomach as the seat of the soul! ( - ). heloÏse, niece of canon fulbert, born at paris; celebrated for her amour with abelard (q. v.); became prioress of the convent of argenteuil and abbess of the paraclete, where she founded a new convent and lived a pious life ( - ). heloÏse, nouvelle, a romance by rousseau. helots, slaves who formed the lowest grade of the population of sparta, were descendants of the original inhabitants of laconia, or prisoners of war; they were slaves belonging to the state, from the state alone could they receive manumission; they were employed as tillers of the ground, waited at meals, filled various menial offices for private individuals, and were treated with the utmost harshness; were whipped annually to remind them of their servile position; slaughtered when their numbers increased too much, and were forced to exhibit themselves under intoxication as a warning to the spartan youth. helps, sir arthur, essayist and historian, born in surrey; for a time held official posts in connection with the government of the day, and finally that of clerk to the privy council, in which capacity he was brought into connection with the queen, which led to his being appointed editor of the "principal speeches and addresses of the late prince consort" and her majesty's "leaves from a journal of our life in the highlands"; he is the author of "friends in council," published one series in and a second in , which dealt with a variety of subjects, and was, along with "companions of my solitude," very popular; he did also plays and romances as well as historical sketches ( - ). helsingfors ( ), a strongly fortified seaport and capital of finland, is in a commanding position placed on a rocky peninsula in the gulf of finland, m. w. of st. petersburg; the numerous islands and islets at the entrance of the harbour are strongly fortified; the town is handsomely laid out, and has a flourishing university (student roll, ), and does a good baltic trade. helst, bartholomÆus van der, one of the greatest of the dutch portrait-painters, born at haarlem, but spent his life in amsterdam; he enjoyed a great reputation in his day, and many of his pictures are to be found in european galleries; his "muster of the burgher guard" was considered by sir joshua reynolds to be "the first picture of portraits in the world" ( - ). helvellyn, one of the cumberland mountains, ft. high, rises at the side of ulleswater, midway between keswick and ambleside. helvetii, a celtic people mentioned by cæsar as occupying territory in central europe now embraced in switzerland; they suffered tremendous slaughter at the hands of cæsar when endeavouring to make their way to a wider territory in southern gaul. helvÉtius, a french philosophe, born in paris, of swiss origin; author of a book entitled "de l'esprit," which was condemned by the parlement of paris for views advocated in it that were considered derogatory to the dignity of man, and which exposed him to much bitter hostility, especially at the hands of the priests; man he reduced to a mere animal, made self-love the only motive of his actions, and the satisfaction of our sensuous desires the principle of morals, notwithstanding which he was a man of estimable character and of kindly disposition ( - ). hemans, felicia dorothea, _née_ browne, poetess, born in liverpool; her marriage was an unhappy one, and after the birth of five children ended in permanent separation; she was the authoress of a number of works, a complete edition of which occupies vols., the best of her productions being lyrics; and she enjoyed the friendship of wordsworth, scott, and other literary celebrities of the time ( - ). hÉnault, french historian, born in paris, president of the parlement of paris; was author of "abrégé chronologique de l'histoire de france" ( - ). hemel hempstead ( ), a busy market-town in herts, m. nw. of london; noted for its straw-plaiting, and has paper-mills, foundries, &c. hems or homs ( ), a noted syrian city known to the romans as emesa, on the orontes, m. ne. of tripoli; here stood in ancient times a famous temple of the sun, one of whose priests, heliogabalus (q. v.), became roman emperor ( ); the crusaders captured it from the saracens in ; it does a good trade in oil, cotton, silk, &c. hemsterhuis, dutch philologist, born at gröningen; was professor of greek at leyden; one of the greatest grecians of his day; had for pupils ruhnken and valckenaer, and edited a number of classical works ( - ). henderson, alexander, a celebrated scotch divine; became professor of rhetoric and philosophy in st. andrews, and subsequently held the living of leuchars, in fife; he actively espoused the cause of the covenanters, and became a prominent leader in negotiations with the king; in he drafted the "solemn league and covenant" which passed into force, and he was one of scotland's representatives to the assembly of divines at westminster ( - ). henderson, thomas, astronomer, born at dundee, astronomer first at the cape and then astronomer-royal for scotland, calculated the distance of the nearest fixed star [greek: alpha] centauri and found it nearly billions of miles from the sun. hengist and horsa, two saxon brothers who came over to assist vortigern against the picts, and were rewarded by a gift of thanet, though they were afterwards defeated by vortigern and the latter slain. hengstenberg, a german theologian, born in westphalia; was editor of the _evangelische kirchenzeitung_, and the valiant unwearied assailant of rationalism in its treatment of the scriptures and the old orthodox faith; his principal works bear on old testament literature, such as its christology and the psalms, as well as on the new, such as st. john's gospel and the apocalypse ( - ). henley, william ernest, poet and critic, author of a "book of verses" and "song of the sword," in which he reveals superior powers as a poet, and of a volume entitled "views and reviews," in which he evinces discriminative criticism of the highest order; he has edited, along with t. f. henderson, in a workmanlike style, the "centenary edition of the poetry of burns," accompanied it with a "life of the poet," and a characterisation somewhat damping to the prevailing enthusiasm in connection with the poet; _b_. . henley-on-thames ( ), a borough of oxfordshire, on the thames, near the chiltern hills, m. w. of london; the river is spanned here by a fine five-arch bridge, and the annual amateur regatta is a noted social event; malting and brewing are the chief industries. henotheism, a polytheism which assigns to one god of the pantheon superiority over the rest. henrietta maria, wife of charles i., born at the louvre; daughter of henry iv. of france and of marie de medicis; a beautiful and able woman, much beloved, and deservedly so, by her husband, but from her bigotry as a roman catholic disliked and distrusted by the nation, not without good reason; by her imprudent conduct she embroiled matters more seriously than they were; menaced with impeachment by the commons, had to flee the country; returned, indeed, with a supply of money and ammunition "purchased by crown jewels," but in was obliged to seek refuge again in france; revisited the country for a short time after the restoration, and died near paris at her retreat there ( - ). henrietta maria, daughter of charles i., and wife of the duke of orleans, brother of louis xiv., born at exeter; she had an itch for political intrigue like her mother, and was successful in persuading her brother, charles ii., into league with france by signing the treaty of dover; on her return to france she died suddenly, by poison it is believed ( - ). henriot, a french revolutionary, born at nanterre; was generalissimo of the national guard of paris during the reign of terror; marched with his sansculotte following into the convention one day and escorted of the girondists to the guillotine; became the satellite of robespierre, whom he defended at the last, but could not deliver; arrested himself in a state of intoxication, was dragged out of a drain, and despatched by the guillotine ( - ). henry i., king of england from to , youngest son of william the conqueror, born at selby, in yorkshire; usurped the crown from his elder but irresolute brother robert, an act which was confirmed by the church and the mass of the people, robert, after a weak resistance, being pensioned off; the epithets beauclerc and the lion of justice, which were bestowed on him, so far accurately describe him as he appeared to his people; his attainments were scholarly for his times, and his reign was distinguished by the strong and organised administration of justice, although morally his life was a depraved one; after seizing normandy from his brother robert, whom he imprisoned for life, he governed his kingdom with a firm hand; the turbulent norman nobles were subdued, while the administration of the law was greatly improved by the institution of the _curia regis_ (the king's court) and of itinerant judges; trade took a start, and the religious life of the nation was deepened through the advent of the cistercian monks and the influence of anselm; he was married to eadgyth (changed to matilda), daughter of malcolm of scotland ( - ). henry ii., king of england from to , first of the plantagenet line; was the son of matilda, daughter of henry i., and her second husband geoffrey plantagenet, count of anjou, born at le mans; when he came to the throne as stephen's successor he was already in possession, mainly through his marriage with eleanor, the divorced wife of louis vii., of more than half of france; he set himself with all the vigour of his energetic nature to reform the abuses which had become rampant under stephen, and thomas à becket was his zealous chancellor; the great council was frequently summoned to deliberate on national affairs; the _curia regis_ was strengthened, the itinerant judgeships revived, while the oppression and immorality of the nobles was sternly suppressed by the demolition of the "adulterine castles"; a blow was aimed at the privileges and licentiousness of the clergy by the constitutions of clarendon, but their enactment brought about a rupture between the king and becket, now archbishop of canterbury, which subsequently ended in the murder of becket; in ireland was invaded and annexed, and three years later william the lion of scotland was forced to declare his kingdom a fief to the english throne; some time previously the welsh princes had done him homage; the last years of his reign were embittered by quarrels and strife with his ungrateful sons; he was a man of many kingly qualities, perhaps the best, taken all in all, that england ever had, and his reign marks an epoch in the development of constitutional law and liberty ( - ). henry iii., king of england from to , eldest son of king john; succeeded to the throne at the age of nine; during his minority the kingdom was wisely and faithfully served by the earl of pembroke and hubert de burgh; when he came to years he proved himself a weak ruler, and, according to stubbs, his administration was "one long series of impolitic and unprincipled acts"; with the elevation of peter des roches, a native of anjou, to the post of chief adviser, french interlopers soon became predominant at the court, and the recipients of large estates and pensions, an injustice further stimulated by the king's marriage with eleanor of provence; justice was prostituted, england humiliated under a feeble foreign policy, and the country finally roused by infamous exactions; simon de montfort, the king's own brother-in-law, became the leader of the people and the champion of constitutional rights; by the provisions of oxford, forced upon the king by parliament assembled at oxford ( ), a wider and more frequent parliamentary representation was given to the people, and the king's power limited by a permanent council of ; as an issue of the barons' war, which resulted in the defeat and capture of the king at lewes ( ), these provisions were still further strengthened by the mise of lewes, and from this time may be dated the birth of representative government in england as it now exists; in was summoned the first parliament as at present constituted, of peers temporal and spiritual, and representatives from counties, cities, and boroughs; internal dissensions ceased with the victory of prince edward over the barons at eastham ( ), the popular leader de montfort perished on the field ( - ). henry iv., king of england from to , first of the lancastrian kings, son of john of gaunt, and grandchild of edward iii., born at bolingbroke, in lincolnshire; richard ii.'s misrule and despotism had damped the loyalty of his people, and when henry came to england to maintain his ducal rights he had little difficulty in deposing richard, and, with the consent of parliament, in assuming the crown; this act of usurpation--for richard's true heir was roger mortimer, a descendant of an older branch of the family--had two important results; it made henry more obsequious to the parliamentary power which had placed him on the throne, and it was the occasion of the bloody wars of the roses that were to devastate the kingdom during the reigns of henry vi. and edward iv.; henry's own reign was a troubled one; wars were successfully undertaken against the welsh under owen glendower and against the scotch; while rebellion was raised by the percies in unsuccessful attempts to win the crown for mortimer; the only law of importance passed was the statute for burning heretics, the first passed in england for the suppression of religious opinion ( - ). henry v., king of england from to , son of preceding, born at monmouth; during the wars of his father's reign he gave evidence of his abilities as a soldier, distinguishing himself specially by his conquest of wales; on his accession to the throne he renewed the claims put forward by edward iii. to the french crown, and with the support of his people embarked on his great struggle to win the kingdom of france; in he gained the glorious victory of agincourt, strengthened his position by confirmed military successes, and by marrying catherine, daughter of the french king, and by the treaty of troyes got himself appointed regent of france and successor to the throne; he was idolised by his people as the perfect pattern of a warrior king, but he had neither the gifts of statesmanship nor the foresight of edward i., to whom he is compared, and the english dominion which he established in france was too unsubstantial to endure ( - ). henry vi., king of england from to , son of preceding, born at windsor; was a child of nine months when his father died, and in the same year was acknowledged king over the n. and e. of france; the dukes of bedford and gloucester became regents respectively over the english and french kingdoms; war was resumed with france, and for thirty years the weary struggle continued, by the end of which time england, despite some early successes, had been stripped of her french possessions, mainly owing to the enthusiasm awakened by the heroic and ill-fated jeanne d'arc (q. v.); the growing discontent of the people is indicated by jack cade's rebellion ( ), and five years later began the famous wars of the roses; six battles were fought between the rival houses, and four times victory rested with the yorkists; after the final victory of the yorkists at towton ( ), henry fled to scotland and edward was proclaimed king; henry was a man of weak intellect, gentle, and of studious nature, and was ill mated in his ambitious and warlike queen, margaret of anjou; a futile struggle was made to win his kingdom back, but the hopes of the lancastrians perished at tewkesbury; the king was captured and confined in the tower, where, there is little doubt, he was murdered ( - ). henry vii., king of england from to , son of edmund tudor, earl of richmond, first of the tudor monarchs, born at pembroke castle; after defeating and slaying richard iii. on bosworth field he assumed the crown, and by his marriage with elizabeth of york, daughter of edward iv., united the claims of the rival roses; his firm and prudent rule established quiet and order in the country; the pretensions of the pretenders lambert simnel and perkin warbeck were promptly crushed; a peaceful relationship was established with france, and the scotch were conciliated by the marriage of his daughter margaret to their king, james iv.; increased prosperity followed, maritime enterprise was encouraged, but the kingly power grew at the expense of the constitutional authority of parliament; resort was had to benevolences and other unconstitutional methods of raising funds, and in his latter years the king's exactions became tyrannical; henry was not a man of fine kingly qualities, but he accomplished much for his country, and is best described in gardiner's words, "his contemporaries needed a chief-constable to keep order, and he gave them what they needed" ( - ). henry viii., king of england from to , son of preceding, born at greenwich; was welcomed to the throne with great enthusiasm, and still further established himself in public favour by his gallant exploits at the battle of spurs and at the sieges of tournay and terouenne in the war of the holy alliance against france; in his absence an invasion of james iv. of scotland was repulsed and the scottish army crushed at flodden ( ); during the first half of the reign public affairs were mainly conducted by the king's favourite minister, wolsey, whose policy it was to hold the balance of power between spain and france; but he fell into public disfavour by the heavy burden of taxation which he little by little laid upon the people; henry, who in had been named "defender of the faith" by the pope for his published defence of the sacraments against the attacks of luther, was now moving for a divorce from his first wife catherine of arragon; a breach with the pope ensued, wolsey was deposed for his double-dealing in the matter, and henry, having defiantly married anne boleyn, put an end to the papal jurisdiction in england to secure himself against appeals to the papal court, and got himself acknowledged supreme head of the church of england; the suppression of the monasteries soon followed, and their estates were confiscated ( - ); in the movement of the reformation was continued by the drawing up of _ten articles_ and by an authorised translation of the bible; but the passing of the _six articles_ three years later, declaring in favour of the real presence of christ in the eucharist, clerical celibacy, private masses, auricular confession, &c., was an attempt to stay the rapid spread of protestant doctrines; in henry was declared king of ireland, and in the two following years successful wars were waged with scotland and france; the importance of the reign lies in the coincidence of it with the rise and culmination of the reformation, a movement brought about in the first instance by no higher motive than the king's desire for a divorce as well as for absolute power; but for which a favourable reception had been prepared beforehand by the spread of the new learning and that free spirit of inquiry that was beginning to take possession of men's minds; historians for the greater part agree in representing henry as a man of versatile powers, considerable intellectual force, but headstrong, selfish, and cruel in the gratification of his desires; he was six times married; catherine and anne of clèves were divorced, anne boleyn and catherine howard executed, jane seymour died in childbirth, and catherine parr survived him; he left behind to succeed him on the throne mary, daughter of catherine, elizabeth, daughter of anne boleyn, and edward, son of jane seymour ( - ). henry iii., an illustrious emperor of the holy roman empire, son of conrad ii.; in he became king of the germans, succeeded to the dukedoms of bavaria and suabia, and in assumed the imperial crown; under his strong and wise government, dissensions, papal and otherwise, were put down, the territory of the empire extended, and many churches and monastic schools established ( - ). henry iv., emperor of the holy roman empire, son of preceding; his reign is memorable as witnessing the first open claim on the part of the papal power to have dominion over the crowned heads of europe; henry's attempt to depose gregory vii. was boldly met by a declaration of excommunication; henry was forced to do penance and to receive his crown afresh from the pope; but the struggle broke out anew; clement iii. was put up in opposition, and the contest raged with varying success till the deposition of henry by his ungrateful son ( - ). henry iv., king of france from till , surnamed "the great" and "the good"; during his reign the great struggle between the huguenots and the catholics continued with unabated fury; henry saved his life in the massacre of st. bartholomew's day by renouncing his early calvinism, but was imprisoned; four years later he was again at the head of the huguenot army and defeating the bourbon claimant for the throne, was crowned king, but not before waiving his protestant principles to conciliate the people; in he issued the famous edict of nantes, giving freedom of worship to the huguenots; during his administration the nation was consolidated, new roads and a growing trade knit the towns together; financial reforms of great importance were carried out by his celebrated minister, duc de sully (q. v.); henry was assassinated by instigation of the jesuits ( - ). henry of huntingdon, a noted english chronicler of the th century, who became archdeacon of huntingdon, and wrote a latin history of england down to the death of stephen in . henry the navigator, son of john i., king of portugal, born at oporto; an able, enterprising man, animated with a zeal for maritime discovery, and who at his own expense sent out voyagers who discovered the madeira islands and explored the coast of africa as far as cape blanco; is said to have been the first to employ the compass for purposes of navigation; his mother was daughter of john of gaunt ( - ). henry, matthew, a nonconformist divine; was minister at hackney, london; was the author of a commentary long in repute among pious evangelical people, and to some extent still, as a practical and devotional guide in the study of the scriptures ( - ). henry, patrick, american statesman and orator, born in virginia; having been in business he took to law, and rose into fame by his eloquent pleadings in the cause of the people; played a conspicuous part in the agitation for independence, especially by his oratory, which was of a quality to move large audiences; he was a member of the first congress in ( - ). henryson, robert, an early scottish poet, flourished in the th century; most of his life was spent as a schoolmaster in dunfermline; his chief works, which are full of pathos, humour, and a fine descriptive power, include "testament of cresseid," a continuation of chaucer's tale, "robene and makyne," the earliest scottish pastoral, a metrical version of some of "Æsop's fables," and the story of "orpheus and eurydice." hephÆstos, called vulcan by the romans, the greek god of fire, or of labour in the element of fire, the son of zeus and hera, represented as ill-shapen, lame, and ungainly, so much so as to be an object of ridicule to the rest of the pantheon, but he was indispensable to the dynasty, and to none more than his father and mother, who were often unkind to him; he had his smithy in olympus in the vicinity of the gods, and the marvellous creations of his art were shaped on an anvil, the hammer of which was plied by bellows that worked at his bidding; in later traditions he had his workshop elsewhere, and the cyclops for his servants, employed in manufacturing thunderbolts for zeus; he was wedded to aphrodité, whom he caught playing false with ares, and whom he trapped along with him in a net a spectacle to all the upper deities. heptad, a term in chemistry to denote an atom that is the equivalent of seven atoms of hydrogen, from _hepta_, seven. heptarchy, anglo-saxon, the seven kingdoms of kent, sussex, wessex, essex, northumberland, east anglia, and mercia, the chief of those established by the saxons during the th century in great britain. heptateuch, a name given to the first seven books of the bible. hera, called juno by the romans, daughter of cronos and rhea, and sister and wife of zeus; was the queen of heaven, and treated with the same reverence as her husband, but being inferior in power was bound to obey him equally with the rest, or suffer if she did not; she was jealous of zeus in his amours with mortals, and persecuted all his children by mortal mothers, hercules among the chief. heracles, i. e. the chosen of hera, to be tried by her. see hercules. heracli`dÆ, spartans, presumed descendants of hercules, who at one time invaded and took possession of the peloponnesus. heraclitus, a greek philosopher, born at ephesus, who flourished about the year b.c.; was the first to note how everything throughout the universe is in constant flux, and nothing permanent but in transition from being to nothing and from nothing to being, from life to death and from death to life, that nothing is, that everything becomes, that the truth of being is becoming, that no one, nothing, is exempt from this law, the law symbolised by the fable of the phoenix in the fire (q. v.). heraclius, emperor of the east from to , born in cappadocia; raised to the throne of the east on account of the services he rendered the citizens of constantinople in getting rid of a tyrant; waged war against the hostile persians, defeated chosroës, and compelled a peace, but was unable to withstand the arms of the moslem invaders. herat ( ), the chief town of the province of herat, in w. afghanistan, on the hari-rud, m. w. of cabul; its central position has given it a great commercial and military importance; it has manufactures of leather and wool, and as a place of great strategical value, since the advance of russia in asia is strongly fortified by a british citadel and garrison. hÉrault ( ), a maritime dep. of s. france fronting the gulf of lyons; in the n. are the cévennes mountains, but wide plains fringed on the sea border with large lagoons occupy the s.; the climate, except on the marshy coast, is dry and healthy; its former importance as a wine-growing district has greatly diminished, but olives and almonds are cultivated, sheep and silkworms bred; coal is the most important mineral; salt is obtained in large quantities from the salt marshes, and fishing is an important industry. herbart, german philosopher, born at oldenburg; kant's successor at königsberg, professor also at göttingen twice over; founded his philosophy like kant on the criticism of subjective experience, but arrived at different results, and arrayed itself against the whole post-kantian philosophy of germany; it is described by schwegler "as an extension of the monadology of leibnitz, full of ingenuity but devoid of inward fertility, or any germ of movement"; he failed to see, as dr. stirling points out, that "philosophy is possible only on the supposition of a single principle that possesses within itself the capability of transition into all existent variety and varieties" ( - ). herbert, edward, lord, of cherbury, diplomatist, soldier, and scholar, born at montgomery castle, in wales; served as a soldier under maurice of orange; was twice ambassador in france, but chiefly devoted to philosophical speculation; was the first of the deistical writers of england, though his deism was dogmatic not critical, positive not sceptical, as that of the subsequent english deists is ( - ). herbert, george, poet, brother of the preceding, born in montgomery castle; failing in preferment at court, took holy orders and became rector of bemerton, wiltshire, a post he lived only two years to hold; was the author of a christian poem entitled "the temple"; held in high regard by people of the devout and reverently contemplative spirit of the author; his memory is embalmed in a life of him by izaak walton ( - ). herbert, sidney (lord herbert of lea), politician, born at richmond; entered the house of commons in as a tory, and was in turn secretary to the admiralty and war secretary under peel; during the aberdeen ministry he, as war secretary, incurred much popular disfavour for the mismanagement of the crimean war, but under palmerston he effected many beneficial reforms while at the head of the war office; he was elevated to the house of lords in ( - ). herculaneum, a city of ancient italy, overwhelmed in a.d. along with pompeii and stabiæ by an eruption of vesuvius, at the north-western base of which it was situated, m. e. of naples; so completely was it buried by the ashes and lava that its site was completely obliterated, and in time two villages sprang up on the new surface, to ft. below which lay the buried city; relics were discovered while deepening a well in , and since then a considerable portion of the town has been excavated, pictures, statues, &c., of the greatest value having been brought to light. hercules, the typical hero of the greeks, son of zeus and alkmene, and the tried therefore of hera, who persecuted him from his cradle, sending two serpents to devour him as he lay there, but which he strangled with his arms; grown into manhood, and distinguished for his stature and strength, was doomed by the artifice of hera to a series of perilous adventures before he could claim his rights as a son of his father; these are known as the "twelve labours of hercules": the first the throttling of the nemean lion; the second, the killing of the lernean hydra; the third, the hunt and capture of the hind of diana, with its hoofs of brass; the fourth, the taking alive of the boar of erymanthus; the fifth, the cleansing of the stables of augeas; the sixth, the destruction of the stymphalian birds; the seventh, the capture of the cretan bull; the eighth, the capture of the mares of diomedes of thrace; the ninth, the seizure of the girdle of the queen of the amazons; the tenth, the killing of geryon and capture of his oxen; the eleventh, fetching of the golden apples from the garden of the hesperides; the twelfth, dragging cerberus to the light of day. these were the twelve, but in addition, he strangled the giant antæus, slew the robber cacus, delivered hesione, unchained prometheus from the rocks of caucasus, and smote the centaur nessus, the last proving the cause of his death. see nessus. hercules, the choice of, the choice of a life of virtue offered to him by athene, in preference to a life of pleasure offered by aphrodité, in his youth. hercules, the pillars of, two mountains on the opposite sides of the strait of gibraltar, originally one, but fabled to have been separated by hercules, calpë on the spanish coast and abyla on the african. hercynian forest, a forest of central germany, extending at one time from the rhine to the carpathian mountains, described by cæsar as nine days journey in breadth and sixty in length, is now the district of the harz mountains. herder, an eminent german thinker, born at mohrungen, in east prussia; studied philosophy under kant, but gave himself up chiefly to literature; became acquainted at strasburg with goethe, who was five years his junior, and exercised a great influence over him in his youth; in after years was invited by him to weimar, where he became court preacher and consistorial councillor, and where he died; wrote the "spirit of hebrew poetry," "ideas towards a philosophy of the history of humanity," and "poems" ( - ). hereford ( ), the county town of herefordshire, on the wye, m. nw. of london; has some fine old buildings, including a noble cathedral begun in , ruins of a castle, &c.; it was made the seat of a bishopric in ; it is noted for its roses and agricultural produce. herefordshire ( ), an inland county of west england, lying on the welsh border between shropshire and monmouthshire; it is a pretty agricultural county, through the centre of which runs the wye; in the e. are the malvern hills and in the sw. the black mountains ( ft); the rich red soil produces fine wheat, hops, and apples; there is some trade in timber, some stone and marble quarrying, and the cattle are noted; its history is associated with many stirring historical events, and in various parts are antiquities of considerable interest. herennius, a samnite general, who defeated the romans at the caudine forks, and made them pass under the yoke, b.c. hereward the wake, a saxon hero, a yeoman, who made a gallant effort to rally his countrymen against the norman conqueror; he made his final stand on the isle of ely, cambridgeshire ( - ), cut his way through the besieging army, and escaped to the fens; subsequently it is supposed he became reconciled to william and held estates. herford ( ), a prussian town in westphalia, m. sw. of hanover; manufactures textiles, sugar, &c. hergest, the red book of, an important volume of welsh writings in ms., preserved at oxford; it dates from the th century; was compiled at hergest court, and is the most valuable welsh ms. extant. heriot, george, founder of heriot's hospital, a splendid educational establishment in his native city, edinburgh; was a prosperous goldsmith there; did work for anne of denmark, consort of james vi. of scotland; in removed with the court to london and combining banking with his other business, he amassed a great fortune, and, dying childless, left his property to found and endow the educational institution referred to, and which still bears his name; in the accumulated surplus funds were utilised in establishing free schools in edinburgh, which, however, were closed in , and the original hospital reconstructed as a secondary and technical school, while a portion of the funds was used in subsidising the heriot-watt college and in founding bursaries ( - ). hÉristal ( ), a town of belgium, on the meuse, practically a ne. suburb of liège; the inhabitants are largely employed in coal-mining and in flourishing iron-works; the ruins of a castle, the birthplace of pépin d'héristal, still remains. herkomer, hubert, artist, born at waal, bavaria; his father removing to england in , young hubert became a distinguished student of the southampton school of art; he has been a prolific artist, and many of his portraits have become celebrated; the "last muster" ( ) is reckoned his finest work; he has been twice slade professor at oxford, and in was elected r.a.; the school of art at bushey was founded by him, and he has displayed his versatility of talent in carving, engraving, and writing, as well as in painting; _b_. . hermandad, santa (i. e. holy brotherhood), an association of the principal cities of spain leagued together at first against the pillagings and robberies of the nobles, and eventually against all forms of violence and lawlessness in the state. hermann and dorothea, the title of an idyll by goethe. hermannstadt ( ), an old historic town of hungary, formerly capital of transylvania; overlooks the zibin; m. se. of klausenburg; is the seat of a greek archbishop and of a "saxon" university. amongst its notable buildings is the bruckenthal palace, with valuable art, library, and antiquarian collections; has various manufactures. hermas, one of the apostolic fathers of the church; wrote a work in greek called the "shepherd of hermas," extant in latin, and treating of christian duties. hermes, the mercury of the romans; in the greek mythology the herald of the gods and the god of eloquence and of all kinds of cunning and dexterity in word and action; invented the lyre, the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, music, the cultivation of the olive, &c.; was the son of zeus and maia; wore on embassy a winged cap, winged sandals, and carried a herald's wand as symbol of his office. hermes trismegistus, or the thrice-greatest, an egyptian or egyptian god to whose teachings or inspirations the neo-platonists ascribed the great body of their peculiar doctrines, and whom they regarded as an incarnation or impersonation of the _logos_. hermi`one, the beautiful daughter of menelaus and helen; married to pyrrhus, son of achilles, but carried off by orestes, her first love. hermodeus, a son of odin and messenger of the norse gods. hernia, the name given to the protrusion of an internal organ, specially a part of the intestines. hero, a priestess of venus at sestos, in thrace, beloved by leander of abydos, on the opposite shore, who swam the hellespont every night to visit her, but was drowned one stormy evening, whereupon at sight of his dead body on the beach she threw herself into the sea. hero, a mathematician, born at alexandria in the first half of the nd century; celebrated for his experiments on condensed air, and his anticipation of the pressure of steam. hero, a name given by the greeks to human beings of such superhuman faculties as to be regarded the offspring of some god, and applied in modern times to men of an intellect and force of character of such transcendent nature as to inspire ordinary mortals with something like religious regard. herod, the name of a family of idumæan origin but jewish creed, who rose into power in judea shortly prior to the dissolution of the jewish nationality; the chief members of which were herod the great, king of the jews by favour of the romans, who made away with all his rivals, caused his own children to be strangled on suspicion of their conspiring against him, and died a painful death; who massacred the innocents about bethlehem, and whose death took place b.c., the true date of the nativity of christ: and herod antipas, his son, tetrarch of galilee, who beheaded john the baptist, and to whom christ was remitted by pilate for examination, and who died in exile at lyons. herodians, a party in judea who from motives of self-interest supported the dynasty of the herods. herodotus, the oldest historian of greece, and the "father of history," born at halicarnassus, in caria, between and b.c.; travelled over asia minor, egypt, and syria as far as babylon, and in his old age recorded with due fidelity the fruits of his observations and inquiries, the main object of his work being to relate the successive stages of the strife between the free civilisation of greece and the despotic barbarism of persia for the sovereignty of the world, an interest in which alexander the great drew sword in the century following ( - b.c.). herophilus, a celebrated greek physician who lived into the rd century b.c., born at chalcedon, and settled at alexandria, where he devoted himself specially to anatomy and helped to found the medical school in that city; his zeal is said to have led him to dissect criminals alive; some of his writings are yet extant. herrera, antonio, spanish historian, born at cuellar; under philip ii. he became historiographer of the indies and castile; he was a voluminous writer, and his "description of the indies," "history of the world in the reign of philip ii.," from their fairness and accuracy are reckoned authoritative works on spanish history ( - ). herrera, fernando de, spanish poet, born at seville, and took orders; in his lifetime his lyrics enjoyed a wide popularity, and won for him the epithet "divine"; his "battle of lepanto" is a spirited ode, and many of his other works, including a prose history of the "war in cyprus," are still read ( - ). herrera, francisco, a distinguished spanish painter, founder of the seville school, born at seville; his finest paintings include "the last judgment" and a "holy family," both in churches at seville; others are in the louvre, paris; they exhibit boldness of execution with faultless technique ( - ). he is known as _el viejo_, "the elder," to distinguish him from francisco herrera, his son, also a noted painter ( - ). herrick, robert, a caroline poet, born in london, of good family; was incumbent of dean prior in devonshire; author of the "hesperides," published in , a collection of "gay and charming" pieces, "in which," says stopford brooke, "horace and tibullus seem to mingle their peculiar art, which never misses its aim nor fails in exquisite execution" ( - ). herrnhut, a small saxon town, m. e. of dresden; gave name to a colony of moravian brethren who took refuge there in , and were protected by count zinzendorf. herschel, sir john, astronomer, only son of sir william; prosecuted with great diligence and success the same researches as his father; spent four years at the cape, and added much to our knowledge of the stars and meteorology; contributed a "preliminary discourse on the study of natural philosophy" to lardner's "cyclopædia," and an excellent "treatise on astronomy," afterwards extended ( - ). herschel, lucretia, sister of the succeeding; was his assistant, and made important observations of her own, which were published; retired after her brother's death to hanover, where she died ( - ). herschel, sir william, a distinguished astronomer, born at hanover; son of a musician, and bred to the profession; came to england at the end of the seven years' war, and obtained sundry appointments as an organist; gave his leisure time to the study of astronomy and survey of the heavens; discovered the planet uranus in , which he called _georgium sidus_ in honour of george iii., discovered also the two innermost belts of saturn, as well as drew up a catalogue of heavenly bodies or clusters of them ( - ). hertford ( ), the county town of hertfordshire, on the lea, m. n. of london; some few remains of its famous th-century castle still exist, and there are several charity schools, a castle built in james i.'s time, and a branch of christ's hospital (london); the chief trade is in corn, malt, and flour; in the vicinity is haileybury college (q. v.). hertfordshire or herts ( ), an inland county of england, occupying a central position between buckingham and bedford on the w. and essex on the e.; the surface is undulating and much covered with wood; the lea and the colne are the chief rivers; large crops of barley, wheat, and hay are raised; straw-plaiting and the manufacture of paper, silk, and chemicals are carried on extensively, while ware is the centre of the english malting trade; st. albans (q. v.) is the largest town. hertha, the scandinavian cybele, and worshipped with kindred ceremonies. hertz, henrik, danish poet, born in copenhagen of jewish parents; graduated in law at copenhagen, and produced his first work, a comedy, in ; "letters of a ghost," a satire, followed three years later, and had a wide vogue; his best-known work is "king rené's daughter," which has been translated into english for the fourth time by sir theodore martin; he is considered one of the greatest of modern danish lyrists and dramatists ( - ). hervey, james, clergyman and poet, born at hardingstone, near northampton; graduated at oxford; became curate and subsequently the zealous incumbent of two livings near northampton; was the author of "meditations among the tombs"; was held in great popular favour during his lifetime ( - ). herwarth von bittenfeld, karl eberhard, a prussian general; came to the front during the war of liberation, and in as general captured the isle of alsen, and two years later operated with great success at the head of the army in saxony and bohemia; during the franco-german war he became governor of the rhine provinces and a field-marshal ( - ). herz, henri, pianist and composer, born in vienna, the son of a jew; his compositions attained a wide popularity in europe, and as a pianist he was received with great favour in england and america; he was decorated with the legion of honour, and from to was professor at the paris conservatoire; _b_. . herzen, alexander, a russian political writer and revolutionary, born at moscow; expelled from russia in ; settled in england, and published works forbidden in russia ( - ). hesiod, one of the earliest greek poets, born in boeotia, lived in the th century b.c., chiefly at orchomenos, probably of humble birth; of the works ascribed to him the principal were the "works and days" the "theogony," and the "shield of hercules"; his poems treat of the quiet pursuits of ordinary life, the origin of the world, the gods and heroes, while those of homer are occupied with the restless and active enterprises of the heroic age. hesperides, maidens of high degree appointed to guard the golden apples presented to hera by gaia on her marriage with zeus, assisted in their office by the dragon ladon; the apples were stolen by hercules, but were afterwards restored by athene. hesperus, the personification of the evening star and an object of worship. hesse or hesse-darmstadt ( ), a grand-duchy of the german empire, lies partly in, and partly on the border of, sw. prussia; consists of two large portions, divided by a strip of hesse-nassau, and enclaves; half the land is under cultivation, and the greater part of what remains is covered with forest; its many rivers belong mostly to the rhine system; corn is raised in large quantities, iron and manganese are found, and there are flourishing manufactures of leather, upholstery, tobacco, &c.; the legislative power is vested in two chambers; mainz is the largest town, and darmstadt the capital. hesse-cassel ( ), a government district in hesse-nassau (q. v.); as an electorate it sided with austria in , which brought about its incorporation with prussia. hesse-nassau ( , ), a province in the sw. of germany, between the rhine on the w. and bavaria and saxony on the e.; was formed in out of the electorate of hesse-cassel, duchy of nassau, &c.; the country is hilly, abounds in minerals, which are extensively worked, but agriculture and cattle-rearing are the chief industries; the medicinal springs of homburg, wiesbaden, &c., are celebrated; cassel is noted for its gold and silver ware; damasks and other textiles are produced at fulda, and at hanau are flourishing iron-works; marburg has a fine university. hestia, called vesta by the romans, the greek goddess of the hearth, or rather the fire that burns in it, the guardian of domestic life, conceived of as a most sacred charge. hesychasts, a religious sect of the th century belonging to the greek church; consisted chiefly of a community of monks who dwelt at mount athos; they professed a kind of quietism (q. v.), and were noted for their practice of sitting for hours daily with their eyes fixed upon the navel (regarding the stomach as the seat of the soul); in this position they professed to see a divine light beaming out upon them, and to enjoy therein a specially intimate communion with god. see athos, mount. hesychius, a greek grammarian of the th century, born at alexandria; produced a greek lexicon of great philological value. heuschrecke, hofrath (i. e. state-councillor grasshopper), a loose, zigzag figure in "sartor," a mend and blind admirer of teufelsdröckh's, an incarnation of distraction distracted, and all the counsellor the "editor" had to advise him and encourage him in his work; a victim to "timidity" and preyed on by an uncomfortable sense of mere "physical cold," such as the majority of the state counsellors of the day were. hexateuch, the name given to the first six books of the bible. hexham ( ), an interesting old town in northumberland, prettily situated on the tyne, m. w. of newcastle; has a fine cruciform abbey church, portions of which belong to the th century, and beautiful remains of a th-century monastery; the staple industries are glove and hat making; the river is spanned by a stone bridge of nine arches. heylin, peter, english divine, born at burford; graduated at oxford, and in became chaplain-in-ordinary to charles i.; was a zealous champion of the church of england; forfeited his livings and property during the puritan ascendency, but was reinstated at the restoration; he wrote a "defence of the church of england," "life of bishop laud," &c. ( - ). heyne, christian gottlob, a german classical scholar, born at chemnitz, son of a poor weaver, and reared all along almost on the verge of destitution; became eminent by his heroic devotion to scholarship, both as a translator and editor of classical works, his edition of "virgil" the chief in the latter department; carlyle almost ranks him among his heroes, and ascribes superlative merit to his book on virgil ( - ). heyse, paul johann, german poet and novelist, born at berlin; in he settled at münich, where he enjoyed the patronage of king max of bavaria; he has been a voluminous writer of popular novelettes, novels, dramas, and narrative poems, besides which he has executed translations of leopardi, giusti, and other italian authors; _b_. . heywood ( ), a town of lancashire, m. n. of manchester; owes its rapid growth to the neighbouring coal-fields and the development of the cotton industry; has also flourishing iron and brass foundries, woollen factories, &c. heywood, john, a dramatic poet, a favourite with henry viii. and his court; wrote farces, the characters of which were drawn from real life, presumably not hard to identify at the time ( - ). hezekiah, a king of judah; reigned from to b.c.; distinguished for his zeal in the celebration of the worship of jehovah and for his weakness in making a parade of his wealth; reigned in the golden age of hebrew prophecy, isaiah and micah being his contemporaries. hiawatha, the subject of a poem of longfellow's; a personage reverenced by the north american indians as the founder among them of the arts of peace, as well as the clearer of the forests. hibbert lectures, unsectarian lectures instituted by the trustees of robert hibbert, a west india merchant, devoted to the discussion of unsolved problems in theology. hibernia, the classical name for ireland, which to the ancient world was in the main a _terra incognita_. hicks, elias, an american preacher of the quaker connection, who adopted unitarian views and caused a split in the body ( - ). hicks-beach, sir michael edward, conservative politician, born in london; educated at eton and oxford, and in entered parliament; took office as under-secretary for home affairs under disraeli, and in became secretary for ireland; four years later he was lord carnarvon's successor at the colonial office, chancellor of the exchequer and leader of the house of commons in , secretary for ireland in , president of the board of trade in , and in , on the formation of a coalition ministry, again became chancellor of the exchequer; _b_. . hierapolis, , an ancient city of syria cyrrhestica, now in ruins, situated between antioch and mesopotamia, m. w. of the euphrates; had considerable commercial importance, and was famous for its great temple of astarte. , a city of ancient phrygia, m. n. of laodicea; the birthplace of epictetus, and where paul founded a church; was celebrated for its hot springs. hiero i., tyrant of syracuse; broke the naval power of etruria by victory over the etruscan fleet near cannæ, b.c.; was an enlightened patron of men of letters, many of whom he entertained at his court, Æschylus, pindar, and simonides among the number; _d_. b.c. hiero ii., king of syracuse, for near half a century the steadfast friend and ally of the romans; unlike his namesake he was averse to display, and was accustomed to appear in public in the garb of a common citizen; he ruled his country well; _d_. b.c. at the age of . hieronymus. see jerome. higden, ralph, author of the "polychronicon"; was a benedictine monk, who spent his long life in st. werburgh's monastery, chester; the work with which his name is associated is an account of the world down to the end of edward iii.'s reign, but the chronicle of the last years is supposed to have been written by other hands; caxton published a translation made by john trevisa; _d_. about . higgins, matthew james, essayist, wrote under the _nom de plume_ of "jacob omnium," born at benown, ireland; was educated at eton and oxford, and spent many years in european travel; his numerous papers, which appeared in the leading magazines and newspapers, were principally directed against social abuses, and are characterised by a humour and pungent irony not unlike his friend thackeray's ( - ). higginson, thomas wentworth, an american author and abolitionist, born at cambridge, massachusetts; graduated at harvard, and took orders, but resigned in to devote himself to politics in the anti-slavery interest; during the civil war he commanded the first regiment of freed slaves; subsequently he resumed literary work, and in became a member of the massachusetts legislature; he wrote a "history of the united states," "army life in a black regiment," &c.; _b_. . high church, that section of the episcopal church in england who attach supreme importance to the administration of word and sacrament by clergy duly ordained, and regarded by them as such, the sole divinely appointed media of divine grace. high places, elevated spots on which altars were erected for worship in the rude belief that, as they were nearer heaven than the plains and valleys, they were more favourable places for prayer. the practice of worship on these spots, though from the first forbidden, became frequent among the jews, and was with difficulty abolished, though denounced time after time by the prophets as an affront to jehovah. high seas, as understood in international law means the entire sea or ocean area which lies beyond a three-mile belt of coast water. this coastal strip is called the _mare clausum_, and the rights of fishing, &c., in it are reserved to the country upon which it borders. highgate, a noted suburb of london, m. n. of the general post-office; the burial-place of coleridge, george eliot, and faraday. dick whittington's stone is at the foot of highgate hill. hilarion, st., founder of monachism in palestine; was a convert of st. anthony, and of great repute for sanctity ( - ). festival, oct. . hilary, st., bishop of poitiers, of which he was a native; distinguished himself by his zeal against the arians; his writings valuable in connection with that controversy; _d_. . festival, jan. . hildebrand. see gregory vii. hildesheim ( ), a town in hanover, prussia, on the innerste, m. se. of hanover; is a quaint old town, and has several ancient churches, notably a noble cathedral of the th century, with famous bronze gates; trades in corn, linen, &c. hill, rev. rowland, a popular but eccentric preacher, born in hawkeston, the son of a baronet, came under the influence of whitfield and the methodist movement, and while yet an undergraduate became an itinerant preacher; he took orders in ; but continued his open-air preaching till , when he established himself in london, starting an unlicensed place of worship, although still remaining a communicant of the church of england; he originated the first sunday school in london, and was the author of several religious works, including a volume of hymns ( - ). hill, sir rowland, originator of the penny postage, born at kidderminster; commenced life as a teacher and educationist; interested himself in the colonisation of south australia, and held a post in connection with it; published in his pamphlet, "post-office reforms," and saw his scheme of uniform postage rate adopted three years after, though not till did he become secretary to the postmaster-general or have full power and opportunity to carry his views out ( - ). hill, viscount, british general, born in shropshire; entered the army at fifteen, served under sir john moore, and under the duke of wellington in the peninsula and at waterloo, where he commanded a division; succeeded wellington in as commander-in-chief ( - ). hillel, an eminent and influential jewish rabbi, born in babylon about b.c.; devoted his life to the study of the jewish law, formed a digest of it, and founded a school; was a good and wise man and teacher; died at a great age, years old it is said. himalayas ("the abode of snow"), a stupendous mountain chain stretching m. along the northern frontier of india, and dividing that country from thibet; forty-five of its peaks attain a greater height than those of any other mountain system in the world; mount everest, the loftiest, reaches , ft.; the best-known pass is the _karakoram pass_ ( , ft.), leading into eastern turkestan; there are few lakes, but amid the snowy heights rise the rivers ganges, indus, brahmaputra, &c.; gold, iron, copper, and lead are wrought. hinckley ( ), a nicely built town of leicestershire, m. w. of leicester; has an interesting old parish church of edward iii.'s time; does a good trade in hosiery, baskets, boots, &c. hinc`mar, a famous frankish churchman; was appointed archbishop of rheims, in which capacity he maintained an independent attitude towards the papal see, and distinguished himself as a champion of ecclesiastical liberty ( - ). hind, john russell, an eminent astronomer, born at nottingham; at he obtained a post in the greenwich observatory; subsequently became observer in mr. bishop's private observatory, regent's park, where his untiring assiduity was rewarded by the discovery of several new movable stars and minor planets; he received various honours from societies; was president of the royal astronomical society, and in was pensioned by government; his works include "the comets," "the solar system," &c. ( - ). hindley ( ), a busy manufacturing town in lancashire, m. se. of wigan; the staple industry is the manufacture of cotton; in the vicinity are large coal-mines. hindu kush, a lofty mountain range stretching m. from the western extremity of the himalayas, from which it is cut off by the valley of the indus into afghanistan, which it divides from turkestan; it attains an elevation of , ft.; is crossed by several passes, and is rich in minerals, especially iron; the tribes that inhabit it are chiefly shins and dards. hinduism, the name given to certain forms of religion among the hindus, the characteristics of which are the worship of divinities exalted above the rest, and the highly concrete and intensely personal conception of these, which comes out in sundry accounts respecting them of a biographical nature which divinities are identified either with Çiva or vishnu, and their religions called Çivaite or vishnuite, while their respective followers are styled Çaivas or vishnavas. hindustan, a name sometimes loosely applied to the entire indian peninsula, but which, strictly speaking, embraces only the country of the upper valley of the ganges, divided into nw. provinces, oude, and behar; the language spoken is hindi, a pure sanskritic tongue, on which hindustani is based, but with large persian and arabic admixtures. hindustani, the official and common language of india. hinton, james, aurist and metaphysician, born at reading; after taking his degree was for some time at sea and in jamaica, but in established himself in london; specialising in ear-diseases he rose to the top of his profession, becoming lecturer at guy's hospital; his leisure was earnestly devoted to philosophy, and gave fruit in "man and his dwelling-place," "the mystery of pain," "philosophy and religion," &c. ( - ). hiouen-thsang, a chinese buddhist, who in the th century traversed india collecting books bearing upon the creed and law of buddhism, and spent his time after his return in translating them. hipparchus, ancient astronomer, born at nicæa; flourished in the nd century b.c.; discovered among other things the precession of the equinoxes, determined the place of the equinox, and catalogued fixed stars. hippias, tyrant of athens, son of pisistratus; expelled from athens, applied to the persians to reinstate him, and kindled the first persian war with greece; fell at marathon, b.c. hippocrates, the father of medicine, born at cos, b.c.; was a contemporary of socrates and plato; was of wide-spread renown as a physician; settled in thessaly and died at larissa advanced in years; no fewer than writings are ascribed to him, but only a few are genuine. hippocrene (lit. the fountain of the horse), a fountain on mount helicon, in boeotia, sacred to the muses, and said to have been caused by pegasus (q. v.) striking the spot with his hoof. hippodami`a, in the legendary lore of greece, was the beautiful daughter of oenomaus, king of pisa, in elis, and the pleiad sterope; the oracle had foretold death to oenomaus on the occasion of his daughter's marriage, to prevent which the king had made it a condition that each suitor should run a chariot race with him, and that, if defeated, should be put to death; many had perished in the attempt to beat the king, till pelops, by bribing oenomaus's charioteer, won the race; the king in a frenzy killed himself, and the kingdom and the fair hippodamia passed to pelops. hippolytË, queen of the amazons, slain by hercules in order to obtain and carry off her magic girdle. hippolytus, st., bishop of portus, near rome; lived in the rd century b.c.; a lost work of his, "a refutation of all the heresies," was discovered at mount athos in , his authorship of which bunsen vindicated in "hippolytus and his age." hispania, the ancient name of spain and portugal among the latins. hissar, , a district ( ) in the punjab, india; for the most part sandy, yet in rainy years produces good crops of rice, barley, &c., and is noted for its white cattle; the capital ( ), bearing the same name, is situated on the western jumna canal, m. w. of delhi. , also a district in central asia, a dependency of the khan of bokhara lying n. of the oxus river, and separated from bokhara by a branch of the thian shan mountains; has a fertile soil, and exports corn, sheep, &c., to bokhara. histology, the science of tissues, vegetable and animal. hitchcock, edward, american geologist, born in massachusetts; reported on the geology of his native state, and on the agricultural schools of europe; wrote "elementary geology" and the "religion of geology" ( - ). hitchin ( ), a very old and still prosperous town of hertfordshire, on the hiz, m. nw. of hertford; does a flourishing trade in corn, malt, and flour; brewing and straw-plaiting are important industries, and it has long been noted for its lavender and lavender water. hitopadesa (i. e. good instruction), a celebrated sanskrit collection of fables, which in the substance of them have passed into all the civilised literatures of the world. hittites, one of the original tribes of canaan, and one of the most powerful, whose dominion extended at one time as far as the border of egypt on the one hand, and mesopotamia on the other, and northward beyond the taurus mountains, traces of which have been discovered over all asia minor, while they were strong enough to engage in war with the egyptians; they had two capitals, kadesh on the orontes, and carchemish on the euphrates. hitzig, ferdinand, a german orientalist and biblical scholar, born in baden; devoted himself to old testament studies; was professor of theology first at zurich and then at heidelberg; his principal works bore on old testament exegesis ( - ). hoadly, benjamin, an english prelate, born in kent; was a keen controversialist; argued stoutly in defence of civil and religious liberty, and was an opponent of the pretensions of the high church party ( - ). hoang-ho ("yellow river"), one of the chief rivers of china, rises in the plain of odontala, south of the kuen-lun mountains, and sweeps with impetuous current in a more or less north-easterly direction, discharging into the gulf of pechili after a course of m.; it is for the most part quite unnavigable, and its frequent floods are a constant menace to the districts through which it flows. hobart ( ), capital of tasmania, is situated on the estuary of the derwent, at the base of mount wellington; is handsomely laid out in the form of a square; is the seat of government, and has many fine public buildings; has a splendid natural harbour; the manufacture of flour, jam, leather, besides brewing, shipbuilding, and iron-founding, are its chief industries; it has extensive suburbs, and is a favourite health resort. hobart pasha, turkish admiral; was a son of the duke of buckingham; distinguished himself in the british navy before he entered the turkish service; had during the russo-turkish war in to withdraw from the service of the queen, and shortly afterwards died ( - ). hob`bema, meindert, a famous dutch landscape painter, born at amsterdam; lived chiefly in his native town, and died in poverty; his fine, subdued pictures of woodland life and scenery are ranked amongst the masterpieces of dutch landscape painting, and are the valued possessions of the national galleries in london, berlin, vienna, &c. ( - ). hobbes, thomas, an english philosopher, psychologist, and moralist, born at malmesbury; was educated at oxford; connected all his days with the cavendish family, with members of which he travelled on the continent, and was on friendly terms with charles ii., bacon, descartes, &c.; translated thucydides, wrote a number of works, "de cive" among others, and the "leviathan," all more or less leading up to the doctrine that the absolute sovereign power in all matters of right and wrong is vested in the state as the achieved fact of the emancipation of the race from savagery ( - ). hobhouse, john cam, english politician, a friend of byron; represented nottingham and norwich in parliament in the liberal interest, and held several ministerial appointments ( - ). ho`boken ( ), a city of new jersey, on the hudson river, adjoining jersey city and opposite new york; is an important railway terminus and shipping-port; does a large trade in coal, lead-pencils, iron-casting, &c. hobson, a cambridge stabler who let out horses on hire, the choice always limited to the one next the door, the one that had been longest in, hence hobson's choice. hoccleve or occleve, thomas, an early english poet; had an appointment in the exchequer office in henry v.'s time; his chief work is the "government of princes," but his poems have more linguistic than poetic interest; has left us an interesting portrait of his contemporary, chaucer ( - ). hoche, la, french general, born near versailles; rose from the ranks to the command of the army of the moselle; drove the austrians out of alsace, and suppressed the rising in and pacified la vendée; while yet a sergeant bore a hand conspicuously at the overturn of the bastille ( ). hochkirch, a village in saxony where frederick the great was defeated by the austrian marshal daun in . hodge. charles, an american theologian, born at philadelphia; graduated at princeton, and in became professor in the theological seminary in princeton, a post he held till the close of his life; besides founding and editing the princeton review, was the author of various commentaries, but is best known by his "systematic theology," which is still a standard text-book ( - ). hodgkinson, eaton, a distinguished engineer, born at anderton, near norwich; was professor of engineering in university college, london; became a leading authority on bridge construction, and carried through elaborate experiments testing the strength of iron girders; co-operated in planning the britannia tubular bridge ( - ). hodgson, brian houghton, orientalist, born near macclesfield; served in the east india company, and was resident in nepal for more than years; was a voluminous writer on eastern ethnology, languages, and zoology, and his valuable collection of mss. remains the chief source of our knowledge of northern buddhism ( - ). hodson, major william, a noted leader during the indian mutiny; joined the indian army in , fought through the first sikh war, and subsequently held a civil post in the punjab; on the outbreak of the mutiny he became head of the intelligence department, and won celebrity as the daring but wild leader of an irregular cavalry regiment known as hodson's horse; he took part in the sieges of delhi, and at lucknow captured the mogul emperor; shot down with his own hand the young princes, and a few months later fell himself while storming a palace in the city ( - ). hof ( ), a town of bavaria, on the saale, m. ne. of baireuth; has flourishing textile factories, breweries, and iron-works; is associated with the early struggles of jean paul richter. hofer, andreas, tyrolese patriot; was leader of the tyrolese against the bavarians and the french, and the emancipator thrice over of his country, but was eventually betrayed by his enemies into the hands of the french, condemned by court-martial at mantua, and shot; his family were indemnified afterwards by the emperor of austria, and his son ennobled ( - ). hoffmann, august heinrich, poet and philologist, born at fallersleben; studied literature and philology under the influence of the grimms, and in was appointed professor of the german language at breslau, a post he forfeited seven years later by publishing "lays" of somewhat radical tendencies; he led an unsettled life till , when he became librarian to the duke of ratibor; his writings include "german social songs of the th and th centuries," "german philology," an "autobiography" in six vols., lyrics, &c. ( - ). hoffmann, ernst theodore wilhelm, a celebrated german writer, whose versatility displayed itself in numerous tales, sketches, art-criticisms, &c., all bearing the impress of a strong, if wayward, intellect; born at königsberg, was trained to the law, and entered the state service; his position at warsaw was lost to him on the entry of the french troops in , and for some years he supported himself by musical criticism in leipzig, and as director of a dresden opera company; in he was again in government service at berlin, where he continued till his death; his writings are strongly characteristic of the romanticism of his time, while he himself was a witty, restless leader of bohemian life ( - ). hogarth, william, a famous english painter, caricaturist, and engraver, born in london; served his time as a silversmith's apprentice; studied painting, and began to support himself by engraving and etching; unsuccessful in his attempts at portrait-painting, he at length found his true vocation in depicting the follies and vices of his age; "a harlot's progress," a series of six pictures engraved by himself, appeared in , and was soon followed by others of a like nature, including "a rake's progress," "strolling actresses dressing in a barn," "marriage à la mode," "idleness and industry"; he also produced some indifferent historical paintings; in he was appointed sergeant-painter to the king; in his own department hogarth has never been equalled, and in the opinion of sir joshua reynolds, never will be; the deep moral purpose of his best pictures, made known throughout the country by abundant prints, must have helped not a little to reform the manners of his time ( - ). hogg, james, a scottish poet, born in ettrick; had little or no schooling; was bred a shepherd; took to rhyming; fell in with sir walter scott, whom he assisted with his "border minstrelsy"; rented a farm, and first came into notice by the publication of his poem, the "queen's wake"; he wrote in prose as well as poetry, with humour as well as no little graphic power; "was," says carlyle, "a little red-skinned stiff sack of a body, with two little blue or grey eyes that sparkled, if not with thought, yet with animation; was a _real_ product of nature" ( - ). hohenlinden, a village in upper bavaria, m. e. of münich; celebrated as the scene of a victory by the french under moreau over the austrians under archduke john on rd december . hohenstauffens, the, the third dynasty of the romish kaisers, which held the imperial throne from to , commencing with frederick i., or barbarossa, and ending with conrad iv., five in all; derived their name from a castle on the hohenstauffen berg, by the left bank of the danube, m. below stuttgart. hohenzollerns, the, the family which in became electors of brandenburg, kings of prussia, and are now at length emperors of germany; derived their name from an old castle so called near the springs of the danube, a little way north from constance and its lake. holbach, baron von, a french philosophe born in heidelsheim, in the palatinate, of wealthy parents; lived from youth all his days in paris, kept a good table, and entertained all the "encyclopédie" notabilities at his board; wrote "système de la nature," and was a materialist in philosophy and an atheist in religion, but a kind-hearted man ( - ). holbein, hans, a german painter, born at augsburg, trained by his father; attracted the attention of erasmus, who took a great interest in him, and persuaded him to go to england, and introduced him to sir thomas more, who in turn introduced him to henry viii.; here under henry's patronage he remained, executing numerous portraits of his courtiers, till his death of the plague; his "last supper" and "dance of death" are well known ( - ). holberg, ludwig, baron, an eminent danish author, born at bergen, in norway; graduated at copenhagen, where, after travel, he became professor of metaphysics; subsequently he held in turn the chairs of eloquence and of history; he was an author of great versatility, excelling as a writer of satires, comedies, and as historian of church and state; his autobiography is an interesting work, and many of his plays and other works are among the accepted classics of danish literature ( - ). holcroft, thomas, journalist and political novelist, born in london; began life as an actor; wrote "road to ruin"; was charged with treason, but acquitted; left "memoirs" ( - ). holden, sir isaac, inventor, born at hurlet, renfrewshire; worked in a cotton-mill in paisley, but betook himself to teaching, and in , while a teacher of chemistry in reading, discovered the principle of the lucifer match; turning to wool-combing as a means of livelihood, he became established near paris, where he carried out elaborate experiments, which resulted in improvements in wool-combing machinery that brought him fame and fortune; in he transferred his works to the vicinity of bradford; entered parliament in , and was created a baronet in ( - ). holinshed, raphael, english chronicler of the elizabethan age; his "chronicle," published in two vols. in , supplied shakespeare with materials for some of his historical plays; _d_. . holl, frank, artist, born in kentish town; was highly distinguished as an art student, and at won the travelling studentship of the academy; came into notice first as a _genre_-painter, exhibiting pictures of a pathetic nature, such as "want--the pawnbroker's shop," "newgate--committed for trial," "ordered to the front," &c.; subsequently he won a wide celebrity as a portrait-painter, producing portraits of the prince of wales, mr. gladstone, and other distinguished personages ( - ). holland ( , ), officially known as the netherlands, a small maritime country of western europe, bordered on its n. and w. by the german ocean, and having prussia on its e. and belgium to the s.; its area, somewhat less than one-fourth the size of england and wales, comprises, besides the mainland, two island groups, one in the n. and one in the s.; its flat surface in great part lies below the level of the sea, and where there are no natural sandhills is protected from inundation by enormous dykes, ft. thick, forming excellent carriage-ways along the coast; much of the soil has been reclaimed by draining lakes and by pushing back the sea walls, the size of the country having been increased by one-half since ; canals traverse the country in all directions, and form with the shallow lakes and the great rivers a complete system of waterways. the climate is for the most part similar to that of england, but greater extremes of heat and cold are experienced. farming is the staple industry, although a considerable portion of the land is still unfit for cultivation; butter and cheese are the most valuable products, and are largely exported; the fisheries, coast and deep sea, are also of much importance; manufactures are retarded by the want of coal, but the wind is made to supply the motive power, by means of windmills, to flourishing textile factories (cotton, woollen, and silk), gin distilleries, pottery works, margarine and cocoa factories, &c. holland no longer is the premier shipping country of europe, a position it held in the th century, but it still maintains a busy carrying trade with all parts of the world, especially with its many rich colonies in the east and west indies, which comprise an area times larger than holland itself. the government is a limited monarchy; the executive power is vested in the crown and the legislation in the states-general, an assembly consisting of two chambers, the one elected (for four years) by direct suffrage, the other (for nine years) by provincial councils. primary education is free, but not compulsory. religion is not established, but about two-thirds of the people are protestants, the remainder roman catholics. the birth of holland as an independent european power took place in the th century, when, after an heroic and protracted struggle, it freed itself from the yoke of spain, then the most powerful nation in the world. holland, henry richard fox vassall-holland, baron, statesman, born in wilts; succeeded to the title in ; entered on a public career as a whig under the patronage of his uncle charles james fox; held office under grenville, grey, and melbourne; was imbued with a fine humanitarian spirit, and fought ably against the slave-trade and the corn-laws; his cultured literary taste is revealed in his writings, which embrace spanish translations, lives of guillen de castro and lope de vega, memoirs, &c. ( - ). holland, sir henry, physician and author, born at knutsford, cheshire; graduated at edinburgh in ; spent some years in eastern europe, and finally settled in london; he rose to be physician-in-ordinary to the prince consort and the queen, and in was created a baronet; wrote various essays on various branches of medicine, physiology, psychology, besides "recollections of past life" ( - ). holland, north ( ), one of the eleven provinces of holland; comprises the peninsula lying between the zuider zee and the german ocean. south holland, also a province, faces the german ocean between zealand and north holland. these provinces form the most important part of the netherlands, raise the best farm produce and cattle, and in their great ports amsterdam, and rotterdam, the bulk of the trade of holland is carried on. holles, denzil, statesman, and one of the "five members," the son of the earl of clare, born at houghton, northamptonshire; entering parliament in , he joined the opposition against the king, and actively resisted the imposition of tonnage and poundage, for which he was heavily fined and imprisoned; subsequently he was one of the five members whom charles attempted to arrest in on a charge of high-treason; his opposition to the maintenance of a standing puritan army involved him in trouble, and he fled the country; after cromwell's death he returned, was prominent in promoting the restoration, received a peerage, and for some years was engaged in public duties, still remaining a staunch upholder of the rights of parliament ( - ). holloway ( ), a northern district of london, in islington parish. holmes, oliver wendell, a celebrated american author, born the son of a congregational minister, at cambridge, massachusetts, and graduated in arts and medicine at harvard; became professor of anatomy and physiology at dartmouth college, but resigned and settled in boston as a general practitioner; in he was elected to the chair of anatomy in harvard, a position he held till his resignation in ; a successful professor, it is as an essayist, novelist, and poet that he is remembered; the appearance of "the autocrat at the breakfast-table," with its quaint humour, fresh thought, and charming egotism took literary america by storm; the "professor" and the "poet at the breakfast-table" followed in after years, and remain his most widely popular works; "elsie venner," a novel dealing with the problem of heredity, "the guardian angel," "songs of many seasons," "memoirs of motley and of emerson," are some of his many works, all of which have the impress of his bright, engaging personality ( - ). holofernes, the assyrian general whom the jewish judith, entering his camp as it invested her native place, slew with her own hand, and bore his head as a trophy back to the town. holstein ( ), which with sleswick forms the prussian province of sleswick-holstein (q. v.), was till a duchy of denmark, but in that year was annexed by prussia. holt, frank, artist, born in london; was distinguished as an artist from his early youth; produced a succession of works of eminent merit, and attained the highest excellence as a painter of portraits, to which department he devoted the last years of his life ( - ). holt, sir john, english lawyer, born at thame, oxfordshire; called to the bar in ; was a prominent counsel in the state trials of his age, and rose to be lord chief-justice of the king's bench under william iii., an office whose duties he discharged with unflinching integrity and fairness ( - ). holtzmann, adolf, an eminent german philologist, born at carlsruhe; gave himself to the study of theology and then of philology at various universities, and in became professor of the german language and literature at heidelberg; author of various learned treatises on philology and kindred subjects ( - ). holy alliance, an alliance of the sovereigns of russia, austria, and prussia on the fall of napoleon, professedly for conservative ends, but really for the suppression of political liberty and the maintenance of absolute power. holy coat of trÈves, a seamless coat alleged to have been deposited there by the empress helena, and to have been the one worn by christ. holy fair, a rural celebration of the communion once common in scotland, attended not only by the people of the parish, but by large numbers of strangers from far and near; described by burns. holy island or lindisfarne, an islet of northumberland, ½ m. se. of berwick; is separated from the mainland by a stretch of sand bare at low water, and some m. broad; has interesting ruins of a benedictine priory church where st. cuthbert (q. v.) once ministered; there is a small village and fine old castle. holy office, name given to the inquisition (q. v.). holy wars, name given to the crusades (q. v.). holy week, the week before easter, so called as consecrated to the commemoration of the passion of christ in view of his death on the cross. holyhead ( ), an important little seaport of anglesey, north wales, on the n. side of an island of the same name, m. w. of bangor; is the chief mail-packet station for ireland, and has excellent harbourage, &c. holyhead island ( ), a rocky islet forming a part of anglesey, from which it is separated by a narrow strait, dry at low water, and crossed by an arched causeway. holyoake, george jacob, an active propagandist of advanced social theories, born at birmingham; has lived a busy life as an agitator, lecturing and writing; he espoused the cause of garibaldi, edited the _reasoner_; was the last man to be imprisoned in england on a charge of atheism ( ); was a zealous supporter of co-operation and all movements making for the betterment of the social condition of the working-classes; his numerous works embrace a valuable "history of co-operation in england," "the limits of atheism," "sixty years of an agitator's life," &c.; _b_. . holyoke ( ), a city of massachusetts, m. n. of springfield, on the connecticut, whose rapid current supplies the water-power for the many large paper-mills, cotton and woollen factories. holyrood, an abbey founded at edinburgh in by david i., and dedicated in honour of the holy cross, a casket of gold shaped like a cross brought to the country by st. margaret in ; a palace was afterwards attached, which became the chief seat of the scottish sovereigns of the stuart dynasty; the parks around were at one time a sanctuary for debtors. holywell ( ), a market-town of flintshire, has an elevated situation, m. nw. of chester; the principal industry is the smelting of lead, iron, copper, and zinc ores obtained from the surrounding mines; the famous well of st. winifred (whence the name of the town) is over-built by a fine perpendicular chapel. homburg ( ), a fashionable watering-place in hesse-nassau, prussia, beautifully situated at the base of the taunus mountains, m. nw. of frankfort-on-the-main; has fine chalybeate and saline springs. home, defined by ruskin as "the place of peace; the shelter not only from all injury, but from all terror, doubt, and division. in so far as it is not this, it is not home; so far as the anxieties of the outer world penetrate into it, and the inconsistently-minded, unknown, unloved, or hostile society, the outer world, is allowed by either husband or wife to cross the threshold, it ceases to be home; it is then only a part of the outer world which you have roofed over and lighted a fire in." home, daniel dunglas, a noted spiritualist, born near edinburgh; became widely known as a "medium," was presented at courts and to the pope; was expelled from the catholic church for spiritualistic practices, and latterly became involved in a lawsuit with a mrs. lyon, who had bestowed upon him £ , and forced him to return it; he is supposed to have suggested to browning his well-known poem "sludge--the medium"; wrote several books ( - ). home, john, scotch divine and dramatist, born at leith; graduated at edinburgh, and entered the church in ; became minister at athelstaneford, near haddington, where he wrote the tragedies "agis" and "douglas"; the latter established his fame, but brought him into disgrace with the presbytery, and he withdrew to england, becoming secretary to the earl of bute; his plays were produced by garrick, and displaced the stiff and artificial tragedies of addison, johnson, &c.; besides his dramatic works and poems he published a "history of the rebellion of " ( - ). home rule, a form of local self-government, a name applied to an administration of the kind projected by mr. gladstone for ireland. homer, the great epic poet of greece, and the greatest of all time; author of the "iliad" and the "odyssey," and for the honour of being the place of whose birth seven greek cities contended; is said, when old and blind, to have wandered from city to city rehearsing his verses, and to have lived years before christ, some time after the reign of solomon; it is only modern criticism that has called in question his existence, and has ventured to argue that the poems ascribed to him are a mere congeries of compositions of the early fabulous age of greece, but the unity of the plan and the simplicity of the style of the poems go to condemn this theory in the regard of most homeric scholars. homildon hill, in northumberland, m. ne. of wooler; the scene of hotspur's famous victory over the scots under earl douglas, december , . homoeopathy, a method of treating diseases advocated by hahnemann (q. v.) which professes to cure a disease by administering in small quantities medicines that would produce it in a healthy person. homoiousia, name given to the semi-arian doctrine that the son is of _like_ substance with the father, in opposition to the orthodox doctrine called homoousia that he is of the _same_ substance. homologoumena, name given to the books of the new testament accepted as canonical. honduras ( ), a maritime republic of central america, whose northern seaboard fronts the gulf of honduras in the caribbean sea, between nicaragua on the s. and se. and guatemala on the w., less than four-fifths the size of england; the coast lands are low and swampy, but the interior consists chiefly of elevated tableland diversified by broad rich valleys; the cordilleras traverse the country in a nw. direction, and form the watershed of many streams; fever prevails along the low, hot coast, but the highlands are cool and healthful; large numbers of cattle are raised, and fruits, india-rubber, indigo, &c., are exported, but agriculture is backward; its mineral wealth is very great; silver ore is abundant, and other minerals, such as gold, iron, copper, but the enterprise is wanting to the carrying out of mining on a proper scale; honduras broke away from spain in , and became an independent state in ; the government is vested in a president and six ministers, and the legislative power in a congress of members; the population is, with the exception of a few thousands, composed of blacks; tegucigalpa ( ) is the capital. hone, william, miscellaneous writer and political satirist, born at bath; threw up his position as a law clerk in london and started a print and book shop; became a busy contributor to newspapers, and involved himself in serious trouble by the freedom of his political parodies and satires; of his many squibs, satires, &c., mention maybe made of "the political house that jack built," "the queen's matrimonial ladder," "the political showman," all illustrated by g. cruikshank (q. v.) ( - ). honeycomb, will, a jaunty member of the "spectator club." honfleur ( ), a seaport of france, situated on the estuary of the seine, opposite havre; has a good harbour; exports dairy produce, cattle, &c.; has sugar refineries, tanworks, &c. hong-kong ( ), an island lying off the mouth of the canton river, south china; was ceded to britain in ; is hilly and unproductive, but is well watered and tolerably healthy; it owes its great importance as a commercial centre to its favourable position, its magnificent harbour, and to its having been made a free port and the head-quarters of the european banks; opium is the chief import, silk and tea the principal exports; victoria, a handsome city on the n. side, is the capital, seat of the british governor, &c. honiton ( ), an ancient market-town of devonshire, close to the otter, m. ne. of exeter; is famed for its pillow-lace, an industry introduced by some flemish refugees in the th century. honolulu ( ), capital of the hawaiian islands (q. v.), situated on an arid strip of land on the s. side of oahu; is nicely laid out after the manner of a european town; and has the only good harbour in the archipelago. honorius, the name of four popes: h. i., the most famous, pope from to ; h. ii., pope from to ; h. iii., pope from to ; and h. iv., pope from to . honorius, flavius, emperor of the west, born at constantinople, son of theodosius the great, a weak ruler, and only able to resist the invasion of the goths so long as stilicho, his minister, lived, for after the murder of the latter by treachery matters with him went from bad to worse, and he saw some of his finest provinces snatched from his grasp ( - ). hontheim, a german catholic theologian, born at trèves; distinguished for his bold assertion and subsequent retractation of a doctrine called febronianism, from the _nom de plume_ febronius which he assumed, tending to the disparagement of the papal authority in the church ( - ). honthorst, gerard van, a flemish painter, born at utrecht, painted night and torchlight scenes; "christ before pilate" his best-known work ( - ). honved`, name given in hungary to the landwehr, or originally to any distinguished national patriot or party. hood, samuel, viscount, a distinguished admiral, born at thorncombe; entered the navy in , and rising rapidly in his profession evinced high qualities as a leader; in he brilliantly outmanoeuvred de grasse in the west indies, and under rodney played a conspicuous part in the destruction of the french fleet at the battle of dominica, for which he was rewarded with an irish peerage; he defeated fox in the celebrated westminster election, became a lord of the admiralty, and as commander of the mediterranean fleet during the revolutionary wars, captured the french fleet at toulon and reduced corsica; in he was created a viscount ( - ). hood, thomas, poet and humourist, born in london; gave up business and engraving, to which he first applied himself, for letters, and commencing as a journalist, immortalised himself by the "song of the shirt" and his "dream of eugene aram"; edited the "comic annual," and wrote "whims and oddities," in all of which he displayed both wit and pathos ( - ). hooghly or hÛgli, , the most important and most westerly of the several branches into which the ganges divides on approaching the sea, breaks away from the main channel near santipur, and flowing in a southerly direction past calcutta, reaches the bay of bengal after a course of m.; navigation is rendered hazardous by the accumulating and shifting silt; the "bore" rushes up with great rapidity, and attains a height of ft. , a city ( ) on the western bank of the river, m. n. of calcutta; is capital of a district, and has a college for english and asiatic literature. hook, theodore, comic dramatist, born in london; wrote a number of farces sparkling with wit and highly popular; appointed to be accountant-general of the mauritius, came to grief for peculation by a subordinate under his administration; solaced and supported himself after his acquittal by writing novels ( - ). hooke, robert, natural philosopher, born at freshwater, isle of wight; was associated with boyle in the construction of the air-pump, and in became professor of geometry in gresham college, london; was a man of remarkable inventiveness, and quick to deduce natural laws from meagre premises; thus he in some important points anticipated newton's theory of gravitation, and foresaw the application of steam to machinery; he discovered amongst other things the balance-spring of watches, the anchor-escapement of clocks, the simplest theory of the arch, and made important improvements on the telescope, microscope, and quadrant ( - ). hooker, richard, english church theologian and ecclesiastical writer, born in exeter; famous as the author of "ecclesiastical polity," in defence of the church against the puritans, characterised by stopford brooke as "a stately work, and the first monument of splendid literary prose that we possess"; of this work pope clement viii. said, "there are such seeds of eternity in it as will continue till the last fire shall devour all learning"; the author is distinguished by the surname of "the judicious" for his calm wisdom; he was not judicious, it would seem, in the choice of a wife, who was a shrew and a scold ( - ). hooker, sir william, botanist, born at norwich; was professor of botany in glasgow from to , after which he held the post of director of kew gardens; his writings in botany are numerous ( - ). hoolee, in india, the name of a saturnalian festival in honour of krishna (q. v.). hooper, john, bred for the church; was converted to protestantism, and had to leave the country; returned on the accession of edward vi. and was made bishop of gloucester; was committed to prison in the reign of mary, condemned as a heretic, and burned at the stake in gloucester ( - ). hoosac mountain, in the green mountain range in massachusetts, is noted for its railway tunnel, nearly m. in length, and the longest in america. hope, antony, _nom de plume_ of a. h. hawkins, novelist, born in london, educated at oxford; called to the bar; author of "men of mark," "prisoner of zenda," &c.; _b_. . hope, thomas, traveller and virtuoso, author of "anastasius, or the memoirs of a modern greek," which byron was proud to have fathered on him, and of a posthumous essay on the "origin and prospects of man," was famous as having suggested to carlyle one of the most significant things he ever wrote, while he pronounced it perhaps the absurdest book written in our century by a thinking man. see carlyle's miscellaneous essay "characteristics." hÔpital, michel de l', chancellor of france; stoutly resisted the persecution of the protestants, and secured for them a measure of toleration, but his enemies were too strong for him; he was driven from power in , and went into retirement; was spared during the massacre of st. bartholomew, but it broke his heart, and he survived it only a few days ( - ). hopkins, samuel, an american divine, born at waterbury, connecticut; was pastor at newport; was a calvinist in theology, but of a special type, as he denied imputation and insisted on disinterested benevolence as the mark of a christian; gave name to a party, hopkinsians, as they were called, who held the same views ( - ). horatii. see curiatii horatius flaccus or horace, roman poet, born at venusium, in apulia; was educated at rome and in athens, and when there in his twenty-first year joined marcus brutus, became a military tribune, and fought at philippi, after which he submitted to the conqueror and returned to rome to find his estate forfeited; for a time afterwards he had to be content with a frugal life, but by-and-by he attracted the notice of virgil, and he introduced him to mæcenas, who took him into his friendship and bestowed on him a small farm, to which he retired and on which he lived in comfort for the rest of his life; his works, all in verse, consist of odes, satires, and epistles, and reveal an easy-going man of the world, of great practical sagacity and wise remark; they abound in happy phrases and quotable passages ( - b.c.). horn, cape, the most southern point of america, is a lofty, precipitous, and barren promontory of hermit island, in the fuegian archipelago. horn gate, the gate of dreams which come true, as distinct from the ivory gate, through which the visions seen are shadowy and unreal. hornbook, was a sheet of vellum or paper used in early times for teaching the rudiments of education, on which were inscribed the alphabet in black or roman letters, some monosyllables, the lord's prayer, and the roman numerals; this sheet was covered with a slice of transparent horn, and was still in use in george ii.'s reign. horrocks, jeremiah, a celebrated astronomer, born at toxteth, near liverpool; passed through cambridge, took orders, and received the curacy of hoole, lancashire; was devoted to astronomy, and was the first to observe the transit of venus, of which he gave an account in his treatise "venus in sole visa" ( - ). horse-power, the unit of work of a steam-engine, being the power to raise , lbs. one foot in one minute. horsham ( ), a market-town of sussex, m. nw. of brighton; has a fine specimen of an early english church, and does a thriving trade in brewing, tanning, iron-founding, &c. horsley, samuel, english prelate, born in london; celebrated as the champion of orthodoxy against the attacks of priestley (q. v.), in which he showed great learning but much bitterness, which, however, brought him church preferment; was in succession bishop of st. davids, rochester, and st. asaph ( - ). hosea, a hebrew prophet, a native of the northern kingdom of israel, and a contemporary of isaiah, the burden of whose prophecy is, israel has by her idolatries and immoralities forsaken the lord, and the lord has forsaken israel, in whom alone her salvation is to be found. hoshangabad ( ), capital of a district of the same name in the central provinces, india, situated on the nerbudda river, m. se. of bhopal; is a military station, and has a considerable trade in cotton, grain, &c. hoshiarpur ( ), a town in the punjab, at the base of the siwalik hills, m. e. of lahore; is capital of a district, and is the seat of an american mission. hospitallers, the name given to several religious brotherhoods or orders of knights under vow to provide and care for the sick and wounded, originally in connection with pilgrimages and expeditions to jerusalem. hospodar, a title once borne by the kings of poland and the governors of moldavia and wallachia. hostilius, tullus, the third king of rome from to b.c.; showed more zeal for conquest than for the worship of the gods, who in the end smote him and his whole house with fire. hottentots, a name somewhat indiscriminately applied to the first known inhabitants of cape colony, who, however, comprised two main tribes, the khoikhoi and the bushmen, in many respects dissimilar, but speaking languages characterised alike by harsh and clicking sounds, a circumstance which induced the early dutch settlers to call them hottentots, which means practically "jabberers"; the great majority are semi-civilised now, and servile imitators of their conquerors. houdon, jean-antoine, an eminent french sculptor, born of humble parentage at versailles; at he won the _prix de rome_, and for years studied with enthusiasm the early masters at rome, where he produced his great statue of st. bruno; he was elected in turn a member of the academy and of the institute, paris, and in became professor at the École des beaux-arts; he was unrivalled in portraiture, and executed statues of rousseau, voltaire, diderot, mirabeau, washington, napoleon, and others ( - ). houghton, richard monckton milnes, lord, poet and patron of letters, born of good family at fryston hall, pontefract; graduated at cambridge; entered parliament as a conservative, but subsequently went over to the other side, and in was raised to the peerage by palmerston; was a man of varied interests, a traveller, leader of society, philanthropist, and above all the friend and patron of authors; his works include various volumes of poetry, "life of keats," "monographs, personal and social," &c. ( - ). hounslow ( ), a town of middlesex, m. sw. of london; railways have done away with its importance as a posting town; in the vicinity are gunpowder mills, barracks, and the famous hounslow heath. houri, a beautiful maiden who, according to the mohammedan faith, awaits the advent of a pious moslem in paradise. houston, samuel, president of the texan republic, born in virginia; was adopted by a cherokee indian, and rose from the rank of a common soldier to be governor of tennessee in ; as commander-in-chief in texas he crushed the mexicans, won the independence of texas, and became the first president of the new republic in ; subsequently represented texas in the united states senate; was elected governor and deposed in for opposing secession ( - ). houyhn`hnms, an imaginary race of horses in "gulliver's travels" endowed with reason. hoveden, roger of, chronicler, born at howden, yorkshire; held an appointment in henry ii.'s household; was engaged in various missions to the monastic houses, and in became an itinerant justice; his well-known chronicle begins where bede's ends, , and continues down to . howard, catherine, fifth wife of henry viii., granddaughter of the duke of norfolk; was married to henry in after his divorce from anne of clèves; two years later she was found guilty of immoral conduct prior to her marriage, and was executed ( - ). howard, john, a noted philanthropist, born at hackney, middlesex; was left in easy circumstances at his father's death; a bitter experience as a french prisoner of war and observations made whilst acting as sheriff of bedfordshire roused him to attempt some reform of the abuses and misery of prison life; he made a tour of the county jails of england, and the mass of information which he laid before the house of commons in brought about the first prison reforms; he continued his visitations from year to year to every part of the united kingdom and to every quarter of the continent; during - he made a tour of inspection through the principal lazarettos of europe, visited plague-smitten cities, and voluntarily underwent the rigours of the quarantine system; he died at the crimea whilst on a journey to the east; he published at various times accounts of his journeys; his deep piety, cool sense, and single-hearted devotedness to his one great object won him universal respect throughout europe ( - ). howe, john, a puritan divine, born at loughborough; was educated at oxford and cambridge, took orders, and became the outspoken and universally respected chaplain to cromwell; after the restoration he was ejected from the church by the act of uniformity; subsequently he was in turn domestic chaplain to lord massarene in ireland, and pastor of a dissenting congregation in london; for some years he settled in utrecht, but in returned to england after the declaration for liberty of conscience, and became a leader of the dissenters; he published a number of works which display a powerful, philosophic, and earnest mind; his "the good man the living temple of god" remains a masterpiece of puritan theology; he was a man of exceptional strength of character, and it was said that he could awe cromwell into silence and tillotson into tears ( - ). howe, richard, earl, admiral, born in london, son of an irish viscount; first saw service under anson against the spaniards; distinguished himself during the seven years' war; in became first lord of the admiralty, and was created an earl; during the french war in he commanded the channel fleet, and gained "the glorious first of june" victory off ushant ( - ). howell, james, an english writer, whose "familiar letters" have won a permanent place in english literature, born in abernant, carmarthenshire; travelled for many years on the continent in a business capacity; entered parliament in ; was for some years a royalist spy, and suffered imprisonment at the fleet; at the restoration he was created historiographer-royal; his works are numerous, but his fame rests upon his entertaining "instructions for foreigne travell" and his graceful and witty "familiar letters" ( - ). howells, william dean, a popular american novelist, the son of a swedenborgian journalist, born at martin's ferry, ohio; adopted journalism as a profession, produced a popular life of lincoln, and from to was consul at venice; resuming journalism he became a contributor to the best american papers and magazines, and was for a number of years editor of the _atlantic monthly;_ an excellent journalist, poet, and critic, it is yet as a novelist--witty, graceful, and acute--that he is best known; "a chance acquaintance," "a foregone conclusion," "a modern instance," "an indian summer" are among his more popular works; _b_. . howitt, william, a miscellaneous writer, who, with his equally talented wife, mary howitt ( - ) (_née_ botham), did much to popularise the rural life of england, born, a quaker's son, at heanor, derbyshire; served his time as a carpenter, but soon drifted into literature, married in , and made many tours in england and other lands for literary purposes; was a voluminous writer, pouring out histories, accounts of travel, tales, and poems; amongst these are "rural life in england," "visits to remarkable places," "homes and haunts of the poets," &c. ( - ). his wife, besides collaborating with him in such works as "stories of english life," "ruined abbeys of great britain," wrote poems, tales, &c., and was the first to translate the fairy-tales of hans andersen. howrah or haura ( ), a flourishing manufacturing town on the hooghly, opposite calcutta, with which it is connected by a floating bridge. hoy, a steep, rocky islet in the orkney group, about m. sw. of mainland or pomona, remarkable for its huge cliffs. hoylake ( ), a rising watering-place in cheshire, at the seaward end of wirral peninsula, m. w. of birkenhead; noted for its golf-links. hoyle, edmond, the inventor of whist, lived in london; wrote on games and taught whist; his "short treatise on whist" appeared in ( - ). hrolf, rollo, duke of normandy (q. v.) huancaveli`ca ( ), a dep. of peru, lies within the region of the cordilleras, has rich silver and quicksilver mines; the capital ( ), bearing the same name, is a mining town m. se. of lima. hub of the universe, a name humorously given by wendell holmes to boston, or rather the state house of the city. huber, francis, naturalist, born at geneva; made a special study of the habits of bees, and recorded the results in his "observations sur les abeilles" ( - ). hubert, st., bishop of liège and maestricht, the patron-saint of huntsmen; was converted when hunting on good friday by a milk-white stag appearing in the forest of ardennes with a crucifix between its horns; generally represented in art as a hunter kneeling to a crucifix borne by a stag ( - ). hubert de burgh, earl of kent, chief justiciary of england under king john and henry iii.; had charge of prince arthur, but refused to put him to death; was present at runnymede at the signing of magna charta; _d_. . huc, a french missionary, born at toulouse; visited china and thibet, and wrote an account of his experiences on his return ( - ). huddersfield ( ), a busy manufacturing town in the west riding of yorkshire, is favourably situated in a coal district on the colne, m. ne. of manchester; is substantially built, and is the northern centre of the "fancy trade" and woollen goods; cotton, silk, and machine factories and iron-founding are also carried on on a large scale. hudibras, a satire by samuel butler on the puritans, published in , born of the reaction that set in after the restoration. hudson, in new york state, one of the most picturesque of north american rivers, rises amid the adirondack mountains, and from glen's fall flows s. to new york bay, having a course of m.; is navigable for steamboats as far as albany, m. from its mouth. it has valuable fisheries. hudson, george, the railway king, originally a linen-draper in york, the great speculator in the construction and extension of railways, in connection with which he made a huge fortune; acquired civic honours, and was nearly having a statue raised to his honour, but certain frauds being exposed he fell into disgrace and embarrassment, and died in london; he was elected thrice over lord mayor of york, and represented sunderland in parliament from to ( - ). hudson, henry, english navigator; made three unsuccessful efforts to discover a north-east passage, then turned his course north-westward, and discovered in the river, strait, and bay which bear his name; his sailors in his last expedition in mutinying, set him and eight others adrift in an open boat, and though an expedition was sent in quest of him, he was nowhere to be found. hudson bay, an inland sea in north america, m. long and m. wide, communicating with the atlantic; discovered by hudson in . hudson bay company, a joint-stock company founded in to obtain furs and skins from north america, under charter granted by charles ii., the possessions of which were in incorporated in the dominion of canada. huÉ ( ), capital of the french protectorate annam, on the hué, m. above its mouth, is strongly fortified with walls and a citadel. huelva ( ), a thriving seaport in spain, m. sw. of seville, between the mouths of the odiel and tinto; fisheries and the exportation of copper, manganese, quicksilver, and wine are the chief industries. huerta, garcia de la, a spanish poet, was royal librarian in madrid; wrote tragedy of "raguel," thought of very highly ( - ). huesca ( ), an interesting old spanish town, m. ne. of saragossa; has picturesque old churches, a university, and a palace; manufactures linen and leather. huet, pierre daniel, a learned french prelate, born at caen; a pupil of descartes; associated with bossuet as scholar, and editor of origen ( - ). hug, leonhard, a catholic theologian and biblical scholar, author of an "introduction to the new testament" ( - ). hugh capet, the first of the capetian dynasty of france, son of hugh capet, count of paris; proclaimed king in ; his reign was a troubled one by the revolt of the very party that had raised him to the throne, and who refused to own his supremacy; adelbert, a count of périgueux, had usurped the titles of count of poitiers and of tours, and the king, sending a messenger to ask "who made you count?" got for answer the counter-challenge "who made you king?" ( - ). hughenden, a parish in buckinghamshire, in the chiltern district, m. n. of high wycombe; is interesting as the seat of hughenden manor, for many years the residence of benjamin disraeli, earl of beaconsfield. hughes, thomas, author of "tom brown's school-days," born at uffington, berks; was at rugby in dr. arnold's time, graduated at oxford, and was called to the bar in ; his famous story of rugby school life, "tom brown's school-days," was published in , and was followed by "tom brown at oxford" and other stories and biographies; he entered parliament in , and in became a county court judge; throughout his life he was keenly interested in social questions and the betterment of the working-classes ( - ). hugo, victor-marie, a famous french poet and novelist, born at besançon; as a boy he accompanied his father, a general in joseph bonaparte's army, through the campaigns in italy and spain; at he produced a tragedy, and six years later appeared his "odes et ballades"; in was published his famous tragedy "cromwell," which placed him at the head of the romanticists, and in "hernani" ( ) the departure from the old classic novels was more emphatically asserted; his superabundant genius continued to pour forth a quick succession of dramas, novels, essays, and poems, in which he revealed himself one of the most potent masters of the french language; he was admitted to the french academy, and in was created a peer; he engaged in politics first as a royalist and next as a democrat, fled to brussels after the _coup d'état_; subsequently he established himself in jersey and then in guernsey, where he wrote his great novels "les misérables," "les travailleurs de la mer," etc.; he returned to france in , engaged in politics again, became a senator, and continued to produce works with undiminished energy; his writings were in the first instance a protest against the self-restraint and coldness of the old classic models, but were as truly a faithful expression of his own intense and assertive egoism, and are characteristic of his school in their exaggerated sentiment and pervading self-consciousness ( - ). huguenots, a name formerly given to the protestants of france, presumed to be a corruption of the german word _eingenossen_, i. e. sworn confederates, the history of whom and their struggles and persecutions fills a large chapter in the history of france, a cause which was espoused at the first by many of the nobles and the best families in the country, but all along in disfavour at court. hull, or kingston-upon-hull ( ), a flourishing river-port in the e. riding of yorkshire, at the junction of the hull with the humber, m. se. of york; is an old town, and has many interesting churches, statues, and public buildings; is the third port of the kingdom; has immense docks, is the principal outlet for the woollen and cotton goods of the midlands, and does a great trade with the baltic and germany; has flourishing shipbuilding yards, rope and canvas factories, sugar refineries, oil-mills, etc., and is an important centre of the east coast fisheries. hullah, john, professor of music, born in worcester; did much to popularise music in england ( - ). hulsean lectures, fruits of a lectureship tenable for one year, founded by rev. john hulse, of st. john's college, in ; delivered annually to the number of four, bearing on revealed religion. humanist, one who at the revival of letters upheld the claims of classical learning in opposition to the supporters of the scholastic philosophy. humanitarians, a name given to those who maintain the simple humanity of christ to the denial of his divinity; also to those who view human nature as sufficient for itself apart from all supernatural guidance and aid. humbert i., king of italy, son of victor emmanuel, whom he succeeded in ; took while crown prince an active part in the movement for italian unity, and distinguished himself by his bravery; _b_. . humboldt, friedrich heinrich alex., baron von, great traveller and naturalist, born in berlin; devoted all his life to the study of nature in all its departments, travelling all over the continent, and in , with aimÉ bonpland (q. v.) for companion, visiting s. america, traversing the orinoco, and surveying and mapping out in the course of five years venezuela, columbia, ecuador, peru, and mexico, the results of which he published in his "travels"; his chief work is the "kosmos," or an account of the visible universe, in vols., originally delivered as lectures in paris in the winter of - ; he was a friend of goethe, who held him in the highest esteem ( - ). humboldt, karl wilhelm von, an eminent statesman and philologist, born at potsdam, elder brother of the preceding; represented prussia at rome and vienna, but devoted himself chiefly to literary and scientific pursuits; wrote on politics and æsthetics as well as philology, and corresponded with nearly all the literary grandees of germany ( - ). hume, david, philosopher and historian, born in edinburgh, the younger son of a berwickshire laird; after trial of law and mercantile life gave himself up to study and speculation; spent much of his life in france, and fraternised with the sceptical philosophers and encyclopedists there; his chief works, "treatise on human nature" ( ), "essays" ( - ), "principles of morals" ( ), and "history of england" ( - ); his philosophy was sceptical to the last degree, but from the excess of it provoked a reaction in germany, headed by kant, which has yielded positive results; he found in life no connecting principle, no purpose, and had come to regard it as a restless aimless, heaving up and down, swaying to and fro on a waste ocean of blind sensations, without rational plot or counterplot, god or devil, and had arrived at an absolutely _non-possumus_ stage, which, however, as hinted, was followed by a speedy and steady rebound, in speculation at all events; hume's history has been characterised by stopford brooke as clear in narrative and pure in style, but cold and out of sympathy with his subject, as well as inaccurate; personally, he was a guileless and kindly man ( - ). hume, joseph, a politician, born in montrose; studied medicine, and served as a surgeon under the east india company in india, made his fortune, and came home; adopted the political principles of bentham and entered parliament, of which he continued a prominent member till his death; he was an ardent reformer, and lived to see many of the measures he advocated crowned with success ( - ). humour, distinct from wit, and defined as "a warm, tender, fellow-feeling with all that exists," as "the sport of sensibility and, as it were, the playful, teasing fondness of a mother for a child" ... as "a sort of inverse sublimity exalting into our affections what is below us,... warm and all-embracing as the sun." hundred days, the name given to the period between napoleon's return from elba and his abdication, from mar. to june , , after waterloo. hundyades john corvinus, a hungarian captain of the th century, a formidable foe of the turks. hungary ( , ), the eastern part of austro-hungary, including hungary proper, transylvania, croatia, and slavonia, and, except in military and diplomatic matters and customs dues, with a considerable amount of self-government independent of austria, differing from it, as it does, in race, language, and many other respects, to such a degree as gives rise to much dissension, and every now and then threatens disruption. huns, the, a horde of barbarians of mongolian origin who invaded europe from the shores of the caspian sea in two wars, the first in the th century, which at length subsided, and the second in the th century, ultimately under atilla, which, in the main body of them at all events, was driven back and even dispersed; they have been described as a race with broad shoulders, flat noses, small black eyes buried in the head, and without beards. hunt, holman, painter, born in london; became a pupil of rossetti, and "his greatest disciple," and joined the pre-raphaelite movement; he began with "worldly subjects," but soon quitted these "virtually for ever" under rossetti's influence, and "rose into the spiritual passion which first expressed itself in his 'light of the world,'" with this difference, as ruskin points out, between him and his "forerunner," that whereas rossetti treated the story of the new testament as a mere thing of beauty, with hunt, "when once his mind entirely fastened on it, it became ... not merely a reality, not merely the greatest of realities, but the only reality"; in this religious realistic spirit, as ruskin further remarks, all hunt's great work is done, and he notices how in all subjects which fall short of the religious element, "his power also is shortened, and he does those things worst which are easiest to other men"; his principal works in this spirit are "the scape-goat," "the finding of christ in the temple," "the shadow of death," and the "triumph of the innocents," to which we may add "the strayed sheep," remarkable as well for its vivid sunshine, "producing," says ruskin, "the same impressions on the mind as are caused by the light itself"; _b_. . hunt, leigh, essayist and poet; was of the cockney school, a friend of keats and shelley; edited the _examiner_, a radical organ; was a busy man but a thriftless, and always in financial embarrassment, though latterly he had a fair pension; lived near carlyle, who at one time saw a good deal of him, his household, and its disorderliness, an eyesore to carlyle, a "_poetical tinkerdom_" he called it, in which, however, he received his visitors "in the spirit of a king, apologising for nothing"; carlyle soon tired of him, though he was always ready to help him when in need ( - ). hunter, john, anatomist and surgeon, born near east kilbride, lanarkshire; started practice as a surgeon in london, became surgeon to st. george's hospital, and at length surgeon to the king; is distinguished for his operations in the cure of aneurism; he built a museum, in which he collected an immense number of specimens illustrative of subjects of medical study, which, after his death, was purchased by government ( - ). hunter, sir william, indian statistician, in the indian civil service, and at the head of the statistical department; has written several statistical accounts, the "gazetteer of india," and other elaborate works on india; with lives of the earl of mayo and the marquis of dalhousie; _b_. . huntingdon ( ), the county town of huntingdonshire, stands on the left bank of the ouse m. n. of london; has breweries, brick-works, and nurseries, and was the birthplace of oliver cromwell. huntingdon, countess of, a leader among the whitfield methodists, and foundress of a college for the "connexion" at cheshunt ( - ). huntingdonshire ( ), an undulating county ne. of the fen district, laid out for most part in pasture and dairy land; many roman remains are to be found scattered about in it. hurd, richard, english bishop in succession of lichfield and worcester; was both a religious writer and a critic; was the author of "letters on chivalry and romance," "dissertations on poetry," and "commentaries on horace's ars poetica," the last much admired by gibbon ( - ). huron, a lake in n. america, m. long and m. broad, the second largest on the average of the five on the lawrence basin, interspersed with numerous islands. hurons, the, a tribe of red indians of the iroquois family. huskisson, william, an english statesman and financier; distinguished for his services when in office in the relaxation of restrictions on trade ( - ). huss, john, a bohemian church reformer; was a disciple of wyclif, and did much to propagate his teaching, in consequence of which he was summoned in to answer for himself before the council of constance; went under safe-conduct from the emperor; "they laid him instantly in a stone dungeon, three feet wide, six feet high, seven feet long; burnt the true voice of him out of this world; choked it in smoke and fire" ( - ). hutcheson, francis, moral philosopher, born in ulster, son of a presbyterian minister; educated in glasgow; became professor in the university there and founder of the scotch school of philosophy, who, according to dr. stirling, has not received the honour in that regard which is his due ( - ). hutchinson, anne, a religious fanatic, born in england, settled in new england, u.s.; expelled from the colony for antinomian heresy, took refuge in rhode island, and was with her family butchered by the indians ( - ). hutchinson, colonel, one of the puritan leaders, and a prominent actor in the puritan revolt, to the extent of signing the death-warrant of the king, but broke partnership as a republican with cromwell when he assumed sovereign power, and sullenly refused to be reconciled to the protector, though he begged him towards his end beseechingly as his old comrade in arms ( - ). hutchinson, john, a theological faddist, born in yorkshire; in his "thoughts concerning religion," derived all religion and philosophy from the bible, but directly, as he insisted, from the original hebrew, in which view he had a following of a few intelligent people ( - ). hutten, ulrich von, a zealous humanist and reformer, born in the castle of steckelberg, in hesse, of an ancient and noble family; allied himself as a scholar with erasmus, and then with luther as a man; entered heart and soul into the reformation of the latter to a rupture with the former, and by his writings, which included invectives against the clergy and appeals to the nation, did much, amid many perils, to advance the cause of german emancipation from the thraldom of the church ( - ). hutton, charles, a mathematician, born in newcastle; became professor at the royal military academy, woolwich; wrote on mathematics and physics ( - ). hutton, james, celebrated geologist, born in edinburgh; bred to medicine, but devoted himself to agriculture and chemistry, which led on to geology; was the author of the plutonic theory of the earth, which ascribes the inequalities and other phenomena in the crust of it to the agency of the heat at the centre ( - ). huxley, thomas henry, eminent scientist in the department of natural history, born at ealing, middlesex; was professor of natural history in the royal school of mines; distinguished by his studies and discoveries in different sections of the animal kingdom, in morphology and palæontology; was a zealous advocate of evolution, in particular the views of darwin, and a champion of science against the orthodoxy of the church; he was a man of eminent literary ability as well as scientific, and of the greatest in that regard among scientific men ( - ). huygens, christian, a dutch geometrician, physicist, and astronomer, born at the hague; published the first scientific work on the calculation of probabilities, improved the telescope, broached the undulatory theory of light, discovered the fourth satellite of saturn, invented the pendulum clock, and stands as a physicist midway between galileo and newton ( - ). hydaspes, the ancient name of the jhelum, the northernmost tributary of the indus. hyder ali, a mohammedan ruler of mysore; raised himself to be commander-in-chief of the army; organised it on the french model; unseated the rajah; conquered calicut, bednor, and kananur; waged war successfully against the english and the mahrattas, and left his kingdom to his son tippoo saib (q. v.) ( - ). hyderabad ( ), the capital of the nizam's dominions in the deccan, is m. in circumference, strongly protected all round by a belt of rocky desert, and a centre of mohammedanism in india. also the capital of sind ( ), near the apex of the delta of the indus; manufactures silks, pottery, and lacquered ware, and is strongly fortified. hydra, the lernean, a monstrous reptile inhabiting a marsh, with a number of heads, that grew on again as often as they were chopped off, and the destruction of which was one of the twelve labours of hercules, an act which symbolises the toil expended in draining the fens of the world for man's habitation. hygeia, in the greek mythology the goddess of health, and daughter of Æsculapius; is represented as a virgin in a long robe, with a cup in her hand and a serpent drinking out of it. hymen, in the greek mythology the god of marriage, son of apollo, and one of the muses, represented as a boy with wings; originally a nuptial song sung at the departure of the bride from her parental home. hymer, a frost jötun, whose cows are icebergs; splits rocks with the glance of his eye. hymettus, a mountain in attica, famous for its honey and marble. hypatia, a far-famed lady teacher of greek philosophy in alexandria, distinguished for her beauty and purity of life, who, one day in , on her return home from her lecture-room, was massacred in the streets of the city, at the instance, of both jews and christians, as a propagator of paganism. hyperboreans, a people blooming in youth and health, fabled by the greeks to dwell in the extreme northern parts of the world under favour of apollo. hypermnestra, the only one of the danaides (q. v.) who spared the life of her husband in spite of her father's orders. hypnotism, the process of inducing sleep by wearying out the optic nerve of the eyes, by making the patient fix them upon a certain spot for a time, generally situated where it is a little wearisome for the eyes to find it. the fatigue thus induced spreads from the ocular muscles to the system, causing deep sleep. hyrcania, an ancient province of persia, on the e. and se. of the caspian sea, celebrated for the savage animals that inhabited its forests, as well as the savagery of its inhabitants. hyrcanus, john, the son of simon maccabeus, king of judea, as well as high-priest of the jews from to b.c.; achieved the independence of his country from the syrian yoke, extended the borders of it, and compelled the edomites to accept the jewish faith at the point of the sword; in the strife then rampant between the sadducees (q. v.) and the pharisees (q. v.) he sided with the former. i iachimo, an arch-villain in shakespeare's "cymbeline," who attempts to violate the chastity of imogen. iachus, the son of zeus and demeter, and the solemn name of bacchus in the eleusinian mysteries. iago, a cool, selfish, malignant, subtle, evil-scheming knave in "othello," his "ancient" or ensign, who poisoned his mind against desdemona. iamblichus, a neo-platonic philosopher of the th century, in the time of constantine, struggled, as it proved, in vain for the revival of greek philosophy, in the hope of thereby stemming the advance of christianity. iambus, a metrical foot, consisting of two syllables, of which the first is short and the second long, or in which the stress is on the second. iapetos, in the greek mythology a titan, father of atlas, prometheus, and epimetheus, as the greeks fabled the ancestor of the human race. iberia, the ancient and still poetic name of spain; anciently also a territory inhabited by an agricultural population between the black sea and the caspian, now called georgia. ibis, the nile bird, regarded as an avatar of deity, and held sacred by the egyptians; it did not breed in egypt, and was supposed to be of mystic origin; it arrives in egypt when the nile begins to rise. ibrahim bey, chief of the mamelukes of egypt at the time of bonaparte's expedition to egypt in ( - ). ibrahim pasha, viceroy of egypt, son and successor of mehemet-ali; appointed generalissimo of the egyptian army, remodelled it after the french fashion; was leader of the turks against the greeks; gained several victories over them in , but was obliged to retire; overran and conquered syria from the sultan, but was forced by the powers to surrender his conquest and restore it; he was viceroy of egypt only for a single year, and died at cairo ( - ). ibsen, henrik, norwegian dramatist and poet, born at skein, in norway; bred to medicine; is author of a succession of plays of a new type, commencing with "catalina," a poor attempt, followed by "doll's house," "ghosts," "pillars of society," and "brand," deemed his masterpiece, besides others; his characters are vividly drawn as if from life; he is a psychologist, and his productions have all more or less a social bearing; _b_. . ibycus, a greek lyric poet, who was murdered by robbers, and who appealed to a flock of cranes that flew past before he died to avenge his death, and that proved the means of the discovery of the murderers. icarus, son of dÆdalus (q. v.), who, flying with his father from crete on wax-fastened wings, soared so high that the sun melted the wax and he dropped into the sea, giving name to that part of it. ice blink, the name given to a white light seen on the horizon, due to reflection from a field of ice immediately beyond. iceland ( ), a volcanic island larger by a third than scotland, lying just s. of the polar circle, between greenland and norway, distant m. from the former and from the latter; consists of a plateau ft. high, sometimes sloping to the sea, sometimes ending in sheer precipices, from which rise numerous snow-clad volcanoes, some, like hecla, still active. "a wild land of barrenness and lava," carlyle characterises it, "swallowed up many months of the year in black tempests, yet with a wild gleaming beauty in summer time, towering up there stern and grim, with its snow jokuls and roaring geysers, and horrid volcanic chasms, like the waste chaotic battlefield of frost and fire." the interior comprises lava and sand tracts, and ice-fields, but outside these are river valleys and lake districts affording pasturage, and arable land capable of producing root crops. the climate is changeable, mild for the latitude, but somewhat colder than scotland. there are few trees, and these small; cranberries grow among the heather, and iceland moss is a plentiful article of food. the island exports sheep and ponies; the fisheries are important, including cod, seals, and whales; sulphur and coal are found; the hot springs are famous, especially the great geyser, near hecla. discovered by irishmen and colonised by norwegians in the th century, iceland passed over to the danes in , who granted it home rule in . the religion has been protestant since ; its elementary education is excellent. reykjavik ( ) is the capital; two towns have inhabitants each; the rest of the population is scattered in isolated farms; stock-raising and fishing are the principal industries, and the manufacture of homespun for their own use. ich dien (i serve), the motto of the black prince, adopted from john of bohemia, and since then that of the english prince of wales. ichneumon, an animal of the weasel tribe, worshipped in egypt from its destroying the eggs of noxious reptiles, and of the crocodile in particular. ichor, an ethereal fluid presumed to supply the place of blood in the veins of the greek gods. ichthyosaurus (lit. a fish-reptile), an extinct marine reptile in the shape of a fish, its limbs paddles, and with a long lizard-like tail. iconium, the capital of lycaonia, in asia minor, a flourishing city in st. paul's time, who planted a church there, and of importance in the time of the crusades; is now named konieh. iconoclasts (i. e. breakers of images), the name given to a sect who, in the th century, opposed to the presence of images in churches and the worship paid to them, set about the demolition of them as savouring of idolatry, and even in obtained a papal decree or condemnation of the practice; the enthusiasm died out in the next century, but the effect of it was felt in a controversy, which led to the separation of the church of the east from that of the west. ictinus, great greek architect of the th century b.c., a contemporary of pericles, designer of temples at bussæ and eleusis, and joint-designer with callicrates of the world's one perfect building, the parthenon, at athens ( b.c.). ida, the name of two mountains in the east, one in crete, on which zeus was brought up in a cave near it, and one in asia minor, near troy, "woody ida," the scene of the rape of ganymedes and of the judgment of paris, also a seat of cybele worship. idaho ( ), one of the north-western states of the american union, surrounded by washington and oregon in the w., nevada and utah in the s., wyoming in the e., and montana, from which it is separated by a branch of the rocky mountains, in the ne., the short northern boundary touches canada; the country is traversed by lofty mountain ranges cut up into deep river valleys and cañons, is extremely rugged in its northern parts, and chiefly useful for cattle-raising; there is a plateau in the centre, some arid prairie land in the s., and lake districts in the n. and in the se.; grain farming is restricted to fringes along the river banks; the snake river flows through the whole s.; silver, lead, gold, and copper mines are wrought successfully, and coal is found; the state was admitted to the union in ; a fifth of the population are mormons; there are still indians. boisé city ( ) is the capital. iddesleigh, earl of, sir stafford northcote, conservative financier and statesman, born in london of old devonshire stock; educated at oxford; became private secretary to mr. gladstone in , and five years later was called to the bar; entering parliament in , he sat in succession for dudley, for stamford, and for north devon; under lord derby he was financial secretary to the treasury in , and president of the board of trade in ; under disraeli he was at the india office in , and chancellor of the exchequer in ; he succeeded disraeli in the leadership of the commons, and was raised to the peerage in ; was successively first lord of the treasury and foreign secretary under lord salisbury; in mr. gladstone appointed him commissioner in the settlement of the _alabama_ claim, and he was elected lord hector of edinburgh university in ; resigning from the foreign office in january , he died suddenly a few days later at the prime minister's residence ( - ). idealism, that view of the universe which, in opposition to materialism (q. v.), refers everything to and derives everything from a spiritual root; is subjective if traced no further back than the _ego_, and objective if traced back to the _non-ego_ likewise, its counterpart, or other, in the objective world. idealism in art is art more or less at work in the region of the ideal in comparative disregard of the actual. ideler, christian ludwig, a german astronomer, born in prussia; an authority on chronology, on which he wrote a handbook, as also a work on the reckoning of time among the chinese ( - ). identical note, a term in diplomacy to denote terms agreed upon by two powers to coerce a third. ides, the name given in the roman calendar to certain days that _divide_ the month; in march, may, july, and october they fall on the th, in the rest on the th. idolatry, worship paid to a mere symbol of the divine while the heart is dead to all sense of that which it symbolises; a species of offence against the most high, of which many are flagrantly guilty who affect to regard with pity the worshipper of idols of wood or stone. "idolatry," says buskin, _apropos_ of carlyle's well-known doctrine, "is summed up in the one broad wickedness of refusing to worship force and resolving to worship no-force; denying the almighty, and bowing down to four-and-twopence with a stamp on it." idomeneus, king of crete, grandson of minos, and a hero of the greeks in the war with troy. idris, a giant, prince, and astronomer of welsh tradition, whose rock-hewn chair on the summit of cader idris was supposed to mete out to the bard who spent a night upon it death, madness, or poetic inspiration. idumÆa. see edom. iduna, a scandinavian goddess who kept a box of golden apples which the gods tasted when they wished to renew their youth; she was carried off one day, but being sent for by the gods, came back changed into a falcon. idyll, a poem in celebration of everyday life or life in everyday costume amid natural, often pastoral and even romantic, and at times tragic surroundings. if, an islet in the gulf of marseilles, with a castle built by francis i., and afterwards used as a state prison. iggdrasil the _tree_ of existence, as conceived of by the norse, and reflecting the norse idea of the universe, "has its roots deep down in the kingdoms of hela, or death; its trunk reaches up heaven-high, and spreads its boughs over the whole universe. at the foot of it, in the death-kingdom, sit the three nornas (q. v.) watering its roots from the sacred well." ignatieff, nicholas, russian general and diplomatist, born at st. petersburg; was ambassador at pekin in , and at constantinople in , and secured at both posts important concessions to russia; he is a zealous panslavist and anti-semite, too much so to carry with him the support of the country; _b_. . ignatius, father, the name by which the rev. joseph lyne is known, born in london, educated at st. paul's school and glenalmond; commenced a movement to introduce monasticism into the church of england, and built a monastery for monks and nuns near llanthony abbey, the members of which follow the rule and wear the garb of the order of st. benedict; _b_. . ignatius, st., surnamed theophoros, an apostolic father of the church, bishop of antioch; died a martyr at rome about , by exposure to wild beasts, in the amphitheatre; is represented in christian art as accompanied by lions, or exposed to them chained; left epistles which, if genuine as we have them, establish prelacy as the order of government in the primitive church, and lay especial stress on the twofold nature of christ. ignatius loyola. see loyola. ignorantines, a jesuit association in the roman catholic church founded in , who give instruction to poor children gratis, with the object of winning them over to the catholic faith. ihre, johan, a learned swedish philologist, born at lund, of scotch descent; was years professor of rhetoric and political economy at upsala, and was the founder of swedish philology ( - ). ile de france, the province of france of which paris is the capital; was also formerly the name of mauritius. ile du diable, an island off the coast of french guiana, where captain dreyfus was confined. ilfracombe, a popular watering-place on the coast of n. devon, in the bristol channel; once a considerable place. iliad, the great epic poem of homer, consisting of books, the subject of which is the "wrath of achilles" (q. v.), and the events which followed during the last year of the ten years' trojan war, so called from ilion, one of the names of troy. see ilium. ilithyia, the greek goddess who presided over the travail of woman at childbirth, promoting or retarding the birth as the fates might ordain. ilium, troy (q. v.), so called from ilus, the son of tros, who founded the city. illinois ( , ), an american state as large as england and wales; has the mississippi for its western, the ohio for its southern boundary, with wisconsin and lake michigan in the n. and indiana on the e.; fourth in population, seventeenth in area; "the prairie state" is level, well watered, and extremely fertile; has a climate subject to extremes, but, except in the swamps, healthy. it produces enormous quantities of wheat, besides other cereals, of tobacco and temperate fruits. flour-milling, pork-packing, and distilling are the chief industries. the most extensive coal-deposits in america are in this state; with navigable rivers on its borders, and traversing it lake michigan, a great canal, and the largest railway system in the union, it is admirably situated for commercial development; originally acquired by britain from the french, who entered it from canada; it was ceded to the americans in , and admitted to the union ; the state spends $ , , annually on education, which is compulsory, and has a large and wealthy scientific and agricultural university at urbana. springfield ( ) is the capital; but chicago ( , ) is the largest city. illuminated doctor, a title bestowed on raymond lully (q. v.). illuminati, a class or fraternity of people who affect superior enlightenment, particularly on religious and social matters, tending of late in the one to deism, and in the other to republicanism, in france forming a body of materialists, and in germany a body of idealists; the former to the disparagement of ideas, and the latter to the disparagement of reason, and both hostile to the church. illumination, the, the name given to the "advanced" thinking class who pride themselves in their emancipation from all authority in spiritual matters, the assumption of which they regard as an outrage not only against the right of private judgment, but the very constitution of man, which, they argue, is violated when respect is not before all paid to individual conviction. see aufklÄrung. illyria, the name anciently given to a broad stretch of mountainous country of varying extent lying e. of the adriatic sea. the illyrians were the last balkan people to be civilised; becoming a roman province b.c., illyria furnished several emperors, among them the notorious diocletian. constantine extended the province to include all the country s. of the danube; at the division of the empire, greece and macedonia went to the east, the rest to the west; the name was revived by napoleon, but has since been dropped. ilus, a legendary king of troy, the grandson of dardanus, and the founder of ilium. image worship in the christian church is reverence, as distinct from the supreme adoration of the deity, paid to the crucifix and to pictures, images, or statues of saints and martyrs, and understood really as offered through these to the personages whom they represent. the practice, unknown in apostolic or sub-apostolic times, was prevalent in the th century, provoked by its excesses a severe reaction in the th century, but carefully defined by the second council of nice ( ), has continued since both in the greek and roman communion; there is still controversy as to its propriety in the anglican church; the lutherans still use the crucifix freely, but other protestant churches have entirely repudiated the practice. see iconoclasts. imaginary conversations, a remarkable work by landor, in vols., much appreciated by many. imagination, the name appropriate to the highest faculty of man, and defined by ruskin as "mental creation," in the exercise of which the human being discharges his highest function as a responsible being, "the defect of which on common minds it is the main use," says ruskin, "of works of fiction, and of the drama, as far as possible, to supply." imÂm is the title of the officer who leads the devotions in mohammedan mosques, and in turkey conducts marriage and funeral services, as well as performs the ceremonies connected with circumcision; the office was filled and the title borne by mahomet, hence it sometimes signifies head of the faith, and is so applied to the sultan of turkey; good mohammedans believe in the future advent of an imâm--the hidden imâm--who shall be greater than the prophet himself. imaus, a name the ancients gave to any large mountain chain in asia, more particularly one bordering on india, or looking down upon it, as the home of the aryans. imitation of christ, a book of pious reflections, unique in its kind, and much esteemed by piously thoughtful people; ascribed to thomas À kempis (q. v.). immaculate conception, the doctrine held by the roman catholic church that the virgin mary was conceived and born without taint of sin; first distinctly propounded in the th century, at which time a festival was introduced in celebration of it, and which became matter of dispute in the th century, and it was only in that it became by a bull an article of the catholic faith. immanence, the idea that the creative intelligence which made, with the regulative intelligence which governs, the universe, is inherent in it and pervades it. immensities, centre of, an expression of carlyle's to signify that wherever any one is, he is in touch with the whole universe of being, and is, if he knew it, as near the heart of it there as anywhere else he can be. immensity, the temple of, the universe as felt to be in every corner of it a temple consecrated to worship in with wonder and awe. immermann, karl leberecht, german novelist and dramatist, born at magdeburg; fought at waterloo; entered the public service of prussia and obtained an appointment at düsseldorf, where he died; his fame rests upon his miscellaneous tales and satirical novels, such as "münchausen"; his dramas consisted of both tragedies and comedies ( - ). immortality, the doctrine of the continued existence of the soul of each individual after death, a doctrine the belief of which is, in one form or another, common to most religious systems; even to those which contemplate absorption in the deity as the final goal of existence, as is evident from the prevalence in them of the doctrine of transmigration or reincarnation. immortals, a regiment of , foot soldiers who formed the bodyguard of the ancient persian kings; the name given to the members of the french academy. imogen, the daughter of cymbeline, in shakespeare's play of the name, a perfect female character, pronounced "the most tender and the most artless of all shakespeare's women." imo`la ( ), a town in italy, m. n. of faenza, with some fine palaces; manufactures leather, glass, silk, &c. impanation, a name employed to denote the union of the body of christ with the bread of the eucharist. impenetrability, the name given to that quality of matter whereby two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. imperative, the categorical. see categorical. imperial federation, name given to a scheme for uniting more closely together the several interests of the british empire. imperial institute, south kensington, founded by the exertions of the prince of wales in to commemorate queen victoria's jubilee, was opened by her in ; was intended to include a complete collection of the products of the british empire, a grand commercial intelligence bureau, and a school of modern oriental languages; the government to be carried on by a chartered body, whose form of constitution was granted by a royal warrant of date april , ; the idea is for the present abandoned, and the premises appropriated as henceforth the seat of the london university. imperialism, the name given by english politicians to the policy which aims at the consolidation into one empire of all the colonies and dependencies along with the mother-country. impetigo, a cutaneous eruption, generally in clusters, of yellow-scaled pustules, which grow thicker and larger; common among children ill fed and ill cared for. impey, sir elijah, indian judge, born at hammersmith; educated at cambridge, and called to the bar in ; was sent out to bengal as first chief-justice in ; he supported warren hastings's administration, and presided over the court which sentenced nuncomar to death for forgery; in the quarrel over hastings's alleged resignation he decided in favour of the governor; was recalled and impeached for his conduct of the nuncomar trial in , but was honourably acquitted; resigning in , he sat in parliament for new romney till ( - ). imponderables, the name given to light, heat, and electricity when they were supposed to be material substances, but without weight. impressionism, a term in painting that denotes the principle of a new school originating in france before , and introduced into this country some years later; it is a revolt against traditionalism in art, and aims at reproducing on canvas not what the mind knows or by close study observes is in nature, but the "impression" which eye and mind gather. the influence of the movement has been strong, and promises to be lasting both here and in germany, and not the least interesting work of the kind has of late years issued from the "glasgow school" and the "london impressionists." impressment, legalised enforcement of service in the british navy, which has for years been in abeyance, and is not likely to be ever again revived. impropriation, the transference of the revenues of a benefice to a layman or lay body to be devoted to spiritual uses. imputation, the theological dogma of the transference of guilt or merit from one to another who is descended naturally or spiritually from the same stock as the former, as of adam's guilt to us by nature or christ's righteousness to us by faith; although in scripture the term generally, if not always, denotes the reckoning to a man of the merit or the demerit involved in, not another's doings, but his own, as in a single act of faith or a single act of unbelief, the one viewed as allying him with all that is good, or as a proof of his essential goodness, and the other as allying him with all that is evil, or as a proof of his essential wickedness. in cÆna domini (i. e. in the supper of the lord), a papal bull promulgated in the middle ages, denouncing excommunication against all who dispute the claims of the church, and the promulgation of which was felt on all hands to be intolerable; the promulgation has been discontinued since . inachos, in greek legend the first king of argos, son of oceanus and tethys. in-and-in, a term applied to the breeding of animals from the same parentage. inca, a king or royal prince of the ancient original people of peru. incandescent light, or electric light, a light produced by a thin strip of a non-conducting body, such as carbon, in a vacuum raised to intense heat by an electric current. incarnation, the humanisation of the divine in the person of christ, a doctrine vehemently opposed in the early times of the church by both jews and gnostics, by the former as inconsistent with the greatness of god, and by the latter as inconsistent with the inbred depravity of man. incense, a fragrance which arises from the burning of certain gums and burnt in connection with sundry religious observances, particularly in the roman catholic church, as an expression of praise presumably well pleasing to god; a practice which protestants repudiate as without warrant in scripture. inchbald, elizabeth, actress, dramatist, and novelist, daughter of john simpson, a suffolk farmer; came to london at the age of , seeking a theatrical engagement; after some adventures she met joseph inchbald, an actor of no note, to whom she was married in ; shortly afterwards she made her _début_ as cordelia at bristol; after seven years in the provinces and nine in london, during which she failed to rise high in her profession, she turned to literature; she wrote and adapted many plays, but the works by which she is remembered are two novels, "a simple story" and "nature and art" ( - ). inchcolm, an island in the firth of forth, near aberdour, on the fife coast, so called as the residence of st. columba when engaged in the conversion of the northern picts; has the remains of an abbey founded by alexander i. inchkeith, an island in the firth of forth, in the county of fife, ½m. n. of leith, and about ½ m. long, has a lighthouse with a revolving light, and fortifications to protect the forth. incitatus, the horse of caligula (q. v.); had a house and a servant to itself, was fed from vessels of gold, admitted to the priesthood, and created a consul of rome. incledon, charles benjamin, a celebrated ballad-singer with a fine tenor voice, born in cornwall ( - ). incorruptible, the, robespierre (q. v.), a man not to be seduced to betray his principles or party. increment, unearned, an expression denoting increase in the value of landed property due to increased demand and without any expenditure on the part of the proprietor. independence, declaration of, a declaration made july , , by the north american states declaring their independence of great britain. independence, the war of, the name given to the struggle which the north american colonists maintained against the mother country. independence day, a holiday observed throughout the united states annually on the th of july in celebration of the declaration of independence in that day. independents or congregationalists are a protestant sect deriving both names from their principle of government; repudiating both episcopacy and presbyterianism, they hold that every congregation should manage its own affairs, and elect its own officers independent of all authority save that of christ; they profess to derive all rules of faith and practice from the scriptures, and are closely akin to presbyterians in doctrine. numerous as early as queen elizabeth's time, they suffered persecution then; many fled or were banished to holland, whence the _mayflower_ conveyed the pilgrim fathers to new england in . regaining ascendency under cromwell, they again suffered at the restoration; but political disabilities then imposed have gradually been removed, and now they are the most vigorous dissenting body in england. the congregations in the english union (a union for common purposes and mutual help) number , those in the scottish union . index expurgatorius, a list of books issued by the church of rome, which, as hostile to her teaching, are placed under her ban, and are under penalties forbidden to be read. the first list published was by pope paul iv. in , and in the council of trent appointed a committee whose special business it should be to draw up a complete list of obnoxious writings, a work which it fell to paul iv. to finish after the sittings of the council came to a close in an index issued in . india ( , ), british dependency, consisting of the great peninsula in the s. of asia, which has the bay of bengal on the e. and the arabian sea on the w., and is separated from the mainland by the hindu-kush and the himalaya mountains; politically the name includes besides the punjab in the n. and burma in the e.; the centre of the peninsula is a great plateau called the deccan, between which and the snow-clad himalaya stretch the great fertile basins of the ganges, the thar desert, and the arid wastes of the indus valley; great varieties of climate are of course met with, but the temperature is prevailingly high, and the monsoons of the indian ocean determine the regularity of the rainy season, which occurs from june to october; the country generally is insalubrious; the vegetation is correspondingly varied, but largely tropical; rice, cereal crops, sugar, and tobacco are generally grown; cotton in bombay and the central provinces, opium in the ganges valley, jute in eastern bengal, and indigo in behar; coffee and tea are raised by europeans in the hill country on virgin soil; the chief mineral deposits are extensive coal-fields between the ganges and the godavari, the most valuable salt deposits in the world in the punjab, and deposits of iron, the purest found anywhere, in many parts of the country, which, however, are wrought only by native methods; native manufactures are being largely superseded by european methods, and the young cotton-weaving industry flourishes well; the country is well populated on the whole, with a relative scarcity of big towns; the people belong to many different races, and speak languages representing four distinct stocks; the vast bulk of them are brahmanists or hindus; there are many mohammedans, buddhists (in burma), and parsees (in bombay); ¼ millions are christians, and there are other religions; india has been subject to many conquests; the aryan, greek, and mussulman invasions swept from the nw.; the portuguese obtained a footing on the sw. coast in the th century; the victories of plassey , and seringapatam , established british rule throughout the whole peninsula, and the principle that native princes where they retained their thrones were vassals; sind was won in and the punjab in , and the powers of the east india company transferred to the queen in , who was proclaimed empress in ; the government is vested in a governor-general aided by an executive and a legislative council, under control, however, of a secretary of state for india and council at home; there are governors and lieutenant-governors of the presidencies of madras and bombay, and of the various provinces; native states are all attached to and subject to the supervision of the government of a province; there is a native army of , men, and , european troops are maintained in the country; british rule has developed the resources of the country, advanced its civilisation, and contributed to the welfare of the people; indian finance is not yet satisfactory; the currency is based on silver, the steady depreciation of which metal has never ceased to hamper the national funds. india, ( ) the imperial order of the crown of, founded in , includes the queen and certain royal princes, english and indian, female relatives of the viceroy, of the governors of bombay and madras, and others in high places in india; ( ) the most exalted order of the star of, founded in and since enlarged, with the sovereign for head and the viceroy as grand-master, and three different grades of knights, designed severally g.c.s.i., k.c.s.i, and c.s.i., a blue ribbon with white stripes being the badge; and ( ) the most eminent order of the empire of, founded in and enlarged in , with queen and empress at the head, and a knighthood similar to the preceding, their motto, "imperatricis auspiciis." indian civil service, a service which, besides embracing the ordinary departments of civil administration, includes judicial, medical, territorial, and even military staff appointments, appointments dependent on the possession of regulated, more or less academic, qualifications. indian mutiny, a wide-spread rebellion on the part chiefly of the sepoys against british authority in , and which was suppressed by a strong force under sir colin campbell in . indian ocean is that stretch of sea between africa on the w. and australia, java, and sumatra on the e., which separates in the n. into the arabian sea and the bay of bengal; the monsoons, or trade-winds, blow here with great regularity; from april to october they are strong from the sw., from october to april more gentle in the opposite direction; there are many islands and reefs of coral formation, such as the maldive group; st. paul's and mauritius are volcanic, while madagascar and ceylon are typical continental islands. indian territory ( ), a stretch of country in the basin of the arkansas, canadian, and red rivers, with kansas on the n., arkansas on the e., oklahoma territory on the w., and separated by the red river from texas on the s., set apart for the occupation of the indian tribes of the western prairies; formerly double its present size, it has been reduced by the purchase in of oklahoma.; in the centre and east are fertile plains and great forests of walnut and maple, in which deer and bears abound; the west is a treeless prairie supporting vast herds of cattle; mineral resources are probably rich, but are undeveloped; the principal tribes have their own organisations and civilised institutions, churches, schools, banks, and newspapers; the towns are small, tahlequah, lehigh, and m'alister are the chief. indiana ( , ), one of the smaller but most populous states of the american union, lies between lake michigan and the ohio river, with ohio on the e. and illinois on the w.; the climate is marked by extremes of heat and cold; the country is somewhat hilly in the s., is mostly level, well watered, and very fertile; agriculture is the chief industry, cereals, potatoes, and tobacco forming the chief crops; there is great mineral wealth, with extensive and varied industries, embracing iron, glass, and textile manufactures, waggon-building, and furniture-making; petroleum wells are abundant, and in one part of the territory natural gas is found in great quantities. first occupied by the french, indiana was acquired by britain in , ceded to america , and admitted to the union in ; education in the state university and schools is free; besides indianapolis, the capital, the largest towns are evansville ( ), fort wayne ( ), and terre haute ( ). indianapolis ( ), capital of indiana, on the white ford river, in the centre of the state; a fine city, with wide, tree-lined streets, large iron, brass, and textile manufactures, and canned-meat industry; is a great railroad centre. indians, american, the aborigines of america, and now gradually dying out; these aborigines were called indians by columbus, because when he discovered america he thought it was india. see american indians. india-rubber, caoutchouc, or gum elastic, is a product of the milky juices of several tropical and sub-tropical plants found in the west indies, central and south america, west africa, and india; there is evidence that its properties were partially known to the spaniards in the west indies early in the th century; but its first introduction to this country was about , when it was employed by artists for erasing black-lead pencil marks, hence its familiar name; it is collected by making incisions in the tree trunk and gathering the slowly exuding juice, which is first solidified by drying, then purified by boiling and washing; it is flexible and elastic, insoluble in water, and impenetrable to gases and fluids, and these qualities give it great commercial importance; the use of pure rubber has been greatly superseded by that of "vulcanised" rubber; mixed with from / to ½ of its weight of sulphur and combined by heat, the rubber acquires greater elasticity, is not hardened by cold or rendered viscid by heat, and is insoluble in many of the solvents of pure rubber; its usefulness is thus largely increased and greatly extended of late; the demand for rubber is in excess of the supply, but no substitute has been found effective; in recent years care has been bestowed on its economical collection and on its scientific culture. indiction, a cycle of years instituted by constantine the great, and which began on the th september , the day of his victory over maxentius; to find the indiction of any year add and divide by . indium, a metallic elementary body of rare occurrence, and first discovered in zinc-blende in . individualism, the name given to a social system which has respect to the rights of the individual as sovereign, and is strictly opposed to socialism. indo-china, called also the eastern peninsula or farther india, the name given to the large peninsular territory which lies between the bay of bengal and the chinese sea, lying almost wholly within the torrid zone, and embracing the empires of burma and annam and the kingdom of cambodia and siam, as well as territories under britain and france, all now mostly divided between the latter two and siam; it is sparsely peopled owing to its mountainous character and the swampy lands, and the natives are mainly of the mongolian type. indo-european, an epithet applied to a family of the human race with the languages of its several members descended from the aryans, and found dispersed over an area including the better part of india and europe. indo-germanic, a term at one time employed especially among german writers, synonymous with aryan. indore, , a native principality ( , ), in central india, somewhat larger than wales, embraces the vindbya and satpura mountains, and is traversed by the nerbudda river; there are great forests on the mountains; the valley of the river is fertile; wheat, sugar, cotton, tobacco, and large quantities of opium are raised; the climate is sultry, and at certain seasons unhealthy; the natives are chiefly mahratta hindus; among the hills are bhils and gonds, the wildest tribes of india; the state is governed by a maharajah styled holkar, under supervision of an agent of the governor-general; education is progressing. indore, , on the kuthi river, the capital ( ), is a poor city of brick and mud; the palace and the british residency, however, are fine buildings; it is connected by rail with bombay, distant m. sw., and with ajmere; it was the scene of a british massacre in . indra, the king of heaven and national god of the aryans; gives victory to his people, and is always ready to aid them; he is pre-eminently a warlike god, and as he stands on his war-chariot, drawn by five fawn-coloured horses, he is in a sort the type of an aryan chieftain; he is sometimes assisted by other gods, but he more frequently fights alone; he is the dispenser, moreover, of all good gifts, and the author and preserver of all living; his power extends over the heavens, and he holds the earth in the hollow of his hand. induction, the name given to the logical process by which from a study of particular instances we arrive at a general principle or law. the term is also applied to an electric or magnetic effect produced without direct contact and equal to the cause, being essentially its reproduction. indulgence, remission by church authority of the guilt of a sin on the penitent confession of the sinner to a priest, which, according to roman catholic theology, the church is enabled to dispense out of the inexhaustible treasury in reserve of the merits of christ. indus, a great river of india, m. long; rises in thibet, on the n. of the himalayas, flows nw. through cashmere, then sw. through the punjab and sind to the sea; its upper course is through great gorges and very rapid, but after the entrance of the kabul river its way lies through arid plains, and it is navigable; after receiving the panjnad its volume decreases through evaporation and the sinking of some of the many streams into which it divides in the sand; on one of the branches of the delta stands the thriving port of kurrachee. inertia, that property of bodies by which they remain in a state of rest or of motion in a straight line till disturbed by a force moving them in the one case or arresting them in the other. inez de castro. see castro. infallibility, freedom from all error in the past and from all possibility of error in the future as claimed by the church of rome. this claim extends to all matters of faith, morals, and discipline in the church, and is based on an interpretation of matt. xvi. , xxviii. ; eph. iv. - , and other passages. it is held that the church is incapable of embracing any false doctrine from whatever quarter suggested, and that she is guided by the divine spirit in actively opposing heresy, in teaching all necessary truth, and in deciding all relative matters of controversy. infallibility is not claimed in connection with matters of fact, science, or general opinion. the seat of infallibility has been much disputed even in the roman catholic church itself, and the infallibility of the pope was only decreed so recently as the vatican council in . it was always agreed that where the pope and bishops were unanimous they were infallible, and their unanimity might be expressed either in a general council, or in a decree of a local council tacitly accepted by the pope and the rest of the church, or even in a decree of the pope alone if the bishops either expressly or tacitly affirmed it. but the vatican council decided "that when the roman pontiff speaks _ex cathedrâ_--that is, when he, using his office as pastor and doctor of all christians, in virtue of his apostolic office, defines a doctrine of faith and morals to be held by the whole church--he by the divine assistance, promised to him by the blessed peter, possesses that infallibility with which the divine redeemer was pleased to invest his church in the definition of doctrine in faith or morals, and that therefore such definitions of the roman pontiff are irreformable in their own nature and not because of the consent of the church." the greek church puts forward a moderate claim to _inerrancy_, holding that as a matter of fact those councils which she regards as oecumenical have not erred in their decrees affecting faith and morals. infante, infanta, the titles given respectively to the royal princes and princesses of spain and portugal. inferi, the name given by the latins to the nether world and the gods of it. inferno, the hell of dante, represented as included in nine circles, of which the first six, constituting the uppermost hell, are occupied by those who cannot govern themselves yet have no mind to harm any one else, of which the seventh, constituting the mid-hell, is occupied by those who cannot govern their thoughts, and of which the eighth and ninth, constituting the nether hell, are occupied by those who have wilfully done harm to other people, those in the eighth in hot blood and those in the ninth or lowest in cold blood, the former in passion and the latter without passion, far down _below_ the freezing-point. see ruskin's "fors clavigera," more fully, and by way of authority for this. inflection, the name given to the changes in the end of words to indicate relations, not so common in english--being usually expressed among us by prepositions--as in latin, greek, and other languages, but occurring in english as king's, mine, ours, to indicate possession; inflection in nouns is called declension, and in verbs conjugation. influenza, an epidemic disease, closely resembles, but is quite distinct from, cold in the head. it is characterised by early and marked debility and depression; though usually of short duration, attacks must not be disregarded; fatal results often ensue on carelessness. convalescence is slow, and complications may ensue. the cause of the malady is obscure; sporadic cases always occur, but from time to time great epidemics of this disease have travelled westward over the world. their movement seems to depend on atmospheric conditions, but is independent of the season of the year and often contrary to the direction of the wind. visitations occurred in britain in - , - , and - . infralapsarians, those calvinists who believe that election and predestination are subsequent to the fall, while the supralapsarians believe that these ordinations are as old as eternity. infusoria, a name given to certain classes of animalculæ engendered in stagnant water infused with decaying organic matter. ingelow, jean, poetess and novelist, born at boston, lincolnshire, died at kensington; her earliest work appeared anonymously, but a volume of verses under her name was successful in ; her poetry is chiefly religious and devotional; later she wrote for children; subsequently she turned to novels, and produced besides several others "off the skelligs" in ; she will be remembered for her ballad "high tide on the coast of lincolnshire," and a song "supper at the mill" ( - ). ingemann, bernhard severin, a danish poet and novelist; in the latter regard took scott for his model, his subjects being historical; was a man of varied literary ability ( - ). ingleby, clement mansfield, shakespearian scholar, born near birmingham, passed from cambridge, where he graduated in , to practise as a solicitor, but abandoned law for literature in ; his early works were of a philosophical nature, but he is best known as the author of a long series of works on shakespearian subjects, of which "the shakespeare fabrications" was the first and "shakespeare: the man and the book" the chief; he was a vice-president of the royal society of literature ( - ). inglesant, john, a celebrated romance by j. h. shorthouse. inglis, sir james, a fifeshire gentleman, who in the reign of james iv. distinguished himself against the english and was knighted; author of "complaint of scotland"; _d_. . inglis, sir john, english general; entered the army at , served in canada in ; was sent to india, and distinguished himself in the punjab in ; at the outbreak of the mutiny was stationed at lucknow, where he heroically defended the residency for days till the relief of the city by havelock and outram ( - ). inglis, sir robert harry, conservative statesman, opposed every liberal measure of the period, from that of catholic emancipation to the abolition of the corn laws ( - ). ingoldsby, thomas, the pseudonym of rev. richard barham (q. v.), author of "ingoldsby legends," a collection of humorous tales in verse. ingolstadt ( ), a bavarian town and fortress on the danube, m. n. of münich, has many ancient associations; once the seat of a university; its manufactures now are beer, cannon, gunpowder; salt is mined in the vicinity. ingraham, joseph holt, author of "the prince of the house of david," born at portland, maine; after some years spent at sea, became a teacher of languages in mississippi, and was ordained episcopal clergyman in ; prior to his ordination he wrote stories of adventure, "captain kyd," &c., but subsequently confined himself to biblical subjects ( - ). ingres, jean dominique auguste, a great french painter, born at montauban; studied in paris; in went to rome, and years after to florence, but became professor of fine arts at the academy in paris in ; wounded by hostile criticisms he left paris for rome again in , where he became director of the french academy in rome; in he returned to paris, where he died; he followed his master david in his choice of classical subjects, but his work met with varied reception, now favourable, now the reverse; the "portrait of cherubini," and other pictures, however, won for him great admiration in his later days; he was made a grand officer of the legion of honour ( - ). ingulph, abbot of croyland, long credited with the authorship of a history of the monastery, which has since been proved to be a fabrication of a later date, of probably the th or th century; he was appointed abbot in ; _d_. . inkermann, a small tartar village e. of sebastopol harbour; the scene of a battle between the russians and allied forces, to the defeat of the former after a prolonged struggle on th november . inner temple. see inns of court. innes, cosmo, lawyer and antiquary, born at durris, of an old scotch family; professor of history in edinburgh university; author of "scotland in the middle ages," "lectures on scotch legal antiquities," and "sketches of early scotch history" ( - ). innes, thomas (father innes) scotch historian, born in aberdeenshire, educated at paris; became a priest in ; after three years' service in banffshire he returned to paris, where he held a scholastic appointment till his death; in politics a jacobite, in religious matters he had leanings to the jansenist heresy; a diligent student of scottish history, he produced the earliest scientific scoto-historical works; his "critical essay on the ancient inhabitants of scotland" and "civil and ecclesiastical history of scotland" (unfinished), display honesty and penetration ( - ). innisfail, an ancient name of ireland. innocent, the name of popes: innocent i., pope from to ; innocent ii., pope from to ; innocent iii., pope from to ; innocent iv., pope from to ; innocent v., pope in ; innocent vi., pope from to , resided at avignon; innocent vii., pope from to ; innocent viii., pope from to ; innocent ix., pope in ; innocent x., pope from to , condemned jansenism; innocent xi., pope from to ; innocent xii., pope from to ; innocent xiii., pope from to ; of these there were two of note. innocent iii., the greatest of the name, born in arragon; succeeded celestine iii.; extended the territorial power of the church, and made nearly all christendom subject to its sway; essayed the recovery of palestine, and promoted a crusade against the albigenses; excommunicated otto iv., emperor of germany; put england under an interdict, and deposed king john; was zealous for the purity as well as supremacy of the church, and countenanced every movement that contributed to enhance its influence and stereotype its beliefs as well as its forms of worship, transubstantiation among the one and auricular confession among the other; though harsh, and even cruel, to those whom he conceived to be the enemies of the faith, he was personally a man of blameless life, and did much to reform the morals of the clergy. innocent xi., succeeded clement x., is celebrated for his contest with louis xiv., and as giving occasion thereby to a protest of the gallican clergy, and a declaration on their part of what is known as the gallican liberties (q. v.), and for a further contest he had with louis in regard to certain immunities claimed, to the scandal of the church, by foreign ambassadors residing in rome, an interference which louis resented on behalf of his representatives among them, but, as it happened in vain. innocents, the holy, feast of, a festival celebrated in the western church on the th december and in the eastern on the th, to commemorate the slaughter by herod of the children at bethlehem from two years old and under, and who have from the earliest times been included among the holy martyrs of the church. inns of court, are four voluntary societies--lincoln's inn, the inner and the middle temple, and gray's inn--with whom rests the exclusive right to call men to the english bar; they provide lectures and hold examinations in law, and they have discretionary powers to refuse admission to the bar or to expel and disqualify persons of unsuitable character from it; each inn possesses considerable property, a dining hall, library, and chapel, and is subject to the jurisdiction of an irresponsible, self-elective body of benchers, who are usually judges or senior counsel; these societies originated in the th century, when the practice of law passed out of the hands of the clergy. innsbruck ( ), on the inn, at the head of the brenner pass, m. s. of münich; is the capital of the austrian tyrol, an ancient and beautiful town, rich in art treasures, with a university and manufactures of woollen cloth, glass ware, and stained glass. ino, the daughter of cadmus and harmonia, the wife of athamas, king of thebes, who was changed into a sea-deity as she fled for refuge from her husband, who had gone raving mad and sought her life. inoculation is the introduction of disease germs into the system, usually by puncture of the skin or hypodermic injection; many diseases so introduced assume a mild form, and render the subject not liable to the severe form. inoculation for smallpox, the virus being taken from actual smallpox pustules, was practised by the ancient brahmans and by the chinese years before christ, and its practice continued in the east. it was introduced to this country from turkey in , and extensively practised until superseded by jenner's discovery of vaccination at the end of the century, and finally prohibited by law in . inoculation has been found successful in the prevention of other diseases, notably anthrax, hydrophobia, and recently malaria. inquisition, an ecclesiastical tribunal established in under pope innocent iv., and set up successively in italy, spain, germany, and the s. of france, for the trial and punishment of heretics, of which that established in spain achieved the greatest notoriety from the number of victims it sacrificed, and the remorseless tortures to which they were subjected, both when under examination to extort confession and after conviction. the rigour of its action began to abate in the th century, but it was not till , after frequent attempts to limit its power and suppress it, that it was abolished in spain. napoleon suppressed it in france in , and after an attempted revival from to , its operations there came to an end. st. dominic (q. v.) has the credit of having invented the institution by the zeal which animated him for the orthodoxy of the church. insanity. see inspiration. inspiration, an earnest, divinely-awakened, soul-subduing sense and perception of the presence of the invisible in the visible, of the infinite in the finite, of the ideal in the real, of the divine in the human, and, in ecstatic moments, of very god in man, accompanied with a burning desire to impart to others the vision revealed; distinguished as "seraphic" from insanity as "demonic" by this, that the inspired man sees an invisible which is there, and the insane an invisible which is _not_ there, states of mind so like otherwise that the one may be, and often is, mistaken for the other, the inspired man taken for an insane, and the insane man for an inspired. inspiration of the scriptures. according to one view the scriptures are throughout verbally inspired, and every word in them dictated by the spirit of god; according to another, though they are not verbally inspired, they contain a record of divine things written under divine inspiration; according to a third, though not written under divine inspiration in any part, they contain a faithful record of a divine revelation; and according to a fourth, they contain a record merely of what a succession of god-fearing men in sympathy with each other and their race saw and felt to be the clear purpose of god in his providence of the world. inspired idiot, horace walpole's name for oliver goldsmith. institute of france was established by the directory in , to take the place of the four academies suppressed by the convention two years previously. in louis xviii. gave back the old names to its four sections, viz. _l'académie française, l'académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, l'académie des sciences_, and _l'académie des beaux arts_. in was added _l'académie des sciences morales et politiques_. each academy has its own separate organisation and work, and participates besides in the advantages of the common library, archives, and funds. election, which is in every case subject to government confirmation, is by ballot, and every member receives an annual salary of at least francs. government votes a sum of money annually to the institute. members of the french academy have special duties and privileges, and in some cases special remuneration. they allot every year prizes for eloquence and poetry; a prize "to the poor frenchman who has done the most virtuous action throughout the year," and one to the frenchman "who has written and published the book most conducive to good morals." membership in the académie française is strictly limited to frenchmen. the others have, besides, from to members each, also associate, foreign and corresponding, members. the institute centralises the pursuit of all branches of knowledge and art, and has been the model of similar national institutes in madrid, lisbon, stockholm, and st. petersburg. institutes of the christian religion, a celebrated work of calvin's, in exposition of the doctrines of the french protestants, hence called calvinists in france. see calvin. intaglio, name given to a gem with a design incised in the surface. intellect, the faculty of clear and decisive intelligence, or of instant and sure perception. interlaken ( ), a small town, a pretty place, on the aar, in switzerland, "between the lakes" thun and brienz; it is near to some of the finest swiss scenery, and is a famous health resort, and visited annually by , tourists. international, the, a secret socialistic organisation, the outcome of the teaching of karl marx, which, though it has changed its name, has wide-spread ramifications throughout europe, the object of which appears to be the emancipation of labour, and the assertion everywhere of the sovereign rights of the working-man, to the extinction of all merely national and class interests. intuition, a name given to _immediate_ knowledge, as distinct from _mediate_ or inferential knowledge, and which is matter of consciousness or direct perception. intus-susception, a displacement of the bowel, in which a higher portion becomes folded or telescoped into a lower; is a frequent cause of obstruction, and a serious, though not always fatal, condition; the term is also applied to the process by which nutriment is absorbed and becomes part of the system. invalides, hÔtel des, an institution in paris, founded by louis xiv. in , for retired court servants and invalided soldiers; the church, the nave of which is adorned with military trophies, is surmounted by a majestic dome, under which the remains of napoleon were deposited in . inveraray, county town of argyllshire, on the nw. shore of loch fyne, close to which is the castle, the residence of the duke of argyll. inverness ( ), county town of inverness-shire and capital of the northern highlands, is situated on the ness, near the moray firth, amid picturesque surroundings, is rich in interesting memories; has several public institutions, several manufactures, and a considerable trade; the inhabitants are distinguished for the purity of their english. inverness-shire ( ), the largest county in scotland, stretches from the moray firth to the atlantic, and includes many islands, skye, the outer hebrides (except lewis), and others; it embraces a large part of the highlands, is very mountainous, has many glens and lochs, but little fertile land; there are large deer forests, grouse moors, and sheep runs; ben nevis, the highest mountain in the british isles ( ft.), is in this county. invisible, the, he who or that which cannot be seen, felt, handled, or even conceived of, and yet who or which _is_, and _alone is_, as no one, as nothing else can be. io, in the greek mythology a daughter of inachos (q. v.), beloved by zeus, whom hera out of jealousy changed into a heifer and set the hundred-eyed argus to watch, but when zeus had by hermes slain the watcher, hera sent a gadfly to goad over the world, over which she ranged distractedly till she reached egypt, where osiris married her, and was in connection with him worshipped as isis. iodine, a non-metallic element originally obtained from kelp, but now found in south america in combination with sodium, used largely both free and in combination in medicine and surgery, in photography, and in making aniline dyes. iodoform, a crystalline substance similar to chloroform in composition, only in it iodine takes the place of chlorine; it is used in surgery as an antiseptic. iolcus, a town in thessaly, the port from which the argonauts sailed in quest of the golden fleece. ion, in the greek mythology son of apollo by creusa, and exposed by her in the cave where she bore him, but who was conveyed by the god to delphi and educated by a priestess, and was afterwards owned by his mother, and became the ancestor of the ionians, her husband, xuthus, being kept throughout in the dark. iona, a fertile little island ½ m. w. of mull, where st. columba landed from ireland a.d. , and built a monastery which was for centuries the centre of ecclesiastical life and missionary enterprise among the scots of scotland and ireland and the angles of the n. of england. it is ½ m. long and ½ broad. ionia, ancient name of the western districts of asia minor between the hermus and the mæander, with adjacent islands; was colonised by greeks b.c., and its chief cities, including miletus, ephesus, samos, chios, and later smyrna, formed the ionian league; the ionians were noted for wealth, art, and luxury; coming under persian yoke in b.c. they deserted to greece b.c., in the great war, and became again independent; from b.c. they were again under persia till alexander the great took them and merged their history in that of the surrounding peoples. ionian islands ( ), a chain of forty mountainous islands lying off the w. coast of greece, the largest being corfu ( ), santa maura ( ), cephalonia ( ), and zante ( ). the climate is good, and there is much fertile soil in the valleys except in cephalonia; corn, grapes, and currants are grown; sulphur and coal are found in corfu; their history has been very chequered; after belonging at different times to venice, france and turkey, they were seized by britain and constituted a dependency in ; never satisfied with british rule, they were a source of constant friction which mr. gladstone's mission in was insufficient to allay, and were handed over to greece in . ionic order, an order of grecian architecture, characterised by the volute of its capital in the form of a ram's horn, and in which the cornice is dentated, the shaft fluted, and the entablature plain or embellished. ionic school, the name of the earliest of the schools of philosophy in greece, the prominent members of which were natives of ionia, one and all of whom traced the beginning or basis of things back to the action of some physical agent, such as water, air, fire, &c., and among whom are reckoned such men as thales, anaximander, anaximenes, and heraclitus. iowa ( , ), one of the united states, on the right bank of the mississippi river, with minnesota to the n. and missouri to the s., and the missouri river on its western border; is well watered, very fertile, and, though liable to extremes of temperature, very healthy; agriculture flourishes, the country being an undulating plain and most of the soil being arable; cereals and root crops are raised, cattle fed; there are poultry and dairy farms; coal, gypsum, and lead are mined; manufactures include mill products, canned meats, and agricultural implements; general education in the state is advanced, state policy in this respect being liberal; iowa was admitted to the union, ; des moines ( ) is the capital; iowa ( ) is the seat of the state university and of some flour-mills and factories. iphicrates, a famous athenian general, the son of a shoemaker, celebrated throughout greece for his defeat of the spartans in , as well as for other great military exploits, for which he was rewarded by his countrymen with almost unprecedented honours; _d_. b.c. iphigenia, the daughter of agamemnon and clytemnestra; her father having killed a favourite deer belonging to artemis in aulis as he was setting out for troy, the goddess was offended, and calchas (q. v.), when consulted, told him she could only be appeased by the sacrifice of his daughter; this he proceeded to do, but as he was preparing to offer her up the goddess descended in a cloud, carried her off to tauris, and made her a priestess in her temple. the story has been dramatised by euripides, racine, and geothe. ipsus, a small town in phrygia, the scene of a great contest between the generals of alexander for succession to the empire. ipswich ( ), a town in suffolk, on the orwell, m. from the sea; is an old town, and has a number of interesting, as well as some old-fashioned, buildings; is well provided with churches and educational establishments, and was the birthplace of cardinal wolsey; manufactures agricultural implements, and exports besides these leather, oil, coke and agricultural produce. iquique ( ), important seaport in the n. of chili; exports nitrates, iodine, and silver. irak-arabi, ancient babylonia watered by the euphrates and the tigris. iran, the ancient name or plateau of asia, extending n. and s. between the hindu kush and the persian gulf, and e. and w. between the indus and kurdistan; inhabited by the aryans; is the official name for persia. iranians, the inhabitants of iran, a people constituting an important branch of the indo-european family, including the persians, medes, &c. irawadi, a river, navigable throughout its whole course, formed by the union of two streams from the mountains of thibet; flows s. through burma miles, passing mandalay, and falling into the bay of bengal in a delta, on one branch of which stands rangoon. ireland ( , ), an island rather more than half the size of and lying to the west of england and wales, from which it is divided by the north channel ( m. wide), the irish sea ( m.), and the st. george's channel ( m.). it consists of a large undulating plain in the centre, containing extensive bogs, several large loughs--neagh, the erne, allen, derg, drained by the rivers shannon, barrow, liffey, and boyne, and surrounded on almost all sides by maritime highlands, of which those on the sw., nw., and e. are the highest. the n. and w. coasts are rugged and much indented. the climate is milder, more equable, and somewhat more rainy than that of england; but the cereal and green crops are the same. flax is grown in the n. the tendency is to revert to pasturage however, agriculture being generally in a backward state. unfavourable land-laws, small holdings, and want of capital have told heavily against the irish peasantry. fisheries are declining. the chief manufacture is linen in belfast and other ulster towns. irish exports consist of dairy produce, cattle, and linen, and are chiefly to great britain. primary education is largely supported by government grants; there are many excellent schools and colleges; the chief universities are dublin and the royal (an examining body only). in ulster the protestants slightly outnumber the roman catholics, in all other parts the roman catholics are in a vast majority. ireland was occupied by iberian peoples in prehistoric times; these were conquered and absorbed by celtic tribes; many kingdoms were set up, and strife and confusion prevailed. there was christianity in the island before st. patrick crossed from strathclyde in the th century. invasions by danes, th to th centuries, and conquest by normans under henry ii. - , fomented the national disquiet. under tudor and stuart rule the history of the country is a long story of faction and feud among the chiefs and nobles, of rebellions, expeditions, massacres, and confiscations. sympathy with the stuarts brought on it the scourge of cromwell ( ) and the invasion by william iii. thereafter the penal laws excluded roman catholics from parliament. the union of the irish with the british parliament took place in . catholic disabilities were removed . an agitation for the repeal of the union was begun in by daniel o'connell, and carried on by the fenian movement of and the home rule movement led by charles parnell. a home rule bill was lost in the commons in , and another in the lords in . the church of ireland (protestant episcopal) was disestablished in . since the union the executive has been in the hands of a lord-lieutenant, secretary, and council appointed by the crown. ireland is far behind great britain in wealth, and its population has been steadily declining. ireland, samuel william henry, a notorious forger of shakespearian relics, born in london, son of a dealer in old books and prints; imposed on his father and a number of lovers of the antique, till he was exposed by malone; he published a confession of his forgeries, and died in obscurity and poverty ( - ). irenÆus, one of the fathers of the church; was bishop of lyons, and suffered martyrdom about ; had been a disciple of polycarp; wrote against the gnostics in a work in greek, which all to a few fragments in latin is lost. ire`ne, the daughter of zeus and themis, the greek goddess of peace; she was an object of worship both in athens and rome, is represented as holding in her left arm a cornucopia, and in her right hand an olive branch. irene, empress of constantinople, born in athens, a poor orphan girl, famous for her beauty, her talents, and her crimes; was banished to lesbos, where she maintained herself by spinning; has been canonised by the greek church for her zeal in image worship ( - ). ireton, henry, born at altenborough, notts; graduated at cambridge , and studied law; on outbreak of civil war he joined the parliamentarian party, and marrying cromwell's daughter acquired great influence; took a leading part in the prosecution of the king, was one of his judges, and signed the warrant for his execution; kept by cromwell in ireland in , he proved a stern deputy, and died of the plague before limerick; he was a man of great vigour of character, whose zeal for justice made him almost cruel ( - ). iridium, a metallic elementary body of rare occurrence, and found in the ores of platinum. iris, the daughter of thaumus (i. e. wonder) and of the ocean nymph electra (i. e. splendour); was the goddess of the rainbow, and as such the messenger of the gods, particularly of zeus and hera, the appearance of the rainbow being regarded as a sign that communications of good omen were passing between heaven and earth, as it was to noah that they would continue to be kept up; she is represented as dressed in a long wide tunic, over which hangs a light upper garment, and with golden wings on her shoulders. irkutsk ( ), a central siberian province, separated from china by the sayan mountains; it has lake baikal on the e., yenisei and yakutsk on the w. and n.; a rich pastoral country, watered by the navigable rivers angara and the lena, agriculture, cattle rearing are prosperous industries; there are gold, iron, and salt mines; one-third of the population are forced colonists; the capital, irkutsk ( ), is the seat of government for eastern siberia, an ecclesiastical centre, and the chief emporium of commerce; it is the finest city in siberia. irmin, a teutonic tribal deity; was honoured by wooden pillars with his image on the top, greatly reverenced by the people; the constellation "the plough" was known as "irmin's chariot." iron age, the last of the three stages, stone, bronze, iron, which mark the prehistoric development of most now civilised peoples; these, of course, occurred at different periods, and were of different duration in different cases; they are named from the material employed in making cutting instruments and weapons; the forms of instruments are freer than in the bronze period, and rectilineal gives places to free curvilineal decoration; this age is marked, too, by the introduction of writing and the beginning of literary and historic records. see ages. iron city, pittsburg, pennsylvania, from its numerous iron-works. iron crown, the crown of the ancient lombard kings, a golden circlet studded with jewels, and so called as enclosing a ring of iron said to have been one of the nails of the cross, beaten out; napoleon had it brought from monza, and crowned himself with it as king of italy. it is now in vienna. iron duke, duke of wellington, from his iron will, it is surmised. iron gate, the name given to dangerous rapids in the danube at orsova, as it issues out of hungary. iron hand, goetz von berlichingen (q. v.). iron mask, man with the, a prisoner who in the reign of louis xiv. wore, when he was transferred from prison to prison, what seemed an iron mask to prevent any one discovering and revealing his identity, over which to this day there hangs an impenetrable veil; he is reported to have been young and of noble form, and the conclusion is that he was a man of distinction. ironclads were originally wooden vessels protected by iron plates; they were used at the siege of gibraltar in ; the french had them in the crimean war, and in built four iron-plated line-of-battle ships; in england built the _warrior_, an iron steam battleship with ½-inch plates; since then new types have succeeded each other very quickly; the modern ironclad is built of steel and armed with steel plates sometimes feet thick; the term is now loosely applied to all armoured vessels, whether battleships, or cruisers, or gunboats, and whether of iron or steel. ironsides, cromwell's troopers, a thousand strong, and raised by him in the eastern counties of england, so called at first from the invincibility displayed by them at marston moor; were selected by cromwell "as men," he says, "that had the fear of god before them, and made conscience of what they did.... they were never beaten," he adds, "and wherever they were engaged against the enemy, they beat continually." irony is a subtle figure of speech in which, while one thing is said, some indication serves to show that quite the opposite is meant; thus apparent praise becomes severe condemnation or ridicule; practical irony is evinced in ostensibly furthering some one's hopes and wishes while really leading him to his overthrow. life and history are full of irony in the contrast between ambitions and their realisation. irony, socratic, the name given to a practice of socrates with pretentious people; "affecting ignorance and pretending to solicit information, he was in the habit of turning round upon the sciolist and confounding his presumption, both by the unlooked-for consequences he educed by his incessant questions and by the glaring contradictions the other was in the end landed by his admissions." iroquois, one of the most intelligent branches of the north american indians, comprised a confederation of five, afterwards six, tribes, among whom the leading place was taken by the mohawks; their territory lay inland in what is now new york state and the basin of the st. lawrence. numbering some , , they maintained their own against the hereditary foes by whom they were surrounded; they took kindly to english and dutch settlers, but were hostile to the french, and in the wars of the th century were allies of england against the french; their descendants, about , , in reservations in canada and new york are a peaceful people, have accepted english religion and culture, and have proved themselves skilful and industrious agriculturists. irreducible case, name given to a cubic equation which cannot be solved by the rule of cardan (q. v.). irtish, an enormous river of western siberia and chief tributary of the obi; its course from the altai mountains runs nw. through the siberian plains for m.; it is navigable almost all the way in summer, and in winter it is a highway for sledge traffic; on its banks stand semipalatinsk, omsk, and tobolsk. irving, edward, a great pulpit orator, born in annan, dumfriesshire; bred for the scotch church, became in assistant to dr. chalmers in glasgow, and removed in to the caledonian church, london, where he attracted to his preaching the world of fashion as well as intellect in the city, who soon grew tired of him and left him, after which he took to extravagances which did not draw them back, and drew around him instead a set of people more fanatical than himself, and whose influence over him, to which he weakly yielded, infatuated him still more; the result was that he was deposed from the ministry of the church that sent him forth, and became for a time the centre of an organisation which still exists, in a modified form, and bears his name; he was the bosom friend in his early days of thomas carlyle, and no one mourned more over his aberration than he, for he loved him to the end. "but for irving," he says, "i had never known what the communion of man with man means. his was the freest, brotherliest, bravest human soul mine ever came in contact with; i call him on the whole the best man i have ever, after trial enough, found in this world, or now hope to find. scotland sent him forth," he says, "a herculean man, but our mad babylon wore him and wasted him with all her engines, and it took her years"; he died in glasgow, aged , "hoary as with extreme age," and lies buried in a crypt of the cathedral there ( - ). irving, sir henry (john henry brodribb), born near glastonbury; was at first a clerk in london, appeared on the sunderland stage in , spent three years in edinburgh, and gradually worked his way at glasgow and manchester, till he was invited to london ten years afterwards; his performance of hamlet at the lyceum in established his reputation as a tragedian; since then he has remained at the head of his profession, and both in this country and in america secured many triumphs in macbeth, shylock, and other shakespearian characters, and in roles like those of matthias in "the bells," "mephistopheles in faust," &c.; he has contributed to the literature of acting, and received knighthood in : _b_. . irving, washington, popular american essayist and historian, born of british parentage in new york, was delicate in early life; his education suffered accordingly, and he travelled in europe, - , visiting italy, france, and england; returning to new york he was called to the bar, put he devoted himself to a literary career, only interrupted by one period of commercial life, and occasional short terms of diplomatic service; he first won fame by his "history of new york, by diedrich knickerbocker," , a good-natured satire on the dutch settlers; the years - he spent in europe studying and writing; his "sketch-book," - , was very successful, as were "bracebridge hall," "tales of a traveller," and other volumes which followed it; going to spain in he began his researches in spanish history which resulted in "the life of columbus," "the conquest of granada," and other works which introduced english readers to the spain of the th and th centuries; on his return to america he was treated with great respect by his countrymen; declining the honours they would have given him had he turned aside to politics, he continued to write; among his latest works were "mahomet and his successors" and a "life of washington"; much courted in society, he was kind and generous in disposition; his writings are marked by humour, observation, and descriptive power; these qualities with an excellent style place him in the foremost rank of american authors; he died, unmarried, at tarrytown, new york ( - ). irvingites, the name given to the catholic apostolic church as founded by edward irving, which is repudiated by them, as disclaiming all earthly leadership; their ministry is after the apostolic order, includes prophets, evangelists, and pastors, and they employ material symbols in their worship besides those of water in baptism and wine in communion, such as incense; the eucharist they regard as a sacrifice, and they believe in the permanency of the spiritual gifts of the primitive church. isaac, a hebrew patriarch, son of abraham, born to him when he was old; a mild man with no great force of character, and a contrast to ishmael, his half-brother; lived to a great age. issac i., comnenus, emperor of the east from to ; raised to the throne by the army; ruled well, but falling ill and fearing he had not long to live. he retired and spent his two remaining years in a monastery; he was a student and annotator of homer. issac ii., angelus, emperor of the east; a good man, but weak; became emperor in , was dethroned by his brother alexis in ; reinstated by the crusaders in , but overthrown six months after in . isac of york, the father of rebecca in "ivanhoe." isabella, queen of castile; her marriage with ferdinand of aragon led to the union under one sceptre of the crowns of aragon and castile, which was followed years after by their united occupancy of the throne of all spain; she was an able woman, and associated with her husband in every affair of state ( - ). see ferdinand v. isabella ii., ex-queen of spain, daughter of ferdinand vii.; succeeded him in ; was forced to leave the country in ; took refuge in france, and in abdicated in favour of her son. isabey jean baptiste, french portrait-painter, born at nancy; painted many of the notabilities of france in his day ( - ). isÆus, an attic orator, and the teacher of demosthenes; wrote orations, of which only are extant, and these not on political issues but forensic, and particularly the law of inheritance. isaiah, one of the great hebrew prophets, the son of one amoz; was a citizen of jerusalem, evidently of some standing, and who flourished between and b.c.; like amos (q. v.), he foresaw the judgment that was coming on the nation for its unfaithfulness, but felt assured that god would not altogether forsake his people, and that "a remnant," god's elect among them, would be saved--that though the casket would be shattered in pieces, the jewel it contained would be preserved. see hebrew prophecy. isaiah, the ascension of, an apocryphal book giving an incoherent account of the martyrdom of isaiah, and a vision he had under the reign of hezekiah, apparently the origin of the tradition in heb. xi. , about the prophet having been "sawn asunder." isaiah, the prophecies of, consist of two divisions, the first extending from chap. i. to chap. xxxix., and the second from chap. xl. to the end; these two divisions were for long believed to be throughout the work of isaiah the son of amoz, but modern criticism assigns them in the main to different authors, the one living years after the other; and the reasons for this conclusion are that the author of the latter belonged to a different period of jewish history from that of the former, is not of the same temper, and has much deeper spiritual insight, while his hopes and expectations are built on a more spiritual view of the method of salvation, the messiah of the former, for instance, being a conquering king, and that of the latter a suffering redeemer, who to save the nation has to bear the burden of its sins, and the brunt of them, and so bearing, bear them away. isambert, franÇois andrÉ, a noteworthy french lawyer, politician, and historian, born at aunay; began to practise in paris at the age of twenty-six; becoming known in politics, he gained considerable renown by certain works on french law and by his advocacy of the claims of the liberated slaves in the french west indies; entering the chamber of deputies after the revolution of july , he set himself to oppose the jesuits and to further freedom; "the religious conditions of france and europe" and a "history of jerusalem" were among his later works; he died at paris ( - ). isandula, place m. nw. of durban, where a force of british troops was encamped in january , , and was set upon and almost annihilated by a body of zulus. isauria, in ancient times this name was given to the northern slopes of the taurus in asia minor, what is now karamania; the isaurians were a wild, savage people; from the st to the th centuries they were the terror of neighbouring states, and gave rome herself considerable trouble; but from the th century they disappear from history. ischia ( ), a beautiful volcanic island m. off the bay of naples; its scenery, climate, and mineral springs make it a health resort; it produces excellent fruits and wines; it is liable to severe earthquakes; in the last ( ), persons perished. the chief town ( ) bears the same name. ischl, a town in upper austria, picturesquely situated on the river traun, m. se. of salzburg; famous for its saline baths; has salt-works, where tons of salt are annually manufactured. isengrin, the wolf, typifying the feudal baron in the epic tale of reynard the fox, as the fox does the church. see reynard. iser, a german river, which rises in the tyrol n. of innsbruck, passes through münich, and falls into the danube after a course of m. isÈre, a river in the se. of france, which gives name to a dep. ( ), and which, after a course of m. falls into the rhône near valence. iserlohn ( ), a town in prussian westphalia, m. se. of dortmund; is picturesquely situated, and is engaged in iron-ware manufacture. ishmael, the son of abraham and the handmaid hagar, cast out of abraham's household at ; he became skilful with the bow, and founded a great nation, the arabs; for the offering of isaac on moriah the arabs substitute the offering of ishmael on arafat, near mecca; mahomet claimed descent from him; he gives name in modern life to a social outcast driven into antagonism to social arrangements. isidore, st., bishop of seville, born at carthagena, a distinguished man and ecclesiastic, who exercised great influence on latin christianity, and on both civil and ecclesiastical matters in spain, and left a large number of writings of varied interest; he was animated at once by a severe sense of duty and by an admirable christian spirit ( - ). festival, april . isinglass, a gelatine substance prepared from the sounds or air-bladders of certain fresh-water fishes, the sturgeon in particular; it is imported from russia, brazil, and the hudson bay territory. isis, an egyptian divinity, the wife and sister of osiris and mother of horus, the three together forming a trinity, which is characteristically egyptian, and such as often repeats itself in egyptian mythology, and typifying the life of the sun, osiris representing that luminary slain at night and sorrowed over by his sister isis, reviving in the morning in his son horus, and wedded anew to his sister isis as his wife; passed into the mythology of the greeks, isis became identified first with demeter and then with the moon, while in that of rome she figures as the universe-mother. isla, josÉ francisco de, a spanish jesuit, celebrated as a preacher and a humorist and satirist of the stamp of cervantes; his principal work "friar gerund," a satire on the charlatanism and bombast of the popular preaching friars of the day, as don quixote was on the false chivalry; the friars he satirised were too strong for him, and he was expelled from spain, retired to italy, and died at bologna in extreme poverty ( - ). islam or islamism, the religion of mahomet, "that we must _submit_ to god; that our whole strength lies in resigned submission to him, whatsoever he do to us, for this world and the other; this is the soul of islam; it is properly the soul of christianity; christianity also commands us, before all, to be resigned to god. this is yet the highest wisdom that heaven has revealed to our earth." see "heroes and hero-worship." island of saints, a name given to ireland in the middle ages. islands of the blessed, fabled islands of the far west of the ocean, where the favoured of the gods after death are conceived to dwell in everlasting blessedness. islay ( ), a large mountainous island m. w. of kintyre, scotland; much of it is cultivated; dairy produce, cattle, and sheep are exported; there are lead, copper, and manganese mines, marble quarries, and salmon fisheries; the distilleries produce , gallons of whisky annually. islington ( ), a district of london, ½ m. n. of st. paul's; contains the division of holloway, highbury, barnsbury, and part of kingsland. ismail pasha, khedive of egypt from , who was obliged by the powers to abdicate in . ismailia, a small town on suez canal; was the head-quarters of the work during the construction of the canal. ismaÎlis, one of the mohammedan sects which support the claim of the house of ali, mahomet's cousin, to supremacy among the faithful; originating about a.d. , they rose to importance in the th century under abdallah, a persian, who introduced zoroastrian ideas into their creed and prophesied the appearance of a madhi or messiah who should be greater than the prophet himself; becoming latterly extremely rationalistic the sect lost its influence in the th century, and its representatives in syria and persia are now comparatively obscure; in turkey and egypt, however, several madhis have arisen, of whom the last, mohammed ahmed, _b_. , gained possession of the soudan, defeated the egyptian army in , two years later captured khartoum, but died at omdurman shortly afterwards. ismenË, the sister of antigone, who requested, as her accomplice, to be promoted to be sharer in her fate. isocrates, an athenian rhetorician, of a school that was an offshoot of the sophists (q. v.), and the whole merit of whose oratory depended upon style or literary finish and display; he is said to have starved himself to death after the battle of cheronea at the age of because he could not brook to outlive the humiliation of greece by philip of macedon and the destruction of its freedom ( - b.c.). isodorian decretals, a body of ecclesiastical decretals imposed upon the church under the name of isodore of seville (q. v.). isolde, the wife of king mark of cornwall, who, under the potency of some philter which she had inadvertently taken, conceived an illicit passion for sir tristram, her husband's nephew, the story of which is celebrated in mediæval romance. ispahÂn ( ), the ancient capital of persia, m. s. of teheran, on the river zenderud, which, as its greatest glory, is spanned by a noble bridge of arches; it stands in a fertile plain abounding in groves and orchards, amid ruins of its former grandeur, and is a centre of mohammedan learning; the inhabitants are said to have at one time numbered a million; it produces rich brocades and velvets, firearms, sword-blades, and much ornamental ware; there are many fine buildings, and signs of returning prosperity. israel, kingdom of, the name given to the northern kingdom of the tribes of the israelites which revolted from the kingdom of judah after the death of solomon. isrÄels, josef, a dutch oil and water-colour artist and etcher, born in gröningen; studied in amsterdam and paris; devoting himself to _genre_ subjects, he has depicted the pathetic side of the life of the dutch fisher-folks with great sympathy and power; he won a _grand prix_ at the paris exhibition of ; _b_. . israfeel, in the mohammedan mythology an angel whose office it will be to sound the trumpet on the resurrection morning. issus, a river in cilicia, asia minor, where alexander the great defeated darius, b.c. issy ( ), a village ½ m. sw. of paris, where davout was defeated by blücher on rd july , and which suffered severely during the siege of paris by the germans in - . istamboul, the turkish name for constantinople. isthmian games, one of the four pan-hellenic festivals; they were periodically celebrated in honour of poseidon or neptune at the isthmus of corinth, in greece, whence the name. istria ( ), a mountainous territory of austria, in the ne. corner of the adriatic; yields olive-oil, figs, and vines, though often swept by sirocco and bora winds. isumbras, st., a hero of mediæval romance, a proud man subdued by god's justice into a penitent and a humble. italian architecture. the style of architecture called italian was first developed by filippo bruneschelli, and flourished during the th, th, and th centuries; it was an adaptation of classical circular-arch form to modern requirements. in rome it conformed most to ancient types; in venice it assumed its most graceful form. it was more suitable to domestic than to ecclesiastical work; but the dome is an impressive feature, and st. peter's a noble church. italic school, the name given to the school of pythagoras (q. v.) who taught philosophy in italy. italic version, the, a version of the scriptures into latin on the basis of the septuagint, executed in n. italy under episcopal authority from other versions in circulation; being of mixed quality and far from satisfactory, jerome (q. v.) undertook its revision with the view of a new translation into latin known as the vulgate direct from the hebrew and greek originals. italy ( , ), the central one of three peninsulas stretching into the mediterranean sea, in the s. of europe, has the adriatic and tyrrhenian seas respectively on the e. and w., and is separated from france, switzerland, and austria in the n. by the various ranges of the alps. between the alps and the apennines lies the extensive, fertile plain of lombardy, watered by the river po, and containing several large lakes, such as garda, como, and maggiore. the apennines form a very picturesque chain of mountains ft. high down the centre of the country. the climate varies in different districts, but is mostly warm. malaria curses many parts in autumn. agriculture is extensive, but primitive in manner, and the peasantry are very poor. the most important crops are cereals, including rice and maize, grapes, olives, and chestnuts, and in the s. oranges and lemons. italian wines are of indifferent quality. coal and iron are scarce; sulphur is produced in large quantities in sicily. there are large quarries of marble and alabaster. the most important industries are silk, glass, and porcelain. there is an extensive foreign trade, chiefly with france and great britain; the exports consist of silk, sulphur, marble, fruit, and wine; the imports of coal, iron, and textile goods. the religion is roman catholic; education is now compulsory. the gothic kingdom of italy was founded on the ruins of the roman empire, a.d. . in succession the country was conquered by the forces of the byzantine empire, by the lombards, and by the franks. from the th century onwards its history has been one of constant internal strife and confusion. the presence of the papal power in rome, the rise of such rich trading republics as the cities of milan, florence, naples, genoa, and venice, the pretensions of french kings and german emperors, and factions like those of the guelphs and ghibellines, produced endless complications and ruinous wars. in the th century the influence of the austro-spanish house of charles v. became dominant; his son, philip ii., was king of milan and naples. in more recent times the small states of italy were continually involved in the wars which devastated europe, and passed in alliance or in subordination into the hands of austria, france, and spain alternately. the last years have seen the unification of the kingdom. after the abortive movement of mazzini came cavour and garibaldi, who, after severe struggles against the austrians in the north and the despots of southern italy, proclaimed victor emmanuel king of italy in . by various steps the whole of the peninsula, with the islands of sardinia and sicily, have been brought into the kingdom. the temporal power of the pope ceased in . the government is a constitutional monarchy. franchise is exercised by every citizen who can read and write. conscription is in force for army and navy. these are both strong, the navy one of the best in europe. finances are bad; the debt amounts to £ , , , and taxation is ruinous. ithaca ( ), one of the ionian islands, and one of the smallest, known now under the name thiaki; it was the home of ulysses, and his domain as king when he set out for the trojan war, and which he did not see again till his return after twenty years. also a town ( ) in new york state, u.s., seat of cornell university (q. v.). ithuriel, an angel whom milton represents as sent by gabriel to search for satan in paradise, who had found entrance by eluding the vigilance of the guard; he was armed with a _spear_, the touch of which could unmask any disguise, and by means of which he discovered satan lurking in the garden in the form of a toad. itinerary, a name given among the romans to an account or a map of the principal routes through the empire and the stations along them. iturbide, augustine de, a mexican general, emancipated mexico from the yoke of spain; seized the crown and was proclaimed emperor in , was obliged to abdicate next year and leave the country, but returning, was immediately arrested, and shot ( - ). ivan (i. e. john), the name of two grand-dukes and four czars of russia; the two grand-dukes were ivan i., grand-duke from to , and ivan ii., his son, grand-duke from to . ivan iii., surnamed the threatening, sought to free russia from the yoke of the tartars who had held it tributary for two centuries; gained victories over the tartars and the poles, and was the first to receive at moscow ambassadors from other powers of europe; reigned from to . ivan iv., surnamed the terrible, grandson of the preceding, assumed the sovereignty at , had himself crowned in , and took the title of czar; his first great ambition was to destroy the tartar power, which he did at kasan and astrakhan, receiving homage thereafter from almost all the tartar chiefs; on the death of his wife in he lost all self-restraint, and by the ferocity of his wars provoked hostility which the pope, who had been appealed to, interposed to appease; in a fit of passion he killed his eldest son, whom he loved, remorse for which embittered his last days and hastened his end ( - ). ivanhoe, the hero of sir walter scott's novel of the name, the disinherited son of cedric of rotherwood, who falls in love with rowena, a ward of his father, but by the exhibition of his prowess as a knight is at the intercession of king richard, reconciled to his father, with the result that he marries rowena. ivanova ( ), a russian town in vladimir, m. ne. of moscow, engaged in the manufacture of cotton, and known as the "manchester of russia." ivanovitch, ivan, a lazy, good-natured impersonation of the typical russian, as john bull is of the englishman, and brother jonathan of the american. ives, st., a town on the ouse, in huntingdonshire, m. n. of london, where oliver cromwell resided from to ; the chief industries are malting and brewing. iviza ( ), the most westerly of the balearic isles, is hilly and well wooded, with fertile valleys and important fisheries. ivory coast, a territory on the k. of the gulf of guinea, belonging partly to liberia and partly to france and britain. ivory gate, the gate spoken of in virgil through which dreams pass that do not turn out true. see horn gate. ivry, a village in the dep. of eure, ne. of dreux, famous for the victory of henry of navarre over the leaguers in . ixion, the king of the lapithÆ (q. v.), who being admitted to heaven attempted to do violence to hera, and whom zeus deluded to embrace a phantom image of her instead, whereby he became the father of the centaurs, and whom zeus thereafter punished by fastening him hands and feet to an eternally revolving wheel in hell. izalio, a volcano in the republic of san salvador, which first announced its existence by a fissure opening in on the plain that now surrounds it, from which there vomited lava and cinders, accompanied with earthquake. j jabalpur ( ), a town, district, and one of the four divisions of the central provinces, india; the town is an important commercial and railway centre, situated m. sw. of allahabad; cotton and carpets are amongst its chief manufactures. jack, a familiar form of john, the most widely spread of christian names, and said to be derived from the french jacques or, as others maintain, from jankin, a distinctive form of johan or john; johnkin gives us jock and jockey; from its extreme commonness it has acquired that slightly contemptuous signification observable in such compounds as "every man jack," "jack-of-all-trades," "jack-an-apes," and the name as applied to the _knaves_ in playing-cards, and to the small white ball used as a mark in the game of bowls is an example of its transferred sense. jackaroo, name given in australia to a green-horn from england inexperienced in bush life. jackdaw of rheims, one of the ingoldsby legends (q. v.). jackson, , a prosperous manufacturing city ( ) in michigan, u.s.a., on the grand river, m. w. of detroit; has various mills, iron-works, breweries, &c., and bituminous coal-mines on its outskirts. , a cotton market-town ( ), capital of madison county, tennessee, on the south fork of the forked deer river, m. se. of cairo, illinois. jackson, andrew, general, president of the united states, born at waxhaw, n. carolina, adopted law as a profession, and in became public prosecutor at nashville; took a prominent part in establishing the state of tennessee, of which he subsequently became a senator and a, judge; during the war with britain ( - ) be came to the front and crowned a series of successes by his great victory over sir e. pakenham at new orleans; for a time he was governor of the newly purchased state of florida, but resigning, he again entered the u.s. senate in ; five years later he became president, and in was again elected; his presidency is associated with the readjustment of the tariff on a purely protective basis, which led to disputes with s. carolina, the sweeping away of the united states bank, the wiping out of the national debt in , and the vigorous enforcement of claims against the french for damage done during the napoleonic wars; his imperious yet honest nature led him to make a more frequent use of the president's veto than any of his predecessors ( - ). jackson, thomas jonathan, known as stonewall jackson, an american general, born in virginia; bred for the army; distinguished himself in the mexican war; retired from the army in , and became a professor in mathematics and military science in virginia; was appointed brigadier-general in the confederate army at the outbreak of the civil war, and earned the _nom de guerre_ of "stonewall" by his firmness at the battle of bull run, july , ; distinguished himself in subsequent engagements; at chancellorville was by mistake fired at in the dark and mortally wounded by his own men on may , ; he was a man of the cromwell stamp, and his death was not only a blow to his own party, but matter of grief to the whole american nation ( - ). jacksonville, , the chief seat of commerce ( ) in florida state, is situated on st. john's river, some m. from its mouth; is a busy railway centre, and has an active river trade in lumber, cotton, fruits, &c., and is a health resort. , capital ( ) of morgan county, illinois, is pleasantly situated on a fertile plain, m. sw. of springfield; is noted as an educational centre, and for its many charity asylums; its manufactures embrace woollens, paper, &c. jacob, a hebrew patriarch, younger son of isaac and rebecca, the favourite of his mother, and had twelve sons, the fathers of the twelve tribes of israel; his character and the story of his life are naïvely delineated in the book of genesis. jacob, jean claude, a serf from the jura mountains, years old, who was brought from his native place to figure as "dean of the human race" in paris at the great federation festival of june . jacobi, friedrich heinrich, a german philosopher, born at düsseldorf; bred for business, and after engaging in it for a time threw it up for a revenue appointment; devoted all his by-hours to philosophy and correspondence with eminent men, and was appointed president of the academy of sciences at münich in ; he formed no system and he founded no school; his thoughts present themselves in a detached form, and are to be gathered from letters, dialogues, and imaginative works; he contended for the dogma of "immediate cognition as the special organ of the supersensuous," and failed to see, as schwegler notes, that said cognition "has already described a series of subjective intermediating movements, and can pretend to immediacy only in entire oblivion of its own nature and origin" ( - ). jacobi, karl gustavo, a celebrated german mathematician, born at potsdam, of jewish birth; was professor at königsberg and berlin, and one of the founders of the theory of determinants ( - ). jacobins, a political club, originally known as the club breton, which was founded in paris during the french revolution; so called from its place of meeting in the rue st. honoré, which had previously been a jacobin friar convent; it exercised a great influence over the course of the revolution, and had affiliated societies all over the country, working along with it; its members were men of extreme revolutionary views, procured the death of the king, exterminated the girondists, roused the lowest classes against the middle, and were the ruling spirits during the reign of terror, of whom robespierre was the chief, the fall of whom sealed their doom; they were mobbed out of their place of meeting with execrations on hallow-eve . jacobites, a name given to certain partisans of eutychean sect in the th century in the east, from the name of their leader. jacobites, the name given to the adherents of the stuart dynasty in great britain after their expulsion from the throne in , and derived from that of james ii., the last stuart king; they made two great attempts to restore the exiled dynasty, in and , but both were unsuccessful, after which the movement exhausted itself in an idle sentimentality, which also is by this time as good as extinct. jacobs, a german greek scholar, born at gotha; editor of "anthologia græca" ( - ). jacobus, a gold coin of the reign of james i., worth shillings. jacoby, johan, a prussian politician, born in königsberg; bred to medicine, but best known as a politician in a liberal interest, which involved him in prosecutions; was imprisoned for protesting against the annexation of alsace and lorraine; he was a man of fearless honesty, and one day had the courage to say to the emperor william i., "it is the misfortune of kings that they will not listen to the truth" ( - ). jacotot, jean joseph, a celebrated educationalist, born at dijon, france; after holding various educational appointments, he in became professor of the french language and literature at louvain, and subsequently held the post of director of the military normal school; he is noted for his "universal method" of education, which is based on his assumption that men's minds are of equal calibre ( - ). jacquard loom, a loom with an apparatus for weaving figures in textiles, such as silks, muslins, and carpets, which was the invention of an ingenious frenchman, born in lyons, of the name of joseph marie jacquard ( - ). jacquerie, the name given to an insurrection of french peasants against the nobles in the ile of france (q. v.), which broke out on may , , during the absence of king john as a prisoner in england; it was caused by the oppressive exactions of the nobles, and was accompanied with much savagery and violence, but the nobles combined against the revolt, as they did not do at the time of revolution, preferring rather to leave the country in a pet, and it was extinguished on the th june following. jacques bonhomme, a name given to a french peasant as tamely submissive to taxation. jade, is the common name of about ornamental stones, but belongs properly only to nephrite, a pale grey, yellowish, or white mineral found in new zealand, siberia, and chiefly in china, where it is highly valued. jael, the jewish matron who slew sisera the canaanitish captain, smiting a nail into his temples as he lay asleep in her tent, judges iv. , . jaen ( ), a picturesque cathedral city, capital of a province of the same name, in andalusia, spain, on a tributary of the guadalquivir, m. nw. of granada; the province ( ) lies along the valley of the guadalquivir, and was once a moorish kingdom. jaggannatha. see juggernaut. jaghir, revenue from land or the produce of it, assigned in india by the government to an individual as a reward for some special service. jahn, fred. l., a german patriot, born in pomerania; did much to rouse his country into revolt against the domination of france in ( - ). jahn, johan, a catholic theologian and orientalist, born in moravia; held professorships in olmütz and vienna; was distinguished as a biblical scholar, author of "biblical archæology," in five vols., as well as an introduction to the old testament, with grammar, lexicons, &c., in connection with the biblical languages ( - ). jahn, otto, philologist and archæologist, born at kiel; after holding the post of lecturer at kiel and greifswald he, in , was appointed to the chair of archæology in leipzig; becoming involved in the political troubles of - , he lost his professorial position, but subsequently held similar appointments at bonn and berlin; his voluminous writings, which cover the field of greek and roman art and literature, and include valuable contributions to the history of music, are of first-rate importance ( - ). jail fever, the popular name of a fever now known to be a severe form of typhus, such as happened in at the "black assize," so called as so many of those in the conduct of it died infected by the prisoners. jainas, sects of hindus scattered up and down india, allied to the buddhists, though ecclesiastically in open antagonism to them; they reject the veda of the brahmans, and oppose to it another of their own, as also their caste and their sacerdotalism, though they observe the rules of caste among themselves; like the buddhists, they are divided into an ascetic class and a lay, but monasticism is not developed to the same degree among them. there are two principal sects, "the white-gowns" and "the air-clad," i. e. naked, though it is only at meals, which they eat in common, that the latter strip naked; "not only do they abstain from animal food, but they drink only filtered water, breathe only through a veil, and go sweeping the ground before them for fear of swallowing or crushing any smallest animalcule." in religion they are atheists, and admit of no creator or of any perfection of being at the beginning, only at the end. they distinguish between soul and body, and regard the former as eternal; evil is not in mere existence, but in life, and their nirvâna is a blessedness without break or end. we know little or nothing of the history of these sects; with them conduct is everything; their origin is of later date than that of the buddhists. see barth's "religions of india," translated by the editor. jalapa ( ), capital of the mexican state of vera cruz, is prettily situated at the base of the cordilleras, m. nw. of vera cruz city. jalisco ( , ), a maritime state in mexico facing the pacific; consists chiefly of elevated plateau; enjoys a fine climate; has long-established mining industries, some agriculture, and a growing trade in cotton and woollen goods, tobacco, &c.; capital, guadalajara. jamaica ("land of springs") ( , of which are whites), a british crown colony, the largest and most important of the british west india islands; is one of the greater antilles group, and lies some m. s. of the eastern end of cuba; its greatest length e. and w. m.; is traversed by the blue mountains ( ft.), whose slopes are clad with luxuriant forests of mahogany, cedar, satin-wood, palm, and other trees; of the numerous rivers, only one, the black river, is navigable and that for only flat-bottomed boats and canoes; there are many harbours (kingston finest), while good roads intersect the island; the climate is oppressively warm and somewhat unhealthy on the coast, but delightful in the interior highlands; for administrative purposes the land area is divided into three counties, surrey, middlesex, and cornwall; the chief trade-products are dye-woods, fruit, sugar, rum, coffee, and spices; discovered in by columbus, and since a possession of england. james, the name of three disciples of christ; james, the elder son of zebedee, by order of the high-priest was put to death by herod agrippa; james, the younger son of alphæus; and james, the brother of the lord, stoned to death. james i., king of scotland from to , son of robert iii., born at dunfermline; in , while on a voyage to france, he was captured by the english and detained by henry iv. for years, during which time, however, he was carefully trained in letters and in all knightly exercises; returning to scotland in with his bride, jane beaufort, niece of the english king, he took up the reins of government with a firm hand; he avenged himself on the nobles by whose connivance he had been kept so long out of his throne, reduced the turbulent highlanders to order, and introduced a number of beneficial reforms (e. g. a wider parliamentary franchise, a fixed standard for the coinage, a supreme court of civil jurisdiction, a renovated system of weights and measures), and widened scotland's commercial relations with the continent; he was a man of scholarly tastes, a patron of learning, and exhibits no mean poetic gift in his well-known poem the "king's quhair"; his vigorous and sometimes harsh and vindictive efforts to lower the powers of the nobility procured him their inveterate hatred, and in he was murdered in the dominican monastery at perth by a band of conspirators ( - ). james ii., king of scotland from to , son of preceding; during his minority the country was torn by rival factions amongst the nobility, the chief point of contest being the wardship of the young king; an attempt on the part of the conspirators who had murdered james i. to place their leader, the earl of athole, on the throne, was frustrated; in james assumed the duties of his kingship, and in the same year married mary, the daughter of the duke of gueldres; an english war then being waged on the borders was brought to a close, and the young king entered vigorously upon administrative reforms; in these efforts he was hampered by the opposition of the nobility, and his fiery temper led him to participate in the murder of the chief obstructionist, the earl of douglas; protection given to the exiled douglases by the yorkists led james to support the claims of henry vi. in england; he was killed by the bursting of a cannon at the siege of roxburgh castle ( - ). james iii., king of scotland from to , son of james ii.; was during his minority under the care of his mother and bishop kennedy of st. andrews, the earl of angus being lieutenant-general of the kingdom; but the bishop and the earl died before he was , and the nobility fell into faction and disorder again; the first to gain power was lord boyd (whose son married the king's sister), but a charge of treason brought about his downfall and exile; the king married princess margaret of denmark in , and gave himself up to a life of quiet ease surrounded by men of art and culture, while his brothers albany and mar, by their military tastes and achievements, won the affections of the nobles; james, becoming jealous, imprisoned them; albany, who had intrigued with edward iv., fled to france, mar died in craigmillar castle; while the king and his army were marching to meet expected english action in the nobles, instigated by archibald, bell-the-cat, seized and hanged the royal favourites at lauder, and committed the king to edinburgh castle; a short reconciliation was effected, but was soon broken, and civil war ensued; the defeat of the royalist forces at sauchieburn took place in ; the king escaped from the field, but was thrown from his horse, and taking refuge in a house at beaton's mill, was there slain ( - ). james iv., king of scotland from to , participated in the rebellion which overthrew his father, james iii., and succeeded him; but in remorse for his unfilial conduct wore an iron belt all his life; during his youth his supporters carried on the government in their own interests, and despoiled the nobles who had been loyal to the late king; but when he came of age he showed his independence in choosing good advisers, among them sir andrew wood; his reign was marked by resistance to the claims of the roman pontiff, by the firm and wise administration of law, the fostering of agriculture, of shipbuilding, and other industries; in james married margaret, daughter of henry vii.; after that king's death relations between the two countries became strained; two english men-of-war captured andrew barton's privateers; the jewels which the queen inherited from her father were retained by henry viii., and james maintained an alliance with henry's enemy, france; at the solicitation of the french queen, against the advice of his own queen and nobles, he invaded england in , but the invasion ended in disaster at flodden, where he and the flower of his army perished; he was an able but a headstrong, a pleasure-loving, and an extravagant man ( - ). james v., king of scotland from to , was only an infant when he succeeded to his father's throne; his mother was regent till her marriage with young angus, when the nobles called james iv.'s cousin, albany, from france to assume the regency; french and english factions sprang up; henry viii. intrigued in the affairs of the country; anarchy and civil war ensued, and albany retired to france in ; in that year the queen-mother, aided by henry, took the young king from sir david lyndsay, to whom he had been entrusted, and assumed the government again in his name; the douglas family usurped his person and the government in ; but james asserted himself three years later, and began to reign in person, displaying judgment and resolution, banishing the douglases, keeping order in the highlands and on the borders, establishing the college of justice, protecting the peasantry from the tyranny of the barons, and fostering trade by a commercial treaty with the netherlands; he married ( ) princess magdalene of france in , and ( ) mary of guise in ; henry, aggrieved by james's failure to meet him in conference on church matters, and otherwise annoyed, sent , men into scotland in ; disaffection prevented the scottish forces from acting energetically, and the rout of solway moss took place; the king, vexed and shamed, sank into a fever and died at falkland; in this reign the reformation began to make progress in scotland, and would have advanced much farther but that james had to support the clergy to play off their power against the nobles ( - ) james vi. of scotland and i. of england, son of mary, queen of scots, and darnley, born in edinburgh castle; was proclaimed king of scotland when only months old, in ; entrusted to the earl of mar, and educated by george buchanan; moray, lennox, mar, and morton were successively regents, till james assumed the government in , executing morton and choosing arran and lennox for his advisers; plots and counter-plots, the raid of ruthven ( ), the siege of stirling by some of the nobles with , troops, mostly from england, the surrender of the king and the fall of arran in , the insurrection of the catholic nobles - , and the gowrie conspiracy in , betrayed the restlessness of the kingdom, and the weakness of the king; james married anne of denmark ; on the death of elizabeth, in , he succeeded to the throne of england as james i.; was at first popular, but soon forfeited all confidence by his favouritism; he governed through creatures like carr, earl of somerset, and the infamous buckingham, whose indiscretion brought about a war with spain in ; james died immediately afterwards; he has been described by sully as "the wisest fool in christendom"; his conduct was certainly much less creditable than his conversation; he held absurdly high views of the royal prerogative; but he sold patents of nobility, and was careless of the misdeeds of his ministers; he did not live to see revolution, but he saw its precursor in the loosening of the bonds of sympathy between sovereign and people ( - ). james ii. of england and vii. of scotland, the son of charles i., reigned in succession to charles ii. from to ; during the commonwealth he was a soldier in france and spain; at the restoration returned to england as duke of york, and became lord high admiral; avowing himself a catholic in , the test act of enforced his resignation, and thenceforward repeated attempts were made to exclude him from the succession; on becoming king he promised to maintain the church and to respect the liberties of the people, but his government all the same was arbitrary and tyrannical; he paraded his catholicism, persecuted the covenanters, subordinated english interests to french, permitted the "bloody assize," suspended the test act, violated the rights of the universities, gave church offices to roman catholics, and by these and many other acts of despotism made his deposition necessary; leading statesmen invited william of orange to assume the throne, and james fled to france; an invasion of ireland in ended in his defeat at boyne water; he retired again to france, and lived at st. germains till his death ( - ). james, epistle of, a catholic epistle of the new testament, presumed to have been written by james, the brother of the lord, addressed to jewish christians who, in accepting christianity, had not renounced judaism, and the sphere in which it moves is that of christian morality, agreeably to the standard of ethics given in the sermon on the mount. the author looks upon judaism as the basis of christianity, and as on the moral side leading up to it, in correspondence with the attestation of christ, that "salvation is of the jews." james, g. p. r., historical novelist, born in london; wrote as many as a hundred novels, beginning with "richelieu" in , which brought him popularity, profit, and honour; was burlesqued by thackeray ( - ). james, sir henry, military engineer; superintended the geological survey of ireland, and became in director-general of the ordnance survey ( - ). james, henry, an american theological writer, a disciple of swedenborg, and an exponent of his system ( - ). james, henry, american novelist, born in new york: studied law at harvard, but was eventually drawn into literature, and after a spell of magazine work established his reputation as a novelist in with "roderick hudson"; most of his life has been spent in italy and england, and the writing of fiction has been varied with several volumes of felicitous criticism, chiefly on french life and literature; his novels are characterised by a charming style, by a delicate discriminating analysis of rather uneventful lives, and by an almost complete absence of strong dramatic situation; _b_. . james, john angell, most influential congregationalist of his time, born in dorsetshire; was pastor of carr's lane chapel, birmingham, from to ; won the esteem of all parties; published the "anxious inquirer," and many other works ( - ). james, st., james, the son of zebedee, the patron saint of spain; his attribute the sword, by which he was decapitated. james river, an important river of virginia, u.s., formed by the junction of the jackson and the cowpasture, and flows in a south-easterly direction across virginia, falling into the atlantic at the s. end of chesapeake bay. it has a course of m., and is navigable as far as city point. jameson, anna, _née_ murphy, english literary lady and art critic, born in dublin; authoress of "sacred and legendary art," "legends of the monastic orders," "legends of the madonna," &c.; left unfinished at her death a work on our lord and john the baptist as represented in art, which was completed afterwards by lady eastlake ( - ). jameson, george, a scotch portrait-painter, born in aberdeen; many of his portraits are to be met with in scottish mansion-houses; his work has been unduly lauded, and himself extravagantly designated the "scottish vandyck" ( - ). jameson, dr. leander starr, leader of the raid upon johannesburg, born at edinburgh; studied medicine in his native city and in london; established himself at kimberley in , and under the patronage of mr. rhodes became the popular administrator for the south africa company at fort salisbury in ; from mafeking in december of he started, with a body of troopers, upon his ill-fated incursion into the transvaal to assist the uitlanders of johannesburg; at krugersdorp the raiders, exhausted by a hours' ride, were repelled by a superior force of boers, and compelled to surrender; having been handed over to the british authorities, "dr. jim," as he was familiarly called, was tried in london, and condemned to months' imprisonment, but was liberated on account of ill-health after about five months' incarceration; _b_. . jameson, robert, naturalist, born in leith; appointed professor of natural history in edinburgh university in ; wrote several works on mineralogy and geology ( - ). james's palace, st., a palace, a brick building adjoining st. james's park, london, where drawing-rooms were held, and gave name to the english court in those days as st. stephen's does of the parliament. jamieson, dr. john, a scotch antiquary, born in glasgow; bred for the church; was dissenting minister in nicolson street church, edinburgh; widely known as author of the "etymological dictionary of the scottish language"; wrote other works of less note ( - ). jamyn, amadis, a french poet, a protégé of ronsard's; was a good greek scholar. jan mayen land, a volcanic island, m. in length, situated in the arctic ocean between iceland and spitzbergen; is the head-quarters of considerable seal and whale fisheries; discovered in by a dutch navigator. jane eyre, a novel by charlotte brontë; published in . janiculum, one of the hills of rome, on the right bank of the tiber. janin, jules gabriel, critic and novelist, born at st. Étienne, france; took to journalism early, and established a reputation by his lively dramatic criticisms in the _journal des débats_; his gift of ready composition betrayed him into a too prolific output of work, and it is doubtful if any of his many novels and articles will long survive his day and generation; they, however, brought him wealth and celebrity in his own lifetime; he succeeded in to sainte-beuve's chair in the french academy ( - ). janizaries, a turkish military force organised in , and more perfectly in ; composed originally of christian youths taken prisoners in war or kidnapped, and trained as mohammedans; from being at first , , and fostered by the privileges granted them, increased to , or , strong, till they became unruly and a danger to the state, when, after various unsuccessful attempts to crush them, they were in overborne by the sultan mahmoud ii. and dissolved. jannÆus, alexander, the second of the asmonæan kings of judea; reigned in the beginning of the century before christ; insulted the jews by profaning the rites of their religion, and roused a hostility against him which was appeased only by his death, the news of which was received with expressions of triumphant exultation. jannes and jambres, the two egyptian magicians who thought to outrival moses in the performance of his miracles; supposed to be referred to in tim. iii. as "withstanding" him. jansen, cornelius, a dutch theologian and bishop of ypres, born in louvain; studied the works of augustine, and wrote a book entitled "augustinus" in exposition of that great father's doctrine of grace, which was published after his death, and which gave occasion to a great controversy between his followers, in france especially, and the jesuits ( - ). jansenists, a party in the roman catholic church, supporters of jansen's views, who, in opposition to the jesuits, maintained the augustinian principle of the sovereign and irresistible nature of divine grace. the most celebrated members of the party were the port-royalists (q. v.) of france, in particular arnauld and pascal, and they were opposed not only by the jesuits, but by both louis xiv. and the pope. driven from france on the death of louis, they took refuge in holland, and thither the pope clement xi. followed them, first in , hurling a bull against them, and then in by ex-communicating them and driving them for good from within the pale of the catholic church. januarius, st., a christian who suffered martyrdom under diocletian, and whose head is preserved in naples with a phial containing his blood which, on certain occasions, liquefies when brought into contact with the head. recourse is had to it on the occasion of public calamities, not without desired effects, and it is an object of worship. festival, september . january, the first month of the year, so called as sacred to janus (q. v.). january, edict of, edict of date january , , on which catherine de médecis granted certain concessions to the protestants. janus, a very ancient italian deity who presided over the beginning of the several divisions of time, as well as the beginning of all enterprises, in connection with which he was worshipped; he had two heads, or faces, one of which looked behind into the past and the other before into the future, and this power of penetrating into both it is said saturn endowed him with as a reward for receiving him on earth when he was driven out of heaven. japan ( , ), an island empire of the n. pacific, lying along the e. coast of asia, and separated from corea and primorsk by the sea of japan, consists of honshiu ( , ), shikoku ( , ), kyushu ( , ), yezo ( ), and small islands; though not of volcanic origin, the islands are the most mountainous in the world, have many volcanoes and sulphur springs, and are subject to earthquakes; they are very picturesque, and have peaks from to , ft. high; the rivers are too swift for navigation; the coast, not much indented, has yet some good harbours; the valleys are well wooded, but the soil not very fertile; temperature and climate are various; nowhere is the heat intense, but in some parts the winter is very cold; there is much rain, but on the whole it is healthy; the chief industry is agriculture; farming is careful and intelligent; rice, cereals, pulse, tea, cotton, and tobacco are raised, and many fruits; gold, silver, all the useful metals, coal, granite, some decorative stones are found, but good building-stone is scarce; the manufacture of porcelain, lacquer-work, and silk is extensive, and in some artistic work the japanese are unrivalled; the chief ports are yokohama ( ), on the e. of honshiu, which has grown up since , when the country was opened to trade; and hyogo ( ), on the s. coast of the same island, where are also shipbuilding yards; the chief exports are tea, silk, and rice; imports cotton, woollen, iron goods, and chemicals; the japanese, sprung from an ancient union of tartars with ainos and with s. malays, are a kindly, courteous, law-abiding folk, with highly developed artistic tastes; education is compulsory, and well provided for; religion is shintoism and buddhism, but christianity is gaining rapid ground; the government is in the hands of the mikado, who rules now with the aid of ministers and two houses of parliament; education, government, army, and navy--indeed the whole modern civilisation of the country--is on western lines, though until foreigners were excluded; a civil war in - effected the change from the old feudalism, and the amazing success of japan in the war against china in has proved that the new civilisation is no mere veneer; the capital is tokyo ( , ). japheth, one of the three sons of noah and the ancestor of the gentiles, as distinct from the descendants of shem, or the semites, and of ham, or the hamites. see iapetos. jaques, or the "melancholy" a cynical moraliser in shakespeare's "as you like it." jarnac, a town on the charente, celebrated as the scene of a victory which the catholics, commanded by the duc d'anjou, afterwards henry iii. obtained in over the huguenots commanded by condé. jaroslav ( ), on the volga, m. ne. of moscow, is capital of the government of jaroslav; is an important river-port, a seat of theological and legal culture, and has cotton manufactures. jarpnoonk, a mesmeric or hypnotic state produced by hindu conjurers. jarrow ( ), in durham, on the tyne, m. below newcastle; is a coal-shipping port, and has extensive shipbuilding and iron manufactures; in ancient times its monastery was made famous by the venerable bede. jarvie, bailie nicol, a glasgow magistrate; an original character in scott's "rob roy." jasher, book of, a hebrew book twice quoted in the old testament, no longer extant; believed to have been a collection of national ballads. jasmin, jacques, a gascon barber and poet, who by his romances, burlesques, and odes, published between and , raised the patois of the s. of france to the status of a literary language, and created a wholesome influence on french life and letters ( - ). jason, a mythological greek hero, son of Æson, king of iolcos; brought up by the centaur chiron, was supplanted on the throne by his half-brother pelias; undertook the leadership of the argonautic expedition, assisted by medea in this enterprise; he took her to wife, but cast her off for creusa, whom medea to avenge herself killed, with her father and her two sons by jason, she herself escaping to athens in a chariot drawn by winged dragons; jason took refuge from her fury in the sanctuary of poseidon near corinth, where the timber of the ship argo deposited there breaking up fell upon him and crushed him to death. jasper, an opaque quartz found in all colours, and spotted, striped, and clouded; is valued in ornamental lapidary work because of the polish it takes. jassy ( ), ancient capital of moldavia, situated m. ne. of bucharest; is the seat of an archbishop and a university, and has a large community of jews; trades largely with russia in corn, spirits, and wine. jÂtaka, a pâli collection of stories recounting previous "births" of the buddha, the earliest collection of popular tales, and the ultimate source of many of Æsop's fables and western folk-lore legends. jats, are the principal race in the punjab, where they number ½ millions, and are engaged in agriculture. there is much debate as to their origin and their racial relationship. java ( , ), the finest island of the indian archipelago, lying between sumatra and bali, with the indian ocean on the s. and the java sea separating it from borneo on the n., lies e. and w., traversed by a mountain chain with a rich alluvial plain on the n.; there are many volcanoes; the climate is hot, and on the coast unhealthy; the mountains are densely wooded, and the teak forests are valuable; the plain is fertile; coffee, tea, sugar, indigo, and tobacco are grown and exported; all kinds of manufactured goods, wine, spirits, and provisions are imported; the natives are malays, more civilised than on neighbouring islands; there are , chinese, many europeans and arabs; the island is nearly as large as england, and belongs to holland; the chief towns are batavia ( ) and samarang ( ), both on the n. jay, john, american statesman, born in new york, and called to the bar in ; took a part in the struggle for independence second only to washington's; represented his country subsequently in madrid and london; was first chief-justice of the united states, and from to governor of new york ( - ). jay, william, eminent congregationalist minister, born in wiltshire; was first a stone-mason, but entered the ministry, and after a short term of service near chippenham was pastor of argyle chapel, bath, for years. he was an impressive preacher and a popular writer ( - ). jayadeva, a hindu poet, born near burdwân, in bengal, flourished in the th century, whose great work, the "gita govinda," the "song of the shepherd krishna," has been translated by sir edwin arnold as the "indian song of songs," in celebration of the love of krishna and his wife radha; it has often been compared with the "song of songs," in the hebrew scriptures. jean d'Épee (jean, i. e. the frenchman with the sword), a name given to napoleon by his partisans who conspired for his restoration in . jean jacques, rousseau, from his christian name. jean paul, richter (q. v.), from his christian name. jeanne d'albret. see d'albret, jeanne. jeanne d'arc. see joan of arc. jebb, professor, eminent greek scholar, born in dundee; elected in regius professor of greek in cambridge; has represented cambridge in parliament since ; edited "sophocles," "the attic orators," "introduction to homer," &c.; b. . jedburgh ( ), county town of roxburghshire, picturesquely situated on the jed, m. sw. of berwick, and m. sw. of kelso; is an ancient town of many historic memories; made a royal burgh by david i.; contains the ruins of an abbey, and has some woollen manufactures. jeddah ( ), a town on the red sea, m. w. of mecca, of which it is the port, where the pilgrims disembark for the holy city; is a place of trade, less considerable than it once was. jeejeebhoy, sir jamsetjee, indian philanthropist, a parsee by birth and creed, born in bombay; realised a fortune as a merchant, and employed it in releasing debtors from jail by paying their debts, and in founding a hospital and schools; in was made a baronet ( - ). jefferies, john richard, writer on rural subjects, born near swindon, wilts, son of a gamekeeper; was first a journalist and novelist, but attained success in "the gamekeeper at home," ; other books display a very accurate faculty of observation and description, a reverence for nature, for rural scenes and people; "the story of my heart," , is an introspective and somewhat morbid autobiography; he died after six years' illness at goring, sussex; prof. saintsbury pronounces him "the greatest minute describer of english country life since white of selborne" ( - ). jefferson, joseph, comedian, born in philadelphia, of theatrical lineage; was on the stage at the age of ; made his first success in new york as dr. pangloss in , and in london in began to play his most famous rôle, rip van winkle, a most exquisite exhibition of histrionic genius; b. . jefferson, thomas, american statesman, born at shadwell, virginia; took a prominent part in the revolution, and claimed to have drawn up the declaration of independence; he secured the decimal coinage for the states in ; was plenipotentiary in france in , and subsequently minister there; third president, - , he saw the louisiana purchase and the prohibition of the slave-trade; after his retirement he devoted himself to furthering education till his death at monticello, va.; he was a man of extremes, but honest and consistent in his policy ( - ). jeffrey, francis, lord, a celebrated critic and lawyer, born in edinburgh; trained for and called to the bar in ; with a fine cultivated literary taste devoted himself principally to literary criticism, and being a whig in politics was associated with the originators of the _edinburgh review_ (q. v.), and became its first editor in , which he continued to be till , contributing to its pages all along articles of great brilliancy; he was distinguished also at the bar in several famous trials; became lord advocate of scotland in , m.p. for edinburgh in , and finally, in , one of the judges in the court of session; lie was a dark-eyed, nimble little man, of alert intelligence and quick in all his movements; died at craigcrook, near edinburgh ( - ). jeffreys, baron, of infamous memory, born in wales; became chief-justice of england in ; was one of the advisers and promoters of the tyrannical proceedings of james ii.'s reign, and notorious for his cruel and vindictive judgments as a judge, to the indignation of the people; tried to escape on the arrival of william; was discovered lurking in a public-house at wapping, and apprehended and committed to the tower, where he died ( - ). jehovah, the name of god in the hebrew scriptures as _self-existent_, and the creator and lord of all things, in the regard of the jews too sacred to be pronounced, and which in the authorised version is often rendered by the word lord in small capital letters. jehovist, the presumed author of the jehoistic portions of the pentateuch. see elohist. jekyll, dr., and mr. hyde, the good nature and the bad struggling for the ascendency in the same person, generally to the defeat of the former. jelf, richard william, principal of king's college, london; was educated at oxford, became fellow of oriel, canon of christ's church, and principal of king's college; is remembered chiefly for his rigid orthodoxy and for the part he played in depriving maurice of his professorship at king's college ( - ). jemappes ( ), a manufacturing belgian town, m. w. of mons, where dumouriez in the name of the french republic defeated the austrians in . jemindar, a native officer in the indian army of rank equal to that of lieutenant in the british. jena ( ), in saxe-weimar, on the saale, m. se. of weimar, an old town with memories of luther, goethe, and schiller; has a university founded to be a centre of reformation influence, and since associated with fichte, schelling, hegel, and the schlegels, who were teachers there; on the same day in october , , two victories were won near the town by french troops over the prussians, the collective name for both being "the battle of jena." "jenkins's ear," refers to an incident which provoked a war with spain in , viz., the conduct of the officer of a spanish guardship not far from havana towards the captain of an english trading ship of the name of jenkins; the spaniards boarded his ship, could find nothing contraband on board, but treated him cruelly, cut off his left ear, which he brought home in wadding, to the inflaming of the english people against spain, with the above-named issue. jenner, edward, an english physician, born in berkeley, and practised there; was the discoverer of inoculation with cowpox as a preventive of smallpox, or vaccination as it is called, a discovery which has immortalised his name ( - ). jenner, sir william, an eminent physician, born at chatham; held several professorships in university college; was physician to the queen and the prince of wales; discovered the symptoms which differentiate typhus from typhoid fever ( - ). jephthah, one of the judges of israel, famed for his rash vow in the event of victory to offer in sacrifice the first object that came out of his house on his return, and which happened to be his daughter and only child, and whom it would seem he sacrificed, after allowing her two months to bewail her fate along with her maidens; it is not said her father sacrificed her, and it is thought she was only doomed to perpetual virginity. jeremiad, a lament over degeneracy in modern times. jeremiah, a hebrew prophet, born at anathoth, a priestly city m. n. of jerusalem, where, after his removal thither, he spent as a prophet the greater part of his life, viz., from to b.c.; his prophecy was a lifelong protest against the iniquity and folly of his countrymen, and was conceived in bitter foreboding of the hopeless ruin they were bringing down upon their heads; his faithfulness offended friend and foe alike, and more than one plot was laid against his life, which was one of ever-deepening sadness and one long wail over the ruin of the country he so loved; he lived to see the issue of his prediction in the captivity of the people, though he did not go into captivity with them, the conqueror having allowed him to remain as he wished; he appears to have died in egypt; he was the author of "lamentations," and it is thought of sundry of the psalms. see hebrew prophecy. jericho, an ancient city of palestine, in the sw. of a plain of the same name that extends w. of the jordan and nw. of the dead sea; it was the first city taken by the israelites when they entered the holy land, the walls falling down before them after being compassed for seven days by the priests blowing on rams' horns and followed by the people. jerome, jerome klapta, dramatist, journalist, &c., author of "idle thoughts of an idle fellow," "three men in a boat," "diary of a pilgrimage," &c., as also of plays; editor of the _idler_ and of a weekly magazine journal, _to-day_; _b_. . jerome, st., a father of the church, born in n. illyria, of rich parents, presumably christian, although he first became christian himself of his own election after he was grown up; and from the day of his baptism, "he left," as he says, "not only parents and kindred, but the accustomed luxuries of delicate life"; his fame rests on a translation of the scriptures into latin, known as the vulgate, which he executed at bethlehem at intervals from a.d. to , with the design of showing to the latin world what was and what was not contained in the original documents for the faith of the church, and with the result, that in the long run the old and the new testaments were for the first time presented to and received by the church as both of equal, or at least common authority, and as both sections of one book ( - ). jerome of prague, born at prague; studied there and at oxford (where he came under wycliffe's influence), paris, heidelberg, and cologne; acquired great learning, and displayed great energy and oratorical power; attracted the notice of the kings of poland and hungary; joined john huss in his agitation against the abuses of the church; became involved in the movement against huss, and though he recanted, afterwards withdrew his recantation, and was burned at constance (about - .) jerrold, douglas, dramatist and celebrated wit, born in london, son of a theatrical magistrate; began life as a printer; composed "black-eyed susan"; contributed to _punch_ "mrs. caudle's lectures" among other pieces, and edited magazines; the keenness of his satire was the reflex of a feeling heart ( - ). jersey ( ), the largest and richest of the channel islands, lies m. off the french coast, m. s. of portland bill, is oblong in shape, with great bays in the coast, and slopes from the n. to the sw.; the soil is devoted chiefly to pasture and potato culture; the exports are early potatoes for the london market and the famous jersey cattle, the purity of whose breed is carefully preserved; the island is self-governing, has a somewhat primitive land tenure, is remarkably free from poverty and crime, has been under the english crown since ; the capital is st. helier ( ), where there is a college, a public library, a harbour, and a good market. jersey city ( ), the most populous city in new jersey, is separated from new york, of which it is practically a part, only by the hudson river; has no pretension to beauty, but is a busy railway centre; has very varied manufactures, including sugar, flour, machinery, and chemicals, extensive shipping interests, and great trade in iron, coal, and agricultural produce. jerusalem ( ), the capital of palestine, holy city of the jews, belonged originally to the jebusites, but was captured by david and made his capital; a strong place, built on four hills ft. above the mediterranean, enclosed within walls and protected nearly all round by deep valleys and rising grounds beyond; it has been so often besieged, overthrown, and rebuilt that the present city stands on rubbish heaps, the ruins of ancient structures. jerusalem, kingdom of, kingdom founded by godfrey of bouillon in and overthrown by saladin in . jerusalem delivered, an epic poem in cantos by tasso and published in , the appearance of which constitutes one of the great epochs in the history of literature. jervis, sir john, an english admiral, born in staffordshire; entered the navy at , rose to be rear-admiral of the white in ; his great feat his defeat of the spanish fleet of ships with one of ships off st. vincent in , in consequence of which he was raised to the peerage as earl st. vincent; was buried in st. paul's, london ( - ). jessica, shylock's daughter, in the "merchant of venice". jesuitism, popularly regarded as an attempt to achieve holy ends by unholy means, but really and radically the apotheosis of falsehood and unreality to the dethronement of faith in the true, the genuine and the real, a deliberate shutting of the eyes to the truth, a belief in a lie in the name of god, a belief in symbols and formulas as in themselves sacred, salutary, and divine, fiction superseding fact, and fancy faith in god or the divine reality of things, the embodiment of the genius of cant persuading itself to believe that _that which is not is_, while atheism, on the other hand, tries to persuade itself to believe that _that which is is not_. jesuits, or society of jesus, the religious order founded by ignatius loyola in , and approved of by bull of paul iii. in , for the conversion of heretics and the propagation of the roman catholic faith, and reputed, however self-denying at times, to be unscrupulous in the means they employ to achieve their ends, which is, broadly speaking, re-establishing over christendom the tyranny of the church; they established themselves in the several countries of europe, but their policy was found dangerous to political liberty as well as religious, and they are now everywhere nearly stamped out; there are nevertheless still several communities of them in the south of europe, and even colleges in england, ireland, and the united states, as well as missions under them in heathen parts. jesus, the son of sirach, the author of the book of ecclesiasticus (q. v.). jesus christ (i. e. the anointed divine saviour), the son of god and the hope of israel, saviour of mankind, born in bethlehem of the virgin mary four years before the commencement of the christian era, and who suffered death on the cross for the salvation of his people in a.d. , after a life of sorrow over the sins of the world and an earnest pleading with men to turn from sin unto god as revealed in himself, in the life he led, the words he spoke, and the death he died, and after leaving behind him a spirit which he promised would guide those who believed in him unto all truth, a spirit which was and would prove to be the spirit of his manifestation in the flesh from birth onwards to death, and through death to the very grave. see christianity. jet, a hard, black, bituminous lignite, capable of an excellent polish and easily carved, hence useful for trinkets and ornaments, which have been made of it from very early times; is found in france, spain, and saxony, but the best supplies come from whitby, yorkshire. jetsam, part of the cargo of a ship thrown overboard to lighten her in a case of peril. jeu de paume, an oath which the deputies of the third estate took on june , , not to separate till they had given france a constitution. jeunesse dorÉe (lit. gilded youth), name given to a body of young dandies who, after the fall of robespierre, strove to bring about a counter-revolution. jevons, william stanley, logician and political economist, born in liverpool; in was professor of logic of owens college, manchester, and years later professor of political economy in university college, london; distinguished himself in the departments of both chairs both as a lecturer and a writer; was drowned while bathing at bexhill, near hastings ( - ). jew, the wandering, a jew bearing the name of ahasuérus, whom, according to an old legend, christ condemned to wander over the earth till he should return again to judgment, because he drove him brutally away as, weary with the cross he carried, he sat down to rest on a stone before his door; in symbolic token, it is surmised, of the dispersion of the whole jewish people over the earth as homeless wanderers by way of judgment for their rejection of christ. jewell, john, early english protestant divine, born near ilfracombe; educated at oxford; became tutor of corpus christi; embraced the reformed faith, and was secretary to peter martyr in ; he received the living of sunningwell, berks, in , but on mary's accession fled to strasburg; elizabeth made him bishop of salisbury in , and three years later he published his "apology for the english church," in his defence of which he sought to base the faith of the church on the direct teaching of christ apart from that of the fathers and tradition ( - ). jews, the, a people of semitic origin, descended from abraham in the line of jacob; conspicuous for the profession of a religion that has issued from them, and affected to the core the rest of the civilised world. their religion was determined by a moral standard; through them more than through any other race has the moral principle, or the law of conscience, been evolved in humanity as the sovereign law of life, and this at length resolved itself into a faith in one god, the sole ruler in heaven and on earth, the law of whose government is truth and righteousness, only they stopped short with the assertion of this divine unity, and in their hard monotheism stubbornly refused, as they do still, to accept the doctrine of trinity in unity which, spiritually understood is, as it has been well defined, the central principle of the christian faith, the principle that to have a _living_ morality one must have a faith in a divine father, a divine son, and a divine spirit, all three equally divine. but, indeed, it is to be noted that the jewish religion never was nor ever has been the religion of the jewish people, but was from first to last solely the religion of the law-givers and prophets sent to teach them, to whom they never as a race paid any heed. there was never such antagonism of yea to god and nay to him in the history of any nation as among them; never such openness to whisperings, and such callousness to the thunder of god's voice; on the one side, never such tenderness, and on the other, never such hardness, of heart. nor except by their religion, which they did not believe at heart themselves, and of which they have but been the vehicles, have they as a race contributed anything to the true wealth of the world, "being mere dealers in money, gold, jewels, or else old clothes, material and spiritual." and it has been noted they have all along shown a want of humour, a want of gentle sympathy with the under side, "a fatal defect, as without it no man or people is good for anything." they were never good for much as a nation, and they are still more powerless for good since it was broken up, numerous as they have been, and are in their widely scattered state; for there are , , in russia, , , in austria-hungary, , , in germany, , in roumania, , in turkey, , in holland, , in france, , in england, , in italy, , in switzerland, in servia, and , in greece, in all, , , in europe; throughout the globe altogether , , , while the numbers in palestine are increasing. jeypore ( , ), a native state in rajputana; has been under british protection since , and was loyal at the mutiny; the soil is rocky and sandy, but there is much irrigation; copper, iron, and cobalt are found; enamelled gold ware and salt are manufactured; education is well provided for; at the capital, jeypore ( ), the handsomest town in india, there is a state college and a school of art; its business is chiefly banking and exchange. jezebel, the wicked wife of ahab, king of israel, whose fate is recorded in kings ix. - ; gives name to a bold, flaunting woman of loose morals. jina (lit. the "victorious" one as contrasted with buddha the merely "awakened" one) is in the religion of the jainas (q. v.) a sage who has achieved _omniscience_, and who came to re-establish the law in its purity where it has become corrupted among men; one of a class, of which it appears there have been in number, who have appeared at intervals after long periods of time, in shapes less imposing or awe-inspiring than at first, and after less and less intervals as time goes on the jainas claim that buddha was a disciple of the jina, their founder, who had finished the faith to which the latter had only been awakened. jingo, a name, of uncertain derivation, given to a political party favourable to an aggressive, menacing policy in foreign affairs, and first applied in to that political section in great britain which provoked the turco-russian war. jinn, in the arabian mythology one of a class of genii born of fire, some of them good spirits and some of them evil, with the power of assuming visible forms, hideous or bewitching, corresponding to their character. joab, the nephew and a general of david's; put to death by order of solomon b.c. joachim, joseph, a distinguished violinist, born near presburg, in hungary; famous as a youthful prodigy; was encouraged by mendelssohn; has visited london every year since , and has been principal leader in the monday and saturday popular concerts from the first, and became head of the academy of music at berlin in ; the fiftieth anniversary of his first appearance was celebrated on march , , when his admirers presented him with a magnificent violin; _b_. . joachim, st., the husband of st. anne, and the father of the virgin mary. joan, pope, a woman who, in the guise of a man with male accomplishments, is said for two years five months and four days to have been pope of rome between leo iv. and benedict iii. about - , and whose sex was discovered by the premature birth of a child during some public procession. she is said to have been of english parentage, and to have borne the name of gilberte. however, it is but fair to say that the story is of doubtful authenticity. joan of arc, or maid of orleans, a french heroine, born at domrémy, of poor parents, but nursed in an atmosphere of religious enthusiasm, and subject, in consequence, to fits of religious ecstasy, in one of which she seemed to hear voices calling to her from heaven to devote herself to the deliverance of france, which was then being laid desolate by an english invasion, occupied at the time in besieging orleans; inspired with the passion thus awakened she sought access to charles vii., then dauphin, and offered to raise the siege referred to, and thereafter conduct him to reims to be crowned; whereupon, permission being granted, she marched from blois at the head of , men, whom she had inspired with faith in her divine mission; drove the english from their entrenchments, sent them careering to a distance, and thereafter conducted charles to reims to be crowned, standing beside him till the coronation ceremony was ended; with this act she considered her mission ended, but she was tempted afterwards to assist in raising the siege of compiègne, and on the occasion of a sally was taken prisoner by the besieging english, and after an imprisonment of four months tried for sorcery, and condemned to be burned alive; she met her fate in the market-place of rouen with fortitude in the twenty-ninth year of her age ( - ). joannus damascenus, theologian and hymn-writer, born at damascus; was a zealous defender of image-worship; was said to have had his right hand chopped off by the machinations of his foes, which was afterwards restored to him by the virgin; _d_. , at the age of . job, book of pronounced by carlyle "one of the grandest things ever written with pen; grand in its sincerity, in its simplicity, in its epic melody and repose of reconcilement"; one perceives in it "the seeing eye, the mildly understanding heart, true eyesight and vision for all things; sublime sorrow and sublime reconciliation; oldest choral melody as of the heart of mankind; so soft and great as the summer midnight, as the world with its seas and stars"; the whole giving evidence "of a literary merit unsurpassed by anything written in bible or out of it; not a jew's book merely, but all men's book." it is partly didactic and partly biographic; that is to say, the object of the author is to solve a problem in part speculatively, or in the intelligence, and in part spiritually, or in the life; the speculative solution being, that sufferings are to prove and purify the righteous; and the spiritual, consisting in accepting them not as of merely divine appointment, but manifestations of god himself, which is accomplished in the experience of job when he exclaims at last, "now mine eye seeth thee." it is very idle to ask if the story is a real one, since its interest and value do not depend on its historic, but its universal and eternal truth; nor is the question of the authorship of any more consequence, even if there were any clue to it, which there is not, as the book offers no difficulty to the interpreter which any knowledge of the author would the least contribute to remove. in such a case the challenge of goethe is _apropos_, "what have i to do with names when it is a work of the spirit i am considering?" the book of job was for long believed to be one of the oldest books in the world, and to have had its origin among a patriarchal people, such as the arabs, but is now pretty confidently referred to a period between that of david and the return from the captivity, the character of it bespeaking a knowledge and experience peculiarly jewish. jocaste, the wife of laius, king of thebes, and mother of oedipus; she afterwards married him not knowing that he was her son, and on discovery of the crime put an end to herself, though not till after she had become the mother of etéocles, polynices, antigone, and ismenë. jocelin de brakelonda, an old th-century st. edmundsbury monk, who left behind him a "chronical" of the abbey from to , and which, published in by the camden society, gave occasion to the "past and present" of thomas carlyle; he had been chaplain to the abbot samson, the hero of his book, living beside him night and day for the space of six years, "an ingenious and ingenuous, a cheery-hearted, innocent, yet withal shrewd, noticing, quick-witted man"; _d_. . jodhpur ( , ), largest rajputana state, under british protection since ; is backward in government, education, agriculture, and manufactures; tin, lead, and iron are found; salt is made at sambhar lake. the state revolted at the mutiny. jodhpur ( ), the capital, is m. sw. of delhi, and is connected by rail with jeypore and bombay. joe miller, an english actor, the author of a book of jests ( - ). joel, a hebrew prophet, author of a book of the old testament that bears his name, and which is of uncertain date, but is written on the great broad lines of all hebrew prophecy, and reads us the same moral lesson, that from the judgments of god there is no outlet for the sinner except in repentance, and that in repentance lies the pledge of deliverance from all evil and of the enjoyment of all good. johannesburg ( ), the largest town in the transvaal, m. s. of pretoria, and m. ne. of cape town; is the centre of witwatersrand gold-mining fields. until recently an ill-equipped town, it has made rapid progress. since railways connect it with delagoa bay, durban, port elizabeth, and cape town. magnificent buildings and residential suburbs are springing up. the water-supply is bad, and dust-storms are frequent, otherwise the climate is very healthy. johannesburg was the seat of the dissatisfaction among the uitlanders in , which led to dr. jameson's raid. john, king of england from to , was clever and vivacious, but the most vicious, profane, false, short-sighted, tyrannical, and unscrupulous of english monarchs; the son of henry ii., he married hawisa of gloucester, and succeeded his brother richard i., being richard's nominee, and the tacitly elect of the people; his nephew, arthur, claimed the french dominions, and was supported by the french king, philip; in he divorced hawisa, and married isabel of angoulême, a child-heiress; this provoked the french barons; in the war that ensued arthur was captured, and subsequently murdered either by john himself or by his orders; philip invaded normandy, and with the fall of the château-gaillard in , most of the french possessions were lost to the english crown; then followed john's quarrel with pope innocent iii. over the election of an archbishop of canterbury; the pope consecrated stephen langton; john refused to receive him; in the kingdom was placed under an interdict, and next year the king was excommunicated; john on his side confiscated church property, exiled the bishops, exacted homage of william of scotland, and put down risings in ireland and wales; but a bull, deposing him and absolving his vassals from allegiance, forced him to submit, and he resigned his crown to the pope's envoy in ; this exaction on innocent's part initiated the opposition to rome which culminated in the english reformation; the rest of the reign was a struggle between the king, relying on his suzerain the pope, and the people, barons, and clergy, for the first time on one side; war broke out; the king was forced to sign magna charta at runnymede in , but the pope annulled the charter; the barons appealed for help to the dauphin, and were prosecuting the war when john died at newark ( - ). john, the name of no fewer than popes. j. i., pope from to , was canonised; j. ii., pope from to ; j. iii., pope from to ; j. iv., pope from to ; j. v., pope from to ; j. vi., pope from to ; j. vii., pope from to ; j. viii., pope from to ; j. ix., pope from to ; j. x., pope from to ; j. xi., pope from to ; j. xii., pope from to --was only when elected, led a licentious life; j. xiii., pope from to ; j. xiv., pope from to ; j. xv., pope in ; j. xvi., pope from to ; j. xvii., pope in ; j. xviii., pope from to ; j. xix., pope from to ; j. xx., anti-pope from to ; j. xxi., pope from to ; j. xxii., pope from to --a learned man, a steadfast, and a courageous; j. xxiii., pope in , deposed in --was an able man, but an unscrupulous. john, epistles of, three epistles, presumed to have been written by the author of the gospel, from the correspondence between them both as regards thought and expression; the occasion of writing them was the appearance of antichrist within the bounds of the church, in the denial of christ as god manifest in flesh, and the object of writing them was to emphasise the fact that eternal life had appeared in him. john, knights of st., a religious order of knights, founded in , and instituted properly in , for the defence of pilgrims to jerusalem; established a church and a cloister there, with a hospital for poor and sick pilgrims, and were hence called the hospital brothers of st. john of jerusalem; the knights consisted of three classes, knights of noble birth to bear arms, priests to conduct worship, and serving brothers to tend the sick; on the fall of jerusalem they retired to cyprus, conquered rhodes, and called themselves knights of rhodes; driven from which they settled in malta and took the name of knights of malta, after which the knighthood had various fortunes. john, prester, a supposed king and priest of a mediæval kingdom in the interior of asia; converted to christianity by the nestorian missionaries; was defeated and killed in by genghis khan, who had been tributary to him but had revolted; he was distinguished for piety and magnificence. john, st., the apostle, the son of zebedee and salome, the sister of the virgin mary; originally a fisherman on the galilæan lake; after being a disciple of john the baptist became one of the earliest disciples of christ; much beloved and trusted by his master; lived after his death for a time in jerusalem, and then at ephesus as bishop, where he died at a great age; he lived to see the rise of the gnostic heresy, against which, as a denial that christ had come in the flesh, he protested with his last breath as an utter denial of christ; he is represented in christian art as either writing his gospel, or as bearing a chalice out of which a serpent issues, or as in a caldron of boiling oil. john, the gospel according to, the fourth gospel, of which tradition alleges st. john was the author, and which is presumed to have been written by him at ephesus about a.d. ; its great design is to bear witness to the son of god as having come in the flesh, as being not an ideal, therefore, but a real incarnation, and as in the reality of that being the light and life of man; whereas the scene of the other gospels is chiefly laid in galilee, that of john's is mostly in judea, recording, as it does, no fewer than seven visits to the capital, and while it portrays the person of christ as the light of life, it represents him as again and again misunderstood, even by those well disposed to him, as if the text of his gospel were "the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not"; the authenticity of this gospel has been much debated, and its composition has by recent criticism been referred to somewhere between a.d. and . john bull, a humorous impersonation of the english people, conceived of as well fed, good natured, honest hearted, justice loving, and plain spoken. john of gaunt, duke of lancaster, third son of edward iii.; an ambitious man; vainly seized the crown of castile; supported the wycliffites against the clergy; married blanche of lancaster, and was made duke by henry iv. ( - ). john o' groat's house, on the caithness coast, ¾ m. w. of duncansby head, marks the northern limit of the scottish mainland; the house was said to be erected, eight-sided, with a door at each side and an octagonal table within, to compromise the question of precedence among eight branches of the descendants of a certain dutchman, john o' groot. john of leyden, originally a tailor; attained great power as an orator; joined the anabaptists, and in established at münster, in westphalia, a society based on communistic and polygamic principles; but the bishop of münster interfered, and next year john was put to death with great cruelty ( - ). john of salisbusy, bishop of chartres, born at salisbury, of saxon lineage; was a pupil of abelard; was secretary first to theobald and then to thomas á becket, archbishop of canterbury; was present at the assassination of the latter; afterwards he retired to france and was made bishop; wrote the lives of st. thomas and st. anselm, and other works of importance in connection with the scholasticism of the time ( - ). john the baptist, the forerunner of christ, who baptized with water unto, or on the confession of, repentance, in anticipation of, and in preparation for, the appearance in the immediate future of one who would baptize with the spirit and with fire; his fate is well known, and the motive of it. john the good, king of france from to , succeeded his father philip vi.; at the battle of poitiers he was captured and carried to england; four years later he was allowed to return on leaving his son as hostage; the hostage made his escape; john chivalrously came back to london, and died in captivity ( - ). john's eve, st., a festival celebrated with fires on midsummer eve; very universally observed and with similar rites throughout europe, in the middle ages, and the celebration of it was associated with many superstitious practices. johnson, andrew, american president, born at raleigh, n. carolina; was entirely self-educated, and became a tailor; settling in tennessee he entered the state legislature in ; he sat in congress from till ; was for four years governor of tennessee, and sat in the senate from to ; though in favour of slavery, he discountenanced secession and supported lincoln, whom he succeeded as president in , and whose policy he continued; but he lost the confidence of congress, which indeed he treated somewhat cavalierly; his removal of secretary stanton led to his impeachment for violation of the tenure of office act; he was tried before the senate, but acquitted, and completed his term ( - ). johnson, samuel, the great english lexicographer, born in lichfield, the son of a bookseller; received his early education in his native town and completed it at pembroke college, oxford, in ; in he married a widow named porter, who brought him £ ; started a boarding-school, which did not prosper, and in the end of a year he removed to london along with david garrick, who had been a pupil under him; here he became connected with cave, a printer, the proprietor of the _gentleman's magazine_, with whom he had previously corresponded, and contributed to the pages of the magazine, earning thereby a meagre livelihood, eking out his means by reporting parliamentary debates in terms which expressed the drift of them, but in his own pompous language; in he published a poem entitled the "vanity of human wishes," and about the same time commenced his world-famous dictionary, which was published in , "a great, solid, square-built edifice, finished, symmetrically complete, the best of all dictionaries"; during the progress of the dictionary johnson edited the _rambler_, writing most of the contents himself, carrying it on for two years; in he started the _idler_; in the king granted him a pension of £ , and by this he was raised above the straitened circumstances which till then had all along weighed upon him, and able to live in comparative affluence for the last years of his life; five years after he instituted the literary club, which consisted of the most celebrated men of the time, his biographer, boswell, having by this time been introduced to him, as subsequently the family of mr. thrale; in he began his "lives of the english poets," and in he made a tour in the highlands along with boswell, of which journey he shortly afterwards published an account; johnson's writings are now dead, as are many of his opinions, but the story of his life as written by boswell (q. v.) will last as long as men revere those qualities of mind and heart that distinguish the english race, of which he is the typical representative ( - ). johnston, alexander keith, cartographer, born at kirkhill, midlothian; was an engraver by trade, and devoted himself with singular success to the preparation of atlases; the "national atlas" was published in , and the "royal atlas of geography" ( ) was the finest till then produced; he also executed atlases physical, geological, and astronomical, and constructed the first physical globe; honours were showered upon him by home and foreign geographical societies; he died at ben rhydding ( - ). johnston, james finlay weir, agricultural chemist, born at paisley, educated at glasgow; acquired a fortune by his marriage in , and devoted himself to studying chemistry; after some years in sweden he was chosen lecturer in durham university, but he resided in edinburgh, and wrote his "catechism of agricultural chemistry," since translated into most european languages, and his "chemistry of common life"; he died at durham ( - ). johnstone ( ), a renfrewshire manufacturing town, on the black cart, ½ m. w. of paisley; has flax, cotton, paper, and iron industries. johnstown ( ), a city of pennsylvania, engaged in iron and steel manufactures; was overwhelmed by the bursting of a reservoir, may , . johore ( ), a mohammedan state in the s. of the malayan peninsula, m. n. of singapore; half the population are chinese; exports gambier, pepper, and coffee. joinville, jean, sire de, french chronicler, seneschal of champagne, born in châlons-sur-marne; author of the "vie de st. louis"; followed louis ix. in the crusade of , but refused to join in that of ; he lived through six reigns, and his biography of his sovereign is one of the most remarkable books of the middle ages; his "vie de st. louis" deals chiefly with the crusade, and is, says prof. saintsbury, "one of the most circumstantial records we have of mediæval life and thought"; it is gossipy, and abounds in digressions ( - ). jokai maurice or moritz, hungarian novelist and voluminous author, born at komorn; published his first novel, "working days," in ; in took a prominent part in the hungarian struggle, but afterwards devoted himself to literature; wrote over books, novels, romances, dramas, essays, and poems, and edited several newspapers; his work resuscitated hungarian literature; was in his old age an able debater in the house of representatives; _b_. . jonah, a hebrew prophet, who, born in gathhepher, belonged to the northern kingdom of israel; prophesied in the reign of jeroboam ii., and whose special mission it was, at the bidding of the lord, to preach repentance to the people of nineveh; his book, which records his mission and the story of it, written apparently, as by god's dealings with the ninevites he had himself been, to admonish the jews that the heathen nations whom they regarded as god's enemies were as much the objects of his mercy as themselves. jonathan, brother, an impersonation of the american people, given to them from the name of one jonathan trumbull, in whose judgment washington had great confidence, and whom he said he would have to consult at a crisis of his affairs. jones, ebenezer, poet, born in islington; author of "studies in sensation and event," fraught with genuine poetic feeling; published a pamphlet on "land monopoly," in which he advocated the nationalisation of land, apparently as a disciple of carlyle ( - ). jones, edward burne. see burne-jones. jones, ernest, chartist leader and poet, born at berlin, of english parentage, educated at göttingen; came to england in , and six years later was called to the bar; in he threw himself into the chartist movement, and devoted the rest of his life to the amelioration and elevation of the working-classes, suffering two years' ( - ) solitary imprisonment for a speech made at kensington; he wrote, besides pamphlets and papers in the chartist cause, several poems; "the revolt of hindostan" was written in prison, with his own blood, he said, on the fly-leaves of a prayer-book; he never succeeded in getting into parliament ( - ). jones, henry arthur, dramatist, born at grandborough, bucks; author of the "silver king," "judah," the "dancing girl," and many other plays; _b_. . jones, inigo, architect, born in london, son of a cloth-worker; studied in italy, and, returning to england, obtained the patronage of james i., and became chief architect in the country; the royal chapel at whitehall is reckoned his masterpiece; heriot's hospital, edinburgh, is from his design; his style follows palladio of venice ( - ). jones, paul, a naval adventurer, whose real name was john paul, born in kirkcudbright, scotland, son of a gardener; took to the sea, engaged in the slave-trade, settled in virginia, threw in his lot with the colonists and against the mother-country, and offered his services as a sea-captain in the war with a ship of guns; he in infested the british coast, and made a descent on the shores of his native county; his sympathies were with the french in their struggles for liberty, and he fought in their service as well, making the "proud forth quake at his bellying sails," and capturing two british war-vessels off flamborough head; he died in paris, where he languished in poverty, but the national assembly granted him a "ceremonial funeral," attended by a deputation; "as good," reflects carlyle in his apostrophe to him--"as good had been the natural presbyterian kirk-bell, and six feet of scottish earth, among the dust of thy loved ones" ( - ). jones, sir william, english orientalist, born in london; passed through oxford to the english bar in , and was made a judge in bengal in ; early devoted to eastern languages and literature, he published numerous translations and other works, concluding with "sakuntala" and "the laws of manu"; he founded the asiatic society at calcutta, where he died ( - ). jongleurs, were mediæval minstrels of provence and northern france, who sang and often composed songs and tales, but whose jesting and buffoonery distinguished them from the knightly troubadours and trouvères. jonson, ben, dramatist, born at westminster, posthumous son of a clergyman of scottish descent; was in his youth first a bricklayer, afterwards a soldier in the netherlands, whence he returned about ; married a shrew, and became connected with the stage; he was one of the most learned men of his age, and for forty years the foremost, except shakespeare, in the dramatic and literary world; killing his challenger in a duel nearly cost him his life in ; he was branded on the left thumb, imprisoned, and his goods confiscated; in prison he turned catholic, but twelve years later reverted to protestantism; the opening of the century brought an unpleasant difference with dekker and marston, and saw the famous mermaid club at its zenith; for nine years after shakespeare's death he produced no dramas; in he received a degree, m.a., from oxford, the laureateship, and a small pension from the king; now a widower, he founded with herrick, suckling, carew, and others the apollo club at the devil tavern; in the new reign he turned again to dramatic work with sadly diminished power; he died in poverty, but was buried in westminster abbey, his tombstone bearing the words "o rare ben jonson"; he wrote at least sixteen plays, among them "every man is his humour" ( ), in which shakespeare acted, "the poetaster" ( ), which vexed dekker, the tragedy of "sejanus" ( ), "the silent woman" ( ), a farcical comedy, dryden's favourite play, and his most elaborate and masterly work, "the alchemist" ( ); he wrote also thirty-five masques of singular richness and grace, in the production of which inigo jones provided the mechanism; but his best work was his lyrics, first of which stands "drink to me only with thine eyes," whose exquisite delicacy and beauty everybody knows ( - ). joppa, an ancient town and seaport, now jaffa, on the coast of palestine, m. nw. from jerusalem; a place of note in sacred and mediæval history; here jonah took ship to tarshish. jordaens, jakob, a dutch painter and engraver, born at antwerp; was a friend of rubens, and ranks next him among the flemings ( - ). jordan, a river of palestine, which rises on the western side of mount hermon, and flows s. below cæsarea-philippi within banks, after which it expands into lagoons that collect at length into a mass in lake merom (huleh), m. below which it plunges into a gorge and rushes on for m. in a torrent, till it collects again in the sea of galilee to lose itself finally in the dead sea after winding along a distance of m. as the crow flies; at its rise it is ft. above and at the dead sea ft. below the sea-level. jordan, mrs. dorothea, the stage name of miss bland, daughter of an actress, born at waterford; played first in dublin, then in yorkshire, and appeared at drury lane in "the country girl" in ; her popularity was immense, and she maintained it for thirty years in the roles of boys and romping girls, her wonderful laugh winning lasting fame; she attained considerable wealth, and was from to the mistress of the duke of clarence, who, when william iv., ennobled her eldest son; she died, however, in humble circumstances in st. cloud, near paris ( - ). jortin, john, english divine, born in london, of huguenot descent; held various appointments, was a prebend of st. paul's, wrote on ecclesiastical history ( - ). jorullo, a volcano in mexico, m. sw. of mexico city, rose one night from a high-lying plateau on sept. , , the central crater at a height ft. above the sea-level. joseph, the name of four persons in scripture. , joseph, the son of jacob and rachel, and the story of whose life is given in genesis. , joseph, st. the carpenter, the husband of the virgin mary and the reputed father of jesus. , joseph of aramathea, a member of the jewish sanhedrin, who begged the body of jesus to bury it in his own tomb. , joseph, surnamed barsabas, one of the disciples of jesus, and deemed worthy to be nominated to fill the place vacated by judas. josÉphine, the empress of the french, born in martinique; came to france at the age of ; was in married to viscount beauharnais, who was one of the victims of the revolution, and to whom she bore a daughter, hortense, the mother of napoleon iii.; married in to napoleon bonaparte, to whom she proved a devoted wife as well as a wise counsellor; she became empress in , but failing to bear him any children, was divorced in , though she still corresponded with napoleon and retained the title of empress to the last, living at malmaison, where she died ( - ). josephus, flavius, jewish historian, born at jerusalem, of royal and priestly lineage; was a man of eminent ability and scholarly accomplishments, distinguished no less for his judgment than his learning; gained favour at rome; was present with titus at the siege of jerusalem, and by his intercession saved the lives of several of the citizens; he accompanied titus back to rome, and received the freedom of the city; devoting himself there to literary studies, wrote the "history of the jewish war" and "jewish antiquities"; he was of the pharisaic party, but his religious views were rationalistic; he discards the miraculous; takes no note of the rise of christianity or of the person of its founder ( - ). joshua, a jewish military leader, born of the tribe of ephraim, the minister and successor of moses, under whose leadership the jews obtained a footing in the land of canaan. joshua, the book of, a book of the bible, is closely connected with the pentateuch, and now regarded as the continuation and completion of it, constituting along with it what is called the hexateuch, or sixfold book; it covers a period of years, and contains a history of israel under the guidance of joshua, commencing with his appointment as leader and concluding with his death. josiah, a king of judah from to b.c.; was zealous for the restoration of the jewish worship according to the ritual of moses, as recently come to light in the discovery by hilkiah the high-priest of the "book of the law"; he fell in battle before an invading assyrian host. joss, a chinese god or his idol. jÖtunheim, the abode of the jötuns in the norse mythology, as asenheim is that of the norse deities. jÖtuns, a race of giants in the norse mythology, "huge, shaggy beings of a demonic character, representing the dark hostile powers of nature, such as frost, fire, sea-tempest, who dwelt in jötunheim, a distant, dark chaotic land ... in perpetual internecine feud with the gods, or friendly powers, such as summer-heat and the sun, and who dwelt far apart." joubert, barthÉlemi, french general; distinguished himself in the rhine and italian campaigns, and fell mortally wounded at the battle of novi; one of the most promising generals france ever had ( - ). joubert, joseph, author of "pensées," born in montignac, périgord; educated in toulouse, succeeded to a small competency, came to paris, got access to the best literary circles, and was the most brilliant figure in the salon of madame de beaumont; his works were exclusively _pensées_ and maxims, and bear at once on ethics, politics, theology, and literature; "there is probably," professor saintsbury says, "no writer in any language who has said an equal number of remarkable things on an equal variety of subjects in an equally small space and with an equally high and unbroken excellence of style and expression;... all alike have the characteristic of intense compression; he describes his literary aim in the phrase 'tormented by the ambition of putting a book into a page, a page into a phrase, and a phrase into a word'" ( - ). jouffroy d'abbans, claude, marquis de, is claimed by the french as the first inventor of the steamboat; he made a paddle-steamer ply on the rhône in , but misfortunes due to the revolution hindered his progress, till he was forestalled by fulton on the seine in ( - ). jougs, an iron collar hung by a chain in some public place, was fastened round a culprit's neck, who was thus exposed in a sort of pillory; in use in scotland from the th to the th centuries. joule, james prescott, a celebrated physicist, born at salford; was a pupil of dalton's, and devoted his time to physical and chemical research; made discoveries in connection with the production of heat by voltaic electricity, demonstrated the equivalence of heat and energy, and established on experimental grounds the doctrine of the conservation of energy ( - ). jourdan, jean baptiste, comte von, marshal of france, born at limoges; gained for the republic the victory of fleurus in , but was in defeated at höchst, and subsequently by the archduke charles of austria; served under napoleon, and became governor of the hôtel des invalides under louis philippe ( - ). jowett, benjamin, master of balliol college, oxford, born at camberwell; was a fellow and tutor of his college till his election to the mastership in ; his name will always be associated with balliol college, where his influence was felt, and made the deepest impression; he wrote an article "on the interpretation of scripture" in the "essays and reviews," and a commentary on certain epistles of st. paul, but he achieved his greatest literary successes by his translations of plato's "dialogues," the "history" of thucydides, and the "politics" of aristotle ( - ). juan, don, a poem of byron's, a work which, as stopford brooke remarks, "was written in bold revolt against all the conventionality of social morality, religion, and politics, and in which--escaped from his morbid self, he ran into the opposite extreme--he claimed for himself and others absolute freedom of individual act and thought in opposition to the force of society which tends to make all men after one pattern." juan fernandez, a mountainous island ft. high, off the chilian coast, m. w. of valparaiso; was the lonely residence of alexander selkirk ( - ) (q. v.); was used as a penal settlement from to , and is inhabited by a few seal and sea-lion hunters. juarez, benito, president of mexico, born in oaxaca, of indian extraction; was elected to the presidency twice over, in and ( - ). juba, a great river rising in the abyssinian mountains and flowing s. into the indian ocean, with a town of the same name at its mouth; marks the northern limit of british east africa. jubilee, a festival among the jews every fiftieth year in celebration of their emancipation from egypt. jubilee, year of, a year during which it was required that all land which had passed out of the original owner's hands during the years preceding should be restored, all who during that time had been forced to sell their liberty should be released, and all debts contracted in that period should be remitted, a requirement, however, which does not appear to have been very rigorously or regularly observed. judÆa, a southern district of palestine extending in one direction between samaria and the desert of arabia, and in the other between the mediterranean and the dead sea. judah, kingdom of, the kingdom in the s. of palestine of the two tribes of judah and benjamin that remained true to the house of david after the revolt of the other ten under jeroboam, who formed what was called the kingdom of israel, a larger, but a weaker. judaizers, a party, called also ebionites, in the primitive church who sought to overlay the simple ordinances of christianity with judaic observances and rites, "a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear." judas, surnamed iscariot, one of the twelve apostles of christ, who from some infatuation that unaccountably possessed him, and to his everlasting infamy, betrayed his master to his enemies for pieces of silver; was designated by christ as the son of perdition. judas maccabÆus, a son of mattathias (q. v.), who succeeded his father in the leadership of the jews against the syrians in the war of the maccabees, and who gave name to the movement, a man of chivalric temper, great energy, firm determination, dauntless courage, and powerful physique; who, with the elect of his countrymen of kindred spirit encountered and overthrew the syrians in successive engagements, till before a great muster of the foe his little army was overwhelmed and himself slain in b.c. see maccabees. jude, epistle of, an epistle in the new testament, of which judas, the brother of james, was the author; written to some unknown community in the primitive church, in which a spirit of antinomian libertinism had arisen, and the members of which are denounced as denying the sovereign authority of the church's head by the practical disobedience and scorn of the laws of his kingdom. for the drift and modern uses of this epistle see ruskin's "fors clavigera," chaps. lxvi. and lxvii., where it is shown that the enemies of the faith in jude's day are its real enemies in ours. judges, book of, a book of the old testament; gives an account of a series of deliverances achieved on behalf of israel by ministers of god of the nation so called, when, after their occupation of the land, now this tribe and now that was threatened with extinction by the canaanites; these deliverers bore the character of heroes rather than judges, but they were rather tribal heroes than national, there being as yet no king in israel to unite them into one; of these the names of twelve are given, of which only six attained special distinction, and their rule covered a period of years, which extended between the death of joshua and the birth of samuel; the story throughout is one: apostasy and consequent judgment, but the return of the divine favour on repentance insured. judgment, private, assumption of judgment by individual reason on matters which are not amenable to a lower tribunal than the universal reason of the race. judith, a wealthy, beautiful, and pious jewish widow who, as recorded in one of the books of the apocrypha called after her, entered, with only a single maid as attendant, the camp of the assyrian army under holofernes, that lay investing bethulia, her native place; won the confidence of the chief, persuaded him to drink while alone with him in his tent till he was brutally intoxicated, cut off his head, and making good her escape, suspended it from the walls of the place, with the issue of the utter rout of his army by a sally of the townsfolk. judson, adoniram, burmese missionary and scholar, born at maiden, mass.; sailed for burma , and for years laboured devotedly, translating the bible into burmese, and compiling a burmese-english dictionary; he died at sea on his way home ( - ). juggernaut ( ) or puri, a town on the s. coast of orissa, in bengal; one of the holy places of india, with a temple dedicated to vishnu, and containing an idol of him called jagannâtha (or the lord of the world), which, in festival times, attracts thousands of pilgrims to worship at its shrine, on one of which occasions the idol is dragged forth in a ponderous car by the pilgrims and back again, under the wheels of which, till prohibited, multitudes would throw themselves to be crushed to death in the hope of thereby attaining a state of eternal beatitude. jugurtha, king of numidia; succeeded by violent measures to the throne, and maintained his ground in defiance of the romans, who took up arms against him and at last led him captive to rome to die of hunger in a dungeon. jukes, joseph beet, geologist, born near birmingham; graduated at cambridge; took part in several expeditions, and finally became lecturer in the royal college of science, dublin, where he died; he published among other works a "student's manual of geology" ( - ). julia, daughter and only child of augustus cæsar; celebrated for her beauty and the dissoluteness of her morals, and became the wife in succession of marcellus, agrippa, and tiberius. julian the apostate, roman emperor for months, from to ; was born at constantinople, his father being a half-brother of constantine the great, on whose death most of julian's family were murdered; embittered by this event, julian threw himself into philosophic studies, and secretly renounced christianity; as joint emperor with his cousin from he showed himself a capable soldier, a vigorous and wise administrator; on becoming sole emperor he proclaimed his apostasy, and sought to restore paganism, but without persecuting the church; though painted in blackest colours by the christian fathers, he was a lover of truth, chaste, abstinent, just, and affectionate, if somewhat vain and superstitious; he was killed in an expedition against persia; several writings of his are extant, but a work he wrote against the christians is lost ( - ). jÜlich, a duchy on the w. bank of the rhine, its capital a place of the same name, m. w. of köln. julien, stanislas aignan, an eminent sinalogue, born in orleans, originally eminent in greek; turned his attention to chinese, and in months time translated a part of one of the classical works in that language; originally professor of greek, he became in professor of chinese in the college of france in succession to rémusat; he was not less distinguished as a sanskrit and pâli scholar ( - ). julius, the name of three popes: st. j. i., pope from to ; j. ii., pope from to ; j. iii., pope from to , of which only j. ii. deserves notice. j. ii., an italian by birth, was more of a soldier than a priest, and, during his pontificate, was almost wholly occupied with wars against the venetians for the recovery of romagna, and against the french to drive them out of italy, in which attempt he called to his aid the spiritual artillery at his command, by ex-communicating louis xii. and putting his kingdom under an interdict in ; he sanctioned the marriage of henry viii. with catharine of aragon, commenced to rebuild st. peter's at rome, and was the patron of michael angelo and raphael. jullien, louis antoine, a distinguished musical conductor, born in the basses-alpes; did much to popularise music by large bands, but he was unfortunate in his speculations, and died insane and in debt ( - ). july, the seventh month of the year, so called in honour of julius cæsar, who reformed the calendar, and was born in this month; it was famous as the month of the outbreak of the second revolution of france in paris in . jumna, the chief affluent of the ganges, which it joins at allahabad, rises in the punjab, and flows through the north-west provinces, having delhi and agra on its banks; its course is m., and it falls over , ft.; its waters are used for irrigation by means of canals, being of little use for navigation. jumpers, name of a certain religious sect in america, from the dancing associated with its services. june, the sixth month of the year, so named from the roman _gens_ or clan junius, or perhaps from juno. jung stilling, a german mystic, born in nassau; first a tailor, then a schoolmaster; went to strasburg, became intimate with goethe, studied medicine there, and afterwards practised in elberfeld; became professor of political economy at marburg and in heidelberg; is best known by his autobiography: kant and lavater were friends of his ( - ). jungfrau (maiden), a peak of the bernese alps, , ft. in height; was first ascended by the brothers meyer in . junius, letters of, seventy letters on public affairs which appeared under that signature in the _public advertiser_ to , and were with others reprinted in book form; were, though severe in tone, the prototype of the modern leading article. their authorship has never been discovered; but some hold that evidence points to sir philip francis as responsible for them. junk, a chinese boat with a flat bottom, a square prow, a high stern, and a pole for mast. junker, a name given in germany to the younger members of the aristocracy, or of the landed gentry, as representing a reactionary party in modern politics. juno, a roman goddess, the wife of jupiter, and the queen of heaven, corresponding to the hera (q. v.) of the greeks; the impersonation of womanhood, and the special protectress of the rights of women, especially married women, and bore the names of _virginalis_ and _matrona_. she was the patroness of household and even state economy. see zeus. junot, andoche, duc d'abrantes, french general; was napoleon's aide-de-camp in his first campaign in italy; took part in the expedition to egypt; distinguished himself in the invasion of portugal, but soon experienced reverse after reverse; in a fit of madness he threw himself one day out of a window, and died from the effect ( - ). junto, the name given to a whig faction in the reign of william iii., that for years exercised a great influence in the affairs of the nation, of which russell, lord-keeper somers, and charles montague were the leading members. jupiter. see zeus. jupiter, one of the exterior planets of the solar system, and the largest; revolves in an orbit outside that of the asteroids, at a mean distance from the sun of millions of miles, completing its revolution round the sun in days, and taking hours to revolve on its own axis; it is surrounded by belts considered to be openings in the cloudy atmosphere which invests it, and is accompanied by four moons, all nearly of the same size but at different distances, and with different periods of revolution round it; it is in volume times larger than that of the earth, while its weight is only times that of the earth, is therefore less than one-fourth of the density of the earth. jupiter carlyle, a sobriquet given to the rev. alexander carlyle (q. v.), from his resemblance to the artist's conception of jupiter, particularly in the head. jupiter scapin, a nickname given by the abbé de pradt to napoleon, after a valet of the name of scapin in a comedy of molière's, noted for his knaveries. jura, an argyllshire island ne. of islay, mountainous ( ft.); the eastern slopes yield some crops, but most of the island is deer forest and cattle-grazing land. jury, a body of citizens set to try a question of fact, or to assess damages; in england and ireland a jury numbers , and its verdict must be unanimous; in scotland the verdict is by majority, and the jury numbers in civil and in criminal cases. jussieu, antoine laurent de, celebrated french botanist, born at lyons; his book, entitled "genera plantarum," published in , lays down the principle on which the modern classification of plants is based; he was one of a family of botanists ( - ). justice, , high court of, one of the two great sections of the english supreme courts; , lord chief, the chief judge of the queen's bench division of it; , lord justice-general, supreme judge in scotland, the lord president of the court of session; , of the peace, the title of a petty county or borough magistrate of multifarious duties and jurisdiction; , lords justices, judges of the english court of appeal. justice, bed of, a formal session of parliament of paris under the presidency of the king, for the compulsory registration of royal edicts. justiciary court, the highest court for the trial of criminal cases in scotland. justin, surnamed the martyr, an early christian apologist, born in sichem, samaria; a heathen by birth, who studied philosophy in the stoic and platonic schools, and was converted to christianity from observing the strength of the convictions with which it was embraced; was the author of two "apologies for the christians," rather than for christianity or its dogmas, and a "dialogue with trypho the jew," and suffered martyrdom in . festival, june . justinian i., roman emperor and jurist, born in illyria; became co-emperor with justin i. in ; married the infamous theodora, and for years enjoyed a reign, the most brilliant of the late empire, but not without dangers from foes outside and factions within; his fame rests on the codification and reform of the laws which he carried out; he improved the status of slaves, revised the laws of divorce and of intestate succession; and in his "digest," "institutes," and other sections of the "corpus juris civilis," first gave definiteness to roman law and laid the basis of the civil law of most modern nations ( - ). justinian pandects, a code of roman laws compiled under the direction of the emperor justinian, with a digest of the commentaries of the jurists thereupon. jutland, at the mouth of the baltic sea, is the only european peninsula that stretches northward; it comprises the continental portion of the kingdom of denmark. juvenal, a celebrated latin poet and satirist, born at aquinum; a friend of martial and contemporary of statius and quintilian; his satires, in number, are written in indignant scorn of the vices of the romans under the empire, and in the descriptions of which the historian finds a portrait of the manners and morals of the time ( - ). juxon, william, archbishop of canterbury, born in chichester; became in succession bishop of worcester and bishop of london, and attended charles i. in prison and on the scaffold; lived in privacy till the restoration, four months after which he was made archbishop, and died about two years after his elevation ( - ). k kaaba. see caaba. kabul ( ), on the kabul river, at the foot of the takht-i-shah hills, m. nw. of delhi, is the capital of afghanistan, an ancient, mud-built city, but progressing; noted for its fruit and trading in carpets, camel-hair cloth, and skins; the town was taken by general pollok , avenging the death of burnes and macnaughten, and by general roberts in , avenging the murder of cavagnari. kabyles, the name given to a division of the berbers of n. africa, who occupy the coast and tablelands of mauritania, and are indigenous to it. kadijah, a rich widow, the wife of mahomet, who had been her steward and factotum, and whom he married when she was forty and himself only twenty-five, and with whom he lived till her death, "loving her truly and her alone," himself now a man of fifty; he had begun his mission as a prophet before she died, and one service she did him he never forgot as the greatest of them all: she believed in him, when no one else did. kadris, a set of mohammedan dervishes who lacerate themselves with scourges, like the flagellants. kaffirs, including kaffirs proper and zulus, a division of the bantu negroes, found all over s. africa, are a pastoral and latterly agricultural people of fine physique, naturally hospitable, honest, and truthful, but now much contaminated by the white man; kaffir wars broke out in , , , and ; the name, which means infidel, was originally applied by the mohammedans to all pagans. kafiristan ( ), a lofty mountainous region in the e. of afghanistan, s. of the hindu-kush, with the panjshir, kabul, and chitral rivers on the w., s., and e.; the people are undersized, pastoral, and devoted to their aryan faith, which here has its last stronghold, not organised politically, but united in their love of independence and hatred of mohammedanism. kairwan` ( ), the sacred city of northern africa, in tunis, m. s. of tunis, a _decayed_ town, was the chief seat of the mohammedans in n. africa, and a sacred city; manufactures copper vessels, carpets, and articles of leather. kaisar-i-hind (i. e. cæsar of india), a title applied to queen victoria as empress of india since . kaiser, the name, derived from the latin cæsar, given to the emperor of the old german empire or reich, and resumed by the modern emperor, william i., and his successors. kaiser wilhelm's land ( ), the n. of the eastern half of new guinea, belonging partly to britain, partly to holland, and partly to germany. kaithal ( ), in the punjab, m. nw. of delhi, an ancient town, with saltpetre refineries; has old associations with the hindu monkey-god, hanuman (q. v.). kÂla, the hindu chronus, or god of time, who, as in the greek mythology, at once produces and devours all things. kalahari desert, in s. africa, stretches far northward from the orange river between german sw. africa and the transvaal, an elevated plateau, not really desert, but covered with scrub and affording coarse pasturage for cattle. kalamazoo` ( ), a railway centre and flourishing town in the sw. of michigan, m. ne. of chicago; manufactures machinery, paper, and flour. kaleidoscope, an optical instrument, invented by sir david brewster in , consisting of a cylinder with two mirrors set lengthwise inside, two plates of glass with bits of coloured glass loose between at one end and an eye-hole at the other, presents varying patterns on rotation. kalevale, a collection of popular songs current among the peasantry of finland from earliest times. kali (i. e. the black one), one of the names of the wife of siva (q. v.), and of whom she is the female counterpart, and has been identified with the greek hecate (q. v.); she is represented with a necklace of human heads. kÁlidÁsa, a great indian dramatist and poet, probably of the th century a.d.; was author of "the lost ring" and "the hero and the nymph," translated by sir william jones, much praised by goethe and max müller. kalmar ( ), seaport in se. of sweden, on an island in kalmar sound; carries on a large timber trade, and manufactures of tobacco and matches. kalmucks, the name given to the western moguls, inhabiting central asia, and considerably intermingled with their neighbours, the russians, persians, and turks; they are buddhists, nomadic, and have herds of horses and cattle. kalpa, a braminical name for the immense period of time which separates one destruction of the world from the next, a day and a night of brahma. kalpi ( ), a decaying town in the nw. provinces of india, on the jumna, m. sw. of cawnpore; was the scene of the defeat of , mutineers in ; manufactures paper, and exports grain and cotton. kÂma, the hindu cupid, or god of love, a potent god of the hindu pantheon, able to subdue nearly all the rest of the gods except siva, who once with a single glance of his cyclop eye reduced him to ashes for daring to bring trouble into his breast; he is one of the primitive gods of the hindu pantheon, like the eros (q. v.) of the greeks. kamchatka ( ), a long narrow peninsula on the e. coast of siberia, stretching southwards between the behring sea and the sea of okhotsk, with a precipitous coast and a volcanic range of mountains down the centre, has a cold, wet climate, grass and tree vegetation, and many hot springs; the people live by fishing, hunting, and trading in furs; they are russianised, the peninsula having been russian since the th century. kames, henry home, lord, scottish judge and philosopher, born in berwickshire; became an advocate in and judge in ; wrote books on law, "essays on morality and natural religion," and other philosophical works, in which he indulged in a wide and often fanciful range of speculation; was noted for his sociality and public spirit, and died at edinburgh ( - ). kampen ( ), a reviving dutch town on the yssel, m. from the zuyder zee, and ½ m. w. of zwolle; has shipbuilding and fishing industries; the inhabitants are the proverbial fools of holland. kamptulicon, a floorcloth composed of cork and india-rubber or similar substance. kamthi ( ), a town of recent origin in the central provinces of india, m. nw. of nagpur; trades in cattle and grain, salt, and timber. kanara, a rainy district on the w. coast of india, between goa and malabar, mostly malarial forest country, with the ghat mountains and many rivers. north kanara ( ) is in bombay presidency. south kanara ( , ), capital mangalore, is in madras. kanaris, constantin, an intrepid greek sea-captain who distinguished himself by his exploits in the greek war of independence, particularly in the destruction of the turkish vessels by means of fire-ships; he attained the rank of admiral in , and took part in the revolution which overthrew king otho ( - ). kandahar, capital of southern afghanistan, near the argandab river, m. sw. of kabul; a well-watered, regularly built town in the middle of orchards and vineyards; is of great political and commercial importance; a centre of trade with india, persia, and turkestan; it was held by the british through the war of - , and again in - ; population variously estimated from , to , . kandy ( ), a town on a mountain lake in the middle of ceylon, m. ne. of colombo; is a railway centre; has the ruins of the palace of the old native kings, and a temple with the famous tooth of buddha. kane, elisha kent, an american explorer, born in philadelphia; bred to medicine; became a surgeon in the navy; acquired a taste for adventure; from his experiences in such accompanied, in , the first grinnell expedition to the arctic seas, and commanded the second in , after three years returning with many discoveries; he wrote accounts of both expeditions ( - ). kane, sir robert, chemist, born in dublin; originator of the _dublin journal of medical science_ in , and of the irish museum of industry in ; was president of queen's college, cork, and president of the royal irish academy in ; published "elements of chemistry," and other works ( - ). kansas ( , ), the central state of the american union; lies in the basin of the kansas and arkansas rivers, between nebraska on the n. and oklahoma on the s., with colorado on the w. and missouri on the e. it is a rolling prairie, with a fine climate subject to occasional extremes, and a rainfall, except in some districts, sufficient; raises crops of grain and sugar, and affords excellent grazing ground. pork and beef packing, flour-milling, and iron-founding industries are carried on. the state university is at lawrence, an agricultural college at manhattan, and good schools in every town. previous to its admission to the union in kansas was the scene of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery parties for five years. in the civil war it joined the north. the capital is topeka ( ), and the largest other towns kansas city ( ) and wichita ( ). kansas city, two contiguous towns on the s. bank of the missouri river, m. w. of st. louis, are so called. the larger and more easterly one ( ) is the second city of missouri; an important railway centre, and distributes the agricultural products of a large region; has pork-packing industries and iron manufactures. the smaller, westerly city ( ), is in kansas, the largest town of that state; has a remarkable elevated railway. kant, immanuel, a celebrated german philosopher, born in königsberg, the son of a saddler, of scotch descent, and fortunate in both his parents; entered the university in as a student of theology; gave himself to the study of philosophy, mathematics, and physics; wrote an essay, his first literary effort, on "motive force" in ; settled at the university as a private lecturer on a variety of academic subjects in ; became professor of logic and metaphysics in , when he was , and continued till his retirement, in , from the frailties of age, spending the last years of his life in a small house with a garden in a quiet quarter of the town; his great work, the "kritic of pure reason," was published in , and it was followed by the "kritic of practical reason" in , and the "kritic of judgment" in ; his works inaugurate a new era in philosophic speculation, and by the adoption of a critical method dealt a death-blow to speculative dogmatism on the one hand and scepticism on the other; it was, he says, the scepticism of hume that first broke his dogmatic slumber, so that had hume not been, he had not been, and the whole course of modern thought different; kant by his critical method did for philosophy what copernicus did for astronomy; he centralised the intelligence in the reason or soul, as the latter did the planetary system in the sun; kant was a lean, little man, of simple habits, and was never wedded ( - ). kaolin, a fine white clay, a hydrous silicate of alumina, which does not colour when fired; used in making porcelain; called also china clay. kapellmeister, director of an orchestra or choir, more particularly of the band of a german prince. kapila, the founder of the sankhya system of hindu philosophy (q. v.); was regarded as an incarnation of vishnu (q. v.). kara, a gold-mining district in east siberia, m. from chita, of which the mines are the private property of the czar, and are worked by convicts, who are often disgracefully treated, many of them merely political offenders. kara sea is a portion of the arctic sea, on the ne. corner of russia, between nova zembla and the yalmal; receives the rivers obi and yenisei, and is navigable from july to september. karaites, a jewish sect which originated in the th century; adhered to the letter of scripture and repudiated all tradition; were strict sabbatarians. karakorum, a range of the himalayas, extending from the hindu-kush eastward into thibet, and a pass in the centre of it , ft. high. also the name of the old capital of mongolia. karamsin, a russian historian; his first work was "letters of a russian traveller," in vols., published in - , which gained him a high reputation, and it was followed by his "history of russia," in vols., published in - , for the materials of which he had access, to the most authentic documents as imperial historiographer, an office to which he was appointed in , and the work is a work in the highest repute ( - ). karikal ( ), a french possession in india, on the coromandel coast, m. s. of madras; rears and exports rice in large quantities. karli, a famous temple-cave in bombay presidency, on the bombay-poona road; dates from the st century b.c. at latest. karma, the unbroken sequence, according to the theosophists, of cause and effect, in which every effect is regarded the cause of the next. karman, the name given in the brahminical philosophy and in buddhism to that act of the soul by which, as is conceived, it determines its own destiny, a truly serious conception, and in itself soul affecting. karmathians, originally a secret society of the ismaîlis, developed into a religious and communistic sect, and waged a great peasants' war under successive leaders between a.d. and ; mecca was captured ; the movement of the karmathians did much to overthrow the power of the khalifate. karr, jean baptiste alphonse, french novelist, born at paris; entered journalism, became editor of the _figaro_ , started _les guepes_ the same year, retired to nice , and there died; his chief novel is "géneviève," and best known book, "voyage autour de mon jardin" ( - ). karroo, the name of a barren tract of tableland in south africa with a clay soil, which, however, bursts into grassy verdure and blossom after rain; the great karroo, which is m. long and about m. broad, is ft. above the sea-level, while the little karroo is ft. lower; large flocks of sheep are pastured on them, and the value of the land has immensely increased within late years. kars ( ), an almost impregnable fortress on the russo-turkish frontier in asia, m. e. of the caspian sea; was successfully held by the turks under general williams in , of which laurence oliphant wrote an account, but captured by russia in , and ceded to her by the treaty of berlin, ; it is a strong place, and a prize to any power that possesses it. karun river, rising in the zarduh koh mountains w. of ispahân; flows w. and s. past shuster into the persian gulf; is the sole navigable waterway of persia, and was thrown open to trade . kaschau ( ), a beautiful town in northern hungary, on the hernad river, m. nw. of budapest; has a royal tobacco factory, is noted for hams, has an agricultural school and a jesuit university. kashgar ( ), political capital and second largest city of chinese turkestan, on the kizil river; has cotton, silk, carpet, and saddlery industries, and trades with russia; it is the centre of mohammedanism in eastern turkestan, a pilgrim city; has been in chinese hands since , but is chiefly under russian influence. kassala ( ), a fortified town in the soudan, near the abyssinian boundary, on the chor-el-gash, a tributary of the atbara, is m. s. of suakim; suffered severely from the madhist rising of - . katakama, the square style of writing of the japanese. kater, henry, a physicist, born in bristol; bred to the law, but entered the army, and went out to india, where, to the injury of his constitution, he was for seven years engaged on the trigonometrical survey of the country; devoted the rest of his life to scientific research; he contributed to the _philosophical transactions_, determined the length of the seconds pendulum at the latitude of london, and invented the floating collimator ( - ). katkoff, michael nikiforovitch, russian journalist and publicist, born at moscow, educated at moscow, königsberg, and berlin; became professor of philosophy in moscow and in editor of the _moscow gazette_; though at first an advocate of parliamentary government, he became a violent reactionary, made his paper the most influential in russia, and had great influence in public affairs; he is said to have determined the reactionary policy of alexander iii. ( - ). katrine, loch, a long narrow beautiful lake in the trossachs, scotland, about m. n. of glasgow, to which it affords an abundant water supply, is m. long and ¾ broad; the splendid scenery of it is described in scott's "lady of the lake." kauffmann, angelica, painter, born in the tyrol; gave early evidence of artistic talent; came to london, and became one of the first members of the royal academy; produced pictures on classical and mythological subjects, as well as portraits of the royal family among others; her story forms the basis of a fiction by miss thackeray ( - ). kaufmann, constantino von, russian general, of german descent; did much to contribute to the establishment of the russian power in central asia ( - ). kaulbach, wilhelm von, german painter, head of the new german school, born in waldeck; was a pupil of cornelius, and associated with him in painting the frescoes in the glyptothek in münich; among other works, which have made his name famous, he executed the splendid series of compositions that adorn the vestibule of the berlin museum; he illustrated goethe's "faust" and his "reinecke fuchs" ( - ). kaunitz, prince von, austrian statesman, born at vienna; under charles vi. and maria theresa distinguished as a diplomatist at the congress of aix-la-chapelle in , and sided with france in the seven years' war; was for nearly years "the shining star and guide of austrian politics, and greatest of diplomatists in his day, supreme jove in that extinct olympus; regarded with sublime pity, not unalloyed to contempt, all other diplomatic beings"; he shared with colonne the _sobriquet_ of the "european coach-driver"; he was sold body and soul to the interests of austria ( - ). kavanagh, julia, novelist, born in tipperary, a very dainty little lady; wrote "madeleine," "woman in france," "women of letters," "women of christianity," &c.; spent most of her life in france ( - ). kawi, the old language of java found in old documents and inscriptions. kay, sir, a rude and boastful knight of the round table, foster-brother of king arthur, who from his braggart ways often made himself the butt of the whole court. kay, john, a scottish caricaturist, born near dalkeith; began business in edinburgh first as a barber and then as a print-seller; author of sketches of local celebrities, now collected in two volumes, and of much interest and value as a record of the edinburgh of his time ( - ). kaye, sir john william, historian of english india, an officer in the bengal artillery, retired in ; in entered the east india company's service in england, and was subsequently a secretary in the government india office; he wrote "history of the sepoy war - ," and "essays of an optimist" ( - ). kean, charles john, actor, second son of the succeeding, born in waterford; made his first appearance in drury lane in , which proved unsuccessful, but by assiduous study and his marriage with helen tree, a popular actress who played along with him, he rose in the profession and became lessee of the princess's theatre, london, where he distinguished himself by his revivals of shakespeare's plays, with auxiliary effects due to scenery and costume; he was at his best in melodramas, such as "louis xi." ( - ). kean, edmund, distinguished english tragedian, born in london; trod the stage from his infancy; his first success was shylock in the "merchant of venice" in , and the representation of it was followed by equally famous representations of richard iii., othello, and sir giles overreach; he led a very dissipated life, and under the effects of it his constitution gave way; he broke down one evening beside his son as iago, as he was playing the part of othello, was carried off the stage, and never appeared on the boards again ( - ). keary, annie, novelist, born in yorkshire; began as a writer of children's books, "castle daly," an irish novel, among her best; was a woman of a sympathetic nature, and was devoted to works of benevolence ( - ). keats, john, was the son of a livery-stable proprietor, born at finsbury, london; never went to a university, but was apprenticed to a london surgeon, and subsequently practised medicine himself in london; abandoning his profession in , he devoted himself to literature, made the acquaintance of leigh hunt, hazlitt, lamb, wordsworth, and other literary men; left london for carisbrooke, moved next year to teignmouth, but on a visit to scotland contracted what proved to be consumption; in he was betrothed to miss fanny browne, and struggled against ill-health and financial difficulties till his health completely gave way in the autumn of ; accompanied by the artist joseph severn he went to naples and then to rome, where, in the spring following, he died; his works were three volumes of poetry, "poems" , "endymion" , "lamia, isabella and other poems," including "hyperion" and "the eve of st. agnes" ; he never reached maturity in his art, but the dignity, tenderness, and imaginative power of his work contained the highest promise; he was a man of noble character, sensitive, yet strong, unselfish, and magnanimous, by some regarded as the most original of modern poets ( - ). keblah, the point of the compass to which people turn their faces when they worship, as the mohammedans do to mecca when they pray. keble, john, english clergyman, author of the "christian year," born in fairford, gloucestershire; studied at oxford, and became fellow of oriel college in ; in appeared the "christian year," which he published anonymously; in was appointed professor of poetry in oxford, and that same year issued an "address to the electors of the united kingdom" against the reform bill; he was one of four who originated the tractarian movement at oxford, and was the author of several of the "tracts for the times"; in he was presented to the vicarage of hursley, which he held till his death; he was author of "lyra innocentium," and along with newman and others of "lyra apostolica"; the secession of newman rather riveted than loosened his attachment to the english church ( - ). kedron, a wady e. of jerusalem, traversed by a brook in the rainy season, and which runs in the direction of the dead sea. keelhauling, a naval punishment of the th and th centuries; consisted in dropping the victim into the sea from one yardarm, hauling him under the keel and up to the yardarm on the other side; is now a term for a severe rebuke. keeling islands. see cocos islands. keewatin, a district in canada under the jurisdiction of the government of manitoba, and n. of it; the mineral wealth is great, and includes copper and silver. kehama, a hindu rajah who obtains and sports with supernatural powers, whose adventures are given in southey's "curse of kehama." keighley ( ), a yorkshire town, on the aire, m. nw. of bradford; manufactures woollen and worsted fabrics and spinning-machinery. keightley, thomas, man of letters, born in dublin; wrote a number of school manuals, and "fairy mythology" ( - ). keim, theodor, a german theologian, born at stuttgart, professor at zurich and afterwards at giessen; his great work, to which others were preliminary, was his "history of jesu of nazara," in which he presents the person of christ himself as the one miracle in the story and that eclipses every other in it, and makes them of no account comparatively ( - ). keith, james, known as marshal keith, born near peterhead, of an old scotch family, earls marischal of scotland; having had to leave the country for his share in the jacobite rebellion, fled first to spain and then to russia, doing military service in both, but quitted both in for service in prussia under frederick the great, who soon recognised the worth of him, and under whom he rose to be field-marshal; he distinguished himself in successive engagements, and fell shot through the heart, when in the charge of the right wing at hochkirch; as he opened his way by his bayonet the enemy gathered round him after being twice repulsed ( - ). keith, lord, english admiral, born near stirling; served in various parts of the world, and distinguished himself in the american and french wars. kelat ( ), capital of beluchistan, in a lofty region m. s. of kandahar; is the residence of a british agent since , and was annexed as a british possession in . it is a military stronghold, and of great importance in a military point of view. keller, ferdinand, swiss archæologist; his reputation rests on his investigations of lake-dwellings in switzerland in - ( - ). keller, gottfried, distinguished poet and novelist, born in zurich; his greatest remance, and the one by which he is best known, is "der grüne heinrich"; wrote also a collection of excellent tales entitled, "die leute von seldwyla" ( - ). kellermann, franÇois christophe, duke of valmy, french general born in alsace, son of a peasant; entered the army at ; served in the seven years' war; embraced the revolution; defeated the duke of brunswick at valmy in ; served under napoleon as commander of the reserves on the rhine, but supported the bourbons at the restoration ( - ). kells ( ), an ancient town in co. meath, with many antiquities; gives its name to the "book of kells," a beautiful th-century keltic illuminated manuscript of the gospels, now in the library of trinity college, dublin. kelp, an alkaline substance derived from the ashes of certain sea-weeds, yielding iodine, soda, potass, and certain oils; kelp-burning was formerly a valuable industry in orkney and the hebrides. kelpie, an imaginary water-spirit which, it is said, appears generally in the form of a horse. kelso, a market-town in roxburghshire, beautifully situated on the tweed, where the teviot joins it, with the ruins of an abbey of the th or the early th century. kelvin, lord. see thomson, william. kemble, a family of three sons and one daughter, children of roger kemble, a provincial theatrical manager, all actors, of whom the greatest was the eldest, sarah, mrs. siddons (q. v.). kemble, adelaide, daughter of charles, was noted as an operatic singer, but retired from the stage on her marriage ( - ). kemble, charles, son of roger, born at brecon; appeared first at sheffield as orlando, in , and two years later came to london, where he continued playing till , when he was appointed examiner of plays ( - ). two daughters of charles also won fame on the stage. kemble, frances anne, daughter of charles, born in london; made her _début_ in , and proved a queen of tragedy; in went to america, where, in , she married a planter, from whom she was divorced in ; resuming her maiden name, fanny kemble, she gave shakespearian readings for years ( - ). kemble, john mitchell, anglo-saxon scholar, born in london, son of charles kemble; edited writings belonging to the anglo-saxon period; his chief work "the saxons in england" ( - ). kemble, john philip, eldest son of roger, born at prescot, lancashire; began to study for the roman catholic priesthood, but adopted the stage, and appeared first at wolverhampton in ; after touring in yorkshire and ireland he came to london in , playing hamlet at drury lane; became manager of that theatre in ; in transferred himself to covent garden, where, on the opening of the new house in , the "old price" riots brought him ill-will; he retired in , and lived at lausanne till his death ( - ). kemble, stephen, son of roger, was from till manager of edinburgh theatre ( - ). kemp, george meikle, architect, born in moorfoot, peeblesshire; bred a millwright, became a draughtsman, studied gothic architecture, and designed the scott monument in edinburgh; was drowned one evening in the union canal before the work was finished ( - ). kempen, a prussian town, m. nw. of düsseldorf; manufactures textile fabrics in silk, cotton, linen, &c.; was the birthplace of thomas à kempis. kempenfelt, richard, british admiral, born at westminster; distinguished himself in several actions, was on board of the _royal george_ as his flagship when she went down at spithead, carrying him along with her and over a thousand others also on board at the time; he was a brave and skilful officer, and his death was a great loss to the service ( - ). kempis, thomas À, born at kempen, near düsseldorf, son of a poor but honest and industrious craftsman named hämerkin; joined, while yet a youth, the "brotherhood of common life" at deventer, in holland, and at entered the monastery of st. agnes, near zwolle, in oberyssel, where he chiefly resided for long years, and of which he became sub-prior, where he spent his time in acts of devotion and copying mss., that of the bible, among others, in the vulgate version of it, as well as in the production of works of his own, and in chief the "imitation of christ," a work that in the regard of many ranks second to the bible, and is thought likely to survive in the literature of the world as long as the bible itself; it has been translated into all languages within, as well as others outside, the pale of christendom, and as many as six thousand editions, it is reckoned, have issued from the press; it is five centuries and a half since it was first given to the world, and it has ever since continued to be a light in it to thousands in the way of a holy and divine life; it draws its inspiration direct from the fountain-head of holy scripture, and is breathing full of the same spirit that inspires the sacred book ( - ). ken, thomas, english prelate, born at little berkhampstead; is famous as the author of hymns, especially the morning one, "awake, my soul," and the evening one, "glory to thee, my god"; was committed to the tower for refusing to read james ii.'s "declaration of indulgence," and deprived of his bishopric, that of bath and wells, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to william iii. ( - ). kendal ( ), a westmorland market-town on the kent, m. s. of carlisle; manufactures heavy woollen goods, paper, and snuff; it owes the introduction of its woollen manufacture to the settlement in it of flemings in the reign of richard iii. kenia, mount, a mountain in british east africa, ° s. of the equator, , ft. above the sea-level, and one of the highest on the continent. kenilworth ( ), a warwickshire market-town, m. n. of warwick; noted for its castle, where, as described by scott in his novel of the name, leicester sumptuously entertained elizabeth in ; has some tanworks, tanning being the chief industry. kennaquhair (i. e. know-not-where), an imaginary locality in scott's "monastery." see weissnichtwo. kennedy, benjamin hall, head-master of shrewsbury, son of a schoolmaster, born at birmingham; after a brilliant career at cambridge became, in , fellow of st. john's, in assistant-master at harrow, and in was appointed to shrewsbury, where he proved one of the greatest of schoolmasters ( - ). kennicott, benjamin, english hebraist, born at totnes, devonshire, educated at oxford; became fellow of exeter, radcliffe librarian, and in canon of christ church; from he organised and took part in an extensive collation of hebrew texts, issuing in - the "hebrew old testament, with various readings" ( - ). kensal green, a cemetery in the nw. of london; celebrated as the burial-place of many eminent men, thackeray in chief. kensington ( ), a west london parish, in which stand the palace (queen victoria's birthplace), the albert memorial and hall, south kensington museum, the royal college of music, the imperial institute, and many other institutions: contains also holland house, and has long been the place of residence of notably artistic and literary men. kent ( , ), english maritime county in the extreme se.; lies between the thames estuary and the strait of dover, with surrey and sussex on the w.; it is hilly, with marshes in the se. and on the thames shore; is watered by the medway, stour, and darent; has beautiful scenery, rich pasturage, and fine agricultural land, largely under hops and market-gardens; a large part of london is in kent; maidstone ( ) is the county town; rochester ( ) and canterbury ( ) are cathedral cities; woolwich ( ), gravesend ( ), and dover ( ) are seaports, and margate and ramsgate watering-places. kentigern, st., or st. mungo, the apostle of cumbria, born at culross, the natural son of a princess named thenew; entered the monastery there, where he had been trained from a boy, and founded a monastery near glasgow and another in wales; was distinguished for his missionary labours; was buried at glasgow cathedral ( - ). kentish fire, vehement and prolonged derisive cheering, so called from indulgence in it in kent at meetings to oppose the catholic emancipation bill of . kentucky ( , ), an american state in the s. of the ohio basin, with the virginias on its e. and tennessee on its s. border and the mississippi river on the w.; is watered by the licking and kentucky rivers that cross the state from the cumberland mountains in the se. to the ohio, and the tennessee river traverses the western corner; the climate is mild and healthy; much of the soil is extremely fertile, giving hemp and the largest tobacco crops in the union; there are dense forests of virgin ash, walnut, and oak over two-thirds of the state, and on its pasturage the finest stock and horses are bred; coal is found in both the e. and the w., and iron is plentiful; the chief industries are whisky distilling, iron smelting and working; admitted to the union in , kentucky was a slave-holding state, but did not secede in the civil war; the capital is frankfort ( ), the largest city louisville ( ); the state university is at lexington ( ). kepler, john, illustrious astronomer, born at weil der stadt, würtemberg, born in poverty; studied at tübingen chiefly mathematics and astronomy, became lecturer on these subjects at grätz; joined tycho brahé at prague as assistant, who obtained a pension of £ for him from the austrian government, which was never paid; removed to lintz, where sir henry wotton saw him living in a _camera obscura_ tent doing ingenious things, photographing the heavens, "inventing toys, writing almanacs, and being ill off for cash ... an ingenious person, if there ever was one among adam's posterity ... busy discovering the system of the world--grandest conquest ever made, or to be made," adds carlyle, "by the sons of adam"; he was long occupied in studying the "'motions of the star' mars, with calculations repeated seventy times, and with the discovery of the planetary laws of the universe"; these last are called from his discovery of them kepler's laws; the first, that the planets move on elliptic orbits, the sun in one of the foci; the second, that, in describing its orbit, the radius vector of a planet traverses equal areas in equal times; and the third, that the square of the time of the revolution of a planet is proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the sun; poverty pursued kepler all his days, and he died of fever at ratisbon ( - ). kepler's laws. see kepler, john. keppel, augustus, viscount, son of the earl of albemarle; entered the navy, and was in several engagements between and ; when encountering the french off ushant he quarrelled with his second-in-command and let them escape; was court-martialled, but acquitted; he was afterwards first lord of the admiralty ( - ). ker, dr. john, minister and professor, was horn in peeblesshire, brought up in edinburgh; studied there and in halle, was chosen to fill the chair of practical training in the u.p. theological college in ; published some "sermons," and "the psalms in history and biography" ( - ). keratin, a substance forming the chief constituent in the hair, nails, and horn of animals. kerguelen's land, an island with rugged coasts, m. long by wide, of volcanic origin, in the antarctic ocean; so called after its discoverer in , changed to desolation island in by captain cook; belongs to france. kerman ( ), an eastern province of persia, the n. and the ne. of it a desolate salt waste, and with a chief town ( ) of the name in the middle of it, once a great emporium of trade; manufactures carpets. kerner, andreas, a lyric poet of the swabian school, born in würtemberg; studied and wrote on animal magnetism and spiritualism ( - ). kerosene, a refined petroleum used as oil for lamps. kerry ( ), maritime county in the sw. of ireland, between the shannon and kenmare rivers, with limerick and cork on the e.; has a rugged, indented coast, dingle bay running far inland; is mountainous, having mount brandon, the macgillicuddy, and dunkerron ranges, and contains the picturesque lakes of killarney; there is little industry or agriculture, but dairy-farming, slate-quarrying, and fishing are prosecuted; iron, copper, and lead abound, but are not wrought; the population is roman catholic; county town, tralee ( ). kertch ( ), a seaport of the crimea, on the eastern shore; had a large export trade, which suffered during the crimea war, but has revived since. keswick ( ), a cumberland market-town and tourist centre and capital of the lake district, on the derwent, m. sw. of carlisle; manufactures woollens, hardware, and lead-pencils; is the seat of an annual religious convention which gives its name to a phase of evangelicalism. ket, robert, a tanner in norfolk, leader of an insurrection in the country in , was after seizing norwich driven out by the earl of warwick, captured, and hanged. kettering ( ), market-town in northamptonshire; manufactures boots and shoes, stays, brushes, &c. kew ( ), a village on the thames, in surrey, m. w. of hyde park, where are the royal botanic gardens, a national institution since , and an observatory. key, francis scott, author of "the star-spangled banner," born in maryland, u.s.; wrote the words that have immortalised him when he saw the national flag floating over the ramparts of baltimore in ( - ). key west ( ), a seaport, health resort, and naval station on a coral island m. sw. of caple sable, florida; it has a good harbour and strong fort; was the basis of operations in the spanish-american war, ; exports salt, turtles, and fruit, and manufactures cigars. keyne, st., a pious virgin, lived in cornwall about , and left her name to a church and to a well whose waters are said to give the upper hand to whichever of a bridal pair first drinks of them after the wedding. keys, house of, the third estate in the isle of man, consisting of members chosen by themselves, when a vacancy occurs, by presenting to the governor "two of the oldest and worthiest men in the isle" for his selection. keys, power of the, power claimed, according to matt. xvi. , by the authorities of the church to admit or exclude from church membership, a power the roman catholics allege conferred at first on st. peter and afterwards on his successors in office. khamsin (fifty), a hot sand wind which blows in egypt from the desert for fifty days, chiefly before and after the month of may. khan, the title of a tartar sovereign or prince; also an eastern inn or caravansary. khandesh, a district of bombay in the valley of the tapti; a great cotton-growing centre; dhulia, the capital. kharkoff ( ), important town in little russia, m. ne. of odessa; has immense horse and wool fairs, and manufactures sugar, soap, felt, and iron; it is a greek bishopric, a university seat, and has various schools of learning. khartoum ( ), a caravan depôt in the soudan, just above the confluence of the blue and white niles, m. s. of cairo; was an active slave-trade centre, and commercially important; was captured by the mahdists in , when general gordon fell; retaken by lord kitchener in ; lately has been superseded by omdurman on the opposite bank of the nile. khatmandu ( ), the capital of nepal, india, at the confluence of the baghmati and vishnumati rivers, m. n. of the british frontier; is the centre of a considerable trade. khedive, the official title of the viceroy of egypt since , the first to hold it being ismail, the son of ibrahim pasha (q. v.), by grant of the sultan, his suzerain. kherson ( ), on the dnieper, m. from the sea and m. e. of odessa; capital of the russian government of kherson; has been surpassed in importance by odessa; its trade is in timber, and industries are soap-making, brewing, and wool-cleansing. khingans, the, a range of volcanic mountains on the e. of the desert of gobi. khiva ( ), a turkestan province or khanate in central asia, s. of the sea of aral; is under russian protection since ; a sandy desert with many oases, and in some parts well irrigated from the oxus; it produces wheat, rice, cotton, and fruit; climate subject to extremes. khiva, the capital ( ), on a canal connected with the amu, some distance from the left bank of the oxus, and m. nw. of merv, is a town of earth huts; it was at one time one of the chief slave-markets in asia till the traffic was put a stop to by russia. khorassan, the largest province of persia; is on the afghan border, mountainous, and fertile only in the n. among the valleys of the elburz range; grain, tobacco, and medicinal plants are grown; gold and silver, turquoises, and other gems found. the capital is meshed ( ), a sacred moslem city, with carpet, jewellery, and silk manufactures. khyber pass, a narrow defile m. long, in one place only ft. wide, through not lofty but precipitous mountains; lies to the nw. of peshawur, and is the chief route between the punjab and afghanistan; was the scene of a british catastrophe in the war of - , but has been repeatedly forced since, and since has been under british control. kiakhta ( ), a russian town in transbaikalia, siberia, on the borders of china; an emporium of trade between china and russia. kiao-chau, a province of shantung, china; occupied by germany in , and ceded to her on a years' lease by china in ; extends to about m. along the coast, and about m. inland. kidd, william, a noted pirate, born of covenanting parents at greenock; went to sea early, and served in privateering expeditions with distinction; appointed to the command of a privateer about , and commissioned to suppress the pirates of the indian ocean, he went to madagascar, and there started piracy himself; entering boston harbour in he was arrested, sent to london, tried on a charge of piracy and murder, and executed in . kidderminster ( ), in the n. of worcester, m. sw. of birmingham; has been since noted for its carpets; manufactures also silk, paper, and leather; was the scene of richard baxter's labours as vicar, and the birthplace of sir rowland hill. kieff ( ), on the dnieper, m. n. of odessa, is a holy city, the capital of the province of kieff, strongly fortified, and one of the oldest towns in russia, where christianity was proclaimed the religion of the country in ; has st. vladimir's university, theological schools, and petchersk monastery; a pilgrim resort; industries unimportant, include tanning and candle-making; trade chiefly in the hands of the jews. kiel ( ), on the baltic, m. n. of hamburg, is the capital of schleswig-holstein, a german naval station and important seaport, with shipments of coal, flour, and dairy produce; has shipbuilding and brewing industries, a university and library, and is the eastern terminus of the baltic ship canal, opened . kiepert, heinrich, distinguished german cartographer, born at berlin; was professor of geography there; his chief works an "atlas of asia minor," and his "atlas antiquus"; _b_. . kierkegaard, sÖren aaby, philosophical and religious thinker, born at copenhagen; lived a quiet, industrious, literary life, and exerted a chief influence on th-century dano-norwegian literature; his greatest works are "either-or," and "stadia on life's way" ( - ). kieselghur, powder used for polishing and in the manufacture of dynamite, formed from shells of microscopic organisms. kilda, st., a lonely island in the atlantic, m. w. of harris, m. long by broad, with a precipitous coast and a few poor inhabitants, who live by fishing and fowling. kildare ( ), inland irish county, in leinster, in the upper basins of the liffey and barrow, w. of dublin and wicklow; is level and fertile, with the great bog of allen in the n., and in the centre the curragh, a grassy plain; agriculture is carried on in the river basins; the county town is naas ( ); other towns maynooth, with the roman catholic theological college, and kildare. kilian, st., the first apostle of the franks, an irish monk; deputed by the pope in . kilima-njaro, a volcanic mountain group, , ft. high, on the northern border of german east africa, m. from the coast, with two peaks, kibo and kimawenzi; in an austrian communistic settlement was established on the slopes. kilkenny ( ), inland irish county in leinster, surrounded by waterford, tipperary, queen's county, carlow, and wexford, watered by the barrow, suir, and nore; extremely fertile in the s. and e., producing fine corn, hay, and green crops; is moorland, and devoted to cattle-rearing in the n., where also anthracite coal is abundant. kilkenny ( ), the county town, is noted for a fine black marble quarried near it. killarney ( ), market-town and tourist centre, in co. kerry, ireland, on the shores of the lake, m. se. of tralee; has a roman catholic cathedral and some arbutus-carving industry. killarney, the lakes of, three beautiful lakes at the northern foot of the macgillicuddy reeks, in the basin of the leane, much resorted to by tourists. killiecrankie, pass of, m. nw. of dunkeld, in perthshire, where general mackay was defeated by claverhouse, who fell, in ; is traversed by a road and a railway. kilmainham ( ), a suburb of dublin, with a royal hospital for disabled soldiers and a jail; the treaty of kilmainham was an agreement said to have been made in between gladstone and parnell, who was then confined in kilmainham jail, affecting irish government and policy. kilmarnock ( ), on the irvine, m. sw. of glasgow, largest town in ayrshire; is an important railway centre, has extensive engineer works, carpet factories, and breweries; is in the middle of a rich coal and iron district, and has a great annual cheese and dairy produce show. kimberley ( ), m. ne. of cape town; is capital of griqualand west, and chief inland town in south africa, in a dry but healthy situation; exists in virtue of diamond mines in the vicinity, the richest in the world. also the name of a district in the n. of west australia, a district of rising prosperity. kimberley, earl of, english liberal statesman, son of baron wodehouse; succeeded to the title ; was twice over under-secretary for foreign affairs, and lord-lieutenant of ireland - ; in created earl of kimberley, he was in succession lord privy seal, colonial secretary, secretary for india, and foreign secretary; _b_. . kimchi, david, a jewish rabbi, born at narbonne; wrote a hebrew grammar and lexicon, which forms the basis of all subsequent ones, also commentaries on most books of the old testament ( - ). kincardineshire ( ), east coast scottish county, lying between aberdeen and forfar, faces the north sea, with precipitous cliffs; has much fertile soil under corn, green crops, and small fruit, also pasture and grazing land where cattle are reared; the fishing is important, and there are some coarse linen factories; chief towns, stonehaven ( ) and bervie ( ). kindergarten, schools conducted according to froebel's system for the development of the power of observation and the memory of young children. kinematics, the science of pure motion under the categories of space and time, irrespective of consideration of the forces determining it and the mass of the body moved. kinematograph, a photographic apparatus by which an impression is taken of closely consecutive stages in the development of a scene. kinetics, the science of the action of forces causing motion; both this law and the two preceding are derived from a greek word signifying "to move." king, william rufus, american statesman and diplomatist, born in north carolina; was a member of congress and the senate, and vice-president of the republic, represented the united states both at st. james's and in france ( - ). king nibelung, king of the nibelungen (q. v.), who left his two sons an inexhaustible hoard of wealth, so large that waggons in days at the rate of journeys a day could not carry it off. king of the romans, a title assumed by the emperor henry ii., and afterwards conferred on the eldest son of the emperor of germany. kinglake, alexander william, historian, born near taunton; bred for the bar, gave up the legal profession, in which he had a lucrative practice, for literature; is the author of two works, "eothen" and the "history of the war in the crimea," in vols., the former a brilliantly written book of travels in the east, published in , the latter a minute record of the war, of which the last vol. was published in , pronounced by prof. saintsbury, in a literary point of view, to be "an imposing failure" ( - ). kingmaker, the, a title popularly given to richard nevil, earl of warwick, who was instrumental in raising edward iv. to the throne of england by dethroning henry vi., and afterwards in restoring henry by the defeat of edward. kings, the book of, two books of the old testament, originally one, but divided in the septuagint into two, containing the history of the jewish kingdom under the kings from its establishment under david to its fall, and covering a period from b.c. to b.c., during which time the kingdom fell into two, that of israel and that of judah, the captivity of the former, occurring years before that of the latter; the author, who is unknown, wrote the history at the time of the captivity, and his object is didactic of the effect on the history of a nation of its apostasy from faith in its god, not, however, without a promise of restoration in the case of repentance. king's college, london, a church of england institution, with faculties of theology, arts, science, and medicine, evening class, civil service and art departments, a preparatory school and a ladies' department; it grants the title of associate. king's counsel or queen's counsel are those barristers in england and ireland who, having been successful in their profession have received the letters-patent conferring that title and right of precedence in all courts; the appointment is honorary and for life, but in acting against the crown a q.c. must obtain leave by special license, which is always granted. king's county ( ), an inland irish county on the left bank of the shannon, between tipperary and west meath; is mostly flat, a quarter of it bogland and a quarter under crops; the chief towns are tullamore ( ), the county town, on the grand canal, and birr or parsonstown ( ), where lord rosse's great telescope is. kingsley, charles, canon of westminster and chaplain to the queen, born at holne vicarage, near dartmoor; studied at cambridge; became rector of eversley, in hampshire, in ; was the author in of a drama, entitled "the saint's tragedy," with st. elizabeth of hungary for heroine, which was followed successively by "alton locke" ( ), and "yeast" ( ), chiefly in a socialistic interest; "hypatia," a brilliant book in the interest of early christianity in alexandria and "westward ho!" a narrative of the rivalry of england with spain in the days of elizabeth, and besides other works, including "two years ago," "water babies," and "hereward the wake," he was the author of the popular ballads of "the three fishers," "the starlings," and "the sands of dee"; his writings had a great influence on his contemporaries, particularly on young men; professor saintsbury writes an appreciative estimate of kingsley ( - ). kingsley, henry, younger brother of the preceding; after a brief experience of life in australia he returned home to start on the career of letters in rivalry with his brother, and distinguished himself by exhibitions of similar literary ability, as a novelist especially, as well as kindred sympathies; his principal novels were "geoffrey hamlyn," one of the best novels on australian life; "ravenshoe," his masterpiece, and "the hillyars and the burtons" ( - ). kingston, , capital ( ) of frontenac county, ontario, on the ne. shore of the lake, m. e. of toronto, an important commercial town with shipbuilding and engineering works; is the seat of queen's university, military and medical colleges, and an observatory. , capital ( ) of jamaica, on a great bay on the s. coast, on the edge of a sugar-growing district; exports sugar, tobacco, and dye-woods, and imports cotton, flour, and rice. , a town ( ) on the hudson, n.y., has great blue stone-flag quarries, and cement-works, breweries, and tanneries. kingston-upon-thames ( ), in surrey, m. sw. of london, has a fine church and other buildings, and malting industry. kingston, w. h. g., popular boys' story-writer, born in london, spent his youth in oporto, was interested in philosophic schemes, and helped to arrange the anglo-portuguese commercial treaty; he wrote tales, of which the "three midshipmen" series is the best, and died at willesden ( - ). kingstown, seaport of dublin, m. se.; was till but a fishing village; has a harbour designed by rennie, which cost £ , ; was originally dunleary, and changed into kingstown on george iv.'s visit in . kinkel, johann gottfried, german poet and writer on æsthetics, born near bonn; studied for the church, but became lecturer on art in bonn, ; two years later he was imprisoned for revolutionary proceedings; escaped in to england, and became professor at zurich in ; wrote "otto der schütz," an epic, and "nimrod," a drama ( - ). kinross ( ), small scottish county lying between perth and fife, round loch leven, is agricultural and grazing, with some hills of no great height, and coal mines; the co. town, kinross ( ), is on the w. shore of loch leven; manufactures tartan. kinsale ( ), a once important seaport in co. cork, at the mouth of the bandon, m. s. of cork; has lost its trade, and is now a summer resort and fishing station; king james ii. landed here in , and re-embarked in . kintyre, a long narrow isthmus on the w. coast of scotland, between the atlantic and the firth of clyde, is chiefly hill and grass country; but at campbeltown are great distilleries; at machrihanish bay, on the w. coast, are fine golfing links. kipchaks, a nomadic turkish race who settled on the south-eastern steppes of russia about the th century, and whose descendants still occupy the district. kipling, rudyard, story-teller and poet, born in bombay, and educated in england; went out to india as a journalist; his stories respect anglo-indian, and especially military, life in india, and his "soldiers three," with the rest that followed, such as "wee willie winkie," gained for him an immediate and wide reputation; as a poet, his most successful effort is his "barrack-room ballads," instinct with a martial spirit, in ; he is a writer of conspicuous realistic power; he deems it the mission of civilisation to drill the savage races in humanity; _b_. . kirby, william, entomologist, born in suffolk; distinguished as the author of "monographia apium angliæ," and "introduction to entomology"; was rector of barham, suffolk, for years ( - ). kirghiz, a nomadic turkish people occupying the kirghiz steppes, an immense tract e. of the ural river and the caspian sea, numbering ½ millions, adventurous, witty, and free-spirited; refuse to settle; retain ancient customs and characteristics, and are moslems only in name. kirk session, an ecclesiastical court in scotland, composed of the minister and elders of a parish, subject to the presbytery of the district. kirkcaldy ( ), a manufacturing and seaport town in fifeshire, extending m. along the north shore of the forth, known as the "lang toon." it was the birthplace of adam smith, and one of the scenes of the schoolmastership period of thomas carlyle's life; manufactures textile fabrics and floorcloth; is a busy town. kirkcudbright ( ), a scottish county on the solway shore between wigtown and dumfries, watered by the rivers nith, dee, and cree; has mount merrick on the nw. border, and loch dee in the middle; one-third of its area cultivated, the rest chiefly hill pasturage. county town kirkcudbright ( ), on the dee, m. from the solway; held st. cuthbert's church. kirkdale cave, a cave in the vale of pickering, yorkshire, discovered by buckland to contain the remains of a number of extinct species of mammals. kirke's lambs, the soldiers of colonel kirke, an officer of the english army in james the second's time, distinguished for their acts of cruelty inflicted on the monmouth party. kirkintilloch ( ), a town on the forth and clyde canal, m. n. of glasgow, manufactures chemicals, has calico works, and mines of coal and iron. kirkwall ( ), capital of orkney, in the e. of mainland, m. ne. of thurso; has a fine cathedral named st. magnus, and some shipping trade; it was in mediæval times subject to norway, and was the residence of the jarls. kirriemuir ( ), a small forfarshire town, m. nw. of forfar, native place of j. m. barrie, and the "thrums" of his books; manufactures brown linens. kirschwasser (cherry water), a liqueur formed from ripe cherries with the stones pounded in it after fermentation and then distilled. kisfaludy, karoly, hungarian dramatist, brother of the following, was founder of the national drama, and with his brother ranks high in the literature of the country ( - ). kisfaludy, sandor, a hungarian lyric poet, "himfy's loves" his chief work, was less distinguished as a dramatist ( - ). kissingen ( ), bavarian watering-place on the saale, m. e. of frankfort-on-the-main, visited for its saline springs by , people annually; its waters are used both internally and externally, and are good for dyspepsia, gout, and skin-diseases. kitcat club, founded in ostensibly to encourage literature and art, and named after christopher catt, in whose premises it met; became ultimately a whig society to promote the hanoverian succession; marlborough, walpole, congreve, addison, and steele were among the thirty-nine members. kitchener of khartoum, horatio herbert, lord, son of col. kitchener; joined the royal engineers, and was first engaged in survey work in palestine and cyprus; became a major of cavalry in the egyptian army , served in the expedition, was governor of suakim , and after leading the egyptian troops at handub was made aide-de-camp to the queen, c.b., and adjutant-general in the egyptian army; he was appointed sirdar, commander-in-chief of that army, in , organised and led the expedition of which overthrew the khalifa at omdurman, and for which he was awarded a peerage and received many honours, the freedom of the cities of london and edinburgh, &c.; a gift of £ , was voted by the government in ; _b_. . kizil (red river), the ancient halys, the largest river in asia minor, which flows into the black sea m. e. of sinope after a course of m. klapka, a hungarian patriot, distinguished in arms against the austrians during the revolution, and for his heroic defence of komorn in the end ( - ). klaproth, julius von, orientalist and philologist; was an accomplished chinese scholar; explored siberia and caucasia ( - ). klaus, peter, the german prototype of rip van winkle, a goat-herd who slept for the same number of years and at the end had similar experiences. klausthal ( ), in hanover, m. ne. of göttingen, is the chief mining town of the northern hartz mountains, and the seat of the german mining administration, surrounded by silver, copper, lead, and zinc mines. klÉber, jean baptiste, french general, born at strasburg; originally an architect, served with distinction in the revolutionary army, accompanied bonaparte to egypt, and was left by him in command, where, after a bold attempt to regain lost ground and while in the act of concluding a treaty with the turks, he was assassinated by an arab fanatic ( - ). kleist, heinrich von, german dramatist and poet, born at frankfort-on-the-oder; entered the army, but afterwards devoted himself to literature; slow recognition and other trials preyed on his mind, and he shot himself near potsdam ( - ). klondike, a small section of yukon, a territory in the extreme nw. of n. america, and a present-day centre of pilgrimage by gold-seekers since the recent discovery of the gold-fields there. klopstock, friedrich gottlieb, german poet, born at quedlinburg; distinguished as the author of an epic poem entitled the "messiah," which is his chief work, his treatment of which invested him with a certain sense of sanctity, and the publication of which did much to quicken and elevate the literary life of germany ( - ). knaresborough ( ), yorkshire market-town, m. w. of york; manufactures woollen rugs, grinds flour, and trades in corn. kneller, sir godfrey, portrait-painter, born at lübeck; studied under rembrandt and at italy, came to england in , and was appointed court painter to charles ii., james ii., william iii., and george i.; practised his art till he was seventy, and made a large fortune ( - ). knickerbocker, the imaginary author of the fictitious "history of new york," by washington irving. knight, charles, london publisher and editor, publisher for the useful knowledge society, of "library of entertaining knowledge," of the "penny magazine," and the "penny cyclopædia," &c., as well as a "pictorial shakespeare," edited by himself ( - ). knighthood, a distinction granted to commoners, ranking next to baronet, now bestowed by the crown; formerly knighthood was a military order, any member of which might create new knights; it was originally the highest rank of chivalry (q. v.); it was an order of many subdivisions developed during the crusades, and in full flower before the norman conquest of england. knights of labour, an american labour organisation, founded in , resembling a union of all trades, male and female; in had , members, which have since disagreed and fallen off. knights of the round table, king arthur's knights, so called from the round table at which they sat, so that when seated there might seem no precedency, numbered popularly at twelve, though reckoned by some at forty. knights of the shire, english gentry representing a middle class between the barons and the peasants, acting as members of parliament for the county they belonged to. knowles, sheridan, dramatist, born at cork; was connected with the stage first as actor and then as an author of plays, which include "virginius," "the hunchback," and "the wife"; latterly he gave up the stage, and took to preaching in connection with the baptist body ( - ). know-nothings, a party in the united states that sprung up in and restricted the right of american citizenship to those who were born in america or of an american parentage, so called because to those inquisitive about their secret organisation they uniformly answered "i know nothing." knox, john, the great scottish reformer, born at giffordgate, haddington, in ; studied at glasgow university; took priest's orders; officiated as a priest, and did tutoring from to ; came under the influence of george wishart, and avowed the reformed faith; took refuge from persecution in st. andrews castle in ; was there summoned to lead on the movement; on the surrender of the castle was taken prisoner, and made a slave in a french galley for months; liberated in at the intercession of edward vi., came and assisted the protestant cause in england; was offered preferments in the church, but declined them; fled in to france, from the persecution of bloody mary; ministered at frankfort and geneva to the english refugees; returned to scotland in , but having married, went back next year to geneva; was in absence, in , condemned to be burned; published in his "first blast against the monstrous regiment of women"; returned to scotland for good in , and became minister in edinburgh; saw in the jurisdiction of the pope abolished in scotland; had successive interviews with queen mary after her arrival at leith in ; was tried for high-treason before the privy council, but acquitted in ; began his "history of the reformation in scotland" in ; preached in at james vi.'s coronation in stirling; was in struck by apoplexy; died in edinburgh on the th november , aged , the regent morton pronouncing an _éloge_ at his grave, "there lies one who never feared the face of man." knox is pronounced by carlyle to have been the one scotchman to whom, "of all others, his country and the world owe a debt"; "in the history of scotland," he says, "i can find properly but one epoch; we may say it contains nothing of world interest at all but this reformation by knox.... it is as yet a country without a soul ... the people now begin to _live_ ... scottish literature and thought, scottish industry, james watt, david hume, walter scott (little as he dreamt of debt in that quarter), and robert burns, i find knox and the reformation acting on the heart's core of every one of these persons and phenomena; i find that without the reformation they would not have been; or," he adds, "the puritanism of england and of new england either"; and he sums up his message thus: "let men know that they are men, created by god, responsible to god; who work in any meanest moment of time what will last through eternity. this great message," he adds, "knox delivered with a man's voice and strength, and found a people to believe him." kobdo, a town in mongolia, the entrepôt of russian dealers in connection with the altai mines. koch, robert, an eminent bacteriologist, born at klansthal, in hanover; famous for his researches in bacteriology; discovered sundry bacilli, among others the cholera bacillus and the phthisis bacillus, and a specific against it; _b_. . kock, charles paul de, popular french novelist and dramatist, born near paris, and educated for a mercantile career, but turned to writing and produced a series of works, not of first merit, but illustrating contemporary french middle-class life ( - ). koheleth (the preacher, originally gatherer), the hebrew name for the book of ecclesiastes, and a personification of wisdom. kola, a small town, the most northerly in russia, on a peninsula of the same name, with a capacious harbour. kolin, a bohemian town on the elbe, m. se. of prague, where frederick the great was defeated by marshal daun in . kÖlliker, an eminent embryologist, born at zurich; professor of anatomy at würzburg; _b_. . kÖln, the german name for cologne (q. v.). kÖnig, friedrich, german mechanician, born in eisleben; bred a printer, and invented the steam-press, or printing by machinery ( - ). kÖniggrÄtz ( ), a bohemian town m. e. of prague; was the scene of a terrible battle called sa'dowa, in austria, where the germans defeated the austrians in . kÖnigsberg ( ), the capital of e. prussia, on the pregel, with several manufactures and an extensive trade; has a famous university, and is the birthplace of kant, where also he lived and died. korÂn (i. e. book to be read), the bible of the mohammedans, accepted among them as "the standard of all law and all practice; thing to be gone upon in speculation and life; it is read through in the mosques daily, and some of their doctors have read it , times, and hard reading it is"; it contains the teaching of mahomet, collected by his disciples after his death, and arranged the longest chapters first and the shortest, which were the earliest, last; a confused book. kordofan ( ), an egyptian soudanese province on the w. bank of the nile; an undulating dry country, furnishing crops of millet, and exporting gums, hides, and ivory; was lost in the mahdist revolt of , but recovered by lord kitchener's expedition in ; el obeid ( ), the capital is m. sw. of khartoum. koreish, the chief tribe among the arabs in mahomet's time, and to which his family belonged. kÖrner, karl theodor, a german soldier poet, often called the german tyrtæus, born in dresden; famous for his patriotic songs and their influence on german patriots; fell in a skirmish with the french at mecklenburg ( - ). kosciusko, thaddeus, polish general and patriot, born in lithuania, of noble parentage, bred to arms; first saw service in the american war on the side of the colonists, and returning to poland, twice over did valiant service against russia, but at length he was taken prisoner at the battle of maciejowice in ; he was subsequently set at liberty by the emperor paul, when he removed to america, but soon returned to settle in switzerland, where he died by a fall of his horse over a precipice; he was buried at cracow beside john sobieski ( - ). kossuth, louis, hungarian patriot, born near zemplen; studied for his father's profession, the law, but giving that up for politics, became editor of several liberal papers in succession; elected member of the diet at pesth in , he next year demanded autonomy for hungary, and set himself to drive out the hapsburgs and establish a republic; he raised a large army and large funds, but russia aided austria, and the struggle, though hopeful at first, proved in vain, defeated at temesvar and escaping to turkey, he came to england in , was enthusiastically received, and lived there for many years; ultimately he resided in turin, studied science, and died there ( or - ). kotzebue, german dramatist, born at weimar; went to st. petersburg, obtained favour at court and a government appointment; was banished to siberia, but regained the favour of paul, and was recalled; on paul's death he returned to germany, but went back to russia from fear of napoleon, whom he had violently attacked; he had a facile pen, and wrote no fewer than dramatic pieces; his strictures on the german university students greatly exasperated them, and one of them attacked him in his house at mannheim and stabbed him to death ( - ). koumiss, an intoxicating beverage among the kalmucks, made by fermentation from mare's milk. kovalevsky, alexander, russian embryologist, professor at st. petersburg; studied and wrote on the ascidians; _b_. . krakatao, a volcanic island in the narrow strait of sunda, between java and sumatra; was the scene of a terrific eruption in , causing a tidal wave that swept round the globe, and raising quantities of dust that made the sunsets in britain even more than usually red for three years. kraken, a huge fabulous sea-monster, reported as at one time seen in the norwegian seas; it would rise to the surface, and as it plunged down drag ships and every floating or swimming thing along with it. krapotkin, prince peter, a russian nihilist, born in moscow; became a member of the international (q. v.); was arrested in russia and imprisoned, but escaped, as also in france, but released, and settled in england; has written extensively on socialistic subjects; _b_. . krause, karl christian friedrich, german philosopher, born at eisenberg; studied under fichte and schelling, and was himself lecturer successively in jena, dresden, berlin, göttingen, and münich, where he died; of the school of kant, his work has suffered through the pedantry of his style; he wrote "the ideal of humanity," and many philosophical treatises ( - ). krefeld ( ), in rhenish prussia, m. nw. of düsseldorf; important manufacturing town; noted for its silk and velvet factories founded by protestant refugees; has also machinery and chemical works. kremlin, gigantic pile of buildings in moscow of all styles of architecture;, including palaces, cathedrals, museums, government offices; founded by ivan iii. in . kreuzer, a german coin, worth one-third or one-fifth of an english penny. kriegsspiel, a military game played on large-scale maps with metal blocks for troops, and designed to represent as fully as possible the conditions of warfare; was invented by a prussian lieutenant in . krilof, ivan andreevich, the great russian fabulist, born at moscow, son of a soldier; began his literary career writing dramas and editing magazines; was some time secretary to the governor of livonia, and for years lived an idle roving life; at his fables in the moscow _spectator_ brought him fame in ; next year he was appointed to a government post at st. petersburg, and in to a post in the imperial public library; he was an eccentric, much-loved man, and the humour and sympathy of his writings have won for him the title of the la fontaine of russia ( - ). krishna (i. e. the swarthy one), the man-god, or god-man, viewed as the th and final incarnation or avatar of vishnu (q. v.), in whose manifestation the latter first reveals himself as supreme divinity, being, as the theosophist might say, his mahatma. see theosophy. krÜdener, madame de, novelist, born at riga; authoress of an autobiographical novel entitled "valérie"; lived partly at st. petersburg and partly at paris; was a mystic religious enthusiast and political prophetess ( - ). krÜger, s. j. paul, president of the transvaal republic, born at rastenburg; became member of the executive council in ; in was chosen president, and has been three times elected to the same office since; a man of sturdy, stubborn principles, a champion of the rights of the boers, and a cunning diplomatist; _b_. . krummacher, frederick, german theologian, author of "elijah the tisbite," a popular work; was an opponent of the rationalists ( - ). krupp, alfred, metal and steel founder, born at essen, where through his father he became the proprietor of a small foundry which grew in his hands into such dimensions as to surpass every other establishment of the kind in the world; the bessemer (q. v.) process was early introduced here in the manufacture of steel, which krupp was the first to employ in the manufacture of guns; the works cover an immense area, and employ , people, and supply artillery to every government of europe ( - ). kubera or kuvera, the hindu plutus, or god of riches, represented as deformed and mounted on a car drawn by hobgoblins. kublai khan was a great mongol emperor of the th century; built up an empire which included all the continent of asia (except india, arabia, and asia minor) and russia, the most extensive that ever existed; he was an enlightened prince, adopted chinese civilisation, promoted learning, and established buddhism throughout his domains. kuenen, abraham, a dutch biblical critic, born at haarlem; studied at leyden, and became professor there; distinguished for his researches on the lines of the so-called higher criticism bearing upon the literary history of the books of the old testament, beginning with that of the pentateuch ( - ). kuen-lun, n. of thibet, a great snow-clad mountain range, , to , ft. high; stretches for m., with a breadth of m. it was explored by general prjevalski, a russian, - . kulm, a bohemian village on the left bank of the elbe, m. nw. of prague, where the french under vandamme surrendered to the russians and prussians in . kunersdorf, a village near frankfort-on-oder, where frederick the great was defeated by russians and austrians in . kurdistan ( , ), a stretch of plateau and mountain land in turkish, persian, and russian trans-caucasian territory, consisting of grassy plains and lofty ranges through which rivers like the zabs, batman-su, and euphrates force their way; is inhabited by a partly nomad, partly agricultural people of ancient stock, who export wool, gum, and hides; the kurds retain their old customs and organisation, are subject to their own chiefs, impatient of the rule of the porte and the shah; predatory by instinct, but brave and chivalrous; they are moslems and nestorians. kurile islands, a chain of islands, being a continuation of the peninsula of kamchatka, enclosing the sea of okhotsk; very sparsely inhabited. kurrachee ( ), the chief port of the punjab; situated on the delta of the indus, with an extensive harbour and trade. kurtz, heinrich, german theologian, professor at dorpat; author, among other works, of a "handbook of church history"; _b_. . kuruman, in bechuanaland, m. nw. of kimberley; is the place where livingstone and moffat laboured. kyd, thomas, elizabethan dramatist, born in london, and trained a scrivener, but won fame as a writer of tragedies, of which the best was "the spanish tragedy" ( - ). kyoto ( ), from to the capital of japan, on the kamo river, inland, m. w. of yedo; is still the centre of japanese buddhism, and is noted for its pottery, bronze-work, crapes, and velvets. kyrie eleison, means "lord have mercy upon us," and with christe eleison, "christ have mercy upon us," occurs in all greek liturgies, in the roman mass, and in the english prayer book, where it forms the "lesser litany." kyrle, john, philanthropist, born in gloucestershire; celebrated by pope as the "man of ross," from the name of the place in herefordshire where he lived; was distinguished for his benefactions; has given name to a society founded, among other things, for the betterment of the homes of the people ( - ). l lab`arum, the standard, surmounted by the monogram of christ, which was borne before the emperor constantine after his conversion to christianity, and in symbol of the vision of the cross in the sky which led to it. it was a lance with a cross-bar at its extremity and a crown on top, and the monogram consisted of the greek letter for ch and r. labÉ, louise, poetess, surnamed "la belle cordière" as the wife of a rope-maker, born in lyons; wrote in prose "dialogue d'amour et de folie," and elegies and sonnets, with "a singular approach to the ring of shakespeare's" ( - ). labiche, eugene, a french dramatist, born at paris; his dramas give evidence of a genius of inexhaustible fertility of invention, wit, and humour; his best-known play "le voyage de m. perrichon," ( - ). lablache, a celebrated operatic deep bass singer, born in naples, of french origin; he created quite a _furore_ wherever he went; was teacher of singing to queen victoria ( - ). laboulaye, renÉ de, a french jurist, born in paris; was a moderate in politics; wrote on french law, and was the author of some tales of a humorous turn, such as "paris in america" ( - ). labourdonnais, marÉ de, french naval officer, born at st. malo, governor of the isle of france; distinguished himself against the english in india; was accused of dishonourable conduct, and committed to the bastille, but after a time found guiltless and liberated ( - ). labrador ( ), the great peninsula in the e. of canada, washed by hudson's bay, the greenland sea, and the gulf of st. lawrence; is a high tableland, with many lakes and rivers, and forests of birch and fir. the climate is much too severe for agriculture. summer is very short, and plagued with mosquitoes. the rivers abound in salmon; the fox, marten, otter, and other animals are trapped for their fur; iron and labradorite are plentiful. the population is largely eskimo, christianised by the moravians. the name labrador specially belongs to the region along the eastern coast, between capes st. louis and chudleigh, presenting a barren front to the sea, precipitous, much indented, and fringed with rocky islands. this region is governed by newfoundland; its chief industry is cod and herring fishing. la bruyÈre, jean de, a celebrated french moralist, born at paris; was tutor to the duke of bourbon, the grandson of the great condé, and spent a great part of his life in paris in connection with the condé family; his most celebrated work is "les caractères de théophrastus" ( ), which abounds in wise maxims and reflections on life, but gave offence to contemporaries by the personal satires in it under disguised names; he ranks high as a writer no less than as a moralist; his style is "a model of ease, grace, and fluency, without weakness in his characters; a book," adds professor saintsbury, "most interesting to read, and especially to englishmen" ( - ). labuan ( ), a small island, distant m. from the w. coast of north borneo, ceded to britain in , and administered by the british north borneo company; has rich coal-beds; its town, victoria, is a market for borneo and the sulu archipelago, and exports sago, camphor, and pearls; the population is chiefly malay and chinese. labyrinth, a name given to sundry structures composed of winding passages so intricate as to render it difficult to find the way out, and sometimes in. of these structures the most remarkable were those of egypt and of crete. the egyptian to the e. of lake moeris, consisted of an endless number of dark chambers, connected by a maze of passages into which it was difficult to find entrance; and the cretan, built by dædalus, at the instance of minos, to imprison the minotaur, out of which one who entered could not find his way out again unless by means of a skein of thread. it was by means of this, provided him by ariadne, perseus (q. v.) found his way out after slaying the minotaur (q. v.). lac, a term employed in india for a hundred thousand, a crore amounting to lacs, usually of money. laccadives, the, or the hundred thousand isles ( ), a group of low-lying coral islands m. w. of the malabar coast of india, mostly barren, and yielding chiefly cocoa-nuts; the population being hindus professing mohammedanism and poorly off. lacÉpÈde, comte de, french naturalist, born at agen; was entrusted by buffon to complete his natural history on his death; wrote on his own account also the natural histories of reptiles, of fishes, and of man ( - ). lachaise, franÇois de, a french jesuit, an extremely politic member of the fraternity in the reign of louis xiv.; had a country house e. of paris, the garden of which is now the cemetery père la chaise ( - ). lachesis, the one of the three fates that spun the thread of life and apportioned the destinies of man. see parcÆ. lachmann, karl, a german philologist and classical scholar, born at brunswick, professor at berlin; besides sundry of the latin classics, in particular lucretius, he edited the nibelungen lied, and the greek new testament, as well as contributed important critical essays on the composition of the "iliad," which he regarded as a collection of lays from various independent sources ( - ). see iliad. lachryma christi, a sweet wine of a red or amber colour, produced from grapes grown on mount vesuvius. laconia, ancient name for sparta, the inhabitants of which were noted for the brevity of their speech. lacordaire, jean baptiste henry, a celebrated french preacher, and one of the most brilliant orators of the century; bred for the bar; held sceptical opinions at first, but came under the influence of religion; took orders as a priest and became associated with montalembert and lamennais as joint-editor of the _avenir_, a journal which advocated views at once ultramontane and radical, but which, being condemned by the pope, was discontinued; after this he took to preaching, and immense crowds gathered to hear his conferences, as they were called, in the church of notre dame, where, to the astonishment of all, he appeared in the pulpit in guise of a dominican monk with the tonsure; he was afterwards elected member of the constitutent assembly, where he sat in his monk's attire, but he soon retired; he ended his days as head of the military college of sorrèze ( - ). lacratelle, french historian, born at metz; began life as a journalist; became professor of history in paris university; wrote a history of the th century and of the french revolution, showing very great accuracy of detail, if little historical insight ( - ). la crosse, the national game of canada, of indian derivation; is played twelve a side, each armed with a long-handled racquet or crosse, the object of the game being to drive an india-rubber ball through the opponents' goal. lactantius, a christian apologist of the early part of the th century, who, from his eloquent advocacy of the christian faith, was styled the christian cicero; he was a pagan born, and by profession a rhetorician. ladislaus, the name of seven kings of hungary, of which the first ( - ) received canonisation for his zeal on behalf of christianity. ladoga, a lake as large as wales and the largest in europe, in the nw. of russia, not far from st. petersburg; it is the centre of an extensive lake and river system, receiving the volkhov, syas, and svir, and drained into the gulf of finland by the neva; but so dangerous is navigation, owing to sunken rocks and shoals and to the storms that prevail during the open months, that the extensive shipping is carried round the s. shores by the ladoga and the canals. ladrones or mariana islands ( ), a well-watered, thickly-wooded group in the north pacific, m. e. of the philippines and belonging to spain; produce cotton, indigo, and sugar, but the trade is of little worth; the only town is san ignazio de agaña, on the largest island, guam. lady chapel, a chapel dedicated to the virgin mary attached to a church. lady day, the festival of the annunciation of the virgin mary, march ; a quarter-day in england and ireland. lady of england, title of matilda, daughter of henry i. and wife of geoffrey plantagenet, conferred on her by a council held at westminster, . lady of shalott, a maiden of great beauty, the subject of a poem by tennyson, in love with lancelot, who died because her love was not returned. lady of the lake, the name given to vivien, the mistress of merlin, who dwelt in an imaginary lake, surrounded by a court of knights and damsels; also to helen douglas, a heroine of scott's, who lived with her father near loch katrine. la fayette, madame de, novelist, born in paris; is credited with being the originator of the class of fiction in which character and its analysis are held of chief account; she was the daughter of the governor of havre, and contracted a platonic affection for la rochefoucauld in his old age, and was besides on intimate terms with madame sévigné and the most eminent literary men of the time; her "princess de clèves" is a classic work, and the merit of it is enhanced by the reflection that it preceded by nearly half a century the works both of le sage and defoe ( - ). la fayette, marquis de, born in the castle of chavagnac; went to america in , took an active and self-sacrificing part in the war of independence; was honourably distinguished at the battle of brandywine; sailed for france, brought over auxiliaries; he commanded washington's vanguard in ; returned to paris, and was made commander-in-chief of the national guard in ; would have achieved the revolution with the minimum of violence and set up a republic on the model of the washington one; was obliged to escape from france during the reign of terror; was imprisoned five years at olmütz, but was liberated when napoleon appeared on the scene; as a consistent republican showed no favour to napoleon; took part in the revolution of , became again commander-in-chief of the national guard and a supporter of louis philippe, the citizen king; characterised by carlyle as "a constitutional pedant; clear, thin, inflexible, as water turned to thin ice" ( - ). lafitte, jacques, french banker and financier; played a conspicuous part in the revolution of , and by his influence as a liberal politician with the french people secured the elevation of louis philippe to the throne; in the calamities attendant on this revolution his house became insolvent, but he was found, after paying all demands, to be worth in francs nearly seven millions ( - ). lafontaine, jean de, celebrated french author, born at château-thierry, in champagne; a man of indolent, gay, and dissipated habits, but of resplendent genius, known to all the world for his inimitable "tales" and "fables," and who was the peer of all the distinguished literary notabilities of his time; the former, published in , too often transgress the bounds of morality, but are distinguished by exquisite grace of expression and sparkling wit; the latter, published in , have an irresistible charm which no reader can withstand; he was the author also of the "amours of cupid and psyche"; he was the friend of boileau, molière, and racine, and in his later years a confirmed parisian ( - ). la force, duc de, maréchal of france under henry iv., and one of the most distinguished; escaped when an infant the massacre of st. bartholomew ( - ). lagos ( ), a large and thriving commercial town in a colony ( ) of the name subject to britain, on the guinea coast of africa. lagrange, joseph louis, comte, famous mathematician, born at turin of french parentage; had gained at the age of twenty a european reputation by his abstruse algebraical investigations; appointed director of berlin academy in , he pursued his researches there for twenty-one years; in he removed to paris, where be received a pension from the court of francs, and remained till his death; universally respected, he was unscathed by the revolution; appointed to several offices, he received the grand cross of the legion of honour from napoleon, who made him a count ( - ). la harpe, jean franÇois de, french littérateur and critic, born in paris; wrote dramas and éloges, but his best-known work is his "cours de littérature" in vols., of little account except for its criticism of french literature, in which he showed not a little pedantry and ill-temper as well as acuteness; he was zealous for the revolution at first, but drew back when extreme measures were adopted and became a warm royalist, for which he was sentenced to deportation, but left at liberty ( - ). la hogue, a cape with a roadstead on ne. of france, where a french fleet sent by louis xiv. to invade england on behalf of james ii. was destroyed in . lahore ( ), an ancient walled city on the ravi, a tributary of the indus, m. nw. of calcutta, is the capital of the punjab, and an important railway centre; it has many fine buildings, both english and native, including a university and a medical school, but the situation is unhealthy; half the population are mussulmans; the trade is inconsiderable; the district of lahore ( , ) one of the most important in the province, is well irrigated by the bári doab canal, and produces fine crops of cereals, pulse, and cotton. laidlaw, william, sir walter scott's factor at abbotsford, born in selkirkshire; having failed in farming, entered scott's service in and remained his trusted and faithful friend, advising him in his schemes of improvement and acting latterly as his amanuensis till his death in ; thereafter he was factor in ross-shire, where he died; he had some poetic gift of his own, and contributed to the third volume of the "minstrelsy" ( - ). laing, david, a learned antiquary, profound in his knowledge of scottish ecclesiastical and literary history, born, the son of bookseller, at edinburgh, followed for thirty years his father's trade; was appointed to the charge of the signet library in ; was secretary to the bannatyne club, and in received the degree of ll.d. from edinburgh university; he contributed many valuable papers to the _transactions of the society of antiquaries of scotland_, collected and edited much of the ancient poetry of scotland, and acquired a private library of manuscripts and volumes of great value ( - ). laing, malcolm, scottish historian, born in orkney; passed through edinburgh university to the scottish bar, to which he was called in , but proved an unsuccessful advocate; turning to literature, he edited "ossian," and wrote a "history of scotland from james vi. to anne" ( ), in a subsequent edition of which he inserted the well-known attack on mary stuart ( - ). laÏs, the name of two greek courtesans celebrated for their beauty, the one a native of corinth, who lived at the time of the peloponnesian war, and the other belonging to sicily, and who, having visited thessaly, was stoned to death by the women of the country out of jealousy. laissez-faire (lit. let things alone and take their course), the name given to the let-alone system of political economy, in opposition to state interference, or state regulation, in private industrial enterprise. lake district, a district in cumberland and westmorland, m. long by m. broad, abounding in lakes, environed with scenery of rare beauty, and much frequented by tourists. lake dwellings, primitive settlements, the remains of which have been found in many parts of europe, but chiefly in switzerland, the n. of italy, and in scotland and ireland. they were constructed in various ways. in the swiss lakes piles, consisting of unbarked tree trunks, were driven in a short distance from the shore, and strengthened more or less by cross beams; extensive platforms laid on these held small villages of rectangular wooden huts, thatched with straw and reeds. these were sometimes approachable only in canoes, more often connected with the shore by a narrow bridge, in which case cattle were kept in sheds on the platforms. in scotland and ireland the erection was rather an artificial island laid down in or ft. of water with brushwood, logs, and stones, much smaller in size, and holding but one hut. the swiss dwellings, the chief of which are at meilen, on lake zurich, date from very early times, some say years before christ, and contain remains of the stone, bronze, and iron ages, weapons, instruments, pottery, linen cloth, and the like. the relic of latest date is a roman coin of a.d. . the british remains are much more recent, belonging entirely to the iron period and to historic times. the object sought in these structures is somewhat obscure--most probably it was the security their insular nature afforded. lake poets, a school of english poets, the chief representatives of which were wordsworth, southey, and coleridge, who adorned the beginning of the th century, and were so designated by the _edinburgh review_ because their favourite haunt was the lake district (q. v.) in the n. of england, and the characteristic of whose poetry may be summed as a feeling of and a sympathy with the pure spirit of nature. lakshmi, in the hindu mythology the wife of vishnu and the goddess of beauty, pleasure, and victory; she is a favourite subject of hindu painting and poetry. lalande, a french astronomer; was professor of astronomy in the college of france, and produced an excellent treatise on the subject in two vols. ( - ). lalla-rookh, the title of a poem by moore, from the name of the heroine, the daughter of the mogul emperor, aurungzebe; betrothed to the young king of bacharia, she goes forth to meet him, but her heart having been smitten by a poet she meets on the way, as she enters the palace of her bridegroom she swoons away, but reviving at the sound of a familiar voice she wakes up with rapture to find that the poet of her affection was none other than the prince to whom she was betrothed. lally-tollendal, or baron de tollendal, a french general, born at romans, in dauphiné, of irish descent; saw service in flanders; accompanied prince charles to scotland in , and was in appointed governor-general of the french settlements in india, but being defeated by the english he was accused of having betrayed the french interests, and executed after two years' imprisonment in the bastille ( - ). lally-tollendal, marquis de, son of the preceding; successfully vindicated the conduct of his father, and received back his paternal estates that had unjustly been forfeited; supported la fayette (q. v.) at the time of the revolution, and followed his example; was arrested in , but escaped to england; returning to france, he supported the bourbon dynasty at the restoration; wrote a "defence of the french emigrants," and a life of the earl of strafford, charles i.'s minister ( - ). lamaism, buddhism as professed in thibet and mongolia, or the worship of buddha and his dharma (q. v.); conceived of as incarnated in the sangha (q. v.) or priesthood, and especially in the grand lama or dalai lama, the chief priest; a kind of hero-worship, or at all events saint-worship; long since sunk into mere idolatry (q. v.). lamarck, a french naturalist, born at bazentin, picardy; entered the army at the age of , and after serving in it a short time retired and devoted himself to botany; in his "flora française" published ( ) adopted a new method of classification of plants; in became keeper of what ultimately became the jardin des plantes, and was professor of zoology, devoting himself to the study of particularly invertebrate animals, the fruits of which study appeared in his "histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres"; he held very advanced views on the matter of biology, and it was not till the advent of darwin they were appreciated ( - ). la marmora, marquis de, an eminent italian general and statesman, born at turin; fell under the rebuke of bismarck for an indiscretion as a diplomatist ( - ). lamartine, alphonse marie de, a french author, politician, and poet, born in mâcon; his poetic effusions procured for him admission into the french academy, and in he entered the chamber of deputies; his ability as a poet, and the independent attitude he maintained in the chamber, gained for him a popularity which his action in contributed to increase, but it suffered eclipse from the moment he allied himself with ledru-rollin; after serving in the provisional government of he stood candidate for the presidency, but was defeated, and on the occasion of the _coup d'état_, he retired into private life; he published in "méditations poétiques," in the "histoire de girondins," besides other works, including "voyage en orient"; he was "of the second order of poets," says professor saintsbury, "sweet but not strong, elegant but not full;... a sentimentalist and a landscape painter" ( - ). lamb, charles, essayist and critic, born in london, and educated at christ's hospital, where he had coleridge for school-fellow; was for years a clerk in the east india company's office, on his retirement from which he was allowed a pension of £ ; it was as a poet he made his first appearance in literature, but it was as an essayist he attained distinction, and chiefly by his "essays of elia" he is best known and will be longest remembered; he was the friend of wordsworth, southey, and others of his illustrious contemporaries, and is famous for his witty remarks, to which his stammering tongue imparted a special zest; he was never married; his affection for his sister mary, for whom he composed his "tales from shakespeare," is well known, and how in her weakness from insanity he tenderly nursed her ( - ). lamballe, princesse de, a young widow, the devoted friend of marie antoinette, born at turin; was for her devotion to the queen one of the victims of the september massacres and brutally outraged; "she was beautiful, she was good, she had known no happiness" ( - ). lambert, johann heinrich, german philosopher and mathematician; was the successor and rival of leibnitz in both regards, and was patronised by frederick the great ( - ). lambert, john, one of cromwell's officers in the civil war, born in yorkshire; served in the successive engagements during the war from that of marston moor onwards, and assisted at the installation of cromwell as protector, but declined to take the oath of allegiance afterwards; on the death of the protector essayed with other officers to govern the country, an attempt which was defeated by monk, and for which he was imprisoned, tried, and banished ( - ). lambeth ( ), part of the sw. quarter of london, and a parliamentary borough in surrey returning four members; abounds in manufactories, contains st. thomas's hospital and lambeth palace, the official residence of the archbishop of canterbury, with a magnificent library and important historic portrait-gallery. lamennais, fÉlicitÉ, robert de, a french theologian and journalist, born at st. malo; began life as a free-thinker, but by-and-by became a roman catholic of the extreme ultramontane type; in went to rome and was offered a cardinalate, but in his views changed, and he joined montalembert and lacordaire in the conduct of _l'avenir_, a journal which advocated religious and political freedom, on the condemnation of which by the pope he became again a free-thinker and revolutionary; his influence on french literature was great, and affected both michelet and victor hugo ( - ). lamentations, book of, one of the poetical books of the old testament, ascribed to jeremiah and historically connected with his prophecies, written apparently after the fall of jerusalem and in sight of its ruins, as lamentation over the general desolation in the land connected therewith. lammas day, the first of august, literally "the loaf-mass" day or festival day at the beginning of harvest, one of the cross quarter days, whitsuntide, martinmas, and candlemas being the other three. lammermoors, a range of hills separating the counties of haddington and berwick, extending from gala water to st. abb's head, the lammer law being ft. la mettrie, a french physician and materialist, born at st. malo; bred to medicine, served as an army surgeon at dettingen and fontenoy; his materialistic views were given first in a publication entitled "d'histoire naturelle de l'Âme," and at length in his "l'homme machine," both in profession of a materialism so gross and offensive, being absolutely atheistic, that he was glad to escape for shelter to berlin under the wing of frederick the great ( - ). lamotte, countess de, born at fontelle, in aube, who came up to paris a shifty adventuress and played a chief part in the notorious affair of the diamond necklace (q. v.), which involved so many high people in france in deep disgrace ( - ). see carlyle's "miscellanies." lanark ( ), county town of lanarkshire, on the clyde, m. se. of glasgow; has a cattle-market and some weaving industry, and is for parliamentary purposes in the falkirk group of burghs. lanarkshire ( , ), inland scottish county occupying the clyde valley, in size the twelfth, but first in wealth and population. the middle and south are hilly, with such outstanding peaks as tinto, and are adapted for cattle and sheep grazing and for dairy-farming. the lower north-western portion is very rich in coal and iron, the extensive mining and manufacture of which has given rise to many busy towns such as glasgow, motherwell, hamilton, coatbridge, and airdrie; fireclay, shale, and lead are also found; the soil is various; comparatively little grain is grown; there are large woods. the orchards of the river side have given place mostly to market gardens, which the proximity of great towns renders profitable. the industries, besides iron and coal, are very extensive and varied, and include great textile works. lancashire ( , ), english county stretching from the cumberland mountains in the n. to the mersey in the s. along the shores of the irish sea; is the wealthiest and most populous county, and the indentations of the coast-line adapt it to be the chief outlet westward for english trade, more than a third of england's foreign commerce passing through its ports. the country is mostly low, with spurs of the yorkshire hills; it is rich in minerals, chiefly coal and iron; its industrial enterprise is enormous; nearly half of the cotton manufacture of the world is carried on in its towns, besides woollen and silk manufacture, the making of engineer's tools, boots and shoes. the soil is a fertile loam, under corn and green crops and old pasture. lancaster is the county town, but the largest towns are liverpool, manchester, preston, and blackburn. the northern portion, detached by morecambe bay, is known as furness, belongs really to the lake district, and has barrow-in-furness, with its large shipbuilding concerns, for its chief town. lancashire has long been an influential political centre. lancaster ( ), picturesque town near the mouth of the lune, m. nw. of manchester, is the county town of lancashire, and manufactures furniture, cotton, machinery, and railway plant; it was disfranchised in for corrupt practices. lancaster, joseph, educationist, born in southwark, and founder of the monitorial system; had a chequered career, died in poverty ( - ). lancelot of the lake, one of the knights of the round table, famous for his gallantry and his amours with queen guinevere; was called of the lake because educated at the court of the lady of the lake (q. v.); he turned hermit in the end, and died a holy man. land league, an organisation founded by davitt (q. v.) in ireland in to deal with the land question, and suppressed in as illegal. landaman, name given to the chief magistrate in certain swiss cantons, also to the president of the swiss diet. lander, richard, african explorer, born in truro, cornwall; accompanied clapperton as his servant; along with his brother john discovered the lower course of the niger; on the third expedition was wounded in a conflict with the natives, and died at fernando po ( - ). landes, sandy plains along the french coast between the garonne and the pyrenees, covered with heath and broom. landgrabber, name given in ireland to one in the possession or occupancy of land from which another has been evicted. landgrave, title given to certain counts of the old german empire who had the rank of princes. landon, letitia elizabeth, known as l. e. l., authoress, born in chelsea; a charming woman, who wrote well both in verse and prose; was mrs. hemans's successor; having taken prussic acid by mistake had a tragic end ( - ). landor, walter savage, eminent literary man, born in warwick, a man of excitable temperament, which involved him in endless quarrels leading to alienations, but did not affect his literary work; figured first as a poet in "gebir" and "count julian," to the admiration of southey, his friend, and de quincey, and ere long as a writer of prose in his "imaginary conversations," embracing six volumes, on which recent critics have bestowed unbounded praise, swinburne in particular; he died in florence separated from his family, and dependent on it there for six years; carlyle visited him at bath in , and found him "stirring company; a proud, irascible, trenchant, yet generous, veracious, and very dignified old man; quite a ducal or royal man in the temper of him" ( - ). land's end, a bold promontory of granite rock on the sw. coast of cornwall. landseer, sir edwin henry, greatest english animal-painter, born in london, the son of an engraver and writer on art, trained by his father, sketched animals before he was six years old, and exhibited in the royal academy before thirteen; in his early years he portrayed simply the form and colour and movement of animal life, but after his twenty-first year he added usually some sentiment or idea; elected a.r.a. in , and r.a. in ; he was knighted in ; five years later he won a gold medal in paris; in he modelled the trafalgar square lions; after he suffered from mental depression, and declined the presidency of the royal academy in ( - ). landsturm, the name given to the last reserve in the german army, which is never called out except in time of war. landthing, the name of the upper house in the danish parliament. landwehr, a military force in germany and austria held in reserve against a time of war, when it is called out to do ordinary military duty. in germany those capable of bearing arms have to serve in it five years after completing their seven years' term of regular service. lane, edward william, eminent arabic scholar, born at hereford; set out for egypt in ; studied the language and manners, and returned in ; published in an "account of the manners and customs of the modern egyptians"; translated in "the arabian nights," and spent seven years in egypt preparing an arabic lexicon which he had all but finished when he died; it was completed and edited by s. lane-poole ( - ). lanfranc, archbishop of canterbury, born at pavia; went to france, entered the monastery of bec, and became prior in , and was afterwards, in , elected prior of the abbey of st. stephen at caen; and came over to england with william the conqueror, who appointed him to the archbishopric rendered vacant by the deposition of stigand; he was william's trusted adviser, but his influence declined under rufus; _d_. . lanfrey, pierre, historian, born at chambéry; wrote an elaborate history of napoleon to, it is reckoned, the irreparable damage of its hero ( - ). lang, andrew, a versatile writer, born in selkirk; has distinguished himself in various departments of literary work, as a poet, a folk-lorist, a writer of fancy tales, a biographer, and a critic; has composed "ballads and lyrics of old france," "ballads in blue china"; has translated homer into musical prose, and written the lives of sir stafford northcote and john gibson lockhart; he began his literary career as a journalist, and his assiduity as a writer has never relaxed; _b_. . lange, friedrich, german philosopher, born near solingen, son of the following; became professor at marburg; wrote a "history of materialism" of great value ( - ). lange, johann peter, a german theologian, born near elberfeld; became professor at bonn; his works are numerous, but is best known by his "life of christ" and his "christian dogmatic" ( - ). langhorne, john, an english divine and poet, horn at kirkby stephen; was a prebend of wells cathedral; wrote a poem entitled "genius and virtue," and executed with a brother a translation of plutarch's lives ( - ). langland, or langley, william, the presumed author of the "vision of piers plowman," and who lived in the th century. langres ( ), a french town, strongly fortified, near the sources of the marne, rich in antiquities, and one of the oldest towns in france; has manufactures and a considerable trade. langton, stephen, archbishop of canterbury, born in england but educated in france; a man of ability and scholarly attainments; in visited rome, was made cardinal by innocent iii., presented to the archbishopric, and consecrated at viterbo in ; king john refused to acknowledge him, and the kingdom was put under an interdict, a quarrel which it took five years to settle; established in the primacy, the prelate took up a constitutional position, and mediated between the king and the barons to the advancement of political liberty; _d_. . languedoc, a province in the s. of france, annexed to the french crown in , and now divided into nine departments, borders on the rhône. lanka, name given to ceylon in the hindu mythology. lannes, jean, duc de montebello, marshal of france, born at lectoure; was much esteemed by napoleon, whom he zealously supported; went with him to egypt, was with him at marengo, distinguished himself at austerlitz and in spain, and fell mortally wounded at essling ( - ). lansdowne, henry, third marquis of, liberal politician, born in london; educated at edinburgh and cambridge; sat in the commons as member for calne from and for cambridge from , and succeeded to the peerage in ; on the accession of the liberals to power he joined the cabinet of canning, presided at the foreign office in goderich's administration, became president of the council under lord grey in , and, twice refusing the premiership, was a member of every liberal government till , when he retired from public life; he was the trusted adviser of his party, and friend of the queen till his death ( - ). lansdowne, henry, fifth marquis of, liberal statesman, grandson of the above, educated at oxford; succeeded to the peerage in , and held office in liberal governments, lord of the treasury - , under-secretary for war - , and under-secretary for india ; he was governor-general of canada - , and viceroy of india - ; in he joined lord salisbury's ministry as a liberal-unionist, becoming secretary for war; _b_. . lanterne, la, a stout lamp-iron at the corner of a street in paris, used by the mob for extemporised executions during the revolution by lynch law. laocÖon, a priest of apollo, in troy, who having offended the god by, for one thing, advising the trojans not to admit the wooden horse of the greeks within the walls, was, with his two sons, while engaged in sacrificing to poseidon, strangled to death in the coils of two enormous serpents sent to kill him, a subject which is the theme of one of the grandest relics of ancient sculpture now in existence and preserved in the vatican. laodamia, a grecian lady, who accompanied her husband to the trojan war, and who, on his death on the field, begged the gods to restore him to her for three hours, a prayer which was granted, but with the result that at the end of the time she died along with him and accompanied him on his return to hades. laodicea. eight ancient cities bore this name; the chief, situated on the lycus, in phrygia, lay on the way between ionia and the euphrates; was a city of great commerce and wealth, the seat of schools of art, science, medicine, and philosophy, and of an early christian bishopric; though the church was stigmatised in the revelation, two councils assembled here in a.d. and , the former of which influenced the determination of the canon of both testaments; the city, destroyed by the mohammedan invasions, is now in ruins. laomedon, the founder of troy, who persuaded apollo and neptune to assist him in building the walls, but refused the recompense when the work was finished, in consequence of which the latter sent a monster to ravage the country, which could be propitiated only by the annual sacrifice to it of a young maid, till one year the lot fell on hermione, the king's daughter, when hercules, persuaded by the king, slew the monster and delivered the maiden. laotze (i. e. the old philosopher), a chinese sage, born in the province of ho-nan about b.c., a contemporary of confucius, who wrote the celebrated "tao-te-king," canon, that is, of the tao, or divine reason, and of virtue, one--and deservedly so on account of its high ethics--of the sacred books of china; he was the founder of one of the three principal religions of china, confucianism and buddhism being the other two, although his followers, the tao-sze as they are called, are now degenerated into a set of jugglers. la pÉrouse, a celebrated french navigator, born near albi, in languedoc; after distinguished services in the navy was in sent with two frigates on a voyage of discovery by louis xvi.; "the brave navigator" went forth, sailing along the pacific shores of america and asia as far as botany bay, but never returned; "the seekers search far seas for him in vain; he has vanished trackless into blue immensity, and only some mournful mysterious shadow of him hovers long in all heads and hearts" ( - ). lapithÆ, a race inhabiting the mountains of thessaly; subject to perithous, who, on the occasion of his marriage with hippodamia, invited his kinsfolk the centaurs to the feast, but these, under intoxication from the wine, attempting to carry off the bride and other women, were set on by the lapithæ and, after a bloody struggle, overpowered. laplace, a celebrated french mathematician, born at beaumont-en-auge, normandy; the son of a farmer; after teaching in his native place went to paris ( ), where he became professor in the royal military school; becoming member of the académie des sciences in , he attained a position among mathematicians and astronomers almost equal to newton's; his "three laws" demonstrated the stability of the solar system; he published many treatises on lunar and planetary problems, electricity, magnetism, and a nebula-hypothesis; his "mécanique céleste" is unrivalled in that class of work; surviving the revolution he became implicated in politics without success or credit; he received his marquisate from louis xviii. in , when he became president of the french academy; "lagrange (q. v.) has proved that on newton's theory of gravitation the planetary system would endure for ever; laplace, still more cunningly, even guessed that it could not have been made on any other scheme" ( - ). lapland ( ), a stretch of country in the n. of europe, between the atlantic and the white sea; is divided between norway, sweden, finland, and russia. its climate is very severe; mountainous in the w., it becomes more level in the e., where are many marshes, lakes, and rivers; the summer is never dark, and there are six to eight weeks of winter never light. the lapps, of whom , are in norwegian lapland, are closely allied to the finns, small of stature, thick lipped, and with small piercing eyes; proverbially uncleanly, not very intelligent, are good-natured, but untruthful and parsimonious; nominally christian, but very superstitious; they are kindly treated by both norway and sweden. the mountain lapps are nomads, whose wealth consists of herds of reindeer, which supply nearly all their wants. the sea lapps live by fishing. the forest and river lapps, originally nomads, have adopted a settled life, domesticated their reindeer, and taken to hunting and fishing. la plata ( ), a new city, founded in as capital of the prov. of buenos ayres, m. se. of buenos ayres city; rapidly built, it has continued to grow, and has now some handsome buildings, a college, and cotton and woollen manufactures; a canal connects it with the la plata river. la plata river, a broad estuary in south america, from to m. broad and m. long, with uruguay on the n. and the argentine republic on the s., through which the uruguay and paraná rivers pour into the atlantic; it is much exposed to storms; its best harbour is at monte video. lapsi, name given to apostates in the early christian church. laputa, a flying island inhabited by speculative philosophers, visited by gulliver in his "travels," who, when their minds began to be too much absorbed in their studies, were wakened up by a set of attendants called "flappers" armed with dried bladders full of small pebbles or "dried peas" attached to the end of a stick, with which they struck them gently about the mouth and ears. lardner, dionysius, a popular scientist, born in dublin; wrote a number of scientific works; edited a cyclopedia, being a series of volumes on scientific subjects; was professor of natural philosophy and astronomy in university college, london, but from a misdemeanour had to vacate his chair and emigrate to america ( - ). lardner, nathaniel, an english divine, ecclesiastically a presbyterian but theologically a unitarian, author of "credibility of the gospel history" and "jewish and heathen testimonies" in favour of christianity ( - ). lares, household deities of the romans; originally deified ancestors of the families whose family life they protected, and images of whom were kept in some shrine in the house near the hearth. besides these domestic lares, there were public lares, who were protectors of the whole community. both classes were objects of worship. larissa ( ), the capital of thessaly, in greece; stands in a sandy plain; is the seat of a greek archbishop; has mosques as well as churches. la rochefoucauld, franÇois, duc de, a great maxim writer, member of a french family of angoumois, born at paris; played a conspicuous part in the war of the fronde; was present at several engagements, and was wounded twice over, and retired at length in shattered health; he passed the rest of his days at court, where he enjoyed the society of the most distinguished ladies of the time; his "maxims" appeared in , and were immediately appreciated; they bear one and all on ethical subjects, and are the fruit of a life of large and varied commerce with the race ( - ). la rochejaquelein, henri, comte de, a celebrated vendéan royalist; the peasants of la vendée having in risen in the royal cause, he placed himself at the head of them, and after gaining six victories was killed fighting in single combat while defending nouaillé ( - ). larousse, pierre, a celebrated french grammarian and lexicographer; best known by his "grand dictionnaire universel du xix^{me} siècle" ( - ). larry, dominique jean, baron, a celebrated military surgeon; distinguished for the organisation he instituted of the "flying ambulance" for the care of the wounded in battle; accompanied napoleon to egypt; served in the russian campaign; was wounded and taken prisoner at waterloo; wrote treatises on army surgery ( - ). la salle, robert cavelier sieur de, a french explorer, born at rouen; set out from canada and explored the north american continent along the course of the mississippi as far as the gulf of mexico, planting the french flag at what he thought was, but was not, the mouth of the river; was assassinated by one of his retinue in the end ( - ). lascars, east indians serving as seamen on board of british vessels, who have proved very tractable, and make excellent sailors; they are mostly mohammedans. lascarsis, constantino, an eminent greek scholar, born in phrygia; on the fall of constantinople in came with his brother john to italy, published a greek grammar, opened a school at rome and naples for greek and rhetoric, and did much to propagate in italy a taste for hellenic literature ( - ). las casas, bartholomÉ de, a celebrated spanish priest, surnamed the apostle of the indians, born at seville; visited the west indies early under columbus; took a deep interest in the natives; was grieved to see the usage they were subjected to there, as well as elsewhere, under the rule of spain, and spent his life in persuading his countrymen to adopt a more lenient and humane treatment; crossed the ocean twelve times on their behalf; was made bishop of chiapa, in mexico, in ; died in madrid ( - ). las cases, french historiographer; became attached to napoleon and accompanied him to st. helena, and after his death published his memorial of st. helena, with an account of napoleon's life and the treatment he was subjected to there ( - ). lasco, johannes, a protestant reformer, born in poland; studied at rome and bologna, and entered holy orders; became acquainted with erasmus at basel, and joined the reformation movement; settled at emden; accepted an invitation from cranmer to london, and ministered to a protestant congregation there, but left it on the accession of mary, and in returned to poland and contributed largely to the movement already begun there ( - ). las palmas ( ), the capital of the canary islands, on the ne. of the grand canary, the second largest of the group; is the seat of the government, and a health resort. lassalle, ferdinand, founder of socialism in germany, born at breslau, of jewish parents; attended the universities of breslau and berlin; became a disciple of hegel; took part in the revolution of , and was sent to prison for six months; in his "system of acquired rights" started an agitation of labour against capital, and he was again thrown into prison; on his release founded an association to secure universal suffrage and other reforms; returning to switzerland he conceived a passionate affection for a lady betrothed to a noble whom she was compelled to marry, and whom he challenged, but by whom he was mortally wounded in a duel ( - ). lassell, william, astronomer, born at bolton, discovered the satellite of neptune, and the eighth satellite of saturn, in an observatory of his own, with instruments of his own construction ( - ). lassen, christian, eminent orientalist, born at bergen; studied pâli with burnouf in paris; became professor of indian languages and literature in bonn; contributed largely to our knowledge of cuneiform inscriptions, and wrote, among other works, an epoch-making work entitled "indische alterthumskunde." lasso, a well-plaited strip of hide, with a noose, to catch wild horses or cattle with. latakia ( ), a seaport on the coast of syria; exports a tobacco of a fine quality, to which it gives name. lateen sail, a triangular sail common on the mediterranean. lateran, the palace, originally a basilica, built by constantine in rome about , the residence of the pope till , and from which no fewer than five ecumenical councils receive their names as held in it, namely, those of , , , , and ; the church, called the church of st. john lateran, is the cathedral church of rome. latham, robert gordon, ethnologist and philologist, born at billingborough vicarage, lincolnshire, graduated at cambridge . and became fellow of king's college; qualifying in medicine he held appointments in the london hospitals, but meanwhile was attracted to philology and ethnology, appointed professor of english language and literature in university college, london, , and director of the ethnological department of the crystal palace, ; in he affirmed, against the most weighty authorities, that the aryan stock is originally european, not asian, a view which has since found favour; he published his "english language" in , and "the natural history of the varieties of mankind" in , and was pensioned in ( - ). latimer, hugh, bishop of worcester, born near leicester; studied at cambridge, and entered the church, but soon adopted the reformed doctrines, gained the favour of henry viii. by approving of his divorce, and was appointed bishop; by his labours in worcester as a preacher of the reformed faith he lost the royal favour, and was twice committed to the tower for his obstinacy, he the while resigning his appointment; under edward vi. his zeal as a preacher had full scope, but under mary his mouth was gagged, and he was burnt at the stake along with ridley, opposite balliol college, oxford ( - ). latin union, a convention in , between france, italy, belgium, switzerland, and greece, to establish an international monetary standard. latitudinarians, the name given to a body of theologians belonging to the church of england who, at the end of the th century, sought, in the interest of religion, to affiliate the dogmas of the church, with the principles of philosophy as grounded on reason; they were mostly of the school of plato, and among their leaders were cudworth and henry more. latona, the latin name for greek leto (q. v.). latour d'auvergne, corret de, a french grenadier, born in brittany; celebrated for his intrepidity and his self-sacrificing patriotism; distinguished himself in the wars of the revolution; would accept no promotion, and declined even the title of "first grenadier of the republic" which bonaparte wished to confer on him, but by which he is known to posterity ( - ). latrielle, pierre andrÉ, french naturalist, born at brives, in corrèze; one of the founders of the science of entomology; succeeded lamarck as professor in natural history in the jardin des plantes; wrote several works on entomology ( - ). latria, the name given in catholic theology to the worship of god, as distinguished from dulia (q. v.), their name for the worship of saints. latter-day pamphlets, a series of pamphlets published by carlyle in , in vehement denunciation of the political, social, and religious imbecilities and injustices of the period. latter-day saints. see mormons. laud, william, archbishop of canterbury, born at reading, son of a clothier; studied at and became a fellow of st. john's college, oxford, was ordained in ; early gave evidence of his high-church proclivities and his hostility to the puritans, whom for their disdain of forms he regarded as the subverters of the church; he rose by a succession of preferments, archdeaconship of huntingdon one of them, to the primacy, but declined the offer of a cardinal's hat at the hands of the pope, and became along with strafford a chief adviser of the unfortunate charles i.; his advice did not help the king out of his troubles, and his obstinate, narrow-minded pedantry brought his own head to the block; he was beheaded for treason on tower hill, jan. , ; he "could _see_ no religion" in scotland once on a visit there, "because he saw no ritual, and his soul was grieved" ( - ). lauderdale, john maitland, duke of, scottish secretary under charles ii., professed covenanting sympathies in his youth, and attended the westminster assembly of divines as a commissioner for scotland ; succeeding to the earldom in he joined the royalists in the civil war, was made prisoner at worcester , and confined for nine years; receiving his scottish office at the restoration he devoted himself to establishing by every means the absolute power of the king in church and state; his measures were responsible for the rising of and in part for that of ; but he made the episcopal church quite subservient; appointed to the privy council, he sat in the "cabal" ministry, was made duke in , and in spite of intrigues and an attempt to censure him in the commons, remained in power till ; he was shrewd, clever, witty, sensual, and unscrupulous; then and still hated in scotland ( - ). lauenburg ( ), a duchy of n. germany, between holstein and mecklenburg, was annexed to prussia in . laughing philosopher, a name given to democrates of abdera for a certain flippancy he showed. launceston ( ), on the tamar, the second city in tasmania, is the chief port and market in the n., a fine city, carrying on a good trade with australian ports, and serving as a summer resort to melbourne. laura, a young avignonese married lady, for whom petrarch conceived a platonic affection, and who exercised a lifelong influence over him. laureate, poet, originally an officer of the royal household whose business it was to celebrate in an ode any joyous occasion connected with royalty, originally the sovereign's birthday; it is now a mere honour bestowed by royalty on an eminent poet. laurier, sir wilfred, premier of canada since , and the first french-canadian to attain that honour, born in st. lin; bred for the bar, soon rose to the top of his profession; elected in as a liberal to the quebec provincial assembly, where he came at once to the front, and elected in to the federal assembly, he became distinguished as "the silver-tongued laurier," and as the liberal leader; his personality is as winning as his eloquence, and he stood first among all the colonial representatives at queen victoria's diamond jubilee in ; _b_. . lausanne ( ), a picturesque town on the slopes of the jura, m. from the n. shore of lake geneva, is the capital of the swiss canton of vaud; noted for its educational institutions and museums, and for its magnificent protestant cathedral; it has little industry, but considerable trade, and is a favourite tourist resort; here took place the disputation between calvin, farel, and viret, and here gibbon wrote the "decline and fall." lava, a general term for all rocks originating in molten streams from volcanoes, includes traps, basalts, pumice, and others; the surface of a lava stream cools and hardens quickly, presenting a cellulose structure, while below the heat is retained much longer and the rock when cooled is compact and columnar or crystalline; the largest recorded lava flow was from skaptar jökull, iceland, in . lavalette, count de, french general, born at paris; condemned to death after the restoration as an accomplice of napoleon, he was saved from death by the devotion of his wife, who was found in the prison instead of him on the morning appointed for his execution ( - ). la valliÈre, duchesse de, a fascinating woman, born at tours, who became the mistress of louis xiv.; supplanted by another, she became a carmelite nun in in the carmelite nunnery in paris, and continued doing penance there as would seem till her death ( - ). lavater, johann kaspar, german clergyman, a mystic thinker and writer on physiognomy, born at zurich; wrote "outlooks to eternity," and a work on physiognomy, or the art of judging of character from the features of the face ( - ). lavoisier, antoine laurent, one of the founders of modern chemistry, born in paris; to prosecute his researches accepted the post of farmer-general in , introduced in improvements in manufacturing gunpowder, discovered the composition of the air and the nature of oxygen, applied the principles of chemistry to agriculture, and indicated the presence and action of these principles in various other domains of scientific inquiry; called to account for his actions as farmer-general, one in particular "putting water in the tobacco," and condemned to the guillotine; he in vain begged for a fortnight's respite to finish some experiments, "the axe must do its work" ( - ). law, john, financier and speculator, son of a goldsmith and banker, born at edinburgh; was early noted for his calculating power; visiting london in he got into debt, sold his estate, killed a man in a duel, and escaped to amsterdam, where he studied finance; came to scotland with financial proposals for the government in , but they were refused, and he spent some years on the continent as a gambling adventurer; in he and his brother william started a private bank in paris, the success of which induced the regent orleans in to institute the "royal bank of france," with law as director; next year he floated the "mississippi scheme" for the settlement of louisiana, but after a show of success the scheme proved a bubble; he had to fly to brussels, his property being confiscated; he died at venice, poor, but scheming to the end ( - ). law, william, author of "a serious call to a devout and holy life," born at kingscliffe, northamptonshire, son of a grocer; entered cambridge in ; became a fellow, and took orders in ; became associated with the family of the elder gibbon, father of the historian, in , and spent ten years with them as tutor, friend, and spiritual director; in he retired to kingscliffe, where he spent the remainder of his life in seclusion, shared by miss hester gibbon, the historian's aunt, and mrs. hutcheson, a widow of means, occupying themselves much with charitable schemes; law was an able theologian and dialectician, and an exponent of german mysticism; his writings contributed greatly to the evangelical revival ( - ). lawrence, john, lord, the "saviour of india," born of irish parentage at richmond, yorkshire; entered the bengal civil service in , and on the annexation of the punjab was appointed commissioner and afterwards lieutenant-governor; by his justice and the reforms he carried through he so won the esteem of the sikhs that at the mutiny he was able to disarm the punjab mutineers, raise , men, and capture delhi; returning to england he received a pension of £ a year, was made successively baronet and privy councillor, and sent out again as governor-general of india in ; his rule was characterised by wise policy and sound finance; he disapproved of english interference in afghan affairs; he was raised to the peerage in ( - ). lawrence, st., a deacon of the church at rome, who suffered martyrdom in the time of valerian, , by being broiled on a gridiron, which he is represented in christian art as holding in his hand. lay brother, a member of a monastery under the three monastic vows, but not in holy orders. layamon, early english poet who flourished in the th century, and was by his own account priest near bewdley, on the severn; was author of a long poem or chronicle of , lines called "brut d'angleterre," and which is of interest as showing how anglo-saxon passed into the english of chaucer. layard, sir austen henry, english traveller and diplomatist, born at paris; spent his boyhood in italy, and studied law in london; between and he conducted excavations at the ruins of nineveh, securing for the british museum its famous specimens of assyrian art, and on his return published works on "nineveh and its remains" and "monuments of nineveh"; he received the freedom of london, oxford gave him d.c.l., and aberdeen university chose him for lord rector; entering parliament in , he sat for aylesbury and for southwark, and was under-secretary for foreign affairs - ; in he was sent as ambassador to madrid, and from till represented england at constantinople, where his philo-turkish sympathies provoked much comment; he was a noted linguist ( - ). lazzaroni, an indolent class of waifs under a chief who used to lounge about naples, and proved formidable in periods of revolution; they subsisted partly by service as messengers, porters, &c., and partly as beggars. league and covenant, solemn. see covenant. league, the, specially a coalition organised in by the duke of guise to suppress the reformed religion in france by denying civil and religious liberty to the huguenots, and specially to prevent the accession of henry iv. as a protestant to the throne. leamington ( ), a fashionable warwickshire watering-place of modern date on the learn, m. se. of birmingham. it has chalybeate, saline, and sulphurous springs, to which visitors have gathered since the end of th century; brewing and kitchen-range making are carried on; leamington and warwick return one member of parliament. leander. see hero. leaning tower, specially a campanile of white marble at pisa, in italy, ft. in height, and which leans ft. off the perpendicular. lear, a legendary british king, the hero of one of shakespeare's tragedies, the victim of the unnatural conduct of two of his daughters. lear, edward, english painter, and author of "book of nonsense," composed for the grandchildren of the earl of derby in , and after of "more nonsense rhymes," which were widely popular with young people; painted landscapes in greece and asia minor ( - ). leather stocking, natty, a character in cooper's novel the "pioneers," "a melodious synopsis of man and nature in the west." leathes, stanley, prebendary of st paul's, born in bucks; has held several clerical appointments; is professor of hebrew in king's college, london, and is author of a number of works bearing on christianity; _b_. . lebanon (i. e. "the white mountain"), a range on the northern border of palestine, which rises to a height of , ft., and is divided into two by a valley, the ancient coele-syria, which the leontes and orontes water, the eastern range being called anti-lebanon. le brun, charles, a celebrated french painter, born in paris; studied in rome, settled in paris, and patronised by colbert; he exercised for about years a great influence on the art of the period; he decorated versailles and the louvre, but with the death of his patron he sunk into obscurity and pined and died ( - ). lechler, gotthard victor, theologian, born in würtemberg; was professor at leipzig; wrote "history of deism," "life of wiclif," and "apostolic and post-apostolic times" ( - ). lecky, william edward hartpole, historian and suggestive writer, born near dublin; represents dublin university in parliament; is the author of "leaders of public opinion," ; "the rise and influence of the spirit of rationalism in europe," ; the "history of european morals from augustus to charlemagne," ; and the "history of the eighteenth century," - ; _b_. . leclaire, edme-jean, french economist, and experimentalist in the matter of the union of capital and labour; adopted the system of profit-sharing in , with important results ( - ). le clerc, john, otherwise johannes clericus, liberal swiss theologian and controversialist, born at geneva; studied philosophy and theology there, and at paris and london; became professor in the remonstrant seminary in amsterdam in , but lost his speech in ; his voluminous writings include commentaries on the whole bible, which contained opinions on the authorship and composition of the pentateuch, and the inspiration of the wisdom books, then startling but since much in favour ( - ). leconte de lisle, a french poet, a creole, born in the isle of bourbon, author of "poésies barbares" and "poésies antiques," and translator of homer, sophocles, theocrates, and other classics; his translations are wonderfully faithful to the originals ( - ). lectern, a stand with a desk for a book from which the service is read in a church. leda, in the greek mythology the wife of the spartan king tyndareus, who was visited by zeus in the form of a swan and became the mother of castor and pollux; was frequently the subject of ancient art. ledru-rollin, alexandra auguste, a french democrat, born near paris; called to the bar in ; became a leader of the democratic movement in the reign of louis philippe, and gained the title of the "tribune of the revolution"; in he became a member of the provisional government; was minister of the interior; secured for france the privilege of universal suffrage; his opposition to louis napoleon obliged him to seek refuge in england, where he took part in a general democratic movement, and an amnesty being granted, he returned to france in ; was elected to the assembly, but his power was gone; died suddenly ( - ). lee, robert edward, confederate general in the american civil war, born at stratford, virginia, son of a soldier of old and distinguished family, and educated at west point; became captain of engineers in ; he distinguished himself in the mexican war of ; was from till head of the u.s. military academy; was in active service again in texas - as an officer of cavalry; on the secession of the southern states, though disapproving of the war, deeming virginia to have a claim before the union to his loyalty, resigned his commission, and was appointed general, third in rank, by the confederate congress of virginia, ; after various services he succeeded general johnston in command of the army at richmond; won the seven days' battle against m'clellan; invaded maryland and pennsylvania, but was forced to surrender with , men to grant at appomatox, in virginia, april , ; forfeiting his estates he became president of the washington university (since called washington and lee), lexington, virginia, which post he held till his death; he was a man of devout religious faith, a high sense of duty, great courage and ability as a soldier ( - ). lee, robert, a scottish theologian, born at tweedmouth; was minister of old greyfriars, edinburgh, and professor of biblical criticism in the university; reformed the presbyterian worship to some extent on the anglican model, and suffered no small persecution at the hands of the conservative party in the church for these innovations; his proclivities otherwise were rationalistic ( - ). lee, samuel, english orientalist, born in shropshire; professor in cambridge first of arabic and then of hebrew; was the author of a hebrew grammar and lexicon, and a translation of the book of job ( - ). leech, john, english artist, born in london; was educated at the charterhouse, and a fellow pupil there of thackeray's; displayed early a turn for caricature; produced a set of illustrations for the "ingoldsby legends"; joined the staff of _punch_ in , and remained a member of it till his death; here he distinguished himself by his cartoons and his humorous illustrations of scenes and characters of english life and society, and showed himself an artist more than a caricaturist; his work was not limited to _punch_; he contributed illustrations also to _once a week_, the _illustrated london news_, and other publications of the time ( - ). leeds ( ), fifth city in england, largest in yorkshire, on the aire, m. sw. of york, in the west riding; has been noted for its textile industry since the th century, now its woollen manufactures of all kinds are the largest in england, and besides other industries, there are very large manufactures of ready-made clothing, leather, boots and shoes, and iron. there are many fine buildings: st. peter's church is the largest; st. john's, consecrated in , still retains the fittings of a "laudean" church. there is a magnificent infirmary, a grammar-school, and art-gallery. the yorkshire college is affiliated with victoria university. dr. priestley was a native. a parliamentary borough only since , it now returns five members. leeds, thomas osborne, duke of, english statesman, son of a yorkshire baronet, after the restoration entered parliament as member for york and supporter of king and church; his advance was rapid till he was lord high treasurer and earl of danby in ; constantly intriguing, he was impeached by the commons in , and kept for five years in the tower without trial; returning to public life he opposed james ii.'s policy regarding the church, and joined in the movement which set william of orange on the english throne; appointed president of the council, he was again guilty of corrupt practices; he became duke of leeds in , but in was impeached a second time, and though he again escaped condemnation he never regained power ( - ). leeuwenhoek, anton van, an early microscopist, born at delft; the instrument he used was of his own construction, but it was the means of his arriving at important discoveries, one of the most so that of capillary circulation; stoutly opposed the theory of spontaneous generation ( - ). lefort, franÇois jacob, russian officer, born in geneva, son of a merchant; after serving in france and holland, in entered the service and gained the favour of peter the great, organised the army on the french model, laid the foundation of a navy, and died commander-in-chief both of the land forces and the navy ( - ). left, the, the opposition in a continental legislative assembly, as sitting on the left of the chair; also the liberal section of a philosophical school. legalism, adherence to the strict letter of the law often in disregard of the spirit and even in defiance of it. le gallienne, richard, poet, journalist, and critic, born in liverpool, of a guernsey family; has been connected with and contributed to several london journals; is author of "my lady's sonnets," "george meredith: some characteristics," "the religion of a literary man," &c.; is successful as a lecturer as well as a littérateur; _b_. . legate, the title of the pope's representative or ambassador; in medieval times this office was attached to certain bishoprics, and the bishops were styled _legati nati;_ besides these there were _legati a latere_, generally cardinals, and _legati missi_, or nuncios specially appointed; legates used to claim full papal jurisdiction within their provinces, which caused many disputes; now they are ambassadors for spiritual purposes at roman catholic courts--vienna, münich, madrid, lisbon, and paris--and do not interfere with the authority of the bishops. legendre, adrien marie, brilliant french mathematician, contemporary of lagrange and laplace, born at toulouse; obtained the professorship of mathematics in the military school at paris, and was elected to the academy of sciences in ; he was one of the commissioners to determine the length of the metre, and held many posts under the republic and the empire; among many works his best known is the "elements of geometry" ( ), translated into english by carlyle ( - ). legge, james, a chinese scholar, born in huntly, aberdeenshire; studied at king's college, aberdeen; was sent out as missionary to the chinese by the london missionary society in , laboured for years at hong-kong, and became professor of the chinese language and literature at oxford in ; edited with a translation and notes the chinese classics, the "four _shu_," and the "five _king_," and gave lectures on the religions of china as compared with christianity; _b_. . leghorn ( ), a flourishing italian seaport, on the w. coast, m. from florence; is a fine city, with broad streets and many canals; its exports include wine, silk, oil, marble, and straw hats; it imports spirits, sugar, and machinery; it does a large and increasing coasting trade, and manufactures coral ornaments; its prosperity dates from the th century; it was a free port till . legion, among the ancient romans a body of soldiers consisting of three lines, the _hastati_, the _principes_, and the _triarii_, ranged in order of battle one behind the other, each divided into ten maniples, and the whole numbering from to men; to each legion was attached six military tribunes, who commanded in rotation, each for two months; under marius the three lines were amalgamated, and the whole divided into ten cohorts of three maniples each; under the original arrangement the _hastati_ were young or untrained men, the _principes_ men in their full manhood, and the _triarii_ veterans. legion of honour, an order of merit instituted on republican principles on may , , by bonaparte when first consul in recompense of civil and military services to the country; it originally consisted of four classes, but now comprehends five: grand crosses, grand officers, commanders, officers, and chevaliers, each, of military or naval men, with pensions on a descending scale and all for life; their badge, a white star of five rays, bearing on the obverse an image of the republic and on the reverse two tricolor flags. legitimists, a name given to supporters of the bourbon dynasty in france as opposed to the orleanists, who supported the claims of louis philippe. leibnitz, german philosopher, mathematician, and man of affairs, born in leipzig; studied law and took the degree of doctor of laws at altorf; spent a good part of his life at courts, visited paris and london and formed a friendship with the savans in both cities, and finally settled in hanover, where he moved much in the circle of the electress sophia and her daughter sophia charlotte, the prussian queen, whom he entertained with his philosophy of the "infinitely little," as it has been called; he discovered with newton the basis of the differential calculus, and concocted the system of monods (his "monodology"), between which and the soul, he taught, there existed a "pre-established harmony," issuing in the cosmos; he was an optimist, and had for his motto the oft-quoted phrase, "everything is for the best in the best of possible worlds"; his principal works in philosophy are his "théodicée," written at the instance of sophia charlotte and in refutation of bayle, and his "monodologie," written on the suggestion of prince eugene ( - ). leicester ( ), county town of leicestershire, on the soar, m. e. of birmingham; is an ancient town, with several historic buildings; has grown rapidly of late owing to its hosiery, boot and shoe, and iron-founding industries; it sends two members to parliament. leicester, robert dudley, earl of, queen elizabeth's favourite, fifth son of the duke of northumberland; won the queen's favour by his handsome appearance and courtly address; received many offices and honours, and on the death, under suspicious circumstances, of his countess, amy robsart, aspired to her hand; still favoured, in spite of his unpopularity in the country, he was proposed as husband to mary, queen of scots, in ; he married the dowager lady sheffield in , and afterwards bigamously the countess of essex; after a short term of disfavour he was appointed commander in the netherlands, and subsequently at tilbury fort, but proved an incapable soldier ( - ). leicestershire ( ), english midland county, bounded by nottingham, lincoln, rutland, northampton, warwick, and derby shires; is an undulating upland watered by the soar, and mostly under pasture. leicester cattle and sheep are noted, and its stilton cheeses. there are coal deposits and granite and slate quarries in the n. the chief towns are leicester, the county town, loughborough, and hinckley. leigh, aurora, the heroine of mrs. browning's poem of the same name. she styled it "a novel in verse," and wrote of it, it is "the most mature of my works, and the one into which my highest convictions upon life and art have entered." leighton, frederick, lord, eminent english artist, born at scarborough; studied in the chief art-centres of the continent; his first exhibit at the royal academy being "cimabue's madonna carried in procession through florence," which was followed by a numerous array of others of classic merit, and showing the scholar as well as the artist; he distinguished himself in sculpture as well as painting, and died president of the royal academy after being ennobled ( - ). leighton, robert, a scottish theologian, the son of a puritan clergyman in london, who wrote a book against prelacy, and suffered cruelly at the hands of laud in consequence; studied at edinburgh; entered the church, and became presbyterian minister at newbattle in , but resigned in ; was made principal of edinburgh university; reluctantly consented to accept a bishopric, and chose the diocese of dunblane, but declined all lordship connected with the office; was for a time archbishop of glasgow; retired to england in , and lived ten years afterwards with a widowed sister in sussex; he was a most saintly man, and long revered as such by the scottish people; his writings, which are highly imaginative, were much admired by coleridge ( - ). leiotrichi, a primitive race of people distinguished by their smooth hair. leipzig ( ), in the w. of saxony, and largest city of that kingdom; is the third city in germany. the old portion is narrow and quaint, with historic buildings; the new is well built, with splendid edifices. it is the seat of the supreme court of the empire, of an old university which has a magnificent library and well-equipped medical school, and of one of the finest conservatories of music in europe. its chief trade is in books, furs, leather, and cloth, and its chief industries type-founding and pianoforte-making. it was the birthplace of leibnitz and wagner, and is associated also with bach and mendelssohn. leith ( ), chief seaport in e. of scotland, on the forth, contiguous to edinburgh and the port of it; is an old, unattractive, but busy town. the harbour comprises five docks. the imports are corn, flour, wines, sugar, and fruit; the exports, coal, iron, paraffin, and whisky. there are shipbuilding and engineering works, breweries, distilleries, and other industries. leith fort, between the town and newhaven, is the head-quarters of the artillery for scotland. leitha, an austrian stream which flows ne. and falls into the danube e. of vienna; divides cis-leithan from trans-leithan. leland, charles, an american writer, born at philadelphia; bred to the bar, but left law for literature, and contributed to the journals; has taken interest in and written on the industrial arts, social science, folk-lore, the gypsies, &c.; his works are numerous, and of a humorous or burlesque character, and include "the poetry and mystery of dreams," "the legends of birds," "hans breitmann's ballads," &c.; _b_. . leland, john, english antiquary, born in london; travelled much on the continent and amassed vast learning; held a commission from henry viii. to examine the antiquities and libraries of england, in fulfilment of which charge he spent six years in collecting a world of things that would otherwise have been lost, and the rest of his life, till he went insane, in arranging them ( - ). leland, john, a nonconformist minister, born in wigan; wrote chiefly in defence of christianity against the attacks of the deists ( - ). lely, sir peter, a painter, born in westphalia; settled in london; took to portrait-painting, and was patronised by charles i. and ii., as well as by cromwell; he painted the portraits of his patrons, and the beauties of charles ii.'s court; was vandyck's successor ( - ). leman lake, the lake of geneva (q. v.). lemberg ( ), the capital of austrian galicia, from its central position and ready communication with rivers and railways, enjoys an extensive trade; polish is the prevailing language; there is a flourishing university, and of the population , are jews. lemming rat, a rodent, which "travelling in myriads seawards from the hills," as seen in norway, "turns not to the right or the left, eats its way through whatever will eat, and climbs over whatever will not eat, and perishes before reaching the sea, its consistent rigidly straight journey, a journey nowhither." see the application in the "latter pamphlet," no. . lemnos ( ), an island plateau in the Ægean sea, m. sw. of the dardanelles, turkish since ; produces corn, wine, and tobacco, and is a place of exile for turkish prisoners; the population is mostly greek; chief town kastro ( ), on the w. coast. lemon, mark, editor of _punch_ from to his death, born in london; began his career as a dramatist, story-teller, and song-writer, writing pieces for the stage and songs ( - ). lem`ures, a name given by the romans to the spirits of the dead, and who, such of them as are ghosts of the wicked, wander about at night as spectres, and tormented themselves, torment and frighten the living. lenclos, ninon de, a woman celebrated for wit and beauty, born in paris, whose salon in the city was frequented by all the notable personages of the period; she was a woman of superior mental endowments as well as polished manners, but of loose morality and want of heart ( - ). lennep, jacob van, a dutch dramatist and novelist, born at amsterdam; bred to the bar and practised as a lawyer; was a devoted student of english literature, and executed translations from english poets; was called by his countrymen the walter scott of holland ( - ). lennox, an ancient district of scotland that included dumbartonshire and part of stirlingshire. lenore, the heroine of a celebrated ballad by bürger, the german lyric poet, a maiden whose lover dies and whose spectre appears to her on horseback and carries her off mounted behind him. lenormant, franÇois, a distinguished archæologist, born at paris, a man of genius and of vast learning; his chief works "manuel d'histoire ancienne de l'orient," "lettres assyriologues," "les premières civilisations," and "les sciences occultes en asie" ( - ). lens, a piece of glass adapted as convex or concave so as to change the direction of the rays of light passing through it and magnify or diminish the apparent size of an object. lent, a period of fasting previous to easter, at first lasting only hours, was gradually extended to three, four, or six days, then different churches extended it to three and six: weeks; in the th century gregory the great fixed it for the west at days from ash wednesday to easter, excluding sundays; in the eastern church it begins on the monday after quinquagesima and excludes both saturdays and sundays; in the anglican church the season is marked by special services, but the fast is not rigidly kept. lenthall, william, speaker of the long parliament; is famous for his answer to the demand of charles to point out to him five members he had come to arrest, "may it please your majesty," said he, failing on his knees, "i have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak but as the house directs me" ( - ). leo, the fifth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters on july . leo, the name of six emperors of the east, of which the chief was leo iii., surnamed the isaurian, born in isauria; raised to the imperial throne by the army, defeated by sea and land the saracens who threatened constantinople; ruled peacefully for nine years, when he headed the iconoclast movement (q. v.), which provoked hostility and led to the revolt of italy from the greek empire; _d_. . leo, the names of popes: l. i., st., pope from to ; l. ii., st., pope from to ; l. iii., pope from to ; l. iv., pope from to ; l. v., pope in ; l. vi., pope from to ; l. vii., pope from to ; l. viii., pope from to ; l. ix., st., pope from to ; l. x., pope from to ; l. xi., pope in ; l. xii., pope from to ; l. xiii., pope since . of these only the following deserve mention:-- leo i., saint, surnamed the great; was distinguished for his zeal against heretics, presided at two councils, and persuaded attila to retire from rome on his invasion of italy, as he persuaded genseric four years later to moderate the outrages of his troops in the city; his letters are in evidence of the jurisdiction of the roman over the universal church. festival, nov. . leo iii., proclaimed charlemagne emperor of the west in ; driven in from the papal chair by a conspiracy, he was reinstated by charlemagne, who next year visited the city and was crowned by him emperor. leo ix., saint; was elected at the diet of worms in , welcomed at rome, and applied himself zealously to the reform of church discipline; being defeated in the field by guiscard, suffered a years' imprisonment, fell ill and died. leo x., giovanni de' medici, son of lorenzo the magnificent, sovereign of florence; was distinguished as a patron of art, science, and letters, and as occupant of the chair of st. peter at the outbreak of the reformation, and as by his issue of indulgences for the replenishment of his treasure provoking the movement and rousing the ire of luther, which set the rest of europe on fire. leo xiii., th pope of rome, born at carpineto; distinguished at college in mathematics, physics, and philosophy; took holy orders in , was nuncio to belgium in , became bishop of perugia in , cardinal , and pope in ; holds to his rights as pope both secular and spiritual; believes in the catholic church as the only regenerator of society, and hails every show of encroach it makes on the domain of protestantism as promise of its universal restoration; _b_. . leon, an ancient kingdom in the ne. of spain, united with castile in , with a capital of the same name m. nw. of madrid. also the name of a city in nicaragua and another in mexico. leonardo da vinci, celebrated painter and sculptor of the florentine school, born at vinci in the val d'arno; showed early a wonderful aptitude for art; studied under andrea del verrocchio, but so surpassed him in his work as to drive him to renounce the painter's art; his great work, executed by him at milan, was the famous picture of the "last supper," which he painted in oil about on the wall of the refectory of the dominican convent of the madonna delle grazie; it perished from the dampness of the wall almost as soon as it was finished, but happily copies were taken of it before decay had ruined it; besides, leonardo did in at florence the famous cartoon of the battle of the standard; he was a man of imposing personal appearance, of very wide range of ability, and distinguished himself in engineering as well as art; he wrote a "treatise on painting," which has been widely translated ( - ). leonidas, king of sparta from to b.c.; opposed xerxes, the persian, who threatened greece with a large army, and kept him at bay at the pass of thermopylæ with spartans and auxiliaries till he was betrayed by ephialtes (q. v.), when he and his threw themselves valiantly on the large host, and perished fighting to the last man. leonids, meteors which descend in showers during november in certain years, their chief centre being the constellation leo. leopardi, giacomo, modern italian poet, born near ancona; a precocious genius; an omnivorous reader as a boy, and devoted to literature; of a weakly constitution, he became a confirmed invalid, and died suddenly; had sceptical leanings; wrote lyrics inspired by a certain sombre melancholy ( - ). leopold i., king of the belgians, son of the duke of saxe-coburg; in his youth served in the russian army; visited england in , and married princess charlotte, who died two years later; he declined the throne of greece in , but accepted that of the belgians in , and proved a wise, firm, constitutional sovereign; in he married the french princess louise; he was succeeded by his son leopold ii. ( - ). leopold ii., king of the belgians, born at brussels, son and successor of leopold i.; has travelled much in europe and asia minor; founded, and is now ruler of, the congo free state; married in the archduchess maria of austria, by whom he has had three daughters; _b_. . lepsius, karl richard, a celebrated egyptologist, born in prussian saxony; took at first to the study of philology under bopp, but early devoted himself to the study of the antiquities of egypt; headed in an expedition of research among the monuments under the king of prussia, which occupied five years, and was fertile in important results, among others the production of a work in vols. on the subject entitled "denkmäleraus egypten und ethiopien," issued between and ; he was the author also of works on philology ( - ). lernÆan hydra, a monster with nine heads, one of them immortal, that infested a swamp near lernæ, and which hercules was required to slay as one of his twelve labours, only as often as he cut off one head two grew on, but with the assistance of iolcus his servant he singed off the eight mortal ones, cut down the ninth, and buried it under a huge rock. lerwick ( ), the capital of shetland, on the e. of mainland; fishing and knitting the chief industries. le sage, alain renÉ, french dramatist and novelist, born at sarzeau, in brittany; educated at a jesuit school at vannes; went to paris in ; studied the spanish language and literature, and produced translations of spanish works and imitations; some of his dramas attained great popularity, and one in particular, the "turcaret," a satire on the time generally, and not merely, as represented, on financiers of the period, gave offence; but the works by which he is best known are his novels "le diable boiteux" and "gil blas," his masterpiece ( - ). lesbos ( ), modern name mytilene, a mountainous island, the largest on the asia minor coast, m. off shore and m. n. of the gulf of symrna; has a delightful climate, disturbed by earthquakes, fertile soil, and produces fine olive-oil. in ancient greek days it was a cradle of literature, the home of sappho, and famous for its wine; turkish since , its population is mostly greek; chief town castro ( ), on the e. coast. lese-majesty, name given to a crime against the sovereign. leslie, name of a scottish family distinguished in scottish history as well as for military service in foreign parts. leslie, charles, non-juring controversial divine, born in dublin, wrote "a short and easy method with the jews," and another with the deists ( - ). leslie, sir john, natural philosopher and professor, born at largo, fifeshire; educated at st. andrews and edinburgh university; visited america in , and returned to london ; for fifteen years he was engaged in scientific investigation, invented several instruments, and published his "inquiry into the nature of heat," for which he received the rumford medal from the royal society; appointed to the chair of mathematics in edinburgh in , he was transferred to that of natural philosophy in ; continued his researches and inventions, and shortly before his death was knighted ( - ). lespinasse, a french lady, born in lyons, famous for her wit, to whom d'alembert was much attached, and the centre of a learned circle in paris in her time ( - ). lesseps, ferdinand de, french diplomatist, born at versailles; conceived the scheme of connecting the red sea with the mediterranean in , and saw it finished as the suez canal in ; projected a similar scheme for a canal at panama, but it ended in failure, disgrace, and ruin to the projectors as well as others ( - ). lessing, gotthold ephraim, a german author, and founder of modern german literature, born at kamenz, saxony, son of the pastor there; sent to study theology at leipzig, studied hard; conceived a passion for the stage; wrote plays and did criticisms; wrote an essay on pope; took english authors as his models, revolted against those of france; made it his aim to inaugurate or rather revive a purely german literature, and produced examples regarded as classics to this day; his principal dramas, all conceived on the soil, are "miss sara sampson," "mina von barnhelm," "emilia galotti," and "nathan der weise," and his principal prose works are his "fables" and "laocoon," a critical work on art still in high repute ( - ). l'estrange, sir roger, a zealous royalist, born in norfolk; was for his zeal in the royal cause committed to prison; having escaped, he was allowed to live in retirement under cromwell, but woke up a vigorous pamphleteer and journalist in the old interest at the restoration, "wounding his whig foes very sorely, and making them wince"; he translated josephus, cicero's "offices," seneca's "morals," the "colloquies" of erasmus, and quevedo's "visions," his most popular work ( - ). lethe (i. e. oblivion), in the greek mythology a stream in the nether world, a draught of the waters of which, generally extended to the ghosts of the dead on their entrance into pluto's kingdom, obliterated all recollection of the past and its sorrows. leto (i. e. the hidden one), one of the titan brood, who became by zeus the mother of apollo and artemis, and for whose confinement, in her persecution by hera, poseidon by a stroke of his trident fixed the till then floating island of delos to the sea-bottom. letter of marque, a commission to the captain of a merchant ship or a privateer to make reprisals on an enemy's ships or property. letters patent, a document under seal of the government granting some special privilege to a person. lettres de cachet (i. e. sealed letters), warrants of imprisonment, issued prior to the revolution, sealed with the private seal of the king, in contradistinction from _lettres patentées_, which were sealed by the great seal of the kingdom. see cachet, lettre de. leucippus, a greek philosopher of the th century b.c., the founder of the atomic theory of things, of which democritus (q. v.) was the chief expounder. leuctra, a village in boeotia, to the s. of thebes, where in b.c. epaminondas and his thebans overthrew the ascendency of sparta. leuthen, a village in the w. of breslau, in silesia, where frederick the great defeated the austrians with great loss in . levana, the title of a book by jean paul on the education of children; title from the name of a roman goddess, the protectress of foundlings. levant (i. e. the rising), a name given to the e. of the mediterranean and the regions adjoining by the western peoples of the mediterranean. levee, a morning reception held by the sovereign or some one of high rank. levellers, a party of violent red-hot republicans, led on by john lilburne, who appeared in the time of the commonwealth, but were suppressed by cromwell. lever, charles james, a novelist, born at dublin, was by profession a physician; author of a numerous series of irish stories written in a rollicking humour, "harry lorrequer" and "charles o'malley" among the chief; was a contributor to and for some time editor of _dublin university magazine_; held ultimately various consular appointments abroad, and after that wrote with success in a more sober style ( - ). leverrier, urban jean joseph, french astronomer, born at st. lô; distinguished in chemistry before he devoted himself to astronomy; rose to eminence in the latter science by a paper on the variations in the orbits of the planets, and was led to the discovery of the planet neptune from perturbations in the orbit of the planet uranus; he indicated the spot where the planet would be found, and it was actually discovered a few days after by galle at berlin ( - ). levi, leon, commercial economist, born at ancona; settled in england and was naturalised; drew attention to the want of commercial organisation, and to whose pleading the first chamber of commerce, that of liverpool, owes its existence; became professor of commercial law in king's college, london ( - ). levirite law, a law among the jews which ordained if a husband died without issue that his brother should take his widow to wife and raise up seed to him (deut. xxv. - ). levites, a body of men divided into courses, the servants of the priests in the worship of the temple of jerusalem; they were not permitted to enter the sanctuary or serve at the altar, their duties being limited to keeping watch over the temple, slaying the victims, and making other preparations for the sacred services. levitical degrees, relationships that preclude marriage, so called as presumably fixed by the levitical priesthood of the jews. leviticus, the third book of the pentateuch, so called as containing the laws and ordinances appointed to regulate the services of the sanctuary as conducted by a priesthood of the tribe of levi, the narrative portion of it recording the consecration of aaron and his sons, the death of nadab and abihu, and the stoning of the blasphemer, embracing a period of only one year, and the legislation of it no longer issuing from mount sinai, but from the door of the tabernacle. lewald, fanny, an eminent german novelist, born at königsberg, of jewish parents; professed christianity and was married to adolf stahr; was a realist in art and a zealous woman's rights advocate ( - ). lewes ( ), the county town of sussex, finely situated on a slope of the south downs, m. ne. of brighton; was the scene of a victory of simon de montfort in over the forces of henry iii.; has a trade in corn and malt, and tanneries. lewes, george henry, a versatile man of letters, born in london, the son of an actor; wrote a "biographical history of philosophy" from the positivist standpoint, published originally in , and a "life of goethe" in , "seaside studies," "problems of life and mind," &c., and edited the _fortnightly review_; he did much to popularise both science and philosophy; though a married man with children, formed a connection with george eliot, and died in her house ( - ). lewis, sir george cornwall, english statesman and political philosopher, born in london; held several important posts under and in the governments of the day; wrote on "early roman history," "the influence of authority on matters of opinion," "the best form of government," "ancient astronomy," &c. ( - ). lewis, matthew gregory, romancer, familiarly known as monk lewis from the name of his principal novel, the "monk," which was written, along with others, in mrs. radcliffe's vein and immensely popular, and literally swarmed with ghosts and demons ( - ). leyden, one of the chief towns of holland and characteristically dutch, m. nw. of the hague, with a famous university founded by the prince of orange in , containing the richest natural history museum in the world; it is noted for the bravery and power of endurance of its inhabitants, manifest for a whole year ( - ) during the war of independence. leyden, john, poet and orientalist, born in denholm, son of a shepherd; bred for the church, his genius and abilities attracted the notice of influential people; was introduced to scott, and assisted him in his "minstrelsy of the scottish border"; went to india as a military surgeon; studied and prelected on the native dialects; became a judge in calcutta; died of fever ( - ). leyden, john of, leader of the anabaptists in münster, born in the hague; beset with his followers, who regarded him as a prophet, in münster, he was taken alive after a siege of six months and tortured to death in . leyden, lucas van, an eminent early dutch painter and engraver, born in leyden; succeeded in every branch of painting, and, like dürer, engraved his own pictures; his works are highly valued, and some of them very rare; he spent his means in high living and died young, only ( - ). leyden jar, an electric condenser, a cylindrical glass bottle lined inside and outside with metal to within a short distance from the top, while a brass rod connected with the inside coating extends upward through a wooden stopper terminating in a knob. leys school, the cambridge school founded in to supply under unsectarian religious influences a high-class education, the founders of it having been chiefly members of the methodist body. lhassa (seat of the gods) ( ), the capital of thibet, and the metropolis of the buddhist world in the chinese empire, stands in the middle of a plain , ft. above the sea-level; on a hill in the nw. of the centre of the city, a conical hill called potala, amid temples and palaces, is the residence of the grand lama; the monasteries are in number, and the priests , , and it is the centre of the caravan trade. l'hÔpital. see hÔpital, michel de l'. li, a chinese mile, equal to one-third of an english mile. lia-fail, the stone of destiny on which the irish kings used to be crowned, which was at length removed to scone, in perthshire, and is now in westminster under the coronation chair, having been removed thither by edward i. liberalism, modern, "practically summed up" by ruskin, in "the denial or neglect of the quality and intrinsic worth in things, the incapacity of discerning or refusal to discern worth and unworth in anything, and least of all in man." liberal-unionist, one of the liberal party in english politics, which in quitted the liberal ranks and joined the conservative party in opposition to the home rule policy of mr. gladstone. liberationist, one who advocates the emancipation of the church from state control. liberia ( , ), a negro republic on the grain coast of africa, founded in by american philanthropists as a settlement for freedmen, with a constitution after the model of the united states. liberty, fraternity, and equality, the trinity of modern democracy, and which first found expression as a political creed in the french revolution, of which the first term is now held to require definition, the second to have only a sentimental basis, and the third to be in violation of the fact of things; universal suffrage is the expression of it politically. libration, the name given to certain apparent movements in the moon as if it swayed like a balance both in latitude and longitude in its revolution round the earth. libri-carrucci, count, italian mathematician; professor at pisa, but obliged to resign for his liberal opinions and take refuge in france, where he was made professor at the sorbonne, was a kleptomaniac in the matter of books ( - ). libya, a name by the early geographers to the territory in africa which lay between egypt, ethiopia, and the shores of the atlantic. lichfield ( ), ancient ecclesiastical town in staffordshire, m. se. of stafford, an episcopal see since , with a cathedral in early english style, recently completely restored; has an ancient grammar school, a museum, and school of art; the birthplace of samuel johnson; its industries are brewing, coachbuilding, and implement making. lichtenberg, georg christoph, german physicist and satirist, born near darmstadt; was educated at göttingen, and appointed professor there in ; he wrote a commentary on hogarth's copperplates; his reputation in germany as a satirist is high ( - ). licinius, caius, a roman tribune and consul, of plebeian birth, author of several laws intended to minimise the distinction politically between patrician and plebeian, in office between and b.c. lick observatory, an observatory built at the expense of james lick, an american millionaire, on one of the peaks of mount hamilton, california, with a telescope that has the largest object-glass of any in the world. lictor, an officer in rome who bore the fasces (q. v.) before a magistrate when on duty. liddell, henry george, greek lexicographer, graduated at oxford in ; was tutor of christ church, and in appointed professor of moral philosophy; he was successively head-master of winchester, dean of christ church, and vice-chancellor of oxford from to ; his great work is a greek lexicon (first edition , last ), of which he was joint-author with dr. robert scott, and which is the standard work of its kind in english; _b_. . liddon, henry parry, canon of st. paul's, london, born in hants; educated at christ church, oxford; eminent both as a scholar and a preacher; author of an eloquent course of lectures, the bampton, "on the divinity of jesus christ"; belonged to the liberal section of the high-church party ( - ). liebig, baron von, eminent german chemist, born at darmstadt; in attracted the attention of alexander von humboldt by a paper before the institute of france on fulminates, and was appointed to the chair of chemistry in giessen, where he laboured years, attracting students from all quarters, and where his laboratory became a model of many others elsewhere; wrote a number of works on chemistry, inorganic and organic, animal and agricultural, and their applications, as well as papers and letters; accepted a professorship in münich in , and in was appointed president of the münich academy of sciences ( - ). liÈge ( ), a town in belgium and capital of the walloons, in a very picturesque region at the confluence of the ourthe with the meuse, the busiest town in belgium and a chief seat of the woollen manufacture; it is divided in two by the meuse, which is spanned by bridges; it is the centre of a great mining district, and besides woollens has manufactures of machinery, and steel and iron goods. liegnitz ( ), a town in silesia, m. nw. of breslau, where frederick the great gained a victory over the austrians in . lifeguards, the british royal household troops, consisting of cavalry and infantry regiments. lightfoot, john, orientalist and divine, born at stoke-upon-trent, son of a clergyman, educated at cambridge; took orders and was rector of ashley, staffordshire, till ; next year he was one of the most influential members of the westminster assembly; in he was made d.d., was vice-chancellor of cambridge in , and subsequently prebendary of ely; one of england's earlier hebrew scholars, the great work of his life was the "horæ hebraicæ et talmudicæ," published in large part posthumously ( - ). lightfoot, joseph barber, bishop of durham, born at liverpool; was a fellow of trinity college, cambridge, was eminent among english scholars as a new testament exegete, became bishop of durham in ; died at bournemouth ( - ). ligny, a village m. from charleroi, where napoleon defeated blücher two days before the battle of waterloo while wellington and marshal ney were engaged at quatre bras. liguori, st. alphonse maria di, founder of the redemptorists, born at naples of a noble family; bred to the law, but devoted himself to a religious life, received holy orders, lived a life of austerity, and gave himself up to reclaim the lost and instruct the poor and ignorant; was a man of extensive learning, and found time from his pastoral labours to contribute extensively to theological literature and chiefly casuistry, to the extent of volumes; was canonised in ; the order he founded is called by his own name as well ( - ). ligurian republic, a name given by bonaparte to the republic of genoa, founded in . li hung chang, an eminent and enlightened chinese statesman; is favourable to european culture and intercourse with europe; was sent as a special envoy to the czar's coronation in , and afterwards visited other countries in europe, including our own, and the states and canada; _b_. . lilburne, john, a victim of the star-chamber in the time of charles i., and exposed on the pillory as well as fined and imprisoned; joined the parliamentary ranks and fought for the commonwealth, but as an independent indulged in violent harangues against cromwell, and was committed to the tower, but on his release turned quaker ( - ). lilith or lilis, the name of adam's first wife, whom, according to jewish tradition, he had before eve, and who bore him in that wedlock the whole progeny of aërial, aquatic, and terrestrial devils, and who, it seems, still wanders about the world bewitching men to like issue and slaying little children not protected by amulets against her. lille ( ), chief town in the department of nord, in the extreme n. of france, m. inland from calais, an ancient and at present very strong fortress, is in a fertile district; the town, rebuilt in modern times, has a catholic university, a medical school, library, and art gallery, and thriving industries, linen, cotton, tobacco, sugar, and many others. lilliput, a country inhabited by a very diminutive race of men not larger in size than a man's finger, visited by gulliver in his travels. lillo, george, english dramatist, born in london, by trade a jeweller; wrote seven comedies, of which "the fatal curiosity" and "george barnwell" are the best and the best appreciated ( - ). lilly, william, an english astrologer, born in leicestershire, who made gain by his fortune-telling during the commonwealth period especially, but got into trouble afterwards as a presumed mischief-maker ( - ). lima ( ), capital of peru, m. inland from callao, its port, a picturesque but somewhat shabby city, ft. above the sea-level, regularly built, with many plazas; has a cathedral and churches; trade is in the hands of foreigners, mostly germans, and industries are unimportant; it was founded by pizarro, and his bones lie buried in the cathedral. limburg, in the basin of the meuse, formerly a duchy, was after various fortunes divided in into belgian limburg ( ), on the w. of the river, capital hasselt ( ), and dutch limburg ( ), on the e., capital maestricht ( ); partly moorland and partly arable, it has coal, iron, sugar, and tobacco industries. limbus or limbo, according to catholic theologians a region on the confines of hades tenanted, the _limbus patrum_, by the souls of good men who died before christ's advent, and the _limbus infantium_, by the souls of unbaptized infants, both of whom await there the resurrection morn to join the ransomed in heaven. limelight, a bright light caused by making a stream of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, play in a state of ignition on a piece of compact quicklime. limerick ( ), irish county on the s. of the shannon estuary, between tipperary and kerry, watered by the mulcai, maigue, and deel; hilly in the s., is mostly fertile, and under corn and green crops; cattle are reared and dairy products exported; some woollens and paper manufactured. there are many antiquities. limerick ( ), the county town, on the shannon, is the fourth irish seaport, and manufactures a little lace. limited liability, liability on the part of the shareholders of a joint-stock company limited by the amount of their shares. limoges ( ), chief town in the dep. of haute-vienne, on the vienne river, m. s. of paris; has a gothic cathedral; is one of the chief manufacturing towns of france. its porcelain and woollen cloths are widely famed; it has a large transit trade; it gives name to a fine kind of surface enamel, which was brought to perfection there. lincoln ( ), capital of lincolnshire, on the witham, m. n. of london; is a very old and quaint city, with one of the finest cathedrals in england, and many historic buildings. its annual spring horse-fair is among the largest in the world. it manufactures agricultural instruments, and trades in flour. its stands on the oolitic ridge, and commands a wide view of the trent valley. lincoln, abraham, sixteenth president of the united states, born near hodgensville, kentucky; spent his boyhood there and in the indiana forests, and picked up some education in the backwoods schools; passed some years in rough work; he was clerk in a store at new salem, illinois; became village postmaster and deputy county surveyor, and began to study law; from to he led the whigs in the state legislature, and in entered congress; he prospered as a lawyer, and almost left politics; but the opening of the slavery question in recalled him, and in a series of public debates with stephen douglas established his reputation as debater and abolitionist; unsuccessful in his candidature for the senate, he was nominated by the republicans for the presidency, and elected ; his election was the signal for the secession of the southern states; lincoln refused to recognise the secession, accepted the war, and prosecuted it with energy; on new year's day, , he proclaimed the emancipation of the negroes, and was re-elected president in , but shortly after his second inauguration was assassinated; he was a man of high character, straightforward, steadfast, and sympathetic ( - ). lincoln's inn. see inns of court. lincolnshire ( ), maritime county in the e. of england, between the humber and the wash, next to yorkshire in size, consists of upland country in the w., chalk downs in the e., and fens in the s., but these well reclaimed and cultivated. it is watered by the trent, witham, and welland, and crossed by numerous canals. iron abounds in the w.; sheep, cattle, and horses are raised. grimsby is a shipping and fishing centre. sir isaac newton and lord tennyson were born in the county, which has many historic associations. lincrusta walton, a plastic material invented by walton, capable of being moulded into raised patterns for decorating walls, &c. lind, jenny (madame otto goldschmidt), the swedish nightingale, born at stockholm; giving evidence of her power of song in childhood, she was put under a master at nine; too soon put to practise in public, her voice at twelve showed signs of contracting, but after four years recovered its full power, when, appearing as alice in "robert le diable," the effect was electric; henceforth her fame was established, and followed her over the world; in she made a round of the chief cities of germany; made her first appearance in london in , and visited new york in , where she married, and then left the stage for good, to appear only now and again at intervals for some charitable object; she was plain looking, and a woman of great simplicity both in manners and ways of thinking ( - ). lindley, john, distinguished botanist, born near norwich; wrote extensively on botany according to the natural system of classification, and did much to popularise the study; was professor of the science in london university ( - ). lindsay, name of a scottish family of norman extraction, and that first figures in scottish history in the reign of david i. lindsay or lyndsay, sir david, of the mount, scottish poet, born at the mount, near cupar, fife, at the grammar-school of which he was educated, as afterwards at st. andrews university; was usher to james v. from his childhood, and knighted by him after he came of age; did diplomatic work in england, france, the netherlands, and denmark; is famous as the author of, among others, three poems, the "satire of the three estates," "dialogues between experience and a courtier," and the "history of squire meldrum," of which the first is the most worthy of note, and is divided into five parts, the main body of it a play of an allegorical kind instinct with conventional satire; without being a partisan of the reformation, his works, from the satire in them being directed against the church, contributed very materially to its reception in scotland approximately ( - ). linga, a symbol in the phallus worship of the east of the male or generative power in nature. this worship prevails among the hindu sect of the givas or sivas, and the symbol takes the form of the pistil of a flower, or an erect cylindrical stone. lingard, john, historian, born at winchester, the son of a carpenter; besides a work on the "antiquity of the anglo-saxon church," wrote a "history of england from the roman invasion to the reign of william iii.," the first written that shows anything like scholarly accuracy, and fairly impartial, though the author's religious views as a roman catholic, it is alleged, distort the facts a little ( - ). lingua franca, a jargon composed of a mixture of languages used in trade intercourse. linlithgow ( ), the county town of linlithgowshire, m. w. of edinburgh, on the s. shore of a loch of the name, with a palace, the birthplace of james v.; the county ( ) lying on the s. shore of the forth, and rich in minerals. linnÆus, or more properly linnÉ, karl von, great swedish naturalist, specially in the department of botany, a branch to the study of which he was devoted from his earliest years; he was the founder of the system of the classification of plants which bears his name, and which is determined by the number and disposition of the reproductive organs, but which is now superseded by the natural system of jussieu; he was professor at upsala, and his works on his favourite subject were numerous, and extended far and wide his reputation as a naturalist ( - ). linnell, john, english painter, painted portraits at first, but in the end landscapes, of which last "the windmill" and a wood scene are in the national gallery; he was a friend and an admirer of william blake ( - ). linoleum, a floorcloth, being a composition of cork and linseed oil with chloride of silver. linotype, a contrivance for setting and casting words or lines for printing. linz ( ), the capital of the crownland of upper austria, on the right bank of the danube; a busy commercial place, a great railway centre, and the seat of the manufacture of woollen goods, linen, tobacco, &c.; is also of great strategical importance in time of war. lion, the, the king of animals, was the symbol of power, courage, and virtue, and in christian art of the resurrection; is in general, as mr. fairholt remarks, "a royal symbol, and in emblem of dominion, command, magnanimity, vigilance, and strength; representing when _couchant_ sovereignty, when _rampant_ magnanimity, when _passant_ resolution, when _guardant_ prudence, when _saliant_ valour, when _sciant_ counsel, and when _regardant_ circumspection." lip`ari islands ( ), a group of islands of volcanic origin, in number, off the n. coast of sicily, in two of which, vulcano and stromboli, the volcanic force is still active, the latter emitting clouds of steam at intervals of five minutes. lippe ( ), an old n. german principality, the principal towns of which are detmold, lemgo, and horn. lippi, filippino, italian painter, son of the succeeding; is presumed to have been a pupil of botticelli's (q. v.); his earliest known work is the "vision of st. bernard" in florence, and he executed various works in bologna, genoa, and rome; painted frescoes and altar-pieces, and scenes in the lives of st. peter and st. paul ( - ). lippi, fra filippo, italian painter, born at florence; left an orphan, was brought up in a monastery, where his talent for art was developed and encouraged; went to ancona, was carried off by pirates, but procured his release by his skill in drawing, and returning to italy practised his art in florence and elsewhere, till one day he eloped with a novice in a nunnery who sat to him for a madonna, by whom he became the father of a son no less famous than himself; he prosecuted his art amid poverty with zeal and success to the last; distinguished by ruskin (fors xxiv. ) as the only monk who ever did good painter's work; he had botticelli for a pupil ( - ). lipsius, justus, an erudite belgian scholar, with fast and loose religious principles; was the author of numerous learned works ( - ). lipsius, richard adelbert, distinguished german theologian, born in gera; professor in succession at vienna, kiel, and jena; wrote on dogmatics, the philosophy of religion, and new testament criticism ( - ). lisbon ( ), the capital of portugal, a magnificent town, built on the n. bank of the tagus, m. from its mouth, extends along the banks of the river m. and inland m.; it boasts of an array of fine buildings and squares, a number of literary and scientific institutions, and a spacious harbour; is remarkable for a marble aqueduct which brings water more than m. across the valley of alcantara; the manufactures include tobacco, soap, wool, and chemicals, and the exports wine, oil, and fruits; it suffered from an earthquake of great violence in , by which the greater part of the city was destroyed, and from , to , of the inhabitants were killed. lister, joseph, lord, eminent surgeon, born at upton, essex; the founder of modern antiseptic surgery, and is as such reckoned among the world's greatest benefactors; was president of the british association in , and is surgeon-extraordinary to the queen; _b_. . liston, john, an english actor of low comedy, and long famous on the london stage, to which he was introduced by charles kemble; _d_. . liston, robert, a celebrated surgeon, born in linlithgowshire; studied in edinburgh and london; was distinguished as an operator; was professor of clinical surgery in university college, london, and author of "elements of surgery" and "practical surgery" ( - ). liszt, abbÉ franz, famous pianist, a hungarian by birth; born with a genius for music, his first efforts at composition were not successful, and it was not till he heard what paganini made of the violin that he thought what might be made of the piano, and that he devoted himself to the culture of piano music, with the result that he not only became the first pianist himself, but produced a set of compositions that had the effect of raising the art to the highest pitch of perfection; he was a zealous catholic, and took holy orders, but this did not damp his ardour or weaken his power as a musician; he spent the greater part of his life at weimar, but he practised his art far and wide, and his last visit to england in , the year on which he died, created quite a flutter in musical circles ( - ). litany, a form of supplication in connection with some impending calamity in which the prayer of the priest or officiating clergyman is responded to by the congregation. literature, defined by carlyle "as an 'apocalypse of nature,' a revealing of the 'open secret,' a 'continuous revelation' of the god-like in the terrestrial and common, which ever endures there, and is brought out now in this dialect, now in that, with various degrees of clearness ... there being touches of it (i. e. the god-like) in the dark stormful indignation of a byron, nay, in the withered mockery of a french sceptic, his mockery of the false, a love and worship of the true ... how much more in the sphere harmony of a shakespeare, the cathedral music of a milton; something of it too in those humble, genuine, lark-notes of a burns, skylark starting from the humble furrow far overhead into the blue depths, and singing to us so genuinely there." lithuania, formerly a grand-duchy occupying portions of the valleys of the dwina, niemen, dnieper, and bug; for centuries connected with poland; passed to russia in . the lithuanians are a distinct race of the indo-european stock, fair and handsome, with a language of their own, and a literature rich in folk-lore and songs. of a strong religious temperament, they embraced christianity late ( th century), and still retain many pagan superstitions; formerly serfs, they are now a humble peasantry engaged in agriculture, cattle-breeding, and bee-keeping. litmus, a colouring matter obtained from certain lichens; extensively used in chemical experiments to detect acids, for instance. little corporal, a name given to bonaparte after the battle of lodi from his small stature, he being only ft. in. little englanders, those politicians who hold that english statesmen should concern themselves with england only and its internal affairs. littleton, sir thomas, english jurist of the th century; was recorder of coventry in , judge of common pleas , and knighted in ; his work on "tenures" was the first attempt to classify the law of land rights, and was the basis of the famous "coke upon littleton"; _d_. . littrÉ, a celebrated french scholar, physician, philologist, and philosopher, born in paris; wrote on medical subjects, and translated hippocrates; was of the positivist school in philosophy, and owes his fame chiefly to his "dictionnaire de la langue française," published in - , and on which he spent forty years' labour ( - ). liturgy is sometimes used as including any form of public worship, but more strictly it denotes the form for the observance of the eucharist. as development from the simple form of their institution in the primitive church liturgies assumed various forms, and only by degrees certain marked types began to prevail: viz., the roman, ascribed to st. peter, in latin, and prevailing in the roman catholic church all over the world; the ephesian, ascribed to st. john, in corrupt latin, included the old scottish and irish forms, heard now only in a few places in spain; the jerusalem, ascribed to st. james, in greek, the form of the greek church and in translation of the armenians; the babylonian, ascribed to st. thomas, in syriac, used still by the nestorians and christians of st. thomas; and the alexandrian, ascribed to st. mark, in a græco-coptic jargon, in use among the copts; these all contain certain common elements, but differ in order and in subsidiary parts; the anglican liturgy is adapted from the roman; other protestant liturgies or forms of service are mostly of modern date and compiled from scripture sources. liva, an italian coin worth ½ d., and the monetary unit in the country. liverpool ( ), the third city and first seaport of great britain, in lancashire, on the mersey, m. from the sea, formerly the chief seat of the slave interest in britain; owed its present prosperity to the impulse of the cotton trade at the end of the th century; progressing rapidly it has now docks stretching six miles along the mersey, which receive a sixth of the tonnage that visits british ports; through it passes a third of our foreign trade, including enormous imports of wheat and cotton and exports of cotton goods; it possesses shipbuilding and engineering works, iron-foundries, flour, tobacco, and chemical factories; the public buildings, town hall, exchange, colleges, and observatory are fine edifices; it was the native place of w. e. gladstone. liverpool, earl of, robert jenkinson, english statesman, educated at oxford; entered parliament , and as foreign secretary negotiated the peace of amiens in ; becoming lord hawkesbury in , he became home secretary under pitt, and succeeding to the earldom in ; was war secretary under perceval in , premier from to ; he liberalised the tariff and maintained a sound finance, uniting and holding together the tory party at a critical period ( - ). liverymen, name given to members of the several guilds or corporations of london and freemen of the city, so called as entitled to wear the livery belonging to their respective companies; they possess certain privileges of a civic character. livingstone, david, african traveller and missionary, born in blantyre, lanarkshire; began life as a mill-worker, studied medicine and theology at glasgow, and was sent out to africa by the london missionary society in , landed at port natal, and addressed himself to missionary work; moving north, he arrived at lake ngami in , and ascending the zambesi in arrived at loanda next year; later on he explored the course of the zambesi and its tributaries, discovered lake nyassa, and set himself to discover the sources of the nile, but this expedition proved too much for him, and he died exhausted; his body was embalmed, brought home to england, and buried in westminster abbey ( - ). livius, titus (livy), illustrious roman historian, born at patavium (padua); appears to have settled early in rome and spent the most of his life there; his reputation rests on his "history of rome from the foundation of the city to the death of drusus," it consisted of chapters, but of these only remain entire and in fragments, bequeathing to posterity his account of the early history of the city and of the wars with hannibal ( - b.c.). livonia ( , ), russian baltic province on the gulf of riga; is flat and marshy, and only moderately fertile; produces rye, barley, and potatoes; its chief industries are distilling, brewing, and iron-founding, and fishing; four-fifths of the population are letts and esthonians, only per cent. are russian; the original finnic livonians are almost extinct; capital riga ( ). livraison, part of a serial issued from time to time. llandudno ( ), a fashionable watering-place at the foot of great ormes head, carnarvon, frequented by people from yorkshire and lancashire. llanelly ( ), a manufacturing seaport in carmarthenshire for shipping coal, iron, and copper. llanos, vast level plains twice the size of great britain in the n. of south america, in the basin of the orinoco, covered in great part with tall grass and stocked in the rainy season with herds of cattle; during the dry season they are a desert. llorente, juan antonio, spanish historian, is the author of several works, but his celebrity is mainly due to his "history of the spanish inquisition," of which in he became the secretary ( - ). lloyd's, a part of the royal exchange, london, appropriated to the use of underwriters and for marine intelligence, frequented by those interested in merchant shipping; so called from lloyd's coffee-house, formerly the head-quarters of the class. load-line, line painted on the outside of a vessel to mark the extreme of immersion in loading her with a cargo. loadstone or lodestone, an iron ore remarkable for its magnetic quality or power of attracting iron; it derived its name from its use as a leading stone in the compass to mariners. lobby, the, hall connected with a legislative assembly to which the public have access. local option, licence granted to the inhabitants of a district to extinguish or reduce the sale of intoxicants in their midst. lochaber, a highland district in the s. of inverness-shire. lochaber axe, an axe with a broad blade and a long handle formerly in use among the highlanders as a weapon. lochiel, a highland chief, sir evan cameron his name, head of the cameron clan, who held out against william iii.'s rule in the highlands, but ultimately took the oath of allegiance; _d_. . lochinvar, hero of a ballad in scott's "marmion," who carries off his sweetheart just as she is about to be sacrificed in marriage to another whom she loathes. lochleven, scottish lake in kinross-shire overshadowed by benarty and the west lomond, is m. nw. of edinburgh; in a castle on one of its islands mary stuart was imprisoned - ; it is now famous for its trout. locke, john, english philosopher, the father of modern materialism and empiricism, born in wrington, somerset; studied medicine, but did not practise it, and gave himself up to a literary life, much of it spent in the family of the celebrated earl of shaftesbury, both at home with it and abroad; his great work is his "essay on the human understanding" in , which was preceded by "letters on toleration," published before the expulsion of james ii., and followed by the "treatise on government" the same year, and "thoughts on education" in ; his "essay" was written to show that all our ideas were derived from experience, that is, through the senses and reflection on what they reveal, and that there are no innate ideas; "locke," says prof. saintsbury, "is eminently" (that is, before all his contemporaries) "of such stuff as dreams are _not_ made of"--is wholly a prosaic practical man and englishman ( - ). lockhart, john gibson, man of letters, born in cambusnethan; bred for the scottish bar and practised at it; contributed to _blackwood_, wrote in collaboration with john wilson "peter's letters to his kinsfolk"; married sophia scott, sir walter's daughter, in , lived a good deal near abbotsford, wrote some four novels and "spanish ballads," became editor of the _quarterly_ in , and began in his "life of scott," a great work, and his greatest; died at abbotsford, health broken and in much sorrow; his "life" has been interestingly written by andrew lang ( - ). lockout, the exclusion of workmen from a factory by the employer to bring them to terms which they decline to accept. lockyer, sir joseph norman, astronomer, born at rugby; became clerk in the war office in , was secretary to the royal commission on scientific instruction in , and was transferred to the science and art department in ; he directed government eclipse expeditions to sicily, india, egypt, and the west indies; in he became f.r.s., received the society's rumford medal in , next year was appointed corresponding member of the institute of france and received the janssen medal in ; he was knighted in ; he made important discoveries in spectrum analysis, and has written several astronomical works; _b_. . loco-focos, the name, which denotes lucifer-matches, given to an ultra-democratic or radical party in the united states because at a meeting when on one occasion the lights were extinguished the matches which they carried were drawn and the lamps lit again. locri, a people of ancient greece of two distinct tribes occupying different districts of the country. lodi ( ), a town in lombardy, m. se. of milan, on the adda, famous for a signal victory of bonaparte over the austrians in in the face of a tremendous fire. loewe, gottfried, german composer; composed oratorios, operas, and pianoforte pieces; sang and played in london in ( - ). lofoden islands ( ), a rugged mountainous chain on the nw. norwegian coast within the arctic circle, with winters rendered mild by the gulf stream, afford pasturage for sheep; the waters between them and the mainland are a rich cod-fishing ground, visited by thousands of boats between january and march. logan, john, a scotch poet, born at soutra; was for a time minister in south leith church, but was obliged to resign; was the author of a lyric, "the braes of yarrow" and certain of the scotch paraphrases ( - ). see bruce, michael. logarithm, the exponent of the power to which a fixed number, called the base, must be raised to produce a certain given number. logic, the science of correct thinking or of the laws which regulate thought, called also dialectics; or in the hegelian system "the scientific exposition and development of those notions or categories which underlie all things and all being." logic spectacles, carlyle's name for eyes that can only discern the external relations of things, but not the inner nature of them. logos, an expression in st. john's gospel translated the word (in chap. i.) to denote the manifestation of god, or god as manifested, defined in theology as the second person of the deity, and viewed as intermediary between god as father and god as spirit. log-rolling, mutual praise by authors of each other's work. lohengrin, hero of a german th-century poem; son of parzival, and a knight of the grail; carried by a swan to brabant he delivered and married the princess elsa; subsequently returning from war against the saracens, she asked him of his origin; he told her, and was at once carried back again by the swan. wagner adapted the story in his opera "lohengrin." loire, the largest river in france, m., rises in the cévennes, flows northwards to orleans and westward to the bay of biscay, through a very fertile valley which it often inundates. it is navigable for m., but its lower waters are obstructed by islands and shoals; it is connected by canals with the seine, saône, and brest harbour. loki, in the norse mythology, a primitive spirit of evil who mingles with the norse gods, distinguished for his cunning and ensnaring ways, whose devices are only evil in appearance, and are overruled for good. lollards, originally a religious community established at antwerp in , devoted to the care of the sick and burial of the dead, and as persecuted by the church, regarded as heretics. their name became a synonym for heretic, and was hence applied to the followers of wycliffe in england and certain sectaries in ayrshire. lombard, peter, a famous schoolman, born in lombardy in the th century, of poor parents; was a disciple of abelard; taught theology at, and became bishop of, paris; was styled the master of sentences, as author of a compilation of sentences from augustine and other church fathers on points of christian doctrine, and long used as a manual in scholastic disputations. lombards, a german people, settled at the beginning of our era about the lower elbe. in the th century we find them in moravia, and a century later established, a powerful people, between the adriatic and the danube. they invaded italy in , and in three years had mastered the north, but abandoning their arian faith they gradually became italianised, and after the overthrow of their dynasty by charlemagne in they became merged in the italians. from the th century italian merchants, known as lombards, from lucca, florence, venice, and genoa, traded under much odium, largely in england as wool-dealers and bankers, whence the name lombard street. lombardy ( , ), an inland territory of northern italy between the alps and the po, piedmont, and venetia. in the n. are alpine mountains and valleys rich in pasturage; in the s. a very fertile, well irrigated plain, which produces cereals, rice, and sub-tropical plants. the culture of the silkworm is extensive; there are textile and hardware manufactures. the chief towns are milan, pavia, and corno. austrian in , napoleon made it part of the kingdom of italy in ; it was restored to austria in , and finally again to italy in . lomond, loch, an irregularly-shaped lake in dumbarton and stirling shires, m. long and of varying breadth; contains a number of small wooded islands; on the eastern shore rises ben lomond to the height of ft. london ( , ), on the thames, m. from the sea, the capital of the british empire, is the most populous and wealthiest city in the world. an important place in roman times, it was the cap. of the east saxons, and has been the metropolis of england since the norman conquest; it possesses, therefore, innumerable historic buildings and associations. often devastated by plague and fire, its progress has never been stayed; its population has more than quadrupled itself this century, and more than doubled since . the city of london proper occupies one square mile in the centre, is wholly a commercial part, and is governed by an annually elected mayor and aldermen; is the seat of a bishopric, with st. paul's for cathedral. the city of westminster is also a bishopric under a high steward and high bailiff, chosen by the dean and chapter. these two cities, with twenty-five boroughs under local officers, constitute the metropolis, and since the county of the city of london, and send members to parliament. streets in the older parts are narrow, but newer districts are well built; the level ground and density of building detracts from the effect of innumerable magnificent edifices. buckingham, kensington, and st. james's are royal residences; the houses of parliament are the biggest gothic building in the world; st. paul's, built by sir christopher wren, contains the remains of nelson and wellington, reynolds, turner, and wren himself. westminster, consecrated , is the burial-place of england's greatest poets and statesmen, and of many kings; the royal courts of justice in the strand were opened in . london has a university (an examining body), colleges and endowed schools, among which westminster, christ's hospital, and the charterhouse are famous, many medical hospitals, and schools and charitable institutions of all kinds. london is the centre of the english literary and artistic world, and of scientific interest and research; here are the largest publishing houses, the chief libraries and art-galleries, and museums; the british museum and library, the national galleries, &c., and magnificent botanical and zoological gardens. london is also a grand emporium of commerce, and the banking centre of the world. it has nine principal docks; its shipping trade is unrivalled, , vessels enter and clear annually; it pays more than half the custom duties of the kingdom, and handles more than a quarter of the total exports; its warehouse trade is second only to that of manchester; it manufactures everything, chiefly watches, jewellery, leather goods, cycles, pianos, and glass. the control of traffic, the lighting, and water-supply of so large a city are causing yearly more serious problems. london ( ), the cap. of middlesex county, ontario, near the s. end of the peninsula, in the middle of a fertile district, and a rising place. londonderry ( ), maritime county in ulster, washed by lough foyle and the atlantic, surrounded by donegal in the w., tyrone in the s., and antrim in the w., and watered by the foyle, roe, and bann rivers, somewhat hilly towards the s., is largely under pasture; the cultivated parts grow oats, potatoes, and flax; granted to the corporation and guilds of london in , a large part of the land is still owned by them. the county town, londonderry ( ), manufactures linen shirts, whisky, and iron goods, and does a considerable shipping trade. its siege by the troops of james ii. in is memorable. long, george, a distinguished classical scholar, born in lancashire; became professor of greek in london university; edited several useful works, among others the "penny cyclopædia," on which he spent years of his life ( - ). long island ( ), a long narrow island, m. long by from to broad, belonging to new york state, off the shores of new york and connecticut, from which it is separated by the east river and long island sound. it is low, much of it forest and sandy waste land, with great lagoons in the s. the chief industry is market-gardening; fisheries and oyster-beds are valuable. principal towns, brooklyn, long island city, and flushing. long parliament, the celebrated english parliament which assembled rd november , and was dissolved by cromwell th april , and which was afterwards restored, and did not finally decease till th march . long tom coffin, a character in cooper's novel "the pilot," and of wider celebrity than any of the sailor class. longchamp, a racecourse on the w. side of the bois du boulogne, paris. longchamp, william de, a low-born norman favourite of richard i., made by him bishop of ely; became justiciar of england , and papal legate ; clever, energetic, just, and faithful, he yet incurred dislike by his ambition and arrogance, and was banished to normandy; his energy in gathering the money for richard's ransom restored him to favour, and he became chancellor; _d_. . longfellow, henry wadsworth, american poet, born at portland, maine; after studying on the continent, became professor of modern languages in harvard university; wrote "hyperion," a romance in prose, and a succession of poems as well as lyrics, among the former "evangeline," "the golden legend," "hiawatha," and "miles standish" ( - ). longinus, dionysius cassius, a learned greek philosopher, rhetorician, and critic, and eminent in all three departments, being in philosophy a platonist of pure blood; his fame as a teacher reached the ears of zenobia, the queen of palmyra, and being invited to her court he became her political adviser as well as the educator of her children, but on the surrender of the place he was beheaded by order of the emperor aurelian as a traitor; he wrote several works, but the only one that survives to some extent is his "treatise on the sublime," translated by boileau ( - ). longmans, famous and oldest publishing house in london; founded by thomas longman of bristol in , and now in the hands of the fifth generation; has been associated with the production of johnson's "dictionary," lindley murray's "grammar," the works of wordsworth, southey, coleridge, and scott, and macaulay's "lays," "essays," and "history"; it absorbed the firm of parker in , and of rivington in . lÖnnrot, elias, a great finnish scholar, born in nyland; was professor at helsingfors; was editor of ancient finnish compositions, and author of a finnish-swedish dictionary ( - ). lope de vega. see vega. lord of the isles, assumed title of donald, a chief of islay, who in reduced the whole of the western isles under his authority, and borne by his successors, and, as some allege, his ancestors as well. lorelei or lurlei, a famous steep rock, ft. high, on the rhine, near st. goar; dangerous to boatmen, on which it was fabled a siren sat combing her hair and singing to lure them to ruin; the subject of an exquisite volkslied by heine. loretto, a city in italy, m. se. of ancona; celebrated as the site of the santa casa (q. v.), and for the numerous pilgrims that annually resort to the holy shrine. l'orient ( ), a seaport in morbihan; contains the principal shipbuilding yard in france; was founded by the french east india company in in connection with their trade in the east. lorne, marquis of, eldest son of the duke of argyll; entered parliament in ; married princess louise, fourth daughter of queen victoria, in ; became governor-general of canada in , member of parliament for south manchester in , and is governor of windsor castle; _b_. . lorraine, a district in france, between metz and the vosges; belonged originally to germany, became french in , and was restored to germany in . lorraine, claude. see claude lorraine. los angeles ( ), a city in south california, m. se. of san francisco, and founded in ; is the centre of a great orange-growing district, and a health resort. lost tribes, the ten tribes of the race of israel whom the assyrians carried off into captivity (see kings xvii. ), and of whom all trace has been lost, and only in recent years guessed at. lotophagi. see lotus eaters. lotus eaters or lotophagi, an ancient people inhabiting a district of cyrenaica, on the ne. coast of africa, who lived on the fruit of the lotus-tree, from which they made wine. ulysses and his companions in their wanderings landed on their shores, but the soothing influence of the lotus fruit so overpowered them with languor, that they felt no inclination to leave, or any more a desire to pursue the journey homewards. see tennyson's poem "the lotus-eaters." lotze, rudolf hermann, german philosopher, born at bautzen, in saxony; professor successively at göttingen and berlin; believed in metaphysics as well as physics, and was versant in both; "microcosmus" is his principal work, published in ; he founded the system of "teleological idealism," based on ethical considerations; he repudiated agnosticism, and had as little patience with a mere mechanical view of the universe as carlyle ( - ). loudon, john claudius, botanist and horticulturist, born at cambuslang, lanarkshire; wrote largely on plants and their cultivation, and an "arboretum" on trees and shrubs ( - ). louis i., le dÉbonnaire (i. e. the gentle), was king of france from to in succession to his father charlemagne, but was too meek and lowly to rule, and fitter for a monk than a king; suffered himself to be taken advantage of by his nobles and the clergy; was dethroned by his sons, and compelled to retire into a cloister, from which he was twice over brought forth to stay the ravages of their enemies; he divided his kingdom among them during his lifetime, and bequeathed it to them to guard over it when he was gone, to its dismemberment. louis vi., le gros (i. e. the fat), was son of philip i.; was associated in the royal power with his father from to , and sole king from till ; in his struggle against the great vassals he, by the help of the clergy and the bourgeois, centralised the government in the crown; had trouble with henry i. of england as lord superior of normandy, and was defeated by him in battle in ; under his reign the burgesses achieved their independence, and though he did nothing to initiate the movement he knew how to profit from the achievement in the interest of the monarchy. louis vii., the young, son of the preceding, married eleanor of aquitaine; took part in the second crusade; on his return divorced his queen for her profligacy in his absence, who married henry ii. of england, and brought with her as dowry to henry the richest provinces of france, which gave rise to the hundred years' war ( - ). louis viii., the lion, son of philip augustus; offered by the barons of england the crown of england, he was crowned at london in , but defeated at lincoln next year, he was obliged to recross the channel; became king of france in ; he took several towns from the english, and conducted a crusade against the albigenses ( - ). louis ix., saint louis, son of the preceding; was a minor at the death of his father, and the country was governed by his mother, blanche of castile, with a strong hand; on attaining his majority he found himself engaged with the english under henry, who had been called on to assist certain of the great barons in revolt, but in he defeated them in three engagements; under a vow he made during a dangerous illness he became a crusader, and in landed in egypt with , men, but in an engagement was taken prisoner by the saracens; released in on payment of a large ransom, though he did not return home for two years after, till on hearing of the death of his mother, who had been regent during his absence; on his return he applied himself to the affairs of his kingdom and the establishment of the royal power, but undertaking a second crusade in , he got as far as tunis, where a plague broke out in the camp, and he became one of the victims, and one of his sons before him; he was an eminently good and pious man, and was canonised by boniface viii. in ( - ). louis xi., son of charles vii., born at bourges, of a cruel and treacherous nature, took part in two insurrections against his father, by whom he had been pardoned after the first and from whom he had to flee after the second for refuge to burgundy, where he remained till his father's death in ; he signalised the commencement of his reign by severe measures against the great vassals, which provoked a revolt, headed by the dukes of burgundy and bretagne, which he succeeded in subduing more by his crafty policy than force of arms; involved afterwards in a war with charles the bold of burgundy and soliciting an interview, he was discovered by charles to have been sowing treason among his subjects, taken prisoner, and only released on a solemn protestation of innocence; notwithstanding the sinister and often cruel character of his policy, he did much to develop the resources of the country and advance the cause of good government by the patronage of learning; the crimes he had committed weighed heavily on his mind towards the end of his days, and he died in great fear of death and the judgment ( - ). louis xiii., the son of henry iv.; being only nine years old at the death of his father, the government was conducted by marie de' medicis, his mother, and at his accession the country was a prey to civil dissensions, which increased on the young king's marriage with a spanish princess; the huguenots rose in arms, but a peace was concluded in ; it was now richelieu came to the front and assumed the reins with his threefold policy of taming the nobles, checkmating the huguenots, and humbling the house of austria; rochelle, the head-quarters of the huguenots, revolted, the english assisting them, but by the strategy adopted the city was taken and the english driven to sea; henceforth the king was nobody and the cardinal was king; the cardinal died in and the king the year after, leaving two sons, louis, who succeeded him, and philip, duke of orleans and the first of his line ( - ). louis xiv., the "grand monarque," son of the preceding, was only nine when his father died, and the government was in the hands of his mother, anne of austria, and cardinal mazarin, her minister; under the regency the glory of france was maintained in the field, but her internal peace was disturbed by the insubordination of the parlement and the troubles of the fronde; by a compact on the part of mazarin with spain before he died louis was married to the infanta maria theresa in , and in he announced his intention to rule the kingdom alone, which he did for years with a decision and energy no one gave him credit for, in fulfilment of his famous protestation _l'état, c'est moi_, choosing colbert to control finance, louvois to reorganise the army, and vauban to fortify the frontier towns; he sought to be as absolute in his foreign relations as in his internal administration, and hence the long succession of wars which, while they brought glory to france, ended in exhausting her; at home he suffered no one in religious matters to think otherwise than himself; he revoked the edict of nantes, sanctioned the dragonnades in the cévennes, and to extirpate heresy encouraged every form of cruelty; yet when we look at the men who adorned it, the reign of louis xiv. was one of the most illustrious in letters and the arts in the history of france: corneille, racine, and molière eminent in the drama, la fontaine and boileau in poetry, bossuet in oratory, bruyère and rochefoucauld in morals, pascal in philosophy, saint-simon and retz in history, and poussin, lorraine, lebrun, perault, &c., in art ( - ). louis xv., _bien-aimé_ (i. e. well-beloved), great-grandson of the preceding, and only five at his death, the country during his minority being under the regency of philip, duke of orleans; the regency was rendered disastrous by the failure of the mississippi scheme of law and a war with spain, caused by the rejection of a spanish princess for louis, and by his marriage to maria lesczynski, the daughter of stanislas of poland; louis was crowned king in and declared of age the following year; in cardinal fleury, who had been his tutor, became his minister, and under him occurred the war of the succession to poland, concluded by the treaty of vienna, and the war of the austrian succession, concluded by the treaty of aix-la-chapelle; with the death of his minister louis gave way to his licentious propensities, and in all matters of state allowed himself to be swayed by unworthy favourites who pandered to his lusts, the most conspicuous among them being madame de pompadour and dame de barry, her successor in crime; under them, and the corrupt court they presided over, the country went step by step to ruin, and she was powerless to withstand the military ascendency of england, which deprived her of all her colonies both in the east and in the west; though choiseul, his last "substantial" minister, tried hard by a family compact of the bourbons to collect her scattered strength; the situation did not trouble louis; "it will last all my time," he said, and he let things go; suffering from a disease contracted by vice, he was seized with confluent smallpox, and died in misery, to the relief of the nation, which could not restrain its joy ( - ). louis xvi., the grandson of the preceding and his successor; had in married marie antoinette, the youngest daughter of maria theresa of austria, and a woman young, beautiful, and accomplished, in high esteem for the purity of her character; his accession was hailed with enthusiasm, and he set himself to restore the ruined finances of the country by taking into his counsel those who could best advise him in her straitened state, but these one and all found the problem an impossible one, owing to the unwillingness of the nobility to sacrifice any of their privileges for the public good; this led to the summoning of the states-general in , and the outbreak of the revolution by the fall of the bastille in july of that year; in the midst of this louis, well-intentioned but without strength of character, was submissive to the wishes of his court and the queen, lost his popularity by his hesitating conduct, the secret support he gave to the emigrants (q. v.), his attempt at flight, and by his negotiations with foreign enemies, and subjected himself to persecution at the hands of the nation; he was therefore suspended from his functions, shut up in the temple, arraigned before the convention, and condemned to death as "guilty of conspiracy against the liberty of the nation and a crime against the general safety of the state"; he was accordingly guillotined on the st january; he protested his innocence on the scaffold, but his voice was drowned by the beating of drums; he was accompanied by the abbé edgeworth, his confessor, who, as he laid his head on the block, exclaimed, "son of st. louis, ascend to heaven" ( - ). louis xvii., second son of the preceding, shut up in the temple, was, after the execution of his mother, proclaimed king by the emigrants, and handed over in his prison to the care of one simon, a shoemaker, in service about the prison, to bring him up in the principles of sansculottism; simon taught him to drink, dance, and sing the _carmagnole_; he died in prison "amid squalor and darkness," his shirt not changed for six months ( - ). louis xviii., brother of louis xvi., and called monsieur during his brother's reign, flew from paris and joined the emigrants along with his brother, count d'artois, and took up arms, which he was compelled to forego, to wander from one foreign court to another and find refuge at last in england; on napoleon's departure for elba he returned to france and was installed on the throne as _louis le desiré_, but by the reappearance of the former on the scene he was obliged to seek refuge in belgium, to return for good after the battle of waterloo, july , , with talleyrand for minister and fouché as minister of police; he reigned but a few years, his constitution being much enfeebled by a disease ( - ). louis napoleon (napoleon iii.), nephew of the first emperor, born at paris, brought up at augsburg and in switzerland; became head of the family in ; he began a bonapartist propaganda, and set himself to recover the throne of france; an abortive attempt in ended in a short exile in america and london, and a second at boulogne in landed him in the fortress of ham under sentence of perpetual imprisonment; escaping in he spent two years in england, returning to france after the revolution of ; elected to the constituent assembly and the same year to the presidency he assumed the headship of the republic, and posed as the protector of popular liberties and national prosperity; struggles with the assembly followed; he won the favour of the army, filled the most important posts with his friends, dissolved the constitution in (dec. ), was immediately re-elected president for ten years, and a year later assumed the title of emperor; he married the spanish countess eugénie in , and exerted himself by public works, exhibitions, courting of the clergy, gagging of the press, and so on to strengthen his hold on the populace; in the crimean war ( - ) and the lombardy campaign ( ) he was supported by britain; in he annexed savoy and nice; ten years later suspecting the enthusiasm of the army, he plunged into war with germany to rekindle its ardour, on a protest arising from the scheme to put leopold of hohenzollern on the spanish throne; france was unprepared, disaster followed disaster; the emperor surrendered to the germans at sedan, sept. , ; a prisoner till the close of the war, he came to england in and resided with the empress at chislehurst till his death ( - ). louis philippe, king of the french from till , born at paris, eldest son of the duke of orleans, renounced his titles along with his father, and joined the national guard and the jacobins at the revolution as m. egalité; after the defeat of neerwinden , where he commanded the centre, he fled to austria and switzerland and supported himself by teaching; after three years in the united states he came to london in , and on the fall of napoleon repaired to paris and recovered his estates; he gained popularity with the _bourgeoisie_, and when the revolution of july overthrew charles x. he succeeded to the throne as the elected sovereign of the people; under the "citizen king" france prospered; but his government gradually became reactionary and violent; he used his great wealth in giving bribes, tampered with trial by jury and the freedom of the press, and so raised against him both the old aristocracy and the working-classes; political agitation culminated in the revolution of february ; he was forced to abdicate and escaped with his queen to england, where he died ( - ). louis-d'or, an old french gold coin which ranged in value from s. d. to s. ¾d., and ceased to be issued in . louisiana ( , ), an american state on the gulf of mexico, between the mississippi and sabine rivers, with arkansas on the n. and traversed diagonally by the red river, is half upland and half alluvial; much of the lower level in the s. is marshy, subject to tidal flow or river inundation, and is covered by swampy woods, but is being reclaimed and planted with rice; on the uplands cattle are grazed, there are pine and oak forests, while the arable land is under cotton, sugar, oranges, and figs; the principal manufactures are shingles and tanks, cotton-seed oil, tobacco, and clothing; there is a state university and agricultural and mechanical college at baton rouge; the southern and tulane universities are in new orleans; free schools are throughout the state. founded by france, but held by spain from till , ceded again to france and sold to the united states by napoleon, it was admitted to the union in . in the civil war a hundred battles were fought within the state and new orleans was captured, which left ruin behind; but since prosperity has returned, property is increasing fast, and finances are healthy. louisville ( ), on the left bank of the ohio river, the largest city in kentucky, is well built and regular, with a roman catholic cathedral, many colleges and charitable institutions; it is the largest tobacco market in the world, has pork packing, distilling, tanning, and many other industries. lourdes, a french town in the dep. of the hautes-pyrénées, with a grotto near by in which the virgin mary, as is alleged, appeared to a girl of the place in , and to which multitudes have since resorted in the hope of being healed of their maladies from the waters which spring up on the spot. louth ( ), the smallest irish county, in leinster, stretches from carlingford bay to the estuary of the boyne, washed by the irish sea; the country is flat and the soil fertile, potatoes, oats, and barley are grown; there are coarse linen manufactures and oyster fisheries; rich in antiquities, its chief towns are dundalk ( ), drogheda ( ), and ardee ( ). louvet, french romancer, born in paris; author of the "chevalier de faublas," which gives a picture of french society on the eve of the revolution, in which the author played a part ( - ). louvois, marquis of, war minister of louis xiv., born in paris; was a man of great administrative ability in his department, but for the glory of france and his own was savage for war and relentless in the conduct of it, till one day in his obstinate zeal, as he threatened to lay the cathedral city of trèves in ashes, the king, seizing the tongs from the chimney, was about to strike him therewith, and would have struck him, had not madame de maintenon, his mistress, interfered and stayed his hand; he died suddenly, to the manifest relief of his royal master ( - ). louvre, an open turret or lantern on ancient roofs for the escape of smoke or foul air. louvre, a great art museum and gallery in paris, containing egyptian, assyrian, classic, mediæval, and modern relics and art treasures of priceless value; here is housed the venus of milo. lovat, simon fraser, lord, a highland chief connected with inverness, who, being outlawed, fled to france and got acquainted with the pretender, in whose interest he returned to scotland to excite a rising, but betraying the secret to the government was imprisoned in the bastille on his going back to france; on his release and return he opposed the pretender in , but in espoused the cause of prince edward; was arrested for treason, convicted, and beheaded on tower hill ( - ). lovedale, a mission station in south africa, m. ne. of cape town, founded in , and supported by the free church of scotland. lovelace, one of the principal characters in richardson's "clarissa harlowe"; is the type of a young heartless seducer. lovelace, richard, english cavalier and poet, born at woolwich, heir of great wealth, but lost his all in supporting the royal cause, and died a ruined man; was the handsomest man of his time, and the author of a collection of poems entitled "lucasta" ( - ). lover, samuel, an irish novelist and poet, born in dublin; started as a painter, but soon gave himself to literature; was the author of "rory o'more" and "handy andy," as also of some lyrics and ballads of a stirring character ( - ). low church, that section of the church of england which, in contrast with the high church party, is not exclusive in its assertion of church authority and observances, and in contrast with the broad church party is narrowly evangelical in its teaching. low latin, latin as spoken and written in the middle ages, being a degeneration of the classical which began as early as the time of cicero and developed unchecked with the dismemberment of the roman empire. low mass, mass performed by a single priest and without musical accompaniment. low sunday, name given in catholic countries to the next sunday after easter, in contrast with the style of the festival just closed. lowe, sir hudson, english general, born in ireland; served with credit in various military enterprises, and was appointed governor of st. helena in , and held that office during napoleon's incarceration there; a much abused-man for his treatment of his prisoner, particularly by the french, who dub him "napoleon's jailer"; died in london in poor circumstances; wrote a defence of his conduct ( - ). lowell, james russell, american essayist, poet, and diplomatist, born in cambridge, massachusetts, son of a clergyman; graduated at harvard in , studied law, but acquiring extensive scholarship devoted himself to literature; volumes of poems were published by him in and , but the mexican war of and the civil war of - called forth respectively the first and second series of "biglow papers," in rustic dialect, the highest expression of his genius and the finest modern english satire; he was an ardent abolitionist; succeeding longfellow in the chair of modern languages and literature in harvard in , he visited europe to study, returned as u.s. minister to spain in , was transferred to england - ; of his prose work "my study windows" and "among my books" are essays on literary subjects, "fireside travels" contain reminiscences, and his last work was a "life of hawthorne"; he died at cambridge in the house of his birth ( - ). lower empire, name given to the byzantine empire. lowestoft ( ), seaport and watering-place at the mouth of the waveney, in suffolk, m. ne. of london, the most easterly town in england; has a good harbour, an old parish church, and a large fish-market; the dutch were defeated off lowestoft in . lowth, robert, a distinguished english prelate, born in hants; was professor of poetry in oxford, and bishop in succession of st. davids, oxford, and london; wrote "prelectiones" on the poetry of the hebrews, a celebrated work, and executed a translation of isaiah ( - ). loyola, ignatius, the founder of the order of the jesuits, born in the castle of loyola, in the basque provinces of spain, of a noble spanish family; entered the army, and served with distinction, but being severely wounded at the siege of pampeluna, he gave himself up to a life of austere religious devotion, and conceived the idea of enlisting and organising a spiritual army for the defence of the church at home and the propagation of the faith in the realms of heathendom; it seemed to him a time when such an organisation should be formed, and he by-and-by got a number of kindred spirits to join him, with the result that he and his confederates did, on ascension day, , solemnly pledge themselves in the subterranean chapel of the abbey of montserrat to, through life and death, embark in this great undertaking; the pledge thus given was confirmed by the pope, pope pius iii., the order formed, and ignatius, in , installed as general, with absolute authority subject only to the pope, to receive canonisation by gregory xv. in ( - ). lubbock, sir john, scientist, born in london; banker by profession; as a member of parliament has accomplished several economic reforms; is author of "prehistoric times," "the origin of civilisation and the primitive condition of man," and various books on natural science; his "pleasures of life" has been very popular, and gone through between and editions; _b_. . lÜbeck ( ), a german free city on the trave, an old-fashioned place, but with wide, open streets, m. from the baltic, m. ne. of hamburg; joined the north german federation in , and the customs union in . it has a th-century cathedral, some fine old churches, scientific and art collections; with unimportant industries; its baltic and german transit trade is extensive. lucan, a latin poet, born at corduba (cordova), in spain; was a nephew of seneca, and brought early to rome; gave offence to nero, and was banished from the city; joined in a conspiracy against the tyrant, and was convicted, whereupon he caused his veins to be opened and bled to death, repeating the while the speech he had composed of a wounded soldier on the battlefield dying a like death; he was the author of a poem entitled "pharsalia" on the civil war between cæsar and pompey ( - ). lucaris, cyril, eminent ecclesiastic in the greek church, born in crete, who embraced and propagated protestantism; became a victim of persecution, and had a mysterious fate ( - ). lucca ( ), cap. of the italian prov. of lucca ( ), on the serchio, m. ne. of pisa; has an extensive trade in olive-oil, silk, and capers, the specialty of the province. its cathedral has a very ancient cedar crucifix, fine paintings, and valuable archives. there are other ancient churches, scientific and artistic institutes, and a wonderful aqueduct of arches. the natives are known over europe as stucco figure-sellers and organ-grinders. lucerne ( ), a swiss canton e. of berne, mountainous in the s., where cattle are pastured and much cheese made; in the n. and in the valleys fertile with corn and fruit crops; is german speaking, and roman catholic; its highest elevation, mount pilatus, is ft. stretching from the eastern corner is lake lucerne, one of the most beautiful in europe. the cap. lucerne ( ), on the shores of the lake, is a busy tourist centre; outside its walls is the famous lion of lucerne, designed by thorwaldsen, in memory of the swiss guard slain while defending the tuileries in paris in , and cut out of the solid rock. lucian, a greek writer, born in samosata, in syria, in the early part of the nd century; he travelled much in his youth; acquired a cynical view of the world, and gave himself to ridicule the philosophical sects and the pagan mythology; his principal writings consist of "dialogues," of which the "dialogues of the dead" are the best known, the subject being one affording him scope for exposing the vanity of human pursuits; he was an out and out sceptic, found nothing worthy of reverence in heaven or on earth. lucifer (i. e. light-bringer), name given to venus as the morning star, and by the church fathers to satan in interpretation of isaiah xiv. . lÜcke, friedrich, german theologian, professor first at bonn and then at göttingen; wrote commentaries on john's gospel and the apocalypse ( - ). lucknow ( ), fourth city in india, cap. of the prov. of oudh, on the gumti, a tributary of the ganges, m. nw. of benares; is a centre of indian culture and mohammedan theology, an industrial and commercial city. it has many magnificent buildings, canning and martinière colleges, various schools and government offices. it manufactures brocades, shawls, muslins, and embroideries, and trades in country products, european cloth, salt, and leather. its siege from july to march , its relief by havelock and outram, and final deliverance by sir colin campbell, form the most stirring incidents of the indian mutiny. lucretia, a roman matron, the wife of collatinus, whose rape by a son of tarquinus superbus led to the dethronement of the tyrant, the expulsion of his family from rome, and the establishment of the roman republic. lucretius, titus carus, a roman poet of whose personal history nothing is known, only that he was the author of a poem entitled "de rerum naturâ," a philosophic, didactic composition in six books, in which he expounds the atomic theory of leucippus, and the philosophy of epicurus; the philosophy of the work commends itself only to the atheist and the materialist, but the style is the admiration of all scholars, and has ensured its translation into most modern languages (about - b.c.). lucullus, lucius, a roman general, celebrated as conqueror of mithridates, king of pontus, and for the luxurious life he afterwards led at rome on the wealth he had amassed in asia and brought home with him; one day as he sat down to dine alone, and he observed his servant had provided for him a less sumptuous repast than usual, he took him sharply to task, and haughtily remarked, "are you not aware, sirrah, that lucullus dines with lucullus to-day?" luddism, fanatical opposition to the introduction of machinery as it originally manifested itself among the hand-loom weavers of the midlands. luddites name assumed by the anti-machinery rioters of - , after a leicestershire idiot, ned ludd, of ; appearing first at nottingham, the agitation spread through derby, leicester, cheshire, lancashire, and yorkshire, finally merging in the wider industrial and political agitations and riots that marked the years that followed the peace after waterloo. ludlow, edmund, a republican leader in the civil war against charles i., born in wiltshire of good family; entered the army of the parliament, and was present in successive engagements, but opposed cromwell on his assumption of the protectorate, and was put under arrest; reasserted his republicanism on cromwell's death, but died in exile after the restoration; left "memoirs" ( - ). ludovicus vives, a humourist, born in valentia, spain; studied at paris, wrote against scholasticism, taught at oxford, was imprisoned for opposing henry viii.'s divorce; died at bruges ( - ). luga`no, a lake partly in the swiss canton of ticino and partly in the italian province of como, m. by m., in the midst of picturesque grand scenery, with a town of the name on the nw. side amid vineyards and olive plantations. luini, bernardino, a painter of the lombard school, born at luino, in the territory of milan, and a pupil of leonardo da vinci, so that some of his works, which though they show a grace and delicacy of their own, pass for those of his master; is famed for his works in oil as well as in fresco; is, in ruskin's regard, one of the master painters of the world ( - ). luke or lucanus, author of the third gospel, as well as the acts, born in antioch, a greek by birth and a physician by profession, probably a convert, as he was a companion, of st. paul; is said to have suffered martyrdom and been buried at constantinople; is the patron saint of artists, and represented in christian art with an ox lying near him, or in the act of painting; his gospel appears to have been written before the year , and shows a pauline interest in christ, who is represented as the saviour of jew and gentile alike; it was written for a gentile christian and in correspondence with eye-witnesses of christ's life and death. lulli, a composer of operatic music, born in provence; was director of the french opera in the reign of louis xiv. ( - ). lully, raymond, the _doctor illuminatus_, as he was called, born at palma, in majorca, who was early smitten with a zeal for the conversion of the mohammedans, in the prosecution of which mission he invented a new method of dialectic, called after him _ars lullia_; held public discussions with the mohammedans, who showed themselves as zealous to convert him as he was to convert them, till he ventured in his over-zeal when in africa among them to threaten them with divine judgment if they did not abjure their faith, upon which they waxed furious, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death in the year ; his works, several on alchemy, fill volumes. lunar cycle, a period of time at the close of which the new moons return on the same days of the year. lunar month, a month of days, the time of the revolution of the moon, a lunar year consisting of times the number. lunar theory, an explanation by mathematical reasoning of perturbations in the movements of the moon founded on the law of gravitation. lunar year, a period of synodic lunar months, being about . days. lund ( ), a city in the s. of sweden, m. ne. of malmö, once the capital of the danish kingdom, the seat of an archbishop, with a romanesque cathedral and a flourishing university. lundy island, a precipitous rugged island m. long by m. broad, belonging to devon, with the remains of an old castle, and frequented by myriads of sea-fowl. lÜneburg ( ), on the ilmenau, m. se. of hamburg, an ancient german city with old gothic churches, once the capital of an independent duchy, now in hanover; has salt and gypsum mines, iron and chemical manufactures; the british royal house is descended from the princes of brunswick-lüneburg. lupercalia, a roman festival held on feb. in honour of lupercus, regarded as the god of fertility, in the celebration of which dogs and goats were sacrificed and their skins cut up into thongs, with which the priests ran through the city striking every one, particularly women, that threw themselves in their way. lupercus, an ancient italian god, worshipped by shepherds as the protector of their flocks against wolves. lupus, a chronic disease of the skin, characterised by the tuberculous eruptions which eat into the skin, particularly of the face, and disfigure it. lusatia, a district of germany, between the elbe and the oder, originally divided into upper and lower, belongs partly to saxony and partly to prussia; it swarmed at one time with wends. lusiad or lusiades, a poem of camoëns in ten cantos, in celebration of the discoveries of the portuguese in the east indies, and in which vasco da gama is the principal figure; it is a genuine national epic, in which the poet passes in review all the celebrated exploits and feats that glorify the history of portugal. lusitania, the ancient name of portugal, still used as the name of it in modern poetry. lustrum, a sacrifice for expiation and purification offered by one of the censors of rome in name of the roman people at the close of the taking of the census, and which took place after a period of five years, so that the name came to denote a period of that length. lutetia, the ancient name of paris, _lutetia parisiorum_, mud-town of the borderers, as carlyle translates it. luther, martin, the great protestant reformer, born at eisleben, in prussian saxony, the son of a miner, was born poor and brought up poor, familiar from his childhood with hardship; was sent to study law at erfurt, but was one day at the age of awakened to a sense of higher interests, and in spite of remonstrances became a monk; was for a time in deep spiritual misery, till one day he found a bible in the convent, which taught him for the first time that "a man was not saved by singing masses, but by the infinite grace of god"; this was his awakening from death to life, and to a sense of his proper mission as a man; at this stage the elector of saxony was attracted to him, and he appointed him preacher and professor at wittenberg; on a visit to rome his heart sank within him, but he left it to its evil courses to pursue his own way apart; if rome had let him alone he would have let it, but it would not; monk tetzel arrived at wittenberg selling indulgences, and his indignation was roused; remonstrance after remonstrance followed, but the pope gave no heed, till the agitation being troublesome, he issued his famous "fire-decree," condemning luther's writings to the flames; this answer fired luther to the quick, and he "took the indignant step of burning the decree in at the elster gate of wittenberg, wittenberg looking on with shoutings, the whole world looking on"; after this luther was summoned to the diet of worms, and he appeared there before the magnates, lay and clerical, of the german empire on april , ; how he demeaned himself on that high occasion is known to all the world, and his answer as well: "here stand i; i can do no other; so help me god"; "it was the grandest moment in the modern history of man"; of the awakening this produced luther was the ruling spirit, as he had been the moving one, and he continued to be so to the end of his life; his writings show the man as well as his deeds, and amid all the turmoil that enveloped him he found leisure to write and leave behind him quarto volumes; it is known the german bible in use is his work, executed by him in the castle of wartburg; it was begun by him with his back to the wall, as it were, and under the protestation, as it seemed to him, of the prince of darkness himself, and finished in this obstructive element pretty much throughout, the new testament in , the pentateuch in , and the whole, the apocrypha included, in ; he was fond of music, and uttered many an otherwise unutterable thing in the tones of his flute; "the devils fled from his flute," he says; "death-defiance on the one hand, and such love of music on the other, i could call these," says carlyle, "the two opposite poles of a great soul, between these two all great things had room.... luther," he adds, "was a true great man, great in intellect, in courage, in affection, and integrity,... great as an alpine mountain, but not setting up to be great at all--his, as all greatness is, an unconscious greatness" ( - ). lutheranism, that form of protestantism which prevails in norway, sweden, denmark, and northern germany. see lutherans. lutherans, the name given to that school of the protestant church which accepted luther's doctrine, especially that of the eucharist, in opposition to that of the members of the reformed church, who assented to the views in that matter of zwingli, the swiss reformer; the former maintaining the presence of christ in the eucharist, and that the grace of christ is communicated in the celebration of it, and the latter maintaining that it is a merely commemorative ordinance, and the means of grace to the believing recipient only. lutterworth, a small town in leicestershire, on the swift, m. ne. of rugby, of the church of which wiclif was rector, and where he was buried, though his bones were afterwards, in , dug up and burned, and the ashes cast into the river. lÜtzen, a small town in prussian saxony, the vicinity of it the scene of a victory of gustavus adolphus in , and of another by napoleon over the combined forces of russia and prussia in . lux, the name given to the unit of the intensity of electric light. lux, adam, a young parisian; smitten with love for charlotte corday, proposed a statue to her with the inscription "greater than brutus," which brought him to the guillotine. luxemburg ( ), grand-duchy, a small, independent territory at the corner where belgium, france, and rhenish prussia meet, is a plateau watered by the moselle on its eastern boundary, and the tributary sauer; is well wooded and fertile, yielding wheat, flax, hemp, and wine. iron ore is mined and smelted; leather, pottery, sugar, and spirits manufactured. the population is low-german and roman catholic; the language of the educated, french. the government is in the hands of a grand-duke, the duke of nassau, and a house of representatives. for commercial purposes luxemburg belongs to the german customs union. the capital is luxemburg ( ). there is a belgian province of luxemburg ( ), until part of the grand-duchy. luzon ( , ), the largest of the philippines; about one-half larger than ireland; is the most northerly of the group; is clad with forests, and yields grain, sugar, hemp, and numerous tropical products. the capital is manila. lycaon, a king of arcadia; changed into a wolf for offering human flesh to zeus, who came, disguised as mortal, to his palace on the same errand as the angels who visited lot in sodom. according to another tradition he was consumed, along with his sons, by fire from heaven. lyceum, a promenade in athens where aristotle taught his pupils as he walked to and fro within its precincts. lycias, an athenian orator, who flourished in the th century b.c.; assisted in the expulsion of the thirty tyrants, and distributed among the citizens his large fortune which the tyrants had confiscated. lycidas, the name of an exquisite dirge by milton over the death by drowning of his friend edward king. lycurgus, the legislator of sparta, who lived in the th century b.c.; in the interest of it as king visited the wise in other lands, and returned with the wise lessons he had learned from them to frame a code of laws for his country, which was fast lapsing into a state of anarchy; when he had finished his work under the sanction of the oracle at delphi he set put again on a journey to other lands, but previously took oath of the citizens that they would observe his laws till his return; it was his purpose not to return, and he never did, in order to bind his countrymen to maintain the constitution he gave them inviolate for ever. lydgate, john, an early english poet; was a monk of bury st. edmunds in the end of the th and beginning of the th centuries; was a teacher of rhetoric as well as a poet, and a man of some note in his day. lydia, a country of asia minor; seat of an early civilisation, and a centre of influences which affected both the religion and culture of greece; was noted for its music and purple dyes. lyell, sir charles, celebrated english geologist, born at kinnordy, in forfarshire; bred for and called to the bar; he left his practice, and gave himself to the study of geology, to which he had been attracted by alexander buckland's lectures when he was at oxford; his great work was his "principles of geology," which, published in , created quite a revolution in the science; it was followed by his "student's elements of geology," which was modified by his conversion to darwin's views, and by "antiquity of man," written in defence of darwin's theory ( ). lyly, john, english dramatist, born in kent; was the author of nine plays on classical subjects, written for the court, which were preceded in by his once famous "euphues, or anatomy of wit," followed by a second part next year, and entitled "euphues and his england," and that from the fantastic, pompous, and affected style in which they were written gave a new word, euphuism, to the english language ( - ). lynch law, the name given in america to the trial and punishment of offenders without form of law, or by mob law; derived from the name of a man lynch, dubbed judge, who being referred to used to administer justice in the far west in this informal way. lyndhurst, john singleton copley, baron, thrice lord chancellor of england, born at boston, massachusetts, son of an artist; was brought up in london, educated at cambridge, and called to the bar in ; acquiring fame in the treason trials of the second decade, he entered parliament in , was solicitor-general , attorney-general , master of the rolls , and lord chancellor in three governments - ; chief baron of the exchequer - ; he was lord chancellor in peel's administrations of - and - ; he was great as a debater, and a clear-headed lawyer, but not earnest enough for a statesman ( - ). lynedoch, thomas graham, lord, soldier, born in perthshire; raised in the th regiment of foot, and served with it at quibéron and isle dieu; thereafter distinguished himself in various ways at minorca , and malta , in the peninsular wars, and in holland; founded the senior united service club in ; was created baron and general , and died in london ( - ). lyon court, the herald's college of scotland, consisting of three heralds and three pursuivants. lyon king of arms, the legal heraldic officer of scotland, who presides over the lyon court. lyons ( ), the second city of france, at the junction of the rhône and saône, m. s. of paris; has a roman catholic university, and valuable museum, library, and art collections, many old churches and buildings, and schools of art and industries; the staple industry is silk, weaving, dyeing, and printing; there are also chemical, machinery, and fancy ware manufactures, and it is an emporium of commerce between central and southern europe; of late years lyons has been a hot-bed of ultra-republicanism. lyric poetry, poetry originally accompanied by the lyre, in which the poet sings his own passions, sure of a sympathetic response from others in like circumstances with himself. lysander, a spartan general and admiral who put an end to the peloponnesian war by defeat of the athenian fleet off Ægospotami, and of whom plutarch says in characterisation of him, he knew how to sew the skin of the fox on that of the lion; fell in battle in b.c. lysimachus, one of the generals of alexander the great, who became king of thrace and afterwards of macedonia; _d_. b.c. lytton, edward robert, earl of, statesman and novelist, under the _nom de plume_ of owen meredith; entered the diplomatic service at an early age, became viceroy of india in , and ambassador at paris in . lytton, george edward bulwer, lord, statesman and novelist, born in london; entered parliament at the age of , began his parliamentary career as a whig, but became a conservative and ranked in that party for the greater part of his life; "pelham," published in , was his first novel, and this was followed by a long list of others of endless variety, all indicative of the conspicuous ability of the author, and to the last giving no sign of decay in power; he was the author of plays as well as novels ( - ). m mab, queen, the fairies' midwife that brings dreams to the birth, to be distinguished from titania, the queen. mabillon, jean, a french benedictine and eminent scholar; wrote a history of his order and edited st. bernard's works ( - ). mably, gabriel bonnet de, french author, was born at grenoble, brother of condillac; educated at lyons, and became secretary to cardinal tencin, but most of his life was spent in study, and he died in paris; his "romans and the french" is not complimentary to his countrymen; he was a great admirer of the ancients ( - ). mabusa, jan, real name gossaert, flemish artist, born at mabuse, lived and died at antwerp; his work is not great but careful, his figures catch the stiffness of his favourite architectural backgrounds; his early period is strongly national, but a visit to italy with philip of burgundy brought him under southern influences and contributed to intensify his colour ( - ). macadam, john loudon, scottish engineer, born at ayr; inventor of the system of road-making which bears his name; he made his fortune as a merchant in new york, but spent it in road-making ( - ). macaire, robert, a noted criminal and assassin that figures in french plays; was convicted of a murder in trial by combat with a witness in the shape of the dog of the murdered man. macao, small island at the mouth of the canton river, m. s. of canton, forming with colovane and taipa since a portuguese station ( , mostly chinese); is a very healthy port, though very hot; formerly it was a centre of the coolie trade, abolished in , but its anchorage is bad, and since the rise of hong-kong its commerce has suffered severely; chief import opium, export tea; it is the head-quarters of french missions in china. macarius, st., a hermit of the thebaïd, where he spent years of a life of solitude and austerity ( - ). festival, january . macaroni, a fine wheaten paste made into long thin tubes, and manufactured in italy and the s. of france. macassar, southern portion and chief town ( ) at sw. corner of celebes; exports coffee, spices, timber, and "macassar" oil. macaulay, thomas babington, lord, essayist and historian, born at rothley temple, leicestershire, son of zachary macaulay the philanthropist, and so of scottish descent; graduated at cambridge , proving a brilliant debater in the union, and became fellow of trinity ; called to the bar , he preferred to follow literature, having already gained a footing by some poems in _knight's quarterly_ and by his essay on "milton" in the _edinburgh review_ ( ); in he entered parliament for a pocket-borough, took an honourable part in the reform debates, and in the new parliament sat for leeds; his family were now in straitened circumstances, and to be able to help them he went out to india as legal adviser to the supreme council; to his credit chiefly belongs the indian penal code; returning in , he represented edinburgh in the commons with five years' interval till ; the "lays of ancient rome" appeared in , his collected "essays" in , two years later he ceased writing for the _edinburgh;_ he was now working hard at his "history," of which the first two volumes attained a quite unprecedented success in ; next year he was chosen lord rector of glasgow university; saw the third and fourth volumes of his "history"; in he was made a peer, and many other honours were showered upon him; with a tendency to too much declamation in style, a point of view not free from bias, and a lack of depth and modesty in his thinking, he yet attained a remarkable amount and variety of knowledge, great intellectual energy, and unrivalled lucidity in narration ( - ). macbeth, a thane of the north of scotland who, by assassination of king duncan, became king; reigned years, but his right was disputed by malcolm, duncan's son, and he was defeated by him and fell at lumphanan, december , . maccabees, a body of jewish patriots, followers of judas maccabæus, who in nd century b.c. and in the interest of the jewish faith withstood the oppression of syria and held their own for a goodly number of years against not only the foreign yoke that oppressed them, but against the hellenising corruption of their faith at home. maccabees, books of, two books of the apocrypha which give, the first, an account of the heroic struggle which the maccabees maintained from to b.c. against the kings of syria, and the second, of an intercalary period of jewish history from to b.c., much of it of legendary unreliable matter; besides these two a third and a fourth of a still more apocryphal character are extant. m'carthy, justin, writer and politician, began life as a journalist; is the author of a "history of our own times" and a "history of the four georges," as well as a number of novels; represents north longford in parliament; _b_. . m'cheyne, robert murray, the subject of a well-known memoir by andrew bonar, was born in edinburgh, educated at the university there, and was minister of st. peter's, dundee, from till his death; he is esteemed a saint by pious evangelical people, by whom the memoirs of him are much prized ( - ). m'clellan, american general, born in philadelphia; served in the mexican war, and in the war of secession, eventually as commander-in-chief; was author of military engineering works ( - ). macclesfield ( ), cheshire manufacturing town on the bollin, m. s. of manchester; has a th-century church, and a grammar-school founded by edward vi.; its staple industry is silk manufactures; there are breweries, and mining and quarrying near. macclintock, arctic navigator, born at dundalk; sent out by lady franklin to discover the fate of sir john and his crew; wrote an account of the voyage ( - ). m'clure, arctic navigator, born in wexford; went out in search of franklin, and discovered the north-west passage in ( - ). m'crie, thomas, a scotch seceder, born in dunse; was minister in edinburgh; author of the "life of john knox," published in ; defended the covenanters against scott; he was a man of dignified military presence ( - ). m'culloch, horatio, a scottish landscape-painter, born in glasgow; was distinguished for his highland landscapes ( - ). m'culloch, john ramsey, political economist, born in isle of whithorn; contributed to the _scotsman_ and _edinburgh review;_ wrote "principles of political economy," and edited dictionaries of commerce and geography ( - ). maccunn, hamish, scottish composer, born at greenock; entered the royal college of music in , and became junior professor of harmony at the royal academy; his fertility in melody and mastery of the orchestra are devoted to music of strong national characteristics, as his overture "land of the mountain and the flood," and his choral work "the lay of the last minstrel" show; _b_. . macdonald, marshal of france, born at sancerre, of scotch descent, entered the army at the time of the revolution as a lieutenant, and rapidly rose in rank; served with distinction under napoleon, especially at wagram, when he was made duke of taranto; supported the bourbons on their restoration ( - ). macdonald, sir claude m., british minister at peking; served in the army in egypt in and , as a diplomatist in zanzibar in , and on the coast of africa as commissioner in ; was sent to peking in ; _b_. . macdonald, flora, a devoted jacobite who, at the risk of her own life, screened prince charles edward after his defeat at culloden from his pursuers, and saw him safe off to france, for which she was afterwards confined for a short time in the tower ( - ). macdonald, george, novelist, born in huntly; trained for the ministry, but devoted himself to literature; is the author, among other works, of "robert falconer," "david elginbrod," and "alec forbes"; his interests are religious, and his views liberal, particularly on religious matters; _b_., . mace, the, the symbol of authority in the house of commons; is placed on the table when the house is sitting, and is under the table as a rule when the speaker is not in the chair. macedonia, an ancient kingdom lying between thrace and illyria, the balkans and the Ægean; mostly mountainous, but with some fertile plains; watered by the strymon, axius, and heliacmon rivers; was noted for its gold and silver, its oil and wine. founded seven centuries b.c., the monarchy was raised to dignity and power by archelaus in the th century. philip ii. ( b.c.) established it yet more firmly; and his son, alexander the great, extended its sway over half the world. his empire broke up after his death, and the romans conquered it in b.c. Ægæ and pella were its ancient capitals, philippi, thessalonica, and amphipolis among its towns. after many vicissitudes during the middle ages it is now a province of turkey. macedonians, a sect in the early church who taught that the holy ghost was inferior to the father and the son, so called from macedonius, bishop of constantinople, their leader. macfarren, sir george alexander, musical author and composer, born in london; studied at the royal academy, and became professor there in ; in many operatic works he aimed at restoring old english musical characteristics, and wrote also cantatas "lenore," "may-day," &c., and oratorios, of which "john the baptist" ( ) was the first; but his chief merit lies in his writings on theory ( - ). machiavelli, niccolo, statesman and historian, born in florence, of an ancient family; was secretary of the florentine republic from to , and during that time conducted its diplomatic affairs with a skill which led to his being sent on a number of foreign embassies; he was opposed to the restoration of the medici family, and on the return of it to power was subjected to imprisonment and torture as a conspirator, but was at last set at liberty; he spent the remainder of his life chiefly in literary labours, producing among other works a treatise on government, entitled "the prince," the principles of which have established for him a notoriety wide as the civilised world ( - ). machiavellism, the doctrine taught by machiavelli in "the prince," that to preserve the integrity of a state the ruler should not feel himself bound by any scruple such as may suggest itself by considerations of justice and humanity; the state he regards as too precious an institution to endanger by scruples of that sort. m'ivor, flora, the heroine in scott's "waverley." mack, karl, austrian general, born in franconia; notorious for his military incapacity and defeats; confronted by napoleon at ulm in , he surrendered with , men without striking a blow; for this he was tried by court-martial, and sentenced to death, which was commuted to imprisonment for life, from which he was released at the end of a year ( - ). mackay, charles, journalist, novelist, and critic; wrote an autobiography entitled, "forty years' recollections of life, literature, and public affairs"; was the father of eric mackay, author of "love-letters of a violinist" ( - ). mackenzie, sir alexander campbell, composer, born at edinburgh; studied in germany and at the royal academy; was teacher and conductor in his native city from to , lived thereafter in italy; was made principal of the royal academy of music in , and knighted in ; his opera "colomba" ( ) first brought him fame; among his works, which are of every kind, his oratorio, "the rose of sharon" ( ), is reckoned best; _b_. . mackenzie, sir george, eminent scottish lawyer, born in dundee; became king's advocate for scotland; wrote on law and on other subjects in a style which commended itself to such a critic as dryden, though by his severe treatment of the covenanters he earned in scotland the opprobrious title of the "bluidy mackenzie" ( - ). mackenzie, henry, novelist, born in edinburgh; bred to law; author of "the man of feeling," "the man of the world," and "julia de roubigné," written in a sentimental style; held the office of controller of taxes in scotland by favour of pitt ( - ). mackenzie river, a river in n. america, rises in the rocky mountains; is fed by mighty streams in its course, and falls into the arctic ocean after a course of over m. in length. m'kinley, william, american statesman, of scottish parentage; served in the civil war; born at niles, ohio; entered congress in ; made his mark as a zealous protectionist; passed in a tariff measure named after him; was elected to presidency as the champion of a sound currency in opposition to mr. bryan in november ; _b_. . mackintosh, sir james, philosopher and politician, born in inverness-shire; took his degree in medicine, but went to the london bar; was a whig in politics; wrote "vindiciæ gallicæ" in reply to burke's philippic; defended peltier, bonaparte's enemy, in a magnificent style, and contributed a masterly preliminary "dissertation on ethics" to the "encyclopædia britannica" ( - ). maclaren, ian (_nom de plume_ of rev. john watson), born in essex, of scottish parents; studied in edinburgh; was minister of the free church in logiealmond and in glasgow, and translated to sefton park presbyterian church, liverpool, in ; wrote a series of idylls entitled "beside the bonnie brier bush," and a second series entitled "the days of auld lang syne"; both had a large circulation, and a number of other works, religious as well as fictitious; _b_. . maclaurin, colin, mathematician, born in kilmoden, argyllshire; was professor of mathematics in aberdeen and in edinburgh; wrote a "treatise on fluxions," in defence of newton against berkeley, and an "account of newton's discoveries"; did much to give an impetus to mathematical study in scotland ( - ). macleod, norman, liberal scottish clergyman, born at campbeltown, son of the manse; a genial, warm-hearted man; an earnest, powerful, and vigorous preacher, and a humorous writer; a visit to india in connection with missions shortened his days ( - ). maclise, daniel, painter, born at cork, of scottish extraction; among his oil-paintings are "mokanna unveiling," "all hallow eve," "bohemian gipsies," and the "banquet scene in macbeth," his last work being a series of cartoons painted in fresco for the palace of westminster illustrative of the glories of england ( - ). macmahon, duke of magenta, marshal of france, born at sully, of irish descent, second president of the third french republic from to ; distinguished himself in algeria and at the crimea, and took part in the franco-german war to his defeat and capture ( - ). macpherson, james, a gaelic scholar, born in ruthven, inverness-shire; identified with the publication of the poems of ossian, the originals of which he professed to have discovered in the course of a tour through the highlands, and about the authenticity of which there has been much debate, though they were the making of his fortune; he was buried in westminster abbey at his own request and expense ( - ). macramÉ lace, a coarse lace made of twine, used to decorate furniture generally. macready, william charles, english tragedian, born in london; he began his career as an actor in birmingham in the character of romeo, and was enthusiastically received on his first appearance in london; was distinguished for his impersonation of shakespeare's characters, but suffered a good deal from professional rivalries; leased in succession covent garden and drury lane theatres with pecuniary loss, and when he took farewell of the stage he was entertained at a banquet, attended by a host of friends eminent in both art and literature ( - ). macrometer, an optical instrument to determine the size or distance of inaccessible objects. macturk, captain hector, "the man of peace" in "st. ronan's well." madagascar ( , ), largest island in the world but two, in the indian ocean, m. off the mozambique coast, se. africa; is nearly three times the size of great britain, a plateau in the centre, with low, fertile, wooded ground round about; has many extinct volcanoes and active hot springs; the highest peak is ankàratra ( ft.), in the centre; the nw. coast has some good harbours; there are m. of lagoons on the e.; the biggest lake is alaotra, and the rivers flow mostly w.; the climate is hot, with copious rains, except in the s.; rice, coffee, sugar, and vanilla are cultivated; many kinds of valuable timber grow in the forests, and these, with cattle, hides, and india-rubber, constitute the exports; gold, iron, copper, lead, and sulphur are found, and the natives are skilled in working metals; the malagasys possess civilised institutions; slavery was abolished in ; a quarter of the population is christian; the heathen section, though untruthful and immoral, are affectionate, courageous, and loyal; antanànarìvo ( ), the capital, is situated in the interior, and has many fine buildings; chief ports, tamatave on the e. and majunga on the nw. coasts; the island has been under french protection since , and is a french colony since . madeira ( ), the chief of a group of small volcanic islands with precipitous coasts, in the atlantic, m. off morocco; has peaks ft. high and deep picturesque ravines; the island is a favourite resort for consumptives; the climate is very mild and equable, the rainfall moderate, and the soil fertile; crops of cereals and potatoes are raised; oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, and bananas abound; madeira wine is famous, and the chief export; funchal ( ) is the capital, with an exposed harbour and some good buildings; the islands form a province of portugal. madeira river (i. e. river of the wood), formed by the junction of the mamoré and beni on the borders of bolivia and brazil, flows m. ne., and joins the amazon, as an affluent its longest and largest, and forms a magnificent navigable waterway. madeleine, church of the, one of the principal and wealthiest churches in paris, erected in the style of a greek temple, and the building of which, began in , was not finished till , both the interior and exterior of which has been adorned by the most distinguished artists. madge wildfire, a pretty but giddy girl in the "heart of midlothian," whom seduction and the murder of her child drove crazy. madison, james, american statesman and president, born at port conway, virginia, educated at princeton; devoted himself to politics in ; he took part in framing the virginia constitution, and subsequently secured religious liberty in the state; with jay and hamilton he collaborated to establish the federation of the states and to frame the federal constitution; the "three-fifths" rule, which won the adhesion of the slave-holding states, was his suggestion; elected to the first congress, he attached himself to jefferson's party, and was secretary of state during jefferson's presidency, - ; he succeeded his former leader and held office for two terms, during which the war of - with england was waged; his public life closed with his term of office, ( - ). madman of the north, charles xii. of sweden, so called from his temerity and impetuosity. madoc, a welshman who, according to welsh tradition, discovered america years before columbus, after staying in which for a time he returned, gave an account of what he had seen and experienced, and went back, but was never heard of more; his story has been amplified by southey in an epic. madonna is the name given to pictures of the virgin with the infant christ, and more generally to all sacred pictures in which the virgin is a prominent figure; the virgin has been a favourite subject of art from the earliest times, the first representation of her being, according to legend, by st. luke; different countries and schools have depicted their madonnas, each in its own characteristic style; the greatest of all are the sistine and della sedia of raphael. madras ( , ), one of the three indian presidencies, occupies the s. and e. of the peninsula, and is one-half as large again as great britain; the chief mountains are the ghâts, from which flow se. the godavari, kistna, and kavari rivers, which, by means of extensive irrigation works, fertilise the plains; climate is various; on the w. coast very hot and with a rainfall from june to october of inches, producing luxurious vegetation; on the e. the heat is also great, but the rainfall, which comes chiefly between october and december, is only inches; in the hill country, e. g. ootacamund, the government summer quarters, it is genial and temperate all the year, and but for the monsoons the finest in the world; rice is everywhere the chief crop; cotton is grown in the e., tobacco in the godavari region, tea, coffee, and cinchona on the hills, and sugar-cane in different districts; gold is found in mysore (native state), and diamonds in the karnul; iron abounds, but without coal; the teak forests are of great value; cotton, gunny-bags, sugar, and tiles are the chief manufactures; english settlements date from ; the population, chiefly hindu, includes million mohammedans and ¾ million christians; the chief towns are rujumahendri ( ), vizugapatam ( ), trichinopoli ( ), of cheroot fame, and mangalore ( ), on the w. coast, and the capital madras ( ), on the e., coromandel, coast, a straggling city, hot but healthy, with an open roadstead, pier, and harbour exposed to cyclones, a university, examining body only, colleges of science, medicine, art, and agriculture, and a large museum; the chief exports are coffee, tea, cotton, and indigo. madrid ( ), since the capital of spain, on the manzanares, a mere mountain torrent, on an arid plateau in new castile, the centre of the peninsula; is an insanitary city, and liable to great extremes of temperature; it is regularly built, sometimes picturesque, with great open spaces, such as the prado, m. long; fine buildings and handsome streets. it contains the royal palace, parliament and law-court houses, a university, magnificent picture-gallery, many charitable institutions, and a bull-ring. the book-publishing, tapestry weaving, and tobacco industries are the most important. it is a growing and prosperous city. madrigal, a short lyric containing some pleasant thought or sweet sentiment daintily expressed; applied also to vocal music of a similar character. madvig, johan nicolai, danish scholar and politician, born at svaneke, bornholm; studied at copenhagen, where he became professor of latin in ; his studies of the latin prose authors brought him world-wide fame, and his latin grammar ( ) and greek syntax ( ) were invaluable contributions to scholarship; he entered parliament, was repeatedly its president, and was liberal minister of education and religion to ; he died blind ( - ). mÆander, a river in phrygia, flowing through the plain of troy, and noted for its numerous windings. mÆcenas, a wealthy roman statesman, celebrated for his patronage of letters; was the friend and adviser of augustus cæsar, and the patron of virgil and horace; claimed descent from the ancient etruscan kings; left the most of his property to augustus; _d_. b.c. maelstrÖm. see malstrÖm. mÆnades, the priestesses of bacchus, who at the celebration of his festivals gave way to expressions of frenzied enthusiasm, as if they were under the spell of some demonic power. mÆonides, a name given to homer, either as the son of mæon, or as born, according to one tradition, in mæonia. maestricht ( ), capital of dutch limburg, on the maes, m. e. of brussels; has manufactures of glass, earthenware, and carpets; near it are the vast subterranean quarries of the pietersberg, opened by the romans. maeterlinck, maurice, belgian dramatist, born at ghent; earned his fame by "la princesse maleine," produced in paris , and followed by "l'intruse," "les aveugles," and several other plays; his essays show religious sympathies; _b_. . mafeking, a station in ne. of british bechuanaland, on the transvaal frontier, on the railway from cape town. maffia, a sicilian secret society which aims at boycotting the law-courts, superseding the law, and ruling the island; its chief weapon is the boycott; violence is only resorted to for vengeance; funds are raised by blackmail; popular support enables it to control elections, avoid legal proceedings, and influence industrial questions. the italian government try in vain to put it down. magdala, an abyssinian hill fortress on a lofty plateau m. s. of massowah; captured by lord napier, who had been sent in to rescue certain british subjects held prisoners there, and which he succeeded in doing. magdalene, mary, a galilæan, belonging to magdala, on the sea of galilee, who followed christ, stood by the cross, prepared spices for his sepulchre, to whom he first appeared after his resurrection, and who is supposed by some recent critics to be the sole voucher for his rising again. magdeburg ( ), on the elbe, m. sw. of berlin, is the capital of prussian saxony, one of the most important fortresses, the chief sugar market of germany, and the seat of large iron manufactures; it has also distilleries and cotton mills, and is a busy railway centre; it is a place of ancient date and historical interest. magellan, ferdinand, portuguese navigator; served his country first in the east indies and morocco, but dissatisfied with king manuel's treatment of him, offered himself to spain; under charles v.'s patronage he and ruy falero set out to reach the moluccas by the west in ; he reached the philippines, and died in battle in matan; on this voyage he discovered the magellan strait, m. long and m. wide, between the south american mainland and tierra del fuego; he gave name to the pacific from the calm he exceptionally, it appears, experienced on entering it ( - ). magellanic clouds, two masses of stars and nebulæ seen in the southern hemisphere, not far from the south pole. magendie, franÇois, a celebrated french physiologist, born at bordeaux; was the author of several works on physiology, made important discoveries in connection with the animal system, and was an unscrupulous vivisectionist ( - ). magenta ( ), italian town, m. w. of milan, where macmahon defeated a superior austrian force in . maggiore, lago (i. e. the greater lake), a large lake in the n. of italy, partly in switzerland, m. in length, and m. in greatest breadth, the river ticino flowing through it. the borromean islands (q. v.) occupy a western arm of the lake. magi, a priestly caste in the east, constituting the "learned" class, as the druids in the west: the custodiers of religion and the rites connected therewith, and who gave themselves up to the study of sciences of a recondite character, but with a human interest, such as astrology and magic, and who were held in great reverence by, and exercised a great influence over, the people. magi, the three, the "wise men from the east" mentioned in matt. ii.--melchior, an old man, who brought gold, the emblem of royalty; gaspar, a youth, who brought frankincense, the emblem of divinity; balthazar, a moor, who brought myrrh, the emblem of humanity--and who were eventually regarded as the patron saints of travellers. magic, the pretended art to which extraordinary and marvellous effects are ascribed, of evoking and subjecting to the human will supernatural powers, and of producing by means of them apparitions, incantations, cures, &c., and the practice of which we find prevailing in all superstitious ages of the world and among superstitious people. see superstition. maginn, william, a witty, generous-hearted irishman, born in cork; a man of versatile ability, who contributed largely to _blackwood_, and became editor of _fraser's magazine_, in the conduct of which latter he gathered round him as contributors a number of the most eminent literary men; the stories and verses he wrote gave signs of something like genius ( - ). magliabecchi, an inordinate bookworm, born in florence; became librarian of the grand-duke; his book-knowledge was as unbounded as his avidity for knowledge; his memory was extraordinary; he carried in his head the page of a passage in a book as well as the passage itself in the _ipsissima verba_, ( - ). magna charta, "the great charter," extorted from king john by the barons of england at runnymede on june , , that guaranteed certain rights and privileges to the subjects of the realm, which were pronounced inviolable, and that established the supremacy of the law over the will of the monarch. magna grÆca, the ancient name of the southern part of italy, so called in early times as it was extensively colonised by greeks. magnet, the name given to loadstone as first discovered in magnesia, a town in asia minor; also to a piece of iron, nickel, or cobalt having similar properties, notably the power of setting itself in a definite direction; also a coil of wire carrying an electric current, because such a coil really possesses the properties characteristic of an iron magnet. magnetic induction, power in a magnet of imparting its qualities to certain other substances. magnetism, the branch of science devoted to the study of the properties of magnets, and of electric currents in their magnetic relations; sometimes also used to denote the subtle influence supposed to lie at the root of all magnetic phenomena, of the true nature of which nothing is known. see animal magnetism. magnificat, the, a musical composition embracing the song of the virgin mary in luke i. - , so called from the first word of the song in the vulgate; it belongs to, and forms part of, the evening service. magnussen, finn, a scandinavian scholar and archæologist, born in iceland; became professor of literature at copenhagen in ; distinguished for his translation and exposition of the "elder edda" ( - ). magyars, a people of mongolian origin from the highlands of central asia that migrated westward and settled in hungary and transylvania, where they now form the dominant race. mahÂbhÂrata, one of the two great epic poems of ancient india, a work of slow growth, extending through ages, and of an essentially encyclopædic character; one of the main sources of our knowledge of the ancient indian religions and their mythologies; it is said to consist of upwards of , verses. mahÂdÊva, the great god of the hindus; an appellation of siva (q. v.), as mahâdêvi is of durgâ, his wife. mahÁnadÉ, a great indian river which, after flowing eastward for over m., the last of which are navigable, falls into the bay of bengal near cape palmyras; its volume in flood is enormous, and renders it invaluable for irrigation. mahatma, one who, according to the theosophists, has passed through the complete cycle of incarnation, has thereby attained perfection of being, and acquired the rank of high priesthood and miraculous powers in the spirit world, one, it would seem, of "the spirits of just men made perfect." mahdi (i. e. religious leader), a name given to any mohammedan fanatic who arises in the interest of the mohammedan faith, summons the moslems to war, and leads them to repel the infidel; a kind of mohammed messiah armed with the sword for the conquest of the world to the faith. mahdi, mohammed ahmed, a mohammedan fanatic, born in dongola, and who, at the head of an army of dervishes, raised his standard for the revival of islam in the soudan; he was unsuccessfully opposed by the egyptians, and khartoum, occupied by them, fell into his hands, to the sacrifice of general gordon, just as the british relief army under lord wolseley approached its walls in , a few months after which he died at omdurman. mahdism, a hope cherished by devout moslems of a mahdi to come who will lead them on to victory against the infidel and to the conquest of the world. mahmud ii., sultan of turkey; crushed a rebellion on his accession by putting his brother to death, on whose behalf the janissaries had risen, as they afterwards did to their annihilation at his hands by wholesale massacre; by the victory of navarino in he lost his hold of greece, which declared its independence, and was near losing his suzerainty in egypt when he died; his reign was an eventful one ( - ). mahomet. see mohammed. mahon, lord, earl stanhope, statesman and historian; wrote "history of the war of the succession in spain," "history of the reign of queen anne," and "history of england from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles" ( - ). mahony, francis, an irish priest, born in cork, who took to journalism, and is known by his _nom de plume_ of father prout; contributed to _fraser's magazine_, and was foreign correspondent to the _daily news_ and the _globe_; was famous for his elegant translations ( - ). mahoun, a contemptuous name for mahomet, transferred in scotland to the devil, who was called old mahoun. mahrattas, a warlike hindu race in central india, occupying a territory watered by the nerbudda, godavari, and kistna, who at one time kept up a struggle for the supremacy of india with the british, but were finally subdued in . maÏ, angelo, cardinal, distinguished scholar and editor; became librarian of the vatican; was distinguished for deciphering palimpsests (q. v.), and thus disclosing lost classical works or fragments of them; he edited a number of unedited mss. which he found in the vatican, and in particular the vatican codex of the bible ( - ). maia, the daughter of atlas, the eldest of the seven pleiades (q. v.), and the mother by zeus of hermes or mercury. maid marian, a man dressed as a woman who grimaced and performed antics in the morris dances. maid of norway, daughter of eric ii., king of norway, and through her mother heiress to the scottish crown; died on her passage to scotland in . maid of orleans, joan of arc, so called from her defence of orleans against the english. see joan. maiden, the, a sort of guillotine that appears to have been in use in scotland during the th and th centuries, of which there is one in the antiquarian museum, edinburgh. maidment, james, antiquary and collector, born in london; passed through edinburgh university to the scotch bar, and was chief authority on genealogical cases; his hobby was the collection of literary rarities, and he published editions of ancient literary remains; he died at edinburgh ( - ). maidstone ( ), county town of kent, on the medway, m. se. of london; has several fine old churches and historical buildings, a grammar school and a school of art and music, numerous paper-mills, and breweries, and does a large trade in hops; woollett the engraver and hazlitt the essayist were born here. maimon, solomon, philosopher, born, of jewish parents, in a village of minsk; came to berlin, where he studied, lived an eccentric, vagabond life, dependent mostly on his friends; made the acquaintance of kant and goethe, and attempted and published an eclectic system of philosophy in , being kant's system supplemented from spinoza, leibnitz, and locke, and even hume; his last patron was count kalkreuth, at whose house in siegersdorf he died ( - ). maimonides, moses, a jewish rabbi, born at cordova, whom the jews regarded as their plato, and called the "lamp of israel" and the "eagle of the doctors"; was a man of immense learning, and was physician to the sultan of egypt; in his relation to the jews he ranks next to moses, and taught them to interpret their religion in the light of reason; he wrote a "commentary on the mishna and the second law," but his chief work is the "moreh nebochim," or "guide to the perplexed" ( - ). maine ( ), the most north-easterly state in the american union, lies between quebec and new hampshire on the w. and new brunswick and the atlantic on the e., and is a little larger than ireland, a picturesque state with high mountains in the w., katahdin ( ft), many large lakes like moosehead, numerous rivers, and a much indented rocky coast; the climate is severe but healthy, the soil only in some places fertile, the rainfall is abundant; dense forests cover the north; hay, potatoes, apples, and sweet corn are chief crops; cotton, woollen, leather manufactures, lumber working, and fruit canning are principal industries; the fisheries are valuable; timber, building stone, cattle, wool, and in winter ice are exported; early dutch, english, and french settlements were unsuccessful till ; from maine was part of massachusetts, till made a separate state in ; the population is english-puritan and french-canadian in origin; education is advancing; the state's liquor law of was among the first of the kind: the capital is augusta ( ); portland ( ) is the largest city and chief seaport; lewiston ( ) has cotton manufactures. maine, sir henry, english jurist, legal member of the council in india, and professor of jurisprudence at oxford; wrote on "ancient law," and important works on ancient institutions generally; regarded the social system as a development of the patriarchal system ( - ). maintenance, cap of, an ermine-lined, crimson velvet cap, the wearing of which was a distinction granted first to dukes but subsequently to various other families. maintenon, franÇoise d'aubignÉ, marquise de, born in the prison of niort, where her father was incarcerated as a protestant; though well inoculated with protestant principles she turned a catholic, married the poet scarron in , became a widow in ; was entrusted with the education of the children of louis xiv. and madame de montespan; supplanted the latter in the king's affections, and was secretly married to him in ; she exercised a great influence over him, not always for good, and on his death in retired into the convent of st. cyr, which she had herself founded for young ladies of noble birth but in humble circumstances ( - ). mainz or mayence ( ), in hesse-darmstadt, on the rhine, opposite the mouth of the main, is an important german fortress and one of the oldest cities in germany; it has a magnificent cathedral, restored in , and is a stronghold of catholicism; a large transit trade is done, and the making of furniture, leather goods, and machinery are important industries; gutenberg was a native. maistre, count, joseph de, a keen and extreme ultramontanist, born at chambéry, of a noble french family; accompanied the king of sardinia in his retreat while the french occupied savoy in ; was ambassador at st. petersburg from to , when he was recalled to the home government at turin; wrote numerous works, the chief "du pape" and "soirées de st. petersbourg" ( - ). maitland, william, scottish politician and reformer, the secretary lethington of queen mary's reign; played a prominent part in the various movements of his time, but gained the confidence of no party; he adhered to the party of moray as against the extreme measures of knox, and proved a highly astute ambassador at the english court; he connived at rizzio's murder, but regained mary's favour, and when she fled to england he, though joining with the new government, acted in her interest and formed a party to restore her to power; he and kirkcaldy of grange were forced to surrender, however, at edinburgh in , and maitland afterwards died in leith prison ( - ). majolica, a kind of enamelled pottery imported into italy from majorca, known also as faience from its manufacture at faenza, and applied also to vessels made of coloured clay in imitation. majorca ( ), the largest of the balearic isles, is m. ne. of cape san antonio, in spain; mountains in the n. rise to ft., their slopes covered with olives, oranges, and vines; the plains are extremely fertile, and the climate mild and equable; manufactures of cotton, silk, and shoes are the industries; the capital, palma ( ), is on the s. coast, at the head of a large bay of the same name. majuscule, a capital letter found in old latin mss. in and before the th century. makrizi, taki-ed-din ahmed el-, greatest arabic historian of egypt, born at cairo; studied philosophy and theology, and in won the green turban; occupied several political and ecclesiastical offices; went to damascus in , but returning to cairo devoted himself to history, and published among other works an important "history of egypt and cairo" ( - ). malabar ( , ), a district in the w. of madras, sloping from the ghâts down to the indian ocean, very rainy, covered with vast forests of teak; produces rice, coffee, and pepper. malacca is a name given to the whole malay peninsula, that remarkable tongue of land to m. wide, stretching m. se. from burma between the strait of malacca and the gulf of siam; mountain ranges ft. high from the backbone; along the coast are deep mangrove swamps; the plains between yield rice, sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco; there are forests of teak, camphor, ebony, and sandal-wood, and the richest tin mines in the world; the climate is unhealthy; the northern portion is siamese, the southern constitutes the british straits settlements, of which one, on the w. coast, is specifically called malacca ( ); it exports tin and tapioca; the capital, malacca ( ), m. nw. of singapore, was the scene of francis xavier's labours. malachi, a prophetic book of the old testament, the author of which is otherwise unknown, as the name, which means the "messenger of jehovah," occurs nowhere else in the bible, and it is a question whether the name is that of a person or a mere appellative; the prophecy it contains appears to have been uttered b.c., and refers to abuses which came to a head between the first and second visits of nehemiah to jerusalem; it lacks the old prophetic fire, and gives the impression that the prophetic office is ended. malachy, st., archbishop of armagh in the th century; was a friend of st. bernard's, who wrote his life and in whose arms he died at clairvaux; was renowned for his sanctity as well as learning; a book of prophecies ascribed to him bearing on the roman pontiffs is a forgery. maladetta, mount (i. e. the accursed), the name of the highest summit of the pyrenees, , ft. high, in ne. of zaragoza. malaga ( ), spanish seaport, m. ne. of gibraltar, an ancient phoenician town, is now an important but declining centre of commerce; it exports olive-oil, wine, raisins, lead, &c., and manufactures cotton, linen, machinery, fine-art pottery, &c.; its magnificent climate makes it an excellent health resort. malagrowther, an old courtier in the "fortunes of nigel" soured by misfortune, and who would have every one be as discontented as himself. malaise, an uneasy feeling which often precedes a serious attack of some disease. malaprop, mrs., a character in sheridan's "rivals," noted for her blunders in the use of fine or learned words, as in the use of "allegory" for "alligator." mÄlar lake, large and beautiful swedish lake, stretching m. westward from stockholm; its shores are deeply indented with bays, and the surrounding hills as well as the thousand islands it contains are well wooded. malay archipelago or indian archipelago is that group of many hundred islands stretching from the malay peninsula se. to australia between the north pacific and the indian ocean, of which borneo, sumatra, java, and celebes are the largest. malays, a branch of the human family now classed among the mongols, and which inhabit the malay peninsula, the islands of the indian archipelago, as well as madagascar, and many of the islands in the pacific; they are of a dark-brown or tawny complexion, short of stature, have flat faces, black coarse hair, and high cheek-bones; there are three classes of them, distinguished from each other in character and habits of life; the more civilised of them are mohammedans. malcolm, sir john, indian soldier and statesman, born in dumfriesshire; went as cadet to the madras army in , and for over years was an important figure in eastern affairs; he was ambassador to persia , governor of mysore , again in persia as plenipotentiary in and , political agent in the deccan , and governor of bombay - ; he distinguished himself also in several wars; wrote "a history of persia" and other historical works, and returning to england entered parliament in , opposed to the reform bill; two years later he died in london ( - ). malcolm canmore, son of duncan, whom macbeth slew, succeeded his father in as king of cumbria and lothian, and in , on macbeth's death, became king of all scotland; till his reign was peaceful, but thereafter it was one long conflict with the normans in england; raids and counter-raids succeeded each other till, in , malcolm was forced to do homage to william rufus; next year he lost his possessions s. of the solway, and in he was slain in battle at alnwick; the influence of his second wife, the saintly margaret, did much to promote the civilisation of scotland and to bring the scottish church into harmony with the rest of christendom. maldive islands ( ), a chain of several hundred tiny coral islands in the indian ocean stretching m. southward from a point m. sw. of cape comorin, of which are inhabited; malé is the residence of the sultan, who is a tributary of the governor of ceylon; the natives are akin to the singhalese, and occupy themselves gathering cowries, cocoa-nuts, and tortoise-shell for exportation. malebolge, the name given to the eighth circle in dante's "inferno," as consisting of "evil pits," which the name means, in number, for those guilty of frauds: contains ( ) seducers, ( ) flatterers, ( ) simonists, ( ) soothsayers, ( ) bribers and receivers of bribes, ( ) hypocrites, ( ) robbers, ( ) evil advisers, ( ) slanderers, ( ) forgers. malebranche, nicholas, a french metaphysician, born in paris; determined to embrace a monastic life, entered the congregation of the oratory at the age of , and devoted himself to theological study, till the treatise of descartes on "man" falling into his hands, he gave himself up to philosophy; his famous work "de la recherche de la vérité" was published in , the main object of which was to bridge over the gulf which separates mind from matter by the establishment of the thesis that the mind immediately perceives god, and sees all things in god, who in himself includes the presumed irreconcilable antithesis ( - ). malesherbes, lamoignon de, french statesman, born in paris; a good and upright man; was twice over called to be one of louis xvi.'s advisers, but his advice was not taken and he retired; defended louis at his trial; pled for him "with eloquent want of eloquence, in broken sentences, in embarrassment and sobs," and was guillotined for it; he had been censor of the press, and to his liberal-minded censorship the world owes the publication of the "encyclopédie" ( - ). malherbe, franÇois de, a french lyric poet and miscellaneous writer of great industry, born at caen, is, from his correct though affected style, regarded as one of the reformers of the french language ( - ). malignants, the advisers of charles i., chief among whom were strafford and laud; were so called by the parliamentarians, who blamed them for the evils of the country; the name was afterwards applied to the whole royalist party. malines or mechlin ( ), a belgian city on the dyle, m. s. of antwerp; has lost its old commercial activity, and is now the quiet ecclesiastical capital; masterpieces of van dyck and rubens adorn its churches. malingering, a name given in the army to the crime of feigning illness to evade duty or obtain a discharge. mallet, david, originally malloch, scottish littérateur, born in crieff; wrote several plays, and is remembered for his ballad entitled "william and margaret"; he was a friend of thomson, and divided with him the honour of the authorship of "rule britannia," the merit of which, however, is more in the music than in the poetry, about which they contested ( - ). mallock, william hurrell, author, born in devonshire, educated at oxford; published "the new republic," , a masterly satire on prominent contemporaries, which none of his subsequent work has excelled; _b_. . malmaison, a historical château m. w. of paris; belonged originally to richelieu; saw the last days of joséphine, whose favourite residence it was, and was the scene of the repulse of ducrot's sortie in october . malmesbury, william of, an english chronicler of the th century; his chief work "gesta regum anglorum" and "gesta pontificum anglorum," followed by his "historia novella." malmÖ ( ), important seaport and third town of sweden, opposite copenhagen; ships farm produce, cement, and timber; imports machinery, textile fabrics, and coffee; has cigar and sugar factories, and some shipbuilding. malone, edmund, a shakespearian critic and editor, born in dublin, was a stickler for literary accuracy and honesty ( - ). malory, sir thomas, flourished in the th century; was the author of "morte d'arthur," being a translation in prose of a labyrinthine selection of arthurian legends, which was finished in the ninth year of edward iv., and printed fifteen years after by caxton "with all care." malpighi, marcello, italian anatomist and professor of medicine; noted for his discovery of the corpuscles of the kidney and the spleen, named after him ( - ). malstrÖm, or maelstrÖm, a dangerous whirlpool off the coast of norway, caused by the rushing of the currents of the ocean in a channel between two of the loffoden islands, and intensified at times by contrary winds, to the destruction often of particularly small craft caught in the eddies of it, and sometimes of whales attempting to pass through it. malta (with gozo) ( ), a small british island in the mediterranean, m. s. of sicily; is a strongly fortified and a most important naval station, head-quarters of the british mediterranean fleet, and coaling-station for naval and mercantile marine; with a history of great interest, malta was annexed to britain in . the island is treeless, and with few streams, but fertile, and has many wells. wheat, potatoes, and fruit are largely cultivated, and filigree work and cotton manufactured. the people are industrious and thrifty; population is the densest in europe. the roman catholic church is very powerful. there is a university at valetta, and since malta has been self-governing. maltebrun, conrad, geographer, born in denmark; studied in copenhagen, but banished for his revolutionary sympathies; settled in paris; was the author of several geographical works, his "geographic universelle" the chief ( - ). malthus, thomas r., an english economist, born near dorking, in surrey; is famous as the author of an "essay on the principle of population," of which the first edition appeared in , and the final, greatly enlarged, in ; the publication provoked much hostile criticism, as it propounded a doctrine which was disastrous to the accepted theory of perfectibility, and which aimed at showing how the progress of the race was held in check by the limited supply of the means of subsistence, a doctrine that admittedly anticipated that struggle for life on a larger scale which the darwinian hypothesis requires for its "survival of the fittest" ( - ). malvern, great ( ), a watering-place in worcestershire, on the side of the malvern hills, with a clear and bracing air, a plentiful supply of water, and much frequented by invalids. mambrino, a moorish king, celebrated in the romances of chivalry, who possessed a helmet of pure gold which rendered the wearer of it invulnerable, the possession of which was the ambition of all the paladins of charlemagne, and which was carried off by rinaldo, who slew the original owner; cervantes makes his hero persuade himself that he has found it in a barber's brass basin. mamelukes, originally slaves from the regions of the caucasus, captured in war or bought in the market-place, who became the bodyguard of the sultan in egypt, and by-and-by his master to the extent of ruling the country and supplying a long line of sultans of their own election from themselves, many of them enlightened rulers, governing the country well, but their supremacy was crushed by the sultan of turkey in ; after this, however, they retained much of their power, and they offered a brilliant resistance to bonaparte at the battle of the pyramids in , who defeated them; but recovering their power after his withdrawal and proving troublesome, they were by two treacherous massacres annihilated in by mehemet ali, who became viceroy of egypt under the porte. mammon, the syrian god of riches, which has given name to the modern passion for material wealth, specially conceived of as an abnegation of christianity, the profession of which is in flat antagonism to it. mammoth, an extinct species of elephant of enormous size found fossilised in northern europe and asia in deposits alongside of human remains, and yielding a supply of fossil ivory. mammoth cave, a cave in kentucky, u.s., about m., the largest in the world, and rising at one point to ft. in height, with numerous side branches leading into grottoes traversed by rivers, which here and there collect into lakes; name also of another of smaller dimensions in california. man, isle of ( ), a small island in the irish sea, m. w. of cumberland and about the same distance e. of co. down; from its equable climate and picturesque scenery is a favourite holiday resort; it has important lead mines at laxey and foxdale; fishing and cattle-grazing are profitable industries; the people are keltic, with a language and government of their own; the island is a bishopric, with the title sodor and man. man of destiny, name given to napoleon bonaparte as reflecting his own belief, for he was a fatalist. man of feeling, the title of a novel by henry mackenzie, frequently applied to himself as well as his hero. man of ross, john kyrle, a public-spirited gentleman, immortalised by pope from the name of his parish in hereford. see kyrle. man of sin, name given in thess. ii. to the incarnation at the height of its pride of the spirit of antichrist, synchronous with the day of its fall. manasseh-ben-israel, a jewish rabbi, born at lisbon; settled at amsterdam; wrote several works in the interest of judaism ( - ). manby, captain, a militia officer, born in norfolk; was inventor of the apparatus for saving shipwrecked persons, and by means of which he saved the lives of nearly a thousand persons himself ( - ). mancha, la, an ancient province of spain, afterwards included in new castile, the greater part of which is occupied by ciudad-real; it is memorable as the scene of don quixote's adventures. manche, la, the french name for the english channel, so called from its resemblance to a sleeve, which the word in french means. manchester ( ), on the irwell, in the se. of lancashire, m. e. of liverpool, the centre of the english cotton manufacturing district, with many other textile and related industries, is an ancient, rich, and prosperous city; it has many fine buildings, including a gothic town hall and assize court-house by waterhouse; there is a picture-gallery, philosophic and other institutions, and technical school; owens college is the nucleus of victoria university; the substitution of steam for hand power began here about ; the industrial struggles in the beginning of the th century were severe, and included the famous "peterloo massacre"; the anti-corn-law league originated in manchester, and manchester has given its name to a school of liberal politicians identified with the advocacy of peace abroad, free trade, no government interference with industry, and _laissez-faire_ principles at home; the bridgewater canal , the railway , and the ship canal to the mouth of the mersey , mark steps in the city's progress; since manchester with salford ( ), on the opposite bank of the irwell, have formed a county. manchester, edward montagu, earl of, english statesman and general, eldest son of the first earl; sided with the parliament in the civil war, and commanded in the army, but was censured by cromwell for his slackness at newbury, which he afterwards resented by opposing the policy of the protector; he contributed to the restoration of charles ii., and was in consequence made lord chamberlain ( - ). manchuria ( , ), a chinese province lying between mongolia and corea, with the amur river on the n. and the yellow sea on the s., is five times the size of england and wales; the northern, central, and eastern parts are mountainous; the sungari is the largest river; the soil is fertile, producing large crops of millet, maize, hemp, &c., but the climate in winter is severe; pine forests abound; the country is rich in gold, silver, coal, and iron, but they are little wrought; beans, silk, skins and furs are exported; the imports include textiles, metals, paper, and opium; the manchus are the aristocracy of the province; chinese settlers are industrious and prosperous; the chief towns are moukden ( ) in the s., kirin ( ) on the sungari, and new-chwang ( ) on the liao river, a treaty-port since ; russian influence predominates in the province since . mandÆans, a community found working as skilled artisans in the persian province of khuzistan, and in basra on the euphrates; are a religious sect; called also sabians, and holding tenets gathered from christian, jewish, and heathen sources, resembling those of the ancient gnostics; their priesthood admits women; their chief rite is baptism, and hence their old name, christians of st. john the baptist. mandalay ( ), capital of upper burma, on the irawadi, in the centre of the country, m. n. of rangoon; was seized by the british in . the aracan pagoda, with a brazen image of the buddha, attracts many pilgrims, and buddhist monasteries cluster outside the town. there are silk-weaving, gold, silver, ivory, and wood work, gong-casting and sword-making industries. great fires raged in it in and . mandarin, the name given by foreigners, derived from the portuguese, signifying to "command," to chinese official functionaries, of which there are some nine orders, distinguished by the buttons on their caps, and they are appointed chiefly for their possession of the requisite qualifications for the office they aspire to. mandeville, bernard de, a cynical writer, born at dordrecht, holland; bred to medicine; came to london to practise; wrote in racy english the "fable of the bees," intended to show, as stopford brooke says, how the "vices of society are the foundation of civilisation," or as professor saintsbury says, how "vice makes some bees happy, and virtue makes them miserable"; the latter calls him "the diogenes of english philosophy"; he affirmed that "private vices are public benefits," and reduced virtue into a form of selfishness; his satire is directed against the ethics of shaftesbury (q. v.) ( - ). mandeville, sir john, english adventurer, named of st. albans, who from his own account travelled over thirty years in the east, and wrote a narrative of the marvels he experienced in a book of voyages and travels published in ; the authorship of this book has been questioned, but on this point there is no doubt that, as professor saintsbury says, "it is the first book of belles-lottres in english prose." mandingoes, a negro race in senegambia, and farther inland around the quorra; are numerous and powerful, and arranged in separate nationalities so to speak. manes, the general name given by the romans to the departed spirits of good men, who are conceived of as dwelling in the nether world, and as now and again ascending to the upper. manes, mani, or manichÆans, the founder of the manichÆans (q. v.), a native of persia, and who died a.d. . manetho, an egyptian priest and historian, of the rd century b.c.; wrote a history of egypt in greek, derived from study of sacred monumental inscriptions, which is extant only in fragments. manfred, king of the two sicilies, son of the emperor frederick ii., who had to struggle for his birthright with three popes, innocent iv., alexander iv., and urban iv., the last of whom having excommunicated him, as his predecessors had done, and bestowed his dominions on charles of anjou, in conflict with whom at benevento he fell, and who denied him christian burial, though his nobles pled with him to grant it ( - ). manfred, count, hero of a poem of byron's; sold himself to the prince of darkness; lived in solitude on the alps, estranged from all sympathy with others, and was carried off in the end by the master whom he had served. manhattan, a long island at the mouth of the hudson, on which a great part of new york stands. manichÆism, the creed which ascribes the created universe to two antagonistic principles, the one essentially good--god, spirit, light; the other essentially evil--the devil, matter, darkness; and this name is applied to every system founded on the like dualism. mani, the founder of it, appears to have borrowed his system in great part from zoroaster. manila ( ), capital of the philippine islands; at the head of a great bay on the w. coast of luzon; is hot, but not unhealthy; suffers severely from storms and earthquakes, and is largely built of wood. it has a cathedral, university, and observatory. its only industry is cigar-making, but the exports include also manila hemp, sugar, and coffee. the population, chiefly tagals, includes , chinese, many spaniards and europeans. in the spanish-american war of admiral dewey captured the city. manin, daniel, an illustrious italian patriot, born at venice, of jewish birth; bred for the bar, and practised at it; became president of the venetian republic in , and was one of the most distinguished opponents of the domination of austria; died at paris, a teacher of italian ( - ). manito`ba ( ), a partially developed inland province of canada, somewhat larger than england and wales; is square in shape, with the united states on its s. border, assiniboia on the w., saskatchewan and keewatin on the n., and ontario on the e.; a level prairie and arable country, scantily wooded but well watered, having three large lakes, winnipeg, winnipegosis, and manitoba, and three large rivers, assiniboine, souris, and red river. the climate is dry and healthy, though subject to great extremes of temperature; comparatively little snow falls; the soil is very fertile; mixed farming, dairy, cattle, and sheep farming are carried on successfully. land is cheap, and the government still makes free grants of -acre lots. there is no mineral wealth; coal is found in the s.; fishing is pursued on the lakes and rivers. constituted a province in , manitoba was the scene of the riel rebellion, quelled that same year. the government is vested in a lieutenant-governor, an executive council, and a single chamber of members. in the dominion government the province is represented by four members of senate and five members of the commons. the capital is winnipeg ( ), the seat of a university and of extensive flour-mills. the other chief towns are brandon ( ), a market town, and portage-la-prairie ( ), with a brewery, flour, and paper mills. manitou, among the north american indians an animal revealed to the head of a tribe as the guardian spirit of it, and an object of sacred regard. see totemism. manlius, capitolinus, a roman hero who, in b.c., saved rome from an attack of the gauls, and who was afterwards for treason thrown down the tarpeian rock. mann, horace, american educationist, born in massachusetts; was devoted to the cause of education as well as that of anti-slavery ( - ). manna, the food with which the israelites were miraculously fed in the wilderness, a term which means "what is this?" being the expression of surprise of the israelites on first seeing it. mannheim ( ), on the right bank of the rhine, m. above mainz; the chief commercial centre of baden; has manufactures of tobacco, india-rubber, and iron goods, and a growing river trade. an old historical city, it was formerly capital of the rhenish palatinate, and a resort of protestant refugees. manning, henry edward, cardinal, born in hertfordshire; fellow of merton, oxford, and a leader in the tractarian movement there; became rector in sussex; married, and became archdeacon of chichester; his wife being dead, and dissatisfied with the state of matters in the church of england, in joined the church of rome, became archbishop of westminster in , and cardinal in ; took interest in social matters as well as the catholic propaganda; a too candid "life" has been written of him since his decease, which has created much controversy ( - ). mans, le ( ), capital of french department of sarthe, on the river sarthe, m. sw. of paris; has a magnificent cathedral; is an important railway centre, and has textile and hosiery factories. it was the scene of a great french defeat in january . mansard, the name of two french architects, born in paris--franÇois, who constructed the bank of france ( - ), and jules hardoun, his grand-nephew, architect of the dome of the invalides and of the palace and chapel of versailles ( - ). mansel, henry longueville, dean of st. paul's, born in northamptonshire; wrote admirably on philosophical and religious subjects, and was a doughty adversary in controversy both with mill and maurice; he was a follower in philosophy of sir william hamilton (q. v.) ( - ). mansfield ( ), market-town of notts, m. n. of nottingham, in the centre of a mining district, with iron and lace-thread manufactures. mansfield, william murray, earl of, lord chief-justice of england, born in perth, called to the bar in ; distinguished himself as a lawyer, entered parliament in , and became solicitor-general, accepted the chief-justiceship in ; was impartial as a judge, but unpopular; raised to the peerage in , and resigned his judgeship in ( - ). mansfield college, oxford, a theological college established there for the education of students intended for the nonconformist ministry, though open to other classes; the buildings were opened in . mansion house, the official residence of the lord mayor of london, erected in at a cost of £ , , with a banqueting-room capable of accommodating guests. mantegna, andrea, an italian painter and engraver, born at padua; his works were numerous, did atlas pieces and frescoes, his greatest "the triumph of cæsar"; he was a man of versatile genius, was sculptor and poet as well as painter, and his influence on italian art was great ( - ). mantell, gideon, an eminent english geologist and palæontologist, born at lewes, in sussex; wrote "the wonders of geology," "thoughts on a pebble," &c.; he was a voluminous author, and distinguished for his study of fossils ( - ). manteuffel, baron von, field-marshal of germany, born in dresden; entered the prussian army in , rose rapidly, and took part in all the wars from to , and was appointed viceroy at the close of the last in alsace-lorraine, a rather unhappy appointment, as it proved ( - ). mantra, the name given to hymns from the veda, the repetition of which are supposed to have the effect of a charm. mantua ( ), the strongest fortress in italy, in se. lombardy, on two islands in the river mincio, m. e. of milan, is a somewhat gloomy and unhealthy town, with many heavy mediæval buildings; there are saltpetre refineries, weaving and tanning industries. virgil was born here in b.c. the town was austrian in the th century, but ceded to italy . mantuan swan, a name given to the roman poet virgil, from his having been a native of mantua, in n. italy. manu, code of, one of the sacred books of the hindus, in which is expounded the doctrine of brahminism, inculcating "sound, solid, and practical morality," and containing evidence of the progress of civilisation among the aryans from their first establishment in the valley of the ganges. manu, the alleged author, appears to have been a primitive mythological personage, conceived of as the ancestor and legislator of the human race, and as having manifested himself through long ages in a series of incarnations. manzoni, alessandro, italian poet and novelist, born at milan; began a sceptic, but became a devout catholic; wrote a volume of hymns, entitled "inni sacri," and a tragedy, "adelchi," his masterpiece, and admired by goethe, as also a prose fiction, "i promessi sposi," which spread his name over europe; in was made a senator of the kingdom of italy, and was visited by garibaldi in ; he was no less distinguished as a man than as an author ( - ). maoris, the natives of new zealand, a polynesian race numbering , , who probably displaced an aboriginal; are distinguished for their bravery; are governed by chiefs, and speak a rich sonorous language; they are the most vigorous and energetic of all the south sea islanders. mar, a district in s. aberdeenshire, between the don and the dee, has given a title to many earls; one was regent of scotland in , another, nicknamed "bobbing joan," led the jacobite rising of ; on the death without issue of the earl in the question of succession was at issue; the committee of privileges granted it to his cousin, the earl of kellie, thereafter mar and kellie, and a bill in parliament awarding it to his nephew, who is thus earl of mar. marabouts, a sect of religious devotees of a priestly order much venerated in north africa, believed to possess supernatural power, particularly in curing diseases, and exercising at times considerable political influence; their supernatural power appears to come to them by inheritance. maracaybo ( ), a venezuelan town and fortress on the w. shore of the outlet of lake maracaybo; has handsome streets and buildings, and exports coffee and valuable woods; the lake of maracaybo is a large fresh-water lake in the w. of venezuela, connected with the gulf of maracaybo by a wide strait, across which stretches an effective bar. maranatha (lit. the lord cometh to judge), a form of anathema in use among the jews. maraÑon, one of the head-waters of the amazon, rising in lake lauricocha, peru, and flowing n. and e. till it joins the ucayali and forms the amazon; the name is sometimes given to the whole river. marat, jean paul, a fanatical democrat, born in neuchâtel, his father an italian, his mother a genevese; studied and practised medicine, came to paris as horse-leech to count d'artois; became infected with the revolutionary fever, and had one fixed idea: "give me," he said, "two hundred naples bravoes, armed each with a good dirk, and a muff on his left arm by way of shield, and with them i will traverse france and accomplish the revolution," that is, by wholesale massacre of the aristocrats; he had more than once to flee for his life, and one time found shelter in the sewers of paris, contracting thereby a loathsome skin disease; he was assassinated one evening as he sat in his bath by charlotte corday (q. v.), but his body was buried with honours in the pantheon by a patriot people, "that of mirabeau flung out to make room for him," to be some few months after himself cast out with execration ( - ). marathon, a village, m. ne. of athens, on the sea border of a plain where the greeks under miltiades on a world-famous occasion defeated the persians under darius in b.c.; the plain on which the battle was fought extends between mountains on the w. and the sea on the e. marburg ( ), quaint university town of hesse-nassau, on the lahn, m. ne. of limburg; has many old buildings; its gothic church contains st. elizabeth's tomb; luther and zwingli held a conference in the castle, ; william tyndale and patrick hamilton were students at its university, which has now teachers, students, and a fine library. marceau, french general, born at chartres; distinguished himself in the republican army in la vendée and fleurus, and was killed at altenkirchen when covering a retreat of the french army ( - ). marcello, benedetto, an italian musical composer; composed music for an italian version of the psalms ( - ). marcellus, claudius, roman general; in a war with the gauls killed their chief viridomarus with his own hands, whose spoils he dedicated as _spolia opima_ (q. v.) to jupiter; took syracuse, which long baffled him through the skill of archimedes, and fell fighting against hannibal b.c.; he was five times consul though but of plebeian birth. marcellus, marcus, son of octavia, the sister of augustus, who had named him his heir; his decease at was mourned as a public calamity, and inspired virgil to pen his well-known lament over his death in the sixth book of the "Æneid." marcet, mrs. jane, authoress, born at geneva; married a swiss doctor settled in london; wrote elementary text-books on chemistry (from which faraday gained his first knowledge), political economy, natural philosophy, &c., under the title "conversations," and her best work, "stories for very little children" ( - ). march, the third month of our year; was before reckoned first month as in the roman calendar, the legal year beginning on the th; it is proverbially dusty and stormy, and is the season of the spring equinox; it was dedicated to the roman god mars, whence the name. marchand, major, a french emissary in africa; was sent in to explore the sources of the niger and other districts, and was afterwards appointed to push on to the nile, where he arrived in , hoisting the french flag by the way, and finally at fashoda, from which he was recalled; with extreme disgust he was obliged to retire and find his way back to france; _b_. . marcion, a heretic of the nd century, born at sinope, in pontus, who, convinced that the traditional records of christianity had been tampered with, sought to restore christianity to its original purity, taking his stand on the words of christ and the interpretation of st. paul as the only true apostle; he held that an ascetic life was of the essence of christianity, and he had a following called marcionites. marcus aurelius. see antoninus. maremma, a malarial coast district of italy, n. of the campagna, stretching from orbitello to guardistallo, with few villages or roads. part of it was improved by draining and planting ( - ), and the inhabitants come down from the neighbouring apennine slopes in summer to cultivate it; healthier in winter, it affords good pasturage. marengo, a village of n. italy, se. of alessandria, where napoleon defeated the austrians on th june . mareotis, lake, a lagune in the n. of egypt, m. long by m. broad, separated from the mediterranean by a tongue of land on which part of alexandria is situated. margaret, queen of denmark, norway, and sweden, was the daughter of waldemar iv. of denmark, whose crown, on his death in , she received in trust for her son olaf; her husband, hacon viii. of norway, died in , and left her queen; olaf died , when she named her grand-nephew, eric of pomerania, her heir; the swedes deposed their king next year, and offered margaret the throne; she accepted it, put down all resistance, and ultimately brought about the union of calmar ( ), which provided for the perpetual union of the three crowns; her energy and force of character won for her the title of "semiramis of the north" ( - ). margaret, a simple, innocent girl in goethe's "faust," who is the victim of a tragic fatality; faust meets her as she comes from church, falls in love with her, and seduces her; she slays the infant born, is convicted and condemned to death, and loses her reason; faust would fain save her, but he is hurried away by mephistopheles, and she is left to her fate. margaret, st., the type of female innocence, represented as a beautiful young maiden bearing the palm and crown of a martyr and attended by a dragon; is patron saint against the pains of childbirth. festival, july . margaret, st., queen of scotland, wife of malcolm canmore, and sister of edgar atheling, born in hungary; brought up at the court of edward the confessor; after the conquest sought refuge in scotland, and winning the heart of the scotch king, was married to him at dunfermline; was a woman of beautiful character and great piety, and did much to civilise the country by her devotion and example; she died in edinburgh castle, and was in canonised by innocent iv.; lanfranc had been her spiritual instructor ( - ). margaret of angoulÊme, queen of navarre, sister of francis i., married in henri d'albret, king of navarre, by whom she became the mother of jeanne d'albret (q. v.); protected the protestants, and encouraged learning and the arts; she left a collection of novels, under the name of "heptameron," and a number of interesting letters, as well as some poems ( - ). margaret of anjou, queen of henry vi. of england, and daughter of the good king rené of anjou; was distinguished for the courage she displayed during the wars of the roses, though, after a struggle of nearly twenty years, she was defeated at tewkesbury and committed to the tower, from which, after four years of incarceration, she was afterwards released by ransom ( - ). margaret of valois, third daughter of henry ii. of france and catherine de' medicis; married henry iv., by whom she was divorced for her immoral conduct ( - ). margate ( ), seaport and watering-place, m. w. of the north foreland, kent, is with its firm sands, bathing facilities, and various attractions a favourite resort of london holiday-makers. its church-tower, ft., is a prominent landmark. there are large almshouses and orphanages, and other charitable institutions; j. m. w. turner was at school here. marheinecke, a german theologian, born at hildesheim; professor successively at erlangen, heidelberg, and berlin; was a hegelian in philosophy; his chief works, a "system of catholicism" and a "history of the german reformation" ( - ). maria louisa, empress of france, daughter of francis i., emperor of austria; was married to napoleon in after the divorce of joséphine, and bore him a son, who was called king of rome; after napoleon's death she became the wife of count von neipperg ( - ). maria theresa, empress of austria, daughter of the emperor charles vi., a queenly woman; was in married to francis of lorraine; ascended the throne in on the death of her father, associating her husband with her in the government under the title of francis i.; no sooner had she done so than, despite the pragmatic sanction (q. v.), which assured her of her dominions in their integrity, she was assailed by claimants one for this and one for another portion of them, in particular by frederick the great, who by force of arms wrenched silesia from her and kept it fast; the war thus occasioned is known as the war of the austrian succession, which lasted seven years, and was concluded by the peace of aix-la-chapelle in ; this peace, however, was soon broken, and maria, backed by france and counselled by kaunitz, renewed hostilities in the hope of compelling frederick to restore what he had taken; all in vain, for the end of this war, known as the seven years' war, was to leave frederick still in possession of the territory which he had sliced from her empire as in the former; in the interim of these wars maria devoted her attention to the welfare of her subjects, who were conspicuously loyal to her, and before the end of her reign she saw what she had lost made up to her in a measure by the partition of poland, in which she took part ( - ). mariamne, the wife of herod the great, whom he put to death on suspicion of her unfaithfulness. mariana, juan, spanish historian and political philosopher, born at talavera; joined the jesuits in , and taught in their colleges in rome, sicily, and paris; returning to toledo he gave himself to literature; his "history of spain" appeared in and , theological writings incurred persecution, and his greatest work, "de rege et regis institutione," in which he defended the right of the people to cast out a tyrant, was condemned by the general of his order ( - ). marie antoinette, queen of france, fourth daughter of maria theresa; was married in to the dauphin of france, who in succeeded to the throne as louis xvi.; was a beautiful woman, but indiscreet in her behaviour; had made herself unpopular and impotent for good when the revolution broke out; when matters became serious the queenliness of her nature revealed itself, but it was in haughty defiance of the million-headed monster that was bellowing at her feet; the heroism she showed at this crisis the general mass of the people could not appreciate, though it won the homage of such men as mirabeau and barnave; all she wanted was a wise adviser, for she had courage to follow any course which she could be persuaded to see was right; in mirabeau she had one who could have guided her, but by his death in she was left to herself, and the course she took was fatal to all the interests she had at heart; fatality followed fatality: first she saw her husband hurried off to the guillotine, and then she followed herself; hers, if any, was the most tragic of fates, and any one who has read that heart-moving apostrophe to her by carlyle on the way to her doom must know and feel that it was her fate; she and her husband suffered as the representatives of the misgovernment of france for centuries before they were born, and were left a burden on their shoulders which they could not bear and under which they were crushed to death ( - ). marie de france, a poetess and fabulist of henry iii.'s time; her fables are translations into french from an english version of old greek tales; a greater work was her "laïs," consisting of or beautiful narratives in french verse. marie de' medici, daughter of the grand-duke of tuscany, born at florence; was married to henry iv. of france in , with whom she lived unhappily till his murder in ; she was then regent for seven years; in her son assumed power as louis xiii.; she was for two years banished from the court, and on her return so intrigued as to bring about her imprisonment in ; though a lover of art she was neither good wife nor good queen, and escaping from confinement she died in destitution at cologne ( - ). marienbad, a high-lying bohemian watering-place, m. s. of carlsbad; it is much frequented for its saline springs. mariette pasha, franÇois auguste ferdinand, egyptologist, born at boulogne; became professor in the college there in , entered the egyptian department of the louvre in , and next year set out for egypt; eight years later he was made keeper of the monuments to the egyptian government, and in was made a pasha; he died at cairo; he made many valuable discoveries and excavations, among which were the burial-place of the apis bulls, the sphinx monument, and many temples ( - ). mario, giuseppe, a celebrated tenor, born in cagliari; acquired a large fortune as a professional singer, but lost it through unsuccessful speculations; in the circumstances a concert was given in london for his benefit which realised £ ; he was a handsome man and of charming manners ( - ). mariotte, edme, a french physicist, born at dijon; discoverer of the law named after him, that the volume of a gas is inversely as the pressure; called also boyle's; it bears the name of mariotte's law on the continent, and boyle's in england ( - ). marius, caius, a celebrated roman general, born near arpinum, uncle by marriage to julius cæsar and head of the popular party, and the rival of sulla; conquered the teutons and the cimbri in gaul, and made a triumphal entry into rome; having obtained command of the war against mithridates, sulla marched upon the city and drove his rival beyond the walls; having fled the city, he was discovered hiding in a marsh, cast into prison, and condemned to die; to the slave sent to execute the sentence he drew himself haughtily up and exclaimed, "caitiff, dare you slay caius marius?" and the executioner fled in terror of his life and left his sword behind him; marius was allowed to escape; finding his way to africa, he took up his quarters at carthage, but the roman prætor ordered him off; "go tell the prætor," he said to the messenger sent, "you saw caius marius sitting a fugitive on the ruins of carthage"; upon this he took courage and returned to rome, and along with cinna made the streets of the city run with the blood of the partisans of sulla; died suddenly ( - b.c.). marivaux, a french dramatist and novelist, born in paris; was a man of subtle wit, and his writings reveal it as well as an affectation of style named _marivaudage_ after him; his fame rests on his novels rather than his dramas ( - ). mark, gospel according to, is mainly a narrative of the doings of christ and of the events of his life in their historical sequence; moves on at an even pace, abounds in graphic touches, and adds minute traits as if by an eye-witness; it represents christ as the son of man, but manifesting himself by such signs and wonders as to show that he was also the son of god; it is written for gentile christians and not for jewish, and hence little stress is laid on old testament fulfilments or reference made to those antagonisms to christianity which had a merely jewish root. mark, john, the author of the second gospel, the son of mary, barnabas' sister, who ministered to christ, and whose house in jerusalem was a place of resort for the disciples of christ after the resurrection; accompanied paul and his uncle on their first missionary journey, afterwards accompanied peter, who calls him "my son," and to him it is thought he is indebted for his gospel narrative; he is regarded as the founder of the coptic church, and his body is said to have been buried in venice, of which he is the patron saint, and the cathedral of which is named st. mark's after him; he is represented in christian art as a man in the prime of life accompanied by a winged lion, with his gospel in his left hand and a pen in his right. mark antony. see antonius, marcus. mark twain. see clemens. markham, clements robert, traveller and author, born near york, son of a clergyman; served in the navy from to , taking part in the franklin search expedition; - he spent exploring peru; he introduced the cinchona plant to india , became secretary to the royal geographical society , served as geographer to the abyssinian expedition of - , and was then put at the head of the geographical department of the india office; among many books of travels may be named "the threshold of the unknown region" , and among biographies "columbus," ; _b_. . marlborough ( ), on the kennet, m. e. of bristol, a wiltshire market-town, with sack and rope making, brewing, and tanning industries; has an old norman church, the remains of an old royal residence, and a college, chiefly for sons of clergymen, founded in . marlborough, john churchill, duke of, soldier and statesman, born in devonshire; joined the guards as ensign, and served in tangiers in ; sent in command of a company to help louis xiv. in his dutch wars, his courage and ability won him a colonelcy; he married sarah jennings in , and seven years later became baron churchill on james ii.'s succession; as general he was employed in putting down monmouth's rebellion; he seceded to william of orange in , and received from him the earldom of marlborough; he was in disfavour from till the outbreak of the spanish succession war, in which he gained his great renown; beginning by driving the spaniards from the netherlands in , he won a series of important victories--blenheim , ramillies , oudenard , and malplaquet , contributed to enhance the military glory of england; queen anne loaded him with honours; large sums of money, woodstock estate, blenheim palace, and a dukedom were bestowed on him; his wife was the queen's closest friend, and the duke and duchess virtually governed the country, till in the queen threw off their influence, and charges of misappropriation of funds forced him into retirement; he was restored to many of his offices by george i. in , but for the last six years of his life he sank into imbecility; one of england's greatest generals, he was also one of her meanest men ( - ). marlowe, christopher, english dramatist and poet, precursor of shakespeare; son of a shoemaker at canterbury; besides a love poem entitled "hero and leander," he was the author of seven plays, "tamburlaine," in two parts, "doctor faustus," "the jew of malta," "edward the second," "the massacre of paris," and "dido," the first four being romantic plays, the fifth a chronicle play, and the last two offering no particular talent; he dealt solely in tragedy, and was too devoid of humour to attempt comedy; "in marlowe," says prof. saintsbury, "two things never fail him long--a strange, not by any means impotent, reach after the infinite, and the command of magnificent verse"; his life was a short one ( - ). marmont, duke of ragusa and marshal of france, served under napoleon, and distinguished himself on many a battlefield; received the title of duke for his successful defence of ragusa against the russians; was present at wagram, lützen, bautzen, and dresden, but came to terms with the allies after the taking of paris, which led to napoleon's abdication in ; obliged to flee on napoleon's return, he came back to france and gave his support to the bourbons; left memoirs ( - ). marmontel, jean franÇois, french writer, born at bort; author of "les incas," "bélesaire," and "contes moraux;" "was," says ruskin, "a peasant's son, who made his way into parisian society by gentleness, wit, and a dainty and candid literary power; he became one of the humblest yet honestest, placed scholars at the court of louis xv., and wrote pretty, yet wise, sentimental stories in finished french, the sayings and thoughts in them, in their fine tremulous way, perfect like the blossoming heads of grass in may" ( - ). marmora, sea of, m. long and broad, lies between europe and asia minor, opening into the Ægean through the dardanelles and into the baltic through the bosphorus; the gulf of ismid indents the eastern coasts; marmora, the largest island, has marble and alabaster quarries. marne ( ) and haute-marne ( ), contiguous departments in the n.e. of france, in the upper basin of the marne river; in both cereals, potatoes, and wine are the chief products, the best champagne coming from the n. in the former, capital châlons-sur-marne, building stone is quarried; there are metal works and tanneries; in the latter, capital chaumont, are valuable iron mines and manufactures of cutlery and gloves. marochetti, baron, italian sculptor, born in turin; after working in paris, came to this country in , and executed several public statues, one of the queen among others ( - ). maronites, a sect of syrian christians, numbering , , dwelling on the eastern slopes of lebanon, where they settled in the th century, and who joined the roman catholic church in , while they retain much of their primitive character; they maintained a long sanguinary rivalry with their neighbours the druses (q. v.). maroons, the name given to wild negro bands in jamaica and guiana; those in jamaica left behind by the spaniards on the conquest of the island by the english, , escaped to the hills, and continued unsubdued till ; in guiana they still maintain independent communities. to maroon a seaman is to leave him alone on an uninhabited island, or adrift in a boat. marot, clement, french poet, born at cahors; was valet-de-chambre of margaret of valois; was a man of ready wit and a satirical writer, the exercise of which often brought him into trouble; his poems, which consist of elegies, epistles, rondeaux, madrigals, and ballads, have left their impress on both the language and the literature of france ( - ). marprelate tracts, a series of clever but scurrilous tracts published under the name of martin marprelate, but which are the work of different writers in the time of elizabeth against prelacy, and which gave rise to great excitement and some inquisition as to their authorship. marque. see letter of marque. marquesas islands ( ), a group of small volcanic mountainous islands in the s. pacific, m. w. of peru, under french protection since , are peopled by a handsome but savage race, which is rapidly dying out; chinese immigrants grow cotton; the more southerly were discovered by mendaña in , the more northerly by ingraham, an american, in . marrow controversy, a theological controversy which arose in scotland in the th century over the teaching of a book entitled "the marrow of modern divinity," and which led to a secession from the established church on the part of the "marrow men," as the supporters of the doctrine of the book were called. it contained an assertion of the evangelical doctrine of free grace, which was condemned by the assembly, and for maintaining which the "marrow men," headed by the erskines, were deposed in , to the formation of the secession church. marryat, frederick, novelist, born at westminster; after service in the royal navy, which he entered in , and in which he attained the rank of commandant, he retired in , and commenced a series of novels; "frank mildmay," the first, proving a success, he resolved to devote the rest of his life to literature; his novels were numerous, all of interest for their character sketches and adventures, and "peter simple" and "midshipman easy" are reckoned the best; it was by recourse to marryat's stories of sea life that carlyle solaced himself after the burning of the ms. volume of his "french revolution," and that he put himself in tune to repair the loss ( - ). mars, the exterior planet of the solar system, nearest the earth, of one-half its diameter, with a mean distance from the sun of , , m., round which it takes days to revolve, in a somewhat centric orbit, and ½ hours to revolve on its own axis, which inclines to its equator at an angle of °; examination of it shows that there is four times as much land as water in it; it is accompanied by two moons, an outer making a revolution round it in hours minutes, and an inner in hours and minutes; they are the smallest heavenly bodies known to science. mars, the roman god of war, the reputed father of romulus, and the recognised protector of the roman state, identified at length with the greek ares. marseillaise, the, the hymn or march of the french republicans, composed, both words and music, at strasburg by rouget de lisle one night in april , and singing which the volunteers from marseilles entered paris on the th july thereafter. "luckiest musicial composition," says carlyle, "ever promulgated. the sound of which will make the blood tingle in men's veins, and whole armies and assemblages will sing it, with eyes weeping and burning, with hearts defiant of death, despot, and devil." marseilles ( ), third city and first seaport of france, on the shore of the gulf of lyons, m. e. of the mouth of the rhône; has extensive dock accommodation; does great trade in wheat, oil, wine, sugar, textiles, and coal, and manufactures soap, soda, macaroni, and iron; there is a cathedral, picture-gallery, museum, and library, schools of science and art; founded by colonists from asia minor in b.c., it was a greek city till b.c.; after the days of rome it had many vicissitudes, falling finally to france in , and losing its privilege as a free port in ; always a radical city, it proclaimed the commune in ; a cholera plague devastated it in ; six years later great sanitary improvements were begun; thiers and puget were born here. marshal forwards, a name given to blÜcher (q. v.) for the celerity of his movements and the dash of his attack. marshall, john, an american judge; served in the army during the first years of the american war; afterwards entered the legal profession and became chief-justice of the united states; was an authority on constitutional law ( - ). marston, john, english dramatist, so called, was more of a poet than a dramatist, and his dramas are remembered chiefly for the poetic passages they contain; his masterpiece is a comedy entitled "what you will" ( - ). marston, john westland, dramatist, born at boston, lincolnshire; wrote several dramas, "strathmore" and "marie de méranie" among the number ( - ). marston, philip bourke, poet, son of preceding; wrote three volumes of verse, admired by rossetti and swinburne; was blind from boyhood ( - ). marston moor, m. w. of york; here cromwell and fairfax defeated the royalists under prince rupert, july , , and so won the north of england for the parliament. marsyas, a phrygian peasant, who, having found a flute which athena had thrown away because playing on it disfigured her face, and which, as still inspired by the breath of the goddess, yielded sweet tones when he put his lips to it, one day challenged apollo to a contest, the condition being that the vanquished should pay whatever penalty the victor might impose on him; apollo played on the lyre and the boor on the flute, when the muses, who were umpires, assigned the palm to the former; upon this apollo caught his rival up, bound him to a tree, and flayed him alive for his temerity. martello towers, round towers of strong build, erected as a defence at one time off the low shores of sussex and kent; they are of italian origin; there is one off the harbour of leith. martens, frederick de, german diplomatist and publicist, born at hamburg; author of a "précis du droit des gens" ( - ). martensen, hans lassen, bishop of copenhagen, a distinguished theologian; author of "meister eckhart," a study of mediæval mysticism, "christliche dogmatic" and "christliche ethic"; was a hegelian of a conservative type ( - ). martha, st., the sister of mary and lazarus, the patron saint of good housewives, is represented, in homely costume, with a bunch of keys at her girdle, and a pot in her hand. festival, july . martial, a latin poet, born at bilbilis, in spain; went to rome, stayed there, favoured of the emperors titus and domitian, for years, and then returned to his native city, where he wrote his epigrammata, a collection of short poems over in number, divided into books, books xiii. and xiv. being entitled respectively xenia and apophoreta; these epigrams are distinguished for their wit, diction, and indecency, but are valuable for the light they shed on the manners of rome at the period ( - ). martial law, law administered by military force, to which civilians are amenable during an insurrection or riot. martin, the name of five popes: m. i., st., pope from to ; m. ii., pope from to ; m. iii., pope from to ; m. iv., pope from to ; m. v., pope from to , distinguished for having condemned huss to be burned. martin, aimÉ, a french writer, born at lyons, repaired to paris, became the pupil and friend of bernardin de st. pierre; collected his works and married his widow; his letters to sophia on "natural history," &c., highly popular ( - ). martin, henri, celebrated french historian, born at saint-quentin; devoted his life to the study of the history of france; wrote an account of it, entitled "histoire de france," a magnificent work in volumes; brought the history down to , and received from the institute , francs as a prize ( - ). martin, john, english painter, born near hexham; was an artist of an ardent temperament and extraordinary imaginative power; his paintings, the first "sadak in search of the waters of oblivion," characterised as "sublime" and "gorgeous," were in number, and made a great impression when produced; engravings of some of them are familiar, such as the "fall of babylon" and "belshazzar's feast" ( - ). martin, lady. see faucit, helen. martin, st., bishop of tours, was in early life a soldier, and meeting with a naked beggar one cold day in winter divided his military cloak in two, and gave him the half of it; was conspicuous both as a monk and bishop for his compassion on the poor; seated at a banquet on one occasion between the king and queen, hobnobbed with a poor beggar looking on, and extended his goblet of wine to him; he is the patron saint of topers; _d_. . festival, november . martin, sarah, a philanthropist, born at great yarmouth; lived by dressmaking, and devoted much of her time among criminals in the jails ( - ). martin, sir theodore, man of letters, born in edinburgh; acquired his first fame under the pseudonym of bon gaultier; is author of the "life of the late prince consort"; wrote along with aytouna "book of ballads," and translated the odes of horace, dante's "vita nuova" and goethe's "faust"; _b_. . martineau, harriet, english authoress, born at norwich; a lady with little or no genius but with considerable intellectual ability, and not without an honest zeal for the "progress of the species"; she was what is called an "advanced" thinker, and was a disciple of auguste comte; wrote a number of stories bearing on social questions, and had that courage of her opinions which commanded respect; it was she who persuaded carlyle to try lecturing when his finances were low, and she had a real pride at the success of the scheme ( - ). martineau, james, rationalistic theologian, born in norwich, brother of the preceding; began life as an engineer, took to theology, and became a unitarian minister; was at first a follower of bentham and then a disciple of kant; at one time a materialist he became a theist, and a most zealous advocate of theistic beliefs from the unitarian standpoint; he is a thinker of great power, and has done much both to elevate and liberate the philosophy of religion; his views are liberal as well as profound, and he is extensively known as the author of the "endeavours after the christian life" and "hours of thought on sacred things"; _b_. . martinique ( , of which a few are white), a west indian french possession, one of the lesser antilles; has a much-indented precipitous coast; a mountain range in the centre is densely wooded; the plains are fertile, and produce sugar, coffee, and cotton, which with fruit are the exports; the climate is hot and not salubrious; the island has been french, with three short intervals, since . martyn, henry, a christian missionary, born at truro, in cornwall; was a fellow of st. john's college, cambridge; went to india as a chaplain, settled in various stations and in persia; translated the new testament into hindi and persian, as well as the prayer-book; fell into broken health; did more than he was able for, caught fever and died ( - ). marvell, andrew, poet and politician, born at worcester; was first a lyric poet, and in politics much of a royalist, at last a violent politician on the puritan side, having become connected with milton and cromwell; he wrote a tract "on the growth of popery and arbitrary government in england" after the restoration, which brought him into trouble; being a favourite with the king, the king sought to bribe him, but he could not be caught; he died suddenly, and an unfounded rumour was circulated that he had been poisoned ( - ). marx, karl, a german socialist, born at trèves, of jewish descent; was at first a student of philosophy and a disciple of hegel, but soon abandoned philosophy for social economy on a democratic basis and in a materialistic interest, early adopted socialistic opinions, for his zeal in which he was driven from germany, france, and finally belgium, to settle in london, where he spent the last years of his life; founded the "international" (q. v.), and wrote a work "das kapital," which has become the text-book of socialism, a remarkable book, and one that has materially promoted the cause it advocates ( - ). mary, the virgin. of her we know nothing for certain except what is contained in the gospel history, and that almost exclusively in her relation to her son, in connection with whom, and as his mother, she has become an object of worship in the roman catholic and greek churches. mary i., queen of england, was born at greenwich, daughter of henry viii. and catharine of aragon; at first the king's favourite, on her mother's divorce she was treated with aversion; during her brother edward vi.'s reign she lived in retirement, clinging to her catholic faith; on her accession in a protestant plot to put lady jane grey on the throne failed; she began cautiously to restore catholicism, imprisoning reformers and reinstating the old bishops; on her choosing philip of spain for her husband a revolt broke out under sir thomas wyatt, and though easily put down was the occasion for the execution of lady jane grey and the imprisonment of elizabeth; after her marriage in the religious reaction gained strength, submission was made to rome, and a persecution began in which persons, including latimer, ridley, and cranmer, perished in three years; ill-health, philip's cruelty, and her childlessness drove her to melancholy; a war with france led to the loss of calais in , and she died broken-hearted, a virtuous and pious, but bigoted and relentless woman ( - ). mary ii., queen of england, daughter of the duke of york (afterwards james ii.) and anne hyde; was married to her cousin william of orange in , ascended the english throne along with him on her father's abdication in , and till her death was his much loved, good, and gentle queen; greenwich hospital for disabled sailors, which she built, is her memorial ( - ). mary, queen of scots, daughter of james v. and mary of lorraine, born at linlithgow, became by her father's death queen ere she was a week old; her early childhood was spent on an island in the lake of menteith; she was sent to france in , brought up at court with the royal princes, and married to the dauphin in , who for a year, - , was king francis ii.; on his death she had to leave france; she returned to assume the government in scotland, now in the throes of the reformation; refraining from interference with the protestant movement she retained her own catholic faith, but chose protestant advisers; out of many proposed alliances she elected, against all advice, to be married to her cousin darnley , and easily quelled the insurrection that broke out under moray; darnley, granted the title king, tried to force her to settle the succession in the event of her dying childless on him and his heirs; deeming her favourite rizzio to stand in the way, he plotted with the protestant lords to have him murdered, and mary was reduced to agree to his demands; the murder was done; the queen was for a time a prisoner in holyrood, but she succeeded in detaching darnley, and the scheme fell through; her only son, afterwards james vi., was born three months later in ; the murder of darnley took place in february , being accomplished by hepburn, earl of bothwell, almost certainly with mary's connivance; her marriage with bothwell in may alienated the nobles; they rose, took the queen prisoner at carberry, carried her to edinburgh, then to loch leven, where they forced her to abdicate in july; next year, escaping, she fled to england, and was there for many years a prisoner; catholic plots were formed to liberate her and put her in place of elizabeth on the english throne (she was next in order of succession, being great-granddaughter of henry vii.); at last she was accused of complicity in babbington's conspiracy, tried, found guilty, and executed in fotheringhay castle, february , ; faithful to her religion to the end; she was a woman of great beauty and charm, courage and ability, warm affection and generous temper ( - ). maryland ( , ), a state of the american union, occupying the basin of the potomac and of chesapeake bay, with pennsylvania on the n., delaware on the e., and the virginias on the w. and s.; has a much indented coast-line affording great facilities for navigation; the soil is throughout fertile; on the level coast plains tobacco and fruit, chiefly peaches, are grown; in the undulating central land wheat; the mountains in the w. are well wooded with pine; there are coal-mines in the w., copper and chrome in the midland, and extensive marble quarries; the shad and herring fisheries are valuable; the manufactures of clothing stuffs, flour, tobacco, and beer are extensive; the climate of maryland is temperate and genial; education is free, and advanced; the john hopkins university is in baltimore; there is a state college in every county, and schools for blind, deaf, and feeble-minded children; colonisation began in , and a policy of religious toleration and peace with the indians led to prosperity; the state was active in the war of independence, and remained with the north in the civil war; the capital is annapolis ( ), but the largest city is baltimore ( ), a great wheat-shipping port and centre of industry; cumberland ( ) has brick and cement works, and hagerstown ( ) has machine, farm implement, and furniture factories. masaccio, an italian painter, born in florence; went when very young to rome, where he painted in the church of st. clement a series of frescoes, his greatest work being the frescoes in the brancacci chapel of the carmine church; he was a great master of perspective and colour ( - ). masai, a warlike tribe in africa, between the coast of zanzibar and victoria nyanza, of the race of the gallas, men of powerful physique, though far from prepossessing in appearance; when their warlike spirit and prowess are spent they settle down to cattle-breeding. masaniello, a fisherman of amalfi, who headed a revolt against the spanish viceroy in naples, which proved successful, but turned his head and led to his assassination ( - ). mashonaland, a plateau ft. high crossed by the umvukwe mountains, lying to the ne. of matabeleland and s. of the zambesi river, of which its streams are tributaries; is a fertile country, and being traversed continually by cold se. winds is healthy and bracing; the natives, of bantu stock, are peaceful and industrious, growing rice, maize, tobacco, and cotton, which they also weave, and working with skill in iron; they live in dread of the fierce matabele tribes; the country is very rich in iron, copper, and gold, and has traces of ancient scientific gold-mining; it has been under british protection since . mask, iron. see iron mask. maskelyne, nevil, astronomer-royal, born in london; determined the method of finding longitude at sea, and the density of the earth by experiments at schiehallion, and commenced the "national almanack," and produced the first volume of "astronomical observations at greenwich" ( - ). mason, sir josiah, birmingham manufacturer and philanthropist, born at kidderminster; made his fortune by split rings, steel pens, electro-plating; founded an orphanage at erdington at the cost of nearly £ , , and the college at birmingham which bears his name ( - ). mason, william, a minor poet, a friend of poet gray; the author of two tragedies, "elfrida" and "caractacus" ( - ). mason and dixon's line, so called after english engineers who surveyed it - ; is the boundary separating maryland from pennsylvania and delaware; during the civil war it was inaccurately regarded as dividing the slave-holding from the free states, maryland and delaware both recognising slavery. maspero, gaston camille charles, french egyptologist, born at paris; made extensive explorations and important discoveries in egypt; has written, among works bearing on egypt, "histoire ancienne des peuples d'orient"; _b_. . massachusetts ( , ), a new england state of the american union, lies on the atlantic seaboard between new hampshire and vermont on the n. and rhode island and connecticut on the s., with new york on its western border; has a long irregular coast-line and an uneven surface, rising to the green mountains in the w.; the scenery is of great beauty, but the soil is in many places poor, the farms raising chiefly hay and dairy produce; the winters are severe; massachusetts is the third manufacturing state of the union; its industries include cotton, woollen, worsted, clothing, leather and leather goods, iron and iron goods; school education throughout the state is free and of a high standard; there are several universities and colleges, including harvard, boston, williams, and amherst; founded in by the pilgrim fathers, massachusetts had many hardships in early days, and was long the scene of religious intolerance and persecution; the war of independence began at bunker's hill and lexington in ; the capital and chief seaport is boston ( ); worcester ( ) has machinery factories, springfield ( ) paper, and lowell ( ) cotton mills; concord was for long a literary centre. massage, in medicine a process of kneading, stroking, and rubbing, with the fingers and palms of the hands, applied to the body as a whole or to locally affected parts, to allay pain, promote circulation, and restore nervous and vital energy; it was practised in very early times in china and india; was known to the greeks and romans, and was revived by dr. mezger of amsterdam in . massagetÆ, a scythian people on the ne. of the caspian sea, who used to kill and eat the aged among them, in an expedition against whom, it is said, cyrus the great lost his life. massena, duc de rivoli, prince of essling, one of the most illustrious marshals of france, born at nice; he distinguished himself at rivoli in , at zurich in , at the siege of genoa in , at eckmühl and at wagram in , and was named by napoleon _l'enfant chéri de la victoire_, i. e. the favoured child of victory; he was recalled from the peninsula by napoleon for failing to expel wellington, and it appears he never forgot the affront ( - ). massey, gerald, english democratic poet, born in hertfordshire; wrote "poems and charms," "voices of freedom and lyrics of love"; has written for the reviews, and taken a great interest in spiritualism; _b_. . massillon, jean baptiste, celebrated french pulpit orator, born at hières, in provence; entered the congregation of the oratory, and became so celebrated for his eloquence that he was called to paris, where he gathered round him hearers in crowds; bourdaloue, when he heard him, said, "he must increase, but i must decrease," and louis xiv. said to him, "when i hear others preach i go away much pleased with them, but when i hear you i feel displeased with myself"; he was made bishop of clermont, and next year preached before louis xv., now king, his famous "petit carême," a series of ten sermons for lent; he was a devoted bishop, and the idol of his flock; his style was perfect, and his eloquence was winning, and went home to the heart ( - ). massinger, philip, english dramatist; little is known of his personal history except that he studied at oxford without taking a degree, that he lived in london, and was buried as "a stranger" in st. saviour's, southwark; of his plays only remain, and of these the most famous is the comedy entitled "new way to pay old debts," the chief character in which is sir giles overreach, and the representation of which still holds its place on the stage ( - ). masson, david, man of letters, born in aberdeen; elected literature as his profession in preference to theology, with the study of which he commenced; joined the staff of the messrs. chambers; settled in london, and became professor of english literature in university college, from the chair of which he removed to the corresponding one in edinburgh in ; edited _macmillan's magazine_ from to ; his great work, the "life of milton," in vols., a thorough book, and of great historical value; has written on "british novelists and their styles," "life of drummond of hawthornden," &c.; became in historiographer-royal of scotland; _b_. . masso`rah, a body of biblical references, chiefly handed down by tradition, and calculated to be of great service in verifying the original text of the hebrew scriptures. massoretic points, the vowel points and accents in hebrew; invented by the massorites, or authors of the massorah. master humphrey, a character in dickens's "old curiosity shop." master of sentences, peter lombard (q. v.). mastodon, one of an extinct species of mammals akin to the elephant. masulipatam ( ), chief seaport in the district of kistna, madras presidency, india, m. n. of madras, with a large coasting trade. matabeleland, a country stretching northward from the transvaal, m. by m., towards the zambesi river; formerly occupied by peaceful mashona and makalaka tribes, but conquered by the matabele in , and since held by them. they are warlike, and have no industries. the women grow mealies, the men make continual forays on their neighbours. gold exists in various parts, and the country was declared british territory in . it is developed by the british south african company, whose chief stations are buluwayo in the sw. and fort salisbury in the ne. matanza ( ), a fortified town in cuba, m. e. of havana. materialism, the theory which, denying the independent existence of spirit, resolves everything within the sphere of being into matter, or into the operation and the effect of the operation of forces latent in it, or into the negative and positive interaction of mere material forces, to the exclusion of intelligent purpose and design. mather, cotton, an american divine, born in boston; notorious for his belief in witchcraft, and for the persecution he provoked against those charged with it by his zeal in spreading the delusion ( - ). mathew, theobald, or father mathew, apostle of temperance, born in tipperary; studied for the catholic priesthood, but joined the capuchin minorites; was in ordained a priest, and located in cork, where at sight of the cruel effects of drunkenness on the mass of the people his heart was moved, and he resolved on a crusade against it to stamp it out; he started on this enterprise in , but it took a year and a half before his mission bore any fruit, and then it was accompanied with marvellous success wherever he went, even as far as the new world itself ( - ). mathews, charles, comedian, born in london; abandoned his father's trade of bookseller for the stage in ; appeared in dublin and york, and from till played in drury lane, covent garden, and the lyceum; the rest of his life he spent as a single-handed entertainer, charming countless audiences in britain and america with his good singing and incomparable mimicry; he died at plymouth ( - ). mathews, charles james, light comedian, son of the preceding; married madame vestris; was a charming actor, acted with a great grace and delicacy of feeling ( - ). matlock, a watering-place in derbyshire, on a slope overlooking the derwent, m. nw. of derby. matilda, the "great countess" of tuscany, celebrated for her zeal on behalf of the popes against the emperor henry iv., and for the donation of her possessions to the church, which gave rise to a contest after her death ( - ). matilda or maud, daughter of henry i. of england and wife of the emperor henry v., on whose decease she was married to geoffrey plantagenet of anjou and became mother of henry ii.; on the death of her father succeeded to the english throne, but was supplanted by stephen, whom she defeated and who finally defeated her ( - ). matadore, the athlete who kills the bull in a bull-fight. matsys, quentin, a flemish painter, originally a blacksmith, did altar-pieces and _genre_ paintings ( - ). mattathias, a jewish priest, the father of the maccabees, who in b.c., when asked by a syrian embassy to offer sacrifice to the syrian gods, not only refused to do so, but slew with his own hand the jew that stepped forward to do it for him, and then fell upon the embassy that required the act; upon which he rushed with his five sons into the wilderness of judea and called upon all to follow him who had any regard for the lord; this was the first step in the war of the maccabees, the immediate issue of which was to the jew the achievement of an independence which he had not enjoyed for years. matterhorn, a sharp alpine peak , ft., on the swiss-italian border, difficult of ascent; first scaled by whymper . matthew, a publican, by the sea of tiberias, who being called became a disciple and eventually an apostle of christ; generally represented in christian art as an old man with a large flowing beard, often occupied in writing his gospel, with an angel standing by. matthew, gospel according to, written not later than a.d., is the earliest record we possess of the ministry and teaching of christ, and is believed to have been originally a mere collection of his sayings and parables; was written in aramaic, the spoken language of the jews at the period, of which the version we have in greek is a translation, as some think by matthew himself; its aim is to show that jesus of nazareth is the messiah promised in the old testament, in a form, however, which led to his rejection by the jews, and their consequent rejection by him, to the proclamation of his gospel among the gentiles (chap. xxviii. , ). matthias corvinus, conqueror and patron of learning, born at klausenburg; was elected king of hungary ; though arbitrary in his measures, he promoted commerce, dispensed justice, fostered culture, and observed sound finance; he founded the university of buda-pesth, an observatory, and great library, but his reign was full of wars; for nine years he fought the turks and took from them bosnia, moldavia, and wallachia; from till the struggle was with bohemia, from which he wrested moravia, silesia, and lusatia; then followed war with frederick iii., the capture of vienna , and a large part of austria ; he made vienna his capital, and died there ( - ). maturin, charles robert, novelist, a poor curate in dublin, where he died; wrote "the fatal revenge" and other extravagant tales, and produced one successful tragedy, "bertram," ( - ). maudsley, henry, specialist in mental diseases, born near giggleswick; was educated at university college, london, and graduated m.d. ; after being physician in manchester asylum, he returned to london , and was professor of medical jurisprudence at his own college - ; he is the author of several works on mental pathology; _b_. . maunday-thursday, the thursday before good friday, on which day it was customary for high people to wash the feet of a number of poor people, and on which royal alms are bestowed by the royal almoner to the poor. maupassant, guy de, a clever french romancer, born at fécamp; served in the franco-german war, and afterwards gave himself to letters, producing novels, stories, lyrics, and plays; died insane ( - ). maupeou, chancellor of france, whose ministry was signalised by the banishment of the parlement of paris, and the institution of _conseils du roi_; the parlement maupeou became a laughing-stock under louis xv., and louis xvi. recalled the old parlement on his accession ( - ). maupertuis, pierre louis moreau de, french mathematician and astronomer, born at st. malo; went to lapland to measure a degree of longitude, to ascertain the figure of the earth; wrote a book "on the figure of the earth"; was invited to berlin by frederick the great, and made president of the academy of science there; was satirised by voltaire much to the annoyance of the king, who patronised him and prided himself in the institution of which he was the head ( - ). maur, st., a disciple of st. benedict in the th century; the congregation of saint-maur, founded in , was a perfect nursery of scholarly men, known as maurists. maurepas, french statesman, born at versailles; was minister of france under louis xv. and again under louis xvi., an easy-going, careless minister, "adjusted his cloak well to the wind, if so be he might have pleased all parties" ( - ). maurice, frederick denison, a liberal theologian and social reformer, born at normanstone, near lowestoft, the son of a unitarian minister; started as a literary man, and for a time edited the _athenæum_, and took orders in the english church in ; was chaplain to guy's hospital and afterwards to lincoln's inn, and incumbent of vere street chapel; held professorships in literature, in theology, and moral philosophy; was a disciple of coleridge and a broad churchman, who "promoted the charities of his faith, and parried its discussion"; one of the originators of christian socialism along with kingsley, and the founder of the working-man's college; his writings were numerous though somewhat vague in their teachings, and had many admirers ( - ). maurice of nassau, prince of orange; one of the most famous generals of modern times, son of william the silent, on whose assassination he was elected stadtholder, and became by his prowess the liberator of the united provinces from the yoke of spain; his name is stained by his treatment of barneveldt, who saw and opposed his selfish designs ( - ). maurists, a congregation of reformed benedictines, with head-quarters in paris, disbanded in ; were through the th and th centuries noted for their services to learning; they published many historical and ecclesiastical works, including a "history of the literature of france," and boasted in their number montfauçon, mabillon, and other scholars. see maur, st. mauritania, was the old name of the african country w. of the muluya river and n. of the atlas mountains, from which supplies of corn and timber were obtained. mauritius, or isle of france ( ), a volcanic island in the indian ocean, m. e. of madagascar, as large as caithness, with mountains feet high, a tableland in the centre, and many short streams; the climate is cool in winter, hot in the rainy season, and subject to cyclones; formerly well wooded, the forests have been cut down to make room for sugar, coffee, maize, and rice plantations; sugar is the main export; the population is very mixed; african and eastern races predominate; descendants of french settlers and europeans number , ; discovered by the portuguese in , they abandoned it years later; the dutch held it for years, and abandoned it in turn; occupied by the french in , it was captured by britain in , and is now, with some other islands, a crown colony, under a governor and council. port louis ( ), on the nw., is the capital, and a british naval coaling station. maury, abbÉ, born in vaucluse, son of a shoemaker; came to paris, and became celebrated as a preacher; "skilfulest vamper of old rotten leather to make it look like new," was made member of the constituent assembly, "fought jesuistico-rhetorically, with toughest lungs and heart, for throne, specially for altar and tithes"; his efforts, though fruitless for throne, gained in the end the "red cardinal plush," and count d'artois and he embraced each other "with a kiss" ( - ). maury, matthew fontaine, american hydrographer, born in virginia; entered the united states navy in , became lieutenant in , studied the gulf stream, oceanic currents, and great circle sailing, and in published his "physical geography of the sea"; took the side of the confederates in the civil war, and was afterwards appointed professor in the military college at lexington, in virginia ( - ). mausole`um, a building more or less elaborate, used as a tomb. see mausolus. mausolus, a king of caria, husband of artemisia, who in raised a monument to his memory, called the mausoleum, and reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. max mÜller, friedrich, philologist, born at dessau, son of a german poet, wilhelm müller; educated at leipzig; studied at paris, and came to england in ; was appointed taylorian professor at oxford in , and in professor of comparative philology there, a science to which he has made large contributions; besides editing the "rig-veda," he has published "lectures on the science of language" and "chips from a german workshop," dealing therein not merely with the origin of languages, but that of the early religious and social systems of the east; _b_. . maxim, hiram s., american inventor, born at tangerville, maine, u.s.; showed early a decided mechanical talent, and is best known in connection with the invention of the gun named after him, but among his other inventions are the smokeless powder, the incandescent lamp carbons, and search-lights; b. . maxim gun, an automatic machine-gun invented by hiram s. maxim, an american, in , capable of discharging rifle cartridges per minute; the first shot is fired by hand, and the recoil is utilised to reload and fire the next, and so on. a cylinder of water keeps the barrel from heating. maximilian, ferdinand joseph, archduke of austria, younger brother of francis joseph, born at schönbrunn; became emperor of mexico; issued an edict threatening death to any mexican who took up arms against the empire, roused the liberal party against him, and was at the head of men defeated at querétaro, taken prisoner, tried by court-martial, and shot ( - ). maximilian i., emperor of germany, son of frederick iii., acquired burgundy and flanders by marriage, which involved him in a war with france; became emperor on the death of his father in ; became by marriage duke of milan, and brought spain under the power of his dynasty by the marriage of his son philip to the daughter of ferdinand and isabella; it was he who assembled the diet of augsburg at which luther made appeal to the pope ( - ). maxwell, james clerk, eminent physicist, born in edinburgh, son of john clerk maxwell of middlebie; attained the rank of senior wrangler at cambridge; became professor in aberdeen in , in london in , and of experimental physics in cambridge in ; in this year appeared the first of his works, "the theory of heat," which was followed by "electricity and magnetism" and "matter and motion," the second being his greatest; he was as sincere a christian as he was a zealous scientist ( - ). maxwell, sir william stirling, of keir, perthshire, a man of refined scholarship; travelled in italy and spain; wrote on subjects connected with the history and the artists of spain ( - ). may, the fifth month of the year, so called from a sanskrit word signifying to grow, as being the shooting or growing month. may, isle of, island at the mouth of the firth of forth, ½ m. se. of crail on the fife coast; has a lighthouse with an electric light, flashing out at intervals to a distance of nautical miles. may, sir thomas erskine, english barrister; became clerk of the house of commons in ; wrote a parliamentary text-book, "democracy in europe," and a "constitutional history of england since the accession of george iii.," in continuation of the works of hallam and stubbs ( - ). mayer, julius robert von, german physicist, born in heilbronn; made a special study of the phenomena of heat, established the numerical relation between heat and work, and propounded the theory of the production and maintenance of the sun's temperature; he had a controversy as to the priority of his discoveries with joule, who claimed to have anticipated them ( - ). mayhew, henry, littérateur and first editor of _punch_, born in london, and articled to his father, a solicitor; chose journalism as a profession, and in conjunction with gilbert à beckett started _the thief_ in , the first of the "bits" type of papers; he joined the first _punch_ staff in , in which year his farce "the wandering minstrel" was produced; collaborating with his brother augustus, he wrote "whom to marry" and many other novels between and , thereafter works on various subjects; his principal book, "london labour and the london poor," appeared in ( - ). maynooth, village in co. kildare, m. w. of dublin; is the seat of a roman catholic seminary founded by the irish parliament in on the abolition of the french colleges during the revolution; an annual grant of £ was made, increased to £ , in , but commuted in for a sum of £ , , , when state connection ceased; the college trains students for the priesthood. mayo ( ), maritime county in counaught, west of ireland, between sligo and galway; has many indentations, the largest broadhaven, blacksod, and clew bays, and islands achil and clare, with a remarkable peninsula the mullet; mountainous in the w., the e. is more level, and has lough conn and the moy river; much of the county is barren and bog, but crops of cereals and potatoes are raised; cattle are reared on pasture lands; there are valuable slate quarries and manganese mines; castlebar ( ), in the centre, is the county town; westport ( ), on clew bay, has some shipping. mayo, richard southwark bourke, earl of, statesman, born and educated in dublin; entered parliament , and was chief secretary for ireland in conservative governments , , and , opposing gladstone's irish church resolutions; in he succeeded lord lawrence as viceroy of india, in which office he proved himself a prudent statesman, a sound financier, and a just and wise administrator; he was murdered by a fanatic in the andaman islands, and universally mourned ( - ). mazarin, jules, cardinal, born at piscina, abruzzi; having been sent by the pope one of an embassy to france, he gained the favour of richelieu, who recommended him to louis xiii. as his successor, and whose successor, being naturalised as a frenchman, he became in , an office which he retained under the queen-regent on louis' death; he brought the thirty years' war to an end by the peace of westphalia, crushed the revolt of the fronde (q. v.), and imposed on spain the treaty of the pyrenees; at first a popular minister, he began to lose favour when cabals were formed against him, and he was dismissed, but he contrived to allay the storm, regained his power, and held it till his death; he died immensely rich, and bequeathed his library, which was a large one, to the college mazarin ( - ). mazarin bible, the first book printed by movable metal types, a copy of which is in the mazarin library, and bears the date . mazeppa, ivan, hetman of the cossacks, born in podolia; became page to john casimir, king of poland; was taken by a polish nobleman, who surprised him with his wife, and tied by him to the back of a wild horse, which galloped off with him to the ukraine, where it had been bred, and where some peasants released him half-dead; life among those people suited his taste, he stayed among them, became secretary to their hetman, and finally hetman himself; he won the confidence of peter the great, who made him a prince under his suzerainty, but in an evil hour he allied himself with charles xii. of sweden, and lost it; fled to bender on the defeat of the swedish king at pultowa in ( - ). mazurka, a lively polish dance, danced by four or eight couples, and much practised in the n. of germany as well as in poland. mazzini, joseph, italian patriot, born at genoa; consecrated his life to political revolution and the regeneration of his country on a democratic basis by political agitation; was arrested by the sardinian government in and expelled from italy; organised at marseilles the secret society of young italy, whose motto was "god and the people"; driven from marseilles to switzerland and from switzerland to london, he never ceased to agitate and conspire for this object; on the outbreak of the revolution in at paris he hastened thither to join the movement, which had spread into italy, and where in he was installed one of a triumvirate in rome and conducted the defence of the city against the arms of france, but refusing to join in the capitulation he returned to london, where he still continued to agitate till, his health failing, he retired to geneva and died ( - ). mead, a brisk liquor made by fermenting honey, and used in civilised and barbarous europe from very early times. meade, george gordon, american general, born at cadiz, son of an american merchant; he passed through west point and joined the engineers; he served in the mexican war, became captain and major, and was employed surveying and lighthouse building till the civil war; in it, first in command of volunteers and afterwards as general in the regular army, he distinguished himself chiefly by frustrating lee in ; after the war he continued in the service till his death at philadelphia ( - ). meander. see mÆander. meath ( ), a county in leinster, ireland, touching the irish sea between louth and dublin, is watered by the boyne river and its tributary the blackwater; the surface is undulating, the soil fertile; some oats and potatoes are grown, but most of the county is under pasture; there is a little linen and coarse woollen industry; the chief towns are navan ( ), kells ( ), and the county town trim ( ). meaux ( ), on the marne, m. ne. of paris, a well-built town, with gothic cathedral; has a large corn and provision trade, and some copper and cotton industries; bossuet was bishop here, and it contains his grave. mecca, the birthplace of mahomet, the holy city and keblah of the moslems, the capital of hedjaz and the true capital of arabia; in the midst of sandy valleys, and m. distant from jeddah, its port; a city to which every true mussulman must make a pilgrimage once in his life; has a population which varies from , to , . see caaba. mechanical powers, the lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, pulley, and wedge, the elementary contrivances of which all machines are composed. mechanics' institutes, associations of working-men which aim at providing a general education for artisans, and particularly instruction in the fundamental principles of their own trades; are managed by committees of their own election, usually have a reading-room and library, and provide classes and lectures; dr. birkbeck started a journeymen's class in glasgow , and in in london organised the first mechanics' institute. mecklenburg-schwerin ( ), a german grand-duchy, on the shores of the baltic, between schleswig-holstein and pomerania; is mostly a level, fertile plain, with numerous small rivers and many lakes; agriculture is the chief industry; merino sheep are renowned; there are iron-founding, sugar-refining, and tanning works, and amber is found on the coasts; social institutions are very backward; still largely feudal; serfdom was abolished in only. schwerin ( ), on lake schwerin, is the capital. rostock ( ), has a university; is a busy baltic port, from which grain, wool, and cattle are shipped; has important wool and cattle fairs, shipbuilding, and other industries. mecklenburg-strelitz ( ), adjacent to the foregoing on the se., presents similar characteristics, and is united to it in government; the capital is neustrelitz ( ). medea, a famous sorceress of greek legend, daughter of Æëtes, king of colchis, by whose aid jason (q. v.) accomplished the object of his expedition, and acquired the golden fleece, and who accompanied him back to greece as his wife; by her art she restored the youth of eson, the father of her husband, but the latter having abandoned her she avenged herself on him by putting the children she had by him to death; the art she possessed was that of making old people young again by first chopping them in pieces and then boiling them in a caldron. media, a country on the sw. of the caspian sea, originally a province of the assyrian empire, from which it revolted; was after years of independence annexed to persia by cyrus, of which it had formed the nw. portion. mediÆvalism, a tendency in literature and art to conform in spirit or otherwise to mediæval models. medical jurisprudence or forensic medicine, is the branch of medical study which bears on legal questions, the detection of crime or the determination of civil rights. medici, an illustrious family who attained sovereign power in florence in the th century, the most celebrated members of which were: cosmo de, surnamed the "father of his country," was exiled for ten years but recalled, and had afterwards a peaceful and prosperous reign; was a student of philosophy, and much interested in literature ( - ). lorenzo de, the magnificent, did much to demoralise florence, but patronised literature and the arts ( - ). other celebrated members of the family were popes leo x., clement vii., and catherine and mary de medici (q. v.). medicine-man, one among the american indians who professes to cure diseases or exorcise evil spirits by magic. medina (lit. the city) ( ), called also medina-en-nabi, m. n. of mecca, the city of the prophet, as the place in which he found refuge after his "flight" from mecca in ; it was here he from that date lived, where he died, and where his tomb is, in a beautiful and rich mosque called el haram (i. e. the inviolate), erected on the site of the prophet's house. see hegira. mediterranean sea, so called by the ancients as lying in the presumed middle of the earth surrounded by europe, asia, and africa; the largest enclosed sea in the world; its communication with the atlantic is gibraltar strait, m. wide; it communicates with the black sea through the dardanelles, and in a canal through the isthmus of suez connected it with the red sea, m. long by to m. broad; its s. shores are regular; the n. has many gulfs, and two great inlets, the Ægean and adriatic seas; the balearic isles, corsica, and sardinia, sicily, malta, cyprus, and crete, the ionian isles, and the archipelago are the chief islands; the rhône, po, and nile the chief rivers that discharge into it; a ridge between sicily and cape bon divides it into two great basins; it is practically tideless, and salter than the atlantic; its waters too are warm; northerly winds prevail in the e. with certain regular variations; the surrounding territories are the richest in the world, and the greatest movements in civilisation and art have taken place around it in africa, phoenicia, carthage, greece, and rome. medium, in modern spiritualism a person susceptible to communication with the spirit-world. medjidie, an ottoman order of knighthood instituted in by the sultan abd-ul-medjid, as a reward of merit in civil or military service. mÉdoc, a district in the dep. of the gironde, on the left of the estuary, in the s. of france, famous for its wines. medusa, one of the three gorgons (q. v.), is fabled to have been originally a woman of rare beauty, with a magnificent head of hair, but having offended athena, that goddess changed her hair into hideous serpents, and gave to her eyes the power of turning any one into stone who looked into them; perseus (q. v.) cut off her head by the help of athena, who afterwards wore it on the middle of her breastplate or shield. medway, a river in kent, which rises in surrey and sussex, and which after a ne. course of m. falls into an estuary at sheerness. meeanee, a village in sind, m. n. of hyderabad, where sir charles napier defeated an army of the ameer of sind in . meerschaum (lit. sea-foam), a fine white clay, a hydrate-silicate of magnesia, supposed, as found on the sea-shore in some places, to have been sea-foam petrified. meerut ( ), an indian town in the north-west provinces, on the nuddi, m. ne. of delhi; is capital of a district of the same name, and an important military station; it is noted as the scene of the outbreak of the mutiny in . megaris, a small but populous state of ancient greece, s. of attica, whose inhabitants were adventurous seafarers, credited with deceitful propensities. the capital, megara, famous for white marble and fine clay, was the birthplace of euclid. megatherium, an extinct genus of mammalia allied to the sloth, some or ft. in length and ft. in height, with an elephantine skeleton. mehemet ali, pasha of egypt, born in albania; entered the turkish army, and rose into favour, so that he was able to seize the pashalic, the sultan compromising matters by exaction of an annual tribute in acknowledgment of his suzerainty; the mamelukes, however, proved unruly, and he could not otherwise get rid of them but by luring them into his coils, and slaughtering them wholesale in ; he maintained two wars with the sultan for the possession of syria, and had ibrahim pasha, his son, for lieutenant; compelled to give up the struggle, he instituted a series of reforms in egypt, and prosecuted them with such vigour that the sultan decreed the pashalic to remain hereditary in his family ( - ). meissen ( ), a town of saxony, on the upper elbe, m. nw. of dresden; has a very fine gothic cathedral and an old castle. gellert and lessing were educated here. there is a large porcelain factory, where dresden china is made, besides manufactures of iron. meissonier, jean louis ernest, french painter, born at lyons; began as a book illustrator of "paul and virginia" amongst other works, practising the while and perfecting his art as a figure painter, in which he achieved signal success, from his "chess-player" series to his designs for the decoration of the pantheon, "the apotheosis of france," in ( - ). meister, wilhelm, a great work of goethe's, fraught with world-wisdom, the hero of which of the name represents a man who is led, in these very days, by a higher hand than he is aware of to his appointed destiny. meistersÄngers or singers, a guild founded in germany in the th century or earlier for the cultivation of poetry, of which hans sachs (q. v.) was the most famous member. mekhong, is the great river of siam. its source in the mountains of chiamdo is unexplored. its course, m., is southerly to the china sea; the last m. are navigable. it carries great quantities of silt which goes to form and augment the delta through which it issues. melanchthon, philip, protestant reformer, born in the palatinate of the rhine; was the scholar of the german reformation, and a wise friend of luther's, having come into contact with him at wittenberg, where he happened to be professor of greek; he wrote the first protestant work in dogmatic theology, entitled "loci communes," and drew up the "augsburg confession"; the sweetness of temper for which he was distinguished, together with his soberness as a thinker, had a moderating influence on the vehemence of luther, and contributed much to the progress of the reformation; he was the erasmus of that movement, and combined the humanist with the reformer, as george buchanan did in scotland ( - ). melanesia, eleven archipelagoes of crystalline, coralline, and volcanic islands in the w. of polynesia, all s. of the equator, and inhabited by the melanesian or dark oceanic race; includes the fiji, solomon, bismarck, and new hebrides islands. melba, nellie, a celebrated operatic singer, born in australia; made her first appearance when she was only six; has often appeared in opera in london; her private name is mrs. armstrong, and she resides in paris; _b_. . melbourne ( ), the capital of victoria, at the head of port phillip bay; is the largest and most important city in australia; built in broad regular streets, with much architectural beauty, and containing, besides the government buildings, a roman and an anglican cathedral, a mint and a university, numerous colleges, hospitals, and other institutions. its shipping interests are very large; a ship canal enables the largest ships to reach the quays; exports of gold and wool are extensive. melbourne is the railway centre of the continent. it has manufactures of boots and clothing, foundries and flour-mills. it has a hot climate. its water supply is abundant, but defective drainage impairs its healthfulness. first settled in , it was incorporated in , and nine years later was made capital of the newly constituted colony. it was the scene of an exhibition in , of a great industrial struggle in , and of a very severe financial crisis in . melbourne, william lamb, viscount, english statesman, born in london; educated at cambridge and glasgow universities; entered parliament as a whig in , but was chief secretary for ireland in the governments of canning, goderich, and wellington; succeeding to the title in , he reverted to his old party; was home secretary under earl grey in , and was himself prime minister for four months in , and then from till , when he retired from public life; he was a man of sound sense, and showed admirable tact in introducing the young queen to her various duties in ( - ). melchizedek (i. e. king of righteousness or justice), a priest-king of canaan, to whom, though of no lineage as a priest, but as a minister of god's justice, abraham did homage and paid tithes; a true type of priest as ordained of god, and one in that capacity "without father and without mother." meleager, a greek mythic hero, distinguished for throwing the javelin, and by his skill in it slaying a wild boar which devastated his country, and whose life depended on the burning down of a brand that was blazing on the hearth at the time of his birth, but which his mother at once snatched from the flames. but a quarrel having arisen between him and his uncles over the head of the boar, in which they met their death, the mother to be avenged on him for slaying her brothers threw back into the fire the brand on the preservation of which his life depended, and on the instant he breathed his last. meliorism, the theory that there is in nature a tendency to better and better development. melodrama, a play consisting of sensational incidents, and arranged to produce striking effects. melpomenË, the one of the nine muses which presides over tragedy. melrose, a small town in roxburghshire, at the foot of the eildons, on the s. bank of the tweed, famed for its abbey, founded by david i. in ; it is celebrated by sir walter scott in his "lay of the last minstrel." melton-mowbray ( ), a town m. ne. of leicester, the centre of the great hunting district; celebrated for its pork pies. melusina, a fairy of french legend, who married raymond, a knight, on condition that on a particular day of the week he would not visit her, a stipulation which he was tempted to break, so that on a day of her seclusion he broke into her chamber, and found the lower part of her body from the waist downwards transformed into that of a serpent, upon which she straightway flew out at the window, to hover henceforth round the castle of her lord and only appear again on the occasion of the death of any of the inmates. melville, andrew, scottish presbyterian ecclesiastic, born near montrose; of good and even wide repute as a scholar; became principal first of glasgow college and then of st. mary's college, st. andrews; was zealous for the headship of christ over the church, in opposition to the claim of the king, james, and spoke his mind freely both to the king and the bishops, for which he was sent to the tower; on his release, after four years, he retired to a professorship at sedan, in france, having been forbidden to return to scotland ( - ). melville, whyte-, novelist; his novels were chiefly of the hunting field, such as "katerfelto" and "black, but comely," though he wrote historical ones also, such as "the queen's maries" ( - ). memel ( ), baltic seaport at the mouth of the kurisches haff, in the extreme ne. of prussia; ships great quantities of russian and lithuanian timber, and has some chemical works and shipbuilding yards. memnon, a son of tithonus and aurora, who was sent by his father, king of egypt and ethiopia, to the assistance of troy on the death of hector, and who slew antilochus, the son of nestor, and was himself slain by achilles, whereupon aurora, all tears, besought zeus to immortalise his memory, which, however, did not calm her sorrow, for ever since the earth bears witness to her weeping in the dews of the morning; a statue, presumed to be to his memory, was erected near thebes, in egypt, which was fabled to emit a musical sound every time the first ray fell on it from the rosy fingers of aurora. memphis, an ancient city of egypt, of which it was the capital; it was founded by menes at the apex of the delta of the nile, and contained , inhabitants. memphis ( ), a tennessee port on the mississippi, m. above new orleans, accessible to the largest vessels, is also a great railway centre, and therefore a place of great commercial importance; has many industries, and a great cotton market. menado ( ), a dutch colony in the n. of celebes. menai strait, a picturesque channel separating anglesey from carnarvonshire, m. long and at its narrowest yards wide; is crossed by a suspension bridge ( ) and the britannia tubular bridge for railway ( ). menander, a greek comic poet, born at athens; was the pupil of theophrastus and a friend of epicurus; of his works, which were numerous, we have only some fragments, but we can judge of them from his imitator terence (q. v.) ( - b.c.). mencius or meng-tze, a celebrated chinese sage, a disciple, some say a grandson, of confucius (q. v.); went up and down with his disciples from court to court in the country to persuade, particularly the ruling classes, to give heed to the words of wisdom, though in vain; after which, on his death, his followers collected his teachings in a book entitled the "book of meng-tze," which is full of practical instruction ( - b.c.). mendicant order, a religious fraternity, the members of which denude themselves of all private property and live on alms. mendelssohn-bartholdy, felix, celebrated german composer, grandson of the succeeding, born in hamburg; he began to compose early in life, and his compositions consisted of symphonies, operas, oratorios, and church music; his oratorios of "st. paul" and "elijah" are well known, and are enduring monuments of his genius; he was a man universally loved and esteemed, and had the good fortune to live amidst the happiest surroundings ( - ). mendelssohn, moses, a german philosopher, born at dessau, of jewish descent, a zealous monotheist, and wrote against spinoza; was author of the "phædon, a discourse on the immortality of the soul," and did a great deal in his day to do away with the prejudices of the jews and the prejudices against them; he was the friend of lessing, and is the prototype of his "nathan" ( - ). mendoza ( ), province in the extreme w. of argentina; has the andes in the w., aconcagua ( , ft.), the highest peak in the new world, otherwise is chiefly worthless pampa, fertile only where irrigated from the small mendoza river; there vines flourish; copper is plentiful, coal and oil are found. mendoza ( ), the capital, m. w. of buenos ayres by rail, is on the trans-andine route to chili, with which it trades largely; suffers frequently from earthquakes. menelaus, king of sparta, the brother of agamemnon and the husband of helen, the carrying away of whom by paris led to the trojan war. menhir, a kind of rude obelisk understood to be a sepulchral monument. meninges, the name of three membranes that invest the brain and spinal cord, and the inflammation of which is called meningitis. mennonites, a protestant sect founded at zurich with a creed that combines the tenets of the baptists with those of the quakers; have an episcopal form of government, and maintain a rigorous church discipline. menschikoff, alexander danilovitch, russian soldier and statesman, born in humble life at moscow; became servant to lefort, on whose death he succeeded him as favourite of peter the great, whom he accompanied to holland and england; in the swedish war ( - ) he won renown, and was created field-marshal on the field of pultowa; he introduced to the czar catharine, afterwards czarina, whom he captured at marienburg, and when peter died secured the throne for her; during her reign and her successor's he governed russia, but his ambition led the nobles to banish him to siberia ( - ). menschikoff, alexander sergeievitch, general, great-grandson of the former, served in the wars of - , in the turkish campaign of , was ambassador to the porte in , and largely responsible for the crimean war, in which he commanded at alma, inkermann, and sebastopol ( - ). menteith, lake of, a small beautiful loch in perthshire, m. w. of stirling, with three islets, on one of which stood a priory where, as a child, mary stuart spent - ; on another stood the stronghold of the earls. menthol, a crystalline substance obtained from the oil of peppermint, used in nervous affections, such as neuralgia, as a counter-irritant. mentone ( ), town and seaport in france, on the mediterranean, ½ m. from the italian border; was under the princes of monaco till , when it subjected itself to sardinia, which afterwards handed it over to france; protected by the alps, the climate is delightful, and renders it a favourite health resort in winter and spring; it exports olive-oil and fruit. mentor, a friend of ulysses, and the tutor of his son telemachus, whose form and voice athena assumed in order to persuade his pupil to retain and maintain the courage and astuteness of his father. menzel, adolf, german painter, born at breslau, professor at berlin; best known for his historical pictures and drawings; _b_. . menzel, wolfgang, german author and critic, born in silesia; wrote on german history, literature, and poetry, as well as general history, and maintained a vigorous polemic against all who by their writings or their politics sought to subvert the christian religion or the orthodox policy of the german monarchies ( - ). mephistopheles, the impersonation in goethe's "faust" of the modern devil, the incarnation of the spirit of universal scepticism and scoffing, who can see not only no beauty in goodness but no deforming in iniquity, alike without reverence for god and fear of his adversary, blind as a mole to all worth and all unworth throughout the universe, yet knowing and boastful of knowledge, by means of which he sees only "the ridiculous, the unsuitable, the bad, but for the solemn, the noble, the worthy is blind as his ancient mother." mercator, a celebrated dutch geographer who has given name to a projection of the earth's surface on a plane ( - ). mercenaries, originally hired soldiers as distinguished from feudal levies, now bodies of foreign troops in the service of the state; the scots guards in france from the th to th centuries were famous, and swiss auxiliaries once belonged to most european armies; william iii. had dutch mercenaries in england; under the georges, german were hired and were used in the american war, the irish rebellion, and the napoleonic struggle; in the crimean war german, swiss, and italian were enrolled. mercia, one of the three chief kingdoms of early england; founded by anglian settlers in the upper trent valley (now south staffordshire) in the th century; it rose to greatness under penda - , subsequently succeeded northumberland in the supremacy, but after the death of cenwulf , waned in turn before wessex and the danes. mercury, the roman name for the greek hermes, the son of jupiter and maia, the messenger of the gods, the patron of merchants and travellers, and the conductor of the souls of the dead to the nether world. mercury, an interior planet of the solar system, whose orbit is nearest the sun, the greatest distance being nearly , , m. and the least over , , , is one-seventeenth the size of the earth, but is of greater density, and accomplishes its revolution in about days; it is visible just before the sun rises and after it sets, but that very seldom owing to the sun's neighbourhood. mer-de-glace, the great glacier of the alps near chamouni, was the subject of the experiments of professor j. d. forbes of edinburgh about , and on which the movement of the glaciers was first observed. meredith, george, poet and novelist, born in hampshire; began his literary career as a poet, in which capacity he has since distinguished himself and given expression to his deepest personal convictions, but it is chiefly as a novelist he is most widely known and is generally judged of; as a novel-writer he occupies a supreme place, and is reckoned superior in that department to all his contemporaries in the same line by the unanimous consent of one and all of them; his novels, however, appeal only to a select few, but by them they are regarded with unbounded admiration, some giving preference to this and others to that of the series; "the ordeal of richard feveril," published in , is by many considered his best, though it is over "the egoist" that louis stevenson breaks out into raptures; meredith has most sympathetic insights into nature and life, has a marvellous power in analysing and construing character, and shows himself alive to all the great immediate interests of humanity; _b_. . meredith, owen, the _nom de plume_ assumed by edward robert bulwer lytton, from his descent from a welsh noble of the name. mergui, a small seaport near the mouth of the tenasserim, british burma, which exports birds' nests to china. meridian, an imaginary great circle passing through the poles at right angles to the equator. mÈrimÈe, prosper, a great french writer, born in paris; abandoned law, to which he was bred, for literature; became under louis philippe inspector-general of historical documents, and travelled in that capacity in the s. and w. of france, publishing from time to time the fruits of his researches; he wrote in exquisite style stories, historical dissertations, and travels, among other works "guzla," "chronicles of charles ix.," the "history of don pedro, king of castile," "letters to an unknown"; he was a man of singularly enigmatic character ( - ). merio`neth ( ), a mountainous county of north wales, abutting on cardigan bay, between carnarvon and cardigan; lofty peaks, aran mowddy, cader idris, and aran benllyn; rivers, dee and dovey, and lake bala afford picturesque scenery; the soil is fit only for sheep-grazing; but there are slate and limestone quarries, manganese and gold mines; the county town, dolgelly ( ), on the wnion, has woollen and tweed manufactures. merivale, charles, dean of ely, born at exeter; held a succession of appointments as lecturer; wrote a history of rome from its foundation in to the fall of augustus in , but his chief work is the "history of the romans under the empire," indispensable as an introduction to gibbon ( - ). merle d'aubignÉ, jean-henri. see d'aubignÉ, merle. merlin, a legendary welsh prophet and magician, child of a wizard and a princess, who lived in the th century, and was subsequently a prominent personage at king arthur's' court; prophecies attributed to him existed as far back as the th century; tennyson represents him as bewitched by vivian; legend also tells of a clydesdale merlin of the th century; his prophecies, published in , include the former; both legends are based on armorican materials. mermaids and mermen (i. e. sea-maids and sea-men), a class of beings fabled to inhabit the sea, with a human body as far as the waist, ending in the tail of a fish; the females of them represented above the surface of the sea combing their long hair with one hand and holding a mirror with the other; they are supposed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy, and are of an amorous temper. merovingians, a name given to the first dynasty that ruled over france, and which derives its name from merovig, the founder of the family. merrilees, meg, a half-crazy border gipsy; one of the characters in scott's "guy mannering." merry monarch, a title by which charles ii. of england was at one time familiarly known. mersey, river rising in nw. derbyshire, flows westward m. between lancashire and cheshire to the irish sea; is of great commercial importance, having liverpool on its estuary; its chief tributary is the irwell, on which stands manchester. merthyr-tydvil ( ), industrial town in glamorganshire, on the taff, m. nw. of cardiff; is the centre of great coal-fields and of enormous iron and steel works, which constitute the only industry. merv ( ), an oasis in turkestan, belonging to russia, being conquered in , m. long by broad, producing cereals, cotton, silk, &c.; breeds horses, camels, sheep, with a capital of the same name, on the transcaspian railway. meryon, charles, etcher of street scenes, born at paris; son of english doctor; died insane ( ). mesmer, friedrich anton, a german physician, born near constance; bred for the church, but took to medicine; was the founder of animal magnetism, called mesmerism after him, his experiments in connection with which created a great sensation, particularly in paris, until the quackery of it was discovered by scientific investigation, upon which he retired into obscurity, "to walk silent on the shore of the bodensee, meditating on much" ( - ). mesmerism, animal magnetism so called, or the alleged power which, by operating on the nervous system, one person obtains control over the thoughts and actions of another. mesopotamia, the name given after alexander the great's time to the territory "between the rivers" euphrates and tigris, stretching from babylonia nw. to the armenian mountains; under irrigation it was very fertile, but is now little cultivated; once the scene of high civilisation when nineveh ruled it; it passed from assyrian hands successively to babylonian, persian, greek, roman, and arab; now, after many vicissitudes, it is in the deathly grasp of turkish rule. messenia, a province of greece, mainly the fertile peninsula between the gulfs of arcadia and coron; in ancient times the messenians were prosperous, excited spartan envy, and after two long wars were conquered in b.c. and fled to sicily. messiah (i. e. the anointed one), one consecrated of god, who the jewish prophets predicted would one day appear to emancipate the jewish people from bondage and exalt them in the eyes of all the other nations of the earth as his elect nation, and for the glory of his name. messina ( ), on a bay at the ne. corner of sicily; is a very ancient city, but rebuilt after the earthquake of ; has a th-century cathedral, two old castles, and a university, founded ; it manufactures light textiles, coral ornaments, and fruit essences; its excellent harbour encourages a good trade. messina, strait of, m. long, and at its narrowest ½ broad; separates sicily from the italian mainland; here were the scylla and charybdis of the ancients. messuage, a dwelling-house with buildings and land attached for the use of the household. metabolism, name given to a chemical change in the cells or tissues of living matter. metamorphosis is a classical name for the changing of a human being into a beast, an inanimate object, or an element, stories of which are common in all folk-lore. metaphysics, the science of being as being in contradistinction from a science of a particular species of being, the science of sciences, or the science of the ultimate grounds of all these, and presupposed by them, called by plato dialectics, or the logic of being. metastasio, an italian poet, born at rome, the son of a common soldier named trapassi; his power of improvising verse attracted the attention of one gravina, a lawyer, who educated him and left him his fortune; he wrote opera librettoes, which were set to music by the most eminent composers, was court poet at vienna, and died there years after his active powers were spent ( - ). meteors or shooting stars are small bodies consisting of iron, stone, and certain other familiar elements which are scattered in immense numbers through planetary space; they revolve round the sun in clouds or in long strings, and when the earth gets close to them numbers are drawn down to its surface, friction with the atmosphere rendering them luminous and grinding them usually to fine dust; larger meteors are known as fireballs and aërolites, many of which have reached the earth; comets are masses of meteors. methodists, a body of christians founded by john wesley in the interests of personal religion, ecclesiastically governed by a conference with subordinate district synods, and holding and professing evangelical principles, which they teach agreeably to the theology of arminius; the name is also given to the followers of whitefield, who are calvinists in certain respects. methylated spirit, is alcohol adulterated with per cent. of wood-spirit. metis (i. e. wise counsel), in the greek mythology the daughter of oceanos and tethys, and the first wife of zeus; afraid lest she should give birth to a child wiser and more powerful than himself, he devoured her on the first month of her pregnancy, and some time afterwards being seized with pains, he gave birth to athena (q. v.) from his head. mÈtre, the name given to the unit of length in the metric or decimal system, and equal to . english inches, the tenths, the hundreds, and the thousands of which are called from the latin respectively decimetres, centimetres, and millimetres, and ten times, a hundred times, and a thousand times, which are called from the greek respectively decamètres, hectomètres, and kilomètres. metternich, clement, prince von, austrian diplomatist, born at coblenz; served as ambassador successively at the courts of dresden, berlin, and paris, and became first minister of state in , exercising for years from that date the supreme control of affairs in austria; one of his first acts as such was to effectuate a marriage between napoleon and the archduchess maria theresa, himself escorting her to paris; he presided at the congress of vienna in , and from that date dominated in foreign affairs in the interest of the rights of kings and the repression of popular insurrection; he had to flee from vienna in , but returned in , after which, though not called back to office, he continued to influence affairs by his advice ( - ). metz ( ), strongest fortress in lorraine, on the moselle, m. sw. of coblenz, captured in from the french, who had held it since ; has a cathedral, library, museum, and school of music; industries are unimportant; the trade is in liquor, leather, and preserved fruits. meung, jean de, mediæval french satirist; continued the unfinished "roman de la rose," in which he embodied a vivid satiric portraiture of contemporary life ( - ?). meuse, river, m. long, rises in haute-marne, france, and becoming navigable flows n. through belgium, turns e. at namur, where the sambre enters from the left, n. again at liège, where it receives the ourthe from the right; enters holland at maastricht, is for a time the boundary, finally trends westward, and joins the rhine at the delta. mexico ( , ), a federal republic of states, a district, and two territories, lying s. of the united states, between the gulf of mexico and the pacific, and including the peninsulas of lower california in the w. and yucatan in the e.; is nearly half as large as europe without russia; it consists of an immense plateau to ft. high, from which rises the sierra nevada, , ft., running n. and s., and other parallel ranges, as also single peaks. toluca ( , ft.), orizaba ( , ), and popocatapetl ( , ); the largest lake is chapala, in the centre; the rivers are mostly rapid and unnavigable; the chief seaports are vera cruz ( ) and tampico ( ) on the e. and acapulco on the w., but the coast-line is little indented and affords no good harbours; along the eastern seaboard runs a strip of low-lying unhealthy country, m. broad; on the pacific side the coast land is sometimes broader; these coast-lines are well watered, with tropical vegetation, tropical and sub-tropical fruits; the higher ground has a varied climate; in the n. are great cattle ranches; all over the country the mineral wealth is enormous, gold, silver, copper, iron, sulphur, zinc, quicksilver, and platinum are wrought; coal also exists; the bulk of mexican exports is of precious metals and ores; there are cotton, paper, glass, and pottery manufactures; trade is chiefly with the united states and britain; imports being textile fabrics, hardware, machinery, and coal; one-fifth of the population is white, the rest indian and half-caste; education is backward, though there are free schools in every town; the religion is roman catholic, the language spanish; conquered by cortez in , the country was ruled by spain and spoiled for years; a rebellion established its independence in , but the first years saw perpetual civil strife, and wars with the united states in and france in ; since , however, when the constitution was modelled on that of the united states, there has been peace and progress, ponfirio diaz, president since , having proved a masterly ruler. mexico ( ), the capital of the republic, ft. above the level of the sea, in the centre of the country, is a handsome though unhealthy city, with many fine buildings, a cathedral, a picture-gallery, schools of law, mining, and engineering, a conservatory of music, and an academy of art; there are few manufactures; the trade is chiefly transit. mexico, gulf of, a large basin between united states and mexican territory; is shut in by the peninsulas of florida and yucatan, m. apart, and the western extremity of cuba, which lies between them; it receives the mississippi, rio grande, and many other rivers; the coasts are low, with many lagoons; ports like new orleans, havana, and vera cruz make it a highway for ships; north-easterly hurricanes blow in march and october. meyer, conrad ferdinand, swiss poet and novelist, native of zurich; has written "der heilige" and many other novels; _b_. . meyerbeer, illustrious musical composer, born at berlin, of jewish birth; composer of operatic music, and for over years supreme in french opera; produced "robert le diable" in , the "huguenots" in , "le prophète" in , "l'Étoile du nord" in , the "dinorah" in ( - ). mezzofanti, giuseppe, cardinal and linguist, born at bologna; celebrated for the number of languages he knew, some in all; lived chiefly in rome, and was keeper of the vatican library; byron called him "a walking polyglot" ( - ). mezzotint, a mode of engraving on steel or copper in imitation of indian ink drawings, the lights and shades of the picture being produced by scraping on a black ground. miall, edward, journalist, english apostle of disestablishment, founder of the liberation society; sat for rochdale and bradford; was presented on his retirement with a sum of ten thousand guineas for his services ( - ). micah, one of the minor prophets of the old testament, a contemporary of isaiah, hosea, and amos; his prophecies are in the same strain as those of isaiah, and numerous are the coincidences traceable between them; though a great sternness of temper and severity of tone appears in his prophecies, a deep tenderness of heart from time to time reveals itself, and a winning persuasiveness (chap. vi. ); chap. vii. - has been quoted as one of the sweetest passages of prophetic writing; his prophecies predict the destruction both of samaria and jerusalem, the captivity and the return, with the re-establishment of the theocracy, and the advent of the messiah. micawber, a character in "david copperfield," a schemer whose schemes regularly came to grief, yet who always wakes up after his depression, and hopes something will turn up to his advantage. michael, an archangel, the leader of the heavenly host, at never-ending war with the devil and his angels in their arrogance of claim; is represented in art as clad in armour, with a sword in one hand and a pair of scales in the other to weigh the souls of men at the judgment. festival, september . michael, the name of a succession of eight emperors who, at different periods, occupied the throne of the east from to , the last being michael viii., the founder of the palæologic dynasty. michael angelo buonarotti, painter, sculptor, architect, and poet, born at caprese, in tuscany, one of the greatest artists that ever lived; studied art as apprentice for three years under domenico ghirlandajo, and at seventeen his talents attracted the notice of lorenzo de' medici, who received him into his palace at florence, and employed as well as encouraged him; on the death of his patron he left for bologna, and afterwards, in , went to rome, whither his renown as a sculptor had gone before him, and there he executed his antiques "bacchus" and "cupid," followed by his "pieta," or virgin weeping over the dead christ; from to he was engaged on the ceiling in the sistine chapel; in we find him at florence dividing his time between work as an engineer in the defence of the city and his art as a sculptor; three years after this he was back in rome, and by-and-by _busy painting_ his great fresco in the sistine chapel, the "last judgment," which occupied him eight years; in he was appointed architect of st. peter's, and he planned and built the dome; sculpture was his great forte, but his genius was equal to any task imposed on him, and he has left poems to show what he might have done in the domain of letters as he has done in those of arts, with which his fame is more intimately associated ( - ). michaelis, johann david, an orientalist and biblical scholar, born at halle; was a man of vast learning; professor of philosophy as well as of oriental languages at göttingen; wrote an "introduction to the new testament," and "commentaries on the legislation of moses"; was one of the first to correlate the history of the jews with that of the other oriental nations of antiquity ( - ). michaelmas is the festival in honour of st. michael and the angels, held on the th september, the day being one of the quarter days on which rents are levied. michel, francesque, french antiquary, born at lyons; was commissioned by the french government in to visit the libraries of england in the interest of the history and literature of france; was a most erudite man, and edited a great many works belonging to the middle ages; wrote even on the scottish language and scottish civilisation ( - ). michelet, jules, french historian, born in paris; was the author among other works of a "history of france" in vols., and a "history of the revolution" in vols.; he cherished a great animosity against the priests, and especially the jesuits, whom he assailed with remorseless invective; he was from , for years, professor of history in the college of france, but he lost the appointment because he refused to take the oath of allegiance to louis napoleon; from this date he abandoned all interest in public affairs, and gave himself to the quiet study of nature and animal life; wrote on birds and insects, on the sea, on women, on love, on witchcraft, and the bible and humanity; as a writer of history he gave his imagination free scope, and he painted it less as it was than as he regarded it from his own personal likes and dislikes ( - ). michigan ( , ), a state of the american union, larger than england and wales, is broken in two by lake michigan; the western portion has wisconsin on its s. border, the eastern portion has indiana and ohio on the s.; the rest of the state is surrounded by lakes superior, huron, and erie. the western section is mountainous, with great forests of pine, little agriculture, rich mines of copper and iron, and some gold; the eastern section is much larger, very flat and low, has coal, gypsum, and marble quarries, but is chiefly a wheat-growing area; in the saginaw valley are great salt wells; the climate is modified by the lakes. at first a french colony, the country was handed over to england in , and to the united states in ; it was organised as a territory in , and admitted a state in ; the chief commercial city is detroit ( ), on detroit river, in the e., has manufactures of machinery and railway plant, leather, and beer, and a large shipping trade. grand rapids ( ), on the grand river, has furniture works, and makes stucco-plaster and white bricks. lansing ( ) is the state capital, and an important railway centre. michigan, lake, in the n. of the united states, between michigan and wisconsin, is the third largest of the fresh-water seas, its surface being three-fourths that of scotland; it is m. long and to broad, bears much commerce, has low sandy shores and no islands; the chief ports are chicago, milwaukee, and racine. mickiewicz, adam, polish poet, born in lithuania, of a noble family; in published at kovno a collection of poems instinct with patriotic feeling; was exiled into the interior of russia, in , for secret intrigues in the interest of his nation; while there published three epics, conceived in the same patriotic spirit; left russia in for italy by way of germany; was warmly welcomed by goethe in passing; in published his great poem "sir thaddeus," and in was appointed to a professorship of polish literature in paris, where to the last he laboured for his country; died at constantinople, whence his bones were transferred to lie beside those of kosciusko at cracow ( - ). mickle, william julius, translator of the "lusiad" (q. v.), born at langholm, in dumfriesshire, author of "there's nae luck aboot the hoose" ( - ). microbe, a minute organism found in the blood of animals, especially when suffering from disease. see bacteria. microcosm, name given by the middle age philosophers to man as representing the macrocosm or universe in miniature. microphone, an instrument invented in by professor hughes, and consisting of charcoal tempered in mercury, which intensifies and renders audible the faintest possible sound. microzyme, a minute organism which acts as a ferment when it enters the blood and produces zymotic diseases. midas, a king of phrygia who, in his lust of riches, begged of bacchus and obtained the power of turning everything he touched into gold, a gift which he prayed him to revoke when he found it affected his very meat and drink, which the god consented to do, only he must bathe in the waters of the pactolus, the sands of which ever after were found mixed with gold; appointed umpire at a musical contest between pan and apollo, he preferred the pipes of the former to the lyre of the latter, who thereupon awarded him a pair of ass-ears, the which he concealed with a cap, but could not hide them from his barber, who could not retain the secret, but whispered it into a hole in the ground, around which sprang up a forest of reeds, which as the wind passed through them told the tale into the general ear, to the owner's discomfiture. middle ages, is a term used in connection with european history to denote the period beginning with the fall of the roman empire in , and closing with the invention of printing, the discovery of america, and the revival of learning in the th century. middle english, the english in use for two centuries and a half from to . middle passage, in the slave-trade the part of the atlantic stretching between africa and the west indies. middlesbrough ( ), iron manufacturing and shipping town at the mouth of the tees, in the n. of yorkshire, m. n. of york; has also shipbuilding yards and chemical works, and exports coal. it owes its growth to the discovery of one of the largest iron-fields in the country in the cleveland hills, near at hand, in . middlesex ( ), a small county on the n. of the thames, adjacent to and w. of london; has no hills and no rivers, only undulating pasture land and small streams. in the populous part next the metropolis was detached for the new county of london, leaving no big town but many suburban villages, brentford, reckoned the county town, harrow with its school, highgate, and hornsey. hampton court, hampstead heath, and enfield chase are in the county. there are many market gardens. middleton, conyers, a liberal theologian, fellow of cambridge; was engaged a good deal in controversy, particularly with bentley; wrote an able life of cicero; is distinguished among english authors for his "absolutely plain style" of writing ( - ). middleton, thomas, dramatist, born in london, where he was afterwards city chronicler, married mary morbeck, and died; was fond of collaboration, and received assistance in his best work from drayton, webster, dekker, rowley, and jonson; his comedies are smart and buoyant, sometimes indecorous; his masques more than usually elaborate and careful; in the comedy of "the spanish gypsy," and the tragedies of "the changeling," and "women beware women," is found the best fruit of his genius ( - ). midgard, a name given in the norse mythology to the earth as intermediate between the asgard (q. v.) of the gods and utgard of the jÖtuns (q. v.). midianites, a race of arabs descended from abraham by keturah, who dwelt to the e. of akaba; though related, were troublesome to the hebrews, but were subdued by gideon. midrash, the earliest hebrew exposition of the old testament; included the halacha, or development of the legal system on pentateuchal lines, and the hagada, a commentary on the whole scripture, with ethical, social, and religious applications. the name midrash came to refer exclusively to the latter, in which much fanciful interpretation was mixed with sound practical sense. mights and rights, the carlyle doctrine that rights are nothing till they have realised and established themselves as mights; they _are_ rights first only then. migne, the abbÉ, french catholic theologian, born at st. flour; edited a great many works on theology, such as "patrologiæ cursus completus," and "orateurs sacrés," and founded _l'univers_ journal ( - ). mignet, franÇois august, french historian, born at aix, settled at paris; was a friend of thiers; became keeper of the archives of the foreign office, and had thus access to important historical documents; wrote a number of historical works, among others a "history of the french revolution," and "history of marie stuart" ( - ). mignon, an impassioned italian child, a creation of goethe's in his "wilhelm meister," of mysterious origin and history; represented as a compact of vague aspirations and longings under which, as never fulfilled, she at length pines away and dies. miguel, don, king of portugal, born at lisbon; usurped the throne in defiance of the right of his brother, don pedro, emperor of brazil, who, however, conceded to him the title of regent on condition of his marrying donna maria, his daughter; on his arrival in portugal he had himself proclaimed king, but refused to marry maria, who followed him, and prohibited her landing, which, together with his conduct of affairs, provoked a civil war, in which the party of don pedro prevailed, and which ended in the capitulation of the usurper and his withdrawal to italy ( - ). mikado, the emperor of japan, regarded as the head of both church and state in his dominions. miklosich, franz von, philologist, born at luttenberg, studied at grätz; in was appointed to an office in the imperial library, vienna, where from to he was professor of slavonic; his works, all philological, are the authority on the slavonic languages; _b_. . milan ( ), the largest city in italy except naples, is in lombardy, m. s. of lake como; of old much vexed by war, it is now prosperous, manufacturing silks and velvets, gold, silver, and porcelain ware, and trading in raw silk, grain, and tobacco, with great printing works, and is the chief banking centre of n. italy; it is rich in architectural treasures, foremost of which is the magnificent gothic cathedral of white marble; has a splendid picture-gallery, and many rich frescoes; in it revolted finally from austrian oppression. milan decree, a decree of napoleon dated milan, th dec. , declaring the british dominions in a state of blockade, and under penalty prohibiting all trade with them. miletus, the foremost ionian city of ancient asia minor, at the mouth of the mæander, was the mother of many colonies, and the port from which vessels traded to all the mediterranean countries and to the atlantic; its carpets and cloth were far-famed; its first greatness passed away when darius stormed it in b.c., and it was finally ruined by the turks; thales the philosopher and cadmus the historian were among its famous sons. military orders were in crusading times associations of knights sworn to chastity and devoted to religious service; the hospitallers, the earliest, tended sick pilgrims at jerusalem; the templars protected pilgrims and guarded the temple; the knights of st. john were also celibate, but the orders of alcantara and others in spain, of st. bennet in portugal, and others elsewhere, with different objects, were permitted to marry. militia, a body of troops in the british service for home defence, the members of which have as a rule never served in the regular army, nor have, except for a short period each year, any proper military training. milky way. see galaxy. mill, james, economist, born in logie pert, near montrose, the son of a shoemaker, bred for the church; was a disciple of locke and jeremy bentham; wrote a "history of british india," "elements of political economy," and an "analysis of the human mind"; held an important lucrative post in the east india company's service ( - ). mill, john stuart, logician and economist, born in london, son of the preceding; was educated pedantically by his father; began to learn greek at , could read it and latin at , "never was a boy," he says, and was debarred from all imaginative literature, so that in after years the poetry of wordsworth came to him as a revelation; entered the service of the east india company in , but devoted himself to philosophic discussion; contributed to the _westminster review_, of which he was for some time editor; published his "system of logic" in , and in his "political economy"; entered parliament in , but lost his seat in , on which he retired to avignon, where he died; he wrote a book on "liberty" in , on "utilitarianism" in , on "comte" in , and on "sir william hamilton's philosophy" the same year, and left an "autobiography"; he was a calm thinker and an impartial critic; he befriended carlyle when he went to london, and carlyle rather took to him, but divergences soon appeared, which, as it could not fail, ended in total estrangement; he had an egeria in a mrs. taylor, whom he married when she became a widow; it was she, it would almost seem, who was responsible for the fate of carlyle's ms. ( - ). millais, sir john everett, painter, born of jersey parentage, at southampton; studied at the royal academy, and at exhibited a notable historical work; early associated with rossetti and holman hunt, he remained for over years under their influence; to this period belong "the carpenter's shop," , "autumn leaves," , and "the minuet," ; "the gambler's wife" marks the transition from pre-raphaelitism; his chief subsequent work, in which technical interest predominates, was portraiture, including gladstone and beaconsfield; he was a profuse illustrator, and wrought some etchings; he was made r.a. , a baronet in , and p.r.a. february ( - ). millbank prison, westminster, constructed - on the plans of howard and bentham, so that each of its cells were visible from the governor's room, was used for solitary confinement preparatory to penal servitude, and as a convict prison until , and demolished . miller, hugh, journalist and geologist, self-taught, born in cromarty, of sailor ancestry; began life as a stone-mason; editor of the _witness_ newspaper from till his death; wrote the "old red sandstone," "footprints of the creator," and the "testimony of the rocks," books which awakened an interest in geological subjects, besides being the author of an account of his life, "my schools and schoolmasters"; died by his own hand at portobello; he was a writer of considerable literary ability, and "nothing," says prof. saintsbury, "can be more hopelessly unliterary than to undervalue hugh miller" ( - ). miller, william, line-engraver, lived at millerfield, edinburgh; famed for his engravings of turner; was a member of the society of friends, and stood high in his art as an engraver ( - ). millet, jean franÇois, french painter of french peasant life, born near greville, of a peasant family; sent to paris, studied under paul delaroche, withdrew into rustic life, and took up his abode at the village of barbizon, near the forest of fontainebleau, where he spent as a peasant the rest of his life, honoured though poor by all his neighbours, and produced inimitable pictures of french country life, completing his famous "sower," and treating such subjects as the "gleaners," the "sheep-shearers," "shepherdess and flock," &c., with an evident appreciation on his part of the life they depicted so faithfully ( - ). milman, henry hart, dean of st. paul's, ecclesiastical historian, born in london; edited gibbon's "decline and fall," wrote "history of the jews," "history of christianity to the abolition of paganism under the empire," and "history of latin christianity," all learned works, particularly the last in vols., described by dean stanley as "a complete epic and philosophy of mediæval christianity"; was professor of poetry at oxford ( - ). milne-edwards, henri, eminent naturalist, born at bruges, of english parentage; wrote extensively and learnedly on natural history subjects, dissented from darwin, and held to the theory of different centres of creation, and to this he stoutly adhered to the last ( - ). milner, viscount, high commissioner of south africa since , and governor of the transvaal and orange river colonies since ; a student of balliol (graduating with a first class in classics), and a fellow of new college, oxford; called to the bar in ; private secretary to mr. goschen ( - ); under-secretary for finance in egypt ( - ); chairman of the inland revenue board, from to , when he succeeded lord rosmead at the cape; represented the mother country with great ability before and during the boer war; visited england and raised to the peerage in ; declined the colonial secretaryship in ; resigned in ; _b_. . milner, joseph, church historian; master of the grammar school, hull; his "history of the church" reaches down to the th century ( - ). milo, a celebrated athlete, born at crotona, of extraordinary strength, said to have one day carried a live bullock paces along the olympic course, killed it with his fist, and eaten it up entire at one repast; in old age he attempted to split a tree, but it closed upon his arm, and the wolves devoured him. miltiades, an athenian general, famous for his decisive defeat of the persians at marathon, b.c.; failing in a naval attack on paros, and fined to indemnify the cost of the expedition, but unable to pay, was cast into prison, where he died of his wounds inflicted in the attempt. milton, john, poet, born in london, son of a scrivener; graduated at cambridge, and settled to study and write poetry in his father's house at horton, ; in he visited italy, being already known at home as the author of the "hymn on the nativity," "allegro," "penseroso," "comus," a mask, and "lycidas," an elegy on his friend king, who was drowned in the irish sea in , besides much excellent latin verse; the outbreak of the civil war recalled him, and silenced his muse for many years; settling in london he took pupils, married in mary powell, and became active as a writer of pamphlets on public questions; his first topic was church government, then his wife's desertion of him for two years called forth his tracts on divorce, a threatened prosecution for which elicited in turn the "areopagitica, a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing"; his father died in , his wife in ; under the common wealth he was "secretary of foreign tongues," and successfully defended the execution of charles i. in his latin "defence of the english people," and other bitter controversial works; he married in his second wife, who died two years later; the restoration gave him back to leisure and poetry; his greatest work, "paradise lost," was composed rapidly, dictated to his daughters, and completed in , but not published till ; saw "paradise regained" and "samson agonistes"; he had been blind since ; he married elizabeth minshull in , who comforted him in his closing years; a man of fervent, impulsive temperament, and a lover of music, he was sincere in controversy, magnanimous in character, and of deep religious faith; the richness, melody, and simplicity of his poetry, the sublimity of his great theme, and the adequacy of its treatment, place him among the greatest poets of the world; in later years he leaned to arianism, and broke away from the restraints of outward religious practice; his last prose work, a latin treatise on "christian doctrines," was lost at the time of his death, and only recovered years later ( - ). milwaÜkee ( ), chief city of wisconsin, u.s., on w. shore of lake michigan, miles n. by w. of chicago. exports grain, iron ore, &c.; manufactures flour, machinery, and pig-iron. mimes, dramatic performances among the greeks and romans, in comic representation of scenes in ordinary life, often in extempore dialogue. mimir, in the norse mythology the god of wisdom, guardian of the sacred well which nourished the roots of the tree iggdrasil (q. v.), and a draught of whose waters imparted divine wisdom. minarets, a salient feature of mohammedan architecture, are tall slim towers, in several storeys with balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer, and terminated by a spire or finial. minerva, the roman virgin goddess of wisdom and the arts, identified with the greek athena (q. v.); born full-armed from the brain of jupiter, and representing his thinking, calculating, inventive power, and third in rank to him. minerva press, a printing establishment in leadenhall street, london, which about a century ago issued a set of trashy, extremely sentimental novels with complicated plots, in which hero and heroine were involved before they could get married. minghetti, marco, italian patriot and statesman, born at bologna; a man of liberal views; a friend and associate of cavour; held office under him as minister of the interior in ; was ambassador to the court of st. james's in , and prime minister at rome from to ( - ) minims, an order of monks founded by st. francis of paula in , a name which signifies "the least" to express super-humility. minneapolis ( ), city of u.s., minnesota, on both sides of the mississippi, the greatest centre of the wheat and flour trade in u.s. minnesingers (i. e. love-singers), a name given to the lyric poets of germany during the latter part of the th and the first half of the th centuries. minnesota ( , ), one of the united states of america; lies between the dakotas on the w. and wisconsin on the e., canada on the n., and iowa on the s., round the upper waters of the mississippi, the st. lawrence, and the red river of the north; the state is largely prairie, with hundreds of lakes, the largest red lake, and is chiefly a wheat-producing area; there are pine forests in the n., iron mines, slate and granite quarries; the climate is dry, equable, and bracing; education is good; the state university is at minneapolis; the capital is st. paul ( ), where the mississippi is still navigable, a fine city, founded in , the centre of the grocery and dry-goods trade; the largest city is minneapolis ( ), which has great lumber and flour mills; duluth ( ) has a magnificent harbour and good shipping trade. minorca ( ), the second of the balearic isles, hilly, with stalactite caves and rocky coast; is less fertile than majorca, from which it is m. distant ne.; it produces oil, wine, and fruits, and makes boots and shoes, but under spanish misrule is not prosperous; the capital mahon ( ), in the se., is strongly fortified, and has a good harbour. minos, an ancient king of crete, celebrated for his administration of justice; was fabled to have been appointed, along with Æacus and rhadamanthus, one of the judges of the dead on their descent into the nether world. minotaur, in the greek mythology a monster, half-man half-bull with a bull's head, confined in the labyrinth of crete, fed by the annual tribute of seven youths and seven maidens of athenian birth, till he was slain by theseus with the help of ariadne (q. v.). minstrels, a body of men who during the middle ages wandered from place to place, especially from court to court, singing their own compositions to the harp for accompaniment. minto, earl of, governor-general of india; was bred to the bar, served in parliament and as ambassador, went out to india in , consolidated the british power, captured java, and opened diplomatic relations with powers around ( ). mirabeau, gabriel honorÉ riquetti, comte de, son of the succeeding, born at the mansion-house of bignon; was a man of massive intellect and strong physical frame, who came to the front in the french revolution; being expelled from his order by the noblesse of provence, he ingratiated himself with the third estate, and was elected commons-deputy of aix to the states-general in , where he became, as the incarnation of the whole movement, the ruling spirit of the hour, and gave proof, if he had lived, of being able to change the whole course of the revolution, for he was already in communication with the court and in hopes of gaining it over to accept the inevitable, when he sickened and died, to the consternation of the entire people, whose affection and confidence he had won ( - ). see carlyle's "french revolution" and his essay in his "miscellanies." mirabeau, victor riquetti, marquis de, "crabbed old friend of men," born at pertuis, in provence, claimed to be of florentine descent; "could never make the world go to his mind," and set about reforming it by coercing a family as self-willed as himself, to the driving of his celebrated son to desperate courses and reckless excesses; advocated the doctrines of the french economists in a series of writings instinct with a certain theoretical philanthropy ( - ). miracle plays were strictly speaking dramas founded on legends of the saints, as distinct from mysteries founded on scriptural subjects, but the name came to cover all those religious representations for the instruction of the people fostered by the church of the middle ages, performed first in churches, afterwards in public places; they were common in england from the th century, but latterly became corrupt through the introduction of grotesque indecorous comicalities; the rise of the drama led to their abandonment; on the continent ecclesiastical action was taken against them, not by the reformers, but by the church itself in the th century, and everywhere they have all but disappeared; the passion play acted every years at oberammergau, bavaria, is the only important survival. miranda, the beautiful daughter of the magician prospero in shakespeare's "tempest." miranda, francesco de, a portuguese poet; wrote sonnets and epistles in verse; was predecessor of camoëns ( - ). miserere, a carved bracket on the under side of the stall seats in mediæval churches, which, when the seat was turned up during the standing portion of the service, afforded support to the older clergy. miserere, the catholic name for the st psalm. mishna, the oral law of the jews, which is divided into six parts, and constitutes the text of the talmud, of which the gemara is the commentary. misprision, a high offence under, but close upon, the degree of a capital one; misprision of treason being a concealment of a felony without consenting to it. missal, a book containing the service of the mass for the entire year, such as is now in almost universal use throughout the catholic world. mississippi ( , ), an american state on the e. bank of the lower mississippi, abutting on the gulf of mexico, between louisiana and alabama; has a hilly surface, traversed by numerous rivers, the yazoo, a tributary of the mississippi, forming a great fertile delta; the climate is free from extremes; the chief industry is agriculture; the best crops are grown in the n., and on the alluvial bottom lands; in the centre and ne. are good grazing farms; cotton, corn, oats, and fruits are the chief crops; virgin forests of hardwood cover much of the delta; valuable deposits of pipe and ochre clays and of lignite are found; cotton is manufactured, and there is trade in lumber; more than half the population is coloured, and the races are kept distinct in the state schools; the state university is at oxford, and there are many other colleges; jackson ( ), the capital, is the chief railway centre, meridian ( ) has iron manufactures, vicksburg ( ) and natchez ( ) are the chief riverports; mississippi was colonised by the french in , ceded to britain , admitted to the union , joined the south in , but was readmitted to the union in . mississippi river rises in lake itaska, minnesota, and flowing s. for m., enters the gulf of mexico by a large delta; its earlier course is through picturesque country, often in gorges, with rapids such as the st. anthony falls, the des moines and rock island rapids. after receiving the missouri, m. long, from the rocky mountains, it flows ½ m. per hour through great alluvial plains, which are protected from its overflows by hundreds of miles of earth embankments, and is joined by the ohio from the e., the red and arkansas rivers from the w., and many other navigable streams. the mississippi is navigable by large steamers for m.; st. louis, memphis, vicksburg, natchez, and new orleans are among the chief ports on its banks. mississippi scheme was started in france by john law and the government, ostensibly to develop the mississippi basin, but really to ease the pressure on the exchequer; a company was formed and empowered to monopolise almost all the foreign trade; , shares were issued; depreciated paper currency was accepted in payment, and the national bank issued notes without stint; in the demand for shares was enormous; the nation was completely carried away; next year the crash came; the government made every effort to save the position, but in vain; the distress was extreme, and law had to leave the country. missolonghi ( ), greek seaport and fishing town, on the gulf of patras, chiefly noted for heroic defences in the war of independence - , and as the place of byron's death . missouri ( , ), an american state on the right bank of the mississippi, between iowa and arkansas, is half the size of the british isles, and is traversed by the missouri river; n. of that river the country is level, s. of it there rise the ozark tablelands; the soil is very fertile, and the state principally agricultural; immense crops of maize, oats, potatoes, cotton, and tobacco are raised; there are large cattle ranches, and dressed beef and pork are largely exported; the climate is subject to extremes; coal, iron, lead, zinc, and other minerals abound, while marble, granite, and limestone are quarried; the rivers afford excellent transport facilities; the educational system is very complete; admitted to the union in , missouri was divided in the civil war, and suffered terribly, but since then has been very prosperous; the capital, st. louis ( ), is one of the greatest commercial and manufacturing towns in the union, does a vast trade in grain and cotton, and has hardware, leather goods, and tobacco factories; kansas city ( ), has great pork-packing establishments and railroad iron-works. mistral, frederick, poet of southern france, born near maillaune, was a peasant's son, and himself a peasant; his fame rose on the publication of the epic, "mirèio," in provençal dialect, ; in he published "calendou," and in a volume of songs, and in "nerto," a novel; _b_. . mitford, mary russell, authoress, born at alresford, hants, lived with her father, an extravagant physician, at lyme regis and london; she published poems in - - , but, forced to earn a living, took to dramatic work; "julian," "the foscari," and "rienzi" were successful if ephemeral tragedies; her best work was "our village," sketches of homely english life written with much care, and after appearing in the _london magazine_, published in vols., - ( - ). mitford, william, english author; wrote a "history of greece" and on the "english metre, or the harmony of language" ( - ). mithras (i. e. the friend), the highest of the second order of deities in the ancient persian religion, the friend of man in this life and his protector against evil in the world to come, sided with ormuzd against ahriman, incarnated in the sun, and represented as a youth kneeling on a bull and plunging a dagger into his neck, while he is at the same time attacked by a dog, a serpent, and a scorpion. mithridates the great, surnamed eupator, king of pontus from to b.c.; an implacable enemy of the romans, between whom and him there raged from to a succession of wars, till he was defeated by pompey near the euphrates, when, being superseded by his son, he put an end to his life; he was a great man and conqueror, subdued many surrounding nations, and was a collector of works of art; he made a special study of poisons, and familiarised himself with all their antidotes, in view of possible attempts by means of them to take away his life. mitrailleuse, a gun consisting of several, as many as , barrels, from which a number of shots may be fired simultaneously or in rapid succession, used by the french in the franco-german war. mivart, st. george, naturalist, a roman catholic professor at louvain, distinguished for his opposition to darwinianism; _b_. . mnemosynË in the greek mythology the daughter of uranos, the goddess of memory, and the mother of the muses by zeus. moa, the name of several species of new zealand and australian birds, from to ft. high, and quite wingless; almost extinct since the th century; two living specimens were captured in . moab, a pastoral region extending along the e. of lower parts of the jordan and the dead sea, and inhabited by the descendants of lot, now extinct, or merged among the arabs. moabite stone, a stone ft. high and ft. broad found by dr. klein in among the ruins of dhiban, a town in moab, now in the louvre at paris, describing a victory of the moabites over the israelites; it was broken by the arabs, but the fragments have been collected and put into their proper places. mobile ( ), a city and port of alabama, u.s., m. n. of the gulf of mexico; a thriving place; exports cotton, lumber, &c. mobilier crÉdit, a banking and financial company founded in paris in ; lends money on security of property other than real, and takes shares in public schemes, such as railways. modena ( ), italian town, m. n. of florence; has a cathedral, with noted campanile, university, library, and art collections, and manufactures silk and leather; capital of a duchy ( ); incorporated in the kingdom of italy . modern athens, edinburgh, from its resemblance to athens and its repute for literary culture; applied also to boston, in america. modern babylon, london, from its huge extent and the miscellaneous character of its inhabitants. modjeska, helena, actress, born in cracow; went on the stage after her first marriage in , and from to was the favourite of warsaw; retired to california on her second marriage, but returned to the stage, having learned english in seven months in california , and till her final retirement in , was eminently successful in america and britain in such parts as rosalind, beatrice, &c. modred, sir, a treacherous knight, the rebellious nephew of king arthur, whose wife he seduced; was slain in battle, and buried in avalon. moffat, robert, african missionary, born at ormiston, haddingtonshire; the scene of his nearly lifelong labours was among the bechuanas in south africa, whom he raised from a savage to a civilised state; he was sent out in by the london missionary society. he married ( ) mary smith, a daughter of his former employer at dunkinfield. mohammed, great prophet of the arabs, and founder of islamism, born at mecca, the son of abdallah, of the tribe of the koreish; left an orphan, brought up by his uncle abu taleb; became steward to a rich widow kadijah (q. v.) whom he married; was given to serious meditation, would retire into solitude and pray, and one day, by the favour of heaven, got answer which left him "in doubt and darkness no longer, but saw it all," saw into the vanity of all that was not god, that he alone was great, inconceivably great; that it was with him alone we had to do, we must all submit to him; this revelation made to him he imparted to kadijah, and after a time she assented, and his heart leaped for joy; he spoke or his doctrine to this man and that, but made slow progress in persuading others to believe it; made only converts in years; his preaching gave offence to the chief people, and his relatives tried hard to persuade him to hold his peace, but he would not; after years a conspiracy was formed to take his life, and he fled, through peril after peril, to medina, in his fifty-third year, and in of our era; his enemies had taken up the sword against him, and he now replied with the same weapon, and in years he prevailed; it was a war against idolatry in all its forms, and idolatry was driven to the wall, the motto on his banner "god is great," a motto with a depth of meaning greater than the mohammedan world, and perhaps the christian, has yet realised; it is for one thing a protest on the part of mohammed, in which the hebrew prophets forestalled him, against all attempts to understand the deity and fathom "his ways, which are ever in the deep, and whose footsteps are not known" ( - ). mohammedanism, the religion of mohammed, or islam, (q. v.), is essentially much the same as the religion of the jews with some elements borrowed from the christian religion, and is defined by carlyle as a bastard christianity; originating in arabia it spread rapidly over the w. of asia, the n. of africa, and threatened at one time to overrun europe itself; it is the religion to-day of two hundred millions of the human race, and the profession of it extends over a wide area in western and southern asia as also in northern africa, though its limits in europe do not extend beyond the bounds of turkey. mohawk, a tribe of american indians, gave name to a band or club of ruffians who infested the streets of london in - . mohic`ans, an american indian tribe, took sides with the english settlers against the french and with the former against england. mohl, julius, orientalist, born in stuttgart; edited the "shah nameh" of firdushi, a monumental work ( - ). mÖhler, johann adam, a roman catholic theologian, born at würtemberg, author of "symbolik," a work which discusses the differences between the doctrines of catholics and protestants, as evidenced in their respective symbolical books, a work which created no small stir in the theological world ( - ). moir, david macbeth, the "delta" of _blackwood_, born in musselburgh, where he practised as a physician; was author of "mansie waugh" ( - ). moira, francis rawdon-hastings, earl of, son of the earl of moira; entered the army , and served against the americans in the war of independence; created baron rawdon in ; succeeded to his father's title ; entered political life under fox, and was governor-general of india - , in which period fell the goorkha war, for the successful negotiations subsequent on which he was created marquis of hastings; his administration encouraged native education and freedom of the press; from he was governor of malta till his death at naples ( - ). mokanna, al, "the veiled one," a name given to hakim ben allah, who wore a veil to hide the loss of an eye; he professed to be an incarnation of the deity and to work miracles; found followers; founded a sect at khorassan; seized some fortresses, but was overthrown at kash a.d. , whereupon he took poison. moldau, largest river in bohemia, rises on the n. of the böhmerwald mountains, flows se. along their base, then turns northward through bohemia, passes budweis, becomes navigable, is yards broad at prague, and joins the elbe at melnik after flowing m. moldavia, once independent, now the northern division of roumania, lies between the carpathians and the pruth river, and is well watered by the sereth; its chief town is jassy, in the ne. molÉ, louis matthieu, comte, french statesman, born in paris; published in an essay on politics which, defending napoleon, won for its author a series of minor offices, and in a peerage and a seat in the cabinet; retaining power under louis xviii. and louis philippe, he was minister of marine , foreign minister , and premier , but retired from politics two years later ( - ). molecule, the smallest particle of which an element or a compound body is composed, and that retains all the properties in a free state. molesworth, sir william, british statesman, born in london; was an advanced liberal; editor and proprietor of the _westminster review_; edited the works of hobbes ( - ). moliÈre, jean baptiste poquelin, great french comic dramatist, born in paris; studied law and passed for the bar, but evinced from the first a proclivity for the theatre, and soon associated with actors, and found his vocation as a writer of plays, which procured him the friendship of lafontaine, boileau, and other distinguished men, though he incurred the animosity of many classes of society by the ridicule which he heaped on their weaknesses and their pretensions, the more that in his satires his characters are rather abstract types of men than concrete individualities; his principal pieces are, "les précieuses ridicules," "l'École des femmes," "le tartuffe," "le misanthrope," "george dandin," "l'avare," "le bourgeois gentilhomme," "les fourberies de scapin," "le malade malgré lui," "les femmes savantes," and "le malade imaginaire"; though seriously ill, he took part in the performance of this last, but the effort was too much for him, and he died that night; from the grudge which the priests bore him for his satires on them he was buried without a religious service ( - ). molina, luis, a spanish jesuit and theologian, author of a theory called molinism, which resolves the doctrine of predestination into a mere foreknowledge of those who would accept and those who would reject the grace of god in salvation. molinos, miguel de, a spanish theologian, born at saragossa; published a book called the "spiritual guide," which, as containing the germ of quietism, was condemned by the inquisition, and its author sentenced to imprisonment for life ( - ). mollah, a judge of the highest rank among the turks on matters of law, both civil and sacred. mollwitz, a village in silesia, m. se. of breslau, where frederick the great defeated the austrians . moloch or molech, the chief god of the ammonites, the worship of whom, which prevailed among all the canaanites, was accompanied with cruelties, human sacrifices among others, revolting to the humane spirit of the jewish religion; originally it appears to have been the worship of fire, through which the innocent as well as the guilty have often to pass for the achievement of the noblest enterprises, which degenerated at length into selfish sacrifices of others for interests of one's own, into the substitution of the innocent for the guilty by way of atonement to the deity! moltke, count von, surnamed the silent, great german field marshal, born in mecklenburg-schwerin, of an old family; was pre-eminent as a military strategist, planned and conducted the prussian campaign against austria in , and the german campaign against france in - ; was in the service of denmark before he entered the prussian ( - ). moluccas or spice islands ( ), an archipelago of mountainous islands, mostly volcanic, between celebes and new guinea, is in two main groups; in the n. the largest island is jilolo, but the most important tidor and ternate, which export spices, tortoise-shell, and bees-wax; in the s. buru and ceram are largest, most important, amboyna, from which come cloves; the people are civilised malays; the islands are equatorial, but tempered by sea-breezes, and healthy; discovered by the portuguese in , they have been in dutch possession since , except when held by britain - . mombasa (africans and arabs ), capital of british east africa, on a rocky islet, close inshore, m. n. of pemba; was ceded with a tract of country six times the size of the british isles, and rich in gold, copper, plumbago, and india-rubber, to the british east african company by the sultan of zanzibar in , since when it has been rebuilt, and the harbour, one of the best and healthiest on the coast, made a naval coaling-station and head-quarters. mommsen, theodor, historian, born in schleswig, a man of immense historical knowledge; his greatest work the "history of rome"; was professor of ancient history at berlin; his _forte_ was his learning more than his critical capacity; _b_. . momus, the god of raillery, the son of night, a kind of ancient mephistopheles (q. v.). monachism, or monasticism, is an institution in which individuals devote themselves, apart from others, to the cultivation of spiritual contemplation and religious duties, and which has constituted a marked feature in pre-christian jewish asceticism, and in buddhism as well as in christianity; in the church it developed from the practice of living in solitude in the nd century, and received its distinctive note when the vow of obedience to a superior was added to the hermit's personal vows of poverty and chastity; the movement of st. benedict in the th century stamped its permanent form on western monasticism, and that of st. francis in the th gave it a more comprehensive range, entrusting the care of the poor, the sick, the ignorant, &c., to the hitherto self-centred monks and nuns; during the middle ages the monasteries were centres of learning, and their work in copying and preserving both sacred and secular literature has been invaluable; english monachism was swept away at the reformation; in france at the revolution; and later in spain, portugal, and italy it has been suppressed; brotherhoods and sisterhoods have sprung up in the protestant churches of germany and england, but in all of them the vows taken are revocable. monaco ( ), a small principality m. e. of nice, on the mediterranean shore, surrounded by french territory and under french protection; has a mild salubrious climate, and is a favourite winter resort. the capital, monaco, is built on a picturesque promontory, and m. ne. stands monte carlo. monad, the name given by leibnitz to one of the active simple elementary substances, the plurality of which in their combinations or combined activities constitutes in his regard the universe both spiritual and physical; it denotes in biology an elementary organism. monaghan ( ), an inland ulster county, ireland, surrounded by louth, armagh, tyrone, fermanagh, cavan, and meath; is undulating, with many small lakes and streams; grows flax and manufactures linen, and has limestone and slate quarries. the chief towns are clones ( ), and the county-town monaghan ( ), which has a produce market. monboddo, james burnett, lord, a scottish judge, born in kincardineshire, an eccentric writer, author of a "dissertation on the origin of language" and of "ancient metaphysics"; had original fancies on the origin, particularly of the human race from the monkey, conceived not so foolish to-day as they were then ( - ). moncreiff, sir henry wellwood, scottish clergyman, born at blackford; from to minister of st. cuthbert's, edinburgh, and leader of the evangelical party of the scottish church. moncreiff, james w., lord, second son of preceding, eminent scottish judge; was the author of the veto act which led to the disruption of ( - ). moncreiff, sir henry w., son of preceding, became a free church minister, and was principal clerk of the general assembly of the free church; an authority on church law ( - ). moncreiff, james, brother of preceding, bred for the scottish bar; was lord advocate of scotland under four administrations; was appointed lord justice-clerk in ; was raised to the peerage in ( - ). mond, ludwig, distinguished technical chemist and inventor, born at cassel, in germany; was a pupil of kolbe and bunsen, and has made important additions to chemical-industrial processes and products; _b_. . money, defined by ruskin to be "a documentary claim to wealth, and correspondent in its nature to the title-deed of an estate." monge, gaspard, celebrated french mathematician, born at beaune; one of the founders of the polytechnic school in paris ( - ). mongols, a great asiatic people having their original home on the plains e. of lake baikal, siberia, who first rose into prominence under their ruler genghis khan in the th century; he, uniting the three branches of mongols, commenced a career of conquest which made him master of all central asia; his sons divided his empire, and pursued his conquests; a mongol emperor seized the throne of china in , and from this branch sprang the great kublai khan, whose house ruled an immense territory - . another section pushed westwards as far as moravia and hungary, taking pesth in , and founded the immense empire over which tamerlane held sway. a third but later movement, springing from the ruins of these earlier empires, was that of baber, who conquered india, and founded the great mogul line, . now mongols are constituent elements in the populations of china, russian, and turkish asia. monica, st., the mother of st. augustine, who became to him the symbol of "the highest he knew on earth, bowing before a higher in heaven." monism, the name given to the principle of any system of philosophy which resolves the manifold of the universe into the evolution of some unity in opposition to dualism (q. v.). monk, george, duke of albemarle, general and admiral, was a devonshire man, who spent his youth in the dutch wars, and returned to england just in time to side with charles i. against the parliament; after leading a regiment in ireland, he was captured at nantwich in , and spent two years in the tower; obtaining his release by changing sides, he won commendation from cromwell at dunbar in , and was entrusted with the command of operations in scotland afterwards; in he beat van tromp at sea, twice; from till he was governor of scotland; on the death of cromwell he saw the confusion, marched with troops to london, and after cautious negotiations, brought charles ii. to england and set him on the throne, receiving a peerage and many honours for reward; he behaved well as governor of london in the plague year, and was again admiral in the dutch wars of ( - ). monmouth, geoffrey, a welsh priest of the th century, compiler of what he called a "history of the early kings of britain," from that of brut, through the story of king arthur and others, such as king lear, down to that of cadwallo, a welsh king, who died in . monmouth, james, duke of, illegitimate son of charles ii., born at rotterdam; was admitted to court after the restoration, and received his title in ; his manners and his protestantism brought him popular favour in spite of his morals, and by-and-by plots were formed to secure the succession for him; forced to fly to holland in , he waited till his father's death, then planned a rebellion with argyll; argyll failed in scotland; monmouth, landing in dorsetshire , was soon overthrown at sedgemoor, taken prisoner, and executed ( - ). monmouthshire ( ), a west of england county lying n. of the severn estuary, between glamorgan and gloucestershire; is low and flat in the s., but otherwise hilly, and is traversed by the usk river; more than half the surface is under permanent pasture; the wealth of monmouthshire consists of coal and iron-stone; monmouth ( ), the county town, is the centre of beautiful scenery, and has some fine buildings. monophysites, a body of heretics who arose in the th century and maintained that the divine and human natures in christ were united in one divine-human nature, so that he was neither wholly divine nor wholly human, but in part both. monotheism, belief in the existence of one god, or the divine unity, or that the divine being, whether twofold, as in dualism, threefold, as in trinitarianism, is in essence and in manifestation one. monothelism, a heresy which arose in the th century, in which it was maintained that, though in christ there were two natures, there was but one will, viz., the divine. monro, alexander, founder of edinburgh medical school, born of scotch parentage in london; studied there, and at paris and leyden, and was appointed lecturer on anatomy by the surgeons' company at edinburgh in ; two years later he became professor, and in was admitted to the university; he was a principal promoter and early clinical lecturer in the royal infirmary, and continued his clinical work after resigning his chair to his son alexander; he wrote several medical works, and was a fellow of the royal society; he was called _primus_, to distinguish him from his son and grandson, who were called respectively _secundus_ and _tertius_, and were professors of anatomy in edinburgh like himself ( - ). monroe, james, american president, born in virginia, of scottish descent; left college to join washington's army; was wounded in the war, and studying law, entered congress in ; he assisted in framing the constitution, and sat in the senate - ; his diplomatic career in france was marked by the purchase of louisiana from that country in ; he was governor of virginia thrice over, and secretary of state till ; then followed two terms of the presidency, during which florida was acquired from spain , the delimitation of the slave limit by the missouri compromise, the recognition of the south american republics, and the statement of the "monroe doctrine" (q. v.); in his later years his generosity led him into debt, and he spent his closing days with relations in new york ( - ). monroe doctrine, the doctrine of james monroe, twice over president of the united states, that the united states should hold aloof from all interference with the affairs of the old world, and should not suffer the powers of the old world to interfere with theirs. monson, sir edward, english diplomatist; entered the diplomatic service in , and after service at various courts, became ambassador at paris in ; _b_. . monsoon originally denoted a periodical wind in the indian ocean, which blows from sw. from april to october, and from ne. from october to april; now denotes any wind connected with a continent regularly recurring with the seasons. monstrance, a transparent pyx on which the host is exhibited on the altar to the people, or conveyed in public procession. mont blanc, in the graian alps, on the french-italian frontier, the highest mountain in europe, , ft., the upper half under perpetual snow; has magnificent glaciers, including the mer-de-glace; it was first climbed by balmat and paccard in , and since then has been many times ascended, now by parties every year. mont cenis, an alpine peak ( , ft.) on the savoy-piedmont frontier and the adjacent pass, over which a road was constructed - , and near which a railway tunnel was pierced ( - ) at a cost of £ , , . mont de piÉtÉ, an institution to lend money to the poor at little or no interest, first established in the th century, a time when lending to the poor was as much a work of mercy as giving to them; a public pawnbroking establishment, so called in france. montagnards. see mountain, the. montagu, lady mary wortley, an english lady, born in nottinghamshire, celebrated for her wit and beauty, and for her "letters on the manners of the east" ( - ). montaigne, michel de, a sceptico-speculative thinker and moralist, born in the château of montaigne, périgord; an easy-going mortal, but a keen observer of the ways and manners of other people, which some experience in travel gave him opportunities to do, as well as the study of the old classic latin authors; his fame rests on his "essays," in which he records his observations of mankind, but in which, from a decided descendental twist he had, he betrays a rather low idea of the morale of the race; the book, however, is a favourite with all observant people of education, and a translation of it by florio is the one book we know for certain to have been in the library of shakespeare; bred as he was by his father's arrangement among the common people, he always retained a friendly feeling towards his neighbours, and they cherished towards him feelings of very high regard; he was a quiet, tolerant man, and his writings reveal a character which commands the respect of men who affect a much higher level of thinking than that occupied by himself ( - ). montalembert, comte de, a french politician, born in london, son of a french emigrant; was associated with lamennais and lacordaire in the conduct of the _avenir_, an ultramontane liberal organ, and spent his life in advocating the cause of a free unfettered system of national education; wrote the "monks of the west," his chief work ( - ). montana ( ), a state of the american union, in the nw., lies along the canadian border between idaho and the dakotas, with wyoming on the s.; has a mild climate, and a soil which, with irrigation, produces fine crops of grain and vegetables. cattle-raising is profitable, but the chief industry is mining, in the rocky mountains, which occupy a fifth of the state. there gold, silver, copper, and lead abound. the missouri and the columbia rivers rise in montana, and the yellowstone traverses the whole state. the state was admitted to the union in , with helena ( ) as capital. montanism, a heresy which arose in the nd century; derived its name from an enthusiast in phrygia named montanus, who insisted on the permanency of the spiritual gifts vouchsafed to the primitive church, and a return to the severe discipline of life and character prevailing in it. montcalm de saint vÉran, louis joseph, marquis de, born near nîmes; entered the army early, and at forty-four was field-marshal and commander of the forces in quebec against the english; the capture of forts oswego and william henry and the defence of ticonderoga were followed by the loss of louisburg and fort duquesne and the retreat on quebec, where, surprised by wolfe in , he was totally defeated, and canada lost to france; both generals fell ( - ). monte carlo ( ), a great gambling centre in monaco, m. ne. of the capital; visited by , persons annually. the casino is held by a company, and stands on ground leased from the prince. montefiore, sir moses, a philanthropic jewish banker, born in leghorn; a friend to the emancipation not only of the oppressed among his own race, but of the slave in all lands; lived to a great age ( - ). montÉgut, Émile, french critic, born at limoges; is noted for books of travel, studies in french and english literature, and for translations of shakespeare, macaulay's "history," and emerson's "essays." montenegro ( ), a balkan state, less than half the size of wales, lying in a wild mountainous region between herzegovina and albania, and touching the adriatic sea with its sw. corner only. the climate is severe in winter, mild in summer. the soil is sterile, but is industriously tilled, and patches of arable land on the mountain sides and in the valleys yield maize, oats, potatoes, and tobacco. cattle and sheep are reared in large numbers; vines and mulberries are cultivated round the lake, whose waters abound in fish. cattle, hides, and cheese are the exports. the montenegrins are a primitive people; the men hunt and fight, the women work. they are mostly of the greek church, and noted for their morality. the government is patriarchal, with a prince at the head. education and road-making have recently advanced. the towns are mere villages. cetinje ( ) is the capital; antivari and dulcigno, the adriatic ports. montespan, marquise de, mistress of louis xiv.; a woman noted for her wit and beauty; bore the king eight children; was supplanted by madame de maintenon (q. v.); passed her last days in religious retirement ( - ). montesquieu, baron de, illustrious french publicist, born in the château la brède, near bordeaux; his greatest work, and an able, "esprit des lois," though rated in "sartor" as at best the work of "a clever infant spelling letters from a hieroglyphic prophetic book, the lexicon of which lies in eternity, in heaven"; was author of an able work "on the causes of the grandeur of the romans and their declension" ( - ). montevideo ( ), on the n. shore of the rio de la plata, m. e. of buenos ayres; is the capital of uruguay; a well-built town, with a cathedral, university, school of arts, and museum. the chief industries are beef-salting and shipping, though there is practically no harbour. nearly half the population are foreigners. montez, lola, an adventuress of spanish descent, born at limerick; contracted no end of marriages, which were broken off one after another; took to the stage; took to lecturing, and ended in trying to reclaim fallen women ( - ). montezuma ii., the last of the mexican emperors; submitted to cortez when he landed; died in of a wound he received as he pled with his subjects to submit to the conqueror, aggravated by grief over the failure of his efforts in bringing about a reconciliation. montfort, simon de, son of a french count; came to england in , where he inherited from his grandmother the earldom of leicester; attached to henry iii., and married to the king's sister, he was sent to govern gascony in ; returned in , and passed over to the side of the barons, whom he ultimately led in the struggle against the king; after repeated unsuccessful attempts to make henry observe the provisions of oxford, simon took arms against him in ; the war was indecisive, and appeal being made to the arbitration of louis the good, simon, dissatisfied with his award, renewed hostilities, defeated the king at lewes, and taking him and his son prisoner, governed england for a year ( - ); he sketched a constitution for the country, and summoned the most representative parliament that had yet met, but as he aimed at the welfare of not the barons only, but the common people as well, the barons began to distrust him, when prince edward, having escaped from captivity, joined them, and overthrew simon at evesham, where he was slain ( ?- ). montgolfier brothers, inventors of the balloon, who made their first ascent in paris in in "their paper dome, filled with smoke of burnt wood, amid the shouts of congregated men"; joseph ( - ), and Étienne ( - ). montgomerie, alexander, scottish poet, born, it is alleged, in ayrshire, from a branch of the eglinton family; wrote sonnets and some short poems, but his best-known piece is an allegorical poem, "the cherry and the slae" ( - ). montgomery, comte de, a french knight of scottish descent, captain of the scottish guard under henry ii. of france; having in mortally wounded the king in a tourney, he fled to england, but returned to fight in the ranks of the huguenots, and having had to surrender, he was taken to paris and beheaded, in violation of the terms of surrender, which assured him of his life ( - ). montgomery, james, poet and hymn-writer, born at irvine, son of a moravian minister; studied for the same profession, but was not licensed; after some years of various occupation he started journalism, and eventually produced a journal of his own, _sheffield iris_, - ; he was twice fined and imprisoned for seditious publications, but became a conservative in , a pensioner , and died at sheffield; of his poetry most is forgotten, but "for ever with the lord," and some dozen other hymns are still remembered ( - ). montgomery, robert, author of "the omnipresence of deity" and "satan," born at bath, son of a clown; passed undistinguished through oxford, and was minister of percy street chapel, london; all his many works are forgotten save the above, which lives in macaulay's famous review ( - ). montgomeryshire ( ), a north wales inland county, surrounded by merioneth, cardigan, radnor, salop, and denbigh; is chiefly a stretch of mountain pasture land, which rises to ft. at plinlimmon, and in which the severn rises; but in the e. are well wooded and fertile valleys. there are lead and zinc mines, and slate and limestone quarries. there is some flannel manufacture at newtown. the county town is montgomery ( ). montholon, comte de, french general, born in paris, served under napoleon, accompanied him to st. helena, and left "memoirs" ( - ). montmorency, anne, duc de, marshal and constable of france, born of an old illustrious family; served in arms under francis i.; was associated with condé against the huguenots, and was mortally wounded at st. denis fighting against them ( - ). montmorency, henri, second duc of, born at chantilly; distinguished himself in arms under louis xiii., but provoked along with gaston, duke of orleans, into rebellion, he was taken prisoner and beheaded, notwithstanding intercessions from high quarters on his behalf for the zeal he had shown in defence of the catholic faith ( - ). montpelier ( ), capital of vermont, m. n. of new york and m. nw. of portland, maine, is on the onion river, and has some mills and tanneries. montpellier ( ), capital of hérault, france, on the lez, m. from the gulf of lyons, m. sw. of nîmes, is a picturesque town, containing a cathedral, a university, picture-gallery, libraries, and other institutions, and has been a centre of culture and learning since the th century; it also manufactures chemicals, corks, and textiles, and does a large trade in brandy and wine. montreal ( ), the greatest commercial city of canada, on an island in the st. lawrence, at the confluence of the ottawa river, m. above quebec, is the centre of railway communication with the whole dominion and the states, connected by water with all the shipping ports on the great lakes, and does an enormous import and export trade; its principal shipment is grain; it is the chief banking centre, has the greatest universities (m'gill and a branch of laval), hospitals, and religious institutions, and pursues boot and shoe, clothing, and tobacco manufactures; more than half the population is french and roman catholic, and the education of protestant and roman catholic children is kept distinct; founded in by the french, montreal passed to britain in ; in it was occupied by the revolting colonies, but recovered next year, and since then has had a steady career of prosperity and advancement. montrose ( ), an ancient burgh and seaport of forfarshire, m. s. of aberdeen, stands on a tongue of land between the sea and a basin which is almost dry at low water; carries on timber-trade with baltic and canadian ports, and spins flax, makes ropes and canvas. montrose, james graham, marquis of, born at old montrose, and educated at st. andrews; travelled in italy, france, and the netherlands; returning in he joined the covenanters, and we find him at aberdeen, stonehaven, and across the english border supporting the covenant by force of arms; suspected of treachery to the cause he was imprisoned for a year, - , in edinburgh castle, whereupon he joined the side of the king; in - he did splendid service for charles in scotland, defeating the covenanters near aberdeen, at inverlochy and kilsyth; but routed by leslie at philiphaugh he lost the royal confidence, and next year withdrew to norway; an unsuccessful invasion in the stuart cause in ended in his defeat at invercarron, capture, and execution; "the great marquis," as he is called, was a soldier of genius, and a man of taste, learning, clemency, and courage ( - ). montyon prizes, four prizes in the gift of the french academy, so named from their founder, baron de montyon ( - ), and awarded annually for ( ) improvements in medicine and surgery; ( ) improvements tending to health in some mechanical process; ( ) acts of disinterested goodness; ( ) literary works conducive to morality; the last two are usually divided among several recipients. moody, dwight lyman, evangelist, born in massachusetts; settled in chicago, where he began his career as an evangelist, associated with mr. sankey; visited great britain in and , and produced a wide-spread impression, especially on the first visit; _b_. . moon, the satellite of the earth, from which it is distant , m., and which revolves round it in - / days, taking the same time to rotate on its own axis, so that it presents always the same side to us; is a dark body, and shines by reflection of the sun's light, its diameter m.; it has a rugged surface of mountains and valleys without verdure; has no water, no atmosphere, and consequently no life. moon, mountains of the, a range of mountains supposed by ptolemy and early geographers to stretch across africa from abyssinia to guinea, now variously identified as the kenia, kilimanjaro, ruwenzori, &c. moonshee, in india a teacher of languages, especially hindustani and persian. moore, frank frankfort, novelist and dramatist, born at limerick, both his novels and his dramas are numerous; commenced his literary career as a journalist in connection with the _belfast news letter_ as literary and art editor, a post he relinquished in to settle in london; _b_. . moore, john, m.d., author and novelist, born at stirling, studied medicine in glasgow, and practised there, in holland, paris, and london; he published books on the countries of europe which he visited, an essay on the french revolution, and among several novels, one of some note, "zeluco" ( ); he died at richmond ( - ). moore, sir john, general, eldest son of above, born at glasgow; served in corsica, the west indies, ireland, holland, egypt, sicily, and sweden; his famous and last expedition was to spain in , when with , men he was sent to co-operate in expelling the french; spanish apathy and other causes weakened his hands, and in december he found himself with , men at astorga, a french force of , advancing against him; retreat was necessary, but disastrous; he was overtaken by soult at coruña in the act of embarking; the victory lay with the english, but moore was killed ( - ). moore, thomas, the bard of erin, born in dublin, the son of a grocer, studied at trinity college; went to london with a translation of "anacreon," which gained him favour and a valuable appointment in the bermudas in ; fought a duel with jeffrey in , began his "irish melodies" in , and published "the twopenny postbag" in ; in appeared "lalla rookh," a collection of oriental tales, and in a satiric piece "the fudge family," and published a life of byron in ; moore's songs were written to irish airs, and they contributed much to ensure catholic emancipation ( - ). moors, a general term for tribes in north africa descended from arab and berber stock; they were christians for several centuries, but on their conquest by arabs in embraced mohammedanism; the town moors do not hold before european settlers, but the nomad tribes show more vitality; moorish peoples seized and settled in spain early in the th century, and, introducing a civilisation further advanced than that in europe generally with respect to science, art, and industry alike, maintained a strong rule till the th century; then the spaniards gradually recovered the peninsula; toledo was taken in , saragossa in , valencia in , seville in , murcia in , and granada in ; turkish successes in the east came too late to save the moors, and the last were banished from the country in . moraines, masses of rock which become detached from the hill-side and find lodgment on a glacier are so called, and are further described as lateral, medial, terminal, or ground moraines, according as they lie along its edges, its middle, are piled up in mounds at its end, or falling down crevasses, are ground against the rock underneath. moralities, didactic dramas, following in order of time the miracle plays and mysteries, in which the places of saints and biblical personages in them were taken by characters representing different virtues and vices, and the story was of an allegorical nature; were the immediate precursors of the secular drama. moravia ( , ), a crownland in the n. of austria, lying between the moravian and the carpathian mountains, with silesia on the n., hungary on the e., lower austria on the s., and bohemia on the w.; is mountainous, with lofty plains in the s., and is watered by the march, a tributary of the danube; the valleys and plains are fertile; grain, beetroot, flax, hemp, and vines are grown; cattle and poultry rearing and bee-keeping occupy the peasantry; sugar, textiles, and tobacco are the chief manufactures; there are coal and iron mines, graphite and meerschaum are found; the capital is brünn ( ), which has woollen and leather industries; associated with bohemia in , moravia passed with that country to austria in , its association with bohemia terminating in ; the inhabitants are two-thirds slavs and one-third german, and are mostly roman catholic. moravians, a sect of protestant christians who, followers of john huss, formed themselves into a separate community in bohemia in on the model of the primitive church, in which the members regarded each other as brethren, and were hence called the united brethren; like other heretics they suffered much persecution at the hands of the orthodox church; they are known also as herrnhuters. moray, james stuart, earl of, illegitimate son of james v. of scotland, and so half-brother of mary, queen of scots; was from the leader of the reformation party, and on mary's arrival in her kingdom in became her chief adviser; on her marriage with darnley he made an unsuccessful attempt to raise a protestant rebellion, and had to escape to england , and after a visit to edinburgh, when he connived at rizzio's murder, to france in ; he was almost immediately recalled by the nobles, who had imprisoned mary in lochleven, and appointed regent; next year he defeated at langside the forces which, on her escape, had rallied round her, and in the subsequent management of the kingdom secured both civil and ecclesiastical peace, and earned the title of "the good regent"; he was shot by a partisan of the queen's, james hamilton of bothwellhaugh, when riding through linlithgow ( - ). more, hannah, english authoress, born near bristol; wrote dramas, a novel entitled "coelebs in search of a wife," and a tract "the shepherd of salisbury plain" ( - ). more, henry, a platonist, born at grantham, a fellow of christ college, cambridge, and author of a poem "song of the soul"; he was a mystic who exercised a great influence among the young men of cambridge ( - ). more, sir thomas, chancellor of england, born in london; was the lifelong friend of erasmus, and the author of "utopia," an imaginary commonwealth; succeeded wolsey as chancellor, but resigned the seals of office because he could not sanction the king's action in the matter of the divorce, and was committed to the tower for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, whence after months he was brought to trial and sentenced to be beheaded; he ascended the scaffold, and laid his head on the block in the spirit of a philosopher; was one of the wisest and best of men ( - ). morea is the modern name of the ancient peloponnesus, that remarkable peninsula, larger than wales, which constitutes the southern half of greece, and is joined to the mainland by the isthmus of corinth, less than m. broad. moreau, jean victor, french general, born at morlaix; served with distinction under the republic and the empire; was suspected of plotting against the latter with george cadoudal, and banished on conviction; went to america, but returning to europe, joined the ranks of the russians against his country, and was mortally wounded by a cannon ball at dresden ( - ). morganatic marriage, is a union permitted to german princes who, forbidden to marry except with one of equal rank, may ally themselves with a woman of inferior status, their children being legitimate but not eligible for the succession; the marriages of british princes contracted before the age of without consent of the sovereign, or after that age without consent of parliament, are of a morganatic nature. morgarten, a mountain slope in the canton of zug, switzerland, where swiss, on nov. , , in assertion of their independence, defeated an austrian army of , . morghen, raphael sanzio cavaliere, engraver, born in naples, of german parentage; studied in rome, and by genius and industry became one of the foremost engravers; his works include engravings of raphael's "transfiguration," the result of years' labour, and leonardo da vinci's "last supper," his masterpiece ( - ). morgue, a house in which bodies found dead are placed for identification. morisonianism, the principles of the evangelical union, a scottish denomination founded by the rev. james morison of kilmarnock on his expulsion from the united secession church in , and united with the scottish congregational union in ; differed from the older presbyterianism in affirming the freedom of the human will to accept or reject salvation, and the universal scope of the offer of salvation as made by god to all men; in polity the morisonians observed a modified independency. morley, john, politician and man of letters, born in blackburn; is an advanced liberal in both capacities; besides essays and journalistic work, has written biographies, particularly on men associated with politics and social movements, such as voltaire, rousseau, and diderot, as well as burke, and is editor of "english men of letters"; in politics he was a staunch supporter of mr. gladstone, though he could have little sympathy with him as a high churchman; _b_. . mormon, book of, a book which in fell into the hands of joseph smith, the son of a farmer, alleged by him to have been written by a hebrew prophet who emigrated to america years before christ, and to have been recorded by him as a direct revelation to himself from heaven, by means of which the interrupted communication between heaven and earth was to be restored. mormonism, the creed of the mormons, or latter-day saints as they are called, who have settlements of their own in the valley of the salt lake, generally called utah, u.s.; they conceive, according to hepworth dixon, of god as a flesh and blood man, of man as of the divine substance, as existing from, and to exist to, all eternity, and without inherited sin, of the earth as only one of many inhabited worlds, of the spirit world as consisting of beings awaiting incarnation, of polygamy as of divine ordination and the relationship eternal, and of their social system as the kingdom of god on earth. morny, duc de, french politician, born in paris; played a conspicuous part in the _coup d'état_ of december , and was president of the corps législatif; was believed to have been the son of queen hortense, and consequently louis napoleon's half-brother ( - ). morocco ( , ), an empire in the nw. corner of africa, three times the size of great britain, its coast-line stretching from algeria to cape nun, and its inland confines being vaguely determined by the french hinterlands. two-thirds of the country is desert; much of the remainder is poor pasture land; the atlas mountains stretch from sw. to ne., but there are some expanses of level fertile country; on the seaboard the climate is delightful, with abundance of rain in the season; among the mountains extremes prevail; south of the atlas it is hot and almost rainless; the mineral wealth is probably great; gold, silver, copper, and iron are known to be plentiful, but bad government hinders development; the exports are maize, pulse, oil, wool, fruit, and cattle; cloth, tea, coffee, and hardware are imported; the chief industries are the making of leather, "fez" caps, carpets, and the breeding of horses; government is extremely despotic and corrupt, and the sultan's authority over many of the tribes is merely nominal; there is no education; the religion is mohammedanism, and slavery prevails; there are no roads, and the country is imperfectly known; telegraph, telephone, and postal service are in european hands; the country was taken from the romans by the arabs in the th century, and has ever since been in their hands, but berbers, spaniards, moors, jews, and negroes also go to make up the population. the chief towns are fez ( ), in the n., a sacred moslem city, squalid and dirty, but with good european trade, and a depôt for the caravans from the interior; and morocco ( ), in the s., near the tensift river, m. sw. of fez, well situated for local and transit trade, but a dilapidated city. morocco, a fine-grained leather of the skin of a goat or sheep, first prepared in morocco. morpheus (i. e. the moulder), the god of dreams, the son of night and sleep. morris-dance, a rustic merrymaking common in england after , and still extant; is of disputed origin; the chief characters, maid marian, robin hood, the hobby-horse, and the fool, execute fantastic movements and jingle bells fastened to their feet and dress. morris, sir lewis, a poet, born in carmarthen, wales; the author of "songs of two worlds," "the epic of hades," "a vision of saints," &c.; often confounded with the succeeding, with whom he has next to nothing in common; _b_. . morris, william, poet, art-worker, and socialist, born in walthamstow, near london, son and heir of a wealthy merchant; studied at oxford, where he became the lifelong bosom friend of burne-jones; of an artistic temperament, he devoted his working hours to decorative art, in particular designing wall-papers; produced in "the defence of guenevere and other poems," in "the life and death of jason," and from to his masterpiece, "the earthly paradise" (q. v.); among other works he translated the "Æneid" and the "odyssey," and gave a splendid rendering of some of the norse legends ( - ). morrison, robert, first missionary to china, and chinese scholar, born of scottish parentage at morpeth; entered the independent ministry, and was sent to macao and canton by the london missionary society in ; in he published a chinese version of the new testament, and in of the old testament; in his great chinese dictionary was published at the expense of the east india company; returning to england in , he went out again years later as interpreter to lord napier, and died at canton ( - ). morse, samuel finley breese, inventor, born at charlestown, massachusetts, graduated at yale in and adopted art as a profession; he gained some distinction as a sculptor, and in was appointed professor of design in new york; electrical studies were his hobby; between and he worked out the idea of an electric telegraph--simultaneously conceived by wheatstone in england--and in congress granted funds for an experimental line between washington and baltimore; honour and fortune crowded on him, his invention was adopted all over the world, and he received an international grant of £ , ; he died in new york ( - ). mortgage, a deed conveying property to a creditor as security for the payment of a debt, the person to whom it is given being called the mortgagee. morton, james douglas, earl of, regent of scotland; joined the reforming party, was made chancellor, took part in the murder of rizzio, and was privy to the plot against darnley, joined the confederacy of the nobles against mary, fought against her at langside, and became regent in ; became unpopular, was charged with being accessory to darnley's murder, and beheaded in . mosaylima, a rival of mohammed, posed as equally a prophet, and entitled to share with mohammed the sovereignty of the world; two battles followed, in the second of which mosaylima was killed, to the dispersion of his followers. moschus, a greek pastoral poet, author of lyrics which have been translated by andrew lang; lived b.c. moscow ( ), on the moskwa river, in the centre of european russia, m. se. of st. petersburg; was before the capital, and is still a great industrial and commercial centre; its manufactures include textiles, leather, chemicals, and machinery; it does a great trade in grain, timber, metals from the urals, and furs, hides, &c., from asia; besides the great cathedral there are many churches, palaces, and museums, a university, library, picture-gallery, and observatory; the enclosure called the kremlin or citadel is the most sacred spot in russia; thrice in the th century the city was devastated by fire, and again in to compel napoleon to retire. moselle, river, rising w. of the vosges mountains, flows nw. through french and german lorraine, then ne. through rhenish prussia to join the rhine at coblenz, m. long, two-thirds of it navigable; it passes in its tortuous course metz, thionville, and trèves. moses, the great hebrew law-giver, under whose leadership the jews achieved their emancipation from the bondage of egypt, and began to assert themselves as an independent people among the nations of the earth; in requiring of the people the fear of god and the observance of his commandments, he laid the national life on a sure basis, and he was succeeded by a race of prophets who from age to age reminded the people that in regard or disregard for what he required of them depended their prosperity or their ruin as a nation, of which from their extreme obduracy they had again and again to be admonished. mosheim, a protestant church historian, born at lübeck, was professor at göttingen; his principal work a history of the church, written in latin, and translated into english and other languages ( - ). moss-troopers, maurauders who formerly raided the moss-grown borderland of england and scotland. motherwell, william, scottish poet, born in glasgow, educated in edinburgh; entered a lawyer's office in paisley in and became sheriff-clerk depute of renfrewshire ; he was editor of the paisley advertiser in , and of the glasgow courier in ; he wrote biographical notices of local poets, and edited "minstrelsy, ancient and modern," in ; but his own fame was established by "poems, narrative and lyrical," , the gem of the collection being "jeanie morison"; he died in glasgow ( - ). motley, john lothrop, historian and diplomatist, born in massachusetts; commenced his literary career as a novelist, but soon turned all his thoughts to the study of history; spent years in the study of dutch history; wrote the "history of the dutch republic," which was published in , the "history of the united netherlands," publishing the first part in and the second in , and the "life and death of john barnevelde" in ; was appointed the united states minister at vienna in , and at st. james's in ; he ranks high as a historian, being both faithful and graphic ( - ). motor car, a vehicle propelled by petroleum, electricity, &c. mountain, the, the name given to the jacobins, or the extreme democratic party, at the french revolution, from their occupying the highest benches in the hall of the national convention, and included such men as marat, danton, robespierre, and the men of the reign of terror. movable feasts, festivals of the church, the date of which varies with the date of easter. mozambique ( , ), the general name for portuguese east africa, lies between cape delgado and delagoa bay on the mainland, opposite madagascar; the rovuma river separates it from german territory in the n.; in the s. it touches british maputaland, while inland it borders on british central and south africa and the transvaal; the zambesi divides it into two; the coast is low and wet, inland are richly wooded plateaux; the soil is fertile, and minerals abound, but the government is bad, and industry does not develop; miles of railway connect lorenzo marques with the transvaal; other chief towns are quilimane ( ), and the capital mozambique ( ), on an island. mozart, wolfgang amadeus chrysostom, eminent musical composer, born at salzburg; was distinguished for his musical genius as a boy, and produced over musical compositions, but his principal works were his operas, the "marriage of figaro," "don giovanni," and the "magic flute"; his fate was an unhappy one; he suffered much from poverty and neglect; the last piece he wrote was a requiem mass, which he felt, he said, as if he were writing for himself, and he died at prague on the evening of its rehearsal ( - ). mucklebackit, saunders, an old fisherman in scott's "antiquary." mucklewrath, a fanatic preacher in scott's "old mortality." mucous membrane, a delicate membrane which lines the cavities and the canals of the human body. muezzin, an official, usually blind, attached to a mohammedan mosque, summons the faithful to prayers with a chant from a minaret. mufti, a doctor and interpreter of mohammedan law. mufti, the grand, is head of the ulema, or interpreters of the korân; holds his appointment from the sultan, and exercises great influence at the porte; legal advisers to local and general councils in the turkish empire are also styled mufti. muggleton, founder of the muggletonians, a tailor who, along with one reeve, at the time of the commonwealth, pretended to be the two witnesses of the revelation and the last of god's prophets, invested with power to save and to damn; individuals of the sect founded by him existed so recently as the beginning of this century. muir, john, a sanskrit scholar, born in glasgow; was of the indian civil service; was a man of liberal views, particularly in religion, and a patron of learning; endowed the chair of sanskrit in edinburgh university ( - ). muir, sir william, an arabic scholar, brother of the preceding; principal of edinburgh university; was in the indian civil service; wrote a "life of mahomet," on the rise of mohammedanism, and on the korân; _b_. . mukden ( ), in chinese shing-king, the capital of manchuria, on a tributary of the liao, in the s. of the province; is a city of considerable commercial importance, and has good coal-mines in the neighbourhood; there are a great palace, and numerous temples; irish and scotch presbyterian and roman catholic missions have a centre here; the japanese invasion of - was directed towards it. mull ( ), large island in the nw. of argyllshire, third of the hebrides; is mountainous and picturesque, with greatly indented coast-line; the highest peak is ben more, ft., the largest inlet loch-na-keal; the soil is best adapted for grazing. tobermory ( ), in the n., is the only town. mÜller, george, founder of the orphan homes near bristol; born in prussia; founded the orphan home, in , on voluntary subscriptions, in answer to prayer, to the support one year of more than orphans ( - ). mÜller, johannes, eminent german physiologist, born at coblenz; professor at berlin; ranks as the founder of modern physiology, and famed as author of a text-book on the science, entitled "handbuch der physiologie des menschen" ( - ). mÜller, johannes von, celebrated historian, born at schaffhausen, the "history of switzerland" his principal work ( - ). mÜller, julius, a german theologian, born at brieg; professor at halle; his great work, the "christian doctrine of sin"; he collaborated on theological subjects with neander and nitzsch ( - ). mÜller, karl otfried, archæologist and philologist, born at brieg, brother of the preceding; was professor at göttingen, and distinguished for his researches in grecian antiquities and his endeavour to construe all that concerns the history and life of ancient greece, including mythology, literature, and art ( - ). mulock, dinah maria (mrs. craik), english novelist, born in stock-upon-trent, authoress of "john halifax, gentleman," and other novels ( - ). mulready, william, _genre_ painter, born at ennis, ireland, illustrated the "vicar of wakefield" and other works ( - ). multan ( ), a punjab city near the chenab river, m. sw. of lahore; has many mosques and temples; manufactures of silks, carpets, pottery, and enamel ware, and considerable trade. mÜnchhausen, baron von, a cavalry officer in the service of hanover famed for the extravagant stories he used to relate of his adventures and exploits which, with exaggerations, were collected by one raspe, and published in under münchhausen's name ( - ). mÜnich ( ), capital of bavaria, on the isar, m. by rail sw. of berlin; is a city of magnificent buildings and rare art treasures; palaces, public buildings, cathedral, churches, &c., are all on an elaborate scale, and adorned with works of art; there are galleries of sculpture, and ancient and modern painting, a university, colleges, and libraries; the industries include stained glass, lithographing, bell-founding, and scientific instrument-making; and there are enormous breweries. münich has been the centre of artistic life and culture in the th century, and associated with it are cornelius, kaulbach, and many famous names. mÜnster ( ), capital of westphalia, a mediæval-looking town, m. by rail n. of cologne; has textile, paper, and printing industries; there is an old cathedral of th century, a town-hall, castle, and th-century wine-cellar; the place of the catholic university has been taken by an academy with catholic theological and philosophical faculties; here took place the anabaptist movement of ; the bishops retained their secular jurisdiction till . mÜnzer, thomas, anabaptist leader, born at stolberg, and began to preach at zwickau ; he came into collision both with the civil authorities and the reformed church; for several years he travelled through bohemia and south germany, and in settled at mühlhausen; here his communistic doctrines obtained popularity and kindled an insurrection; the rebels were routed at frankenhansen, and münzer was captured and executed ( - ). murat, joachim, king of naples, born near cahors, the son of an innkeeper; entered the army, attracted the notice of bonaparte, and became his aide-de-camp; distinguished himself in many engagements, received bonaparte's sister to wife, and was loaded with honours on the establishment of the empire, and for his services under it as a dashing cavalry officer was rewarded with the crown of naples in , but to the last allied in arms with his brother-in-law; he had to fight in the end on his own behalf in defence of his crown, and was defeated, taken prisoner, and shot ( - ). muratori, ludovico antonio, italian antiquary and historian, horn in vignola, modena; became librarian in milan , and of the d'este library, modena, in , in which city he died; he edited the italian chronicles of the th- th centuries, with many essays and dissertations, and many other historical and antiquarian works; but his name is chiefly associated with the "muratorian fragment," which dates from the nd century, and contains a list of the then canonical scriptures, and which he published ( - ). muravieff, count, russian statesman, born of a distinguished family; entered the diplomatic service in connection with the russian embassies at berlin, stockholm, the hague, and paris, and became minister to denmark in ; in he was appointed minister for foreign affairs in succession to lobanoff; _b_. . murchison, sir roderick impey, geologist, born in ross-shire; entered the army and served in the peninsular war, but retiring in gave himself to science; he explored many parts of europe, predicted the discovery of gold in australia, was president of the british association, and knighted in , and subsequently received many other scientific appointments and honours; he founded the chair of geology in edinburgh university in ; but his fame rests on his discovery and establishment of the silurian system; his book on "the silurian system" is the chief of several works ( - ). murdoch, william, engineer, born at auchinleck, ayrshire; was a manager of the soho works under boulton and watt, where he distinguished himself by his inventive ingenuity, and where on his suggestion coal-gas was first employed for lighting purposes ( - ). mure, colonel, greek scholar, born at caldwell, ayrshire; wrote a scholarly work, "a critical account of the language and literature of ancient greece" ( - ). mÜrger, henri, french novelist and poet, born at paris; is chiefly distinguished as the author of "scènes de la vie de bohême," from his own experiences, and instinct with pathos and humour, sadness his predominant tone; wrote lyrics as well as novels and stories, the chief "la chanson de musette," "a tear," says gautier, "which has become a pearl of poetry" ( - ). murillo, a celebrated spanish painter, born at seville; his subjects were drawn partly from low life and partly from religious or scripture themes, such as the immaculate conception and the assumption of the virgin, as well as "moses smiting the rock," the "miracle of the loaves and fishes," &c.; died from a fall from a scaffold while painting an altar-piece at cadiz ( - ). murray, john, london publisher, a successful business man; was on intimate terms with the celebrated men, such as byron and scott, whose works he published ( - ). murray, lindley, grammarian, born in pennsylvania, of quaker parents; having realised a competency in business came to england and settled near york, where he produced his "grammar of the english language" in ( - ). murray, william, scottish actor, lessee of edinburgh theatre for years; enjoyed the friendship of the edinburgh literary celebrities of the time, and was an excellent actor, did falstaff to perfection ( - ). murray river, the chief river of australia, m. long, rises at the foot of mount kosciusko, in new south wales, flows nw. between new south wales and victoria; receives the lachlan and darling on the right, and entering south australia turns southward and reaches the sea at encounter bay. musÆus, john august, german author, born at jena, famous as the author of german _volksmärchen_, three of which, "dumb love," "libussa," and "melechsala," were translated in the volumes of "german romance" by thomas carlyle; he parodied richardson's "sir charles grandison" and satirised lavater's "physiognomical travels" ( - ). muscat ( ), capital of oman, in eastern arabia, on the gulf of oman; is an ill-built, unhealthy city, but does an important transit trade between arabia, persia, india, and east africa; it was in portuguese possession from to , but has been independent since. muses, the, daughters of zeus and mnemosynë, presided over the liberal arts particularly, were nine in number, and dwelt along with apollo near parnassus, pieria, and helicon; clio presided over history, euterpë over music, thalia over comedy, melpomenë over tragedy, terpsichorë over choral dance and song, erato over erotic poetry and elegy, polyhymnia over lyric poetry, urania over astronomy, and calliopë over eloquence and epic poetry. muspelheim. see niflheim. musselburgh ( ), an old-fashioned midlothian fishing town on the coast, m. e. of edinburgh, with golf links, paper, nets, and tanning industries, and loretto school. musset, alfred de, the premier poet of modern french literature, born in paris of good parentage; wayward and impulsive in youth, he would settle to no occupation, till his already awakened taste for poetry receiving a powerful stimulus through contact with victor hugo, led him to embrace the profession of letters; two volumes of poetry were published before he achieved, in , his first signal success with the dramas "andré del sarto" and "les caprices de marianne"; in the same year began his famous _liaison_ with george sand (q. v.), involving him in the ill-fated expedition to venice, whence he returned in the spring of shattered in health and disillusioned; from one unhappy love intrigue he passed to another, seeking in vain a solace for his restless spirit, but reaping an experience which enriched his writings; "confessions d'un enfant du siècle" appeared in , and is a significant confession of his life at this time; two years later he was appointed librarian at the home office, and in his charming comedy, "un caprice," was received with enthusiasm; in he was elected to the academy, but his work was done, and already an ill-controlled indulgence in alcohol had fatally undermined his never robust strength; his writings, besides possessing the charm of an exquisite style, heightened by an undertone of true tenderness, are chiefly remarkable for the intense sincerity of feeling, albeit of a limited range, which animates them, and which finds its highest expression in his four great lyrical pieces, "les nuits"; his fine instinct for dramatic situation and gift of witty dialogue are manifest in the dramas already mentioned, as also in many others; of his prose works, "le fils du titien," "mademoiselle mimi pinson," and the "confessions" are his best; he was a handsome man, with fascinating manners ( - ). mutsu hito, the mikado of japan, ascended the throne in , married in ; has one son, prince yoshihito, and three daughters; his reign has been marked by great reforms, and especially the abolition of the feudal system which till then prevailed, to the great and increasing prosperity of the country, and the opening of it to the ideas and arts of western civilisation; _b_. . muzaffer-ed-din, shah of persia, second son of nasr-ed-din, who nominated him to succeed him; succeeded his father on his death by assassination in , on the st of may; _b_. . mycenÆ, capital of agamemnon's kingdom, in the ne. of the peloponnesus, was in very ancient days a great city, but never recovered the invasion of the people of argos in b.c.; excavations point to its civilisation being more akin to phoenician than greek. myrmidons, "ant-men," so-called because zeus was said to have peopled thessaly, from which originally they came, by transforming ants into men; they were the people of Ægina, whose warriors followed achilles to the siege of troy. mysore ( , ), a native state, half the size of england, embedded in the madras presidency, occupies a lofty, broken, but fertile tableland; the upper waters of the kistna and kaveri are used for irrigation purposes; betel-nut, coffee, cotton, rice, and silk are exported; cloth, wheat, and precious metals are imported; the climate is healthy and pleasant; under british government from , it was restored to its prince in , under british protection; the capital is mysore ( ), a prosperous, well-built town. mystagogue, in greece, was the priest who instructed candidates and prepared them for initiation into the various religious mysteries; in the christian church it denoted the catechist who prepared catechumens previous to their admission to the sacraments. mysteries, sacred rites and ceremonies of stated observance among the greeks and romans in connection with the worship of particular divinities, to which only the initiated were admitted, and in which, by associating together, they quickened and confirmed each other in their faith and hope, and in which it would seem they made solemn avowal of these; the name is also applied to the miracle plays (q. v.) of the middle ages. mysticism, a state of mind and feeling induced by direct communion with the unseen, and by indulging in which the subject of it estranges himself more and more from those who live wholly in the outside world, so that he cannot communicate with them and they cannot understand him. n nabob. see nawab. naboth, a jew, who was stoned by order of ahab, king of israel, because he refused to sell him his vineyard, an outrage for which ahab was visited by divine judgment; is symbol, in the regard of the jews, of the punishment sure to overtake all rich oppressors of the poor. nachtigal, gustav, german traveller and explorer; visited ( - ), the first european to do so, at the instance of prussia, by way of tripoli, the heart of africa, and returned by way of cairo, and wrote an account of his journey, "sahara and sudan"; in annexed to germany territory in west africa; died on his return journey, and was buried at cape palmas ( - ). nadir, name given to the part of the heavens directly under our feet, as zenith to that directly over our head. nadir shah, king of persia, born in khorassan of low origin; began his career as a brigand; set himself at the head of brigands to deliver persia from the yoke of the afghans, and expelled them, rising by degrees to the sovereignty of persia himself; made war on the afghans, invaded hindustan, and took and plundered delhi, restoring its former dominion to the persian monarchy; became subject to suspicion of plots against him, had recourse to violence, and was assassinated ( - ). nÆvius, cneius, one of the earliest roman poets, born in campania; wrote dramas, and an epic poem on the first punic war, in which he had served; satirised the aristocracy, and was obliged to leave rome, where he had spent thirty years of his life; died at utica ( - b.c.). nagari, the name given to the characters in sanskrit and hindi alphabets. nÂgas, in the hindu mythology "deified serpents," sons of kadru, a personification of darkness, are represented as more or less invested with a human form, and endowed with knowledge, strength, and beauty; live in the depths of the ocean, and their capital city exposes to the vision a display of the most dazzling riches. they are not always represented as harmful; though armed with poison they possess the elixir of strength and immortality, and form the supports of the universe. they are a reflection of the belief that the deadly powers as well as the regenerative centre in one and the same deity, in his wisdom killing that he may make alive. also the name of a race of aborigines in north-east india. nagasaki ( ), one of the six treaty ports of japan, on the nw. of the island kiushiu; has a beautiful and extensive harbour, within which lies the island of deshima; manufactures "egg-shell" china, exports coal, tea, &c., and possesses an excellent dockyard; american and english missions are carried on. nagpur or nagpore ( ), capital of the central provinces of british india, and of a district and division of the same name; an important railway terminus, m. ne. of bombay; is noted for the manufacture of fine cloth, and carries on a brisk trade in wheat, salt, spices, &c. nahum, one of the minor prophets of the old testament; appears to have been a contemporary of isaiah, and to have prophesied after the destruction of samaria and the defeat of sennacherib before jerusalem in the reign of hezekiah. his mission as a prophet was to console the people in the presence of the formidable power of assyria, and to predict its downfall, and especially that of its capital city nineveh, an event which happened under cyaxares the mede b.c. his thought is forcible, his expression clear, and his diction pure, all three worthy of the classical age of hebrew literature. naiads, nymphs of the fresh-water fountains and streams, and as such endowed with prophetic power, and associated with other deities in the sphere of nature gifted with the same power; are represented as lovely maidens in a nude or semi-nude state. nairn ( ), chief town of its county, prettily situated at the entrance of the nairn into the moray firth, m. ne. of inverness; is frequented by summer visitors, and has a harbour and golf links. nairne, baroness, scottish poetess, born at gask, perthshire, third daughter of laurence oliphant of that ilk, of jacobite proclivities; known for her beauty as the flower of strathearn; was married to the sixth lord nairne, whom she survived; wrote songs, the most famous among them being "the land o' the leal," "the laird o' cockpen," "bonnie charlie's noo awa," "caller herrin'," and "the auld hoose"; died at gask ( - ). nairnshire ( ), a northern county of scotland, fronts the moray firth, wedged in between elgin on the n. and inverness on the w. and s.; the surface rugged and mountainous in the s. and e., slopes towards the firth, and is traversed by the rivers nairn and findhorn; loch loy is the largest of several small lochs; scarcely one-fifth of the soil is devoted to the raising of cereals, but more attention is given to stock-raising; cawdor and auldearn are places in it of historic and antiquarian interest. nairs, hindus of high caste, claiming to rank next the brahmans, who lived on the malabar coast of india; among them polyandry prevailed, and the royal power descended through the female line. namaquas, a pastoral people of south africa; one of the principal branches of the hottentot race, and inhabiting great namaqualand. namur ( ), capital of a province of the same name in belgium, is situated at the junction of the meuse and the sambre, m. se. of brussels. the town is strongly fortified, but only a few of its fine old buildings have escaped the ravages of war. the citadel still stands, the cathedral, and the jesuit church of st. loup. cutlery, firearms, &c., are manufactured. the province ( ) skirts the ne. border of france between hainault and luxembourg. nana sahib, a hindu traitor, his real name dundhu panth, of brahman descent, adopted son of the ex-peshwa of the mahrattas, whose pension from the british government was not continued to nana on his death, and which rendered the latter the deadly foe to british rule in india, and the instigator, on the outbreak of the mutiny in , of the massacre of cawnpore; he had on the outbreak of the mutiny in question offered his services to a british general, and placed himself at the head of the mutineers; the miscreant escaped, and his fate was never known; _b_. . see cawnpore. nancy ( ), capital of the department of meurthe-et-moselle, north-east france, is prettily situated amid woodland scenery on the river meurthe, m. e. of paris; the new town is spaciously laid out, while the old town, narrowed in its streets, has many interesting old buildings, e. g. the cathedral, the th-century palace; there is a university, and an active trade in embroidered cambric and muslin, besides cotton and woollen goods, &c. nanking ( ), an ancient city, and up to the th century the capital of china, is situated on the yangtse river, m. from its mouth; between and its finest buildings were destroyed by the taiping rebels; its manufactures of nankeen and satin and of its once famous pottery and artificial flowers have fallen off, but it still continues the chief seat of letters and learning in china. nanna, in the norse mythology the wife of balder, the sun-god; distinguished for her conjugal fidelity, threw herself on the funeral pyre of her husband, and descended to the shades along with him; when the pair were entreated to return, he sent his ring to odin and she her thimble to frigga. nansen, fridtjof, arctic explorer, born at froen, near christiania, son of a norwegian advocate; explored the seas in a scientific interest round spitzbergen in , and crossed greenland in , conceived the idea of reaching the polar regions by following the polar ocean currents; sailed in the _fram_, a ship specially constructed for a polar voyage, in , and on his return wrote an account of his expedition in "farthest north" in ; _b_. . nantes ( ), capital of the department of loire-inférieure, north-west france, on the loire, m. from the sea; its fine streets, handsome buildings, and historical associations make it one of the most interesting cities in france; the cathedral and the ducal castle date from the th century; shipbuilding, sugar-refining, and hardware are the staple industries, while an active shipping trade is kept up with the colonies. nantes, edict of, edict granted by henry iv. , allowing to protestants religious liberty and political enfranchisement, and confirmed by louis xiii. in , but revoked, after frequent infringements, in the shape of dragonnades and otherwise, by louis xiv., oct. , , at the instance of madame maintenon and père la chaise. naphtha, a liquid hydro-carbon of an inflammable nature that exudes from the earth or is distilled from coal-tar, &c. napier, sir charles, the conqueror of sinde, born at westminster, descendant of napier of merchiston; entered the army, was present at coruña, served in the peninsular war, was in made commander-in-chief of the bombay army, defeated the sikhs at meeanee in in a brilliant engagement; became governor of sinde, returned to england, and was welcomed with enthusiasm; went to india again on the outbreak of a second sikh war, to find it suppressed; quarrelled with the governor-general and came home; was a brave, upright, and humane man, and a great favourite with the army ( - ). napier, sir charles, admiral, cousin of preceding, born near falkirk; entered the navy as a volunteer in , assisted in two naval engagements, and for a time served as a volunteer in the peninsular army; joined the portuguese navy, defeated the fleet of dom miguel, tried to reform the navy of portugal but failed, assisted by land and sea in driving mehemet ali out of syria, and held the command of the baltic fleet during the crimean war, but disappointed expectations and was deprived of command ( - ). napier, john, laird of merchiston, mathematician, born in merchiston castle, near edinburgh; famed over the world as the inventor of logarithms; wrote a book on the apocalypse, which contains some plain-spoken counsel to king james; believed in astrology, and was addicted to divination as well as mechanical invention ( - ). napier, sir william, brother of the conqueror of sinde; entered the army at the age of , served all through the peninsular war, and wrote, besides the "conquest of sinde," the "history of the peninsular war," a celebrated work, written from intimate knowledge of the events and with matchless graphic power ( - ). napier of magdala, lord, military engineer officer, born in ceylon; distinguished himself at the sieges of multan, delhi, and lucknow; commanded an expedition in abyssinia, stormed and took magdala in , for which he was rewarded with high honours ( - ). naples ( ), the largest and richest city of italy; has a lovely situation within the bend of naples bay, spreading from the foreshore back upon wooded hills and rising terraces, behind which lie the snow-clad apennines; to the e. lies the old town with its historic via di roma and narrow crowded thoroughfares; the newer portion on the w. is more spaciously laid out, and much has been done in recent years over the whole city to improve the sanitation and water supply; the national museum, rich in pompeii relics, the university ( students), the national library ( , vols.), the archiepiscopal cathedral, and the four mediæval gateways are the chief architectural features; large quantities of wine, olive-oil, chemicals, perfumery, &c., are exported, while woollen, silk, linen, glove, and other factories carry on a good home trade; naples became incorporated in the kingdom of italy in after the bourbon dynasty had been swept away by garibaldi. napoleon i., emperor of the french, born at ajaccio, corsica, the second son of charles bonaparte and lætitia ramolino; trained at the military schools of brienne and paris; distinguished first as a captain of artillery at the siege of toulon in ; elected general of brigade in the italian campaign of ; he fell under suspicion, but was soon after invested with the supreme command of the army there and the conduct of the war, which was rendered memorable by the victories of montenotte, lodi, rivoli, arcole, &c.; on his return to paris he was received with an enthusiasm which excited in him the ambition to render himself indispensable to the country; to utilise his services in their own interest the directory determined to strike a blow at england, and egypt being the point of attack selected, he sailed in command of an expedition for that destination in , and conducted it with successes and reverses till, in , the unpopularity and threatened fall of the directory called him back; it was the occasion for a _coup d'état_ which he had meditated, and which he accomplished on the henceforward celebrated th brumaire ( th nov. ), when a consulship of three was established, himself first consul, and eventually in consul for life; his administration in this capacity, while disgraced by several despotic acts, was in the main of a nature for the public benefit, and distinguished by its regard for the interest of law and good order, but his personal ambition the while was not asleep, for, by a concordat with the pope he so attached the catholic church to the state as to secure the clerical support to his ambitious projects, and was able on the th may , to get himself invested with the imperial dignity, only carnot in the tribunate and grégoire in the senate protesting against the step as a violation of liberty; napoleon owed it to his victories in the field that he attained this elevation, and the sword must maintain what the sword had won; from this date accordingly began that long array of wars against the rest of europe, distinguished by the victories of austerlitz, and jena, and eylau, and friedland, and eckmühl, and wagram, and which contributed to inspire all the nations around with a sense of the terror of his name; but with the unfortunate expedition into russia, in , napoleon's glory began to wane and the tide to turn; after the battles of lützen and bautzen, he might perhaps have signed an honourable peace, but he declined the terms offered, and was defeated at lützen by the allies, who invaded france, and entered paris in in spite of all his efforts to keep them at bay, upon which he was compelled to abdicate at fontainebleau and retire to elba, th april ; it was in vain for him to return from his retreat and re-enter paris on the th march following, for the powers, with england and prussia at their head, leagued against him and crushed him at waterloo; by this defeat he had forfeited the throne, and was compelled to abdicate, but unable to escape from france, delivered himself up to captain maitland of the _bellerophon_, and was shipped off to st. helena, where, after some six years of misery, he died th may , whence his body was disinterred and buried with great pomp under the dome of the church of st. louis, th december ; "he believed," says carlyle, "too much in the _dupeability_ of men, saw no fact deeper in man than hunger and thirst; he was mistaken; like a man that should build upon clouds, his house and he fell down a confused wreck, and departed out of the world"; the one article of his _faith_ being "the tools to him that can handle them" ( - ). napoleon, louis. see louis napoleon, also bonaparte. napoleon, victor, son of prince napoleon; claimed to be head of the house of bonaparte in , though his younger brother, prince louis, a colonel in the russian imperial guard, is preferred to him by many bonapartists; _b_. . napoleon d'or, a french gold coin worth francs, named after the emperor napoleon i. naraka, among the hindus and the buddhists the place of penal suffering after death. narcissus, a self-satisfied youth who disdained the addresses of echo, in consequence of which she pined away and died, and who, by way of penalty, was doomed to fall in love with his own image, which he kept beholding in the mirror of a fountain till he too pined away and died, his corpse being metamorphosed into the flower that bears his name. narrows, the, name given to the section of the st. lawrence river which extends between lake superior and lake huron. narses, a statesman and general of the old roman empire, rose from being a slave to be keeper of the imperial privy-purse; was successful against the goths, whom he drove out of rome; _d_. . narthex, a space in early churches railed off from the rest for catechumens and penitents. naseby, a village in northampton, where the royalists under charles i. and prince rupert were defeated, "shivered utterly to ruin," by the parliamentary forces under fairfax and cromwell in june , the "ironsides" bearing the brunt of the battle and winning the honours of the day. nash, john, english architect, born in london; besides designing plans for some of the chief streets in the city and the buildings in them, was the architect of buckingham palace and the pavilion at brighton ( - ). nash, richard, known as "beau nash," born at swansea; installed himself as master of the ceremonies at bath, and ruler of the assemblies of fashion in that resort; was a charitable man as well as gay; died in poverty, but was honoured with a public funeral ( - ). nash, thomas, english satirist, born at lowestoft, a cambridge university wit; wrote plays, as well as pamphlets, bearing on the marprelate controversy (q. v.) ( - ). nashville ( ), capital of tennessee, u.s., on the cumberland river, m. sw. of louisville; a suspension bridge and railway drawbridge joins it with edgefield suburb; it is an important railway and educational centre, the seat of the fisk, vanderbilt, and nashville universities, and is actively engaged in the manufacture of cotton, tobacco, flour, paper, oil, &c. nasmith, alexander, scottish landscape painter, born in edinburgh; did portraits also, and one of burns in particular, deemed the best likeness we have of the poet ( - ). nasmith, james, mechanician, son of the preceding, born in edinburgh; invented the steam-hammer and a steam pile-driver ( - ). nassau, till a duchy of germany, now included in the prussian province of hesse-nassau (q. v.). natal ( , of which are whites), british colony in se. africa, somewhat larger than denmark, fronts the indian ocean on the e., having a foreshore of m., between zululand on the n. and kaffraria on the s.; the dragensberg mountains form its western boundary; enjoys a fine salubrious climate, and possesses abundance of fertile land, watered by some inches of rainfall; along the coast the sugar-cane is largely cultivated, as also some tea, coffee, tobacco, &c., while all kinds of fruits flourish in its sub-tropical climate; the rising ground inland produces good cereals, and large numbers of sheep and cattle find excellent pasturage on the plains and mountain slopes on the w.; excellent coal is mined in large quantities, and iron and copper promise well; wool, sugar, hides, feathers, and ivory are the chief exports, and are shipped mainly at durban, the chief port; the colony now enjoys the advantages of good railways, schools, representative government, and a legal code based on old dutch law; pietermaritzburg (q. v.) is the capital; natal was discovered in by vasco da gama, and after being annexed to cape colony in , was declared, years later, a separate colony. nathan, a jewish prophet who had the courage to charge king david to his face with a heinous crime he had committed and convict him of his guilt, to his humiliation in the dust. nation of shopkeepers, napoleon bonaparte's contemptuous name for the english. national anthem, its authorship has been long matter of controversy, and it is uncertain to this day; it has been ascribed to h. carey and to dr. john bull. national convention, the revolutionary assembly of france, consisting of members chosen by universal suffrage, which on nd september supplanted the legislative assembly, proclaimed the republic, and condemned louis xvi. to the guillotine; in spite of its perplexities and internal discords, it was successful in suppressing the royalists in la vendée and the south, and repelling the rest of europe leagued against it, not only in arms, but in the field of diplomacy; it laid the foundation of several of the academic institutions of the country, which have since contributed to its glory as well as welfare, and collected them together in the world-famous institute; its work done, "weary of its own existence, and all men sensibly weary of it," it willingly deceased in an act of self-dissolution in favour of a directory of five on th october . national covenant. see covenant. national guard, the, a militia of citizens organised in the municipality of paris in , with lafayette as commandant, but suppressed in , and again suppressed in , after two revivals, in consequence of their taking part with the commune of the latter date. natural selection, name given by darwin to the survival of certain plants and animals that are fitted, and the decease contemporaneously of certain others that are not fitted, to a new environment. natural supernaturalism, carlyle's name in "sartor" for the supernatural found latent in the natural, and manifesting itself in it, or of the miraculous in the common and everyday course of things; name of a chapter which, says dr. stirling, "contains the very first word of a higher philosophy as yet spoken in great britain, the very first english word towards the restoration and rehabilitation of the dethroned upper powers"; recognition at bottom, as the hegelian philosophy teaches, and the life of christ certifies, of the finiting of the infinite in the transitory forms of space and time. naturalism, a philosophical term used to denote the resolution of the supernatural into the natural, and its obliteration; the reference of everything to merely natural laws, and the denial of all supernatural interference with them. nature worship, the worship of the forces of nature conceived of as personal deities. nausicaa, the daughter of alcinous, king of the phæacians, who gave welcome to ulysses when shipwrecked on the shore, and whom homer represents as, along with her maidens, washing the clothes of the hero and his companions. nauvoo, a village in illinois, on the mississippi, where the mormons first settled in , and from which they were expelled in . navarino, a bay on the sw. coast of the morea, the scene of the naval victory of the athenians over the spartans b.c., and of the annihilation of the turkish and egyptian navies by the combined fleets of england, france, and russia, under codrington, th october . navarre ( ), one of the provinces of spain, comprising by far the greater portion of the old kingdom of navarre, which lasted up to , the other part of which now forms french basses-pyrénées; the spanish province lies on the sw. border of france, is very varied in surface and climate; in the n. the people are chiefly basques, and are much more energetic than the southern spaniards; maize, wheat, and red wine are the chief products. nawab, a viceroy of a province in the mogul empire, applied also to a mohammedan chief in india, and, spelt nabob, to a man who has made his wealth in india. naxos ( ), an island of the cyclades, in the Ægean sea, famed for its marble, and exports salt and emery powder. nayler, james, a fanatical quaker in the time of the commonwealth, with a following as fanatical as himself, who escorted him through bristol on his release from prison after the manner of christ's entry into jerusalem; was very cruelly punished for blasphemy in fancying or seeming to fancy himself a new incarnation of christ. nazareth ( ), a town in a hollow of the hills on the n. of the plain of esdraëlon, m. n. of jerusalem and m. w. of the sea of galilee, celebrated over christendom as the home of the holy family. nazarites, among the jews people consecrated by a vow to some special religious service, generally for a definite period, but sometimes for life; during its continuance they were bound to abstain not merely from strong drink, but from all fruit of the vine, to wear their hair uncut, and forbidden to approach a dead body, long hair being the symbol of their consecration; the vow was sometimes made by their parents for them before their birth; the said vow is the symbolic assertion of the right of any and every man to consecrate himself, in disregard of every other claim, to any service which god may require of him. neagh, lough, the largest lake in the british isles, lies in the ne. of ireland, touching the borders of five counties, is m. long, and has an average breadth of m. and a greatest depth of ft. neal, daniel, nonconformist divine, born in london, and minister there; wrote a "history of the puritans" and a "history of new england" ( - ). neal, john mason, hynmologist, born in london; was a zealous and advanced high churchman, wrote a "history of the holy eastern church"; is best known for his hymns, translated and original ( - ). neander, johann august wilhelm, eminent church historian, born at göttingen, of jewish parents, his father's name mendel, which he changed into neander (new man) on his baptism at the age of ; studied theology under schleiermacher at halle, commenced his work as a teacher of theology in heidelberg in , but was two years after called to the chair of church history in berlin, a post he occupied with signal distinction till his death, his fame all along attracting to him students from every quarter of christendom; he was a devout believer in historical christianity, and had the profoundest insight into the christian faith, both in the root of it and the development of it in the life of the church; besides several monographs, he wrote the history of the church from its first starting through its after expansion, and a "life of christ" in answer to strauss, which for its apprehension of the spirit of christ and his teaching has never been surpassed, while in christian character he was, if ever man was, "without spot and blameless" ( - ). neath ( ), a borough and river port of glamorganshire, on the navigable neath, m. ne. of swansea; is an old town, and has interesting ruins of an abbey and of a castle (burned ); has prosperous copper, tin, iron, and chemical works. nebiim, the prophets of israel as an organised class, who first figure as guardians of the spiritual interests of the nation to the time of samuel, when it was threatened with extinction piecemeal at the hands of the philistines, and whose mission it was to recall the divided tribes to a sense of their unity as the chosen of jehovah, and to see that they were welded into one under a single king; they lived together in communities, appeared in companies, wore a distinctive dress, and were called the sons of the prophets; while they were performing and discharging their offices they were true to their calling, but when order was established they, as is usual in such cases, became more and more lax, until first elijah, and then another and another who were for most part not of the order, had, if they would be true to their own souls, to remind the nation of what its authorised teachers, in their unfaithfulness, were failing to do, and in consequence suffering god's cause to go to wreck. nebraska ( , ), one of the west central states of the american union, has dakota on its n. and kansas and colorado on the s., is ½ times the size of england; in the e. stretches of fertile land yield abundant crops of grain (maize chiefly), hemp, flax, sugar-beet, and tobacco, while in the w. rich prairie pastures favour a prosperous stock-raising; the platte, niobrarah, and republican rivers follow the eastward slope of the land; omaha and lincoln (capital) are the chief centres of the manufacturing industries; climate is dry and bracing; wolves, foxes, skunks, &c., abound, chiefly in the "bad lands" of the n.; nebraska was incorporated in the american union in . nebulÆ, name given to masses larger or smaller of misty light in the heavens caused by a group of stars too remote to be severally visible to the naked eye. nebular hypothesis, the theory that the sun and planets with their satellites in the solar system were originally one mass of nebulous matter which, gradually cooling and contracting, under violent revolution resolved itself into separate revolving orbs. necker, jacques, celebrated financier, born at geneva, banker in paris; married the accomplished susanne curchod, the rejected of gibbon, and became by her the father of mme. de staël; was a man of high repute for probity and business capacity; became in director-general of finance in france, tried hard and honestly, by borrowing and retrenchment, to restore the fallen public credit, but was after five years dismissed; was recalled in , but though the funds rose, and he contributed to their relief two million livres of his own money, was again dismissed, to be once more recalled, only to expose his inability to cope with the crisis and to be forced to retire ( - ). nectar, in the regard of the greeks the drink of the gods, which, along with ambrosia, their food, nourished the ichor, their blood, and kept them ever in the bloom of immortal youth; it was not permitted to mortals to drink of it. needle-gun, a breech-loading gun, the cartridge of which is exploded by a needle. negative, in photography a picture of an object in which the lights and shadows are reversed, so that the shady part appears white and the light in it appears dark. negativity, the name given in philosophy to the negative element determinative or definitive of things and all ideas of things, whereby a thing is this because it is not that, and is seen to be this because it is seen not to be that, an antagonism essential to all forms of being, spiritual as well as material, and to all definite and distinct thought. negritoes, spanish name for certain distinctive tribes of a diminutive race resembling negroes, occupying the central portions of some of the philippine islands, also known as aëtas or itas; sometimes loosely used to designate papuans and all the melanesian peoples of polynesia. negroes, the dark race of tropical africa, distinguished by their dark woolly hair, their black eyes, their flat noses, and their thick lips; they occupy rather a low level in the scale of humanity, and are lacking in those mental and moral qualities which have impressed the stamp of greatness on the other races that have distinguished themselves in the history of the world. nehemiah, a jew of the captivity, of royal degree and in high favour, being king's cup-bearer at the court of artaxerxes, the persian king; received a commission from the king to repair to jerusalem and restore the jewish worship, and ruled over it for years, till he saw the walls of the city amid much opposition restored; returned afterwards to superintend the reform of the worship, of which the book of the old testament named after him relates the story. nehushtan (a piece of brass), the name given in contempt to what was alleged to be the "serpent in the wilderness," which had become an object of worship among the jews, and was destroyed by king hezekiah among other idolatrous relics ( kings xviii. ). neilgherry hills, a bracing mountain district in south india, forming a triangular-shaped and somewhat isolated mass of elevated country, peaks of which attain an altitude of close upon ft.; grassy slopes alternate with thick masses of forest, amid which several small native wild tribes still dwell; ootacamund is the chief station of the many europeans who frequent the district as a health resort. nelson, , a prosperous manufacturing borough of lancashire ( ), ½ m. ne. of burnley. , capital of a district in the n. end of south island, new zealand ( ); has a busy harbour in blind bay, and manufactures cloth, leather, soap, &c. nelson, horatio, lord, great english admiral, born at burnham thorpe, norfolk; entered the navy as a midshipman in , and after voyages to the west indies, the arctic regions, and the east indies, was promoted to a lieutenancy in ; three years later he headed the expedition against san juan, was invalided home, and in acted under lord hood in american waters; in command of the _boreas_ on the leeward islands station, here he involved himself in trouble through his severe and arbitrary enforcement of the navigation act against american traders, and there also he met and married in the widow of dr. nesbit; returning home he lived for five years in retirement, but on the eve of the french revolutionary war he was again summoned to active service, and in command of the _agamemnon_, advanced his reputation by gallant conduct in the mediterranean operations of lord hood, losing his right eye during the storming of calvi, in corsica; conspicuous bravery at the engagement with the spaniards off cape st. vincent ( ) brought him promotion to the rank of rear-admiral; in the same year he lost his right arm at santa cruz, and in the following year, with an inferior force, annihilated the french fleet in the bay of aboukir, for which he was raised to the peerage as baron nelson, and created duke of bronte by the king of naples; at this time began his lifelong _liaison_ with lady hamilton (q. v.); involving himself in neapolitan affairs, he went beyond his commission in suppressing the rebel jacobins, and especially in executing their leader caracciolo; in he returned home, his never robust strength considerably impaired; as vice-admiral nominally under sir hugh parker, he in sailed for the baltic and inflicted a signal defeat on the danish fleet off copenhagen; for this he was made viscount and commander-in-chief; during the scare of a napoleonic invasion he kept a vigilant watch in the channel, and on the resumption of war he on october , , crowned his great career by a memorable victory off trafalgar over the french fleet commanded by villeneuve, but was himself mortally wounded at the very height of the battle ( - ). nemean games, one of the four great national festivals of greece, and celebrated every other year. nemean lion, a monstrous lion in nemea, a valley of argolis, which hercules slew by throttling it with his hands, clothing himself ever after with its skin. nemesis, in the greek imagination, the executioner of divine vengeance on evil-doers, conceived of as incarnated in the fear which precedes and the remorse which accompanies a guilty action. nennius, the reputed author of a chronicle of early british history, who appears to have lived not later perhaps than the th century. neology, the name given to the rationalist theology of germany or the rationalisation of the christian religion. neo-platonism, a system of philosophy that originated in alexandria at the beginning of the rd century, which resolved the absolute, or god, into the incarnation thereof in the logos, or reason of man, and which aimed at "demonstrating the graduated transition from the absolute object to the personality of man"; it was a concretion of european thought and oriental. nepal (about , ), an independent native state in north india, occupying a narrow mountainous territory along and including the southern slopes of the himalayas, which separate it from thibet; consists mainly of valleys and intervening mountain ridges, among which dwell various hill tribes, the dominant race being the hardy goorkhas (q. v.). nepenthe, an imaginary goddess, the allayer of pain and the soother of sorrows, or the impersonation of stern retributive justice. nepos, cornelius, roman historian, born at pavia; was a contemporary and friend of cicero; was the author of several historical works, no longer extant, and the one still extant ascribed to him, entitled "de viris illustribus," is believed to be an abridgment of an earlier work by him. neptune, the chief marine deity of the romans, and identified with the poseidon of the greeks, is represented with a trident in his hand as his sceptre. neptune, the remotest planet of the solar system at present known; it is twice as far distant from the sun as uranus (q. v.) is, deemed before its discovery the remotest; its diameter is four times greater than that of the earth, and it takes , days to revolve round the sun, accompanied by a solitary satellite; it was discovered in by adams (q. v.) and leverrier (q. v.), who were guided to the spot where they found it from the effect of its neighbourhood on the movements of uranus. nerbudda, or narbada, a sacred river of india; has its source in the amarkantak plateau of the deccan, and flows westward, a rapid body of greenish-blue water, through the great valley between the vindhya and satpura mountains, reaching the gulf of cambay after a course of m., the last of which are navigable. nereides, nymphs of the mediterranean sea, daughters of nereus, in number, and attendant on poseidon. nereus, the god of the mediterranean sea, the son of pontus and gaia, the husband of doris, and father of the nereides, represented as a sage, venerable old man. neri, st. philippo di, italian priest, born at florence, of noble family; founder of the congregation of the oratory; was known from his boyhood as the good pippo, and he spent his life in acts of devotion and charity ( - ). festival, may . nero, roman emperor from a.d. to , born at antium, son of cn. domitius ahenobarbus and of agrippina, daughter of germanicus; after the murder of claudius, instigated by agrippina, who years previously had become the emperor's wife, nero seized the throne, excluding britannicus, the rightful heir; during the first years of his reign his old tutors, seneca and burrus, were his advisers in a wise and temperate policy, but gradually his innate tendency to vice broke through all restraint, and hurried him into a course of profligacy and crime; britannicus was put to death, his mother and wife, octavia, were subsequent victims, and in numbers of christians suffered death, with every refinement of torture, on a trumped-up charge of having caused the great burning of rome, suspicion of which rested on nero himself; a year later seneca and the poet lucan were executed as conspirators, and, having kicked to death his wife poppæa, then far advanced in pregnancy, he offered his hand to octavia, daughter of claudius, and because she declined his suit ordered her death; these and many other similar crimes brought on inevitable rebellion; spain and gaul declared in favour of galba; the prætorian guards followed suit; nero fled from rome, and sought refuge in suicide ( - ). nerva, roman emperor from to , elected by the senate; ruled with moderation and justice; resigned in favour of trajan, as from age unable to cope with the turbulence of the prætorian guards. ness, loch, the second largest loch in scotland, stretches along the valley of glenmore, in inverness-shire, is ½ m. long, and has an average breadth of m. and an extreme depth of ft.: its main feeders are the morriston, oich, and foyers; the ness is its chief outlet. nesselrode, count von, celebrated russian diplomatist, born at lisbon, where his father was russian ambassador; represented russia at a succession of congresses, played a prominent part at them, and directed the foreign policy of the empire under alexander i. and nicholas i., from to , though he strove to avoid the war which broke out in ( - ). nessus, a centaur who, for attempting to carry off dejanira, hercules' wife, was shot by hercules with an arrow dipped in the blood of the hydra (q. v.), and who in dying handed to dejanira his mantle, dipped in his poisoned blood, as a charm to regain her husband's affections should he at any time prove unfaithful. see hercules. nessus' shirt, the poisoned robe which nessus gave dejanira, and which in a moment of distrust she gave to hercules. see nessus. nestor, king of pylos, a protégé and worshipper of poseidon, the oldest, most experienced, and wisest of the greek heroes at the siege of troy; belonged to the generation of the grandfathers of the rest of them. nestorius, a celebrated heresiarch, born in syria; was made patriarch of constantinople in , deposed for heresy by the council of ephesus , and banished to the lybian desert, where he died; the heresy he taught, called after him nestorianism, was that the two natures, the divine and the human, coexist in christ, but are not united, and he would not allow to the virgin mary the title that had been given to her as the "mother of god"; the orthodoxy of the church as against the doctrine was championed by cyril of alexandria. netherlands, a term formerly applied to the whole nw. corner of europe, occupied by belgium (q. v.) and holland, but now an official designation only of holland (q. v.). netley, the site of the handsome royal victoria hospital, on the shore of southampton water, m. se. of southampton, and connected by a direct line with portsmouth; founded in as an asylum for invalided soldiers, also the head-quarters of the female nurses of the army; in the vicinity also are interesting remains of a cistercian abbey. nettlerash or urticaria, an irritating eruption in the skin causing a sensation like the stinging of nettles. it may be acute or chronic, frequently caused by errors of diet. neuchÂtel ( ), a western canton of switzerland, lying between lake neuchâtel and france; the surface is diversified by the jura mountains, and plentifully supplied with small streams; the greater part of the inhabitants are french protestants; coal and iron are found, stock-raising and agriculture are engaged in, but the great specialty of the canton is watchmaking, which is chiefly carried on at la chaux-de-fonds and le locle; neuchâtel was incorporated in the swiss confederation in . neuchÂtel ( ), capital of the canton, has a fine situation on the nw. shore of the lake, m. ne. of geneva; has many educational, art, and charitable institutions, and is chiefly engaged in the manufacture of watches, jewellery, &c. lake of neuchÂtel is a beautiful sheet of water, m. in length, and from to in breadth. neustria, western portion of the kingdom of the franks in the time of the merovingian and carlovingian dynasties, and in constant rivalry with austrasia (q. v.), the kingdom of the east; it extended from the scheldt to the loire and soissons; paris, orleans, and tours were the chief towns. neuville, alphonse de, french painter of battle-scenes, born at st. omer; he was an illustrator of books, among others guizot's "histoire de france" ( - ). neva, a river of russia issuing from the sw. corner of lake ladoga, flows westward in a broad rapid current past st. petersburg, and discharges its great volume of water into the bay of cronstadt, in the gulf of finland, after a winding course of miles. nevada ( ), one of the western states of the american union, occupying a wide stretch of territory on the great plateau or basin, between the rocky mountains on the e. and the cascades and the sierra nevada on the w., has oregon and idaho on the n., and california on the s. and w.; elevated, cold, dry, and barren, it offers little inducement to settlers, and is in consequence the least in population of the american states; the great silver discoveries of brought it first into notice, and mining still remains the chief industry; virginia city and carson (capital) are the chief towns; was admitted to the union in . neville's cross, battle of, battle fought near durham between the scots and english in , in which the former were defeated and king david taken prisoner. nevis, ben. see ben nevis. new britain or neu-pommern, a large island in the german bismarck archipelago, west pacific, lying off the ne. coast of new guinea, from which it is separated by dampier strait; is m. long, with an average breadth of m.; is mountainous and volcanic in the interior, and thickly clad with forest trees; fruits of various kinds are the chief product; is inhabited by melanesian savages. new brunswick ( ), a se. province of canada, presents a long foreshore to the gulf of st. lawrence on the ne. and to the bay of fundy on the se., while directly e. lies nova scotia, to which it is joined by the isthmus of chignecto; the surface is diversified by numerous lakes, magnificent forests of pine and other woods, and the fertile valleys of the rivers st. john, restigouche, and miramichi; timber is the chief export, but only less valuable are its fisheries, while shipbuilding is also an important and growing industry; coal is mined in good quantities, and the chief towns, st. john, portland, and fredericton (capital) are busy centres of iron, textile, and other factories; the climate is subject to extremes of heat and cold, but is healthy; many of the inhabitants are of french origin, for new brunswick formed part of the old french colony of acadia. new caledonia ( ), an island of the south pacific belonging to france, the most southerly of the melanesian group, lying about m. e. of australia and nearly m. n. of new zealand; is mountainous, produces the usual tropical fruits, and exports some nickel, cobalt, coffee, &c.; is used by the french as a convict station; discovered by captain cook in and annexed by france in ; noumea ( ), on the sw., is the capital. new england, a name given in by captain john smith to the eastern and most densely populated portion of the united states, which now comprises maine, new hampshire, vermont, massachusetts, rhode island, and connecticut; was first colonised under the name of north virginia by the plymouth company in ; the inhabitants, known distinctively as yankees, are mostly of puritan and scotch descent, and are noted for their shrewdness and industry. new forest, a district in the sw. of hampshire, m. from n. to s. and m. wide, and consisting of , acres, of which , belong to the crown demesnes; one-fourth of the area consists of enclosed plantations, chiefly of oak and beech, the rest being open woodland, bog, and heath; lyndhurst is the principal town. new guinea, the largest island in the world (excluding the island continents of australia and greenland), lies n. of australia, from which it is divided by torres strait ( m. wide); is an irregular, mountainous, well-rivered territory, times the size of scotland, and is held by three european powers--the dutch ( ) in the western and least developed half; the german ( ); in the ne., kaiser wilhelm's land, administered by the german new guinea company, who export tobacco, areca, bamboo, ebony, &c.; and the british ( ), in the se., administered by the commonwealth of australia. successful encouragement has been given to colonisation, and good exports of gold pearl-shells, copra, &c., are made. much of the interior is still to explore, and is inhabited by papuans, negritoes, and other melanesian tribes, many of which are still in the cannibal stage, although others are peaceful and industrious. a hot moist climate gives rise to much endemic fever, but encourages a wonderful profusion of tropical growth, giving place in the highlands to the hardier oak and pine, and still higher to a purely alpine flora; as in australia, the animals are chiefly marsupials; the mountain ranges, which stretch in a more or less continuous line throughout the island, have peaks that touch an altitude of , ft. and send down many navigable streams. port moresby is the capital of the british portion. new hampshire ( ), the second most northerly of the new england states (q. v.), and from the beauty of its lake and mountain scenery called the "switzerland of america," lies n. and s. between quebec province and massachusetts, while the atlantic washes part of its eastern borders; is more engaged in manufactures than in agriculture, and obtains valuable water-power and waterway from its rivers, the piscataqua, merrimac, and connecticut; manchester, on the merrimac, is the largest city. new haven ( ), capital of new haven county, connecticut, and chief city and seaport of the state, at the head of new haven bay, m. from long island sound, and m. ne. of new york; is a finely built city, and, since , has been the seat of yale college; is an important manufacturing centre, producing rifles, iron-ware of all kinds, carriages, clocks, &c., was up till joint capital of the state with harford. new hebrides ( ), a group of some volcanic islands ( inhabited) in the western pacific, lying w. of the fiji islands and ne. of new caledonia; is nominally a possession of britain, and inhabited by cannibals of the melanesian race. missionary enterprise has had some effect in the southern islands; espiritu santo ( m. by ) is the largest. new holland. see australia. new jersey ( , ), one of the original states of the american union, faces the atlantic between new york state on the n. and delaware bay on the s., with pennsylvania on its western border; the well-watered and fertile central plains favour a prosperous fruit and agricultural industry, tracts of pine and cedar wood cover the sandy s., while the n., traversed by ranges of the appalachians, abounds in valuable forests of oak, hickory, chestnut, sassafras, &c.; minerals are plentiful, especially iron ores. new jersey is thickly populated, well provided with railway and water transit, and busily engaged in manufactures--e. g. glass, machinery, silk, sugar. newark (capital) and jersey city are by far the largest cities; was sold to penn in , and settled chiefly by immigrant quakers. new jerusalem church, a church consisting of the disciples of emanuel swedenborg, formed into a separate organisation for worship about . see swedenborgianism. new mexico ( ), an extensive territory embracing the sw. end of north america and the larger part of the great isthmus which unites the two americas; was in detached from mexico (q. v.), and constituted a part of the american union; consists mainly of elevated plateau, sloping to the s., and traversed by ranges of the rocky mountains; the precious metals are widely distributed, especially silver; good deposits of coal and copper are also found. in the broad river valleys excellent crops are raised, and stock-raising is an important industry. the territory is divided into counties; santa fé is the capital; a state university exists at albuquerque. new orleans ( ), the capital and largest city of louisiana, is beautifully situated on both sides of the mississippi, m. from its mouth, with a curved river-frontage of m.; is the second cotton port of the world, and the greatest sugar-market in the united states; is the chief trade emporium of the surrounding states, and the main outlet for the produce of the mississippi valley, which includes cotton, sugar, tobacco, wheat, and salt. new south wales ( , ), the "mother colony" of australia, fronts the pacific for m. on the e. between queensland (n.) and victoria (s.), is ½ times the size of great britain and ireland; mountain ranges (including the australian alps) running parallel with, and from to m. distant from, the coast, divide the narrow littoral plains from the great plains of the w. and the interior, and are the source of many large rivers (e. g. the darling) flowing e. and w.; the climate is warm and everywhere healthy; rain falls plentifully on the coast lands and mountains, but is scarce in the w. the mineral wealth of the colony is very great--gold and silver are found in large quantities, as also copper, tin, iron, &c., but coal is the most abundant and valuable mineral product. cereals, fruits, sugar, tobacco, &c., are cultivated, but in small quantities compared with the immense output of wool, the chief product of the country. sydney (q. v.) is the capital and chief port of the colony. government is vested in a crown appointed governor and two houses of parliament (triennial and paid). education is free and compulsory. established in , the colony was, up to , used as a settlement for transported criminals. in the great gold discoveries started the colony on its prosperous career. new york ( , ), the foremost state in the american union in population, wealth, commerce, and manufactures, the twenty-fifth in area, and is about the size of england; is triangular in shape, with a north-western base on lakes erie and ontario, and an eastern apex reaching the atlantic between connecticut (n.) and new jersey (s.). manhattan, staten, and long island are the most important of many islands belonging to the state. the land slopes from the mountainous e. to the shores of the great western lakes, and is pleasantly diversified with mountain, valley and plain, forest and river. the hudson, oswego, genesee, and niagara (with its famous waterfall) are the principal rivers, while the st. lawrence forms part of the northern boundary. one-half of the area is under cultivation; the vine flourishes, hops and tobacco are grown, and market-gardening prospers near the large cities; but manufacturing is the chief industry, and the transit of goods is greatly facilitated by the many waterways and network of railways. was finally occupied by the english in , after the expulsion of the dutch. new york city ( , ), but including brooklyn, jersey city, and other suburban places, nearly three millions, the premier city of the american continent, and third wealthiest in the world; occupies manhattan island ( ½ m. long) and several smaller islands at the terminal confluence of the hudson with east river, which opens into long island sound; m. s. of the city is sandy hook, where two ship channels cross the bar, and lead into the outer or lower bay, which in turn is joined by a strait to the magnificent harbour or inner bay; all approaches are strongly fortified; a suspension bridge spans east river, uniting the city with brooklyn; the rivers and the many wharves are crowded with shipping. the old town is a busy hive of industry, with its great centres of banking and mercantile enterprise--wall, new, and broad streets. the modern part of the city is a model of regularity, is traversed by great avenues m. in length and ft. wide, the finest being fifth avenue. the city hall and the court house are of white marble; the hotels are the largest in the world; astor library ( , vols.), academy of design, university, museums, art-galleries, and many other handsome buildings adorn the streets; carries on industries of almost every description. new zealand ( , of which are maories), a british island colony in the south pacific, lying wholly within the temperate zone, m. e. of australia; comprises north island ( , sq. m.), south or middle island ( , sq. m.), stewart island (much smaller), and a number of islets; total area considerably more than that of great britain. the two main islands, separated by cook strait, are in no part broader than m., and are traversed from end to end by a great and partly volcanic mountain chain, the range in south island being known as the southern alps (highest peak mount cook, , ft), and that in north island as the ruahine range and the tararua mountains; everywhere rivers abound, waikato (north island) and clutha (south island) being the largest; numerous lakes (lake taupo, six times the size of loch lomond), fertile valleys, and well-grassed plains, together with the mountains, make up a beautiful and diversified surface, which much resembles that of scotland, while the climate, temperate and healthy, is warmer and more equable than in great britain; almost all the animals have been imported, as well as the grains and fruits; great forests of indigenous kauri pines, however, exist; sheep-farming, agriculture, and mining (gold and coal) are the chief industries, wool being the chief export; auckland, the largest, and wellington, the capital, in north island, and dunedin and christchurch in south island, are the chief towns; government is vested in a crown-appointed governor, an executive ministry, and a parliament of two chambers; education is free, secular, and compulsory, but no state aid is given to any form of religion; discovered in by tasman, the islands were first surveyed by cook in ; their formal cession to the british crown took place in . newark ( ), city of u.s., new jersey, miles w. by new jersey city. it has extensive tanneries, and manufactories of hats, thread, and celluloid. newcastle-under-lyme ( ), a borough and old market-town of staffordshire, m. s. of manchester; is a well-built town, actively engaged in brewing, malting, and paper-making. newcastle-upon-tyne ( ), a city and county of itself, and chief town of northumberland; situated on the n. bank, and m. from the mouth, of the tyne, m. n. of london. the old town extends some two miles along the river bank, and with its crowded quays, narrow winding streets, and dingy warehouses, presents a striking contrast to the handsome modern portion, which stretches back on gently rising ground. the cathedral is an imposing and interesting architectural structure, while the public buildings are more than usually ornate. the colleges of medicine and of science are affiliated to durham university. there are several fine libraries, theatres, hospitals, and charitable institutions, and the city is especially well off in the matter of public parks and pleasure grounds. three bridges (including robert stephenson's famous high level bridge) span the river and connect newcastle with gateshead. it is the chief centre of the english coal trade, and is a busy hive of all kinds of metallic, chemical, machinery, and kindred works, which give rise to an immense and ever-increasing shipping trade. as a centre of shipbuilding the tyne is second only to the clyde. newcomen, thomas, blacksmith, born at dartmouth; invented a steam-engine in which the piston was raised by steam and driven down by the atmosphere after the injection into the cylinder of a squirt of cold water, which cooled it, so that the steam when injected did not raise the piston at once up. by james watt's invention of a separate condenser it was superseded, and employed afterwards principally for pumping water. the interruption in the movement between the descent and ascent of the piston made it worthless for such purposes as watt's invention is applied to; _d_. . newdigate, sir roger, born in warwickshire; represented oxford in parliament, and founded the newdigate prize for the best english poem by an undergraduate; the winners of it have since distinguished themselves, chiefly in letters ( - ). newfoundland ( ), the oldest island colony of britain, situated at the mouth of the gulf of st. lawrence, north america; is about one-eighth larger than ireland, and triangular in shape, the northern apex running close in to the coast of labrador; inland the country is bleak, sparsely populated, and ill cultivated; lakes and rivers abound; the deeply indented coast provides excellent harbourage for the large fishing fleets that frequent it; minerals are found, including coal, iron, lead, and copper; agriculture and timber-felling are on the increase, but the fisheries--cod, salmon, herring, and seal--form the staple industry; the climate is more temperate than in canada, although, subject to fogs; st. johns (q. v.) is the capital; discovered in by john cabot, seized by the english in , and finally ceded to britain by the french (who retained certain fishing rights) in ; newfoundland possesses a responsible government, consisting of a popularly elected assembly and a crown-appointed governor, and exercises political rights over the adjoining coast territory of labrador. newgate, a dark, gloomy prison in london, the original of which dates as far back as ; was two centuries afterwards rebuilt, and destroyed in the great fire of ; rebuilt in ; is now used only for prisoners awaiting trial during sessions, and as a place of execution. newman, john henry, cardinal, born in london, son of a banker; educated at ealing, studied at trinity college, oxford, and obtained a fellowship in oriel college in ; trained in evangelical beliefs, he gradually drifted into high-church notions, and becoming vicar of st. mary's, the university church of oxford, in , started the tractarian movement in , and, busy with his pen, wrote no fewer than of the celebrated "tracts for the times" in advocacy of high-church teaching, till tract xc., which he composed, overshot the mark, and he resigned his connection with the church of england, and was received into the catholic church on the th october ; shortly after this he visited rome, was ordained a priest, and after some stay there on his return became head of the birmingham oratory in , where he spent over of the years that remained of his life; the influence on church matters which he exercised as university preacher at oxford was very great, and made itself felt through the voluminous writings over the length and breadth of the church; on his secession he continued to employ his pen in defence of his position, particularly in one work, now widely known, entitled "apologia pro vita sua"; what he wrote was for the time he lived in, and none of it, except certain of his hymns, is likely to endure; the religion he fought for and vindicated was an externally authenticated one, whereas all true religion derives itself and its evidences solely and wholly from within, and is powerless and virtually nothing except in so far as it roots itself there ( - ). newman, francis william, born in london, brother of the preceding, with whom he was wholly out of sympathy, and at the opposite pole; he was a theist in his religious opinions, and wrote in defence of them his principal works, "the soul: her sorrows and aspirations," and "phases of faith" ( - ). newport, , capital of the isle of wight ( ), and near its centre; in its vicinity is carisbrooke castle, where charles i. was imprisoned. , the largest town in monmouth ( ), at the mouth of the usk, engaged in manufacture of various kinds, but chiefly as a port for the export of minerals, which is very large. , a town in rhode island, u.s., ( ), a fashionable watering-place, as well as a manufacturing; was for a time the residence of bishop berkeley. newstead abbey, an abbey near nottingham, founded by henry ii. by way of atonement for the murder of thomas à becket, which was given at the dissolution of the monasteries to an ancestor of lord byron, who lived in it and sold it, since which it has been restored. newton, sir isaac, illustrious natural philosopher, born in woolsthorpe, near grantham, in lincolnshire; entered trinity college, cambridge, in , where he applied himself specially to the study of mathematics, invented the method of fluxions (q. v.), and began to theorise on gravitation, graduating in , and becoming professor of mathematics in ; failing at first, from a mistaken measurement given of the earth's diameter, in his attempts to establish the theory referred to, he set himself to the construction of telescopes, and discovered the composition of light; shortly after this, hearing of a correction of the measurement required, he renewed his study of gravitation, and made his theory good in a series of papers communicated to the royal society, though it was not till , encouraged by halley, he gave the complete demonstration in his "principia" to the world; in he was made warden of the mint, and afterwards master, a post he held till his death; his works were numerous, and he wrote on prophecy as well as treatises on science ( - ). newton, john, english clergyman, born in london; after a wild youth was converted, entered the church, and became curate of olney, where he became acquainted with cowper, and had, owing to his severe calvinism, an influence over him not altogether for good, and was associated with the production of the "olney hymns"; wrote "cardiphonia" ( - ). newton, thomas, english divine; edited milton's "paradise lost" and "paradise regained," and notes, and wrote "dissertations on the prophecies" ( - ). ney, michel, peer and marshal of france, born at sarrelouis, son of a cooper; entered the army as a private hussar in ; distinguished himself by his bravery in the wars of the revolution and the empire, and earned for himself from the army under napoleon, and from napoleon himself, the title of the "brave of the braves"; on napoleon's abdication in he attached himself to louis xviii., but on his return from elba he joined ins old master, and stood by him during the hundred days; on the second restoration he was arrested, tried by his peers, and shot ( - ). ngami, lake, a shallow sheet of water m. long in s. africa, on the borders of the kalahari desert, which is always changing its margin, is at one time, from the rains, sweet and drinkable, and at another time, from drought, saline; it is infested with crocodiles, and swarms with fish. niagara, a section of the st. lawrence river, in n. america, extending between lakes erie and ontario, having a descent throughout its course of m. of ft., the falls, preceded and succeeded by rapids, being the largest in the world, the canadian or horse shoe fall being ft. wide, with a descent of ft., and the american fall being one-third of the width of the canadian, and with a descent of over ft. niam-niam, a people of the e. soudan, se. of darfur, occupying territory between the basins of the nile and the congo. nibelung, king of the nibelungen, a mythical burgundian tribe, the fabulous possessor of a hoard of wealth so inexhaustible that "twelve waggons in twelve days, at the rate of three journeys a day, could not carry it off," and which he bequeathed to his two sons on his deathbed, by the vanquishing of whom the hoard fell into the hands of the redoubtable hero siegfried. nibelungen lied (i. e. lay of the nibelungen), an old german epic, of date, it is presumed, earlier than the th century; it consists of two parts, the first ending with the murder of siegfried by hagen, his wresting of the hoard (see _supra_) from his widow, kriemhild, and burying it at the bottom of the rhine, and the second relating the vengeance of kriemhild and the annihilation of the whole burgundian race, kriemhild included, to whom the treasure had originally belonged; to the latter part the name of the nibelungen not (or distress) has been given. nicaragua ( , mostly mulattoes and negroes), the largest and richest of five republics occupying central america, stretches across the isthmus from the pacific to the caribbean sea, between honduras (n.) and costa rica (s.); the cordilleras traverse the heart of the country, and the immense valleys of the w. are remarkable for the two great southern lakes, nicaragua and managua, which are studded with volcanic islands; rich in gold, silver, copper, and coal, with vast forests of mahogany, rosewood, &c., splendid pastures and a fertile soil; the country has through misgovernment and a bad climate remained in a backward state; in recent times more has been done; hides, bananas, coffee, and india-rubber are the chief exports, and a considerable deal of mining goes on; the great ship-canal from the pacific to the caribbean, begun in by a u.s. company, is not yet completed; managua ( ) is the capital; asserted its independence from spain in , and has since been rent by countless revolutions; a president and a congress of administer its affairs. nice or nicÆa, an ancient city of bithynia, in asia minor, celebrated as the seat of two oecumenical councils of the church, the first, presided over by constantine in , which condemned arianism, and the second, under the empress irene in , which deliberated on image-worship. nice ( ), capital of the department alpes-maritimes, france, charmingly situated on the mediterranean coast near the italian border, terraced hills shelter it on the n., and its genial and equable climate make it a favourite winter resort for invalids; the paglione, a small stream, divides the old and modern portion; castle hill, with ruins and pleasure gardens, the cathedral, art-gallery, &c., are features of interest; olive-oil is the chief export, and artistic pottery, perfumery, &c., are manufactured. nicene creed, a creed established as orthodox at nice (q. v.), which affirmed as against arianism that christ as son of god was not merely of _like_ substance, but of the _same_ substance with the father. nicholas, the name of five popes: n. i., st., surnamed the great, pope from to , asserted the supremacy of the papal see, festival, nov. ; n. ii., pope from to ; n. iii., pope from to ; n. iv., pope from to ; n. v., pope from to , after the capture of constantinople by the turks, took the exiled greek scholars under his protection, fostered the learning of the east, and laid the foundation of the vatican library by the collection of over greek and latin mss. nicholas, st., the patron saint of boys, of sailors, of russia and aberdeen, as well as other towns; was bishop of myra, persecuted under diocletian; is generally represented in bishop's robes, and has either three purses or three children as his attributes; the three children and the three purses refer to one and the same story: st. nicholas, on learning that a father who had three daughters was tempted by extreme poverty to expose them to a life of dishonour, went by night and threw into the window of the house three bags of money which served as a marriage portion for each, and thus rescued them from a life of shame. nicholas i., czar of russia, born at st. petersburg, third son of paul i., ascended the throne in in succession to alexander i., his eldest brother; suppressed with rigour and not a little severity a formidable conspiracy which took form on his accession; took up arms against persia and wrested erivan from its sway, struggled against both the poles and the turks till his overbearing policy against the latter provoked a coalition of france, england, and sardinia to their defence in the crimean war, which was still going on when he died; in he aided austria in the suppression of the hungarian insurrection ( - ). nicholas ii., czar of russia, born in st. petersburg, son of alexander iii., and his successor in nov. ; was married on the month of his accession to princess alice of hesse-darmstadt and granddaughter of queen victoria through the princess alice, while his mother is a sister of the princess of wales; his education under his father was conducted expressly with a view to what might be required of him on his accession to the throne; his ministers are in sympathy with himself, and he has already ( ) distinguished himself by putting his finger on the sore which is festering at the heart and is sucking up as a vampire the life's blood of europe; _b_. may , . nicholson, john, an indian officer, born in dublin, son of a physician; served in the sikh wars, and at the outbreak of the mutiny in in the punjab crushed it in the bud; led the attack at the siege of delhi, sept. , but fell mortally wounded as the storming party were entering the cabul gate ( - ). nicobar islands ( ), a group of picturesque islands in the indian ocean, s. of the andaman islands and midway between ceylon and the malay peninsula; of the islands are inhabited, chiefly by indigenous indians and malays; after being in the hands of denmark for upwards of years, they were annexed by britain in ; trade is carried on with india in cocoa-nuts, ambergris, tortoise-shell, &c. nicolaitans, a sect of heretics that arose in the apostolic church, presumed to have been a party of professing christians of gentile descent, who, after their profession, continued to take part in the heathen festivals, and to have contributed to break down the distinction between the church and the world, so essential to the very existence of the faith they professed, founded, as it is, no less absolutely on no to the world than on yea to god. see everlasting no and everlasting yea. nicole, pierre, french divine and moralist, born at chartres, a port-royalist (q. v.), friend of arnauld and pascal; was along with the former author of the famous "port royal logic" ( - ). nicotine, a poisonous alkaloid extracted from the leaves of the tobacco plant, is a colourless, oily liquid, readily soluble in water, and has a pungent odour. niebuhr, barthold georg, distinguished historian, born at copenhagen, son of the succeeding; studied at kiel, and for a time at london and edinburgh; after various civil appointments in denmark, entered the civil service of prussia in ; on the establishment of the university of berlin in gave in connection with it a course of lectures on roman history, by which he established his reputation as a historian, several of the conclusions of which he afterwards confirmed during his residence as ambassador at the papal court at rome from to ; the revolution of the three days of july in paris threatening, as he thought, a recurrence of the horrors of the first, gave him such a shock that he sickened of it and died; by his treatment of the history of rome he introduced a new era in the treatment of history generally, which consisted in expiscating all the fabulous from the story and working on the residuum of authenticated fact, without, however, as would appear, taking due account of the influence of the faith of the people on the fable, and the effect of the latter on the life and destiny of the nation whose history it was his purpose to relate ( - ). niebuhr, karsten, a celebrated traveller, born in hanover; joined a danish expedition in exploration of arabia, and alone of the members of it returned home, which he did by way of persia, palestine, and cyprus, and wrote an account of the results of his researches ( - ). niel, adolphe, french marshal, born at muret; entered the engineers , served in the algerine war in , before rome in , at bomarsund in , at sebastopol in , as well as at magenta and solferino, and finally became minister of war ( - ). niepee, joseph nicÉphore, french chemist, born at châlons-sur-saône; inventor of photography, the method of effecting which he achieved after long brooding in , and afterwards communicated to daguerre, with whom he entered into partnership, and who made it known after his death ( - ). niflheim or misthome, in the norse mythology the primeval northern region of cold and darkness, in contrast with muspelheim, or brighthome, the primeval southern region of warmth and light, the two poles, as it were, of the norse world. niger, a great river of western africa, whose head-waters rise amid the kong mountains behind sierra leone; flowing ne. as far as timbuctoo ( m. from the river), it there bends gradually southward, receives from the e. its great affluent the benuë, and about m. from the coast begins to form a wide forest and jungle-covered delta (larger than that of the nile), and finally flows into the gulf of guinea by mouths after a course of some m. forms, with the benuë, an invaluable highway into the heart of the country; its upper and middle parts, under the names joliba, &c., are within the french sphere, and the lower portion below say is under english authority. nightingale, florence, a famous philanthropic nurse, born at florence, of wealthy english parentage; at the age of entered the institution of protestant deaconesses at kaiserswerth to be trained as a nurse, and afterwards studied the methods of nursing and hospital management with the sisters of st. vincent de paul, paris; after thoroughly reorganising harley street hospital, london, she in volunteered to organise a staff of nurses to tend the wounded soldiers in the crimea; arriving at scutari on the eve of inkermann she, during the terrible winter of - , ministered with unwearied devotion to the suffering soldiers; on her return in she, with public support, established a training college for nurses at st. thomas's and at king's college hospital; she is author of "notes on nursing," "notes on hospitals," &c.; _b_. in . nihilism, the principles of a movement on the part of the educated classes in russia which repudiates the existing creed and organisation of society, and insists on a root and branch wholesale abolition of them and a reconstruction of them on communistic principles, and for the purely secular and everyday ends of common life, subordinating everything in the first place to the feeding, clothing, and lodging of human beings in a manner worthy of their rank in the scale of being. the term nihilism is also applied to those philosophical systems which sweep the course clear of all incredibilities and irrationalities, but leave us bare of all our inherited spiritual possessions. nijni-novgorod ( ), capital of a russian government of the same name, situated at the confluence of the oka with the volga, m. e. of moscow, is the seat of peter-paul's fair, the greatest in the world, which lasts from july to september, attracting merchants from asia and europe, and during which the population of the town swells to six or seven times its normal dimensions; as much as £ , , worth of goods are said to be sold during the fair. nile, the longest river of africa, and one of the most noted in the world's history; the shimiyu, isanga, and other streams which flow into victoria nyanza from the s. are regarded as its ultimate head-waters; from victoria nyanza, the victoria nile or somerset river holds a north-westerly course to albert nyanza, whence it issues under the name of the bahr-el-jebel, swelled by the waters of the semliki from albert edward nyanza; about m. n. it is joined by the bahr-el-ghazal from the w., and bending to the e., now under the name white nile, receives on that side the sobat, and as a sluggish navigable stream flows past fashoda on to khartoum, where it is met by the bahr-al-azrak or blue nile; m. lower it receives the atbara or black nile. through egypt the river's course is confined to a valley some m. broad, which owes its great fertility to the alluvial deposits left by the river during it annual overflow (july to october, caused by seasonal rains in abyssinia, &c.). from khartoum to assouan occur the cataracts; below this the stream is navigable. a few miles n. of cairo begins the delta which lies within the rosetta and damietta--two main branches of the divided river--and is some m. broad at its base. from victoria nyanza to the coast the river measures about m. nilsson, christine, an operatic singer, born in sweden, daughter of a peasant, and one of the foremost sopranos of her day; distinguished for her dramatic talent no less than by her powers as a vocalist ( - ). nimeguen ( ), an interesting old dutch town in guelderland, on the waal, m. e. of rotterdam; has a fine th-century gothic church and other notable buildings; its prosperous manufactures include tobacco, perfume, beer, &c.; here, in - , france effected famous peace treaties with holland, spain, and austria. nÎmes or nismes ( ), capital of the department of gard, s. of france, lies surrounded by the cévennes in the fertile valley of the vistre, m. e. of montpellier; has unique roman remains, including an imposing amphitheatre, now used as a bull-arena, the noble corinthian "maison carrée," a mausoleum, baths, &c.; textiles (silk, cotton, &c.), wines, and brandy are the chief articles of manufacture; it declared for the reformation in , and suffered cruelly on the revocation of the edict of nantes. nimrod, an early king of assyria or babylonia, characterised in scripture (gen. x. ) as "a mighty hunter before the lord"; a name now applied to a distinguished hunter. nineveh, an exceeding great city, capital of ancient assyria, which stood on the left bank of the tigris, opposite the modern town of mosul, said to have been included within a wall m. long, ft. high, the breadth of three chariots in width, and defended by towers each ft. in height. ninian st., early apostle of christianity to the southern picts of scotland, born on the shores of the solway, of noble descent; went to rome, was consecrated by the pope, visited st. martin at tours on his way back; had founded a church at whithorn, wigtownshire, which he dedicated to the latter on his return, where he died, "perfect in life and full of years," in . ninus, a legendary king of assyria, a celebrated conqueror, to whom tradition assigns the founding of nineveh. niobe, in the greek mythology the daughter of tantalus, and wife of amphion, king of thebes, to whom she bore six sons and six daughters, in her pride of whom she rated herself above leto, who had given birth to only two children, apollo and artemis, whereupon they, indignant at this insult to their mother, gave themselves for nine days to the slaughter of niobe's offspring, and on the tenth the gods buried them; niobe, in her grief, retired to mount sipylos, in lydia, where her body became cold and rigid as stone, but not her tears, which, ever as the summer months returned, burst forth anew. nirvÂna, the name given to the consummation of bliss in the hindu, but especially the buddhist, religions, synonymous with extinction, which in the hindu creed means the extinction of individuality by absorption in the divine being, and in buddhism, not, as some presume, the extinction of existence, but the extinction of agitation of mind through the crucifixion of all passion and desire, the attainment of self-centred, self-sufficient quiescence of being, or rest and peace of soul. nisus, a trojan youth who accompanied Æneas into italy, and whose friendship for euryulus is so pathetically immortalised by virgil in the ninth book of the "Æneid." nithsdale, william maxwell, earl of, a noted catholic, who took part in the jacobite rising of , was captured at preston, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to death; the night before the day appointed for his execution ( th february ) he effected an escape from the tower by exchanging clothes with his daring and devoted countess, who had been admitted to his room; he fled to rome, where he lived in happiness with his wife until her death ( - ). nitrogen, a gaseous element which constitutes one-fourth in volume of the atmosphere, is the basis of nitric acid, and is an essential constituent of proteids, alkaloids, and albuminoids. nitzsch, karl ludwig, german theologian, born at borna; became professor at bonn, saxony, in , whence in he was removed to succeed marheineke at berlin; was of the schleiermacher school of theologians, and author, among other works, of a "system der christlichen lehre" and "practische theologie," the former an able work, but most vilely translated into english, and the latter in evidence of the importance the author attached to the ethical element in the christian religion ( - ). nixie, in german folk-lore a water-sprite of a mischievous disposition, believed to have been suggested to the imagination by the reflection of the stars in the water. nizam, the name given to a viceroy or administrator of justice in the mogul empire of india. nizam's dominions, the, or hyderabad ( , ), in the heart of the deccan, situated between the central provinces and the presidency of madras; it is highly fertile, and the largest of the native states in india. see hyderabad. noah, the patriarch of scripture antiquity who, by the command of god, constructed an ark for the preservation of the human race and the dry-land animals during the prevalence of the deluge that would otherwise have swept all these forms of life away. noailles, the name of an old french family, several members of which distinguished themselves in the service of both church and state: anne jules n., marshal of france, celebrated for his cruelties against the huguenots ( - ); louis antoine de, his brother, archbishop of paris, who was made cardinal ( - ); louis marie, vicomte de, deputy to the states-general, who took part for a time in the revolution ( - ). noakes, john o', a fictitious name for a litigious person, used by lawyers in actions of ejectment. noble, a gold coin first minted by edward iii., formerly current in the country; worth s. d., and ultimately s., when the value of the gold increased. nocturne, picture of a night scene; also a musical piece appropriate to the night. nodes, name given to the two points in the orbit of a planet where it crosses or intersects the ecliptic, called ascending when it goes n., and descending when it goes s. nodier, charles, able french littérateur, born at besançon; a man of great literary activity and some considerable literary influence; author of charming stories and fairy tales; "did everything well," says professor saintsbury, "but perhaps nothing supremely well" ( - ). nollekens, joseph, sculptor, born in london, son of an antwerp painter; studied in rome; his _forte_ lay in busts, of which he modelled a great many, including busts of garrick, sterne, dr. johnson, pitt, and fox, and realised thereby a large fortune; he was a man of no education; his principal work is "venus with the sandal" ( - ). nominalism, the name given to the theory of those among the scholastics who maintained that general notions, which we denote by general terms, are only names, empty conceptions without reality, that there was no such thing as pure thought, only conception and sensuous perception, whereas realists, after plato, held by the objective reality of universals. and, indeed, it is not as modern philosophy affirms, in the particular or the individual, in which alone, according to the nominalists, reality resides, but in the universal, in regard to which the particular is nothing if it does not refer. nonconformists, a name originally applied to the clergy of the established church of england, some two thousand, who in resigned their livings rather than submit to the terms of the act of uniformity passed on the th of august that year, and now applied to the whole dissenting body in england. nones, in the roman calendar the ninth day before the ides (q. v.), being the th of march, may, july, and october, and the th of the rest. nonjurors, a name given to that section of the episcopal party in england who, having sworn fealty to james ii., refused to take the oath of allegiance to william iii., six of whom among the bishops for their obstinacy were deprived of their sees. no-popery riots, name given principally to riots in london in june , due to the zeal of lord george gordon (q. v.), ending in the death of near persons. nordenskiÖld, erik, a swedish naturalist, born in helsingfors; after several successive voyages and explorations in the arctic sea, in which he paid frequent visits to spitzbergen, where he measured an arc of the meridian, in - discovered the north-east passage by traversing, along the n. shores of europe and asia, the whole arctic sea from the atlantic to the pacific; has written accounts of his expeditions; _b_. . nordkyn (i. e. north chin), the most northerly point in norway, and of the continent of europe generally. nore, mutiny at the, a mutiny in the fleet stationed at the nore, an anchorage off sheerness, in the thames, which broke out on may , , and was not suppressed till june , for which the ringleaders were tried and hanged. norfolk ( ), an eastern maritime county of england, lies n. of suffolk, and presents a long eastern and northern foreshore ( m.) to the german ocean; the wash lies on the nw. border; light fertile soils, and an undulating, well-watered surface favour an extensive and highly developed agriculture, of which fruit-growing and market-gardening are special features; rabbits and game abound in the great woods and sand-dunes; the chief rivers are the ouse, bure, and yare, and these and other streams form in their courses a remarkable series of inland lakes known as the broads (q. v.); its antiquities of roman and saxon times are many and peculiarly interesting. norfolk island, a small precipitous island in the western pacific, midway between new caledonia and new zealand, m. nw. of the latter; its inhabitants, many of whom came from pitcairn island, and now less than , govern themselves under the superintendence of new south wales. norman, henry, journalist and traveller, born at leicester; travelled extensively in the east; has written on "the peoples and politics of the far east," and "round the near east"; has since been on the staff of the _daily chronicle_. norman architecture, a massive architecture introduced into england, particularly in the construction of churches, abbeys, &c., by the normans even before the conquest, which was in vogue in the country till the end of henry ii.'s reign, and which is characterised by the prevalence of the rounded arch. normandy, an ancient province of france, fronting the english channel, ne. of brittany; received its name from the northmen who, under rollo, established themselves there in the th century; was for a long time an appanage of the english crown after the norman conquest; after being taken and retaken, was finally lost to england in ; it became practically a part of france when it was taken by philip augustus in ; it is now represented by the five departments seine-inférieure, eure, orne, calvados, and manche. nornas, in the norse mythology the three fates--the past, the present, and the future; maidens or dames who water the roots of iggdrasil (q. v.), the ash-tree of existence, and determine the destinies of both gods and men. norrkÖping ( ) (north market), a town in sweden, called the "scandinavian manchester," m. sw. of stockholm, with cotton and woollen factories worked by the water-power of the river motala, that in falls and rapids rushes through the town. norroy king of arms, a name given to the third king-of-arms, whose province is on the n. side of the trent, the one on the s. side being called clarencieux. north, christopher, a pseudonym of prof. john wilson in the "noctes ambrosianæ" in _blackwood's magazine_. north, frederick, lord, english statesman; entered parliament in , became tory leader in the house of commons in , and prime minister in ; was entirely subservient to the will of the king, george iii., and was responsible in that relation for the loss of the american colonies; a coalition was effected in between him and fox, to the disgrace of the latter, but it terminated in a few months; he died, earl of guildford, blind ( - ). north berwick. see berwick, north. north cape, the most northerly point in europe, in the island of magerö, in ° n. latitude. north carolina. see carolina, north. north sea or german ocean, between the e. coast of britain and the continent, spreads out into the arctic ocean, is shallow, is crossed by many sandbanks, and is subject to frequent violent storms; the dogger bank, between england and denmark, to fathoms deep, is rich in fish, especially cod. north-east and north-west passages, the name given to the sea-routes through the arctic ocean, the former by the n. of europe and asia and the latter by the n. of north america, which the northern nations were ambitious to open up into the pacific, the access to which by the capes in the s. was in possession of the fleets of spain and portugal; the attempts to achieve it cost much money and much life, and realised no permanent material advantage. north-west passage. see north-east. north-west provinces ( , ), a province and lieutenant-governorship of british india, embraces the upper portion of the ganges valley and doab, and reaches from bengal to the punjab, enclosing oudh on all sides but the n.; area twice that of england, is the chief wheat province, and also raises opium, cotton, tea, and sugar; was separated from bengal in , and with it in was conjoined oudh; allahabad is the capital. northallerton ( ), a market-town and capital of the north riding of yorkshire, m. nw. of york; in the vicinity was fought the famous battle of the standard, in which david i. of scotland was routed by the english, august , . northampton ( ), capital of northamptonshire, on the nen, m. nw. of london; has two fine old norman churches, is the centre of the boot and shoe manufacture, and is actively engaged in brewing, lace-making, &c.; in the outskirts is a popular racecourse; was the scene of henry vi.'s defeat by the yorkists on july , . northamptonshire or northants ( ), a midland county of england, bordering upon nine others; has an undulating fertile surface, and is distinguished from the surrounding counties by extensive woods and plantations; is chiefly engaged in agriculture and stock-raising; the nen and the welland are the principal rivers; among its antiquities are fotheringay castle, where mary stuart was beheaded, and burleigh house; the battles of edgecote ( ) and naseby ( ) were fought within its borders. northcote, james, english portrait-painter; studied under sir joshua reynolds, whose life he wrote as well as titian's; wrote also "fables" and "conversations." northcote, sir stafford henry. see iddesleigh, lord. northmen or norsemen, the name given in the middle ages to the sea-roving, adventure-loving inhabitants of norway, sweden, and denmark; in their sea-rovings they were little better than pirates, but they had this excuse, their home was narrow and their lands barren, and it was a necessity for them to sally forth and see what they could plunder and carry away in richer lands; they were men of great daring, their early religion definable as the consecration of valour, and they were the terror of the quieter nations whose lands they invaded; at first their invasions were mere raids for plunder, but at length they were satisfied with no less than conquest and the permanent occupancy of the lands they subdued, settling some of them on the shores of england and france, and even in the s. of italy; these invasions were common and frequent during the whole of the th and the early part of the th centuries. northumberland ( ), the most northerly county of england, lies on the border of scotland, from which it is separated by the cheviots and the tweed; its eastern shore, off which lie the farne islands, lindisfarne, and coquet isle, n. of durham, fronts the north sea; is fifth in size of the english counties; in the n. the cheviot slopes form excellent pasturage, but the pennine range towards the w. presents dreary and less valuable moorland; on the w. are arable lowlands; tweed, tyne, till, alne, wansbeck, are the chief rivers. its great coal-field in the s.e. is the most celebrated in the world, and is the county's greatest source of wealth, and includes upwards of collieries; newcastle, alnwick (county town), hexham, and north shields are the principal towns. within its borders were fought the battles of otterburn, homildon hill, and flodden. northumbria, one of the ancient english kingdoms; comprised the eastern half of the island from the humber to the firth of forth, and was divided into the northern bernicia and the southern deira; was founded in by ida the angle. northwich ( ), a town in cheshire, with springs in and around of brine, from which salt has been procured for centuries. norton, charles edward, american littérateur, born in cambridge, massachusetts; has travelled a good deal in europe; edited, with lowell, the _north american review_ and the early letters of carlyle, as well as the "reminiscences," which had been too carelessly edited by froude; _b_. . norton, mrs., english novelist and poet, _née_ sheridan, granddaughter of sheridan, authoress of "stuart of dunleath," "lost and saved," &c., described by lockhart as "the byron of poetesses," figures in meredith's "diana of the crossways" ( - ). norway ( , ), a kingdom of north europe, comprising the western side of the scandinavian peninsula, and separated from sweden on the e. by the kjölen mountains; the arctic and atlantic oceans beat upon its long and serrated western seaboard, forcing a way up the many narrow and sinuous fiords; sogne fiord, the longest, runs into the heart of the country m.; off the northern coast lie the loffodens, while the skerries skirt the e. the country forms a strip of irregular and mountainous coast-land m. long, which narrows down at its least breadth to m.; per cent, of the surface is uncultivable, and per cent, is forest; the lakes number , , of which lake wenner ( sq. m.) is the largest; immense glaciers are found in the great mountain barrier, and innumerable rivers run short and rapid courses to the atlantic and to the skager-rak in the s.; the glommen, flowing into christiania fiord, is the largest ( m.). the climate of the w. coast districts is tempered by the gulf stream; inland there is a great decrease in the rainfall, but much intenser cold is experienced. the wealth of the country lies in its forests and fisheries, mines and shipping; only per cent, of the land-surface is under cultivation, and . per cent is utilised for grazing; the copper, iron, and silver mines are declining. christiania (the capital) is the centre of the industrial area; the shipping almost equals that of the united states, and ranks third in the world. the norwegians are intensely democratic (titles and nobility were abolished in ), and although under a king, who also includes sweden in his dominions, they enjoy democratic home rule, no members of the storthing (parliament) being paid. education is free and compulsory, and the bulk of the people are lutherans. the monetary unit is the _krone_ (= / ½). norway, originally inhabited by lapps and gothic tribes, was first unified by harold haarfager (a.d. - ), and subsequently welded into a christian kingdom by his descendant st. olaf ( ). from it was held as a conquered province by denmark up to ; in that year it was ceded to sweden, and received national rights and a free constitution. norwich, , an ancient cathedral city and capital of norfolk ( ), situated on the wensum, immediately above its junction with the yare, m. ne. of london; its beautiful woodland surroundings have won it the name of "the city in an orchard"; chief of its many fine buildings is the cathedral, a handsome norman structure, founded in ; of the old norman castle only the keep now stands, crowning a central hill; its celebrated triennial musical festivals began in ; textile fabrics are still an important manufacture, but have been superseded in importance by mustard, starch, and iron-ware factories; has been a bishopric since . , capital of new london county ( ), connecticut, on the thames river, m. se. of hartford. norwood ( ), a healthy southern suburban district of london, at one time the locality of a gypsy encampment. nostradamus, a celebrated astrologer, the assumed name of michel de notredame, born at st. remi, provence; was a medical man by profession, but gave himself to divination, uttered in rhymes in a series of published predictions called "centuries" ( - ). notables, the, name given to certain actual or virtual rulers of the different districts of france, consisting of men of different ranks, summoned together in a time of civic perplexity and trouble to advise the king, and especially the convocation of them summoned at the instance of controller colonne, and that assembled at the château of versailles on nd february to the number of a "round gross," including seven princes of the blood, and who were "organed out" nine weeks after, their debates proving ineffectual, to be recalled on the th november the year following, to "vanish ineffectual again on th december, and return no more." notary public, a professional person appointed to certify to a formality required by law as observed in his presence. notre dame, celebrated metropolitan church of paris, situated on the "ile de la cité"; it was begun to be erected in on the site of a prior merovingian cathedral, which itself had superseded a pagan temple on the spot, and completed, at least the general ensemble of it, in . nottingham ( ), capital of nottinghamshire, on the trent, m. nw. of london; is a spacious and well-built town, with an arboretum, castle (now an art gallery), two theatres, university college, free library, old grammar-school, racecourse, &c.; is the centre of lace-making and hosiery in england, and manufactures cottons, silks, bicycles, cigars, needles, beer, &c.; a fine granite and iron bridge spans the river. nottinghamshire ( ), a north-midland county of england, lies wedged in between lincoln (e.) and derby (n.), and touches york on the n.; embraces the broad, level, and fruitful valley of the trent, sherwood forest, and wolds in the s.; excepting the vale of belvoir in the e., part of the wolds and the valley of the trent, the land is not specially productive; coal and iron ore are found. the principal towns, nottingham, newark, mansfield, &c., are busily engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of lace, hosiery, and various woollen goods; iron-founding and cotton mills are also numerous. noumena, the philosophical name for realities as distinct from phenomena, which are regarded as but the appearances of reality. nova scotia ( ), a province of canada, lies e. of new brunswick, facing the atlantic, which, with its extensions, bay of fundy and gulf of st. lawrence, all but surrounds it; consists of a peninsula (joined to new brunswick by chignecto isthmus) and the island of cape breton, separated by the gut of canso; area equals two-thirds of scotland, short rivers and lakes abound; all kinds of cereals (except wheat and root-crops) are grown in abundance, and much attention is given to the valuable crops of apples, pears, plums, and other fruits; gold, coal, iron, &c., are wrought extensively, manufactures are increasing; the fisheries (mackerel, cod, herring, salmon, &c.), and timber forests are the chief sources of wealth; the province is well opened up by railways, education is free, government is in the hands of a lieutenant-governor, an executive council ( ), and a legislative assembly ( ); halifax (q. v.) is the capital; climate varies in temperature from ° below zero to ° in the shade, fogs prevail in the coast-land; was discovered in by cabot, formed a portion of french acadie, and finally became british in . nova zembla, a long and narrow island (sometimes classified as two islands) in the arctic ocean, between the kara sea and barentz sea, m. by m.; the matochkin shar, a narrow winding strait, cuts the island into two halves; belongs to russia, but is not permanently inhabited; is visited by seamen and hunters. novalis, the _nom de plume_ of friedrich von hardenberg, a german author, born at wiederstädt, near mansfeld, one of the most prominent representatives of the romantic school of poets, author of two unfinished romances entitled "heinrich von ofterdingen" and "lehrlinge zu sais," together with "geistliche lieder" and "hymnen an die nacht"; was an ardent student of jacob boehme (q. v.), and wrote in a mystical vein, and was at heart a mystic of deep true feeling; pronounced by carlyle "an anti-mechanist--a deep man, the most perfect of modern spirit seers"; regarded, he says, "religion as a social thing, and as impossible without a church" ( - ). see carlyle's "miscellanies." novatian, a priest of the church in rome, a convert from paganism, who in the third century took a severe view of the conduct of those who had lapsed under persecution, particularly the decian, and insisted that the church, having no power to absolve them, could not, even on penitence, readmit them, in which protest he was joined by a considerable party named after him novatians, and who continued to trouble the church for centuries after his death, assuming the name of cathari or purists. november, the eleventh month of the year, so called by the romans, in whose calendar it was the ninth. novgorod ( ), a noted russian city, and capital of a government of the same name, is situated on the volkhof, m. se. of st. petersburg; is divided into two parts by the bridged river, contains the cathedral of st. sophia ( th century); with its foundation in by rurik, a scandinavian prince, russian history begins; was by the th century a free state, but in was put down by the muscovite czar ivan iii.; the government of novgorod ( , ) lies e. of st. petersburg, embraces the valdai plateau and hills, is chiefly forest land, and includes some lakes. nox, the latin for "night," and the name of the "goddess of night." see nyx. noyades, drownages superintended during the reign of terror at nantes by the attorney carrier, and effected by cramming some priests in a flat-bottomed craft under hatches, and drowning them in mid-stream after scuttling the boat at a signal given, followed by another in which some persons suffered like "sentence of deportation"; of these drownages there are said to have been no fewer first and last than . nubia, a large and ill-defined region of north-east africa, lies between egypt (n.) and abyssinia (s.), and stretches from the red sea (e.) to the desert (w.); is divided into lower and upper nubia, dongola being the dividing point; nubia has in recent times rather fallen under the wider designation of egyptian soudan; except by the banks of the nile the country is bare and arid desert; climate is hot and dry, but quite healthy. numa pompilius, the second king of rome and the successor of romulus, its founder, born at cures, in the sabine country, and devoted himself to the establishment of religion and laws among his subjects and the training of them in the arts of peace, in which, according to the legend, he was assisted by a nymph egeria (q. v.), who lived close by in a grotto, and to whom he had ever and anon recourse for consultation; he was long revered in the roman memory as the organiser of the state and its civil and sacred institutions, and his reign was long and peaceful. numantia, an ancient spanish town on a steep height on the douro, celebrated for the heroic defence maintained by its inhabitants against the romans, till from the thinning of its defenders by starvation and the sword it was taken and destroyed by scipio africanus in b.c. numbers, book of, the fourth book of the pentateuch, and so called from the two numberings of the people, one at the beginning and the other at the close of the period it embraces; it embraces a period of years, and continues the narrative from the departure of the camp of israel out of the wilderness of sinai to its arrival on the borders of canaan, and relates an account of the preparations for the march, of the march itself, and of the preparations for the conquest. numidia (i. e. land of nomads), ancient country in north africa, nearly co-extensive with algiers, the inhabitants of which were of the berber race, were brave but treacherous, and excelled in horsemanship; sided at first with the carthaginians in the punic wars (q. v.), and finally with rome, till the country itself was reduced by cæsar to a roman province. numismatics, the name given to the study and science of coins and medals. numitor, a legendary king of alba longa, in italy, and the grandfather of romulus and remus. nuneaton ( ), a thriving market-town of warwickshire, on the river anker and the coventry canal, m. e. of birmingham; has a gothic church; cotton, woollen, and worsted spinning is the chief industry; was the scene of george eliot's education. nur ed-din, mahmoud, sultan of syria, born at damascus; the extension of his empire over syria led to the second crusade, preached by st. bernard; compelled the crusaders to raise the siege of damascus, which he made his capital; called to interfere in the affairs of egypt, he conquered it, and made it his own, a sovereignty which saladin (q. v.) disputed, and which nur ed-din was preparing to reassert when he died ( - ). nÜremberg ( ), an interesting old bavarian town on the pegnitz, m. n. of münich, is full of quaint and picturesque mediæval architecture in fine preservation; has valuable art collections, a fine library, and a museum; is noted for the production of watches, toys, wood, metal, bone carvings, beer, and chemicals, and exports large quantities of hops; was made a free imperial city in , and retained independence up to . nutation, name given to a slight oscillatory movement noticeable in the celestial pole of the earth, due to the latter not being a perfect sphere. nyanza, albert. see albert nyanza. nyanza, victoria, a large lake of central africa, in the nile basin, at the sources of the river, and s. of the preceding, equal in extent to the area of scotland, at an elevation of ft.; discovered by captain speke in , and sailed round by stanley in . nyassa, lake, lake in east africa, feeds the zambesi; is m. long by broad, at an elevation of ft., and was discovered by livingstone in ; the waters are sweet, and abound with fish; the regions bordering it on the s. and w. are called nyassaland. nyassaland, a region in central africa under british protection, lying round the shores of lake nyassa, the chief town of which is blantyre; it is known also as the british central africa protectorate, the administration being in the hands of a commissioner acting under the foreign office; the europeans number some , and the natives , , while the forces defending it consist of sikhs and negroes; there are plantations of sugar, coffee, tobacco, &c., and almost the entire trade is with britain. nyÂya, the name of one of the six principal systems of hindu philosophy, and devoted to the dialectics or metaphysics of philosophy. nymphs, in the greek mythology maiden divinities of inferior rank, inhabiting mountains, groves, seas, fountains, rivers, valleys, grottoes, &c., under the several names of oceanides (q. v.), nereids (q. v.), naiads (q. v.), oreads (q. v.), dryads (q. v.), &c.; they are distinguished by their grace and fascinating charms. nynee tal, a place of resort in the summer season and a sanatorium in the north-west provinces of india, m. s. of almora, ft. above sea-level. nyx (i. e. night), in the greek mythology the goddess of night, the daughter of chaos (q. v.), and the sister of erebos (q. v.), one of the very first of created beings, the terror of gods, and by erebos became the mother of Æther, pure light, and hemera, daylight, as well as other entities of note. o oakham ( ), county town of rutland, m. e. of leicester, in the centre of a fine wheat country; has an old church, a grammar-school founded in , and a castle mostly in ruins; manufactures of boots and hosiery, and carries on malting. oakland ( ), on the e. coast of the bay of san francisco, ½ m. across from san francisco city, is the capital of alameda county, california, a beautiful city with tree-lined streets, surrounded by vineyards and orchards; it has a home of the adult blind of the state, manufactures of textile and iron goods, and fruit-canning industries, and is the terminus of the southern pacific railroad. oaks, the, one of the three great classic races in england, run at epsom; established by the th earl of derby in for fillies of years old. oakum, name given to fibres of old tarry ropes sundered by teasing, and employed in caulking the seams between planks in ships; the teasing of oakum is an occupation for prisoners in jails. oases, fertile spots in a desert due to the presence of springs or water near at hand underground; met with in the deserts of north africa, arabia, and gobi. oates, titus, fabricator of a popish plot for the overthrow of the protestant faith in england, the allegation of which brought to the block several innocent men; rewarded at first with a pension and safe lodgment in westminster hall, was afterwards convicted of perjury, flogged, and imprisoned for life, but at the revolution was set at liberty and granted a pension of £ ( - ). obadiah, a hebrew prophet who appears to have lived about b.c., shortly after the destruction of jerusalem, at which the edomites had assisted, and whose prophecy was written to assure the exiles in babylon that the judgment of god had gone forth against edom, and that with the execution of it israel would be restored. oban ( ), a modern town situated in the w. of argyllshire, on a land-locked bay opening off the firth of lorne, is the capital, sometimes called the "queen," of the western highlands, and a fashionable tourist resort; it has excellent railway and steamboat communications, hotels, and has near it two ruined castles, an ancient cave dwelling, and much beautiful scenery; dunstaffnage castle is m. to the n. of it, where the early scottish kings used to be crowned. obeid ( ), in the eastern soudan, m. sw. of khartoum, is the capital of kordofan; was the scene in november of the annihilation by the forces of the mahdi, after three days' fighting, of an egyptian army under hicks pasha and other english officers; its trade consists of ivory, gold, feathers, and gum. obelisk, a tall four-sided pillar, generally monolithic, tapering to a pyramidal pointed top, erected in connection with temples in egypt, and inscribed all over with hieroglyphs, and in memorial, as is likely, of some historical personage or event; they are of ancient date. ober-ammergau, a small village in bavaria, m. sw. of münich; famed for the passion play performed there by the peasants, some in number, every ten years, which attracts a great many spectators to the spot; the play was instituted in in token of gratitude for the abatement of a plague. oberlin, jean friedrich, a benevolent protestant pastor, born at strasburg; laboured all his life at ban de la roche, a wild mountain district of alsace, and devoted himself with untiring zeal to the spiritual and material welfare of the people, which they rewarded with their pious gratitude and warmest affection. oberon, the king of the fairies, and the husband of titania. obi, a river and, with its tributaries, great water highway of west siberia, which rises in the altai mountains, and after a course of m. falls into the arctic ocean. objective, a philosophical term used to denote that which is true universally apart from all merely private sense or judgment, and finds response in the universal reason, the reason that is common to all rational beings; it is opposed to subjective, or agreeable to one's mere feelings or fancy. oblates, the name given to an organisation of secular priests living in community, founded by st. charles borromeo at the end of the th century, and who are ready to render any services the bishop may require of them. oboe, a treble-sounding musical instrument of the reed class, to which the bassoon is reckoned the bass. obelus, a small coin worth about a penny, according to a custom among the greeks placed in the mouth of a corpse at burial to pay to charon to ferry the ghost of it over the styx. o'brien, william, journalist, and a nationalist ex-m.p. for cork; was twice over imprisoned for political offences; had to retire in ; _b_. . o'brien, william smith, irish patriot; entered parliament in ; sat for limerick from to , when he joined the repeal association under o'connell, but separated from it; joined the physical force young ireland party, and became the head; attempted an insurrection, which failed, and involved him in prosecution for treason and banishment for life; a free pardon was afterwards granted on promise of abstaining from all further disloyalty; he died at bangor, in north wales ( - ). obscurantist, name given to an opponent to modern enlightenment as professed by the devotees of modern science and philosophy. obsidian, a hard, dark-coloured rock of a glassy structure found in lava, which breaks with conchoidal fracture. occam or oakham, william of, an english scholastic philosopher, born at oakham, surrey, surnamed _doctor invincibilis_; was a monk of the order of st. francis; studied under duns scotus (q. v.), and became his rival, and a reviver of nominalism (q. v.) in opposition to him, by his insistence on which he undermined the whole structure of scholastic dogmatism, that is, its objective validity, and plunged it in hopeless ruin, but cleared the way for modern speculation, and its grounding of the objective (q. v.) on a surer basis ( - ). occasionalism, the doctrine that the action of the spiritual organisation on the material, and of the material on the spiritual, or of the inner on the outer, and the outer on the inner, is due to the divine interposition taking occasion of the effort of mind, or of the inner, on the one hand, and the effort of matter, or the outer, on the other, to work the effect or result; or that the link connecting cause and effect in both cases, that is, the acion of the outer world on the inner, and _vice versa_, is god. oceania, an imaginary commonwealth described by james harrington ( - ) in which the project of a doctrinaire republic is worked out; also a book of froude's on the english colonies. oceania, the name given to the clusters of islands, consisting of australasia in the s., malaysia in the e. indian archipelago, and polynesia in the n. and e. of the pacific. oceanides, the nymphs of the ocean, all daughters of oceanus, some in number. oceanus or okeanos, in the greek mythology the great world-stream which surrounds the whole earth, and is the parent source of all seas and streams, presided over by a titan, the husband of tethys, and the father of all river-gods and water-nymphs. he is the all-father of the world, as his wife is the all-mother, and the pair occupy a palace apart on the extreme verge of the world. ochils (i. e. the heights), a range of hills lying ne. and sw. between the valleys of the forth and tay; reach their highest point in ben cleugh ( ft.), near stirling; the range is m. long by broad, and affords pasture for black-faced sheep; of the peaks of the range dunmyat is the most striking, as ben cleuch is the highest. ochiltree, edie, a talkative, kind-hearted gaberlunzie who figures a good deal in scott's "antiquary." ochino, bernardino, an italian monk, born in sienna; after years' zeal in the service of the church embraced the reformed doctrine; fled from the power of the inquisition to geneva; took refuge in england; ministered here and there to italian refugees, but was hunted from place to place; died at last of the plague in moravia ( - ). ochterlony, sir david, british general, born at boston, u.s., of scottish descent; entered the indian army; distinguished himself in the war against the goorkhas; was made a baronet, and received a pension of £ for his services; a monument to his memory stands in the maidan park, calcutta ( - ). ockley, simon, orientalist, became professor of arabic; wrote a "history of the saracens," part of it in a debtors' prison; died in indigence ( - ). o'connell, daniel, irish patriot, known as the "liberator," born near cahirciveen, co. kerry; educated at st. omer, douay, and lincoln's inn; was called to the irish bar in , and was for twenty-two years a famous and prosperous practitioner on the munster circuit; turning to politics he became leader of the catholics in , his object being the removal of the catholic disabilities; the catholic association of was organised by him, which he induced the priesthood to join, and awakened irresistible enthusiasm throughout the country; the electors now began to vote independently, and o'connell was returned for clare in ; the house refused to admit him; but so strong, and at the same time so orderly, was the agitation in ireland, that in the catholic disabilities were removed, and o'connell, returned again for clare, took his seat in the house of commons; next year he represented waterford in the new parliament, and subsequently kerry, dublin, kilkenny, and cork; he now formed a society for promoting the repeal of the union, which survived several suppressions, and reappeared under different names; but in spite of his exertions in the house and in the country the cause languished, till, in , as lord mayor of dublin, he carried a resolution in its favour in the city council; but now under the pressure of less experienced agitators, his monster meetings and other proceedings began to overstep legal limits, and in he, with six of his supporters, was indicted for raising sedition; he was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of £ , but the sentence was set aside in weeks; by this time the young ireland party had broken away from him, the potato famine came, he was conscious of failure, and his health was broken; he died on his way to rome, at genoa; a man of great physical strength and energy, and a master of oratory, he gave himself unselfishly to serve his country, sacrificing a legal practice worth £ a year, honestly administering the immense sums contributed, and spending his private means for his cause; with an undeniable taint of coarseness, violence, and scurrility in his nature, he was yet a man of independent and liberal mind, an opponent of rebellion, loyal to his sovereign, a great and sincere patriot ( - ). octavia, the sister of augustus, a woman distinguished for her beauty and her virtue; was married first to marcellus, and on his death to mark antony, who forsook her for cleopatra, but to whom she remained true, even, on his miserable end, nursing his children by cleopatra along with her own; one other grief she had to endure in the death of her son marcellus (q. v.) by her former husband, and the destined successor of augustus on the throne. october, the tenth month of the year so called (i. e. the eighth) by the romans, whose year began on march. od, name given to a physical force recently surmised and believed to pervade all nature, and as manifesting itself chiefly in connection with mesmeric phenomena. oddfellows, the name of several friendly societies. the independent order of oddfellows, manchester unity, is the largest and most important of the number, its membership is over , , and its funds amount to £ , , . it has been the pioneer in many important movements of the kind, several of the provisions now compulsory on all societies it observed of its own accord, prior to their enactment; the actuarial tables compiled from its statistics in by its secretary, henry radcliffe, are still a standard work. the grand united order of oddfellows has a membership of , , and funds amounting to £ , ; the national independent order of oddfellows embraces , members, and has £ , . oder, an important german river, rises in moravia, and crossing the frontier flows nw. through silesia, and n. through brandenburg and pomerania m. into the stettiner haff and so to the baltic. on its banks stand ratibor, where navigation ends, breslau, frankfort, and stettin; it receives its chief tributary, the navigable warthe, on the right, and has canal communication with the spree and the elbe. odessa ( ), on the black sea, m. ne. of the mouth of the dniester, is the fourth largest city of russia, and the chief southern port and emporium of commerce. it exports large shipments of wheat, sugar, and wool; imports cotton, groceries, iron, and coal, and manufactures flour, tobacco, machinery, and leather. it is well fortified, and though many of the poor live in subterraneous caverns, is a fine city, with a university, a cathedral, and a public library. it was a free port from till . the population includes many greeks and jews. odin or wodin, the chief god of the ancient scandinavians, combined in one the powers of zeus and ares among the greeks, and was attended by two black ravens--hugin, mind, and munin, memory, the bearers of tidings between him and the people of his subject-world. his council chamber is in asgard (q. v.), and he holds court with his warriors in valhalla (q. v.). he is the source of all wisdom as well as all power, and is supposed by carlyle to have been the deification of some one who incarnated in himself all the characteristic wisdom and valour of the scandinavian race; frigga was his wife, and balder and thor his sons. see carlyle's "heroes." odo, bishop of bayeux, brother of william the conqueror, fought by his side at hastings; after blessing the troops, was made earl of kent, and appointed governor of kingdom during william's absence in normandy; had great influence in state affairs all along, and set out for the holy land, but died at palermo ( - ). odoacer, a hun, son of one of attila's officers, who entered the imperial guards, dethroned augustulus, and became emperor himself; zeno, the emperor of the east, enlisted theodoric of the ostrogoths against him, who made a treaty with him to be joint ruler of the kingdom of italy, and assassinated him in . o'donnell, leopold, spanish soldier and politician, born, of irish descent, at santa cruz, in teneriffe; entered the army, and attached himself to the cause of queen isabella, on whose emergence from her minority in he was made governor of cuba; there he enriched himself by trading in slaves, and returning to spain threw himself into politics; he joined espartero's cabinet in , and two years later supplanted him as chief minister; he commanded in the moorish war of , and was created duke of tetuan after the capture of that city; he was again prime minister till , and died in exile at bayonne ( - ). odyssey, an epic poem by homer relating the ten years' wanderings of ulysses (odysseus) after the fall of troy, and his return at the end of them to his native kingdom of ithaca. see ulysses. oecolampadius, joannes, one of the leaders of the reformation, born at weinsberg, in würtemberg; became preacher at basel, assisted erasmus in his edition of the new testament, entered a convent at augsburg, came under luther's influence and adopted the reformed doctrine, of which he became a preacher and professor, embraced in particular the views of zwingli ( - ). oedipus, a mythological king of thebes, son of laius and jocasta, and fated to kill his father and marry his mother; unwittingly slew his father in a quarrel; for answering the riddle of the sphinx (q. v.) was made king in his stead, and wedded his widow, by whom he became the father of four children; on discovery of the incest jocasta hanged herself, and oedipus went mad and put out his eyes. oehlenschlÄger, adam gottlob, great danish poet, born at copenhagen; his poems first brought him into notice and secured him a travelling pension, which he made use of to form acquaintanceship with such men as goethe and his literary confrères in germany, during which time he commenced that series of tragedies on northern subjects on which his fame chiefly rests, which include "hakon jarl," "correggio," "palnatoke," &c.; his fame, which is greatest in the north, has spread, for he ranks among the danes as goethe among the germans, and his death was felt by the whole nation ( - ). oehler, gustav, learned german theologian, professor at tübingen, eminent for his studies and writings on the old testament ( - ). oeil-de-boeuf, a large reception-room in the palace of versailles, lighted by a window so called (ox-eye it means), and is the name given in french history to the french court, particularly during the revolution period. oeland ( ), an island off the se. coast of sweden, m. long and about m. broad; has good pasture ground, and yields alum; the fisheries good. oenonË, a nymph of mount ida, near troy, beloved by and married to paris, but whom he forsook for helen; is the subject of one of tennyson's poems. oersted, hans christian, a danish physicist; was professor of physics in copenhagen, the discoverer of electro-magnetism, of the compressibility of water, and the metal aluminium; did much to popularise science in a volume entitled "the soul in nature" ( - ). oesel ( ), a marshy, well-wooded island at the mouth of the gulf of riga, in the baltic, m. long and m. of average breadth; has some low hills and precipitous coasts; arensburg ( ), on the se. shore, is the only town; danish from , the island passed to sweden in and to russia in ; the wealthier classes are of german descent. offa's dyke, an entrenchment and rampart between england and wales, m. long, extending from flintshire as far as the mouth of the wye; said to have been thrown up by offa, king of mercia, about the year , to confine the marauding welsh within their own territory. offenbach, jacques, a musical composer, born at cologne, of jewish parents, creator of the _opera bouffe_; was the author of "la belle hélène," "orphée aux enfers," "la grande duchesse," "madame favart," &c. ( - ) offertory, in the roman catholic church a portion of the liturgy chanted at the commencement of the eucharistic service, also in the english the part of the service read during the collection of the alms at communion. ofterdingen, heinrich von, a famous minnesinger (q. v.) of the th century. ogham or ogam, an alphabet of letters in use among the ancient irish and celts, found carved on monumental stones in ireland, wales, cornwall, and the north of scotland. oglethorpe, james edward, english general, born in london; served in the marlborough wars, sat in parliament for several years, conceived the founding of a colony for debtors in prison, and founded georgia; returning to england, fought against the pretender, and died in essex ( - ). ogowe`, a west african river, m. long, rises in the akukuja plateau, and following a semicircular course northward and westward enters the atlantic by a delta at cape lopez, its course lying wholly within french congo territory; in the dry season its volume is much diminished, and its many sandbanks prevent its navigation except by small boats. o'groat's house, john. see john o' groat's house. ogyges, a boeotian autochthon, the legendary first king of thebes, which is called at times ogygia, in whose reign a flood, called the ogygian after him, inundated the land, though some accounts make it occur in attica. ogygia, a mythological island of homeric legend, situated far off in the sea, and the home of the sorceress calypso (q. v.). ohio ( , ), a state of the american union, a third larger than scotland, stretches northward from the ohio river to lake erie, between pennsylvania and indiana. it consists of level and undulating plains, on which are raised enormous crops of wheat and maize. sheep-grazing and cattle-rearing are very extensive; its wool-clip is the largest in america. there are valuable deposits of limestone and freestone, and in output of coal ohio ranks third of the states. the manufactures are very important; it ranks first in farm implements, and produces also wagons, textile fabrics, and liquors. in the n. excellent fruit is grown. the capital is columbus ( ), the largest city is cincinnati ( ). admitted to the union in , it boasts among its sons four presidents--grant, hayes, garfield, and benjamin harrison. ohio river, formed by the confluence of the alleghany and the monongahela, pursues a westward course of m., separating ohio, indiana, and illinois from west virginia and kentucky, and after receiving sundry tributaries joins the mississippi, being the largest and, next to the missouri, the longest of its affluents; it is navigable for the whole of its course; on its banks stand pittsburg, cincinnati, louisville, and madison. ohm, georg simon, a german physicist, born at erlangen; discovered the mathematical theory of the electric current, known as ohm's law, a law based on experiment, that the strength of the electric current is equal to the electro-motive force divided by the resistance of the wire ( - ). ohnet, georges, french novelist, born in paris; author of a series of novels in a social interest, entitled "les batailles de la vie;" _b_. . oil city ( ), on the alleghany river, pennsylvania, by rail m. n. of pittsburg, is the centre of a great oil-trade and oil-refining industry; there are also engineer and boiler works; it suffered severely from floods in . oka, a river of central russia, which rises in orel and flows n., then e., then n. again, joining the volga at nijni-novgorod after a course of over m., navigable nearly all the way; on its banks are orel, kaluga, and riazan, while moscow stands on an affluent. oken, lorenz, german naturalist; was professor first at jena, then at münich, and finally at zurich, his settlement in the latter being due to the disfavour with which his political opinions, published in a journal of his called the _iris_, were received in germany; much of his scientific doctrine was deduced from a transcendental standpoint or by _a priori_ reasonings; is mentioned in "sartor" as one with whom teufelsdröck in his early speculations had some affinity ( - ). okhotsk, sea of, an immense sheet of water in eastern siberia, lying between the peninsula of kamchatka and the mainland, with the kurile islands stretched across its mouth; is scarcely navigable, being infested by fogs. oklahoma ( ), a united states territory, stretching southward from kansas to the red river, with texas on the w. and indian territory on the e., is a third larger than scotland, and presents a prairie surface crossed by the arkansas, cimarron, and canadian rivers, and rising to the wichita mountains in the s. there are many brackish streams; the rainfall is light, hence the soil can be cultivated only in parts. ceded to the united states under restrictions by the tribes of the indian territory in , there were various attempts by immigrants from neighbouring states to effect settlements in oklahoma, which the government frustrated by military interference, maintaining the treaty with the indians till , when it finally purchased from them their claim. at noon on april , , the area was opened for settlement, and by twilight , had entered and taken possession of claims. the territory was organised in ; embedded in it lies the cherokee outlet, still held by the indians, but on the extinction of their interests to revert to oklahoma. the chief town is oklahoma ( ). okuma, count, a japanese, rose into office from the part he took in the japanese revolution of , held in succession but resigned the offices of minister of finance and of foreign affairs, organised the progressive party in , and entered office again in ; organised in the first government for a time in japan on a party basis agreeably to his idea. olaf, st., a norwegian king; wrested the throne from eric, and set himself to propagate christianity by fire and sword, excited disaffection among his people, who rebelled and overpowered him with the assistance of cnut of denmark, so that he fled to his brother-in-law, jaroslav of russia; by his help he tried to recover the throne, put was defeated and slain, his body being buried in trondhjem; he was canonised in , and is patron saint of norway. olaÜs, the name of three early kings of sweden and of five of norway, who figured more or less in the history of their respective countries. olbers, heinrich, german astronomer, born near bremen; discovered five of the comets and the two planetoids pallas and vesta ( - ). old bailey, a court or sessions house adjoining newgate (q. v.), in london, for the trial of offences committed within a certain radius round the city, and practically presided over by the recorder and the common serjeant of london, though theoretically by the lord mayor, lord chancellor, and others. old catholics, a section of the roman catholic church in germany and switzerland that first announced itself in münich on the declaration in of the dogma of the infallibility of the pope, the prime movers in the formation of the protestation against which were dr. döllinger and professor friedrich, backed by professors of the university; the movement thus begun has not extended itself to any considerable extent. old man of the mountain, a name given to hassan ben sabbah, the founder in the th century and his successors of a formidable mohammedan dynasty in syria, whose residence was in the mountain fastnesses of the country, and whose following was known by the name of assassins (q. v.). old man of the sea, a monster sindbad the sailor encountered on his fifth voyage, who fastened on his back and so clung to him that he could not shake him off till he made him drunk. old mortality, a character in scott's novel of the name, the original of which was one robert paterson, who, as related of him, went about the country visiting the churchyards, and renewing the moss-covered tombs of the covenanters (q. v.). old noll, an epithet applied by his royalist contemporaries to oliver cromwell. oldbuck, jonathan, the antiquary in scott's novel of the name, devoted to the study and collection of old coins, a man with an irritable temper, due to disappointment in a love affair. oldbury ( ), a busy manufacturing town in worcestershire, m. e. of dudley, has chemical, iron, and steel works, and factories of various kinds. oldcastle, sir john, lord cobham, distinguished himself in arms under henry iv. in , embraced lollardism, which he could not be prevailed on to renounce, though remonstrated with by henry v.; was tried for heresies and committed to the tower, but escaped to wales; charged with abetting insurrection on religious grounds, and convicted, his body was hung in chains as a traitor, and in this attitude, as a heretic, burned to death in ; he was a zealous disciple of wiclif, and did much to disseminate his principles. oldenburg ( ), a german grand-duchy, embracing these three territories: , oldenburg proper, the largest, is let into hanover with its northern limit on the north sea; it is a tract of moorland, sand-down, and fen, watered by the weser, hunte and tributaries of the ems; here is the capital, oldenburg ( ), on the hunte, m. nw. of bremen, in the midst of meadows, where a famous breed of horses is raised. , lübeck, lying in holstein, n. of but not including the city of lübeck. , birkenfeldt, lying among the hundsrück mountains, in the s. of rhenish prussia; independent since , danish - , oldenburg acquired lübeck in , and birkenfeldt in , when it was raised to the rank of grand-duchy. oldham ( ), on the medlock, m. ne. of manchester, is the largest of the cotton manufacturing towns round that centre; it has cotton mills, and manufactures besides silks, velvets, hats, and machinery; there is a lyceum, and a school of science and art. oldys, william, bibliographer, was a man of dissolute life, the illegitimate son of a chancellor of lincoln; he was librarian to the earl of oxford for years, and afterwards received the appointment of norroy king-of-arms; besides many bibliographical and literary articles, he wrote a "life of raleigh" and "the harleian miscellany" ( - ). olÉron ( ), an island of france, in the bay of biscay, at the mouth of the charente, ½ m. long and from to broad, is separated from the mainland by a shallow, narrow channel. olga, st., a scandinavian pagan prince, converted to christianity and baptized as helena; laboured for the propagation of the christian faith among his subjects, was canonised after in , and is one of the saints of the russian church. festival, july . olifaunt, nigel, the hero in scott's "fortunes of nigel." oliphant, laurence, religious enthusiast and mystic, born in perthshire; spent his boyhood in ceylon, where his father was chief-justice; early conceived a fondness for adventure, accompanied lord elgin to washington as his secretary, and afterwards to china and japan; became m.p. for the stirling burghs, mingled much in london society, contributed to _blackwood_, and wrote "piccadilly," pronounced by mrs. oliphant "one of the most brilliant satires on society ever published"; parliamentary people and parliamentary life being nowise to his liking he soon threw both up for life in a community with harris at lake erie, u.s., whence, after two years' probation, he returned to resume life in the wide world; while in france during the franco-german war, he married one alice l'estrange, an alliance which grew into one of the most intimate character; with her he went to palestine, pitched his tent under the shadow of mount carmel, and wrote two mystical books under her inspiration, which abode with him after she was dead; after her decease he married a miss owen, that she might help him in his work, but all she had opportunity to do was to minister to him on his deathbed ( - ). oliphant, mrs. margaret (_née_ wilson), authoress, born at wallyford, near musselburgh, a lady of varied abilities and accomplishments, and distinguished in various departments of literature, began her literary career as a novelist and a contributor to _blackwood_, with which she kept up a lifelong connection; her first work which attracted attention was "passages in the life of mrs. margaret maitland," and her first success as a novelist was the "chronicles of carlingford"; she wrote on history, biography, and criticism, the "makers of florence, of venice, of modern rome," "lives of dante, cervantes, and edward irving," among other works, and was engaged on a narrative of the publishing-house of blackwood when she died; she might have distinguished herself more had she kept within a more limited range; her last days were days of sorrow under heavy bereavement ( - ). olivarez, count d', a spanish statesman, born at rome, where his father was ambassador; was the confidant and minister of philip iv., and the political adversary of richelieu; was one of the ablest statesmen spain ever had, but was unfortunate in his conduct of foreign affairs ( - ). oliver, a favourite paladin of charlemagne's, who, along with roland, rode by his side, and whose name, along with roland's, has passed into the phrase, a "roland for an oliver," meaning one good masterstroke for another, such as both these knights never failed to deliver. olives, mount of, or mount olivet, a ridge with three summits, stretching n. and s., e. of jerusalem, in height ft. above the city, ft. above the intervening valley of kedron, and ft. above the sea-level; so called as at one time studded with olive-trees; is celebrated as the scene of some of the most sacred events in the life of christ. ollivier, Émile, french statesman, born at marseilles; bred for the bar, and eminent at it; became prime minister under louis napoleon in ; precipitated "with a light heart" the country into a war with germany, to his own overthrow; retired thereafter to italy, but returned in , and devoted himself to literature; died at geneva ( - ). olmÜtz ( ), a strongly fortified city in moravia, and an important centre of trade, and the former capital of the country; suffered severely in the thirty and the seven years' wars. olympia, a plain in a valley in elis, on the peloponnesus, traversed by the river alpheus, and in which the olympic games were celebrated every fifth year in honour of zeus, and adorned with temples (one to zeus and another to hera), statues, and public buildings. olympiad, a name given to the period of four years between one celebration of the olympic games and another, the first recorded dating from july b.c. olympias, the wife of philip ii. of macedonia, and mother of alexander the great; divorced by philip, who married another, she fled to epirus, and instigated the assassination of philip and the execution of her rival; returned to macedonia on the accession of her son, who always treated her with respect, but allowed her no part in public affairs; on his death she dethroned his successor, but driven to bay in her defence afterwards, she was compelled to surrender the power she had assumed, and was put to death b.c. olympic games, were originally open only to competitors of pure hellenic descent, and the reward of the victors was but a wreath of wild olive, though to this their fellow-citizens added more substantial honours; they consisted of foot and chariot races, and feats of strength as well as dexterity. see olympia. olympus, a mountain range in greece, between thessaly and macedonia, the highest peak of which is ft.; the summit of it was the fabled abode of the greek gods; it is clothed with forests of pine and other trees. olney, a little town in buckinghamshire, associated with the life of cowper, and where he wrote, along with john newton, the "olney hymns." om, a mystic word among the hindus and buddhists; presumed to be latent with some magic virtue, and used on solemn occasions as a sort of spiritual charm efficacious with the upper powers, and potent to draw down divine assistance in an hour of need. omagh ( ), on the strule, m. s. of londonderry; is the county town of tyrone; though a very ancient town it has been rebuilt since , when it was destroyed by fire; it is the head-quarters of the nw. military district. omaha ( ), chief city of nebraska, on the w. bank of the missouri, m. above the confluence of the platte; is connected by a bridge with council bluffs on the opposite shore; it has many fine buildings, including colleges and schools; its silver-smelting works are the largest in the world; it ranks third in the pork-packing industry, and has besides manufactures of linseed oil, boilers, and safes; an important railway centre, it lies midway between the termini of the union pacific railroad; near it are the military head-quarters of the platte department. oman, a territory of arabia, lying along the shores of the persian gulf and the arabian sea, round the south-eastern nob of the peninsula; has some stretches of very fertile country where there happens to be water for irrigation, but the coast is very hot and not healthy. the region is subject to the sultan of muscat, who is in turn a pensioner of the anglo-indian government. omar, the successor of abu-bekr, and the second caliph from to ; was at first a persecutor of the faithful, but underwent in a sudden conversion like said, with a like result; was vizier of abu-bekr before he succeeded him; swept and subdued syria, persia, and egypt with the sword in the name of allah, but is accused of having burned the rich library of alexandria on the plea that it contained books hostile to the faith of islam; he was an austere man, and was assassinated by a persian slave whose wrongs he refused to redress. omar khayyÁm, astronomer-poet of persia, born at naishapur, in khorassan; lived in the later half of the th century, and died in the first quarter of the th; wrote a collection of poems which breathe an epicurean spirit, and while they occupy themselves with serious problems of life, do so with careless sportiveness, intent he on the enjoyment of the sensuous pleasures of life, like an easy-going epicurean. the great problems of destiny don't trouble the author, they are no concern of his, and the burden of his songs assuredly is, as his translator says, "if not 'let us eat, let us drink, for to-morrow we die.'" omar pasha, general in the turkish army, was born an austrian, his proper name michael lattas, and educated at the military school of thurn; guilty of a breach of discipline, he ran away to bosnia, turned mohammedan, and henceforth threw in his lot with the turks; he became writing-master to the ottoman heir, abdul-medjid, and on the succession of the latter in was made a colonel; he was military governor of lebanon in , won distinction in suppressing rebellions in albania, bosnia, and kurdistan, but his chief services were rendered in the russian war; he successfully defended kalafat in , entered bucharest in , and defeated , russians next year at eupatoria in the crimea; his capture of cetinje, montenegro, in was a difficult feat ( - ). o'meara, barry edward, a surgeon, born in ireland, who accompanied napoleon to st. helena, and became his physician, having been surgeon on board the _bellerophon_ when the emperor surrendered himself; is remembered as the author of "a voice from st. helena; or, napoleon in exile," a book which from its charges against sir hudson lowe created no small sensation on its appearance ( - ). ommiades, an arab dynasty of caliphs which reigned at damascus from to ; dethroned by the abassides, they were under abder-rahman i. welcomed in spain, and they established themselves in cordova, where they ruled from to . omnipresence, an attribute of the divine being as all-present in every section of space and moment of time throughout the universe. omphalË, a queen of lydia, to whom hercules was sold for three years for murdering iphitus, and who so won his affection that he married her, and was content to spin her wool for her and wear the garments of a woman while she donned and wore his lion's skin. omsk ( ), capital of western siberia, on the om, at its confluence with the irtish, m. e. of moscow; is within the area of russian colonisation, and has a military academy, greek and roman catholic cathedrals, and large cattle trade; a number of its inhabitants are political exiles from europe. onega, lake, in the nw. of russia, next to ladoga the largest in europe, nearly three times the size of norfolkshire, being m. long and broad; has an irregular shore, deeply indented in the w., many inflowing rivers, but is drained only by the swir; ice-bound for four months, there is busy traffic the rest of the year; navigation is promoted by canals, but hindered by many reefs; fish abound in the waters. onomatopoeia, formations of words resembling in sound that of the things denoted by them. ontario ( , ), third largest, most populous, richest, and most important province of canada, lies n. of the great lakes between quebec and manitoba, and is thrice the size of great britain; the surface is mostly undulating; there are many small lakes, the chief rivers flow eastward to join the ottawa; agriculture is the chief industry, enormous crops of wheat, maize, and other cereals are raised; stock-rearing and dairy-farming are important; the climate is subject to less extremes than that of quebec, but the winter is still severe; there are rich mineral deposits, especially of iron, copper, lead, and silver, petroleum and salt; manufactures of agricultural implements, hardware, textiles, and leather are carried on; toronto ( ) is the largest town, ottawa ( ) is the capital of the dominion, hamilton ( ) an important railway centre; the prosperity of the province is largely promoted by the magnificent waterways, lakes, rivers, and canals with which it is furnished. founded by loyalists from the united states after the declaration of independence, the province was constituted in as upper canada, united to quebec or lower canada in , it received its present name on the federation of canada in ; education in it is free and well conducted; there are many colleges and universities; municipal and provincial government is enlightened and well organised; the prevalent religious faith is protestant. ontario, lake, in area almost equal to wales, is the smallest and easternmost of the five great lakes of the st. lawrence basin, north america; it lies between the province of ontario, canada, and new york state; receives the niagara river in the sw., several streams on both sides, and issues in the st. lawrence in the ne.; on its shores stand hamilton, toronto, and kingston on the n., and oswego on the s.; canals connect it with lake erie and the hudson river, and it is a busy and always open highway of commerce. ontology, another name for metaphysics (q. v.) or the science of pure being, being at its living source in spirit or god, or nature viewed as divine, especially as the ground of the spiritual in man and giving substantive being to him. onyx, a variety of agate or chalcedony, in which occur even layers of white and black or white and brown, sharply defined in good specimens; they come from india, and are highly valued for cameo-cutting. oosterzee, jan jakob van, a theologian of the dutch church, born at rotterdam; became professor at utrecht, wrote several theological and exegetical works on evangelical lines ( - ). opal, a variety of quartz, of which the finest kind, precious opal, is translucent, with blue or yellow tint, and when polished with a convex surface shows an admirable play of colours; it is found chiefly at cerwenitza, austria. open secret, the, the secret that lies open to all, but is seen into and understood by only few, applied especially to the mystery of the life, the spiritual life, which is the possession of all. open, sesamË, the magic formula the pronunciation of which opened the robbers' stronghold in the "arabian nights." opera, a drama set to music and acted and sung to the accompaniment of a full orchestra, of which there are several kinds according as they are grave, comic, or romantic. opera bouffe, an opera in an extravagant burlesque style, with characters, music, and other accompaniments to match; is the creation of offenbach (q. v.), his more distinguished successors in the production of which have been lecocq, hervé, and strauss. ophelia, the daughter of polonius in "hamlet" and in love with the lord, but whose heart, from the succession of shocks it receives, is shattered and broken. ophicleide, a keyed brass wind instrument of recent invention, of great compass and power, and of which there are two kinds in use. ophir, a region in the east of uncertain situation, frequently referred to in scripture as a region from which gold and precious stones were imported. ophites, a sect of gnostics who regarded the serpent as a benefactor of the race in having persuaded eve to eat of the tree of the _knowledge_ of good and evil in disregard, or rather in defiance, of the warning of the god of the jews. opie, john, english artist, born near truro, cornwall; began to learn his father's trade of carpenter, but turning to art went with dr. wolcott to london in ; for a year he had phenomenal success as a portrait-painter; on the wane of his popularity he turned to scriptural and historical painting and to illustration; after being associate for a year he was elected academician in ; besides some lectures on art, he wrote a life of reynolds and other works ( - ). opinicus, a fabulous winged creature with the head of a griffin, the body of a lion, and the tail of a camel; a heraldic symbol. opitz, martin von, a german poet, born in silesia; was much patronised by the princes of germany; was crowned with laurel, and ennobled by ferdinand ii.; his poetry was agreeable to classic models, but at the expense of soul, though, to his credit it must be said, the german language and german poetry owe him a deep debt ( - ). oporto ( ), at the mouth of the douro, m. n. of lisbon, the chief manufacturing city of portugal, and second in commercial importance; is the head-quarters of the trade in port wine; the industries include cloth, silk, hat, and porcelain manufacture, tobacco, metal-casting, and tanning; besides wine it exports cattle, fruit, cork, and copper. there are many old churches, schools, a library, and two picture-galleries. opportunist, name given to a politician whose policy it is to take advantage of, or be guided by, circumstances. optimism, the doctrine or belief that in the system of things all that happens, the undesirable no less than the desirable, is for the best. opus operatum (i. e. the work wrought), a latin phrase used to denote the spiritual effect in the performance of a religious rite which accrues from the virtue inherent in it, or by grace imparted to it, irrespectively of the administrator. oran ( ), the busiest port in algeria, is m. w. of algiers; it has a roman catholic cathedral, a mosque, a school, a college, and two castles, and exports esparto grass, iron ore, and cereals. orange river or gariep, chief river of south africa, rises in the eastern highlands of basutoland, and flows m. westward to the atlantic, receiving the vaal and the caledon as tributaries, and having cape colony on the s. bank and the orange free state, griqualand west, bechuanaland, and german namaqualand on the n.; a bar at the mouth and the aridity of its lower course make it unfit for navigation. orange river colony, formerly orange free state ( ), lying between the vaal and the orange rivers, griqualand west, and the drakenberg mountains; has an area nearly the size of england, with a healthy, temperate climate; undulating plains slope northward and southward, from which rise isolated hills called kopjes. the chief industries are the rearing of sheep, cattle, horses, and ostriches; coal-mining in the n. and diamond-seeking in the sw.; the exports comprise wool, hides, and diamonds. founded by dutch boers from natal, it was annexed by britain in , but granted independence in . the capital, bloemfontein ( ), is connected by a railway with johannesberg and with the cape. having made common cause with the south african republic in the boer war, it was annexed by great britain in . at present ( ) it is under the supreme authority of the governor of orange river and the transvaal colonies, assisted by a lieutenant-governor and an executive council. orangemen, a name given to an association of protestants in ireland instituted to uphold the protestant succession to the crown, and the protestant religion as settled at the revolution of , and which derives this name from william, the prince of orange, on whose accession to the throne protestantism was established; it became dormant for a time after its institution, but it has shown very decided signs of life at political crises when protestantism seemed in danger, such as often to call for some firm handling. oratorio, a musical composition on a sacred theme, dramatic in form and associated with orchestral accompaniments, but without scenic accessories; it derives its name from the oratory of st. philip neri at rome, in which a composition of the kind was first performed, and was a musical development of the miracle plays (q. v.). oratory, congregation of the, community of secular priests formed by st. philip of neri (q. v.), and bound by no religious vow, each one of which is independent of the others; it consists of novices, triennial fathers, decennial fathers, and a superior, their functions being to preach and hear confession. orcagna, a florentine painter, sculptor, and architect, did several frescoes; was architect of the cathedral of orviëto; his masterpiece an absolutely unique marble tabernacle in the church of or san michele, florence ( - ). orchardson, william quiller, english genre-painter, born in edinburgh; his pictures are numerous, and among the best and most popular, "the challenge," "the queen of the woods," "on board the bellerophon," "the mariage de convenance"; _b_. . orcus (i. e. place of confinement), another name for hades, or the "world of the dead"; also of the god of the nether world. ordeal, a test by fire, water, poison, wager of battle, or the like, of the innocence or guilt of persons in appeal thereby to the judgment of god in default of other evidence, on the superstitious belief that by means of it god would interfere to acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty, a test very often had recourse to among savage or half-civilised nations. ordericus vitalis, a mediæval chronicler, born near shrewsbury; was a monk of the abbey of st. evreul, in normandy; wrote an ecclesiastical history of normandy and england--a veracious document, though an incondite; _d_. . orders in council are issued by the british sovereign, with the advice of the privy council, and within limits defined by parliament. in cases of emergency these limits have been disregarded, and parliament subsequently asked to homologate the action by granting an indemnity to those concerned. oreades in the greek mythology nymphs of the mountains, with special names appropriate to the district they severally inhabit. oregon ( ), one of the united states, on the pacific seaboard, with washington, idaho, nevada, and california on its inland borders, nearly twice the size of england, has the coast mountains along the w., the cascade range parallel m. e., and farther e. the blue mountains. the centre and e. is hilly, and affords excellent grazing and dairy-farming ground; the western or willamette valley is arable, producing cereals, potatoes, tobacco, hops, and fruit. between the coast mountains and the sea excessive rains fall. the state is rich in timber, coal, iron, gold, and silver; and the rivers (of which the columbia on the n. border is the chief) abound in salmon. owing to the mountain shelter and the japanese ocean currents the climate is mild. the capital is salem ( ), the largest city portland ( ), both on the willamette river. the state offers excellent educational facilities; it has libraries, many schools and colleges, and the blue mountain university. the state (constituted in ) forms part of the territory long in dispute between great britain and the united states. it was occupied jointly from to , when a compromise fixed the present boundary of british columbia. orelli, conrad von, theologian, born at zurich; professor at basel; has written commentaries on isaiah, jeremiah, ezekiel, and the minor prophets; _b_. . orelli, johann kaspar von, a swiss scholar, born at zurich, where he was professor of classical philology; edited editions of the classics, particularly horace, tacitus, and cicero, highly esteemed for the scholarship they show and the critical judgment ( - ). orestes, the son of agamemnon and clytemnestra, and brother of electra and iphigenia, who killed his mother to avenge the murder by her of his father and went mad afterwards, but was acquitted by the areopagus and became king of argos and lacedæmon; his friendship for pylades, who married his sister electra, has passed into a proverb; the tragic story is a favourite theme of the greek tragedians. orfila, m. j. bonaventure, french chemist and physician, born in minorca; mainly distinguished for his works on toxicology ( - ). organism, a structure instinct with life, and possessed of organs that discharge functions subordinate and ministrative to the life of the whole. organon, a term adopted by bacon to denote a system of rules for the regulation of scientific inquiry. orgies, festivals among the greeks and orientals generally connected with the worship of nature divinities, in particular demeter (q. v.), dionysos (q. v.), and the cabiri, celebrated with mystic rites and much licentious behaviour. oriflamme (i. e. flame of gold), the ancient banner of the kings of france, borne before them as they marched to war; it was a red flag mounted on a gilded staff, was originally the banner of the abbey of st. denis, and first assumed as the royal standard by louis vi. as he marched at the head of his army against the emperor henry v. in , but one hears no more of it after the battle of agincourt in , much as it was at one time regarded as the banner of the very lord of hosts. origen, one of the most eminent of the fathers of the church, born at alexandria it is presumed, the son of a christian who suffered martyrdom under severus, whom he honoured and ever reverenced for his faith in christ; studied the greek philosophers that he might familiarise himself with their standpoint in contrast with that of the christian; taught in alexandria and elsewhere the religion he had inherited from his father, but was not sufficiently regardful of episcopal authority, and after being ordained by another bishop than that of his own diocese was deposed and banished; after this he settled in cæsarea, set up a celebrated school, and had gregory thaumaturgus for a pupil, whence he made journeys to other parts but under much persecution, and died at tyre; he wrote numerous works, apologetical and exegetical as well as doctrinal, besides a "hexapla," a great source of textual criticism, being a work in which the hebrew scriptures and five greek versions of them are arranged side by side; in his exegesis he had a fancy for allegorical interpretation, in which he frequently indulged, but in doing so he was entitled to some license, seeing he was a man who constantly lived in close communion with the unseen author of all truth ( - ). original sin, the name given by the theologians to the inherent tendency to sin on the part of all mankind, due, as alleged, to their descent from adam and the imputation of adam's guilt to them as sinning in him. orinoco river, a great river in the ne. of south america, rises in the parimé mountains, and flowing westward bifurcates, the cassiquiare channel going southward and joining the rio negro, the orinoco proper continuing westward, north and east through venezuela, and reaching the atlantic after a course of m. by an enormous delta; it receives thousands of tributaries, but cascades half-way up stop navigation. orion, in the greek mythology a handsome giant and hunter, was struck blind by dionysos for attempting an outrage on merope, but recovered his eyesight on exposing his eyeballs to the arrowy rays of aurora, and became afterwards the companion of artemis on the hunting-field, but he fell a victim to the jealousy of apollo, the brother of artemis, and was transformed by the latter into a constellation in the sky, where he figures as a giant wearing a lion's skin and a girdle or belt and wielding a club. orissa ( , ), the name of an ancient indian kingdom, independent till , and falling into british possession in , is now restricted to the most south-easterly province of bengal. it is larger than wales, and comprises a hilly inland tract and an alluvial plain formed by the deltas of the mahanadi, brahmani, and baitarani rivers, well irrigated, and producing great crops of rice, wheat, pulse, and cotton. it has no railways, and poor roads; transport is by canal and river. chief towns cuttack, balasor, and puri. orkney islands ( ), an archipelago of islands, pomona the largest, lying north of the scottish mainland, from which they are separated by the pentland firth, m. broad. the scenery is tame, the climate is mild and moist; there are no trees, crops are poor; the chief industries are fishing and stock-raising; kirkwall, with a cathedral, and stromness are the chief towns. seized from the picts by norse vikings, they passed to james iii. as security for the dowry of margaret of denmark and were never redeemed. the natives show their scandinavian ancestry in their features, and the nomenclature is largely scandinavian. orlando, a hero who figures in the romantic tales connected with the adventures of charlemagne and his paladins, a knight of pure and true blood; had a magical horn called olivant, with which he wrought wonders. orleans ( ), on the loire, m. by rail sw. of paris, is the capital of the province of loiret, a trading rather than an industrial town, commerce being fostered by excellent railway, canal, and river communications; the town is of ancient date, and its streets are full of quaint wooden houses; there is an old cathedral and museum; many historic associations include the raising of the siege in by joan of arc, whose house is still shown, and two captures by the germans, orleans, dukes of, the name of four distinct branches of the royal family of france, the first commencing with philippe, fifth son of philippe of valois, in ; the second with louis, brother of charles vi. ( - ); the third with jean baptiste gascon, brother of louis xiii., who took part in the plots against richelieu, and was appointed lieutenant-general on the death of his brother ( - ); the fourth with philippe i., brother of louis xiv. ( - ); philippe ii., son of the preceding, governed france during the minority of louis xv.; involved his finances by his connection with louis, and did injury to the public morals by the depravity of his life ( - ); louis-philippe, his grandson, lieutenant-general and governor of dauphiné ( - ); louis-philippe joseph, son of preceding, surnamed philippe-egalité, played a conspicuous part in the revolution, and perished on the scaffold ( - ); and louis-philippe, his son (q. v.); prince louis robert, eldest son of comte de paris, claimant to the throne, _b_. . orloff, the name of two brothers, russians: gregory, the favourite of catherine ii. ( - ), and alexis, a man remarkable for his stature and strength, who murdered peter iii. and was banished by paul i. ( - ). orme, robert, historian, born in travancore; entered the east india company's service, in which he was appointed historiographer; wrote the history of its military transactions from to ( - ). ormolu, a name given to bronze or brass of a golden-yellow colour, and resembling gold. ormonde, james butler, duke of, supporter of the cause of charles i. in ireland during the war between the king and the parliament, on the ruin of which he repaired to the continent to promote the restoration of the dynasty; was appointed lord-lieutenant of ireland after the restoration, and escaped from a party of ruffians headed by colonel blood, who dragged him from his carriage with intent to hang him; he was a brave man, and much esteemed by his friends ( - ). ormuz, an island at the mouth of the persian gulf, once the head-quarters of the persian trade with india. ormuzd, the good deity of the zoroastrian religion, the embodiment of the principle of good as ahriman is of the principle of evil, the creator of light and order as the other of darkness and disorder. see dualism. orontes, the principal river of syria, rises in the western slopes of anti-lebanon, and flows northward through syria, turning at last sw. to the mediterranean; its course of m. is through country in many parts well cultivated, past the towns of hems and hamah, and latterly through a woody ravine of great beauty. orosius, paulus, spanish christian apologist of the th century, born at terragona, a disciple of augustine; wrote at his suggestion against the pagans a history of the world used as a text-book in the middle ages. orpheus, in the greek mythology son of apollo and the muse calliopë, famed for his skill on the lyre, from which the strains were such as not only calmed and swayed the rude soul of nature, but persuaded even the inexorable pluto to relent; for one day when his wife eurydice was taken away from him, he descended with his lyre to the lower world and prevailed on the nether king by the spell he wielded to allow her to accompany him back, but on the condition that he must not, as she followed him, turn round and look; this condition he failed to fulfil, and he lost her again, but this time for ever; whereupon, as the story goes, he gave himself up to unappeasable lamentings, which attracted round him a crowd of upbraiding mænades, who in their indignation took up stones to stone him and mangled him to death, only his lyre as it floated down the river seaward kept sounding "eurydice! eurydice!" till it was caught up by zeus and placed in memorial of him among the stars of the sky. orrery is a mechanical toy which exhibits, by an arrangement of rods, balls, and toothed wheels, the sun, the planets, and their moons, all performing their respective motions; so named after the earl of orrery, for whom charles boyle made the first one in . orsini, felice, italian conspirator, born of a noble family, but bred in the atmosphere of revolution and secret plotting; with three others attempted the life of louis napoleon; was defended by jules favre, but condemned to death and guillotined ( - ). orsova, two fortified towns on opposite banks of the danube, at the iron gates: old orsova ( ), in hungary, is a trading and shipping centre; new orsova, in servia, was repeatedly taken and retaken in the wars of the th century. orviËto ( ), an italian city in perugia, m. by rail n. of rome, is noted for its wines; it dates from roman times, and in the middle ages was a frequent refuge of the popes. oscans, a primitive people of italy occupying campania; were subjugated in the th century b.c. by the samnites, who amalgamated with them and were subsequently incorporated with the romans; the oscan tongue, a cruder form of latin, may have had its own literature, and is still extant on coins and in inscriptions. oscar i., king of sweden and norway, son of bernadotte, born at paris, reigned from to ( - ); oscar ii., king of sweden and norway, son of preceding, succeeded his brother charles xv. in , has distinguished himself in literature by translating goethe's "faust" into swedish, and by a volume of minor poems under his _nom de plume_ oscar frederick; _b_. . oscott, a village in staffordshire, m. n. of birmingham, the site of the roman catholic college of st. mary's, which claims to be the centre of catholicism in england; founded in , it was housed in magnificent buildings in , and became exclusively a training-school for the priesthood in , though it originally had laymen among its students. o'shaughnessy, arthur, poet, born in london; held a post in the natural history department of the british museum; wrote, among other works, three notable volumes of poems, "the epic of women," "lays of france," and "music and moonlight" ( - ). osiander, andreas, a german reformer, born near nüremberg, and attaching himself to luther, became preacher there, and eventually professor of theology at königsberg; involved himself in a bitter controversy with chemnitz on justification, ascribing it not to imputation, but the germination of divine grace in the heart, or the mystical union of the soul with god, a controversy which was kept up by his followers after his death ( - ). osiris, one of the principal gods of egypt, the husband of isis, who was his sister and the father of horus, who avenged the wrongs he suffered at the hands of the earth, his mother, in whose womb he was born and in whose womb he was buried; he was the god of all the earth-born, and subject to the like fate. osmanlis, name given to the ottomans, from that of their founder, osman or othman. osmose. if two liquids be separated from each other only by a skin or parchment, each will percolate through the membrane and diffuse into the other; the process is known as osmose, and is constantly illustrated in the animal and vegetable world. osnabrÜck ( ), a town in hanover, m. w. of hanover, with a bishopric founded by charlemagne, which was held by a brother of george i., and was secularised in . ossa, a mountain in thessaly, famous in greek mythology. see pelion. ossian, the heroic poet of the gaels, the son of fingal and the king of morven, said to have lived in the rd century, the theme of whose verse concerns the exploits of fingal and his family, the translation of which he brought home from fairyland, to which he had been transported when he was a boy, and from which he returned when he was old and blind; james macpherson, who was no gaelic scholar, professed to have translated the legend, as published by him in - - . ostade, adrian and isaac, two dutch painters, brothers, born at haarlem; adrian ( - ), and isaac ( - ). ostend ( ), a favourite watering-place on the sw. coast of belgium, m. due w. of antwerp; attracts , visitors every summer; it is an important seaport, having daily mail communication with dover, and it manufactures linen and sail-cloth; fishing is the chief industry; it is famed for oysters, which are brought over from england and fattened for export. ostia, the seaport of ancient rome, at the mouth of the tiber, now in ruins. ostracism, banishment (lit. by shell) for a term of years by popular vote from athens of any individual whose political influence seemed to threaten the liberty of the citizens; the vote was given by each citizen writing the name of the individual on a shell and depositing it in some place appointed, and it was only when supported by citizens that it took effect. ostrogoths, or the eastern goths, a teutonic people, who, having been induced to settle on the banks of the danube, in the pay of the roman emperor, invaded italy, and founded in the end of the th century a kingdom under theodoric, which fell before the arms of justinian in . oswald, st., king of northumbria, where by the aid of aidan (q. v.) he established the christian religion, after his conversion to it himself in exile among the scots; he died in battle fighting against penda, king of mercia; _d_. . oswego ( ), principal port on the e. of lake ontario, is at the mouth of the oswego river, in new york state; it has miles of quays, and extensive accommodation for grain, and has a large trade, especially with canada, in grain and lumber; the falls in the river are utilised for industrial purposes, the manufacture of starch and cornflour being famed. oswestry ( ), a market-town of shropshire, m. nw. of shrewsbury; has an old church, castle, and school, railway workshops, and some woollen mills. otago ( ), the southernmost province in the south island, new zealand, somewhat less in size than scotland, is mountainous and inaccessible in the w., but in the e. consists of good arable plains, where british crops and fruits grow well; the climate is temperate; timber abounds; there are gold, coal, iron, and copper mines, manufactures of woollen goods, iron, and soap, and exports wool, gold, cereals, and hides; founded in by the otago association of the free church of scotland, but immigration became general on the discovery of gold in ; education is promoted by the government in a university and many colleges and secondary schools; the capital is dunedin ( ), the chief commercial city of new zealand, the other principal towns being invercargill, port chalmers, oamaru, milton, and lawrence. othman, the third caliph, who ruled from to , was assassinated by mohammed, son of abu-bekr. othman or osman i., surnamed the conqueror the founder of the empire of the ottoman turks, born in bithynia ( - ). otho, roman emperor, had been a companion of nero; was created emperor by the pretorian guards in succession to galba, but being defeated by the german legionaries, stabbed himself to death after a reign of three months ( - ). otis, james, american lawyer, born in massachusetts, distinguished as a ringleader in the revolution in the colonies against the mother-country that led to american independence, for which he had to pay with his life and the prior loss of his reason ( - ). otranto ( ), a decayed seaport and fishing town of se. italy, m. s. of brindisi; founded by greek colonists, it was in early times the chief port of trade with greece; there is a cathedral and castle. ottawa ( ), capital of the dominion of canada, is situated m. up the ottawa river and its confluence with the st. lawrence, between the chaudière and rideau falls. here are the parliament buildings, the governor-general's residence, a roman catholic cathedral, numerous colleges and schools, and a great library. there is some flour-milling and some iron-working, but the chief industry is lumber felling. half the people are french roman catholics. it became the capital of the dominion in , and in ten years after the government was installed in its new buildings. ottawa river, the largest tributary of the st. lawrence, and one of the largest canadian rivers, is m. long; rising in the w. of quebec, it flows w., then s., then se., sometimes in a narrow channel, sometimes broadening even into lakes, receiving many tributaries, and passing down rapids and falls, and joins the st. lawrence at montreal; down its waters are floated immense quantities of lumber. otterburn, a northumberland village, m. s. of the border, famous as the scene of a struggle on th august between the douglases and the percies, at which the earl of douglas lost his life, and hotspur was taken prisoner. see chevy chase. otto or attar of roses, an essential oil obtained by distilling rose leaves of certain species in water, of very strong odour, pleasant when diluted; is used for perfumery; it is made in india, persia, syria, and at kezanlik, in roumelia. ottomans, the name given to the turks from othman (q. v.). otway, thomas, english dramatist, born in sussex, intended for the church; took to the stage, failed as an actor, and became a playwright, his chief production in that line being "alcibiades," "don carlos," "the orphan," and "venice preserved," the latter two especially; he led a life of dissipation, and died miserably, from choking, it is said, in greedily swallowing a piece of bread when in a state of starvation ( - ). oubliette, an underground cell, perfectly dark, in which prisoners were subjected to perpetual confinement, was so called as being a "place of forgetfulness," or where one is forgotten; they were often put secretly to death. oudenarde, a town in belgium, m. s. of ghent, scene of marlborough's third victory over the french in ; it contains a th-century hôtel de ville, with a fine tower, and some interesting churches. oudh ( , ), a province in the bengal presidency, occupying the basin of the gumti, gogra, and rapti rivers, and stretching from the n. bank of the ganges to the lower himalayas; is a great alluvial plain, through which these rivers flow between natural embankments, affording irrigation by their marshes and overflows. the sole industry is agriculture; the crops are wheat and rice, which are exported by rail and river. the population is one of the densest in the world, the labouring classes being very poor. the only large town is lucknow ( ), on the gumti. one of the earliest centres of aryan civilisation, oudh became subject to the empire of delhi in the th century, but was an independent state for a century prior to its annexation by the british in . oudinot, duke of reggio, marshal of france, born at bar-le-duc; served with distinction under the revolution and the empire; led the retreat from moscow, and was wounded; joined the royalists after the fall of napoleon, and died governor of the hôtel des invalides ( - ). ouida, the pseudonym of louise de la ramée, english novelist, born at bury st. edmunds; resides chiefly at florence; has written over a score of novels, "under two flags" and "moths" among the best; _b_. . ouse, the name of several english rivers, of which the chief are ( ) the yorkshire ouse, flowing through the great vale of york southwards to the humber, receiving the swale, ure, nidd, wharfe, and aire from the w. and the derwent from the e., and having in its basin more great towns than any other river in the country; ( ) the great ouse, rising in the s. of northamptonshire, pursuing a winding course ne. through the plains of buckingham, bedford, huntingdon, cambridge, and norfolk to the wash; and ( ) the sussex ouse. outram, sir james, british general, surnamed by napier the "bayard of india," born in derbyshire, began his military career in bombay, served in the afghan war and the war with persia, played an important part in the suppression of the mutiny, marching to the relief of lucknow, magnanimously waived his rank in favour of havelock, and fought under him ( - ). overbeck, friedrich, celebrated german painter, born at lübeck; was head of the new romantic or pre-raphaelite school of german art; had devoted himself to religious subjects, abjured lutheranism, and joined the roman catholic church; is famed for his frescoes "christ's entry into jerusalem" and "st. francis" in particular, still more than his oil-paintings; spent most of his life in rome ( - ). overbury, sir thomas, english gentleman, remembered chiefly from the circumstances of his death, having been poisoned in the tower at the instance of rochester and his wife for dissuading the former from marrying the latter, for which crime the principals were pardoned and the instruments suffered death; he was the author of certain works published after his death, and "the wife," a poem, his "characters," and "crumbs from king james's table" ( - ). overland route, the route to australia and the east across the european continent instead of round the cape of good hope, was inaugurated by lieutenant waghorn in , modified on the opening of the suez canal in , and is now _viâ_ france, the mont cenis tunnel, brindisi, the levant, suez canal, red sea, and indian ocean. overreach, sir giles, a character in massinger's play, "a new way to pay old debts." overstone, baron, english financier, represented hythe; was made a peer in ; wrote on finances; was opposed to limited liability and the introduction of the decimal system; died immensely rich ( - ). ovid (publius ovidius naso), roman poet of the augustan age, born at salmo, of equestrian rank, bred for the bar, and serving the state in the department of law for a time, threw it up for literature and a life of pleasure; was the author, among other works, of the "amores," "fasti," and the "metamorphoses," the friend of horace and virgil, and the favourite of augustus, but for some unknown reason fell under the displeasure of the latter, and was banished in his fiftieth year, to end his days among the swamps of scythia, near the black sea (b.c. - a.d.). oviedo ( ), capital of the spanish province of asturias, near the river nalon; is the seat of a university, library, and cathedral; it is the centre of the chief coal-field of spain; in the neighbourhood are a gun-factory and many iron-works. owen, john, puritan divine, born in oxfordshire, educated at oxford; driven from the church, became first a presbyterian then an independent; cromwell made him chaplain for a sermon he preached the day after charles i.'s execution, and he was presented in with the deanery of christ church, oxford, and next year with the vice-chancellorship, but on the restoration was deprived of both, after which, from , he spent his life in retirement; wrote an exposition of the epistle to the hebrews, on the holy spirit, and many other works in exposition of the puritan theology, which at one time were held in greater favour than they are now ( - ). owen, sir richard, celebrated english naturalist and comparative anatomist, born in lancaster; wrote extensively, especially on comparative anatomy and physiology, in which, as in everything that occupied him, he was an enthusiastic worker, being a disciple of cuvier; did not oppose, but was careful not to commit himself to, darwin's evolutionary theories; carlyle, who had two hours' talk with him once, found him "a man of real ability who could tell him innumerable things" ( - ). owen, robert, a socialist reformer, born in montgomeryshire; became manager of a cotton mill at new lanark, which he managed on socialist principles, according to which all the profits in the business above five per cent, went to the workpeople; in furtherance of his principles he published his "new views of society," the "new moral world," as well as pamphlets, lecturing upon them, moreover, both in england and america, but his schemes issued in practical failures, especially as proving too exclusively secular, and he in his old age turned his mind to spiritualism ( - ). owens college, manchester, a non-sectarian university, founded by john owens, a liberal churchman, in , and supported as well as extended by subsequent bequests, the medical school of which is one of the finest in the kingdom; of the students attending it in - , were arts students, women, and medicals. oxenford, john, english man of letters and critic; translated goethe's "dichtung und wahrheit," and "echermann's conversations with goethe"; was dramatic critic for the _times_, and wrote plays, as well as an "illustrated book of french songs" ( - ). oxenstiern, axel, count, swedish statesman, favourite minister of gustavus adolphus; supported him through the thirty years' war, though he disapproved of his engaging in it, and managed the affairs of the state with great ability after his death ( - ). oxford ( ), the county town of oxfordshire, seat of one of the great english universities and of a bishopric; is on the left bank of the thames, m. w. of london; it is a city of great beauty, its many collegiate buildings and chapels and other institutions making it the richest of english cities in architectural interest; naturally historical associations abound; here the mad parliament met and adopted the provisions of oxford in ; latimer and ridley in , and cranmer in , were burned in broad street; charles i. made it his head-quarters after the first year of the civil war; it was the refuge of parliament during the plague of . oxford school, the name given to the leaders of the tractarian movement, which originated at oxford in . oxford university, oxford is spoken of as a seat of learning as early as the th century. cloistral schools existed before that. schools of divinity, law, and topography were founded in the th century. in the th dominican and franciscan scholars raised it to a level only second to paris, and by the end of the th century there were thousands of students in attendance. oxford responded quickly to the renaissance, and by the time of the reformation colleges were founded. her protestantism stood firm through mary's reaction, sank into passive obedience under the stuarts, but woke up to resist james ii.'s catholic propaganda. thereafter followed a serious lapse in efficiency, but this century has seen a complete revival. oxford has now colleges, among which are balliol, christ church, magdalen, oriel, trinity, and university college; professors and teachers, and students. it is rich in museums and libraries; the bodleian library is of great value, the taylor library is devoted to modern literature. the oxford or tractarian movement, one of the most remarkable religious impulses of modern times, had its centre in the university between and . among distinguished oxford alumni were hooker, jeremy taylor, wesley, newman; hobbes, locke, adam smith; johnson, gibbon, freeman, green; chatham, gladstone; ruskin; shelley, keble, arnold, and clough. of the colleges of which the university consists, the university was founded in , balliol in , merton in , exeter in , oriel in , queen's in , new in , lincoln in , all souls' in , magdalen in , brasenose in , corpus in , christ church in , trinity in , st. john's in , jesus in , wadham in , pembroke in , worcester in , keble in , and hertford in . oxfordshire ( ), a s. midland county of england, stretching on the n. bank of the thames between gloucester and buckingham; is an agricultural district; bleak in the n. and w., it is hilly, well wooded and picturesque in the s., where are the chiltern hills; iron-stone is mined near banbury, blankets made at witney, and paper at shiplake and henley; natives of the county were edward the confessor, leland, warren hastings, maria edgeworth, and j. r. green. oxus or amu-daria, a great river of central asia, rises in the pamirs, and flows w. between turkestan and afghanistan, then n. through turkestan to the sea of aral; it is believed at one time to have flowed into the caspian, and there is record of two changes of course; half its waters are absorbed in irrigating the plains of khiva. oxygen, a colourless, inodorous gas which constitutes one-fifth in volume of the atmosphere, and which, in combination with hydrogen, forms water. it is the most widely diffused of all the elementary bodies, and an essential support to everything possessed of life. oyer and terminer, an english court commission to hear and determine special causes. ozone, is an allotropic form of oxygen, from which it can be developed by electricity, and into which it can be resolved by heat, present in small quantities in the atmosphere, and possessing strong oxidising properties. p pache, jean, swiss adventurer, who became mayor of paris, and even minister of war during the french revolution, "the sleek tartuffe that he was," is credited with the authorship of the famous revolutionary motto, liberty, equality, and fraternity, or death ( - ). pachomius, st., an egyptian hermit, the founder of conventual monachism, who established the first institution of the kind at tabenna, an island in the nile; he also established the first nunnery under his sister ( - ). festival, may . pachydermata, hoofed animals with thick skins and non-ruminant, such as the elephant and the hog. pacific ocean, the largest sheet of water on the globe, occupies a third of its whole surface, as much as all the land put together. it is a wide oval in shape, lying between australia and asia on the w., and north and south america on the e. except from asia it receives no large rivers. on its american shores the gulf of california is the only considerable indentation; the okhotsk, japanese, yellow, and chinese seas, on the asiatic coast, are rather wide bays shut in by islands than inland seas. its innumerable islands are the chief feature of the pacific ocean. the continental islands include the aleutian, kurile, japan, and philippine islands, and the archipelago between the malay peninsula and australia; the oceanic islands include countless groups, volcanic and coral, chiefly in the southern hemisphere, between the sandwich islands and new zealand. commerce on the pacific ocean is only beginning, but will increase vastly with the extension of the united states westward, the colonisation of australia, and the opening of chinese and japanese ports. san francisco and valparaiso on the e., hong-kong and sydney on the w., are just now the chief centres of trade. packhard, distinguished american entymologist and naturalist, born in maine; his classification of insects is accepted; _b_. . pactolus, a small river of lydia, famous for the gold contained in its sand, due, it was alleged, to midas washing the gold off him in its waters, and the alleged source of the wealth of croesus; its modern name is sarabat. see midas. pacuvius, an old latin dramatist, nephew of ennius (q. v.); wrote dramas after the greek models ( - b.c.). padang ( ), a town and free port on the w. coast of sumatra, the largest town on the island, and the dutch official capital. paderewski, ignace jan, a celebrated pianist, born at podolia, in russian poland; master of his art by incessant practice from early childhood, made his _début_ in with instant success; his first appearance created quite a _furore_ in paris and london; has twice visited the united states; is a brilliant composer as well as performer, and has composed numerous pieces both for the voice and the piano; _b_. . padilla, juan lopez de, a celebrated castilian noble, who headed a rebellion against charles v., which he heroically maintained till his defeat at villalos in , and which his wife, donna maria, no less heroically maintained against a strong besieging force after his capture and execution. padishah, from two persian words meaning "protector prince," is a title given to the shah of persia and the sultan of turkey, and at one time applied, among others, to the emperors of austria and russia. padua ( ), a walled city of venetia, m. by rail w. of venice, has some manufactures of leather and musical-instrument strings, but is chiefly interesting for its artistic treasures; these include the municipal buildings, cathedral, and nearly fifty churches, innumerable pictures and frescoes, and donatello's famous equestrian statue of gattamelata; there is also a renowned university, library, museum, and the oldest botanical garden in europe; after very varied fortunes it was held by venice - , then by austria till its incorporation in italy . livy was a native, as also andrea mantegna. pÆstum, an ancient greek city of lucania, in south italy, with remains of greek architecture second only to those of athens. pagan, isabel, scotch poetess, authoress of the plaintive song "ca' the yowes to the knowes" ( - ). paganini, nicolo, a celebrated italian violinist, born at genoa of humble origin; widely famous for his astonishing feats on a single-stringed instrument; was a composer of musical pieces for both violin and guitar; died rich ( - ). paganism, heathenism (q. v.), so called as lingering among the "pagani" or country people, after christianity had taken root in the large towns. pagoda, an indian or chinese temple, associated chiefly with buddhism, of a more or less pyramidal form and of several storeys, the most imposing being the greek pagoda of tanjore; the name is applied also to a gold coin worth s. d. stamped with a pagoda. pahlevi, name given to a translation of the zendavesta (q. v.) in the zend dialect for the use of the priesthood. paine, thomas, a notorious free-thinker and democrat, born in thetford; emigrated to america, contributed, as he boasted, by his pamphlet "common sense," to "free america," by rousing it to emancipate itself from the mother-country; wrote the "rights of man" against burke's "reflections"; had to emigrate to france; took part in the revolution to aid in its emancipation also, offended robespierre, and was put in prison, where he wrote the first part of his "age of reason," a book which offended the christian world and procured him ignominy and even execration in many quarters; died in new york, but his bones were conveyed to england by cobbett in ( - ). painter, william, author of "palace of pleasure," a collection of tales chiefly from italian sources, which proved suggestive in furnishing the dramatists with interesting subjects for representation ( - ). paisiello, giovanni, an italian composer, born at taranto; his great work, the opera "il barbiere di seviglia"; composed besides other operas, cantatas, requiems, &c. paisley ( ), a renfrewshire town, m. w. of glasgow, on the white cart. it is the chief centre of manufacture of cotton thread in the world, and its other industries include dyeing, bleaching, woollen goods, and engineering. there are several fine buildings, a baptist church is said to be the finest modern ecclesiastical building in scotland. the ornithologist wilson, professor wilson ( christopher north), and tannahill were born here. palacky, francis, distinguished bohemian historian and politician, born in moravia, author of a "history of bohemia," in vols., his chief work and a notable ( - ). paladin, the name given to the peers of charlemagne, such as roland, and also to knights-errant generally. palÆography, the name given to the study and the deciphering of ancient manuscripts. palÆologus, the name of a byzantine family, several members of which attained imperial dignity, the last of the dynasty dying in ; they came into prominence in the th century. palÆontology, the name given to the study of fossil remains, a branch of geology. palafox, don joseph, a spanish soldier, born of a noble aragonese family, who immortalised himself by his heroic defence of saragossa against the french in - ; on the fall of the place was taken to france and imprisoned till ; on his release was created duke of saragossa and promoted to other high honours at home ( - ). palais royal, a pile of buildings in paris, of which the nucleus was a palace built in by lemercier for richelieu, and known afterwards as the palais cardinal, and which at length by gift of louis xiv. became the town residence of the orleans family; these buildings suffered much damage in and in , but have been restored since . palamedes, one of the chiefs of the greeks at the siege of troy, a man of inventive genius; discovered the assumed madness of ulysses, but incurred his resentment in consequence, which procured his death. palanquin, in india and china a covered conveyance for one person borne on the shoulders of men. palatinate, the name of two states, originally one, of the old german empire, one called the lower palatinate or the palatinate of the rhine, partitioned in among the states of baden, bavaria, prussia, and hesse-darmstadt, and the other called the upper palatinate, now nearly all included in bavaria; the former has for principal towns spires and landau, and the latter ratisbon. palatine, one of the seven hills of ancient rome, and, according to tradition, the first to be occupied, and forming the nucleus of the city; it became one of the most aristocratic quarters of the city, and was chosen by the first emperors for their imperial residence. palatine count, a judicial functionary of high rank under the early frankish kings over what was called a palatinate. palatine counties, certain frontier counties in england, such as chester, durham, and lancaster, which possess royal privileges and rights. pale, the, that part of ireland in which after the invasion of the supremacy of english rule and law was acknowledged, the limits of which differed at different times, but which generally included all the eastern counties extending or m. inland. palenque, a town in the state of chiapas, mexico, discovered in , buried under a dense forest with extensive structures in ruins. palermo ( ), capital of sicily, picturesquely situated in the midst of a beautiful and fertile valley called the golden shell; is a handsome town, with many public buildings and nearly churches in moorish and byzantine architecture, a university, art school, museum, and libraries; industries are unimportant, but a busy trade is done with britain, france, and the united states, exporting fruits, wine, sulphur, &c., and importing textiles, coals, machinery, and grain. pales, in roman mythology the tutelary deity of shepherds and their flocks, the worship of whom was attended with numerous observances, as in the case of the nature divinities generally. palestine, or the holy land, a small territory on the se. corner of the mediterranean, about the size of wales, being m. from n. to s., and an average of m. from e. to w., is bounded on the n. by lebanon, on the e. by the jordan valley, on the s. by the sinaitic desert, and on the w. by the sea; there is great diversity of climate throughout its extent owing to the great diversity of level, and its flora and fauna are of corresponding range; it suffered much during the wars between the eastern monarchies and egypt, and in the wars between the crescent and the cross, and is now by a strange fate in the hands of the turk; it has in recent times been the theatre of extensive exploring operations in the interest of its early history. palestrina, an italian town, m. se. of rome, on a slope of the apennines, ft. above sea-level, on the site of the ancient præneste, with the remains of cyclopean walls, with a palace of the barberini (q. v.). palestrina, giovanni pierluigi de, celebrated composer of sacred music, surnamed the prince of music, born at palestrina; resided chiefly at rome, where he wrought a revolution in church music, produced a number of masses which at once raised him to the foremost rank among composers; was the author of a well-known _stabat mater_ ( - ). paley, frederick althorp, classical scholar, grandson of the succeeding, born near york; became a roman catholic, contributed to classical literature by his editions of the classics of both greece and rome, remarkable alike for their scholarship and the critical acumen they show ( - ). paley, william, "one of the most masculine and truly english of thinkers and writers," born at peterborough; studied at christ's college, cambridge, where he was senior wrangler, and obtained a fellowship, held afterwards various church preferments, and died archdeacon of carlisle; was a clear writer and cogent reasoner on common-sense lines, and was long famous, if less so now, as the author of "horæ paulinæ," "evidences of christianity," and "natural theology," as well as "moral and political philosophy"; they are genuine products of the time they were written in, but are out of date now ( - ). palgrave, sir francis, historian, born in london, of jewish parents of the name of cohen; was called to the bar in , and became deputy-keeper of her majesty's records in ; was the author of a history of the "rise and progress of the english commonwealth" and of a "history of england," tracing it back chiefly to the anglo-norman period, among other works ( - ). palgrave, francis turner, poet, son of preceding, born in london, professor of poetry at oxford, editor of "golden treasury of songs and lyrics," as well as author of lyrics, rhymes, &c.; _b_. . palgrave, william gifford, arabic scholar, born at westminster, brother of preceding; after a brief term of service in the army joined the society of jesus, and served as a member of the order in india, rome, and in syria, where he acquired an intimate knowledge of arabic, by means of which he contributed to our knowledge of both the arabic language and the arab race; wrote a narrative of a year's journey through arabia ( - ). pÂli, the sacred language of the buddhists, once a living language, but, like sanskrit, no longer spoken. palimpsest, the name given to a parchment manuscript written on the top of another that has been erased, yet often not so thoroughly that it cannot be in a measure restored. palingenesia, name equivalent to "new birth," and applied both to regeneration and restoration, of which baptism in the former case is the symbol; in the stoic philosophy it is preceded by dissolution, as in the rejuvenescence process of medea (q. v.). palinurus, the pilot of one of the ships of Æneas, who, sleeping at his post, fell into the sea, and was drowned. palissy, bernard, the great french potter and inventor of a new process in the potter's art, born in périgord, of humble parentage; celebrated for his fine earthenware vases ornamented with figures artistically modelled, but above all for his untiring zeal and patience in the study of his art and mastery in it, making fuel of his very furniture and the beams of his house in the conduct of his experiments; he was a huguenot, but was specially exempted, by order of catherine de' medici, from the massacre of st. bartholomew in , although he was in , as a huguenot, imprisoned in the bastille, where he died ( - ). palk's strait, the channel which separates ceylon from the mainland of india, m. long and m. wide, generally shallow. see adam's bridge. palladio, andrea, an italian architect, born at vicenza, of poor parents; was precursor of the modern italian style of architecture, and author of a treatise on architecture that has borne fruit; his works, which are masterpieces of the renaissance, consist principally of palaces and churches, and the finest specimens are to be met with in venice and in his native place ( - ). palladium, a statue of pallas in troy, on the preservation of which depended the safety of the city, and from the date of the abstraction of which by ulysses and diomedes the fate of it was doomed; it was fabled to have fallen from heaven upon the plain of troy, and to have after its abstraction been transferred to athens and argos; it is now applied to any safeguard of the liberty of a state. palladius, st., is called the "chief apostle of the scottish nation," but his connection with scotland during his lifetime is doubtful; he was sent to ireland by pope celestine in a.d. , whence, after his death, his remains were brought by st. ternan to fordoun, kincardineshire. pallas, one of the names of athena (q. v.) considered as the goddess of war; a name of uncertain derivation. pallas, peter simon, a german traveller and naturalist, born in berlin, professor of natural history in st. petersburg; explored siberia, and contributed to the geographical knowledge of the russian empire ( - ). pallavicino, ferrante, italian patriot, who gave offence by his pasquinades to the papal court and the barberini; was betrayed and beheaded ( - ). pallavicino, sforza, cardinal and historian, born at rome; was of the jesuit order, and wrote a "history of the council of trent," in correction of the work of paul sarpi ( - ). pallice, la, port of la rochelle, from which it is m. distant, with harbourage for ocean-going steamers. palm, johann philipp, a nürnberg bookseller, tried by court-martial at the instance of napoleon, and shot, for the publication of a pamphlet reflecting on napoleon and his troops, an act, from the injustice of it, that aroused the indignation of the whole german people against him; "better," thinks carlyle, "had he lost his best park of artillery, or his best regiment drowned in the sea, than shot that poor german bookseller" ( - ). palm sunday, the sunday before easter, is so called from its being commemorative of christ's triumphal entry into jerusalem; it is observed by the greek and roman churches; in the latter palm branches are blessed by the priest before mass, carried in procession, distributed to the congregation, carried home by them, and kept throughout the year. palma, , capital of the balearic islands ( ), on the bay of palma, sw. coast of majorca; has a gothic cathedral, a moorish palace, and a collection of pictures in the old town hall; manufactures silks, woollens, and jewellery, and does a busy trade. , one of the canary islands ( ), m. nw. of teneriffe; grows sugar, and exports honey, wax, and silk manufactures. palma, jacopo, or the old, a celebrated painter of the venetian school, was a pupil of titian; painted sacred subjects and portraits, all much esteemed ( - ). palma, jacopo, the young, nephew of the preceding, also a painter, but of inferior merit, though he aimed to be the rival of tintoretto and paul veronese ( - ). palmer, the name given to a pilgrim to the holy land who had performed his vow, in sign of which he usually bore a palm branch in his hand, which he offered on the altar on his return home. palmer, edward henry, oriental scholar, born at cambridge; had an aptitude for languages, and was especially proficient in those of the east; by his knowledge of arabic contributed to the success of exploring expeditions to s. palestine and sinai; was appointed professor of arabic at cambridge in ; produced a persian-english dictionary, an arabic grammar, and a translation of the korân, and in undertook two missions to egypt, in the latter of which he and his party were betrayed and murdered; he was a man of varied gifts and accomplishments, and the loss in scholarship to his country by his fate is incalculable ( - ). palmer, samuel, english landscape-painter, chiefly in water-colours ( - ). palmerston, henry john temple, viscount, english statesman, born, of an irish family, at broadlands, hants; was educated at the universities of edinburgh and cambridge; succeeded to his father's title, an irish peerage, in , and entered parliament in as member for newport, isle of wight; during his long career he subsequently represented cambridge university ( - ), bletchingly, south hampshire, and tiverton; from to under five premiers he was junior lord of the admiralty and secretary at war; and separating himself finally from the tory party, he joined earl grey's cabinet as foreign secretary in ; contrary to all expectation he kept the country out of war, and during the next years he associated england's influence with that of france in continental affairs; returning to office in , he remained at his old post till , steering england skilfully through the spanish troubles and the revolutionary reaction of ; a vote of censure on his policy was carried in the lords in , but, after a five hours' speech from him, the commons recorded their approval; he resigned owing to differences with the premier, lord john russell; in joined lord aberdeen's coalition ministry, and on its fall became himself prime minister in ; he prosecuted the crimean war and the chinese war of , and suppressed the great mutiny in india; defeated in , he returned to office next year with a cabinet of whigs and peelites; his second administration furthered the cause of free trade, but made the mistake of allowing the _alabama_ to leave birkenhead; he was prime minister when he died; a brusque, high-spirited, cheery man, sensible and practical, unpretending as an orator, but a skilful debater, he was a great favourite with the country, whose prosperity and prestige it was his chief desire to promote ( - ). palmistry, the art of reading character from the lines and marks on the palm of the hand, according to which some pretend to read fortunes as well. palmy`ra, a ruined city of asia minor, m. ne. of damascus, once situated in an oasis near the arabian desert; a place of importance, and said to have been founded by solomon for commercial purposes; of imposing magnificence as it ruins testify, as notably under zenobia; it was taken by the romans in , and destroyed by aurelian, after which it gradually fell into utter decay; its ruins were discovered in ; it contains the ruins of a temple to baal, of the columns of which were still standing. palo alto, m. se. of san francisco; is the seat of a remarkable university founded by senator stanford, and opened in , to provide instruction, from the kindergarten stage to the most advanced and varied, to students and pupils boarded on the premises; of these there were in . paludan-mÜller, frederick, distinguished danish poet, born in fünen; his greatest poem, "adam homo," a didactico-humorous composition; was an earnest man and a finished literary artist ( - ). pamela, a novel of richardson's, from the name of the heroine, a girl of low degree, who resists temptation and reclaims her would-be seducer. pamirs, the, or the "roof of the world," a plateau traversed by mountain ridges and valleys, of the average height of , ft., nw. of the plateau of thibet, connecting the mountain system of the himalayas, tian-shan, and the hindu kush, and inhabited chiefly by nomad kirghiz bands; territorial apportionments have for some time past been in the hands of russian and british diplomatists. pampas, vast grassy, treeless, nearly level plains in south america, in the argentine state; they stretch from the lower paraná to the s. of buenos ayres; afford rich pasture for large herds of wild horses and cattle, and are now in certain parts being brought under tillage. pampeluna or pamplona ( ), a fortified city of northern spain, is m. due se. of bilbao. it has a gothic cathedral and a surgical college, with manufactures of pottery and leather, and a trade in wine. formerly capital of navarre, it has suffered much in war; has this century several times resisted the carlists. pan, in the greek mythology a goat-man, a personification of rude nature, and the protector of flocks and herds; originally an arcadian deity, is represented as playing on a flute of reeds joined together of different lengths, called pan's pipes; and dancing on his cloven hoofs over glades and mountains escorted by a bevy of nymphs side by side, and playing on his pipes. there is a remarkable tradition, that on the night of the nativity at bethlehem an astonished voyager heard a voice exclaiming as he passed the promontory of tarentum, "the great pan is dead." the modern devil is invested with some of his attributes, such as cloven hoofs, &c. panama ( ), a free port in the state of colombia, on the pacific coast of the isthmus of the same name, and an oppressively hot and humid place, is the terminus of the panama railroad and the seat of a great transit trade. it has a spanish cathedral. the population, of indian and negro descent chiefly, is only half what it was when the canal works were in full operation. panama canal geographers were familiar with the idea of connecting the two oceans by a canal through central america as early as the beginning of the th century, and dutch plans are said to exist dating from the th century. the first practical steps were taken by ferdinand de lesseps in ; two years later work was begun; the cost was estimated at £ , , , but on january , , the company was forced into liquidation after spending over £ , , , and accomplishing but a fifth of the work. extravagance and incapacity were alleged among the causes of failure; but the apparently insurmountable difficulties were marshes, quicksands, and the overflow of the chagres river, the prevalence of earthquakes, the length of the rainy season, the cost of labour and living, and the extreme unhealthiness of the climate. panathenÆa, a festival, or rather two festivals, the lesser and the greater, anciently celebrated at athens in honour of athena, the patron-goddess of the city. panchatantra, an old collection of fables and stories originally in sanskrit, and versions of which have passed into all the languages of india, have appeared in different forms, and been associated with different names. pancras, st., a boy martyr of , who suffered under the diocletian persecution about , and is variously represented in mediæval legend as bearing a stone and sword, or a palm branch, and trampling a saracen under foot, in allusion to his hatred of heathenism. pandects, the digest of civil law executed at the instance of the emperor justinian between the years and . pandora (i. e. the all-gifted) in the greek mythology a woman of surpassing beauty, fashioned by hephæstos, and endowed with every gift and all graces by athena, sent by zeus to epimetheus (q. v.) to avenge the wrong done to the gods by his brother prometheus, bearing with her a box full of all forms of evil, which epimetheus, though cautioned by his brother, pried into when she left, to the escape of the contents all over the earth in winged flight, hope alone remaining behind in the casket. pandours, a name given to a body of light-infantry at one time in the austrian service, levied among the slavs on the turkish frontier, and now incorporated as a division of the regular army. pandulf, cardinal, was the pope's legate to king john of england, and to whom, on his submission, john paid homage at dover; _d_. . pange lingua, a hymn in the roman breviary, service of corpus christi, part of which is incorporated in every eucharistic service; was written in rhymed latin by thomas aquinas. pÁnini, a celebrated sanskrit grammarian, whose work is of standard authority among hindu scholars, and who lived some time between and b.c. panipat ( ), a town in the punjab, m. n. of delhi; was the scene of two decisive battles, one in to the establishment of the mogul dynasty at delhi, and another in to the extinction of the mahratta supremacy in north-west india. panizzi, antonio, principal librarian of the british museum from to , born at modena; took refuge in england in as implicated in a piedmontese revolutionary movement that year; procured the favour of lord brougham and a post in the museum, in which he rose to be one of the chiefs ( - ). pannonia, a province of the roman empire, conquered between b.c. and a.d. ; occupied a square with the danube on the n. and e. and the save almost on the s. border; it passed to the eastern empire in the th century, fell under charlemagne's sway, and was conquered by the modern hungarians shortly before a.d. . panopticon, a prison so arranged that the warder can see every prisoner in charge without being seen by them. panslavism, the name given to a movement for union of all the slavonic races in one nationality, a project which lags heavily owing to the jealousy on the part of one section or another. pantagruel, the principal character of one of the two great works of rabelais, and named after him; he and his father gargantua figured as two enormous giants, being personifications of royalty with its insatiable lust of territory and power. pantheism, the doctrine or creed which affirms the immanency of god in nature, or that god is within nature, but ignores or denies his transcendency, or that he is above nature; distinguished from deism, which denies the former but affirms the latter, from theism, which affirms both, and from atheism, which denies both. pantheon, a temple in rome, first erected by agrippa, son-in-law of augustus, circular in form, ft. in height, with niches all round for statues of the gods, to whom in general it was dedicated; it is now a church, and affords sepulture to illustrious men. also a building in paris, originally intended to be a church in honour of the patron saint of paris, but at the time of the revolution converted into a receptacle for the ashes of the illustrious dead, mirabeau being its first occupant, and bearing this inscription, _aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissant_; it was subsequently appropriated to other uses, but under the third republic it became again a resting-place for the ashes of eminent men. pantograph, the name given to a contrivance for copying a drawing or a design on an enlarged or a reduced scale. panurge, one of the principal characters in the "pantagruel" of rabelais, an exceedingly crafty knave, a libertine, and a coward. panza, sancho, don quixote's squire, a squat, paunchy peasant endowed with rude common-sense, but incapable of imagination. paoli, pasquale de, a corsican patriot; sought to achieve the independence of his country, but was defeated by the genoese, aided by france, in ; took refuge in england, where he was well received and granted a pension; returned to corsica and became lieutenant-general under the french republic, raised a fresh insurrection, had george iii. proclaimed king, but failed to receive the viceroyalty, and returned to england, where he died a disappointed man ( - ). papal states, a territory in the n. of italy extending irregularly from naples to the po, at one time subject to the temporal sovereignty of the pope, originating in a gift to his holiness of pepin the short, and taking shape as such about the th century, till in the th and th centuries the papal power began to assert itself in the general politics of europe, and after being suppressed for a time by napoleon it was formally abolished by annexation of the territory to the crown of sardinia in . paphos, the name of two ancient cities in the sw. of cyprus; the older (now kyklia) was a phoenician settlement, in which afterwards stood a temple of venus, who was fabled to have sprung from the sea-foam close by; the other, m. westward, was the scene of paul's interview with sergius paulus and encounter with elymas. papias, bishop of hierapolis, in phrygia, who flourished in the middle of the nd century, and wrote a book entitled "exposition of the lord's sayings," fragments of which have been preserved by eusebius and others; he was, it is said, the companion of polycarp. papier-mÂche is a light, durable substance made from paper pulp or sheets of paper pasted together and variously treated with chemicals, heat, and pressure, largely used for ornamental trays, boxes, light furniture, &c., in which it is varnished and decorated to resemble lacquer-work, and for architectural decoration, in which it is made to imitate plaster moulding; the manufacture was learned from the eastern nations. persia, india, and japan having been long familiar with it; america has adapted it to use for railroad wheels, &c. papin, denis, french physicist, born at blois, practised medicine at angers; came to england and assisted boyle in his experiments, made a special study of the expansive power of steam and its motive power, invented a steam-digester with a safety-valve, since called after him, for cooking purposes at a high temperature; became professor of mathematics at marburg ( - ). papinianus, Æmilius, a celebrated roman jurist; was put to death by caracalla for refusing, it is said, when requested, to vindicate his conduct in murdering his brother ( - ). papirius, a roman pontiff to whom is ascribed a collection of laws constituting the roman code under the kings. pappenheim, count von, imperial general, born in bavaria; played a prominent part in the thirty years' war; was distinguished for his zeal as well as his successes on the catholic side; was mortally wounded at lützen, expressed his gratitude to god when he learned that gustavas adolphus, who fell in the same battle, had died before him ( - ). pappus of alexandria, a greek geometer of the third or fourth century, author of "mathematical collections," in eight books, of which the first and second have been lost. papuans, the name of the members of the negro race inhabiting certain islands of oceania, including new guinea, new hebrides, new caledonia, fiji islands, &c. papy`rus, the greek name of the egyptian _papu_, is a kind of sedge growing ft. high, with a soft triangular stem, the pith of which is easily split into ribbons, found still in egypt, nubia, abyssinia, &c.; the pith ribbons were the paper of the ancient egyptians, of the greeks after alexander, and of the later romans; they were used by the arabs of the th century, and in europe till the th; at first long strips were rolled up, but later rectangular pages were cut and bound together book fashion; though age has rendered the soft white pages brown and brittle, much ancient literature is still preserved on papyrus; the use of papyrus was superseded by that of parchment and rag-made paper. parÁ ( ), a brazilian port at the mouth of the guama, on the e. shore of the pará estuary, is a compact, regularly-built, thriving town, with whitewashed buildings, blue and white tiled roofs, tree-shaded streets, tram-cars, telephones, theatre, and cathedral; it is the emporium of the amazon trade, exporting india-rubber and cacao, and sending foreign goods into the interior; though hot, it is healthy. parable, a short allegorical narrative intended to illustrate and convey some spiritual instruction. parabola, a conic section formed by the intersection of a cone by a plane parallel to one of its sides. paracelsus, a swiss physician, alchemist, and mystic, whose real name was theophrastus bombastus, born at einsiedeln, in schwyz; was a violent revolutionary in the medical art, and provoked much hostility, so that he was driven to lead a wandering and unsettled life; notwithstanding, he contributed not a little, by his knowledge and practice, to inaugurate a more scientific study of nature than till his time prevailed ( - ). paraffin, name given by baron reichenbach to a transparent crystalline substance obtained by distillation from wood, bituminous coal, shale, &c., and so called because it resists the action of the strongest acids and alkalies. paraguay ( ), except uruguay the smallest state in south america, is an inland republic whose territories lie in the fork between the pilcomayo and paraguay and the paraná rivers, with argentina on the w. and s., bolivia on the n., and brazil on the n. and e.; it is less than half the size of spain, consists of rich undulating plains, and, in the s., of some of the most fertile land on the continent; the climate is temperate for the latitude; the population, spanish, indian, and half-caste, is roman catholic; education is free and compulsory; the country is rich in natural products, but without minerals; timber, dye-woods, rubber, paraguay tea (a kind of holly), gums, fruits, wax, honey, cochineal, and many medicinal herbs are gathered for export; maize, rice, cotton, and tobacco are cultivated; the industries include some tanning, brick-works, and lace-making; founded by spain in , paraguay was the scene of an interesting experiment in the th century, when the country was governed wholly by the jesuits, who, excluding all european settlers, built up a fabric of christian civilisation; they were expelled in ; in the country joined the revolt against spain, and was the first to establish its independence; for years it was under the government of dr. francia; from to it maintained a heroic but disastrous war against the argentine, brazil, and uruguay, as a consequence of which the population fell from a million and a half to a quarter of a million; it is again prosperous and progressing. the capital is asunçion ( ), at the confluence of the pilcomayo and paraguay. paraguay river, a south american river m. long, the chief tributary of the paraná, rises in some lakes near matto grosso, brazil, and flows southward through marshy country till it forms the boundary between brazil and bolivia, then traversing paraguay, it becomes the boundary between that state and the argentine republic, and finally enters the paraná above corrientes; it receives many affluents, and is navigable by ocean steamers almost to its source. paraklete, the holy spirit which christ promised to his disciples would take his place as their teacher and guide after he left them. also the name of the monastery founded by abelard near nogent-sur-seine, and of which heloÏse (q. v.) was abbess. parallax, an astronomical term to denote an apparent change in the position of a heavenly body due to a change in the position or assumed position of the observer. paramar`ibo ( ), the capital of dutch guiana, on the surinam, m. from the sea, and the centre of the trade of the colony. paramo, the name given to an elevated track of desert on the andes. paranÁ river, a great river of south america, formed by the confluence of the rio grande and the paranahyba, in se. brazil, flows sw. through brazil and round the se. border of paraguay, then receiving the paraguay river, turns s. through the argentine, then e. till the junction of the uruguay forms the estuary of the plate. the river is broad and rapid, m. long, more than half of it navigable from the sea; at the confluence of the yguassu it enters a narrow gorge, and for m. forms one of the most remarkable rapids in the world; the chief towns on its banks are in the argentine, viz. corrientes, santa fé, and rosario. parcÆ, the roman name of the three fates (q. v.), derived from "pars," a part, as apportioning to every individual his destiny. parchment consists of skins specially prepared for writing on, and is so called from a king of pergamos, who introduced it when the export of papyrus from egypt was stopped; the skins used are of sheep, for fine parchment or vellum, of calves, goats, and lambs; parchment for drumheads is made from calves' and asses' skins. parcs-aux-cerfs, the french name for clearings to provide hunting fields for the french aristocracy prior to the revolution. parÉ, ambroise, great french surgeon, born at laval; was from the improved methods he introduced in the treatment of surgical cases entitled to be called, as he has been, the father of modern surgery, for his success as an operator, in particular the tying of divided arteries and the treatment of gunshot wounds; he was in the habit of saying of any patient he had successfully operated upon, "i cared for him; god healed him"; his writings exercised a beneficent influence on the treatment of surgical cases in all lands ( - ). pariah, a hindu of the lowest class, and of no caste; of the class they are of various grades, but all are outcast, and treated as such. paris ( , ), the capital of france, in the centre of the northern half of the country, on both banks of the seine, and on two islands (la cité and st. louis) in the middle, m. from the sea; is the largest city on the continent, and one of the most beautiful in the world. no city has finer or gayer streets, or so many noble buildings. the hôtel de cluny and the hôtel de sens are rare specimens of th-century civic architecture. the palace of the tuileries, on the right bank of the seine, dates from the th century, and was the royal residence till the revolution. connected with it is the louvre, a series of galleries of painting, sculpture, and antiquities, whose contents form one of the richest collections existing, and include the peerless "venus de milo." the palais royal encloses a large public garden, and consists of shops, restaurants, the théâtre français, and the royal palace of the orleans family. south of the river is the luxembourg, where the senate meets, and on the ile de la cité stands the palais de justice and the conciergerie, one of the oldest paris prisons. st.-germain-des-prés is the most ancient church, but the most important is the cathedral of notre dame, th century, which might tell the whole history of france could it speak. saint-chapelle is said to be the finest gothic masterpiece extant. the pantheon, originally meant for a church, is the burial-place of the great men of the country, where lie the remains of voltaire, rousseau, and carnot. the oldest hospitals are the hôtel dieu, la charité, and la pitié. the university schools in the quartier latin attract the youth of all france; the chief are the schools of medicine and law, the scotch college, the college of france, and the sorbonne, the seat of the faculties of letters, science, and protestant theology. triumphal arches are prominent in the city. there are many museums and charitable institutions; the bibliothèque nationale, in the rue richelieu, rivals the british museum in numbers of books and manuscripts. the palace of industry and the eiffel tower commemorate the exhibitions of and respectively. great market-places stand in various parts of the city. the rue de rivoli, rue de la paix, rue du faubourg st.-honoré, and the rue royale are among the chief streets; beautiful squares are numerous, the most noted being the place de la concorde, between the champs elysées and the gardens of the tuileries, in the centre of which the obelisk of luxor stands on the site of the guillotine at which louis xvi. and marie antoinette, philippe egalité, danton, and robespierre died. boulevards lined with trees run to the outskirts of the city. the many roads, railways, canals, and rivers which converge on paris have made it the most important trading centre in france, and the concourse of wealthy men of all nations has given it a high place in the financial world. it is a manufacturing city, producing jewellery, ornamental furniture, and all sorts of artistic "articles de paris." the centre of french, and indeed european, fashion, it is noted for its pleasure and gaiety. the concentration of government makes it the abode of countless officials. it is strongly fortified, being surrounded by a ring of forts, and a wall m. long, at the gates of which the octroi dues are levied. the préfect of the seine, appointed by the government, and advised by a large council, is the head of the municipality, of the police and fire brigades, cleansing, draining, and water-supply departments. the history of paris is the history of france, for the national life has been, and is, in an extraordinary degree centred in the capital. it was the scene of the great tragic drama of the revolution, and of the minor struggles of and . in recent times its great humiliation was its siege and capture by the germans in - . paris, the second son of priam and hecuba; was exposed on mount ida at his birth; brought up by a shepherd; distinguished himself by his prowess, by which his parentage was revealed; married oenonË (q. v.); appealed to to decide to whom the "apple of discord" belonged, gave it to aphrodité in preference to her two rivals hera and athena; was promised in return that he should receive the most beautiful woman in the world to wife, helen of sparta, whom he carried off to greece, and which led to the trojan war (q. v.); slew achilles, and was mortally wounded by the poisoned arrows of hercules. paris, matthew, english chronicler; a benedictine monk of st. albans; author of "chronica majora," which contains a history written in latin of england from the conquest to the year in which he died ( - ). park, mungo, african traveller, born at foulshiels, near selkirk; was apprenticed to a surgeon, and studied medicine at edinburgh; - he spent in a voyage to sumatra, and in went for the first time to africa under the auspices of the african association of london; starting from the gambia he penetrated eastward to the niger, then westward to kamalia, where illness seized him; conveyed to his starting-point by a slave-trader, he returned to england and published "travels in the interior of africa," ; he married and settled to practice at peebles, but he was not happy till in he set out for africa again at government expense; starting from pisania he reached the niger, and sending back his journals attempted to descend the river in a canoe, but, attacked by natives, the canoe overturned; and he and his companions were drowned ( - ). parker, john henry, archæologist and writer on architecture; originally a london publisher, his chief work the "archæology of rome," in nine vols., a subject to which he devoted much study ( - ). parker, joseph, an eminent nonconformist divine, born in hexham; minister of the city temple; a vigorous and popular preacher, and the author of numerous works bearing upon biblical theology and the defence of it; his _magnum opus_ is the "people's bible," of which vols. are already complete; _b_. . parker, matthew, archbishop of canterbury, born at norwich; was a fellow of cambridge; embraced the protestant doctrines; became master of corpus christi college, oxford; was chaplain to anne boleyn, and made dean of ely by edward vi.; was deprived of his offices under mary, but made primate under elizabeth, and the bishop's bible was translated and issued under his auspices ( - ). parker, theodore, an american preacher and lecturer; adopted and professed the unitarian creed, but discarded it, like emerson, for a still more liberal; distinguished himself in the propagation of it by his lectures as well as his writings; was a vigorous anti-slavery agitator, and in general a champion of freedom; died at florence while on a tour for his health ( - ). parkman, francis, american historian, born in boston; his writings valuable, particularly in their bearing on the dominion of the french in america, its rise, decline, and fall ( - ). parlement, the name given to the local courts of justice in france prior to the revolution, in which the edicts of the king required to be registered before they became laws; given by pre-eminence to the one in paris, composed of lawyers, or gentlemen of the long robe, as they were called, whose action the rest uniformly endorsed, and which played an important part on the eve of the revolution, and contributed to further the outbreak of it, to its own dissolution in the end. parliament is the name of the great legislative council of britain representing the three estates of the realm--clergy, lords, and commons. the clergy are represented in the upper house by the archbishops and bishops of sees founded prior to , in number ; the rest of the upper house comprises the dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons of the peerage of great britain who sit in virtue of their titles, and representatives of the scotch and irish peerages elected for life; the total membership is over ; the house of lords may initiate any bill not a money bill, it does not deal with financial measures at all except to give its formal assent; it also revises bills passed by the commons, and may reject these. of late years this veto has come to be exercised only in cases where it seems likely that the commons do not retain the confidence of the people, having thus the effect of referring the question for the decision of the constituencies. the lords constitute the final court of appeal in all legal questions, but in exercising this function only those who hold or have held high judicial office take part. the house of commons comprises representatives of the people; its members represent counties, divisions of counties, burghs, wards of burghs, and universities, and are elected by owners of land and by occupiers of land or buildings of £ annual rental who are commoners, males, of age, and not disqualified by unsoundness of mind, conviction for crime, or receipt of parochial relief. the commons initiates most of the legislation, deals with bills already initiated and passed by the lords, inquires into all matters of public concern, discusses and determines imperial questions, and exercises the sole right to vote supplies of money. to become law bills must pass the successive stages of first and second reading, committee, and third reading in both houses, and receive the assent of the sovereign, which has not been refused for nearly two centuries. parliament, the long, the name given to the last english parliament convoked by charles i. in , dissolved by cromwell in , and recalled twice after the death of the protector before it finally gave up the ghost. parliament of dunces, name given to a parliament held at coventry by henry iv. in , because no lawyer was allowed to sit in it. parliamentarian, one who, in the english civil war, supported the cause of the parliament against the king. parma ( ), a cathedral and university town in n. italy, on the parma, a tributary of the po, m. ne. of genoa; is rich in art treasures, has a school of music, picture-gallery, and museum of antiquities; it manufactures pianofortes, silks, and woollens, and has a cattle and grain market; parma was formerly the capital of the duchy of that name; it was the residence of correggio as well as the birthplace of parmigiano. parmenion, an able and much-esteemed macedonian general, distinguished as second in command at granicus, issus, and arbela, but whom alexander in some fit of jealousy and under unfounded suspicion caused to be assassinated in media. parmenides, a distinguished greek philosopher of the eleatic school, who flourished in the th century b.c.; his system was developed by him in the form of an epic poem, in which he demonstrates the existence of an absolute which is unthinkable, because it is without limits, and which he identifies with thought, as the one in the many. parmigiano, a lombard painter whose proper name was girolamo mazzola, born at parma; went to rome when and obtained the patronage of clement vii.; after the storming of the city in , during which he sat at work in his studio, he went to bologna, and four years later returned to his native city; failing to implement a contract to paint frescoes he was imprisoned, and on his release retired to casalmaggiore, where he died; in style he followed correggio, and is best known by his "cupid shaping a bow" ( - ). parnassus, a mountain in phocis, m. n. of the gulf of corinth, ft. high, one of the chief seats of apollo and the muses, and an inspiring source of poetry and song, with the oracle of delphi and the castalian spring on its slopes; it was conceived of by the greeks as in the centre of the earth. parnell, charles stuart, irish home-ruler, born at avondale, in wicklow; was practically the dictator of his party for a time and carried matters with a high hand, but at the height of his popularity he suffered a fall, and his death, which was sudden, happened soon after ( - ). parnell, thomas, english minor poet of the queen anne period, born in dublin, of a cheshire family; studied at trinity college, took orders, and became archdeacon of clogher; is best known as the author of "the hermit," though his odes "the night-piece on death" and the "hymn to contentment" are of more poetic worth; he was the friend of swift and pope, and a member of the scriblerus club ( - ). paros ( ), one of the cyclades, lying between naxos and siphanto, exports wine, figs, and wool; in a quarry near the summit of mount st. elias the famous parian marble is still cut; the capital is paroekia ( ). parr, catherine, sixth wife of henry viii., daughter of sir thomas parr of kendal, was a woman of learning and great discretion, acquired great power over the king, persuaded him to consent to the succession of his daughters, and surviving him, married her former suitor sir thomas seymour, and died from the effects of childbirth the year after ( - ). parr, samuel, a famous classical scholar, born at harrow; became head-master of first colchester and then norwich grammar-school and a prebend of st. paul's; he had an extraordinary memory and was a great talker; he was a good latinist, but nothing he has left justifies the high repute in which he was held by his contemporaries ( - ). parr, thomas, called old parr, a man notable for his long life, being said to have lived years and months, from to . parramatta ( ), next to sydney, from which it is m. w., the oldest town in new south wales; manufactures colonial tweeds and parramatta cloths, and is in the centre of orange groves and fruit gardens. parrhasius, a gifted painter of ancient greece, born at ephesus; came to athens and became the rival of zeuxis; he was the contemporary of socrates and a man of an arrogant temper; his works were characterised by the pains bestowed on them. parry, sir william edward, celebrated arctic explorer, born at bath; visited the arctic seas under ross in , conducted a second expedition himself in - , a third in - , a fourth in - with unequal success, and a fifth in in quest of the north pole _viâ_ spitzbergen, in which he was baffled by an adverse current; received sundry honours for his achievements; died governor of greenwich hospital, and left several accounts of his voyages ( - ). parsees (i. e. inhabitants of pars or persia), a name given to the disciples of zoroaster or their descendants in persia and india, and sometimes called guebres; in india they number some , , are to be found chiefly in the bombay presidency, form a wealthy community, and are engaged mostly in commerce; in religion they incline to deism, and pay homage to the sun as the symbol of the deity; they neither bury their dead nor burn them, but expose them apart in the open air, where they are left till the flesh is eaten away and only the bones remain, to be removed afterwards for consignment to a subterranean cavern. parsifal, the hero of the legend of the holy grail (q. v.), and identified with galahad (q. v.) in the arthurian legend. parson adams, a simple-minded th-century clergyman in fielding's "joseph andrews." parsons, robert, english jesuit, born in somersetshire, educated at oxford and a fellow of balliol college; he became a convert to roman catholicism and entered the society of jesus in ; conceived the idea of reclaiming england from her protestant apostasy, and embarked on the enterprise in , but found it too hot for him, and had to escape to the continent; after this he busied himself partly in intrigues to force england into submission and partly in organising seminaries abroad for english roman catholics, and became head of one at rome, where he died; he appears to have been a jesuit to the backbone, and to have served the cause of jesuitry with his whole soul ( - ). parthenogenesis, name given to asexual reproduction, that is, to reproduction of plants or animals by means of unimpregnated germs or ova. parthenon, a celebrated temple of the doric order at athens, dedicated to athena, and constructed under phidias of the marble of pentelicus, and regarded as the finest specimen of greek architecture that exists; it is ft. in length and ft. in height. parthenon means the chamber of the maiden goddess, that is, athena. parthenope, in the greek mythology one of the three sirens (q. v.), threw herself into the sea because her love for ulysses was not returned, and was drowned; her body was washed ashore at naples, which was called parthenope after her name. parthia, an ancient country corresponding to northern persia; was inhabited by a people of scythian origin, who adopted the aryan speech and manners, and subsequently yielded much to greek influence; after being tributary successively to assyria, media, persia, alexander the great, and syria, they set up an independent kingdom in b.c. in two great contests with rome they made the empire respect their prowess; between and b.c. they defeated crassus in mesopotamia, conquered syria and palestine, and inflicted disaster on mark antony in armenia; the renewal of hostilities by trajan in a.d. brought more varied fortunes, but they extorted a tribute of , , denarii from the emperor macrinus in . ctesiphon was their capital; the euphrates lay between them and rome; they were over thrown by ardashir of persia in . the parthians were famous horse-archers, and in retreat shot their arrows backwards often with deadly effect on a pursuing enemy. partick ( ), a western suburb of glasgow, has numerous villas, and its working population is very largely engaged in shipbuilding. partington, mrs., an imaginary lady, the creation of the american humorist shillaber, distinguished for her misuse of learned words; also another celebrity who attempted to sweep back the atlantic with her mop, the type of those who think to stave back the inevitable. pascal, blaise, illustrious french thinker and writer, born at clermont, in auvergne; was distinguished at once as a mathematician, a physicist, and a philosopher; at wrote a treatise on conic sections, which astonished descartes; at invented a calculating machine; he afterwards made experiments in pneumatics and hydrostatics, by which his name became associated with those of torricelli and boyle; an accident which befell him turned his thoughts to religious subjects, and in he retired to the convent of port royal (q. v.), where he spent as an ascetic the rest of his days, and wrote his celebrated "provincial letters" in defence of the jansenists against the jesuits, and his no less famous "pensées," which were published after his death; "his great weapon in polemics," says prof. saintsbury, "is polite irony, which he first brought to perfection, and in the use of which he has hardly been equalled, and has certainly not been surpassed since" ( - ). pas-de-calais, the french name for the strait of dover; also the name of the adjacent department of france. pasha, a turkish title, originally bestowed on princes of the blood, but now extended to governors of provinces and prominent officers in the army and navy. pasiphaË, the wife of minos (q. v.) and mother of the minotaur (q. v.). paskievitch, a russian general, born at poltava; took part in repelling the french in , defeated the persians in - and the turks in - ; suppressed a polish insurrection in and a magyar revolution in ; was wounded at silistria in and resigned ( - ). pasquino, a cobbler or tailor who lived in rome at the end of the th century, notable for his witty and sarcastic sayings, near whose shop after his death a fragment of a statue was dug up and named after him, on which, as representing him, the roman populace claim to this day, it would seem, the privilege of placarding jibes against particularly the ecclesiastical authorities of the place, hence pasquinade. passau ( ), a bavarian fortified town, situated at the confluence of the inn and the danube, m. e. of münich by rail; is a picturesque place, strategically important, with manufactures of leather, porcelain, and parquet, and trade in salt and corn. passing-bell, a bell tolled at the moment of the death of a person to invite his neighbours to pray for the safe passing of his soul. passion play, a dramatic representation of the several stages in the passion of christ. passion sunday, the fifth sunday in lent, which is succeeded by what is called the passion week. passion week is properly the week preceding holy week, but in common english usage the name is given to holy week itself, i. e. to the week immediately preceding easter, commemorating christ's passion. passionists, an order of priests, called of the holy cross, founded in by paul francisco, of the cross in sardinia, whose mission it is to preach the passion of christ and bear witness to its spirit and import, and who have recently established themselves in england and america; they are noted for their austerity. passover, the chief festival of the jews in commemoration of the passing of the destroying angel over the houses of the israelites on the night when he slew the first-born of the egyptians; it was celebrated in april, lasted eight days, only unleavened bread was used in its observance, and a lamb roasted whole was eaten with bitter herbs, the partakers standing and road-ready as on their departure from the land of bondage. passow, franz, german philologist, born in mecklenburg, professor at breslau; his chief work "hand-wörterbuch der griechischen sprache"; an authority in subsequent greek lexicography ( - ). pasta, judith, a famous italian operatic singer, born near milan, of jewish birth; her celebrity lasted from to , after which she retired into private life; she had a voice of great compass ( - ). pasteur, louis, an eminent french chemist, born at dôle, in dep. of jura, celebrated for his studies and discoveries in fermentation, and also for his researches in hydrophobia and his suggestion of inoculation as a cure; the pasteur institute in paris was the scene of his researches from ( - ). paston letters, a series of letters and papers, over a thousand in number, belonging to a norfolk family of the name, and published by sir john fenn over a century ago, dating from the reign of henry v. to the close of the reign of henry vii.; of importance in connection with the political and social history of the period. pastoral staff, a bishop's staff with a crooked head, symbolical of his authority and function as a shepherd in spiritual matters of the souls in his diocese. patagonia is the territory at the extreme s. of south america, lying between the rio colorado and the strait of magellan. chilian patagonia is a narrow strip w. of the andes, with a broken coast-line, many rocky islands and peninsulas. its climate is temperate but very rainy, and much of it is covered with dense forests which yield valuable timber; coal is found at punta arenas on the strait. the population ( ) consists chiefly of migratory araucanian indians and the chilian settlers at punta arenas. eastern or argentine patagonia is an extensive stretch of undulating plateaux intersected by ravines, swept by cold w. winds, and rainless for eight months of the year. the base of the andes is fertile and forest-clad, the river valleys can be cultivated, but most of the plains are covered with coarse grass or sparse scrub, and there are some utterly desolate regions. lagoons abound, and there are many rivers running eastward from the andes. herds of horses and cattle are bred on the pampas. the indians of this region ( ) are among the tallest races of the world. there are settlers at patagones on the rio negro, and a welsh colony on the chubut. patanjali is the name of two ancient indian authors, of whom one is the author of the "yoga," a theistic system of philosophy, and the other of a criticism on the sanskrit grammarian pánini. patchouli, a perfume with a strong odour, derived from the dried roots of an indian plant introduced into the country in . pater, walter horatio, an english prose-writer, specially studious of word, phrase, and style, born in london; studied at oxford, and became a fellow of brasenose college; lived chiefly in london; wrote studies in the "history of the renaissance," "marcus the epicurean," "imaginary portraits," "appreciations," along with an essay on "style"; literary criticism was his forte ( - ). paterculus, marcus velleius, a latin historian of the st century, author of an epitome, especially of roman history, rather disfigured by undue flattery of tiberius his patron, as well as of cæsar and augustus. paterson, robert, the original of scott's "old mortality," a stone-mason, born near hawick; devoted years of his life to restoring and erecting monumental stones to the memory of the scotch covenanters ( - ). paterson, william, a famous financier, born in tinwald parish, dumfriesshire; originated the bank of england, projected the ill-fated darien scheme, and lost all in the venture, though he recovered compensation afterwards, an indemnity for his losses of £ , ; he was a long-headed scot, skilful in finance and in matters of trade ( - ). pathos, the name given to an expression of deep feeling, and calculated to excite similar feelings in others. patlock, robert, english novelist, author of "peter wilkins," an exquisite production; the heroine, the flying girl youwarkee ( - ). patmore, coventry, english poet, born in essex, best known as the author of "the angel in the house," a poem in praise of domestic bliss, succeeded by others, superior in some respects, of which "the unknown eros" is by many much admired; he was a roman catholic by religious profession ( - ). patmos, a barren rocky island in the Ægean sea, s. of samos, m. in circuit, where st. john suffered exile, and where it is said he wrote the apocalypse. patna ( ), the seventh city of india, in bengal, at the junction of the son, the gandak, and the ganges; is admirably situated for commerce; has excellent railway communication, and trades largely in cotton, oil-seeds, and salt. it is a poor city with narrow streets, and except the government buildings, patna college, a roman catholic cathedral, and a mosque, has scarcely any good buildings. at dinapur, its military station, m. to the w., mutiny broke out in . it is famous for its rice, but this is largely a re-export. patois, a name the french give to a corrupt dialect of a language spoken in a remote province of a country. paton, john gibson, missionary to the new hebrides, son of a stocking-weaver of kirkmahoe, dumfriesshire; after some work in glasgow city mission was ordained by the reformed presbyterian church, and laboured in tanna and aniwa for twenty-five years; his account of his work was published in ; _b_. . paton sir joseph noel, poet and painter, born at dunfermline; became a pattern designer, but afterwards studied in edinburgh and london, and devoted himself to art; his early subjects were mythical and legendary, later they have been chiefly religious; he was appointed queen's limner for scotland in , knighted in , and in received his ll.d. from edinburgh university; his "quarrel" and "reconciliation of oberon and titania" are in the national gallery, edinburgh; the illustrations of the "dowie dens o' yarrow," and the series of religious allegories, "pursuit of pleasure," "lux in tenebris," "faith and reason," &c., are familiar through the engravings; "poems by a painter" appeared in ; _b_. . patras ( ), on the nw. corner of the morean peninsula, on the shores of the gulf of patras; has a fine harbour; is the chief western port of greece, shipping currants, olive-oil, and wine, and importing textiles, machinery, and coal; it is a handsome city, in the present century rebuilt and fortified. patriarch, in church history is the name given originally to the bishops of rome, antioch, and alexandria, and later to those also of constantinople and jerusalem, who held a higher rank than other bishops, and exercised a certain authority over the bishops in their districts. the title is in vogue in the greek, syrian, armenian, and other churches. it was originally given to the chief of a race or clan, the members of which were called after him. patricians and plebeians, the two classes into which, from the earliest times, the population of the roman state was divided, the former of which possessed rights and privileges not conceded to the latter, and stood to them as patrons to clients, like the baron of the middle ages to the vassals. this inequality gave rise to repeated and often protracted struggles in the commonalty, during which the latter gradually encroached on the rights of the former till the barrier in civic status, and even in social to some extent, was as good as abolished, and members of the plebeian class were eligible to the highest offices and dignities of the state. patrick, order of st., an irish order of knighthood, founded in by george iii., comprising the sovereign, the lord-lieutenant, and twenty-two knights, and indicated by the initial letters k.p. patrick, st., the apostle and patron saint of ireland; his birthplace uncertain; flourished in the th century; his mission, which extended over great part of ireland, and over thirty or forty years of time, was eminently successful, and at the end of it he was buried in downpatrick, henceforth a spot regarded as a sacred one. various miracles are ascribed to him, and among the number the extirpation from the soil of all venomous reptiles. patrick, simon, english prelate; distinguished himself, when he was rector of st. paul's, by his self-denying devotion during the plague of london; became bishop in succession of chichester and ely, and was the author of a number of expository works ( - ). patristic literature, the name given to the writings of the early fathers of the christian church. patroclus, a friend of achilles, who accompanied him to the trojan war, and whose death by the hand of hector roused achilles out of his sullenness, and provoked him to avenge the deed in the death of hector. patteson, john coleridge, bishop of melanesia, grand-nephew of coleridge; a devoted bishop, in material things no less than spiritual, among the melanesian islanders; was murdered, presumably through mistake, by the natives of one of the santa cruz groups ( - ). patti, adelina, prima donna, born in madrid, of italian extraction; made her first appearance at new york in , and in london at covent garden, as amina in "la somnambula," in , and has since made the round once and again of the continent and america, north and south; has been married three times, being divorced by her first husband, and lives at craig-y-nos castle, near swansea, wales; _b_. . pattison, mark, a distinguished english scholar, born at hornby, yorkshire; studied at oxford, and was for a time carried away with the tractarian movement, but when his interest in it died out he gave himself to literature and philosophy; wrote in the famous "essays and reviews" a paper on "the tendency of religious thought in england"; became rector of lincoln college, oxford; wrote his chief literary work, a "life of isaac casaubon," a mere fragment of what it lay in him to do, and left an autobiography, which revealed a wounded spirit which no vulnerary known to him provided by the pharmacopoeia of earth or heaven could heal ( - ). pattison's process, the name of a process for desilverising lead, dependent on the fact that lead which has least silver in it solidifies first on liquefaction. pau ( ), chief town of the french province of basses-pyrénées, on the gave de pau, m. e. of bayonne; is situated amid magnificent mountain scenery, and is a favourite winter resort for the english; linen and chocolate are manufactured; it was the capital of navarre, and has a magnificent castle; it stands on the edge of a high plateau, and commands a majestic view of the pyrenees on the s. pauillac, a port for bordeaux, on the left bank of the gironde. paul, the name of five popes: paul i., pope from to ; paul ii., pope from to ; paul iii., pope from to , was zealous against the protestant cause, excommunicated henry viii. in , sanctioned the jesuit order in , convened and convoked the council of trent in ; paul iv., pope from to , originally an ascetic, was zealous for the best interests of the church and public morality, established the inquisition at rome, and issued the first _index expurgatorius_; paul v., pope from to , his pontificate distinguished by protracted strife with the venetian republic, arising out of the claim of the clergy for immunity from the civil tribunals, and which was brought to an end through the intervention of henry iv. of france in ; it need not be added that he was zealous for orthodoxy, like his predecessors. paul, st., originally called saul, the great apostle of the gentiles, born at tarsus, in cilicia, by birth a jew and a roman citizen; trained to severity by gamaliel at jerusalem in the jewish faith, and for a time the bitter persecutor of the christians, till, on his way to damascus, in the prosecution of his hostile purposes, the overpowering conviction flashed upon him that he was fighting against the cause that, as a jew, he should have embraced, and which he was at once smitten with zeal to further, as the one cause on which hinged the salvation, not of the jews only, but of the whole world. he did more for the extension, if not the exposition, of the christian faith at its first promulgation than any of the apostles, and perhaps all of them together, and it is questionable if but for him it would have become, as it has become, the professed religion of the most civilised section of the world. paul i., czar of russia, son of the empress catharine ii., and her successor in ; was a despotic and arbitrary ruler; fought with the allies against france, but entered into an alliance with napoleon in ; was murdered by certain of his nobles as he was being forced to abdicate ( - ). paul and virginia, a celebrated novel by saint-pierre, written on the eve of the french revolution, in which "there rises melodiously, as it were, the wail of a moribund world: everywhere wholesome nature in unequal conflict with diseased, perfidious art; cannot escape from it in the lowest hut, in the remotest island of the sea"; it records the fate of a child of nature corrupted by the false, artificial sentimentality that prevailed at the time among the upper classes of france. paul samosata, so called as born at samosata, on the euphrates, a heresiarch who denied the doctrine of three persons in one god, was bishop of antioch, under the sway of zenobia, but deposed on her defeat by aurelian in . paulding, american writer, born in new york state; author of "history of john bull and brother jonathan," and the novels "the dutchman's fireside" and "westward ho" ( - ). pauli, reinhold, german historian of england, born in berlin; studied much in england, and became professor of history at göttingen; wrote "life of king alfred," "history of england from the accession of henry ii. to the death of henry vii.," "pictures of old england," and "simon de montfort" ( - ). paulicians, a heretical sect founded by constantine of mananalis about a.d. in armenia, and persisting in spite of severe persecution, were transferred to thrace in , where remnants were found as late as the th century; they held that an evil spirit was the creator and god of this world, and that god was the ruler of the next; they refused to ascribe divinity to christ, to worship mary, to reverence the cross, or observe the sacraments of baptism and eucharist; their name was derived from the special regard in which they held the writings of st. paul, from which they professed to derive their tenets; they were charged with manichæism, but they indignantly repudiated the imputation. pauline, browning's first poem, written at and published at , "breathless, intense, melodramatic," says professor saintsbury, "eschewing incident, but delighting in analysis, which was to be one of the poet's points throughout, and ultimately to prevail over the others." paulinus, the first archbishop of york, sent in company with augustin from rome by gregory to britain in : laboured partly in kent and partly in northumbria, and persuaded edwin of northumbria to embrace christianity in ; _d_. . paulus, heinrich, one of the founders of german rationalism, born near stuttgart; held in succession sundry professorships; denied the miraculous in the scripture history, and invented ingenious rational explanations, now out of date ( - ). pausanias, a famous spartan general, the grandson of leonidas, who, as commander-in-chief of the greeks, overthrew the persian army under mardonius at platæa in , but who, elated by this and other successes, aimed at the sovereignty of greece by alliance with xerxes, and being discovered, took refuge in a temple at athens, where he was blockaded and starved to death in b.c., his mother throwing the first stone of the pile that was cast up to bar his exit. pausanias, a greek traveller and topographer, lived during the reigns of antoninus pius and m. aurelius; wrote an "itinerary of greece" in books, the fruit of his own peregrinations, full of descriptions of great value both to the historian and the antiquary. pavia ( ), on the ticino, in lombardy, is an imposing "city of a hundred towers," with little industry or commerce; in its unfinished cathedral st. augustine was buried; san michele, where the early kings of italy were crowned, dates from the th century; the university was founded by charlemagne, and has now attached to it colleges for poor students, a library, museum, botanic garden, and school of art; stormed by napoleon in , pavia was in austrian possession from till its inclusion in the kingdom of italy . paxton, sir joseph, architect of the crystal palace, born in bedfordshire, was originally a gardener in the service of the duke of devonshire, and promoted to the charge of the duke's gardens at chatsworth, where he displayed the architectural ability in the construction of large glass conservatories which developed itself in the construction of the great exhibition of , for which he received the honour of knighthood ( - ). payn, james, english novelist, born at cheltenham; edited _chambers's journal_ and _cornhill magazine_; his novels were numerous and of average quality, "lost sir massingberd" and "by proxy" among the most successful ( - ). payne, john, actor and playwright, born in new york; resided in london from to ; most of his days a stranger in a strange land, immortalised himself as the author of "home, sweet home"; only his remains buried at home years after his death at tunis ( - ). peabody, george, philanthropist, born at danvers, now peabody, in massachusetts, u.s.; made a large fortune as a dry-goods merchant in baltimore and as a stockbroker as well in london; gave away for benevolent purposes in his lifetime a million and a half of money, and left to his relatives one million more; died in london; his body was laid beside his mother's at south danvers, u.s. ( - ). peace society, a society founded in for the promotion of permanent and universal peace; advocates a gradual, proportionate, and simultaneous disarmament of all nations and the principle of arbitration. peacock, thomas love, english novelist, born at weymouth; was pretty much a self-taught scholar, and no mean one, as his literary activity over half a century abundantly showed; held a post in the india house, his predecessor being james mill and his successor john stuart mill; was an intimate friend of shelley and the father-in-law of george meredith; he made his first literary appearance as a poet in two small volumes of poems, and his first novel was "headlong hall" as his latest was "gryll grange," all of them written in a vein of conventional satire, and more conspicuous for wit than humour; thackeray owed not a little to him, little as the generality did, he being "too learned for a shallow age" ( - ). pearson, john, english prelate, born in norfolk; held a succession of preferments in the church, and in the end the bishopric of chester, author of a very learned work "exposition of the creed," of which bentley said, "its very dross is gold" ( - ). peasant war or bauernkrieg, revolt of the peasantry in the s. and w. of germany against the oppression and cruelty of the nobles and clergy which broke out at different times from to , and which, resulting in their defeat, rendered their lot harder than before. the cause of the reformation, held answerable for the movement, suffered damage as well, but indeed the excesses of the insurgents were calculated to provoke the retribution that was meted out to them. pechili, gulf of, a great land-locked bay opening in the nw. of the yellow sea, receives the waters of the hoang-ho, and on opposite tongues of land at the mouth of it stand port arthur and wei-hai-wei. pecksniff, a pronounced hypocrite in dickens's "martin chuzzlewit," and who lies and cants whether he is drunk or sober. pecock, reginald, bishop in succession of st. asaph and chichester, born in wales; the author, among other works, of the "repressor of over much blaming of the clergy" and the "book of faith"; he wrote on behalf of the church against lollards, but he offended churchmen as well as the latter--churchmen because he agreed with the lollards in regard to the bible as the rule of faith, and the lollards because he appealed to reason as the interpreter of the bible; he displeased the clergy also by his adoption in theological debate of the mother-tongue, but figures since in literature as the first english theologian; he was accused of treating authority with disrespect as well as setting up reason above revelation, obliged to recant in a most humiliating manner, deprived of his bishopric, and condemned to solitary confinement, away from his books, all to a few, and denied the use of writing materials ( - ). pedro i., emperor of brazil, second son of john vi. of portugal; reigned from to , when he abdicated in favour of his son ( - ). pedro ii., emperor of brazil, son of preceding, ascended the throne in ; reigned peacefully till , when a sudden revolution obliged him to resign, and retire to europe and take up his abode in france, where he indulged his taste for science and learning ( - ). peebles, peter, a character in scott's "redgauntlet." peeblesshire ( ), a lowland scottish county bordered by lanark, midlothian, selkirk, and dumfries; comprises hilly pastoral land watered by the upper tweed; windlestraw, hartfell, and broadlaw are the highest of its grassy hills; among the lesser rivers are the leithen and quair; some crops are grown, but most of the land is devoted to sheep grazing; a little coal is found in the n.; the only towns are innerleithen ( ) and peebles ( ), the county town, engaged in tweed manufacture. the county is known also by the name of tweeddale; its representation in parliament is united with that of selkirk. peel ( ), a fishing town and holiday resort on the w. coast of the isle of man, m. nw. of douglas; it is noted for its castle. peel, sir robert, english statesman, born near bury, lancashire, the son of a wealthy cotton-spinner, to whose large fortune and baronetcy he succeeded; graduated at oxford in , and next year entered parliament as tory member for cashel; he afterwards sat for his own university, and after for tamworth; he was appointed under-secretary for the colonies in . and from till was secretary for ireland; in he became home secretary, but seceded from the government when canning became premier in ; the question at issue was catholic emancipation, and it was characteristic of peel that in the government which succeeded canning's he had the courage, having changed his opinions, to introduce the measure which removed the disabilities; opposed to reform he became leader of the conservative opposition in the parliament of ; called to the premiership in he could not maintain his administration, and it was not till that the victory of protection over the free-trade agitation gave him a stable majority in the commons; his first measure was a modification of the corn laws on protectionist principles, ; then followed the d. income-tax and general tariff revision; in the agitation for free-trade in corn was brought to a crisis by the irish potato famine; peel yielded, and next year carried the final repeal of the corn laws; his "conversion" split the tory party and he retired from office, becoming a supporter of the whig ministry in its economical and ecclesiastical policy; he was a master of finance, an easy speaker, slow to form but conscientious to act upon his convictions, a man of the highest character; his death was the result of a fall from horseback ( - ). peel towers, the name given to fortresses of the moss-troopers on the scottish border. peele, george, dramatist, of the elizabethan period, born in london; author of "arraignment of paris" and "david and bathsabe," full of passages of poetic beauty; has been charged with having led the life of a debauchee and to have died of a disease brought on by his profligacy, but it is now believed he has been maligned ( - ). peeping tom of coventry. see godiva. peers, the twelve, the famous warriors or paladins at the court of charlemagne, so called from their equality in prowess and honour. pegasus, the winged horse, begotten of poseidon, who sprung from the body of medusa when perseus swooped off her head, and who with a stroke of his hoof broke open the spring of hippocrene on mount helicon, and mounted on whom bellerophon slew the chimera, and by means of which he hoped, if he had not been thrown, to ascend to heaven, as pegasus did alone, becoming thereafter a constellation in the sky; this is the winged horse upon whose back poets, to the like disappointment, hope to scale the empyrean, who have not, like bellerophon, first distinguished themselves by slaying chimeras. pegu ( ), a town of lower burma, in the province and on the river of the same name, m. ne. of rangoon, is a very ancient city; the province ( , ) is a rice-growing country, with great teak forests on the mountain slopes. pei-ho, a river of north china, miles long; formed by the junction of four other rivers, on the chief of which stands pekin; has a short navigable course south-eastward to the gulf of pechili, where it is defended by the forts of taku. peirce, benjamin, american mathematician and astronomer, born in massachusetts, u.s.; wrote on the discovery of neptune and saturn's rings, as well as a number of mathematical text-books ( - ). peishwah, the name of the overlord or chief minister of mahratta chiefs in their wars with the mohammedans, who had his head-quarters at poonah, the last to hold office putting himself under british protection, and surrendering his territory; nominated as his successor nana sahib, who became the chief instigator of the mutiny of , on account, it is believed, of the refusal of the british government to continue to him the pension of his predecessor who had adopted him. pekin ( , ), the capital of china, on a sandy plain in the basin of the pei-ho, is divided into two portions, each separately walled, the northern or manchu city and the southern or chinese. the former contains the purple forbidden city, in which are the imperial palaces; surrounding it is the august city, in which are a colossal copper buddha and the temple of great happiness. outside this are the government offices, foreign legations, the temple of confucius, a great buddhist monastery, a roman catholic cathedral, and christian mission stations. the chinese city has many temples, mission stations, schools, and hospitals; but it is sparsely populated, houses are poor, and streets unpaved. pekin has railway communication with hankow, and is connected with other cities and with russia by telegraph. its trade and industry are inconsiderable. it is one of the oldest cities in the world. it was kubla khan's capital, and has been the metropolis of the empire since . pelagius, a celebrated heresiarch of the th century, born in britain or brittany; denied original sin and the orthodox doctrine of divine grace as the originating and sustaining power in redemption, a heresy for which he suffered banishment from rome in at the hands of the church. a modification of this theory went under the name of semi-pelagianism, which ascribes only the first step in conversion to free-will, and the subsequent sanctification of the soul to god's grace. pelasgi, a people who in prehistoric times occupied greece, the archipelago, the shores of asia minor, and great part of italy, and who were subdued, and more or less reduced to servitude, by the hellenes, and supplanted by them. they appear to have been, so far as we find them, an agricultural people, settled and not roving about, and to have had strongholds enclosed in cyclopean walls, that is, walls consisting of huge boulders unconnected with cement. peleus, the son of Æacus, the husband of thetis, the father of achilles, and one of the argonauts, after whom achilles is named pelides, i. e. peleus' boy. pelew islands ( ), twenty-six in number, of coral formation, and surrounded by reefs; are in the extreme w. of the caroline archipelago in the north pacific, and se. of the philippines. they belong to spain; are small but fertile, and have a healthy climate. the natives are malays, and though gentle lead a savage life. pelham, a fashionable novel by bulwer lytton, severely satirised by carlyle in "sartor" in the chapter on "dandies" as the elect of books of this class. pelias, king of iolchus, and son of poseidon, was cut to pieces by his own daughters, which were thrown by them into a boiling caldron in the faith of the promise of medea, that he might thereby be restored to them young again. it was he who, to get rid of jason, sent him in quest of the golden fleece in the hope that he might perish in the attempt. pelican, a bird, the effigy of which was used in the middle ages to symbolise charity; generally represented as wounding its breast to feed its young with its own blood, and which became the image of the christ who shed his blood for his people. pelides, a patronymic of achilles, as the son of peleus. pelion, a range, or the highest of a range, of mountains in the e. of thessaly, upon which, according to greek fables, the titans hoisted up mount ossa in order to scale heaven and dethrone zeus, a strenuous enterprise which did not succeed, and the symbol of all such. pelissier, a french marshal, born near rouen; was made duc de malakoff for storming the malakoff tower, which led to the fall of sebastopol in ; rose from the ranks to be governor-general of algeria, the office he held when he died ( - ). pella, the capital of macedonia, and the birthplace of alexander the great, stood on a hill amid the marches nw. of thessalonica. pellegrini, carlo, a caricaturist, born in capua; came to london; was distinguished for the inimitable drollery of his cartoons ( - ). pellico, silvio, italian poet and patriot, born in piedmont; suffered a fifteen years' imprisonment in the spielberg at brünn for his patriotism, from which he was liberated in ; he wrote an account of his life in prison, which commanded attention all over europe, both for the subject-matter of it and the fascination of the style ( - ). pellisson, paul, a man of letters and a wit of the age of louis xiv.; spent some five years in the bastille, but after his release was appointed historiographer-royal; in his captivity he made a companion of a spider, who was accustomed to eat out of his hand ( - ). pelopidas, a theban general, and leader of the "sacred band"; the friend of epaminondas; contributed to the expulsion ( b.c.) of the spartans from the citadel of thebes, of which they had taken possession in , after which he was elected to the chief magistracy; gained a victory over alexander of pheræ the tyrant of thessaly, but lost his life in while too eagerly pursuing the foe. peloponnesian war, a war of thirty years' duration ( - b.c.) between athens and sparta, which ended in the supremacy of the latter, till the latter was overthrown at leuctra by the thebans under epaminondas in b.c. this war is the subject of the history of thucydides. peloponnesus (lit. the isle of pelops), the ancient name of the morea of greece, the chief cities of which were corinth, argos, and sparta; it was connected with the rest of greece by the isthmus of corinth. pelops, in the greek mythology the grandson of zeus and son of tantalus, who was slain by his father and served up by him at a banquet he gave the gods to test their omniscience, but of the shoulder of which only demeter in a fit of abstraction partook, whereupon the gods ordered the body to be thrown into a boiling caldron, from which pelops was drawn out alive, with the shoulder replaced by one of ivory. pembrokeshire ( ), a maritime county, the farthest w. in wales; is washed by st. george's channel except on the e., where it borders on cardigan and carmarthen. it is a county of low hills, with much indented coast-line. milford haven, in the s., is one of the best harbours in the world. the climate is humid; two-thirds of the soil is under pasture; coal, iron, lead, and slate are found. st. david's is a cathedral city; the county town is pembroke ( ) on milford haven, and near it is the fortified dockyard and arsenal pembroke dock ( ). pemmican, a food for long voyages, particularly in arctic expeditions, consisting of lean meat or beef without fat dried, pounded, and pressed into cakes. the use of it is now suppressed. penance, in the roman catholic church an expression of penitence as well as the sacrament of absolution; also the suffering to which a penitent voluntarily subjects himself, according to the schoolmen, as an expression of his penitence, and in punishment of his sin; the three steps of penitence were contrition, confession, and satisfaction. penang or prince of wales islands ( ), a small fertile island near the northern opening of the straits of malacca, off the malay coast, and m. nw. of singapore; is one of the british straits settlements, of value strategically; it is hilly, and covered with vegetation; the population are half chinese, a fourth of them malays; figs, spices, and tobacco are exported. the capital is georgetown ( ), on the island. province wellesley ( ), on the mainland, belongs to the same settlement; it exports tapioca and sugar. the dindings ( ), m. s., are another dependency. penates, the name given by the romans to their household deities, individually and unitedly, in honour of whom a fire, in charge of the vestal virgins, was kept permanently burning. penda, a mercian king of the th century, who headed a reactionary movement of heathenism against the domination of christianity in england, and for a time seemed to carry all before him, but christianity, under the preaching of the monks, had gained too deep a hold, particularly in northumbria, and he was overpowered in in one final struggle and slain. pendennis, the name of a novel by thackeray, from the name of the hero, and published in - in succession to "vanity fair." pendleton, a nw. suburb of manchester, in the direction of bolton, with extensive manufactures and collieries. pendragon, a title bestowed on kings by the ancient britons, and especially on the chiefs among them chosen by election, so called from their wearing a dragon on their shields or as a crest in sign of sovereignty. penelope, the wife of ulysses, celebrated for her conjugal fidelity during his twenty years' absence, in the later half of which an army of suitors pled for her hand, pleading that her husband would never return; but she put them all off by a promise of marriage as soon as she finished a web (called after penelope's web) she was weaving, which she wove by day and undid at night, till their importunities took a violent form, when her husband arrived and delivered her. peninsular state, the state of florida, from its shape. peninsular war, a war carried on in spain and portugal during the years and , between the french on the one hand and the spanish, portuguese, and british, chiefly under wellington, on the other, and which was ended by the victory of the latter over the former at toulouse just after napoleon's abdication. penitential psalms or psalms of confession, is a name given from very early times to psalms vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx., which are specially expressive of sorrow for sin. the name belonged originally to the fifty-first psalm, which was recited at the close of daily morning service in the primitive church. penitents, order of, a religious order established in for the reception to the church of reformed courtesans. penn, william, founder of pennsylvania, the son of an admiral, born in london; was converted to quakerism while a student at oxford, and for a fanatical attack on certain fellow-students expelled the university; his father sent him to travel in france, and afterwards placed him in charge of his irish estates; his religious views occasioned several disputes with his father, and ultimately brought him into conflict with the government; he spent several periods of imprisonment writing books in defence of religious liberty, among them "the great cause of liberty of conscience" ( ); then travelled in holland and germany propagating his views; his father's death brought him a fortune and a claim upon the crown which he commuted for a grant of land in north america, where he founded ( ) the colony of pennsylvania--the prefix penn, by command of charles ii. in honour of the admiral; here he established a refuge for all persecuted religionists, and laying out philadelphia as the capital, governed his colony wisely and generously for two years; he returned to england, where his friendship with james ii. brought many advantages to the quakers, but laid him under harassing and undeserved prosecutions for treason in the succeeding reign; a second visit to his colony ( - ) gave it much useful legislation; on his return his agent practically ruined him, and he was a prisoner in the fleet in ; the closing years of his life were clouded by mental decay ( - ). pennant, thomas, traveller and naturalist, born near holywell, flintshire; studied at oxford, but took no degree; in he made a tour of cornwall; among his subsequent journeys, of which he published accounts, were tours in ireland ( ), the continent ( ), scotland ( and ), and wales; he wrote several works on zoological subjects, and published an amusing "literary life of the late thomas pennant, esq., by himself," ( - ). pennsylvania ( , ), most populous but one of the american states, lies n. of mason and dixon's line, separated by new jersey, on the e. by the delaware river, with ohio on the w., new york on the n., and lake erie at the nw. corner. the country is hilly, being traversed by the blue mountains and the alleghany ranges, with many fertile valleys between the chains, extensive forests, and much picturesque scenery. the cumberland valley in the w. is one of the best farming lands in new england. the alleghany river in the w. and the two branches of the susquehanna in the centre water the state. pennsylvania is the greatest mining state in the union; its iron-mines and petroleum-wells supply half the iron and most of the oil used in the country; its bituminous coal-beds in the w. are extremely rich, and the anthracite deposits of the e. are unrivalled; in manufactures, too, it ranks second among the states; these are very varied, the most valuable being iron, steel, and shipbuilding. founded by swedes, it passed to english settlers in ; the first charter was granted to william penn in . in the revolution it took a prominent part, and was among the first states of the union. education is well advanced; there are state colleges. the mining population includes many irish, hungarian, and italian immigrants, among whom riots are frequent. of the agriculturists many are of dutch descent, and about two millions still speak a low german _patois_ known as pennsylvanian dutch. harrisburg ( ) is the capital; the metropolis is philadelphia ( , ), the second largest city in the country; while pittsburg ( ), alleghany ( ), scranton ( ), and reading ( ) are among the many large towns. penny, originally a silver coin, weighed in the th century / -th of a saxon pound, but decreased in weight till in elizabeth's time it was / of an ounce troy. it was at first indented with a cross so as to be broken for halfpennies and farthings, but silver coins of these denominations were coined by edward i. edward vi. stopped the farthings, and the halfpence were stopped in the commonwealth. copper coinage was established in . the present coins were issued first in . they are half the size of their predecessors, and intrinsically worth one-seventh of their nominal value. penny wedding, a wedding at which the guests pay part of the charges of the festival. penrith ( ), a market town of cumberland, and tourist centre for the english lakes; contains a very old church and school, and ruins of a picturesque castle. brewing, iron-founding, and timber-sawing are its industries. penryn ( ), a cornish market town at the head of falmouth harbour; has manufactures of paper, woollen cloth, and gunpowder. it has considerable fishing industry, and ships the penryn granite quarried near. penseroso, ii, a famous italian poem by milton, written in . pensionary, the grand, a state functionary of holland, whose office, abolished in , it was to superintend state interests, register decrees, negotiate with other countries, and take charge of the revenues, &c. pentacle. see pentagram. pentagram, a symbol presumed to possess a magical influence, particularly to charm away evil spirits, formed by placing the figure of an equilateral triangle athwart another. pentamerone, a collection of tales in the neapolitan dialect, supposed to be told during five days by ten old women to a pseudo-princess, and published at naples ; is of great value to students of folk-lore. pentateuch, the name given by origen to the first five books of the bible, which the jews call the law or five-fifths of the law, the composition of which has of late years been subjected to keen critical investigation, and the whole ascribed to documents of different dates and diverse authorship, to the rejection of the old traditional hypothesis that it was the work of moses, first called in question by spinoza, and shown to be untenable by jean astruc (q. v.). pentecost (i. e. fiftieth), a great feast of the jews, so called as held on the fiftieth day after the second of the passover. it is called also the feast of harvest, or weeks of first-fruits, the passover feast being connected with the commencement and this with the conclusion of harvest. it is regarded by the jews as commemorative of the giving of the law on mount sinai, and will never cease to be associated in the christian memory with the great awakening from which dates the first birth of the christian consciousness in the christian church, the moment when the disciples of christ first realised in common that their master was not dead but alive, and nearer to them than he had been when present in the flesh. pentelicus, a range of mountains in attica between athens and marathon, famous for its quarries of fine white marble. penthesilea, the daughter of ares and the queen of the amazons; on the death of hector she came to the assistance of the trojans, but was slain by achilles, who mourned over her when dying on account of her beauty, her youth, and her courage. pentheus, a king of thebes, opposed to the introduction of the bacchus worship into his kingdom, was driven mad by the god, and torn in pieces by his mother and sisters, who, under the bacchic frenzy, mistook him for a wild beast. penthiÈvre, duc de, the father-in-law of philippe egalité, and the protector of florian ( - ). pentland firth is the strait between the orkneys and the scottish mainland connecting the north sea with the atlantic, m. long by broad, and swept by a rapid current very dangerous to navigation; vessels traverse it annually. pentonville, a populous district of london, in the parishes of st james's, clerkenwell, and islington, where is the pentonville model prison, built in - on the radiating principle to accommodate prisoners. penumbra, the name given to the partial shadow on the rim of the total shadow of an eclipse, also to the margin of the light and shade of a picture. penzance ( ), the largest town in cornwall, most westerly borough in england, and terminus of the great western railway, is beautifully situated on the rocky w. shore of mount's bay; its public buildings chiefly of granite. it has a fine harbour and docks, and is the centre of the mackerel and pilchard fishing industries. its mild climate makes it a favourite watering-place. people's palace, mile end road, london, is an institution for the recreation and instruction of the east-end population, opened by the queen in may , and owing its origin to the impulse given by sir w. besant's "all sorts and conditions of men." in it are a library, art galleries, concert and reading rooms, baths, gymnasium, &c., and technical classes and handicraft schools are held; these are attended by pupils, and the institution is visited by a million and a quarter people annually. pepin the short, king of the franks, was the son of charles martel, and at first shared with his brother carloman the viceroyalty of the kingdom under hilderik iii.; in carloman retired to a monastery, and five years later pepin deposed hilderik and ascended the throne; his kingdom embraced the valleys of the rhine, the rhône, and the seine; he united his interests with those of the church, and in entered italy to rescue the pope from the threatened domination of the lombards; reduced aistulf of lombardy to vassalage, assumed the title of patrician of rome, and by bestowing on pope stephen iii. the "exarchate" of the roman empire, laid the foundation of papal temporal sovereignty, five cities being placed under his jurisdiction; his subsequent exploits included the conquest of the loire valley and the expulsion of the moors from france; his fame was overshadowed by that of his son charlemagne; _d_. . pepsin, an essential constituent of the gastric juice extracted from the stomach of the calf, sheep, and pig, and used in medicine to supply any defect of it in the stomach of a patient. pepys, samuel, author of a famous diary, a scholarly man and respected as connected with different grades of society; held a clerkship in the admiralty, and finally the secretaryship; kept a diary of events from to , which remained in ms. till , when it was published in part by lord braybrooke, and is of interest for the insight it gives into the manners of the time and the character of the author; the latest and completest edition of this diary is that of h. b. wheatley, published in - , in eight vols. ( - ). pera, a suburb of constantinople, on the n. side of the golden horn, and the foreign diplomatic quarter. perÆa, "the country beyond," designated that part of palestine beyond or e. of the jordan. perceval, a hero of the legends of chivalry, famed for his adventures in quest of the holy graal. perceval, spencer, english statesman, born in london, son of the earl of egmont; bred to the bar; entered parliament as a supporter of pitt, and held a succession of posts under different administrations, attaining the premiership, which he held from to , on the th of may, of which year he was shot dead by a madman of the name of bellingham in the lobby of the house; he was devoted to the throne, and a man of upright character but narrow sympathies ( - ). percival, james gates, american poet and geologist, born at kensington, connecticut; took his degree at yale in , and qualified as a medical practitioner; he was for a few months professor of chemistry at west point, but retired and gave himself to literature and geology; his scientific works are valuable; "prometheus and clio" appeared in , "dream of a day" in ; he died at hazel green, wisconsin ( - ). percy, a noble english family of norman origin, the founder of which accompanied the conqueror, and was rewarded with grants of land for his services; a successor of whom in the female line, henry, the father of the famous hotspur, was created duke of northumberland in . percy, thomas, english prelate and antiquary, born at bridgenorth, shropshire, the son of a grocer; devoted himself to the collection of old ballads, and published in "reliques of ancient english poetry"; he published also ballads of his own, among them "the hermit of warkworth," and was the author of "o nannie, wilt thou gang wi' me?" he associated with johnson, burke, and other notables of the period, and was a member of dr. johnson's literary club; became bishop of dromore in , where he was held in affectionate regard; was blind for some years before he died ( - ). perdiccas, a favourite general of alexander the great, who, when on his deathbed, took his signet ring off his finger and gave it to him; he became an object of distrust after alexander's death, and was assassinated in egypt. pereira, jonathan, pharmacologist, born in london; author of the "elements of materia medica," a standard work; was examiner on the subject in london university ( - ). perekop, isthmus of, connects the crimea with the s. of russia; is pierced by a ship-canal. perez, antonio, spanish statesman, and minister of philippe ii., born in aragon; was the tool of the king in the murder of escoveda, the confidant of john of austria; was convicted of betraying state secrets and imprisoned, but escaped; being in possession of royal secrets, which he published, philippe tried every means to arrest him, but perez evaded capture, and found refuge in france, where he died in poverty ( - ). perfectionism, the doctrine that moral perfection is by divine grace attainable in the present life. perfectionists, an american sect or society founded by john humphrey noyes in at oneida, new york state, on communistic principles, but owning no law save that of the spirit, and subject to no criticism but the judgment they freely passed on one another, a system which they were obliged to modify in so far as to recognise the rights of matrimony and the family, and to adopt the principle of a joint-stock limited liability company, on which lines the community is proving a prosperous one. pergamos, the citadel of troy, a name frequently given by the poets to the city itself. pergamos, an ancient city of mysia, in asia minor; founded by a colony of greek emigrants in rd century b.c., and eventually the centre of a province of the name, which was subject for a time to macedonia, but threw off the yoke and became independent, till it became a roman province by bequest on the part of attalus iii. in b.c. the city possessed a library second only to that of alexandria, contained one of the seven churches mentioned in the revelation, and gave its name to parchment, alleged to have been invented there. peri, in the eastern mythology a fairy being of surpassing beauty, begotten of fallen spirits, and excluded from paradise, but represented as leading a life of pleasure and endowed with immortality; there were male peris as well as female, and they were intermediate between angels and demons. periander, the tyrant of corinth from to b.c., was one of the seven sages of greece, and a patron of literature and the arts; arion and anacharsis lived at his court. pericles, the great athenian statesman, born in athens, of noble parentage; was a devoted disciple of anaxagoras; entered public life b.c. as a democrat, and soon became head of the democratic party, to the increase of the power of the citizens and annihilation of the domination of the oligarchy centred in the areopagus; hostile to territorial aggrandisement, he sought, as his chief ambition, the unification of greece in one grand confederacy, but was defeated in this noble aim by the jealousy of sparta; he put down all rivalry, however, in athens itself, and established himself as absolute ruler with the consent of the citizens, reforming the laws, adorning the city, and encouraging literature and the arts, masters, many wise in the one and skilful in the other, he had at his disposal, such as few or none of the cities of the world had ever before or have had since; the resulting prosperity did but enhance the envy of the other states, sparta in particular, and two years before he died the spirit of hostility took shape in the outbreak of the peloponnesian war (q. v.); he had surrounded the city with walls, and his policy was to defend it from within them rather than face the enemy in the field, but it proved fatal, for it tended to damp rather than quicken the ardour of the citizens, and to add to this a plague broke out among them in b.c., which cut down the most valiant of their number, and he himself lay down to die the year after; he was a high-souled, nobly-bred man, great in all he thought and did, and he gathered around him nearly all the noble-minded and noble-hearted men of his time to adorn his reign and make athens the envy of the world; _d_. b.c. pÉrier, casimir, a french banker and politician, born at grenoble; took part in the revolution of , became minister of the interior in ; suppressed the insurrections at paris and lyons; died of cholera ( - ). perigee, the point in the orbit of the moon or a planet nearest the earth. pÉrigord, an ancient territory of france, s. of guienne, famous for its truffles, of which pÉrigueux (q. v.) was the capital; united to the crown of france by henry iv. in , it is now part of the department of dordogne and part of lot-et-garonne. pÉrigueux ( ), chief town of the department of dordogne, france, on the isle, m. by rail ne. of bordeaux, is a narrow irregular town with a cathedral after st. mark's in venice, museum of antiquities, and library; iron and woollens are the industries; truffles and truffle pies are exported. perihelion, the point on the orbit of a planet or comet nearest the sun. perim, a small barren, crescent-shaped island at the mouth of the red sea, belonging to britain, and used as a coaling-station. peripatetic philosophy, the name given to the philosophy of aristotle, from his habit of walking about with his disciples as he philosophised in the shady walks of the lyceum. pernambuco ( ), a seaport in n. brazil, consists of three portions connected by bridges: recife, on a peninsula, the business quarter; san antonio, the modern quarter, on an intermediate island; and bon vista, on the mainland; manufactures cotton and tobacco, and has shipbuilding yards; the trade chiefly with england, the united states, and france; it is the capital of a province ( , ) of the name, producing sugar and cotton. peronella, in fairy legend a pretty country lass who exchanges places with an old wizened queen, and receives the homage due to royalty, but gladly takes back her rags and beauty. perowne, stewart, bishop of worcester, born at burdwân, of huguenot extraction, educated at cambridge; became a fellow of corpus christi; held several academic and ecclesiastical appointments; an eminent hebrew scholar and exegete; his chief work a commentary on the psalms; _b_. . perpignan ( ), a town on the têt, m. from the sea; a fortress in the french department of pyrénées-orientales; has a cathedral of the th century and a bourse in moorish-gothic, and manufactures wine and brandy; belonged originally to aragon; was taken by france in , and retaken, after restoration to spain, in , since which time it has belonged to france. perrault, charles, french man of letters, born in paris; bred to the bar; distinguished as the author of inimitable fairy tales, which have immortalised his name, as "puss in boots," "cinderella," "bluebeard," &c., as also "parallel des anciens et des modernes," in which his aim was to show--an ill-informed attempt--that the ancients were inferior in everything to the moderns ( - ). persecutions of the church, by which are meant those at the hands of imperial rome, are usually reckoned in number, viz., those under nero in , domitian , trajan , hadrian , marcus aurelius , severus , maximinus , decius , valerianus , and diocletian ; besides these there were others quite as deadly within the church itself on the part of orthodox against heterodox, or catholic against protestant, and established against nonconformist. persephone, in the greek mythology the daughter of zeus and demeter, the proserpine of the romans. see proserpine. persepolis, the ancient capital of persia, represented now by its ruins, which stand m. from the nw. shores of lake niris, on the banks of the murghab river, though in its palmy days it was described as "the glory of the east." perseus, in the greek mythology the son of zeus and danaë, and the grandson of acrisius, king of argos, of whom it was predicted before his birth that he would kill his grandfather, who at his birth enclosed both his mother and him in a chest and cast it into the sea, which bore them to an island where they became slaves of the king, polydectes, who sought to marry danaë; failing in his suit, and to compel her to submission, he ordered perseus off to fetch him the head of the medusa; who, aided by hermes and athena, was successful in his mission, cut off the head of the medusa with the help of a mirror and sickle, brought it away with him in a pouch, and after delivering and marrying andromeda in his return journey, exposed the head before polydectes and court at a banquet, which turned them all into stone, whereupon he gave the gorgon's head to athena to place on her shield, and set out for argos; acrisius hearing of his approach fled, but was afterwards killed accidentally by his grandson, who in throwing a discus had crushed his foot. persia ( , ), occupies the tableland ft. high between the persian gulf and arabian sea on the s., the caspian sea and turkestan on the n., armenia on the w., and afghanistan and beluchistan on the e., and is a country three times as large as france; lofty mountain ranges traverse it from nw. to se. and gird its northern boundary; the highest peak is mount demavend, , ft., in the elburz, overlooking the caspian. most of the rivers evaporate inland; only one is navigable, the karun, in the sw.; lake urumiyah, in the nw., is the largest, a very salt and shallow sheet of water. the eastern half of the country is largely desert, where the sand is swept about in clouds by the winds. with little rain, the climate is intensely hot in summer and cold in winter. forests clothe the outer slopes of the mountains, and scanty brushwood the inner plains. wheat and barley are grown on higher levels, and cotton, sugar, and fruits on the lower, all with the help of irrigation. agriculture is the chief industry; there are manufactures of carpets, shawls, and porcelain. the internal trade is carried on by caravans; foreign trade is not extensive, and is chiefly in russian hands; the exports include opium, carpets, pearls, and turquoises. the capital is teheran ( ), a narrow, crooked, filthy town, at the southern foot of the elburz. tabriz ( ), in the nw., is the emporium of trade. ispahân ( ), meshed ( ), barfurush ( ), and shiraz ( ) are the other important towns. the government is despotic; the emperor is called the shah. the people are courteous and refined in manner, witty, and fluent in speech; they are of aryan stock and mohammedan faith. the original empire of persia was established by cyrus b.c. a century later decay set in. revival under parthian and sassanian dynasties lasted from b.c. till a.d. . persia became then a province of the arabs. from the th century it fell under mongol sway, and again in the th century under turkish. the present dynasty was founded in . the future of the country is in russian and british hands. persian gulf, a great inland sea lying between arabia and persia, and entered from the indian ocean through the gulf of oman; is m. long and from to m. broad. the arabian coast is low and sandy, the persian high. the chief islands are in the w., where also is the great pearl bank. the only river of importance received is the shat-el-arab, which brings down the waters of the euphrates and the tigris. persian wars, wars conducted by persia in the three expeditions against greece, first in b.c. under darius, and defeated by the athenians under miltiades at marathon; the second, b.c., under xerxes, opposed by leonidas and his spartans at thermopylæ and defeated by the athenians under themistocles at salamis by sea; and the third, in b.c., under xerxes, by the greeks under the spartan pausanius at platæa. persians, a name given to sculptured draped male figures used as columns. persians, the, belonged to the aryan race, hence iran, the original name of their country; they were related rather to the western than the eastern world, and it is from them that continuous history takes its start; they first recognised an ethereal essence, which they called light, as the principle of all good, and man as related to it in such a way that, by the worship of it, he became assimilated to it himself. among them first the individual subject stood face to face with a universal object, and claimed a kinship with it as the light of life. the epoch thus created was the emancipation of the human being from dependent childhood to self-dependent manhood, and it constituted the first epoch in the self-conscious history, which is the history proper, of the human race. the idea the persians formed of the principle of good came far short of the reality indeed, but they first saw that it was of purely illuminating quality and universal, and that the destiny of man was to relate himself to it, to know, worship, and obey it. with the ethereal principle of good they associated an equally ethereal principle of evil, and, as they identified the one with light, they identified the other with darkness. man they regarded as related to both, and his destiny to adore the one and disown the other as master. as the light had no portion in the darkness, and the darkness no portion in the light, the religion arose which pervades that of the bible, which requires the children of the former to separate from those of the latter. persiflage, a french term for a light, quizzing mockery, or scoffing, specially on serious subjects, out of a cool, callous contempt for them. persigny, fialin, duc de, a french statesman, a supporter all along of louis napoleon, abetting him in all his efforts to attain the throne of france, from the affair of strasburg in to the _coup d'état_ of december , and becoming in the end minister of the interior under him; had to leave france at his fall ( - ). persius, the last king of macedonia; was conquered by paulus Æmilius, and died captive at rome b.c. persius, roman satirist, born in etruria, was a pupil and friend of cornutus the stoic; a man much esteemed, who died young, only ; wrote six short satires in the purity of a white-souled manhood, of much native vigour, though not equal to those of horace and juvenal, and that have commanded the regard of all scholars down to the present time; they have often been translated ( - ). perth ( ), the county-town of perthshire, on the tay, m. w. of dundee: is a beautifully situated town, with fine buildings, the only old one being the restored st. john's church. its industries are dyeing and ink-making. at scone, m. distant, the kings of scotland were crowned; and the murder of james i., the gowrie conspiracy, and the battle of tippermuir are but a few of its many historical associations. "the five articles of perth," adopted by a general assembly held there in , did much to precipitate the conflict between the royal power and the scottish church; they enjoined kneeling at the lord's supper, observance of christmas, good friday, easter, and pentecost, confirmation, and the private administration of the sacraments. perth ( ), the capital of west australia, on the swan river. perthshire ( ), the most beautiful and varied county in scotland, occupies the whole of the tay valley and part of the forth, and is bounded by nine other counties. the n. and w. are mountainous, with many rivers and lakes, and much of the finest scenery in scotland; the trossachs and loch katrine are world famed. in the e. is extensive woodland and the carse of gowrie, one of the most fertile of scottish plains. ben lawers is the highest mountain, loch tay the largest lake. much of the soil is good only for sheep farms, deer forests, and grouse moors; the county is visited annually by thousands of tourists and sportsmen. pertinax, helvius, roman emperor in succession to commodus; rose from the ranks by his military services to the imperial dignity, which he was pressed to accept against his will, and was assassinated by the prætorian guards less than three months after, in consequence of the reforms he projected in order to restore the ancient discipline of the army ( - ). perturbations, name given to irregularities or slight deviations in the movement of a heavenly body, due chiefly to the neighbourhood of another point in its orbit. peru ( , ), a country in the w. of south america, twice the size of austro-hungary, lies between brazil and bolivia and the pacific, with ecuador on the n. and chile on the s.; it consists of a seaboard plain, hot and rainless, but intersected by rich river courses, in which sugar, cotton, and coffee are grown; the andes chains, snow-tipped and presenting every kind of climate and variety of vegetation on their slopes and in their valleys, rich in minerals and yielding chiefly great quantities of silver; and the montana, the eastward slopes of the andes, clad with valuable forests where the cinchona is cultivated, and the upland basins of the ucayalé river and the upper amazon, very fertile, with great coffee and cacao plantations and abundant rain; the chief articles of export are silver, nitre, guano, sugar, and wool. lima ( ), the capital, is m. inland from its port callao ( ); has an old cathedral, and is the chief centre of commerce; its principal merchants are germans. the government is republican; the ruling classes are of spanish descent, but half of the population are inca indians and a quarter are half-castes. from the th to the th centuries the incas enjoyed a high state of civilisation and an extensive empire administered on socialistic principles; they attained great skill in the industries and arts. the spanish conqueror pizarro, landing in , overthrew the empire and established the colony; after three centuries of oppression peru threw off the spanish yoke in . the history of the republic has been one of continual restlessness, and a war with chile - ended in complete disaster; recovery is slowly progressing. perugia ( ), italian walled city on the right bank of the tiber, m. by rail n. of rome, with a cathedral of the th century, some noteworthy churches, a gothic municipal palace, picture gallery, university, and library; is rich in art treasures and antiquarian remains; it has silk and woollen industries; it was anciently called perusia, and one of the cities of ancient etruria, and in its day has experienced very varied fortunes; it was the centre of the umbrian school of painting. perugino, his proper name vannucci, italian painter, born near perugia, whence his name; studied with leonardo da vinci at florence, where he chiefly resided; was one of the teachers of raphael, painted religious subjects, did frescoes for churches that have nearly all perished, a "christ giving the keys to peter" being the best extant; ruskin contrasts his work with turner's; "in turner's distinctive work," he says, "colour is scarcely acknowledged unless under influence of sunshine ... wherever the sun is not, there is melancholy and evil," but "in perugino's distinctive work"--to whom he therefore gives "the captain's place over all"--"there is simply _no_ darkness, _no_ wrong. every colour is lovely and every space is light; the world, the universe, is divine; all sadness is a part of harmony, and all gloom a part of light" ( - ). peschiera, one of the fortresses of the quadrilateral (q. v.), on an island in the mincio, m. w. of verona. peshawar or peshawur ( ), a town on the indian frontier, and centre of trade with afghanistan, is m. from the entrance of the khyber pass, on the kabul river, and though ill-fortified is a bulwark of the empire, being provided with a large garrison of infantry and artillery. peshito (i. e. simple), a version of the bible in syriac, executed not later than the middle of the nd century for judaic christians in the syrian church, the version of the old testament being executed direct from the hebrew and that of the new being the first translation of the greek of it into a foreign tongue, and both of value in questions affecting exegesis and the original text; the new testament version contains all the books now included except the apocalypse, jude, peter, and and john. pessimism, a name given now to a habit of feeling, now to a system of opinion; as the former it denotes a tendency to dwell on the dark or gloomy side of things, culminating in a sense of their vanity and nothingness, while in the latter it is applied to all systems of opinion which lay the finger on some black spot in the structure of the life of the world or of the universe, which so long as it remains is thought to render it unworthy of existence. pestalozzi, johann heinrich, a celebrated educationist, born at zurich; founder of a natural system of education, beginning with childhood, and who, however unsuccessful in the working of it himself from his want of administrative faculty, persuaded others by his writings to adopt it, especially in germany, and to adopt it both enthusiastically and successfully; his method, which he derived from rousseau, was based on the study of human nature as we find it born in the child, and it aimed at the harmonious development of all its innate capabilities, beginning with the most rudimentary ( - ). pesth or budapest ( ), on the left bank of the danube, forming one municipality with buda on the right, is the capital of hungary, and m. by rail e. of vienna; pesth is built on a plain, joined to buda by three bridges, the last on the danube, and is a thriving modern city, with picture galleries, parliament house, library, university, science schools, many baths, and public gardens; it makes machinery, agricultural implements, cutlery, flour, &c., and does a great trade in corn, wool, hides, wines, and bacon. petalism, banishment in sparta similar to ostracism in athens, procured by writing the name on an olive leaf. petard, a cone-shaped explosive machine for bursting open gates, barriers, &c., made of iron and filled with powder and ball. petasus, the winged-cap of the god mercury. petchora, the largest river in northern russia, rises in the ural mountains and flows n. through vologda and archangel, then westward and n. again, entering the arctic ocean by a large, island-studded estuary, after a course of m. through sombre forests and wild, sombre scenery. peter, the apostle, originally called simon, was a fisherman on the sea of galilee; one of the first called by christ to become a disciple; the first to recognise, as the foundation-stone of the church, the divinity in the humanity of his master, and the first thereafter to recognise and proclaim that divinity as glorified in the cross, to whom in recognising which, especially the former, was committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and who accordingly was the first to open the door of it to the gentile world. he was the principal figure in the history of the early christian church, but was soon eclipsed by the overpowering presence and zeal of paul. tradition, indeed, has something to tell of him, but from it little of trustworthy can be gathered except that he finished his career by martyrdom in the city of rome. this apostle is represented in christian art as an old man, bald-headed, with a flowing beard, dressed in a white mantle, and holding a scroll in his hand, his attributes being the keys, and a sword in symbol of his martyrdom. peter, the first epistle of, addressed especially to jewish christians in certain churches of asia minor, the members of which were suffering persecution at the hands of their adversaries as evil-doers; was written to exhort them to rebut the charge by a life of simple well-doing, and to comfort them under it with the promise of the return of the lord. peter, the second epistle of, addressed to all who anywhere bore the christian name; appears to have been written not long before his death to counteract certain fatal forms of error, at once doctrinal and practical, that had already begun to creep into the church, and against which we meet with the same warnings in the epistle of jude, the doctrinal error being the denial of christ as lord, and the practical the denial of him as the way, the truth, and the life, to the peril of the forfeiture of eternal life. peter, the wild boy, a savage creature of years of age, found in in a forest of hanover, who was accustomed to walk on all fours, and climb trees like a squirrel, living on wild plants, grass, and moss, and who could not be weaned from these habits, or taught to speak more than a syllable or two; he wore a brass collar with his name on it; at length refused all food, and died in . peter martyr, , a dominican notorious for his severity as a member of the inquisition, murdered by a mob at como in , became the patron saint of the inquisition. , a protestant reformer, born at florence, became a monk and abbot at lucca, from which, on embracing the doctrines of the reformation, he was forced to flee, first to switzerland and then to england in the reign of edward vi., but had to retreat from thence also on the accession of mary to strasburg, and at length to zurich, where he died ( - ). , a historian, born at arona, rose to become bishop of jamaica, wrote on the discovery of america, _d_. . peter the great, emperor of russia, son of the czar alexei, born at moscow; succeeded his half-brother feodor in , but was forced for a time to share the throne with his half-sister sophia, acting as regent for her brother ivan; conscious of his imperfect education, he chose a genoese named lefort as his preceptor, and after some years' careful training he deposed sophia, and entered moscow as sole ruler in ; with the help of lefort and patrick gordon, a scotsman, he proceeded to raise and discipline an army on the european model, and determined also to construct a navy; to reach the sea he made war on the turks, and possessed himself of the port of azov, at the mouth of the don; hither he invited skilled artificers from austria, venice, prussia, and holland, and a navy was built; from to he visited the countries on the baltic and england, acquiring vast stores of information, working as a shipwright in the dutch yards, and finally taking back with him an army of mechanics; on his return he vigorously reformed the russian press, schools, and church, introduced european manners and literature, and encouraged foreign trade; desirous now of an opening on the baltic, he began in a long contest with sweden, marked first by many defeats, notably that of narva, then the seizure of ingria, and founding of the new capital st. petersburg , the victory of pultowa , seizure of the baltic provinces and part of finland , and finally by the peace of , which ceded the conquered territories to russia; in the turks had recovered azov; in war with persia secured him three caspian provinces; peter pursued a vigorous and enlightened policy for the good of russia, but his disposition was often cruel; his son alexei was put to death for opposing his reforms, and on his own death he was succeeded by the empress catherine i., the daughter of a peasant, who had been his mistress, and whom he had married in ( - ). peter the hermit, a monk, born in amiens, of good family, who is credited with having by his preaching kindled the enthusiasm in europe which led to the first crusade; he joined it himself as the leader of an untrained rabble, but made a poor figure at the siege of antioch, where he was with difficulty prevented from deserting the camp; he afterwards founded a monastery near liège, where he died ( - ). peterborough ( ), an english cathedral city, on the nen, partly in huntingdonshire and partly in northamptonshire, on the edge of the fen country, m. n. of london; has an old town-hall, manufactures of farm implements, trade in malt and coal, and is a great railway centre; the cathedral is one of the finest in britain, of very varied architecture, was restored and reopened afterwards in . peterborough, charles mordaunt, earl of, saw some active service as a volunteer in charles ii.'s navy, and on the accession of james ii. threw himself into politics as an opponent of the king; william iii. showed him great favour; he was of the queen's council of regency when william was in ireland, but imprudent intriguing brought him a short confinement in the tower in ; the war of the spanish succession was the opportunity which brought him fame; appointed to the command of the british and dutch forces, which fought for charles of austria, he reduced barcelona , and valencia ; retook barcelona from the french, and but for charles's hindrance would have entered madrid; differences with other generals led to his recall in ; the rest of his life was spent in retirement; he was the friend of pope, and held by him in genuine esteem; he died in lisbon ( - ). peterhead ( ), a seaport on the e. coast of aberdeenshire, m. ne. of aberdeen; built irregularly of reddish granite; has a free library and museum, and is the seat of a convict prison; the chief industry is herring-fishing; there are two harbours, and a third, a great harbour of refuge, is in course of construction. peterhof ( ), a town on the gulf of finland, m. w. of st. petersburg, with a palace of the czar built in by peter the great. peterloo, a name, suggested by waterloo, given to an insurrectionary gathering in of workers in st. peter's field, manchester, to demand parliamentary reform, and which was dispersed by the military to the sacrifice of lives and the wounding of , a proceeding which excited wide-spread indignation, and contributed to promote the cause which it was intended to defeat. peter's, st., church at rome, is built, it is alleged, over the tomb of st. peter, and on the site of the basilica erected by constantine and helena in . the original structure after falling into decay was begun to be rebuilt in , and finally consecrated by urban xiii. in . it is the largest and grandest church in christendom, covers an area of over , square yards, the interior of it in length being yards, the transept yards, the nave , and the dome . it contains thirty altars, and is adorned with numerous statues and monuments. peter's pence, an annual tribute of a silver penny per household in england to support the chair of st. peter at rome, and which continued more or less to be levied from the end of the th century till the days of elizabeth, when it ceased. the payment has been revived since in britain, france, and belgium in compensation to the pope for loss of his territorial possessions. peterwardein ( ), a strong austrian fortress on the right bank of the danube, near the servian frontier, m. nw. of belgrade; stands among unhealthy marshes. pÉtion de villeneuve, jÉrÔme, born at chartres; figured in the french revolution as a zealous republican, member of the tiers État, one of the commission to reconduct the royal family from varennes; was mayor of paris in the year of the september massacres, ; was first president of the convention, and, though his influence was declining, member of the first committee of defence, ; his attack on robespierre proving unsuccessful he committed suicide; his body was afterwards found on the landes of bordeaux half devoured by wolves; was surnamed the "virtuous," as robespierre the "incorruptible"; was of the girondist party; had "unalterable beliefs, not hindmost of them," says carlyle, "belief in himself" ( - ). petite nature, a french term applied to pictures containing figures less than life-size, but with the effect of life-size. petition of right, a petition presented to charles i. by the commons in , and that became law by the king's acceptance of it. it sought for and obtained the abolition of certain grievances which the country unconstitutionally suffered from, such as taxation or levying of money without consent of parliament, imprisonment without cause shown, billeting of troops, and recourse to martial law in a time of peace. this petition charles i. would at first fain have evaded, but the commons would be satisfied with nothing less than its acceptance entire. petÖfi, sandor, celebrated magyar poet and patriot, born in the county of pesth, of poor parents; first announced himself as a poet in ; wrote a number of war-songs; fought in the cause of the revolution of , and fell in the battle of schässburg; his poetry inaugurated a new era in the literature of his country ( - ). petra, a ruined city, and once the rock capital of edom, and afterwards of arabia petræa; was a place of some importance at one time as a commercial centre; the name petra signifies rock. petrarch, francesco, the famous italian lyric poet, born at arezzo, in tuscany, whither his father had gone when exiled with dante from florence; spent his youth in avignon; intended for the profession of law, devoted his time to the study of cicero and virgil; met laura in the church of st. clare there in , a lady of surpassing beauty; conceived a passion for her which she could not return, and wrote sonnets in praise of her, which immortalised both himself and her; after travel in france and germany he retired in to the valley of vaucluse, where he composed the most of his poems, and his reputation reached its height in , when he was crowned laureate in the capitol of rome; he was in italy when tidings reached him of the death of laura in , on the anniversary of the day when he first met her, upon which he gave expression to his feelings over the event in a touching note of it in his virgil; we find him again at rome in , and after moving from place to place settled in arqua in , where he died; his latin works are numerous, and include an epic on the second punic war, eclogues, epistles in verse, and letters of value giving the details of his life; his fame rests on his lyrics; by those alone he still lives, and that more from the finished art in which they are written than from any glow of feeling they kindle in the reader's heart ( - ). petri, laurentius, a swedish reformer; was a disciple of luther; became professor of theology and first protestant archbishop of upsala, and superintended the translation of the bible into swedish ( - ). petrie, flinders, egyptologist, son of an australian explorer; after explorations at stonehenge, surveyed the pyramids and temples of ghizeh in - ; excavated for the egyptian exploration fund nankratis, am, and defenneh; has achieved many other important works of the kind, and issued a popular work, "ten years' diggings in egypt"; _b_. . petrie, george, irish archæologist, born in dublin, of scottish parentage; bred to art; executed irish landscapes, but is best known for his "essay on the round towers of ireland," a work of no small interest ( - ). petroleum, is the common name of a series of rock oils found in large quantities in the united states and canada, near rangoon, and in the neighbourhood of the caspian sea. the oil issues from the rocks, or is drawn from subterranean reservoirs, where its presence is supposed to result from natural distillation of vegetable and animal substances, and after refining, put in the market as benzoline, paraffin, and lubricating oil. it is extensively used in the industries, and has been applied as fuel to steamships. pÉtroleuse, was a name given to certain parisian women of the commune of , who poured petroleum on the hôtel de ville and other buildings to burn them. petronius, a roman satirist and accomplished voluptuary at the court of nero, and the director-in-chief of the imperial pleasures; accused of treason, and dreading death at the hands of the emperor his master, he opened his veins, and by bandaging them bled slowly to death, showing the while the same frivolity as throughout his life; he left behind him a work, extant now only in fragments, but enough to expose the abyss of profligacy in which the roman world was then sunk at that crisis of its fate; _d_. . pettie, john, painter, born at edinburgh; his works, chiefly historical, were numerous, and of a high character ( - ). petty, sir william, political economist, born in hampshire; was a man of versatile genius, varied attainments, and untiring energy; was skilled in medicine, in music, in mechanics, and in engineering, as well as economics, to which especially he contributed by his pen ( - ). petty jury, a jury of elected to try a criminal case after a true bill against the accused has been found by a grand jury. petty officers, officers in the navy, consisting of four grades, and corresponding in function and responsibility to non-commissioned officers in the army. petty sessions, name given to sessions of justices of the peace to try small cases without a jury. peutinger, conrad, an augsburg antiquary, left at his death a th-century copy of a rd-century map of the roman military roads, now in the imperial library at vienna, known as the "tabula peutingeriana" ( - ). pfÄfers, hot springs near a village of the same name in the swiss canton of st. gall; have been in use for years. pfahlbauten, lake dwellings of prehistoric date in switzerland. pfalz, the german name for the palatinate. pfeiffer, ida, a celebrated traveller, born in vienna; being separated from her husband, and having completed the education of her two sons and settled them in life, commenced her career of travel in , in which year she visited palestine, in visited scandinavia, in essayed a voyage round the world by cape horn, in a second by the cape of good hope, and in an expedition to madagascar, returning at the end of each to vienna and publishing accounts of them ( - ). pffleiderer, otto, a philosophical theologian, born in würtemberg, professor at jena, and afterwards at berlin; has written on religion, the philosophy of it and sundry developments of it, in an able manner, as well as lectured on it in edinburgh in connection with the gifford trust, on which occasion he was bold enough to overstep the limits respected by previous lecturers between natural and revealed religion, to the inclusion of the latter within his range; _b_. . pforzheim ( ), manufacturing town in baden, in the n. of the black forest; manufactures gold and silver ornaments, and has chemical and other factories. phÆdrus, a latin fabulist, of the age of augustus, born in macedonia, and settled in rome; originally a slave, was manumitted by augustus; his fables, in number, were written in verse, and are mostly translations from Æsop, the best of them such as keep closely to the original. phaËthon (i. e. the shining one, and so called from his father), the son of helios (q. v.); persuaded his father to allow him for one day to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens, but was too weak to check the horses, so that they rushed off their wonted track and nearly set the world on fire, whereupon zeus transfixed him with a thunderbolt, metamorphosed his sisters who had yoked the horses for him into poplars and their tears into amber. phalanstery, a body of people living together on the communistic principle of fourier; also the building they occupy. phalanx, among the greeks a body of heavy infantry armed with long spears and short swords, standing in line close behind one another, generally men deep, the macedonian being as much as ; its movements were too heavy, and it was dashed in pieces before the legions of rome to its extinction; it was superseded by the roman legion. phalaris, a tyrant of agrigentum, in sicily, in the th century, who is said, among other cruelties, to have roasted the victims of his tyranny in a brazen bull which bears his name; the "letters of phalaris," at one time ascribed to him, have been proved to be spurious. phallus, a symbol of the generative power of nature, being a representation of the male organ of generation, and associated with rites and ceremonies of nature-worship in the early stages of civilised life, and the worship of which was supposed to have a magic influence in inducing fertility among the flocks and herds, as well as in the soil of the earth. pharamond, a knight of the round table, and the reputed first king of the franks. pharaoh, a name, now proper, now common, given in the old testament to the kings of egypt, identified with that of the sun-god phra, and applied to the king as his representative on earth; some of the name occur in the bible, and it is matter of difficulty often to distinguish one from another. pharisees (i. e. separatists), a sect of the jews who adopted or received this name because of the attitude of isolation from the rest of the nation which they were compelled to assume at the time of their origin. this was some time between the years and b.c., on their discovery that the later maccabæan chiefs were aiming at more than religious liberty, and in their own interests contemplating the erection of a worldly kingdom that would be the death of the theocratic, which it was the purpose of providence they should establish; this was the separate ground which they at first assumed alone, but they in the end carried the great body of the nation along with them. they were scrupulously exact in their interpretation and observance of the jewish law as the rule to regulate the life of the jewish community in every department, and were the representatives of that legal tendency which gave character to the development of judaism proper during the period which elapsed between the date of the captivity and the advent of christianity. the law they observed, however, was not the written law as it stood, but that law as expounded by the oral law of the scribes, as the sole key to its interpretation, so that their attitude to the law of moses was pretty much the same as that of the roman catholics and the high churchmen in relation to the scriptures generally, and they were thus at length the representatives of clericalism as well as legalism in the jewish church, and in doing so they took their ground upon a principle which is the distinctive article of orthodox judaism in the matter to the present day. in the days of christ they stood in marked opposition to the sadducees (q. v.) both in their dogmatic views and their political principles. as against them, on the dogmatic side, they believed in a spiritual world and in an established moral order, and on the political their rule was to abstain from politics, except in so far as they might injuriously affect the life and interests of the nation; but at that time they had degenerated into mere formalists, whose religion was a conspicuous hypocrisy, and it was on this account and their pretensions to superior sanctity that they incurred the indignation and exposed themselves to the condemnation of christ. pharos, an island of ancient egypt, near alexandria, on which the first lighthouse was erected by ptolemy philadelphus in b.c. pharsalia, a district in the n. of greece, the southern portion of the modern province of larissa; was the scene of cæsar's victory over pompey, b.c. phelps, elizabeth stuart, american authoress, born at andover; wrote "gates ajar" and other popular stories, is a great advocate, by lecturing and otherwise, for social reform and the emancipation of women; _b_. . phelps, samuel, an english actor, born in devonport; made his _début_ as shylock in london at the haymarket in , achieved his greatest successes in sadler's wells by his representation of shakespeare's plays and the works of eminent dramatists of the th century; was distinguished in comedy as well as tragedy, in which last he primarily appeared and established his fame ( - ). pherecydes, an ancient greek philosopher, born in syros in th century b.c.; distinguished as having had pythagoras among his pupils, and believed to have been the author of many of the doctrines promulgated by his disciple and named pythagorean. phidias, the greatest sculptor and statuary of ancient greece, born at athens; flourished in the time of pericles, and was appointed by him to direct the works of art projected to the beautifying of the city, and expressly commissioned to execute certain of these works himself; the chief work that he superintended was the erection of the parthenon, much of which he himself adorned; and of the statues he executed the most famous were one of athena of ivory and gold for the parthenon, and a colossal one of zeus, his masterpiece, also of ivory and gold, for olympia; accused of having appropriated some of the gold intended for the statue of athena he was acquitted, but was afterwards charged with impiety for carving his own likeness and that of pericles on the shield of the goddess, and was thrown into prison, where he died, b.c. philadelphia ( , ), largest city in pennsylvania, on the delaware, m. from the sea and m. by rail sw. of new york; is the third city in the union in population, manufactures, and commerce, regularly built with plain substantial dwelling-houses; recently more splendid public buildings have been erected, the town-hall, of white marble, is the second highest structure in the world; a masonic temple and government offices of granite and the mint are also fine buildings; there is a university and colleges of science, medicine, art, and music, many churches, a roman catholic cathedral, and many hospitals and charitable institutions; the industries include locomotive building, saw-making, woollen and cotton goods, sugar and oil refining, and chemical works; it trades largely in coal. founded by william penn in , it was the central point of the war of independence; the first congress met here, and the declaration of independence was signed ( ) in a building still standing; here too the federal union was signed ( ) and the constitution drawn up ( ), and from to it was the capital of the united states. philador, franÇois andrÉ, a celebrated composer and chess-player, born at dreux; wrote a number of operas; in regard to chess his great maxim was "pawns are the soul of chess"; fled at the time of the revolution to london, where he died ( - ). philÆ, an island of syenite stone in the nile, near assouan, in nubia, ft. long and ft. broad; is almost covered with ancient buildings of great beauty, among which is a temple of isis, with a great gateway dating from b.c., which was converted into a church in . philatory, a transparent reliquary to contain and exhibit the bones and relics of saints. philemon, epistle to, a short letter by paul to a member of the church at colossæ on behalf of a slave, onesimus, who had deserted his service, gone off with some of his property, and taken refuge in rome, but had been converted to christ, and whom he begs not to manumit, but simply to receive back as a brother for his sake. philemon and baucis, in the greek mythology a pair of poor people who, in fond attachment to each other, lived in a small cottage in phrygia by themselves and gave hospitality to gods in disguise when every other door was shut against them, and to whom, in the judgment that descended upon their inhospitable neighbours, the gods were propitious, and did honour by appointing them to priesthood, when they would rather have been servants, in a temple metamorphosed out of their cottage. here they continued to minister to old age, and had but one prayer for themselves, that they might in the end die together; when as they sat at the door of the temple one day, bent with years, they were changed, he into an oak and she into a linden. this is ovid's version of the story, to which he adds as the moral of it, "those who piously honour the gods are themselves held in honour." philip, an indian chief whose father had been a staunch friend of the pilgrim settlers, was himself friendly to the colonists, till in their encroachments provoked him to retaliation; after six years' fighting, in which many colonists perished and great massacres of indians took place, he was defeated and slain, . philip of macedon, the father of alexander the great, usurped the kingdom from the infant king amyntas, his nephew and ward, in b.c.; having secured his throne, he entered on a series of aggressive wars, making expeditions into thrace and thessaly; the siege of olynthus brought him into conflict with athens, the two cities being allies, and occasioned some of the most brilliant orations of demosthenes; the successive appeals for his aid against their enemies by the thebans and the argives led him into greece and into the peloponnesus; in b.c. a council of greek cities appointed him commander-in-chief of their leagued forces in a projected war against the locrians, but the athenians and thebans opposed his coming; the defeat of their armies at chæronea, b.c., placed all greece at his feet; his next project was an expedition against persia, but while preparations were on foot he was assassinated at Ægæ; a man of unbridled lust, he was an astute and unscrupulous politician, but of incomparable eloquence, energy, and military skill ( - b.c.). philip ii., philip-augustus, king of france, shared the throne with his father, louis vii., from , and succeeded him as sole ruler in ; marrying isabella of hainault, he united the capet and carlovingian houses; his grand aim was to secure to himself some of the english possessions in france; his alliance with richard of england in the third crusade ended in a quarrel; returning to france he broke his oath to richard by bargaining with john for portions of the coveted territory; an exhausting war lasted till ; on richard's death philip supported arthur against john in his claim to anjou, maine, and touraine; after arthur's murder, the capture of château gaillard in gave him possession of these three provinces with normandy and part of poitou; the victory of bouvines secured his throne, and the rest of his reign was spent in internal reforms and the beautifying of paris ( - ). philip iv., the fair, king of france, succeeded his father philip iii. in ; by his marriage with joanna of navarre added navarre, champagne, and brie to his realm; but the sturdy valour of the flemish burghers at courtrai on the "day of spurs" prevented the annexation of flanders; his fame rests on his struggle and victory over the papal power; a tax on the clergy was condemned by boniface viii. in ; supported by his nobles and burghers philip burnt the papal bull, imprisoned the legate, and his ambassador in rome imprisoned the pope himself; boniface died soon after, and in philip made clement v. pope; kept him at avignon, and so commenced the seventy years' "captivity"; he forced clement to decree the suppression of the templars, and became his willing instrument in executing the decree; he died at fontainebleau, having proved himself an avaricious and pitiless despot ( - ). philip vi., of valois, king of france, succeeded charles iv. in ; edward iii. of england contested his claim, contending that the salic law, though it excluded females, did not exclude their male heirs; edward was son of a daughter, philip son of a brother, of philip iv.; thus began the hundred years' war between france and england, ; the french fleet was defeated off sluys in , and the army at crécy in ; a truce was made, when the war was followed by the black death; the worthless king afterwards purchased majorca ( - ). philip ii., king of spain, only son of the emperor charles v.; married mary tudor in , and spent over a year in england; in he succeeded his father in the sovereignty of spain, sicily, milan, the netherlands, franche-comté, mexico, and peru; a league between henry ii. of france and the pope was overthrown, and on the death of mary he married the french princess isabella, and retired to live in spain, . wedding himself now to the cause of the church, he encouraged the inquisition in spain, and introduced it to the netherlands; the latter revolted, and the seven united provinces achieved their independence after a long struggle in ; his great effort to overthrow protestant england ended in the disaster of the armada, ; his last years were embittered by the failure of his intrigues against navarre, raids of english seamen on his american provinces, and by loathsome disease; he was a bigot in religion, a hard, unloved, and unloving man, and a foolish king; he fatally injured spain by crushing her chivalrous spirit, by persecuting the industrious moors, and by destroying her commerce by heavy taxation ( - ). philip v., grandson of louis xiv., first bourbon king of spain; inherited his throne by the testament of his uncle charles ii. in ; the rival claim of the archduke charles of austria was supported by england, austria, holland, prussia, denmark, and hanover; but the long war of the spanish succession terminated in the peace of utrecht, and left philip his kingdom; after an unsuccessful movement to recover sicily and sardinia for spain he joined england and france against the emperor, and gained the former island for his son charles iii.; he died an imbecile at madrid ( - ). philip the bold, duke of burgundy, was the fourth son of john the good, king of france; taken captive at poitiers ; on his return to france he received for his bravery the duchies of touraine and burgundy; on his brother's accession to the french throne as charles v. he exchanged the former duchy for the hand of margaret of flanders, on the death of whose father he assumed the government of his territories; his wise administration encouraged arts, industries, and commerce, and won the respect and esteem of his subjects; he was afterwards regent of france when charles v. became imbecile ( - ). philip the good, grandson of the above, raised the duchy to its zenith of prosperity, influence, and fame; he was alternately in alliance with england, and at peace with his superior, france; ultimately assisting in driving england out of most of her continental possessions ( - ). philiphaugh, a battlefield on the yarrow, m. w. of selkirk, was the scene of leslie's victory over montrose in . philippi, a macedonian city, was the scene of a victory gained in b.c. by octavianus and antony over brutus and cassius, and the seat of a church, the first founded by st. paul in europe. philippians, epistle to the, an epistle of paul written at rome during his imprisonment there to a church at philippi, in macedonia, that had been planted by himself, and the members of which were among the first-fruits of his ministry in europe. the occasion of writing it was the receipt of a gift from them, and to express the joy it gave him as a token of their affection. it is the least dogmatic of all his epistles, and affords an example of the apostle's statement of christian truth to unbiased minds; one exhortation, however, shows he is not blind to the rise of an evil which has been the bane of the church of christ since the beginning, the spirit of rivalry, and this is evident from the prominence he gives in chapter ii. - to the self-sacrificing lowliness of christ, and by the counsel he gives them in chapter iv. . philippic, the name originally applied to demosthenes' three great orations against philip of macedon, then to cicero's speeches against mark antony; now denotes any violent invective written or spoken. philippine islands ( , ), a large and numerous group in the north of the malay archipelago, between the china sea and the pacific, of which the largest, luzon, and the next mindanao, are both much greater than ireland; are mountainous and volcanic, subject to eruptions and continuous earthquakes. in the n. of the group cyclones too are common. the climate is moist and warm, but fairly healthy; the soil is very fertile. rice, maize, sugar, cotton, coffee, and tobacco are cultivated; the forests yield dye-woods, hard timber, and medicinal herbs, and the mines coal and iron, copper, gold, and lead. the chief exports are sugar, hemp, and tobacco. the aboriginal negritoes are now few; half-castes are numerous; the population is chiefly malayan, roman catholic at least nominally in religion, and speaking the tagal or the visayan language. discovered by magellan in , who was killed on the island of mactan; they were annexed by spain in , and held till , when they fell to the americans. the capital is manilla ( ), on the w. coast of luzon; laoag ( ), san miguel ( ), and banang ( ) among the largest towns. philips, ambrose, minor poet, born in leicester, of good family; friend of addison and steele, and a whig in politics; held several lucrative posts, chiefly in ireland; wrote pastorals in vigorous and elegant verse, and also some short sentimental verses for children, which earned for him from henry carey the nickname of "namby-pamby" ( - ). philips, john, littérateur, born in oxfordshire, author of "the splendid shilling," an admirable burlesque in imitation of milton, and a poem, "cider," an imitation of virgil ( - ). philips, katherine, poetess, born in london; was the daughter of a london merchant and the wife of a welsh squire, a highly sentimental but worthy woman; the society of friendship, in which the members bore fancy names--hers, which also served her for a _nom de plume_, was orinda--had some fame in its day, and brought her, as the foundress, the honour of a dedication from jeremy taylor; her work was admired by cowley and keats; she was a staunch royalist ( - ). philistine, the name given by the students in germany to a non-university man of the middle-class, or a man without (university) culture, or of narrow views of things. philistines, a people, for long of uncertain origin, but now generally believed to have been originally emigrants from crete, who settled in the plain, some m. long by broad, extending along the coast of palestine from joppa on the n. to the desert on the s., and whose chief cities were ashdod, askelon, ekron, gaza, and gath; they were a trading and agricultural people, were again and again a thorn in the side of the israelites, but gradually tamed into submission, so as to be virtually extinct in the days of christ; their chief god was dagon (q. v.). phillip, john, painter, born in aberdeen; his early pictures illustrate scottish subjects, his latest and best illustrate life in spain, whither he had gone in for his health ( - ). phillips, wendell, slavery abolitionist and emancipationist generally, born at boston, u.s., and bred to the bar; was garrison's aide-de-camp in the cause, and chief after his death ( - ). philo judÆus (i. e. philo the jew), philosopher of the st century, born in alexandria; studied the greek philosophy, and found in it, particularly the teaching of plato, the rationalist explanation of the religion of moses, which he regarded as the revelation to which philosophy was but the key; he was a man of great learning and great influence among his people, and was in his old age one of an embassy sent by the jews of alexandria in a.d. to rome to protest against the imperial edict requiring the payment of divine honours to the emperor; he identified the logos of the platonists with the word in the new testament. philocretes, a famous archer, who had been the friend and armour-bearer of hercules who instructed him in the use of the bow, and also bequeathed his bow with the poisoned arrows to him after his death; he accompanied the greeks to the siege of troy, but one of the arrows fell on his foot, causing a wound the stench of which was intolerable, so that he was left behind at lemnos, where he remained in misery years, till an oracle declared that troy could not be taken without the arrows of hercules; he was accordingly sent for, and being healed of his wound by Æsculapius, assisted at the capture of the city. philomela, daughter of pandion, king of athens, and sister of progne; she was the victim of an outrage committed by her brother-in-law tereus, who cut out her tongue to prevent her exposing him, and kept her in close confinement; here she found means of communicating with her sister, when the two, to avenge the wrong, made away with itys, tereus' son, and served him up to his father at a banquet; the fury of tereus on the discovery knew no bounds, but they escaped his vengeance, philomela by being changed into a nightingale and progne into a swallow. philopoemon, the head of the achæcan league, born at megalopolis, and the last of the greek heroes; fought hard to achieve the independence of greece, but having to struggle against heavy odds, was overpowered; rose from a sick-bed to suppress a revolt, was taken prisoner, thrown into a dungeon, and forced to drink poison ( - b.c.). philosophe, name for a philosopher of the school of th century enlightenment, represented by the encyclopedists (q. v.) of france; the class have been characterised by the delight they took in outraging the religious sentiment. see aufklÄrung and illumination, the. philosopher's stone was, with the elixir of life, the object of the search of the mediæval alchemists. their theory regarded gold as the most perfect metal, all others being removed from it by various stages of imperfection, and they sought an amalgam of pure sulphur and pure mercury, which, being more perfect still than gold, would transmute the baser metals into the nobler. philosophism, french, a philosophy such as the philosophers of france gave instances of, founded on the notion and cultivated in the belief that scientific knowledge is the sovereign remedy for the ills of life, summed up in two articles--first, that "a lie cannot be believed"; and second, that "in spiritual supersensual matters no belief is possible," her boast being that "she had destroyed religion by extinguishing the abomination" (_l'infame_). philosophy, the science of sciences or of things in general, properly an attempt to find the absolute in the contingent, the immutable in the mutable, the universal in the particular, the eternal in the temporal, the real in the phenomenal, the ideal in the real, or in other words, to discover "the single principle that," as dr. stirling says, "possesses within itself the capability of transition into all existent variety and varieties," which it presupposes can be done not by induction from the transient, but by deduction from the permanent as that spiritually reveals itself in the creating mind, so that a _philosopher_ is a man who has, as carlyle says, quoting goethe, "stationed himself in the middle (between the outer and the inner, the upper and the lower), to whom the highest has descended and the lowest mounted up, who is the equal and kindly brother of all." "philosophy dwells aloft in the temple of science, the divinity of the inmost shrine; her dictates descend among men, but she herself descends not; whoso would behold her must climb with long and laborious effort; may still linger in the forecourt till manifold trial have proved him worthy of admission into the interior solemnities." indeed philosophy is more than science (q. v.); it is a divine wisdom instilled into and inspiring a thinker's life. see thinker, the. philoxenus, a greek poet who lived at the court of dionysius the elder, tyrant of syracuse; condemned to prison for refusing to praise some verses of the tyrant, he was led forth to criticise others, but returned them as worse, begging the officers who handed them to lead him back, which when the tyrant was told, he laughed and released him. philpotts, henry, bishop of exeter, born in bridgwater, a keen tory and uncompromising high-churchman, the chief actor in the celebrated gorham case (q. v.), and noted for his obstinate opposition to political reform as the opening of the floodgates of democracy, which he dreaded would subvert everything that was dear to him ( - ). philtre, the name given to certain concoctions of herbs, often deleterious and poisonous, supposed to secure for the person administering it the love of the person to whom it was administered; these love potions were popular in the declining days of greece and rome, throughout mediæval europe, and continue to be compounded to this day in the superstitious east. phiz, the pseudonym of hablot k. browne, the illustrator of the first edition of the "pickwick papers" of dickens. phlegethon, in the greek mythology a river in the lower world which flowed in torrents of fire athwart it, and which scorched up everything near it. phlogiston, a name given by the old chemists to an imaginary principle of fire, latent in bodies, and which escaped during combustion. phocas, a common soldier who raised himself by the aid of a faction to the throne of the east, and for twenty years defied attempts to dethrone him, but, being deserted by his party, was taken, subjected to torture, and beheaded in . "his reign," says gibbon, "afflicted europe with ignominious peace, and asia with desolating war." phocion, a distinguished athenian general and statesman, a disciple of plato and xenocrates; was wise in council as well as brave in war; opposed to the democracy of athens, led on by demosthenes in the frantic ambition of coping with philip of macedon and his son alexander; and pled for a pacific arrangement with them; but having opposed war with antipater, the successor of the latter, he was accused of treason, and condemned to drink hemlock; the athenians afterwards repented of the crime, raised a bronze statue to his memory, and condemned his accuser to death. phocis, a province of ancient greece, w. of boeotia, and n. of the gulf of corinth; was traversed by the mountain range of parnassus, and contained the oracle of apollo at delphi; allied to athens in the peloponnesian war, the phocians were crushed in the "sacred war" after ten years' fighting by philip of macedon, b.c. phoebus (i. e. the radiant one), an epithet originally applied to apollo for his beauty, and eventually to him as the sun-god. phoenicia, a country on the e. shore of the levant, stretching inland to mount lebanon, at first extending only m. n. of palestine, but later embracing m. of coast, with the towns of tyre, zarephath, sidon, gebal, and arvad. the country comprised well-wooded hills and fertile plains, was rich in natural resources, richer still in a people of remarkable industry and enterprise. of semitic stock, they emerge from history with sidon as ruling city about b.c., and reach their zenith under tyre - , thereafter declining, and ultimately merging in the roman empire. during their prosperity their manufactures, purple dye, glass ware, and metal implements were in demand everywhere; they were the traders of the world, their nautical skill and geographical position making their markets the centres of exchange between east and west; their ships sailed every sea, and carried the merchandise of every country, and their colonists settled all over the mediterranean, Ægean, and euxine, and even beyond the pillars of hercules, in africa, in britain, and the countries on the baltic. her greatest colony was carthage, the founding of which ( b.c.) sapped the strength of the mother-country, and which afterwards usurped her place, and contended with rome for the mastery of the world. but phoenicia's greatest gift to civilisation was the alphabet, which she herself may have developed from egyptian hieroglyphics, and which, with its great merit of simplicity, has, slightly altered, at length superseded among civilised nations every other system. phoenix, a bird which was fabled at the end of certain cycles of time to immolate itself in flames, and rise renewed in youth from the ashes. it has become the appropriate symbol of the death-birth that ever introduces a new era in the history of the world, and is employed by carlyle in "sartor" as symbol of the crisis through which the present generation is now passing, the conflagration going on appearing nowise as a mere conflagration, but the necessary preliminary of a new time, with the germinating principles of which it is pregnant. phoenix park, a magnificent public park of acres in dublin; is much used for military reviews; it was rendered notorious in through the murder by the "invincibles" of lord frederick cavendish, who had just been appointed irish secretary, and his subordinate, thomas burke. phonograph, an instrument invented by edison (q. v.) in for recording and reproducing articulate sounds of the voice in speech or song, and to which the name of phonogram is given. photius, patriarch of constantinople; was the great promoter of the schism on the question of the procession of the holy ghost, between the eastern and the western divisions of the church, denying as he did, and erasing from the creed the _filioque_ article (q. v.); _d_. . photogravure, a process of reproducing pictures from the negative of a photograph on a gelatine surface with the assistance of certain chemical preparations. photosphere, name given to the luminous atmosphere enveloping the sun. phototype, a block with impressions produced by photography from which engravings, &c., can be printed. phrenology claims to be a science in which the relation of the functions of mind to the material of the brain substance is observed. it asserts that just as speech, taste, touch, &c., have their centres in certain convolutions of the brain, so have benevolence, firmness, conscientiousness, &c., and that by studying the configuration of the brain, as indicated by that of the skull, a man's character may be approximately discovered. as a science it is usually discredited, and held to be unsupported by physiology, anatomy, and pathology. it is held as strongly militating against its claims that it takes no account of the convolutions of the brain that lie on the base of the skull. its originators were gall, spurzheim, and andrew and george combe. phrygia, a country originally extending over the western shores of asia minor, but afterwards confined to the western uplands, where are the sources of the hermus, mæander, and sangarius; was made up of barren hills where sheep famous for their wool grazed, and fertile valleys where the vine was cultivated; marble was quarried in the hills, and gold was found; several great trade roads from ephesus crossed the country, among whose towns the names of colosse and laodicea are familiar; the phrygians were an armenian people, with a mystic orgiastic religion, and were successively conquered by assyrians, lydians, and persians, falling under rome in b.c. phrygian cap, a cap worn by the phrygians, and worn in modern times as the symbol of freedom. phrynÉ, a greek courtesan, celebrated for her beauty; was the model to praxiteles of his statue of venus; accused of profaning the eleusinian mysteries, she was brought before the judges, to whom she exposed her person, but who acquitted her of the charge, to preserve to the artists the image of divine beauty thus recognised in her. phtah, a god of ancient egypt, worshipped at memphis; identified with osiris and socaris, and placed by the egyptians at the head of the dynasty of the kings of memphis. phylacteries, strips of vellum inscribed with certain texts of scripture, enclosed in small cases of calf-skin, and attached to the forehead or the left arm; originally connected with acts of worship, they were eventually turned to superstitious uses, and employed sometimes as charms and sometimes by way of ostentatious display. physiocratic school, a school of economists founded by quesney, who regarded the cultivation of the land as the chief sources of natural well-being, and argued for legislation in behalf of it. piacenza ( ), an old italian city on the po, m. by rail se. of milan; has a cathedral, and among other churches the san sisto, which contains the sistine madonna of raphael, a theological seminary, and large library; it manufactures silks, cottons, and hats, and is a fortress of great strategical importance. pia-mater, a membrane which invests the brain and the spinal cord; it is of a delicate vascular tissue. piarists, a purely religious order devoted to the education of the poor, founded in by a spanish priest, and confirmed in by paul v., and again in by gregory xv. piazzi, italian astronomer; discovered in a planet between mars and jupiter, which he named ceres, and the first of the planetoids recognised, as well as afterwards catalogued the stars ( - ). pibroch, the highland bagpipe; also the wild, martial music it discourses. picador, a man mounted on horseback armed with a spear to incite the bull in a bull-fight. picardy, a province in the n. of france, the capital of which was amiens; it now forms the department of somme, and part of aisne and pas-de-calais. piccolomini, the name of an illustrious family of science in italy, of which Æneas silvius (pope pius ii.) was a member; also octavio i., duke of amalfi, who distinguished himself, along with wallenstein, in the thirty years' war at lützen in , at nordlinger in , and at thionville in ; was one of the most celebrated soldiers that had command of the imperial troops ( - ). pichegru, charles, french general, born at arbois, in jura; served with distinguished success in the army of the republic on the rhine and in the netherlands, but sold himself to the bourbons, and being convicted of treason, was deported to cayenne, but escaped to england, where in course of time he joined the conspiracy of georges cadoudal against the first consul, and being betrayed, was imprisoned in the temple, where one morning after he was found strangled ( - ). pickwick, samuel, the hero of dickens's "pickwick papers," a character distinguished for his general goodness and his honest simplicity. pico, one of the azores, consisting of a single volcanic mountain, still in action; produces excellent wine. pico della miran`dolo, a notable italian champion of the scholastic dogma, who challenged all the learned of europe to enter the lists with him and controvert any one of theses which he undertook to defend, a challenge which no one, under ban of the pope, dared accept; he was the last of the schoolmen as well as a humanist in the bud, and was in his lifetime, with an astonishing forecast of destiny, named the phoenix (q. v.) ( - ). picquart, colonel, french military officer; was distinguished as a student at the military schools; served in algiers; became a captain in ; was appointed to the war office in ; served with distinction in tonquin; became professor at the military school; rejoined the war office in , and was made head of the intelligence department in ; moved by certain discoveries affecting esterhazy, began to inquire into the dreyfus case, which led to his removal out of the way to tunis; returned and exposed the proceedings against dreyfus, with the result that a revision was demanded, and the charge confirmed; _b_. . picton, sir thomas, british general, born in pembroke; served in the west indies, and became governor of trinidad, also in the walcheren expedition, and became governor of flushing, and in the peninsula and at waterloo, where he fell as he was leading his men to the charge ( - ). picts, a race of people now believed to be of celtic origin, that from to inhabited the ne. of caledonia from the forth to the pentland firth, and were divided into northern and southern by the grampians, while the w. of the country, or argyll, was occupied by the dalriads or scots from ireland, who eventually gained the ascendency over them, to their amalgamation into one nation. picts' houses, the name popularly given to earth-houses (q. v.) in several parts of scotland. pied piper of hamelin, the hero of an old german legend, had come to a german town, offered to clear it of the rats which infested it for a sum of money, but after executing his task was unrewarded, upon which he blew a blast on his magic pipe, the sound of which drew the children of the town into a cave, which he locked when they entered, and shut them up for ever. piedmont, a district of italy, formerly a principality, ruled by the house of savoy, surrounded by the alps, the apennines, and the river ticino; occupies the w. end of the great fertile valley of the po, a hilly region rich in vines and mulberries, and a mountainous tract with forests and grazing land intersected by lovely valleys, which send streams down into the po; the people are industrious; textile manufactures are extensive, and agriculture is skilful; turin, the largest town, was the capital of italy - ; in the glens of the cottian alps the vaudois or waldenses, after much persecution, still dwell. pierce, franklin, the fourteenth president of the united states, born in new hampshire, was the lifelong friend of nathaniel hawthorne; bred to the bar; served in the mexican war, and was elected president in ; his period of office was one of trouble, he supported the states' rights doctrine, and served with the south in the civil war ( - ). pieria, a district in macedonia e. of olympus, inhabited by thracians, and famous as the seat of the worship of the muses and their birthplace, giving rise to the phrase pierian spring, as the source of poetic inspiration. pierides, the name given to the muses from their fountain pieria (q. v.). piers plowman, vision of, a celebrated satirical poem of the th century ascribed to robert langland. pietÀ (i. e. piety), the name given to a picture, the subject of which is the dead christ in the embrace of his sorrowing mother, accompanied by sorrowing women and angels; that sculptured by michael angelo, in st. peter's at rome, representing the virgin at the foot of the cross, and the dead christ in her lap. pietermaritzburg ( ), capital of natal, m. by rail n. of durban; well situated on the umgeni river, with fine streets, an ample water-supply, and a fine climate; has railroad connection with johannesburg, pretoria, and charlestown. a third of the population consists of kaffirs and coolies. pietists, the name given to a religious party that arose in germany at the end of the th century, but without forming a separate sect; laid more stress on religious feeling than dogmatic belief, and who at length, as all who ground religion on mere feeling are apt to do, distinguished themselves more by a weak sentimentality than by a sturdy living faith. pietra dura, a name given to the purest kind of florentine mosaic work, consists of hard stones characterised by brilliancy of colour. pigeon english, a jargon used in commercial dealings with the chinese, being a mixture of english, portuguese, and chinese. pig-philosophy, the name given by carlyle in his "latter-day pamphlets," in the one on jesuitism, to the wide-spread philosophy of the time, which regarded the human being as a mere creature of appetite instead of a creature of god endowed with a soul, as having no nobler idea of well-being than the gratification of desire--that his only heaven, and the reverse of it his hell. pigwiggin, an elf in love with queen mab, who fights the jealous oberon in furious combat. pilate, pontius, roman procurator of judea and samaria in the days of christ, from a.d. to ; persuaded of the innocence of christ when arraigned before his tribunal, would fain have saved him, but yielded to the clamour of his enemies, who crucified him; he protested before they led him away by washing his hands in their presence that he was guiltless of his blood. pilatus, mount, an isolated mountain at the w. end of lake lucerne, opposite the rigi; is ascended by a mountain railway, and has hotels on two peaks. a lake below the summit is said to be the last receptacle of the body of pontius pilate, hence the adoption of the name of "mons pilatus." pilcomayo, a tributary of the rio paraguay, in south america, which it joins after a course of miles from its source in the bolivian andes. pilgrimage of grace, a rising in the northern counties of england in against the policy of cromwell, henry viii.'s chancellor, in regard to the temporalities of the church, which, though concessions were made to it that led to its dispersion, broke out afresh with renewed violence, and had to be ruthlessly suppressed. pilgrim fathers, the name given to the puritans, some in all, who sailed from plymouth in the _mayflower_ in and settled in massachusetts, carrying with them "the life-spark of the largest nation on our earth." pillar-saints, a class of recluses, called stylites, who, in early christian times, retired from the world to the syrian desert, and, perched on pillars, used to spend days and nights in fasting and praying, in the frantic belief that by mortification of their bodies they would ensure the salvation of their souls; their founder was simon, surnamed stylites; the practice, which was never allowed in the west, continued down to the th century. pillars of hercules. see hercules, pillars of. pillory, an obsolete instrument of punishment for centuries in use all over europe, consisted of a platform, an upright pole, and at a convenient height cross-boards with holes, in which the culprit's neck and wrists were placed and fastened; so fixed he was exposed in some public place to the insults and noxious missiles of the mob. formerly in england the penalty of forgery, perjury, &c., it became after the commonwealth a favourite punishment for seditious libellers. it was last inflicted in london in , and was abolished by law in . piloty, karl von, a modern german painter of the new münich school, and professor of painting at the münich academy; did portraits, but his masterpieces are on historical subjects, such as "nero on the ruins of rome," "galileo in prison," "the death of cæsar," &c.; he was no less eminent as a teacher of art than as an artist ( - ). pilsen ( ), a town in bohemia, m. sw. of prague; has numerous industries, and rich coal and iron mines, and produces an excellent beer, which it exports in large quantities. it was an important place during the thirty years' war. pindar, the greatest lyric poet of greece, and for virgin purity of imagination ranked by ruskin along with homer, virgil, dante, and scott; born near thebes, in boeotia, of a musical family, and began his musical education by practice on the flute, while he was assisted in his art by the example of his countrywoman corinna, who competed with and defeated him more than once at the public festivals; he was a welcome visitor at the courts of all the greek princes of the period, and not the less honoured that he condescended to no flattery and attuned his lyre to no sentiment but what would find an echo in every noble heart; he excelled in every department of lyric poetry, hymns to the gods, the praises of heroes, pæans of victory, choral songs, festal songs and dirges, but of these only a few remain, his epinikia, a collection of triumphal odes in celebration of the successes achieved at the great national games of greece; he was not only esteemed the greatest of lyric poets by his countrymen, but is without a rival still; when alexander destroyed thebes he spared the house of pindar ( - b.c.). pindar, peter. see wolcott, john. pindarees or pindaris, a set of freebooters who at the beginning of the present century ravaged central india and were the terror of the districts, but who under the governor-generalship of hastings were driven to bay and crushed in . pindus, mount, is the range of mountains rising between thessaly and epirus, which forms the watershed of the country. pineal gland, a small cone-shaped body of yellowish matter in the brain, the size of a pea, and situated in the front of the cerebellum, notable as considered by descartes to be the seat of the soul, but is now surmised to be a rudimentary remnant of some organ, of vision it would seem, now extinct. pinel, philippe, a french physician, distinguished for the reformation he effected, against no small opposition, in the treatment of the insane, leading to the abandonment everywhere of the cruel, inhuman methods till then in vogue ( - ). pinero, arthur wing, dramatic author, born in london; bred to law, took to the stage and the writing of plays, of which he has produced a goodly number; collaborated with sir arthur sullivan and mr. comyns carr in a romantic musical drama entitled "the beauty stone"; _b_. . pinerolo ( ), a town m. sw. of turin, now a fortress in an important military position, and in which the "man with the iron mask" was imprisoned. pinkerton, john, a scottish antiquary and historian, born in edinburgh; was an original in his way, went to london, attracted the notice of horace walpole and gibbon; died in paris, poor and neglected ( - ). pinkie, a scottish battlefield, near musselburgh, midlothian, where the protector somerset, in his expedition to secure the hand of mary stuart for edward vi., defeated and slaughtered a scottish army . pinto, mendez, a portuguese traveller; wrote in his "peregriniçam" an account of his marvellous adventures in arabia, persia, china, and japan, extending over a period of years ( - ), of which, amid much exaggeration, the general veracity is admitted ( - ). pinturicchio, italian painter, born at perugia; was assistant to perugino (q. v.) when at work in the sistine chapel, rome, did frescoes and panel paintings, one of the "christ bearing the cross" ( - ). pinzen, the name of two brothers, companions of christopher columbus, and one of whom, vicente yanez, discovered brazil in . piozzi, hester, a female friend of johnson under the name of mrs. thrale, after her first husband, a brewer in southwark, whose home for her sake was the rendezvous of all the literary celebrities of the period; married afterwards, to johnson's disgust, an italian music-master, lived with him at florence, and returned at his death to clifton, where she died; left "anecdotes of johnson" and "letters"; was authoress of "the three warnings" ( - ). pipe of peace, a pipe offered by an american indian to one whom he wishes to be on good terms with. pirÆus ( ), the port of athens m. sw. of the city, planned by themistocles, built in the time of pericles, and afterwards connected with the city for safety by strong walls, which was destroyed by the spartans at the end of the peloponnesian war, but restored, to fall afterwards into neglect and ruins. pirano ( ), a seaport of austria, on the adriatic, m. sw. of trieste; has salt-works in the neighbourhood, and manufactures glass, soap, &c. pirithous, king of the lapithæ and friend of theseus, on the occasion of whose marriage an intoxicated centaur ran off with his bride hippodamia, which gave rise to the famous fight between the centaurs and the lapithæ, in which theseus assisted, and the former were defeated; on the death of hippodamia, pirithous ran off with persephone and theseus with helen, for which both had to answer in the lower world before pluto; hercules delivered the latter, but pluto would not release the former. pirke aboth (i. e. sayings of the fathers), the name given to a collection of aphorisms in the manner of jesus the son of sirach by doctors learned in the jewish law, representative of their teaching, and giving the gist of it; they inculcate the importance of familiarity with the words of the law. pirna ( ), a town in saxony, on the elbe, m. se. of dresden; has sandstone quarries in the neighbourhood which employ quarrymen. pisa ( ), on the arno, m. by rail w. of florence, is one of the oldest cities in italy; formerly a port, the river has built up the land at its mouth so that the sea is now m. off, and the ancient trade of pisa has been transferred to leghorn. there are a magnificent cathedral, rich in art treasures, a peculiar campanile of white marble which deviates ft. from the perpendicular, known as the leaning tower of pisa, several old and beautiful churches, a university, school of art, and library. silks and ribbons are woven, and coral ornaments cut. in the th century pisa was at the zenith of its prosperity as a republic, with a great mercantile fleet, and commercial relations with all the world. its ghibelline sympathies involved it in terrible struggles, in which it gradually sank till its fortunes were merged in those of tuscany about . the council of pisa, , held to determine the long-standing rival claims of gregory xii. and benedict xii. to the papal chair, ended by adding a third claimant, alexander v. pisa was one of the twelve cities of ancient etruria. pisano, nicola, italian sculptor and architect of pisa; his most famous works are the pulpit in the baptistery at pisa, and that for the duomo at siena, the last being the fountain in the piazza of perugia ( - ). pisgah, a mountain range e. of the lower jordan, one of the summits of which is mount nebo, from which moses beheld the promised land, and where he died and was buried. pishin ( ), a district of south afghanistan, n. of quetta, occupied by the british since as strategically of importance. pisidia, a division of ancient asia minor, n. of pamphilia, and traversed by the taurus chain. pisistratus, tyrant of athens, was the friend of solon and a relative; an able but an ambitious man; being in favour with the citizens presented himself one day in the agora, and displaying some wounds he had received in their defence, persuaded them to give him a bodyguard of men, which grew into a larger force, by means of which in b.c. he took possession of the citadel and seized the sovereign power, from which he was shortly after driven forth; after six years he was brought back, but compelled to retire a second time; after years he returned and made good his ascendency, reigning thereafter peacefully for years, and leaving his power in the hands of his sons hippias and hipparchus; he was a good and wise ruler, and encouraged the liberal arts, and it is to him we owe the first written collection or complete edition of the poems of homer ( - b.c.). pistoia ( ), a town of n. italy, at the foot of the apennines, m. nw. of florence, with palaces and churches rich in works of art; manufactures iron and steel wares. pistol, ancient, a swaggering bully and follower of falstaff in the "merry wives of windsor." pistole, an obsolete gold coin of europe, originally of spain, worth some s. d. pit`aka` (lit. a basket), the name given to the sacred books of the buddhists, and constituting collectively the buddhistic code. see tripitaka. pitaval, a french advocate, compiler of a famous collection of _causes célèbres_ ( - ). pitcairn island, a small volcanic island ½ m. long and broad, solitary, in the pacific, m. e. of brisbane, where, in , nine men of h.m.s. _bounty_ who had mutinied landed with six tahitians and a dozen tahitian women; from these have sprung an interesting community of islanders, virtuous, upright, and contented, of christian faith, who, having sent a colony to norfolk island, numbered in still . pitcairne, archibald, scottish physician and satirist, born at edinburgh; studied theology and law, and afterwards at paris, medicine; he practised in edinburgh, and became professor at leyden; returning, he acquired great fame in his native city; in medicine he published a treatise on harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood; being an episcopalian and jacobite, he wrote severe satires on all things presbyterian, e. g. "babel, or the assembly, a poem," ( - ). pithom, a town of rameses, one of the treasure-cities built by the children of israel in lower egypt, now, as discovered by m. naville, reduced to a small village between ismailia and tel-el-kebir. pitman, sir isaac, inventor of the shorthand system which bears his name, born at trowbridge, wiltshire; his first publication was "stenographic sound-hand" in , and in he started the _phonetic journal_, and lectured extensively as well as published in connection with his system ( - ). pitrÈ, giuseppe, eminent italian folk-lorist, born at palermo, after serving as a volunteer in under garibaldi, and graduating in medicine in , threw himself into the study of literature, and soon made the folk-lore of italy, the special study of his life, and to which he has devoted himself with unsparing assiduity, the fruits from time to time appearing principally in two series of his works, one in vols. and another in vols.; _b_. . pitris (i. e. fathers), in the hindu mythology an order of divine beings, and equal to the greatest of the gods, who, by their sacrifice, delivered the world from chaos, gave birth to the sun and kindled the stars, and in whose company the dead, who have like them lived self-sacrificingly, enter when they lay aside mortality. see rev. vii. . pitacottie, robert lindsay of, proprietor in the th century of the fifeshire estate name of which he bore, was the author of "the chronicles of scotland," to which sir walter scott owed so much; his work is quaint, graphic, and, on the whole, trustworthy. pitt, william. see chatham, earl of. pitt, william, english statesman, second son of lord chatham, born near bromley, kent, grew up a delicate child in a highly-charged political atmosphere, and studied with such diligence under the direction of his father and a tutor that he entered cambridge at ; called to the bar in , he speedily threw himself into politics, and contested cambridge university in the election of ; though defeated, he took his seat for the pocket burgh of appleby, joined the shelburne tories in opposition to north's ministry, and was soon a leader in the house; he supported, but refused to join, the rockingham ministry of , contracted his long friendship with dundas, afterwards viscount melville, and became an advocate of parliamentary reform; his first office was chancellor of the exchequer under lord shelburne; his reputation steadily rose, but on shelburne's resignation he refused the premiership, and went into opposition against the portland, fox, and north coalition; that minority being defeated ( ) on their indian policy by the direct and unconstitutional interference of the king, he courageously formed a government with a majority of against him; refusing to yield to adverse votes, he gradually won over the house and the country, and the dissolution of gave a majority of in his favour, and put him in office, one of england's strongest ministers; during his long administration, broken only for one month in years, he greatly raised the importance of the commons, stamped out direct corruption in the house, and abolished many sinecures; he revised taxation, improved the collection of revenue and the issue of loans, and set the finances in a flourishing condition; he reorganised the government of india, and aimed strenuously to keep england at peace; but his abandonment of parliamentary reform and the abolition of the slave-trade suggests that he loved power rather than principles; his poor-law schemes and sinking fund were unsound; he failed to appreciate the problems presented by the growth of the factory system, or to manage ireland with any success; on the outbreak of the french revolution he failed to understand its significance, did not anticipate a long war, and made bad preparations and bad schemes; his vacillation in irish policy induced the rebellion of ; by corrupt measures he carried the legislative union of , but the king refused to allow the catholic emancipation he promised as a condition; viscount melville was driven from the admiralty on a charge of malversation, his own health broke down, and the victory of trafalgar scarcely served to brighten his closing days; given to deep drinking, and culpably careless of his private moneys, he yet lived a pure, simple, amiable life; with an overcharged dignity, he was yet an attractive man and a warm friend; england has had few statesmen equal to him in the handling of financial and commercial problems, and few orators more fluent and persuasive than the great peace minister. pitt diamond, a diamond brought from golconda by the grandfather of the elder pitt, who sold it to the king of france; it figured at length in the hilt of the state sword of napoleon, and was carried off by the prussians at waterloo. pittacus, one of the seven sages of greece, born at mitylene, in lesbos, in the th century b.c.; celebrated as a warrior, a statesman, a philosopher, and a poet; expelled the tyrants from mitylene, and held the supreme power for years after by popular vote, and resigned on the establishment of social order; two proverbs are connected with his name: "it is difficult to be good," "know the fit time." pittsburg ( ), second city of pennsylvania, is m. by rail w. of philadelphia, where the junction of the alleghany and the monongahela rivers forms the ohio; the city extends for miles along the rivers' banks, and climbs up the surrounding hills; there are handsome public buildings and churches, efficient schools, a roman catholic college, and a carnegie library; domestic lighting and heating and much manufacture is done by natural gas, which issues at high pressure from shallow borings in isolated districts m. from the city; standing in the centre of an extraordinary coal-field--the edges of the horizontal seams protrude on the hillsides--it is the largest coal-market in the states; manufactures include all iron goods, steel and copper, glassware, and earthenware; its position at the eastern limit of the mississippi basin, its facilities of transport by river and rail--six trunk railroads meet here--give it enormous trade advantages; its transcontinental business is second in volume only to chicago; in early times the british colonists had many struggles with the french for this vantage point; a fort built by the british government in , and called after the elder pitt, was the nucleus of the city. pityriasis, a skin eruption attended with branlike desquamation. pius, the name of nine popes, of which only six call for particular mention: p. ii., pope from to , was of the family of the piccolomini, and is known to history as Æneas sylvius, and under which name he did diplomatic work in britain and germany; as pope he succeeded callistus iii.; he was a wily potentate, and is distinguished for organising a crusade against the turks as well as his scholarship; the works which survive him are of a historical character, and his letters are of great value. p. iv., from to , was of humble birth; during his popehood the deliberations of the council of trent were brought to a close, and the tridentine creed was named after him. p. v., pope to , also of humble birth, was severe in his civil and ecclesiastical capacity, both in his internal administration and foreign relationships, and thought to browbeat the world back into the bosom of mother church; issued a bull releasing queen elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance; but the great event of his reign, and to which he contributed, was the naval victory over the turks at lepanto in . p. vi., pope from to ; the commencement of his popehood was signalised by beneficent measures for the benefit of the roman city, but he was soon in trouble in consequence of encroachments on church privileges in austria and the confiscation of all church property in france, which ended, on his resisting, to still further outrages, in his capture by the french under bonaparte and his expatriation from rome. p. vii., pope from to , concluded a concordat with france, crowned napoleon emperor at paris, who thereafter annexed the papal territories to the french empire, which were in part restored to him only after napoleon's fall; he was a meek-spirited man, and was much tossed about in his day. p. ix., or pio nono, from to , was a "reforming" pope, and by his concessions awoke in a spirit of revolution, under the force of which he was compelled to flee from rome, to return again under the protection of french bayonets against his own subjects, to devote himself to purely ecclesiastical affairs; in he promulgated the doctrine of the immaculate conception, and in the infallibility of the pope; upon the outbreak of the franco-german war in the french troops were withdrawn and victor emmanuel's troops entered the city; pius retired into the vatican, where he lived in seclusion till his death. pix, the name of a little chest in which the consecrated host is kept in the roman catholic church. see pyx. pixies, devonshire robin goodfellows, said to be the spirits of infants who died unbaptized. pizarro, francisco, the conqueror of peru, born at truxillo, in spain, the son of a soldier of distinction; received no education, but was of an adventurous spirit, and entered the army; embarked with other adventurers to america, and having distinguished himself in panama, set out by way of the pacific on a voyage of discovery along with another soldier named almagra; landed on the island of gallo, on the coast of peru, and afterwards returned with his companion to spain for authority to conquer the country; when in he obtained the royal sanction he set sail from spain with three ships in , and on his arrival at peru found a civil war raging between the two sons of the emperor, who had just died; pizarro saw his opportunity; approached atahualpa, the victorious one, now become the reigning inca, with overtures of peace, was admitted into the interior of the country; invited him to a banquet, had him imprisoned, and commenced a wholesale butchery of his subjects, upon which he forced atahualpa to disclose his treasures, and then put him perfidiously to death; his power, by virtue of the mere terror he inspired, was now established, and he might have continued to maintain it, but a contest having arisen between him and his old comrade almagro, whom after defeating he put to death, the sons and friends of the latter rose against him, seized him in his palace at lima, and took away his life ( - ). plague, the, is a very malignant kind of highly contagious fever, marked by swellings of the lymphatic glands. from the development of purple patches due to subcutaneous hæmorrhages the european epidemic of - was called the black death. a quarter of the european population perished on that occasion. other visitations devastated london in , northern europe - , marseilles and provence - , and south-east russia - . the home of the plague was formerly lower egypt, turkey, and the shores of the levant. from these it has been absent since . its home since then has been in india, where it has assumed epidemic form - and - . plain, the, the name given to the girondists or moderate party in the french national convention, in contrast with the mountain (q. v.) or jacobin party. planchÉ, james robinson, antiquary and dramatist, born in london, of french descent; author of a number of burlesques; an authority on heraldry and costumes; he produced over pieces for the stage, and held office in the heralds' court ( - ). planetoids, the name given to a number of very small planets revolving between the orbits of mars and jupiter, originally called asteroids, all of recent discovery, and the list, amounting to some , as yet made of them understood to be incomplete. they are very difficult of discovery, many of them from the smallness of their size and their erratic movements. planets, bodies resembling the earth and of different sizes, which revolve in elliptical orbits round the sun, and at different distances, the chief of them eight in number, two of them, viz., mercury and venus, revolving in orbits _interior_ to that of the earth, and five of them, viz., mars, jupiter, saturn, uranus, and neptune, _exterior_, the whole with the planetoids (q. v.) and comets constituting the solar system. plantagenets, the name attached to a dynasty of kings of england, who reigned from the extinction of the norman line to the accession of the tudor, that is, from the beginning of henry ii.'s reign in to the end of richard iii.'s on bosworth field in . the name was adopted by geoffrey of anjou, the husband of matilda, the daughter of henry i., whose badge was a sprig of broom (which the name denotes), and which he wore in his bonnet as descended from the earl of anjou, who was by way of penance scourged with twigs of it at jerusalem. plantin, christophe, a printer of antwerp, born near tours, in france; celebrated for the beauty and accuracy of the work that issued from his press, the most notable being the "antwerp polyglot"; he had printing establishments in leyden and paris, as well as antwerp, all these conducted by sons-in-law ( - ). plassey, a great battlefield in bengal, now swept away by changes in the course of the river, scarcely m. n. of calcutta; was the scene of clive's victory in with europeans and unreliable native troops over suraj-ud-dowlah, the ruler of bengal, which laid that province at the feet of britain, and led to the foundation of the british empire in india. plaster of paris, a compound of lime, sand, and water used for coating walls, taking casts, and forming moulds. platÆa, a city of ancient greece, in western boeotia, neighbour and ally of athens, suffered greatly in the persian and peloponnesian wars. it was destroyed by the persians b.c., by the peloponnesian forces b.c., and again by the thebans b.c. philip of macedon restored the exiles to their homes in b.c. plato, the great philosopher, born in athens, of noble birth, the year pericles died, and the second of the peloponnesian war; at became a disciple of socrates, and passed eight years in his society; at , after the death of socrates, quitted athens, and took up his abode at megara; from megara he travelled to cyrene, egypt, magna græcia, and sicily, prolonging his stay in magna græcia, and studying under pythagoras, whose philosophy was then at its prime, and which exercised a profound influence over him; after ten years' wandering in this way he, at the age of , returned to athens, and founded his academy, a gymnasium outside the city with a garden, which belonged to his father, and where he gathered around him a body of disciples, and had aristotle for one of his pupils, lecturing there with undiminished mental power till he reached the advanced age of ; of his philosophy one can give no account here, or indeed anywhere, it was so unsectarian; he was by pre-eminence the world-thinker, and though he was never married and left no son, he has all the thinking men and schools of philosophy in the world as his offspring; enough to say that his philosophy was philosophy, as it took up in its embrace both the ideal and the real, at once the sensible and the super-sensible world ( - b.c.). platoff, matvei ivanovich, count, hetman of cossacks, and russian commander in the napoleonic wars; took part in the campaigns of - , and scourged the french during their retreat from moscow in , and again after their defeat at leipzig ; he commanded at the victory of altenburg , and for his services obtained the title of count ( - ). platonic love, love between persons of different sexes, in which as being love of soul for soul no sexual passion intermingles; is so named agreeably to the doctrine of plato, that a man finds his highest happiness when he falls in with another who is his soul's counterpart or complement. platonic year, a period of , years, denoting the time of a complete revolution of the equinox. platt-deutsch or low german, a dialect spoken by the peasantry in north germany from the rhine to pomerania, and derived from old saxon. platte, the largest affluent of the missouri, which joins it at plattsmouth after an easterly course of m. platten-see. see balaton, lake. plauen ( ), a town in saxony, on the elster, m. s. of leipzig, with extensive textile and other manufactures. plautus, a latin comic poet, born in umbria; came when young to rome, as is evident from his mastery of the latin language and his knowledge of greek; began to write plays for the stage at , shortly before the outbreak of the second punic war, and continued to do so for years; he wrote about comedies, but only have survived, the plots mostly borrowed from greek models; they were much esteemed by his contemporaries; they have supplied material for dramatic treatment in modern times ( - b.c.). playfair, john, scotch mathematician, born at benvie; bred for the church, became professor first of mathematics and then of natural philosophy at edinburgh university; wrote on geometry and geology, in the latter supported the huttonian theory of the earth ( - ). pleiades, in the greek mythology seven sisters, daughters of atlas, transformed into stars, six of them visible and one invisible, and forming the group on the shoulders of taurus in the zodiac; in the last week of may they rise and set with the sun till august, after which they follow the sun and are seen more or less at night till their conjunction with it again in may. pleiades, the, the name given to the promoters of a movement in the middle of the th century that aimed at the reform of the french language and literature on classical models, and led on by a group of seven men, ronsard, du bellay, belleau, baïf, daurat, jodelle, and pontus de tyard. the name "pleiad" was originally applied to seven contemporary poets in ancient greece, and afterwards to seven learned men in the time of charlemagne. plenist, name given to one who holds the doctrine that all space is filled with matter. plesiosaurus, an extinct marine animal with a small head and a long neck. pleura, the serous membrane that lines the interior of the thorax and invests the lungs. pleura-pneumonia, an inflammation of the lungs and pleura, pleurisy being the inflammation of the pleura alone. plevna ( ), a fortified town in bulgaria, in which osman pasha entrenched himself in , and where he was compelled to capitulate and surrender to the russians with his force of , men. pleydell, mr. paulus, a shrewd lawyer in scott's "guy mannering." plimsoll, samuel, "the sailor's friend," born at bristol; after experience in a sheffield brewery entered business in london as a coal-dealer; interesting himself in the condition of the sailor's life in the mercantile marine, he directed public attention to many scandalous abuses practised by unscrupulous owners, the overloading, under-manning, and insufficient equipment of ships and sending unseaworthy vessels out to founder for the sake of insurance money; entering parliament for derby in , he secured the passing of the merchant shipping act in levelled against these abuses; his name has been given to the circle with horizontal line through the centre, now placed by the board of trade on the side of every vessel to indicate to what depth she may be loaded in salt water ( - ). plinlimmon (i. e. five rivers), a mountain ft. high, with three summits, on the confines of montgomery and cardigan, so called as source of five different streams. pliny, the elder, naturalist, born at como, educated at rome, and served in the army; was for a space procurator in spain, spent much of his time afterwards studying at borne; being near the bay of naples during an eruption of vesuvius, he landed to witness the phenomenon, but was suffocated by the fumes; his "natural history" is a repertory of the studies of the ancients in that department, being a record, more or less faithful, from extensive reading, of the observation of others rather than his own; _d_. a.d. . pliny, the younger, nephew of the preceding, the friend of trajan; filled various offices in the state; his fame rests on his "letters," of special interest to us for the account they give of the treatment of the early christians and their manner of worship, as also of the misjudgment on the part of the roman world at the time of their religion, as in their eyes, according to him, "a perverse and extravagant superstition" ( - ). plotinus, an alexandrian philosopher of the neo-platonic school, born at lycopolis, in egypt; he taught philosophy at rome, a system in opposition to the reigning scepticism of the time, and which based itself on the intuitions of the soul elevated into a state of mystical union with god, who in his single unity sums up all and whence all emanates, all being regarded as an emanation from him ( - ). plugston of undershot, carlyle's name in "past and present" for a member or "master-worker" of the english mammon-worshipping manufacturing class in rivalry with the aristocracy for the ascendency in the land, who pays his workers his wages and thinks he has done his duty with them in so doing, and is secure in the fortune he has made by that cash-payment gospel of his as all the law and the prophets, called of "undershot," his mill being driven by a wheel, the working power of which is hidden unheeded by him, to break out some day to the damage of both his mill and him. plumptre, edward hayes, distinguished english divine and scholar, born in london; was dean of wells; as a divine he wrote commentaries on books of both the old and new testaments, and as a scholar executed able translations in verse of sophocles, Æschylus, and the "commedia" of dante, the last perhaps his greatest and most enduring work ( - ). plunket, lord, chancellor of ireland, born in ireland, bred to the bar; entered the irish house of commons; opposed the union with great britain; after the union practised at the bar, and held legal appointments; was made a peer, and materially aided the duke of wellington in the house of lords in carrying the catholic emancipation bill of ( - ). plutarch, celebrated greek biographer and moralist, born at chæronea, in boeotia; studied at athens; paid frequent visits to rome, and formed friendships with some of its distinguished citizens; spent his later years at his native place, and held a priesthood; his fame rests on his "parallel lives" of distinguished greeks and romans, a series of portraitures true to the life, and a work one of the most valuable we possess on the illustrious men of antiquity, and an enduring memorial of them ( - ). pluto, god of the nether world, son of kronos and rhea, brother of zeus and poseidon, and husband of persephone; on the dethronement of kronos the universe was divided among themselves by the three brothers, zeus assuming the dominion of the upper world and poseidon that of the ocean, leaving the nether kingdom to him, a domain over which and forth of which he ruled with a greater and more undisputed authority than the other two over heaven, earth, and sea. plutonic theory, the theory that unstratifled rocks were formed by fusion in fire. plutus, the god of riches, son of jason and demeter. zeus is said to have put out his eyes that he might bestow his gifts without respect to merit, that is, on the evil and the good impartially. plymouth ( ), the largest town in devonshire, stands on the n. shore of plymouth sound, m. w. of london by rail; adjacent to it are the towns of stonehouse and devonport. among the chief buildings are a gothic town-hall, a th-century church, and a roman catholic cathedral. the chief industry is chemical manufactures. there is a large coasting and general trade, and important fisheries. many sea-going steamship companies make it a place of call. the sound is an important naval station, and historically famous as the sailing port of the fleet that vanquished the armada. plymouth brethren, an anti-clerical body of christians, one of the earliest communities of which was formed in plymouth about ; they accept, along with pre-millenarian views, generally the calvinistic view of the christian religion, and exclude all unconverted men from their communion, while all included in the body are of equal standing, and enjoy equal privileges as members of christ. they appear to regard themselves as the sole representatives in these latter days of the church of christ, and as the salt of the earth, for whose sake it exists, and on whose decease it and its works of darkness will be burnt up. they are known also by the name of darbyites, from the name of one of their founders, a barrister, john nelson darby, an able man, and with all his exclusiveness a sincere disciple of christ ( - ). pneumonia, name given to acute inflammation of the lungs. po, the largest river in italy, rises ft. above sea-level in the cottian alps, and after m. of rocky defiles emerges on the great lombardy plain, which it crosses from w. to e., receiving the ticino, adda, mincio, and trebbia, tributaries, and enters the adriatic by a rapidly growing delta. its total course is m.; the width and volume of its stream make it difficult to cross and so a protection to all italy. the chief towns on its banks are turin, piacenza, and cremona. pocahontas, the daughter of an indian chief in virginia, who favoured the english settlers there, saving the life of captain smith the coloniser, and afterwards married john rolfe, one of the settlers; came to england, and was presented at court; several virginian families trace their descent to her. pocket borough, a borough in which the influence of some magnate of the place determines the voting at an election time, a thing pretty much of the past. pocock, edward, english arabic and hebrew scholar, born at oxford, and occupied both the chairs of arabic and hebrew there, and left works in evidence of his scholarship and learning in both languages, quite remarkable for the time when he lived ( - ). pococke, richard, english prelate, born at southampton; travelled extensively, particularly in the east; wrote a description of the countries of the east and of others, among them "tours in scotland" and a "tour in ireland," all deemed of value ( - ). podesta, the name given to the chief magistrate of an italian town, with military as well as municipal authority; he was salaried, and annually elected to the office by the council, and had to give an account of his administration at the end of his term. podiebrad, george, king of bohemia; rose, though a hussite, and in spite of the pope, from the ranks of the nobles to that elevation; forced his enemies to come to terms with him, and held his ground against them till the day of his death ( - ). poe, edgar allan, an american poet, born in boston, massachusetts; a youth of wonderful genius, but of reckless habits, and who came to an unhappy and untimely end; left behind him tales and poems, which, though they were not appreciated when he lived, have received the recognition they deserve since his death; his poetical masterpiece, "the raven," is well known; died at baltimore of inflammation of the brain, insensible from which he was picked up in a street one evening ( - ). poerio, carlo, italian patriot; was conspicuous in the revolutionary movement of ; was arrested and banished, but escaped to england, where he was received with sympathy by mr. gladstone among others; he rose into power on the establishment of the kingdom of italy ( - ). poet laureate, the english court poet, an office which dates from the reign of edward iv., the duty of the holder of it being originally to write an ode on the birthday of the monarch. poetical justice, ideal justice as administered in their writings by the poets. poetry, the gift of penetrating into the inner soul or secret of a thing, and bodying it forth rhythmically so as to captivate the imagination and the heart. poet's corner, a corner in the sw. transept of westminster abbey, so called as containing the tombs of chaucer, spenser, and other eminent english poets. poggendorf, johann christian, a german physicist and chemist, born at hamburg; professor of physics at berlin; was the editor for more than half a century of the famous _annalen der physik und chimie_, and the author of numerous papers ( - ). poggio, bracciolini, an italian scholar, born in florence, was a distinguished humanist, and devoted to the revival of classical learning, collecting mss. of the classics wherever he could find them that might otherwise have been lost, including quintilian's "institutions," great part of lucretius, and several orations of cicero, &c.; wrote a "history of florence," where he died; he was the author of a collection of stories and of jests in latin at the expense of the monks ( - ). point de galle ( ), a town on a promontory in the sw. of ceylon, with a good harbour, and the great port of call for the lines of steamers in the eastern waters. poisson, simeon-denis, a celebrated french mathematician, born at pithiviers; was for his eminence in mathematical ability and physical research raised to the peerage; wrote no fewer than memoirs ( - ). poitiers ( ), the capital of the dep. of vienne, m. sw. of tours; has a number of interesting buildings, a university and large library; in its neighbourhood clovis defeated alaric ii. in , charles martel the moors in , and the black prince the troops of king john in . poitou, formerly a province in france, lying s. of the loire, between the vienne river and the sea; passed to england when its countess, eleanor, married henry i., ; was taken by philip augustus , ceded to england again , and retaken by charles v. . pola ( ), the chief naval station of austria, m. s. of trieste, in the adriatic; the harbour is both spacious and deep; was originally a roman colony, and a flourishing seat of commerce. poland, formerly a kingdom larger than modern austro-hungary, with a population of millions, lying between the baltic and the carpathians, with pomerania, brandenburg, and silesia on the w., and the russian provinces of smolensk, tchernigoff, poltava, and kherson on the e.; the dwina, the memel, and the vistula flowed through its northern plains; the dnieper traversed the e., the dniester and the bug rose in its se. corner. the country is fertile; great crops of cereals are raised; there are forests of pine and oak, and extensive pasture lands; vast salt-mines are wrought at cracow; silver, iron, copper, and lead in other parts. poland took rank among european powers in the th century under mieczyslaw, its first christian king. during the th and th centuries it sank to the rank of a duchy. in the mongols devastated the country, and thereafter colonies of germans and jewish refugees settled among the slav population. the first diet met in , and casimir the great, - , raised the country to a high level of prosperity, fostering the commerce of danzig and cracow. the dynasty of the jagellons united lithuania to poland, ended two centuries' contest with the teutonic knights, and yielded to the nobles such privileges as turned the kingdom into an oligarchy and elective monarchy. at the time of the reformation poland was the leading power in eastern europe. the new doctrines gained ground there in spite of severe persecution. warsaw became the capital in . the power and arrogance of the nobles grew; the necessity for unanimity in the votes of the diet gave them a weapon to stop all progress and all correction of their own malpractices. sigismund iii. made unsuccessful attempts to seize the crowns of russia and sweden. in the middle of the th century a terrible struggle against russia, sweden, brandenburg and the cossacks ended in the complete defeat of poland, from which she never recovered. wars with the turks, dissensions among her own nobles, quarrels at the election of every king, the continuance of serfdom, and the persecution of the adherents of the greek church and the protestants, rendered her condition more and more deplorable. austria, russia, and prussia began to interfere in her affairs. she was unfortunate in her choice of kings, and in the second half of the th century she was without natural boundaries, and frederick the great started the idea of partition. the first seizure of territory by the three interfering powers took place in . a movement for reform reorganised the diet, improved the condition of the serfs, established religious toleration, and promulgated a new constitution in ; but a party of unpatriotic nobles resented it, and laid the country open to a second seizure of territory by prussia and russia in . the poles now made a desperate stand under kosciusko, but their three powerful neighbours were too strong, and the final partition of poland between them took place in . the congress of vienna rearranged the division in , and reconstituted the russian portion as a kingdom, with the czar as king; but discontent broke into rebellion, and led to the final repression of independence in . polders, low marshy lands in holland and belgium, drained and reclaimed from sea or river; they form an important part of the former, and are conspicuous from the verdure they display; they include nearly acres of good land, the largest being that of haarlem meer, which is square miles in extent, and was drained by steam. pole, the name given to the extremities of the imaginary axis of the earth, round which it is conceived to revolve. pole, reginald, cardinal, archbishop of canterbury, born at stourton castle, staffordshire, of royal blood; studied at oxford; took holy orders, and was appointed to various benefices by henry viii., who held him in high favour; but he opposed the project of divorcing catherine, and was driven from the royal presence and deprived of his power; but elected to the cardinalate by the pope, he tried to return after henry's death, but was not received back till mary's accession, when he came as papal legate, and was appointed archbishop of canterbury after the death of cranmer, whom he refused to supersede as long as he lived; he was not obsequious enough to the pope, and his legation was cancelled; the queen's illness accelerated his own end, and he died the day after her; he has been charged with abetting the marian persecution, but it is highly questionable how far he was answerable for it ( - ). pole-star or polaris, a star in the northern hemisphere, in ursa minor, the nearest conspicuous one to the n. pole of the heavens, from which it is at present ½° distant; a straight line joining the two "pointers" in ursa major passes nearly through it. polignac, duc de and duchess de, husband and wife; were chargeable with the extravagances of the court of louis xvi., and were the first to emigrate at the outbreak of the revolution, the former dying in and the latter in . polignac, prince de, french statesman, born at versailles, of an old noble family, prime minister of charles x., to whose fall he contributed by his arbitrary measures; in attempting flight at the revolution was captured and sentenced to death, which was converted into banishment; he was allowed to return at length ( - ). politian, angelo, eminent italian scholar, born in tuscany; was patronised by lorenzo de' medici, was made professor of greek and latin at the university of florence, his fame in which capacity drew to his class students from all parts of europe; he did much to forward the renaissance movement, and was distinguished as a poet no less than as a scholar; he became a priest towards the close of his life ( - ). political economy, the name given to the modern _soi-disant_ science concerned with the production, distribution, and exchange of wealth, against the relevancy of which to the economics of the world ruskin has, for most part in vain, during the last forty years emitted a scornful protest, affirming that this is "mercantile" and not "political economy at all," which he insists is the "economy of a state or of citizens," consisting "simply in the production and distribution at fittest time and place of useful or pleasurable things ... a science which teaches nations to desire and labour for the things that lead to life, and to scorn and destroy those that lead to destruction ... though, properly speaking, it is neither an art nor a science, but a system of conduct and legislature, founded on the sciences, directing the arts, and impossible, except under certain conditions of moral culture," with which last, however, the modern political economists maintain their science has nothing whatever to do. poliziano. see politian. polk, james knox, eleventh president of the united states, of irish descent; admitted to the bar in , entered congress in , became president in , his term of office having been signalised by the annexation of texas and california ( - ). pollio, caius asinius, orator, historian, and poet, born at rome; sided with cæsar against pompey, and after the death of the former with antony; was a patron of letters and the friend of virgil and horace, both of whom dedicated poems to him; he was the first to establish a public library in rome ( b.c. to a.d. ). pollock, sir edward, an eminent english judge, born in london, contemporary of brougham, a tory in politics, represented huntingdon, was twice over attorney-general, became chief baron of the exchequer in , and made a baronet on his retirement from the bench ( - ). pollock, sir george, field-marshal, born at westminster, brother of the preceding; distinguished himself in nepal and the afghan war, in the latter forced the kyber pass, defeated akbar khan, and relieved sir robert sale, who was shut up in jelallabad ( - ). pollok, robert, scottish poet, born in renfrewshire; bred for the secession church, wrote one poem, "the course of time," in books, on the spiritual life and human destiny, which was published when he was dying of consumption, a complaint accelerated, it is believed, by his studious habits ( - ). pollux, the twin brother of castor (q. v.). polo, a game similar to hockey, played on horseback with mallets, and devised by british officers in india in place of football. polo, marco, a celebrated traveller, born in venice of a noble family in ; accompanied his father and uncle while a mere youth to the court of the great khan, the tartar emperor of china, by whom he was received with favour and employed on several embassies; unwilling to part with him the emperor allowed him along with his father and uncle to escort a young princess who was going to be married to a persian prince on the promise that they would return, but the prince having died before their arrival, and deeming themselves absolved from their promise by his death, they moved straight home for venice, where they arrived in , laden with rich presents which had been given them; having fallen into the hands of the genoese in a hostile expedition, marco was put in prison, where he wrote the story of his adventures, originally in french it would seem, which proved to be the first account that opened up to wondering europe the magnificence of the eastern world ( - ). polyandry, the name given to a form of polygamy met with among certain rude races, under which a woman is united and lives in marriage to several husbands. polybius, a greek historian, born at megalopolis, in arcadia; sent to rome as a hostage, he formed an intimate friendship with scipio Æmilianus, who aided him in his historical researches, and whom he accompanied to africa on the expedition which issued in the destruction of carthage, after which he returned to greece and began his literary labours, the fruit of which was a history of greece and rome from to b.c. in books, of which have come down to us complete, a work characterised by accurate statement of facts and sound judgment of their import, written with a purpose to instruct in practical wisdom; he has been called "the first pragmatical historian" ( - b.c.). polycarp, bishop of smyrna, one of the early fathers of the church, a disciple of the apostles and in particular of st. john; was for nearly years bishop, and suffered martyrdom for refusing to renounce christ, "after having served him," as he said, "for years"; of his writings the only one extant is an "epistle to the philippians," the genuineness of which, at one time questioned, is now established, and is of value chiefly in questions affecting the canon of scripture and the origin of the church. polycrates, the tyrant of samos, and friend of anacreon and art and literature generally; formed an alliance with amasis, king of egypt, who, struck with his prosperity, ascribed it to the envy of the gods, insinuating that they intended his ruin thereby, and advised him, in order to avert his impending doom, to throw the most valuable of his possessions into the sea, upon which he threw a signet ring of great price and beauty, to find it again in the mouth of a fish a fisherman had sold him; still, though upon this amasis broke alliance with him, his prosperity clung to him, till one day he was allured by a persian satrap, his enemy, away from samos, and by him crucified to death, b.c. polygnotus, an early greek painter, born in thasos, and settled in athens b.c.; is considered the founder of historical painting, and is praised especially by aristotle, who pays a high tribute to him; was the first to attempt portrait-painting and exhibit character by his art. polyhymnia, one of the nine muses (q. v.); she is represented as in a pensive mood, with her forefinger on her mouth; she was the inventress of the lyre and the mother of orpheus. polynesia is the collective name of all the islands of the pacific of coral or volcanic origin. these south sea islands are scattered, isolated, or more usually in groups over a stretch of ocean m. from n. to s. and from e. to w.; with the exception of the two chief members of the new zealand archipelago they are mostly small, and exhibit wonderful uniformity of climate; the temperature is moderate, and where there are any hills to intercept the moisture-laden trade-winds the rainfall is high; they are extremely rich in flora; characteristic of their vegetation are palms, bread fruit trees, and edible roots like yams and sweet potatoes, forests of tree-ferns, myrtles, and ebony, with endless varieties of beautiful flowering plants; their fauna is wonderfully poor, varieties of rats and bats, a few snakes, frogs, spiders, and centipedes, with the crocodile, being the chief indigenous animals; the three divisions of polynesia are micronesia, comprising five small archipelagoes in the nw., n. of the equator, of which the chief are the mariana and caroline groups; melanesia, comprising eleven archipelagoes in the w., s. of the equator, of which the largest are the solomon, bismarck, fiji, new caledonia, and new hebrides groups; and eastern polynesia, e. of these on both sides of the equator, including new zealand, hawaii, and samoa, ten other archipelagoes, and numerous sporadic islands; the first of these divisions is occupied by a mixed population embracing many distinct elements, the second by the black, low-type melanesians, the third by the light brown, tall polynesians; traces of extinct civilisation are found in easter island and the carolines; most of the islands are now in the possession of european powers, and are more or less christianised; new zealand is one of the most enterprising and flourishing colonies of great britain; everywhere the native races are dying out before the immigration of europeans. polyphemus, in homeric legend a son of neptune, the most celebrated of the cyclops, a huge monster with one eye, who dwelt in sicily in a cave near Ætna, and whose eye, after making him drunk, ulysses burnt out, lest he should circumvent him and devour him, as he had done some of his companions. polytechnic school, an institution for teaching the practical arts and the related sciences, especially such as depend on mathematics. polytheism, a belief in a plurality of gods each with a sphere of his own, and each in general a personification of some elemental power concerned in the government of the world. pombal, marquis de, a great portuguese statesman, born in coimbra; was prime minister of joseph i.; partial to the philosophic opinions of the th century, he set himself to fortify the royal power, to check that of the aristocracy, and to enlighten the people; he was the pronounced enemy of the jesuits, reformed the university of coimbra, purified the administration, encouraged commerce and industry, whereby he earned for himself at the hands of the people the name of the great marquis; on the accession of maria, joseph's daughter and successor, he was, under jesuit influence, dispossessed of power, to die in poverty ( - ). pomerania ( , ), a prussian province lying between the baltic and brandenburg, with west prussia on the e. and mecklenburg on the w., is a flat and in some parts sandy country, with no hills, many lakes, and a large lagoon, the stettiner haff, into which the chief river, the oder, falls; the islands of wallin, usedom, and rügen belong to the province; the main industry is agriculture, principal products rye and potatoes; poultry-rearing and fishing are extensively carried on; there are shipbuilding, machine-works, sugar and chemical factories; stettin, the capital, and stralsund are important trading centres; a university is at greifswald; the slavic population embraced christianity in the th century; shortly afterwards the duke joined the german empire; after the thirty years' war much of the province fell to sweden, and the whole was not finally ceded to prussia till . pomona, or mainland, the largest island in the orkneys, has a low treeless surface, many lakes, and extensive pasture-land; agriculture has of late improved, and, with stock-raising and fishing, is the chief industry; the only towns are kirkwall and stromness. pomona, in the roman mythology is the goddess of fruits, who presided over their ripening and in-gathering, and was generally represented bearing fruits in her lap or in a basket. pompadour, marquise de, a famous mistress of louis xv., born in paris; celebrated for her beauty and wit; throwing herself, though a married woman, in the king's way, she took his fancy, and was installed at versailles; for years exercised an influence both over him and the affairs of the kingdom, to the corruption and ruin of both, and the exasperation of the nation; she was preceded as mistress of louis by la châteroux, and succeeded by du barri ( - ). pompeii, an ancient italian seaport on the bay of naples, fell into the possession of rome about b.c., and was converted into a watering-place and "the pleasure haunt of paganism"; the romans erected many handsome public buildings, and their villas and theatres and baths were models of classic architecture and the scenes of unbounded luxury; the streets were narrow, provided with side-walks, the walls often decorated with painting or scribbled over by idle gamins; the number of shops witnesses to the fashion and gaiety of the town, the remains of painted notices to its municipal life; a terrible earthquake ruined it and drove out the inhabitants in a.d. ; they returned and rebuilt it, however, in a tawdry and decadent style, and luxury and pleasure reigned as before till in a.d. an eruption of vesuvius buried everything in lava and ashes; the ruins were forgotten till accidentally discovered in ; since the city has been disinterred under the auspices of the italian government, and is now a favourite resort of tourists and archæologists. pompey, cneius, surnamed the great, roman general and statesman; entered into public life after the death of marius; associated himself with sulla; distinguished himself in africa and in the mithridatic war; was raised to the consulate with crassus in b.c.; cleared the mediterranean sea of pirates in - ; formed against the senate, along with cæsar and crassus, the first triumvirate, and in entered into rivalry with cæsar; after a desperate struggle he was defeated at pharsalia, and escaping to egypt, was assassinated there by orders of ptolemy xii. ( - b.c.). pompey's pillar, a block of red granite near alexandria, forming a pillar ft. in. high; erected in honour of the emperor diocletian, who conquered alexandria in . the name is an invention of some mistaken early traveller. ponce de leon, spanish navigator; conquered porto rico in , and discovered florida in . also the name of a spanish poet; was a professor of theology at salamanca; was translator of the song of solomon, and wrote a commentary on it in latin. poncho, a kind of cloak or shawl, of woollen or alpaca cloth, oblong in shape, with a slit in the centre, through which the wearer passes his head, allowing the folds to cover his shoulders and arms to the elbows, and to fall down before and behind; worn by the native men in chili and argentina. ponchos of waterproof are used by the united states cavalry. pondicherry ( ), a small french colony on the e. coast of india, m. s. of madras; was first occupied in . it was captured by the dutch in , and by the english successively in , , and , but on each occasion restored. the capital, pondicherry ( ), is the capital of the french possessions in india; has handsome tree-lined streets, government buildings, college, lighthouse, cotton mills, and dye-works. the harbour is an open roadstead; trade is small, the chief export oil seeds. pondos, a branch of zulu-kaffirs, , in number, occupying territory called pondo land, annexed to cape colony, in south africa. poniatowski, prince joseph, polish general, born in warsaw; commanded the polish contingent that accompanied napoleon in his expedition into russia in ; was created marshal of france on the field of leipzig; covered the retreat of the french army, and was drowned crossing the elster; his chivalrous bravery earned him the honourable appellation of the polish bayard; he was buried at cracow, and his remains placed beside those of sobieski and kosciusko ( - ). pons asinorum (i. e. bridge of asses), the fifth proposition in the st book of euclid, so called for the difficulty many a tyro has in mastering it. ponsonby, sir frederick cavendish, military officer; served in the peninsular war; distinguished himself at waterloo; lay wounded all night after the engagement; was conveyed next day in a cart to the village with seven wounds in his body; was a great favourite with the army ( - ). pontefract ( ), an ancient market-town of yorkshire, m. se. of leeds; has a castle in which richard ii. died, and which suffered four sieges in the civil war, a market hall, grammar school, and large market-gardens, where liquorice for the manufacture of pomfret cakes is grown. pontifex maximus, the chief of the college of priests in ancient rome, the officiating priests being called flamens. pontifical, a service-book of the romish church, containing prayers and rites for a performance of public worship by the pope or bishop; also in the plural the name of the full dress of an officiating priest. pontine marshes, a district, m. by , in the s. of the campagna of rome, one of the three malarial districts of italy, and the most unhealthy of the three, extending about m. in length and or in varying breadth, is grazing ground for herds of cattle, horses, and buffaloes. many unsuccessful attempts have been made to drain these marshes. pontus, the classical name of a country on the se. shores of the black sea, stretching from the river halys to the borders of armenia; is represented by the modern turkish provinces of trebizond and sivas. originally a persian province, it became independent shortly after b.c., and remained so till part was annexed to bithynia in b.c., and the rest constituted a roman province in a.d. . poole ( ), a seaport of dorsetshire, m. w. of bournemouth; has a trade in potters' and pipe-clay, with considerable shipping. poole, matthew, english controversialist and commentator, born at york, educated at cambridge; became rector of st. michael le querne in london, but was expelled from his living by the act of uniformity ; retiring to holland he died at amsterdam; besides polemics against rome he compiled a "synopsis criticorum biblicorum," containing the opinions of biblical critics ( - ). poona ( ), m. by rail se. of bombay, is the chief military station in the deccan, and in the hot season the centre of government in the bombay presidency; with narrow streets and poor houses, it is surrounded by gardens; here are the deccan college, college of science, and other schools; the english quarters are in the cantonments; silk, cotton, and jewellery are manufactured; it was the capital of the mahrattas, and was annexed by britain in . poor richard, the name assumed by franklin (q. v.) in his almanacs. pope (i. e. papa), a title originally given to all bishops of the church, and eventually appropriated by leo the great, the bishop of rome, as the supreme pontiff in , a claim which in created the great schism, and which asserted itself territorially as well as spiritually, till now at length the pope has been compelled to resign all territorial power. the present pope, pius x., is the successor of who occupied before him the chair of st. peter. pope, alexander, eminent english poet, born in london, of roman catholic parents; was a sickly child, and marred by deformity, and imperfectly educated; began to write verse at in which he afterwards became such a master; his "pastorals" appeared in , "essay on criticism" in , and "rape of the lock" in , in the production of which he was brought into relationship with the leading literary men of the time, and in particular swift, between whom and him a lifelong friendship was formed; in - appeared his translation of the "iliad," and in - that of the "odyssey," for which two works, it is believed, he received some £ ; afterwards, in , appeared the "dunciad," a scathing satire of all the small fry of poets and critics that had annoyed him, and in appeared the first part of the famous "essay on man"; he was a vain man, far from amiable, and sometimes vindictive to a degree, though he was capable of warm attachments, and many of his faults were due to a not unnatural sensitiveness as a deformed man; but as a poet he is entitled to the homage which professor saintsbury pays when he characterises him as "one of the greatest masters of poetic form that the world has ever seen" ( - ). popish plot, an imaginary plot devised by titus oates (q. v.) on the part of the roman catholics in charles ii.'s reign; in the alleged connection a number of innocent people lost their lives. porch, the, the name given to the school of zeno (q. v.), so called from the arcade in athens, in which he taught his philosophy, a "many-coloured portico," as decorated with the paintings of polygnotus (q. v.). porcupine, peter, a pseudonym assumed by william cobbett (q. v.). porphyry, a neo-platonic philosopher of alexandria, born at tyre; resorted to rome and became a disciple of plotinus (q. v.), whose works he edited; he wrote a work against christianity, known only from the replies ( - ). porsena, a king of etruria, famous in the early history of rome, who took up arms to restore tarquin, the last king, but was reconciled to the roman people from the brave feats he saw, certain of them accomplished, as well as the formidable power of endurance they displayed. porson, richard, eminent greek scholar, born in norfolk; was a prodigy of learning and critical acumen; edited the plays of Æschylus and four of euripides, but achieved little in certification to posterity of his ability and attainments; was a man of slovenly and intemperate habits, and died of apoplexy ( - ). port arthur, a naval station on the peninsula extending s. into the gulf of pechili; conceded to russia on a lease of years. port darwin, one of the finest harbours in australia; is on the n. coast opposite bathurst island; on its shores stands palmerston, terminus of the overland telegraph, the cable to java, and a railway to the gold mines m. inland. port elizabeth ( ), the third largest town and chief trading centre of cape colony; stands on algoa bay, m. sw. of grahamstown; it has magnificent public buildings, parks, and squares, a college, library, and museum. it is the chief port in the e. of the colony and for natal, the principal exports being wools, hides, and ostrich feathers. port glasgow ( ), a renfrewshire seaport on the s. shore of the firth of clyde, m. e. of greenock and w. of glasgow; was founded by the magistrates of glasgow in as a port for that city before the deepening of the river was projected. in the beginning of the th century it was the chief port on the clyde, but has since been surpassed by greenock and glasgow itself. there are shipbuilding, iron and brass founding industries, and extensive timber ponds. port louis ( ), capital of mauritius, on the nw. coast; is the chief port of the colony, with an excellent harbour, and contains the british government buildings, a protestant and a roman catholic cathedral, barracks, and military store-houses. it is a naval coaling-station. port royal, a convent founded in , m. sw. of versailles, and which in the th century became the head-quarters of jansenism (q. v.), and the abode of antoine lemaitre, antoine arnauld, and others, known as the "solitaires of the port royal." they were distinguished for their austerity, their piety, and their learning, in evidence of which last they established a school of instruction, in connection with which they prepared a series of widely famous educational works. port-au-prince ( ), on the w. coast of hayti, on port-au-prince bay, is the capital; a squalid town; exports coffee, cocoa, logwood, hides, and mahogany. portcullis, a strong grating resembling a harrow hanging over the gateway of a fortress, let down in a groove of the wall in the case of a surprise. porte, sublime, or simply the porte, is a name given to the turkish government. porteous mob, the name given a mob that collected in the city of edinburgh on the night of the th september , broke open the tolbooth jail, and dragged to execution in the grassmarket one captain porteous, captain of the city guard, who on the occasion of a certain riot had ordered his men to fire on the crowd to the death of some and the wounding of others, and had been tried and sentenced to death, but, to the indignation of the citizens, had been respited. the act was one for which the authorities in the city were held responsible by the government, and the city had to pay to porteous' widow £ . porter, jane, english novelist, born in durham; her most famous novels were "thaddeus of warsaw" ( ) and "the scottish chiefs" ( ), both highly popular in their day, the latter particularly; it induced scott to go on with waverley; died at bristol ( - ). porter, noah, american philosophical writer, born at farmington, connecticut, educated at yale; was a congregationalist minister - , then professor of moral philosophy at yale, and afterwards president of the college; edinburgh university granted him the degree of d.d. in ; among his works are "the human intellect" and "books and reading"; _b_. . porteus, beilby, english churchman, born at york, of american parentage; graduated and became fellow of christ's college, cambridge, and took orders in ; from the rectory of hunton, kent, he was preferred to that of lambeth in , thence to the bishopric of chester in , and to that of london ; a poor scholar, he yet wrote some popular books, especially a "summary of christian evidences," and "lectures on st. matthew's gospel"; he posed as a sabbatarian and an advocate of the abolition of slavery ( - ). portia, the rich heiress in the "merchant of venice," whose destiny in marriage depended, as ordained by her father, on the discretion of the wooer to choose the one of the three caskets that contained her portrait. portland, , the largest city ( ) and principal seaport of maine, stands on a peninsula in casco bay, in. ne. of boston by rail. it has extensive wharfs, dry-docks, and grain-elevators, engineer shops, shoe-factories, and sugar-refineries. settled as an english colony in , it was ravaged by fire in . longfellow was born here. , largest city ( ) in oregon, on the willamette river, nearly m. n. of san francisco; is a handsome city, with numerous churches and schools; there are iron-foundries, mechanics' shops, canneries, and flour-mills; railway communication connects it with st. paul and council bluffs, and the river being navigable for deep-sea steamers, it is a thriving port of entry. portland, isle of, a rocky peninsula in the sw. of dorsetshire, connected by chesil bank and the mainland; is famous as the source of great quantities of fine building limestone; here is also a convict-prison opened , accommodating prisoners. portland vase, an ancient cinerary urn of dark blue glass ornamented with greek mythological figures carved in a layer of white enamel found near rome about , and which came into the possession of the portland family in , and is now in the british museum. it is ten inches high and seven inches round. porto rico ( ), a west indian island, half the size of wales, m. e. of hayti, is well watered and very fertile. ranges of hills run from e. to w., and are covered with valuable timber. sugar, coffee, and rice are the principal crops; tobacco and tropical fruits are grown; cattle and horses are reared. textile goods, hardware, and provisions are imported; the exports are sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cattle. the capital is st. john's ( ), mayaguez ( ), and ponce ( ), the other towns. the island was discovered by columbus, who called it hispaniola, in . colonised by spain in , it attempted unsuccessfully to gain independence in - . the abolition of slavery in , and the growth of population, marked the remainder of its history as a spanish colony. it was seized by the united states in the war of . portobello ( ), a midlothian watering-place on the firth of forth, m. e. of edinburgh, with which it is now incorporated for municipal purposes; has a fine esplanade and promenade pier, and manufactures of pottery, bricks, and bottles. portsmouth, , largest city ( ) of new hampshire, and only seaport in the state, on the piscataqua river, m. from the ocean; is by rail m. ne. of boston, a handsome old town and favourite watering-place; near it is a u.s. navy-yard. , ( ), on the ohio river, in ohio; is the centre of an extensive iron industry. , ( ), seaport and naval station on the elizabeth river, virginia. portsmouth ( ), the most important british naval station, a seaport and market-town, is situated on portsea island, on the coast of hants, m. se. of southampton. it is an unimposing town, but strongly fortified. st. thomas's and garrison chapel are old churches with historical associations. the naval dockyards contain docks lined with masonry, vast store-houses, wood-mills, anchor-forges, and building-slips. some of the docks are roofed over, as also is a large building-slip on which four vessels may be constructed at once. the harbour can receive the largest war-vessels, and in spithead roadstead ships can anchor at once. the trade of portsmouth is dependent on the dockyards. it owes its defences to edward iv. elizabeth, and william iii. it was the scene of buckingham's assassination and of the loss of the _royal george_. three novelists were born here--dickens, meredith, and besant. portugal ( , ), a country as large as ireland, bounded on the s. and w. by the atlantic, on the n. and e. by spain, from which at different places it is separated by the rivers minho, douro, tagus, and guadiana; consists of the atlantic slopes of the great peninsular tableland, and has a moist, warm atmosphere, heavy rains, and frequent fogs. the above rivers and the mondego traverse it; their valleys are fertile, the mountain slopes covered with forests. in the n. the oak abounds, in the centre the chestnut, in the s. cork-trees and palms. agriculture, carried on with primitive implements, is the chief industry. indian corn, wheat, and in the s. rice, are extensively grown; the vine yields the most valuable crops, but in the n. it is giving place to tobacco. there are a few textile factories. the largest export is wine; the others, cork, copper ore, and onions, which are sent to great britain, brazil, and france. the principal imports, iron, textiles, and grain. the capital is lisbon, on the tagus, one of the finest towns in the world. oporto, the chief manufacturing centre, and second city for commerce, is at the mouth of the douro. braga was once the capital. coimbra, on the mondego, is the rainiest place in europe. there are good roads between the chief towns, m. of railway and m. of telegraph. the people are a mixed race, showing traces of arab, berber, and negro blood, with a predominance of northern strains. they are courteous and gentle; the peasantry hard-working and thrifty. roman catholic is the national faith, but they are tolerant of other religions. the language is closely akin to spanish. education is backward. the government is a limited monarchy, there being two houses of parliament--peers and deputies. the azores and madeira are part of the kingdom; there are colonies in africa and asia, in which slavery was abolished only in . the th and th centuries saw the zenith of portugal's fortunes. at that time, in strict alliance with england, she raised herself by her enterprise to the foremost maritime and commercial power of europe; her navigators founded brazil, and colonised india. diaz in discovered and vasco da gama in doubled the cape of good hope. in magellan sailed round the world; but in the th century the extensive emigration, the expulsion of the jews, the introduction of the inquisition, and the spread of jesuit oppression, led to a speedy downfall. for a time she was annexed to spain. regaining her independence, she threw herself under the protection of england, her traditional friend, during the napoleonic struggle. she is now an inconsiderable power, commercially thriving, politically restless, financially unsound. poseidon, in the greek mythology the god of the sea, a son of kronos and rhea, and brother of zeus, pluto, hera, hestia, and demeter; had his home in the sea depths, on the surface of which he appeared with a long beard, seated in a chariot drawn by brazen-hoofed horses with golden manes, and wielding a trident, which was the symbol of his power, exercised in production of earthquake and storms. see pluto. posen ( , ), a province of prussia on the russian frontier, surrounded by west prussia, brandenburg, and silesia; belongs to the great north german plain; has several lakes, and is traversed by the navigable warthe, netze, and vistula. the prevailing industry is agriculture; the crops are grain, potatoes, and hops; there are some manufactures of machinery and cloth. originally part of poland, half the population are poles; except the jews, most of the people are catholics. the capital is posen ( ), on the warthe, by rail m. e. of berlin. it is a pleasant town, with a cathedral, museum, and library, manufactures of manure and agricultural implements, breweries and distilleries. it is now a fortress of the first rank. gnesen and bromberg are the other chief towns. posidonius, an eminent stoic philosopher, born in syria; established himself in rhodes, where he rose to eminence; was visited by cicero and pompey, both of whom became his pupils; maintained that pain was no evil; "in vain, o pain," he exclaimed one day under the pangs of it, "in vain thou subjectest me to torture; it is not in thee to extort from me the reproach that thou art an evil" ( - b.c.). positivism, the philosophy so called of auguste comte (q. v.), the aim of which is to propound a new arrangement of the sciences and a new theory of the evolution of science; the sciences he classes under the categories of abstract and concrete, and his law of evolution is that every department of knowledge passes in the history of it through three successive stages, and only in the last of which it is entitled to the name of science--the theological stage, in which everything is referred to the intervention of the gods; the metaphysical, in which everything is referred to an abstract idea; and the positive, which, discarding at once theology and philosophy, contents itself with the study of phenomena and their sequence, and regards that as science proper. thus is positivism essentially definable, in dr. stirling's words, as "a method which replaces all outlying agencies, whether theological deities or metaphysical entities, by positive laws; which laws, and in their phenomenal relativity, as alone what can be known, ought alone to constitute what is sought to be known." see dr. stirling's "schwegler." posse comitatus, a latin expression, signifies the whole coercive power of a county called out in the case of a riot, and embraces all males over except peers, ecclesiastics, and infirm persons. these may be summoned by the sheriff to assist in maintaining the public peace, enforcing a writ, or capturing a felon; but usually the constabulary is sufficient for these duties. post restante, department of a post-office where letters lie till they are called for. potemkin, russian officer, born at smolensk, of polish descent; a handsome man with a powerful physique, who attracted the attention of catharine ii., became one of her chief favourites, and directed the foreign policy of russia under her for years; is understood to have been an able man, but unscrupulous ( - ). potomac river, rising in the alleghany mountaine, flows m. eastward between maryland and the virginias into chesapeake bay; the shenandoah is the chief tributary. the river is navigable as far up as cumberland, and is tidal up to washington, which is on its banks. potosi ( ), an important mining and commercial town of bolivia, situated , ft. above sea-level on the slopes of the cerro de potosi; is one of the loftiest inhabited places on the globe, but a dilapidated, squalid place. there is a cathedral, next to lima the finest in south america, a mint, and extensive reservoirs; the streets are steep and without vehicles; the climate is cold, and the surrounding hillsides barren; the industry is silver mining, but the mines are becoming exhausted and flooded. potsdam ( ), m. sw. of berlin, stands on an island at the confluence of the nuthe and havel, and is the capital of the prussian province of brandenburg; a handsome town, with broad streets, many parks and squares, numberless statues and fine public buildings; it is a favourite residence of prussian royalty, and has several royal palaces; was the birthplace of alexander von humboldt; has sugar and chemical works, and a large violet-growing industry. pott, august friedrich, eminent philologist, born in hanover; wrote on the indo-germanic languages, a work which ranks next in importance to bopp's "comparative grammar"; he was the author of a number of philological papers which appeared in the learned journals of the day ( - ). potter, john, archbishop of canterbury, born in yorkshire, son of a draper, a distinguished scholar; author of "archæologia græca," a work on the antiquities of greece, and for long the authority on that subject ( - ). potter, paul, a great dutch animal-painter, lived chiefly at amsterdam and the hague; his most celebrated picture, life-size, is the "young bull," now at the hague ( - ). potteries, the, a district in north staffordshire, m. long by broad, the centre of the earthenware manufacture of england; it includes hanley, burslem, stoke-upon-trent, &c. pot-wallopers (i. e. pot-boilers), a popular name given prior to the reform bill of to a class of electors in a borough who claimed the right to vote on the ground of boiling a pot within its limits for six months. pourparler, a diplomatic conference towards the framing of a treaty. poussin, nicolas, one of the most illustrious of french painters, born near andelys, in normandy; studied first in paris and then at rome, where he first attained celebrity, whence he was in invited to paris by louis xiii., who appointed him painter-in-ordinary, with a studio in the tuileries, returning three years after to rome, where he died; he is the author of numerous great works, among which may be mentioned the "shepherds of arcadia," "the deluge," "moses drawn out of the water," "the flight into egypt," &c., all of which display simplicity of taste, nobility of character, and artistic talent of a high order ( - ). powell, baden, physicist, rationalist in theology, born in london; was savilian professor of geometry at oxford, wrote a number of treatises on physical subjects, and contributed to the famous "essays and reviews" an essay on the evidences of christianity which gave no small offence to orthodox people ( - ). powell, major, american geologist and ethnologist, born in new york state; served in the civil war, explored the cañon of colorado, and became director of the u.s. geological survey; has written on geological and ethnological subjects; _b_. . powers, hiram, american sculptor, born in vermont; began his career by modelling busts at washington, in emigrated to italy, and resided the rest of his life at florence, where he produced his "eve," his "greek slave," and other works ( - ). poynings's law, an act of parliament held at drogheda in in the reign of henry vii., declaring that all statutes hitherto passed in england should be also in force in ireland, so called from sir edward poynings, the lieutenant of ireland at the time. poynter, edward john, painter, born in paris; was educated in england, studied in rome and paris, and settled in london in ; held appointments at university college and at kensington, but resigned them in to prosecute his art, which he has since assiduously done, and with distinction; was elected president of the royal academy in ; is the author of "lectures on art"; _b_. . pozzo di borgo, count, the lifelong enemy of napoleon, born in ajaccio, corsica; was a partisan of paoli; obliged to flee from corsica, took refuge in london, in vienna, and then in russia, and plotted everywhere to compass the ruin of his arch-enemy; seduced, out of simple hatred of him, bernadotte from the service of napoleon, and egged on the allies against france; represented russia at the congress of vienna, and died in paris ( - ). pozzuoli ( ), an italian city on the bay of naples, is noted for its classical remains; the cathedral was once the temple of augustus; there are ruins of other temples, a forum, and the ancient harbour of puteoli, where st. paul landed; the town has been submerged and partially raised again by volcanic action; mount solfatara, behind, supplies medicinal gases and springs; near it are the italian works of armstrong of elswick. p. p., clerk of this parish, the feigned author of a volume of memoirs written by arbuthnot in ridicule of burnet's "history of my own times." praed, winthrop mackworth, witty facile versifier and politician, born in london; practised in verse-making from a boy, notably at eton; bred for the bar, entered parliament as a tory in , and rose into office; wrote several verse-tales, some pieces of promise, such as "arminius" and "my pretty josephine," a grotesque production called "the red fisherman," and exquisite _vers de société_ ( - ). prÆtor, a roman magistrate at first, virtually a third consul, with administrative functions, chiefly judiciary, originally in the city, and ultimately in the provinces as well, so that the number of them increased at one time to as many as . prÆtorian guard, a select body of soldiers distributed in cohorts, as many as ten of a thousand each, to guard the person and maintain the power of the emperors, and who at length acquired such influence in the state as to elect and depose at will the emperors themselves, disposing at times of the imperial purple to the highest bidder, till they were in the end outnumbered and dispersed by constantine in . pragmatic sanction, a term applied to "an ordinance of a very irrevocable nature which a sovereign makes in affairs belonging wholly to himself, or what he reckons within his own right," but applied more particularly to the decree promulgated by charles vi., emperor of germany, whereby he vested the right of succession to the throne of austria in his daughter, maria theresa, wife of francis of lorraine, a succession which was guaranteed by france, the states-general, and the most of the european powers. prague ( ), capital of bohemia, on the moldau, m. by rail nw. of vienna, is a picturesque city with over towers, a great royal palace, unfinished cathedral, an old town-hall, a picture-gallery, observatory, botanical garden, and museums; the university, partly german and partly czech, has teachers, students, and a magnificent library; the centre of an important transit trade, prague is the chief commercial city of bohemia; has manufactures of machinery, chemicals, leather, and textile goods; four-fifths of the population are czechs; founded in the th century, it has suffered in many wars; was captured by the hussites , fell frequently during the thirty years' war, capitulated to frederick the great , and in was bombarded for two days by the austrian government in quelling the democratic demonstrations of the slavonic congress of that year. prairie, name given by the french to an extensive tract of flat or rolling land covered with tall, waving grass, mostly destitute of trees, and forming the great central plain of north america, which extends as far n. as canada. prakrit, name given to a group of hindu languages based on sanskrit. pratique, license given to a ship to enter port on assurance from the captain to convince the authorities that she is free from contagious disease. praxiteles, great greek sculptor, born at athens; executed statues in both bronze and marble, and was unrivalled in the exhibition of the softer beauties of the human form, especially the female figure, his most celebrated being the marble one of aphrodité at cnidus; he executed statues of eros, apollo, and hermes as well, but they have all perished. praying-wheels, cylinders with printed prayers on them, driven by hand, water, or wind-power, in use among the buddhists of thibet. pre-adamites, a race presumed to have existed on the earth prior to adam; traditional first fathers of the jews. precession of the equinoxes, name given to the gradual shifting of the equinoctial points along the ecliptic from east to west. see equinoxes. prÉcieuses ridicules, a play of molière's, published in , directed against the affectations of certain literary coteries of the day. predestination, the eternal decree which in particular foreordains certain of the human family to life everlasting and others to death everlasting, or the theological dogma which teaches these. see election, the doctrine of. predicables, the five classes of terms which can be predicated of a subject, viz.--genus, containing species; species, contained in a genus; differentia, distinguishing one species from another; property, quality possessed by every member of a species; and accident, attribute belonging to certain individuals of a species and not others. pregel, a navigable river in e. prussia, m. long and ft. broad, which falls into the frische haff below königsberg. prejevalski, nicholas, russian explorer, born in smolensk; joined the army, served against the poles in , and was appointed to siberia in ; his first explorations were in the country s. of the amur; in - he travelled through southern mongolia from pekin to the upper yangtse-kiang region; thereafter his energies were devoted to thibet; he made repeated unsuccessful attempts to reach lhassa, exploring by the way the desert of gobi and the upper hoang-ho, and died finally at karakol, in west turkestan; he discovered the wild camel and wild horse, and brought back valuable zoological and botanical collections, which are now in st. petersburg ( - ) pre-raphaelitism, a movement headed by rossetti, holman hunt, and millais, of revolt against the style of art in vogue, traceable all the way back to raphael, and of a bold return to the study of nature itself, agreeably to the advice of ruskin, that "they should go to nature in all singleness of heart, and walk with her laboriously and trustingly, having no other thought than how best to penetrate her meaning: rejecting nothing, selecting nothing, and scorning nothing"; the principle of the movement, as having regard not merely to what the outer eye sees in an object, but to what the inner eye sees of objective truth and reality in it. presburg ( ), the ancient capital of hungary, close to the austrian frontier, on the danube, by rail m. e. of vienna; is a pleasant town, with a cathedral, a town-house, and a franciscan church, all of the th century, the old parliament house, and a ruined royal castle; manufactures beer, dynamite, and starch, and trades largely in live stock and corn. presbyopia, diminution of sight due to age, occurring usually about forty-five, when near objects are less distinctly seen than distant, an affliction due to the flattening of the lens. presbyterianism, that form of church government which, discarding prelacy, regards all ministers in conclave as on the same level in rank and function, and which is the prevailing form of church government in scotland; inherited from geneva, as also prevailing extensively in the united states of america. the government is administered by a gradation of courts, called "kirk-sessions," of office-bearers in connection with a particular congregation; "presbyteries," in connection with a small district; "synods," in connection with a larger; and finally a general assembly or a synod of the whole church, which, besides managing the affairs of the collective body, forms a court of final appeal in disputed matters or cases. prescott, william hickling, american historian, born at salem, massachusetts; son of a lawyer; graduated at harvard in , and applied himself to study law; by-and-by he travelled in europe, married, and turned to literature as a profession; growing blind, the result of an accident at college, he fortunately inherited means, employed assistants, and with great courage in began to study spanish history. "ferdinand and isabella" appearing in , established his reputation in both worlds; "the conquest of mexico" was published in , and "the conquest of peru" in ; he was elected corresponding member of the french institute; his style is vivid, direct, and never dull; though not philosophical, his histories are masterpieces of narrative and incident; he died of apoplexy at boston before completing the "history of philip ii." ( - ). present time, defined impressively by carlyle as "the youngest born of eternity, child and heir of all the past times, with their good and evil, and parent of all the future with new questions and significance," on the right or wrong understanding of which depend the issues of life or death to us all, the sphinx riddle given to all of us to rede as we would live and not die. president of the united states, is popularly elected for four years, or rather by delegates so elected to each state, and sometimes re-elected for other four; is commander-in-chief of the army and navy; sees to the administration of the laws, signs bills before they pass into law, makes treaties, grants reprieves and pardons, and receives an annual salary of , dollars. press-gang, a party armed with powers to impress men into the naval service in times of emergency, a practice which often gave rise to serious disturbances, and is not in any circumstances likely to be had recourse to again. see impressment. pressensÉ, edmond de, eminent french protestant theologian, born at luasanne, in paris; studied under vinet and neander at berlin; became protestant minister in paris; was elected a deputy in the national assembly in , and a senator in ; wrote a "life of christ," and on numerous subjects of theological and ecclesiastical interest ( - ). prester, john. see john, prester. preston ( ), lancashire manufacturing town on the ribble, m. n w. of manchester; is a well laid out brick town, with three parks, a magnificent town-hall, a market, public baths, free library, museum, and picture-gallery; st. walburge's roman catholic church has the highest post-reformation steeple in england, ft. the deepening of the river and construction of docks have added to the shipping trade. the chief industry is cotton, but there are also shipbuilding yards, engineer shops, and foundries. one of cromwell's victories was won here; it was the birthplace of richard arkwright, and the scene of the beginning of the english total abstinence movement in . pretenders, the, the names given to the son and the grandson of james ii. (prince charlie) as claiming a right to the throne of england, and called respectively the elder and the younger pretender; the elder, who made one or two attempts to secure his claim, surrendered it to his son, who in was defeated at culloden. pretoria (whites, ), capital of the transvaal, stands on a mountain-enclosed plain m. ne. of cape town, and nearly m. w. of lorenzo marquez, delagoa bay, with both of which and with natal it is connected by rail. it is a thriving town, growing rapidly with flourishing trade, the see of a bishop, and containing twenty english schools. coal is found near, and wheat, tobacco, cotton, and indigo grown. it is the seat of the government of the transvaal. prÉvost d'exiles, antoine franÇois, or abbÉ prÉvost, a french romancer, born in heslin, artois; was educated by the jesuits, and became a benedictine monk, but proving refractory, fled to holland and england; wrote several novels, but his fame rests on one entitled "manon lescaut," a work of genius, charming at once in matter and style; a "story," says professor saintsbury, "chiefly remarkable for the perfect simplicity and absolute life-likeness of the character-drawing"; derives its name from the subject of it, a young girl named manon ( - ). prÉvost-paradol, lucien anatole, french littérateur and publicist, born in paris; distinguished himself as journalist and essayist; was an enemy of the empire, but accepted a post under ollivier as envoy to the united states in , and committed suicide at washington almost immediately after landing; it was on the eve of the franco-german war, and he had been the subject of virulent attacks from the republican press of the day ( - ). priam, the old king of troy during the trojan war; was the son of laomedon, who with the help of apollo and poseidon built the city; had a large family by his wife hecuba, hector, paris, and cassandra, the most noted of them; was too old to take part in the war; is said to have fallen by the hand of pyrrhus on the capture of troy by the greeks. priapus, an ancient deity, the personification of the generating or fructifying power, and worshipped as the protector of flocks of sheep and goats, of bees, of the vine and other garden products; a worship known as the priapus worship prevailed extensively all over the east. price, richard, english moralist, born in glamorganshire; wrote on politics and economics as well as ethics, in which last he followed cudworth (q. v.), and insisted on the unimpeachable quality of moral distinctions, and the unimpeachable authority of the moral sentiments ( - ). prichard, james cowles, founder of ethnology and a philologist, born in hereford; bred to medicine, and practised in bristol; wrote "researches into the physical history of mankind," "the eastern origin of the celtic nations," "analysis of egyptian mythology," and the "natural history of man"; maintained the original unity of the race, and that the original pair were negroes; philology was in his hands the handmaid of ethnology, and he made himself master of the primitive languages ( - ). prideaux, humphrey, english prelate and scholar; remembered chiefly as the author of a learned work entitled "the connection of the history of the old and new testaments"; wrote a "life of mahomet," popular in its day and for long after ( - ). pride's purge, the name given to a violent exclusion, in , at the hands of a body of troops commanded by colonel pride of about a hundred members of the house of commons disposed to deal leniently with the king, after which some eighty, known as the rump, were left to deal with his majesty and bring him to justice. priessnitz, founder of the water-cure, in connection with which he had a large establishment at gräfenberg, in austrian silesia; was a mere empiric, having been bred to farming ( - ). priest, properly a man in touch with the religious life of the people, and for the most part consecrated to mediate between them and the deity; the prophet, on the other hand, being one more in touch with the deity, being at times so close to him as to require a priest to mediate between him and the laity. priestley, joseph, a socinian divine, born near leeds; wrote in defence of socinianism, and in defence of christianity; gave himself to physical research, particularly pneumatic chemistry; is claimed as the discoverer of oxygen; sympathised with the french revolution; was mobbed, and had to flee to america, where he died, believing in immortality despite his materialistic philosophy ( - ). prim, juan, a spanish general; distinguished as a statesman; rose to be minister of war, but aspiring to dictatorship, was shot by an assassin; he was the leader of the movement that overthrew isabella in and installed amadeo in her stead ( - ). primrose, the name of a family in goldsmith's "vicar of wakefield." primrose league, a politico-conservative organisation founded in in memory of lord beaconsfield, and so called because the primrose was popularly reported to be his favourite flower. it includes a large membership, nearly a million, comprising women as well as men; is divided into district habitations; confers honours and badges in the style of freemasonry, and has extensive political influence under a grand-master. prince edward island ( ), an island province of canada, in the s. of gulf of st. lawrence, occupies a great bay formed by new brunswick, nova scotia, and cape breton, and is somewhat larger than northumberland. the coast-line is exceedingly broken, the surface low and undulating, and very fertile. the chief industry is agriculture, oats and potatoes are the best crops; decayed shells found in beds on the shore are an excellent manure; sheep and horses are raised with great success. the climate is healthy, milder and clearer than on the mainland, but with a tedious winter. coal exists, but is not wrought. the fisheries are the best on the gulf, but are not developed. manufactures are inconsiderable. discovered by the cabots, it was settled by the french in , and ceded to great britain in . constituted a province in , the name was changed from st. john to prince edward in . since the local government have bought out most of the great proprietors, and resold the land to occupying owners. education is free. there are normal schools and two colleges. half the people are roman catholics. a railway traverses the island, and there is daily steam communication with the mainland. the capital is charlottetown ( ); summerside, georgetown, and sourio are the other towns. prince of peace, a title given by charles iv. of spain to his prime minister, don manuel godoy (q. v.). princeton ( ), a town of new jersey, m. sw. of new york; was the scene of a battle in the war of independence, and the meeting-place of the continental congress of ; now noted as the seat of the college of new jersey, founded at newark , and removed to princeton ten years later, with now teachers and students; jonathan edwards and dr. james m'cosh as presidents, james madison and others as alumni, have given it lustre. the theological seminary, the oldest and largest presbyterian one in the states, was founded in , and a school of science in . the college is rich in museums, observatories, laboratories, libraries, and funds. pringle, thomas, minor poet, born in roxburghshire; edited the _monthly magazine_; emigrated to south africa; held a small government appointment; was bullied out of it; returned home, and became secretary to the anti-slavery society ( - ). printed paper, carlyle's satirical name for the literature of france prior to the revolution. prinzenraub (the stealing of the princes), name given to an attempt, to satisfy a private grudge of his, on the part of kunz von kaufingen to carry off, on the night of the th july , two saxon princes from the castle of altenburg, in which he was defeated by apprehension at the hands of a collier named schmidt, through whom he was handed over to justice and beheaded. see carlyle's account of this in his "miscellanies." prior, matthew, english poet and diplomatist, born near wimborne, east dorset; studied at cambridge; became fellow of trinity college; was ambassador to france; involved himself in an intrigue, was imprisoned, and on his release lived in retirement; he is remembered as a poet; wrote in a parody of dryden's "hind and panther," entitled "the story of the country mouse and the city mouse," and afterwards, "solomon on the vanity of the world," "alma; or, the progress of the mind," after butler, as well as tales, lyrics, and epigrams; professor saintsbury calls him "the king of 'verse of society'" ( - ). priscian, latin grammarian of the th century, born in cæsarea; was author of "grammatical commentaries" in books, a standard work during the middle ages, and in universal use at that time. priscillian, a spaniard of noble birth, who introduced a gnostic and manichæan heresy into spain, and founded a sect called after him, and was put to death by the emperor maximius in ; his followers were an idly speculative sect, who practised a rigidly ascetic style of life, and after being much calumniated did not survive him over years. prismatic colours, the seven colours a ray of pure white light is resolved into when refracted through a prism, applied figuratively by carlyle to the pure light refracted through the soul of a man of genius. prisoner of chillon, the name given to franÇois de bonivard (q. v.), who was for six years kept prisoner in the castle of chillon, on the lake of geneva, and is the subject of a well-known poem by byron. privateer, a private vessel licensed by government under a letter of marque to seize and plunder the ships of an enemy, otherwise an act of the kind is treated as piracy. privy council, is theoretically a council associated with the sovereign to advise him in matters of government. as at present constituted it includes the members of the royal family, the cabinet, the two archbishops and the bishop of london, the principal english and scotch judges, some of the chief ambassadors and governors of colonies, the commander-in-chief, the first lord of the admiralty, &c. no members attend except those summoned, usually the cabinet, the officers of the household, and the primate. the functions of the privy council may be grouped as: ( ) executive, in which its duties are discharged by the cabinet, which is technically a committee of the privy council; ( ) administrative--the board of trade, the local government board, and the board of agriculture originated in committees; the education department is still a committee, and the council retains such branches as the supervision of medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary practice, the granting of municipal charters, &c.; ( ) judicial--the judicial committee is a court of law, whose principal function is the hearing of appeals from ecclesiastical courts and from indian and colonial courts. privy seal, the seal of the sovereign appended to grants that do not require to pass the great seal. probus, marcus aurelius, roman emperor from to , born in pannonia; having distinguished himself in the field as a soldier, was elected by the army and the citizens to succeed tacitus; defended the empire successfully against all encroachments, and afterwards devoted himself to home administration, but requiring the service of the soldiers in public works, which they considered degrading, was seized by a body of them compelled so to drudge, and put to death. proclus, a neo-platonic philosopher, born in constantinople; appears to have held a trinitarian view of the universe, and to have regarded the all abstractly viewed as contained in the divine ever emerging from it and returning into it, a doctrine implied in john i. , but far short of the corresponding trinity in the ripe philosophy of hegel ( - ). proconsul, name given to the governor of a roman province who was absolute ruler of it, disposed of the army, dispensed justice, controlled administration, and was represented by legates. procop, the name of two hussite leaders of the taborites, who after leading successful forays on all hands from their head-quarters in bohemia, fell in battle with their rivals the calixtines at lippau in . procopius, a greek historian, born at cæsarea, the secretary of belisarius, and author of a history of the wars of justinian, which is still the chief authority for the events of his reign; _d_. . procrustes, a brigand of ancient attica, who when any one fell into his hands placed him on a bed, stretching him out if he was too short for it and amputating him if he was too long till he died; he was one day overpowered by theseus, who tortured him to death as he had done his own victims; his practice has given name to any attempt to enforce conformity by violent measures. procter, bryan walter, english lyrist, known by his pseudonym as barry cornwall, born in london; was bred to the bar, and was for years a commissioner of lunacy, and is chiefly memorable as the friend of all the eminent literary men of two generations, such as wordsworth, lamb, and scott on the one hand and carlyle, thackeray, and tennyson on the other; he was no great poet ( - ). proctor, richard antony, astronomer and lecturer on astronomy; determined the rotation of the planet mars, and propounded the theory of the solar corona ( - ). procurator-fiscal, is a scottish law officer appointed by the sheriff, and irremovable on efficient and good behaviour, whose duties are to initiate the prosecution of crimes and inquire into deaths under suspicious circumstances. progne, the sister of philomela and wife of tereus, changed into a swallow by the gods. see tereus. progress of the species magazines, carlyle's name for the literature of the day which does nothing to help the progress in question, but keeps idly boasting of the fact, taking all the credit to itself, like Æsop's fly on the axle of the careering chariot soliloquising, "what a dust i raise!" prohibitionist, one who would prohibit the sale of all intoxicating liquors. proletariat, the name given to the lowest and poorest class in the state, and which still retains the original roman meaning, as denoting, from _proles_, offspring, one who enriches the state not by his prosperity, but by his progeny. prometheus (i. e. forethought), a titan, the son of lapetus and klymene, and the brother of epimetheus (q. v.), who, when the gods, just installed on olympus, met with men at mekone to arrange with them as to their dues in sacrifice, came boldly forth as the representative and protector of the human race and slew a bullock in sacrifice, putting the flesh of it in one pile and the entrails with the bones in another, veiled temptingly with fat, and invited zeus to make his choice, whereupon, knowing well what he was about, zeus chose the latter, but in revenge took away with him the fire which had been bestowed by the gods upon mortals. it was a strife of wit _versus_ wit, and prometheus, as the defender of the rights of man, was not to be outwitted even by the gods, so he reached up a hollow fennel stalk to the sun and brought the fire back again, whereupon the strife was transformed into one of force _versus_ force, and zeus caught the audacious titan and chained him to a rock on mount caucasus, where an eagle gnawed all day at his liver which grew again by night, though, in inflicting this punishment, zeus was soon visited with a relenting heart, for it was by express commission from him that hercules, as a son of his, scaled the rock and slew the eagle. the myth is one of the deepest significance, reflecting an old belief, and one which has on it the seal of christ, as sanctioned of heaven, that the world was made for man and not man for the world, only there is included within it an expression of the jealousy with which heaven watches the use mankind make of the gifts that, out of her own special store, she bestows upon them. prometheus is properly the incarnation of the divine fire latent from the beginning in the soul of man. propaganda, a congregation, as it is called, at rome, originated by gregory xiii., and organised in by gregory xv., the object of which is to propagate the faith of the church among heathen nations and in countries where there is no established hierarchy, connected with which there is a college at rome called the congregatio de propaganda fide, where pupils are instructed for different fields of missionary enterprise. propertius, sextus, a latin elegaic poet, born in umbria; went to rome and became a protégé of mæcenas; devoted himself to the cultivation of the poetic art; came under the spell of a gifted lady, to whom, under the name of cynthia, he dedicated the first products of his muse, and whom he has immortalised in his poems; in his elegies he follows greek models; his poetry, and the poetic quality it displays, have been much admired by goethe ( - b.c.). prophecy, properly not a forecasting of particular events and the succession of them, but so far as it refers to the future at all is an insight into the course of things in the time to come from insight into the course of them in days gone by or now, and that is believed to be the character of hebrew prophecy, founded on faith in the immutability of the divine order of things. prophets. see priests, hebrew prophecy. proselytes, converts from heathenism to judaism, of which there were two classes: proselytes of the temple, those who accepted the ceremonial law and were admitted into the inner court of the temple; and proselytes of the gate, who accepted only the moral law, and were admitted only into the outer court. they were a numerous class after the dispersion, and were reckoned at hundreds of thousands. proserpina, the daughter of zeus and demeter, who was carried off while gathering flowers by pluto (q. v.), became queen of hades, and is represented as sitting on an ebony throne beside him wearing a crown. according to later tradition pluto had to allow her to revisit the upper world for two-thirds of the year to compromise matters with her mother, her arrival being coincident with the beginning of spring and her return to hades coincident with the beginning of winter. she became by pluto the mother of the furies. prospero, one of the chief characters in shakespeare's "tempest," an exiled king of milan, who, during his exile, practises magic, and breaks his wand when he has accomplished his purpose. protagoras, one of the earliest of the greek sophists, born at abdera, and who flourished in b.c., and taught at athens, from which he was banished as a blasphemer, as having called in question the existence of the gods; he taught that man was the measure of all things, of those that exist, that they are; and of those things that do not exist, that they are not; and that there is nothing absolute, that all is an affair of subjective conception. protection, name given to the encouragement of certain home products of a country by imposing duties on foreign products of the class, opposed to free-trade. protestantism, the name given to a movement headed by luther in the th century, in protestation of the supremacy in spiritual things claimed by the church of rome, and made on the ground of the authority of conscience enlightened by the word of god, conceived of as the ultimate revelation of god to man. protestants, a name given to the adherents of luther, who, at the second diet of spires in , protested against the revocation of certain privileges granted at the first diet in . proteus, in the greek mythology a divinity of the sea endowed with the gift of prophecy, but from whom it was difficult to extort the secrets of fate, as he immediately changed his shape when any one attempted to force him, for it was only in his proper form he could enunciate these secrets. protogenes, a greek painter of the time of alexander the great, born in caria; lived chiefly at rhodes; was discovered by apelles, who brought him into note; his masterpiece is a picture of ialysus, the tutelary hero of rhodes, on which he spent seven years, and which he painted four times over. protoplasm, a name given to presumed living matter forming the physical bases of all forms of animal and vegetable life; the term is now superseded by the term bioplasm. see dr. stirling, "as regards protoplasm." proudhon, pierre joseph, french socialist, born at besançon, the son of a cooper; worked in a printing establishment, spent his spare hours in study, specially of the social problem, and in published a work entitled "what is property?" and in which he boldly enunciated the startling proposition, "property is theft"; for the publication of this thesis he was at first unmolested, and only with its application was he called to account, and for which at last, in , he was committed to prison, where, however, he kept himself busy with his pen, and whence he from time to time emitted socialistic publications till his release in , after which he was in compelled to flee the country, to return again under an act of amnesty in and die; he was not only the assailant of property, but of government itself, and preached anarchy as the goal of all social progress and not the starting-point, as so many unfortunately fancy; but by anarchy, it would seem, he meant the right of government spiritually free, and, in the christian sense of that expression, to exemption from all external control (see i tim. i. ) ( - ). prout, samuel, eminent english water-colour artist, born at plymouth; had from a child an irrepressible penchant for drawing, which, though discouraged at first by his father, was fostered by his schoolmaster; was patronised by britton the antiquary, and employed by him to assist him in collecting materials for his "beauties of england and wales," but it was not till his visit to rouen in that he was first fascinated with the subject that henceforth occupied him; from this time excursions were continually made to the continent, and every corner of france, germany, the netherlands, and italy ransacked for its fragments of carved stone; the old architecture that then fascinated him henceforth became a conspicuous feature in all his after-works; "the works of prout," says ruskin, "will one day become memorials of the most precious of things that have been ... a time will come when that zeal will be understood, and his works will be cherished with a melancholy gratitude, when the pillars of venice shall be mouldering in the salt shallows of her sea, and the stones of the goodly towers of rouen have become ballast for the barges of the seine" ( - ). prout, father. see mahony, francis. provenÇal language, one of the romance dialects of france, spoken in the south of france, and different from that spoken in the n. as in closer connection with the original latin than that of the n., which was modified by teutonic influence. provence, a maritime province in the south of france, originally called provincia by the romans, and which included the departments of bouches-du-rhône, basses-alpes, var, and part of vaucluse. proverbs, book of, a book of the hebrew scriptures, full of the teachings of wisdom bearing on the conduct of life, and though ascribed to solomon, obviously not all of his composition, or even collection, and probably ascribed to him because of his fondness for wisdom in that form, and from his having procured the first collection. the principles inculcated are purely ethical, resting, however, on a religious basis, and concern the individual not as a member of any particular community, but as a member of the human race; the lessons of life and death are the same as in the covenant with moses, and the condition in both cases is the observance or non-observance of god's commandments. there is no change in the principle, but in the expansion of it, and that amounts to the foundation of a kingdom of god which shall include all nations. in them the bonds of jewish exclusiveness are burst, and a catholic religion virtually established. providence ( ), a seaport and semi-capital of rhode island, u.s., on a river of the name, m. sw. of boston; it is a centre of a large manufacturing district, and has a large trade in woollens, jewellery, and hardware; has a number of public buildings, and institutions, churches, schools, libraries, and hospitals, as well as beautiful villas and gardens. prudentius, marcus aurelius clemens. christian poet of the th century, born in spain; after spending the greater part of his life in secular affairs, gave himself up to religious meditation, and wrote hymns, lyrics, and polemics in verse. prussia ( , ), the leading state of the german empire, occupies about two-thirds of the imperial territory, and contributes three-fifths of the population; it stretches from holland and belgium in the w. to russia in the e., has jutland and the sea on the n., and lorraine, bavaria, hesse-darmstadt, saxony, and austria on the s.; the sw. portion is hilly and the soil often poor, but containing valuable mineral deposits; the n. and e. belongs to the great european plain, devoted to agriculture and grazing; hesse-cassel is extremely fertile, and nassau produces excellent wine; in the e. and in hanover are extensive forests; silesia, westphalia, and rhenish prussia contain the chief coal-fields, and are consequently the chief industrial provinces; half the zinc of the world is mined in prussia; lead, iron, copper, antimony, &c., are also wrought; the hartz mountains are noted for their mines; salt, amber, and precious stones are found on the baltic shores; textiles, metal wares, and beer are the main industries; berlin and elberfeld are the two chief manufacturing centres on the continent; the great navigable rivers, niemen, vistula, oder, elbe, weser, rhine, and their tributaries and canals, excellent railways, and her central european position all favour prussia's commerce, while her coast-line, harbours, and growing mercantile fleet put her in communication with the markets of the world; seven-eighths of the people are germans; slavonic races are represented by poles, wends, lithuanians, and czechs, while the danes appear in schleswig-holstein; the prevailing religion is protestant; education is compulsory and good; there are ten universities, and many great libraries and educational institutions; the prussian is the largest contingent in the german army; the king of prussia is emperor of germany. the basis of the prussian people was laid by german colonists placed amid the pagan slavs whom they had conquered by the teutonic knights of the th century; in their descendants chose a hohenzollern prince; a century later the hohenzollerns of brandenburg succeeded; despite the thirty years' war prussia became a european state, and was recognised as a kingdom in ; frederick the great ( - ) enlarged its bounds and developed its resources; the successive partitions of poland added to her territory; humiliated by the peace of tilsit , and ruined by the french occupation, she recovered after waterloo; william i. and bismarck still further increased her territory and prestige; by the austrian war of and the french war of - her position as premier state in the german confederation was assured. prynne, william, a puritan _censor morum_, born near bath, bred to the bar; wrote a book or pamphlet called "histrio-mastix, or the player's scourge," against the stage, for which and a reflection in it against the virtue of the queen he was brought before the star chamber in , sentenced to the pillory, and had his ears cropped off, and for an offence against laud, whether by order of the star chamber or not is uncertain, was in sentenced anew, and "lost his ears a second and final time, having had them 'sewed on again' before; this time a heroine on the scaffold," adds carlyle, "received them on her lap and kissed him"; after this the zeal of prynne appears to have waxed cold, for he was as a recalcitrant imprisoned by cromwell, after whose death he espoused the royalist cause, and was appointed keeper of the records of the tower ( - ). prytane`um, name given to the public hall in greek cities, and the head-quarters of the executive. psalmanazar, george, an impostor, born in the south of france, who, being brought to london, imposed on compton, bishop of london, by fabricating a history of formosa, of which he professed to be a native, but was convicted of the error of his ways by law's "serious call," and led afterwards what seemed a sober life, and one to commend the regard of johnson ( - ). psalms, the book of, the name given in the septuagint to a collection of sacred songs in the hebrew bible, which are all of a lyrical character, and appear to have been at first collected for liturgical purposes. their range is co-extensive with nearly all divine truth, and there are tones in them in accord with the experience and feelings of devout men in all ages. nay, "the psalter alone," says ruskin, "which practically was the service-book of the church for many ages, contains, merely in the first half of it, the sum of personal and social wisdom,... while the th, nd, and th have in them the law and the prophecy of all righteous government, and every real triumph of natural science is anticipated in the th." the collection bears the name of david, but it is clear the great body of them are of later date as well as of divers authorship, although it is often difficult to determine by whom some of them were written, and when. the determination of this, however, is of the less consequence, as the question is more a speculative one than a spiritual one, and whatever may be the result of inquiry in this matter now going on, the spiritual value of the psalms, which is their real value, is nowise affected thereby. it matters nothing who wrote them or when they were written; they are _there_, are conceived from situations such as are obvious enough and common to the lot of all good men, and they bear on spiritual interests, which are our primary ones, and these, still, as in every other time, the alone really pressing ones. they express the real experiences of living men, who lay under an inner necessity to utter such a song, relieving themselves by the effort and ministering a means of relief to others in a like situation of soul. psyche (i. e. the soul), in the later greek mythology the youngest of three daughters of a king, and of such beauty as to eclipse the attractions and awake the jealousy of venus, the goddess of beauty, who in consequence sent cupid, her son, to inspire her with love for a hideous monster, and so compass her ruin. cupid, fascinated with her himself, spirited her away to a palace furnished with every delight, but instead of delivering her over to the monster, visited her himself at night as her husband, and left her before daybreak in the morning, because she must on no account know who he was. here her sisters came to see her, and in their jealousy persuaded her to assure herself that it was not a monster that she slept with, so that she lit a lamp the next night to discover, when a drop of oil from it fell on his shoulder as he lay asleep beside her, upon which he at a bound started up and vanished out of sight. she thereupon gave way to a long wail of lamentation and set off a-wandering over the wide world in search of her lost love, till she came to the palace of venus, her arch-enemy, who seized on her person and made her her slave, subjecting her to a series of services, all of which she accomplished to the letter, so that venus was obliged to relent and consent that, in the presence of all the gods of olympus, cupid and she should be united in immortal wedlock. it is the story of the trials of the soul to achieve immortality. see "stories from the greek mythology," by the editor. psychical research, society for, a society founded in to inquire into the phenomena of spiritualism and kindred subjects of a recondite kind, the subject of telepathy having engaged recently a good deal of attention. ptolemaic system, the highly complex system of astronomy ascribed to claudius ptolemy, which assumed that the earth was the centre of a sphere which carried the heavenly bodies along in its daily revolution, accounted for the revolutions of the sun and moon by supposing they moved in eccentric circles round the earth, and regarded the planets as moving in epicycles round a point which itself revolved in an eccentric circle round the earth like the sun and moon. ptolemaÏs, the name of certain cities of antiquity, the most celebrated being acre, in syria (q. v.). ptolemy, the name of the macedonian kings of egypt, of which there were in succession, of whom ptolemy i., soter, was a favourite general of alexander the great, and who ruled egypt from to b.c.; ptolemy ii., philadelphus, who ruled from to , a patron of letters and an able administrator; ptolemy iii., euergetes, who ruled from to ; ptolemy iv., philopator, who ruled from to ; ptolemy v., epiphanes, who ruled from to ; ptolemy vi., philometor, who ruled from to ; ptolemy vii., euergetes ii., who ruled from to ; ptolemy viii., soter, who ruled from to , was driven from alexandria, returning to it in , and reigning till ; ptolemy x., alexander i., who ruled from to ; ptolemy x. alexander ii., who ruled from to ; ptolemy xi., auletes, who ruled from to ; ptolemy xii., who ruled from to ; ptolemy xiii., the infant king, who ruled from to ; ptolemy xiv., cesarion, the son of julius cæsar and cleopatra, who ruled from to . ptolemy (claudius ptolemÆus), ancient astronomer and geographer, born in egypt; lived in alexandria in the nd century; was the author of the system of astronomy called after him; left behind him two writings bearing one on astronomy and one on geography, along with other works of inferior importance. publicans or publicani, a name given by the romans to persons who farmed the public revenues; specially a class of the jewish people, often mentioned in the new testament, and specially odious to the rest of the community as the farmers of the taxes imposed upon them, mostly at the instance of their foreign oppressors the romans, and in the collection of which they had recourse to the most unjust exactions. they were in their regard not merely the tools of a foreign oppression, but traitors to their country and apostates from the faith of their fathers, and were to be classed, as they were, with heathens, sinners, and harlots. puccinotti, francesco, eminent italian pathologist, born in urbino, and author of the "storia delle medicina" (history of medicine), the fruit of the labour of twenty years ( - ). pucelle la (i. e. the maid), joan of arc, the maid _par excellence_. puck, a tricky, mischievous fairy, identified with robin goodfellow, and sometimes confounded with a house spirit, propitiated by kind words and the liberty of the cream-bowl. puebla ( ), on an elevated plateau ft. above the sea, m. due se. of mexico, is the third city of the republic, and a beautiful town, with doric cathedral, theological, medical, and other schools, a museum, and two libraries; cotton goods, iron, paper, and glass are manufactured; it is a commercial city, and carries on a brisk trade. is the name also of a colorado town ( ) on the arkansas river; it is in a rich mineral district, and is engaged in the manufacture of steel and iron wares. puerto de santa maria ( ), a seaport in spain, on the bay of cadiz, m. sw. of xeres, and the chief place of export of xeres port or sherry wines. puerto plata ( ), the chief port of the dominican republic, on the n. of hayti; exports tobacco, sugar, coffee, &c. puerto principe ( ), a town on the e. of cuba; manufactures cigars, and exports sugar, hides, and molasses; originally on the shore, but removed inland. puffendorf, samuel, baron von, eminent german jurist, born at chemnitz, saxony; wrote several works on jurisprudence, one of which, under the ban of austria, was burned there by the hangman, but his "de jure naturæ et gentium" is the one on which his fame rests; was successively in the service of charles xi. of sweden and the elector of brandenburg ( - ). pugin, augustus welby, architect, born in london, of french parentage; made a special study of gothic architecture; assisted in decorating the new houses of parliament, but becoming a roman catholic he gave himself to designing a good number of roman catholic churches, including cathedrals; he wrote several works on architecture, and was the chief promoter of the "mediæval court" in the crystal palace; he was afflicted in the prime of life with insanity, and died at ramsgate ( - ). pulci, luini, italian poet, born at florence; the personal friend of lorenzo de' medici, and the author of a burlesque poem of which roland is the hero, entitled in tuscan "il morgante maggiore" ("morgante the great"); he wrote also several humorous sonnets; two brothers of his had similar gifts ( - ). pulque, a favourite beverage of the mexicans and in central america, from the fermented juice of the agave. pulteney, william, earl of bath, english statesman; in entered parliament zealous in the whig interest; was for years the friend and colleague of walpole, but afterwards, from a slight, became his bitterest enemy and most formidable opponent; he contributed a good deal to his fall, but, unable to take his place, contented himself with a peerage, his popularity being gone ( - ). pultowa ( ), a town in southern russia, m. by rail sw. of kharkoff, on an affluent of the dnieper; manufactures leather and tobacco; here peter the great won his victory over charles xii. of sweden in . pultusk, a polish town, m. n. of warsaw; here charles xii. gained a victory over the saxons in , and the french over the russians in . pulu, a kind of silk obtained from the fibres of a fern-tree of hawaii. punch, the name of the chief character in a well-known puppet show of italian origin, and appropriated as the title of the leading english comic journal, which is accompanied with illustrations conceived in a humorous vein and conducted in satire, from a liberal englishman's standpoint, of the follies and weaknesses of the leaders of public opinion and fashion in modern social life. it was started in under the editorship of henry mayhew and mark lemon; and the wittiest literary men of the time as well as the cleverest artists have contributed to its pages, enough to mention of the former thackeray, douglas jerrold, and tom hood, and of the latter doyle, leech, tenniel, du maurier, and lindley sambourne. pundit, a brahmin learned in sanskrit and in the language, literature, and laws of the hindus. punic faith, a plighted promise that one can put no trust in, such as the romans alleged they systematically had experience of at the hands of the poeni or carthaginians. punic wars, the name given to the wars between rome and carthage for the empire of the world, of date, the first from to , the second from to , and the third from to b.c., due all to transgressions on the one side or the other of boundaries fixed by treaty, which it was impossible for either in their passion of empire to respect. it was a struggle which, though it ended in the overthrow of carthage, proved at one time the most critical in the history of rome. punjab ( , ), "five rivers," a province in the extreme nw. of india, watered by the indus and its four tributaries, jhelum, chenab, ravee, and sutlej; its frontiers touch afghanistan and cashmir. mountain ranges traverse the n., w., and s; little rain falls; the plains are dry and hot in summer. there is little timber, cow-dung is common fuel; the soil is barren, but under irrigation there are fertile stretches; wheat, indigo, sugar, cotton, tobacco, opium, and tea are largely grown; cotton, silk, lace, iron, and leather are manufactured; indigo, grain, cotton, and manufactured products are exported in exchange for raw material, dyes, horses, and timber. the population is mixed, sikhs, jats, and rajputs predominate; more than a half are mohammedan, and more than a third hindu. lahore is the capital, but delhi and amritsar are larger towns. several railways run through the province. the natives remained loyal throughout the mutiny of - , sikhs and pathans joining the british troops before delhi. purÁnas, a body of religious works which rank second to the vedas, and form the basis of the popular belief of the hindus. there are principal puránas and secondary puránas, of various dates, but believed to be of remote antiquity, though modern critical research proves that in their present form they are not of very ancient origin. purbeck, isle of, the peninsula in south dorsetshire lying between the river frome, poole harbour, and the english channel; formerly a royal deer-forest; has a precipitous coast, and inland consists of chalk downs; nearly quarries are wrought of "purbeck marble." purcell, henry, eminent english musician, born at westminster; was successively organist at westminster abbey and to the chapel royal; excelled in all forms of musical composition; was the author of anthems, cantatas, glees, &c., which attained great popularity; he set the songs of shakespeare's "tempest" to music ( - ). purchas, samuel, collector of works of travel and continuator of the work of hakluyt, in two curious works entitled "purchas his pilgrimage," and "hakluyt's his posthumous, or purchas his pilgrimmes," and was rector of st. martin's, ludgate, and chaplain to archbishop abbot ( - ). purgatorio, region in dante's "commedia" intermediate between the inferno, region of lost souls, and the paradiso, region of saved souls, and full of all manner of obstructions which the penitent, who would pass from the one to the other, must struggle with in soul-wrestle till he overcome, the most christian section, thinks carlyle, of dante's poem. purgatory, in the creed of the church of rome a place in which the souls of the dead, saved from hell by the death of christ, are chastened and purified from venial sins, a result which is, in great part, ascribed to the prayers of the faithful and the sacrifice of the mass. the creed of the church in this matter was first formulated by gregory the great, and was based by him, as it has been vindicated since, on passages of scripture as well as the writings of the fathers. the conception of it, as wrought out by dante, carlyle considers "a noble embodiment of a true noble thought." see his "heroes." purim, the feast of, or lots, an annual festival of the jews in commemoration of the preservation, as recorded in "esther," of their race from the threatened wholesale massacre of it in persia at the instance of haman, and which was so called because it was by casting "lots" that the day was fixed for the execution of the purpose. it lasts two days, being observed on the th and th of the month adar. puritan city, name given to boston, u.s., from its founders and inhabitants who were originally of puritan stock. puritans, a name given to a body of clergymen of the church of england who refused to assent to the act of uniformity passed in the reign of queen elizabeth, because it required them to conform to popish doctrine and ritual; and afterwards applied to the whole body of nonconformists in england in the th and th centuries, who insisted on rigid adherence to the simplicity prescribed in these matters by the sacred scriptures. in the days of cromwell they were, "with musket on shoulder," the uncompromising foes of all forms, particularly in the worship of god, that affected to be alive after the soul had gone out of them. pursuivant, one of the junior officers in the heralds' college, four in england, named respectively rouge croix, blue mantle, rouge dragon, and portcullis; and three in scotland, named respectively bute, carrick, and unicorn. pusey, edward bouverie, english theologian, born in berkshire, of flemish descent; studied at christ's church, oxford, and became a fellow of oriel, where he was brought into relationship with newman, keble, and whately; spent some time in germany studying rationalism, and, after his return, was in appointed regius professor of hebrew at oxford; in he joined the tractarian movement, to which he contributed by his learning, and which, from his standing in the university, as well as from the part he played in it, was at length called by his name; he was not so conspicuous as other members of the movement, but he gained some notoriety by a sermon he preached on the eucharist, which led to his suspension for three years, and notwithstanding his life of seclusion, he took an active part in all questions affecting the interests he held to be at stake; he was the author of several learned works, among them the "minor prophets, a commentary," and "daniel the prophet" ( - ). puseyism, defined by carlyle to be "a noisy theoretic demonstration and laudation of _the_ church, instead of some unnoisy, unconscious, but _practical_, total, heart-and-soul demonstration of _a_ church, ... a matter to strike one dumb," and apropos to which he asks pertinently, "if there is no atmosphere, what will it serve a man to demonstrate the excellence of lungs?" pushkin, a distinguished russian poet, considered the greatest, born at moscow; his chief works are "ruslan and liudmila" (a heroic poem), "eugene onegin" (a romance), and "boris godunov" (a drama); was mortally wounded in a duel ( - ). pushtoo or pushto, the language of the afghans, said to be derived from the zend, with admixtures from the neighbouring tribes. puteaux ( ), a suburb of paris, on the left bank of the seine, a favourite residence of the parisians, who have villas here. putney ( ), a london suburb on the surrey side, m. from waterloo, has a bridge across the thames yards long; the parish church tower dates from the th century. the river here affords favourite rowing water, the starting-place of the inter-universities boat-race; putney heath was a favourite duelling resort; gibbon was a native; pitt and leigh hunt died here. puy, le ( ), a picturesque town, m. sw. of lyons, a bishop's seat, with a th-century cathedral; is the centre of a great lace manufacture. puy-du-dÔme ( ), a department in central france, in the upper valley of the allier, on the slopes of the auvergne mountains. the soil is poor, but agriculture and cattle-breeding are the chief industries; in the mountains coal and lead are found, and there are many mineral springs; there are paper and oil manufactures. the principal town is clermont-ferrand ( ), where peter the hermit preached the first crusade. pygmalion, king of cyprus, is said to have fallen in love with an ivory statue of a maiden he had himself made, and to have prayed aphrodité to breathe life into it. the request being granted, he married the maiden and became by her the father of paphus. pygmies, a fabulous people, their height ½ inches, mentioned by homer as dwelling on the shores of the ocean and attacked by cranes in spring-time, the theme of numerous stories. pym, john, puritan statesman, born in somersetshire, educated at oxford; bred to law, entered parliament in , opposed the arbitrary measures of the king, took a prominent part in the impeachment of buckingham; at the opening of the long parliament procured the impeachment of the earl of strafford, and conducted the proceedings against him; he was one of the five members illegally arrested by charles i., and was brought back again in triumph to westminster; was appointed lieutenant of the ordnance, and a month after died ( - ). pyramids, ancient structures of stone or sometimes brick, resting generally on square bases and tapering upwards with triangular sides, found in different parts of the world, but chiefly in egypt, where they exist to the number of or , and of which the most celebrated are those of ghizeh, m. w. of cairo, three in number, viz., the great pyramid of cheop, ft. high, and the sides at base ft. long, that named chefren, nearly the same size, and that of mykerinos, not half the height of the other two, but excelling them in beauty of execution. the original object of these structures has been matter of debate, but there seems to be now no doubt that they are sepulchral monuments of kings of egypt from the first to the twelfth dynasty of them. pyramus and thisbe, two lovers who lived in adjoining houses in babylon, and who used to converse with each other through a hole in the wall, because their parents would not allow them open intimacy, but who arranged to meet one evening at the tomb of nisus. the maiden appearing at the spot and being confronted by a lioness who had just killed an ox, took to flight and left her garment behind her, which the lioness had soiled with blood. pyramus arriving after this saw only the bloody garment on the spot and immediately killed himself, concluding she had been murdered, while she on return finding him lying in his blood, threw herself upon his dead body and was found a corpse at his side in the morning. pyrene, a crystalline substance obtained from coal tar, fats, &c. pyrenees, a broad chain of lofty mountains running from the bay of biscay, m. eastwards, to the mediterranean, form the boundary between france and spain. they are highest in the centre, mount maladetta reaching , ft. the snow-line is about or ft., and there are glaciers on the french side. valleys run up either side, ending in precipitous "pot-holes," with great regularity. the passes are very dangerous from wind and snow storms. the streams to the n. feed the adour and garonne; those to the s., the ebro and douro. vegetation in the w. is european, in the e. sub-tropical. minerals are few, though both iron and coal are worked. the basis of the system is granite with limestone strata superimposed. pyroxyline, an explosive substance obtained by steeping vegetable fibre in nitro-sulphuric acid and drying after it is washed. pyrrha, in greek mythology the wife of deucalion (q. v.). pyrrhic dance, the chief war-dance of the greeks, of quick, light movement to the music of flutes; was of cretan or spartan origin. it was subsequently danced for display by the athenian youths and by women to entertain company, and in the roman empire was a favourite item in the public games. pyrrho, the father of the greek sceptics, born in elis, a contemporary of aristotle; his doctrine was, that as we cannot know things as they are, only as they seem to be, we must be content to suspend our judgment on such matters and maintain a perfect imperturbability of soul if we would live to any good. pyrrhonism, philosophic scepticism. see pyrrho. pyrrhus, king of epirus, and kinsman of alexander the great; essayed to emulate the macedonian by conquering the western world, and in b.c. invaded italy with a huge army, directed to assist the italian greeks against rome; in the decisive battles of that year and the next, he won "pyrrhic victories" over the romans, losing so many men that he could not pursue his advantage; to he spent helping the greek colonies in sicily against carthage; his success was not uniform, and a carthaginian fleet inflicted a serious defeat on his fleet returning to italy; in he was thoroughly vanquished by the romans, and retired to epirus; subsequent wars against sparta and argos were marked by disaster; in the latter he was killed by a tile thrown by a woman ( - b.c.). pyrrhus, called also neoptolemus, son of achilles; was one of the heroes concealed in the wooden horse by means of which troy was entered, slew priam by the altar of zeus, and sacrificed polyxena to the manes of his father. andromache, the widow of hector, fell to him on the division of the captives after the fall of troy, and became his wife. pythagoras, a celebrated greek philosopher and founder of a school named after him pythagoreans, born at samos, and who seems to have flourished between and b.c.; after travels in many lands settled at crotona in magna græcia, where he founded a fraternity, the members of which bound themselves in closest ties of friendship to purity of life and to active co-operation in disseminating and encouraging a kindred spirit in the community around them, the final aim of it being the establishment of a model social organisation. he left no writings behind him, and we know of his philosophy chiefly from the philosophy of his disciples. pythagoreans, the school of philosophy founded by pythagoras, "the fundamental thought of which," according to schwegler, "was that of proportion and harmony, and this idea is to them as well the principle of practical life, as the supreme law of the universe." it was a kind of "arithmetical mysticism, and the leading thought was that law, order, and agreement obtain in the affairs of nature, and that these relations are capable of being expressed in number and in measure." the whole tendency of the pythagoreans, in a practical aspect, was ascetic, and aimed only at a rigid castigation of the moral principle in order thereby to ensure the emancipation of the soul from its mortal prison-house and its transmigration into a nobler form. it is with the doctrine of the transmigration of souls that the pythagorean philosophy is specially associated. pytheas, a celebrated greek navigator of massilia, in gaul, probably lived in the time of alexander the great; in his first voyage visited britain and thule, and in his second coasted along the western shore of europe from cadiz to the elbe. pythian games, celebrated from very early times till the th century a.d. every four years, near delphi, in honour of apollo, who was said to have instituted them to commemorate his victory over the python; originally were contests in singing only, but after the middle of the th century b.c. they included instrumental music, contests in poetry and art, athletic exercises, and horse-racing. python, in the greek mythology a serpent or dragon produced from the mud left on the earth after the deluge of deucalion, a brood of sheer chaos and the dark, who lived in a cave of parnassus, and was slain by apollo, who founded the pythian games in commemoration of his victory, and was in consequence called pythius. pythoness, the priestess of apollo at delphi (q. v.), so called from the python (q. v.), the dragon slain by the god. pyx, the name of a cup-shaped, gold-lined vessel, with lid, used in the roman catholic churches for containing the eucharistic elements after their consecration either for adoration in the churches or for conveying to sick-rooms. pyx means "box." hence trial of the pyx is the annual test of the british coinage, for which purpose one coin in every lbs. of gold and one in every lbs. of silver coined is set aside in a pyx or box. q quadragesima (i. e. fortieth), a name given to lent because it lasts forty days, and assigned also to the first sunday in lent, the three sundays which precede it being called respectively septuagesima, sexagesima, and quinquagesima. quadrant, an instrument for taking altitudes, consisting of the graduated arc of a circle of ninety degrees. quadratic equation, an equation involving the square of the unknown quantity. quadriga, a two-wheeled chariot drawn by four horses abreast, used in the ancient chariot races. quadrilateral, the, the name given to a combination of four fortresses, or the space enclosed by them, in north italy, at mantua, legnago, verona, and peschiera. quadroon, the name given to a person quarter-blooded, in particular the offspring of a mulatto and a white person. quadruple alliance, an alliance formed in between england, france, austria, and holland to secure the thrones of france and england to the reigning families, and to defeat the schemes of alberoni to the aggrandisement of spain. quÆstors, the name given in roman history to the officers entrusted with the care of the public treasury, originally two in number, one of them to see to the corn supply in rome, but eventually, as the empire extended, increased, till in cæsar's time they amounted to forty. under the kings they were the public prosecutors in cases of murder. quaigh, a name formerly given to a wooden drinking-cup in scotland. quain, jones, anatomist, born at mallow, ireland; was professor of anatomy and physiology in london university; was author of "elements of anatomy," of which the first edition was published in , and the tenth in ( - ). quain, richard, anatomist, born at fermoy, ireland, brother of preceding, and professor in london university; author of a number of medical works; bequeathed a large legacy to the university for "education in modern languages" ( - ). quain, sir richard, physician, born at mallow, cousin of preceding; edited "dictionary of medicine," and was president of medical council in ( - ). quair, an old scotch name for a book. quakers, the society of friends (q. v.), so called first by justice bennet of derby, because fox bade him quake before the lord. quarantine, the prescribed time, generally days (hence the name), of non-intercourse with the shore for a ship suspected of infection, latterly enforced, and that very strictly, in the cases of infection with yellow fever or plague; since november , the system of quarantine as regards the british islands has ceased to exist. quarles, francis, religious poet, born in essex, of good family; a member of christ's college, cambridge, and lincoln's inn; held divers offices at the court, in the city, and the church; was a bigoted royalist and churchman, a voluminous author, both in prose and verse, but is now remembered for his "divine emblems," and perhaps his "enchiridion"; he wrote in his quaint way not a few good things ( - ). quarter days, in england and ireland lady day, th march; midsummer day, th june; michaelmas day, th september; and christmas day, th december; while in scotland the legal terms are whitsunday, th may, and martinmas, th november, though the whitsunday term is now changed to the th may. quarter-deck, the part of a ship abaft the main-mast, or between the main and mizzen, where there is a poop. quarter-sessions, a court held every quarter by justices of the peace in the several divisions of a county to try offences against the peace. quarter-staff, strong wooden staff ½ ft. long, shod with iron, grasped in the middle; formerly used in england for attack and defence. quarterly review, a review started by john murray, the celebrated london publisher, in february , in rivalry with the _edinburgh_, which had been seven years in possession of the field, and was exerting, as he judged, an evil influence on public opinion; in this enterprise he was seconded by southey and scott, the more cordially that the _edinburgh_ had given offence to the latter by its criticism of "marmion." it was founded in the tory interest for the defence of church and state, and it had gifford for its first editor, while the contributors included, besides southey and scott, all the ablest literary celebrities on the tory side, of which the most zealous and frequent was john wilson croker. quartermaster, in the army an officer whose duty it is to look after the quarters, clothing, rations, stores, ammunition, &c., of the regiment, and in the navy a petty officer who has to see to the stowage, steerage, soundings, &c., of the ship. quartette, a musical piece in four parts, or for four voices or instruments. quarto, a book having the sheet folded into four leaves. quasimodo sunday, the first sunday after easter. quass, a beer made in russia from rye grain, employed as vinegar when sour. quatre-bras (i. e. four arms), a village m. se. of waterloo, where the roads from brussels to charleroi and from nivelles to namur intersect: was the scene of an obstinate conflict between the english under wellington and the french under ney, two days before the battle of waterloo. quatrefages de brÉau, french naturalist and anthropologist, born at berthezenne (gard); studied medicine at strasburg; was professor at the natural history museum in paris; devoted himself chiefly to anthropology and the study of annelides ( - ). quatremÈre, Étienne marc, french orientalist, born in paris; was professor at the college of france; was distinguished for his knowledge of arabic and persian, as well as for his works on egypt; was of vast learning, but defective in critical ability ( - ). quatremÈre de quincy, a learned french archæologist and writer on art, born in paris; was involved in the troubles of the revolution; narrowly, as a constitutionalist, escaped the guillotine, and was deported to cayenne in , but after his return took no part in political affairs; wrote a "dictionary of antiquities" ( - ). quatro cento (i. e. four hundred), a term employed by the italians to signify one thousand four hundred, that is, the th century, and applied by them to the literature and art of the period. quebec ( , ), formerly called lower canada, one of the canadian provinces occupying that part of the valley of the st. lawrence, and a narrow stretch of fertile, well-cultivated land on the s. of the river, which is bounded on the s. by the states of new york and maine, and on the e. by new brunswick; it is twice the size of great britain, and consists of extensive tracks of cultivated land and forests interspersed with lakes and rivers, affluents of the st. lawrence; the soil, which is fertile, yields good crops of cereals, hay, and fruit, and excellent pasturage, and there is abundance of mineral wealth; it was colonised by the french in , was taken by the english in - , and the great majority of the population is of french extraction. quebec ( ), the capital of the above province, and once of all canada, a city of historical interest, is situated on the steep promontory, feet in height, of the nw. bank of the st. lawrence, at the mouth of the st. charles river, m. from the sea, and m. below montreal; it is divided into upper and lower, the latter the business quarter and the former the west-end, as it were; there are numerous public buildings, including the governor's residence, an anglican cathedral, and a university; it is a commercial centre, has a large trade in timber, besides several manufacturing industries; the aspect of the town is norman-french, and there is much about it and the people to remind one of normandy. quedlinburg ( ), an old town of prussian saxony, on the river bode, at the foot of the harz mountains, m. sw. of magdeburg, founded by henry the fowler, and where his remains lie; was long a favourite residence of the emperors of the saxon line; it has large nurseries, an extensive trade in flower seeds, and sundry manufactures. queen anne's bounty, a fund established in for the augmentation of the incomes of the poorer clergy, the amount of which for distribution in was £ , ; it was the revenue from a tax on the church prior to the reformation, and which after that was appropriated by the crown. queen charlotte islands, a small group of islands on the w. coast of north america, n. of vancouver's island, m. off the coast of british columbia, a half-submerged mountain range, densely wooded, with peaks that rise sheer up ft. queenborough, a town on the isle of sheppey, m. s. of sheerness, between which and flushing, in holland, a line of steamers plies daily. queen's college, a college for women in harley street, london, founded in , and incorporated by royal charter in , of which maurice, trench, and kingsley were among the originators; attendance of three years entitles to the rank of "associate," and of six or more to that of "fellow"; it is self-supporting. queen's colleges, colleges established in ireland in to afford a university education to members of all religious denominations, and opened at belfast, cork, and galway in , the first having professors, with students; the second professors, with students; and the third professors, with students. there is also a queen's college in melbourne. queen's county ( ), one of the inland counties of leinster, in ireland, n. of king's county, mostly flat; agriculture and dairy-farming are carried on, with a little woollen and cotton-weaving; population mostly roman catholics. queen's metal, an alloy of nine parts tin and one each of antimony, lead, and bismuth, is intermediate in hardness between pewter and britannia metal. queensland, a british colony occupying the ne. of australia, m. from n. to s. and m. from e. to w., two-thirds of it within the tropics, and occupying an area three times as large as that of france. mountains stretch away n. parallel to the coast, and much of the centre is tableland; one-half of it is covered with forests, and it is fairly well watered, the rivers being numerous, and the chief the fitzroy and the burdekin. the population is only half a million, and the chief towns are brisbane, the capital, gympie, maryborough, rockhampton, and townsville. the pastoral industry is very large, and there is considerable mining for gold. the mineral resources are great, and a coal-field still to be worked exists in it as large as the whole of scotland. maize and sugar are the principal products of the soil, and wool, gold, and sugar are the principal exports; the colony is capable of immense developments. until the territory was administered by new south wales, but in that year it became an independent colony, with a government of its own under a governor appointed by the crown; the parliament consists of two houses, a legislative council of members, nominated by the governor, and the legislative assembly of members, elected for three years by manhood suffrage. queenstown, a seaport, formerly called the cove of cork, on the s. shore of great island, and m. se. of cork; a port of call for the atlantic line of steamers, specially important for the receipt and landing of the mails. quelpart ( ), an island m. s. of the corea, m. long by broad, surrounded with small islets in situation to the corea as sicily to italy. quercitron, a yellow dye obtained from the bark of a north american oak. querÉtaro ( ), a high-lying mexican town in a province of the same name, m. nw. of mexico; has large cotton-spinning mills; here the emperor maximilian was shot by order of court-martial in . quern, a handmill of stone for grinding corn, of primitive contrivance, and still used in remote parts of ireland and scotland. quesnay, franÇois, a great french economist, born at mérez (seine-et-oise), bred to the medical profession, and eminent as a medical practitioner, was consulting physician to louis xv., but distinguished for his articles in the "encyclopédie" on political economy, and as the founder of the physiocratic school (q. v.), the school which attaches special importance in state economy to agriculture ( - ). quesnel, pasquier, a french jansenist theologian, born in paris; was the author of a great many works, but the most celebrated is his "reflexions morales"; was educated at the sorbonne, and became head of the congregation of the oratory in paris, but was obliged to seek refuge in holland with arnauld on embracing jansenism; his views exposed him to severe persecution at the hands of the jesuits, and his "reflexions" were condemned in propositions by the celebrated bull _unigenitus_; spent his last years at amsterdam, and died there ( - ). quÉtelet, adolphe, belgian astronomer and statistician, born at ghent; wrote on meteorology and anthropology, in the light especially of statistics ( - ). quetta, a strongly fortified town in the n. of beluchistan, commanding the bolan pass, and occupied by a british garrison. it is also a health resort from the temperate climate it enjoys. queues, bakers', "long strings of purchasers arranged _in tail_ at the bakers' shop doors in paris during the revolution period, so that first come be first served, were the shops once open," and that came to be a parisian institution. quevedo y villegas, francisco gomez de, a spanish poet, born at madrid, of an old illustrious family; left an orphan at an early age, and educated at alcalá, the university of which he left with a great name for scholarship; served as diplomatist and administrator in sicily under the duke of ossuna, the viceroy, and returned to the court of philip iv. in spain at his death; struggled hard to purify the corrupt system of appointments to office in the state then prevailing but was seized and thrown into confinement, from which, after four years, he was released, broken in health; he wrote much in verse, but only for his own solace and in communication with his friends, and still more in prose on a variety of themes, he being a writer of the most versatile ability, of great range and attainment ( - ). quibÉron, a small fishing village on a peninsula of the name, stretching southward from morbihan, france, near which hawke defeated a french fleet in , and where a body of french emigrants attempted to land in in order to raise an insurrection, but were defeated by general hoche. quichuas, a civilised people who flourished at one time in ecuador, peru, and bolivia, and spoke a highly-cultivated language called quichua after them. quick, robert hebert, english educationist; wrote "essays on educational reformers"; was in holy orders ( - ). quicksand, sandbank so saturated with water that it gives way under pressure; found near the mouths of rivers. quietism, the name given to a mystical religious turn of mind which seeks to attain spiritual illumination and perfection by maintaining a purely passive and susceptive attitude to divine communication and revelation, shutting out all consciousness of self and all sense of external things, and independently of the observance of the practical virtues. the high-priest of quietism was the spanish priest molinos (q. v.), and his chief disciple in france was madame de guyon, who infected the mind of the saintly fénélon. the appearance of it in france, and especially fénélon's partiality to it, awoke the hostility of bossuet, who roused the church against it, as calculated to have an injurious effect on the interests of practical morality; indeed the hostility became so pronounced that fénélon was forced to retract, to the gradual dying out of the fanaticism. quilimane ( ), a seaport of east africa, on the mozambique channel, in a district subject to portugal; stands m. from the mouth of a river of the name. quilon, a trading town on the w. coast of travancore, m. n. of comorin. quimper ( ), a french town m. se. of brest, with a much admired cathedral; has sundry manufactures, and a fishing industry. quin, james, a celebrated actor, born in london; was celebrated for his representation of falstaff, and was the first actor of the day till the appearance of garrick in ( - ). quinault, french poet; his first performances procured for him the censure of boileau, but his operas, for which luini composed the music, earned for him a good standing among lyric poets ( - ). quincey, de. see de quincey. quincy ( ), a city in illinois, u.s., on the mississippi, m. above st. louis; a handsome city, with a large trade and extensive factories; is a great railway centre. quincy, josiah, american statesman, born at boston; was bred to the bar, and entered congress in , where he distinguished himself by his oratory as leader of the federal party, as the sworn foe of slave-holding, and as an opponent of the admission of the western states into the union; in he retired from congress, gave himself for a time to purely local affairs in massachusetts, and at length to literary labours, editing his speeches for one thing, without ceasing to interest himself in the anti-slavery movement ( - ). quinet, edgar, a french man of letters, born at bourg, in the department of ain; was educated at bourg and lyons, went to paris in , and in produced a satire called "les tablettes du juif-errant," at which time he came under the influence of herder (q. v.) and executed in french a translation of his "philosophy of humanity," prefaced with an introduction which procured him the friendship of michelet, a friendship which lasted with life; appointed to a post in greece, he collected materials for a work on modern greece, and this, the first fruit of his own view of things as a speculative radical, he published in ; he now entered the service of the _revue des deux mondes_, and in the pages of it his prose poem "ahasuérus" appeared, which was afterwards published in a book form and soon found a place in the "index expurgatorius" of the church; this was followed by other democratic poems, "napoleon" in and "prometheus" in ; from to he occupied the chair of foreign literature in lyons, and passed from it to that of the literature of southern europe in the college of france; here, along with michelet, he commenced a vehement crusade against the clerical party, which was brought to a head by his attack on the jesuits, and which led to his suspension from the duties of the chair in ; he distrusted louis napoleon, and was exiled in , taking up his abode at brussels, to return to paris again only after the emperor's fall; through all these troubles he was busy with his pen, in published his "examen de la vie de jésus," his "du genie des religions," "la révolution religieuse au xix^{e} siècle," and other works; he was a disciple of herder to the last; he believed in humanity, and religion as the soul of it ( - ). quinine, an alkaloid obtained from the bark of several species of the cinchona tree and others, and which is employed in medicine specially as a ferbrifuge and a tonic. quinisext, an ecclesiastical council held at constantinople in , composed chiefly of eastern bishops, and not reckoned among the councils of the western church. quinquagesima sunday, the sunday before the beginning of lent. quinsy, inflammation of the tonsils of the throat. quintana, manuel josÉ, a spanish lyric and dramatic poet, born in madrid; was for a time the champion of liberal ideas in politics, which he ceased to advocate before he died; is celebrated as the author of a classic work, being "lives of celebrated spaniards" ( - ). quintette, a musical composition in obligato parts for five voices or five instruments. quintilian, marcus fabius, celebrated latin rhetorician, born in spain; went to rome in the train of galba, and began to practise at the bar, but achieved his fame more as teacher in rhetoric than a practitioner at the bar, a function he discharged with brilliant success for years under the patronage and favour of the emperor vespasian in particular, being invested by him in consequence with the insignia and title of consul; with posterity his fame rests on his "institutes," a great work, being a complete system of rhetoric in books; he commenced it in the reign of domitian after his retirement from his duties as a public instructor, and it occupied him two years; it is a wise book, ably written, and fraught with manifold instruction to all whose chosen profession it is to persuade men ( - ). quipo, knotted cords of different colours used by the ancient mexicans and peruvians for conveying orders or recording events. quirinal, one of the seven hills on which rome was built, n. of the palatine, and one of the oldest quarters of the city. quirites, the name the citizens of rome assumed in their civic capacity. quito ( ), the capital of ecuador, situated at an elevation of nearly ft. above the sea-level, and cut up with ravines; stands in a region of perpetual spring and amid picturesque surroundings, the air clear and the sky a dark deep blue. the chief buildings are of stone, but all the ordinary dwellings are of sun-dried brick and without chimneys. it is in the heart of a volcanic region, and is subject to frequent earthquakes, in one of which, in , , of the inhabitants perished. the population consists chiefly of indians, whose religious interests must be well cared for, for there are no fewer than priests to watch over their spiritual welfare. quito, cordillera of, a chain of mountains, the chief of them volcanic, in ecuador, containing the loftiest peaks of the andes, and including among them antisana, cotopaxi, and chimborazo. quit-rent, a rent the payment of which frees the tenant of a holding from other services such as were obligatory under feudal tenure. quorra, the name given to the middle and lower course of the niger. quorum, the number of the members of a governing body required by law to give legality to any transaction in the name of it. qurÂn. see korÂn. r raab ( ), a town in hungary, m. nw. of buda pesth, manufactures tobacco and cutlery. raasay, one of the inner hebrides, belonging to inverness-shire, lies between skye and ross-shire; bare on the w., picturesque on the e.; has interesting ruins of brochel castle. rabant de st. Étienne, a moderate french revolutionary; member of the constituent assembly; one of the girondists; opposed the extreme party, and concealed himself between two walls he had built in his brother's house; was discovered, and doomed to the guillotine, as were also those who protected him ( - ). rabat ( ), known also as new sallee, a declining port in morocco, finely situated on elevated ground overlooking the mouth of the bu-ragrag river, m. se. of fez; is surrounded by walls, and has a commanding citadel, a noted tower, interesting ruins, &c.; manufactures carpets, mats, &c., and exports olive-oil, grain, wool, &c. rabbi (lit. my master), an appellation of honour applied to a teacher of the law among the jews, in frequent use among them in the days of christ, who was frequently saluted by this title. rabbism, the name applied in modern times to the principles and methods of the jewish rabbis, particularly in the interpretation of the jewish scriptures. rabelais, franÇois, great french humorist, born at chinon, the son of a poor apothecary; was sent to a convent at nine; became a franciscan monk; read and studied a great deal, but, sick of convent life, ran away at forty years of age; went to montpellier, and studied medicine, and for a time practised it, particularly at lyons; here he commenced the series of writings that have immortalised his name, his "gargantua" and "pantagruel," which he finished as curé of meudon, forming a succession of satires in a vein of riotous mirth on monks, priests, pedants, and all the incarnate solecisms of the time, yet with all their licentiousness revealing a heart in love with mankind, and a passionate desire for the establishment of truth and justice among men ( - ). races of mankind. these have been divided into five, the caucasian (q. v.) or indo-european, the mongolian or yellow, the negro or black, the malayan or tawny, and the india or copper-coloured. rachel, eliza, a great french tragédienne, born in switzerland, of jewish parents; made her _début_ in paris in , and soon became famous as the interpreter of the principal characters in the masterpieces of racine and corneille, her crowning triumph being the representation, in , of phèdre in the tragedy of racine; she made a great impression wherever she appeared, realised a large fortune, and died of decline ( - ). racine ( ), a flourishing city of wisconsin, u.s.a., capital of racine county, at the entrance of root river into lake michigan, m. n. of chicago; has an episcopal university: trades in lumber, flax, and the products of various factories. racine, jean, great french tragic poet, born at la ferté milon, in the dep. of aisne; was educated at beauvais and the port royal; in settled in paris, gained the favour of louis xiv. and the friendship of boileau, la fontaine, and molière, though he quarrelled with the latter, and finally lost favour with the king, which he never recovered, and which hastened his death; he raised the french language to the highest pitch of perfection in his tragedies, of which the chief are "andromaque" ( ), "britannicus" ( ), "mithridate" ( ), "iphigénie" ( ), "phèdre" ( ), "esther" ( ), and "athalie" ( ), as well as an exquisite comedy entitled "les plaideurs" ( ); when voltaire was asked to write a commentary on racine, his answer was, "one had only to write at the foot of each page, _beau, pathétique, harmonieux, admirable, sublime_" ( - ). rack, an instrument of torture; consisted of an oblong wooden frame, fitted with cords and levers, by means of which the victim's limbs were racked to the point of dislocation; dates back to roman times, and was used against the early christians; much resorted to by the spanish inquisition, and also at times by the tudor monarchs of england, though subsequently prohibited by law in england. radcliffe ( ), a prosperous town of lancashire, on the irwell, m. nw. of manchester; manufactures cotton, calico, and paper; has bleaching and dye works, and good coal-mines. radcliffe, mrs. ann, _née_ ward, english novelist, born in london; wrote a series of popular works which abound in weird tales and scenes of old castles and gloomy forests, and of which the best known is the "mysteries of udolpho" ( - ). radcliffe, john, physician, born at wakefield, studied at oxford; commenced practice in london; by his art and professional skill rose to eminence; attended king william and queen mary; summoned to attend queen anne but did not, pleading illness, and on the queen's death was obliged to disappear from london; left £ , to found a public library in the university of oxford ( - ). radetzky, johann, count von, austrian field-marshal, born in bohemia; entered the austrian army in ; distinguished himself in the war with turkey in - , and in all the wars of austria with france; checked the revolution in lombardy in ; defeated and almost annihilated the piedmontese army under charles albert in , and compelled venice to capitulate in the same year, after which he was appointed governor of lombardy ( - ). radicals, a class of english politicians who, at the end of the th century and the beginning of the th, aimed at the political emancipation of the mass of the people by giving them a share in the election of parliamentary representatives. their radicalism went no farther than that, and on principle could not go farther. radnorshire ( ), the least populous of the welsh counties; lies on the english border between montgomery (n.) and brecknock (s.); has a wild and dreary surface, mountainous and woody. radnor forest covers an elevated heathy tract in the e.; is watered by the wye and the teme. the soil does not favour agriculture, and stock-raising is the chief industry. contains some excellent spas, that at llandrindod the most popular. county town, presteign. radowitz, joseph von, prussian statesman; entered the army as an artillery officer, rose to be chief of the artillery staff; by marriage became connected with the aristocracy; at length head of the anti-revolutionary party in the state, and the political adviser of william iv., in which capacity he endeavoured to effect a reform of the german diet, and to give a political constitution to germany ( - ). rae, john, arctic voyager, born in orkney, studied medicine in edinburgh; first visited the arctic regions as a surgeon; was engaged in three expeditions to these regions, of which he published reports; was made a ll.d. of edinburgh university on the occasion of carlyle's installation as lord rector ( - ). raeburn, sir henry, portrait-painter, born at stockbridge, edinburgh; was educated at george heriot's hospital; apprenticed to a goldsmith in the city, and gave early promise of his abilities as an artist; went to italy; was introduced to reynolds by the way, and after two years' absence settled in edinburgh, and became famous as one of the greatest painters of the day; the portraits he painted included likenesses of all the distinguished scotsmen of the period, at the head of them sir walter scott; was knighted by george iv. a short time before his death ( - ). raff, joachim, musical composer of the wagner school, born at lachen, in switzerland; began life as a schoolmaster; was attracted to music; studied at weimar; lived near liszt, and became director of the conservatorium at frankfort-on-main; his works include symphonies, overtures, with pieces for the violin and the piano ( - ). raffles, sir thomas stamford, english administrator, born in jamaica; entered the east india company's service, and rose in it; became governor of java, and wrote a history of it; held afterwards an important post in sumatra, and formed a settlement at singapore; returned to england with a rich collection of natural objects and documents, but lost most of them by the ship taking fire ( - ). rafn, karl christian, danish archæologist, born in fünen; devoted his life to the study of northern antiquities; edited numerous norse mss.; executed translations of norse literature; wrote original treatises in the same interest, and by his researches established the fact of the discovery of america by the norsemen in the th century ( - ). ragged schools, a name given to the charity schools which provide education and, in most cases, food, clothing, and lodging for destitute children; they receive no government support. the movement had its beginning in the magnanimous efforts of john pounds (_d_. ), a shoemaker of portsmouth; but the zeal and eloquence of dr. guthrie (q. v.) of edinburgh greatly furthered the development and spread of these schools throughout the kingdom. raglan, fitzroy somerset, lord, youngest son of the duke of beaufort; entered the army at sixteen; served with distinction all through the peninsular war; became aide-de-camp to the duke of wellington, and his military secretary; lost his right arm at waterloo; did diplomatic service at paris in , and held afterwards a succession of important military posts; was appointed commander-in-chief of the british forces in the crimea, and was present at all the engagements till attacked by cholera, aggravated by a repulse and unjust reflections on his conduct of the war, he sank exhausted and died ( - ). ragman roll, the name given to a record of the acts of fealty and homage done by the scottish nobility and gentry in to edward i. of england, and of value for the list it supplies of the nobles, gentry, burgesses, and clergy of the country at that period. the original written rolls of parchment have perished, but an abridged form is extant, and preserved in the tower of london. ragnarÖk, in the norse mythology the twilight of the gods, when it was predicted "the divine powers and the chaotic brute ones, after long contest and partial victory by the former, should meet at last in universal, world-embracing wrestle and duel, strength against strength, mutually extinctive, and ruin, 'twilight' sinking into darkness, shall swallow up the whole created universe, the old universe of the norse gods"; in which catastrophe vidar and another are to be spared to found a new heaven and a new earth, the sovereign of which shall be justice. "insight this," says carlyle, "of how, though all dies, and even gods die, yet all death is but a phoenix fire-death, and new birth into the greater and the better as the fundamental law of being." ragusa, a decayed austrian city on the dalmatian coast, fronting the adriatic; has interesting remains of its ancient greatness, and still contains several fine monastic and other buildings. rahel, wife of varnhagen von ense, born in berlin, of jewish parentage; was a woman of "rare gifts, worth, and true genius, and equal to the highest thoughts of her century," and lived in intimate relation with all the intellectual lights of germany at the time; worshipped at the shrine of goethe, and was the foster-mother of german genius generally in her day; she did nothing of a literary kind herself; all that remains of her gifts in that line are her letters, published by her husband on her death, which letters, however, are intensively subjective, and reveal the state rather of her feelings than the thoughts of her mind ( - ). raikes, robert, the founder of sunday schools, born in gloucester; by profession a printer; lived to see his pet institution established far and wide over england; left a fortune for benevolent objects ( - ). railway king, name given by sydney smith to george hudson (q. v.), the great railway speculator, who is said to have one day in the course of his speculations realised as much in scrip as £ , . rainy, robert, eminent scottish ecclesiastic, born in glasgow; professor of church history and principal in the free church college, edinburgh; an able man, a sagacious and an earnest, a distinguished leader of the free church; forced into that position more by circumstances, it is believed, than by natural inclination, and in that situation some think more a loss than a gain to the church catholic, to which in heart and as a scholar he belongs; _b_. . rajah, a title which originally belonged to princes of the hindu race, who exercised sovereign rights over some tract of territory; now applied loosely to native princes or nobles with or without territorial lordship. rajmahal ( ), an interesting old indian town, crowns an elevated site on the ganges, m. nw. of calcutta; has ruins of several palaces. rajon, paul adolphe, french etcher, born at dijon; made his mark in with his "rembrandt at work"; carried off medals at the salon; visited england in , and executed notable etchings of portraits of j.s. mill, darwin, tennyson, &c. ( - ). rajput, a name given to a hindu of royal descent or of the high military caste. see caste. rajputana ( , ), an extensive tract of country in the nw. of india, s. of the punjab, embracing some twenty native states and the british district, ajmere-merwara. the aravalli hills traverse the s., while the thar or great indian desert occupies the n. and w. jodhpur is the largest of the native territories, and the rajputs, a proud and warlike people are the dominant race in many of the states. rakoczy march, the national anthem of the hungarians, composed about the end of the th century by an unknown composer, and said to have been the favourite march of francis rakoczy ii. of transylvania. rakshasas, in the hindu mythology a species of evil spirits, akin to ogres. raleigh, sir walter, courtier, soldier, and man of letters, born near budleigh, in e. devon, of ancient family; entered as student at oxford, but at joined a small volunteer force in aid of the protestants in france; in distinguished himself in suppressing a rebellion in ireland; was in introduced at court, fascinated the heart of the queen by his handsome presence and his gallant bearing, and received no end of favours at her hand; joined his half-brother, sir humphrey gilbert, in an expedition to north america, founded a colony, which he called virginia in honour of the queen, and brought home with him the potato and the tobacco plants, till then unknown in this country; rendered distinguished services in the destruction of the armada; visited and explored guiana, and brought back tidings of its wealth in gold and precious things; fell into disfavour with the queen, but regained her esteem; under king james he became suspected of disloyalty, and was committed to the tower, where he remained years, and wrote his "history of the world"; on his release, but without a pardon, he set out to the orinoco in quest of gold-mines there, but returned heart-broken and to be sentenced to die; he met his fate with calm courage, and was beheaded in the old palace yard; of the executioner's axe he smilingly remarked, "a sharp medicine, but an infallible cure" ( - ). ralston, william shedden, a noted russian scholar and translator, born in london; studied at cambridge, and in was called to the bar, but never practised; assistant in the british museum library till ; visited russia; his works embrace "songs of the russian people," "russian folk-tales," &c. ( - ). rÂma, in the hindu mythology an avatar of vishnu, being the seventh, in the character of a hero, a destroyer of monsters and a bringer of joy, as the name signifies, the narrative of whose exploits are given in the "rÂmÂyana" (q. v.). ramadan, the ninth month of the mohammedan year, a kind of lent, held sacred as a month of fasting by all moslems, being the month in the life of mahomet when, as he spent it alone in meditation and prayer, his eyes were opened to see, through the shows of things, into the one eternal reality, the greatness and absolute sovereignty of allah. rÂmÂyana, one of the two great epic poems, and the best, of the hindus, celebrating the life and exploits of râma, "a work of art in which an elevated religious and moral spirit is allied with much poetic fiction, ... written in accents of an ardent charity, of a compassion, a tenderness, and a humility at once sweet and plaintive, which ever and anon suggest christian influences." rambler, a periodical containing essays by johnson in the _spectator_ vein, issued in - , but written in that "stiff and cumbrous style which," as professor saintsbury remarks, "has been rather unjustly identified with johnson's manner of writing generally." rambouillet, marquise de, a lady of wealth and a lover of literature and art, born in rome, who settled in paris, and conceiving the idea of forming a society of her own, gathered together into her salon a select circle of intellectual people, which, degenerating into pedantry, became an object of general ridicule, and was dissolved at her death ( - ). rameau, jean philippe, french composer, born at dijon; wrote on harmony, and, settling in paris, composed operas, his first "hippolyte et aricie," and his best "castor et pollux" ( - ). rameses, the name of several ancient kings of egypt, of which the most famous are r. ii., who erected a number of monuments in token of his greatness, and at whose court moses was brought up; and r. iii., the first king of the twentieth dynasty, under whose successors the power of egypt fell into decay. ramillies, belgian village in brabant, m. n. of namur; scene of marlborough's victory over the french under villeroy in . rammohun roy, a brahman, founder of the brahmo-somaj, born at burdwân, lower bengal; by study of the theology of the west was led to embrace deism, and tried to persuade his countrymen to accept the same faith, by proofs which he advanced to show that it was the doctrine of their own sacred books, in particular the upanishads; with this view he translated and published a number of texts from them in vindication of his contention, as well as expounded his own conviction in original treatises; in doing so he naturally became an object of attack, and was put on his defence, which he conducted in a succession of writings that remain models of controversial literature; died in bristol ( - ). ramsay, allan, scottish poet, born in crawford, lanarkshire; bred a wig-maker; took to bookselling, and published his own poems, "the gentle shepherd," a pastoral, among the number, a piece which describes and depicts manners very charmingly ( - ). ramsay, allan, portrait-painter, son of preceding; studied three years in italy, settled in london, and was named first painter to george iii. ( - ). ramsay, edward bannerman, dean of edinburgh, born at aberdeen, graduated at cambridge; held several curacies; became incumbent of st. john's episcopal church, edinburgh, in , and dean of the diocese in ; declined a bishopric twice over; is widely known as the author of "reminiscences of scottish life and character"; was a most genial, lovable man, a great lover of his country, and much esteemed in his day by all the citizens of edinburgh ( - ). ramsbottom ( ), a busy manufacturing town in lancashire, on the irwell, m. n. of bury, engaged in cotton-weaving, calico-printing, rope-making, &c. ramsden, jesse, mathematical instrument-maker and inventor, born in yorkshire; invented the theodolite for the ordnance survey of great britain ( - ). ramsey, a beautifully situated, healthy watering-place, m. ne. of douglas, in the isle of man. ramsgate ( ), a popular watering-place in the isle of thanet, kent, fronting the downs, m. e. by s. of london; has a famous harbour of refuge; to the w. lies pegwell bay with ebbsfleet. ramus, peter, or pierre de la ramÉe, a french philosopher and humanist, son of poor parents; became a servant in the college of navarre; devoted his leisure to study, and became a great scholar; attacked scholasticism in a work against aristotle as the main pillar of the system, and was interdicted from teaching philosophy, but the judgment was reversed by henry ii., and he was made a royal professor; he turned protestant in the end, and was massacred on the eve of st. bartholomew ( - ). ranavalona iii., queen of madagascar; was crowned in , but her kingdom and capital were taken from her by the french in , and she is now queen only in name; _b_. . ranching, a term of spanish derivation applied to the business of rearing cattle, as carried on in the southern and western states of america; vast herds of cattle in a half-wild condition are raised on the wide stretches of prairie land, and are tended by "cowboys," whose free, adventurous life attracts men of all sorts and conditions. randall, james ryder, american journalist; author of "maryland, my maryland," "stonewall jackson," and other popular lyrics, which greatly heartened the southern cause in the civil war; born in baltimore; engaged in teaching till he took to journalism; _b_. . randolph, john, a noted eccentric american politician, born at cawsons, virginia; entered congress in , and held a commanding position there as leader of the democratic party; was a witty, sarcastic speaker; sat in the senate from to , and in was minister to russia; liberated and provided for his slaves ( - ). randolph, sir thomas, english diplomatist, was sent on diplomatic missions by queen elizabeth, and particularly mixed up in scotch intrigues, and had to flee from scotland for his life; left memoirs ( - ). randolph, thomas, english poet, wrote odes and sundry dramas, of which the "muses' looking-glass" and "amyntas" are the best, though not absolutely good ( - ). ranee, name given to a hindu princess or queen; a rajah's wife. ranelagh, a place of resort in grounds at chelsea of people of fashion during the last half of the th century, with a promenade where music and dancing were the chief attractions. rangoon ( ), capital and chief port of british burmah, situated m. inland from the gulf of martaban, on the hlaing or rangoon river, the eastmost of the delta streams of the irrawaddy; british since ; a well-appointed city of modern appearance, strongly fortified; contains the famous shway-dagon pagoda erected in the th century b.c.; has extensive docks, and negotiates the vast bulk of burmese exports and imports; the former include teak, gums, spices, and rice. ranjit singh, the maharajah of the sikhs, after taking possession of lahore, became undisputed master of the punjab, and imposed on his subjects the monarchical form of government, which was shattered to fragments after his death; he was the possessor of the koh-i-nur diamond ( - ). ranjitsinhji, indian prince, born at sarodar; studied at cambridge; devoted himself to cricket, and became famous for his brilliant play; _b_. . ranke, leopold von, distinguished german historian, born in thüringia just days after thomas carlyle; began life similarly as a teacher and devoted his leisure hours to the study of history and the publication of historical works; was in appointed professor of history at berlin; was commissioned by the prussian government to explore the historical archives of vienna, rome, and venice, the fruit of which was seen in his subsequent historical labours, which bore not only upon the critical periods of german history, but those of italy, france, and even england; of his numerous works, all founded on the impartial study of facts, it is enough to mention here his "history of the popes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries" and his "german history in the times of the reformation" ( - ). rankine, w. j. macquorn, mathematician and physicist, born in edinburgh; devoted himself to engineering, and held the chair of engineering in glasgow university; wrote extensively on mathematical and physical subjects, both theoretical and practical ( - ). rannoch, an elevated, dreary moorland in nw. of perthshire, crossed by the west highland railway; lochs rannoch and tummel lie to the e. and loch lydoch in the w. ranters, a name given to the primitive methodists who seceded from the wesleyan body on account of a deficiency of zeal. ranz des vaches, a simple melody, played on the horn by the swiss alpine herdsmen as they drive their cattle to or from the pasture, and which, when played in foreign lands, produces on a swiss an almost irrepressible yearning for home. rape of the lock, a dainty production of pope's, pronounced by stopford brooke to be "the most brilliant occasional poem in the language." raphael, one of the seven archangels and the guardian of mankind, conducted tobias to the country of the medes and aided him in capturing the miraculous fish, an effigies of which, as also a pilgrim's staff, is an attribute of the archangel. raphael, santi, celebrated painter, sculptor, and architect, born at urbino, son of a painter; studied under perugino for several years, visited florence in , and chiefly lived there till , when he was called to rome by pope julius ii., where he spent the rest of his short life and founded a school, several of the members of which became eminent in art; he was one of the greatest of artists, and his works were numerous and varied, which included frescoes, cartoons, madonnas, portraits, easel pictures, drawings, &c., besides sculpture and architectural designs, and all within the brief period of years; he had nearly finished "the transfiguration" when he died of fever caught in the excavations of rome; he was what might be called a learned artist, and his works were the fruits of the study of the masters that preceded him, particularly perugino and the florentines, and only in the end might his work be called his own; it is for this reason that modern pre-raphaelitism is so called, as presumed to be observant of the simple dictum of ruskin, "look at nature with your own eyes, and paint only what yourselves see" ( - ). see pre-raphaelitism. rapin de thoyras, french historian, born at castres; driven from france by the revocation of the edict of nantes, settled in holland, came over to england with and served under the prince of orange, withdrew to holland and wrote a "history of england," deservedly much in repute for long, if not still ( - ). rapp, george, german fanatic, born in würtemberg, emigrated to america, and founded a fraternity called harmonites, who by tillage of land on the ohio and otherwise amassed great wealth, to be kept in store for the service of christ at his second coming ( - ). rapp, jean, french general, born at colmar; served under napoleon with distinction all through his wars, held danzig for a whole year against a powerful russian army, was kept prisoner by the russians after surrender, returned to france, and submitted to louis xviii. after waterloo ( - ). rappahannock, a navigable river of virginia state, rises in the alleghanies, and after a course of m. to the se. discharges into chesapeake bay. rashi, a jewish scholar and exegete, born at troyes; was an expert in all departments of jewish lore as contained in both the scriptures and the talmud, and indulged much in the favourite rabbinical allegorical style of interpretation ( - ). rask, rasmus christian, danish philologist, born near odense; studied first the primitive languages of the north, chiefly icelandic, and then those of the east, and published the results of his researches both by his writings and as professor of oriental languages and of icelandic in the university of copenhagen ( - ). raskolink (lit. a separatist), in russia a sect, of which there are many varieties, of dissenters from the greek church. raspail, franÇois vincent, french chemist, physiologist, and socialist; got into trouble both under louis philippe and louis napoleon for his political opinions ( - ). rassam, hormuzd, assyriologist, born at mosul; assisted layard in his explorations at nineveh, and was subsequently, under support from britain, engaged in further explorations both there and elsewhere; being sent on a mission to abyssinia, was put in prison and only released after the defeat of theodore; _b_. . rasselas, a quasi-novel written in by johnson to pay the expenses of his mother's funeral, the subject of which is an imaginary prince of abyssinia, and its aim a satire in sombre vein on human life. rastatt or rastadt ( ), a town in baden, on the murg, m. sw. of carlsruhe; is fortified, and manufactures hardware, beer, and tobacco. rataÑa, a brandy flavoured with kernels of fruits. rathlin ( ), a picturesque, cliff-girt island ( ½ by - / m.) off the n. coast of antrim; fishing is the chief industry; has interesting historical associations. ratich, wolfgang, german educationalist, born in wilster (holstein); a forerunner of comenius; his theory of education, which in his hands proved a failure, was based on baconian principles; proceeded from things to names, and from the mother tongue to foreign ones ( - ). rational horizon, a great circle parallel to the horizon, the centre of which is the centre of the earth. rationalism, modern, a speculative point of view that resolves the supernatural into the natural, inspiration into observation, and revelation into what its adherents called reason, when they mean simply understanding, and which ends in stripping us naked, and leaving us empty of all the spiritual wealth accumulated by the wise in past ages, and bequeathed to us as an inheritance that had cost them their life's blood. ratisbon or regensburg ( ), one of the oldest and most interesting of german towns in bavaria, on the danube, m. ne. of münich; has a quaint and mediæval appearance, with gothic buildings and winding streets; associated with many stirring historical events; till the seat of the imperial diet; does an active trade in salt and corn, and manufactures porcelain, brass, steel, and other wares. rattazzi, urbano, italian statesman, born at alessandria; was leader of the extreme party in the sardinian chamber in , and was several times minister, but was unstable in his politics ( - ). rauch, christian, eminent prussian sculptor, born in waldeck; patronised by royalty; studied at rome under thorwaldsen and canova; resided chiefly in berlin; executed statues of blücher, dürer, goethe, schiller, and others, as well as busts; his masterpiece is a colossal monument in berlin of frederick the great ( - ). rauhes haus ("rough house"), a remarkable institution for the reclamation and training of neglected children, founded ( ), and for many years managed by johann heinrich wichern at hoon, near hamburg; it is affiliated to the german home mission. raumer, friedrich ludwig georg von, german historian; was professor of history at berlin; wrote the "history of the hohenstaufen and their times," and a "history of europe from the end of the th century" ( - ). ravaillac, franÇois, the assassin of henry iv., born at angoulême; a roman catholic fanatic, who regarded the king as the arch-enemy of the church, and stabbed him to the heart as he sat in his carriage; was instantly seized, subjected to torture, and had his body torn by horses limb from limb ( - ). ravana, in the hindu mythology the king of the demons, who carried off sita, the wife of râma, to ceylon, which, with the help of the monkey-god hanuman, and a host of quadrumana, râma invaded and conquered, slaying his wife's ravisher, and bringing her off safe, a story which forms the subject of the hindu epic, "râmâyana." ravenna ( ), a venerable walled city of italy; once a seaport, now m. inland from the adriatic, and m. e. of bologna; was capital of the western empire for some years; a republic in the middle ages, and a papal possession till ; especially rich in monuments and buildings of early christian art; has also picture gallery, museum, library, leaning tower, etc.; manufactures silk, linen, paper, etc. ravenna, exarch of, the viceroy of the byzantine empire in italy while the latter was a dependency of the former, and who resided at ravenna. ravenscroft, thomas, musical composer, born in london; was a chorister in st. paul's cathedral; composed many part-songs, etc., but is chiefly remembered for his "book of psalmes," which he edited and partly composed; some of the oldest and best known psalms (e. g. bangor, st david's) are by him ( - ). ravenswood, a scottish jacobite, the hero of scott's "bride of lammermoor." ravignan, gustave delacroix de, a noted jesuit preacher, born at bayonne; won wide celebrity by his powerful preaching in notre dame, paris; wrote books in defence of his order ( - ). rawal pindi ( ), a trading and military town in the punjab, m. nw. of lahore; has an arsenal, fort, etc., and is an important centre for the afghanistan and cashmere trades. rawlinson, george, orientalist, brother of following, canon of canterbury; has written extensively on eastern and biblical subjects: _b_. . rawlinson, sir henry, assyriologist, born in oxfordshire; entered the indian army in ; held several diplomatic posts, particularly in persia; gave himself to the study of cuneiform inscriptions, and became an authority in the rendering of them and matters relative ( - ). ray, john, english naturalist, born in essex; studied at cambridge; travelled extensively collecting specimens in the departments of both botany and zoology, and classifying them, and wrote works on both as well as on theology ( - ). rayleigh, lord, physicist, was senior wrangler at cambridge; is professor of natural philosophy in the royal institution; author of "the theory of sound"; discovered, along with professor ramsay, "argon" in the atmosphere; _b_. . raymond, name of a succession of counts of toulouse, in france, seven in number, of which the fourth count, from to , was a leader in the first crusade, and the sixth, who became count in , was stripped of his estate by simon de montfort. raynal, the abbÉ, french philosopher; wrote "histoire des indes" and edited "philosophic history," distinguished for its "lubricity, unveracity, loose, loud eleutheromaniac rant," saw it burnt by the common hangman, and his wish fulfilled as a "martyr" to liberty ( - ). raynouard, franÇois, french littérateur and philologist, born in provence; was of the girondist party at the time of the revolution, and imprisoned; wrote poems and tragedies, but eventually gave himself up to the study of the language and literature of provence ( - ). rÉ, isle of ( ), small island, m. by , off the french coast, opposite la rochelle; salt manufacturing chief industry; also oysters and wine are exported. chief town, st. martin ( ). reade, charles, english novelist, born at ipsden, in oxfordshire; studied at oxford; became a fellow of magdalen college, and was called to the bar in ; began his literary life by play-writing; studied the art of fiction for years, and first made his mark as novelist in , when he was nearly , by the publication of "peg woffington," which was followed in by "it is never too late to mend," and in by "the cloister and the hearth," the last his best and the most popular; several of his later novels are written with a purpose, such as "hard cash" and "foul play"; his most popular plays are "masks and faces" and "drink" ( - ). reading ( ), capital of berkshire, on the kennet, m. n. of london; a town of considerable historic interest; was ravaged by the danes; has imposing ruins of a th-century benedictine abbey, &c.; was besieged and taken by essex in the civil war ( ); birthplace of archbishop laud; has an important agricultural produce-market, and its manufactures include iron-ware, paper, sauce, and biscuits. reading ( ), capital of berks co., pennsylvania, on the schuylkill river, m. nw. of philadelphia; has flourishing iron and steel works; population includes a large german settlement. real, an old spanish silver coin still in use in spain, mexico, and some other of the old spanish colonies, also is a money of account in portugal; equals one-fourth of the _peseta_, and varies in value from ½ d. to d. with the rise and fall of exchange. real, a legal term in english law applied to property of a permanent or immovable kind, e. g. land, to distinguish it from _personal_ or movable property. real presence, the assumed presence, really and substantially, in the bread and wine of the eucharist of the body and blood, the soul and divinity, of christ, a doctrine of the romish and certain other churches. realism, as opposed to nominalism, is the belief that general terms denote real things and are not mere names or answerable to the mere conception of them, and as opposed to idealism, is in philosophy the belief that we have an immediate cognition of things external to us, and that they are as they seem. in art and literature it is the tendency to conceive and represent things as they are, however unsightly and immoral they may be, without any respect to the beautiful, the true, or the good. in ruskin's teaching mere realism is not art; according to him art is concerned with the rendering and portrayal of ideals. realm, estates of the, the sovereign, the house of lords, and the house of commons in great britain. real-schule, a german school in which languages, sciences, and arts are taught to qualify for apprenticeship in some special business or craft. reason, in philosophy is more than mere understanding or reasoning power; it is the constitutive and regulative soul of the universe assumed to live and breathe in the inner life or soul of man, as that develops itself in the creations of human genius working in accord with and revealing the deep purpose of the maker. reason, in german _vernunft_, defined by dr. stirling "the faculty that unites and brings together, as against the understanding," in german _verstand_, "the faculty that separates, and only in separation knows," and that is synthetic of the whole, whereof the latter is merely analytic of the parts, sundered from the whole, and without idea of the whole, the former being the faculty which construes the diversity of the universe into a unity or the one, whereas the latter dissolves the unity into diversity or the many. reason, goddess of, a mrs. momoro, wife of a bookseller in paris, who, on the th november , in the church of notre dame, represented what was called reason, but was only scientific analysis, which the revolutionaries of france proposed, through her representing such, to install as an object of worship to the dethronement of the church, _l'infâme_. rÉaumur, french scientist, born in la rochelle; made valuable researches and discoveries in the industrial arts as well as in natural history; is best known as the inventor of the thermometer that bears his name, which is graduated into degrees from the temperature of melting ice to that of boiling water ( - ). rebecca the jewess, a high-souled hebrew maiden, who is the heroine in sir walter scott's "ivanhoe." rebeccaites, a band of welsh rioters who in , dressed as females, went about at nights and destroyed the toll-gates, which were outrageously numerous; they took their name from gen. xxiv. . rebellion, name of two risings of jacobites in scotland to restore the exiled stuart dynasty to the throne, one in behalf of the pretender in , headed by the earl of mar, and defeated at sheriffmuir, and the other in behalf of the young chevalier, and defeated at culloden in april . rÉcamir, madame, frenchwoman, born at lyons; became at the wife of a rich banker in paris thrice her own age; was celebrated for her wit her beauty, and her salon; was a friend of madame de staël and châteaubriand, whom she soothed in his declining years, and a good woman ( - ). recanati ( ), a pretty italian town, m. s. of the adriatic port ancona, the birthplace of leopardi; has a gothic cathedral. recension, the name given to the critical revision of the text of an author, or the revised text itself. rechabites, a tribe of arab origin and bedouin habits who attached themselves to the israelites in the wilderness and embraced the jewish faith, but retained their nomadic ways; they abstained from all strong drink, according to a vow they had made to their chief, which they could not be tempted to break, an example which jeremiah in vain pleaded with the jews to follow in connection with their vow to the lord (see jer. xxxv.). recidivists, a name applied to the class of habitual delinquents or criminals of france. reciprocity, a term used in economics to describe commercial treaties entered into by two countries, by which it is agreed that, while a strictly protective tariff is maintained as regards other countries, certain articles shall be allowed to pass between the two contracting countries free of or with only light duties; this is the cardinal principle of fair trade, and is so far opposed to free trade. reclus, elisÉe, a celebrated french geographer; from his extreme democratic opinions left france in , lived much in exile, and spent much time in travel; wrote "géographie universelle," in vols., his greatest work; _b_. . recorde, robert, mathematician, born in pembroke; a physician by profession, and physician to edward vi. and queen mary; his works on arithmetic, algebra, &c., were written in the form of question and answer; died in the debtors' prison ( - ). recorder, an english law official, the chief judicial officer of a city or borough; discharges the functions of judge at the quarter-sessions of his district; must be a barrister of at least five years' standing; is appointed by the crown, but paid by the local authority; is debarred from sitting on the licensing bench, but is not withheld from practising at the bar; the sheriff in scotland is a similar official. rector, a clergyman of the church of england, who has a right to the great and small tithes of the living; where the tithes are impropriate he is called a vicar. recusants, a name given to persons who refused to attend the services of the established church, on whom legal penalties were first imposed in elizabeth's reign, that bore heavily upon catholics and dissenters; the toleration act of william iii. relieved the latter, but the catholics were not entirely emancipated till . red cross knight, st. george, the patron saint of england, and the type and the symbol of justice and purity at feud with injustice and impurity. red cross society, an internationally-recognised society of volunteers to attend to the sick and wounded in time of war, so called from the members of it wearing the badge of st. george. red republicans, a party in france who, at the time of the revolution of , aimed at a reorganisation of the state on a general partition of property. red river, an important western tributary of the mississippi; flows e. and se. through texas, arkansas, and louisiana; has a course of m. till it joins the mississippi; is navigable for m. red river of the north, flows out of elbow lake, minnesota; forms the boundary between north dakota and minnesota, and flowing through manitoba, falls into lake winnipeg after a course of m.; is a navigable river. red sea, an arm of the arabian sea, and stretching in a nw. direction between the desolate sandy shores of turkey in asia and africa; is connected with the gulf of aden in the se. by the strait of bab-el-mandeb, and in the nw. divides into the gulfs of suez and akaba, between which lies the sinai peninsula; the suez canal (q. v.) joins it to the mediterranean; is m. long, and averages in breadth; has a mean depth of fathoms (greatest ); receives no rivers, and owing to the great evaporation its water is very saline; long coral reefs skirt its shores, and of many islands jebel zugur, in the farisan archipelago, and dahlak are the largest; the dangerous dædalus reef is marked by a lighthouse; as a seaway between europe and the east its importance was greatly diminished by the discovery of the cape route, but since the opening of the suez canal it has much more than regained its old position; owes its name probably to the deep red tint of the water often seen among the reefs, due to the presence of microscopic organisms. redan, a rampart shaped like the letter v, with its apex toward the enemy. redditch ( ), a flourishing town of worcester, on the warwick border, m. sw. of birmingham, busy with the manufacture of needles, pins, fish-hooks, &c. redemptionists, better known as trinitarians (q. v.), a name bestowed on an order of monks consecrated to the work of redeeming christian captives from slavery. redesdale, in northumberland, the valley of the river reed, which rises in the cheviots and flows se. through pastoral and in part dreary moorland till it joins the north tyne; at the s. end is the field of otterburn (q. v.). redeswire, raid of the, a famous border fight took place in july at the cheviot pass which enters redesdale; through the timely arrival of the men of jedburgh the scots proved victorious; is the subject of a border ballad. redgauntlet, an enthusiastic jacobite character in sir walter scott's novel of the name, distinguished by a "horse-shoe vein on his brow, which would swell up black when he was in anger." redgrave, richard, painter, born at pimlico, in london; studied at the royal academy, won his first success in "gulliver on the farmer's table," became noted for his _genre_ and landscape paintings, held government appointments, and published among other works "reminiscences" and "a century of english painters" ( - ). reding, aloys von, a swiss patriot, born in schwyz; was the bold defender of swiss independence against the french, in which he was in the end defeated ( - ). redoubt kali, a russian fort on the e. coast of the black sea, m. n. of poti, the chief place for shipping circassian girls to turkey; captured by the british in . redruth ( ), a town of cornwall, on a hilly site nearly m. sw. of truro, in the midst of a tin and copper mining district. red-tape, name given to official formality, from the red-tape employed in tying official documents, whence "red-tapism." rees, abraham, compiler of "rees' cyclopedia" ( vols.), born in montgomeryshire; became a tutor at hoxton academy, and subsequently ministered in the unitarian chapel at old jewry for some years ( - ). reeve, name given to magistrates of various classes in early english times, the most important of whom was the shire-reeve or sheriff, who represented the king in his shire; others were borough-reeves, port-reeves, &c. reeve, clara, an english novelist, born, the daughter of a rector, at ipswich; the best known of her novels is "the champion of virtue," afterwards called "the old english baron," a work of the school of mrs. radcliffe and of walpole ( - ). reeves, john sims, distinguished singer, born at shooter's hill, kent; made his first appearance at the age of as a baritone at newcastle, and then as a tenor, and the foremost in england at the time; performed first in opera and then as a ballad singer at concerts, and took his farewell of the public on may , , though he has frequently appeared since; _b_. . referendum, a practice which prevails in switzerland of referring every new legislative measure to the electorate in the several electoral bodies for their approval before it can become law. reform, the name given in england to successive attempts and measures towards the due extension of the franchise in the election of the members of the house of commons. reformation, the great event in the history of europe in the th century, characterised as a revolt of light against darkness, on the acceptance or the rejection of which has since depended the destiny for good or evil of the several states composing it, the challenge to each of them being the crucial one, whether they deserved and were fated to continue or perish, and the crucial character of which is visible to-day in the actual conditions of the nations as they said "nay" to it or "yea," the challenge to each at bottom being, is there any truth in you or is there none? austria, according to carlyle, henceforth "preferring steady darkness to uncertain new light"; spain, "people stumbling in steep places in the darkness of midnight"; italy, "shrugging its shoulders and preferring going into dilettantism and the fine arts"; and france, "with accounts run up on compound interest," had to answer the "writ of summons" with an all too indiscriminate "protestantism" of its own. reformation, morning star of the, the title given to john wycliffe (q. v.). reformatories, schools for the education and reformation of convicted juvenile criminals (under ). under an order of court offenders may be placed in one of these institutions for from to years after serving a short period of imprisonment. they are supported by the state, the local authorities, and by private subscriptions and sums exacted from parents and guardians. rules and regulations are supervised by the state. the first one was established in . there are now in great britain and ireland; but the numbers admitted are diminishing at a remarkable rate. reformed church, the churches in switzerland, holland, scotland, and elsewhere under calvin or zwingle, or both, separated from the lutheran on matter of both doctrine and policy, and especially in regard to the doctrine of the presence of christ in the eucharist. refraction. light travels in straight lines; but when a ray travelling through one medium passes obliquely into another of either greater or less density it is bent at the point of incidence. this bending or breaking is called refraction. the apparent bend in a stick set sloping in a sheet of water is due to this phenomenon, as are also many mirages and other optical illusions. regalia, the symbols of royalty, and more particularly those used at a coronation. the english regalia include the crown, the sceptre with the cross, the verge or rod with the dove, st. edward's staff (in reality dating from charles ii.'s coronation), the orbs of king and queen, the sword of mercy called curtana, the two swords of spiritual and temporal justice, the ring of alliance with the nation, bracelets, spurs, vestments, &c. these are to be seen in the tower of london, and are valued at £ , , . the regalia of scotland consist of the crown, the sceptre, and sword of state, and are on exhibition in the crown-room in edinburgh castle. regeneration, the, "new or second birth" required of christ before any one can become a member of his kingdom, and which, when achieved, is a resolute and irreversible no to the spirit of the world, and a no less resolute and irreversible yea to the spirit of christ, the no being as essential to it as the yea. for as in the philosophy of hegel, so in the religion of christ, the negative principle is the creative or the determinative principle. christianity begins in no, subsists in no, and survives in no to the spirit of the world; this it at first peremptorily spurns, and then disregards as of no account, what things were _gain_ in it becoming _loss_. a stern requirement, but, as carlyle says, and knew, one is not born the second time any more than the first without sore birth-pangs. see his "everlasting no" in "sartor," last paragraph. regeneration, baptismal, the doctrine that the power of spiritual life, forfeited by the fall, is restored to the soul in the sacrament of baptism duly administered. regensburg. see ratisbon. reggio ( ), an italian seaport; capital of a province of the same name; occupies a charming site on the strait of messina; built on the ruins of ancient rhegium; is the seat of an archbishop; manufactures silks, gloves, hose, &c. regicides, murderers of a king, but specially applied to the members of the court who tried and condemned charles i. of england, amongst whom were cromwell, bradshaw, ireton, and others, of whom living at the time of the restoration were executed, and others imprisoned for life. regillus, lake, celebrated in ancient roman history as the scene of a great roman victory over the latins in b.c.; site probably near the modern town of frascati. regina, st., a virgin martyr of the rd century, usually depicted as undergoing the torments of martyrdom, or receiving spiritual consolation in prison by a beautiful vision of a dove on a luminous cross. regiomontanus, name adopted by johann müller, a celebrated german astronomer and mathematician, born at königsberg, in franconia; appointed professor of astronomy in vienna ( ); sojourned in italy; settled in nüremberg, where much of his best work was done; assisted pope sixtus iv. in reforming the calendar; was made bishop of ratisbon; died at rome; was regarded as the most learned astronomer of the time in europe, and his works were of great value to columbus and other early navigators ( - ). registrar-general, an official appointed to superintend registration, specially of births, deaths, and marriages. regium donum, an annual grant formerly voted by parliament to augment the stipends of the presbyterian clergy in ireland, discontinued from . regnard, jean franÇois, comic dramatist, born in paris; inherited a fortune, which he increased by gambling; took to travelling, and was at captured by an algerine pirate, and when ransomed continued to travel; on his return to paris wrote comedies, twenty-three in number, the best of them being "le joueur" and "le légataire," following closely in the steps of molière; he was admired by boileau ( - ). regnault, henri, french painter, born in paris; son of following; a genius of great power and promise, of which several remarkable works by him are proof; volunteered in the franco-german war, and fell at buzenval ( - ). regnault, henri victor, a noted french physicist, born at aix-la-chapelle; from being a paris shopman he rose to a professorship in lyons; important discoveries in organic chemistry won him election to the academy of sciences in ; lectured in the "collège de france and the École polytechnique;" became director of the imperial porcelain manufactory of sèvres; did notable work in physics and chemistry, and was awarded medals by the royal society of london ( - ). regnier, mathurin, french poet, born at chartres; led when young a life of dissipation; ranks high as a poet, but is most distinguished in satire, which is instinct with verve and vigour ( - ). regulars, in the romish church a member of any religious order who has taken the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. regulus, a roman of the romans; was twice over consul, in and b.c.; defeated the carthaginians, both by sea and land, but was at last taken prisoner; being sent, after five years' captivity, on parole to rome with proposals of peace, dissuaded the senate from accepting the terms, and despite the entreaties of his wife and children and friends returned to carthage according to his promise, where he was subjected to the most excruciating tortures. regulus, st., or st. rule, a monk of the east who, in the th century, it is said, came to scotland with the bones of st. andrew, and deposited them at st. andrews. rehan, ada, actress, born in limerick; made her _début_ at in albany, new york; came to london in , and again in ; plays rosalind in "as you like it," lady teazle in "school for scandal," and maid marian in the "foresters," and numerous other parts; _b_. . rehoboam, the king of the jews on whose accession at the death of solomon, in b.c., the ten tribes of israel seceded from the kingdom of judah. reich, the, the old german empire. reichenbach, karl, baron von, expert in the industrial arts, particularly in chemical manufacture; he was a zealous student of animal magnetism, and the discoverer of od ( - ). reichenberg ( ), a town in north bohemia, on the neisse, m. ne. of prague; chief seat of the bohemian cloth manufacture. reichenhall ( ), a popular german health resort, in south-east bavaria, m. sw. of salzburg; is charmingly situated amidst alpine scenery, and has a number of mineral springs; is the centre of the great bavarian salt-works. reichsrath, the parliament of the austrian empire. reichstadt, duke of, the son and successor of napoleon as napoleon ii.; died at vienna in . reichstag, the german imperial legislature, representative of the german nation, and which consists of members, elected by universal suffrage and ballot for a term of five years. reid, sir george, a distinguished portrait-painter, born in aberdeen; his portraits are true to the life, and are not surpassed by those of any other living artist; _b_. . reid, right hon. g. h., premier of australia, born at johnstone, renfrewshire; emigrated with his parents in ; adopted law as his profession; became minister of education in ; became premier of n.s.w. in ; is a great free trader, and visited england for the jubilee in ; prime minister of the australian commonwealth, ; _b_. . reid, captain mayne, novelist, born in co. down; led a life of adventure in america, and served in the mexican war, but settled afterwards in england to literary work, and wrote a succession of tales of adventure ( - ). reid, thomas, scottish philosopher, and chief of the scottish school, born in kincardineshire, and bred for the scotch church, in which he held office as a clergyman for a time; was roused to philosophical speculation by the appearance in of david hume's "treatise on human nature," and became professor of philosophy in aberdeen in , and in glasgow in , where the year after he published his "inquiry into the human mind," which was followed in course of time by his "philosophy of the intellectual and active powers"; his philosophy was a protest against the scepticism of hume, founded on the idealism of berkeley, by appeal to the "common-sense" of mankind, which admits of nothing intermediate between the perceptions of the mind and the reality of things ( - ). reid, sir wemyss, journalist and man of letters, born in newcastle-on-tyne; editor of the _leeds mercury_ ( - ), and of the _speaker_ since ; has written novels and biographies; is president of the institute of journalists, and was knighted in ; _b_. . reid, sir william, soldier and scientist; served in the royal engineers with distinction under wellington; became governor successively of bermudas, barbadoes, and malta, and was the author of a scientific work on "the law of storms" ( - ). reigate ( ), a flourishing market-town in surrey, m. s. of london; is a busy railway centre; has interesting historic ruins; an old church, among others containing the grave of lord howard of effingham. reign of a hundred days, the period during which napoleon reigned in paris from his return from elba in the beginning of march till he left on the th june to meet the allies in the netherlands. reign of terror, the name given to the bloody consummation of the fiery french revolution, including a period which lasted days, from the fall of the girondists on the st may to the overthrow of robespierre and his accomplices on th july , the actors in which at length, seeing nothing but "terror" ahead, had in their despair said to themselves, "be it so. _que la terreur soit à l'ordre du jour_ (having sown the wind, come let us reap the whirlwind). one of the frightfulest things ever born of time. so many as four thousand guillotined, fusilladed, noyaded, done to dire death, of whom nine hundred were women." reimarus, a philosopher of the _aufklÄrung_ (q. v.), born at hamburg; author of the "wolfenbüttel fragments," published by lessing in , and written to disprove the arguments for the historical truth of the bible, and in the interest of pure deism and natural religion ( - ). reis effendi, one of the chief ministers of state in turkey, who is lord chancellor, and holds the bureau of foreign affairs. reiters, the cavalry of the german empire in the th and th centuries. relativity of knowledge, the doctrine that all knowledge is of things as they appear to us and not of things as they are in themselves, is subjective and not objective, is phenomenal and not noumenal. relief, prominence of a sculpture from a plain surface; works in relief are of three kinds: _alto-relievo_, high relief; _mezzo-relievo_, medium relief; _basso-relievo_, low relief. religio medici, a celebrated work of sir thomas browne's, characterised as a "confession of intelligent, orthodox, and logical supernaturalism couched in some of the most exquisite english ever written." religion, a sense, affecting the whole character and life, of dependence on, reverence for, and responsibility to a higher power; or a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting which respects, trusts in, and strives after god, and determines a man's duty and destiny in this universe, or "the manner in which a man feels himself to be spiritually related to the unseen world." religious tract society, society founded in for the circulation of religious works in home and foreign parts, has published in languages, and is conducted by an annually elected body, consisting of four ministers and eight laymen in london. reliquary, name given to a portable shrine or case for relics of saints or martyrs; they assumed many forms, and were often rich in material and of exquisite design. rembrandt or van rejn, a celebrated dutch historical and portrait painter as well as etcher, born at leyden, where he began to practise as an etcher; removed in to amsterdam, where he spent the rest of his life and acquired a large fortune, but lost it in after the death of his first wife, and sank into poverty and obscurity; he was a master of all that pertains to colouring and the distribution of light and shade ( - ). remigius, st., bishop and confessor of the th century, represented as carrying or receiving a vessel of holy oil, or as anointing clovis, who kneels before him. remington, philo, inventor of the remington breech-loading rifle, born at litchfield, in new york state; years manager of the mechanical department in his father's small-arms factory; remington type-writer also the outcome of his inventive skill; retired in ; _b_. . remonstrance, the, the name given to a list of abuses of royal power laid to the charge of charles i. and drawn up by the house of commons in , and which with the petition that accompanied it contributed to bring matters to a crisis. remonstrants, a name given to the dutch arminians who presented to the states-general of holland a protest against the calvinist doctrine propounded by the synod of dort in . remus, the twin-brother of romulus, and who was slain by him because he showed his scorn of the city his brother was founding by leaping over the wall. rÉmusat, abel, orientalist, born in paris; studied and qualified in medicine, but early devoted himself to the study of chinese literature and in became professor of chinese in the college of france; wrote on the language, the topography, and history of china, and founded the asiastic society of paris ( - ). rÉmusat, charles, comte de, french politician and man of letters, born in paris; was a liberal in politics; drew up a protest against the ordinances of polignac, which precipitated the revolution of july; was minister of the interior under thiers, was exiled after the _coup d'état_, and gave himself mainly to philosophical studies thereafter ( - ). renaissance, the name given to the revolution in literature and art in europe during the th and th centuries, caused by the revival of the study of ancient models in the literature and art of greece and rome, especially the former, and to the awakening in the cultured classes of the free and broad humanity that inspired them, an epoch which marks the transition from the rigid formality of mediæval to the enlightened freedom of modern times. renaix ( ), a busy manufacturing town in east flanders, belgium, m. sw. of ghent; has large cotton and linen factories, breweries, and distilleries. renan, ernest, orientalist and biblical scholar, born in brittany, son of a sailor, who, dying, left him to the care of his mother and sister, to both of whom he was warmly attached; destined for the church, he entered the seminary of st. sulpice, where his studies threw him out of the relation with the church and obliged him to abandon all thoughts of the clerical profession; accomplished in hebrew, he was appointed professor of that language in the college of france in , though not installed till , and made a member of the french academy in ; having distinguished himself by his studies in the semitic languages, and in a succession of essays on various subjects of high literary merit, he in achieved a european reputation by the publication of his "vie de jésus," the first of a series bearing upon the origin of christianity and the agencies that contributed to its rise and development; he wrote other works bearing more immediately on modern life and its destiny, but it is in connection with his views of christ and christianity that his name will be remembered; he entertained at last an overweening faith in science and scientific experts, and looked to the latter as the elect of the earth for the redemption of humanity ( - ). rendsburg ( ), a fortified town in schleswig-holstein, on the north sea and baltic canal, m. w. of kiel; manufactures cotton, chemicals, brandy &c. renÉ i., titular king of naples, born at angers, son of louis ii., duke of anjou and count of provence; on the death of his father-in-law, duke of lorraine, he in claimed the dukedom; was defeated and imprisoned; bought his liberty and the dukedom in , in which year he also made an ineffectual attempt to make good his claim to the throne of naples and sicily; settled down in provence and devoted himself to literature and art and to developing the country ( - ). renfrew ( ), a royal burgh and county-town of renfrewshire, situated on the clyde, m. below glasgow; dates back to the th century as a burgh; industries include thread, cotton cloths, shawl factories, and shipbuilding. renfrewshire ( ), a south-western county of scotland; faces the firth of clyde on the w., between ayr on the s. and sw., and the river clyde on the n.; bordered on the e. by lanark; hilly on the w. and s., flat on the e.; is watered by the gryfe, the black cart, and the white cart; dairy-farming is carried on in extensive scale, stimulated by the proximity of glasgow; nearly two-thirds of the county is under cultivation; coal and iron are mined, and in various parts the manufacture of thread, cotton, chemicals, shipbuilding, &c., is actively engaged in. rennell, james, geographer, born near chudleigh, devonshire; passed from the navy to the military service of the east india company; became surveyor-general of bengal; retired in ; author of many works on the topography of india, hydrography, &c.; the "geographical system of herodotus examined and explained" is his most noted work ( - ). rennes ( ), a prosperous town in brittany, capital of the department of ille-et-vilaine, situated at the junction of the ille and the vilaine; consists of a high and low town, separated by the river vilaine, mostly rebuilt since the disastrous fire in ; has handsome buildings, a cathedral, &c.; is the seat of an archbishop, a military centre, and manufactures sail-cloth, linen, shoes, hats, &c.; where the court-martial was held which condemned captain dreyfus on a second trial in . rennie, john, civil engineer, born in east linton, east lothian; employed by the firm of messrs. boulton & watt at soho, birmingham, and entrusted by them to direct in the construction of the albion mills, london, he became at once famous for his engineering ability, and was in general request for other works, such as the construction of docks, canals, and bridges, distinguishing himself most in connection with the latter, of which waterloo, southwark, and london over the thames, are perhaps the finest ( - ). rente, name given to the french funds, or income derivable from them. renton ( ), a town in dumbartonshire, on the leven, m. n. of dumbarton; engaged in calico-printing, dyeing, &c.; has a monument in memory of tobias smollett, who was born in the neighbourhood. renwick, james, scottish martyr, born at moniaive, dumfriesshire; educated at edinburgh university, but was refused his degree for declining to take the oath of allegiance; completed his studies in holland, and in was ordained at gröningen; came to scotland; was outlawed in for his "apologetic declaration"; refused to recognise james ii. as king; was captured after many escapes, and executed at edinburgh, the last of the martyrs of the covenant ( - ). repealer, an advocate of the repeal of the union of great britain and ireland. replica, is properly the copy of an original picture done by the hand of the same master. repoussÉ, a name applied to a style of raised ornamentation in metal obtained by beating out from behind a convex design, which is then chased in front; was known to the greeks, and carried to a high pitch of perfection by benvenuto cellini in the th century; has been successfully revived, especially in france, in this century. repton ( ), a village of derbyshire, ½ m. sw. of derby, dates back to the th century, and is associated with the establishment of christianity in england; has a fine public school, founded in . republic, the name given to a state in which the sovereign power is vested in one or more elected by the community, and held answerable to it though in point of fact, both in rome and the republic of venice the community was not free to elect any one outside of a privileged order. republicans, the, the name given latterly in the united states to the party opposed to the democrats (q. v.) and in favour of federalism. requiem, a mass set to music, sung for the repose of the soul of a dead person. reredos, the name given to the decorated portion of the wall or screen behind and rising above a church altar; as a rule it is richly ornamented with niches and figures, and stands out from the east wall of the church, but not unfrequently it is joined to the wall; splendid examples exist at all souls' college, oxford, durham cathedral, st. albans, &c. resina ( ), a town of south italy, looks out upon the sea from the base of vesuvius, m. se. of naples, built on the site of ancient herculaneum; manufactures wine and silk. responsions, the first of the three examinations for a degree at oxford university, or the little go. ressaidar, in india, a native cavalry officer in command of a ressalah, or a squadron of native cavalry. restoration, the, the name given in english history to the re-establishment of monarchy and the return of charles ii. to the throne, th may , after the fall of the commonwealth. restorationists, name of a sect in america holding the belief that man will finally recover his original state of purity. resurrectionist, one who stealthily exhumed bodies from the grave and sold them for anatomical purposes. retford, east ( ), market-town of nottinghamshire, on the idle, m. e. by s. of sheffield; has foundries, paper and flour mills, &c. retina, a retiform expansion of the sensatory nerves, which receives the impression that gives rise to vision, or visual perception. retributive justice, justice which rewards good deeds, and inflicts punishment on offenders. retz, cardinal de, born at montmirail, of italian descent, and much given to intrigue, obtained the coadjutorship of the archbishopric of paris, plotted against mazarin, played an important part in the troubles of the fronde, and was in thrown into prison, from which he escaped; he left "memoirs" which are valuable as a record of the times, though the readers are puzzled to construe from them the character of the author ( - ). retz, gilles de, marshal of france, born in brittany; distinguished himself under charles vii. against the english; was condemned to be burned alive at nantes in for his unnatural crimes and his cruelties. retzch, moritz, painter and engraver, born at dresden, where he became a professor of painting; is famous for his etchings illustrative of goethe's "faust," of certain of shakespeare's plays, as well as of fouqué's "tales"; the "chess-players" and "man _versus_ satan," which is considered his masterpiece ( - ). reuchlin, johann, a learned german humanist, born in the black forest, devoted himself to the study of greek and hebrew, and did much to promote the study of both in germany, and wrote "rudiments of the hebrew language"; though he did not attach himself to the reformers, he contributed by his works and labours to advance the cause of the reformation; his special enemies were the dominicans, but he was backed up against them by all the scholars of germany ( - ). reunion (formerly Île de bourbon) ( ), mostly creoles, a french island in the indian ocean, m. e. of madagascar, m. by ; a volcanic range intersects the island; the scenery is fine; streams plentiful, but small; one-third of the land is uncultivated, and grows fruits, sugar (chief export), coffee, spices, &c. st. denis ( ), on the n. coast, is the capital; has been a french possession since . reuss, name of two german principalities stretching between bavaria on the s. and prussia on the n.; they belong to the elder and younger branches of the reuss family. the former is called reuss-greiz ( ), the latter reuss-schleiz-gera ( ); both are hilly, well wooded, and well watered; farming and textile manufacturing are carried on. both are represented in the reichstag; the executive is in the hands of the hereditary princes, and the legislative powers are vested in popularly elected assemblies. reuter, fritz, a german humourist, born in mecklenburg-schwerin; when a student at jena took part in a movement among the students in behalf of german unity; was arrested and condemned, after commutation of sentence of death, to thirty years' imprisonment, but was released, after seven of them, in broken health; and after eleven more took to writing a succession of humorous poems in low german, which placed him in the front rank of the humourists of germany ( - ). reuter, baron paul julius, the organiser of the conveyance of news by telegraph, born at cassel; commenced with berlin for centre in ; transferred his head-quarters to london, and now the "system," which is in the hands of a limited liability company, has connections with even the remotest corner of the globe; _b_. . reutlingen ( ), a picturesque old town in würtemberg, on the echatz, m. s. of stuttgart; formerly one of the free imperial cities of the swabian league; has a splendid gothic church; manufactures cloth, cutlery, leather, woollen and cotton yarns, &c. revel or reval ( ), capital of the government of esthonia, in russia, is a flourishing seaport on the s. side of the gulf of finland, m. w. of st. petersburg; has a castle, fortifications, cathedral, mediæval antiquities, &c.; chiefly engaged in commerce; exports largely oats and other cereals, spirits, flax, &c. revelation, name properly applicable to the knowledge of god, or of divine things, imparted to the mind of man, by the operation of the divine spirit in the human soul, and as apprehended by it. revelation, book of, or the apocalypse, the book that winds up the accepted canon of holy scripture, of the fulfilment of the prophecies of which there are three systems of interpretation: the præteritist, which regards them all as fulfilled; the historical, which regards them as all along fulfilling; and the futurist, which regards them as still all to be fulfilled. the first is the one which finds favour among modern critics, and which regards it as a forecast of the struggle then impending between the church under the headship of christ and the civil power under the emperor of rome, though this view need not be accepted as excluding the second theory, which regards it as a forecast of the struggle of the church with the world till the cup of the world's iniquity is full and the day of its doom is come. the book appears to have been written on the occurrence of some fierce persecution at the hands of the civil power, and its object to confirm and strengthen the church in her faith and patience by a series of visions, culminating in one of the lamb seated on the throne of the universe as a pledge that all his slain ones would one day share in his glory. revels, master of the, also called lord of misrule, in olden times an official attached to royal and noble households to superintend the amusements, especially at christmas time; he was a permanent officer at the english court from henry viii.'s reign till george iii.'s, but during the th century the office was a merely nominal one. reverberatory furnace, a furnace with a domed roof, from which the flames of the fire are reflected upon the vessel placed within. revere, paul, american patriot, born in boston, u.s., bred a goldsmith; conspicuous for his zeal against the mother-country, and one of the first actors in the revolt ( - ). reverend, a title of respect given to the clergy, very reverend to deans, right reverend to bishops, and most reverend to archbishops. rÉville, albert, a distinguished french protestant theologian, born at dieppe; was from to pastor at rotterdam, in became professor of the history of religions in the college of france, and six years later was made president of the section des Études religieuses at the sorbonne, paris; has been a prolific writer on such subjects as "the native religions of mexico and peru" (hibbert lectures for ), "religions of non-civilised peoples," "the chinese religion," &c.; _b_. . revival of letters, revival in europe in the th century of the study of classical, especially greek, literature, chiefly by the arrival in italy of certain learned greeks, fugitives from constantinople on its capture by the turks in , and promoted, by the invention of printing, to the gradual extinction of the dry, barren scholasticism previously in vogue. see renaissance. revival of religion, a reawakening of the religious consciousness after a period of spiritual dormancy, ascribed by many to a special outpouring of the spirit in answer to prayer, and in connection with evangelical preaching. revolution, a sudden change for most part in the constitution of a country in consequence of internal revolt, particularly when a monarchy is superseded by a republic, as in france in , in , and , that in being merely from one branch of the bourbon family to another, such as that also in england in . the french revolution of is the revolution by pre-eminence, and the years - were years of revolutions in europe. revue des deux mondes, a celebrated french review, devoted to literature, science, art, politics, &c., established in , and conducted afterwards by buloz. reybaud, marie roch louis, a versatile littérateur and politician, born at marseilles; travelled in india, established himself as a radical journalist in paris in , and edited important works of travel, wrote popular novels, published important studies in social science; elected a member of the academy of moral sciences ( ); was an active politcian, investigated for government the agricultural colonies in algeria; author of "scenes in modern life," "industry in europe," &c. ( - ). reykjavik (i. e. reeky town), ( ), capital of iceland, situated in a barren misty region on the sw. coast, practically a village of some wooden houses; has a brick cathedral, and is the see of a bishop. reynard the fox, an epic of the middle ages, in which animals represent men, "full of broad rustic mirth, inexhaustible in comic devices, a world saturnalia, where wolves tonsured into monks and nigh starved by short commons, foxes pilgrimaging to rome for absolution, cocks pleading at the judgment-bar, make strange mummery." the principal characters are isengrim the wolf and reynard the fox, the former representing strength incarnated in the baron and the latter representing cunning incarnated in the church, and the strife for ascendency between the two one in which, though frequently hard pressed, the latter gets the advantage in the end. reynolds, john fulton, an american general, born at lancaster, pennsylvania; graduated at at west point, entered the army, distinguished himself during the civil war, especially at the second battle of bull run; was killed at the battle of gettysburg ( - ). reynolds, sir joshua, the chief of english portrait-painters, born near plymouth; went to london in to study art, and remained three years; visited italy and the great centres of art there, when he lost his hearing, and settled in london in , where he began to paint portraits, and had as the subjects of his art the most distinguished people, "filled england with the ghosts of her noble squires and dames"; numbered among his friends all the literary notabilities of the day; he was the first president of the royal academy, and though it was no part of his duty, delivered a succession of discourses to the students on the principles and practice of painting, of which have been published, and are still held in high esteem ( - ). rhabdomancy, a species of divination by means of a hazel rod to trace the presence of minerals or metals under ground. rhadamanthus, in the greek mythology a son of zeus and europa, and a brother of minos (q. v.), was distinguished among men for his strict justice, and was after his death appointed one of the judges of the dead in the nether world along with Æacus and minos. rhapsodists, a class of minstrels who in early times wandered over the greek cities reciting the poems of homer, and through whom they became widely known, and came to be translated with such completeness to us. rhea, in the greek mythology a goddess, the daughter of uranus and gaia, the wife of kronos, and mother of the chief olympian deities, zeus, pluto, poseidon, hera, demeter, and hestia, and identified by the greeks of asia minor with the great earth goddess cybele, and whose worship as such, like that of all the other earth deities, was accompanied with wild revelry. rhea silvia, a vestal virgin, the mother of romulus and remus, twins, whom she bore to mars, the god of war, who had violated her. rheims ( ), an important french city in the department of marne, on the vesle, m. ne. of paris; as the former ecclesiastical metropolis of france it has historical associations of peculiar interest; the french monarchs were crowned in the cathedral (a gothic structure of unique beauty) from to ; has a beautiful th-century romanesque church, an archiepiscopal palace, a roman triumphal arch, a lycée, statues, &c.; situated in a rich wine district, it is one of the chief champagne entrepôts, and is also one of the main centres of french textiles, especially woollen goods; is strongly fortified. rheingau, a fruitful wine district in the rhine valley, stretching along the right bank of the river in hesse-nassau; has a sunny, sheltered situation, and its wines are famed for their quality. rhenish prussia ( , ), the most westerly and most densely populated of the prussian provinces, lies within the valleys of the rhine and the lower moselle, and borders on belgium and the netherlands; is mountainous and forest-clad, except in the fertile plains of the n. and in the rich river valleys, where vines, cereals, and vegetables are extensively cultivated; large quantities of coal, iron, zinc, and lead are mined; as an industrial and manufacturing province it ranks first in germany. coblenz (capital), aix-la-chapelle, bonn, and cologne are among its chief towns; was formed in out of several smaller duchies. rheochord, a wire to measure the resistance or variability of an electric current. rheometry, measurement of the force or the velocity of an electric current. rhesus, a monkey held sacred in several parts of india. rhetoric, the science or art of persuasive or effective speech, written as well as spoken, and that both in theory and practice was cultivated to great perfection among the ancient greeks and romans, and to some extent in the middle ages and later, but is much less cultivated either as a science or an art to-day. rhine, one of the chief rivers of europe; of several small alpine head-streams, the nearer and the farther rhine are the two principal, issuing from the eastern flanks of mount st gothard; a junction is formed at reichenau, whence the united stream--the upper rhine--flows n. to lake constance, and issuing from the nw. corner curves westward to basel, forming the boundary between switzerland and germany. from basel, as the middle rhine, it pursues a northerly course to mainz, turns sharply to the w. as far as bingen, and again resumes its northward course. the rhine-highland between bingen and bonn is the most romantic and picturesque part of its course. as the lower rhine it flows in a sluggish, winding stream through the rhenish lowlands, enters holland near clèves, at nimeguen bends to the w., and flowing through holland some m. reaches the german ocean, splitting in its lowest part into several streams which form a rich delta, one-third of holland. it is m. in length; receives numerous affluents, _e. g_. neckar, main, moselle, lippe; is navigable for ships to mannheim. rhinoplastic operation, an operation of repairing destroyed portions of the nose by skin from adjoining parts. rhode island ( ), the smallest but most densely populated of the united states, and one of the original ; faces the atlantic between connecticut (w.) and massachusetts (n. and e.); is split into two portions by narragansett bay ( m. long); hilly in the n., but elsewhere level; enjoys a mild and equable climate, and is greatly resorted to by invalids from the s.; the soil is rather poor, and manufactures form the staple industry; coal, iron, and limestone are found. providence, pawtucket, and newport are the chief towns. rhodes ( ), a turkish island in the mediterranean, m. distant from the sw, coast of asia minor, area m. by m.; mountainous and woody; has a fine climate and a fertile soil, which produces fruit in abundance, also some grain; it is ill developed, and has a retrogressive population, most of whom are greeks; sponges, chief export; figures considerably in ancient classic history; was occupied by the knights hospitallers of st. john for more than two centuries, and was taken from them by the turks in . rhodes, cecil, statesman, born in hertfordshire, son of a vicar; went to south africa; became director of the diamond mines at kimberley, and amassed a large fortune; entered the cape parliament, and became prime minister in ; he has been active and successful to extend the british territories in south africa, aiming at destroying the race prejudices that prevail in it, and at establishing among the different colonies a federated union; _b_. . rhodesia, the territory in south africa occupied and administered by the british south africa company, under the leadership of mr. cecil rhodes, and founded by royal charter in , hence the name it goes under, is bounded on the e. by portuguese east africa, on the n. by german east africa and the congo free state, on the w. by angola and german south-west africa, and on the s. by bechuanaland and the transvaal; is traversed by the zambesi, which divides it into northern and southern rhodesia; the northern has been little prospected, though the land is being cultivated, crops raised, and cattle-breeding commenced, besides a new industry started in fibre; the southern is divided into two provinces, mashonaland (q. v.) and matabeleland (q. v.); in rhodesia public roads have been made to the extent of miles, and telegraph lines to the extent of miles of line and of wire; it is favourable to the breeding of stock, though the rinderpest raged in it disastrously for a time; the climate is suitable for the cultivation of cereals of all kinds, and vegetables, tobacco, india-rubber, and indigo are indigenous, and well repay cultivation; there are forests of timber, and gold, silver, copper, coal, tin, &c., have been discovered; it is, roughly speaking, as large as the german empire, and in consequence of the jameson raid the control of the military forces, formerly under the control of the company, is now in the hands of the imperial government. rhÔne, one of the four great rivers of france, rises on mount st. gothard, in the swiss alps; passes through the lake of geneva, and flowing in a south-westerly course to lyons, is there joined by its chief affluent, the saône, hence it flows due s.; at arles it divides into two streams, which form a rich delta before entering the gulf of lyons, in the mediterranean; length, m.; navigable to lyons, but the rapid current and shifting sandbanks greatly impede traffic. rhÔne ( ), a department of france lying wholly within the western side of the saône and rhône basin, hilly and fruitful; wine is produced in large quantities; has an active industrial population; capital, lyons. rhumb line, a circle on the earth's surface making a given angle with the meridian; applied to the course of a ship in navigation. rhyl ( ), a popular watering-place of flintshire, north wales, situated on the coast at the mouth of the clwyd, m. e. of conway; has a fine promenade pier, esplanade, gardens, &c. rhymer, thomas the, or true thomas, thomas of ercildoune, or earlston, a berwickshire notability of the th century, famous for his rhyming prophecies, who was said, in return for his prophetic gift, to have sold himself to the fairies. rhys, john, celtic scholar, born in wales; professor of celtic at oxford; has written on subjects related to that of the chair; _b_. . ribbonism, the principles of secret associations among the lower irish catholics, organised in opposition to orangeism, the name being derived from a green ribbon worn as a badge in a button-hole by the members; they were most active between and . ribera, jusepe, a spanish painter, born near valencia; indulged in a realism of a gruesome type; had salvator rosa and giordano for pupils ( - ). ricardo, david, political economist, born in london, of jewish parentage; realised a large fortune as a member of the stock exchange; wrote on political economy on abstract lines, and from a purely mercantile and materialistic standpoint ( - ). ricasoli, baron, italian statesman, born at florence; devoted to the cultivation of the vine, the olive, and the mulberry; was drawn into political life in in the interest of italian unity, succeeded cavour as prime minister, but retired from political life in ; his "letters and papers," in vols., were published posthumously ( - ). ricci, lorenzo, last general of the jesuits, born in florence; entered the order when ; became general in ; on the suppression of the order retired to the castle of st. angelo, where he died . ricci, matteo, founder of the jesuit mission in china, born in macerato, italy; accommodated himself to the manners of the chinese, and won their confidence ( - ). riccio, david. see rizzio. rice, james, novelist, born at northampton, educated at cambridge; designed for the law, but took to literature; owned and edited _once a week_; best known as the successful _collaborateur_ of walter besant (q. v.) in such popular novels as "the golden butterfly," "ready-money mortiboy," &c. ( - ). rich, edmund. see edmund, st. richard i., (surnamed coeur de lion), king of england from to , third son and successor of henry ii.; his early years were spent in poitou and aquitaine, where he engaged in quarrels with his father; after his accession to the throne he flung himself with characteristic ardour into the crusade movement; in joined his forces with philip augustus of france in the third crusade; upheld the claims of tancred in sicily; captured cyprus, and won great renown in the holy land, particularly by his defeat of saladin; was captured after shipwreck on the coast on his way home by the archduke of austria, and handed over to the emperor henry vi. ( ); was ransomed at a heavy price by his subjects, and landed in england in ; his later years were spent in his french possessions warring against philip, and he died of an arrow wound at the siege of chalus; not more than a year of his life was spent in england, and his reign is barren of constitutional change ( - ). richard ii., king of england from to , son of the black prince, born at bordeaux; succeeded his grandfather, edward iii.; during his minority till the kingdom was administered by a council; in the peasants' revolt broke out, headed by wat tyler, as a result of the discontent occasioned by the statutes of labour passed in the previous reign, and more immediately by the heavy taxation made necessary by the expense of the hundred years' war still going on with france; a corrupt church called forth the energetic protests of wycliffe, which started the lollard (q. v.) movement; an invasion of scotland ( ), resulting in the capture of edinburgh, was headed by the young king; coming under french influence, and adopting despotic measures in the later years of his reign, richard estranged all sections of his people; a rising headed by henry of lancaster forced his abdication, and by a decree of parliament he was imprisoned for life in pontefract castle, where he died (probably murdered) soon after ( - ). richard iii., king of england from to , youngest brother of edward iv., and last of the plantagenets, born at fotheringhay castle; in was created duke of gloucester by his brother for assisting him to win the crown; faithfully supported edward against lancastrian attacks; married ( ) anne, daughter of warwick, the king-maker; early in was appointed protector of the kingdom and guardian of his young nephew, edward v.; put to death nobles who stood in the way of his ambitious schemes for the throne; doubts were cast upon the legitimacy of the young king, and richard's right to the throne was asserted; in july he assumed the kingly office; almost certainly instigated the murder of edward and his little brother in the tower; ruled firmly and well, but without the confidence of the nation; in henry, earl of richmond, head of the house of lancaster, invaded england, and at the battle of bosworth richard was defeated and slain ( - ). richard of cirencester, an english chronicler, born at cirencester; flourished in the th century; was a monk in the benedictine monastery of st. peter, westminster; wrote a history of england from to ; for long the reputed author of a remarkable work on roman britain, now proved to be a forgery; _d_. . richards, alfred bate, journalist and author; turned from law to literature; author of a number of popular dramas, volumes of poems, essays, &c.; was the first editor of the _daily telegraph_, and afterwards of the _morning advertiser_; took an active interest in the volunteer movement ( - ). richardson, sir benjamin ward, a distinguished physician and author, born at somerby, leicestershire; took the diploma of the royal college of physicians in , and graduated in medicine at st. andrews four years later; founded the _journal of public health_ in , and _the asclepiad_ in , and the _social science review_ in ; won the fothergilian gold medal and the astley-cooper prize of guineas; made many valuable medical inventions, and was an active lecturer on sanitary science, &c.; was knighted in ( - ). richardson, charles, lexicographer; was trained for the bar, but took to literature and education; pensioned in ; his chief works are "illustrations of english philology" and the "new dictionary of the english language" ( ), according to trench the best dictionary of his day ( - ). richardson, sir john, m.d., naturalist and arctic explorer, born at dumfries; graduated at edinburgh; for some time a navy surgeon; accompanied franklin on the expeditions in - and - , and later commanded one of the franklin search expeditions ( ); held government appointments, and was knighted in ( - ). richardson, samuel, novelist, born in derbyshire, the son of a joiner; was apprenticed to a printer in london, whose daughter he married; set up in the business for himself, and from his success in it became master of the stationers company in , and king's printer in ; was before he came out as a novelist; published his "pamela" in , his masterpiece "clarissa," written in the form of letters, in , and "sir charles grandison" in ; they are all three novels of sentiment, are instinct with a spirit of moral purity, and are more praised than read ( - ). richelieu, armand-jean duplessis, cardinal de, born in paris, of a noble family; was minister of louis xiii., and one of the greatest statesmen france ever had; from his installation as prime minister in he set himself to the achievement of a threefold purpose, and rested not till he accomplished it--the ruin of the protestants as a political party, the curtailment of the power of the nobles, and the humiliation of the house of austria in the councils of europe; his administration was signalised by reforms in finance, in the army, and in legislation; as the historian thierry has said of him, "he left nothing undone that could be done by statesmanship for the social amelioration of the country; he had a mind of the most comprehensive grasp, and a genius for the minutest details of administration"; he was a patron of letters, and the founder of the french academy ( - ). richmond, , an interesting old borough ( ) in yorkshire, on the swale, m. n.w. of york; has a fine th-century castle, now partly utilised as barracks, remains of a franciscan friary, a racecourse, &c. , a town ( ) in surrey, m. w. of london; picturesquely situated on the summit and slope of richmond hill, and the right bank of the thames; has remains of the royal palace of sheen, a magnificent deer park, a handsome river bridge, &c.; supplies london with fruit and vegetables; has many literary and historical associations. , capital ( ) of virginia, u.s.; has a hilly and picturesque site on the james river, m. s. of washington; possesses large docks, and is a busy port, a manufacturing town (tobacco, iron-works, flour and paper mills), and a railway centre; as the confederate capital it was the scene of a memorable, year-long siege during the civil war, ultimately falling into the hands of grant and sheridan in . richmond, legh, an evangelical clergyman of the church of england, born in liverpool, famed for a tract "the dairyman's daughter" ( - ). richter, jean paul friedrich, usually called jean paul simply, the greatest of german humourists, born at wunsiedel, near baireuth, in bavaria, the son of a poor german pastor; had a scanty education, but his fine faculties and unwearied diligence supplied every defect; was an insatiable and universal reader; meant for the church, took to poetry and philosophy, became an author, putting forth the strangest books with the strangest titles; considered for a time a strange, crack-brained mixture of enthusiast and buffoon; was recognised at last as a man of infinite humour, sensibility, force, and penetration; his writings procured him friends and fame, and at length a wife and a settled pension; settled in baireuth, where he lived thenceforth diligent and celebrated in many departments of literature, and where he died, loved as well as admired by all his countrymen, and more by those who had known him most intimately ... his works are numerous, and the chief are novels, "'hesperus' and 'titan' being the longest and the best, the former of which first (in ) introduced him into decisive and universal estimation with his countrymen, and the latter of which he himself, as well as the most judicious of his critics, regarded as his masterpiece" ( - ). richthofen, baron von, traveller and geographer, born in carlsruhe, silesia; accompanied in the prussian expedition to eastern asia, travelled in - in california, and in - in china; has since been professor of geography successively at bonn, leipzig, and berlin; has written a great work on china; _b_. . ricord, philippe, a famous french physician, born at baltimore, u.s.; came to paris, was a specialist in a department of surgery, and surgeon-in-chief to the hospital for venereal diseases ( - ). ridley, nicolas, martyred bishop, born in northumberland, fellow and ultimately master of pembroke college, cambridge; on a three years' visit to the continent fell in with certain of the reformers and returned convinced of and confirmed in the protestant faith; became king's chaplain, bishop of rochester, and finally of london; favoured the cause of lady jane grey against mary, who committed him to the tower, and being condemned as a heretic was at oxford burnt at the stake along with latimer ( - ). riehm, edward, protestant theologian, born at diersburg, baden, was professor at halle; wrote many theological works, among them "handwörterbuch des biblischen alterthums" ( - ). rienzi, cola di, roman tribune, born at rome, of humble origin; gave himself to the study of the ancient history of the city, became inspired with a noble ambition to restore its ancient glory, and being endowed with an eloquent tongue, persuaded, with sanction of pope clement vi., who was then at avignon, his fellow-citizens to rise against the tyranny to which they were subjected at the hands of the nobles, in which he at length was successful; but his own rule became intolerable, and he was assassinated in an _émeute_ just seven years after the commencement of his political career ( - ). riesengebirge (i. e. giant mountains), a range dividing bohemia from silesia; schneekoppe ( ft.) is the highest peak; is a famous summer resort for germans. rifacimento, a literary work recast to adapt it to a change in the circumstances of the time. riff, the name given to the n. coast-lands of morocco from tangiers to algeria; is a mountainous and woody region, with a rugged foreshore, inhabited by lawless berbers. riga ( ), the third seaport of russia and capital of livonia, on the dwina, m. from its entrance into the gulf of riga (a spacious inlet on the e. side of the baltic); has some fine mediæval buildings; is the seat of an archbishop, and is a busy and growing commercial and manufacturing town, exporting grain, timber, flax, linseed, wool, &c. rigdum funnidos, scott's nickname for john ballantyne (q. v.). rights, declaration of, a declaration of the fundamental principles of the constitution drawn up by the parliament of england and submitted to william and mary on their being called to the throne, and afterwards enacted in parliament when they became king and queen. it secures to the people their rights as free-born citizens and to the commons as their representatives, while it binds the sovereign to respect these rights as sacred. rigi, an isolated mountain, ft. high, in the swiss canton of schwyz, with a superb view from the summit, on which hotels have been built for the convenience of the many who visit it; is reached by two toothed railways with a gradient of ft. in . rigveda, the first of the four sections into which the vedas (q. v.) are divided, and which includes the body of the hymns or verses of invocation and praises; believed to have issued from a narrow circle of priests, and subsequently recast many of them. rimini ( , with suburbs ), a walled city of n. italy, of much historic interest both in ancient and mediæval times, on the small river marecchia, spanned by a fine roman bridge close to its entrance into the adriatic, m. se. of bologna; has a th-century renaissance cathedral, an ancient castle, and other mediæval buildings, a roman triumphal arch, &c.; manufactures silks and sail-cloth. rimmon, name of a syrian god who had a temple at damascus called the house of rimmon, a symbol of the sun, or of the fertilising power of nature. rinaldo, one of charlemagne's paladins, of a violent, headstrong, and unscrupulous character, who fell into disgrace, but after adventures in the holy land was reconciled to the emperor; angelica, an infidel princess, fell violently in love with him, but he turned a deaf ear to her addresses, while others would have given kingdoms for her hand. rinderpest or cattle plague, a fever of a malignant and contagious type; the occurrence of it in britain is due to the importation of infected cattle from the asiatic steppes. ring and the book, a poem by browning of , lines, giving different versions of a story agreeably to and as an exhibition of the personalities of the different narrators. rio de janeiro ( ), capital and chief seaport of brazil, charmingly situated on the e. coast of brazil, on the w. shore of a spacious and beautiful bay, m. long, which forms one of the finest natural harbours in the world; stretches some m. along the seaside, and is hemmed in by richly clad hills; streets are narrow and ill kept; possesses a large hospital, public library ( , vols.), botanical gardens, arsenal, school of medicine, electric tramways, &c.; has extensive docks, and transacts half the commerce of brazil; coffee is the chief export; manufactures cotton, jute, silk, tobacco, &c. great heat prevails in the summer, and yellow fever is common. rio grande (known also as rio bravo del norte), an important river of north america, rises in the san juan mountains in colorado; flows se., dividing texas from mexico, and enters the gulf of mexico after a course of m.; is navigable for steamboats some m.; chief tributary, rio pecos; also the name given to the head-stream of the river paraná in brazil and argentina. rio grande do norte ( ), a maritime state in the ne. corner of brazil, called after the rio grande, which flows ne. and enters the atlantic at natal, the capital of the state. rio grande do sul ( ), the southmost state in brazil, lies n. of uruguay, fronting the atlantic; capital, rio grande ( ). rio negro, , one of the larger tributaries of the amazon, rises as the guainia in se. columbia; crosses venezuela and brazil in a more or less se. direction, and joins the amazon (the marañon here) near manaos after a course of m.; some of its tributaries connect the orinoco with the amazon. , has its source in a small lake in the chilian andes, flows ne. and e. to the atlantic, is some m. long, and easily navigated. rioja ( ), a province of w. argentina, embraces some of the most fruitful valleys of the andes which grow cereals, vines, cotton, &c.; some mining in copper, silver, and gold is done. the capital, rioja ( ), is prettily planted in a vine and orange district at the base of the sierra velasco m. nw. of cordoba. riom ( ), a pretty little french town in the dep. of puy-de-dôme, noted for its many quaint old houses of the renaissance period; does a good trade in tobacco, linen, &c. rip van winkle, a dutch colonist of new york who, driven from home by a termagant wife strolls into a ravine of the katskill mountains, falls in with a strange man whom he assists in carrying a keg, and comes upon a company of odd-looking creatures playing at ninepins, but never uttering a word, when, seizing an opportunity that offered, he took up one of the kegs he had carried, fell into a stupor, and slept years, to find his beard and all the world about him quite changed. ripley, , a manufacturing town ( ) of derbyshire, situated m. ne. of derby, in a busy coal and iron district; manufactures silk lace. . a yorkshire village on the nidd, ½ m. nw. of harrowgate; has an interesting castle, old church, &c. ripley, george, american transcendentalist, born in massachusetts; a friend of emerson's and founder of brook farm (q. v.); took to carlyle as carlyle to him, though he was "grieved to see him" taken up with the "progress of species" set, and "confusing himself" thereby ( - ). ripon, frederick john robinson, earl of, statesman, younger son of lord grantham, entered parliament in as a tory; rose to be chancellor of the exchequer, and was for a few months in prime minister; was subsequently in different cabinets colonial secretary, lord privy seal, and president of the board of trade; created an earl in ( - ). ripon, george frederick samuel robinson, marquis of, statesman, born in london, son of preceding; entered house of commons in as a liberal; became secretary for war ( ), and three years later for india; was president of the council in , a popular viceroy of india ( - ), first lord of the admiralty in , and colonial secretary in - ; was created marquis in ; went over to the catholic church in , resigning in consequence the grand-mastership of the freemasons; _b_. . rishanger, william ("chronigraphus"), an annalist and monk of st. albans; wrote what is in effect a continuation of matthew paris's (q. v.) "chronicle," and practically a history of his own times from to , which is both a spirited and trustworthy account, albeit in parts not original; _b_. . rishis (i. e. seers), a name given by the hindus to seven wise men whose eyes had been opened by the study of the sacred texts of their religion, the souls of whom are fabled to be incarnated in the seven stars of the great bear. ristori, adelaide, distinguished italian tragédienne; was one of a family of strolling players; her career on the stage was a continuous triumph; the rôle in which she specially shone was that of lady macbeth; she was married in to the marquis del grillo, and is known as marquise; _b_. . ritschl, albrecht, protestant theologian, born at berlin; studied at rome, where in he became professor extraordinarius of theology, and in ordinary professor; after which he was in transferred to göttingen, where he spent the rest of his life, gathering year after year around him a large circle of students, and enriching theological literature by his writings; the work which defines his position as a german theologian is entitled "the christian doctrine of justification and reconciliation," in which he seeks to draw the line between christianity as exhibited respectively in the theology of the reformation and that of modern pietism; by his lectures and his writings he became the founder of what is called the göttingen school of theology, and exercised an influence on the religious philosophy of the time, such as has not been witnessed in germany since the days of schleiermacher; his teaching is distinguished by the prominence it gives to the ethical side of christianity, and that it is only as exhibited on the ethical side that it becomes the exponent and medium of god's grace to mankind ( - ). ritschl, friedrich wilhelm, german philologist, born near erfurt; became professor of philology successively at breslau, bonn, and leipzig; his influence on philological study was great, and his greatest work was an edition of plautus ( - ). ritson, joseph, a whimsical and crabbed antiquary; his industry was great, his works numerous, among them one entitled "ancient english metrical romances," containing a long and still valuable dissertation ( - ). ritter, heinrich, german philosopher, born in anhalt; professor successively at berlin, kiel, and göttingen; is distinguished as the author of an able "history of philosophy" ( - ). ritter, karl, celebrated geographer, born at quedlinburg; the founder of comparative geography; professor of geography at berlin; his chief works "geography in its relation to nature," and the "history of man" ( - ). ritualism, respect for forms in the conduct of religious worship, particularly in connection with the administration of the sacraments of the church, under the impression or on the plea that they minister, as they were ordained in certain cases to minister, to the quickening and maintenance of the religious life. rivarol, a french writer, born at bagnols, in the department of var; famed for his caustic wit; was a royalist emigrant at the time of the revolution, and aided the cause by his pamphlets; he was styled by burke "the tacitus of the revolution" ( - ). rive-de-gier ( ), a flourishing town in the department of loire, france, on the gier, m. ne. of st. Étienne; is favourably situated in the heart of a rich coal district; has manufactures of silk, glass, machinery, steel, &c. rivers, richard woodville, earl, a prominent figure in the reigns of henry vi. and edward iv.; was knighted in ; espoused the cause of the lancastrians in the wars of the roses, but changed sides on the marriage of his daughter with edward iv., who created him an earl in ; fell out of jealousy into disfavour with the nobility, and was beheaded in ; his son anthony, who succeeded to the title, after acting on the council of regency during edward v.'s reign, was put to death by richard (iii.), duke of gloucester, in . riviera, an italian term for coast-land flanked by mountains, especially applied to the strip of land lying around the gulf of genoa from nice to leghorn, which is divided by genoa into the western and eastern riviera, the former the more popular as a health resort; but the whole coast enjoys an exceptionally mild climate, and is replete with beautiful scenery. nice, monaco, mentone, and san remo are among its most popular towns. riviÈre, briton, celebrated painter of animals, born in london; among his pictures, which are numerous, are "daniel in the lions' den," "ruins of persepolis," "giants at play," and "væ victis"; _b_. . rivoli, , town ( ) in north italy, m. w. of turin; has two royal castles, and manufactures silks, woollens, &c. , an italian village, m. nw. of verona; scene of napoleon's crushing victory over the austrians in . rixdollar, a silver coin current on the continent, of varying value. rizzio, david, favourite of mary, queen of scots, born in turin; the son of a dancing-master; was employed by the queen as her secretary, and being offensive to the nobles, was by a body of them dragged from the queen's presence and stabbed to death, th march . roanne ( ), an old french town in the department of loire, on the river loire, m. nw of st. Étienne; has interesting ruins, a college flourishing cotton and hat factories, dye-works, tanneries, &c. roanoke ( ), a flourishing city of virginia, u.s., on the roanoke river; has rapidly sprung into a busy centre of steel, iron, machinery, tobacco, and other factories. roaring forties, a sailor's term for the atlantic lying between ° and °n. latitude, so called from the storms often encountered there. rob roy, a highland freebooter, second son of macgregor of glengyle; assumed the name of campbell on account of the outlawry of the macgregor clan; traded in cattle, took part in the rebellion of , had his estates confiscated, and indemnified himself by raiding ( - ). robben island, a small island at the entrance of table bay, m. nw. of cape town; has a lunatic asylum and a leper colony. robbia, luca delia, italian sculptor, born in florence, where he lived and worked all his days; executed a series of bas-reliefs for the cathedral, but is known chiefly for his works in enamelled terra-cotta, the like of which is named after him, "robbia-ware" ( - ). robert i. see bruce. robert ii., king of scotland from to , son of walter stewart and marjory, only daughter of robert the bruce; succeeded david ii., and became the founder of the stuart dynasty; was a peaceable man, but his nobles were turbulent, and provoked invasions on the part of england by their forays on the borders ( - ). robert iii., king of scotland from to , son of robert ii.; was a quite incompetent ruler, and during his reign the barons acquired an ascendency and displayed a disloyalty which greatly diminished the power of the crown both in his and succeeding reigns; the government fell largely into the hands of the king's brother, the turbulent and ambitious robert, duke of albany; an invasion ( ) by henry iv. of england and a retaliatory expedition under archibald douglas, which ended in the crushing defeat of homildon hill ( ), are the chief events of the reign ( - ). robert the devil, the hero of an old french romance identified with robert, first duke of normandy, who, after a career of cruelty and crime, repented and became a christian, but had to expiate his guilt by wandering as a ghost over the earth till the day of judgment; he is the subject of an opera composed by meyerbeer. roberts, david, painter, born in edinburgh; began as a house-painter; became a scene-painter; studied artistic drawing, and devoted himself to architectural painting, his first pictures being of rouen and amiens cathedrals; visiting spain he published a collection of spanish sketches, and after a tour in the east published in a magnificently-illustrated volume entitled the "holy land, syria, idumæa, arabia, egypt, and nubia;" a great number of his pictures are ecclesiastical interiors ( - ). roberts, lord, born at cawnpore, educated in england; entered the bengal artillery in ; served throughout the indian mutiny, commanded in the afghan war, and achieved a brilliant series of successes, which were rewarded with honours on his return to england; was made commander-in-chief of the madras army in , commander-in-chief in india in , and commander of the forces in ireland in ; _b_. . robertson, frederick william, distinguished preacher, born in london; a graduate of brasenose college, oxford, entered the church in , was curate first at winchester, next at cheltenham, and finally settled in brighton; is known far and wide by his printed sermons for his insight into, and his earnestness in behalf of, christian truth ( - ). robertson, joseph, antiquary, born and educated at aberdeen; apprenticed to a lawyer, but soon took to journalism, and became editor of the _aberdeen constitutional_, and afterwards of the _glasgow constitutional_; in was editor of the _edinburgh evening courant_, and four years later received the post of curator of the historical department of the edinburgh register house; author of various historical, antiquarian, and topographical works ( - ). robertson, thomas william, a popular dramatist, the son of an actor, born at newark-on-trent; brought up amongst actors, he naturally took to the stage, but without success; always ready with his pen, he at last made his mark with "david garrick," and followed it up with the equally successful "ours," "caste," "school," &c. ( - ). robertson, william, historian, born in borthwick, midlothian; was educated in edinburgh; entered the church; became minister of gladsmuir; distinguished himself in the general assembly of the church; became leader of the moderate party; one of the ministers of greyfriars church, edinburgh, and principal of the university, having previously written his "history of scotland," which brought him other honours, and which was followed by a "history of charles v." and a "history of america," all of which contributed to awaken an interest in historical studies; he was what is called a "moderate" to the backbone, and his cronies were men more of a sceptical than a religious turn of mind, david hume being one of the number; while his history of scotland, however well it may be written, as carlyle testifies, is no history of scotland at all ( - ) robespierre, maximilien, leader of the jacobins in the french revolution, born in arras, of irish origin; bred to the bar; became an advocate and a judge; he resigned because he could not brook to sentence a man to death; inspired by the gospel of rousseau, became a red-hot republican and an "incorruptible" (q. v.); carried things with a high hand; was opposed by the girondists, and accused, but threw back the charge on them; carried the mob along with him, and with them at his back procured sentence of death against the king; head of the committee of public safety, he laid violent hands first on the queen and then on all who opposed or dissented from the extreme course he was pursuing; had the worship of reason established in june , and was at the end of the month following beheaded by the guillotine, amid the curses of women and men ( - ). robin hood, a famous outlaw who, with his companions, held court in sherwood forest, nottingham, and whose exploits form the subject of many an old english ballad and tale. he was a robber, but it was the rich he plundered and not the poor, and he was as zealous in the protection of the weak as any knight of the round table; he was an expert in the use of the bow and the quarter-staff (q. v.), and he and his men led a merry life together. robins, benjamin, father of the modern science of artillery, born, the son of a quaker, at bath; established himself in london as a teacher of mathematics, as also his reputation by several mathematical treatises; turned his attention to the theoretical study of artillery and fortification; upheld newton's principle of ultimate ratios against berkeley, and in published his celebrated work, the "new principles of gunnery," which revolutionised the art of gunnery; was appointed engineer-in-general to the east india company ( ), and planned the defences of madras ( - ). robinson, edward, biblical scholar, born in connecticut; author of "biblical researches in palestine"; a professor in new york ( - ). robinson, henry crabb, literary dilettante, born at bury st. edmunds; lived some years at weimar, and got acquainted with goethe and his circle; called to the english bar, and on quitting practice at it with a pension, became acquainted with the literary notabilities in london, and left a diary full of interesting reminiscences ( - ). robinson, hercules george robert, lord rosmead, born, son of an admiral, in ; withdrew from the army shortly after his first commission, and gave himself to government colonial service; received a knighthood, and held governorship of hong-kong in ; was successively governor of ceylon, new south wales, new zealand, cape of good hope, &c.; created lord rosmead in ( - ). robinson, mary, poetess, born at leamington; author of various poetical works, a translation of euripides' "hippolytus," a life of emily brontë, &c.; married in to m. darmesteter, a noted french orientalist; _b_. . robson, frederick (stage name of f. r. brownhill), a noted comedian, born at margate; took to the stage in after serving some time as an apprentice to a london engraver; his greatest triumphs were won after on the boards of the olympic theatre, london; he combined in a high degree all the gifts of a low comedian with a rare power of rising to the grave and the pathetic ( - ). rochambeau, comte de, marshal of france, born at vendôme; commanded the troops sent out by france to assist the american colonies in their rebellion against the mother-country ( - ). rochdale ( ), a flourishing town and cotton centre in lancashire, prettily situated on the roche, m. ne. of manchester; its woollen and cotton trade (flannels and calicoes) dates back to elizabeth's time; has an interesting th century parish church. roche, st., the patron saint of the plague-stricken; being plague-smitten himself, and overtaken with it in a desert place, he was discovered by a dog, who brought him a supply of bread daily from his master's table till he recovered. rochefort, comte de, commonly known as henri rochefort, french journalist and violent revolutionary, who was deported for his share in the commune in , but escaped and was amnestied, and went back to paris under eclipse; _b_. . rochelle, la ( ), a fortified seaport of france, on an inlet of the bay of biscay, m. nw. of bordeaux; capital of the department of charente-inférieure; has a commodious harbour, noteworthy public buildings, a fine promenade and gardens; shipbuilding, glass-works, sugar-refineries, &c., are among its chief industries. rochester, , an interesting old city ( ), of kent, m. se. of london, on the medway, lying between and practically forming one town with strood and chatham; the seat of a bishop since ; has a fine cathedral, which combines in its structure examples of norman, early english, and decorated architecture; a hospital for lepers founded in ; a celebrated charity house, and a strongly posted norman castle. , capital ( ), of monroe county, new york, on the genesee river, near lake ontario, m. ne. of buffalo; is a spacious and well-appointed city, with a university, theological seminary, &c.; has varied and flourishing manufactures. rochester, john wilmot, earl of, a witty profligate of the court of charles ii.; wrote poems, many of them licentious, among them, however, some exquisite songs; killed himself with his debauchery; died penitent; he was the author of the epitaph, accounted the best epigram in the english language, "here lies our sovereign lord the king," &c. ( - ). rochet, a linen vestment worn by bishops, abbots, and other dignitaries, in the form of a surplice, but shorter and open at the sides. rock island ( ), capital of rock island county, illinois, on the mississippi; a busy centre of railway and river traffic; derives its name from an island in the river, where there is an extensive government arsenal; a fine bridge spans the river. rock temples, temples hewn out of solid rock, found in western india especially, such as those at ellora (q. v.) and elephanta (q. v.). rockall, a remarkable peak of granite rock, rising some ft. above the sea-level from the bed of an extensive sandbank in the atlantic, m. w. of st. kilda; a home and haunt for sea-birds. rock-butter, a soft mineral substance found oozing from alum slates, and consisting of alum, alumina, and oxide of iron. rockford ( ), a busy manufacturing town, capital of winnebago county, illinois, on the rock river, m. nw. of chicago. rockhampton ( ), the chief port of central queensland, australia, on the fitzroy, m. from its mouth; in the vicinity are rich gold-fields, also copper and silver; engaged in tanning, meat-preserving, &c.; is connected by a handsome bridge with its suburb north rockhampton. rocking stones or logans, large stones, numerous in cornwall, wales, yorkshire, &c., so finely poised as to rock to and fro under the slightest force. rockingham, charles watson wentworth, marquis of, statesman, of no great ability; succeeded to the title in ; opposed the policy of bute, and headed the whig opposition; in became prime minister, and acted leniently with the american colonies, repealing the stamp act; was a bitter opponent of north's american policy of repression; held the premiership again for a few months in ( - ). rocky mountains, an extensive and lofty chain of mountains in north america, belonging to the cordillera system, and forming the eastern buttress of the great pacific highlands, of which the sierra nevada and cascade mountains form the western buttress, stretching in rugged lines of almost naked rock, interspersed with fertile valleys, from new mexico through canada to the arctic ocean, broken only by a wonderfully beautiful tract of elevated plateau in southern wyoming, over which passes the union pacific railroad; reaches its greatest height in colorado (gray's peak, , ft.); gold, silver, &c., are found abundantly. rococo, name given to a debased style of architecture, overlaid with a tasteless, senseless profusion of fantastic ornamentation, without unity of design or purpose, which prevailed in france and elsewhere in the th century. rocroi ( ), a small fortified town of france, about m. from the belgian frontier, in the dep. of ardennes; memorable for a great victory of the french under condé over the spaniards in . rodbertus, johann karl, socialist, born in greifswald; believed in a socialism that would in course of time realise itself with the gradual elevation of the people up to the socialistic ideal ( - ). roderic, the last king of the visigoths in spain, was slain in battle with the moors, who had invaded spain during a civil war, and his army put to flight in . roderick random, the hero of a novel of smollett's, a young scotch scapegrace, rough and reckless, and bold enough. rodez ( ), a town of france, in the dep. of aveyron; crowns an eminence at the foot of which flows the aveyron, m. ne. of toulouse; has a beautiful gothic cathedral, interesting roman remains; manufactures textiles, leather, paper, &c. rodin, auguste, eminent french sculptor, born in paris, distinguished for his statues and busts; _b_. - . rodney, lord, english admiral, born at walton-on-thames; entered the navy at the age of , and obtained the command of a ship in ; did good service in newfoundland; was made admiral of the blue in , and in that year destroyed the stores at havre de grace collected for the invasion of england; in defeated the spanish fleet off cape st. vincent; in defeated the french fleet under count de grasse by breaking the enemy's line; was first made a baronet and then a peer, with a pension of £ , for his services to the country ( - ). rodosto ( ), a turkish town on the n. coast of the sea of marmora, m. w. of constantinople; is the seat of an archbishop of the greek church, has many mosques; fruitful vineyards in the vicinity produce excellent wine. rodriguez ( ), an interesting volcanic island lying far out in the indian ocean, m. ne. of mauritius, of which it is a dependency; agriculture is the chief employment; has a good climate, but is subject to severe hurricanes. roe, edward payson, american novelist, born in new windsor, new york; studied for the ministry and served as a chaplain during the civil war; settled down as a pastor of a presbyterian church at highland fells; made his mark as a novelist in with "barriers burned away"; took to literature and fruit-gardening, and won a wide popularity with such novels as "from jest to earnest," "near to nature's heart," &c. ( - ). roebuck, john arthur, english radical politician, born at madras; represented first bath and then sheffield in parliament, contributed to the downfall of the aberdeen government, and played in general an independent part; his vigorous procedure as a politician earned for him the nickname of "tear 'em" ( - ). roermond ( ), an old dutch town in limburg, at the confluence of the roer and the meuse, m. n. by e. of maestricht; has a splendid th-century cathedral; manufactures cottons, woollens, &c. roeskilde, an interesting old danish city, situated on a fjord, m. w. by s. of copenhagen, dates back to the th century; has a fine th-century cathedral, the burying-place of most of the danish kings. rogation days, the monday, tuesday, and wednesday preceding ascension day, on which special litanies are sung or recited by the roman catholic clergy and people in public procession; has its origin in an old custom dating from the th century. in england the practice ceased after the reformation. roger i., the youngest of the sons of tancred of hauteville; conquered sicily from the saracens after a war of years, and governed it under the title of count in part from and wholly from to . roger ii., son and successor of the preceding, was crowned king of the two sicilies by the pope; waged war advantageously against the emperor of the east and the saracens of north africa; ruled the country well and promoted industry ( - ). roger of wendover, an early english chronicler, lived in the th century; was a monk of st. albans and subsequently prior of belvoir; wrote a history of the world down to henry iii.'s reign, the only valuable portion of it being that which deals with his own times. rogers, henry, english essayist; contributed for years to the _edinburgh review_; author of the "eclipse of faith" ( - ). rogers, james e. thorwold, political economist, born in hampshire; became professor of political economy at oxford; author of a "history of agriculture and prices in england" and "six centuries of work and wages," an abridgment of it ( - ). rogers, john, the first of the marian martyrs, born at birmingham; prepared a revised edition of the english bible, preached at paul's cross against romanism the sunday after mary's entrance into london, and was after a long imprisonment tried for heresy, and condemned to be burned at smithfield ( - ). rogers, samuel, english poet, born in london, son of a banker, bred to banking, and all his life a banker--took to literature, produced a succession of poems: "the pleasures of memory" in , "human life" in , and "italy," the chief, in ; he was a good conversationalist, and told lots of good stories, of which his "table-talk," published in , is full; he issued at great expense a fine edition of "italy" and early poems, which were illustrated by turner and stothard, and are much prized for the illustrations ( - ). roget, peter mark, physician, born in london; was professor of physiology at the royal institution; wrote on physiology in relation to natural theology; was author of a "thesaurus of english words and phrases" ( - ). rohan, prince louis de, a profligate ecclesiastic of france who attained to the highest honours in the church; became archbishop and cardinal, but who had fallen out with royalty; was debarred from court, tried every means to regain the favour of marie antoinette, which he had forfeited, was inveigled into buying a necklace for her in hope of thereby winning it back, found himself involved in the scandal connected with it, and was sent to the bastille ( - ). see "diamond necklace" in carlyle's "miscellanies." rohilkhand ( , ), a northern division of the north-west provinces, british india; is a flat, well-watered, fertile district, crossed by various railways; takes its name from the rohillas, an afghan tribe, who had possession of it in the th century. rohillas (i. e. hillmen), a tribe of afghans who settled in a district n. of oudh, called rohilkhand after them, and rose to power in the th century, till their strength was broken by the british in . rohlfs, f. gerard, german traveller, born near bremen, travelled in various directions through north africa; undertook missions to abyssinia, and has written accounts of his several journeys; _b_. . rokitansky, baron, eminent physician, born at königgrätz, professor of pathological anatomy at vienna, and founder of that department of medicine ( - ). roland, one of the famous paladins of charlemagne, and distinguished for his feats of valour, who, being inveigled into the pass of roncesvalles, was set upon by the gascons and slain, along with the flower of the frankish chivalry, the whole body of which happened to be in his train. roland, madame, a brave, pure-souled, queen-like woman with "a strong minerva face," the noblest of all living frenchwomen, took enthusiastically to the french revolution, but when things went too far supported the moderate or girondist party; was accused, but cleared herself before the convention, into whose presence she had been summoned, and released; but two days after was arrested, imprisoned in charlotte corday's apartments, and condemned; on the scaffold she asked for pen and paper "to write the strange thoughts that were rising in her," which was refused; looking at the statue of liberty which stood there, she exclaimed bitterly before she laid her head on the block, "o liberty, what crimes are done in thy name!" ( - ). roland de la platiÈre, jean marie, husband of madame roland, was inspector of manufactures at lyons; represented lyons in the constituent assembly; acted with the girondists; fled when the girondist party fled, and on hearing of his wife's fate at rouen bade farewell to his friends who had sheltered him, and was found next morning "sitting leant against a tree, stiff in the rigour of death, a cane-sword run through his heart" ( - ). rollin, charles, french historian, born in paris; rector of the university; wrote "ancient history" in vols., and "roman history" in vols., once extremely popular, but now discredited and no longer in request ( - ). rollo, a norwegian, who became the chief of a band of norse pirates who one day sailed up the seine to rouen and took it, and so ravaged the country that charles the simple was glad to come to terms with them by surrendering to them part of neustria, which thereafter bore from them the name of normandy; after this rollo embraced christianity, was baptized by the bishop of rouen, and was the first duke of normandy ( - ). romagna, the former name of a district in italy which comprised the ne. portion of the papal states, embracing the modern provinces of ferrara, bologna, ravenna, and forli. romaine, william, evangelical divine of the english church, born at hartlepool, author of works once held in much favour by the evangelicals, entitled severally "the life, the walk, and the triumph of faith" ( - ). roman empire, holy, or the reich, the name of the old german empire which, under sanction of the pope, was established by otho the great in , and dissolved in by the resignation of francis ii., emperor of austria, and was called "holy" as being christian in contrast with the old pagan empire of the name. romance languages, the name given to the languages that sprung from the latin, and were spoken in the districts of south europe that had been provinces of rome. romanes, george john, naturalist, born at kingston, canada; took an honours degree in science at cambridge; came under the influence of darwin, whose theory of evolution he advocated and developed in lectures and various works, e. g. "scientific evidences of organic evolution," "mental evolution in animals," "mental evolution in man"; his posthumous "thoughts on religion" reveal a marked advance from his early agnosticism towards a belief in christianity; founded the romanes lectures at oxford ( - ). romanoff, the name of an old russian family from which sprung the reigning dynasty of russia, and the first czar of which was michael fedorovitch ( - ). romans ( ), a town in the dep. drôme, france, on the isère, m. ne. of valence; a th-century bridge spans the river to the opposite town péage; has a th-century abbey; manufactures silk, &c. romans, epistle to the, an epistle written from corinth, in the year , by st. paul to the church at rome to correct particularly two errors which he had learned the church there had fallen into, on the part, on the one hand, of the jewish christians, that the gentiles as such were not entitled to the same privileges as themselves, and, on the other hand, of the gentile christians, that the jews by their rejection of christ had excluded themselves from god's kingdom; and he wrote this epistle to show that the one had no more right to the grace of god than the other, and that this grace contemplates the final conversion of the jews as well as the gentiles. the great theme of this epistle is that faith in christ is the one way of salvation for all mankind, jew as well as gentile, and its significance is this, that it contains if not the whole teaching of paul, that essential part of it which presents and emphasises the all-sufficiency of this faith. romanticism, the name of the reactionary movement in literature and art at the close of last century and at the beginning of this against the cold and spiritless formalism and pseudo-classicism that then prevailed, and was more regardful of correctness of expression than truth of feeling and the claims of the emotional nature; has been defined as the "reproduction in modern art and literature of the life and thought of the middle ages." rome ( ), since capital of the modern kingdom of italy (q. v.), on the tiber, m. from its entrance into the tyrrhenian sea; legend ascribes its foundation to romulus in b.c., and the story of its progress, first as the chief city of a little italian kingdom, then of a powerful and expanding republic ( b.c. to b.c.), and finally of a vast empire, together with its decline and fall in the th century ( a.d.), before the advancing barbarian hordes, forms the most impressive chapter in the history of nations; as the mother-city of christendom in the middle ages, and the later capital of the papal states (q. v.) and seat of the popes, it acquired fresh glory; it remains the most interesting city in the world; is filled with the sublime ruins and monuments of its pagan greatness and the priceless art-treasures of its mediæval period; of ruined buildings the most imposing are the colosseum (a vast amphitheatre for gladiatorial shows) and the baths of caracalla (accommodated bathers); the great aqueducts of its pre-christian period still supply the city with water from the apennines and the alban hills; the aurelian wall ( m.) still surrounds the city, enclosing the "seven hills," the palatine, capitoline, aventine, &c., but suburbs have spread beyond; st. peter's is yet the finest church in the world; the popes have their residence in the vatican; its manufactures are inconsiderable, and consist chiefly of small mosaics, bronze and plaster casts, prints, trinkets, &c.; depends for its prosperity chiefly on the large influx of visitors, and the court expenditure of the quirinal and vatican, and of the civil and military officials. romford ( ), an old market-town of essex, on the bourne or rom, m. ne. of london; noted for its cattle and corn markets; industries include brewing, market-gardening, foundries, &c. romilly, sir samuel, english lawyer, born in london, of a huguenot family; was a whig in politics, and was solicitor-general for a time; devoted himself to the amendment of the criminal law of the country, and was a zealous advocate against slavery and the spy system ( - ). romney, george, english portrait-painter, born in lancashire; married at kendal, left his wife and two children there, and painted portraits in london for years in rivalry with reynolds and gainsborough, and retired at the end of that time to kendal to die, his wife nursing him tenderly, though in the whole course of the term referred to, he had visited her only twice ( - ). romney, new ( ), one of the old cinque ports (q. v.), in s. kent, m. sw. of hythe; the sea has receded from its shores, leaving it no longer a port; as centre of a fine pastoral district it has an important sheep fair; the little village of old romney lies ½ m. inland. romola, a novel by george eliot, deemed her greatest by many, being "a deep study of life in the city of florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view." romsay ( ), a town in hampshire, on the test, m. nw. of southampton; has a remarkably fine old norman church and a corn exchange; birthplace of lord palmerston. romulus, legendary founder of rome, reputed son of mars and rhea silvia (q. v.), daughter of numitor, king of alba longa; exposed at his birth, along with remus, his twin-brother (q. v.); was suckled by a she-wolf and brought up by faustulus, a shepherd; opened an asylum for fugitives on one of the hills of rome, and founded the city in b.c., peopling it by a rape of sabine women, and afterwards forming a league with the sabines (q. v.); he was translated to heaven during a thunderstorm, and afterwards worshipped as quirinus, leaving rome behind him as his mark. ronaldshay, north and south, two of the orkney islands; north ronaldshay is the most northerly of the orkney group; south ronaldshay ( ) lies ¼ m. ne. of duncansby head; both have a fertile soil, and the coast fisheries are valuable. roncesvalles, a valley of the pyrenees, m. ne. of pampeluna, where in the rear of the army of charlemagne was cut in pieces by the basques, and roland (q. v.) with the other paladins was slain. ronda ( ), one of the old moorish towns of spain, built amid grand scenery on both sides of a great ravine (bridged in two places), down which rushes the guadiaro, m. w. of malaga; is a favourite summer resort. rondeau, a form of short poem (originally french) which, as in the th century, usually consists of lines, eight of which have one rhyme and five another; is divided into three stanzas, the first line of the rondeau forming the concluding line of the last two stanzas; swinburne has popularised it in modern times. rondo, a form of musical composition which corresponds to the rondeau (q. v.) in poetry; consists of two or more (usually three) strains, the first being repeated at the end of each of the other two, but it admits of considerable variation. ronsard, pierre, celebrated french poet, born near vendôme; was for a time attached to the court; was for three years of the household of james v. of scotland in connection with it, and afterwards in the service of the duke of orleans, but having lost his hearing gave himself up to literature, writing odes and sonnets; he was of the plÉiade school of poets (q. v.), and contributed to introduce important changes in the idiom of the french language, as well as in the rhythm of french poetry ( - ). rÖntgen, wilhelm konrad von, discoverer of the röntgen rays, born at lennep, in rhenish prussia; since has been professor of physics at würzburg; his discovery of the x-rays was made in , and has won him a wide celebrity; _b_. . rÖntgen rays, described by dr. knott as "rays of light that pass with ease through many substances that are optically opaque, but are absorbed by others." "for example," he says, "the bony structures of the body are much less transparent than the fleshy parts; hence by placing the hand between a fluorescent screen and the source of these rays we see the shadow of the skeleton of the hand with a much fainter shadow of the flesh and skin bordering it." see dr. knott's "physics." rooke, sir george, british admiral, born at canterbury; distinguished himself at the battle of cape la hogue in ; in an expedition against cadiz destroyed the plate-fleet in the harbour of vigo in ; assisted in the capture of gibraltar from the spaniards in , and fought a battle which lasted a whole day with a superior french force off malaga the same year ( - ). roon, count von, prussian general, born in pomerania; was minister of war in and of marine in ; was distinguished for the important reforms he effected in the organisation of the prussian army, conspicuous in the campaigns of and - ( - ). root, george frederick, a popular american song-writer, born at sheffield, massachusetts; was for some time a music teacher in boston and new york; took to song writing, and during the civil war leaped into fame as the composer of "tramp, tramp, tramp the boys are marching," "just before the battle, mother," "the battle cry of freedom," and other songs; was made a musical doctor by chicago university in ( - ). root and branch men, name of a party in the commons who in supported a petition for the abolition of episcopacy in england, and even carried a bill through two readings, to be finally thrown out. ropemaker, the beautiful. see labÉ, louise. rorke's drift, a station on the tugela river, zululand, the defence of which was on the night of the th january successfully maintained by men of the th regiment against zulu warriors. rosa, carl, father of english opera, born at hamburg; introduced on the english stage the standard italian, french, and german operas with an english text ( - ). rosa, salvator, italian painter, born near naples, a man of versatile ability; could write verse and compose music, as well as paint and engrave; his paintings of landscape were of a sombre character, and generally representative of wild and savage scenes; he lived chiefly in rome, but took part in the insurrection of masaniello at naples in ( - ). rosamond, fair, a daughter of lord clifford, and mistress of henry ii., who occupied a bower near woodstock, the access to which was by a labyrinth, the windings of which only the king could thread. her retreat was discovered by queen eleanor, who poisoned her. rosario ( ), an important city of the argentine republic, on the paraná, m. nw. of buenos ayres; does a large trade with europe, exporting wool, hides, maize, wheat, &c. rosary, a string of beads used by hindus, buddhists, mohammedans, and roman catholics as an aid to the memory during devotional exercises; the rosary of the roman catholics consists of beads of two sizes, the larger ones mark the number of paternosters and the smaller the number of ave marias repeated; of the former there are usually five, of the latter fifty. rosas, jean manuel, argentine statesman, born at buenos ayres; organised the confederation, became dictator, failed to force the plate river states into the confederation, and took refuge in england, where he died ( - ). roscher, wilhelm, distinguished political economist, born at hanover, professor at göttingen and leipzig, the head of the historical school of political economy; his chief work a "system of political economy" ( - ). roscius, quintus, famous roman comic actor, born near lanuvium, in the sabine territory; was a friend of cicero, and much patronised by the roman nobles; was thought to have reached perfection in his art, so that his name became a synonym for perfection in any profession or art. roscoe, sir henry, chemist, born in london, grandson of succeeding, professor at owens college, manchester; author of treatises on chemistry; _b_. . roscoe, william, historian, born in liverpool; distinguished as the author of the "life of lorenzo de' medici" and of "leo x.," as well as of "handbooks of the italian renaissance" and a collection of poems ( - ). roscommon ( ), an inland county of connaught, sw. ireland; is poorly developed; one-half is in grass, and a sixth mere waste land; crops of hay, potatoes, and oats are raised, but the rearing of sheep and cattle is the chief industry; the rivers shannon and suck lie on its e. and w. borders respectively; there is some pretty lake-scenery, interesting celtic remains, castle, and abbey ruins, &c. the county town, m. nw. of dublin, has a good cattle-market, and remains of a th-century dominican abbey and castle. roscrea ( ), an old market-town of tipperary, m. sw. of dublin; its history reaches back to the th century, and it has interesting ruins of a castle, round tower, and two abbeys. rosebery, archibald philip primrose, earl of, born in london; educated at eton and christ's church, oxford; succeeded to the earldom in ; was twice over secretary for foreign affairs under mr. gladstone, in and ; was first chairman of london county council; became prime minister on march on mr. gladstone's retirement, and resigned in june ; he is one of the most popular statesmen and orators of the day, and held in deservedly high esteem by all classes; _b_. . rosecrans, william starke, american general, born at kingston, ohio; trained as an engineer, he had settled down to coal-mining when the civil war broke out; joined the army in , and rapidly came to the front; highly distinguished himself during the campaigns of - , winning battles at iuka, corinth, and stone river; but defeated at chickamauga he lost his command; reinstated in he drove price out of missouri; has been minister to mexico, a member of congress, and since registrar of the u.s. treasury; _b_. . rosenkranz, karl, philosopher of the hegelian school, born at magdeburg; professor of philosophy at königsberg; wrote an exposition of the hegelian system, a "life of hegel," on "goethe and his works," &c. ( - ). roses, wars of the, the most protracted and sanguinary civil war in english history, fought out during the reigns of henry vi., edward iv., and richard iii. between the adherents of the noble houses of york and lancaster--rival claimants for the throne of england--whose badges were the white and the red rose respectively; began with the first battle of st. albans ( ), in which richard, duke of york, defeated henry vi.'s forces under the duke of somerset; but not till after the decisive victory at towton ( ) did the yorkists make good their claim, when edward (iv.), duke of york, became king. four times the lancastrians were defeated during his reign. the war closed with the defeat and death of the yorkist richard iii. at bosworth, , and an end was put to the rivalry of the two houses by the marriage of henry vii. of lancaster with elizabeth of york, . rosetta ( ), a town on the left branch of the delta of the nile, m. ne. of alexandria, famous for the discovery near it by m. boussard, in , of the rosetta stone with inscriptions in hieroglyphic, demotic and greek, and by the help of which archæologists have been able to interpret the hieroglyphics of egypt. rosicrucians, a fraternity who, in the beginning of the th century, affected an intimate acquaintance with the secrets of nature, and pretended by the study of alchemy and other occult sciences to be possessed of sundry wonder-working powers. rosinante, the celebrated steed of don quixote, reckoned by him superior to the bucephalus of alexander and the bavieca of the cid. roslin, a pretty little village of midlothian, by the wooded side of the north esk, ½ m. s. of edinburgh; has ruins of a th-century castle, and a small chapel of rare architectural beauty, built in the th century as the choir of a projected collegiate church. rosmini, antonio rosmini-serbati, distinguished italian philosopher, born at rovereto, entered the priesthood, devoted himself to the study of philosophy, founded a system and an institute called the "institute of the brethren of charity" at stresa, w. of lake maggiore, on a pietistic religious basis, which, though sanctioned by the pope, has encountered much opposition at the hands of the obscurantist party in the church ( - ). ross, sir john, arctic explorer, born in wigtownshire; made three voyages, the first in under parry; the second in , which he commanded; and a third in , in an unsuccessful search for franklin, publishing on his return from them accounts of the first two, in both of which he made important discoveries ( - ). rossano ( ), a town of southern italy, in calabria, m. from the sw. shore of the gulf of taranto; has a fine cathedral and castle; valuable quarries of marble and alabaster are wrought in the vicinity. rossbach, a village in prussian saxony, m. sw. of merseburg, where frederick the great gained in a brilliant victory with , men over the combined arms of france and austria with , . rosse, william parsons, third earl of, born in york; devoted to the study of astronomy; constructed reflecting telescopes, and a monster one at the cost of £ , at parsonstown, his seat in ireland, by means of which important discoveries were made, specially in the resolution of nebulæ ( - ). rossetti, charles dante gabriel, poet and painter, born in london, the son of gabriele rossetti; was as a painter one of the pre-raphaelite brotherhood (q. v.), and is characterised by ruskin as "the chief intellectual force in the establishment of the modern romantic school in england,... as regarding the external world as a singer of the romaunts would have regarded it in the middle ages, and as scott, burns, byron, and tennyson have regarded it in modern times," and as a poet was leader of the romantic school of poetry, which, as stopford brooke remarks, "found their chief subjects in ancient rome and greece, in stories and lyrics of passion, in mediæval romance, in norse legends, in the old english of chaucer, and in italy" ( - ). rossetti, christina georgina, poetess, born in london, sister of dante gabriel rossetti, and of kindred temper with her brother, but with distinct qualities of her own; her first volume, called the "goblin-market," contains a number of very beautiful short poems; she exhibits, along with a sense of humour, a rare pathos, which, as professor saintsbury remarks, often "blends with or passes into the utterance of religious awe, unstained and unweakened by any craven fear" ( - ). rossetti, gabriele, italian poet and orator, born at vasto; had for his patriotic effusions to leave italy, took refuge in london, and became professor of italian in king's college, london; was a man of strong character, and student of literature as well as man of letters himself; was the father of dante gabriel and christina ( - ). rossi, pellegrino, an italian jurist and politician, born at carrara, educated at bologna, where he became professor of law in ; four years later was appointed to a chair in geneva, where he also busied himself with politics as a member of the council and deputy in the diet; settled in paris in , became professor at the collège de france, was naturalised and created a peer, returned to rome, broke off his connection with france, won the friendship of pius ix., and rose to be head of the ministry; was assassinated ( - ). rossini, gioacchino, celebrated italian composer of operatic music, born at pesaro; his operas were numerous, of a high order, and received with unbounded applause, beginning with "tancred," followed by "barber of seville," "la gazza ladra," "semiramis," "william tell," &c.; he composed a "stabat mater," and a "mass" which was given at his grave ( - ). rostock ( ), a busy german port in mecklenburg, on the warnow, m. from its entrance into the baltic; exports large quantities of grain, wool, flax, &c., has important wool and cattle markets; shipbuilding is the chief of many varied industries, owns a flourishing university, a beautiful gothic church, a ducal palace, &c. rostoff, , a flourishing town ( ) of south russia, on the don, m. e. of taganrog; manufactures embrace tobacco, ropes, leather, shipbuilding, &c. , one of the oldest of russian market-towns ( ), on the lake of rostoff, m. sw. of jaroslav, seat of an archbishop; manufactures linens, silks, &c. rostopchine, count, russian general, governor of moscow; was charged with having set fire to the city against the entrance of the french in ; in his defence all he admitted was that he had set fire to his own mansion, and threw the blame of the general conflagration on the citizens and the french themselves ( - ). rostrum (lit. a beak), a pulpit in the forum of rome where the orators delivered harangues to the people, so called as originally constructed of the prows of war-vessels taken at the first naval battle in which rome was engaged. rothe, richard, eminent german theologian, born at posen, professor eventually at heidelberg; regarded the church as a temporary institution which would decease as soon as it had fulfilled its function by leavening society with the christian spirit; he wrote several works, but the greatest is entitled "theological ethics" ( - ). rotherham ( ), a flourishing town in yorkshire, situated on the don, m. ne. of sheffield; its cruciform church is a splendid specimen of perpendicular architecture; manufactures iron-ware, chemicals, pottery, &c. rothesay ( ), popular watering-place on the w. coast of scotland, capital of buteshire, charmingly situated at the head of a fine hill-girt bay on the ne. side of the island of bute, m. sw. of greenock; has an excellent harbour, esplanade, &c.; rothesay castle is an interesting ruin; is a great health and holiday resort. rothschild, meyer amschel, the founder of the celebrated banking business, born at frankfort-on-the-main, a jew by birth; began his career as a money-lender and made a large fortune ( - ); left five sons, who were all made barons of the austrian empire--amselm von r., eldest, head of the house at frankfort ( - ); solomon von r., the second, head of the vienna house ( - ); nathan von r., the third, head of the london house ( - ); karl von r., the fourth, head of the house at naples ( - ); and jacob von r., the fifth, head of the paris house ( - ). rotrou, jean de, french poet, born at dreux; was a contemporary of corneille and a rival, wrote a number of plays, almost all tragedies, on romantic and classical subjects, some of which have kept the stage till now ( - ). rotterdam ( ), the chief port and second city of holland, situated at the junction of the rotte with the maas, m. from the north sea and m. sw. of amsterdam; the town is cut in many parts by handsome canals, which communicate with the river and serve to facilitate the enormous foreign commerce; the quaint old houses, the stately public buildings, broad tree-lined streets, canals alive with fleets of trim barges, combine to give the town a picturesque and animated appearance. boymans' museum has a fine collection of dutch and modern paintings, and the groote kerk is a gothic church of imposing appearance; there is also a large zoological garden; shipbuilding, distilling, sugar-refining, machine and tobacco factories are the chief industries. rotti ( ), a fertile hilly island in the indian archipelago, sw. of timor, a dutch possession. roubaix ( ), a busy town in the department of nord, n. of france; situated on a canal m. ne. of lille; is of modern growth; actively engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of textiles, in brewing, &c. roubilliac, louis franÇois, sculptor, born at lyons; studied in paris, came to london; executed there statues of shakespeare in the british museum, sir isaac newton at cambridge, and händel at london ( - ). rouble, a silver coin of the value of s. d.; the unit of the russian monetary system; a much depreciated paper rouble is also in circulation; the rouble is divided into copecks. rouen ( ), the ancient capital of normandy, a busy manufacturing town on the seine, m. nw of paris; a good portion of the old, crowded, picturesque town has given place to more spacious streets and dwellings; the old ramparts have been converted into handsome boulevards; has several gothic churches unrivalled in beauty, a cathedral (the seat of an archbishop), &c.; the river affords an excellent waterway to the sea, and as a port rouen ranks fourth in france; is famed for its cotton and other textiles; joan of arc was burned here in . rouget de lisle, officer of the engineers, born at lons-le-saulnier; immortalised himself as the author of the "marseillaise" (q. v.); was thrown into prison by the extreme party at the revolution, but was released on the fall of robespierre; fell into straitened circumstances, but was pensioned by louis philippe ( - ). rouge-et-noir (i. e. red and black), a gambling game of chance with cards, so called because it is played on a table marked with two red and two black diamond-shaped spots, and arranged alternately in four different sections of the table. rouher, eugÈne, french bonapartist statesman, born at riom, where he became a barrister; entered the constituent assembly in , and in the following year became minister of justice; was more or less in office during the next years; he became president of the senate in ; fled to england on the fall of the empire; later on re-entered the national assembly, and vigorously defended the ex-emperor napoleon iii. ( - ). roulers ( ), a manufacturing town in west flanders, m. sw. of bruges; engaged in manufacturing cottons, lace, &c.; scene of a french victory over the austrians in . roulette, a game of chance, very popular in france last century, now at monaco; played with a revolving disc and a ball. roumania ( , ), a kingdom of se. europe, wedged in between russia (n.) and bulgaria (s.), with an eastern shore on the black sea; the carpathians on the w. divide it from austro-hungary; comprises the old principalities of moldavia and wallachia, which, long subject to turkey, united under one ruler in , and received their independence in , in which year the province of dobrudja was ceded by russia; in the combined provinces were recognised as a kingdom; forms a fertile and well-watered plain sloping n. to s., which grows immense quantities of grain, the chief export; salt-mining and petroleum-making are also important industries; the bulk of the people belong to the greek church; peasant proprietorship on a large scale is a feature of the national life; government is vested in a hereditary limited monarch, a council of ministers, a senate, and a chamber of deputies; bucharest (q. v.) is the capital, and galatz (q. v.) the chief port. roumelia, a former name for a district which embraced ancient thrace and a portion of macedonia; the territory known as east roumelia was incorporated with bulgaria in . round table, the, the name given to the knighthood of king arthur: a larger, from including as many as knights; and a smaller, from including only of the highest order. round towers, ancient towers, found chiefly in ireland, of a tall, round, more or less tapering structure, divided into storeys, and with a conical top, erected in the neighbourhood of some church or monastery, and presumably of christian origin, and probably used as strongholds in times of danger; of these there are in ireland, and three in scotland--at abernethy, brechin, and eglishay (orkney). roundheads, the name of contempt given by the cavaliers to the puritans or parliamentary party during the civil war, on account of their wearing their hair close crept. rous, francis, provost of eton, born in cornwall; sat in the westminster assembly, and was the author of the metrical version of the psalms, as used in presbyterian churches ( - ). rousseau, jean baptiste, french lyric poet, born in paris, the son of a shoemaker; gave offence by certain lampoons ascribed to him which to the last he protested were forgeries, and was banished; his satires were certainly superior to his lyrics, which were cold and formal; died at brussels in exile ( - ). rousseau, jean jacques, a celebrated french philosopher, and one or the great prose writers of french literature, born in geneva, the son of a watchmaker and dancing-master; was apprenticed to an engraver, whose inhuman treatment drove him at the age of into running away; for three years led a vagrant life, acting as footman, lackey, secretary, &c.; during this period was converted to catholicism largely through the efforts of madame de warens, a spritely married lady living apart from her husband; in he took up residence in his patroness's house, where he lived for nine years a life of ease and sentiment in the ambiguous capacity of general factotum, and subsequently of lover; supplanted in the affections of his mistress, he took himself off, and landed in paris in ; supported himself by music-copying, an occupation which was his steadiest means of livelihood throughout his troubled career; formed a _liaison_ with an illiterate dull servant-girl by whom he had five children, all of whom he callously handed over to the foundling hospital; acquaintance with diderot brought him work on the famous encyclopédie, but the true foundation of his literary fame was laid in by "a discourse on arts and sciences," in which he audaciously negatives the theory that morality has been favoured by the progress of science and the arts; followed this up in by a "discourse on the origin of inequality," in which he makes a wholesale attack upon the cherished institutions and ideals of society; morosely rejected the flattering advances of society, and from his retreat at montlouis issued "the new héloïse" ( ), "the social contract" ( ), and "Émile" ( ); these lifted him into the widest fame, but precipitated upon him the enmity and persecution of church (for his deism) and state; fled to switzerland, where after his aggressive "letters from the mountains," he wandered about, the victim of his own suspicious, hypochondriacal nature; found for some time a retreat in staffordshire under the patronage of hume; returned to france, where his only persecutors were his own morbid hallucinations; died, not without suspicion of suicide, at ermenonville; his "confessions" and other autobiographical writings, although unreliable in facts, reflect his strange and wayward personality with wonderful truth; was one of the precursive influences which brought on the revolutionary movement ( - ). rousseau, pierre Étienne thÉodore, an eminent french artist, born in paris; at exhibited in the salon; slowly won his way to the front as the greatest french landscape painter; in settled down in barbizon, in the forest of fontainebleau, his favourite sketching ground; his pictures (e. g. "the alley of chestnut trees," "early summer morning") fetch immense prices now ( - ). roveredo ( ), an austrian town in the tyrol, pleasantly situated on the leno, in the lägerthal; is the centre of the tyrolese silk trade. row, john, a scottish reformer; graduated ll.d. in padua; came over from the catholic church in , and two years later helped to compile the "first book of discipline"; settled as a minister in perth, and was four times moderator of the general assembly ( - ). his son, john row, was minister of carnock, near dunfermline, and author of an authoritative "history of the kirk of scotland" ( - ). rowe, nicholas, dramatist and poet-laureate, born at barford, bedfordshire; was trained for the law, but took to literature, and made his mark as a dramatist, "the fair penitent," "jane shore," &c., long maintaining their popularity; translated lucan's "pharsalia," which won dr. johnson's commendation; edited shakespeare; became poet-laureate in ; held some government posts; was buried at westminster abbey ( - ). rowlandson, thomas, caricaturist, born in london; studied art in paris; gambled and lived extravagantly; led a roving life in england and wales; displayed great versatility and strength in his artistic work, _e. g_. in "imitations of modern drawings," illustrations to sterne's "sentimental journey," "munchausen's travels," &c.; ridiculed napoleon in many cartoons ( - ). rowley regis ( ), a flourishing town of staffordshire, m. se. of dudley; has large iron-works, potteries, &c. rowton heath, in the vicinity of chester, scene of a great parliamentary victory over the forces of charles i. in september . roxburghshire ( ), in border pastoral county of scotland, between berwick (ne.) and dumfries (sw.); the cheviots form its southern boundary; lies almost wholly within the basin of the tweed, which winds along its northern border, receiving the teviot, jed, &c.; includes the fine pastoral districts of teviotdale and liddesdale, where vast flocks of sheep are reared; agriculture and woollen manufactures are important industries; hawick is the largest town, and jedburgh the county town; near kelso stood the royal castle and town of roxburgh, which gave its name to the county, destroyed in . royal academy of arts, in london; was instituted in by george iii. as a result of a memorial presented to him by members who had seceded from "the incorporated society of artists of great britain" (founded ); for some years received grants from the privy purse, and was provided with rooms in somerset house; removed to trafalgar square in , and to its present quarters at burlington house in ; receives now no public grant; holds yearly exhibitions, and supports an art school; membership comprises royal academicians, besides associates. the present president is sir edward john poynter. the royal hibernian academy (founded ) and the scottish academy ( ) are similar institutions. royal society of edinburgh, the, was incorporated by royal charter in through the efforts of robertson the historian, and superseded the old philosophical society; held fortnightly meetings (december till june) in the royal institution; receives a grant of £ ; publishes _transactions_; has a membership of some , including foreign and british fellows. royal society of london, incorporated by royal charter in , but owing its origin to the informal meetings about of a group of scientific men headed by theodore haak, a german, dr. wilkins, and others; in the first number of their _philosophical transactions_ was published which, with the supplementary publication, _proceedings of the royal society_, begun in , constitute an invaluable record of the progress of science to the present day; encouragement is given to scientific investigation by awards of medals (copley, davy, darwin, &c.), the equipping of scientific expeditions (e. g. the _challenger_), &c.; weekly meetings are held at burlington house (quarters since ) during the session (november till june); membership comprises some fellows, including foreigners; receives a parliamentary grant of £ a year, and acts in an informal way as scientific adviser to government. royan ( ), a pretty seaside town of france, on the estuary of the gironde, m. nw. of bordeaux; trebles its population in the summer. royer-collard, pierre paul, politician and philosopher, born at sompuis; called to the paris bar at ; supported the revolution, but refused to follow the jacobins, and during the reign of terror sought shelter in his native town; was elected to the council of the five hundred in , retired in , and betook himself to philosophic studies; became professor of philosophy in paris , and exercised great influence; re-entered political life in , and was actively engaged in administrative work till his retirement in ; was all through his life a doctrinaire and rather unpractical ( - ). royton ( ), a busy cotton town in lancashire, m. nw. of oldham. ruabon ( ), a mining town in denbighshire, ½ m. sw. of wrexham; has collieries and iron-works. rubens, peter paul, the greatest of the flemish painters, born at siegen, in westphalia; came with his widowed mother in to antwerp, where he sedulously cultivated the painter's art, and early revealed his masterly gift of colouring; went to italy, and for a number of years was in the service of the duke of mantua, who encouraged him in his art, and employed him on a diplomatic mission to philip iii. of spain; executed at madrid some of his finest portraits; returned to antwerp in ; completed in his masterpiece, "the descent from the cross," in antwerp cathedral; with the aid of assistants he painted the series of pictures, now in the louvre, illustrating the principal events in the life of maria de' medici during - ; diplomatic missions engaged him at the spanish and english courts, where his superabundant energy enabled him to execute many paintings for charles i.--e. g. "war and peace," in the national gallery--and philip iv.; was knighted by both; in all that pertains to chiaroscuro, colouring, and general technical skill rubens is unsurpassed, and in expressing particularly the "tumult and energy of human action," but he falls below the great italian artists in the presentation of the deeper and sublimer human emotions; was a scholarly, refined man, an excellent linguist, and a successful diplomatist; was twice married; died at antwerp, and was buried in the church of st. jacques; his tercentenary was celebrated in ( - ). rubicon, a famous river of italy, associated with julius cæsar, now identified with the modern fiumecino, a mountain torrent which springs out of the eastern flank of the apennines and enters the adriatic n. of ariminum; marked the boundary line between roman italy and cisalpine gaul, a province administered by cæsar; when he crossed it in b.c. it was tantamount to a declaration of war against the republic, hence the expression "to cross the rubicon" is applied to the decisive step in any adventurous undertaking. rubinstein, anton, a famous russian pianist and composer, born, of jewish parents, near jassy, in moldavia; studied at moscow, under liszt in paris, and afterwards at berlin and vienna; established himself at st. petersburg in as a music-teacher; became director of the conservatoire there; toured for many years through europe and the united states, achieving phenomenal success; resumed his directorship at st. petersburg in ; composed operas (e. g. "the maccabees," "the demon"), symphonies (e. g. "ocean"), sacred operas (e. g. "paradise lost"), chamber music, and many exquisite songs; as a pianist he was a master of technique and expression; was ennobled by the czar in ; published an autobiography; his works as well as his performances display both vigour and sensibility ( - ). rubrics, a name, as printed originally in red ink, applied to the rules and instructions given in the liturgy of the prayer-book for regulating the conduct of divine service, hence applied in a wider significance to any fixed ecclesiastical or other injunction or order; was used to designate the headings or title of chapters of certain old law-books and mss., formerly but not now necessarily printed in red characters. ruby, a gem which in value and hardness ranks next to the diamond; is dichroic, of greater specific gravity than any other gem, and belongs to the hexagonal system of crystals; is a pellucid, ruddy-tinted stone, and, like the sapphire, a variety of corundum, also found (but rarely) in violet, pink, and purple tints; the finest specimens come from upper burmah; these are the true oriental rubies, and when above carats exceed in value, weight for weight, diamonds; the spinel ruby is the commoner jeweller's stone; is of much less value, specific gravity and hardness, non-dichroic, and forms a cubical crystal. rÜckert, friedrich, german poet, born at schweinfurt, in bavaria; at würzburg university showed his talent for languages, and early devoted himself to philology and poetry; was for years professor of oriental languages at erlangen; introduced german readers, by excellent translations, to eastern poetry; filled for some time the chair of oriental languages in berlin; takes rank as a lyrist of no mean powers; essayed unsuccessfully dramatic composition ( - ). ruddiman, thomas, author of a well-known latin grammar, a banffshire man, and graduate of aberdeen university; was school-mastering at laurencekirk, where his scholarly attainments won him an assistantship in the advocates' library, edinburgh; spent a busy life in that; city in scholarly occupation, editing many learned works, the most notable being buchanan's works and the "immaculate" edition of livy; his famous latin grammar was completed in ; in became principal keeper of the advocates' library ( - ). rudolf i., of the house of hapsburg, founder of the austrian dynasty; born, the son of a count, at schloss limburg (breisgau); greatly increased his father's domain by marriage, inheritance, and conquest, becoming the most powerful prince in s. germany; acquired a remarkable ascendency among the german princes, and was elevated to the imperial throne in , and by friendly concessions to the pope, gregory ix., terminated the long struggle between the church and the empire; shattered the opposition of ottocar, king of bohemia, and brought peace and order to germany ( - ). rudolf ii., german emperor, son of maximilian ii., born at vienna; became king of hungary in , and of bohemia three years later; ascended the imperial throne in ; indolent and incapable, he left the empire to the care of worthless ministers; disorder and foreign invasion speedily followed; persecution inflamed the protestants; by his brother matthias, supported by other kinsmen, had wrested hungary and bohemia from him; had a taste for astrology and alchemy, and patronised kepler and tycho brahé ( - ). rudolf lake, in british east africa, close to the highlands of s. ethiopia, practically an inland sea, being m. long and broad, and brackish in taste; discovered in . rudra, in the hindu mythology the old deity of the storm, and father of the marutz. rugby ( ), a town in warwickshire, at the junction of the swift and the avon, m. nw. of london; an important railway centre and seat of a famous public school founded in , of which dr. arnold (q. v.), and archbishops tait and temple were famous head-masters, is one of the first public schools in england, and scholars number about . ruge, arnold, a german philosophical and political writer, born at bergen (rügen); showed a philosophic bent at jena; was implicated in the political schemes of the burschenschaft (q. v.), and was imprisoned for six years; taught for some years in halle university, but got into trouble through the radical tone of his writings in the _halle review_ (founded by himself and another), and went to paris; was prominent during the political agitation of , and subsequently sought refuge in london, where for a short time he acted in consort with mazzini and others; retired to brighton, and ultimately received a pension from the prussian government; his numerous plays, novels, translations, &c., including a lengthy autobiography, reveal a mind scarcely gifted enough to grasp firmly and deeply the complicated problems of sociology and politics; is characterised by dr. stirling as the "bold and brilliant ruge"; began, he says, as an expounder of hegel, and "finished off as translator into german of that 'hollow make-believe of windy conceit,' he calls it, buckle's 'civilisation in england'" ( - ). rÜgen ( ), a deeply-indented island of germany, in the baltic, separated from the pomeranian coast by a channel (strela sund) about a mile broad; the soil is fertile, and fishing is actively engaged in. bergen ( ) is the capital. ruhr, an affluent of the rhine, which joins it at ruhrort after a course of m.; navigable to craft conveying the product of the coal-mines to the rhine. rule of faith, the name given to the ultimate authority or standard in religious belief, such as the bible alone, as among protestants; the bible and the church, as among romanists; reason alone, as among rationalists; the inner light of the spirit, as among mystics. rum, a mountainous, forest-clad island in one of the inner hebrides, lies m. off ardnamurchan point; a handful of inhabitants cultivate a very small portion of it; the rest is mountain, wood, and moorland; forms a deer-forest. rumford, count, benjamin thompson, soldier, philanthropist, and physicist, born at woburn, massachusetts; a fortunate marriage lifted him into affluence, relieving him from the necessity of teaching; fought on the british side during the american war; became a lieutenant-colonel, and for important services was knighted in on his return to england; entered the bavarian service, and carried through a series of remarkable reforms, such as the suppression of mendicity, the amelioration of the poorer classes by the spread of useful knowledge, culinary, agricultural, &c.; was made a count of the holy roman empire, and placed in charge of the war department of bavaria; was a generous patron of science in england and elsewhere; retired from the bavarian service in , and five years later married the widow of lavoisier the chemist; his later years were spent in retirement in a village near paris, where he devoted himself to physical research, especially as regards heat ( - ). rump, the, name of contempt given to the remnant of the long parliament in . runcorn ( ), a flourishing river-port of cheshire, on the mersey, m. se. of liverpool, at the terminus of the bridgewater canal; is an old place dating back to the th century; has excellent docks; industries embrace shipbuilding, iron-founding, &c. runeberg, johan ludwig, the national poet of finland, born at jacobstad; educated at, and afterwards lectured in, the university of abo; published his first volume, "lyric poems," in ; edited a bi-weekly paper; for forty years (till his death) was reader of roman literature in the college of borga; his epic idylls, "the elk hunters," "christmas eve," his epic "king fjalar," &c., are the finest poems in the swedish language; are characterised by a repose, simplicity, and artistic finish, yet have withal the warmth of national life in them ( - ). runes, a name given to the letters of the alphabet by heathen teutonic tribes prior to their coming under the influence of roman civilisation; are formed almost invariably of straight lines, and scarcely exist except in inscriptions dating back to a.d. ; found chiefly in scandinavia, also in britain. there are three runic alphabets (much alike), the oldest being the gothic of letters or runes. they are now believed to have first come into use among the goths in the th century b.c., and to be a modified form of the old greek alphabet introduced by traders. runnimede, a meadow on the right bank of the thames, m. sw. of london, where king john signed the magna charta, th june . rupee, a silver coin, the monetary unit of india, whose face value is s., but which, owing to the depreciation of silver, is now valued in outside markets at about s. ½d.; a lac of rupees equals , . rupert, prince, son of frederick v., elector palatine, and grandson of james i. of england; received an excellent education; took part in the thirty years' war, and suffered three years' imprisonment at linz; in england, at the outbreak of the great rebellion, he was entrusted with a command by charles i., and by his dash and daring greatly heartened the royalist cause, taking an active part in all the great battles; finally surrendered to fairfax at oxford in ; but two years later took command of the royalist ships and kept up a gallant struggle till his defeat by blake in ; escaped to the west indies, where he kept up a privateering attack upon english merchantmen; came in for many honours after the restoration, and distinguished himself in the dutch war; the closing years of his life were quietly spent in scientific research (physical, chemical, mechanical), for which he had a distinct aptitude ( - ). rupert's land, a name given by prince rupert to territory the drainage of which flows into hudson bay or strait. rush, benjamin, a noted american physician and professor, born at byberry, near philadelphia; studied medicine at princeton and edinburgh; became professor of chemistry at philadelphia in ; sat in congress, and signed the declaration of independence ( ); held important medical posts in the army; resigned, and assumed medical professorship in philadelphia; won a european reputation as a lecturer, philanthropist, and medical investigator; published several treatises, and from acted as treasurer of the u.s. mint ( - ). rushworth, john, historian and politician, born at warkworth, northumberland; although a barrister he never practised, but set himself to compile elaborate notes of proceedings at the star chamber and other courts, which grew into an invaluable work of vols., entitled "historical collections"; acted as assistant-clerk to the long parliament; sat as a member in several parliaments, and was for some years secretary to fairfax and the lord-keeper; fell into disfavour after the restoration, and in was arrested for debt and died in prison; is an authority whom carlyle abuses as a dry-as-dust ( - ). ruskin, john, art-critic and social reformer, born in london, son of an honourable and a successful wine-merchant; educated with some severity at home under the eye of his parents, and particularly his mother, who trained him well into familiarity with the bible, and did not object to his study of "robinson crusoe" along with the "pilgrim's progress" on sundays, while, left to his own choice he read homer, scott, and byron on week days; entered christ's church, oxford, as a gentleman commoner in , gained the newdigate prize in , produced in , under the name of "a graduate of oxford," the first volume of "modern painters," mainly in defence of the painter turner and his art, which soon extended to five considerable volumes, and in "the seven lamps of architecture," in definition of the qualities of good art in that line, under the heads of the lamps of sacrifice, of truth, of power, of beauty, of life, of memory, and obedience, pleading in particular for the gothic style; these were followed in by "pre-raphaelitism" (q. v.), and - by the "stones of venice," in further exposition of his views in the "seven lamps," and others on the same and kindred arts. not till did he appear in the _rôle_ of social reformer, and that was by the publication of "unto this last," in the _cornhill magazine_, on the first principles of political economy, the doctrines in which were further expounded in "munera pulveris," "time and tide," and "fors clavigera" (q. v.), the principles in which he endeavoured to give practical effect to by the institution of st. george's guild, with the view of commending "the rational organisation of country life independent of that of cities." his writings are numerous, several of them originally lectures, and nearly all on matters of vital account, besides many others on subjects equally so which he began, but has had, to the grief of his admirers, to leave unfinished from failing health, among these his "præterita," or memories from his past life. the most popular of his recent writings is "sesame and lilies," with perhaps the "crown of wild olive," and the most useful that of the series beginning with "unto this last," and culminating in "time and tide." he began his career as an admirer of turner, and finished as a disciple of thomas carlyle, but neither slavishly nor with the surrender of his own sense of justice and truth; justice is the goddess he worships, and except in her return to the earth as sovereign he bodes nothing but disaster to the fortunes of the race; his despair of seeing this seems to have unhinged him, and he is now in a state of fatal collapse; his contemporaries praised his style of writing, but to his disgust they did not believe a word he said; he sits sadly in these days at brantwood, in utter apathy to everything of passing interest, and if he thinks or speaks at all it would seem his sense of the injustice in things, and the doom it is under, is not yet utterly dead--his sun has not even yet gone down upon his wrath; the keynote of his wrath was, men do the work of this world and rogues take the pay, selling for money what god has given for nothing, or what others have purchased by their life's blood; _b_. . he died th january . russell, john, earl, known best as lord john russell, statesman, youngest son of the earl of bedford; travelled in spain, studied at edinburgh, entered parliament in , took up vigorously the cause of parliamentary reform and catholic emancipation, joined earl grey's ministry in as paymaster of the forces, framed and zealously advocated the reform bill ( ), drove peel from office in , and became, under lord melbourne, home secretary and leader of the commons; four years later he was appointed colonial secretary, warmly espoused the cause of repeal of the corn laws, formed a ministry on the downfall of peel in , and dealt with irish difficulties and chartism; resigned in , and in the same year became foreign secretary under aberdeen, became unpopular on account of his management of the crimean war ( ) and conduct at the vienna conference; again foreign secretary in palmerston's ministry of , an earl in , and premier a second time in - ; author of various pamphlets, biographies, memoirs, &c.; was twice married; was nicknamed "finality john" from his regarding his reform bill of as a final measure ( - ). russell, william, lord, prominent politician in charles ii.'s reign, younger son of the earl of bedford; entered the first restoration parliament, became a prominent leader in the country party in opposition to the cabal (q. v.) and the popish schemes of the king; vigorously supported the exclusion bill to keep james, duke of york from the throne in ; was charged with complicity in the rye-house plot, was found guilty on trumped-up evidence, and beheaded ( - ). russell, william clark, a popular writer of nautical novels, born in new york; gained his experience of sea life during eight years' service as a sailor; was a journalist on the staff of the _daily chronicle_ before, in , he took to writing novels, which include "john holdsworth," "the wreck of the 'grosvenor,'" &c.; _b_. . russell, sir william howard, a celebrated war correspondent, born near dublin; was educated at trinity college, called to the english bar in , had already acted for some years as war correspondent for the _times_ before his famous letters descriptive of the crimean war won him a wide celebrity; subsequently acted as correspondent during the indian mutiny, american civil war, franco-german war, &c.; accompanied the prince of wales to india in ; knighted in ; _b_. . russell of killowen, charles russell, lord, a distinguished lawyer, born at newry; educated at trinity college, dublin, called to the english bar in , entered parliament in , became attorney-general in , receiving also a knighthood; in was elevated to the lord chief-justiceship and created a life-peer; _b_. . russia ( , ), next to the british empire the most extensive empire in the world, embracing one-sixth of the land-surface of the globe, including one-half of europe, all northern and a part of central asia; on the n. it fronts the arctic ocean from sweden to the ne. extremity of asia; its southern limit forms an irregular line from the nw. corner of the black sea to the sea of japan, skirting turkey, persia, afghanistan, east turkestan, and the chinese empire; behring sea, sea of okhotsk, and the sea of japan wash its eastern shores; sweden, the baltic, germany, and austria lie contiguous to it in west europe. this solid, compact mass is thinly peopled ( to the sq. m. over all) by some different-speaking races, including, besides the dominant russians (themselves split into three branches), poles, finns, esthonians, servians, bulgarians, lithuanians, kurds, persians, turco-tartars, mongols, &c. three-fourths of the land-surface, with one-fourth of the population, lies in asia, and is treated under siberia, turkestan, caucasia, &c. russia in europe, embracing finland and poland (q. v.), is divided from asia by the ural mountains and river and caspian sea; forms an irregular, somewhat elongated, square plain sloping down to the low and dreary coast-lands of the baltic (w.), white sea (n.), and black sea (s.); is seamed by river valleys and diversified by marshes, vast lakes (e. g. ladoga, onega, peipus, and ilmen), enormous forests, and in the n. and centre by tablelands, the highest of which being the valdai hills ( ft.); the se. plain is called the steppes (q. v.). the cold and warm winds which sweep uninterrupted from n. and s. produce extremes of temperature; the rainfall is small. agriculture is the prevailing industry, engaging per cent. of the people, although in all not more than per cent. of the soil is cultivated; rye is the chief article of food for the peasantry, who comprise four-fifths of the population. the rich plains, known as the "black lands" from their deep, loamy soil, which stretch from the carpathians to the urals, are the most productive corn-lands in europe, and rival in fertility the "yellow lands" of china, and like them need no manure. timber is an important industry in the nw., and maize and the vine are cultivated in the extreme s.; minerals abound, and include gold, iron (widely distributed), copper (chiefly in middle urals), and platinum; there are several large coal-fields and rich petroleum wells at baku. the fisheries, particularly those of the caspian, are the most productive in europe. immense numbers of horses and cattle are reared, e. g. on the steppes. wolves, bears, and valuable fur-bearing animals are plentiful in the n. and other parts; the reindeer is still found, also the elk. want of ports on the mediterranean and atlantic hamper commerce, while the great ports in the baltic are frozen up four or five months in the year; the southern ports are growing in importance, and wheat, timber, flax, and wool are largely exported. there is a vast inland trade, facilitated by the great rivers (volga, don, dnieper, dniester, vistula, &c.) and by excellent railway and telegraphic communication. among its varied races there exists a wide variety of religions--christianity, mohammedanism, buddhism, shamanism, &c.; but although some sects exist, the bulk of the russians proper belong to the greek church. education is backward, more than per cent. of the people being illiterate; there are eight universities. conscription is enforced; the army is the largest in the world. government is an absolute monarchy, save in finland (q. v.); the ultimate legislative and executive power is in the hands of the czar, but there is a state council of members nominated by the czar. in the departments a good deal of local self-government is enjoyed through the village communes and their public assemblies, but the imperial power as represented by the police and military is felt in all parts, while governors of departments have wide and ill-defined powers which admit of abuse. the great builders of the empire, the beginnings of which are to be sought in the th century, have been ivan the great, who in the th century drove out the mongols and established his capital as moscow; ivan the terrible, the first of the czars, who in the th century pushed into asia and down to the black sea; and peter the great (q. v.). its restless energies are still unabated, and inspire a persistently aggressive policy in the far east. within recent years its literature has become popular in europe through the powerful writings of pushkin, turgenief, and tolstoi. rustchuk ( ), a town in bulgaria, on the danube, m. s. by w. of bucharest; manufactures gold and silver ware, shoes, cloth, &c.; has a number of interesting mosques; its once important fortifications were reduced in . rutebeuf or rustebeuf, a celebrated trouvère of the th century, of whom little is known save that he led a bohemian life in paris and was unfortunate in his marriage; his songs, satires, &c., are vigorous and full of colour, and touch a note of seriousness at times which one hardly anticipates. ruthenians, a hardy slavonic people, a branch of the little russian stock, numbering close upon ½ millions, dwelling in galicia and northern hungary. rutherford, samuel, a scottish divine, born at nisbet, near jedburgh; studied at edinburgh university, became professor of humanity, but had to resign; studied divinity, and became minister of anworth in , and was a zealous pastor and a fervid preacher; corresponded far and wide with pious friends by letters afterwards published under his name, and much esteemed by pious people; became at length professor of divinity at st. andrews, and represented the scottish church in the westminster assembly in ; wrote several works, for one of which he was called to account, but had to answer a summons on his deathbed before a higher bar ( - ). rutherglen ( ), a town of lanarkshire, on the clyde, m. se. of glasgow, of which it is practically a suburb; a handsome bridge spans the river; has been a royal burgh since , and has interesting historical associations. ruthin ( ), an interesting old town of denbighshire, on the clwyd, m. se. of denbigh. ruthven, raid of, a conspiracy entered into by certain scottish nobles, headed by william, first earl of gowrie, to seize the young king james vi., and break down the influence of his worthless favourites, lennox and arran; at ruthven castle, or huntingtower, in perthshire, on rd august , the king was captured and held for months; arran was imprisoned, and lennox fled, to die in france; the conduct of the conspirators was applauded by the country, but after the escape of the king from st. andrews castle the conspirators were proclaimed guilty of treason, and gowrie was ultimately executed. ruthwell cross, a remarkable sandstone cross, ¾ ft. high, found in ruthwell parish, m. se. of dumfries; dates back to the th century; bears runic and latin inscriptions, notably some verses of the saxon poem, "the dream of the holy rood"; was broken down in by the covenanters as savouring of idolatry; found and re-erected in . rutland ( ), the smallest county of england, bounded by lincoln, northampton, and leicester; has a pleasant undulating surface, with valleys in the e., and extensive woods; is watered by the welland; is largely pastoral, and raises fine sheep; dairy produce (especially cheese) and wheat are noted; oakham is the capital. ruysdael, jacob, a famous dutch landscape-painter, born and died at haarlem; few particulars of his life are known; his best pictures, to be seen in the galleries of dresden, berlin, paris, &c., display a fine poetic spirit ( - ). ruyter, michael de, a famous dutch admiral, born of poor parents at flushing; from a boy of served in the merchant and naval service; commanded a ship under van tromp in the war with england - ; was ennobled in by the king of denmark for services rendered in the dano-swedish war; for two years fought against turkish pirates in the mediterranean; commanded the dutch fleet in the second war against england, and in struck terror into london by appearing and burning the shipping in the thames; held his own against england and france in the war of ; co-operated with spain against france; was routed and mortally wounded off the coast of sicily; a man of sterling worth ( - ). ryan, loch, an arm of the sea penetrating wigtownshire in a south-easterly direction, m. long and from ½ to broad; at its landward end is stranraer (q. v.); forms an excellent anchorage. rybinsk ( , in the summer), a busy commercial town in russia, on the volga, m. nw. of yaroslav; connected by canal with st. petersburg; industries embrace boat-building, brewing, distilling, &c. ryde ( ), a popular old watering-place on the ne. coast of the isle of wight, ½ m. sw. of portsmouth; rises in pretty wooded terraces from the sea; has a fine promenade, park, pier, &c. rye ( ), an interesting old port in the se. corner of sussex, situated on rising ground flanked by two streams, m. se. from london, one of the cinque ports (q. v.); the retiral of the sea has left it now m. inland; has a fine norman and early english church. rye house plot, an abortive conspiracy in to assassinate charles ii. of england and his brother james, duke of york, planned by colonel rumsey, lieutenant-colonel walcot, the "plotter" ferguson, and other reckless adherents of the whig party. the conspirators were to conceal themselves at a farmhouse called rye house, near hertford, and to waylay the royal party returning from newmarket; the plot miscarried owing to the king leaving newmarket sooner than was expected; the chief conspirators were executed. rymer, thomas, the learned editor of the "foedera," an invaluable collection of historical documents dealing with england's relations with foreign powers, born at northallerton; was a cambridge man and a barrister; turned to literature and wrote much both in prose and poetry, but to no great purpose; was historiographer-royal; macaulay in characteristic fashion calls him "the worst critic that ever lived"; but his "foedera" is an enduring monument to his unwearied industry ( - ). rysbrach, michael, a well-known sculptor in the th century, born at antwerp; established himself in london and executed busts and statues of the most prominent men of his day, including the monument to sir isaac newton in westminster abbey, statue of marlborough, busts of walpole, bolingbroke, pope, &c. ( - ). ryswick, peace of, signed on october , , at the village of ryswick, m. s. of the hague, by england, holland, germany, and spain on the one hand and france on the other, terminating the sanguinary struggle which had begun in ; it lasted till . s saadi. see sÁdi. saale, the name of several german rivers, the most important of which rises in the fichtelgebirge, near zell, in upper bavaria; flows northward, a course of m., till it joins the elbe at barby; has numerous towns on its banks, including jena, halle, and naumburg, to which last it is navigable. saarbrÜck ( ), a manufacturing town in rhenish prussia, on the french frontier, where the french under napoleon iii. repulsed the germans, august , . sabadell ( ), a prosperous spanish town, m. nw. of barcelona; manufactures cotton and woollen textiles. sabÆans, a trading people who before the days of solomon and for long after inhabited south arabia, on the shores of the bed sea, and who worshipped the sun and moon with other kindred deities; also a religious sect on the lower euphrates, with jewish, moslem, and christian rites as well as pagan, called christians of st. john; the term sabæanism designates the worship of the former. sabaoth, name given in the bible, and particularly in the epistle of james, to the divine being as the lord of all hosts or kinds of creatures. sabathai, levi, a jewish impostor, who gave himself out to be the messiah and persuaded a number of jews to forsake all and follow him; the sultan of turkey forced him to confess the imposture, and he turned mussulman to save his life ( - ). sabbath, the seventh day of the week, observed by the jews as a day of "rest" from all work and "holy to the lord," as his day, specially in commemoration of his rest from the work of creation, the observance of which by the christian church has been transferred to the first of the week in commemoration of christ's resurrection. sabellianism, the doctrine of one sabellius, who, in the third century, denied that there were three persons in the godhead, and maintained that there was only one person in three functions, aspects, or manifestations, at least this was the form his doctrine assumed in course of time, which is now called by his name, and is accepted by many in the present day. sabianism. see sabÆans. sabine, a river of texas which, rising in the extreme n. of the state, flows se. and s., forming for m. the boundary between louisiana and texas, passes through sabine lake into the gulf of mexico after a navigable course of in. sabine, sir edward, a noted physicist, born in dublin; served in artillery in , maintained his connection with it till his retirement in as general, but owes his celebrity to his important investigations into the nature of terrestrial magnetism; accompanied as a scientist boss and parry in their search for the north-west passage ( - ); was president both of the royal society from to and of the british association in ( - ). sabines, an ancient italian people of the aryan stock, near neighbours of ancient borne, a colony of whom is said to have settled on the quirinal, and contributed to form the moral part of the roman people. numa, the second king of the city, was a sabine. see romulus. sable island, a low, sandy, barren island in the atlantic, m. off the e. coast of nova scotia; is extremely dangerous to navigation, and is marked by three lighthouses; is gradually being washed away. sabots, a species of wooden shoes extensively worn by the peasants of france, belgium, &c.; each shoe is hollowed out of a single block of wood (fir, willow, beech, and ash); well adapted for marshy districts. sacerdotalism, a tendency to attach undue importance to the order and the ministry of priests, to the limitation of the operation of divine grace. sacheverel, henry, an english church clergyman, born at maryborough, who became notorious in the reign of queen anne for his embittered attack (contained in two sermons in ) on the revolution settlement and the act of toleration; public feeling was turning in favour of the tories, and the impolitic impeachment of sacheverel by the whig government fanned popular feeling to a great height in his favour; was suspended from preaching for three years, at the expiry of which time the tories, then in power, received him with ostentatious marks of favour; was soon forgotten; was an oxford graduate, and a friend of addison; a man of no real ability ( - ). sachs, hans, a noted early german poet, born at nürnberg; the son of a tailor, by trade a shoemaker; learned "the mystery of song" from a weaver; was a contemporary of luther, who acknowledged his services in the cause of the reformation; in his seventy-fourth year ( ), on examining his stock for publication, found that he had written poetical pieces, among them tragedies and comedies, and this besides having all along kept house, like an honest nürnberg burgher, by assiduous and sufficient shoemaking; a man standing on his own basis; wrote "narrenschneiden," a piece in which the doctor cures a bloated and lethargic patient by "cutting out half-a-dozen fools from his interior"; he sunk into oblivion during the th century, but his memory was revived by goethe in the th ( - ). sachs, julius, a german botanist and professor, born at breslau; has written several works on botany, and experimented on the physiology of plants; _b_. . sackville, thomas, earl of dorset, poet and statesman, born at buckhurst; bred for the bar; entered parliament in ; wrote with thomas norton a tragedy called "gorboduc," contributed to a collection of british legends called the "mirror of magistrates" two pieces in noble verse ( - ). sacrament, a ceremonial observance in the christian church divinely instituted as either really or symbolically a means, and in any case a pledge, of grace. sacramentarian, a high churchman who attaches a special sacred virtue to the sacraments of the church. sacramento, largest river of california, rises in the ne. in the sierra nevada; follows a south-westerly course, draining the central valley of california; falls into suisund bay, on the pacific coast, after a course of miles, of which are navigable. sacramento ( ), capital of california, situated at the confluence of the sacramento and american rivers, m. ne. of san francisco; industries embrace flour and planing mills, foundries, potteries, &c.; has an art gallery, court-house, &c.; the tropical climate is tempered at night by cool sea breezes. sacred wars. see amphictyonic council. sacrifice, anything of value given away to secure the possession of something of still higher value, and which is the greater and more meritorious the costlier the gift. sacring-bell, or sanctus-bell, the bell which rings when the host is elevated at the celebration of high mass. sacy, antoine isaac, baron silvestre de, the greatest of modern orientalists, born at paris; by twenty-three was a master of classic, oriental, and modern european languages; was appointed in professor of arabic in the school of oriental languages, and in of persian in the college de france, besides which he held various other appointments; founded the asiatic society in ; was created a baron by napoleon bonaparte, and entered the chamber of peers in ; published "biographies of persian poets," a standard arabic grammar, &c.; his writings gave a stimulus to oriental research throughout europe ( - ). sadda, the name given to a persian epitome of the zend-avesta. sadducees, a sect of the jews of high priestly origin that first came into prominence by their opposition to the pharisees, being the party in power when pharisaism arose in protestation against their policy as tending to the secularisation of the jewish faith, or the prostitution of it to mere secular ends. they represented the tory or conservative party among the jews, as the pharisees did the high church party among us. the antagonism which thus arose on political grounds gradually extended to religious matters. in regard to religion they were the old orthodox party, and acknowledged the obligation of only the written law, and refused to accept tradition at the hands of the scribes. they denied the immortality of the soul, the separate existence of spirits, and this they did on strictly old testament grounds, but this not from any real respect for the authority of scripture, only as in accord with the main article of their creed, which attached importance only to what bears upon this present life, and which in modern times goes under the name of secularism. they were at bottom a purely political party, and they went out of sight and disappeared from jewish history with the fall of the jewish state, only the pharisaic party surviving in witness of what judaism is. sade, donatien alphonse franÇois, marquis de, french novelist, who, after fighting in the seven years' war, was sentenced to death for odious crimes, effected his escape, but was caught and imprisoned in the bastille, where he wrote a number of licentious romances; died a lunatic ( - ). sÁdi, a celebrated persian poet, born at shiraz, of noble lineage, but born poor; bred up in the moslem faith; made pilgrimages to mecca no fewer than times; spent years in travel; fell into the hands of the crusaders; was ransomed by a merchant of aleppo, who thought him worth ransoming at a cost; retired to a hermitage near shiraz, where he died and was buried; his works, both in prose and verse, are numerous, but the most celebrated is the "gulistan" (the rose-gardens), a collection of moral tales interlarded with philosophical reflections and maxims of wisdom, which have made his name famous all over both the east and the west ( - ). sadler, sir ralph, a politician and diplomatist; was employed by henry viii. in carrying out the dissolution of the monasteries, and conducted diplomatic negotiations with scotland; distinguished himself at the battle of pinkie; enjoyed the favour of elizabeth; was queen mary's keeper in the castle of tutbury; was the bearer of the news of queen mary's execution to king james ( - ). sadoleto, jacopo, cardinal, born in modena; acted as secretary under leo x., clement vii., and paul iii., the latter of whom created him a cardinal in ; was a faithful churchman and an accomplished scholar, and eminent in both capacities ( - ). sadowa. see kÖniggrÄtz. safed ( ), a town of palestine, m. n. of tiberias, occupied principally by jews attracted thither in part by the expectation that the messiah, when he appears, will establish his kingdom there; it spreads in horse-shoe fashion round the foot of a hill ft. high; is a seat of hebrew learning. safety lamp, name of a variety of lamps for safety in coal-mines against "fire-damp," a highly explosive mixture of natural gas apt to accumulate in them; the best known being the "davey lamp," invented by sir humphrey davy; the "geordie," invented by george stephenson, both of which, however, have been superseded by the gray, muesler, marsant, and other lamps; all are constructed on the principle discovered by davy and stephenson, that a flame enveloped in wire gauze of a certain fineness does not ignite "fire-damp." saffi, or asfi ( ), a decayed seaport of morocco, on the mediterranean coast, m. nw. of the city of morocco; has ruins of a castle of the sultans and of the old portuguese fortifications; has still a fair export trade in beans, wool, olive-oil, &c. sagar, a low island at the mouth of the hûgli, a sacred spot and a place of pilgrimage to the hindus; mostly jungle; sparsely peopled. sagas, a collection of epics in prose embodying the myths and legends of the ancient scandinavians, originally transmitted from mouth to mouth, and that began to assume a literary form about the th century. sagasta, praxedes mateo, spanish statesmen of liberal sympathies; took part in the insurrections of and , and was for some time a fugitive in france; entered prim's cabinet, supported the elected king amadeus, and since his abdication has led the liberal party; has twice been prime minister; _b_. . saghalien ( ), a long narrow island belonging to russia, situated close to the e. coast of siberia, from which it is separated by the so-called gulf of tartary; stretches n. from the island of yezo, a distance of m.; is mountainous and forest-clad in the interior; has excellent coast fisheries, but a cold, damp climate prevents successful agriculture; rich coal-mines exist, and are wrought by or convicts. ceded by japan to russia in . saguenay, a large and picturesque river of canada; carries off the surplus waters of lake st. john, replenished by a number of large streams, and issuing a full-bodied stream, flows se. through magnificent forest and mountain scenery till it falls into the st. lawrence, m. below quebec, after a course of m.; is remarkable for its depth, and is navigable by the largest ships. saguntum, a town of ancient spain, was situated where now stands the town of murviedro, m. ne. of valencia; famous in history for its memorable siege by hannibal in b.c., which led to the second punic war. sahara, the largest desert region in the world, stretches e. and w. across northern africa, from the atlantic to the valley of the nile, a distance of m., and on the n. is limited by the slopes of the atlas mountains, and on the s. by the valleys of the senegal and niger rivers. the surface is diversified by long sweeps of undulating sand-dunes, elevated plateaux, hill and mountain ranges ( ft. highest) furrowed by dried-up water-courses, and dotted with fertile oases which yield date-palms, oranges, lemons, figs, &c. the most sterile tract is in the w., stretching in a semicircle between cape blanco and fezzan. rain falls over the greater part at intervals of from two to five years. temperature will vary from over °f. to below freezing-point in hours. there are a number of definite caravan routes connecting timbuctoo and the central soudan with the niger and coast-lands. dates and salt are the chief products; the giraffe, wild ass, lion, ostrich, python, &c., are found; it is chiefly inhabited by nomadic and often warlike moors, arabs, berbers, and various negro races. the greater part is within the sphere of french influence. "when the winds waken, and lift and winnow the immensity of sand, the air itself is a dim sand-air, and dim looming through it, the wonderfullest uncertain colonnades of sand-pillars whirl from this side and from that, like so many spinning dervishes, of a hundred feet of stature, and dance their huge desert waltz there." saharanpur ( ), a town in the north-west provinces of india, m. n. of delhi, in a district formerly malarious, but now drained and healthy; the population principally mohammedans, who have recently built in it a handsome mosque. sahib (i. e. master), used in india when addressing a european gentleman; mem sahib to a lady. saigon ( ), capital of french cochin-china, on the river saigon, one of the delta streams of the mekhong, m. from the china sea; is handsomely laid out with boulevards, &c.; has a fine palace, arsenal, botanical and zoological gardens, &c.; cholon ( ), m. sw., forms a busy trading suburb, exporting rice, cotton, salt, hides, &c. saint, a name applied to a holy or sacred person, especially one canonised; in the plural it is the name assumed by the mormons. st. albans ( ), an old historic city of hertfordshire, on an eminence by the ver, a small stream, which separates it from the site of the ancient verulamium; has a splendid ancient abbey church, rebuilt in ; industries include brewing, straw-plaiting, silk-throwing, &c.; scene of two famous battles ( and ) during the wars of the roses. st. aloysius, italian marquis, who renounced his title, became a jesuit, devoted himself to the care of the plague-stricken in rome; died of it, and was canonised ( - ). st. andrews ( ), a famous city of fife, occupies a bold site on st. andrews bay, m. ne. of edinburgh; for long the ecclesiastical metropolis of scotland, and associated with many stirring events in scottish history; its many interesting ruins include a th-century priory, a cathedral, "robbed" in , a castle or bishop's palace built in the th century; has a university (st. salvator's and st. leonard's ) the first founded in scotland, and is still an important educational centre, having several excellent schools (madras college the chief); since the reformation its trade has gradually dwindled away; fishing is carried on, but it depends a good deal on its large influx of summer visitors, attracted by the splendid golf links and excellent sea-bathing. saint arnaud, jacques leroy de, a noted french marshal, born at bordeaux; was already a distinguished soldier when he entered actively into the plans of louis napoleon to overthrow the republic; assisted at the _coup d'état_, and was created a marshal in reward; commanded the french forces at the outbreak of the crimean war, and took part in the battle of the alma, but died a few days later ( - ). st. asaph ( ), a pretty little city in flintshire, m. se. of rhyl; its cathedral, the smallest in the kingdom, was rebuilt after , mainly in the decorated style. st. bees ( ), a village on the cumberland coast, m. s. of whitehaven; has a church of england theological college, founded in by dr. law, bishop of chester; designed for students of limited means; a ruined priory church of henry i.'s time was renovated for the accommodation of the college. st. bernard, the name of two mountain passes in the alps: , great st. bernard, in the pennine alps, leading from martigny to aosta, is ft. high, near the top of which stands a famous hospice, founded in , and kept by augustinian monks, who, with the aid of dogs called of st. bernard, do noble service in rescuing perishing travellers from the snow; , little st. bernard, in the graian alps, crosses the mountains which separate the valleys of aosta and tarantaise in savoy. hannibal is supposed to have crossed the alps by this pass. st. brieuc ( ), capital of the dep. of côtes du nord, brittany, on the gouet, and m. from its mouth; has a th-century cathedral, ruins of an interesting tower, lyceum, &c.; at the mouth of the river is the port le ligné. st. christopher or st. kitts ( ), one of the leeward islands, in the west indies archipelago, m. nw. of guadeloupe; a narrow mountainous island, m. long; produces sugar, molasses, rum, &c.; capital is basse-terre ( ). st. clair, a river of north america, flowing in a broad navigable stream from lake huron into lake st. clair, which in turn pours its surplus waters by means of the detroit river into lake erie. st. cloud ( ), a town in the dep. of seine-et-oise, france; occupies an elevated site near the seine, m. w. of paris; the fine château, built by louis xiv.'s brother, the duke of orleans, was for long the favourite residence of the emperor napoleon, since destroyed; a part of the park is occupied by the sèvres porcelain factory. st. cyr ( ), a french village, m. w. of versailles, where louis xiv., at the request of madame de maintenon, founded an institution for the education of girls of noble birth but poor, which was suppressed at the time of the revolution, and afterwards converted into a military school by napoleon. saint-cyr, laurent gouvion, marquis de, marshal of france, born at toul; joined the army in , and in six years had risen to the command of the french forces at rome; fought with distinction in the german and italian campaigns, and in the peninsular war; won his marshal's baton during the russian campaign of ; was captured at the capitulation of dresden in , much to the regret of napoleon; created a peer after the restoration, and was for some time minister of war; wrote some historical works ( - ). st. davids ( ), an interesting old cathedral town in pembrokeshire, on the streamlet alan, and not m. from st. brides bay; its cathedral, rebuilt after in the transition norman style, was at one time a famous resort of pilgrims. on the other side of the alan stand the ruins of bishop gower's palace. st. denis ( ), a town of france, on a canal of the same name, m. n. of paris, noted for its old abbey church, which from the th century became the burying-place of the french monarchs. during the revolution in the tombs were ruthlessly desecrated; there is also a school for the daughters of officers of the legion of honour, founded by napoleon; manufactures chemicals, printed calicoes, &c. st. elias, mount, an isolated, inaccessible volcanic mountain in the extreme nw. of canada, close to the frontier of alaska, , ft. high; has never been scaled. st. elmo's fire. see elmo's fire, st. st. Étienne ( ), a busy industrial town of france, capital of department of loire, on the furens, m. sw. of lyons; has been called the "birmingham of france"; is in the centre of a rich coal district, and produces every kind of hardware; the manufacture of ribbons is also an important industry; there is a school of mines. saint-Évremond, charles marguetel de saint-denis, seigneur de, a celebrated french wit and author; won distinction as a soldier, and rose to be a field-marshal; his turn for satiric writing got him into trouble, and in he fled to england, where the rest of his life was spent; wrote charming letters to his friend ninon de l'enclos; enjoyed the favour of charles ii., and published satires, essays, comedies, &c., which are distinguished by their polished style and genial irony; was buried in westminster ( - ). st. gall ( ), a ne. canton of switzerland, on the austrian frontier; its splendid lake and mountain scenery and mineral springs render many of its towns popular holiday resorts; the embroidery of cottons and other textiles is an important industry. st. gall ( ), the capital, is situated on the steinach, m. e. of zurich; is a town of great antiquity, and celebrated in past ages for its monastic schools; its magnificent mediæval cathedral has been restored; the old benedictine monastery is used now for government purposes, but still contains its famous collection of mss.; embroidering textiles is the chief industry. st. gothard, a noted mountain in the lepontine alps, ft. high, crossed by a pass leading from lake lucerne to lake maggiore; since traversed by a railway with a tunnel through from göschenen to airolo, a distance of ¼ m. st. helena ( ), a precipitous cliff-bound island lying well out in the atlantic, m. off the w. coast of africa; belongs to britain; celebrated as napoleon bonaparte's place of imprisonment from till his death in . jamestown ( ), the capital, is a second-class coaling station for the navy, and is fortified. st. helens ( ), a thriving manufacturing town of lancashire, on sankey brook, a feeder of the mersey, m. w. by s. of manchester; is the chief centre of the manufacture of crown, plate, and sheet glass. st. helier ( ), capital of jersey island, on st. aubin bay, on the s. side; is well fortified by fort regent and elizabeth castle, on a rocky islet near the shore; has a college, public library, &c.; fishing and shipbuilding are important industries. st. ives, , a town in cornwall, m. n. of penzance, the inhabitants of which are chiefly engaged in the pilchard fisheries. , a town in huntingdonshire, on the ouse, m. e. of huntingdon, where cromwell lived and theodore watts the artist was born. st. james's palace, an old, brick-built palace in pall mall, london, originally a hospital, converted into a manor by henry viii., and became eventually a royal residence. it gives name to the british court. st. john, a river of north america, rises in the highlands of north maine and crosses the continent in an easterly direction and falls into the bay of fundy after a course of m., of which m. are in new brunswick; is navigable for steamers as far as fredericton. st. john ( ), embracing the adjacent town of portland, chief commercial city of new brunswick, on the estuary of st. john river, m. nw. of halifax; has an excellent harbour; shipbuilding, fishing, and timber exporting are the chief industries; has a great variety of prosperous manufactures, such as machine and iron works, cotton and woollen factories, &c.; does a good trade with the west indies. st. johns ( ), capital of newfoundland, situated on a splendid harbour on the peninsula or avalon, in the e. of the island: is the nearest port of america to the continent of europe; has oil and tan works, &c. st. joseph ( ), a city of missouri, on the missouri river (here spanned by a fine bridge), m. above kansas city, is an important railway centre; as capital of buchanan county it possesses a number of state buildings and roman catholic colleges; does a large trade in pork-packing, iron goods, &c. saint-just, louis florelle de, a prominent french revolutionist, born at decize, near nevers; as a youth got into disgrace with his family and fled to paris, where, being bitten already by the ideas of rousseau, he flung himself heart and soul into the revolutionary movement, became the faithful henchman of robespierre, and finally followed his master to the guillotine, having in his zeal previously declared "for revolutionists there is no rest but in the tomb"; "he was a youth of slight stature, with mild mellow voice, enthusiast olive-complexioned, and long black hair" ( - ). st. kilda. see kilda, st. st. lawrence, one of the great rivers of north america; issues in a noble stream from lake ontario, and flowing due ne. discharges into the gulf of st. lawrence, forming a broad estuary; is m. long and from to m. broad; the scenery in parts is very grand, notably in the expansion--the lake of the thousand isles; is navigable for large steamers as far as montreal: the ottawa is its chief tributary; in winter navigation is suspended on account of the ice. st. lÓ ( ), a town in normandy, on a rocky eminence m. se. of cherbourg; has textile manufactures; was the birthplace of leverrier. st. louis, , one of the great commercial cities ( ) of the united states, capital of missouri state; situated on the mississippi (here spanned by two fine bridges), m. below its confluence with the missouri; is a handsomely built city, and equipped with every modern convenience, entirely lit by electric light, &c.; has spacious parks, two universities, public libraries, &c.; is a centre for railroads, which with the great river-way enables it to carry on a vast trade in grain, cotton, wool, furs, live stock, &c.; its tobacco manufacture is the greatest in the world. , also capital ( ) of the french colony of senegal, in west africa. st. lucia ( ), a rocky, forest-clad island in the west indies, the largest of the windward group; exports sugar, cocoa, logwood, &c.; capital is castries ( ). st. malo ( ), a strongly fortified seaport of france, on the brittany coast (department of ille-et-vilaine), at the mouth of the ranee; the old town is built over the rocher d'auron, an islet connected with the mainland by a causeway yards long; there is a good harbour, and a considerable amount of shipping is done; potatoes, dairy-produce, and some cereals are exported. it was the birthplace of several distinguished french authors and sailors. st. michael's ( ), the largest and most fertile of the azores, m. long by from m. to m. in breadth; is of volcanic origin; yields cereals, oranges, &c. st. michael's mount, an islet, forming a precipitous granite mass, in mount's bay, cornwall, connected with the mainland by a low causeway passable only at low tides; a fine old castle crowns its rocky height, and a small fishing village lies sheltered on the northern side. st. michel, mont, a remarkable islet in st. michel bay, sw. corner of normandy, m. w. of avranches; is formed of a single cone of granite, ft. high, crowned by a historic benedictine monastery; on the lower slopes is built a little fortified town; a causeway m. long joins it to the mainland. st. nazaire ( ), a flourishing seaport of france, on the loire, m. w. of nantes, where large sums have been expended in improving its spacious docks to accommodate an increasing shipping-trade; its exports, brandy, coal, wheat, &c., are mainly from nantes and the interior. st. neots ( ), an old market-town of huntingdonshire, on the ouse, m. sw. of huntingdon; has an interesting old parish church, a corn exchange, and iron and paper works. st. nicholas, the patron saint of boys, who was fabled to bring presents to good children on christmas eve; was bishop of myra in the th century, and had taken a special interest in the young. st. omer ( ), a fortified town of france, on the aa, m. se. of calais; has a fine old gothic cathedral, a ruined benedictine abbey church, a catholic college, arsenal, &c.; manufactures embrace light textiles, tobacco pipes, &c. st. paul ( ), capital of minnesota state, finely situated on the mississippi, a little below the mouth of the minnesota river; in a village of inhabitants; is now a beautiful and spacious city, equipped with colleges, libraries, government buildings, electric street-railways, &c.; is a centre for railways, and carries on a large trade in distributing groceries and dry goods throughout the state. st. paul's school, at west kensington, london, a famous charity school founded by john colet (q. v.), dean of st. paul's, for children of "every nation, country, and class"; originally stood in st. paul's churchyard, but was burned out by the great fire of ; the present building was opened in . the endowment amounts to £ , a year, and boys and girls are provided with education and board. there are a number of oxford and cambridge exhibitions. st. petersburg ( , ), capital of russia, an imposing city, occupying a dreary, isolated site at the head of the gulf of finland, on the banks and delta islands ( ) of the neva, founded in by peter the great; a large number of bridges span the main stream and its numerous divisions; massive stone quays hold back the waters, but a rise of ft. floods the city (a yearly occurrence in the poorer parts); the river is ice-bound nearly half the year, and is given over to sleighing, &c.; the short summer is hot; covers nearly sq. m.; its palaces and government buildings for number and grandeur are unsurpassed; neva view is the finest street in europe; is the centre of russian political, literary, scientific, and artistic life; has a university, numerous academies, cathedral, technical and training colleges, and libraries (the imperial public library contains , , vols.); connected with the volga basin by a canal, and the centre of four railways, it is the commercial metropolis and chief port of russia, and carries on half the foreign trade; exports one-fifth of the corn of russia, besides flax, linseed, leather, petroleum, &c.; imports coal, machinery, &c.; principal manufactures are cotton goods and other textiles, leather, sugar, porcelain goods, &c. st. pierre, henri bernardin de, french novelist, born at havre; an engineer by profession, was a disciple of rousseau both sentimentally and speculatively; his chief work, "paul and virginia" (q. v.), shows here as in his other writings, says professor saintsbury, "a remarkable faculty of word-painting, and also of influencing the feelings" ( - ). st. quentin ( ), a manufacturing town of france, on the somme, m. ne. of paris; manufactures all kinds of cotton and woollen goods, machinery, paper, &c.; has a fine old gothic church and town-hall; here the french were routed by the spaniards in , and by the germans in . st. rÉal, abbÉ de, historian, born at chambéry, where he settled in , and where he died; was historiographer to the duke of savoy, and wrote the "history of the conspiracy of spain against venice," a masterpiece of its kind, and modelled on sallust ( - ). saint saËns, charles camille, a french musician, born in paris; for years organist of the madeleine; composer of a number of operas (e. g. "henri viii.") indifferently successful, and of much orchestral and chamber music of a masterly kind; is held to be one of the greatest of living pianists and organists; also noted for his musical critiques; _b_. . st. simon, claude henri, comte de, founder of french socialism, and of a sect called after him st. simonians, born in paris, of an old noble family; grand-nephew of the succeeding, but renounced his title and devoted his life and all his means of living to the promotion of his socialist scheme, reducing himself in the end to utter penury; he made few disciples, though some of them were men of distinction; he is credited by carlyle with having discovered, "not without amazement, that man is still man, of which forgotten truth," he bids us remark, "he had made a false application"; that is, we presume, by reorganisation from without instead of regeneration from within; his scheme was a reconstruction of society by the abolition of the hereditary principle, and the vesting of the instruments of production in the state and the administration of these for the welfare of all its members ( - ). st. simon, louis de rouvroy, duc de, french courtier and diplomatist in the reign of louis xiv.; left "memoirs" in record of the times he lived in, depicting with remarkable sagacity the manners of the court and the characters of the courtiers ( - ). st. simonians. see st. simon, comte de. st. tammany, an american-indian chief, popularly canonised as a saint, and adopted as the tutelary genius by a section of the democratic party in the states; his motto was "unite in peace for happiness; in war for defence." st. thomas, , an unhealthy volcanic island ( ) in the gulf of guinea, belonging to portugal; produces coffee, cocoa, and some spices; chief town, st. thomas ( ), a port on the ne. , one of the virgin islands ( ), m. e. of porto rico; belongs to denmark; since the abolition of slavery its prosperous sugar trade has entirely departed; capital, st. thomas ( ), is now a coaling-station for steamers. st. thomas's, a handsome hospital on the s. side of the thames, opposite westminster, founded in , and with an annual revenue of £ , . saint-victor, paul de, an ornate french writer, born in paris; from was engaged in dramatic and other criticism, and established his reputation as a stylist of unusual brilliance. "when i read saint-victor i put on blue spectacles," said lamartine; author of several works on historical and æsthetic subjects (e. g. "anciens et modernes," "hommes et dieux") was for a number of years general inspector of fine arts ( - ). st. vincent ( ), one of the windward islands, in the west indies, m. w. of barbadoes, belongs to britain; a coaling and cable station; mountainous and volcanic; warm, but healthy climate; exports sugar, rum, spices, &c.; chief town is kingston ( ), a port on the sw. coast. st. vincent, cape, a lofty and rugged headland in the extreme sw. of portugal, off which have been fought several naval battles, the most memorable being the great victory on february , , when jervis and nelson annihilated the franco-spanish fleet. st. vincent, john jervis, earl, a noted english admiral, born at meaford hill, staffordshire; ran away to sea when a boy, and by gallantry at quebec in and otherwise rose rapidly in the service; commanded the naval attack upon the french west indies ( ), and four years later, as admiral of the mediterranean fleet, shared with nelson the honours of a brilliant victory over the combined fleets of france and spain off cape st. vincent; was created an earl in reward; during - was a successful first lord of the admiralty ( - ). sainte-beuve, charles augustin, the greatest of french literary critics, born at boulogne-sur-mer; adopted medicine as a profession in deference to the wishes of his widowed mother, and for some years studied at paris, but even as a student had begun his career as a literary critic by contributions to the _globe_ newspaper; in became acquainted with victor hugo, whose commanding influence drew him into the romantic movement, and determined for him a literary career; a critical work on french poetry in the th century ( ), two volumes of mediocre poetry ( - ), and a psychological novel, "volupté" ( ), the fruit of spiritual and mental unrest, preceded his lectures at lausanne on port-royal ( ), which, afterwards elaborated and published, contain some of his finest writings; an appointment in the mazarin library, paris ( ), brought him a modest competence, and allowed him during the next years to contribute without strain or stress to the _revue des deux mondes_; was elected in to the academy; three years later lectured for a session at liège university; during - he contributed a weekly literary article to the _constitutionnel_; these form his famous "causeries du lundi" and "nouveaux lundis," which, for variety of human interest, critical insight, and breadth of sympathy, remain unsurpassed; was appointed professor of latin in the collège de france ( ), but his unpopularity with the students, owing to his support of napoleon iii., led to his resignation; as a senator in his popularity revived by his eloquent advocacy of freedom of thought, and on his decease some , people attended his funeral ( - ). sainte-claire deville, henri Étienne, a noted french chemist, born in st. thomas, west indies; occupied for many years the chair of chemistry in the sorbonne, paris; his important contributions to chemical knowledge include a process for simplifying the extraction of aluminium and platinum ( - ). saintes ( ), an interesting old town in west france, dep. charente-inférieure, on the charente, m. se. of rochefort; known in ancient times as mediolanum; has some splendid roman remains, a cathedral, &c.; manufactures copper and iron goods, leather, &c. saintsbury, george, literary critic, born at southampton; graduated at merton college, oxford; was engaged in scholastic work for a number of years at manchester, guernsey, and elgin; in settled in london, and made a reputation for vigorous and scholarly criticism, devoting much of his time to french literature; elected to the chair of english literature in edinburgh university, ; is the author of a "short history of french literature," a "short history of english literature," besides several volumes of essays, &c.; _b_. . saÏs, a city of ancient egypt, on the delta, on the right bank of the w. branch of the nile; gave name to two egyptian dynasties founded by natives of it, was a religious centre, and eventually for a time capital, the temple of which was said to contain a veiled statue which became a subject of legend. saivas, in the hindu religion the worshippers of siva, one of the two great sections of the hindus, the worshippers of vishnu being the other. saki, a beer of alcoholic quality made in japan from rice by fermentation. it is drunk hot at meals, and is in a small way intoxicating. sakuntala, in hindu mythology a benignant female character, made the subject of a famous drama of kÁlidÁsa (q. v.), translated in by sir william jones. sakyamuni (i. e. the solitary of the sakyas), the name given to buddha, one of the tribe of the sakyas in northern india. sala, george augustus, a well-known journalist, born in london, of italian and english parentage; had some training in art before he began writing for dickens's _household words_, &c.; lived a busy, rambling life; founded and edited _temple bar;_ acted as war-correspondent for the _daily telegraph_; author of several popular novels, "captain dangerous" and "quite alone" among them, and books of travel, "a trip to barbary" and "america revisited" ( - ). salaam, an oriental term of salutation meaning "peace," especially among the mohammedans. saladin, sultan of egypt and syria, the hero of the third crusade on the saracen side; a man of noble and chivalrous character; served first as a soldier under nureddin; rose to be vizier of egypt, and ultimately sovereign in ; distinguished himself by the capture of damascus, aleppo, &c., and entering the holy land defeated the christians at tiberias, thereafter taking jerusalem and laying siege to tyre; found in richard coeur de lion a foeman worthy of his steel, concluded a truce in , and died the year after ( - ). salamanca ( ), an interesting old city of spain, capital of a province of the same name, occupies a hilly site on the tormes, here spanned by a roman bridge, m. nw. of madrid, long famous for its university, which in its heyday ( th century) numbered students, now fallen to ; holds within its surrounding walls many fine old cathedrals, colleges, and other buildings; its industries are greatly fallen off, and consist mainly of cloth, linen, leather, and pottery manufacturing; in this neighbourhood wellington won a great victory over the french on july , . salamander, an elemental spirit conceived in the middle ages as an animal that lived in the fire as its proper element. salamis, a mountainous island of greece, on the nw. coast of attica, the strait between which and the mainland was the scene of a naval victory over the armament of xerxes by the combined fleets of athens, sparta, and corinth in b.c. saldanha oliveira e daun joÃo carlos, duke of, portuguese statesman and soldier, played an honourable and patriotic part in many wars and crises of his country, notably in brazil in the struggle between dom pedro and dom miguel, and during his occupancy of the premiership on three several occasions between - ; proved a mild constitutionalist, and enjoyed the confidence and support of england; was created a duke in ( - ). sale, george, orientalist, born in kent, and bred for the bar, contributed to the "universal history" and the "general dictionary," but is best known as the translator of the "korân," with a preliminary dissertation and notes; he left a body of mss. behind him ( - ). sale, sir robert henry, british general; saw a great deal of fighting; was distinguished in the burmese war of - , and in the war against afghanistan in , in both of which he was wounded, and afterwards in the latter country during - ; he was killed at the battle of mudki fighting against the sikhs ( - ). salem, , a city ( ) and seaport of the united states, founded in on a peninsula in massachusetts bay, m. ne. of boston; its foreign trade has fallen away, but a good coasting trade is done in ice and coal; manufactures include cottons, jutes, shoes, &c. , capital ( ) of oregon, on the willamette river, m. n. of san francisco. salerno ( ), a city of south italy, on a gulf of the name, m. se. of naples; has some fine gothic buildings, notably the cathedral of st. matthew; had a european fame in the middle ages for its medical school and university, closed in ; cotton-spinning is the chief industry; in the neighbourhood are the ruins of pæstum and an old norman castle. salette, la, a french village amid alpine scenery, m. se. of grenoble; has become a place of pilgrimage, since the alleged appearance of the virgin to two peasant children on th september . salford ( ), a suburb of manchester, with cotton factories and iron-works, and with manchester forms the second largest city in england. salic law, a law which obtained among the salian franks, as also in certain german states, which excluded females from succession to the throne. salicylic acid, produced in commercial quantities from carbolic acid; is a white crystalline powder, soluble in water, odourless, of a sweetish acid taste; largely used as an external antiseptic, and internally in the form of salicylate of sodium as a febrifuge and cure for acute rheumatism. salisbury ( ), a cathedral city, and capital of wiltshire, m. wsw. of london; the cathedral, founded in , and frequently added to and restored, is one of the finest specimens of early english architecture; has a number of other interesting old buildings--churches, almshouses, inns, an endowed school, &c.; agriculture is the staple industry; also called new sarum, and a mile to the n. is the half-obliterated site of old sarum, with many interesting historical associations; while round the neighbourhood sweeps the wide, undulating, pastoral salisbury plain, with its druidical circle of stonehenge (q. v.). salisbury, robert arthur talbot gascoigne cecil, marquis of, statesman, educated at eton and christ church, oxford; as lord cecil, represented stamford in parliament in ; was, as lord cranborne, secretary for india in under lord derby; entered the house of lords as lord salisbury in , and distinguished himself as foremost in debate; became secretary for india under disraeli in , and secretary for foreign affairs in , in which latter year he, on the death of beaconsfield, became leader of the conservative party; after this he was three times raised to the premiership, the last time on lord roseberys retirement in , by coalition with the liberal unionists (q. v.); was at one time a contributor to the _saturday review_, and is interested in scientific pursuits, chemistry in particular; _b_. . sallust, roman historian, born at amiternum, in the territory of the sabines, and attained the quæstorship and the tribunate, though a plebeian; for a misdemeanour was expelled the senate; joined cæsar's party in the civil war, and became governor of numidia; enriched himself by extortions, and returned to rome a rich man, and gave himself to literature; wrote the "catiline conspiracy," and the "war with jugurtha," among other works, in a terse and forcible style, and was the precursor of livy and tacitus; as a writer he affects the moralist, though he lived in vice ( - b.c.). salmasius, eminent french scholar, learned in greek, latin, hebrew, arabic, and other languages; succeeded scaliger at leyden, and associated with casaubon, grotius, and other scholars; embraced protestantism; wrote a number of learned works, but his "defence of charles i." proved a failure, and provoked from milton a crushing reply; died a disappointed man, though he refused to sell his literary talent for money, when richelieu tried hard to bribe him ( - ). salmon, george, mathematician and divine, born in dublin, and there in graduated with mathematical honours at trinity college; became a fellow, entered the church, and in was elected regius professor of divinity, becoming provost of the college in ; has carried on with eminent success his dual studies, mathematics and theology, and has published some notable works in both sciences, e. g. in theology, "non-miraculous christianity," "gnosticism and agnosticism," a scholarly and popular "introduction to the new testament," and in mathematics "analytic geometry," "the higher plane curves," &c. _b_. . salomon, johann peter, a violinist and composer, born at bonn; was in his youth attached, to the court of prince henry of prussia, at which time he wrote some operas; came to london, and is remembered for the great stimulus he gave to musical culture, and especially the study of haydn in england by his philharmonic concerts ( ) and production of that great master's symphonies; composed songs, glees, violin pieces, &c.; buried in westminster abbey ( - ). salonica or saloniki ( ), the thessalonica of the scriptures, the second port and city of turkey in europe; occupies a bold and rocky site at the head of the gulf of salonica, m. sw. of constantinople; is surrounded by walls, is well laid out, drained, &c.; contains many fine old mosques; has an increasing commerce, exporting corn, cotton, opium, wool, &c.; founded in b.c., and has ever since been a place of considerable importance. salsette ( ), an island n. of bombay, and connected with it by a causeway, with richly cultivated fields and rock temples among other ruins. salt, sir titus, english manufacturer, born near leeds; introduced the manufacture of alpaca, planted his factory at saltaire, near leeds, which he made a model village for his workers as a philanthropic employer of labour ( - ). salt lake city ( ), the capital of utah, a high-lying city and stronghold of mormonism, m. from great salt lake; contains the mormon temple, which it took years to build, and it has besides many fine churches, and the university of deseret. salt range, a tract of lofty tableland buttressed on either side by mountain ranges to ft. high, and stretching across the punjab e. and w., between jhelum and indus rivers; derives its name from the remarkably rich deposits of rock-salt, which are extensively worked. salts, in chemistry an important class of compound substances formed by the union of an acid with a metal or a base, that is, a substance having, like a metal, the power of replacing in part or in whole the hydrogen of the acid employed. saltus, edgar, an interesting american writer, born in new york; a busy writer in fiction, biography (balzac), and philosophy, e. g. "the philosophy of disenchantment" and "the anatomy of negation," studies in a somewhat cheerful pessimism; _b_. . salvador ( ), the smallest but the most densely populated of the republics of central america, about one-sixth the size of england and wales; has a western foreshore between guatemala (n.) and nicaragua (s.), fronting the pacific for m.; slopes up from rich alluvial coast-lands to high plateaus, which stretch, seamed and broken by rivers and volcanoes, to the cordillera frontier of honduras on the e.; soil is extremely fertile and naturally irrigated by numerous streams, and produces in abundance coffee and indigo (chief exports), balsam, tobacco, sugar, cereals, &c.; has a warm, healthy climate. the natives are chiefly indians of aztec descent, but speaking spanish. the government is vested in a president and chamber of deputies. education is free and compulsory. broke away from spanish control in ; was a member of the central american confederacy, but since has enjoyed complete independence. capital, san salvador (q. v.). salvation army, a modern religious organisation and propaganda, remarkable alike for its novel methods and phenomenal expansion; assumed its present quasi-military form in , but is in reality the outgrowth of a mission founded in london in by the rev. william booth (q. v.), and nobly furthered by his wife. it is in essence a protest against the older conventional methods of propagating the christian religion, and would seem by its remarkable success to have ministered to some latent and wide-spread need among the poorer classes. in it numbered , enrolled soldiers, , local officers, and , officers; these are spread over countries. the members assume semi-military attire, march through the streets to the sound of musical instruments, displaying banners; but while these and other sensational devices bring its purposes home to the hearts of the people, its vitality rests upon the real spiritual devotion and self-sacrifice of its members. various agencies of a more directly philanthropic kind (homes of rest, rescues, workshops, farms, etc.) have become attached to it, and are generously supported by the public. funds are raised by means of the _war cry_ and other periodicals. salvini, tommaso, a celebrated italian tragedian, born, the son of an actor, at milan; was trained to the stage, and joined ristori's company; served with distinction in the revolutionary war of , and returning to the stage won for himself a european fame, appearing in france, spain, united states, england, &c.; achieved his greatest success in "othello"; retired after , and published "leaves from my autobiography"; _b_. . salween, a river of asia whose source is still uncertain; forms in its lower part the boundary between siam and british burma, and falls into the gulf of martaban; its upper course traverses the northern shan district; only m. of it are navigable. salzburg ( ), a western province and duchy of austria, borders on bavaria between the tyrol and upper austria; is woody and mountainous, especially in the s., where fine scenery is formed by the alps; excellent meadowland favours a prosperous industry in the rearing of cattle and horses. the inhabitants, being protestants, were severely persecuted by the church, and , of them emigrated in , and on the invitation of frederick william of prussia settled in lithuania, that had been desolated by plague. salzburg ( ), the capital, occupies a fine site on the hill-girt banks of the salzach (crossed by bridges), m. e. by s. of münich; is a handsome and interesting city, with many fine old buildings, including a cathedral, archbishop's palace, imperial palace, monasteries, &c.; has a theological college, libraries, &c.; birthplace of mozart; manufactures musical instruments, &c. salzkammergut ( ), a beautiful mountain district of austria, between salzburg (w.) and styria (e.); salt mines and springs give a rich yield of salt. sam slick. see slick. sam weller. see weller. samarcand ( ), a city of west turkestan, situated at the western base of the tian-shan mountains, m. se. of bokhara. suffered at the hands of genghis khan in the th century; was timur's capital in the th century, and has since been held sacred by the moslems. captured by the russians in , who have improved it, and built a handsome suburb on the west. manufactures silk, cotton, paper, &c. samaria, a city of a district of the name between judea and galilee in the holy land, and which became the capital of the north kingdom of israel after the revolt from the southern; was desolated by the hosts of assyria in b.c., and repeopled afterwards by assyrian settlers, who were converted to the jewish faith, and ministered to by a jewish priest; when the jews rebuilt the temple of jerusalem, the samaritans' offer to aid was rejected, and the refusal led to a bitter hostility between the jews and samaritans ever after. samaritan pentateuch, a version of the pentateuch in use among the samaritans, and alone accepted by them as canonical. it is of value from its independence of other versions. samaritans. see samaria. samaveda, the section of the veda that contains the chants, intended for singers. samian sage, name given to pythagoras as a native of samos. samnites, a warlike people of ancient italy in territory se. of rome; gave the romans much trouble till, after two successive wars in and b.c., they were subdued in b.c. a revolt in b.c. led to their extermination as an nation. samoa, or navigators' islands ( ), a group of volcanic islands in the w. pacific, of which three alone are of any size--savaii, upolu, and tutuila; all are mountainous and richly wooded; climate is moist and warm; copra is the chief export, and cotton, coffee, tobacco, &c., are grown; the natives, a vigorous polynesian race, have been christianised; the islands are under the joint suzerainty of britain, germany, and the united states; the chief town of the group is apia ( ), at the head of a pretty bay in upolu; near here r. louis stevenson spent the last five years of his life. samos, a fertile island in the Ægean sea, about m. long and wide, separated from the coast of ionia, three-quarters of a mile wide; had an extensive trade with egypt and crete; came through various fortunes under the chief powers of ancient and mediæval europe till it became subject to turkey; had a capital of the same name, which in the fifth century b.c. was one of the finest cities in the world. samothrace, a mountainous, bleak island in the Ægean sea, nw. of the mouth of the dardanelles; has only one village of inhabitants; was in ancient times place of cabiri worship (q. v.). samoyedes, a people of the mongolian race, occupying the n. shores of russia and siberia from the white sea to the yenisei; live by hunting and fishing, and are idol-worshippers; they are fast disappearing. sampson, dominie, a character in scott's "guy mannering." samson, ranked as judge of israel, but the story of his life is as of a jewish hero, distinguished for his feats of strength; employed in the service of his country against the philistines. samson agonistes, the strong man of a nation or race caught in the net of his and their enemies, and, encompassed by them, wrestling in his soul's agony to free himself from them; the imagery here being suggested by the story of samson in the hands of the philistines. samuel, a jewish prophet, born, of the tribe of levi, about b.c.; consecrated by his mother from earliest years to the service of the lord; who became a judge when he was , anointed first saul and then david to be king over the till then disunited tribes of israel, and thus became the founder of the jewish monarchy. samuel, books of, two books of the old testament, originally one, and divided in the septuagint into two, entitled respectively the first and second books of kings; the narrative embraces a period of years, and extends from the time of the judges to the close of the reign of david, including the intermediate judgeship of samuel and the reign of saul, with the view of exalting the prophetic office on the one hand and the kingly office on the other. san antonio ( ), the second city of texas, of spanish origin, on a river of the name, m. w. of austin; has a catholic college, cathedral, arsenal, &c.; does a good trade in the produce of a fertile neighbourhood, and manufactures flour, leather, beer, &c. san diego ( ), a thriving port in s. california, situated on a handsome bay of the same name, m. se. of los angeles; wool is the chief export. san domingo ( ), capital of the dominican republic, a fortified port on the s. coast of hayti; has a th-century gothic cathedral, college, hospital, &c.; founded by columbus. san francisco ( ), capital of california, and commercial metropolis of the w. coast of america; occupies the ne. corner of a tongue of land stretching between the pacific and san francisco bay, which, with san pablo bay and suisun bay--extensions to the n.--forms a handsome land-locked sheet of water m. long, communicating with the ocean by golden gate strait; has practically sprung into existence since the discovery of gold in , and is now a spacious and evenly laid-out city, with every modern convenience--electric light, cable tramways, &c.; many of the dwelling-houses are of wood, but marble and granite give dignity to government buildings, hotels, theatres, &c.; there is a remarkable number of religious sects; has a fine park, many free schools, a number of colleges, and a university; as the western terminus of the great continental railroads and outlet for the produce of a rich wheat district it has a large shipping trade; important industries are shipbuilding, whale-fishing, sugar-refining, iron-works, &c. san josÉ ( ), a city of california, and capital of santa clara county, on the guadalupe river, m. se. of san francisco; has a couple of catholic colleges, a methodist university, pretty orchards, &c.; fruit-canning and the manufacture of flour and woollen goods are the chief industries. the name also of small towns in guatemala, lower california, and uruguay. san josÉ ( ), capital of costa rica, situated on a fertile and elevated plain between the caribbean sea and the pacific; grain, the vine, and many fruits are grown in the neighbourhood; flour-milling and distilling (government works) are the principal town industries; there is a university. san juan ( ), a mountainous province of the argentine republic, on the chilian border; is rich in metals, but, save coal, not worked; agriculture is the chief industry. san juan ( ), on a river of the same name, is the capital, lies m. n. of mendoza; has public baths, a bull-ring, library, &c.; exports cattle and fodder, chiefly to chile. the name of numerous other towns in different parts of spanish south america. san marino ( ), a little republic of europe which has maintained its independence since the th century; comprises a town (same name) and several villages occupying rocky and elevated sites on the eastern slopes of the apennines; some agriculture and cattle-rearing are done; is under the friendly protection of italy. san remo ( ), a town in northern italy, on a bay in the gulf of genoa, in the riviera, m. ne. of nice; is sheltered by a semicircle of hills, and from its mild climate is a favourite winter resort; trades in olive-oil, palms, and lemons. san salvador ( ), capital of salvador (q. v.), situated on a fertile and elevated plain at the base of an extinct volcano; has suffered frequently and severely from earthquakes, and after the disaster of a new town, nueva san salvador, was built m. to the sw., only to suffer a similar fate. san sebastian ( ), a fortified seaport of north spain, on a small peninsula jutting into the bay of biscay, m. from the french frontier; is guarded by a strong citadel, and since its bombardment by wellington in has been spaciously rebuilt; has a beautiful foreshore, and is a favourite watering-place; has a fair export trade. san stefano, a turkish village, a few miles w. of constantinople, where a preliminary treaty was signed between turkey and russia after the war of - . sanchez, thomas, a spanish casuist, born at cordova; author of a treatise on the "sacrament of marriage," rendered notorious from the sarcastic treatment it received at the hands of pascal and voltaire ( - ). sancho panza, the immortal squire of don quixote. see panza, sancho. sanchoniathon, a phoenician historian of uncertain date; author of a history of phoenicia, of which only a few fragments remain, and that of a translation into greek; he is supposed to have lived in the time of semiramus. sancroft, william, an english prelate, born in suffolk; rose through a succession of preferments to be archbishop of canterbury; was with six other bishops committed to the tower for petitioning against james ii.'s second declaration of indulgence; refused to take the oath of allegiance to william and mary, and was driven from his post, after which he retired to his native place ( - ). sand, george, the assumed name of aurore dupin, notable french novelist, born in paris; married baron dudevant, a man of means, but with no literary sympathies; became the mother of two children, and after nine years effected a separation from him ( ) and went to paris to push her way in literature, and involved herself in some unhappy _liaisons_, notably with alfred de musset (q. v.) and chopin; after she experienced a sharp revulsion from this bohemian life, and her last twenty-five years were spent in the quiet "châtelaine of nohant" (inherited) in never-ceasing literary activity, and in entertaining the many eminent _littérateurs_ of all countries who visited her; her voluminous works reflect the strange shifts of her life; "indiana," "lélia," and other novels reveal the tumult and revolt that mark her early years in paris; "consuelo," "spiridion," &c., show her engaged with political, philosophical, and religious speculation; "elle et lui" and "lucrezia floriani" are the outcome of her relations with musset and chopin; the calm of her later years is reflected in "la petite fadette," "françois le champi," and other charming studies of rustic life; her "histoire de ma vie" and posthumous letters also deserve notice; her work is characterised by a richly flowing style, an exuberant imagination, and is throughout full of true colour and vivid emotion ( - ). sandeau, lÉonard jules, french novelist, born at aubusson; gave up law for literature; was george sands first "friend" in paris, and wrote with her "rose et blanche"; contributed to the _revue des deux mondes_; wrote many novels and plays, and was elected to the academy ( ), and during his later life held the librarianship at st. cloud ( - ). sandemanians. see glassites. sanderson, burdon, english physiologist; professor of physiology first at university college, london, and since at oxford; is one of the greatest authorities on the subject; _b_. . sanderson, robert, english prelate, great casuist; became chaplain to charles i. in , and bishop of lincoln in ( - ). sandhurst or bendigo ( ), a mining city of victoria, australia, on bendigo creek, m. nw. of melbourne; came into existence with the "gold rush" of ; mines are still of value; a good trade in grain, brewing, iron-founding, &c., is also done. sandringham, an estate in norfolk of over acres, ½ m. ne. of lynn, the property of the prince of wales since . sandwich ( ), one of the old cinque ports (q. v.) in kent, on the stour, and once on the sea, but now, by the receding of the sea, m. distant; m. e. of canterbury; an interesting place of many historical associations; has a splendid golf course, which attracts summer visitors. sandwich islands. see hawaiian islands. sangha, the buddhist church, and the third term of the triratna or buddhist trinity, the two other being buddha and dharma, his law. sangraal. see graal, holy. sanhedrim, a council of the jews which held its sittings in jerusalem, and claimed authority and jurisdiction over the whole jewish people; it was an aristocratic body, and was presided over by the high-priest; its authority was limited from time to time, and it ceased to exist with the fall of jerusalem; there is no note of its existence prior to the grecian period of jewish history. sankara, a hindu teacher of the philosophy or the vedas, who lived some time between and b.c., and was the author of a number of commentaries on the sacred writings of the hindus, the teachings of which he contributed to develop. sankhya, one of three systems of hindu philosophy, yoga and vedânta being the other two, and the system which is most in affinity with the doctrine of buddha. sannazaro, jacopo, an italian poet, enjoyed the favour of king frederick iii. of naples, and wrote amongst other things a pastoral medley in verse and prose called "arcadia," which ranks as an italian classic ( - ). sans souci (i. e. no bother), "an elegant, commodious little 'country box,' one storey high, on a pleasant hill-top near potsdam"; the retreat of frederick the great after his wars were over, and in part sketched by himself, and where he spent the last years of his life, specially as years advanced; it is m. from berlin, and the name is frederick's own invention. sansculottes (i. e. fellows without breeches), a name of contempt applied by the aristocratic party in france to the revolutionists, and at length accepted by the latter as a term of honour, as men who asserted their claim to regard on their naked manhood. sansculottism, belief in the rights of man, stript of all the conventional vestures and badges by which alone, and without any other ground of right, one man maintains an ascendency over another. sanskrit, the name given to the ancient literary language of the hindus, still preserved in their literature, belongs to the aryan family of languages, in their purest form and most perfect development. santa-anna, antonio de, a noted soldier and president of mexico, entered the army as a boy, and from the proclamation of the republic in till his final exile in was embroiled in all the wars, intrigues, and revolutions of his country; was four times president, and on the last occasion ( ) was appointed for life, but his habitual harshness alienated the people in two years; fled the country as on many former crises in his life; intrigued against the newly-established empire, but was captured and sentenced to death ( ); allowed to expatriate himself, and died in exile; he was one of the most forceful characters in mexican history ( - ). santa claus, contraction of st. nicholas (q. v.). santa cruz or nitendi ( ), the largest of the queen charlotte or santa cruz islands, in the south pacific, m. n. of the new hebrides; on one of the smaller islands bishop patteson was brutally murdered by the natives in . santa cruz or st. croix ( ), one of the virgin islands; produces sugar, rum, and cotton; ceded by france to denmark in ; a serious nigger revolt took place in ; capital is christianstadt ( ). santa cruz or teneriffe ( ), capital and chief seaport of the canary islands, situated on the ne. side of teneriffe; has an excellent and strongly-fortified harbour; is an important coaling port for ocean steamers; cochineal, wine, and garden-produce are the chief exports. santa fÉ, , on the rio solado, capital ( ) of a rich agricultural province ( ) of the argentine republic, lying n. of buenos ayres. , capital ( ) of new mexico, u.s.; holds an elevated site amid the rockies; is the centre of a good mining district; has the oldest spanish cathedral in the united states. santals, one of the aboriginal tribes of india, inhabiting a district in the province of bengal, which stretches southward from the ganges; they are chiefly hunters, but also agriculturists; dwell by the forest edges, are fond of music, and are sun-worshippers; number considerably over a million. santander ( ), a flourishing port of north spain, stands on a fine bay facing the bay of biscay, m. n. of madrid; actively engaged in cigar-making, brewing, cotton-spinning, flour-milling, &c.; exports flour, wine, and cereals; a popular seaside resort. santerre, antoine joseph, a popular wealthy brewer, born in paris; assisted at the fall of the bastille; played a conspicuous part during the revolution; became commander of the national guard in ; proposed as a relief in famine that every citizen should live two days a week on potatoes, and that every man should hang his dog; conducted king louis into the judgment, holding him by the arm; with a stamp of his foot ordered him to mount the guillotine; failed in quelling the insurrection in la vendée, and was recalled; was made brigadier-general by napoleon as a reward for keeping the peace which he would fain have disturbed on the th brumaire in ( - ). santiago ( ), capital of chile, beautifully situated on a wide fertile and elevated plain overhung on the n. and e. by the snow-clad peaks of the andes, m. se. of valparaiso; the mapocho, a mountain stream, passes through the n. part of the city, is handsomely laid out with spacious plazas, a noble alameda, and well-paved streets; has many fine public buildings, hotels, a cathedral, a university, art, agricultural, and military schools, botanical and zoological gardens, &c.; in the pretty neighbourhood there is a popular racecourse; is an important commercial centre, with a stock exchange, law-courts, and manufactures of cloth, flour, ships' biscuits, beer, ice, &c. santiago de compostella ( ), a city of spain, in galicia, of which it was formerly the capital, m. ne. of carril, on the coast; has an interesting old romanesque cathedral, a noted place of pilgrimage in the middle ages, a university, and several ruined monasteries; manufactures linen, leather, &c. santiago de cuba ( ), formerly capital of cuba, on a beautiful land-locked bay on the s. coast; the harbour is strongly fortified; is the see of an archbishop, and has an old spanish cathedral, also flourishing sugar-factories, foundries, &c. santley, charles, a well-known baritone singer, born in liverpool; studied at milan; made his _début_ in , and ever since has been an accepted favourite with the public both as an oratorio and operatic singer; has published a volume of reminiscences; _b_. . santorin or thera ( ), a volcanic island in the Ægean, one of the cyclades; is the southmost of the group, and lies m. n. of crete; the vine grows luxuriantly, and there is a good wine trade; has many interesting prehistoric remains; chief town, thera or phera, on the w. coast. sÃo francisco, one of the great rivers of brazil, for the most part navigable; rises in the sw., near the source of the paraná, and flows n., ne., and se. till it reaches the s. atlantic after a course of m., forming in its lower part the boundary between the maritime provinces sergipe and alagoas; higher it divides bahia and pernambuco. sÃo paulo ( ), a manufacturing town of brazil (minerals, coffee); capital of a productive and healthy state ( , ) of the same name, situated on a plain m. w. by s. from rio de janeiro; has pretty suburbs, electric light, &c.; is the chief centre of the brazilian coffee trade, and has manufactories of cotton, tobacco, spirits, &c.; is the seat of a law-school. saÔne, a tributary of the rhône; rises among the faucelles mountains, in vosges, and flows sw. and s. to the rhône at lyons; length m., of which one-half is navigable. saÔne, haute- ( ), a department in the e. of france, near the alsace border, between vosges (n.) and doubs (s.); forests abound; about one-half is under cultivation, and there are fine cherry orchards; watered by the saône and its affluents. saÔne-et-loire ( ), an east-midland department of france, bounded se. and w. by the saône and loire; has a fine fertile surface, and is noted for its cattle and abundant output of wine; iron and coal are wrought, and its towns are busy with the manufacture of cotton goods, pottery, machinery, &c. sapphire, a precious stone of the corundum class, and differing from the ruby (q. v.) only in colour, which is a blue of various shades; the finest specimens are found in ceylon; its value depends chiefly on quality, and not so much (like the ruby) on size. sappho, a lyric poetess of greece of the th century b.c., and a contemporary of alcæus; was a woman of strong passions and of questionable morality, but of undoubted genius, her lyrics being among the masterpieces of antiquity, though only two of her odes and some short fragments of others remain; of her history little is known, and what is known is far from reliable. saracens, the name given in mediæval times to the arabs or mohammedans, and extended to all the non-christian races with whom the crusaders or christian races came to grips. saragossa ( ), an interesting city of spain, and capital of aragon, on the ebro, which flows through it, m. ne. of madrid; its history goes back to far roman times, and includes fierce struggles between goths, moors, and spaniards, and a memorable siege by the french in ; being one of the earliest christian cities of spain it contains many interesting relics, cathedrals, &c.; there is a university, citadel, archiepiscopal palace, &c.; manufactures embrace cloth, silks, leather, &c. sarasate, martin meliton, a spanish violinist, and one of the most finished of the day, a basque by birth, but educated at paris; has travelled over the world, winning fame and a fortune; made his first appearance in london in ; is composer of some light pieces; _b_. . sarasvati, a hindu goddess, and ultimately the wife of brahma and goddess of music and eloquence. saratoff ( ), a handsome city of russia, on the volga, m. se. of moscow; has thriving industries in distilling, flour, oil, and tobacco, and trades in corn, salt, textiles, &c.; the government of saratoff ( , ) is a prosperous agricultural district. saratoga springs ( ), one of the best-known watering-places of the united states, in new york state, m. n. of albany; plentifully supplied with mineral springs; once a village, now growing into a town of hotels, &c.; m. to the e. is the scene of burgoyne's surrender to gates, october , . sara`wak ( ), a principality of north-west borneo, fronting the chinese sea on the nw. and contiguous to dutch borneo; was granted as an independent rajahship to sir james brooke by the sultan of borneo in , and governed by him and afterwards by his son, by whom it was put under british protection in ; is very fertile, and grows sugar, coco-nuts, rice, sago, rubber, tea, &c.; is rich in minerals, and mining is carried on of antimony, quicksilver, gold, and coal; capital kuching ( ), on the sarawak river. sardanapÁlus, the last king of assyria; led a luxurious, effeminate life, but surprised when at his ease by a large army of invaders he suddenly developed into a hero, till hard pressed at length and shut up in nineveh, and after two years' defence finding resistance hopeless, he reared a funeral pile, and setting fire to it, threw himself upon it and perished in the flames. sardinia ( ), an island of the mediterranean, m. long and m. broad, the second largest, sicily being larger, and to the s. of corsica; is since part of the kingdom of italy; it has a fruitful soil, and presents a diversified surface of hill and valley; the chief export is salt, and there are extensive fisheries; the capital is cagliari, in the s.; it is rich in mineral resources, but the exploitation of these is in a backward state. sardis, capital of ancient lydia, in asia minor, at the foot of mount tmolus, celebrated for its wealth, its trade, and luxury, through the market-place of which the river pactolus flowed with its sands of gold. sardou, victorien, a popular french playwright, born at paris; gave up medicine for literature, and his first successes were "monsieur garat" and "les prés saint-gervais," both in ; from that date his popularity and wealth began to flow in upon him; his work has been taken up by sarah bernhardt, for whom he wrote "fédora," "théodora," and "la tosca" ( ); a number of his plays have been translated into english, such as "a scrap of paper," "diplomacy," &c.; was elected to the academy in ; his plays are characterised by clever dialogue and stage effects, and an emotionalism rather french than english; _b_. . sarmatians or sarmats, an ancient race, embracing several warlike nomadic tribes, who spoke the scythian language, and inhabited the shores of the black sea and eastern europe as far as the caucasus; fought with mithridates against the romans; were overwhelmed by the goths in the th century a.d., and afterwards gradually absorbed by the slavs. sarpedon, the "nestor" and king of the lycians, was son of zeus and europa. sarpi, paul, an italian historian of the monastic order, born at venice; was a man of wide attainments and liberal views; was the champion of the republic against the pope; was summoned to rome, and on his refusal to obey, excommunicated; his life being in peril he retired into his monastery, and wrote the "history of the council of trent," with which his name has ever since been associated; he was held in high honour by the venetians, and was honoured at his death by a public funeral ( - ). sarto, andreo del (i. e. andrew, the tailors son), a florentine artist; painted in oil and fresco numerous works; died of the plague at florence, his work displays accuracy of drawing and delicacy of feeling ( - ). sartor resartus (i. e. the tailor patched), a book written by carlyle at craigenputtock (q. v.) in , published piecemeal in _frazer's magazine_ in - , and that first appeared in a book form in america, under emerson's auspices, in , but not in england till . it professes to be on the philosophy of "clothes" (q. v.), and is divided into three sections, the first in exposition of the philosophy, the second on the life of the philosopher, and the third on the practical bearings of his idea. it is a book in many respects unparalleled in literature, and for spiritual significance and worth the most remarkable that has been written in the century. it was written _in_ the time and _for_ the time by one who understood the time as not another of his contemporaries succeeded in doing, and who interprets it in a light in which every man must read it who would solve its problems to any purpose. its style is an offence to many, but not to any one who loves wisdom and has faith in god. for it is a brave book, and a reassuring, as well as a wise, the author of it regarding the universe not as a dead thing but a living, and athwart the fire deluges that from time to time sweep it, and seem to threaten with ruin everything in it we hold sacred, descrying nothing more appalling than the phoenix-bird immolating herself in flames that she may the sooner rise renewed out of her ashes and soar aloft with healing in her wings. see carlyle, thomas, exodus from houndsditch, natural supernaturalism, &c. saskatchewan, one of the great and navigable rivers of canada, rises among the rockies in two great branches, called respectively the north and south saskatchewan, and m., which flowing generally e., unite, and after a course of m. pass into lake winnipeg, whence it issues as the nelson, and flows m. ne. to hudson's bay. the upper branches traverse and give their name to one of the western territories of canada. sassari ( ), the second city of sardinia, in the nw., prettily situated amid olive and orange groves, m. from the gulf of asinara; has an old cathedral, castle, and university, and does a good trade in olive-oil, grain, &c. satan, an archangel who, according to the talmud, revolted against the most high, particularly when required to do homage to adam, and who for his disobedience was with all his following cast into the abyss of hell. see devil. satanic school, name applied by southey to a class of writers headed by byron and shelley, because, according to him, their productions were "characterised by a satanic spirit of pride and audacious impiety," and who, according to carlyle, wasted their breath in a fierce wrangle with the devil, and had not the courage to fairly face and honestly fight him. satellites (lit. attendants), name given to the secondary bodies which revolve round the planets of the solar system, of which the earth has one, mars two, jupiter four, saturn eight, uranus four, and neptune is known to have at least one, as venus is surmised to have. satire, a species of poetry or prose writing in which the vice or folly of the times is held up to ridicule, a species in which horace and juvenal excelled among the romans, and dryden, pope, and swift among us. satrap, a governor of a province under the ancient persian monarchy, with large military and civil powers; when the central authority began to wane, some of them set up as independent rulers. saturn, in the roman mythology a primitive god of agriculture in italy, often confounded with the greek kronos, the father of zeus, and sovereign of the golden age; was represented as an old man bearing a sickle. saturn, the planet of the solar system whose orbit is outside that of jupiter, is millions of miles from the sun, round which it takes , days or nearly years to revolve, revolving on its own axis in about ½ hours; its diameter is nine times greater than that of the earth; it is surrounded by bright rings that appear as three, and is accompanied by eight moons; the rings are solid, and are supposed to consist of a continuous belt of moons. saturnalia, a festival in ancient rome in honour of saturn, in which all classes, free and bond, and young and old, enjoyed and indulged in all kinds of merriment without restraint. satyrs, in the greek mythology semi-animal woodland deities who roamed the hills generally in the train of dionysus (q. v.), dancing to rustic music; represented with long pointed ears, flat noses, short horns, and a hair-clad man's body, with the legs and hoofs of a goat; they are of lustful nature, and fond of sensual pleasure generally. sauerkraut, a favourite article of food in germany and elsewhere in north europe; formed of thinly sliced young cabbage laid in layers, with salt and spice-seeds, pressed in casks and allowed to ferment. sauerteig (i. e. leaven), an imaginary authority alive to the "celestial infernal" fermentation that goes on in the world, who has an eye specially to the evil elements at work, and to whose opinion carlyle frequently appeals in his condemnatory verdict on sublunary things. saul, a benjamite, the son of kish, who fell in with samuel as he was on the way in search of his father's asses that had gone astray, and from his stature and stately bearing was anointed by him to be first king of israel; he distinguished himself in the field against the enemies of his people, but fell at the hands of the philistines after a reign of years, and after several insane attempts on the life of david, who had been elected to succeed him. saumarez, james, baron de, english admiral, born at guernsey; entered the navy at , distinguished himself in the american war, captured a french frigate in , which brought him knighthood; was second in command at the battle of the nile, and gained a great victory off cadiz in ; was raised to the peerage in ( - ). saumur ( ), a town of france, in the department of maine-et-loire, situated on the loire and partly on an island in the river, m. se. of angers; once famous for its protestant theological seminary, and till the edict of nantes a stronghold of the huguenots; has interesting churches, a castle (still used as an arsenal), and a noted cavalry school; has trade in grain, dried fruits, rosaries, &c. saussure, horace benedict de, geologist and physicist, born in geneva; was the first to ascend mont blanc in the interest of science, and was distinguished for his researches in the same interest all over the alps and on other mountain ranges; he invented or improved several scientific instruments ( - ). savage, richard, english poet, with a worthless character, who gained the regard of johnson; his chief poem, "the wanderer," of no poetic merit ( - ). savannah, a name used chiefly in florida and neighbouring states to designate the wide treeless plains of these parts; is practically an equivalent for "pampa," "prairie," &c.; comes from a spanish word meaning "a sheet." savannah ( ), a city and port of the united states, capital of chatham county, georgia, on the savannah river, m. from its mouth; well equipped with parks, electric light, handsome churches, government buildings, &c., an important naval stores station and second cotton port of the u.s., and has foundries, rice, flour, cotton, and paper-mills, &c. save, a tributary of the danube, rises in the julian alps and flows se. across southern austria till it joins the danube at belgrade after a course of m., of which are navigable. savigny, karl von, a german jurist, born in frankfort-on-the-main, of french parentage; wrote a treatise on the right of property, became professor of roman law at berlin; his chief works were the "history of roman law in the middle ages" and the "history of roman law in modern times" ( - ). saville, sir henry, a learned scholar, born in yorkshire; was tutor to queen elizabeth and provost of eton, and founder of the savilian professorships of geometry and astronomy at oxford ( - ). savona ( ), a seaport of italy, on the gulf of genoa, in the riviera, m. sw. of genoa, in the midst of orange groves, &c.; handsomely laid out; has a th-century cathedral, castle, palace, picture gallery, &c.; exports pottery and has prosperous iron-works, glass-works, tanneries, &c. savonarola, girolamo, italian reformer, born at ferrara of a noble family; was in his youth of a studious ascetic turn, became at a dominican monk, was fired with a holy zeal for the purity of the church, and issued forth from his privacy to denounce the vices that everywhere prevailed under her sanction, with threats of divine judgment on her head, so that the impressions his denunciations made were deep and wide-spread; the effect was especially marked in florence, where for three years the reformer's influence became supreme, till a combination of enemies headed by the pope succeeded in subverting it to his ejection from the church, his imprisonment, and final execution, preceded by that of his confederates fra domenico and fra silvestro; it was as a reformer of the morals of the church and nowise of its dogmas that savonarolo presented himself, while the effect of his efforts was limited pretty much to his own day and generation ( - ). savoy, duchy of ( ), in the se. of france, on the italian frontier, comprises the two departments of haute-savoie and savoie; previous to constituted a province of the kingdom of sardinia; lake of geneva bounds it on the n. and the lofty graian alps flank it on the e., forming part of the alpine highlands; it is charmingly picturesque, with mountain, forest, and river (numerous tributaries of the rhône); has excellent grazing lands; grows the vine abundantly, besides the usual cereals; the people are industrious and thrifty, but for the most part poor. aix-les-bains, evian, and challes are popular watering-places. chambéry was the old capital. savoy, house of, an ancient royal house of europe (represented now by the king of italy), whose territorial possessions were constituted a county of the empire in the th century under the name savoy; was created a duchy in the th century. by the treaty of utrecht ( ) the island of sicily was ceded to savoy and the title of king bestowed upon the duke; in victor amadeus ii. was forced to cede sicily to austria in exchange for sardinia, which with savoy and piedmont, &c., constituted the kingdom of sardinia till its dissolution in , when savoy was ceded to france and the remaining portion merged in the new italian kingdom under victor emmanuel. savoy, the, a district of the strand, london, in which a palace was built in called of the savoy, in which john of france was confined after his capture at poitiers; was burnt at the time of the wat tyler insurrection, but rebuilt in as a hospital; it included a chapel, which was damaged by fire in , but restored by the queen. saxe, maurice, marshal of france, natural son of augustus ii., king of poland (q. v.) distinguished himself under various war captains, marlborough and prince eugene in particular, and eventually entered the service of france; commanding in the war of the austrian succession he took prague and egra, and was made a marshal, and appointed to the command of the army of flanders, in which he gained victories and captured fortresses, and was thereafter loaded with honours by louis xv.; was one of the strongest and most dissolute men of his age; died of dropsy, the result of his debaucheries ( - ). saxe-coburg, duke of, second son of the queen, duke of edinburgh; married a daughter of alexander ii., czar of russia; succeeded to the dukedom in ; retains his annuity as an english prince of £ , ; _b_. . saxe-weimar, amalia, duchess of, was of the guelph family, and married to the duke, and in two years was left a widow and in government of the duchy, attracting to her court all the literary notabilities of the day, goethe the chief, till in she resigned her authority to her son, who followed in her footsteps ( - ). saxo grammaticus, a danish chronicler who flourished in the th century; wrote "gesta danorum," which brings the history of denmark down to the year , and is in the later sections of great value. saxon switzerland, name given to a mountainous region in saxony, se. of dresden. saxons, a people of the teutonic stock who settled early on the estuary of the elbe and the adjoining islands, who in their piratical excursions infested and finally settled in britain and part of gaul, and who, under the name of anglo-saxons, now hold sovereign sway over large sections of the globe. saxony ( , ), a kingdom of germany, lies within the basin of the elbe, facing on the e., between bavaria (s.) and prussia (n.), the mountainous frontier of bohemia; a little less in size than yorkshire, but very densely inhabited; spurs of the erzgebirge, fichtelgebirge, and riesengebirge diversify the surface; is a flourishing mining and manufacturing country; dresden is the capital, and other important towns are leipzig, chemnitz, and freiburg; the government is vested in the king and two legislative chambers; is represented in the reichstag and reichsrath of the empire; by the time of the thirty years' war the electorate of saxony, which in its heyday had stretched to the north sea, and from the rhine to the elbe, had sadly dwindled away; it suffered much at the hands of frederick the great during the seven years' war, and in , having sided with napoleon, a portion of its territory was, by the congress of vienna, ceded to prussia; was defeated along with austria in , and thus joined the north german confederation, to be incorporated afterwards in the new german empire. saxony, prussian ( , ), a province of prussia, chiefly comprises that part of saxony (q. v.) added to prussia in ; situated in the centre of prussia, n. of the kingdom of saxony; is watered by the elbe and its numerous affluents, and diversified by the harz mountains and thuringian forest; contains some of the finest growing land in prussia; salt and lignite are valuable products, and copper is also mined; the capital is magdeburg, and other notable towns are halle (with its university), erfurt, &c. sayce, alexander henry, philologist, born near bristol; has written works on the monuments of the east, bearing chiefly on old testament history; _b_. . scÆvola, caius mucius, a patriotic roman who, when sentenced to be burnt alive by lars porsena the etrurian, then invading rome, for attempting to murder him, unflinchingly held his right hand in a burning brazier till it was consumed, as a mark of his contempt for the sentence. porsena, moved by his courage, both pardoned him, and on hearing that as defiant had sworn his death, made peace with rome and departed. the name scævola (i. e. left-handed) was given him from the loss of his right hand on the occasion. scafell, a cumberland mountain on the borders of westmorland, with two peaks, one ft., and the other ft. high, the highest in england. scale, delfa, a prince of verona, and a general of the ghibellines in lombardy, who offered dante an asylum when expelled from florence ( - ). scaliger, joseph justus, eminent scholar, son of the following, born at agen; educated by his father; followed in his father's footsteps, and far surpassed him in scholarship; travelled over europe, and became a zealous protestant; accepted the chair of _belles lettres_ in the university of leyden on condition that he should not be called upon to lecture, and gave himself up to a life of study, especially on matters philological and literary; was a man of universal knowledge, and the creator of modern chronology ( - ). scaliger, julius cÆsar, surnamed the elder, classical scholar, became page to the emperor maximilian, and served him in war and peace for years; at quitted the army, and took to study the learned languages among other subjects; wrote a treatise on poetics and a commentary on the physics and metaphysics of aristotle, and became an authority on the aristotelian philosophy ( - ). scanderbeg (i. e. prince or bey alexander), the patriot chief of albania, and the great hero of albanian independence, who in the th century renounced islamism for christianity, and by his military prowess and skill freed albania from the turkish yoke; throughout his lifetime maintained its independence, crushing again and again the turkish armies; was known among the christians as george castriot ( - ). scanderoon or alexandretta ( ), the port of aleppo, in turkey in asia, situated in the gulf of scanderoon, in the ne. of the levant, m. nw. of aleppo; is itself an insignificant place, but has a large transit trade. scandinavia, the ancient name (still used) of the great northern peninsula of europe, which embraces norway (q. v.) and sweden (q. v.); also used in a broader sense to include denmark and iceland. scarborough ( ), a popular seaside town and watering-place on the yorkshire coast; built on rising ground on the shores of a fine bay; is a place of great antiquity, with interesting ruins; has churches, harbour, piers, and a fine promenade; noted for the manufacture of jet. scarpa, antonio, italian anatomist, professor at pavia ( - ). scarron, paul, a french humourist, writer of the burlesque, born, of good parentage, in paris; entered the church, and was for some years somewhat lax-living abbé of mans, but stricken with incurable disease settled in paris, and supported himself by writing; is chiefly remembered for his "virgile travesti" and "le roman comique," which "gave the impulse out of which sprang the masterpieces of le sage, defoe, fielding, and smollett"; married in françoise d'aubigné, a girl of fifteen, afterwards the famous madame de maintenon (q. v.); was a man who both suffered much and laughed much ( - ). scattery island, in the shannon estuary, m. sw. of kilrush; an early christian place of pilgrimage, with ruins and a "round tower"; is fortified and marked by a lighthouse. scepticism, primarily doubt respecting, and ultimately disbelief in, the reality of the super-sensible, or the transcendental, or the validity of the evidence on which the belief in it is founded, such as reason or revelation, and in religious matters is tantamount to infidelity more or less sweeping. sceptre, the symbol of royal power, power to command and compel, originally a club, the crown being the symbol of dominion. schadow, johannes gottfried, sculptor, born in berlin; was trained in rome under the best masters, returned to berlin, and became director of the academy of arts; laboured here for years, and produced works which placed him among the first rank of artists; he had two sons, one of whom distinguished himself as a sculptor, and the other as a painter ( - ). schaff, philip, a theologian, born in switzerland; studied in germany; came recommended by high names to the united states, and became professor first in pennsylvania, and finally in new york ( - ). schaffhausen ( ), a canton in the extreme n. of switzerland, surrounded ne. and w. by baden; the rhine flanks it on the s.; is hilly, with fertile valleys sloping to the rhine, and is chiefly given up to agriculture. the capital, schaffhausen ( ), occupies a picturesque site on the rhine, m. nw. of constance; has a th-century cathedral, an interesting old castle, &c. the famous falls, the finest on the rhine, are m. below the town. schÄffle, dr. albert, eminent german economist, born in würtemberg; has written, besides other works, "the quintessence of socialism," an able _exposé_; _b_. . schall, johann adam von, jesuit missionary to china, born at cologne; was received with honours at the imperial court; obtained permission to preach, and founded churches to the spread of christianity, a privilege which was revoked by the next emperor; he was subjected to imprisonment, which shortened his life ( - ). schamyl. see shamyl. scharnhorst, gerhard von, a prussian general, distinguished as the organiser of the prussian army, to the establishment of a national force instead of a mercenary; died of a wound in battle ( - ). scheele, carl wilhelm, swedish chemist, born in pomerania, was an apothecary at upsala and köping; during his residence at the latter made numerous important discoveries, and published many chemical papers, his chief work "experiments on air and fire" ( - ). scheffel, joseph victor von, german poet, bred to law, but abandoned it for literature; his first and best work "der trompeter von sakkingen," a charming tale in verse of the thirty years' war, succeeded by "gaudeamus," a collection of songs and ballads familiar to the german students all over the fatherland ( - ). scheffer, ary, painter, born at dordrecht, of german and dutch parentage; settled in paris; began as a _genre_-painter; illustrated dante, goethe, and byron, and in the end painted religious subjects; he did excellent portraits also; was of the romantic school ( - ). scheherazade, daughter of the grand vizier, who, in the "arabian nights," marries the sultan and saves her life by entertaining him night after night with her tales. scheldt, an important river of belgium and holland, rises in the french dep. of aisne, and flows northwards past cambrai (its highest navigable point) and valenciennes, entering belgium a little s. of tournay and continuing northward, with oudenarde, ghent, and antwerp on its banks; enters holland, and at the island of s. beveland splits into the wester scheldt and the ooster scheldt, which enter the north sea, the former at flushing, the latter at bergen-op-zoom; length m., much the greater part being in belgium. schelling, friedrich wilhelm joseph, german philosopher, born in würtemberg; studied at tübingen, where he became acquainted with hegel; wrote first on theological subjects and then on philosophical; went to jena and became a disciple and follower of fichte; gradually abandoned fichte's position and began to develop ideas of his own, and in conjunction with hegel edited the _critical journal of philosophy_; held afterwards a professorship at münich and a lectureship at berlin; his philosophy is no finished or completed system, but is essentially a history of the progressive stages through which he himself passed; during the reign of hegel he kept silence, and only broke it when hegel was dead; thought to outstrip him by another philosophy, but the attempt has proved fruitless of any important results ( - ). schemnitz ( ), a town of hungary, noted as a mining centre since roman times, situated in the midst of a mountainous region, m. n. by w. of pesth; gold, silver, copper, and lead are largely wrought, chiefly in the interests of the state. schenkel, david, german theologian, born in switzerland, became, after a pastorate at schaffhausen, professor first at basel and then at heidelberg; was a man of liberal principles, and was zealous for the union of the protestants, lutheran and reformed, in one body on a broad basis; is noted as author of a work entitled "das characterbild jesu," being an attempt to construe the character of christ on rationalistic lines ( - ). scherer, edmond, french critic, born in paris, spent his early years in england, his mother being english; was for some time devoted to theology and the church, but changed his views; settled in paris, and took to journalism and politics, distinguishing himself more especially in literary criticism ( - ). schiller, friedrich, german poet and dramatist, born at marbach on the neckar, son of an army-surgeon; bred first to law and then to medicine, but took chief interest in philosophy and literature, to the cultivation of which he by-and-by devoted his life; his first work, a play, "the robbers," which on its publication in produced quite a ferment, and was followed in by two tragedies, "fresco" and "kabale und liebe"; but it was with "don carlos" in his mature authorship began, and this was followed by the "history of the netherlands" and "history of the thirty years' war," to be succeeded by "wallenstein" ( ), "maria stuart" ( ), "the maid of orleans" ( ), "the bride of messina" ( ), and "wilhelm tell" ( ); he wrote besides a number of ballads and lyrics; in his friendship with goethe began, and it was a friendship which was grounded on their common love for art, and lasted with life; he was an earnest man and a serious writer, and much beloved by the great goethe ( - ). see carlyle's "life of schiller," and his essay on him in his "miscellanies." schlegel, august wilhelm von, german man of letters, born at hanover; studied theology at first, but turned to literature and began with poetry; settled in jena, and in became professor of fine arts there; was associated in literary work with madame de staël for years; delivered "lectures on dramatic art and literature" at vienna in , and finished with a professorship of literature at bonn, having previously distinguished himself by translations into german of shakespeare, dante, &c.; he devoted himself to the study of sanskrit when at bonn, where he had heine for pupil ( - ). schlegel, friedrich von, german critic and author, born at hanover, brother of preceding, joined his brother at jena, and collaborated with him; became a zealous promoter of all the romantic movements, and sought relief for his yearnings in the bosom of the catholic church; wrote lectures, severally published, on the "philosophy of history," of "literature," of "life," and on "modern history," and book on sanskrit and the philosophy of india ( - ). schleicher, august, german philologist, did eminent service by his studies in the indo-germanic languages, and particularly in the slavonic languages ( - ). schleiermacher, friedrich ernest daniel, great german theologian, born at breslau; brought up among the moravians, his mind revolted against the narrow orthodoxy of their creed, which was confirmed by his study of plato and the philosophy of the school of kant, as it for him culminated in schelling, though the religious feeling he inherited never left him; under these influences he addressed himself to the task of elaborating a theology in which justice should be done to the claims of the intellect and the emotions of the heart, and he began by translating plato; soon he formed a school, which included among its members men such as neander and others, distinguished at once for their learning and their piety, and to which all the schools of theology in germany since have been more or less affiliated; his great merit lay in the importance he attached to the religious consciousness as derived from that of christ, and the development therefrom in the life and history of the church of christ; it was to the religious interest he dedicated his life and consecrated all his learning, which was immense ( - ). schlemihl, peter, the name of a man who in chamisso's tale sold his shadow to the devil, a synonym of one who makes a desperate or silly bargain. schliemann, heinrich, a german explorer, born in mecklenburg-schwerin; excavated at his own cost the ruins, among others in greece, of hissarlik, in the troad, believing them to be those of troy; spent years in this enterprise, collecting the spoils and depositing them in safe keeping in berlin; died at naples before his excavations were complete ( - ). schlossner, friedrich christoph, german historian, born in oldenburg; was studios of the moral factor in history, and gave especial prominence to it ( - ). schmalkaldic league, a league of the protestant states of germany concluded in at schmalkalden, prussia, in defence of their religious and civil liberties against the emperor charles v. and the catholic states. schnitzer, eduard, physician, born in breslau; went to turkey, entered the turkish medical service, adopted the name emin pasha, and was appointed by gordon medical officer of the equatorial province of egypt, and raised to the rank of pasha; soon after the outbreak of the mahdist insurrection he was cut off from civilisation, but was discovered by stanley in and brought to zanzibar, after which he was murdered by arabs ( - ). scholasticism, the name given to the philosophy that prevailed in europe during the middle ages, particularly in the second half of them, and has been generally characterised as an attempt at conciliation between dogma and thought, between faith and reason, an attempt to form a scientific system on that basis, founded on the pre-supposition that the creed of the church was absolutely true, and capable of rationalisation. scholiasts, name given to a class of grammarians who appended annotations to the margins of the mss. of the classics. scholium, a marginal note explanatory of the text of a classic author. scholten, hendrik, a dutch theologian of the rationalistic school ( - ). schomberg, duke of, french marshal, of german origin and the protestant persuasion; took service under the prince of orange, and fell at the battle of the boyne ( - ). schÖnbrunn, imperial palace near vienna, built by maria theresa in . schoolcraft, henry rowe, a noted american ethnologist, born in new york state; at was geologist to an exploring expedition undertaken by general cass to lake superior and the upper mississippi; married the educated daughter of an ojibway chief; founded the historical society of michigan and the algic society at detroit; discovered the sources of the mississippi in ; was an active and friendly agent for the indians, and in began, under government authorisation, his great work of gathering together all possible information regarding the indian tribes of the united states, an invaluable work embodied in six great volumes; author also of many other works treating of indian life, exploration, etc. ( - ). schoolmen, teachers of the scholastic philosophy (q. v.). schopenhauer, arthur, a bold metaphysical thinker, born in danzig, of dutch descent; was early dissatisfied with life, and conceived pessimistic views of it; in jotted down in a note-book, "inward discord is the very bane of human nature so long as a man lives," and on this fact he brooded for years; at length the problem solved itself, and the solution appears in his great work, "die welt als wille und vorstellung" ("the world as will and idea"), which he published in ; in it, as in others of his writings, to use the words of the late professor wallace of oxford, schopenhauer "draws close to the great heart of life, and tries to see clearly what man's existence and hopes and destiny really are, which recognises the peaceful creations of art as the most adequate representation the sense-world can give of the true inward being of all things, and which holds the best life to be that of one who has pierced, through the illusions dividing one conscious individuality from another, into that great heart of eternal rest where we are each members one of another essentially united in the great ocean of being, in which, and by which, we alone live." goethe gives a similar solution in his "wilhelm meister"; is usually characterised as a pessimist, and so discarded, but such were all the wise men who have contributed anything to the emancipation of the world, which they never would have attempted but for a like sense of the evil at the root of the world's misery; and as for his philosophy, it is a protest against treating it as a science instead of an art which has to do not merely with the reasoning powers, but with the whole inmost nature of man ( - ). schouvaloff, count peter, a russian ambassador, born at st. petersburg; became in head of the secret police; came to england in on a secret mission to arrange the marriage of the emperor alexander ii.'s daughter with the duke of edinburgh; was one of russia's representatives at the congress of berlin ( - ). his brother, count paul, fought in the crimean war, helped to liberate the russian serfs, fought in the russo-turkish war, and was governor of warsaw during - ; _b_. . schreiner, olive, authoress, daughter of a lutheran clergyman at cape town; achieved a great success by "the story of an african farm" in , which was followed in by "dreams," also later "dream life and real life"; she is opposed to the south african policy of mr. rhodes. schreiner, right hon. w. p., premier of the cape parliament, brother of preceding; bred to the bar, favours arbitration in the south african difficulty, and is a supporter of the africander bond in politics. schubert, franz peter, composer, born, the son of a moravian schoolmaster, at vienna; at was one of the leading choristers in the court-chapel, later on became leading violinist in the school band; his talent for composition in all modes soon revealed itself, and by the time he became an assistant in his father's school ( ) his supreme gift of lyric melody showed itself in the song "erl king," the "mass in f," etc.; his too brief life, spent chiefly in the drudgery of teaching, was harassed by pecuniary embarrassment, embittered by the slow recognition his work won, though he was cheered by the friendly encouragement of beethoven; his output of work was remarkable for its variety and quantity, embracing some songs, symphonies, masses, operas, sonatas, etc.; his abiding fame rests on his songs, which are infused, as none other are, by an intensity of poetic feeling--"divine fire" beethoven called it ( - ). schulze-delitzsch, hermann, founder of the system of "people's savings-banks," born at delitzsch, and trained to the law; he settled in his native town and give himself to social reform, sat in the national assembly in berlin on the progressionist side, but opposed lasalle's socialistic programme; his project of "people's savings-banks" was started in , and immediately took root, spreading over the country and into austria, italy, belgium, etc. ( - ). schumann, robert, an eminent german composer and musical critic, born at zwickau, in saxony; law, philosophy, and travel occupied his early youth, but in he was allowed to follow his bent for music, and settled to study it at leipzig; two years later started a musical paper, which for more than years was the vehicle of essays in musical criticism; during these years appeared also his greatest pianoforte works, songs, symphonies, and varied chamber music; "paradise and the part" and scenes from "faust" appeared in ; symptoms of cerebral disease which in the end proved fatal, began to manifest themselves, and he withdrew to a quieter life at dresden, where much of his operatic and other music was written; during - he acted as musical director at düsseldorf, but insanity at length supervened, and after attempting suicide in the rhine he was placed in an asylum, where he died two years later; his work is full of the fresh colour and variety of romanticism, his songs being especially beautiful ( - ). schÜrer, emil, biblical scholar, born at augsburg, professor of theology at kiel, author of "history of the jewish people"; _b_. . schuyler, philip john, leader in the american war of independence, born at albany, of dutch descent; served in arms under washington, and health failing for action, became one of washington's most sagacious advisers ( - ). schuylkill, a river of pennsylvania, rises on the n. side of the blue mountains and flows se. m. to its junction with the delaware river at philadelphia; is an important waterway for the coal-mining industry of pennsylvania. schwann, theodor, german physiologist, born at neuss; made several discoveries in physiology, and established the cell theory ( - ). schwanthaler, ludwig, german sculptor, born at münich, of an old family of sculptors; studied at rome; has adorned his native city with his works both in bas-reliefs and statues, at once in single figures and in groups; did frescoes and cartoons also ( - ). schwÄrmerei (lit. going off in swarms, as bees under their queen), name given to a more or less insane enthusiasm with which a mass of men is affected. schwarz, berthold, an alchemist of the th century, born at fribourg, a monk of the order of cordeliers; is credited with the discovery of gunpowder when making experiments with nitre. schwarz, christian friedrich, german missionary in india, born in brandenburg; laboured years at trichinopoly, gained the friendship of the rajah of tanjore, and settled there in ; succeeded also in winning the favour of hyder ali of mysore, and proved himself to be in all senses a minister of the gospel of peace ( - ). schwarzburg, house of, one of the oldest noble families of germany; first comes into authentic history in the th century with count sizzo iv. (the first to take the title of schwarzburg), and in the th century divides into the two existing branches, the schwarzburg-sondershausen and schwarzburg-rudolstadt--which give their names to two sovereign principalities of central germany wedged in between prussia and the lesser saxon states, the latter embracing part of the thuringian forest; both are prosperous agricultural and mining regions. schwarzenburg, karl philip, prince von, austrian general, born at vienna, of a noble family there; entered the army and distinguished himself in the wars against the turks, the french republic, and napoleon; fought at austerlitz and wagram, negotiated the marriage of napoleon with maria louisa, commanded the austrian contingent sent to aid france in , but joined the allies against napoleon at dresden and leipzig, and captured paris in at the head of the army of the rhine ( - ). schwarzwald, the black forest in germany. schwegler, albert, theologian, born at würtemberg; treated first on theological subjects, then on philosophical; is best known among us by his "history of philosophy," translated into english by dr. hutcheson stirling, "written, so to speak, at a single stroke of the pen, as, in the first instance, an article for an encyclopædia," ... the author being "a remarkably ripe, full man" ( - ). schweinfurth, georg august, german traveller in africa, born at riga; wrote "the heart of africa," which gives an account of his travels among the mid-african tribes; _b_. . schwenckfeld, caspar von, a protestant sectary, born in lower silesia, of a noble family; as a student of the scriptures embraced the reformation, but differed from luther on the matter of the dependence of the divine life on external ordinances, insisting, as george fox afterwards did, on its derivation from within; like fox he travelled from place to place proclaiming this, and winning not a few disciples, and exposed himself to much persecution at the hands of men of whom better things were to be expected, but he bore it all with a christ-like meekness; died at ulm; his writings were treated with the same indignity as himself, and his followers were after his death driven from one place of refuge to another, till the last remnant of them found shelter under the friendly wing of count zinzendorf (q. v.) ( - ). schwerin ( ), capital of the grand-duchy of mecklenburg-schwerin; has a pretty site on lake of schwerin ( m. by ), m. se. of lübeck; has a th-century cathedral, renaissance castle, arsenal, &c., and manufactures of lacquered ware, machinery, &c. schwyz ( ), one of the three original cantons of switzerland, german speaking and catholic; lake zurich forms part of the n. border, and lake lucerne part of the s.; zug with its lake is on the w.; is mountainous, but good pasturage favours cattle-breeding, sheep and goat rearing, &c.; important industries in cotton and silk are carried on; einsiedeln, with its famous monastery, attracts thousands of pilgrims, and the rigi is a favourite resort of summer visitors. the capital ( ), same name, is prettily situated m. e. of lucerne. science, as it has been said, "has for its province the world of phenomena, and deals exclusively with their relations, consequences, or sequences. it can never tell us what a thing really and intrinsically is, but only why it has become so; it can only, in other words, refer us to one inscrutable as the ground and explanation of another inscrutable." "a science," says schopenhauer, "anybody can learn, one perhaps with more, another with less trouble; but from art each receives only so much as he brings, yet latent within him.... art has not, like science, to do merely with the reasoning powers, but with the inmost nature of man, where each must count only for what he really is." scilly islands, a rugged group of islands belonging to cornwall, m. sw. of land's end; consists of six larger islands--st. mary's ( acres, pop. ), the largest--and some smaller, besides numerous rock clusters, the name scilly being strictly applicable to a rocky islet in the nw. of the group; climate is damp and mild; the cultivation and export of large quantities of lilies is the principal industry, but generally industries have decayed, lighthouses have reduced greatly the hereditary occupation of pilotage, and emigration goes on; the only town is hugh town (with two hotels, banks, pier, &c.), on st. mary's; there are some interesting ecclesiastical ruins, &c.; since much has been done to improve the condition of the islanders by the then proprietor mr. a. j. smith, and his nephew, t. a. darien smith, who succeeded in . scioppius, caspar, a protestant renegade, born in the palatinate; turned catholic on a visit to rome, and devoted his life to vilify his former co-religionists, and to invoke the catholic powers to combine to their extermination; he was a man of learning, but of most infirm temper ( - ). scipio, p. cornelius, the elder, surnamed africanus major, a celebrated roman general; was present at the engagement near the tacinus and at cannæ; was appointed proconsul of spain at the age of , and made himself master of nearly the whole of it against the carthaginians; on his return to rome was made consul; transferred the seat of war against carthage to africa, and landed at utica; met hannibal on the field of zama, and totally defeated him, and ended the second punic war in b.c. ( - b.c.). scipio, p. cornelius, the younger, surnamed africanus minor, adopted by the preceding, the proper name being l. paullus Æmelius; after distinguishing himself in spain proceeded to africa to take part in the third punic war; laid siege to carthage, took it by storm, and levelled it with the ground in b.c.; he was afterwards sent to spain, where he captured numantia after a stubborn resistance, to the extension of the sway of rome; he was an upright and magnanimous man, but his character was not proof against assault; he died by the hand of an assassin. scone (pronounced scoon), a, village in perthshire, on the left bank of the tay, m. n. of perth; once the capital of the pictish kingdom, and the place of the coronation of the scottish kings; near it is the seat of the earl of mansfield. scopas, greek sculptor, born at paros, who flourished in th century b.c. scoresby, william, scientist, born at whitby; began life as a sailor; visited the arctic regions twice over, and wrote an account of his explorations; took to the church, and held several clerical charges, but retired in , and gave himself to scientific researches, both at home and abroad ( - ). scory, john, a cambridge dominican friar in , who became bishop of rochester in , and later of chichester; was deprived of his living on queen mary's accession; recanted, but fled abroad, whence he issued his "epistle to the faytheful in pryson in england"; returned in elizabeth's reign, and became bishop of hereford; _d_. . scot, reginald, author of a famous work, "the discoverie of witchcraft" ( ), remarkable as one of the earliest exposures of the absurdities of witchcraft and kindred superstitions, which provoked king james's foolish defence "dæmonology"; son of a kentish baronet; educated at oxford, and spent a peaceful life gardening and studying; wrote also "the hoppe garden" ( - ). scotland ( , ), the northern portion of the island of great britain, separated from england by the solway, cheviots, and tweed, and bounded n. and w. by the atlantic and e. by the german ocean; inclusive of islands ( uninhabited), its area, divided into counties, is slightly more than one-half of england's, but has a coast-line longer by m.; greatest length from dunnet head (most northerly point) to mull of galloway (most southerly) is m., while the breadth varies from to , buchan ness being the eastmost point and ardnamurchan point the westmost; from rich pastoral uplands in the s.--cheviots, moffat hills, lowthers, moorfoots, and lammermoors--the country slopes down to the wide, fertile lowland plain--growing fine crops of oats barley, wheat, &c.--which stretches, with a varying breadth of from to m., up to the grampians (highest peak ben nevis, ft.), whence the country sweeps northwards, a wild and beautiful tract of mountain, valley, and moorland, diversified by some of the finest loch and river scenery in the world; the east and west coasts present remarkable contrasts, the latter rugged, irregular, and often precipitous, penetrated by long sea-lochs and fringed with numerous islands, and mild and humid in climate; the former low and regular, with few islands or inlets, and cold, dry, and bracing; of rivers the tweed, forth, tay, dee, and clyde are the principal, and the orkneys, shetlands, and hebrides the chief island groups; coal and iron abound in the lowlands, more especially in the plain of the forth and clyde, and granite in the grampians; staple industries are the manufacture of cottons, woollens, linen, jute, machinery, hardware, paper, and shipbuilding, of which glasgow is the centre and commercial metropolis, while edinburgh (capital) is the chief seat of law, education, &c.; of cultivated land the percentage varies from . in fife to . in sutherland, and over all is only . ; good roads, canals, extensive railway and telegraph systems knit all parts of the country together; presbyterianism is the established form of religion, and in the old parish schools were supplanted by a national system under school-boards similar to england; the lowlanders and highlanders still retain distinctive characteristics of their teutonic and celtic progenitors, the latter speaking in many parts of the highlands their native gaelic; originally the home of the picts (q. v.), and by them called alban or albyn, the country, already occupied as far as the forth and clyde by the romans, was in the th century successfully invaded by the scots, a celtic tribe from ireland; in their king kenneth was crowned king of picts and scots, and by the th century the country (known to the romans as caledonia) began to be called scotia or scotland; government and power gradually centred in the richer lowlands, which, through contact with england, and from the number of english immigrants, became distinctively anglo-saxon; since the union with england (q. v.) the prosperity of scotland has been of steady and rapid growth, manufactures, commerce, and literature (in all branches) having flourished wonderfully. scots, the, a tribe of celts from ireland who settled in the w. of north britain, and who, having gained the ascendency of the picts in the e., gave to the whole country the name of scotland. scott, david, scotch painter, born in edinburgh; he was an artist of great imaginative power, and excelled in the weird; his best picture, exhibited in , was "the hopes of early genius dispelled by death," though his first achievements in art were his illustrations of the "ancient mariner"; but his masterpiece is "vasco da gama encountering the spirit of the cape"; he was a sensitive man, and disappointment hastened his death ( - ). scott, sir george gilbert, english architect, born in buckinghamshire, son of scott the commentator; was the builder or restorer of buildings both in england and on the continent after the gothic, and wrote several works on architecture. scott, michael, a sage with the reputation of a wizard, who lived about the end of the th and beginning of the th centuries, of whose art as a magician many legends are related. scott, thomas, commentator, born in lincolnshire; became rector of aston sandford, bucks; was a calvinist in theology, author of the "force of truth" and "essays on religion," the work by which he is best known being his "commentary on the bible," a scholarly exposition ( - ). scott, sir walter, the great romancer, born in edinburgh, through both father and mother of scottish border blood; his father, a lawyer, a man "who passed from the cradle to the grave without making an enemy or losing a friend," his mother a little kindly woman, full of most vivid memories, awakening an interest in him to which he owed much; was a healthy child, but from teething and other causes lost the use of his right limb when months old, which determined, to a marked extent, the course of his life; spent many of the months of his childhood in the country, where he acquired that affection for all natural objects which never left him, and a kindliness of soul which all the lower animals that approached him were quick to recognise; he was from the first home-bred, and to realise the like around his own person was his fondest dream, and if he failed, as it chanced he did, his vexation was due not to the material loss it involved, but to the blight it shed on his home life and the disaster on his domestic relationships; his school training yielded results of the smallest account to his general education, and a writer of books himself, he owed less to book-knowledge than his own shrewd observation; he proceeded from the school (the high school, it was) at to his father's office and classes at the university, and at both he continued to develop his own bent more than the study of law or learning; at his sixteenth year the bursting of a blood-vessel prostrated him in bed and enforced a period of perfect stillness, but during this time he was able to prosecute sundry quiet studies, and laid up in his memory great stores of knowledge, for his mind was of that healthy quality which assimilated all that was congenial to it and let all that did not concern it slip idly through, achieving thereby his greatest victory, that of becoming an altogether _whole_ man. professionally he was a lawyer, and a good lawyer, but the duties of his profession were not his chief interest, and though he received at length a sheriffship worth £ a year, and a clerkship to the court worth £ , he early turned his mind to seek promotion elsewhere, and chose a literary career. his first literary efforts were translations in verse from the german, but his first great literary success was the publication, in , of "the minstrelsy of the scottish border," and in this he first gave evidence both of the native force and bent of his genius; it gave the keynote of all that subsequently proceeded from his pen. this was followed the same year by "cadzow castle," a poem instinct with military ardour, and this by "the lay of the last minstrel" in ; the first poem which gained him popular favour, by "marmion" in , and by "the lord of the isles" in . much as the rise of scott's fame was owing to his poetical works, it is on the ground of his prose writings, as the freest and fullest exhibition of his genius, that it is now mainly founded. the period of his productivity in this line extended over years in all, commencing with the year . this was the year of the publication of "waverley," which was followed by that of "guy mannering," "the antiquary," "rob roy," "old mortality," and "the heart of midlothian" in the year , when he was smitten down by an illness, the effects of which was seen in his after-work. "the bride of lammermoor," "ivanhoe," "the monastery," "the abbot," "kenilworth," and "the pirate" belong to the years that succeeded that illness, and all more or less witness to its sorrowful effects, of which last "the abbot" and "the monastery" are reckoned the best, as still illustrating the "essential powers" of scott, to which may be added "redgauntlet" and "the fortunes of nigel," characterised by ruskin as "quite noble ones," together with "quentin durward" and "woodstock," as "both of high value." sir walter's own life was, in its inner essence, an even-flowing one, for there were in it no crises such as to require a reversal of the poles of it, and a spiritual new birth, with crucifixion of the old nature, and hence it is easily divisible, as it has been divided throughout, into the three natural periods of growth, activity, and death. his active life, which ranges from to , lay in picturing things and traditions of things as in youth, a years' period of continuous crescent expansiveness, he had learned to view them, and his slow death was the result, not of mere weariness in working, but of the adverse circumstances that thwarted and finally wrecked the one unworthy ambition that had fatally taken possession of his heart. of scott ruskin says, "what good scott had in him to do, i find no words full enough to express... scott is beyond comparison the greatest intellectual force manifested in europe since shakespeare... all scott's great writings were the recreations of a mind confirmed in dutiful labour, and rich with organic gathering of boundless resource" ( - ). scott, william bell, painter and poet, brother of david scott, born in edinburgh; did criticism and wrote on artists; is best known by his autobiography ( - ). scranton ( ), capital of lackawanna county, pennsylvania, on the lackawanna river, m. nw. of new york; does a large trade in coal, and is the centre of a busy steel, iron, and machinery industry. scribe, eugene, french dramatist, a prolific and a successful, who produced plays for half a century, well adapted for the stage, if otherwise worthless ( - ). scribes, the (i. e. writers), a non-priestly class among the jews devoted to the study and exposition of the law, and who rose to a position of importance and influence in the jewish community, were known in the days of christ also by the name of lawyers, and were addressed as rabbis; their disciples were taught to regard them, and did regard them with a reverence superior to that paid to father or mother, the spiritual parent being reckoned as much above the natural, as the spirit and its interests are above the flesh and its interests. scriblerus, martinus, the subject of a fictitious memoir published in pope's works and ascribed to arbuthnot (q. v.), intended to ridicule the pedantry which affects to know everything, but knows nothing to any purpose. scrivener, frederick henry ambrose, new testament critic, born at bermondsey, surrey, educated at cambridge; head-master of falmouth school from to , and after years' rectorship of gerrans, became vicar of hendon and prebendary of exeter; his "plain introduction to the criticism of the new testament" ranks as a standard work; was editor of the cambridge paragraph bible, and one of the new testament revisers ( - ). scroggs, sir william, an infamous judge of charles ii.'s reign, who became chief-justice of the king's bench in , and whose name is associated with all manner of injustice and legal corruption; was impeached in , and pensioned off by the king; _d_. . scudÉry, madeleine de, french novelist, born at havre, came to paris in her youth, and there lived to an extreme old age; was a prominent figure in the social and literary life of the city; collaborated at first with her brother georges, but subsequently was responsible herself for a set of love romances of an inordinate length, but of great popularity in their day, e. g. "le grand cyrus" and "clélie," &c., in which a real gift for sparkling dialogue is swallowed up in a mass of improbable adventures and prudish sentimentalism ( - ). sculptured stones, a name specially applied to certain varieties of commemorative monuments (usually rough-hewn slabs or boulders, and in a few cases well-shaped crosses) of early christian date found in various parts of the british isles, bearing lettered and symbolic inscriptions of a rude sort and ornamental designs resembling those found on celtic mss. of the gospels; lettered inscriptions are in latin, ogam (q. v.), and scandinavian and anglican runes, while some are uninscribed; usually found near ancient ecclesiastical sites, and their date is approximately fixed according to the character of the ornamentation; some of these stones date as late as the th century; the scottish stones are remarkable for their elaborate decoration and for certain symbolic characters to which as yet no interpretation has been found. scutari ( ), a town of turkey in asia, on the bosporus, opposite constantinople; has several fine mosques, bazaars, &c.; large barracks on the outskirts were used as hospitals by florence nightingale during the crimean war; has large and impressive cemeteries; chief manufactures are of silks, cottons, &c. also name of a small town ( ) in european turkey, situated at the s. end of lake scutari, by m., in north albania. scylla and charybdis, two rocks opposite each other at a narrow pass of the strait between italy and sicily, in the cave of one of which dwelt the former, a fierce monster that barked like a dog, and under the cliff of the other of which dwelt the latter, a monster that sucked up everything that came near it, so that any ship passing between in avoiding the one become a prey to the other. scythians, the name of a people of various tribes that occupied the steppes of se. of europe and w. of asia adjoining eastward, were of nomadic habit; kept herds of cattle and horses, and were mostly in a semi-savage state beyond the pale of civilisation; the region they occupied is called scythia. seabury, samuel, american prelate, born at groton, connecticut, graduated at yale and studied medicine in edinburgh; entered the church of england in , and devoted himself at first to missionary work; subsequently held "livings" in long island and new york state in ; was appointed bishop by the clergy of connecticut; sought consecration at the hands of the english archbishops who were afraid to grant it, and had to resort to the bishops of the scotch episcopal church for the purpose; did notable work in establishing and consolidating episcopacy in america ( - ). sealed orders, the orders given the commanding officer of a ship or squadron that are sealed up, which he is not allowed to open till he has proceeded a certain length into the high seas; an arrangement in order to ensure secrecy in a time of war. sea-serpent, a marine monster of serpent-like shape whose existence is still a matter of question, although several seemingly authentic accounts have been circulated in attestation. the subject has given rise to much disputation and conjecture on the part of naturalists, but opinion mostly favours the supposition that these gigantic serpent-like appearances are caused by enormous cuttlefish swimming on the surface of the water, with their ft. long tentacles elongated fore and aft. other fishes which might also be mistaken for the sea-serpent are the barking-shark, tape-fish, marine snake, &c. sebastian. st., a roman soldier at narbonne, and martyred under diocletian when it was discovered he was a christian; is depicted in art bound naked to a tree and pierced with arrows, and sometimes with arrows in his hand offering them to heaven on his knees, he having been shot first with arrows and then beaten to death. sebastiano del piombo, italian painter, born at venice; was an excellent colourist, and collaborated with michael angelo ( - ). sebastopol ( ), a fortified seaport of russia, situated on a splendid natural harbour ( ½ m. by ½), on the sw. of the crimea; during the crimean war was destroyed and captured by the french and english after a siege lasting from october , , to september , ; has, since , been restored, and is now an important naval station; exports large quantities of grain. sebillot, paul, celebrated french folk-lorist; _b_. . secker, thomas, archbishop of canterbury, born at sibthorpe, nottinghamshire; first studied medicine and graduated at leyden in , but was induced to take orders, and after a year at oxford was ordained a priest in ; held various livings till his appointment to the primacy in ; noted as a wise and kindly ecclesiastic ( - ). second-sight, name given to the power of seeing things future or distant; a power superstitiously ascribed to certain people in the highlands of scotland. secularist, name given to one who, discarding as irrelevant all theories and observances bearing upon the other world and its interests, holds that we ought to confine our attention solely to the immediate problems and duties of this, independently of all presumed dependence on revelation and communications from a higher sphere. sedan ( ), a town of france, in department of ardennes, on the maas, m. ne. of paris; once a strong fortress, but dismantled in , where in napoleon iii. and , men under marshal macmahon surrendered to the germans; noted for its cloth manufactories. previous to the edict of nantes was a celebrated centre of huguenot industry and theological learning. sedgemoor, district in central somersetshire, m. se. of bridgwater, scene of a famous battle between the troops of james ii. and those of the duke of monmouth on july , , in which the latter were completely routed. sedgwick, adam, geologist, born at dent, yorkshire; graduated at cambridge in , became a fellow in the same year, and in was elected to the woodward chair of geology; co-operated with murchison in the study of the geological formation of the alps and the devonian system of england; strongly conservative in his scientific theories, he stoutly opposed the darwinian theory of the origin of species; his best work was contributed in papers to the geological society of london, of which he was president - ; published "british palæozoic rocks and fossils" ( - ). seeley, sir john robert, author of "ecce homo," born in london; studied at cambridge, became professor of history there in on kingsley's retirement; his "ecce homo" was published in , a piece of perfect literary workmanship, but which in its denial of the self-originated spirit of christ offended orthodox belief and excited much adverse criticism; wrote in a work entitled "natural religion," in which he showed the same want of sympathy with supernatural ideas, as also several historical works ( - ). segovia ( ), a quaint old spanish city, capital of a province ( ) of the same name; crowns a rocky height looking down on the river eresma, m. nw. of madrid; its importance dates from roman times; has a great aqueduct, built in trajan's reign, and a fine moorish castle and gothic cathedral; cloth-weaving the only important industry. segu ( ), a town of west africa, on the joliba, m. sw. of timbuctoo; chiefly occupied by trading arabs; once the capital of a now decayed native state. seine, an important river of france, rises in the tableland of langres, takes a winding course to the nw., passing many important towns, troyes, fontainebleau, paris, st. denis, rouen, &c., and discharges into the english channel by a broad estuary after a course of m., of which are navigable. seine ( , ), the smallest but most populous department of france, entirely surrounded by the department of seine-et-oise; paris and its adjacent villages cover a considerable portion of the area; presents a richly wooded, undulating surface, traversed by the seine in a nw. direction. seine-et-marne ( ), a north-midland department of france lying e. of seine; the marne crosses the n. and the seine the s.; has a fertile soil, which grows in abundance cereals, vegetables, and fruits; many fine woods, including fontainebleau forest, diversify its undulating surface. melun (capital) and fontainebleau are among its important towns. seine-et-oise ( ), a department of nw. france, encloses the department of seine; grain is grown in well-cultivated plains and the vine on pleasant hill slopes; is intersected by several tributaries of the seine, and the n. is prettily wooded. versailles is the capital; sèvres and st. cloud are other interesting places. seine-infÉrieure ( ), a maritime department of north-west france, in normandy, facing the english channel; is for the most part a fertile plain, watered by the seine and smaller streams, and diversified by fine woods and the hills of caux; is a fruit and cider producing district; has flourishing manufactures. rouen is the capital, and havre and dieppe are important trading centres. selborne, roundell palmer, earl of, lord chancellor, born in oxfordshire; called to the bar in , and after a brilliant career at oxford entered parliament in , and in became solicitor-general in palmerston's ministry, receiving at the same time a knighthood; two years later was advanced to the attorney-generalship; in was elected lord chancellor, a position he retained till , and again held from to ; refused to adopt mr. gladstone's home rule policy for ireland and joined the liberal-unionists, but declined to take office under lord salisbury; was raised to an earldom in , received various honorary degrees; greatly interested himself in hymnology, and edited "the book of praise"; wrote also several works on church questions ( - ). selby ( ), a market-town of yorkshire, on the ouse, m. s. of york; has a noted cruciform abbey church, founded in the th century, and exhibiting various styles of architecture; has some boat-building; manufactures flax, ropes, leather, bricks, &c. selden, john, born at salvington, sussex; adopted law as a profession, and was trained at clifford's inn and the inner temple, london; successful as a lawyer, he yet found time for scholarly pursuits, and acquired a great reputation by the publication of various erudite works bearing on old english jurisprudence and antiquities generally; a "history of tithes" ( ), in which he combats the idea that "tithes" are divinely instituted, got him into trouble with the church; was imprisoned in for encouraging parliament to repudiate james's absolutist claims; from his entrance into parliament in continued to play an important part throughout the troublous reign of charles; sincerely attached to the parliamentary side, he was one of the framers of the petition of right, and suffered imprisonment with holies and the others; sat in the long parliament, but, all through out of sympathy with the extremists, disapproved of the execution of charles; held various offices, e. g. keeper of the rolls and records in the tower; continued to write learned and voluminous works on biblical and historical subjects, but is best remembered for his charming 'table-talk, a book of which coleridge remarked, "there is more weighty bullion sense in this book than i can find in the same number of pages of any uninspired writer" ( - ). selene, in the greek mythology the moon-goddess, the sister of helios, and designated phoebe as he was phoebus; she became by endymion the mother of daughters. self-denying ordinance, a resolution of the long parliament passed in , whereby the members bound themselves not to accept certain executive offices, particularly commands in the army. selim i., a warlike sultan of turkey, who, having dethroned and put to death his father, bajazet ii., entered upon a victorious career of military aggrandisement, overcoming the persians in , conquering and annexing egypt, syria, and the hejaz in , finally winning for himself the position of imâm or head of the mohammedan world; greatly strengthened his country, and strove according to his lights to deal justly with and ameliorate the condition of the peoples whom he conquered ( - ). seljuks, a turkish people who in the th century, headed by a chief named seljuk (whence their name), broke away from their allegiance to the khan of kirghiz, adopted the mohammedan faith, and subsequently conquered bokhara, but were driven across the oxus and settled hi khorassan; under toghril beg, grandson of seljuk, they in the th century won for themselves a wide empire in asia, including the provinces of syria and asia minor, whose rulers, by their cruel persecution of christian pilgrims, led to the crusade movement in europe. the seljuks were in part gradually absorbed by the advancing mongol tribes, while numbers fled westward, where they were at length incorporated in the ottoman empire in the th century. selkirk ( ), county town of selkirkshire, on the ettrick, m. se. of edinburgh; famed at one time for its "souters"; is a centre of the manufacture of tweeds. selkirkshire ( ), a south inland county of scotland; extends s. from the corner of midlothian to dumfriesshire, between peebles (w.) and roxburgh (e.); the grassy slopes of its hills afford splendid pasturage, and sheep-farming is a flourishing industry; manufactures are mainly confined to galashiels and selkirk; is traversed by the ettrick and the yarrow, whose romantic valleys are associated with much of the finest ballad literature of scotland. selwyn, george, a noted wit in the social and literary life of london in horace walpole's time, born, of good parentage, in gloucestershire; was expelled from oxford in for blasphemy; four years later entered parliament, and supported the court party, and received various government favours; his vivacious wit won him ready entrance into the best london and parisian society; is the chief figure in jesse's entertaining "george selwyn and his contemporaries" ( - ). selwyn, george augustus, the first bishop of new zealand, in which capacity he wrought so zealously, that his diocese, by his extension of episcopacy, was subdivided into seven; on his return to england he was made bishop of lichfield ( - ). semaphore, a name applied to the mechanism employed for telegraphing purposes prior to the discovery of the electric telegraph; invented in by richard edgeworth, but first extensively used by the french in , and afterwards adopted by the admiralty in england; consisted at first of six shutters set in two rotating circular frames, which, by opening and shutting in various ways, were capable of conveying sixty-three distinct signals; these were raised on the tops of wooden towers erected on hills; later a different form was adopted consisting of a mast and two arms worked by winches. the speed at which messages could be transmitted was very great; thus a message could be sent from london to portsmouth and an answer be received all within seconds. the railway signal now in use is a form of semaphore. semele, in the greek mythology the daughter of cadmus and the mother of dionysus by zeus, was tempted by hera to pray zeus to show himself to her in his glory, who, as pledged to give her all she asked, appeared before her as the god of thunder, and consumed her by the lightning. see dionysus. seminoles, a nomadic tribe of american indians who from to offered a desperate resistance to the americans before yielding up their territory se. of the mississippi (florida, etc.); finally settled in the indian territory, where they now number some , and receive an annuity from the american government; missionary enterprise among them has been successful in establishing schools and churches. semipalatinsk ( ), a mountainous province of asiatic russia, stretching between lake balkash (s.) and tomsk; encloses stretches of steppe-land on which cattle and horses are reared; some mining of silver, lead, and copper is also done. semipalatinsk, the capital ( ), stands on the irtish; has two annual fairs, and is an important trading mart. semi-pelagianism. see pelagius. semiramis, legendary queen of assyria, to whom tradition ascribes the founding of babylon with its hanging gardens, and is said to have surpassed in valour and glory her husband ninus, the founder of nineveh; she seems to have in reality been the venus or astarte of the assyrian mythology. the story goes that when a child she was deserted by her mother and fed by doves. semiramis of the north, a name given to margaret, queen of denmark; also to catharine ii. of russia. semiretchinsk ( ), a mountainous province of asiatic russia, stretches s. of lake balkash to east turkestan and ferghana on the s.; is traversed e. and w. by the lofty ranges of the alatau and tian-shan mountains; the vast bulk of the inhabitants are kirghiz, and engaged in raising horses, camels, and sheep. semitic races, races reputed descendants of shem, including the jews, the assyrians, the chaldeans, the syrians, the phoenicians, and the arabs, and are "all marked," as the editor has observed elsewhere, "by common features; such appear in their language, their literature, their modes of thinking, social organisation, and religious belief. their language is poor in inflection, has few or no compound verbs or substantives, has next to no power of expressing abstract ideas, and is of simple primitive structure or syntax. their literature has neither the breadth nor the flow of that of greece or rome, but it is instinct with a passion which often holds of the very depths of being, and appeals to the ends of the earth. in their modes of thinking they are taken up with concrete realities instead of abstractions, and hence they have contributed nothing to science or philosophy, much as they have to faith. their social order is patriarchal, with a leaning to a despotism, which in certain of them, such as the jews and arabs, goes higher and higher till it reaches god; called, therefore, by jude 'the only despot.'" semmering, a mountain of styria, austria, m. sw. of vienna, ft. above sea-level; is crossed by the vienna and trieste railway, which passes through tunnels and over viaducts. sempach ( ), a small swiss town, m. nw. of lucerne, on the lake of sempach; here on the th of july a body of swiss soldiers completely routed the austrians, strong, under leopold, duke of austria. sen, chunder. see chunder sen. sÉnancour, Étienne pivert de, french writer, born at paris; delicate in his youth; was driven by an unsympathetic father to quit his home at , and for some time lived at geneva and fribourg, where a brief period of happy married life was closed by the death of his young wife; returned to paris in ; supported himself by writing, and latterly by a small government pension granted by louis philippe; is best known as the author of "obermann," a work of which matthew arnold wrote, "the stir of all the main forces by which modern life is and has been impelled, lives in the letters of obermann.... to me, indeed, it will always seem that the impressiveness of this production can hardly be rated too high" ( - ). senate (i. e. "an assembly of elders"), a name first bestowed by the romans on their supreme legislative and administrative assembly; its formation is traditionally ascribed to romulus; its powers, at their greatest during the republic, gradually diminished under the emperors; in modern times is used to designate the "upper house" in the legislature of various countries, e. g. france and the united states of america; is also the title of the governing body in many universities. seneca, annÆus, rhetorician, born at cordova; taught rhetoric at rome, whither he went at the time of augustus, and where he died a.d. . seneca, l. annÆus, philosopher, son of the preceding, born at cordova, and brought to rome when a child; practised as a pleader at the bar, studied philosophy, and became the tutor of nero; acquired great riches; was charged with conspiracy by nero as a pretext, it is believed, to procure his wealth, and ordered to kill himself, which he did by opening his veins till he bled to death, a slow process and an agonising, owing to his age; he was of the stoic school in philosophy, and wrote a number of treatises bearing chiefly on morals; _d_. a.d. . senegal, an important river of west africa, formed by the junction, at bafulabé, of two head-streams rising in the highlands of western soudan; flows nw., w., and sw., a course of m., and discharges into the atlantic m. below st. louis; navigation is somewhat impeded by a sand-bar at its mouth, and by cataracts and rapids in the upper reaches. senegal ( ), a french colony of west africa, lying along the banks of the senegal river. see senegambia. senegambia, a tract of territory lying chiefly within the basins of the rivers senegal and gambia, west africa, stretching from the atlantic, between cape blanco and the mouth of the gambia, inland to the niger; embraces the french colony of senegal, and various ill-defined native states under the suzerainty of france; the interior part is also called the french soudan; the vast expanse of the contiguous sahara in the n., and stretches of territory on the s., extending to the gulf of guinea, are also within the french sphere of influence, altogether forming an immense territory ( , ), of which st. louis (q. v.) in senegambia proper, is considered the capital; ground-nuts, gums, india-rubber, &c., are the chief exports. seneschal, an important functionary at the courts of frankish princes, whose duty it was to superintend household feasts and ceremonies, functions equivalent to those of the english high steward. sennaar ( ), capital of a district of the eastern soudan, which lies between the blue and the white nile, situated on the blue nile, m. se. of khartoum. sennacherib, a king of assyria, whose reign extended from to b.c., and was distinguished by the projection and execution of extensive public works; he endeavoured to extend his conquests westward, but was baffled in judea by the miraculous destruction of his army. see kings xix. . sens ( ), an old cathedral town of france, on the yonne, m. se. of paris; the cathedral is a fine gothic structure of the th century; has also an archbishop's palace, and is still surrounded by massive stone walls; does a good trade in corn, wine, and wool. senussi, a mohammedan brotherhood in the soudan, founded by mohammed-es-senussi from mostaganem, in algeria, who flourished between and . the brotherhood, remarkable for its austere and fanatical zeal, has ramified into many parts of n africa, and exercises considerable influence, fostering resistance to the encroachments of the invading european powers. sepoy, the name given to a native of india employed as a soldier in the british service in india. september, the ninth month of the year, so called as having been the seventh in the roman calendar. september massacres. an indiscriminate slaughter in paris which commenced on sunday afternoon, september , , "a black day in the annals of men," when priests on their way to prison were torn from the carriages that conveyed them, and massacred one after the other, all save abbé secard, in the streets by an infuriated mob; and continued thereafter through horror after horror for a hundred hours long, all done in the name of justice and in mock form of law--a true reign of terror. septuagint, a version, and the oldest of any known to us, of the hebrew scriptures in greek, executed at alexandria, in egypt, by different translators at different periods, commencing with b.c.; it is known as the alexandria version, while the name septuagint, or lxx., was given to it on the ground of the tradition that it was the work of , or rather , jews, who had, it is alleged, been drought from palestine for the purpose, and were fabled, according to one tradition, to have executed the whole in as many days, and, according to another, to have each done the whole apart from the rest, with the result that the version of each was found to correspond word for word with that of all the others; it began with the translation of the pentateuch and was continued from that time till b.c. by the translation of the rest, the whole being in reality the achievement of several independent workmen, who executed their parts, some with greater some with less ability and success; it is often literal to a painful degree, and it swarms with such pronounced hebraisms, that a pure greek would often fail to understand it. it was the version current everywhere at the time of the planting of the christian church, and the numerous quotations in the new testament from the old are, with few exceptions, quotations from it. sepulveda, juan gines, spanish historian, born at pozo-blanco, near cordova; in became historiographer to charles v. and tutor to the future philip ii.; was subsequently canon of salamanca; author of several historical works, of which a "history of charles v." is the most important, a work characterised by broad humanistic proclivities unusual in his day and country; _d_. . seraglio, in its restricted sense applied in the east to a harem or women's quarters in a royal household; the former residence of the sultan of turkey, occupies a beautiful site on the e. side of constantinople, on a projecting piece of land between the golden horn and the sea of marmora, enclosing within its m. of wall government buildings, mosques, gardens, &c., chief of which is the harem, which occupies an inner enclosure. seraing ( ), a manufacturing town of belgium, on the meuse, m. sw. of liège; noted for its extensive machine-shops (locomotives, &c.); established in by john cockerill, and now, with forges, coal-mines, &c., giving employment to some , men. serampur ( ), a town of modern aspect in india, on the hooghly, m. n. of calcutta; originally danish, was purchased by the british in ; manufactures paper and mats, and is associated with the successful missionary enterprise of the baptists carey, marshman, and ward. seraphic doctor, appellation applied to st. bonaventura (q. v.); also by carlyle to the doctors of the modern school of enlightenment, or march-of-intellect school. see _aufklÄrung_. seraphim, angels of the highest order and of etheriel temper, represented as guarding with veiled faces the divine glory, and considered to have originally denoted the lightning darting out from the black thunder-cloud. serapis, an egyptian divinity of partly greek derivation and partly egyptian, and identified with apis. seraskier, a turkish general, in especial the commander-in-chief or minister of war. serbonian bog, a quagmire in egypt in which armies were fabled to be swallowed up and lost; applied to any situation in which one is entangled from which extrication is difficult. serfs, under the feudal system a class of labourers whose position differed only from that of slaves in being attached to the soil and so protected from being sold from hand to hand like a chattel, although they could be transferred along with the land; liberty could be won by purchase, military service, or by residing a year and a day in a borough; these and economic changes brought about their gradual emancipation in the th and th centuries; mining serfs, however, existed in scotland as recently as the th century, and in russia their emancipation only took place in . seringapatam ( ), a decayed city of s. india, formerly capital of mysore state, situated on an island in the kaveri, m. ne. of mysore city; in the later th century was the stronghold of tippoo sahib, who was successfully besieged and slain by the british in ; has interesting ruins. serjeant-at-arms, an officer attendant on the speaker of the house of commons, whose duty it is to preserve order and arrest any offender against the rules of the house. serpent, the, is used symbolically to represent veneration from the shedding of its skin, and sometimes eternity, and not unfrequently a guardian spirit; also prudence and cunning, especially as embodied in satan; is an attribute of several saints as expressive of their power over the evil one. serpukoff ( ), an ancient and still prosperous town of russia, on the nara, m. s. of moscow; has a cathedral, and manufactures of cottons, woollens, &c. serrano y dominguez, duke de la torre, spanish statesman and marshal; won distinction in the wars against the carlists, and turning politician, became in a senator and favourite of queen isabella; was prominent during the political unrest and changes of her reign; joined prim in the revolution of , defeated the queen's troops; became president of the ministry; commander-in-chief of the army, and in regent of spain, a position he held till amadeus's succession in ; won victories against the carlists in and ; was again at the head of the executive during the last months of the republic, but retired on the accession of alfonso xii.; continued in active politics till his death ( - ). sertorius, roman statesman and general; joined the democratic party under marius (q. v.) against sulla; retired to spain on the return of sulla to rome, where he sought to introduce roman civilisation; was assassinated b.c. servetus, michael, physician, born at tudela, in navarre; had a leaning to theology, and passing into germany associated with the reformers; adopted socinianism, and came under ban of the orthodox, and was burnt alive at geneva, after a trial of two months, under sanction, it is said, of calvin ( - ). servia ( , ), a kingdom of europe occupying a central position in the balkan peninsula between austria (n.) and turkey (s. and w.), with roumania and bulgaria on the e.; one-third the size of england and wales; its surface is mountainous and in many parts thickly forested, but wide fertile valleys produce in great abundance wheat, maize, and other cereals, grapes and plums (an important export when dried), while immense herds of swine are reared on the outskirts of the oak-forests; is well watered by the morava flowing through the centre and by the save and danube on the n.; climate varies considerably according to elevation; not much manufacturing is done, but minerals abound and are partially wrought; the servians are of slavonic stock, high-spirited and patriotic, clinging tenaciously to old-fashioned methods and ideas; have produced a notable national literature, rich in lyric poetry; a good system of national education exists; belong to the greek church; the monarchy is limited and hereditary; government is vested in the king, senate, and national assembly; originally emigrants in the th century from districts round the carpathians, the servians had by the th century established a kingdom considerably larger than their present domain; were conquered by the turks in , and held in subjection till , when a national rising won them home rule, but remained tributary to turkey until , when they proclaimed their independence, which was confirmed by the treaty of berlin in . servius tullius, the sixth king of rome from to b.c., divided the roman territory into tribes, and the people into classes, which were further divided into centuries. sesostris, a legendary monarch of egypt, alleged to have achieved universal empire at a very remote antiquity, and to have executed a variety of public works by means of the captives he brought home from his conquests. sestertius, a roman coin either bronze or silver one-fourth of a denarius, originally worth ½ asses but afterwards asses, up to the time of augustus was worth fully d., and subsequently one-eighth less; sestertium, a roman "money of account," never a coin, equalled sestertii, and was valued at £ , s. settle, elkanah, a playwright who lives in the pages of dryden's satire "absalom and achitophel"; was an oxford man and littérateur in london; enjoyed a brief season of popularity as author of "cambyses," and "the empress of morocco"; degenerated into a "city poet and a puppet-show keeper," and died in the charterhouse; was the object of dryden's and pope's scathing sarcasms ( - ). setubal (english, st. ubes) ( ), a fortified seaport of portugal, at the mouth of the sado, on a bay of the same name, m. se. of lisbon; has a good trade in wine, salt, and oranges; in the neighbourhood is a remarkable stalactite cave. seven champions of christendom, st. george, of england; st. denis, of france; st. james, of spain; st. anthony, of italy; st. andrew, of scotland; st. patrick, of ireland; and st. david, of wales--often alluded to by old writers. seven deadly sins, pride, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, avarice, and sloth. seven dolours of the virgin, the prediction of simeon (luke ii. ); the flight into egypt; the loss of the child in jerusalem; the sight of her son bearing the cross; the sight of him upon the cross; the descent from the cross; and the entombment--the festival in connection with which is celebrated on the friday before palm sunday. seven sages of greece, solon of athens, his motto "know thyself"; chilo of sparta, his motto "consider the end"; thales of miletus, his motto "whoso hateth suretyship is sure"; bias of priene, his motto "most men are bad"; cleobulus of lindos, his motto "avoid extremes"; pittacus of mitylene, his motto "seize time by the forelock"; periander of corinth, his motto "nothing is impossible to industry." seven sleepers, seven noble youths of ephesus who, to escape the persecution of decius, fled into a cave, where they fell asleep and woke up at the end of two centuries. seven wise masters, the title of a famous cycle of mediæval tales which centre round the story of a young prince who, after baffling all efforts of former tutors, is at last, at the age of , instructed in all knowledge by sindibad, one of the king's wise men, but having cast his horoscope sindibad perceives the prince will die unless, after presentation at the court, he keeps silence for seven days; one of the king's wives, having in vain attempted to seduce the young man, in baffled rage accuses him to the king with tempting her virtue, and procures his death-sentence; the seven sages delay the execution by beguiling the king with stories till the seven days are passed, when the prince speaks and reveals the plot; an extraordinary number of variants exist in eastern and western languages, the earliest written version being an arabian text of the th century: a great mass of literature has grown round the subject, which is one of the most perplexing as well as interesting problems of storiology. seven wonders of the world, the pyramids of egypt, the hanging gardens of babylon, the tomb of mausolus, the temple of diana at ephesus, the colossus of rhodes, the statue of jupiter by phidias at olympia, and the pharos at alexandria. seven years' war, the name given to the third and most terrible struggle between frederick the great of prussia and maria theresa, empress of austria, for, the possession of silesia, which embroiled almost all europe in war, and which had far-reaching effects on the destinies of england and france as well as prussia; began in by frederick's successful advance on dresden, anticipating maria theresa's intention of attempting the recovery of silesia, lost to her in the previous two wars. with austria were allied france, sweden, poland, and russia, while prussia was supported till by england. in peter iii. of russia changed sides, and frederick, sometimes victorious, often defeated, finally emerged successful in , when the war was brought to a close by the peace of hubertsburg. besides demonstrating the strength and genius of frederick and raising immensely the prestige of prussia, it enabled england to make complete her predominance in north america and to establish herself securely in india, while at the same time it gave the death-blow to french hopes of a colonial empire. severn, the second river of england, rises on the e. side of plinlimmon, in montgomeryshire, and flows in a circuitous southerly direction through montgomeryshire, shropshire, worcestershire, and gloucestershire, falling into the bristol channel after a course of m.; is navigable to welshpool ( m.); chief tributaries are the terne, wye, and the stratford avon; there is a "bore" perceptible m. from the mouth. severus, l. septimius, roman emperor, born in leptis magna, in africa; was in command at pannonia, and elected emperor on the murder of pertinax, and after conquering his rivals achieved victories in the east, especially against the parthians, and thereafter subdued a rebellion in britain, and secured south britain against invasions from the north by a wall; died at york ( - ). sÉvignÉ, madame de, maiden name marie de rabutin-chantal, the most charming of letter-writers, born at paris; married at the dissolute marquis de sévigné, who left her a widow at ; her beauty and rare charms attracted many suitors, to one and all of whom, however, she turned a deaf ear, devoting herself with touching fidelity to her son and daughter, and finding all her happiness in their affection and in the social intercourse of a wide circle of friends; her fame rests on her letters, written chiefly to her daughter in provence, which reflect the brightest and purest side of parisian life, and contain the tender outpourings of her mother's heart in language of unstudied grace ( - ). seville ( ), a celebrated spanish city and river port on the guadalquivir, m. ne. of cadiz; an iron bridge connects it with triana, a large suburb on the other side of the river; many of the old picturesque moorish buildings have given place to modern and more commodious structures and broader streets; the great gothic cathedral ( th century), containing paintings by murillo, &c., is among the finest in europe; the moorish royal palace, the great roman aqueduct (in use until ), the museum, with masterpieces of murillo, velasquez, &c., the university, archbishop's palace, giralda campanile, and the vast bull-ring, are noteworthy; chief manufactures embrace cigars, machinery, pottery, textiles, &c.; while lead, quicksilver, wines, olive-oil, and fruits are exported; is capital of a province ( ). sÈvres ( ), a french town on the seine, ½ m. sw. of paris, celebrated for its fine porcelain ware (especially vases), the manufacture of which was established in ; has a school of mosaic work and museums for pottery ware of all ages and countries. sÈvres, deux- ( ), a department of west france; is watered by two rivers, and in the n. thickly wooded; a varied agriculture, cattle and mule breeding, and cloth manufacture are the principal industries. niort is the capital. seward, anna, poetess, born at eyam, derbyshire, but from the age of seven spent her life at lichfield, where her father was residentiary canon; was a friend and indefatigable correspondent of mrs. piozzi, dr. darwin, southey, scott, and others; author of "louisa," a novel in poetry, "sonnets" and other poems, which had in their day considerable popularity; her correspondence is collected in vols. ( - ). seward, william henry, american statesman, born at florida, new york state; was called to the bar at utica in , and soon took rank as one of the finest forensic orators of his country; engaged actively in the politics of his state, of which he was governor in and ; entered the u.s. senate in as an abolitionist, becoming soon the recognised leader of the anti-slavery party; was put forward by the republican party as a candidate for presidential nomination, but failing in this he zealously supported lincoln, under whom he served as secretary of state, conducting with notable success the foreign affairs of the country during the civil war and up to the accession of president grant in ; spent his closing years in travel and retirement ( - ). sextant, an instrument used in navigation (sometimes also in land-surveying) for measuring the altitudes of celestial bodies and their angular distances; consists of a graduated brass sector, the sixth part of a circle, and an arrangement of two small mirrors and telescope; invented in by john hadley. seychelles ( ), a group of some islands, largest mahé ( sq. m.), situated in the indian ocean, m. ne. of madagascar; taken from the french by britain in , and now under the governor of mauritius; are mountainous and mostly surrounded by coral reefs; export fibres, nuts, palm-oil, &c.; victoria, in mahé, is the chief town, and an imperial coaling station. sforza (i. e. stormer), italian family celebrated during the th and th centuries, founded by a military adventurer, a peasant of the name of muzia allendolo, and who received the name; they became dukes of milan, and began by hiring their services in war, in which they were always victorious, to the highest bidder, the first of the number to attain that rank being francesco sforza, the son of the founder, in ( - ), the last of the series being françois-marie ( - ). sgraffito, a decorative wall painting, produced by layers of plaster applied to a moistened surface and afterwards operated on so as to produce a picture. shadwell, thomas, dramatist, who lives as the "macflecknoe" of dryden's "absalom and achitophel," born, of a good family, in norfolk; studied law and adopted literature, in which he made a successful start with the comedy "the sullen lovers" ( ); his numerous plays, chiefly comedies, are of little poetic value, but serve as useful commentaries on the restoration period; quarrelled with and satirised dryden in the "medal of john bayes," which drew forth the crushing retort in dryden's famous satire; succeeded dryden as poet-laureate in ( - ). shafites, a sect of the sunnites or orthodox mohammedans, so called from shafei, a descendant of mohammed. shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, earl of, a notable politician, prominent in the times of cromwell and charles ii., born, of good parentage, in dorsetshire; passed through oxford and entered lincoln's inn; sat in the short parliament of ; changed from the royalist to the parliamentary side during the civil war, and was a member of cromwell's council of state, but latterly attacked the protector's government, and was one of the chief promoters of the restoration; chancellor of the exchequer in , and later a member of the "cabal"; he in was created an earl and lord chancellor, but, hoodwinked by charles in the secret treaty of dover, went over to the opposition, lost his chancellorship, supported an anti-catholic policy, leagued himself with the country party, and intrigued with the prince of orange; came into power again, after the "popish plot," as the champion of toleration and protestantism, became president of the council, and passed the habeas corpus act; his virulent attacks on james and espousal of monmouth's cause brought about his arrest on a charge of high treason ( ), and although acquitted he deemed it expedient to flee to holland, where he died; one of the ablest men of his age, but of somewhat inscrutable character, whose shifting policy seems to have been chiefly dominated by a regard for self; is the "achitophel" of dryden's great satire ( - ). shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, earl of, grandson of the preceding, philosopher, born in london; was an ardent student in his youth, made the grand tour, and entered parliament in , moving to the upper house on the death of his father in , where, as a staunch whig, he gave steady support to william iii.; withdrew from politics, never a congenial sphere to him, on the accession of anne, and followed his bent for literature and philosophy; in his collected writings appeared under the title "characteristics," in which he expounds, in the polite style of the th century, with much ingenuity and at times force, a somewhat uncritical optimism, enunciating, among other things, the doubtful maxim that ridicule is the test of truth ( - ). shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, seventh earl of, statesman and philanthropist, born in london; was a distinguished graduate of oxford, and entered parliament as a conservative in , took office under wellington in , and was a lord of the admiralty in peel's ministry of ; succeeded to the earldom in ; but his name lives by virtue of his noble and lifelong philanthropy, which took shape in numerous acts of parliament, such as the mines and collieries act ( ), excluding women and boys under working in mines; the better treatment of lunatics act ( ), called the magna charta of the insane; the factory acts ( ); and the workshop regulation act ( ); while outside parliament he wrought with rare devotion in behalf of countless benevolent and religious schemes of all sorts, notably the ragged school movement and the better housing of the london poor; received the freedom of edinburgh and london; was the friend and adviser of the prince consort and the queen ( - ). shah (pers. "king"), an abbreviation of shah-in-shah ("king of kings"), the title by which the monarchs of persia are known; may also be used in afghanistan and other asiatic countries, but more generally the less assuming title of khan is taken. shah-jehan ("king of the world"), fifth of the mogul emperors of delhi; succeeded his father in ; a man of great administrative ability and a skilled warrior; conquered the deccan and the kingdom of golconda, and generally raised the mogul empire to its zenith; his court was truly eastern in its sumptuous magnificence; the "peacock throne" alone cost £ , , ; died in prison, a victim to the perfidy of his usurping son aurungzebe; _d_. . shakers, a fanatical sect founded by one ann lee, so called from their extravagant gestures in worship; they are agamists and communists. shakespeare, william, great world-poet and dramatist, born in stratford-on-avon, in warwickshire; his father, john shakespeare, a respected burgess; his mother, mary arden, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer, through whom the family acquired some property; was at school at stratford, married anne hathaway, a yeoman's daughter, at , she eight years older, and had by her three daughters; left for london somewhere between and , in consequence, it is said, of some deer-stealing frolic; took charge of horses at the theatre door, and by-and-by became an actor. his first work, "venus and adonis," appeared in , and "lucrece" the year after; became connected with different theatres, and a shareholder in certain of them, in some of which he took part as actor, with the result, in a pecuniary point of view, that he bought a house in his native place, extended it afterwards, where he chiefly resided for the ten years preceding his death. not much more than this is known of the poet's external history, and what there is contributes nothing towards accounting for either him or the genius revealed in his dramas. of the man, says carlyle, "the best judgment not of this country, but of europe at large, is slowly pointing to the conclusion that he is the chief of all poets hitherto--the greatest intellect, in our recorded world, that has left record of himself in the way of literature. on the whole, i know not such a power of vision, such a faculty of thought, if we take all the characters of it, in any other man--such a calmness of depth, placid, joyous strength, all things in that great soul of his so true and clear, as in a tranquil, unfathomable sea.... it is not a transitory glance of insight that will suffice; it is a deliberate illumination of the whole matter; it is a calmly _seeing_ eye--a great intellect, in short.... it is in delineating of men and things, especially of men, that shakespeare is great.... the thing he looks at reveals not this or that face, but its inmost heart, its generic secret; it dissolves itself as in light before him, so that he discerns the perfect structure of it.... it is a perfectly _level_ mirror we have here; no _twisted_, poor convex-concave mirror reflecting all objects with its own convexities and concavities, that is to say, withal a man justly related to all things and men, a good man.... and his intellect is an unconscious intellect; there is more virtue in it than he himself is aware of.... his art is not artifice; the noblest worth of it is not there by plan or pre-contrivance. it grows up from the deeps of nature, through this noble sincere soul, who is a voice of nature.... it is nature's highest reward to a true, simple, great soul that he got thus to be _part of herself_." of his works nothing can or need be said here; enough to add, as carlyle further says, "his works are so many windows through which we see a glimpse of the world that was in him.... alas! shakespeare had to write for the globe playhouse; his great soul had to crush itself, as it could, into that and no other mould. it was with him, then, as it is with us all. no man works save under conditions. the sculptor cannot set his own free thought before us, but his thought as he could translate into the stone that was given, with the tools that were given. _disjecta membra_ are all that we find of any poet, or of any man." shakespeare's plays, with the order of their publication, are as follows: "love's labour's lost," ; "comedy of errors," ; , , "henry vi.," - ; "two gentlemen of verona," - ; "midsummer-night's dream," - ; "richard iii.," ; "romeo and juliet," - (?); "richard ii.," ; "king john," ; "merchant of venice," ; and "henry iv.," - ; "henry v.," ; "taming of the shrew," (?); "merry wives of windsor," ; "much ado about nothing," ; "as you like it," ; "twelfth night," - ; "julius cæsar," ; "all's well," - (?); "hamlet," , "measure for measure," ; "troilus and cressida," - (?); "othello," ; "lear," ; "macbeth," ; "antony and cleopatra," ; "coriolanus," ; "timon," ; "pericles," ; "cymbeline," ; "tempest," ; "winter's tale," - ; "henry viii.," - ( - ). shakespeare of divines, an epithet sometimes applied to jeremy taylor (q. v.) on account of his poetic style. shalott, lady of, subject of a poem of tennyson's in love with lancelot; wove a web which she must not rise from, otherwise a curse would fall on her; saw lancelot pass one day, entered a boat and glided down to camelot, but died on the way. shamanism, the religion of the native savage races of north siberia, being a belief in spirits, both good and evil, who can be persuaded to bless or curse by the incantations of a priest called a shaman. shammai, an eminent jewish rabbi of the time of herod, who held the position of supreme judge in the sanhedrim under the presidency of hillel (q. v.), and whose narrow, rigid orthodoxy and repressive policy became the leading principles of his school, "the house of shammai," which, however, carried the system to a pitch of fanatical zeal not contemplated by its originator. shamrock, a small trefoil plant, the national emblem of ireland; it is matter of dispute whether it is the wood-sorrel, a species of clover, or some other allied trefoil; the lesser yellow trefoil is perhaps the most commonly accepted symbol. shamyl, a great caucasian chief, head of the lesghians, who combined the functions of priest and warrior; consolidated the caucasian tribes in their resistance to the russians, and carried on a successful struggle in his mountain fastnesses for thirty years, till his forces were worn out and himself made captive in ; _d_. . shanghai ( ), the chief commercial city and port of china, on the wusung, an affluent of the yangtse-kiang, m. from the coast, and m. se. of nanking; large, densely-peopled suburbs have grown round the closely-packed and walled city, which, with its narrow, unclean streets, presents a slovenly appearance; the french and english occupy the broad-streeted and well-built suburbs in the n.; the low-lying site exposes the city to great heat in the summer, and to frequent epidemics of cholera and fever; an extensive system of canals draws down a great part of the interior produce, and swells the export trade in tea, silk, cotton, rice, sugar, &c. shannon, the first river of ireland, and largest in the british islands, rises in the cuilcagh mountains, co. cavan; flows in a south-westerly direction through loughs allen, ree, and derg, besides forming several lough expansions, to limerick, whence it turns due w., and opens out on the atlantic in a wide estuary between kerry (s.) and clare (n.); has an entire course of m., and is navigable to lough allen, a distance of m. shans or laos, the name of a people, descendants of aborigines of china, forming several large tribes scattered round the frontiers of burma, siam, and south china, whose territory, roughly speaking, extends n. as far as the yunnan plateau of south china; some are independent, but the bulk of the tribes are subject to siam, china, and the british in burma; practise slavery, are buddhists, somewhat superstitious, indolent, pleasure-loving, and for the most part peaceable and content; chased gold and silver work, rice, cotton, tobacco, &c., are their chief exports. sharon, a fertile region in palestine of the maritime plain between carmel and philistia. sharp, abraham, a schoolmaster of liverpool, and subsequent bookkeeper in london, whose wide knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, &c., attracted flamsteed (q. v.), by whom he was invited in to enter the greenwich royal observatory, where he did notable work, improving instruments, and showing great skill as a calculator; published "geometry improved," logarithmic tables, &c. ( - ). sharp, becky, an intriguing character in thackeray's "vanity fair," very clever, but without heart. sharp, granville, a noted abolitionist, born in london; trained for the bar, but accepted a post in the london ordnance office, which he held until the outbreak of the american war; was a voluminous writer on philology, law, theology, &c., but mainly devoted himself to the cause of negro emancipation, co-operating with clarkson in founding the association for the abolition of negro slavery, and taking an active interest in the new colony for freedom in sierra leone; won a famous decision in the law-courts to the effect that whenever a slave set foot on english soil he becomes free; he was also one of the founders of the bible society ( - ). sharp, james, archbishop of st. andrews, born in banff castle; educated at aberdeen university, visited england, where he formed important friendships, and in was appointed "regent" or professor of philosophy at st. andrews, a post he resigned five years later to become minister of crail; during the protectorate he sided with the "resolutioners" or moderates, and appeared before cromwell in london to plead their cause; in received a commission to go to london to safeguard the interests of the scottish church, a trust he shamefully betrayed by intriguing with charles at breda, and with clarendon and the magnates of the english church to restore prelacy in scotland, he himself (by way of reward) being appointed archbishop of st. andrews; henceforward he was but a pliant tool in the hands of his english employers, and an object of intense hatred to the covenanters; in his life was attempted in edinburgh by robert mitchell, a covenanting preacher, and ultimately on magus muir, may , he was mercilessly hacked to pieces by a band of covenanters headed by hackston and john balfour ( - ). shaster, a book containing the institutes of the hindu religion or its legal requirements. shawnees, a tribe of american indians located originally in the eastern slopes of the alleghanies, but now removed to missouri, kansas, and the indian territory. sheba, believed to be a region in south arabia, along the shore of the red sea. shechinah, a glory as of the divine presence over the mercy-seat in the jewish tabernacle, and reflected from the winged cherubim which overshadowed it, the reality of which it is the symbol being the divine presence in man. sheepshanks, john, art collector, born at leeds, son of a manufacturer; presented in a collection of works by british artists to the nation, now housed in south kensington ( - ). sheerness ( ), a fortified seaport and important garrison town with important naval dockyards in kent, occupying the nw. corner of sheppey isle, where the medway joins the thames, m. e. of london; is divided into blue-town (within the garrison, and enclosing the acres of docks), mile-town, banks-town, and marina-town (noted for sea-bathing). sheffield ( ), a city of yorkshire, and chief centre of the english cutlery trade, built on hilly ground on the don near its confluence with the sheaf, whence its name, m. e. of manchester; is a fine, clean, well-built town, with notable churches, public halls, theatres, &c., and well equipped with libraries, hospitals, parks, colleges (e. g. firth college), and various societies; does a vast trade in all forms of steel, iron, and brass goods, as well as plated and britannia-metal articles; has of late years greatly developed its manufactures of armour-plate, rails, and other heavier goods; its importance as a centre of cutlery dates from very early times, and the cutlers' company was founded in ; has been from saxon times the capital of the manor district of hallamshire; it is divided into five parliamentary districts, each of which sends a member to parliament. sheffield, john, duke of buckinghamshire, son of the earl of mulgrave, whose title he succeeded to in ; served in the navy during the dutch wars of charles ii.; held office under james ii., and was by william iii. created marquis of normanby; a staunch tory in anne's reign, he was rewarded with a dukedom, lost office through opposing marlborough, but was reinstated after , and in george i.'s reign worked in the stuart interest; wrote an "essay on poetry," &c. ( - ). sheikh, the chief of an arab tribe; used often as a title of respect, sheikh-ul-islam being the ecclesiastical head of mohammedans in turkey. sheil, richard lalor, irish patriot, born in tipperary; bred to the bar; gave himself for some time to literature, living by it; joined the catholic association; was distinguished for his oratory and his devotion, alongside of o'connell, to catholic emancipation; supported the whig government, and held office under melbourne and lord john russell ( - ). shekel, among the ancient hebrews originally a weight, and eventually the name of a coin of gold or silver, or money of a certain weight, the silver = s. per oz., and the gold = £ . shelburne, william petty, earl of, statesman, born in dublin; succeeded to his father's title in , a few weeks after his election to the house of commons; held office in the ministries of grenville ( ), of chatham ( ), and of rockingham ( ); his acceptance of the premiership in , after rockingham's death, led to the resignation of fox and the entry of william pitt, at the age of , into the cabinet; his short ministry (july to feb. ) saw the close of the continental and american wars, and the concession of independence to the colonies, collapsing shortly afterwards before the powerful coalition of fox and north; in , on his retirement from politics, was created marquis of lansdowne; was a free-trader, supporter of catholic emancipation, and otherwise liberal in his views, but rather tactless in steering his way amid the troublous politics of his time ( - ). sheldonian theatre, "senate house" of oxford; so called from gilbert sheldon, archbishop of canterbury, who built it. shelley, mary wollstonecraft, author of "frankenstein," daughter of william godwin and mary wollstonecraft; became the wife of the poet shelley in after a two years' illicit relationship; besides "frankenstein" ( ), wrote several romances, "the last man," "lodore," &c., also "rambles in germany and italy"; edited with valuable notes her husband's works ( - ). shelley, percy bysshe, born at field place, near horsham, sussex, eldest son of sir timothy shelley, a wealthy landed proprietor; was educated at eton, and in went to oxford, where his impatience of control and violent heterodoxy of opinion, characteristic of him throughout, burst forth in a pamphlet "the necessity of atheism," which led to his expulsion in , along with jefferson hogg, his subsequent biographer; henceforth led a restless, wandering life; married at harriet westbrook, a pretty girl of , a school companion of his sister, from whom he was separated within three years; under the influence of william godwin (q. v.) his revolutionary ideas of politics and society developed apace; engaged in quixotic political enterprises in dublin, lynmouth, and elsewhere, and above all put to practical test godwin's heterodox view on marriage by eloping ( ) to the continent with his daughter mary, whom he married two years later after the unhappy suicide of harriet; in , embittered by lord eldon's decision that he was unfit to be trusted with the care of harriet's children, and with consumption threatening, he left england never to return; spent the few remaining years of his life in italy, chiefly at lucca, florence, and pisa, in friendly relations with byron, leigh hunt, trelawney, &c.; during this time were written his greatest works, "prometheus unbound," "the cenci," his noble lament on keats, "adonais," besides other longer works, and most of his finest lyrics, "ode to the south wind," "the skylark," &c.; was drowned while returning in an open sailing-boat from leghorn to his home on spezia bay; "an enthusiast for humanity generally," says professor saintsbury, "and towards individuals a man of infinite generosity and kindliness, he yet did some of the cruellest and some of not the least disgraceful things from mere childish want of realising the _pacta conventa_ of the world;" shelley is pre-eminently the poet of lyric emotion, the subtle and most musical interpreter of vague spiritual longing and intellectual desire; his poems form together "the most sensitive," says stopford brooke, "the most imaginative, and the most musical, but the least tangible lyrical poetry we possess" ( - ). shenandoah, a river of virginia, formed by two head-streams rising in augusta co., which unite m. w. of washington, and flowing ne. through the beautiful "valley of virginia," falls into the potomac at harper's ferry, after a course of m.; also the name of a town ( ) in pennsylvania, m. nw. of philadelphia; centre of an important coal district. shenstone, william, poet, born, the son of a landed proprietor, at hales-owen, shropshire; was educated at pembroke college, oxford, and during the years - produced three vols. of poetry, the most noted being "the schoolmistress"; succeeded to his father's estate in , and entered with much enthusiasm and reckless expenditure into landscape-gardening, which won him in his day a wider reputation than his poetry; his "essays" have considerable critical merit and originality, while his poetry--ballads odes, songs, &c.--has a music and grace despite its conventional diction ( - ). sheol, the dark underworld or hades of the hebrews, inhabited by the shades of the dead. shepherd kings or hyksos, a tribe of shepherds, alleged to have invaded lower egypt years before christ, overthrown the reigning dynasty, and maintained their supremacy for years. shepherd of salisbury plain, name of the hero, a shepherd of the name of saunders, in a tract written by hannah more, characterised by homely wisdom and simple piety. sheppard, jack, a notorious criminal, whose audacious robberies and daring escapes from newgate prison made him for a time the terror and talk of london; drew some , people to witness his execution at tyburn; figures as the hero of a well-known novel by harrison ainsworth ( - ). sheppey, isle of, an islet in the estuary of the thames, at the mouth of the medway, belonging to kent, from which it is separated by the swale (spanned by a swing-bridge); great clay cliffs rise on the n., and like the rest of the island, are rich in interesting fossil remains; corn is grown, and large flocks of sheep raised; chief town is sheerness (q. v.), where the bulk of the people are gathered; is gradually diminishing before the encroaching sea. sherborne ( ), an interesting old town of dorsetshire, pleasantly situated on rising ground overlooking the yeo, m. sw. of london; has one of the finest perpendicular minsters in south england, ruins of an elizabethan castle, and king edward's school, founded in , and ranking among the best of english public schools. sherbrooke, robert low, viscount, statesman, born, the son of a rector, at bingham, notts; graduated at oxford; obtained a fellowship, and in was called to the bar; six years later emigrated to australia; made his mark at the sydney bar, taking at the same time an active part in the politics of the country; returned to england in , and entered parliament, holding office under lord aberdeen ( ) and lord palmerston ( ); education became his chief interest for some time, and in he fiercely opposed the whig reform bill, but subsequently made amends to his party by his powerful support of gladstone's irish church disestablishment bill, and was included in the liberal ministry of as chancellor of the exchequer, a post he held till , when he became home secretary; a man of great intellectual force and independency of judgment; created a viscount in ; was d.c.l. of oxford and ll.d. of edinburgh ( - ). shere ali, ameer of afghanistan, son and successor of dost mohammed, at first favoured by britain, but at last distrusted and was driven from the throne ( - ). sheridan, philip henry, a distinguished american general, born, of irish parentage, in albany, new york; obtained a cadetship at west point military academy, and entered the army as a second-lieutenant in ; served in texas and during the civil war; won rapid promotion by his great dash and skill as commander of a cavalry regiment; gained wide repute by his daring raids into the s.; cleared the confederates out of the shenandoah valley in , and by his famous ride (october , ) from winchester to cedar creek snatched victory out of defeat, routing the conjoined forces of early and lee; received the thanks of congress, and was created major-general; took an active part under grant in compelling the surrender of lee, and in bringing the war to a close; subsequently during grant's presidency was promoted to lieutenant-general; visited europe in to witness the franco-german war, and in succeeded sherman as general-in-chief of the american army ( - ). sheridan, richard brinsley butler, dramatist and politician, born in dublin; educated at harrow; was already committed to literature when, in , he settled down in london with his gifted young wife, elizabeth linley, and scored his first success with the "rivals" in , following it up with the overrated "duenna"; aided by his father-in-law became owner of drury lane theatre, which somewhat lagged till the production of his most brilliant satirical comedy, "the school for scandal" ( ) and the "critic" set flowing the tide of prosperity; turning his attention next to politics he entered parliament under fox's patronage in , and two years later became under-secretary for foreign affairs in rockingham's ministry; his great speech ( ) impeaching hastings for his treatment of the begums placed him in the front rank of orators, but although he sat for years in parliament, only once again reached the same height of eloquence in a speech ( ) supporting the french revolution, and generally failed to establish himself as a reliable statesman; meanwhile his theatrical venture had ended disastrously, and other financial troubles thickening around him, he died in poverty, but was accorded a burial in westminster abbey ( - ). sherif or shereef, a title of dignity among mohammedans of either sex bestowed upon descendants of the prophet through his daughters fatima and ali; as a distinguishing badge women wear a green veil, and men a green turban. sheriff, in england the chief officer of the crown in every county, appointed annually, and intrusted with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of peace and order, with power to summon the _posse commitatus_. the office originated in anglo-saxon times, when it exercised wide judicial functions which have been gradually curtailed, and such duties as remain--the execution of writs, enforcement of legal decisions, &c., are mostly delegated to an under-sheriff (usually a lawyer) and bound-bailiffs, while the sheriff himself, generally a person of wealth (the office being unsalaried and compulsory, but not necessarily for more than one year) discharges merely honorary duties. in scotland the sheriff, or sheriff-depute as he is called, is the chief judge of the county, and has under him one or more sheriffs-substitute, upon whom devolves the larger portion of the important and multifarious duties of his office. in america the sheriff is the chief administrative officer of the county, but exercises no judicial functions at all. sheriffmuir, a barren spot stretching n. of the ochils, in perthshire, m. ne. of stirling; was the scene of an indecisive conflict between jacobites under the earl of mar and royalists under the duke of argyll, november , . sherlock, thomas, english prelate, born in london; became bishop in succession of bangor, salisbury, and london, declining the primacy; wrote several theological works, and took up arms against the rationalists of the day, such as collins and woolston ( - ). sherlock holmes, an amateur detective, a creation of dr. conan doyle. sherman, william tecumseh, a distinguished american general, born, the son of a judge, in lancaster, ohio; first saw service as a lieutenant of artillery in the indian frontier wars in florida and california; resigned from the army in , and set up as a banker in san francisco, but at the outbreak of the civil war accepted a colonelcy in the federalist ranks; distinguished himself at the battles of bull run ( ) and shiloh ( ); received promotion, and as second in command to grant rendered valuable service in reducing vicksburg and memphis; was present at the victory of chattanooga, and during entered into command of the sw.; captured the stronghold of atlanta, and after a famous march seaward with , men took savannah, which he followed up with a series of victories in the carolinas, receiving, on th april , the surrender of general johnston, which brought the war to a close; was created general and commander-in-chief of the army in , a position he held till ; published memoirs of his military life ( - ). sherwood forest, once an extensive forest, the scene of robin hood's exploits, in nottinghamshire, stretching some m. between worksop and nottingham, but now a hilly, disafforested tract occupied by country houses and private parks, several villages, and the town of mansfield. shetland or zetland ( ), a group of over islands, islets, and skerries, of which are inhabited, forming the northernmost county of scotland, lying out in the atlantic, nne. of the orkneys; mainland ( sq. m.), fell, and unst are the largest; the coast-line is boldly precipitous and indented, while the scenery all over the island is very grand; the soil is peaty, ill adapted to cultivation, but there is considerable rearing of stock, and the little shaggy pony is well known; fishing is the chief industry, herring, cod, ling, &c. lerwick (q. v.) is the capital. shibboleth, a word by which the gileadites distinguished an ephraimite from his inability to sound the _sh_ in the word, and so discovered whether he was friend or foe; hence it has come to denote a party cry or watchword. shields, north, a flourishing seaport of northumberland, on the tyne, near the mouth, m. ne. of newcastle-upon-tyne, and lying within the municipal borough of tynemouth ( ); is of quite modern growth, and of a plain, uninteresting appearance; has a theatre, free library, mariners' home, fine park, &c.; the docks cover acres, and a large export trade in coal is carried on. shields, south ( ), a busy seaport and popular watering-place in durham, with a frontage of m. on the south bank of the tyne, m. ne. of newcastle-upon-tyne, a place of residence from ancient times, with roman remains, &c.; has a theatre, public library, marine school, two fine parks with central parade, acres of docks, &c.; exports immense quantities of coal and coke. shiites, a sect of the mohammedans, who reject the "sunna" (q. v.) and championed the claims of ali mahommed's cousin and son-in-law to succeed to the caliphate, and maintain the divine right of his descendants to represent the prophet in the mohammedan church. the persians belong to this sect. shikarpur ( ), capital of a district ( ) in n. sind, india, situated on rich alluvial ground, m. w. of the indus, and m. n. of karachi; since the opening of the indus valley railway it has lost much of its importance as a commercial entrepôt between india and khorassan; vicinity produces excellent grain crops, and carpets, cottons, &c., are manufactured in the town. shiloh, a village m. n. of jerusalem, sacred as the site of the resting-place of the tabernacle on the settlement of the jews in the land of promise. is a name also of the messiah. shinar, the vast alluvial plain extending along the tagus and euphrates, forming the country of chaldea and babylonia. shintoism, the native religion of japan; a system of ancestor worship chiefly, combined with which is a religious homage paid to the mikado. ship-money, a tax levied by charles i. at the suggestion of noy, the attorney-general, who based its imposition on an old war-tax leviable on port-towns to furnish a navy in times of danger, and which charles imposed in a time of peace without consent of parliament, and upon inland as well as port-towns, provoking thereby wide-spread dissatisfaction, and hampden's refusal to pay, which with the trial and decision in favour of charles contributed to bring about the civil war, which cost charles his life; was declared illegal by the long parliament in . shipton, mother, a prophetess of english legend, whose preternatural knowledge revealed in her prophecies, published after her death, was ascribed to an alliance with the devil, by whom it was said she became the mother of an ugly impish child. shiraz ( ), a celebrated city of persia, occupying a charming site on an elevated plain, m. ne. of bushire; founded in the th century; was for long a centre of persian culture, and a favourite resort of the royal princes; its beauties are celebrated in the poems of häfiz and sádi, natives of the place; has been thrice wrecked by earthquakes, and presents now a somewhat dilapidated appearance. shirÉ, a river of east africa, flows out of lake nyassa, and passes in a southerly course through the shiré highlands, a distance of m., till it joins the zambesi; discovered by livingstone. shirley, james, dramatist, born in london, educated at oxford and cambridge; entered the church, but turning catholic resigned, and after trying teaching established himself in london as a play-writer; wrote with great facility, producing upwards of thirty plays before the suppression of theatres in ; fell back on teaching as a means of livelihood, and with a temporary revival of his plays after the restoration eked out a scanty income till fear and exposure during the great fire brought himself and his wife on the same day to a common grave; of his plays mention may be made of "the witty fair one," "the wedding," "the lady of pleasure," "the traitor," etc. ( - ). shishak, the name of several monarchs of egypt of the twenty-second dynasty, the first of whom united nearly all egypt under one government, invaded judea and plundered the temple of jerusalem about b.c. shittim wood, a hard, close-grained acacia wood of an orange-brown colour found in the arabian desert, and employed in constructing the jewish tabernacle. shoa ( , ), the southmost division of abyssinia (q. v.); was an independent country till its conquest by theodore of abyssinia in ; is traversed by the blue nile, and has a mixed population of gallas and abyssinians. shoddy, a stuff woven of old woollen fabrics teased into fibre and of new wool intermixed. shoeburyness, a town in essex, near southend, a stretch of moorland utilised by the government for gunnery practice. sholapur ( ), chief town in the presidency of bombay, in a district ( ) of the name, m. e. of bombay; has cotton and silk manufactures. shore, jane, the celebrated mistress of edward iv.; was the young wife of a respected london goldsmith till she was taken up by the king, through whom, till the close of the reign, she exercised great power, "never abusing it to any man's hurt, but to many a man's comfort and relief"; was ill-treated and persecuted by richard iii. for political purposes; subsequently lived under the patronage of lord hastings, and afterwards of the marquis of dorset, surviving till ; the story of her life has been made the subject of many ballads, plays, etc. shoreditch ( ), parliamentary borough of east london; returns two members to parliament; manufactures furniture, boot and shoes, beer, etc. shoreham, new, a seaport m. w. of brighton; has oyster and other fisheries, and shipbuilding yards. shorthouse, joseph henry, author of "john inglesant," born in birmingham; wrote also "sir percival" and "little schoolmaster mark," etc.; is remarkable for his refined style of writing, latterly too much so; his first work, "john inglesant," published in , is his best; _b_. . shovel, sir cloudesley, a celebrated english admiral, born at clay, in norfolk; was apprenticed to a cobbler, but ran away to sea, and rose from grade to grade till in we find him a lieutenant in the mediterranean fleet; was knighted in for his gallantry as commander of a ship in the battle of bantry bay, and in the following year as rear-admiral was prominent at the engagement off beachy head; in gave heroic assistance to admiral russell at la hogue, and in to rooke at malaga; elevated to the commandership of the english fleets he in captured barcelona, but on his way home from an unsuccessful attack upon toulon was wrecked on the scilly isles and drowned ( - ). shrewsbury ( ), county town of shropshire, situated on a small peninsula formed by a horse-shoe bend of the severn, m. w. by n. of birmingham; three fine bridges span the river here, connecting it with several extensive suburbs; a picturesque old place with winding streets and quaint timber dwelling-houses, a norman castle, abbey church, ruined walls, etc. the public school, founded by edward vi., ranks amongst the best in england; figures often in history as a place where parliament met in - , and in gave its name to the battle which resulted in the defeat of hotspur and the earl of douglas by henry iv.; it was taken by the parliamentarians in ; chief industries are glass-painting, malting, and iron-founding. shropshire or salop ( ), an agricultural and mining county of england, on the welsh border, facing montgomery chiefly, between cheshire (n.) and hereford (s.); is divided into two fairly equal portions by the severn, e. and n. of which is low, level, and fertile, excepting the wrekin ( ft.), while on the sw. it is hilly (clee hills, ft.); ellesmere is the largest of several lakes; coalbrookdale is the centre of a rich coal district, and iron and lead are also found. shrewsbury is the capital; it consists of four parliamentary divisions. shrovetide, confession-time, especially the days immediately before lent, when, in catholic times, the people confessed their sins to the parish priest and afterwards gave themselves up to sports, and dined on pancakes, shrove tuesday being tuesday before ash wednesday, or the first day of lent. shumla or shumna ( ), a fortified city of bulgaria, m. se. of rustchuk; has an arsenal, barracks, etc., is an important strategical centre between the lower danube and the east balkans. shylock, the jew in shakespeare's "merchant of venice." siam ( , of siamese, chinese, shans, and malays), occupies the central portion of the indo-chinese peninsula, wedged in between annam and cambodia (e.) and burma (w.), and extending down into the malay peninsula; the wide gulf of siam forms the southern boundary; the rich alluvial valleys of the menam and the mekhong produce great quantities of rice (chief export), teak-wood, hemp, tobacco, cotton, etc., but of the land surface only about one-twentieth is cultivated, a large portion of the rest lying under forest and jungle; the siamese are indolent, ignorant, ceremonious, and the trade is mainly in the hands of the chinese; the mining of gold, tin, and especially rubies and sapphires, is also carried on. buddhism is the national religion, and elementary education is well advanced; government is vested in a king (at present an enlightened and english-educated monarch) and council of ministers; since sir j. bowring's treaty in , opening up the country to european trade and influences, progress has been considerable in roads and railway, electric, telephonic, and postal communication. bangkok (q. v.) is the capital. in a large tract of territory ne. of the mekhong was ceded to france. siamese twins, twins born in siam, of chinese parents, whose bodies were united by a fleshy band extended between corresponding breast-bones; were purchased from their mother and exhibited in europe and america, realised a competency by their exhibitions, married and settled in the states; having lost by the civil war, they came over to london and exhibited, where they died, one ½ hours after the other ( - ). sibbald, sir robert, physician and naturalist, born in edinburgh, of balgonie, fife; established a botanic garden in edinburgh, and was one of the founders of the royal college of physicians ( ). siberia ( , ), a vast russian territory in north asia (one and a third times the size of europe), stretching from the ural mountains (w.) to the seas of behring, okhotsk, and japan (e.), bounded on the n. by the arctic ocean and on the s. by china and the central asiatic provinces of russia; forms in the main an immense plain, sloping from the altai and other mountain ranges on the s. to the dreary, ice-bound littoral on the n., drained by the northward-flowing obi, irtish, yenesei, lena, &c., embracing every kind of soil, from the fertile grain-growing plains of the s. and rich grazing steppe-land of the w. to the forest tracts and bogland of the n. and experiencing a variety of climates, but for the most part severely cold; hunting, fishing, and mining are the chief industries, with agriculture and stock-raising in the s. and w. the great trans-siberian railway, in construction since , is opening up the country, which is divided into eight "governments," the chief towns being tomsk, irkutsk, omsk, and tobolsk; three-fifths of the population are russians, chiefly exiles and descendants of exiles. russian advance in asia against the tartars was begun in , and was carried on by warlike cossack marauders, followed by hunters, droves of escaping serfs, and persecuted religious sects. sibyl, name given to a woman, or rather to a number of women, much fabled of in antiquity, regarded by ruskin as representing the voice of god in nature, and, as such, endowed with visionary prophetic power, or what in the highlands of scotland is called "second-sight"; the most famous of the class being the sibyl of cumæ, who offered king tarquin of rome nine books for sale, which he refused on account of the exorbitant sum asked for them, and again refused after she had burnt three of them, and in the end paid what was originally asked for the three remaining, which he found to contain oracular utterances bearing on the worship of the gods and the policy of rome. these, after being entrusted to keepers, were afterwards burned, and the contents replaced by a commission appointed to collect them in the countries around, to share the same fate as the original collection. the name is applied in mediæval times to figures representative of the prophets who foretold the coming of christ; the prophets so represented were reckoned sometimes , sometimes in number; they are, says fairholt, "of tall stature, full of vigour and moral energy; the costume rich but conventional, ornamented with pearls and precious stones." sicilian vespers, name given to a massacre of the french in sicily at the hour of vespers on the eve of easter monday in , the signal for the commencement being the first stroke of the vesper bell; the massacre included men and women and children to the number of souls, and was followed by others throughout the island. sicily ( , ), the largest island in the mediterranean, lying off the sw. extremity of italy, to which it belongs, and from which it is separated by the narrow strait of messina, m. broad; the three extremities of its triangular configuration form capes faro (ne.), passaro (s.), and boco (w.); its mountainous interior culminates in the volcanic etna, and numerous streams rush swiftly down the thickly-wooded valleys; the coast-lands are exceptionally fertile, growing (although agricultural methods are extremely primitive) excellent crops of wheat and barley, as well as an abundance of fruit; sulphur-mining is an important industry, and large quantities of the mineral are exported; enjoys a fine equable climate, but malaria is in parts endemic; the inhabitants are a mixed--greek, italian, arabic, &c.--race, and differ considerably in language and appearance from italians proper; are ill-governed, and as a consequence discontented and backward, even brigandage not yet being entirely suppressed. palermo, the largest city, is situated on the precipitous n. coast. as part of the "kingdom of the two sicilies," comprising sicily and naples, it was overrun by garibaldi in , and in the same year was incorporated with the kingdom of italy. sickingen, franz von, a german free-lance, a man of a knightly spirit and great prowess; had often a large following, götz von berlichingen of the number, and joined the cause of the reformation; lost his life by a musket-shot when besieged in the castle of landstuhl; he was a warm friend of ulrich von hutten ( - ). sicyon, a celebrated city of ancient greece, was situated near the corinthian gulf, m. nw. of corinth; was an important centre of grecian art, especially of bronze sculptures and painting; in the time of aratus ( b.c.) figured as one of the chief cities of the achæan league; only a few remains now mark its site. siddons, sarah, the greatest tragic actress of england, born at brecon, the daughter and eldest child of roger kemble, manager of an itinerant theatrical company; became early a member of her father's company, and at married an actor named siddons who belonged to it; her first appearance in drury lane as portia in was a failure; by her fame was established, after which she joined her brother, john kemble, at covent garden, and continued to act there till her retirement in ; she was distinguished in many parts, and above all lady macbeth, in which character she took farewell of the stage; she appeared once again in london after this in , for the benefit of her brother charles, and again a few nights in edinburgh in aid of a widowed daughter-in-law ( - ). sidereal year, the period during which the earth makes a revolution in its orbit with respect to the stars. sidgwick, henry, writer on ethics, born at shipton, yorkshire; professor of moral philosophy at cambridge; "methods of ethics," being a compromise between the intuitionalists and utilitarians, "the principles of political economy," and the "elements of politics"; he holds a high place in all these three studies; _b_. . sidlaw hills, a range of hills extending from kinnoul hill, near perth, ne. to brechin, in forfarshire; most interesting point dunsinane ( ft.). sidmouth ( ), a pretty little watering-place on the s. devonshire coast, m. ese. of exeter; lies snugly between high cliffs at the mouth of a small stream, the sid; is an ancient place, and has revived in popularity since the opening of the railway; has a fine promenade ½ m. long. sidmouth, henry addington, viscount, statesman, born in london, the son of a physician; studied at oxford, and was called to the bar, but gave up law for politics, entered parliament in , and was speaker from till , in which year, after the fall of pitt over catholic emancipation, he formed a ministry, assuming himself the offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. this ministry of the "king's friends" went out of office in , after negotiating the peace of amiens ( ), and in subsequent governments of pitt sidmouth held various offices, being an unpopular home secretary from to ; created viscount in ( - ). sidney or sydney, algernon, a noted politician and soldier of extreme republican views, second son of robert, second earl of leicester; first came into public notice in - by his gallant conduct as leader of a troop of horse in the irish rebellion; came over to england in , joined the parliamentarians, rose to a colonelcy and command of a regiment in ; was subsequently governor of dublin and of dover ( ), entered parliament ( ), and although appointed one of the commissioners to try charles i., absented himself from the proceedings, but afterwards approved of the execution; withdrew from politics during cromwell's protectorate, but on the reinstating of the long parliament ( ) became a member of the council of state; was on a diplomatic mission to denmark when the restoration took place, and till his pardon in led a wandering life on the continent; intrigued with louis xiv. against charles ii., assisted william penn in drawing up the republican constitution of pennsylvania, was on trumped-up evidence tried for complicity in the rye house plot and summarily sentenced to death by judge jeffreys, the injustice of his execution being evidenced by the reversal of his attainder in ( - ). sidney, sir philip, poet, and one of the most attractive figures at elizabeth's court, born at penshurst, kent, the son of sir henry sidney, lord-deputy of ireland; quitted oxford in , and in the manner of the time finished his education by a period of continental travel, from which he returned imbued with the love of italian literature; took his place at once in the court of elizabeth, his uncle, the earl of leicester, being then high in favour, and received rapid promotion, being sent as ambassador in to the court of vienna; nor was his favour with the queen impaired by his bold "remonstrance" against her marriage with the duke of anjou, and in received a knighthood; two years later, "lest she should lose the jewel of her dominions" the queen forbade him to accompany drake to the west indies, and appointed him governor of flushing, but in the following year he received his death-wound at the battle of zutphen gallantly leading a troop of netherlander against the spaniards; his fame as an author rests securely on his euphuistic prose romance "arcadia," his critical treatise "the defence of poesy," and above all on his exquisite sonnet-series "astrophel and stella," in which he sings the story of his hapless love for penelope devereux, who married lord rich; was the friend of edmund spenser, and the centre of an influential literary circle ( - ). sidon, an ancient phoenician city on the e. of the mediterranean, m. n. of tyre, with an extensive commerce; was famed for its glass and purple dye; also suffered many a reverse of fortune. siebengebirge, a range of hills on the right bank of the rhine, m. above köln, distinguished by its seven high peaks. siegfried, a hero of various scandinavian and teutonic legends, and especially of the "nibelungen lied" (q. v.), was rendered invulnerable by bathing in the blood of a dragon which he had slain, except at a spot on his body which had been covered by a falling leaf; he wore a cloak which rendered him invisible, and wielded a miraculous sword named balmung (q. v.). siemens, werner von, a celebrated german electrician and inventor, born at lenthe, hanover; served in the prussian artillery, and rendered valuable services in developing the telegraphic system of prussia; patented a process for electro-plating in gold and silver, and was the first to employ electricity in exploding submarine mines; retired from the army in , and along with halske established a business in berlin for telegraphic and electrical apparatus, which has become notable throughout the world, having branches in several cities; made many contributions to electrical science; was ennobled in ( - ). siemens, sir william (karl william), younger brother of the preceding, born at lenthe, hanover; like his brother took to science, and in settled in england, naturalising in ; was manager of the english branch of the siemens brothers firm, and did much to develop electric lighting and traction (portrush electric tramway); his inventive genius was productive of a heat-economising furnace, a water-meter, pyrometer, bathometer, &c.; took an active part in various scientific societies; was president of the british association ( ), and received a knighthood in ( - ). sienna or siena ( ), an interesting old italian city of much importance during the middle ages, in central italy, m. s. of florence, is still surrounded by its ancient wall, and contains several fine gothic structures, notably its cathedral ( th century) and municipal palace; has a university and institute of fine arts; silk and cloth weaving, and a wine and oil trade are the chief industries. sierra, the name given to a range of mountains with a saw-like ridge. sierra leone ( ), a british maritime colony since , on the w. coast of africa, having a foreshore of m. between rivières du sud (n.) and liberia (s.); includes the peninsula of sierra leone proper with its densely-wooded sugar-loaf mountain, and a number of coast islands, and stretches back to a highland eastern frontier ill defined; the climate is hot, humid, and unhealthy; has been called "the white man's grave"; is fertile, but not well exploited by the indolent negro population, half of whom are descendants from freed slaves; ground-nuts, kola-nuts, ginger, hides, palm-oil, &c., are the principal exports. freetown (q. v.) is the capital. the executive power is exercised by a governor and council of five. sierra madre, the main cordillera system of mexico, extending in a northerly direction to arizona, and forming the western buttress of a fertile plateau stretching eastwards; to the w. the states of sinaloa and sonora slope downwards to the sea. sierra morena, a mountain chain in south spain, forming the watershed between the valleys of the gaudiana (n.) and guadalquivir (s.); has valuable deposits of lead, silver, quicksilver, and other metals. sierra nevada, , a mountain range in south spain, m. in length; lies for the most part in granada, crossing the province e. and w. in bold, rugged lines, and clad on its higher parts with perpetual snow, whence the name; mulhacen ( , ft.) is the highest peak. , a mountain system in california, stretching nw. and se. m., and forming the eastern buttress of the great central valley; highest peak mount whitney ( , ft.). , a lofty mountain group in colombia, south america, stretching ne. almost to the borders of venezuela. sieyÈs, abbÉ, a conspicuous figure all through the french revolution, the consulate, and the empire, who thought in his simplicity that the salvation of france and the world at large depended on sound political institutions, in the drafting of which he spent his life; was born in frèjus, of the bourgeois class; represented paris in the states general; sat in the centre in the legislative assembly; renounced the christian religion in favour of the goddess of reason; projected a constitution which was rejected; supported napoleon; fled to belgium on the return of the bourbons, and returned to france in , by which time he was politically defunct ( - ). sigismund, emperor of germany, son of the emperor charles iv., was markgrave of brandenburg, king of hungary, and palatine of the rhine; struggled hard to suppress the hussites; held the council of constance, and gave huss (q. v.) a safe-conduct to his doom; he is the "super grammaticam" of carlyle's "frederick" ( - ). sigismund is the name of three kings of poland, the last of whom died in . signorelli, luca, the precursor of michael angelo in italian art, born at cortona; studied at arezzo under piero della francesca, and became distinguished for the accurate anatomy of his figures and for the grandeur and originality of design exhibited in his admirable frescoes of religious subjects at loretto, orviëto, and elsewhere ( - ). sigourney, mrs., american authoress, was a prolific writer; wrote tales, poems, essays, chiefly on moral and religious subjects; was called the american hemans ( - ). sigurd. see siegfried. sikhs (lit. disciples), a native religious and military community, scattered, to the number of nearly two millions, over the punjab, and forming some fifteen states dependent on the punjab government; founded ( ) by baber nanak as a religious monotheistic sect purified from the grosser native superstitions and practices; was organised on a military footing in the th century, and in the th century acquired a territorial status, ultimately being consolidated in to a powerful military confederacy by ranjit singh, who, at the beginning of the th century, extended his power over a wider territory. in - they crossed their e. boundary, the sutlej, and invaded english possessions, but were defeated by gough and hardinge, and had to cede a considerable portion of their territory; a second war in - ended in the annexation of the entire punjab, since when the sikhs have been the faithful allies of the english, notably in the indian mutiny. sikkim ( ), a small native state in north-east india, lying on the southern slopes of the himalayas, between nepal (w.) and bhotan (e.); under british protection; the ruling family being buddhist, and of tibetan descent. silage, the name given to green fodder, vegetables, &c., stored in stacks or pits (or silos) under heavy pressure, the process being known as ensilage. the practice of thus preserving green crops for fodder dates from earliest times, but its general adoption in britain only began in since when its spread has been rapid. originally the process in vogue involved slight fermentation, resulting in "sour silage," but in it was found that by delaying the application of pressure for a day or two a rise of temperature took place sufficiently great to destroy the bacteria producing fermentation, the result being "sweet silage." both kinds are readily eaten by cattle. silence, worship of, carlyle's name for the sacred respect for restraint in speech till "thought has silently matured itself, ... to hold one's tongue till _some_ meaning lie behind to set it wagging," a doctrine which many misunderstand, almost wilfully, it would seem; silence being to him the very womb out of which all great things are born. silenus, a satyr who attended dionysus, being his foster-father and teacher; assisted in the war of the giants, and slew enceladus; had the gift of vaticination; is represented as mounted on an ass and supported by other satyrs. silesia ( , ), a province of south-east prussia, stretching s. between russian poland (e.) and austria (w. and s.); the oder flows nw. through the heart of the country, dividing the thickly forested and in parts marshy lands of the n. and e. from the mountainous and extremely fertile w.; rich coal-fields lie to the s., and zinc is also a valuable product; agriculture and the breeding of cattle, horses, and sheep flourish, as also the manufacture of cottons, linens, &c.; breslau is the capital; for long under the successive dominions of poland and bohemia, the silesian duchies became, in the th century, a _casus belli_ between austria and prussia, resulting in the seven years' war (q. v.) and the ultimate triumph of frederick the great of prussia. silesia, austrian ( ), that portion of the original silesian country preserved to austria after the unsuccessful struggle with prussia; forms a duchy and crownland of austria, and extends sw. from the border of prussian silesia; agriculture and mining are the chief industries. silhouette, name given to the profile of a portrait filled in with black; a design familiar to the ancients, and in vogue in france during the reign of louis xv. silistria ( ), a town of bulgaria, on the danube, m. below rustchuk; occupies a fine strategical position, and is strongly fortified; withstood successfully a days' siege by the russians during the crimean war; cloth and leather are the chief manufactures. silius italicus, a roman poet; was consul in the year of nero's death, and his chief work an epic "punica," relating the events of the second punic war, a dull performance. silliman, benjamin, american chemist and geologist, born in north stratford (now trumbull), connecticut; graduated at yale, and was called to the bar in , but in the same year threw up law for science; became professor of chemistry at yale, a position he held for years (till ); did much to stimulate the study of chemistry and geology by lectures throughout the states; founded ( ) the _american journal of science_, and was for years its editor; during - was lecturer on geology at yale; his writings include "journals of travels in england, holland, and scotland" ( - ). benjamin silliman, son of preceding, also an active scientist along his father's lines; founded the yale school of science, and filled the chairs of chemistry at louisville ( - ) and at yale (till ); was co-editor of the _journal of science_ ( - ), and wrote various popular text-books of chemistry and physics ( - ). silloth ( ), a watering-place of cumberland, on the solway firth, m. w. of carlisle; has good docks and an increasing commerce. silures, one of the ancient british tribes occupying the se. of wales; conjectured to be of non-aryan stock, and akin to the iberians; offered a fierce resistance to the invading romans. silvanus, an italian divinity, the guardian of trees, fields, and husbandmen; represented as a hale, happy, old man. silver age, the age in the greek mythology in succession to the golden; gold being viewed as the reality, and silver the idle reflection. see ages and golden age. simeon, st., the aged seer who received the infant christ in his arms as he was presented to the lord by his mother in the temple; usually so represented in christian art. simeon stylites, famous as one of the pillar saints (q. v.). simferopol ( ), a town in the crimea, m. ne. of sebastopol; surrounded by gardens, orchards, and vineyards; exports a great quantity of fruit. simla ( , but largely increased in summer), the chief town of a district in the punjab, and since the summer hill-quarters of the british government in india; beautifully situated on the wooded southern slopes of the himalayas, ft. above sea-level, and m. n. of delhi; has a cool and equable climate, and possesses two vice-regal palaces, government buildings, beautiful villas, &c. simms, william gilmore, a prolific american writer, born at charleston, south carolina; turned from law to literature; engaged in journalism for some years, and found favour with the public as a writer of poems, novels, biographies, &c., in which he displays a gift for rapid, vivid narrative, and vigour of style; "southern passages and pictures" contains characteristic examples of his poetry, and of his novels "the yemassee," "the partisan," and "beauchampe" may be mentioned ( - ). simon, jules, french statesman and distinguished writer on social, political, and philosophic subjects, born at lorient; succeeded cousin in the chair of philosophy at the sorbonne; entered the chamber of deputies in ; lost his post at the sorbonne in for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to napoleon iii.; subsequently became minister of education under thiers ( - ), a life-senator in , and in republican prime minister; later more conservative in his attitude, he edited the _echo universel_, and was influential as a member of the supreme educational council, and as permanent secretary of the academy of moral and political sciences; his voluminous works include treatises on "liberty," "natural religion," "education," "labour," &c., and various philosophic and political essays ( - ). simon, richard, a celebrated french biblical scholar, born at dieppe; entered the congregation of the oratory in , and became professor of philosophy at the college of juilly; was summoned to paris, and under orders of his superiors spent some time in cataloguing the oriental mss. in the library of the oratory; his free criticisms and love of controversy got him into trouble with the port-royalists and the benedictines, and the heterodoxy of his "histoire critique du vieux testament" ( ) brought about his withdrawal to belleville, where he remained as curé till , when he retired to dieppe to continue his work on old and new testament criticism; he ranks as among the first to deal with the scriptural writings as literature, and he anticipated not a few of the later german theories ( - ). simon magus, a sorcerer, one who by his profession of magic aggrandised himself at the expense of the people of samaria, and who, when he saw the miracles wrought by the apostles, and st. peter in particular, offered them money to confer the like power on himself; peter's well-known answer was not without effect on him, but it was only temporary, for he afterwards appeared in rome and continued to impose upon the people so as to persuade them to believe him as an incarnation of the most high. hence simony, the sin of making gain by the buying or selling of spiritual privileges for one's material profit. simonides of amorgos, a greek poet who flourished in the th century b.c.; dealt in gnome and satire, among the latter on the different classes of women. simonides of ceos, one of the most celebrated lyric poets of greece; spent most of his life in athens, employed his poetic powers in celebrating the events and heroes of the persian wars; gained over Æschylus the prize for an elegy on those who fell at marathon; composed epigrams over the tombs of the spartans who fell at thermopylæ, and in his eightieth year was crowned victor at athens; shortly after this was invited by hiero to syracuse, at whose court he died; his poetry was distinguished at once for sweetness and finish; he was a philosopher as well as a poet ( - b.c.). simoom or simoon, a hot, dry wind-storm common to the arid regions of africa, arabia, and parts of india; the storm moves in cyclone (circular) form, carrying clouds of dust and sand, and produces on men and animals a suffocating effect. simplon, a mountain in the swiss alps, in the canton of valais, traversed by the famous simplon pass ( ft. high), which stretches m. from brieg in valais to domo d'ossola in piedmont, passing over bridges and through many great tunnels, built by napoleon - . simpson, sir james young, physician, born, the son of a baker, at bathgate, linlithgowshire; graduated m.d. at edinburgh in ; was assistant to the professor of pathology and one of the presidents of the royal medical society before his election to the chair of midwifery in ; as an obstetrician his improvements and writings won him wide repute, which became european on his discovery of chloroform in ; was one of the queen's physicians, and was created a baronet in ; published "obstetric memoirs," "archæological essays," &c. ( - ). simrock, karl joseph, german scholar and poet, born at bonn; studied at bonn and berlin, where he became imbued with a love for old german literature, in connection with which he did his best-known work; modernised the "nibelungen lied" ( ), and after his withdrawal from the prussian service gave himself to his favourite study, becoming professor of old german in , and popularising and stimulating inquiry into the old national writings by volumes of translations, collections of folk-songs, stories, &c.; was also author of several volumes of original poetry ( - ). sims, george robert, playwright and novelist, born in london; was for a number of years on the staff of _fun_ and a contributor to the _referee_ and _weekly dispatch_, making his mark by his humorous and pathetic dagonet ballads and stories; has been a busy writer of popular plays (e. g. "the lights o' london," "the romany rye") and novels (e. g. "rogues and vagabonds," "dramas of life"); contributed noteworthy letters to the daily news on the condition of the london poor; _b_. . simson, robert, mathematician, born in ayrshire; abandoned his intention of entering the church and devoted himself to the congenial study of mathematics, of which he became professor in the old university at glasgow ( ), a position he held for years; was the author of the well-known "elements of euclid," but is most celebrated as the first restorer of euclid's lost treatise on "porisms" ( - ). sinai, mount, one of a range of three mountains on the peninsula between the gulf of suez and the gulf of akaba, at the head of the red sea, and from the summit or slopes of which moses is said to have received the ten commandments at the hands of jehovah. sincerity, in carlyle's ethics the one test of all worth in a human being, that he really with his whole soul means what he is saying and doing, and is courageously ready to front time and eternity on the stake. sinclair, name of a scottish family of norman origin whose founder obtained from david i. the grant of roslin, near edinburgh. sinclair, sir john, philanthropist and statistician, born at thurso castle, bred to the bar; succeeding to the family estate devoted himself to his duties as a landed proprietor; sat for different constituencies in parliament; published in "history of the revenue of the british empire," and in - , in vols., "statistical account of scotland" ( - ). sind, sindh, or scinde ( , ), a province of north-west india, in the presidency of bombay; extends from beluchistan and punjab (n.) to the indian ocean and runn of cutch (s.); traversed by the indus, whose delta it includes, and whose broad alluvial valley-tracts yield abundant crops of wheat, barley, hemp, rice, cotton, etc., which are exported, and give employment to the majority of the people; n. and e. are wide stretches of desert-land, and in the s. are the hala mountains; was annexed to the british possessions after the victories of sir charles napier in ; chief city and port is kurrachee. sindia, the hereditary title of the mahratta dynasty in gwalior, central india, founded in by ranojee sindia, who rose from being slipper-bearer to the position of hereditary prime minister of the mahrattas; these princes, both singly and in combination with other mahratta powers, offered determined resistance to the british, but in the confederated mahratta power was broken by sir arthur wellesley, and a large portion of their territory passed into british hands. gwalior having been restored ( ), and retaken in , the sindia dynasty was reinstated under a more stringent treaty, and boji rao sindia proved faithful during the mutiny, receiving various marks of good-will from the british; was succeeded by his adopted son, a child of six, in . singapore, , ( , chiefly chinese), the most important of the british straits settlements (q. v.); consists of the island of singapore and upwards of islets, off the southern extremity of the malay peninsula, from which it is separated by a narrow strait ( to ½ m. broad); is hot, humid, and low-lying, yet healthy, and possessing a fertile soil which grows all kinds of spices, fruits, sugar-cane, coffee, etc.; purchased by the british in . , capital ( ) and port, on the strait of singapore, close to the equator; the chief emporium of trade with the east indies and south-eastern asia generally; is a picturesque and handsome town, strongly fortified, and an important naval coaling station and depôt, with spacious harbour, docks, etc. sinology, the science treating of the language, literature, laws, and history of the chinese. sinon, a wily greek who beguiled the trojans and persuaded them to admit the wooden horse into the city, to its ruin. sinope ( ), a seaport of turkey in asia, situated on a narrow isthmus connecting with the mainland the rocky headland of cape sinope which projects into the black sea, m. ne. of constantinople; possesses two fine harbours, naval arsenal, byzantine ruins, etc.; an ancient greek town, the birthplace of diogenes, and capital of mithridates; it was captured by the turks in , who themselves in suffered a disastrous naval defeat in the bay of sinope at the hands of the russians. sion, capital of the swiss canton of valais, on the rhine, m. e. of lausanne; is a mediæval town, with an old gothic cathedral, and in the neighbourhood ruined castles. siout or asioot ( ), capital of upper egypt; commands a fine view near the nile, m. s. of cairo; has a few imposing mosques and a government palace; is a caravan station, and noted for its red and black pottery; occupies the site of the ancient city of lycopolis. sioux or dakota indians, a north american indian tribe, once spread over the territory lying between lake winnipeg (n.) and the arkansas river (s.), but now confined chiefly to south dakota and nebraska. failure on the part of the united states government to observe certain treaty conditions led to a great uprising of the sioux in , which was only put down at a great cost of blood and treasure; conflicts also took place in and , the indians finding in their chief, sitting bull, a determined and skilful leader. sirdar, a name given to a native chief in india. siren, an instrument for measuring the number of aërial vibrations per second, and thereby the pitch of a given note. sirens, in the greek mythology a class of nymphs who were fabled to lure the passing sailor to his ruin by the fascination of their music; ulysses, when he passed the beach where they were sitting, had his ears stuffed with wax and himself lashed to the mast till he was at a safe distance from the influence of their charm. orpheus, however, as he passed them in the argonautic expedition so surpassed their music by his melodious notes, that in very shame they flung themselves into the sea and were changed into boulders. sirius or the dog-star, the brightest star in the heavens, one of the stars of the southern constellation of _canis major_; is calculated to have a bulk three times that of the sun, and to give times as much light. see dog-days. sirkar, a name used in india to designate the government. sirocco. see simoom. sismondi, jean charles lÉonard simonde de, celebrated swiss historian, born at geneva; son of a protestant clergyman of italian descent; the family fortune was lost in the troublous days of the french revolution, and exile in england and italy followed, but in sismondi returned to geneva, and having received a municipal appointment gave himself to literary pursuits; the works which have established his reputation are his great histories of "the italian republics in the middle ages," "european literature," and "a. history of the french"; wrote also on political economy ( - ). sistine chapel, celebrated chapel of the vatican at rome, constructed by order of pope sixtus iv., and decorated with frescoes by michael angelo, representing a succession of biblical subjects, including among others the "creation of the world," the "creation of man," the "creation of woman," the "temptation of eve," the "deluge," "judith and holophernes," "david and goliath," "the last judgment," &c. sistova ( ), a town of bulgaria, on the danube, m. above rustchuk; carries on trade in wine, leather, and cereals; was captured by the russians in . sisyphus, a mythical king of corinth, who for some offence he gave the gods was carried off to the nether world, and there doomed to roll a huge block up a hill, which no sooner reached the top than it bounded back again, making his toil endless. sitka or new archangel ( ), capital of alaska, on the w. coast of baranof island, overhung by snowy mountains; has a good harbour; salmon fishing and curing the chief employment of most of the inhabitants, mostly indians. siva or Çiva, the destroyer in the hindu trinity, in which brahma is the creator and vishnu the preserver; vishnu representing, as it were, death issuing in life, and siva life issuing in death, the transition point, and brahma, who, by means of them, "kills that he may make alive." he is worshipped as "mahâdêva" or the great god, and his worshippers are called saivas or Çaivas, as distinct from those of vishnu, which are called vaishnavas. the linga (q. v.) is his symbol, in emblem of the creation which follows destruction. see psalm xc. . sivaji, the founder of the mahratta power in india, a bold warrior but an unlettered, of rajput descent, brought up at poona; began his career at ; on his succession assumed the title of rajah in , and was enthroned at raigpur in , and died sovereign of the whole deccan ( - ). six articles. see bloody statute. sixtus, the name of five popes. s. i., st., pope from to ; s. ii., st., pope from to ; s. iii., pope from to ; s. iv., pope from to ; s. v., pope from to ; of whom only two are of any note. sixtus iv., born near savona, the son of a fisherman; became general of the franciscans; succeeded paul ii. as pope; was notorious for his nepotism; abetted pazzi in his conspiracy against the medici at florence, but was a good administrator, and a man of liberal views; _b_. . sixtus v., born near monalto, of poor parents, was of the franciscan order, and famed as a preacher; was elected successor to gregory xiii., during whose pontificate he affected infirmity, to reveal himself a vigorous pontiff as soon as he was installed; set himself at once to stamp out disorder, reform the administration, and replenish the exhausted treasury of the church; he allowed freedom of worship to the jews, and yet was zealous to put down all heresy in the christian states of europe; his services to rome were not repaid with gratitude, for the citizens destroyed his statue on his death; _b_. . sizar, a poor student at the universities of cambridge and oxford, so called from the size or allowance of food they were recipients of out of the college buttery. skager-rack, an arm of the north sea stretching ne. between norway and denmark, and connecting the cattegat with the north sea, m. long and broad, the deep water being on the norwegian coast. skald, an old scandinavian poet, a reciter or singer of poems in praise of the norse warriors and their deeds. skean-dhu, a small dirk which a highlander wears in his stocking. skeat, walter william, english philologist, born in london; professor of anglo-saxon at cambridge; author of "etymological dictionary of the english language," and a great authority on early english literature; the first director of the dialect society, established in ; _b_. . skeggs, miss, a character in the "vicar of wakefield," boastful for her aristocratic connections and delicacy of taste, but vulgar at bottom. skelton, john, early english satirist, his chief poetic works being "why come ye not to courte," a satire against wolsey; the "book of colin clout," against the corruption of the church; and the "book of phyllyp sparrow," the grief of a nun for the death of her sparrow; erasmus calls him "the glory and light of english letters" ( ?- ). skene, william forbes, scottish historian, born in kincardineshire, bred to law; devoted years of his life to the study of the early, in particular the celtic, periods of scottish history, and was from historiographer for scotland ( - ). skerryvore, a rock with a lighthouse, one of an extensive reef m. w. of tiree, on the west coast of scotland; the light is a revolving one; is seen at the distance of over nautical miles. skiddaw, a mountain in cumberland, ft. in height; is some m. from keswick, whence it is of easy ascent. skimpole, harold, a plausible character in "bleak house," who was in the habit of sponging his friends. skinner, john, author of "tullochgorum," born in bervie, aberdeenshire; originally a schoolmaster; became an episcopal clergyman ( - ). skipton ( ), a market-town in yorkshire, m. nw. of leeds; population largely engaged in agriculture; has manufactures of cotton and woollen goods. skobeleff, michael, a russian general, distinguished himself by his bravery in the russian service, particularly in the russo-turkish war of - ; was a leader in the panslavist movement; died suddenly ( - ). skye ( ), next to lewis the largest of the hebrides islands, belongs to the inner group, and is included in inverness-shire, from the mainland of which it is separated by the narrow channel kyle rhea; has a deeply indented coast-line, and a picturesquely diversified surface of mountain, moor, and loch; the most notable features being the lofty coolin hills (highest point ft.), loch coruisk, glen sligachan, and the wild columnar height of basalt, the quiraing; sheep and highland cattle are raised, and valuable ling, cod, and herring fisheries are carried on in the coastal waters. portree is the chief town and port, but is little better than a small village. slade, felix, antiquary and art-collector; left his art-collection to the british museum, and money to found slade professorships of art at oxford, cambridge, and london universities ( - ). slave coast, name given to the bight of benin, in west africa, from lagos to the volta river. slavonia, a kingdom that at one time included croatia and that lies between the drave and the military frontier. slavs, an important branch of the aryan race-stock, comprising a number of european peoples chiefly in east europe, including the russians, bulgarians, servians, bohemians, poles, croatians, moravians, silesians, pomeranians, &c. at the dawn of history we find them already settled in europe, chiefly in the neighbourhood of the carpathians, whence they spread n., s., and w., assuming their present position by the th century. they are estimated to number now , , , and the various languages spoken by them are notable, compared with the teutonic and celtic tongues, for their rich inflections. slawkenbergius, an author quoted and referred to in "tristram shandy," distinguished by the length of his nose, and a great authority on the subject of noses. sleeping beauty, a princess who was by enchantment shut up to sleep years in a castle surrounded by a dense forest, and was delivered from her trance at the end of that term by a prince, to admit whom the forest opened of itself. sleipnir, in the scandinavian mythology the horse of odin, which had eight legs, as representing the wind with its eight principal "airts." sleswick-holstein ( , ), a province of north prussia, stretching up to denmark, between the north sea and the baltic; various canals cross the country, bearing to the coast the export produce--corn and cattle; the land is highly cultivated, and fishing is an important industry on the baltic coast; flensburg, the chief seaport, and sleswick ( ), the capital, are both situated on inlets of the baltic; the latter lies m. nw. of kiel, consists of a single street ½ m. long, and possesses a fine gothic cathedral with a fine altar-piece, &c., the sections representing the history of the passion of christ. slick, sam, a clockmaker and pedlar, a character illustrating yankee peculiarities, and remarkable for his wit, his knowledge of human nature, and his use of "soft sawder," a creation of judge haliburton's (q. v.). sligo, , a maritime county of north-west ireland ( ), in the province of connaught; fronts the atlantic on the n. between mayo (w.) and leitrim (e.), roscommon forming the s. boundary; the land, sloping n. to the coast from the ox mountains, is chiefly under grass for cattle pasture, and divided into small holdings; sligo bay is a fine sheet of water, and in the s. and e. are the picturesque loughs arrow and gill; the manufacture of coarse woollens and linens and fishing are the principal industries; the moy, owenmore, and garvogue are navigable rivers. , at the mouth of the garvogue stands sligo ( ), the county town, m. nw. of dublin; has ruins of a th-century dominican abbey, a roman catholic cathedral, and exports cattle, corn, butter, &c. sloane, sir hans, physician and naturalist, born in co. down, ireland, of scotch descent; settled as a physician in london; attained the highest distinction as a professional man; his museum, which was a large one, of natural objects, books, and mss. became by purchase the property of the nation, and formed the nucleus of the british museum ( - ). slÖjd (sleight), a system of manual training adopted to develop technical skill originally in the schools of sweden and finland; is education of the eye as well as the hand. slop, doctor, a choleric physician in "tristram shandy." slough of despond, a deep bog in the "pilgrim's progress," into which christian sinks under the weight of his sins and his sense of their guilt. slovaks, a slavonic peasant people numbering some , , , subject to the crown of hungary since the th century, and occupying the highlands of north-west hungary; speak a dialect of czech. slovenians, a slavonic people akin to the servians and croatians in austro-hungary, dwelling chiefly in styria, carinthia, and carniola. sly, christopher, a drunken sot of a tinker in the "induction" to "taming of the shrew." smart, christopher, english poet, born in kent; was a fellow of cambridge and a friend of johnson's; author of the "song to david," now famous, much overrated, think some; he was subject to insanity, and it was written during lucid intervals; he was the author of a prose translation of horace ( - ). smeaton, john, civil engineer, born near leeds; began life as a mathematical instrument-maker; made improvements in mill-work, and gained the copley medal in ; visited the principal engineering works in holland and belgium; was entrusted with the rebuilding of eddystone lighthouse (q. v.) after it was in burnt down, which he finished in ; did other engineering work in the construction of canals, harbours, and mills, rising to the summit of his profession ( - ). smectymnuus, a pamphlet written in , the title of which is made up of the initial letters of the names of the authors. smelfungus, a name given by sterne to smollett as author of volume of "travels through france and italy," for the snarling abuse he heaps on the institutions and customs of the countries he visited; a name carlyle assumes when he has any seriously severe criticisms to offer on things particularly that have gone or are going to the bad. smiles, samuel, author of "self-help," born in haddington; was bred to medicine, and professed it for a time, but abandoned it for literary and other work; wrote the "life of george stephenson" in , followed by "self-help" two years after; _b_. . smith, adam, political economist, born in kirkcaldy, fife; studied at glasgow and oxford, went to edinburgh and became acquainted with david hume and his confrères; was appointed to the chair of logic in glasgow in , and the year after of moral philosophy; produced in his "theory of moral sentiments," visited paris with the young duke of buccleuch, got acquainted with quesnay, d'alembert, and necker, and returning in , settled in his native place under a pension from the duke of buccleuch, where in he produced his "inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations," a work to which he devoted years of his life, and which has had a world-wide influence, and that has rendered his name world-famous; in he settled in edinburgh as commissioner of customs for scotland, and in was elected lord rector of glasgow university ( - ). smith, alexander, poet, born in kilmarnock; began life as a pattern-designer, contributed to the _glasgow citizen_, wrote a volume of poems, "a life drama," and produced other works in a style characterised as "spasmodic," and which, according to tennyson, "showed fancy, but not imagination" ( - ). smith, george, assyriologist, born at london; trained as a bank-note engraver, but attracted the attention of sir henry rawlinson by his interest in cuneiform inscriptions, and in received an appointment in the british museum; acquired great skill as an interpreter of assyrian inscriptions, published "annals of assurbanipal," and in discovered a tablet with the "chaldean account of the deluge"; carried through important expeditions ( - - ) in search of antiquities in nineveh and other parts of assyria, accounts of which he published; wrote also histories of babylonia, assyria, sennacherib, &c. ( - ). smith, goldwin, english man of letters, born in berks; was at one time intimately associated with oxford university, went to america and became professor of english history in cornell university, and since has settled in canada, and believes that canada will be annexed to the united states; has written a number of books and pamphlets, one on the "relations between england and america" and another on "the political destiny of canada"; he is an ultra-liberal; _b_. . smith, james and horace, authors of the famous parodies "the rejected addresses," born at london: james, in business as a solicitor, and horace, a wealthy stockbroker; both were occasional contributors to the periodical press before the public offer of a prize for the best poetical address to be spoken at the re-opening of drury lane theatre prompted them to issue a series of "rejected addresses," parodying the popular writers of the day--wordsworth, southey, coleridge, scott, byron, &c.; intensely clever, these parodies have never been surpassed in their kind; horace was also a busy writer of novels now forgotten, and also published two vols. of poetry; james subsequently wrote a number of charles mathews' "entertainments" (james, - ; horace, - ). smith, john, cambridge platonist, born in northamptonshire; left "select discourses," giving signs both of spiritual insight and vigour of thinking ( - ). smith, john, sailor, born in lincolnshire; had a life of adventure and peril, and became leader of the english colonists of virginia; established friendly relations with the indians, returned to this country twice over, and introduced pocahontas (q. v.) to the queen; died at gravesend ( - ). smith, sydney, political writer and wit, born at woodford, essex, of partly english and partly huguenot blood; educated at westminster and oxford, bred for the church; after a brief curacy in wiltshire settled in edinburgh from to , where, while officiating as a clergyman, he became one of the famous editors of the _edinburgh review_, and a contributor; settled for a time afterwards in london, where he delivered a series of admirable lectures on ethics, till he was appointed to a small living in yorkshire, and afterwards to a richer living in somerset, and finally a canonry in st. paul's; his writings deal with abuses of the period, and are, except his lectures perhaps, all out of date now ( - ). smith, sir william, classical and biblical scholar, born in london; distinguished himself at the university there and took a course of law at gray's inn, but followed his bent for scholarship, and in - issued his great "dictionary of greek and roman antiquities," following it up with the "dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythology" and the "dictionary of greek and roman geography"; did eminent service to the cause of education by a series of popular editions of greek and latin texts, school grammars, dictionaries, &c.; not less valuable are his "dictionary of the bible," &c.; was editor of the _quarterly review_ from , and in received a knighthood ( - ). smith, william robertson, biblical scholar and critic, born at keig, aberdeenshire; educated for the scottish free church, became professor of hebrew in the connection at aberdeen; was prosecuted for heresy in the matter of the origin of the books of the old testament, and finally removed from the chair; became joint-editor of the "encyclopædia britannica," and finally professor of arabic at cambridge; he was a man of versatile ability, extensive scholarship, keen critical acumen, and he contributed not a little to vindicate the claims of the scholar in regard to the bible ( - ). smith, sir william sidney, british admiral, born at westminster; entered the navy at , became a captain after many gallant services at , was naval adviser to the king of sweden and knighted, joined lord hood off toulon and helped to burn the french fleet; was taken prisoner by the french in , and after two years made his escape; forced napoleon to raise the siege of acre, and was wounded at aboukir; was rewarded with a pension of £ , and raised in the end to the rank of admiral ( - ). smithfield or smoothfield, an open space of ground in london, n. of newgate, long famous for its live-stock markets; in olden times lay outside the city walls, and was used as a place of recreation and of executions; the scene of william wallace's execution and the death of wat tyler; gradually surrounded by the encroaching city, the cattle-market became a nuisance, and was abolished in ; is partly laid out as a garden. smithsonian institution, a celebrated american institution "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," in washington; founded and endowed by james macie smithson, a natural son of the duke of northumberland, a zealous chemist and mineralogist, after having had a paper rejected by the royal society, of which he was a fellow. the building is one of the finest in the capital; is under government control, and the president of the united states is _ex officio_ the head of the institution; encourages scientific research, administers various funds, and directs expeditions for scientific purposes. smoky city, pittsburg, in pennsylvania, from the effect produced by the bituminous coal used in the manufactories. smolensk ( ), an ancient town of russia, and capital of a government ( , ) of the same name, on the dnieper, m. sw. of moscow; is surrounded by walls; has a fine cathedral, and is strongly fortified; carries on a good grain trade; here in napoleon defeated the russians under barclay de tolly and bagration on his march to moscow in august . smollett, tobias george, novelist, born at dalquhurn, dumbartonshire, of good family; bred to medicine, but drifted to literature, in prosecution of which he set out to london at the age of ; his first effort was a failure; he took an appointment as a surgeon's mate on board a war-ship in , which landed him for a time in the west indies; on his return to england in achieved his first success in "roderick random," which was followed by "peregrine pickle" in , "count fathom" in , and "humphrey clinker" in , added to which he wrote a "history of england," and a political lampoon, "the adventures of an atom"; his novels have no plot, but "in inventive tale-telling and in cynical characterisation he is not easily equalled" ( - ). smriti, in the hindu religion the name given to traditional usage, as opposed to sruti, or revelation, and from which proceeded, at a later date, the body of laws, such as that of manu, in which the morality prescribed is, "sound, solid, and practical." smyrna ( ), a town of great antiquity, since ancient times the chief port of asia minor; is situated amid surrounding hills at the head of the gulf of smyrna, an arm of the Ægean sea; has no imposing structures, and is, especially in the turkish quarter, ill-drained and crowded; is the seat of the turkish governor-general of the province, of archbishops, roman catholic, greek, and armenian; manufactures embrace carpets, pottery, cottons and woollens; a splendid harbour favours a large import and export trade; for long a possession of greece and then of rome, it finally fell into the hands of the turks in . smyrna, gulf of, an inlet of the Ægean sea, m. in length by m. in breadth, with an excellent anchorage. snake river, chief tributary of the columbia; rises in wyoming amid the rockies; flows s. and nw. through idaho, forming the shoshone falls, rivalling niagara, which they exceed in height; through southern washington it flows w. under the name of the lewis river or fork, and discharges into the columbia after a course of m. snake-stones, stones popularly believed to cure the bites of snakes, probably due to a porosity in their substance drawing off the poison. snider, jacob, american mechanical genius; invented a method of converting muzzle-loading rifles into breech-loading; died unrewarded in . snodgrass, augustus, a member of the pickwick club in the "pickwick papers." snorri sturlason, icelandic historian and poet; published the collection of sagas entitled "heimskringla," among which were many songs of his own composition; was a man of position and influence in iceland, but having provoked the ill-will of haco was at his instigation assassinated in . see edda. snowdon, a mountain range in carnarvon, north wales, extending from the coast to near conway; it has five distinct summits, of which moel-y-wyddfa (the conspicuous peak) is the highest, being ft.; the easiest ascent is from llanberis on the n., and is the route usually taken by tourists, for whose behoof there is a house on the summit. soane, sir john, english architect, who left his house in lincoln's inn fields with art collection to the nation at his death in . sobieski, surname of the great patriot king of poland, john iii., in the th century; born at olesko, in galicia; was elected king of poland in , having, by repeated victories over the turks and russians, shown himself the greatest soldier of his country; proved a wise and brave ruler, a true leader of his people, and with unbroken success defied the utmost efforts of the infidel turks ( - ). sobraon ( ), a town in the punjab, india, on the sutlej, in the vicinity of which sir henry gough won the decisive victory over the sikhs, th february . socage, name given to a feudal tenure by a certain and determinate service other than knight service. social war, name given to an insurrection of the allied states in italy against the domination of rome, and which lasted from to b.c., in consequence of their exclusion from the rights of citizenship and the privileges attached; they formed a league to assert their rights, which ended in defeat. socialism, a social system which, in opposition to the competitive system that prevails at present, seeks to reorganise society on the basis, in the main, of a certain secularism in religion, of community of interest, and co-operation in labour for the common good, agreeably to the democratic spirit of the time and the changes required by the rise of individualism and the decay of feudalism. society for promoting christian knowledge, a society founded in which during the last years has originated and supported a number of agencies, both in this country and abroad, for propagating christian knowledge; distributed into a number of separate departments. society islands ( ), an archipelago in the south pacific, consisting of principal islands and numerous islets, the chief being tahiti; they are mountainous, and engirdled by belts of flat land as well as coral reefs; have a fertile soil and luxuriant vegetation, while the climate is healthy though enervating; the inhabitants are intelligent but indolent, and the land is worked by immigrant races. society of jesus, the jesuit order founded by ignatius loyola (q. v.). socinians, a sect of the unitarian body who, in the th century, take their name from faustus socinus (q. v.), who, besides denying the doctrine of the trinity, deny the divinity of christ and the divine inspiration of scripture; they arose into importance originally in poland, and in the th century spread by degrees in prussia, the netherlands, and england. socinus, faustus, a theologian, born in italy; had for his views to exile himself for years, and was much persecuted for his opinions; in cracow, where he dwelt for a time, he was by a mob dragged from a sick-bed half-naked along the street, had his house robbed and his papers burned ( - ). sociology, the science which treats of the nature and the developments of society and of social institutions; a science to which herbert spencer, in succession to comte, has contributed more than any other scientist, deducing, as he does, a series of generalisations by comparison of individual organisms with social. socotra ( ), an island off the e. coast of africa, m. ne. of cape guardafui, over m. long and m. broad; it is mountainous, surrounded by a margin of plain land from to m. broad; is comparatively barren; is inhabited by mohammedans, who rear sheep, goats, and cattle; exports aloes, hides, and pearls; the sultan is a feudatory of britain. socrates, athenian philosopher, pronounced by the delphic oracle the wisest of men; was the son of sophroniscus, a statuary, and phænarete, a midwife; was brought up to his father's profession, in which it would seem he gave promise of success; he lived all his days in athens, and gathered about him as his pupils all the ingenuous youth of the city; he wrote no book, propounded no system, and founded no school, but was ever abroad in the thoroughfares in all weather talking to whoso would listen, and instilling into all and sundry a love of justice and truth; of quacks and pretenders he was the sworn foe, and he cared not what enmity he provoked if he could persuade one and another to think and do what was right; "he was so pious," says xenophon in his "memorabilia," "that he did nothing without the sanction of the gods; so just, that he never wronged any one, even in the least degree; so much master of himself, that he never preferred the agreeable to the good; so wise, that in deciding on the better and the worse he never faltered; in short, he was the best and happiest man that could possibly exist;" he failed not to incur enmity, and his enemies persecuted him to death; he was charged with not believing in the state religion, with introducing new gods, and corrupting the youth, convicted by a majority of his judges and condemned to die; thirty days elapsed between the passing of the sentence and its execution, during which period he held converse with his friends and talked of the immortality of the soul; to an offer of escape he turned a deaf ear, drank the hemlock potion prepared for him with perfect composure, and died; "the difference between socrates and jesus christ," notes carlyle in his "journal," "the great conscious, the immeasurably great unconscious; the one cunningly manufactured, the other created, living and life-giving; the epitome this of a grand and fundamental diversity among men; but did _any_ truly great man ever," he asks, "go through the world without _offence_, all rounded in, so that the current moral systems could find no fault in him? most likely never" ( - b.c.). socrates, apology of, a work of plato's, being a speech put into the mouth of socrates before the areopagus (q. v.) in his defence in answer to the charge brought against him, and which plato wrote after his death. socrates, church historian of the th century, born at byzantium; bred to the bar; his "ecclesiastical history" embraces a period from to , a work of no great merit. sodom and gomorrah, two ancient cities which, for their wickedness were, as the bible relates, consumed with fire from heaven; they are supposed to have stood near the s. border of the dead sea, though they were not, as was at one time supposed, submerged in the waters of it. sofala, a portuguese maritime district of south-east africa, stretching from the zambesi s. to delagoa bay, and forming the s. portion of the colony of mozambique. sofala ( ), chief port on a bay of the same name, is a place of little importance. sofia ( ), capital since of bulgaria; is a fortified town, situated in the broad valley of the isker, a tributary of the danube, m. nw. of philippopolis; has recently largely undergone reconstruction, and with hotels, banks, a government palace, &c., presents a fine modern appearance; has a national university; is an important trade emporium, and is on the constantinople and belgrade railway; manufactures cloth, silks, leather, &c., and has long been famed for its hot mineral springs. sofronia, a christian maiden of jerusalem, who, to avert a general massacre of the christians by the mohammedan king, accused herself of the crime for which they were all to suffer, and whose story with the issue is touchingly related in tasso's "jerusalem delivered." soissons ( ), a fortified town of north france, dep. aisne, on the aisne, m. ne. of paris; has a th-century cathedral and ruins of a famous abbey; chief industries are brewing and the manufacture of various textiles; was a place of much importance in early times, and figures in the wars of clovis and pepin, frequently in the hundred years' war, and in was captured by the germans; is considered the key to paris from the netherlands side. sokoto ( , ), a native kingdom of west central africa, within territories administered now by the british government; lies between the soudan (n.) and the river benuë (s.), the main affluent of the niger; the dominant people are the fulahs, exercising sway over various native tribes; is a country capable of much agricultural development, and has large deposits of iron. wurno ( ), the capital, is on the gandi, m. e. of the town of sokoto. solano, name given to a hot oppressive wind in the mediterranean. solar cycle, a period of years, within which the first day of the year passes successively through the same sequence of week-days. solar myth, a myth, the subject of which is a deified personification of the sun or phenomena connected with it. solar year, the period of days hours minutes and seconds which the earth takes to complete a revolution of the sun. soldan, a corruption of sultan, and denoting in mediæval romance the saracen king. solecism, the name given to a violation of the syntax or idiom of a language, as well as to an incarnate absurdity of any kind, whether in mind or morals. solemn league and covenant. see covenant. solent, the western portion, spithead (q. v.) being the eastern, of the strait which separates the isle of wight from the mainland of hants, m. long, with an average breadth of m., but at its w. entrance, opposite hurst castle, contracts to ¾ m. soleure ( ), a canton of north-west switzerland, between bern (w. and s.) and aargau (e); is hilly, but fertile and well cultivated, especially in the valley of the aar; inhabitants are mainly catholics and german-speaking. soleure, the capital ( ), situated on the aar, m. ne. of berne, has a fine cathedral, and manufactures of cottons, clocks, and cement. solfata`ra, a fissure or crevice in the earth which emits sulphurous and other vapours, and in regions where volcanoes have ceased to be active; they are met with in south italy, the antilles, mexico, and java. solferino, a village in north italy, m. nw. of mantua, where the austrians were defeated by the french and piedmontese in . solidarity, community of interest or responsibility; also that community of being which binds humanity into one whole, so that each affects and is affected by all. solidus, a roman gold coin adopted by the franks, and first coined by them in gold, but subsequently in silver, when it was equivalent to one-twentieth of the libra, or pound; as the "sol" or "sou" it depreciated greatly in value; was minted in copper, and on the introduction of the decimal system its place was taken by a five-centime piece; the "soldo" in italy, and the solidus l.s.d. owe their origin to this coin. solingen ( ), a manufacturing town of prussia, situated near the wupper, m. e. of düsseldorf; has long been famed for its steel and iron works and cutlery manufactures. solomon, king of israel from to b.c., second son of david and bathsheba, and david's successor; in high repute far and wide for his love of wisdom and the glory of his reign; he had a truly oriental passion for magnificence, and the buildings he erected in jerusalem, including the temple and a palace on mount zion, he raised regardless of an expense which the nation resented after he was gone; the burden of which it would seem had fallen upon them, for when his successor, following in his courses, ascended the throne, ten of the tribes revolted, to the final rupture of the community, and the fall of first the one section and then the other under alien sway. solomon of england, an appellation conferred on henry vii., and also satirically on james i., characterised by sully as "the wisest fool in christendom." solomon of france, a title bestowed on louis ix. solomon islands ( ), a large group of islands in the west pacific, m. e. of new guinea, the n. islands of which belong to germany, and the s. to britain; are volcanic in origin, mountainous, wooded, and thickly populated by melanesian savages, who are totem worshippers, and still practise cannibalism. solomon's ring, a ring worn by solomon, in which was a stone from which, according to the rabbins, he learned whatever he wished to know. solon, the great athenian law-giver, and one of the seven sages of greece (q. v.), born in athens, was of royal degree, and kinsman of pisistratus; began life as a trader, and in that capacity acquired a large experience of the world, and he soon turned his attention to political affairs, and showed such wisdom in the direction of them that he was elected archon in b.c., and in that office was invested with full power to ordain whatever he might deem of advantage for the benefit of the state; he accordingly set about the framing of a constitution in which property, not birth, was made the basis of the organisation, and the title to honour and office in the community; he divided the citizens into four classes, gave additional power to the assemblies of the people, and made the archons and official dignitaries responsible to them in the administration of affairs; when he had finished his work, he ordered the laws he had framed to be engraved on tablets and set up in a public place, then took oath of the people to observe them for ten years, after which he left the country and set out on travel; at the end of the ten years he returned, to find things lapsing into the old disorder, and pisistratus ready to seize the sovereignty of the state, whereupon he withdrew into private life, and died the subject of a tyrant at the age of eighty ( - b.c.). solstice, summer and winter, the two recurring periods of the year at which the sun is farthest distant n. or s. from the equator, which mark midsummer and midwinter, the times being the st of june and nd of december; also applied to the two points in the ecliptic (q. v.), which the sun appears to reach on these two dates. solway firth, an arm of the irish sea, and in its upper part forming the estuary of the river esk, separating cumberland from the s. of scotland (kirkcudbright and dumfries); stretches inland from balcarry point m., and from to m. broad; receives the annan, dee, nith, eden, and derwent, and has valuable salmon-fishings; the spring tides ebb and flow with remarkable rapidity, the "bore" often reaching a speed of from to m. an hour; is spanned near annan by a railway viaduct yards long. solway moss, a moss, now drained and cultivated, in cumberland, on the scottish border, that was the scene of the defeat of the scotch army in , a disaster which broke the heart of james v. solyman ii., surnamed the magnificent, the tenth and greatest of the ottoman sultans, the son and successor of selim i.; succeeded his father at ; set himself at once to reform abuses and place the internal administration on a strict basis, and after making peace with persia and allaying tumult in syria, turned his arms westwards, captured belgrade, and wrested the island of rhodes from the knights of st. john; he twice over led his army into hungary; in connection with the latter invasion laid siege to vienna, from which he was obliged to retire after the loss of , men, after which he turned his arms to the east, adding to his territory, and finally to the north of africa, to the conquest of the greater part of it; he died at szigeth while opening a new campaign against hungary; _d_. . soma, the intoxicating juice of a plant offered in libation to a hindu god, especially to indra (q. v.), to strengthen him in his war with the demons, and identified with the invigorating and inspiring principle in nature which manifests itself at once in the valour of the soldier and the inspiration of the poet; as a god soma is the counterpart of agni (q. v.). somai, brahmo. see brahmo-somaj. somaliland, a broad plateau of east africa, bounded by the gulf of aden on the n. and the indian ocean on the se.; inhabited by the somalis, a pastoral people, who rear camels, sheep, and oxen, and are of the mohammedan faith; are under chiefs, and jealous of strangers. somerset house, a handsome government building in london, with a double frontage on the strand and the victoria embankment, built on the site of the palace of the protector somerset, and opened in ; accommodates various civil departments of the government--the inland revenue, audit and exchequer, wills and probate, registry-general. the east wing is occupied by king's college and school. somersetshire ( ), a maritime county of england, fronting the bristol channel, between devon (n.) and gloucester (sw.), with wilts and dorset on the e. and s.; diversified by the mendips (ne.), quantock hills, exmoor (sw.), and other smaller elevations; is yet in the main occupied by wide level plains largely given over to pastoral and dairy farming; watered by the bristol avon, the parret, and other lesser streams; its orchards rank next to those of devon; is prolific in roman, saxon, and ancient british remains; taunton is the county town, but bath the largest. somerville, mrs. mary, a lady skilled in mathematics and physics, born at jedburgh; was brought up at burntisland and edinburgh; contributed to the _transactions of the royal society_; wrote a book entitled the "mechanism of the heavens" on the suggestion of lord brougham, as a popularisation of laplace's "mechanique céleste," which was followed by her "connection of the physical sciences," "physical geography," and "molecular and microscopic science," the last published in her ninetieth year; died at naples ( - ). somme, , a river of north france; rises in the department of aisne, near st. quentin, and flows m. sw. and nw. to the english channel; navigable as far as abbeville. , a department ( ) of north france, fronting the english channel, between seine-inférieure (s.) and pas-de-calais (n.); one of the most prosperous agricultural and manufacturing districts of france; amiens (q. v.) is the chief town. somnath ( ), an ancient maritime town of oujarat, india, in the sw. of the peninsula of kathiawar; has interesting memorials of krishna, who, it is alleged, is hurled in the vicinity; close by is a famous ruined hindu temple, despoiled in the th century of its treasures, sacred idol, and gates; in lord ellenborough brought hack from afghanistan gates which he thought to be the famous "gates of somnath," but doubt being cast on their authenticity, they were eventually placed in the arsenal of agra. somnath, idol of, "a mere mass of coarse crockery," says jepherson brick, an imaginary friend of carlyle's, "not worth five shillings, sat like a great staring god, with two diamonds for eyes, which one day a commander of the faithful took the liberty to smite once as he rode up with grim battle-axe and heart full of moslem fire, and which thereupon shivered into a heap of ugly potsherds, yielding from its belly half a waggon-load of gold coins; the gold coins, diamond eyes, and other valuables were carefully picked up by the faithful; confused jingle of potsherds was left lying; and the idol of somnath, once showing what it _was_, had suddenly come to a conclusion." somnus, the god of sleep, a brother of death, and a son of night, represented, he and death, as two youths sleeping or holding inverted torches in their hands; near the dwelling of somnus flowed the river of lethe, which crept along over pebbles, and invited to sleep; he was attended by morpheus, who inspired pleasing dreams. sonata, a musical composition chiefly designed for solo instruments, especially the pianoforte, and consisting generally of three or four contrasted movements--the allegro, adagio, rondo, minuetto or scherzo; reaches its noblest expression in the sonatas of beethoven. sonderbund, the name given to the union of the catholic cantons (lucerne, zug, freiburg, and valais) of switzerland, which led to the civil disturbances of - , and the war of . sonnet, a form of poetical composition invented in the th century, consisting of decasyllabic or hendecasyllabic iambic lines, rhymed according to two well-established schemes which bear the names of their two most famous exponents, shakespeare and petrarch. the shakespearian sonnet consists of three four-lined stanzas of alternate rhymes clinched by a concluding couplet; the petrarchan of two parts, an octave, the first eight lines rhymed abbaabba, and a sestet, the concluding six lines arranged variously on a three-rhyme scheme. sons of the prophets. see nebiim. sontag, henrietta, a german singer, born at coblenz; made her _début_ at ; had a brilliant career twice over ( - ). soochoo ( ), a large city in china, m. nw. of shanghai; is intersected by canals, walled all round, and manufactures fine silk. sopherim, the, the name by which the scribes (q. v.) are designated in jewish literature. sophia, electress of hanover, youngest daughter of elizabeth, queen of bohemia (q. v.), and mother of george i. ( - ). sophia, st., the personification of the divine wisdom, to whom, as to a saint, many churches have been dedicated, especially the church of constantinople. sophie charlotte, wife of friedrich i. of prussia, born in hanover, daughter of electress sophia; famous in her day both as a lady and a queen; was, with her mother, of a philosophic turn; "persuaded," says carlyle, "that there was some nobleness for man beyond what the tailor imparts to him, and even very eager to discover it had she known how"; she had the philosopher leibnitz often with her, "eagerly desirous to draw water from that deep well--a wet rope with cobwebs sticking to it often all she got--endless rope, and the bucket never coming to view" ( - ). sophists, a sect of thinkers that arose in greece, and whose radical principle it was that we have only a subjective knowledge of things, and that we have no knowledge at all of objective reality, that things are as they seem to us, and that we have no knowledge of what they are in themselves; "on this field," says schwegler, "they disported, enjoying with boyish exuberance the exercise of the power of subjectivity, and destroying, by means of a subjective dialectic, all that had been ever objectively established," such as "the laws of the state, inherited custom, religious tradition, and popular belief.... they form, in short, the german aufklÄrung (q. v.), the greek illumination (q. v.). they acknowledged only _private_ judgment and ignored the existence of a judgment that is not private, and has absolute rights irrespective of the sentiments of the individual." sophocles, athenian tragic poet, born at colonos, a suburb of athens; when but , such was his musical talent, he was selected to lead the choir that sang the song of triumph over the victory of salamis; his first appearance as a dramatist was in b.c., when he had Æschylus as his rival and won the prize, though he was seven years afterwards defeated by euripides, but retrieved the defeat the year following by the production of his "antigone." that same year one of the _strategi_ (or generals) and he accompanied pericles in his war against the aristocrats of samos. he wrote a number of dramas, over it is alleged, but only survive, and these in probable order are "ajax," "antigone," "electra," "oedipus tyrannus," "trachineæ," "oedipus coloneus," and "philoctetes." thus are all his subjects drawn from greek legend, and they are all alike remarkable for the intense humanity and sublime passion that inspires them and the humane and the high and holy resolves they stir up. sorata, a volcanic peak in the bolivian andes, , ft. in height. sorbonne, a celebrated college of paris, taking its name from its founder, robert of sorbon, chaplain to saint louis in the th century; was exclusively devoted to theology, and through the rigour of its discipline and learning of its professors soon exercised a predominant influence on the theological thought of europe, which it maintained until the new learning of the renaissance ( th century), together with its own dogmatic conservatism, left it hopelessly stuck in the "sorbonnian bog" of derelict scholastic theology; became an object of satiric attacks by boileau, voltaire, and others, and was suppressed in at the outburst of the revolution; was revived by napoleon in ; is at present the seat of the académie universitaire de paris, with faculties of theology, science, and literature. sordello, a provençal poet whom dante and virgil met in purgatory sitting solitary and with a noble haughty mien, but who sprang up at sight of virgil and embraced him and accompanied him a part of his way; browning used his name, as the title of a poem showing the conflict a minister experiences in perfecting his craft. sorel, agnes, the mistress of charles vii. of france, who had a great influence over him; had been maid of honour to the queen ( - ). sorrow, sanctuary of, goethe's name for the fold of christ, wherein, according to his promise (matt. v. ) the "mourners" who might gather together there would find relief and be comforted, the path of sorrow leading up to the "porch" of the sanctuary. sorrow, worship of, goethe's name for the christian religion, "our highest religion, for the son of man," carlyle adds, interpreting this, "there is no noble crown, well worn or even ill worn, but is a crown of thorns." sorrows of the virgin. see seven dolours. sorrows of werther, a work by goethe and one of his earliest, the production of which constituted a new era in the life of the poet, and marks a new era in the literature of europe, "as giving expression to a class of feelings deeply important to modern minds, but for which our older poetry offered no exponent, and perhaps could offer none, because they are feelings that arise from passion incapable of being converted into action, and belong to an ignorant, uncultivated, and unbelieving age such as ours," feelings that byronically, "in dark wayward" mood reflect a mere sense of the miseries of human life. sortes virgilianÆ, consulting the pages of virgil to ascertain one's fortune, by opening the book at random, putting the finger on a passage and taking that for the oracle of fate one is in quest of. sostratus, architect of the pharos of alexandria, lived in the rd century b.c., and was patronised by ptolemy philadelphus. sothern, edward askew, comedian, born in liverpool; at went on the stage, and for some time was a member of the stock company of the theatre royal, birmingham; afterwards acted in america, and made his mark in tom taylor's "our american cousin" ( ) in the small part of lord dundreary, which he gradually developed into an elaborate and phenomenally successful caricature of an english peer, and in which he appeared thousands of times in america and england; scored a great success also as david garrick in robertson's well-known comedy ( - ). soubise, duc de, french soldier; served first under prince maurice of orange, and commanded the huguenots against louis xiii., but after some successes was compelled to take refuge in england; distinguished himself at the defence of rochelle, but was defeated again and had to betake himself to england as before, where he died ( - ). soubise, prince de, marshal of france; was aide-de-camp to louis xv. in flanders, was favoured by pompadour, held an important command in the seven years' war, but was defeated by frederick the great at rossbach ( - ). soudan or "the land of the blacks," the cradle of the negro race, a vast tract of territory stretching e. and w. across the african continent from the atlantic (w.) to the red sea and highlands of abyssinia (e.), between the sahara (w.) and the gulf of guinea and the central equatorial provinces (s.); divided into (a) upper soudan, embracing senegambia, sierra leone, ashanti, dahomey, liberia, and west coast-lands; ( ) lower soudan, including the fulah states, massina, gando, sokoto, &c.; (c) egyptian soudan, which in was subdivided into ( ) west soudan, including dar-fur, kordofan, bahr-el-ghazal, and dongola; ( ) central soudan, comprising khartoum, sennaar, berber, fashoda, and the equatorial province, &c.; ( ) eastern soudan, bordering on the red sea, and embracing taka, suakim, and massowah; ( ) harar, stretching e. of abyssinia. the extension of egyptian rule into this territory began in with the capture of khartoum, which became the base of military operations, ending in the gradual conquest of the surrounding regions in . a serious revolt, fanned by religious fanaticism, broke out in , and headed by the mahdi (q. v.) and his lieutenant osman digna, ended in the utter rout of the egyptian forces under hicks pasha and baker pasha; gordon, after a vain attempt to relieve him, perished in khartoum; but stanley was more successful in relieving emin bey in the equatorial province. anarchy and despotism ensued until the victorious campaign of kitchener (q. v.) again restored the lost provinces to egypt. soufflot, french architect of the pantheon of paris ( - ). soul, the name given to the spiritual part of man, the seat of reason (q. v.) and conscience, by which he relates and subordinates himself to the higher spiritual world, inspiring him with a sense of individual responsibility. soult, nicolas-jean de dieu, duke of dalmatia and marshal of france, born at st. amans-la-bastide, department of tarn; enlisted as a private in , and by was general of a brigade; gallant conduct in swiss and italian campaigns under masséna won him rapid promotion, and in he was created a marshal; served with the emperor in germany, and led the deciding charge at austerlitz, and for his services in connection with the treaty of tilsit received the title of duc de dalmatia; at the head of the french army in spain he outmanoeuvred the english in , conquered portugal, and opposed to wellington a skill and tenacity not less than his own, but was thwarted in his efforts by the obstinate incompetence of joseph bonaparte; turned royalist after the abdication of napoleon, but on his return from elba rallied to the emperor's standard, and fought at waterloo; was subsequently banished, but restored in ; became active in the public service, and was honoured as ambassador in england in ; retired in with the honorary title of "marshal-general of france" ( - ). sound, the, a strait, m. long, between sweden and denmark, which connects the cattegat with the baltic sea; dues at one time levied on ships passing through the channel were abolished in , and over three millions paid in compensation, britain contributing one-third and undertaking to superintend the navigation and maintain the lighthouses. south, robert, an english divine, born at hackney; obtained several preferments in the church, but refused a bishopric; was distinguished for his hostility to the dissenters, and was never tired of heaping ridicule on them and their principles; wrote a book in defence of the trinity in a somewhat rationalistic view of it, which involved him in a furious controversy with dr. sherlock; was a man of great wit and good sense as well as refinement; his chief writings consist of "sermons" ( - ). south african company. see rhodesia. south african republic. see transvaal. south australia ( ), second largest of the five colonies of australia, stretches n. and s. in a broad band, in. long, through the heart of the continent from the southern ocean to the gulf of carpentaria and the arafura sea, having queensland, new south wales, and victoria on the e., and western australia on the w.; ten times the size of great britain, but the greater portion comprises the northern territory, which consists, save a low alluvial coastal strip, of parched and uninhabited tableland. south australia proper begins about ° s. latitude, and is traversed southwards by the finke river as far as eyre lake ( sq. m.), by the flinders range, and the lower murray river in the e., and diversified here and there by low ranges and lake amadeus (nw.), torrens and gairdner (s.); the s. coast is penetrated by the great gulfs of spencer and st. vincent, round and to the n. and e. of which the bulk of the population is gathered in a region not much larger than scotland; is the chief wheat-growing colony, and other important industries are mining (chiefly copper), sheep-rearing, and wine-making; chief exports, wool, wheat, and copper; the railway and telegraph systems are well developed, the overland telegraph line ( m.) stretching across the continent from adelaide to port darwin being a marvel of engineering enterprise. adelaide is the capital. the governor is appointed by the crown, and there are a legislative council or upper house, and an assembly or lower house. state education is free. began to be settled in , and five years later became a crown colony. south sea bubble, the name given to the disastrous financial project set on foot by harley (q. v.) to relieve the national debt and restore public credit, which produced an unparalleled rush of speculation, ending in the ruin of thousands of people. through the efforts of harley a company of merchants was induced in to buy up the floating national debt of £ , , on a government guarantee of per cent. interest, and a right to a monopoly of trade in the south seas. the shares rose by leaps and bounds as tales of the fabulous wealth of the far south seas circulated, till, in , £ shares were quoted at £ ; earlier in the same year the company had taken over the entire national debt of upwards of millions. in the craze for speculation which had seized the public hundreds of wild schemes were floated. at length the "bubble" burst. the chairman and several directors of the company sold out when shares had reached £ ; suspicion followed, confidence vanished, stock fell, and in a few days thousands from end to end of the country were bewailing their ruin. the private estates of the fraudulent directors were confiscated for the relief of the sufferers. to sir robert walpole belongs the credit of extricating the finances of the country from the muddle into which they had fallen. southampton ( ), an important seaport of south hampshire, m. sw. of london, situated on a small peninsula at the head of southampton water (a fine inlet, m. by ), between the mouths of the itchen (e.) and the test (w.); portions of the old town-walls and four gateways still remain; is the head-quarters of the ordnance survey; has splendid docks, and is an important steam-packet station for the west indies, brazil, and south africa; yacht and ship building and engine-making are flourishing industries. southcott, joanna, a prophetess, born in devon, of humble parents; became a methodist; suffered under religious mania; gave herself out as the woman referred to in revelation xii.; imagined herself to be with child, and predicted she would on a certain day give birth to the promised prince of peace, for which occasion great preparations were made, but all to no purpose; she died of dropsy two months after the time predicted; she found numbers to believe in her even after her death; she traded in passports to heaven, which she called "seals," and persuaded numbers to purchase them ( - ). southern cross, a constellation of the southern heavens, the five principal stars of which form a rough and somewhat irregular cross, the shape of which is gradually changing; it corresponds in the southern heavens to the great bear in the northern. southey, robert, poet-laureate, born, the son of a linen-draper, at bristol; was expelled from westminster school for a satirical article in the school magazine directed against flogging; in the following year ( ) entered balliol college, where he only remained one year, leaving it a unitarian and a red-hot republican; was for a time enamoured of coleridge's wild pantisocratic scheme; married ( ) clandestinely edith frickes, a penniless girl, sister to mrs. coleridge, and in disgrace with his english relatives visited his uncle in lisbon, where in six months he laid the foundation of his knowledge of spanish history and literature; the church and medicine had already, as possible careers, been abandoned, and on his return to england he made a half-hearted effort to take up law; still unsettled he again visited portugal, and finally was relieved of pecuniary difficulties by the settlement of a pension on him by an old school friend, which he relinquished in on receiving a pension from government; meanwhile had settled at keswick, where he prosecuted with untiring energy the craft of authorship; "joan of arc," "thalaba," "madoc," and "the curse of kehama," won for him the laureateship in , and in the same year appeared his prose masterpiece "the life of nelson"; of numerous other works mention may be made of his histories of brazil and the peninsular war, lives of bunyan and wesley, and "colloquies on society"; declined a baronetcy offered by peel; domestic affliction--the death of children, and the insanity and death of his wife--saddened his later years, which were brightened in the last by his second marriage ( ) with the poetess and his twenty years' friend, caroline bowles; as a poet southey has few readers nowadays; full of miscellaneous interest, vigour of narrative, and spirited rhythm, his poems yet lack the finer spirit of poetry; but in prose he ranks with the masters of english prose style "of a kind at once simple and scholarly" ( - ). southport ( ), a watering-place of lancashire, situated on the southern shore of the ribble estuary, m. n. of liverpool; is a town of quite modern growth and increasing popularity; has a fine sea-shore, esplanade, park, theatre, public library, art gallery, etc. southwark ( ), or the borough, a division of london, on the surrey side of the thames, opposite the city, and annexed to it in ; it sends three members to parliament, and among its principal buildings are st. saviour's church and guys hospital. southwell, robert, poet, born in norfolk; studied at douay, and became a jesuit priest; came to england as a missionary, was thrown into prison, tortured ten times by the rack, and at length executed at tyburn as a traitor for disseminating catholic doctrine; his poems are religious chiefly, and excellent, and were finally collected under the title "st. peter's complaint," "mary magdalen's tears, and other works"; "the burning babe" is characterised by professor saintsbury as a "splendid poem" ( - ). souvestre, Émile, french novelist and playwright, born at morlaix; at he established himself in paris as a journalist, and became noted as a writer of plays and of charming sketches of breton life, essays, and fiction; "les derniers bretons" and "foyer breton" are considered his best work ( - ). souza, madame de (maiden name adelaide filleul), french novelist, born in paris, and educated in a convent, on her leaving which she was married to the comte de flahaut, a man much older than herself, and with whom she lived unhappily; fled to germany and then to england on the outbreak of the revolution; afterwards returned to paris, and as the wife of the marquis de souza-botelho presided over one of the most charming of _salons_, in which the chief attraction was her own bright and gifted personality; her novels, "eugène de rothelin," "eugénie et mathilde," etc., breathe the spirit of the old régime, and are full of natural and vivacious pictures of french life ( - ). sowerby bridge ( ), manufacturing town in west riding of yorkshire, m. sw. of halifax; cotton-spinning, woollen manufactures, and dyeing are the chief; it was the birthplace of tillotson. soy, a sauce or condiment used in japan and china; prepared from a bean which is extensively cultivated in those countries. soyer, alexis, a famous cook, born at meaux; turned aside from a tempting career as a vocalist and took up gastronomy as a profession; during the revolution he narrowly escaped with his life to london, which he henceforth made his head-quarters, rising to the position of cook to the reform club; rendered important services as a culinary expert in ireland during the famine, and at the crimea ( ); was the author of various highly popular works on the art of cooking, "the modern housewife," "shilling cookery book," etc. ( - ). spa ( ), a watering-place in belgium, m. se. of liège; a favourite health and fashionable resort on account of its springs and its picturesque surroundings, the number of visitors during the season amounting to , . spahi, an algerine cavalry soldier serving in the french army. spain ( , ), a kingdom of south-west europe, which with portugal (less than one-fifth the size of spain) occupies the entire iberian peninsula, and is divided from france on the n. by the pyrenees mountains, and on the e. and s. is washed by the mediterranean; the nw. corner fronts the bay of biscay (n.) and the atlantic (w.), while portugal completes the western boundary; its area, three and one-third times the size of england and wales, is, along with the canaries and the balearic isles, divided into provinces, although the more familiar names of the old kingdoms, states, and provinces (new and old castile, galicia, aragon, etc.) are still in use; forms a compact square, with a regular, in parts precipitous, coast-line, which is short compared with its area; is in the main a highland country, a vast plateau ( to ft. high) occupying the centre, buttressed and crossed by ranges (sierra nevada in the s., sierra de guadarrama, sierra morena, etc.), and diversified by the long valleys of the ebro, douro, tagus, guadalquivir, and other lesser rivers, all of which are rapid, and only a few navigable; climate varies considerably according as one proceeds to the central plains, where extremes of heat and cold are experienced, but over all is the driest in europe; agriculture, although less than a half of the land is under cultivation, is by far the most important industry, and valencia and catalonia the provinces where it is most successfully carried out, wheat and other cereals, the olive and the vine, being the chief products; other important industries are mining, the peninsula being extremely rich in the useful minerals; merino sheep farming, anchovy and sardine fisheries, wine-making, and the manufacture of cotton, silk, leather, and paper; chief exports are wine, fruits, mineral ores, oil and cork; madrid, barcelona, valencia, seville, and malaga are the chief towns; the widest variety of character exists among the natives of the various provinces, from the hard-working, thrifty catalan to the lazy, improvident murcian, but all possess the southern love "of song, dance, and colour," and have an inherent grace and dignity of manner; roman catholicism is the national religion; and although systems of elementary and secondary schools are in vogue, education over all is in a deplorably backward condition; the government is a hereditary and constitutional monarchy; the cortes consists of the senate and the chamber of deputies; universal suffrage and trial by jury are recent innovations. the outstanding fact in the history of spain, after the downfall of the roman empire, of which she had long formed a part, is the national struggle with the moors, who overran the peninsula in the th century, firmly established themselves, and were not finally overthrown till granada, their last possession, was taken in ; sixteen years later the country became a united kingdom, and for a brief period, with its vast american colonies and wide european possessions, became in the th century the dominant power of europe; since then she has lagged more and more in the race of nations, and her once vast colonial empire has gradually crumbled away till now, since the unsuccessful war with america in , only an island or two remains to her. spalato ( ), a historic and flourishing town of dalmatia, finely situated on a promontory on the e. side of the adriatic, m. se. of fiume; a place of considerable antiquity, and one of the great cities of the roman world; is chiefly famed for the vast palace built by diocletian, and which became his residence after his abdication; subsidiary buildings and grounds were enclosed by walls, within which now a considerable part of the town stands; the noblest portions of the palace are still extant; the modern town carries on an active trade in grain, wine, cattle, etc.; is noted for its liqueurs. spalding, a market-town in lincolnshire, m. se. of lincoln, in the heart of the fens; is a very ancient place; has a trade in agricultural produce, and is a railway centre. spallanzani, lazaro, a noted italian scientist, born at scandiano, in modena; held chairs of philosophy and greek in the universities of reggio and modena, but more attracted to natural science he in became professor of natural history at pavia; wrote elaborate accounts of expeditions to sicily and elsewhere; overturned button's theory of spontaneous generation, and in important works made some valuable contributions to physiological science ( - ). spandau ( ), an important town and fortress of prussia, in brandenburg, at the confluence of the spree and havel, m. w. by n. of berlin; fortifications are of the strongest and most modern kind, and in the "julius tower" of the powerful citadel the german war-chest of £ , , is preserved; there is an arsenal and large government cannon-foundries, powder-factories, etc. spanheim, friedrich, a theological professor at geneva ( ), and afterwards at leyden ( ); author of the work on "universal grace" ( - ). his son, ezechiel spanheim ( - ) became professor of eloquence in his native town, geneva, and after acting as tutor to the sons of the elector palatine was employed on several important diplomatic missions to italy, england, and france; meanwhile devoted his leisure to ancient law and numismatics, publishing learned works on these subjects. friedrich spanheim, brother of preceding, was a learned calvinistic professor of theology at heidelberg ( ), and afterwards at leyden ( - ). spanish main (i. e. mainland), a name given at one time to the central american provinces of spain bordering on the caribbean sea, and also to the caribbean sea itself. sparks, james, president of harvard university, born in connecticut; bred a carpenter, took to study, attended harvard, where he graduated, studied theology, and became unitarian, becoming a minister in that body, but retired from the ministry and settled in boston; edited the _north american review_; wrote and edited biographies of eminent americans, and edited the writings of benjamin franklin and george washington ( - ). sparta or lacedemon, the capital of ancient laconia, in the peloponnesus, on the right bank of the eurotas, m. from the sea; was m. in circumference, consisted of several distinct quarters, originally separate villages, never united into a regular town; was never surrounded by walls, its walls being the bravery of its citizens; its mythical founder was lacedemon, who called the city sparta from the name of his wife; one of its early kings was menelaus, the husband of helen; lycurgus (q. v.) was its law-giver; its policy was aggressive, and its sway gradually extended over the whole peloponnesus, to the extinction at the end of the peloponnesian war of the rival power of athens, which for a time rose to the ascendency, and its unquestioned supremacy thereafter for years, when all greece was overborne by the macedonian power. spartacus, leader of the revolt of the slaves at rome, which broke out about b.c.; was a thracian by birth, a man of powerful physique, in succession a shepherd, a soldier, and a captain of banditti; was in one of his predatory expeditions taken prisoner and sold to a trainer of gladiators, and became one of his slaves; persuaded his fellow-slaves to attempt their freedom, and became their chief and that of other runaways who joined them; for two years they defied and defeated one roman army after another sent to crush them, and laid italy waste, till at the end of that time licinius crassus, taking up arms in earnest, overpowered them in a decisive battle at the river silarus, in which spartacus was slain. spasmodic school, name given to a small group of minor poets about the middle of the th century, represented by philips, james bailey, sydney dobell, and alexander smith, from their strenuous, overstrained, and unnatural style. specific gravity, the weight of a body compared with another of equal bulk taken as a standard, such as the weight of a cubic inch of water. spectrum, the name given to coloured and other rays of pure light separated by refraction in its transmission through a prism, as exhibited on a screen in a darkened chamber. spectrum analysis, name given to the method of determining the composition of a body by means of the spectrum of light which it gives forth or passes through it, founded on the principle that a substance powerfully absorbs exactly the rays it radiates, and every substance has its own absorbing powers; or it may be defined the method of distinguishing different kinds of matter by their properties in relation to light. speculative, the, that which we think and which as such goes no deeper than the intellect, which is but the eye of the soul, not the heart of it. see spiritual, the. spedding, james, editor of bacon, born at mirehouse, near keswick, son of a cumberland squire; scholar and honorary fellow of cambridge; became in under-secretary of state with £ a year; devoted his life to the study of bacon, the fruit of which the "letters and the life of francis bacon, including all his occasional works, newly selected and set forth with a commentary, biographical and historical," in vols.; a truly noble man, and much esteemed by his contemporaries in literature ( - ). speke, john banning, african explorer, born in somersetshire; became a soldier, and served in the punjab; joined burton in in an expedition into somaliland, and three years after in an attempt to discover the sources of the nile, and setting out alone discovered victoria nyanza, which he maintained was the source of the river, but which burton questioned; on his return he published in an account of his discovery, which he was about to defend in the british association when he was shot by the accidental discharge of his gun while he was out hunting ( - ). spence, joseph, a miscellaneous writer, born in hants; educated at and a fellow of oxford; his principal work, "polymetis; or, an inquiry into the agreement between the works of the roman poets and the remains of ancient artists"; his "anecdotes" are valuable from his acquaintance with the literary class of the time, and have preserved his name ( - ). spencer, herbert, systematiser and unifier of scientific knowledge up to date, born at derby, son of a teacher, who early inoculated him with an interest in natural objects, though he adopted at first the profession of a railway engineer, which in about eight years he abandoned for the work of his life by way of literature, his first effort being a series of "letters on the proper sphere of government" in the _nonconformist_ in , and his first work "social statics," published in , followed by "principles of psychology" four years after; in he published a work on "education," and his "first principles" the following year, after which he began to construct his system of "synthetic philosophy," which fills a dozen large volumes, and has established his fame as the foremost scientific philosopher of the time. following in the lines of auguste comte and john stuart mill, he takes a wider sweep than either of them, fills the field he occupies with fuller and riper detail, resolves the whole of science into still more ultimate principles, and works the whole up into a more compact and comprehensive system. he is valiant before all for science, and relegates everything and every interest to agnosticism that cannot give proof of its scientific rights. "what a thing is in itself," he says, "cannot be known, because to know it we must strip it of all that it becomes, of all that has come to adhere to it." the ultimate thus arrived at he finds to be, and calls, energy, and that therefore, he says, we don't and can't know. that a thing _is_ what it becomes seems never to occur to him, and yet only the knowledge of that is the knowledge of the ultimate of being, which is the thing he says we cannot know. to trace life to its roots he goes back to the cell, whereas common-sense would seem to require us, in order to know what the cell is, to inquire at the fruit. this is the doctrine of st. john, "the word was god." in addition to agnosticism another doctrine of spencer's is evolution, but in maintaining this he fails to see he is arguing for an empty conception barren of all thought, which thought is the alpha and omega of the whole process, and is as much an ultimate as and still more so than the energy in which he absorbs god. indeed, his philosophy is what is called the aufklÄrung (q. v.) in full bloom, and in which he strips us of all our spiritual content or _inhalt_, and under which he would lead us out of "houndsditch" (q. v.), not _with_, but _without_, all that properly belongs to us; _b_. . spencer gulf, a deep inlet on the coast of south australia, m. by m. spener, philip jacob, german protestant theologian, founder of the pietists (q. v.), born in alsace, studied in strasburg; in held a series of meetings which he called "collegia pietatis," whence the name of his sect; established himself in dresden and in berlin, but halle was the centre of the movement; he was an earnest and universally esteemed man ( - ). spenser, edmund, author of the "faërie queene," and one of england's greatest poets; details of his life are scanty and often hypothetical; born at london of poor but well-connected parents; entered pembroke hall, cambridge, as a "sizar" in , and during his seven years' residence there became an excellent scholar; took a master's degree, and formed an important friendship with gabriel harvey; three years of unsettled life followed, but were fruitful in the production of the "shepheards' calendar" ( ), which at once placed him at the head of the english poets of his day; had already taken his place in the best london literary and political circles as the friend of sir philip sidney and leicester, and in was appointed private secretary to lord grey, then proceeding to ireland as the lord deputy, and although his master soon returned to england spencer continued to make his home in ireland, where he obtained some civil appointments, and in entered into possession of a considerable portion of the forfeited estates of the earl of desmond, adjacent to his house, kilcolman castle, co. cork; seems to have been a pretty stern landlord, and, as expounded in his admirable tract, "a view of the present state of ireland," the advocate of a policy of "suppression and repression"; consequently was little loved by the irish, and on the outbreak of tyrone's rebellion in his house was sacked and burned, and he himself forced to flee to london, where he died a few weeks later "a ruined and heart-broken man"; the rich promise of the "shepheards' calendar" had been amply fulfilled in the "complaints," "amoretti," "colin clout's come home again," the "epithalamium" the finest bridal song in any language, and above all in the six published books of "the faërie queene" ( and ), in which all his gifts and graces as a poet are at their best; "he may be read," says professor saintsbury, "in childhood, chiefly for his adventure; in later youth, for his display of voluptuous beauty; in manhood, for his historical and ethical weight; in age, for all combined" ( - ). spermaceti, a white waxy matter obtained in an oily state from the head of the sperm-whale inhabiting the pacific and indian oceans; candles made of it yield a particularly steady and bright light. spey, a river in the n. of scotland which, rising in badenoch, flows ne. through inverness, elgin, and banffshire, falls into the moray firth after a course of miles; the salmon-fisheries are valuable; it is the swiftest of the rivers of great britain. spezia ( ), the chief naval station, "the portsmouth," of italy; occupies a strongly fortified site at the head of a bay on the w. side of italy, m. se. of genoa; here are the naval shipbuilding yards, national arsenal, navy store-houses, besides schools of navigation, manufactures of cables, sail-cloth, &c. sphinx, a fabled animal, an invention of the ancient egyptians, with the body and claws of a lioness, and the head of a woman, or of a ram, or of a goat, all types or representations of the king, effigies of which are frequently placed before temples on each side of the approach; the most famous of the sphinxes was the one which waylaid travellers and tormented them with a riddle, which if they could not answer she devoured them, but which oedipus answered, whereupon she threw herself into the sea. "such a sphinx," as we are told in "past and present," "is this life of ours, to all men and nations. nature, like the sphinx, is of womanly celestial loveliness and tenderness, the face and bosom of a goddess, but ending in the claws and the body of a lioness ... is a heavenly bride and conquest to the wise and brave, to them who can discern her behests and do them; a destroying fiend to them who cannot. answer her riddle--knowest thou the meaning of to-day?--it is well with thee. answer it not; the solution for thee is a thing of teeth and claws." spice islands. see moluccas. spinello, aretino, a celebrated italian fresco-painter, born at arezzo, where, with visits to florence, his life was chiefly spent; was in his day the rival of giotto, but few of his frescoes are preserved, and such of his paintings as are to be found in various galleries of europe are inferior to his frescoes ( - ). spinola, ambrosio, marquis of, great spanish general under philip ii. of spain, born at genoa, with a following of , maintained at his own expense, took ostend after a resistance of years, in consequence of which feat he was appointed commander-in-chief, in which capacity maintained and again maintained a long struggle with prince maurice of nassau, terminated only with the death of the latter; his services on behalf of spain, in the interest of which he spent his fortune, were never acknowledged, and he died with poignant grief ( - ). spinoza, benedict, great modern philosopher, born in amsterdam, of jews of portuguese extraction in well-to-do circumstances, and had been trained as a scholar; began with the study of the bible and the talmud, but soon exchanged the study of theology in these for that of physics and the works of descartes, in which study he drifted farther and farther from the jewish creed, and at length openly abandoned it; this exposed him to a persecution which threatened his life, so that he left amsterdam and finally settled at the hague, where, absorbed in philosophic study, he lived in seclusion, earning a livelihood by polishing optical glasses, which his friends disposed of for him; his days were short; he suffered from ill-health, and died of consumption when he was only ; he was a man of tranquil temper, moderate desires, purity of motive, and kindly in heart; his great work, his "ethica," was published a year after his death; he had held it back during his lifetime because he foresaw it would procure him the name of atheist, which he shrank from with horror; spinoza's doctrine is summed up by dr. stirling thus, "whatever is, is; and that is extension and thought. these two are all that is; and besides these there is nought. but these two are one; they are attributes of the single substance (that which, for its existence, stands in need of nothing else), very god, in whom, then, all individual things and all individual ideas (modes of extension those, of thought these) are comprehended and take place"; thus we see spinoza includes under the term extension all individual objects, and under thought all individual ideas, and these two he includes in god, as he in whom they live and move and have their being,--a great conception and a pregnant, being the speculative ground of the being of all that lives and is; not without good reason does novalis call him "der gott-getrunkene mensch," the god-intoxicated man ( - ). spinozism, the pantheism of spinoza (q. v.), which regards god as the one self-subsistent substance, and both matter and thought attributes of him. spires or speyer, an old german town on the left bank of the rhine, in the palatinate, m. sw. of heidelberg, the seat of a bishop and with a cathedral, of its kind one of the finest in europe, and the remains of the retscher, or imperial palace, where in the diet of the empire was held at which the reformers first got the name of protestants, because of their protestation against the imperial decree issued at worms prohibiting any further innovations in religion. spirit (lit. breath of life), in philosophy and theology is the divine mind incarnating itself in the life of a man, and breathing in all he thinks and does, and so is as the life-principle of it; employed also to denote any active dominating and pervading principle of life inspired from any quarter whatever and coming to light in the conduct. spirit, the holy, the divine spirit manifested in christ which descended upon his disciples in all its fulness when, shortly after his decease, their eyes were opened to see the meaning of his life and their hearts to feel the power of it. spiritual, the, the fruit of the quickening and abiding action of a higher principle at the centre of the being, operating so as to suffuse the whole of it, pervade the whole of it, to its utmost limits, which, seating itself in the heart of the thoughts and affections, works and weaves itself into all the life tissues and becomes part and parcel of the very flesh and blood. no idea, however true, however elevated or elevating one may feel it, is spiritual till it centralises in the heart and affects all the issues thereof. spiritualism, a term that has two very different meanings, denoting at one time the doctrine that the only real is the spiritual (q. v.), and at another time a belief in the existence of spirits whom we, by means of certain media, can hold correspondence with, and who, whether we are conscious of it or not, exercise in some cases an influence over human destiny, more particularly of the spirits of dead men with whom in their disembodied state we can by means of certain mediums hold correspondence, and who, from their continued interest in the world, do in that state keep watch and ward over its affairs as well as mingle in them, forming a world of spirits gone from hence, yet more or less active in the sense world. spithead, the eastern portion of the strait which separates the isle of wight from the hampshire coast, m. long, with an average breadth of m.; is a sheltered and safe riding for ships, and as such is much used by the british navy; receives its name from a long "spit" of sandbank jutting out from the mainland. see the _solent_. spitzbergen, the name of an arctic archipelago lying m. n. of norway, embracing west spitzbergen ( , sq. m.), north-east land, stans foreland, king charles land or wiche island, barents land, prince charles foreland, besides numerous smaller islands; practically lies under great fields of ice, enormous glaciers, and drifts of snow, pierced here and there by mountain peaks, hence the name spitzbergen; the home of vast flocks of sea-birds, of polar bears, and arctic foxes, while herds of reindeer are attracted to certain parts by a scanty summer vegetation; there are no permanent inhabitants, but the fiord-cut shores are frequented in summer by norwegian seal and walrus hunters. splÜgen, an alpine pass in the swiss canton of the grisons; the roadway m. long, opened in , crosses the rhætian alps from chur, the capital of grisons, to chiavenna, in lombardy, and reaches a height of ft. spohr, ludwig, musical composer and violinist, born in brunswick; produced both operas and oratorios, "faust" among the former, the "last judgment" and the "fall of babylon" among the latter; his violin-playing was admirable, producing from the tones of the instrument the effects of the human voice; wrote a handbook for violinists ( - ). spoleto ( ), an ancient city of central italy, built on the rocky slopes of a hill, in the province of umbria, m. ne. of rome; is protected by an ancient citadel, and has an interesting old cathedral with frescoes by lippo lippi, and an imposing th-century aqueduct; was capital of a lombard duchy, and in was joined to the papal states. spontini, gasparo, italian operatic composer, born at majolati; settled in paris in , and a year later made his mark with the little opera "milton," and subsequently established his fame with the three grand operas, "la vestale," "ferdinand cortez," and "olympia"; from to was stationed at berlin under court patronage, and in the face of public and press opposition continued to write in a strain of elevated and melodious music various operas, including his greatest work "agnes von hohenstaufen" ( - ). sporades, a group of islands in the Ægean sea, of which the largest is the mitylene. spottiswoode, john, archbishop of st. andrews; accompanied james vi. to london, was zealous for the establishment of episcopacy in scotland; was archbishop of glasgow before he was translated to st. andrews; officiated at coronation of charles i. at holyrood in , and was two years after made chancellor of scotland; wrote a "history of the church of scotland"; was buried in westminster ( - ). spottiswoode, william, mathematician and physician, born in london; was queen's printer, as his father had been before him; published numerous important papers on scientific subjects, his greatest work "the polarization of light," a subject on which he was a great authority ( - ). spree, a river of prussia, rises in east saxony close to the bohemian border, follows a winding and generally n. and nw. course of m. till its junction with the havel at spandau; chief towns on its banks are bautzen, kottbus, lübben, and berlin; is connected with the oder by the frederick william canal. sprengel, carl, physician and botanist, born in pomerania; held professorship in halle; wrote on the history of both medicine and botany ( - ). sprenger, aloys, eminent orientalist, born in the tyrol; studied in vienna; went to india in , where he diligently occupied his mind in study, and on his return in was appointed professor of oriental languages at bern, from which he was translated to heidelberg; edited persian and arabic works, and wrote the "life and doctrine of mohammed"; _b_. . springfield, , capital ( ) of illinois, situated in a flourishing coal district, m. sw. of chicago; has an arsenal, two colleges, and a handsome marble capitol; coal-mining, foundries, and flour, cotton, and paper mills are the chief industries; the burial-place of abraham lincoln. , a nicely laid out and flourishing city ( ) of massachusetts, capital of hampden county, on the connecticut river (spanned here by five bridges), m. w. by s. of boston; settled in ; has important manufactories of cottons, woollens, paper, and a variety of other articles, besides the united states armoury. , capital ( ) of greene county, missouri, m. wsw. of st. louis; has rapidly increasing manufactories of cottons, woollens, machinery, &c.; in the vicinity was fought the battle of wilson's creek, th august . , capital ( ) of clark county, ohio, on lagonda creek and mad river, m. ne. of cincinnati; is an important railway centre, and possesses numerous factories of machinery, bicycles, paper, &c. spurgeon, charles haddon, a great preacher, born at kelvedon, essex; had no college training; connected himself with the baptists; commenced as an evangelist at cambridge when he was but a boy, and was only when he was appointed to a pastorate; by-and-by on invitation he settled in southwark, and held meetings which were always requiring larger and larger accommodation; at length in the metropolitan tabernacle, capable of accommodating , was opened, where he drew about him large congregations, and round which he, in course of time, established a number of institutions in the interest at once of humanity and religion; his pulpit addresses were listened to by thousands every sunday, and were one and all printed the week following, and circulated all over the land and beyond it till they filled volumes; no preacher of the time had such an audience, and none such a wide popularity; he preached the old puritan gospel, but it was presented in such a form and in such simple, idiomatic phrase, as to commend it as no less a gospel to his own generation: besides his sermons as published, other works were also widely circulated; special mention may be made of "john ploughman's talk" ( - ). spurzheim, johann caspar, phrenologist, born in trèves; went to study medicine at vienna; attended the lectures of gall and became a disciple, accompanying him on a lecturing tour through central europe, and settling with him in in paris; in he separated from gall, and went to lecture in england with much acceptance; in he proceeded to america with the same object, but he had hardly started on his mission when he died at boston; he wrote numerous works bearing on phrenology, education, &c. ( - ). sruti, the name given to sacred and revealed tradition, or revelation generally, among the hindus. staal, jean, a french lady of humble circumstances, of metaphysical turn; skilled in the philosophies of descartes and malebranche; was in the bastille for two years for political offences; was a charming woman, and captivated the baron de staal; left memoirs and letters ( - ). stabat mater, a latin hymn on the dolours of the virgin, beginning with these words, and composed in the th century by jacopone da todi, a franciscan monk, and set to music by several composers, the most popular being rossini's. stadium, the course on which were celebrated the great games (foot-racing, wrestling, &c.) of ancient greece, held at olympia, athens, and other places; the most famous was that laid out at olympia; length greek feet, which was adopted as the greek standard of measure, and equalled ½ english feet. stadtholder, an anglicised form of the dutch "stadhouder" (i. e. stead-holder), a title conferred on the governors of provinces in the low countries, but chiefly associated with the rulers of holland, zealand, and utrecht; in the title was held by william the silent, and continued to be the designation of the head of the new republic of the united provinces of the netherlands until , when william v. was compelled to resign his stadtholdership to france, the country afterwards assuming a monarchical government. staËl, madame de, distinguished french lady, born in paris, daughter of necker, and only child; a woman of eminent ability, and an admirer of rousseau; wrote "letters" on his character and works; married a man ten years older than herself, the baron de staël-holstein, the swedish ambassador in paris, where she lived all through the events of the revolution in sympathy with the royal family; wrote an appeal in defence of the queen, and quitted the city during the reign of terror; on her return in her _salon_ became the centre of the literary and political activity of the time; the ambition of napoleon excited her distrust, and forced her into opposition so expressed that in she was ordered to leave paris within hours, and not to come within leagues of it; in she was left a widow, and soon after she went first to weimar, where she met goethe and schiller, and then to berlin; by-and-by she returned to france, but on the publication of her "corinne," was ordered out of the country; after this appeared her great epoch-making work on germany, "l'allemagne," which was seized by the french censors; after this she quitted for good the soil of france, to which she had returned; settled in switzerland, at coppet, where she died ( - ). staffa ("pillar island"), an uninhabited islet of basaltic formation off the w. coast of scotland, m. w. of oban; ½ m. in circumference, and girt with precipitous cliffs, except on the sheltered ne., where there is a shelving shore; is remarkable for its caves, of which fingal's cave is the most famous, having an entrance ft. wide and ft. high, and penetrating ft. stafford ( ), county town of staffordshire, on the sow, m. nnw. of birmingham; has two fine old churches, st. mary's and st. chad's, interesting architecturally, king edward's grammar school, and stafford castle finely situated on the outskirts; is an important railway centre, and noted for its boot and shoe manufactures. staffordshire ( , ), a midland mining and manufacturing county of england, wedged in on the n. between cheshire (w.) and derby (n.), and extending southward to worcester, with shropshire on the w., and leicester and warwick on the e.; with the exception of the wild and hilly "moorland" in the n. consists of an undulating plain crossed by the trent, and intersected in all directions by canals and railways; embraces two rich coal-fields, one in the "black country" of the s., where rich deposits of iron-stone are also worked, and one in the n., embracing the district of the "potteries"; famous breweries exist at burton; wolverhampton is the largest town. stagirite, the, aristotle (q. v.), so called from his native place stagira. stahl, friedrich julius, writer of jurisprudence, born at münich, of jewish parents; embraced christianity; wrote "the philosophy of law"; became professor thereof at berlin; was a staunch lutheran, and a conservative in politics ( - ). stahl, georg ernest, a german chemist, born at anspach; was professor of medicine at halle; author of the theory of phlogiston (q. v.) and of animism (q. v.) ( - ). staines ( ), a pretty little town of middlesex, on the thames (spanned here by a fine granite bridge), m. se. of windsor; st. mary's church has a tower designed by inigo jones; has breweries, mustard-mills, and other factories; in the neighbourhood are runnymede and cooper's hill (q. v.). stair, john dalrymple, st earl of, eldest son of james dalrymple ( - ) of stair (a distinguished lawyer in his day, who rose to be president of the court of session; wrote a well-known work, "institutes of the law of scotland"; as a protestant supported the prince of orange, and by him was raised to the peerage as viscount in ); adopted law as a profession, and was called to the bar in ; got into trouble with claverhouse, and was fined and imprisoned, but in was received into royal favour, became lord advocate, a lord ordinary in the court of session, and subsequently as secretary of state for scotland was mainly responsible for the massacre of glencoe (q. v.); was created an earl in , and later was active in support of the union of the english and scottish parliaments ( - ). stair, john dalrymple, nd earl of, second son of preceding; entered the army at , and fought with his regiment, the cameronians, at steinkirk; studied law for some time at leyden, but went back to the army, and by was a lieutenant-colonel in the scots foot guards, and in colonel of the cameronians; fought with distinction under marlborough at venlo, ramillies, oudenarde, and, as commander of a brigade, at the siege of lille and at malplaquet; was active in support of the hanoverian succession, and subsequently in the reigns of george i. and ii. filled important diplomatic and military posts ( - ). stalactite, a cone of carbonate of lime attached like an icicle to the roof of a cavern, and formed by the dripping of water charged with the carbonate from the rock above; stalagmite being the name given to the cone formed on the floor by the dripping from a stalactite above. stalybridge ( ), a manufacturing town of cheshire and lancashire, on both banks of the tame, ½ m. e. by n. of manchester; is of modern growth, and noted for its large cotton-yarn and calico factories, iron-foundries and machine-shops. stamford ( ), an interesting old town, partly in lincolnshire and partly in northamptonshire, on the welland, m. wnw. of peterborough; was one of the five danish burghs, and is described in domesday book (q. v.); a massacre of jews occurred here in , and in plantagenet times it was a place of ecclesiastical, parliamentary, and royal importance; figures in the wars of the roses and the civil war of charles i.'s time; has three fine early english churches, a corn exchange, two handsome schools, browne's hospital, founded in richard iii.'s reign, and burghley house, a noble specimen of renaissance architecture; the _stamford mercury_ ( ) is the earliest provincial newspaper; the district is mainly agricultural. stamford ( ), a town of connecticut, situated amid surrounding hills in long island sound, m. ne. of new york; is a summer resort, and has iron and bronze foundries, etc. stamford bridge, a village of yorkshire, on the derwent, ¼ m. ne. of york; the scene of harold's victory over the invading forces of harold haarfager on september , . stamp act, a measure passed by grenville's ministry in enacting that all legal documents used in the colonies should bear government stamps. the americans resisted on the ground that taxation without representation in parliament was unjust. riots broke out, and the stamped paper was carefully avoided. in pitt championed the cause of the colonists, and largely through his eloquence government in that year was induced to repeal the act. standing stones, rude unhewn stones standing singly or in groups in various parts of the world, and erected at remote periods, presumably in memory of some great achievement or misfortune, or as having some monumental reference. standish, miles, one of the puritan fathers, of lancashire birth, and a cadet of a family of knightly rank in the county; served in the netherlands as a soldier, and went to america in the mayflower in , and was helpful to the colony in its relations both with the indians and the mother-country; is the hero of a poem of longfellow's. stanfield, clarkson, english landscape-painter, born in sunderland, of irish descent; began as a scene-painter; his first picture, "market-boats on the scheldt," proving a success, he devoted himself to easel-painting, and his principal works were "wreckers off fort rouge," "a calm at sea," "the abandoned," "the bass rock"; his frequent visits to the continent supplied him with fresh subjects; and ruskin says of one of his pictures, "it shows as much concentrated knowledge of the sea and sky as, diluted, would have lasted any of the old masters for life" ( - ). stanhope, lady hester lucy, born at chevening, kent, the eldest daughter of the third earl of stanhope, and niece of william pitt; a woman of unusual force of character and attractiveness; from to was, as the confidant and housekeeper of her uncle william pitt, a leader of society; retired with a government pension after pitt's death, but impelled by her restless nature, led an unsettled life in southern europe, and finally settled in syria in , making her home in the old convent of mar elias, near mount lebanon, where, cut off from western civilisation, for years she exercised a remarkable influence over the rude tribes of the district; assumed the dress of a mohammedan chief, and something of the religion of islam, and in the end came to look upon herself as a sort of prophetess; interesting accounts of her strange life and character have been published by her english physician, dr. madden, and others ( - ). stanhope, philip henry, earl, historian, born at walmer, only son of the fourth earl of stan hope; graduated at oxford in , and three years later entered parliament as a conservative; held office as under-secretary for foreign affairs in peel's ministry of - , and as secretary to the indian board of control during - ; succeeded his father in , before which he was known by the courtesy title of lord mahon; literature was his chief interest, and as a historian and biographer he has a deservedly high reputation for industry and impartial judgment; a "history of england from to ," a "history of spain under charles ii.," "historical and critical essays," and lives of pitt, condé, and belisarius, are his most important works ( - ). stanislas i., leczinski, king of poland, born in lemberg; afterwards sovereign of the duchies of bar and lorraine; became the father-in-law of louis xv. ( - ). stanley. arthur penrhyn, widely known as dean stanley, having been dean of westminster, born at alderley, in cheshire, son of the rector, who became bishop of norwich; was educated at rugby under dr. arnold, and afterwards at balliol college, oxford; took orders, and was for years tutor in his college; published his "life of dr. arnold" in , his "sinai and palestine" in , after a visit to the east; held a professorship of ecclesiastical history in oxford for a time, and published lectures on the eastern church, the jewish church, the athanasian creed, and the church of scotland; accompanied the prince of wales to the east in , and became dean of westminster next year in succession to trench; wrote "historical monuments of westminster abbey" and "christian institutions"; he had been married to lady augusta bruce, and her death deeply affected him and accelerated his own; he was buried beside her in henry vii.'s chapel; he was an amiable man, an interesting writer, and a broad churchman of very pronounced views ( - ). stanley, henry morton, african explorer, born in denbigh, wales, in humble circumstances, his parental name being rowlands, he having assumed the name of stanley after that of his adopted father, mr. stanley, new orleans; served in the confederate army; became a newspaper foreign correspondent, to the _new york herald_ at length; was summoned to go and "find livingstone"; after many an impediment found livingstone on th november , and after staying with him, and accompanying him in explorations, returned to england in august next year; in he set out again at the head of an expedition, solved several problems, and returned home; published "congo and its free state," "in darkest africa," &c.; represents lambeth, north, in parliament, having been elected in ; _b_. . stannary, a general term used to cover the tin mines of a specified district, the miners themselves, and such customs and privileges as appertain to the workers and the mines. in england the term is specially associated with the stannaries of devon and cornwall, which by an act of edward iii. were conferred in perpetuity upon the prince of wales as duke of cornwall, who holds the title of lord warden of the stannaries. special stannary courts for the administration of justice amongst those connected with the mines are held in the two counties, and are each presided over by a warden and a vice-warden. up to representative assemblies of the miners, called stannary parliaments, were held. appeals from the stannary courts may be made now to the higher courts of england. star-chamber, a court which originated in the reign of edward iii., and consisted practically of the king's ordinary council, meeting in the starred chamber, and dealing with such cases as fell outside the jurisdiction of the court of chancery; was revived and remodelled by henry vii., and in an age when the ordinary courts were often intimidated by powerful offenders, rendered excellent service to the cause of justice; was further developed and strengthened during the chancellorship of wolsey, and in the reign of james i. had acquired jurisdiction as a criminal court over a great variety of misdemeanours--perjury, riots, conspiracy, high-treason, &c. already tending to an exercise of unconstitutional powers, it in the reign of charles i. became an instrument of the grossest tyranny, supporting the king in his absolutist claims, and in was among the first of the many abuses swept away by the long parliament. stars, the, are mostly suns, but being, the nearest of them, at a distance from us more than , times our distance from the sun, are of a size we cannot estimate, but are believed to be times larger than the earth; they are of unequal brightness, and are, according to this standard, classified as of the first, second, down to the sixteenth magnitude; those visible to the naked eye include stars from the first to the sixth magnitude, and number , while , , are visible by the telescope; of these in the milky way (q. v.) alone there are , , ; they are distinguished by their colours as well as their brightness, being white, orange, red, green, and blue according to their temperature and composition; they have from ancient date been grouped into constellations of the northern and the southern hemispheres and of the zodiac (q. v.), the stars in each of which being noted by the greek letters, as [greek: alpha], [greek: beta], according to their brightness; they all move more or less, and some go round each other, and are called double according as there are two or more of them so revolving; besides stars singly visible there are others called clusters or nebulÆ (q. v.). stars and stripes, the flag of the united states, the stripes representing the original states of the union, and stars those annexed since. staten island, , belonging to new york state ( ), and comprising the county of richmond; is a picturesque island ( m. long), m. sw. of new york, separated from long island by the narrows and from new jersey by the kill van kull and staten island sound; pretty watering-villages skirt its shores, and forts richmond and wadsworth guard the entrance to the narrows. , a lofty, precipitous, and rugged island, snow-clad most of the year, belonging to argentina, lying to the se. of tierra del fuego, from which it is separated by le maire strait ( m.). states-general, name given to an assembly of the representatives of the three estates of nobles, clergy, and bourgeoisie, or the _tiers État_ as it was called, in france prior to the revolution of , and which was first convoked in by philip iv.; they dealt chiefly with taxation, and had no legislative power; they were convoked by louis xiii. in , and dismissed for looking into finance, and not convoked again till the last time in , for the history of which see carlyle's "french revolution." states-rights, doctrine of the contention of the democrats in the united states that the several states of the union have all the rights, powers, and privileges not expressly made over to the central government, and by extremists even the right of secession. stationers' hall, the hall of the old company of london stationers, incorporated in , who enjoyed till the copyright act of the sole right of having registered at their offices every pamphlet, book, and ballad published in the kingdom. although no longer compulsory, the practice of entering books at stationers' hall is still found useful for copyright purposes. the register-rolls of books entered at stationers' hall have been carefully preserved, and are of the highest value to the literary historian. stations of the cross, steps in the passage of jesus from the judgment-hall to calvary, or representations of these, before each one of which the faithful are required to kneel and offer up a prayer. statius, publius papinius, a latin poet, born in naples; lived at rome, flourished at court, particularly that of domitian, whom he flattered, but retired to his native place after defeat in a competition; his chief work is the "thebaïs," an epic in books, embodying the legends connected with the war against thebes; he ranks first among the poets of the silver age; a collection of short pieces of his named "silvæ" have been often reprinted ( - ). staubbach (dust stream), a famous waterfall in bern, near lauterbrunnen, m. s. of interlaken, with a sheer descent of ft.; in the sunlight it has the appearance of a rainbow-hued transparent veil, and before it reaches the ground it is dissipated in silvery spray. staunton, howard, a famous chess-player; was an oxford man, and led a busy life as a journalist and miscellaneous writer in london; won the chess championship in , and did much to extend the scientific study of the game by various publications, "the chess-player's handbook," &c.; was also held in high repute as a shakespearian scholar; published well-annotated editions of shakespeare's works and a facsimile of the first folio ( - ). stavanger ( ), a flourishing port of norway, on a fiord on the sw. coast, m. s. of bergen; is of modern aspect, having been largely rebuilt; has two excellent harbours, a fine th-century gothic cathedral, and is the centre of important coast fisheries. stavropol ( ), a russian government on the caspian sea, the inhabitants of which are chiefly nomads and breed horses, with a capital of the same name ( ) on a hill, a modern town and a prosperous, both in manufacture and trade. steel, sir john, sculptor, born at aberdeen; studied at edinburgh and rome; made his mark in by a model of a statue, "alexander and bucephalus," and soon took rank with the foremost and busiest sculptors of his day; his works are mostly to be found in edinburgh, and include the equestrian statue of wellington, statues of sir walter scott (in the scott monument), professor wilson, dr. chalmers, allan ramsay, etc.; the splendid figure of queen victoria over the royal institution gained him the appointment ( ) of sculptor to her majesty in scotland, and on the unveiling of his fine equestrian statue of prince albert in he was created a knight ( - ). steele, sir richard, a famous english essayist, born, the son of an attorney, in dublin; educated as a foundationer at the charterhouse and at oxford; enamoured of a soldier's life, enlisted ( ) as a cadet in the life guards; in the following year received an ensigncy in the coldstream guards, and continued in the army till , by which time he had attained the rank of a captain; a good deal of literary work was done during his soldiering, notably "the christian hero" and several comedies; appointed gazetteer ( ), and for some two years was in the private service of the prince consort, george of denmark; began in to issue the famous tri-weekly paper the _tatler_, in which, with little assistance, he played the part of social and literary censor about town, couching his remarks in light and graceful essays, which constituted a fresh departure in literature; largely aided by addison, his old school companion, he developed this new form of essay in the _spectator_ and _guardian_; sat in parliament as a zealous whig, and in george i.'s reign was knighted and received various minor court appointments; continued a busy writer of pamphlets, &c., but withal mismanaged his affairs, and died in wales, secured from actual penury by the property of his second wife; as a writer shares with addison the glory of the queen anne essay, which in their hands did much to purify, elevate, and refine the mind and manners of the time ( - ). steen, jan, dutch painter, born in leyden; was a _genre_ painter of the style of rembrandt, and his paintings display severity with sympathy and a playful humour; he is said to have led a dissipated life, and to have left his wife and a large family in extreme destitution ( - ). steevens, george, commentator on shakespeare, born at stepney; in edited of shakespeare's plays carefully reprinted from the original quartos, and in his notes with those of johnson in another edition; a further edition, with a number of gratuitous alterations of the text, was issued by him in , and that was the accepted one till the publication of knight's in ( - ). stein, baron von, prussian statesman, born at nassau; rose rapidly in the service of the state, and became prussian prime minister under william iii. in , in which capacity he effected important changes in the constitution of the country to its lasting benefit, till napoleon procured his dismissal, and he withdrew to austria, and at length to st. petersburg, where he was instrumental in turning the general tide against napoleon ( - ). stein, charlotte von, a lady friend of goethe's, born at weimar; goethe's affection for her cooled on his return from italy to see her so changed; she never forgave him for marrying a woman beneath him; letters by goethe to her were published in successive editions, but hers to him were destroyed by her ( - ). steinmetz, carl friedrich von, prussian general, born at eisenach; distinguished himself in the war of - , and inflicted crushing defeats on the austrians in ; fell below his reputation in the franco-german war, and was deprived of his command after the battle of gravelotte, but was elected governor-general of posen and silesia ( - ). steinthal, heymann, german philologist, born at gröbzig, in anhalt; studied at berlin, where in he became professor of comparative philology, and in lecturer at the jewish high school on old testament criticism and theology; author of various learned and acute works on the science of language; _b_. . stella, the name under which swift has immortalised hester johnson, the story of whose life is inseparably entwined with that of the great dean; was the daughter of a lady-companion of lady gifford, the sister of sir william temple, who, it is conjectured, was her father. swift first met her, a child of seven, when he assumed the duties of amanuensis to sir william temple in , and during his subsequent residence with sir william ( - ) stood to her in the progressive relationship of tutor, friend, and lover; but for some unaccountable reason it would seem they never married, although their mutual affection and intimacy endured till her death; to her was addressed, without thought of publication, the immortal "journal to stella," "the most faithful and fascinating diary the world has ever seen," which throws an invaluable flood of light on the character of swift, revealing unsuspected tendernesses and affections in the great satirist ( - ). stencilling, a cheap and simple process of printing on various surfaces letters or designs; the characters are cut out in thin plates of metal or card-board, which are then laid on the surface to be imprinted, and the colour, by means of a brush, rubbed through the cut spaces. steno, nicholas, a noted anatomist, born at copenhagen, where he studied medicine and kindred sciences with great enthusiasm; became widely known in european medical circles by his important investigations into the natural functions of glands (salivary and parotid), the heart, brain, &c.; in became physician to the grand-duke of tuscany, residing at florence, where he renounced lutheranism for catholicism; made valuable geological investigations, but finally gave himself up to a religious life; was created a bishop, and in vicar-apostolic of north germany; chiefly remembered for his contributions to anatomical science ( - ). stentor, a grecian herald who accompanied the greeks in the trojan war, and whom homer describes as "the great-hearted, brazen-voiced stentor, whose shout was as loud as that of fifty other men," hence the epithet stentorian. stephen, king of england from to , nephew of henry i., his mother being adela, daughter of william i.; acquired french possessions through the favour of his uncle and by his marriage; in swore fealty to his cousin matilda, daughter of henry i., as his future sovereign, but on the death of his uncle usurped the throne, an action leading to a violent civil war, which brought the country into a state of anarchy; the scots invaded on behalf of matilda, but were beaten back at northallerton (the battle of the standard, ); foreign mercenaries introduced by the king only served to embitter the struggle; the clergy, despoiled by the king, turned against him, and in the absence of a strong central authority the barons oppressed the people and fought with one another; "adulterine castles" sprang up over the country, and "men said openly that christ and his saints were asleep"; in matilda won the battle of lincoln and for a few months ruled the country, but "as much too harsh as stephen was too lenient," she rapidly became unpopular, and stephen was soon again in the ascendant; the successes of henry, son of matilda, led in to the treaty of wallingford, by which it was arranged that stephen should retain the crown for life, while henry should be his heir; both joined in suppressing the turbulent barons and the "adulterine castles"; more fortunately circumstanced, stephen had many qualities which might have made him a popular and successful king ( - ). stephen, the name of nine popes; s. i., pope from to , signalised by his zeal against the heresies of his time; s. ii., pope from to , in whose reign, under favour of pepin le bref, began the temporal power of the popes; s. iii., pope from to , sanctioned the worship of saints and images; s. iv., pope from to ; s. v., pope from to , distinguished for his charity; s. vi., pope from to , strangled after a reign of months; s. vii., pope from to , entirely under the control of his mistresses; s. viii., pope from to ; s. ix., pope from to , vigorously opposed the sale of benefices and the immorality of the clergy. stephen, george, archæologist, born in liverpool; settled in sweden, and became professor of english in copenhagen; his great work entitled "old northern runic monuments of scandinavia and england"; _b_. . stephen, james, slavery abolitionist, born in dorsetshire; held a post in the west indies; wrote "slavery in the british west indies," an able book; had sons more or less distinguished in law and law practice ( - ). stephen, leslie, man of letters, born at kensington, educated at eton and trinity hall, cambridge, of which he became a fellow; became editor of the _cornhill_ and of the first volumes of the "dictionary of national biography"; is the author of "hours in a library" and "history of english thought in the eighteenth century," books that have produced a deep impression; has also produced several biographies, distinguished at once by accuracy, elegance, and critical acumen; _b_. . stephen, st., protomartyr of the christian church, who was (acts vii.) stoned to death in a.d. ; his death is a frequent subject of the old painters, the saint himself being less frequently depicted, but when so he is represented usually in a deacon's dress, bearing a stone in one hand and a palm-branch in the other, or both hands full of stones. stephens, james, fenian conspirator, born in kilkenny; became "head centre," and zealous in the fenian cause both in ireland and america; was arrested in dublin, but escaped; found his way to new york, but was deposed, and has sunk out of sight; _b_. . stephen's, st., the parliament house of westminister, distinguished from st. james's, which denotes the court, as downing street does the government. stephenson, george, inventor of the locomotive, born, the son of a poor colliery engineman, at wylam, near newcastle; was early set to work, first as a cowherd and then as a turnip-hoer, and by was earning s. a week as fireman at throckley bridge colliery, diligently the while acquiring the elements of education; married at , and supplemented his wage as brakesman at killingworth colliery by mending watches and shoes; in invented a safety-lamp for miners, which brought him a public testimonial of £ ; while at killingworth turned his attention to the application of steam to machinery, and thus constructed his first locomotive in for the colliery tram-road; railway and locomotive construction now became the business of his life; superintended the construction of the stockton and darlington railway ( - ), the liverpool and manchester railway ( - ), over which he ran his locomotive the "rocket" at a maximum rate of m. an hour; in the outburst of railway enterprise which now ensued stephenson's services were in requisition all over the country; became principal engineer on many of the new railways; bought the country-seat of tapton, near chesterfield, to which he retired for much-needed rest; a man of character, gentle and simple in his affections, strong and purposeful in his labours, who, as he himself says, "fought for the locomotive single-handed for nearly years," and "put up with every rebuff, determined not to be put down" ( - ). stephenson, robert, son of preceding, born at willington quay, was well educated at newcastle, and for a session at edinburgh university; began in to assist his father, and from to fulfilled an engineering engagement in colombia, south america; rendered valuable service in the construction of the "rocket," and as joint-engineer with his father of the london and birmingham line, was mainly responsible for its construction; turning his attention specially to bridge-building he constructed the britannia and conway tubular bridges, besides many others, including those over the nile, st. lawrence, &c.; was returned to the house of commons in ; received the grand cross of the legion of honour from the french emperor, and many other distinctions at home and abroad; was buried in westminster abbey ( - ). stepniak, russian nihilist and apostle of freedom; exiled himself to england; author of "underground russia" ( - ). steppes, the name given to wide, treeless plains, barren except in spring, of the se. of russia and sw. of siberia. stereoscope, a simple optical apparatus which, when two photographs of an object taken from slightly different standpoints (so as to secure the appearance it presents to either eye singly) are placed under its twin magnifying lenses, presents to the eyes of the looker a single picture of the object standing out in natural relief. sterling, john, a friend of carlyle's, born at kames castle, bute, son of captain sterling of the _times_; studied at glasgow and cambridge; a man of brilliant parts and a liberal-minded, but of feeble health; had julius hare for tutor at cambridge, and became hare's curate at hurstmonceaux for eight months; wrote for reviews, and projected literary enterprises, but achieved nothing; spent his later days moving from place to place hoping to prolong life; formed an acquaintanceship with carlyle in ; became an intelligent disciple, and believed in him to the last; hare edited his papers, and wrote his life as a clergyman, and carlyle, dissatisfied, wrote another on broader lines, and by so doing immortalised his memory ( - ). stern, daniel. see agoult. sterne, laurence, english humourist, born at clonmel, ireland, son of roger sterne, captain in the army; his mother an irishwoman; was educated at halifax and cambridge, by-and-by took orders, and received livings in sutton and shillington, became a prebend at york, and finally got a living at coxwold; in appeared the first two volumes of "tristram shandy," and in the last two; in his "sentimental journey," and in the interim his "sermons," equally characteristic of the man as the two former productions. stopford brooke says, "they have no plot, they can scarcely be said to have any story. the story of 'tristram shandy' wanders like a man in a labyrinth, and the humour is as labyrinthine as the story. it is carefully invented, and whimsically subtle; and the sentiment is sometimes true, but mostly affected. but a certain unity is given to the book by the admirable consistency of the characters," his masterpieces, among which is "uncle toby"; the author died in london of pulmonary consumption ( - ). sternhold, thomas, principal author of the first english metrical version of the psalms, originally attached to the prayer-book as augmented by john hopkins; continued in general use till tate and brady's version of was substituted in ; was a hampshire man, and held the post of groom of the robes to henry viii. and edward vi. ( - ). steropes, one of the three cyclops (q. v.). stesichorus, a celebrated greek lyric poet, born in sicily; contemporary of sappho, aleacus, and pittacus; at his birth it is said a nightingale alighted on his lips and sang a sweet strain ( - b.c.). stettin ( ), capital of pomerania, and a flourishing river-port on both banks of the oder, m. from its entrance into the baltic, and m. ne. of berlin; lies contiguous to, and is continuous with, the smaller towns of bredow, grabow, and züllchow; principal buildings are the royal palace ( th century), the gothic church of st. peter ( th century), and st. james's ( th century); is a busy hive of industry, turning out ships, cement, sugar, spirits, &c., and carrying on a large export and import trade. steuben, baron von, general in the american war of independence, born in magdeburg; originally in the prussian service under frederick the great, and had distinguished himself at the siege of prague and at rossbach; emigrating to america at the end of the seven years' war he offered his services, which were readily welcomed, and contributed to organise and discipline the army, to the success of the revolution ( - ). stevenson, robert, an eminent scottish engineer, born at glasgow, the son of a west india merchant; adopted the profession of his stepfather thomas smith, and in succeeded him as first engineer to the board of northern lighthouses, a position he held for years, during which he planned and erected as many as lighthouses round the coasts of scotland, his most noted erection being that on the bell rock; introduced the catoptric system of illumination and other improvements; was also much employed as a consulting engineer in connection with bridge, harbour, canal, and railway construction ( - ). stevenson, robert louis balfour, novelist and essayist, grandson of the preceding, born at edinburgh, where in he was called to the bar, after disappointing his father by not following the family vocation of engineering; had already begun to write for the magazines, and soon abandoned law for the profession of letters, in which he rapidly came to the front; in appeared his first book, "an inland voyage," quickly followed by "travels with a donkey," "virginibus puerisque," "familiar studies"; with "treasure island" ( ) found a wider public as a writer of adventure and romance, and established himself permanently in the public favour with "kidnapped" ( , most popular story), "the master of ballantrae," "dr. jekyll and mr. hyde," &c.; his versatility in letters was further revealed in his charming "a child's garden of verse," "ballads," "memories and portraits," and "a footnote to history" (on samoan politics); in failing health induced him to make his home in the island of samoa, where he died and is buried; "his too short life," says professor saintsbury, "has left a fairly ample store of work, not always quite equal, seldom quite without a flaw, but charming, stimulating, distinguished as few things in this last quarter of a century have been" ( - ). steward, lord high, in early times the highest office of state in england, ranking in power next to the sovereign; hereditary during many centuries, the office lapsed in the reign of henry iv., and since has been revived only on special occasions, e. g. a coronation, a trial of a peer, at the termination of which the office is demitted, the lord high steward himself breaking in two his wand of office. stewart, balfour, physicist, born in edinburgh; after finishing his university curriculum went to australia and engaged for some time in business; returned to england; became director at kew observatory, and professor of natural philosophy at owens college, manchester; made discoveries in radiant heat, and was one of the founders of spectrum analysis (q. v.); published text-books on physics, in wide repute ( - ). stewart, dugald, scottish philosopher, born in edinburgh, son of matthew stewart; attended the high school and the university; studied one session at glasgow under dr. reid; assisted his father in conducting the mathematical classes in edinburgh, and succeeded adam ferguson in the moral philosophy chair in , a post, the active duties of which he discharged with signal success for twenty-five years, lecturing on a wide range of subjects connected with metaphysics and the science of mind; he wrote "elements of the philosophy of the human mind," "philosophical essays," &c.; "his writings," says carlyle, who held him in high veneration, "are not a philosophy, but a making ready for one. he does not enter on the field to till it; he only encompasses it with fences, invites cultivators, and drives away intruders; often (fallen on evil days) he is reduced to long arguments with the passers-by to prove that it _is_ a field, that this so highly-prized domain of his is, in truth, soil and substance, not clouds and shadows. it is only to a superficial observer that the import of these discussions can seem trivial; rightly understood, they give sufficient and final answer to hartley's and darwin's and all other possible forms of materialism, the grand idolatry, as we may rightly call it, by which, in all times, the true worship, that of the invisible, has been polluted and withstood" ( - ). stewart, house of. see stuart. stewart, matthew, mathematician, born at rothesay; bred for the church, was for a time minister of roseneath, and succeeded maclaurin as professor of mathematics in edinburgh in ; was the author of a mathematical treatise or two, and the lifelong friend of robert simson ( - ). steyer ( ), a manufacturing town of upper austria, at the junction of the steyer and enns, m. ne. of st. valentin; noted for its flourishing iron and steel manufactures, of which it is the chief seat in austria. stheno, one of the three gorgons (q. v.). stieler, a celebrated german cartographer, born at gotha; his atlases are deservedly held in high esteem for their excellence ( - ). stier, rudolf ewald, german theologian; was a devout student of the bible as the very word of god, and is best known as the author of the "words of the lord jesus" ( - ). stigand, archbishop of canterbury and favourite of edward the confessor, who advanced him to the bishoprics of elmham and winchester and to the primacy in ; his appointment was popularly regarded as uncanonical, and neither harold nor william the conqueror allowed him to perform the ceremony of coronation; through william's influence was by the pope deprived of his office and condemned to imprisonment. stigmata, impressions of marks corresponding to certain wounds received by christ at his crucifixion, and which certain of the saints are said to have been supernaturally marked with in memory of his. st. francis in particular showed such marks. stilicho, a roman general, son of a vandal captain under the emperor valens; on the death of theodosius i., under whom he served, became the ruler of the west, and by his military abilities saved the western empire; defeated alaric the goth in a decisive battle and compelled him to retire from italy, as he did another horde of invading barbarians afterwards; aspired to be master of the roman empires, but was assassinated at ravenna in . still, john, bishop of bath and wells, born at grantham; rose in the church through a succession of preferments: is credited with the authorship of one of the oldest comedies in the english language, "gammer gurton's needle," turning on the loss and recovery by her of the needle with which she was mending her goodman's breeches ( - ). stilling, jung, a german mystic; studied medicine at strasburg, and when there became acquainted with goethe, who took a liking for him and remained his warm friend; settled as a physician at elberfeldt and became professor at marburg and at heidelberg; he was distinguished for his skill in operations on the eye, and is said to have restored to sight without fee or reward poor blind persons; he is best known by his autobiography; carlyle defines him as the german "dominie sampson." stillingfleet, edward, bishop of worcester, born in dorsetshire; was a scholarly man, wrote on apologetics, in defence of the church of england as a branch of the church catholic, in support of the doctrine of the trinity, and in advocacy of harmony in the church; was an able controversialist and a generous minded; was a handsome man, and popularly called the "beauty of holiness" ( - ). stipple, a mode of engraving by dots instead of lines, each dot when magnified showing a group of small ones. stirling, james hutchison, master in philosophy, born in glasgow; bred to medicine and practised for a time in south wales; went to germany to study the recent developments in philosophy there, on his return to scotland published, in , his "secret of hegel: being the hegelian system in origin, principle, form, and matter," which has proved epoch-making, and has for motto the words of hegel, "the hidden secret of the universe is powerless to resist the might of thought! it must unclose before it, revealing to sight and bringing to enjoyment its riches and its depths." it is the work of a master-mind, as every one must feel who tackles to the study of it, and of one who has mastered the subject of it as not another in england, or perhaps even in germany, has done. the grip he takes of it is marvellous and his exposition trenchant and clear. it was followed in by his "text-book to kant," an exposition which his "secret" presupposes, and which he advised the students of it to expect, that they might be able to construe the entire hegelian system from its root in kant. it is not to the credit of his country that dr. stirling has never been elected to a chair in any of her universities, though it is understood that is due to the unenlightened state of mind of electoral bodies in regard to the hegelian system and the prejudice against it, particularly among the clergy of the church. he was, however, elected to be the first gifford lecturer in edinburgh university, and his admirers have had to content themselves with that modicum of acknowledgment at last. he is the author of a critique on sir william hamilton's theory of perception, on huxley's doctrine of protoplasm, and on darwinianism, besides a translation of schwegler's "history of philosophy," with notes, a highly serviceable work. his answer to huxley is crushing. he is the avowed enemy of the aufklärung and of all knowledge that consists of mere vorstellungen and does not grasp the ideas which they present; _b_. . stirling, william alexander, earl of, poet, born at menstrie, near alloa; was for a time tutor to the family of argyll; was the author of sonnets called "aurora," some curious tragedies, and an "elegy on the death of prince henry"; he was held in high honour by james vi. and followed him to london, obtained a grant of nova scotia, and made secretary of state for scotland; he has been ranked as a poet with drummond of hawthornden, who was his friend ( - ). stirling-maxwell, see maxwell, stirling. stirling ( ), the county town of stirlingshire, and one of the most ancient and historically-interesting cities of scotland; occupies a fine site on the forth, m. nw. of edinburgh and m. ne. of glasgow; most prominent feature is the rocky castle hill, rising at the westward end of the town to a height of feet, and crowned by the ancient castle, a favourite stuart residence, and associated with many stirring events in scottish history, and utilised now as a garrison-station; interesting also are "argyll's lodging," greyfriars church (pointed gothic of the th century), the fine statue of bruce, &c.; has manufactures of tartans, tweeds, carpets, &c., and a trade in agricultural and mining products. stirlingshire ( ), a midland county of scotland, stretching e. and w. from dumbarton (w.) to the forth (e.); between lanark (s.) and perth (n.) it forms the borderland between the lowlands and the highlands; loch lomond skirts the western border, and on the northern loch katrine, stretching into perthshire; ben lomond and lesser heights rise in the nw.; main streams are the avon, carron, bannock, &c.; between alloa and stirling stretches the fertile and well-cultivated plain, "the carse of stirling"; in the w. lies a portion of the great western coal-field, from which coal and iron-stone are largely extracted; principal towns are stirling (q. v.), falkirk, and kilsyth; interesting remains of antoninus' wall, from forth to clyde, still exist; within its borders were fought the battles of bannockburn, sauchieburn, stirling bridge, falkirk, &c. stirrup cup, a "parting cup" given by the highlanders to guests when they are leaving and have their feet in the stirrups. stobsÆus, joannes, a native of stobi, in macedonia; flourished at the end of the th and beginning of the th century; celebrated as the compiler (about a.d.) of a greek anthology, through which many valuable extracts are preserved to us from works which have since his day been lost. stock exchange, a mart for the buying and selling of government stocks, company shares, and various securities, carried on usually by the members of an associated body of brokers having certain rules and regulations. such associations exist now in most of the important cities of the united kingdom and commercial world generally (on the continent are known as _bourses_). the london stock exchange, transacting business in handsome buildings in capel court, facing the bank of england, was established in , stock-exchange transactions previous to then being carried on in a loose, ill-regulated fashion by private parties chiefly in and around change alley, the scene of the memorable south sea bubble (q. v.) speculation. the great development in stock-exchange business in recent times is due chiefly to the sale of foreign and colonial bonds, and the remarkable growth and spread of joint-stock companies since the joint-stock company act of . stockholm ( ), capital of sweden; occupies a charming site on the channel leading out of lake mälar into a bay of the baltic; stands partly on the mainland and partly on nine islands, communication between which is facilitated by handsome bridges and a busy service of boats; its wooded and rocky islands, crowned with handsome buildings, its winding waterways, peninsulas, crowded wharves, and outlook over the isleted lake, combine to make it one of the most picturesque cities of europe; town island, the nucleus of the city, is occupied by the royal palace, house of nobles, principal wharf, &c., while on knights' island stand the houses of parliament, law-courts, and other public buildings; norrmalm, with the academy of science, national museum, academy of fine arts, hop garden, &c., is the finest quarter of the city; manufactures embrace sugar, tobacco, silks, linen, cotton, &c., besides which there are flourishing iron-works and a busy export trade in iron and steel, oats, and tar, despite the hindrance caused by the ice during three or four months in winter; founded in by birger jarl. stockmar, baron de, statesman, born at coburg; bred to medicine, became physician to leopold i. of belgium, and at length his adviser; was adviser also of queen victoria before her accession; accompanied prince albert to italy before his marriage, and joined him thereafter in england as the trusted friend of both the queen and him; he had two political ideals--a united germany under prussia, and unity of purpose between germany and england ( - ). stockport ( ), a cotton town of east cheshire; occupies a site on the slopes of a narrow gorge overlooking the confluence of the thame and goyt (forming the mersey), m. e. of liverpool; a handsome viaduct spans the river; has an old grammar-school, free library, technical school, &c.; during the present century has grown to be a busy centre of cotton manufactures, and has besides flourishing iron and brass foundries, machine-shops, breweries, &c. stockton-on-tees ( ), a prosperous manufacturing town and port of durham, on the tees, m. from its mouth; an iron bridge spanning the river connects it with thornaby-on-tees; has the usual public buildings; steel and iron shipbuilding building, potteries, foundries, machine-shops are flourishing industries; iron and earthenware are the chief exports, and with imports of corn and timber give rise to a busy and increasing shipping, facilitated by the excellent river-way. stoics, the disciples of zeno; derived their name from the _stoa_ or portico in athens where their master taught and founded the school in b.c. the doctrines of the school were completely antagonistic to those of epicurus, and among the disciples of it are to be reckoned some of the noblest spirits of the heathen world immediately before and after the advent of christ. these appear to have been attracted to it by the character of its moral teachings, which were of a high order indeed. the principle of morality was defined to be conformity to reason, and the duty of man to lie in the subdual of all passion and a composed submission to the will of the gods. it came short of christian morality, as indeed all greek philosophy did, in not recognising the divine significance and power of humility, and especially in its failure to see, still more to conform to, the great doctrine of christ which makes the salvation of a man to depend on the interest he takes in, as well as in the fact of the salvation of, other men. the stoic was a proud man, and not a humble, and was content if he could only have his own soul for a prey. he did not see--and no heathen ever did--that the salvation of one man is impossible except in the salvation of other men, and that no man can save another unless he descend into that other's case and stand, as it were, in that other's stead. it is the glory of christ that he was the first to feel himself, and to reveal to others, the eternal validity and divinity of this truth. the stoic morality is selfish; the morality of christ is brotherly. stoke-upon-trent ( ), chief seat of the "potteries," in staffordshire, on the trent and the trent and mersey canal, m. se. of crewe; is of modern growth, with free library, infirmary, public baths, statue to wedgwood, &c., and is busily engaged in the manufacture of all sorts of porcelain ware, earthenware, encaustic tiles, &c., besides which there are flourishing iron-works, machine-shops, coal-mines, &c. stokes, sir george gabriel, mathematician and physicist, born in skreen, co. sligo; he is great in the department of mathematical physics, and has been specially devoted to the study of hydro-dynamics and the theory of light; has opened new fields of investigation, and supplied future experimenters with valuable hints; he was one of the foremost physicists of the day; _b_. . stolberg, christian, count, german poet of the göttingen school, to which bürger and voss belonged, born in hamburg; was with his brother a friend of goethe's, and held a civil appointment in holstein ( - ). stolberg, friedrich leopold, count of, german poet, born in holstein, brother of preceding; held state appointments in denmark; joined the romish church, and showed a religious and ascetic temper ( - ). stole, a long scarf worn by bishops and priests in the administration of the sacraments of the church, and sometimes when preaching, as well as in symbol of authority. stone age, the name given to that period in the history of civilisation when the weapons of war and the chase and the implements of industry were made of stone, prior to employment for these purposes of bronze, characteristic of the age succeeding. stone circles, circles of standing stones (q. v.) found in various parts of great britain, north europe generally, and also, but of more recent origin, in north india; were certainly, in the most of cases, set up to mark the circular boundary of a place of burial; erroneously ascribed to the druids; from the character of numerous cinerary urns exhumed, seem to have belonged to the bronze age in great britain; most interesting are those of stennis, in orkney, with a circumference of ft., avebury, in wiltshire, and stonehenge (q. v.). stonehaven ( ), fishing port and county town of kincardineshire, situated at the entrance of carron water (dividing the town) into south bay, m. ssw. of aberdeen; has a small harbour, and is chiefly engaged in herring and haddock fishing. stonehenge, the greatest and best preserved of the stone circles (q. v.) of britain, situated in salisbury plain, wiltshire, m. n. of salisbury; "consists of two concentric circles, enclosing two ellipses"; the diameter of the space enclosed is ft.; the stones are from ft. to ft. high; is generally regarded as an exceptional development of the ordinary stone circle, but the special purpose of its unusual construction is still a matter of uncertainty. stonyhurst, a celebrated roman catholic college in east lancashire, m. n. of blackburn; established in by certain jesuit fathers who, after the suppression of their seminary at st. omer, in france, by the bourbons, took up their residence at bruges and then at liège, but fled thence to england during the revolution, and accepted the shelter offered them at stonyhurst by mr. weld of lulworth; there are about students, and upwards of masters; a preparatory school has been established at hodder, a mile distant; in was affiliated to the university of london, for the degrees of which its students are chiefly trained; retains in its various institutions many marks of its french origin. stool of repentance, in scotland in former times an elevated seat in a church on which for offences against morality people did penance and suffered rebuke. storm, theodore woldsen, german poet and exquisite story-teller, born in sleswig; was a magistrate and judge in sleswig-holstein ( - ). storm-and-stress period, name given in the history of german literature to a period at the close of the th century, when the nation began to assert its freedom from artificial literary restraint, a period to which goethe's "goetz von berlichingen" and schiller's "robbers" belong, and the spirit of which characterises it; the representatives of the period were called kraftmänner (power-men), who "with extreme animation railed against fate in general, because it enthralled free virtue, and with clenched hands or sounding shields hurled defiance towards the vault of heaven." storms, cape of, name originally given in to the cape of good hope by the portuguese navigator bartholomew dias. stornoway, a fishing-port, the capital of lewis, and the chief town in the outer hebrides, with stornoway castle adjoining. storthing (i. e. great court), the national parliament of norway, composed of two chambers, the lagthing or upper chamber, and the odelsthing or lower. story, joseph, american jurist and judge, born in massachusetts ( - ). story, william wetmore, poet and sculptor, son of preceding; _b_. . stothard, thomas, artistic designer and book illustrator, as well as painter, born in london, son of an innkeeper; illustrated, among other works, "pilgrim's progress," and along with turner, rogers' "italy" ( - ). stourbridge, manufacturing town in worcestershire; its staple manufactures are glass and pottery. stow, john, english antiquary, born in london; bred a tailor; took to antiquarian pursuits, which he prosecuted with the zeal of a devotee that spared no sacrifice; wrote several works on antiquities, the chief and most valuable being his "survey of london and westminster"; he ended his days in poverty ( - ). stowell, william scott, eminent english judge, born at heworth, brother of lord eldon; famed for his judicial decisions ( - ). strabo, ancient geographer, born at amasia, in pontus; flourished in the reign of augustus, and the early part of that of tiberius; was a learned man, lived some years in rome, and travelled much in various countries; wrote a history of books, all lost, and a work on geography, in books, which has come down to us entire all to the th; the work is in general not descriptive; it comprehends principally important political events in connection with the countries visited, with a notice of their illustrious men, or whatever seemed to him characteristic in them or was of interest to himself; born about b.c. straddha, the funeral rites and funeral offerings for the dead among the hindus. strafford, thomas wentworth, earl of, english statesman, born in london, of an old yorkshire family; studied at cambridge; after some months' travel on the continent entered parliament in , but took no active part in affairs till ; he took sides at first with the party for freedom, but in felt compelled to side with the king, to his elevation of greater and greater influence as his counsellor; his policy, named "thorough," was to establish a strong government with the king at the head, and to put down with a strong hand all opposition to the royal authority; appointed lord-deputy in ireland in , he did all he could to increase the royal resources, and was at length, in , exalted to the lord-lieutenancy, being at the same time created earl of strafford; he had risen by this time to be the chief adviser of the king, and was held responsible for his arbitrary policy; after the meeting of the long parliament he was impeached for high treason; the impeachment seemed likely to fail, when a bill of attainder was produced; to this the king refused his assent, but he had to yield to the excitement his refusal produced, and as the result strafford was beheaded on tower hill ( - ). straits settlements ( , of which are chinese), british colony in the east indies, embracing the british possessions in the malay peninsula (on the strait of malacca), singapore, malacca, penang, and the keeling islands and christmas island; were under the jurisdiction of the governor-general of india till , in which year they passed under the control of the colonial office at home. stralsund ( ), a fortified seaport of north prussia, on strela sound, opposite the island of rügen, in the baltic, and m. nw. of stettin, forms of itself an islet, and is connected with the mainland (pomerania) by bridges; is a quaint old town, dating back to the th century; figures often in the wars of prussia, and is now a place of considerable commercial importance. strangford, percy c. s. smythe, viscount, diplomatist; graduated at trinity college, dublin, in ; entered the diplomatic service, and in the following year succeeded to the title; was ambassador to portugal, sweden, turkey, and russia; translated the "rimas" of camoëns, and was raised to the peerage ( ) as baron penshurst ( - ). strangford, percy e. f. w. smythe, son of preceding, diplomatist and noted philologist, born at st. petersburg; passed through harrow and oxford; entered the diplomatic service; became attaché at constantinople, and during the crimean war served as oriental secretary, acquiring the while a profound grip of the eastern question, and an unrivalled knowledge of european and asiatic languages--turkish, persian, arabic, slavonic, afghan, basque, &c.; succeeded to the title in , and henceforth resided chiefly in london; was president of the asiatic society, and was considered by freeman "our greatest english philologist"; author of various articles on political, geographical, and philological subjects ( - ). stranraer ( ), a royal burgh and seaport of wigtownshire, finely situated at the southern extremity of loch ryan, m. w. of dumfries; has an interesting th-century castle, and a handsome town-hall and court-house; there is some shipping in agricultural produce, and steamers ply daily between stranraer and larne, in ireland. straparola, giovanni francesco, author of a famous collection of stories after the style of boccaccio's "decameron," partly borrowed and partly genuine folk-stories, which ranks as an italian classic, and has been translated into various european languages; flourished in the th century. strap, hugh, a simple-hearted friend and adherent of roderick random in smollett's novel of that name. strappado, an obsolete military punishment by drawing a culprit to the top of a beam and then letting him drop the length of the rope. strasburg ( ), capital, since , of alsace-lorraine, on the ill, a few miles above its confluence with the rhine, m. n. of basel; a place of great strategical importance, and a fortress of the first class; is a city of roman origin, and contains a magnificent gothic cathedral ( th century) with a famous astronomical clock, an imperial palace, university, &c.; manufactures embrace beer, leather, cutlery, jewellery, &c.; there is also a busy transit trade; a free town of the german empire in the th century; fell into the hands of the french in , and was captured by the germans, after a seven weeks' siege, on th september , after which it became finally german, as it was originally, by the peace of frankfort, may . stratford ( ), manufacturing town in essex, on the lee, m. ne. of london. stratford de redcliffe, sir stafford canning, first viscount, a distinguished ambassador, born in london, son of a well-connected merchant, and cousin to canning the statesman; passed from cambridge to the foreign office in as a précis-writer to his cousin; in three years had risen to the post of minister-plenipotentiary at constantinople, where he speedily gave evidence of his remarkable powers as a diplomatist by arranging unaided the treaty of bucharest ( ) between russia and turkey, and so setting free the russian army to fall upon napoleon, then retreating from moscow; as minister to switzerland aided the republic in drawing up its constitution, and in the same year ( ) acted as commissioner at the congress of vienna; was subsequently employed in the united states and various european capitals, but his unrivalled knowledge of the turkish question brought him again, in , to constantinople as ambassador, where his remarkable power and influence over the turks won him the title of "great elchi"; exerted in vain his diplomatic skill to prevent the rupture between turkey and russia, which precipitated the crimean war; resigned his embassy in ; was raised to the peerage in ; sat in parliament for several years previous to , but failed to make his mark as a debater; ranks among the great ambassadors of england ( - ). stratford-on-avon ( ), a pleasant old market-town of warwickshire, on the right bank of the avon, m. sw. of warwick and m. nw. of london; forever famous as the birth and burial place of shakespeare, with whom all that is of chief interest in the town is associated, the house he was born in, his old school, anne hathaway's cottage on the outskirts, the fine early english church ( th century), where he lies buried, the shakespeare memorial theatre, museum, &c.; is visited annually by some , pilgrims; a thriving agricultural centre. strathclyde or northern cumbria, an ancient kingdom of the britons, which originated in the th century, and comprised the w. side of scotland between the solway and the clyde; alclyde or dumbarton was the capital; was permanently annexed to scotland in under david i. strathfieldsaye, an estate in hampshire with a fine queen anne mansion, m. ne. of basingstoke, purchased by parliament for £ , , and presented to the duke of wellington in . strathmore ("great valley"), the great plain of scotland stretching for m. ( to m. broad), in a north-easterly direction from dumbartonshire to stonehaven, in kincardineshire, between the great mountain barrier of the highlands, the grampians, and the southern lennox, ochil, and sidlaw hills; in a more restricted sense denotes the plain between perth and brechin. strathpeffer, a watering-place in ross and cromarty, m. w. of dingwall, a great health-resort, and much frequented on account of its mineral waters and bracing air and other attractions. strauss, david friedrich, german theological and biblical critic, born at ludwigsburg, in würtemberg; studied in the theological institute of tübingen under baur, was ordained in , and went in to berlin to attend the lectures of hegel and schleiermacher, and returning to tübingen gave lectures on hegel in , he the while maturing his famous theory which, published in , made his name known over the whole theological world; this was his "leben jesu," the first volume of which appeared that year, in which he maintained that, while the life of christ had a historical basis, all the supernatural element in it and the accounts of it were simply and purely mythical, and the fruit of the idea of his person as divine which at the foundation of the christian religion took possession of the mind of the church; the book proved epoch-making, and the influence of it, whether as accepted or as rejected, affected, as it still does, the whole theology of the church; the effect of it was a shock to the whole christian world, for it seemed as if with the denial of the supernatural the whole christian system fell to pieces; and its author found the entire christian world opposed to him, and he was cast out of the service of the church; this, however, did not daunt his ardour, for he never abandoned the ground he had taken up; his last work was entitled "der alte und der neue glaube," in which he openly repudiates the christian religion, and assigns the sovereign authority in spiritual matters to science and its handmaid art. in a spiritual reference the whole contention of strauss against christianity is a tissue of irrelevancies, for the spirit of it, which is its life and essence, is true whatever conclusion critics in their seraphic wisdom may come to regarding the facts ( - ). strauss, johann, musical composer, born at vienna; was a musical conductor and composer, chiefly of waltz music. streatham ( ), a surrey suburb of london, ½ m. sw. of st. paul's. street, george edmund, architect, born in essex; was the architect of the new law courts in london; had been trained under gilbert scott ( - ). strelitzes, the name given to the life-guards of the czar, which at one time numbered , ; became so unruly and dangerous to the state that they were dissolved by peter the great, and dispersed in . stretton, hesba, the _nom de plume_ of sarah smith, daughter of a shropshire bookseller, whose semi-religious stories, chiefly for the young, have won wide acceptance in english homes since the publication of "jessica's first prayer" in ; was a regular contributor to _household words_ and _all the year round_ during dickens's editorship; has written upwards of volumes. strickland, agnes, biographer of the queens of england, born at roydon hall, near southwold, suffolk; had already published poems and some minor works before she conceived the plan of writing a series of biographies of the queens of england; these appeared in vols. during - , and such was their popularity that a similar work dealing with the queens of scotland was immediately undertaken; was aided in these by her sister elizabeth ( - ); was the author of various other works, "lives of the seven bishops," "bachelor kings of england," &c.; her writings are of no value as history, but are full of entertaining details ( - ). strindberg, august, the most noted of modern swedish writers, born at stockholm; accumulated stores of valuable experience during various early employments, which he utilised in his first successful work, "the red room" ( ), a satire on social life in sweden, "the new kingdom" ( ), equally bitter in its attack on social conventions, got him into trouble, and since then his life has been spent abroad; "married life," a collection of short stories, brought upon him a charge of "outraging christianity," but after trial at stockholm, in which he eloquently defended himself, he was acquitted; a prolific writer in all kinds of literature, and imbued with modern scientific and socialistic ideas, his writings lack the repose necessary to the highest literary achievement; _b_. . stromboli, one of the lipari islands; has an active volcano, the cone ft., which erupts every five minutes what happens to be little else than steam; it is m. in circuit, and contains about inhabitants. stromkarl, a norwegian spirit who has different music strains, to of which people may dance, the th being his night strain, to the tune of which every one and everything begins to dance. stromness, a seaport on the orkney island of pomona. stroud ( ), a busy manufacturing town of gloucestershire; stands on rising ground overlooking the confluence of the frome and slade, which unite to form the frome or stroud water, m. se. of gloucester; numerous cloth and dye works are built along the banks of the river; in the town are several woollen factories. struck jury, a jury of men who possess special qualifications to judge of the facts of a case. struensee, danish statesman, bred to medicine; became minister of charles vii., took advantage of his imbecility and directed the affairs of government, roused the jealousy of the nobles, and he was arrested, tried on false charges, and was beheaded ( - ). strutt, joseph, antiquary, born in essex; wrote the "regal and ecclesiastical antiquities of england," followed by other works on the manners and customs of the english people, that on their "sports and pastimes" the chief ( - ). strype, john, historian and biographer, born in london; was a voluminous writer, wrote lives of eminent english churchmen and upon the english reformation ( - ). stuart, arabella, daughter of the earl of lennox, and, as descended from margaret tudor, heiress to the english throne in default of james vi. of scotland and his family, and towards whom james all along cherished a jealous feeling, and who was subjected to persecution at his hands; when she chose to marry contrary to his wish he confined her in the tower, where she went mad and died. stuart dynasty, a dynasty of scotch and finally english kings as well, commenced with robert ii., who was the son of marjory, robert the bruce's daughter, who married walter, the lord high steward of scotland, hence the name, his successors being robert iii., james i., james ii., james iii., james iv., and james v., mary queen of scots, and james vi. in scotland, and ended with james ii. of england, who was expelled from the throne for an obstinacy of temper which characterised all the members of his house, "an unfortunate dynasty," too, being appointed at length to rule at a time and over a people that thought kings were born for the country and not the country for kings, a dictum which they stubbornly refused to concede, thinking that the nation existed for them instead of them for the nation. the line became extinct by the death of cardinal york in , who survived his brother charles edward years. stuart, gilbert charles, american portrait-painter, born at narragansett, rhode island; was taken up by a scotch painter named alexander, whom he accompanied to edinburgh, but was set adrift by the death of his patron, and for some years led a wandering life in america and london till his great gift of portrait-painting was recognised; in returned to america, and there painted portraits of washington, jefferson, and other noted americans ( - ). stuart, john, scottish antiquary; author of "the sculptured stones of scotland," "the book of deer," and frequent contributor to the _proceedings of the scottish society of antiquaries_; held a post in the register house for years ( - ). stubbs, c. w., english clergyman, born in liverpool; has held several incumbencies; is rector at wavertree, near liverpool, and takes a great interest in the working-classes and in social subjects; is liberal both in his political and in his theological opinions; has written on questions of the day in a christian reference; _b_. . stubbs, william, historian, born at knaresborough; studied at oxford; became a fellow of trinity and of oriel, professor of modern history at oxford, and finally bishop; was author of "constitutional history of england," an epoch-making book in three volumes, and editor of a collection of mediæval chronicles, with valuable prefaces accompanying; his writings are distinguished by their learning and accuracy; _b_. . stuhlweissenburg ( ), an old historic hungarian town, m. sw. of pesth; was for long the residence of the hungarian kings, in the cathedral of which they were crowned and buried. stukeley, william, antiquary, born at holbeach, lincolnshire; graduated in medicine at cambridge, and practised in london and elsewhere till , when he took holy orders, and, after holding livings at stamford and somerby, was presented in to the rectory of st george the martyr in london; maintained a lifelong interest in antiquarian research, and published many volumes on british and roman antiquities, in which he displays unflagging industry and an exuberant fancifulness; "i have used his materials," says gibbon, "and rejected most of his fanciful conjectures"; his credulous works on the supposed druidical remains at stonehenge and elsewhere gained him the title of the "arch-druid" ( - ). stump orator, one who is ready to take up any question of the day, usually a political one, and harangue upon it from any platform offhand; the class, the whole merely a talking one, form the subject, in a pretty wide reference, of one of carlyle's scathing "latter-day pamphlets." sturm, johann, educational reformer, born in luxemburg; settled in paris; established a school there for dialectics and rhetoric for a time, but left it on account of his protestantism for strasburg at the invitation of the civic authorities, and became rector of the gymnasium there, which under him acquired such repute that the emperor maximilian constituted it a university with him at the head; his adoption of the theological views of zwingli in opposition to those of luther made him many enemies, and he was dismissed from office, but was allowed a pension; he was a great student of cicero; he wrote many works in latin in a style so pure and elegant that he was named the german cicero ( - ). sturm-und-drang. see storm-and-stress. sturt, charles, a noted australian explorer, and a captain in the army; during - was the determined leader of three important exploratory expeditions into central australia, the results of which he embodied in two works; became colonial secretary of south australia, but failing health and eyesight led to his retirement, and he was pensioned by the first parliament of south australia; he returned to england totally blind ( - ). stuttgart ( ), capital of würtemberg, stands amid beautiful vine-clad hills in a district called the "swabian paradise," on an affluent of the neckar, m. se. of frankfort; is a handsome city with several royal palaces, a th-century castle, interesting old churches, a royal library ( , vols.), a splendid royal park, conservatory of music, picture gallery, and various educational establishments; ranks next to leipzig as a book mart, and has flourishing manufactures of textiles, beer, pianofortes, chemicals, &c. stylites. see pillar-saints. stymphalian birds, fabulous birds with brazen claws, wings, and beaks, that used their feathers as arrows, ate human flesh, and infested arcadia; hercules startled them with a rattle, and with his arrows either shot them or drove them off. styria ( , ), a central duchy of austria, stretching in a semicircle from upper austria and salzburg on the nw. to croatia and slavonia on the se., and flanked by hungary on the e.; a mountainous region crossed by various eastern ranges of the alpine system, and drained by the drave, save, inn, and other rivers; more than half lies under forest; agriculture flourishes, but mineral products, iron, salt, coal, &c., constitute the chief wealth. the principal manufactures are connected therewith; was joined to the austrian crown in . styx, name (from the greek verb signifying "to abhor") of the principal river of the nether world, which it flows sluggishly round seven times; is properly the river of death, which all must cross to enter the unseen world, and of which, in the greek mythology, charon was the ferryman. in their solemn engagements it was by this river the gods took oath to signify that they would forego their godhood if they swore falsely. the styx was a branch of the great ocean which girds the universe. see oceanus. suakin or sawakin ( ), a seaport under egyptian control, and since the mahdi's revolt garrisoned by the english, on the nubian coast of the red sea; stands on a rocky islet, and is connected with el keff on the mainland by a causeway; is the starting-point of caravans to berber and khartoum, and as such has a large transit trade, exporting silver ornaments, ivory, gums, hides, gold, &c.; here african pilgrims to mecca embark to the number of or annually. suarez, francisco, scholastic philosopher, born at grenada; after joining the jesuit body became professor of theology at coimbra, attempted to reconcile realism with nominalism, and adopted in theology a system called "congruism," being a modification of molinism; wrote a "defence of the catholic faith against the errors of the anglican sect" at the instance of the pope against the claims of james i. in his oath of allegiance ( - ). subahdar, a title given to governors of provinces in the times of the mogul dynasty, now bestowed upon native officers in the indian army holding rank equivalent to an english captaincy. subiaco ( ), an ancient and interesting town of central italy; occupies a pleasant site amid encircling hills on the teverone, m. e. by n. of rome; has a quaint, mediæval appearance, and is overlooked by an old castle, a former residence of the popes; there are two benedictine monasteries dating from the th century, and in a grotto near st. benedictine lived, in his youth, a hermit life for three years. subjective, the, that, in contrast to objective, which rests on the sole authority of consciousness, and has no higher warrant. subjectivism, the doctrine of the pure relativity of knowledge, or that it is purely subjective. sublapsarianism, same as infralapsarianism (q. v.). sublimation, the vaporisation of a solid body and its resumption thereafter of the solid form. sublime porte, a name given to the ottoman government, so called from a lofty gateway leading into the residence of the vizier. substitution, in theology the doctrine that christ in his obedience and death stood in the place of the sinner, so that his merits on their faith in him are imputed to them. subtle doctor, name given to duns scotus (q. v.) for his hairsplitting acuteness and extreme subtlety of distinction. succession wars, the general title of several european wars which arose in the th century consequent on a failure of issue in certain royal lines, most important of which are ( ) war of the spanish succession ( - ). the death ( ) of charles ii. of spain without direct issue caused louis xiv. of france and the emperor leopold i. (the former married to the elder sister of charles, the latter to the younger sister, and both grandsons of philip iii. of spain) to put forth claims to the crown, the one on behalf of his grandson, philip of anjou, the other for his second son, the archduke charles. war broke out on the entry of philip into madrid and his assumption of the crown, england and the united netherlands uniting with the emperor to curb the ambition of louis. during the long struggle the transcendent military genius of marlborough asserted itself in the great victories of blenheim, ramillies, and oudenarde, but the lukewarmness of england in the struggle, the political fall of marlborough, and the tory vote for peace prevented the allies reaping the full benefit of their successes. the treaty of utrecht ( ) left philip in possession of his spanish kingdom, but the condition was exacted that the crowns of spain and france should not be united. the emperor (the archduke charles since ) attempted to carry on the struggle, but was forced to sign the treaty of rastadt ( ), acknowledging philip king of spain. spain, however, ceded her netherlands sardinia, &c., to the emperor, while gibraltar, minorca, and parts of north america fell to england. ( ) war of the austrian succession ( - ) followed on the death ( ) of the emperor charles vi. without male issue. his daughter, maria theresa, entered into possession of bohemia, hungary, and the archduchy of austria, but was immediately attacked by the elector charles albert of bavaria and augustus of saxony and poland, both rival claimants for the imperial crown, while frederick ii. of prussia seized the opportunity of maria's embarrassment to annex silesia. france, spain, and england were drawn into the struggle, the last in support of maria. success oscillated from side to side, but the treaty of aix-la-chapelle, which brought the war to a close, left maria pretty well in possession of her inheritance save the loss of silesia to frederick. suchet, louis gabriel, duc d'albufera, marshal of france, born in lyons; distinguished himself in italy, egypt, austria, and prussia, and became general in command in aragon, by his success in ruling which last he gained the marshal's baton and a dukedom; he rejoined napoleon during the hundred days; after waterloo he lost his peerage, but recovered it in ( - ). suckling, sir john, poet, born, of good parentage, at whitton, middlesex; quitted cambridge in to travel on the continent, and for a time served in the army of gustavus adolphus in germany; returning to england about he became a favourite at court, where he was noted for his wit, prodigality, and verses; supported charles in the bishops' wars against the scots; sat in the long parliament; was involved in a plot to rescue strafford, and to bring foreign troops to the aid of the king, but discovered, had to flee the country; died, probably by his own hand, in paris; wrote several forgotten plays, a prose treatise on "religion by reason," and miscellaneous poems, amongst which are his charming songs and ballads, his title to fame ( - ). sudarium, the handkerchief given by st. veronica (q. v.) to christ as he was passing to crucifixion, and on which his face was miraculously impressed as he wiped the sweat off it. sudbury ( ), a borough of suffolk, on the stour, where it crosses the essex border, m. ne. of london; has three old churches (perpendicular style), a grammar-school founded in the th century, a corn-exchange, &c.; manufactures embrace cocoa-nut matting, silk, &c. sudetic mountains stretch in irregular broken masses and subsidiary chains for m. across south-east germany, separating bohemia and moravia from saxony and prussian silesia, and forming a link between the carpathians and mountains of franconia; highest and central position is known as the riesengebirge (q. v.); schneekoppe is the culminating point of the range. sudras, the fourth and lowest of the hindu castes (q. v.); are by some alleged to be of the aboriginal race of india who to retain their freedom adopted brahmanism. sue, marie-joseph-eugÈne, a writer of sensational novels, born at paris; was for some years an army surgeon, and served in the spanish campaign of ; his father's death ( ) bringing him a handsome fortune, he retired from the army to devote himself to literature; his reputation as a writer rests mainly on his well-known works "the mysteries of paris" ( ) and "the wandering jew" ( ), which, displaying little skill on the artistic side, yet rivet their readers' attention by a wealth of exciting incident and plot; was elected to the chamber of deputies in , but the _coup d'état_ of drove him an exile to annecy, in savoy, where he died ( - ). suetonius, tranquillus, roman historian; practised as an advocate in rome in the reign of trajan; was a friend of the younger pliny, became private secretary to hadrian, but was deprived of this post through an indiscretion; wrote several works, and of those extant the chief is the "lives of the twelve cæsars," beginning with julius cæsar and ending with domitian, a work which relates a great number of anecdotes illustrating the characters of the emperors; _b_. a.d. . suez ( ), a town of egypt, stands at the edge of the desert at the head of a gulf of the same name and at the s. end of the suez canal, m. e. of cairo, with which it is connected by railway; as a trading place, dating back to the times of the ptolemies, has had a fluctuating prosperity, but since the completion of the canal is growing steadily in importance; is still for the most part an ill-built and ill-kept town; has a large english hospital and ship-stores. suez canal, a great artificial channel cutting the isthmus of suez, and thus forming a waterway between the mediterranean and the red sea; was planned and undertaken by the french engineer lesseps, through whose untiring efforts a company was formed and the necessary capital raised; occupied years in the construction ( - ), and cost some million pounds; from port said on the mediterranean to suez at the head of the red sea the length is about m., a portion of which lies through lakes menzaleh, ballah, timsah, and the bitter lakes; as widened and deepened in it has a minimum depth of ft., and varies from to ft. in width; traffic is facilitated by electric light during the night, and the passage occupies little more than hours; has been neutralised and exempted from blockade, vessels of all nations in peace or war being free to pass through; now the highway to india and the east, shortening the voyage to india by m.; three-fourths of the ships passing through are english; an annual toll is drawn of close on three million pounds, the net profit of which falls to be divided amongst the shareholders, of whom since the british government has been one of the largest. suffolk ( ), eastmost county of england, fronts the north sea between norfolk (n.) and essex (s.); is a pleasant undulating county with pretty woods and eastward-flowing streams (waveney, aide, orwell, stour, &c.); long tracts of heathland skirt the coast; agriculture is still the staple industry, wheat the principal crop; is famed for its antiquities, architecture, historic associations, and long list of worthies. ipswich is the county town. suffren, bailli de, a celebrated french admiral, who entered the navy a boy of during the wars with england, and rose to be one of his country's greatest naval heroes, especially distinguishing himself as commander of a squadron in the west indies, proving himself a master of naval tactics in more or less successful engagements with the english; is regarded by professor laughton as "the most illustrious officer that has ever held command in the french navy"; sprang from good provence stock ( - ). sufism, the doctrine of the sufis, a sect of mohammedan mystics; imported into mohammedanism the idea that the soul is the subject of ecstasies of divine inspiration in virtue of its direct emanation from the deity, and this in the teeth of the fundamental article of the mohammedan creed, which exalts god as a being passing all comprehension and ruling it by a law which is equally mysterious, which we have only to obey; this doctrine is associated with the idea that the body is the soul's prison, and death the return of it to its original home, a doctrine of the dervish fraternity, of which the madhi is high-priest. suger, abbÉ, abbot of st. denis, minister of louis vi. and louis vii.; reformed the discipline in his abbey, emancipated the serfs connected with it, maintained the authority of the king against the great vassals; he was regent of the kingdom during the second crusade, and earned the title of father of his country; he wrote a life of louis vi. ( - ). suidas, name of a grammarian and lexicographer of the th or th century; his "lexicon" is a kind of encyclopædic work, and is valuable chiefly for the extracts it contains from ancient writers. suir, a river of ireland which rises in tipperary and joins the barrow after a course of m. sukkur ( ), a town on the indus (here spanned by a fine bridge), m. se. of shikarpur; has rail communication with kurrachee and afghanistan, and considerable trade in various textiles, opium, saltpetre, sugar, &c.; m. distant is old sukkur; the island of bukkur, in the river-channel and affording support to the bridge, is occupied and fortified by the british. suleiman pasha, a distinguished turkish general, born in roumelia; entered the army in , fought in various wars, became director of the military academy at constantinople; distinguished himself in the servian war of , and was elected governor of bosnia and herzegovina; during the russian-turkish war made a gallant attempt to clear the enemy from the shipka pass, but as commander of the danube army was defeated near philippopolis ( ), and subsequently court-martialled and sentenced to years' imprisonment, but was pardoned by the sultan ( - ). suliman or suleiman mountains, a bare and rugged range, stretching n. and s. for upwards of m. from the kyber pass almost to the arabian sea, and forming the boundary between afghanistan and the punjab, india. suliotes, a græco-albanian race who in the th century, to escape their turkish oppressors, fled from their old settlement in epirus to the mountains of suli, in south albania, where they prospered in the following century in independence; driven out by the turks in , they emigrated to the ionian islands; came to the aid of ali pasha against the sultan in , but, defeated and scattered, found refuge in cephalonia, and later gave valuable assistance to the greeks in their struggle for independence. the treaty of left their district of suli in the hands of the turks, and since then they have dwelt among the greeks, many of them holding high government rank. sulla, lucius cornelius, a roman of patrician birth; leader of the aristocratic party in rome, and the rival of marius (q. v.), under whom he got his first lessons in war; rose to distinction in arms afterwards, and during his absence the popular party gained the ascendency, and marius, who had been banished, was recalled; the blood of his friends had been shed in torrents, and himself proscribed; on the death of marius he returned with his army, glutted his vengeance by the sacrifice of thousands of the opposite faction, celebrated his victory by a triumph of unprecedented splendour, and caused himself to be proclaimed dictator b.c.; he ruled with absolute power two years after, and then resigning his dictatorship retired into private life; _d_. b.c. at the age of . sullan proscriptions, sentences of proscription issued by sulla against roman citizens in b.c. under his dictatorship. sullivan, sir arthur seymour, english composer, born in london; won the mendelssohn scholarship at the royal academy of music, and by means of it completed his musical education at leipzig; in composed incidental music for "the tempest," well received at the crystal palace; since then has been a prolific writer of all kinds of music, ranging from hymns and oratorios to popular songs and comic operas; his oratorios include "the prodigal son" ( ), "the light of the world," "the golden legend," &c., but it is as a writer of light and tuneful operas (librettos by w. s. gilbert, q. v.) that he is best known; these began with "cox and box" ( ), and include "trial by jury," "the sorcerer" ( ), "pinafore," "patience" ( ), "mikado" ( ), &c., in all of which he displays great gifts as a melodist, and wonderful resource in clever piquant orchestration; received the legion of honour in , and was knighted in ; _b_. . sullivan's island, a long and narrow island, a favourite sea-bathing resort, on the n. of the entrance to charleston harbour, south carolina, u.s. sully, maximilien de bÉthune, duke of, celebrated minister of henry iv. of france, born at the château of rosny, near mantes, whence he was known at first as the baron de rosny; at first a ward of henry iv. of navarre, he joined the huguenot ranks along with him, and distinguished himself at coutras and ivry, and approved of henry's policy in changing his colours on his accession to the throne, remaining ever after by his side as most trusted adviser, directing the finances of the country with economy, and encouraging the peasantry in the cultivation of the soil; used to say, "labourage et pasteurage, voilà les deux mamelles dont la france est alimentée, les vraies mines et trésors de pérou," "tillage and cattle-tending are the two paps whence france sucks nourishment; these are the true mines and treasures of peru;" on the death of the king he retired from court, and occupied his leisure in writing his celebrated "memoirs," which, while they show the author to be a great statesman, give no very pleasant idea of his character ( - ). sully-prudhomme, french poet, born in paris; published a volume of poems in entitled "stances and poèmes," which commanded instant regard, and have been succeeded by others which have deepened the impression, and entitled him to the highest rank as a poet; they give evidence of a serious mind occupied with serious problems; was elected to the academy in ; _b_. . sulpicius severus, an ecclesiastical historian, born in aquitaine; wrote a "historia sacra," and a life of st. martin ( - ). sultan, the title of a mohammedan sovereign, sultana being the feminine form. sulu islands ( ), an archipelago of islands in asiatic waters, lying to the ne. of borneo, and extending to the philippines; belongs to the spaniards who, in , subdued the piratical malay inhabitants; the trade in pearls and edible nests is mainly carried on by chinese. sumatra ( , , including adjacent islands), after borneo the largest of the east indian islands, stretches se. across the equator between the malay peninsula (from whose sw. coast it is separated by the strait of malacca) to java (strait of sunda separating them); has an extreme length of m., and an area more than three times that of england; is mountainous, volcanic, covered in central parts by virgin forest, abounds in rivers and lakes, and possesses an exceptionally rich flora and peculiar fauna; rainfall is abundant; some gold and coal are worked, but the chief products are rice, sugar, coffee, tobacco, petroleum, pepper, &c.; the island is mainly under dutch control, but much of the unexplored centre is still in the hands of savage tribes who have waged continual warfare with their european invaders. padang ( ) is the official dutch capital. sumbawa ( ), one of the sunda islands, lying between lombok (w.) and flores (e.); mountainous and dangerously volcanic; yields rice, tobacco, cotton, &c.; is divided among four native rulers under dutch authority. sumner, charles, american statesman and abolitionist, born in boston; graduated at harvard ( ), and was called to the bar in , but found a more congenial sphere in writing and lecturing; during - pursued his favourite study of jurisprudence in france, germany, and england; was brought into public notice by his th of july oration ( ) on "the true grandeur of nations," an eloquent condemnation of war; became an uncompromising opponent of the slave-trade; was one of the founders of the free soil party, and in was elected to the national senate, a position he held until the close of his life, and where he did much by his eloquent speeches to prepare the way for emancipation, and afterwards to win for the blacks the rights of citizenship ( - ). sumner, john bird, archbishop of canterbury; rose by a succession of preferments to the primacy, an office which he discharged with discretion and moderation ( - ). sumptuary laws, passed in various lands and ages to restrict excess in dress, food, and luxuries generally; are to be found in the codes of solon, julius cæsar, and other ancient rulers; charles vi. of france restricted dinners to one soup and two other dishes; appear at various times in english statutes down to the th century against the use of "costly meats," furs, silks, &c., by those unable to afford them; were issued by the scottish parliament against the extravagance of ladies in the matter of dress to relieve "the puir gentlemen their husbands and fathers"; were repealed in england in the reign of james i.; at no time were they carefully observed. sumter, fort, a fort on a shoal in charleston harbour, ½ m. from the town; occupied by major anderson with men and guns in the interest of the secession of south carolina from the union, and the attack on which by general beauregard on th april was the commencement of the civil war; it held out against attack and bombardment till the month of july following. sun, the, is a star; is the centre of the solar system, as it is in consequence called, is a globe consisting of a mass of vapour at white heat, and of such enormous size that it is times larger than all the planets of the system put together, or of a bulk one million and a half times greater than the earth, from which it is ninety-two and a half million miles distant; the bright surface of it is called the _photosphere_, and this brightness is diversified with brighter spots called _faculæ_, and dark ones called _sun-spots_, and by watching which latter as they move over the sun's disk we find it takes days to revolve on its axis, and by means of spectrum analysis (q. v.) find it is composed of hydrogen and a number of vaporised metals. sunda islands, a name sometimes applied to the long chain of islands stretching se. from the malay peninsula to north australia, including sumatra, timor, &c., but more correctly designates the islands bali, lombok, sumbawa, flores, sandalwood island, &c., which lie between java and timor, are under dutch suzerainty, and produce the usual east indian products. see various islands named. sunderbunds or sundarbans, a great tract of jungle, swamp, and alluvial plain, forming the lower portion of the ganges delta; extends from the hooghly on the w. to the meghna on the e., a distance of m.; rice is cultivated on the upper part by a sparse population; the lower part forms a dense belt of wild jungle reaching to the sea, and is infested by numerous tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, pythons, cobras, &c. sunderland ( ), a flourishing seaport of durham, situated at the mouth of the wear, m. se. of newcastle-upon-tyne; embraces some very old parishes, but as a commercial town has entirely developed within the present century, and is of quite modern appearance, with the usual public buildings; owes its prosperity mainly to neighbouring coal-fields, the product of which it exports in great quantities; has four large docks covering acres; also famous iron shipbuilding yards, large iron-works, glass and bottle works, roperies, &c. sunderland, charles spencer, third earl, son of succeeding, and son in law of the duke of marlborough; was a secretary of state in queen anne's reign during - , and in the following reign, as leader of the whigs, exercised unbounded influence over george i.; narrowly escaped, chiefly through walpole's help, being found guilty of accepting heavy bribes from the south sea company; lost office, and was displaying his father's propensity to underhand scheming by intriguing with the tories and the pretender's party when death cut short his career ( - ). sunderland, robert spencer, second earl of, an english statesman prominent in the reign of charles ii., james ii., and william iii.; was for some years engaged in embassies abroad before being appointed secretary of state in ; adroit and insinuating, and with great capacity for business, he soon became a leading minister; attached himself to the duchess of portsmouth, and in the corrupt politics of the two stuart kings played his own hand with consummate if unscrupulous skill, standing high in king james's favour as prime minister, although he had formerly intrigued in favour of monmouth; supported the exclusion bill, and even then was in secret communication with the prince of orange; after the revolution rose to high office under william; was instrumental in bringing the whigs into power, and during - was acknowledged head of his government ( - ). sunnites, the orthodox mohammedans, a name given to them because they accept the _sunna_, i. e. traditional teaching of the prophet, as of the same authority as the korân, in the matter of both faith and morals, agreeably to a fundamental article of mohammedanism, that not only the rule of life, but the interpretation of it, is of divine dictation. sun-worship, the worship of the sun is conceived of as an impersonation of the deity, that originated among races so far advanced in civilisation as to recognise what they owed to its benignant influence, in particular as tillers of the soil, and, is associated with advance as the worship of bacchus was, which could not originate prior to cultivation of the vine. suonada, the inland sea of japan, separating kyushu and shikoku from the main island, honshiu, a fine sheet of water ( m. by ), picturesquely studded with islands which, however, render navigation difficult. supererogation, works of, name given in the roman catholic theology to works or good deeds performed by saints over and above what is required for their own salvation, and the merit of which is held to be transferable to others in need of indulgence. super-grammaticam (above grammar), name given to sigismund, emperor of germany, from his rejoinder to a cardinal who one day on a high occasion mildly corrected a grammatical mistake he had made in a grand oration, "i am king of the romans, and above grammar." superior, lake, largest fresh-water lake on the globe, lies between the united states and canada, the boundary line passing through the centre; area, , sq. m., almost the size of ireland; maximum depth, ft.; st. mary's river, the only outlet, a short rapid stream, carries the overflow to lake huron; receives upwards of rivers, but none of first-class importance, largest is the st. louis; is dotted with numerous islands; water is singularly clear and pure, and abounds with fish; navigation is hindered in winter by shore-ice, but the lake never freezes over. superstition, the fear of that which is not god, as if it were god, or the fear of that which is not the devil, as if it were the devil; or, as it has in more detail been defined by ruskin, "the fear of a spirit whose passions and acts are those of a man present in some places and not others; kind to one person and unkind to another, pleased or angry, according to the degree of attention you pay him, or the praise you refuse him; hostile generally to human pleasure, but may be bribed by sacrificing part of that pleasure into permitting the rest." supralapsarianism, the doctrine of the extreme calvinists, that the decree of god as regards the eternal salvation of some and the eternal reprobation of others is unconditional. supremacy, royal, the supremacy of the sovereign in matters ecclesiastical and matters of civil right to the exclusion of matters spiritual and the jurisdiction in the former claimed by the pope. surabaya ( ), a seaport on the ne. coast or java, is the head-quarters of the dutch military, and exports tropical products; of the population are european, and or so chinese. surat ( ), a city of india, bombay presidency, on the tapti, m. from its entrance into the gulf of bombay; stretches along the s. bank of the river, presenting no architectural features of interest save some mohammedan, parsee, and hindu temples, and an old castle or fortress; chief exports are cotton and grain; the english erected here their first factory on the indian continent in , and with portuguese and dutch traders added, it became one of the principal commercial centres of india; in the th century the removal of the english east india company to bombay drew off a considerable portion of the trade of surat, which it has never recovered. surinam. see guiana, dutch. surplice, a linen robe with wide sleeves worn by officiating clergymen and choristers, originating in the rochet or alb of early times. surrey ( , ), an inland county, and one of the fairest of england, in the se. between kent (e.) and hampshire (w.), with sussex on the s., separated from middlesex on the n. by the thames; the north downs traverse the county e. and w., slope gently to the thames, and precipitously in the s. to the level weald; generally presents a beautiful prospect of hill and heatherland adorned with splendid woods; the wey and the mole are the principal streams; hops are extensively grown round farnham; largest town is croydon; the county town, guildford. surrey, henry howard, earl of, poet, son of the duke of norfolk; early attached to the court of henry viii., he attended his royal master at the "field of the cloth of gold," and took part in the coronation ceremony of anne boleyn ( ); was created a knight of the garter in , and two years later led the english army in france with varying success; imprisoned along with his father on a charge of high treason, for which there was no adequate evidence, he was condemned and executed; as one of the early leaders of the poetic renaissance, and introducer of the sonnet and originator of blank verse, he deservedly holds a high place in the history of english literature ( - ). surya, in the hindu mythology the sun conceived of as a female deity. susa (the shushan of daniel, esther, &c.), an ancient city of persia, now in ruins, that spread over an area of sq. m., on the kerkha, m. se. of bagdad; was for long the favourite residence of the persian kings, the ruins of whose famous palace, described in esther, are still extant. susan, st., the patron saint and guardian of innocence and saviour from infamy and reproach. see susanna. susanna, the history of, a story in the apocrypha, evidently conceived to glorify daniel as a judge, and which appears to have been originally written by a jew in greek. she had been accused of adultery by two of the elders and condemned to death, but was acquitted on daniel's examination of her accusers to their confusion and condemnation to death in her stead. the story has been allegorised by the church, and susanna made to represent the church, and the two elders her persecutors. susquehanna, a river of america, formed by the junction at northumberland, pennsylvania, of the north branch ( m.) flowing out of schuyler lake, central new york, and the west branch ( m.) rising in the alleghany mountains; flows in a shallow, rapid, unnavigable course s. and se. through beautiful scenery to port deposit, at the n. end of chesapeake bay; length, m. sussex ( ), a s. maritime county of england, fronts the english channel between hampshire (w.) and kent (e.), with surrey on its northern border; is traversed e. and w. by the south downs, which afford splendid pasturage for half a million sheep, and terminates in beachy head; in the n. lies the wide, fertile, and richly-wooded plain of the weald; chief rivers are the arun, adur, ouse, and rother, of no great size; is a fine agricultural county, more than two-thirds of its area being under cultivation; was the scene of cæsar's landing ( b.c.), of Ælla's, the leader of the south saxons (whence the name sussex), and of william the conqueror's ( ); throughout the country are interesting antiquities; largest town, brighton; county town, lewes. sutherland ( ), a maritime county of n. scotland; presents a n. and a w. shore to the atlantic, between ross and cromarty (s.) and caithness (e.), and faces the north sea on the se., whence the land slopes upwards to the great mountain region and wild, precipitous loch-indented coasts of the w. and n.; scarcely per cent, of the area is cultivated, but large numbers of sheep and cattle are raised; the oykell is the longest ( m.) of many streams, and loch shin the largest of lochs; there are extensive deer forests and grouse moors, while valuable salmon and herring fisheries exist round the coasts; is the most sparsely populated county in scotland. dornoch is the county town. sutlej, the eastmost of the five rivers of the punjab; its head-waters flow from two thibetan lakes at an elevation of , ft., whence it turns nw. and w. to break through a wild gorge of the himalayas, thence bends to the sw., forms the eastern boundary of the punjab, and joins the indus at mithankot after a course of m. sutras, name given to a collection of aphorisms, summaries of the teachings of the brahmans, and of rules regulative of ritual or religious observances, and also given to these aphorisms and rules themselves. suttee, a hindu widow who immolates herself on the funeral pile of her husband, a term applied to the practice itself. the practice was of very ancient date, but the custom was proclaimed illegal in under lord william bentinck's administration, and it is now very seldom that a widow seeks to violate the law. in , in bengal alone, widows gave themselves to be so burned, of whom were above sixty, above forty, above twenty, and under twenty. suwarrow or suvoroff, russian field-marshal, born at moscow; entered the army as a private soldier, distinguished himself in the seven years' war, and after years' service rose to command; in command of a division he in routed an army of the turks beyond the danube, and in he reduced a tribe of tartars under the russian yoke; his greatest exploit perhaps was his storming of ismail, which had resisted all attempts to reduce it for seven months, and which he, but with revolting barbarities however, in three days succeeded by an indiscriminate massacre of , of the inhabitants; his despatch thereafter to queen catharine was "glory to god and the empress, ismail is ours!" he after this conducted a cruel campaign in poland, which ended in its partition, and a campaign in italy to the disaster of the french and his elevation to the peerage as a prince, with the title of italinski; he was all along the agent of the ruthless purposes of potemkin (q. v.) ( - ). sveaborg, a strong fortress in finland, protecting helsingfors, in the baltic, m. distant from that town, and called the "gibraltar of the north." svir, a russian river that flows into lake ladoga. swabia, an ancient duchy in the sw. of germany, and most fertile part, so called from the suevi, who in the st century displaced the aboriginal celts, and which, along with bavaria, formed the nucleus of the fatherland; was separated by the rhine from france and switzerland, having for capital augsburg, and being divided now into würtemberg, bavaria, baden, and lichtenstein. swahili (i. e. coast people), a people of mixed bantu and arab stock occupying zanzibar and the adjoining territory from nearly mombasa to mozambique; they are an enterprising race, and are dispersed as traders, hunters, carriers, &c., far and wide over central africa. swale, a river in the north riding of yorkshire, uniting, after a course of miles, with the ure to form the ouse. swammerdam, jan, a dutch entomologist, born at amsterdam, where he settled as a doctor, but turning with enthusiasm to the study of insect life, made important contributions to, and practically laid the foundations of, entomological science ( - ). swan of avon, sweet name given by ben jonson to shakespeare. swan of mantua, name given to virgil, as born at mantua. swansea ( ), a flourishing and progressive seaport of glamorganshire, at the entrance of the tawe, m. into swansea bay; has a splendid harbour, acres of docks, a castle, old grammar-school, &c.; is the chief seat of the copper-smelting and of the tin-plate manufacture of england, and exports the products of these works, as well as coal, zinc, and other minerals, in large quantities. swatow ( ), a seaport of china, at the mouth of the han, m. e. of canton; has large sugar-refineries, factories for bean-cake and grass-cloth; since the policy of "the open door" was adopted in has had a growing export trade. swaziland ( ), a small south african native state to the e. of the transvaal, of which in it became a dependency, retaining, however, its own laws and native chief; is mountainous, fertile, and rich in minerals; the swazis are of zulu stock, jealous of the boers, and friendly to britain. sweating sickness, an epidemic of extraordinary malignity which swept over europe, and especially england, in the th and th centuries, attacking with equal virulence all classes and all ages, and carrying off enormous numbers of people; was characterised by a sharp sudden seizure, high fever, followed by a foetid perspiration; first appeared in england in , and for the last time in . sweating system, a term which began to be used about to describe an iniquitous system of sub-contracting in the tailoring trade. orders from master-tailors were undertaken by sub-contractors, who themselves farmed the work out to needy workers, who made the articles in their own crowded and foetid homes, receiving "starvation wages." the term is now used in reference to all trades in cases where the conditions imposed by masters tend to grind the rate of payment down to a bare living wage and to subject the workers to insanitary surroundings by overcrowding, &c., and to unduly long hours. kingsley's pamphlet, "cheap clothes and nasty," and novel, "alton locke," did much to draw public attention to the evil. in an elaborate report by a committee of the house of lords was published, and led in the following year to the passing of the factory and workshops act and the public health act, which have greatly mitigated the evil. sweden ( , ), a kingdom of northern europe, occupying the eastern portion of the great scandinavian peninsula, bounded w. by norway, e. by russian finland, gulf of bothnia, and the baltic, and on the n. stretches across the arctic circle between norway (nw.) and russia (ne.), while its southern serrated shores are washed by the skager-rack, cattegat, and baltic. from the mountain-barrier of norway the country slopes down in broad terrace-like plains to the sea, intersected by many useful rivers and diversified by numerous lakes, of which lakes wenner, wetter, and mälar (properly an arm of the sea) are the largest, and lying under forest to the extent of nearly one-half its area; is divided into three great divisions: , norrland in the n., a wide and wild tract of mountainous country, thickly forested, infested by the wolf, bear, and lynx, in summer the home of the wood-cutter, and sparsely inhabited by lapps. , svealand or sweden proper occupies the centre, and is the region of the great lakes and of the principal mineral wealth (iron, copper, &c.) of the country. , gothland, the southern portion, embraces the fertile plains sloping to the cattegat, and is the chief agricultural district, besides possessing iron and coal. climate is fairly dry, with a warm summer and long cold winter. agriculture (potatoes, grain, rye, beet), although scarcely per cent. of the land is under cultivation, is the principal industry, and with dairy-farming, stock-raising, &c., gives employment to more than one-half of the people; mining and timber-felling are only less important; chief industries are iron-works, sugar-refineries, cotton-mills, &c.; principal exports timber (much the largest), iron, steel, butter, &c., while textiles and dry-goods are the chiefly needed imports. transit is greatly facilitated by the numerous canals and by the rivers and lakes. railways and telegraphs are well developed in proportion to the population. as in norway, the national religion is lutheranism; education is free and compulsory. government is vested in the king, who with the advice of a council controls the executive, and two legislative chambers which have equal powers, but the members of the one are elected for nine years by provincial councils, while those of the other are elected by the suffrages of the people, receive salaries, and sit only for three years. the national debt amounts to ½ million pounds. in the th century the country became an appanage of the danish crown, and continued as such until freedom was again won in the th century by the patriot king, gustavus vasa. by the th century had extended her rule across the seas into certain portions of the empire, but selling these in the beginning of the th century, fell from her rank as a first-rate power. in norway was annexed, and the two countries, each enjoying complete autonomy, are now united under one crown. swedenborg, emmanuel, a mystic of the mystics, founder of the "new church," born at stockholm, son of a bishop, a boy of extraordinary gifts and natural seriousness of mind; carefully educated under his father, attended the university of upsala and took his degree in philosophy in ; in eager quest of knowledge visited england, holland, france, and germany; on his return, after four years, was at appointed by charles xii. assessor of the royal college of mines; in went to examine the mines and smelting-works of europe; from spent years in the composition and publication of scientific works, when of a sudden he threw himself into theology; in his period of illumination began, and the publication of voluminous theological treatises; the swedish clergy interfered a little with the publication of his works, but he kept the friendship of people in power. he was never married, his habits were simple, lived on bread, milk, and vegetables, occupied a house situated in a large garden; visited england several times, but attracted no special attention; died in london of apoplexy in his eighty-fifth year. "he is described, in london, as a man of quiet, clerical habit, not averse to tea and coffee, and kind to children. he wore a sword when in full velvet dress, and whenever he walked out carried a gold-headed cane." this is emerson's account in brief of his outer man, but for a glimpse or two of his ways of thinking and his views the reader is referred to emerson's "representative men." the man was a seer; what he saw only himself could tell, and only those could see, he would say, who had the power of transporting themselves into the same spiritual centre; to him the only real world was the spirit-world and the world of sense only in so far as it reflected to the soul the great invisible ( - ). swedenborgians, the members of the "new jerusalem church," founded on the teaching of emmanuel swedenborg (q. v.) on a belief in direct communion with the world of spirits, and in god as properly incarnate in the divine humanity of christ. swedish nightingale, name popularly given to jenny lind (q. v.). swerga or svarga, the summit of mount meru, the hindu olympus, the heaven or abode of indra (q. v.) and of the gods in general. swetchine, madame, a russian lady, sophie soymanof, born at moscow, who married general swetchine, and, after turning catholic, became celebrated in paris during - as the gracious hostess of a salon where much religious and ethical discussion went on; plain and unimposing in appearance, she yet exercised a remarkable fascination over her "coterie" by the elevation of her character and eager spiritual nature ( - ). swift, jonathan, born at dublin, a posthumous son, of well-connected parents; educated at kilkenny, where he had congreve for companion, and at trinity college, dublin, where he was a somewhat riotous and a by no means studious undergraduate, only receiving his b.a. by "special grace" in ; two years later the revolution drove him to england; became amanuensis to his mother's distinguished relative sir william temple, whose service, however, was uncongenial to his proud independent nature, and after taking a master's degree at oxford he returned to dublin, took orders, and was presented to the canonry of kilroot, near belfast; the quiet of country life palling upon him, he was glad to resume secretarial service in temple's household ( ), where during the next three years he remained, mastering the craft of politics, reading enormously, and falling in love with stella (q. v.); was set adrift by temple's death in , but shortly afterwards became secretary to lord berkeley, one of the lord-deputies to ireland, and was soon settled in the vicarage of laracor, west meath; in appeared anonymously his famous satires, the "battle of the books" and the "tale of a tub," masterpieces of english prose; various squibs and pamphlets followed, "on the inconvenience of abolishing christianity," &c.; but politics more and more engaged his attention; and neglected by the whigs and hating their war policy, he turned tory, attacked with deadly effect, during his editorship of the _examiner_ ( - ), the war party and its leader marlborough; crushed steele's defence in his "public spirit of the whigs," and after the publication of "the conduct of the allies" stood easily the foremost political writer of his time; disappointed of an english bishopric, in reluctantly accepted the deanery of st. patrick's, dublin, a position he held until the close of his life; became loved in the country he despised by eloquently voicing the wrongs of ireland in a series of tracts, "drapier's letters," &c., fruitful of good results; crowned his great reputation by the publication ( ) of his masterpiece "gulliver's travels," the most daring, savage, and amusing satire contained in the world's literature; "stella's" death and the slow progress of a brain disease, ending in insanity, cast an ever-deepening gloom over his later years ( - ). swilly, lough, a narrow inlet of the atlantic, on the coast of donegal, north ireland, running in between dunaff head (e.) and fanad point (w.), a distance of m.; is from to m. broad; the entrance is fortified. swinburne, algernon charles, poet and prose writer, born in london, son of admiral swinburne; educated at balliol college, oxford, went to florence and spent some time there; his first productions were plays, two of them tragedies, and "poems and ballads," his later "a song of italy," essay on "william blake," and "songs before sunrise," instinct with pantheistic and republican ideas, besides "studies in song," "studies in prose and poetry," &c.; he ranks as the successor of landor, of whom he is a great admirer, stands high both as a poet and a critic, and is a man of broad and generous sympathies; his admirers regard it as a reproach to his generation that due honour is not paid by it to his genius; _b_. . swindon ( ), a town in wiltshire, m. w. of london; contains the great western company's engineering works, which cover acres, and employ , hands. swinemÜnde ( ), a fortified seaport on the island of usedom, in the baltic, near the mouth of the swine, one of the outlets of the oder. swiss confederation, a league of the several swiss cantons to resist an attempt on the part of the emperor albrecht to incorporate certain of the free towns into his family possessions. swiss guards. see gardes suisses. swithin, st., bishop of winchester from to ; was buried by his own request in winchester churchyard, "where passers-by might tread above his head, and the dews of heaven fall on his grave." on his canonisation, a century after, the chapter resolved to remove his body to a shrine in the cathedral, but their purpose was hindered on account of a rain which lasted days from the th july; hence the popular notion that if it rained that day it would be followed by rain for days after. switzerland ( , ), a republic of central europe, bounded by germany (n.), france (w.), italy (s.), and austria and germany (e.); in size is slightly more than one-half of scotland, of semicircular shape, having the jura alps on its french border, and divided from italy by the great central ranges of the alpine system, whence radiate the swiss alps--pennine, lepontine, bernese, &c.--covering the e. and s., and occupying with intervening valleys two-thirds of the country; the remaining third is occupied by an elevated fertile plain, extending between lakes of constance and geneva (largest of numerous lakes), and studded with picturesque hills; principal rivers are the upper rhône, the aar, ticino, and inn; climate varies with the elevation, from the high regions of perpetual snow to warm valleys where ripen the vine, fig, almond, and olive; about one-third of the land surface is under forest, and one quarter arable, the grain grown forming only one-half of what is required; flourishing dairy farms exist, prospered by the fine meadows and mountain pastures which, together with the forests, comprise the country's greatest wealth; minerals are exceedingly scarce, coal being entirely absent. despite its restricted arable area and lack of minerals the country has attained a high pitch of prosperity through the thrift and energy of its people, who have skilfully utilised the inexhaustible motive-power of innumerable waterfalls and mountain streams to drive great factories of silks, cottons, watches, and jewellery. the beauty of its mountain, lake, and river scenery has long made switzerland the sanatorium and recreation ground of europe; more than health resorts exist, and the country has been described as one vast hotel. the alpine barriers are crossed by splendid roads and railways, the great tunnels through st. gothard and the simplon being triumphs of engineering skill and enterprise. in , after the suppression of the sonderbund (q. v.), the existing league of semi-independent states (constituting since the helvetic republic) formed a closer federal union, and a constitution (amended in ) was drawn up conserving as far as possible the distinctive laws of the cantons and local institutions of their communes. the president is elected annually by the federal assembly (which consists of two chambers constituting the legislative power), and is assisted in the executive government by a federal council of seven members. by an institution known as the "referendum" all legislative acts passed in the cantonal or federal assemblies may under certain conditions be referred to the mass of the electors, and this is frequently done. the public debt amounts to over two million pounds. the national army is maintained by conscription; per cent. of the people speak german, per cent. french, and per cent. italian; per cent. are protestants, and per cent. catholics. education is splendidly organised, free, and compulsory; there are five universities, and many fine technical schools. sybaris, an ancient city of magna græcia, on the gulf of tarentum, flourished in the th century b.c., but in b.c. was captured and totally obliterated by the rival colonists of crotona; at the height of its prosperity the luxury and voluptuousness of the inhabitants was such as to become a byword throughout the ancient world, and henceforth a sybaris city is a city of luxurious indulgence, and sybarite a devotee of pleasure. sybel, heinrich von, german historian, born at düsseldorf; was a pupil of ranke's (q. v.), and became professor of history at münich and bonn; he was a liberal in politics; his great works are a "history of the period of the french revolution from to , and then to ," in five volumes, and the "history of the founding of the german empire under william i.," in five volumes; he has also written a "history of the first crusade" ( - ). sycorax, a hag in the "tempest," the dam of caliban. sydenham, a district of kent and suburb of london, to the se. of which it lies m., includes the surrey parish of lambeth, where in - the crystal palace was erected and still stands, a far-famed sight of london, containing valuable collections illustrative of the arts and sciences, and surrounded by a magnificent park and gardens. sydenham, floyer, greek scholar; translated some of the dialogues of plato into english, and wrote a dissertation on heraclitus, which failed of being appreciated, and involved in embarrassment, he was thrown into prison because he could not pay a small bill for provisions, and there died; his sad fate led to the foundation of the literary fund ( - ). sydenham, thomas, the "english hippocrates," born in dorsetshire, educated at oxford, and a fellow of all souls'; practised medicine in london, where, though regarded with disfavour by the faculty, he stood in high regard, and had an extensive practice, from his study of the symptoms of disease, and the respect he paid to the constitution of the patient; he used his own sense and judgment in each case, and his treatment was uniformly successful; he commanded the regard of his contemporaries locke and boyle, and his memory was revered by such experts as boerhaave, stahl, pinel, and haller; he ranks as a great reformer in the healing art ( - ). sydney ( ), the capital of new south wales, the oldest city in australia, and one of the first in the world, on the s. shore of the basin of port jackson; and the entrance of a magnificent, almost land-locked, harbour for shipping of the largest tonnage; the situation of the city is superb, and it is surrounded by the richest scenery; the shores of the basin are covered with luxuriant vegetation, studded with islands and indented with pretty bays; it is well paved, has broad streets, and some fine buildings, the principal being the university, the two cathedrals, the post-office, and the town hall. it is a commercial rather than a manufacturing city, though its resources for manufacture are considerable, for it is in the centre of a large coal-field, in connection with which manufacturing industries may yet develop. sydney, algernon. see sidney, algernon. syllogism, an argument consisting of three propositions, of which two are called premises, major and minor, and the one that necessarily follows from them the conclusion. sylphs, elemental spirits of the air, as salamanders, are of fire, of light figure with gliding movements and procreative power. sylvester, st., the name of three popes: s. i., pope from to ; s. ii., pope from to , alleged, from his recondite knowledge as an alchemist, to have been in league with the devil; and s. iii., anti-pope from to . sylvester, st., the first pope of the name, said to have converted constantine and his mother by restoring a dead ox to life which a magician for a trial of skill killed, but could not restore to life; is usually represented by an ox lying beside him, and sometimes in baptizing constantine. symbolism has been divided into two kinds, symbolism of colour and symbolism of form. of colours, black typifies grief and death; blue, hope, love of divine works, divine contemplation, piety, sincerity; pale blue, power, christian prudence, love of good works, serene conscience; gold, glory and power; green, faith, immortality, resurrection, gladness; pale green, baptism; grey, tribulation; purple, justice, royalty; red, martyrdom for faith, charity, divine love; rose-colour, martyrdom; saffron, confessors; scarlet, fervour and glory; silver, chastity and purity; violet, penitence; white, purity, temperance, innocence, chastity, and faith in god. instances of form: anchor typifies hope; palm, victory; sword, death or martyrdom; the lamb, christ; unicorn, purity. of stones, moreover, the amethyst typifies humility; diamond, invulnerable faith; sardonyx, sincerity; sapphire, hope, &c. syme, james, a great surgeon, born in edinburgh; was demonstrator under liston; was elected to the chair of clinical surgery in ; gave up the chair to succeed liston in london in , but returned a few months after; was re-elected to the chair he had vacated; he was much honoured by his pupils, and by none more than dr. john brown, who characterised him as "the best, ablest, and most beneficent of men"; he wrote treatises and papers on surgery ( - ). symonds, john addington, english man of letters, born at bristol; educated at harrow and oxford; author of "the renaissance in italy," a work which shows an extensive knowledge of the subject, and is written in a finished but rather flowery style, and a number of other works of a kindred nature showing equal ability and literary skill; his translation of benvenuto cellini's autobiography is particularly noteworthy; was consumptive, and spent his later years at davos, in the engadine ( - ). symphlagades, two fabulous floating rocks at the entrance of the euxine, which, when driven by the winds, crushed every vessel that attempted to pass between them; the ship argo (q. v.) managed to pass between them, but with the loss of part of her stern, after which they became fixed. symphony, an elaborate orchestral composition consisting usually of four contrasted and related movements; began to take distinctive shape in the th century, and was for long merely a form of overture to operas, &c., but as its possibilities were perceived was elevated into an independent concert-piece, and as such exercised the genius of mozart and haydn, reaching its perfection of form in the symphonies of beethoven. synagogue, a jewish institution for worship and religious instruction which dates from the period of the babylonian captivity, specially to keep alive in the minds of the people a knowledge of the law. the decree ordaining it required the families of a district to meet twice every sabbath for this purpose, and so religiously did the jewish people observe it that it continues a characteristic ordinance of judaism to this day. the study of the law became henceforth their one vocation, and the synagogue was instituted both to instruct them in it and to remind them of the purpose of their separate existence among the nations of the earth. high as the temple and its service still stood in the esteem of every jew, from the period of the captivity it began to be felt of secondary importance to the synagogue and its service. with the erection and extension of the latter the people were being slowly trained into a truer sense of the nature of religious worship, and gradually made to feel that to know the will of god and do it was a more genuine act of homage to him than the offering of sacrifices upon an altar or the observance of any religious rite. under such training the issue between the jew and the samaritan became of less and less consequence, and he and not the samaritan was on the pathway which led direct to the final worship of god in spirit and in truth (john iv. ). synagogue, the great, the name given to a council at jerusalem, consisting of members, there assembled about the year b.c. to give final form to the service and worship of the jewish church. a jewish tradition says moses received the law from sinai; he transmitted it to joshua, joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, to the men of the great assembly, who added thereto these words: "be circumspect in judgment, make many disciples, and set a hedge about the law." to them belong the final settlement and arrangement of the jewish scriptures, the introduction of a new alphabet, the regulation of the synagogue worship, and the adoption of sundry liturgical forms, as well as the establishment of the feast of purim (q. v.), and probably the "schools" of the scribes. syncretism, name given to an attempted blending of different, more or less antagonist, speculative or religious systems into one, such as catholic and protestant or lutheran and reformed. syndicate, in commercial parlance is a name given to a number of capitalists associated together for the purpose of carrying through some important business scheme, usually having in view the controlling and raising of prices by means of a monopoly or "corner." synergism, the theological doctrine that divine grace requires a correspondent action of the human will to render it effective, a doctrine defended by melanchthon when he ascribes to the will the "power of seeking grace," the term "synergy" meaning co-operation. synesius, bishop ptolemais, born at cyrene; became a pupil of hypatia (q. v.) and was to the last a disciple, "a father of the church without having been her son," and is styled by kingsley "the squire bishop," from his love of the chase; "books and the chase," on one occasion he writes, "make up my life"; wrote one or two curious books, and several hymns expressive of a longing after divine things ( - ). synod, name given to any assembly of bishops in council, and in the presbyterian church to an assembly of a district or a general assembly. synoptic gospels, the first three gospels, so called because they are summaries of the chief events in the story, and all go over the same ground, while the author of the fourth follows lines of his own. syra ( ), an island of the cyclades group, in the Ægean sea, m, by m., with a capital called also hermoupolis; on the e. coast is the seat of the government of the islands, and the chief port. syracuse, , one of the great cities of antiquity ( ), occupied a wide triangular tableland on the se. coast of sicily, m. sw. of messina, and also the small island ortygia, lying close to the shore; founded by corinthian settlers about b.c.; amongst its rulers were the tyrants dionysius the elder and dionysius the younger (q. v.) and hiero, the patron of Æschylus, pindar, &c.; successfully resisted the long siege of the athenians in b.c., and rose to a great pitch of renown after its struggle with the carthaginians in b.c., but siding with hannibal in the punic wars, was taken after a two years' siege by the romans ( b.c.), in whose hands it slowly declined, and finally was sacked and destroyed by the saracens in a.d. only the portion on ortygia was rebuilt, and this constitutes the modern city, which has interesting relics of its former greatness, but is otherwise a crowded and dirty place, surrounded by walls, and fortified; exports fruit, olive-oil, and wine. , a city ( ) of new york state, united states, m. w. of albany, in the beautiful valley of onondaga; is a spacious and handsomely laid-out city, with university, &c.; has flourishing steel-works, foundries, rolling-mills, &c., and enormous salt manufactures. syria ( , ), one of three divisions of asiatic turkey, slightly larger than italy, forms a long strip of mountains and tableland intersected by fertile valleys, lying along the eastern end of the mediterranean from the taurus range in the n. to the egyptian border on the ., and extending to the euphrates and arabian desert the coastal strip and waters fall within the levant (q. v.). in the s. lies palestine, embracing jordan, dead sea, lake of tiberias (sea of galilee), jerusalem, gaza, &c.; in the n., between the parallel ranges of lebanon and anti-lebanon, lies the valley of coele-syria, through which flows the orontes. important towns are aleppo, damascus, beyrout (chief port), &c.; principal exports are silk, wool, olive-oil, and fruits. four-fifths of the people are mohammedans of aramæan (ancient syrian) and arabic stock. once a portion of the assyrian empire (q. v.), it became a possession successively of the persians, greeks, romans, arabs, egyptians, and finally fell into the hands of the ottoman turks in , under whose rule it now languishes. for further particulars see various names and places mentioned. syrianus, a greek neoplatonic philosopher of the th century; had proclus (q. v.) for a disciple; left a valuable commentary on the metaphysics of aristotle. syrinx, an arcadian nymph, who, being pursued by pan, fled into a river, was metamorphosed into a reed, of which pan made his flute. syrtis, major and minor, the ancient names of the gulfs of sidra and cabes on the n. coast of africa, the former between tripoli and barca, the latter between tunis and tripoli. syrus, publius, a slave brought to rome, and on account of his wit manumitted by his master; made his mark by composing memoirs and a collection of pithy sayings that appear to have been used as a school-book; flourished in b.c. systÈme de la nature, a book, the authorship of which is ascribed to baron holbach (q. v.), which appeared in , advocating a philosophical materialism and maintaining that nothing exists but matter, and that mind is either naught or only a finer kind of matter; there is nowhere anything, it insists, except matter and motion; it is the farthest step yet taken in the direction of speculative as opposed to political nihilism. syzygy, the point on the orbit of a planet, or the moon when it is in conjunction with, or in opposition to, the sun. szechuan ( , ), the largest province of china, lies in the w. between thibet (nw.) and yunnan (sw.); more than twice the size of great britain; a hilly country, rich in coal, iron, &c., and traversed by the yangtse-kiang and large tributaries; chingtu is the capital; two towns have been opened to foreign trade, opium, silk, tobacco, musk, white wax, &c., being chief exports. szegedin ( ), a royal free city of hungary, situated at the confluence of the maros and theiss, m. se. of budapest, to which it ranks next in importance as a commercial and manufacturing centre; has been largely rebuilt since the terribly destructive flood of , and presents a handsome modern appearance. t tabard, a tunic without sleeves worn by military nobles over their arms, generally emblazoned with heraldic devices. "toom tabard," empty king's cloak, nickname given by the scotch to john balliol as nothing more. tabernacle, a movable structure of the nature of a temple, erected by the israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness; it was a parallelogram in shape, constructed of boards lined with curtains, the roof flat and of skins, while the floor was the naked earth, included a sanctum and a sanctum sanctorum, and contained altars for sacrifice and symbols of sacred import, especially of the divine presence, and was accessible only to the priests. see feasts, jewish. table mountain, a flat-topped eminence in the sw. of cape colony, rising to a height of ft. behind cape town and overlooking it, often surmounted by a drapery of mist. tables, the twelve, the tables of the roman laws engraven on brass brought from athens to rome by the decemvirs. tablets, name given to thin boards coated with wax and included in a frame for writing on with a stylus. table-turning, movement of a table ascribed to the agency of spirits or some recondite spiritual force acting through the media of a circle of people standing round the edge touching it with their finger-tips in contact with those of the rest. taboo or tabu, a solemn prohibition or interdict among the polynesians under which a particular person or thing is pronounced inviolable, and so sacred, the violation of which entails malediction at the hands of the supernatural powers. tabor, mount, an isolated cone-shaped hill, ft. in height and clothed with olive-trees, on the ne. borders of esdraËlon (q. v.), m. e. of nazareth. a tradition of the nd century identifies it as the scene of the tranfiguration, and ruins of a church, built by the crusaders to commemorate the event, crown the summit. tabriz ( ), an ancient and still important commercial city of persia, m. se. of tiflis, ft. above sea-level; occupies an elevated site on the aji, m. e. of its entrance into lake urumiah; carries on a flourishing transit trade and has notable manufactures of leather, silk, and gold and silver ware; has been on several occasions visited by severe earthquakes. tacitus, cornelius, roman historian, born presumably at rome, of equestrian rank, early famous as an orator; married a daughter of agricola, held office under the emperors vespasian, domitian, and nerva, and conducted along with the younger pliny the prosecution of marius priscus; he is best known and most celebrated as a historian, and of writings extant the chief are his "life of agricola," his "germania," his "histories" and his "annals"; his "agricola" is admired as a model biography, while his "histories" and "annales" are distinguished for "their conciseness, their vigour, and the pregnancy of meaning; a single word sometimes gives effect to a whole sentence, and if the meaning of the word is missed, the sense of the writer is not reached"; his great power lies in his insight into character and the construing of motives, but the picture he draws of imperial rome is revolting; _b_. about a.d. . tacna ( ), capital of a province ( ) in north chile, m. n. of arica, with which it is connected by rail; trades in wool and minerals; taken from peru in . tacoma ( ), a flourishing manufacturing town and port of washington state, on puget sound; has practically sprung into existence within the last years, and is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural and mining district. tadmor. see palmyra. tael, a chinese money of account of varying local value, and rising and falling with the price of silver, but may be approximately valued at between s. and s. d. the customs tael, equivalent in value to about s d., has been superseded by the new dollar of , which is equal to that of the united states. taganrog ( ), a russian seaport on the n. shore of the sea of azov; is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural district, wheat, linseed, and hempseed being the chief exports. founded by peter the great in . taglioni, maria, a famous ballet-dancer, born at stockholm, the daughter of an italian ballet-master; made her _début_ in paris in and soon became the foremost _danseuse_ of europe; married count de voisins in ; retired from the stage in with a fortune, which she subsequently lost, a misfortune which compelled her to set up as a teacher of deportment in london ( - ). tagus, the largest river of the spanish peninsula, issues from the watershed between the provinces of guadalajara and teruel; follows a more or less westerly course across the centre of the peninsula, and, after dividing into two portions below salvaterra, its united waters enter the atlantic by a noble estuary m. long; total length m., of which are in portugal; navigable as far as abrantes. tahiti ( ), the principal island of a group in the south pacific; sometimes called the society islands, situated m. ne. of new zealand; are mountainous, of volcanic origin, beautifully wooded, and girt by coral reefs; a fertile soil grows abundant fruit, cotton, sugar, &c., which, with mother-of-pearl, are the principal exports; capital and chief harbour is papeete ( ); the whole group since has become a french possession. taillandier, saint-renÉ, french littérateur and professor, born at paris; filled the chair of literature at the sorbonne from ; wrote various works of literary, historical, and philosophical interest, and did much by his writings to extend the knowledge of german art and literature in france; was a frequent contributor to the _revue des deux mondes_, and in was elected a member of the academy ( - ). tailors, carlyle's humorsome name in "sartor" for the architects of the customs and costumes woven for human wear by society, the inventors of our spiritual toggery, the truly _poetic_ class. tailors, the three, of tooley street, three characters said by canning to have held a meeting there for redress of grievances, and to have addressed a petition to the house of commons beginning "we, the people of england." tain ( ), a royal burgh of ross-shire, on the s. shore of the dornoch firth, m. ne. of inverness; has interesting ruins of a th-century chapel, a th-century collegiate church, an academy, &c. taine, hippolyte adolphe, an eminent french critic and historian, born at vouziers, in ardennes; after some years of scholastic drudgery in the provinces returned to paris, and there, by the originality of his critical method and brilliancy of style soon took rank among the foremost french writers; in the academy crowned his essay on livy; ten years later became professor of Æsthetics at the École des beaux-arts in paris, and in was admitted to the french academy; his voluminous writings embrace works on the philosophy of art, essays critical and historical, volumes of travel-impressions in various parts of europe; but his finest work is contained in his vivid and masterly studies on "les origines de la france contemporaine" and in his "history of english literature" ( - ; eng. trans, by van laun), the most penetrative and sympathetic survey of english literature yet done by a foreigner; he was a disciple of sainte-beuve, but went beyond his master in ascribing character too much to external environment ( - ). tai-pings, a name bestowed upon the followers of hung hsiû-ch`wan, a village schoolmaster of china, who, coming under the influence of christian teaching, sought to subvert the religion and ruling dynasty of china; he himself was styled "heavenly king," his reign "kingdom of heaven," and his dynasty "tai-ping" (grand peace); between and the rising assumed formidable dimensions, but from began to decline; the religious enthusiasm died away; foreign auxiliaries were called in, and under the leadership of gordon (q. v.) the rebellion was stamped out by . tait, archibald campbell, archbishop of canterbury, of scotch descent, born in edinburgh; educated at edinburgh, glasgow, and oxford; when at oxford led the opposition to the tractarian movement; in succeeded arnold as head-master at rugby; in became dean of carlisle; in bishop of london; and in primate. this last office he held at a critical period, and his episcopate was distinguished by great discretion and moderation ( - ). tait, peter guthrie, physicist and mathematician, born at dalkeith; educated in edinburgh; became senior wrangler at cambridge, and smith's prizeman in ; was in elected professor of mathematics at belfast, and in professor of natural philosophy at edinburgh; has done a great deal of experimental work, especially in thermo-electricity, and has contributed important papers on pure mathematics; wrote, along with lord kelvin, "treatise on natural philosophy," and along with balfour stewart "the unseen universe," followed by "paradoxical philosophy"; _b_. . tai-wan ( ), capital of formosa (q. v.), an important commercial emporium, situated about m. from the sw. coast, on which, however, it has a port, ranking as a treaty-port. taj mahal. see agra. talaria, wings attached to the ankles or sandals of mercury as the messenger of the gods. talavera de la reina ( ), a picturesque old spanish town on the tagus, situated amid vineyards, m. se. of madrid; scene of a great victory under sir arthur wellesley over a french army commanded by joseph bonaparte, marshals jourdan and victor, th july . talbot, william henry fox, one of the earliest experimenters and a discoverer in photography, born in chippenham, which he represented in parliament; was also one of the first to decipher the assyrian cuneiform inscriptions ( - ). tale of a tub, a great work of swift's, characterised by professor saintsbury as "one of the very greatest books of the world, in which a great drift of universal thought receives consummate literary form ... the first great book," he announces, "in prose or verse, of the th century, and in more ways than one the herald and champion at once of its special achievements in literature." talent, a weight, coin, or sum of money among the ancients, of variable value among different nations and at different periods; the attic weight being equal to about lbs. troy, and the money to £ , s.; among the romans the great talent was worth £ , and the little worth £ . talfourd, sir thomas noon, lawyer and dramatist, born at doxey, near stafford; was called to the bar in , and practised with notable success, becoming in a justice of common pleas and a knight; was for some years a member of parliament; author of four tragedies, of which "ion" is the best known; was the intimate friend and literary executor of charles lamb ( - ). talisman, a magical figure of an astrological nature carved on a stone or piece of metal under certain superstitious observances, to which certain wonderful effects are ascribed; is of the nature of a charm to avert evil. tallard, comte de, marshal of france; served in the war of the spanish succession; was taken prisoner by marlborough at hochstädt, on which occasion he said to the duke, "your grace has beaten the finest troops in europe," when the duke replied, "you will except, i hope, those who defeated them" ( - ). tallemant des rÉaux, gÉdÉon, french writer, native of la rochelle; author of a voluminous collection of gossipy biographies, or anecdotes rather, "historiettes," filling five volumes, which throw a flood of light on the manners and customs of th-century life in france, though allowance must be made for exaggerations ( - ). talleyrand de pÉrigord, charles maurice, prince of benevento, french statesman and diplomatist, born in paris, of an illustrious family; rendered lame by an accident, was cut off from a military career; was educated for the church, and made bishop of autun; chosen deputy of the clergy of his diocese to the states-general in , threw himself with zeal into the popular side, officiated in his pontifical robes at the feast of the federation in the champs de mars, and was the first to take the oath on that side, but on being excommunicated by the pope resigned his bishopric, and embarked on a statesman's career; sent on a mission to england in , remained two years as an _émigré_, and had to deport himself to the united states, where he employed himself in commercial transactions; recalled in , was appointed minister of foreign affairs; supported bonaparte in his ambitious schemes, and on the latter becoming emperor, was made grand chamberlain and duke of benevento, while he retained the portfolio of foreign affairs; in a fit of irritation napoleon one day discharged him, and he refused to accept office again when twice over recalled; he attached himself to the bourbons on their return, and becoming foreign minister to louis xviii., was made a peer, and sent ambassador to the congress of vienna; went into opposition till the fall of charles x., and attached himself to louis philippe in ; carlyle in his "revolution" pronounced him "a man living in falsehood and on falsehood, yet, as the specialty of him, not what you can call a false man ... an enigma possible only in an age of paper and the burning of paper," in an age in which the false was the only real ( - ). tallien, jean lambert, a notable french revolutionist, born in paris; a lawyer's clerk; threw in his lot with the revolution, and became prominent as the editor of a jacobin journal, _l'ami des citoyens_; took an active part in the sanguinary proceedings during the ascendency of robespierre, notably terrorising the disaffected of bordeaux by a merciless use of the guillotine; recalled to paris, and became president of the convention, but fearing robespierre, headed the attack which brought the dictator to the block; enjoyed, with his celebrated wife, madame de fontenay, considerable influence; accompanied napoleon to egypt; was captured by the english, and for a season lionised by the whigs; his political influence at an end, he was glad to accept the post of consul at alicante, and subsequently died in poverty ( - ). tallis, thomas, "the father of english cathedral music," born in the reign of henry viii., lived well into the reign of elizabeth; was an organist, and probably "a gentleman of the chapel royal"; composed various anthems, hymns, te deums, etc., including "the song of the forty parts" (c. - ). tally, a notched stick used in commercial and exchequer transactions when writing was yet a rare accomplishment; the marks, of varying breadth, indicated sums paid by a purchaser; the stick was split longitudinally, and one-half retained by the seller and one by the buyer as a receipt. as a means of receipt for sums paid into the exchequer, the tally was in common use until , and was not entirely abolished till . tally system, a mode of credit-dealing by which a merchant provides a customer with goods, and receives in return weekly or monthly payments to account. talma, franÇois joseph, a famous french tragedian, born in paris, where in he made his _début_; from the first his great gifts were apparent, and during the revolution he was the foremost actor at the théâtre de la république, and subsequently enjoyed the favour of napoleon; his noble carriage and matchless elocution enabled him to play with great dignity such characters as othello, nero, orestes, leicester, etc.; introduced, like kemble in england, a greater regard for historical accuracy in scenery and dress ( - ). talmud, a huge limbo, in chaotic arrangement, consisting of the mishna, or text, and gemara, or commentary, of rabbinical speculations, subtleties, fancies, and traditions connected with the hebrew bible, and claiming to possess co-ordinate rank with it as expository of its meaning and application, the whole collection dating from a period subsequent to the captivity and the close of the canon of scripture. there are two talmuds, one named the talmud of jerusalem, and the other the talmud of babylon, the former, the earlier of the two, belonging in its present form to the close of the th century, and the latter to at least a century later. see haggadah and halacha. talus, a man of brass, the work of hephæstos, given to minos to guard the island of crete; he walked round the island thrice a day, and if he saw any stranger approaching he made himself red-hot and embraced him. tamatave, the chief town of madagascar, on a bay on the e. coast. tamerlane or timur, a great asiatic conqueror, born at hesh, near samarcand; the son of a mongol chief, raised himself by military conquest to the throne of samarcand ( ), and having firmly established his rule over turkestan, inspired by lust of conquest began the wonderful series of military invasions which enabled him to build up an empire that at the time of his death extended from the ganges to the grecian archipelago; died whilst leading an expedition against china; was a typical asiatic despot, merciless in the conduct of war, but in peace-time a patron of science and art, and solicitous for his subjects' welfare ( - ). tamesis, the latin name for the thames, and so named by cesar in his "gallic war." tamil, a branch of the dravidian language, spoken in the s. of india and among the coolies of ceylon. tammany society, a powerful political organisation of new york city, whose ostensible objects, on its formation in , were charity and reform of the franchise; its growth was rapid, and from the first it exercised, under a central committee and chairman, known as the "boss," remarkable political influence on the democratic side. since the gigantic frauds practised in - on the municipal revenues by the then "boss," william m. tweed, and his "ring," the society has remained under public suspicion as "a party machine" not too scrupulous about its ways and means. the name is derived from a celebrated indian chief who lived in penn's day, and who has become the centre of a cycle of legendary tales. tammerfors ( ), an important manufacturing city of finland, situated on a rapid stream, which drives its cotton, linen, and woollen factories, m. nw. of tavastehuus. tammuz, a god mentioned in ezekiel, generally identified with the greek adonis (q. v.), the memory of whose fall was annually celebrated with expressions first of mourning and then of joy all over asia minor. adonis appears to have been a symbol of the sun, departing in winter and returning as youthful as ever in spring, and the worship of him a combined expression of gloom, connected with the presence of winter, and of joy, associated with the approach of summer. tampico ( ), a port of mexico, on the panuco, m. from its entrance into the gulf of mexico; the harbour accommodation has been improved, and trade is growing. tamworth ( ), an old english town on the stafford and warwickshire border, m. se. of lichfield; its history goes back to the time of the danes, by whom it was destroyed in ; an old castle, and the church of st. edith, are interesting buildings; has prosperous manufactures of elastic, paper, &c.; has a bronze statue of sir robert peel, who represented the borough in parliament. tanaÏs, the latin name for the don. tancred, a famous crusader, hero of tasso's great poem; was the son of palgrave otho the good, and of emma, robert guiscard's sister; for great deeds done in the first crusade he was rewarded with the principality of tiberias; in the "jerusalem delivered" tasso, following the chroniclers, represents him as the very "flower and pattern of chivalry"; stands as the type of "a very gentle perfect knight"; died at antioch of a wound received in battle ( - ). tandy, james napper, irish patriot, born in dublin, where he became a well-to-do merchant, and first secretary to the united irishmen association; got into trouble through the treasonable schemes of the united irishmen, and fled to america; subsequently served in the french army, took part in the abortive invasion of ireland ( ); ultimately fell into the hands of the english government, and was sentenced to death ( ), but was permitted to live an exile in france ( - ). tanganyika, a lake of east central africa, stretching between the congo free state (w.) and german east africa (e.); discovered by speke and burton in ; more carefully explored by livingstone and stanley in ; the overflow is carried off by the lukuga into the upper congo; is girt round by lofty mountains; length m., breadth from to m. tangier or tangiers ( ), a seaport of morocco, on a small bay of the strait of gibraltar; occupies a picturesque site on two hills, but within its old walls presents a dirty and crowded appearance; has a considerable shipping trade; was a british possession from to , but was abandoned by them, and subsequently became infested by pirates. tanis, an ancient city of egypt, whose ruins mark its site on the ne. of the nile delta; once the commercial metropolis of egypt, and a royal residence; fell into decay owing to the silting up of the tanitic mouth of the nile, and was destroyed in a.d. for rebellion. tanist stone, monolith erected by the celts on a coronation, agreeably to an ancient custom (judges ix. ). tanistry, a method of tenure which prevailed among the gaelic celts; according to this custom succession, whether in office or land, was determined by the family as a whole, who on the death of one holder elected another from its number; the practice was designed probably to prevent family estates falling into the hands of an incompetent or worthless heir. tanjore ( ), capital of a district ( , ) of the same name, in madras province, india, situated in a fertile plain m. sw. of madras, and about m. from the sea; surrounded by walls; contains a rajah's palace, a british residency, and manufactures silk, muslin, and cotton. tannahill, robert, scottish poet, born at paisley; the son of a weaver, was bred to the hand-loom, and with the exception of a two years' residence in lancashire, passed his life in his native town; an enthusiastic admirer of burns, fergusson, and ramsay, he soon began to emulate them, and in published a volume of "poems and songs," which, containing such songs as "gloomy winter's noo awa," "jessie the flower o' dunblane," "the wood o' craigielea," &c., proved an immediate success; disappointment at the rejection by constable of his proffered mss. of a new and enlarged edition of his works and a sense of failing health led to his committing suicide in a canal near paisley; his songs are marked by tenderness and grace, but lack the force and passion of burns ( - ). tanner, thomas, bishop and antiquary, born at market lavington, wiltshire; became a graduate and fellow of oxford; took orders, and rose to be bishop of st. asaph; his reputation as a learned and accurate antiquary rests on his two great works "notitia monastica, or a short account of the religious houses in england and wales," and "bibliotheca britannico-hibernica," a veritable mine of biographical and bibliographical erudition; bequeathed valuable collections of charters, deeds, &c., to the bodleian library ( - ). tannhÄuser, a knight of medieval legend, who wins the affection of a lady, but leaves her to worship in the cave-palace of venus, on learning which the lady plunges a dagger into her heart and dies; smitten with remorse he visits her grave, weeps over it, and hastens to rome to confess his sin to pope urban; the pope refuses absolution, and protests it is no more possible for him to receive pardon than for the dry wand in his hand to bud again and blossom; in his despair he flees from rome, but is met by venus, who lures him back to her cave, there to remain till the day of judgment; meanwhile the wand he left at rome begins to put forth green leaves, and urban, alarmed, sends off messengers in quest of the unhappy knight, but they fail to find him. tannin, an astringent principle found in gallnuts and the bark chiefly of the oak. tantalus, in the greek mythology a lydian king, who, being admitted from blood relationship to the banquets of the gods, incurred their displeasure by betraying their secrets, and was consigned to the nether world and compelled to suffer the constant pangs of hunger and thirst, though he stood up to the chin in water, and had ever before him the offer of the richest fruits, both of which receded from him as he attempted to reach them, while a huge rock hung over him, ever threatening to fall and crush him with its weight. tantia topee, the most daring and stubborn of nana sahib's lieutenants during the indian mutiny; in alliance with the rani of jhansi he upheld for a time the mutiny after the flight of his chief, but was finally captured and executed in . taoism, the religious system of laotze (q. v.). taormina ( ), a town of sicily; crowns the summit of monte tauro, m. sw. of messina; chiefly celebrated for its splendid ruins of an ancient theatre, aqueducts, sepulchres, &c. tapajos, one of the greater affluents of the amazon; its head-waters rise in the serra diamantina, in the s. of matto-grosso state; has a northward course of over m. before it joins the amazon; is a broad and excellent waterway, and navigable in its lower course for m. tapley, mark, body-servant to martin chuzzlewit, in dickens's novel of the name. tapti, a river of bombay; has its source in the betul district of the central provinces, and flows westward across the peninsula m. to the gulf of cambay; is a shallow and muddy stream, of little commercial use. tara, hill of, a celebrated eminence, cone-shaped ( ft.), in county meath, m. se. of navan; legend points to it as the site of the residence of the kings of ireland, where something like a parliament was held every three years. taranaki ( ), a provincial district of new zealand, occupying the sw. corner of north island; remarkable for its dense forests, which cover nearly three-fourths of its area, and for its beds ( to ft. deep) of titaniferous iron-sand which extend along its coasts, out of which the finest steel is manufactured; new plymouth ( ) is the capital. taranto ( ), a fortified seaport of south italy, situated on a rocky islet which lies between the gulf of taranto and the mare piccolo, a broad inlet on the e., m. s. of bari; is well built, and contains various interesting buildings, including a cathedral and castle; is connected with the mainland on the e. by a six-arched bridge, and by an ancient aqueduct on the w.; some textile manufactures are carried on, and oyster and mussel fisheries and fruit-growing are important; as the ancient tarentum its history goes back to the time when it was the chief city of magna græcia; was captured by the romans in b.c., and after the fall of the western empire was successively in the hands of goths, lombards, and saracens, and afterwards shared the fate of the kingdom of naples, to which it was united in . tarapaca ( ), a maritime province of north chili, taken from peru in ; its immense deposits of nitrate of soda are a great source of wealth to the country; capital iquique (q. v.) tarare ( ), a town of france, dep. of rhône, m. nw. of lyons; busy with the manufacture of muslins, silks, and other fine textiles. tarascon ( ), a picturesque old town of france, m. sw. of avignon; is surrounded by walls, has a th-century castle (king rent's), a gothic church, silk and woollen factories. tarbes ( ), an old historic town of france, on the adour, m. sw. of toulouse; has a fine th-century cathedral, a government cannon factory, etc. tare and tret, commercial terms, are deductions usually made from the gross weight of goods. tare is the weight of the case or covering, box, or such-like, containing the goods; deducting this the _net weight_ is left. tret is a further allowance (not now so commonly deducted) made at the rate of lb. for every lb. for waste through dust, sand, etc. tarentum. see taranto. targums, translations, dating for the most part as early as the time of ezra, of several books of the old testament into aramaic, which both in babylonia and palestine had become the spoken language of the jews instead of hebrew, executed chiefly for the service of the synagogue; they were more or less of a paraphrastic nature, and were accompanied with comments and instances in illustration; they were delivered at first orally and then handed down by tradition, which did not improve them. one of them, on the pentateuch, bears the name of onkelos, who sat at the feet of gamaliel along with st. paul, and another the name of jonathan, in the historical and prophetical books, though there are others, the jerusalem targum and the pseudo-jonathan, which are of an inferior stamp and surcharged with fancies similar to those in the talmud (q. v.). tarifa ( ), an interesting old spanish seaport, the most southerly town of europe, m. sw. of gibraltar, derives its name from the moorish leader tarif, who occupied it a.d.; held by the moors for more than years; still thoroughly moorish in appearance, dingy, crowded, and surrounded by walls; is connected by causeway with the strongly-fortified isleta de tarifa. tarnopol ( ), a town of galicia, austria, on the sereth, m. se. of lemberg; does a good trade in agricultural produce; inhabitants chiefly jews. tarnov ( ), a town of galicia, austria, on the biala, m. se. of cracow; is the see of a bishop, with cathedral, monastery, etc.; manufactures linen and leather. tarpeian rock, a precipitous cliff on the w. of the capitoline hill at rome, from which in ancient times persons guilty of treason were hurled; named after tarpeia, a vestal virgin, who betrayed the city to the sabine soldiers, then besieging rome, on condition that they gave her what they wore on their left arms, meaning their golden bracelets; instead the soldiers flung their shields (borne on their left arms) upon her, so keeping to the letter of their promise, but visiting perfidy with merited punishment; at the base of the rock her body was buried. tarquinius, name of an illustrious roman family of etruscan origin, two of whose members, according to legend, reigned as king in rome: lucius tarquinius superbus, fifth king of rome; the friend and successor of ancus martius; said to have reigned from to b.c., and to have greatly extended the power and fame of rome; was murdered by the sons of ancus martius. lucius tarquinius superbus, seventh and last king of rome ( - ), usurped the throne after murdering his father-in-law, king servius tullius; ruled as a despot, extended the power of rome abroad, but was finally driven out by a people goaded to rebellion by his tyranny and infuriated by the infamous conduct of his son sextus (the violator of lucretia); made several unsuccessful attempts to regain the royal power, failing in which he retired to cumæ, where he died. tarragona ( ), a spanish seaport, capital of a province ( ) of its own name, situated at the entrance of the francoli into the mediterranean, m. w. of barcelona; contains many interesting remains of the roman occupation, including an aqueduct, still used, and the tower of the scipios; possesses also a th-century gothic cathedral; has a large shipping and transport trade, and manufactures silk, jute, lace, &c. tarrytown ( ), a village of new york state, on the hudson, m. n. of new york; associated with the arrest of major andré in , and the closing scenes of washington irving's life. tarshish, a place frequently mentioned in the old testament, now generally identified with tartessus, a phoenician settlement in the sw. of spain, near the mouth of the guadalquivir, which became co-extensive with the district subsequently known as andalusia; also conjectured to have been tarsus, and also yemen. tarsus ( ), a city of great antiquity and interest, the ancient capital of cilicia, now in the province of adana, in turkey in asia, on the cydnus, m. above its entrance into the mediterranean; legend ascribes its foundation to sennacherib in b.c.; in roman times was a famous centre of wealth and culture, rivalling athens and alexandria; associated with the meeting of antony and cleopatra and the deaths of the emperors tacitus and maximinus; here st. paul was born and notable stoic philosophers; in the hands of the turk has decayed into a squalid residence of merchants busy with the export of corn, cotton, wool, hides, &c. in winter the population rises to , . tartars (originally tatars), a name of no precise ethnological signification, used in the th century to describe the mongolic, turkish, and other asiatic hordes, who, under genghis khan (q. v.), were the terror of eastern europe, and now bestowed upon various tribes dwelling in tartary, siberia, and the asiatic steppes. tartarus, a dark sunless waste in the nether deeps, as far below earth as heaven is above it, into which zeus hurled the titans that rebelled against him; the term was subsequently sometimes used to denote the whole nether world and sometimes the place of punishment. tartessus, the greek and roman name for the scriptural tarshish. tartini, giuseppe, a famous italian violinist and composer, born at pirano, in istria; got into trouble over his clandestine marriage with the niece of the archbishop of padua, and fled for sanctuary to a monastery at assisi; subsequently reunited to his wife established himself in padua as a teacher and composer; wrote a "treatise on music," and enjoyed a wide celebrity, and still ranks as one of the great violinists of the past ( - ). tartuffe, a knave, a creation of molière's, who makes a cloak of religion to cover his knaveries, and the name of the play in which the character appears, molière's greatest. tashkand or tashkent ( ), capital of russian turkestan, on the tchirshik, m. ne. of samarcand; an ancient place still surrounded by its m. circuit of wall, and fortified; russian enterprise has done much for it, introducing schools, &c.; carries on a brisk trade, and manufactures silks, leather, porcelain ware, &c. tasman sea, the sea lying between the new zealand group and the islands of australia and tasmania. tasmania ( ), an island and colony of britain, lying fully m. s. of australia, from which it is separated by bass strait; about the size of scotland; the beauty of its mountain and lake scenery has won it the name of "the switzerland of the south"; extensive stretches of tableland diversified by lakes--largest great lake, m. in circumference--occupy the centre; wide fertile valleys stretch down to the coastal plains, often richly wooded with lofty eucalyptus and various pine trees; rivers are numerous, and include the derwent and tamar, which form excellent waterways into the interior; enjoys a genial and temperate climate, more invigorating than that of australia; sheep-farming and latterly mining (coal in particular), and fruit-growing are the principal industries; gold, silver, and tin are also wrought; the flora, as also the fauna, is practically identical with that of australia; has a long, irregular coast-line, with many excellent harbours; chief exports are wool, tin, fruit, timber, coal, and gold; was discovered in by tasman, a dutchman, and first settled by englishmen in ; the aborigines are now completely extinct; was till a penal settlement, and received representative government in ; is divided into counties; government is conducted by a legislative council, a house of assembly, and a crown-appointed governor; most of the colonists belong to the church of england; compulsory education is in vogue; is well supplied with railways and telegraphs; was formerly called van diemen's land after van diemen, the dutch governor-general of batavia, who despatched tasman on his voyage of discovery. tasso, bernardo, an italian poet of some repute in his own day, but now chiefly remembered as the father of the greater torquato, born in venice ( - ). tasso, torquato, an illustrious italian poet, son of preceding, born at sorrento, near naples; educated at a jesuit school in naples, he displayed unusual precocity, and subsequently studied law at the university of padua, but already devoted to poetry, at published his first poem "rinaldo," a romance in cantos, the subject-matter of which is drawn from the charlemagne legends; in he entered the service of cardinal luigi d'este, by whom he was introduced to alfonso, duke of ferrara, brother of the cardinal, within whose court he received the needful impulse to begin his great poem "la gerusalemme liberata"; for the court stage he wrote his pastoral play "aminta," a work of high poetic accomplishment, which extended his popularity, and by his great epic was finished; in the following year the symptoms of mental disease revealed themselves, and after a confinement of a few days he fled from ferrara, and for two years led the life of a wanderer, the victim of his own brooding, religious melancholy, passing on foot from city to city of italy; yielding to a pent-up longing to revisit ferrara he returned, but was coldly received by the duke, and after an outburst of frenzy placed in confinement for seven years; during these years the fame of his epic spread throughout italy, and the interest created in its author eventually led to his liberation; in he was summoned by pope clement viii., from a heartless and wandering life, to appear at rome to be crowned upon the capitol the poet-laureate of italy, but, although he reached the city, his worn-out frame succumbed before the ceremony could take place; "one thing," says settembrini, the literary historian of italy, "tasso had, which few in his time possessed, a great heart, and that made him a true and great poet, and a most unhappy man;" fairfax's translation of the "jerusalem delivered" is one of his great translations in the english language ( - ). tatar, a word derived from a turanian root signifying "to pitch a tent," hence appropriate to nomadic tribes, became converted by european chroniclers into tartar, a fanciful derivative from tartaros (gr. hell), and suggestive of fiends from hell. tartary, as a geographical expression of the middle ages, embraced a vast stretch of territory from the dnieper, in eastern europe, to the sea of japan; but subsequently dwindled away to chinese and western turkestan. tate, nahum, poet-laureate, born in dublin, where he was educated at trinity college; came to london to ply the craft of letters, and in succeeded shadwell in the laureateship; improvident, and probably intemperate, he died in the mint, the refuge of bankrupts in those days; wrote some dramatic pieces, but is to be remembered mainly for his metrical version of the psalms, executed in conjunction with nicholas brady, which superseded the older version done by sternhold (q. v.) and hopkins ( - ). tatius, achilles, a greek romancer who flourished about the beginning of the th century a.d.; wrote the romance of "leucippe and cleitophon." tattersall's, a noted horse-mart and haunt of racing men at knightsbridge, london, established by richard tattersall ( - ), an auctioneer, who in obtained a years' lease from lord grosvenor of premises in hyde park corner; the present premises were occupied on the expiry of the lease in . tattooing, a practice of imprinting various designs, often pictorial, upon the skin by means of colouring matter, e. g. chinese ink, cinnabar, introduced into punctures made by needles; widely in vogue in past and present times amongst uncivilised peoples, and even to some extent amongst civilised races; like the use of rouge, was mainly for the purpose of ornamentation and for improving the appearance, but also in some cases for religious purposes; reached its highest perfection in japan, where it seems to have been largely resorted to as a substitute for clothing, and was never employed on the face, feet, or hands; among the south sea islanders the custom is universal, and is still practised by considerable numbers of the lower-class criminals of europe. tau, cross of, or st. anthony's cross, a cross resembling the letter t. tauchnitz, karl cristoph traugott, a noted german printer and bookseller, born at grosspardau, near leipzig; trained as a printer, he started on his own account in leipzig in , flourished, and became celebrated for his neat and cheap editions of the roman and greek classics; introduced stereotyping into germany ( - ). the well-known "british authors" collection was started in by christian bernard, baron von tauchnitz, a nephew of the preceding, who established himself as a printer and publisher in leipzig in ; was ennobled in , and made a saxon life-peer in ; _b_. . tauler, johann, a german mystic, born in strasburg, bred a monk of the dominican order, had, along with the rest of his order, to flee the city, and settled in basel, became a centre of religious life there, and acquired repute as one of the most eloquent preachers of the day; his sphere was not speculative thought but practical piety, and his "sermons" take rank among the aboriginal monuments of german prose literature ( - ). taunton, , ( ), a trim, pleasantly-situated town of somersetshire ( ), on the tone, m. sw. of bristol; has a fine old castle founded in the th century, rebuilt in the th century, and having interesting associations with perkin warbeck, judge jeffreys, and sydney smith; has various schools, a college, barracks, &c.; noted for its hosiery, glove, and silk manufactures, and is also a busy agricultural centre. , capital ( ) of bristol county, massachusetts, on the taunton river, m. s. of boston, a well equipped and busy manufacturing town. taurida ( , ), a government of south russia, of extensive area, jutting down in peninsular shape into the black sea, and including the crimea and isthmus of perekop; forms the western boundary of the sea of azov; cattle-breeding and agriculture the staple industries. taurus, or the bull, a constellation, the second in size of the zodiac, which the sun enters towards the th of april. taurus, mount, a mountain range of turkey in asia, stretching w. for about m. in an unbroken chain from the head-waters of the euphrates to the Ægean sea, and forming the s. buttress of the tableland of asia minor; in the e. is known as the ala dagh, in the w. as the bulghar dagh. the anti-taurus is an offshoot of the main range, which, continuing to the ne., unites with the systems of the caucasus. tavernier, jean baptist, baron d'aubonne, a celebrated french traveller, born in paris, the son of an antwerp engraver; was a wanderer from his boyhood, starting on his travels at the age of , and by the end of had made his way as valet, page, &c., over most of europe; during the years - he in six separate expeditions traversed most of the lands of asia in the capacity of a dealer in jewels; reaped large profits; was honoured by various potentates, and returned with stores of valuable information respecting the commerce of those countries, which with much else interesting matter lie embodied in his great work, "six voyages," a classic now in travel-literature; was ennobled in by louis xiv. ( - ). tavira ( ), a seaport in the s. of portugal; has a moorish castle, and good sardine and tunny fisheries. tavistock ( ), a market-town of devon, situated at the western edge of dartmoor, on the tavy, m. n. of plymouth; has remains of a th-century benedictine abbey, a guild-hall, grammar school, &c.; is one of the old stannary towns, and still largely depends for its prosperity on the neighbouring tin, copper, and arsenic mines. taxidermy, the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals for exhibition in cabinets. tay, a river of scotland whose drainage area lies almost wholly within perthshire; rises on the northern slope of ben lui, on the argyll and perthshire border, and flowing m. ne. under the names of fillan and dochart, enters loch tay, whence it sweeps n., se., and e., passing aberfeldy, dunkeld, perth, and dundee, and enters the north sea by a noble estuary m. long and from ½ m. to ½ m. broad; chief affluents are the tummel, isla, almond, and earn; discharges a greater body of water than any british stream; is renowned for the beauty of its scenery, and possesses valuable salmon fisheries; has a total length of m., and is navigable to perth; immediately w. of dundee it is spanned by the tay bridge, the longest structure of its kind in the world, consisting of spans, with a total width of yards; loch tay, one of the finest of highland lochs, lies at the base of ben lawers, stretches ½ m. ne. from killin to kenmore, and varies from ½ m. to ½ m. in breadth. taygetus, a range of mountains in the peloponnese, separating laconia from messina. taylor, bayard, a noted american writer and traveller, born at kennett square, pennsylvania; was bred to the printing trade, and by had published a volume of poems, "ximena," and "views afoot, or europe seen with knapsack and staff," the fruit of a walking tour through europe; next for a number of years contributed, as travel correspondent, to the _tribune_, visiting in this capacity egypt, the greater part of asia, central africa, russia. iceland, etc.; during - acted as secretary of legation at st. petersburg, and in was appointed ambassador at berlin; his literary reputation rests mainly on his poetic works, "poems of the orient," "rhymes of travel," etc., and an admirable translation of goethe's "faust"; also wrote several novels ( - ). taylor, sir henry, poet, born at bishop. middleham, in durham; after a nine months' unhappy experience as a midshipman obtained his discharge, and having acted for some years as clerk in the storekeeper-general's department, entered the colonial office in , where he continued till his retirement in ; literature engaged his leisure hours, and his four tragedies--the best of which is "philip van artevelde"--are an important contribution to the drama of the century, and characterised as the noblest effort in the true taste of the english historical drama produced within the last century; published also a volume of lyric poems, besides other works in prose and verse, including "the statesman," and a charming "autobiography," supplemented later by his no less charming "correspondence"; received the distinctions of k.c.m.g. ( ) and d.c.l. ( - ). taylor, isaac, a voluminous writer on quasi-philosophic subjects, born in lavenham, suffolk; passed his life chiefly at ongar engaged in literary pursuits; contributed to the _eclectic review_, _good words_, and wrote amongst other works "natural history of enthusiasm," "natural history of fanaticism," "spiritual despotism" and "ultimate civilisation" ( - ). his eldest son, isaac, entered the church, and rose to be rector of settrington, in yorkshire, and was collated to a canonry of york in ; has a wide reputation as a philologist, and author of "words and places," and "the alphabet, an account of the origin and development of letters," besides "etruscan researches," "the origin of the aryans," etc.; _b_. . taylor, jeremy, great english divine and preacher, born at cambridge, son of a barber; educated at caius college; became a fellow of all souls', oxford; took orders; attracted the attention of laud; was made chaplain to the king, and appointed to the living of uppingham; on the sequestration of his living in joined the king at oxford, and adhered to the royal cause through the civil war; suffered much privation, and imprisonment at times; returning to wales, he procured the friendship and enjoyed the patronage of the earl of carberry, in whose mansion at grove he wrote a number of his works; before the restoration he received preferment in ireland, and after that event was made bishop, first of down and then of dromore; his life here was far from a happy one, partly through insubordination in his diocese and partly through domestic sorrow; his works are numerous, but the principal are his "liberty of prophesying," "holy living and holy dying," "life of christ," "ductor dubitantium," a work on casuistry; he was a good man and a faithful, more a religious writer than a theological; his books are read more for their devotion than their divinity, and they all give evidence of luxuriance of imagination, to which the epithet "florid" has not inappropriately been applied; in church matters he was a follower of laud ( - ). taylor, john, known as the "water-poet," born at gloucester; was successively a waterman on the thames, a sailor in the navy, public-house keeper in oxford, etc.; walked from london to edinburgh, "not carrying any money to or fro, neither begging, borrowing, or asking meat, drink, or lodging," and described the journey in his "penniless pilgrimage"; wrote also "travels in germanie," and enjoyed considerable repute in his time as a humorous rhymester ( - ). taylor, tom, a noted playwright and journalist, born at sunderland; was elected to a fellowship at cambridge, for two years filled the chair of english literature at university college, london; in was called to the bar, but shortly afterwards took to journalism, writing leaders for the _morning chronicle_ and _daily news_; during - held secretarial appointments to the board of health and in the local government act office; succeeded shirley brooks as editor of _punch_ in ; was throughout his life a prolific writer and adapter of plays, staging upwards of pieces, of which the best known are "to parents and guardians," "still waters run deep," "our american cousin," "ticket-of-leave man," etc. ( - ). taylor, william, literary historian and critic, born at norwich; residence on the continent enabled him to master french, italian, and especially german, and confirmed him in his taste for literature, to pursue which he abandoned business; various essays and reviews formed the groundwork of his elaborate "historic survey of german literature," the first systematic survey of german literature presented to english readers; taught german to george borrow, who in "lavengro" sketched his interesting personality, which may be further studied in his correspondence with southey, scott, etc. ( - ). taylor, zachary, twelfth president of the united states, born in orange county, virginia; obtained a lieutenancy in the navy in ; first saw service in indian wars on the north-west frontier; in cleared the indians from florida and won the brevet of brigadier-general; great victories over the mexicans on the texan frontier during - raised his popularity to such a pitch that on his return he was carried triumphantly into the presidency; the burning questions of his brief term of office were the proposed admission of california as a free state and the extension of slavery into the newly-acquired territory; was a man of strong character, a daring and skilful general, of unassuming manners, and loved by the mass of the people, to whom he was known as "old rough and ready" ( - ). taylor institute, a building in oxford erected from bequests by sir robert taylor and dr. randolph as a gallery to contain works of art left to the university, and which contains a noble collection. te deum (thee, o god), a grand hymn in latin, so called from the first words, sung at matins and on occasions of joy and thanksgiving; of uncertain authorship; is called also the ambrosian hymn, as ascribed, though without foundation, to st. ambrose; is with more reason seemingly ascribed to hilary, bishop of aries. teazle, lady, the heroine in sheridan's "school for scandal," married to a man old enough to be her father, sir peter teazle. teck, a german principality, named after a castle which crowns an eminence called "the teck," in the swabian alb, m. se. of stuttgart, conferred in on duke albert of würtemberg's son, who in married the princess mary of cambridge; their daughter, princess may, became in the duchess of york. tees, english river, rises on cross fell, cumberland, and flows e., forming the boundary between durham and york; enters the north sea m. below stockton. tegner, esaias, a popular swedish poet, born at kyrkerud, the son of a country parson; graduated with distinction at lund university in , and shortly afterwards became lecturer in philosophy; in , already a noted poet, he was called to the chair of greek, and in later years was the devoted bishop of vexiö; his poems, of which "frithiof's saga" is reckoned the finest, have the clearness and finish of classic models, but are charged with the fire and vigour of modern romanticism ( - ). tegucigalpa ( ), capital of honduras, situated near the centre of the country at a height of ft., in the fertile valley of the rio grande, surrounded by mountains; has a cathedral and university. tehama, a low, narrow plain in arabia, w. of the mountain range which overlooks the red sea. teheran ( ), capital of persia, stands on a plain near the elburz mountains, m. s. of the caspian sea; is surrounded by a bastioned rampart and ditch, m. in circumference, and entered by gateways; much of it is of modern construction and handsomely laid out with parks, wide streets, and imposing buildings, notable among which are the shah's palace and the british legation, besides many of the bazaars and wealthy merchant's houses; heat during the summer drives the court, foreign embassies, and others to the cooler heights in the n.; staple industries are the manufactures of carpets, silks, cottons, &c. tehuantepec, an isthmus in mexico, m. across, between a gulf of the name and the bay of campeachy; it contains on the pacific coast a town ( ) of the same name, with manufactures and pearl fisheries. teignmouth ( ), a watering-place and port of devonshire, on the estuary of the teign (here crossed by a wooden bridge ft. long), m. s. of exeter; has a benedictine nunnery, baths, pier, &c.; does some shipbuilding. teinds, in scotland tithes derived from the produce of the land for the maintenance of the clergy. telamones, figures, generally colossal, of men supporting entablatures, as caryatides of women. tel-el-kebir (the "great mound"), on the edge of the egyptian desert, midway between ismaila and cairo, the scene of a memorable victory by the british forces under sir garnet wolseley over the egyptian forces of arabi pasha (september , ), which brought the war to a close. telemachus, the son of ulysses and penelope (q. v.), who an infant when his father left for troy was a grown-up man on his return; having gone in quest of his father after his long absence found him on his return in the guise of a beggar, and whom he assisted in slaying his mother's suitors. teleology, the doctrine of final causes, particularly the argument for the being and character of god from the being and character of his works, that the end reveals his purpose from the beginning, the end being regarded as the thought of god at the beginning, or the universe viewed as the realisation of him and his eternal purpose. telepathy, name given to the supposed power of communication between mind and mind otherwise than by the ordinary sense vehicles. telford, thomas, a celebrated engineer, born, the son of a shepherd, in westerkirk parish, eskdale; served an apprenticeship to a stone-mason, and after a sojourn in edinburgh found employment in london in ; as surveyor of public works for shropshire in constructed bridges over the severn, and planned and superintended the ellesmere canal connecting the dee, mersey, and severn; his reputation now made, he was in constant demand by government, and was entrusted with the construction of the caledonian canal, the great road between london and holyhead (including the menai suspension bridge), and st. katherine docks, london; but his bridges, canals, harbours, and roads are to be found in all parts of the kingdom, and bear the stamp of his thorough and enduring workmanship; "the colossus of roads," southey called him ( - ). tell, a fertile strip of land of m. of average breadth in north-west africa, between the mountains and the mediterranean sea; produces cereals, wine, &c. tell, william, swiss hero and patriot, a peasant, native of the canton of uri, who flourished in the beginning of the th century; resisted the oppression of the austrian governor gessler, and was taken prisoner, but was promised his liberty if with his bow and arrow he could hit an apple on the head of his son, a feat he accomplished with one arrow, with the second arrow in his belt, which he told gessler he had kept to shoot him with if he had failed. this so incensed the governor that he bound him to carry off to his castle; but as they crossed the lake a storm arose, and tell had to be unbound to save them, when he leapt upon a rock and made off, to lie in ambush, whence he shot the oppressor through the heart as he passed him; a rising followed, which ended only with the emancipation of switzerland from the yoke of austria. tellez, gabriel, the assumed name of tirso de molina, spanish dramatist, born in madrid; became a monk; wrote comedies, some of which keep their place on the spanish stage; as a dramatist ranks next to lope de vega, whose pupil he was ( - ). tellicherri ( ), a seaport on the malabar coast, madras presidency, india; is fortified and garrisoned; surrounding country is pretty, as well as productive of coffee, cardamoms, and sandal-wood. tellurium, a rare metal usually found in combination with other metals. temesvar ( ), a royal free city of hungary, on the bega canal, m. ne. of belgrade; is a strongly-fortified, well-built city, equipped with theatre, schools, colleges, hospitals, &c., and possesses a handsome gothic cathedral and ancient castle; manufactures flour, woollens, silks, paper, &c. tempe, vale of, a valley in the ne. of thessaly, lying between olympus on the n. and ossa on the s., traversed by the river peneus, and for the beauty of its scenery celebrated by the greek poets as a favourite haunt of apollo and the muses; it is rather less than m. in length, and opens eastward into a spacious plain. templars, a famous order of knights which flourished during the middle ages, and originated in connection with the crusades. its founders were hugues de payen and geoffroi de st. omer, who, along with other french knights, in formed themselves into a brotherhood, taking vows of chastity and poverty, for the purpose of convoying, in safety from attacks of saracens and infidels, pilgrims to the holy land. king baldwin ii. of jerusalem granted them a residence in a portion of his palace, built on the site of the temple of solomon, and close to the church of the holy sepulchre, which became the special object of their protection. hence their assumption of the name "templars." the order rapidly increased in numbers, and drew members from all classes. "the templar was the embodiment of the two strongest passions of the middle ages--the desire for military renown and for a monk's life." a constitution was drawn up by bernard of clairvaux ( ), and later three ranks were recognised--the knights, who alone wore the mantle of white linen and red cross, men-at-arms, and lower retainers, while a grand-master, seneschal, and other officers were created. during the first years of their existence the templars increased enormously in power; under papal authority they enjoyed many privileges, such as exemption from taxes, tithes, and interdict. after the capture of jerusalem by the infidels cyprus became in their head-quarters, and subsequently france. but their usefulness was at an end, and their arrogance, luxury, and quarrels with the hospitallers had alienated the sympathies of christendom. measures of the cruellest and most barbarous kind were taken for their suppression by philip the fair of france, supported by pope clement iv. between and hundreds were burned at the stake, the order scattered, and their possessions confiscated. temple, frederick, archbishop of canterbury, born at santa maura, in leukas, one of the ionian islands; was highly distinguished at balliol college, oxford, as graduate, fellow, and tutor; in became principal of kneller hall training college, was one of h.m. inspectors of schools, and during and was head-master of rugby; a liberal in politics, he supported the disestablishment of the irish church, and as a broad-churchman was elected to the bishopric of exeter ( ), of london ( ), and in was consecrated archbishop of canterbury; contributed to the celebrated "essays and reviews"; published "sermons preached in rugby chapel," and in was bampton lecturer; _b_. . temple, sir william, diplomatist and essayist, born in london, and educated at cambridge; travel on the continent, courtship, and marriage, and some years of quiet and studious retirement in ireland, occupied him during the protectorate; in was returned to the convention parliament at dublin, and five years later, having resettled in england, began his diplomatic career, the most notable success in which was his arrangement in of the triple alliance between england, holland, and sweden to hold in check the growing power of france; as ambassador at the hague became friendly with the prince of orange, whose marriage with the princess mary (daughter of james ii.) he negotiated; was recalled in , but after the dutch war returned to his labours at the hague, and in carried through the peace of nimeguen; although offered a state secretaryship more than once, shrank from the responsibilities of office under charles ii., a diffidence he again showed in the reign of william iii.; the later years of his life were spent in epicurean ease, in the enjoyment of his garden, and in the pursuit of letters at his villa at sheen, and, after , at moor park, in surrey, where he had swift for secretary; is remembered in constitutional history for his scheme (a failure ultimately) to put the king more completely under the check of the privy council by remodelling its constitution; was a writer of considerable distinction, his miscellaneous essays and memoirs being notable for grace and perspicuity of style ( - ). temple, the, of jerusalem, a building constructed on the same plan and for the same purpose as the tabernacle (q. v.), only of larger dimensions, more substantial and costly materials, and a more ornate style; it was a magnificent structure, contained treasures of wealth, and was the pride of the hebrew people. there were three successive structures that bore the name--solomon's, built by solomon in b.c., and destroyed by nebuchadnezzar in b.c.; zerubbabel's, built in , and pillaged and desecrated by antiochus epiphanes in b.c.; and herod's, on the ruins of the former, begun in b.c., finished in a.d., and destroyed by titus in a.d. all three were built on mount moriah, on the spot where abraham offered up isaac, and where david afterwards raised an altar to the lord; and of the number the palm must be given to the temple of solomon, it was the temple _par excellence_. temple bar, a famous london gateway, which formerly divided fleet street from the strand; pressure of traffic caused its removal in ; now stands in theobald's park, cheshunt. tenasserim ( ), the southernmost division of burma, forms a long coastal strip facing the bay of bengal and backed by the mountain barrier of siam; acquired by the british in . tenby ( ), a popular little watering-place of pembrokeshire, has a rocky site on carmarthen bay coast; ruins of its old wall and of a castle still remain; has a fine th-century gothic church, marble statue of the prince consort, &c., while its extensive sands and splendid bathing facilities attract crowds of summer visitors. tencin, madame de, a french writer of romances, a woman of clever wit and of personal charms, who abandoned a religious life and, coming to paris in , immersed herself in the political and fashionable life of the city; was not too careful of her morals, and ranked among her lovers the regent, fontenelle, and cardinal dubois; used her influence against the jansenists; more circumspect in later life she presided over a fashionable salon; was the mother of d'alembert ( - ). tendon achilles, name given to the tendon of the leg above the heel, so called as being the tendon by which thetis held achilles when she dipped him in the styx, and where alone he was in consequence vulnerable. tenedos, a rocky but fertile little island belonging to turkey, in the Ægean, m. off the mainland of turkey in asia, and m. s. of the entrance to the dardanelles; it was the place the greeks made a feint they had returned to during the trojan war. tenerife ( ), the largest of the canary islands (q. v.), of volcanic formation, with cliff-bound coast; richly fruit-bearing; chief exports, cochineal, tobacco, and wine; capital, santa cruz (q. v.); most notable natural feature is the famous peak of tenerife, a conical-shaped dormant volcano, , ft. in height, at the summit of which there is a crater ft. in circuit; last eruption took place in . teniers, david, the elder ( - ), and david teniers, the younger ( - ), father and son, both famous masters of the flemish school of painting, and natives of antwerp; the greater genius belonged to the younger, who carried his father's gift of depicting rural and homely life to a higher pitch of perfection. tennant, william, a minor scottish poet, born at anstruther, fife; was educated at st. andrews, and after a short experience of business life betook himself to teaching in , filling posts at dunino, lasswade, and dollar; his most notable poem, "anster fair" ( ), was warmly received, and in his knowledge of eastern languages won him the chair of oriental languages in st. andrews ( - ). tennemann, w. gottlieb, german historian of philosophy; was professor at marburg; wrote both a history and a manual of philosophy ( - ). tennessee ( , , of which are coloured), one of the central states of the american union, lies s. of kentucky, and stretches from the mississippi (w.) to north carolina (e.); is one-third larger than ireland; politically it is divided into three districts with characteristic natural features; east tennessee, mountainous, with ridges of the appalachians, possessing inexhaustible stores of coal, iron, and copper; middle tennessee, an undulating, wheat, corn, and tobacco-growing country; and west tennessee, with lower-lying plains growing cotton, and traversed by the tennessee river, the largest affluent of the ohio; nashville is the capital and largest city; became a state in . tenniel, john, a celebrated cartoonist who, since , has week by week drawn the chief political cartoon in _punch_, the merits of which are too well known to need comment; illustrations to "Æsop's fables," "ingoldsby legends," "alice in wonderland," and other works, reveal the grace and delicacy of his workmanship; born in london, and practically a self-taught artist; joined the staff of _punch_ in ; was knighted in ; _b_. . tennyson, alfred, lord, poet-laureate, born at somersby, in lincolnshire, son of a clergyman, and of aristocratic descent; was educated at the grammar school of louth and at trinity college, cambridge, which latter he left without taking a degree; having already devoted himself to the "ars poetica," an art which he cultivated more and more all his life long; entered the university in , and issued his first volume of poems in , though he had four years previously contributed to a small volume conjointly with a brother; to the poems of he added others, and published them in and , after which, endowed by a pension from the civil list of £ , he produced the "princess" in , and "in memoriam" in ; was in appointed to the laureateship, and next in that capacity wrote his "ode on the death of the duke of wellington"; in appeared his "maud," in the first four of his "idylls of the king," which were followed by "enoch arden" and the "northern farmer" in , and by a succession of other pieces too numerous to mention here; he was raised to the peerage in on the recommendation of mr. gladstone; he was a poet of the ideal, and was distinguished for the exquisite purity of his style and the harmony of his rhythm; had a loving veneration for the past, and an adoring regard for everything pure and noble, and if he indulged in a vein of sadness at all, as he sometimes did, it was when he saw, as he could not help seeing, the feebler hold regard for such things had on the men and women of his generation than the worship of mammon; carlyle thought affectionately but plaintively of him, "one of the finest-looking men in the world," he writes to emerson; "never had such company over a pipe!... a truly interesting son of earth and son of heaven ... wanted a _task_, with which that of spinning rhymes, and naming it 'art' and 'high art' in a time like ours, would never furnish him" ( - ). tenterden, a market-town in kent, once a cinque port; the steeple of the church of which is reported to have been the cause of the goodwin sands, the stones intended for the dyke which kept the sea off having been used instead to repair the church. tenterden, lord, english judge, born at canterbury; wrote a "treatise on the law relative to merchant ships and seamen"; was raised to the peerage; an obstinate enemy of reform ( - ). teocalli, among the ancient mexicans a spirally-terraced pyramidal structure surmounted by a temple containing images of the gods. teplitz ( ), a popular health resort in n. bohemia, finely situated in a valley between the erzgebirge and mittelgebirge, m. nw. of leitmeritz; its thermal springs are celebrated for the cure of gout, rheumatism, &c. teraphim, small images, a sort of household gods among the hebrews, consulted as oracles, and endowed with some magic virtue. teratology, the branch of biology which treats of malformations or departures from the normal type. terburg, gerhard, a noted dutch painter, whose portraits and _genre_ pictures are to be found in most of the great european galleries; born at zwolle; after travelling in germany, italy, england, and spain, settled at deventer, where he became burgomaster; his most famous pictures are a portrait of william of orange, "father's advice," and his "congress of münster, ," which last was bought for £ and presented to the national gallery, london ( ). terceira ( ), the second largest of the azores; rears cattle, and yields grain, oranges, &c.; chief town angra, capital of the group. terence, roman comic poet, born at carthage; brought thence as a slave; educated by his master, a roman senator, and set free; composed plays, adaptations of others in greek by menander and apollodorus; they depict greek manners for roman imitation in a pure and perfect latin style, and with great dramatic skill ( - b.c.). tereus. see philomela. terminus, in roman mythology a deity who presided over boundaries, the worship of whom was instituted by _numa_ (q. v.). terpsichorË, the muse of choral song and dancing. terra-cotta, a composition of fine clay and fine colourless sand moulded into shapes and baked to hardness. terray, abbÉ, "dissolute financier" of louis xv.; "paying eightpence in the shilling, so that wits exclaim in some press at the play-house, 'where is abbé terray that he might reduce it to two-thirds!'"; lived a scandalous life, and ingratiated himself with madame pompadour; he held his post till the accession of louis xvi., and fell with his iniquitous colleagues ( - ). terre-haute ( ), capital of vigo county, indiana, stands on a plateau overlooking the wabash, m. s. of chicago; is situated in a rich coal district, and has numerous foundries and various factories; is well equipped with schools and other public institutions. terry, ellen (mrs. charles kelly), the most celebrated of living english actresses, born at coventry; made her _début_ at the early age of eight, appearing as mamilius in "the winter's tale," at the princess theatre, then under the management of charles kean; during -- she lived in retirement, but returning to the stage in achieved her first great success in the character of portia; played for some time with the bancrofts and at the court theatre; in december made her first appearance at the lyceum theatre, then under the management of henry irving (q. v.), with whose subsequent successful career her own is inseparably associated, sharing with him the honours of a long list of memorable shakespearian and other performances; _b_. . tersanctus, the ascription of praise, holy, holy, holy, preliminary to the consecrating prayer in holy communion. tertullian, quintus septimius florens, one of the latin fathers, born at carthage, the son of a roman centurion; was well educated; bred a rhetorician; was converted to christianity, became presbyter of carthage, and embraced montanist views (q. v.); wrote numerous works, apologetical, polemical, doctrinal, and practical, the last of an ascetic tendency ( - ). test act, act of date , now repealed, requiring all officials under the crown to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, &c.; directed equally against dissenters, roman catholics, &c. testudo (tortoise-shell), in ancient roman warfare a covering of the shields of the soldiers held over their heads as protection against missiles thrown from the walls when besieging a city. tetanus or lock-jaw, a nervous affection of a most painful and fatal character, which usually begins with intensely painful and persistent cramp of the muscles of the throat and jaws, spreading down to the larger muscles of the body. as the disease progresses the muscles become more and more rigid, while the paroxysms of pain increase in violence and frequency. death as a rule results from either sheer exhaustion or failure of breath through the spasmodic closure of the glottis. the cause of the disease is now ascertained to be due to the action of a microbe, which may find an entrance through any wound or abrasion of the skin, not necessarily of the thumb as is the popular belief. tethys, in the greek mythology a daughter of uranus and gaia, wife of oceanus (q. v.), and mother of the river-gods. tetragrammaton, the mystic number "four," symbolical of deity, whose name in different languages is composed of four letters. tetuan ( ), a port and walled town of morocco, on the martil, m. above its entrance into the mediterranean and m. s. of ceuta; has a fortified castle and wall-towers; exports provisions to ceuta, and has a good trade in fruit, wool, silk, cotton, &c. tetzel, john, a dominican monk, born at leipzig; was employed in the sale of indulgences to all who subscribed to the fund for building st. peter's at rome, in opposition to whom and his doings luther published his celebrated theses in , and whose extravagances involved him in the censure of the church ( - ). teufelsdrÖck, the hero of "sartor" and prototype of the author as a thinker and a man in relation to the spirit of the time, which is such that it rejects him as its servant, and he rejects it as his master; the word means "outcast of the devil," and the devil is the spirit of the time, which the author and his prototype here has, god-compelled, risen up in defiance of and refused to serve under; for a time the one or the other tried to serve it, till they discovered the slavery the attempt more and more involved them in, when they with one bold effort tore asunder the bands that bound them, and with an "everlasting no" achieved at one stroke their emancipation; a man this born to look through the show of things into things themselves. teutonic knights, like the templars (q. v.) and hospitallers, a religious order of knighthood which arose during the period of the crusades, originally for the purpose of tending wounded crusaders; subsequently became military in character, and besides the care of the sick and wounded included among its objects aggressive warfare upon the heathen; was organised much in the same way as the templars, and like them acquired extensive territorial possessions; during the th and th centuries were constantly at war with the heathen wends and lithuanians, but the conversion of these to christianity and several defeats destroyed both the prestige and usefulness of the knights, and the order thenceforth began to decline. as a secularised, land-owning order the knighthood lasted till , when it was entirely suppressed in germany by napoleon; but branches still exist in the netherlands and in austria, where care for the wounded in war has been resumed. teutons, the most energetic and progressive section of the aryan group of nations, embracing the following races speaking languages traceable to a common stock: ( ) germanic, including germans, dutch, flemings, and english; ( ) scandinavian, embracing danes, swedes, norwegians, icelanders. but naturally celts and other race-elements have in the course of centuries entered into the composition of these peoples. tewfik pasha, mohammed, khedive of egypt from the time of his father's abdication in ; a man of simple tastes and religious disposition, friendly and loyal to the english; arabi pasha's insurrection, closed at tel-el-kebir (q. v.), the mahdi's rising and capture of khartoum, occurred during his reign, which, however, also witnessed egypt's steadily increasing prosperity under english rule ( - ). tewkesbury ( ), a market-town of gloucestershire, at the confluence of the avon and severn (here spanned by one of telford's bridges), m. ne. of gloucester; possesses one of the finest of old english churches in the norman style; trades chiefly in agricultural produce; half a mile distant is the field of the battle of tewkesbury (may , ), where the yorkists under edward iv. crushed the lancastrians. texas ( , , including coloured), the largest of the united states of america, in the extreme sw., fronts the gulf of mexico for m. between mexico (w.) and louisiana (e.); has an area more than twice that of the british isles, exhibiting a great variety of soil from rich alluvial valleys and pastoral prairies to arid deserts of sand in the s. climate in the s. is semi-tropical, in the n. colder and drier. the useful metals are found in abundance, but agriculture and stock-raising are the chief occupations, texas being the leading cattle-raising and cotton state in the union; seceded from the republic of mexico in , and was an independent state till , when it was annexed to the american union. austin is the capital and galveston the principal port. texel ( ), an island of north holland, situated at the entrance to the zuider zee and separated from the mainland by a narrow strait called the marsdiep, the scene of several memorable naval engagements between the dutch and english; staple industries are sheep and dairy farming. tezcuco ( ), a city of mexico which, under the name acolhuacan, was once a centre of aztec culture, of which there are interesting remains still extant; is situated on a salt lake bearing the same name, m. ne. of mexico city. thackeray, william makepeace, novelist, born in calcutta, educated at the charterhouse and at trinity college, cambridge; after leaving college, which he did without taking a degree, travelled on the continent, making long stays at rome and paris, and "the dear little saxon town (weimar) where goethe lived"; his ambition was to be an artist, but failing in that and pecuniary resources, he turned to literature; in straitened circumstances at first wrote for the journals of the day and contributed to _punch_, in which the well-known "snob papers" and "jeames's diary" originally appeared; in he produced the "paris sketch-book," his first published work, but it was not till the first of his novels, "vanity fair," was issued in parts, which was followed in by "pendennis," in by "esmond," in by "the newcomes," in by "the virginians," in by "philip," and in by "denis duval"; in he lectured in the united states on "the english humorists of the eighteenth century," and in on "the four georges," while in he was appointed first editor of _cornhill_. when "vanity fair" was issuing, mrs. carlyle wrote her husband: "very good indeed; beats dickens out of the world"; but his greatest effort was "esmond," which accordingly is accounted "the most perfect, artistically, of his fictions." of thackeray, in comparison with dickens, m. taine says, he was "more self-contained, better instructed and stronger, a lover of moral dissertations, a counsellor of the public, a sort of lay preacher, less bent on defending the poor, more bent on censuring man; brought to the aid of satire a sustained common-sense, great knowledge of the heart, consummate cleverness, powerful reasoning, a store of meditated hatred, and persecuted vice with all the weapons of reflection... his novels are a war against the upper classes of his country" ( - ). thaÏs, an athenian courtezan who accompanied alexander the great on his expedition into asia; had children after his death to ptolemy lagi. thalberg, sigismund, a celebrated pianist, born at geneva; early displayed a talent for music and languages; was intended and trained for a diplomatic career, but, overcoming his father's scruples, followed his bent for music, and soon took rank as one of the most brilliant pianists of the age; "thalberg," said liszt, "is the only pianist who can play the violin on the key-board"; composed a large number of pianoforte pieces, chiefly fantasias and variations ( - ). thales, philosopher of greece, and one of her seven sages; was a philosopher of the physical school, and the father of philosophy in general, as the first to seek and find within nature an explanation of nature; "the principle of all things is water," he says; "all comes from water, and to water all returns"; flourished about the close of the th century b.c. thalia, one of the three graces (q. v.), as also of the nine muses (q. v.). thallium, a rare metallic element similar to lead, but heavier, discovered in by the green in the spectrum in the flame as it was being volatilised. thames, the most important river of great britain, formed by the junction at lechdale of four head-streams--the isis, churn, coln, and leach--which spring from the se. slope of the cotswold hills; winds across the southern midlands eastwards till in a wide estuary it enters the north sea; forms the boundary-line between several counties, and passes oxford, windsor, eton, richmond, london, woolwich, and gravesend; navigable for barges to lechdale, and for ocean steamers to tilbury docks; tide is felt as far as teddington, m.; length estimated at m. thane or thegn, a title of social distinction among the anglo-saxons, bestowed, in the first instance, upon men bound in military service to the king, and who came to form a nobility of service as distinguished from a nobility of blood; these obtained grants of land, and had thegns under them; in this way the class of thegns widened; subsequently the name was allowed to the ceorl who had acquired four hides of land and fulfilled certain requirements; after the norman conquest the thegnhood practically embraced the knighthood; the name dropped out of use after henry ii.'s reign, but lasted longer in scotland. thanet, isle of ( ), forms the ne. corner of kent, from the mainland of which it is separated by the stour and the rivulet nethergong; on its shores, washed by the north sea, stand the popular watering-places, ramsgate, margate, and broadstairs; the north-eastern extremity, the north foreland, is crowned by a lighthouse. thasos ( ), an island of turkey, in the Ægean sea, near the macedonian coast; is mountainous and richly wooded; inhabited almost entirely by greeks. thaumuz. see taumuz. thÉÂtre franÇais, theatre in the palais royal, paris, where the french classic plays are produced and rendered by first-class artistes. thebaÏde, a desert in upper egypt; the retreat in early times of a number of christian hermits. thebans, name given to the inhabitants of boeotia, from thebes, the capital; were reckoned dull and stupid by the athenians. thebes, an ancient city of egypt of great renown, once capital of upper egypt; covered sq. m. of the valley of the nile on both sides of the river, m. se. of cairo; now represented by imposing ruins of temples, palaces, tombs, and statues of colossal size, amid which the humble dwellings of four villages--luxor, karnack, medinet habu, and kurna--have been raised. the period of its greatest flourishing extended from about to b.c., but some of its ruins have been dated as far back as b.c. thebes, capital of the ancient grecian state boeotia (q. v.), whose site on the slopes of mount teumessus, m. nw. of athens, is now occupied by the village of thiva; its legendary history, embracing the names of cadmus, dionysus, hercules, oedipus, &c., and authentic struggles with athens and sparta during the peloponnesian war, its rise to supremacy under epaminondas over all greece, and its destruction by alexander, have all combined to place it amongst the most famous cities of ancient greece. theism, belief in the existence of god associated in general with a belief in providence and revelation. theiss, the longest river of hungary and largest of the affluents of the danube; is formed in east hungary by the confluence of the white theiss and the black theiss, both springing from south-western slopes of the carpathians; after a great sweep to the nw. bends round to the s., and flows steadily southward through the centre of hungary until it joins the danube m. above belgrade, after a course of m.; with its greater tributaries, the maros and the bodrog, it forms a splendid means of internal commerce. themis, in the greek mythology the goddess of the established order of things; was a daughter of uranos and gaia, and the spouse of zeus, through whom she became the mother of the divinities concerned in maintaining order among, at once, gods and men. themistocles, celebrated athenian general and statesman; rose to political power on the ostracism of aristides, his rival; persuaded the citizens to form a fleet to secure the command of the sea against persian invasion; commanded at salamis, and routed the fleet of xerxes, and afterwards accomplished the fortification of the city in spite of the opposition of sparta, but falling in popular favour was ostracised, and took refuge at the court of artaxerxes of persia, where he died in high favour with the king ( - b.c.). theobald, lewis, shakespearian critic, born at sittingbourne, kent; bred to the law by his father, an attorney, but took to literature; wrote a tragedy; contributed to _mist's journal_, and in began his tri-weekly paper, the _censor_; roused pope's ire by his celebrated pamphlet, "shakespeare restored," an exposure of errors in pope's edition, and although ruthlessly impaled in his "dunciad," of which he was the original hero, made good his claim to genuine shakespearian scholarship by his edition, in , of the dramatist's works, an edition which completely superseded pope's ( - ). theocracy, government of a state professedly in the name and under the direction as well as the sanction of heaven. theocrates, great pastoral poet of greece, born at syracuse; was the creator of bucolic poetry; wrote "idyls," as they were called, descriptive of the common life of the common people of sicily, in a thoroughly objective, though a truly poetical, spirit, in a style which never fails to charm, being as fresh as ever; wrote also on epic subjects ( - b.c.). theodicy, name given to an attempt to vindicate the order of the universe in consistency with the presence of evil, and specially to that of leibnitz, in which he demonstrates that this is the best of all possible worlds. theodora, the famous consort of the roman emperor justinian i. (q. v.), who, captivated by her extraordinary charms of wit and person, raised her from a life of shame to share his throne ( ), a high office she did not discredit; scandal, busy enough with her early years, has no word to say against her subsequent career as empress; the poor and unfortunate of her own sex were her special care; remained to the last the faithful helpmate of her husband ( - ). theodore, "king of corsica," otherwise baron theodore de neuhoff, born in metz; a soldier of fortune under the french, swedish, and spanish flags successively, whose title to fame is his expedition to corsica, aided by the turks and the bey of tunis, in , to aid the islanders to throw off the genoese yoke; was crowned king theodore i., but in a few months was driven out, and after unsuccessful efforts to regain his position came as an impoverished adventurer to london, where creditors imprisoned him, and where sympathisers, including walpole, subscribed for his release ( - ). theodore, bishop of mopsuestra, in cilicia, born at antioch; was a biblical exegete, having written commentaries on most of the books of the bible, eschewing the allegorical method of interpretation, and accepting the literal sense; he held nestorian views, and his writings were anathematised; he was a friend of st. chrysostom; _b_. . theodoret, church historian, born at antioch; as bishop of the syrian city, cyrus, gave himself to the conversion of the marcionites; a leader of the antioch school of theology, he took an active part in the nestorian and eutychian controversies, and was deposed by the so-called robber-council of ephesus, but was reinstated by the council of chalcedon in (about - ). theodoric, surnamed the great, founder of the monarchy of the ostro- or east goths, son of theodemir, the ostrogothic king of pannonia; was for ten years during his youth a hostage at the byzantine court at constantinople; succeeded his father in , and immediately began to push the fortunes of the ostrogoths; various territories fell into his hands, and alarm arose at the imperial court; in advanced upon italy, overthrew odoacer, and after his murder became sole ruler; was now the most powerful of the gothic kings, with an empire embracing italy, sicily, and dalmatia, besides german possessions; as a ruler proved himself as wise as he was strong; became in after years one of the great heroes of german legend, and figures in the "nibelungenlied" ( - ). theodosius i., the great, roman emperor; was the son of theodosius the elder, a noted general, whose campaigns in britain and elsewhere he participated in; marked out for distinction by his military prowess he, in , was invited by the emperor gratian to become emperor in the east, that he might stem the advancing goths; in this theodosius was successful; the goths were defeated, conciliated, had territory conceded to them, and became in large numbers roman citizens; rebellions in the western empire and usurpations of the throne compelled theodosius to active interference, which led to his becoming sole head of the empire ( ), after successfully combating the revolutionaries, franks and others; was a zealous churchman, and stern suppressor of the "arian heresy"; the close of his reign marks the beginning of the end of the roman empire, for his death opened the floodgates of barbarian invasion, and from this date begins the formation of the new kingdoms of europe ( - ). theognis, an elegiac poet of megara; flourished in the second half of the th century b.c.; lost his possessions during a revolution at megara, in which the democrats overpowered the aristocrats, to which party he belonged; compelled to live in exile, he found solace in the writing of poetry full of a practical and prudential wisdom, bitterly biased against democracy, and tinged with pessimism. theology, the science which treats of god, particularly as he manifests himself in his relation to man in nature, reason, or revelation. theophrastus, a peripatetic philosopher, born in lesbos; pupil, heir, and successor of aristotle, and the great interpreter and expounder of his philosophy; was widely famous in his day; his writings were numerous, but only a few are extant, on plants, stars, and fire; _d_. b.c. theosophy (lit. divine wisdom), a mystic philosophy of very difficult definition which hails from the east, and was introduced among us by madame blavatsky, a russian lady, who was initiated into its mysteries in thibet by a fraternity there who professed to be the sole custodiers of its secrets as the spiritual successors of those to whom it was at first revealed. the radical idea of the system appears to be reincarnation, and the return of the spirit to itself by a succession of incarnations, each one of which raises it to a higher level until, by seven stages it would seem, the process is complete, matter has become spirit, and spirit matter, god has become man, and man god, agreeably somewhat to the doctrine of amiel, that "the complete spiritualisation of the animal element in us is the task of our race," though with them it seems rather to mean its extinction. the adherents of this system, with their head-quarters at madras, are numerous and wide-scattered, and form an organisation of branches, having three definite aims: ( ) to establish a brotherhood over the world irrespective of race, creed, caste, or sex; ( ) to encourage the study of comparative philosophy, religion, and science; and ( ) to investigate the occult secrets of nature and the latent possibilities of man. the principal books in exposition of it are, "the secret doctrine," "isis unveiled," "the key to theosophy," by mme. blavatsky; "esoteric buddhism," "the occult world," &c., by sinnett; "the ancient wisdom," "the birth and evolution of the soul," &c., by annie besant. therapeutÆ, a jewish ascetic sect in egypt, who lived a life of celibacy and meditation in separate hermitages, and assembled for worship on sabbath. thermo-dynamics, name given to the modern science of the relation between heat and work, which has established two fundamental principles, that when heat is employed to do work, the work done is the exact equivalent of the heat expended, and when the work is employed to produce heat, the heat produced is exactly equivalent to the work done. thermopylÆ (i. e. "the hot gates"), a famous pass in n. greece, the only traversable one leading southward into thessaly, lies m. n. of delphi, and is flanked on one side by mount oeta, and on the other by the maliac gulf (now the gulf of zeitouni); for ever memorable as the scene of leonidas' heroic attempt with his spartans to stem the advancing persian hordes under xerxes ( b.c.); also of greece's futile struggles against brennus and the gauls ( b.c.), and philip the macedonian ( b.c.) thersites, a deformed greek present at the siege of troy, distinguished for his insolent raillery at his betters, and who was slain by achilles for deriding his lamentation over the death of penthesilea (q. v.). theseus, legendary hero of attica, and son of Ægeus, king of athens; ranks second to hercules, captured the marathonian bull, and slew the minotaur (q. v.) by the help of ariadne (q. v.); waged war against the amazons, and carried off the queen; assisted at the argonautic expedition, and is famed for his friendship for perithous, whom he aided against the centaurs. thespis, the father of greek tragedy, hence thespian art for the drama. thessalonians, epistle to the, epistles of st. paul to the church at thessalonica; of which there are two; the first written from corinth about a.d. to exhort them to beware of lapsing, and comforting them with the hope of the return of the lord to judgment; the second, within a few months after the first, to correct a false impression produced by it in connection with the lord's coming; they must not, he argued, neglect their ordinary avocations, as though the day of the lord was close at hand; that day would not come till the powers of evil had wrought their worst, and the cup of their iniquity was full; this is the first purely dogmatic epistle of st. paul. thessalonica. see salonica. thessaly, the largest division of ancient greece, a wide, fertile plain stretching southward from the macedonian border to the maliac gulf, and entirely surrounded by mountains save the vale of tempe in the ne. between mounts ossa and olympus; was conquered by philip of macedon in the th century b.c., and subsequently incorporated in the roman empire, on the break up of which it fell into the hands of the venetians, and eventually of the turks ( ), and remained a portion of the ottoman empire till , when the greater and most fertile part was ceded to greece. chief town, larissa. thetford ( ), a historic old market-town on the norfolk and suffolk border, at the confluence of the thet and little ouse, m. sw. of norwich; a place of importance in saxon times, and in edward iii.'s reign an important centre of monasticism; has interesting ruins, a notable castle hill, and industries in brewing, tanning, &c. thetis, in the greek mythology the daughter of nereus (q. v.) and doris, who being married against her will to peleus, became the mother of achilles; she was therefore a nereid (q. v.), and gifted with prophetic foresight. theuriet, andrÉ, modern french poet and novelist, born at marly le roi, near paris; studied law, and in received a post in the office of the minister of finance; has published several volumes of poems, dealing chiefly with rustic life, but is more widely known by his novels, such as "mademoiselle guignon," "le mariage de gérard," "deux soeurs," &c., all of them more or less tinged with melancholy, but also inspired by true poetic feeling; _b_. . thialfi, in the norse mythology the god of manual labour, thor's henchman and attendant. thierry, jacques nicolas augustin, french historian, born at blois; came early under the influence of saint-simon, and during - lived with him as secretary, assimilating his socialistic ideas and ventilating them in various compositions; comte became his master next, and history his chief study, an outlet for his views on which he found in the _censeur européen_, and the courrier franÇais, to which he contributed his "letters on french history" ( ); five years later appeared his masterpiece, the "conquest of england," to be followed by "letters on history" and "dix ans d'Études" ( ), in which same year he was appointed librarian at the palais royal; in appeared his "tiers État," the last of his works; has been called the "father of romantic history," and was above all a historical artist, giving life and colour to his pictures of bygone ages, but not infrequently at the cost of historic accuracy ( - ). thiers, louis adolphe, french statesman and historian, born at marseilles, of parents in poor circumstances; studied law at aix, became acquainted with mignet the historian; went with him to paris, and took to journalism; published in his "history of the french revolution," which established his rank as a writer; contributed to the july revolution; supported louis philippe, and was in elected a deputy for aix; obtained a post in the ministry, and eventually head; was swept out of office at the revolution of ; voted for the presidency of louis napoleon, but opposed the _coup d'état_; withdrew from public life for a time; published in the "history of the consulate and the empire" a labour of years; entered public life again, but soon retired; at the close of the franco-german war raised the war indemnity, and saw the germans off the soil; became head of the provisional government, and president of the republic from to ; his histories are very one-sided, and often inaccurate besides; carlyle's criticism of his "french revolution" is well known, "dig where you will, you come to water" ( - ). thing, name for a legislative or judicial assembly among the scandinavians. thinker, the, defined to be "one who, with fresh and powerful glance, reads a new lesson in the universe, sees deeper into the secret of things, and carries up the interpretation of nature to higher levels; one who, unperturbed by passions and undistracted by petty detail, can see deeper than others behind the veil of circumstance, and catch glimpses into the permanent reality." thirlmere, one of the lakes in the english lake district, in cumberland, m. se. of keswick; since its waters have been impounded for the use of manchester, the surface raised ft. by embankments, and the area more than doubled. thirlwall, conop, historian, born at shepney; was a precocious child, was educated at the charterhouse, had grote for a school-fellow, and was a student of trinity college, cambridge; called to the bar, but took orders in , having two years previously translated schleiermacher's "essay on st. luke," and was thus the first to introduce german theology into england; wrote a "history of greece," which, though superior in some important respects, was superseded by grote's as wanting in realistic power, a fatal blemish in a history; was a liberal man, and bishop of st. david's for half a lifetime ( - ). thirty years' war, the name given to a series of wars arising out of one another in germany during - ; was first a war of catholics against protestants, but in its later stages developed into a struggle for supremacy in europe. on the catholic side were austria, various german catholic princes, and spain, to whom were opposed successively bohemia, hungary, denmark, sweden, and france; originated in bohemia, where the protestants were goaded to revolt against the intolerance of the empire, moravians and hungarians came to their assistance, but the imperial forces were too powerful and the rising was suppressed, only to be renewed in , when denmark espoused the protestant cause, but struggled vainly against catholic armies under wallenstein and tilly. the tactless oppression of the emperor ferdinand again fanned into flame the fires of rebellion; swedish armies now came to the assistance of the protestants, and under gustavus adolphus waged successful war against the emperor, but the death of gustavus at lützen ( ) turned the tide in favour of the imperial forces; the german protestant prince made a disadvantageous peace in , but sweden, now joined by france, continued the struggle against the austrian empire. turenne and condé became the heroes of the war, and a series of decisive victories rolled back the imperial armies, and by were converging upon austria, when diplomacy brought the war to an end by the peace of westphalia, the chief gains of which were the securing of religious tolerance and the recognition of the independence of switzerland and the united provinces. thisbe. see pyramus. thistle, order of the, an order of scottish knighthood, sometimes called the order of st. andrew, instituted in by james vii. of scotland (james ii. of england); fell into abeyance during the reign of william and mary, but was revived by queen anne in ; includes the sovereign, knights, and various officials. the principal article in the insignia is a gold collar composed of thistles intertwined with sprigs of rue. tholuck, friedrich august, theologian, born at breslau; came under the influence of neander (q. v.) and became professor of theology at halle, where he exercised a considerable influence over the many students who were attracted from far and near by his learning and fervour ( - ). thom, william, a minor scottish vernacular poet, author of "the mitherless bairn," &c.; was a native of and hand-loom weaver at aberdeen; endured much hardship and poverty ( - ). thomas, ambroise, french composer, born at metz; proved himself a brilliant student at the paris conservatoire; became professor of composition in , and nine years later succeeded auber as director of the conservatoire; a prolific writer in all forms of musical composition, but has won celebrity mainly as a writer of, operas, the most popular of which are "la double Échelle," "mignon," "hamlet," &c.; was decorated with the grand cross of the legion of honour in ( - ). thomas, arthur goring, composer, born near eastbourne; studied at the paris conservatoire and royal academy for music, london; became popular through the merit of his operas "esmeralda," "nadeshda," the cantata "sun-worshippers," and songs; committed suicide ( - ). thomas, george henry, american general, born in virginia; a man of fine character, lacking none of the sterner stuff of the soldier, but blended with modesty and gentleness; universally popular in the army, which he joined in and continued in till his death, rising to be general of a division through gallantry in the indian frontier wars and in the civil war, in which, at the battle of nashville ( ), he completely routed the confederate forces; had command of the military division of the pacific at the time of his death ( - ). thomas, st., the apostle, is represented in art as bearing a spear in his hand, and sometimes an arrow, a book, and a carpenter's square. thomas the rhymer. see rhymer, thomas the. thomasius, christian, a german jurist, born at leipzig; was the first to prelect on jurisprudence in the german tongue, on which account, as on account of his advanced theological views, he encountered no small persecution; became at length professor of jurisprudence at halle, his influence on the study of which was considerable ( - ). thomism, the doctrine of thomas aquinas (q. v.), particularly in reference to predestination and grace. thoms, william john, a noted antiquary and bibliographer, born in westminster; a clerk for years in the chelsea hospital and subsequently in the house of lords, where during - he was deputy-librarian; his leisure was given to his favourite pursuits, and bore fruit in many volumes dealing with "folk-lore" (a word of his own invention) and the like; was secretary of the camden society, and in founded, and continued to edit till , _notes and queries_ ( - ). thomson, sir charles wyville, zoologist, born at bonsyde, linlithgow; educated at merchiston castle, edinburgh, and at the university there; a lecturer on botany at aberdeen ( ), professor of natural history in queen's college, cork ( ), of geology at belfast ( ), and of natural history in the university of edinburgh ( ); accompanied the _challenger_ expedition ( - ) as head of the scientific department; knighted ; wrote "the depths of the sea" and "the voyage of the _challenger_" ( - ). thomson, george, a noted collector of songs, who set himself to gather in one work every existing scotch melody; his untiring zeal resulted in the publication of vols. of scotch songs, the words of which had been adapted and supplied by a host of writers, including scott, campbell, joanna baillie, and above all, robert burns, who contributed upwards of ; haydn, beethoven, mozart, weber, and others were engaged to supply instrumental preludes and codas; also published collections of irish songs and welsh melodies; was a native of limekilns, fife, and for years principal clerk to the board of trustees, edinburgh ( - ). thomson, james, the poet of the "seasons," born, the son of the parish minister, at ednam, roxburghshire; was educated and trained for the ministry at edinburgh university, but already wooing the muse, he, shortly after his father's death in , went to london to push his fortune; his poem "winter," published in the following year, had immediate success, and raised up a host of friends and patrons, and what with tutoring and the proceeds of "summer," "spring," "autumn," various worthless tragedies, and other products of his pen, secured a fair living, till a pension of £ from the prince of wales, to whom he had dedicated the poem of "liberty," and a subsequent £ a year as non-resident governor of the leeward islands, placed him in comparative affluence; the "masque of alfred," with its popular song "rule britannia," and his greatest work "the castle of indolence" ( ), were the outcome of his later years of leisure; often tediously verbose, not infrequently stiff and conventional in diction and trite in its moralisings, the poetry of thomson was yet the first of the th century to shake itself free of the town, and to lead, as stopford brooke says, "the english people into that new world of nature which has enchanted us in the work of modern poetry" ( - ). thomson, james, the poet of pessimism, born, a sailor's son, at port-glasgow, and brought up in an orphanage; was introduced to literature by mr. bradlaugh (q. v.), to whose _national reformer_ he contributed much of his best poetry, including his gloomy yet sonorous and impressive "the city of dreadful night," besides essays ( - ). thomson, john, the artist minister of duddingston, born at dailly, in ayrshire; succeeded his father in the parish of dailly ( ), and five years later was transferred to duddingston parish, near edinburgh; faithful in the discharge of his parochial duties, he yet found time to cultivate his favourite art of painting, and in the course of his years' pastorate produced a series of landscapes which won him wide celebrity in his own day, and have set him in the front rank of scottish artists ( - ). thomson, joseph, african explorer, born at thornhill, studied at edinburgh university, and in was appointed zoologist to the royal geographical society's expedition to lake tanganyika, which, after the death of the leader, keith johnston, at the start, he, at the age of , carried through with notable success; in explored with important geographical results massai-land, and subsequently headed expeditious up the niger and to sokoto, and explored the atlas mountains; published interesting accounts of his various travels ( - ). thomson, sir william, lord kelvin, great physicist, born at belfast; studied at st. peter's college, cambridge; was senior wrangler in , and elected professor of natural philosophy in glasgow in ; it is in the departments of heat and electricity he has accomplished his greatest achievements, and his best-known work is the invention of the siphon-recorder for the atlantic cable, on the completion of which, in , he was knighted, to be afterwards raised to the peerage in ; he has invented a number of ingenious and delicate scientific instruments, as well as written extensively on mathematical and physical subjects; _b_. . thor, in the norse mythology "the god of thunder; the thunder was his wrath, the gathering of the black clouds is the drawing down of thor's angry brows; the fire-bolt bursting out of heaven is the all-rending hammer flung from the hand of thor; he urges his loud chariot over the mountain tops--that is the peal; wrathful he 'blows in his beard'--that is the rustling of the storm-blast before the thunder begin"; he is the strongest of the gods, the helper of both gods and men, and the mortal foe of the chaotic powers. thoreau, henry david, an american author who, next to his friend and neighbour emerson, gave the most considerable impulse to the "transcendental" movement in american literature, born in concord, where his life was mostly spent, of remote french extraction; was with difficulty enabled to go to harvard, where he graduated, but without distinction of any sort; took to desperate shifts for a living, but simplified the problem of "ways and means" by adopting carlyle's plan of "lessening your denominator"; the serious occupation of his life was to study nature in the woods around concord, to make daily journal entries of his observings and reflections, and to preserve his soul in peace and purity; his handicrafts were unwelcome necessities thrust upon him; "what after all," he exclaims, "does the practicalness of life amount to? the things immediate to be done are very trivial; i could postpone them all to hear this locust sing. the most glorious fact in my experience is not anything i have done or may hope to do, but a transient thought or vision or dream which i have had"; his chief works are "walden," the account of a two years' sojourn in a hut built by his own hands in the concord woods near "walden pool," "a week on the concord and merrimac river," essays, poems, etc. ( - ). thorn ( ), a town and fortress of the first rank in west prussia, on the vistula, m. nw. of warsaw; formerly a member of the hanseatic league (q. v.); was annexed by prussia in ; the birthplace of copernicus; carries on a brisk trade in corn and timber. thornbury, george walter, a miscellaneous writer, author of numerous novels, "songs of the cavaliers and roundheads," "life of turner," "old and new london," etc.; born in london, where his life was spent in literary work ( - ). thornhill, sir james, an english artist of the school of le brun, born at woodland, dorsetshire; treated historical subjects in allegorical fashion, and was much in request for decorative work, his most notable achievements being the decoration of the dome of st. paul's, of rooms in hampton court, blenheim house, and greenwich hospital; was sergeant-painter to queen anne, and was knighted by george i.; member of parliament from till his death ( - ). thornycroft, hamo, sculptor, born in london; has done statues of general gordon ( ), john bright ( ), and oliver cromwell ( ); _b_. . thorough, name given by the earl of strafford (q. v.) to a scheme of his to establish absolute monarchy in england. thorwaldsen, bertel, an eminent danish sculptor, born near copenhagen, the son of a poor icelander; won a government scholarship at the academy of copenhagen in , which enabled him to study in rome, where he was greatly inspired by the ancient greek sculptures, and fired with the ambition of emulating the classical masters; canova encouraged him, and a fine statue of jason established his reputation; his life henceforth was one of ever-increasing fame and prosperity. denmark received him with highest honour in , but the milder italian climate better suited his health, and he returned to rome, where he executed all his great works; these deal chiefly with subjects chosen from the greek mythology, in which he reproduces with marvellous success the classic spirit and conception; executed also a colossal group of "christ and the twelve apostles," "st. john preaching in the wilderness," and other religious subjects, besides statues of copernicus and galileo, and the celebrated reliefs "night" and "morning": bequeathed to his country his large fortune and nearly of his works, now in the thorwaldsen museum, one of the great sights of copenhagen ( - ). thoth, the egyptian mercury, inventor of arts and sciences; represented as having the body of a man and the head of a lamb or ibis. thou, jacques-auguste de, a celebrated historian, born at paris; enjoyed the favour of henry iii., and by henry iv. was appointed keeper of the royal library; his history of his own times is a work of great value as a clear and remarkably impartial survey of an interesting period of european history ( - ). thousand islands, islands which stud the river st. lawrence below kingston, at the outlet of the river from lake ontario. thrace, in ancient greece, was a region, ill defined, stretching n. of macedonia to the danube, and w. of the euxine (black sea); appears never to have been consolidated into one kingdom, but was inhabited by various thracian tribes akin to the greeks, but regarded by them as barbarians; since the capture of constantinople by the turks the northern portion of thrace has been annexed to eastern roumelia, while the remainder has continued a portion of the turkish empire. thrasybulus, famous athenian general and democratic statesman; came to the front during the later part of the peloponnesian war; took an active share in overturning the oligarchy of the four hundred, and in recalling alcibiades ( b.c.); was exiled by the thirty tyrants, and withdrew to thebes, but subsequently was permitted to return, and later was engaged in commanding athenian armies against lesbos and in support of rhodes; was murdered ( b.c.) by natives of pamphylia. three hours' agony, a service held on good friday from noon till o'clock to commemorate the passion of christ. three rivers ( ), capital of st. maurice co., quebec, m. ne. of montreal; does a considerable trade in lumber, iron-ware, &c.; is the seat of a roman catholic bishop. thring, edward, a celebrated educationist, born at alford rectory, somersetshire; educated at eton and cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship; entered the church, and served in various curacies till in he began his true lifework by an appointment to the head-mastership of uppingham school, which he raised to a high state of efficiency, and stamped with the qualities of his own strong personality, as did arnold at rugby; published various educational works, "the theory and practice of teaching," "addresses," "poems and translations," &c. ( - ). throgmorton, sir nicholas, english diplomatist; was ambassador in paris under elizabeth, and afterwards to scotland; fell into disgrace as involved in an intrigue for the marriage of mary, queen of scots, with the duke of norfolk ( - ). thucydides, historian of the peloponnesian war, born in athens nine years after the battle of salamis, of a wealthy family; was in athens during the plague of b.c.; was seized, but recovered; served as naval commander in in the peloponnesian war, but from neglect of duty was banished; returned from exile years after; his great achievement is his history, all derived from personal observation and oral communication, the materials of which were collected during the war, and the whole executed in a style to entitle it to rank among the noblest literary monuments of antiquity; it is not known how or when he died, but he died before his history was finished. thugs, a fraternity of professed worshippers of the goddess kali, the wife of siva, who, professedly to propitiate her, practised murder, and lived on the spoils of the victims. thuggee, a name for the practice, originally by strangling and at times by poisoning. thule, ultima, name given by the ancients to the farthest n. part of europe, which they conceived as an island. thun ( ), a quaint old town of switzerland, on the aar, m. se. of bern, and barely m. distant from lake of thun ( m. by m.); has a th-century castle, &c. thunderer, name given to the _times_, from certain powerful articles in it ascribed to the editor, captain edward stirling. thurgau ( ), a canton of switzerland, on the ne. frontier, where lake constance for a considerable distance forms its boundary; inhabitants are mainly protestant; country is hilly but not mountainous, fertile, and traversed by the river thur, a tributary of the rhine; capital frauenfeld. thurible, a censer suspended by chains and held in the hand by a priest during mass and other offices of the romish church. thÜringia, originally the territory of the thuringians (an ancient german tribe), now an integral portion of the german empire, occupies a central position, with saxony on its n. and e., and bavaria on the s.; a considerable portion of it is covered by the thuringian forest. thurles ( ), a town of tipperary, on the suir, m. sw. of dublin; is the seat of a catholic archbishop, college, and cathedral; in the vicinity are the fine ruins of holy cross abbey. thurlow, edward, baron, a noted lawyer and politician of george iii.'s reign, born, a clergyman's son, at bracon-ash, norfolk; quitted cambridge without a degree, and with a reputation for insubordination and braggadocio rather than for scholarship; called to the bar in , he soon made his way, aided by an imposing presence, which led fox to remark, "no man ever was so wise as thurlow looked"; raised his reputation by his speeches in the great douglas case, and through influence of the douglas family was made a king's counsel; entered parliament in ; became a favourite of the king, and rose through the offices of solicitor-general and attorney-general to the lord chancellorship in , being raised to the peerage as baron; lost his position during the coalition ministry of fox and north, but was restored by pitt, who, however, got rid of him in , after which his appearances in public life were few; not a man of fine character, but possessed a certain rough vigour of intellect which appears to have made considerable impression on his contemporaries ( - ). thursday, fifth day of the week, dedicated to thor (q. v.). thursday island, a small island in normanby sound, torres strait, belonging to queensland, and used as a government station; has a fine harbour, port kennedy, largely used for the australian transit trade; also the centre of valuable pearl fisheries. thurso ( ), a seaport in caithness, at the mouth of the thurso river, m. nw. of wick; does a brisk trade in agricultural produce, cattle, and paving stones. thyrsus, an attribute of dionysus, being a staff or spear entwined with ivy leaves and a cone at the top; carried by the devotees of the god on festive occasions; the cone was presumed to cover the spear point, a wound from which was said to cause madness. tian-shan ("celestial mountains"), a great mountain range of central asia, separating turkestan from eastern and chinese turkestan; highest summit kaufmann peak, , ft. tiber, a river of italy celebrated in ancient roman history, rises in the apennines, in the province of arezzo, tuscany; rapid and turbid in its upper course, but navigable m. upwards from its mouth; flows generally in a s. direction, and after a course of about m. enters the mediterranean about m. below rome. tiberius, second roman emperor, born at rome; was of the claudian family; became the step-son of augustus, who, when he was five years old, had married his mother; was himself married to agrippina, daughter of agrippa, but was compelled to divorce her and marry augustus's daughter julia, by whom he had two sons, on the death of whom he was adopted as the emperor's successor, whom, after various military services in various parts of the empire, he succeeded a.d. ; his reign was distinguished by acts of cruelty, specially at the instance of the minister sejanus, whom out of jealousy he put to death; given up to debauchery, he was suffocated in a fainting fit by the captain of the prætorian guards in a.d. , and succeeded by caligula; it was during his reign christ was crucified. tibert, sir, the cat in "reynard the fox." tibet ( , ), a country of central asia, and dependency of china since , called by the natives themselves bod or bodyul, comprises a wide expanse of tableland, "three times the size of france, almost as cold as siberia, most of it higher than mount blanc, and all of it, except a few valleys, destitute of population"; enclosed by the lofty ranges of the himalaya and kuen-lun mountains, it has been left practically unexplored; possesses great mineral wealth, and a large foreign trade is carried on in woollen cloth (chief article of manufacture); polyandry and polygamy are prevailing customs among the people, who are a mongolic race of fine physique, fond of music and dancing, jealous of intrusion and wrapt up in their own ways and customs; the government, civil and religious, is in the hands of the clergy, the lower orders of which are numerous throughout the country; a variation of mongol shamanism is the native religion, but lamaism is the official religion of the country, and the supreme authority is vested in the dalai lama, the sovereign pontiff, who resides at lhassa, the capital. tibullus, albius, roman elegiac poet, a contemporary of virgil and horace, the latter of whom was warmly attached to him; he accompanied messala his patron in his campaigns to gaul and the east, but had no liking for war, and preferred in peace to cultivate the tender sentiments, and to attune his harp to his emotions. tichborne, a village and property of hampshire, which became notorious in the "seventies" through a butcher, from wagga wagga, in australia, named thomas castro, otherwise thomas orton, laying claim to it in on the death of sir alfred joseph tichborne; the "claimant" represented himself as an elder brother of the deceased baronet, supposed (and rightly) to have perished at sea; the imposture was exposed after a lengthy trial, and a subsequent trial for perjury resulted in a sentence of years' penal servitude. orton, after his release, confessed his imposture in . ticino ( ), the most southerly canton of switzerland, lies on the italian frontier; slopes down from the lepontine alps in the n. to fertile cultivated plains in the s., which grow olives, vines, figs, &c.; the inhabitants speak italian, and the canton, from the mildness of its climate and richness of its soil, has been called the "italian switzerland," embraces most of lakes lugano and maggiore, and is traversed by the st. gothard railway. ticino, a river of switzerland and north italy; springs from the s. side of mount st. gothard, flows southwards through lake maggiore and se. through north italy, joining the po m. below pavia, after a course of m. tickell, thomas, a minor english poet, born at bridekirk, cumberland; enjoyed the friendship and favour of addison, who praised him in the _spectator_, and held till his death the appointment of secretary to the lords justices of ireland; his poetry does not count for much in the history of english literature, but he was happy in the composition of occasional poems, e. g. "the prospect of peace," "the royal progress," and in ballads, such as "colin and lucy," &c., and his translation of the first book of the "iliad" was so good as to rouse the jealousy of pope ( - ). ticknor, george, american man of letters, born in boston; studied in various european cities, where he was received in the best literary circles, and of which he has left in his journal interesting impressions; held the professorship of french and spanish in harvard university for a number of years; published in his "history of spanish literature," the standard work on the subject; also wrote lives of lafayette and prescott, &c. ( - ). ticonderoga ( ), a township of new york, on lake champlain, m. n. of albany; has various factories, mines in the vicinity, &c.; a place of much prominence during the struggles with the french and later during the revolutionary war. tieck, ludwig, german poet, born in berlin; was one of the founders of the romantic school in germany, was a friend of the schlegels and novalis; wrote novels and popular tales and dramas; his tales, in particular, are described by carlyle as "teeming with wondrous shapes full of meaning; true modern denizens of old fairyland ... shows a gay southern fancy living in union with a northern heart;... in the province of popular traditions reigns without a rival" ( - ). tientsin ( ), an important city and river-port of china, on the pei-ho, m. from its mouth and m. se. of peking, of which it is the port; since has been one of the open treaty ports, and in a british consulate was established; three months of the year the pei-ho is frozen over; there is an increasing transit trade with russia. tierra del fuego, a compact island-group at the southern extremity of the south american continent, from which it is separated by the strait of magellan; the most southerly point is cape horn (q. v.); of the group tierra del fuego, sometimes called king charles south land, belongs partly to the argentine and partly to chile, to which also belong the other islands, except staten island, an argentine possession; save for a few fertile plains in the n., where some sheep-farming goes on, the region is bleak, barren, and mountainous, with rocky, fiord-cut coasts swept by violent and prolonged gales; scantily peopled by now harmless indians of a low type. tiers État (third estate), name given to the commons section in the states-general of france. tiflis ( ), capital of a mountainous, forest-clad government ( ) of the same name and of russian caucasia, on the kar, m. se. of the black sea; is a city of considerable antiquity and note, and owes much to-day to the energy of the russians, who annexed it in ; noted for its silver and other metal work. tigris, an important river of turkey in asia; rises in the mountains of kurdistan, flows se. to diarbekir, e. to til (where it receives the bitlis), and hence se. through a flat and arid country, till, after a course of m., it unites with the euphrates to form the shat-el-arab, which debouches into the persian gulf m. lower; is navigable for m. to bagdad; on its banks are the ruins of nineveh, seleucia, and ctesiphon. tilbury fort, on the essex bank of the thames, opposite gravesend; the main defence of the river above sheerness; in extensive docks, quays, a tidal basin, &c., were opened. tillotson, john robert, archbishop of canterbury, born in sowerby, yorkshire, of a puritan family, and trained on puritan lines; studied at clare hall, cambridge, came under the influence of cudworth (q. v.), conformed to the established church at the restoration and became king's chaplain and a prebend of canterbury, till at length he rose to be dean and primate; was an eloquent preacher, a man of moderate views, and respected by all parties; his "sermons" were models for a time, but are so no longer ( - ). tilly, johann tserklaes, count of, one of the great generals of the thirty years' war (q. v.), born in brabant; was designed for the priesthood and educated by jesuits, but abandoned the church for the army; was trained in the art of war by parma and alva, and proved himself a born soldier; reorganised the bavarian army, and, devoted to the catholic cause, was given command of the catholic army at the outbreak of the thirty years' war, during the course of which he won many notable battles, acting later on in conjunction with wallenstein, whom in he succeeded as commander-in-chief of the imperial forces, and in the following year sacked with merciless cruelty the town of magdeburg, a deed which gustavus adolphus was swift to avenge by crushing the catholic forces in two successive battles--at breitenfeld and at rain--in the latter of which tilly was mortally wounded ( - ). tilsit ( ), a manufacturing town of east prussia, on the memel or niemen, m. ne. of königsberg; here was signed in a memorable treaty between alexander i. of russia and napoleon, as the result of which friedrich wilhelm iii. of prussia was deprived of the greater part of his dominions. timbuctoo ( ), an important city of the western soudan, situated at the edge of the sahara, m. n. of the upper niger, at the centre of five caravan routes which lead to all parts of north africa; carries on a large transit trade, exchanging european goods for native produce; was occupied by the french in . timoleon, a celebrated general of ancient greece, born, of a noble family, in corinth, about b.c.; ardently espoused the cause of the greeks in sicily, who were in danger of forfeiting their liberties to the carthaginians, and headed an army to syracuse, where he defeated and drove out dionysius the younger ( ), subsequently cleared the island of the oppressors, and brought back order and good government, after which he quietly returned to private life, and spent his later years at syracuse, beloved by the sicilians as their liberator and benefactor; _d_. b.c. timon of phlius, a greek philosopher, a disciple of pyrrho (q. v.), flourished b.c.; wrote a satirical poem on the whole greek philosophy up to date, which is the source of our knowledge of his master's opinions. also the name of a misanthrope of athens, a contemporary of socrates. timor ( ), the largest of the long chain of islands which stretches eastward from java, of volcanic formation, mountainous, wooded, and possessing deposits of various metals, but mainly exports maize, sandal-wood, wax, tortoise-shell, &c.; population consists chiefly of papuans, whose native chiefs are the real rulers of the island, which belongs, the w. portion of it to holland and the e. to portugal; e. of timor lies a group of three low-lying islands of coral formation, known as timor-laut or tenimber islands ( ); dutch possession. timothy, a convert of st. paul's, associate and deputy, to whom, as in charge of the church at ephesus, he wrote two epistles in the interval between his imprisonment and death at rome, the first epistle to direct him in the discharge of his pastoral duties, and the second to invite him to rome, and counsel him, should he not be dead before he arrived. timur the tartar. see tamerlane. tindal, matthew, english deistical writer, born in devonshire; studied at oxford, became fellow of all souls', was first a protestant, then a catholic, and then a free-thinker of a very outspoken type, exhibited in a polemic which provoked hostility on all sides; his most famous work was "christianity as old as creation; or, the gospel a republication of the religion of nature," a work which did not attack christianity, but rationalised it ( - ). tinewald, the, name of the manx parliament. tinnevelli ( ), a town of madras presidency, se. india, capital of a district ( , ) of the same name; lies m. n. of cape comorin, and adjoins pallamcotta, head-quarters of the british military and government; is a centre of protestant mission work, and possesses a sind temple and a hindu college. tintagel head, a rocky headland, ft high, on the w. cornish coast, m. w. of launceston; associated with the arthurian legend as the site of king arthur's castle and court; m. distant lies camelford, the famous camelot. tintern abbey, one of the most beautiful ruined abbeys of england, founded by the cistercian monks in on the wye, in monmouthshire, m. above chepstow; associated with wordsworth's great poem, "lines composed a few miles above tintern abbey." tintoretto, baptized jacopo robusti, a famous italian artist, one of ruskin's "five supreme painters," born at venice; save for a few lessons under titian he seems to have been self-taught; took for his models titian and michael angelo, and came specially to excel in grandeur of conception and in strong chiaroscuro effects; amongst his most notable pictures are "belshazzar's feast," "the last supper," "the crucifixion," "the last judgment," "the resurrection," &c.; some of these are of enormous size ( - ). tipperary ( ), a south-midland county of ireland, in the province of munster, stretching n. of waterford, between limerick (w.) and kilkenny (e.); possesses a productive soil, which favours a considerable agricultural and dairy-farming industry; coal is also worked; the suir is the principal stream; the generally flat surface is diversified in the s. by the galtees ( ft.) and knockmeledown ( ft.), besides smaller ranges elsewhere; county town tipperary ( ), m. sw. of dublin; noted for its butter market. tippoo saib, son of hyder ali (q. v.), whom he succeeded in the sultanate of mysore in ; already a trained and successful warrior in his father's struggles with the english, he set himself with implacable enmity to check the advance of british arms; in invaded travancore, and in the subsequent war ( - ), after a desperate resistance, was overcome and deprived of half of his territories, and compelled to give in hostage his two sons; intrigued later with the french, and again engaged the english, but was defeated, and his capital, seringapatam, captured after a month's siege, himself perishing in the final attack ( - ). tipton ( ), an iron-manufacturing town of staffordshire, ½ m. nw. of birmingham. tiraboschi, girolamo, an italian writer, who for some time filled the chair of rhetoric at milan university, and subsequently became librarian to the duke of modena; is celebrated for his exhaustive survey of italian literature in vols., a work of the utmost value ( - ). tiresias, in the greek mythology a soothsayer, who had been struck blind either by athena or hera, but on whom in compensation zeus had conferred the gift of prophecy, and length of days beyond the ordinary term of existence. tirnova ( ), a fortified town of bulgaria, m. sse. of sistova; is the seat of the bulgarian patriarch; formerly the state capital. tiryns, an ancient city of greece, excavated by schliemann in - ; situated in the peloponnesus, in the plain of argolis, m. from the head of the argolic gulf; legend associates it with the early life of hercules; has ruins of a citadel, and of cyclopean walls unsurpassed in greece. tischendorf, constantin von, biblical scholar, born in saxony; spent his life in textual criticism; his great work "critical edition of the new testament" ( - ). tisiphone, one of the three furies (q. v.). titania, the wife of oberon and the queen of the fairies. titanium, a rare, very hard metal, always found in combination. titans, in the greek mythology sons of uranos and gaia, beings of gigantic strength, and of the dynasty prior to that of zeus, who made war on zeus, and hoped to scale heaven by piling mountain on mountain, but were overpowered by the thunderbolts of zeus, and consigned to a limbo below the lowest depths of tartarus; they represent the primitive powers of nature, as with seeming reluctance submissive to the world-order established by zeus, and symbolise the vain efforts of mere strength to subvert the ordinance of heaven; they are not to be confounded with the giants, nor with their offspring, who had learned wisdom from the failure of their fathers, and who, prometheus one of them, represented the idea that the world was made for man and not man for the world, and that all the powers of it, from highest to lowest, were there for his behoof. tithonus, in the greek mythology son of laomedon, who was wedded to eos, who begged zeus to confer on him immortality but forgot to beg for youth, so that his decrepitude in old age became a burden to him; he was changed into a cicada. titian, vecellio, great italian painter, born at capo del cadore, the prince of colourists and head of the venetian school; studied at venice, and came under the influence of giorgione; he was a master of his art from the very first, and his fame led to employment in all directions over italy, germany, and spain; his works were numerous, and rich in variety; he was much in request as a portrait-painter, and he painted most of the great people he knew; he ranks with michael angelo and raphael as the head of the italian renaissance; lived to a great age ( - ). titiens, teresa, a famous operatic singer, born of hungarian parents in hamburg; made her _début_ in at altona, in the character of lucrezia borgia ( ), and soon took rank as the foremost singer on the german lyric stage; appeared with triumphant success in london ( ), and henceforth made her home in england, associated herself with the management of mapleson; visited america in ; her commanding physique and powerful acting, together with her splendid voice, made her an ideal interpreter of such tragic characters as norma, fidelio, margarita, ortrud, &c. ( - ). titmarsh, michael angelo, pseudonym assumed for a series of years by thackeray. titus, a convert of st. paul, a greek by birth, appears to have accompanied st paul on his last journey, and to have been with him at his death; paul's epistle to him was to instruct and encourage him during his ministry in crete. titus, flavius vespasianus, roman emperor, born at rome, the son of vespasian, served in germany and britain, and under his father in judæa; on his father's elevation to the throne persecuted the jews, laid siege to jerusalem, and took the city in a.d. ; on his accession to the throne he addressed himself to works of public beneficence, and became the idol of the citizens; his death was sudden, and his reign lasted only three years; during that short period he won for himself the title of the "delight of mankind" ( - ). tityus, a giant whose body covered nine acres of land, son of zeus and gaia, who for attempting to force latona was punished in the nether world by two vultures continually gnawing at his liver. tiverton ( ), an interesting old town of devonshire, pleasantly situated between the exe and loman, m. n. by e. of exeter; possesses public baths, assembly rooms, almshouses, and a th-century grammar-school; noted for its lace manufactures. tivoli ( ), a town of italy, known to the ancients as tibur, beautifully situated on the teverone, m. e. of rome; was much resorted to by the wealthy roman citizens, and is celebrated by horace; is full of interesting remains. tlaxcala ( ), a state of north mexico, and formerly an aztec republic; capital, tlaxcala ( ); has woollen manufactures. tobago ( ), one of the windward islands (q. v.), the most southerly of the group; a british possession since , politically attached to trinidad; is hilly, picturesque, and volcanic; exports rum, molasses, and live-stock. tobit, the book of, a book of the apocrypha giving account of the life and vicissitudes of a pious israelitish family in the assyrian captivity, that consisted of tobit, anna his wife, and tobias his son; all three are held up to honour for their strict observance of the law of the lord and their deeds of charity to such as loved it, and notable for the prominence given in it to the ministry of angels, both good and bad, among the former raphael and among the latter asmodeus, and is the work of a jew whose mind was imbued with oriental imagery. tobolsk ( ), a town and government ( , ), of w. siberia, picturesquely planted at the confluence of the irtish and tobol, m. e. of st. petersburg; has a cathedral, barracks, theatre, prison for siberian slaves, &c. toby, uncle, the hero of sterne's "tristram shandy," a retired captain, distinguished for his kindness, gallantry, and simplicity. tocantins, one of the great rivers of brazil, rises in the state of goyaz; flows northwards, and after a course of m. enters the estuary of the pará, one of the mouths of the amazon, m. from the atlantic; receives the araguay from the s., an affluent m. long. tocqueville, alexis clÉrel de, french economist, born at verneuil, of an old norman family, bred to the bar, and specially distinguished as the author of two works in high repute, "la democratie en amérique" and "l'ancien régime et la révolution"; died at cannes, leaving much of his work unfinished ( - ). todhunter, isaac, mathematician, born at rye; educated at university college, london, and at cambridge, where he graduated senior wrangler and smith's prizeman in ; elected fellow and principal mathematical lecturer of his college (st. john's), and soon became widely known in educational circles by his various and excellent handbooks and treatises on mathematical subjects ( - ). todleben, eduard ivanovitch, a noted russian general of german descent, who, trained in the engineer corps, greatly distinguished himself by his defensive operations at sebastopol during its siege by the french and english in the crimean war, and subsequently by the reduction of plevna, his greatest achievement, which brought to a close the war with turkey in ; subsequently became commander-in-chief in bulgaria ( - ). todmorden ( ), a cotton town prettily situated amid hills on the border of lancashire and yorkshire, on the calder, m. ne. of manchester; coal abounds in the vicinity. toga, an outer garment, usually of white wool like a large blanket, folded about the person in a variety of ways, but generally with the right arm free, thrown over the left shoulder, and hanging down the back; it was at once the badge of manhood and roman citizenship. togoland, a german protectorate on the slave coast, in upper guinea, gold coast colony on the w., and dahomey on the e.; exports palm-oil and ivory. tokay ( ), a hungarian town on the theiss, m. ne. of pesth; greatly celebrated for its wines, of which it manufactures different sorts. tokyo or tokei ( , ), formerly called yeddo, capital of the japanese empire, situated on a bay of the same name on the se. coast of hondo, and partly built on the delta of the river sumida; is for the most part flat and intersected by canals and narrow irregular streets, and has a finely-wooded river-side avenue m. long; on account of frequent earthquakes most of the houses are of light bamboo structure, which, however, renders them liable to destructive fires; has a fine castle, government offices, university, and some schools and colleges; as the political, commercial, and literary metropolis it possesses an overshadowing influence over the national life of the empire. yokohama, m. distant, is the port of entry. tola, a weight in india for gold and silver, equal to grains troy. toland, john, political and deistical writer, born in derry, of catholic parents; abandoned the catholic faith; studied at leyden and oxford; his first work, "christianity not mysterious," which created a great stir, and was burned in ireland by the common hangman; it was succeeded, along with others, by "nazarenus," which traced christianity to conflicting elements in the early church; he was a disciple of locke ( - ). toledo ( ), a city of spain, capital of a province ( ), and former capital of the kingdom, occupies a commanding site amid hills, on the tagus, m. sw. of madrid; within and without presents a sombre and imposing appearance; is the see of the primate of spain, and possesses a noble gothic cathedral, ruins of the cid's castle, and remains of the moorish occupation ( - ); the manufacture of sword-blades, famous in roman times, is still carried on in a government establishment a mile out of the city. toledo ( ), capital of lucas county, ohio, on the maumee river, m. w. of lake erie; is a busy centre of iron manufactures, and does a large trade in grain, flour, lumber, &c., facilitated by a fine harbour, canal, and railway systems. toleration act, a statute passed in to relieve all dissenters from certain penalties, except roman catholics and unitarians. tolstoi, count leo, novelist, social reformer, and religious mystic, born in tula, of a noble family; served for a time in the army, soon retired from it, and travelled; married, and settled on his estate near moscow in ; his two great works are "war and peace" ( - ) and "anna karenina" ( - ); has written many works since, all more or less in a religious vein, and in the keenest, deepest sympathy with the soul-oppression of the world, finding the secret of christianity to lie in the precept of christ, "resist not evil," and exemplifying that as the principle of his own life; _b_. . tommy atkins, the british soldier, as jack tar is the british sailor, from a hypothetical name inserted in a war office schedule at one time issued to each soldier. tomsk ( ), a town and government ( , ) of w. siberia, on the tom, m. from its confluence with the obi; has a university, and is an important depôt on the trade-route to china. tone, theobald wolfe, irish patriot, born in dublin; called to the bar in ; found a congenial sphere for his restless, reckless nature in the disturbed politics of his time, and was active in founding the "united irishmen," whose intrigues with france got him into trouble, and forced him to seek refuge in america, and subsequently france, where he schemed for a french invasion of ireland; eventually was captured by the english while on his way with a small french squadron against ireland; was condemned at dublin, but escaped a death on the gallows by committing suicide in prison ( - ). tonga islands or friendly islands ( ), an archipelago in the s. pacific, m. se. of fiji; tonga-tabu is the largest; volcanic and fruit-bearing; missionary enterprise (wesleyan methodist) has done much to improve the mental, moral, and material condition of the natives, who belong to the fair polynesian stock, and are a superior race to the other natives of polynesia, but are diminishing in numbers. see friendly islands. tongaland ( ), a native state on the e. coast of south africa, stretching n. of zululand. tongking, tonquin, or tonkin ( , ), a fertile northern province of annam (q. v.), ceded to france in ; is richly productive of rice, cotton, sugar, spices, &c., but has an unhealthy climate. tongres ( ), an episcopal city of belgium, m. nw. of liège; its church of notre dame dates from . tonnage and poundage, the name given to certain duties first levied in edward ii.'s reign on every _tun_ of imported wine, and on every _pound_ weight of merchandise exported or imported; charles i.'s attempt to levy these without parliamentary sanction was one of the complaints of his long parliament; were swept away by the customs consolidation act of . tooke, john horne, baptismal name john horne, born, the son of a well-to-do poulterer, in london; graduated at cambridge, and to please his father took holy orders in , but after some years, during which he had tutored abroad, zealously assisted wilkes in his election to parliament, and successfully encountered "junius"; he abandoned the church and studied for the bar, to which, on account of his holy orders, he was refused a call; became an active political free-lance, and acquired great popularity as a strenuous advocate of parliamentary reform; entered parliament in , but in the following year was excluded by an act making it illegal for any one in priest's orders to be returned; inherited the fortune and assumed the name of his friend william tooke of purley; is best known as the author of the "diversions of purley," "a witty medley of etymology, grammar, metaphysics, and politics" ( - ). toole, john lawrence, a celebrated comedian, born in london, where he was educated at the city school, and afterwards put to business, but soon took to the stage, serving his apprenticeship and gaining a considerable reputation in the provinces before making his appearance at st. james's theatre in london in ; became the leading low-comedian of his day, and in took over the management of the folly theatre, which he re-named toole's theatre; has unrivalled powers of blending pathos with burlesque, and in such characters as paul pry, caleb plummer, chawles, &c., is a special favourite all over the english-speaking world; _b_. . toom tabard. see tabard. tope, the popular name in buddhist countries for a species of cupola-shaped tumulus surmounted by a finial, in shape like an open parasol, the emblem of hindu royalty; these parasol finials were often placed one upon the top of the other until a great height was reached; one in ceylon attains a height of ft., with a diameter of ft.; were used to preserve relics or to commemorate some event. topeka ( ), capital of kansas, on the kansas river, m. w. of kansas city; is a spacious, well laid out town, the seat of an episcopal bishop, well supplied with schools and colleges, and busy with the manufacture of flour, heavy iron goods, &c. tÖpffer, rudolf, caricaturist and novelist of geneva, where he founded a boarding-school, and became professor of rhetoric in the geneva academy; author of some charming novels, "nouvelles genévoises," "la bibliothèque de mon oncle," &c. ( - ). toplady, augustus montague, hymn-writer, born at farnham, surrey; became vicar of broad hembury, devonshire, in ; was an uncompromising calvinist, and opponent of the methodists; survives as the author of "rock of ages," besides which he wrote "poems on sacred subjects," and compiled "psalms and hymns," of which a few are his own ( - ). torgau ( ), a fortified town of prussia, on the elbe, m. sw. of berlin; has a church consecrated by luther, and in the town-church the wife of the great reformer lies buried; scene of a victory of frederick the great over the austrians in november . toronto ( ), the second city of canada, and metropolis of the w. and nw. regions, capital of ontario; situated on a small bay on the nw. coast of lake ontario, m. sw. of montreal; is a spacious and handsomely built city, with fine churches, a splendidly equipped university, parliament buildings, law courts, theological colleges, schools of medicine and music, libraries, &c.; does a large shipping and railway trade in lumber, fruit, grain, coal, &c. torquay ( ), a popular watering-place of south devon, on tor bay, m. s. of exeter; with a fine climate and beautiful surroundings, has since the beginning of the century grown from a little fishing village to be "the queen of english watering-places"; a great yachting centre, &c. torquemada, thomas de, a prior of a dominican monastery who became in , during the reign of ferdinand and isabella, head of the inquisition, a "holy office" he administered with merciless cruelty ( - ). torres strait separates australia from new guinea, m. broad, and from its numerous islands, shoals, and reefs is exceedingly difficult to navigate. torres-vedras ( ), a town of portugal, m. n. of lisbon; celebrated for the great lines of defence wellington constructed in , and behind which he successfully withstood the siege of the french under massena, thus saving lisbon, and preparing the way for his subsequent expulsion of the french from the peninsula. torricelli, evangelista, a celebrated italian physicist; devoted himself to science, and attracted the attention of galileo, whom he subsequently succeeded as professor at the florentine academy; discovered the scientific principle of the barometer, which is sometimes called the torricellian tube, and made notable advances in mathematical and physical science ( - ). torrington ( ), a market-town of north devon, built on an eminence overlooking the torridge, m. sw. of barnstaple; manufactures gloves; was the scene of a parliamentary victory in , during the great rebellion. torture, judicial, torture to extort a confession, practised in england till , and in scotland by thumbscrews and the boot till . tory, the old name for a conservative in politics, generally of very decided type; originally denoted an irish robber of the english in ireland. totemism, division of a race into tribes, each of which has its own totem, or animal, as the symbol of it and the name, and as such treated with superstitious veneration, as involving religious obligation. totnes ( ), a quaint old market-town of devonshire, overlooking the dart, m. sw. of plymouth; has interesting norman and other remains; a centre of agricultural industry. toul ( ), a strongly-fortified town of france, on the moselle, m. w. of nancy; has a noble gothic cathedral and lace and hat manufactures; was captured by the germans in . toulon ( ), chief naval station of france, on the mediterranean, situated m. se. of marseilles; lies at the foot of the pharon hills, the heights of which are strongly fortified; has a splendid th-century cathedral, and theatre, forts, citadel, acres of dockyard, arsenal, cannon foundry, &c.; here in napoleon bonaparte, then an artillery officer, first distinguished himself in a successful attack upon the english and spaniards. toulouse ( ), a historic and important city of south france, capital of haute-garonne, pleasantly situated on a plain and touching on one side the garonne (here spanned by a fine bridge) and on the other the canal du midi, m. se. of bordeaux; notable buildings are the cathedral and palais de justice; is the seat of an archbishop, schools of medicine, law, and artillery, various academies, and a roman catholic university; manufactures woollens, silks, &c.; in was the scene of a victory of wellington over soult and the french. under the name of tolosa it figures in roman and mediæval times as a centre of learning and literature, and was for a time capital of the kingdom of the visigoths. tourcoing ( ), a thriving textile manufacturing town of france, m. ne. of lille. tournaments, real or mock fights by knights on horseback in proof of skill in the use of arms and in contests of honour. tournay ( ), a town of hainault, belgium, on the scheldt, m. sw. of brussels; in the th century was the seat of the merovingian kings, but now presents a handsome modern appearance; has a fine romanesque cathedral and flourishing manufactures of hosiery, linen, carpets, and porcelain. tourneur, cyril, a later elizabethan dramatist, who seems to have led an adventurous life, and whose "atheist's tragedy" and "revenger's tragedy" reach a high level of dramatic power, and have been greatly praised by swinburne; wrote also the "transformed metamorphosis" and other poems; lived into james i.'s reign; almost nothing is known of his life. tours ( ), a historic old town of france, on the loire, m. sw. of paris; presents a spacious and handsome appearance, and contains a noble gothic cathedral, archbishop's palace, palais de justice, besides ancient châteaux and interesting ruins; is a centre of silk and woollen manufactures, and does a large printing trade; suffered greatly by the revocation of the edict of nantes and during the franco-german war; became the seat of government after the investment of paris and until its capitulation to the germans. tourville, anne hilarion de cotentin, count de, a french naval hero, born at tourville, la manche; entered the navy in , established his reputation in the war with the turks and algerines, and in won a victory over the dutch and spanish fleets; supported james ii. in , and in the same year, as commander of the french channel fleet, inflicted a crushing defeat on the dutch and english; but off cape la hogue in , after a five days' engagement, had his fleet all but annihilated, a memorable victory which freed england from the danger of invasion by louis xiv.; was created a marshal in , and a year later closed his great career of service by scattering an english mercantile fleet and putting to flight the convoy squadron under sir george rooke ( - ). toussaint l'ouverture, a negro hero of hayti, born, the son of an african slave at breda; took part in the native insurrection of , and in became a general of brigade in the service of the french, and by gallant soldiership cleared the english and spanish out of hayti; became president for life of the republic of hayti, and began to work for the complete independence of the island; in , when napoleon endeavoured to re-introduce slavery, he revolted, but was subdued by a strong french force and taken to france, where he died in prison; is the subject of a well-known sonnet by wordsworth ( - ). tower hamlets, a parliamentary division of london e. of the city, originally a group of hamlets at one time within the jurisdiction of the lieutenant of the tower. towers of silence, towers in persia and india, some ft. in height, on the top of which the parsees deposit their dead to be gnawed by vultures. townshend, charles, viscount, statesman, born at raynham, norfolk; succeeded to the title on his father's death, and after taking his seat in the upper house turned whig, and soon became prominent in the party; was one of the commissioners who arranged the scottish union; accompanied marlborough as joint-plenipotentiary to the gertruydenburg conference ( ); got into political trouble for signing the barrier treaty while acting as ambassador to the states-general; under george i. rose to high favour, became acknowledged leader of the whigs, passed the septennial act, but after was eclipsed in the party by the greater abilities of walpole, and after unpleasant rivalries was forced to withdraw from the ministry ( ); gave himself then to agricultural pursuits ( - ). townshend, charles, statesman and orator, grandson of preceding; entered parliament in as a whig, and after his great speech against the marriage bill of ranked among the foremost orators of his day; held important offices of state under various ministers, bute, chatham, and rockingham, and as chancellor of the exchequer in was responsible for the imposition of the paper, tea, and other duties on the american colonies which provoked the war of independence and led to the loss of the colonies; a man of brilliant gifts and noted wit, but led by what burke termed "an immoderate love of fame" to play "the weathercock" in politics; died when on the point of attaining the premiership ( - ). towton, a village of yorkshire, m. se. of tadcaster, where in edward iv. at the head of the yorkists completely routed the lancastrians under the duke of somerset. toynbee hall, an institution in whitechapel, london, founded in for the social welfare of the poor in the district, established in memory of arnold toynbee ( - ), who had come under ruskin's influence and took a deep interest in the working-classes, his zeal for whose benefit shortened his days. tractarianism, the tenets of the high church party in the english church advocated in "tracts for the times," published at oxford between and , the chief doctrine of which was that the church, through its sacraments in the hands of a regularly-ordained clergy, is the only divinely-appointed channel of the grace of christ. trade, board of, a government office which, as now constituted, dates from , but whose functions within recent times have been considerably widened; consists of a president (a cabinet minister), and _ex officio_ the lord chancellor, archbishop of canterbury, first lord of the treasury, the principal secretaries of state, chancellor of the exchequer, the speaker, and others, but the actual work of the board is left in the hands of the president and his secretarial staff; comprises five departments: ( ) statistical and commercial; ( ) railway; ( ) marine; ( ) harbour; ( ) financial. trafalgar, cape, on the s. coast of spain, at the nw. entrance of the strait of gibraltar; scene of naval engagements in which nelson lost his life after inflicting (october , ) a crushing defeat on the combined fleets of france and spain. trajan, marcus ulpius, roman emperor, born in spain; his great deeds in arms won him a consulship in , and in nerva invited him to be his colleague and successor; a year later he became sole emperor, ruled the empire with wisdom and vigour, set right the finances, upheld an impartial justice, and set on foot various schemes of improvement; suppressed the christians as politically dangerous, but with no fanatic extravagance; remained above all a warrior and true leader of the legions, and crowned his military fame by his successful conquest of dacia, in commemoration of which he is said to have erected the famous trajan column, which still stands in rome ( - ). trajan's column, a column erected by trajan in the forum at rome in memory of his victory over the dacians, and sculptured with the story of his exploits, is ft. in height, and ascended by steps; was surmounted by a statue of trajan, for which pope sextus v. substituted one of st. peter. transcaucasia, an extensive tract of russian territory stretching e. and w. between the caucasus (n.) and turkey in asia and persia (s.). see caucasia. transcendentalism, name now principally employed to denote the great doctrine of kant and his school, that there are principles of _a priori_ derivation, that is, antecedent to experience, that are regulative and constitutive of not only our thoughts but our very perceptions, and the operation of which is antecedent to and sovereign over all our mental processes; which principles are denominated the categories of thought; the name is also employed to characterise every system which grounds itself on a belief in a supernatural of which the natural is but the embodiment and manifestation. see natural supernaturalism. transmigration, the doctrine prevalent in the east, that the soul is immortal, and that when it leaves the body at death it passes into another, a transition which in certain systems goes under the name of reincarnation. transubstantiation, the doctrine of roman catholics as defined by the council of trent, that the bread and wine of the eucharist is, after consecration by a priest, converted mystically into the body and blood of christ, and is known as the docrine of the real presence. transvaal, formerly south african republic ( ), a country of se. africa, stretching northwards from the vaal river, and bounded n. by matabeleland, e. by portuguese e. africa and swaziland, s. by natal and the orange river colony, and w. by bechuanaland and bechuanaland protectorate; comprises elevated plateaux, but is mountainous in the e.; about the size of italy; has a good soil and climate favourable for agriculture and stock-raising, to which latter the inert dutch farmer chiefly devotes himself; its chief wealth, however, lies in its extremely rich deposits of gold, especially those of the "rand," of which it exports now more than any country in the world; its advance since the gold discoveries has been great, but the trade is almost entirely in the hands of the british immigrants; johannesburg (q. v.) is the largest town, and pretoria ( ) the seat of government. in the region was settled by dutch farmers, who had "trekked" from natal (recently annexed by britain) to escape british rule, as in , for a similar reason, they had come from the cape to natal. fierce encounters took place with the native basutos, but in the end the "boers" made good their possession. in the republic, then in a disorganised and impoverished condition, and threatened with extinction by the natives, came under the care of the british, by whom the natives were reduced and the finances restored. in a rising of the boers to regain complete independence resulted in the conventions of and , by which the independence of the republic was recognised, but subject to the right of britain to control the foreign relations. within recent years agitations were carried on by the growing "uitlander" population to obtain a share in the government to which they contributed in taxes the greater part of the revenue, and a succession of attempts were made by the british government to get the boers to concede the franchise to the "uitlanders" and remedy other grievances; but the negotiations connected therewith were suddenly arrested by an ultimatum of date th october , presented to the british government by the transvaal, and allowing them only hours to accept it. it was an ultimatum they were bound to ignore, and accordingly, the time having expired on the th, war was declared by the boers. it proved a costly and sanguinary one to both sides in the conflict; but the resistance of the boers was ultimately overcome, and hostilities ceased in may . previously to this, the colony had been annexed by great britain ( ). it is at present ( ) administered by a governor, lieutenant-governor, and an executive council; but it is proposed that, in the near future, representative institutions should be granted. transylvania ( ), eastern division of the austrian empire; is a tableland enclosed ne. and south by the carpathians, contains wide tracts of forests, and is one-half under tillage or in pasture; yields large crops of grain and a variety of fruits, and has mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, &c., though the manufactures and trade are insignificant; the population consists of roumanians, hungarians, and germans; it was united to hungary in . trapani ( ), an ancient seaport of sicily, known in roman times as drepanum, in the nw., m. w. of palermo; presents now a handsome modern appearance, and trades in wheat, wine, olives, &c. trappists, an order of cistercian monks founded in at la trappe, in the french department of orne, noted for the severity of their discipline, their worship of silence and devotion to work, meditation, and prayer, hours out of the of which they pass in the latter exercise; their motto is "memento mori"; their food is chiefly vegetables. trasimene lake, a historic lake of italy; lies amid hills between the towns cortona and perugia; shallow and reedy, m. long; associated with hannibal's memorable victory over the romans b.c. travancore ( , ), a native state in south india, under british protection, between the western ghâts and the arabian sea; it is connected with the madras presidency; it is traversed by spurs of the western ghâts, beyond which, westward, is a plain m. wide, covered with coco-nut and areca palms; the population mainly hindus; there are native christians and some black jews; trivandrum is the capital. traviata, an opera representing the progress of a courtezan. trebizond ( ), a city and thriving seaport ne. of asia minor, the outlet of persia and armenia, on the black sea; is walled, and outside are various suburbs; manufactures silks. trelawney, edward john, friend of shelley and byron; entered the navy as a boy, but deserted and took to adventure; met with shelley at pisa; saw to the cremation of his body when he was drowned, and went with byron to greece; was a brave, but a restless mortal; wrote "recollections of the last days of shelley and byron" ( - ). trelawney, sir jonathan, one of the seven bishops tried under james ii.; is the hero of the cornish ballad, "and shall trelawney die?" _d_. . trench, richard chevenix, archbishop of dublin, born in dublin; educated at harrow and trinity college, cambridge; took orders; became curate to samuel wilberforce, and wrote "notes on the miracles and parables" and "the study of words"; was dean of westminster before he became archbishop ( - ). trenck, baron von, general, first in the service of austria, then of russia; dismissed from both; commanded a regiment of pandours in the austrian succession war in the interest of maria theresa; tried to capture frederick the great; was caught, tried, and condemned to prison, escaped, was captured, and took poison; had a cousin with a similar fate ( - ). trent, an english river, rises in nw. of staffordshire, flows ne., and unites with the ouse, m. w. of hull. trent ( ), an austrian town in s. of tyrol, in a valley on the adige, m. n. of verona; has an italian appearance, and italian is spoken. trent, council of, an oecumenical council, the eighteenth, held at trent, and whose sittings, with sundry adjournments, extended from th december until th december , the object of which was to define the position and creed of the church of rome in opposition to the doctrines and claims of the churches of the reformation. trenton ( ), capital of new jersey state, on the delaware river, m. sw. of new york; divided into two portions by assanpink creek, and handsomely laid out in broad, regular streets; public buildings include a state-house, federal buildings, &c.; is the great emporium in the united states of crockery and pottery manufactures. trepanning, an operation in surgery whereby portions of the skull are removed by means of an instrument called a trepan, which consists of a small cylindrical saw; resorted to in all operations on the brain. trevelyan, sir george otto, politician and man of letters, born at rothley temple, leicestershire, son of sir charles trevelyan (a distinguished servant of the east india company, governor of madras, baronet, and author) and hannah, sister of lord macaulay; educated at harrow and cambridge, and entered parliament as a liberal in ; has held successively the offices of parliamentary secretary to the board of admiralty, chief secretary for ireland, chancellor of the duchy of lancaster with a seat in the cabinet, and secretary for scotland; resigned his seat in ; has written "life and letters of lord macaulay," "early history of charles james fox," "the american revolution," &c., all of which are characterised by admirable lucidity and grace of style; _b_. . trÈves ( ), a famous old city of prussia, beautifully situated on the moselle, m. sw. of coblenz; held to be the oldest city in germany, and claiming to be years older than rome; is full of most striking roman remains, and possesses an interesting th-century cathedral, having among many relics the celebrated seamless "holy coat," said to have been the one worn by christ; manufactures woollens, cottons, and linens, and wine. tribunes, in ancient rome officers elected by the plebs to preserve their liberties and protect them from the tyranny of the aristocratic party, their institution dating from b.c., on the occasion of a civil tumult. trichinopoli ( ), capital of a district of same name in madras presidency, on the kaveri, m. inland; is a fortified town, with an imposing citadel, barracks, hospital, &c.; noted for its cheroots and jewellery; seat of a roman catholic bishopric and college. tricolour, a flag adopted by the french revolutionists in , and consisting of three vertical stripes, blue, white, and red, the blue next the staff. trident, originally a three-pronged fork used by fishermen, and at length the symbol, in the hands of poseidon and britannia, of sovereignty over the sea. trieste ( ), an ancient town and still the first seaport of austro-hungary; at the head of the ne. arm of the adriatic, m. sw. of vienna; an imperial free city since ; consists of an old and a new town on the level fronting the sea; has a fine harbour and extensive manufactures, embracing shipbuilding, rope-making, &c. trim, corporal, uncle toby's attendant in "tristram shandy." trimurti, the hindu trinity, embracing brahma the creator, vishnu the preserver, and siva (q. v.) the destroyer; represented sometimes as a body with three heads, that of brahma in the centre, of vishnu on the right, and of siva on the left. trincomalee ( ), an important naval station and seaport on the ne. coast of ceylon, m. ne. of kandy; possesses barracks, official residences, and a splendid harbour, a haven of shelter to shipping during the monsoons, and is strongly fortified. trinidad ( ), the largest of the windward islands, and most southerly of the antilles (q. v.), lies off the mouth of the orinoco, m. from the coast of venezuela; is of great fertility, with a hot, humid, but not unhealthy climate; sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cocoa are the chief exports; a source of great wealth is a wonderful pitch lake which, despite the immense quantities annually taken from it, shows no perceptible diminution; inhabitants are mainly french; taken by the british in , and forms, with tobago, a crown colony; capital, port of spain. trinitarians, name applied to those who believe in an ontological as well as those who believe in a theological trinity, that is to say, who recognise the like principle pervading the universe of being. trinity, the doctrine, variously interpreted, that in the godhead or divine nature there are three persons, respectively denominated father, son, and spirit--father, from whom; son, to whom; and spirit, through whom are all things; is essentially triunity in unity. tripitaka, (the three baskets), name given to the collection of the sacred books of buddhism, as being formed of three minor collections, bearing the sutras on discipline, the vinaya on doctrine, and the abidharma on metaphysics. tripod, seat with three legs on which the priestess of apollo sat when delivering her oracles. tripoli ( ), a seaport of syria, m. ne. of beyrout; a place of great antiquity, and successively in the hands of the phoenicians, crusaders, and mamelukes; it has many interesting saracenic and other remains; its trade is passing over to beyrout. tripoli ( , ), a province (since ) of turkey, in north africa, most easterly of the barbary states; stretches northwards from the libyan desert, lies between tunis (w.) and fezzan (e.), with which latter, as also with barca, it is politically united; carries on a brisk caravan trade with central africa; capital, tripoli ( ), situated on a spit of rocky land jutting into the mediterranean; surrounded by high walls, and moorish in appearance. triptolemus, in the greek mythology the favourite of demeter (q. v.), the inventor of the plough, and of the civilisation therewith connected; played a prominent part in the eleusinian mysteries; was favoured by demeter for the hospitality he showed her when she was in quest of her daughter. trismegistus (thrice greatest), the egyptian hermes, regarded as the fountain of mysticism and magic. tristan da cunha, the largest of three small islands lying out in the south atlantic, about m. sw. of st. helena; m. in circumference; taken possession of by the british in , and utilised as a military and naval station during napoleon's captivity on st. helena; now occupied by a handful of people, who lead a simple, communistic life. tristram, sir, one of the heroes of mediæval romance, whose adventures form an episode in the history of the round table. triton, in the greek mythology a sea deity, son of poseidon and amphitrite; upper part of a man with a dolphin's tail; often represented as blowing a large spiral shell; there were several of them, and were heralds of poseidon. tritratna, name given to the buddhist trinity, buddha, the dharma, and the sangha (q. v.). trochu, louis jules, a distinguished french general, who came to the front during the crimean end italian campaigns, but fell into disfavour for exposing in a pamphlet ( ) the rotten state of the french army; three years later, on the outbreak of the franco-german war, was appointed governor of paris, and, after the proclamation of the republic, general of the defence of the city till its capitulation, after which he retired into private life ( - ). trollope, anthony, english novelist; belonged to a literary family; his mother distinguished as a novelist no less; educated at winchester and harrow; held a high position in the post office; his novels were numerous; depict the provincial life of england at the time; the chief being "barchester towers," "framley parsonage," and "dr. thorne"; wrote a "life of cicero," and a biography of thackeray; he was an enthusiastic fox-hunter ( - ). tromp, cornelius, dutch admiral, son of succeeding, born at rotterdam; fought many battles with the english and proved himself a worthy son of a heroic father; was created a baron by charles ii. of england ( ); aided the danes against sweden, and subsequently succeeded ruyter as lieutenant admiral-general of the united provinces ( - ). tromp, martin harpertzoon, famous dutch admiral, born at briel; trained to the sea from his boyhood, in was created lieutenant-admiral, and in two years' time had twice scattered spanish fleets; defeated by blake in , but six months later beat back the english fleet in the strait of dover, after which he is said to have sailed down the channel with a broom to his masthead as a sign he had swept his enemies from the seas; in blake renewed the attack and inflicted defeat on him after a three days' struggle; in june and july tromp was again defeated by the english, and in the last engagement off the coast of holland was shot dead ( - ). tromsÖ, a town ( ) and island ( ) of norway, in the nw. trondhjem ( ), an important town, the ancient capital of norway, on trondhjem fjord, m. n. of christiania; is well laid out with broad level streets, most of the houses are of wood; possesses a fine th-century cathedral, where the kings of norway are crowned; carries on a flourishing trade in copper ore, herrings, oil, &c.; is strongly fortified. trophonius, in greek legend, along with his brother agamedes, the architect of the temple of apollo at delphi; had a famous oracle in a cave in boeotia, which could only be entered at night. tropics, two parallels of latitude on either side of the equator, which mark the limits n. and s. of the sun's verticality to the earth's surface, the distance being in each case ½°; the northern tropic is called the tropic of cancer, and the southern the tropic of capricorn. troppau ( ), capital of austrian silesia, m. e. of vienna; contains a castle, gymnasium, and an extensive library; manufactures linen and woollen textiles, beetroot sugar, &c. trossachs, a romantic pass in the perthshire highlands, m. w. of callander, stretching for about a mile between lochs katrine and achray, is charmingly wooded; is celebrated by sir walter scott in his "lady of the lake." troubadours, a class of poets who flourished in provence, eastern spain, and northern italy from the th to the th century, whose songs in the langue d'oc were devoted to subjects lyrical and amatory, and who not infrequently were men of noble birth and bore arms as knights, and as such were distinguished from the jongleurs, who were mere strolling minstrels. trouvÈres, a class of ancient poets in northern france, who like the troubadours of southern france were of court standing, but whose poems, unlike those of the troubadours, were narrative or epic. trowbridge ( ), a market-town of wiltshire, m. nw. of salisbury; has a fine th-century perpendicular church, in which the poet crabbe is buried; has woollen and fine cloth manufactures. troy, a city of troas, a territory nw. of mysia, asia minor, celebrated as the scene of the world-famous legend immortalised by the "iliad" of homer in his account of the war caused by the rape of helen, and which ended with the destruction of the city at the hands of the avenging greeks. troy ( ), capital of rensselaer county, new york, on the hudson river, m. above albany; possesses handsome public buildings, and is a busy centre of textile, heavy iron goods, and other manufactures; has daily steamship service with new york. troyes ( ), a quaint old town of france, capital of the department of aube, on the seine, m. se. of paris; possesses a fine flamboyant gothic cathedral, founded in , several handsome old churches, a large public library; has flourishing manufactures of textile fabrics, and trades in agricultural produce; here in was signed the treaty of troyes, making good the claims of henry v. of england to the french crown. truck-system, the paying of workmen's wages in goods in place of money; found useful where works are far distant from towns, but liable to the serious abuse from inferior goods being supplied; acts of parliament have been passed to abolish the system, but evasions of the law are not uncommon. trumbull, jonathan, an american patriot, judge and governor of connecticut, who supported the movement for independence with great zeal; was much esteemed and consulted by washington, whose frequent phrase, "let us hear what brother jonathan says," gave rise to the appellation "brother jonathan" ( - ). trunnion, commodore hawser, an eccentric retired naval officer in smollett's "peregrine pickle," affects the naval commander in his retirement. truro ( ), an episcopal city and seaport of cornwall; exports largely tin and copper from surrounding mines; its bishopric was revived in , and a handsome early english cathedral is nearing completion; has also infirmary, old grammar-school, libraries, &c. tuam ( ), a town of galway, ireland, m. nw. of dublin; is the seat of an anglican bishop and of a catholic archbishop. tÜbingen ( ), a celebrated university town of würtemberg, m. sw. of stuttgart; is quaint and crowded in the old town, but spreads out into spacious and handsome suburbs, where is situated the new university. under melanchthon and reuchlin the old university became a distinguished seat of learning, and later, during the professorship of baur (q. v.), acquired celebrity as a school of advanced biblical criticism, which gave great stimulus to a more rationalistic interpretation of the scripture narratives; has now an excellent medical school; also book printing and selling, and other industries are actively carried on. tucker, abraham, author of "the light of nature pursued"; educated at oxford and the inner temple, but possessed of private means betook himself to a quiet country life near dorking and engaged in philosophical studies, the fruit of which he embodied in seven volumes of miscellaneous theological and metaphysical writing ( - ). tucuman, a north-central province ( ) and town ( ) of the argentine republic, the latter on the rio sil, m. nw. of buenos ayres. tudela ( ), ecclesiastical city of spain, on the ebro, m. nw. of saragossa. tudor, the family name of the royal house that occupied the english throne from (accession of henry vii.) to (death of queen elizabeth), founded by owen tudor, a welsh gentleman, who became clerk of the household, and subsequently the husband of catherine of valois, widow of henry v.; their son, edmund, earl of richmond, married margaret beaufort, a direct descendant of edward iii., and became the father of henry vii. tula ( ), capital of a government ( , ) of the same name in central russia, m. s. of moscow, the residence of a military and of a civil governor, the seat of a bishop, and a busy centre of firearms, cutlery, and other manufactures. tulchan bishops, bishops appointed in scotland by james vi. to draw the church revenues for his behoof in part, a tulchan being "a calf-skin stuffed into the rude similitude of a calf" to induce the cow to give her milk freely; "so of the bishops, which the scotch lairds were glad to construct and make the milk come without disturbance." tulle ( ), a town of france, capital of the dep. of corrèze, m. ne. of bordeaux; possesses a cathedral, episcopal palace, &c.; chief manufacture firearms; the fine silk fabric which takes its name from it is no longer manufactured here. tunbridge ( ), a market-town of kent, m. sw. of maidstone, with a fine old castle, a notable grammar-school, and manufactures of fancy wood-wares. tunbridge wells ( ), a popular watering-place on the border of kent and sussex, m. se. of london; with chalybeate waters noted for upwards of years. tunis ( , ), a country of north africa, slightly larger than portugal; since a protectorate of france; forms an eastern continuation of algeria, fronting the mediterranean to the n. and e., and stretching s. to the sahara and tripoli; is inhabited chiefly by bedouin arabs; presents a hilly, and in parts even mountainous, aspect; its fertile soil favours the culture of fruits, olives, wheat, and esparto, all of which are in gradually increasing amounts exported; fine marble has been recently found, and promises well. the capital is tunis ( ), situated at the sw. end of the lake of tunis, a few miles se. of the ruined city of carthage (q. v.); is for the most part a crowded unwholesome place, but contains well-supplied bazaars, finely decorated mosques, the bey's palace, a citadel, and is showing signs of improvement under french management. tunstall ( ), a market-town of staffordshire, ½ m. ne. of newcastle-under-lyme, is a coal-centre, with manufactures of earthenware and iron. tupper, martin, author of "proverbial philosophy," born in marylebone; bred to the bar; wrote some works, but the "philosophy" ( ), though dead now, had a quite phenomenal success, having sold in thousands and hundreds of thousands, as well as being translated into various foreign languages ( - ). turenne, vicomte de, a famous marshal of france, born at sedan of noble parentage; was trained in the art of war under his uncles maurice and henry of nassau in holland, and entered the french service in under the patronage of richelieu; gained great renown during the thirty years' war; during the wars of the fronde (q. v.) first sided with the "frondeurs," but subsequently joined mazarin and the court party; crushed his former chief condé; invaded successfully the spanish netherlands, and so brought the revolt to an end; was created marshal-general of france in ; subsequently conducted to a triumphant issue wars within spain ( ), holland ( ), and during conquered and devastated the palatinate, but during strategical operations conducted against the austrian general montecuculi was killed by a cannon-ball ( - ). turgot, anne robert jacques, french statesman, born at paris, of norman descent; early embraced the doctrines of the _philosophe_ party, and held for years the post of intendant of limoges, the affairs of which he administered with ability, and was in called by louis xvi. to the management of the national finances, which he proceeded to do on economical principles, but in all his efforts was thwarted by the privileged classes, and in some months was compelled to resign and leave the matter to the fates, he himself retiring into private life ( - ). turin ( ), a celebrated city of north italy, a former capital of piedmont, m. nw. of genoa; although one of the oldest of italian cities it presents quite a modern appearance, with handsome streets, statues, squares, gardens, a renaissance cathedral, palaces, university (over students), large library, colleges and museums, &c.; manufactures are chiefly of textiles; has an interesting history from the time of its first mention in hannibal's day. turkestan, a wide region in central asia, divided by the pamir plateau into sections: ( ) western turkestan, which embraces russian turkestan ( , ), the khanates of khiva (q. v.) and bokhara (q. v.), and afghan turkestan. ( ) eastern turkestan ( ), formerly called chinese tartary; unproductive in many parts, and but sparsely populated; produces some gold, and a considerable quantity of silk, besides linens and cottons. turkey or the ottoman empire, a great mohammedan state embracing wide areas in eastern europe and western asia, besides the province of tripoli in north africa, and the tributary states bulgaria and eastern roumelia, bosnia and herzegovina (under austria), cyprus (under britain), samos and egypt (practically controlled by britain). european turkey ( , ), which during the last years has been gradually losing territory, now comprises a narrow strip of land between the adriatic (w.) and the black sea (e.), about twice the size of england; is traversed by the dinaric alps and pindus mountains, which strike southwards into greece, while offshoots from the balkans (q. v.) diversify the e.; climate is very variable, and is marked by high winds and extremes of cold and heat; the soil is remarkably fertile and well adapted for the cultivation of cereals, but agricultural enterprise is hampered by excessive taxation; there is abundance of the useful metals; is the only non-christian state in europe. asiatic turkey ( , ) is bounded n. by the black sea, s. by the arabian desert and the mediterranean, e. by persia and transcaucasia, and w. by the archipelago; has an area more than ten times that of turkey in europe, is still more mountainous, being traversed by the taurus, anti-taurus, and the lebanon ranges; is ill watered, and even the valleys of the euphrates, tigris, and jordan are subject to great drought in the summer; embraces asia minor (q. v.), syria (q. v.), palestine (q. v.), and the coast strips of arabia along the red sea and the persian gulf; chief exports are fruits, silk, cotton, wool, opium, &c. the population of the ottoman empire is of a most heterogeneous character, embracing turks, greeks, slavs, albanians, armenians, syrians, arabs, tartars, &c. the government is a pure despotism, and the sultan is regarded as the caliph or head of islam; military service is compulsory, and the army on a war footing numbers not less than , , but the navy is small; since there has been considerable improvement in education; the finances have long been mismanaged, and an annual deficit of two millions sterling is now a usual feature of the national budget; the foreign debt is upwards of millions. from the th century onwards the once wide empire of the turks has been gradually dwindling away. the turks are essentially a warlike race, and commerce and art have not flourished with them. their literature is generally lacking in virility, and is mostly imitative and devoid of national character. turner, charles tennyson, an elder brother of alfred tennyson; a man of fine nature and delicate susceptibility as a poet, whose friendship and "heart union" with his greater brother is revealed in "poems by two brothers" ( - ). turner, joseph mallord william, great english landscape painter, born probably in london, the son of a hairdresser; had little education, and grew up illiterate, as he remained all his days; took to art from his earliest boyhood; soon became acquainted with the artist class, and came under the notice of sir joshua reynolds; began to exhibit at ; was elected associate of the royal academy at , and made an academician at ; he took interest in nothing but art, and led the life of a recluse; was never married, and was wedded solely to his work; travelled much in england and on the continent, sketching all day long; produced in water-colour and oil scene after scene, and object after object, as they impressed him, and represented them as _he_ saw them; being a man of moderate desires he lived economically, and he died rich, leaving his means to found an asylum for distressed artists; of his works there is no space to take note here; yet these are all we know of the man, and they stamp him as a son of genius, who saw visions and dreamed dreams; he early fascinated the young ruskin; ruskin's literary career began with the publication of volume after volume in his praise, and in his enthusiasm he characterised him as the "greatest painter of all time" ( - ). see perugino. turner, sharon, historian, born in london, where he led a busy life as an attorney; devoted his leisure to historical studies, the first of which were "history of anglo-saxons" and "history of england from the norman conquest to the death of elizabeth," essays, &c. ( - ). turpin, dick, a felon executed at york for horse-stealing; celebrated for his ride to york in ainsworth's "rookwood." tuscany ( , ), a department of italy, formerly a grand-duchy, lies s. and w. of the apennines, fronting the tyrrhenian sea on the w.; mountainous in the n. and e., but otherwise consisting of fertile dale and plain, in which the vine, olive, and fruits abound; silk is an important manufacture, and the marble quarries of siena are noted; formed a portion of ancient etruria (q. v.); was annexed to sardinia in , and in was incorporated in the kingdom of italy. capital, florence. tusculum, a ruined roman city, m. se. of rome; at one time a favourite country resort of wealthy romans; brutus, cæsar, cicero, and others had villas here; was stormed to ruins in ; has many interesting remains. tussaud, madame, foundress of the famous waxwork show in london, born at berne, and trained in her art in paris; patronised by the sister of louis xvi.; was imprisoned during the revolution, and in came to london ( - ). tweed, a famous river of scotland, rises in the s. of peeblesshire, and flows for m. in a generally north-eastward direction; enters the german ocean at berwick; is a noted salmon river, and inseparably associated with the glories of scottish literature and history. twickenham ( ), a town of middlesex, on the thames, ½ m. sw. of london; a fashionable resort in the th century; the dwelling-place of pope, horace walpole, turner, and others. twiss, sir travers, jurist and economist, born in westminster; professor of political economy at oxford, and subsequently of civil law; drew up in a constitution for the congo free state; his writings include "view of the progress of political economy since the sixteenth century," "international law," "the law of nations," all of which rank as standard and authoritative works ( - ). twist, oliver, hero of dickens's novel of the name. tyche, the greek name of the latin goddess fortuna, represented with various attributes to symbolise her fickleness, her influence, her generosity, &c. tyler, edward burnet, a distinguished anthropologist, born at camberwell; in he travelled through mexico in company with henry christy, the ethnologist; five years later published "anahuac; or, mexico and the mexicans"; in became keeper of the oxford university museum and reader in anthropology; in was appointed gifford lecturer at aberdeen, and in president of the anthropological society; his great works are "researches into the early history of mankind" and "primitive culture"; _b_. . tyler, john, president of the united states, born in charles city county, virginia; became a barrister; elected vice-president of the united states in , and on the death of harrison succeeded to the presidential office; showed much independence and strength of mind, exercising his veto on several occasions; the ashburton (q. v.) treaty and the annexation of texas were the principal events of his presidency; made strenuous endeavours to secure peace in , but failing sided with the south, and was a member of the confederate congress ( - ). tyler, wat, a tiler in dartford, kent, who roused into rebellion the long-discontented and over-taxed peasantry of england by striking dead in a tax-gatherer who had offered insult to his young daughter; under tyler and jack straw a peasant army was mustered in kent and essex, and a descent made on london; the revolters were disconcerted by the tact of the young king richard ii. (q. v.), and in a scuffle tyler was killed by walworth, mayor of london. tyndal, john, physicist, born in co. carlow, ireland; succeeded faraday at the royal institution; wrote on electricity, sound, light, and heat, as well as on the "structure and motion of the glaciers," in opposition to forbes, whose theory was defended in strong terms by ruskin; wrote also "lectures on science for unscientific people," much praised by huxley ( - ). tyne, river of north england, formed by the confluence near hexham of the n. tyne from the cheviots, and the s. tyne, which rises on cross fell, in e. cumberland; forms the boundary between durham and northumberland, and after a course of m. enters the sea between tynemouth and south shields. tynemouth ( township, borough), a popular watering-place of northumberland, at the mouth of the tyne, m. e. of newcastle; has a fine sweep of promenaded shore, an aquarium, pier, lighthouse, baths, &c.; north shields and several villages lie within the borough boundaries. typhon, in the greek mythology a fire-breathing giant, struck by a thunderbolt of jupiter, and buried under etna. tyrants, in ancient greece men who usurped or acquired supreme authority in a state at some political crisis, who were despotic in their policy, but not necessarily cruel, often the reverse. tyrconnel, richard talbot, earl of, a catholic politician and soldier, whose career during the reigns of charles ii. and james ii. is a record of infamous plotting and treachery in support of the catholic stuarts; was created an earl and lord-deputy of ireland by james ii.; fled to france after the battle of the boyne ( - ). tyre, a famous city of ancient phoenicia (q. v.), about m. n. of acre; comprised two towns, one on the mainland, the other on an island opposite; besieged and captured in b.c. by alexander the great, who connected the towns by a causeway, which, by silting sands, has grown into the present isthmus; its history goes back to the th century b.c., when it was held by hiram, the friend of solomon, and sustained sieges by nebuchadnezzar and others; was reduced by cæsar augustus, but again rose to be one of the most flourishing cities of the east in the th century a.d.; fell into ruins under the turks, and is now reduced to some of a population. tyrol ( ), a crownland of austria; lies between bavaria (n.) and italy (s. and w.); traversed by three ranges of the alps and by the rivers inn and adige; it is famed for the beauty of its scenery; inhabited by catholic germans and italians; sheep-farming, mining, and forest, fruit, and wine cultivation are the chief industries; capital innsbruck (q. v.). tyrone ( ), a central county of ulster, ireland; is hilly, picturesque, and fertile in the lower districts; a considerable portion is taken up by barren mountain slopes and bogland, and agriculture is backward; coal and marble are wrought; omagh is the capital, and strabane and dungannon are prosperous towns. tyrone, hugh o'neil, earl of, a notable irish rebel; assumed the title of "the o'neil," and offered open rebellion to queen elizabeth's authority, but, despite assistance from spain, was subdued by essex and mountjoy; was permitted to retain his earldom, but in james i.'s reign was again discovered intriguing with spain; fled the country, and had his lands confiscated; _d_. . tyrrhenian sea, an arm of the mediterranean, stretching between corsica, sardinia, and sicily on the w., and italy on the e. tyrtÆus, a lyric poet of ancient greece, of the th century b.c., and whose war-songs greatly heartened the spartans in their struggle with the messenians. tyrwhitt, thomas, english scholar, the son of an english church canon, born in london; was a fellow of merton in , and in became clerk to the house of commons, a post, however, which proved too arduous for him, and in he resigned; the remainder of his life was given to literary pursuits; produced the first adequate edition of chaucer ( ), besides an edition of aristotle's "poetics," and books on chatterton's "rowley poems," &c. ( - ). tytler, patrick fraser, historian, son of alexander fraser tytler, a lord of session under the title of lord woodhouselee, author of the "elements of history" ( - ), born in edinburgh; abandoned the bar for literature, and established his fame by his scholarly "history of scotland"; wrote biographies of wycliffe, raleigh, henry viii., &c.; received a government pension from sir robert peel ( - ). u ucayali, a tributary of the amazon, which rises in the s. peruvian andes, and which it joins after a northward course of over m. udall, nicholas, author of "ralph roister-doister," the earliest of english comedies, and "the earliest picture of london manners," born in hants; was a graduate of oxford, and head-master first of eton and subsequently of westminister school ( - ). ueberweg, friedrich, german philosopher, professor at königsberg; author of a "history of philosophy," an excellent text-book ( - ). uganda, a territory in east africa along the n. and nw. shore of victoria nyanza, with a population of from , to , , and the seat of an active mission propaganda on the part of both the catholic and protestant churches; has since been under british protection. the capital is mengo. ugolino, count, tyrant of pisa; was of the guelph party; celebrated for his tragic fate; having fallen into the hands of his enemies, he was in thrown into a dungeon along with his two sons and two grandsons, and starved to death, a fate which suggested to dante one of the most terrible episodes in his "inferno"; the dungeon referred to has since borne the name of the "tower of hunger." uhland, johann ludwig, german poet, born at tübingen; studied law, and wrote essays as well as poems, but it is on the latter his fame rests, and that is as wide as the german world; he was a warm-hearted patriot, and in keen sympathy with the cause of german liberation ( - ). uhlans, a body of light cavalry in the german army, introduced first into the polish service, and of tartar origin it is said. uist, two islands of the outer hebrides, called respectively north and south, forming part of inverness-shire; separated by the island of benbecula, with a population of over each; engaged chiefly in fishing. ukase, an edict issued by the czar, having the force of a law. ukraine (frontier), a fertile russian province of undefined limits in the basin of dnieper, originally a frontier territory of poland against the tartars. uleaborg ( ), a seaport town in russian finland, near the head of the gulf of bothnia; trades in wood and tar. ulema, a body in turkey, or any mohammedan country, of the learned in the mohammedan religion and law, such as the imams, or religious teachers, the muftis, or expounders of the law and the cadis, or judges; its decrees are called "fetvas." ullmann, karl, german theologian; was professor at heidelberg: wrote "reformers before the reformation," but is best known as author of "the sinlessness of jesus" ( - ). ullswater, second largest of the english lakes, lies between cumberland and westmorland, m. long, and its average breadth m.; is looked down upon by helvellyn, on the sw. ulm ( ), city of würtemberg, on the danube, m. se. of stuttgart; was an imperial free city, and is a place of great importance; is famed for its cathedral, which for size ranks next to cologne, as well as for its town hall; has textile manufactories and breweries, and is famed for its confectionery; here general mack, with , austrians, surrendered to marshal key in . ulotrichi, name given to the races that have crisp or woolly hair. ulphilas, gothic bishop; famous for his translation of the scriptures into gothic, the part which remains being of great philological value; was an arian in theology ( - ). ulrici, hermann, german philosopher and literary critic, born in lower lusatia; professor at halle; wrote against the hegelian philosophy as pantheistic, and also studies in shakespeare ( - ). ulster ( , ), the northern province of ireland, is divided into the nine counties of antrim, armagh, cavan, donegal, down, fermanagh, londonderry, monaghan, and tyrone, and has an area of sq. m.; became an english settlement in , and was largely colonised from scotland; it is the most protestant part of the island, though the catholics predominate, and is the most enterprising and prosperous part; the land is extensively cultivated, and flax growing and spinning the chief industries. ultimus romanorum (the last of the romans), name given by cæsar to brutus, as one with whom the old roman spirit would become extinct; applied to the last of any sturdy race. ultramontanism, name given to extreme views in the matter of the prerogatives and authority of the pope, so called in france as prevailing on the other side of the alps. ulugh-beg, a tartar prince, grandson of tamerlane; astronomy was a favourite study of his, and in the patronage of it he founded an observatory at samarcand; after a reign of years conjointly with his father and by himself, he was put to death by a son who had rebelled against him ( - ). ulysses (i. e. greek odysseus), chieftain of ithaca, one of the greek heroes in the trojan war, in which he was with difficulty persuaded to join, but in which, however, he did good service both by his courage and his counsels; he is less famed for what he did before troy than for what befell him in his ten years' wandering homeward after, as recorded by homer in a separate poem called after him the "odyssey" (q. v.), which relates his stay among the lotus-eaters (q. v.), his encounter with polyphemus (q. v.), the enchantments of circe (q. v.), the sirens (q. v.), and calypso (q. v.), and his shipwreck, &c. tennyson represents him as impatient of the humdrum life of ithaca on his return, and as longing to join his trojan comrades in the isles of the blessed. see penelope and telemachus. ulysses' bow, a bow which only ulysses could wield. uma (the gracious one), the consort of siva (q. v.), and sometimes also of rudra (q. v.). umballa ( ), a city in the punjab, m. nw. of delhi; is an important military station and a railway centre; carries on a large trade. umbria, a province of ancient italy, between cisalpine gaul and the territory of the sabines; inhabited originally by a powerful latin race. umlaut, name given by grimm to the modification of a vowel in a syllable through the influence of a vowel in the succeeding. una (i. e. who is one), the personification of truth, the companion of st. george in his adventures, and who, after various adventures herself, is at last wedded to him. uncial letters, large round characters or letters used in ancient mss. uncle sam, name given to the united states government, derived from a humorous translation of the initials u.s. unconscious, the, name given to a spiritual supernatural influence operating in and affecting the life and character, but which we are not sensible of ourselves, and still less reveal a conscious sense of to others. understanding, the. see reason. undine, a female spirit of the watery element, naturally without, but capable of receiving, a human soul, particularly after being wedded to a man and after giving birth to a child. undulatory theory, the theory that light is due to vibrations or undulations in the ether as the medium through which it is transmitted from its source in a luminous body. unearned increment, increase in the value of land or any property without expenditure of any kind on the part of the proprietor. unicorn, a fabulous animal like a horse, with a cubit and a half long horn on the forehead; was adopted by james i. as the symbol of scotland on the royal arms; is in christian art a symbol of the incarnation, and an emblem of female chastity. uniformity, act of, an act passed in england in regulating the form of public prayers and rites to be observed in all churches, and which had the effect of driving hundreds of clergymen from the established church. unigenitus, the bull, a bull beginning with this word, issued by pope clement xi. in against jansenism (q. v.) in france, and which was in condemned by the civil authorities in paris. union, federal, name given to a union of several states in defence or promotion of the common good, while each state is independent of the rest in local matters. union, the, a name applied in the english history to ( ) the union of england and scotland in under one crown, by the accession of james vi. of scotland to the throne of england on the death of elizabeth; ( ) the union of england and scotland in , under one parliament seated at westminster, into the united kingdom of great britain; and ( ) to the union of the united kingdom of great britain to ireland in , when the irish parliament was abolished, and was represented, as it still is, in the imperial. union jack, originally the flag of great britain, on which the crosses of st. george and st. andrew are blended, with which certain white streaks were blended or fimbriated after the union with ireland. unionists, name given to the liberal party opposed to mr. gladstone's measure to grant home rule to ireland. unitarians, a designation applicable to all monotheists in religion, including jews and mohammedans, but generally and more specially applied to those who deny the church doctrine of the trinity, and in particular the divinity of christ, and who have at different times and in different countries assumed an attitude, both within the pale of the church and outside of it, of protestation against the opposite orthodox creed in the interests of rationalistic belief; the name is also employed in philosophy to designate those who resolve the manifold of being into the operation of some single principle. united brethren, name given to the moravians (q. v.). united presbyterians, a body of presbyterians in scotland who dissent from the established church on chiefly ecclesiastical grounds, and had their origin in union in of the secession church of with the relief church of , bodies previously in dissent as well. a further union of the united presbyterian body with the free church is to all appearance about to be consummated. united provinces. see holland. united states ( , ), the great western republic; occupies an area nearly as large as all europe, bounded on the n. by the dominion of canada, on the e. by the atlantic, on the s. by mexico and the gulf, and on the w. by the pacific, extending m. from e. to w., and on an average m. from n. to s.; on the coasts are few capes, inlets, and islands, except on that of new england; there are two great mountain systems, the appalachians on the e. and the rockies, the cascade ranges, &c., on the w., which divide the territory into four regions--an eastern, which slopes from the appalachians to the atlantic, a manufacturing region; a central, which slopes s., formed by the mississippi valley, an agricultural and pastoral region; a plateau supported by the rocky and cascade ranges, a metalliferous region; and a territory with the valley of the sacramento, which slopes to the pacific, of varied resources. the great rivers are in the mississippi valley, as also the two largest lakes, the michigan and great salt lake, though there are important rivers both for navigation and water-power on the atlantic and pacific slopes. the climate is of every variety, from sub-arctic to sub-tropic, with extremes both as regards temperature and moisture, in consequence of which the vegetation is varied. the mineral wealth is immense, and includes, besides large beds of coal, all the useful metals. the industries, too, are manifold, and embrace manufactures of all kinds, with agriculture, grazing, mining, and fishing, while commerce is prosecuted with an activity that defies all rivalry, the facilities in railway and waterway being such as no other country can boast of, for there are over , miles of railway, not to mention street railways and traction lines, with telegraphic and telephonic communication. the population is mostly of british and german descent, with eight million negroes, who are all english-spoken. the government is a federal republic of states; the legislature consists of two houses--a senate representing the states, each one sending two members, and a house of representatives representing the people, every citizen over having a vote, and every , voters having a representative--the head of the government being the president, elected for a term of four years, and commander-in-chief of both army and navy. religious equality prevails through all the states, though the protestant section of the church is in the ascendant, and education is free and general, though backward in some of the former slave-holding states, the cost being met by state or local funds, supplemented by the federal government. united states, presidents of, george washington ( - ); john adams ( - ); thomas jefferson ( - ); james maddison ( - ); james munroe ( - ); john quincy adams ( - ); andrew jackson ( - ); martin van buren ( - ); john tyler ( - ); john k. polk ( - ); zachary taylor ( - ); millard fillmore ( - ); franklin pierce ( - ); james buchanan ( - ); abraham lincoln ( - ); andrew johnson ( - ); ulysses d. grant ( - ); rutherford b. hayes ( - ); james a. garfield ( ); chester a. arthur ( - ); grover cleveland ( - ); benjamin harrison ( - ); grover cleveland ( - ); william mckinley ( - ); theodore roosevelt ( ). unities, three, name given to the rule laid down by aristotle that a tragedy should be limited to one subject, to one place, and a single day. universalists, a body of christians who profess to believe in the final restoration of all the fallen, angels as well as men; a body chiefly of american growth, having an ecclesiastical organisation, and embracing a membership of , ; there are many of them unitarians, and all are more or less pelagian in their views of sin. unknown, the great, name given to sir walter scott from withholding his name in publishing the waverley novels. unterwalden ( ), a canton of switzerland s. and e. of lucerne, consisting of two parallel valleys m. long running n. and s.; an entirely pastoral country, and exports articles of husbandry. unyanyembe, a district of german east africa, with a town of the name, with a settlement of arabs who cultivate the soil, the fruits of which they export. unyoro ( , ), a native state of central africa, between lake albert nyanza and the territory of uganda. upan`ishads (instructions), a voluminous heterogeneous collection of treatises connected with the vedas, and the chief source of our knowledge of the early metaphysical speculations and ethical doctrines of the hindus; they are to a great extent apocryphal, and are posterior to the rise of buddhism. upas tree, a poison-yielding-tree, at one time fabled to exhale such poison that it was destructive to all animal and vegetable life for miles round it. upolu ( ), the principal island in the samoan group (q. v.), is m. in circumference, and rises in verdure-clad terraces from a belt of low land on the shore, with apia, the capital of the group, on the n. border. uppingham, market-town in rutland, with a famous public school. upsala ( ), the ancient capital of sweden, on the sala, m. nw. of stockholm, the seat of the primate, and of a famous university with students, and a library of , volumes; its cathedral, built of brick in the gothic style, is the largest in sweden, contains the tombs of linnæus and of gustavus vasa. ural, a river of russia, which rises in the e. of the urals and forms part of the boundary between europe and asia, and falls after a course of m. by a number of mouths into the caspian sea. urals, the, a range of mountains rich in precious as well as useful metals, extending from the arctic sea to the sea of aral, and separating european from asiatic russia, and is m. in length, m. in breadth, and ft. in average height. uralsk ( ), a town, a cossack centre, on the ural river, m. from the caspian sea, and a place of considerable trade. urania, the muse of astronomy, is represented with a globe in her hand, to which she points with a small rod. uranus, a planet, the outermost but one of the solar system, is millions of miles from the sun, takes , of our days, or of our years, to revolve round it, has four times the diameter of the earth, and is accompanied by four moons; it was discovered in by herschel, and called by him georgium sidus in honour of george iii. uranus (heaven), in the greek mythology the son of gaia (the earth), and by her the father of the titans; he hated his children, and at birth thrust them down to tartarus, to the grief of gaia, at whose instigation kronos, the youngest born, unmanned him, and seized the throne of the universe, to be himself supplanted in turn by his son zeus. urban, the name of eight popes: urban i., pope from to ; urban ii., pope from to , warm promoter of the first crusade; urban iii., pope from to ; urban iv., pope from to ; urban v., pope from to , man of an ascetic temper; urban vi., pope from to , in his reign the schism in the papacy began which lasted years; urban vii., pope in ; and urban viii., pope from to , founded the college de propaganda fide. urbino, an ancient town of central italy, m. sw. of pesaro; was once the capital of a duchy; is the seat of an archbishop, and was the birthplace of raphael. uri ( ), a swiss canton n. of unterwalden; is almost entirely pastoral; is overlooked by mount st. gothard; altdorf is the capital. urim and thummim, two ornaments attached to the breastplate of the jewish high-priest which, when consulted by him, at times gave mysteriously oracular responses. urquhart, sir thomas, of cromarty, a cavalier and supporter of charles i., and a great enemy of the covenanters in scotland; travelled much, and acquired a mass of miscellaneous knowledge, which he was fain to display and did display in a most pedantic style; posed as a philologist and a mathematician, but executed one classical work, a translation of rabelais; is said to have died in a fit of laughter at the news of the restoration of charles ii. ( - ). ursa major, the greater bear, a well-known constellation in the northern hemisphere, called also the plough, the wagon, or charles's wain, consists of seven bright stars, among others three of which are known as the "handle" of the plough, and two as the pointers, so called as pointing to the pole-star. ursa minor, the lesser bear, an inconspicuous constellation, the pole-star forming the tip of the tail. ursula, st., virgin saint and martyr, daughter of a british king; sought in marriage by a heathen prince, whom she accepted on condition that he became a christian and that he would wait three years till she and her , maidens accomplished a pilgrimage to rome; this pilgrimage being accomplished, on their return to cologne they were set upon and all save her slain by a horde of huns, who reserved her as a bride to etzel, their king, on the refusal of whose hand she was transfixed by an arrow, and thereby set free from all earthly bonds; is very often represented in art with arrows in her hands, and sometimes with a mantle and a group of small figures under it, her martyred sisters. ursulines, an order of nuns founded in by st. angela merici of brescia in honour of st. ursula, devoted to the nursing of the sick and the instruction of the young, and now established in homes in different cities of both europe and north america. uruguay ( ), the smallest state in south america and a republic, formerly called banda oriental; lies between the atlantic and the uruguay river, and is bounded on the s. by the estuary of the plata; it covers an area of over , sq. m., and is little more than one-third the size of france; the mineral wealth is abundant, but little has been done to exploit it; the cultivation of the soil is only begun, and the land is mostly given over to pasture, cattle-rearing and sheep-farming being the chief industries, and the chief products and exports being hides, wool, preserved meats, and similar articles of commerce. the people are mostly natives of mixed race, with some per cent. of europeans; primary education is compulsory; there are numerous schools, and a university, and though the established religion is roman catholic, all others are tolerated. montevideo is the capital. urumiya ( ), a town in persia, near a lake of the name, sw. of the caspian sea, the seat of a nestorian bishop and the birthplace of zoroaster. usedom ( ), island belonging to prussia, at the mouth of the oder, with schwinemünde on the n. ushant, island off the w. coast of france, in department of finisterre, where howe gained a signal victory over the french in . usher, james, irish episcopal prelate, born in dublin of good parentage, educated at trinity college, dublin; took orders and devoted years to the study of the fathers of the church; was in appointed professor of divinity in his alma mater, in bishop of meath, and in archbishop of armagh; in he went to england, and during the rebellion next year his house was broken into and plundered, after which he settled in london and was eight years preacher at lincoln's inn; adhered to the royal cause, but was favoured by cromwell, and by him honoured with burial in westminster; he was a most saintly man, evangelical in his teaching, and wrote a number of learned works ( - ). utah ( ), a territory on the western plateau of the united states, w. of colorado, traversed by the wahsatch range, at the foot of which lies the great salt lake, is in extent nearly three times as large as scotland, and occupied by a population four-fifths of which are mormons, a territory rich in mines of the precious and useful metals as well as coal; originally wholly a desert waste, but now transformed where the soil has admitted of it, into a fruit-bearing region. salt lake city (q. v.) is the capital. utakamand, the summer capital of the presidency of madras, india, on the nilgherries, ft. above the sea-level, and where the temperature in summer is as low as °. utgard (out-yard), in the norse mythology a place or circle of rocks on the extreme borders of the world, the abode of the giants, the same as jötunheim. utica, an ancient city of north africa, founded by the phoenicians on a site m. nw. of carthage; was in alliance with carthage during the first and second punic wars, but took part with the romans in the third, and became afterwards the capital of the roman province. utica ( ), a city in new york state, u.s., m. nw. of new york city; is on the erie canal, in the heart of a dairy-farming district; has a noted market for cheese, and has various manufactures. utilitarianism, the theory which makes happiness the end of life and the test of virtue, and maintains that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong as they tend to produce the reverse," a theory characterised by carlyle, who is never weary of denouncing it, as "reducing the infinite celestial soul of man to a kind of hay-balance for weighing hay and thistles on, pleasures and pains on." the great apostle of this theory was john stuart mill, and the great father of it jeremy bentham. utopia (nowhere), an imaginary island described by sir thomas more, and represented as possessing a perfect political organisation, and which has given name to all schemes which aim at the like impossible perfection, though often applied to such as are not so much impossible in themselves as impracticable for want of the due individual virtue and courage to realise them. utraquists (i. e. both kinders), followers of huss who maintained that the eucharist should be administered to the people in both kinds, both bread and wine. utrecht ( ), an old town, the capital of a province of the name ( ), in holland, on the old rhine, m. se. of amsterdam; it is fortified by strong forts, and the old walls have been levelled into beautiful promenades; has a number of fine buildings, a gothic cathedral, st. martin's, a famous university with students, and a library of , volumes, besides a town-hall and the "pope's house" (pope adrian vi., who was born here), &c.; manufactures iron goods, textiles, machinery, &c., and trades in butter and cheese; here in the treaty was signed which closed the spanish succession war. is the name also of a s. province of the transvaal. uttoxeter, market-town of staffordshire, m. ne. of stafford; has sundry manufactures and brewing; here dr. johnson did public penance, with head uncovered, as a man, for want of filial duty when, as a boy, he refused to keep his father's bookstall in the market-place when he was ill. uxbridge, town of middlesex, m. w. of london; has two fine churches, and a large corn-market. uzbegs, a race of tartar descent and mohammedan creed, dominant in turkestan, the governing class in khiva, bokhara, and khokand especially; territory now annexed to russia. v vaal, a river of south africa, which rises in the drakenberg mountains, separates the free state from the transvaal, and after a course of m. in a sw. direction joins the nu gariep to form the orange river. vaccination. inoculation with the matter of cowpox as a protection against smallpox, was introduced - by edward jenner (q. v.), and at length adopted by the faculty after much opposition on the part of both medical men and the public. vaigatz, an island in the arctic ocean, m. long by m. broad, the "holy island" of the samoyedes (q. v.), an abode of furred animals, seals, &c. vaishnavas, in india, name given to the worshippers of vishnu. vaisyas. see caste. valais, a swiss canton, between berne on the n. and italy on the s., in a wide valley of the rhône, and shut in by lofty mountains; cattle-rearing is the chief industry. valdai hills, a plateau rising to the height of ft. above the sea-level in russia, forming the only elevation in the great european plain. valencia ( ), a city of spain, once the capital of a kingdom, now of a fertile province of the name; is situated on the shores of the mediterranean, m. from the mouth of the guadalaviar, in the midst of a district called the huerta, which is watered by the river, and grows oranges, citron, almond, mulberry-trees in richest luxuriance, the fruits of which it exports; is an archbishop's see, and contains a large gothic cathedral, a picture gallery, and a university with a large library; has silk, cloth, leather, cigar, floor-tile manufactures, and exports grain and silk besides fruits. valencia ( ), a city of venezuela, in a rich district, on a lake of the same name; large numbers of cattle, horses, and mules are reared in the neighbourhood. valenciennes ( ), an ancient fortified city in the dep. nord, france, on the scheldt, m. se. of lille, with a citadel planned by vauban, a fine town-hall, and a modern gothic church and other buildings; has textile manufactures, besides iron-works, and was once famous for its lace. valens, flavius, emperor of the east from to ; nominated by his brother valentinian i. emperor of the west; was harassed all his reign by the goths, who had been allowed to settle in the empire, and whom he drove into revolt, to the defeat of his army in , in a battle in which he was himself slain; the controversy between the orthodox and the arians was at its height in this reign, and to the latter party both he and his victors belonged; _b_. . valentia, an island in co. kerry, ireland, is the european terminus of the atlantic telegraph system. valentine, basil, a german alchemist of the th century, is said to have been a benedictine monk at erfurt, and is reckoned the father of analytical chemistry. valentine's day, the th of february, on which young people of both sexes were wont (the custom seems gradually dying out) to send love-missives to one another; it is uncertain who the valentine was that is associated with the day, or whether it was with any of the name. valentinian i., roman emperor from to , born in pannonia, of humble birth; distinguished himself by his capacity and valour; was elected emperor by the troops at nicæa; his reign was spent in repelling the inroads of the barbarians. valentinians, a gnostic sect, called after their leader valentine, a native of egypt of the nd century, regarded heathenism as preparatory to christianity, and christ as the full and final development in human form of a series of fifteen stages of emanation from the infinite divine to the finite divine in him "the fulness of him that filleth all in all," each stage in the process achieved by the union of a male element with a female, that is, a conceptive and a susceptive. valerianus, lucinius, roman emperor from to , elected by the legions in rhætia; the empire being assailed on all hands he set out to defend it on the e.; was defeated at edessa, taken prisoner, and cruelly treated; when he died his skin, it is said, was stuffed and paraded as a trophy. valerius maximus, a roman writer of the age of tiberius, who compiled a collection of the sayings and doings of notable romans; it is of very miscellaneous character, and is written in a bombastic style, and dedicated to the emperor. valetta ( ), a fortress city, the capital of malta, on a promontory on the ne. coast of the island, between two bays; the streets are steep, and the harbour is strongly fortified; it contains several fine buildings, a cathedral, the palace of the grand-masters of the knights templar, and the hospital of st. john; there is also a university and a large public library. valette, jean parisot de la, grand-master of the order of st. john, famous for his military exploits and for his defence of malta against the turks in ( - ). valhalla, hall of odin, the heaven of the brave in the norse mythology, especially such as gave evidence of their valour by dying in battle, the "base and slavish" being sent to the realm of hela, the death-goddess. valkyrs, in the norse mythology daughters of odin, who selected such as were worthy to be slain in battle, and who conducted them to valhalla (q. v.). valla, laurence, a learned humanist, born in rome, and a valiant defender of the claims of scholarship; was a distinguished latinist ( - ). valladolid ( ), a famous city of spain, the capital of old castile, and now of a province of the name, m. n. of madrid; is a fortress town; is the seat of an archbishop; has a university and a number of churches; manufactures textile fabrics, iron, and leather. vallombrosa (shady valley), a benedictine abbey m. e. of florence, in a valley of the apennines, surrounded by forests of beech, firs, &c.; is a classic spot. valmy, a village of france, m. ne. of châlons, where the prussians, under the duke of brunswick, were defeated by the troops of the french republic under kellermann in . valois, an ancient duchy of france, which now forms part of the departments of oise and aisne, a succession of the counts of which occupied the throne of france, beginning with philippe vi. in and ending with henry iii. in . valparaiso (vale of paradise) ( ), the second city and chief port in chile, over m. nw. of santiago, at the head of a bay which looks n., and where the anchorage is dangerous; is quite a commercial city; exports ores, nitre, wheat, hides, &c., the business affairs of which are largely in the hands of foreigners, chiefly english, american, and germans; it has been on various occasions visited by severe earthquakes; was bombarded by a spanish fleet in and suffered in the civil war of . vambÉry, arminius, traveller and philologist, born in hungary, of poor jewish parentage; apprenticed to a costumier; took to the study of languages; expelled from pesth as a revolutionary in , settled in constantinople as a teacher, travelled as a dervish in turkestan and elsewhere, and wrote "travels and adventures in central asia," a most valuable and notable work; _b_. . vampire, the ghost of a dead person accursed, fabled to issue from the grave at night and suck the blood of the living as they sleep, the victims of whom are subject to the same fate; the belief is of slavonic origin, and common among the slavs. van ( ), a town in the kurdistan highlands, on the se. shore of lake van, and m. se. of erzerum; inhabited by turks and armenians. van buren, martin, the eighth president of the united states, born in new york; devoted from early years to politics, and early made his mark; elected president in , an office which he adorned with honour, though to the sacrifice of his popularity ( - ). van diemen's land. see tasmania. vanadium, a metallic silver-white elementary body of rare occurrence, and occurring in very small quantities; discovered first in by del rio. vanbrugh, sir john, dramatist, of uncertain birth; his dramas adaptations from the french of molière and others; had been a soldier; was clarencieux king-at-arms, and is noted as an architect; _d_. . vancouver island ( ), a rugged-coasted island on the w. of north america; belongs to british columbia; is separated from it by a strait of the sea; is m. long and to m. of average breadth; is covered with forests, and only partially cultivated; is rich in minerals, and has extensive fisheries. vandals, a fierce nation of the teutonic race, who, from the ne. of europe, invaded rome on the e., mutilating and destroying the works of art in the city. vanderbilt, cornelius, american millionaire, born on staten island; began life as a ferryman, acquired his fortune by enterprise in steamship navigation, and speculating in railway extensions ( - ). vandeveldt, william, the elder, marine painter, born at leyden; painted sea-fights; was patronised by charles ii. and james ii. ( - ). vandeveldt, william, the younger, marine painter, son of preceding; patronised likewise by charles ii. ( - ). vandyck, sir anthony, great portrait-painter, born in antwerp; studied under rubens, whose favourite pupil he was; visited italy, and devoted himself to the study of the great masters; on his return to antwerp painted "christ crucified between two thieves"; came to england in , and was patronised by charles i.; was knighted, and made court painter; painted the royal family, the king, queen, and their two children, and during the next eight years executed portraits of all the court people; his portraits are very numerous, and the most celebrated are in england; died at blackfriars, and was buried in st. paul's ( - ). vane, sir henry, a notability of the civil war period in england; was a puritan of the republican type, born in kent; studied at oxford; emigrated for a time to new england, but returned, entered parliament, took an active part against the royalists, withstood cromwell, and was openly rebuked by him; his opposition to the protectorate led to his imprisonment for a time; at the restoration he was arrested and beheaded on tower hill ( - ). var ( ), a department in the se. of france; is in part mountainous, with fertile valleys; yields wine, tobacco, and various fruits. varennes, a small town near verdun, in france, where in louis xvi. was intercepted in his attempt to escape from france. varna ( ), a port of bulgaria, on a bay in the black sea; a place of considerable trade, specially in exporting corn; here the french and english allied forces encamped for four months in prior to their invasion of the crimea. varnhagen, von ense, german memoir writer, and excellent in that department; a man of many vicissitudes; memorable chiefly as the editor of his wife's letters. see rahel. varro, marcus terentius, "the most learned of the romans," wrote a number of works both in prose and verse, of which only fragments remain, but enough to prove the greatness of the loss; was the friend of pompey, then cæsar, then cicero, but survived the strife of the time and spent his leisure afterwards in literary labours ( - b.c.). varuna, in the hindu mythology the god of the luminous heavens, viewed as embracing all things and as the primary source of all life and every blessing. "in connection with no other god," says m. barth, "is the sense of the divine majesty and of the absolute dependence of the creature expressed with the same force. we must go to the psalms to find similar accents of adoration and supplication." he was the prototype of the greek uranus, the primeval father of gods and men. varus, publius quintilius, roman consul, appointed by augustus governor of germany; being attacked by arminius and overpowered with loss of three roman legions under his command, he committed suicide; when the news of the disaster reached rome augustus was overwhelmed with grief, and in a paroxysm of despair called upon the dead man to restore him his legions. vasari, giorgio, italian painter and architect, born in arezzo; was the author of biographies of italian artists, and it is on these, with the criticism they contain, that his title to fame rests ( - ). vassar college, a college m. e. of poughkeepsie, new york, founded by matthew vassar, a wealthy brewer, in for the higher education of women. vathec, an oriental potentate and libertine, guilty of all sorts of crimes, and hero of a novel of the name by william beckford (q. v.). vatican, the, the palace of the pope in rome and one of the largest in the world; contains a valuable collection of works of art, and is one of the chief attractions in the city; it is a storehouse of literary treasures as well and documents of interest bearing on the history of the middle ages. vatican council, a church council attended by ecclesiastics under the auspices of pius ix., which assembled on december , , and by a majority of nearly decreed the doctrine of papal infallibility. vauban, sebastien le prestre de, marshal of france in the reign of louis xiv.; military engineering was his great forte, and as such he "conducted sieges, was present at battles, erected fortresses, and restored the works of old ones"; he was originally in the service of spain, and was enlisted in the french service by cardinal mazarin; he was a political economist as well as engineer, but his animadversions only procured for him the royal disfavour ( - ). vaucluse (valley shut in) ( ), department in the se. of france; chief industries agriculture, silk-weaving, pottery, &c., and with a village of the name, m. e. of avignon, famous for its fountain and as the retreat of petrarch for years. vaud ( ), a canton in the w. of switzerland, between jura and the bernese alps; is well cultivated, yields wines, and its inhabitants protestants; the capital is lausanne. vaudeville, a light, lively song with topical allusions; also a dramatic poem interspersed with comic songs of the kind and dances. vaudois, the name given to waldenses who, driven forth from france or vaud, found refuge and settled down in the mountain fastnesses of piedmont. vaughan, charles john, english clergyman, born at leicester; was a pupil of dr. arnold's at rugby; for many years famous as master of the temple, a post he resigned in ; held in high esteem as a preacher and for his fine spirit ( - ). vaughan, henry, english poet, self-styled the "silurist" from the seat of his family in south wales; studied at oxford, was a partisan of the royal cause; wrote four volumes of poems in the vein of george herbert, but was much more mystical and had deeper thoughts, could he have expressed them; of his poems the first place has been assigned to "silex scintillans," the theme the flinty heart when smelted giving out sparks. "at times," adds prof. saintsbury, "there is in him genuine blood and fire; but it is not always, or even often, that the flint is kindled and melted to achieved expression" ( - ). vaughan, herbert, cardinal, archbishop of westminster, born at gloucester, son of lieut.-colonel vaughan; educated at stonyhurst and abroad; succeeded cardinal manning as archbishop in , having previously been bishop of salford; _b_. . vauvenargues, marquis de, celebrated french essayist, born at aix, provence, poor, but of an old and honourable family; entered the army at , served in the austrian succession war, resigned his commission in , settled in paris and took to literature; his principal work was "introduction à la connaissance de l'esprit humain," followed by reflections and maxims on points of ethics and criticism; he suffered from bad health, and his life was a short one ( - ). vedanga, one of the six commentaries on the vedas. vedÂnta, a system of hindu speculation in interpretation of the vedas, founded on the pre-supposition of the identity of the spiritual working at the heart of things and the spiritual working in the heart of man. vedas, the sacred books of the hindus, of sacerdotal origin and ancient date, of which there are four collections, severally denominated the rig-veda, the atharva-veda, the sama-veda, the yajur-veda, to each of which are attached brahmanas in elucidation. veddas, the aborigines of ceylon, of whom some , still in a wild state, are extant between kandy and the e. coast. vega, lopez de la, known as lope, spanish dramatist, born in madrid; began life as a soldier; served in the armada; was secretary to the duke of alva; took orders, and became an officer of the inquisition; wrote a heroic pastoral entitled "arcadia" at the instance of the duke, and the "dragonica" over the death of drake as the destroyer of the supremacy of spain on the sea; was a man of fertile inventiveness, and is said to have written plays, besides no end of verses, and was called by cervantes a "prodigy of nature" ( - ). vehmgerichte or fehmgericht, a tribunal in germany during the middle ages, of which there were several, all powerful, in connection with a secret organisation under sanction of the emperor for the enforcement of justice and punishment of crime at a period when the states severally were too weak to uphold it. these courts were held in secret places at night, and inspired great terror in the th and th centuries. veii, an ancient city of etruria, and in early times a formidable rival of rome, from which it was only m. distant. the romans under camillus laid siege to it, and it baffled them for years. veit, philipp, painter of the romanticist school, born at berlin; his best-known work is a fresco, "christianity bringing the fine arts to germany." velasquez, diego de silva, greatest of spanish painters, born at seville, of portuguese family; studied under francisco herrera (q. v.), who taught him to teach himself, so that but for the hint he was a self-taught artist, and simply painted what he saw and as he saw it; portrait-painting was his forte, one of his earliest being a portrait of olivarez, succeeded by one of philip iv. of spain, considered the most perfect extant, and by others of members of the royal family; specimens of his work are found in different countries, but the best are in spain, in madrid, and they include sacred subjects, genre, landscape, and animal paintings, as well as portraits ( - ). vendÉe, la ( ), a dep. of france, on the bay of biscay, s. of loire-inférieure; marshy on the w., wooded on the n., and with an open fertile tract in the middle and s.; it is famous as the seat of a stubborn resistance to the revolution, and for the bloody violence with which it was suppressed. vendÉmiaire (vintage month), the first month of the french revolution year, from nd september to st october. vendetta, the practice which existed in corsica and sicily on the part of individuals of exacting vengeance for the murder of a relative on the murderer or one of his relations. vendÔme, louise joseph, duc de, french general, born at paris, great-grandson of henry iv.; served in the wars of louis xiv., and gained several victories; was defeated by marlborough and prince eugene at oudenarde in , but by his victory at villaviciosa contributed to the restoration of philip v. to the spanish throne in ; was a man of gross sensuality, and has been pilloried by saint simon for the execration of all mankind ( - ). venezuela ( , ), a federal republic in south america, founded in , over three times as large as spain, consisting of nine states and several territories; composed of mountain and valley, and in great part of llanos, within the basin of the orinoco; between the caribbean sea, colombo, brazil, and british guiana, and containing a population of indian, spanish, and negro descent; on the llanos large herds of horses and cattle are reared; the agricultural products are sugar, coffee, cotton, tobacco, &c.; the forests yield mahogany, ebony, and dye-wood, while the mines yield iron, copper, &c., and there are extensive gold-fields, considered the richest in the world; the boundary line between the british colony and venezuela was for long matter of keen dispute, but by the intervention of the united states at the request of the latter a treaty between the contending parties was concluded, referring the matter to a court of arbitration, which met at paris in , and settled it in , in vindication, happily, of the british claim, the schomburgk line being now declared to be the true line, and the gold-fields ours. vengeur, le, a war-vessel of the french fabled to have gone down rather than surrender to the english in a battle off ushant on st june , the crew shouting "vive la république," when it was really a cry for help. venice, a city of italy, in a province of the same name, at the head of the adriatic, in a shallow lagoon dotted with some eighty islets, and built on piles partly of wood and partly of stone, the streets of which are canals traversed by gondolas and crossed here and there by bridges; the city dates from the year , when the islands were a place of refuge from the attacks of the huns, and took shape as an independent state with magistrates of its own about , to assume at length the form of a republic and become "queen of the adriatic sea," the doge, or chief magistrate, ranking as one of the sovereign powers of the western world; from its situation it became in the th century a great centre of trade with the east, and continued to be till the discovery of the route round the cape, after which it began to decline, till it fell eventually under the yoke of austria, from which it was wrested in , and is now part of the modern kingdom of italy, with much still to show of what it was in its palmy days, and indications of a measure of recovery from its down-trodden state; for an interesting and significant sketch in brief of its rise and fall see the "shadow on the dial" in ruskin's "st. mark's rest." ventnor, a town and favourite watering-place on the s. shore of the isle of wight, with a fine beach; much resorted to in winter from its warm southern exposure. venus, the roman goddess of love, of wedded love, and of beauty (originally of the spring), and at length identified with the greek aphroditÉ (q. v.); she was regarded as the tutelary goddess of rome, and had a temple to her honour in the forum. venus, an interior planet of the solar system, revolving in an orbit outside that of mercury and within that of the earth, nearly as large as the latter; is millions of miles from the sun, round which it revolves in days, while it takes ¼ hours to rotate on its own axis; it is the brightest of the heavenly bodies, and appears in the sky now as the morning star, now as the evening star, according as it rises before the sun or sets after it, so that it is always seen either in the e. or the w.; when right between us and the sun it is seen moving as a black spot on the sun's disk, a phenomenon known as "transit of venus," the last instance of which occurred in , and that will not occur again till after ½ years. vera cruz ( ), a chief seaport of mexico, on the gulf of mexico, m. se. of the capital; is regularly built and strongly fortified, but is unhealthily situated, and the yellow and other fevers prevail; trade is chiefly in the hands of foreigners; exports ores, cochineal, indigo, dye-woods, &c. verdi, giuseppe, italian composer, born at roncole, parma; his musical talent was slow of recognition, but the appearance of his "lombardi" and "ernani" in - established his repute, which was confirmed by "rigoletto" in and "il trovatore" and "la traviata" in ; _b_. . verdun ( ), a strongly fortified town in the department of meuse, m. w. of metz; capitulated to the germans in after a siege of six weeks. verestchagin, russian painter, is realistic to an extreme degree and anti-conventional; _b_. . vergil, polydore, historian and miscellaneous writer, born at urbino; was a friend and correspondent of erasmus; was sent to england by the pope as deputy-collector of peter's pence, and was there promoted to ecclesiastical preferments; wrote in latin an able and painstaking history of england, bringing it down to the year ( - ). verigniaud, an eloquent orator of the french revolution; a man of indolent temper, but by his eloquence became leader of the girondins; presided at the trial of the king, and pronounced the decision of the court--sentence of death, presided as well "at the last supper of his party, with wild coruscations of eloquence, with song and mirth," and was guillotined next day, the last of the lot ( - ). verlaine, paul, french poet, born in metz; has written lyrics of a quite unique type ( - ). vermont (green mount) ( ), an inland new england state, w. of new hampshire and a little larger in size, includes large tracts of both pastoral and arable land; rears live-stock in great numbers, yields cereals, and produces the best maple sugar in the states, and has large quarries of granite, marble, and slate. verne, jules, french story-teller, born at nantes, inventor and author of a popular series of semi-scientific novels; _b_. . vernet, claude, french marine-painter, born at avignon; executed more than paintings, both landscape and sea pieces ( - ). carlo, son of preceding, painter of battle-pieces, born at bordeaux ( - ). horace, son of latter, born in paris, distinguished also for his battle-pieces in flattery of french chauvinism ( - ). vernon, di, the heroine in sir walter scott's "rob roy," an enthusiastic royalist, distinguished for her beauty and talents. verona ( ), an old italian town on the adige, in venetia, m. w. of venice; is a fortress city and one of the famous quadrilateral; has many interesting buildings and some roman remains, in particular of an amphitheatre; has manufactures of silk, velvet, and woollen fabrics, and carries on a large local trade. veronese, paolo, painter of the venetian school, born at verona, whence his name; studied under an uncle, painted his "temptation of st. anthony" for mantua cathedral, and settled in venice in , where he soon earned distinction and formed one of a trio along with titian and tintoretto; the subjects he treated were mostly scriptural, the most celebrated being the "marriage feast at cana of galilee," now in the louvre ( - ). veronica, st., according to legend a woman who met christ on his way to crucifixion and offered him her veil to wipe the sweat off his face. see sudarium. versailles ( ), a handsome city of france, capital of the department of seine-et-oise, m. by rail sw. of paris, of which it is virtually a suburb, and was during the monarchy, from louis xiv.'s time, the seat of the french court; has a magnificent palace, with a gallery embracing a large collection of pictures; was occupied by the germans during the siege of paris, and in one of its halls the prussian king was proclaimed emperor of germany as william i. vertumnus in roman mythology the god of the seasons, wooed pomona under a succession of disguises, and won her at last. vespasian, titus flavius vespasianus, roman emperor (from to ) and tenth of the cæsars, born in the sabine territory of humble parentage; rose by his valour to high rank in the army and in favour with it, till at length he was elected by it to the throne; he had waged war successfully in germany, britain, and at jerusalem, and during his reign, and nearly all through it, the temple of janus was shut at rome. vespucci, amerigo, navigator, born at florence; made two voyages to america in and in , and from him the two continents derived their name, owing, it is said, to his first visit being misdated in an account he left, which made it appear that he had preceded columbus ( - ). vesta, the roman goddess of the hearth, identified with the greek hestia; was the guardian of domestic life and had a shrine in every household; had a temple in rome in which a heaven-kindled fire was kept constantly burning and guarded by first four then six virgins called vestals, whose persons were held sacred as well as their office, since any laxity in its discharge might be disastrous to the city. vestal virgins. see vesta. vesuvius, a flattened conical mountain, ft. in height, and an active volcano on the bay of naples, m. se. of the city; it was by eruption of it that the two cities of herculaneum and pompeii were overwhelmed in a.d.; its crater is half a mile in diameter, and has a depth of ft.; there are some eruptions on record, the latest being in . veturia, a roman matron, the mother of coriolanus. via dolorosa, way leading from the mount of olives to golgotha, which christ traversed from the agony in the garden to the cross. viaticum, name given to the eucharist administered by a priest to a person on the point of death. vicar of bray. see bray. vicar of christ, title assumed by the pope, who claims to be the vicegerent of christ on earth. vicenza ( ), a town in the ne. of italy, in a province of the name, bordering on the tyrol, m. w. of venice; has fine palaces designed by palladio, a native of the place; manufactures woollen and silk fabrics, and wooden wares; was a place of some importance under the lombards. vichy, a fashionable watering-place in central france, on the allier, at the foot of the volcanic mountains of auvergne; has hot alkaline springs, much resorted to for their medicinal virtues. vicksburg ( ), largest city on the mississippi, on a bluff above the river, fortified by the confederates in the civil war; after a siege of over a year surrendered to general grant, th july , with , men. vico, giovanni battista, italian philosopher, born at naples, where he was for years professor of rhetoric; his great work "scienza nuova," by which he became the father of the philosophy of history, which he resolved calvinistically into a spiritual development of the purpose of god ( - ). victor, claude perrin, marshal of france, served with distinction all through the wars of napoleon, and held command, not to his honour, under the bourbons after his fall ( - ). victor, st., the name of two martyrs, one of marseilles and one of milan, distinguished for their zeal in overthrowing pagan altars. victor emmanuel ii., king of sardinia, and afterwards of united italy, born in turin, eldest son of charles albert; became king in on the abdication of his father; distinguished himself in the war against austria, adding austrian lombardy and tuscany to his dominions, and by the help of garibaldi, naples and sicily, till in he was proclaimed king of italy, and in he entered rome as his capital city ( - ). victoria ( , ), a colony of great britain, the smallest and most populous in australia, lying s. of new south wales, from which it was separated in ; originally settled as port phillip in , it developed gradually as a pastoral and agricultural region till, in , the discovery of gold led to an enormous increase in both the population and the revenue, and the sudden rise of a community, with melbourne for centre, which, for wealth and enterprise, eclipsed every other in the southern hemisphere of the globe; the wealth thus introduced led to a further development of its resources, and every industry began to flourish to a proportionate extent; the chief exports are wool, gold, live-stock, bread-stuffs, hides and leather, and the imports are no less manifold; the climate is remarkably healthy, and ice and snow are hardly known; there is no state religion; per cent. of the people are protestants, per cent. catholics, and ½ per cent. jews, and every provision is made for education in the shape of universities, state schools, technical schools and private schools, and the legislative authority is vested in a parliament of two chambers, a legislative council of , and a legislative assembly of . victoria, alexandrina, queen of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland and empress of india, born at kensington palace, the only child of the duke of kent, fourth son of george iii., who died in , leaving her an infant eight months old; educated under the eye of her mother with special regard to her prospective destiny as queen; proclaimed, on the death of william iv., on th june ; crowned at westminster th june ; married prince albert th february ; in added "empress of india" to her titles; during became a widow through the death of prince albert. her reign was long and prosperous; being celebrated as her "jubilee" year, and as her "diamond jubilee"; was the mother of four sons and five daughters; had grandchildren and great-grandchildren, william ii., emperor of germany, being a grandchild, and nicholas ii., czar of russia, being married to another; _b_. ; died at osborne, isle of wight, jan. , . victoria cross, a naval and military decoration in the shape of a maltese cross, instituted by queen victoria in for conspicuous bravery in the presence of an enemy. victoria nyanza, a lake in east central africa, on the equator, is about the size of ireland, m. long and m. broad, at an elevation of ft. above the sea-level; discovered by captain speke in , and circumnavigated by stanley in ; is regarded as the head-source of the nile, the waters of it flowing through albert nyanza m. to the n., between which two lakes lies the territory of uganda. vidar, in the scandinavian mythology the god of wisdom and silence, whose look penetrates the inmost thoughts of men. vienna ( , ), the capital of the austrian empire, on a southern branch of the danube, in a situation calculated to make it the central city of the continent; it is the residence of the emperor and the seat of the government; has noble buildings, a university, and numerous large libraries, a large promenade called the prater, and a varied industry, and ample means of both external and internal communication; in the sw. of it is schönbrunn, the summer residence of the emperor, amid gardens of matchless beauty; it has been the scene of the signing of important treaties, and it was here the congress met to undo the work of napoleon in . vienne ( ), an ancient town of france, on the rhône, m. s. of lyons; was the chief town of the allobroges in cæsar's time, and possesses relics of its connection with rome; it manufactures silk and woollen fabrics, paper and iron goods, and has a trade in grain and wine. vigfusson, gudbrand, scandinavian scholar, born in iceland, of good family; well familiar with the folk-lore of his country from boyhood, and otherwise educated at home, he entered copenhagen university in , occupying himself with the study of his native literature, and of every document he could lay his hands on, and out of which he hoped to obtain any light; in he published a work on the chronology of the sagas, and this was followed by editions of the sagas themselves; after this he came to oxford, where he produced an icelandic-english dictionary and other works in the same interest, and died and was buried there ( - ). vigny, alfred, comte de, french poet of the romanticist school, born at loches; entered the army, but left after a few years for a life of literary ease; produced a small volume of exquisitely finished poems between and , and only another "poèmes philosophiques," which were not published till after his death; wrote also romances and dramas, and translated into french "othello" and "merchant of venice" ( - ). vigo ( ), a seaport in galicia, nw. of spain, on a bay of the name; beautifully situated, and a favourite health resort. vikings (creekers), name given to the scandinavian sea-rovers and pirates who from the th to the th centuries ravaged the shores chiefly of western europe. villari, italian author, born at naples; professor of history at florence; has written the lives of savonarola and macchiavelli; _b_. . villars, duc de, marshal of france, born at moulins; one of the most illustrious of louis xiv.'s generals, and distinguished in diplomacy as well as war; served in germany under turenne, and in the war of the spanish succession; suppressed the camisards in the cévennes, but was defeated by marlborough at malplaquet ( - ). villenage, in feudal times the condition of a "villein," one of the lowest class in a state of menial servitude. villeneuve, silvestre, french admiral, born at vilensoles, basses-alpes; entered the navy at , became captain at ; commanded the rear at the battle of the nile; was placed in command at toulon, steered his fleet to the west indies to draw nelson off the shores of france, but was chased back by nelson and blockaded in cadiz to the defeat of napoleon's scheme for invading england, but felt constrained to risk a battle with the english admiral, which he did to his ruin at trafalgar ( - ). villeroi, duc de, marshal of france; was a courtier but no soldier, being defeated in italy by prince eugene and at ramillies by marlborough; was guardian to louis xv. ( - ). villiers, charles pelham, reformer, brother of the earl of clarendon; bred to the bar; entered parliament; m.p. for wolverhampton, which he represented to the end; was an advocate from the first, and one of the sturdiest, for free trade and poor-law reform, and had a marble statue raised in his honour at wolverhampton before his death ( - ). villon, franÇois, french poet, born in paris; studied at the university, but led a singular life; had again and again to flee from paris; was once condemned to death, but set free after a four years' imprisonment into which the sentence was commuted; is the author of two poems, entitled the "petit testament" and the "grand testament," with minor pieces bearing on the swindling tricks of villon, the name he assumed, and his companions ( - ). vincennes ( ), an eastern suburb of paris, in the famous bois de vincennes, which contains a large artillery park and training place for troops; it is a favourite resort for parisians of the middle class. vincent, st., a spanish martyr who in was tortured to death; is represented with the instruments of his torture, a spiked gridiron for one, and a raven beside him such as drove away the beasts and birds of prey from his dead body. vincent de paul, st., a romish priest, born in gascony, of humble parents; renowned for his charity; he founded the congregation of the sisters of charity, and that of the priests of the missions, afterwards called lazarites, from the priory of st. lazare, where they first established themselves, and instituted the foundling hospital in paris; he was canonised by pope clement xii. in ( - ). vindhya mountains, a range of hills, m. in length, forming the n. scarp of the plateau of the deccan in india, the highest peak of which does not exceed ft. vinegar bible, an edition of the bible printed at oxford, in which the page containing the "parable of the vineyard" in luke xx. was headed "parable of the vinegar." vinegar hill, a hill ( ft.) near enniscorthy, co. wexford, ireland, where general lake defeated the irish rebels on june , , to the utter annihilation then and after of almost every man of them. vinet, alexandre rodolphe, a protestant theologian, born near lausanne, where he studied and ultimately became professor of practical theology; was a zealous defender of the liberty of conscience and of the freedom of the church from state connection and control; he was a littérateur as well as an able and eloquent divine ( - ). viotti, giovanni battista, celebrated violinist, born in piedmont ( - ). virchow, rudolf, eminent pathologist, born in pomerania; is distinguished as a politician as well as a man of science, and is in the former regard a strenuous liberal; his services not only in the interests of medicine but of science generally and its social applications have been very great; _b_. . virgil, great latin poet, born near mantua, author in succession of the "eclogues," the "georgics," and the "Æneid"; studied at cremona and milan, and at was sent to rome to study rhetoric and philosophy, lost a property he had in cremona during the civil war, but recommended himself to pollio, the governor, who introduced him to augustus, and he went to settle in rome; here, in b.c., he published his "eclogues," a collection of pastorals, and gained the patronage of mæcenas, under whose favour he was able to retire to a villa at naples, where in seven years he, in b.c., produced the "georgics," in four books, on the art of husbandry, after which he devoted himself to his great work the "Æneid," or the story of Æneas of troy, an epic in books, connecting the hero with the foundation of rome, and especially with the julian family, and which was finished in b.c.; on his deathbed he expressed a wish that it should be burned, and left instructions to that effect in his will; he was one of the purest-minded poets perhaps that ever lived ( - b.c.). virgin islands ( ), a group of islands in the west indies, few of them of any size, belonging partly to denmark, britain, and spain. virgin queen, appellation popularly given to queen elizabeth. virginia ( , ), one of the united states of america, a state somewhat larger than scotland, between maryland and north carolina, so named by its founder sir walter raleigh in honour of queen elizabeth; is divided from west virginia by the appalachians; it is well watered; the soil, which is fertile, yields the finest cotton and tobacco, and minerals, particularly coal and iron, are abundant; the largest city is richmond, with flour-mills. virginia, west ( ), formed originally one state with the preceding, but separated in to join the federal cause; is nearly the same in size and resources; is a great mining region, and is rich in coal and iron; its largest city is wheeling, on the ohio. vishnu, the preserver, the second god of the hindu triad, brahma (q. v.) being the first and siva (q. v.) the third; revealed himself by a succession of avatars, rÂma (q. v.) being the seventh and krishna (q. v.) the eighth; he has had nine avatars, and on the tenth he will come to judgment; he is extensively worshipped, and his worshippers, the vaishnavas, are divided into a great number of sects. visigoths, a branch of the goths that settled in the south of france and in spain. vistula, a central river of europe, which rises in the carpathians and after a course of m. falls into the baltic; it is almost navigable throughout, and carries down great quantities of timber, grain, and other produce to the baltic ports. vitalis, st., a martyr of the st century, who was stoned to death, is represented as buried in a pit with stones on his head. vitellius, aulus, roman emperor; reigned only eight months and some days of the year ; was notorious for his excesses, and was murdered after being dragged through the streets of rome. vitruvius, pollio, roman architect and engineer; wrote on architecture, lived in the days of augustus. vittoria ( ), the capital of alava, a basque province in the north of spain, famous as the scene of one of wellington's victories in june ; has a fine old th-century cathedral and extensive manufactures; it is one of the most prosperous towns in spain. vives, ludovicus, a humanist, born at valencia, studied in paris; wrote against scholasticism, taught at oxford, and was imprisoned for opposing henry viii.'s divorce; died at bruges ( - ). vivian, an enchantress in arthurian legend. see merlin. vladimir ( ), capital of a government in the centre of russia, m. ne. of moscow; once practically the capital of the country, with many remains of its ancient grandeur. vladimir i. the great or st., grand-duke of russia; converted to christianity through his wife anna romanovna, laid the foundation of the russian empire; has been canonised by the russian church; _d_. . vladimir ii., surnamed monomachus; succeeded to the throne of russia in , and consolidated it by the establishment and enforcement of just laws; was married to gida, a daughter of king harold of england ( - ). vogler, abbÉ, composer, born in würzburg; distinguished once both as a musical performer and teacher; lives only in browning's "dramatis personæ" ( - ). vogt, carl, german naturalist, born at giessen; a materialist and disciple of darwin; has written on geology and anthropology; _b_. . voguls, a finnish tribe on the e. slope of the urals; are christianised, but still practise many shamanist rites; number some , . volapÜk, a universal language by schleyer, a german pastor; as yet practically limited to its applicability to commercial intercourse. volga, a river of european russia, the largest in europe, which rises in the valdai hills, and after a course of m. falls by a delta with mouths into the caspian sea; it is navigable almost throughout, providing russia with m. of water-carriage, and has extensive fisheries, especially of salmon and sturgeon. volney, french philosopher, born at craon; travelled in egypt and syria; wrote an account of his travels in his "voyage"; was imprisoned during the reign of terror; patronised and promoted to honour by napoleon, and by the bourbons on their return; his principal work, "les ruines, ou mÉditations sur les rÉvolutions des empires," was an embodiment of th-century enlightenment (q. v.) ( - ). volsungs, a race figuring in norse and german legend of the th century, and with the fate in whose history it is so widely occupied, and that of its heroes. volta, alessandrino, italian physicist, born at como; professor of physics at pavia; made electrical discoveries which laid the foundation of what is called after him voltaic electricity; volt, the unit of electric motive force, being a term among sundry others in electric science similarly derived ( - ). voltaic electricity, a current of electricity generated by chemical action between metals and different liquids as arranged in a voltaic battery. voltaire, franÇois marie arouet de, great french "persifleur" and "coryphæus of deism," born in paris, son of a lawyer; trained to scoff at religion from his boyhood, and began his literary career as a satirist and in the production of lampoons which cost him twice over imprisonment in the bastille, on his release from which he left france in and went to england, where he stayed three years, and got acquainted with the free-thinking class there; on his return to paris he engaged in some profitable commercial speculations and published his "charles xii.," which he had written in england, and retired to the château of cirey, where he lived five years with madame du châtelet, engaged in study and diligent with his pen, with whom he left france and went to poland, after her death paying his famous visit to frederick the great, with whom before three years were out he quarrelled, and from whom he was glad to escape, making his head-quarters eventually within the borders of france at ferney, from which he now and again visited paris, where on his last visit he was received with such raptures of adulation that he was quite overcome, and had to be conveyed home to die, giving up the ghost exactly two months after. he was a man of superlative adroitness of faculty and shiftiness, without aught that can be called great, but more than any other the incarnation of the spirit of his time; said the word which all were waiting to hear and who replied yea to it--a poor word indeed yet a potent, for it gave the death-blow to superstition, but left religion out in the cold. the general, the great offence carlyle charges voltaire with is, that "he intermeddled in religion without being himself in any measure religious; that he entered the temple and continued there with a levity which, in any temple where men worship, can beseem no brother man; that, in a word, he ardently, and with long-continued effort, warred against christianity, without understanding, beyond the mere superficies, what christianity was" ( - ). voluntaryism, the doctrine that the church should not depend on the state, but should be supported exclusively by the voluntary contributions of its members. voodoo, name given to a system of magic and superstitious rites prevalent among certain negro races. vortigern, a british prince of the th century, who, on the withdrawal of the romans, invited the saxons to aid him against the incursions of the picts, to, as it proved, their own installation into sovereign power in south britain. vosges, a range of mountains in the ne. of france, since forming the franco-german frontier by the inclusion of alsace in german territory; they separate the basin of the moselle from that of the rhine. voss, johann heinrich, german poet and scholar, born in mecklenburg; spent most of his life in heidelberg; his fame rests chiefly on his idyllic poem "luise" and his translations, particularly of homer ( - ). vossius, gerard, dutch philologist, born near heidelberg; wrote a history of pelagianism, which brought him disfavour with the orthodox; was made a prebendary of canterbury through the influence of laud; was, on some apology to orthodoxy in , called to the chair of history in the gymnasium of amsterdam; he was a friend of grotius; he fell from a ladder in his library, and was found dead ( - ). vulcan, the roman god of fire and an artificer in metals, identified with the greek hephÆstus (q. v.); had a temple to his honour in early rome; was fabled to have had a forge under mount etna, where he manufactured thunderbolts for jupiter, the cyclops being his workmen. vulgate, a version of the bible in latin executed by st. jerome (q. v.), and was in two centuries after its execution universally adopted in the western christian church as authoritative for both faith and practice, and from the circumstance of its general reception it became known as the vulgate (i. e. the commonly-accepted bible of the church), and it is the version accepted as authentic to-day by the roman catholic church, under sanction of the council of trent. "with the publication of it," says ruskin, "the great deed of fixing, in their ever since undisturbed harmony and majesty, the canon of mosaic and apostolic scripture, was virtually accomplished, and the series of historic and didactic books which form our present bible (including the apocrypha) were established in and above the nascent thought of the noblest races of men living on the terrestrial globe, as a direct message to them from its maker, containing whatever it was necessary for them to learn of his purposes towards them, and commanding, or advising, with divine authority and infallible wisdom, all that it was best for them to do and happiest to desire. thus, partly as a scholar's exercise and partly as an old man's recreation, the severity of the latin language was softened, like venetian crystal, by the variable fire of hebrew thought, and the 'book of books' took the abiding form of which all the future art of the western nations was to be an hourly expanding interpretation." vyasa, the mythical author of the hindu mahâbhârata and the puránas; was the illegitimate child of a brahman and a girl of impure caste of the fisher class. w waal, a s. branch of the rhine, in holland. wace, anglo-norman poet, born in guernsey; author of two metrical chronicles, "geste des brétons" and "roman de rou," the latter recording the fortunes of the dukes of normandy down to ( - ). wace, henry, principal of king's college, london; has lectured ably on christian apologetics, and written valuable works in defence of christianity; _b_. . wade, george, english general; commanded in scotland during the rebellion of , has the credit of the construction in - of the military roads into the highlands, to frustrate any further attempts at rebellion in the north ( - ). wadman, widow, a lady in "tristram shandy" who pays court to uncle toby. wady, an arabic name for the channel of a stream which is flooded in rainy weather and at other seasons dry. wagner, wilhelm richard, the great musical composer, born at leipzig; showed early a faculty for music, and began the enthusiastic study of it under beethoven; in became conductor of the orchestra of the theatre of magdeburg, and held the same post afterwards at riga and königsberg; his principal works were "rienzi" ( ), "the flying dutchman" ( ), "tannhäuser" ( ), "lohengrin" ( ), "tristan and isolde" ( ), "the mastersingers of nürnberg" ( - ), and the "ring of the nibelungen," the composition of which occupied years; this last was performed in at bayreuth in a theatre erected for the purpose in presence of the emperor of germany and the principal musical artists of the world; "parsifal" was his last work; his musical ideas were revolutionary, and it was some time before his works made their way in england ( - ). wagram, a village, m. ne. of vienna, where napoleon gained a great victory over the austrians under the archduke charles, on july and , . wahabis, a mohammedan sect which arose among the nedj tribe in central arabia, whose aims were puritanic and the restoration of islamism to its primitive simplicity in creed, worship, and conduct; in creed they were substantially the same as the sunnites (q. v.). waikato, the largest river in new zealand, in the north island, the outlet of the waters of lake taupo, the largest lake; has a course of m. wakefield ( ), a borough of yorkshire, m. s. of leeds; has large woollen and other manufactures. walcheren, an island in the province of zeeland, in the delta formed by the maas and scheldt; was the destination of an unfortunate expedition sent to the help of the austrians against napoleon in antwerp, in which of the army composing it died of marsh fever, from which , were sent home sick and the rest recalled. waldeck-pyrmont ( ), two high-lying territories in north germany forming one principality and subject to imperial authority; consists of hill and valley. waldenses, a christian community founded in in the south of france, on the model of the primitive church, by peter walden, a rich citizen of lyons, and who were driven by persecution from country to country until they settled in piedmont under the name of the vaudois (q. v.), where they still exist. wales ( , ), one of three divisions of great britain; is m. in length and from to m. in breadth, and bounded on the nw. and s. by the sea; it is divided into counties, of which form north wales and south wales; is a mountainous country, intersected by beautiful valleys, which are traversed by a number of streams; it is largely agricultural; has mines of coal and iron, lead and copper, as well as large slate-quarries, which are extensively wrought; the church of england is the church established, but the majority of the people are nonconformists; it is represented in parliament by members; the natives are celts, and the native language celtic, which is still the language of a goodly number of the people. wales, prince of, title borne by eldest son of the english monarch; first conferred in on eldest son of edward i. after subjugation of wales ( ); since borne by prince george, formerly duke of york; entered the navy in , and attained the post of commander in ; became heir of the throne on death of his brother, duke of clarence ( ); married princess mary of teck ( ), and has by this marriage four sons and a daughter; _b_. . walfish bay, a dependency of cape colony, in the middle of the coast-line of german south-west africa. walker, george, defender of londonderry against the army of james ii., born in co. tyrone, of english parents; was in holy orders, and by his sermons encouraged the town's-people during the siege, which lasted days; he afterwards fought in command of his derry men at the battle of the boyne, where he lost his life. wallace, alfred russel, english naturalist, born at usk, in monmouthshire; was devoted to the study of natural history, in the interest of which he spent four years ( - ) in the valley of the amazon, and eight years after ( - ) in the east india archipelago, from the latter of which expedition especially he returned with thousands of specimens of natural objects, particularly insects and birds, and during his absence he wrought out a theory in the main coincident with darwin's natural selection in corroboration thereof; he has since devoted much of his time to the study of spiritualism, and in spite of himself has come to be convinced of its claims to scientific regard; he has written on his travels, "contributions to the theory of natural selection," "miracles and modern spiritualism," &c.; _b_. . wallace, sir william, the champion of scottish independence, born in renfrewshire, second son of sir malcolm wallace of elderslie; was early seized with a desire to free his country from foreign oppressors, and ere long began to figure as chief of a band of outlaws combined to defy the authority of edward i., who had declared himself lord of scotland, till at length the sense of the oppression became wide-spread, and he was appointed to lead in a general revolt, while many of the nobles held aloof or succumbed to the usurper; he drove the english from one stronghold after another, finishing with the battle of stirling, and was installed thereafter guardian of the kingdom; such a reverse was more than the "proud usurper" could brook; he accordingly mustered a large army, and at falkirk literally crushed wallace and his followers with an overwhelming force, the craven nobles still standing aloof, one of them in the end proving traitor, and handing wallace over to the enemy, who carried him off to london, and had him hanged, beheaded, and quartered. wallace collection, a collection of works of art bequeathed to the nation by lady wallace, and now being housed in hertford house, manchester square, london. wallenstein, general of the imperial army in the thirty years' war, born in bohemia, of a protestant family, but on the death of his parents was, in his childhood, adopted and educated by the jesuits, and bred up in the catholic faith; bent on a military life, he served first in one campaign and then another; rose in imperial favour, and became a prince of the empire, but the jealousy of the nobles procured his disgrace, till the success of gustavus adolphus in the thirty years' war and the death of tully led to his recall, when he was placed at the head of the imperial army as commander-in-chief; drove the saxons out of bohemia, and marched against the swedes, but was defeated, and fell again into disfavour; was deprived of his command, charged with treason, and afterwards murdered in the castle of egra; he was a remarkable man, great in war and great in statesmanship, but of unbounded ambition; is the subject of a drama by schiller, in three parts ( - ). waller, edmund, poet, born in hertfordshire to great wealth, and educated at eton and cambridge; early gave evidence of his genius for poetry, which, however, was limited in practice to the production of merely occasional pieces; he was in great favour at court; was a member of the long parliament; leant to the royalist side, though he wrote a panegyric on cromwell, which, too, is considered his best poem; he revived, or rather "remodelled," the heroic couplet form of verse, which continued in vogue for over a hundred years after ( - ). walloons, name given to the descendants of the ancient belgæ, a race of a mixed celtic and romanic stock, inhabiting belgium chiefly, and speaking a language called walloon, a kind of old french; in belgium they number to-day two and a quarter millions. walpole, horace, earl of orford, born in london, educated at eton and cambridge; travelled on the continent with gray, the poet, who had been a school-fellow, but quarrelled with him, and came home alone; entered parliament in , and continued a member till , but took little part in the debates; succeeded to the earldom in ; his tastes were literary; wrote "anecdotes of painting in england," and inaugurated a new era in novel-writing with his "castle of otranto," but it is by his "letters" he will live in english literature, which, "malicious, light as froth, but amusing, retail," as stopford brooke remarks, "with liveliness all the gossip of the time"; he is characterised by carlyle as "one of the clearest-sighted men of his century; a determined despiser and merciless dissector of cant" ( - ). walpole, sir robert, earl of orford, whig statesman, born at houghton, norfolk, educated at eton and cambridge; entered parliament in , and became member for king's lynn in ; was favoured by the whig leaders, and promoted to office in the cabinet; was accused of corruption by the opposite party when in power, and committed to the tower; on his release after acquittal was re-elected for king's lynn; in became first lord of the treasury, and in became prime minister, which he continued to be for twenty-one years, but not without opposition on account of his pacific policy; on being driven against his will into a war with spain, which proved unsuccessful, he retired into private life; he stood high in repute for his financial policy; it was he who established the first sinking fund, and who succeeded as a financier in restoring confidence after the bursting of the south sea bubble (q. v.); it is to his policy in defeating the plans of the jacobites that the hanoverian dynasty in great part owe their permanent occupancy of the british throne; it was a favourite maxim of his. "every man has his price," and he was mortified to find that pitt could not be bought by any bribe of his ( - ). walpurgis night, the eve of the st may, when the witches hold high revel and offer sacrifices to the devil their chief, the scene of their festival in germany being the brocken (q. v.). this annual festival was in the popular belief conceded to them in recompense for the loss they sustained when by st. walpurga the saxons were persuaded to renounce paganism with its rites for christianity. walsingham, sir francis, english statesman, born at chiselhurst; was ambassador at paris, and was there during the st. bartholomew massacre, and was afterwards appointed one of queen elizabeth's secretaries of state; he was an insidious inquisitor, and had numerous spies in his pay, whom he employed to ferret out evidence to her ruin against mary, queen of scots, and he had the audacity to sit as one of the commissioners at her trial ( - ). walston, st., patron saint of husbandmen, of british birth; gave up wealth for agriculture, and died at the plough; is represented with a scythe in his hand and cattle near him. walter, john, london printer; the founder proper, though his father was the projector, of the _times_ newspaper, and forty years in the management of it, under which it became the "leading journal" of the day, a success due to his discernment and selection of the men with the ability to conduct it and contribute to it ( - ). walter the penniless, a famous mob leader, adjutant of peter the hermit (q. v.) in the first crusade. walton, izaak, the angler, born in stafford; settled as a linen-draper, first in fleet street and then in chancery lane, london; married a lady, a grand-niece of cranmer, and on her death a sister of bishop ken, by whom he had several children; he associated with some of the best clergymen of the church of england, among the number dr. donne, and was much beloved by them; on the death of his second wife he went to winchester and stayed with his friend dr. morley, the bishop; his principal work was the "complete angler; or, the contemplative man's recreation," which was extended by his friend charles cotton, and is a classic to this day; he wrote in addition lives of hooker, dr. donne, bishop sanderson, sir henry wotton, and george herbert, all done, like the "angler," in a uniquely charming, simple style ( - ). wandering jew. see jew, wandering. wapenshaw, originally gatherings of the people of a district in ancient times in scotland, at which every man was bound to appear duly armed according to his rank, and make exhibition of his skill in the use of his weapons, against a time of war. warbeck, perkin, an impostor who affected to be richard, duke of york, second son of edward iv., alleged to have been murdered in the tower, and laid claim to the crown of england in preference to henry vii. in an attempt to make good this claim he was taken prisoner, and hanged at tyburn in . warburton, william, an english divine, born at newark; was bishop of gloucester; was author of the famous "divine legation of moses," characterised by gibbon as a "monument of the vigour and weakness of the human mind"; is a distracted waste of misapplied logic and learning; a singular friendship subsisted between the author and pope ( - ). ward, artemus, the pseudonym of c. f. browne (q. v.). ward, mrs. humphry, english authoress, born at hobart town; is a niece of matthew arnold; translated amiel's "journal," a suggestive record, but is best known by her romance of "robert elsmere," published in , a work which was a help to some weak people and an offence to others of the same class; _b_. . ward, william george, english theologian; was a zealous promoter of the tractarian movement, and led the way in carrying out its principles to their logical issue by joining the church of rome; he was a broad-minded man withal, and won the regard of men of every school; became editor of the _dublin review_ ( - ). warrington ( ), a parliamentary borough in lancashire, on the mersey, m. e. of liverpool; an old town, but with few relics of its antiquity; manufactures iron-ware, glass, soap, &c.; sends one member to parliament. wars of the roses, name given to a civil war in england from to , between the houses of york and lancaster, so called from the badge of the former being a _white_ rose and that of the latter being a _red_; it terminated with the accession of henry vii., who united in his person the rival claims. warsaw ( ), formerly the capital of poland, now of the province of russian poland; stands on the left bank of the vistula, m. sw. of st. petersburg; is almost in the heart of europe, and in a position with many natural advantages; is about as large as birmingham, and the third largest city in the russian empire; it has a university with professors and students, and has a large trade and numerous manufactures. wartburg, an old grim castle overhanging eisenach (q. v.), where luther was confined by his friends when it was too hot for him outside, and where, not forgetful of what he owed his country, he kept translating the bible into the german vernacular, and where they still show the oaken table at which he did it, and the oaken ink-holder which he threw at the devil's head, as well as the ink-spot it left on the wall. warton, thomas, english poet, born at basingstoke; was professor of poetry at oxford, and poet-laureate; wrote a "history of english poetry" of great merit, and a few poetic pieces in faint echo of others by pope and swift for most part ( - ). warwick ( ), the county town of warwickshire, on the avon, m. se. of birmingham; it dates from saxon times, and possesses a great baronial castle, the residence of the earls of warwick, erected in on an eminence by the river grandly overlooking the town; it is the seat of several industries, and has a considerable trade in agricultural produce. warwick, richard neville, earl of, eldest son of the earl of salisbury, the king-maker (q. v.); fought in the "wars of the roses," and was in the end defeated by edward iv. and slain ( - ). warwickshire ( ), central county of england; is traversed by the avon, a tributary of the severn; the north portion, which was at one time covered by the forest of arden, is now, from its mineral wealth, one of the busiest industrial centres of england; it contains the birthplace of shakespeare; birmingham is the largest town. wash, the, an estuary of the e. coast of england, between the counties of norfolk and lincoln, too shallow for navigation. washington ( ), capital of the united states, in the district of columbia, on the left bank of the potomac, in. sw. of baltimore; was founded in , and made the seat of the government in ; it is regularly laid out, possesses a number of noble buildings, many of them of marble, the chief being the capitol, an imposing structure, where the senate and congress sit; near it, ½ m. distant, is the white house, the residence of the president, standing in grounds beautifully laid out and adorned with fountains and shrubbery. washington ( ), a nw. state of the american union, twice the size of ireland; lies n. of oregon; is traversed by the cascade mountains, the highest ft., and has a rugged surface of hill and valley, but is a great wheat-growing and grazing territory, covered on the w. by forests of pine and cedar; olympia is the capital. washington is the name of hundreds of places in the states. washington, george, one of the founders and first president of the united states, born at bidges creek, westmoreland co., virginia, of a family from the north of england, who emigrated in the middle of the th century; commenced his public life in defending the colony against the encroachments of the french, and served as a captain in a campaign against them under general braddock; in the contest between the colony and the mother-country he warmly espoused that of the colony, and was in appointed commander-in-chief; his first important operation in that capacity was to drive the english out of boston, but the british rallying he was defeated at brandywine and germantown in ; next year, in alliance with the french, he drove the british out of philadelphia, and in compelled cornwallis to capitulate in an attack he made on yorktown, and on the evacuation of new york by the british the independence of america was achieved, upon which he resigned the command; in he was elected to the presidency of the republic, and in was re-elected, at the end of which he retired into private life after paying a dignified farewell ( - ). waterbury ( ), a city of connecticut, u.s., m. ne. of new york, with manufactures of metallic wares; world-famous for its cheap watches. waterford ( ), a town in a county of the same name ( ), in munster, ireland, at the junction of the suir and the barrow; has a splendid harbour formed by the estuary, and carries on an extensive export trade with england, particularly in bacon and butter, the chief industries of the county being cattle-breeding and dairy-farming. waterloo, a village m. s. of brussels, which gives name to a battle in which the french under napoleon were defeated by an army under wellington on june , . watling street, a great roman road extending from dover and terminating by two branches in the extreme n. of england after passing through london, the ne. branch, by york, and the nw. by or to chester. watson, william, poet, born in yorkshire; the first poem which procured him recognition was "wordsworth's grave," and his subsequent poems have confirmed the impression produced, in especial his "lachrymæ musarum," one of the finest tributes paid to the memory of tennyson on the occasion of his death; among his later productions the most important is a volume entitled "odes and other poems," published in ; has also written an admirable volume of essays, "excursions in criticism"; _b_. . watt, james, inventor of the modern steam-engine, born in greenock, son of a merchant; began life as a mathematical-instrument maker, opened business in glasgow under university patronage, and early began to experiment on the mechanical capabilities of steam; when in , while engaged in repairing the model of a newcomen's engine, he hit upon the idea which has immortalised his name. this was the idea of a separate condenser for the steam, and from that moment the power of steam in the civilisation of the world was assured; the advantages of the invention were soon put to the proof and established, and by a partnership on the part of watts with matthew boulton (q. v.) watt had the satisfaction of seeing his idea fairly launched and of reaping of the fruits. prior to watt's invention the steam-engine was of little other use than for pumping water ( - ). watteau, antoine, celebrated french painter and engraver, born at valenciennes; his pictures were numerous and the subjects almost limited to pseudo-pastoral rural groups; the tone of the colouring is pleasing, and the design graceful ( - ). watts, george frederick, eminent english painter, born in london; is distinguished as a painter at once of historical subjects, ideal subjects, and portraits; did one of the frescoes in the poets' hall of the houses of parliament and the cartoon of "caractacus led in triumph through the streets of rome"; has, as a "poet-painter," by his "love and death," "hope," and "orpheus and eurydice," achieved a world-wide fame; he was twice over offered a baronetcy, but on both occasions he declined; _b_. . watts, isaac, nonconformist divine, born at southampton, son of a schoolmaster; chose the ministry as his profession, was for a time pastor of a church in mark lane, but after a succession of attacks of illness he resigned and went on a visit to his friend sir thomas abney, with whom he stayed for years, at which time his friend died, and he resumed pastoral duties as often as his health permitted; he wrote several books, among which was a book on "logic," long a university text-book, and a great number of hymns, many of them of wide fame and much cherished as helps to devotion ( - ). watts, theodore, critic, born at st. ives, bosom friend of swinburne, who pronounces him "the first critic of our time--perhaps the largest-minded and surest-sighted of any age"; his influence is great, and it has been exercised chiefly through contributions to the periodicals of the day; has assumed the surname of dunton after his mother; _b_. . waugh, edwin, a lancashire poet, born at rochdale, bred a bookseller; wrote, among other productions, popular songs, full of original native humour, the first of them "come whoam to thy childer and me" ( - ). wayland, the smith, a scandinavian vulcan, of whom a number of legends were current; figures in scott's "kenilworth." waziris, a tribe of independent afghans inhabiting the suleiman mountains, on the w. frontier of the punjab. wealth, defined by ruskin to be the possession of things in themselves valuable, that is, of things available for the support of life, or inherently possessed of life-giving power. weber, karl maria von, german composer, born near lübeck, of a famed musical family; early gave proof of musical talent; studied at vienna under abbé vogler, and at dresden became founder and director of the german opera; his first great production was "der freischütz," which established his fame, and was succeeded by, among others, "oberon," his masterpiece, first produced in london, where, shortly after the event, he died, broken in health; he wrote a number of pieces for the piano, deservedly popular ( - ). weber, wilhelm eduard, german physicist, born at wittenberg; professor at göttingen; distinguished for his contributions to electricity and magnetism, both scientific and practical ( - ). webster, daniel, american statesman and orator, born at new hampshire; bred to the bar, and practised in the provincial courts; by-and-by went to boston, which was ever after his home; entered congress in , where, by his commanding presence and his animated oratory, he soon made his mark; was secretary for foreign affairs under president harrison, and negotiated the ashburton treaty in settlement of the "boundary-line" question between england and the states; was much admired by emerson, and was, when he visited england, commended by him to the regard of carlyle as a man to "hear speak," as "_with a cause_ he could strike a stroke like a smith"; carlyle did not take to him; he was too political for his taste, though he recognised in him a "man--never have seen," he wrote emerson, "so much _silent berserkir-rage_ in any other man" ( - ). webster, john, english dramatist of the th century; did a good deal as a dramatist in collaboration with others, but some four plays are exclusively his own work, the two best the "white devil" and the "duchess of malfi." webster, noah, lexicographer, born at hartford, connecticut, u.s.; bred to law; tried journalism; devoted years to his "dictionary of the english language" ( - ). wedgwood, josiah, celebrated english potter, born at burslem, son of a potter; in started a pottery on artistic lines in his native place; devoted himself first to the study of the material of his art and then to its ornamentation, in which latter he had at length the good fortune to enlist flaxman as a designer, and so a ware known by his name became famous for both its substantial and artistic excellence far and wide over the country and beyond; he was a man of varied culture and of princely generosity, having by his art amassed a large fortune ( - ). wednesbury ( ), a town in staffordshire, m. nw. of birmingham; iron-ware manufacture the chief industry; has an old church on the site of an old temple to woden, whence the name, it is alleged. wednesday, fourth day of the week, woden's day, as thursday is thor's. it is called midwoch, i. e. midweek, by the germans. week, division of time of seven days, supposed to have been suggested by the interval between the quarters of the moon. weeping philosopher, a sobriquet given to heraclitus (q. v.) from a melancholy disposition ascribed to him, in contrast with democritus (q. v.), designated the laughing philosopher. wei-hai-wei, a city in a deep bay on the shantung promontory, china, m. e. of chefoo, and nearly opposite port arthur, which is situated on the northern side of the entrance to the gulf of pechili; was leased to great britain in , along with the islands in the bay and a belt of land along the coast; its harbour is well sheltered, and accommodates a large number of vessels. weimar ( ), capital of the grand-duchy of saxe-weimar, in a valley on the left bank of the ilm, m. e. of erfurt, and famous as for many years the residence of the great goethe and the illustrious literary circle of which he was the centre, an association which constitutes the chief interest of the place. weingartner, felix, composer and musical conductor, born at zara, dalmatia; has composed symphonic poems, operas, and songs; _b_. . weismann, august, biologist, born at frankfort-on-the-main; studied medicine at göttingen; devoted himself to the study of zoology, the first-fruit of which was a treatise on the "development of diptera," and at length to the variability in organisms on which the theory of descent, with modifications, is based, the fruit of which was a series of papers published in under the title of "studies on the theory of descent"; but it is with the discussions on the question of heredity that his name is most intimately associated. the accepted theory on the subject assumes that characters acquired by the individual are transmitted to offspring, and this assumption, in his "essays upon heredity," he maintains to be wholly groundless, and denies that it has any foundation in fact; heredity, according to him, is due to the continuity of the germ-plasm, or the transmission from generation to generation of a substance of a uniform chemical and molecular composition; _b_. . weiss, bernhard, german theologian, born at königsberg; became professor at kiel and afterwards at berlin; has written on the theology of the new testament, an introduction to it, and a "leben jesu," all able works; _b_. . weissenfels ( ), a town of prussian saxony, m. sw. of leipzig, with an old castle of the duke of weissenfels and various manufactures. weissnichtwo (know-not-where), in carlyle's "sartor," an imaginary european city, viewed as the focus, and as exhibiting the operation, of all the influences for good and evil of the time we live in, described in terms which characterised city life in the first quarter of the th century; so universal appeared the spiritual forces at work in society at that time that it was impossible to say _where_ they were and _where_ they were _not_, and hence the name of the city, know-not-where. weizsÄcher, karl, eminent german theologian; studied at tübingen and berlin; succeeded baur (q. v.) as professor at tübingen; was a new testament critic, and the editor of a theological journal, and distinguished for his learning and lucid style; _b_. . welldon, james edward cowell, bishop of calcutta; educated at eton and cambridge; has held several appointments, both scholastic and clerical; has translated several of the works of aristotle, and was hulsean lecturer at cambridge in ; _b_. . weller, sam, mr. pickwick's servant, and an impersonation of the ready wit and best quality of london low life. wellesley, a small province, part of penang territory, in the straits settlements; of great fertility, and yields tropical products in immense quantities, such as spices, tea, coffee, sugar, cotton, and tobacco. wellesley, richard cowley, marquis of, statesman and administrator, born in dublin, eldest son of the earl of mornington, an irish peer, and eldest brother of the duke of wellington, and his senior by nine years; educated at eton and cambridge, where he distinguished himself in classics; in succeeded his father in the irish house of peers; entered parliament in ; was a supporter of pitt, and in appointed governor-general of india in succession to cornwallis, and raised to the english peerage as baron wellesley; in this capacity he proved himself a great administrator, and by clearing out the french and crushing the power of tippoo saib, as well as increasing the revenue of the east india company, laid the foundation of the british power in india, for which he was raised to the marquisate, and voted a pension of £ ; he afterwards became foreign secretary of state and viceroy of ireland ( - ). wellhausen, julius, old testament scholar, born at hameln; held the post of professor of theology at greifswald, but resigned the post from conscientious scruples and became professor of oriental languages at marburg in ; is best known among us as a biblical critic on the lines of the so-called higher criticism, the criticism which seeks to arrange the different parts of the bible in their proper historical connection and order; _b_. . wellingborough ( ), a market-town in northamptonshire, m. ne. of northampton; has some fine buildings; the manufacture of shoes a chief industry. wellington ( ), the capital of new zealand, in the north island, on cook strait; has a spacious harbour, with excellent accommodation for shipping, a number of public buildings, including government offices, and two cathedrals, a roman catholic and an anglican, and a considerable trade; in it superseded auckland as the capital of the whole of new zealand. wellington, arthur wellesley (or wesley), duke of, born probably in dublin, third son of the earl of mornington, an irish peer, educated first at chelsea, then at eton, and then at a military school at angers, in france; entered the army in as an ensign in the rd, and stepped gradually upwards in connection with different regiments, till in he became lieutenant-colonel of the rd; sat for a time in the irish parliament as a member for trim, and went in to the netherlands, and served in a campaign there which had disastrous issues such as disgusted him with military life, and was about to leave the army when he was sent to india, where he distinguished himself in the storming of seringapatam, and in the command of the war against the mahrattas, which he brought to a successful issue in , returning home in ; next year he entered the imperial parliament, and in was appointed chief secretary for ireland; in he left for portugal, where he was successful against the french in several engagements, and in was appointed commander-in-chief of the peninsular army; in this capacity his generalship became conspicuous in a succession of victories, in which he drove the french first out of portugal and then out of spain, defeating them finally at toulouse on the th april , and so ending the peninsular war; on his return home he was loaded with honours, and had voted to him from the public treasury a grant of £ , ; on the return of napoleon from elba he was appointed general of the allies against him in the netherlands and on th june defeated him in the ever-memorable battle of waterloo; this was the crowning feat in wellington's military life, and the nation showed its gratitude to him for his services by presenting him with the estate of strathfieldsaye, in hampshire, worth £ , , the price paid for it to lord rivers, the proprietor; in he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army, and in was prime minister of the state; as a statesman he was opposed to parliamentary reform, but he voted for the emancipation of the catholics and the abolition of the corn laws; he died in walmer castle on st september , aged , and was buried beside nelson in a crypt of st. paul's ( - ). wellington college, a college founded in at wokingham, berks, in memory of the duke of wellington, primarily for the education of the sons of deceased military officers; there is a classical school to prepare for the university, and a modern side to prepare for the army, &c. wells, a small episcopal city in somersetshire, m. sw. of bath; it derives its name from hot springs near it, and is possessed of a beautiful cruciform cathedral in the early english style, adorned with some statues of saints, of which are life-size, and some of them colossal. wells, charles jeremiah, english poet, born in london; author of a dramatic poem entitled "joseph and his brethren," published in , a poem which failed to attract attention at the time, and the singular merits of which were first recognised by swinburne in , the author having meantime given up literature for the law, to which he had been bred ( - ). welsh, david, a scottish divine, a gentlemanly scholarly man, professor of church history in the university of edinburgh; was moderator of the general assembly on the occasion of the disruption of the scottish church ( ), and headed the secession on the day of the exodus ( - ). welsh, or welch, john, a scottish divine, a nithsdale man; became presbyterian minister of ayr, and was distinguished both as a preacher and for his sturdy opposition to the ecclesiastical tyranny of james vi., for which latter he suffered imprisonment and exile; he was an ancestor of jane welsh carlyle, and was married to a daughter of john knox, who, when the king thought to win her over by offering her husband a bishopric, held out her apron before sovereign majesty, and threatened she would rather kep (catch) his head there than that he should live and be a bishop; she figures in the chapter in "sartor" on aprons, as one of carlyle's apron-worthies ( - ). welsh calvinistic methodists, the largest nonconformist body in wales, of native growth, and that originated in the middle of the th century in connection with a great religious awakening; has an ecclesiastical constitution on presbyterian lines, and is in alliance with the presbyterian church of england; it consists of churches, and has a membership of over , , that is, on their communion roll, and two theological seminaries, one at trevecca and one at bala. welshpool ( ), town in montgomeryshire, north wales, on the left bank of the severn, m. w. of shrewsbury, the manufacture of flannels and woollen goods being the chief industry. wends, a horde of savage slavs who, about the th century, invaded and took possession of vacant lands on the southern shores of the baltic, and extended their inroads as far as hamburg and the ocean, south also far over the elbe in some quarters, and were a source of great trouble to the germans in henry the fowler's time, and after; they burst in upon brandenburg once, in "never-imagined fury," and stamped out, as they thought, the christian religion there by wholesale butchery of its priests, setting up for worship their own god "triglaph, ugliest and stupidest of all false gods," described as "something like three whales' cubs combined by boiling, or a triple porpoise dead-drunk." they were at length "fairly beaten to powder" by albert the bear, "and either swept away or else damped down into christianity and keeping of the peace," though remnants of them, with their language and customs, exist in lusatia to this day. wendt, hans, german theologian, born in hamburg, professor at kiel and at heidelberg; has written an excellent "leben jesu" among other able works; _b_. . wenegeld, among the old saxons and other teutonic races a fine, the price of homicide, of varying amount, paid in part to the relatives of the person killed and in part to the king or chief. wener, lake, the largest lake in sweden, in the sw., ft. above the sea-level and m. long by m. of utmost breadth, contains several islands, and abounds in fish. wentworth. see strafford. werewolf, a person transformed into a wolf, or a being with a literally wolfish appetite, under the presumed influence of a charm or some demoniac possession. werner, friedrich ludwig zacharias, a dramatist of a mystic stamp, born at königsberg; is the subject of an essay by carlyle, and described by him as a man of a very _dissolute_ spiritual texture; wrote the "templars of cyprus," the "story of the fallen master," &c. ( - ). werther, the hero of goethe's sentimental romance, "the sorrows of werther" (q. v.). wesley, charles, hymn-writer, born at epworth, educated at eton and oxford; was associated with his more illustrious brother in the establishment of methodism; his hymns are highly devotional, and are to be found in all the hymnologies of the church ( - ). wesley, john, the founder of methodism, born at epworth, in lincolnshire, son of the rector; was educated at the charterhouse and at lincoln college, oxford, of which he became a fellow; while there he and his brother, with others, were distinguished for their religious earnestness, and were nicknamed methodists; in he went on a mission to georgia, u.s., and had for fellow-voyagers some members of the moravian body, whose simple piety made a deep impression on him; and on his return in two years after he made acquaintance with a moravian missionary in london, and was persuaded to a kindred faith; up to this time he had been a high churchman, but from this time he ceased from all sacerdotalism and became a believer in and a preacher of the immediate connection of the soul with, and its direct dependence upon, god's grace in christ alone; this gospel accordingly he went forth and preached in disregard of all mere ecclesiastical authority, he riding about from place to place on horseback, and finding wherever he went the people in thousands, in the open air generally, eagerly expectant of his approach, all open-eared to listen to his word; to the working-classes his visits were specially welcome, and it was among them they bore most fruit; "the keynote of his ministry he himself gave utterance to when he exclaimed, 'church or no church, the people must be saved.'" saved or lost? was with him the one question, and it is the one question of all genuine methodism to this hour ( - ). wessel, johann, a reformer before the reformation, born at gröningen; was a man of powerful intellect; taught in the schools, and was called by his disciples _lux mundi_ ( - ). wessex, a territory in the sw. of england, inhabited by saxons who landed at southampton in , known as the west saxons, and who gradually extended their dominion over territory beyond it till, under egbert, their king, they became supreme over the other kingdoms of the heptarchy. west, benjamin, painter, born near springfield, pennsylvania, of quaker parentage; was self-taught, painted portraits at the age of , went to italy in , and produced such work there that he was elected member of several of the italian academies; visited england on his way back to america in , where he attracted the attention of george iii., who patronised him, for whom he painted a goodly number of pictures to adorn windsor castle; he remained in england years, painting hundreds of pictures, and was in elected president of the royal academy in succession to sir joshua reynolds; among his paintings were "the death of general wolfe," "edward iii. at crécy," and "the black prince at poitiers" ( - ). west africa, name given to the region sw. of the sahara, consisting of low lands with high lands behind, and through the valleys of which rivers flow down, and including senegambia, upper guinea, and lower guinea, the coast of which is occupied by trading stations belonging to the french, the english, the germans, the belgians, and the portuguese, and who are severally forcing their way into the inland territory connected with their several stations. west australia ( ), the largest of the australian colonies, though least populous, formerly called the swan river settlement, m. long and m. broad, and embracing an area nearly equal to one-third of the whole australian continent; great part of it, particularly in the centre, is desert, and the best soil is in the w. and ne.; emigration to it proceeded slowly at first, but for the last years it has been steadily increasing, especially since the discovery of gold, and it is now opening up; in it received a constitution and became self-governing like the other possessions of great britain in australia; perth, on the swan river, is the capital, and the chief exports are wool and gold. west bromwich ( ), a manufacturing town of the "black country," in staffordshire, m. nw. of birmingham; has important industries connected with the manufacture of iron ware; is of modern growth, and has developed rapidly. west indies ( , ), an archipelago of islands extending in a curve between north and south america from florida on the one side to the delta of the orinoco on the other, in sight of each other almost all the way, and constituting the summits of a sunken range of mountains which run in a line parallel to the ranges of north america; they are divided into the great antilles (including cuba, hayti, jamaica, and porto rico), the lesser antilles (including the leeward and the windward isles), and the bahamas; lie all, except the last, within the torrid zone, and embrace unitedly an area larger than that of great britain; they yield all manner of tropical produce, and export sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, spices, &c.; except cuba, hayti (q. v.), and porto rico, they belong to the powers of europe--great britain, france, holland, and denmark, and till lately spain. the name indies was applied to them because when columbus first discovered them he believed he was close upon india, as he calculated he would find he was by sailing west. west point, an old fortress, the seat of the united states military academy, on the right bank of the hudson river, m. n. of new york; the academy is on a plateau ft. above the road; it was established in for training in the science and practice of military engineering, and the cadets are organised into a battalion of four companies officered from among themselves, all under strictest discipline. west virginia. see virginia. westcott, brook foss, biblical scholar, born near birmingham; studied at trinity college, cambridge, and obtained a fellowship; took orders in , and became bishop of durham in ; edited along with dr. hort an edition of the greek new testament, the labour of years, and published a number of works bearing on the new testament and its structure and teachings; _b_. . westkappel dyke, one of the strongest dykes in the netherlands; protects the w. coast of walcheren; is yards long, and surmounted by a railway line. westmacott, sir richard, sculptor, born in london; studied at rome under canova; acquired great repute as an artist on his return to england, and succeeded flaxman as professor of sculpture in the royal academy; he executed statues of pitt, addison, and others, and a number of monuments in westminster abbey and st. paul's; his latest work was the sculptured pediment of the british museum ( - ). westmacott, richard, sculptor and writer on art, born in london, son of preceding; was distinguished for the grace, simplicity, and purity of his style as an artist; succeeded his father as professor of sculpture in the royal academy, and wrote a "handbook of sculpture" ( - ). westmeath ( ), an inland county in leinster, ireland; is mostly level and gently undulating; the soil in many parts is good, but little cultivated; the only cereal crop raised is oats, but the herbage it yields supplies food for fattening cattle, which is a chief industry. westminster, a city of middlesex, on the n. bank of the thames, and comprising a great part of the west end of london; originally a village, it was raised to the rank of a city when it became the seat of a bishop in , but it was as the seat of the abbey that it developed into a bishop's see; the abbey, for which it is so famous, was erected as it now exists at the same period, during - , on the site of one founded by edward the confessor during - ; in westminster parliaments were held as early as the th century, and it is as the seat of the legislative and legal authority of the country that it figures most in modern times, though the most interesting chapters in its history are connected with the abbey round which it sprang up. see dean stanley's "memorials of westminster." westminster assembly of divines, a convocation of divines assembled under authority of parliament, at which delegates from england and scotland adopted the solemn league and covenant (q. v.), fixed the establishment of the presbyterian form of church government in the three kingdoms, drew up the "confession of faith," the "directory of public worship," and the larger and shorter catechisms; it held its first meeting on st july , and did not break up till nd february . westminster hall, a structure attached to the houses of parliament at westminster, built by king william rufus, and roofed and remodelled by richard ii.; was the scene of the trials of wallace, sir thomas more, strafford, charles i., warren hastings, and others, as well as the installation of cromwell as lord protector, and till the seat of the high courts of justice; is a place of great historic interest; has a roof composed of great timber beams, and one of the largest in the world to be unsupported. westmorland (i. e. westmoorland) ( ), a northern county of england, m. from n. to s. and m. from e. to w.; is in the lake district, and mountainous, with tracts of fertile land and forest land, as well as rich pasture lands. weston-super-mare ( ), a watering-place in somersetshire, on the bristol channel, looking across it towards wales. westphalia, a german duchy, now a prussian province; made with other territories in into a kingdom by napoleon for his brother jerome, and designed to be the centre of the confederation of the rhine; was assigned to prussia in according to the treaty of vienna. wetstein, johann jacob, biblical scholar, born at basel; was devoted to the study of the new testament text; published a greek testament with his emendations and "prolegomena" connected therewith; his emendations, one in particular, brought his orthodoxy under suspicion for a time ( - ). wette, de. see de wette. wetter, lake, one of the largest lakes in sweden, m. long, m. broad, and ft. above the sea-level; its clear blue waters are fed by hidden springs, it rises and falls periodically, and is sometimes subject to sudden agitations during a calm. wetterhorn (i. e. peak of tempests), a high mountain of the bernese oberland, with three peaks each a little over , ft. in height. wexford ( ), a maritime county in leinster, ireland; is an agricultural county, and exports large quantities of dairy produce; has a capital ( ) of the same name, a seaport at the mouth of the river slaney. weyden, roger van der, flemish painter, born at tourney; was trained in the school of van eyck, whose style he contributed to spread; his most famous work, a "descent from the cross," now in madrid ( - ). weymouth ( ), a market-town and watering-place in dorsetshire, m. s. of dorchester; has a fine beach and an esplanade over a mile in length; it came into repute from the frequent visits of george iii. wharton, philip, duke of, an able man, but unprincipled, who led a life of extravagance; professed loyalty to the existing government in england; intrigued with the stuarts, and was convicted of high-treason, and died in spain in a miserable condition ( - ). whately, richard, archbishop of dublin, born in london; studied at oriel college, oxford, of which he became a fellow, and had arnold, keble, newman, pusey, and other eminent men as contemporaries; was a man of liberal views and sympathies, and much regarded for his sagacity and his skill in dialectics; his post as archbishop was no enviable one; is best known by his "logic," for a time the standard work of the subject; he opposed the tractarian movement, but was too latitudinarian for the evangelical party ( - ). wheatstone, sir charles, celebrated physicist and electrician, born near gloucester; was a man of much native ingenuity, and gave early proof of it; was appointed professor of experimental philosophy in king's college, london, and distinguished himself by his inventions in connection with telegraphy; the stereoscope was of his invention ( - ). wheel, breaking on the, a very barbarous mode of inflicting death at one time, in which the limbs of the victim were stretched along the spokes of a wheel, and the wheel being turned rapidly round, the limbs were broken by repeated blows from an iron bar; this is what the french _roué_ means, applied figuratively to a person broken with dissipation, or what we call a rake. wheeling ( ), largest city in west virginia, u.s., on the ohio river, m. sw. of pittsburg; contains some fine buildings; is a country rich in bituminous coal; has extensive manufactures; is a great railway centre, and carries on an extensive trade. whewell, william, professor of the "science of things in general," born at lancaster, son of a joiner; studied at trinity college, cambridge, of which he became successively fellow, tutor, professor, and master; was a man of varied attainments, of great intellectual and even physical power, and it was of him sydney smith said, "science was his _forte_ and omniscience his _foible_"; wrote "astronomy and general physics in reference to natural theology," the "philosophy of the inductive sciences," the "history of moral philosophy," an essay on the "plurality of worlds," &c. ( - ). whichcote, benjamin, cambridge platonist, born in shropshire; was a fellow and tutor of emmanuel college; was distinguished for his personal influence over his pupils, many of them eminent men; he gave a philosophical turn to their theological opinions ( - ). whigs, name given at the end of the th century to the covenanters of scotland, and afterwards extended to the liberal party in england from the leniency with which they were disposed to treat the whole nonconformist body, to which the persecuted scottish zealots were of kin; they respected the constitution, and sought only to reform abuses. whistler, james abbot m'neill, painter and etcher, born at lowell, massachusetts; studied military engineering at west point (q. v.), and art at paris, and settled at length as an artist in london, where he has exhibited his paintings frequently; has executed some famous portraits, in especial one of his mother, and a remarkable one of thomas carlyle, now the property of glasgow corporation; paintings of his exhibited in the grosvenor gallery, london, provoked a criticism from ruskin, which was accounted libellous, and as plaintiff he got a farthing damages, without costs; very much, it is understood, to his critic's disgust, and little to his own satisfaction, as is evident from the character of the pamphlet he wrote afterwards in retaliation, entitled "whistler _versus_ ruskin: art and art critics"; _b_. . whiston, william, divine and mathematician, born in leicestershire; educated at clare college, cambridge, of which he became a fellow; gained reputation from his "theory of the earth"; succeeded sir isaac newton as lucasian professor, but was discharged from the office and expelled from the university for arianism; removed to london, where he lived a separatist from the church, and died a baptist; wrote "primitive christianity," and translated "josephus"; he was a crotchety but a conscientious man ( - ). whitby, a seaport and famous bathing-place in the north riding of yorkshire, ½ m. ne. of york; is situated at the mouth of the esk, and looks n. over the german ocean; it consists of an old fishing town sloping upwards, and a fashionable new town above and behind it, with the ruins of an abbey; captain cook was a 'prentice here, and it was in whitby-built ships, "the best and stoutest bottoms in england," that he circumnavigated the globe. whitby, daniel, english divine, born in northamptonshire; became rector of st. edmunds, salisbury; involved himself in ecclesiastical controversy first with the catholics, then with the high church party, and got into trouble; had one of his books burned at oxford; his most important work "paraphrase and commentary on the new testament"; died an arian ( - ). white, alexander, a scottish divine, born in kirriemuir, of humble parentage; a man of deep religious sympathies and fervid zeal, with an interest before all in spiritual things; studied the arts in aberdeen and theology in edinburgh, in the latter of which cities he ministers to a large attached flock; is the author of books, originally for most part addresses, calculated to awaken in others an interest in divine things akin to his own; _b_. . white, sir george stewart, english general, has had a brilliant career; entered the army in ; won the victoria cross twice over; served in the mutiny, in the afghan campaign ( - ), in the nile expedition ( ), in the burmese war ( - ), and was made commander-in-chief in india in , quartermaster-general in , and is now distinguishing himself by his generalship and heroism in the south african war; _b_. . white, gilbert, english naturalist, born in the village of selborne, hants; educated at oriel college, oxford, in which he obtained a fellowship, which he retained all his life; became curate of selborne, and passed an uneventful life studying the habits of the animals around him, where he "had not only no great men to look on, but not even men, only sparrows and cockchafers; yet has he left us a 'biography' of these, which, under the title of 'natural history of selborne,' still remains valuable to us, which has copied a little sentence or two _faithfully_ from the inspired volume of nature, and so," adds carlyle, "is itself not without inspiration" ( - ). white, henry kirke, minor poet, born at nottingham; published a book of poems in , which procured him the patronage of southey; got a sizarship in st. john's, cambridge; through over-zeal in study undermined his constitution and died of consumption, southey editing his "remains" ( - ). white, joseph blanco, man of letters of an unstable creed, born in seville, of irish parentage; first ordained a priest; left the catholic church, and took orders in the church of england; left the english, became a unitarian, and settled to miscellaneous literary work; left an autobiography which reveals an honest quest of light, but to the last in doubt; he lives in literature by a sonnet "night and death" ( - ). white horse, name given to the figure of a horse on a hill-side, formed by removing the turf, and showing the white chalk beneath; the most famous is one at uffington, in berkshire, alleged to commemorate a victory of king alfred. white house, name popularly given to the official residence of the president of the united states, being a building of freestone painted white. white lady, a lady dressed in white fabled in popular mediæval legend to appear by day as well as at night in a house before the death of some member of the family; was regarded as the ghost of some deceased ancestress. white mountains, a range of mountains in maine and new hampshire, u.s., forming part of the appalachian system; much frequented by tourists on account of the scenery, which has won for it the name of the "switzerland of america"; mount washington, one of the hills, has a hotel on the summit approached by a railway. white nile, one of the two streams forming the nile, which flows out of the albert nyanza, and which unites with the blue nile from abyssinia near khartoum. white sea, a large inlet of the arctic ocean, in the n. of russia, which is entered by a long channel and branches inward into three bays; it is of little service for navigation, being blocked with ice all the year except in june, july, and august, and even when open encumbered with floating ice, and often enveloped in mists at the same time. whiteboys, a secret irish organisation that at the beginning of george iii.'s reign asserted their grievances by perpetrating agrarian outrages; so called from the white smocks the members wore in their nightly raids. whitefield, george, founder of calvinistic methodism, born at gloucester; was an associate of wesley (q. v.) at oxford, and afterwards as preacher of methodism both in this country and america, commanding crowded audiences wherever he went, and creating, in scotland particularly, a deep religious awakening, but who separated from wesley on the matter of election; died near boston, u.s. ( - ). whitehaven ( ), a seaport of cumberland, m. sw. of carlisle, with coal and hematite iron mines in the neighbourhood; has blast-furnaces, iron-works, and manufactures of various kinds, with a considerable coasting traffic. whitelocke, bulstrode, a statesman of the commonwealth, born in london; studied law at the middle temple: sat in the long parliament, and was moderate in his zeal for the popular side; at the restoration his name was included in the act of oblivion, but he took no part afterwards in public affairs; left "memorials" of historical value ( - ). whitgift, john, archbishop of canterbury, born at great grimsby; was educated at cambridge, and became fellow and master of pembroke college; escaped persecution under queen mary, and on the accession of elizabeth was ordained a priest; after a succession of preferments, both as a theologian and an ecclesiastic, became archbishop in ; attended queen elizabeth on her deathbed, and crowned james i.; was an anglican prelate to the backbone, and specially zealous against the puritans; contemplated, with no small apprehension, the accession of james, "in terror of a scotch mist coming down on him with this new majesty from the land of knox, or nox, chaos, and company"; his last words were, with uplifted hands and eyes, a prayer for the church, uttered in king james's hearing ( - ). whithorn, a small town in wigtownshire, m. s. of wigtown, celebrated as the spot where st. ninian planted christianity in scotland, and founded a church to st. martin in . whitman, walt, the poet of "democracy," born in long island, u.s., of parents of mingled english and dutch blood; was a large-minded, warm-hearted man, who led a restless life, and had more in him than he had training to unfold either in speech or act; a man eager, had he known how, to do service in the cause of his much-loved mankind; wrote "leaves of grass," "drum-taps," and "two rivulets" ( - ). whitney, eli, an american inventor, born in massachusetts; invented the cotton-gin, a machine for cleaning seed-cotton, and became a manufacturer of firearms, by which he realised a large fortune ( - ). whitney, william dwight, american philologist, born in massachusetts; studied at yale college, where he became professor of sanskrit, in which he was a proficient, and to the study of which he largely contributed; has done much for the science of language ( - ). whitsunday, the seventh sunday after easter, a festival day of the church kept in commemoration of the descent of the holy ghost. whittier, john greenleaf, the american "quaker poet," born at haverhill, in massachusetts, the son of a poor farmer; wrought, like burns, at field work, and acquired a loving sympathy with nature, natural people, and natural scenes; took to journalism at length, and became a keen abolitionist and the poet-laureate of abolition; his poems are few and fugitive ( - ). whittington, sir richard, lord mayor of london, born at pauntley, gloucestershire; came to london, prospered in business, was elected lord mayor thrice over, and knighted; this is the whittington of the nursery tale, "dick whittington and his cat" ( - ). whitworth, sir joseph, eminent mechanician, born at stockport; the rival of lord armstrong in the invention of ordnance; invented artillery of great range and accuracy; was made a baronet in ( - ). whyte-melville, george john, novelist of the sporting-field, born at mount melville, near st. andrews; entered the army, and for a time served in it; met his death while hunting ( - ). wick ( ), county-town of caithness, on wick river, m. ne. of inverness, is the chief seat of the herring fishery in scotland; wick proper, with its suburbs louisburgh and boathaven, is on the n. of the river, and pultneytown on the s.; has a few manufactures, with distilleries and breweries. wicked bible, an edition of the bible with the word _not_ omitted from the seventh commandment, for issuing which in the printers were fined and the impression destroyed. wicklow ( ), a maritime county, with a capital of the name in leinster, ireland; is in great part mountainous and barren; has mines and quarries, and some fertile parts. wicliffe, john, or wyclif, the "morning star of the reformation," born at hipswell, near richmond, yorkshire; studied at oxford, and became master of balliol in , professor of divinity in , and rector of lutterworth in ; here he laboured and preached with such faithfulness that the church grew alarmed, and persecution set in, which happily, however, proved scatheless, and only the more emboldened him in the work of reform which he had taken up; and of that work the greatest was his translation of the bible from the vulgate into the mother-tongue, at which, with assistance from his disciples, he laboured for some or years, and which was finished in ; he may be said to have died in harness, for he was struck with paralysis while standing before the altar at lutterworth on th december , and died the last day of the year; his remains were exhumed and burned afterwards, and the ashes thrown into the river swift close by the town, "and thence borne," says andrew fuller, "into the main ocean, the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over" ( - ). widdin ( ), a town on the right bank of the danube, bulgaria; is a centre of industry and trade; was a strong place, but by decree of the berlin congress in the fortress was demolished. wieland, christoph martin, eminent german littérateur, born near biberach, a small village in swabia, son of a pastor of the pietist school; studied at tübingen; became professor of philosophy at erfurt, and settled in weimar in as tutor to the two sons of the duchess amalia, where he by-and-by formed a friendship with goethe and the other members of the literary coterie who afterwards settled there; he wrote in an easy and graceful style, and his best work is a heroic poem entitled "oberon" ( - ). wieliczka ( ), a town in austrian galicia, near cracow, famous for its salt mines, which have been wrought continuously since , the galleries of which extend to more than m. in length, and the annual output of which is over , tons. wier, johann, physician, born in north brabant; was distinguished as the first to attack the belief in witchcraft, and the barbarous treatment to which suspects were subjected; the attack was treated as profane, and provoked the hostility of the clergy, and it would have cost him his life if he had not been protected by wilhelm iv., duke of jülich and clèves, whose physician he was ( - ). wiertz, antoine, a belgian painter, born at dinant, did a great variety of pictures on a variety of subjects, some of them on a large scale, and all in evidence of a high ideal of his profession, and an original genius for art ( - ). wiesbaden ( ), capital of hesse-nassau, a famous german watering-place, abounding in hot springs, m. nw. of mainz; has a number of fine buildings and fine parade grounds, picture-gallery, museum, and large library; is one of the best-frequented spas in europe, and is annually visited by , tourists or invalids; it was famed for its springs among the old romans. wife of bath, one of the pilgrims in chaucer's "canterbury tales." wigan ( ), a town in lancashire, m. nw. of manchester, in the centre of a large coal-field; cottons are the staple manufactures; is a place of ancient date, and has some fine buildings. wight, isle of, an island in the s. of england, included in hampshire, from which it is separated by the channel of the solent (q. v.); it is of triangular shape, is m. of utmost length, and about m. of utmost breadth; it is traversed by a range of chalk downs from e. to w.; the soil is fertile, especially in the e.; the scenery rich and varied, and the climate charming; newport is the capital in the centre; near cowes is osborne house, the summer residence of queen victoria. wigtownshire ( ), the most southerly county in scotland, in the sw. of which the largest town is stranraer, and the county town wigtown; it is an agricultural county, and largely pastoral. wilberforce, samuel, english prelate, born at clapham, third son of the succeeding; entered oriel college, oxford, at , where he distinguished himself by his powers of debate; took holy orders, and rose to eminence in the church; was made bishop of oxford in , and of winchester in ; was a high churchman of the pure anglican type, and equally opposed to romanism and nonconformity; shone in society by his wit and powers of conversation; carlyle often "exchanged pleasant dialogues with him, found him dexterous, stout and clever, far from being a bad man"; "i do not hate him," he said to froude one day, "near so much as i fear i ought to do"; he found him "really of a religious nature," and secretly in sympathy with himself on religious matters; was killed by a fall from his horse; he was popularly known by the sobriquet of "soapy sam" ( - ). wilberforce, william, eminent philanthropist, born at hull, son of a wealthy merchant; attended st. john's college, cambridge, at ; represented his native town in parliament as soon as he was of age; he was early and deeply impressed with the inhumanity of the slave-trade, and to achieve its abolition became the ruling passion of his life; with that object he introduced a bill for its suppression in , but it was not till he carried the commons with him, and he had to wait six years longer before the house of lords supported his measure and the emancipation act was passed; he retired into private life in , and died three days after the vote of millions to purchase the freedom of the west indian slaves; he was an eminently religious man of the evangelical school; wrote "practical view of christianity" ( - ). wild, jonathan, an english villain, who for housebreaking was executed in , and the hero of fielding's novel of the name; he had been a detective; was hanged amid execration on the part of the mob at his execution. wilderness, a district covered with brushwood in virginia, u.s., the scene of a two days' terrible conflict between the federals and the confederates on the th and th may . wildfire, madge, a character in the "heart of midlothian," who, being seduced, had, in her misery under a sense of her crime, gone crazy. wilfrid, st., a saxon bishop of york, born in northumbria; brought up at lindisfarne; had a checkered life of it; is celebrated in legend for his success in converting pagans, and is usually represented in the act; _d_. . wilhelmina i., queen of the netherlands, daughter of william iii., and who ascended the throne on his decease in november ; her mother, a sister of the duchess of albany, acted as regent during her minority, and she became of age on the th august , when she was installed as sovereign amid the enthusiasm of her people; _b_. . wilhelmshaven ( ), the chief naval port of germany, on jahde bay, m. nw. of bremen. wilkes, charles, american naval officer; made explorations in the southern ocean in ; boarded on the high seas the british mail-steamer _trent_, and carried off two confederate commissioners accredited to france, who were afterwards released on the demand of the british government ( - ). wilkes, john, a notable figure in the english political world of the th century, born in clerkenwell, son of a distiller; was elected m.p. for aylesbury in ; started a periodical called the _north briton_, in no. of which he published an offensive libel, which led to his arrest and imprisonment in the tower, from which he was released--on the ground that the general warrant on which he was apprehended was illegal--amid general rejoicing among the people; he was afterwards prosecuted for an obscene production, an "essay on women," and outlawed for non-appearance; he sought an asylum in france, and on his return was elected for middlesex, but instead of being allowed to sit was committed to prison; this treatment made him the object of popular favour; he was elected lord mayor of london, re-elected for middlesex, and at length allowed to take his seat in the house; he was for years the cause of popular tumults, the watchword of which was "wilkes and liberty"; the cause of civil liberty certainly owes something to him and to the popular agitations which an interest in him stirred up ( - ). wilkie, sir david, painter, born at cults, fife; executed a great many pictures depicting homely subjects, which were very popular, and are generally well known by the engravings of them, such as the "rent day," "the penny wedding," "reading the will," &c., which were followed by others in a more ambitious style, and less appreciated, as well as portraits ( - ). wilkins, john, bishop of chester, born in northamptonshire; married oliver cromwell's sister; wrote mathematical treatises, a curious one in particular, "discovery of a new world," and was one of the founders of the royal society ( - ). wilkinson, sir john, egyptologist, born in westmorland; studied at oxford; explored the antiquities of egypt, and wrote largely on the subject ( - ). will, freedom of the, the doctrine that in and under the dominion of pure reason the will is free, and not free otherwise; that in this element the will "reigns unquestioned and by divine right"; only in minds in which volition is treated as a synonym of desire does this doctrine admit of debate. willems, jan frans, dutch poet and scholar, born near antwerp; translated "reynard the fox" into flemish, and did much to encourage the flemings to preserve and cultivate their mother-tongue ( - ). william i., the conqueror, king of england, born at falaise; became duke of normandy by the death of his father; being an illegitimate son had to establish his power with the sword; being the cousin of edward the confessor was nominated by him his successor to the english throne, which being usurped by harold, he invaded england and defeated harold at senlac in and assumed the royal power, which he established over the length and breadth of the country in ; he rewarded his followers with grants of land and lordships over them, subject to the crown; the doomsday book (q. v.) was compiled by his order, and the kingdom brought into closer relation with the church of rome, his adviser in church matters being lanfranc, archbishop of canterbury (q. v.); died by a fall from his horse when suppressing rebellion in normandy, and was buried at caen. he was, as characterised by carlyle, "in rude outline a true god-made king, of most flashing discernment, of most strong lion-heart--in whom, as it were, within a frame of oak and iron the gods had planted the soul of 'a man of genius' ... the essential element, as of all such men, not scorching fire (merely), but shining illuminative light ... the most sure-eyed perception of what is what on this god's earth." his invasion of england is known as the norman conquest, and it involved the introduction of the feudal system and norman manners in the habits and speech of the english people ( - ). william ii., king of england, surnamed rufus or ruddy, born in normandy, third son of william i.; succeeded his father in ; had to face a rebellion, headed by bishop odo, in favour of his eldest brother, robert, duke of normandy, which he suppressed by favour of the mass of the people, to whom he made promises which he did not keep, for he proved a stern and exacting ruler; his energy was great, but was frequently spasmodic; he added normandy to his dominion by compact with robert, who went on crusade, compelled malcolm of scotland to do homage for his kingdom, conducted several campaigns against the welsh, and had a long-continued wrangle with archbishop anselm, virtually in defence of the royal prerogative against the claims of the church, for a humorous account of the meaning of which see carlyle's "past and present," book iv. chap. i.; he was accidentally shot while hunting in the new forest by walter tirel, and buried in winchester cathedral, but without any religious service; in his reign the crusades began, and westminster hall was built ( - ). william iii., king of england, born at the hague, son of william ii., prince of orange, by mary, the daughter of charles i.; during a contest on the part of the united provinces with louis xiv. was, in , elected stadtholder, and by his valour and wisdom brought the war to an end in ; married his cousin mary, daughter of james ii.; being invited to england, landed with a large army at torbay, and on the flight of james to france, he and mary were proclaimed king and queen of great britain and ireland in ; the scotch and the irish offered resistance in the interest of the exiled monarch, but the former were defeated at killiecrankie in , and the latter at the battle of the boyne in ; he was an able man and ruler, but his reign was troubled by an interminable feud with france, and by intrigues on behalf of james both at home and abroad; he died by a fall from his horse at kensington just as a great war with france was impending; he was through life the adversary of the covetous schemes of louis, and before his death he had prepared the materials of that coalition which, under marlborough and prince eugene, brought louis to the brink of ruin; his reign forms one of the great epochs in the history of england, and is known as the revolution ( - ). william iv., king of england, known as the "sailor king," born in buckingham palace, the third son of george iii.; entered the navy in ; saw service under rodney and nelson, but practically retired in , as from insubordination he had to do, though he was afterwards promoted to be admiral of the fleet, and even lord high admiral, and continued to take great interest in naval affairs; after living, as duke of clarence, from to with mrs. jordan, the actress, by whom he had children, he married in adelaide, eldest daughter of the duke of saxe-meiningen; on the death of the duke of york in became heir-presumptive, and on the death of george iv. in succeeded to the throne; his reign was distinguished by the passing of the first reform bill in , the abolition of slavery in the colonies in , the reform of the poor-laws in , and the municipal reform act in ; died at windsor, and was succeeded by his niece. queen victoria ( - ). william i., emperor of germany, born at berlin, second son of frederick william iii. of prussia, and brother of frederick william iv., his predecessor on the prussian throne; was bred from boyhood to military life, having received his first commission at the age of ; took part in the war of liberation that preceded the fall of napoleon, and received his baptism of fire on th february ; visited england in , and again in , and returned prepossessed in favour of constitutional government, which he found the king had already conceded in his absence; in he was appointed regent owing to his brother's incapacity, and on nd february he succeeded to the throne, having previously made the acquaintance of moltke in and of bismarck in ; on his accession, while professing all due respect to the representatives of the people, he announced his intention to maintain to the uttermost all his rights as king, and this gave rise to a threat of insurrection, but a war with denmark, which issued in the recovery of the german duchies of sleswick-holstein, led to an outburst of loyalty, and this was deepened by the publication of the project of bismarck to unite all germany under the crown of prussia; this provoked a war with austria, which lasted only seven weeks, and ended with the consent of the latter to the projected unification of the other states, and the establishment of a confederation of these under the headship of the prussian king, a unification which was consolidated into an imperial one at the close of the franco-german war, when, on the th january , the prussian king was proclaimed emperor of germany in the palace of versailles; the reign which followed was a peaceful one, and the pledge of peace to the rest of europe; the emperor was a man of robust frame, of imposing figure, of temperate habits, of firm purpose, conspicuous courage, and devoted with his whole heart to the welfare of his people ( - ). william ii., emperor of germany, born at berlin, grandson of the preceding, and son of frederick iii., whom he succeeded as emperor in ; was trained from early boyhood for kinghood, and on his accession to the throne gave evidence of the excellent schooling he had received to equip him for the high post he was called to fill; he showed that the old hohenzollern blood still flowed in his veins, and that he was minded to be every inch a king; one of the first acts of his reign was to compel the resignation of bismarck, as it was his intention to reign alone; that he has proved himself equal to his task events since have fully justified, and it is hoped it will be seen that his influence on public affairs will lead to the advantage of the german people and the peace of the world; he is by his mother the grandson of queen victoria, and the relationship is full of promise for the union throughout the world of the teutonic peoples, who have already achieved so much for the good of the race; _b_. . william the lion, king of scotland, grandson of david i., and brother of malcolm iv., whom he succeeded in , and whose surname is supposed to have been derived from his substitution of the lion for the dragon on the arms of scotland; was taken captive when invading england at alnwick castle in ; sent prisoner to falaise, in normandy, but liberated on acknowledgment of vassalage to the english king, a claim which richard i. surrendered on payment by the scots of , marks to aid him in the crusade; was the first king of scotland to form an alliance with france; died at stirling after a reign of years ( - ). william the silent, prince of orange, a cadet of the noble house of nassau, the first stadtholder of the netherlands, a protestant by birth; he was brought up a catholic, but being at heart more a patriot than a catholic, he took up arms in the cause of his country's freedom, and did not rest till he had virtually freed it from the spanish yoke, which was then the dominant catholic power; his enemies procured his assassination in the end, and he was murdered by belthazar gerard, at delft; he was brought up at the court of charles v., where "his circumspect demeanour procured him the surname of silent, but under the cold exterior he concealed a busy, far-sighted intellect, and a generous, upright, daring heart" ( - ). williams, isaac, tractarian, born in wales; educated at oxford; got acquainted with keble; wrote religious poetry and tract lxxx. on "reserve in religious teaching" ( - ). williams, john, missionary and martyr, born near london; brought up an ironmonger; offered his services to the london missionary society; was sent out in to the society islands; laboured with conspicuous success among the natives; came home in , and after four years returned, but was murdered at erromango in the new hebrides, and his body eaten by the cannibals ( - ). williams, sir monier monier-, sanskrit scholar, born at bombay; appointed boden professor of sanskrit at oxford, ; author of a sanskrit grammar and lexicon, and projected the founding of the indian institute; _b_. . williams, roger, founder of the state of rhode island, u.s., born in wales; being a puritan, fled the country to escape persecution, and settled in new england, where he hoped to enjoy the religious freedom he was denied at home, but was received with disfavour by the earlier settlers as, from his extreme views, a "troubler of israel," and obliged to separate himself and establish a colony of his own, which he did at providence by favour of an indian tribe he had made friends of, and under a charter from the long parliament of england, obtained through sir henry vane, where he extended to others the toleration he desired for himself; he was characterised by milton, who knew him, as "that noble champion of religious liberty" ( - ). williams, rowland, english clergyman, born in flintshire; was a prominent member of the broad church party; was condemned, though the judgment was reversed, by the court of arches, for a paper contributed to the famous "essays and reviews"; wrote "rational godliness," "christianity and hinduism," &c. ( - ). willibrod, st., the "apostle of the frisians," born in northumbria; was the chief of a company of monks who went as missionaries from ireland to friesland, where they were welcomed by pépin d'héristal, and afterwards favoured by his son, charles martel; he founded an abbey near trèves; when he was about to baptize the duke of friesland, it is said the duke turned away when he was told his ancestors were in hell, saying he would rather be with them there than in heaven without them ( - ). willis, parker, american writer and journalist; had travelled much abroad, and published his experiences; among his writings "pencillings by the way," "inklings of adventure," "people i have met," &c. ( - ) willoughby, sir hugh, early arctic voyager; was sent out in with three vessels by a company of london merchants on a voyage of discovery, but the vessels were separated by a storm in the north seas, and not one of them returned, only richard challoner, the captain of one of them, found his way to moscow, and opened up a trade with russia and this country; the ships, with the dead bodies of their crews, and the journal of their commander, were found by some fishermen the year after. wills, william john, australian explorer, born at totnes; accompanied o'hara burke from the extreme s. to the extreme n. of the continent, but died from starvation on the return journey two days before his leader ( - ). wilmington ( ), a large and handsome city and port in delaware, m. sw. of philadelphia, with extensive manufactures; also the name of the largest city ( ) in north carolina, with considerable manufactures and trade; was a chief confederate port during the civil war. wilson, alexander, ornithologist, born at paisley; son of a weaver, bred to the loom; began his literary career as a poet; imprisoned for a lampoon on a paisley notability, went on his release to america unfriended, with only his fowling-piece in his hand, and a few shillings in his pocket; led an unsettled life for a time; acquired the arts of drawing, colouring, and etching, and, so accomplished, commenced his studies on the ornithology of america, and prevailed upon a publisher in philadelphia to undertake an exhaustive work which he engaged to produce on the subject; the first volume appeared in , and the seventh in , on the publication of which he met his death from a cold he caught from swimming a river in pursuit of a certain rare bird ( - ). wilson, sir daniel, archæologist, was born in edinburgh, became in professor of english literature at toronto; wrote "memorials of edinburgh," "prehistoric annals of scotland," "prehistoric man," &c. ( - ). wilson, sir erasmus, english surgeon, a great authority on skin diseases, and devoted much time to the study of egyptian antiquities; it was at his instance that the famous cleopatra's needle was brought to england; he was liberal in endowments for the advance of medical science ( - ). wilson, george, chemist, born in edinburgh, younger brother of sir daniel; was appointed professor of technology in edinburgh university; was eminent as a popular lecturer on science, and an enthusiast in whatever subject he took up ( - ). wilson, horace hayman, orientalist, born in london; studied medicine; went to india as a surgeon; mastered sanskrit, and became boden professor at oxford ( - ). wilson, john, indian missionary, born near lauder, educated at edinburgh; missionary at bombay from to his death--from in connection with the free church of scotland; from his knowledge of the languages and religions of india, and his sagacity, was held in high regard ( - ). wilson, john, the well-known "christopher north," born in paisley, son of a manufacturer, who left him a fortune of £ , ; studied at glasgow and oxford; a man of powerful physique, and distinguished as an athlete as well as a poet; took up his abode in the lake district, and enjoyed the society of wordsworth, coleridge, and southey; wrote two poems, the "isle of palms," and the "city of the plague"; lost his fortune, and came to settle in edinburgh; was called to the scottish bar, but never practised; became editor of _blackwood's magazine_, and was in elected over sir william hamilton professor of moral philosophy in edinburgh university; his health began to fail in ; resigned his professorship in , and received a pension from the crown of £ ; he is described by carlyle as "a tall, ruddy, broad-shouldered figure, with plenteous blonde hair, and bright blue flashing eyes, and as he walked strode rapidly along; had much nobleness of heart, and many traits of noble genius, but the central _tie-beam_ seemed always wanting; a good, grand ruined soul, that never would be great, or indeed _be_ anything" ( - ). wilton, market-town in wiltshire, m. nw. of salisbury; was the ancient capital of wessex, and gave name to the county; its church, erected by lord herbert of lea in , is a rich lombardic structure, with a campanile ft. high. wiltshire or wilts ( ), an inland county in sw. of england, with gloucestershire on the n. and dorset on the s., m. from n. to s. and m. from e. to w.; is largely an agricultural and pastoral county; is flat, rising into hills in the n., and is broken by downs and rich valleys in the s., except on salisbury plain; sheep-breeding and dairy-farming are the chief industries, and it is famous for cheese and bacon. wimbledon ( ), a suburb of london, ½ m. to the sw., on a common used by the volunteers from to for rifle practice. winchester ( ), an ancient city of hampshire, and the county town, m. sw. of london, on the right bank of the itchen; is a cathedral city, with a noted large public school; was at one time the capital of england; the cathedral dates from the th century, but it has subsequently undergone considerable extensions and alterations; the school was founded by william of wykeham in . winckelmann, johann joachim, great art critic, born at stendal, in prussian saxony, of poor parents; was a student from his boyhood, and early devoted especially to archæology and the study of the antique; became a roman catholic on the promise of an appointment in rome, where he would have full scope to indulge his predilections, and became librarian to cardinal albani there; his great work was "geschichte der kunst des alterthums" (the "history of ancient art"), in particular that of greece, which proved epoch-making, and the beginning of a new era in the study of art in general; he was assassinated in a hotel at trieste on his way to vienna by a fellow-traveller to whom he had shown some of his valuables, and the german world was shocked ( - ). windermere, a lake on the borders of westmorland and lancashire, the largest in england, ½ m. long from n. to s., and m. broad; is ft. deep and ft. above sea-level; is amid beautiful scenery, and near it is rydal mount, long the residence of wordsworth. windham, william, english statesman, born of an ancient norfolk family; was opposed to the american war; took part in the impeachment of warren hastings; was secretary at war under pitt; advocated the removal of catholic disabilities, but was opposed to parliamentary reform; has been described by his contemporaries as the model both physically and mentally of an english gentleman, able and high minded ( - ). windischgrÄtz, prince, austrian field-marshal; took part in the campaigns against napoleon, and in suppressed the revolution at prague and vienna; failed against the hungarians, and was superseded ( - ). windsor ( ), a town in berkshire, on the right bank of the thames, opposite eton, and about m. w. of london, with a castle which from early plantagenet times has been the principal residence of the kings of england. windward islands ( ), a group of the west indies, the lesser antilles, belonging to britain, extending from martinique to trinidad. windward passage, a channel leading into the caribbean sea, between the islands of cuba and hayti. winer, george benedict, new testament scholar, born at leipzig, and professor there; best known for his work on the new testament greek idioms ( - ). winifred, st., a british maiden who was decapitated by prince caradoc in ; where her head rolled off tradition says a spring instantly gushed forth, the famous holywell in flintshire; is represented in art carrying her head. winkelried, arnold von, a brave swiss who, on the field of sempach, on th june , rushed on the lances of the opposing austrians, and so opened a way for his compatriots to dash through and win the day. winkle. see rip van winkle. winnipeg ( ), formerly fort garry, the capital of manitoba, at the junction of the assiniboine with the red river, over m. nw. of montreal; is a well-built town, with several public buildings and all modern appliances; stands on the pacific railway; is a busy trading centre, and is growing rapidly. winnipeg, lake, a lake in manitoba, m. n. of the city, m. long, m. broad, and covering an area of over sq. m.; it drains an area twice as large as france; the saskatchewan flows into it, and the nelson flows out. winstanley, henry, english engineer; erected a lighthouse on the eddystone rock in , and completed it in four years; it was built of timber, and had not much strength; he perished in it in a storm in . wint, peter de, water-colourist, born in staffordshire, of dutch descent; famed for paintings of english scenery and rustic life ( - ). winter king, name given by the germans to frederick v., husband of elizabeth, daughter of james i., his winter queen, who was elected king of bohemia by the protestants in , and compelled to resign in . winthrop, john, "father of massachusetts," born in suffolk; studied at trinity college; headed a puritan colony from yarmouth to salem, and was governor of the settlement at boston till his death; was a pious and tolerant man; left a "journal" ( - ). wisconsin ( , ), one of the central states of north america, nearly as large as england and wales, and situated between lake superior and michigan; the surface is chiefly of rolling prairie, and the soil fertile; yields cereals, sugar, hops, hemp, and large quantities of lumber from the forests; lead, iron, copper, and silver are among its mineral resources; it abounds in beautiful lakes; the wisconsin and the chippewa are the chief rivers, tributaries of the mississippi; and madison (the capital), milwaukee, and la crosse are the chief towns. wisdom of jesus. see ecclesiasticus. wisdom of solomon, one of the most beautiful books in the apocrypha, written at the close of the nd century b.c. by one who knew both the greek language and greek philosophy, to commend the superiority to this philosophy of the divine wisdom revealed to the jews. its general aim, as has been said, is "to show, alike from philosophy and history, as against the materialists of the time, that the proper goal of life was not mere existence, however long, or pleasure of any sort, but something nobly intellectual and moral, and that the pious israelite was on the surest path to its attainment." wiseman, nicholas, cardinal and roman catholic archbishop of westminster, born at seville, of irish parents; studied at a roman catholic college near durham and the english college at rome, of which he became rector; lectured in london in on the doctrines of the catholic church, and in became vicar-apostolic, first in the central district of england, then of the london district in , and was in named archbishop of westminster by the pope; this was known in england as the "papal aggression," which raised a storm of opposition in the country, but this storm wiseman, now cardinal, succeeded very considerably in allaying by a native courtesy of manner which commended him to the regard of the intelligent and educated classes of the community; he was a scholarly man, and a vigorous writer and orator ( - ). wishart, george, a scottish martyr, born in forfarshire; began life as a schoolmaster; was charged with heresy for teaching the greek new testament; left the country and spent some time on the continent; on his return boldly professed and preached the reformation doctrines, and had the celebrated john knox, who was tutor in the district, for a disciple among others; he was arrested in haddingtonshire in january and burned at st. andrews in march ; knox would fain have accompanied him on his arrest, but was paternally dissuaded by the gentle martyr; "go home to your bairns" (pupils), said he; "ane is sufficient for a sacrifice." wismar ( ), a seaport of mecklenburg-schwerin, on the baltic; has a number of quaint old buildings, various manufactures, and an active trade. witch of endor, a divining woman consulted by king saul, who affected to call up the spirit of samuel, who foretold his defeat and doom. witenagemot (assembly of the wise), name given to the national council or parliament of england in anglo-saxon times, agreeably to whose decisions the affairs of the kingdom were managed; it consisted of the bishops, royal vassals, and thanes. wither, george, poet, born at arlesford, in hampshire, and educated at magdalen college, oxford; was imprisoned for his first poem, a satire, "abuses stript and whipt," in ; his subsequent productions betray true poetic inspiration, and special passages in them are much admired; he was a religious poet, and is much belauded by charles lamb; in the civil war he espoused the puritan side, and in his zeal in its behalf raised a troop of horse ( - ). witherspoon, john, scottish theologian, born at tester; was minister at paisley; became president of the college at new jersey, u.s.; died at princeton; wrote "ecclesiastic characteristics" against the moderates, also on justification and regeneration ( - ). witsius, hermann, dutch theologian; became professor at leyden; wrote on what are in old orthodox theology called the "covenants," of which there were reckoned two, one of works, under the mosaic system, and the other of grace, under the christian ( - ). wittekind, leader of the saxon struggle against charlemagne; annihilated the frankish army in , in retaliation for which charlemagne executed saxons he had taken prisoners, which roused the entire saxon people to arms, and led to a drawn battle at detmold, upon which wittekind accepted baptism, and was promoted to a dukedom by the frankish king; he fell in battle with gerold, a swabian duke, in . wittenberg ( ), a town in prussian saxony, on the right bank of the elbe, m. sw. of berlin; was the capital of the electorate of saxony, and a stronghold of the reformers; is famous in the history of luther, and contains his tomb; it was on the door of the schlosskirche of which he nailed his famous theses, and at the elster gate of which he burned the pope's bull, "the people looking on and shouting, all europe looking on." wizard of the north, name given to sir walter scott, from the magic power displayed in his writings. woden, the german and anglo-saxon name for odin (q. v.). wodrow, robert, scottish church historian, born at glasgow; studied at the university, became librarian, and settled as minister at eastwood, renfrewshire; was diligent with his pen; left volumes of mss., only one of which was published in his lifetime, "history of the sufferings of the church of scotland from the restoration to the revolution," the rest having been in part published by several antiquarian societies since ( - ). woffington, peg, actress, born in dublin, where she made her first appearance in , and in london at covent garden in , in a style which carried all hearts by storm; she was equally charming in certain male characters as in female; her character was not without reproach, but she had not a little of that charity which covereth a multitude of sins, in the practice of which, after her retirement in , she ended her days ( - ). woiwode, name at one time of an elective prince among the slavs, originally one chosen in some emergency; superseded by hospodar in . woking ( ), a small town in surrey, m. sw. of london; contains a large cemetery with crematorium near it, and not far off is bisley common, with shooting-butts for practice by the volunteers. wolcot, john, better known by his pseudonym peter pindar, born in devonshire; bred to and practised medicine; took orders, and held office in the church; took eventually to writing satires and lampoons, which spared no one, and could not be bribed into silence; was blind for some years before he died ( - ). wolf, friedrich august, great classical scholar, born near nordhausen; studied at göttingen; was professor of philology at halle; became world-famous for his theory of the homeric poems; he maintains, in his "prolegomena ad homerum," that the "iliad" and the "odyssey" were originally a body of independent ballads handed down by oral tradition, and gradually collected into two groups, which finally appeared each as one, bearing the name of homer, who, he allows, was _probably_ the first to attempt to weave them severally into one; the "prolegomena" was published in , and its appearance caused a wide-spread sensation, and gave rise to a controversy which maintains itself to the present time ( - ). wolfe, charles, author of the "burial of sir john moore," born in dublin; became an irish clergyman; died of consumption ( - ). wolfe, james, major-general, born in kent, son of a lieutenant-general, who served under marlborough; was present at the battles of dettingen, fontenoy, falkirk, and culloden, and served in the expedition against rochefort, which it was believed proved disastrous because his counsel was not followed; this circumstance attracted the attention of pitt, who appointed him a command in canada; here he distinguished himself first at the siege of louisburg, and then by the capture of quebec, where he fell at the moment of victory; he lived to hear the cry "they run," and eagerly asked "who run?" and being told the french, exclaimed, "i thank god, and die contented" ( - ). wolfenbÜttel ( ), an old town in brunswick, m. s. of brunswick; contains an old building, now rebuilt, being a library of vast extent and rich in mss.; has various manufactures. wolff, johann christian von, german philosopher and mathematician, born at breslau; was appointed professor at halle in , but was in not only removed from his chair, but banished from prussia by frederick william on account of his opinions, which, as fatalistic, were deemed socially demoralising, but was recalled by frederick the great on his accession, and afterwards promoted to the rank of baron of the empire; he was a disciple of leibnitz, and the father of the philosophy that prevailed in germany before the time of kant; his merits as a philosopher were threefold: he claimed for philosophy the entire field of knowledge, he paid special attention to method in philosophical speculation, and he first taught philosophy to express itself in german, or made german the philosophical language ( - ). wollaston, william, ethical and theological writer, born near stafford; wrote "religion of nature," a rationalistic work written in an optimistic spirit ( - ). wollaston, william hyde, physicist and chemist, born in norfolk, grandson of preceding; made extensive discoveries in chemistry and optics; invented the camera lucida and the goniometer. wollstonecraft, mary. see godwin. wolseley, garnet joseph, lord, field-marshal, born in co. dublin, of a staffordshire family; entered the army in ; served in the burmese war of - , in the crimean war, where he was severely wounded, in the chinese war of , and afterwards in canada; commanded in the ashantee war in , and received the thanks of parliament, with a grant of £ , , for "courage, energy, and perseverance" in the conduct of it, and after services in natal, egypt, and ireland was made field-marshal in , and commander-in-chief in ; _b_. . wolsey, thomas, cardinal, born at ipswich, son of a well-to-do grazier and wool-merchant; educated at magdalen college, oxford; entered the church early; gained the favour of henry vii., and was promoted by him for his services to the deanery of lincoln; this was the first of a series of preferments at the hands of royalty, which secured him one bishopric after another until his revenue accruing therefrom equalled that of the crown itself, which he spent partly in display of his rank and partly in acts of munificence; of his acts of munificence the founding of christ church college in the interest of learning was one, and the presentation of hampton court palace, which he had built, to the king, was another; it was in the reign of henry viii. that he rose to power, and to him especially he owed his honours; it was for his services to him he obtained the chancellorship of the kingdom, and at his suit that he obtained the cardinal's hat and other favours from the pope; this, though not the height of his ambition, was the limit of it, for he soon learned how frail a reed is a prince's favour; he refused to sanction his master's marriage with anne boleyn, and was driven from power and bereft of all his possessions; finally, though restored to the see of york, he was arrested on a charge of treason, took ill on the way to london, and died at leicester, with the words on his lips, "had i but served god as i have served the king, he would not have forsaken me in my grey hairs" ( - ). wolverhampton ( ), a town in staffordshire, ½ m. nw. of birmingham, in the midst of coal and iron fields; the centre of a group of towns engaged in different kinds of iron manufacture, locks and keys the staple, and the metropolis of the black country. woman's rights, claims on the part and in the behalf of women to a status in society which will entitle them to the legal and social privileges of men. wood, sir andrew, scottish admiral, born in largo, fife; was distinguished and successful in several naval engagements, chiefly in the forth, against the english in the reigns of james iii. and james iv.; received for his services the honour of knighthood and the village and lands of largo in fee; was an eccentric old admiral; is said to have had a canal cut from his house to the church, and to have sailed thither in his barge every sunday; _d_. . wood, anthony, antiquary, born at oxford, and educated at merton college, oxford; was a gentleman of independent means; wrote "history and antiquities of oxford university," which appeared in , and "athenæ oxonienses," which appeared in , being an exact history of all the writers and bishops educated at oxford from to ( - ). wood, sir evelyn, soldier, born in essex; served in the indian mutiny war, and received the v.c., also in the ashanti, in the zulu, in the transvaal ( - ) wars, and in egypt in ; _b_. . wood, mrs. henry (_née_ price), novelist, born in worcestershire; her best novels "the channings" and "mrs. halliburton's troubles," though her most popular "east lynne"; she wrote some thirty, all popular, and deservedly so ( - ). wooden horse, a gigantic horse of wood, within which greek warriors were concealed, and which the trojans were persuaded to admit into their city, to its ruin, on the pretext that it was an offering by the greeks to pallas, to atone for their abstraction of her image from the citadel. woodstock, a small market-town on the glyme, m. nw. of oxford, once a royal manor, near which is blenheim park (q. v.). woolner, thomas, english sculptor, born at hadleigh, in suffolk; sympathised with the pre-raphaelite movement; did a number of statues (one of bacon for oxford), busts of famous contemporaries--carlyle, darwin, tennyson, &c.--and ideal works, such as elaine, ophelia, guinevere, &c.; was a poet as well as a sculptor ( - ). woolsack, the seat of the lord chancellor in the house of lords, as speaker of the house, being a large square cushion of wool covered with red cloth, without either back or arms. woolston, thomas, an eccentric semi-deistical writer, born at northampton, who maintained a lifelong polemic against the literal truth of the bible, and insisted that the miraculous element in it must be allegorically interpreted, with such obstinacy that he was in the end subjected to imprisonment as a blasphemer, from which he was never released, because he refused to recant ( - ). woolwich ( ), a town in kent, on the s. bank of the thames, m. below london; is the chief military arsenal in the country; contains a gun factory, ammunition factory, laboratory, &c., which employ , men, besides barracks for artillery, engineers, &c., covering an area m. in circumference. worcester ( ), the county town of worcestershire, on the left bank of the severn, m. se. of birmingham; a very ancient place, and a handsome city, with a noble old gothic cathedral; is famous for its blue porcelain ware and other industries, particularly glove-making; was the scene in of cromwell's victory over the royalists, which he called his "crowning mercy." worcester ( ), the second city of massachusetts, u.s., a place of busy industry, and with a flourishing trade. worcester, marquis of, inventor of the steam-engine, born probably in the strand; early gave himself to mechanical studies; was an ardent royalist; negotiated with the irish catholics on behalf of the king; was discovered and imprisoned on a charge of treason, but his release being procured by the king, he spent some time in exile; on his return he was again imprisoned and then released; wrote an account of inventions amounting to a hundred, "a century of inventions" as he called it, one of which he described as "an admirable and most forcible way of driving up water by fire" ( - ). worcestershire, an agricultural and pastoral county in the valley of the severn, the n. part of which is the black country, rich in coal and iron mines, with dudley for capital, and the sw. occupied by the malvern hills, while the s. is famous for its orchards and hop-gardens; it has also extensive manufactures at worcester, kidderminster, stourbridge, and redditch. word, the, or logos, the name given by st. john to god as existing from the beginning as in the fulness of time he manifested himself in christ, or as at first what he revealed himself at last. wordsworth, charles, bishop of st. andrews, born in lambeth, studied at christ church, oxford; was private tutor to gladstone and manning, warden of glenalmond college, perthshire, and made bishop in ; was a student of shakespeare, and distinguished as a prelate for his zeal for church union in scotland; he was a nephew of the poet ( - ). wordsworth, william, poet, born at cockermouth, of a yorkshire stock; educated at hawkshead grammar school and at st. john's college, cambridge; travelled in france at the revolution period, and was smitten with the republican fever, which however soon spent itself; established himself in the s. of england, and fell in with coleridge, and visited germany in company with him, and on his return settled in the lake country; married mary hutchinson, who had been a school-fellow of his, and to whom he was attached when a boy, and received a lucrative sinecure appointment as distributor of stamps in the district, took up his residence first at grasmere and finally at rydal mount, devoting his life in best of the muses, as he deemed, to the composition of poetry, with all faith in himself, and slowly but surely bringing round his admirers to the same conclusion; he began his career in literature by publishing along with coleridge "lyrical ballads"; finished his "prelude" in , and produced his "excursion" in , after which, from his home at rydal mount, there issued a long succession of miscellaneous pieces; he succeeded southey as poet-laureate in ; he is emphatically the poet of external nature and of its all-inspiring power, and it is as such his admirers regard him; carlyle compares his muse to "an honest rustic fiddle, good and well handled, but wanting two or more of the strings, and not capable of much"; to judge of wordsworth's merits as a poet the student is referred to matthew arnold's "selections" ( - ). world, the, the name applied in the new testament to the collective body of those who reject and oppose the spirit of christ, who practically affirm what he denies, and practically deny what he affirms, or turn his yea into nay, and his nay into yea. worms ( ), an old german town in hesse-darmstadt, in a fertile plain on the left bank of the rhine, m. se. of mainz, with a massive romanesque cathedral having two domes and four towers; it was here the diet of the empire was held under charles v., and before which martin luther appeared on th april , standing alone in his defence on the rock of scripture, and deferentially declining to recant: "here stand i; i can do no other; so help me god." worsaae, jans jacob, eminent danish archæologist, born in jutland; has written on the antiquities of the north, specially in a scandinavian reference ( - ). worthing ( ), a fashionable watering-place on the sussex coast, ½ m. sw. of brighton; has a mild climate, fine sands, and a long wide parade. wotton, sir henry, diplomatist and scholar, born in kent; was ambassador of james i. for years, chiefly at venice; visited kepler (q. v.) on one occasion, and found him a very "ingenious person," and came under temporary eclipse for his definition of an ambassador, "an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country"; was ultimately provost of eton, and was a friend of many good men, among others isaac walton, who wrote his life; he wished to be remembered as the author of the saying, "the itch of controversy is the scab (_scabies_) of the churches," and caused it to be insculpt in his epitaph ( - ). wouvermans, philip, dutch painter, born at haarlem, where he lived and died; painted small landscapes, hunting pieces, and battle pieces, from which the picture-dealers profited, while he lived and died poor; had two brothers, whose pictures are, though inferior, often mistaken for his ( - ). wrangel, frederick, prussian field-marshal, born at stettin; served with distinction in various campaigns, and commanded in the danish war of , and was present in the austro-prussian war of , though without command; was known as papa wrangel among the berliners, who loved him for his disregard of grammar ( - ). wrangler, name given in cambridge university to those who have attained the first rank in mathematics, pure and applied, the one who heads the list being known as the senior wrangler. wrede, philip, field-marshal and prince, born in heidelberg; served as a bavarian general against austria as the ally of napoleon at wagram, and also in the expedition against russia in , on which occasion he covered the retreat of the french army to the loss of nearly all the cavalry; fought against the french at hanau; was defeated, but was afterwards successful on french soil, and eventually became commander-in-chief of the bavarian army ( - ). wren, sir christopher, architect, born at east knoyle, in wiltshire; educated at westminster school and wadham college, oxford, and became fellow of all souls; was early distinguished in mathematics and for mechanical ingenuity, and soon became notable for his skill in architecture, and received a commission to restore st. paul's, london, but on its destruction in he was appointed to design and erect an entirely new structure; for this he had prepared himself by study abroad, and he proceeded to construct a new st. paul's after the model of st. peter's at rome, a work which, as it occupied him from to , took him years to finish; he died at the age of , sitting in his chair after dinner, and was buried in the cathedral which he had erected, with this inscription, "si monumentum requiris, circumspice" (if you inquire after his monument, look around); wren was a man of science as well as an artist; he was at one time savilian professor of astronomy at oxford, and one of the founders of the royal society ( - ). wren, matthew, bishop of ely; was one of the judges of the star chamber; assisted in preparing the liturgy for scotland, which, when read in st. giles', edinburgh, roused the ire of jenny geddes (q. v.); was impeached, and confined in the tower for years, and released at the restoration ( - ). wrexham ( ), an important town in denbighshire, north wales, m. sw. from chester, in the centre of a mining district, and famed for its breweries. wright, joseph, painter, usually called "wright of derby," from his birthplace and place of residence nearly all his life; he excelled in portraits, and in the representation of the effects especially of firelight ( - ). wright, thomas, antiquary, born in shropshire, but settled in london; wrote or edited a vast number of works bearing on the antiquities, literary and other, of england, and was connected with the founding of sundry antiquarian societies ( - ). writers to the signet, a body of solicitors in scotland who had at one time the exclusive privilege of practising in and drawing up cases for the supreme courts of the country, and whose privileges are now limited to the preparation of crown writs. wulstan, st., saxon bishop of worcester in the days of edward the confessor; being falsely accused by his adversaries, after the king's death, he was required to resign, but refused, and laying his crozier on the confessor's shrine called upon him to decide who should wear it; none of his accusers could lift it, only himself, to his exculpation from their accusations. wundt, wilhelm max, distinguished german physiologist, born in baden, and professor at leipzig; distinguished for his studies on the connection of the physical with the psychical in the human organisation, and has written on psychology as well as physiology; _b_. . wupperthal, a densely-peopled valley in germany traversed by the river wupper, which after a course of m. enters the right bank of the rhine between cologne and düsseldorf, and which embraces the towns of barmen and elberfeld. wurmser, count von, austrian general, born in alsace; took an active part in the war with france; commanded the respect of napoleon from his defence of mantua, on the capitulation of which he refused to take him prisoner ( - ). wÜrtemberg ( , ), a kingdom of south germany, about one-fourth the size of scotland, between baden on the w. and bavaria on the e.; the black forest extends along the w. of it, and it is traversed nearly e. and w. by the swabian alp, which slopes down on the n. side into the valley of the neckar, and on the s. into that of the danube; the soil is fertile, and is in great part under cultivation, yielding corn, vines, and fruits, agriculture being the chief industry of the population; there are only four towns whose inhabitants exceed , , of which stuttgart is one, and ulm, the capital, is the other; the towns are the centres of varied manufactures; education is of a high standard; and associated with the country is a number of famous names-enough to mention the names of kepler, schiller, hegel, schelling, and strauss; the government is constitutional, under a hereditary sovereign. wurtz, charles adolphe, celebrated french chemist, born at strasburg ( - ). wÜrzburg ( ), a bavarian town in a valley of the main, m. sb. of frankfort; its principal buildings are the royal or episcopal palace, the cathedral, and the university, with the julius hospital, called after its founder, bishop julius, who was also founder of the university, which is attended by students, mostly medical, and has a library of , volumes; the fortress of marienberg, overlooking the town, was till the episcopal palace. wuttke, karl, theologian, born at breslau, professor at halle; wrote on christian ethics, stoutly maintained the incompatibility of christianity with democracy, that a christian could not be a democrat or a democrat a christian ( - ). wyandots, a tribe of north american indians of the iroquois stock; were nearly exterminated in , but a feeble remnant of them now occupy a small district in the indian territory. wyatt, richard, sculptor, born in london; studied in home under canova, and had gibson for fellow-student; a man of classical tastes, and produced a number of exquisitely-modelled, especially female, figures ( - ). wyatt, sir thomas, english poet, courtier, and statesman, born at allington castle, in kent, and educated at st. john's college, cambridge; was a welcome presence at court, a friend of anne boleyn, in high favour with the king, and knighted in ; did a good deal of diplomatic work in spain and the netherlands, and died on his way to meet the spanish ambassador and convoy him to london; he had travelled in italy, had studied the lyric poets of italy, especially petrarch, and, along with surrey, imported their sentiment into english verse, "amourist poetry," as it has been called, "a poetry extremely personal, and personal as english poetry had scarcely ever been before" ( - ). wyatt, sir thomas, the younger, only son of the preceding; was leader of the rebellion that broke out in in consequence of the settlement of the marriage between queen mary and philip of spain, in which, being repulsed at temple bar, he surrendered, was committed to the tower, and for which he was executed, lady jane grey and her husband following to the same doom shortly after ( - ). wycherley, william, dramatist, born in shropshire, of good birth, and resided for a time in paris, being admitted to the circle of the précieuses, but returned to england at the restoration, and became a figure at the court; his plays were marked with the coarseness of the time, and his best were "the country wife" ( ) and the "plain dealer" ( ); married the countess of drogheda for her fortune, a legacy which cost him only lawsuits and imprisonment for debt; succeeded to his paternal estate when he was an old man; married again, and died immediately after ( - ). wycliffe, john. see wicliffe. wycombe, high ( ), a market-town in buckinghamshire, on the wye, m. se. of oxford; has a parish church built in the norman style in and restored in , and several public buildings; the manufacture of chairs, lace, and straw-plait among the leading industries. wye, a lovely winding river in south wales, which rises near the source of the severn on plinlimmon, and falls into its estuary at chepstow, m. from its head; rapid in its course at first, it becomes gentler as it gathers volume; barges ascend it as far as hereford, but a high tidal wave makes navigation dangerous at its mouth. wykeham, william of, bishop of winchester, born in hampshire of humble parentage; was patronised by the governor of winchester castle and introduced by him to edward iii., who employed him to superintend the rebuilding of windsor castle, and by-and-by made him privy seal and lord chancellor, though he fell into disgrace towards the close of edward's reign; was restored to favour in richard ii.'s reign and once more made chancellor; in his later years he founded the new college, oxford, built and endowed st. mary's college, winchester, and rebuilt the cathedral there. he was less of a theologian than an architect; was disparagingly spoken of by john wickliffe as a "builder of castles," and his favourite motto was, "manners make the man"; ( - ). wynnad, a highland district in the western ghâts, madras presidency, with extensive coffee plantations, and a wide distribution of auriferous quartz rock, the working of which has been on an extravagant scale, and has involved the loss of much capital. wyntoun, andrew of, scottish chronicler; lived at the end of the th and beginning of the th centuries; was canon regular of st. andrews and prior of st. serf, lochleven; the subject of his "original chronicle," as he calls it, was scottish history, introduced by foreign from the creation downwards, and it was written in verse that can hardly be called poetry; it is of value historically and interesting philologically, and consists of nine books or cantos; it is to him we owe "when alexander our king was dead." wyoming ( ), a north-west state of the american union, chiefly on the eastern slope of the rocky mountains, an elevated region about three times the area of ireland and a comparatively sparse population, settled principally along the line of the union pacific railway; it has a very rugged surface, and abounds in deep cañons and frowning precipices, the lakes also are deep, and there are immense geysers, one, the great geyser, throwing up a volume of water ft. high; it is rich in minerals, yields good crops of various grains, rears large herds of horses and cattle, as well as game on its moors, and trout and salmon in its rivers. see yellowstone park. wyoming valley, a fertile valley in pennsylvania, on the susquehanna river, m. long by broad; it was the scene of a series of contests between rival settlers, when the last of them were set upon by an invading force, forced to surrender, and either massacred or driven forth from the valley; campbell's "gertrude of wyoming" relates to this last disaster. wyss, johann rudolf, swiss littérateur, born at bern, professor of philosophy there; the author of the "swiss family robinson," on which alone his title to fame rests ( - ). wyvern, a heraldic device in shape of a dragon with expanded wings, with only two legs and the pointed tail of a scorpion. x xanthus, principal city in ancient lycia, on a river of the same name, celebrated for its temples and works of art; sustained two sieges, the last of which terminated in the self-destruction of its inhabitants; ruins of it exist, and are cyclopean; also the name of a river in the troad, called also the scamander. xantippe, the name of the wife of socrates, a woman of a peevish and shrewish disposition, the subject of exaggerated gossip in athens, to the exaltation of the temper of her husband, which it never ruffled. she is quaintly described by an old english writer as "a passing shrewde, curste, and wayward woman, wife to the pacient and wise philosopher socrates." xavier, st. francis, a jesuit missionary, styled usually the "apostle of the indies," born, of a noble family, in the north of spain; a student of sainte barbe in paris, he took to philosophy, became acquainted with ignatius loyola, and was associated with him in the formation of the jesuit society; was sent in , under sanction of the pope, by john iii. of portugal to christianise india, and arrived at goa in , from whence he extended his missionary labours to the eastern archipelago, ceylon, and japan, in which enterprises they were attended with signal success; on his return to goa in he proceeded to organise a mission to china, in which he experienced such opposition and so many difficulties that on his way to carry on his work there he sickened and died; he was buried at goa; beatified by paul v. in , and canonised by gregory xv. in ( - ). xebec, a small three-masted vessel with lateen and square sails, used formerly in the mediterranean by the algerine pirates, and mounted with guns. xenien, the name, derived from martial, of a series of stinging epigrams issued at one time by goethe and schiller, which created a great sensation and gave offence to many, causing "the solemn empire of dulness to quake from end to end." xenocrates, an ancient philosopher and a disciple of plato, born in chalcedon, and a successor of plato's in the academy as head of it; _d_. b.c. xenophanes, the founder of the eleatic school of philosophy, born in asia minor; was the first to enunciate the doctrine "all is one," but "without specifying," says schwegler, "whether this unity was intellectual or moral.... aristotle says he called god the one." see eleatics. xenophon, historian, philosopher, and military commander, born at athens, son of an athenian of good position; was a pupil and friend of socrates; joined the expedition of cyrus against his brother artaxerxes, and on the failure of it conducted the ten thousand greeks--"the retreat of the ten thousand"--who went up with him back to the bosphorus, served afterwards in several military adventures, brought himself under the ban of his fellow-citizens in athens, and retired to elis, where he spent years of his life in the pursuits of country life and in the prosecution of literature; the principal of his literary works, which it appears have all come down to us, are the "anabasis," being an account in seven books of the expedition of cyrus and his own conduct of the retreat; the "memorabilia," in four books, being an account of the life and teaching and in defence of his master socrates; the "helenica," in seven books, being an account of years of grecian history in continuation of thucydides to the battle of mantinea; and "cyropædeia," in eight books, being an ideal account of the education of cyrus the elder. xenophon wrote pure greek in a plain, perspicuous, and unaffected style, had an eye to the practical in his estimate of things, and professed a sincere belief in a divine government of the world ( - b.c.). xeres ( ), a town in spain, m. ne. of cadiz, a well-built, busy town, and the centre of the trade in sherry wine, which takes its name from it, and of which there are large stores. xerxes, a king of persia, son of darius i., whom he succeeded on the throne in b.c.; in his ambition to subdue greece, which, after suppressing a revolt in egypt, he in essayed to do with an immense horde of men both by sea and land, he with his army crossed the hellespont by means of a bridge of boats, was checked for a time at thermopylæ by leonidas and his five hundred, advanced to athens to see his fleet destroyed at salamis by themistocles, fled at the sight by the way he came, and left mardonius with , men to carry out his purpose, but, as it happened, to suffer defeat on the fatal field of platæa in , and the utter annihilation of all his hopes; the rest of his life he spent in obscurity, and he was assassinated in by artabanus, the captain of his bodyguard, after a reign of years. xesibeland, a region in south africa lying between griqualand east and pondoland; was annexed to cape colony in . ximenes de cisneros, francisco, cardinal and statesman, born in castile, of a poor but noble family; studied at salamanca and went to rome, where he gained favour with the pope, who appointed him to the first vacant ecclesiastical preferment in spain, as the result of which he in became archbishop of toledo, but not till he was years of age; in years after this he became regent of spain, and conducted the affairs of the kingdom with consummate ability. he was a severe man, and he was careful to promote what he considered the best and highest interests of the nation; but he was narrow-minded, and did often more harm than good; he was intolerant of heresy such as the church deemed it to be, and contrived by his policy to confer more than sovereign rights upon the crown. he was to spain pretty much what richelieu was to france. xingu, a river in brazil, which rises in the heart of the country, and after a course of m. falls into the amazon m. w. of pará. xucar or jucar, a river of valencia, in spain, which rises near the source of the tagus, and after a course of m. falls diminished into the mediterranean, most of its water having been drained off for purposes of irrigation in connection with orange-gardens on its way, gardens which yield, it is said, millions of oranges a year. y yablonoi mountains, a range of mountains which extend ne. from the altai chain, and run s. of lake baikal, near the frontier of china, dividing the basin of the amur from that of the lena. yacu-mama, a fabulous marine monster, said to haunt the lagoons of the amazon, and to suck into its mouth and swallow whatever comes within a hundred yards of it; before bathing in a lagoon, where he apprehends its presence, the indian sounds a horn, the effect of which is to make it reveal itself if it is there. yahoo, name of a race of brutes, subject to the houyhuhnms (q. v.), in "gulliver's travels," with the form and all the vices of men. yajur-veda, one of the books of the vedas (q. v.), containing the prescribed formulæ in connection with sacrifices. yaksha, a species of gnome in the hindoo mythology. yakutsk ( ), a capital town in east siberia, on a branch of the lena; occupied chiefly by traders in furs, hides, &c.; is said to be the coldest town in the world. yale university, a well-equipped university at new haven, connecticut, u.s., founded in , which derives its name from elihu yale, a boston man, and which was given to it in recognition of his benefactions; it occupies a square in the heart of the city, has a staff of professors, besides tutors and lecturers, also students, and a library of , volumes; the faculties include arts, medicine, law, theology, fine arts, and music, while the course of study extends over four years. yama, in the hindu mythology "a solar hero who rules over the dead; might have lived as an immortal, but chose to die; was the first to traverse the road from which there is no return, tracing it for future generations; in the remotest extremity of the heavens, the abode of light and the eternal waters, he reigns in peace and in union with varuna (q. v.); there by the sound of his flute, under the branches of the mythic tree, he assembles around him the dead who have lived nobly, they reach him in a crowd, convoyed by agni (q. v.), grimly scanned as they pass by two monstrous dogs that are the guardians of the road." yambo or yambu, the port of medina, in arabia, on the red sea. yanaon ( ), a small patch of territory belonging to france, on the godavery, enclosed in the british province of madras, india. yang-tsze-kiang, or the blue, or great, river, the largest river in china and in the east; rises in the plateau of tibet, and after a course of m., draining and irrigating great part of china by the way, falls by a wide estuary into the yellow sea, terminating near shanghai; it has numerous tributaries, some of great length, and is of great value to the country as a waterway; it is navigable m. from its mouth, and at hankow, m. up, is a mile in width. yankee, slang name for a new englander; applied in england to the citizens of the united states generally; it is of uncertain derivation. yapura, an affluent of the amazon, which rises in columbia; has a course of m., and is navigable to steamers for m. yarkand ( ), the capital or chief city of eastern turkestan, m. se. of kashgar; is in the centre of a very fertile district of the vast continental basin of central asia, abounding also in large stores of mineral wealth; it is a great emporium of trade, and the inhabitants are mostly mohammedans. yarmouth ( ), a seaport, fishing town, and watering-place of norfolk, ½ m. e. of norwich and some m. above the mouth of the yare; is the principal seat of the english herring fishery, and is famous for its herrings, known as bloaters; it has a fine roadstead called yarmouth roads, a safe anchorage for ships, being protected by sandbanks; has a number of public buildings, in particular a parish church, one of the largest in england, and a fine marine parade. yarrell, william, naturalist, born at westminster; wrote "history of british fishes" and "history of british birds" ( - ). yarrow, a famous scottish stream which rises on the confines of the shires of peebles, dumfries, and selkirk, passes ne. through the loch of the lowes and st. mary's loch, and joins the ettrick m. above selkirk after a course of m. yates, edmund, journalist, founded _the world_ newspaper; wrote a supremely interesting "autobiography" ( - ). yeddo. see tokyo. yellow sea, or whang-hai, an inlet of the pacific, on the ne. coast of china, bounded on the e. by the corea, including in the nw. the gulf of pechili, some m. long, and its average breadth m.; is very shallow, and gradually silting up owing to the quantity of alluvium brought down by the rivers which fall into it. yellowstone, the, a river which rises in the nw. of wyoming (q. v.), and falls into the missouri as one of its chief tributaries after a course of m. yellowstone national park, a high-lying tract of land in the state of wyoming (q. v.) traversed by the yellowstone, about the size of kent, being a square about m. in diameter; is set apart by congress as a great pleasure ground in perpetuity for the enjoyment of the people; it abounds in springs and geysers, and care is taken that it be preserved for the public benefit, to the exclusion of all private right or liberty. yemen ( , ), a province in the sw. of arabia, bounded on the n. by hedjaz, bordering on the red sea, and forming the arabia felix of the ancients; about m. in length and m. in breadth; it is a highly fertile region, and yields tropical and sub-tropical fruits, in particular coffee, dates, gums, spices, and wheat. yenikale or kertch, a strait m. long, connecting the sea of azov with the black sea. yenisei, a river which rises in the mountainous region that borders the plateau of gobi, its head-waters collecting in lake baikal, and after a course of m. through the centre of siberia, falls by a long estuary or gulf into the arctic ocean; it is the highway of a region rich in both mineral and vegetable products, the traffic on which is encouraged by privileges and bounties to the trader at the hands of the russian government. yeniseisk ( ), a town of east siberia, on the yenisei, in a province of the name, and a centre of trade in it. yeomanry, name given to a cavalry volunteer force the members of which provide their own horses and uniforms, with a small allowance from the government, which is increased when called out. yeomen, a name given in england to a class of freeholders next in rank to the gentry, and to certain functionaries in royal households. yeomen of the guard, a body of old soldiers of soldierly presence, employed on ceremonial occasions in conjunction with the gentlemen-at-arms, as the bodyguard of the british sovereign; they were constituted in , and number besides officers men; the beef-eaters, as they are called, are the wardens of the tower, and are a different corps. yeovil ( ), a town in somerset, m. s. of bristol, is in the centre of an agricultural district, and the staple industry is glove-making. yetholm, a village of roxburghshire, m. se. of kelso; consists of two parts, town yetholm and kirk yetholm, the latter of which has for two centuries been the head-quarters of the gypsies in scotland. yezd ( ), a town in an oasis, surrounded by a desert, in the centre of persia, m. se. of ispahân; a place of commercial importance; carries on miscellaneous manufactures. yezidees, a small nation bordering on the euphrates, whose religion is a mixture of devil worship and ideas derived from the magi, the mohammedans, and the christians. yezo or yesso, the northernmost of the four large islands of japan, is about as large as ireland; is traversed from n. to s. by rugged mountains, several of them active volcanoes; is rich in minerals, and particularly coal; its rivers swarm with salmon, but the climate is severe, and it is only partially settled. yggdrasil. see iggdrasil. yiddish, a kind of mongrel language spoken by foreign jews in england. ymir, a giant in the norse mythology, slain by the gods, and out of whose carcass they constructed the world, his blood making the sea, his flesh the land, his bones the rocks, his eyebrows asgard, the dwelling-place of the gods, his skull the vault of the firmament, and his brains the clouds. yniol, an earl of arthurian legend, the father of enid, who was ousted from his earldom by his nephew the "sparrow-hawk," but who, when overthrown, was compelled to restore it to him. yoga, in the hindu philosophy a state of soul, emancipation from this life and of union with the divine, achieved by a life of asceticism and devout meditation; or the system of instruction or discipline by which it is achieved. yogin, among the hindus one who has achieved his _yoga_, over whom nothing perishable has any longer power, for whom the laws of nature no longer exist, who is emancipated from this life, so that death even will add nothing to his bliss, it being his final deliverance or _nirvâna_, as the buddhists would say. yokohama ( ), principal port of entry of japan, m. sw. of tokyo (q. v.), situated in a spacious bay, the centre of trade with the west and the head-quarters of foreign trade generally; foreigners are numerous, and the exports include silk, tea, cotton, flax, tobacco, &c. yokuba ( ), the largest town in sokoto, in the lower soudan, with a large trade in cotton, tobacco, and indigo. yonge, charlotte mary, popular novelist, born at otterbourne, hants; has written "cameos of history of england," "landmarks of history," &c.; has edited the _monthly packet_ for years; _b_. . yoni, a hindu symbol of the female principle in nature, and as such an object of worship. see linga. yonkers ( ), a city of new york, u.s., on the hudson river. m. n. of new york; has factories of various kinds, and some beautiful villas occupied by new york merchants. yonne ( ), a department of the ne. of france, watered by the yonne, a tributary of the seine, with forests and vineyards which yield large quantities of wine. yorick, a jester at the court of denmark, whose skull hamlet apostrophises in the churchyard; also a sinister jester in "tristram shandy." york ( ), the county town of yorkshire, situated at the confluence of the foss with the ouse, m. n. of london and m. ne. of leeds; is an interesting historic town, the seat of an archbishop, and a great railway centre; known among the romans as eboracum, it was the centre of the roman power in the north, relics of which as such still remain; its cathedral, known as the minster, is one of the grandest in england; it is built on the site of a church erected as early as the th century, and was finished as it now exists in ; it is ft. in length, and the transepts ft., the breadth of the nave ft., the height of the central tower ft., and of the western one ft. there are other buildings of great antiquity, and the guildhall dates from the th century. it is the military head-quarters of the northern district of england. york, cardinal, the last of the line of the stuart royal family, who died in , years after his brother charles edward. york, duke of, title often given to the second son of the english sovereign, and conferred in upon prince george, second son of the prince of wales (afterwards king edward vii.), and held by him till . in that year the duke and duchess visited australia, in order to inaugurate the new commonwealth. henry viii. and charles i. were dukes of york, while their elder brothers were alive, and james ii., till he became king. yorke, oliver, the name assumed by the editor of _fraser's magazine_ when it first started. yorkshire ( , ), the largest county in england, is divided into three ridings (i. e. thirdings or thirds) for administrative purposes, north, east, and west, with a fourth called the ainsty, under the jurisdiction of the lord mayor and aldermen of york; of these the west is the wealthiest and the most populous; contains a large coal-field, and is the centre of the woollen manufacture of the county; the east being mainly agricultural, with iron-works and shipbuilding-works; and the north mainly pastoral, with industries connected with mining and shipping. leeds (q. v.) is the largest town. yorktown, a small town in virginia, u.s., on the york river, where lord cornwallis surrendered to washington in . yosemite valley, the most remarkable gorge in the world, in the centre of california, m. e. of san francisco, m. long and from ½ to m. broad, girt by perpendicular walls thousands of feet deep and traversed by the river merced in a succession of falls of great height, the whole presenting a scene of mingled grandeur and beauty; it was discovered in , and steps are being taken by congress to preserve it as a place of public resort and recreation. youghal, a seaport in co. cork, on the estuary of blackwater, m. e. of cork; has some structures of interest, and exports chiefly agricultural produce. young, arthur, writer on agriculture, born at whitehall; was trained to mercantile life, which he abandoned in disgust, and took to farming, which he studied at home and abroad and practised on scientific lines, and became secretary of the board of agriculture on its establishment in ; he elevated agriculture to the rank of a science and imparted dignity to the pursuit of it ( - ). young, brigham, mormon polygamist chief, born at whittingham, vermont, u.s., son of a small farmer; had no schooling, wrought as carpenter, fell in with joe smith's brother, and embraced mormonism in ; became one of the apostles of the church and a preacher, and finally the head in after the settlement of the body at utah; with all his fanaticism he was a worldly-wise man and a wise manager of secular affairs; died rich, leaving his fortune to wives and children ( - ). young, charles mayne, tragedian, born in london, made his _début_ in ; married in a gifted young actress, julia anne grimani, with whom he had often played in lover's parts, and whom, after a brilliant partnership of months on the stage together, he the year after lost in giving birth to a son; he survived her years, but the love with which he loved her never faded from his heart; appeared in the haymarket, london, in in the character of hamlet; played afterwards other shakespearian characters, such as iago, macbeth, and falstaff in covent garden and drury lane, and took leave of the stage in in the same character in which he first appeared on it in london, and died at brighton ( - ). young, edward, poet, born in hampshire, educated at westminster school; studied at corpus christi, oxford, and obtained a fellowship at all-souls' college; wrote plays and satires, but is best known to fame as the author of "night thoughts," which has been pronounced "his best work and his last good work," a poem which was once in high repute, and is less, if at all, in favour to-day, being written in a mood which is a strain upon the reader; it is "a little too declamatory," says professor saintsbury, "a little too suggestive of soliloquies in an inky cloak, with footlights in front"; his "revenge," acted in , is pronounced by the professor to be "perhaps the very last example of an acting tragedy of real literary merit"; his satires in the "love of fame; or, the universal passion," almost equalled those of pope, and brought him both fame and fortune; he took holy orders in , and became in rector of welwyn, in hertfordshire; his flattery of his patrons was fulsome, and too suggestive of the toady ( - ). young, james, practical chemist, born in glasgow; discovered cheap methods of producing certain substances of value in the chemical arts, and made experiments which led to the manufacture of paraffin ( - ). young, robert, a notorious impostor; forged certificates, and obtained deacons' orders and curacies, and could by no penalty be persuaded to an honest life, and was hanged in the end for coining in . young, thomas, physicist, born in somersetshire, of quaker parents; studied medicine at home and abroad; renounced quakerism, and began practice in london in ; was next year appointed professor of natural philosophy in the royal institution, ; made secretary of the royal society, and was afterwards nominated for other important appointments; his principal work is a "course of lectures on natural philosophy and the mechanical arts," published in , in which he propounded the undulatory theory of light, and the principle of the interference of rays; the hieroglyphic inscriptions of egypt occupied much of his attention, and he is credited with having anticipated champollion in discovering the key to them ( - ). young men's christian association, an association founded in london in , for the benefit of young men connected with various dry-goods houses in the city, and which extended itself over the other particularly large cities throughout the country, so that now it is located in centres, and numbers in london alone some , members; its object is the welfare of young men at once spiritually, morally, socially, and physically. young people's society of christian endeavour, a society established in by dr. f. e. clark, portland, maine, u.s., in ; has a membership of three and a quarter million; it is undenominational, but evangelical apparently, and its professed object is "to promote an earnest christian life among its members, to increase their mutual acquaintanceship, and to make them more useful in the service of god." youngstown ( ), a town in ohio, u.s., with large iron factories; is in the heart of a district rich in iron and coal. ypres ( ), an old belgian town in west flanders, m. sw. of bruges; was at one time a great weaving centre, and famous for its diaper linen; has much fallen off, though it retains a town-hall and a cathedral, both of gothic architecture in evidence of what it once was; it was strongly fortified once, and has been subjected to many sieges; the manufacture of thread and lace is now the most important industry. yriarte, charles, french littérateur, born in paris, of spanish ancestry; has written works dealing with spain, paris, the franco-german war, venice, &c.; _b_. . yriarte, thomas de, spanish poet; studied at madrid; was editor of the _madrid mercury_; his principal works "musica," a poem, and "literary fables" ( - ). ystad, a seaport in the extreme s. of sweden, with a commodious harbour, and a trade chiefly in corn. ystradyfodwg ( ), a township in glamorgan, in a rich mining district. yttrium, a rare metal always found in combination with others, and is a blackish-gray powder; the oxide of it, yttria, is a soft whitish powder, and when ignited glows with a pure white light. yucatan, a peninsula in central america dividing the gulf of mexico from the caribbean sea, and one of the few peninsulas of the world that extend northwards; is a flat expanse; has a good climate and a fertile soil, yielding maize, rice, tobacco, indigo, &c.; abounds in forests of valuable wood; forms one of the states of the mexican republic; it bears traces of early civilisation in the ruins of temples and other edifices. yuga, a name given by the hindus to the four ages of the world, and, according to m. barth, of the gradual triumph of evil, as well as of the successive creations and destructions of the universe, following each other in the lapse of immense periods of time. yukon, a great river of alaska, rises in british territory, and after a course of m. falls, by a number of mouths forming a delta, into the behring sea; it is navigable nearly throughout, and its waters swarm with salmon three months in the year, some of them from to lbs. weight, and from to ft. long. yule, the old name for the festival of christmas, originally a heathen one, observed at the winter solstice in joyous recognition of the return northward of the sun at that period, being a relic in the n. of the old sun worship. yule, sir henry, orientalist, born at inveresk, mid-lothian; was an officer in bengal engineers, and engaged in surveys in the east; was president of the royal asiatic society; wrote numerous articles for asiatic societies; his two great works, "the book of marco polo the venetian" and the "anglo-indian glossary," known by its other title as "hobson jobson" ( - ). yumboes, fairies in african mythology, represented as about two feet in height, and of a white colour. yung-ling, a mountain range running n. and s., which forms the eastern buttress of the tableland of central asia. yunnan ( , ), the extreme south-western province of the chinese empire; is fertile particularly in the s.; yields large quantities of maize, rice, tobacco, sugar, and especially opium, and abounds in mineral wealth, including gold, silver, mercury, as well as iron, copper, and lead; the country was long a prey to revolt against the chinese rule, but it is now, after a war of extermination against the rebels, the panthays, the burmese, reduced to order. yuste, st., called also st. just, a village in estremadura, spain, the seat of a monastery where charles v., emperor of germany, spent the last years of his life, and where he died. yves, the patron-saint of lawyers; was a lawyer himself, and used his knowledge of the law to defend the oppressed; is called in brittany "the poor man's advocate." yvetot ( ), an old town in the dep. of seine-inférieure, m. nw. of rouen, with manufactures of textile fabrics, and a trade in agricultural produce, the seigneurs of which long bore the title of king, "roi d'yvetot," a title satirically applied by béranger to napoleon, and often employed to denote an insignificant potentate with large pretensions. z zaandam or saardam ( ), a town in north holland, m. nw. of amsterdam; intersected with a network of canals, with various manufactures, including shipbuilding, and a considerable trade; it was here peter the great wrought as a ship carpenter in , and the house is still preserved in which he lived, with a stone tablet inscribed "petro magno alexievitch." zabism. see sabianism. zacate`cas ( ), a town of mexico, capital of an inland province of the same name ( ), m. nw. of mexico city; a great silver-mining centre, an industry which employs over , of the inhabitants; it is in a valley over ft. above the sea-level, and has several fine churches, a college, a mint, &c. zacharias, pope from to ; succeeded gregory iii.; set aside the merovingian dynasty and sanctioned the elevation of pepin the short to the throne of france, in return for which pepin twice over saved rome from the lombards. zacoccia, a king of mozambique who, according to the lusiad (q. v.), received vasco da gama with welcome, believing him to be a mohammedan, but conceived feelings of bitterest hatred to him when he discovered he was a christian, and tried, but all in vain, to allure him to his ruin; the agent he employed to compass it failing, in his despair he took away his own life. zadig, name of a famous novel by voltaire, of a philosophical cast, bearing upon life as in the hands of a destiny beyond our control. zadkiel, according to the rabbins, the name of the angel of the planet jupiter; also pseudonym assumed by richard james morrison, a naval officer, believer in astrology, and the compiler of an astrological almanac. zagazig ( ), a town in the delta of egypt, m. ne. of cairo; a railway centre, and entrepôt for the cotton and grain grown in the section of the delta round it, and once a centre of worship, and the site of two temples; tel-el-kebir (q. v.) lies e. of it. zahn, theodor, biblical scholar, born in rhenish prussia, professor of theology at erlangen; distinguished for his eminent scholarship in connection with the matter especially of the new testament canon; _b_. . zÄhringen, a village m. n. of freiburg, in baden, with a castle now in ruins which gives name to the reigning grand-ducal family of baden, the founders of which were counts of breisgau. zaire, name for the congo (q. v.) in part of its lower course. zakkum, a tree, according to moslem belief, growing in hell, and of the bitter fruit of which the damned are compelled to eat so as to intensify their torment. zaleucus, law-giver of the ancient locrians, a greek people settled in lower italy, and who flourished in th century b.c.; had a supreme respect for law, and was severe in the enforcement of it; punished adultery with the forfeiture of sight; refused to exonerate his own son who had been guilty of the offence, but submitted to the loss of one of his own eyes instead of exacting the full penalty of the culprit; had established a law forbidding any one to enter the senate-house armed; did so himself on one occasion in a sudden emergency, was reminded of the law, and straightway fell upon his sword as a sacrifice to the sovereignty of the claims of social order. zama, a fortified city of ancient numidea, m. sw. of carthage, where hannibal (q. v.) was defeated by scipio africanus, and the second punic war (q. v.) brought to an end, and the fate of carthage virtually sealed. zambesi, one of the four great african rivers, and the fourth largest as regards both the volume of its waters and the area it drains, the other three being the nile, the congo, and the niger; its head-streams being the lungebungo, the leeba, and leeambye; it waters a rich pastoral region, and it falls into the indian ocean after a course of nearly m., in which it drains , sq. m. of territory, or an area three times larger than that of france; owing to cataracts and rapids it is only navigable in different stretches; at m. from its mouth it plunges in a cataract known as the victoria falls, and which rivals in grandeur those even of niagara. zambesia, a territory on the zambesi, under british protection, and in the hands of the british south africa company, embracing mashonaland, matabeleland, and the country of khama. zamora ( ), ancient town of spain, on the right bank of the douro, m. nw. of madrid; now in a decayed state; was a flourishing place in moorish times; contains interesting ruins; manufactures linens and woollens, and trades in wine and fruits. zangwill, israel, littérateur, born in london, of jewish parents in poor circumstances; practically self-taught; studied at london university, where he took his degree with triple honours; became a teacher, then a journalist; has written novels, essays, and poems; among his works the "bachelor's club," "old maid's club," "children of the ghetto," "dreams of the ghetto," "the master," "without prejudice," &c.; _b_. . zangwill, louis, man of letters, brother of preceding; self-taught; has written several works under the pseudonym of zz; distinguished himself at one time as a chess-player; _b_. . zante ( ), one of the ionian islands, m. off the nw. coast of the morea, is m. long and broad; raises currants, the produce of a dwarf vine, and exports large quantities annually. zante ( ), the capital, on a bay on the e. coast, is a clean and prosperous town, most so of any in the group of islands. zanzibar, a kingdom of east africa, under british protection, consisting of the islands of zanzibar ( ), with a capital ( ) of the same name, and the island of pemba ( ), and a strip of the coast extending m. inland from cape delgado to kipini; has a hot unhealthy climate, and a rich tropical vegetation; its products are cloves chiefly, coco-nuts, betel-nuts, and grain, and the exports ivory, india-rubber, gum, &c.; the natives are mostly arab mohammedans under a sultan. zaporogians, cossacks of the ukraine, who revolted under mazeppa as chief, and were transported by catherine ii to the shores of the sea of azov. zara ( ), the capital of dalmatia, and a seaport of austria, on a promontory on the coast, m. se. of trieste; it was founded by the venetians, has a spacious harbour, was strongly fortified, and the chief manufactures are glass and a liqueur called maraschino. zaragoza. see saragossa. zea, the ancient ceos, an island of the grecian archipelago; of great fertility; produces wine, honey, silk, and maize. zealand, the largest island in the danish archipelago, situated between the cattegat and the baltic, being m. long and m. broad, with copenhagen (q. v.) on the e. coast; the surface is nearly everywhere fiat, and agriculture and cattle-rearing the chief industries. zealand ( ), a province of the netherlands, formed chiefly of islands, of which walcheren (q. v.) is one, constituting a delta as if formed by the maas and scheldt; great part of it is reclaimed from the sea. zealand, new. see new zealand. zealots, the, a fanatical party among the jews in judea, who rose in revolt against the roman domination on the appointment over them of a roman governor instead of a native prince, which they regarded as an insult to their religion and religious belief. zebu, one of the visaya group of the philippine islands, e. of negros. zechariah, a hebrew prophet who appears to have been born in babylon during the captivity, and to have prophesied in jerusalem at the time of the restoration, and to have contributed by his prophecies to encourage the people in rebuilding the temple and reorganising its worship; his prophecies are divided into two great sections, but the authenticity of the latter has been much debated; he is reckoned one of the minor prophets. zedlitz, joseph christian von, poet, born in austrian silesia; entered and served in the army, and did service as a diplomatist; wrote dramas and lyrics, and translated byron's "childe harold" into german ( - ). zeehan, a township of recent growth on the w. coast of tasmania, with large silver-lead mines wrought by several companies, and a source of great wealth. zeit-geist (i. e. time-spirit), german name for the spirit of the time, or the dominant trend of life and thought at any particular period. zeitun ( ), a town in the province of aleppo, with iron mines, inhabited chiefly by armenian christians; distinguished as having for centuries maintained their independence under turkish oppression. zeller, eduard, german professor of philosophy, born in würtemberg; studied at tübingen; was first a disciple of baur, and then of hegel; became professor at berlin, and devoted himself chiefly to the history of greek philosophy, and distinguished himself most in that regard; _b_. . zemindar, in india a holder or farmer of land from the government, and responsible for the land-tax. zem-zem, a sacred well in mecca, and all built round along with the caaba (q. v.); has its name from the bubbling sound of the waters; the moslems think it the well which hagar found with her little ishmael in the wilderness when he was dying of thirst. zenana, in india the part of a house reserved for the women among hindu families of good caste, and to which only since christian women missionaries have been admitted, and a freer intercourse established. zend, name applied, mistakenly it would seem, by the europeans to the ancient iranian language of persia, or the language in which the zend-avesta is written, closely related to the sanskrit of the vedas it appears. zend-avesta, the name given to the sacred writings of the guebres or parsees, ascribed to zoroaster, of which he was more the compiler than the author, and of which many are now lost; they represent several stages of religious development, and as a whole yield no consistent system. zenith, name of arab origin given to the point of the heaven directly overhead, being as it were the pole of the horizon, the opposite point directly under foot being called the nadir, a word of similar origin; the imaginary line connecting the two passes through the centre of the earth. zeno, greek philosopher of the eleatic school (q. v.), and who flourished in b.c.; was the founder of the dialectic so successfully adopted by socrates, which argues for a particular truth by demonstration of the absurdity that would follow from its denial, a process of argument known as the _reductio ad absurdum_. zeno, greek philosopher, the founder of stoic philosophy, born at citium, in cyprus, son of a merchant and bred to merchandise, but losing all in a shipwreck gave himself up to the study of philosophy; went to athens, and after posing as a cynic at length opened a school of his own in the stoa, where he taught to extreme old age a gospel called stoicism, which, at the decline of the heathen world, proved the stay of many a noble soul that but for it would have died without sign, although it is thus "sartor," in the way of apostrophe, underrates it: "small is it that thou canst trample the earth with its injuries under thy feet, as old greek zeno trained thee; thou canst love the earth while it injures thee, and even because it injures thee; for this a greater than zeno was needed, and he too was sent" ( - b.c.). see stoics, the. zenobia, queen of palmyra and ultimately of the east, whose ambition provoked the jealousy of the emperor aurelian, who marched an army against her, and after a succession of defeats subdued her and brought her to rome to adorn his triumph as conqueror, though afterwards he presented her with a domain at tivoli, where she spent the rest of her days in queen-like dignity, with her two sons by her side; she was a woman of great courage and surpassing beauty. see longinus. zephaniah, a hebrew prophet who prophesied in the interval between the decline and fall of nineveh and the hostile advance of babylon; forewarned the nation of the judgment of god impending over them for their ungodliness, and exhorted them to repentance as the only way of averting the inevitable doom, while he at the same time encouraged the faithful to persevere in their godly course with the assurance that the day of judgment would be succeeded by a day of glorious deliverance, that they would yet become "a name and a praise among the people of the earth." zephon (searcher of secrets), name of a cherub sent, along with ithuriel (q. v.), by the archangel gabriel to find out the whereabouts of satan after his flight from hell. zephyrus, a personification in the greek mythology of the west wind, and in love with flora. zermatt, a small village of the canton valais, in switzerland, in. sw. of brieg, a great centre of tourists and the starting-point in particular for the ascent of the matterhorn. zero, a word of arab origin signifying a cipher, and employed to denote a neutral point in scale between an ascending and descending series, or between positive and negative. zeus, the chief deity of the greeks, the sovereign ruler of the world, the father of gods and men, the mightiest of the gods, and to whose will as central all must bow; he was the son of kronos and rhea; by the help of his brothers and sisters dethroned his father, seized the sovereign power, and appointed them certain provinces of the universe to administer in his name--hera to rule with him as queen above, poseidon over the sea, pluto over the nether world, demeter over the fruits of the earth, hestia over social life of mankind; to his dynasty all the powers in heaven and earth were more or less related, descended from it and dependent on it; and he himself was to the greeks the symbol of the intelligence which was henceforth to be the life and light of men, an idea which is reflected in the name jupiter given him by the romans, which means "father of the day"; he is represented as having his throne in heaven, and as wielding a thunderbolt in his right hand, in symbol of the jealousy with which he guards the order of the world established under him as chief. zeuss, johann kaspar, great celtic scholar, and the founder of celtic philology, born at voghtendorf, in upper franconia, professor at bamberg; his great work, "grammatica celtica" ( - ). zeuxis, famous greek painter, born at heraclea, and who flourished from b.c. to the close of the century; was unrivalled in rendering types of sensuous, specially female, beauty, and his principal works are his pictures of "helen," "zeus enthroned," "the infant hercules strangling the serpent"; he is said to have given away several of his works rather than sell them, as no price could pay him for them. zidon, an ancient town of phoenicia, m. n. of tyre, and the original capital. ziethen, johann joachim von, prussian general, born in russia; entered the army at the age of , served as a cavalry officer under frederick the great, was one of the greatest of his generals, became his personal friend, and contributed to a great many of his victories, all of which he lived through, spending his days thereafter in quiet retirement at berlin in favour with the people and in honour to the last with the king; is described by carlyle at as "beautiful" to him, though with "face one of the coarsest," but "face thrice-honest, intricately ploughed with thoughts which are well kept silent (the thoughts indeed being themselves mostly inarticulate, thoughts of a simple-hearted, much-enduring, hot-tempered son of iron and oatmeal); decidedly rather likeable" ( - ). see carlyle's "frederick." zig, a giant cock in the talmud (q. v.), which stands with its foot on the earth, touches heaven with its head, and when it spreads its wings causes a total eclipse of the sun. zillerthal, a valley in the tyrol, watered by the ziller, an affluent of the inn, some of the inhabitants of which were in obliged to seek a home elsewhere because of their opposition to the practice of auricular confession, and which they found near liegnitz, in prussian silesia. zimbabye, a remarkable ruin in mashonaland, the remains apparently of some enterprising colony of nature-worshippers that settled there in ancient times, in the interest of trade presumably. zimmermann, johan georg von, swiss physician, born at brugg, in the canton of bern; studied at göttingen, became the friend of haller (q. v.), and settled down to practice in his native town, where he continued years, very successful both in medicine and literature, but "tormented with hypochondria," and wrote his book on "solitude," which was translated into every european language; wrote also on "medical experiences," a famed book in its day too, also on "national pride," and became "famed throughout the universe"; attended frederick the great on his deathbed, and wrote an unwise book about him, "a poor puddle of calumnies and credulities" ( - ). for insight into the man and his ways see carlyle's "frederick," a curious record. zindikites, a mohammedan heretical sect, who disbelieve in allah, and deny the resurrection and a future life. zinzendorf, a german count, born in dresden; studied at wittenberg, came under the influence of the pietist spener, gave himself up to evangelical labours, and established a religious community on his estate at herrnhut, in saxony, consisting chiefly of a body of moravian brethren, who had been driven out of bohemia and moravia on account of their religious opinions, and were called herrnhuters, of which he became one of the leaders and chief apostles, labouring far and wide in the propagation of their doctrines and suffering no small persecution by the way; he was an earnest man, the author of religious writings, controversial and devotional; wrote a number of hymns, and died at herrnhut, from which he was driven forth, but to which he was allowed to return before the end ( - ). zion, that one of the four hills on which jerusalem is built, on the sw. of the city, and the site of the palace of king david and his successors. zionism, the name given a movement on the part of the jews to re-establish themselves in palestine as a nation. zirconia light, an intensely brilliant light, similar to the drummond light, but differing from it chiefly in the employment of cones of zirconium instead of cylinders of lime; it has been superseded by the electric light. zirconium, a metallic element often found in connection with silica, commonly in the form of a black powder. zirknitz, lake, a high-lying lake in carniola, m. sw. of laybach, the waters of which in the dry season will sometimes disappear altogether through the fissures, and in rainy will sometimes expand into a lake m. long and m. broad. ziska, johann, hussite leader, born in bohemia of a noble family; began life as a page at the court of king wenceslas, but threw up a courtier's life in disgust for a career in arms; fought and distinguished himself by his valour against the teutonic knights at tannenberg in , to their utter defeat; signalised himself afterwards against the turks, and in fought on the english side at agincourt; failing to rouse wenceslas to avenge the death of huss (q. v.) and of jerome of prague (q. v.), he joined the hussites, organised their forces, assumed the chief command, and in gained, with a force of men, a victory over the emperor sigismund with an army of , mustered to crush him; captured next year the castle of prague, erected fortresses over the country, one in particular called tabor, whence the name taborites given to his party; blind of one eye from his childhood, lost the other at the siege of ratz, fought on blind notwithstanding, gaining victory after victory, but was seized with the plague and carried off by it at czaslav, where his remains were buried and his big mace or battle-club, mostly iron, hung honourably on the wall close by; that his skin was tanned and made into the cover of a drum is a fable; he was a tough soldier, and is called once and again in carlyle's "frederick" "rhinoceros ziska" ( - ). zittau ( ), a town of saxony, m. se. of dresden, with a magnificent rathhaus; stands on a vast lignite deposit; manufactures cotton, linen, machinery, &c. zlatoust ( ), a russian town near the urals, m. ne. of ufa, with iron and gold mines near; manufactures sword-blades and other steel ware. zoar, a small village of ohio, u.s., m. s. of cleveland, and the seat of a german socialistic community. zÖckler, otto, german theologian, professor at greifswald; edited a "handbuch der theologischen wissenschaft," and other works; _b_. . zodiac, the name given to a belt of the heavens extending ° on each side of the ecliptic, composed of twelve constellations called signs of the zodiac, which the sun traverses in the course of a year. these signs, of which six are on the n. of the ecliptic and six on the s., are, commencing with the former, named successively: aries, the ram; taurus, the bull; gemini, the twins; cancer, the crab; leo, the lion; virgo, the virgin; libra, the balance; scorpio, the scorpion; sagittarius, the archer; capricornus, the goat; aquarius, the water-bearer; and pisces, the fishes. the sun enters aries at the spring equinox and libra at the autumnal equinox, while the first point of cancer marks the summer solstice, and that of capricorn the winter. the name zodiac is derived from the greek _zoon_, an animal, and has been given to the belt because the majority of the signs are named after animals. zodiacal light, a track of light of triangular figure with its base on the horizon, which in low latitudes is seen within the sun's equatorial plane before sunrise in the e. or after sunset in the w., and which is presumed to be due to a glow proceeding from some illuminated matter surrounding the sun. zohar, a jewish book of cabalistic commentaries on the old testament. zoilus, a greek rhetorician who flourished in the rd century b.c.; was distinguished for the bitterness with which he criticised homer, and whose name has in consequence become a synonym for a malignant critic, hence the saying, "every great poet has his zoilus." zola, Émile, a noted french novelist of the realistic school, or of what he prefers to call the naturalist school, born in paris, of italian descent; began literature as a journalist, specially in the critical department, but soon gave himself up to novel-writing, ultimately on realistic lines, and an undue catering, as some think, to a morbid interest on the seamy side of life, to which he addressed himself with great vigour and not a little graphic power, but in an entire misconception of his proper functions as an artist and a man of letters, though, it may be pleaded, he has done so from a strong conviction on his part that his duty lay the other way, and that it was high time literature should, regardless of merely dilettante æstheticism, address itself to exposing, by depicting it, the extent to which the evil genius is gnawing at and corroding the vitals of society; and it is not for a moment to be supposed he has done so from any pleasure he takes in gloating over the doings of the ghoul, or that he is in sympathy with those who do; of his works suffice it to mention here some recent ones, as the story of "lourdes," published in , "rome" in , and "paris" in ; he has recently distinguished himself by his courage in connection with the dreyfus affair and his bold condemnation of the sentence under which dreyfus was condemned; _b_. . zolaism, name given to an excessive realism in depicting the worst side of human life and society. see zola. zollverein (customs union), a union of the german states under prussia in , and extended in , to establish among them a uniform system of customs rates. zones, the name given to belts of climate on the surface of the earth marked off by the tropical and polar circles, of which the former are ½° from the equator and the latter ½° from the poles, the zone between the tropical circles, subject to extremes of heat, being called the torrid zone, the zones between the polar circles and the poles, subject to extremes of cold, being called respectively the north frigid zone and the south frigid zone, and the zones north and south of the torrid, subject to moderate temperature, being called respectively the north temperate, and the south temperate zone. zoroaster, zarathusthra, or zerdusht, the founder or reformer of the parsee religion, of whom, though certainly a historical personage, nothing whatever is for certain known except that his family name was spitama, that he was born in bactria, and that he could not have flourished later than b.c.; he appears to have been a pure monotheist, and not to be responsible for the manichean doctrine of dualism associated with his name, as zoroastrianism, or the institution of fire-worship. zosimus, greek historian; wrote a history of the roman emperors from the time of augustus to the year , and ascribed the decline of the empire to the decay of paganism ( - ). zouaves, the name given to a body of light infantry in the french army wearing the arab dress, a costume copied from that of kabyles, in north africa, and adopted since the french conquest of algiers; some regiments of them consist of french soldiers, some of algerines, though originally the two were incorporated into one body. zoutspansberg, a ridge of mountains on the ne. of the transvaal, being a continuation of the drakensberg. zschokke, johann heinrich, a german writer, born in magdeburg, lived chiefly at aarau, in aargau, switzerland, where he spent forty years of his life, part of them in the service of his adopted country, and where he died; wrote histories, and a series of tales, but is best known by his "stunden der andacht" (i. e. hours of devotion), on ethico-rationalistic lines ( - ). zug ( ), the smallest canton of switzerland, and sends only one representative to the national council; is m. long by m. broad; is hilly and pastoral in the se., and has cultivated fields and orchards in the nw.; all but includes lake zug, at the ne. of which is zug ( ), the capital, which carries on sundry industries on a small scale. zuider zee (i. e. south sea), a deep inlet of the north sea, in the netherlands, which includes the islands of texel, vlieland, terschelling, and ameland, and was formed by irruptions of the north sea into a lake called flevo, in the th, th, and th centuries, when thousands of people were drowned; is m. long and m. broad, and is embraced in a circuit of m.; it was for some time in contemplation to reclaim this area, and after much weighing of the matter the dutch government in adopted a scheme to give effect to this project; according to the scheme adopted it is reckoned it will take years to complete the reclamation at the rate of several thousand acres every year. zuleika, the bride of abydos, celebrated by byron, a pure-souled woman of great beauty, who, in love with selim, promises to flee with him and become his bride, but her father shoots him, and she dies of a broken heart. zululand ( ), a territory to the ne. of natal, from which it is separated by the tugela, and of which it was independent till , but it is now an integral part; it is a little larger than belgium, is well watered, is capable of cultivation, and has m. of seaboard; it is understood to possess some mineral wealth, though it has not yet been wrought. zulus, a section of the bantu family which originally occupied the se. seaboard of africa from delagoa bay to the great fish river; they are a race of superior physique and intellectual endowment, as well as moral temperament, and incline to a quiet pastoral life; they were attacked under cetywayo by the english in , but after falling upon an english force at isandula, and cutting it in pieces, were overpowered at ulundi, and put to rout. zumpt, karl, philologist, born in berlin, and professor at the university; edited a number of the latin classics, and is best known by his latin grammar ( - ). zurbaran, francisco, spanish painter, born in estremadura; did mostly religious subjects; his _chef-d'oeuvre_ an altar-piece in seville, where he lived and worked ( - ). zurich ( ), a northern canton in switzerland, and the second largest; is in the basin of the rhine, with a well-cultivated fertile soil, and manufactures of cottons and silks, and with a capital ( ) of the same name at the foot of the lake of zurich; a large manufacturing and trading centre; has a romanesque cathedral and a university, with silk mills and cotton mills, as well as foundries and machine shops; here lavater was born and zwingli was pastor. zutphen ( ), manufacturing town in the dutch province of guelderland, in the neighbourhood of which sir philip sidney fell wounded in a skirmish. zwickau ( ), a town in saxony, in a division ( , ) of the same name, m. sw. of dresden; it is in the midst of rich beds of coal, and has a number of manufactures. zwingli, ulrich, the swiss reformer, born at wildhaus, in the canton of st. gall, and founder of the reformed church; studied at bern and vienna, afterwards theology at basel, and was appointed pastor at glarus; he got acquainted with erasmus at basel, and gave himself to the study of greek, and in particular the epistles of st. paul; attached to the monastery of einsiedeln he, in , attacked the sale of indulgences, and was in elected to be preacher in the cathedral of zurich; his preaching was attended with an awakening, and the bishop of constance tried to silence him, but he was silenced himself in a public debate with the reformer, the result of which was the abolition of the mass and the dispensation instead of the lord's supper; the movement thus begun went on and spread, and zwingli met in conference with luther, but they failed to agree on the matter of the eucharist, and on that point the lutheran and the reformed churches separated; in the catholic cantons declared war against the reformers of zurich and bern, but the latter were defeated at cappel, and among the dead on the battlefield was the reformer; his last words were, "they may kill the body, but not the soul" ( - ). see lutherans. zwolle ( ), a manufacturing town in the dutch province of oberyssel, m. ne. of amsterdam; close to it is agnetenberg, famous as the seat of the monastery where thomas à kempis lived and died. zyme, name of a germ presumed to be the cause of zymotic diseases. zymotic diseases, diseases of a contagious nature, presumed to be due to some virus or organism which acts in the system like a ferment. [transcriber's note: in the section 'notes upon "notes, no. ."' there are several 'c's which have been flipped along a vertical axis. these have been denoted by [*c].] { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november . . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * a few words to our friends. in our opening address we carefully avoided any thing at all approaching to a boast of what we would, or even what we hoped to perform. we stated that "we would rather give a specimen than a description." we are now in like manner unwilling to point as exultingly, as we think we might, to the position which we have already taken. but there is a vast difference between vain boasting and the expression of an honest satisfaction; and it would be worse than an affectation of humility--it would be a mean hypocrisy--if we did not express heartily and unreservedly the gratitude we owe and feel to those who have encouraged us by their friendly advice and able pens. we have opened a literary exchange, and we have had the gratification to see that men whose learning and talents the public recognise--leaders in their several branches of inquiry--have at once taken advantage of it. they have proved the necessity for some such medium of communication, as well as their good-will to the one now offered to them, by a gathering in its behalf which the public will respect, and of which we may well feel proud. some whose good opinion we most value, and who have spoken most warmly in favour of our plan, have proved the sincerity of their praise by suggestions of improvement in its detail, and hints for its further extension. they may feel assured that such hints and such suggestions shall not be lost sight of. for instance, one respected correspondent hints that as we have very properly adopted dr. maitland's suggestion with regard to herbert's edition of ame's _typographical antiquities_, namely, that of "offering a receptacle for illustrations, additions, and corrections," and invited "our readers to take advantage of our columns to carry out dr. maitland's suggestions," we should open our columns with equal readiness to the correction and illustration of more modern and more popular works. we entirely concur with him; but in reference to this subject there is a distinction which must be borne in mind. our own literature, like that of every other country, consists of two classes of books. we have the books of pretenders to knowledge, the hasty, crude, imperfect, but often for the time attractive and popular volumes of the ned purdons of the day. these books have a use--such as it is--and thus answer their purpose; but it would be for the credit of our literature, and save a world of trouble, if they were forgotten as soon as they had done so. to illustrate such books, to add to their information or correct their blunders, would be useless and almost ridiculous. they should be left to die of mere powerlessness and exhaustion, or to wither under the wholesome influence of a just and manly criticism. but there are books of another kind--books { } which our worthy bibliopoles designate as "standard works." these are the books of competent workmen--books which are the result of honest labour and research, and which from the moment of their publication assume a permanent station in our national literature. even in such books there are many things incomplete, many things erroneous. but it is the interest of every man that such books should be rendered as complete as possible; and whatever tends to illustrate or correct works of that class will be sure of insertion in our columns. we would point to macaulay's _england_, and hallam's _introduction to the literary history of the th, th, and th centuries_, his _middle ages_, and his _constitutional history_, and we may add, as illustrations of a different kind, _the annals of the stage_ of our excellent friend mr. collier, and _the handbook of london_ of our valued contributor mr. peter cunningham, as examples of the sort of publications to which we allude. such were the books we had in our mind, when we spoke in our prospectus of the "notes and queries" becoming, through the inter-communication of our literary friends, "a most useful supplement to works already in existence--a treasury towards enriching future editions of them." another correspondent--a bibliographical friend--suggests that, for various reasons, which bibliographers will appreciate, our prospectus should have a place in the body of our work. we believe that many of our readers concur in a wish for its preservation, and it will therefore be found in the number now before them. one suggestion again urges us to look carefully to foreign literature, and another points out the propriety of our making our paper as british as possible, so that our topographical facts should, as far as practicable, be restricted to the illustration of british counties, and our biographical ones to such as should contribute towards a biographia brittanica. all these, and many other expressions of sympathy and promises of support, poured in upon us within a few hours after our birth. no one of them shall be forgotten; and if for a time our pages seem to indicate that we have made a query as to the adoption of any suggestion, let our kind contributors be assured that there is no hint which reaches us, whether _at present_ practicable or not, that we do not seriously and thankfully "make a note of." * * * * * bishop aylmer's letter, and the poem on the armada. as i am in a condition to answer the inquiry of your "hearty well-wisher," on p. of your last number of "notes and queries," i proceed to give him the information he asks. i shall be happy if what follows is of any use to your correspondent, taking it for granted that he is as zealous for your success as his signature indicates. the "foolish rhyme," to which the attention of the bishop of london had been directed by lord burghley, has the subsequent doggrel title:-- "a skeltonicall salvtation, or condigne gratvlation, and iust vexation of the spanishe nation, that in a bravado spent many a crvsado, in setting forth an armado england to invado." this is as the title stands in the oxford impression (of which i never saw more than one copy, because, we may presume, it was suppressed by the authorities of the university), and the following is the imprint at the bottom of it:--"printed at oxford by ioseph barnes, and are to bee sold in paules churchyard, at the signe of the tygres head, ." there exists several exemplars of the london edition--"imprinted at london for toby cooke, ,"--the title-page of which, as well as the rest of the poem, differs only literally from that of oxford, excepting that to the latter is appended a latin version, also in rhyme, and in close imitation of the english. i subjoin a brief specimen of it:-- { } "qui regis hispanos, superbos et vanos, crudeles et insanos, multùm aberrasti, cùm tuos animasti, et bellum inchoasti contra anglos animosos, fortes et bellicosos, nobiles et generosos. qui te excitavit proculdubio deliravit et te fascinavit," &c. the whole production consists only of ten leaves, to., and the latin portion, which has the subsequent separate title-page, occupies four of them:-- "ad regem hispanvm. cum tua non fuerint heroica facta, philippe, risu digna cano carmine ridiculo." i shall not here introduce any part of the english version, because one or two long quotations will be found in the introductory portion of the rev. a. dyce's excellent edition of skelton's works ( vols. vo. ). respecting the latin portion i have been more particular, because the learned editor was not aware that the production had come from the press of barnes of oxford, nor that a latin version was appended to it. i may take the liberty of adding here a mention of skelton which escaped notice, and which is from one of the tracts against thomas nash, produced by gabriel harvey, the friend of spenser. he couples skelton and scoggin together, in no very respectful manner, and completes the triumvirate by nash, whom he here calls signor capriccio:--"and what riott so pestiferous as that which in sugred baites presenteth most poisonous hookes? sir skelton and master scoggin were but innocents to signior capricio." this quotation is the more noticeable, because it recognises the sacred character of skelton (however unworthy of the gown) in the prefix "sir," which, as most people are aware, was then generally given to clergymen: scoggin, on the other hand, is only styled "master scoggin." j. payne collier. [the preceding communication was already in type when we received the following from mr. bolton corney, which we gladly print, inasmuch as it illustrates some points not touched upon by mr. collier.] * * * * * queries answered, no. . it is not without some slight reluctance that i notice anonymous communications, but shall endeavour to repress such feelings with regard to the modest students who may choose to announce their desiderata through the convenient channel of the "notes and queries." a _hearty well wisher_ to so commendable an enterprise, shall have my first responsive scrap. the inquiry affords no scope for ingenuity of conjecture! the _foolish rime_ to which bishop aylmer refers, is undoubtedly the pamphlet thus entitled:-- "a skeltonicall salutation, or condigne gratulation, and iust vexation of the spanish nation, that in a bravado spent many a crusado, in setting forth an armado england to invado." oxford, joseph barnes, . to. "a skeltonicall salutation," &c. imprinted at london for toby cook, . to. the oxford edition is recorded by ames, and there is a copy of the london edition in the british museum. strype, in his account of bishop aylmer, gives the substance of the letter as his _own_ narrative, almost _verbatim_--but fails to identify the pamphlet in question. park briefly describes it in _censura literaria_, , ii. .; and there is a specimen of it in _the poetical works of john skelton_, as edited by the reverend alexander dyce, . while _queries_ evince a sharp mental appetite, _answers_ help to satisfy it; and so, by their united influence, a brisk circulation of ideas may be produced--which, as master burton assures us, wards off melancholy. bolton corney. * * * * * notes upon "notes, no. ." sir,--i take the liberty to send you one or two notes on your first number, just as they occur to me in looking it over. i will not trespass on you by preface or apology. the "_bibliographic project_" i shall rejoice { } to see carried out; and though neither an unemployed aspirant nor a fortunate collector (of which class i hope many will be stimulated by the proposition), yet, as i once took some trouble in the matter, i should be happy to contribute some notes then made whenever the plan is matured and the proposed appeal is made--provided (i must add, and to _you_ i may add) i can find them. the _liber sententiarum_ was printed by limborch, at amsterdam, in . it forms the greater part, as, indeed, it was the occasion, of his folio volume, entitled "_historia inquisitionis cui subjungitur liber sententiarum inquisitionis tholosanæ ab anno christi cl[*c]cccvi ad annum cl[*c]cccxxiii._" gibbon, in a note on his fifty-fourth chapter, observes that the book "deserved a more learned and critical editor;" and, if your correspondent will only place the _book of sentences_ before the public in a readable form, with a map, and (by all means) a few _notes_, he will be doing a great service to all persons who take an interest in ecclesiastical history, or, indeed, in history of any kind. in the year chandler published a translation of the _history of the inquisition_, with a long introduction of his own, but did not meddle with the _book of sentences_, except so far as to introduce into the text of the _history_ some passages from it, which limborch (as he appended the whole book) did not think it necessary to quote. i remember seeing the ms. in the british museum within these ten or twelve years, and, according to my recollection, it was accompanied by papers which would furnish an interesting literary history of the volume. i hope your correspondent will give us farther information. n.b. [mr. brooke, of ufford, has also kindly replied to the query of inquisitorius, by referring him to limborch.] * * * * * query as to references. sir,--may i be permitted to suggest one way in which you may be of great service to many literary men, and indeed to the cause of literature in general; and this, too, without much trouble to yourself? would you be willing to receive "queries" respecting _references_? they frequently puzzle those who are engaged in literary works, and indeed those who are merely readers, and who have not access to public libraries or the manuscript treasures of the metropolis and the universities. if, for instance, a clergyman or squire, interested in the history of his parish, should find in the county historian something which his own local or genealogical knowledge leads him to think erroneous, vouched for by a reference to the _cotton_ or _harleian mss._, might he apply to you? it may be supposed that you are not very far from some one of the great fountains of information, and have easy access to all; and it is probable that you might not only do a personal favour to the inquirer, but confer a benefit on the public, by correcting an erroneous statement. of course you would subject yourself to unreasonable requests, but the remedy would always be in your own hands. yours, &c. a. g. c. [the editor inserts this letter because he is sure that it comes from a friendly quarter, and he knows that something like what it suggests is very much wanted. he would feel great diffidence as to his powers of fulfilling all that might be expected if he were simply to reply in the affirmative: but he is quite willing to make the trial, and he thinks that (though sometimes perhaps with a little delay) he could in general obtain any information of this kind which could be reasonably sought.] * * * * * lines in the style of suckling. mr. editor,--the following lines are written in pencil on sheet . of the _notes of the debates in the long parliament_, taken down in the house of commons by sir ralph verney. the _notes of debates_, but not these lines, were published by the camden society in . for any thing that appears to the contrary, these lines may have been written in the house as well as the _notes of debates_. the sheet . refers to debates which took place in march - . i am not aware that the lines have been published, nor can i assign them to their author. if any of your readers can tell me anything about them, i shall esteem it a favour. wert thou yet fairer than thou art, which lies not in the power of art; or hadst thou, in thine eyes, more darts than cupid ever shot at hearts; yet, if they were not thrown at me, i could not cast one thought at thee. { } i'd rather marry a disease than court the thing i cannot please; she that will cherish my desires, must feed my flames with equal fires. what pleasure is there in a kiss, to him that doubts the heart's not his? i love thee, not 'cause thou art fair, smoother than down, softer than air, nor for those cupids that do lie in either corner of thine eye; will you then know what it may be? 'tis--i love you 'cause you love me. j. bruce. th oct. * * * * * notes upon ancient libraries. a knowledge of the intellectual acquirements of the middle ages must be mainly formed upon a consideration of the writings which directed them, or emanated from them. unfortunately such materials are very imperfect, our knowledge of the existence of works often resting only upon their place in some loosely-entered catalogue--and of the catalogues themselves, the proportion still remaining must be small indeed. under these circumstances the following documents, which are now for the first time printed, or even noticed, will be found to be of considerable interest. the first is, in modern language, a power of attorney, executed by the prior of christ church, canterbury, appointing two of the monks of his church to be his procurators for the purpose of receiving from the convent of anglesey, in cambridgeshire[ ], a book which had been lent to the late rector of terrington. its precise date is uncertain, but it must be of about the middle of the thirteenth century ( - ), as nicholas sandwich, the prior of christ church, was the second of four priors who presided between the years and . "n. prior ecclesiæ christi cantuariensis discretis viris et religiosis domino priori de anglesheya et ejusdem loci sacro conventui salutem in domino. cum sincera semper caritate noverit faternitas vestra nos constiuisse fratres gauterum de hatdfeld et nicolaum de grantebrigiense ecclesiæ nostræ monachos latores precencium procuratores nostros ad exigendum et recipiendum librum qui intitulatur. johannes crisestomus de laude apostoli. in quo etiam volumine continentur hystoria vetus britonum quæ brutus appellatur et tractatus roberti episcopi herfordiæ de compoto. quæ quondam accommodavimus magistro laurentio de sancto nicholao tunc rectori ecclesiæ de tyrenton. qui post decessum præfati magistri l. penes vos morabatur et actenus moratur. in cujus rei testimonium has litteras patentes nostro sigillo signatas vobis transmittimus." the contents of the book which is the subject of this special embassy are of the character usually found to have formed the staple of monastic libraries, though the particular treatises included in it are not common. in the reverend joseph hunter's valuable treatise upon _english monastic libraries_[ ] occurs a notice of an indenture executed in a.d. , whereby the priory of henton lent no less than twenty books to another monastic establishment. the deed is described, but not printed. it will be seen that the instrument we have given above is nearly a century earlier; and the minute description of the book given in this document supplies some very curious facts illustrative of the mode of putting together ancient books, which have not hitherto been remarked, for the simple reasons that no opportunity for comparison like that presented by the present case has yet been noticed. among the cottonian mss. (galba e. iv.) is a perfect specimen of an ancient library catalogue, which, although not altogether unnoticed, deserves a more careful examination than it has yet received. it relates to the magnificent monastic foundation from which emanated the deed we have printed above, and is headed "tituli librorum de libraria ecclesiæ christi cantuariensis et contenta in eisdem libris tempore h. prioris." it is written in that bold hand which prevails so extensively in ecclesiastical mss., with but little variation, from the middle of the fourteenth century, to the end of the fifteenth,--a hand which is not always clearly written, and which therefore, in itself, does not materially assist in the distinction of a date. now having first assigned the credit of this noble { } catalogue--in which are entered about volumes, in nearly every one of which, besides the substantive (or initial?) work, are particularised numerous detached writings, varying from two or three to five-and-forty distinct "tracts"--to prior henry chichely ( -- ), the founder of all souls' and st. john's colleges, oxford, and who, "built the library of the church, and furnished it with books," we will see whether the book "qui intitulatur johannes crisestomus," &c. was returned to canterbury, and had a place in the list;--and this, we think, is satisfactorily shown by the following entry:-- "johannes crisostomus de laude apostoli. in hoc volumine continentur idem de laude redemptoris. brutus latine. nomina regum britanniæ sicut in ordine successerunt. nomina archiepiscoporum cantuariensis sicut in ordine successerunt. tabula et questiones bede de ratione temporum. tabula ejusdem et expositio super tabulam de lunationibus. descriptio britanniæ insulæ. expositio super merlinum, imperfecta." it may perhaps be supposed that this proves too much, as, besides the direct title of the volume, _eight_ "tracts" are here entered, while in the power of attorney only _two_ are noticed. but we would maintain, nevertheless, that it is the identical book, and explain this variation in the description by the circumstance that the library having, in the space of nearly two centuries, been materially enriched, numerous works, consisting in many cases only of a single "quaternion," were inserted in the volumes already existing. an examination of the structure of books of this period would confirm this view, and show that their apparent clumsiness is to be explained by the facility it was then the custom to afford for the interpolation or extraction of "sheets," by a contrivance somewhat resembling that of the present day for temporarily fixing loose papers in a cover, and known as the "patent leaf-holder." the second document is a list of certain books, belonging to the monastery of anglesey, early in the fourteenth century, allotted out to the canons of the house for the purpose of custody, or, perhaps, of study or devotion. "isti libri liberati sunt canonicis die ... anno regni regis edwardi septimo"[ ] ( edw. ii. a.d. .) penes dominum priorem; parabelæ salomonis; psalterium cum ... penes dominum j. de bodek.; epistolæ pauli...; quædam notulæ super psalter et liber miraculorum ... mariæ cum miraculis sanctorum. penes sub-priorem; liber vitæ sancti thomæ martiris. penes e. de ely; quartus liber sententiarum cum sermo...; liber reymundi; liber de vitiis et virtutibus et pastorale. penes r. pichard; liber alquini; liber johannis de tyrington cum catone et aliis. penes henrici muchet; liber de vita sanctæ mariæ magdalenæ et remediarum (?) penes walteri de yilwilden; liber s ... ligatus in panno ymnaro glosatus cum constitutionibus; belet ligatus et vita sanctorum. penes ricardi de queye; omeliæ gregorii (?) super evangelistos ligatæ in nigro corio. in commune biblia; decreta; decretales; prima pars moralium job; liber de abusionibus. liber justitiæ; penes magistrum adam de wilburham. penes walteri de wyth; liber innocentii super sacramenta cum belet et introductione in uno volumine. item penes sup-priorem; psalterium glosatum duod fuit in custodia magistri henrice de melreth. item aliud psalterium glosatum inpignoratum penes isabellam siccadona. several of these descriptions are highly curious; particularly the last item, which describes one of the "glossed" psalters as being "_in pawn_," a fact which, in itself, tells a history of the then condition of the house. the first document, taken in connection with that referred to by mr. hunter would seem to establish the existence of a system of interchanging the literary wealth of monastic establishments, and thereby greatly extending the advantages of their otherwise scanty stores. both are executed with all the legal forms used in the most important transactions, which would support the opinion of their not { } being special instances: but they are, in either case, curious and satisfactory evidence of the care and caution exercised by the monks in cases where their books were concerned; and one cannot but regret that when the time came that the monasterias were destined to be dissolved, and their books torn and scattered to the winds, no attention was paid to bale's advice for the formation of "one solemne library in every shire of england." joseph burtt [ ] the information given of this house by dugdale is very scanty. it could surely be added to considerably. [ ] london, . quarto. see also a paper by mr. halliwell in the _archæologia_, xxvii. p. ., and sir francis palgrave's introduction to _documents and records illustrating the history of scotland_, pp. xcvi.--cxvi., for extracts from the historical chronicles preserved in the monasteries, &c. [ ] the formula of this date, "anno r.r.e. septimo," would at first sight be considered to refer to the preceding reign; but the list is merely a memorandum on the dorse of a completely executed instrument dated a.d. , which it is highly improbable that it preceded. the style of edward ii. is often found as above, though not usually so. * * * * * pedlar's song attributed to shakspere, and tradition connected with shakspere's "hamlet." the following verses, which would form a very appropriate song for autolycus, were arranged as a glee for three voices by dr. wilson about the year . they are published in playford's _musical companion_ in ; in warren's _collection of glees and catches_; and in s. webbe's _conveto harmonico_. the words were, i believe, first ascribed to shakspere by clark, in , in his _words of glees, madrigals, &c._; but he has not given his authority for so doing. it has been stated that they have since been discovered in a common-place book written about shakspere's time, with his name attached to them, and with this indirect evidence in favour of their being written by him, that the other pieces in the collection are attributed to their proper writers. the late mr. douce, who was inclined to believe the song to have been written by shakspere, once saw a copy of it with a fourth verse which was shown to him by the then organist of chichester. the poem is not included in mr. collier's edition of shakspere, nor in the aldine edition of shakspere's poems, edited by the rev. a. dyce. perhaps if you will be good enough to insert the song and the present communication in the "notes and queries," some of your readers may be enabled to fix the authorship and to furnish the additional stanza to which i have referred. pedlar's song. from the far lavinian shore, i your markets come to store; muse not, though so far i dwell, and my wares come here to sell; such is the sacred hunger for gold. then come to my pack, while i cry "what d'ye lack, what d'ye buy? for here it is to be sold." i have beauty, honour, grace, fortune, favour, time, and place, and what else thou would'st request, e'en the thing thou likest best; first, let me have but a touch of your gold. then, come to me, lad, thou shalt have what thy dad never gave; for here it is to be sold. madam, come, see what you lack, i've complexions in my pack; white and red you may have in this place, to hide your old and wrinkled face. first, let me have but a touch of your gold, then you shall seem like a girl of fifteen, although you be threescore and ten years old. while on this subject, perhaps i may be permitted to ask whether any reader of the "notes and queries" can throw light on the following questionable statement made by a correspondent of the _morning herald_, of the th september, . "looking over and old volume the other day, printed in , i find it remarked that it was known as a tradition, that shakspeare shut himself up all night in westminster abbey when he wrote the ghost scene in hamlet." i do not find in wilson's _shakspeariana_ the title of a single "old" book printed in , on the subject of shakspere. t. * * * * * sir william skipwyth, king's justice in ireland. mr. editor,--i am encouraged by the eminent names which illustrate the first number of your new experiment--a most happy thought--to inquire whether they, or any other correspondent, can inform me who was the william de skypwith, the patent of whose appointment as chief justice of the king's bench in ireland, dated february . , edward iii., is to be found in the _new fædera_ vol. iii. p. .? in the entry on the issue roll of that year, p. ., of the payment of "his expences and equipment" in going there, he is called "sir william skipwyth, knight, and the king's justice in ireland." { } there was a sir william skipwyth, who was appointed a judge of the common pleas in edward iii., and chief baron of the exchequer in edward iii.; and, were it not that collins, in his _baronetage_, followed by burke, says that he remained chief baron till edward iii., _in which year he died_, i should have had no doubt that the irish chief justice was the same with the english chief baron. the same authority adds that sir william skipwyth who was made a justice of the king's bench [it should have been of the common pleas] in edward iii., and who resigned his office in richard ii., was the eldest son of the chief baron. but that authority does not make the slightest allusion to the appointment of the chief justice of ireland. a suspicion that this last justice of the common pleas is not only the same person as the chief justice of ireland, but also as the chief baron of the exchequer, has arisen in my mind for the following among other reasons. . collins and burke are wrong in saying that he remained chief baron till edward iii. his successor in that office was appointed on october . , edward iii. . they are further wrong, i imagine, in saying that he continued chief baron till his death: for joshua barnes, in his _history of edward iii._, p. ., says that skipwyth and sir henry green, the chief justice of the king's bench, were in arrested and imprisoned on account of many enormities which the king understood they had committed against law and justice; and this relation is corroborated by the fact that green's successor as chief justice was appointed on the same day as skipwyth's successor as chief baron. . no proof whatever is given of the chief baron's death in edward iii. i will not trouble you with other grounds of identification which occur to me: but as an answer to my question might "make these odds all even," i sent the "query" to the "lost and found office" you have established, in the hope that some stray "note," as yet unappropriated, may assist in solving the difficulty. edward foss. november . . * * * * * the thistle of scotland. mr. editor,--may i ask if any of your contibutors could inform me in an early number, when and on what occasion the thistle was adopted as the emblem of the scottish nation? i have looked into many historians, but as yet found nothing definite enough. r. l. paisley, oct. . . * * * * * capture of the duke of monmouth. mr. editor,--having noticed the letter of mr. john bruce, in your miscellany, i beg leave to inform him that the ash tree under which monmouth was taken is still standing on the woodland estate, now the property of the earl of shaftesbury. i shall be happy at some future day, if it suits your purpose, to collect and send you such particulars as may be gained on the spot respecting it, and the incidents of the capture. we have still in the town hall here the chain in which it is said jefferies sat at the bloody assize. a. d. m. dorcester, d nov. . [we shall gladly receive the particulars which our correspondent proposed to collect and forward.] * * * * * serpents' eggs and straw necklaces. [mr. thoms' query in this case should have been limited to the _straw necklaces_, as mr. nichols has already explained the _serpents' eggs_; but our correspondent's letter is so satisfactory on both points that we insert it entire.] the passage from erasmus, "brachium habet ova serpentum," is plainly to be rendered "and with a string of serpents' eggs on your arm." the meaning is equally apparent on recalling the manner in which snakes' eggs are found, viz., hanging together in a row. erasmus intends menedemus to utter a joke at the _rosary of beads_ hanging over the pilgrim's arm, which he professes to mistake for serpents' eggs. i am not aware what particular propriety the "collar or chaplet" (for it may mean either) of _straw_ may have, as worn by a pilgrim from compostella; or whether there may not lurk under this description, as beneath { } the other, a jocular sense. the readiest way of determining this point would be to consult some of the accounts of compostella and of its relics, which are to be found in a class of books formerly abundant in the north-western towns of spain. v. * * * * * madoc--his expedition to america. "a student" may consult the _proceedings of the royal society of northern antiquaries, copenhagen_, mr. geogehan's _ireland_, o'flaherty's _ogygia_, magnusen and rafn _on the historical monuments of greenland and america_, and some of the _sagas_. scotus. brechin, nov. . . * * * * * notes on coffee. the earliest account we have of coffee is said to be taken from an arabian ms. in the bibliothèque du roi in paris. schehabeddin ben, an arabian author of the ninth century of the hegira, or fifteenth of the christians, attributes to gemaleddin, mufti of aden, a city of arabia felix, who was nearly his contemporary, the first introduction into that country, of drinking coffee. he tells us, that gemaleddin, having occasion to travel into persia, during his abode there saw some of his countrymen drinking coffee, which at that time he did not much attend to; but, on his return to aden, finding himself indisposed, and remembering that he had seen his countrymen drinking coffee in persia, in hopes of receiving some benefit from it, he determined to try it on himself; and, after making the experiment, not only recovered his health, but perceived other useful qualities in that liquor; such as relieving the headach, enlivening the spirits, and, without prejudice to the constitution, preventing drowsiness. this last quality he resolved to turn to the advantage of his profession; he took it himself, and recommended it to the dervises, or religious mahometans, to enable them to pass the night in prayer, and other exercises of their religion, with greater zeal and attention. the example and authority of the mufti gave reputation to coffee. soon men of letters, and persons belonging to the law, adopted the use of it. these were followed by the tradesmen and artisans that were under the necessity of working in the night, and such as were obliged to travel late after sunset. at length the custom became general in aden; and it was not only drunk in the night by those who were desirous of being kept awake, but in the day for the sake of its other agreeable qualities. before this time coffee was scarce known in persia, and very little used in arabia, where the tree grew. but, according to schehabeddin, it had been drunk in Æthiopia from time immemorial. coffee being thus received at aden, where it has continued in use ever since without interruption, passed by degrees to many neighbouring towns; and not long after reached mecca, where it was introduced as at aden, by the dervises, and for the same purposes of religion. the inhabitants of mecca were at last so fond of this liquor, that, without regarding the intention of the religious, and other studious persons, they at length drank it publicly in coffee-houses, where they assembled in crowds to pass the time agreeably, making that the pretense. from hence the custom extended itself to many other towns of arabia, particularly to medina, and then to grand cairo in egypt, where the dervises of yemen, who lived in a district by themselves, drank coffee on the nights they intended to spend in devotion. coffee continued its progress through syria, and was received at damascus and aleppo without opposition; and in the year , under the reign of solyman, one hundred years after its introduction by the mufti of aden, became known to the inhabitants of constantinople, when two private persons of the names of schems and hekin, the one coming from damascus, and the other from aleppo, opened coffee-houses. "it is not easy," says ellis, "to determine at what time, or upon what occasion, the use of coffee passed from constantinople to the western parts of europe. it is, however, likely that the venetians, upon account of the proximity of their dominions, and their great trade to the levant, were the first acquainted with it; which appears from part of a letter wrote by peter della valle, a venetian, in , from constantinople; in which he tells his friend, that, upon his return he should { } bring with him some coffee, which he believed was a thing unknown in his country." mr. garland tells us he was informed by m. de la croix, the king's interpreter, that m. thevenot, who had travelled through the east, at his return in , brought with him to paris some coffee for his own use, and often treated his friends with it. it was known some years sooner at marseilles; for, in , some gentlemen who accompanied m. de la haye to constantinople, brought back with them on their return, not only some coffee, but the proper vessels and apparatus for making it. however, until , coffee was drunk only by such as had been accustomed to it in the levant, and their friends; but that year some bales were imported from egypt, which gave a great number of persons an opportunity of trying it, and contributed very much to bringing it into general use; and in , a coffee-house was opened at marseilles in the neighbourhood of the exchange. before , coffee had not been seen at paris, except at m. thevenot's, and some of his friends'; nor scarce heard of but from the account of travellers. in that year, soliman aga, ambassador from the sultan mahomet the fourth, arrived, who, with his retinue, brought a considerable quantity of coffee with them, and made presents of it to persons both of the court and city, and it is supposed to have established the custom of drinking it. two years afterwards, an armenian of the name of pascal, set up a coffee-house, but meeting with little encouragement, left paris and came to london. from anderson's _chronological history of commerce_, it appears that the use of coffee was introduced into london some years earlier than into paris. for in one mr. edwards, a turkey merchant, brought home with him a greek servant, whose name was pasqua, who understood the roasting and making of coffee, till then unknown in england. this servant was the first who sold coffee, and kept a house for that purpose in george yard lombard street. the first mention of coffee in our statute books is anno ( car. ii. c. ), when a duty of d. was laid upon every gallon of coffee made and sold, to be paid by the maker. the statute car. ii. c. . § . an. , directs that all coffee-houses should be licensed at the general quarter sessions of the peace for the county within which they are to be kept. in king charles ii. issued a proclamation to shut up the coffee-houses, but in a few days suspended the proclamation by a second. they were charged with being seminaries of sedition. the first european author who has made any mention of coffee is rauwolfus, who was in the levant in . * * * * * dr. dryasdust. sir,--do you or any of your readers know anything of the family of that celebrated antiquary, and do you think it probable that he was descended from, or connected with, the author of a work which i met with some time ago, intituled "wit revived, or a new and excellent way of divertisement, digested into most ingenious questions and answers. by asdryasdust tossoffacan. london: printed for t. e. and are to be sold by most booksellers. mdclxxiv." mo. i do not know anything of the author's character, but he appears to have been a right-minded man, in so far as he (like yourself) expected to find "wit revived" by its digestion into "most ingenious questions and answers;" though his notion that asking and answering questions was a _new_ way of divertisement, seems to indicate an imperfect knowledge of the nature and history of mankind; but my query is simply genealogical. h. f. w. * * * * * macaulay's "young levite." sir,--the following passage from the _anatomy of melancholy_, published , struck me as a curious corroboration of the passage in mr. macaulay's _history_ which describes the "young levite's" position in society during the seventeenth century; and as chance lately threw in my way the work from which burton took his illustration, i take the liberty of submitting notes of both for your examination. "if he be a trencher chaplain in a gentleman's house (as it befel euphormio), after some seven years' service he may perchance have a living to { } the halves, or some small rectory, with the mother of the maids at length, a poor kinswoman, or a crackt chambermaid, to have and to hold during the time of his life."--burton, _anat. of mel._ part i. sect. . mem. . subsect . burton is here referrng to the _euphormionis lusinini satyricon_, published anno . it professes to be a satire, or rather a furious invective, on the corrupt manners of the times, and is in four parts: the st is dedicated to king james i.; the nd to robert cecil; the rd to charles emmanuel of savoy; the th to louis xiii., king of france. the use that burton makes of the name of euphormio is any thing but happy. he was not a "_trencher chaplain_" but the slave of a rich debauchée, callion, sent in company with another slave, percas, to carry some all-potent nostrum to fibullius, a friend of callion, who was suffering from an attack of stone. euphormio cures fibullius, not by the drug with which he was armed, but by a herb, which he sought for and found on a mountain. fibullius, to reward his benefactor, offers him as a wife a most beautiful girl, whom he introduces to him privately while in his sick room. euphormio looks with no little suspicion on the offer; but, after a few excuses, which are overruled by fibullius, accepts the lady as his betrothed, "seals the bargain with a holy kiss," and walks out of the room (to use his own words) "et sponsus, et quod nesciebam--pater," page . the next mention of this lady [evidently the prototype of the "crackt chambermaid,"] is in page . callion had paid his sick friend fibullius a visit, and, on the eve of his departure, had ordered euphormio to ride post before him, and prepare the inhabitants of the districts through which he was to pass for his arrival. while euphormio is on the horseblock in the act of mounting his steed, a rustic brings him a letter from fibullius, and in conversation gives him such an account of his bride as forces upon him the reflection, that even the grim libitina would be preferable, as a bride, to so confirmed a thais, so fruitful a partner, as the _protegée_ of fibullius would be likely to prove. but, as these _notes_ have, in spite of all my attempts at condensation, already grown to a most formidable size, i will not indulge in any moral reflections; but conclude by _querying_ you, or any of your readers, to inform me whether the personages mentioned in the _euphorm. lus. satyricon_, such as callion, pereas, fibullius, &c., are real characters or not? as, in the former case, i am inclined to think that the work might throw some interesting lights on the private manners and characters of some of the courtiers of the day. "no scandal against any of the maids of honour"--of course. the phrase "_to the halves_" (in the quotation from burton) means, inadequate, insufficient; we still talk of "half and half" measures. montanus inveighs against such "perturbations, that purge _to the halves_, tire nature, and molest the body to no purpose."--burton, _anat. of mel._, part. ii. sect. . mem. . subsect. . melanion. [the work referred to by our correspondent was written by barclay, better known as the author of the _argenis_. the first part of the _satyricon_, dedicated to james the first, was published, london, mo. ; and with the addition of the nd part, paris, . the best edition of the work (which, really in two parts, is made, by the addition of the _apologia euphormionis_, &c. sometimes into five) is said to be the elzevir mo., . there are two editions of it _cum notis variorum_, leyden, and , vo., in two volumes. of some of the editions (as that of , mo.) it is said, "adjecta clavi sive obscurorum et quasi ænigmaticorum nominum, in hoc opere passim occurrentium, dilucida explicatione." the _satyricon_ was twice translated into french; and its literary history, and that of the _censura euphormionis_, and other tracts, which it called forth, might furnish a curious and amusing paper.] * * * * * sermones sancti caroli borromÆi. sir,--i have been wanting to get a sight of the following work, "sermones sancti caroli borromæi, archiepisc. mediol. edidit. j.a. saxius. tom. mediol. ." can i learn through your columns whether the work is any where accessible in london? i sought for it in vain at the british museum a twelvemonth ago; nor, though then placed in their list of _libri desiderati_, has it yet been procured. c. f. secretan. * * * * * luther and erasmus. mr. editor,--the following lines, written in a hand of the early part of the seventeenth century, occur on the fly-leaf of a copy of the { } _translation of luther on the galatians_, edit. london, to. . can any of your readers oblige me by informing me who was their author? "parum lutherus ac erasmus differunt serpens uterque est, plenus atro toxico; sed ille mordet ut cerastes in via, hic fraudulentus mordet in silentio." your obedient servant, roterodamus. * * * * * tower royal--constitution hill--countess of pembroke's letter--tennison's funeral sermon on nell gwynne. sir,--i should be glad to obtain answers to any or all of the following queries:-- . what is the origin of the name tower royal, as applied to a london locality, and when did our kings (if they ever inhabited it) cease to inhabit it? . when was constitution hill first so called, and why? . is there any contemporary copy of the celebrated letter said to have been written by anne pembroke, dorset and montgomery, to sir joseph williamson? it first appeared in _the world_. . does a copy exist in ms., or in print, of the sermon which archbishop tennison preached at the funeral of nell gwynne? peter cunningham. * * * * * grog--bishop barnaby. mr. editor,--i hope you intend to keep a corner for etymologies. query, the origin of the word "grog?"--and why do the people in suffolk call a ladybird "bishop barnaby?" if you can enlighten me upon either of these points, i shall feel encouraged to try again. yours, &c. legour. * * * * * notes from fly-leaves, no. ii. dr. farmer on drayton's works. the following bibliographical memoranda, in the well-known hand of dr. farmer, occur in a copy of the edition of drayton's _poems_ published in , in small folio, by john smethwick, which contains "the barons' wars; england's heroical epistles; idea; odes; the legends of robert duke of normandie, matilda, pierce gaveston, and great cromwell; the owle; and pastorals, containing eglogues, with the man in the moone." they may be of use to some future editor of drayton, an author now undeservedly neglected, whose _nymphidia_ alone might tempt the tasteful publisher of the "aldine poets" to include a selection, at least, of his poems in that beautiful series:-- "the works of michael drayton, esq., were reprinted in folio, . the title-page 'promises all the writings of that _celebrated author_,' but his pastorals (p. . &c., first published imperfectly in to. ) and many other of his most considerable compositions (odes, the owle, &c., see the appendix), are not so much as spoken of. see his article in the _biog. brit._ by mr. oldys, curiously and accurately written. "another edition (which is called the _best_) was printed in vols. vo. . robson, . "a poem triumphant, composed for the society of the goldsmiths of london, by _m. drayton_. to. . _harl. cat._ v. . p. . "charles coffey was the editor of the folio edit. , he had a large subscription for it, but died before the publication; and it was afterward printed for the benefit of his widow. see mottley, p. . "the print of drayton at the back of the title-page, is marked in thane's catalogue, , s. d. "n.b. the copy of the _baron's warres_ in this edition differs in almost every line from that in the vo. edit. . "it was printed under the title of mortimeriados, in line stanzaes. "matilda was first printed , to., by val. simmes. gaveston appears by the pref. to have been publish't before. almost every line in the old to. of matilda differs from the copy in this edit. a stanza celebrating shakespeare's lucrece is omitted in the later edition. "idea. the shepherd's garland. fashion'd in eglogs. rowland's sacrifice to the muses, to. . but they are printed in this edition very different from the present pastorals. "a sonnet of drayton's prefixed to the nd part of _munday's primaleon of greece_, b.l. to. ." [the stanza in _matilda_, celebrating shakespeare's _lucrece_, to which dr. farmer alludes, is thus quoted by mr. collier in his edition of shakespeare (viii. p. .):-- "lucrece, of whom proud rome hath boasted long, lately revived to live another age, and here arrived to tell of tarquin's wrong, her chaste denial, and the tyrant's rage, { } acting her passions on our stately stage: she is remember'd, all forgetting me, yet i as fair and chaste as e'er was she;"-- who remarks upon it as follows:-- "a difficulty here may arise out of the fifth line, as if drayton was referring to a play upon the story of lucrece, and it is very possible that one was then in existence. thomas heywood's tragedy, _the rape of lucrece,_ did not appear in print until , and he could hardly have been old enough to have been the author of such a drama in ; he may, nevertheless, have availed himself of an elder play, and, according to the practice of the time, he may have felt warranted in publishing it as his own. it is likely, however, that drayton's expressions are not to be taken literally; and that his meaning merely was, that the story of lucrece had lately been revived, and brought upon the stage of the world: if this opinion be correct, the stanza we have quoted above contains a clear allusion to shakespeare's _lucrece_; and a question then presents itself, why drayton entirely omitted it in the after-impression of his _matilda_. he was a poet who, as we have shown in the introduction to _julius cæsar_ (vol. viii. p. .), was in the habit of making extensive alterations in his productions, as they were severally reprinted, and the suppression of this stanza may have proceeded from many other causes than repentance of the praise he had bestowed upon a rival."] * * * * * bodenham, or ling's politeuphuia. sir,--the following is an extract from a catalogue of books for sale, issued by mr. asher, of berlin, in :-- "bodenham? (ling?), politeuphuia. wits commonwealth, _original wrapper, vellum_. very rare. " fr. vo. london, for nicholas ling, . "this book, 'being a methodical collection of the most choice and select admonitions and sentences, compendiously drawn from infinite varietie,' is quoted by lowndes under bodenham, as first printed in ; the epistle dedicatory however of the present copy is signed: 'n. ling', and addressed 'to his very good friend maister i.b.,' so that ling appears to have been the author, and this an edition unknown to lowndes or any other bibliographer." this seems to settle one point, perhaps a not very important one, in our literary history; and as such may deserve a place among your "notes." bookworm. * * * * * colley cibber's apology. mr. editor,--no doubt most of your readers are well acquainted with colley cibber's _apology for his life_, &c., first printed, i believe, in , to, with a portrait of himself, painted by vanloo, and engraved by vandergucht. chapters iv. and v. contain the celebrated characters he drew of the principal performers, male and female, in, and just before, his time, viz. betterton, montfort, kynaston, &c. upon these characters i have two questions to put, which i hope some of your contributors may be able to answer. the first is, "were these characters of actors reprinted in the same words, and without additions, in the subsequent impressions of cibber's _apology_ in vo?" secondly, "had they ever appeared in any shape before they were inserted in the copy of cibber's _apology_ now before me, in , to?" to this may be added, if convenient, some account of the work in which these fine criticisms originally appeared, supposing they did not first come out in the _apology_. i am especially interested in the history of the stage about the period when the publication of these characters formed an epoch. i am, mr. editor, yours, dramaticus. * * * * * a maiden assize--white gloves. mr. editor.--i forward for insertion in your new publication the following "note," taken from the _times_ of the th of august, :-- "a fortunate county.--in consequence of there being no prisoners, nor business of any kind to transact at the last assizes for the county of radnor, the high sheriff, mr. henry miles, had to present the judge, mr. justice cresswell, with a pair of white kid gloves, embroidered in gold, and which have been forwarded to his lordship; a similar event has not taken place for a considerable number of years in that county. his lordship remarked that it was the first time it had occurred to him since he had been on the bench." and i beg to append it as a "query," which i shall gladly see answered by any of your correspondents, or my professional brethren,--"what is the origin of this singular custom, and what is the earliest instance of it on record?" a limb of the law. { } * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase jones (edmund) geographical, historical, and religious account of aberystwith. vo. trevecka, . cartari.--la rosa d'oro pontificia, etc. to. rome. . shakspeare's dramatic works.--the _fourth_ volume of whittingham's edition, in vols, mo. chiswick. . m. c. h. broemel, fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _the matter is so generally understood with regard to the management of periodical works, that it is hardly necessary for the editor to say that_ he cannot undertake to return manuscripts; _but on one point he wishes to offer a few words of explanation to his correspondents in general, and particularly to those who do not enable him to communicate with them except in print. they will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly his interest to take all he can get, and make the most, and the best, of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received, and appreciated, even if the succeeding number bears no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgment will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation, when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and if they understood an editor's position they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves undervalued; but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from an opposite course._ * * * * * mythos is thanked for his kind hints, which shall not be lost sight of. we have abundance of notes on the subject, not only of the seven wise masters, but of that other treasury of ancient fictions, the gesta romanorum, which we shall bring forward as opportunity offers. s.y. the edition of chaucer, in five volumes mo, edited by singer, in , was the only modern library edition of the "_works_" until the appearance of sir h. nicolas's edition in the aldine poets. bell's edition, in volumes, and dolby's in , though they may have done much to extend a knowledge of the writings of the father of english poetry, can scarcely be called library editions. a.p. will see the matter he refers to illustrated in an early number. communications received.--j.h.h.--m.--[greek: ph]--t. jones--[greek: s]--buriensis.--g.h.b.--w.b.b. books and odd volumes wanted. we believe that this will prove one of the most useful divisions of our weekly sheet. gentlemen who may be unable to meet with any book or volume, of which they are in want, may upon furnishing name, date, size, &c, have it inserted in this list, _free of cost_. persons having such volumes to dispose of are requested to send reports of price, &c. to mr. bell, our publisher. * * * * * shortly will be published, bibliographie biographique ou dictionnaire de , ouvrages, tant anciens que modernes relatifs, à l'histoire de la vie des hommes célèbres. vol. imp. vo., double columns; about pages. price about l. s. d. a prospectus may be had, and orders are received by williams and norgate, henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * the camden society for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the following works are now ready for delivery to members who have paid their annual subscription of l., due on the first of may last.-- i. inedited letters of queen elizabeth, and king james vi. from the originals in the possession of the rev. edward ryder, of oaksey, wilts., and from a ms. formerly belonging to sir p. thompson. edited by john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. ii. the chronicle of the abbey of peterborough; from a ms. in the library of the society of antiquaries. edited by thomas stapleton, esq., f.s.a. william j. thoms, secretary. applications from members who have not received their copies may be made to messrs. nichols, . parliament street, westminster, from whom prospectuses of the society (the annual subscription to which is l.) may be obtained, and to whose care all communications for the secretary should be addressed. { } * * * * * notes and queries; a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. among the many periodicals which issue from the press, daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, there is not one especially intended to assist men of letters and of research in their pursuits. literary journals there are in abundance, many of them of the highest degree of merit, which in their reviews and announcements show the current sayings and doings of the literary world. there is not, however, one among them in which the reading many may note, for the use of himself and his fellow-labourers in the wide field of literature, the minute facts which he meets with from time to time, and the value of which he so well knows, or insert his _queries_, in the hope of receiving satisfactory answers from some of his literary brethren. notes and queries, a medium of inter-communication for literary men, is, as its name implies, intended to supply this deficiency. those who meet with facts worthy of preservation, may record them in its columns; while those, again, who are pursuing literary inquiries, may, through this medium, ask for information on points which have baffled their own individual researches. how often is even the best informed writer stopped by an inability to solve some doubt or understand some obscure allusion which suddenly starts up before him! how often does a reading man stumble upon some elucidation of a doubtful phrase, or disputed passage;--some illustration of an obsolete custom hitherto unnoticed;--some biographical anecdote or precise date hitherto unrecorded;--some book, or some edition, hitherto unknown or imperfectly described. this publication, as everybody's common-place book, will be a depository for those who find such materials, and a resource for those who are in search of them; and if the editor is enabled by the inter-communication of his literary friends, to realise his expectations, it will form a most useful supplement to works already in existence,--a treasury for enriching future editions of them,--and an important contribution towards a more perfect history than we yet possess of our language, our literature, and those to whom we owe them. notes and queries will be published every saturday, price d., or stamped, d., and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen, and will also be issued in parts at the end of each month. communications for the editor may be addressed to the publisher, mr. george bell, no. . fleet street, by whom also advertisements will be received. * * * * * preparing for publication, in one vol. vo. illustrations of the remains of roman art in cirencester, the site of ancient corinium. by james buckman, f.g.s. and c.h. newmarch, esq. the work will have reference principally to the illustration of the following subjects: . the remains of the architecture of corinium, including detailed drawings and descriptions of the fine tesselated pavements, especially the one recently discovered, as also the beautiful specimen on the estate of the right hon. earl bathurst. . the specimens of roman pottery--vases, urns, &c. . works in metals--statuettes, ornaments, &c. &c. . coins. in order that due justice may be done to the illustration of these remains, it is intended to have them executed in the first style of art, and only a limited number of impressions will be taken. to secure early copies, orders must be addressed at once to messrs. baily and jones, cirencester, or mr. george bell, . fleet street. price to subscribers, s. *** after the close of the subscription list, the price will be raised to s. n.b.--any person possessing roman antiquities from cirencester, will confer a great favour on the authors by communicating intelligence of them to messrs. baily and jones. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * nearly ready. the primeval antiquities of denmark. by j. j. a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen, and a royal commissioner for the preservation of the national monuments of denmark. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. illustrated with numerous woodcuts. while so many publications illustrative of the archaeology of egypt, greece, and rome, have appeared in this country, few attempts have been made to give a systematic view of the early antiquities of the british islands. the work, of which the present volume is a translation, was originally written by mr. worsaae, for the copenhagen society for the promotion of useful knowledge, and intended in the first place, to show how the early history of the country might be read through its monuments, and in the second, to awaken a greater interest for their preservation. it has been translated and applied to the history of similar remains in england, in the hope that it will be found a useful handbook for the use of those who desire to know something of the nature of the numerous primeval monuments scattered over these islands, and the light which their investigation is calculated to throw over the earliest and most obscured periods of our national history. oxford: john henry parker, and . strand. { } * * * * * illustrated works. an introduction to the study of gothic architecture, with numerous illustrations. nearly ready. the primÆval antiquities of denmark. by j. j. a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. with numerous illustrations. vo. s. d. a manual for the study of sepulchral slabs and crosses of the middle ages. by the rev. edward l. cutts, b.a. vo. illustrated by upwards of engravings. s. working drawings of strixton church, northamptonshire--views, elevations, sections, and details of. by edward barr, esq., architect. plates. folio. s d. a small church in the early english style; calculated for persons; to cost about l. a book of ornamental glazing quarries, collected and arranged from ancient examples. by augustus wollaston franks, b.a. with coloured examples. vo. s. "designed as a supplemental volume to mr. winston's book on painted glass, is an admirable collection. the subjects are accurately traced, and the nicety of the tint and leading preserved. the examples are classed, and an ingenious introduction displays the taste and research of the author."--_christian remembrancer_. an inquiry into the difference of style observable in ancient painted glass, with hints on glass painting, illustrated by numerous coloured plates from ancient examples. by an amateur. vols. vo. l. s. an attempt to discriminate the different styles of architecture in england. by the late thomas rickman, f.s.a. with engravings on steel by le keux, &c., and on wood, of the best examples, from original drawings by f. mackenzie, o. jewitt, and p. h. de la motte. fifth edition. vo. s. a glossary of terms used in british heraldry, with a chronological table illustrative of its rise and progress. vo., with engravings. s. memorials of the colleges and halls in the university of oxford, with numerous illustrations on steel and wood. by the rev. james ingram, d.d., president of trinity college. second edition. vols. vo. l. s. * * * * * theological works. a history of the church of england, from the earliest times to the revolution of . by the late rev. j. b. carwithen. a new edition, revised and corrected. vols. small vo. s. of the imitation of christ. four books by thomas a kempis. a new edition revised, handsomely printed in fcp. vo. with vignettes, and red border lines, cloth, s., morocco, s. also kept in antique calf binding, vermilion edges, s. d. lectures on the festivals. by the rev. c. j. abraham, m.a., assistant master of the upper school, eton, vo. price s. d. tracts for the christian seasons, following the course of the christian year. the first series complete in vols. fcp. vo. s. rules for holy living and dying, containing the whole duty of a christian, and the part of devotions fitted to all occasions and furnished for all necessities. by bishop jeremy taylor. complete in vol. mo. cloth, gilt edges, s. the practical christian, or the devout penitent. by richard sherlock, d.d. a new edition, with a memoir of the author, by his pupil bishop wilson. mo., complete in vol. cloth s. the christian scholar. thoughts on the study of the classics, in prose and verse. by the author of "the cathedral." fcp, vo. cloth, s. d.; morocco, s. the cathedral; or, the catholic and apostolic church in england. thoughts in verse on ecclesiastical subjects, selected and arranged so as to correspond with the different parts of a gothic cathedral. sixth edition, mo. with engravings, price s. d. cloth; morocco, s. also in fcp. vo. with engravings, s. d. cloth; morocco, s. d. the baptistery; or, the way of eternal life. by the author of "the cathedral." third edition, vo. cloth, s.; morocco, l. s. also mo. cloth, s. d.; morocco, s. the child's christian year; hymns for every sunday and holyday in the year. fourth edition, mo. cloth, s; morocco, s d. the daily church services. complete in vol. mo. price s. d.; or bound in morocco, s. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november , . produced from images provided by the internet library of early journals. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. no. .] saturday, march . . [price threepence. stamped edition, d. contents. notes:-- page early statistics--chart, kent "bis dat qui citò dat" parallel passages errors corrected direct and indirect etymology error in pope's homer's odyssey proverbial sayings and their origins, &c. queries:-- "the supper of the lorde" what is a chapel, by rev. a. gatty who translated the "turkish spy," by e.f. rimbault, l.l.d. philalethes cestriensis--stephens' sermons minor queries:--smelling of the lamp--gourders of rain--the temple--family of steward, of bristol--paying through the nose--memoirs of an american lady--bernicia--john bull replies:-- letter attributed to sir r. walpole, by lord braybrooke portraits of ulrich of hutten change of names queries answered, no. ., by bolton corney beaver hats replies to minor queries:--anecdote of the civil wars--mousetrap dante--cromwell's estates--genealogy of european sovereigns-- shipster--kentish ballad--bess of hardwick--trophee--emerald-- ancient motto: barnacles--tureen--hudibrastic couplet--dr. hugh todd's mss. miscellanies:-- burnet--translation from vinny bourne--prince madoc--mistake in gibbon--jew's harp--havior, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * early statistics.--chart, kent. perhaps some one of your numerous readers will be good enough to inform me whether any _general statistical returns_, compiled from our early parish registers, have ever been published. an examination of the register of chart next sutton valence, in kent, which disclosed some very curious facts, has led me to make this inquiry. they seem to point to the inevitable conclusion that the disturbed state of england during the period of the great rebellion retarded the increase of population to an extent almost incredible--so as to suggest a doubt whether some special cause might not have operated in the parish in question which was not felt elsewhere. but, as i am quite unable to discover the existence of any such cause, i shall be glad to learn whether a similar result appears generally in other registers of the period above referred to. the register-book of chart commences with the year , and is continued regularly from that time. during the remainder of the sixteenth, and for about the first thirty-five years of the seventeenth century, the baptisms registered increase steadily in number: from that period there is a very marked decrease. for the twenty years commencing with and ending with , the number ; for the twenty years to , the number is ; and for the twenty years to , the number is _only_ . no doubt this diminution must be attributed partly to the spread of nonconformity; but i believe that during the protectorate, the registration of _births_ was substituted for that of _baptisms_, and therefore the state of religious feeling which then prevailed bears less directly on the question. and even after the restoration the register exhibits but a small increase in the number of baptisms. for the various periods of twenty years from that event up to , the numbers range from to . and pursuing the inquiry, i find that the number of marriages, for any given time, varies consistently with that of baptisms. if any of your reader can clear up the difficulty, i shall feel much obliged for any information which may tend to do so. are the following extracts from the register above referred to of sufficient interest to merit your acceptance? " .--richard, the son of george juxon, gent., and sarah, his wife, who was slayne º junii at maydestone fight, was buryed on the third daye of june, anno predicto." "joseph, the son of thomas daye, and an, his wife, who was wounded at maydestone fight º junii, was buryed the eleventh daye of june." it is hardly necessary to mention, that the fight here referred to took place between the parliamentary forces under fairfax, and a large body of kentish gentlemen, who had risen, with their dependants, in the hope of rescuing the king from the hands of the army. after an obstinate engagement, in which the kentish men fully maintained { } their character for gallantry, they were defeated with great slaughter. " .--the third of march, mr. john case of chart next sutton clarke, being chosen by the parishioners of the said chart, to be the register of the said parish according to the act touching marriages, _births_, and buryalls, was this day sworne before me, and i do allow and approve of him to be register accordingly. as witness my hand. richa. beale." " .--marye, the daughter of john smith, esq. was baptized on the thirteenth daye of januarie, , by john case, vicar. the first that hath been baptized at the font since it was re-erected by the appoynm't of the said mr. smith, being full sixteene yeers paste. one thomas scoone, an elder, having, out of his blinde zeale, defaced and pulled it downe, w't other ornaments belonging to the churche." e.r.j.h. chancery lane, th march. * * * * * bis dat qui citÒ dat. inquiry has been often made as to the origin of this proverb. alciatus is referred to generally as the authority whence it was derived. i think, however, it may be traced to publius syrus, who lived about forty-four years before christ. it is equally probable, from the peculiar species of composition in which the thought, if not the exact words are found, that the proverb was derived from another and an earlier source. the object of mimic exhibitions is to impress the mind by imitation. human life is burlesqued, personal defect heightened and ridiculed; character is never represented in degree, but in extremes. the dialogue of satirical comedy assumes naturally the form of the apophthegm--it is epigrammatic and compressed that it may be pungent and striking. hence, no species of writing is more allied to or more likely to pass into household words, and to become proverbs among a people of quick retentive powers, such as the greeks were, to whom we are perhaps indebted for this. i send you the extract from alciatus; _emblemata_, no. . antverpiæ, mo. . apud christophorum plantinum. "tres charites veneri assistunt, dominamque sequuntur: hincque voluptates, atque alimenta parant; lætitiam euphrosyne, speciosum aglaia nitorem; suadela est pithus, blandus et ore lepos. cur nudæ? mentis quoniam candore venustas constat, et eximia simplicitate plucet. an quia nil referunt ingrati, atque arcula inanis est charitum? qui dat munera, nudus eget. addita cur nuper pedibus talaria? _bis dat_ _qui citò dat_--minimi gratia tarda pretî est. implicitis ulnis cur vertitur altera? gratus fenerat: huic remanent una abeunte duæ. jupiter iis genitor, coeli de semine divas omnibus acceptas edidit eurynome." now here we have the proverb clearly enough. i subjoin the note upon the lines in which it appears. "bis dat qui cito dat," in mimis publii. "beneficium inopi bis dat, qui dat celeriter." proverb, bis dat, &c. referring to the sentences of publius syrus, published, with the additional fables of phædrus, from the vatican mss., by angelo mai, i found the line thus given: "inopi beneficium bis dat, qui dat celeriter." the same idea, i believe, occurs in ovid. query whether it is not a thought naturally presenting itself to the mind, reflected by memory, confirmed by experience, and which some mimic author has made proverbial by his terse, gnomic form of expression. s.h. * * * * * parallel passages. i take the liberty of sending you several parallel passages, which may probably appear to you worthy of insertion in your valuable paper. . "there is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." shakspeare: _julius cæsar_. "there is an hour in each man's life appointed to make his happiness, if then he seize it." beaumont and fletcher: _the custom of the country_. "there is a nick in fortune's restless wheel for each man's good--" chapman: _bussy d'ambois_. . "the fann'd snow, that's bolted by the northern blast thrice o'er." shakspeare: _a winter's tale_. "snow in the fall, purely refined by the bleak northern blast." davenport: _the city nightcap_. . "like pearl dropt from the opening eyelids of the morn upon the bashful rose." middleton: _the game at chess_. "together both, ere the high lawns appeared under the opening eyelids of the morn, we drive afield." milton: _lysidas_. . "brief as the lightning in the collied night, that in a spleen enfolds both heaven and earth, and ere a man hath power to say--behold! the jaws of darkness do devour it up." shakspeare: _midsummer night's dream_. "nicht blitzen gleich, die schnell vorüber schiessen, und plötzlich von der nacht verschlungen sind, mein glück wird seyn." schiller: _die braut von messina_. g. greenock. * * * * *{ } errors corrected. _i._--sharon turner's _hist. of england_ (lond. . to.), i. . "the emperor (henry vi.) determined to extort an immoderate ransom; but, to secure it, had him (richard coeur de lion) conveyed to a castle _in the tyrol_, from which escape was hopeless."--_note_ " . in _tiruali_. oxened. ms." ibid. p. : "he (richard) was removed from the dungeon _in the tyrol_ to the emperor's residence at haguenau."--_note_ " . see _richard's letter to his mother_. hoveden, ." the fortress, here represented to be in the _tyrol_, is about miles distant ("as the crow flies") from the nearest point in that district, and is the castle of trifels, which still crowns the highest of three rocky eminences (treyfels = _three rocks_), which rise from the mountain range of the vosges, on the southern side of the town of annweiler. in proceeding from landau to zweibrücken (deux-ponts), the traveller may see it on his left. the keep is still in good preservation; and it was on account of the natural strength of its position that the imperial crown-jewels were formerly preserved in it. i am unable to refer at present to the ms. of oxenedes (cotton, nero, d ), which appears to give the erroneous reading of _tirualli_ for _triualli_ or _trivalli_; but mr. turner might have avoided the mistake by comparing that ms. with the printed text of hoveden, in which richard is represented as dating his letter "de castello de triuellis, in quo detinebamur." _ii._--wright's _s. patrick's purgatory_ (lond. . vo.), p. .: "on the patent rolls in the tower of london, under the year , we have an instance of testimonials given by the king (edward iii.) on the same day, to two distinguished foreigners, one _a noble hungarian_, the other a lombard, nicholas de beccariis, of their having faithfully performed this pilgrimage." in a note on this passage, mr. wright reprints one of the testimonials from rymer (_foedera_, vol. iii. pt. i. p. .), in which is the following passage: "nobilis vir _malatesta ungarus de arminio_ miles." in the original deed, the text must have been _de arimino_ (of rimini); for the person here referred to was a natural son of malatesta de' malatesti, lord of rimini and of pesaro, and took the name of _l'ungaro_ in consequence of his having been knighted by louis, king of hungary, when the latter passed through the malatesta territory, when he was going to naples for the purpose of avenging his brother andrew's death. in the italian account of the family (clementini, _raccolto istorico della fondazione di rimino_. rimino, - . vols. to.), l'ungario is said have been a great traveller, _to have visited england_, and to have died in , at the age of . (see also sansovino, _origine e fatti delle famiglie illustri d'italia_. venetia, . to. p. .) f.c.b. * * * * * direct and indirect etymology. i have just been exceedingly interested in reading a lecture on the _origin and progress of the english language_, delivered at the athenæum, durham, before the teachers' society of the north of england, by w. finley, graduate of the university of france. the following passage well expresses a caution that should be always kept in mind by the literary archæologist: "in the orthography of english words derived from the latin, _one great and leading principle_ must be kept in view. if the word is of new adoption, it is certain that its spelling will be like that which appears in the original word; or if it has come to us through the french, the spelling will be conformable to the word in that language; thus, persecution from _persequor_, pursue from _poursuivre_. again, flourish from _fleurir_, efforescent, florid, &c., from _floreo_. and to establish our orthography on certain grounds, it ought to be the business of the lexicographer to determine the date of the first appearance of an adopted word, and thus satisfactorily determine its spelling." (_lecture_, p. . footnote.) d.v.s. home, march . * * * * * errors in pope's homer's odyssey. in all the editions i have seen of this translation, the following very palpable errors exist, which i do not remember to have seen noticed. the first of these errors is contained in book ix. lines , , , and , "fools that ye are! (the savage thus replies, his inward fury blazing at his _eyes_.)" "sing'd are his _brows_: the scorching _lids_ grow black." "seest thou these _lids_ that now unfold in vain?" and consists in mr. pope having bestowed two organs of sight on the giant polypheme. the second occurs in line of the same book; "brain'd on the rock: his _second_ dire repast;" and is owing to the inadvertency of the translator, who forgets what he had previously written in lines to . "he answer'd with his deed: his bloody hand snatch'd two, unhappy of my martial band; and dash'd like dogs against the stony floor; the pavement swims with brains and mingled gore. torn limb from limb, he spreads his horrid feast, and fierce devours it like a mountain beast." and in lines and ; "the task thus finish'd of his morning hours, two more he snatches, murders, and devours!" { } by which it distinctly appears that line has a reference to the _third_ "dire repast" of the cyclops, instead of the _second_. perhaps you will not deem me presumptuous in offering an amendment of these passages by the following substitutions:-- for lines and , fools that ye are! (the savage made reply, his inward fury blazing at his eye.) for line , sing'd is his brow; the scorching lid grows black. for line , brain'd on a rock: his third most dire repast. and for line , seest thou this lid that now unfolds in vain? david stevens. godalming, feb. . . * * * * * proverbial sayings and their origins--plagiarisms and parallel passages. in a note to boswell's _life of johnson_ (lond. . vo.), iv. ., the following lines are ascribed to their real authors:-- to _joh. baptista mantuanus_ (leipz. . to), eclog. i.:-- "id commune malum, semel insanivimus omnes." to _philippe gaultier_, who flourished in the last half of the th century (lugduni, . to. fol. xlij. recto):-- "incidis in scillam cupiens vitare charybdim." at the conclusion of the same note, the authorship of "solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris," is said to remain undiscovered; but it appears to be a corrected form of a line in albertus ab eyb's _margarita poetica_ (nuremberg, . fol.), where, with all its false quantities, it is ascribed to ovid:-- "solacium est miseris socios habere poenarum." _ovidius epistolarum_. in the same page (fol. . rect.), (sic) "fecundi calices quem non fecere disertum" is transferred from horace to ovid; while, on the reverse of the same fol., Æsop has the credit of "non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro; hoc coeleste bonum præterit orbis opes." of the first line of the couplet, ménage says (_menagiana_, amstm. . mo.), iii. ., that it is "de la fable du 'e livre de ce même poëte à qui nous avons dit qu'appartenoit le vers "'alterius non sit qui suus esse potest;'" but i cannot find the reference to which he alludes. in the same fol. ( rect.) is perhaps the earliest quotation of "gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed sæpè cadende.--_sapiens_," which occurs also in _menagiana_ (amstm. . mo.), i. .:-- "horace fait mention du poëte chérile, de qui l'on n'a que ce vers grec-- "[greek: petran koilainei rhanis odatos endelecheiae.]" "gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed sæpè cadendo." the parallel passages in ovid are in _epist. ex pont._ iv. x. .:-- "gutta cavat lapidem; consumitur annulus usu, et feritur pressâ vomer aduncus humo," and in _art. amat._ l. , .:-- "quid magis est saxo durum? quid mollius unda? dura tamen molli saxa cavantur aquâ." f.c.b. * * * * * queries. a treatise on the lord's supper, by robert crowley. i have before me a somewhat scarce volume of theological tracts (small vo.), ranging between the years and . with the exception of one relating to the sacraments, by john prime (lond. ), the most curious treatise is that entitled "the supper of the lorde, after the true meanyng of the sixte of john, &c.... wherunto is added, an epystle to the reader, and incidentally in the exposition of the supper is confuted the letter of master more against john fryth." to a motto taken from cor. xi. is subjoined the following date, "anno m.ccccc.xxxiii., v. daye of apryll," together with a printer's device (two hands pointing towards each other). this tract was promptly answered by sir thomas more (a.d. , "after he had geuen ouer the offyce of lorde chauncellour of englande"), and is described by him as "the poysoned booke whych a _nameles_ heretike hath named the supper of the lorde" (_works_, pp. , seqq., ed. rastell). from the following passage of the reply, we learn that this offensive publication, like so many others of the same class, has been printed abroad:-- "and in thys wyse is ther sent ouer to be prynted the booke that frythe made last against the blessed sacrament answering to my letter, wherewyth i confuted the pestilent treatice that he hadde made agaynst it before. and the brethen looked for it nowe at thys bartlemewe tide last passed, and yet looke euery day, except it be come all redy, and secretly runne among them. but in the meane whyle, _ther is come ouer a nother booke againste the blessed sacrament_, a booke of that sorte, that frythe's booke the brethren maye nowe forbeare. for more blasphemous and more bedelem rype then thys booke is were that booke harde to be, whyche is yet madde enough, as men say that haue seen it" (p. . g.). more was evidently at a loss to discover the { } author of this work; for, after conjecturing that it might have come from william tyndal, or george jaye (_alias_ joy), or "som yong unlearned fole," he determines "for lacke of hys other name to cal the writer mayster masker," a sobriquet which is preserved throughout his confutation. at the same time, it is clear, from the language of the treatise, that its author, though anonymous, believed himself well known to his opponent: "i would have hereto put mi name, good reader, but i know wel that thou regardest not who writteth, but what is writen; thou estemest the worde of the verite, and not of the authour. and as for m. more, whom the verite most offendeth, and doth but mocke it out when he can not sole it, _he knoweth my name wel inough_" (sub fin). but here rises a grave difficulty, which i have taken the liberty of propounding to the readers of "notes and queries." notwithstanding the above statements, both of the writer and of sir thomas more, as to the _anonymous_ character of the treatise we are considering, the "epistle to the reader" is in my copy subscribed "robert crowley," naturally inducing the belief that the whole emanated from him. perhaps this difficulty may be resolved on the supposition that, while the body of the tract was first published without the "epistle to the reader," and more's reply directed against it under this form, it might soon afterwards have reached a second edition, to which the name of the author was appended. it is certain that more's copy consisted of leaves only (p. , g.), which corresponds with that now before me, excluding the "epistle to the reader." still, it is difficult to conceive that the paragraph in which the author speaks of himself as anonymous should have remained uncancelled in a second edition after he had drawn off what more calls "his visour of dissimulacion." there is, indeed, another supposition which would account for the discrepancy in question, viz. that the epistle and a fresh title-page were prefixed to some copies of the original edition; but the pagination of the tract seems to preclude this conjecture, for b.i. stands upon the third leaf from what must have been the commencement if we subtract the "epistle to the reader." wood does not appear to have perceived either this difficulty, or a second which this treatise is calculated to excite. he places the _supper of the lorde_ at the head of the numerous productions of _robert crowley_, as if its authorship was perfectly ascertained. but crowley must have been a precocious polemic if he wrote a theological treatise, like that answered by more, at least a year previously to his entering the university. the date of his admission at oxford was ; he was elected fellow of magdalene in ; he printed the first edition of _piers plowman_ in ; and was still parson of st. giles's, near cripplegate, in , i.e. fifty-five years after the publication of the tract we are considering. (see _heylin's hist. of the reformation_, ii. ., e.h.s. ed.) were there _two_ writers named _robert crowley?_ or was _the_ crowley a pupil or protégé of some early reformer, who caused his name to be affixed to a treatise for which he is not wholly responsible? i leave these queries for the elucidation of your bibliographical contributors. if i have not already exceeded the limits allowable for such communications, i would also ask your readers to explain the allusion in the following passage from crowley's tract: "and know right well, that the more they steare thys sacramente the broder shal theyr lyes be spreade, the more shall theyr falsehoode appeare, and the more gloriously shall the truthe triumph: as it is to se thys daye by longe contencion in thys same and other like articles, which the papists have so long abused, and howe more his lyes utter the truthe every day more and more. for had he not come begynge for the clergy from purgatory, wyth his 'supplicacion of soules,' and rastal and rochester had they not so wyselye played theyr partes, purgatory paradventure had served them yet another yere; neyther had it so sone haue bene quenched, nor the poor soule and proctoure there ben _wyth his bloudye byshoppe christen catte so farre coniured into his owne utopia with a sachel about his necke to gather for the proud prystes in synagoga papistica_." the rastell here mentioned was doubtless he whom more (_works_, p. .) calls his "brother" (i.e. his sister's husband), joining him with rochester (i.e. bp. fisher), as in this passage, on account of his great zeal in checking the progress of the earlier reformation; but what is the allusion in the phrase "with his bloudye bishoppe christen catte," &c., i am unable to divine. neither in the _supplicacion of soules_, nor in the reply to the "nameles heretike," have i discovered the slightest clue to its meaning. c.h. st. catherine's hall, cambridge. [it would seem from a query from the rev. henry walter, in no. . p. ., on the subject of the name "christen cat," where the forgoing passage is quoted from day's edition of _tyndale's works_, that this tract was by tyndale, and not by crowley.] * * * * * what is a chapel? what is the most approved derivation of the word chapel?--_capella_, from the goat-skin covering of what was at first a movable tabernacle? _capa_, a cape worn by _capellanus_, the chaplain? _capsa_, a chest for sacred relics? _kaba eli_ (heb.), the house of god? or what other and better etymon? is it not invariably the purpose of a chapel to supply the absence or incommodiousness of the parish church? at what period of ecclesiastical history was the { } word chapel first introduced? if there be any truth in the legend that st. martin's hat was carried before the kings of france in their expeditions, and that the pavilion in which it was lodged originated the term, it is probably a very old word, as the saint is stated to have died a.d. . yet the word in not acknowledged by bingham. is chapel a _legal_ description of the houses of religious meeting, which are used by those who dissent from the church of england? was the adoption of the word chapel by dissenters, or their submission to it, indicative of an idea of assistance, rather than of rivalry or opposition, to the church? any answer to these inquiries, which are proposed only for the sake of information, by one whose means of reference and investigation are limited, will be very acceptable. alfred gatty. ecclesfield, march . . * * * * * who translated the "turkish spy?" is it known who really translated that clever work, _letters writ by a turkish spy_? the work was originally written in italian, by john paul marana, a genoese; but the english translation has been attributed to several individuals. among dr. charlett's correspondence, preserved in the bodleian library, is a letter inquiring after a mr. bradshaw. the writer says, "he was servitor or amanuensis to dr. allesbree, and proved very considerable afterwards, being the author of all the volumes of the 'turkish spy' but one; and that was the first, which, you remember, was printed a considerable time before the rest, and not much taken notice of till the second volume came out. the first volume was originally wrote in italian, translated into french, and made english; and all the rest after carried on by this bradshaw, as i am undoubtedly informed: so that i think him well worth inquiring after while in oxford. dr. midgely had only the name and conveyance to the press, beside what books he helped bradshaw to, which, by his poverty, he could not procure himself." in the margin of this letter ballard has added, "sir roger manley, author of the 'turkish spy.'" baker, of st. john's college, cambridge, has written on the cover of the first volume of his copy of _athenæ oxoniensis_ (bequeathed to the public library at cambridge), "'turkish spy,' begun by mr. manley, continued by dr. midgely with the assistance of others." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * philalethes cestriensis--stephens' sermons. i shall feel much obliged if any of your correspondents can inform me what is the real name of the author of the following work: "an impartial enquiry into the true character of that faith, which is required in the gospel, as necessary to salvation; in which it is briefly shewn, upon how righteous terms unbelievers may become true christians, &c., by philalethes cestriensis. 'o. lond. . dedicated to philip earl of chesterfield, lord-lieutenant of ireland." in your th number is an inquiry for a "tract or sermon" by the rev. w. stephens, which elicited a reply in no. . from "mr. denton," who mentions four sermons by that author and inquires whether any other sermons or tracts of his were published, which are not included in the two posthumous volumes? now it has struck me that a volume of sermons in my possession may, from the nature of the subjects, be stephens's, but whether included in the volume alluded to i know not. the volume contains six sermons, each with separate title and separate pagination. a common preface is prefixed, and there has been a common title-page, which unfortunately is missing in my copy. "serm. i. the divinity of christ argued, from his right to worship, on rev. v. , ., preached in , at great torrington, at the visitation of the archdeacon of barnstaple." "ii. the necessity of believing the divinity of the son of god, john iii. ., preached at great torrington on christmas day, ." "iii. the humiliation and exaltation of the son of god considered in the new light, philipp. ii. - ., preached at the primary visitation of stephen [weston] lord bishop of exon, at great torrington, ." "iv. christ, king of the jews both before and after his incarnation, matt. ii. , ., preached on christmas day and first sunday after epiphany, ." "v. the beginning, extent, and duration of christ's mediatorial kingdom, same text, and preached at the same season." "vi. the natural supremacy of god the son; same text, &c." the three last sermons have a title generally applicable, and repeated before each viz., "the supreme dominion of god the son, both natural, oeconomical, and judaical, proved from scripture, in three sermons." the separate titles bear date ; and the publisher was samuel birt, at the bible and ball, ave maria lane. this notice may supply the information of which mr. denton is in quest, and at all events i should be very glad to learn who the author really was. his sermons are, as is said of those of stephens, far above the ordinary run. the period at which they were delivered agrees with the dates of those at page . the author, in the general preface, says, that sermon ii. was not "suffer'd to see the light before it had pass'd through the hands of _dr. waterland_." was not stephens subsequently vicar of st. andrew's, plymouth? balliolensis. * * * * *{ } minor queries. _smelling of the lamp._--can you or one of your learned correspondents, tell me the origin or first user of the literary "smelling of the lamp?" i know that it is commonly attributed to demosthenes? but if it is his, i want chapter and verse for it. _gourders of rain._--will any of your correspondents be kind enough to suggest the etymology of the word "gourders" (= torrents)? it occurs in the following passage of _harding against jewel_ (p. ., antv. ): "let the _gourders_ of raine come downe from you and all other heretikes, let the floudes of worldly rages thrust, let the windes of sathan's temptations blowe their worst, this house shall not be overthrowen." c.h. st. catherine's hall, cambridge. the _temple or_ a _temple_.--i am happy to see that your correspondent, mr. thoms, is about to illustrate some of the obscurities of chaucer. perhaps he or some of your learned contributors may be able to remove a doubt that has arisen in my mind relative to the poet's well-known description of the manciple in his prologue to the _canterbury tales_. you are aware that the occupation of the temple by students of the law in the reign of edward iii. has no other authority than tradition. dugdale, herbert, pearce, and others who have written on the inns of court, adduce this passage from chaucer in support of the assertion; and they all quote the first line thus: "a manciple there was of _the_ temple." in tyrwhitt's edition of _chaucer_, however, and in all other copies i have seen, the reading is "a gentil manciple was ther of _a_ temple." now the difference between "the temple" and "a temple" is not inconsiderable. i should feel obliged, therefore, by any explanation which will account for it. if chaucer was, as he is sometimes pretended to be, a member of the temple, it is somewhat extraordinary that he should have designated it so loosely. the words in the real passage would seem to have a more general signification, and not to be applied to any particular house of legal resort. edward foss. _family of steward or stewart of bristol_.--i have in my possession a drawing, probably of the time of james or charles i., of the following arms. azure a lion rampant or, with a crescent for difference, impaling argent a cross engrailed flory sable between four cornish choughs proper--crest, on a wreath of the colours a saracen's head full-faced, couped at the shoulders proper, wreathed round the temples and tied or and azure. on removing the shield from the paper on which it was pasted, i found a spoiled sketch of the coat of poulett, with the name ambrose moore written over it in a hand of about the reign of charles i.: the object in passing the fresh shield over the spoiled coat appears to have been merely to make use of the mantling. i have also a locket of silver gilt containing a miniature of a gentleman apparently of the time of the commonwealth, finely executed in oils upon copper; on the back are engraved the arms and crest above described without the impalement, the crescent bearing the addition of a label. the only information i have is, that the locket and the drawing belonged to a family of the name of steward or stewart, who were clothworkers at bristol during the commonwealth, and for some generations later; and they are now in the possession of their descendants. the first of whom i have any authentic record is hercules steward, who was admitted to the liberties of the city of bristol in . i cannot find that any family of steward has borne the arms in question; and if any of your readers can throw a light on the matter, i shall feel greatly obliged to them. query. was there a herald painter of the time named ambrose moore? o.c. feb. . . _paying through the nose_.--can any one tell me the origin of the phrase, "paying though the nose," expressing a dear bargain? a.g. _memoirs of an american lady_.--are the _memoirs of an american lady_ out of print? they were written by mrs. grant, of laggan, the authoress of _letters from the mountains_, and of whom some very interesting memoirs have lately been published by her son. nemo. _bernicia_.--can any learned correspondent favour me with the name or title of any english nobleman who held authority in wales, or the borders, in - ? the motive for this query is, that a poem of the time, by trahaearn, a celebrated bard, contains the following passage: "though fierce in his valour like lleon, with a violent irresistible assault, he vaulted into battle, to plunder the king of _bernicia_; yet the ravager of thrice seven dominions was a placid and liberal-handed chief, when he entertained the bards at his magnificent table." it is not supposed that the king here mentioned was any thing more than a powerful nobleman, whose possessions, or castle and lands, were situated in the north of england; in which division of the island the ancient bernicia was placed. as there is no evidence as to the locality or limits of this ancient district, it is hoped that an answer to the above query will afford a satisfactory solution to an uncertainty that has long existed among welsh antiquaries. gomer. { } _john bull_.--might i beg to ask, through your columns, the origin of the name "_john bull_," as applied to englishmen? i have frequently heard the question asked; but i never heard it satisfactorily answered. an antiquary once told me that it was so applied from the number of _johns_ among our countrymen, and the profusion of _bles_ in our language; an explanation which i placed to the credit of my friend's ingenuity. r.f.h. * * * * * replies. letter attributed to sir robert walpole. i feel very confident that i once read the letter attributed to sir r. walpole (no. . p. .) in some magazine, long before i had ever seen _banks' extinct and dormant peerage_. my impression is, also, that i never believed the document to be authentic; and that opinion is confirmed by a reference to the _correspondence of horace walpole_, vol. i. ed. , and to the journals of the day. i find from these authorities, that the first of the memorable divisions which drove sir robert from the helm, took place on the st jan. - , when pulteney's motion for a secret committee was lost by three voices only. we are told that the speeches were very brilliant, and sir r. walpole particularly distinguished himself. he might have been tormented by his enemies, but not by the stone, (the excuse assigned in the letter for his inability to attend the king), for horace left him at one o'clock in the morning, after the debate had terminated, "_at supper all alive and in spirits," and he even boasted that he was younger than his son_. the next struggle was on the th of jan., on the chippenham election, when the minister was defeated by one, and his friends advised him to resign; but it was not till after the rd of feb., when the majority against him upon the renewal of the last question had increased to sixteen, that he intimated his intention to retire. these facts, coupled with the inferences drawn by your correspondent p.c.s.s. as to the suspicious style of the letter, and the imprudence of such a communication, go far to prove that it was a forgery: but the passage in _walpole's reminiscences_, vol. i. p. cviii. ed. , with which i will now conclude my remarks, seems to set the question at rest:-- "sir robert, before he quitted the king, persuaded his majesty to insist, as a preliminary to the change, that mr. pulteney should go into the house of lords, his great credit lying in the other house: and _i remember my father's action when he returned from court, and told me what he had done; 'i have turned the key of the closet upon him,' making that motion with his hand_." braybrooke. audley end, march . . * * * * * portraits of ulrich of hutten. it is pleasant to see that an answer to a query can sometimes do more than satisfy a doubt, by accidentally touching an accordant note which awakens a responsive feeling. i am much pleased that my scanty information was acceptable to "r.g."; and wish it was in my power to give him more certain information respecting the portraits of _hutten_, who is one of my heroes, although i am no "hero-worshipper." the earliest woodcut portrait of him with which i am acquainted, is to be found in the very elegant volume containing the pieces relating to the murder of his cousin john, by ulrich of wirtemberg (the title too long for these pages), which, from the inscription at the end, appears to have been printed in the castle of stakelberg, in . it is a half length, in a hat, under a kind of portico, with two shields at the upper corners: the inscription beneath is in white letters on a black ground. it occurs near the end of the volume; in which is another spirited woodcut, representing the murder. the other two cotemporary portraits occur in the "expostulatio," before noticed. the largest of these, at the end of the volume, is in armour, crowned with laurel, and holding a sword, looking toward the left. this is but indifferently copied, or rather followed, in tobias stimmer's rare and elegant little volume, _imagines viror. liter. illust._, published by reusner and jobinus, argent. , mo. i have never seen a good modern representation of this remarkable man, who devoted the whole energies of his soul to the sacred cause of the truth and freedom, and the liberation of his country and mankind from the trammels of a corrupt and dissolute church; and, be it remembered, that he and reuchlin were precursors of luther in the noble work, which entitles them to at least a share in our gratitude for the unspeakable benefit conferred by this glorious emancipation. ebernburg, the fortress of his friend, the noble and heroic franz von sickingen, hutten called the _bulwark of righteousness_. i had long sought for a representation of sickingen, and at length found a medal represented in the _sylloge numismatum elegantiorum_ of luckius, fol. argent, , bearing the date . hutten's life is full of romantic incident: it was one of toil and pain, for the most part; and he may well have compared his wanderings to those of ulysses, as he seems to have done in the following verses, which accompany the portrait first above mentioned: "desine fortunam miseris inimicaque fata objicere, et casus velle putare deos. jactatur pius Æneas, jactatur ulysses, per mare, per terras, hic bonus, ille pius. crede mihi non sunt meritis sua præmia, casu volvimur, haud malus est, cui mala proveniunt. sis miser, et nulli miserabilis, omnia quisquis a diis pro merito cuique venire putas." { } i should like to see the german verses your correspondent mentions, if he will be good enough to favour me, through your intervention, with an inspection of the volume containing them. s.w.s. march . . * * * * * change of name. "b." inquires (no. . p. .) what is the use of the royal license for the change of a surname? he is referred to mr. markland's paper "on the antiquity and introduction of surnames into england" (_archæologia_, xviii. p. .). mr. markland says,-- "sir joseph jekyll, when master of the rolls, in the year , remarks--'i am satisfied the usage of passing acts of parliament for the taking upon one a surname is but modern; and that any one may take upon him what surname, and as many surnames, as he pleases, without an act of parliament.' the decree in the above case was reversed in the house of lords." mr. markland adds,-- "from the facts and deductions here stated, it would seem that the master of the rolls had good ground for making his decree. the law, as it stands, however, had grown out of the _practice_: and common prudence dictates, that the assumption of a new surname should now be accompanied by such an authority as may establish beyond all question the legality of the act." it must also be remembered, that a testator often directs that a devisee shall procure the royal license or an act of parliament for the change of name, in order to entitle him to the testator's property. if this direction be neglected, could not the party next benefited sue for it on that ground, and with success? s.d.d. _change of name_ (no. . p. .).--the doctrine, that a person may change his surname without any formality whatever, has long been "settled," and is by no means of so recent a date as your correspondent supposes, which will presently appear. in _coke upon littleton_, after some observations as to the change of christian name at confirmation, it is stated-- "and this doth agree with our ancient books, where it is holden that a man may have divers names at divers times, but not divers christian names." (vol. ii. p. . ed. , by j.h. thomas.) reference is made to _acc. com. dig._ , ., "abatement" (e. , .); _bac. abr._ "misnomer," b.; rex _v._ billinghurst, _maul. & s._ .: but these passages throw no additional light upon our immediate subject. sir joseph jekyll, in the case of barlow _v._ bateman, in , said,-- "i am satisfied the usage of passing acts of parliament for the taking upon one a surname is but modern, and that any one may take upon him what surname, and as many surnames, as he pleases, without an act of parliament." ( peere williams, .) the decision of the master of the rolls in this case was afterwards overruled by the house of lords; but on a point not affecting the accuracy of the observations i have quoted. lord eldon, in the case of leigh _v._ leigh, decided in , made the following remarks:-- "an act of parliament, giving a new name, does not take away the former name: a legacy given by that name might be taken. in most of the acts of parliament for this purpose there is a special proviso to prevent the loss of the former name. the king's licence is nothing more than permission to take the name, and does not give it. a name, therefore, taken in that way is by voluntary assumption." ( ves. jun., p. .) this case decided that the assumption of a name by a person, by the king's license, would not entitle him to take under a limitation in a will "unto the first and nearest of my kindred, being male, and of my name and blood." the same rule would no doubt hold as to a change of name by act of parliament. (see pyot _v._ pyot, _ves. sen._ .) these extracts from the highest authorities will sufficiently show of how little use is an act of parliament, or the royal license, for effecting a change of name; indeed, the chief, perhaps i might almost say the only, advantage of these costly forms, except, of course, where they are required by the express terms of a will, is the facility they afford in case it should become necessary to prove that john white was ten years ago john brown. arun. * * * * * queries answered, no. . there is no class of books which it more behoves future compilers of glossaries to consult, than those which treat of geography, navigation, military and naval economy, and the science of warfare both on shore and afloat. as far as the technical terms have been used by poets and dramatists, much valuable illustration may be found in the annotated editions of their works, but much more is required for general purposes, and i could point out some fifty volumes which would enable an industrious student, possessing a competent acquaintance with those subjects in their modern state, to produce a most useful supplement to our existing glossaries. with very small pretensions to the amount of information which [greek: s] ascribes to me, i will at once answer his query on the meaning of _grummett_. grumete is pure spanish. it also occurs as a portuguese word. i shall transcribe the explanations of it as given by the best authorities on those languages:-- "grvmete.--el muchacho que sirue en el nauio, y sube por el mastil, o arbol, y por la antena, y haze todo { } lo demas que le mandan con gran presteza."--sebastian de couarruuias, . "grumete.--el mozo que sirve en el navío para subir á la gavia y otros usos. _tirunculus nauticus_."--la real academia española. "grumete.--grumete he o moço que serve como de criado aos marinheiros, sobindo pellos mastros atè à gavea, etc."--raphael bluteau. we have a statement of the rank and ratings of the officers and men of a ship of war in the _sea grammar_ of captain smith, . to. the word in question, as a _rating_, had then become obsolete. the duties of the seamen are thus described: "the _sailers_ are the ancient men for hoising the sailes, getting the tacks aboord, haling the bowlings, and steering the ship. "the _younkers_ are the young men called fore-mast men, to take in the top-sailes, or top and yard, for furling the sailes, or slinging the yards, bousing or trising, and take their turnes at helme." now, a comparison of the definitions of the spanish and portuguese _gromete_, and the english _younker_, leads me to infer that the latter term had been substituted for _grummett_ or _gromet_, and that the duties of both classes were nearly the same. if the above information should seem less precise than might be expected, i must make my apology in the words which edward jorden addressed to captain smith on the publication of his _sea grammar_: "who can deriue thy words, is more grammarian than camden, clenard, ramus, lilly were: here's language would haue non-plust scaliger!" bolton corney. * * * * * beaver hats. permit me to suggest that, in asking a question, it is often desirable that the querist should state briefly the amount of information he already possesses on the subject. for instance, had mr. "t.h. turner," when inquiring after _beaver hats_ (no. . p. .), stated, that he had met with the mention of them as early as the time of hen. iii., i, of course, should not have troubled you with a notice of them in the reign of elizabeth. indeed, i owe mr. turner an apology; for if i had reflected a moment upon the extensive antiquarian information of the querist, i should certainly have concluded that he must be well acquainted with the authorities i cited, which happened to be at my elbow at the time i read the query. mr. b. corney (no. . p. .) has supplied a beaver hat from chaucer's _canterbury tales_; we meet with another in his _testament of creseide_, v. ., "in a mantill and a beaver hat." we may therefore conclude that they were not unusual in chaucer's time. i now think it very probable that beaver hats were introduced into this country as early as the norman conquest; for we find mention of them in normandy at a still earlier period. in the "chronicle of the abbey of st. wandrille" (edited by acheri, in his _spicilegium_), we find, amongst the gifts of the abbot ansegisus, who died a.d. , "cappas romanas duas, unam videlicet ex rubeo cindato, et fimbriis viridibus in circuitu ornatam; alteram _ex cane pontico_, quero vulgus _bevurum_ nuncupat, similiter fimbriis sui coloris decoratam in orbe." i do not conceive this cap to have been made of the _skin_ of a beaver, for the term would then most probably have been "ex _pelli_ canis pontici." this chronicle contains several curious inventories of the gifts of many of the abbots; in which we may see the splendour of the vessels and vestments used at that period in religious services, as well as the style of reading then prevalent amongst the monks. gastros. cambridge, march . [there is a query which arises out of this subject which none of our correspondents have yet touched upon--what was the original meaning of _beaver_, as applied to a hat or cap? and was it taken from the name of the animal, or did it give the name to it?] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _anecdote of the civil wars_.--in looking through your "notes and queries," to which i heartily wish continued success, i find, in no. . p. , a question which appears to be as yet unanswered. the story to which your questioner alludes as an "anecdote of the civil wars," is a very beautiful one, and deserves authentication. i have a note of it from dr. thomas's additions to dugdale's _warwickshire_, which dates the occurrence as having taken place oct. , , the day previous to the battle of edgehill, and identifies the merry sportsman as richard schuckburgh, of upper shuckburgh; who, however, on his presentation to the king, "immediately went home, aroused his tenants, and the next day attended the army to the field, where he was knighted, and was present at the battle." being out of the reach of books, i am unable further to verify the story; but it is to such unhappy rustics that your publication is most acceptable. c.w.b. [thanks to the kindness of our correspondent "c.w.b.," we have referred to dugdale's _warwickshire_ (ed. thomas, ). vol. i. p. ., and extract from it the following proof that walpole had authority for his story. who knows, after this, but we may in the same way trace from whence he procured the celebrated letter of the countess of pembroke, respecting which there is a query from mr. peter cunningham, in no. . p. . "as king charles the first marched to edgcot, near banbury, on nd oct., , he saw him hunting in the fields not far from shuckborough, with a very good pack of hounds, upon which it is reported, that he fetched a deep sigh and asked who that gentleman was that hunted so merrily that morning, when he was going to fight for his crown and dignity. and being told { } that it was this richard shuckburgh, he was ordered to be called to him, and was by him very graciously received. upon which he went immediately home, armed all his tenants, and the next day attended on him in the field, where he was knighted, and was present at the battle of edghill."] _mousetrap dante_ (no. . pp. , .).--i beg to refer your correspondent to the visconte colomb de batines' _bibliographia dantesea_ (prato, - . vo.), tom. ii. pp. , ., where he will find a list (correct so far as it goes) of the fifteen mss. of the _comedia_, purchased for the bodleian library about the year , from the abbate matteo canonici, of venice. i have reason for believing, that the only mss. which exist in that collection, in addition to those enumerated in the list, are: . canon ital. . "compendium cujusdam commentarii" ( to paper); and . "codices canonici miscellanei ." fol., _vellum_ (it cannot therefore be this), which contains the complete commentary of jacopo dalla lana. f.c.b. _cromwell's estates_ (no. . p. .).--the seignory of gower is the peninsula which runs out between the bays of swansea and carmarthen; and which terminates at swansea on the s.e. side, and at longhor on the n.w., and comprises the district which, in common with a part of scotland, anciently bore the name of rheged. it is a locality rich in all that can attract the antiquary and the naturalist. mr. dillwyn's _contributions towards a history of swansea_ contains the following references to the gower property of cromwell:--"we are informed by the minute-book of the common hall" (at swansea), "that on may , , there came to this towne the truly honourable oliver cromwell, esq.... lord of this towne, the seignory of gower, and manor of killay, with the members thereof," &c. "on may . , parliament settled the estates of the marquis of worcester, in gloucestershire and monmouthshire, on cromwell; and, by a subsequent order, the estate in glamorganshire was added to this grant. the conveyance from parliament to cromwell is made, not only in the name of his majesty, but has a portrait of charles the first at its head." seleucus. _genealogy of european sovereigns_ (no. . p. .)--the best and most comprehensive work on this subject bears the following title:--_johann hübner's genealogische tabellen_, vols. folio, oblong, leipzig, et seq. (of the rd vol. a new and much improved edition, by g.f. krebel, appeared in .) supplement: _tafeln zu j. hübner's genealogischen tabellen_, by sophia queen of denmark, parts, folio, oblong, copenhagen, - . a. asher. berlin. _shipster_ (no. . p. .).--are not _baxter_ and _tupster_ the feminines of _baker_ and _tapper_?--and may not _shipster_ signify a _female ship-owner_? f.c.b. _kentish ballad_ (no. . p. .).--the song beginning "when harold was invaded" has long been a favourite in this county. it is entitled "the man of kent," and was composed by tom durfey, in the time of charles the second. it may be found, with the music, in chappell's _collection of english airs_. he cites it as being in _pills to purge melancholy, with music_, , and states that in the _essex champion, or famous history of sir billy of billericay and his squire ricardo_, , the song of "the man of kent" is mentioned. i have none of these works at hand for immediate reference, but the above note contains all that i have been able to collect on the subject of our popular ballad. there is another song, much to the same purport, beginning-- "when as the duke of normandy, with glistening spear and shield," in evans's _songs_, vol. ii. p. , printed by him from _the garland of delight_, by delone, in the pepys collection at cambridge--a black-letter volume; and probably the song was by himself. your correspondent "f.b." asks for the remainder of the song. in pity to yourself and your readers, i forbear sending you the countless stanzas--numerous enough in the _original_ song, but now, by the additions of successive generations, swelled to a volume. he will find in chappell's collection all that is worth having, with the assurance, repeated oft enough for the most enthusiastic of our _modest_ countrymen, that "in britain's race if one surpass, a man of kent is he." lambert larking. ryarsh vicarage. _bess of hardwick_ (no. . p. .).--the armorial bearings of john hardwick, of hardwick, co. derby, father of bess, were: argent, a saltier engrailed, and on a chief blue three roses of the field. m. comes. oxford, march . . _trophee_ (no. . p. .).--"trophe," in the prologue of lydgate's translation of boccaccio's _fall of princes_, is a misprint: _corrige_-- "in youth he made a translation of a boke, which called is troyle, in lumbardes tonge, as men may rede and se, and in our vulgar, long or that he deyde, gave it the name of troylous and cres-eyde." the book called _troyle_ is boccaccio's _troilo_, or _filostrato_. m.c. oxford, march . . { } _emerald_ (no. . p. .).--before we puzzle ourselves with the meaning of a thing, it is well to consider whether the authority _may_ not be very loose and inaccurate. this _emerald cross_, even if it was made of emeralds, might have been in several pieces. but we are told generally, in phillips's _mineralogy_, that "the large emeralds spoken of by various writers, such as that in the abbey of richenau, of the weight of lbs., and which formerly belonged to charlemagne, are believed to be either green fluor, or prase. the most magnificent specimen of genuine emeralds was presented to the church of loretto by one of the spanish kings. it consists of a mass of white quartz, thickly implanted with emeralds, more than an inch in diameter." the note to the above exemplifies what i have just said. it is called _emerald_, he says, because it is _green_, from the greek. i might make a query of this; but it is clearly a mistake of some half-learned or ill-understood informant. the name has nothing to do with green. _emerald_, in italian _smeraldo_, is, i dare say, from the greek _smaragdus_. it is derived, according to the oxford _lexicon_, from [greek: mairo], to shine, whence [greek: marmarugae]. in looking for this, i find another greek word, _smirix_, which is the origin of _emery_, having the same meaning. it is derived from [greek: smao], to rub, or make bright. i cannot help suspecting that the two radical verbs are connected. c.b. _ancient motto--barnacles_.--in reference to your querist in no. ., respecting the motto which "some pope or emperor caused to be engraven in the centre of his table," and the correspondent in no. . who replies to him by a quotation from horace, i beg to observe that honest thomas fuller, in _the holy state_, . ed. lond. , tells us, that st. augustine "had this distich written on his table:-- "quisquis amat dictis absentem rodere famam, hanc mensam indignam noverit esse sibi. * * * * * he that doth love on absent friends to jeere, may hence depart, no room is for him here." with respect to the barnacle fowl, it may be an addendum, not uninteresting to your correspondent "w.b. maccabe," to add to his extract from giraldus another from hector boece, _history of scotland_, "imprentit be thomas davidson, prenter to the kyngis nobyll grace [james vi.]." he observes, that the opinion of some, that the "claik geis growis on treis be the nebbis, is vane," and says he "maid na lytyll lauboure and deligence to serche the treuthe and virite yairof," having "salit throw the seis quhare thir clakis ar bred," and assures us, that although they were produced in "mony syndry wayis, thay ar bred ay allanerly be nature of the seis." these fowls, he continues, are formed from worms which are found in wood that has been long immersed in salt water, and he avers that their transformation was "notably provyn in the zier of god besyde the castell of petslego, in the sycht of mony pepyll," by a tree which was cast ashore, in which the creatures were seen, partly formed, and some with head, feet, and wings; "bot thay had na faderis." some years afterwards, a tree was thrown on the beach near dundee, with the same appearances, and a ship broken up at leith exhibited the same marvel; but he clinches the argument by a "notable example schawin afore our eyne. maister alexander galloway person, of kynkèll, was with us in thir illis (the hebridæ), and be adventure liftet up ane see tangle, hyng and full of mussil schellis," one of which he opened, "bot than he was mair astonist than afore, for he saw na fische in it bot ane perfit schapin foule. this clerk, knawin us richt desirous of sic uncouth thingis, came haistely, and opinit it iwith all circumstance afore rehersit." so far the venerable "chanon of aberdene." the west highlanders still believe in the barnacle origin of this species of fowl. james logan _tureen_ (no. . p. .; no. . p. .).--i have seen old-fashioned silver tureens which turned on a pivot attached to the handles, and always concluded that it was to this form that goldsmith alluded in the line quoted by "g.w." seleucus. _hudibrastic couplet_ (no. . p. .).--these lines do _not_ occur in the reprint of the _musarum deliciæ_ (lond. , vo. vols.). lowndes (_bibliogr. manual_) states that they are to be found in the nd ed. of the work (london, . mo.). f.c.b. _topography of foreign printing presses_ (no. . p. .)--about twelve years ago, valpy published a vol. of supplements to _lemprière's dictionary_, by e.h. barker. one of these contained a complete list of all the foreign towns in which books had been printed, with the latin names given to them in alphabetical order. w. and n. your correspondent "p.h.f." will find in _cotton's typographical gazetteer_ ( vo. clarendon press, ), every information he will ordinarily require. j.m.s. islington, march . _dr. hugh todd's mss._ (no. . p. .).--the only ms. in the library of university college, oxford, is that mentioned by "f.m."; and it is described in the catalogue, compiled by the rev. h.o. coxe, of the mss. belonging to the college, p. . no. clxx. there is a note stating it was "ex dono hugonis todd, socii, a.d. ." c.i.r. * * * * *{ } miscellanies. _burnet_.--in addition to the opinions expressed in favour of or opposed to burnet's "history," (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .), i may also refer to dr. king's _anecdotes_; he says, "i knew burnet; he was a furious party-man, and easily imposed on by any lying spirit of his own faction; but he was a better pastor than any man who is now seated on the bishop's bench." dryden's chastisement of burnet--"the noble buzzard"--in his _hind and panther_ must be familiar to your readers. it was given as "adequate retaliation" for the bishop's censure of the immorality of dryden's plays. applied to burnet's _sketches of characters_, dryden says: "his praise of foes is venomously nice, so touch'd, it turns a virtue to a vice." scott's note on this passage well merits perusal. j.h.m. bath. * * * * * perveniri ad summum nisi ex principiis non potest. (_from the latin of vincent bourne_.) newton, the light of each succeeding age, first learned his letters from a female sage. but thus far taught--the alphabet once learn'd-- to loftier use those elements he turn'd. forced th' unconscious signs, by process rare, known quantities with unknown to compare; and, by their aid, profound deductions drew from depths of truth his teacher never knew. yet the true authoress of all was she!-- newton's principia were his _a_, _b_, _c_. rufus. * * * * * _prince madoc_ (no. . p. .; no. . p. .).--in the darkness superinduced by the absence of historical evidence on the welsh settlement in america, i beg leave to offer a few remarks on some ethnological subjects involved in this question. in reference to the specimen of a welsh-indian vocabulary in catlin's _n.a. indians_, which "gomer" opposes to prof. elton's proposition on this subject (no. . p. .), were the instances of similarity to exhibit the influence of opinion, of government, or of commerce, on the language of the tribe, the origin of such words would be as indisputable as that of those introduced by the english into the various countries of the east where they have factories; e.g. governor, council, company. but these and numerous other traces of the celtic language which have been found in florida and darien are not indicative of such impressions; most of them, from their universality, bespeak themselves to be primitive; and who can assure us that some may not have reached them before the twelfth century, through "walsh or strangers," "a race mightier than they and wiser," by whom they may have been instructed in the arts which have excited so much astonishment? the glass beads, erroneously called druid's beads, furnish catlin with another proof of affiliation, which, however, is invalidated by the well-ascertained facts of glass-manufactories having, in remotest antiquity, existed in egypt, and of glass beads having been dispersed by the phoenicians among the nations which they visited. (see tassie's _gems_, introd.--here, by the by, are mentioned celebrated emeralds, which have turned out to be only lumps of green glass!) lhuyd relates that the cross was honoured in n. america before the arrival of the spaniards, and sir r. manley (_turk. spy_, vol. viii.) states that they found crucifixes also. unfortunately for this hypothesis, it has been shown, by g. becanus (_hierogl._, see index), olaus wormius (_de danicis monumentis_, see index), m. ficinus (_de vita coelitus propaganda_, l. iii. c. .), and kircherus (_prodromus coptus_, p. .), that in various countries the cross was, before the christian era, an object of veneration, and symbolled the genius of their religion. in the event of crucifixes having been found (for which, however, sir r. manley supplies no authority) we need not be surprised that the christian topography was so far extended, since the christianity of china, between the seventh and the thirteenth century, has been invincibly proved; and simultaneously, perhaps, the aborigines of america received the symbol, [greek: eros mou hestaurotai], which is peculiar to the christian religion. in conclusion, permit me to cite southey _versus_ catlin:--"that country," says the author of _madoc_ "has now been fully explored; and wherever madoc may have settled, it is now certain that no welsh indians are to be found upon any branches of the missouri" (preface, note written in ). since i wrote the above, i have met with a work, by mr. george jones, entitled _the history of ancient america anterior to the time of columbus_, vol. i.: "the tyrian Æra." in the second, not yet published, he promises to give "the introduction of christianity into the western hemisphere by the apostle st. thomas." t.i. _mistake in gibbon_.--those of your readers, who are, like myself, occasional verifiers of references, will perhaps thank me for pointing out a false reference, that i have just discovered in one of gibbon's notes: "capitolinus gives us the particulars of these tumultuary votes, which were moved by one senator, and repeated, or rather chanted, by the whole body."--_hist. august._ p. . see gibbon's _decline and fall_, chap. , note { } under marginal lemma, "the memory of commodus declared infamous." these "tumultuary votes" are recorded, _not_ by capitolinus, but by Ælius lampridius, in his _life of commodus_. vide _historiæ augustæ scriptores. Ælii lampridii commodus antoninus_, capita , . capitolinus wrote the life of his _immediate_ successor, pertinax; hence perhaps the mistake, "egregio in corpore nævus!" let those who wish to know what passion really is, read the tiger-like yells of the roman senate in _lampridius_! c. forbes. temple, feb. . _jew's harp_.--the late mr. douce always maintained that the proper name of this instrument was the _jaw's harp_, and that the jews had no special concern with either its invention or its use. j.h.m. _havior_.--the word "havior" is probably of a hybrid character; partly of anglo-saxo, and partly of british origin. if so, the first syllable is obvious enough, "half" being generally pronounced as if the liquid were considered an evanescent quantity, "ha'f, heif, hav'," &c., and "iwrch" is the british word for a roe-buck. dropping the guttural termination, therefore, and writing "ior" instead of "iwrch," we have the significant designation of the animal described by lord braybrooke, whose flesh, like that of the capon, may afford a convenient variety among the delicacies of the season, if well cooked according to the recondite mysteries of the gastronomic art. hypomagirus. trinity college, oxford, feb . n.b. "heifer" has already been explained as "heif-ker, half-cre," a.-s., "anner," br. _haviour, haver, hyfr_ (no. . p. , and no. . p. .).--if i may throw out a question where i cannot give an explanation, i would ask, are we not approaching very near to the word "heifer" (from the saxon) in these, but especially in the last of the above terms? they seem to me to be identical. the introduction of the sound of _y_ between the sounds of _v_ and _ur_, is not uncommon in the vernacular or corrupted pronunciation of many words; nay, it is sanctioned by general usage, in "behaviour" from "behave," "saviour" from "save," &c. if the words are identical, still the history of the appropriation of the one to male animals of the class described, and of the other to females, must be curious and worth investigating. may not the _aver_ and _averium_, like _irreplegibilia_ and other barbarous law terms, be framed (rather than derived) from one of our english terms, as well as from the french _avoir_? g.w. _america known to the ancients_.--i have a note of the following references, as illustrating the passage quoted by "c." (no. . p. .), and countenancing the idea that the existence of america was at least suspected by the ancients. as i have not had an opportunity of consulting the authorities myself, i cannot tell how far they may affect the point in question; and i fear the references are not as accurate as might be wished, but i shall be truly glad if they prove at all useful:--diodorus siculus, _bibl._ lib. iv. pp. , edit. rhodoman; apuleius, _de mund. oper._ vol. ii. p. .; _avitus in senec. suasor._; horn, _de origin. americ._ lib. i. c. . p. . g. william skyring. _error in meyrick's ancient armour_ (no. . p. .).--in the second edition of meyrick's _armour_, the error pointed out by mr. hudson turner has not been corrected. the passage is, "item a gamboised coat with a rough surface of gold embroidered on the nap of the cloth;" and with the note, "like a thicket." f.c.b. _nomade_.--the last indian mails brought me the following derivation of the word _nomade_, in a letter from a friend, who was, when he wrote, leading a nomade life among the ryots of guzerat:-- "camp, kulpore, jan. . . "the natives use [for their tents] a sort of woollen stuff, about half an inch thick, called 'numbda.' * * * * * * by the bye, this word 'numbda' is said to be the origin of the word _nomade_, because the nomade tribes used the same material for their tents. when i was at school, i used to learn _nomde_, from [greek: nemo]." melanion. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. a view of the exhibition of the works of ancient and mediæval art has convinced us that fame had done no more than justice to its merits and interest. we dare not attempt to enumerate one tithe of the gems in glass, enamel, metalwork, carving in wood and ivory, porcelain, &c., now gathered together in the adelphi to justify the enthusiasm of the antiquary, and to show, in the words of marlowe, "oh! what a world of profit and delight, of power, of honour, of omnipotence, is promis'd to the studious artizan?" and how small, after all, is our boasted advance. we must therefore be content with recommending our readers to visit, again and again, this matchless collection. mr. hailstone, the originator of the exhibition, must be highly gratified at the manner in which, thanks to the liberality of the owners, and the zeal and good taste of the committee, his idea has been carried out. if, too, at this time, when there is so much unemployed labour among us, this exhibition should have the { } effect of creating a demand for articles which can be produced by the hand and mind of a skilful workman only, and not by machinery, however costly and elaborate, an enormous benefit, beyond that originally contemplated, must result from the exhibition--namely, that of supplying fresh fields for the labour and ingenuity of our workmen. it is with great satisfaction that we are enabled to announce that there is at length a prospect of our seeing the monument which nicholas brigham erected, in poet's corner, to the memory of geoffrey chaucer properly restored. arrangements are making for collecting subscriptions for that purpose, to be limited to five shillings each, that more may have the pleasure of assisting in the good work. we hope to give further particulars of this right and necessary step in the course of a week or two. we have received john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue of old and new books, no. ., being no. . for ;--from thomas cole ( . great turnstile, holborn) his catalogue of cheap books, no. .; and from john russell smith, ( . old compton street, soho) part . for of his catalogue of choice, useful, and curious books. we have also received from messrs. puttick and simpson, of . piccadilly, a catalogue of a six-days' sale of miscellaneous books, chiefly theological and classical, but comprising also much general literature, which commences this day (saturday). * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) caussinus, nicolas, de symbolica Ægyptiorum sapentia. caussinus, polyhistor symbolicus. _odd volume and plate_. hutchins' dorset, nd edition, , vol. ii. horsley's britannia romana, the map which faces page . ***letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," fleet street. * * * * * notice to correspondents. diss.--the sanction of the authorities was first duly obtained in the matter to which our correspondent refers. a.g.'s hint will not be lost sight of. the present number will, we trust, furnish a satisfactory reply to our correspondent at godalming. _notes and queries_ may be procured of any bookseller or newsman if previously ordered. gentlemen residing in the country, who may find a difficulty in procuring it through any bookseller in the neighbourhood, may be supplied regularly with the _stamped_ edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher, mr. george bell, . fleet street, accompanied by a post office order, for a quarter ( s. d.); a half year ( s. d.); or one year ( s. d.) notes and queries may also be procured in monthly parts at the end of each month, part i. price s., part ii., price s. d., have been reprinted, and may now be had, together with parts iii, price s., and part iv., price s. part v., price s., will be ready next week. * * * * * post vo. cloth, s. d. the history of junius and his works, and a review of the controversy respecting junius, with an appendix, containing portraits and sketches, by junius, selected from the letters. by john jaques. "this is a very able book; well arranged in its plan, and complete in its matter. to those who are interested in the controversy, or even to any readers of junius who wish for further information than the common editions furnish, we strongly recommend this volume. they will find it full, without being overcharged; and it possesses an advantage even over woodfall's edition, in only containing what is essential to the point, besides exhibiting much which does not appear in that elaborate publication. the 'history of junius and his works' is an essential companion to the 'letters of junius.'"--_spectator_, march , . london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * in one volume, square crown vo. price s. cloth. southey's commonplace-book. edited by mr. southey's son-in-law, the rev. john wood warter, b.d. second series, being special collections, and forming a volume complete in itself. "this volume [special collections] is a monument of industry such as few could pile, and affords striking evidence of the indomitable perseverance and varied learning of southey.... the oftener we dip into these massive pages, the profounder grows our surprise that such a mass of information could have been thrown together by one man.... it is just the book to dive into for the spare half hour, assured of finding amusement and information in every page.... the index is so ample and well arranged, that any particular paragraph may be turned to without difficulty. altogether it is a massive and elegant volume, got up without regard to expense, and as well adapted for the shelves of the mechanic's library, as for the study-table of the literary man."--_eclectic review_. also a new edition, in one volume, price s. southey's commonplace-book, first series; containing choice passages, with "collections for the history of english manners and literature," and forming a volume complete in itself. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * in the press and will be published immediately, in vol. vo. illustrated with a map of the town in , and engravings by basire, le keux, hunter, and childs, from drawings by the late richard stileman, esq., buck, blore, hooper, s. prout, t. ross, stephens, and a.d. gough, and woodcuts of arms and seals. price, to subscribers, s. a history of the town of winchelsea. (ancient and modern,) in the county of sussex, by william durrant cooper, f.s.a. subscribers' names will be received by the publishers, john russell smith, . old compton street, soho, london; and henry osborne, . george street, hastings. * * * * * early antiquities of england illustrated. the primÆval antiquities of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaae, m.r.s.a., of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. illustrated with numerous woodcuts. vo. s. d. "this is the best antiquarian handbook we have ever met with--so clear is its arrangement, and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well-executed engravings, that confusion for the future is impossible upon a variety of points on which the most grievous mistakes have hitherto been made by anxious and zealous antiquarians. * * * it is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquarians. it is a book of which it may be said, that in every sentence is to be found an interesting fact, and that every page teems with instructions, and may be regarded as a sure guide to all antiquarians in their future archæological inquiries."--_morning herald_. see also _gentleman's magazine_ for february, . john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london. * * * * *{ } english historical portraits. this series of portraits, illustrative of english history, is engraved from highly-finished drawings of original pictures, existing in various galleries and family collections throughout the country, made with scrupulous accuracy by mr. g.p. harding; the greater portion never having been previously engraved. m.m. holloway, having purchased the whole of the impressions and plates, now offers the sets in a folio volume, bound in cloth, and including biographical letter-press to each subject, at the greatly reduced price of £ s. d., and £ s. d. for proofs before letters, of which but copies remain. the collection consists of the following portraits: king henry viii. and the emperor charles v., from the original, formerly in the strawberry hill gallery. queen katharine of arragon, from a miniature by holbein, in the possession of the duke of buccleugh. sir anthony browne, k.g., from the original in the possession of thomas baylis, esq., f.s.a. anthony browne, viscount montague, k.g., from the collection of the marquess of exeter. edward vere, earl of oxford, from the original picture in the collection of the duke of portland. sir william russell, baron thornhaugh, lord deputy of ireland, from the original picture in the collection of the duke of bedford. william camden, clarenceux king of arms, from the picture in the possession of the earl of clarendon. sir anthony shirley, ambassador from the court of persia to james i., from the original miniature by peter oliver. henry carey, lord falkland, lord deputy of ireland, from the original by vansomer, formerly in the strawberry hill collection. sir robert dudley, son of the earl of leicester, from an original miniature by n. hilliard, in the possession of lord de l'isle and dudley. the right hon. william lenthall, speaker of the house of commons, from a miniature by j. cooper, in the possession of r.s. holford, esq. margaret cavendish, duchess of newcastle, from the original picture in the collection of f. vernon wentworth, esq. sir thomas browne, m.d., of norwich, from an original picture in the college of physicians, london. sir charles scarborough, m.d., physician to charles ii., james ii., and william iii., from the original picture in the barber-surgeons' hall. flora macdonald, from the original by a. ramsay, , in the picture gallery, oxford. m.m. holloway, . bedford street, covent garden. * * * * * chronological chart of british architecture, with the genealogy and armorial bearings of the sovereigns of england, and parallel tables of the most important events in british and general history; with an explanatory volume. by archibald barrington. price, four sheets, in wrapper, s. in french case, or on roller, s. roller, varnished, s. volume of plain hints, s. in addition. "a most splendid and elaborate chart or scheme, illustrated with numerous coloured engravings, presenting a synoptical view of the subjects in the title. a glance or two at such a plan will sometimes give a truer, a larger, and certainly a more vivid idea of the subject, than many pages of reading."--_british critic_. pocket chart of british architecture chronologically arranged, neatly printed in red and black, and containing seventy-five figures, with a descriptive manual. by archibald barrington. price, on sheet, with manual, s. in cloth, with manual, s. pocket chart of foreign architecture. printed uniformly with the above, in red and black, with a descriptive manual. by archibald barrington. price, on sheet, with manual, s. in cloth case, with manual, s. display of heraldry, presenting at one view an epitome of the science, with descriptive letter-press. by archibald barrington. price, on sheet, partly coloured, s. in case, or on roller, ditto, s. d. on roller, varnished, s. d. fully coloured, s. d. extra. tabular display of british architecture, with a manual for beginners, by which the dates of our cathedral and other churches may be easily known. by archibald barrington. price, with the manual, on sheet, s. in case, s. on roller, s. d. on roller, varnished, s. d. the manual, by itself, s. "by the aid of this little pamphlet, and the 'tabular display' which it accompanies, any person previously unacquainted with architecture may learn to discriminate the various styles and dates of gothic structures. the examples are sufficiently numerous and characteristic to embrace the peculiarities of each style, and the text referring to them supplies the requisite verbal information."--_spectator_. the genealogy and armorial bearings of the sovereigns of england, with an explanatory volume, entitled, "genealogy simplified, and applied to the illustration of british history." by archibald barrington. price of the sheet, coloured, s. in case, or on roller, s. varnished, s. the explanatory volume of genealogy simplified, s. in addition. "a very clear explanation of the origin and meaning of the various heraldic devices of british monarchs, and exhibiting the lineal descent of queen victoria from the saxon egbert. the chart is set forth in bold characters, and not encumbered with superfluous details. the source of each line of monarchs and the events that led to the interruption of the succession are explained with such simplicity as to be perfectly intelligible to the youngest readers."--_spectator_. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . produced from images provided by the internet library of early journals. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. ] saturday, february , . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- page wages in th and th centuries, by rev. l.b. larking .. marlowe and the old taming of a shrew, by s. hickson .... notes from fly-leaves, no. ., by rev. j. jebb .......... shakspeare's use of monosyllables, by c. forbes ......... notes on cunningham's london, by e.f. rimbault .......... queries:-- folk lore (metrical charms), by william j. thoms ........ allusions in the homilies ............................... minor queries:--pope's translations of horace-- havior--arabic numerals--eaton's edward iii.-- dog latin--cuckoo, welsh ambassador--a recent novel--authorship of a couplet--seal of killigrew ..... replies:-- selago and samolus ...................................... Ælfric's colloquy, by b. thorpe ......................... portraits of luther and erasmus ......................... replies to minor queries:--praise undeserved--french maxim--singular motto--discurs, modest.--pallace --litany version of the psalms--tempora mutantur, &c.--pandoxare--st. thomas of lancaster--fall of rain in england--judas bell--boduc on british coins--lord bacon's version of the psalms--a "gib" cat--lay of the phoenix, &c. .................... miscellanies:-- execution of duke of monmouth--by hook or by crook --cupid crying--miry-land town .......................... miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. .................. books and odd volumes wanted ............................ notices to correspondents ............................... advertisements .......................................... * * * * * wages in th and th centuries. running my eye accidentally through the household book of sir roger twysden, from to , it occurred to me to make a comparison between the relative prices of meat and wages, as there given, in order to ascertain the position of our peasantry in these parts, at the close of the th century. i send you a few extracts, by which it will be seen that, in kent, at least, our agricultural labourers appear to have been in far better condition than those of the rest of england, who, in mr. macaulay's brilliant work, are represented as living "almost entirely on rye, barley, and oats," owing to the exorbitantly high price of meat, as compared with the ordinary scale of wages. as to meat, i find the following entries:-- " . beef s. and s. d. per stone. a loin of mutton s. d. . beef s. per stone. a shin of beef s. d. a loin of veal s. d. a calve's head s. d. a quarter of mutton s. d. and s. a side of mutton s. . quarters of mutton s. quarter of do. s. stone of beef s. d. . stone of beef s. d. a fat weather s. d. fat weathers l. . stone of beef and lb. of suet s. stone of beef l. stone of beef l. s. a chine and a quarter of veal s. . a chine and a quarter of mutton s. a quarter of lamb s. d." through this period we have:-- "cheese per load, _i.e._ lb., at s., s., s., d., s. d." the wages of labourers through the same period are entered:-- "sawyer s. d. per hundred. a farm carpenter s. d. per day. or, 'i finding him,' s. per day. common labourers, generally s. per \ day; sometimes, but less frequently, > in , s. d. per day / threshing wheat, d. per quarter in , s. mowing, from s. to s. d. per acre in , s. d. mowing oats, s. d. per acre in , s. d. mowing clover, s. d. per acre in , s. d. hayers, s. and s. d. per week in , s. reaping, s. per acre in , s. to s. sheep shearing, s. per score in , s. d. hedging - / d. per rod in , d. hoeing, d. per acre in , s. women d. per day in , s., and s. d. boys, d. per day in , d. and d. making faggots, d. and d. per hundred; in , s." a reference to the household-books of the derings, in east kent, gives the same results. the wages given by sir roger twysden to his household servants at this time were:-- "housekeeper l. per annum. maids l. s. and l. men l. s., l. and l." { }i have added, in most instances, the prices now paid to labourers in these parts, having obtained my information from the farmers of the neighbourhood. the price of butchers' meat at present, in this neighbourhood, is from d. to / d. per lb.; by wholesale, s. d. or s. d. per stone. as far, then, as the relative prices of wages and meat can guide us, the labourer, in these parts, was as well able to purchase meat in as he is now. unhappily for him, the imprudence of early marriage entailing upon him the charge of a family, he is precluded from the indulgence in fresh meat, except as an occasional treat. cheese and bacon, however, are still within his reach. the improvidence of early marriage rarely occurred in former days, and palpably, if our kentish labourers lived _entirely_ on oats and rye, it was not of _necessity_ that they did so. i am inclined to think that, in many of the instances given above, especially in haying and harvest, provisions of some sort were found by the employer, over and above the wages. when i have more leisure, i will endeavour to obtain correct information on this point; and meanwhile, send you the entries just as i find them. i observe an entry of "peas to boil for the men." they had porridge then, at all events, in addition to their wages; and these wages, if they had so chosen, could further have purchased them meat, quite as well as at the present day; though, alas for our poor peasantry, this is not saying much for them; and even of that little smack of meat they will soon be debarred, if the present system--but i am intruding on sacred ground, and must leave the poor fellows to their hard work and scanty meals. lambert b. larking. * * * * * marlowe and the old "taming of a shrew." i regret that my communication (no. . p. .), on the subject of the authorship of _the taming of a shrew_, was too late to be of any avail for the already-published new edition of marlowe's works; and, had i been aware of such being the case, i should have waited until i had had an opportunity of seeing a work whose editor may entertain views in ignorance of which, to my disadvantage, i am still writing. it is, perhaps, a still greater disadvantage that i should appear to depend for proofs upon a bare enumeration of parallel passages; when i know that the space i should require for the purposes of stating the case fully and fairly, and, as i think, conclusively, would be utterly inconsistent with that brevity which must be with you an essential condition; while, at the same time, i know of no medium through which i am so likely to enlist the attention of a "fit audience" as your publication. premising that my references are to _the taming of a shrew_ in "six old plays," , and to marlowe's works, edit. , i proceed to indicate such passages as a rapid glance through the respective works, aided by some previous acquaintance with the subject, and a not very bad memory, furnished. some of the parallels will be found identical; in others, the metaphors will be found to be the same, with the expression more or less varied; and in others, again, particular expressions are the same, though the tenor of the phrase be different. it will be observed that the quotations of marlowe are exclusively from _dr. faustus_ and _tamburlaine_. of the longer passages i have given merely the first line for reference; and i have numbered them for the convenience of comparison:-- the taming of a shrew. ( ) "now that the gloomy shadow of the night," &c. p. . ( ) "but stay, what dames are these, so bright of hue," &c. p. . ( ) "o, might i see the censer of my soule." &c. p. . ( ) "come, fair emelia, my lovely love," &c. p. . "valeria, attend, i have a lovely love," &c. p. . "and all that pierceth phoebus' silver eye," &c. p. . "fair emelia, summer's bright sun queen," &c. p. . ( ) "i fill'd my coffers of the wealthy mines," &c. p. . ( ) "as richly wrought as was the massy robe that late adorn'd the stately legate of the persian king," p. . ( ) "_boy_. come hither, sirha boy. _sander_. boy, o, disgrace to my person!" &c. p. . marlowe. ( ) "now that the gloomy shadow of the night," &c. --_faustus_, vol. ii. p. . ( ) "zenocrate, the loveliest maid alive," &c. --_tamb_. vol. i. p. . ( ) "whose darts do pierce the centre of my soul," &c. --_tamb._ vol. i. p. . "was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships," &c. --_faustus_, vol. ii. p. . ( ) "now bright zenocrate, the world's fair eye," &c. --_tamb_. vol. i. p. "batter the shining palace of the sun," &c. --_tamb_. vol. i. p. "a greater lamp than that bright eye of heaven," &c. --_tamb_. vol. i. p. . --"the golden eye of heaven." --_tamb_. vol. i. p. . "wherein are rocks of pearl that shine as bright," &c. --_tamb_. vol. i. p. . ( ) "i'll have them fly to india for gold," &c. --_faustus_, vol. ii. p. . ( ) "and show your pleasure to the persian as fits the legate of the stately turk." --_tamb_. vol. i. p. . { } ( ) "_wagner_. come hither, sirha! boy! _clown_. boy! o disgrace to my person!" &c. --_faustus_, vol. ii, p. . leaving the question in this position for the present, i shall be glad of such information from any of your readers as may tend to throw a light on the date of shakspeare's _taming of the shrew_. i find mr. collier's opinion expressed in the following words:-- "the great probability is that _hamlet_ was written at the earliest in , and the _taming of the shrew_ perhaps came from the pen of its author not very long afterwards." i am anxious to ascertain whether i am acquainted with all the circumstances on which the above opinion is founded; as those which i can, at this moment, recall, are to my mind hardly sufficiently conclusive. rejecting the supposed allusion to heywood's _woman kill'd with kindness_, which i see, by a note, mr. collier gives up as untenable ground, the facts, i believe, remain as follows:-- first: _the taming of the shrew_ was not mentioned by meres in , whereupon it is assumed that "had it been written, he could scarcely have failed to mention it." and, second: it must have been written after _hamlet_, because the name baptista, used incorrectly in that play as a feminine name, is properly applied to a man in this. and these, i believe, are all. now, the first of these assumptions i answer, by asking, "does it follow?" of all shakspeare's plays which had then appeared, only three had been published before , and not one comedy. meres, in all probability, had no list to refer to, nor was he making one: he simply adduced, in evidence of his assertion of shakspeare's excellence, both in tragedy and comedy, such plays of both kinds as he _could_ recollect, or the best of those which he _did_ recollect. let us put the case home; not in reference to any modern dramatist (though shakspeare in his own day was not the great exception that he stands with us), but to the world-honoured poet himself, who has founded a sort of religion in us: i, for my part, would not be bound not to omit, in a hasty enumeration, and having no books to refer to, more important works than the _taming of the shrew_. in short, the omission by meres proves no more than that he either did not think of the play, or did not think it necessary to mention it. to the second assumption, i answer that the date of the _first hamlet_ is "not proven:" it may have been an early play. from the play of _hamlet_, in its earlier form, is the name baptiste, where it is used in conjunction with albertus, taken; the scene mentioned is guiana; and there is nothing to lead one to suppose that the name is used as an italian name at all. both the date of _hamlet_, therefore, and--whichever way decided--the conclusion drawn from the supposed mistake, i regard as open questions. there is yet another circumstance which mr. collier thinks may strengthen his conclusion with regard to the date of this play. he refers to the production of dekker's _medicine for a curst wife_, which he thinks was a revival of the old _taming of a shrew_, brought out as a rival to shakspeare's play. this is easily answered. in the first place, katharine, the shrew, is not a "curst wife:" she becomes a wife, it is true, in the course of the play; but this is a part of the process of taming her. but what seems at once to disprove it is, that, according to henslow's account, dekker was paid _l_. _s_. for the piece in question; as mr. collier observes, an "unusually large sum" for a new piece, and not likely to be paid for the bashing up of an old one. i am thus left entirely without a clue, derivable from external evidence, to the date of this play; and shall be glad to know if there is any thing, throwing light upon the point, which i may have overlooked. that more important consequences are involved in this question than appear upon the face of it, i think i shall be able to show in a future communication; and this is my excuse for trespassing so much upon your space and your readers' patience. samuel hickson. st. john's wood, jan. . . * * * * * notes from fly-leaves, no. . in a copy of burnet's _telluris theoria sacra_ (in latin), containing only the two first books ( vol. to., lond. ), there is the following entry in bishop jebb's hand-writing:-- "from the internal evidence, not only of additional matter in the margin of this copy, but of frequent erasures and substitutions, i was led to suppose it was the author's copy, illustrated by his own annotations and improvements. the supposition is, perhaps, sufficiently corroborated by the following extract from the _biographia britannica_, vol. iii. p. . "'it seems it was usual with dr. burnet, before he published any thing in latin, to have two or three copies, and no more, printed off, which he kept by him for some time, in order to revise at leisure what he had written _currente calamo_, and sometimes, when he thought proper, to be communicated to his particular friends for their opinions, &c.' "this copy, as it does not differ from any of the editions of , was certainly not one of those _proofs_. but the doctor's habit of annotating on his own latin books after they were printed, renders it extremely probable that this book was a preparation for a new edition. it would be well to compare it with the english translation." the nature of many of the corrections and additions (which are very numerous), evidently shows a preparation for the press. i have compared this copy with the english edition, published in the same year, and find that some of the { }corrections were adopted; this, however, but in a few instances, while in one, to be mentioned presently, a palpable mistake, corrected in the ms. latin notes, stands in the translation. the english version differs very materially from the latin. the author says in his preface:-- "this english version is the same in substance with the latin, though i confess, 'tis not so properly a translation, as a new composition upon the same ground, there being several additional chapters in it, and several new moulded." the following are examples of corrections being adopted: p. . latin ed. "quod abunde probabitur in principio libri secundi." for the last word _subsequentis_ is substituted, and the english has _following_. p. . "hippolitus" is added to the authorities in the ms.; and in the english, p. ., "anastasius sinaiti, s. gaudentius, q. julius hilarius, isidorus hispalensis, and cassiodorus," are inserted after lactantius, in both. p. . "johannes damascenus" is added after st. augustin in both. p. . a clause is added which seems to have suggested the sentence beginning, "thus we have discharged our promise," &c. but, on the other hand, in p. . the allusion to the "orphics," which is struck out in the latin, is retained in the english; and in the latter there is no notice taken of "empedocles," which is inserted in the margin of the latin. in p. . "ratio naturalis" is personified, and governs the verb _vidit_, which is repeated several times. this is changed by the corrector into vidimus; but in the english passage, though varying much from the latin, the personification is retained. in p. ., "dion cassius" is corrected to "xiphilinus;" but the mistake is preserved in the english version. john jebb. * * * * * shakspeare's employment of monosyllables. i offer the following flim-flam to the examination of your readers, all of whom are, i presume, more or less, readers of shakspeare, and far better qualified than i am to "anatomize" his writings, and "see what bred about his heart." i start with the proposition that the language of passion is almost invariably broken and abrupt, and the deduction that i wish to draw from this proposition, and the passages that i am about to quote is, that--_shakspeare on more than one occasion advisedly used monosyllables, and monosyllables only, when he wished to express violent and overwhelming mental emotion_, ex. gratiâ:-- _lear._ "thou know'st the first time that we smell the air, we wawl, and cry:--i will preach to thee; mark me. [_gloster._ "alack! alack the day!] _lear._ "when we are born, we cry, that we are come to this great stage of fools,--this a good block?" --_king lear_, act iv. sc. . in this passage [i bracket gloster] we find no fewer than _forty-two monosyllables_ following each other consecutively. again, "------but through his lips do throng weak words, so thick come, in his poor heart's aid, that no man could _distinguish_ what he said." _rape of lucreece_, stanza . after i had kept this among other flim-flams for more than a year in my note-book, i submitted it in a letter to the examination of a friend; his answer was as follows:--"your canon is ingenious, especially in the line taken from the sonnet. i doubt it however, much, and rather believe that sound is often sympathetically, and as it were unconsciously, adapted to sense. moreover, monosyllables are redundant in our tongue, as you will see in the scene you quote. in _king john_, act iii. sc. ., where the king is _pausing_ in his wish to incense hubert to arthur's murder, he says:-- 'good friend, though hast no cause to say so yet: but thou shall have; and creep time ne'er so slow, yet it shall come, for me to do thee good. i had a thing to say,--but let it go:'-- forty monosyllables." "credimus? an qui amant ipsi sibi somnia fingunt." the very passage he quoted seemed, to my eyes, rather a _corroboration_ of the theory, than an _argument against it_! i might, i think, have quoted the remainder of lear's speech ending with the words "kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill," and, with the exception of three words, consisting _entirely_ of monosyllables, and one or two other passages. but i have written enough to express my meaning. c. forbes. temple. * * * * * notes upon cunningham's hand-book for london. _ wild house, drury lane._--mr. cunningham says, "why so called, i am not aware." _wild_ is a corruption of _weld_. it was the town mansion of the family of the _welds_, of lutworth castle. _compton street, soho._--built in the reign of charles the first by sir francis compton. _new_ compton street, when first formed, was denominated stiddolph street, after sir richard stiddolph, the owner of the land. it afterwards changed its name, from a demise of the whole adjoining marsh land, made by charles the second to sir francis compton. all this, and the intermediate streets, formed part of the site of the hospital of st. giles. _tottenham court road._--the old manor-house, sometimes called in ancient records "totham hall," was, in henry the third's reign, the residence of william de tottenhall. part of the old buildings were remaining in . { }_short's gardens, drury lane_.--dudley short, esq., had a mansion here, with fine garden attached, in the reign of charles the second. _parker street, drury lane._--phillip parker, esq., had a mansion on this site in . _bainbridge and buckridge streets, st. giles's_.--the two streets, now no more, but once celebrated in the "annals of low life," were built prior to , and derived their names from their owners, eminent parishioners in the reign of charles the second. _dyot street, st. giles's._--this street was inhabited, as late as , by philip dyot, esq., a descendant of the gentleman from whom it takes its name. in there was a certain "mendicant's convivial club" held at the "welch's head" in this street. the origin of this club dated as far back as , when its meetings were held at the three crowns in the poultry. _denmark street, st. giles's._--originally built in . zoffany, the celebrated painter, lived at no. . in this street. the same house is also the scene of bunbury's caricature, "the sunday evening concert:"-- "july . .--sir john murray, late secretary to the pretender, was on thursday night carried off by a party of strange men, from a house in _denmark street_, near st. giles's church, where he had lived some time." --_ms. diary quoted in collet's relics of literature_, p. . edward f. rimbault. * * * * * queries. folk lore. _metrical charms_.--in the enumeration of the various branches of that interesting subject, the "folk lore of england," on which communications were invited in the last number of "notes and queries," there is an omission which i beg to point out, as it refers to a subject which, i believe, deserves especial investigation, and would amply repay any trouble or attention that might be bestowed upon it. i allude to _metrical charms_, many of which are still preserved, and, in spite of the corruptions they have undergone in the course of centuries, would furnish curious and valuable illustrations of the mythological system on which they are founded. "spirits of the flood and spirits of the hills found a place in the mythology of saxon england," says an able reviewer of mr. kemble's _saxons in england_, in _the anthenæum_ ( th jan. ); and he continues, "the spells by which they were invoked, and the forms by which their aid was compelled, linger, however, still amongst us, although their names and powers have passed into oblivion. in one of the saxon spells which mr. kemble has inserted in the appendix, we at once recognised a rhyme which we had heard an old woman in our childhood use,--and in which many saxon words unintelligible to her were probably retained." who would not gladly recover this "old rhyme?"--i can say for myself, that if these lines should ever meet the eye of the writer of the passage i have quoted, i trust he will be induced to communicate, in however fragmentary a shape, this curious addition to our present scanty stories of mythological information. while on the subject of _charms and spells_, i would ask those who are more familiar than myself with the manuscript treasures of the british museum, and of our university libraries, whether they have ever met with (except in mss. of chaucer) the remarkable "night spell" which the father of english poetry has preserved in the following passage of his _miller's tale_. i quote from mr. wright's edition, printed for the percy society:-- "'what nicholas, what how man, loke adoun: awake and think on cristes passioun i crowche the from elves and from wightes.' there with the night-spel seyde he anon rightes on the foure halves of the hous aboute and on the threissh-fold of the dore withoute. "'lord jhesu crist and seynte benedight, blesse this hous from every wikkede wight fro nightes verray, the white paternoster when wonestow now, seynte petres soster.'" this charm has long occupied my attention, and as i hope shortly to submit to the fellows of the society of antiquaries an attempt to illustrate some parts of it which are at present certainly involved in very great obscurity, i shall be glad to be informed whether any other early version of it is to be found in ms., and if so, where; and also whether any other version, corrupted or not, is still preserved, if not in use, at least in memory. i should also be especially glad of references of any other allusion to the "white paternoster" or "seynte petres soster," or for any information as to sources for ascertaining the history, whether authentic or legendary, of the personage supposed to be alluded to in the closing words of this remarkable spell. william j. thoms. * * * * * allusions in the homilies. _"a good wife," &c._, and _"god speed the plough!"_--i should hold myself deeply indebted to any of your correspondents who would inform me where the two following quotations are to be found. i have been anxiously looking for them for some years. i have taken some pains myself--{ } "i have poached in suidas for unlicensed greek"--have applied to my various antiquarian friends (many of whose names i was delighted to recognise among the brilliant galaxy that enlightened your first number)--but hitherto all in vain; and i am reduced to acknowledge the truth of the old proberb, "a ---- may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years:"-- i. "for thus will most truly be verified the _saying of the poet_, 'a good wife, by obeying her husband, shall bear the rule, so that he shall have a delight and a gladness the sooner at all times to return home to her.' but, on the contrary part, 'when the wives be stubborn, froward, and malapert, their husbands are compelled thereby to abhor and flee from their own houses, even as they should have battle with their enemies.'"--_homily on matrimony_, p. . ed. oxford, . query--_who_ is the _poet?_ ii. "let no good and discreet subjects, therefore, follow the flag or banner displayed to rebellions, and borne by rebels, though it have the image of the plough painted therein, with _god speed the plough_ written under in great letters, knowing that none hinder the plough more than rebels, who will neither go to the plough themselves, nor suffer other that would go unto it."--_fourth part of the homily against wilful rebellion_, p. . in _what_ rebellion was such a banner carried? these questions may appear very trifling; but each man has his hobby, and mine is, not to suffer a quotation to pass without verification. it is fortunate that i am not a despotic monarch, as i would certainly make it felony without benefit of clergy to quote a passage without giving a plain reference. l.s. * * * * * minor queries _pope's translations of horace._--in a pamphlet against pope, entitled, _a true character of mr. pope and his writings_, by the author of _the critical history of england_, written in may, , and printed in that year, pope is reproached with having just published a "libellous," "impudent," and "execrable" _imitation of horace_. twenty years later such a reproach would be very intelligible; but can any one favour me with a reference to any _imitation of horace_, published by pope prior to , of which any such complaint could be made? c. _etymology of "havior."_--can any of your readers inform me what is the etymology of the word _havior_, by which all park-keepers denote an emasculated male deer, affording good venison between the buck and doe season? never having seen the word written or printed, i am guided, in attempting to spell it, by the usual pronunciation. braybrooke audley end, feb. . _arabic numerals_.--in the _archæological journal_ (vol. vi. p. .), it is stated that the earliest "example of the use of arabic numerals in any work connected with building" is the date , on the tower of heathfield church, sussex, though "they were common in mss. after , and in astronomical tracts as early as ." as it is probable that not a few instances of the employment of the arabic numeral characters of an earlier date than that at heathfield are to be met with in different parts of the country, will you permit me to make use of your paper to inquire whether any such are known to any of your readers, and if they will be so obliging as to communicate their knowledge through the medium of your columns? as the subject is one of considerable interest, it would be desirable that _any_ date belonging to the fifteenth or the early part of the sixteenth century should be made known, and registered in your valuable publication. permit me also to ask, in connection with this subject, for references to any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the arabic numerals, their origin, and their introduction into europe. i am already acquainted with astle, _on writing_, wallis's _algebra, nouveau traité de diplomatique_, the _huctiana_, pegge's _life of grostête_, and the _philosophical transactions_; but i wish for additional, and, if possible, more recent information. does any one of your readers know what became of the mss. formerly in the possession of the above-named thomas astle, formerly keeper of the tower records? in sir w. burrell's sussex collections in the british museum are copies of charters, "ex mss. penes t. aste," with notices of curious seals appended, which i should be glad to be able to inspect. e.v. _stephen eiton, or eden's "acta regis edw. ii._"--the interesting account of st. thomas of lancaster, with the appended queries (no. . p. .), reminds me of the work of stephen eiton or eden, a canon-regular of warter, in yorkshire, entitled, "acta regis edwardi iidi," which is said still to remain in manuscript. where is it deposited? t.j. _dog latin._--permit me also to ask, what is the origin of the expression "dog latin"? t.j. _the cuckoo--the welch ambassador._--in middleton's _a trick to catch the old one_, act iv. sc. ., dampet says:-- "why, thou rogue of universality, do i not know thee? thy sound is like the cuckoo, the welch embassador." and the editor of the continuation of dodsley's _collection_ remarks on the passage,-- "why the cuckoo is called the welch embassador, i know not." { }perhaps some of your readers can explain why the cuckoo is so called. g. _a recent novel_.--having lately met with an extremely rare little volume, the title of which runs thus: "la prise d'un seigneur ecossois et de ses gens qui pilloient les navires pescheurs de france, ensemble le razement de leur fort et le rétablissement d'un autre pour le service du roi ... en la nouvelle france ... par le sieur malepart. rouen, le boullenger, . o. pp." i was reminded of a modern novel, the principal scenes of which are laid in an island inhabited by a british nobleman of high rank, who, having committed a political crime, had been reported dead, but was saved by singular circumstances, and led the life of a buccaneer. can any of your numerous readers be good enough to mention the title of the novel alluded to, which has escaped my memory? adolphus. _authorship of a couplet_.--can you help me to the authorship of the following lines?-- "th' unhappy have whole days, and those they choose; the happy have but hours, and those they lose." p.s. _seal of killigrew, and genealogy of the killigrew family_.--"buriensis" (no. . p. .) is informed that the arms on the seal at sudbury are certainly those of a member of the old cornish house of killigrew. these arms, impaled by those of lower, occur on a monument at llandulph, near saltash, to the memory of sir nicholas lower, and elizabeth his wife, who died in . she was a daughter of sir henry killegrewe, of london, and a near relative, i believe, of the master of the revels. while on this subject, i beg to put a query to your genealogical readers. the double-headed eagle, the bordure bizantée, and the demilion charged with bezants, are all evident derivations from the armorial bearings of richard, titular king of the romans, earl of cornwall, &c., second son of king john. the family of killegrewe is of venerable antiquity in cornwall. what i wish to ascertain is, the nature of the connection between the family and that unfortunate "king." was it one of consanguinity, or merely one of feudal dependence? mark antony lower. *** see, on the origin of the arms of richard and their derivatives, my _curiosities of heraldry_, pp. . et seq. * * * * * replies. selago and samolus. in common with the mistletoe and vervain the druids held the selago and samolus as sacred plants, and never approached them but in the most devout and reverential manner. when they were gathered for religious purposes the greatest care was taken lest they should fall to the earth, for it was an established principle of druidism, that every thing that was sacred would be profaned if allowed to touch the ground; hence their solicitude to catch the anguinum: "------------------when they bear their wond'rous egg aloof in air: thence before to earth it fall, the druid in his hallow'd pall receives the prize." pliny, in his _natural history_ (lib. xxiv. cap. .) gives a circumstantial account of the ceremonies used by the druids in gathering the selago and samolus, and of the uses to which they were applied:-- "similis berbæ huie sabinæ est selago appellata. legitur sine ferro dextra manu per tunicam, qua sinistra exuitur velut a furante, candida veste vestito, pureque lotis nudis pedibus, saero facto priusquam legatur, pane vinoque. fertur in mappa nova. hanc contra omnem perniciem habendam prodidere druidæ gallorum, et contra omnia oculorum vitia fumum ejus prodesse. "iidem samolum herbam nominavere nascentem in humidis: et hanc sinistra manu legi a jejunis contra morbos suum boumque, nec respicere legentem: nec alibi quam in canali, deponere, ibique conterere poturis." from the very slight manner in which these plants are described by pliny, it is next to impossible to identify them with any degree of certainty, though many attempts for the purpose have been made. so far as i know, pliny is the only ancient author who mentions them, and we have therefore nothing to guide us beyond what he has said in this passage. the word selago is supposed to be derived from _se_ and _lego_, i.e. _quid certo ritu seligeretur_. linnæus appropriated the name to a pretty genus of cape plants, but which can have nothing whatever to do with the selago of the druids. it has been thought to be the same as the serratula chamæpeuce of linnæus, but without sufficient reason, for pliny says it resembles the savine; and matthiolus, in his _commentary on dioscorides_, when speaking of the savine (juniperus sabina), says:-- "siquidem vidi pro sabina assumi quandam herbam dodrantalem quæ quibusdam in montibus plurima nascitur, folio tamaricis, licet nec odore nec sapore sabinam hanc sæpius existimavi esse selaginem referat. a plinio lib. xxiv. c. . commemoratam." samolus, or as some copies read samosum, is said to be derived from two celtic words, _san_, salutary, and _mos_, pig; denoting a property in the plant which answers to the description of pliny, who says the gauls considered the samolus as a specific in all maladies of swine and cattle. { }but there is not less difficulty in identifying this plant than in the former case. some have thought it the same as the little marsh plant, with small white flowers, which linnæus calls samolus valerandi, while others consider it to be the anemone pulsatilla. i am ignorant of the salutary properties of these plants, and must leave it to be decided which of them has the greatest claims to be considered the samolus of pliny. g.m. is there any english translation of Ælian's _various history_, or of the work ascribed to the same author on the _peculiarities of animals_? east winch. jan. . _selago and samolus_.--the selago (mentioned by "pwcca," no. . p. .), in welsh _gras duw_ (gratia dei), was held by the druids as a charm against all misfortunes; they called it _dawn y dovydd_, the gift of the lord. they also ascribed great virtues to the samolus, which was called _gwlydd_, mild or tender. all that can be known respecting the selago and samolus, may be seen in borlase's _antiquities of cornwall_. gomer. * * * * * Ælfric's colloquy. in the anglo-saxon _gloss_, to Ælfric's latin dialogue, _higdifatu_ is not, i conceive, an error of the scribe, but a variation of dialect, and therefore, standing in no need of correction into _hydigfatu_ ("notes and queries," no. .). _hig, hi_ and _hy_, are perfectly identical, and nothing is more usual in a.s. than the omission of the final _g_ after _i_; consequently, _hig=hy, di=dig_, therefore _higdi=hydig_. mr. singer's reading of _cassidilia_ for _culidilia_, i consider to be well-founded. his conjecture, that _sprote_=goth. _sprauto_, has something very specious about it, and yet i must reject it. that useful and sagacious author, dr. kitchener, tells us, that there is only one thing to be done in a hurry (or _sprauto_); and even if he had not informed us what that one thing is, very few indeed would ever have imagined that it was _fish_-catching. the word _sprote_ was a puzzle to me, and i had often questioned myself as to its meaning, but never could get a satisfactory answer; nor was it until some time after the publication of the nd edition of my _analecta_ that it occurred to me that it might signify a wicker or _sallow_ basket (such as is still in use for the capture of eels), from lat. _sporta_, whence the german _sportel_. my conjecture, of _salice_ for the _salu_ of the text, was based on the possibility that the apparatus might somehow or other be made of the _salix_. i beg leave to inform "seleucus," that _the phoenix_, with an english version, and with the latin original, is to be found in the _codex exoniensis_, edited by me, in , for the society of antiquaries. the latin ascribed to lactantius, is printed in the variourum edition of claudian, and, i believe, in the editions of lactantius. jan. , . b. thorpe. * * * * * portraits of luther and erasmus. your correspondent, "r.g." (no. . p. .), is correct in supposing the _wood-cut_ portrait of luther to be that which is prefixed to the treatise "de captivitate babylonica ecclesiæ," where he is habited as a monk; but it was evidently only a copy from the very interesting copper-plate engraving of his friend lucas cranach, bearing the date , of which a very accurate copy was prefixed to the translation of "luther's way to prayer," published by mr. pickering in . juncker's book is a very good repertory of the various representations of the great reformer, but the prints are generally but faithless copies. in kirchmayer printed an especial disquisition upon the portrait by lucas cranach of , under the following title:--"disquisitio historia de martini lutheri oris et vultus habitu hervieo ad vivum expresso in imagine divine pencilli lucæ cranachj patris in ære hic incisa," &c., wittebergæ sax. , to. the works in which the germans have sought to do honour to their great protestant saint, are numerous enough to fill a small library but two of them are so remarkable as to deserve notice, . "luther's merkwürdige lebensumstande bey seiner medicinalischen leibesconstitution, krankheiten, geistlichen und leiblichen anfectungen und andern zufallen, &c., von f.g. keil," leipsig, . . "luther's merkwürdige reisegeschichte zu erganzung seiner lebensumstande, von jo. th. lingke," leipsig, , to. the earliest wood-cut representation of erasmus with which i am acquainted is a medallion accompanying another of ulric of hutten, on the title-page of the following work of the unfortunate but heroic champion of the reformation:--"ulrichi ab hutten cum erasmo rotirodamo, presbytero, theologo, expostulatio." there is reason to believe that this expostulation was printed only a short month before hutten died; and, though it bears neither date nor name of printer, that it was printed by johannes schott, at strasburg, in the month of july, . it has another portrait of hutten at the end, the whole strikingly spirited and characteristic; by some they have been attributed to holbein, and if not by him, which is doubtful, they are at least worthy of him. one would gladly forget this strife between the great promoter of learning and the soldier-scholar. erasmus's conduct was unworthy of a great man, and can never be vindicated. s.w.s. * * * * * { } replies to minor queries. _praise undeserved_.--the correct quotation, referred to in no. . p. ., is "praise undeserved is _satire_ in disguise." it is by mr. br----st, author of a copy of verses called the _british beauties_. i cannot fill up the "hiatus," which in this case is not "maxime deflendus," because i have now no time to search the museum catalogue. i apprehend that the author belonged to the "mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease," as it is something like savage's "tenth transmitter" (which, by the bye, your correspondent, mr. gutch, should have said is _said_ to be pope's)--his _only good_ line. here is my authority: epigram _on a certain line of mr. br----, author of a copy of verses called the "british beauties."--from the_ "garland," _a collection of poems_, . "when one good line did much my wonder raise in br----st's works, i stood resolved to praise; and had, but that the modest _author_ cries, _praise undeserv'd is satire in disguise_." i would add, that i believe this epigram to be dr. kenrick's, goldsmith's old persecutor in later years. james h. friswell _french maxim_.--i beg to inform your correspondent "r.v." in reply to his query (no. . p. .), that the maxim quoted is the th of rochefoucauld: "l'hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu." j.h.f. _singular motto_.--the "singular motto" which occasions "p.h.f.'s" wonder (no. . p. .), is, without doubt, a cypher, and only to be rendered by those who have a key. such are not unfrequent in german, austrian, or bohemian heraldry. j.h.f. _discurs. modest._--at p. . no. ., your correspondent n. replies to a.t.'s query, that "there can be no reasonable doubt, that the _original_ authority for _rem transubstantiationis patres ne altigisse quidem_, is william watson in his _quodlibet_, ii. . p. ." by a note of mine, i find that this secular priest, w. watson, lays the expression in question to the charge of the jesuits as "an heretical and most dangerous assertion of theirs." admitting, therefore, the _discurs. modest_. to have been published after watson's _decacordon_, i.e. later than (which can hardly be doubted), still the further question remains to be asked: "in what writings of the jesuits, prior to , had w. watson himself found these words, with which he charges them?" should you think this further query of importance enough to find a place in your paper, perhaps some one of your readers might throw yet another ray of light upon this subject. j.s. oxford _pallace_ (no. . p. ).--mr. halliwell, in his _dictionary of archaic, &c. words_, explains this word as used in devonshire:-- "_palace_, a storehouse."--_devon_. "at dartmouth, i am told there are some of these storehouses, called palaces, cut out of the rock, still retaining the name." --_ms devon. gloss_. c.w.g. _meaning of "pallace_".--the term "pallace" (no. . p. .) is applied in totnes to denote a landing-place inclosed by walls, but not roofed in. many of these "pallaces" have been converted into coal-cellars. perhaps _pales_ may have been used originally to form these inclosures in lieu of walls;--and hence the word "pallace" would mean a place paled in. i find repeated mention made of "pallaces" in a schedule attached to a deed of the corporation of totnes, bearing date september th, , a copy of which is now before me, and from it the following extracts are taken:-- "one linney and two _pallaces_ or yards." "all those houses, rooms, cellars, and _pallaces_." "all that great cellar lately rebuilt, and _the plott of ground or pallace_ thereto belonging lately converted into a cellar." "all that little cellar and _pallace_ lately rebuilt, and the kay or landing place thereto belonging, and near adjoyning unto and upon the river dart." "and the little _pallace_ or _landing-place_." _apropos_ of _landing-places_, it may interest some of your readers to learn that the _very stone_ upon which brutus, the nephew of Æneas, landed at totnes, still remains! it is inserted in the foot-way nearly opposite the mayoralty-house in the fore street. from totnes, the neighbouring shore was heretofore called _totonese_: and the _british history_ tells us, that _brutus_, the founder of the british nation, arrived here; and _havillanus_ [john de _alvilla_ or _hauteville_, according to mr. wright] as a poet, following the same authority, writes thus:-- "inde dato cursu, _brutus_ comitatus achate gallorum spoliis cumulatis navibus aequor exarat, et superis auraque faventibus usus, _littora felices intrat totonesia portus_." "from hence great brute with his achates steer'd, full fraught with gallic spoils their ships appear'd; the winds and gods were all at their command, _and happy totnes shew'd them grateful land_." _gibson's camden_. totnes is made mention of the _lais de marie_:-- "il tient sun chemin tut avant. a la mer vient, si est passer, en _toteneis_ est arriver."--_lai d'elidne_. j. milner barry, m.d. totnes, devon, jan. . . { } _litany version of the psalms_.--the doubts produced by beloe's self-contradicting statements on the subject of the bishops' bible, which are referred to by "x.x." (no. . p. .), may thus be settled. the first edition of this bible, printed in , contains a new translation of the psalms by becon. in the second folio edition, , are inserted, in opposite columns, "the translation according to the ebrewe," which differs but little from the former, in roman letter, and "the translation used in common prayer," or that of the great bible, printed by whitchurch, , in black letter. the clarum et venerabile nomen associated with the bishops' bible, a very magnificent and perfect copy of which is now open before me, suggests the inquiry whether there is any copy known of archbishop parker's rare volume on the english church, , which is not noticed by martin in the list of eighteen which he had discovered. he does not mention that in the chetham library. t. jones. _tempora mutantur &c_.--in reply to your correspondent, "e.v." (no. . p. .), i beg to state, that the _germ_ of "tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis," is to be found in the _delitiæ poetarium germanorum_, vol. i. p. ., under the poems of matthias borbonius. he considers them as a saying of lotharius i. (flor. cir. .):-- "omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis; illa vices quasdam res habet, illa suas." i sent this communication, some years ago, to _sharpe's magazine_, where it will be found, vol. v. p. . l.s. _pandoxare_.--your correspondent, "h.b." (no. . p. .), has lighted upon a curious specimen of domestic hieroglyphics, the notice of which recalls to mind the quaint marginal symbols scattered over the inventories of the exchequer treasury, at a much earlier period. they are not devoid of information or interest. the word of which he requests explanation, is, indeed, of too base latinity to be found in the _facciolati_, or even in the _auctarium_; but in our old latin dictionaries, sources of abundant information on obsolete expressions, the word is readily to be found. old gouldman, for instance, whose columns are replete with uncommon and local english terms, gives "_pandoxor_, to brew," citing alciatus as authority, and "_pandox_, a swill-bowl," apparently a word used by statius. it is obviously a barbarous derivative of the same greek words as _pandocium_ or _pandoxarium_ ([greek: pan] and [greek: docheion]), the hostelry open to all comers. if, however, a more recondite authority for the explanation of the word, as formerly used in england, be desired, i would refer your querist to the pages of the _promptorium parvulorum_, where may be found--"bruwyn ale or other drynke, _pandoxor_. browstar, or brewere, _pandoxator, pandoxatrix_", the medieval bass or guinness having been, most frequently, a female. and, having cited the primitive lexicographer of norfolk, i would seize the occasion to offer a note, in response to the numerous queries regarding the too tardy advance of the work in question, and to assure your readers, who may be interested in the publications of the camden society, that a further instalment of the _promptorium_ is in forwardness, so that i hope to complete a considerable portion, in readiness for issue, early in the current year. albert way. _saint thomas of lancaster_.--not having brady at hand, i cannot tell what authorities he cites; but, as mr. milnes (no. . p. .) does not mention rymer, he perhaps may not know that he will find in that collection some documentary evidence on the subject of this saint, if saint he was; for instance-- "_super rumore thomam nuper comitem lancastriæ miraculis corruscuri_."--rym. foed. iii. p. . a.d. . "quod," adds the king, "moleste gerimus." but edward iii. was of quite another mind, and urged his canonization of the holy see. witness rymer:-- "_ad papam; pro canonisatione thomae nuper comitis lancastriæ_."--foed. iv. p. . a.d. . and again-- "_pro custodi_" (weryngton mentioned by mr. milnes), "_capellæ ad montem ubi nuper comes lancastriæ decollatus fuit_."--ib. p. . it seems that the bodies of some of thomas's accomplices were also supposed to have worked miracles; for we find an ordinance-- "_contra fingentes miracula fieri per inimicos regis_." --rym. foed. iv. p. . a.d. . andrews says (_hist_. i. .) that richard ii. renewed the application for thomas's canonization; but he does not give his authority, and i have not time to look further through rymer. p. . _jhon-john_.--i wonder mr. williams does not see that the _h_ is not "_introduced_" for any purpose; it is an integral part of the original name _johannes_, which was contracted into _johan_, and in french into _jehan_. p. . _slang phrases_.--"_a rowland for an oliver_" is no slang phrase of the eighteenth century; it is a proverbial expression as old as the days of the romances of _roland_ and _olivier_. the other two were phrases put into the mouths of two characters (dr. ollapod, in colman's _poor gentleman_, and young rapid, in morton's _cure for the heart-ache_), which grew into vogue only from the success of the actors fawcett and lewis, and had no meaning or allusion beyond what the words obviously meant. c. { }_full of rain in england._--"roydon" (no. . p. ) will find the average quantity of rain fallen at greenwich, for twenty-five years, to , in a very useful and clever pamphlet, price s., by j.h. belville, of the royal observatory, published by taylor, red lion court, fleet street, called _manual of the mercurial and aneroid barometers._ henry wilkinson _judas bell_--(no. , p. ). in the "flyting of dunbar and kennedie," a singular scotch poem, composed in the former half of the th century, and printed in ramsay's _evergreen_, the following passage occurs (_everg._ vol. ii. p. .):-- "a benefice quha wald give sic a beist, but gif it were to jingle _judas bells_? tak thee a fiddle or a flute to jest, undocht thou art, ordained for naithing ells." the judas bells may probably have been used in the easter-eve ceremonies, in connexion with which we find _judas candles_ mentioned. see brand's _popular antiq._ by sir h. ellis, vol. i. p. . c.w.g. _boduc or boduoc on british coins_.--the real name of the heroic queen of the iceni is very uncertain. walther (tacitus, xiv. ann. c. .), adopts boudicea. it is probable enough that the syllables boduo may have formed a part of it, as pronounced by the britons. we are reminded of boduognatus, leader of the nervii, mentioned by cæsar. but to come nearer home, the name boduogenus is found upon a bronze vessel discovered in the isle of ely, described by mr. goddard johnson, _archæologia_, xxviii. p. . c.w.g. _lord bacon's metrical version of the psalms._--lord bacon's translation of seven psalms, the st, th, th, th, th, th, and th, with a dedication to george herbert, is found at the end of the nd vol. of his works. (lond. .) they were printed at london, , in quarto. c.w.g. [to this we may add, on the information of x.x., that some account of these psalms, with specimens, may be seen in holland's _psalmists of britain_, .] _a "gib" cat._--what is the etymology of the term "gibbe," as applied to the male cat? i may observe that the _g_ is pronounced _hard_ in this locality, and not _jibbe_, as most dictionaries have it. burnley, lancashire. t.t.w. [nares has shown, very satisfactorily, that _gib_, the contraction of _gilbert_, was the name formerly applied to a cat, as _tom_ is now. he states that _tibert_ (the name given to the cat in the old reynard the fox) was the old french for _gilbert_; and at all events, be that as it may, chaucer, in his _romance of the rose_, verse ., translates "thibert le cas" by "gibbe our cat."] _lay of the phoenix._--"seleucus" is informed that the anglo-saxon lay of the phoenix is contained in the _codex exoniensis_, edited by mr. b. thorpe. the latin poem, in hexameters and pentameters, attributed to lactantius, is given at the foot of the page. it will be found at the end of the works of lactantius, in the small edition by fritzsche (lipsiæ, ). fritzsche mentions two separate editions of the poem; . by martini, lunæburgi, ; . by leyser, quedlinburgi, . c.w.g. _lay of the phoenix._--"seleucus" (no. , p. .) asks, "is there any published edition of the hexameter poem by lactantius, which is said to have suggested the idea of the anglo-saxon _lay of the phoenix_?" this poem is not in hexameter, but in elegiac verse; and though, on account of its brevity, we could not expect that it would have been separately published, it is to be found very commonly at the end of the works of lactantius; for example, in three editions before me, basil. , lugd. , basil. . that this poem, however, belongs to the christian cicero, at any period of his life, is more than doubtful, even by the admission of romanists, who readily avail themselves of other compositions of similar authority. it has been sometimes ascribed to venantius fortunatus, and is by sirmondus attributed to theodulphus, bishop of orleans. (_opp._, ii. . cf. iv. . venet. .) r.g. _ordination pledges._--your correspondent, "clericus" (no. . p. .), will find by far the most elaborate and judicious examination of the import, design, and obligation of the various oaths and subscriptions required of the clergy, in the successive numbers of _the christian observer_ for . e.v. _feast of st, michael and all-angels._--the difficulty started by "k.m.p." (no. , p. .), with regard to the double second lessons for the feast of st. michael and all-angels, is easily resolved by comparing the table of proper lessons before and after the last review of the _prayer book_ in ; from which it will be seen, that the proper _second_ lessons were then appointed for the first time, while the old second lessons for sept. . were retained, either from inadvertence, or to avoid the necessity of disarranging all the subsequent part of the calendar. the present first lessons, gen. xxxii., and dan. x. v. ., at the same time took the place of the inappropriate chapters, eccles. xxxix. and xliv., which had been appointed for this day in queen elizabeth's prayer book, . e. v. _beaver hat._--mr. t. hudson turner (no. . p. .) asks, "what is the earliest known instance of the use of a _beaver hat_ in england?" ( }fairholt (_costume in england_) says, the earliest notice of it is in the reign of elizabeth, and gives the following quotation from stubbe's _anatomy of abuses,_ :-- "and as the fashions be rare and strange, so is the stuff whereof their hats be made divers also; for some are of silk, some of velvet, some of taffetie, some of sarcenet, some of wool, and, which is more curious, some of a certain kind of fine haire; these they call _bever hattes_, of xx, xxx, or xl shillings price, fetched from beyond the seas, from whence a great sort of other varieties doe come besides." gastros. _meaning of "pisan."_--mr. turner (no. . p. .) asks the meaning of the term _pisan_, used in old records for some part of defensive armour. meyrick (_ancient armour_, vol. i. p. , d ed.) gives a curious and interesting inventory of the arms and armour of louis le hutin, king of france, taken in the year , in which we find, "item coloretes _pizanes_ de jazeran d'acier." he describes _pizane_ (otherwise written _pizaine, pusen, pesen_) as a collar made, or much in fashion, at pisa. the jazeran armour was formed of overlapping plates. in the metrical romance of _kyng alisaunder_, edited by webber, occur the lines-- "and indiens, and emaniens, with swordes, lances, and _pesens._" weber explains the _pesens_ here as gorgets, armour for the neck. in more recent mss. _pisan_ may be a contraction for _partisan_, a halberd. i cannot agree with your correspondent "a.f." (p. ), that the nine of diamonds was called "the curse (cross) of scotland" from its resemblance to the cross of st. andrew, which has the form of the roman x; whereas the pips on the nine of diamonds are arranged in the form of the letter h. "mend the instance." erratum. p. col. . line ., for _obscurities_, read _obscenities._ cambridge, jan. . . gastros. _pokership--god tempers the wind_.--i am disposed to think that _parkership_ will turn out to be the right explanation, because almost every forest or chase contained a _fenced park_, in which the deer were confined; and the charge of the woods and park might be consigned to the same person; and the error in spelling the word was probably copied from one genealogist to another. nevertheless, mr. corney's conjecture may be right, as forby (_vocabulary,_ vol. ii. p. .) mentions poke-day as the day on which the allowance of corn is made to the labourers, _who, in some places, receive a part of their wages in that form._ now the _pokerer_ might be the officer who distributed the grain on these occasions. i open my note to add, that mr. gutch (no. . p. .) will find, in sterne's _sentimental journey_,--"_god tempers the wind_," said maria, "to the shorn lamb." the words which i have underlined are printed in italics in my edition of the work (london, mo. ), which may indicate that they are quoted from some other author. braybrooke. audley end, feb. . _walewich or watewich._--i have made the reference suggested by "w.b.m." canute was residing at walewich, and the abbot of ely was consecrated there by the archbishop of canterbury. this "walewich" can be no obscure place, and we need not look for it in cambridgeshire. i am inclined to think that the word ought to have been written warewich, _i.e._ warwick. soham mere (mare de soham) once covered - / acres.--lyson's _cambridge_, . portum pusillum, if not littleport, was a place upon the cam or the ouse, within sight of ely minster. does your correspondent suppose that northmouth was among the fens? if so, he may consult _inquisitio eliensis_, or dugdale's map of the bedford level, which is in the museum. j.f.m. dec. . _madoc's emigration to america._--"anglo-cambrian" (no. . p. .), in contradiction to the occurrence of madoc's emigration, has adduced what he supposes to be a gross anachronism in the words "madoc was directed by the _best compass_, and this in !" now, unfortunately for this opinion, the passage on which it is founded will not allow of his interpretation. the original words are in sir thomas herbert's _travels_, and, in his expressive language, they are as follows:--"by providence, the best compass, and benefit of the pole-star, he returned safely to his own country." most certainly this cannot imply that madoc was acquainted with the mariner's compass. "j.m.t." also seems to give great weight to the fact of a "welsh-indian vocabulary" having been formed, containing no trace of any celtic root. this seems conclusive, yet it is not so; for i have some words, extracted from a vocabulary of the mandan (indian) language made by mr. catlin, during his sojourn among them, all of which, with very slight allowance for corruption, are clearly welsh. mr. catlin believes the mandans to have been descended from the followers of prince madoc, from the strong evidence which he considers his stay among them afforded him, and detailed in his work on the indians. i regret to add, that the mandans have been exterminated by the small-pox and the weapons of their enemies. i have long taken a deep, because a national, interest in this question, and have endeavoured to examine in the spirit of that noble { }precept, which ought to be bound up with the existence of every _cymro_, "the truth against the world." consequently, i have found that much of what is put forth as evidence on this question is, as mr. corney has very justly intimated, quite inadmissible; in short, unworthy of belief. still, the inquiry has afforded me sufficient reasons for viewing the question of prince madoc's emigration as a fact, and for supporting it as such as far as my humble testimony will allow. gomer. _caerphili castle_.--with reference to "pwcca's" query (no. . p. .), it may be noted that _full_ is the welsh word for "haste," and, if the _derivatur_, must allude to the original structure having been hastily erected. gomer. _origin of word bug_.--i should feel obliged by your informing me whether the word _bug_ is not of _celtic_ origin, signifying a "_ghost_ or _goblin_?" vide shakespeare's _taming of the shrew_, act i. scene ii.:-- "tush, tush, fright boys with _bugs_." and whether, in _mathews'_ bible, a.d. , the th verse of the st psalm is not thus rendered:-- "thou shalt not need to be afraid of any _bugs_ by night"? literally, in the hebrew, "_terror_ of the night." j.p. [_bug_ in welsh means a ghost or goblin. it is probably the same with the icelandic _paki_, an evil spirit. but on this etymology our correspondent can consult an article by sir f. palgrave, on the "popular mythology of the middle ages." in the _quarterly review_, vol. xxii.; a paper, by mr. thoms, on the "folk lore of shakspeare," no. .; "puck's several names," in _the athenæum_, oct. . ; and lastly, mr. keightley's most interesting work, _the fairy mythology_. vol. ii. p. ., of which we are happy to hear that a new and enlarged edition may shortly be expected.] * * * * * miscellanies. _excecution of duke of monmouth._--among the memorials of the "rash but unfortunate duke of monmouth," which have recently attracted much attention, and for which the public are principally indebted to certain inquiries originated in the "notes and queries," i have not observed any notice taken of an anecdote respecting him, which is current among our neighbours on the continent; namely, that he gave six guineas to the executioner, the john ketch of that day, to perform his work well!-- "le duc de monmout donna six guinées au bourreau de londres, pour lui bien couper la tête; mais le misérable ne mérroit par ces guinées, puisqu'il la lui coupa très mal." this anecdote is introduced, in the form of a note, into the folio dictionary of pierre richelet, a most valuable work, and full of history, ancient and modern. can any of your correspondents produce the authority for this anecdote? richelet himself does not give any, but merely relates the story, apparently with a view of illustrating the term "guinea," as applied to the gold coin of charles the second. vid, voc. "_guinée_." j.i. _by hook or by crook_.--i send you a note, which i made some years ago. this expression is much more ancient than the time of charles i., to which it is generally referred. it occurs in skelton, _colin clout_, line . _a fine_:-- "nor wyll suffer this boke _by hooke ne by crooke_ prynted for to be." in spenser, f. . v. ii. .:-- "thereafter all that mucky pelfe he tooke, the spoile of peoples evil gotten good, the which her sire had serap't by hooke and crooke, and burning all to ashes pour'd it down the brooke." in holland's _suetonius_, p. :-- "likewise to get, to pill and poll _by hooke and crooke_ so much, as that----" in a letter of sir richard morysin to the privy council, in lodges _illustrations, &c_., i. :-- "ferrante gonzaga, d'arras, and don diego, are in a leage, utterlie bent to myslyke, and to charge _by hook or by crooke_, anything don, or to be don, by the thre fyrst." l.s. _cupid crying_.--the beautiful epigram upon this subject, which appeared in no. p. ., was kindly quoted, "for its extreme elegance," by the _athenæum_ of the th january, which produced the following communication to that journal of saturday last:-- "will the correspondent of the 'notes and queries,' whose pretty epigram appears copied into your _athenæum_ of saturday last, accept the following as a stop-gap pending the discovery of the latin original? "en lacrymosus amor! fidem quia perdidit arcum vapulat! exultans cælia tela tenet. ast illam potuitne puer donare sagittis? subrisit:--matrem credidit esse suam. "[greek: amorphota]. ." _miry-land town._--as an addition to the note of "j.r.f." (p. . no. .) on miry-land town, and by way of corroboration of his reading, i may just mention that the towns and villages in the weald of kent are familiarly spoken of as places "down in the mud," by the inhabitants of other parts of the country. those who are acquainted with the weald will agree that this designation is not undeserved. henry kersley. * * * * { } notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the surtees society, for the publication of inedited mss. illustrative of the intellectual, moral, religious, and social condition of those parts of the united kingdom which constitute the ancient kingdom of northumberland, has been remodelled. the subscription for the year is one guinea, and the works in immediate preparation are, . "the injunctions and other ecclesiastical proceedings of richard barnes, bishop of durham ( - );" and, . "the anglo-saxon hymnarium." we have great pleasure in directing attention to the _exhibition of works of ancient and mediæval art_ which is to be opened in the adelphi next month. this is a great opportunity for forming an exhibition of a novel and most interesting kind, one which is calculated both to interest and amuse the archæologist and the public, and to instruct the artizan and the manufacturer. we sincerely hope possessors of articles suitable for exhibition, will not fail to take advantage of it. they should immediately enter into communication with the honorary secretary to the exhibition, at the rooms of the society of arts, or they will be too late. the _gentlemen's magazine_ realizes all our anticipations. the reviews are of a very superior order. justice is done _to_ as well as _upon_ the authors who have come under notice, and the original articles are of high value; those upon the _dea sequana_ and the _history of words_ are especially worthy of notice. mr. waller's papers upon _christian iconography_ promise to be of the highest value. a new career of usefulness and honour has been opened up to sylvanus urban, who seems determined to merit the addition lately made to his title, and to become what is really a desideratum in english literature--a good "_historical review_." messrs. sotheby and co. will sell, on thursday and friday next, a very choice selection of magnificent books and pictorial works from the library of an eminent collector, including large paper copies of the antiquarian works of visconti, montfaucon, &c.; the first four editions of shakspeare, and other works of similar high character. we have received the following catalogues:-- "catalogue of most splendid and truly valuable ancient manuscripts upon vellum and paper, particularly rich in history and topography, heraldry and county visitations, pedigrees and family history, ancient charters, royal grants and other documents of peculiar interest to the antiquary and historian, on sale by thomas thorpe, . henrietta street, covent garden; and "bernard quartch's catalogue of foreign and english books, selling for cash at very reduced prices, at . castle street, leicester square; comprising antiquities, history, heraldry, numismatics, classics, ethnology, languages, &c. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos_.) alani opera. edit. c. de nisch. antwerp, . clichtorÆus, elucidatorium ecclesiasticum. paris, . corner, promptuarium devotionis. vienna, . _odd volumes_. ames and herbert's typographical antiquities. by dibdin. vol. i. letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. r.j.s. _will find in_ no. . p. ., _an answer to his query in reply to a previous query in_ no. . p. . f.d. (bradford) _is informed that the_ towneley mysteries _have been printed by the surtees society, and the_ coventry _and_ chester mysteries _by the shakspeare society. we have no doubt the_ collection of early mysteries, _printed at basle, may be procured from any of the foreign booksellers_. w. _calls our attention to an error in p. _. the field of forty foot-steps_ is a distinct work by miss porter, published in the same collection as_ "coming out"_, but not the second title of that work._ j.k.r.w. _many thanks, although there has not been an opportunity of using the communications._ g.w. _will find the phrase "to dine with duke humphrey" very fully illustrated in nares_. _we are compelled, by want of space, to omit our usual acknowledgment of_ communications received. _we are again compelled to omit many notes, queries, and answers to queries which are in type, as well as answers to correspondents_. * * * * * uniform with "hallam's literature of europe." now ready, in vols. vo. s. a history of spanish literature. with criticism on particular works, and biographical notices of prominent writers. by george ticknor, esq. john murray, albermarle street. * * * * * new work by lord lindsay. this day is published. vols. vo. s. lives of the lindsays; or, a memoir of the houses of crawford and balcarres. by lord lindsay. also, by the same author. vols. vo. s. d. sketches of the history of christian art. john murray, ablemarle street. * * * * * { } on the th of february will be published, no. ii., for , of john miller's catalogue of books, old and new, on sale at , chandos street, trafalgar square, to be had gratis, and sent (if required) postage free to any book-buyer. the prices are for ready money only. it will contain, amongst other subjects, a large collection of books on heraldry, genealogy, and family history, a few books on angling, some early english dictionaries, books of poetry, history, topography, and engravings, with various works in other interesting departments of miscellaneous literature. * * * * * a chronicle of the kynges of engelonde, from ye normane conqueste to the reygne of our soveragne ladie elizabethe, wythe a summarie accounte of eache reygne, by g.c.l. a manuscript of the last century, in to., calf, very neat, full-length portraits, water-colour drawings, curiously emblazoned in gold and colours, with the arms and insignia of each monarch, and numerous other devices, ornaments and borders, from the library of sir gore ousely, with a portrait apparently of the executor. l. s. annals of the caledonians, picts, and scots, and of strathclyde, cumberland, galloway, and murray, by j. ritson, esq. vols cr. vo. half-bound morocco, extra marble edges, s. d. . bethams (w.) baronetage of england, or the history of the english baronets, and such baronets of scotland as are of english families. vols. to. half-calf, neat, with genealogical tables, and engravings of armorial bearings, l. s. - . buckingham's oriental herald and colonial review, comprising a mass of valuable writings on the colonies and their government. complete in vols. vo. half-calf, very neat. l. s. - . buckingham's (j.s.) travels among the arab tribes in mesopotamia, asia minor, assyria, media, and persia. vols. to., not uniform in binding. maps, portrait, and upwards of illustrations, l. s. - . byron's (lord) letters and journals, with notices of his life, by thomas moore. vols. vo., illustrated with engravings by the findens, from designs by turner, stanfield, &c., elegantly half-bound morocco, marbled edges, in the best style, by hayday, l. s. . dallaway's inquiry into the origin and progress of heraldry in england. royal to., coloured plates, calf, very neat, s. gloucester, . the edinburgh review, from its commencement in to the year , forming a valuable series of the journal. vols. in . vo., nearly half-bound in russia, only l. s. d. - freron l'anne litteraire, from to , wanting a few intermediate volumes. vols. mo., calf, neat, l. s. - . gallery of english and foreign portraits, with memoirs by various distinguished writers. vols. imp. vo. cloth, uncut, top edges gilt. fine portraits. an early copy. l. s. d. giustinian (bernard) historie chronologiche del l'originr degl' ordini militari e di tutte le religioni carvalle resche infino ad hora instituite nel mondo. vols. royal to. illustrated with fine full-length engravings of the costumes, &c. of the various orders of knighthood in the world, with numerous other illustrations, l. s. d. venezen, . journal of the london geographical society, from its commencement. vols. vo. half-calf, gilt, maps, &c. l. s. lingard's (john, d.d.) history of england, from the first invasion of the romans. vols. fcap. vo. vignette title-pages. l. s. . &c. ladies' monthly museum; or polite repository of amusement and instruction: from its commencement. vols. mo. half-bound, uncut; profusely illustrated with portraits of celebrated females, and an extensive variety of coloured costumes. l. s. - . the literary gazette, a journal of belles lettres, fine arts, and scientific information, from its commencement in to the year , inclusive. vols. to. half-calf, neat, and uniform. l. s. - . a clean, handsomely bound copy of this valuable repertory of literary, scientific, and fine art information during the last quarter of a century. paley, (w.) d.d., the entire works of, with a biographical sketch of the author by the rev. d.s. wayland, vols. vo. half calf, extra marble edges; fine portrait. new and neat. only l. s. . portraits of the princes and people of india. by the hon. miss eden. drawn on stone by l. dickenson. folio half-bound; morocco. fine engravings. l. s. punch, or the london charivari, from the commencement to june, . vols. complete in thick to. vols., half-bound calf, gilt, many thousand engravings, only l. s. shakespeare album; a series of one hundred and seventy illustrations from the plates to boydell's edition of shakespeare, as published to the edition edited by valpy. fcap. vo., cloth, gilt, s. d; or elegantly bound in morocco, gilt edges, richly tooled back and sides, s. .--but a very small number of copies were printed for sale in this form. shirley, james, the dramatic works and poems of. now first collected, with notes by gifford, and an account of his life by the rev. alex. dyer. vols. vo., half-bound morocco, marble edges, fine portraits, l. s. . trials:--an extensive collection of state trials, in vols. folio, calf, very neat, l. s. , &c. typographia, or the printer's instructor, including an account of the origin of printing, by j. johnson. very thick vols. mo., upward of pages of letter-press, profusely illustrated and ornamented with borders. woodcuts, &c., the most perfect typographical work published. only s. d.--j.m. is enabled to offer this work at a price that must place it in the hands of every printer's apprentice, as well as the lover of books. * * * * * john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * { } exhibition of works of ancient and mediaeval art. committee. president and chairman, h.r.h. prince albert, k.g., f.r.s., f.s.a. vice-presidents. the earl of enniskillen. right hon. sidney herbert, m.p. sir john p. boileau, bart., f.r.s. henry thomas hope, esq. m.p. the duke of northumberland, f.r.s., f.s.a. the marquis of northampton, m.a. the earl of jersey. the earl of ellesmere, f.s.a. the bishop of oxford, f.r.s., v.p.s.a. lord albert denison, m.p., k.c.h., f.s.a. hon. robert curzon, jun. hon. james talbot, m.r.i.a. sir philip de malpas grey-edgerton, bart., m.p., f.r.s. the very rev. the dean of westminster, f.r.s. j.y. akerman, esq., sec s.a. beriah botfield, esq., f.r.s., f.s.a. john bruce, esq., trea. s.a. henry cole, esq. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. william r. drake, esq., f.s.a. henry farrer, esq. augustus w. franks, esq., b.a., hon. sec. peter le neve foster, esq., m.a. edward hallstone, esq., f.s.a. m. rohde hawkins, esq. rev. joseph hunter, f.s.a. h. bowyer lane, esq. hollingsworth magniae, esq. octavius s. morgan, esq., m.p., f.s.a. frederic ouvry, esq., f.s.a. james robinson planché, esq., f.s.a. samuel redgrave, esq. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a. edward smirke, esq., f.s.a. c. roach smith, esq., f.s.a. captain w.h. smyth, r.n., f.r.s., dir. s.a. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a. william tite, esq., f.r.s., f.s.a. john webb, esq. the above committee has been formed for the purpose of organising an exhibition of works of ancient and mediÆval art. the society of arts having considered that such an exhibition is not only likely to be interesting to the public, but also to be especially useful to manufacturers (with reference to the exhibition of works of industry of all nations to be held in the year ), have placed a portion of their rooms at the disposal of the committee, and have agreed to adopt the exhibition as part of that annually made by the society, thereby taking all the expenses connected with it upon themselves. the committee, regarding the exhibition in the twofold character contemplated by the society of arts, have resolved that the objects of ancient and mediæval art of which the exhibition is to be composed, shall, as far as possible, be selected with reference to their beauty and the practical illustration which they are likely to afford of processes of manufacture; and now beg to invite the possessors of works deemed suitable for such an exhibition to assist the committee in their very important office, by entering into communication with them, respecting the nature of any objects which they may be willing to offer for exhibition. it is requested that all works proposed for exhibition be punctually sent to the rooms of the society of arts, john street, adelphi, on or before the th of february, it being imperative that the exhibition should open in early march. letters and communications should be addressed to augustus w. franks, esq. honorary secretary to the committee, society of arts, john street, adelphi. by order of the committee, augustus w. franks hon. sec. * * * * * recent popular works i. th edit. layard's narrative. plates, vols. vo. s. ii. rd edit. curzon's monasteries of the levant. woodcuts. post vo. s. iii. rd edit. sir fowell buxton's memoirs. post vo. s. d. iv. nd edit. sir c. lyell's nd visit to the u. states vols. post vo. s. v. nd edit. archdeacon wilberforce on baptism. vo. s. d. vi. nd edit. dr. forbes' physician's holiday. plates. post vo. next week. vii. rd edit. irving's life of columbus. maps. vols. vo. s. d. viii. nd edit. somerville's physical geography. vols. fcap. vo. s. ix. th edit. ruxton's adventures in mexico. post vo. s. x. rd edit. irving's life of goldsmith. post vo. s. xi. nd edit. paget's hungary. vols. vo. s. xii. th edit. melville's marquesas. vols. post vo. s. xiii. rd edit. croker's boswell's johnson. portraits. vol. vo. s. xiv. nd edit. gleig's life of munro. post vo. s. xv. nd edit. the prayer book illustrated. medium vo. s. antique binding. xvi. nd edit. mantel on the invisible world. plates. mo. s. xvii. rd edit. the arabian nights, illustrated. vols. post vo. s. john murray: albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . copyright (c) by lidija rangelovska. please see the corresponding rtf file for this ebook. rtf is rich text format, and is readable in nearly any modern word processing program. notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- etymology of penniel. notes on cunningham's london, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. original letter of peter le neve, by e. hailstone. folk lore:--superstitions of middle counties--rainbow in the morning. error in johnson's life of selden. pope and petronius, by c. forbes. queries:-- purvey of the apocalypse--bonner on the seven sacraments, by sir f. madden. replies to minor queries:--arrangement of a monastery--constantine the artist--josias ibach stada--worm of lambton. replies:-- luther's translation, by s.w. singer. lines on london dissenting ministers. replies to minor queries:--tracts by dekker and nash--tureen--english translations of erasmus--court of wards--scala coeli--twm shawn cattie--cheshire round--horns to a river--horns--coal brandy--howkey or horkey--luther's portrait--symbolism of flowers, &c.--"where england's monarch"--journeyman--sydenham or tidenham--j.b.'s treatise on nature and art--"a frog he would a-wooing go"--"my love and i, &c."--teneber wednesday--buckingham motto--laerig--zenobia a jewess--temple stanyan, &c. miscellanies:-- spur money--note books--lady rachael russell--byron and taritus--aboriginal chambers near tilbury--sir r. haigh's letter-book--a phonetic peculiarity. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. * * * * * notes etymology of penniel. some eighteen years ago, the writer of the following sonnets, by the kindness of the proprietors of a pleasant house upon the banks of the teviot, enjoyed two happy autumns there. the roman road which runs between the remains of the camp at chew green, in northumberland, and the eildon hills (the trimontium of general roy), passed hard by. the road is yet distinctly visible in all its course among the cheviots, and in the uncultivated tracts; and occasionally also, where the plough has spared it, among the agricultural inclosures. the house stands near the base of the hill called penniel or penniel-heugh: and it is hoped that the etymological derivation of that word now to be hazarded will not imply in the etymologist the credulity of a monkbarns. _pen_, it is known, signifies in the celtic language "a hill". and the word _heil_, in the celto-scythian, is, in the latin, rendered _sol_. in the armoric dialect of the celtic also, _heol_ means "the sun:" hence, _penheil_, _penheol_, or _penniel_, "the hill of the sun." beyond the garden of the abode there stood, and, it is believed, yet stands, a single stone of a once extensive druid circle, not many years ago destroyed by the then proprietor, who used the sacred remains in building his garden wall. a little farther antiquarian conjecture is necessary to clothe the country with oak woods. jedwood or jedworth forest was part of "the forest" which covered selkirkshire and parts of the counties around. the capon tree, and the king of the wood, two venerable oaks yet flourishing on the water of jed, attest the once wooded condition of the land; which is farther irresistibly corroborated by evidence drawn from the interesting volumes of the _rotuli parliamentorum_. the bishops of glasgow had a religious establishment in the neighbouring sunward village of nether ancrum. of their buildings, of the vicar's house, or of the ancient gardens existing in the memory of persons living, not a vestige now remains. in the first volume of the _rotuli_, p. ., there is a petition, of uncertain date, by the bishop of glasgow to edward i., then in possession of scotland, in these terms:-- "derechief pry ly dit evesqe a soen segur le roy qe ly plese aider &c.... e sur ceo transmettr', sa lettre al vesconte de lanark. e une autre, si ly plest, a ses forresters de geddeworth de autant de merin [meremium, meheremium, wood for building] pour fere une receite a allyncrom (ancrum) desur la marche, ou il poet aver recett e entendre a ses ministres qut il le voudrent aver." to which the king's answer is,-- "héat bre ten' locu r. in scoc. qd fae'. ei hre meheremiu in foresta de selkirk et de maddesleye usq ad numum quinquaginta quercu." thus, no doubt is left that oak woods abounded in the district; and it was under the influence of these beliefs that the sonnets were composed:-- i. "'twas on this spot some thousand years ago, amid the silence of its hoary wood by sound unbroken, save the teviot's flow, the lonely temple of the druids stood! { } the conquering roman when he urged his way, that led to triumph, through the neighbouring plain, and oped the gloomy grove to glare of day, awe-stricken gazed, and spared the sacred fane! one stone of all its circle now remains, saved from the modern goth's destructive hand; and by its side i muse: and fancy reigns; and giant oaks on pennial waving stand; with snowy robe and flowing bears sweep bye the aged druid-train beneath the star-lit sky. ii. "the druid-train has moved into the wood, oh! draw a veil before the hideous scene! for theirs were offerings of human blood, with sound of trump and shriek of fear between: their sacred grove is fallen, their creed is gone; and record none remains save this gray stone! then come the warlike saxons; and the years roll on in conflict: and the pirate dane uprears his bloody raven; and his spears bristling upon the broadlaw summit's plain spread terror o'er the vale: and still rude times succeed; and border feuds with conflagration light nightly, the teviot's wave, and ceaseless crimes chase from the holy towers their inmates in affright. iii. "land of the south! oh, lovely land of song! and is my dwelling by thy classic streams; and is the fate so fondly wished and long, mine in the fullest measure of my dreams,-- by thy green hills and sunny glades to roam, to live among thy happy shepherd swains where now the peaceful virtues have their home; a blissful lot! nor aught of grief remains save for that friend, beloved, bewailed, revered, to whom my heart for thrice ten years was bound by truest love and gratitude endeared: the glory of his land, in whom were found genius unmatched, and mastery of the soul, beyond all human wight, save shakspeare's own controul." f.s.a. l. & e. * * * * * notes on cunningham's handbook for london. _soho square._--your correspondent "naso" (p. .) has anticipated me in noticing mr. cunningham's mistake about mrs. cornellys' house in this square; but he has left unnoticed some particulars which deserve to be recorded. mrs. cornellys', or _carlisle house_ as it was called, was pulled down at the beginning of the present century ( or ), and _two_ houses built upon its site, now _jeffery's music warehouse_ and _weston's printing office_. some curious old paintings representing banqueting scenes, formerly in _carlisle house_ were carefully preserved until the last few years, in the drawing-room of the corner house, when they were removed to make room for some needed "elegancies" of the modern print shops. the catholic chapel in sutton street was the banquetting-room of carlisle house; and the connecting passage between it and the house in soho square was originally the "chinese bridge." "teresa cornelys, carlisle house, st. ann, soho, dealer" appears in the bankrupt list of _the london gazette_ of november, ; and in december of the same year, this temple of festivity, and all its gorgeous contents, were thus advertised to be sold by public auction:-- "_carlisle house, soho._--at twelve o'clock on monday the th instant, by order of the assignees, mr. marshall will sell by auction on the premises, in one lot, all that extensive, commodious, and magnificent house in soho square, lately occupied by mrs. cornelys, and used for the public assemblies of the nobility and gentry. together with all the rich and elegant furniture, decorations, china, &c., thereunto belonging, too well-known and universally admired for their aptness and taste to require here any public and extraordinary description thereof. catalogues to be had at the house, and at mr. marshall's, in st. martin's lane. the curiosity of many to see the house, to prevent improper crowds, and the great damage that might happen therefrom (and the badness of this season) by admitting indifferent and disinterested people, must be an excuse to the public for the assignees ordering the catalogues to be sold at s. each, which will admit two to see the house, &c., from monday the th instant to the time of sale, sundays excepted, from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon, and they hope no person or persons will take amiss being refused admittance without catalogues." in december , the nobility and gentry were informed (by advertisement), "that the assemblies at carlisle house will commence soon, under the conduct and direction of a _new_ manager;" but notwithstanding the efforts of this person, we find that mrs. cornellys resumed her revels here with great spirit in . in , carlisle house was again publicly advertised to be sold by private contract, or "to be hired as usual;" and subsequently, after having been used as a common exhibition room of "monstrosities," a "school of eloquence," and "an infant school of genius," it closed its public career through the interference of the magistracy in . a full and particular account of the rise and fall of "mrs. cornelys' entertainments at carlisle house, soho," was privately printed two or three years ago, by thomas mackinlay, esq., of the firm of dalmaine and co., soho square. _carlisle street, soho square._--the large house at the end of this street, looking into the square, was formerly called _carlisle house_. in it was purchased of lord delaval by the elder angelo; who resided in it many years, and built a large riding-school at the back. bach and abel, of "concert" notoriety, resided in the adjoining house. carlisle street was then called _king's square court_. { } _catherine street, strand._--in , a tract was published with the following title:--_the maypole's new year's gift or thanks returned to his benefactors, humbly inscribed to the two corners of_ catherine street, strand; _written by a parishioner of st. mary, savoy_. _maiden lane, covent garden._--the well known "cider cellar" in this lane was opened about . there is a curious tract, entitled _adventures under ground_, , which contains some strange notices of this "midnight concert room." _salisbury change._--cibber, in the amusing _apology for his life_, has the following:-- "taste and fashion, with us, have always had wings, and fly from one public spectacle to another so wantonly, that i have been informed by those who remember it, that a famous puppet-show in _salisbury change_ (then standing where _cecil street_ now is), so far distressed these two celebrated companies, that they were reduced to petition the king for relief against it." _the new exchange._--a good description of this once popular mart may be found in lodwick rowzee's _treatise on the queene's welles_, lond. . it is as follows:-- "we went to see the _new exchange_, which is not far from the place of the common garden, in the great street called the strand. the building has a facade of stone, built after the gothic style, which has lost its colour from age, and is becoming blackish. it contains two long and double galleries, one above the other, in which are distributed several rows great numbers of very rich shops, of drapers and mercers, filled with goods of every kind, and with manufactures of the most beautiful description. there are, for the most part, under the care of well-dressed women, who are busily employed in work, although many are served by young men, called apprentices." _the bedford coffee house, covent garden._--in appeared a small volume under the title of _memoirs of the bedford coffee house, by genius, dedicated to the most impudent man alive_. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * original letter of peter le neve. the following was a letter from le neve to a mr. admall, a herald painter at wakefield, found in a book of arms belonging to the latter, which came into my possession a few months ago. e. hailstone. "mr. admall, "i understand by mr. mangay, my deputy at leeds for the west riding, that you contemn my lawfull autority of norroy king of arms, and have done and will doe as you say, things relating to heraldry, contrary to my prohibition, &c.; these are therefore to acquaint you, that if you continue in the same mind and will usurp on my office, i intend to make you sensible of the wrong you doe me in my office, by taking out process against you, and making you pay for your transgression. i shall give you no hard words, but shal be as good as my word if there is law in england to restrain you; so chose whether you will due to me good or evill; you shall find me according your friend or open enemy. "peter la neve, norroy. "college of arms, in london, " th may, ." * * * * * folk lore. _superstitions of the midland counties._--it is believed a sign of "bad luck" to meet a white horse, unless the person _spits_ at it, which action is said to avert the ill consequences of the recontre. a rainy friday is believed to be followed as a natural and invariable consequence, by a wet sunday; but i am not aware that the contrary is believed, viz., that fine friday produces a fine sunday. if the fire burns brightly when a person has poked or stirred it up, it is a sign that the _absent_ lover, wife, or husband (as the case may be) is in good spirits, and in good humour. the itching of the right hand palm is said to portend the reception of a gift; which is rendered more certain if the advice in this distich be followed:-- "rub it 'gainst wood, 'tis sure to come good." persons with much hair or down upon their arms and hands, will at some future period enjoy great wealth; or as the common expression has it, "are born to be rich." henry kersley. corp. chris. hall, maidstone. _a rainbow in the morning, &c._--"mr. thoms" (no. , p. .) says that he believes no one has remarked the philosophy of this proverbial rhyme. sir humphry davy, however, points it out in his _salmonia_. * * * * * error in johnson's life of selden. in johnson's (geo. w.) _memoirs of john selden_, london, , vo. pp. , , is a notice of dr. sibthorpe's celebrated sermon preached at northampton, and printed in with the title of _apostolike obedience_. after stating the difficult experienced in obtaining the necessary sanction for its publication, owing to abp. abbot refusing the requisite _imprimatur_, the author says that ultimately the licence was "_signed by land himself_, and published under the title of _apostolical obedience_." a reference at the foot of the page to "rushworth, p. ," leads me to conclude that it is on his authority mr. johnson has made this statement; but not having access to the "historical collections," i am unable to examine. at any rate, heylin, in his _cyprianus anglicus_, lond., fol. p. ., may be understood to imply the correctness of the assertion. a copy of this now rare sermon before me { } proves, however, that the statement is incorrect. at the back of the title is as follows:-- "i have read over this sermon upon _rom._ xiii. ., preached at _northampton_, at the assises for the county, _feb._ , , by _robert synthorpe_, doctor of divinity, vicar of brackley, and i doe approve it as a sermon learnedly and discreetly preached, and agreeable to the _ancient doctrine_ of the _primitive church_, both for _faith_ and _good manners_, and to the _doctrine established_ in the _church of england_, and, therefore, under my hand i give authority for the printing of it, may . ." geo. london. it was therefore bishop _mountague_, and not _laud_, who licensed the sermon. john. j. dredge. * * * * * pope and petronius. i have read "mr. rich's" letter with great interest, and i willingly allow that he has combated my charge of plagiarism against pope, and discussed the subject generally with equal fairness and ability. "but yet," i think that he wanders a little from the point when he says, "the surmise of the plagiarism originates in a misconception of the terms employed by the latin author, especially _corcillum_." now the question, in my opinion, turns not so much on what _petronius said_, as on what _pope read_; i.e. not on the meaning that _petronius gave_ to the word (_corcillum_), but on that which _pope attributed_ to it. i cannot, without further proof, give him credit for having read the words as critically and correctly as "mr. r." has done. i believe that he looked on it merely as a simple derivative of _cor_, and therefore rendered it "worth," i.e. a _moral_, not a _mental_ quality. c. forbes. * * * * * queries. queries respecting purvey on the apocalypse, and bonner on the seven sacraments. i beg leave to make the two following queries:-- . in bayle's very useful work, _scriptorum illustrium majoris brytanniæ catalogus_, fol. bas. , among the writings ascribed to john purvey, one of wycliffe's followers, and (as walden styles him) _glossator_, is mentioned _commentarius in apocalypsin_, beginning "apocalypsis, quasi diceret;" and bayle adds:-- "prædictus in apocalypsin commentarius ex magistri wielevi lectionibus publicis per joannem purvæum collectus, et nunc per martinum lutherum, _ante centum annos_ intitularus, anno domini , sine authoris nomine, witembergæ fuit excusus. fuit et ipse author in carcere, ac cathenis insuper chalybeis, cum ea commentaria scripsit, ut ex decimo et undecimo ejus scripti capite apparet. scripsit autem purvæus hunc librum anno domini , ut ex decimo tertio capite et principio vigesimi apparet." this account of bayle (who is mistaken, however, about the _title_ of the work) is confirmed by panzer; who, in his _annales_, vol. ix. p. . enters the volume thus, "_commentarius in apolcalypsin ante centum annos æditus, cum præfatione maritini lutheri_. wittembergæ, . vo." can any of your readers refer me to a copy of this book in a public library, or in private hands? . in lewis's _history of the translations of the bible_, edit. . p. ., he quotes a work of bishop bonner, "_of the seven sacraments_, ," in which a manuscript english bible is cited by the bishop, as then in his possession, "translated out of latyne in tyme of heresye almost eight-score years before that tyme, i.e. about , fayre and truly written in parchment." lewis proceeds to conjecture, that this ms. was the same which is preserved in the bodleian library under the mark fairfax, . and in this erroneous supposition he has been followed by later writers. the copy in question, which belonged to bonner, is actually in the archiepiscopal library at lambeth, no. ., and contains the pentateuch in the _earlier_ wycliffite version (made, no doubt, by nicholas hereford), whilst the rest of the old and new testament is in the _later_ or revised translation by purvey and his coadjutors. what i now wish to inquire about, is, where can i meet with a copy of bonner's work, _de septem sacramentis_, in which the passages occur referred to by lewis? they are not in _a profitable and necessarye doctryne, with certayne homelies adjoyned_, printed in by john carood, although one of these homilies is on the subject of the seven sacraments. f. madden. * * * * * minor queries. _monastery, arrangement of one._--any information and particulars respecting the extent, arrangement, and uses of the various buildings for an establishment of fifty cistercian or benedictine monks would be useful to and gratefully received by a.p.h. [has our querist consulted professor willis, "description of the ancient plan of the monastery of st. gall in the ninth century," accompanying a copy of the plan, and which he will find in the _archæological journal_, vol. v. p. .?] _constantine the artist._--who was "m. constantine, an italian architect to our late prince henry," employed in the masque at the earl of somerset's marriage in ? and was he the same constantine de servi to whom the prince assigned a yearly pension of l. in july ? if so, where can more be found respecting him? he is not mentioned on walpole's _anecdotes_. j.g.n. _josias ibach stada._--who was the artist whose name occurs inscribed on the hoof of the horse of king charles the second's equestrian statue at { } windsor, as follows:--" . fudit josias ibach stada bramensis;" and is mr. hewitt, in his recent _memoir of tobias rustat_, correct in calling him "stada, an _italian_ artist?" j.g.n. _worm of lambton._--is there any published notice of the "knight and serpent" tradition regarding this family and parish? a.c. [a quarto volume of traditions, gathered in the immediate neighbourhood of the scene of action, was privately printed in the year , under the title of _the worm of lambton_.] * * * * * replies. luther's translation of the new testament. luther's solemn request that his translation should on no account be altered, accompanies most of the earlier editions of the n.t. i find it on the reverse of the title-page of the edition in vo. printed at wittemberg by hans lufft in , thus:-- "i request all my friends and enemies, my master printer, and reader, will let this new testament be mine; and, if they have fault to find with it, that they make one of their own. i know well what i do, and see well what others do; but this testament shall be luther's german testament; for carping and cavilling is now without measure or end. and be every one cautioned against other copies, for i have already experienced how negligently and falsely others reprint us."[ ] the disputed verse ( john, v. .) is omitted in all the editions printed under luther's eye or sanction in his lifetime; but it has not, i think, been remarked that in verse . the words _auf erde_, found in later editions, are wanting. the passage stands:-- "denn drey sind die da zeugen, der geist, und das wasser, und das blut, und die drey sind beysamen." in the first edition of the saxon (düdesche version of luther's bible, by jo. heddersen, printed in a magnificent volume at lubeck, by lo. dietz, in - ), the verse stands thus:-- "wente dre synt dede tüchinisse geven, de geist unde dat water, unde dat bloth, unde de dre synt by emander." a ms. note of a former possessor remarks:-- "the th verse is not found here, nor is it in the bibles of magdeburg, , of wittemberg, , ditto , frankfort, and ." in the edition of this same version, printed by hans lufft, wittemberg, , the passage is exactly similar; but in one printed by hans walther, magdeburg, , the words _up erdeu_ are inserted. these saxon versions are interesting from the very great similarity that idiom has to our early language; and they, doubtless, influenced much our own early versions. in a translation of the n.t. from the latin of erasmus (the first printed in latin with a translation on the same page, and which is very similar in appearance to udal's), printed at zurich in , to., with a preface by johansen zwikk of constance, the th verse is given (as it was in the latin); but is distinguished by being printed in brackets, and in both verses we have-- "unnd die drey dienend in eins." erasmus having admitted the verse into his third edition, gave occasion perhaps to the liberty which has been taken in later times to print both verses, with this distinction, in editions of the lutheran version. the earliest edition, i believe, in which it thus appears, is one at wittemberg in , which was repeated in , , [ ], and . it also appears, but printed in smaller type, in the hamburgh bible by wolder in , in that of jena , and in hutter's nuremburg, . in a curious edition of the n.t. printed at wandesbeck in , in to., in which four german versions, the catholic, the lutheran, the reformed, a new version by reitz, and the received dutch version, are printed in parallel columns, both verses are given in every instance; but a note points out that luther uniformly omitted the th verse, and the words _auf erde_. there cannot be a doubt, therefore, that the insertion is entirely unwarranted in any edition of the new testament professing to be _luther's_ translation. s.w. singer. april . . [footnote : "ich bitte alle meine freunde, und feinde, meine meister drücker und leser, wolten dis newe testament lassen mein sein, haben sie aber mangel dran, das sie selbs ein eigens für sich machen; ich weiss wol was ich mache, sehe auch wol was andere machen, aber dis testament sol des luther's deudsch testament sein, denn meisterns und klugelus ist jtzt weder masse noch ende. und sey jederman gewarnet für andern exemplaren, denn ich bisher wol erfaren wie unfvleissig und falsch uns andere nachdrücken."] [footnote : fr. er. kettner, who printed at leipsic, in , a long and strenuous defence of the authenticity of the th verse, exults in the existence of this verse in an edition of the bible, wittemberg, , which is falsely said on the title-page to be _juxta ultimum a luthero revisum exemplar correctum_.] _luther's translation of the bible_ (no. , p. .).--de wette, in his critical commentary on the verse john, after stating his opinion that the controverted passage is a spurious interpolation, gives a list of the codices and editions in which the passage is not found, and of those in which it is found. the passage is _wanting_ in all greek codd. except codd. . . . (of his introduction, where it is introduced from the vulgate), and in all ms. { } of the vulgate before the tenth century; in erasmus' edit. of and ; in ald. ed. venet. ; in all editions of luther's translation published by him during his life-time, and up to ; in the edit. withenb., ; hamb. . . . the passage is _found_ in all the editions printed of the vulgate, and in all translations from it before luther; and the edit. complut.; in erasmus' of , and in his paraphrase; in the edit. of rob. stephens, - ; and beza, - . ; in the lutheran translations reprinted by froschauer, zurich, - . (but in small type); edit. - . in brackets; edit. , without the brackets; in the edit. frankf. ; wittenb. - , and many later ones. i may add, that the passage is in every edition of recent date that i have seen of the lutheran bible, but not, of course, in de wette's translation. s.w. * * * * * lines on london dissenting ministers. in reply to one of the queries of "w." (no. . p. .), i transcribe from the mss. of mr. chewning blackmore, a presbyterian minister of worcester, the "lines on london dissenting ministers of a former day," which i have never seen entire in print:-- "behold how papal wright with lordly pride directs his haughty eye to either side, gives forth his doctrine with imperious nod, and fraught with pride addresses e'en his god. "not so the gentle watts, in him we find the fairest pattern of a humble mind; in him the meekest, lowliest virtue dwells, as mild as light, as soft as ev'ning gales. "tuning melodious nonsense, bradbury stands, with head uplifted and with dancing hands, prone to sedition, and to slander free, sacheverell sure was but a type of thee. "mark how the pious matrons flock around, pleased with the noise of guyse's empty sound; how sweetly each unmeaning period flows to lull the audience to a gentle doze! "eternal bragge in never-ending strains unfolds the mysteries joseph's coat contains, of every hue describes a different cause, and from each patch a solemn mystery draws. "with soundest judgment and with nicest skill, the learned hunt explains his master's will, so just his meaning, and his sense to true, he only pleases the discerning few. "in chandler's solid, well-composed discourse, what wond'rous energy! what mighty force! still, friend to truth, and strict to reason's rules, he scorns the censure of unthinking fools. "but see the accomplish'd orator appear, refined his language, and his reasoning dear, thou only, foster, has the pleasing art, at once to please the ear and mend the heart! "lawrence, with clear and solid judgment speaks, and on the sober mind impression makes, the sacred truths with justness he explains, and he from ev'ry hearer praise obtains." of the author of these lines i can give no information. he evidently belonged to the anti-calvinistic party. his name does not appear to have been known to mr. walter wilson, the historian of the "dissenting churches" of london, although he quotes a portion of them. but they were probably composed between and . in the former year, dr. james foster's london popularity arose, on the occasion of his undertaking the evening lecture at the old jewry. in the year , mr. robert bragge, one of the subjects of the poem, died. of this gentleman the story is told (and to it the poem evidently alludes), that he was employed no less than four months in developing the mysteries of joseph's coat, from genesis, xxxvii. .: "and he made him a coat of many colours." in reply to the sarcasm on mr. bragge, mr. walter wilson states (_hist. and ant. of diss._ ch. i. p. .) that the following stanza was composed:-- "the unwearied bragge, with zeal, in moving strains, unfolds the mysteries scripture-book contains; marks every truth, of error shows the cause, and from each mystery useful doctrine draws." the unfavourable notice of dr. sam. wright in the opening stanza, is at variance with the general report of biographers. in the copy of the verses in the blackmore mss. is this note:--"i think this is too severe on the dr." dr. wright was admired for his pulpit elocution; and it is said that archbishop herring was, in his younger years, a frequent hearer of his, with a view to improve in elocution. the notice of the celebrated tom bradbury is grossly unjust. he was a man of wit and courage, though sometimes boisterous and personal. his unsparing opponent, dr. caleb fleming, wrote admiringly of "his musical voice, and the flow of his periods, adapting scripture language to every purpose."--_the character of the rev. mr. thos. bradbury, taken from his own pen, &c._ lond. vo. , p. . a.b.r. dukinfield. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _tracts by dekker and nash._--_the raven's almanacke_, , is the production of thomas dekker, the dramatist, and one of the rarest of his numerous works. a copy sold in the _gordonstown_ sale for seven guineas; and another occurred in mr. j.h. bright's collection (no. .); but i have not the sale catalogue at hand to quote the price. dekker was also the author of a similar work, entitled _the owle's almanacke_, ; but it is not mentioned in the lists furnished by { } lowndes and dr. nott. the latter is indeed very inaccurate, omitting many well-known productions of the author, and assigning others to him for which he is not answerable. whilst upon the subject of dekker, i cannot resist mentioning a fraud upon his memory which has, i believe, escaped the notice of bibliographers. in was published a small volume, entitled, _the young gallant's academy, or directions how he should behave himself in an ordinary, in a playhouse, in a tavern, &c., with the character of a town-huff, by samuel vincent_. this is nothing more than a reprint of dekker's _gull's horn-book_, with some slight alterations to adapt it to the times. nash's _terrors of the night, or a discourse of apparitions_, was printed by john danter for william jones, . it is a very interesting tract, and contains many personal allusions to its unfortunate author. a copy was sold in heber's sale (part iv. no. .) for l. s. a note in the handwriting of that distinguished collector gives us the following information:-- "only two other copies are known to exist, one in the ashbridge library at cleveland house, the other, not so fine as the present, bought by malone at brand's, since james boswell's, and now ( ) _penes_ me, r.h." all things considered, i think your correspondent "j.e." (p. .) _may_ congratulate himself on having "met with a prize." edward f. rimbault. _nash's terrors of the night._--excessively rare. boswell had a copy, and another is in the library of the earl of ellesmere, described in mr. collier's _bridgewater catalogue_ as one of the worst of nash's tracts. l. _tureen_ (no. . p. .).--the valuable reference to knox proves the etymology from the latin. _terrene_, as an adjective, occurs in old english. see quotation in halliwell, p. . l. _english translations of erasmus' encomium moriæ_ (no. . p. .).--sir thomas challoner's translation of erasmus' _praise of folly_ was first printed, i believe, in . subsequent impressions are dated , , . in , william pickering had a license "for pryntinge of a mery and pleasaunt history, donne in tymes paste by erasmus roterdamus," which possibly might be an impression of the _praise of folly_. (see collier's _extracts from the registers of the stationers' company_, vol. i. p. .). this popular work was again translated in the latter part of the following century, by white kennet. it was printed at oxford in , under the title of _wit against wisdom, or a panegyric upon folly_. this is in all probability the intermediate translation inquired after by your correspondent. edward f. rimbault. in answer to "jarlzberg," i beg to inform him of the following translation of erasmus' _praise of folly_:-- "moriæ encomium, or the praise of folly, made english from the latin of erasmus by w. kennet, of s. edm. hall, oxon, now lord bishop of peterborough. adorn'd with copper plates, and the effigies of erasmus and sir thos. more, all neatly engraved from the designs of the celebrated hans holbeine. th edition. ." kennett, however, in his preface, dated , alludes to two other translations, and to sir thomas challoner's as the _first_. he does not mention the name of the second translator, but alludes to him as "_the modern translator_," and as having lost a good deal of the wit of the book by having "tied himself so strictly to a literal observance of the latin." this is his excuse for offering to the public a third translation, in which he professes to have allowed himself such "elbow-room of expression as the humoursomeness of the subject and the idiom of the language did invite." hermes. the intermediate translation of the _moriæ encomium_ of erasmus, to which your correspondent refers, is that by john wilson, vo. london , of which there is a copy in the bodleian. m. oxford. _court of wards._--i cannot tell "j.b." (no. . p. .) anything about mr. d'israeli's researches in the court of wards; but "j.b." may be glad to know that there is among the mss. in the british museum a treatise on the court of wards. i remember seeing it, but have not read it. i dare say it might be usefully published, for we know little in detail about the court of wards. c.h. _scala coeli_ (no. . p. .).--in foxe's _acts and mon._, vol. v. p. ., lond. , your querist may see a copy of a grant from pope clement vii. in , to the brethren of a boston guild, assuring them that any member thereof who should enter the lady chapel in st. botolph's church, boston, once a quarter, and say there "a paternoster, ave maria, and creed, shall have the full remission due to them that visit the chapel of scala scoeli." h.w. _twm shawn cattie_ (no. , p. .).--the following extract from cliffe's _book of south wales_, furnishes a reply to this query. in describing the beautiful mountain scenery between llandovery and tregaron, he says:-- "high in the rock above the fall yawns a hole, hardly a cavern, where once lurked a famous freebooter of wales, twm sion catti: the entrance to this cave is through a narrow aperture, formed of two immense slate rocks, which face each other, and the space between them is narrower at the bottom than the top, so { } that the passage can only be entered sideways, with the figure inclined according to the slanting of the rock. "the history of twm sion catti (pronounced toom shone catti), alias thomas jones, esq., is very romantic. he was a natural son of john ap david moethe, by catharine, natural daughter of meredydd ap ivan ap robert, grandfather of sir john wynne, of gwydir (see _the heraldic visitations of wales_, published by the welsh mss. society), and is said to have died in , at the age of . in early life, 'he was a notorious freebooter and highwayman,' and levied black mail on the country within reach of his mountain abode, with the aid of a small band of followers. he soon reformed, married a rich heiress, was then created a justice of peace for brecon, and ultimately became sheriff of that county and carmarthenshire. he was, observes sir s.r. meyrick, esteemed as an antiquarian and poet, but is more known for the tricks attributed to him as a robber." a.b. _twm sion catti._--the noted robber, twm sion or shôn catti, referred to at no. . p. ., was a welshman who flourished between the years and . he was the natural son of sir john wynne, and obtained his surname of catti from the appellation of his mother catherine. in early life he was a brigand of the most audacious character, who plundered and terrified the rich in such a manner that his name was a sufficient warrant for the raising of any sum which he might desire; while his unbounded generosity to the poor or unprotected, joined to an innate love of fun and frolic--for he was a very eulenspiegel--made him the darling of the people. his chosen dwelling-place was in the almost inaccessible cave situated near llandovery, at the junction of the tywi and the dethia (the toothy of drayton), which still bears his name. as time passed on, he wooed and won the heiress of ystrad-ffin, in the vale of tywi; and on becoming possessed of her property, abandoned his wild life, and with it the name of catti; and quietly subsiding into thomas jones, esq., became a poet and antiquary of high reputation. in addition to which, and as if to mark their sense of the value of a man so powerful for good or for evil, the government appointed him high sheriff for the county of carmarthen. he died universally respected, and left a name which yet kindles many a welsh heart, or amuses many a cottage circle in the long nights of winter. his life has been published in an vo. volume, which was probably the work to which the "note" of "melanion" referred. seleucus. _cheshire round_ (no. . p. .).--a dance so called, peculiar to the county from whence it takes its name. the musical notes of the _cheshire round_ may be seen in _the dancing master_, , vol. i., and in edward jones' _cheshire melodies_. it was sometimes danced "longways for as many us will" (as described in _the dancing master_), but more frequently by one person. a handbill of the time of william the third states, "in bartholomew fair, at the coach-house on the pav'd stones at hosier-lane-end, you shall see a black that dances the _cheshire rounds_ to the admiration of all spectators." michael root and john sleepe, two clever caterers of "bartlemy," also advertise "a little boy that dances the _cheshire round_ to perfection." there is a portrait of dogget the celebrated comedian (said to be the only one extant, but query if it is not penkethman?), representing him dancing the _cheshire round_, with the motto "_ne sutor ultra crepidam_." edward f. rimbault. _horns to a river._--why the poets give horns to rivers, must be sought for in the poet's book, nature. i like the interpretation given by a glance up some sinuous and shelving valley, where the mighty stream, more than half lost to the eye, is only seen in one or two of its bolder reaches, as it tosses itself here to the right, and there to the left, to find a way for its mountain waters. the third question about horns i am not able to answer. it would be interesting to know where your correspondent has found it in late greek. j.e. oxford, april . . _horns._--for answer to the third query of "l.c." (no. . p. .), i subscribe the following, from coleridge:-- "having quoted the passage from shakspeare, "'take thou no scorn to wear the horn, the lusty horn; it was a crest ere thou wert born." _as you like it_, act iv. sc. . "i question (he says), whether there exists a parallel instance of a phrase, that, like this of 'horns,' is universal in all languages, and yet for which no one has discovered even a plausible origin."--_literary remains_, vol. i. p. . pickering, . robert snow. _coal brandy_ (no. . p. .).--this is only a contraction of "coaled brandy," that is, "burnt brandy," and has no reference to the _purity_ of the spirit. it was the "universal pectoral" of the last century; and more than once i have seen it prepared by "good housewives" and "croaking husbands" in the present, pretty much as directed in the following prescription. it is only necessary to remark, that the orthodox method of "coaling," or setting the brandy on fire, was effected by dropping "a live coal" ("_gleed_") or red-hot cinder into the brandy. this is copied from a leaf of paper, on the other side of which are written, in the hand of john nourse, the great publisher of scientific books in his day, some errata in the first vo. edit. of simsons's euclid, and hence may be referred to the year . it was written evidently by some { } "dropper-in," who found "honest john" suffering from a severe cold, and upon the first piece of paper that came to hand. the writer's caligraphy bespeaks age, and the punctuation and erasures show him to have been a literary man, and a careful though stilted writer. it is not, however, a hand of which i find any other exemplars amongst nourse's correspondence. "take two glasses of the best brandy, put them into a cup which may stand over the fire; have two long wires, and put an ounce of sugar-candy upon the wires, and set the brandy on fire. let it burn till it is put out by itself, and drink it before you go to bed. "to make it more pectoral, take some rosemary and put it in the brandy, infused for a whole day, before you burn it." this is the fundamental element of all the quack medicines for "coughs, colds, catarrhs, and consumption," from ford's "balsam of horehound" to dr. solomon's "balm of gilead." t.s.d. shooter's hill, april . _howkey or horkey_ (no. . p. .).--does the following passage from sir thomas overbury's _witty descriptions of the properties of sundry persons_, first published, i believe, in , afford any clue to the etymology of this word? it occurs in the description of a frankling or yeoman:-- "he allows of honest pastime, and thinks not the bones of the dead anything bruised or the worse for it, though the country lasses dance in the church-yard after even-song. rock-monday, and the wake in summer shrovings, the wakeful catches on christmas eve, _the hoky or seed-cake_, these he yearly keeps, yet holds them no relics of popery." as i have not the book by me, and am only quoting from an extract, i am unable to give a more precise reference. e.r.j.h. chancery lane. it may be possible further the purpose of the noble querist as to the word _howkey_ or _horkey_, if i state, that when in my boyhood i was accustomed to hear this word, it was pronounced as if spelt _hockey_. as _howkey_ i should not have recognised it, nor hardly as _horkey_. an east anglian. _hockey_, a game played by boys with a stick bent at the end, is very likely derived from _hook_, an anglo-saxon word too. but we cannot suppose that anything else was derived from that, and especially when we come to words apparently more genuine than that. it seems natural to connect them with a hock-tide, hoch-zeit (german), and heoh-tid (a.-s.), a name given to more than one season when it was usual to have games and festivities. now surely this is nothing else than _high_ tide, a time of some high feast; as we vulgarly say, "high days and holidays." so in the scripture, "that sabbath day was a high day." so high mass. we protestants have no conception of the close connection between the superior sanctity and the superior jollity of a particular season. among the heathen romans, _festicus_ is derived from _festus_.[ ] we say high romps, high jinks. see wachter, who applies hoch-zeit to christmas, easter, and whitsuntide, and says it may be derived either from high, or from _hogen_, "gaudere," which also see. he says that the lower saxons "hodie utuntur '_höge_'" to mean "gaudium privatum et publicum convivale et nuptiale." see also hohen. see lye, who has also heah, freols summa festivitas, summum festum. ihre (_lex. suio goth._) says _hugna_ is "to make glad." but in hog-tid he observes, that gladness is only the secondary meaning of _hogen_,--"_hokanat_ vocabatur a borealibus festum quod media hieme celebrabatur;" and he shows that hawks were formerly sacrificed at it. c.b. [footnote : is not the derivation of "feast" and "fast" originally the same? that which is appointed, connected with "_fas_," and that from "_fari_."] _howkey or horkey_ (no. . p. .).--is not this word simply a corruption of _hockey_? vide under "hock-cart," in _brand's antiquities_ by ellis, where the following quotation from _poor robin's almanack_ for occurs:-- "_hoacky_ is brought home with hallowing, boys with plum-cake the cart following." j.m.b. _luther's portrait at warwick castle_ (no. . p. .).--the portrait by holbein, in warwick castle, certainly erroneously stated to be that of luther, was, i believe, engraved as such in knight's _portrait gallery_, published by the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. i cannot find in any account of helbein's works a mention of a portrait of luther by him. s.w. _symbolism of flowers, etc._--in reference to works illustrative of poetical, mythological, scriptural, and historical associations connected with animals and plants, inquired for in no. . p. ., many a literary man must equally desire an interpreter,-- "t' unbind the charms that in slight fables lie, and teach that truth is truest poesy." yet, in the english language there is, i believe, no work of this description; and i therefore beg leave to suggest, that your learned correspondents may contribute to a very useful compilation by furnishing illustrations, or references to illustrations, critical and poetical, collected from the most valuable authors, ancient and modern; and that this "sacred eloquence," { } "where'er 'tis found on christian or on heathen ground," if transplanted into learned pages, would to many readers, afford much pleasure. meanwhile, i would refer querist to the useful work of camerarius on _symbols and emblems_. "do thou, bright phoebus, guide me luckily to the first plant by some kind augury." the proverbial expression, "under the rose," appears opportunely in p. , beautifully illustrated[ ], but still deserving further consideration. schedius (_de diis gemanis_) and others have, with much learning, shown venus urania to be the same as isis myrionyma. with erudition not inferior, but in support of a peculiar theory, gorop. bacanus maintains harpocrates and cupido, son of venus uranis, to be one and the same hieroglyphical character. i shall now endeavour to explain the symbolism and dedication of the rose. this "flower of flowers" adumbrates the highest faculty of human nature--_reason_, and silence, or the rest of the reasoning powers, which is indicated by the greek term [greek: epistaemae], _science_. (see harris's _philosoph. arrang._ p. ., and _hermes_, p. .). to whom, then, could the hieroglyphical rose have been more appropriately dedicated than harpocrates, who is described with his finger pointing to his mouth--_tacito plenus amore_--a proper emblem of that silence with which we ought to behave in religious matters. t.j. [footnote : has "archilaeus" looked for these verses into the _rhodologia_ of rosenbergius? i have in vain searched for them under "rosæ," in the _amphitheatrum sapientiæ_ of dornavius.] "_where england's monarch_" (no. . p. .).--the two lines inquired for are in bramston's _man of taste_, a poem printed about the middle of the last century. i need hardly add, that the poet was misinformed, it being well known that charles i., when brought to trial, refused to plead or _to take off his hat_. there is an account of duke of marlborough's adventure with barnard in the _gentleman's magazine_, may : but it may be the same as that in the _annual register_. braybrooke april . _journeyman_ (no. . p. .).--"gomer" may like to know that the old labourers in north essex still speak of a day's ploughing as a "_journey at plough_." braybrooke. _sydenham or tidenham._--i have no doubt as to sydenham, included in the inquiry respecting cromwell's estates (no. . p. .), being _tidenham_; for this manor, the property of the marquis of worcester, was possessed by cromwell; and, among my title deeds connected with this parish, i have court rolls _in cromwell's name_ both for _tidenham_ itself and for _beachley_, a mesne manor within it. these manors, which were inherited from the herberts by the somersets, were taken out of the former marches by the statute hen. viii. cap. . § ., and annexed, together with _woolaston_, similarly circumstanced, to the country of gloucester and to the hundred of westbury; of which hundred, in a legal sense, they still continue a part. geo. ormerod. sedbury park, chepstow, april . . _j.b.'s treatise on nature and art_ (no. . p. .).--the book to which your correspondent "m." refers, is, i believe, "_the mysteries of nature and art, in foure severall parts: the first of water works,--the second of fire works, &c., &c. by john bate_." i have the second edition, ; to which is prefixed a rude engraving of the author:--"vera effigies johannis bate, memoria manet, modo permaneant studium et industria." hermes. "_a frog he would a-wooing go_."--in answer to the inquiry of "b.g.j." (in no. , p. .), as to the origin of "'heigh ho!' says rowley," i do not think it is older that thirty of thirty-five years, when liston sang an altered version of the very old song,-- "a frog, he would a-wooing ride, with sword and buckler by his side," and instead of the usual chorus[ ], inserted "heigho, says rowley," as burthen. liston's song was published by goulding and co., soho square, entitled "the love-sick frog," with an original air by c.e.h., esq. (_qy._ charles edward horn?), and an accompaniment by thomas cook. the first verse is as follows:-- "a frog he would a-wooing go; 'heigh ho!' says rowley; whether his mother would let him or no, with a rowly, powly, gammon and spinach, 'heigh!' and anthony rowley," r.s.s. april . . [footnote : in my interleaved copy of halliwell's _nursery rhymes_, i have the original song of the "frog and mouse" with three different melodies, and _nonsense_ burthens, as sung by my excellent nurse, betty richens, whose name i hope to see immortalised in your pages.] "_my love and i for kisses played, &c._" (no. . p. .).--the little _jeu d'esprit_ which "dr. rimbault" { } has given from paget's _common place book_:-- "my love and i for kisses play'd," occurs in the ms. volume from which james boswell extracted "shakspeare's verses on the king," but with a much better reading of the last couplet:-- "nay then, quoth shee, is this your wrangling vaine? give mee my stakes, take your own stakes againe." they are entitled, "upon a lover and his mistris playing for kisses," and are there without any name or signature. they remind us of lilly's very elegant "cupid and campaspe." the ballad, or rather ode, as drayton himself entitles it:-- "fair stood the wind for france," is to be found in the very rare volume with the following title, _poemes lyrick and pastorall, odes, eglogs, the man in the moon, by michael drayton, esquire_. at london, printed by r.b. for n.l. and j. flaskett. mo. (no date, but circa .) i think the odes are given in the other volumes of the early editions of drayton's _miscellaneous poems_; but i speak without book, my collection being in the country. the selection from herrick, noticed by mr. milner barry, was made by dr. nott of bristol, whose initials, j.n., are on the title page. "the head and front of my offending" is the preface of mr. pickering's neat edition of herrick in . s.w.s. march . . ["o.e." informs us that these pretty lines form no. ccxxxix. of _a collection of epigrams. london. printed for j. walthoe_, , and of which a second volume was published in ; and "j.b.m." adds, that they are also to be found in the _encyclopædia of wit_, published about half a century since.] _teneber wednesday._--in hall's _chronicle_, under the date of rd hen. viii., is this passage: "when ester began to draw nere, the parliament for that tyme ended, and was proroged till the last day of marche, in the next yere. in the parliament aforesayde was an acte made that whosoeuer dyd poyson any persone, shoulde be boyled in hote water to the death; which acte was made bicause one richard roose, int the parliament tyme, had poysoned dyuers persons at the bishop of rochester's place, which richard, according to the same acte, was boyled in smythfelde the _teneber-wednysday_ following, to the terrible example of all other." i conjecture that teneber wednesday is the wednesday next before easter, of "feria quarta majoris hebdomadao," and that the name is derived form the gospel for that day according to the ritual of the church of rome. "erat autem fere hora sexta, et _tenèbroe_ factoe sunt in universam terram usque in horam nonam. et obscuratus est sol: et velum templi seissum est medium."--luke, xxiii. , . should this conjecture be ill founded, i shall be glad to see it corrected; at any rate, i shall be obliged if any of your correspondents can supply other instances of the use of the term, or state what are or were the ceremonies peculiar to the day. c.h. cooper cambridge, april . . p.s. since the above was written, i have noticed that "_tenable wednesday_" occurs three times in the ordinance for "weshing of all mannar of lynnon belonging to my lordes chapell" in the northumberland household book (pp. , .). in each instance it is placed between lady day and easter even. [if our correspondent refers to mr. hampson's most useful work, _medii ævi kalendarium_, vol. i. p. ., to the words _tenables, tenabulles, tenebræ_, he will find them explained "the three nights before easter;" and the following among other illustrations:-- "worshipfull frendis, ye shall cum to holi chirch on wednysday, thursday, and friday at even for to here dyvyne service, as commendable custom of holi chirch has ordeyned. and holi chirch useth the iij dayes, wednysday, thursday, and friday, the service to be saide in the eventyde in derkenes. and hit is called with divers men _tenables_, but holi chirch _tenebras_, as _raccionale divinorum_ seth, that is to say, thieness or derkenes, to commemorate the betrayal of our lord by night."--_harl. ms._ . fo. .] _the buckingham motto._--permit me to suggest that your correspondents "s." and "p." (no. . pp. , .) are labouring under a mistaken notion in supposing that the line _sovente me sorene_, belongs to the french idiom, and answers to our phrase "forget me not." such a sentiment would be sufficiently appropriate as the parting prayer or injunction of a lover, but does not possess the essential characteristic of a _motto_, which one selects for the purpose of declaring his own sentiments of conduct towards _others_, not to deprecate or direct those of others towards _himself_. the language employed is, in part, pure italian, not antiquated, but exactly such as is spoken by persons of education at the present day; and if "s." would again examine the original ms., i make no doubt that he would find the line written _sovente mi sooviene (sovene)_, i.e. with the personal pronoun in the dative instead of the accusative case. the expression _mi souviene_ is equivalent to _mi ricordo_, but is a more elegant form that the latter; and the meaning of the motto will be "i seldom forget,"--a pithy and suggestive sentence, implying as much the memory of a wrong to be avenged as of a favour to be required. a. rich, jun. { } _larig._--i am obliged by the suggestions of your correspondents "b.w." and "c.i.r." (no. . p. .), to which i beg leave to offer the following reply. the dutch and flemish (or netherlandish, as they may be considered one language until the fifteenth century) _le'er_ and _le'ar_ are simply contractions of _leder_, as tenkate observes, _euphonis gratia_, by the omission of the _d_, which takes place in other similar words; and what is remarkable in _ledig_, empty, which becomes _le'eg_. _le'erig_ is of course _leathery_, or _tough_; but _lederen_ or _le'ersen_, would be used for _made_ of _leather_, and in a.-s., most probably [a-s: hydig]. we have no such contraction in a.-s.: it is always [a-s: leðer] and [a-s: leðern]. the epithet, _leathery_-shields, could hardly have been used where they are said to _resound_; and the instance of _vaulted_ shields in judith is, i think, conclusive. the root of _leder_ is possibly _hlid-an_, to cover hide? that of _leer_ possibly _lieren_, amittere, privari? i should have noted the instances of the word from junius and schilter, which were not unknown to me, but for brevity's sake; and indeed i had not urry's _chaucer_ at hand to verify the reference of junius to the tale of beryn, the only valuable portion of urry's book. i knew that a simple reference to the o.h.g. lâri would be sufficient for dr. grimm. thorkelin, in his very incorrect edition of beowulf, has followed lye, in rendering _lind haebbende_, vexilla habens; and haldorsen's explanation of _lind_ might have taught him better. mr. kemble has rendered it _shield-bearers_, and gives instances in his glossary of similar combinations, as _rond-haebbendra_, _bord-haebbende_, _scaro-haebbendra_. s.w. singer. april . . _zenobia a jewess?_ (no. . p. .)-- "to conclude what i have to say of this princess, i shall add here, after m. de tillemont, that st. athanasius _took her to be a jewess_, meaning, without doubt, _in respect of her religion_; and that, according to theodoret, it was to please her that paul of samosata, whom she patronised, professed opinions very like those of the jews concerning the person of jesus christ, saying that he was only a mere man, who had nothing in his nature superior to other men, nor was distinguished from them any otherwise than by a more abundant participation of the divine grace."--crevier, _hist. of rom. emperors_, book . "aurelian," vol. ix. p. . m. crevier refers to "tillem. aur. art. ." c. forbes temple, april . _temple stanyan._--the following notices, relating to _one_ temple stanyan may interest your correspondent "a.g." (no. p. .). " . march . died mrs. ---- stanyan, wife of temple stanyan, esq., one of the chief clerks in the office of secretary of state."--_historical register._ " . april . temple stanyan, esq., one of the clerks of his majesty's most hon. privy council, married to mrs. pauncefort."--ibid. there is a monument in one of the churches at southampton,-- "to the memory of catharine, relict of admiral sir charles hardy, and only daughter of temple staynian, esq., of rawlins in co. oxon. she died feb. . , aged years. this monument was erected by her only surviving son, temple hardy, captain in his majesty's navy." edward pauncefort, esq., was one of the executors of sir charles hardy's will, proved in doctors' commons, th june, . w.h. _temple stanyan_ wrote a history of greece, , which was common when i was at school, and another book, as watts says. if the question is biographical, i can say nothing. c.b. _temple stanyan_ (no. . p. .).--he also published an _account of switzerland_, vo. london, . m. _"who was temple stanyan?"_ (no. . p. .) temple stanyan was the son of abraham stanyan, esq., a member of the kit kat club, m.p. for buckingham, ambassador to the porte, a lord of the admiralty, etc. mr. temple stanyan was himself also minister at constantinople, and at several other courts; and afterwards under-secretary of state under both addison and the duke of newcastle. he published in an account of switzerland; and his grecian history in vols. was, till the publication of mitford's, the best in our language. i believe that his daughter married adm. sir charles hardy. he died in . c. _auctorite de dibil_ (no. . p. .).--probably an error of transcription; read _auctorite de bibil_. j.m.b. _the bristol riots_ (no. . p. .).--"j.b.m." is informed, that the volume to which he alludes is generally considered by bristolians as the most authentic and fullest narrative that was published of those disgraceful scenes. j.m.g. worcester. _religious tract by f.h._ (no. . p. .)--the author of the religious tract which has fallen into the hands of "j.c." is no doubt one of the early quakers, and probably francis howgill. howgill was originally a clergyman of the church of england, but afterwards became a baptist, and in the year joined the early quakers, upon hearing the preaching of george fox. his works were published in folio, in , by ellis hookes. [greek: theta]. { } _complutensian mss._--"e.m.b." (no. . p. .) will find full answers to his queries, and more interesting information on the same subject, in a note in vol iv. p. . of don pedro saban's spanish translation of prescott's _ferdinand and isabella_. madrid, . i am told by an american gentleman, who has seen the mss. within a month in the library of the university of madrid, wither they were removed from alcala in , that the chaldaic and hebrew manuscripts are all originals, and on parchment. the only mss. of zamora among them are vols. in latin, translated from the hebrew. the greek mss., or some of them, are still with the collection as above; and of course were not returned to the vatican. h.s. morley's hotel, april . _tablet to napoleon_ (no. . p. ., no. . p. .).--"c.i.r.'s" interpretation can hardly be admitted. the true meaning will be best exhibited by the following form:-- "napoleoni, Ægyptiaco, bis italico, semper invicto." _bis italico_ alludes to his twice conquering italy, viz., in his first campaign, and again in that of marengo. c. _malone's blunder_ (no. . p. .).--"mr. bolton corney," in his answer on this subject, says very justly, that "before we censure a writer, we should consult his own edition." he has, however, not followed this excellent principle in this case, for he has certainly not looked at the irish edition of malone, on which the question arises. he has repeated what i had already stated (no. . p. .), that the mistake was _not_ a blunder of _malone's_; and he has also pointed out, what had escaped me, malone's supplemental note containing the first _three_ articles of the pretended will of _john_ shakspeare: but when he adds that there is "_no fabrication_" and "_no mystery_" in the case, and that "the blunder of the irish editor was merely in attempting to _unite the two fragments_ as published by malone," it is quite clear that he has not seen the edition in question, and has, i think, mistaken the whole affair. the irish editor did _not_ attempt to unite malone's fragments--quite the contrary--he left malone's first fragment as he found it; but he took the second fragment, namely, the exordium of the pretended will of _john_ shakspeare, and substituted it _bodily_ as the exordium of the will of _william_ shakspeare, suppressing altogether the real exordium of the latter. so that this irish will begins, "i, _john_ shakspeare," &c., and ends, "by me, _william_ shakspeare." i have no doubt that the will of john shakspeare is a forgery altogether; but the taking three paragraphs of it, and substituting them for the two first paragraphs of _william_ shakspeare's genuine will, is what i call, and what no doubt "mr. bolton corney" will think, on this explanation of the facts, "an audacious fabrication." the best guess i can make as to how, or with what design, the irish editor should have perpetrated so complicated, and yet so manifest a blunder, is this:--malone printed the fragment in question at the end of his volume, amongst his "emendations and additions," as belonging to "_the will before printed_," meaning the forged will of _john_ shakspeare, but that the irish editor understood him to mean the genuine will of _william_ shakspeare; and so thought that he was only restoring the latter to its integrity: but how he could have overlooked the difference of names, and the want of continuity in the meaning of the documents, is still to me utterly incomprehensible. c. _theses._--perhaps it may assist your correspondent "m." (no. . p. .) to be informed that the university of göttingen is particularly rich in "_theses_" (termed _disputationes et dissertationes_), to which there is a large room entirely devoted in the library of that university; together with the transactions of learned bodies. a special librarian is attached to this department, which is much consulted. a catalogue was begun to be published of this collection, so far as respects the _memoirs_ contained in the various transactions, in , by j.d. reuss; and vols. in to. had appeared up to ; after which, i believe, the publication has been suspended. of catalogues of theses, i think the following work is in good esteem:--_dissert. acad. upsal. habitæ sub præsid. c.p. thunberg_, tom. vo. götting. - . the second part of vol. ii. in the _catalogus bibliothecæ thottiauæ_ ( vol. vo. fauniæ, - .) contains a catalogue, which it might be well to consult, of dissertations under the name of the president or head of the institution or college where they were delivered, than under the writer's name. at least, in a _collective_ sense the former method is adopted, as in the following instance: schultens, (alb.) _sylloge dissertationem philologico-eregeticarum, adiversis auctoribus editarum, sub præsidio a. schultens, etc._, tom.: although, if the author should happen to be distinguished for his other productions, _all_ that he wrote is anxiously sought out, and placed under his own name. j.m. oxford, april . ["m." may also be referred to the _catalogus dissertationum academicarum quibusnsuper aucta est bibliotheca bodleiana_. a quarto volume, printed at the oxford university press in .] _mss. of locke_ (no. . p. .).--"c." is informed { } that dr. thomas hancock died at lisburn, in ireland, during the past year. the papers of locke respecting which he inquires are probably still in the possession of dr. h.'s son. [greek: theta] * * * * * miscellanies. _spur money._--although i used often, twenty years ago, when a chorister at the chapel royal, to take part in levying a fine on all who entered that place with spurs on, i was not aware of its origin till i saw it explained in your interesting publication (no. . p. .). there was a custom however, connected with this impost, the origin of which i should be glad to learn. after the claim was made, the person from whom it was sought to be exacted had the power to summon the youngest chorister before him, and request him to "repeat his gamut," and if he failed, the spur-bearer was entitled to exemption. e.j.h. _spur money._--i beg to offer the following humble illustration of spur-money, which i copied from the belfry wall of all saints church at hastings:-- . "this is a belfry that is free for all those that civil be: and if you please to chime or ring, it is a very pleasant thing. . "there is no musick play'd or sung, like unto bells when they're well rung: then right your bells well, if you can-- silence is best for every man. . "but if you ring in _spur or hat_, sixpence you pay--be sure of that: and if a bell you overthrow, pray pay a groat before you go." (dated) . alfred gatty. ecclesfield, april . . _note books._--looking at what your correspondent says about "note books," i think the following hint may be useful to others, as it has been to myself. many persons never get so far as the formality of a common-place book, and do not like to write in their books. let them follow my plan. the envelope maker will procure them any number of little slips of white paper, with a touch of isinglass at each of the four corners. let the note be written on one of these, and then let the slip be stuck into any book which is sure to be wanted in connection with the subject when it comes up again; either by one, two, or four corners, as convenient. the isinglass will not hurt the book, if ever it be wanted to remove the slip. a note is more in the way, when attached to a book which suggested it, than when buried among unindexed miscellanies; and there are few who index themselves. your motto is good as far as it goes; but the other half is wanting:-- "when made a note of,--find if you can." m. * * * * * lady rachael russell. mr. dyce has admitted lady rachael russell among his _british poetesses_ on account of the following verses:-- to the memory of her husband. "right noble twice, by virtue and by birth, of heaven lov'd, and honour'd on the earth; his country's hope, his kindred's chief delight, my husband dear, more than this world's light, death hath me reft. but i from death will take his memory, to whom this tomb i make. john was his name (ah, was! wretch must i say), lord russell once, now my tear-thirsty clay." now "john" was not the christian name of william lord russell, so that these verses could not have come from his widow's pen. indeed, they are much older than lady rachael's time, and may be found on the monument in westminster abbey erected by lady russell, in the reign of queen elizabeth, to john lord russell, who died in . p. cunningham. * * * * * _byron and tacitus_ (no. . p. .).--to your young friend, who honestly signs himself "a schoolboy," let an older correspondent say, that he will do more wisely to let the rules of his teachers keep him from perusing an author who makes a mock of all moral and all honourable feelings. but if he wishes to know whether the introduction of the sentence from tacitus into a poetical tale should be called "cabbaging," the reply will properly be, no. the poet expected that the well-known figure, which he had thus thrown into verse, would be immediately recognised by every literary reader, and that the recognition would give pleasure. he was trying his hand at a task of which it has been affirmed by a master, that _difficile est proprie communia dicere_. the schoolboy knows where to find these words; and i hope that he also knows where to find the words of one who speaks with greater authority, and has said most kindly, "cease, my son, to hear [read] the instruction that causeth to err." h.w. _aboriginal chambers near tilbury._--it is proposed to descend some of the aboriginal chambers alluded to by camden, near tilbury in essex. in consequence, however, of camden having named a wrong parish, later antiquaries have been puzzled to ascertain their precise whereabouts. mr. crafter, in , after many days' labour, found them out; and a brief notice of them was given { } in an article upon "primæval britain" in the _west kent almanack for_ . hasted mentions similar pits in crayford parish, kent. in dartford parish is another called "the sound hole," from the echoes, &c., made upon a stone being thrown down. mr. s. laudale intends an examination of it this summer. tradition reports that there are three enormous caverns, which communicate with the central shaft. how, or what, is the best way of driving the foul air out of those chambers which are aloof from the central shaft? [greek: delta] _sir r. haigh's letter-book._--a few days ago, messrs. puttick and simpson sold a very important manuscript, the original letter-book of sir r. haigh, of lancashire, of the time of charles ii. it fetched l., being bought by a collector whose name has not transpired; but perhaps this notice, if you kindly insert it, may induce the purchaser to edit it for the chetham society, to whose publications it would for a most valuable addition. r. _a phonetic peculiarity._--i venture to note as a very curious phonetic peculiarity, that we have in the english language a large number of monosyllabic words ending is _sh_, all of which are expressive of some violet action or emotion. i quote a few which have occurred without search, in alphabetical order. "brush, brash, crash, crush, dash, gash, gush, hash, gnash, lash, mash, pash, push, quash, rush, slash, smash, squash, thrash." j.m.b. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. at the late annual meeting of the shakespeare society it was announced that a complete collection of the works of thomas heywood had been determined upon, and the first volume containing six plays was laid upon the table. it was also shown that mr. collier's _essay on the chandos portrait_ had only been delayed from a desire to obtain the most novel and accurate information. the members of the percy society will be glad to hear, that at the annual meeting on the st instant, the immediate publication of the third volume of mr. wright's edition of the _canterbury tales_ was announced. the plan for the _restoration of chaucer's tomb_ in poet's corner has at length assumed a practical shape. it has been ascertained that less than l. will do every thing that can be desired to repair the ravages of time, and preserve the monument for centuries to come. it is proposed to raise this sum by subscriptions of five shillings, that more may share in the good work; and a committee has been formed to carry out this scheme, which has already received the sanction of the earl of carlisle, the earl of ellesmere, lord braybrooke, mr. charles wynn, and other distinguished lovers of literature. subscriptions are received by every member of the committee, and parties resident in the country may remit them by post-office orders payable at charing cross in favour of william richard drake, esq., f.s.a., of . parliament street, the honorary treasurer; or of william j. thoms, esq., the honorary secretary of the committee. the annual meeting of the camden society on the d instant, under the presidentship of lord braybrooke, gave general satisfaction. the council reported the publication during the past year of the _peterborough chronicle_; the _letters of elizabeth and james vi._; and the _chronicle of queen jane_. this last volume was then only on the eve of circulation; it has since been issued, and found to justify the announcement of the council that it is work of great historical value, and an interesting companion to _machyn's diary_. we have received the following catalogues:--james darling's ( . little queen street, lincoln's inn fields) catalogue of books old and new, theological and miscellaneous, and andrew clark's ( . city road) catalogue, no. ., of books in english and foreign theology, literature, roman catholic controversy, classics, &c. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) the anti-jacobin. roccha de campanis. _odd volumes_. the spirit of the public journals, vol i. . calendar of harleian mss., vol. iv. * * * * * notices to correspondents. completion of our first volume.--_two more numbers will complete our first volume, to which a very full index is preparing. a second volume, of the same size, will be completed at the end of december, and we shall then be enabled to judge how far it will be desirable to adopt the system of half-yearly or yearly volumes._ _our readers will find the present and two following numbers principally occupied with_ replies, _as it is obviously desirable that they should, as far as possible, appear in the same volume as the_ queries _to which they refer._ collar of ss. _this subject shall be brought forward early in the next volume._ e.s.t. _thanks._ the query and folk lore _shall appear as soon as possible_. w.m.t. _is also thanked. it can scarcely be necessary to assure him, that had we known what he has so kindly informed us, the article he alludes to would not have been inserted, nay, we are sure we may add, that the friend who sent it would never have handed it to us for publication_. * * * * * { } on the th of april, , was published, by charles knight, part i. of the imperial cyclopÆdia; to be continued in monthly parts, price half-a-crown, super-royal vo. the work now announced is the commencement of a new series of cyclopÆdias, founded upon the vast treasury of original materials in "the penny cyclopÆdia." the publication commences with the geography of the british empire; to form two volumes, with steel engravings and numerous coloured maps; and to be completed in twelve monthly parts, at half-a-crown. "the part now before us is the commencement of the 'cyclopædia of geography.' the articles which appear in the present number convey a large amount of useful information in a compact and intelligent form. they are evidently the productions of competent writers, well acquainted with the present state of geographical science. the maps are beautifully distinct. fulness, compactness, and clearness--the great requisites of a cyclopædia--are here combined in a high degree."--_the athenæum_, no. . "the part before us promises well. books published subsequently to the 'penny cyclopædia' have been consulted, to bring down the information to the latest date; and many contributions from local residents of places in this country enrich particular articles with full knowledge."--_the spectator_, no. . london: charles knight, fleet street. * * * * * now ready, containing plates, royal vo. s.; folio, l. s.; india paper, l. s. the monumental brasses of england: a series of engravings upon wood, from every variety of these interesting and valuable memorials, accompanied with descriptive notices. by the rev. c. foutell, m.a. rector of downham market. part xii, completing the work, price s. d.; folio, s.; india paper, s. by the same author, royal vo. s.; large paper, s. monumental brasses and slabs: an historical and descriptive notice of the incised monumental memorials of the middle ages. with upward of engravings. "a handsome large octavo volume, abundantly supplied with well-engraved woodcuts and lithographic plates; a sort of encyclopædia for ready reference.... the whole work has a look of painstaking completeness highly commendable."--_athenæum_. "one of the most beautifully got up and interesting volumes we have seen for a long time. it gives in the compass of one volume an account of the history of those beautiful monuments of former days ... the illustrations are extremely well chosen."--_english churchman._ a few copies of this work remain for sale; and, as it will not be reprinted in the same form and at the same price, the remaining copies are raised in price. early application for the large paper edition is necessary. by the same author, to be completed in four parts, christian monuments in england and wales: an historical and descriptive sketch of the various classes of monumenta memorials which have been in use in this country from about the time of the norman conquest. profusely illustrated with wood engravings. part i. price s. d.; part ii. s. d. "a well conceived and executed work."--_ecclesiologist._ * * * * * materials for making rubbings of monumental brasses and other incised works of art. heel ball, in cakes, at d. and s. each. also, richardson's metallic rubber, in cakes price s. l d.; double cakes, s. d. * * * * * the romance of the peerage; or, curiosities of family history. by george lillie craik. vols. i. ii. and iii. post vo., cloth, s. d. each. "a book of strange facts."--_atlas._ "great industry and minute research are apparent in almost every page. mr. craik happily unites excellence of style with patient erudition."--_morning chronicle._ "for our own parts, let us at once say, that mr. craik's design appears to us an extremely good one, and that we are glad to see it in competent hands. it is precisely that kind of book to which scrupulous care and diligent labour were essential; and in this respect we cannot speak too highly of the volume lying on our table."--_examiner._ volume iv., completing the work, is in the press. london: chapman and hall, . strand. * * * * * cut and come again! to historians, antiquaries, and county collectors.--highly interesting and curious biographical, antiquarian, and topographical cuttings from old newspapers, magazines, registers, &c., may be had at the little bookshop, red lion street, holborn. n.b. every cutting is correctly and distinctly dated. * * * * * just published, williams and norgate's catalogue of german theological books; including the works of neander, tholuck, nitzsch, julius muller, krummacher, dorner, hengstenberg, ewald, harless, lange, umbriet, stier, olshausen, schleiermacher, &c., editions of the bible, the works of the fathers and reformers, &c. &c. gratis (two stamps). . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * the primÆval antiquities of england illustrated by those of denmark. the primÆval antiquities of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustrations of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. with numerous woodcuts. vo. s. d. "the best antiquarian handbook we have ever met with--so clear is its arrangement, and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well-executed engravings.... it is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquarians."-- _morning herald._ "a book of remarkable interest and ability.... mr. worsaae's book is in all ways a valuable addition to our literature.... mr. thoms has executed the translation in flowing and idiomatic english, and has appended many curious and interesting notes and observations of his own."--_guardian._ see also the _gentleman's magazine_ for february . oxford: john henry parker, and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, and in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . ingram, charles franks, and the online distributed proofreading team notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle * * * * * no. saturday, november , . price threepence. stamped edition, d. * * * * * notes and queries. the nature and design of the present work have been so fully stated in the prospectus, and are indeed so far explained by its very title, that it is unnecessary to occupy any great portion of its first number with details on the subject. we are under no temptation to fill its columns with an account of what we hope future numbers will be. indeed, we would rather give a specimen than a description; and only regret that, from the wide range of subjects which it is intended to embrace, and the correspondence and contributions of various kinds which we are led to expect, even this can only be done gradually. a few words of introduction and explanation may, however, be allowed; and indeed, ought to be prefixed, that we may be understood by those readers who have not seen our prospectus. "when found, make a note of," is a most admirable rule; and if the excellent captain had never uttered another word, he might have passed for a profound philosopher. it is a rule which should shine in gilt letters on the gingerbread of youth, and the spectacle-case of age. every man who reads with any view beyond mere pastime, knows the value of it. every one, more or less, acts upon it. every one regrets and suffers who neglects it. there is some trouble in it, to be sure; but in what good thing is there not? and what trouble does it save! nay, what mischief! half the lies that are current in the world owe their origin to a misplaced confidence in memory, rather than to intentional falsehood. we have never known more than one man who could deliberately and conscientiously say that his memory had _never_ deceived him; and he (when he saw that he had excited the surprise of his hearers, especially those who knew how many years he had spent in the management of important commercial affairs) used to add,--because he had never trusted it; but had uniformly written down what he was anxious to remember. but, on the other hand, it cannot be denied that reading and writing men, of moderate industry, who act on this rule for any considerable length of time, will accumulate a good deal of matter in various forms, shapes, and sizes--some more, some less legible and intelligible--some unposted in old pocket books--some on whole or half sheets, or mere scraps of paper, and backs of letters--some lost sight of and forgotten, stuffing out old portfolios, or getting smoky edges in bundles tied up with faded tape. there are, we are quite sure, countless boxes and drawers, and pigeon-holes of such things, which want looking over, and would well repay the trouble. nay, we are sure that the proprietors would find themselves much benefited even if we were to do nothing more than to induce them to look over their own collections. how much good might we have done (as well as got, for we do not pretend to speak quite disinterestedly), if we had had the looking over and methodizing of the chaos in which mr. oldbuck found himself just at the moment, so agonizing to an author, when he knows that the patience of his victim is oozing away, and fears it will be quite gone before he can lay his hand on the charm which is to fix him a hopeless listener:--"so saying, the antiquary opened a drawer, and began rummaging among a quantity of miscellaneous papers ancient and modern. but it was the misfortune of this learned gentleman, as it may be that of many learned and unlearned, that he frequently experienced on such occasions, what harlequin calls "_l'embarras des richesses_"--in other words, the abundance of his collection often prevented him from finding the article he sought for." we need not add that this unsuccessful search for professor mac cribb's epistle, and the scroll of the antiquary's answer, was the unfortunate turning-point on which the very existence of the documents depended, and that from that day to this nobody has seen them, or known where to look for them. but we hope for more extensive and important benefits than these, from furnishing a medium by which much valuable information may become a sort of common property among those who can appreciate and use it. we do not anticipate any holding back by those whose "notes" are most worth having, or any want of "queries" from those best able to answer them. whatever may be the case in other things, it is certain that those who are best informed are generally the most ready to communicate knowledge and to confess ignorance, to feel the value of such a work as we are attempting, and to understand that if it is to be well done they must help to do it. some cheap and frequent means for the interchange of thought is certainly wanted by those who are engaged in literature, art, and science, and we only hope to persuade the best men in all, that we offer them the best medium of communication with each other. by this time, we hope, our readers are prepared to admit that our title (always one of the most difficult points of a book to settle), has not been imprudently or unwisely adopted. we wish to bring together the ideas and the wants, not merely of men engaged in the same lines of action or inquiry, but also (and very particularly) of those who are going different ways, and only meet at the crossings, where a helping hand is oftenest needed, and they would be happy to give one if they knew it was wanted. in this way we desire that our little book should take "notes," and be a medley of all that men are doing--that the notes of the writer and the reader, whatever be the subject-matter of his studies, of the antiquary, and the artist, the man of science, the historian, the herald, and the genealogist, in short, notes relating to all subjects but such as are, in popular discourse, termed either political or polemical, should meet in our columns in such juxta-position, as to give fair play to any natural attraction or repulsion between them, and so that if there are any hooks and eyes among them, they may catch each other. now, with all modesty, we submit, that for the title of such a work as we have in view, and have endeavoured to describe, no word could be so proper as "notes." can any man, in his wildest dream of imagination, conceive of any thing that may not be--nay, that has not been--treated of in a _note?_ thousands of things there are, no doubt, which cannot be sublimed into poetry, or elevated into history, or treated of with dignity, in a stilted text of any kind, and which are, as it is called, "thrown" into notes; but, after all, they are much like children sent out of the stiff drawing-room into the nursery, snubbed to be sure by the act, but joyful in the freedom of banishment. we were going to say (but it might sound vainglorious), where do things read so well as in notes? but we will put the question in another form:--where do you so well test an author's learning and knowledge of his subject?--where do you find the pith of his most elaborate researches?--where do his most original suggestions escape?--where do you meet with the details that fix your attention at the time and cling to your memory for ever?--where do both writer and reader luxuriate so much at their case, and feel that they are wisely discursive?--but if we pursue this idea, it will be scarcely possible to avoid something which might look like self-praise; and we content ourselves for the present with expressing our humble conviction that we are doing a service to writers and readers, by calling forth materials which they have themselves thought worth notice, but which, for want of elaboration, and the "little leisure" that has not yet come, are lying, and may lie for ever, unnoticed by others, and presenting them in an unadorned _multum-in-parvo_ form. to our readers therefore who are seeking for truth, we repeat "when found make a note of!" and we must add, "till then make a query." * * * * * place of capture of the duke of monmouth. th october, . mr. editor,--mr. macaulay's account of the battle of sedgemoor is rendered singularly picturesque and understandable by the personal observation and local tradition which he has brought to bear upon it. might not his account of the capture of monmouth derive some few additional life-giving touches, from the same invaluable sources of information. it is extremely interesting, as every thing adorned by mr. macaulay's luminous style must necessarily be, but it lacks a little of that bright and living reality, which, in the account of sedgemoor, and in many other parts of the book, are imparted by minute particularity and precise local knowledge. it runs as follows:-- "on cranbourne chase the strength of the horses failed. they were therefore turned loose. the bridles and saddles were concealed. monmouth and his friends disguised themselves as country-men, and proceeded on foot towards the new forest. they passed the night in the open air: but before morning they were surrounded on every side.... at five in the morning of the seventh, grey was seized by two of lumley's scouts.... it could hardly be doubted that the chief rebel was not far off. the pursuers redoubled their vigilance and activity. the cottages scattered over the healthy country on the boundaries of dorsetshire and hampshire were strictly examined by lumley; and the clown with whom monmouth had changed clothes was discovered. portman came with a strong body of horse and foot to assist in the search. attention was soon drawn to a place well suited to shelter fugitives. it was an extensive tract of land separated by an inclosure from the open country, and divided by numerous hedges into small fields. in some of these fields the rye, the pease, and the oats were high enough to conceal a man. others were overgrown by fern and brambles. a poor woman reported that she had seen two strangers lurking in this covert. the near prospect of reward animated the zeal of the troops.... the outer fence was strictly guarded: the space within was examined with indefatigable diligence; and several dogs of quick scent were turned out among the bushes. the day closed before the search could be completed: but careful watch was kept all night. thirty times the fugitives ventured to look through the outer hedge: but everywhere they found a sentinel on the alert: once they were seen and fired at: they then separated and concealed themselves in different hiding places. "at sunrise the next morning the search recommenced, and buyse was found. he owned that he had parted from the duke only a few hours before. the corn and copsewood were now beaten with more care than ever. at length a gaunt figure was discovered hidden in a ditch. the pursuers sprang on their prey. some of them were about to fire; but portman forbade all violence. the prisoner's dress was that of a shepherd; his beard, prematurely grey, was of several days' growth. he trembled greatly, and was unable to speak. even those who had often seen him were at first in doubt whether this were the brilliant and graceful monmouth. his pockets were searched by portman, and in them were found, among some raw pease gathered in the rage of hunger, a watch, a purse of gold, a small treatise on fortification, an album filled with songs, receipts, prayers, and charms, and the george with which, many years before, king charles the second had decorated his favourite son."--_hist. eng._, i. pp. - . nd edition. now, this is all extremely admirable. it is a brilliant description of an important historical incident. but on what precise spot did it take place? one would like to endeavour to realise such an event at the very place where it occurred, and the historian should enable us to do so. i believe the spot is very well known, and that the traditions of the neighbourhood upon the subject are still vivid. it was near woodyate's inn, a well-known roadside inn, a few miles from salisbury, on the road to blandford, that the duke and his companions turned adrift their horses. from thence they crossed the country in almost a due southerly direction. the tract of land in which the duke took refuge is rightly described by mr. macaulay, as "separated by an inclosure from the open country." its nature is no less clearly indicated by its local name of "the island." the open down which surrounds it is called shag's heath. the island is described as being about a mile and a half from woodlands, and in the parish of horton, in dorsetshire. the field in which the duke concealed himself is still called "monmouth close." it is at the north-eastern extremity of the island. an ash-tree at the foot of which the would-be-king was found crouching in a ditch and half hid under the fern, was standing a few years ago, and was deeply indented with the carved initials of crowds of persons who has been to visit it. mr. macaulay has mentioned that the fields were covered--it was the eighth of july--with standing crops of rye, pease, and oats. in one of them, a field of pease, tradition tells us that the duke dropped a gold snuff-box. it was picked up some time afterwards by a labourer, who carried it to mrs. uvedale of horton, probably the proprietress of the field, and received in reward fifteen pounds, which was said to be half its value. on his capture, the duke was first taken to the house of anthony etterick, esq., a magistrate who resided at holt, which adjoins horton. tradition, which records the popular feeling rather than the fact, reports, that the poor woman who informed the pursuers that she had seen two strangers lurking in the island--her name was amy farrant--never prospered afterwards; and that henry parkin, the soldier, who, spying the skirt of the smock-frock which the duke had assumed as a disguise, recalled the searching party just as they were leaving the island, burst into tears and reproached himself bitterly for his fatal discovery. it is a defect in the ordnance survey, that neither the island nor monmouth close is indicated upon it by name. i know not, mr. editor, whether these particulars are of the kind which you design to print as "notes." if they are so, and you give them place in your miscellany, be good enough to add a "query" addressed to your dorsetshire correspondents, as to whether the ash-tree is now standing, and what is the actual condition of the spot at the present time. the facts i have stated are partly derived from the book known as _addison's anecdotes_, vol. iv., p. . , vo. they have been used, more or less, by the late rev. p. hall, in his _account of ringwood_, and by mr. roberts, in his _life of monmouth_. with the best of good wishes for the success of your most useful periodical, believe me, mr. editor, yours very truly, john bruce. * * * * * shakespeare and deer-stealing. in "the life of shakespeare," prefixed to the edition of his works i saw through the press three of four years ago, i necessarily entered into the deer-stealing question, admitting that i could not, as some had done, "entirely discredit the story," and following it up by proof (in opposition to the assertion of malone), that sir thomas lucy had deer, which shakespeare might have been concerned in stealing. i also, in the same place (vol. i. p. xcv.), showed, from several authorities, how common and how venial offence it was considered in the middle of the reign of elizabeth. looking over some mss. of that time, a few weeks since, i met with a very singular and confirmatory piece of evidence, establishing that in the year , the precise period when our great dramatist is supposed to have made free with the deer of the knight of charlcote, nearly all the cooks'-shops and ordinaries of london were supplied with stolen venison. the following letter from the lord mayor (which i copy from the original) of that day, thomas pullyson, to secretary walsingham, speaks for itself, and shows that the matter has been deemed of so much important as to call for the interposition of the privy council: the city authorities were required to take instant and arbitrary measures for putting an end to the consumption of venison and to the practice of deer-stealing, by means of which houses &c. of public resort in london were furnished with that favourite viand. the letter of the lord mayor was a speedy reply to a communication from the queen's ministers on the subject:-- "right honorable, where yesterday i receaved letters from her ma'tes most honorable privie councill, advertisinge me that her highnes was enformed that venison ys as ordinarilie sould by the cookes of london as other flesh, to the greate distruction of the game. commaundinge me thereby to take severall bondes of xl'li the peece of all the cookes in london not to buye or sell any venison hereafter, uppon payne of forfayture of the same bondes; neyther to receave any venison to bake without keepinge a note of theire names that shall deliver the same unto them. whereupon presentlie i called the wardens of the cookes before me, advertisinge them hereof, requiringe them to cause their whole company to appeare before me, to thende i might take bondes accordinge to a condition hereinclosed sent to your ho.; whoe answered that touchinge the first clause thereof they were well pleased therewith, but for the latter clause they thought yt a greate inconvenience to their companie, and therefore required they might be permitted to make theire answeres, and alledge theire reasons therof before theire honors. affirmed alsoe, that the tablinge howses and tavernes are greater receyvors and destroyers of stollen venison than all the rest of the cittie: whereupon they craved that eyther they maye be likewise bounden, or else authoritie may be geven to the cookes to searche for the same hereafter. i have therefore taken bondes of the wardens for their speedy appearance before theire honors to answere the same; and i am bolde to pray your ho. to impart the same unto their ho., and that i maye with speede receyve theire future direction herein. and soe i humbly take my leave. london, the xj'th of june, . "your honors to commaunde, "thomas pullyson, maior." i dare say that the registers of the privy council contain some record of what was done on the occasion, and would enable us to decide whether the very reasonable request of the cooks of london had been complied with. whether this be or be not so, the above document establishes beyond question that in the summer of cooks'-shops, tabling-houses (i.e. ordinaries), and taverns, were abundantly supplied with stolen venison, and that the offence of stealing must have been very common. j. payne collier kensington, oct. , * * * * * "pray remember the grotto!" on st. james' day. when the great popularity which the legends of the saints formerly enjoyed is considered it becomes matter of surprise that they should not have been more frequently consulted for illustrations of our folk-lore and popular observances. the edinburgh reviewer of mrs. jameson's _sacred and legendary art_ has, with great judgement, extracted from that work a legend, in which, as he shows very clearly[a], we have the real, although hitherto unnoticed, origin of the three balls which still form the recognised sign of a pawnbroker. the passage is so curious, that it should be transferred entire to the "notes and queries." [a] edinburgh review, vol. lxxxix. p. . "none of the many diligent investigators of our popular antiquities have yet traced home the three golden balls of our pawnbrokers to the emblem of st. nicholas. they have been properly enough referred to the lombard merchants, who were the first to open loan-shops in england for the relief of temporary distress. but the lombards had merely assumed an emblem which had been appropriated to st. nicholas, as their charitable predecessor in that very line of business. the following is the legend: and it is too prettily told to be omitted:-- "'now in that city (panthera) there dwelt a certain nobleman, who had three daughters, and, from being rich, he became poor; so poor that there remained no means of obtaining food for his daughters but by sacrificing them to an infamous life; and oftentimes it came into his mind to tell them so, but shame and sorrow held him dumb. meanwhile the maidens wept continually, not knowing what to do, and not having bread to eat; and their father became more and more desperate. when nicholas heard of this, he thought it shame that such a thing should happen in a christian land; therefore one night, when the maidens were asleep, and their father alone sat watching and weeping, he took a handful of gold, and, tying it up in a handkerchief, he repaired to the dwelling of the poor man. he considered how he might bestow it without making himself known; and, while he stood irresolute, the moon coming from behind a cloud showed him a window open; so he threw it in, and it fell at the feet of the father, who, when he found it, returned thanks, and with it he portioned his eldest daughter. a second time nicholas provided a similar sum, and again he threw it in by night; and with it the nobleman married his second daughter. but he greatly desired to know who it was that came to his aid; therefore he determined to watch: and when the good saint came for the third time, and prepared to throw in the third portion, he was discovered, for the nobleman seized him by the skirt of his robe, and flung himself at his feet, saying, "o nicholas! servant of god! why seek to hid thyself?" and he kissed his feet and his hands. but nicholas made him promise that he would tell no man. and many other charitable works did nicholas perform in his native city.' "these three purses of gold, or, as they are more customarily figured, these three golden balls, disposed in exact pawnbroker fashion, are to this day the recognised special emblem of the charitable st. nicholas." and now for the more immediate object of the present note, which is to show--what, when once pointed out, will, i think, readily be admitted, namely, that in the grotto formed of oyster shells, and lighted with a votive candle, to which on old st. james's day ( th august) the passer by is earnestly entreated to contribute by cries of, "pray remember the grotto!" we have a memorial of the world-renowned shrine of st. james at compostella. the popularity which st. james formerly enjoyed in england, and the zeal with which his shrine was visited by natives of this country, have recently been so clearly shown by mr. j.g. nichols, in his interesting little volume, _pilgrimages to st. mary of walsingham and st. thomas of canterbury_, that i need not here insist upon these points. what the original object of making these grottoes may have been i can only suggest: but i shall not be surprised if it should turn out that they were formerly erected on the anniversary of st. james by poor persons, as an invitation to the pious who could not visit compostella, to show their reverence for the saint by almsgiving to their needy brethren. oysters are only allowed to be sold in london (which city, by the by, levied a tax of two pence on every person going and returning by the river thames on pilgrimage to the shrine of st. james), after st. james's day. why is this? i wish mr. wansey, who is an able antiquary, and one authorised to look into the records of fishmongers' company, would give us the information upon this point which these documents may be expected to furnish. william j. thoms. p.s.--i should be glad if any of the readers of "notes and queries" could explain to that erasmus alludes, when he says, "culmeis ornatus torquibus, brachium habet ova serpentum," which l'estrange translated, "straw-works,--snakes, eggs for bracelets;" and mr. nichols, who honestly states that he is unable to explain the allusion, as he does not find such emblems elsewhere mentioned,--"adorned with straw necklaces and bracelets of serpents' eggs." * * * * * note of a ms. volume of chronicles at reigate. amongst the objects of the useful medium of literary communication afforded by the publication of "notes and queries," one appears to be a record of the casual notice of "some book or some edition, hitherto unknown or imperfectly described." i am induced therefore to inquire, whether the existence of an ancient ms. volume of chronicles, which i have recently noticed in the little library adjoining reigate church, is already known to those who investigate out monastic annals? this volume may probably not have escaped their research, especially since the republication and extension of wharton's collection, have been recently proposed. a chronological series of chronicles relativing to the see of canterbury was announced amongst the projected publications of the "anglia christiana society." the reigate library, of which brief mention is made in manning's and bray's _history of surrey_ (vol. i. p. .) without any notice of its contents, is preserved in the upper chamber of a building on the north side of the chancel, erected in , and designated as a "vestibulum" in a contemporary inscription. the collection is small, and amoungst the most interesting volumes is a small folio, in the original oaken boards covered with white leather, presented to the library, . june, , by william jordan, of gatwick, in the adjacent parish of charlwood, probably the same person who was member for the borough of reigate in . of previous possessors of the book nothing is recorded. it comprises several concise chronicles, which may be thus described:-- . "cathologus romanorum pontificum:"--imperfect, commencing with fol. ; some leaves also lost at the end. it closes with the year , in the times of innocent vi. . "de imperatoribus romanis:"--from julius cæsar to the election and coronation of charles iv. after the death of the emperor lewis of bavaria, and the battle of cressy, in . . "compilacio cronicorum de diversis archiepiscopis ecclesie cantuariensis:"--the chronicle of stephen birchington, a monk of canterbury, printed by wharton, from a ms. in the lambeth collection. the text varies in many particulars, which may be of minor moment, but deserve collation. the writing varies towards the close, as if the annals had been continued at intervals; and they close with the succession of archibishop william de witleseye, in , as in the text printed by wharton (_anglia sacra_, vol. i. pp. - .). . "de principio mundi, et etatibus ejusdem.--de insulis et civitatibus anglie:"--forming a sort of brief preface to the following--"hic incipit bruto de gestis anglorum." the narrative begins with a tale of a certain giant king of greece, in the year , who had thirty daughters: the eldest, albina, gave her name to albion. the history is continued to the accession of william rufus. . "incipit cronica de adquisicione regni anglie per willelmum ducem normannorum," &c. closing in , with the birth of edward of engolesme, eldest son of the black prince. wharton speaks of "historiæ de regibus anglorum, de pontificibus romanis, et de imperatoribus romanis," as found together with the chronicle of the archibishops of canterbury; both in the lambeth ms. and in another formerly in the possession of william reede, bishop of chichester: and he was inclined to attribute the whole to the pen of birchington. . "gesta scotorum contra anglicos:"--commencing in , with the times of malcolm, king of scotland, and ending in , with the capture of david ii., and the calamitous defeat of the scots near durham. at the commencement of the volume are found some miscellaneous writings of less interesting character. i noticed, however, an entry relating to the foundation of a chapel at "ocolte," now written knockholt, in kent, by ralph scot, who had erected a mansion remote from the parish church, and obtained license for the consecration of the chapel in the year , in the time of archbishop kilwareby. the writing of the ms. appears to be of the latter half of the fourteenth century. possibly there may be reader of these "notes and queries," more familiar with such inquiries than myself, who may have examined other contemporary mss. of the compilations of stephen birchington. i shall be thankful for any information regarding them, and especially as regards the existence of any transcript of the canterbury annals, extended beyond the year , with which this copy as well as that used by wharton closes; whilst he supposes that in the chronicle as cited by jocelin, chaplain to matthew parker, they had been carried as far as the year . albert way. * * * * * the morning chronicle, etc.--when first established. it is read in the _newspaper directory_ that _the morning chronicle_ was established in , _the morning herald_ in , _the times_, st january, . i believe that not one of these dates is correct, and that of _the morning herald_ to be wrong by fifteen years or more. can you, or any of the readers of "notes and queries," give me the exact dates, or tell me where i can find the earlier volumes; say, the first ten, or either or all? d. * * * * * value of a repository for "notes."--new edition of herbert's "ames." [the suggestions in the following paper are so extremely valuable, that we are not only pleased to give it insertion, but hope that our readers will take advantage of our columns to carry out dr. maitland's recommendations.] sir,--my attention has been particularly engaged by one suggestion in your prospectus, because it seems to hold out a hope that your intended work will furnish what has long been a _desideratum_ in literature. we really do want something that may form a "supplement to works already in existence--a treasury for enriching future editions of them;" while it may also receive (as i have no doubt you meant to include,) such contributions of moderate extent, as may tend to render fuller and more correct some works which have little or no chance of future editions. in this way you may be of great use in every department of literature; and especially in works of reference. with them, indeed, correctness is everything; perfect accuracy is not to be attained, and the nearest possible approximation to it can be made only by many little careful steps, backwards as well as forwards. by works of reference, however, i do not mean dictionaries, though i would include them, as a class of works for which i have a singular respect, and to which my remark particularly applies. there are many other books, and some which very properly aspire to the tile of history, which are, in fact and practically, books of reference, and of little value if they have not the completeness and accuracy which should characterise that class of works. now it frequently happens to people whose reading is at all discursive, that they incidentally fall upon small matters of correction or criticism, which are of little value to themselves, but would be very useful to those who are otherwise engaged, if they knew of their existence. i might perhaps illustrate this matter by referring to various works; but it happens to be more in my way to mention herbert's edition of ames's _typographical antiquities_. it may be hoped that some day or other, the valuable matter of which it consists will be reduced to a better form and method; for it seems hardly too much to say, that he appears to have adopted the very worst that could have been selected. i need not tell you that i have no idea of undertaking such a thing, and i really have no suspicion (i wish i had) that anybody else is thinking of doing it:--or, in other words, i am not attempting to make use of your columns by insinuating a preparatory puff for a work in progress, or even in contemplation. i only mention the book as one of a class which may be essentially benefited by your offering a receptacle for illustrations, additions, and corrections, such as individually, or in small collections, are of little or no value, and are frequently almost in the very opposite condition to those things which are of no value to any body but the owner. for instance, when i was in the habit of seeing many of the books noted by herbert, and had his volumes lying beside me, i made hundreds, perhaps thousands, of petty corrections, and many from books which he had not had an opportunity of seeing, and of which he could only reprint incorrect descriptions. all of these, though trifling in themselves, are things which should be noticed in case of a reprint; but how much time and trouble would it cost an editor to find and collate the necessary books? that, to be sure, is his business; but the question for the public is, _would_ it be done at all? and could it in such cases be done so well in any other way, as by appointing some place of rendezvous for the casual and incidental materials for improvement which may fall in the way of readers pursuing different lines of inquiry, and rewarded, as men in pursuit of truth always are, whatever may be their success as to their _immediate_ object, by finding more than they are looking for--things, too, which when they get into their right places, show that they were worth finding--and, perhaps, unknown to those more conversant with the subject to which they belong, just because they were in the out-of-the-way place where they were found by somebody who was looking for something else. s.r. maitland. * * * * * a flemish account. t.b.m. will be obliged by references to any early instances of the use of the expression "_a flemish account_," and of any explanation as to its origin and primary signification. * * * * * bibliographic project. of the various sections into which the history of english literature is divisible, there is no one in which the absence of collective materials is more seriously felt--no one in which we are more in need of authentic _notes_, or which is more apt to raise perplexing _queries_--than that which relates to the authorship of anonymous and pseudonymous works. the importance of the inquiry is not inferior to the ardour with which it has sometimes been pursued, or the curiosity which it has excited. on all questions of testimony, whether historical or scientific, it is a consideration of the position and character of the writer which chiefly enables us to decide on the credibility of his statements, to account for the bias of his opinions, and to estimate his entire evidence at its just value. the remark also applies, in a qualified sense, to productions of an imaginative nature. on the number of the works of this class, i can only hazard a conjecture. in french literature, it amounts to about one-third part of the whole mass. in english literature, it cannot be less than one-sixth part--perhaps more. be it as it may, the systematic arrangement of all that has been revealed in that way, and of all that is dicoverable, is essential to the perfection of literary history, of literary biography, and of bibliography. at the present moment, i can only announce the project as a stimulus to unemployed aspirants, and as a hint to fortunate collectors, to prepare for an exhibition of their cryptic treasures.--on a future occasion i shall describe the plan of construction which seems more eligible--shall briefly notice the scattered materials which it may be expedient to consult, whether in public depositories, or in private hands--and shall make an appeal to those whose assistance may be required, to enable a competent editor to carry out the plan with credit and success. on the prevalence of anonymous writing, on its occasional convenience, and on its pernicious consequences, i shall make no remarks. facts, rather than arguments, should be the staple commodity of an instructive miscellany. bolton corney. barnes terrace, surrey, th oct., . * * * * * notes from fly-leaves.--no. . many scholars and reading-men are in the habit of noting down on the fly-leaves of their books memoranda, sometimes critical, sometimes bibliographical, the result of their own knowledge or research. the following are specimens of the kind of notes to which we allude; and the possessors of volumes enriched by the notes and memoranda of men of learning to whom they formerly belonged, will render us and our readers a most acceptable service by forwarding to us copies of them for insertion. _douce on john of salisbury_. ms. note in a copy of policraticus, lug. bat. . "this extraordinary man flourished in the reign of henry ii., and was, therefore, of old salisbury, not of new salisbury, which was not founded till the reign of henry iii. having had the best education of the time, and being not only a genius, but intimate with the most eminent men, in particular with pope hadrian (who was himself an englishman), he became at length a bishop, and died in . he had perused and studies most of the latin classics, and appears to have decorated every part of his work with splendid fragments extracted out of them."--_harris's philosophical arrangements_, p. . see more relating to john of salisbury in fabricii, _bib. med. Ã�tatis_, iv. .; in tanner, _biblioth. britannico hibernica_; in baillet's _jugemens des savans_, ii. . see senebier, _catalogue des manuscrits de genève_, p. . "johannes sarisb. multa ex apuleio desumpsit," almclooven, plagiaror. syllab. .; and it might have been justly added, that he borrowed from petronius. see the references i have made on the last leaf. janus dousa, in his _notes on petronius_, had called john of salisbury "cornicula;" but thomasius, in p. of his work, _de plagio literario_, vindicates him satisfactorily. see _lipp. ad. tacit. annal xii_. (pezzi di _porpora_), not noticed by any editor of petronius. has various readings. see my old edition. lacrimas commodabat. ---- commendabat. saris. better. itaque cruciarii unius parentes ---- cruciati ---- ----. saris. the above is from zanetti's _collection of ialian novels_, vol. vo. venet. . mezeray, the french historian, translated this work , to; and there is an old french translation of it in by denis soulechat. the article pasted on the inside of the cover (viz. the following extract) "_surisberiensis (j.) policraticus, &c., vo. l. bat. ; very scarce, vellum s. this book is of great curiosity; it is stated in the preface that the author, j. of salibury, was present at the murther of thomas à becket, whose intimate friend he was; and that 'dum pius thomas ab impio milite cedetur in capite, johannis hujus brachium fere simul percisum est_,'" is from lilly's catalogue, and the passage relating to becket was copied from that of payne, to whom i communicated it, and which is found in the first edition only, being perhaps purposely omitted in all the others. f.d. [we believe the majority of the books in mr. douce's valuable library, now deposited in the bodleian, contain memoranda, like those in his _john of salisbury_; and any of our oxford friends could not do us a greater service than by communicating other specimens of the _book-noting_ of this able and zealous antiquary.] * * * * * liber sententiarum.--inquisition of thoulouse. mr. editor,--in or about , an ancient manuscript in folio, on vellum, was deposited in the british museum by dr. secker, then bishop of oxford, afterwards archbishop of canterbury, and still, i take for granted, remains in that institution. it was intitled upon the cover, _liber sententiarum_; but contained the acts and decisions of the inquisition of thoulouse, from the year to . it had been purchased by the contributions of the archbishops of canterbury and york, of the bishop of oxford himself, and of various other prelates, the lord chancellor, the speaker of the house of commons of that time, the viscount royston, &c. can any of your readers inform me whether any or what portions of this manuscript have been hitherto communicated to the world, either in the way of publication or translation, or of abridgment, in whole or in part? an analysis of this manuscript would be interesting to many readers of ecclesiastical history. inquisitorius. * * * * * new facts about lady arabella stuart. the following extracts, from "the declaration of the accompte of nicholas pay, gentleman, appoynted by warraunte of the righte honorable the lordes of the kinges ma'ts privie councell, to receave and yssue sondrye somes of money for the provycon of dyett and other chardges of the ladye arbella seymour, whoe by his hignes comaundemente and pleasure shoulde haue bene remoued into the countye palatyne of duresme, under the chardge of the reverende father in god will'm lorde bishpp of duresme; but after was stayed and appointed to remayne at eastbarnett duringe his hignes good pleasure," are new to the history of this unfortunate lady. the account includes all sums of money "receaved and yssued ffrom the xiiij'th daye of marche , untill the vij'th daye of june ," and the account itself (as preserved in the audit office) "was taken and declared before the right honorable roberte earle of salisbury, lord highe threas of englande and s'r julius cæsar, knighte, chancellor and under-threas of th'exchequer the xij'th of ffebruary " [ / ]. the extracts throw some fresh light on her movements on her road from london to durham. at east barnet, it is well known, she eluded the vigilance of her keepers, and threw the king and council into the utmost consternation. peter cunningham. "allowed for money payde for dyett, lodginge and other necessarie chardges and expences of the said ladye arbella seymour and suche p'sons as were appointed to attende her in her journey into the countie palatyne of duresme: as hereafter followeth. "at highgate for sixe days begonne the xv'th daye of marche and ended the xxj'st of the same month, on w'ch day her ladishipp removed to barnet--xviij'li. v'i. iij'd. "at barnett for xj'th dayes begonne the xxj'st of march and ended the first of aprill , beinge that daye removed to estbarnett--lxxj'li. v'i. viij'd. "chardges of the stable for the xvij'en dayes abovemenconed--xxxviij'li. x'i. ix'd. "lodginge of some of the retinewe of the lady arbella and the said lorde bishopp, and for other necessaries duringe the xvij'en days aforesaid--xij'li. xix'i. "ryding and postinge chardges--viz. for posthorses from lambeth to highgate and from thence to barnett. to mr. beeston and others for their chardges three severall tymes to barnett from london and from highgate. to the servauntes of the lord bishp of duresme sente at severall tymes to the lordes of the councell and for other businesses concerninge this service; and to sir james crofte, knight, for the chardges of himselfe, his men, and horses attendinge at london in this service--ix'li. xviij's. vj'd. "rewardes to sondryre p'rsons, viz. to messengers sent from the courte during the staye of the lorde bishopp at highgate and barnett. to diuerse p'rsons who tooke paynes at highgate and barnett. geven in the inne for glasses broken, and in rewardes to the meanar servauntes at barnett, xxx's. &c. in all the some of xij'li. ix's. vj'd. "also allowed to the sayde accomptaunte for money by his owne handes yssued and payde in this service from the time of her ladishipps removinge from the inne in barnett to the house of thomas conyers esquir in estbarnett, as hereafter is menconed: "expences of dyett for the lady arbella her servauntes and others appointed to attende her at estbarnett by the space of lxviij dayes begonne the first of april , and ended the vij'th of june following at cix's. iij'd. p'r diem--ccclxxj'li. xj's. v'd. "chardges of the stable, viz.--for three lytter horses, one sumpter horse, and fyve coche horses for xxvj dayes at ij's. the horse by daye and night. for the stable at estbarnett for lxviij dayes begonne the first of aprill and ended the vij'th of june followinge: and for hyer of a coche of thomas webster employed in this service by the space of xxiij dyes at xx's. per diem--lxxvij'li. vj's. ix'd. "boardwages of cochemen, lyttermen and sumpter-man and their men at viij's. and iij's. iij'd. and iij's. each per diem--l'li. x's. "enterteynement to sondrye p'rsons appointed to attende the said lady arbella seymour. to nicholas pay the accomptaunte xxxv'li. x's. to william lewen for his attendaunce in the office of caterer of poultrye at iiij's. per diem to himselfe and his horse. to richarde mathewe for his attendance in the butterye and pantrye at iij's. per diem for himselfe and his horse. to thomas mylles for his attendaunce in the larder and kitchen at iij's. per diem for himselfe and his horse--lxvj'li. ij's. "to rydinge and posting-chardges, viz. of henry mynors at severall tymes from barnett to whitehall and backe againe for dyreccons in this service from the lordes of the privie councell xxxv's. and for post-horses to carye the ladye arbella seymour her servauntes from barnett to london xvij's. for the hier of horses at severall tymes for s'r james crofte betweene barnett and london in attendinge the lordes of the councell in this service xl's.--iiij'li. xij's. "for caryadges for removing the ladie arbella and her companie from lambeth to highgate and from thence to barnet, &c.--lxxviij'li. xv's. "in rewardes to sondrye p'rsons, viz. to the servauntes in mr. conyers house and laborers to make clean the house, &c.--iiij'li. xv's. "to mathias melwarde one of the princes chaplaynes for his paynes in attending the ladye arbella seymour to preache and reade prayers duringe her aboade at estbarnett--v'li. "houserent paid to thomas conyers equier, for the rent of his house in estbarnett for the lady arbella seymour and her companie for x'en weekes at xx's. the week--x'li. "payde out the receipte of the exchequier to thandes of the ladye arbella seymour for her own furnishinge in her journey into the bishoprycke of durham--cc'li. "money payde to thomas moundeforde, doctor of physicke and an apothecarye appointed by order of the lordes of the privie councell to geve their attendaunce uppon the saide lady arbella: viz. for the enterteynement of the saide doctor moundeforde for cl'tie dayes begonne the viij'th of ffebruarie and ended the vij'th of julie following at xxx's. per diem--ccxxv'li. "ffor the enterteynement of his apothecarye for ninety dayes at xiij's. iiij'd. per diem--lx'li. "ffor twoe cabbanetts furnished w'th thinges necessary and used in the tyme of the saide ladye arbella for sycknes--xij'li. "for chardges of horsehier and other expences of the saide doctor moundeford--iij'li. "payde to sir james crofte, knighte, appoynted by order from the lordes of the privie councell to geve his attendaunce uppon the saide lady arbella seymour for his enterteynement at xxx's. per diem--clj'li. x's. "some tottall of the allowances and paymentes--m,ciijviij'li. viij's. x'd. "r. salisbury. "jul. caesar." * * * * * poem mentioned in one of the lansdowne mss. in vol. . of the _lansdowne mss._ in the british museum occurs the following remarkable letter from the bishop of london (john aylmer) to lord burghley. i wish to be informed to what "foolish rhime," which had been printed in oxford and london, it applies? it is a question of some literary importance to me at the present moment, and i am glad to have the opportunity of putting it by means of your new hebdomadal undertaking. i hope to meet with a reply in your "notes and queries" of next week. "_to the lord treasurer_, "yt may please your good l. to understand, that upon inquiry made for the setting forth of this foolish rime, i finde that it was first printed at oxford, by joseph barnes, and after here by toby cooke, without licence, who is now out of towne, but as sone as he returneth, i will talke with him about it. i marvell that they of oxford will suffer such toyes to be sett forth by their authority; for in my opinion it had been better to have thanked god, than to have insulted upon men, and especially upon princes. and so i take my leave of your good l., praying god to send you health to his honour and all our good. from my pallace at london, this xxix'th of aprill . "your good l. to command in x'o., "john lond." if the above refer to any production in verse upon the defeat of the armada, lord burghley (who had probably made inquiries of the bishop) seems to have been actuated by some extraordinary and uncalled-for delicacy towards the king of spain. waiting an explanation, i am your hearty well-wisher. lond. oct. . . i cannot find that aylmer's letter has ever been noticed by any of our literary antiquaries. * * * * * madoc's expedition to america. mr. editor,--can any of your readers direct me to the different authors who have treated of the asserted expedition of madoc to america; or to any papers upon that subject which have appeared in any periodicals, or transactions of learned societies. a student. * * * * * lord chatham's speech on the american stamp act. mr. editor,--the following is an extract from lord brougham's _character of chatham_, vol. i. p. . "the debates on the american stamp act in are the first that can be said to have been preserved at all, through the happy accident of lord charlemont, assisted by sir robert dean, &c. &c., and accordingly _they have handed down to us some notes of lord chatham's celebrated speech upon that question_." can any of your readers inform me where these "notes" of this "celebrated speech" are to be found? d. * * * * * dorne, the bookseller.--henno rusticus. sir,--i gladly avail myself of the "notes and queries," to request information on the following points:-- i. is any thing known, and especially from the writings of erasmus, of a bookseller and publisher of the low countries named dorne, who lived at the beginning of the sixteenth century? ii. is any thing known of a little work of early date, called _henno rusticus_? iii. or of another, called _of the sige (signe?) of the end_? trusting that some of your readers will be enabled to throw light upon one or other of these points, i remain, &c. w. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. jones (edmund) geographical historical, and religious account of aberystwith. vo. trevecka. . cartari.--da rosa d'oro pontificia, etc. to. rome. . shakspeare's dramatic works.--the _fourth_ volume of whittingham's edition, in vols. mo. chiswick. . *** letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents: the matter is so generally understood with regard to the management of periodical works, that it is hardly necessary for the editor to say that he cannot undertake to return manuscripts; but on one point he wishes to offer a few words of explanation to his correspondents in general, and particularly to those who do not enable him to communicate with them except in print. they will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly his interest to take all he can get, and make the most, and best, of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received and appreciated, even if the succeeding number bears no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgement will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation, when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and if they understood an editor's position they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves undervalued; but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from an opposite course. * * * * * aubery junior the coincidence is certainly curious. when the rd of november was fixed for the first appearance of "notes and queries," it was little thought that it was the anniversary of the birth of john aubrey, the most noted querist, if not the queerest _noter_, of all english antiquaries. his "mem. to ask mr. ----" no doubt indirectly suggested our title. philobiblion is thanked for his suggestion, that we should "print lists of all the books printed by the roxburgh, abbotsford, camden, spottiswoode, and other publishing clubs and societies." his suggestion had, however, been anticipated: arrangements are making for giving not only the information suggested by philobiblion, but also particulars of the works issued by the different continental publishing societies, such as _la société de l'histoire de france_, _der literaische verein in stuttgart_, and the _svenska fornskrift-sällskap_ of stockholm, so that the english reader may be put into possession of facts connected with these societies not to be found elsewhere. manchester (box .) is thanked for his suggestion. books and odd volumes wanted. we believe that this will prove one of the most useful divisions of our weekly sheet. gentlemen who may be unable to meet with any book or volume of which they are in want may, upon furnishing name, date, size, &c., have it inserted in this list _free of cost_. persons having such volumes to dispose of are requested to send reports of price, &c. to mr. bell, our publisher. * * * * * * * * * * this day is published, price s. d.; by post, s. illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism. part i. by the rev. s.r. maitland, d.d., f.r.s., f.a.s.; sometime librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, and keeper of the mss at lambeth. w. stephensen, . and . parliament street. * * * * * the canadian society for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the following works are now ready for delivery to members who have paid their annual subscription of l., due on the first of may last.-- i. inedited letters of queen elizabeth, and king james vi. from the originals in the possession of the rev. edward ryder, of oaksey, wilts., and from a ms. formerly belonging to sir p. thompson. edited by john bruce, esq. treas. s.a. ii. the chronicle of the abbey of peterborough; from a ms. in the library of the society of antiquaries. edited by thomas stapleton, esq. f.s.a. william j. thoms, secretary. applications from members who have not received their copies may be made to messrs. nichols. . parliament street, westminster, from whom prospectuses of the society (the annual subscription to which is l.) may be obtained, and to whose care all communications for the secretary should be addressed. * * * * * the shakespeare society. the chandos portrait. the engraving from the chandos portrait of shakespeare by mr. cousins, a.r.a., is now ready for delivery to subscribers who have paid their annual subscription of l. for the years and . members in arrear, or persons desirous to become members, are requested to forward their subscriptions to the agent, mr. skeffington, bookseller, . piccadilly, immediately, in order that the limited number of prints may be delivered previously to the obliteration of the plate. by order of the council, f.g. tomlins, secretary. * * * * * antiquarian gleanings in the north of england: being examples of antique furniture, plate, church decoration, objects of historical interest, &c. drawn and etched by w. b. scott. "a collection of antiquarian relics, chiefly in the decorative branch of art, preserved in the northern counties, pourtrayed by a very competent hand. many of the objects possess considerable interest; such as the chair of the venerable bede. cromwell's sword and watch, and the grace cup of thomas-à-becket. all are drawn with that distinctness which makes them available for the antiquarian, for the artist who is studying costumes, and for the study of decorative art."--_spectator_. memoirs of musick. by the hon. roger north, attourney-general to james i. now first printed from the original ms. and edited, with copious notes, by edward f. rimbault, ll.d., f.s.a., &c. &c. quarto; with a portrait; handsomely printed in to.; half-bound in moroco, s. this interesting ms., so frequently alluded to by dr. burney in the course of his "history of music," has been kindly placed at the disposal of the council of the musical antiquarian society, by george townshend smith, esq., organist of hereford cathedral. but the council, not feeling authorised to commence a series of literary publications, yet impressed with the value of the work, have suggested its independent publication to their secretary, dr. rimbault, under whose editorial care it accordingly appears. it abounds with interesting musical anecdotes; the greek fables respecting the origin of music; the rise and progress of musical instruments; the early musical drama; the origin of our present fashionable concerts; the first performance of the beggar's opera, &c. second edition, with illustrations, mo., s. the bell: its origin, history, and uses. by the rev. alfred gatty, vicar of ecclesfield. "a new and revised edition of a very varied, learned and amusing essay on the subject of bells."--_spectator_. just published, royal vo., part ii., price s. d. christian monuments in england and wales; an historical and descriptive sketch of the various classes of monumental memorials which have been in use in this country from about the time of the norman conquest. profusely illustrated with wood engravings. to be published in four parts. part i. price s. d., part ii. s. d. by the rev. charles boutell, m.a., rector of downham market. also, royal vo., s. d.; large paper, s. monumental brasses and slabs: an historical and descriptive notice of the incised monumental memorials of the middle ages. with upwards of engravings. part i. containing ten plates, s. plain; s. d. coloured; to be completed in three or four parts. also, in parts, each containing twelve plates; royal vo. s. d.; folio, s. d.; or, on india paper, s. the monumental brasses of england; a series of engravings upon wood, from every variety of these interesting and valuable memorials, accompanied with brief descriptive notices. parts i. to xi. of this work are published: part xii. will complete the volume. "in the numbers of the attractive work now before us, the perfection to which engraving on wood has been carried is strikingly shown. the amount of information conveyed in moderate compass, and at a most trifling cost, renders this collection of examples of costume, of decorative design, and of heraldry, highly acceptable. the minute and faithful exactness with which the smallest details are reproduced is a most valuable quality in these portraitures: their variety is striking: selected, in great part, from memorials hitherto unknown or imperfectly engraved, each number of m. boutell's collection might form the text of a monograph on mediaeval costume in its three great divisions.--military, ecclesiastical, and secular."--_archaeological journal_, vol. vi. p. . george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * mr. bentley's new publications, now ready. i. in two vols. post vo. the cities and wilds of andalucia. by the hon. r. dundas murray. ii. in three vols. post vo. hands not hearts. a story of the day. by miss wilkinson. iii. in two vols. post vo. twenty-five years' service in the hudson's bay territory. by john mclean. iv. in three vols. vo. price s. a third edition, with additions, of mr. whiteside's italy in the nineteenth century. v. in crown vo. price s. neatly bound. the second volume of prescott's historical works. containing the reign of ferdinand and isabella. vol. ii. n.b.--mr. prescott's historical works will be completed in eight monthly volumes. vi. in post vo. price s. d. neatly bound. captain marryat's adventures of mons. violet. richard bentley, new burlington street. (publisher in ordinary to her majesty.) oct. , . * * * * * just published, in demy vo. embossed cloth, fine paper, with illustrations, price s. westminster: memorials of the city, its palaces, whitehall, parish churches, worthies, st. peter's college, the streets, modern buildings, and ancient institutions. by the rev. mackenzie e. c. walcott, m.a., of exeter college, oxford, curate of st. margaret's, westminster, and author of the history of that church. see _morning post_, may .; _john bull_, june ,; _critic_, june .; _atlas_, june .; _christian remembrancer_, july .; _magazine of science_, oct. .; _west of england conservative_, sept. .; _ecclesiologist_, oct. .; _bentley's miscellany_, oct. ., &c. london: j. masters, . bond street. * * * * * notice.--the volume of the proceedings of the archaeological institute at salisbury is now in preparation, uniform with the former volumes. as few copies will be printed beyond those which may be subscribed for, it is particularly requested that all who wish to have the volume will forward their names at once to the secretary of the institute, . suffolk street, or to mr. bell, . fleet street. * * * * * archaeological works. by john yonge akerman, sec. s.a. an archaeological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. vol. vo., price s. cloth. illustrated by numerous engravings, comprising upwards of five hundred objects. a numismatic manual. vol. vo., price one guinea. coins of the romans relating to britain. vol. vo. _second edition, with an entirely new set of plates_, price s. d. numismatic illustrations of the narrative portions of the new testament; fine paper, numerous wood-cuts from the original coins in various public and private collections. vol. vo., price s. d. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. in vol. fcp. vo., with numerous wood engravings from the original coins, price s d. cloth. tradesmen's tokens, struck in london and its vicinity, from the year to inclusive. described from the originals in the collection of the british museum, &c. vol. vo. s. john russell smith, . old compton street, soho square, london. * * * * * albemarle street. nov. . mr. murray's list of forthcoming works. lord campbell: lives of the chief justices of england. from the norman conquest till the death of lord mansfield. vols. vo. m. guizot: the english revolution of - , and the causes of its success. post vo. george borrow, esq.: lavengro, an auto-biography, vols. post vo. george grote, esq.: history of greece (continued). from the peace of nikias down to the battle of knidus. (b.c. to .) maps. vols. vo. thomas h. dyer, esq.: life of john calvin. compiled from authentic sources, and particularly from his correspondence. portrait. vo. george ticknor, esq.: a history of spanish literature. with criticism on particular works, and biographical notices of prominent writers. vols. vo. sir humphry davy: consolations in travel, and salmonia, or days of fly fishing. new edition. beautifully printed. vols. fcp. vo. author of "bertha's journal:" the minority of an heiress; or, the progress of character. a work for young persons. vols. mo. dr. wm. smith: a new clasical dictionary, of greek and roman mythology, biography, and geography. for the use of colleges and schools. one volume, vo. john paget, esq.: hungary and transylvania. with remarks on their condition, social, political, and economical. new edition. plates. vols. vo. joseph marryat, esq.: a history of pottery and porcelain. with a description of the manufacture from the earliest period in various countries. plates and woodcuts. vo. columbus: life and voyages of columbus, together with the voyages of his companions. by washington irving, esq. a new edition. maps. vols. vo. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new works. i. southey's life and letters. life and correspondence of the late robert southey. vol. i. containing his early autobiography, college life, scheme of social colonisation in america, visit to lisbon, &c. edited by his son, the rev. charles cuthbert southey, m.a. with portrait and view of keswick, cumberland. post vo. s. d. *** to be completed in six volumes, each embellished with a family portait and a landscape. illustrated by w. westall. volume ii. will be published at the end of december, and the succeeding volumes every alternate month. ii. southey's commonplace book. edited by his son-in-law, the rev. j. w. warter. second series, being "special collections," and forming a volume complete in itself. square crown vo. [_nearly ready._ iii. an inquiry into the rise and growth of the royal prerogative. by the late john allen, master of dulwich college. a new edition, with the author's last corrections: preceded by m. bérenger's "rapport" on the work read before the institute of france; and article on the same from the edinburgh review; and a biographical notice of the author. to which is added, an inquiry into the life and character of king eadwig, from the author's ms. vo. s. iv. sir edward graham; or, railway speculators. by catherine sinclair, author of "modern accomplishments," "jane bouverie," &c. vols. post vo. s. d. v. ned allen; or, the past age. by david hannay, esq. vols. post vo. s. vi. songs, ballads, and sacred songs. by thomas moore, first collected edition. uniform in size with the smaller edition of mr. macaulay's "lays of ancient rome," and of moore's "lalla rookh" and "irish melodies." mo. with vignette title. s. vii. poetical works of letitia elizabeth landon (l. e. l.) new edition, uniform with the smaller edition of mr. maculay's "lays of ancient rome," and of moore's "irish melodies" and "lalla rookh." vols. mo. with vignette title. [_nearly ready_ viii. aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations. by alexander von humboldt. translated by mrs. sabine. uniform with the _cheap_ edition of sabine's authorised english translation of humboldt's "cosmos," and with mr. murray's "home and colonial library." vols. mo. s d. each, cloth. ix. a copious and critical latin-english lexicon, founded on the german-latin dictionaries of dr. william freund. by the rev. j. e. riddle, m.a., of st. edmund hall, oxford, post vo. s. x. an english-greek lexicon: containing all the greek words used by writers of good authority; citing the authorities for every word; explaining the irregular constructions and declensions; and marking the doubtful quantities. by c. d. yonge. post to. s. xi. the education of the feelings. by charles bray. nd edit. mo. s. d. london: longman, browne, green, and longmans. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november , . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * { } volume first. november, -may, . * * * * * { } index. a. abbey of st. wandrille, . . abdication of james ii., . . aberdeen, burnet prize at, . aboriginal chambers near tilbury, . a.(b) on emancipation of the jews, . accuracy of references, . addison's books, . adolphus on a recent novel, . advent bells, . adversaria, . . aelfric's colloquy, . . . . . aelian, translation of, . . a.(f.r.) on sterne's koran, . ---- on a passage in goldsmith, . ---- queen of hearts, . agricola (c.), propugnaculum anti-pistorianum, . a.(j.d.) on swords worn in public, . alban's (st.) day, . ---- law courts at, . albert (le petit), . alchemy, metrical writings on, . alexandria (ptolemy of), . . alfred's (king) geography of europe, . . ---- works, . alicui on becket's grace-cup, . ---- on bishop barnaby, . all angels and st. michael's, feast of, . "all-to-broke," . allusion in friar brackley's sermon, . almanack (poor robin's), . alms-basins, ancient, inscription on, . . . alms-dishes, ancient inscribed, . . . . alpha on the origin of slang phrases, . alsop (anthony), . . alythes on belvoir castle, . america known to the ancients, . ---- madoc's emigration to, . . . . . . american aborigines, why called indians? . . ---- bittern, . ---- lady, memoirs of, . ---- reprints of old books, . ---- stamp act; lord chatham's speech on, . . ames, new edition of herbert's, . ---- by herbert and dibdin, . ancient alms-basins, . ---- armour (meyrick's), error in, . ---- inscribed alms dish, . . . ---- motto, . ---- ms. account of britain, . ---- tiles, . andrews (h.) on burnet prize at aberdeen, . andré (petit) on welsh ambassador, . anecdotes of books, . anecdote of the civil wars, . ---- of a peal of bells, . angels' visits, . anglo-cambrian on history of landed and commercial policy, and history of edward ii., . ---- on madoc's expedition to america, . anglo-saxon "lay of the phoenix," . ---- ms. of orosius, . ---- word "unlaid." . anglo-saxons, devices and standards of, . annotators, anonymous, identity of, . annus trabeatiouis, . . anonymous ravennas, date of, . . . antholin's, (st.,) . . antiquarius on queen elizabeth's domestic establishment, . antinephelegesita on boduc, . a or an before words beginning with a vowel, . . apocrypha, . apposition, . a.(p.r.) on yeoman, . arabic numerals and cipher, . . . . . . archaeology, mathematical, . archaeus on "under the rose," . ---- on gray's elegy, . architecture, glossary of terms, . ---- introduction to the study of gothic, . armada, poem on, . . armagh, etymology of, . . . a.(r.), "my mind to me a kingdom is," . ---- on all-to-broke, . ---- on dr. strode's poem, . ---- on wotton's poem to lord bacon, . arun on autograph mottoes of richard, duke of gloucester, and harry, duke of buckingham, . ---- on change of name, . ---- on a curious monumental brass, . ---- on early statistics, chart, kent, . ---- on ecclesiastical year, . ---- on mercenary preacher, . ---- on "m. or n.," . ---- on oliver cromwell as a feoffee of parson's charity, ely, . ---- on st. martin's lane, . ---- on throwing old shoes at a wedding, . ---- on trunck breeches, . asher (a.) on books by the yard, . ---- on genealogy of european sovereigns, . ashgrove, duke of, . "as lazy as ludlum's dog, as laid him down to bark," . . "as morse caught the mare," . "as throng as throp's wife," . astle's mss., . "atlas novus," seutter's, . aubrey (john), . auctorite de dibil, . augustine on american bittern, . ---- on origin of calamity, . augustinian eremites of york, library of, . austen (h. morland) on curious symbolical custom, . ---- on the emancipation of the jews, . authors and books, (no. .) . ---- (no. .), . ---- (no. .), . ---- (no. .), . authors and books, (no. .), . ---- (no. .), . authors of old plays, . . ---- who have privately printed their own works, . authorship of a couplet, . autograph mottoes of henry, duke of buckingham, and richard, duke of gloucester, . . . . ave pries and gheeze yaecoudi, . . avon, derivation of, . a.(w.p.), meaning of cheshire round, . aylmer (bp.), letter to, from lord burghley, . aylmer's (bishop) letter respecting poem of the armada, . b. b. on ancient motto, . ---- on beaufoy's ringer's true guide, . ---- on change of name, . ---- on colonel hyde seymour, . ---- on elizabeth and isabel, . ---- on form of petition, . ---- on gloucestershire custom, . ---- on miss warneford and mr. cromwell, . ---- on norman pedigrees, . ---- on professor de morgan and dr. johnson, . ---- query about st. wini, . ---- query on selden's titles of honour, . ---- on sir walter de batton, . ---- on solomon dayfolke, . ---- (a.e.) on derivation of news, . ---- (a.) on martins the printer, . ---- on superstitions in the north of england . ---- twm shawm cattle, . bacon and jeremy taylor, notes on, . baron's lord metrical version of the psalms, . . . baron roger, hints for new edition of, . badger, the, . bagnio in long acre, . bambridge and buckridge streets, . ---- gates, . bald head, defence of, . baldwin's gardens, . ballad, kentish, . ballads, homeric of dr. magina, . ballad of dick and the devil, . . ---- of the wars in france, . ---- makers and legislators, . ballpolensis, on stephen's sermons, . balloons, . baptism, register of cromwell's, . barclay's satyricon, some account of, . bardolph and poins, . barba lonza, . barker, w.g.j., on henry, lord darnley, . ---- on bishop barnaby, . barnabas, (st.), . barnaby, bishop, . . . barnacles, . . . . { } barrister, a, on origin of the word chapel, . barry (j. milner), a note on robert herrick, the author of hesperides, . ---- complutensian polyglot, . ---- m.d., on meaning of palace, . barryana, . bartletts buildings, . bartholomew legate, the martyr, . basse (william,) and his poems, . . . . bawn, meaning of, . baxter, (william), . bayley (w. d'oyly,) on barryana, . bayswater and its origin, . b.(c.) on ancient motto, . ---- on gray's alcaic ode, . ---- on cromwell's estates, . ---- on shrew, . ---- on proverb, god tempers the wind, . ---- on horns, . ---- on colderidge's christabel and byron's lara, . ---- on hockey, . ---- temple stanyan, . ---- on "nomade." . ---- on the true tragedy of richard iii., . ---- on death-bed superstition, . ---- on emerald, . b.(c.w.) on anecdotes of the civil wars, . ---- on shrew, . bear, louse, and religion, fable of, . beauchamp (stephen) on pilgrimages of kings, &c.--blind man's buff--muffin hundred weight, . beaufoy's ringer's true guide, . beaumont, a poem attributed to, . beaver, . beaver hat, when first used in england, . . . . . . becket's grace cup, . becket (thomas à), mother of, . . bedford coffee house, covent garden, . beeston (sir william), journal of, . beetle mythology, . beggar's opera, receipts of, . bek (anthony), bishop of durham, . bell (john) of the chancery bar, . bell (dr. w.) on ancient inscribed dishes, . bell (dr.) on the talisman of charlemagne, . bells, a peal of, . . . bells (judas), . . . bolvoir castle, . . b.(e.m.) on complutensian mss., . ---- on dulcarnon, . ---- on the emblem and national motto of ireland, . ---- on luther's portrait at warwick castle, . ---- on latin distich and translation, . ---- on luther's translation of the new testament, . ---- on pope felix, . ---- on verbum graecum, . berkeley's theory of vision vidicated, . . bernicia, . . bess of hardwick, . . beta on prison dicipline and execution of justice, . betterton's duties of a player, . . bever's (dr. thomas) legal polity of great britain, . b.(f.) on kentish ballad, . b.(f.c.) on bishop blaize, . ---- on dedications, . ---- on error in meyrick's ancient armour, . ---- errors corrected, . ---- on hudibrastic couplet, . ---- on mousetrap dante, . ---- on plagiarisms and parallel passages, . b.(f.c.) on proverbial sayings and their origins, . . ---- on shipster, . ---- on straw necklaces, and method of keeping notes, . b.(f.j.) on quotations from pope, . ---- on masters of st. cross, . b.(g.h.) on cold harbour, . ---- on colinaeus, . ---- on the field of the brothers' footsteps, . ---- on gilbert brown, . ---- on lord erskine's brooms, . ---- on weeping cross, . ---- on thistle of scotland, . b.(h.) on pandoxare, . b.(h.l.) on ave trici, . b.(j.s.) on the reconelliation of , . bible and key, divination by the, . bibliographic project, . bibliographical notes, . bibliographie biographique, . bigotry, . bill of fare of , . billingsgate, origin of name, . . bills of fare in , . biographers of lydgate and coverdale, . birthplace of andrew borde, . birchingon's (stephen) mss., compilation of, . bis dat qui citò dat, . bishop that burneth, . bishop barnaby, why lady-bird so called, . . bishop barlow, . bitton, sir walter de, . bive and chute lambs, . . b.(j.) on bust of sir walter raleigh, . ---- on countess of pembroke's letter, . ---- on d'israeli on the court of wards, . ---- on the marescautia, . ---- on scole inn, . b.(j.m.) auctorite de dibil, . ---- on as lazy as ludlum's dog, . ---- on dr. maginn's shakespeare's papers, . ---- on doctor dobbs and his horse nobbs, . ---- on etymology of totnes, . ---- on finkle or finkel, . ---- on howkey or horkey, . ---- on etymology of totnes, . ---- on a phonetic peculiarity, . ---- on poor robin's almanack, . ---- queries concerning chaucer, . ---- st. winifreda, . b.(j.s.) what are depinges, . b.(l.) of duncan campbell, . black broth, lacedaemonian, was it coffee? . . . . . . black doll at old store shops, . blaise (bishop), . . blind man's buff, . blink (g.) on a passage in macbeth, . blisters, charm for, used in ireland, . blockade of corfe castle in , . blood's (colonel) house, . bloomfylde (myles and william), writings on alchemy, . bloomfylde (myles) ortus vocabulorum, . bloomsbury market, . b.(n.), notes upon "notes," no. , . bodenham, or ling's politeuphia, . . boduc, or boduoc, on british coins, . . body and soul, . bohn's edition of milton's prose works, . boleyn's (sir edward), spectre, . bone-houses and catacombs, . . . bonner on the seven sacraments, . book of the mousetrap, . book plate, . books by the yard, . bookworm on bodenham, or ling's politeuphia, . boonen (portrait by), . borde (andrew), birthplace of, . ---- boke of knowledge, . borromei, sermones sancti carolsi, . borrowed thoughts, . boston de bury, . botfield (beriah) on the treatise of equivocation, . bothwell and mary queen of scots, marriage contract of, . bourne (vincent), epigram from the latin of, . ---- translation from, . . brass, curious monumental, . braybrooke, lord, on pilgrimage of princes, &c. &c. . ---- on "where england's monarch," . ---- on lord carrington, or karinthon, . ---- on etymology of havior, . ---- on pokershop or porkershop, . . . ---- on vertue mss., . ---- on letter attributed to sir robert walpole, . ---- on journeyman, . ---- on the word brozier, . ---- on killigrew family and scole inn sign, . ---- on howkey or horkey, . ---- on catherine pegge, . breton (nicholas), . ---- crossing of proverbs, . bridge lane, st. bride's, . bristol riots, . . ---- red maids of, . britain, ancient ms. account of, . britain (great), defoe's tour through, . british museum, portraits in the, . british coins, boduc or boduoc, on, . britton (john) on john aubrey, . ---- on mr. poore's literary collections, inigo jones, medal of stukeley, sir james thornhill, . brockett's glossary on "to fettle,", . brooms, lord erskine's, . . brother's footsteps, field of, . brougham (lord) on burnet, . brown (gilbert), . brown study, . . brown (w.j.) on ptolemy of alexandria, . b.(r.s.) as morse caught the mare, . b.(r.w.) on christian captives, . brozier, the word, . bruce (john), epigram against luther and erasmus, . ---- lines in the style of suckling, . ---- on capture of duke of monmouth, . ---- on charm for the toothache, . bruce (robert de), wife of, . ---- captivity of his queen in england, . buccaneers, charles ii., . buckingham motto, . . . . bug, origin of word, . bull (john), . bullfights, spanish, . bulls called williams, . bulstrode park, camp in, . buns, . buriensis on the duke of marlborough, . ---- on the song of the bees, . ---- on seal of killigrew, master of the revels, . ---- on cook eels, . ---- on meaning of savegard and russells, . ---- on sangred--dowts of holy scripture, . burnet (bp.), opinions respecting, . . . ---- as an historian, . ---- and mr. macaulay, . burnet prize at aberdeen, . burney (dr.), musical works of, . burning the dead, . . burns (robert), inedited lines by, . burton's anatomy of (religious) melancholy, . burtt (joseph) on ancient libraries, . ---- on royal household allowances, . buscapié, query as to the, . . b.(w.) on the complaynt of scotland, . { } b.(w.g.) on french leave, . b.(w.j.) on genealogy of european sovereigns, . by hook or by crook, . . . . byron's childe harold and burton's melancholy, . ---- lara, on a passage in, . . byron and tacitus, . . c. c. on anecdote of the civil wars, . ---- on blunder in malone's shakspeare, . ---- on cowley, or coverley--statistics of roman catholic church--whelps--discovery of america, . ---- on definition of grummelt, . ---- on devices of the standards of the anglo-saxons, . ---- on dog-latin, . ---- on logographic printing, ---- on lord chatham's speech on the american stamp act, . ---- love's last shift, . ---- on m. or n, . ---- on malone's blunder, . ---- on may-day, . ---- meaning of pallace, . ---- on military execution, . ---- on political maxim, . ---- on pope's translation of horace, . ---- on salt at montem, . ---- on sir william hamilton, . ---- on slang phrases, . ---- on spurious letter of sir r. walpole, . ---- on tablet of napoleon, . ---- on temple stanyan, . ---- on travelling in england, . ---- on tureen, . ---- on vertue's ms., . c.(a.) on black doll at old store shops, . ---- on worm of lambton, . ---- on camp in bulstrode park, . ---- on derivation of holy, . caerphili castle, . . cæsar's wife, , . c.(a.g.), query as to references, . calamity, derivation of, . . . calver (bernard), . cambridge, motto of university, . campbell (duncan), query respecting, . camp in bulstrode park, . canidia, or the witches, ms. note in, . cannibal, origin of, . cantab. on coal brandy, . ---- on hallam's middle ages, . ---- origin of swot, . canterbury, catalogue of ancient library of christ church, . capel court, . captivity of the queen of bruce in england, . capture of the duke of monmouth, . . . . . caraccioli's life of lord clive, author of, . . caredon, meaning of, . carena on the inquisition, . carlisle house, soho, . carrington, or karinthon (lord), murdered, . cartwright's poems (on some suppressed passages in), . . cat, "gib," . . catacombs and bone houses, . . catherine street, strand, . catsup, catchup, ketchup, . . cavell, . cawood's ship of fools, ms. notes in, . c.(b.) on the symbolism of the fir-cone, . c.(c.j.), phoenix, by lactantius, . cephas on the advent bells, . ---- on sangred--judas bell, . ceredwyn on barnacles, . certificate of nat. lee, . c.(g.a.), dustpot--frothlot, . ---- on sir w. godbold, . ---- on political maxims, . ---- on legislators and ballad makers, . c.h. on buccaneers, . ---- on charles ii. and lord r.'s daughter, . ---- on college salting and tucking of freshmen, . ---- on eachard's tracts, . ---- on error in hallam's history of literature, . ---- inedited letter of the duke of monmouth, . ---- on locke's proposed life of ld. shaftesbury, . ---- on lord shaftesbury and dr. whichcot, . ---- on ludlow's memoirs, . ---- on the mosquito country; origin of the name; early connection of the mosquito indians with the english, . ---- on mss. of locke, . ---- on queen's messengers, . ---- on rawdon papers, . ---- on savile, marquis of halifax, . ---- on sir william coventry, . ---- on wellington--wyrwast--cokam, . ---- who was lord karinthon? murdered , . ---- on blockade of corfe castle in , . chancellors, thynne's collection of, . change of name, . chapels, origin of the name, . . . charlemagne's talisman, . . charles i., portrait of, , . ---- anecdote of, . ---- his sword, . . ---- bust of, . ---- pictures of, in churches, . charles ii. and lord r.'s daughter, . . charms, old, . charm for toothache used in ireland, . . charm for wounds, . charms, . charms--the evil eye, . chart, kent, early statistics of, . chatham (lord), speech on the american stamp act, . . chaucer, queries concerning, . ---- night charm, . . cheshire round, . . chest, iland, . chiffinch, letters of mrs, . childe harold, parallel passages or plagiarisms in, . . chip in porridge, . christian captives, . . christian doctrine, fraternity of, . . christ church, canterbury, books lent from, . christencat, meaning of, . christie (w.d.) on skinner's life of monk, . christmas hymn, . . christ's hospital, old songs once popular there, . . chronicle, morning, when first established, . chrysopolis, . church history, queries in, . church livings, incumbents of, . churchyard customs, ancient, . cibber's apology, characters of actors in, . circulation of the blood, discovery of, . . cirencester, richard of, . . civil wars, anecdote of, . . c.(j.) on m. or n., . ---- on regimental badges, . c.(j.t.) on dayrolles, . c.(j.w.) on passages from pope, . c.(l.), query respecting "horns," . clare market, . clarendon (lord), opinions of, by english historians, . clergy, alleged ignorance of, . clericus, definition of, . clericus on inscriptions of ancient alms-basins, . ---- on ordination pledges, . clerkenwell, eminent residents, . clive (lord), caraccioli's life of, . . close translation, . clouds or shrouds in shakspeare, . c.(m.) on trophee, . c.(o.) on family of steward or stewart of bristol, . coach-bell, why ear-wigs so called, . coal brandy, . . cock lane, . coffee, notes on, . . coffee-houses, the first in england, . coffee, the lacedæmonian black broth, . . . . . . coffins, use of, . coheirs, mowbray, . coins, british, boduc or boduoc on, . cold harbour, query as to origin of, . cole (robert) on lady arabella stuart, . ---- extracts from old records, . ---- on drayton and young, . coleman's music house, . coleridge, cottle's life of, . ---- christabel and byron's lara, . ---- on a passage in, . colinæus, . coll. regall. socius on dr. whichcott and lord shaftesbury, . college salting and tucking of freshmen, . . . . colley cibber's apology, . collier (j. payne) on bishop aylmer's letter and poem of the armada, . ---- on defence of a bald head and stationer's registers, . ---- on english and american reprints of old books, . ---- on love, the king's fool, . ---- nicholas breton's crossing of proverbs, . ---- on dr. percy and the poems of the earl of surrey, . ---- on shakspeare and deer stealing, . ---- on shrouds or clouds in shakspeare, . ---- on william rasse and his poems, . colloquy, Ælfric's, . . . . . comes (m.) on bess of hardwick, . commercial and landed policy of england, . . compendyous olde treatyse, . . complaynt of scotland, . complexion, the meaning of, . . complutensian polyglot, . . . . . . compton street, soho, . conrad of salisbury's descriptio utrlusque britanniæ, . consecration of churches, bishop cosin's form, . constantine the artist, . constitution hill, why so called? . contradictions in don quixote, . . convention parliament of , ms. diary of, . cook (david), watchman of westminster, --ode to, from v. bourne, . cook eels, . cooper (c.h.) on college salting, . ---- on pandoxare, . ---- on scala coeli, . ---- on teneber wednesday, . ---- on the duke of marlborough, . ---- on sayers the caricaturist, . ---- on white hart inn, scole, . cooper (w. durrant), on bive and chute lambs, . ---- on caraccioli's life of lord clive, . ---- on decking churches with yew on easter day, . ---- on early statistics, parish registers, . ---- on elizabeth and isabel, . ---- folk-lore, . { } cooper (w. durrant) on norman pedigrees, . cope (rev. w.h.) on craik's romance of the peerage, . corfe castle, , blockage of, . corinna, . cornellys (mrs.), . corney (bolton), bibliographic project of, . ---- on authors and books, no. . bibliographique biographique, ; no. . powell's human industry, ; no. , cartwright's poems, ; no. . sonnet by adamson, ; no. . payne's geometry, ; no. . spence on the odyssy, . ---- queries answered, no. . alymer (bp.), ; no. . madoc. ; no. . flemish account, ; no. . pokership, ; no. . beaver of, ; no. . grumete, ; no. . malone, shakspere, . ---- queries proposed, . . cornishman (a) on a curious monumental brass, . corser (rev. thomas), on nicholas breton, . ---- on william basse and his poems, cosin's (bishop) form of consecration of churches, . ---- mss. . cosmopolis, . . cottle's life of coleridge, when reviewed in the times, . . couplet, authorship of, . court of wards, . ---- d'israeli on the, . coventry, sir william, . coverdale, birth-place of, . ---- and lydgate and their biographers, . cowley, cowleas, or coverley, . cowper's task, passage in, . coxcombs vanquish berkeley, author of? . craik's romance of the peerage, . cranmore on white hart inn, scole, . cresswell, mr., and miss warneford, . . st. croix (h.c.), etymology of dalston, . cromlech, meaning of, . . cromwell (oliver), as a feoffee of parson's charity, ely, . ---- (query) did he write the new star of the north? . ---- relics, . ---- baptism, register of, . ---- birth, . ---- estates, . . . . crosby (james), on pictures in churches, . crossing of proverbs (nicholas breton's), . crowley (robert), a treatise on the lord's supper by, . . . cruch (g.) original letter by, on lord chatham, queen charlotte. . crucifix of edward the confessor, . crusader, norman, the, . cwn annwn, . c.(t.) on sapcote motto, . cuckoo, . . cunningham (peter) on katherine pegg, . ---- on dr. johnson's library, . ---- on lady arabella stuart, . ---- on lady rachel russell, . ---- on tower royal, . cunningham's handbook of london, notes on, by dr. rimbault, . . . . . . . . . . ---- notes from, . ---- queries upon, . cunningham's lives of eminent englishmen, . cupid crying, from the latin, . . ----, by antonio sebaldio, . cure for the hooping-cough, . curious custom, . ---- symbolical custom, . curse of scotland, nine of diamonds, why so called, . . curtana, the sword called, . custom, gloucestershire, . c.(w.) on the birthplace of coverdale, . ---- on date of anonymous ravennas, . ---- on franz von sickingen, . ---- jun., on "hanap," . ---- jun., on "vert vert," . c.(w.h.) on antony alsop, . ---- on parliamentary writs, . ---- on parkership, porkership, pokership, . c.(w.m.) on scarborough warning, . cwn wybir, or cwn annwn, . c.(y.a.) on dick and the devil, . d. d. on lord chatham's speech on american stamp act, . ---- on golden frog, . ---- on inquisition in mexico, . ---- on john hopkins, the psalmist, . ---- on john ross mackay, . ---- on meaning of emerod, . ---- on morning chronicle, . ---- on relnerius and inquisition in france, . ---- (a.) on inedited song by sir john suckling, . dacre's, (lady), almshouses, . dalrymple (sir j.), on burnet, . dalston, etymology of, . dalton's doubting's downfall, . dance thumbkin, . darkness at the crucifixion, . darnley (henry lord), where was he born? . . dartmouth (lord) on burnet, . daundelyon (john de), . day (c.) on the poets, . dayrolles, . . . daysman, etymology of, . . . d.(e.a.) on a flemish account, . death bed superstition, . . . decker's raven's almanack, . dedications, . dee's (dr.) petition to james i., . ----, petition. . ----, why did he quit manchester? . . deering (charles), m.d., . de foe (daniel) and his ghost stories, . ---- tour through great britain, . . dei gratia, lines on omission of, from the new florin, . dekker and nash, tracts by, . denmark street, st. giles's, . denton (wm.) on rev. wm. stephens' sermons, . depinges, what are they, . . . deputy-lieutenants of the tower of london, . de quincey, line quoted by, . dering's (sir e.) household book of, a.d. - , . . derivation of snob and cad, . ---- of sterling and penny, . dermot macmurrough, eva, daughter of, . . deverell (robert), . devices on standards of the anglo-saxons, . . devotee, . dibdin's and herbert's ames, . dibdin's typographical antiquities, . dick and the devil, ballad of, . . dick shore, . . direct and indirect etymology, . discurs modest, . . discovery of america, . _see_ madoc. dishes, ancient inscribed, . . . . d'israeli on the court of wards, . dissenting ministers, . ----, london, lines on, . divination by the bible and key, . d.(m.) on burton's anatomy of (religious) melancholy, . dobbs (doctor) and his horse nobs, . doctor dove, of doncaster, . dodo, notes on the, . ----, queries, . . ----, replies, . doges of venice, sanuto's . . dog latin, . . dogs, isle of, . dombec, is it the domesday of alfred, . domestic establishment of queen elizabeth, . don quixote, contradictions in, . . dore of holy scripture, . . dorne the bookseller, . . ---- and henno rusticus, . . douce (francis) on john of salisburry, . dove (doctor daniel) of doncaster, and his horse nobs, . downing street, . dowts of holy scripture, . . d.(q.) on authors of old plays, . ---- on bishop barnaby, . ---- on a chip in porridge, . ---- on doctor daniel dove of doncaster, and his horse nobs, and golden age of magazines, . ---- on lady jane of westmoreland, . dramaticus on the beggar's opera, . ---- on colley cibber's apology, . drayton's poems, . . ---- works, dr. farmer's notes on, . draytone and yong, . dredge (john j.) on error in johnson's life of selden, . ---- on dr. selster's works, . dr. faustus, dutch version of, . ---- works ascribed to, . dryasdust (dr.), . d.(s.d.) on change of name, . d.(t.e.) on guildhalls, . d.(t.s.) on arabic numerals, . ---- reply to query about arabic numerals and cypher, . ---- on coal brandy, . ---- on mathematical archaeology, . ---- on the roman numerals, . ---- on swot, . dudley court, st. giles's, . duke street, westminster, . dulcarnon, . durham, anthony bek, bishop of, . dustpot, query as to, . dutch language, works on, . . duties of a player, betterton's, . dyce versus warburton and collier, . dyot street, st. giles's, . e. e. on betterton's essay, . ---- on dalton's doubting's downfall, . eachard, tracts by, . . e.(a.h.) on sir w. hamilton, . ---- on st. philip and st. james, . e.(a.j.) on travelling in england, . east anglican on howkey or horkey, . easter day, decking churches with yew on, . easter eggs, . . . east winch on spur money, . eastwood (rev. j.) on symbols of evangelists, . ecclesiastes on living dog better than a dead lion, . ecclesiastical year, . . . ed., what are deepenings? . eden (rev. c. page) on reprint of jeremy taylor's works, . editors, hints to intending, . edward ii., history of, . . . edward the confessor, crucifix of, . edward the black prince's shield, . edwards (rev. i.) on metal for telescopes, . . edwards (h.) on saveguard, . ---- on masters of st. cross, . e.e. on statistics of the roman catholic church, . { } e.f. why are gloves not worn before royalty? . ---- on old painted glass, . ---- on sir william ryder, . e.(h.t.) anecdote of a peal of bells, . ---- on by hook or by crook, . ---- on greene of greens norton, . e.(h.) on sir william rider, . ---- on the use of coffins, . eiton (stephen), or eden's "acta regis edw. ii.," . e.(j.) on abdication of james ii., . ---- on accuracy of references, . ---- "as throng as throp's wife," . ---- on cæsar's wife, . ---- on decker's raven's almanack, . ---- on horns to a river, . ---- on q. mary's expectations, . elizabeth (queen), domestic establishment of, . ---- pictures of, in churches, . elizabeth and isabel, . . eliacombe (rev. h.t.) on vincent gookin, . ---- on peal of bells, . emancipation of the jews, . . emblem and national motto of ireland, . emdee on passages in coleridge's christabel and byron's lara, . ---- on pet names, . ---- on charms, . ----, etymology of havior, . emerod, meaning of, . . emerald, . eminent englishmen, cunningham's lives of, . endeavour oneself, the verb, . . . engelbert (archbishop of treves), treatise by, . england, fall of rain in, . . england, landed and commercial policy of, . . england, travelling in, . . . . english historians, ---- opinions respecting bp. burnet, .; ---- lord clarendon, . ---- reprints of old books, . ---- songs, john lucas's ms. collection of, . ---- translations of erasmus' encomium moriæ, . epilepsy, charm for, used in ireland, . epigram (latin) against luther and erasmus, . ---- from the latin, . ---- from which pope borrowed, . . ---- from the latin of vincent bourne, . ---- from the latin of owen, . ---- by la monnoye, . ---- on louis xiv., . ---- (latin) complimentary, or the reverse, . epistola de miseria curatorum, . equivocation, treatise of, . . erasmus and luther, lines on, . ---- paraphrase of the gospels, . ---- and luther, woodcut likenesses of, . ---- and luther, portraits of, . ---- eucomium moriæ, english translation of, . erminois on sapcote motto, . errors corrected, . erskine's (lord) brooms, . . esquire and gentleman, . . . essex buildings, . estates of cromwell, . e.(t.) on beaver hats, . etoniensis on mr. macaulay and bishop burnet, . etruria, sewerage in, . etymology of armagh, . ---- direct and indirect, . ---- of news, . . . ---- of penniel, . europe, alfred's geography of, . . european sovereigns, genealogy of, . . . . eva, daughter of dermot macmurrough, . . evangelists, symbols of, . . evelyn's sculptura, . evona's (st.) choice, . exaletation of ale, a poem attributed to beaumont, . execution military, . . extracts from old records, . f. f. on vondel's lucifer, . f.(a.) on the curse of scotland, . faber (g.s.) on quem deus vult perdere, . fable--the bear, the louse, and religion, . "factotum," origin of word, . . farmer, dr., notes on drayton's works, . fall of rain in england, . . father, when did clergymen cease to be so called? . faustus (dr.) dutch history of, . ---- works ascribed to, . f.(a.w.) on wives of ecclesiastics, . feast of st. michael and all angels, . . felix (pope), . ---- and pope gregory, . female captive in barbary, in ; narrative written by herself, . fettle, derivation of, . few words to our friends, . few words of explanation, . fifth son, . finkle or finkel, derivation of, . . . fir-cone, symbolism of, . fischel (a.) on zenobia, . five queries, . f.(j.h.) on french maxim, . ---- on singular motto, . f.(j.r.) on by hook or by crook, . ---- on miryland town, . flaws of wind, . flaying for sacrilege, . flemish account, . . . . ---- work on the order of st. francis, . fletcher's nice valour, song in, by dr. strode, . ---- purple island, ms. notes in, . florins, . flowers, symbolism of, . fly-leaves, notes from no. ., .; no. ., ; no. ., ; no. ., ; no. ., . folk lore, . . . . . . . . . . . ---- of wales, . . food of the people, . fool or a physician, . forbes (c.) on "a" or "an," . ---- on endeavour, . ---- on a fool or a physician, . ---- on mistake in gibbon, . ---- on pope and petronius, . ---- on shakspeare's employment of monosyllables, . ---- on spanish bull-fights, . ---- on sparse, . ---- on vox populi vox dei, . ---- on zenobia, a jewess, . forlot, falot, forthlot, . . forty footsteps, field of, . foss (edward), on the middle temple, . ---- on _the_ or _a_ temple, . ---- on sir william skipwyth, king's justice of ireland, . fox (john r.) on masters of st. cross, . ---- on meaning of shipster, . ---- sir stephen, . . f.(c.p.f.) on sewerage of etruria, . f.(p.h.f.) on ancient alms-dishes, . ---- on saveguard, . ---- on singular motto, . ---- on _the_ temple or _a_ temple, . ---- on topography of foreign printing presses, . franz von sickingen, . . fraternity of christian doctrine, . . fraternitye of vagabondes, . . french leave, . ---- maxim, . . . . ---- change, soho. . frere and pardonere, . friar brackley's sermon, allusion in, . friday weather, . friswell (james h.) on epigram quoted by pope, "praise undeserved." . frith's works, passage in, . frog, golden, . . frog he would a-wooing go, . frusius (andrew) or des freux, . f.(t.r.) on by hook or by crook, pokership, gib-lat, emerod, . ---- on porkership, . ---- (w.a.) meaning of "lace is latin for a candle," . ---- (w.r.) on derivation of shrew, . ---- on the badger, . g. g. on letter attributed to sir robert walpole, . ---- on the cuckoo, . ---- on the derivation of sterling and penny, . ---- on howard, earl of surrey, . ---- on parallel passages, . ---- on robert long, . ---- on catsup, catchup, ketchup, . ---- on green, of greens norton, . g.(a.) on burning the dead, . ---- on byron's lara, . ---- on humble pie, . ---- on line quoted by de quincey, . ---- on salting, . ---- on the origin of the word snob, . ---- on salt at montem, . ---- on temple stanyan, . ---- on paying through the nose, . gastros on abbey of st. wandrille, . ---- on beaver hat, . . ---- on golden frog, . ---- on meaning of pisan, . gatty (rev. alfred) letter of lord nelson's brother, . ---- on the abbey of st. wandrille, . ---- on catacombs and bone-houses, . ---- five queries, . ---- on peal of bells, . ---- on may marriages, . ---- on spur money, . ---- the meaning of pallace, . ---- on versicle and response, . ---- what is a chapel, . gatty (margaret) folk-lore, . gazetteer of portugal, . g.(b.) on ballons, . ---- on berkeley's theory of vision, . ---- on junius, . g.(b.w.) on iland chest, . g.(c.w.) on Ælfric's colloquy, . ---- on arabic numerals, . ---- on ballad of the wars in france, . ---- on bishop blaise, . ---- on boduc on british coins, . ---- extract from parish register of north runcton, . ---- on fall of rain in england, . ---- on havior, heavier, or hever, . ---- on lines on "woman's will," . ---- on lord bacon's metrical version of the psalms, . ---- meaning of loscop, . ---- on pallace, . ---- on vox et præterea nihil, . ---- on gootet, . ---- on wives of ecclesiastics, . genealogy of european sovereigns, . . . . genesse (rev. mr.), . genius (a), from the german of claudius, . gentleman's magazine, . { } geography of europe, alfred's, . . george (llewelyn st.) on an ancient motto, . germain's lips, . gerrard street, soho, . gesta grayorum, . . g.g. on travelling in england, . . gheeze ysenoudi and ave triel, . . ghost stories, by daniel de foe, . g.(h.) on lines, "when england's monarch," and "i'd preach as though," . gib cat, . . gibbon, mistake in, . . gibson (john westby) on reheting and rehetours, . giles (rev. j.a.) on works of king alfred, . ---- of worcestershire, family of, . giles (st.) pound, . ---- hospital, . g.(j.) on ancient ms. account of britain, . ---- on by hook or by crook, . ---- on bishop barnaby, . ---- charm for blisters used in ireland, . ---- charm for epilepsy used in ireland, . ---- charm to cure the murrain in cows, . ---- charm for toothache, . ---- charm for warts, . ---- on eva, daughter of dermot macmurrough, . ---- on hordys, gold florins, and kilkenny, . ---- on ogilby's britannia, . ---- ormonde house, . ---- new edition of rev. dr. owen's works, . ---- norfolk weather rhyme, . g.(j.m.) on the bristol riots, . ---- on christ's hospital, . g.(j.w.g.) on queen's messengers, . gloves, . ---- why not worn before royalty, . godbolt (sir william), . god tempers the wind, . . . godwin (w.), life of, . . goethe, lines quoted by, . . golden age, epigram, . ---- of magazines, . golden frog, . . gold florins, . goldsmith, on a passage in, . gomer on hemicia, . ---- on caerphill castle, . ---- on cromlech, . ---- on the cuckoo, . ---- on journeyman, . ---- on madoc's emigration to america, . ---- on prince madoc, . ---- on selago and samolus, . goodman's field wells, . gookin (vincent), . gootet, meaning of, . . gospels, erasmus' paraphrase of the, . gothic architecture, . . gourders of rain, . . . gournay (m. de), . governor (the) on the derivation of snob and cad. . gowghe's dore of holy scripture. . g.(r.) on annus traheationis, . ---- on cosmopolis and complutensian polyglot, . ---- on dowt of holy scripture, . ---- on germain's lips, . ---- la mer des histoires, . ---- on latin names of towns, . ---- on lay of the phoenix, . ---- on pope felix and pope gregory, . ---- on portraits of luther, erasmus, and ulric von hutten, . ---- on speculum exemplorum, epistola de miseria curatorum, . ---- on symbols of the evangelists, . ---- on wood-cut likenesses of luther and erasmus, . grace-cup, becket's, . grayan (a.) on torri's polyglot edition of gray's elegy, . graves (rev. james), a living dog better than a dead lion, . ---- on bishops of ossory, . ---- on the second duke of ormonde, . gray's alcaic ode, . . gray's elegy (translation of), . ---- elegy, . . . ---- elegy (german version of), . ---- elegy (editions and versions of), . gray's inn lane, . greek verse, . greene of greene's norton, . . greene (richard), of lichfield, . greene's royal exchange, . greenham, family of pointz of, . green (richard), apothecary, . gregori's italian version of gray's elegy, . gregory (pope) and pope felix, . gresset's vert-vert, illustrations of, painted on enamel, . . griffinhoof (arthur, jun.), on the fraternity of vagabonds, &c., . griffin, on the fable of the bear, the louse, and religion, . ---- on lord erskine's brooms, . ---- on john bell of the chancery bar, . g.(r.i.h.) on horns, . grimm (dr. jacob), letter to, on meaning of "laerig," . grog, origin of, . . . grotto, pray remember the, . grottoes on st. james's day, . grummett, meaning of, . . . g.(s.) on sir jeffery wyattville, . guildhalls, . . gules on bess of hardwick, . gunner (w.h., rev.) on william basse and his poems, . ---- note on herodotus by dean swift, . gutch (j.w.g.) on lines attributed to hudibras, . ---- on etymology of news, . ---- derivation of avon, . gutch (j.m.) on herrick's hesperides, . guy mannering, death-bed superstition in, . g.(w.s.) on fifth son, . ---- on meaning of fingle, . h. h. on autograph mottoes of richard duke of gloucester and henry duke of buckingham, . ---- on pity is akin to love, . h.(a.) on bishop jewell's papers, . haigh's (sir r.) letter-book, . hailstone (e.) original letter of peter le neve, . h.(a.j.) on christian captives, . ---- on lines attributed to hudibras, . haley, or hales (richard), milton pedigree, . hall (spencer), unpublished letter of horace walpole, . hallam's history of literature, error in, . ---- middle ages: alleged ignorance of the clergy, . halliwell (j.o.) on esquire and gentleman, . ---- on table-book, . ---- on the name of shylock, . hamilton, sir william, . . hamlet, tradition respecting shakespeare's, . hammack (j.t.) on bills of fare and humble pie, . ---- on dick shore, . . ---- on parish register statistics--chart, kent, . hampson (r.t.) on king alfred's geography of europe, . ---- on aelfric's colloquy, . hampson (r.t.) on periplus of hanno the carthaginian, . hanap, . . hanging out the broom, . hanno the carthaginian, periplus of, . . hanover square, . h.(a.p.) on a curious monumental brass, . ---- on the arrangement of a monastery, . hapless hunter; or eva, daughter of dermot macmurrough, . hardy (w.) on wives of ecclesiastics, . hats, beaver, . . . "havior," etymology of . . . . hawkins (edward) on curse of scotland, . ---- on satirical medal of the pretender, . ---- on ships called whelps, . h.(c.) on chapels, . ---- on christian captives, . ---- on gourders of rain, . ---- on a treatise on the lord's supper, by r. crowley, . h.(c.a.) on a passage from an old play, . h.(c.w.) on paying through the nose, . h.(e.) on high doctrine, . ---- on the pursuits of literature, . "hearty well-wisher" on poem in lansdowne mss., . henn (oscar) on arabic numerals, . h.(e.j.) on spur-money, . henno rusticus, . . henry, duke of buckingham, autograph motto of, . . herald, morning, when first established, . herbert's ames, dr. maitland on, . ---- and dibdin's ames, . ---- (sir henry) office-book, . h.(e.r.j.) on early statistics of chart, kent, . ---- on howkey, or hockey, . hermes on "brown study," . ---- on dr. dee's petition, . ---- on the dutch version of dr. faustus, . ---- on erasmus encomium moriae, . ---- on j.b.'s treatise of nature and art, . ---- on martins the printer, . ---- on vondel's lucifer, . ---- on vox et praeterea nihil, . herodotus, note on, by dean swift, . herrick (robert) and his hesperides, note on . . hertford, extraordinary execution at, . hesperides, a note on robert herrick the author of, . hever, . hexameter verses in the scriptures, . h.(f.) religious tract by, . h.. "the lucky have whole days," query as to authorship, . hibernicus on armagh, . hickford's rooms, panton street, haymarket, . hickson (samuel) on early english and early german literature--"news" and "noise," . ---- on marlowe and the old taming of a shrew, . ---- on song in style of suckling, . ---- on the old taming of a shrew, . . high doctrine, . ---- e.h. on, . hints to intending editors, . h.(j.o.w.) tale of a tub, . ---- queries on outline, . hobit, derivation of, . hockey, . holborn, turnstile lane, . holsworth (dr. richard) and thos. fuller, . holy scripture, gowghe's dore of, . . homer's odyssey, pope's, errors in, . . homeric ballads of dr. maginn, . homilies, allusions in, . honnore pelle, . { } hook or by crook, . . . . . . hopkins (john) the psalmist, . horace, pope's translation of, . hordys, . . horns, query respecting, . . . ---- to a river, . ---- why moses represented with, . . horse's head, . hours, ms. book of, . household book of sir e. dering, . ---- a.d. - , . howard (earl of surrey), . howkey or hockey, . . howlett the engraver, . h.(r.) on anthony alsop, . ---- on derivation of "pimlico," . ---- death-bed superstition, . h.(r.f.) on john bull, . h.(s.) on "bis dat qui citò dat," . hudibrastic couplet, . hudibras, lines attributed to, . ---- on a passage in, . ---- passage from . humble pie . . . hundred-weight. . hunt (leigh), sonnet on the poets, . hunter (rev. joseph) on anecdotes of books, . huntsman, the wild, . h.(w.) on wives of ecclesiastics, . ---- on temple stanyan, . hyde park corner, . hymn (christmas), . . hypomagirus on havior, . ---- on muffins and crumpets, . i. identity of anonymous annotators, . "i'd preach as though," . i.(j.) on st. barnabas, . ---- on bigotry, . ----, dorne the bookseller and henno rustleus, . . ---- on eva, daughter of dermot macmurrough, . ---- on execution of duke of monmouth, . ---- on gothic architecture, . ---- on the transposition of letters, . ---- on warton and heinsius, . ---- on lines attributed to tom brown, . iland chest, . incumbents of church livings, . . . indagator on lines attribute to henry, viscount palmerston, . indians, why american aborigines so called, . . inedited letter of the duke of monmouth, . inquistitorius on liber senteotiarum--inquisition of thoulouse, . inquistition in france, . ---- in mexico, . ---- in thoulouse, . inscriptions of ancient alms-basins, . . inscriptions, early, . investigator on cartwright's poems, . ---- on nat lee's certificate, . ireland, emblem and national motto of, . ---- pamphlets respecting, . . iron manufactures of sussex, . ---- railings round st. paul's, . iter boreale, ms. note on, . i.(t.) on prince madoc, . j. j. on meaning of cavell, . ---- on mayors, . ---- on pamphlets respecting ireland, . ---- portrait of sir john poley, . jackson (sir george), was he not "junius"? . ---- (edward s.) on derivation of calamity, . jackson (edward s.), quem deus vult perdere, . james i., bust of, . ----, dr. dee's petition to, . james ii., abdication of, . . james, st., . ----, st., day, grottoes on, . jarlzberg on the order of st. francis, . ---- on le petit albert, . ---- on the symbols of the four evangelists, . . ---- on english translations of erasmus's e comium moriae, . j.(b.g.) on gootet, . ---- on nursery games and rhymes, . jebb (john, rev.) nine queries by, . ---- on blunder in malone's shakspeare, . ---- on notes from fly-leaves, . jemmy dawson, ballad on, . jennings (peter h.) on the battle of towton, . jerdan (w.) on zachary boyd, . jester to henry viii., domingo lomelyn, . jewell's (bishop) papers, . jew's harp, origin of the, . . . jews, emancipation of the, . . j.(g.) on buns, . ---- on easter eggs, . jhon-john, . j.(j) on anonymous ravennas, . ---- on dick shore, . ---- on whelps, . john, . ---- origin of name, . john of salisbury, douce on, . john bull. . johnson (dr.) and professor de morgan, . ----, library of, . . ---- and dr. warton, . johnson (r.f.) on author of coxcombs vanquish berkeley, &c., . ---- on the seven champions of christendom, . ---- on derivation of sterling, . ---- origin and signification of hanging out the broom, . ---- on tickhill, god help me, . jones (r.m.) on microscope, . jones (t.) on herbert and dibdin's ames, . ---- on litany version of the psalms, . jones (inigo), sketches by, . josias ibach, stada, . journeyman, meaning of, . . j.(t.) on arabic numerals, . ---- on dog latin, . ---- on humble pie, . ---- on ordination pledges, . ---- on passage in frith's works, . ---- on peruse, . ---- on stephen eiton or eden's "acta regis edw. ii.," . ---- on symbolism of flowers, . ---- on welsh ambassador, . judas bell, . . . julius on horse's head, . ---- on rush hearings, . junior on a flemish account, . junius, queries as to, . . . ----, was he sir g. jackson? . . k. karinthon (lord), murdered in , . k.(b.h.) on passages in milton, . kelke (w. hastings) on travelling in , . ken (bp.), hymns, . kennaquhair (i.) on pet names, . kennedy (rev. b.h.) on the expression "mutual friend," . ---- on tickhill, god help me, . ---- on pet names, . kentish ballad, . . kersley (henry), lines by sir john suckling, . ---- on miry-land town, . ---- on americans called indians, . ---- on superstitions of the midland counties, . ---- on barnacles, . ---- on book called theophania, . k.(g.j.) on charles martel, . ---- on printer's couplets, . kilkenny, when made a city, . killaloe, henry ryder, bishop of, . killigrew family, genealogy of, . .. . ----, master of the revels, seal of, . kingsmill (rev. w.m.) on incumbents of church livings, . king's coffee-house, covent garden, . kings, pilgrimage of, . k.(j.) on cunningham's lives of eminent englishmen, . kooez (aredjid) on the dutch language, . ---- on trunck breeches, . koran by sterne, . . k.(w.h.) on cure for the hooping-cough, . k.(w.m.), why dr. dee quitted manchester, . l. l. on fenkle, . ---- on incumbents of church-livings, . ---- on nash's terrors of the night, . ---- on tureen, . lacedaemonian black broth (coffee), . . . . . laerig, what is the meaning of, . ---- (derivation of), . . lairus, when "father" last applied to clergymen, . laissez faire, laissez passer, . l'allegro (passages in), notes on milton's minor poems, . lambeth wells, . lambs bive and chute, . . la mer des histores, . . lammin (w.h.) on master of the revels, . ---- on mowbray coheirs, . lamont (c.d.) on dais-man, . la monnoye, epigram by, . lamp, smelling of, . . lancaster, st. thomas of, . landed and commercial policy of england, . . lansdown house, . lansdowne mss., poem in, . lara (byron's), on a passage in, . larking (rev. l.b.), on bill of fare in , . ---- on household book of sir e. dering, . ---- on mss. of sir roger twysden, . ---- on kentish ballad, . ---- on strewing straw or chaff, . ---- on wages in th and th centuries, . ---- on the wife of robert de bruce, . last of the villains, . latin distich and translations, . ---- epigram, . ---- names of towns, . ---- verse, . law courts at st. alban's, . ---- of horses, . lawrig (derivation of), . . lawyers' patron saint, . lay of the phoenix, . . lab on family of pointz of greenham, . l.(c.l.) on history of edward ii., . ---- on landed and commercial policy of england, . legal policy of great britain (dr. thomas bever's, . legate (bartholomew), the martyr, . { } legislators and ballad makers, . legour on grog and bishop barnaby, . ---- why is an earwig called coach-bell, . leman (rev. thomas), . . lines on pharaoh, . lesly, bishop of ross, . letter attributed to sir robert walpole, . . ---- book (sir r. waigh's), . ---- of sir robert walpole, . levite (young), macaulay's, . . . . liber sententiarum, . . libraries (ancient), . . ---- public, . library of augustinian eremites of york, . ---- of dr. johnson, . . limb of the law on a maiden assize and white gloves, . limborch's historia inquisitionis, . line quoted by de quincey, . . lines attributed to henry viscount palmerston, . ---- tom brown, . ---- on london dissenting ministers, . . ---- quoted by goethe, . ---- by sir john suckling, . ---- in the style of suckling, . ---- on "woman's will," . ling or bodenham's politeuphia, . . lions in the tower, . literary leisure, author of, . literature, early english and early german, . ---- the pursuers of, . ---- pursuits of, . liturgy version of the psalms, . . living dog better than a dead lion, . . . l.(j.h.) on king's coffee-house, covent garden, . ---- on trimble family, . l.(l.b.) on cowley or cowleas, . ---- on loscop, . l.l.l. on howlett, the engraver, . lobster in medal of the pretender, . . locke, mss. of, . locke's proposed life of lord shaftesbury, . logan (james), on ancient motto, . ---- on barnacles, . ---- on conrad of salisbury's descriptioutriusque britanniae, . logographic printing, . lollius, meaning of, . . lomax (t.g.) on dr. johnson's library, . lomelyn (domingo) jester to henry viii., . london, _see_ cunningham's handbook for. ---- house yard, . ---- improvements, vanbrugh's, . long, robert, admiral, . . ----, latin epigram on a tall barrister so named, . louvaine printer, martin, . lord chatham, queen charlotte, original letter respecting, . lord's supper, a treatise on, by robert crowley, . . loscop, . . louis xiv., epigram on, . love, the king's fool, . love's last shift, . . lower (mark anthony) on definition of grummett, . ---- on the etymology of daysman, . ---- on seal of the killigrew family, . ---- on shipster, . ---- on shylock, . l.(r.) on the thistle of scotland, . l.(s.) on vertue's mss., . l.(t.h.), epigram on louis xiv., . l.(t.j.) on characters of actors in cibber's apology, . lucas's (john) ms. collection of english songs, . lucifer, vondel's, . . the lucky have whole days, . . ludlow's (john) query as to junius, . ---- memoirs, . ludlum's dog (as lazy as), . luther and erasmus, lines on, . ----, woodcut likenesses of, . ----, portraits of, . ----, erasmus, and ulric von hutten, portraits of, . luther's portrait at warwick castle, . . ---- translation of the new testament, john, v. ., . . lydgate and coverdale, and their biographers, . lynne (walter), . l.(w.) on honnore pelle, . ---- on the omission of the words del gratia from the new floring, . lwyd (merry), . m. m on myles blomefylde ortus vocabulorum, . ---- on roland monoux, . ---- on manuscript of orosius, . ---- on journal of sir william beeston, . ---- on seager a painter, . m. on à brebis près tondue, &c., . ---- on the apocrypha, . ---- on arabic numerals, . ---- on burnet, . ---- on the ecclesiastical year, . ---- on gray's elegy, . ---- on j.b.'s treatise on art and nature ---- on latin names of towns, . ---- on moria encomlum of erasmus, . ---- on note books, . ---- on opinions of english historians, lord clarendon, . ---- on poetical symbolism, . ---- on ptolemy of alexandria, . ---- on symbols of the evangelists, . ---- on temple stanyan, . ---- on theses, . ---- on vox populi vox dei, . ---- on zenobia, . m.(a.) on watching the sepulchre, . m. or n., . . mac cabe (w.b.) on barnacles, . ---- on frusius, . macaulay and bishop burnet, . . macaulay's "young levite," . . . . macaulay's account of duke of monmouth, . macbeth, on a pas age in, . machoreus, _see_ macorovius. mackay (john ross), . . macorovius or machoreus (alexander), . m.(a.d.) on the capture of the duke of monmouth, . ---- on cromwell relics, . ---- on macaulay's "young levite," . ---- on travelling in england, . madden (sir frederick) on purvey on the apocalypse, and bonner on the seven sacraments, . ---- on sanuto's doges of venice, . ---- on the wycliffe translation of the scriptures, . madoc's expedition to america, . . . . . . madoc, the son of owen gwynedd, . . maginn, dr. miscellaneous writings of, . . . maiden assize, white gloves at, . maiden lane, covent garden, . maids (red) of bristol, . . maitland (rev. s.r.) on college salting, . ---- on dibdin's typographical antiquities, . ---- on repository for "notes" and herbert's "ames," . maitland, (rev. s.r.), on robert crowley, . malone's shakspeare, blunder in, . . . man in a garret, on m. de gournay, . manuscripts respecting abdication of james ii., . mare de saham, . . marescaucia, . . margarets' (st.), westminster, extracts from church wardens' accounts of, . markland (j.h.) on dr. johnson and dr. warton, . ---- on esquire and gentlemen, . marlborough (duke of), . . marlow's autograph, . marlow and the old "taming of a shrew," . . marriage contract of mary queen of scots and the earl of bothwell, . martel (charles), . martel (the name), . martin (f.s.) on derivations of calamity, . . martins, _see_ mortens. martins, the louvaine printer, . marylebone gardens, . . mary on origin of polly, . mary queen of scots, marriage contract of with the earl of bothwell, . mary, queen, her expectations, . master of methuen, . master of the revels, . . masters of st. cross, . . mathematical archaeology, . mathews (w. franks) on mother of thomas à becket, . mathews (w. franks) on urbanus regius, . maudeleyne (grace), . maxim, french, . . may-day, ; ---- customs of, . may marriages, . maypole (strand), . mayor (rev. j.e.b.) on bishop cosin's mss.; index to baker's mss., . ---- on the circulation of the blood, . ---- notes on bacon and jeremy taylor, . ---- on notes from fly-leaves, . ---- on smelling of the lamp, . mayors, what is their correct prefix? . m.(b.), on vanbrugh's london improvements, . m.(c.r.) on evangelistic symbols, . medal of the pretender, . . . . mediaeval geography (queries in), . medical symbols, . melandra on ancient alms-basins, . melanion on french maxims, . ---- on "by hook or crook," . ---- on jew's harp, . ---- on macaulay's "young levite," . ---- on may-day customs, . ---- on military execution, . ---- on nomade, . ---- on periwinkle, a mocking emblem, . ---- on plagiarisms or parallel passages, . . ---- on twm shawn cattie, . mer des histoires, . . mercenary preacher, . merry lwyd, . merser, mr., house, newington, painted glass in, . mertens, martins, or martini the printer, . merton (ambrose) on wesselcuphymn, . mess. (a), meaning of, . messengers (queen's), . . metal for telescopes, rev. j. edwards on, . . methuen (master of), . metrical charms--folk lore, . metrical version of the psalms, lord bacon's, . metrical writings on alchymy, . meyrlok's ancient armour, error in, . m.(f.) on astle's mss., . { } m.(f.) on compendyous olde treatyse, . ---- on dore of holy scripture, . ---- on dr. hugh todd's mss. . ---- on madoc, . ---- on ms. book of hours, . ---- on mss. of sir roger twysden, . ---- on royal genealogies, . ---- on "factotum," . ---- on viridis vallis, . m.(g.) on incumbents of church livings, . ---- on katharine pegg, . ---- on rev. t. leman, . ---- on selago and samolus, . ---- on travelling hand-bills, . m.(h.j.) on ballad of dick and the devil, . michael (st.) and all angels, festival of, . . microscope, . middle ages (hallam's), . middle temple, . miland (john) on trade editions--cottle's life of coleridge, . military execution, . . milnes (richard monckton) on st. thomas of lancaster, . milton, on passages in, . milton's defensio, ms. notes in, . ---- l'allegro, . ---- minor poems, notes on, . ---- pedigree. richard haley or hales, . ---- prose works, bohn's edition, . minar's book of antiquities, . minimum de malis, . minerva, order of, . misquotations, . mistake in gibbon, . maryland town, . . m.(j.) on complutensian polyglot, . ---- evelyn's sculptura, . ---- "god tempers the wind," &c., . ---- on gray's elegy, . ---- on le petit albert, . ---- on origin of rococo, . ---- on richard of cirencester, . ---- on roger bacon; hints and queries for a new edition of his works, . ---- on theses, . ---- on treatise of equivocation, . ---- wild huntsmen, . ---- did oliver cromwell write the new star of the north, . m.(j.b.) on bristol riots, . ---- on a french maxim, . m.(j.e.) on ancient motto, . m.(j.f.) on birthplace of andrew borde, . ---- on definition of clericus, . ---- on derivation of calamity, . ---- on greay's elegy, . ---- hints to intending editors, . ---- on mare de saham and portum pusillum, . ---- on letters of mrs chiffinch, . ---- on notes from fly-leaves, no. iv., . ---- on a passage in l'allegro, notes on milton's minor poems, . ---- on richard haley or hales, . ---- on the fraternity of vagabonds, . ---- on walewich or watewich, . m.(j.h.) on burnet, . ---- on jew's-harp, . ---- on milton's l'allegro, . ---- on "to fettle," . modest discours, . . monastery, arrangement of one, . moneta sanctae helenae, . monk, skinner's life of, . monmouth's ash, . ---- duke of, . ---- execution of, . ---- capture of, . ---- inedited letter of, . ---- memorials of the last days of, . ---- correspondence, . ---- his pocket-book, . monody on sir john moore, . . monoux, roland, monumental brass, . monosyllables, use of, . moure (cecil) on form of petition, . monson (lord) on lord carrington or karinthon, . monumental brass, . . moore, sir john, monody on the death of, . . morgan, de (professor), and dr. johnson, . morning herald, when first established, . morse as caught the mare, . moses, why represented with horns, . . mosquito country, origin of the name, early connection of the mosquito indians with the english, . mother of thomas a becket, . . motto, ancient, . . . . . ---- of university of cambridge, . ---- sapcote, . . ---- singular, . . ---- the buckingham, . . . . mousetrap, book of the, . ---- dante, . mowbray coheirs, . . morning chronicle, when established, . m.(r.m.) on chrysopolis, . ---- on darnley's birth-place, . ---- on sannto, . ---- (s.a.) on charlemagne's talisman, . ---- on the darkness at the crucifixion, . ms. volume of chronicles at reigate, note of, . mss. of casubon, . ---- of dr. hugh todd, . ---- of locke, . . ---- of the wycliffite translations of the scripture, . ---- sermons by jeremy taylor, . ---- of sir roger troysden, . m.(j.r.), flemish account, . m.(j.f.) on ling and bodenham, . m.(j.h.) on countess of pembroke's letter, . m.(j.r.) on parallel passages or plagiarisms in childe harold, . muffins and crumpets, derivation of, . . . munford (george), query, is the dombec the domesday of alfred, . murrain in cows (charm for) used in ireland, . musafir on a flemish account, . music room in charles street, covent garden, . ---- in dean street, soho, . "mutual friend," dr. jennedy on the expression, . m.(w.) on derivation of "finkle," . . m.(w.b.) on marc de saham--portum pusillum--watewich, . m.(w.l.) on gray's elegy, . "my love and i for kisses played," &c., . . my mind to me a kingdom is, . . n. n. on reinerius saccho, . ---- on bohn's edition of milton's prose works, . ---- on busts of james i. and charles i., and ancient tapestry, . ---- on discours modest, . ---- on dr. sam. parr, and dr. john taylor of shrewsbury school, . ---- on katherine pegg, . ---- on rev. t. leman, . ---- on william godwin, . n.(a.), minar's books of antiquities, . ---- on reheting and rehetours, . ---- on william baxter, . nagahead, cheapside, . name (change of), . . names of towns (latin), . napoleon, tablet to, . . . nares on scarborough warning, . nash's terrors of the night, . . naso on cock lane, . ---- on mary-le-bone gardens, . ---- on the norman crusades, . ---- on the times, . nat lee's certificate, . nathan on the ecclesiastical year, . ---- on "vox et praeterea nihil," . n.(b.) on the lobster in the medal of the pretender, . ---- on richard green of lichfield, . ---- on thistle of scotland, . nec pluribus impar, . n.(e.l.) on the koran by sterne, . nell gwynne, tennison's funeral sermon on, . nelson's brother, letters of immediately after the battle of trafalgar, . nemo, christ's hospital, old songs once popular there, . ---- on the memoirs of an american lady, . ---- what is the meaning of complexion, . ---- query as to the author of literary leisure, . never (peter le) original letter of, . new star of the north, did oliver cromwell write it, . new year's day custom, . newcastle house, . new exchange, . "news," origin of the word, . . . nightingale (b.) medal of the pretender, . nine of diamonds, why and when called the curse of scotland, . . n.(j.e.) on john stowe, . n.(j.g.) on constantine the artist, . ---- on josias ibach, stada, . ---- on the master of the revels, . nomade, . . norman crusader, the, . norman pedigrees, . . norris on gowghe's dore of holy scripture, . northman on martin the louvain printer, . ---- on portugal, . ---- why are north american aborigines called indians, . nosce teipsum, an exception, epigram, . note on herodotus, by dean swift, . ---- on cold harbour, . notes on authors and books, . ---- on the dodo, . ---- from fly leaves, no. . ; no. . .; no. . ; no. . ; no. . ; no. . . ---- method of keeping them, . ---- unpon notes no. . . ---- query as to, . ---- value of a repository for, . ---- upon books, sales, catalogues, &c. _in every number_. ---- to correspondents, _in every number_. noval a recent one, . . novus on compendyous olde treatyse, . ---- on tracts, by f.h. . ---- on walter lynne, . ---- on woolton's christian manual, . nudd (gwynn ab), on merry lwyd, . numismatic queries, . nursery games and rhymes, . o. o. on a latin epigram, . o.(l.) on portaits in the british museum, . o.(r.) on coffee, the lacedaemonian black broth, . . ---- on portrait of charles i. . ---- on register of cromwell's baptism, . office book of sir henry herbert, . { } ogilby's britannia, . old auster tenements, . . ---- books, english and american reprints of, . ---- robin gray, ms. notes in, . oliphant (g.h. hewit) on law of horses, . oliver (george) on daysman, . omens from battle, . opinions respecting english historians:-- i. bishop burnet, . ii. lord clarendon, . order of minerva, . ordination, pledges, . . . origin, of the jews-harp, . ---- of the change of mary into polly, . ormerod (geo.) on sydenham or tulenham, . ormonde, (second duke of), . ---- house, . orosius, (anglo-saxon ms. of), . ortus vocabulorum, . ossory, (bishops of), . otloh the scribe, by s. w. singer, . . our progress, . . ---- progress and prospects, . ---- further progress, . owen (rev. dr.), new edition of his works, . ---- epigram from the latin of, . oxoniensis on bp. ken's hymns, . ---- on ms. sermons by jeremy taylor, . p. p. on boston de bury, . ---- on carena, . ---- was not sir george jackson "junius," . . painted glass, . painter, seager, a. . p.(a.g.s.), snow of chicksand priory, . pallace, the meaning of, . . . pall mall, . palmerson (henry viscount), lines attributed to, . pamphlets respecting ireland, . . pandoxare, . . . paraphrase of the gospels, erasmus', . parallel passages, . pardonere (the) and frere, . parish registers, extracts from, . ---- statistics, chart, kent, . parker street, drury lane, . parkership, porkership. _see_ pokership. parliamentary writs, . parnell, lines by, . parr (dr. sam.) of shrewsbury, and shrewsbury school, . parson's charity, oliver cromwell as a feoffee of, . passage from an old play, . ---- from pope, . patron saint of lawyers, . pavoise of the black prince, . pawnbrokers' three balls, . paying through the nose, . . p.(c.) on parnell, . peal of bells, a, . ----, ancedote of a, . peckham (east), kent, extract from parish registers, . pedigrees, norman, . . pellar's song attribted to shakspere, and tradition connected with shakspere's "hamlet," . pegge (catherine), . . . . pembroke, dorset, and montgomery, countess of, celebrated letter of, . . . penniel, etymology of, . percy (dr.) and the poems of the earl of surrey, . periergus bibliophilus, on book of the mousetrap, . periplus of hanno, the carthaginian, . . periwinkle, a mocking emblem, . peruse or perviso, the word, . . . petit albert, . petition, form of, . . pet names, . . p.(g.) on annus trabeationis, . ----, query respecting urbanus regius, . pharaoh, lines on, . phi on florins, . ---- on lions in the tower, . ---- on wives of eccleiastics, . philalethis cestriensis, . philautus, epigram to, . philip, st., . philobodius, lines on pharaoh, . phoenix, lay of, anglo-saxon, . . ---- by lactantius, . philolagos, on derivation of zero, . ----, on the origin of the change of mary into polly, . phonetic peculiarity, . physicians, proverb against, . pictures of queen elizabeth and charles i. in churches, . pilgrimage of kings, . ---- of princes, . pimlico, origin of name, . . pisan, meaning of, . . . . pitt's (lord chatham) resignation, . pity is akin to love, . p.(j.) on origin of word "bug," . p.(k.m.) on the festival of st. michael and all angels, . plagiarisms, or parallel passages, . . . . planché (j.r.) on ancient tapestry, . ---- on armour of black prince and sword of charles i., . ---- on queen's messengers, . plays, authors of old, . poem by sir edward dyer, . ---- in lansdowne mss., . poems of william basse, . poetical symbolism, . poets, leigh hunt's sonnet on, . poghele, meaning of, . . poins and bardolph, . . pointz of greenham, family of, . pokership or porkership, meaning of, . . . . . . . poley (sir john), portrait of, . policy, history of landed and commercial, in england, . . political maxim, when first used, . . polly, origin of the change of mary into, . . polyglot, complutensian, . . . . . . poor robin's almanack, . poore's (edward) literary collections, . pope felix, . . pope and petronius, . ----, petronius, and his translators, . ----, passages from, . ----, quotations from, . ----, on a passage in, . ---- vindicated, . pope's homer's odyssey, errors in, . ---- revision of spence's essay on the odyssey, . ---- translations of horace, . porkership, . _see_ pokership. portrait by boonen, . ---- of charles i., . portraits in the british museum, . ---- of luther and erasmus, . ---- of luther, erasmus, and ulric von hutten, . portugal, gazetteer of, . . portum pusillum, . . potter (t.r.) on belvoir castle, . pound, st. giles's, . powell's (rev. t.) human industry, bolton corney on, . powers (john) on eva, daughter of dermot macmurrough, . praise undeserved, origin of the line, . pray remember the grotto, . prebendaries, . prendergast (m.) on scole inn, . pretender, the lobster in the medal of the, . . price (e.b.) on coffee, the lacedaemonian black broth, . printers' couplets, . printing presses, topography of foreign, . . priscian, query about _a_ or _an_ before vowels, . prison discipline and execution of justice, . propugnaculum, anti-pistorianum, . proverb, a living dog better than a dead lion, . ----, weather, . proverbial sayings and their origin, . . provincial words, . prutenicae, meaning of, . . psalms, liturgy version of, . . ----, lord bacon's metrical version of, . . . ptolemy of alexandria, . . public libraries, . pursuers of literature, . pursuits of literature, . purvey on the apocalypse, . pusan, iklynton collar, . pwcca on caerphile castle, and the use of samolus and selago by the druids, . ---- on curious welsh custom, . p.(w.p.) on passage in cowper's task, . ---- on derivation of "calamity," . q. q.q. on a flemish account, . quaesitor, vox populi, monody on sir john moore, . quarterly review on burnet, . queen of hearts, . queen's bagnio, . ---- messengers, . . . queen street, great, lincoln's inn, . quem deus vult perdere, . . . queries on outline, . ----, woolton's christian manual, . query as to notes, . ---- on ptolemy of alexandria, . quevedo, spanish bull-fights, . r. r. on caraccioli's life of lord clive, . ---- on cartwright's poems, . ---- on macaulay's young levite, . ---- on sir r. haigh's letter-book, . ---- on "sneck-up," . r.(a.) on hordys, . r.(a.b.) on bartholomew legate, the martyr, . ----, lines on london dissenting ministers, . ---- on dr. richard holsworth and thos. fuller, . rahere on curious monumental brass, . rainbow in the morning, &c., . rain, fall of, in england, . . raleigh, bust of sir walter, . ranelagh, lard, daughter of, and charles ii., . rappee (brown) on "esquire" and "gentleman," . ravennas, anonymous, date of, . . . rawdon papers, . r.(c.j.) on catsup, . ---- on derivation of "laerig," . ---- on gourders of rain, . ---- on quem deus vult perdere, . ---- on mss. of dr. hugh todd, . ---- on norman pedigrees, . ---- on tablet of napolean, . ---- on translation of aelian, . ---- on the transposition of letters, . ---- on the use of monosyllables, . { } r.(c.j.), to endeavour oneself, . r.(c.u.b.e.) on a nation's ballads, . r.(d.n.) on misquotations, . reconciliation, the, in , . record publications, . records, extracts from old, . red lion square, . red maids of bristol, . . r.(e.f.) on the strand maypole, . ---- on john lucas's collection of english songs, . ---- on colonel blood's house, . references, query as to, . ---- accuracy of, . regimental badges, . reheting and rehetours, meaning of, . . reigate, ms chronicles at, . reinerius saccho, . . revells, the office of master of, . . r.(g.j.) on writers of notes on fly-leaves, . richard of cicenester, . richard, duke of gloucester, autograph motto of, . . ---- iii., true tragedy of, . richardson, e. bouchier, query relating to rev. dr. thomlinson, . richmond buildings, soho, . rich (a.), jun., on the buckingham motto, . ---- on meaning of "grummett," . ---- (anthony), jun., on pope, petronius, and his translators, . rider, sir william, . . . rimbault, e.f., dr., on authors who have privately printed their own works, . ---- on ballad of jemmy dawson, . ---- on betterton's duties of a player, . ---- bibliographical notes, . ---- on dr. burney's musical works, . ---- on cunningham's handbook for london, which see. ---- on cheshire round, . ---- on domingo lomelyn, jester to henry viii., . ---- english translation of erasmus encomium moriæ, . ---- on the exaltation of ale, a poem, . ---- on the field of forty footsteps, . ---- the first coffee-houses in england, . ---- the french change, soho, . ---- on gesta grayorum, . ---- on hudibras, . ---- on lollius, . ---- on lydgate and coverdale and their biographers, . ---- on marylebone gardens, . ---- on the maudeleyne grace, . ---- on mother of thomas à becket, . ---- on office-book of sir henry herbert, . ---- on office of master of the revels, . ---- on the origin of the jews-harp, . ---- on pimlico, . ---- ten queries concerning poets and poetry, . ---- on roger de coverley, . ---- on salting, . ---- on sir edward dering's household book, a.d. - , . ---- on william basse and his poems, . ---- on spur money, . ---- on sword called curtana, . ---- tracts by decker and nash, . ---- on turnstile lane, holborn, . ---- on use of beaver hats in england, . ---- vertue's manuscripts, . ---- when were umbrellas introduced into england, . ---- who translated the turkish spy, . ringers' true guide, beaufoy's, . riots, bristol, . . r.(l.c.) on derivation of "to fettle," . r.(n.e.), allusion in friar buckley's sermon, . roasted mouse, . robson (w.) on the name martel, . rock (rev. daniel) on the fraternity of christian doctrine--chaucer's night charm, . ---- on the watching of the sepulchre, . ---- on the wickliffite version of the scriptures, . ---- on vox populi vox dei, . rococo, . . rodd (mr.), sale of his books, . roger bacon, hints and queries for a new edition of his works, . roger de coverley, . . rogers (j.r.) on the meaning of palace, . roman catholic church, statistics of, . roman numerals, . roodloft, history of, . rose, under the, . rosh, query respecting sir robert long, . ross (c.) on the duke of monmouth's pocket-book, . ---- on author of laissez faire laisser passer, . roterodamus on luther and erasmus, . rotten row and stockwell street, . rowland's choise of change, . royal genealogies, . ---- household allowances, . roydon on fall of rain in england, . r.(r.) on golden frog, . ---- on hints to intending editors, . ---- on provincial words, . r.(t.c.) etymology of behavior, . rufa on the red maids of bristol, . rufus, nosce teipsum, . ---- cupid crying, . ---- on the devotee, . ---- epigram from the latin of vincent bourne, . ---- epigram by, . ---- epigram from the latin of owen, . ---- epigram on soul and body, . ---- epigram to philantus, . ---- on the golden age, . ---- lines on miminum de malis, . ---- on "nec pluribus impar," . ---- ode to david cook from v. bourne, . ---- translation from v. bourne, . runcton, north, norfolk, extract from parish register of, . runes, . rush bearings, . russell (lady rachel), . russells and savegard, meaning of, . r.(w.b.) on vox et præterea nihil, . r.(w.d.) on henry ryder, bishop of killaloe, . r.(w.j.b.) on hexameter verses in the scriptures, . ryder (henry) bishop of killaloe, . . ---- (sir william), . rye (w.b.) on captivity of the queen of bruce in england, . s. s. on the buckingham motto, . ---- on poins and bardolph, . ---- of n.s. on queries in church history, . [greek: s]. on law courts at st. alban's, . ---- on thynne's collection of chancellors, . ---- on tandem, . ---- on the meaning of grummett, . sacrilege punished by flaying, . safeguard, . salisbury change, . salt at montem, . . salting (college) and tricking of freshmen, . . . ---- something else about, . samolus and selago, the use of, by the druids, . . . sangred, meaning of, . . sanson (john), "a living dog better than a dead lion," origin of, . ---- on bishop cosin's form of consecration of churches, . ---- on c. agricola's propugnaculum, . . ---- on la mer des histoires, . ---- on treatise by engelbert, . sans souci theatre, leicester place, . sanuto's doges of venice, . . . sapcote motto, . . sartorius on traveling in england, . satirical medal of the pretender, . . . . savile, (marquis of), halifax, . savegard and russells, meaning of, . . sayers, the caricaturist, . s.(c.) on water gate, . scata coeli, . . . scarborough warning, . s.(c.f.), extracts from parish registers of east peckham, kent, . ---- on the fraternity of christian doctrine, . ---- on origin of epithet factotum, . scheible of stuttgart, books published by, . scole, white hart inn, . . schoolboy on byron and tacitus, . sclater (dr.), in books of, . scotland, curse of, nine of diamonds, why so called, . ----, thistle of, . . scotus on flaws of wind, . ---- on duke of monmouth's correspondence, . ---- on a flemish account, . ---- on roasted mouse, . ---- on order of minerva, . ---- on madoc's expedition to america, . ---- on thistle of scotland, . s.(c.w.) query, whence shakspeare took the names poins and bardolph, . s.(d.) on the bishop that burneth, . ---- on defoe's tour through great britain, . ---- on marescausin, . ---- on praise undeserved, . ---- on record publications, . ---- on st. antholin's parish books, . s.(d.v.), query, brown study, . ---- on complexion, . ---- on direct and indirect etymology, . ---- "as lazy as ludlum's dog as laid him down to bark," . seager, a painter, . s.(e.) on bayswater and its origin, . ---- on pokership, . secretan (rev. c.f.) on sermones sancti caroli borromæi, . selago and samolus, the use of, by the druids, . . . selden (error in johnson's life of), . ---- titles of honour, . seleucus on anglo-saxon lay of the phoenix, . ---- on cromwell's estates, . ---- on eva, daughter of dermot macmurrough, . ---- on folk lore of wales, . ---- on new-year's-day custom, . ---- on tureen, . ---- on twm sion catti, . sepulchre (watching of), . . seriopoli, . sermones sancti caroli borromæi, . serpent's eggs, and straw necklaces, . scutter's "atlas novus", . seven champions of christendom, . sewerage in etruria, . seymour, (colonel hyde), . s.(g.a.) on the pardonere and frere, . ---- (h.) on complutensian mss, . shaftesbury (earl of), on monmouth's ash, . ---- (lord), and dr. whichcot, . shakespeare and dear stealing, . { } shakespeare, employment of monosyllables, . ---- malone's blunder in, . ---- mss. . ---- and the old taming of the shrew, . ---- papers, dr. maginn's, . ---- hamlet, tradition respecting, . ---- pedlar's song attributed to, . shipater, meaning of, . . sholbus, (d.) on old charms, . shore (dick), . short's gardens, drury lane, . shrew, derivation of, . . . ---- taming of the, . . . shrewsbury and shrewsbury school, dr. sam. parr, and dr. john taylor of, . shrouds, or clouds, in shakespeare, . shuck, the dog-fiend, . shylock, on the name, . . s.(j.) on "by hook or by crook," . ---- on forlot or forthlot, . sickingen, franz von, . . signe of the end, query respecting, . simpson (william sparrow), on a curious monumental brass, . singer s.w. on aelfric's coloquy, . . ---- on king alfred's geography of europe, . ---- on the anglo-saxon word unlaed, . ---- on borrowed thoughts, . ---- on contradictions in dox quixote; and query as to the buscaplé, . ---- on the dodo queries, . ---- dodo replies, . ---- on hanno's periplus, . ---- on dr. jacob grimm, . ---- on laerig, . ---- on luther's translation of the new testament, . ---- on pope's revision of spence's essay on the odyssey, . ---- what books did otloh write, . singular motto, . sir roger de coverley, . siwel on god tempers the wind, . s.(j.a.) on by hook or by crook, . ---- on lord bacon's metrical version of the psalms, . ---- on ballad maker and legislators, . ---- on discours modest, . ---- on family of dove of doncaster, . ---- on gesta grayorum, . ---- on lines quoted by goethe, . s.(j.j.) motto of university of cambridge, s.(j.m.) on topography of foreign printing presses . s.(j.) on norman pedigrees, . ---- on southwell's supplication, . ---- recent novel, . s.(j.p.) on dissenting ministers, . ---- on chapels, . ---- skinner's life of monk, . skipwyth (sir william), king's justice in ireland, . s.(l.), on allusions in homilies, . ---- on omens from cattle, . ---- on tempora mutantur, . slang phrases, . smelling of the lamp, . . smirke (e.), on the last of the villains, . ---- on old auster tenements, . ---- on pokership, . smyth's extracts on burnet, . sneck up, . snob, origin of, . . snow of chicksand priory, . snow (robert), query as to illustrations of cressets vert vert painted on enamel, . ---- on hanap, . ---- on horns, . ---- on judas bell, . ---- on "a mess," . soc, (c.r.) on college salting, . soho square, . solomon dayrolles, . song of the bees, . song in the style of suckling, . sonnets by w.j. thoms, . . soul and body, . southwell's supplication, . s.(p.), on authorship of a couplet, . sparse, meaning of, . . s.(p.c.s.), on bernicia, . ---- on mr. cresswell and miss warneford, . ---- on duke of ashgrove, . ---- on dr. dove of doncaster, . ---- on gazetteer of portugal, . ---- on iron railings round st. paul's, . ---- on sir w. rider, . ---- on a passage in pope, . ---- pope vindicated, . ---- on verb to endeavour oneself, . spectre, sir thomas boleyn's, . speculum exemplorum, . spence's essay on the odyssey (pope's revision of). . spenser's monument, . spur money, . . . . spurious letter of sir r. walpole, . s.(r.s.), on dance thumbkin, . ---- on "a frog he would a-wooing go," . s.(r.) on history of edward ii., . ---- on a peal of bells, . s.(s.) on sir william rider, . s.(s.p.), query on line quoted by de quincey, . s.s.s. on black broth, . ---- on daysman, . ---- on deputy lieutenants of the tower of london, . ---- on easter eggs, . ---- on gloves, . ---- on hever, . ---- on "by hook or by crook," . ---- on monumental brass, . ---- on note books, . ---- on poghell, . ---- on prebendaries, . ---- on safeguard, . ---- on the steward family, . ---- on ancient tiles, . ---- on tureen, . ---- on watewich, . s.(s.w.), on anthony alsop, . ---- epigram by la monnoye, . ---- on ave trici and gheeze ysenoudi, . ---- on drayton's poems, . ---- on henno rusticus, . ---- on lacedaemonian black broth, . ---- on "my love and i for kisses played," . ---- on portraits of luther and erasmus, . ---- on otloh the scribe, . ---- poem by sir edward dyer, . ---- on portraits of ulrich of hutten, . ---- on warburton and collier _v._ dyce, . s.(s.w.) on sanuto's doges of venice, . st. antholin's parish books, . st. chad (henry), on burning the dead, . st. croix (h.c.) on gray's elegy, . ---- on "love's last shift," . st. evona's choice, . st. francis (flemish work on the order of), . st. george (lewelyn) on bishop lesly, . st. martin's lane, . st. olave's, crutched friars, . st. paul's alley, . st. paul's churchyard, . st. valentine in norwich-cook-eels, . standards of the anglo-saxons, devices on, . stanesby (j.t.) on the word sparse, . stanyan (temple), . statistics (early) chart, kent, . . stationers' registers, . statistics of the roman catholic church, . . stephens' (rev. w.) sermons, . . sterling and penny, derivation of, . . sterne's koran, . . stevens (david) on divination by the bible and key, . ---- on errors in pope's homer's odyssey, . ---- on john ross mackay, . steward or stewart, family of, bristol, . . stoke on ancient churchyard customs, . storey's gate, birdcage walk, st. james park, . stowe (john), . strand (maypole), . straw necklaces, . strewing straw or chaff, . strode's (dr.) poem, . ---- song by attributed to fletcher, . strickland, (h.e.) on the dodo, . ---- on dodo queries, . street (john) on sword of charles i., . stuart (lady arabells) new facts about, . . student on madoc's expedition, . stukeley (dr.), medal of, . subscriber, on scala coeli, . ---- on wives of ecclesiastics, . suckling, inedited song by, . ---- lines in the style of, . . sudlow (jno) on dr. dobbs and his horse nobbs, . superstition, death-bed, . superstitions of the midland counties, . ---- in the north of england, . supper of the lorde, . . . surrey (earl of) and his poems, and what dr. percy did with them, . sussex, iron manufactories of, . s.(w.h.) on the origin of grog, . swift's opinion of burnet, . ----, note of, on herodotus, . swingeing tureen, . sword called curtana, . sword of charles i., . swords worn in public, . swot, origin of, . . sydenham or tidenham, . symbolic custom, . symbolism of the fir cone, . ---- of flowers, . ---- poetical, . symbols of the four evangelists, . . t. t. on bishop burnet, . ---- on bone houses, . ---- on burning the dead, . ---- on pedlar's song attributed to shakespere, . ---- on mss. of casaubon, . ---- on the word rococo, . ---- on woolton's christian manual, . t.(a.) on discurs modest, . ---- on rev. thomas leman, . table book, . tablet to napoleon, . . tace latin for a candle, . tacitus and byron, . tale of a rub, . talisman, charlemagne's, . . taming of a shrew, play of, . . . tandem, . tapestry, ancient, . . tavistock street, covent garden, . taylor (jeremy), mss. sermons by, . ---- reprint of his works, . taylor (dr. john) of shrewsbury and shrewsbury school, . telescopes, rev. j. edwards on metal for, . . temple, the, or a temple, . . temple stanyan, . tempora mutantur, . . teneber wednesday, . tenements, old auster, . . tennison's funeral sermon on nell bwynne, . { } ten queries concerning poets and poetry, . t.(e.s.), numismatic queries, . t.(e.s.), on "shuck," the dog-fiend, . ---- on sir thomas boleyn's spectre, . ---- on ancient church plate, . theophania, . theory of vision (berkeley's) vindicated, . . on devices on standards of the anglo-saxons, . ---- on mss. of locke, . ---- on religious tract by f. h., . theses, bibliography of, . . thistle of scotland, . . thomas a becket, mother of. . thomas (s.l.) of lancaster, . . thomlinson (rev. dr.), query relating to, . thomas (william i.), "pray remember the grotto." . ---- on white gloves at a maiden assize, . ---- sonnets by, . . ---- on metrical charma, . ---- weather proverb, . thornhill (sir j.), pocket-book of, . thorpe (b.), on Ælfire's colloquy, . thoulouse, inquisition of, . three balls of pawnbrokers, . throwing old shoes at a wedding, . thynne's collection of chancellors, . tickhill, "god help me," . . . tilbury, aboriginal chambers near, . tiles, ancient, . . _times_, when first established, . . _times, herald, chronicle_, when first established, . _times_ paper, history of, . titles of honour, . t.(j.) on antony alsop, . ---- on bishop barnabv, . ---- on catacombs and bone-houses, . ---- on curious custom, . t.(j.m.), on madoe's emigration to america, . . todd (rev. james h.), on ancient libraries, . ---- on berkeley's theory of vision vindicated, . ---- on cromlech, . ---- on etymology of armagh, . ---- on reheting, rehetours, &c., . todd (dr. hugh), mss. formerly belonging to, . . . to endeavour oneself, . tom brown, lines attributed to, . tomlinson of southwingfield, derbyahire, . toothache, charm for the, . topography of foreign printing presses, . . totness, etymology of, . tottenham street . tottenham court road. . torri's polyglot edition of gray's elegy, . treatise upon the microscope, . trebor on emerods. . ---- on lines quoted by goothe, . ---- on death bed superstition, . trevelyan (sir w. calverly), on anonymous revennas. . ---- on st. alban's day, . ---- on lacedæmonlan black broth, . ---- on portugal, . ---- on selago, . ---- on sir roger de coverley, . ---- on watching the sepulchre, . treves (engelbert, archbishop of), treatise by, . trimble family, . trophee, . . t.(t.h.), on tower royal, . t.(t.), on macaulay's young levite, . tower royal, origin of, . ---- of london, llons in, . ---- deputy lieutenants of, . towton, the battle of, . tracts, by eachard. . ---- by dekker and naah. . ---- religious. by f. h., . . trade editions. . trafalgar, battle of, letters of lord nelson's brother after, . tragedy of richard iii. . transportation of letters, . . . translation of Ælian, . translation of the seriptures, mss. of . travelling of old, in england, . . . . ----hand bills, . ---- in , . treatise on art and nature, j.b.'s, . . trunck breeches, . . . . tub. tale of a, . tureen, origin of, . . . . . "turkish spy," who translated it. . turnbull (w.b.d.d.), on scutter's atlas novus. turner's ms. history of westminster, . turner's (t. hudson), on beaver hats, . ---- on pisan, . ---- on moneta santæ helenæ, . turnstile lane, holborn, . t.(w.c.), on public libraries, . twm shawn cattie, . . . . two noble kinsmen, . twysden, mss. of sir hoger, . . tyburn gallows, . tyndale, . typographical antiquities by dibdin, . u. ulrich of hutten, portraits of, . umbrellas, when were they introduced into england, . "under the rose," . unlaed, the anglo-saxon word, . urbanus regius, . . use of coffins, . v. v. on cromwell's estates, . . ---- on el buscapie, . ---- on muffins, . ---- on serpents' eggs and straw necklaces, . ---- on travelling in england, . van voorst's polyglot edition of gray's elegy, . vagabonds, fraternitye of, . . vanbrugh's london improvements, . vaux on origin of grog, . v.(e.), on ancedote of charles the first . ---- on arabic numerals, . ---- on christmas hymn, . ---- on college salting, . ---- on a curious monumental brass, . ---- on dutch language, . ---- on feast of st. michael and all angels, . ---- on latin verse, . ---- on ordination pledges, . ---- on pusan iklynton collar, . ---- on tower royal, . ---- on watching the sepulchre, . . venator on sir stephen fox. . venice, sanurto's dugen of . . . venison, proclamation respection sale of, . ventris (edw.) of frusius, . ---- of roland monoux, . verbum græcum, . versicle and response, . vert vert, illustrations of gresset's painted on enamel, . . vertue's manuscripts, . . villains, last of the, . vincent (r.), on gothic architecture, . viridis vallis, . . viz. why used for videllcet, . vondel's lucifer, . . vox on billingsgate. . vox et præterca mihill, . . . vox populi, vox dei, . . . . v.(r.) on french maxim, . ---- on palm sunday wine, . ---- on the punishment of sacrilege, . vulgate, early edition of, . vulpes on sir stephen fox, . w. w. on the word cannibal, . ---- on beaver, . ---- on junius, . ---- on lines of london dissenting ministers, . ---- on papers of john wilkes, . ---- on roger de coverly, . w.(i.), epigram on a very tall barrister named long, . ---- a close translation, . ---- on dorne the bookseller, and henno rustieus, . . ---- on gray's elegy, . ---- on gray's aleaic ode, . ---- on henry ryder, bishop of killaloe, . ---- on lacedæmonian black broth, . . ---- on metens, . w.(a.) on translations of Ællan, . ---- on apposition, . ---- on discovery of the circulation of the blood, . ---- on "tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis," . wages in th and th centuries, . walbran (j.r.) on mss. formerly belonging to dr. hugh todd, . walcott (rev. m.) on grog, . ---- on turner's ms. history of westminster, . ---- on st. margeret's, westminster, . waterwich or waterwich, . waller's poems, ms. notes on, . walpole (horace), unpublished letter of, . ---- (sir robert), letter attributed to, . . . . walter (henry) on christencat, . wandrille (st.), abbey of, . warburton and collier v. dyce, . wards, d'israeli on the court of, . waring (elijah) on duke of monmouth, . ---- on cwn wyhir and cwn annwn, . ---- on toom shawn cattie, . ---- on bishop burnet as an historian, . warneford (miss) and mr. cresswell, . warning to watchmen, . warton and heinsius, . warts, charms for cure of, . . watchmen, waring to, . watching the sepulchre, . . . watewich, . . was (albert) on ancient inscribed dish, . ---- on ms. chronicles at reigate, . ---- on pandoxare, . ---- on shipster and gourders, . w.(b.) on derivation of lærig, . ---- on john and pisan, . w.(k.) on abdication of james ii., . weather proverbs, . ---- rhyme (norfolk), . weeping cross, . wellington, wyrwast, cokam, . welsh custom, curious, . ---- ambassador, or the cuckoo, . . . w.(e.n.) on spenser's monument, . wessel cup hymn, . westminster, turner's ms. history of, . westmoreland, lady jane of, . w.(g.) on american aborigines call indians, . { } w.(g.) on college salting, . ---- on havior, . ---- on tureen, . w.(h.) on arabic numberals and cipher, . ---- on byron and tacitus, . ---- on the word peruse or pervise, . . ---- on a passage in frith's work, . ---- on scala coeli, . ---- on the supper of the lorde, . ---- on three balls of pawnbrokers, . ---- why moses represented with horns, . whelps, what ships so called, . . "where england's monarch," authorship of, . . w.(h.f.) on dr. dryasdust, . whichcot (dr.) and lord shaftesbury, . . . white conduit house, . white gloves at a maiden assize, . . whitgift and cartwright, cunningham's lives of, . whitehall, . white hart inn, scole, . . . why moses represented with horns, . wiccamicus on "angels' visits", . wickliffte version of the scriptures, . wild house, drury lane, . wild huntsman, the, . wilkinson (henry) on fall of rain in england, . ---- reply to query about the arabic numerals, . williams (b.) on transposition of letters, . williams (w.) on billingsgate, . winifreda (st.), . . wives of ecclesiasties, . . . w.(j.k.r.) on christmas hymn, . w.(j.) on early inscriptions, . w.(m.) answer to a limb of the law, . wodderspoon (john) on st. valentine, in norwhich-cook-eels, . woman's will, lines on, . woodcut likeness of luther and erasmus, . woolton's christian manual, . . worm of lambton, . wotton's poem to lord bacon, . wreford (j. reynell) on inedited lines by robert burns, . writers of notes on fly leaves, . w.(s.) on german version of gray's elegy, . ---- on luther's translation of the bible, . ---- on luther's portrait at warwick castle, . w.(t.) on "bive" and "chute" lambs, . ---- on the genealogy of european soverigns, . ---- on pavoise of the black prince, . ---- on queen's bagnio, . w.(t.t.) on gib cat, . ---- why did dr. dec quit manchester, . ---- watching the sepulchre--dominus factotum--robert passelew, . wyatt (rev. geo.) on tracts by eachard, . wyattville (sir jeffery), . . wycliffte translation of the scriptures, mss. of, . x. x. on pursuits of literature, . ---- on origin of rococo, . ---- on smelling of the lamp, . x.x. on the liturgy version of the psalms, . y. yard, books by the, . yarrell (wm.) on havior, heavier, or hever, . yates (j.b.) on medal of the pretender, . y.(d.s.) on defoe's tour through great britain, and etymology of armagh, . ---- on ghost stories of daniel de foe, . yoeman, what is the meaning of, . yong and drayton, . yorkshire subscriber on erasmus' paraphrase of the gospels, . young levite, macaulay's, . . z. z. on portrait by boonen, . zachary boyd, . . zenobia, a jewess. . . . zero, derivation of, . . z.(q.x.) on genealogy of european sovereigns, . z.(x.y.) query as to the meaning of trunk breeches, barba longa, and mercenary preacher, . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, november , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:--page shakspeare and marlowe, by samuel hickson. a plan for a church-history society. burnet as a historian. epigrams from buchanan. mistakes about george chapman the poet. minor notes:--shakspeare and george herbert--old dan tucker--lord john townsend--croker's boswell--misquotation--tindal's new testament--the term "organ-blower"--"singular" and "unique". queries:-- early poetry, &c., five bibliographical queries respecting. minor queries:--history of newspapers--steele's burial place--socinian boast--descent of edward iv.--viscount castlecomer--judge cradock, afterwards newton--totness church--meaning of "harissers"--ringelbergius: drinking to excess--langue pandras--the coptic language--cheshire cat--mrs. partington--cognation of the jews and lacedemonians. replies:-- fairfax's translation of tasso. small words. replies to minor queries:--concolinel-wife of the poet bilderdijk--schweickhardt the artist--noli me tangere--chimney money--passage from burke--nicholas assheton's journal--scotch prisoners--long friday--bradshaw family--julin, the drowned city--dodsley's poems--shunamitis poema--jeremy taylor's works--d[au]ctor dubitantium--aërostation--gwyn's london and westminster--"regis ad exemplum totus compositur orbis"--st. uncumber, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes shakspeare and marlowe. a special use of, a use, indeed, that gives a special value to your publication, is the communication through its means of facts and conclusions for the information or assistance of editors or intending editors. i do not suppose that any gentleman occupying this position would be guilty of so much disrespect to the many eminent names which have already appeared in your columns, as would be implied in not giving all the attention it deserved to any communication you might see fit to publish; and with this feeling, and under this shelter, i return to the subject of marlowe, and his position as a dramatic writer relative to shakspeare. i perceive that a re-issue of mr. knight's _shakspeare_ has commenced, and from the terms of the announcement, independently of other considerations, i conclude that the editor will take advantage of this opportunity of referring to doubtful or disputed points that may have made any advance towards a solution since his previous editions. i have read also an advertisement of an edition of shakspeare, to be superintended by mr. halliwell[ ], which is to contain the plays of "doubtful authenticity, or in the composition of which shakspeare is supposed only to have taken a part." neither of these gentlemen can well avoid expressing an opinion on the subject i have adverted to, and to them more especially i would address my observations. i think i have observed that the claims of marlowe have been maintained with something very like party spirit. i have seen latterly several indications of this, unmistakeable, though expressed, perhaps, but by a single word. now it is true both mr. collier and mr. dyce are committed to a positive opinion on this subject; and it would be unreasonable to expect either of those gentlemen to change their views, except with the fullest proof and after the maturest consideration. but who, besides these, is interested in maintaining the precedence of marlowe? these remarks have been called forth by an article in the _athenæum_, containing the following passages:-- "all marlowe's works were produced prior, we may safely assert, to the appearance of shakspeare _as a writer for the stage_, or as an author, in print. "it is now universally admitted among competent critics, that shakspeare commenced his career as a dramatic author, by remodelling certain pieces written { } either separately or conjointly by greene, marlowe, lodge, and peele." an anonymous writer commits himself to nothing, and i should not have noticed the above but that they illustrate my position. in the passage first cited, if the writer mean "as a writer for the stage _in print_," it proves nothing; but if the words "in print" are not intended to be so connected, the assertion cannot be proved, and _many_ "competent critics" will tell him it is most improbable. the assertion of the second quotation is simply untrue; mr. knight has not admitted what is stated therein, and if i recollect right, an edinburgh reviewer has concurred with him in judgment. neither of these, i presume, will be called incompetent. i cannot suppose that either assertion would have been made but for the spirit to which i have alluded; for no cause was ever the better for allegations that could not be maintained. in some former papers which you did me the honour to publish, i gave it incidentally as my opinion that marlowe was the author of the _taming of a shrew_. i have since learned, through mr. halliwell, that mr. dyce is confident, from the style, that he was not. had i the opportunity, i might ask mr. dyce "which style?" that of the passages i cited as being identical with passages in marlowe's acknowledged plays will not, i presume, be disputed; and of that of such scenes as the one between sander and the tailor, i am as confident as mr. dyce; it is the style rather of shakspeare than marlowe. in other respects, i learn that the kind of evidence that is considered by mr. dyce good to sustain the claim of marlowe to the authorship of the _contention_ and the _true tragedy_, is not admissible in support of his claim to the _taming of a shrew_. i shall take another opportunity of showing that the very passages cited by mr. dyce from the two first-named of these plays will support my view of the case, at least as well as his; doing no more now than simply recording an _opinion_ that marlowe was a follower and imitator of shakspeare. i do not know that i am at present in a position to maintain this opinion by argument; but i can, at all events, show on what exceedingly slight grounds the contrary opinion has been founded. i have already called attention to the fact, that the impression of marlowe's being an earlier writer than shakspeare, was founded solely upon the circumstance that his plays were printed at an earlier date. that nothing could be more fallacious than this conclusion, the fact that many of shakspeare's earliest plays were not printed at all until after his death is sufficient to evince. the motive for withholding shakspeare's plays from the press is as easily understood as that for publishing marlowe's. thus stood the question when mr. collier approached the subject. meanwhile it should be borne in mind, that not a syllable of evidence has been advanced to show that shakspeare could not have written the _first part of the contention_ and the _true tragedy_, if not the later forms of _henry vi._, _hamlet_ and _pericles_ in their earliest forms, if not _timon of athens_, which i think is also an early play revised, _love's labour's lost_, _the two gentlemen of verona_, &c., all of which i should place at least seven years distance from plays which i think were acted about or . i now proceed to give the kernel of mr. collier's argument, omitting nothing that is really important to the question:-- "'give me the man' (says nash) 'whose extemporal vein, in any humour, will excel our greatest _art masters_' deliberate thoughts.' "green, in , says he had been 'had in derision' by 'two gentlemen poets' because i could not make my verses get on the stage in tragical buskins, every word filling the mouth like the faburden of bow-bell, daring god out of heaven with that atheist tamburlane, or blaspheming with the mad priest of the sun. farther on he laughs at the 'prophetical spirits' of those 'who set the end of scholarism in an _english blank-verse_.' "marlowe took his degree of _master of arts_ in the very year when nash was unable to do so, &c. "i thus arrive at the conclusion, that christopher marlowe was our first poet who used blank-verse in dramatic compositions performed in public theatres."--_hist. of dramatic poetry_, vol. iii. pp. , , . this is literally all; and, i ask, can any "conclusion" be much more inconclusive? yet mr. collier has been so far misled by the deference paid to him on the strength of his unquestionably great services, and appears to have been so fully persuaded of the correctness of his deduction, that he has since referred to as a _proved fact_ what is really nothing more than an exceedingly _loose conjecture_. of the two editors whose names i have mentioned, mr. knight's hitherto expressed opinions in reference to the early stage of shakspeare's career in a great measure coincide with mine; and i have no reason to suppose that it is otherwise than an open question to mr. halliwell. for satisfactory proof in support of my position, time only, i firmly believe, is required; but the first stage in every case is to remove the false conclusion that has been drawn, to weaken its impression, and to reduce it to its true value; and that i have endeavoured to do in the present paper. in conclusion, i take the opportunity of saying, as the circumstance in some degree bears upon the present question, that the evidence in support of the priority of shakspeare's _taming of the shrew_ to the so-called older play which i withheld, together with what i have collected since my last paper on the subject, is i think stronger even than that which i communicated. samuel hickson. october, . [footnote : this communication was written and in our hands before the appearance of mr. halliwell's advertisement and letter to _the times_, announcing that the edition of shakspeare advertised as _to be_ edited by him and published by the messrs. tallis, is only a reprint of an edition, with notes and introductions by mr. halliwell, which was commenced at new york some months ago.--ed.] * * * * * { } a plan for a church-history society. the formation of a society, having for its object any special literary service, is a matter so closely connected with the very purpose for which this paper was established, that we shall only be carrying out that purpose by calling the attention of our readers to a small pamphlet in which our valued correspondent dr. maitland offers a few suggestions to all who may be interested in the formation of a "church-history society, and willing to co-operate in such a design." dr. maitland's suggestions are: . the collection of a library containing the books particularly required for the objects of the proposed society: and those who have not paid attention to the subject will perhaps be surprised to learn that in dr. maitland's opinion (and few higher authorities can be found on this point), "a moderate-sized room would hold such a library, and a very few hundred pounds would pay for it." on the advantage of this plan to the editors of the works to be published by the society, it can scarcely be necessary to insist; but other benefits would result from the formation of such a library, for which we may refer, however, to the pamphlet itself. the next points treated of are the works to be undertaken by the society; which may briefly be described as . new and corrected editions of works already known and esteemed; critical editions, for instance, of such well-known writers as fox, fuller, burnet, and strype: and the completion, by way of "posting up," of such as have become defective through lapse of time, like le neve's _fasti_, godwin's _de presulibus_, &c. . the compilation of such original works as may be considered desiderata. a general church-history on such a scale, and so far entering into details as to interest a reader, is not to be found in our language; nor has the church of england any thing like the _gallia christiana_ or _italia sacra_. we mention these merely as instances, referring, of course, for further illustration to the pamphlet itself, merely quoting the following paragraph:-- "but on the subject of publication, i must add one thing more, which appeals to me to be of vital importance to the respectability and efficiency of such a society. it must not build its hopes, and stake its existence, on the cupidity of subscribers--it must not live on appeals to their covetousness--it must not be, nor act as if it were, a joint-stock company formed to undersell the trade. it must not rest on the chance of getting subscribers who will shut their eyes, and open their mouths, and take what is given them, on a mere assurance that it shall be more in quantity for the money, than a bookseller can afford to offer." dr. maitland's fourth section, on the _discovery of materials_, tempts us to further extracts. after remarking that "it would be a most important and valuable part of the society's work to discover in various ways--chiefly by the employing fit persons to look for, inspect, and make known--such materials for church-history as remain unpublished." and "that no person, not wholly illiterate and ignorant of church-history, could go about the metropolis only, seeking after such matters during one month, without gathering into his note-book much valuable matter." the doctor proceeds: "by those who have not been led to consideration or inquiry upon the subject, this may be deemed a mere speculation; but those who are even slightly acquainted with the real state of things, will, i believe agree with me that if men, respectable and in earnest and moderately informed, would only set about the matter, they would soon be astonished at the ease and rapidity with which they would accumulate interesting and valuable matter. transcribing and printing, it is admitted, are expensive processes, and little could be effected by them at first; but merely to make known to the world by hasty, imperfect, even blundering, lists or indexes, that things unsought and unknown _exist_, would be an invaluable benefit." we pass over the section on _correspondence_, and that on the establishment of _provincial societies_; but from the last, _on the privileges of members_, we quote at even greater length. "it is but honest to confess in plain terms, that the chief and most obvious privilege of members at first, is likely to be little more than a satisfactory belief that they are doing a good work, and serving their generation. in a word, the nicely-balanced _quid pro quo_ is not offered. it might be prudent for the present to confine one's self to a positive assurance that the society will, at the worst, make as good a return as several other societies formed for the promotion and cultivation of other branches of knowledge. if subscribers will only be content to pay as much, and receive as little, as the fellows of the royal and antiquarian societies, the church-history society will thrive. but considering the nature and object of the proposed society, i cannot help expressing my confidence that there are many christian people who will give their money freely, and no more wish to have part of it returned, than if they had put it into a plate at a church-door--let them only be satisfied that it will not be embezzled or turned into waste paper. "at the same time, the members of the society might derive some legitimate benefits. they would have constantly increasing advantages from the use of their library, which would gradually become, not only rich in books, but in transcripts, catalogues, indexes, notices, &c., not to be found together elsewhere. of all these they would have a right to as much use and advantage as joint-proprietors could enjoy without hindrance to each other. with regard to works published by the society, they might reasonably expect to be supplied { } with such as they should choose to possess, on the same terms as if they were the authors, or the owners of the copyright. these, however, are details which, with many others, must be settled by the managers; they are not mentioned as matters of primary importance or inducement." dr. maitland concludes by observing, that he should not have ventured to publish his plan, had he not been encouraged to do so by some whose judgment he respected; and by inviting all who may approve or sanction the plan, to make known (either by direct communication to himself, or in any other way) their willingness to support such a society, and the amount of contribution, or annual donation, which, if the design is carried out, may be expected from them. of course such expressions of opinion would be purely conditional, and would not pledge the writers to support the society if, when organised, they did not approve of the arrangements; but it is clear no such arrangements can well be made until something, is known as to the amount of support which may be expected. we have entered at some length upon this _plan of a church-history society_, and have quoted largely from dr. maitland's pamphlet, because we believe the subject to be one likely to interest a large body of our readers, who might otherwise not have their attention called to a proposal calculated to advance one of the most important branches of historical learning. * * * * * burnet as a historian. the following extract from charles lamb ought to be added to the _testimonia_ already given by "notes and queries" (vol. i., pp. . . . .):-- "_burnet's own times._--did you ever read that garrulous, pleasant history? he tells his story like an old man past political service, bragging to his sons on winter evenings of the part he took in public transactions when his 'old cap was new.' full of scandal, which all true history is. so palliative; but all the stark wickedness that actually gives the _momentum_ to national actors. quite the prattle of age and outlived importance. truth and sincerity staring out upon you perpetually _in alto relievo_. himself a party-man, he makes you a party-man. none of the cursed philosophical humeian indifference, 'so cold and unnatural and inhuman.' none of the cursed gibbonian fine writing, so fine and composite. none of dr. robertson's periods with three members. none of mr. roscoe's sage remarks, all so apposite and coming in so clever, lest the reader should have had the trouble of drawing an inference. burnet's good old prattle i can bring present to my mind; i can make the revolution present to me."--_charles lamb: letters_. gustave masson. hadley, near barnet. _bishop burnet_.--an epigram on the reverend mr. lawrence eachard's and bishop gilbert burnet's histories. by mr. matthew green, of the custom-house. "gil's history appears to me political anatomy, a case of skeletons well done, and malefactors every one. his sharp and strong incision pen, historically cuts up men, and does with lucid skill impart their inward ails of head and heart. lawrence proceeds another way, and well-dressed figures does display: his characters are all in flesh, their hands are fair, their faces fresh; and from his sweet'ning art derive a better scent than when alive; he wax-work made to please the sons, whose fathers were gil's skeletons." from a _collection of poems by several hands_. london: dodsley, . j.w.h. * * * * * epigrams from buchanan. a beautiful nymph wish'd narcissus to pet her; but he saw in the fountain one _he_ loved much better. thou hast look'd in his mirror and loved; but they tell us no rival will tease thee, so never be jealous. j.o.w.h. * * * * * there's a lie on thy cheek in its roses, a lie echo'd back by thy glass, thy necklace on greenhorns imposes, and the ring on thy finger is brass. yet thy tongue, i affirm, without giving an inch back, outdates the sham jewels, rouge, mirror and pinchbeck. j.o.w.h. * * * * * mistakes about george chapman the poet. dr. w. cooke taylor, in the introduction to his elegant reprint of _chapman's homer_, says of george chapman, that "he died on the th of may, , and was buried at the south side of st. giles's church." the date here is an error; for we should read . sir egerton brydges, in his edition of phillip's _theatrum poetarum_ (canterbury, , p. .), says of the same poet, "a monument was erected over his grave by inigo jones, which was destroyed with the old church." here also is an error. inigo jones's altar-tomb to the memory of his friend is still to be seen in the churchyard, against the south wall of the church. the inscription, { } which has been imperfectly re-cut, is as follows:-- "georgius chapman poëta mdcxx ignatius jones, architectus regius ob honorem bonarum literarum familiari suo hoe mon d.s.p.f.c." there is no proof that inigo jones's tomb now occupies its original site. the statement that chapman was studied on the south side of the church is, i believe, mere conjecture. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * minor notes _shakspeare and george herbert._--your correspondent d.s. (vol. ii., p. .) has pointed out two illustrations to shakspeare in george herbert's poems. the _parallel passages_ between the two poets are exceedingly numerous. there are one or two which occur to me on the instant:-- _the church porch_: "in time of service, seal up both thine eyes, and send them to thy heart; that, spying sin, they may weep out the stains, by them did rise." cf. _hamlet_, iii. .: "o hamlet, speak no more; thou turnst mine eyes into my very soul, and there i see such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct." * * * * * _gratefulness_: "thou, that hast given so much to me, give one thing more, a grateful heart." cf. _second pt. henry sixth_, i. i.: "o lord, that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness; for thou hast given me, in this beauteous face, a world of earthly blessings to my soul." * * * * * _the answer_: "all the thoughts and ends which my fierce youth did bandy, fall and flow like leaves about me, or like summer friends, flies of estate and sunshine." cf. _troil. and cressida_, iii. s.: "men, like butterflies, show not their mealy wings but to the summer; and not a man, for being simply man, hath any honour." also, _third pt. henry sixth_, ii. .: "the common people swarm like summer flies, and whither fly the gnats, but to the sun? and who shines now, but henry's enemies?" s.a.y. _old dan tucker._--in a little book entitled _a thousand facts in the histories of devon and cornwall_, p. ., occurs the following passage: "the first governor [of bermuda] was a mr. moore, who was succeeded by captain daniel tucker." does this throw any light on the popular negro song-- "out o' de way, old dan tucker," &c.? h.g.t. _lord john townsend._--i have a copy of the _rolliad_, with the names of most of the contributors, taken from a copy belonging to dr. lawrence, the editor of the volume, and author of many of the articles. in the margin of "jekyll," lines . to . are stated to be "inserted by tickle;" and lines . to the end, as "altered and enlarged by tickle:" and at the end is the following note:-- "there are two or three other lines in different parts of the foregoing eclogue, which were altered, or inserted by tickle--chiefly in the connecting parts. the first draft (which was wholly lord john townsend's) was a closer parody of virgil's th eclogue; especially in the beginning and conclusion, in the latter of which only jekyll was introduced as 'the poet.' "tickle changed the plan, and made it what it is. the title (as indeed the principal subject of the eclogue) was in consequence altered from 'lansdown' to 'jekyll.' the poetry and satire are certainly enriched by tickle's touches; but i question whether the humour was not more terse and classical, and the subject more just, as the poem originally stood."--_l_. probationary odes no. xii. is by "lord john townsend." "three or four lines in the last stanza, and perhaps one or two in some of the former, were inserted by tickle."--_l._ dialogue between a certain personage and his minister (p. . of the nd edition) is by "ld. j.t." a new ballad, billy eden, is by "ld. j.t., or tickle." ode to sir elijah impey (p. .): "anonymous--i believe l'd. j.t."--_l._ ministerial undoubted facts (p. .): "lord j. townsend--i believe."--_l._ w.c. trevelyan. _croker's boswell_ (edit. , p. .).--mr. croker cannot discover when a good deal of intercourse could have taken place between dr. johnson and the earl of shelburne, because "in , when johnson engaged in politics with hamilton, { } lord shelburne was but twenty." in lord shelburne was twenty-eight. he was born in ; was in parliament in ; and a privy councillor in . l.g.p. _misquotation--"he who runs may read_."--no such passage exists in the scriptures, though it is constantly quoted as from them. it is usually the accompaniment of expressions relative to the clearness of meaning or direction, the supposititious allusion being to an inscription written in very large characters. the text in the prophet habakkuk is the following: "write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." (ch. ii. .) here, plainly, the meaning is, that every one reading the vision should be alarmed by it, and should fly from the impending calamity: and although this involves the notion of legibility and clearness, that notion is the secondary, and not the primary one, as those persons make it who misquote in the manner stated above. manleius. _tindal's new testament._--the following bibliographical note, by the late mr. thomas rodd, taken from a volume of curious early latin and german tracts, which will be sold by messrs. sotheby and wilkinson on friday next, deserves a more permanent record than the sale catalogue. "i consider the second tract of particular interest and curiosity, as it elucidates an important point in english literature, viz., the place (worms) where tindal printed the edition of the new testament commonly called the first, and generally ascribed to the antwerp press. "this book is printed in a gothic letter, with woodcuts and initial letters (in the year ). "i have carefully examined every book printed at antwerp, at the period, that has fallen in my way; but in no one of them have i found the same type or initial letters as are used therein. "in the present tract i find the same form of type and woodcuts, from the same school; and also, what is more remarkable, an initial (d) letter, one of the same alphabet as a p used in the testament. these initial letters were always cut in alphabets, and in no other books than these two have i discovered any of the letters of this alphabet. "the mistake has arisen from the circumstance of there having been a piratical reprint of the book at antwerp in , but of which no copy is known to exist." the following is the title of the tract referred to by mr. rodd:-- "_eyn wolgeordent und nützlich buchlin, wie man bergwerck suchen un finden sol, von allerley metall, mit seinen figuren, nach gelegenheyt dess gebirgs artlich angezeygt mit enhangendon berchnamen den anfahanden_" and the colophon describes it as "_getruckt zu wormbs bei peter schörfern un volendet am funfften tag aprill_, m.d.xviii." _the term "organ-blower._"--in an old document preserved among the archives of the dean and chapter of westminster, is an entry relative to the celebrated composer and organist henry purcell, in which he is styled "our _organ-blower_." what is the meaning of this term? it certainly does not, in the present case, apply to the person whose office it was to fill the organ with wind. purcell, at the time the entry was made, was in the zenith of his fame, and "organist to the king." possibly it may be the old term for an organist, as it will be remembered that in the fifteenth century the organ was performed upon by _blows_ from the fist. at the coronation of james ii., and also at that of george i., two of the king's musicians walked in the procession, clad in scarlet mantles, playing each on a sackbut, and another, drest in a similar manner, playing on a double curtal, or bassoon. the "organ-_blower_" had also a place in these two processions, having on him a short red coat, with a badge on his left breast, viz. a nightingale of silver, gilt, sitting on a sprig. in a weekly paper, entitled the _westminster journal_, dec. . , is a letter subscribed "ralph courtevil, _organ-blower_, essayist, and historiographer." this person was the organist of st. james's church, piccadilly, and the author of the _gazetteer_, a paper written in defence of sir robert walpole's administration. by the writers on the opposite side he was stigmatized with the name of "court-evil." at the present time, as i am given to understand, the organist of st. andrew's church, holborn, is styled in the vestry-books, the "_organ-blower_." edward f. rimbault. "_singular" and "unique_."--the word _singular_, originally applied to that of which there is no other, gradually came to mean extraordinary only, and "rather singular," "very singular indeed," and such like phrases, ceased to shock the ear. to supply the vacancy occasioned by this corruption, the word _unique_ was introduced; which, i am horror-struck to see, is beginning to follow its predecessor. the vauxhall bills lately declared vauxhall to be the "most _unique_ place of amusement in the world." can anything be done to check this ill-fated word in its career? and, if not, what must we look to for a successor? m. * * * * * queries. early poetry, etc., five bibliographical queries respecting. . who was the author of-- "a poeme on the king's most excellent maiesties happy progress into scotland and much desired returne. may, . imprinted at london, mdcxxxiii." { } it consists of ten leaves, exclusive of title-page, and is signed with the initials j.r. no copy has been traced in any public or private library. . how many leaves does _nich. breton's fantastiques_ contain? i have a copy, apparently of a more recent date than the one alluded to in "notes and queries" (vol. i., p. .), wanting the title, and probably introductory leaf; the text, however, is quite complete. where can a perfect copy be found? . there is in my possession a poetical collection, of which i can find no trace in any library public or private. it is dedicated to "edmond lord sheffield, lord president of his maiesties council established in the north parts," and the following is a copy of the title-page:-- "northerne poems congratulating the king's maiesties most happy and peaceable entrance to the crowne of england. 'sorrowe was ouer night but joy came in the morning.' 'serò, quamvis seriò, sat cito, si sat benè.' 'these come too late, though they import they love, nay, soone enough, if good enough they prove.' printed at london by john windet for edmund weaver, and are to be solde at the great north doore of paules, . small to." four leaves not numbered, and twenty-two pages numbered. . can any account be given of a sort of autobiography by an individual whom lord orford sneers at in his _anecdotes of painting_; it is entitled: "a manifestation by sir balthazar gerbier, k't. job. xiii., ver. .; 'behold now, i have ordered my cause, i know that i shall bee justified.' london, printed for the author, ." mo. leaves and title. this very singular production does not appear to have been published, and i cannot trace it in any catalogue. it gives the author's descent, which is noble, and contains many interesting personal details of sir balthazar, which cannot be found elsewhere. . in the _bibliographer's manual_, by lowndes, there occurs this entry: "life and death of major clancie, the grandest cheat in this age," , and the full catalogue of the hon. mr. nassau is referred to. can any of your readers state where a copy of this production may be found? a brief account of clancie is contained in the _memoirs of gamesters and sharpers_, by theophilus lucas. he wrote, or there was written, under this name, various other works not noticed by lowndes. can any information be given as to the assumed or real author of these works? lowndes also mentions _clancie's cheats, or the life and death of major clancie_, . where can access to this work be obtained? j. mt. edinburgh. * * * * * minor queries. _history of newspapers._-- "the materials for a satisfactory history of newspapers, lie scattered in facts known one to this person, and one to that. if each london or provincial journalist, each reader, and each critic, who has an anecdote and a date, would give it publicity, some future volume might be prepared from the combined supply, much more complete than any to be fairly expected from a comparatively unaided writer who ventures upon an almost untrodden ground." the foregoing extract from the interesting volumes recently published by mr. knight hunt, under the unpretending title of _the fourth estate: contributions towards a history of newspapers, and of the liberty of the press_, has been very kindly recommended to our attention by _the examiner_. we gladly avail ourselves of the suggestion, and shall be pleased to record in our columns any facts of the nature referred to by mr. hunt. _steele's burial-place._--sir richard steele died in the house now the "ivy bush" inn, at carmarthen, on the st of september, . where was he buried? is there a monument or inscription to his memory in any church in or near carmarthen? llewellyn. _socinian boast._--in an allocution recently held by dr. pusey, to the london church union, in st. martin's hall, reported in _the times_ of oct. , the following passage occurs: "the socinian boast might be a warning to us against such declarations. the socinian pictured calvin as carrying on the protest against rome more vigorously than luther, himself than calvin: "tota jacet babylon; destruxit tecta lutherus, calvinus muros, sed fundamenta socinus." query, by what socinian writer are these two hexameter verses used? l. _descent of edward iv._--professor millar, in his _historical view of the english government_ (ii. .), in discussing the claim of edward iv. to the english throne, speaks of "a popular though probably a groundless tradition, that by his mother he was descended from henry iii. by an elder brother of edward i., who, on account of his personal deformity, had been excluded from the succession to the crown." where may i find this tradition? or where meet with any information on the subject? s.a.y. { } _viscount castlecomer._--sir christopher wanderforde, who succeeded poor strafford as lord deputy of ireland, in april, , was created, between that date and his death, which occurred in december of the same year, baron mowbray and musters, and viscount castlecomer. i should be glad to know the date of the patent of his creation, whether sir christopher himself ever took up the title, and what became of the title afterwards? s.a.y. _judge cradock, afterwards newton._--mr ellacombe (vol. ii., p. .), in his notice of a monument in yatton church to "judge newton, _alias_ cradock," says, "the arms of cradock are _arg._ on chevron _az._ three garbs _or_." richard cradock, he adds, "was the first of his family who took the name of newton." does mr. ellacombe mean that the above arms were those of the _cradock family_, or that this richard cradock assumed the coat as well as the name of _newton_? the above was the bearing of the family of newton, of east newton, in the north riding of york. the eldest daughter and coheir of john newton of east newton was married to william thornton, which family thus became possessed of the estate of east newton, and quartered the coat assigned by mr. ellacombe to cradock. i should be glad to know the occasion on which richard cradock assumed the name and arms of newton, as well as the connexion between these newtons and those settled at east newton. s.a.y. _totness church._--in totness church, the n. angle of the chancel is cut off in the lower part of the building, in order to allow an arched passage from one side of the church to the other outside. the upper part of the building is supported by a very strong buttress or pier, leaving the diagonal passage between it and the internal wall. can any one tell whether this was done merely to afford a gangway for want of room outside? the graveyard has been recently enlarged in that direction, for all the tombstones beyond the line of the chancel appear to be of late date. an old woman informed me, with an air of solemn authenticity, that this arched passage was reserved as a place of deposit for the bodies of persons seized for debt, which lay there till they were redeemed. h.g.t. _meaning of "harissers_."--it is customary in the county of dorset, after carrying a field of corn, to leave behind a sheaf, to intimate to the rest of the parish that the families of those who reaped the field are to have the first lease. after these gleaners have finished, the sheaf is removed, and other parties are admitted, called "barissers." i have been told that the real title is "arishers," from "arista." i should feel obliged if any of your correspondents could inform me whether this name is known in any other county, and what is the derivation of the word. clericus rusticus. _ringelbergius--drinking to excess._--ringelbergius, in the notes to his treatise _de ratione studii_, speaking of great drinkers, has this passage: "eos qui magnos crateras haustu uno siccare possunt, qui sic crassum illud et porosum corpus vino implent, ut per cutem humor erumpat (nam tum se satis inquiunt potasse, cùm, positis quinque super mensam digitis, _quod ipse aliquando vidi_, totidem guttæ excidunt) laudant; hos viros esse et homines dicunt." he says that he himself _has seen this_. does any reader of the "notes and queries" know of _any other author_ who says that he _has seen_ such an exhibition? or can ringelbergius's assertion be confirmed from any source? j.s.w. stockwell, oct. . _langue pandras._--in the life of chaucer prefixed to the aldine edition of his poetical works, there is published, for the first time, "a very interesting ballad," "addressed to him by eustache deschamps, a contemporary french poet," of which i beg leave to quote the first stanza, in order to give me the opportunity of inquiring the meaning of "_la langue pandras_," in the ninth line: "o socrates, pleins de philosophie, seneque en moeurs et angles en pratique, ovides grans en ta poeterie, bries en parier, saiges en rethorique, aigles tres haulte qui par ta theorique enlumines le regne d'eneas l'isle aux geans, ceulx de bruth, et qui as semé les fleurs et planté le rosier aux ignorans de _la langue pandras_; grant translateur, noble geoffroy chaucier." may i ask, further, whether any particulars are known of this contemporary and admirer of chaucer? i hope i shall not be deemed presumptuous if i add that i should have doubted of the _genuineness_ of the poem quoted from, if sir harris nicolas had not stated that it had been communicated to him by "thomas wright, esq., who received it from m. paulin paris," gentlemen in every way qualified to decide on this point, and being sanctioned by them, i have no wish to appeal from their judgment. j.m.b. _the coptic language._--i read in _the times_ of this morning the following: "the coptic is an uncultivated and formal tongue, with monosyllabic roots and _rude inflexions, totally different_ from the neighbouring languages of syria and arabia, _totally opposite_ to the copious and polished sanscrit." do you think it worth while to try if some coptic scholar among your learned correspondents can give us some clearer account of the real position of that tongue, historically so interesting? { } the point is this, is it _inflected_, or, does it employ _affixes_, or is it absolutely without inflections and affixes? if the first, it cannot be "totally opposite" to the sanscrit: if the second, it cannot be "totally different" from syriac and arabic: if the third, it cannot have "rude inflections." j.e. oxford, october . . _cheshire cat._--will some of your correspondents explain the origin of the phrase, "grinning like a cheshire cat?" the ingenious theory of somebody, i forget who, that cheshire is a county palatine, and that the cats, when they think of it, are so tickled that they can't help grinning, is not _quite_ satisfactory to k.i.p.b.t. _mrs. partington._--where may i find the original mrs. partington, whose maltreatment of the queen's english maketh the newspapers so witty and merry in these dull days? ignorans. _cognation of the jews and lacedemonians._--in the th chapter of the st book of maccabees the letter of jonathan, the high priest, to the lacedemonians is given, in which he claims their amity. this is followed by a letter of arcus, the spartan king, in answer, and which contains this assertion: "it is found in writing that the lacedemonians and jews are brethren, and that they are of the stock of abraham." have critics or ethnographers commented on this passage, which, to say the least, is remarkable? as i am quoting from the apocrypha, i may point out the anomaly of these books being omitted in the great majority of our bibles, whilst their instructive lessons are appointed to be read by the church. hundreds of persons who maintain the good custom of reading the proper lessons for the day, are by this omission deprived, during the present season, of two chapters out of the four appointed. manleius. * * * * * replies. fairfax's translation of tasso. on referring to my memoranda, i find that the copy of fairfax's translation of the _gerusalemme liberata_ of tasso, containing the _third_ variation of the first stanza, noticed in my last, has the _two_ earliest pages reprinted, in order that the alteration might be more complete, and that the substitution, by pasting one stanza over another (as the book is usually met with) might not be detected. a copy with the reprinted leaf is, i apprehend, still in the library of the late william wordsworth; and during the last twenty years i have never been able to procure, or even to see, another with the same peculiarity. the course with the translator was, no doubt, this: he first printed his book as the stanza appears under the pasted slip; this version he saw reason to dislike, and then he had the slip printed with the variation, and pasted over some copies not yet issued. again he was dissatisfied, and thinking he could improve, not only upon the first stanza, but upon "the argument" by which it was preceded, he procured the two pages to be reprinted. it is, however, by no means clear to me that, after all, fairfax liked his third experiment better than his two others: had he liked it better, we should, most probably, have found it in more copies than the single one i have pointed out. as your readers and contributors may wish to see "the argument" and first stanza as they are given in mr. wordsworth's exemplar, i transcribe them from my note-book, because, before i gave the book away, i took care to copy them exactly:-- the argument. "god sends his angell to tortosa downe: godfrey to counsell cals the christian peeres, where all the lords and princes of renowne chuse him their general: he straight appeeres mustring his royall hoast, and in that stowne sends them to sion, and their hearts upcheeres. the aged tyrant, judaies land that guides, in feare and trouble to resist provides. "i sing the sacred armies and the knight that christ's great tombe enfranchis'd and set free. much wrought he by his witte, much by his might, much in that glorious conquest suffred hee: hell hindered him in vaine: in vaine to fight asia's and affrick's people armed bee; heav'n favour'd him: his lords and knights misgone under his ensigne he reduc'd in one." i own that, to my ear and judgment, this is no improvement upon what we may consider the author's second attempt, although i think that the slip pasted over some (if not most) copies is better than the first experiment. the hermit of holyport. * * * * * small words. i stand convicted by the critical acumen of your correspondent [greek: ph]. of having misquoted the line from pope which heads my "note" at p. . i entirely agree with [greek: ph]. that the utmost exactness is desirable in such matters; and as, under such circumstances, i fear i should be ready enough to accuse others of "just enough of learning to misquote," i have not a word to say in extenuation of my own carelessness. but i entirely dispute [greek: ph].'s inference, and am unable to see that the difference detracts in any substantial degree from the applicability of my remarks, such as they were. { } what does pope's epithet "low" mean? is it used for "vulgar" (as i presume [greek: ph]. intends us to infer), or simply for "small, petty, of little size or value"? to me it appears impossible to read the line without seeing that pope had in his mind the latter idea, that of poor, little, shabby, statureless monosyllables, as opposed to big, bouncing, brave, sonorous polysyllables, such as aristophanes called [greek: hræmata hippokræmna]. after all, however, it would do me very little damage to concede that he intended the meaning which [greek: ph]. appears to attribute to the epithet "low", for _if he did_ mean "_vulgar_" words, it is evident that he considered vulgarity in such matters inseparable from littleness, as the "low" words must, if his line is not to lose its point altogether, have been _ten_ in number, that is, _every one a monosyllable_, a "small" word. take it which way you will, the leading idea is that of "littleness;" moreover, there is no propriety in the word "creep" as applied to _merely vulgar_ words, while words petty in size may, with great justice, be said to "creep" in a "petty pace," requiring no less than ten steps to walk the length of a line. pope was criticising compositions intended to pass as poetry of the best kind. will [greek: ph]. point out in any existing poem of such profession and character, a single heroic line, consisting of _ten_ words, _all_ which _ten_ words shall be "low" in the sense of "vulgar"? can even the muses of burlesque and slang furnish such an instance? has not [greek: ph]. suffered himself to be carried too far by his exultation in being "down" (the last-named muse has kindly supplied me with the expression) upon a piece of verbal carelessness on the part of k.i.p.b.t.? * * * * * replies to minor queries. _concolinel_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--as _calen o custore me_, after sorely puzzling the critics, was at length discovered to be an irish air, or the burthen of an irish song, is it not possible that the equally outlandish-looking "_concolinel_" may be only a corruption of "_coolin_", that "far-famed melody," as mr. bunting terms it in his _last_ collection of _the ancient music of ireland_ (dublin, ), where it may be found in a style "more irish than that of the sets hitherto published?" and truly it is a "sweet air," well fitted to "make passionate _the_ sense of hearing," and melt the soul of even don adriano de armado. the transmogrification of "_coolin_" into "_concolinel_", is hardly more strange than that of "_cailin og astore mo_" [_chree_] (=my dear young girl, my [heart's] darling) into _callino castore me_. j.m.b. dr. rimbault's communication is very interesting, but not quite satisfactory, not affording me any means of identifying the air. it would under most circumstances, have given me much pleasure to have lent dr. r. the ms., for i know no one so likely to make good use of it; but the fact is, that without pretending to compete with dr. rimbault in the knowledge of old music, i have also meditated a similar work on the ballads and music of shakspeare, and my chief source is the volume which is said to contain the air of concolinel. it will be some time before i can execute the work alluded to, and i would prefer to see the doctor's work published first. whichever first appears will most likely anticipate much that is in the other, for, although dr. r. says he has spent "many years" on the subject, the accidental possession of several ms. volumes has given me such singular advantages, i am unwilling to surrender my project. i have the music to nearly twenty jigs, and two have some of the words, which are curious. r. _wife of the poet bilderdijk--schweickhardt the artist_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--janus dousa will find a very sufficient account of southey's visit to the dutch poet bilderdijk, in vol. v. of the _life and correspondence of southey_, now publishing by his son. to the special inquiry of janus dousa i can say nothing, but i would fain ask who was katherine wilhelmina schweickhardt? i have in my possession a series of eight etchings of studies of cattle, by h.w. schweickhardt, published in , and dedicated to benjamin west. my father was very intimate with schweickhardt, and i think acted in some sort as his executor. i do not know when be died but it must be thirty years since i heard my father speak of his friend, who was then deceased, but whether recently or not i cannot say. i am rather disposed to think the event was comparatively a remote one: he left a widow. was mrs. bilderdijk his daughter? the etchings are exceedingly clever and artistical; my copy has the artist's name in his own handwriting. if i am not mistaken, schweickhardt lived, when my father knew him, at lambeth, then a picturesque suburb very unlike the "base, common, and popular" region which it has since become. b.t. pouncy, another clever artist of that day, and a friend of my father's, resided there also. pouncy published some etchings which, although not professedly views of lambeth, were in reality studies in that locality. when i was a boy i remember my father pointing out to me the windmill, which was the subject of one of them. the mrs. bilderdijk who translated roderick, was, according to southey, the second wife of her husband. how did janus dousa learn that her maiden name was schweickhardt? g.j. de wilde. { } _noli me tangere_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in addition to the list of artists given by j.z.p. (p. .), br. will find that the subject has also been treated by-- _duccio_, in the duomo at siena. _taddeo gaddi_, rinnucini chapel. _titian_, mr. roger's collection. _rembrandt_, queen's gallery. _barroccio_. an altar piece which came to england with the duke of lucca's paintings, but i cannot say where it is now; it is well known by the engraving from it of raphael morgen. b.n.c. _chimney money_ (vol. ii., pp. . . . .).--there is a church at northampton upon which is an inscription recording that the expense of repairing it was defrayed by a grant of chimney money for, i believe, seven years, temp. charles ii. there is also a tombstone in folkestone churchyard curiously commemorative of this tax. the inscription runs thus-- "in memory of rebecca rogers, who died august . , aged years. "a house she hath, it's made of such good fashion, the tenant ne'er shall pay for reparation, nor will her landlord ever raise her rent, or turn her out of doors for non-payment; from chimney money, too, this cell is free, to such a house, who would not tenant be." e.b. price. _passage from burke_ (vol. ii., p. .).--q.( ) will find the passage he refers to in prior's _life of burke_, vol. i. p. . it is extracted from a letter addressed by burke to his old schoolfellow matthew smith, describing his first impressions on viewing westminster abbey, and other objects in the metropolis. mr. prior deserves our best thanks for giving us a letter so deeply interesting, and so characteristic of the gifted writer, then barely of age. i.h.m. bath. _nicholas assheton's journal_ (vol. ii., pp. - .).--if t.t. wilkinson will turn to pp. , , , of this very amusing journal, published by the chetham society (vol. xiv., ), he will find some account of the revels introduced before james the first at hoghton tower, in the copious notes of the editor, the rev. f.r. raines, m.a., f.s.a., elucidating the origin and history of these "coarse and indecorous" dances--the _huckler_, _tom bedlo_, and the _cowp justice of peace_. j.g. manchester. _scotch prisoners_, (vol. ii., pp. . .).--heath's _chronicle_ (p. . edit. ) briefly notices these unhappy men, "driven like a herd of swine, through westminster to tuthill fields, and there _sold_ to several merchants, and sent in to the barbadoes." the most graphic account, however, is given in _another victory in lancashire_, &c., to. , from which the parts possessing _local_ interest were extracted by me in the _civil war tracts of lancashire_, printed by the chetham society, with references to the _other matters_ noticed, namely, cromwell's entry into london, and the arrival of the four thousand "_scots, highlands, or redshanks_." these lay on hampstead heath, and were thence guarded through highgate, and behind islington to kingsland and mile end green, receiving charity as they went, and having "a cart load or two of biskett behind them." thence they proceeded by aldgate, through cheapside, fleetstreet, and the strand, and on through westminster. "many of them brought their wives and berns in with them, yet were many of our scotified citizens so pitifull unto them, that as they passed through the city, they made them, though prisoners at mercy, masters of more money and good white bread than some of them ever see in their lives. they marched this night [saturday, sept. .] into tuttle fields. some irishmen are among them, but most of them are habited after that fashion." the contemporary journals in the british museum would probably state some epidemic which may have caused the mortality that followed. geo. ormerod sedbury park, clepstow. _long friday_ (vol. ii., p. .).--t.e.l.l. is not correct in his supposition that "long friday" is the same as "great friday". in danish, good friday is langfredag; in swedish, längfredag. i have always understood the epithet had reference to the length of the services. coll. royal soc. _the bradshaw family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the president of the pretended high court of justice, a cheshire man, had no connexion with haigh hall, in lancashire. e.c.g. may satisfy himself by referring to mr. ormerod's _history of cheshire_ (vol. iii. p. .) for some valuable information respecting the regicide and his family, and to wotton's _baronetage_ (vol. iii. p. . p. .) for the descent of the loyal race of bradshaigh. j.h.m. bath. _julin, the drowned city_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i am sorry i did not state more clearly the inquiry respecting the fate of _julin_, which dr. bell has been so good as to notice. this is partly the printer's fault. i spoke of the _drowned_, not the _doomed_ city. the _drowning_ was what i desired some account of. "a flourishing emporium of commerce", extant { } in , and now surviving only in tradition, and in "records" of ships wrecked on its "submerged ruins," does not sink into the ocean without exciting wonder and pity. i knew of the tradition, and presumed there was some probability of the existence of a legend (_legendum_, something to be _read_) describing a catastrophe that must have been widely heard of when it happened. this i conjectured might be found in adam of bremen; to whose mention of julin dr. bell referred. but it seems that in his time the city was still existing, and flourishing ("urbs locuples"). the "excidium civitatis," if the _veneta_ of helmold were julin, must have taken place, therefore, between and , when the latter account was written. if veneta was julin, and "aquarum æstu absorpta," there must, i suppose, be some account of this great calamity: and as i have seen in modern german works allusions to the drowning of the great city, and to the ruins still visible at times under water, i hoped to find out the _where_ of its site, and the _when_ of its destruction--as great cities do not often sink into the waves, like exhalations, without some report of their fate. v. belgravia. _dodsley's poems_ (vol. ii., pp. . ).--the hermit of holyport is informed that the first edition of dodsley's _collection of poems, by several hands_, was published in , vols. mo. a fourth volume was added in , containing pieces by collins, garrick, lyttelton, pope, tickell, thomson, &c. those by garrick and lyttelton are anonymous. the four volumes were reprinted uniformly in . the fifth and sixth were added in . amicus curiÆ. _shunamitis poema_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the titlepage to the volume of poems inquired after by e.d. is as follows: "latin and english poems, by a gentleman of trinity college, oxford. 'nec lusisse pudet sed non incidere ludum.' hor. london: printed for l. bathurst over against st. dunstan's church, in fleet street, mdccxli." i know not the author; but i suspect either that the title of an oxford man was assumed by a cantab, who might fairly wish not to be suspected as the author of several of the poems; or that the author, having been rusticated at cambridge, vide at p. . the ode "ad thomam g." (whom i take to be thomas gilbert of peterhouse), transferred himself and his somewhat licentious muse to oxford. coll. royal soc. _jeremy taylor's works_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it seems desirable that an advance should occasionally be made in _editing_, beyond the mere verification of authorities, in seeing, that is, whether the passages cited are _applicable_ to the point in hand, and properly apprehended. bp. taylor, in his _liberty of prophecying_, sect. vi., for instance, seems incorrect in stating that leo i., bishop of rome, _rejected_ the council of chalcedon; whereas his reproofs are directed against anatolias, bishop of constantinople, an unwelcome aspirant to ecclesiastical supremacy. (see _concilia studio labbei_, tom. iv., col. , &c.) a passage frown jerome's _epistle to evangelus_ is often quoted in works on church government, as equalising, or nearly so, the office of bishop and presbyter; but the drift of the argument seems to be, to show that the _site_ of a bishop's see, be it great or small, important or otherwise, does not affect the episcopal _office_. some readers will perhaps offer an opinion on these two questions. novus. _ductor dubitantium_.--the judge alluded to by jeremy taylor in the passage quoted by a.t. (vol. ii., p. .), was chief-justice richardson; but the place where the outrage was committed was not ludlow, as stated by the eloquent divine, but salisbury, as appears from the following marginal note in dyer's _reports_, p. --a curious specimen of the legal phraseology of the period:-- "richardson, c.j. de c.b. at assizes at salisbury in summer fuit assault per prisoner la condemne pur felony; que puis son condemnation ject un brickbat a le dit justice, que narrowly mist. et pur ceo immediately fuit indictment drawn pur noy envers le prisoner, et son dexter manus ampute et fixe al gibbet, sur que luy mesme immediatement hange in presence de court." edward foss. _aërostation_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the account published by lunardi of his aërial voyage, alluded to by m., is, in the copy i have seen, entitled "an account of the first aërial voyage in britain, in a series of letters to his guardian, the chevalier gherardo compagni, written under the impressions of the various events that affected the undertaking, by vicent lunardi, esq., secretary to the neapolitan ambassador. 'a non esse nec fuisse non datur argumentum ad non posse.' second edition, london: printed for the author, and sold at the panther; also by the publisher j. bell, at the british library, strand, and at mr. molini's, woodstock street, mdcclxxxiv." the book contains printed copies of the depositions of witnesses who beheld lunardi's descent; and mr. baker, who, as a magistrate, took those depositions on oath, to establish what he thought so wonderful a fact, erected on the spot where the balloon descended, in a field near colliers end, in the parish of standon, herts, on the left of the high road from london to cambridge, a stone with the following inscription on a copper plate. it is still { } legible, though somewhat defaced. it is engraved in lines of unequal length, but to save your space i have not adhered to those divisions. "let posterity know, and knowing, be astonished, that on the fifteenth day of september, , vincent lunardi of lucca, in tuscany, the first aërial traveller in britain, mounting from the artillery ground in london, traversing the regions of the air for two hours and fifteen minutes, in this spot revisited the earth. on this rude monument for ages be recorded, that wondrous enterprise, successfully achieved by the powers of chemistry and the fortitude of man, that improvement in science, which the great author of all knowledge, patronising by his providence the inventions of mankind, hath graciously permitted to their benefit and his own eternal glory." coll. royal soc. _gwyn's london and westminster_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a reference to mr. croker's _boswell_ (last edit. , p. .) may best satisfy § n. "gwyn," says mr. croker, "proposed the _principle_, and in many instances the _details_, of the most important improvements which have been made in the metropolis in our day." was this copied into the _literary gazette_? mr. sydney smirke speaks favourably of gwyn's favourite project, "the formation of a permanent board or commission for superintending and controlling the architectural embellishments of london." (_suggestions_, &c., vo. , p. .) j.h.m. bath. _gwyn's london and westminster_ (vol. ii., p. .).--under this head § n. inquires, "will you permit me, through your useful publication, to solicit information of the number and date of the _literary gazette_ which recalled public attention to this very remarkable fact:" namely, that stated by mr. thomas hunt, in his _exemplars of tudor architecture_ (longmans, ), to the effect that the _literary gazette_ had referred to the work entitled _london and westminster improved, by john gwynn_. london, , to., as having "pointed out almost all the designs for the improvement of london which have been _devised_ by the civil and military architects of the present day." in answer to the above, your correspondent will find two articles in the _literary gazette_ on this interesting subject; the first in no. ., feb. . , in which it is mentioned that _mr. gwynn_, founding himself in some degree upon the plan of _sir c. wren_, proposed "to carry a street from piccadilly through coventry street, sydney's alley, leicester fields, cranbourn alley, and so to long acre, queen street, and lincolns inn fields, and thus afford an easy access to holborn; he also recommends _the widening the strand_ in its narrow parts," &c. i need hardly notice that by the removal of exeter change, the alterations near charing cross, and the more recent openings from coventry street, along the line suggested by mr. gwynn, his designs have been so far carried out. the second paper in the _literary gazette_ was rather a long one, no. ., march . . in it mr. gwynn's publication is analysed, and all the leading particulars bearing on the "_old novelties_ of our modern improvements" are brought to light. the whole is worth your reprinting, and at your service, if you will send a copyist to the _literary gazette_ office to inspect the volume for . w.j., ed. "_regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis_" (vol. ii., p. .).--this hexameter verse, which occurs in collections of latin apophthegms, is not to be found in this form, in any classical author. it has been converted into a single proverbial verse, from the following passage of claudian: "componitur orbis regis ad exemplum: nec sic inflictere sensus humanos edicta valent, ut vita regentis." _de iv. consul. honor_., . l. _st. uncumber_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--sir thomas more details in his _dialoge_, with his usual quaintness, the attributes and merits of many saints, male and female, highly esteemed in his day, and, amongst others, makes special mention of _st. uncumber_, whose proper name, it appears, was _wylgeforte_. of these saints he says-- "some serve for the eye onely, and some for a sore breast. _st. germayne_ onely for children, and yet will he not ones loke at them, but if the mother bring with them a white lofe and a pot of good ale: and yet is he wiser than _st. wylgeforte_, for she, good soule, is, as they say, served and contented with otys. whereof i cannot perceive the reason, but if it be bycause she sholde provyde an horse for an evil housebonde to ride to the devyll upon; for that is the thing that she is so sought for, as they say. in so much that women hath therefore chaunged her name, and in stede of _st. wylgeforte call her st. uncumber, bycause they reken that for a pecke of otys she will not fayle to uncumber theym of theyr housbondys_."--(quoted in southey's _colloquies_, vol. i. p. .) _st. wylgeforte_ is the female saint whom the jesuit sautel has celebrated (in his _annus sacer poeticus_) for her _beard_--a mark of divine favour bestowed upon her in answer to her prayers. she was a beautiful girl, who wished to lead a single life, and that she might be suffered to do so free from importunity, she prayed earnestly to be rendered disagreeable to look upon, either by wrinkles, a hump on the back, or in any other efficacious way. accordingly the beard was given her; and it is satisfactory to know that it had the desired { } effect to the fullest extent of her wishes. (vid. southey's _omniana_, vol. ii. p. ., where sautel's lines are quoted.) j.m.b. _west (james), president of royal society_ (vol. ii., p. .).--t.s.d. states there "has certainly never been a president or even a secretary of the royal society, of the name of james west." your readers will remember that west is mentioned by mr. cunningham in his _london_, as having filled the former distinguished office: his statement, which t.s.d. thus contradicts, is perfectly correct. mr. west's election took place th of november, , and he filled the chair until his death in july, . j.h.m. [mr. cooper, of cambridge, j.g.n., and other correspondents, have called our attention to this oversight.] * * * * * miscellaneous. notes of books, sales, catalogues, etc. the idea of selecting from the _spectator_ those papers in which the refined taste of addison, working on the more imaginative genius of steele, has embodied that masterpiece of quiet thorough english humour which is exhibited in the portrait of sir roger de coverley, is a most happy one,--so excellent indeed, and when done, it is so obviously well that it is done, that we can only wonder how it is, that, instead of having now to thank messrs. longman for the quaintly and beautifully got up volume entitled _sir roger de coverley. by the spectator. the notes and illustrations by mr. henry wills: the engravings by thompson, from designs by fred. tayler_,--as a literary novelty--such a selection has not been a stock book for the last century. excellent, however, as is the idea of the present volume, it has been as judiciously carried out as happily conceived. mr. tayler's designs exhibit a refined humour perfectly congenial with his subject, and free from that tendency to caricature which is the prevailing fault of too many of the comic illustrators of the present day; while the pleasant gossiping notes of mr. wills furnish an abundance of chatty illustration of the scenes in which sir roger is placed, and the localities he visited, and so enable us to realise to ourselves, in every respect, addison's admirable picture of the worthy knight, "in his habit as he lived." may we add that, on looking through these amusing notes, we were much gratified to find mr. wills, in his illustration of the passage, "his great-grandfather was inventor of that famous country-dance called after him," speaking of "the real sponsor to the joyous conclusion of every ball" as having "only been recently revealed, after the most vigilant research," since that revelation, with other information contained in the same note, was procured by that gentleman through the medium of "notes and queries." messrs. sotheby and wilkinson are now selling the last portion of the miscellaneous stock of the late mr. thomas rodd. this sale, which will occupy eleven days, will close on friday next: and on saturday they will sell the last portion of mr. rodd's, books, which will consist entirely of works relating to ireland, including several of great curiosity and rarity. messrs. puttick and simpson will sell on monday next a collection of books from the library of the late well-known and able antiquary, dr. bromet, together with his bookcases, drawing materials, &c. we have received the following catalogues:--w. brown's (no. . and . old street) list of english and foreign theological books; w. nield's ( . burlington arcade) catalogue, no. ., of very cheap books; w. pedder's ( . holywell street) catalogue part ix., for , of books ancient and modern; j. rowwell's ( . great queen street, lincoln's inn) catalogue, no ., of a select collection of second-hand books; w. l. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) sixty-second catalogue of english, foreign, classical, and miscellaneous books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. t. naogeongus--regnum papisticum. vo. . barnabe googe's popish kingdom. to. . odd volumes berry's heraldry, vols. supplement. shakspeare (whittingham's chiswick edition), vol. iv. . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleer street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _as we again propose this week to circulate a large number of copies of "notes and queries" among members of the different provincial literary institutions, we venture, for the purpose of furthering the objects for which our paper has instituted, to repeat the following passage from our nd number_:-- it is obvious that the use of a paper like "notes and queries," bears a direct proportion to the extent of its circulation. what it aims at doing is, to reach the learning which lies scattered not only throughout every part of our own country but all over the literary world, and to bring it all to bear upon the pursuits of the scholar; to enable, in short, men of letters all over the world to give a helping hand to one another. to a certain extent, we have accomplished this end. our last number contains communications not only from all parts of the metropolis, and from almost every country in england, but also from scotland, ireland, holland, and even from demerara. this looks well. it seems as if we were in a fair way to accomplish our design. but much yet remains to be done. we have recently been told of whole districts in england so benighted as never to have heard of "notes and queries;" and after an interesting question has been discussed for weeks in our columns, we are informed of some one who could have answered it immediately if he had seen it. so long as this is the case the advantage we may confer upon literature and literary men is necessarily imperfect. we do what we can to make known our { } existence through the customary modes of announcement, and we gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance and encouragement we derive from our brethren of the public press; but we would respectfully solicit the assistance of our friends upon this particular point. our purpose is aided, and our usefulness increased by every introduction which can be given to our paper, either to a book club, to a lending library, or to any other channel of circulation amongst persons of inquiry and intelligence. by such introductions scholars help themselves as well as us, for there is no inquirer throughout the kingdom who is not occasionally able to throw light upon some of the multifarious objects which are discussed in our pages. oxoniensis _is thanked. his inclosure shall be made use of_. _volume the first of "notes and queries," with very copious index, price s. d. bound in cloth, may still be had by order of all booksellers._ _the monthly part for october, being the fifth of_ vol. ii., _is also now ready, price_ s. d. in the quotation from jacob behmen, p. ., for "gate of deep "read "gate of _the_ deep." * * * * * journal francais, publié à londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en , paraissant le samedi, donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramatique par th. gautier ou j. jauin, la révue de paris par pierre durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * library of the late william bromet, esq., m.d., f.s.a., bookcases, engravings, drawing materials, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction at their great room, . piccadilly, on monday, nov. th, the library of the late wm. bromet, esq., m.d., f.s.a., consisting of useful works in general literature, topographical and antiquarian, many of which contain additional illustrations, &c. catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * on the st of november, no. ii., price s. d. details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples, by j.k. colling, architect. the work is intended to illustrate those features which have not been given in messrs. brandon's "analysis:" it will be uniform with that work, and also the "gothic ornaments." each number will contain five to. plates, and be continued monthly. d. bogue, fleet street; sold also by g. bell, fleet street. * * * * * in four volumes, post vo., price l. s., romance of the peerage. by george lillie craik, m.a. with portraits. vol. iv. will be published on th nov., with a portrait of the duchess of monmouth and buccleuch. history of the eighteenth century, and of the nineteenth till the overthrow of the french empire. by f.c. schlosser. vol. vii., thick vo. s. ( th nov.) (vol. viii., completing the work, with a copious consulting index, is preparing for early publication.) london: chapman and hall, . strand. * * * * * weekly sale of books, prints, &c. mr. l.a. lewis will sell at his house, . fleet street, on thursday th, and friday th november, a miscellaneous collection of books, including a circulating library of volumes from the country, modern school books, framed and unframed prints, &c. mr. l.a. lewis will have sales of libraries, parcels of books, prints, pictures, and miscellaneous effects, every friday during the months of november and december. property sent in on saturday will be certain to be sold (if required) on the following friday. * * * * * on the nd of december will be published, in post vo., s. cloth, the antediluvian history, and narrative of the flood; as set forth in the early portions of the book of genesis; critically examined and explained. by the rev. e.d. hendell, of preston. hodson, . portugal street, lincoln's inn, london. * * * * * professor de morgan's works. arithmetical books and authors, from the invention of printing to the present time. royal mo., s. elements of arithmetic, fifth edition. royal mo. s. elements of algebra, preliminary to the differential calculus. second edition. royal mo. s. trigonometry and double algebra. royal mo. s. d. formal logic; or the calculus of inference, necessary and probable. vo. s. london: taylor, walton, and maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * notices of sepulchral monuments in english churches. with illustrations, price s. d. by w. hestings kelke, rector of drayton beauchamp. c. cox, . king william street, strand. * * * * * now ready, vo. cloth extra, price s. d. glimmerings in the dark; or, lights and shadows of the olden time. by f. somner merryweather. recently published, by the same author, vo. cloth, s. bibliomania; or, the love of books in the middle ages. simpkin, marshall, and co., and all booksellers. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for november contains, among other articles: the prelude, wordsworth's autobiographical poem; rejoicings on the birth of the son of james ii.; the castle and honour of clare (with engravings); original letters of bishop bedell; memoir of thomas dodd, author of the "connoisseur's repertorium" (with a portrait); chaucer's monument, and spenser's death, by j. payne collier, esq.; christian iconography, the heavenly host, seraphim, cherubim, and thrones, by j.g. waller, esq.; gothic windows, by sharpe and freeman; diary of john, earl of egmont, part ii., memoir of andré chenier; parker's introduction to gothic architecture; the british museum catalogue and the edinburgh review. with notes of the month; review of new publications; reports of archæological societies; historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of the queen of the belgians, the right hon. c.w.w. wynn, vice-chancellor shadwell, the rev. dr. ingram, the rev. walter davies, &c., &c. price s. d. nichols and son, . parliament-street. * * * * * { } mr. murray's announcements of new books. i. the defenceless state of great britain. by sir francis b. head, bart. post vo. (ready.) ii. the courts of london and vienna at the end of the th century. being extracts from the correspondence of lord lexington, british minister at vienna, - . edited by the hon. h. manners sutton, vo. iii. military events in italy, - . translated from the german. by the earl of ellesmere. post vo. iv. naval gunnery with detailed descriptions and explanations of the new guns introduced since the war in . by lieut. gen. sir howard douglas, bart. third edition. vo. v. humboldt's cosmos: third and last volume. translated from the german. by col. and mrs. sabine. post vo. vi. a manual of elementary geology; or, the ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants. by sir charles lyell, kf.r.s. third edition, thoroughly revised. woodcuts. in one volume. vo. vii. england as it is; political, social, and industrial, in the th century. vols. post vo. viii. christianity in ceylon. its introduction and progress under the portuguese, dutch, british, and american missions. by sir james emerson tennent. woodcuts. vo. ix. the palaces of nineveh and persepolis restored. being an attempt to explain the architecture of the ancient buildings now remaining in assyria and persia. by james fergusson, esq. woodcuts. vo. x. life of thomas stothard, r.a. with personal reminiscences. by mrs. bray. with illustrations. small to. xi. kugler's handbook of italian painting. edited by charles lock eastlake, r.a. revised edition. with woodcuts. post vo. xii. a new classical dictionary of biography, mythology, and geography, for younger students. by william smith, l.l.d. vol. vo. (ready.) xiii. salmonia; or, days of fly-fishing. by sir humphry davy. new edition. with woodcuts. fcap. vo. xiv. consolations in travel; or, the last days of a philosopher. by sir humphry davy. new edition. with woodcuts. fcap. vo. xv. samuel t. coleridge's table-talk. new edition. fcap. vo. xvi. rejected addresses. by james smith and horace smith. new edition. portraits. fcap. vo. xvii. index to the quarterly review. from vol. to inclusive. vol. vo. xviii. modern domestic cookery. founded upon principles of economy and practical knowledge, and adapted for the use of private families. by mrs. runmell. a new edition, most thoroughly corrected and much enlarged. by a lady. with woodcuts. fcap. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, november , . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents our progress. notes:-- captivity of the queen of bruce, by w.b. rye. a note on robert herrick, by j. milner barry. the meaning of lærig, by s.w. singer. folk-lore--st. valentine in norwich--cook-eels--old charms--superstitions in north of england--decking churches with yew--strewing chaff before houses. folk-lore of wales--cron annwn--cyoerath or gwrach-y-rhybin. william basse and his poems, by rev. t. corser. john stowe. transposition of letters--pet names--jack--pisan--mary and polly. parallel passages. inedited poem by burns, by rev. j.r. wreford. lacedæmonian black broth. queries:-- ten queries on poets and poetry, by e.f. rimhault, ll.d. bishop cosin's consecration of churches. portraits of luther, erasmus, and ulric von hutten. queries concerning chaucer. letter attributed to sir robert walpole. queries concerning bishops of ossory, by rev. i. graves. burton's anatomy of (religious) melancholy. minor queries:--master of methuen--female captive--parliamentary writs--portraits in british museum. replies:-- college salting, by c.h. cooper, &c. queries answered. no. ., by bolton corney. replies to minor queries:--old auster tenement--tureen. miscellanies:-- m. de gournay--the mirror, from the latin of owen--journeyman--balloons. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * our progress although very unwilling to encroach upon the enlarged space which we have this week afforded to our numerous and increasing contributors, we may be permitted to refer to the fact of our having felt it due to them to find such additional space by giving an extra half-sheet, as a proof at once of the growing interest in our journal, and of its extended utility. we trust too that the step which we have thus taken will be received as a pledge of our intention to meet all the requirements which may arise from our journal becoming more generally known, and consequently, as we are justified by our past experience in saying, being made greater use of, as a medium of intercommunication between all classes of students and men of letters. our last and present number furnish proofs of its utility in a way which when it was originally projected could scarcely have been contemplated. we allude to its being made the channel through which intending editors may announce the works on which they are engaged, and invite the co-operation of their literary brethren. nor is the readiness with which such co-operation is likely to be afforded, the only good result to be obtained by such an announcement. for such an intimation is calculated not only to prevent the unpleasantness likely to arise from a collision of interests--but also to prevent a literary man either setting to himself an unprofitable task or wasting his time and research upon ground which is already occupied. one word more. when we commenced our labours we were warned by more than one friendly voice, that, although we should probably find no lack of queries, we should oftentimes be "straited for a reply." this, however, as our readers will admit, has not been the case; for though, as shakspeare says, with that truth and wisdom for which he is proverbial-- "the ample proposition that hope makes, in all designs begun on earth below, fails in its promis'd largeness," the observation in our introduction, that "those who are best informed are generally most ready to communicate knowledge, and to confess ignorance, to feel the value of such a work as we are attempting, and to understand that if it is to be well done { } they must help to do it," has, thanks to the kind assistance of our friends, grown, from a mere statement of opinion, to the dignity of a prediction. we undertook our task in faith and hope, determined to do our best to realize the intentions we had proposed to ourselves, and encouraged by the feeling that if we did so labour, our exertions would not be in vain, for-- "what poor duty cannot do, noble respect takes it in might not merit." and the success with which our efforts have been crowned shows we were justified in so doing. and so, gentle reader, to the banquet of dainty delights which is here spread before you! * * * * * captivity of the queen of bruce in england. i perceive, in one of the recent interesting communications made to the "notes and queries," by the rev. lambert b. larking, that he has given, from a wardrobe roll in the surrenden collection, a couple of extracts, which show that bruce's queen was in in the custody of the abbess of barking. to that gentleman our thanks are due for the selection of documents which had escaped the careful researches of lysons, and which at once throw light on the personal history of a royal captive, and illustrate the annals of a venerable abbey. i am glad to be able to answer the concluding query as to the exact date when the unfortunate lady, (bruce's second wife,) left that abbey, and to furnish a few additional particulars relative to her eight years' imprisonment in england. history relates that in less than three months after the crown had been placed upon the head of bruce by the heroic countess of buchan, sister of the earl of fife ( th march, ), he was attacked and defeated at methven, near perth, by the english, under aymer de valence, earl of pembroke. after this signal discomfiture, the king fled into the mountains, accompanied by a few faithful followers: his queen, daughter, and several other ladies, for awhile shared his misfortunes and dangers; but they at length took refuge at the castle of kildrummie, from whence they retreated, in the hope of greater security, to the sanctuary of st. duthae, at tain, in ross-shire. the earl of ross, it is said, violated the sanctuary, and delivered the party up to the english, who (as sings chaucer's contemporary, barbour, in his not very _barbarous_ scottish dialect) straightway proceeded to --"put the laydis in presoune, sum in till castell, sum in dongeoun." among the captives were three ecclesiastics, who had taken a prominent part at the king's coronation--the bishops of glasgow and st. andrews and the abbot of scone, arrayed in most uncanonical costume.[ ] peter langtoft pathetically bewails their misfortune:-- "the bisshop of saynt andrew, and the abbot of scone, the bisshop of glascow, thise were taken sone; fettred on hackneis, to inlond ere thei sent, on sere stedis it seis, to prison mad present." an instrument in norman french, printed in rymer's great collection (_foedera_, vol. i. part ii. p. , new ed.), directs the manner in which the prisoners were to be treated. as this document is curious, i will give that portion which refers particularly to bruce's wife, the "countess of carrick:"-- "a.d. . ( edw. .) fait a remembrer, qi, quant la femme le conte de carrik sera venue au roi, ele soit envee a _brustewik_ [on humber], & qe ele eit tieu mesnee, & sa sustenance ordenee en la manere desouz escrite: cest asavoir, "qe ele eit deux femmes du pays oversqe li; cest asaver, une damoisele & une femme por sa chambre, qi soient bien d'age & nyent gayes, & qi eles soient de bon & meur port; les queles soient entendantz, a li por li servir: "et deux vadletz, qi soient ausint bien d'age, & avisez, de queux l'un soit un des vadletz le conte de ulvestier [the earl of ulster, her father], cest asaver johan de benteley, ou autre qil mettra en lieu de li, & l'autre acun du pays, qi soit por trencher devant li: "et ausant eit ele un garzon a pee, por demorer en sa chambre, tiel qi soit sobre, & ne mie riotous, por son lit faire, & por autres choses qe covendront por sa chambre: "et, estre ce, ordenez est qeele eit un vadlet de mestier, qe soit de bon port, & avisez, por port ses cleifs, por panetrie, & botellerie, & un cu: "et ele deit ausint aver trois leveriers, por aver son deduyt en la garrene illueques, & en les pares, quant ele voudra: "et qe ele eit de la veneison, & du peisson es pescheries, selene ce qe master li sera: "et qe ele gisse en la plus bele maison du manoir a sa volunte: et, qe ele voit guyer es pares, r'aillois entor le manoir, a se volunte." these orders are apparently not more severe than was necessary for the safe custody of the queen; and, considering the date of their issue, they seem to be lenient, considerate, and indulgent. not so, however, with the unfortunate countess of buchan, who was condemned to be encaged in a turret of berwick castle ("en une _kage_ de fort latiz, de fuist & barrez, & bien efforcez de ferrement;" i.e. of strong lattice-work of wood, barred, and well strengthened with iron[ ]), where she remained immured seven years. bruce's { } daughter, marjory, and his sister mary, were likewise to be encaged, the former in the tower of london, the latter in roxburghe castle. the young earl of mar, "l'enfant qi est heir de mar," bruce's nephew, was to be sent to bristol castle, to be carefully guarded, "qil ne puisse eshcaper en nule manere," but not to be _fettered_--"mais q'il soit hors de fers, _tant come il est de si tendre age_." in ( edw. .), the bailiff of brustwick is commanded to deliver up his prisoner, to be removed elsewhere, but to what place it does not appear. a writ of the th feb. , directs her to be conveyed to windsor castle, "cum familia sua." in october of the same year, she was removed to "shaston" (shaftesbury), and subsequently to the abbey of barking, where she remained till march, , when she was sent to rochester castle, as appears by the following writ (rymer, vol. ii. part i. p. .):-- "( edw. .) _de ducendo elizabetham uxorem roberti de brus, usque ad castrum rossense._ "mandatum est vicecomitibus london quod elizabetham. uxorem roberti de brus, quæ cum abbatissà de berkyngg' stetit per aliquot tempus, de mandato regis, ab cadem abbatissà sine dilatione recipiant, eam usque ross' duci sub salvâ custodia faciant, henrico de cobeham, constabulario castri regis ibidem per indenturam, indè faciendam inter ipsos, liberandam; et hoc nullatenus omittant. "teste rege, apud westm. xii. die martii, "per ipsum regem. "et mandatum est præfatæ abbatissæ, quod præfatam elizabetham, quam nuper, de mandato regis, admisit in domo suâ de berkyng' quousque rex aliud inde ordinâsset, moraturam, sine dilatione deliberet præfatis vicecomitibus, ducendam pront eis per regem plenius est injunctum, et hoc nullatenus omittat. "teste rege ut supra, "per ipsum regem. "et mandatum est dicto henrico, constabulario castri regis prædicti, quod ipsam elizabetham de prædictis vicecomitibus, per indenturam hujus modi, recipiat, et ci cameram, infra dictum castrum competentem pro mora suâ assignari: "et viginti solidos, de exitibus ballivæ suæ, ei per singulas septimanas, quamdiu ibidem moram fecerit, pro expensis suis, liberari faciat: "eamque, infra castrum prædictum, et infra prioratum sancti andreæ ibidem, opportunis temporibus spatiari sub salva custodia (ita quod securus sit de corpore suo), permittat: "et rex ei de prædictis viginti solidis, præfatæ elizabethæ singulis septimanis liberandis, debitam allocationem, in compoto suo ad scaccarium regis, fieri faciet. "teste ut supra, "per ipsum regem." but the day of deliverance was close at hand: the battle of bannockburn, so fatal to the english, was fought on the th june; and on the nd of october the constable of rochester castle is commanded to conduct the wife, sister, and daughter of robert bruce to carlisle (_usque karliolum_), where an exchange of prisoners was made. old hector boece, who, if erasmus can be trusted, "knew not to lie," informs us, that "king robertis wife, quhilk was hald in viii. yeris afore in ingland, was interchangeit with ane duk of ingland"[ ] [humphrey de bohun, earl of hereford]. and the aforesaid barbour celebrates their restoration in the following lines:-- "quhill at the last they tretyt sua, that he[ ] till inglond hame suld ga, for owtyn paying of ransoune, fre; and that for him suld changyt be byschap robert[ ] that blynd was mad; and the queyne, that thai takyn had in presoune, as befor said i; and hyr douchtre dame marjory. the erle was changyt for thir thre." w.b. rye. [footnote : _loricati_, (in their coats of mail.)--_matthew of westminster._] [footnote : see the order at length in rymer, _ut sup._] [footnote : bellenden's translation.] [footnote : the earl of hereford.] [footnote : wishcart, bishop of gloucester, before alluded to.] * * * * * a note on robert herick, author of "hesperides." in the summer of , i visited dean prior in company with my brother, in order to ascertain if we could add any new fact to the scanty accounts of the _life of herrick_ recorded by his biographers. the events of his life have been related by dr. drake, (_literary hours_, vol. iii., st edit. .-- rd edit. ), by mr. campbell, by dr. nott (_select poems from the hesperides_, &c. bristol, ,) by a writer in the _quarterly review_, vol. iv. , by mr. wilmott in his elegantly written _lives of sacred poets_, vol. i., , and in the memoirs prefixed to the recent editions of _herrick's poems_ published by clarke ( ), and pickering ( ). on examining any of these biographies, it will be found that the year and place of herrick's death have not been ascertained. this was the point which i therefore particularly wished to inquire into. dean prior is a village about six or seven miles from totnes: the church, with the exception of the tower, had been recently rebuilt. the monuments and inscribed stones were carefully removed when the old fabric was taken down, and restored as nearly as could be to corresponding situations in the new building. i sought in vain, amongst these, for the name of herrick. on making inquiry of the old sexton who accompanied us, he said at first in a very decided tone, "oh, he died in lunnun," but afterwards corrected himself, and said that herrick died at dean prior, and that an old tombstone in { } the churchyard, at the right hand side of the walk leading to the south side of the church, which was removed several years ago, was supposed to have covered the remains of the former vicar of dean prior. being baffled in our search after "tombstone information," we called at the vicarage, which stands close by the church, and the vicar most courteously accorded us permission to search the registers of the marriages, births, and burials, which were in his custody. the portion of the dilapidated volume devoted to the burials is headed thus:-- "dean prior "the names of all those y't have been buried in y'e same parish from y'e year of our lord god , and so forwards." after some careful search we were gratified by discovering the following entry:-- "robert herrick vicker was buried y'e th day october, ." i fancy i met with a selection from _herrick's poems_ edited by _mr. singer_, several years ago, comprised in a small neat volume. can any of your readers inform me whether there is such a book? i possess mr. singer's valuable editions of _cavendish_, _more_, and _hall's satires_, and would wish to place this volume on the same shelf. j. milner barry. totnes, feb. . . * * * * * what is the meaning of "lÆrig?" this _query_, evidently addressed to our anglo-saxon scholars by the distinguished philologist to whom we are all so much indebted, not having been hitherto replied to, perhaps the journal of "notes and queries" is the most fitting vehicle for this suggestive note:-- to dr. jacob grimm. allow me, though an entire stranger to you, to thank you for the pleasure i have derived, in common with all ethnological students, from your very valuable labours, and especially from the _geschichte der deutschen sprache_. at the same time i venture, with much diffidence, to offer a reply to your question which occur in that work at p. .:--"was heisst _lærig_?" lye says, "hæc vox occurrit apid cædm. at interpretatio ejus minime liquet." in the supplement to his dictionary it is explained "docilis, tyro!" mr. thorpe, in his _analecta a.-s._ ( st edit. gloss), says, "the meaning of this word is uncertain: it occurs again in _cædmon_;" and in his translation of _cædmon_ he thus renders the passage:--"ofer linde lærig=over the linden shields." here then _lærig_, evidently an adjective, is rendered by the substantive _shields_; and _linde_, evidently a substantive, is rendered by the adjective _linden_. in two other passages, mr. thorpe more correctly translates _lindum_=bucklers. _lind_, which lye explained by the latin _labarium_, _vexillum_, that excellent scholar, the late lamented mr. price, was the first, i believe, to show frequently signified _a shield_; which was, probably for lightness, made of the wood of the _lime tree_, and covered with skin, or leather of various colours. thus we have "sealwe linde" and "hwite linde" in _cædm._, "geolwe linde" in _beowulf_. all this is superfluous to you, sir, i know--"_retournons à nos moutons_," as maistre pierre pathelin says. the sense required in the passage in _brythnoth_ seems to me to be:-- "bærst bordes lærig=the empty (hollow concave) shields "and seo byrne sang=and the armour (_lorica_) resounded." and in _cædmon_:-- "ofer linde lærig=over the empty (hollow concave) shield." in judith, _th. anal._ , . we have a similar epithet:-- "hwealfum lindum=vaulted (arched concave) shields." we should remember that somner has _ge-lær_, void, empty, _vacuus_; and lye, with a reference to the herbarium, _lær-nesse_, vacuitas. in the _teuthonista_ we have _lær_, vacuus, _concavus_. in _heiland_, , . "_larea_ stodun thar stenuatu sehsi=_empty_ stood there stone-vats six." i need not call to your mind the o.h.g. _lári_. i think, therefore, we cannot doubt that what is intended to be expressed by the a.-s. _lærig_ is _empty_, _hollow_, _concave_. but if we wanted further confirmation, _leer_, _leery_, _leary_ are still in use in devonshire, dorsetshire, and perhaps elsewhere, for _empty_, _hollow_, as the provincial glossaries will show. skinner has the word _leer_, vacuus, and says, "foeliciter alludit gr. [greek: lagaros], laxus, vacuus." in _layamon_ we have ( , .), "the put wæs _i-lær_." i have found but one instance in middle english, and that is in the curious old _phrase-book_ compiled by william horman, head master of eton school in the reign of henry viii:-- "'at a soden shyfte _leere_ barellis, tyed together, with boardis above, make passage over a streme.' tumultuario opere, _inanes_ cuppæ colligatæ et tabulatis instratæ fluminis transitu perhibent."--_hormanni vulgaria_, lond. , f. b. instances of the word are not frequent, possibly because we had another word for empty (_toom_) in common with the danes; but perhaps there was no necessity for dwelling upon it in the sense of _empty_; it was only its application as an epithet to a _concave_ or _hollow shield_ that your question could have had in view. { } once more thanking you most heartily for the pleasure and profit i have derived from the _deutsche grammatik_, and all your other important labours, i am, sir, your grateful and obliged servant, s.w. singer. mickleham, nov. . . * * * * * folk lore. st. valentine in norwich--cook-eels, &c. &c. the day appropriated to st. valentine is kept with some peculiarity in the city of norwich. although "valentines," as generally understood, that is to say billets sent by means of the post, are as numerously employed here as in other places, yet the _custom_ consists not in the transmission of a missive overflowing with hearts and darts, or poetical posies, but in something far more substantial, elegant and costly--to wit, a goodly present of value unrestricted in use or expense. though this custom is openly adopted among relatives and others whose friendship is reciprocated, yet the secret mode of placing a friend in possession of an offering is followed largely,--and this it is curious to remark, not on the _day_ of the saint, when it might be supposed that the appropriateness of the gift would be duly ratified, the virtue of the season being in full vigour, but on the _eve_ of st. valentine, when it is fair to presume his charms are not properly matured. the mode adopted among all classes is that of placing the presents on the door-sill of the house of the favoured person, and intimating what is done by a run-a-way knock or ring as the giver pleases. so universal is this custom in this ancient city, that it may be stated with truth some thousands of pounds are annually expended in the purchase of valentine presents. at the time of writing (february .) the shops almost generally exhibit displays of articles calculated for the approaching period, unexampled in brilliancy, taste and costliness, and including nearly every item suitable to the drawing room, the parlour, or the boudoir. the local papers contain numerous advertising announcements of "valentines;" the walls are occupied with printed placards of a similar character, and the city crier, by means of a loud bell and an equally sonorous voice, proclaims the particular advantages in the valentine department of rival emporiums. all these preparations increase as the avator of st. valentine approaches. at length the saint and his eve arrives--passes--and the custom, apparently expanding with age, is placed in abeyance until the next year. i am inclined to believe that this mode of keeping st. valentine is confined to this city and the county of norfolk. as regards priority of occurrence this year, i should have first mentioned, that on shrove tuesday a custom commences of eating a small bun called cocque'els--cook-eels--coquilles--(the name being spelt indifferently) which is continued through the season of lent. forby, in his _vocabulary of east anglia_, calls this production "a sort of cross bun," but no cross is placed upon it, though its composition is not dissimilar. my inquiries, and, i may add, my reading, have not led me to the origin of either of the customs now detailed (with the exception of a few unsatisfactory words given by forby on cook-eels), and i should be glad to find these brief notices leading by your means to more extended information on both subjects, not only as regards this part of the country, but others also. john wodderspoon. norwich. _old charms._--i think that, if you are anxious to accumulate as much as you can of the folk lore of england, no set of men are more likely to help you than the clergy, particularly the younger part, viz., curates, to whom the stories they hear among their flock have the gloss of novelty. i send you a specimen of old charms, &c. that have come under my notice in the south-eastern counties. no. . is a dialogue between the parson and the old dame:-- "_p._ well, dame grey, i hear you have a charm to cure the toothache. come, just let me hear it; i should be so much pleased to know it. "_dame_. oh, your reverence, it's not worth telling." (here a long talk--parson coaxing the dame to tell him--old lady very shy, partly suspecting he is quizzing her, partly that no charms are proper things, partly willing to know what he thinks about it.) at last it ends by her saying-- "well, your reverence, you have been very kind to me, and i'll tell you: it's just a verse from scripture as i says over those as have the toothache:-- "'and jesus said unto peter, what aileth thee? and peter answered, lord, i have toothache. and the lord healed him.'" "_p._ well, but dame grey, i think i know my bible, and i don't find any such verse in it." "_dame_. yes, your reverence, that is just the charm. _it's in the bible_, but _you can't find it_!" no. . to avert sickness from a family, hang up a sickle, or iron implement, at the bed head. no. . should a death happen in a house at night, and there be a hive or hives of bees in the garden, go out and wake them up at once, otherwise the whole hive or swarm will die. i hope your folk lore is not confined to the fading memorials of a past age. the present superstitions are really much more interesting and valuable to be gathered together; and i am sure your pages would be very well employed in recording these for a future generation. i would { } suggest, in all humility, that it would be really useful, for the rulers of our church and state, to know how far such a superstition as the following prevails among the peasantry: that, if a dying person sees "glory," or a bright light, at or near the time of their dissolution, such a vision is a sure sign of their salvation, whatever may have been their former life, or their repentance. d. sholbus. _superstitions in north of england._--i find some curious popular superstitions prevalent in the north of england some three centuries ago recorded in the _proceedings before the special commissioners for ecclesiastical causes appointed by queen elizabeth_. thus: "anthony haggen presented for medicioning children with miniting a hammer as a smythe of kynde." again "john watson presented for burying a quick dogg and a quick cowe." and "agnes, the wyf of john wyse, als winkam john wyse, presented to be a medicioner for the waffc of an yll wynde, and for the fayryes." some of your readers may perhaps explain what these were. it is clear that they were superstitious practices of sufficient prevalence and influence on the popular mind to call for the interference of the queen's commissioners. a.b. _decking churches with yew on easter day._--in the village of berkely near frome, somerset, and on the borders of wiltshire, the church is decorated on easter sunday with yew, evidently as an emblem of the resurrection. flowers in churches on that day are common, but i believe the use of yew to be unusual. w. durrant cooper. _strewing straw or chaff._--the custom mentioned by your correspondent "b." (p. .) as prevailing in gloucestershire, is not peculiar to that county. in kent, it is commonly practised by the rustics. the publican, all the world over, decorates his sign-board with a foaming can and pipes, to proclaim the entertainment to be found within. on the same principle, these rustics hang up _their_ sign-board,--as one of them, with whom i was once remonstrating, most graphically explained to me. when they knew of a house where the master deems a little wholesome discipline necessary to ensure the obedience of love, considering it a pity that the world should be ignorant of his manly virtues, they strew "well threshed" chaff or straw before his door, as an emblematical sign-board, to proclaim that the sweet fare and "good entertainment" of a "well threshed" article may be found within. the custom, at all events, has one good tendency, it shames the tyrant into restraint, when he knows that his cowardly practices are patent to the world. lambert b. larking. * * * * * folk lore of wales. no. . _cron annwn_.--when a storm sounds over the mountains, the welsh peasant will tell you that his ear discerns the howl of the _cron annwn_ mingling with that of the wind, yet as clearly distinct from it as is the atmosphere in a diving-bell from that of the surrounding waters. these dogs of annwn, or "couriers of the air," are spirit hounds, who hunt the souls of the dead; or, as occasionally said, they foretell, by their expectant cries, the approaching death of some man of evil deeds. few have ever pretended to see them; for few, we presume, would linger until they dawned on the sight; but they are described by taliesin, and in the _mabinogion_, as being of a clear shining white, with red ears; colouring which confirms the author of the _mythology of the ancient druids_ in the idea that these dogs were "a mystical transformation of the druids with their white robes and red tiaras." popular superstition, however, which must always attribute ugliness to an object of fear, deems that they are either jet black, with eyes and teeth of fire, or of a deep red, and dripping all over with gore. "the nearer," says the rev. edmund jones, "they are to a man, the _less_ their voice is, and the farther the louder, sometimes swelling like the voice of a great hound, or a blood-hound." they are _sometimes_ accompanied by a female fiend, called _malt y nos_--mathilda or malen of the night, a somewhat ubiquitous character, with whom we meet under a complication of names and forms. jones of brecon, who tells us that the cry of the cron annwn is as familiar to the inhabitants of ystrad fellte and pont neath-vaughan [in glamorganshire] as the watchman's rattle in the purlieus of covent garden--for he lived in the days when watchmen and their rattles were yet among the things of this world--considers that to these dogs, and not to a greek myth, may be referred the hounds, _fury_, _silver_, _tyrant_, &c., with which prospero hunts his enemies "soundly," in the _tempest_. and they must recall to the minds of our readers the _wisk_, _wisked_, or _yesk_ hounds of devon, which are described in the _athenæum_ for march . , as well as the _maisne hellequin_ of normandy and bretagne. there has been much discussion respecting the signification of the word _annwn_, which has been increased by the very frequent mistake of writing it _anwn_, which means, _unknown_, _strange_, and is applied to the people who dwell in the antipodes of the speaker; while _annwn_ is an adaptation of _annwfn_, a _bottomless_ or _immeasurable pit_, _voidless_ { } _space_, and also hell. thus we find, that when _pwyl_, or _reason_, drives these dogs off their track, the owner comes up, and, reproving him, declares that he is a crowned king, lord of annwn and pendaran, i.e. chief of thunder. (see _myth. ant. druids_, p. .) this prince of darkness is supposed to be the spouse of andraste, now corrupted into andras, and equivalent with _malt y nos_, the diana or hecate of the ancient britons. these dogs sometimes appear singly, on which occasions they sit by the side of a stream, howling in so unearthly a manner, that the hapless man who finds one in his path usually loses his senses. this seems to have a connection with the "manthe doog" of the isle of man; but the tradition is not, we suspect, genuine. seleucus. no. . _cyoeraeth or gwrach-y-rhybin._--another instance of the grand, though gloomy superstitions of the cymry, is that of the _cyoeraeth_, or hag of the mist, an awful being who is supposed to reside in the mountain fog, through which her supernatural shriek is frequently heard. she is believed to be the very personification of ugliness, with torn and dishevelled hair, long black teeth, lank and withered arms and claws, and a most cadaverous appearance; to this some add, wings of a leathery and bat-like substance. the name _cy-oer-aeth_, the last two syllables of which signify _cold-grief_, is most descriptive of the sad wail which she utters, and which will, it is said, literally freeze the veins of those who hear it; she is _rarely_ seen, but is heard at a cross-road, or beside a stream--in the latter case she splashes the water with her hands--uttering her lamentation, as if in allusion to the relatives of those about to die. thus, if a man hears her cry _fy nqwsaig, fy nqwsaig_, &c., his wife will surely die, and he will be heard to mourn in the same strain ere long; and so on with other cases. the cadence of this cry can never be properly caught by any one who has not heard, if not a cyoeraeth, at least a native of wales, repeat the strain. when merely an inarticulate scream is heard, it is probable that the hearer himself is the one whose death is fore-mourned. sometimes she is supposed to come like the irish _banshee_, in a dark mist, to the windows of those who have been long ill; when flapping her wings against the pane, she repeats their names with the same prolonged emphasis; and then it is thought that they must die. it is this hag who forms the torrent beds which seam the mountain side; for she gathers great stones in her cloak to make her ballast, when she flies upon the storm; and when about to retire to her mountain cave, she lets them drop progressively as she moves onwards, when they fall with such an unearthly weight that they lay open the rocky sides of the mountain. in some parts of south wales this hag of the mists either loses her sway, or divides it with a more dignified personage, who, in the form of an old man, and under the name of _brenhin llwyd_, the _grey king_, sits ever silent in the mist. any one who has witnessed the gathering and downward rolling of a genuine mountain fog must fully appreciate the spirit in which men first peopled the cloud with such supernatural beings a those above described; or with those which dimly, yet constantly, pervade the much-admired _legend of montrose_. seleucus. * * * * * william basse and his poems. i regret that i am unable to offer any information in answer to "mr. p. collier's" inquiry (no. . p. .) respecting the existence of a perfect or imperfect copy of a poem by william basse on the death of prince henry, printed at oxford by joseph barnes, , and am only aware of such a poem from the slight mention of it by sir harris nicolas in his beautiful edition of walton's _complete angler_, p. . but as the possessor of the to. ms. volume of poems by basse, called _polyhymnia_, formerly belonging to mr. heber, i feel greatly interested in endeavouring to obtain some further biographical particulars of basse,--of whom, although personally known to isaac walton, the author of one or two printed volumes of poems, and of the excellent old songs of "the hunter in his career" and "tom of bedlam," and worthy of having his verses on shakspeare inserted among his collected poems, yet the notices we at present possess are exceedingly slight. we learn from anth. wood, in his _ath. oxon._, vol. iv. p. ., that basse was a native of moreton, near thame in oxfordshire, and was for some time a retainer of sir richard wenman, knt., afterwards viscount wenman, in the peerage of ireland. he seems also to have been attached to the noble family of norreys of ricot in oxfordshire, which is not far from thame; and addressed some verses to francis lord norreys, earl of berkshire, from which i quote one or two stanzas, and in the last of which there is an allusion to the [plainness of the] author's personal appearance: "o true nobilitie, and rightly grac'd with all the jewels that on thee depend, where goodnesse doth with greatnesse live embrac'd, and outward stiles, on inward worth attend. where ample lands, in ample hands are plac'd and ancient deeds, with ancient coats descend: where noble bloud combin'd with noble spirit forefathers fames, doth with their formes inherit. "where ancestors examples are perus'd not in large tomes, or costly tombs alone, but in their heires: and being dayly us'd are (like their robes) more honourable growne, { } where loyalty with piety is infus'd, and publique rights are cherish'd w'th their owne; where worth still finds respect, good friend, good word, desart, reward. and such is _ricot's_ lord. "but what make i (vaine voyce) in midst of all the quires that have already sung the fame of this great house, and those that henceforth shall (as that will last) for ever sing the same. but, if on me, my garland instly fall, i justly owe my musique to this name. for he unlawfully usurps the bayes that has not sung in noble _norrey's_ prayse. "in playne (my honour'd lord) i was not borne, audacious vowes, or forraigne legs to use, nature denyed my outside to adorne, and i, of art to learne outsides refuse. yet haveing of them both, enough to scorne silence, & vulgar prayse, this humble muse and her meane favourite; at yo'r comand chose in this kinde, to kisse your noble hand." his polyhymnia is dedicated to the sister of this person, the lady bridget, countess of lindsey, and baroness of eresbie and of ricot. besides the "anglers' song" made at walton's request, and the before-mentioned two songs, which are given at length in the appendix to the _complete angler_, p. ., sir h. nicolas's edit., besides these, and the verses "on william shakespeare, who died in april, ," sometimes called "basse his elegie on shakespeare," which appear in the edition of shakespeare's poems of , vo., and are reprinted in malone's edition of his plays, vol. i. p. .: another poem by william basse will be found in the collection entitled _annalia dubrensia, upon the yearely celebration of mr. robert dover's olympick games upon cotswold hills_, to. . this consists of ten stanzas, of eight lines each, "to the noble and fayre assemblies, the harmonious concourse of muses, and their ioviall entertainer, my right generous friend, master robert dover, upon cotswold." basse was also, as mr. collier remarks, the author of a poem, which i have never seen, called _sword and buckler, or serving man's defence_, in six-line stanzas, to. lond., imprinted in . a copy of this was sold in steevens's sale, no. ., and is now among "malone's collection of early poetry" in the bodleian library at oxford. and, according to ritson, he wrote another work, published in the same year, viz. _three pastorall elegies of anander, anytor and muridella_, entered to joseph barnes, may, , of which i am not aware that any copy is now in existence. these, with the addition of _great brittaines sunnes-set, bewailed with a shower of teares_, at oxford, printed by joseph barnes, , the fragment of which is in the possession of mr. collier, appear, as far as i can yet ascertain, to be the only known publications of william basse, with his name attached to them in full. other works, however, have been attributed to him from the similarity of the initials,--but most of them probably without much foundation; viz. . _scacchia ludus: chesse-play_: a poetical translation of vida's poem at the end of _ludus sacchiæ, chesse-play_, by w.b. to. lond. ; by ritson. . _a helpe to discourse; or a miscelany of merriment_, by w.b. and e.p. nd edit. vo. lond. ; by mr. malone. and . _that which seemes best is worst, exprest in a paraphrastical transcript of iuuenals tenth satyre. together with the tragicall narration of virginius death interserted_, by w.b. small vo. lond.; imprinted by felix kyngston, , by mr. octavius gilchrist, who however rather leans to the opinion of william barkstead being the author, from the circumstance of his having, as early as , paraphrased, much in a similar way, the interesting tale of myrrha, the mother of adonis, from the th book of the metamorphoses. (see _restitutu_, vol. i. p. .) cole, in his ms. collectanea for _athenæ cantabrigiensis_, says: "mr. knight, jun. shewed me a ms. written by william basse, and corrected by him, in to., called _polyhymnia_.--dedication. to the right noble and vertuous lady, the lady bridget, countess of lindsey, and baroness of eresbie and ricot, in verse, with verses to the right hon. francis lord norreys, earl of berkshire (in his days). to the right hon. the lady aungier (then wife of sir thos. wenman) upon her coming out of ireland and return thither. to the right hon. the lady viscountess falkland, upon her going into ireland, two sonnets. the youth in the boat. acrostics of the truly noble, vertuous, and learned lady, the lady agnes wenman; of the lady penelope dynham; of mrs. jane wenman. verses on the chapel of wadham college consecration, st. peter's day, ; on caversham or causham house; of witham house, oxfordshire, the house of a noble knight, and favourer of my muse; and elegy on a bullfinch, ; of the four mile course of bayaides green, six times run over, by two famous irish footmen, patrick dorning and william o'farrell.--it contains about leaves, much corrected, and at the end is 'l'envoy':-- "'go, sweet polymnia, thanks for all your cost and love to me; wherein no love is lost. as you have taught me various verse to use, i have to right you to be a christian muse.'" i have been thus particular in transcribing this passage from cole, because this copy, mentioned as being in the possession of mr. knight, jun. (quere, where is it now?), varies from mine, obtained from mr. heber's collection, and was no doubt the one prepared and corrected for the press by basse. the following poems, mentioned by cole, are not in my copy:-- "to the right hon. the lady aungier (then wife of sir thos. wenman) upon her coming out of ireland, { } and return thither. acrostics of the truly noble, vertuous, and learned lady, the lady agnes wenman; of the lady penelope dynham; of mrs. jane wenman. verses on the chapel of wadham college consecration, st. peter's day, ; and on caversham or causham house." my copy, however, contains the following poems, not mentioned in the other:-- "of a great floud; of the raine-bowe; of pen and pensill, upon a fayre and vertuous ladye's picture; and the spirituall race." the ms. contains leaves, beautifully written without any corrections, and is in the original binding. it was procured by mr. heber from hanwell, the bookseller in oxford, who had probably purchased it on the taking down of ricot, the old seat of the norreys family, and the dispersion of its contents. it has the autograph of francis lord norreys on the fly-leaf, and was no doubt a presentation copy to him from basse. the poetry of this work does not rise above mediocrity, and is not equal in thought or vigour to the epitaph on shakspeare. the chief portion of the volume is occupied with the singular tale of "the youth in the boat," which is divided into two parts; the first, containing (with the introduction) verses of four lines each, and the second , exclusive of the "morall," which occupies more. we know that it was basse's intention to have published these poems, from some lines addressed by dr. ralph bathurst "to mr. w. basse upon the intended publication of his poems, january . ," which are given in warton's _life and literary remains of dean bathurst_, vo. , p. . in these lines the dean compares basse, who was still living, "to an aged oak," and says:-- "though thy grey muse grew up with elder times, and our deceased grandsires lisp'd thy rhymes, yet we can sing thee too." from these lines, therefore, written nearly years after the publication of his former works in , when we may reasonably suppose he could not have been under , it is certain that basse was then well stricken in years; and the probability is, that he died very shortly afterwards, and that this was the reason of the non-publication of his poems. it is possible that a search into the registers at thame or that neighbourhood, or in the court at oxford, might settle this point, and also furnish some further information concerning his family and connections. cole mentions that a person of both his names was admitted a sizar in emanuel college, cambridge, in , of suffolk, and took his degree of b.a. in and m.a. in . but this was too modern a date for our poet, and might possibly be his son. i have been informed that in winchester college library, in a to. volume, there are some poems by mr. william basse; but the title of the volume i have not been able to obtain. mr. collier concludes his remarks, with a supposition that basse "was a musical composer, as well as writer of verses." i believe mr. c. to be right in this notion, from a passage which i find in the commencement of the nd part of "the youth in the boat," where, alluding to "sweete calliope," he remarks:-- "a muse to whom in former dayes i was extremely bound, when i did sing in _musiques_ prayse, and _voyces_ heau'nly sound." and from the circumstance also of one of the ballads in the roxburghe collection, "wit's never good till 'tis bought," being sung to the tune of "basse's carreere." mr. collier has reprinted this in his elegant _book of roxburghe ballads_, to. , p. ., and says:-- "the tune to which is sung, 'basse's carreere,' means of course, the tune mentioned in walton's _angler_, 'the hunter in his career,' composed, as he states by william basse." i have a distant recollection of having seen other pieces in some of our early musical works, composed by basse. sir harris nicolas, also, in the "life of walton," prefixed to his edition of _the complete angler_, p. cxx., says:-- "he (walton) appears to have been fond of poetry and music.... and was intimate with _basse, an eminent composer_, in whose science he took great interest." i fear that these notices of william basse, thus collected together from scattered sources, will not afford much information to mr. collier, beyond what he is already possessed of; but they may possibly interest others, who may not be quite so conversant with our early writers as that gentleman is known to be. i shall feel much gratified and obliged if he or any other of your correspondents will add any further notices or communications respecting one who may possibly have been personally known to shakspeare, but whose name, at all events, will be handed down to posterity in connection with that of our immortal bard. thomas corser, stand rectory, feb. . . * * * * * john stowe. in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. vii., new series, p. ., is a clever notice of the life and works of the venerable john stowe. it says:-- "the biographers have affirmed that he quitted his trade; but there is nothing to authorize that assertion in what he says himself upon the subject." in the preface to an edition of the _summarie for the year_ { } , now in my possession, stowe says:-- "it is nowe x yeres, since i (seeing the confuse order of our late englishe chronicles, and the ignorant handling of aunciet affaires) leaning myne own peculiar gains, coscerated my selfe to the searche of our famous antiquities." stowe was born in ; he was then years of age when he gave up his "peculiar gains," and devoted himself entirely to antiquarian labours. there had already appeared his edition of _chaucer_ in , also the commencement of the _summaries_; but his greater works, the _annals, survey of london_, &c., were not published till several years after. in his old age he was reduced to poverty, or rather to actual beggary; for shortly before his death, when fourscore years old, he was permitted, by royal letters patent, to become a mendicant. this curious document is printed in mr. bolton corney's _curiosities of literature illustrated_, and sets forth, that "whereas our louing subject, john stowe, this fine & forty yeers hath to his great charge, & with neglect of his ordinary meanes of maintenance (for the generall good as well of posteritie, as of the present age) compiled and published diuerse necessary bookes & chronicles; and therefore we, in recompense of these his painfull laboures, & for the encouragement to the like, haue in our royall inclination ben pleased to graunt our letters patents &c. &c.; thereby authorizing him and his deputies to collect amongst our louing subjects, theyr voluntary contributions & kinde gratuities." the whole preface to this edition of the _summarie_ is curious, and is followed by a list of "authors out of whom this summary is collected." in hearne's _robert of gloster_, preface, p. lxi., allusion is made to these _summaries_. he says:-- "i have not yet met with a copy of this _summary_ in which we have an account of his authors." after a panegyric on stowe's incredible industry he says:-- "sir roger lestrange, talking some years before his death with a very ingenious and learned gentleman about our historians, was pleased to say, _that it was always a wonder to him, that the very best that had penn'd our history in english should be a poor taylour, honest john stowe_. sir roger said a _taylour_, because stowe, as is reported, was bred a cap-maker. the trade of cap-making was then much in fashion, hats being not at that time much in request." j.e.n. * * * * * transposition of letters. the only reason, i imagine, which can be given for the transposition of letters spoken of by mr. williams (no. . p. .), is that it was done on "phonetic" principles--for the sake of euphony:--the new way was felt or fancied to be easier to the organs of speech, or (which is nearly the same) pleasanter to those of hearing. such alterations have at all times been made,--as is well known to those versed in the earlier stages of the language,--and often most arbitrarily. it is needless to say that "provincial and vulgar" usage throws much light on the changes in the forms of words; and perhaps a little attention to the manner in which words are altered by the peasantry would illustrate the point in question more than a learned comment. no form of verbal corruption is more frequent throughout the rural districts of england than that produced by the transposition of letters, especially of consonants: such words as _world_, _wasp_, _great_, are, as every one knows, still ordinarily (though less frequently than a dozen years ago) pronounced _wordle_, _waps_, _gurt_. so with names of places: thus cholsey (berks.) is called chosley. the dropping of a letter is to be accounted for in a like manner. probably the word was first _pronounced_ short, and when the ear became accustomed to the shortened sound, the superfluous (or rather unpronounced) letter would be dropped in writing. in proper names, to which your correspondent particularly refers, we observe this going on extensively in the present day. thus, in caermarthen and caernarvon, though the _e_ is etymologically of importance, it is now very generally omitted--and that by "those in authority:" in the ordnance maps, parliamentary "blue books," and poor-law documents, those towns are always spelled carnarvon, carmarthen. a still more striking instance is that of a well-known village on the thames, opposite runnimede. awhile back it was commonly spelled wyrardisbury; now it appears on the time-tables of the south-western railway (and perhaps elsewhere) wraysbury, which very nearly represents the local pronunciation. it is, perhaps, worth while to remark that letters are sometimes added as well as dropped by the peasantry. thus the cockley, a little tributary of wordsworth's _duddon_, is by the natives of donnerdale invariably called cocklety beck; whether for the sake of euphony, your readers may decide. and now, sir, you will perhaps permit me to put a query. tom brown, in his _dialogues_, p. . ed. ., has a well-known line:-- "why was not he a rascal who refused to suffer the children of israel to go into the wilderness with their wives and families to eat the paschal?" which he says he found on some "very ancient hangings in a country ale-house." i have never doubted that he was himself the author; but having heard it positively ascribed to a very different person, i should be glad to know whether { } any of your readers have met with it in an earlier writer; and if so, to whom is it to be ascribed? j.t. _pet-names--"jack."_--perhaps one of your many readers, erudite in etymologies, will kindly explain how "jack" came to be used as the _diminutive_ for john. dr. kennedy, in his recent interesting disquisition on pet-names (no. . p. .), supposes that jaques was (by confusion) transmuted into "jack;" a "metamorphosis," almost as violent as the celebrated one effected, some two centuries ago, by sir john harrington. "poor john," from being so long "jack among his familiars," has been most scurvily treated, being employed to form sundry very derogatory compounds, such as, jackass, jackpudding, jack-a-dandy, jackanapes, jack-a-lent, jack o' oaks (knave of clubs), jack-o' th' lantern, &c. &c. might not "jack" have been derived from john, somewhat after the following fashion:--johan--joan--jan--janchen or jankin. "ho! jolly jenkin, i spy a knave in drinkin." jankin = little john. jank--jak. this etymology has, i confess, a very great resemblance to the millerian mode of educing cucumber from jeremiah king; but it is the most plausible which occurs at present to l. kennaquhair. _john--pisan._--i will thank you to inform your correspondent "c." (no. p. .), that we must look to the east for the "original word" of john. in the waldensian mss. of the gospels of the th century, we find ioanes, showing its derivation from the greek _iohannaes_. the word pisan occurs in the rd vol. of the _archæologia_, p. . i have considered it was a contraction for _pavoisine_, a small shield; and i believe this was the late dr. meyrick's opinion. b.w. feb. . sir,--if the signature to the article in no. ., "on pet names," had not been scottish, i should have been less surprised at the author's passing over the name of _jock_, universally used in scotland for _john_. the termination _ick_ or _ck_ is often employed, as marking a diminutive object, or object of endearment. may not the english term _jack_, if not directly borrowed from the scottish _jock_, have been formed _through_ the primary _jock_--john--jock--jack? emdee. _origin of the change of "mary" into "polly"_ (no. . p. .).--this change, like many others in diminutives, is progressive. by a natural affinity between the liquids _r_ and _l_, _mary_ becomes _molly_, as _sarah_, _sally_, _dorothea_, _dora_, _dolly_, &c. it is not so easy to trace the affinity between the _initials_ m. and p., though the case is not singular; thus, _margaret_, madge, meggy, meg, _peggy_, _peg_--_martha_, matty, _patty_--and _mary_, molly, _polly_ and _poll_; in which last abbreviation not one single letter of the original word remains: the natural affinity between the two letters, as _medials_, is evident, as in the following examples, all of which, with one exception, are latin derivatives: _empty_, _peremptory_, _sumptuous_, _presumptuous_, _exemption_, _redemption_, and _sempstress_ and again, in the words _tempt_, _attempt_, _contempt_, _exempt_, _prompt_, _accompt_, _comptroller_ (vid. walker's _prin. of eng. pron._ pp. , .); in all which instances however, the _p_ is mute, so that "mary" is avenged for its being the accomplice in the desecration of her gentle name into "polly." many names of the other sex lose their initials in the diminutive; as, _r_ichard _d_ick _r_obert _b_ob _w_illiam _b_ill _e_dward _n_ed _c_hristopher _k_it _r_oger _h_odge, and probably many others; but i have no list before me, and these are all that occur. philologos. deanery of gloucester, shrove tuesday, . * * * * * parallel passages or plagiarisms in childe harold. permit me to add two further plagiarisms or parallel passages on the subject of _childe harold_ to those already contributed by your valuable correspondent "melanion." mrs. radcliffe (who i am informed was never out of england) is describing in her _mysteries of udolpho_, chap. xvi. the appearance of venice. "its terraces, crowded with airy, yet majestic fabrics touched as they now were with the splendour of the setting sun, appeared as if they had been _called up from the ocean by the wand of an enchanter_." in the st stanza of the th canto of _childe harold_ we have the well known lines-- "i stood in venice on the bridge of sighs, a palace and a prison on each hand: i saw from out the wave her structures rise as from the stroke of the enchanter's wand." in one of his letters lord byron tells us of his fondness for the above novel. again in kirke white's _christiad_-- "the lyre which i in early days have strung, and now my spirits faint, and i have hung the shell that solaced me in saddest hour on the dark cypress--" may be compared with the last stanza but one of the th canto. t.r.m. * * * * * { } inedited lines by robert burns. the following lines by robert burns have never appeared in any collection of his works. they were given to me some time ago at chatham barracks by lieut. colonel fergusson, r.m., formerly of dumfriesshire, by whom they were copied from the _tumbler_ upon which they were originally written. shortly before the death of alan cunningham i sent these verses to him, as well as two epigrams of burns, "on howlet face," and "on the mayor of carlisle's impounding his horse," which were not included in his edition of burns' works. in a letter which i received from alan cunningham, and which now lies before me, he says:-- "the pieces you were so good as to send me are by burns, and the epigrams are old acquaintances of mine. i know not how i came to omit them. i shall print them in the next edition, and say it was you who reminded me of them." i believe that one or both of the epigrams were printed in the vo. edition of the works in one volume, but my name is not mentioned as the contributor, which i regret; for, as an enthusiastic admirer of burns, and a collector for many years of his fugitive pieces, it would have been gratifying to me to have been thus noticed. perhaps cunningham did not superintend that edition. the verses i now send you, and which may, perhaps, be worth preserving in your valuable miscellany, originated thus:--on occasion of a social meeting at brownhill inn, in the parish of closeburn, near dumfries, which was, according to alan cunningham, "a favourite resting-place of burns," the poet, who was one of the party, was not a little delighted by the unexpected appearance of his friend william stewart. he seized a tumbler, and in the fulness of his heart, wrote the following lines on it with a diamond. the tumbler is carefully preserved, and was shown some years since by a relative of mr. stewart, at his cottage at closeburn, to colonel fergusson, who transcribed the lines, and gave them to me with the assurance that they had never been printed. the first verse is an adaptation of a well known jacobite lyric. "you're welcome willie stewart! you're welcome willie stewart! there's no a flower that blooms in may that's half so welcome as thou art! come bumper high, express your joy! the bowl--ye maun renew it-- the _tappit-hen_--gae fetch her ben, to welcome willie stewart! may faes be strong--may friends be slack-- may he ilk action rue it-- may woman on him turn her back wad wrang thee willie stewart!" j. reynell wreford. * * * * * lacedÆmonian black broth. your correspondent "r.o." having inquired after the author of the conjecture that the lacedæmonian black broth was composed wholly, or in part, of coffee, such an idea appearing to me to have arisen principally from a presumed identity of colour between the two, and to have no foundation in fact, i have endeavoured to combat it, in the first instance by raising the question, whether it was black or not? this has brought us to the main point, what the [greek: zomos melas] really was. and here "r.o." appears to rest content upon the probablity of coffee having been an ingredient. permit me to assign some additional reasons for entertaining a different opinion. we read nothing in native writers of anything like coffee in greece, indigenous or imported; and how in the world was it to get into laconia, inhabited, as it is well known to have been, by a race of men the least prone of any to change their customs, and the least accessible to strangers. lycurgus, we are told, forbade his people to be sailors, or to contend at sea[ ], so that they had no means of importing it themselves; and what foreign merchant would sell it to them, who had only iron money to pay withal, and dealt, moreover, as much as possible by way of barter?[ ] but it may be said they cultivated the plant themselves; that is, in other words, that the helots raised it for them. if so, how happens it that all mention of the berry is omitted in the catalogue of their monthly contributions to the phiditia, which are said to have consisted of meal, wine, cheese, figs, and a very little money?[ ] and when the king of pontus[ ] indulged in the expensive fancy of buying to himself (not hiring, let it be recollected) a cook, to make that famous broth which dionysius found so detestable, how came he not at the same time to think of buying a pound of coffee also? moreover, if we consider its universal popularity at present, it is hardly to be supposed that, in ancient times, coffee would have suited no palate except that of a lacedæmonian. with respect to the colour of the broth, i am reminded of my own reference to _pollux_, lib. vi. who is represented by your correspondent to say that the [greek: melas zomos] was also called [greek: aimatia], a word which messrs. scott and liddell interpret to { } denote "blood broth," and go on to state, upon the authority of manso, that blood was a principal ingredient in this celebrated lacedæmonian dish. certainly, if the case were really so, the german writer would have succeeded in preparing for us a most disagreeable and warlike kind of food; but my astonishment has not been small, upon turning to the passage, to find that "r.o.'s" authorities had misled him, and that _pollux_ really says nothing of the kind. his words (i quote from the edition vols. folio, amst. ) are these, [greek: "o de melas kaloumenos zomos lakonikon men hos epi to poly to edesma. esti de hae kaloumenae haimatia. to de thrion hode eskeuazon, k.t.l."] the general subject of the section is the different kinds of flesh used by man for food, and incidentally the good things which may be made from these; which leads the writer to mention by name many kinds of broth, amongst which he says towards the end, is that called [greek: melas zomos] which might be considered almost as a lacedæmonian dish; adding further, that there was a something called hæmatia (and this might have been a black pudding or sausage for anything that appears to the contrary); also the thrium, which was prepared in a manner he proceeds to describe. now the three parts of the sentence which has been given above in the original do, to the best of my judgment, clearly refer to three different species of food; and i would appeal to the candid opinion of any competent greek scholar, whether, according to the idiom of that language, the second part of it is so expressed, as to connect it with, and make it explanatory of, the first. we want, for this purpose, a relative, either with or without [greek: esti]; and the change of gender in hæmatia seems perfectly unaccountable if it is intended to have any reference to [greek: zomos]. it may not be unimportant to add that the significant silence of meursius, (an author surely not to be lightly thought of) who in his _miscellanea laconica_ says nothing of blood broth at the phiditia, implies that he understood the passage of pollux as intended to convey the meaning expressed above. another lexicographer, hesychius, informs us that [greek: bapha] was the lacedæmonian term for [greek: zomos]; and this, perhaps, was the genuine appellation for that which other greeks expressed by a periphrasis, either in contempt or dislike, or because its colour was really dark, the juices of the meat being thoroughly extracted into it. that it was nutritive and powerful may be inferred from what plutarch mentions, that the older men were content to give up the meat to the younger ones, and live upon the broth only[ ], which, had it been very poor, they would not have done. when these remarks were commenced, it was for the purpose of showing, by means of a passage not generally referred to, what the ancients conceived the "black broth" to be, and that consequently, all idea of coffee entering into its composition was untenable. how far this has been accomplished the reader must decide: but i cannot quit the subject without expressing my sincere persuasion, founded upon a view of the authorities referred to, that the account given by athenæus is substantially correct. pig meat would be much in use with a people not disposed to take the trouble of preparing any other: the animal was fit for nothing but food; and the refuse of their little farms would be sufficient for his keep. athenæus also, in another passage, supplies us with a confirmation of the notion that _the stock_ was made from _pig_, and this is stronger because it occurs incidentally. it is found in a quotation from matron, the maker of parodies, who, alluding to some person or other who had not got on very well at a lacedæmonian feast, explains the cause of his failure to have been, that the black broth, and boiled odds and ends of pig meat, had beaten him; "[greek: damna min zomos te melas akrokolia t' hephtha.]"[ ] that their cookery was not of a very recondite nature, is evident from what is mentioned by plutarch, that the public meals were instituted at first in order to prevent their being in the hands of artistes and cooks[ ], while to these every one sent a stated portion of provisions, so that there would neither be change nor variety in them. cooks again were sent out of sparta, if they could do more than dress meat[ ]; while the only seasoning allowed to them was salt and vinegar[ ]; for which reason, perhaps, meursius considers the composition of the [greek: zomos melas] to have been pork gravy seasoned with vinegar and salt[ ], since there seemed to have been nothing else of which it could possibly have been made. for mr. trevelyan's suggestion of the cuttlefish, i am greatly obliged to him; but this was an athenian dish, and too good for the severity of spartan manners. it is impossible not to smile at the idea of the distress which cineparius must have felt, had he happened to witness the performances of any persons thus swallowing ink bottles by wholesale. the passages which have been already quoted, { } either by r.o. or myself, will probably give mr. t. sufficient information of the principal ones in which the "black broth" is mentioned. w. [footnote : _xen. de rep. lac._] [footnote : "emi singula non pecuniâ sed compensatione mercium, jussit (lycurgus)."--_justin_. iii. .] [footnote : _plut. in lyc._] [footnote : _plut. in lyc._ the word is [greek: priasthai], the cook probably a slave and helot. there seems some confusion between this story, and that of dionysius tyrant of syracuse, noticed in the beginning of the _inst. lacon._, and by cicero in the _tusculan questions_, v. . the syracusan table was celebrated.] [footnote : _plut. in lyc._] [footnote : _ath. deip._ iv. . l. .] [footnote : _plut. in lyc._ "[greek: en chersi daemiourgon kai mageiron.]"] [footnote : "[greek: edei de opsopoious en lakedaimoni einai kreos monou ho de para touto epizamenos exelauneto taes spartaes]."--_Æl. var. hist._ xiv. .] [footnote : "[greek: hoi lakones hoxos men kai halas dontes to mageiro, ta loipa keleuoysin en to hiereio xaetein]."--_plut. de tuenda sanitate._] [footnote : _meursii misc. lacon_. lib. i. cap. .] * * * * * queries. ten queries concerning poets and poetry. . in a curious poetical tract, entitled _a whip for an ape, or martin displaied_; no date, but printed in the reign of elizabeth, occurs the following stanza:-- "and ye grave men that answere martin's mowes, he mockes the more, and you in vain loose times. leave apes to dogges to baite, their skins to crowes, and let old lanam lashe him with his rimes." was this _old lanam_, the same person as robert laneham, who wrote "a narrative of queen elizabeth's visit to kenilworth castle in "? i do not find his name in ritson's _bibliographica poetica_. . in spence's _anecdotes of books and men_ (singer's edit. p. .), a poet named bagnall is mentioned as the author of the once famous poem _the counter scuffle_. edmund gayton, the author of _pleasant notes upon don quixote_, wrote a tract, in verse, entitled _will bagnall's ghost_. who was will bagnall? he appears to have been a well-known person, and one of the wits of the days of charles the first, but i cannot learn anything of his biography. . in the _common-place book_ of justinian paget, a lawyer of james the first's time preserved among the harleian mss. in the british museum, is the following sonnet:-- "my love and i for kisses play'd; shee would keepe stakes, i was content; but when i wonn she would be pay'd, this made me aske her what she ment; nay, since i see (quoth she), you wrangle in vaine, take your owne kisses, give me mine againe." the initials at the end, "w.s.", probably stand for william stroud or strode, whose name is given at length to some other rhymes in the same ms. i should be glad to know if this quaint little conceit has been printed before, and if so, in what collection. . what is the earliest printed copy of the beautiful old song "my mind to me a kingdom is?" it is to be found in a rare tract by nicholas breton, entitled _the court and country, or a briefe discourse betweene the courtier and country-man_, to. . query, is breton its author? . mr. edward farr, in his _select poetry, chiefly devotional, of the reign of queen elizabeth_ (vol. i, p. xix.), calls nicholas breton, _sir nicholas_. is there any authority for breton's knighthood? . can john davies, the author of _sir martin mar-people_, , be identified with john davies of hereford, or sir john davies, the author of _nosce teipsum_, ? . in whose possession is the copy of marlow and chapman's _hero and leander_, , sold in heber's sale (part iv., no. )? has the rev. alex. dyce made use of the ms. notes, and the latin epitaph on sir roger manwood, by marlow, contained in this copy? . has any recent evidence been discovered as to the authorship of _the complaynt of scotland_? is sir david lindsay, or wedderburn, the author of this very interesting work? . in the rev. j.e. tyler's _henry of monmouth_ (vol. ii appendix, p. .), is a ballad on _the battle of agincourt_, beginning as follows:-- "fair stood the wind for france, when we our sails advance; nor now to prove our chance, longer will tarry; but, putting to the main, at kaux, the mouth of seine, with all his martial train, landed king harry." the author of this old ballad, the learned editor says, was _michael drayton_; but i have not been able to find it in any edition of his works which i have consulted. can mr. tyler have confounded it with drayton's _poem_ on the same subject? any information on this point will be very acceptable. . on the fly-leaf of an old music book which i lately purchased is the following little poem. i do not remember to have seen it in print, but some of your correspondents may correct me. "to the lord bacon when falling from favour. "dazel'd thus with height of place, whilst our hopes our wits beguile; no man marks the narrow space 'twixt a prison and a smile. "then since fortune's favours fade, you that in her arms do sleep, learn to swim and not to wade, for the hearts of kings are deep. "but if greatness be so blind, as to burst in towers of air; let it be with goodness lin'd, that at least the fall be fair. "then, though dark'ned you shall say, when friends fail and princes frown; virtue is the roughest way, but proves at night a bed of down." it is in the hand-writing of "johs. rasbrick vic. de kirkton," but whether he was the author, or only the transcriber, is uncertain. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * { } bishop cosin's form of consecration of churches. we learn from wilkins (_concilia_, tom. iv. p. , ed. lond. ), also from cardwell (_synodal_. pp. . . . ed. oxon. ), and from some other writers, that the care of drawing up a form of consecration of churches, chapels, and burial-places, was committed to bishop cosin by the convocation of ; which form, when complete, is stated to have been put into the hands of robert, bishop of oxon, humphrey, bishop of sarum, robert, bishop of lincoln, and john, bishop of coventry and lichfield, for revision. i should feel much obliged if (when you can find space) you would kindly put the query to your correspondents--"what has become of this form?" there is at durham a form of consecration of churches, said to be in the hand-writing of basire; at the end of which the following notes are written: "this forme was used at the consecration of christ's church, neare tinmouth, by the right rev. father in god, john, lord bishop of duresme, on sunday, the th of july, . "hæc forma consecrationis consonant cum formâ reverendi in christo patris lanceloti andewes, edit. anno . "deest anathema, signaculum in antiquis dedicationibus. "deest mentio (nuptiarum. (purificationis mulierum." as this, however, can hardly be the missing form of consecration of churches, &c., which cosin himself seems to have drawn up for the convocation of , but which appears to have been no more heard of from the time when it was referred to the four bishops for revision, the question still remains to be answered--what has become of that form? can the ms. by any chance have found its way into the library of peterhouse, cambridge, or into the chapter library at peterborough--or is any other unpublished ms. of bishop cosin's known to exist in either of these, or in any other library? j. sansom. . park place, oxford, feb. , . * * * * * portraits of luther, erasmus, and ulric von hutten. i am very much indebted to "s.w.s." for the information which he has supplied (no. . p. .) relative to ancient wood-cut representations of luther and erasmus. as he has mentioned ulric von hutten also (for whom i have an especial veneration, on account of his having published valla's famous _declamatio_ so early as ), perhaps he would have the kindness to state which is supposed to be the best wood-cut likeness of this resolute ("jacta est alea") man. "s.w.s." speaks of a portrait of him which belongs to the year . i have before me another, which forms the title-page of the _huttenica_, issued "ex ebernburgo," in . this was, i believe, his place of refuge from the consequences which resulted from his annexation of marginal notes to pope leo's bull of the preceding year. in the remarkable wood-cut with which "[greek: oytis, nemo]" commences, the object of which is not immediately apparent, it would seem that "vl." implied a play upon the initial letters of _u_lysses and _u_lricus. this syllable is put over the head of a person whose neck looks as if it were already the worse from unfortunate proximity to the terrible rock wielded by polyphemus. i should be glad that "s.w.s." could see some manuscript verses in german, whcih are at the end of my copy of de hutten's _conquestio ad germanos_. they appear to have been written by the author in ; and at the conclusion, he has added, "vale ingrata patria." r.g. * * * * * questions concerning chaucer. _lollius._--who was the lollius spoken of by chaucer in the following passages? "as write mine authour _lolius_." _troilus and cresseide_, b. i. "the whichecote as telleth _lollius_." ib. b. v. "and eke he lollius."--_house of fame_, b. iii. _trophee._--who or what was "trophee?" "saith trophee" occurs in the _monkes tale_. i believe some mss. read "for trophee;" but "saith trophee" would appear to be the correct rendering; for lydgate, in the prologue to his translation of boccaccio's _fall of princes_, when enumerating the writings of his "maister chaucer," tells us, that "in youth he made a translacion of a boke which is called _trophe_ in lumbarde tonge, as men may rede and se, and in our vulgar, long or that he deyde, gave it the name of troylous and cressyde." _corinna._--chaucer says somewhere, "i follow statius first, and then corinna." was corinna in mistake put for _colonna_? the "guido eke the colempnis," whom chaucer numbers with "great omer" and others as bearing up the fame of troy (_house of fame_, b. iii.). _friday weather._--the following meteorological proverb is frequently repeated in devonshire, to denote the variability of the weather on friday: "fridays in the week are never _aleek_." "aleek" for "alike," a common devonianism. { } thus peter pindar describes a turbulent crowd of people as being "_leek_ bullocks sting'd by apple-drones." is this bit of weather-wisdom current in other parts of the kingdom? i am induced to ask the question, because chaucer seems to have embodied the proverb in some well-known lines, viz.:-- "right as the friday, sothly for to tell, now shineth it, and now it raineth fast, right so can gery venus overcast the hertes of hire folk, right as hire day is gerfull, right so changeth she aray. _selde is the friday all the weke ylike_." _the knighte's tale_, line . _tyndale._--can any of your readers inform me whether the translation of the "_enchiridion militis christiani erasmi_," which tyndale completed in , was ever printed? j.m.b. totnes, feb. . . * * * * * letter attributed to sir robert walpole. in banks's _dormant peerage_, vol. iii. p. ., under the account of _pulteney, earl of bath_, is the following extraordinary letter, said to be from sir robert walpole to king george ii., which is introduced as serving to show the discernment of walpole, as well as the disposition of the persons by whom he was opposed, but evidently to expose the vanity and weakness of mr. pulteney, by exhibiting the scheme which was to entrap him into the acceptance of a peerage, and so destroy his popularity. it is dated jan. . , but from _no place_, and has but little appearance of authenticity. "most sacred, "the violence of the fit of the stone, which has tormented me for some days, is now so far abated, that, although it will not permit me to have the honour to wait on your majesty, yet is kind enough to enable me so far to obey your orders, as to write my sentiments concerning that troublesome man, mr. pulteney; and to point out (what i conceive to be) the most effectual method to make him perfectly quiet. your majesty well knows how by the dint of his eloquence he has so captivated the mob, and attained an unbounded popularity, that the most manifest wrong appears to be right, when adopted and urged by him. hence it is, that he has become not only troublesome but dangerous. the inconsiderate multitude think that he has not one object but public good in view; although, if they would reflect a little, they would soon perceive that spleen against those your majesty has honoured with your confidence has greater weight with him than patriotism. since, let any measure be proposed, however salutary, if he thinks it comes from me, it is sufficient for him to oppose it. thus, sir, you see the affairs of the most momentous concern are subject to the caprice of that popular man; and he has nothing to do but call it a ministerial project, and bellow out the word _favourite_, to have an hundred pens drawn against it, and a thousand mouths open to contradict it. under these circumstances, he bears up against the ministry (and, let me add, against your majesty itself); and every useful scheme must be either abandoned, or if it is carried in either house, the public are made to believe it is done by a corrupted majority. since these things are thus circumstanced, it is become necessary for the public tranquility that he should be made quiet; and the only method to do that effectually is to destroy his popularity, and ruin the good belief the people have in him. "in order to do this, he must be invited to court; your majesty must condescend to speak to him in the most favourable and distinguished manner; you must make him believe that he is the only person upon whose opinion you can rely, and to whom your people look up for useful measures. as he has already several times refused to take the lead in the administration, unless it was totally modelled to his fancy, your majesty should close in with his advice, and give him leave to arrange the administration as he pleases, and put whom he chooses into office (there can be no danger in that as you can dismiss him when you think fit); and when he has got thus far (to which his extreme self-love and the high opinion he entertains of his own importance, will easily conduce), it will be necessary that your majesty should seem to have a great regard for his health; signifying to him that your affairs will be ruined if he should die; that you want to have him constantly near you, to have his sage advice; and that therefore, as he is much disordered in body, and something infirm, it will be necessary for his preservation for him to quit the house of commons, where malevolent tempers will be continually fretting him, and where, indeed, his presence will be needless, as no step will be taken but according to his advice; and that he will let you give him a distinguishing mark of your approbation, by creating him a peer. this he may be brought to, for, if i know anything of mankind, he has a love of honour and money; and, notwithstanding his great haughtiness and seeming contempt for honour, he may be won if it be done with dexterity. for, as the poet fenton says, 'flattery is an oil that softens the thoughtless fool.' "if your majesty can once bring him to accept of a coronet, all will be over with him; the changing multitude will cease to have any confidence in him; and when you see that, your majesty may turn your back to him, dismiss him from his post, turn out his meddling partizans, and restore things to quiet; the bee will have lost his sting, and become an idle drone whose buzzing nobody heeds. "your majesty will pardon me for the freedom with which i have given my sentiments and advice; which i should not have done, had not your majesty commanded it, and had i not been certain that your peace is much disturbed by the contrivance of that turbulent man. i shall only add that i will dispose several whom i know to wish him well to solicit for his establishment in power, that you may seem to yield to their entreaties, and the finesse be less liable to be discovered. "i hope to have the honour to attend your majesty { } in a few days; which i will do privately, that my public presence may give him no umbrage. (signed) robert walpole "(dated) . january, ." as it seems incredible that walpole could have written such a letter; and the editor does not say where it is taken from, or where the original is, i beg to ask any of your readers whether they have ever seen the letter elsewhere, or attributed by any other writer to walpole? the editor adds, "accordingly, the scheme took place very soon after, and mr. pulteney was in dignified with the titles before mentioned, i.e. earl of bath, &c." g. * * * * * bishops of ossory. acting on "r.r.'s" excellent suggestion (no. . p. . _antè_), i beg to solicit from all collectors, who may chance to see these lines, information relative to the _bishops of ossory_. i am at present engaged on a work which will comprise that portion of harris's edition of sir james ware's _bishops of ireland_ bearing on the see of ossory. the following names are those concerning whom, especially, information, either original or by reference to rare printed books, will be most thankfully acknowledged:-- john parry succ. ob. . benjamin parry succ. ob. . michael ward succ. trans. . thomas otway succ. ob. . john hartstong succ. trans. . sir thos. vesey, bart. succ. ob. . edw. tennison succ. ob. . charles este succ. trans. . anthony dopping succ. ob. . michael cox succ. trans. . edward maurice succ. ob. . richard pococke succ. trans. . charles dodgson succ. trans. . william newcome succ. trans. . sir john hotham, bt. succ. trans. . hon. w. beresford succ. trans. . thos. l. o'beirne succ. trans. . hugh hamilton succ. ob. . john kearney succ. ob. . i may state, that i have access to that most excellent work _fasti ecclesiæ hiberniæ_, by archdeacon cotton, who has collected many particulars respecting the above-named prelates. james graves. kilkenny, feb. . . * * * * * _burton's anatomy of (religious) melancholy._--in compliance with the very useful suggestion of "r.r." (no. . p. .), i venture to express my intention of reprinting the latter part of burton's "anatomy of melancholy," (viz. that relating to _religious melancholy_), and at the same time to intimate my hope that any of your readers who may have it in their power to render me any assistance, will kindly aid me in the work. m.d. oxford, feb. . * * * * * minor queries. _master of methuen--ruthven and gowrie families._--colonel stepney cowell is desirous of inquiring who was the master of methuen, who fell at the battle of pinkey, and whose name appears in the battle roll as killed? was he married, and did he leave a daughter? he is presumed to have been the son of lord methuen by margaret tudor, sister of henry viii. who was the wife of patrick ruthven, youngest son of william, first earl of gowrie, and where was he married? any notices of the gowrie and ruthven family will be acceptable. brooke's club, st. james's street, feb. . . "_the female captive: a narrative of facts which happened in barbary in the year . written by herself."_ vols. mo. lond. .--sir william musgrave has written this note in the copy which is now in the library of the british museum:-- "this is a true story. the lady's maiden name was marsh. she married mr. crisp, as related in the narrative; but he, having failed in business, went to india, when she remained with her father, then agent victualler, at chatham, during which she wrote and published these little volumes. on her husband's success in india, she went thither to him. "the book, having, as it is said, been bought up by the lady's friends, is become very scarce." can any of your readers furnish a further account of this lady? _parliamentary writs._--it is stated in duncumb's _history of herefordshire_, . . that "the writs, indentures, and returns, from edw. iv. to edw. vi., are all lost throughout england, except one imperfect bundle, rd hen. viii." this book was published in . have the researches since that time in the record offices supplied this hiatus; and if so, in which department of it are these documents to be found? w.h.c. temple. _portraits in the british museum._--i have often wished to inquire, but knew not where till your publication met my notice, as to the portraits in the british museum, which are at present hung so high above beasts and birds, and everything else, that it requires better eyes than most people possess to discern their features. i should suppose { } that if they were not originals and of value, they would not have been lodged in the museum, and if they are, why not appropriate a room to them, where they might be seen to advantage, by those who take pleasure in such representations of the celebrated persons of former days? any information on this subject will be gratefully received. l.o. * * * * * replies. college salting. in reply to the query of the rev. dr. maitland (no. . p. .), i would remark, that _salting_ was the ceremony of initiating a freshman into the company of senior students or sophisters. this appears very clearly from a passage in the _life of anthony a wood_ (ed. , pp. - .). anthony a wood was matriculated in the university of oxford, th may, , and on the th of october "he was entered into the buttery-book of merton college." at various periods, from all saints till candlemas, "there were fires of charcole made in the common hall." "at all these fires every night, which began to be made a little after five of the clock, the senior under-graduats would bring into the hall the juniors or freshmen between that time and six of the clock, and there make them sit down on a forme in the middle of the hall, joyning to the declaiming desk: which done, every one in order was to speake some pretty apothegme, or make a jest or bull, or speake some eloquent nonsense, to make the company laugh: but if any of the freshmen came off dull or not cleverly, some of the forward or pragmatical seniors would _tuck_ them, that is, set the nail of their thumb to their chin, just under the lipp, and by the help of their other fingers under the chin, they would give him a chuck, which sometimes would produce blood. on candlemas day, or before (according as shrove tuesday fell out), every freshman had warning given him to provide his speech, to be spoken in the publick hall before the under-graduats and servants on shrove-tuesday night that followed, being alwaies the time for the observation of that ceremony. according to the said summons a. wood provided a speech as the other freshmen did. "shrove tuesday feb. , the fire being made in the common hall before of the clock at night, the fellowes would go to supper before six, and making an end sooner than at other times, they left the hall to the libertie of the undergraduats, but with an admonition from one of the fellowes (who was the principall of the undergraduats and postmasters) that all things should be carried in good order. while they were at supper in the hall, the cook (will. noble) was making the lesser of the brass pots full of cawdle at the freshmens charge; which, after the hall was free from the fellows, was brought up and set before the fire in the said hall. afterwards every freshman, according to seniority, was to pluck off his gowne and band, and if possible to make himself look like a scoundrell. this done, they were conducted each after the other to the high table, and there made to stand on a forme placed thereon; from whence they were to speak their speech with an audible voice to the company: which, if well done, the person that spoke it was to have a cup of cawdle and no _salted drinke_; if indifferently, some cawdle and some _salted drinke_; but if dull, nothing was given to him but _salted drinke_ or _salt_ put in college bere, with tucks to book. afterwards when they were to be admitted into the fraternity, the senior cook was to administer to them an oath over an old shoe, part of which runs thus: _item tu jurabis, quot penniless bench non visitabis, &c._: the rest is forgotten, and none there are that now remembers it. after which spoken with gravity, the freshman kist the shoe, put on his gowne and band, and took his place among the seniors." mr. wood gives part of his speech, which is ridiculous enough. it appears that it was so satisfactory that he had cawdle and sack without and salted drink. he concludes thus:-- "this was the way and custome that had been used in the college, time out of mind, to initiate the freshmen; but between that time and the restoration of k. ch. . it was disused, and now such a thing is absolutely forgotten." the editors in a note intimate that it was probable the custom was not peculiar to merton college, and that it was perhaps once general, as striking traces of it might be found in many societies in oxford, and in some a very near resemblance of it had been kept up until within a few years of that time ( ). c.h. cooper. cambridge, feb. . . "e.v.," after quoting the passage given by mr. cooper from anthony wood, proceeds:-- it is clear from owen's epigram that there was some kind of _salting_ at oxford as well as at cambridge; is it not at least probable that they were both identical with the custom described by old anthony, and that the charge made in the college book was for _the cawdle_ mentioned above, as provided at the freshman's expense; the whole ceremony going under the name of "salting," from the salt and water potion, which was the most important constituent of it? if this be so, it agrees with dr. maitland's idea, that "this 'salting' was some entertainment given by the newcomer, from and after which he ceases to be fresh;" or, as wood expresses it, "he took his place among the seniors." the "tucks" he speaks of could have been no very agreeable addition to the salted beer; for, as he himself explains it, a few lines above, "to tuck" consisted in "setting the nail of the thumb to their chin, just under the lip, and by the help of their other fingers under the chin, they would give him a mark, which sometimes would produce blood." before i leave anthony wood, let me mention { } that i find him making use of the word "bull" in the sense of a laughable speech ("to make a jest, or _bull_, or speake some eloquent nonsense," p. .), and of the now vulgar expression "to go to pot." when recounting the particulars of the parliamentary visitation of the university in , he tells us, that had it not been for the intercession of his mother to sir nathan brent, "he had infallible _gone to the pot_." if dr. maitland or any of your readers can give the history of these expressions, and can produce earlier instances of their use, they would greatly oblige me. p.s. i ought to mention, that "penniless bench" was a seat for loungers, under a wooden canopy, at the east end of old carfax church: it seems to have been notorious as "the idle corner" of oxford. e.v. * * * * * queries answered, no. . a comparative statement of the number of those who ask questions, and those who furnish replies, would be a novel contribution to the statistics of literature. i do note mean to undertake it, but shall so far assume an excess on the side of the former class, as to attempt a triad of replies to recent queries without fear of the censures which attach to monopoly. to facilitate reference to the queries, i take them in the order of publication:-- . "what is the earliest known instance of the use of a _beaver hat_ in england?"--t. hudson turner, p. . the following instance from chaucer (_canterbury tales_, , °. v. .), if not the earliest, is precise and instructive: "a marchant was ther with a forked berd, in mottelee, and highe on hors he sat, and on his hed a flaundrish _bever hat_." . "has _cosmopoli_ been ever appropriated to any known locality?"--john jebb, p. . cosmopolis has been used for london, and for paris (g. peignot, _répertoire de bibliographies spéciales_, paris, . °. pp. , .) it may also, in accordance with its etymology, be used for amsterdam, or berlin, or calcutta, etc. as an imprint, it takes the dative case. the _interpretationes paradoxæ quatuor evangeliorum_ of sandius, were printed at amsterdam. (m. weiss, _biographie universelle_, paris, . °. xl. .) . references to "any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the arabic numerals" are requested by "e.n." p. . to the well chosen works enumberated by the querist, i shall add the titles of two valuable publications in my own collection: dictionnaire raisonnÉ de diplomatique--par dom de vaines. _paris_, . °. vol. elÉments de palÉographie, par m. natalis de wailly. _paris_, imprimerie royale, . °. vol. the former work is a convenient epitome of the _nouveau traité de diplomatique_. the latter is a new compilation, undertaken with the sanction of m. guizot. its appearance was thus hailed by the learned daunou: "cet ouvrage nous semble recommandable par l'exactitude des recherches, par la distribution méthodique des matières et par l'élégante précision du style." (_journal des savants_, paris, . °. p. .) a query should always be worded with care, and put in a _quotable_ shape. the observance of this plain rule would economise space, save the time which might otherwise be occupied in useless research, and tend to produce more pertinency of reply. the first and second of the above queries may serve as models. bolton corney. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _old auster tenement_ (no. . p. .).--i think that i am in a condition to throw some light on the meaning of this expression, noticed in a former number by "w.p.p." the tenements held in villenage of the lord of a manor, at least where they consisted of a messuage or dwelling-house, are often called _astra_ in our older books and court-rolls. if the tenement was an ancient one, it was _vetus_ or _antiquum astrum_; if a tenure of recent creation (or a new-take, as it is called in some manors), it was _novum astrum_. the villenage tenant of it was an _astrarius_. "w.p.p." may satisfy himself of these facts by referring to the printed _plautorum abbrevietis_, fo. .; to fleta, _comment. juris. anglicani_, ed. , p. .; and to ducange, spelman, and cowel, under the words "astrum," "astrarius," and "astre." in the very locality to which "w.p.p." refers, he will find that the word "auster" is "astrum" in the oldest court-rolls, and that the term is not confined to north curry, but is very prevalent in the eastern half of somerset. at the present day, an _auster_ tenement is a species of copyhold, with all the incidents to that tenure. it is noticed in the journal of the archæological institute, in a recent critique on dr. evans's leicestershire words, and is very familar to legal practitioners of any experience in the district alluded to. e. smirke. _tureen_ (no. . p. .).--there is properly no such word. it is a corruption of the french _terrine_, an earthen vessel in which soup is served. it is in bailey's dictionary. i take this opportunity of suggesting whether that the word "_swinging_," applied by goldsmith to his tureen, should be rather spelt _swingeing_; though the former is the more usual way: a _swinging_ dish and a _swingeing_ are different things, and goldsmith meant the latter. c. { } _burning the dead._--"t." will find some information on this subject in sir thomas browne's _hydriotaphia_, chap. i., which appears to favour his view except in the following extract: "the same practice extended also far west, and besides heruleans, getes and thracians, was in use with most of the celtæ, sarmatians, germans, gauls, danes, swedes, norwegians; not to omit some use thereof among _carthaginians_, and _americans_." the carthaginians most probably received the custom from their ancestors the phoenicians, but where did the americans get it? henry st. chad. corpus christi hall, maidstone, feb. . . _burning the dead._--your correspondent "t." (no. . p. .) can hardly have overlooked the case of dido, in his inquiry "whether the practice of burning the dead has ever been in vogue amongst any people, excepting the inhabitants of europe and asia?" according to all classical authorities, dido was founder and queen of carthage in _africa_, and was burned at carthage on a funeral pile. if it be said that dido's corpse underwent burning in conformity with the custom of her native country tyre, and not because it obtained in the land of her adoption, then the question arises, whether burning the dead was not one of the customs which the tyrian colony of dido imported into africa, and became permanently established at carthage. it is very certain that the carthaginians had human sacrifices by fire, and that they burned their children in the furnace to saturn. a.g. ecclesfield, feb. . . * * * * * miscellanies. _m. de gournay._--the author of the axioms _laissez faire, laissez passer_, which are the sum and substance of the free trade principles of political economy, and perhaps the pithiest and completest exposition of the doctrine of a particular school ever made, was jean claude marie vincent de gournay, who was born at st. malo in , and died at paris in . in early life he was engaged in trade, and subsequently became honorary councillor of the grand council, and honorary intendant of commerce. he translated, in , josiah child's _considerations on commerce and on the interest on money_, and culpepper's treatise _against usury_. he also wrote a good deal on questions of political economy. he was, in fact, with dr. quesnay, the chief of the french economists of the last century; but he was more liberal than quesnay in his doctrines; indeed he is (far more than adam smith) the virtual founder of the modern school of political economy; and yet, perhaps, of all the economists he is the least known! the great turgot was a friend and ardent admirer of m. de gournay; and on his death wrote a pompous _eloge_ on him. a man in a garret. _cupid crying._--"our readers will remember that some time since (_antè_, p. .) we copied into our columns, from the 'notes and queries,' an epigram of great elegance on the subject of 'cupid crying;' the contributor of which was desirous of finding through that medium, especially established for such discoveries, the original text and the name of its author. subsequently, a correspondent of our own [_antè_, p. .] volunteered a translation by himself, in default of the original. the correspondent of the 'notes and queries' has now stumbled on what he sought, and is desirous that we should transmit it to the author of the volunteer version, with his thanks. this we take the present means of doing. under the signature of 'rufus,' he writes as follows:--'in a ms. book, long missing, i find the following copy, with a reference to _car. illust. poet. ital._ vol. i. , wherein it is ascribed to antonio tebaldeo-- "_de cupidine._ cur natum cædit venus? arcum perdidit. arcum nunc quis habet? tusco flavia nata solo. qui factum? petit hæc, dedit hic; nam lumine formæ deceptus, matri se dare crediderat." "since printing this communication from 'rufus' we have received the same original (with the variation of a single word--_quid_ for _cur_ in the opening of the epigram) from a german correspondent at augsburgh. 'you will find it,' he says, 'in the _anthologia latina burmanniana_, iii. , or in the new edition of this _latin anthology_, by henry meyer, lipsiæ, , tom. ii. page , no. . the author of the epigram is doubtful, but the diction appears rather too quaint for a good ancient writer. maffei ascribes it to brenzoni, who lived in the sixteenth century; others give it to ant. tebaldeo, of ferrara.' our readers will perceive that the translator has taken some liberties with his text. 'lumine formæ deceptus,' for instance, is not translated by 'she smiled.' but it may be questioned if the suggestion is not even more delicate and graceful in the translator's version than in the original."--_the athenæum_. * * * * * the mirror. (_from the latin of owen._) bella, your image just returns your smile-- you weep, and tears its lovely cheek bedew-- you sleep, and its bright eyes are closed the while-- you rise, the faithful mimic rises too.-- bella, what art such likeness could increase if glass could talk, or woman hold her peace? rufus. * * * * * { } _journeyman._--three or four years since, a paragraph went the round of the press, deriving the english word "journeyman" from the custom of travelling among work-men in germany. this derivation is very doubtful. is it not a relic of norman rule, from the french _journée_, signifying a day-man? in support of this it may be observed, that the german name for the word in question if _tagelöhner_, or day-worker. it is also well known, that down to a comparatively recent period, artisans and free labourers were paid daily. gomer. _balloons._--in one of your early numbers you mention the _history of ringwood_, &c. many years since i sent to a periodical (i cannot recollect which) a circumstance connected with that town, which i never heard or read of anywhere, and which, as it is rather of importance, i forward to you in hopes that some of your correspondents may be able to throw some light upon it. when my father was in the artillery ground at the ascension of lunardi's balloon, he remarked to several persons present, "this is no novelty to _me_; i remember well, when i was at school in ringwood [about the year ], an apothecary in that town that used to let off _balloons_ (he had no other name, i suppose, to give them) on a smaller scale, but exactly corresponding with what he then saw, _many_ a time." i had several letters addressed to me, requesting further explanation, which, as my father was dead, i was unable to give. it is highly improbable that any persons now living may have it in their power to corroborate the fact, but some of their relations or descendants may. i suppose they must have been _fire-balloons_, and these of the rudest construction; and my father, being a boy at the time, would have given perhaps little valuable information, except as to the name of the apothecary, which, however, i never heard him mention. b.g. feb. . . * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) _odd volumes and plates._ engravings from cotman's norfolk brasses. sir john curson. . belaugh. lady joan plays. . ingham. lady ela stapleton. . ingham. southey's history of the peninsular war. vo. vol. iii london magazine. and . cuvier's animal kingdom. by griffith. . part xxiv. chaucer's poetical works. edinburgh. . mo. (bell's poets.) vol xiv. anti-jacobin review. vols li. and lii. du cange glossarium. (sig. oij, oiij, or pages - ., lig-lim, in vl. iv.) letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _although we have enlarged the present number to pages instead of , and omitted our usual_ "notes on books, &c." _we are compelled to omit as many_ "notes, queries, _and_ replies" _as would occupy at least pages more. under these circumstances we have first to ask the indulgence of our correspondents for such omissions, and secondly, to request them to condense their future communications in to as brief a space as the nature of them will conveniently admit._ notes and queries _may be procured of any bookseller or newsman if previously ordered. gentlemen residing in the country who may find a difficulty in procuring it through any bookseller in the neighbourhood, may be supplied regularly with the_ stamped _edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher_, mr. george bell, . fleet street, _accompanied by a post office order for a quarter ( s. d.); a half year ( s. d.), or one year ( s. d.)._ notes and queries _may also be procured in monthly parts at the end of each month. part i., price s.; part ii., price s, d., have been reprinted, and may now be had, together with part iii., price s., and part iv., price s._ * * * * * nearly ready, vols. vo. life of robert plumer ward, esq., (author of "tremaine.") with selections from his political and literary correspondence, diaries, and unpublished remains. by the hon. edmund phipps. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new work by washington irving. next week will be published, vo. lives of the successors of mahomet. by washington irving. also, lately published by the same author, i. life of mahomet. ii. oliver goldsmith: a biography. iii. history of columbus and his companions. john murray, albermarle street. * * * * * the nibelungenlied translated. the fall of the nibelungers, otherwise the book of kriemhild. an english translation of the nibelungnnot or nibelungenlied; with an introductory preface and notes. by william nansom lettsom, esq. fcp. vo., cloth boards. price s. d. williams and norgate's german catalogues:-- . theological catalogue. . german book circular, no. . new books. . general literature. . cheap second-hand books. (shortly.) williams and norgate, foreign booksellers, . henrietta street, covent garden. * * * * * { } now ready, vo. gothic architecture in france: an enquiry into the chronological succession of the romanesque and pointed styles; with notices of some of the principal buildings; and a general index. by thomas inkersley. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the anglo-saxon, for march. price s. d., or s. post-free, contains:-- england and her colonies: shires and plantations.--sketches of anglo-saxon literature: king alfred's works.--the wandering jew in anglo-saxon times, a tale of the druids.--the musician.--new zealand, canterbury pilgrims, a sonnet, by martin f. tupper.--notes from the cape: natural history.--modern geographical discoveries.--the colonies of the anglo-saxons. australian colonies. london: t. bosworth, . regent street. * * * * * society of arts prize pattern. cups and saucers. coffee cups. breakfast cups and saucers. plates. cake plates. sugar box. bowl. milk jug. egg cups. packed in small hamper, ready for delivery, in buff earthenware, s. the set; in white china, l. s. d. the set. post-office orders from the country will be immediately attended to. joseph cundell, . old bond street. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine and historical review. the numbers of this magazine for february and march have exhibited several alterations in the arrangement and character of its contents. they have been adopted in order to make it, more than ever, a worthy organ and representative of historical and antiquarian literature. these numbers contain, among others, articles by j. payne collier, esq., peter cunningham, esq., john bowyer nichols, esq., john george nichols, esq., charles roach smith, esq., w.j. thoms, esq., j.g. waller, esq., and thomas wright, esq.; articles on the present state of architectural literature, on christian iconography and legendary art, and on the intended exhibition of ancient and mediæval art; letters of dr. johnson and alexander pope, and original log of the battle of trafalgar; reviews of campbell's lives of the judges, hanna's life of dr. chalmers, worsaae*'s primeval antiquities, merimée's pedro the cruel, ticknor's spanish literature, washington irving's mahomet, milman's tasso, craick's romance of the peerage, jones's life of chantrey, boutell's christian monuments (with four plates), &c. &c. with notes of the month, antiquarian researches, and historical chronicle. the obituary includes memoirs of the earl of carnarvon, bishop coleridge, admiral lord colville, admiral sir f. collier, sir charles forbes, bart., sir m.i. brunel, edw. doubleday, esq., denis c. moylan, esq., lieutenant waghorn, john barker, esq., ebenezer elliott, john duncan, lord jeffrey, sir felix booth, mr. serjeant lawes, thomas stapleton, esq., rev. dr. byrth, edward du bois, esq., mrs. bartley, &c. &c. published by j.b. nichols and son, parliament street; and sold by all booksellers. price s. d. preparing for immediate publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * vols. i and ii. vo., price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ longman, brown, green and longmans. * * * * * next week, vol. vo., with etched frontispiece, by wehnert, and eight engravings, price s. sabrinÆ corolla: a volume of classical translations with original compositions contributed by gentlemen educated at shrewsbury school. among the contributors are the head masters of shrewsbury, stamford, repton, uppingham, and birmingham schools; andrew lawson, esq., late m.p.; the rev. r. shilleto, cambridge; the rev. t.s. evans, rugby; j. riddell, esq., fellow of balliol college, oxford; the rev. e.m. cope, h.j. hodgson, esq., h.a.j. munro, esq., w.g. clark, esq., fellows of trinity college, cambridge, and many other distinguished scholars from both universities. the work is edited by three of the principal contributors. folio, price s. the choral responses and litanies of the united church of england and ireland. collected from authentic sources. by the rev. john hebb, a.m., rector of peterstow. the present work contains a full collection of the harmonized compositions of ancient date, including nine sets of pieces and responses, and fifteen litanies, with a few of the more ancient psalm chants. they are given in full score, and in their proper cliffs. in the upper part, however, the treble is substituted for the "cantus" or "medius" cliff: and the whole work is so arranged as to suit the library of the musical student, and to be fit for use in the choir. memoirs of musick. by the hon. roger north, attorney-general to james i. now first printed from the original ms. and edited with copious notes, by edward f. rimbault, ll.d., f.s.a., &c. &c. quarto; with a portrait; handsomely printed in to.; half-bound in morocco, s. this interesting ms., so frequently alluded to by dr. burney in the course of his "history of music," has been kindly placed at the disposal of the council of the musical antiquarian society, by george townshend smith, esq., organist of hereford cathedral. but the council, not feeling authorised to commence a series of literary publications, yet impressed with the value of the work, have suggested its independent publication to their secretary, dr. rimbault, under whose editorial care it accordingly appears. it abounds with interesting musical anecdotes; the greek fables respecting the origin of music; the rise and progress of musical instruments; the early musical drama; the origin of our present fashionable concerts; the first performance of the beggar's opera, &c. a limited number having been printed, few copies remain for sale: unsold copies will shortly be raised in price to l. s. d. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * { } no. iii., for march , of john miller's catalogue of books, old and new, on sale at . chandos street, trafalgar square, to be had gratis, and sent (if required) postage free to any book-buyer. the prices are for ready money only. * * * * * the following books may also be had. a collection of the cartoons of punch: woodcuts from the art union journal, pictorial times, and other illustrated publications; besides several thousand cuttings from newspapers, magazines, and modern periodicals, interspersed with a proportionate large number of wood and steel engravings, portraits, maps, and miscellaneous prints english and foreign, generally mounted on white paper, and prepared for binding by the late editor of the globe newspaper, forming probably from to vols., vo. and to., l. s. the rearrangement and more orderly classification of this mass of cuttings and scraps would afford amusement for a long period of leisure, or relieve the monotony of many winter evenings. asiatic annual register; or, a view of the history of hindustan, and of the politics, commerce, and literature of asia, from the year to the year , in vols. vo. half-bound russia, very neat, l. s. - . bayles' historical and critical dictionary, translated from the french, vols, folio, calf gilt, good library copy, l. s. d. . bell's british theatre, regulated from the prompt books. the single plays forming vols. vo. the best edition, with very choice and brilliant impressions of the plates. a carefully selected copy from the library of f. du roveray, esq., l. s. d. . beloe's (w.) anecdotes of literature and scarce books, vols. vo. half calf, neat, a clean uncut copy of a very interesting book, l. s. - . billing's (robert william) architectural illustrations and account of the temple church. london, to., half bound, neat, illustrated with fine plates, s. d. . boswell's (j.) life of dr. johnson, including his tour to the hebrides, to which are added anecdotes by hawkins, piozzi, murphy, tyres, reynolds, stevens, &c., edited by j.w. croker, vols. fcap. vo. cloth, plates, l. s. . brookes' (ralph, york herald) catalogue of the succession of the kings, princes, dukes, earls, &c. of this realm, since the norman conquest. folio, calf, neat, numerous engravings of arms; a good clean copy. s. d. . brown (tom) the works of, serious and comical, in prose and verse, with his remains, the life and character of mr. brown, by dr. j. drake and a key to the whole, vols, small vo. calf, neat, plates, a good, clean copy. s. d. . brunet, manuel du libraire et de l'amateur des livres. vols. vo., half calf, very neat, s. d. paris, . buchanan's (wm.) historical and genealogical essay upon the family and surname of buchanan, with a brief inquiry into the genealogy and present state of ancient scottish surnames, and more particularly of the highland clans. small to., front., calf, neat, scarce. s. d. glasgow, . buckingham's oriental herald and colonial review, comprising a mass of valuable writings on the colonies and their government. complete in vols. vo. half calf, very neat, l., s. - . buckinghamshire.--bryant's map of the county of buckinghamshire, elegantly coloured and mounted, and enclosed in a to. case; handsomely bound in russia, s. d. . buckland's reliqulÆ diluvianÆ; 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a note states it to be "mary ockley's book." shakespeare album; a series of one hundred and seventy illustrations from the plates to boydell's edition of shakespeare, as published to the edition edited by valpy. fcap. vo., cloth, gilt, s. d.; or elegantly bound in morocco, gilt edges, richly tooled back and sides. s. . but a very small number of copies were printed for sale in this form. taylor (wm., of norwich), memoirs of the life and writings of, containing his correspondence of many years with r. southey, esq. edited by j. w. roberts, esq. thick vols. vo., fine port. s. d. . valuable material in aid of the literary history of the nineteenth century. thierry's (a.) history of the conquest of england by the normans, with its causes from the earliest period, and its consequences to the present time. vols. vo., half calf, very neat. s. d. . walsh (r.) whitelaw, &c., history of the city of dublin, from the earliest accounts to the present time, its annals, antiquities, ecclesiastical history, and charters, with biographical notices of its eminent men. vols. to. half-calf, gilt. map, and numerous fine plates. s. . wellesley (richard, marquis of), memoirs and correspondence of, comprising numerous letters and documents now first published from original mss. by r. r. pearce, esq. vols. vo., half calf, full gilt, new, and neat, fine portrait. s. d. . white's (gilbert) natural history of selborne, with the naturalist's calendar, and notes by capt. brown. mo. very neatly bound, calf, extra marble edges, numerous engravings. s. d. . wilberforce (william), the life and correspondence of, edited and arranged by his sons, the rev. r. t. wilberforce and the rev. sam. wilberforce. vols. crown vo. portraits, &c. half calf, neat, full gilt. l. s. . william iii., letters illustrative of the reign of, from to , addressed to the duke of shrewsbury, by james vernon, esq., secretary of state, now first published from the originals, edited by g.p.r. james, esq. vols. vo. new half calf, full gilt, very handsome copy, fine portrait. s. . * * * * * john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents notes:-- the mosquito country. notes on bacon and jeremy taylor. duke of monmouth's correspondence. poem by parnell, by peter cunningham. early english and early german literature, by s. hickson. folk lore:--charm for the toothache--the evil eye--charms--roasted mouse. the anglo-saxon word "unlæd," by s.w. singer. dr. cosin's mss.--index to baker's mss., by j.e.b. mayor. arabic numerals. roman numerals. error in hallam's history of literature. notes from cunningham's handbook for london. anecdote of charles i. queries:-- the maudelyne grace, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. "esquire" and "gentleman". five queries (lines by suckling, &c.) queries proposed, no. i., by belton corney. minor queries:--elizabeth and isabel--howard earl of surrey--bulls called "william"--bawn--mutual--versicle and response--yeoman--pusan--iklynton collar--lord karinthen--christian captives--ancient churchyard customs--"rotten row" and "stockwell street". replies:-- early statistics. byron's lara. replies to minor queries:--dr. whichcot and lord shaftesbury--black doll--journal of sir w. beeston--shrew--trunk breeches--queen's messengers--dissenting ministers--ballad of the wars in france--monody on death of sir j. moore. iron rails round st. paul's. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * the mosquito country.--origin of the name.--early connection of the mosquito indians with the english. the subject of the mosquito country has lately acquired a general interest. i am anxious to insert the following "notes and queries" in your useful periodical, hoping thus to elicit additional information, or to assist other inquirers. . as to the origin of the name. i believe it to be probably derived from an native name of a tribe of indians in that part of america. the spanish central americans speak of _moscos_. juarros, a spanish central american author, in his _history of guatemala_, names the moscos among other indians inhabiting the north-eastern corner of that tract of country now called _mosquito_: and in the "mosquito correspondence" laid before parliament in , the inhabitants of mosquito are called _moscos_ in the spanish state-papers. how and when would _mosco_ have become _mosquito_? was it a spanish elongation of the name, or an english corruption? in the former case, it would probably have been another name of the people: in the latter, probably a name given to the part of the coast near which the moscos lived. the form _mosquito_, or _moskito_, or _muskito_, (as the word is variously spelt in our old books), is doubtless as old as the earliest english intercourse with the indians of the mosquito coast; and that may be as far back as about : it is certainly as far back as . if the name came from the synonymous insect, would it have been given by the spaniards or the english? _mosquito_ is the spanish diminutive name of a fly: but what we call a mosquito, the spaniards in central america call by another name, _sanchujo_. the spaniards had very little connexion at any time with the mosquito indians; and as mosquitoes are not more abundant on their parts of the coast than on other parts, or in the interior, where the spaniards settled, there would have been no reason for their giving the name on account of insects. nor, indeed, would the english, who went to the coast from jamaica, or other west india islands, where mosquitoes are quite as abundant, have had any such reason either. at bluefields where the writer has resided, which was one of the first places on the mosquito coast frequented by english, and which derives its name from an old english buccaneer, there are no mosquitoes at all. at grey town, at the mouth of the river san juan, there are plenty; but not more than in jamaica, or in the towns of the interior state of nicaragua. however names are not always given so as to be argument-proof. { } how did the word _mosquito_ come into our language? from the spanish, portuguese, or italian? how old is it with us? todd adds the word _muskitto_, or _musquitto_, to johnson's _dictionary_; and gives an example from purchas's _pilgrimage_ ( ), where the word is spelt more like the italian form:--"they paint themselves to keep off the muskitas." there is a passage in southey's _omniana_ (vol. i. p. .) giving an account of a curious custom among the mozcas, a tribe of new granada: his authority is _hist. del nuevo reyno de granada_, l. i. c. . these are some way south of the other moscos, but it is probably the same word. one of the virgin islands in the west indies has the name of mosquito. some "mosquito kays" are laid down on the chart off cape gracias à dios, on the mosquito coast; but these probably would have been named from the mosquito indians of the continent. and these mosquito indians appear to have spread themselves from cape gracias à dios. it is stated, however, in strangeways' _account of the mosquito shore_, (not a work of authority), that these mosquito kays give the name to the country:-- "this country, as is generally supposed, derives its name from a clustre of small islands or banks situated near its coasts, and called the _mosquitos_." i should be glad if these notes and queries would bring assistance to settle the origin of the name of the mosquito country from some of your correspondents who are learned in the history of spanish conquest and english enterprise in that part of america, or who may have attended to the languages of the american indians. . i propose to jot down a few notes as to the early connexion between the english and the mosquito indians, and shall be thankful for references to additional sources of information. i have read somewhere, that a mosquito king, or prince, was brought to england in charles i.'s reign by richard earl of warwick, who had commanded a ship in the west indies; but i forget where i read it. i remember, however, that no authority was given for the statement. can any of your readers give me information about this? dampier mentions a party of english who, about the year , ascended the cape river (the mouth of which is at cape gracias à dios) to segovia, a spanish town in the interior; and another party of english and french who, after the year , when he was in these parts, crossed from the pacific to the atlantic, descending the cape river. (harris's _collection of voyages_, vol. i. p. .) are there any accounts of these expeditions? dampier also speaks of a confederacy having been formed between a party of english under a captain wright and the san blas indians of darien, which was brought about by captain wright's taking two san blas boys to be educated "in the country of the moskitoes," and afterwards faithfully restoring them, and which opened to the english the way by land to the pacific sea. (harris, vol. i. p. .) are there any accounts of english travellers by this way, which would be in the very part of the isthmus of which humboldt has lately recommended a careful survey? (see _aspects of nature_, sabine's translation.) esquemeling, in his _history of the buccaneers_, of whom he was one, says that in many of the indians at cape gracias spoke english and french from their intercourse with the pirates. he gives a curious and not very intelligible account of cape gracias, as an island of about thirty leagues round (formed, i suppose, by rivers and the sea), containing about or persons, who have no king; (this is quite at variance with all other accounts of the mosquito indians of cape gracias); and having, he proceeds to say, no correspondence with the neighbouring islands. (i cannot explain this; there is certainly no island ninety miles in circumference at sea near cape gracias.) a quarto volume published by cadell in , entitled _the case of his majesty's subjects having property in and lately established upon the mosquito shore_, gives the fullest account of the early connexion between the mosquito indians and the english. the writer says that jeremy, king of the mosquitos, in charles ii.'s reign, after formally ceding his country to officers sent to him by the governor of jamaica to receive the cession, went to jamaica, and thence to england, where he was generously received by charles ii., "who had him often with him in his private parties of pleasure, admired his activity, strength, and manly accomplishments; and not only defrayed every expense, but loaded him with presents." is there any notice of this visit in any of our numerous memoirs and diaries of charles ii.'s reign? a curious tract, printed in the sixth volume of churchill's _voyages_, "the mosquito indian and his golden river, being a familiar description of the mosquito kingdom, &c., written in or about the year by m.w.," from which southey drew some touches of indian manners for his "madoc," speaks of another king jeremy, son of the previous one; who, it is said, esteemed himself a subject of the king of england, and had visited the duke of albemarle in jamaica. his father had been carried to england, and received from the king of england a crown and commission. the writer of this account says that the mosquito indians generally esteem themselves english:-- "and, indeed, they are extremely courteous to all englishmen, esteeming themselves to be such, although some jamaica men have very much abused them." i will conclude this communication, whose length will i hope be excused for the newness of the subject, { } by an amusing passage of a speech of governor johnstone in a debate in the house of commons on the mosquito country in :-- "i see the noble lord [lord north] now collects his knowledge by piecemeal from those about him. while my hon. friend [some one was whispering lord north] now whispers the noble lord, will he also tell him, and the more aged gentlemen of the house, before we yield up our right to the mosquito shore, that it is from thence we receive the greatest part of our delicious turtle? may i tell the younger part, before they give their consent, that it is from thence comes the sarsaparilla to purify our blood?"--_parl. hist._ vol. xix. p. . c. * * * * * notes on bacon and jeremy taylor. in his essay "on delays," bacon quotes a "common verse" to this effect:--"occasion turneth a bald noddle after she hath presented her locks in front, and no hold taken." as no reference is given, some readers may be glad to see the original, which occurs in an epigram on [greek: kairos] (brunck's _analecta_, ii. .; posidippi epigr. . in jacob's _anthol._ ii. .). [greek: hae de komae, ti kat' opsin; hupantiasanti labesthai, nae dia. taxopithen d' eis ti phalakra pelei; ton gar apax ptaenoisi parathrexanta me possin outis eth' himeiron draxetai exopithen.] in jermey taylor's _life of christ_ (pref. § . p. . eden's edition), it is said that mela and solinus report of the thracians that they believed in the resurrection of the dead. that passage of mela referred to is, l. ii. c. ii. § ., where see tzschucke. in the same work (pref. § . p. .), "Ælian tells us of a nation who had a law binding them to beat their parents to death with clubs when they lived to a decrepit age." see Ælian, _var. hist._ iv. . p. . gronov., who, however, says nothing of clubs. in the next sentence, the statement, "the persian _magi_ mingled with their mothers and all their nearest relatives," is from xanthus (fragm. ., didot), apud clem. alexandr. (strom. iii. p. a.). see jacob's _lect. stob._ p. .; bahr, _on herodotus_, iii. . in the same work (part i. sect. viii. § . note _n_, p. .) is a quotation from seneca, "o quam contempta res est homo, nisi super humana se erexerit!" which is plainly the original of the lines of daniel, so often quoted by coleridge ("epistle to the countess of cumberland"):-- "unless above himself he can erect himself, now mean a thing is man!" perhaps some of your readers can supply the reference to the passage in seneca; which is wanting in mr. eden's edition. in part iii. sect. xv. § . p. . note _a_, of the _life of christ_, is a quotation from strabo, lib. xv. _add._ p. ., casaub. as the two great writers on whom i have made these notes are now in course of publication, any notes which your correspondents can furnish upon them cannot fail to be welcome. milton also, and pope, are in the hands of competent editors, who, doubtless, would be glad to have their work rendered more complete through the medium of "notes and queries." j.e.b. mayor marlborough coll., april . * * * * * duke of monmouth's correspondence. thomas vernon, author of _vernon's reports_, was in early life private secretary to the duke of monouth, and is supposed to have had a pretty large collection of monmouth's correspondence. vernon settled himself at hanbury hall, in worcestershire, where he built a fine house, and left a large estate. in course of time this passed to an heiress, who married mr. cecil (the earl of exeter of alfred tennyson), and was divorced from him. lord exeter sold or carried away the fine library, family plate, and nearly everything curious or valuable that was not an heirloom in the vernon family. he laid waste the extensive gardens, and sold the elaborate iron gates, which now adorn the avenue to mere hall in the immediate neighbourhood. the divorcée married a mr. phillips, and dying without surviving issue, the estates passed to a distant branch of her family. about ten years ago i made a careful search (by permission) at hanbury hall for the supposed monmouth mss., but found none; and i ascertained by inquiry that there were none at enstone hall, the seat of mr. phillips's second wife and widow. the mss. might have been carried to burleigh, and a friend obtained for me a promise from the marquis of exeter that search should be made for them there, but i have reason to believe that the matter was forgotten. perhaps some of your correspondents may have the means of ascertaining whether there are such mss. in lord exeter's library. i confess my doubt whether so cautious a man as thomas vernon would have retained in his possession a mass of correspondence that might have been fraught with danger to himself personally; and, had it been in the burleigh library, whether it could have escaped notice. this, however, is to be noted. after vernon's death there was a dispute whether his mss. were to pass to his heir-at-law or to his personal representatives, and the court ordered the mss. (reports) to be printed. this was done very incorrectly, and lord kenyon seems to have hinted that private reasons have been assigned for that, but these could hardly have related to the monmouth mss. scotus. * * * * * parnell. the following verses by parnell are not included in any edition of his poems that i have seen. { } they are printed in steele's _miscellany_ ( mo. ), p. ., and in the second edition of the same _miscellany_ ( mo. ), p. ., with parnell's name, and, what is more, on both occasions among other poems by the same author. to a young lady _on her translation of the story of phoebus and daphne, from ovid._ in phoebus, wit (as ovid said) enchanting beauty woo'd; in daphne beauty coily fled, while vainly wit pursu'd. but when you trace what ovid writ, a diff'rent turn we view; beauty no longer flies from wit, since both are join'd in you. your lines the wond'rous change impart, from whence our laurels spring; in numbers fram'd to please the heart, and merit what they sing. methinks thy poet's gentle shade its wreath presents to thee; what daphne owes you as a maid, she pays you as a tree. the charming poem by the same author, beginning-- "my days have been so wond'rous free," has the additional fourth stanza,-- "an eager hope within my breast, does ev'ry doubt controul, and charming nancy stands confest the fav'rite of my soul." can any of your readers supply the name of the "young lady" who translated the story of phoebus and daphne? c.p. * * * * * early english and early german literature.--"news" and "noise." i am anxious to put a question as to the communication that may have taken place between the english and german tongues previous to the sixteenth century. possibly the materials for answering it may not exist; but it appears to me that it is of great importance, in an etymological point of view, that the extent of such communication, and the influence it has had upon our language, should be ascertained. in turning over the leaves of the _shakspeare society's papers_, vol. i., some time ago, my attention was attracted by a "song in praise of his mistress," by john heywood, the dramatist. i was immediately struck by the great resemblance it presented to another poem on the same subject by a german writer, whose real or assumed name, i do not know which, was "muscanblüt," and which poem is to be found in _der clara hätzlerin liederbuch_, a collection made by a nun of augsburg in . the following are passages for comparison:-- "fyrst was her skyn, whith, smoth, and thyn, and every vayne so blewe sene playne; her golden heare to see her weare, her werying gere, alas! i fere to tell all to you i shall undo you. "her eye so rollyng, ech harte conterollyng; her nose not long, nor stode not wrong; her finger typs so clene she clyps; her rosy lyps, her chekes gossyps," &c. &c. _s.s. papers_, vol. i. p. "ir mündlin rott uss senender nott mir helffen kan, das mir kain man mit nichten kan püssen. o liechte kel, wie vein, wie gel ist dir dein har, dein äuglin clar, zartt fraw, lass mich an sehen. und tu mir kund uss rottem mund, &c. dein ärmlin weisz mit gantzem fleisz geschnitzet sein, die hennde dein gar hofelich gezieret, dem leib ist ran, gar wolgetan sind dir dein prust," &c. &c. _clara hätzlerin liederbuch_, p. . in all this there is certainly nothing to warrant the conclusion that the german poem was the original of heywood's song; but, considering that the latter was produced so near to the same age as the former, that is, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and considering that the older german poetical literature had already passed its culminating point, while ours was upon the ascending scale, there is likeness enough, both in manner and measure, to excite the suspicion of direct or indirect communication. the etymology of the word "news," on which you have recently had some notes, is a case in illustration of the importance of this point. i have never had the least doubt that this word is derived immediately from the german. it is, in fact, "das neue" in the genitive case; the german phrase "was giebt's neues?" giving the exact sense of our "what is the news?" this will appear { } even stronger if we go back to the date of the first use of the word in england. possibly about the same time, or not much earlier, we find in his same collection of clara hätzlerin, the word spelt "new" and rhyming to "triu." "empfach mich uff das new in deines hertzen triu." the genitive of this would be "newes," thus spelt and probably pronounced the same as in england. that the word is not derived from the english adjective "new"--that it is not of english manufacture at all--i feel well assured: in that case the "_s_" would be the sign of the plural: and we should have, as the germans have, either extant or obsolete, also "the new." the english language, however, has never dealt in these abstractions, except in its higher poetry; though some recent translators from the german have disregarded the difference in this respect between the powers of the two languages. "news" is a noun singular, and as such must have been adopted bodily into the language; the form of the genitive case, commonly used in conversation, not being understood, but being taken for an integral part of the word, as formerly the koran was called "_the alcoran_." "noise," again, is evidently of the same derivation, though from a dialect from which the modern german pronunciation of the diphthong is derived. richardson, in his _english dictionary_, assumes it to be of the same derivation as "noxious" and "noisome;" but there is no process known to the english language by which it could be manufactured without making a plural noun of it. in short, the two words are identical; "news" retaining its primitive, and "noise" adopting a consequential meaning. samuel hickson. * * * * * folk lore. _charm for the toothache._--a reverend friend, very conversant in the popular customs and superstitions of ireland, and who has seen the charm mentioned in pp. , , and , given by a roman catholic priest in the north-west of ireland, has kindly furnished me with the genuine version, and the form in which it was written, which are as follows:-- "as peter sat on a marble stone, the lord came to him all alone; 'peter, what makes thee sit there?' 'my lord, i am troubled with the toothache.' 'peter arise, and go home; and you, and whosoever for my sake shall keep these words in memory, shall never be troubled with the toothache.'" t.j. _charms._--_the evil eye._--going one day into a cottage in the village of catterick, in yorkshire, i observed hung up behind the door a ponderous necklace of "lucky stones," i.e. stones with a hole through them. on hinting an inquiry as to their use, i found the good lady of the house disposed to shuffle off any explanation; but by a little importunity i discovered that they had the credit of being able to preserve the house and its inhabitants from the baneful influence of the "evil eye." "why, nanny," said i, "you surely don't believe in witches now-a-days?" "no! i don't say 'at i do; but certainly i' former times there _was_ wizzards an' buzzards, and them sort o' things." "well," said i, laughing, "but you surely don't think there are any now?" "no! i don't say at ther' are; but i _do_ believe in a _yevil_ eye." after a little time i extracted from poor nanny more particulars on the subject, as viz.:--how that there was a woman in the village whom she strongly suspected of being able to look with an evil eye; how, further, a neighbour's daughter, against whom the old lady in question had a grudge owing to some love affair, had suddenly fallen into a sort of pining sickness, of which the doctors could make nothing at all; and how the poor thing fell away without any accountable cause, and finally died, nobody knew why; but how it was her (nanny's) strong belief that she had pined away in consequence of a glance from the evil eye. finally, i got from her an account of how any one who chose could themselves obtain the power of the evil eye, and the receipt was, as nearly as i can recollect, as follows:-- "ye gang out ov' a night--ivery night, while ye find nine toads--an' when ye've gitten t' nine toads, ye hang 'em up ov' a string, an' ye make a hole and buries t' toads i't hole--and as 't toads pines away, so 't person pines away 'at you've looked upon wiv a yevil eye, an' they pine and pine away while they die, without ony disease at all!" i do not know if this is the orthodox creed respecting the mode of gaining the power of the evil eye, but it is at all events a genuine piece of folk lore. the above will corroborate an old story rife in yorkshire, of an ignorant person, who, being asked if he ever said his prayers, repeated as follows:-- "from witches and wizards and long-tail'd buzzards, and creeping things that run in hedge-bottoms, good lord, deliver us." margaret gatty. ecclesfield, april . . _charms._--i beg to represent to the correspondents of the "notes and queries," especially to the clergy and medical men resident in the country, that notices of the superstitious practices still prevalent, or recently prevalent, in different parts of the kingdom, for the cure of diseases, are highly instructive and even valuable, on many accounts. independently of their archæological { } interest as illustrations of the mode of thinking and acting of past times, they become really valuable to the philosophical physician, as throwing light on the natural history of diseases. the prescribers and practisers of such "charms," as well as the lookers-on, have all unquestionable evidence of the _efficacy_ of the prescriptions, in a great many cases: that is to say, the diseases for which the charms are prescribed _are cured_; and, according to the mode of reasoning prevalent with prescribers, orthodox and heterodox, they must be cured by them,--_post hoc ergo propter hoc_. unhappily for the scientific study of diseases, the universal interference of art _in an active form_ renders it difficult to meet with _pure specimens_ of corporeal maladies; and, consequently, it is often difficult to say whether it is nature or art that must be credited for the event. this is a positive misfortune, in a scientific point of view. now, as there can be no question as to the non-efficiency of _charms_ in a material or physical point of view (their action through the imagination is a distinct and important subject of inquiry), it follows that every disease getting well in the practice of the charmer, is curable and cured by nature. a faithful list of such cases could not fail to be most useful to the scientific inquirer, and to the progress of truth; and it is therefore that i am desirous of calling the attention of your correspondents to the subject. as a general rule, it will be found that the diseases in which charms have obtained most fame as curative are those of long duration, not dangerous, yet not at all, or very slightly, benefited by ordinary medicines. in such cases, of course, there is not room for the display of an imaginary agency:--"for," as crabbe says,--and i hope your medical readers will pardon the irreverence-- "for nature then has time to work _her_ way; and doing nothing often has prevailed, when ten physicians have prescribed, and failed." the notice in your last number respecting the cure of hooping-cough, is a capital example of what has just been stated; and i doubt not but many of your correspondents could supply numerous prescriptions equally scientific and equally effective. on a future occasion, i will myself furnish you with some; but as i have already trespassed so far on your space, i will conclude by naming a few diseases in which the charmers may be expected to charm most wisely and well. they will all be found to come within the category of the diseases characterised above:--epilepsy, st. vitus's dance (_chorea_), hysteria, toothache, warts, ague, mild skin-diseases, tic douloureux, jaundice, asthma, bleeding from the nose, st. anthony's fire or the rose (_erysipelas_), king's evil (_scrofula_), mumps, rheutmatic pains, &c., &c. emdee. april . . _roasted mouse._--i have often heard my father say, that when he had the measles, his nurse gave him a roasted mouse to cure him. scotus. * * * * * the anglo-saxon word "unlaed." a long etymological disquisition may seem a trifling matter; but what a clear insight into historic truth, into the manners, the customs, and the possessions of people of former ages, is sometimes obtained by the accurate definition of even a single word. a pertinent instance will be found in the true etymon of _brytenwealda_, given by mr. kemble in his chapter "on the growth of the kingly power." (_saxons in engl._ b. ii. c. .) upon this consideration i must rest for this somewhat lengthy investigation. the word unlaed, as far as we at present know, occurs only five times in anglo-saxon; three of which are in the legend of andreas in the vercelli ms., which legend was first printed, under the auspices of the record commission, by mr. thorpe; but the report to which the poetry of the vercelli ms. was attached has, for reasons with which i am unacquainted, never been made public. in , james grimm, "feeling (as mr. kemble says) that this was a wrong done to the world of letters at large," published it at cassell, together with the legend of elene, or the finding of the cross, with an introduction and very copious notes. in , it was printed for the aelfric society by mr. kemble, accompanied by a translation, in which the passages are thus given.-- "such was the people's peaceless token, the suffering of the _wretched_." l. - . "when they of _savage spirits_ believed in the might," l. - . "ye are _rude_, of poor thoughts." the fifth instance of the occurrence of the word is in a passage cited by wanley, catal. p. ., { } from a homily occurring in a ms. in corpus christi college, s. .:-- "men ða leoçes can hep re þ se hal a se[~s] io[~hs] þaep re hael. eode ofen þone bupnan the ledpoc hatte, on in[=e]n aenne p[.y]ptun. tha piste se unlaesde iudas se þe hune to deaþe beleaped haefde." in grimm's _elucidations to andreas_ he thus notices it:-- "unlaed, miser, improbus, infelix. (a. . . _judith_, , .). a rare adjective never occurring in beowulf, coedmon, or the cod. exon., and belonging to those which only appear in conjunction with _un_. thus, also, the goth. unleds, pauper, miser; and the o.h.g. unlât (graff, . .); we nowhere find a lêds, laed, lât, as an antithesis. it must have signified _dives, felix_; and its root is wholly obscure." in all the anglo-saxon examples of unlaed, the sense appears to be _wretched_, _miserable_; in the gothic it is uniformly _poor_[ ]: but _poverty_ and _wretchedness_ are nearly allied. lêd, or laed, would evidently therefore signify _rich_, and by inference _happy_. now we have abundant examples of the use of the word ledes in old english; not only for _people_, but for _riches_, _goods_, _movable property_. lond and lede, or ledes, or lith, frequently occur unequivocally in this latter sense, thus:-- "he was the first of inglond that gaf god his tithe of isshue of bestes, of londes, or of _lithe_." _p. plouhm_. "i bed hem bothe lond and _lede_, to have his douhter in worthlie wede, and spouse here with my ring." _k. of tars_, . "for to have lond or _lede_, or _other riches_, so god me spede! yt ys to muche for me." _sir cleges_, . "who schall us now geve londes or _lythe_, hawkys, or houndes, or stedys stithe, as he was wont to do." _le b. florence of rome_, . "no asked he lond or _lithe_, bot that maiden bright." _sir tristrem_, xlviii. in "william and the werwolf" the cowherd and his wife resolve to leave william "al here godis londes and _ludes_ as ether after her lif dawes." p. in this poem, _ludes_ and _ledes_ are used indiscriminately, but most frequently in the sense of men, people. sir frederick madden has shown, from the equivalent words in the french original of robert of brunne, "that he always uses the word in the meaning of _possessions_, whether consisting of tenements, rents, fees, &c.;" in short, _wealth_. if, therefore, the word has this sense in old english, we might expect to find it in anglo-saxon, and i think it is quite clear that we have it at least in one instance. in the _ancient laws and institutes of england_, vol. i. p. ., an oath is given, in which the following passage occurs: "do spa to lane beo þé he þinum i leat me be minum ne ypne le þines ne laedes ne landes ne sac ne socne ne þu mines ne þeapst ne mint ic þe nan þio ." mr. thorpe has not translated the word, nor is it noticed in his glossary; but i think there can be no doubt that it should be rendered by _goods_, _chattels_, or _wealth_, i.e., movable property. this will be even more obvious from an extract given by bishop nicholson, in the preface to wilkin's _leges saxonicæ_ p. vii. it is part of the oath of a scotish baron of much later date, and the sense here is unequivocal:-- "i becom zour man my liege king in land, _lith_[ ], life and lim, warldly honour, homage, fealty, and leawty, against all that live and die." numerous examples are to be found in the m.h. german, of which i will cite a few: "ir habt doch zu iuwere hant beidin _liute_ unde lant." _tristr._ . "und bevelhet ir _liute_ unde lant." _iwein._ . { } "ich teile ir _liute_ unde lant." _id._ . and in the old translation of the _liber dialogorum_ of st. gregory, printed in the cloister of s. ulrich at augspurg in :-- "in der statt waren hoch türen und schöne heüser von silber und gold, und aller hand _leüt_, und die frawen und man naÿgten im alle." lastly, jo. morsheim in his _untreuer frawen_:-- "das was mein herr gar gerne hört, und ob es _leut_ und land bethort." now, when we recollect the state of the people in those times, the serf-like vassalage, the _hörigkeit_ or _leibeigenthum_, which prevailed, we cannot be surprised that a word which signified _possessions_ should designate also the _people_. it must still, however, be quite uncertain which is the secondary sense. the root of the word, as grimm justly remarks, is very obscure; and yet it seems to me that he himself has indirectly pointed it out:-- "goth. liudan[ ] (crescere); o.h.g. liotan (sometimes unorganic, hliotan); o.h.g. liut (populus); a.-s. lëóð; o.n. lióð: goth. lauths -is (homo), ju alauths -dis (adolescens); o.h.g. sumar -lota (virgulta palmitis, i.e. qui una æstate creverunt, _gl. rhb._ 'b, jun. .); m.h.g. corrupted into sumer -late (m.s. i. 'b. . 'a. virga herba). it is doubtful whether ludja (facies), o.h.g. andlutti, is to be reckoned among them."--_deutsche gram._ ii. . for this last see diefenbach, _vergl. gram. der goth. spr._ i. . in his _erlauterungen zu elene_, p. ., grimm further remarks:-- "the verb is leoðan, leað, luðon (crescere), o.s. lioðan, lôð, luðun. leluðon (_cædm._ . .) is creverunt, pullulant; and eloðen (ap. hickes, p. . note) onustus, but rather cretus. elene, . eloðen unðep leápum (cretus sub foliis)." it has been surmised that lede was connected with the o.n. hlÿt[ ]--which not only signified _sors, portio_, but _res consistentia_--and the a.-s. hlet, hlyt, lot, portion, inheritance: thus, in the a.-s. psal. xxx. ., on hanðum ðinum hlÿt mín, _my heritage is in thy hands_. notker's version is: mín lôz ist in dínen handen. i have since found that kindlinger (_geschichte der deutchen hörigkeit_) has made an attempt to derive it from _lied, lit_, which in dutch, flemish, and low german, still signify a _limb_; i think, unsuccessfully. ray, in his _gloss. northanymbr._, has "unlead, nomen opprobrii;" but he gives a false derivation: grose, in his _provincial glossary_, "unleed or unlead, a general name for any crawling venomous creature, as a toad, &c. it is sometimes ascribed to a man, and then it denotes a sly wicked fellow, that in a manner creeps to do mischief. see mr. nicholson's catalogue." in the d edition of mr. brockett's _glossary_, we have: "unletes, displacers or destroyers of the farmer's produce." this provincial preservation of a word of such rare occurrence in anglo-saxon, and of which no example has yet been found in old english, is a remarkable circumstance. the word has evidently signified, like the gothic, in the first place _poor_; then _wretched_, _miserable_; and hence, perhaps, its opprobrious sense of _mischievous_ or _wicked_. "in those rude times when wealth or movable property consisted almost entirely of living money, in which debts were contracted and paid, and for which land was given in mortgage or sold; it is quite certain that the serfs were transferred with the land, the lord considering them as so much live-stock, or part of his _chattels_." a vestige of this feeling with regard to dependants remains in the use of the word _man_ (which formerly had the same sense as _lede_). we still speak of "a general and his men," and use the expression "our men." but, happily for the masses of mankind, few vestiges of serfdom and slavery, and those in a mitigated form, now virtually exist. s.w. singer. april . . [footnote : it occurs many times in the moeso-gothic version of the gospels for [greek: ptochos]. from the glossaries, it appears that iungalauths is used three times for [greek: neaniskos], a young man; therefore lauths or lauds would signify simply _man_; and the plural, laudeis, would be _people_. see this established by the analogy of vairths, or o.h.g. virahi, also signifying people. grimm's _deutsche gram._ iii. ., note. "es konnte zwar _unlêds_ (pauper) aber auch _unlêths_ heissen."--_d. gr._ .] [footnote : sir f. palgrave has given this extract in the appendix to his _rise and progress of the english commonwealth_, p. ccccvii., where, by an error of the press, or of transcription, the word stands _lich_. it may be as well to remark, that the corresponding word in latin formulas of the same kind is "catallis," _i.e. chattels_. a passage in havelok, v. ., will clearly demonstrate that _lith_ was at least one kind of _chattel_, and equivalent to _fe_ (fee). "thanne he was ded that sathanas sket was seysed al that his was, in the king's hand il del, _lond_ and _lith_, and other _catel_, and the king ful sone it yaf ubbe in the hond with a fayr staf, and seyde, 'her ich sayse the in al the _lond_ in al the _fe_.'"] [footnote : the author of _tripartita seu de analogia linguacum_, under the words "leute" and "barn," says:--"respice ebr. id. ebr. ledah, partus, proles est. ebr. lad, led, gigno." a remarkable coincidence at least with grimm's derivation of léôd from the goth. liudan, crescere.] [footnote : thus, anthon, _teutschen landwirthschaft_, th. i. p. .:--"das land eines jeden dorfes, einer jeden germarkung war wirklich getheilt und, wie es sehr wahrscheinlich, alsdan verlost worden. daher nannte man dasjenige, was zu einem grunstüke an Äkern, wiesen gehörte, ein _los_ (sors). das burgundische gesetz redet ausfdrücklich vom lande das man in _lose_ erhalten hat (terra _sortis_ titulo acquisita, tit. i. § .)" schmeller, in his _bayrishces wort. b._ v. _lud-aigen_, also points to the connection of _lud_ with hluz-hlut, sors, portio; but he rather inclines to derive it from the low-latin, allodium. it appears to me that the converse of this is most likely to have been the case, and that this very word leds or lÆds is likely to furnish a more satisfactory etymology of allodium than has hitherto been offered.] * * * * * { } bp. cosin's mss.--index to baker's mss. your correspondent "j. sansom" (no. . p. .) may perhaps find some unpublished remains of bp. cosin in baker's mss.; from the excellent index to which (cambridge, , p. .) i transcribe the following notices, premising that of the volumes of the mss. the first twenty-three are in the british museum, and the remainder in the university library, (not, as mr. carlyle says in a note in, i think, the d vol. of his _letters. &c. of cromwell_ in the library of trin. coll.). "cosin, bp.-- notes of, in his common prayer, edit. , xx. . benefactions to see of durham, xxx. - . conference with abp. of trebisond, xx. . diary in paris, , xxxvi. . intended donation for a senate-house, xxx. . letters to peter gunning, principally concerning the authority of the apocrypha, vi. - . - . manual of devotion, xxxvi. ." as the editors of the index to baker's mss. invite corrections from those who use the mss., you will perhaps be willing to print the following additions and corrections, which may be of use in case a new edition of the index should be required:-- preface, p. vii. _add_, in _thoresby correspondence_, one or two of baker's _letters_ have been printed, others have appeared in nichols's _literary anecdotes_. index, p. . altars, suppression of, in ely diocese, , xxx. . printed in the _british magazine_, oct. , p. . p. . babraham, hullier, vicar of, burnt for heresy. _brit. mag._ nov. , p. . p. . bucer incepts as dr. of divinty, , xxiv. . see dr. lamb's _documents from mss. c.c.c.c._ p. . appointed to lecture by edw. vi., , xxx. . see dr. lamb, p. . letter of university to edw., recommending his family to care, x. . dr. lamb, p. . p. . buckingham, dr. eglisham's account of his poisoning james i., xxxii. - . see _hurl. misc._ buckmaster's letter concerning the king's divorce, x. . this is printed in _burnet_, vol. iii. lib. . collect. no. ., from a copy sent by baker, but more fully in dr. lamb, p. ., and in cooper's _annals_. p. . renunciation of the pope, . see ant. harmer, _specimen_, p. . p. . cowel, dr., charge against, and defence of his antisanderus. _brit. mag._ aug. , p. . cranmer, extract from c.c.c. ms. concerning. _brit. mag._ aug. , p. , _seq_. cranmer, life of, xxxi. - . _brit. mag._ aug. , p. . p. . convocation, subscribers to the judgment of, xxxi. . _british magazine_, sept. , p. . p. . ely, altars, suppression of, , xxx. . _brit. mag._ oct. , p. . p. . several of the papers relating to bishop fisher will be found in dr. hymers' edition of _the funeral sermon on lady margaret_. p. . gloucester, abbey of, &c., a poem by malvern, v. - . _brit. mag._ xxi. .; caius coll. mss. no. . art . goodman, declaration concerning the articles in his book. strype's _annals_, i. i. . p. . henry vii., letter to lady margaret, xix. . see dr. hymers, as above, p. . p. . henry viii., letter to, giving an account of the death of wyngfield, &c. see sir h. ellis, _ser. iii._ no. . p. . humphrey, bishop, account, &c., xxxv. - . rend xxvi. - . humphrey, bishop, images and relics, &c., xxx. - . _brit. mag._ sept. , p. . p. - . lady margaret. several of the articles relating to lady margaret have been printed by dr. hymers (_ut sup_.). p. . pole card. oratio johannis stoyks, &c., v. - . dr. lamb, p. . p. . redman, dr., particulars of, xxxii. .--_brit. mag._ oct. , p. . p. . spelman's proposition concerning the saxon lecture, &c. sir h. ellis _letters of eminent literary men_, camd. soc. no. . p. . noy's will, xxxvi. ., read . many of the articles relating to cambridge in the mss. have been printed by mr. cooper in his _annals of cambridge_: some relating to cromwell are to be found in mr. carlyle's work; and several, besides those which i have named, are contained in dr. lamb's _documents_. j.e.b. mayor. marlborough coll., march . * * * * * arabic numerals and cipher. will you suffer me to add some further remarks on the subject of the arabic numerals and cipher; as neither the querists nor respondents seem to have duly appreciated the immense importance of the step taken by introducing the use of a cipher. i would commence with observing, that we know of no people tolerably advanced in civilisation, whose system of notation had made such little progress, beyond that of the mere savage, as the romans. the rudest savages could make upright scratches on the face of a rock, and set them in a row, to signify units; and as the circumstance of having ten fingers has led the people of every nation to give a distinct name to the number ten and its multiples, the savage would have taken but a little step when he invented such a mode of expressing tens as crossing his scratches, thus x. his ideas, however, enlarge, and he makes three scratches, thus [c with square sides], to express . generations of such vagabonds as founded rome pass away, and at length some one discovers that, by using but half the figure for x, the number may be conjectured to be meant. another calculator follows { } up this discovery, and by employing [c with square sides], half the figure used for , he expresses . at length the rude man procured a better knife, with which he was enabled to give a more graceful form to his [c with square sides], by rounding it into c; then two such, turned different ways, with a distinguishing cut between them, made cd, to express a thousand; and as, by that time, the alphabet was introduced, they recognised the similarity of the form at which they had thus arrived to the first letter of _mille_, and called it m, or . the half of this dc was adopted by a ready analogy for . with that discovery the invention of the romans stopped, though they had recourse to various awkward expedients for making these forms express somewhat higher numbers. on the other hand, the hebrews seem to have been provided with an alphabet as soon as they were to constitute a nation; and they were taught to use the successive letters of that alphabet to express the first ten numerals. in this way b and c might denote and just as well as those figures; and numbers might thus be expressed by single letters to the end of the alphabet, but no further. they were taught, however, and the greeks learnt from them, to use the letters which follow the ninth as indications of so many tens; and those which follow the eighteenth as indicative of hundreds. this process was exceedingly superior to the roman; but at the end of the alphabet it required supplementary signs. in this way bdecba might have expressed as concisely as our figures; but if were to be taken from this sum, the removal of the equivalent letters cb would leave bdea, or apparently no more than . the invention of a cipher at once beautifully simplified the notation, and facilitated its indefinite extension. it was then no longer necessary to have one character for units and another for as many tens. the substitution of for cb, so as to write bdeooa, kept the d in its place, and therefore still indicating , . it was thus that , , and were made distinguishable at once, without needing separate letters for tens and hundreds; and new signs to express millions and their multiples became unnecessary. i have been induced to trespass on your columns with this extended notice of the difficulty which was never solved by either the hebrews or greeks, from understanding your correspondent "t.s.d." p. , to say that "the mode of obviating it would suggest itself at once." as to the original query,--whence came the invention of the cipher, which was felt to be so valuable as to be entitled to give its name to all the process of arithmetic?--"t.s.d." has given the querist his best clue in sending him to mr. strachey's bija ganita, and to sir e. colebrooke's algebra of the hindus, from the sanscrit of brahmegupta. perhaps a few sentences may sufficiently point out where the difficulty lies. in the beginning of the sixth century, the celebrated boethius described the present system as an invention of the pythagoreans, meaning, probably, to express some indistinct notion of its coming from the east. the figures in ms. copies of boethius are the same as our own for , , and ; the same, but inverted, for and ; and are not without vestiges of resemblance in the remaining figures. in the ninth century we come to the arabian al sephadi, and derive some information from him; but his figures have attracted most notice, because though nearly all of them are different from those found in boethius, they are the same as occur in planudes, a greek monk of the fourteenth century, who says of his own units, "these nine characters are indian," and adds, "they have a tenth character called [greek: tziphra], which they express by an , and which denotes the absence of any number." the date of boethius is obviously too early for the supposition of an arabic origin; but it is doubted whether the figures are of his time, as the copyists of a work in ms. were wont to use the characters of their own age in letters, and might do so in the case of figures also. h.w. * * * * * roman numerals. there are several points connected with the subject of numerals that are important in the history of practical arithmetic, to which neither scientific men nor antiquaries have paid much attention. yet if the principal questions were brought in a definite form before the contributors to the "notes and queries," i feel quite sure that a not inconsiderable number of them will be able to contribute each his portion to the solution of what may till now be considered as almost a mystery. with your permission, i will propose a few queries relating to the subject, . when did the abacus, or the "tabel" referred to in my former letters, cease to be used as calculating instruments? the last printed work in which the _abacal_ practice was given for the purposes of tuition that i have been able to discover, is a mo. edition, by andrew mellis, of dee's _robert recorde_, . . when did the method of _recording results_ in roman numerals cease to be used in mercantile account-books? do any ledgers or other account-books, of ancient dates, exist in the archives of the city companies, or in the office of the city chamberlain? if there do, these would go far towards settling the question. . when in the public offices of the government? it is probable that criteria will be found in many of them, which are inaccessible to the public generally. . when in the household-books of royalty and nobility? this is a class of mss. to which i have paid next to no attention; and, possibly, had the query been in my mind through life, many fragments { } tending towards the solution that have passed me unnoticed would have saved me from the necessity of troubling your correspondents. the latest that i remember to have particularly noticed is that of charles i. in the fitzwilliam museum at cambridge; but i shall not be surprised to find that the system was continued down to george i., or later still. conservatism is displayed in its perfection in the tenacious adherence of official underlings to established forms and venerable routine. t.s.d. shooter's hill, april . [our correspondent will find some curious notices of early dates of arabic numerals, from the rev. edmund venables, rev. w. gunner, and mr. ouvry, in the march number of the _archæological journal_, p. - .; and the same number also contains, at p. ., some very interesting remarks by the rev. joseph hunter, illustrative of the subject, and instancing a warrant from hugh le despenseer to bonefez de peruche and his partners, merchants of a company, to pay forty pounds, dated feb. , edward ii., i.e. , in which the date of the year is expressed in roman numerals; and on the dorso, written by one of the italian merchants to whom the warrant was addressed, the date of the payment, feb. . in arabic numerals, of which mr. hunter exhibited a fac-simile at a meeting of the institute.] * * * * * _arabic numerals._--in the lists of works which treat of arabic numerals, the following have not been noticed, although they contain a review of what has been written on their introduction into this part of europe:--_archæologia_, vols. x. xiii.; _bibliotheca literaria_, nos. . and ., including huetiana on this subject; and morant's _colchester_, b. iii. p. . t.j. * * * * * error in hallam's history of literature. if mr. hallam's accuracy _in parvis_ could be fairly judged by the following instance, and that given by your correspondent "cantab." (no. , p. .), i fear much could not be said for it. the following passage is from mr. hallam's account of campanella and his disciple adami. my reference is to the first edition of mr. hallam's work; but the passage stands unaltered in the second. i believe these to be rare instances of inaccuracy. "tobias adami, ... who dedicated to the philosophers of germany _his own prodromus philosophiæ instauratio_, prefixed to his _edition_ of campanella's _compendium de rerum naturæ_, published at frankfort in . most of the other writings of the master seem to have preceded _this edition_, for adami enumerates them in _his prodromus_."--_hist. of literature_, iii. . the title is not _prodromus philosophiæ instauratio_, which is not sense; but _prodromus philosophiæ instaurandæ_ (forerunner of a philosophy to be constructed). this _prodromus_ is a treatise of campanella's, not, as mr. hallam says, of adami. adami published the _prodromus_ for campanella, who was in prison; and he wrote a preface, in which he gives a list of other writings of campanella, which he proposes to publish afterwards. what mr. hallam calls an "edition," was the first publication. mere accident enabled me to detect these errors. i am not a bibliographer and do not know a ten-thousandth part of what mr. hallam knows. i extract this note from my common-place book, and send it to you, hoping to elicit the opinions of some of your learned correspondents on the general accuracy in biography and bibliography of mr. hallam's _history of literature_. has mr. bolton corney, if i may venture to name him, examined the work? his notes and opinion would be particularly valuable. as a few inaccuracies such as this may occur in any work of large scope proceeding from the most learned of men, and be accidentally detected by an ignoramus, so a more extensive impeachment of mr. hallam's accuracy would make a very trifling deduction from his great claims to respect and well-established fame. i believe i rightly understand the spirit in which you desire your periodical to be the medium for emending valuable works, when i thus guard myself against the appearance of disrespect to a great ornament of literature. c. * * * * * notes from cunningham's handbook for london. we have already shown pretty clearly, how high is the opinion we entertain of the value of our able contributor mr. peter cunningham's amusing _handbook for london_, by the insertion of numerous notes _upon_ his first edition. we will now give our readers an opportunity of judging how much the second edition, which is just published, has been improved through the further researches of that gentleman, by giving them a few notes _from_ it, consisting entirely of new matter, and very curious withal. when we add that the work is now enriched by a very copious index of names, it will readily be seen how much the value and utility of the book has been increased. _hanover square._--"the statue of william pitt, by sir francis chantrey, set up in the year , is of bronze, and cost l. i was present at its erection with sir francis chantrey and my father, who was chantrey's assistant. the statue was placed on its pedestal between seven and eight in the morning, and while the workmen were away at their breakfasts, a rope was thrown round the neck of the figure, and a vigorous attempt made by several sturdy reformers to pull it down. when word of what they were about was brought to my father, he exclaimed, with a smile { } upon his face, 'the cramps are leaded, and they may pull to doomsday.' the cramps are the iron bolts fastening the statue to the pedestal. the attempt was soon abandoned." _hyde park corner._--"there were cottages here in ; and the middle of the reign of george ii. till the erection of apsely house, the small entrance gateway was flanked on its east site by a poor tenement known as 'allen's stall.' allen, whose wife kept a moveable apple-stall at the park entrance, was recognised by george ii. as an old soldier at the battle of dettingen, and asked (so pleased was the king at meeting the veteran) 'what he could do for him.' allen, after some hesitation, asked for a piece of ground for a permanent apple-stall at hyde park corner, and a grant was made to him of a piece of ground which his children afterwards sold to apsley, lord bathurst. mr. crace has a careful drawing of the hyde park corner, showing allen's stall and the hercules' pillars." _pall mall._--"mr. fox told mr. rogers, that sydenham was sitting at his window looking on the mall, with his pipe in his mouth and a silver tankard before him, when a fellow made a snatch at the tankard, and ran off with it. nor was he overtaken, said fox, before he got among the bushes in bond street, and there they lost him." _lansdowne house._--"the iron bars at the two ends of lansdowne passage (a near cut from curzon street to hay hill) were put up late in the last century, in consequence of a mounted highwayman, who had committed a robbery in piccadilly, having escaped from his pursuers through this narrow passage by riding his horse up the steps. this anecdote was told by the late thomas grenville to sir thomas frankland lewis. it occurred while george grenville was minister, the robber passing his residence in bolton street full gallop." _newcastle house._--"the old and expensive custom of 'vails-giving,' received its death-glow at newcastle house. sir timothy waldo, on his way from the duke's dinner table to his carriage, put a crown into the hand of the cook, who returned it, saying: 'sir, i do not take silver.' 'don't you, indeed?' said sir timothy, putting it in his pocket; 'then i do not give gold.' hanway's 'eight letters to the duke of ----,' had their origin in sir timothy's complaint." _red lion square._--"the benevolent jonas hanway, the traveller, lived and died ( ) in a house in red lion square, the principal rooms of which he decorated with paintings and emblematical devices, 'in a style,' says his biographer, 'peculiar to himself.' 'i found,' he used to say, when speaking of these ornaments, 'that my countrymen and women were not _au fait_ in the art of conversation, and that instead of recurring to their cards, when the discourse began to flag, the minutes between the time of assembling and the placing the card-tables are spent in an irksome suspense. to relieve this vacuum in social intercourse and prevent cards from engrossing the whole of my visitors' minds, i have presented them with objects the most attractive i could imagine--and when that fails there are the cards.' hanway was the first man who ventured to walk the streets of london with an umbrella over his head. after carrying one near thirty years, he saw them come into general use." _downing street._--"baron bothmar's house was part of the forfeited property of lee, lord lichfield, who retired with james ii., to whom he was master of the horse. at the beginning of the present century there was no other official residence in the street than the house which belonged, by right of office, to the first lord of the treasury, but by degrees one house was bought after another: first the foreign office, increased afterwards by three other houses; then the colonial office; then the house in the north corner, which was the judge advocate's, since added to the colonial office; then a house for the chancellor of the exchequer; and lastly, a whole row of lodging-houses, chiefly for scotch and irish members." _whitehall._--"king charles i. was executed on a scaffold erected in front of the banqueting house, towards the park. the warrant directs that he should be executed 'in the open street before whitehall.' lord leicester tells us in his journal, that he was 'beheaded at whitehall gate.' dugdale, in his _diary_, that he was 'beheaded at the gate of whitehall;' and a single sheet of the time reserved in the british museum, that 'the king was beheaded at whitehall gate.' there cannot, therefore, be a doubt that the scaffold was erected in front of the building facing the present horse guards. we now come to the next point which has excited some discussion. it appears from herbert's minute account of the king's last moments, that 'the king was led all along the galleries and banqueting house, and there was a passage _broken through the wall_, by which the king passed unto the scaffold.' this seems particular enough, and leads, it is said, to a conclusion that the scaffold was erected on the north side. where the passage was broken through, one thing is certain, the scaffold was erected on the west side, or, in other words, 'in the open street,' now called whitehall; and that the king, as ludlow relates in his memoirs, 'was conducted to the scaffold out of the window of the banqueting house.' ludlow, who tells us this, was one of the regicides, and what he states, simply and straightforwardly, is confirmed by any engraving of the execution, published at amsterdam in the same year, and by the following memorandum of vertue's on the copy of terasson's large engraving of the banqueting house, preserved in the library of the society of antiquaries:--'it is, according to the truest reports, said that out of this window king charles went upon the scaffold to be beheaded, the window-frame being taken out purposely to make the passage on to the scaffold, which is equal to the landing-place of the hall within side.' the window marked by vertue belonged to a small building abutting from the north side of the present banqueting house. from this window, then the king stept upon the scaffold." we shall probably next week indulge in a few queries which have suggested themselves to us, and to which mr. cunningham will perhaps be good enough to reply. * * * * * { } anecdote of charles i. i have great pleasure in forwarding to you an anecdote of the captivity of charles i., which i think will be considered interesting to your readers. of its authenticity there can be no doubt. i extract it from a small paper book, purchased some fifty years since, at newport, in the isle of wight, which contains the history of a family named douglas, for some years resident in that town, written by the last representative, eliza douglas, at the sale of whose effects it came into my grandfather's hands. there are many curious particulars in it besides the anecdote i have sent you; especially an account of the writer's great-great-grandfather (the husband of the heroine of this tale), who "traded abroad, and was took into turkey as a slave," and there gained the affections of his master's daughter, after the most approved old-ballad fashion; though, alas! it was not to her love that he owed his liberty, but (dreadful bathos!) to his skill in "cooking fowls, &c. &c. in the english taste;" which, on a certain occasion, when some english merchants came to dine with his master, "so pleased the company, that they offered to redeem him, which was accepted; and when freed he came home to england, and lived in london to an advanced age; so old that they fed him with a tea-spoon." after his death his wife married again; and it was during this second marriage that the interview with king charles took place. "my mother's great-grandmother, when a-breeding with her daughter, mary craige, which was at y'e time of _king charles_ being a _prisoner_ in _carisbrook castle_, she longed to kiss the king's _hand_; and when he was brought to newport to be carried off, she being acquainted with the gentleman's housekeeper, where the king was coming to stay, till orders for him to leave the island, she went to the housekeeper, told her what she wanted, and they contrived for her to come the morning he was to go away. so up she got, and dressed herself, and set off to call her midwife, and going along, the first and second guard stopped her and asked her where she was going; she told them 'to call her midwife,' which she did. they went to this lady, and she went and acquainted his majesty with the affair; he desired she may come up to him, and she said, when she came into the room, his majesty seemed to appear as if he had been at _prayers_. he rose up and came to her, who fell on her knees before him; he took her up by the arm himself, and put his _cheek_ to her, and she said she gave him a good hearty smack on his cheek. his majesty then said, 'pray god bless you, and that you go withal.' she then went down stairs to wait and see the king take coach; she got so close that she saw a gentleman in it; and when the king stept into the coach, he said, 'pray, sir, what is your name?' he replied, 'i am col. pride.' 'not miscalled,' says the king. then pride says, 'drive on, coachman.'" e.v. * * * * * queries. the maudeleyne grace. the rector of slimbridge, in the diocese of gloucester, is bound to pay ten pounds a year to magdalen college, for "choir music on the top of the college tower on may-day." (see rudder's _gloucestershire_.) some years ago a prospectus was issued, announcing as in preparation, "the maudeleyne grace, including the hymnus eucharisticus, with the music by dr. rogers, as sung every year on may morning, on the tower of magdalene college, oxford, in latin and english. with an historical introduction by william henry black." can any of your readers inform me whether this interesting work ever made its appearance? i am inclined to think it did not, and have an indistinct recollection that the _original_ ms. of the "grace" was lost through the carelessness of the lithographer who was entrusted with it for the purpose of making a fac-simile. whilst making some researches in the library of christ church, oxford, i accidentally met with what appears to me to be the _first draft_ of the "grace" in question. it commences "_te deum patrem colimus_," and has the following note:--"this hymn is sung every day in magdalen college hall, oxon, dinner and supper throughout the year for the after grace, by the chaplains, clarkes, and choristers there. composed by benjamin rogers, doctor of musique of the university of oxon, ." it is entered in a folio volume, with this note on the fly-leaf,--"ben rogers, his book, aug. . , and presented me by mr. john playford, stationer in the temple, london." the latin grace, _te deum patrem colimus_, is popularly supposed to be the _hymnus eucharisticus_ written by dr. nathaniel ingelo, and sung at the civic feast at guildhall on the th july, , while the king and the other royal personages were at dinner; but this is a mistake, for the words of ingelo's hymn, very different from the magdalen hymn, still exist, and are to be found in wood's collection in the ashmolean museum. the music, too, of the _te deum_ is in a grand religious style, and not of a festal character. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * "esquire" and "gentleman." the custom of addressing almost every man above the rank of an artizan or a huckster as "esquire," seems now to be settled as a matter of ordinary politeness and courtesy; whilst the degradation of the gentleman into the "gent," has caused this term, as the title of a social class, to have fallen into total disuse. originally, they were terms that had their respective meanings as much as duke, knight, yeoman, or hind; but now they simply mean courtesy or contempt towards { } the person to whom they are applied,--with the exception, indeed, of certain combinations of circumstances under which the word "gentleman" is applied _as a character_. it would be an interesting occupation to trace the mutations of meaning which these words have undergone, and the circumstances which gave rise to the successive applications of them. the subject has been often touched upon more or less slightly; but i know of no work in which it is discussed fully, though, indeed, there may be such. of course, many of your readers are men whose pursuits have lain in other directions than social customs, social language, and social tastes; and, as one of them, i may be permitted to ask either where a full discussion can be found, or that some of your correspondents will furnish through your medium a clear and tolerably full exposition of the question. i believe it would be of general and public interest. we naturally expect, that in _official correspondence_, the public boards, through their proper officers, would be very precise in assigning to every person his proper title, in the address of a letter. yet nothing can be more negligent and capricious than the way in which this is done. i have held an appointment in the public service, which is generally considered to carry with it the title of "esquire," (but really whether it do or not, i am unable to tell), and have at different times had a good deal of official correspondence, sometimes mere routine, and sometimes involving topics of a critical character. from my own experience i am led to think that no definite rule exists, and that the temper of the moment will dictate the style of address. for instance, in matter-of-course business, or in any correspondence that was agreeable to official persons, i was addressed as "esq.;" but if the correspondence took a turn that was unpleasant, it was "mr. ----;" and on one occasion i received a note addressed with my name denuded of all title whatever, even of the office i filled. the note, i hardly need say, was "full of fire and fury;" and yet, in less than half an hour, i received a second (the writer having discovered his mistake), opening with "my dear sir," and superscribed with the "esquire" at full length. this, i think, proves the capriciousness of men in public stations in their assignment of titles of this kind. i certainly expected to find, however, in the "list of the fellows of the society of antiquaries," due attention paid to this circumstance. the one just circulated was therefore referred to, and it would seem to be as full of anomalies as a "court guide" or a "royal blue book." we have, indeed, the knights and baronets duly titled, and the peers, lay and spiritual, sufficiently distinguished both by capitals and mode of insertion. all those who have no other title (as d.d. or f.r.s.) recognised by the society, are courteously designated by the affix "esq." in this, it will be strange indeed if _all_ be entitled to the appellation in its legitimate sense; or, in other words, if the principle of courtesy does not supersede, amongst the otherwise untitled mass of fellows, the principle of social rank. to this in itself, as the distinction of "gent" after a man's name has become derogatory, there cannot be the least objection; for antiquarianism does not palliate rudeness or offensive language. at the same time, the adoption of this principle should surely be uniform, and invidious distinctions should not be made. the title "esq.," should not be given to one man, and left out in designating another whose social position is precisely the same. for instance, we find in this list "----, m.d.," and "----, esq., m.d.," employed to designate two different doctors in medicine. we find "----, f.r.s." and "----, esq., f.r.s." to designate two fellows of the society of antiquaries, who are also fellows of the royal. we see one or two d.d.'s deprived of their titles of "rev.," and, as if to make amends (in point of quantity at least), we have one fellow with titles at each end of his name that seem incompatible with each other, viz., "rev. ----, esq." anomalies like these can only be the result of sheer carelessness, or of the ignorance of some clerk employed to make out the list without adequate instructions given to him. it has, in my hearing, been held up as a specimen of invidious distinction to gratify some petty dislike; but this notion is simply absurd, and deserves no notice. at the same time, it betokens a carelessness that it is desirable to avoid. as a mere question of _dignity_, it appears to me to savour too much of clapham-common or hampstead-heath grandeur, to add much to our respectability or worldly importance. it would, indeed, be more "dignified" to drop, in the lists, all use of "esq." under any circumstances; or, if this be objected to, to at least treat "m.a.," "d.d.," "f.r.s." as higher titles, in which the "esq." may properly be merged, and thus leave the appellation to designate the absence of any higher literary or scientific title. a good deal of this is irrelevant to the primary object of my letter; but certainly not altogether irrelevant to the dignity of the highest english representative body of archæology, the society of antiquaries. i hope, at least, that this irrelevancy will give neither pain nor offence to any one, for nothing could be further from my wish or intention than such an effect. i have only wished to illustrate the necessity for an accurate description of what are really the original, subsequent, and present significations of the words "esquire" and "gentleman," and to urge that either some definite rule should be adopted as to their use in official { } and semi-official cases, or else that they should be discontinued altogether. brown rappee. april . * * * * * five queries. . _lines by sir john suckling._--is sir john suckling, or owen feltham, the real author of the poem whose first verse runs thus: "when, dearest, i but think on thee, methinks all things that lovely be are present, and my soul delighted; for beauties that from worth arise, are like the grace of deities, still present with us though unsighted." i find it in the twelfth edition of feltham's works, , p. ., with the following title: "this ensuing copy of the late printer hath been pleased to honour, by mistaking it among those of the most ingenious and too early lost, sir john suckling." i find it also in the edition of suckling's works published at dublin, . as i feel interested in all that relates to suckling, i shall be glad to have the authorship of this short poem rightly assigned. . what is the origin and exact meaning of the phrase "sleeveless errand"? it is mentioned as late even as the last century, by swift, in his poem entitled _reasons for not building at drapier's hill_: "who send my mind as i believe, less than others do on errands sleeveless." . what is the origin and derivation of the word "trianon," the name of the two palaces, le grand and le petit, at versailles? and why was it applied to them? . what is the correct blazon of the arms of _godin_; with crest and motto? i have seen an imperfect drawing of the arms, party per fess, a goblet transpierced with a dagger. . whose is the line, "with upward finger pointing to the sky." i have heard it generally referred to goldsmith, but cannot find it. henry kersley. corpus christi hall, maidstone, april . . * * * * * queries proposed, no. i. the non-appearance of my name as a querist has been rather fortuitous, and it shall now be made evident that i am neither so rich in materials, nor so proud in spirit, as to decline such assistance as may be derived from the information and courtesy of other contributors to the "notes and queries." . did the following critical remarks on shakspere, by edward phillips, appear _verbatim_ in the _thesaurus_ of j. buchlerus, ? the bodleian library has the london edition of ; and the british museum that of . wood cites an edition of . i transcribe from that of . "hoc seculo [sc. temporibus elizabetha reginæ et jacobi regis] floruerunt--gulielmus shacsperus, qui præter opera dramatica, duo poematia _lucretiæ stuprum à tarquinio_, et _amores veneris in adonidem_, lyrica carmina nonnulla composuit; videtur fuisse, siquis alius, re verâ poeta natus. samuel daniel non obseurus hujus ætatis poeta, etc.... ex eis qui dramaticè scripserunt, primas sibi vendicant shacsperus, jonsonus et fletcherus, quorum hic facundâ et polita quadam familiaritate sermonis, ille erudito judicio et usu veterum authorum, alter nativa quadam et poetica sublimitate ingenii excelluisse videntur. ante hos in hoc genere poeseos apud nos eminuit nemo. pauci quidem antea scripserunt, at parum foeliciter; hos autem tanquam duces itineris plurimi saltem æmulati sunt, inter quos præter sherleium, proximum à supra memorato triumviratu. suclingium, randolphium, davenantium et carturitium--enumerandi veniunt ric. bromeus, tho. heivodus," etc. . what are the contents of a work entitled, [old german script: schaubune englischer und franßofischer comædianten], printed before ? this work is recorded, but without a date, in the _historia literaria_ of simon paulli, which was printed at strasbourg in . a statement of its contents would be very acceptable to myself, and to other admirers of our early dramatic literature. . who is the fortunate possessor of the _lives and characters of the english dramatick poets_ with the marginal marks of garrick? the copy in question was sold with the unreserved books of garrick in , no. . it contained this note: "all the plays marked thus * in this catalogue, i bought of dodsley. those marked thus o, i have added to the collection since. d.g." each of the above queries would have admitted further remarks, but i wish to set an example of obedience to the recent editorial injunction on brevity. bolton corney. * * * * * minor queries. _elizabeth and isabel._--"a.c." inquires whether these names are not varied forms of the same name, and if so, what is the common origin of the two? camden, in his _remains_, has-- "elizabeth, _heb._ peace of the lord, or quiet rest of the lord, the which england has found verified in the most honoured name of our late sovereign. mantuan, playing with it maketh it eliza-bella; and of isabel he says 'the same with elizabeth, if the spaniards do not mistake, which always translate elizabeth into isabel, and the french into isabeau.'" { } _howard, earl of surrey._--dr. percy is said, in watt's _bibliotheca britannica_, to have prepared an edition of the poems of the earl of surrey, the whole impression of which was consumed in the fire which took place in mr. nicholl's premises in . can any of your readers say whether dr. percy had a copy of the sheets, and whether he had prefixed thereto any life of the earl of surrey? or did sir egerton brydges ever print any account of surrey amongst his numerous issues from the lee or other presses? g. _bulls called william._--in looking into the notes in my provincial glossary, i find that bulls are in somersetshire invariably called _william_. is this peculiar to that county? c.w.b. _bawn.--mutual._--in vol. iii. p. . of hallam's _constitutional history of england_, there occurs the following passage in reference to the colonisation of ulster in , after tyrone's rebellion: "those who received acres were bound within four years to build a castle and bawn, or strong court-yard; the second class within two years to build a stone or brick house, with a bawn; the third class a bawn only." what was the bawn, which was equally indispensable to the grantee of , , or acres? richardson variously describes the term as almost any kind of dwelling, or "an enclosure of walls to keep cattle from being stolen at night;" in fact, a court-yard. this, however, conveys a very unsatisfactory idea, unless i am justified in supposing that a court-yard was insisted upon, even when a house could not be built, as insuring a future residential settlement, and thereby warding off the evils of absenteeism. at page . of the same volume, i read,-- "wentworth had so balanced the protestant and recusant parties, employed so skilfully the resources of fair promises and intimidation, that he procured six subsidies to be granted before a prorogation, without any _mutual_ concession from the crown." will dr. kennedy, or any other strict verbal critic, sanction this use of the word "mutual?" alfred gatty. april . . [it is obvious, from the following lines from swift's poem, _the grand question debated whether hamilton's bawn should be turned into a barrack or malt-house_, , that a bawn was there used to signify a building, and not an inclosure:-- "this _hamilton's bawn_, while it sticks in my hand, i lose by the house what i get by the land; but how to dispose of it to the best bidder, for a barrack or malt-house, we now must consider." and in a foot-note on _hamilton's bawn_, in the original edition, it is described as "a large old house, two miles from sir arthur acheson's seat."] _versicle and response._--what is the meaning of the following versicle and its response, which occur in both morning and evening prayer? "give peace in our time, o lord, because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou, o god!" surely the "because" &c. is a _non sequitur_! alfred gatty. april . . [in palmer's _origines liturgice_, vol. i. p. . ( d edit.), we find the following note on the response, "_quia_ non est alius," &c.:--"brev. eboracens. fol. .; brev. sarisb. fol. ." bishop lloyd remarks on this verse and response as follows:--"i do not know what burnet means by stating that this response was made in the year , on the occasion of political occurrences, for this answer is found in all the foreign breviaries, in the salisbury primer, and in the primer of hen. viii. see burnet's _hist. ref._ p. ii. b. . anno ."] _yeoman._--this word, the origin of which dr. johnson says is much doubted, in the general acceptation of it meaning signifies a small farmer; though several authorities quoted by johnson tend to show it also signifies a certain description of servants, and that it is applied also to soldiers, as yeoman of the guard. it is not, however, confined to soldiers, for we hear of yeoman of the chamber; yeoman of the robes; yeoman of the pantry; yeoman usher of the black rod. i should be glad if any of your readers can give an explanation of the word as used in the latter instances. p.r.a. _pusan.--iklynton collar._--among the royal orders issued on the occasion of the marriage of henry vi., contained in the fifth volume of rymer's _fædera_, p. ., occurs the following:-- "we wol and charge you, that ye deliver unto oure trusty and well-beloved squier, john merston, keeper of our jewell, a _pusan_ of golde, called _iklynton colar_, garnished with iv rubies, &c., &c." what is the meaning and derivation of this word _pusan_, and why called _iklynton collar_? e.v. _who was lord karinthon, murdered ?_--can any of your readers inform me who was the english lord, murdered in france by his flemish valet, in march, , as stated in the following passage of gui patin's _letters_, tom. iii. p. ., ed. :-- "hier, ce mars, je vis sur le pont notre dame, mené à la grève, un certain méchant malheureux coquin, natif de flandre, qui avoit poignardé son maître dans pontoise; c'étoit un seigneur anglois, doint il vouloit avoir la bourse.... ce seigneur anglois qui fut poignardé dans son lit avoit nom de milord karinthon.... dans le testament de ce bon mais malheureux maître il se trouve qui'il donnoit à ce pendard de valet , livres." c. { } _christian captives._--where can any information be obtained respecting the christian captives taken by the barbary pirates--the subscriptions raised for their relief, by briefs, &c., and what became of the funds? r.w.b. _ancient churchyard customs._--in an article in _the ecclesiologist_ on churchyards and churchyard crosses,--but not having the volume by me, i am unable to give an exact reference,--it is stated, "in them (churchyards) prayers are not now commonly poured forth to god nor are doles distributed to his poor; the epitsphium is no longer delivered from the steps of the churchyard cross, nor does the solemn lamprophoria symbolize the life of the deceased." i shall be much obliged for a fuller account of these ancient customs, more particularly of the last two, and for notes of any allusions to them in old books. i may say the same with reference to the following extract from the _handbook of english ecclesiology_, p. .: "under this head may also be mentioned the _funa'l_ or _deadlight_, which was lighted in some churchyards at night." stoke. _"rotten row" and "stockwell" street._--"r.r.," of glasgow, inquires the etymology of these names, which, occurring both in scotland and in england, and at a time when the countries were almost always at war, would scarcely have been copied by the one from the other. he rejects, as of course, the etymology of the former from its passing by the buildings which were old and "rotten;" neither does he favour the belief that the original word was "routine" row, so called from the processions of the church passing in that direction. * * * * * replies. early statistics.--chart, kent. (no. . p. .) the registrar-general, in his eighth report, enters at length into the causes which have brought about the variations in the number of marriages, and consequently, as i need scarcely say, of births. in comparing the marriage returns since , which are given in the report, with the history of events since that period, he certainly makes it clear, to use his own words, that "the marriage returns in england point out periods of prosperity little less distinctly than the funds measure the hopes and fears of the money-market." (p. . vo. edit.) and that "the great fluctuations in the marriages of england are the results of peace after war, abundance after dearth, high wages after want of employment, speculation after languid enterprise, confidence after distrust, national triumphs after national disasters." (p. .) during the civil wars, the diminishing influences indicated in the reverse of this statement were at work with an intensity unequalled in any other period of our modern history, so that there can be no doubt that our then "unhappy divisions" did most materially retard the numerical increase of the population, as well as the progress of science and the useful arts. such is the inevitable consequence of war: of civil war in a tenfold degree. and our parish register books, all of which i doubt not show similar facts, place this in the most unfavourable light; for, through the spread of nonconformity, the unsettled state of the times, and the substitution during the protectorate of the registration of births which might or might not be communicated to the elected parish register, for that of baptisms which the parish priest would both celebrate and register, the names of very many of those born into the world would be altogether omitted from these records. it may be interesting to show the effects of some of these causes by the subjoined extracts from the registers themselves, which i transcribe from the _chronicon mirabile_ of the late sir cuthbert sharpe.--(vide pp. . . . . . . and .) _staindrop, durham._--" . from this time to , through want of a minister, and carelessness of ye cleark, during ye wars, much of ye register is lost, only here and there a name registered." " . june . mem. from this time till august there was noe minister, soe that ye children were carried to other parishes to be baptized." _st. helen's aukland, durham_, a.d. .--"mr. john vaux, our minister, was suspended.... mr. robert cowper, of durham, served in his place, and left out divers christenings unrecorded, and regestered others disorderly." _gainford, durham._--"courteous reader, this is to let thee understand that many children were left unrecorded or redgestered, but the reason and cause was this; some would and some would not, being of a fickle condition, as the time was then; this being their end and aim, to save a groate from the poor clarke, so they would rather have them unredgestered--but now ... it is their design to have them redgestered." _lowestoft, suffolk_, ... "for some time following there was in this town neither minister nor clarke, but the inhabitants were inforced to procure now one and then another to baptize their children, by which means there was no register kept, only those few hereafter mentioned weare by myself baptized in those intervalls when i enjoyed my freedom." _hexham, northumberland_, c. .--"note y't mr. will. lister, minister of s't. john lees in those distracted times, did both marry and baptize all that made ther application to him, for w'ch he was sometimes severely threatened by y'e souldiers, and had once a cockt pistoll held to his breest, &c., so y't its no wond'r y't y'e { } registers for these times are so imperfect, and besides, they are extremely confused." in the preface to the _enumeration abstract of the census of_ , pp. - ., your correspondent will find information and statistics relative to the estimated population of england and wales, - , compiled from the parish registers, and-- "calculated on the supposition, that the registered baptisms, burials, and marriages, on an average of three years, in , , , , , and , bore the same proportion to the actual population as in the year ." from the table, pp. , , it appears, that whilst the population (estimated) in the thirty years - increased upwards of percent., in the forty years - it increased a mere trifle over per cent. only. in no fewer than twenty english counties, the population, estimated as before, was absolutely less in than in ; and in kent, the county in which chart is situate, the decrease is striking: population of kent in , , ; in , , ; in , , ; in , , ; and in , the enumerated population was , . your correspondent might also find it useful to consult sir william petty's _political arithmetic_, the various documents compiled at the different censuses, and the reports of the registrar-general. arun. * * * * * parish register statistics.--chart, kent. your correspondent "e.r.j.h." (no. . p. .) inquires whether any general statistical returns, compiled from our early parish registers, have been published. it must be a matter of regret to all who are acquainted with the value of these national records--which for extent and antiquity are unequalled in any other country--that this question cannot be answered affirmatively. by the exertions of the late mr. rickman, their importance, in a statistical point of view, has been shown, but only to a very limited extent. in , being entrusted with the duty of collecting and arranging the returns of the first actual enumeration of the population, he obtained from the clergyman of each parish a statement of the number of baptisms and burials recorded in the register book in every tenth year from , and of marriages in every consecutive year from , when the marriage act of george ii. took effect. the results were published with the census returns of ; but, instead of each parish being separately shown, only the totals of the hundreds and similar county divisions, and of a few principal towns, were given. in subsequent "parish register abstracts" down to that of , the same meagre information has been afforded by an adherence to this generalising system. in , with a view of forming an estimate of the probable population for england and wales at certain periods anterior to , mr. rickman, acting upon the result of inquiries previously made respecting the condition and earliest date of the register books in every parish, applied to the clergy for returns of the number of baptisms, burials, and marriages registered in three years at six irregular periods, viz. a.d. , , , , , and . the clergy, with their accustomed readiness to aid in any useful investigation, responded very generally to the application, and mr. rickman obtained nearly returns of the earliest date required ( ), and nearly (from not much less than half the parishes of england) as far back as ; those for the more recent periods being tolerably complete from all the counties. the interesting details thus collected have not been published; nor am i able to say where the original returns, if still extant, are deposited. in pursuance of this design, however, mr. rickman proceeded with these materials to calculate the probable population of the several counties on the supposition that the registered baptisms, &c., in , , and at the other assigned periods, bore the same proportion to the actual population as in . the numerical results are embodied in a table which appears in the _census enumeration abstract_ for (preface, pp. , .), and it is stated that there is reason for supposing the estimate arrived at to be an approximation to the truth. during the civil wars and the protectorate, few parochial registers were kept with any degree of accuracy; indeed, in many parishes they are altogether defective at that period, owing to the temporary expulsion of the clergy from their benefices. it is not improbable, therefore, that the remarkable decrease of baptismal entries in the register book of chart next sutton valence may have arisen partly from imperfect registration, as well as from the other causes suggested. but the trifling increase observable after the restoration undoubtedly points to the conclusion arrived at by your corespondent--that a great diminution had taken place in the population of the parish: and mr. rickman's estimate above referred to gives a result for the entire county, which, if it does not fully establish the supposed decrease, shows at least that the registers of other kentish parishes were affected in a similar manner. the following is the estimated population of kent, deduced from the baptisms, burials, and marriages, by mr. rickman:-- a.d. population , , , , , , the population enumerated in was , , which had increased to , in . applying the average of england to the parish { } of chart, the baptisms in the years - , if representing the actual births, would indicate a population of about during that period; while the entries in the previous twenty years would give upwards of inhabitants. according to the several censuses, chart contained persons in , and , , , , respectively, at the subsequent decades. while on the subject of parish registers, i may add, that a scheme has been propounded by the rev. e. wyatt edgell, in a paper read before the statistical society, for transcribing and printing in a convenient form the whole of the extant parish register books of england and wales, thus concentrating those valuable records, and preserving, before it is too late, their contents from the effects of time and accidental injuries. the want of funds to defray the cost of copying and printing is the one great difficulty of the plan. james t. hammack. april . * * * * * early statistics.--parish registers. in reference to the observations of your correspondent "e.r.j.h.," he will find, upon closer examination, that no comparison approaching to accuracy can be made between the population of any place at different periods of the seventeenth century, founded upon the entries in parish registers of baptisms, births, or marriages. in the ecclesiastical registers ceased to contain much of the information they had before given. in that year was passed, "an act how marriages shall be solemnised and registered, and also for a register of births and burials;" which first introduced registers of births and not of baptisms. the act treated marriage as a civil contract, to be solemnised before a justice of the peace; and it directed that, for the entry of all marriages, and "of all births of children, and burial of all sorts of people, within every parish," the rated inhabitants should choose "an honest and able person to be called 'the parish register,'" sworn before and approved by a neighbouring magistrate. until after the restoration, this act was found practicable; and in many parishes these books (distinct from the clergyman's register of baptisms, &c., celebrated in the church) continue to be fairly preserved. in such parishes, and in no others, a correct comparative estimate of the population may be formed. the value of the parochial registers for statistical and historical purposes cannot be overrated; and yet their great loss in very recent times is beyond all doubt. it was given in evidence before the committee on registration, that out of seventy or eighty parishes for which bridges made collections a century since, thirteen of the old registers have been lost, and three accidentally burnt. on a comparison of the dates of the sussex registers, seen by sir w. burrell between and , and of those returned as the earliest in the population returns of , the old registers, in no less than twenty-nine parishes, had in the interval disappeared; whilst, during the same half-century, nineteen old registers had found their way back to the proper repository. on searching the mss. in skelton castle, in cleveland, a few years since, the first register of that parish was discovered, and has been restored. these changes show how great the danger is to which the old registers are exposed; and in many instances it saves time and trouble to search the bishop's transcripts before searching the original registers. wm. durrant cooper. . guildford street, march . . * * * * * byron's lara. i cannot agree with your able corespondent "c.b." (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .), that ezzelin in "lara" is seyd of the "corsair." my interpretation of both tales is as follows:--lara and ezzelin both lived in youth where they afterwards met, viz. in a midland county of england--time about the fourteenth century. ezzelin was a kinsman, or, more probably, a lover of medora, whom lara induced to fly with him, and who shared his corsair life. when lara had returned home, the midnight scene in the gallery arose from some frankenstein creation of his own bad conscience; a "horrible shadow," an "unreal mockery." kaled was gulnare disguised as a page; and when lara met ezzelin at otho's house, ezzelin's indignation arose from his recollection of medora's abduction. otho favours ezzelin in this quarrel; and, when kaled looks down upon the "sudden strife," and becomes deeply moved, her agitation was from seeing in ezzelin the champion of medora, her own rival in the affections of lara. ezzelin is murdered, probably by the contrivance of kaled, who had before shown that she could lend a hand in such an affair. after this, lara collects a band, like what david gathered to himself in the cave of adullam, and what follows suits the mediæval period of english history. i will briefly quote in support of this view. otho shows that lara and ezzelin had both sprung from one spot, when he says, "i pledge myself for thee, as not unknown, though like count lara now return'd alone from other lands, almost a stranger grown." the th section of canto . is a description of byron himself at newstead (the two poems are merely vehicles of their authors' own feelings), with the celebrated skull, since made into a drinking cup, beside him. the succeeding section is a picture { } of "our own dear lake." that medora was a gentlewoman, and not from the slave-market, is shown by conrad's appreciation of her in the th section of the first canto of the "corsair;" and why not formerly beloved by ezzelin, and thus alluded to by him in the quarrel scene? "and deem'st thou me unknown too? gaze again! at least thy memory was not given in vain, oh! never canst thou cancel half _her_ debt, eternity forbids thee to forget." the accents, muttered in a foreign tongue by lara, on recovering from his swoon in the gallery,-- "and meant to meet an ear that hears him not--alas! that cannot hear"-- were addressed, i think, to medora; and i am only the more disposed to this opinion by their effect on kaled. (see canto . sec. .) i quite agree with "emdee" in esteeming "lara" a magnificent poem. a.g. ecclesfield, march , . * * * * * replies to minor queries. _dr. whichcot and lord shaftesbury._--your correspondent "c." (no. . p. .) will find in the _alumni etonenses_, by harwood, printed at birmingham by pearson, and by caddell, jun., and davies, strand, , at p. . in the account of whichcot, under the head of "provosts of king's college," the following passage:--"a volume of his sermons was published in , from copies taken in short-hand as they were delivered from the pulpit, with a preface by lord shaftesbury." in a ms. account of the provosts it is stated, "the first volume of his discourses, published by lord shaftesbury, ;" and that one of his brothers was alive in , at finchley, aged . a letter from lord lauderdale to dr. whichcot is in ms. harl. . p. . i take the figures from a printed, but not published, account of some of the proceedings relating to dr. whichcot's deprivation of his provostship at the restoration, in which lord lauderdale says, "for i took an opportunity, in the presence of my lord chamberlain, your chancellor, to acquaint his majesty with those excellent endowments with which god hath blesst you, and which render you so worthie of the place you enjoy, (which the king heard very graciously); afterwards he spoke with my lord chamberlain about your concerns, and he and i are both of opinion there is no fear as to your concerns." was shaftesbury ever chancellor of cambridge? or who was the lord chamberlain who at that time was chancellor of the university? i have no means of referring to any university history as to these points. coll. regal. socius. _black doll at old store shops._--i asked you some time since the origin of the black doll at old store shops; but you did not insert my query, which curiously enough has since been alluded to by _punch_, as a mystery only known to, or capable of being interpreted by, the editor of "notes and queries." a.c. [we are obliged to our correspondent and also to our witty contemporary for this testimony to our omniscience, and show our sense of their kindness by giving them two explanations. the first is, the story which has been told of its originating with a person who kept a house for the sale of toys and rags in norton falgate some century since, to whom an old woman brought a large bundle of rags for sale, with a desire that it might remain unopened until she could call again to see it weighed. several weeks having elapsed without her re-appearance, the ragman opened the bundle, and finding in it a _black doll_ neatly dressed, with a pair of gold ear-rings, hung it over his door, for the purpose of its being owned by the woman who had left it. the plan succeeded, and the woman, who had by means of the black doll recovered her bundle of rags, presented it to the dealer; and the story becoming known, the black doll was adopted as the favourite sign of this class of shopkeepers. such is the romance of the black doll; the reality, we believe, will be found in the fact, that cast-off clothes having been formerly purchased by dealers in large quantities, for the purpose of being resold to merchants, to be exchanged by them in traffic with the uncivilised tribes, who, it is known, will barter any thing for articles of finery,--a black doll, gaily dressed out, was adopted as the sign of such dealers in old apparel.] _journal of sir william beeston._--in reply to the inquiry of "c." (no. . p. ), i can state that a journal of sir william beeston is now preserved in the british museum (ms. add. , .), and was presented to the national collection in , by charles edward long, esq. it is a folio volume, entirely autograph, and extends from dec. , , when beeston was in command of the assistance frigate in the west indies, to july , ; then from july to september , , in a voyage from port royal to london; and from december , , to march , - , in returning from portsmouth to jamaica; and, lastly, from april to june , , in coming home from jamaica to england. by a note written by mr. long on the fly-leaf of the volume, it appears that sir william beeston was baptized in dec. , , at titchfield, co. hants, and was the second son of william beeston, of posbrooke, the same parish, by elizabeth, daughter of arthur bromfield. (see _visit. c. . coll. arm._) his elder brother, henry, was master of winchester, and warden of new college; and his daughter and heir jane married, first, sir thomas modyford, bart., and, secondly, charles long, to whom she was a second wife. to this may be added, that sir william received the honour of knighthood at kensington, october , , and was governor of jamaica from till . in the add. ms. { } , . is contained a narrative, by sir william beeston, of the descent by the french on jamaica, in june, ; as also the copy of a journal kept by col. william beeston from his first coming to jamaica, - . m. _shrew_ (no. . p. .).--i know not whether it will at all help the inquiry of "w.r.f." to remind him that the local dorsetshire name of the shrew-mouse is "_shocrop_" or "_shrocrop_." the latter is the word given in mr. barnes's excellent _glossary_, but i have just applied for its name to two labourers, and their pronunciation of it is clearly the former. i should be glad to hear any conjecture as to the final syllable. the only _folk-lore_ connected with it in this part of the country seems to be that long ago reported by pennant and others, viz. "cats will kill, but not eat it." c.w.b. _trunck breeches._--"x.y.z." (no. . p. ) will also find the following in dryden's _translation of perseus_:-- "there on the walls by polynotu's hand, the conquered medians in _trunk_-breeches stand." certainly a very free translation. see the original, sat. . _trunck_ is from the latin _truncus_, cut short, maimed, imperfect. in the preface to _johnson's dictionary_ we have the following:-- "the examples are too often injudicious _truncated_." vide also _shaw, museum liverianum_, or rather examples given in _richardson's dictionary_. shaw, in speaking of the feathers of certain birds, says, "they appear as if cut off transversely towards their ends with scissors. this is a mode of termination which in the language of natural history is called _truncated_." the word _trunck-hose_ is often met with. wredjid kooez. _queen's messengers._--"j.u.g.g.," who inquires about queen's messengers (no. . p. .), will, i think, find some such information as he wants in a parliamentary paper about king's messengers, printed by the house of commons in or , on the motion of mr. warburton. something, i think, also occurs on the subject in the report of the commons' committee of on the opening of letters in the post-office. i am unable to refer to either of these documents at present. c. _dissenting ministers_ (no. . p. .).--the verses representing the distinctive characteristics of many ministers, by allegorical resemblance to _flowers_, were written by the lady whose paternal name is given by your correspondent. she married the rev. joseph brooksbank. i think it quite improbable that those verses were ever published. it seems that two of the three names mentioned in your description of this "nosegay" are erroneous. the first is indisputable, richard winter, a man of distinguished excellence, who died in . "hugh washington" is certainly a mistake for hugh worthington; but for "james jouyce" i can offer no conjecture. j.p.s. _ballad of "the wars in france"_ (no. . p. .).--your correspondent "nemo" will find two versions of the ballad commencing, "as our king lay musing on his bed," in appendices and to sir harris nicolas's _history of the battle of agincourt_, nd edit. they are not, i believe, in the first edition. i have a copy of the ballad myself, which i took down a few years ago, together with the quaint air to which it is sung, from the lips of an old miner in derbyshire. my copy does not differ very much from the first of those given by sir h. nicolas. c.w.g. ["j.w." (norwich), and "a.r." (kenilworth), have each kindly sent us a copy of the ballad. "f.m." informs us that it exists as a broadside, printed and sold in aldermary church-yard, bow lane, london, under the title of "king henry v., his conquest of france, in revenge for the affront offered him by the french king, in sending him (instead of the tribute due) a ton of tennis balls." and, lastly, the "rev. j.r. wreford" has called our attention to the fact that it is printed in the collection of _ancient poems, ballads, and songs of the peasantry of england_, edited by mr. dixon for the percy society in . mr. dixon's version was taken down from the singing of an eccentric character, known as the "skipton minstrel," and who used to sing it to the tune of "_the bold pedlar and robin hood_."] _monody on the death of sir john moore_ (no. . p. .).--this query has brought us a number of communications from "a.g.," "j.r.w.," "g.w.b.," "r.s.," and "the rev. l. cooper," who writes as follows:-- "the undoubted author is the late rev. charles wolfe, a young irishman, curate of donoughmore, diocese of armagh, who died , in the nd year of his age. his _life and remains_ were edited by the archdeacon of clogher; and a _fifth_ edition of the vol., which is an vo., was published in by hamilton, adams, and co., paternoster row. at the th page of the memoir there is the narration of an interesting discussion between lord byron, shelley, and others, as to the most perfect ode that had ever been produced. shelley contended for coleridge's on switzerland; others named campbell's hohenlinden and lord byron's invocation in manfred. but lord byron left the dinner-table before the cloth was removed, and returned with a magazine, from which he read this monody, which just then appeared anonymously. after he had read it, he repeated the third stanza, and pronounced it perfect, and especially the lines:-- { } "'but he lay like a warrior taking his rest, with his martial cloak around him.' "'i should have taken the whole,' said shelley, 'for a rough sketch of campbell's.' "'no,' replied lord byron, 'campbell would have claimed it, had it been his.' "the memoir contains the fullest details on the subject of the authorship, mr. wolfe's claim to which was also fully established by the rev. dr. miller, late fellow of trinity, dublin, and author of _lectures on the philosophy of modern history_." [with regard to the french translation, professing to be a monody on lally tollendal, and to be found in the appendix to his memoirs, it was only a clever hoax from the ready pen of father prout, and first appears in bentley's _miscellany_. no greater proof of the inconvenience of facetiæ of this peculiar nature can be required than the circumstance, that the _fiction_, after a time, gets mistaken for a fact: and, as we learn in the present case, the translation has been quoted in a french newspaper as if it was really what it pretends to be.] * * * * * iron railings round st. paul's. as the removal of the iron railing which surrounds st. paul's churchyard is now said to be in contemplation, p.c.s.s. imagines that it may not be unacceptable to the readers of "notes and queries," if he transcribes the following account of it from _hasted's kent_, vol. ii. p. , which is to be found in his description of the parish of lamberhurst:-- "it was called _gloucester furnace_ in honour of the duke of gloucester, queen anne's son, who, in the year , visited it from tunbridge wells. the _iron rails_ round st. paul's churchyard, in london, were cast at this furnace. they compose the most magnificent balustrade, perhaps, in the universe, being of the height of five feet six inches, in which there are, at intervals, seven iron gates of beautiful workmanship, which, together with the rails, weigh two hundred tons and eighty-one pounds; the whole of which cost d. per pound, and with other charges, amounted to the sum of , _l._ _s._ _d._" p.c.s.s. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. if there was any ground, and we are inclined to believe there was, for the objection urged by the judicious few against that interesting series of illustrations of english history, lodge's _illustrious portraits_, namely, that in engraving the portraits selected, truth had often times been sacrificed to effect; so that one had a better picture, though a less faithful copy,--such an objection cannot be urged against a work to which our attention has just been directed, harding's _historical portraits_. in this endeavour to bring before us the men of past time, each "in his habit as he lived," the scrupulous accuracy with which mr. harding copies an old portrait has been well seconded by the engravers, so that this work is unrivalled for the fidelity with which it exhibits, as by a daguerrotype, copies in little of some very curious portraits of old-world worthies. the collection is limited in extent; but, as it contains plates of individuals of whom no other engraving exists, will be a treasure to illustrators of clarendon, granger, &c. among the most interesting subjects are _henry viii._ and _charles v._, from the remarkable picture formerly at strawberry hill; _sir robert dudley_, son of elizabeth's favourite; _lord russel of thornhaugh_, from the picture at woburn; _speaker lenthall_; and the remarkable portrait of _henry carey viscount falkland_, dressed in white, painted by van somer, which suggested to horace walpole his _castle of otranto_. messrs. sotheby and co. will sell on thursday next, a small but superb collection of drawings by modern artists; and on the following monday will commence a six days' sale of the third portion of the important stock of prints of messrs. smith; comprising some of the works of the most eminent engravers of the continental and english schools, including a matchless collection of the works of the master of fontainebleau, engraver's proofs of book plates, and a few fine drawings. we have received the following catalogues:--j. peteram's ( . high holborn) catalogue, part cxi., no. . for of old and new books; and j. miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. . for of books old and new. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) arnot's physics.--the gentleman who has a copy of this to dispose of, is requested to send his address. joldervy's collection of english epitaphs, or any other. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _although we have this week again enlarged_ notes and queries _from to pages, in fulfilment of our promise to do so when the number and extent of our communications called for it, we have been compelled to omit many notes, queries, and replies of great interest._ _our attention has been called by more than one of our earliest contributors to the inconvenience of the single initial, which they had originally adopted, being assumed by subsequent correspondents, who probably had no idea that the_ a., b., _or_ c., _by which they thought to distinguish their communications, was already in use. will our friends avoid this in future by prefixing another letter or two to their favourite_ a., b., _or_ c. _errata._.--no. . p. . col. . line ., for "l.d." read "l.r."; no . p. . col. . line ., for "beattie" read "bentley"; and the latin epigram, p. ., should commence "longè" instead of "longi," and be subscribed "t.d." instead of "w. ( )." * * * * * { } new works. i. southey's life and correspondence. edited by his son. vol. iv. with portrait of miss tyler, and landscape. post vo. s. d. ii. essays selected from contributions to the edinburgh review. by henry rogers. vols. vo. s. iii. a history of the romans under the empire. by the rev. charles merivale, b.d. vols. i. and ii. vo. s. iv. critical history of the language and literature of ancient greece. by colonel william mure, m.p., of caldwell. vols. vo. s. v. col. chesney's expedition to survey the euphrates and tigris. with plates and woodcuts. vols. i. and ii. royal vo. map, s.--atlas of charts, &c., s. d. vi. mr. s. laing's notes of a traveller, nd series:--on the social and political state of the european people in and . vo. s. vii. mr. w. c. townsend's collection of modern state trials. revised and illustrated with essays and notes. vols. vo. s. viii. banfield and weld's statistical companion for . corrected and extended to the present time. fcp. vo. s. ix. practical horsemanship. by harry hieover. with plates--"going like workmen," and "going like muffs." fcap. vo. s. x. mr. c. f. cliffe's book of north wales: a guide for tourists. with large map and illustrations. fcap. vo. s. xi. the mabinogion. with translations and notes, by lady charlotte guest. vols. royal vo. with facsimiles and woodcuts, l.; calf, l. s.; or in parts, l. s. sd. xii. james montgomery's poetical works. new edition, complete in one volume, with portrait and vignette. square crown vo., s. d.; morocco, s. xiii. aletheia; or, the doom of mythology: with other poems. by william charles kent. fcap. vo. s. d. xiv. the early conflicts of christianity. by the rev. dr. w.i. kip, m.a. author of "the christmas holydays in rome." fcp. vo. s. xv. a volume of sermons. by the rev. joseph sortain, a.b., minister of north-street chapel, brighton. vo. s. xvi. loudon's encyclopÆdia of gardening. new edition ( ), corrected and improved by mrs. loudon, with woodcuts. vo. s. also, part i. s. to be completed in monthly parts, s. each. xvii. dr. reeces's medical guide. new edition ( ), with additions, revised and corrected by the author's son. vo. s. * * * * * nearly ready. xviii. mr. a.k. johnston's new dictionary of descriptive and physical geography, forming a complete general gazetteer. vo. (in may.) xix. god and man. by the rev. robert montgomery, m.a., author of "the christian life," &c. vo. xx. letters on happiness. by the authoress of "letters to my unknown friends," &c fcap. vo. xxi. health, disease, and remedy familiarly and practically considered in relation to the blood. by dr. george moore, author of "the power of the soul over the body," &c. post vo. london: longman, brown, green and longmans. * * * * * new books. i. a history of pottery and porcelain, in the th, th, and th centuries. by joseph marryat, esq. coloured plates and woodcuts. vo. (just ready.) ii. life of robert plumer ward, esq. with selections from his political and literary correspondence, diaries, and unpublished remains. by the hon. edmund phipps. portrait. vols. vo. (next week.) iii. handbook of london, past and present. by peter cunningham, f.s.a. a new edition, thoroughly revised, with an index of names. one volume. post vo. s. iv. lives of vice-admiral sir c.v. penrose, k.c.b., and capt. james trevenen. by their nephew, rev. john penrose, m.a. portraits. vo. s. d. v. nineveh and its remains; being a narrative of researches and discoveries amidst the ruins of assyria. with an account of the chaldeau christians of kurdistan; the yezidis, or devil-worshippers, and an inquiry into the manners and arts of the ancient assyrians. by austen h. layard, d.c.l. fourth edition. with plates and woodcuts. vols. vo. s. vi. lives of the chief justices of england. from the norman conquest to the death of lord mansfield. by the right hon. lord chief justice campbell. vols. vo., s. vii. horace. a new edition, beautifully printed, and illustrated by engravings of coins, gems, bas-reliefs, statues, &c., taken chiefly from the antique. edited, with a life, by rev. h.h. milman, dean of st. paul's. with vignettes. crown vo. "not a page can be opened where the eye does not light upon some antique gem. mythology, history, art, manners, topography, have all their fitting representatives. it is the highest praise to say, that the designs throughout add to the pleasure with which horace is read. many of them carry us back to the very portraitures from which the old poets drew their inspirations."--_classical museum._ john murray: albemarle street. * * * * * numismatics.--mr. c.r. taylor respectfully invites the attention of collectors and others to his extensive stock of ancient and modern coins and medals, which will be found to be generally fine in condition, at prices unusually moderate. this collection includes a magnificent specimen of the famous decadrachm, or medallion of syracuse: the extremely rare fifty-shilling piece and other coins of cromwell; many fine proofs and pattern pieces of great rarity and interest; also, some choice cabinets, numismatic works, &c. orders, however small, punctually attended to. articles forwarded to any part of the country for inspection, and every information desired promptly furnished,. coins, &c., bought, sold, or exchanged; and commissions faithfully executed. address, . tavistock street, covent garden. * * * * * { } english historical portraits. this series of portraits, illustrative of english history, is engraved from highly-finished drawings of original pictures, existing in various galleries and family collections throughout the country, made with scrupulous accuracy by mr. g.p. harding: the greater portion never having been previously engraved. m.m. holloway, having purchased the whole of the impressions and plates, now offers the sets in a folio volume, bound in cloth, and including biographical letter-press to each subject, at the greatly reduced price of _£_ s. d., and _£_ s. d., for proofs before letters, of which but copies remain. the collection consists of the following portraits:-- king henry viii. and the emperor charles v., from the original, formerly in the strawberry hill gallery. queen katharine of arragon, from a miniature by holbein, in the possession of the duke of buccleugh. sir anthony browne, k.g., from the original in the possession of thomas baylis, esq., f.s.a. anthony browne, viscount montague, k.g., from the collection of the marquess of exeter. edward vere, earl of oxford, from the original picture in the collection of the duke of portland. sir william russell, baron thornhaugh, lord deputy of ireland, from the original picture in the collection of the duke of bedford. william camden, clarenceux king of arms, from the picture in the possession of the earl of clarendon. sir anthony shirley, ambassador from the court of persia to james i., from the original miniature by peter oliver. henry carey, lord falkland, lord deputy of ireland, from the original by vansomer, formerly in the strawberry hill collection. sir robert dudley, son of the earl of leicester, from the original miniature by n. hilliard, in the possession of lord de l'isle and dudley. the right hon. william lenthall, speaker of the house of commons, from a miniature by j. cooper, in the possession of r.s. holford, esq. margaret cavendish, duchess of newcastle, from the original picture in the collection of f. vernon wentworth, esq. sir thomas browne, m.d., of norwich, from an original picture in the college of physicians, london. sir charles scarborough, m.d., physician to charles ii., james ii., and william iii., from the original picture in the barber-surgeons' hall. flora macdonald, from the original by a. ramsay, , in the picture gallery, oxford. m.m. holloway, . bedford street, covent garden. * * * * * originally published at l. s., now re-issued by washbourne, new bridge street, in vols. vo., at l. s. the complete works of venerable bede, collected and edited by the rev. dr. giles, comprising the commentary on holy scripture, ecclesiastical history, homilies, tracts, letters, poems, life, &c. &c., in latin and english.--also, the miscellaneous works and life of bede, published at l. s., may, for a short period, be had at l. s. d., in vols. vo., cloth, lettered contents. it is intended to raise the price of these immediately on the disposal of a moiety of the small stock now on hand. "a new edition of bede's works is now published by dr. giles, who has made a discovery amongst the ms. treasures which can scarcely fail of presenting the venerable anglo-saxon's homilies in a far more trustworthy form than the press has hitherto produced them."--_soames's edition of mosheim's note_, vol. ii. p . * * * * * preparing for publication, with the sanction of the society of arts, and the committee of the ancient and mediæval exhibition, a description of the works of ancient and mediæval art collected at the society of arts in ; with historical introductions on the various arts, and notices of the artists. by augustus w. franks, honorary secretary. the work will be handsomely printed in super-royal vo., and will be amply illustrated with wood engravings by p.h. de la motte. a large paper edition will be printed if a sufficient number of subscribers be obtained beforehand. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents notes:-- dr. johnson and dr. warton, by f.h. markland. spenser's monument. borrowed thoughts, by s.w. singer. folk lore:--easter eggs--a cure for warts--charm for wounds--fifth son--cwm wybir. bartholomew legate, the martyr. bohn's edition of milton's prose works. reprint of jeremy taylor's works. dr. thos. bever's legal polity of great britain. queries:-- dr. richard holsworth and thos. fuller. queries upon cunningham's handbook of london. on a passage in macbeth. minor queries:--as throng as throp's wife--trimble family--"brozier." replies:-- the dodo queries, by s.w. singer. abbey of st. wandrille. origin of the word "news." replies to minor queries:--dr. whichcot and lord shaftesbury--elizabeth and isabel--trunck breeches--mercenary preacher--abdication of james ii.--toom shawn cattie--wotton's poem to lord bacon--"my mind to me a kingdom is"--gesta grayorum--marylebone gardens--mother of thomas à becket--dr. strode's poem--lord carrington--esquires and gentlemen--early inscriptions--american aborigines--vox populi--dutch language--salting, &c. miscellanies:-- bishop burnet as an historian--dance thumbkin--king's coffee house--spur money. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notice to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes dr. johnson and dr. warton. amongst the poems of the rev. thos. warton, vicar of basingstoke, who is best remembered as the father of two celebrated sons, is one entitled _the universal love of pleasure_, commencing-- "all human race, from china to peru, pleasure, howe'er disguised by art, pursue." &c. &c. warton died in , and his poems were published in . johnson's _vanity of human wishes_ appeared in ; but boswell believes that it was composed in the preceding year. that poem, as we well remember, commences thus tamely:-- "let observation with extensive view, survey mankind from china to peru." though so immeasurably inferior to his own, johnson may have noticed these verses of warton's with some little attention, and unfortunately borrowed the only prosaic lines in his poem. besides the imitation before quoted, both writers allude to charles of sweden. thus warton says,-- "'twas hence rough charles rush'd forth to ruthless war." johnson, in his highly finished picture of the same monarch, says,-- "war sounds the trump, he rushes to the field." j.h. markland. bath. * * * * * spenser's monument. in the _lives of english poets_, by william winstanley (london, printed by h. clark for samuel manship, ), in his account of spenser, p. ., he says, "he died anno , and was honourably buried at the sole charge of robert, first of that name, earl of essex, on whose monument is written this epitaph:-- "edmundus spenser, londinensis, anglicorum poetarum nostri seculi fuit princeps, quod ejus poemata, faventibus musis, et victuro genio conscripa comprobant. obiit immatura morte, anno salutis , et prope galfredum chaucerum conditur, qui foelicisime poesin anglicis literis primus illustravit. in quem hæc scripta sunt epitaphia. "hic prope chaucerum situs est spenserius, illi prominens ingenio, proximum ut tumulo hic prope chaucerum spensere poeta poetam conderis, et versud quam tumulo proprior, anglica te vivo vixit, plausitque l'oesis; nunc moritura timet, te moriente mori." i have also a folio copy of spenser, printed by henry hills for jonathan edwin, london, . in a short life therein printed, it says that he was buried near chaucer, ; and the frontispiece is an engraving of his tomb, by e. white, which bears this epitaph:-- "heare lyes (expecting the second comminge of our saviour, christ jesus) the body of edmond spenser, the prince of poets in his tyme, whose divine spirit needs noe othir witness than the works which he left behind { } him. he was borne in london in the yeare , and died in the yeare ." beneath are these lines:-- "such is the tombs the noble essex gave great spenser's learned reliques, such his grave: howe'er ill-treated in his life he were, his sacred bones rest honourably here." how are these two epitaphs, with their differing dates, to be reconciled? can he have been born in , as the first one says "obiit _immaturâ_ morte?" now eighty-five is not very immature; and i believe he entered at pembroke college, cambridge, in , at which time he would be fifty-nine, and that at a period when college education commenced at an earlier age than now. vertue's portrait, engraved , takes as a motto the last two lines of the first epitaph--"anglica te vivo," &c. e.n.w southwark, april . * * * * * borrowed thoughts. crenius wrote a dissertation _de furibus librariis_, and j. conrad schwarz another _de plagio literario_, in which some curious appropriations are pointed out; your pages have already contained some additional recent instances. the writers thus pillaged might exclaim, "pereant iste qui _post_ nos nostra dixerunt." two or three instances have occurred to me which, i think, have not been noticed. goldsmith's _madame blaize_ is known to be a free version of _la fameuse la galisse_. his well-known epigram,-- "here lies poor ned purdon, from misery freed," is borrowed from the following by the chevalier de cailly (or d'aceilly, as he writes himself) entitled,-- "_la mort du sieur etienne_. "il est au bout de ses travaux, il a passé le sieur etienne; en ce monde il eut tant des maux, qu'on ne croit pas qu'il revienne." another well-know epigram,-- "i do not like thee, doctor fell," is merely a version of the d epigram of the first books of those by the witty roger de bussy, comte de rabutin:-- "je ne vous aime pas, hylas, je n'en saurois dire la cause, je sais seulement une chose; c'est que je ne vous aime pas." lastly, prior's epitaph on himself has its prototype in one long previously written by or for one john carnegie:-- "johnnie carnegie lais heer, descendit of adam and eve, gif ony con gang hieher, i'se willing gie him leve." s.w. singer * * * * * folk lore. _easter eggs_ (no. . p. .).--the custom recorded by brande as being in use in the north of england in his time, still continues in richmondshire. _a cure for warts_ is practised with the utmost faith in east sussex. the nails are cut, the cuttings carefully wrapped in paper, and placed in the hollow of a pollard ash, concealed from the birds; when the paper decays, the warts disappear. for this i can vouch: in my own case the paper did decay, and the warts did all disappear, and, of course, the effect was produced by the cause. does the practice exist elsewhere? _charm for wounds._--boys, in his _history of sandwich_, gives, (p. .) the following from the corporation records, : a woman examined touching her power to charm wounds who-- "sayesth that she can charme for fyer and skalding in forme as oulde women do, sayeng 'owt fyer in frost, in the name of the father, the sonne, and the holly ghost;' and she hath used when the skyn of children do cleve fast, to advise the mother to annoynt them with the mother's milk and oyle olyfe; and for skalding to take oyle olyfe only." w. durrant cooper. _fifth son._--what is the superstition relating to a fifth son? i should be glad of any illustrations of it. there certainly are instances in which the fifth son has been the most distinguished scion of the family. w.s.g. _cwn wybir, or cwn annwn_--_curlews_ (no. . p. ).--the late ingenious and well-informed mr. william weston young, then residing in glamorgan, gave me the following exposition of these mysterious _dogs of the sky_, or _dogs of the abyss_, whose aërial cries at first perplexed as well as startled him. he was in the habit of traversing wild tracts of country, in his profession of land surveyor and often rode by night. one intensely dark night he was crossing a desolate range of hills, when he heard a most diabolical yelping and shrieking in the air, horrible enough in such a region and at black midnight. he was not, however, a superstitious man, and, being an observant naturalist, had paid great attention to the notes of birds, and the remarkable variations between the day and night notes of the same species. he suspected these strange unearthly sounds to be made by some gregarious birds on the wing; but { } the darkness was impenetrable, and he gazed upwards in vain. the noises, meanwhile, were precisely those which he had heard ascribed to the _cwn wybir_, and would have been truly appalling to a superstitious imagination. his quick ear at length caught the rush of pinions, and, in a short time, a large flight of curlews came sweeping down to the heather, so near his head, that some of their wings brushed his hat. they were no sooner settled, than the _cwn wybir_ ceased to be heard. mr. young then recollected having noticed similar nocturnal cries from the curlew, but had never before encountered such a formidable flying legion of those birds, screaming in a great variety of keys, amidst mountain echoes. elijah waring. * * * * * bartholomew legate, the martyr. an erroneous date, resting on such authorities as mr. hallam and mr. j. payne collier, deserves a note. the former in his _const. hist._ (ii. . note, second edition), and the latter in the _egerton papers_, printed for the camden society (p. .), assigns the date to the death of bartholomew legate at smithfield. the latter also gives the date march . now the true date is march , - , as will appear by consulting-- . the commissions and warrants for the burning of legate and wightman, inserted in _truth brought to light, or the narrative history of king james for the first fourteen years_, to. ; . chamberlain's _letters to sir dudley carleton_, dated feb. , ( - ), and march , , printed in _the court and times of james i._, vol. i. pp. . .; and . wallace's _antitrinitarian biography_, vol. ii. p. . fuller, in his _church history_, gives the correct date, and states that his "burning of heretics much startled common people;" "wherefore king james politicly preferred that heretics hereafter, though condemned, should silently and privately waste themselves away in the prison." legate and wightman were, in fact, the last martyrs burnt at the stake in england for their religious opinions. a.b.r. * * * * * bohn's edition of milton's prose works. three volumes of this edition have already appeared, the last bearing the date of , and concluding thus:--"end of vol. iii." in the latest catalogue, which mr. bohn has appended to his publications, appears a notice of "milton's prose works, _complete_ in vols." this word _complete_ is not consistent with the words terminating the last volume, nor with the exact truth. for instance, the history of britain does not find a place in this edition; and i can hardly believe that mr. bohn originally intended that the prose works of milton should be issued from his press without a full index. without such an index, this edition is comparatively worthless to the investigator of history. i would therefore suggest to mr. bohn (whose services to literature i most gratefully acknowledge), that he should render his edition of milton's prose works _really complete_, by issuing a fourth volume, which _inter alia_, might contain the _latin_ prose works of milton, reprinted in fletcher's edition of , together with any omitted english prose work of the author, and be terminated, as is usual in mr. bohn's publications, with a full alphabetical index, embracing both persons and things. the lover of historical pursuits would then have _fresh_ reason to thank mr. bohn. n. * * * * * reprint of jeremy taylor's works. a reprint being called for of vol. iv. of _bishop jeremy taylor's works_, now in course of publication, i would beg permission to make it known to your readers, that assistance in regard to any references which were not verified in the former edition of that volume would be very acceptable to me. they should be sent within the next fortnight. c. page eden. * * * * * dr. thomas bever's legal polity of great britain. i do not know if such a notice as this is intended to be, is admissible into your publication. many years ago, i bought of a bookseller a ms. intitled "a short history of the legal and judicial polity of great britain, attempted by thos. bever, ll.d., advocate in doctor's commons, and fellow of all souls college, oxford, ." it is presented to richard pennant, esq.; and there is a letter from mr. bever to mr. pennant wafered to the fly-leaf. at the close of the "advertisement," the author "earnestly requests that it [the work] may not be suffered to fall into the hands of a bookseller, or be copied, without his consent: and whenever it shall become useless, and lose its value (if any it ever had) with the present owner, that he will be kind enough to return it to the author if living, or if dead, to any of his surviving family at mortimer near reading, berks." in pious sympathy with this wish, i more than thirty years since wrote a letter, addressed to "---- bever, esq., mortimer, near reading, berks," offering to give up the volume to any one entitled to it under the above description; but my letter was returned from the post office with the announcement "not found" upon it. i make this other attempt, if you are pleased to admit it, through you; and immediate attention will be paid to any claim which may appear in your pages. j.r. * * * * * { } queries. dr. richard holsworth and thos. fuller. can any of your readers inform me who was the author of _the valley of vision_, published in as the work of dr. richard holsworth, the master of emmanuel college, and dean of worcester. in a preface to the reader, fuller laments "that so worthy a man should dye issulesse without leaving any books behind him for the benefit of learning and religion." he adds that the private notes which he had left behind him were dark and obscure; his hand being legible only to himself, and almost useless for any other. the sermon published as _the valley of vision_ appears to have been prepared for publication from the notes of a short-hand writer. when fuller published, about eleven years afterwards, his _worthies of england_, he wrote thus:-- "pity it is so learned a person left no monuments (save a sermon) to posterity; for _i behold that posthume work as none of his, named by the transcriber the valley of vision_, a scripture expression, but here misplaced.... this i conceived myself in credit and conscience concerned to observe, because i was surprised at the _preface_ to the book, and will take the blame rather than clear myself, when my innocency is complicated with the accusing of others." if, as is probable, dr. holsworth, in this instance, preached other men's sermons, which the short-hand writer afterwards gave to the world as his, it is a singular fact, that in the preface of this supposititious volume, fuller speaks of the abuse of printed sermons by some-- "who lazily imp their wings with other men's plumes, wherewith they soar high in common esteeme, yet have not the ingenuity with that son of the prophet to confesse, alasse! it was borrowed." a.b.r. * * * * * queries upon cunningham's handbook of london. we promised to make a few queries on this amusing volume, and thus redeem our promise. mr. cunningham has been the first to point out the precise situation of a spot often mentioned by our old dramatists, which had baffled the ingenuity of gifford, dyce, and in fact of all the commentators,--the notorious picthatch. he thus describes it:-- "_picthatch_, or _pickehatch_.--a famous receptacle for prostitutes and pickpockets, generally supposed to have been in _turnmill street_, near clerkenwell green, but its position is determined by a grant of the rd of queen elizabeth, and a survey of . what _was_ picthatch is a street at the back of a narrow turning called middle row (formerly rotten row) opposite the charter-house wall in goswell street. the name is still preserved in 'pickax yard' adjoining middle row." why then, among the curious illustrations which he has brought to bear upon the subject, has mr. cunningham omitted that of the origin of the name from the "picks upon the hatch?" which is clearly established both by malone and steevens, in their notes upon "'twere not amiss to keep our door hatch'd," in pericles. the following is an excellent suggestion as to the origin of the-- "_goat and compasses._--at cologne, in the church of santa maria in capitolio, is a flat stone on the floor professing to be the grabstein der brüder und schwester eines ehrbaren wein-und fass-ampts, anno ; that is, as i suppose, a vault belonging to the wine coopers' company. the arms exhibit a shield with a pair of compasses, an axe, and a dray, or truck, with goats for supporters. in a country like england, dealing so much at one time in rhenish wine, a more likely origin for such a sign could hardly be imagined. for this information i am indebted to the courtesy of sir edmund head." can mr. cunningham, sir e. head, or any of our correspondents point out any german "randle holme" whose work may be consulted for the purpose of ascertaining the arms, &c. of the various professions, trades, &c. of that country? why has not mr. cunningham, in his description of _st. james' street_, mentioned what certainly existed long after the commencement of the present century, the occasional "steps" which there were in the foot-path--making the street a succession of terraces. this fact renders intelligible the passage quoted from pope's letter to mr. pearse, in which he speaks of "y'e second terras in st. james' street." why, too, omit that characteristic feature of the street, the rows of _sedan chairs_ with which it was formerly lined? the writer of this perfectly remembers seeing queen charlotte in her sedan chair, going from the queen's library in the green park to buckingham house. mr. cunningham states, we dare say correctly, that sheridan died at no. saville row. we thought he had died at mr. peter moore's, in great george street, westminster. was he not living there shortly before his death? and did not his funeral at westminster abbey proceed from mr. moore's? * * * * * on a passage in macbeth. if any of your correspondents would favour me, i should like to be satisfied with respect to the following passage in macbeth; which, as at present punctuated, is exceedingly obscure:-- "if it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly: if the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch, with his surcease, success; that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all here, { } but here, upon this bank and shoal of time,-- we'd jump the life to come." now, i think by altering the punctuation, the sense of the passage is at once made apparent, as thus,-- "if it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well. it were done quickly, if the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch, with his surcease, success, that but this blow might be the be-all and the end all here," &c. but to make use of a paradox, it is _not_ done when it _is_ done; for this reason, there is the conscience to torment the evil-doer while living, and the dread of punishment in another world after death: the "bank and shoal of time" refers to the interval between life and death, and to "_jump_" the life to come is to _hazard_ it. the same thought occurs in _hamlet_, when he alludes to-- "that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveller returns." but that is clear enough, as in all probability the annotators left the passage as they found it. i have not the opportunity of consulting mr. collier's edition of shakespeare, so that i am unaware of the manner in which he renders it; perhaps i ought to have done so before i troubled you. possibly some of your readers may be disposed to coincide with me in the "new reading;" and if not, so to explain it that it may be shown it is my own obscurity, and not shakespeare's, with which i ought to cavil. i have witnessed many representations of _macbeth_, and in every instance the passage referred to has been delivered as i object to it: but that is not to be wondered at, for there are professed admirers of shakspeare among actors who read him _not_ as if they understood him, but who are-- "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." g. blink. * * * * * minor queries. _as throng as throp's wife._--as i was busy in my garden yesterday, a parishioner, whose eighty-two years of age render her a somewhat privileged person to have a gossip with, came in to speak to me. with a view to eliciting material for a note or a query, i said to her, "you see i am _as throng as throp's wife_;" to which she replied, "aye, sir, and _she_ hanged herself in the dishcloth." the answer is new to me; but the proverb itself, as well as the one mentioned by "d.v.s." (no. . p. .) "as lazy as ludlum's dog, &c.," has been an especial object of conjecture to me as long as i can remember. i send this as a pendant to "d.v.s.'s" query, in hopes of shortly seeing the origin of _both_ these curious sayings. j.e. ecclesfield, sheffield, april . . _trimble family._--in a ms. account of the fellows of king's i find the following:-- " .--rich. trimble, a very merry fellow, the fiddle of the society, who called him 'mad trimble.' m. stokes of wrote this distich on him:-- 'os, oculi, mentum, dens, guttur, lingua, palatum sunt tibi; sed nasus, trimbale, dic ubi sit?' by which it appears he had a very small nose; and this day, july , , i hear that there is one mr. r. trimble of an english family, an apothecary at lisburn in ireland, who is remarkable for the same." as "notes and queries" circulate in ireland, are there any of the family of "trimble" now in that country, and are they distinguished by any such peculiarity? j.h.l. _the word "brozier."_--my brother etonians will feelingly recollect the word "brozier," used by the boys for nearly a century to denote any one who had spent his pocket-money; an event of very frequent occurrence shortly after the holidays. there were also sometimes attempts made to "_brozier my dame_," in case a suspicion had arisen that the good lady's larder was not too well supplied. the supper table was accordingly cleared of all the provisions, and a further stock of eatables peremptorily demanded. i spell the word "brozier" as it is still pronounced; perhaps some of your readers have seen it in print, and may be able to give some account of its origin and etymology, and decide whether it is exclusively belonging to eton. braybrooke. april . * * * * * replies. the dodo queries. there is no mention of the solitaire as inhabiting bourbon, either in père brown's letter or in the _voyage de l'arabic heureuse_, from whence the notice of the oiseau bleu was extracted. i have since seen dellon, _rélation d'un voyage des indes orientales_, vols. mo. paris, , in which there is a brief notice of the isle of bourbon or mascarin; but neither the dodo, the solitaire, or the oiseau bleu are noticed. the large bat is mentioned, and the writer says that the french who were on the island did not eat it, but only the indians. he also notices the tameness of the birds, and says that the flammand, with its long neck, is the only bird it was necessary to use a gun against, the others being readily destroyed with a stick or taken by hand. mr. strickland's correction of the error about the monumental evidence of the discovery of bourbon by the portuguese, in , will aid research into the period at which it was first visited and named; but my stock of portuguese literature is but small, and not all of it accessible { } to me at present. in the meantime it may be acceptable to mr. strickland to know, that there is a detailed account of portuguese discoveries in a book whose title would hardly indicate it, in which one passage will probably interest him. i allude to the rare and interesting folio volume printed at lisbon in . _de rebus emanuelis regis lusitanie, invictissimi virtute et auspicio gestis, auctore hieronymo osorio episcopo silvensis_. these annals embrace the period from to . in narrating the principal events of vasco de gama's first voyage, after he had rounded the cape of good hope on the th november, , steering to the east along the southern coast of africa, the vessels anchor in the bay of st. blaize, where-- "in intimo sinu est parva quædam insula, ad quam nostri aquandi gratia naves-appulerunt. ibi phocarum armenta conspexere admiranda quædam multitudine. in quibus inerat tanta feritas et truculentia, ut in homines irruerent. aves etiam eo in loco visæ sunt, quas incolas apellant solticarios, pares anscribus magnitudine: plumis minime vestiuntur, alas habent similes alis verspertionum: volare nequeunt, sed explicatis alarum membranis, cursum celeritate summa conficiunt." the islet was probably that of _la cruz_; but what were the birds? and what was the indigenous name which is represented by _solticarios_? it is possible that some of your correspondents may be familiar with the original narration which osorio follows, or mr. strickland may be able to solve the question. i may just remark, that my observation respecting the improbability of tradescant's stuffed specimen having been a fabrication could hardly be considered superfluous, seeing that some naturalists, dr. gray, i believe, among others, had suggested that it most probably was one. s.w. singer. may . . * * * * * abbey of st. wandrille. in reply to the vicar of ecclesfield (no. . p. .), i am sorry to say that the "chronicle of the abby of st. wandrille," to which i alluded (no. . p. .), contains nothing relating to the subject of his inquiry. the abbey of fontanelle, or st. wandrille, was founded a.d. ; and this chronicle contains a very concise account of a few only of its abbots and most celebrated members, down to the year : written, it is supposed, by a cotemporary of ansegisus, the last abbot therein mentioned. it is followed by an appendix containing a compilation from a book on miracles wrought in the translation of the body of st. wilfran, by an "eye-witness," which also recounts incidentally some of the acts of the abbots of st. wandrille to the year . acheri speaks of persons who had been long engaged in collecting memorials of the history of this abbey up to the time of his writing, . whether these have ever been published, i have not the means at this moment of ascertaining. some account of this abbey, with views of its ruins, will be found in that splendid work, _voyages dans l'ancienne france_, by nodier, &c., vol. i. the following notes from this chronicle may not be without interest, as showing an early connection between the abbey and this country, and our attachment to the see of rome. chapter v. is devoted to the praise of bagga, a monk and presbyter of this abbey, who is said to have been "ex britanniâ oceani insula saxonico ex genere ortus." he died, and was buried in the abbey, between the years and ; on which occasion the abbot benignus is said to have exclaimed, "o signifer fortissime christi militiæ bagga, nunc mercedem laborum lætus accipis tuorum. deprecare ipsum benignum dominum, ut unà tecum mereamur gaudere consortiis justorum per ævum." here is a prayer not for, but _to_ the dead. during the presidency of austrulphus (ch. .), which began in and ended in , a certain receptacle, in the form of a small _pharos_, was driven ashore in the district of coriovallum, which contained a very fair copy of the four gospels, beautifully written in roman characters on the purest vellum; and part of the precious jaw of st. george the martyr, as well as a portion of the "health-bearing" wood of the true cross, duly labelled. the acquisition of this treasure was of course ascribed to the immediate interposition of god. and as about the same period the head of st. george was discovered at rome, through the intervention of pope zachary, it was conjectured that this pontiff had given the wonder-working relic to some venerable men from _britain_, a country described as being "always on the most intimate footing (_maximè familiares_) with the apostolic see;" and that, these being wrecked on their voyage home, or through some other adventure, the said treasure was providentially driven ashore at coriovallum. chapter xv. gives us an account of gervoldus, who ruled this abbey eighteen years, dying a.d. . he had been ambassador from charlemagne to offa, king of mercia. the son of charlemagne demanded the daughter of offa in marriage, who refused his consent, unless his own son should receive the hand of bertha, the daughter of the french king. charles, in consequence, inhibited the subjects of offa from trading on the french coast. this inhibition was, however, withdrawn through the mediation of the abbot gervoldus, who seems to have been in great favour with charles. i need hardly say, that throughout the chronicle there is a tolerable sprinkling of the marvellous. { } i give you the following as a warning to all dishonest bell-founders. the pious builder of a church being desirous, according to custom, of putting a bell in the turret, engaged a skillful craftsman to carry into effect his design. this man, "at the instigation of the devil," stole some of the metal with which he had been furnished for the work; and the bell was, in consequence, mis-shapen and of small size. it was, however, placed in the turret; but, as a divine punishment for his crime, whenever the bell was struck, the dishonest founder was thereupon seized with frenzy, uttering strange words and barking like a dog! gastros. * * * * * origin of the word "news." i have great respect for "mr. samuel hickson," but i cannot treat his derivation of the word "news" with any respect (no. . p. .). i wish "mr. hickson" had been a little more modest in his manner of propounding his novelty. can any thing be more dogmatic than his assertions? which i will recapitulate as much as possible in his own words, before i proceed to deal with them. . "i have never had the least doubt that this word is derived immediately from the german." . "it is, in fact, 'das neue' in the genitive case;" and "mr. h." proceeds to mention the german phrase, "was giebt's neues?" as giving the exact sense of our "what is the news?" [which cannot be gainsaid; but i shall have a word to say presently about _neues_ in that phrase being the genitive case.] . "that the word is not derived from the english adjective 'new,'--that it is not of english manufacture at all--i feel well assured." . "in that case '_s_' would be the sign of the plural; and we should have, as the germans have, either extant or obsolete, also 'the new.'" [i do not see the _sequitur_.] "'news' is a noun singular, and as such must have been adopted bodily into the language." such are "mr. hickson's" principal assertions: and when i add, that he has found out that the german "neu" was in olden time spelt "new," so that the genitive, "newes," was identical with the old form of the english word "news;" and that he explains the transformation of a genitive case of a german adjective into an english substantive by english ignorance, which he further thinks is exemplified by the koran having been called "the alkoran," in ignorance of "_al_" meaning "the," i have given not only all of his assertions, but also the whole of his argument. i now proceed to assert on my part that the word "news" is not "derived immediately from the german," and "has not been adopted bodily into our language;" that the english "new" and german "neu" have, however, of course the same origin, their common root being widely spread in other languages, as [greek: neos], gr.; _norus_, lat.; _neuf_, fr., &c.; that "news" is a noun of plural form and plural meaning, like _goods_, _riches_, &c.; that its peculiar and frequent use is quite sufficient to account for its having come to be used as a singular noun ("riches," by the way, may be prefixed sometimes to a singular verb, as "riches is a cause of corruption"); that mr. hickson might as well say that "goods" is derived immediately from "gutes," the genitive of "gut;" and "riches" from "reiches," the genitive of "reich:" and also that if "_s_" in "goods," and "_es_" in "riches" are signs of the plural, "we should have, as the germans have, either extant or obsolete," the "good," "the rich," (not that i quite understand this part of "mr. hickson's" argument): and, lastly, i assert that i believe that _neues_, in the phrase "was giebt's neues?" is not the genitive, but the nominative neuter, so that the phrase is to be literally translated "what is there new?" as regards the derivation of "news," i wish you had allowed the question to rest as it stood after the sensible remarks of "a.e.b." (no. . p. .). pray excuse me, sir, for expressing a hope that you will ponder well before you again allow us to be puzzled on so plain a subject, and give circulation and your sanction to paradoxes, even though coming from one so entitled to attention as "mr. hickson." the early communication between the english and german languages, of which "mr. hickson" puts forward the derivation of "news" from "neues" as an instance, may be an interesting and profitable subject of inquiry; but as i think he has been singularly unfortunate in the one instance, so i do not think him particularly happy in his other. i see no further resemblance between heywood's "song in praise of his mistress," and the early german poem, than what _might_ arise from treatment of the same and a very common subject. i am not enough of an etymologist to give you the root of the word "noise." but my faith in "mr. hickson" in this capacity is not strong enough to lead me to believe, on his dictum, that "news" and "noise" are the same word; and when, pursuing his fancy about "neues," he goes on to say that "noise" is "from a dialect from which the modern german pronunciation of the dipthong is derived," i fear his pronunciation of german is faulty, if he pronounces _eu_ in "neues" like _oi_ in "noise." [we differ from our correspondent on this point, and think that here, at all events, mr. hickson has the advantage of the argument.] i beg to repeat that for "mr. hickson" i feel great respect. if he knew my name, he would probably know nothing about me; but i happen { } to know of him, what perhaps, some of your readers do not, that he has unostentatiously rendered many considerable services not only to literature but to our social and political interests. in my humble opinion, his recent essay in your columns on _the taming of the shrew_ is a contribution to our literary history which you may be proud of having published. but i feel that i cannot too strongly protest against his derivation of "news." ch. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _dr. whichcot and lord shaftesbury_ (no. . p. ., no. . p. .).--i am obliged to "coll. regal. socius" for his notice of my inquiry. the lord chamberlain and chancellor of cambridge university mentioned in lord lauderdale's letter to dr. whichcot, is the earl of manchester. shaftesbury was never either lord chamberlain or chancellor of cambridge. i may mention that whichcot's intimacy with lord shaftesbury would probably have been brought about by his being incumbent of the church of st. lawrence jewry, shaftesbury having his london house in the latter part of his life in aldersgate street. if it is not committing unpardonable trespass on that useful part of your publication in which books and odd volumes are asked for, i will go on to say that i should be glad to have a copy of the volume of whichcot's _sermons_ ( ) which the third lord shaftesbury edited, at a reasonable price. ch. _elizabeth and isabel_ (no. . p. .).--mr. thomas duffus hardy, in his evidence on the camoys peerage case (june . , evidence, p. .) proved that the names of isabella and elizabeth were in ancient times used indifferently, and particularly in the reigns of edward i. and edward iii. mr. hardy says in his evidence:-- "in the british museum there is a latin letter of elizabeth of austria, queen of charles ix. of france, to queen elizabeth of england. in the latin she is called elizabetha, and she signs her name ysabel. in the _chronicle de st. denis_, in the year , it is stated, 'le jor martmes espousa la noble roine ysabel,' 'upon this day, queen elizabeth was married;' and in _rigordus de gestis philippi augusti regis francois_ it is stated, 'tune inuncta fuit elizabeth uxor ejus venerabilis foemina;' and moreri says she is called 'elizabeth or izabeau de hainault, queen of france, wife of philippe auguste.' camden, in his _remains_, says, 'isabel is the same as elizabeth;' that the spaniards always translate elizabeth into isabel, and the french into izabeau. i have seen in the british museum a deed, in which the name elizabetha is written in latin; on the seal it is isabella. in the _inquisitiones post mortem_ i have frequently seen ysabella returned in one country and elizabetha in an other for the same person. i have something like a dozen other instances from moreri, in which he says that elizabeth and isabella or isabeau are the same. elizabeth or izabeau de france, dau. of lewis viii. and blanche of castella; elizabeth or isabelle d'aragon, queen of france, wife of philippe iii., surnamed le hardie; elizabeth or isabeau de bavière, queen of france, wife of charles vi.; elizabeth or isabeau d'angoulême, wife of king john of england; elizabeth or isabeau de france, queen of england, dau. of philippe iv.; elizabeth or isabelle of france, queen of richard ii.; elizabeth or isabelle de france, queen of navarre; elizabeth or isabelle de valois, dau. of charles of france; elizabeth or isabelle de france, dau. of philippe le long, king of france; elizabeth or isabelle de france, duchess of milan; elizabeth or isabelle, queen of philippe v. of spain." wm. durrant cooper. . guildford street, may . . _elizabeth--isabel._--the greek word [greek: elisabet] (luke, i. . &c.) from which elizabeth, or _elisabeth_, must have been adopted as a christian name, is used by the lxx. (exodus, vi. .) to express the hebrew [hebrew: elisheba], the name of aaron's wife. this at once directs us to the verb [hebrew: shaba], or rather to its niphal, [hebrew: nishba], for the _kal_ form does not occur, _to swear_; for the combination of letters in [hebrew: el isshaba], _god will swear_, or _god sweareth_, is the same as that in the proper name. now let us transpose the verb and its nominative case, and we have [hebrew: ishaba el], which a greek translator might soften into [greek: isabel]. the use of [greek: elisabet] both by the lxx. and the evangelist, makes it probable that the mother of john the baptist, who was _of the daughters of aaron_ (luke, i. .), was known amongst her own people by the recognized and _family_ name of _elisheba_, as _anna_ no doubt would be _hannah_ ([hebrew: hanah]), and _mary, miriam_ ([greek: mariam], luke, i. .). and this is confirmed by the syriac version, the vernacular, or nearly so, of our blessed lord and his disciples, which has [syriac: elisheba]. genesius, in his _lexicon_, explains elisheba to mean "cui deus est sacramentum," "quæ jurat per deum, i.e. dei cultrix: cf. is. xix. ." i should rather take it to be a name expressive of trust in god's promises or oath, such as _elijah_, "the lord is my god;" _isaiah_, "the lord is my salvation;" _ezekiel_, "god strengtheneth." schleusner (_lex. n.t._) says that others derived it from [hebrew: saba], _saturavit_; "sic in alberti _gloss. n.t._, p. . explicatur, [greek: theou mou plaesmonae]." wolfius, in his note on luke, i. ., refers to witsii _miscellanea_, tom. ii. p. ., to which i must refer your correspondent "a.c.," as i have not the book by me. camden must, of course, have derived the name { } from [hebrew: shabath], _to rest_; but i think we must rather defer to the authority of the lxx. and though [hebrew: el ishaboth] may give us _elisabeth_, we shall not be able to deduce _isabel_ from [hebrew: ishboth el] quite so easily. b. l ---- rectory, s ----, may . . _trunck breeches_ (no. . p. .), more commonly called "trunk-hose," were short wide breeches reaching a little above, or sometimes below the knees, stuffed with hair, and striped. (see _the oxford manual for brasses_, p. cvi.; and planche's _british costume_, pp. - . new ed.) two years ago, i saw in the strand an old man with a _queue_; a sight which i made a note of as soon as i got home, influenced by the same motive that, no doubt, led smith in to append to the death of "old mr. grice" the remark, "who wore truncke breeches," namely, the antique singularity of the habiliment. arun. _mercenary preacher_ (no. . p. .).--i think mercenary here is used in its primary signification, and in the sense in which we still apply it to troops in the pay of a state foreign to their own; to designate one who, having no settled cure, was at liberty to be "hired" by those who had occasion for his services. arun. _abdication of james the second_ (no. . p. .).--"j.e." would probably hear of the mss. mentioned by sir harris nicholas, on application to the rev. sir thomas miller, bart., froyle, near alton, hants. e.w. clifton. _toom shawn cattie_ (no. . p. .).--an entertaining volume, containing the life and adventures of twm sion catti, was published at biulth some years ago, by mr. jeffery llewelyn prichard, who recently told me it was out of print, and that inquiries had been made for the book which might probably lead to a new and improved edition. elijah waring. dowry parade, clifton. _wotton's poem to lord bacon_ (no. . p. .).--the poem communicated by dr. rimbault, with the heading, "to the lord bacon when falling from favour," and with the remark that he does "not remember to have seen it in print," was written by sir henry wotton, and may be found under the title, "upon the sudden restraint of the _earl of somerset_, then falling from favour," in all the old editions of the _reliquiæ wottonianæ_ ( , , , and ), as well as in the modern editions of sir henry's poems, by mr. dyce and mr. hannah. it was also printed as wotton's in clarke's _aurea legenda_, , p. ., and more recently in campbell's _specimens_, in both cases, doubtless, from _rel. wotton_. the misapplication of it to lord bacon's fall dates from an unauthorised publication in , which misled park in his edition of walpole's _royal and noble authors_, ii. . in stanza . line . of dr. rimbault's copy, "burst" should be "trust." r.a. "_my mind to me a kingdom is_" (no. . p. .).--the following note, from the introduction to mr. hannah's edition of the poems of sir h. wotton and sir walter raleigh, , p. lxv., will answer dr. rimbault's query, and also show that a claim had been put in for sir e. dyer before mr. singer's very valuable communication to "notes and queries," p. . "there are three copies of verses on that model; two of which, viz., one of four stanzas and another of size, were printed by byrd in . they have been reprinted from his text in _cens. lit_ ii. - , and _exc. tudor_, i. - . percy inserted them in the _reliques_ with some alterations and additions; but he changed his mind more than once as to whether they were two distinct poems, or only the discovered parts of one (see i. - . ., ed. ; and i. - . ed. ). the third (containing four stanzas) is among sylvester's _posthumous poems_ p. .; and ellis reprinted it under his name. in _cens. lit._ ii. ., another copy of it is given from a music book by gibbons, . now the longest, and apparently the earliest of these poems is signed 'e. dier,' in ms. rawl. poet. ., fol. . that copy contains _eight_ stanzas, and one of the two which are not in byrd corresponds with a stanza which percy added. the following are the reasons which incline us to trust this ms.:--( .) because it is the very ms. to which reference is commonly made for several of dyer's unprinted poems, as by dr. bliss, _a.o._ i. .; and apparently by mr. dyce, ed. of greene, i. p. xxxv. n.; and by park, note on warton, iii. . park is the only person i can recollect who has mentioned this particular poem in the ms., and he cannot have read more than the first line, for he only says, 'one of them bears the popular burden of "my mind to me a kingdom is."' ( .) because it is quite impossible that dyer wrote many extant poems, of which he is not known to be the author; for, as mr. dyce says, none of his (_acknowledged_) productions 'have descended to our times that seem to justify the contemporary applause which he received.' ( .) because i cannot discover that there is any other claimant to this poem. one of greene's poems ends with the line, 'a mind content both crown and kingdom is.'" (_works_, ii. ., ed. dyce.) it will be observed that no mention is here made of the copy in breton's tract; therefore this summary gains from both the correspondents of "notes and queries"--an addition from the one, a corroboration from the other. r.a. _gesta grayorum_ (no. . p. .).--"j.s." is informed that copies of the _gesta grayorum_ are by no means uncommon. it was originally printed { } for _one shilling_; but the bibliomaniac must now pay from _twenty_ to _thirty shillings_ for a copy. the original, printed in , does not contain the second part, which was published by mr. nichols for the first time. copies are in the bodleian, and in the university library, cambridge. edward f. rimbault. _marylebone gardens_ (no. . p. .).--these gardens were finally closed in - . it is not generally known that, previous to the year , this "fashionable" place of amusement was entered _gratis_ by all ranks of people; but the company becoming more "select," mr. gough, the proprietor, determined to charge a shilling as entrance money, for which the party paying was to receive an equivalent in viands. edward f. rimbault. _mother of thomas à becket_ (no. . p. .).--an inspection of some of the numerous legends touching the blessed martyr, st. thomas of canterbury, would probably supply many interesting particulars concerning the story of his father's romantic marriage. but the most important narrative is that of herbert bosham, becket's secretary, who, it will be remembered, was present at his martyrdom. bosham's _vita et res gestæ thomæ episcopi cantuariensis_ is published in the _quadrilogus_, paris, . consult also the french translation of peter langtoft, and the english one by laurence wade, a benedictine monk of canterbury. robert of gloucester's metrical _legend of the life and martyrdom of thomas beket_, published by the percy society, under the editorial care of mr. w.h. black, fully confirms the "romance;" as also do the later historians, hollingshed, fox, and baker. edward f. rimbault. _dr. strode's poem_ (no. . p. .).--dr. strode's poem, beginning-- "return my joys, and hither bring--" which dr. rimbault does "not remember to have seen in print," is in ellis's _specimens_, iii. . ed. . he took it from _wit restored_, p. . ed. , or i. . reprint. it is the second poem mentioned by dr. bliss, _a.o._ iii. ., as occurring with strode's name in ms. rawl. . r.a. "_all to-broke_" (no. . p. .).--surely the explanation of judges, ix. , is incorrect. ought not the words to be printed "and all-to brake his scull," where "all-to" = "altogether"? r.a. _woolton's christian manual_ (no. . p. .).--there is a copy in the grenville collection. novus. _tract by f.h._ (no. . p. .).--"j.e." may advance his knowledge about f.h. slightly, by referring to herbert's _ames_, p. . novus. _duke of marlborough_ (no. . p. .).--your correspondent "buriensis" is referred to the trial of william barnard, howell's _state trials_, xix. - .; the case of rex _v._ fielding, esq., burrow's _reports_, ii. . and lounger's _common place book_, tit. barnard, william. the greater part of this latter article is in leigh hunt's _one hundred romances of real life_, no. . c.h. cooper. cambridge, april . . ["c.i.r." refers "buriensis" to burke's _celebrated trials connected with the aristocracy_, london, ; and "j.p. jun." refers to leigh hunt's _london journal_, no. . p. ., no. . p. .] _lord carrington or karinthon_ (no. . p. .).--the nobleman about whom "c." inquires, was sir charles smith, created an english baron charles i., by the title of lord carrington, and afterwards advanced to the dignity of an irish viscount under the same name. these honours were conferred upon him for his services to the king in the time of his majesty's great distresses. on the th feb., , whilst travelling in france, lord carrington was barbarously murdered by one of his servants for the sake of his money and jewels, and buried at pontoise. (bankes' _dormant and extinct peerage_, vol. iii. p. .) the title became extinct circiter . braybooke. lord monson presents his compliments to the editor of "notes and queries," and has the pleasure of answering a query contained in this day's number, p. .; and takes the liberty of adding another. the english nobleman murdered at pontoise was charles smith, viscount carrington of barrefen, ireland, and baron carrington of wotton warem, co. warwick; the date in the pedigrees of the murder is usually given , probably march - . the last lord carrington died may, : the estates of wotton came to lewis smith, who married eliz., daughter of william viscount monson, and relict of sir philip hungate. his son francis smith carrington died in , and left one daughter and heir. what relation was lewis smith to the smiths lord carrington? no pedigree gives the connection. dover, may . . ["j.m.w." has kindly answered this query; so also has "w.m.t.," who adds, "lord carrington, previously sir charles smith, brother to sir john smith, who fell on the king's side at alresford in , being commissary-general of the horse. by the way, bankes says it was his _son_ john who fell at alresford, but it is more likely to have been, as clarendon states, his brother, unless he lost there both a brother and a son."] { } _esquires and gentlemen._--i would ask your correspondent (no. . p. .), whether he has ascertained _the grounds of distinction_ made in the seventeenth and in the early part of the eighteenth century, between _esquires_ and _gentlemen_, when both were landed proprietors? we find lists of names of governors of hospitals, trustees, &c., where this distinction is made, and which, apparently, can only be accounted for on this ground, that the estates of the gentleman were smaller in extent than those of the esquire; and, consequently, that the former was so far a person of less consideration. had the bearing of coat armour, or a connection with knighthood, any thing to do with the matter? j.h. markland. bath, may. _early inscriptions._--the excellent remarks by "t.s.d." on "arabic numerals, &c." (no. . p. .) have put me in mind of two cases which in some degree confirm the necessity for his caution respecting pronouncing definitively on the authenticity of old inscriptions, and especially those on "balks and beams" in old manorial dwellings. the house in which i spent the greater portion of my youth was a mansion of the olden time, whose pointed gables told a tale of years; and whose internal walls and principal floors, both below and above stairs, were formed of "raddle and daub." it had formerly belonged to a family of the name of abbot; but the "last of the race" was an extravagant libertine, and after spending a handsome patrimonial estate, ended his days as a beggar. abbot house was evidently an ancient structure; but unfortunately, as tradition stated, a stone, bearing the date of its erection, had been carelessly lost during some repairs. however, in my time, on the white wainscot of a long lobby on the second floor, the initials, "t.h. ," were distinctly traced in black paint, and many persons considered this as nothing less than a "true copy" of the lost inscription. subsequent inquiry, however, finally settled the point; for the inscription was traced to the rude hand of one of the workmen formerly employed in repairing the building, who naively excused himself by declaring that he considered it "a pity so old a house should be without a year of our lord." the second instance is that of the occurrence of "four nearly straight lines" on one of the compartments of a fine old font in stydd church, near ribchester, which many visitors have mistaken for the date " ." a closer scrutiny, however, soon dispels the illusion; and a comparison of this with similar inscriptions on the old oak beams of the roof, soon determines it to be nothing more than a rude, or somewhat defaced, attempt to exhibit the sacred monogram "i.h.s." j.w. burnley, april . . _american aborigines called indians_ (no. . p. .).--i believe the reason is that the continent in which they live passed under the name of _india_, with the whole of the new world discovered at the close of the fifteenth century. it is, of course, unnecessary to dwell upon the fact of columbus believing he had discovered a new route to india by sailing due west; or upon the acquiescence of the whole world in that idea, the effects of which have not yet passed away; for we not only hear in seville, even now, of the "india house" meaning house of management of affairs for the "new world," but we even retain ourselves the name of the west indies, given as unwarrantably to the islands of the caribbean sea. it is needless to do more than allude to this, and to other misnomers still prevalent, notwithstanding the fact of the notions or ideas under which the names were originally given having long since been exploded; such as the "four quarters of the globe," the "four elements," &c. if your correspondent searches for the solution of his difficulty on different grounds from those i have mentioned, it would not satisfy him to be more diffuse; and if the whole reason be that which i conceive, quite enough has been said upon the subject. g.w. . hamilton terrace, st. john's wood. "northman" is informed, that on the discovery of america by columbus, when he landed at guanahani (now called cat island), he thought, in conformity with his theory of the spherical shape of the earth, that he had landed on one of the islands lying at the eastern extremity of india; and with this belief he gave the inhabitants the name of indians. the following quotations will perhaps be interesting:-- "america persæpe dicitur, sed improprie, indiæ occidentales, _les indes occidentales_, gallis, _west inde_, belgis: non tantum ab hispanis, qui illam denominationem primi usurparunt, sed etiam a belgis, anglis, et aliquando a francis, quod eodem fere tempore detecta sit ad occidentem, quo ad orientem india reperta est."--_hofmanni lexicon univ._ , sub titulo "_america_." "at eadem terra nonnullis _india occidentalis_, nuncupatur, quia eodem tempore, quo india orientalis in asia, hæc etiam delecta fuit; tum quod utriusque incolis similis ac pene eadern ivendi ratio: nudi quippe utrique agunt."--_p. clurerii introduct. in univ. geographiam_, cap. xi (iv.) . "the most improper name of all, and yet not much less used than that of _america_, is the _west indies_: _west_, in regard of the western situation of it from these parts of europe; and _indies_, either as mistook for some part of india at the first discovery, or else because the seamen use to call all countries, if remote and rich, by the name of _india_."--_heylyn's cosmography_, , book iv., sub initio. it is almost needless to mention, that india received { } its name from the river _indus_; and that _indus_ and [greek: indos] are the roman and greek forms of _sindo_, the name it was known by among the natives. henry kersley. corpus christi hall, maidstone. [we have received many other replies to this query, referring "northman" to robertson's _history of america_, and humboldt's _aspects, &c._, vol. ii. p. .] _vox populi vox dei_ (no. . p. .).--your correspondent "quÆsitor" asks for the origin of the saying _vox populi vox dei_. warwick, in his _spare minutes_ ( ), says-- "that the voice of the common people is the voice of god, is the common voice of the people; yet it is as full of falsehood as commonnesse. the cry before pilate's judgement-seat, 'let him be crucified,' was _vox populi_, 'the cry of all the people.' how far was it the voice of god?" m. [mr. g. cornewall lewis, in his valuable _essay on the influence of authority in matters of opinion_, p. ., has some very interesting remarks upon this proverb, which, "in its original sense, appears to be an echo of some of the sentences in the classical writers, which attribute a divine or prophetic character to common fame or rumour." see pp. , ., and the accompanying notes.] _dutch language_ (no. . p. .).--"e.v." will find holtrop's _dictionary_ in vols. one of the best. werninck's _pocket dictionary_ is very good: also tauchnitz's _dutch and french_ (pocket): also picard's _english and dutch_. jansen's is not bad. swier's _grammar_ is a good one; but i do not know whether there is any late edition. see williams and norgate, or quaritch. aredjid kooez. [messrs. williams and norgate have also obligingly answered this query, by the following list:-- pyl (r. van der), a practical grammar of the dutch language, vo. rotterd. , s. ahn (f.) neue holländische sprachlehre nebst lesestucke, mo. cref. , s. ahn (f) holländische umgangsprache, mo. , s. d. picard (h.) a new pocket dictionary of the english and dutch languages, remodelled and corrected from the best authorities. zalt-bommel, , s. d. dictionnaire hollandais et français. mo. leipzig, s. hollandisch u. deutsches taschen-wörterbuch. mo. s.] "_salting._"--salt is said by all writers upon magic to be particularly disagreeable to evil spirits; and it is owing to this noxious substance being dissolved in holy water, that it has such power in scaring them away. query, did not salt acquire this high character, and its use in all sacrifices, from its powers of resisting corruption? salt is used emblematically in many of our foreign universities. there is a book published at strasburg as late as , containing twenty plates, illustrating the several strange ceremonies of the "depositio." the last represents _the giving of the salt_, which a person is on a plate in his left hand; and, with his right hand, about to put _a pinch of it_ upon the tongue of each _becanus_ or freshman. a glass, probably holding wine, is standing near him. underneath is the following couplet:-- "_sal sophiæ gustate_, bibatis vinaque læta, augeat immensus vos in utrisque deus!" a copy of this rare book was sold in the rev. john brand's collection. i have never seen it, and know it only from a ms. note in one of brand's common place books now in my possession. edward f. rimbault. _vincent gookin_ (no. . p. .).--your querist "j." is referred to berry's _kentish pedigrees_, where, at pp. . . . . and ., he will find notices and a pedigree of the family _gookin_; and therein it is shown that vincent gookin was the fourth son of john gookin of replecourt, co. kent, by katherine, dau. of william dene of kingston. in the early part of the th century, sir vincent gookin, knt. (why was he knighted?) was living at highfield house, in the parish of bitton, gloucestershire. it appears by the register, that in , mary gookin, gentleman, and samuel, son of sir vincent gookin, knt., were buried at bitton. in , john gookin of highfield, age years, was buried in the mayor's chapel, bristol. , frances, dau. of sir vincent gookin, knt., and the lady judith, was baptized at bitton. , feb. . "sir vincent gookin, knt., was buryed" at bitton. , may . "judith, the lady gookin, was buryed" at bitton. there are no monuments remaining. highfield, with the manor of upton cheyney, was a considerable estate in , where it was passed by fine from john and mary barker to vincent gookin, esq. in , vincent gookin, esq. (no doubt the knight's _son_), and mary his wife, and robert gookin their son, gent., passed the same estates by fine to dr. samuel bave, after which it is supposed the gookins left the parish. in sims' _index_ are references to pedigrees under _gokin, kent_. any further notices of _sir_ vincent or his son would be acceptable to h.t. ellacombe. bitton, may , . _sneck up_ (no. , p. .)--all shakspearean { } students will be deeply indebted to you for giving insertion to articles on obsolete words and phrases, so many of which are to found in the pages of the great poet. the article by r.r. is very interesting, but i apprehend that the passage from taylor, first quoted by weber, is sufficient to show that the phrase _sneck up_ was equivalent to _be hanged_! see halliwell, p. , on the phrase, that writer not connecting it with _sneck_, to latch. compare, also, _wily beguiled_,--"an if mistress would be ruled by him, sophos might go _snick up_." and the _two angry women of abingdon_, ,--"if they be not, let them go _snick up_," i.e. let them go and be hanged! these passages will not be consistently explained on r.r.'s principle. r. _hanap_ (no. . p. .).--i have a few notes by me relative to the drinking vessel, which may, perchance, be acceptable to some of your readers. it was similar to the _standing cup_ and grace cup, as these vessels were subsequently called, being raised from the table by a foot and stem, for the convenience of passing it round the table for the company to pledge each other out of; it was thus distinguished from the _cup_, which was smaller, and only used by one person. the hanap frequently occurs in wills and inventories of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. in the will of lady calre, ,-- "je devise a ma joefne fille isabel bardolf en cide de lui marier un _hanap_ plat door." and in that of the earl of march, ,-- "item. nous devisons a notre treschier friere mons'r. henri, un _hanaper_ de tortelez ove un ostelle en le founce." a very elegant specimen is described in the will of the duchess of gloucester, ,-- "un _hanappe_ de beril gravez de long taille, et assis en un peé d'or, ove un large bordur paramont, et un covercle tout d'or, ove un saphir sur le pomel du dit covercle." in an inventory th henry vi. we find-- "une haute coupe d'argent enorrez appellez _l'anap_ de les pinacles pois de troie vii lb pris la lb xl. summa xiii li." and temp. edward ii ,-- "un hanap a pee de la veille fazon quillere et cymelle el founz du pois xxix, du pris xl." in the same document several others are described having feet. i could give many other quotations, but will conclude with only one more, as in the last occurs the word _kyrymyry_, of which i should like to know the derivation, if any of your readers can assist me:-- "item, un hanap d ore covere del ovrage d un _kyrymyry_ et iij scochons des armes d engleterre et de franuce en le sumet." i have met with notices of cups "covered of _kerimery_ work," and "chacez et pounsonez en lez founcez faitz de _kermery_;" and the following, from the _vision of piers ploughman_, would seem to indicate a sort of veil or net-work:-- "he was as pale as a pelet, in the palsy he semed and clothed in a _kaurymaury_, i kouthe it nought diseryve." w.c. jun. * * * * * miscellanies _bishop burnet as an historian._--dr. joseph warton told my father that "old lord barthurst," pope's friend, had cautioned him against relying implicitly on all burnet's statements; observing that the good bishop was so given to gossiping and anecdote hunting, that the wags about court used often to tell him idle tales, for the mischievous pleasure of seeing him make note on them. lord bathurst did not, i believe, charge burnet with deliberate misrepresentation, but considered some of his presumed facts _questionable_, for the reason stated. elijah waring. _dance thumbkin._--in the _book of nursery rhymes_, published by the percy society, there is a small error of importance, involving no less that the learned would call "a non sequitur," and which, if my correct-and-almost-unequalled nurse, betty richins, was alive, she would have noticed much sooner that the nurseling who now addresses you. (she died about the year .) in the valuable and still popular nursery classical song, "dance thumbkin, dance," it is not only an error to say "thumbkin _he can_ dance alone" (let any one reader of the "notes and queries," male or female, _only try_), but it is not the correct text. betty richins has "borne me on her knee a hundred times" and sung it thus:-- thumbkin _cannot_ dance alone. so[ ] dance ye merry men, every one." i scarcely need add, that if this be true of thumbkin, it is _truer_ of foreman, longman, middleman, and littleman. r.s.s. [footnote : or _then_, meaning "for that reason."] _king's coffee-house, covent garden._--as an addition to "mr. rimbault's" notes on cunningham's _handbook_, the following extract from harwood's _alumni etonenses_, p. ., in the recount of the boys elected for eton to king's college may be interesting:-- "a.d. , ." "thomas king born at west ashton in wiltshire; went away scholar, in apprehension that his fellowship { } would be denied him, and afterwards kept that coffee-house in covent garden which was called by his own name." j.h.l. _spur money_ (no. . p. , and no . p. .).--in a curious tract, published in , under the title of _the children of the chapel stript and whipt_, we have the following passage:-- "wee think it very necessarye that every quorister sholde bringe with him to churche a testament in englishe, and turne to everie chapter as it is daily read, or som other good and godly prayer-booke, rather than spend their tyme in talk and hunting after _spur-money_, whereon they set their whole mindes, and do often abuse dyvers if they doe not bestowe somewhat on them." in , the dean of the chapel royal issued an order by which it was decreed-- "that if anie knight, or other persone entituled to weare spurs, enter the chappell in that guise, he shall pay to y'e quiristers the accustomed fine; but if he command y'e youngest quirister to repeate his _gamut_, and he faile in y'e so doing, the said knight, or other, shall not pay y'e fine." this curious extract i copied from the ancient cheque-book of the chapel royal. within my recollection, his grace the duke of wellington (who, by the way, is an excellent musician) entered the royal chapel "booted and spurred," and was, of course, called upon for the fine. but his grace calling upon the youngest chorister to repeat his gamut, and the "little urchin" failing, the impost was not demanded. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. mr. w.s.w. vaux, of the department of antiquities, british museum, has just published a very interesting little volume under the title of _nineveh and persepolis: an historical sketch of ancient assyria and persia, with an account of the recent researches in those countries_. the work is illustrated with numerous woodcuts; and the two points which mr. vaux has proposed to elucidate,--viz., . the history of assyria and persia, and, as connected with it, that of the medes, the jews, and the chaldees, so far as it can be ascertained from the bible, and the works of classical authors: and . the results of those inquiries which have been carried on for nearly three centuries by european travellers,--he has successfully accomplished, in a way to make his book a most useful introduction to the study of the larger works which have been written upon this important subject; and a valuable substitute to those who have neither the means to purchase them, nor time to devote to their perusal. the rev. dr. maitland has just published a second edition of his _eruvin, or miscellaneous essays on subjects connected with the nature, history, and destiny of man_. the essays are ten in number, and treat: i. on the nature and objects of revelation. ii. on the impediments to the right understanding of scripture. iii. man before the fall. iv. satan. v. the consequences of the fall. vi. the fallen angels. vii. the millenium. viii. the kingdom of messiah. ix. the regeneration. x. the modern doctrine of miracles. we mention the subjects of these papers because, although they are of a nature not to be discussed in our columns, we are sure many of our readers will be glad to know the points on which they treat. we have received the following catalogues:--bibliotheca selecta, curiosa et rarissima. part first of a general catalougue of miscellaneous english and foreign books now on sale by thomas g. stevenson, . princes street, edinburgh--(a catalogue well deserving attention of our antiquarian friends); john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue of books old and new; w.s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) catalogue no. ., may, , of english, foreign, classical and miscellaneous literature. messrs. sotheby and co., of wellington street, will commence on monday next an eight days' sale of the valuable library of the late rev. peter hall, consisting of rare and early english theology, ecclesiastical history and antiquities, foreign and english controversial works, classics, biblical criticism, &c. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) gorgh (r.), catalogue of all works printed relating to wales. a pamphlet on the lead and silver mines of gower, published about a century since. second travels of an irish gentleman in search of a religion, by blanco white. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notice to correspondents. completion of volume the first. _the present number completes the first volume of_ notes and queries, _to which a title-page and copious index will be printed as soon as possible: when copies of it may be had in cloth boards. in the meantime, may we beg such of our subscribers as have not complete sets, to secure such numbers as they may be in want of without delay._ _errata._--no. . p. ., for "bayle" read "bale," and for "carood" read "câwood." no. . p. ., for "dick the string" read "click," and for "bung" read "bang." * * * * * { } hymns and poems for the sick. second edition. in small vo., price s. d. hymns and poems for the sick and suffering. in connection with the service for the visitation of the sick. edited by the rev. t. v. fosbery, m.a., perpetual curate of sunningdale. this volume contains separate pieces, of which about are by writers who lived prior to the eighteenth century; the rest are modern, and some of these original. amongst the names of the writers (between and in number) occur those of sir j. beaumont, sir t. browne, f. davison, elizabeth of bohemia, p. fletcher, g. herbert, dean hickes, bp. ken. norris, quarles sandys, bp. j. taylor, henry vaughan, and sir. h. wotton; and of modern writers, miss e.b. barrett, the bishop of oxford, s.t. coleridge, sir r. grant, miss e. taylor, w. wordsworth, rev. messrs. chandler, keble, lyte, monsell, moultrie, and trench. rivington's, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * dr. maitland's eruvin--second edition in small vo., price s. d. eruvin; or miscellaneous essays on subjects connected with the nature, history, and destiny of man. by the rev. s.r. maitland, d.d. f.r.s. & f.s.a. rivington's, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same author, . essays on the reformation in england. s. . essays on the dark ages. second edition. s. * * * * * lawyers, solicitors, periodical publishers, and music sellers, &c. will find the newly-invented pamphlet or letter binder the most useful article yet offered to the public for the purpose of facilitating the binding of extracting of any letter or pamphlet, without the possibility of deranging the consecutive order of such documents. they are equally useful as music binders or portfolios, as it forms a perfect book, whether inclosing one sheet or five hundred. as a portfolio, it is invaluable, as it precludes the possibility of the drawings being broken or in any way injured. to be had of de la rue and co., stationers, bunhill row, or of any other respectable stationer. * * * * * now publishing the churches of the middle ages. by henry bowman and joseph s. crowther, architects, manchester. to be completed in twenty parts, each containing six plates, imperial folio. issued at intervals of two months. price per part to subscribers, proofs, large paper, s. d.; tinted, small paper. s.; plain, s. d. parts to are now published, and contain illustrations of ewerby church, lincolnshire; temple balsall chapel, warwickshire; and heckington church, lincolnshire. on the st of july next, the price of the work, to subscribers whose names may be received after that date, will be raised as follows:--proofs, tinted, large paper, per part s.; tinted, small paper, s. d.; plain s. "ewerby is a magnificent specimen of a flowing middle-pointed church. it is most perfectly measured and described; one can follow the most recondite beauties of the construction, mouldings and joints, in these plates, almost as well as in the original structure. such a monograph as this will be of incalculable value to the architects of our colonies or the united states, who have no means of access to ancient churches. the plates are on stone, done with remarkable skill and distinctness. of heckington we can only say that the perspective view from the south-east presents a very vision of beauty; we can hardly conceive anything more perfect. we heartily recommend this series to all who are able to patronize it."--_ecclesiologist_, oct. . london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, fcp. vo., cloth lettered. s. d. a glossary to the obsolete and unusual words and phrases of the holy scriptures. with an introductory history of the last english version. by j. jameson. london: wertheim and macintosh. . paternoster row. * * * * * preparing for publication. in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, containing plates, royal vo. s.; follo, l. s. india paper, l. s. the monumental brasses of england; a series of engravings upon wood, from every variety of these interesting and valuable memorials, accompanied with descriptive notices. by the rev. c. bouteli. m.a. rector of downham market. part xii., completing the work, price s. d.; folio, s.; india paper, s. by the same author, royal vo., s.; large paper, s. monumental brasses and slabs: an historical and descriptive notice of the incised monumental memorials of the middle ages. with upwards of engravings. "a handsome large octavo volume, abundantly supplied with well-engraved woodcuts and lithographic plates; a sort of encyclopædia for ready reference.... the whole work has a look of painstaking completeness highly commendable."--_athenorum_ "one of the most beautifully got up and interesting volumes we have seen for a long time. it gives, in the compass of one volume, an account of the history of those beautiful monuments of former days.... the illustrations are extremely well chosen."--_english churchman_ a few copies only of this work remain for sale; and, as it will not be reprinted in the same form and at the same price, the remaining copies are raised in price. early application for the large paper edition is necessary. by the same author, to be completed in four parts. christian momuments in england and wales; an historical and descriptive sketch of the various classes of momumental memorials which have been in use in this country from about the time of the norman conquest. profusely illustrated with wood engravings. part i. price s. d.; part ii s. d. "a well conceived and executed work."--_ecclesiologist._ * * * * * { } list of books published by john russell smith, . old compton street, soho, london. * * * * * a second and cheaper edition. in vols. vo., containing upwards of pages, closely printed in double columns, price l. s. cloth. a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs, from the reign of edward i. by james orchard halliwell, f.r.s.f.s.a. &c. it contains above , words (embodying all the known scattered glossaries of the english language), forming a complete key to the reader of the works of our old poets, dramatists, theologians, and other authors whose works abound with allusions, of which explanations are not to be found in ordinary dictionaries and books of reference. most of the principal archaisms are illustrated by examples selected from early inedited mss, and rare books, and by far the greater portion will be found to be original authorities. anglo-saxon.--a delectus in anglo-saxon, intended as a first class-book in the language. by the rev. w. barnes, of st. john's college, cambridge, author of the poems and glossary in the dorset dialect. mo. cloth, s. d. "to those who wish to possess a critical knowledge of their own native english, some acquaintance with anglo-saxon is indispensable; and we have never seen an introduction better calculated than the present to supply the wants of a beginner in a short space of time. the declensions and conjugations are well stated, and illustrated by references to the greek, latin, french, and other languages. a philosophical spirit pervades every part. the delectus consists of short pieces, on various subjects, with extracts from anglo-saxon history and the saxon chronicle. there is a good glossary at the end."--_athenæum_, oct. . . anglo-saxon.--guide to the anglo-saxon tongue; with lessons in verse and prose. for the use of learners. by e.j. vernon, b.a., oxon. mo. cloth, s. d. this will be found useful as a second class-book, or to those well versed in other languages. anglo-saxon.--a compendious anglo-saxon and english dictionary. by the rev. joseph bosworth, d.d. f.r.s. &c. in vo. closely printed in treble columns, cloth, s. this may be considered quite a new work from the author's former dictionary; it has been entirely remodelled and enlarged, bringing it down to the present state of anglo-saxon literature, both at home and abroad. holbein's dance of death; with an historical and literary introduction by an antiquary. square post vo., with engravings, being the most accurate copies ever executed of these gems of art, and a frontispiece of an ancient bedstead at aix-la-chapelle, with a dance of death carved on it, engraved by fairholt, cloth, s. "the designs are executed with a spirit and fidelity quite extraordinary. they are indeed most truthful."--_athenæum_. english surnames: an essay on family nomenclature, historical, etymological, and humorous. by mark antony-lower, m.a. third edition, enlarged, vols. post v., cloth, s. this new and much improved edition, besides a great enlargement of the chapters contained in the previous editions, comprises several that are entirely new, together with notes on scottish, irish, and norman surnames. the "additional prolusions," besides the articles on rebuses, allusive arms, and the roll of battel abbey, contain dissertations on inn signs, and remarks on christian names; with a copious index of many thousand names. these features render "english surnames" rather a new work than a new edition. the curiosities of heraldry; with illustrations from old english writers. by mark antony lower. with illuminated title-page and numerous engravings from designs by the author. vo., cloth, s. herald's visitations.--an index to all the pedigrees and arms in the heraldic visitations and other genealogical mss. in the british museum. by g. sims, of the manuscript department. vo., closely printed in double columns, cloth, s. an indispensable book to those engaged in genealogical or topographical pursuits, affording a ready clue to the pedigrees and arms of above , of the gentry of england, their residences, &c. (distinguishing the different families of the same name in every county), as recorded by the heralds in their visitations, with indexes to other genealogical mss. in the british museum. it has been the work of immense labour. no public library ought to be without it. guide to archÆology archæological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary to the society of antiquaries. vol. vo., illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upwards of objects. s., cloth. "one of the first wants of an incipient antiquary is the facility of comparison, and here it is furnished him at one glance. the places, indeed, form the most valuable part of the book, both by their number and the judicious selection of types and examples which they contain. it is a book which we can, on this account, safely and warmly recommend to all who are interested in the antiquities of their native land."--_literary gazette_. "a book of such utility--so concise, so clear, so well condensed from such varied and voluminous sources, cannot fail to be generally acceptable."--_art-union_. coins.--an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. by j.y. akerman. fep. vo., with numerous wood engravings, from the original coins, s. d. coins of the romans relating to britain described and illustrated. by j.y. akerman, f.s.a. second edition, vo., greatly enlarged, with plates and woodcuts, s. d. shakspere.--a new life of shakspere, including many particulars respecting the poet and his family never before published. by j.o. halliwell, f.r.s. &c. one handsome vol., vo., illustrated with engravings on wood, from drawings by fairholt, s. cloth. the nursery rhymes of england, collected chiefly from oral tradition. edited by j.o. halliwell. fourth edition, mo. with designs by w.b. scott, s. d. cloth. popular rhymes and nursery tales; with historical elucidations: a sequel to "the nursery rhymes of england." edited by j.o. halliwell, royal mo. s. d. playing cards.--facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards. by william andrew chatto, author of "jackson's history of wood engraving." thick vo., with numerous engravings from copper, stone and wood, both plain and coloured, cloth, l. s. essays on subjects connected with the literature, popular superstitions, and history of england in the middle ages. by thomas wright, m.a.f.s.a. two handsome vols. post vo., elegantly printed, cloth, s. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, april , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. our further progress. notes:-- roger bacon, hints for a new edition of. craik's romance of the peerage. notes on cunningham's london, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. pope's revision of spence, by w.s. singer. folk lore:--charm for the toothache--easter eggs--cure for hooping-cough--gootet. duke of monmouth's pocket-book, by c. ross. queries:-- woolton's christian manual. luther's translation of the new testament. minor queries:--medical symbols--charles ii. and lord r.'s daughter--st. alban's day--black broth--deputy lieutenant of the tower--buccaneers--travelling in --richard hooker--decker's raven's almanack--prebendaries--luther's portrait--rawdon papers--wellington, wyrwast, &c.--blockade of corfe castle--locke's mss.--locke's life of lord shaftesbury--théses--apocrypha, &c. replies:-- scala coeli, by c.h. cooper. watching the sepulchre. queries answered, no. ., by bolton corney. replies to minor queries:--compendyous olde treatyse--hurdys--eachard's tracts--masters of st. cross--living dog better than dead lion--monumental brass--wickliff mss.--hever--steward family--gloves--cromlech--watewich--by hook or by crook--tablet to napolean--lines on pharaoh--zachary boyd--the welsh ambassador--madoc--poghell--swingeing tureen--"a" or "an." miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * our further progress. we have again been called upon to reprint our first four numbers; that is to say, to print a _third edition_ of them. no stronger evidence could be afforded that our endeavour to do good service to the cause of sound learning, by affording to men of letters a medium of intercommunication, has met with the sympathy and encouragement of those for whose sake we made the trial. we thank them heartily for their generous support, and trust we shall not be disappointed in our hope and expectation that they will find their reward in the growing utility of "notes and queries," which, thanks to the readiness with which able correspondents pour out their stores of learning, may be said to place the judicious inquirer in the condition of posthumus, and "puts to him all the learnings that _this_ time could make him the receiver of." and here we may be permitted to avail ourselves of this opportunity, as, indeed, we feel compelled to do, to impress upon our correspondents generally, the necessity of confining their communications within the narrowest possible limits consistent with a satisfactory explanation of the immediate objects of them. "he that questioneth much," says bacon, "shall learn much, and content much; but especially if he apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he asketh. for he shall give them occasion to please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather knowledge. but let his questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for a poser; and let him be sure _to leave other men their turn to speak_." what bacon has said so wisely and so well, "of discourse," we would apply to our little journal; and beg our kind friends to remember, that our space is necessarily limited, and that, therefore, in our eyes, brevity will be as much the soul of a communication as it is said to be that of wit. * * * * * notes. roger bacon: hints and queries for a new edition of his works. victor cousin, who has been for many years engaged in researches on the scholastic philosophy, with the view of collecting and publishing such of its monuments as have escaped the diligence of scholars, or the ravages of time, has lately made the discovery in the library at douay of a copy of an inedited ms. of roger bacon, entitled _opus tertium_, of which but two or three other copies are known to exist; and has taken occasion, in some elaborate critiques, to enter, at considerable length, into the history and character of roger { } bacon and his writings.[ ] the following is a summary of part of m. cousin's observations. the _opus tertium_ contains the author's last revision, in the form of an abridgment and improvement, of the _opus majus_; and was drawn up at the command of pope clement iv., and so called from being the _third_ of three copies forwarded to his holiness; the third copy being not a _fac-simile_ of the others, but containing many most important additions, particularly with regard to the reformation of the calendar. it also throws much light on bacon's own literary history and studies, and the difficulties and persecutions he had to surmount from the jealousies and suspicions of his less-enlightened contemporaries and rivals. the _opus tertium_, according to the sketch given of its contents by bacon himself, is not complete either in the douay ms. or in that in the british museum, several subjects being left out; and, among others, that of moral philosophy. this deficiency may arise, either from bacon not having completed his original design, or from no complete ms. of this portion of his writings having yet been discovered. m. cousin says, that the _opus tertium_, as well as the _opus minus_, is still inedited; and is only known by what jebb has said of it in his preface to the _opus majus_. jebb quotes it from a copy in the cottonian library, now in the british museum; and it was not known that there was a copy in france, till m. cousin was led to the discovery of one, by observing in the catalogue of the public library of douay, a small ms. in to. with the following title, _rog. baconis grammatica græca_. accustomed to suspect the accuracy of such titles to mss., m. cousin caused a strict examination of the ms. to be made, when the discovery was communicated to him that only the first part of the ms. consisted of a greek grammar, and that the remaining portion, which the compiler of the catalogue had not taken the trouble to examine, consisted of many fragments of other works of bacon, and a copy of the _opus tertium_. this copy of the _opus tertium_ is imperfect, but fortunately the deficiencies are made up by the british museum copy, which m. cousin examined, and which also contains a valuable addition to chapter i., and a number of good readings. the _opus majus_, as published by jebb, contains but six parts; but the work in its complete state had originally a seventh part, containing moral philosophy, which was reproduced, in an abridged and improved state, by the renowned author, in the _opus tertium_. this is now ascertained, says m. cousin, with unquestionable certainty, and for the first time, from the examination of the douay ms.; which alludes, in the most precise terms, to the treatise on that subject. hence the importance of endeavouring to discover what has become of the ms. treatise of moral philosophy mentioned by jebb, on the authority of bale and pits, as it is very likely to have been the seventh part of the _opus majus_. jebb published the _opus majus_ from a dublin ms., collated with other mss.; but he gives no description of that ms., only saying that it contained many other works attributed to bacon, and in such an order that they seemed to form but one and the same work. it becomes necessary, therefore, to ascertain what were the different works of bacon included in the dublin ms.; which is, in all probability, the same mentioned as being in trinity college, in the _catalogi codicum manuscriptorum angliæ et hiberniæ in unum collecti_: folio. oxon, . according to this catalogue, a treatise on moral philosophy forms part of roger bacon's mss. there enumerated; and if so, why did jebb suppress it in his edition of the _opus majus_? perhaps some of your correspondents in dublin may think it worth the trouble to endeavour to clear up this difficulty, on which m. cousin lays great stress; and recommends, at the same time, a new and complete edition of the _opus majus_ to the patriotism of some oxford or cambridge savant. he might well have included dublin in his appeal for help in this undertaking; which, he says, would throw a better light on that vast, and not very intelligible monument of one of the most independent and greatest minds of the middle ages. j.m. oxford, april th. [footnote : see _journal des savants_, mars, avril, mai, juin, .] * * * * * craik's romance of the peerage. if i knew where to address mr. g.l. craik, i should send him the following "note:" if you think it deserves a place in your columns, it may probably meet his eye. in the article on the lady arabella stuart (_romance of the peerage_, vol. ii. p. .), a letter of sir ralph winwood, dated , is quoted, in which he states, that she is "not altogether free from suspicion of being collapsed." on this mr. craik observes, "it is difficult to conjecture what can be here meant by _collapsed_, unless it be fallen off to romanism." now it is not a little curious, and it proves mr. craik's capability for the task of illustrating family history from the obscure allusions in letters and documents, that there exists cotemporary authority for fixing the meaning mr. craik has conjectured to be the true one, to the word _collapsed_. a pamphlet, with the title _a letter to mr. t.h., late minister, now fugitive_, was published in , with a dedication to all romish _collapsed_ "ladies of great britain;" which bears internal evidence of being addressed to those who were converts from the church of england to romanism. { } theophilus higgons, whom the above initials represent, was himself a convert to the church of rome. it may be worth while making a further note, that the copy of the pamphlet before me belonged to camden, and is described in his autograph, _guil. camdenj. ex. dono authoris_. it forms one of a large collection of tracts and pamphlets, originally the property of camden, which are now in the library of the dean and chapter here. it is curious that another document quoted by mr. craik in the same volume (p. _note_), seems to fix the meaning of a word or expression, of obscure signification, in the authorised translation of the bible. in judges, ix. ., we read, "a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon abimelech's head, and all tobrake his skull." i have heard some one, in despair at the grammatical construction of the latter clause, suggest that it might be an error for "_also_ brake his skull;" and i have been told, that some printer or editor solved the difficulty by turning it into "and all to _break_ his skull." but in the lieutenant of the tower's marginal notes on an inventory of the countess of hertford's (lady katherine grey) furniture, quoted by mr. craik from lands. ms. . art. ., he described the _sparrer_ for the bed as "_all to-broken_, not worth ten pence." there seems, therefore, to have been a compound, "to-breck, to-brake, to-broken" (_perfrango_), of which the word in the "book of judges" is the preterite. i may be exposing my ignorance, when i say, that the quotation in the _romance of the peerage_ is the only other instance of its use i ever met with. william h. cope. cloisters, westminster [the word "to-break," is not to be found in nares.--mr. halliwell, in his _archaic dictionary_, has to-broke, broken in pieces: "the gates that neptunus made a thousand wynter theretofore, they have anon _to-broke_ and tore." from the _gower ms_. soc. ant. , f. . the word occurs also in chaucer (p. . ed. urry):-- "to-broken ben the statutes hie in heven;" and also in the _vision of piers ploughman_ (p. . ed. wright): "the bagges and the bigirdles he hath to-broke them all." and mr. wright very properly remarks, that "_to_- prefixed in composition to verbs of anglo-saxon origin, has the same force as the german _zu_, giving to the word the idea of destruction or deterioration."] * * * * * notes upon cunningham's handbook for london. _lambeth wells._--a place of public entertainment, first opened in . it was celebrated for its mineral water, which was sold at one penny per quart. at the beginning of the eighteenth century it was provided with a band of music, which played at intervals during the day, and the price of admission was threepence. a monthly concert, under the direction of starling goodwin, organist of st. saviour's church, southwark, was held here in . _hickford's rooms, panton street, haymarket._--these rooms, under the name of "hickford's dancing rooms," were in existence as early as . in , they were opened as the "musick-room." a contemporary account says:-- "the band was selected from the opera house; but the singularity most attractive consisted of an organ combined with a harpsichord, played by clock-work, which exhibited the movements of an orrery and air-pump, besides solving astronomical and geographical problems on two globes, and showing the moon's age, with the copernican system in motion." in , mr. galliard's benefit is announced to take place "at mr. hickford's great room in brewer street, golden square."--see the _daily post_ of march . the "great room" is now known as "willis's dancing academy." _the music room in dean street, soho._--the oratorio of judas maccabeus was performed here in great splendour in . it was afterwards the auction room of the elder christie; and is now "caldwell's dancing academy." george iii. frequently honoured this "musick-room" with his presence. _the music room in charles street, covent garden_:-- "the consort of musick, lately in bow street, is removed next bedford gate, in _charles street, covent garden_, where a room is newly built for that purpose."--_lond. gaz._ feb. . . "a consort of music, with several new voices, to be performed on the th instant, at the _vendu_ in charles street, covent garden."--ibid. march . . in was published _thesaurus musicus_, being a collection of the "newest songs performed at their majesties' theatres, and at the consorts in villier street, in york buildings, and in _charles street, covent garden_." in the proposals for the establishment of a royal academy in , the subscription books are advertised as being open, amongst other places, "at the musick room in charles street, covent garden." _coleman's music house._--a house of entertainment, with a large and well planted garden, known as "coleman's musick house," was offered for sale in . it was situated near _lamb's conduit_, and was demolished upon the building of ormond street. _white conduit house._--the old tavern of this name was erected in the reign of charles i. the workmen are said to have been regaling themselves upon the completion of the building, at the instant the king was beheaded at whitehall. { } _goodman's field wells._--a place of entertainment established after the suppression of the theatre in this locality in . _bride lane, st. bride's._--the first meetings of the madrigal society (established in ) were held at a public-house in this lane, called "the twelve bells." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * pope's revision of spence's essay on the odyssey. spence's almost idolatrous admiration of, and devotion to, pope, is evident from the pains he took to preserve every little anecdote of him that he could elicit from conversation with him, or with those who knew him. unfortunately, he had not boswell's address and talent for recording gossip, or the _anecdotes_ would have been a much more racy book. spence was certainly an amiable, but i think a very weak man; and it appears to me that his learning has been overrated. he might indeed have been well designated as "a fiddle-faddle bit of sterling." i have the original ms. of the two last dialogues of the _essay on the odyssey_ as written by spence, and on the first page is the following note:--"the two last evenings corrected by mr. pope." on a blank page at the end, spence has again written:--"ms. of the two last evenings corrected with mr. pope's own hand, w'ch serv'd y'e press, and is so mark'd as usual by litchfield." this will elucidate malone's note in his copy of the book, which mr. bolton corney has transcribed. i think the first three dialogues were published in a little volume before spence became acquainted with pope, and perhaps led to that acquaintance. their intercourse afterwards might supply some capital illustrations for a new edition of mr. corney's curious chapter on _camaraderie littéraire_. the ms. copy of spence's essay bears frequent marks of pope's correcting hand by erasure and interlineary correction, silently made. i transcribe the few passages where the poet's revision of his critic are accompanied by remarks. in evening the fourth, spence had written:--"it may be inquired, too, how far this translation may make a wrong use of terms borrowed from the arts and sciences, &c. [the instances are thus pointed out.] as where we read of a ship's crew, od. . . the longitude, od. . . doubling the cape, od. . . of architraves, colonnades, and the like, od. . ." pope has erased this and the references, and says:--"_these are great faults; pray don't point 'em out, but spare your servant_." at p. . spence had written:--"yellow is a proper epithet of fruit; but not of fruit that we say at the same time is ripening into gold." upon which pope observes:--"i think yellow may be s'd to ripen into gold, as gold is a deeper, fuller colour than yellow." again: "what is proper in one language, may not be so in another. were homer to call the sea a thousand times by the title of [greek: porphureos], 'purple deeps' would not sound well in english. the reason's evident: the word 'purple' among us is confined to one colour, and that not very applicable to the deep. was any one to translate the _purpureis oloribus_ of horace, 'purple swans' would not be so literal as to miss the sense of the author entirely." upon which pope has remarked:--"the sea is actually of a deep purple in many places, and in many views." upon a passage in spence's _criticism_, at p. ., pope says:--"i think this too nice." and the couplet objected to by spence-- "deep in my soul the trust shall lodge secur'd, with ribs of steel, and marble heart immur'd," he pronounced "very bad." and of some tumid metaphors he says, "all too forced and over-charged." at p. . spence says:--"does it not sound mean to talk of lopping a man? of lopping away all his posterity? or of trimming him with brazen sheers? is there not something mean, where a goddess is represented as beck'ning and waving her deathless hands; or, when the gods are dragging those that have provok'd them to destruction by the links of fate?" of the two first instances, pope says:--"intended to be comic in a sarcastic speech." and of the last:--"i think not at all mean, see the greek." the remarks are, however, expunged. the longest remonstrance occurs at p. . of the fifth dialogue. spence had written:--"the _odyssey_, as a moral poem, exceeds all the writings of the ancients: it is perpetual in forming the manners, and in instructing the mind; it sets off the duties of life more fully as well as more agreeably than the academy or lyceum. _horace ventured to say thus much of the iliad, and certainly it may be more justly said of this later production by the same hand_." for the words in italics pope has substituted:--"horace, who was so well acquainted with the tenets of both, has given homer's poems the preference to either:" and says in a note:--"i think you are mistaken in limiting this commendation and judgment of horace to the _iliad_. he says it, at the beginning of his epistle, of homer in general, and afterwards proposes both poems equally as examples of morality; though the _iliad_ be mentioned first: but then follows--'_rursus quid virtus et quid sapientia possit, utile proposuit nobis exemplar ulyssem_,' &c. of the odyssey." at p. . spence says:--"there seems to be something mean and awkward in this image:-- "'his _loose head_ tottering as with wine opprest obliquely drops, and _nodding_ knocks his breast.'" here pope says:--"sure these are good lines. { } they are not mine." of other passages which please him, he occasionally says,--"this is good sense." and on one occasion, where spence had objected, he says candidly:--"this is bad, indeed,"--"and this." at p. . spence writes:--"there's a passage which i remember i was mightily pleased with formerly in reading _cervantes_, without seeing any reason for it at that time; tho' i now imagine that which took me in it comes under this view. speaking of don quixote, the first time that adventurer came in sight of the ocean, he expresses his sentiments on this occasion in the following manner:--'he saw the sea, which he had never seen before, and thought it much bigger than the river at salamanca.'" on this occasion pope suggests,--"dr. swift's fable to ph----s, of the two asses and socrates." s.w. singer. april . . * * * * * folk lore. _charm for the toothache._--the charm which one of your correspondents has proved to be in use in the south-eastern counties of england, and another has shown to be practised at kilkenny, was also known more than thirty years ago in the north of scotland. at that time i was a school-boy at aberdeen, and a sufferer--probably it was in march or april, with an easterly wind--from toothache. a worthy scotchwoman told me, that the way to be cured of my toothache was to find a charm for it in the bible. i averred, as your correspondent the curate did, that i could not find any such charm. my adviser then repeated to me the charm, which i wrote down from her dictation. kind soul! she could not write herself. it was pretty nearly in the words which your correspondent has sent you. according to my recollection, it ran thus:--"peter sat upon a stone, weeping. and the lord said unto him, 'peter, why weepest thou?' and he answered, and said, 'lord, my tooth acheth.' and the lord said unto him, 'arise, peter, thy teeth shall ache no more.'" "now," continued my instructress, "if you gang home and put yon bit screen into your bible, you'll never be able to say again that you canna find a charm agin the toothache i' the bible." this was her version of the matter, and i have no doubt it was the orthodox one; for, although one of the most benevolent old souls i ever knew, she was also one of the most ignorant and superstitious. i kept the written paper, not in my bible, but in an old pocket-book for many years, but it has disappeared. john bruce. _easter eggs_ (no. . p. .).--breakfasting on easter monday, some years ago, at the george inn at ilminster, in the county of somerset, in the palmy days of the quicksilver mail, when the table continued to be spread for coach travellers at that time from four in the morning till ten at night, we were presented with eggs stained in the boiling with a variety of colours: a practice which brande records as being in use in his time in the north of england, and among the modern greeks. s.s.s. _cure for the hooping-cough._--"i know," said one of my parishioners, "what would cure him, but m'appen you woudent believe me." "what is it, mary?" i asked. "why, i did every thing that every body teld me. one teld me to get him breathed on by a pie-bald horse. i took him ever such a way, to a horse at ----, and put him under the horse's mouth; but he was no better. then i was teld to drag him backward through a bramble bush. i did so; but this didn't cure him. last of all, i was teld to give him nine fried mice, fasting, in a morning, in this way:--three the first morning; then wait three mornings, and then give him three more; wait three mornings, and then give him three more. when he had eaten these nine fried mice he became quite well. this would be sure to cure your child, sir." w.h.k. drayton beauchamp. _gootet._--in eccleshall parish, staffordshire, shrove tuesday is called gootet. i am not aware if this be the true spelling, for i have never seen it in print. can any of your readers supply the etymology, or state whether it is so called in any other part of england? i have searched numerous provincial glossaries, but have hitherto been unsuccessful. b.g.j. * * * * * the duke of monmouth's pocket-book. it is reasonable to conclude, that the article copied from _chambers' edinburgh journal_, in no. ., furnishes the strongest evidence that can be adduced in support of the opinion, that the book in the possession of dr. anster is the one found on the duke of monmouth when captured, after his defeat at sedgemoor; and, if so, it is impossible to admit the hypothesis, because a portion of the contents of the real book has been given to the world and contains matter far too important to have been passed over by dr. anster, had it existed in his volume. in the th edition of dr. welwood's _memoirs of the most material transactions in england for the last hundred years preceding the revolution in _, printed for "tim. goodwin, at the queen's head, against st. dunstan's church, in fleet street, ," the following passage is to be found at p. .:-- "but of the most things above mentioned there is an infallible proof extant under monmouth's own hand, in a little pocket-book which was taken with him and delivered to king james; which by an accident, as needless to mention here, i have leave to copy and did { } it in part. a great many dark passages there are in it, and some clear enough that shall be eternally buried for me: and perhaps it had been for king james's honour to have committed them to the flames, as julius cæsar is said to have done on a like occasion. all the use that shall be made of it is, to give in the appendix some few passages out of it that refer to this subject, and confirm what has been above related." in the appendix the following extracts are given from the duke's book:-- "_october_ . l. came to me at eleven at night from , told me could never be brought to believe i knew anything of that part of the plot that concern'd _rye house_; but as things went he must behave himself as if he did believe it, for some reasons that might be for my advantage. l. desired me to write to , which i refus'd; but afterwards told me expected it; and i promis'd to write to-morrow if he could call for the letter; at which s.l. shew'd a great concern for me, and i believe him sincere though s is of another mind. " . l. came as he promis'd and receiv'd the letter from sealed, refusing to read it himself, tho' i had left it open with s. for that purpose. " . l. came to me at s. with a line or two from very kind, assuring me he believed every word in my letter to be true; and advis'd me to keep hid till he had an opportunity to express his belief of it some other way. l. told me that he was to go out of town next day and that would send to me in a day or two, whom he assured me i might trust. " . l. came for me to ----, where was with . he receiv'd me pretty well, and said and were the causes of my misfortune and would ruin me. after some hot words against them and against s., went away in a good humour. " . i went to e---- and was in danger of being discover'd by some of oglethorpe's men that met me accidentally at the back door of the garden. "_nov_ . a letter from to be to-morrow at seven at night at s. and nobody to know it but . " . he came not, there being an extraordinary council. but brought me a copy of 's intercepted letter, which made rather for me than against me. bid me come to-morrow at the same hour, and to say nothing of the letter except spake of it first. " . i came and found and l. there; he was very kind and gave me directions how to manage my business and what words i should say to . he appointed to come to me every night until my business was ripe and promised to send with him directions from time to time. " . l. came from and told me my business should be done to my mind next week, and that q. was my friend, and had spoke to and d. in my behalf; which he said took very kindly and had expressed so to her. at parting he told me there should be nothing requir'd of me but what was both safe and honourable. but said there must be something done to blind . " . l came to me with a copy of a letter i was to sign to please . i desired to know in whose hands it was to be deposited; for i would have it in no hands but . he told me it should be so; but if ask'd a copy it could not well be refus'd. i referred myself entirely to 's pleasure. " . l. came to me from and order'd me to render myself to-morrow. cautioned me to play my part, to avoid questions as much as possible, and to seem absolutely converted to 's interest. bad me bear with some words that might seem harsh. " . i render'd myself. at night could not dissemble his satisfaction; press'd my hand, which i remember not he did before except when i return'd from the french service. acted his part well, and i too. and d. seemed not ill pleas'd. " . took me aside and falling upon the business of l.r. said he inclined to have sav'd him but was forc'd to it, otherwise he must have broke with . bid me think no more on't. coming home l. told me he fear'd began to smell out 's carriage. that ---- said to that morning that all that was done was but sham. " . several told me of the storm that was brewing. rumsey was with and was seem to come out crying that he must accuse a man he lov'd. "_dec._ . a letter from bidding me stay till i heard farther from him. "_jan._ . i received a letter from l. marked by in the margin to trust entirely in ; and that in february i should certainly have leave to return. that matters were concerted towards it; and that had no suspicion, notwithstanding of my reception here. "_feb._ . a letter from l. that my business was almost as well as done; but must be so sudden as not to leave room for 's party to counterplot. that it is probable he would choose scotland rather than flanders or this country; which was all one to . " . the sad news of his death by l. _o cruel fate!_" dr. welwood cautiously adds, in a note:-- "that by and king charles and the duke of york seem to be meant. but i know not what to make of the other numbers and letters, and must leave the reader to his own conjectures." there can, i apprehend, be little doubt that the l.r., under the date of november , were meant to indicate the patriotic lord russell. the whole of these extracts possess the highest interest, establishing as they do several points referred to by historians. it is curious to remark the complete subjection in which charles, at this period, stood towards his brother; occasioned, perhaps, but the foreign supplies which he scrupled not to receive, being dependant on his adhesion to the policy of which the duke of york was the avowed representative. shortly before his death, charles appears to have meditated emancipation from this state of thraldom; and hume says,-- "he was determined, it is thought, to send the duke to scotland, to recall monmouth, to summon a parliament, to dismiss all his unpopular ministers, and to throw himself entirely upon the good will and affections of his subjects." { } this passage accords with the entries in monmouth's pocket-book under the dates of jan. . and feb. . if the unfortunate monmouth could have foreseen the miserable end, with all its accompanying humiliations and horrors, to which a few months were destined to bring him, his exclamation, "o cruel fate!" would have acquired additional bitterness. c. ross. [we insert the foregoing as serving to complete the series of interesting notices connected with the capture of monmouth which have appeared in our columns, rather than from an agreement with the views of our valued correspondent. dr. anster states, that in the pocket-book in his possession, the duke's movements up to the th march, - , are given. would he kindly settle the question by stating whether the passages quoted by weldon are to be found among them?] * * * * * queries. woolton's christian manual. one important use, i conceive, of the "notes and queries" is, the opportunity it presents of ascertaining the existence of rare editions of early printed books. can any of your readers state where a copy or copies of the following may be found? "the christian manuell, or the life and maners of true christians. a treatise, wherein is plentifully declared how needeful it is for the servaunts of god to manifest and declare to the world: their faith by their deedes, their words by their work, and their profession by their conversation. written by jhon woolton, minister of the gospel, in the cathedral church of exetor. imprinted at london by j.c. for tho. sturruppe, in paules church yarde, at the george, . dedicated to sir william cordell knight, maister of the rolles.--at whymple nouember . n , in eights."--copy formerly in the possession of herbert. (herbert, _typographical antiquities_, vol. ii. p. .) there is an imperfect copy, i understand, in the bodleian. access to another copy has been needed for an important public object, in order to transcribe the leaf or leaves wanting in the bodleian copy; and the book, so far as i am aware, does not occur in any other public libraries. woolton was nephew to nowell, author of the _catechisms_. he wrote several other pieces, and was bishop of exeter - . (wood, _athen. oxon._ ed. bliss, vol. i. pp. , .) t. bath, april . . * * * * * luther's translation of the new testament:-- john, v. . in an article of the _quarterly review_ (vol. xxxiii. p. .) on this controverted passage of st. john's epistles, generally attributed to the present learned bishop of ely, the following statement is made respecting luther:-- "let it also be recollected, to the honour of luther, bugenhagius, and other leaders of the reformation, that in this contest they magnanimously stood by the decision of erasmus. luther, in his translation of the new testament, omitted the passage; and, in the preface to the last edition (in ) revised by himself, he solemnly requested that his translation should on no account be altered." since such was the injunction of luther, how does it happen that this verse appears in the later editions of his testament? i have looked into five or six editions, and have not found the verse in the two earliest. these bear the following titles:-- "biblia dat ys. de gantze hillige schrifft verdüdeschet dorch doct. mart. luth. wittemberch. hans lufft. ." (in folio.) "dat neu testamente verdüdeschet dörch d. mart. luth. mit den korten summarien l. leonharti hutteri. gosslar. in iahre ." the verse appears in an edition of his bible printed at halle in ; in his new testament, tubingen, ; in one printed at basel in ; and is also to be found in that printed by the christian knowledge society. in the basel edition the verse is thus given;-- "denn drey sind, die de zeugen im himmel; der vater, das wort, und der beilige geist; und diese drey sind eins." perhaps some of your learned readers can explain when, and by whose authority, the verse was inserted in luther's testament. e.m.b. [we may add, that the verse also appears in the stereotype edition of luther's bible, published by tauchnitz, at leipsig, in .--ed.] * * * * * minor queries. _medical symbols._--"a patient" inquires respecting the origin and date of the marks used to designate weights in medical prescriptions. _charles ii. and lord r.'s daughter._--can any of your readers inform me who was the lady that is referred to in the following passage, from henry sidney's _diary_, edited by mr. blencowe (march . , vol. i. p. .):-- "the king hath a new mistress, lord r----'s daughter: she brought the duke of monmouth to the king." c. _st. alban's day._--a friend has asked me the following question, which some of your readers may perhaps be able to answer, viz.:-- "till the reign of ed. vi. st. alban's day was kept in england on june d (the supposed anniversary { } of his martyrdom). it was then erased from the kalendar, but restored to it in the reign of chas. ii.; when it was transferred to june th. why was this change made?" w.c. trevelyan. _black broth_ (no. . p. .).--if this were a sauce or condiment, may not the colour have been produced by the juice of the boletus, much used in greece to the present day? s.s.s. _deputy-lieutenants of the tower of london._--by whom were these officers appointed? what was the nature of their duties? had they a salary, or was the office an honorary appointment? they used to meet periodically, was it for the transaction of business? if so, what business? does the office still exist? s.s.s. _buccaneers--charles ii._--there is a passage in bryan edward's _history of the west indies_ (vol. i. p. . to edit. ), in which he gives an opinion that the buccaneers of jamaica were not the pirates and robbers that they have been commonly represented; and mentions, on the authority of a ms. journal of sir william beeston, that charles ii. had a pecuniary interest in the buccaneering, and continued to receive a share of the booty after he had publicly ordered the suppression of buccaneering: and also, speaking of sir henry morgan, and the honours he received from charles ii., gives an opinion that the stories told of morgan's cruelty are untrue. can any of your readers tell me who sir william beeston was, and what or where his journal is? or refer me to any accessible information about charles ii.'s connection with the buccaneers, or that may support bryan edwards's favourable opinion of the jamaica buccaneers and of sir henry morgan? c. _travelling in .--richard hooker._--could any of your readers give me some particulars of travelling at the above period between london and salisbury? i should also feel greatly indebted for any _unpublished_ particulars in the life of the "judicious richard hooker" after his marriage. answers might be sent, either through "notes and queries," or direct to me, w. hastings kelke. drayton beauchamp, tring. _decker's raven's almanack--nash's terrors of the night, &c._--having lately picked up a volume of old tracts, i am anxious to learn how far i may congratulate myself on having met with a prize. among the contents are-- . "the rauen's almanacke," for the year , purporting to be by t. deckers. is this the same person with thomas dekker the dramatist? . nashe's "terrors of the night" (wanting eight leaves at the beginning.) of this, beloe (the only authority within my reach) says, that only one copy is known to exist; can his statement be correct? . a religious tract, which seems only remarkable for its bad printing, obscure wording, and almost invariably using the third person singular of the verb, whatever be the nominative. it begins-- "to all you who profess the name of our lord jesus in words, and makes mention of his words, &c.".... and the first division ends-- "this have i written in love to all your soules, who am one who did drinke of the cup of fornication, and have drunke of the cup of indignation, but now drinkes the cup of salvation, where sorrow and tears is fled away; and yet am a man of sorrows and well acquainted with griefe, and suffers with the seed, and travels that it may be brought forth of captivity; called by the world f.h." who is f.h.? . sundry poems on husbandry, housewifery, and the like, by thomas tusser; but as the tract is mutilated up to cap. ., "i have been prayde, to shew mine aide," &c., i am not book-learned enough to know whether it be the same as tusser's _five hundred poynts of good husbandry_. information on any of the above points would oblige. j.e. _prebendaries._--when were prebendaries first appointed, and what the nature of their duties generally? what is the rank of a prebendary of a cathedral or other church, whether as a layman or a clerk in orders? would a vicar, being a prebendary, take precedence as such of a rector not being one? where is the best account of prebends to be found? s.s.s. _luther's portrait at warwick castle._--there is at warwick castle a fine half-length portrait of luther by holbein, very unlike the ordinary portraits of the great reformer. is this portrait a genuine one? has it been engraved? e.m.b. _rawdon papers._--the rev. mr. berwick, in introducing to the public, in , the interesting volume known by the name of _rawdon papers_, says,-- "they are a small part of a correspondence which was left in the editor's hands after the greater portion had been sent several years before to the marquis of hastings, whose absence at this time prevents the editor's making such additions to his stock as might render it more interesting to the public." do these papers still exist in the possession of { } the hastings family, and is there any chance of a further publication? the volume published by mr. berwick contains some very interesting incidental illustrations of the politics, literature, and society of the seventeenth century, and much might be expected from the remaining papers. i may add, that this volume has not been so much used by historians as it should be; but, as was to be expected, it has not escaped mr. macaulay. it is not not well edited. c. _wellington, wyrwast, cokam._--in a ms. letter which i have relating to the siege of taunton in the civil war, is the following sentence, describing the movements of the royal army:-- "the enemy on friday last have quitted their garrisions in wellington wyrwast and cokam houses; the two last they have burnt." i am not certain about the second name, which seems to be wyrwast; and hsould be obliged by any information relative to these three houses. c. _blockade of corfe castle in ._--in martyn's _life of shafetesbury_ (vol. i. p. .) it is stated that a parliamentary force, under sir a.a. cooper, blockaded corfe castle in , after the taking of wareham. i can find no mention any where else of an attack on corfe castle in . the blockade of that castle, which lady bankes's defence has made memorable, was in the previous year, and sir a.a. cooper had not then joined the parliament. i should be glad if any of your readers could either corroborate martyn's account of a blockade of corfe castle in , or prove it to be, as i am inclined to think it, a mis-statement. i should be very thankful for any information as to sir anthony asteley cooper's proceedings in dorsetshire, wiltshire, and somersetshire, during the civil war and commonwealth, being engaged upon a life of lord shaftesbury. c. _mss. of locke._--a translation, by locke, of nicole's _essays_ was published in by harvey and darton, london; and it is stated in the title-page of the book, that it is printed from an autograph ms. of locke, in the possession of thomas hancock, m.d. i wish to know if dr. hancock, who also edited the volume, is still alive? and, if so, would let this querist have access to the other papers of locke's which he speaks of in the preface? c. _locke's proposed life of lord shaftesbury._--i perceive that the interesting volume of letters of locke, algernon sidney, and lord shaftesbury, published some years ago, by mr. foster, is advertised in your columns by your own publisher; and i therefore inquire, with some hope of eliciting information, whether the papers in mr. foster's possession, which he has abstained from publishing, contain any notices of the first earl of shaftesbury; and i am particularly anxious to know whether they contain any references to the life of lord shaftesbury which locke meditated, or throw any light upon the mode in which locke would have become possessed of some suppressed passages of edmund ludlow's memoirs. c. _theses._--many german works introduced into catalogues, are _theses_ defended at the universities. the name of the _president_ is generally first, and in larger letters than that of the propounder, who is usually the author. hence, it often happens, that the _thesis_ is entered as a work written by the _præses_. but is not unfrequently happened, that this præses was _really_ the author; and that, as an easy way of publishing his thought, he entrusted an essay to a candidate for a degree, to be defended by him. the seventh rule of the museum catalogue runs thus:-- "the respondent or defender in a thesis to be considered its author, except when it unequivocally appears to be the work of the præses." now, i would ask, what are the usual signs of the authorship? are there any catalogues of theses? any bibliographical works which contain hints for guidance in this matter? any correspondents who can advise generally on the whole matter? m. _apocrypha._--what editions of the bible _containing the apocrypha_ are now on sale at the ordinary way? _j.b.'s treatise on art and nature._--by a scrap of a book, apparently of the sixteenth century, it seems to be a treatise by j.b. upon art and nature: the first book is "of water-workes." what book is this? m. _nursery games and rhymes._--in the _letters and memoir of bishop shirley_, allusion is made (p. .) to a once popular game called "thread the needle," the first four lines of which are given. can any of your readers supply the remainder, or refer me to any work where they may be found? i also should feel obliged by any information respecting the age and origin of the popular nursery song, beginning,-- "a frog he would a-wooing go, heigho, says rowley." perhaps some of your readers will state where the correct text may be met with. b.g.j. _emancipation of the jews._--in francis' _history of the bank of english_, p. ., mention is made of an offer on the part of the jews to pay , l. to the state on the following conditions;-- . that the laws against them should be repealed; . that the bodleian library should be assigned to them; . that they should have permission to use st. { } paul's cathedral as a synagogue. it is stated, on the authority of a letter in the thurloe state papers, that this proposition was actually discussed. the larger sum of , l. was demanded; but, being refused, the negotiation was broken off. this proposition is said to have been made shortly before the elevation of cromwell to the protectorate. the subject is an interesting one in these days, when jewish disabilities are under discussion. i wish to offer two queries:-- . is this story confirmed by any contemporary writer? . is it conceivable that the jews would have consented to worship in a _cruciform_ church, such as was old st. paul's, which was standing at the time this offer is supposed to have been made? h.m. austen. st. peter's, thanet. _the complutensian mss._--has not there been an account of these mss. published in london in ? my authority for this query is to be found in a work of dr. d. antonio puigblanch:-- "en el año per encargo que hice desde madrid _se imprimio mio aca en londres_, de que es falso este rumor[ ], pues en la biblioteca de la universidad de alcala quedaban pocos meses antes en gue estune en ella siete manuscritos biblicos en aquellas dos lenguas[ ], que son sin duda los mismos siete de que hace mencion en la vida del cardenal cisneros, alfonso de castro, doctor téologo de la misma universidad, i escritor contemporaneo o de poco tiempo después, parte de los cuales manuscritos, es a saber, los caldéos, son de letra de alfonso de zamora, que es uno de los tres judíos conversos editores de la complutense."--_opusculos gramatico-satiricos del dr. d. antonio puigblanch_, londres [ ], p. . if the chaldee and hebrew mss. of the complutensian polyglot were at alcala in , when were they removed to madrid, and in what library at madrid are they now? the greek mss. are supposed to have been returned to the vatican library. if the chaldee mss. are in the handwriting of one of the editors, as stated by puigblanch, they cannot be of much value or authority. i shall add another query:--are they paper or parchment? e.m.b. [footnote : that the mss. were destroyed.] [footnote : hebrew and chaldee.] _latin names of towns._--a correspondent who answered the query as to the "latin names of towns" in titles, referred your readers to the supplement of lemprière. i am much obliged to him for the hint, and have obtained the work in consequence; but it is right your readers should know that the information therein given must only be taken as suggestive, and sometimes as dismissible upon reference to the commonest gazetteer. i opened at the letter n; and found, that of three entries, the first my eye lighted upon, two were palpably wrong. the first informs us that "næostadium _in palatinatu_" is in "france;" the third that "nellore" is in "_ceylon_." i am bound to say that i do not find errors so thickly scattered throughout, and that the list will be useful to me. but, query, is there any thing extensive of which the accuracy can be depended upon? m. kilkenny. * * * * * replies. scala coeli. i incline to think that the testator whose will is referred to in no. . p. ., by "scala coeli," meant king henry the seventh's chapel at westminster. margaret countess of richmond and derby, mother to king henry vii., in the indenture for founding chantry monks in the abbey of westminster, dated . march, henry vii. ( - ), states that she had obtained papal bulls of indulgence, that all persons saying and hearing her chantry masses should have as full remission from sin as in the place called _scala coeli_ beside rome, "to the great comfort and relief of the said monasterie and all cristen people resorting thereto." (_ms. lansd._ .) henry lord marney, by his will, dated d dec., hen. viii. ( ), directs a trental of masses to be "first at scala coeli, in westminster." (_testamenta vetusta_, .) blomefield (_hist. of norfolk_, vo. edit., iv. ) speaking of the church of the augustine friars at norwich, observes,-- "that which brought most profit to the convent, was the chapel of our lady in this church, called scala celi, to which people were continually coming in pilgrimage, and offering at the altar there; most folks desiring to have masses sung for them here, or to be buried in the cloister of scala celi, that they might be partakers of the many pardons and indulgences granted by the popes to this place; this being the only chapel (except that of the same name at westminster, and that of our lady in st. buttolph's church at boston,) that i find to have the same privileges and indulgences as the chapel of scala celi at rome; which were so great as made all the three places aforesaid so much frequented; it being easier to pay their devotions here, than go so long a journey; all which indulgences and pardons may be seen in fox's _acts and monuments_, fo. ." in bishop bale's singular play of _kynge johan_, published by the camden society, the king charges the clery with extorting money "for legacyes, trentalls with _scalacely_ messys whereby ye have made the people very assys." (p. .) and simon of swineshead, after drinking the poison, says,-- { } "to send me to heaven god rynge the holye belle, and synge for my sowle a masse of _scala celi_, that i may clyme up aloft with enoch and heli." (p. .) there are bulls of indulgence in scala coeli in rymer's _fædera_, xii. . . ., xiii. .; but i can now only give the reference, as i have not that work in hand. c.h. cooper. cambridge, april , * * * * * watching the sepulchre. "t.w." (no. . p. .) will find no end of "items" for watching the sepulchre, in the "churchwardens' accounts" before the reformation, and during the reign of queen mary. at easter it was the custom to erect a sepulchre on the north side of the chancel, to represent that of our saviour. this was generally a temporary structure of wood; though in some churches there still remain elaborately ornamented ones of stone. sometimes the founder's tomb was used for the purpose. in this sepulchre was placed on good friday the crucifix, and occasionally the host, with other emblems; and a person was employed to watch it till the morning of easter day, when it was taken out with great ceremony, in imitation of our lord's resurrection. it was the payment for this watching that occurs continually in the churchwardens' accounts, and of which, it appears, fuller could not understand the meaning. a paper on the subject of easter sepulchres, by mr. venables, was read at the meeting of the cambridge camden society in march, , but i am not aware whether it has been printed. some very curious "items" on this subject are given in britton's _redcliffe church_, which are quoted in the _oxford glossary of architecture_. they are so illustrative, that i subjoin them, to give you an opportunity, if you please, of serving them up to your readers:-- "item, that maister canynge hath deliver'd, this th day of july, in the year of our lord , to maister nicholas petters, vicar of st. mary redcliffe, moses conterin, philip barthelmew, procurators of st. mary redcliffe aforesaid, a new sepulchre, well gilt with gold, and a civer thereto. "item, an image of god almighty rising out of the same sepulchre, with all the ordinance that 'longeth thereto; that is to say, a lathe made of timber and the iron work thereto. "item, thereto 'longeth heaven, made of timber and stained clothes. "item, hell, made of timber, and the iron-work thereto, with divels to the number of . "item, knights, armed, keeping the sepulchre, with their weapons in their hands; that is to say, axes and spears, with pavés. "item, payr of angels' wings for angels, made of timber and well painted. "item, the fadre, the crown and visage, the ball with a cross upon it, well gilt with fine gould. "item, the holy ghost coming out of heaven into the sepulchre. "item, 'longeth to the angels chevelers." ducange (vol. vi. p. . new edit.) gives a detailed account of the service performed at the easter sepulchres on the continent. e. vee. cambridge, march . "_watching the sepulchre_" (no. . p. .).--at the present day, in most roman catholic countries it is the custom to exhibit in the principal churches at this period, and at christmas, a kind of _tableau_ of the entombment and of the birth of the saviour. the figures are sometimes small, and at other times the size of life: generally coloured, and formed of wax, wood, stone, or other materials; and when artistically arranged, and judiciously lighted, form sometimes beautiful objects. i have no doubt the entry in the churchwardens' accounts of waltham abbey refers to a custom of the same kind, prevailing in the country before the reformation. if the date of their entry were sought for, i have little doubt but that it would be found to have been about easter. the _sepulchre_ itself was often, i believe, a permanent erection of stone, and some of them probably now remain in the churches of england on the north side of the chancel, where they may sometimes be taken for the tombs of individuals there interred. w.c. trevelyan. _watching the sepulchre._--in reply to "t.w.'s" query in no. ., i have witnessed at florence the custom of dressing the sepulchre on the thursday before good friday with the most beautiful flowers, many of which are reared especially for the purpose. the devout attend at the sepulchre, and make their prayers there throughout the day, the most profound silence being observed. the convents rival each other in the beauty of their decorations. do you think that the churchwardens' entries in fuller can refer to a similar custom? the loveliness of the flowers, and their delightful perfume, which pervades the church, present a most soothing and agreeable type of death and the grave, under their christian phase. i was always at a loss to understand why this was done on thursday, instead of on saturday; the latter being the day on which our lord rested in the sepulchre. a.m. * * * * * queries answered, no. . a new _blunder_ of mr. malone.--i love the memory of edmond malone, albeit he sometimes committed blunders. he committed a pitiable blunder when he broke his bow in shooting at the worthless samuel ireland; and he committed an { } irreparable blunder when he whitewashed the monumental effigy of the matchless shakspere. of the blunder ascribed to him by a reverend querist (no. . p. ) he was quite innocent. before we censure an author or editor, we should consult his _own_ edition. he cannot be answerable for the errors of any other impression. such, at least, is _my_ notion of critical equity. i shall now state the plain facts. malone, in the first instance, printed the spurious declaration of john _shakspear_ in an _imperfect state_. (_plays and poems of w.s._, , vol. i. part ii. p. .) he was soon afterwards enabled to complete it. (ibid. vol. i. part ii. p. .) steevens reprinted it entire, and without comment. (_plays of w.s._, , vol. ii. p. .) now the editor of the irish reimpression, who must have omitted to consult the edition of steevens, merely committed a _blunder_ in attempting to unite the two fragments as first published by mr. malone. there was no _audacious fabrication_ on the occasion--there is no _mystery_ in the case! (no. . p. .) so, to stop the current of misconception, and economise space on future occasions, i venture to repeat a few words in suggesting as a canon of criticism:--_before we censure an author or editor we should consult his_ own _edition_. bolton corney. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _compendyous olde treatyse._--"f.m." (no. . p. .) will find this tract reprinted (with the exception of the preface and verses) in foxe's _acts and monuments_; a portion once peculiar to the first edition of , p. ., but now appearing in the reprint of , vol. iv. p. - ., which may be of some service in the absence of the original tract. novus. _hordys_ (no. . p. .).--i have waited till now in hopes of seeing an answer from some more competent pen than my own to the query as to the meaning of the word "_hordys_," by your correspondent "j.g.;" but having been disappointed, i venture a suggestion which occurred to me immediately on reading it, viz. that "_hordys_" might be some possible or impossible derivation from _hordeum_, and applied "irreverently" to the consecrated host, as though it were no better than a common barley-cake. whether in those early days and in ireland, the host was really made of barley, and whether "hordys" was a name given to some kind of barley-cake then in vogue, or (supposing my suggestion to be well founded) a word coined for the occasion, may perhaps be worthy of investigation. a.r. kenilworth, april . _eachard's tracts._--the rev. george wyatt, who inquires (no. . p. .) about eachard's _tracts_, will probably get all the information he wants from the life of eachard prefixed to the collected edition of his _works_ in three volumes, which i am sorry i have not the means at present of referring to. "i.o.," to whom the last of the tracts is addressed, is dr. john owen. philatus (what objection is there to latinising, in the usual way, the greek termination os?) is, of course, intended for hobbes; and, to convey eachard's opinion of him, his opponent in the dialogue is timothy, a god-honourer. let me add, as you have headed mr. wyatt's communication "tracts attributed to eachard," thereby casting a doubt upon his authorship, that there is no doubt about dr. john eachard being the author of all the tracts which mr. wyatt enumerates; nor was there any concealment by eachard. his authorship of the _grounds and occasions of the contempt of the clergy_ is notorious. the "epistle dedicatory," signed "j.e.," mentioned by mr. wyatt as prefixed to the dialogue on hobbes' _state of nature_, refers also to the five subsequent letters. these were published at the same time with the dialogue on hobbes, in one volume, and are answers to attacks on the _grounds and occasions_, &c. the epistle dedicatory is addressed to gilbert sheldon, archbishop of canterbury, "and," says eachard, "i hope my dialogue will not find the less acceptance with your grace for these letters which follow after." the second edition of the volume i have by me, published in : the title, _mr. hobbes's state of nature considered, &c.; to which are added, five letters from the author of "the grounds and occasions of the contempt of the clergy."_ c. _masters of st. cross._--in reply to "h. edwards" (no. . p. .), a list of the masters of st. cross, i believe, is given in browne willis's _mitred abbies_, vol. i.; but the most correct and perfect list is in the _sketches of hampshire_, by the late john duthy, esq. henry or humfrey de milers is the first master whose name is recorded, and nothing further is known of him: between bishop sherborne and bishop compton there were thirteen masters. f.j.b. has "h. edwards" seen the _history of st. cross hospital_, by mr. moody, published within the last six months? it may materially assist him. john r. fox _a living dog better than a dead lion._--your correspondent "mr. john sansom" may, perhaps, accept the following as an answer to the first part of his query (no. . p. .). in an ancient ms. preserved in the archives of the see of ossory, at fol. ., is entered, in a hand of the latter part of the fourteenth century, a list of ancient proverbs under the following heading:-- { } "eux sount les proverbes en fraunceys conferme par auctorite del _dibil_? "chers amys receiuez de moy un beau present q vo' envoy, non pas dor ne dargent mais de bon enseignment, que en escriptur ai trove e de latin translatee, &c. &c." amongst them is the following:-- "meux valt un chien sein e fort qe un leoun freid e mort; e meux valt povert od bountex qe richeste od malueiste." jesus, the son of sirak, is not, however, the authority for this proverb; it occurs in the th chapter of ecclesiastes and th verse. and now, to ask a question in turn, what is meant by "auctorite _del dibil_?" james graves. kilkenny. _monumental brass_ (no. . p. .).--on the floor of the thorncombe church, in the co. of devon, is a splendid brass, representing sir t. brooke, and joan, his wife, dated respectively and . at the lower corner of the lady's robe is engraven a small dog, with a collar and bells. may not these figures be the private mark of the artist? s.s.s. _the wickliffite version of the scriptures._--i have in my possession a very fair ms. of wickliff's translation of the new testament; and should the editors of the wickliffite versions like to see my ms., and let me know to whom i may send it, i shall be happy to lend it them. daniel rock. buckland, faringdon. _hever_ (pp. . .).--in confirmation of the meaning assigned to this word, there is an estate near westerham, in kent, called "hever's-wood." s.s.s. _steward family_ (no. . p. .).--though not an answer to his question, "o.c." may like to be informed that the arms of the impalement in the drawing which he describes are (according to izacke's _exeter_) those which were borne by ralph taxall, sheriff of devon, in . pole calls him texshall. modern heralds give the coat to pecksall of westminster. if a conjecture may be hazarded, i would suggest that the coat was a modification of the ancient arms of batishull: a crosslet in saltier, between four owls. s.s.s. _gloves_ (no. . p. .).--in connection with the subject of the presentation of gloves, i would refer your correspondents to the curious scene in vicar's _parliamentary chronicle_, where "master prynne," on his visit to archbishop laud in the tower in may , accepts "a fair pair of gloves, upon the archbishop's extraordinary pressing importunity;" a present which, under the disagreeable circumstances of the interview, seems to have been intended to convey an intimation beyond that of mere courtesy. s.s.s. _cromlech._--as your learned correspondent "dr. todd" (no. . p. .) queries this word, i think it is very doubtful whether the word was in use, or not, before the period mentioned ( th century). dr. owain pughe considered the word "cromlech" (_crwm-llech_, an inclined or flat stone,) to be merely a popular name, having no reference to the original purpose of the structure. the only triadic name that will apply to the cromlechs, is _maen ketti_ (stone chests, or arks), the raising of which is described as one of "the three mighty labours of the isle of britain." gomer. _watewich_ (pp. . . .).--may not "watewich" be waterbeach? s.s.s. "_by hook or by crook._"--i imagine that the expression "by hook or by crook" is in very general use throughout england. it was familiar to my ear forty years ago in surrey, and within these four years its origin was (to my satisfaction at the moment) brought home to my comprehension in the north of devon, where the tenant of a certain farm informed me that, by an old custom, he was entitled to take wood from some adjoining land "_by hook and crook_;" which, on inquiry, i understood to include, first, so much underwood as he could cut with the _hook_ or bill, and, secondly, so much of the branches of trees as he could pull down with the aid of a _crook_. whether this crook originally meant the shepherd's crook (a very efficient instrument for the purpose), or simply such a _crook_-ed _stick_ as boys use for gathering hazel-nuts, is not very material. it seems highly probable that, in the vast forests which once overspread this country, the right of taking "_fire bote_" by "hook or crook" was recognised; and we can hardly wish for a more apt illustration of the idea of gaining a desired object by the ordinary means--"a hook," if it lay close to our hand; or, by a method requiring more effort, "a crook," if it were a little beyond our reach. j.a.s. _by hook or by crook_ (pp. , . . &c.).--in confirmation of this phrase having reference to forest customs, my hind told me that my plantations were plundered by hook or by crook, and he and i once caught a man in _flagrante delicto_, with a hook for cutting green wood, and a crook at the end of a long pole for breaking off dry branches, which could not be otherwise reached. for an early use of the term, see bacon's _fortress of the faithful_, . "whatsoever is pleasant or profitable must be theirs by hook or by crook." s.s.s. { } _tablet to napoleon._--will it assist "emdee's" interpretation of the inscription to napoleon (no. p. .) if i suggest that it may mean--Ægyptiaco bis, italico semper invicto? c.i.r. feb. . _lines on pharaoh_ (no. . p. .).--i beg to inform "j.t.," that the well-known _couplet_ about pharaoh, and _rascal_ rhyming to _pascal_, are from a certain _history of the bible_, or _bible history_, by the rev. dr. zachary boyd, of todrig, who was either principal or professor of divinity at glasgow in the seventeenth century. he left considerable property to the college there, on condition that his bust should be placed in the quadrangle, and his great work printed under the care of the academical senatus. the bust was placed accordingly, and is, or lately was, to be seen in a niche over the inner doorway. the _history_ was also printed, it is said, but never published. however, curious visitors have always, i believe, been allowed a peep into it--whether the ms. or the solitary printed book, i am not sure--and a few choice morsels are current. i recollect one stave of the lamentation of jonah-- "lord! what a doleful place is this! there's neither coal nor candle; and nothing i but fishes' tripes and greasy guts do bandle." i think it a shame that the maitland club of glasgow has not, ere now, volunteered an edition of zachary's immortal performance. the _senatus_ would hardly object (if the expense were undertaken), as the circulation would be confined to true scots. philobodius. [the following communication from a very competent authority, and the very passage quoted by "philobodius" himself, quite justify the non-publication of zachary's doggrel.] _zachary boyd_ (no. . p. .).--your notice of zachary boyd, and his extraordinary paraphrase of the bible in the college at glasgow, has reminded me of my having examined that strange work, and found ample cause for its not being published, though a sufficient sum was bequeathed for that purpose. the whole doggrel is only calculated to bring ridicule and contempt upon the scriptures; but there are, besides, passages such as refer to job's "curse god, and die;" to jeshuram waxing fat; to jonah in the whale's belly; and other parts, which utterly unfit the ms. for decent perusal. w. jerdan. _welsh ambassador._--the origin of the word "welsh," from the saxon "wealh," a stranger, and the use of it in this sense by our old writers (see brady's _introd._, p. .: sir t. smith's _commonwealth of england_, chap. xiii.), sufficiently explain this designation of the cuckoo, the temporary resident of our cold climate, and the ambassador _extraordinary_ in the revolutions of the seasons, in the words of the nursery rhymes,-- "she comes as a _stranger_, and stays three months in the year." "quid tibi vis aliud dicam? me _vox mea prodit_." _alciati, emblema_ lx. _cuculi, comment_. t.j. _prince madoc._--i was much gratified on reading "t.t.'s" note, commenting on my observations respecting the mandan language, as he proves the existence of celtic words amongst the american indians. regarding "t.t.'s" doubts as to the mandans being descended from the followers of madoc, i confess that my opinions on the point do not differ very widely from his own. the circumstances attending madoc's emigration, in the paucity of its numbers and the entire separation from the mother country, with the character of the indians, would almost ensure the ultimate destruction of the settlement, or the ultimate absorption of its remains by those who might have had friendly relations with the welsh. in this most favourable view, the evidences of the presence of the welsh seven centuries since would be few indeed at the present day. the most striking circumstance of this nature that i met with in mr. catlin's work, is a description of what he calls a "bull-boat," from its being covered with a bull's hide, which, in construction and form, is perfectly identical with the welsh "_cwrygl_." yet, strong as this resemblance is, it will have but little weight if unsupported by other evidence. in conclusion, i would observe, that i never supposed prince madoc to be the discover of america, but that his voyage was induced by the knowledge that other lands existed in the great ocean (_see_ humboldt's _examen critique_). the emblems found in america, and said to be crosses, are obviously the _tau_ [cross symbol], or symbol of life, and can have no connection with christianity. gomer. _poghell_ (no. . p. .).--in cornwall and devon there are places called poughill or poghill,--in _domesday_, pochelle; and in the _taxatio ecclesiastica_, pockehulle and pogheheulle. the etymology of the word, i take to be merely the addition (as is often found) of the anglo-saxon _hill_, or _hull_, to the old teutonic word pock, or pok, an eruption or protrusion. in low latin, pogetum is colliculus. (see ducange.) s.s.s. _swingeing tureen_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--how could "seleucus" "conclude" that goldsmith's "poor beau tibbs and kitty his wife," should have had "a _silver_ tureen" of expensive construction? it is evident that "kitty's" husband, in the "haunch of venison," was the beau tibbs of the "citizen of the world." there can be no doubt that, however the word be spelled, { } the meaning is _swingeing_, "huge, great," which i admit was generally, if not always, in those days spelled swinging, as in johnson--"_swinging_, from _swinge, huge, great_;" but which ought to be, as it is pronounced, _swingeing_. _tureen_ (pp. . . .).--"and instead of soup in a china terrene." (knox, essay _works_. vol. ii. p. .) s.s.s. _"a" or "an."--quem deus vult perdere._--allow me to refer your correspondents "priscian" and "e.s. jackson" (of no. .), to the _selections from the gentleman's magazine_, london, , vol. ii. pp. . and ., for some interesting papers on the subjects of their respective inquiries. the paper first referred to, at p. ., is certainly well worth perusal, as the writer, "kuster," has examined the question with considerable care, and proves, by many curious instances, that most of those whom we have been taught to look up to as the greatest authorities in english writing--dryden, swift, pope, johnson, and others--seem to have had no fixed rule on the subject, but to have used "a" or "an" before the same words with the most reckless inconsistency. the second paper, at p. ., gives a more detailed account of the adage, "quem deus (potius _jupiter_) vult perdere," &c., than "f.c.b." (whose object, of course, was rather to compare _results_ than to trace _derivations_) has supplied in his interesting communication. c. forbes. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. such of our readers as do not possess halliwell's _dictionary of archaic and provincial words_, which mr. way, a very competent authority, lately designated in our columns as mr. halliwell's "useful glossarial collections," will be glad to learn that mr. russell smith has announced a second and cheaper edition of it. the new number of the _archæological journal_ is a very interesting one. that portion if it, more particularly, which relates the proceedings of the meetings of the archæological institute, contains a great mass of curious and valuable information; made the more available and instructive by means of the admirable woodcuts by which it is illustrated. we have received several curious communications on the subject of parish registers, with reference to the article on "early statistics," and the "registers of chart, kent," to which we shall endeavour to give early insertion. we have also received a copy of _a letter addressed to r. monckton milnes, esq. m.p., on the condition and unsafe state of ancient parochial registers in england and the colonies_, to which we beg to direct the attention of such of our friends as take an interest in this important subject. messrs. puttick and simpson, of . piccadilly, will sell on monday, the th instant, and three following days, a selection from the valuable library of the rev. dr. maitland. although only a selection from the library of the learned historian of the dark ages, the catalogue exhibits, in addition to numerous polyglot and other important editions of the scriptures, and the great collections of baronius, mabillon, dupin, martene, and durand, &c., a vast number of works of the highest value in the departments of theology and ecclesiastical history. we have received the following catalogues:--part iii. for of j. russell smith's ( . old compton street) catalogue of books and autographs, chiefly old and curious. part ii. for of a catalogue of choice, useful, and interesting books, in fine condition, on sale by waller and son ( . fleet street). * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) sacred songs, duets, and trios, words by thomas moore; music by stephenson and moore. power, strand. sir peter pett's discourse of the growth of england, &c. (being the nd edition of the "happy future of england.") monk's letters relating to the restoration, published by toland, - . lady russell's letters, edited by miss berry. du quesne's account of bourbon, published in holland about . voyage de l'arabie heureuse par l'ocean oriental et le detroit de la mer rouge, mo. paris, . south african quarterly journal, vo. cape town, (all that is published). odd volumes humboldt's cosmos, nos. forming vol. i. of longman's st edition, - . perussac's bulletin des sciences naturelles, vols. xix. to xxvii., paris, - . southey's poetical works, vols. ix. and x. langard's history of england, mo. edition of . vols. v. to ix. (both inclusive). penny cyclopÆdia. monthly parts , to (both inclusive), , , , , , to (both inclusive). letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. adolphus' history of england. "indacator" _is informed that the continuation of this work is proceeding with, as fast as mr. l. adolphus' professional duties will admit; and we are sure that gentleman would at all times readily explain, to those entitled to ask him what progress has been made in it_. _our numerous correspondents will, we trust, excuse our specially acknowledging the receipt of their various communications, and agree with us in the propriety of economising our limited room, so as to insert rather than acknowledge the articles with which they have favoured us._ _a third edition of nos. , , , and ., forming part i., is reprinted, so that complete sets of our work may again be had._ * * * * * { } theological and miscellaneous library of the rev. s.r. maitland, dd., a noble mahogany bookcase, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room . piccadilly, on monday, april ., and three following days, the library of the rev. s.r. maitland, d.d.; consisting of versions of the scared scriptures, a fine copy of walton's polyglott (with the republican variations in the preface), critical and expository works, best editions of the works of the fathers of the church, ecclesiastical history, councils canon law, and miscellaneous literature. catalogues are now ready, and will be sent on application. * * * * * on a large sheet, price s. d. plain; s. richly coloured; in case s. d. plain; s. coloured. a chart of ancient armour, from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries; containing eighteen figures, with a description and a sketch of the progress of european armour. by john hewitt. "a graphic outline of the subject of military costume during the period of its greatest interest to the english antiquary. the author has made a judicious selection of the examples, chiefly from the rich series of monumental effigies; and, in the brief text which accompanies these illustrations, a useful resumé will be found of a subject which, not many years since was attainable only through the medium of costly publications."--_archæological journal._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * the primÆval antiquities of england illustrated by those of denmark. the primÆval antiquities of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. with numerous woodcuts. vo. s. d. "the best antiquarian handbook we have eve met with--so clear is its arrangement and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well-executed engravings.... it is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquarians."--_morning herald._ "a book of remarkable interest and ability.... mr. worsaae's book is in all ways a valuable addition to our literature.... mr. thoms has executed the translation in flowing an idiomatic english, and has appended many curious and interesting notes and observations of his own."--_guardian._ "this work, which we desire to commend to the attention of our readers, is signally interesting to the british antiquary. highly interesting and important work."--_archæological journal._ see also _gentleman's magazine_ for february, . john henry parker, oxford, and . strand. london. * * * * * nearly ready. choice examples of the workmanship selected from the exhibition of ancient and mediÆval art at the society of arts a prospectus, containing a specimen of the illustrations, will be sent on receipt of two postage stamps. joseph cundall, . old bond street. * * * * * the shakespeare society.--the ninth annual meeting of the society will be held on friday next, the th inst., at the rooms of the royal society of literature, no. . st. martin's place, trafalgar square, at which the attendance of subscribers is earnestly solicited. the chair will be taken a three o'clock precisely. by order of the council, f.g. tomlins, secretary agent to the society, mr. skeffington, no. . piccadilly. * * * * * the church warder and domestic magazine contains theological, historical and moral papers, besides amusing and instructive tales. price twopence. published by groombridge and sons, paternoster row, on the first of every month. * * * * * royal mo., cloth s.; morocco (hayday), s. selden's table talk royal mo., price s. d. cloth, s. d. morocco (hayday). the temple, sacred poems, and private ejaculations. by george herbert. also, by the same author, price s. cloth, s. morocco (hayday). a priest to the temple; or, the country parson: his character, and rule of holy life, &c. london: george bell, fleet street. leicester: j.s. crossley. * * * * * next week, vol. vo., with etched frontispiece, by wehnert, and eight engravings, price s. sabrinÆ corolla: a volume of classical translations with original compositions contributed by gentlemen educated at shrewsbury school. among the contributors are the head masters of shewsbury, stamford, repton, uppingham, and birmingham schools; andrew lawson, esq., late m.p.; the rev. r. shilleto, cambridge; the rev. t.s. evans, rugby; j. riddell, esq., fellow of baliol college, oxford; the rev. e.m. cope, h.j. hodgson, esq., h.a.j. munro, esq., w.g. clark, esq., fellows of trinity college, cambridge, and many other distinguished scholars from both universities. the work is edited by three of the principal contributors. folio, price s. the choral responses and litanies of the united church of england and ireland. collected from authentic sources. by the rev. john jebb, a.m., rector of peterstow. the present work contains a full collection of the harmonized compositions of ancient date, including nine sets of pieces and responses, and fifteen litanies, with a few of the more ancient psalm chants. they are given in full score, and in their proper cliffs. in the upper part, however, the treble is substituted for the "cantus" or "medius" cliff: and the whole work is so arranged as to suit the library of the musical student, and to be fit for use in the choir. memoirs of music. by the hon. roger north, attorney-general to james i. now first printed from the original ms. and edited, with copious notes, by edward f. rimbault, l.l.d., f.s.a., &c. &c. quarto; with a portrait; handsomely printed in to.; half-bound in morocco, s. this interesting ms., so frequently alluded to by dr. burney in the course of his "history of music," has been kindly placed at the disposal of the council of the musical antiquarian society, by george townshend smith, esq., organist of hereford cathedral. but the council, not feeling authorised to commence a series of literary publications, yet impressed with the value of the work, have suggested its independent publication to their secretary, dr. rimbault, under whose editorial care it accordingly appears. it abounds with interesting musical anecdotes; the greek fables respecting the origin of music; the rise and progress of musical instruments; the early musical drama; the origin of our present fashionable concerts; the first performance of the beggar's opera, &c. a limited number having been printed, few copies remain for sale: unsold copies will shortly be raised in price to l. s. d. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, april . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents notes:-- the author of the "characteristics" by w.d. christie. caxton's printing office, by r.f. rimbault. sanatory laws in other days. folk lore:--midsummer fires. minor notes:--borrowed thoughts--an infant prodigy in --allusion in peter martyr--hogs not pigs. queries:-- a query and replies, by h. walter. letters of queen elizabeth and philip ii. of spain. minor queries:--the new temple--"junius identified"--mildew in books--george herbert's burialplace--the earl of essex and "the finding of the rayned deer"--the lass of richmond hill--curfew--alumni of oxford, cambridge, and winchester--st. leger's life of archbishop walsh--query put to a pope--the carpenter's maggot--lord delamere--henry and the nutbrown maid. replies:-- french poem by malherbe, by s.w. singer. "dies iræ, dies illa." dr. samuel ogden, by j.h. markland. replies to minor queries:--porson's imposition--the three dukes--kant's sämmtliche werke--becket's mother--"imprest" and "debenture"--derivation of "news"--origin of adur--meaning of steyne--sarum and barum--epigrams on the universities--dulcarnon--dr. magian--america known to the ancients--collar of ss.--martello towers--"a frog he would a-wooing go"--william of wykeham--execution of charles i.--swords--the low window--brasichelli's expurgatory index--discursus modestus--melancthon's epigram. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes the author of the "characteristics." lord shaftesbury's _letters to a young man at the university_, on which mr. singer has addressed to you an interesting communication (vol. ii., p. .), were reprinted in in a collection of his letters, "_letters of the earl of shaftesbury, author of the characteristicks, collected into one volume_: printed mdccxlvi." mo. this volume contains also lord shaftesbury's letters to lord molesworth, originally published by toland, with an introduction which is not reprinted; a "letter sent from italy, with the notion of the judgment of hercules, &c., to my lord ----"; and three letters reprinted from lord shaftesbury's life in the _general dicionary_, which was prepared by dr. kippis, under the superintendence of lord shaftesbury's son, the fourth earl. in my copy of the original edition of the _letters to a young man at the university_, two letters have been transcribed by an unknown previous possessor. one is to bishop burnet, recommending young ainsworth when about to be ordained deacon:-- "to the bishop of sarum. "reigate, may . . "my lord,--the young man who delivers this to your lordship, is one who for several years has been preparing himself for the ministry, and in order to it has, i think, completed his time at the university. the occasion of his applying this way was purely from his own inclination. i took him a child from his poor parents, out of a numerous and necessitous family, into my own, employing him in nothing servile; and finding his ingenuity, put him abroad to the best schools to qualify him for preferment in a peculiar way. but the serious temper of the lad disposing him, as i found, to the ministry preferably to other advantages, i could not be his hindrance; though till very lately i gave him no prospect of any encouragement through my interest. but having been at last convinced, by his sober and religious courage, his studious inclination and meek behaviour, that 'twas real principle and not a vanity or conceit that led him into these thoughts, i am resolved, in case your lordship thinks him worthy of the ministry, to procure him a benefice as soon as anything happens in my power, and in the mean time design to keep him as my chaplain in my family. "i am, my lord, &c., "shaftesbury." the second letter inserted in my copy is to ainsworth himself, dated reigate, th may, , and written when he was about to apply for priest's orders. but the bulk of this letter is printed, with a different beginning and ending, in the tenth printed letter, under date july th, , and is there made to apply to ainsworth's having just received deacon's orders. the beginning, and ending of the letter, as in ms., are-- "i am glad the time is come that you are to receive full orders, and that you hope it from the hands of our { } great, worthy, and excellent bishop, the lord of salisbury. this is one of the circumstances" [then the letter proceeds exactly as in the printed letter x., and the ms. letter concludes:] "god send you all true christianity, with that temper, life, and manners which become it. "i am, your hearty friend, "shaftesbury." i quote the printed beginning of letter x., on account of the eulogy on bishop burnet:-- "i believed, indeed, it was your expecting me every day at ---- that prevented your writing since you received orders from the good bishop, my lord of salisbury; who, as he has done more than any man living for the good and honour of the church of england and the reformed religion, so he now suffers more than any man from the tongues and slander of those ungrateful churchmen, who may well call themselves by that single term of distinction, having no claim to that of christianity or protestant, since they have thrown off all the temper of the former and all concern or interest with the latter. i hope whatever advice the great and good bishop gave you, will sink deeply into your mind." mr. singer has extracted from the eighth printed letter one or two sentences on locke's denial of innate ideas. a discussion of locke's views on this subject, or of lord shaftesbury's contrary doctrine of a "moral sense," is not suited to your columns; and i only wish to say that i think mr. singer has not made it sufficiently clear that lord shaftesbury's remarks apply only to the speculative consequences, according to his own view, of a denial of innate ideas; and that lord shaftesbury, in another passage of the same letters, renders the following tribute of praise to the _essay on the human understanding_:-- "i am not sorry that i lent you mr. locke's _essay on the human understanding_, which may as well qualify for business and the world as for the sciences and a university. no one has done more towards the recalling of philosophy from barbarity into use and practice of the world, and into the company of the better and politer sort, who might well be ashamed of it in its other dress. no one has opened a better or clearer way to reasoning; and, above all, i wonder to hear him censured so much by any church of england men, for advancing reason and bringing the use of it so much into religion, when it is by this only that we fight against the enthusiasts and repel the great enemies of our church." a life of the author of the _characteristics_ is hardly less a desideratum than that of his grandfather, the lord chancellor, and would make an interesting work, written in connection with the politics as well as literature of the reigns of william and anne; for the third lord shaftesbury, though prevented by ill-health from undertaking office or regularly attending parliament, took always a lively interest in politics. an interesting collection of the third earl's letters has been published by mr. foster (_letters of locke, algernon sidney, and the earl of shaftesbury_), and a few letters from him to locke are in lord king's _life of locke_. i subjoin a "note" of a few original letters of the third lord shaftesbury in the british museum; some of your readers who frequent the british museum may perhaps be induced to copy them for your columns. letters to des maizeaux (one interesting, offering him pecuniary assistance) in _ags. cat._ mss. . letters to charles montagu, earl of halifax[ ], (one introducing toland). add. mss. . letter to toland (printed, i think, in one of the _memoirs of toland_). _ags. cat._ . . letter to t. stringer in . ib. . . in watt's _bibliotheca britannica_, neither the _letters to a young man at the university_, published in , nor the collection of letters of , are mentioned; and confusion is made between the author of the _characteristics_ and his grandfather the chancellor. several political tracts, published during the latter part of charles ii.'s reign, which have been ascribed to the first earl of shaftesbury, but of which, though they were probably written under his supervision, it is extremely doubtful that he was the actual author, are lumped together with the _characteristics_ as the works of one and the same earl of shaftesbury. some years ago a discovery was made in holland of mss. of le clerc, and some notice of the mss., and extracts from them, are to be found in the following work:-- "de joanne clerico et philippo a. limborch dissertationes duæ. adhibitis epistolis aliisque scriptis ineditis scripsit atque eruditorum virorum epistolis nunc primum editis auxit abr. des amorie van der hoeven, &c. amstelodami: apud fredericum muller, ." two letters of locke are among the mss. now it is mentioned by mr. martyn, the biographer of the first earl of shaftesbury, in a ms. letter in the british museum, that some of this earl's papers were sent by the family to le clerc, and were supposed not to have been returned. i mention this, as i perceive you have readers and correspondents in holland, in the hope that i may possibly learn whether any papers relating to the first earl of shaftesbury have been found among the lately discovered le clerc mss.; and it is not unlikely that the same mss. might contain letters of the third earl, the author of the _characteristics_, who was a friend and correspondent of le clerc. w.d. christie. [footnote : two of these--one a letter asking the earl to stand godfather to his son, and the other a short note, forwarding a book (qy. of toland's)--are printed by sir henry ellis in his camden volume, _letters of eminent literary men_.--ed.] * * * * * { } caxton's printing-office. the particular spot where caxton exercised his business, or the place where his press was fixed, cannot now, perhaps, be exactly ascertained. dr. dibdin, after a careful examination of existing testimonies, thinks it most probable that he erected his press in one of the chapels attached to the aisles of westminster abbey; and as no remains of this interesting place can now be discovered, there is a strong presumption that it was pulled down in making alterations for the building of henry vii.'s splendid chapel. it has been frequently asserted that all caxton's books were printed in a part of westminster abbey; this must be mere conjecture, because we find no statement of it from himself: he first mentions the place of his printing in , so that he must have printed some time without informing us where. with all possible respect for the opinions of dr. dibdin, and the numerous writers on our early typography, i have very considerable doubts as to whether caxton really printed _within the walls of the abbey_ at all. i am aware that he himself says, in some of his colophons, "emprinted in th' abbey of westmynstre," but query whether the _precincts_ of the abbey are not intended? stow, in his _annals_ (edit , p. .), says,--"william caxton of london, mercer, brought it (printing) into england about the year , and first practised the same in the _abbie_ of st. peter at westminster;" but in his _survey of london_, (edit. thoms, p. .), the same writer gives us a more full and particular account; it is as follows:-- "near unto this house [i.e. henry vii.'s alms-house], westward, was an old chapel of st. anne; over against the which, the lady margaret, mother to king henry vii., erected an alms-house for poor women, which is now turned into lodgings for the singing men of the college. the place wherein this chapel and alms-house standeth was called the elemosinary, or almonry, now corruptly the ambry, for that the alms of the abbey were there distributed to the poor; and therein islip, abbot of westminster, erected the first press of book-printing that ever was in england, about the year of christ . william caxton, citizen of london, mercer, brought it into england, and was the first that practised it _in the said abbey_; after which time the like was practised in the abbeys of st. augustine at canterbury, st. albans, and other monasteries." again, in the curious hand-bill preserved in the bodleian library, it will be remembered that caxton invites his customers to "come to westmonester _into the almonestrye_," where they may purchase his books "good chepe." from these extracts it is pretty clear that caxton's printing-office was in the almonry, which was within the precincts of the abbey, and not in the abbey itself. the "old chapel of st. anne" was doubtless the place where the first printing-office was erected in england. abbot milling (not islip, as stated by stow) was the generous friend and patron of caxton and the art of printing; and it was by permission of this learned monk that our printer was allowed the use of the building in question. the _old_ chapel of st. anne stood in the new-way, near the back of the workhouse, at the bottom of the almonry leading to what is now called stratton ground. it was pulled down, i believe, about the middle of the seventeenth century. the _new_ chapel of st. anne, erected in , near the site of the old one, was destroyed about fifty years since. mr. cunningham, in his _handbook for london_ (vol. i. p. .), says,-- "the first printing-press ever seen in england was set up in this almonry under the patronage of _esteney_, abbot of westminster, by william caxton, citizen and mercer (d. )." esteney succeeded milling in the abbacy of westminster, but the latter did not die before . on p. . of his second volume, mr. cunninghan gives the date of caxton's death correctly, i.e. . edward f. rimbault. * * * * * sanatory laws in other days. in that curious medley commonly designated, after hearne, _arnold's chronicle_, and which was probably first printed in or , we find the following passages. i make "notes" of them, from their peculiar interest at the moment when sanatory bills, having the same objects, are occupying the public attention so strongly; especially in respect to the smithfield nuisance and the clergy discipline bill. . in a paper entitled "the articles dishired bi y'e comonse of the cety of london, for reformacyo of thingis to the same, of the mayer, aldirmen, and comon counsell, to be enacted," we have the following:-- "also that in anoyding the corupte savours and lothsom innoyaunc (caused by slaughter of best) w'tin the cyte, wherby moche people is corupte and infecte, it may plese my lord mayr, aldirmen, and comen counsaile, to put in execucion a certaine acte of parlement, by whiche it is ordeigned y't no such slaughter of best shuld be vsed or had within this cite, and that suche penaltees be leuyed vpo the contrary doers as in the said acte of parlement ben expressed. "also in anoyding of lyke annoyauce. plese it my lord mair, alderme, and como councell, to enact that noo manor pulter or any other persone i this cytee kepe from hinsforth, within his hous, swans, gies, or dowk, upon a peyn therfore to be ordeigned."--pp. , , d. ed. i believe that one item of "folk-faith" is that "farm-yard odours are healthy." i have often { } heard it affirmed at least; and, indeed, has not the common councilman, whom the _times_ has happily designated as the "defender of filth", totally and publicly staked his reputation on the dogma in its most extravagant shape, within the last few months? it is clear that nearly four centuries ago, the citizens of london thought differently; even though "the corupte savours and lothsom innoyaunc" were infinitely less loathsome than in the present smithfield and the city slaughter-houses. it would be interesting to know to what act of parliament arnold's citizens refer, and whether it has ever been repealed. it is curious to notice, too, that the danger from infuriated beasts running wild through the streets is not amongst the evils of the system represented. they go further, however, and forbid even the _killing_ within the city. moreover, it would really seem that the swan was not then a mere ornamental bird, either alive or dead, but an ordinary article of citizen-dinners, it being classed with "gies and dowks" in the business of the poulterer. at the same time, no mention being made of swine in any of these ordonnances or petitions, would at first sight seem to show that the flesh of the hog was in abhorrence with the catholic citizen, as much perhaps as with the jews themselves; at any rate, that it was not a vendible article of food in those days. when did it become so? this conclusion would, however, be erroneous; for amongst "the articles of the good governaûce of the cite of london" shortly following we have this:-- "also yf ony persone kepe or norrysh hoggis, oxen, kyen, or mallardis within the ward, in noyoying of ther neyhbours."--p. . the proper or appointed place for keeping hoggis was hoggistone, now hoxton; as houndsditch[ ] was for the hounds. there is another among these petitions to the lord mayor and corporation, worthy of notice, in connection with sanatory law. "also in avoydîg ye abhomynable savours causid by ye kepîg of ye kenell in ye mote and ye diches there, and î especiall by sethig of ye houndes mete wt roten bones, and vnclenly keping of ye hoûdes, wherof moche people is anoyed, soo yt when the wynde is in any poyte of the northe, all the fowle stynke is blowen ouer the citee. plese it mi lord mair, aldirmen, and comen coûcell, to ordeigne that the sayd kenell be amoued and sett in sô other côuenient place where as best shall seme them. and also that the said diches mai be clensed from yere to yere, and so kepte yt thereof folowe non annoyaunce."--p. . of course "houndsditch" is here meant; but for what purpose were the hounds kept? and, indeed, what kind of hounds were they, that thus formed a part of the city establishment? were they bloodhounds for tracking criminals, or hounds kept for the special behoof and pleasure of the "lord mair, aldermen, and comen coûsel?" the houndsditch of that time bore a strong resemblance to the fleet ditch of times scarcely exceeding the memory of many living men. i come now to the passages relating to the clergy. "also, where as the curatis of the cyte have used often tyme herebefore to selle their offring (at mariag), whereby the pisshês where such sales be made comenly be lettid fro messe or matyns, and otherwhiles from both, by so moch as the frendis of the pties maryed vsen to goo abowte vij. or viij. dayes before, and desiryg men to offryg at such tymes as more conuenyent it were to be at diunyne seruice. plese it my lord mair, aldirmê, and comê coûseile, to puide remedy, so that the sayd custume be fordone and leid aparte."--p. . "also, to thentent that the ordre of priesthood be had in dew reuerence according to the dignite therof, and that none occasions of incontinence growe bee the famylyarite of seculer people. plese it my lord mayre, aldirmen, and comon counsyll, to enacte that no maner persone beyng free of this citee take, receyue, and kepe from hensforth ony priest in comons, or to borde by the weke, moneth, or yere, or ony other terme more or lesse, vpon peine thervpon to be lymytyd, prouided that this acte extêde not to ony prieste retayned wyth a citezen in famyliar housolde."--p. . "also, plese it my lord mayre, aldyrmen, and comon counseylle, that a communication may be had wyth the curatis of this citee for oblacions whiche they clayme to haue of citezens agaynst the tenour of the bulle purchased att their owne instance, and that it may be determined and an ende taken, whervpon the citezens shall rest."--p. . "also, yf ther be ony priest in seruice within the warde, which afore tyme hath been sette in the toune in cornhyll for his dishoneste, and hath forsworne the cyte, alle suche shulde bee presentyd."--p. . upon these i shall make no remark. they will make different impressions on different readers; according to the extent of prejudice or liberality existing in different minds. they show that even during the most absolute period of ecclesiastical domination, there was one spot in england where attempts to legislate for the priesthood (though perhaps feeble enough) were made. the legislative { } powers of the corporation were at that time very ample; and the only condition by which they appear to have been limited was, that they should not override an act of parliament or a royal proclamation. is there any specific account of the "tonne in cornhyll" existing? its purpose, in connection with the conduit, admits of no doubt; the forsworn and dishonest priest had been punished with a "good ducking," and this, no doubt, accompanied with a suitable ceremonial for the special amusement of the "'prentices."[ ] i have also marked a few passages relative to the police and the fiscal laws of those days, and when time permits, will transcribe them for you, if you deem them worthy of being laid before your readers. t.s.d. [footnote : mr. cunningham, speaking of houndsditch, merely quotes the words of stow. it would appear that stow's reason for the name is entirely conjectural; and indeed the same reason would justify the same name being applied to all the "ditches" in london in the year , and indeed much later. this passage of arnold throws a new light upon the _name_, at least, of that rivulet; for stagnant its waters could not be, from its inclination to the horizon. it, however, raises another question respecting the mode of keeping and feeding hounds in those days; and likewise, as suggested in the text, the further question, as to the purpose for which these hounds were thus kept as a part of the civic establishment.] [footnote : this view will no doubt be contested on the authority of stow, who describes the tonne as a "prison for night-walkers," so called from the form in which it was built. (cunningham, p. ., nd ed.) yet, as mr. cunningham elsewhere states (p. xxxix.), "the tun upon corn-hill [was] converted into a conduit" in , it would hardly be called a "prison" a century later. the probability is, that the especial building called the tonne never was a prison at all; but that the prison, from standing near or adjoining the tonne, took its name, the tonne prison, in conformity with universal usage. it is equally probable that the tonne was originally built for the purpose to which it was ultimately applied; and that some delay arose in its use from the difficulty experienced in the hydraulic part of the undertaking, which was only overcome in . the universality of the punishment of "ducking" amongst our ancestors is at least a circumstance in favour of the view taken in the text.] * * * * * folk lore. _midsummer fires._--from your notice of mr. haslam's account of the beltein or midsummer fires in cornwall, i conclude you will give a place to the following note. on st. john's eve last past, i happened to pass the day at a house situate on an elevated tract in the county of kilkenny, ireland; and i shall long remember the beauty of the sight, when, as dusk closed in, fire after fire shot up its clear flame, thickly studding the near plains and distant hills. the evening was calm and still, and the mingled shouts and yells of the representatives of the old fire-worshippers came with a very singular effect on the ear. when a boy, i have often _passed through_ the fire myself on midsummer eve, and such is still the custom. the higher the flame, the more daring the act is considered: hence there is a sort of emulation amongst the unwitting perpetrators of this pagan rite. in many places cattle are driven through the fire; and this ceremony is firmly believed to have a powerful effect in preserving them from various harms. i need not say, that amongst the peasantry the fires are now lighted in honour of st john. x.y.a. kilkenny. * * * * * minor notes. _borrowed thoughts._--mr. singer (vol. i., p. .) points out the french original from which goldsmith borrowed his epigram beginning-- "here lies poor ned purdon." i find, in looking over swift's works, a more literal version of this than goldsmith's:-- "well then, poor g---- lies under ground, so there's an end of honest jack; so little justice here he found, 'tis ten to one he'll ne'er come back." i should like to add two queries:--who was the chevallier de cailly (or d'aceilly), the author of the french epigram mentioned by mr. singer? and--when did he live? h.c. de st. croix _an infant prodigy in ._--the following wonderful story is thus related by archbishop bramhall (carte's _letters_, ii. .: dr. bramhall to dr. earles, utrecht, sept. - , ):-- "a child was born in london about three months since, with a double tongue, or divided tongue, which the third day after it was born, cried 'a king, a king,' and bid them bring it to the king. the mother of the child saieth it told her of all that happened in england since, and much more which she dare not utter. this my lady of inchiguin writeth to her aunt, _me brow van melliswarde_[ ], living in this city, who shewed me the letter. my lady writeth that she herself was as incredulous as any person, until she both saw and heard it speak herself very lately, as distinctly as she herself could do, and so loud that all the room heard it. that which she heard was this. a gentleman in the company took the child in his arms and gave it money, and asked what it would do with it, to which it answered aloud that it would give it to the king. if my lady were so foolish to be deceived, or had not been an eye and ear witness herself, i might have disputed it; but giving credit to her, i cannot esteem it less than a miracle. if god be pleased to bestow a blessing upon us, he cannot want means." it can hardly be doubted that the archbishop's miracle was a ventriloquist hoax. ch. [footnote : the name of the dutch lady, mis-written for de vrouw, &c.] _allusion in peter martyr._--mr. prescott, in his _history of the conquest of mexico_ vol. i. p. . (ed. vo. ), quotes from peter martyr, _de orbe novo_, dec. . c. l., the words, "una illis fuit spes salutis, desperasse de salute," applied to the spanish invaders of mexico; and he remarks that "it is said with the classic energy of tacitus." the { } expression is classical, but is not derived from tacitus. the allusion is to the verse of virgil:-- "una salus victis nullam sperare salutem." _Æn._ ii. . l. _hogs not pigs._--in cowper's humorous verses, "the yearly distress, or tithing-time at stoke in essex," one of the grumblers talks "of pigs that he has lost by maggots at the tail." upon this i have to remark that an intelligent grazier assures me that pigs are never subject to the evil here complained of, but that lambs of a year old, otherwise called "hogs" or "hoggets," are often infested by it. it would appear, therefore, that the poet, misled by the ambiguous name, and himself knowing nothing of the matter but by report, attributed to pigs that which happens to the other kind of animal, viz. lambs a year old, which have not yet been shorn. j. mn. * * * * * queries. a query and replies. _plaister or paster--christian captives--members for calais, &c._--in editing tyndale's _pathway_ (_works_, vol. i. p. .), i allowed preceding editors to induce me to print _pastor_, where the oldest authority had _paster_. as the following part of the sentence speaks of "suppling and suaging wounds," i am inclined to suspect that "paster" might be an old way of spelling, "plaster." can any of your correspondents supply me with any instance in which "plaster" or "plaister" is spelt "paster" by any old english writer? in return for troubling you with this question, you may inform mr. sansom, in answer to query, vol. ii., p. ., that hallam says, "not less than fifty gentlemen were sold for slaves at barbadoes, under cromwell's government." (_constit. hist._, ch. x. note to p. ., to. edit.) and though walker exaggerated matters when he spoke "a project to sell some of the most eminent masters of colleges, &c., to the turks for slaves," whitelock's _memorials_ will inform him, under date of sept. , , that the english parliament directed one of its committees "to take care for transporting the scotch prisoners, in the first place to supply the plantations, and to send the rest to venice." to another, o.p.q. (vol. ii., p. .), you may state that the members for calais in the time of edw. vi., and in the first four parliaments of mary, may be seen in willis' _notitia parliamentaria_, where their names are placed next to the members for the cinque ports. willis states that the return for calais for the last parliament of henry viii is lost. their names indicate that they were english,--such as fowler, massingberd, &c. as to umbrellas, there are oriental scholars who can inform your inquirers that the word "satrap" is traceable to words whose purport is, the bearer of an umbrella. another of your latest querists may find the epigrams on george ii.'s (not, as he imagines, charles i.'s) different treatment of the two english universities in knox's _elegent extracts_. the lines he has cited are both from the same epigram, and, i think, from the first of the two. they were occasioned by george. ii's purchasing the library of dr. moore, bishop of ely, and giving it to the university of cambridge. the admirer of another epigram has not given it exactly as i can remember it in a little book of emblems more than fifty years ago:-- "'tis an excellent world that we live in, to lend, to spend, or to give in; but to borrow or beg, or get a man's own, 'tis just the worst world that ever was known." h. walter. * * * * * letters of queen elizabeth and philip ii. of spain. perhaps some of your readers may be able to inform me whether any of the following letters between queen elizabeth and philip ii. of spain, extracted from the archives of simancas, have yet appeared in print:-- . queen elizabeth to philip ii., january , - . . answer, april , . . philip ii.'s reply to the english ambassador in the case of bishop cuadra, april, . . charges made in england against the bishop of aquila, philip's ambassador, and the answers. . queen elizabeth to philip ii., january , . . philip to elizabeth, may , . . elizabeth to philip, march , . . answer, june , . . declaration of the council to the spanish ambassador don gueran de espes, dec. , . . the ambassador's answer. . elizabeth to philip, dec. , . . bermandino de mendoza to philip ii., in cypher, london, january , . . philip to elizabeth, july, , . . duke of alva to philip ii., january , . . minutes of a letter from philip ii. to don gueran de espes, february , . a.m. * * * * * { } minor queries. _the new temple._--as your correspondent l.b.l. states (vol. ii., p. .) that he has transcribed a ms. survey of the hospitallers' lands in england, taken in , he will do me a great kindness if he will extract so much of it as contains a description of the new temple in london, of which they became possessed just before that date. it will probably state whether it was then in the occupation of themselves or others: and, even if it does not throw any light on the tradition that the lawyers were then established there, or explain the division into the inner and middle temple, it will at least give some idea of the boundaries, and perhaps determine whether the site of essex house, which, in an ancient record is called the outer temple, was then comprehended within them. edward foss. "_junius identified._"--the name of "john taylor" is affixed to the preface, and there can be little doubt, i presume, that mr. john taylor was literally _the writer_ of this work. it has, however, already become a question of some interest, to what extent he was assisted by mr. dubois. the late mr. george woodfall always spoke of the pamphlet as the work of dubois. lord campbell, in his _lives of the chancellors_, published a statement by lady francis in respect to sir philip's claim to the authorship of _junius' letters_, and thus introduced it--"i am indebted for it to the kindness of my old and excellent friend, mr. edward dubois, _the ingenious author of 'junius identified'_" mr. dubois was then, and mr. taylor is now living, and both remained silent. sir fortunatus dwarris, the intimate friend of dubois, states that he was "_a connection_ of sir philip francis", and that the pamphlet is "said, i know not with what truth, to have been prepared under the eye of sir philip francis, it may be, through the agency of dubois." dubois was certainly connected with, though not, i believe, related to sir philip; and at the time of the publication he was also connected with mr. taylor. i hope, under these circumstances, that mr. taylor will think it right to favour you with a statement of the facts, that future "note"-makers may not perplex future editors with endless "queries" on the subject. r.j. _mildew in books._--can you, or any of your readers, suggest a preventive for mildew in books? in a valuable public library in this town (liverpool), much injury has been occasioned by mildew, the operations of which appear very capricious; in some cases attacking the printed part of an engraving, leaving the margin unaffected; in others attacking the inside of the backs _only_; and in a few instances it attacks all parts with the utmost impartiality. any hints as to cause or remedy will be most acceptable. b. _george herbert's burial-place._--can any of your correspondents inform me where the venerable george herbert, rector of bemerton, co. wilts., was buried, and whether there is any monument of him existing in any church? j.r. fox. _the earl of essex, and "the finding of the rayned deer."_-- "there is a boke printed at franker in friseland, in english, entitled _the finding of the rayned deer_, but it bears title to be printed in antwerp, it should say to be done by som prieste in defence of the late essex's tumult." the above is the postscript to a letter of the celebrated father parsons written "to one eure, in england", april , , a contemporary copy of which exists in the state paper office [rome,] whitehall. can any of your readers tell me whether anything is known of this book? spes. june . . _the lass of richmond hill._--i should be much obliged by being informed who wrote the _words_ of the above song, and when, if it was produced originally at some place of public entertainment. the rev. thomas maurice, in his elegant poem on richmond hill, has considered it to have been written upon a miss crop, who committed suicide on that spot, april rd, ; but he was evidently misinformed, as it appeared some few years later, and had no reference to that event. i have heard it attributed to leonard mac nally, a writer of some dramatic pieces, but on no certain grounds; and it may have been a vauxhall song about the year . the music was by james hook, the father of theodore hook. quÆro. _curfew._--in what towns or villages in england is the old custom of ringing the curfew still retained? naboc. _alumni of oxford, cambridge, and winchester._--are the alumni of the various colleges of oxford, cambridge, and winchester, published from an early period, and the various preferments they held, similar to the one published at eton. j.r. fox. _st. leger's life of archbishop walsh._--in doctor oliver's _history of the jesuits_, it is stated that william st. leger, an irish member of that society, wrote the _life of thomas walsh, archbishop of cashel_, in ireland, published in to. at antwerp in . can any of your numerous readers inform me if a copy of this work is to be found in the british museum, or any other public library, and something of its contents? j.w.h. { } _query put to a pope._-- "sancte pater! scire vellem si papatus mutat pellem?" i have been told that these lines were addressed to one of the popes, whose life, before his elevation to the see of st. peter, had been passed in excesses but little suited to the clerical profession. they were addressed to him _orally_, by one of his former associates, who met and stopped him while on his way to or from some high festival of the church, and who plucked aside, as he spoke, the gorgeous robes in which his quondam fellow-reveller was dressed. the reply of the pope was prompt, and, like the question, in a rhyming latin couplet. i wish, if possible, to discover, the name of the pope;--the terms of his reply;--the name of the bold man who "_put him to the question_;"--by what writer the anecdote is recorded, or on what authority it rests. c. forbes. temple. _the carpenter's maggot._--i have in my possession a ms. tune called the "carpenter's maggot," which, until within the last few years, was played (i know for nearly a century) at the annual dinner of the livery of the carpenters' company. can any of your readers inform me where the original is to be found, and also the origin of the word "maggot" as applied to a tune? f.t.p. _lord delamere._--can any of your readers give me the words of a song called "lord delamere," beginning: "i wonder very much that our sovereign king, so many large taxes upon this land should bring." and inform me to what political event this song, of which i have an imperfect ms. copy, refers. edward peacock, jun. _henry and the nut-brown maid._--search would be obliged for any information as to the authorship of this beautiful ballad. [mr. wright, in his handsome black-letter reprint, published by pickering in , states, that "it is impossible to fix the date of this ballad," and has not attempted to trace the authorship. we shall be very glad if search's query should produce information upon either of these points.] * * * * * replies. french poem by malherbe. the two stanzas your correspondent e.r.c.b. has cited (vol. ii., p. .) are from an elegiac poem by malherbe (who died in , at the good old age of seventy-three), which is entitled _consolation à monsieur du perrier sur la mort de sa fille_. it has always been a great favorite of mine; for, like gray's elegy and the celebrated _coplas_ of jorge manrique on the death of his father, beside its philosophic moralising strain, it has that pathetic character which makes its way at once to the heart. i will transcribe the first four stanzas for the sake of the beauty of the fourth:-- "ta douleur, du perrier, sera done éternelle, et les tristes discours que te met en l'esprit l'amitié paternelle l'augmenteront toujours. "le malheur de ta fille au tombeau descendue, par un commun trépas, est-ce quelque dédale, où ta raison perdue ne se retrouve pas? "je sai de quels appas son enfance estoit pleine; et n'ay pas entrepris, injurieux ami, de soulager ta peine avecque son mépris. "mais elles estoit du monde, où les plus belles choses ont le pire destin: et rose elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses, l'espace d'un matin." the whole poem consists of twenty-one stanzas and should be read as a whole; but there are several other striking passages. the consolation the poet offers to his friend breathes the spirit of epictetus:-- "de moy, déjà deux fois d'une pareille foudre je me suis vu perclus, et deux fois la raison m'a si bien fait resoudre, qu'il ne m'en souvient plus. "non qu'il ne me soit grief que la terre possède ce qui me fut si cher; mais en un accident qui n'a point de remède, ii n'en faut point chercher." then follow the two stanzas cited by your correspondent, and the closing verse is:-- "de murmurer contre-elle et perdre patience, il est mal-à-propos: vouloir ce que dieu veut, est la seule science qui nous met en repos." the stanza beginning "le pauvre en sa cabane," is an admirable imitation of the "pallida mors æquo pulsat pede," &c. of horace, which a countryman of the poet is said to have less happily rendered "la pâle mort avec son pied de cheval," &c. malherbe has been duly appreciated in france: his works, in one edition, are accompanied by an elaborate comment by menage and chevreau: racan wrote his life, and godeau, bishop of vence, a panegyrical preface. he was a man of wit, and ready at an impromptu; yet it is said, that in writing a consolotary poem to the president de verdun, on the death of his wife, he was so long { } in bringing his verses to that degree of perfection which satisfied his own fastidious taste, that the president was happily remarried, and the consolation not at all required. bishop hurd, in a note on the _epistle to augustus_, p. ., says: "malherbe was to the french pretty much what horace had been to latin poetry. these great writers had, each of them, rescued the lyric muse of their country out of the rude ungracious hands of their old poets. and, as their talents of a _good ear_, _elegant judgment_, and _correct expression_, were the same, they presented her to the public in all the air and grace, and yet _severity_, of beauty, of which her form was susceptible." s.w. singer. mickleham, july . . * * * * * "dies irÆ, dies illa." in reply to the first of mr. simpson's queries (vol. ii., p. .) relative to the magnificent sequence _dies iræ_, i beg to say that the author of it is utterly unknown. the following references may be sufficient:--card. bona, _rer. liturgic._ lib. ii. cap. vi. p. ., romæ, ; or, if possible, sala's edition, tom. iii. p ., aug. turin. ; gavantus, tom. i. pp. - ., lugd. ; and the _additions_ by merati, i. - ., aug. vindel, ; zaccaria, _biblioth. ritual._ tom. i. p. ., romæ, ; oldoini addit. ad ciaconii _vit. pontiff. et cardd._, tom. ii. col. ., romæ, . mr. simpson's second question is, "in what book was it first printed?" joannes de palentia, in his notes upon the _ordinarium pp. præd._, asserts that this celebrated prose was first introduced into the venice editions of the missals printed for the dominicans. the oldest _missale prædicatorum_ which i possess, or have an opportunity of seeing, is a copy of the parisian impression of the year ; and herein the _dies iræ_ is inserted in the _commemoratio defunctorum_; mens. novemb. sig. m. . an inquiry remains as to the date of the general adoption of this sequence by the roman church. in quetif and echard (_scriptt. ord. præd._ i. .), under the name of latinus malabranca, we read that it certainly was not in use in the year ; and there does not appear to be the slightest evidence of its admission, even upon private authority, into the office for the dead anterior to the commencement of the fifteenth century. your correspondent was not mistaken in his belief that he had met with an imperfect transcript of this prose, for the original consists not of "twenty-seven," but of _fifty-seven_ lines. i may add that i do not remember to have found the text more correctly given than in the beautiful folio missal of the church of augsburg, partly printed on vellum in (fol. . b.). r.g. the _dies iræ_ is truly said by mr. sparrow simpson (vol. ii., p. .) to be an extremely beautiful hymn. who was its author is very doubtful, but the probabilities are in favour of thomas de celano, a minorite friar, who lived during the second half of the fourteenth century. it consists of nineteen strophes, each having three lines. bartholomew of pisa, a.d. , in his _liber conformitatum_, speaks of it; but the earliest printed book in which i have ever seen this hymn, is the _missale romanum_, printed at pavia, a.d. , in vo., a copy of which i have in my possession. d. rock. buckland, faringdon. * * * * * dr. samuel ogden. in reply to your correspondent twyford (vol. ii., p. .), the original of the common surname _ogden_ is doubtless oakden. a place so called is situated in butterworth, lancashire, and gave name to a family,--possibly extinct in the sixteenth century. a clergymam, whose name partook both of the original and its corruption, was vicar of bradford, , viz dus tho. _okden_. the arms and crest borne by the oakdens were both allusive to the name, certainly without any reference to king charles's hiding-place. dr. samuel ogden, born in at winchester, was the son of thomas ogden, a man of very humble origin: but he had the merit of giving a liberal education to one whose natural talents well deserved culture; and both his parents, in the decline of life, owed their support to ogden's filial piety and affection. cole is quite mistaken in fixing the father's residence at mansfield, and in stating that he had been in the army. the monument, spoken of by cole, is not at mansfield, but in the cathedral of manchester: nor is it a memorial of dr. ogden. it was placed by him in memory of his _father_. ogden was buried in his own church, st. sephlchre's, cambridge. the following epigram, it is believed, has not been printed. it is transcribed from a letter in my possession, addressed by the first lord alvanley, when at college, to his former tutor, mr. thyer, editor of _butler's remains_:-- "when ogden his prosaic verse in latin numbers drest, the roman language prov'd too weak to stand the critic's test. "to english rhyme he next essay'd, to show he'd some pretence; but ah! rhyme only would not do-- they still expected sense. "enrag'd, the doctor said he'd place in critics no reliance, so wrapt his thoughts in arabic, and bad them all defiance." j.h. markland. * * * * * { } _ogden family_ (vol. ii., p. .).--perhaps the representatives of the late thomas ogden, esq., and who was a private banker at salisbury previous to (presuming he was a member of the family mentioned by your correspondent twyford), might be able to furnish him with the information he seeks. j.r. fox. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _porson's imposition_ (vol. i., p. .) is indeed, i believe, an _imposition_. the last line quoted (and i suppose all the rest) can hardly be porson's, for mr. langton amused johnson, boswell, and a dinner party at general oglethorpe's, on the th of april, , with some macaronic greek "by _joshua barnes_, in which are to be found such comical anglo-hellenisms as [greek: klubboisin ebagchthae] they were banged with clubs." boswell's _johnson_, last ed. p. . c. _the three dukes_ (vol. ii., pp. , , .).--andrew marvel thus makes mention of the outrage on the beadle in his letter to the mayor of hull, feb. , (_works_, i. .):-- "on saturday night last, or rather sunday morning, at two o'clock, some persons reported to be of great quality, together with other gentlemen, set upon the watch and killed a poor beadle, praying for his life upon his knees, with many wounds; warrants are out for apprehending some of them, but they are fled." i am not aware of any contemporary authority for the names of the three dukes; and a difficulty in the way of assigning them by conjecture is, that in the poem they are called "three bastard dukes." your correspondent c. has rightly said (p. .) that none of charles ii.'s bastard sons besides monmouth would have been old enough in to be actors in such a fray. sir walter scott, in his notes on _absalom and achitophel_, referring to the poem, gives the assault to monmouth and some of his brothers; but he did so, probably, without considering dates, and on the strength of the words "three bastard dukes." mr. lister, in the passage in his _life of clarendon_ referred to by mr. cooper (p. .), gives no authority for his mention of albemarle. i should like to know if mr. wade has any other authority than mr. lister for this statement in his useful compilation. were it certain that three dukes were engaged in this fray, and were we not restricted to "bastards," i should say that monmouth, albemarle, and richmond (who married the beautiful miss stuart, and killed himself by drinking) would probably be the three culprits. as regards albemarle, he might perhaps have been called bastard without immoderate use of libeller's licence. if three dukes did murder the beadle, it is strange that their names have not been gibbeted in many of the diaries and letters which we have of that period. and this is the more strange, as this assault took place just after the attack on sir john coventry, which monmouth instigated, and which had created so much excitement. the question is not in itself of much importance; but i can suggest a mode in which it may possibly be settled. let the royal pardons of be searched in the rolls' chapel, chancery lane. if the malefactors were pardoned by name, the three dukes may there turn up. or if any of your readers is able to look through the domestic papers for february and march, , in the state paper office, he would be likely to find there come information upon the subject. query. is the doggerel poem in the _state poems_ marvel's? several poems which are ascribed to him are as bad in versification, and, i need not say, in coarseness. query . is there any other authority for queen catharine's fondness for dancing than the following lines of the poem? "see what mishaps dare e'en invade whitehall, this silly fellow's death puts off the ball, and disappoints the queen's foot, little chuck; i warrant 'twould have danced it like a duck." ch. _kant's sämmtliche werke._--under the head of "books and odd volumes" (vol. ii., p. .), there is a query respecting the xith part of kant's _sämmtliche werke_, to which i beg to reply that it was published at leipzig, in two portions, in . it consists of kant's letters, posthumous fragments, and biography. the work was completed by a th vol., containing a history of the kantian philosophy, by carl rosenkranz, one of the editors of this edition of kant. j.m. _becket's mother_ (vol. i., pp. . .; vol. ii., p. .).--although the absence of any contemporaneous relation of this lady's romantic history may raise a reasonable doubt of its authenticity, it seems to derive indirect confirmation from the fact, that the hospital founded by becket's sister shortly after his death, on the spot where he was born, part of which is now the mercers' chapel in cheapside, was called "the hospital of st. thomas the martyr _of acon_." erasmus, also, in his _pilgrimages to walsingham and canterbury_ (see j.g. nichol's excellent translation and notes, pp. . .), says that the archbishop was called "thomas _acrensis_." edward foss. _"imprest" and "debenture."_--perhaps the following may be of some use to d.v.s. (vol. ii., p. .) in his search for the verbal raw material out of which these words were manufactured. their origin may, i think, be found in the latin terms used in the ancient accounts of persons { } officially employed by the crown to express transactions somewhat similar to those for which they appear to be now used. persons conversant with those records must frequently have met with cases where money advanced, paid on account, or as earnest, was described as "de prestito" or "in prestitis." ducange gives "præstare" and its derivatives as meaning "mutuo dare" with but little variation; but i think that too limited a sense. the practice of describing a document itself by the use of the material or operative parts expressing or defining the transaction for which it was employed, is very common. in legal and documentary proceedings, it is indeed the only one that is followed. let d.v.s. run over and compare any of the well-known descriptions of writs, as _habeas corpus_, _mandamus_, _fi. fa._: or look into cowell's _interpreter_, or a law dictionary, and he will see numerous cases where terms now known as the names of certain documents are merely the operative parts of latin _formulæ_. "imprest" seems to be a slightly corrupted translation of "in prestito;" that part of the instrument being thus made to give its name to the whole. of "debenture" i think there is little doubt that it may be similarly explained. those record offices which possess the ancient accounts and vouchers of officers of the royal household contain numerous "debentures" of the thirteenth, but far more of the fourteenth, century. in this case the _initial_ is the chief operative word: those relating to the royal wardrobe, commencing "debentur in garderoba domini regis," being in fact merely memorandums expressing or acknowledging that certain sums of money "are owing" for articles supplied for the use of that department. it is well known that the royal exchequer was, at the time these documents were executed, often in great straits; and it seems to me scarcely doubtful that these early "debentures" were actually delivered over to tradesmen, &c., as security for the amount due to them, and given in to be cancelled when the debts were discharged by the exchequer officers. there is a remarkable feature about these ancient "debentures" which i may perhaps be permitted to notice here, viz., the very beautiful seals of the officers of the royal household and wardrobe which are impressed upon them. they are of the somewhat rare description known as "appliqué;" and at a time when personal seals were at the highest state of artistic developement, those few seals of the clerks of the household which have escaped injury (to which they are particularly exposed) are unrivalled for their clearness of outline, design, delicacy, and beauty of execution. allowing for the changes produced by time, i think sufficient analogy may be found between the ancient and modern uses of the words "imprest" and "debenture." j. bt. "_imprest_" (vol. ii., p. ).--d.v.s. will find an illustration of the early application of this word to advances made by the treasury in the "rotulus de _prestito_" of john, printed by the record commission under the careful editorship of mr. t. duffus hardy, whose preface contains a clear definition of its object, and an account of other existing rolls of the same character. edward foss. _derivation of news._--p.c.s.s. has read with great interest the various observations on the derivation of the word "news" which have appeared in the "notes and queries," and especially those of the learned and ingenious mr. hickson. he ventures, however, with all respect, to differ from the opinion expressed by that gentleman in vol. i., p. ., to the effect that-- "in english, there is no process known by which a noun plural can be formed from an adjective, without the previous formation of the singular in the same sense." p.c.s.s. would take the liberty of reminding mr. h. of the following passage in the _tempest_:-- "when that is gone, he shall drink nought but brine, for i'll not show him where the quick freshes lie." surely, in this instance, the plural noun "freshes" is not formed from any such singular noun as "_fresh_," but directly from the adjective, which latter does not seem to have been ever used as a singular _noun_. while on the subject of "news," p.c.s.s. finds in pepys' _diary_ (vol. iii. p. .) another application of the word, in the sense of a noun singular, which he does not remember to have seen noticed by others. "anon, the coach comes--in the meantime, there coming a _news_ thither, with his horse to come over." in other parts of the _diary_, the word _news-book_ is occasionally employed to signify what is now termed a newspaper, or, more properly, a bulletin. for instance (vol. iii. p. .), we find that-- "this _news-book_, upon mr. moore's showing l'estrange captain ferrers's letter, did do my lord sandwich great right as to the late victory." and again (at p. .): "i met this noon with dr. barnett, who told me, and i find in the _news-book_ this week, that he posted upon the 'change,'" &c. &c. much has been lately written in the "notes and queries" respecting the "family of love." a sect of a similar name existed here in , and a full and not very decent description of their rites and orgies is to be found in a small pamphlet of that date, reprinted in the fourth volume ( vo. ed.) of the _harleian miscellany_. p.c.s.s. { } _origin of adur_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a, derived from the same root as aqua and the french _eau_, is a frequent component of the names of rivers: "a-dur, a-run, a-von, a-mon," the adjunct being supposed to express the individual characteristic of the stream. _a-dur_ would then mean the _river of oaks_, which its course from horsham forest through the weald of sussex, of which "oak is the weed," would sufficiently justify. it is called in ancient geography _adurnus_, and is probably from the same root as the french _adour_. c. the river adur, which passes by shoreham, is the same name as the adour, a great river in the western pyrenees. this coincidence seems to show that it is neither a basque word, nor a saxon. whether it is a mere expansion of _ydwr_, the water, in welch, i cannot pretend to say, but probably it includes it. we have the douro in spain; and the doire, or doria, in piedmont. pompadour is clearly derived from the above french river, or some other of the same name. c.b. _meaning of steyne_ (vol. ii., p. .).--steyne is no doubt _stone_, and may have reference to the original name of brighthelm-_stone_: but what the _stone_ or "steyne" was, i do not conjecture; but it lay or stood probably on that little flat valley now called the "steyne." it is said that, so late as the time of elizabeth, the town was encompassed by a high and strong _stone wall_; but that could have no influence on the name, which, whether derived from bishop _brighthelm_ or not, is assuredly of saxon times. there is a small town not far distant called _steyning, i.e._ the meadow of the stone. in my early days, the name was invariably pronounced brighthamstone. c. _sarum and barum_ (vol. ii., p. .).--as a conjecture, i would suggest the derivation of _sarum_ may have been this. salisbury was as frequently written sarisbury. the contracted form of this was sap., the ordinary import of which is the termination of the latin genitive plural _rum_. thus an imperfectly educated clerk would be apt to read _sarum_ instead of sarisburia; and the error would pass current, until one reading was accepted for right as much as the other. in other instances we adopt the law latin or law french of mediæval times; as the county of _oxon_ for oxfordshire, _salop_ for shropshire, &c., and _durham_ is generally supposed to be french (_duresmm_), substituted for the anglo-saxon dunholm, in latin _dunelmum_. i shall perhaps be adding a circumstance of which few readers will be aware, in remarking that the bishops of durham, down to the present day, take alternately the latin and french signatures, _duresm_ and _dunelm_. j.g.n. "_epigrams on the universities_" (vol. ii., p. .).--the following extract frown hartshorne's _book-rarities in the university of cambridge_ will fully answer the query of your norwich correspondent. after mentioning, the donation to that university, by george i., of the valuable library of dr. moore, bishop of ely, which his majesty had purchased for , guineas, the author adds,-- "when george i. sent these books to the university, he sent at the time a troop of horse to oxford, which gave occasion to the following well-known epigram from dr. trapp, smart in its way, but not so clever as the answer from sir william browne:-- "the king, observing, with judicious eyes, the state of both his universities, to one he sent a regiment; for why? that learned body wanted loyalty: to th' other he sent books, as well discerning how much that loyal body wanted learning." _the answer._ "the king to oxford sent his troop of horse, for tories hold no argument but force: with equal care to cambridge books he sent, for whigs allow no force but argument. "the books were received nov. , , &c., ." g.a.s. [j.j. dredge, v. (belgravia), and many other correspondents, have also kindly replied to this query.] _dulcarnon_ (vol. i., p. .)--_urry_ says nothing, but quotes _speght_, and _skene_, and _selden_. "_dulcarnon_," says speght, "is a proposition in _euclid_ (lib. i. theor. . prop. .), which was found out by pythagoras after a whole years' study, and much beating of his brain; in thankfulness whereof he sacrificed an ox to the gods, which sacrifice he called dulcarnon." _neckam_ derived it from _dulia quasi sacrificium_ and _carnis_. _skene_ justly observes that the triumph itself cannot be the point; but the word might get associated with the problem, either considered before its solution, puzzling to _pythagoras_, or the demonstration, still difficult to us,--a pons asinorum, like the th proposition. mr. _selden_, in his preface to _drayton's polyolbion_, says,-- "i cannot but digresse to admonition of abuse which this learned allusion, in his _troilus_, by ignorance hath indured. "'i am till god mee better mind send, at _dulcarnon_, right at my wit's end.' it's not _neckam_, or any else, that can make mee entertaine the least thought of the signification of _dulcarnon_ to be _pythagorus_ his sacrifice after his geometricall theorem in finding the square of an orthogonall triangle's sides, or that it is a word of _latine_ deduction: but, indeed, by easier pronunciation it was made of d'hulkarnyan[ ], i.e. _two-horned_ which the _mahometan arabians_ { } vie for a root in calculation, meaning _alexander_, as that great dictator of knowledge, _joseph scaliger_ (with some ancients) wills, but, by warranted opinion of my learned friend mr. _lydyat_, in his _emendatio temporum_, it began in _seleucus nicanor_, xii yeares after _alexander's_ death. the name was applyed, either because after time that _alexander_ had persuaded himself to be _jupiter hammon's_ sonne, whose statue was with _ram's_ hornes, both his owne and his successors' coins were stampt with horned images: or else in respect of his ii pillars erected in the east as a _nihil ultra_[ ] of his conquest, and some say because hee had in power the easterne and westerne world, signified in the two hornes. but howsoever, it well fits the passage, either, as if hee had personated _creseide_ at the entrance of two wayes, not knowing which to take; in like sense as that of _prodicus_ his _hercules_, _pythagoras_ his _y._, or the logicians _dilemma_ expresse; or else, which is the truth of his conceit, that hee was at a _nonplus_, as the interpretation in his next staffe makes plaine. how many of noble _chaucer's_ readers never so much as suspect this his short essay of knowledge, transcending the common rode? and by his treatise of the _astrolabe_ (which, i dare sweare, was chiefly learned out of _messahalah_) it is plaine hee was much acquainted with the mathematiques, and amongst their authors had it." _d'herbelot_ says: "_dhoul_ (or _dhu_) _carnun_, _with the two horns_, is the surname of _alexander_, that is, of an ancient and fabulous alexander of the first dynasty of the persians. . article sedd, tagioug and magioug. . article khedher. . b. . b. fael. "but . escander, he says, alexander the great has the same title secondarily. the truth probably is the reverse, that the fabulous personage was taken from the real conqueror. "_hofmann_, in seleucus, says that the area of seleucus is called terik dhylkarnain, i.e. epocha alexandri cornigen. tarik means probably the date of an event." there can be no doubt that the word in chaucer is this arabic word; nor, i think, that speght's story is really taught by the arabs, our teachers in mathematics. whether the application is from alexander, (they would know nothing of his date with regard to pythagoras), or merely from two-horned, is doubtful. the latter might possibly mean the ox. mr. halliwell gives a quotation from stanyhurst, in which it means "dull persons"--an obvious misuse of it for englishmen, and which skene fortifies by an a.-s. derivation, but which is clearly not cressida's meaning, or she would have said, "i _am_ dulcarnon," not "i _am at_ dulcarnon;" and so mrs. roper. it may seem difficult what pandarus can mean: "dulcarnon clepid is fleming of wretches, it semith hard, for wretchis wol nought lere for very slouthe, or othir wilfull tetches, this said is by them that ben't worth two fetches, but ye ben wise." whether he means that wretches call it _fleming_ or not, his argument is, "you are not a wretch." speght's derivation seems to mean, "quod stultos vertit." _fleamas_, a.-s. (lye), is _fuga_, _fugacio_, from _flean_, to flee. pandarus, i think, does not mean to give the derivation of the word, but its application of fools, a stumbling-block, or puzzle. c.b. [footnote : speght gives it in english letters, but selden in arabic.] [footnote : christman, _comment. in alfragan_, cap. ii. _lysimachi_ cornuum apud cael. rhodigin. _antiq. lect._ . cap. xii., hic genuina interpretatio.] _dr. maginn._--the best account of this most talented but unfortunate man, is given in the _dublin university mag._, vol. xxiii. p. . a reprint of this article, with such additional particulars of his numerous and dispersed productions as might be supplied, would form a most acceptable volume. f.r.a. _america known to the ancients._--to the list of authorities on this subject given in vol. i., p. ., i have the pleasure to add father laffiteau; bossu[ ], in his _travels through louisiana_; and though last, not least, acosta, who in his _naturall and morall historie of the east and west indies_, translated by e.g. [grimestone], , to., devotes eighty-one pages to a review of the opinions of the ancients on the new world. the similarity which has been observed to exist between the manners of several american nations, and those of some of the oldest nations on our continent, which seems to demonstrate that this country was not unknown in ancient times, has been traced by nicholls, in the first part of his _conference with a theist_, in several particulars, viz. burning of the victim in sacrifices, numbering by tens, fighting with bows and arrows, their arts of spinning, weaving, &c. the arguments, multitudinous as they are, adduced by adair for his hypothesis that the american indians are descended from the jews, serve to prove that the known or old world furnished the new one with men. to these may be added the coincidences noticed in "notes and queries;" burning the dead (vol. i., p. .); the art of manufacturing glass (p. .); scalping (vol. ii., p. .). your correspondents will doubtless be able to point out other instances. besides drinking out of the skulls of their enemies, recorded of the scythians by herodotus; and of the savages of louisiana by bossu; i beg to mention a remarkable one furnished by catlin--the sufferings endured by the youths among the mandans, when admitted into the rank of warriors, { } reminding us of the probationary exercises which the priests of mithras forced the candidates for initiation to undergo. t.j. [footnote : forster, the translator of this work, annihilates the argument for the settlement of the welsh derived from the word "penguin" signifying "white head," by the fact of the bird in question having a _black_, not a _white_ head!] _collar of ss._ (vol. ii., p. .).--b. will find a great deal about these collars in some interesting papers in the gentleman's magazine for , vols. xvii. and xviii., conmunicated by mr. j.g. nicholls; and in the second series of the retrospective review, vol. i. p. ., and vol. ii. pp. . . . allow me to add a query: who are the persons now privileged to wear these collars? and under what circumstances, and at what dates, was such privilege reduced to its present limitation? [greek: phi.] _martello towers_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a misspelling for _mortella_ towers. they are named after a tower which commands the entrance to the harbour of st. fiorenzo, in corsica; but they are common along the coasts of the mediterranean. they were built along the low parts of the sussex and kent coasts, in consequence of the powerful defence made by ensign le tellier at the tower of mortella, with a garrison of men only, on th february, , against an attack by sea, made by the _fortitude_ and _juno_, part of lord hood's fleet, and by land, made by a detachment of troops under major-general dundas. the two ships kept up a fire for two hours and a half without making any material impression, and then hauled out of gun-shot, the _fortitude_ having lost men killed and wounded, dangerously. the troops were disembarked, and took possession of a height comnanding the tower; and their battering was as unsuccessful, till a hot shot fell and set fire to the bass-junk, with which, to the depth of five feet, the immensely thick parapet wall was lined. this induced the small garrison, of whom two were mortally wounded, to surrender. the tower mounted only one and two -pounders, and the carriage of one of the latter had been rendered unserviceable during the cannonade. (see james' _naval history_, vol. i. p. .) the towers along the english coast extend from hythe to seaford, where the last tower is numbered , at intervals of about a quarter of a mile, except where the coast is protected by the cliffs. the tower at seaford is feet high, with a circumference of feet at the base, and gradually tapering to feet at the top. the wall is feet thick at the top next the sea, and feet on the land side. the cost of each tower was very large,--from , l. to , l. i am not aware of any blue book on the subject; blue books were not so much in vogue at the time of their erection, or perhaps a little less would have been spent in these erections, and a little more pains would have been taken to see that they were properly built. some have been undermined by the sea and washed down already; in others, the facing of brick has crumbled away; and in all the fancied security which the original tower taught us to expect would be probably lessened were the english towers subjected to an attack. wm. durrant cooper. "_a frog he would a-wooing go_" (vol. ii., p. .).--i know not whether this foolish ballad is worth the notice it has already received, but i can venture to say that the supposed irish version is but a modern variance from the old ballad which i remember above sixty years, and which began-- "there was a frog lived in a well, heigho crowdie! and a merry mouse in a mill, with a howdie crowdie, &c. &c. this frog he would a-wooing go, heigho crowdie! whether his mother would let him or no, with a howdie crowdie," &c. of the rest of the ballad i only remember enough to be able to say that it had little or no resemblance to the version in your last number. c. _william of wykeham_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- . i believe that there is no better life of this prelate than that by bishop lowth. . the public records published since he wrote give several further particulars of wykeham's early career, but a proper notice of them would be too extended for your columns. . when w.h.c. recollects that new college, oxford, the first of the works he names, was not commenced till , and that wykeham had then enjoyed the revenues of his rich bishopric for nearly fourteen years, and had previously been in possession of many valuable preferments, both lay and ecclesiastical, for fourteen years more, he will find his third question sufficiently answered, and cease to wonder at the accumulation of that wealth which was applied with wise and munificent liberality to such noble and useful objects. i am not able to answer w.h.c.'s th and th questions. [greek: phi.] _execution of charles i._ (vol. ii., p. .).--the late mr. rodd had collected several interesting papers on this subject; and from his well-known acquaintance with all matters relating to english history, they are no doubt valuable. of course they exist. he offered them to the writer of this note, on condition that he would prosecute the inquiry. other engagements prevented his availng himself of this liberal offer. j.m. woburn abbey. _swords_ (vol. i., p. .).--swords "ceased to be worn as an article of dress" through the influence of beau nash, and were consequently first out of fashion in bath. "we wear no swords here," says sir lucius o'trigger. wedsecuarf. { } _the low window_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in bibury church, gloucestershire, are several windows of unusual character; and in the chancel is a narrow, low window, called to this day "the lepers' window," through which, it is concluded, the lepers who knelt outside the building witnessed the elevation of the host at the altar, as well as other functions discharged by the priest during the celebration of mass. robert snow. _brasichelli's expurgatory index_ (vol. ii., p. .).--although unable to reply to mr. sansom's query, by pointing out any public library in which he can find the ratisbon reprint of brasichelli's _expurgatory index_, i beg to state that i possess it, the bergomi reprint, and also the original, and that mr. sansom is perfectly welcome to a sight of either. c.j. stewart . king william street, west strand. _discursus modestus_ (vol. i., pp. , .)--crakanthorp, in his _defens. eccl. angl._, cap. vi. p. . (a.c.l. edition), refers to _discur. compen. de jesuit. angl._, p. ., and quotes from it the words, "omnia pro tempore, nihil pro veritate." is this _discur. compen._ the _discurs. modest._? and are these words to be found in watson's _quodlibets_? this would fix the identity of the two books. it is curious that the only two references made by bishop andrews to the _discurs. modest._ (_respons. ad apol._, pp. . and .) are to page ., and both the statements are found in page . of watson. crakanthorp, however (p. .), quotes both the works,--_discurs. modestus de jesuit. anglic._, and watson. from the many different latin titles given to this book, it seems certain that it was originally written in english, and that the title was latinized according to each person's fancy. there is no copy in the lambeth library. j.b. _melancthon's epigram._--melancthon, in the epigram translated by rufus (vol. i., p. .), seems to have borrowed the idea, or, to use the more expressive term of your "schoolboy", to leave cabbaged from martial's epigram, terminating thus:-- "non possunt nostros multæ faustine lituræ, emendare jocos: una litura potest." _martial_, book iv. . naboc. * * * * * miscellaneous notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. mr. bohn has just published the second volume of his very useful and complete edition of _junius' letters_. it contains, in addition to a new essay on their authorship, entitled _the history and discovery of junius_, by the editor, mr. wade, the private letters of junius addressed to woodfall; the letters of junius to wilkes; and the miscellaneous letters which have been attributed to the same powerful pen. mr. wade is satisfied that sir philip francis was junius; a theory of which it is said, "se non e vero e ben trovato:" and, if he does not go the length of sir f. dwarris in regarding sir p. francis, not as the solitary champion, but the most active of the sturdy band of politicians whose views he advocated, he shows that he was known to and assisted by many influential members of his own political party. some of the most curious points in the junius history are illustrated by notes by mr. bohn himself, who, we have no doubt will find his edition of junius among the most successful volumes of his standard library. we have received the following catalogues:--w.s. lincoln's (cheltenham house, westminster road) fifty-eighth catalogue of cheap books in various departments of literature; w. straker's ( . adelaide street, west strand) catalogue no. . , theological literature, ancient and modern; j.g. bell's ( . bedford street, covent garden) catalogue of interesting and valuable autograph letters and other documents; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. . for , of books old and new. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) pulleyne's etymological compendium. barnaby googe's popish kingdom. odd volumes milman's edition of gibbon's decline and fall. ed. . vols. , , , . duke of bedford's correspondence. vols. and . arnold's history of rome. vol. . le clerc's bibliotheque choisie. vol. . avellanada's continuation of don quixote, translated by barker, mo. . vol. . tour through great britain, mo. . vols. and . tristram shandy. vols. , , , and . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_ to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries", . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. p.m. _is referred to our_ th no., p. ., _where he will learn that the supposed french original of "not a drum was heard" was a clever hoax from the ready pen of father prout. the date when_ p.m. _read the poem, and not the_ date it bore, _is a point necessary to be established to prove its existence "anterior to the supposed author of that beautiful poem"._ _will the correspondent who wished for vol. . of rushworth, furnish his name and address, as a copy has been reported._ volume the first or notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen._ errata. in no. ., p. ., in reply to delta, for "mrris," read "marris"; and for "mrie" read "marie." no. ., p. ., l. ., for "prohibens" read "prohiben_te_". * * * * * { } miller's catalogue of books for july. gratis as usual. contains works on archæology, antiquities, botany, coins, chess, freemasonry, geology and mineralogy, heraldry, irish topography, old plays, phrenology, theatres, and dramatic history, wales, its history, &c., with an extensive assortment of books in other departments of literature, equally scarce, curious, and interesting. john miller, . chandos street. * * * * * second edition, cloth s. eastern churches. by the author of "proposals for christian union." "this is a very careful compilation of the latest information of the faith and condition of the various churches of christ scattered through the east."--_britannia._ "the book is cheap, but it contains a good deal of matter, and appears a labour of duty."--_spectator._ "a brief, yet full and correct, and withal a most agreeably written account, of the different eastern churches."--_nottingham journal._ james darling, great queen-street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * preparing for publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo., price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgement as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * the primÆval antiquities of england illustrated by those of denmark. the primÆval antiquities of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. with numerous woodcuts. vo. s. d. "the best antiquarian handbook we have ever met with--so clear is its arrangement, and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well executed engravings.... it is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquarians."-- _morning herald._ "a book of remarkable interest and ability.... mr. worsaae's book is in all ways a valuable addition to our literature.... mr. thoms has executed the translation in flowing and idiomatic english, and has appended many curious and interesting notes and observations of his own."--_guardian._ "the work, which we desire to commend to the attention of our readers, is signally interesting to the british antiquary. highly interesting and important work."--_archæological journal._ see also the _gentleman's magazine_ for february . oxford: john henry parker, and . strand, london. * * * * * rev. william maskell's library. shortly will be published, a catalogue of english and foreign theology; including some of the rarest productions of our early english divines, and embracing the various controversies between the puritans and the churches of rome and england, the works of the nonjurors, the best liturgical commentators, ecclesiastical historians, fathers of the church, schoolmen, councils, &c, many of them of extreme rarity, and forming the library of the rev. william maskell, late vicar of st. mary church, torquay, together with other recent purchases, now on sale by j. leslie, . great queen-street, lincoln's inn. n.b.--gentlemen desirous of receiving this catalogue are respectfully requested to forward their names to the publisher, with twelve postage stamps to pre-pay the same. * * * * * now ready, containing plates, royal vo. s.; folio, l. s.; india paper, l. s. the monumental brasses of england: a series of engravings upon wood, from every variety of these interesting and valuable memorials, accompanied with descriptive notices. by the rev. c. bouteli. m.a. rector of downham market. part xii., completing the work, price s. d.; folio, s.; india paper, s. by the same author, royal vo., s.; large paper, s. monumental brasses and slabs: an historical and descriptive notice of the incised monumental memorials of the middle ages. with upwards of engravings. "a handsome large octavo volume, abundantly supplied with well-engraved woodcuts and lithographic plates; a sort of encyclopædia for ready reference.... the whole work has a look of painstaking completeness highly commendable."--_athenæum._ "one of the most beautifully got up and interesting volumes we have seen for a long time. it gives, in the compass of one volume, an account of the history of these beautiful monuments of former days.... the illustrations are extremely well chosen."--_english churchman._ a few copies only of this work remain for sale; and, as it will not be reprinted in the same form and at the same price, the remaining copies are raised in price. early application for the large paper edition is necessary. by the same author, to be completed in four parts, christian monuments in england and wales: an historical and descriptive sketch of the various classes of monumental memorials which have been in use in this country from about the time of the norman conquest. profusely illustrated with wood engravings. part i. price s. d.; part ii. s. d. "a well conceived and executed work."--_ecclesiologist._ * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents notes:-- meaning of delighted as used by shakspeare, by s. hickson authors of "the rolliad," by lord braybrooke notes on milton derivation of easter, by j. sansom folk lore--passages of death, by dr. guest--divination at marriages francis lenton the poet, by dr. rimbault minor notes:--lilburn or prynne--peep of day--martinet-- guy's porridge pot queries:-- nicholas ferrar of little gidding, by john miland stukeley's "stonehenge," by henry cunliffe athelstane's form of donation--meaning of "somagia," by j. sansom minor queries:--charade--"smoke money"--"rapido contrarius orbi"--lord richard christophilus-- fiz gigs--specimens of erica in bloom--michael scott the wizard--stone chalices replies:-- ulrich von hutten and the "epistolæ obscurorum virorum," by s.w. singer caxton's printing-office, by j.g. nichols the new temple strangers in the house of commons replies to minor queries:--morganatic marriage-- umbrellas--bands--scarf--jewish music--north sides of churchyards unconsecrated--"men are but children" &c.--ventriloquism--cromwell's estates --magor--vincent gookin--all-to brake miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. what is the meaning of "delighted," as sometimes used by shakspeare. i wish to call attention to the peculiar use of a word, or rather to a peculiar word, in shakspeare, which i do not recollect to have met with in any other writer. i say a "peculiar word," because, although the verb _to delight_ is well known, and of general use, the word, the same in form, to which i refer, is not only of different meaning, but, as i conceive, of distinct derivation the non-recognition of which has led to a misconception of the meaning of one of the finest passages in shakspeare. the first passage in which it occurs, that i shall quote, is the well known one from _measure for measure_: "ay, but to die, and go we know not where; to lie in cold obstruction, and to rot, this sensible warm motion to become a kneaded clod; and the _delighted_ spirit to bathe in fiery floods, or to reside in thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice; to be imprison'd in the viewless winds and blown with restless violence round about the pendant world." act iii. sc. . now, if we examine the construction of this passage, we shall find that it appears to have been the object of the writer to separate, and place in juxtaposition with each other, the conditions of the body and the spirit, each being imagined under circumstances to excite repulsion or terror in a sentient being. the mind sees the former lying in "cold obstruction," rotting, changed from a "sensible warm motion" to a "kneaded clod," every circumstance leaving the impression of dull, dead weight, deprived of force and motion. the spirit, on the other hand, is imagined under circumstances that give the most vivid picture conceivable of utter powerlessness: "imprison'd in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence round about the pendant world." to call the spirit here "delighted," in our sense of the term, would be absurd; and no explanation of the passage in this sense, however ingenious, is intelligible. that it is intended to represent the spirit simply as _lightened_, made light, relieved from the weight of matter, i am convinced, and this is my view of the meaning of the word in the present instance. _delight_ is naturally formed by the participle _de_ and _light_, to make light, in the same way as "debase," to make base, "defile," to make foul. the analogy is not quite so perfect in such words as "define," "defile" (file), "deliver," "depart," &c.; yet they all may be considered of the same class. the last of these is used with us only in the sense of _to go away_; in shakspeare's time (and shakspeare so uses it) it meant also _to part_, or _part with_. a correspondent of mr. knight's suggests { } for the word _delight_ in this passage, also, a new derivation; using _de_ as a negation, and _light (lux), delighted_, removed from the regions of light. this is impossible; if we look at the context we shall see that it not only contemplated no such thing, but that it is distinctly opposed to it. i am less inclined to entertain any doubt of the view i have taken being correct, from the confirmation it receives in another passage of shakspeare, which runs as follows: "if virtue no _delighted_ beauty lack, your son-in-law shows far more fair than black." _othello_, act i. sc. . passing by the cool impertinence of one editor, who asserts that shakspeare frequently used the past for the present participle, and the almost equally cool correction of another, who places the explanatory note "*delightful" at the bottom of the page, i will merely remark that the two latest editors of shakspeare, having apparently nothing to say on the subject, have very wisely said nothing. yet, as we understand the term "delighted," the passage surely needs explanation. we cannot suppose that shakspeare used epithets so weakening as "delighting" or "delightful." the meaning of the passage would appear to be this: if virtue be not wanting in beauty--such beauty as can belong to virtue, not physical, but of a higher kind, and freed from all material elements--then your son-in-law, black though he is, shows far more fair than black, possessing, in fact, this _abstract_ kind of beauty to that degree that his colour is forgotten. in short, "delighted" here seems to mean, _lightened_ of all that is gross or unessential. there is yet another instance in cymbeline, which seems to bear a similar construction: "whom best i love, i cross: to make my gifts the more delay'd, _delighted_." act v. sc. . that is, "the _more_ delighted;" the longer held back, the better worth having; lightened of whatever might detract from their value, that is, refined or purified. in making the remark here, that "delighted" refers not to the recipient nor to the giver, but to the gifts, i pass by the nonsense that the greatest master of the english language did not heed the distinction between the past and the present participles, as not worth a second thought. the word appears to have had a distinct value of its own, and is not to be explained by any other single word. if this be so, it could hardly have been coined by shakspeare. though, possibly, it may never have been much used, perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to furnish other instances from other writers. samuel hickson. st. john's wood. * * * * * authors of "the rolliad." the subjoined list of the authors of _the rolliad_, though less complete than i could have wished, is, i believe, substantially correct, and may, therefore, be acceptable to your readers. the names were transcribed by me from a copy of the ninth edition of _the rolliad_ ( ), still in the library at sunninghill park, in which they had been recorded on the first page of the respective papers. there seems to be no doubt that they were originally communicated by mr. george ellis, who has always been considered as one of the most talented contributors to _the rolliad_. he also resided for many years at sunninghill, and was in habits of intimacy with the owners of the park. your correspondent c. (vol. ii., p. .) may remark that lord john townshend's name occurs only twice in my list; but his lordship may have written some of the papers which are not in the sunninghill volume, as they appeared only in the editions of the work printed subsequently to , and are designated as _political miscellanies_. _names of the authors of the rolliad_. dedication to kenyon dr. laurence. family of the rollos tickell, &c. extract from dedication general fitzpatrick. criticisms from the no. _rolliad_ george ellis & . ---- dr. laurence . ---- richardson . ---- general fitzpatrick . ---- dr. laurence , , . ---- general fitzpatrick . ---- richardson & . ---- general fitzpatrick . criticisms not in the original, but probably written by dr. laurence & . criticisms, &c. part. ii. george ellis & . ---- richardson & . ---- general fitzpatrick . criticisms, not in the original mr. reid . ---- dr. laurence . _political eclogues_. rose dr. laurence. the liars general fitzpatrick. margaret nicholson mr. adair. charles jenkinson george ellis. jekyl lord john townshend. _probationary odes_. all the preliminaries mr. tickell. irregular ode mr. tickell no. . ode to the new year george ellis . ode rev. h. bate dudley . ---- richardson . duan john ellis . { } ossianade unknown . irregular ode unknown . ode to the attorney- general mr. brummell . laureate ode mr. tickell . new year's ode mr. pearce . ode by m.a. taylor mr. boscawen . ---- by major scott lord john towns- hend . ---- irregular(dundas) never known to the club . ---- by warton bishop of ossory (hon. william beresford) . ---- pindaric general fitzpatrick . ---- irregular dr. laurence . ---- prettyman general burgoyne . ---- graham mr. reid . letter, &c. and mount- morres richardson . birthday ode george ellis . pindaric ode unmarked . real birthday ode t. warton . remaining prose richardson. i am not certain whether mr. adair, to whom "margaret nicholson," one of the happiest of the political eclogues, is attributed, is the present sir robert adair. if so, as the only survivor amongst his literary colleagues, he might furnish some interesting particulars respecting the remarkable work to which i have called your attention. braybrooke. audley end, july, . * * * * * notes on milton. (continued from vol. ii., p. .) _il penseroso._ on l. (g.):-- "fantastic swarms of dreams there hover'd, green, red, and yellow, tawney, black, and blue; they make no noise, but right resemble may th' unnumber'd moats that in the sun-beams play." _sylvester's du bartas._ cælia, in beaumont and fletcher's _humorous lieutenant_, says,-- "my maidenhead to a mote in the sun, he's jealous." act iv. sc. . on l. . (g.) mr. warton might have found a happier illustration of his argument in ben jonson's _every man in his humour_, act i. sc. .:-- "too conceal such real ornaments as these, and shadow their glory, as a milliner's wife does her wrought stomacher, with a smoaky lawn, or a _black cyprus_." --whalley's edit. vol. i. p. . on l. . (g.) the origin of this uncommon use of the word "commerce" is from donne:-- "if this commerce 'twixt heaven and earth were not embarred." --_poems_, p. . ed. to. . on l. . (g.):-- "that sallow-faced, sad, stooping nymph, whose eye still on the ground is fixed steadfastly." _sylvester's du bartas_ on l. . (g.):-- "mounted aloft on contemplation's wings." _g. wither_, p. . vol. i. ed. . drummond has given "golden wings" to fame. on l. . (g.):-- hermes trismegistus. on l. . (g.):-- "tyrants' bloody gests of thebes, mycenæ, or proud ilion." _sylvester's du bartas._ * * * * * _arcades._ on l. . (g.):-- "and without respect of odds, vye renown with demy-gods." _wither's mistresse of philarete_, sig. e. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "but yet, whate'er he do or can devise, disguised glory shineth in his eyes." _sylvester's du bartas._ on l. . (g.):-- "an eastern wind commix'd with _noisome airs_, shall _blast the plants_ and the _young sapplings_." _span. trag. old plays_, vol. iii. p. . on l. . (g.) compare drunmond--speech of endymion before charles:-- "to tell by me, their herald, coming things, and what each fate to her stern distaff sings," &c. on l. . (m.):-- "and with his beams enamel'd every greene." _fairfax's tasso_, b. i. st. . on l. . (g.):-- "those brooks with lilies bravely deck't." _drayton_, . on l. . (g.):-- "pan entertains, this coming night, his paramour, the syrinx bright." _fletcher's faithful shepherdess_, act i. j.f.m. * * * * * derivation of easter. southey, in his _book of the church_, derives our word _easter_ from a _saxon_ source:-- "the worship," he says, "of the goddess _eostre_ or _eastre_, which may probably be traced to the astarte of the phoenicians, is retained among us in the word _easter_; her annual festival having been superseded by that sacred day." should he not rather have given a _british_ origin to the name of our christian holy day? southey acknowledges that the "heathenism which the { } saxons introduced, bears no [very little?] affinity either to that of the britons or the romans;" yet it is certain that the britons worshipped baal and _ashtaroth_, a relic of whose worship appears to be still retained in cornwall to this day. the druids, as southey tells us, "made the people pass through the fire in honour of baal." but the _festival_ in honour of baal appears to have been in the _autumn_: for "they made the people," he informs us, "at the beginning of _winter_, extinguish all their fires on one day and kindle them again from the sacred fire of the druids, which would make the house fortunate for the ensuing year; and, if any man came who had not paid his yearly dues, [easter offerings, &c., date back as far as this!] they refused to give him a spark, neither durst any of his neighbours relieve him, nor might he himself procure fire by any other means, so that he and his family were deprived of it till he had discharged the uttermost of his debt." the druidical fires kindled in the _spring_ of the year, on the other hand, would appear to be those in honour of _ashtaroth_, or _astarte_, from whom the _british christians_ may naturally enough have derived the name of _easter_ for their corresponding season. we might go even further than this, and say that the young ladies who are reported still to take the chief part in keeping up the druidical festivities in cornwall, very happily represent the ancient _estal_ (or _vestal_) virgins. "in times of paganism," says o'halloran, "we find in _ireland_ females devoted to celibacy. there was in tara a royal foundation of this kind, wherein none were admitted but virgins of the noblest blood. it was called cluain-feart, or the place of retirement till death," &c ... "the duty of these virgins was to keep up the fires of bel, or the sun, and of sambain, or the moon, which customs they borrowed from their phoenician ancestors. they both [i.e. the irish and the phoenicians] adored bel, or the sun, the moon, and the stars. the 'house of _rimmon_' which the phoenicians worshipped in, like our temples of fleachta in meath, was sacred to the _moon_. the word '_rimmon_' has by no means been understood by the different commentators; and yet, by recurring to the irish (a branch of the phoenician) it becomes very intelligible; for '_re_' is irish for the moon, and '_muadh_' signifies an _image_, and the compound word '_reamhan_,' signifies _prognosticating by the appearance of the moon_. it appears by the life of our great s. columba, that the druid temples were here decorated with figures of the sun, the moon, and stars. the phoenicians, under the name of _bel-samen_, adored the supreme; and it is pretty remarkable, that to this very day, to wish a friend every happiness this life can afford, we say in irish, 'the blessings of _samen_ and _bel_ be with you!' that is, of the seasons; bel signifying the sun, and samhain the moon." --(see o'halloran's _hist. of ireland_, vol. i. p. .) j. sansom. * * * * * folk lore. _presages of death_.--the note by mr. c. forbes (vol. ii., p. .) on "high spirits considered a presage of impending calamity or death," reminded me of a collection of authorities i once made, for academical purposes, of a somewhat analogous bearing,--i mean the ancient belief in the existence of a power of prophecy at that period which immediately precedes dissolution. the most ancient, as well as the most striking instance, is recorded in the forty-ninth chapter of genesis:-- "and jacob called his sons and said, gather yourselves together _that i may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days_.... and when jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into his bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people." homer affords two instances of a similar kind: thus, patroclus prophesies the death of hector (il. [greek: p] .)[ ]:-- [greek: "ou thaen oud autos daeron beae alla toi aedae agchi parestaeke thanatos kai moira krataiae, chersi dament achilaeos amnmonos aiakidao."][ ] again, hector in his turn prophesies the death of achilles by the hand of paris (il. [greek: ch.] .):-- [greek: "phrazeo nun, mae toi ti theon maenima genomai aemati to ote ken se pharis kai phoibus apollon, esthlon eont, olesosin eni skaiaesi pulaesin."][ ] this was not merely a poetical fancy, or a superstitious faith of the ignorant, for we find it laid down as a great physical truth by the greatest of the greek philosophers, the divine socrates:-- [greek: "to de dae meta touto epithumo humin chraesmodaesai, o katapsaephisamenoi mou kai gar eimi aedae entautha en o malist anthropoi chraesmodousin hotan mellosin apothaneisthai."][ ] in xenophon, also, the same idea is expressed, and, if possible, in language still more definite and precise:--{ } [greek: "hae de tou anthropou psuchae tote daepou theiotatae kataphainetai, kai tote ti ton mellonton proora."][ ] diodorus siculus, again, has produced great authorities on this subject:-- [greek: "puthagoras ho samios, kai tines heteroi ton palaion phusikon, apephaenanto tas psuchas ton anthropon uparchein athanatous, akolouthos de to dogmati touto kai progignoskein autas ta mellonta, kath hon an kairon en tae teleutae ton apo tou somatos chorismon poiontai."][ ] from the ancient writers i yet wish to add one more authority; and i do so especially, because the doctrine of the stagirite is therein recorded. sextus empiricus writes,-- [greek: "hae psuchae, phaesin aristotelaes, promanteuetai kai proagoreuei ta mellonta--en to kata thanaton chorizesthai ton somaton."][ ] without encroaching further upon the space of this periodical by multiplying evidence corroborative of the same fact, i will content myself by drawing the attention of the reader to our own great poet and philosopher, shakspeare, whose subtle genius and intuitive knowledge of human nature render his opinions on all such subjects of peculiar value. thus in _richard ii_., act ii. sc. ., the dying gaunt, alluding to his nephew, the young and self-willed king, exclaims,-- "methinks i am a prophet new inspired; and thus, expiring, do foretel of him." again, in _henry iv., part i._, act v. sc. ., the brave percy, when in the agonies of death, conveys the same idea in the following words:-- "o, i could prophesy, but that the earthy and cold hand of death lies on my tongue." reckoning, therefore, from the time of jacob, this belief, whether with or without foundation, has been maintained upwards of years. it was grounded on the assumed fact, that the soul became divine in the same ratio as its connection with the body was loosened or destroyed. in sleep, the unity is weakened but not ended: hence, in sleep, the material being dead, the immaterial, or divine principle, wanders unguided, like a gentle breeze over the unconscious strings of an Æolian harp; and according to the health or disease of the body are pleasing visions or horrid phantoms (_ægri somnia_, as horace) present to the mind of the sleeper. before death, the soul, or immaterial principle, is, as it were, on the confines of two worlds, and may possess at the same moment a power which is both prospective and retrospective. at that time its connection with the body being merely nominal, it partakes of that perfectly pure, ethereal, and exalted nature (_quod multo magis faciet post mortem quum omnino corpore excesserit_) which is designed for it hereafter. as the question is an interesting one, i conclude by asking, through the medium of the "notes and queries," if a belief in this power of prophesy before death be known to exist at the present day? augustus guest. london, july . [footnote : for the assistance of the general reader, i have introduced hasty translations of the several passages quoted.] [footnote : (and i moreover tell you, and do you meditate well upon it, that) you yourself are not destined to live long, for even now death is drawing nigh unto you, and a violent fate awaits you,--about to be slain in fight by the hands of achilles, the irreproachable son of oacus.] [footnote : consider now whether i may not be to you the cause of divine anger, in that day when paris and phoebus apollo shall slay you, albeit so mighty, at the scaean gate.] [footnote : wherefore i have an earnest desire to prophesy to you who have condemned me; for i am already arrived at that stage of my existence in which, especially, men utter prophetic sayings, that is, when they are about to die.] [footnote : that time, indeed, the soul of man appears to be in a manner divine, for to a certain extent it foresees things which are about to happen.] [footnote : pythagoras the samian, and some others of the ancient philosophers, showed that the souls of men were immortal, and that, when they were on the point of separating from the body, they possessed a knowledge of futurity.] [footnote : the soul, says aristotle, when on the point of taking its departure from the body, foretells and prophesies things about to happen.] * * * * * _divination at marriages_.--the following practices are very prevalent at marriages in these districts; and as i do not find them noticed by brand in the last edition of his _popular antiquities_, they may perhaps be thought worthy a place in the "notes and queries." . put a wedding ring into the _posset_, and after serving it out, the unmarried person whose cup contains the ring will be the first of the company to be married. . make a common flat cake of flour, water, currants, &c., and put therein a wedding ring and a sixpence. when the company is about to retire on the wedding-day, the cake must be broken and distributed amongst the unmarried females. she who gets the ring in her portion of the cake will shortly be married, and the one who gets the sixpence will die an old maid. t.t.w. burnley, july . . * * * * * francis lenton the poet. in a ms. obituary of the seventeenth century, preserved at staunton hall, leicestershire, i found the following:-- "may . . this day died francis lenton, of lincoln's inn, gent." this entry undoubtedly relates to the author of three very rare poetical tracts: . _the young gallant's whirligigg_, ; . _the innes of court_, ; . _great brittain's beauties_, . in the dedication to sir julius cæsar, prefixed to the first-named work, the writer speaks of having "once belonged to the _innes of court_," and says he was "no usuall poetizer, but, to barre idlenesse, imployed that little talent the muses conferr'd upon him in this little tract." sir egerton brydges supposed the copy of _the young gallant's whirligigg_ preserved in the library of sion college to be _unique_; but this is not the case, as the writer knows of _two_ others,--one at staunton hall, and another at tixall priory in staffordshire. it has been reprinted by mr. { } halliwell at the end of a volume containing _the marriage of wit and wisdom_, published by the shakspeare society. in his prefatory remarks that gentleman says, "besides his printed works, lenton wrote the _poetical history of queene hester_, with the translation of the rd psalm, reflecting upon the present times. ms. dated ." this date must be incorrect, if our entry in the staunton obituary relates to the same person; and there is every reason to suppose that it does. the _autograph_ ms. of lenton occurred in heber's sale (part xi. no. .), and is thus described: _hadassiah_, or the _history of queen hester_, sung in a sacred and serious poeme, and divided into ten chapters, by f. lenton, the queen's majesties poet, . this is undoubtedly the _correct_ date, as it is in the handwriting of the author. query. what is the meaning of lenton's title, "the queen's majesties poet"? edward f. rimbault. * * * * * minor notes. _lilburn or prynne?_--i am anxious to suggest in "notes and queries" whether a character in the second canto of part iii. of _hudibras_ (line ), beginning, "to match this saint, there was another, as busy and perverse a brother, an haberdasher of small wares, in politics and state affairs," has not been wrongly given by dr. grey to lilburn, and whether prynne is not rather the person described. dr. grey admits in his note that the application of the passage to lilburn involves an anachronism, lilburn having died in , and this passage being a description of one among "the quacks of government who sate" to consult for the restoration, when they saw ruin impending. ch. _peep of day._--jacob grimm, in his _deutsche mythologie_, p. ., ed. ., remarks that the ideas of light and sound are sometimes confounded; and in support of his observation he quotes passages of danish and german poets in which the sun and moon are said to _pipe_ (pfeifen). in further illustration of this usage, he also cites the words "the sun began to peep," from a scotch ballad in scott's _border minstrelsy_, vol. ii. p. . in p. . he explains the words "par son l'aube," which occur in old french poets, by "per sonitum auroræ;" and compares the english expression, "the peep of day." the latin _pipio_ or _pipo_, whence the italian _pipare_, and the french _pépier_, is the ultimate origin of the verb _to peep_; which, in old english, bore the sense of chirping, and is so used in the authorised version of isaiah, viii. ., x. . halliwell, in his _archaic dictionary_, explains "peep" as "a flock of chickens," but cites no example. _to peep_, however, in the sense of taking a rapid look at anything through a small aperture, is an old use of the word, as is proved by the expression _peeping_ tom of coventry. as so used, it corresponds with the german _gucken_. mr. richardson remarks that this meaning was probably suggested by the young chick looking out of the half-broken shell. it is quite certain that the "peep of day" has nothing to do with sound; but expresses the first appearance of the sun, as he just looks over the eastern hills. l. _martinet._--will the following passage throw any light on the origin of the word _martinet_? une discipline, devenue encore plus exacte, avait mis dans l'armée un nouvel ordre. il n'y avait point encore d'inspecteurs de cavalerie et d'infanterie, comme nous en avons vu depuis, mais deux hommes uniques chacun dans leur genre en fesaient les fonctions. _martinet mettait alors l'infanterie sur le pied de discipline où elle est aujourd'hui._ le chevalier de _fourilles_ fesait la même change dans la cavalerie. il y avait un an que _martinet_ avait mis la baionnette en usage dans quelque régimens, &c.--voltaire, _siècle de louis xiv._ c. . c. forbes. july . _guy's porridge pot._--in the porter's lodge at warwick castle are preserved some enormous pieces of armour, which, _according to tradition_, were worn by the famous champion "guy, earl of warwick;" and in addition (with other marvellous curiosities) is also exhibited guy's porridge pot, of bell metal, said to weigh lbs., and to contain gallons. there is also a flesh-fork to ring it. mr. nichols, in his _history of leicestershire_, part ii. vol. iii., remarks, "a turnpike road from ashby to whitwick, passes through talbot lane. of this lane and the famous large pot at warwick castle, we have an old traditionary couplet: "'there's nothing left of talbot's name, but talbot's pot and talbot's lane.' "richard beauchamp earl of warwick, died in . his eldest daughter, margaret, was married to john talbot earl of shrewsbury, by whom she had one son, john viscount lisle, from whom the dudleys descended, viscount lisle and earl of warwick." it would therefore appear that neither the armour nor the pot belonged to the "noble guy"--the armour being comparatively of modern manufacture, and the pot, it appears, descended from the talbots to the warwick family: which pot is generally filled with punch on the birth of a male heir to that noble family. w. reader. * * * * *{ } queries. nicholas ferrar of little gidding. dr. peckard, in his preface to the _life of nicholas ferrar of little gidding_, says the memoir he published was edited or compiled by him from "the original ms. still in my possession" (p. xi.); and in the appendix adds, that "mr. john ferrar," the elder brother of nicholas, was the author of it (p. .). how he compiled or edited "the original ms." he states with much candour in his preface (p. xv.): "the editor's intention," in altering the narrative, "was to give what is not observed in the original, a regular series of facts; and through the whole a sort of evenness and simplicity of stile equally free from meanness and affectation. in short, to make the old and the new, as far as he could, uniform; that he might not appear to have sewed a piece of new cloth to an old garment, and made its condition worse by his endeavours to mend it." again, at page ., he says, "there is an antient ms. in folio, giving an account of mr. n. ferrar, which at length, from gidding, came into the hands of mr. ed. ferrar of huntingdon, and is now in the possession of the editor. mr. peck had the use of this ms. as appears by several marginal notes in his handwriting; from this and some loose and unconnected papers of mr. peck.... the editor, as well as he was able, has made out the foregoing memoirs." can any of your numerous correspondents inform me if this "antient ms." is still in existence, and in whose possession? peckard was related to the ferrars, and was master of magdalen coll., cambridge. in "a catalogue of mss. (once) at gidding," peckard, p. ., the third article is "lives, characters, histories, and tales for moral and religious instruction, in five volumes folio, neatly bound and gilt, by mary collet." this work, with five others, "undoubtedly were all written by n. ferrar, sen.," says dr. peckard; and in the memoir, at page ., he gives a list of these "short histories," ninety-eight in number, "which are still remaining in my possession;" and adds further, at p. ., "these lives, characters, and moral essays would, i think, fill two or three volumes in vo., but _they are written in so minute_ a character, that i cannot form any conjecture to be depended upon." i have been thus particular in describing these "histories", because the subjects of them are identical with those in fuller's _holy and profane state_, the first edition of which was published at cambridge, in . "the characters i have conformed," says fuller in his preface, "to the then standing laws of the realm (a twelvemonth ago were they sent to the press), since which time the wisdom of the king and state hath" altered many things. nicholas ferrar died december , , and the query i wish to ask is, did fuller compose them (for that he was really the author of them can hardly be doubted) at the suggestion and for the benefit of the community at gidding, some years before he published them; and is it possible to ascertain and determine if the ms. is in the handwriting of ferrar or fuller? is there any print or view in existence of the "nunnery," at little gidding? in the _life of dr. thomas fuller_, published anonymously in , it is stated, that at his funeral a customary sermon was preached by dr. hardy, dean of rochester, "which hath not yet (though it is hoped and much desired may) passe the presse," p. . query. was this sermon ever published? and secondly, who was the author of the _life_ from which the above passage is quoted? john miland. * * * * * stukeley's "stonehenge." may i request a space in your periodical for the following queries, drawn from dr. stukeley's _stonehenge and abury_, p. .? st. "but eternally to be lamented is the loss of that tablet of tin, which was found at this place (stonehenge) in the time of king henry viii., inscribed with many letters, but in so strange a character that neither sir thomas elliott, a learned antiquary, nor mr. lilly, master of st. paul's school, could make any thing out of it. mr. sammes may be right, who judges it to have been _punic_. i imagine if we call it irish we shall not err much. no doubt but what it was a memorial of the founders, wrote by the druids and had it been preserved till now, would have been an invaluable curiosity." can you or any of your contributors give me any further information about this inscription? . the doctor continues, "to make the reader some amends for such a loss i have given a specimen of supposed druid writing, out of lambecius' account of the emperor's library at vienna. 'tis wrote on a very thin plate of gold with a sharp-pointed instrument. it was in an urn found at vienna, rolled up in several cases of other metal, together with funeral exuviæ. it was thought by the curious, one of those epistles which the celtic people were wont to send to their friends in the other world. the reader may divert himself with trying to explain it." has this inscription ever been explained, and how? stukeley's book is by no means a rare one; therefore i have not trusted myself to copy the inscription: and such as feel disposed to help me in my difficulty would doubtless prefer seeing the doctor's own illustration at p. . henry cunliffe. hyde park street.{ } athelstane's form of donation.--meaning of "somagia." tristram risdon, in his quaint _survey of the co. of devon_, after mentioning the foundation of the church of high bickington by king athelstane, "who," he says, "gave to god and it one hide of land, as appeareth by the donation, a copy whereof, for the antiquity thereof, i will here insert: 'iche athelstane king, grome of this home, geve and graunt to the preist of this chirch, one yoke of mye land frelith to holde, woode in my holt house to buyld, bitt grass for all hys beasts, fuel for hys hearth, pannage for hys sowe and piggs, world without end,'"-- adds presently afterwards, that "sir john willington gave _weeksland_ in this tything, unto robert tolla, _cum somagia annuatim capiend in buckenholt_ (so be the words of the grant) in the time of k. edw. i." the willingtons were lords of the manor of umberleigh, where athelstane's palace stood, with its chapel dedicated to the holy trinity, formerly rich in ancient monuments, and having a chantry near to it. some of the monuments from this chapel are still preserved in the neighbouring church of atherington. my queries upon this note are: . whence did risdon derive his copy of king athelstane's form of donation? . what is the precise meaning of the word _somagia_? in _ducange_ (ed. par. , tom. vi. col. .) i find: "_somegia_. præstatio, ut videtur _ex summis_, v. gr. bladi, frumenti. charta philippi reg. franc. an. . idem etiam savaricus detinet sibi census suos, et venditiones, et quosdam reditus, qui _somegiæ_ vocantur, et avenam, et _captagia_ hominum et foeminarum suarum, qui reditus cum una somegiarum in festo b. remigii persolverentur; deinde secunda somegia in vicesima die natalis domini, et tertia in octabis resurrectionis dominicæ, ei similiter persolventur; caponum etiam suorum in crastino natalis domini percipiet solutionem: unaquæque vero somegiarum quatuor denarios bonæ monetæ valet." ducange refers also to some kindred words; but, instead of clearing up my difficulty in the word _somagia_, he presents me with another in _captagia_, the meaning of which i do not clearly understand. perhaps some of your more learned contributors will obligingly help me to the true import of these words? j. sansom. * * * * * minor queries. _charade_.--can any one tell who is the author of the following charade? no doubt, the lines are well known to many of your readers, although i have never seen them in print. it has been said that dr. robinson, a physician, wrote them. it strikes me that the real author, whoever he be, richly deserves to be named in "notes and queries." "me, the contented man desires, the poor man has, the rich requires; the miser gives, the spendthrift saves, and all must carry to their graves." it can scarcely be necessary to add that the answer is, _nothing_. alfred gatty. july . . "_smoke money_."--under this name is collected every year at battle, in sussex, by the constable, one penny from every householder, and paid to the lord of the manor. what is its origin and meaning? b. "_rapido contrarius orbi_."--what divine of the seventeenth century adopted these words as his motto? they are part of a line in one of owen's epigrams. n.b. _lord richard christophilus_.--can any of your readers give any account of lord richard christophilus, a turk converted to christianity, to whom, immediately after the restoration, in july, , the privy council appointed a pension of l. a-year, and an additional allowance of l. a-week. ch. _fiz-gigs_.--in those excellent poems, sandys's _paraphrases on job and other books of the bible_, there is a word of a most destructive character to the effect. speaking of leviathan, he asks, "canst thou with _fiz-gigs_ pierce him to the quick?" it may be an ignorant question, but i do not know what fiz-gigs are. c.b. _specimens of erica in bloom_.--can any of your correspondents oblige me by the information where i can procure specimens in bloom of the following plants, viz. erica crescenta, erica paperina, e. purpurea, e. flammea, and at what season they come into blossom in england? if specimens are not procurable without much expense and trouble, can you supply me with the name of a work in which these plants are figured? e.s. dover. _michael scott, the wizard_.--what works by michael scott, the reputed wizard, (sir walter's _deus ex machina_ in _the lay of the last minstrel_), have been printed? x.y.a. _stone chalices_.--can any of the readers of "notes and queries" inform me whether the use of _stone chalices_ was authorised by the ancient constitutions of the church; and, if so, at what period, and where the said constitutions were enacted? x.y.a. * * * * *{ } replies. ulrich von hutten and the "epistolÆ obscurorum vironum." (vol. ii., p. .) i have never seen the article in the _quarterly review_ to which your correspondent h.b.c. alludes: he will probably find it by reference to the index, which is not just now within my reach. the neat london edition, , of the _epistolæ_ was given by michael mattaire. there are several subsequent reimpressions, but none worth notice except that by henr. guil. rotermund, hanover, , vo.; and again, with improvements, "cum nova præfatione, nec non illustratione historica circa originem earum, atque notitia de vita et scriptis virorum in epistolis occurentium aucta," , both in vo. the best edition, however, is that given by dr. ernst münch, leipsic, , vo., with the following title: "epistolæ obscurorum virorum aliaque Ævi decimi sexti monimenta rarissima. die briefe der finsterlinge an magister ortuinus von deventer, nebst andern sehr seltenen beiträgen zur literatur-sitten-und-kirchengeschichte des xvi'n jahrhunderts." this contains many important additions, and a copious historical introduction. both the editors write in german. that this admirable satire produced an immense effect at the period of its publication, there can be no doubt; but that it has ever been thoroughly understood and relished among us may be doubted. mr. hallam, in his _literature of europe_, vol. i., seems to have been disgusted with the monkish dog-latin and bald jokes, not recollecting that this was a necessary and essential part of the design. nor is it strange that steele, who was perhaps not very well acquainted with the history of literature, should have misconceived the nature of the publication, when we learn from an epistle of sir thomas more to erasmus, that some of the stupid theologasters themselves, who were held up to ridicule, received it with approbation as a serious work: "_epist. obs. viror_. operæ pretium est videre quantopere placeant omnibus, et doctis joco, et indoctis serio, qui dum ridemus, putant rideri stylum tantum, quem illi non defendunt, sed gravitate sententiarum dicunt compensatum, et latere sub rudi vagina pulcherrimum gladium. utinam fuisset inditus libello alius titulus! profecto intra centum annos homines studio stupidi non sensissent nasum, quamquam rhinocerotico longiorem."[ ] erasmus evidently enjoyed the witty contrivance, though he affects to disapprove it as an anonymous libel. simler, in his life of bullinger, relates that on the first reading erasmus fell into such a fit of laughter as to burst an abscess in his face with which he was at that time troubled, and which prevented the necessity of a surgical operation. the literary history of the _epistolæ_ and the _dialogue_ is involved in obscurity. that ulrich von hutten had a large share in their concoction there can be no doubt; and that he was assisted by crotus rubianus and hermann von busch, if not by others, seems highly probable. the authorship of _lamentationes obscurorum virorum_ is a paradox which has not yet been solved. they are a parody, but a poor one, of the _epistolæ_, and in the second edition are attributed to ortuinus gratius. if they are by him, he must have been a dull dog indeed; but by some it has been thought that they are the work of a reuchlinist, to mystify the monks of cologne, and render them still more ridiculous; yet, as the pope's bull against the _epistolæ_, and erasmus's disapproving letter, find a prominent place, and some other well-grounded inculpations occur, it appears to me that some slender-witted advocate of the enemies of learning has here shown his want of skill in handling the weapons of the adversary. how much sir thomas more was pleased with the writings of hutten we may gather from the opening of a letter which erasmus addressed to hutten, giving an interesting account of his illustrious friend, in august, : "quod thomæ mori ingenium sic deamas, ac penè dixerim deperis, nimirum scriptis illius inflammatus, quibus (ut verè scribis) nihil esse potest neque doctius neque festivius; istue mibi crede, clarissime huttene tibi cum multis commune est, cum moro mutuum etiam. nam is vicissim adeò scriptorum tuorum genio delectatur, ut ipse tibi plopemodum invideam." the dialogue (mire festivus), which in the edition of occurs between the first and second parts of the _epistolæ_, bears especial marks of hutten's manner, and is doubtless by him. the interlocutors are three of the illustrious obscure, magisters ortuinus, lupoldus, and gingolphus, and the first act of the comedy consists in their observations upon the promoters of learning, reuchlin, erasmus, and faber stapulensis, who afterwards make their appearance, and the discussion becomes general, but no impression can be made upon the stupid and prejudiced monks. the theme is, of course, the inutility of the new learning, hebrew and greek and correct latinity. one short passage seems to me admirable:{ } "_m. ging_. et sanctus ambrosius, sanctus augustinus, et alii omnes zelossimi doctores non sciebant ipsi bene tot, sicut iste ribaldi? _m. ort_. ipsi deberent interponere suis. _m. lup_. non bene indigemus de suo græco. _m. ging_. videtur eis, qui sciunt dicere _tou, tou, logos, monsotiros, legoim, taff, hagiotatos_, quod ipse sciunt plus quam deus. _m. ort_. magister noster lupolde, creditis, quod deus curat multum de iste græco? _m. lup_. certe non, magister noster ortuine, ego credo, quod deus non curat multum." ranke, in his _history of the reformation_, has very justly estimated the merits and character of these remarkable productions: "we must not look for the delicate apprehension and tact, which can only be formed in a highly polished state of society, nor for the indignation of insulted morality expressed by the ancients: it is altogether a caricature, not of finished individual portraits, but of a single type;--a clownish sensual german priest, his intellect narrowed by stupid wonder and fanatical hatred, who relates with silly _naïveté_ and gossiping confidence the various absurd and scandalous situations into which he falls. these letters are not the work of a high poetical genius, but they have truth, coarse strong features of resemblance, and vivid colouring." ranke mentions another satire, which appeared in march, , directed against john eck, the opponent of luther, the latter being regarded in the light of a successor of reuchlin, under the title of _abgehobelte eck_, or _eccius dedolatus_, "which, for fantastic invention, striking and crushing truth, and aristophanic wit, far exceeded the _literæ obsc. v._, which it somewhat resembled." i have not yet been able to meet with this; but such high praise, from so judicious a critic, makes me very desirous to see and peruse it. s.w. singer. mickleham, july . . [footnote : "ubi primum exissent _ep. ob. v._ miro monachorum applausu exceptæ sunt apud britannos a franciscanis ac dominicanis, qui sibi persuadebant, eas in reuchlini contumeliam, et monachorum favorem, serio proditus: quamque quidam egregie doctus, sed nasutissimus, fingeret se nonnihil offendi stylo, consulati sunt hominem."--_erasm. epist._ .] _epistolæ obscurorum virorum_.--your querist h.b.c. (vol. ii., pp. - .) will find, in the rd vol. _edinb. rev._ p. ., a long article on these celebrated letters, containing much of the information required. it is worthy of remark, that in page . we are told "in there was printed in london the _most elegant_ edition that has ever appeared of these letters, which the editor, mich. mattaire, gravely represents as the productions of their ostensible authors." now this edition, though neat, has no claim to be termed most elegant, which is hardly to be reconciled with what the reviewer says in a note, p. ., "that the text of this ed. of is of no authority, and swarms with typographical blunders." the work on its first appearance produced great excitement, and was condemned by pope leo x. see _dict. des livres condamnés, &c._, par peignot, tom. ii. p. . many amusing anecdotes and notices are to be found in bayle's _dict_. see particularly sub nomine erasmus. burton, in his _anatomy of mel._ pt. i. sec. . mem sub . citing jovius in elogiis, says, "hostratus cucullatus adeo graviter ob reuchlini librum qui inscribitur, epistolæ obscurorum virorum dolore simul et pudore sauciatus, et scipsum interfecerit." see also _nouv. diction. historique_ in the account of gratius, o. there is also a good article on these letters in a very excellent work entitled _analectabiblion_, or _extraits critique de divers livres rares, &c., tiréz du cabinet du marq. d. r. (oure)_. paris, . tomes vo. f.r.a. _epistolæ obscurorum virorum_.--the article inquired for by h.b.c. (vol. ii, p. ) is probably one in the _edinburgh review_, vol. liii. p. ., attributed to sir william hamilton, the distinguished professor of logic in the university of edinburgh. ch. * * * * * caxton's printing-office. (vol. ii., p. .) mr. rimbault is wrong in giving to abbot milling the honour of being the patron of caxton, which is due to abbot esteney. mr. c. knight in his _life of caxton_, which appropriately formed the first work of his series of _weekly volumes_, has the following remarks upon the passage from stow, quoted by mr. rimbault: "the careful historians of london here committed one error; john islip did not become abbot of westminster till . john esteney was made abbot in , and remained such until his death in . his predecessor was thomas milling. in dugdale's _monasticon_ we find, speaking of esteney, 'it was in this abbot's time, and not in that of milling, or in that of abbot islip, that caxton exercised the art of printing at westminster.'"--p. . #/ i have no work at hand to which i can refer for the date of milling's death, but if be correct, perhaps he may have been promoted to a bishoprick. with reference to mr. rimbault's remark, that caxton first mentions the place of his printing in , so that he must have printed some time without informing us where, i may be allowed to observe that it seems highly probable he printed, and indeed learned the art, at cologne. at the end of the third book of his translation of the _recuyell of the historyes of troye_, caxton says: "thus end i this book which i have translated after mine author, as nigh as god hath given me cunning, to whom be given the laud and praises ... i have practised and learned, at my great charge and dispense, to ordain this said book in print, after the manner and form as you may here see."{ } and on the title-page he informs us: "whyche sayd translacion and werke was begonne in brugis in , and ended in the holy cyte of colen, sept. ." this may refer to the translation only; but as caxton was both translator and printer, it does not seem unreasonable to regard it as indicating when his entire labour upon the work was brought to a close. i might support the view that caxton printed at cologne by other arguments which would make the matter tolerably certain (see _life of caxton_, p. ., &c.); but as the excellent little work to which i am indebted for these particulars is so well known, and so easily accessible, i should not be justified in occupying more of your space, and i will therefore conclude with noting that the parochial library at shipdham, in norfolk, is said to contain books printed by caxton and other early printers. perhaps some one of your correspondents would record, for the general benefit, of what they consist. arun. dr. rimbault has evidently not seen a short article on caxton's printing at westminster, which i inserted in the _gentleman's magazine_ for april, , nor the reference made to it in the magazine for june last, p. ., or he would have admitted that his objections to dr. dibdin's conjectures on this point had been already stated; moreover, i think he would have seen that the difficulty had been actually cleared up. in truth, the popular misapprehension on this subject has not been occasioned by any obscurity in the colophons of the great printer, or in the survey of stow, but merely by the erroneous constricted sense into which the word abbey has passed in this country. caxton himself tells us he printed his books in "th' abbay of westminstre," but he does not say in the church of the abbey. stow distinctly says it was in the almonry of the abbey; and the handbill dr. rimbault refers to confirms that fact. the almonry was not merely "within the precincts of the abbey," it was actually a part of the abbey. dr. rimbault aims at the conclusion that "the old chapel of st. anne was doubtless the place where the first printing-office was erected in england." but why so? did not the chapel continue a chapel until the reformation, if not later? and caxton would no more set up his press in a chapel than in the abbey-church itself. stow says it was erected in the almonry. the almonry was one of the courts of the abbey, (situated directly west of the abbey-church, and not east, as dr. dibdin surmised); it contained a chapel dedicated to st. anne, and latterly an almshouse erected by the lady margaret. the latter probably replaced other offices or lodgings of greater antiquity, connected with the duties of the almoner, or the reception and relief of the poor; and there need be no doubt that it was one of these buildings that the abbot of westminster placed at the disposal of our proto-typographer. there was nothing very extraordinary in his so doing if we view the circumstance in its true light; for the _scriptoria_ of the monasteries had ever been the principal manufactories of books. a single press was now to do the work of many pens. the experiment was successful; "after which time," as stow goes on to say, "the like was practised in the abbeys of st. augustine, at canterbury, st. alban's, and other monasteries." the monks became printers instead of scribes; but they would not ordinarily convert their churches or chapels into printing-houses. the workmen, it is true, term the meetings held for consultation on their common interests or pleasures, their _chapels_; and whether this may have arisen from any particular instance in which a chapel was converted into a printing-house, i cannot say. in order to ascertain the origin of this term these queries may be proposed:--is it peculiar to printers and to this country? or is it used also in other trades and on the continent? john gough nichols. * * * * * the new temple. although i am unable to give a satisfactory reply to mr. foss's inquiries, such information as i have is freely at his service. it may, at all events, serve as a finger-post to the road. my survey gives a most minute extent, of preceptories, "cameræ" of the hospitallers, preceptories formerly commandries of the templars, limbs, and granges, impropriations, &c., and, among them all, not a single one of the valuation of the new temple itself. _reprises_ of that establishment are entered, but no _receipts_. the former are as follows: "in emendationem et sustentationem ecclesie novi templi, london, et in vino, cera, et oleo, et ornamentis ejusdem ... x m. "in uno fratri [_sic_] capellano et octo capellanis secularibus, deservientibus ecclesiam quondam templariorum apud london, vocatam novum templum, prout ordinatum est per totum consilium totius regni, pro animabus fundatorum dicti novi templi et alia [_sic_] possessionum alibi ... lv m. "videlicet, frati capellano, pro se et ecclesia, xv m., et cuilibet capellano, v m., ubi solebant esse, tempore templariorum, unus prior ecclesie et xij capellani seculares. "item in diversis pensionibus solvendis diversis personis per annum, tam in curia domini regis, quam justiciariis clericis, officiariis, et aliis ministris, in diversis curiis suis, ac etiam aliis familiaribus magnatum, tam pro terris tenementis, redditibus, et libertatibus hospitalis, quam templariorum, et maxime pro terris templariorum manutenendis, videlicet, baronibus in scaccario domini regis domino roberto de sadyngton, militi, capitali baroni de scaccario, xl." &c. &c.{ } enumerating pensions to the judges, clerks, &c., in all the courts, to the amount of above l. per annum. to "magnatibus, secretariis, et familiaribus domini regis et aliorum;" the pensions enumerated amount to about _l._ per annum. then, to the treasurer, barons, clerks, &c., of the exchequer ( persons): "bis in anno, videlicet, tempore yemali, pilliola furrata pellura minuti varii et bogeti, et quedam non furrata; et tempore estivali totidem pilliola lineata de sindone, et quedam non lineata, unicuique de curia scaccarii predicti, tam minoribus quam majoribus, secundum gradus, statum, et officium personarum predictarum, que expense se extendunt annuatim ad ... x ii." "item sunt alie expense facte in curiis regis annuatim pro officio generalis procuratoris in diversis curiis regis, que de necessitate fieri oportet, pro brevibus regis, et cartis impetendis, et aliis, negociis in eisdem curiis expediendis, que ad minus ascendunt per annum, prout evidencius apparet, per compotum et memoranda dicti fratris de scaccario qui per capitulum ad illud officium oneratur ... lx m." "item in donis dandis in curiis domini regis et aliorum magnatum _pro favore habendo_ et pro placitis defendendis, et expensis parlialmentorum, ad minus bis per annum ... cc m." i have made these extracts somewhat more at length than may, perhaps, be to the point in question, because they contain much that is highly interesting as to the apparently questionable mode in which the hospitallers obtained the protection of the courts (and probably they were not singular in their proceedings); annual pensions to judges, besides other largesses, and much of this "pro favore habendo," contrasts painfully with the "spotless purity of the ermine" which dignifies our present age. in the "extent" we have occasionally a grange held rent free for life by a judge. chief justice geffrey de scrop so held that of penhull in northumberland. putting all these facts together, and bearing in mind that, throughout this elaborate "extent," there are neither profits nor rent entered, as for the temple itself, so that it seems to have then been neither in the possession nor occupation of the hospitallers, is it not possible that they had alienated it to the lawyers, as a discharge for these heavy annual incumbrances,--_prospectively_, perhaps, because by the entry of these charges among the "reprise," the life interests, at all events, were still paid; or perhaps the alienation was itself made to them "pro favore habendo" in some transaction that the hospitallers wished to have carried by the courts; or it may have been made as a _bonâ fide_ bribe for future protection. at all events, when we see such extensive payments made annually to the lawyers, their ultimate possession of the fee simple is no unnatural result. but, as i am altogether ignorant of the history of the new temple, i must refrain from suggestions, giving the simple facts as i find them, and leaving the rest to the learning and investigation of your correspondent. l.b.l. * * * * * strangers in the house of commons. (vol. ii., pp. . .) mr. ross is right in saying that "no alteration has taken place in the _practice_ of the house of commons with respect to the admission of strangers." the practice was at variance with the old sessional order: it is consistent with the new standing order of . i do not understand how any one can read these words of the new standing order, "that the sergeant-at-arms ... do take into his custody any stranger whom he may see ... in any part of the house or gallery appropriated to the members of the house: and also any stranger _who, having been admitted into any other part of the house or gallery_," &c., and say that the house of commons does not now recognise the presence of strangers; nor can i understand how mr. ross can doubt that the old sessional order absolutely prohibited their presence. it did not keep them out certainly, for they were admitted in the teeth of it; but so long as that sessional order was in force, prohibition to strangers was the theory. mr. ross refers to publication of speeches. publication is still prohibited in theory. mr. ross perhaps is not aware that the prohibition of publication of speeches rests on a foundation independent of the old sessional order against the presence of strangers,--on a series of resolutions declaring publication to be a breach of the privileges of parliament, to be found in the journals of , , , , , , and . we unfortunately cannot settle in your columns whether, as mr. ross asserts, "if a member in debate should inadvertently allude to the possibility of his observations being heard by a stranger, the speaker would immediately call him to order;" but my strong belief is, that he would not: and i hope, if there are any members of the house of commons who have time to read "notes and queries," that one of them may be induced to take a suitable opportunity of obtaining the speaker's judgment. "yet at other times," mr. ross goes on to say, "the right honourable gentlemen will listen complacently to discussions arising out of the complaints of members that strangers will not publish to the world all that they hear pass in debate." if this be so, i suppose the speaker sees nothing disorderly in a complaint, that what has been spoken in parliament has _not_ been published: but i read frequently in my newspaper that the speaker interrupts { } members who speak of speeches having been published. "this is one of the inconsistencies," mr. ross proceeds, "resulting from the determination of the house not expressly to recognise the presence of strangers." inconsistency there certainly is,--the inconsistency of making publication a breach of privilege, and allowing it to go on daily. as strangers may be admitted into the house to hear debates, and not allowed to publish what they hear, so they may he admitted, subject to exclusion at certain times, or when the house chooses. and this is the case. the house, of course, retains the power of excluding them at any moment. they are always made to withdraw before the house goes to a division. this is a matter of practice, founded probably on some supposed reasons of convenience. again, on any member desiring strangers to be excluded, the speaker desires them to withdraw, without allowing any discussion. i have only to notice one other observation of mr. ross's, which is the following: "when i speak of strangers being admitted, it must not be supposed that this was done by order of the house. no, everything relating to the admission of strangers to, and their accommodation in the house of commons, is effected by some mysterious agency, for which no one is directly responsible. mr. barry has built galleries for strangers in the new house; but if the matter were made a subject of inquiry, it probably would puzzle him to state under what authority he has acted." i do not think there is anything mysterious as regards admission. i am fond of hearing the debates, and my parliamentary friends are very kind to me. sometimes i content myself with an order from a member, which takes me into the hinder seats of the non-reporting strangers' gallery; sometimes, when i know beforehand of an interesting debate, i get one of my friends to put my name on the "speaker's list," and i then take my seat on one of the two front rows of the strangers' gallery; sometimes, again, i go down on the chance, while the house is sitting; and if i am fortunate enough to find any one of any friends there, he generally brings me, in a few moments, an order from the sergeant-at-arms, which takes me also to the front row of the strangers' gallery. some benches under the strangers' gallery are reserved for peers, ambassadors, and peers' eldest sons. the speaker and the sergeant-at-arms give permission generally to foreigners, and sometimes to some other persons, to sit in these benches. i do not know which officer of the house of commons superintends the admission of reporters. ladies are admitted to the black hole assigned to them, by orders from the sergeant-at-arms. i have no doubt that the speaker and sergeant-at-arms are responsible to the house for everything relating to the admission of strangers, and without taking upon myself to say what is the authority under which mr. barry has acted, i have no doubt that, in building galleries for strangers in the new house, he has done what is consistent not only with the long established practice, but, under the new order of , with the theory of the house of commons. as regards the passage quoted by mr. jackson from the _edinburgh review_, the reviewer would probably allow that he had overlooked the new standing order of ; and mr. jackson will perceive that the recognition of the presence of strangers does not legalise the publication of speeches. the supposed difficulty in the way of legalising publication is, that the house of commons would then make itself morally responsible for the publication of any libellous matter in speeches. i do not see the force of this difficulty. but the expediency of the existing rule is not a proper subject for discussion in your columns. ch. whatever the present practice of the house of commons with respect to strangers may be, it does not seem probable that it will soon undergo alteration. in the session of a select committee, composed of fifteen members, and including the leading men of all parties, was appointed "to consider the present practice of this house in respect of the exclusion of strangers." the following is the report of the committee _in extenso_ (_parl. pap._, no. . sess. ): "that the existing usage of excluding strangers during a division, and upon the notice by an individual member that strangers are present, has prevailed from a very early period of parliamentary history; that the instances in which the power of an individual member to exclude has been exercised have been very rare: and that it is the unanimous opinion of your committee, that there is no sufficient ground for making any alteration in the existing practice with regard to the admission or exclusion of strangers." this report confirms the statement of mr. ross (p. ., _antè_), that within his experience of thirty-one years no change has been made in the present rule of the house upon this matter, which, it would seem, dates very far back. the speaker was the only witness examined before the committee, and his evidence is not printed. arun. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _morganatic marriage_ (vol. ii., p. .).--according to m., ducange has connected this expression with _morgingab_; but i have looked in vain for such connection in my edition of the _glossary_ (paris, ). the truth most probably is, that _morganatic_, in the phrase "matrimonium ad morganaticam," { } was akin to the gothic _maurgjan_, signifying, "to procrastinate," "to bring to an end," "to shorten," "to limit." this application of the word would naturally rise out of the restrictions imposed upon the wife and children of a morganatic marriage. c.h. _umbrellas_ (vol. i., p. . .; ii. .).--in swift's description of a city shower (_tatler_, no. ., october . ), umbrellas are mentioned as in common use by women: "now in contiguous drops the flood comes down, threatening with deluge the devoted town; to shops, in crowds, the daggled females fly, pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy; the templar spruce, while every spout's abroach, stays till 'tis fair, yet seems to call a coach; the tucked-up sempstress walks with hasty strides, while streams run down her oiled umbrella's sides." h.b.c. u.u. club, july . _bands_ (vol. ii., pp. . .)--_scarf_.--i was glad to read arun's explanation of the origin of the bands now worn by the clergy; which, however, seems merely to amount to their being an adoption of a genevan portion of clerical costume. that they are the descendants of the ruff, there can be no doubt, just as wrist-bands have more recently succeeded to ruffles. i cannot resist mentioning that an ingenious friend suggested to me, that the broad, stiff, laid-down collar, alluded to in the former part of arun's communication, possibly gave rise to the modern band in the following manner:--when the scarf, still in use, was drawn over the shoulders and hung down in front, that part of the broad collar which was left visible, being divided up the middle, presented a shape and appearance exactly like our common bands. hence, it was imagined, this small separate article of dress might have originated. is it butler, swift, or who, that says, "a chrysostom to smoothe his band in"? whenever this was written, it must have referred to our modern bands. who amongst the clergy are _entitled_ to wear a scarf? is it the badge of a chaplain only? or what circumstances justify its being worn? alfred gatty. july . . _bands_ (vol. ii., p. .).--an early example of the collar, approaching to the form of our modern bands, may be seen in the portrait of cardinal beatoun, who was assassinated in . the original is in holyrood palace, and an engraving in mr. lodge's _portraits_. the artist is unknown, but from the age of the face one may infer that it was painted about . c.h. _jewish music_ (vol. ii., p. .).--see a host of authorities on the subject of hebrew music and musical instruments in winer's _realwörterbuch_ vol. ii., pp. . _seq._, d edit. there is a good abstract respecting them in jahn's _hebrew antiquities_, sect. - . c.h. _north sides of churchyards unconsecrated_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in illustration of, not in answer to, mr. sansom's inquiry, i beg to offer the following statement. during a long series of years an average of about corpses has been annually deposited in ecclesfield churchyard, which has rendered it an extremely crowded cemetery. but, notwithstanding these frequent interments, my late sexton told me that he remembered when there was scarcely one grave to the north of the church, it being popularly considered that only suicides, unbaptised persons, and still-born children ought to be buried there. however, when a vicar died about twenty-seven years ago, unlike his predecessors, who had generally been buried in the chancel, he was laid in a tomb on the north side of the churchyard, adjoining the vicarage. from this time forward the situation lost all its evil reputation amongst the richer inhabitants of the parish, who have almost entirely occupied it with family vaults. whether the prejudice against the north side of our churchyard arose from an idea that it was unconsecrated, i cannot tell but i suspect that, from inherited dislike, the poor are still indisposed towards it. when the women of the village have to come to the vicarage after nightfall, they generally manage to bring a companion, and hurry past the gloomy end of the north transept as if they knew "that close behind some frightful fiend did tread." i cannot help fancying that the objection is attributable to a notion that evil spirits haunt the spot in which, possibly from very early times, such interments took place as my sexton described. as a suggestion towards a full solution of this popular superstition, i would ask whether persons who formerly underwent ecclesiastical excommunication were customarily buried on the north side of churchyards? alfred gatty. ecclesfield, june . . i can only give from recollection a statement of a tradition, that when jesus christ died he turned his head towards the south; and so, ever since, the south side of a church has the pre-eminence. there generally is the bishop's throne, and the south aisle of ancient basilicas was appropriated to men. simple observation shows that the supposed sanctity extends to the churchyard,--for there the tombstones lie thickest. i find that my source of information for the { } tradition was cockerell's last lecture on architecture, _athenæum_ for , p. . col. . a.j.h. "_men are but children_," &c.--r.g. (vol. ii., p. .) will find the line about which he inquires in dryden's _all for love; or, the world well lost_, act iv. sc. . dolabella (_loq._): "men are but children of a larger growth, our appetites as apt to change as theirs, and full as craving too, and full as vain." j.r.m. king's college, london, july . . _ventriloquism_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. sansom will find some curious information touching the words [hebrew: 'or], [greek: eggastrimuthos], &c., in dr. maitland's recent _illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism_, pp. . . the lexicons of drs. lee and gesenius may also be consulted, under the word [hebrew: 'or]. the former of these lexicographers would rank the pythian priestess with "our modern conjurers." c.h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. _cromwell's estates--magor_ (vol. i., p. . .).--as the south wales line is now open as far as chepstow, it may not be uninteresting to v. to know, that it diverges from the coast between chepstow and newport, in order to pass bishopston and _magor_, the last of which he rightly placed in monmouthshire. seleucus. _vincent gookin_ (vol. i., pp. . . .; vol. ii. p. .) is described in a _narrative of the late parliament_ (cromwell's parliament, d. ), in the _harleian miscellany_, as "one of the letters of land in ireland, receiving three hundred pounds per annum." he and three other irish members, colonel jephson, ralph king, and bice, are classed together in this tract, which is hostile to cromwell, as "persons not thought meet to be in command, though they much desire it, and are of such poor principles and so unfit to make rulers of as they would not have been set with the dogs of the flock, if the army and others who once pretended to be honest had kept close to their former good and honest principles." vincent gookin voted for the clause in the "petition and advice" giving the title of "king" to cromwell. ch. _all-to brake_ (vol. i., p. .).--the interpretation given is incorrect. "all-to" is very commonly used by early writers for "altogether:" e.g., "all-to behacked," calfhill's _answer to martiall's treatise of the cross_, parker society's edition, p. .; "all-to becrossed," _ibid._ p. .; "all-to bebatted," _ibid._ p. ., &c. &c. the parker society reprints will supply innumerable examples of the use of the expression. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the two of mr. hunter's _critical and historical tracts_, which we have had the opportunity of examining, justify to the fullest the expectations we had formed of them. the first, _agincourt; a contribution towards an authentic list of the commanders of the english host, in king henry the fifth's expedition, in the third year of his reign_, mr. hunter describes as "an instalment," we venture to add "a very valuable instalment," from evidence which has been buried for centuries in the unknown masses of national records, towards a complete list of the english commanders who served with the king in that expedition, with, in most cases, the number of the retinue which each commander undertook to bring into the field, and, in some instances, notices of events happening to the contingents. the value of a work based upon such materials, our historical readers will instantly recognise. the lovers of our poetry will regard with equal interest, and peruse with equal satisfaction, mr. hunter's brochure entitled _milton; a sheaf of gleanings after his biographers and annotators_, and admit that he has bound up the new biographical illustrations and critical comments, which he has gathered in that pleasant field of literary inquiry, the life and writings of milton, into a goodly and a pleasant sheaf. messrs. sotheby and co. will commence on monday, the th of this month, a three days' sale of greek roman, and english coins, english and foreign medals, cabinets, &c., the property of a gentleman leaving england. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (in continuation of lists in former nos.) _odd volumes._ moultrie's poems. vol. i. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. c.j.s. _the inscription from the brass in chinnor church, oxon, is_ mouns. esmoun de malyns fitz mouns. reynald de malyns chr. et isabelle sa femme gisoient icy dieu de ses ailmes eit mercy, _being in memory of esmond de malyns and his wife. the father_, renald de malyns, _was interred in the same church._ volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen._ errata. in no. ., p. ., col. ., . ., for " " read " "; p. ., l. ., "inchi_g_uin" should be "inchi_q_uin"; p. ., col. ., . . should be-- "and disappoints the queen, poor little chuck." { } * * * * * committee for the repair of the tomb of geoffrey chaucer. john bruce, esq., treas. s.a. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a. william richard drake, esq., f.s.a. thomas w. king, esq., f.s.a. sir frederick madden, k.h. john gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a. samuel sheperd, esq., f.s.a. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a. the tomb of geoffrey chaucer in westminster abbey is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay. a sum of one hundred pounds will effect a perfect repair. the committee have not thought it right to fix any limit to the subscription, they themselves have opened the list with a contribution from each of them of five shillings; but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them. subscriptions have been received from the earls of carlisle, ellesmere, and shaftesbury, viscounts strangford and mahon, pres. soc. antiq., the lords braybrooke and londesborough, and many other noblemen and gentlemen. subscriptions are received by all the members of the committee, and at the union bank, pall mall east. post-office orders may be made payable at the charing cross office, to william richard drake, esq., the treasurer, . parliament street, or william j. thoms, esq., hon. sec., . holy-well street, millbank. * * * * * now ready, in demy vo., with portraits, price s. some account of the corps of gentlemen at arms. by james bunce curling, clerk of the checque. "mr. curling has succeeded in producing a book of much lively and curious historic interest."--_naval and military gazette_. "the author has made the most of his subject, introducing anecdotes of the members of the corps from its first institution."--_atlas_. richard bentley, publisher in ordinary to her majesty. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, july . contains articles on agricultural society of england, prof. way's lecture on water agriculture of lancaster annuals, english names of ash, to propagate balsams bee, remedy for sting of botanical names butter, rancid calendar, horticultural calendar, agricultural carts, cumberland cattle, to feed clover crops college, agricultural cropping, table of cuckoo, note of diseases of plants drainage reports evergreens, to transplant, by mr. glendinning farming in norfolk, high farming, mr. mechi's, by mr. wilkins farming, rule of thumb, by mr. wilkins fruit trees, to root prune gardeners' benevolent institution, by mr. wheeler gardening, villa and suburban grapes in pots guano frauds highland patriotic society kew, victoria regia at peel, sir r., death of pike, voracity of, by mr. lovell plants, diseases of plants, names of potato disease reviews, miscellaneous rhododendrons, on himalayas, by mr. munro, belfast root pruning rosa manettii, by mr. paul royal botanic society, report of the exhibition for july seeding, thin, by mr. mechi slough carnation show slough pink show statice armeria, by mr. forman swans, food of thin seeding, by mr. mechi timber felling toads' skins, by prof. henslow transplanting evergreens, by mr. glendinning trees, to root prune trees, to transplant, by mr. glendinning villa and suburban gardening vine, to summer prune, by mr. levell viper, the, by mr. chaytor water, prof. way's lecture on the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent-garden, mark-lane, and smithfield prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender.--office for advertisements, . upper wellington-street, covent-garden, london. * * * * * now ready, in small vo., price s. d., anonymous poems. "the elegant version of greek epigrams contained in this volume shows the scholarship as well as the taste of the writer."--_britannia_. "many of the pieces have a very classical air, and all are marked with an unusual degree of elegance and power."--_guardian_. richard bentley, new burlington-street. * * * * * in crown vo., elegantly bound in gilt cloth, price _s_. d. memorials of the castle of edinburgh. by james grant; author of "memoirs of kirkaldy of grange," "the romance of war," "the scottish cavalier," &c. with twelve illustrations, engraved on wood by branston. "of the different books of this nature that have fallen, in our way, we do not remember one that has equalled mr. grant's."--_spectator_. "mr. grant's very interesting history of the castle of edinburgh--a work equally distinguished by research, accuracy, and pictorial interest."--_alison's essays_. "we have been much amused with this little book, which abounds in pleasant and interesting episodes, and we recommend it as an excellent specimen of local history."--_athenæum_. william blackwood and sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * preparing for publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo., price s. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- etymology of "whitsuntide" and "mass." folk lore:--sympathetic cures--cure for ague--eating snakes a charm for growing young. long meg of westminster, by e.f. rimbault. a note on spelling,--"sanatory," "connection." minor notes:--pasquinade on leo xii.--shakspeare a brass-rubber--california--mayor of misrule and masters of the pastimes--roland and oliver. queries:-- the story of the three men and their bag of money. the geometrical foot, by a. de morgan. minor queries:--plurima gemma--emmote de hastings--boozy grass--gradely--hats worn by females--queries respecting feltham's works--eikon basilice--"welcome the coming, speed the parting guest"--carpets and room-paper--cotton of finchley--wood carving in snow hill--walrond family--translations--bonny dundee--graham of claverhouse--franz von sickingen--blackguard--meaning of "pension"--stars and stripes of the american arms--passages from shakspeare--nursery rhyme--"george" worn by charles i.--family of manning of norfolk--salingen a sword cutler--billingsgate--"speak the tongue that shakspeare spoke"--genealogical queries--parson, the staffordshire giant--unicorn in the royal arms--the frog and the crow of ennow--"she ne'er with treacherous kiss," &c. replies:-- a treatise on equivocation. further notes on the derivation of the word "news." "news," "noise," and "parliament." shakpeare's use of the word "delighted" by rev. dr. kennedy and j.o. halliwell. replies to minor queries:--execution of charles i.--sir t. herbert's memoir of charles i.--simon of ghent--chevalier de cailly--collar of esses--hell paved with good intentions--the plant "hæmony"--practice of scalping among the scythians--scandinavian mythology--cromwell's estates--magor--"incidis in scyllam"--dies iræ--fabulous account of the lion--caxton's printing-office. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. answers to correspondents. * * * * * notes. etymology of "whitsuntide" and "mass". perhaps the following note and query on the much-disputed origin of the word _whitsunday_, as used in our liturgy, may find a place in your journal. none of the etymologies of this word at present in vogue is at all satisfactory. they are-- i. _white sunday_: and this, either-- . from the garments of _white linen_, in which those who were at that season admitted to the rite of holy baptism were clothed; (as typical of the spiritual purity therein obtained:) or,-- . from the glorious light of heaven, sent down from the father of lights on the day of pentecost: and "those vast diffusions of light and knowledge, which were then shed upon the apostles, in order to the enlightening of the world." (wheatley.) or,-- . from the custom of the rich bestowing on this day all the milk of their kine, then called _white meat_, on the poor. (wheatley, from gerard langbain.) ii. _huict sunday_: from the french, _huit_, eight; i.e. the eighth sunday from easter. (l'estrange, _alliance div. off._) iii. there are others who see that neither of these explanations can stand; because the ancient mode of spelling the word was not _whit_-sunday, but _wit_-sonday (as in wickliff), or _wite_-sonday (which is as old as _robert of gloucester_, c. a.d. ). hence,-- . versteran's explanation:--that it is _wied_ sunday, _i.e. sacred_ sunday (from saxon, _wied_, or _wihed_, a word i do not find in bosworth's _a.-s. dict._; but so written in brady's _clovis calendaria_, as below). but why should this day be distinguished as sacred beyond all other sundays in the year? . in _clavis calendaria_, by john brady ( vols. vo. ), i find, vol. i. p. ., "other authorities contend," he does not say who those authorities are, "that the original name of this season of the year was _wittentide_; or the time of choosing the _wits_, or wise men, to the _wittenagemote_." now this last, though evidently an etymology inadequate to the importance of the festival, appears to me to furnish the right clue. the day of pentecost was the day of the outpouring of the divine wisdom and knowledge on the apostles; the day on which was given to them that holy spirit, by which was "revealed" to them "_the wisdom of god_ ... even the _hidden wisdom_, which god ordained before the world." cor. ii. .[ ] it was the day on which was fulfilled the promise { } made to them by christ that "the comforter, which is the holy ghost, whom the father will send in my name, he shall _teach you all things_, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever i have said unto you." john, xiv. . when "he, the spirit of truth, came, who should _guide_ them _into all truth_." john xvi. . and the consequence of this "unction from the holy one" was, that they "knew all things," and "needed not that any man should teach them." john, ii. . . _whit-sonday_ was, therefore, the day on which the apostles were endued by god with _wisdom_ and knowledge: and my query is, whether the root of the word may not be found in the anglo-saxon verb,-- _witan_, to know, understand (whence our _wit_, in its old meaning of good sense, or cleverness and the expression "having one's _wits_ about one," &c.); or else, perhaps, from-- _wisian_, to instruct, show, inform; (ger. _weisen_). not being an anglo-saxon scholar, i am unable of myself to trace the formation of the word _witson_ from either of these roots: and i should feel greatly obliged to any of your correspondents who might be able and willing to inform me, whether that form is deduceable from either of the above verbs; and if so, what sense it would bear in our present language. i am convinced, that _wisdom day_, or _teaching day_, would afford a very far better reason for the name now applied to pentecost, than any of the reasons commonly given. i should observe, that i think it incorrect to say whit-sunday. it should be whitsun (witesone) day. if it is whit sunday, why do we say easter day, and not easter sunday? why do we say whitsun-tide? why does our prayer book say monday and tuesday in whitsun-week (just as before, monday and tuesday in easter-week)? and why do the lower classes, whose "vulgarisms" are, in nine cases out of ten, more correct than our refinements, still talk about whitsun monday and whitsun tuesday, where the more polite say, whit monday and tuesday? query ii. as i am upon etymologies, let me ask, may not the word _mass_, used for the lord's supper--which baronius derives from the hebrew _missach_, an oblation, and which is commonly derived from the "missa missorum"--be nothing more nor less than _mess_ (_mes_, old french), the meal, the repast, the supper? we have it still lingering in the phrase, "an officers' mess;" i.e. a meal taken in common at the same table; and so, "to mess together," "messmate," and so on. compare the moeso-gothic _mats_, food: and _maz_, which bosworth says (_a.-s. dic._ sub voc. _mete_) is used for bread, food, in otfrid's poetical paraphrase of the gospels, in alemannic or high german, published by graff, konigsberg, . h.t.g. clapton. [footnote : the places in the new testament, where divine wisdom and knowledge are referred to the outpouring of god's spirit, are numberless. cf. acts, vi. ., cor. xii. ., eph. i. , ., col. i. ., &c. &c.] * * * * * folk lore. _sympathetic cures._--possibly the following excerpt may enable some of your readers and folklore collectors to testify to the yet lingering existence, in localities still unvisited by the "iron horse," of a superstition similar to the one referred to below. i transcribe it from a curious, though not very rare volume in duodecimo, entitled _choice and experimental receipts in physick and chirurgery, as also cordial and distilled waters and spirits, perfumes, and other curiosities_. collected by the honourable and truly learned sir kenelm digby, kt., chancellour to her majesty the queen mother. london: printed for h. brome, at the star in little britain, . "_a sympathetic cure for the tooth-ach._--with an iron nail raise and cut the gum from about the teeth till it bleed, and that some of the blood stick upon the nail, then drive it into a wooden beam up to the head; after this is done you never shall have the toothach in all your life." the author naively adds "but whether the man used any spell, or said any words while he drove the nail, i know not; only i saw done all that is said above. this is used by severall certain persons." amongst other "choice and experimental receipts" and "curiosities" which in this little tome are recommended for the cure of some of the "ills which flesh is heir to," one directs the patient to "take two parts of the moss growing on the skull of a dead man (pulled as small as you can with the fingers)." another enlarges on the virtue of "a little bag containing some powder of toads calcined, so that the bag lay always upon the pit of the stomach next the skin, and presently it took away all pain as long as it hung there but if you left off the bag the pain returned. a bag continueth in force but a month after so long time you must wear a fresh one." this, he says, a "person of credit" told him. henry campkin. reform club, june . . _cure for ague._--one of my parishioners, suffering from ague, was advised to catch a large spider and shut him up in a box. as he pines away, the disease is supposed to wear itself out. b. l---- rectory, somerset, july . . _eating snakes a charm for growing young._--i send you the following illustrations of this curious receipt for growing young. perhaps some of your correspondents will furnish me with some others, and some additional light on the subject. fuller says,-- "a gentlewoman told an ancient batchelour, who looked _very young_, that she thought _he had eaten a snake_: 'no, mistris,' (said he), 'it is because i never { } meddled with any snakes which maketh me look so young.'"--_holy state_, , p. . he hath left off o' late to _feed on snakes_; his beard's turned white again. _massinger, old law_, act v. sc. . "he is your loving brother, sir, and will tell nobody but all he meets, that you have eat a _snake_, and are grown young, gamesome, and rampant." _ibid, elder brother_, act iv. sc. . jarltzberg. * * * * * long meg of westminster. mr. cunningham, in his _handbook of london_ ( nd edition, p. .), has the following passage, under the head of "westminster abbey:" "_observe._--effigies in south cloister of several of the early abbots; large blue stone, uninscribed, (south cloister), marking the grave of long meg of westminster, a noted virago of the reign of henry viii." this amazon is often alluded to by our old writers. her life was printed in ; and she was the heroine of a play noticed in henslowe's _diary_, under the date february , . she also figured in a ballad entered on the stationers' books in that year. in _holland's leaguer_, , mention is made of a house kept by long meg in southwark:-- "it was out of the citie, yet in the view of the citie, only divided by a delicate river: there was many handsome buildings, and many hearty neighbours, yet at the first foundation it was renowned for nothing so much as for the memory of that famous amazon _longa margarita_, who had there for many yeeres kept a famous _infamous_ house of open hospitality." according to vaughan's _golden grove_, ,-- "long meg of westminster kept alwaies twenty courtizans in her house, whom, by their pictures, she sold to all commers." from these extracts the occupation of long meg may be readily guessed at. is it then likely that such a detestable character would have been buried amongst "goodly friars" and "holy abbots" in the cloisters of our venerable abbey? i think not: but i leave considerable doubts as to whether meg was a real personage.--query. is she not akin to tom thumb, jack the giant-killer, doctor rat, and a host of others of the same type? the stone in question is, i know, on account of its great size, jokingly called "long meg, of westminster" by the vulgar; but no one, surely, before mr. cunningham, ever _seriously_ supposed it to be her burying-place. henry keefe, in his _monumenta westmonasteriensa_, , gives the following account of this monument:-- "that large and stately plain black marble stone (which is vulgarly known by the name of _long meg of westminster_) on the north side of _laurentius_ the abbot, was placed there for _gervasius de blois_, another abbot of this monastery, who was base son to king stephen, and by him placed as a monk here, and afterwards made abbot, who died _anno_ , and was buried under this stone, having this distich formerly thereon: "_de regnum genere pater hic gervasius ecce monstrat defunctus, mors rapit omne genus_." felix summerly, in his _handbook for westminster abbey_, p. ., noticing the cloisters and the effigies of the abbots, says,-- "towards this end there lies a large slab of blue marble, which is called 'long meg' of westminster. though it is inscribed to gervasius de blois, abbot, natural son of king stephen, he is said to have been buried under a small stone, and tradition assigns 'long meg' as the gravestone of twenty-six monks, who were carried off by the plague in , and buried together in one grave." the tradition here recorded may be correct. at any rate, it carries with it more plausibility than that recorded by mr. cunningham. edward f. rimibault. [some additional and curious allusions to this probably mythic virago are recorded in mr. halliwell's _descriptive notices of popular english histories_, printed for the percy society.] * * * * * a note on spelling.--"sanatory," "connection." i trust that "notes and queries" may, among many other benefits, improve spelling by example as well as precept. let me make a note on two words that i find in no. .: _sanatory_, p. ., and _connection_, p. . why "_sanatory_ laws?" _sanare_ is _to cure_, and a curing-place is, if you like, properly called _sanatorium_. but the latin for _health_ is _sanitas_, and the laws which relate to health should be called _sanitary_. analogy leads us to _connexion_, not _connection_; _plecto_, _plexus_, _complexion_; _flecto_, _flexus_, _inflexion_; _necto_, _nexus_, _connexion_, &c.; while the termination _ction_ belongs to words derived from latin verbs whose passive participles end in _ctus_ as _lego_, _lectus_, _collection_; _injecio_, _injectus_, _injection_; _seco_, _sectus_, _section_, &c. ch. * * * * * minor notes. _pasquinade on leo xii._--the query put to a pope (vol. ii., p. .), which it is difficult to believe could be put orally, reminds me of pope leo xii., who was reported, whether truly or not, to have been the reverse of scrupulous in the earlier part of his life, but was remarkably strict after he became pope, and was much disliked at rome, perhaps because, by his maintenance of strict discipline, he abridged the amusements and questionable indulgences of the people. on account of his death, { } which took place just before the time of the carnival in , the usual festivities were omitted, which gave occasion to the following pasquinade, which was much, though privately, circulated-- "tre cose mat fecesti, o padre santo: accettar il papato, viver tanto, morir di carnivale per destar pianto." j. mn. _shakspeare a brass-rubber._--i am desirous to notice, if no commentator has forestalled me, that shakspeare, among his many accomplishments, was sufficiently beyond his age to be a brass-rubber: "what's on this tomb i cannot read; the character i'll take with _wax_." _timon of athens_, v. . from the "soft impression," however, alluded to in the next scene, his "wax" appears rather to have been the forerunner of _gutta percha_ than of _heel-ball_. t.s. lawrence. _california._--in the _voyage round the world_, by captain george shelvocke, begun feb. , he says of california (_harris's collection_, vol. i. p. .):-- "the soil about puerto, seguro, and very likely in most of the valleys, is a rich black mould, which, as you turn it fresh up to the sun, appears as if intermingled with gold dust; some of which we endeavoured to purify and wash from the dirt; but though we were a little prejudiced against the thoughts that it could be possible that this metal should be so promiscuously and universally mingled with common earth, yet we endeavoured to cleanse and wash the earth from some of it; and the more we did the more it appeared like gold. in order to be further satisfied i brought away some of it, which we lost in our confusion in china." how an accident prevented the discovery, more than a century back, of the golden harvest now gathering in california! e.n.w. southwark. _mayor of misrule and masters of the pastimes._--the word _maior_ of misrule appears in the harl. mss. . as having been on glass in the year , in denbigh church. " edw. vi., a gentleman (geo. ferrars), lawyer, poet, and historian, appointed by the council, and being of better calling than commonly his predecessors, received his commission by the name of 'master of the king's pastimes.'"--_strutt's sports and pastimes_, . " . edward baygine, cursitor, clerk for writing and passing the queen's leases, 'comptroller of the queen's pastimes and revels,' clerk comptroller of her tents and pavilions, commissioner of sewers, burgess in parliament."--gwillim, _heraldry_, edit. a.c. _roland and oliver_.--canciani says there is a figure in the church porch at verona which, from being in the same place with _roland_, and manifestly of the same age, he supposes may be _oliver_, armed with a spiked ball fastened by a chain to a staff of about three feet in length. _who are roland and oliver_? there is the following derivation of the saying "a roland for your oliver," without any reference or authority attached, in my note-book:-- "--charlemagne, in his expedition against the saracens, was accompanied by two '_steeds_,' some writers say 'pages,' named roland and oliver, who were so excellent and so equally matched, that the equality became proverbial--'i'll give you a roland for your oliver' being, the same as the vulgar saying, 'i'll give you tit for tat,' i.e. 'i'll give you the same (whether in a good or bad sense) as you give me.'" jarltzberg. * * * * * queries the story of the three men and their bag of money. lord campbell, in his _lives of the chancellors_, relates, in connection with queen elizabeth's lord keeper ellesmere, a very common story, of which i am surprised he did not at once discern the falsehood. it is that of a widow, who having a sum of money entrusted to her by three men, which she was on no account to return except to the joint demand of the three, is afterwards artfully persuaded by one of them to give it up to him. being afterwards sued by the other two, she is successfully defended by a young lawyer, who puts in the plea that she is not bound to give up the money at the demand of _only_ two of the parties. in this case this ingenious gentleman is the future chancellor. the story is told of the attorney-general noy, and of an italian advocate, in the notes to rogers' _italy_. it is likewise the subject of one of the smaller tales in lane's _arabian nights_; but here i must remark, that the eastern version is decidedly more ingenious than the later ones, inasmuch as it exculpates the keeper of the deposit from the "laches" of which in the other cases she was decidedly guilty. three men enter a bath, and entrust their bag of money to the keeper with the usual conditions. while bathing, one feigns to go to ask for a comb (if i remember right), but in reality demands the money. the keeper properly refuses, when he calls out to his companions within, "he won't give it me." they unwittingly respond, "give it him," and he accordingly walks off with the money. i think your readers will agree with me that the tale has suffered considerably in its progress westward. my object in troubling you with this, is to ask { } whether any of your subscribers can furnish me with any other versions of this popular story, either oriental or otherwise. brackley. putney, july . * * * * * the geometrical foot. in several different places i have discussed the existence and length of what the mathematicians of the sixteenth century _used_, and those of the seventeenth _talked about_, under the name of the _geometrical foot_, of four palms and sixteen digits. (see the _philosophical magazine_ from december to may ; the _penny cyclopædia_, "weights and measures," pp. , ; and _arthmetical books_, &c, pp. - .) various works give a figured length of this foot, whole, or in halves, according as the page will permit; usually making it (before the shrinking of the paper is allowed for) a very little less than - / inches english. the works in which i have as yet found it are reisch, _margarita philosophica_, ; stöffler's _elucidatio astrolabii_, ; fernel's _monolosphærium_, ; köbel, _astrolabii declaratio_, ; ramus, _geometricæ_, . query. in what other works of the sixteenth, or early in the seventeenth century is this foot of palms and digits to be found, figured in length? what are their titles? what the several lengths of the foot, half foot, or palm, within the twentieth of an inch? are the divisions into palms or digits given; and, if so, are they accurate subdivisions? of the six names above mentioned, the three who are by far the best known are stöffler, fernel, and ramus; and it so happens that their subdivisions are _much_ more correct than those of the other three, and their whole lengths more accordant. a. de. morgan. * * * * * minor queries _plurima gemma._--who is the author of the couplet which seems to be a version of gray's "full many a gem of purest ray serene," &c.? "plurima gemma latet cæca tellure sepulta, plurima neglecto fragrat odore rosa." s.w.s. _emmote de hastings._-- "emmote de hastings gist ici" &c. a very early slab with the above inscription was found in on the site of a demolished transept of bitton church, gloucester. by its side was laid an incised slab of ---- de bitton. both are noticed in the _archæologia_, vols. xxii. and xxxi. hitherto, after diligent search, no notice whatever has been discovered of the said person. the supposition is that she was either a miss de bitton married to a hastings, or the widow of a hastings married secondly to a de bitton, and therefore buried with that family, in the twelfth or thirteenth century. if any antiquarian digger should discover any mention of the lady, a communication to that effect will be thankfully received by h.t. ellacombe. bitton. _boozy grass._--what is the derivation of "boozy grass," which an outgoing tenant claims for his cattle? johnson has, "boose, a stall for a cow or ox (saxon)." a.c. _gradely._--what is the meaning, origin, and usage of this word? i remember once hearing it used in yorkshire by a man, who, speaking of a neighbour recently dead, said in a tone which implied esteem: "aye, he was a very _gradely_ fellow." a.w.h. _hats worn by females._--were not the hats worn by the _females_, as represented on the myddelton brass, peculiar to wales? an engraving is given in pennant's _tour_, vols., where also may be seen the hat worn by sir john wynne, about , apparently similar to that on the bacon monument, and to that worn by bankes. a ms. copy of a similar one (made in , and then called "very auntient") may be seen in the harleian ms. no. . (_rosindale pedigree_), though apparently not older than elizabeth's time. with a coat of arms it was "wrought in backside work"--the meaning of which is doubtful. what is that of the motto, "oderpi du pariver?" a.c. _feltham's works, queries respecting._-- "he that is courtly or gentle, is among them _like_ a merlin after michaelmas in the field with crows."--_a brief character of the low countries_, by owen feltham. folio, london, . what is the meaning of this proverb? as a confirmation of the opinion of some of your correspondents, that monosyllables give force and nature to language, the same author says, page ., of the dutch tongue,-- "stevin of bruges reckons up monosillables, which being compounded, how richly do they grace a tongue." will any of your correspondents kindly inform me of the titles of owen feltham's works. i have his _resolves_, and a thin folio volume, , printed for anne seile, pages, containing _lusoria, or occasional pieces; a brief character of the low countries_; and some _letters_. are these all he wrote? the poem mentioned by mr. kersley, beginning-- "when, dearest, i but think of thee," is printed among those in the volume i have, with the same remark, that it had been printed as sir john suckling's. e.n.w. { } _eikon basilice._-- "[greek: eikon basilikae], or, _the true pourtraiture of his sacred majestæ charles the ii_. in three books. beginning from his birth, , unto this present year, : wherein is interwoven a compleat history of the high-born dukes of _york_ and _glocester_. by r.f., esq., an eye-witness. "quo nihil majus meliusve terris fata donavere, borique divi nee dabunt, quamvis redeant in aurum tempora priscum." _horat_. "[greek: otan tin' euraes eupathounta ton kakon ginske touton to telei taeroumenon]." _g. naz carm_. "----more than conqueror." "london, printed for h. brome and h. march, at the gun, in ivy lane, and at the princes' arms, in chancery lane, neer fleet street, ." the cover has "c.r." under a crown. what is the history of this volume. is it scarce, or worth nothing? a.c. "_welcome the coming, speed the parting guest?_" --whence comes the sentence-- "welcome the coming, speed the parting guest?" e.n.w. _carpets and room-paper._--carpets were in edward iii.'s reign used in the palace. what is the exact date of their introduction? when did they come into general use, and when were rushes, &c., last used? room-paper, when was it introduced? jarltzberg. _cotton of finchley._--can some one of your readers give me any particulars concerning the family of cotton, which was settled at finchley, middlesex, about the middle of the sixteenth century? c.f. _wood carving in snow hill._--can any one explain the wood carving over the door of a house at the corner of snow hill and skinner street. it is worth rescuing from the ruin impending it. a.c. _walrond family._--can any of your readers inform me what was the maiden name of _grace_, the wife of col. humphry walrond, of sea, in the county of somerset, a distinguished loyalist, some time lieutenant-governor of bridgewater, and governor of the island of barbadoes in . she was living in and . also the names of his _ten_ children, or, at all events, his three youngest. i have reason to believe the seven elder were george, humphry, henry, john, thomas, bridget, and grace. w. downing bruce. _translations._--what english translations have appeared of the famous _epistolæ obscurorum virorum_? has _la chiave del gabinetto del signor borri_ (by joseph francis borri, the rosicrucian) ever been translated into english? i make the same query as to _le compte de gabalis_, which the abbé de rillan founded on borri's work? jarltzberg. _bonny dundee--graham of claverhouse._--can any of your correspondents tell me the origin of the term "bonny dundee?" does it refer to the fair and flourishing town at the mouth of the tay, or to the remarkable john graham of claverhouse, who was created viscount of dundee, after the landing of the prince of orange in england, and whose person is admitted to have been eminently beautiful, whatever disputes may exist as to his character and conduct? . can reference be made to the date of his birth, or, in other words, to his age when he was killed at killycrankie, on the th of july, . all the biographies which i have seem are silent upon the point. w.l.m. _franz von sickingen._--perusing a few of your back numbers, in a reply of s.w.s. to r.g. (vol. i., p. .), i read: "i had long sought for a representation of sickingen, and at length found a medal represented in the _sylloge numismatum elegantiorum of luckius_," &c. i now hope that in s.w.s. i have found the man who is to solve an obstinate doubt that has long possessed my mind: is the figure of the knight in durer's well-known print of "the knight, death, and the devil," a portrait? if it be a portrait, is it a portrait of franz von sickingen, as kugler supposes? the print is said to bear the date . i have it, but have failed to discover any date at all. h.j.h. sheffield. _blackguard._--when did this word come into use, and from what? beaumont and fletcher, in the _elder brother_, use it thus:-- "it is a faith that we will die in, since from the _blackguard_ to the grim sir in office, there are few hold other tenets." thomas hobbes, in his _microcosmus_, says,-- "since my lady's decay i am degraded from a cook and i fear the devil himself will entertain me but for one of his _blackguard_, and he shall be sure to have his roast burnt." jarltzberg. _meaning of "pension."_--the following announcement appeared lately in the london newspapers:-- "gray's inn.--at a _pension_ of the hon. society of gray's inn, holden this day, henry wm. vincent, esq., her majesty's remembrancer in the court of exchequer, was called to the degree of barrister at law." { } i have inquired of one of the oldest benchers of gray's inn, now resident in the city from which i write, for an explanation of the origin or meaning of the phrase "pension," neither of which was he acquainted with; informing me at the same time that the query had often been a subject discussed among the learned on the dais, but that no definite solution had been elicited. had the celebrated etymologist and antiquary, mr. ritson, formerly a member of the society, been living, he might have solved the difficulty. but i have little doubt that there are many of the erudite, and, i am delighted to find, willing readers of your valuable publication who will be able to furnish a solution. j.m.g. worcester. _stars and stripes of the american arms._--what is the origin of the american arms, viz. stars and stripes? jarltzberg. _passages from shakspeare._--may i beg for an interpretation of the two following passages from shakspeare:-- "_isab._ else let my brother die, if not a feodary, but only he, owe, and succeed thy weakness." _measure for measure,_ act ii. sc. . "_imogen._ some jay of italy, whose mother was her painting, hath betrayed him." _cymbeline_, act iii. sc. . trebor. king's college, london. _nursery rhyme._--what is the date of the nursery rhyme:-- "come when you're called, do what you're bid, shut the door after you, never be chid?"--ed. . in howell's _letters_ (book i. sect. v. letter . p. . ed. ) i find-- he will come when you call him, go when you bid him, and shut the door after him. j.e.b. mayor. _"george" worn by charles i._--i should be glad if any of your correspondents could give me information as to who is the present possessor of the "george" worn by charles i. it was, i believe, in the possession of the late marquis wellesley, but since his death it has been lost sight of. such a relic must be interesting to either antiquaries or royalists. sperans. _family of manning of norfolk._--can any of your readers supply me with an extract from, or the name of a work on heraldry or genealogy, containing an account of the family of _manning_ of _norfolk_. such a work was seen by a relative of mine about fifty years since. it related that a count manning, of manning in saxony, having been banished from thence, became king in friesland, and that his descendants came over to england, and settled in kent and _norfolk_. pedigrees of the kentish branch exist: but that of norfolk was distinct. guillim refers to some of the name in friesland. t.s. lawrence. _salingen a sword cutler._--a sword in my possession, with inlaid basket guard, perhaps of the early part of the seventeenth century, is inscribed on the blade "salingen me fecit." if this is the name of a sword cutler, who was he, and when and where did he live? t.s. lawrence. _billingsgate._--may i again solicit a reference to any _early_ drawing of belins gate? that of kindly referred by c.s. was already in my possession. i am also obliged to vox for his note. w.w. _"speak the tongue that shakspeare spoke."_--can you inform me of the author's name who says,-- "they speak the tongue that shakspeare spoke, the faith and morals hold that milton held," &c.? and was it applied to the early settlers of new england? x. _genealogical queries._--can any of your genealogical readers oblige me with replies to the following queries? . to what family do the following arms belong? they are given in blomfield's _norfolk_ (ix. .) as impaled with the coat of william donne, esq., of letheringsett, norfolk, on his tomb in the church there. he died in . on a chevron engrailed, two lioncels rampant, between as many crescents. not having seen the stone, i cannot say whether blomfield has blazoned it correctly; but it seems possible he may have _meant_ to say,-- on a chevron engrailed, between two crescents, as many lioncels rampant. . _which_ sir philip courtenay, of powderham, was the father of margaret courtenay, who, in the fifteenth century, married sir robert carey, knt.? and who was her mother? . where can i find a pedigree of the family of robertson of _muirtown_, said to be descended from _john_, second son of alexander robertson, of _strowan_, by his second wife, lady elizabeth stewart, daughter of john, earl of athol, brother of king james ii.? which john is omitted in the pedigree of the strowan family, in burke's _landed gentry_. c.r.m. _parson, the staffordshire giant._--harwood, in a note to his edition of erdeswick's _staffordshire_, p. ., says,-- "this place [westbromwich] gave birth to _william_ parsons, [query walter,] the gigantic porter of king { } james i., _whose picture was at whitehall_; and a bas-relief of him, with jeffry hudson the dwarf, was fixed in the front of a house near the end of a bagnio court, newgate-street, probably as a sign." plot, in his _natural history of staffordshire_, gives some instances of the great strength of parsons. i shall feel much obliged if you or your readers will inform me, . whether there is any mention of parsons in contemporary, or other works? . whether the portrait is in existence? if so, where? has it been engraved? c.h.b. westbromwich. _unicorn in the royal arms._--when and why was the fabulous animal called the unicorn first used as a supporter for the royal arms of england? e.c. _the frog and the crow of ennow._--i should be glad to get an answer to the following query from some one of your readers:--i remember some few old lines of a song i used to hear sung many years ago, and wish to learn anything as regards its date, authorship,--indeed, any particulars, and where i shall be likely to find it at length. what i remember is,-- "there was a little frog, lived in the river swim-o, and there was an old crow lived in the wood of ennow, come on shore, come on shore, said the crow to the frog again-o; thank you, sir, thank you, sir, said the frog to the crow of ennow, ... but there is sweet music under yonder green willow, and there are the dancers, the dancers, in yellow." m. "_she ne'er with treacherous kiss_."--can any of your readers inform me where the following lines are to be found? "she ne'er with treacherous kiss her saviour stung, nor e'er denied him with unholy tongue; she, when apostles shrank, could danger brave-- last at his cross, and earliest at his grave!" c.a.h. "_incidit in scyllam_" (vol. ii., p. .).-- "incidit in scyllam, cupiens vitare charybdim; sie morbum fugiens, incidit in medicos." has any of your readers met with, or heard of the second short line, appendant and appurtenant to the first? i think it was lord grenville who quoted them as found somewhere together. fortunatus dwarris. _nicholas brigham's works._--nicholas brigham, who erected the costly tomb in poets' corner to the memory of geoffrey chaucer (which it is now proposed to repair by a subscription of five shillings from the admirers of the poet), is said to have written, besides certain miscellaneous poems, _memoirs by way of diary_, in twelve books; and a treatise _de venationibus rerum memorabilium_. can any of the readers of "notes and queries" state whether any of these, the titles of which are certainly calculated to excite our curiosity, are known to be in existence, and, if so, where? it is presumed that they have never been printed. philo-chaucer. _ciric-sceat, or church-scot._--can any of your readers explain the following passage from canute's letter to the archbishops, &c. of england, a.d. . (_wilkins conc._ t. i. p. ):-- "et in festivitate sancti martini primitæ seminum ad ecclesiam, sub cujus parochia quisque degit, quæ anglice _cure scet_ nominatur." j.b. [if our correspondent refers to the glossary in the second vol. of mr. thorpe's admirable edition of the _anglo-saxon laws_, which he edited for the record commission under the title of _ancient laws and institutes of england_, he will find s.v. "_ciric-sceat--primitiæ seminum_ church-scot or shot, an ecclesiastical due payable on the day of st. martin, consisting chiefly of corn;" a satisfactory answer to his query, and a reference to this very passage from canute.] _welsh language._--perhaps some of your correspondents would favour me with a list of the best books treating on the welsh literature and language; specifying the best grammar and dictionary. jarltzberg. _armenian language._--this copious and widely-circulated language is known to but few in this country. if this meets the eye of one who is acquainted with it, will he kindly direct me whither i may find notices of it and its literature? father aucher's _grammar, armenian and english_ (venice, ), is rather meagre in its details. i have heard it stated, i know not on what authority, that lord byron composed the english part of this grammar. this grammar contains the two apocryphal epistles found in the armenian bible, of the corinthians to st. paul, and st. paul to the corinthians. like the greek and german, "the different modes of producing compound epithets and words are the treasure and ornament of the armenian language; a thousand varieties of compounded words may be made in this tongue," p. . i believe we have no other grammar of this language in english. jarltzberg * * * * * replies a treatise on equivocation. my attention has recently been drawn to the inquiry of j.m. (vol. i., p. .) respecting the work bearing this name. he inquires, "was the book ever extant in ms. or print? what is its size, date, and extent?" these questions may in part be answered by the following extracts from parsons's _treatise tending to mitigation_, , to { } which j.m. refers as containing, "perhaps, all the substance of the roman equivocation," &c. it appears from these extracts that the treatise was circulated in ms.; that it consisted of ten chapters, and was on eight or nine sheets of paper. if parsons' statements are true, he, who was then at douay, or elsewhere out of england, had not seen it till three years after it was referred to publicly by sir e. coke, in . should the description aid in discovering the tract in any library, it may in answering j.m.'s second query, "is it now extant, and where?" (cap. i. § iii. p. .):-- "to hasten then to the matter, i am first to admonish the reader, that whereas this minister doth take upon him to confute a certain catholicke manuscript treatise, made in defence of equivocation, and intercepted (as it seemeth) by them, i could never yet come to the sight therof, and therfore must admit," &c. and (p ):-- "this catholicke treatise, which i have hope to see ere it be long, and if it come in time, i may chance by some appendix, to give you more notice of the particulars." in the conclusion (cap. xiii. §ix. p. .):-- "and now at this very instant having written hitherto, cometh to my handes the catholicke treatise itselfe of _equivocation_ before meneyoned," &c.... "albeit the whole treatise itselfe be not large, nor conteyneth above or sheetes of written paper." and (§ xi. p. .):-- "of ten chapters he omitteth three without mention." i.b. * * * * * further notes on the derivation of the word "news." i have too much respect for the readers of "notes and queries" to consider it necessary to point out _seriatim_ the false conclusions arrived at by mr. hickson, at page . the origin of "news" may now be safely left to itself, one thing at least being certain--that the original purpose of introducing the subject, that of disproving its alleged derivation from the points of the compass, is fully attained. no person has come forward to defend _that_ derivation, and therefore i hope that the credit of expunging such a fallacy from books of reference will hereafter be due to "notes and queries". i cannot avoid, however, calling mr. hickson's attention to one or two of the most glaring of his _non-sequiturs_. i quoted the cardinal of york to show that in his day the word "newes" was considered plural. mr. hickson quotes _me_ to show that in the present day it is used in the singular; therefore, he thinks that the cardinal of york was wrong: but he must pardon me if i still consider the cardinal an unexceptional authority as to the usage of his own time. mr. hickson asserts that "odds" is not an english word; he classifies it as belonging to a language known by the term "slang," of which he declares his utter disuse. and he thinks that when used at all, the word is but an ellipsis for "_odd chances_." this was not the opinion of the great english lexicographer, who describes the word as-- "odds; a noun substantive, from the adjective odd." and he defines its meaning as "inequality," or incommensurateness. he cites many examples of its use in its various significations, with any of which mr. hickson's substitution would play strange pranks; here is one from milton:-- "i chiefly who enjoy so far the happier lot, enjoying thee pre-eminent by so much odds." then with respect to "noise," mr. hickson scouts the idea of its being the same word with the french "noise." here again he is at odds with doctor johnson, although i doubt very much that he has the odds of him. mr. hickson rejects altogether the _quasi_ mode of derivation, nor will he allow that the same word may (even in different languages) deviate from its original meaning. but, most unfortunately for mr. hickson, the obsolete french signification of "noise" was precisely the present english one! a french writer thus refers to it:-- "a une époque plus reculée ce mot avait un sens différent: il signifiait _bruit, cries de joie_, &c. joinville dit dans son _histoire de louis ix_.,--'la noise que ils (les sarrazins) menoient de leurs cors sarrazinnoiz estoit espouvantable à escouter.' les anglais nous ont emprunté cette expression et l'emploient _dans sa première acception_." mr. hickson also lays great stress upon the absence, in english, of "the new" as a singular of "the news." in the french, however, "_la nouvelle_" is common enough in the exact sense of news. will he allow nothing for the caprice of idiom? a.e.b. leeds, july . . _news, noise_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i think it will be found that mr. hickson is misinformed as to the fact of the employment of the norman french word _noise_, in the french sense, in england. _noyse_, _noixe_, _noas_, or _noase_, (for i have met with each form), meant then quarrel, dispute, or, as a school-boy would say, a row. it was derived from _noxia_. several authorities agree in these points. in the _histoire de foulques fitz-warin_, fouque asks "quei fust _la noyse_ qe fust devaunt le roi en la sale?" which with regard to the context can only be fairly translated by "what is going on in { } the king's hall?" for his respondent recounts to him the history of a quarrel, concerning which messengers had just arrived with a challenge. whether the norman word _noas_ acquired in time a wider range of signification, and became the english _news_, i cannot say but stranger changes have occurred. under our norman kings _bacons_ signified dried wood, and _hosebaunde_ a husbandman, then a term of contempt. b.w. * * * * * "news," "noise," and "parliament." . _news._--i regret that mr. hickson perseveres in his extravagant notion about _news_, and that the learning and ingenuity which your correspondent p.c.s.s., i have no doubt justly, gives him credit for, should be so unworthily employed. does mr. hickson really "very much doubt whether our word _news_ contains the idea of _new_ at all?" what then has it got to do with _neues_? does mr. hickson's mind, "in its ordinary mechanical action," really think that the entry of "old newes, or stale newes" in an old dictionary is any proof of _news_ having nothing to do with _new_? does he then separate _health_ from _heal_ and _hale_, because we speak of "bad health" and "ill health"? will mr. hickson explain why _news_ may not be treated as an elliptical expression for _new things_, as well as _greens_ for _green vegetables_, and _odds_ for _odd chances_? when mr. hickson says _dogmaticè_, "for the adoption of words we have no rule, and we act just as our convenience or necessity dictates; but in their formation we _must strictly_ conform to the laws we find established,"--does he deliberately mean to say that there are no exceptions and anomalies in the formation of language, except importations of foreign words? if he means this, i should like to hear some reasons for this wonderful simplification of grammar. why may not "convenience or necessity" sometimes lead us to swerve from the ordinary rules of the formulation of language, as well as to import words bodily, and, according to mr. hickson's views of the origin of _news_, without reference to context, meaning, part of speech, or anything else? why may we not have the liberty of forming a plural noun _news_ from the adjective _new_, though we have never used the singular _new_ as a noun, when the french have indulged themselves with the plural noun of adjective formation, _les nouvelles_, without feeling themselves compelled to make _une nouvelle_ a part of their language? why may we not form a plural noun _news_ from _new_, to express the same idea which in latin is expressed by _nova_, and in french by _les nouvelles_? why may not goods be a plural noun formed from the adjective _good_, exactly as the romans formed _bona_ and the germans have formed _güter_? why does mr. hickson compel us to treat goods as singular, and make us go back to the gothic? does he say that _die güter_, the german for _goods_ or _possessions_, is singular? why too must riches be singular, and be the french word _richesse_ imported into our language? why may we not have a plural noun _riches_, as the romans had _divitæ_, and the germans have _die reichthumer_? and what if _riches_ be irregularly formed from the adjective _rich_? are there, mr. hickson, no irregularities in the formation of a language? is this really so? if "from convenience or necessity" words are and may be imported from foreign languages bodily into our own, why might not our forefathers, feeling the convenience or necessity of having words corresponding to _bona_, _nova_, _divitiæ_, have formed _goods_, _news_, _riches_, from _good_, _new_, _rich_? _news_ must be singular, says mr. hickson; but _means_ "is beyond all dispute plural," for shakspeare talks of "a mean:" with _news_, however, there is the slight difficulty of the absence of the noun _new_ to start from. why is the absence of the singular an insuperable difficulty in the way of the formation of a plural noun from an adjective, any more than of plural nouns otherwise formed, which have no singulars, as _clothes_, _measles_, _alms_, &c. what says mr. hickson of these words? are they all singular nouns and imported from other languages? for he admits no other irregularity in the formation of a language. . _noise._--i agree with mr. hickson that the old derivations of _noise_ are unsatisfactory, but i continue to think his monstrous. i fear we cannot decide in your columns which of us has the right german pronunciation of _neues_; and i am sorry to find that you, mr. editor, are with mr. hickson in giving to the german _eu_ the exact sound of _oi_ in _noise_. i remain unconvinced, and shall continue to pronounce the _eu_ with less fullness than _oi_ in _noise_. however, this is a small matter, and i am quite content with mr. hickson to waive it. the derivation appears to me nonsensical, and i cannot but think would appear so to any one who was not bitten by a fancy. i do not profess, as i said before, to give the root of _noise_. but it is probably the same as of _noisome_, _annoy,_ the french _nuire_, latin _nocere_, which brings us again to _noxa_; and the french word _noise_ has probably the same root, though its specific meaning is different from that of our word _noise_. without venturing to assert it dogmatically, i should expect the now usual meaning of _noise_ to be its primary meaning, viz. "a loud sound" or "disturbance;" and this accords with my notion of its alliances. the french word _bruit_ has both the meanings of our word _noise_; and _to bruit_ and _to noise_ are with us interchangeable terms. the french _bruit_ also has the sense of _a disturbance_ more definitely than our word _noise_. "il y a du bruit" means "there is a row." { } i mention _bruit_ and its meanings merely as a parallel case to _noise_, if it be, as i think, that "a loud sound" is its primary, and "a rumour" its secondary meaning. i have no doubt there are many instances, and old ones, among our poets, and prose writers too, of the use of the noun _annoy_. i only remember at present mr. wordsworth's-- "there, at blencatharn's rugged feet, sir lancelot gave a safe retreat to noble clifford; from annoy concealed the persecuted boy." . _parliament._--franciscus's etymology of parliament (vol. ii., p. .) is, i think, fit companion for mr. hickson's derivations of _news_ and _noise_. i take franciscus for a wag: but lest others of your readers may think him serious, and be seduced into a foolish explanation of the word _parliament_ by his joke, i hope you will allow me to mention that _palam mente_, literally translated, means _before the mind_, and that, if franciscus or any one else tries to get "freedom of thought or deliberation" out of this, or to get parliament out of it, or even to get sense out of it, he will only follow the fortune which franciscus says has befallen all his predecessors, and stumble _in limine_. the presence of _r_, and the turning of _mens_ into _mentum_, are minor difficulties. if franciscus be not a wag, he is perhaps an anti-ballot man, bent on finding an argument against the ballot in the etymology of _parliament_: but whatever he be, i trust your readers generally will remain content with the old though humble explanation of _parliament_, that it is a modern latinisation of the french word _parlement_, and that it literally means a talk-shop, and has nothing to do with open or secret voting, though it be doubtless true that roman judges voted _clam vel palam_, and that _palam_ and _mens_ are two latin words. c.h. * * * * * shakspeare's use of the word "delighted." "_delighted_" (vol. ii., p. .).--i incline to think that the word _delighted_ in shakspeare represents the latin participle _delectus_ (from _deligere_), "select, choice, exquisite, refined." this sense will suit all the passages cited by mr. hickson, and particularly the last. if this be so, the suggested derivations from the adjective _light_, and from the substantive _light_, fall to the ground: but mr. hickson will have been right in distinguishing shakspeare's _delighted_ from the participle of the usual verb _to delight, delectare_=gratify. the roots of the two are distinct: that of the former being _leg-ere_ "to choose;" of the latter, _lac-ere_ "to tice." b.h. kennedy. _meaning of the word "delighted."_--i am not the only one of your readers who have read with deep interest the important contributions of mr. hickson, and who hope for further remarks on shakspearian difficulties from the same pen. his papers on the _taming of the shrew_ were of special value; and although i do not quite agree with all he has said on the subject, there can be no doubt of the great utility of permitting the discussion of questions of the kind in such able hands. perhaps you would kindly allow me to say thus much; for the remembrance of the papers just alluded to renders a necessary protest against that gentleman's observations on the meaning of the word _delighted_ somewhat gentler. i happen to be one of the unfortunates (a circumstance unknown to mr. hickson, for the work in which my remarks on the passage are contained is not yet published) who have indulged in what he terms the "cool impertinence" of explaining _delighted_, in the celebrated passage in _measure for measure_, by "delightful, sweet, pleasant;" and the explanation appears to me to be so obviously correct, that i am surprised beyond measure at the terms he applies to those who have adopted it. but mr. hickson says,-- "i pass by the nonsense that the greatest master of the english language did not heed the distinction between the past and the present participles, as not worth second thought." i trust i am not trespassing on courtesy when i express a fear that a sentence like this exhibits the writer's entire want of acquaintance with the grammatical system employed by the great poet and the writers of his age. we must not judge shakspeare's grammar by cobbett or murray, but by the vernacular language of his own times. it is perfectly well known that shakspeare constantly uses the passive for the active participle, in the same manner that he uses the present tense for the passive participle, and commits numerous other offences against correct grammar, judging by the modern standard. if mr. hickson will read the first folio, he will find that the "greatest master of the english language" uses plural nouns for singular, the plural substantive with the singular verb, and the singular substantive with the plural verb. in fact, so numerous are these instances, modern editors have been continually compelled to alter the original merely in deference to the ears of modern readers. they have not altered _delighted_ to _delightful_; but the meaning is beyond a doubt. "example is better than precept," and perhaps, if mr. hickson will have the kindness to consult the following passages with attention, he may be inclined to arrive at the conclusion, it is not so very dark an offence to assert that shakspeare did use the passive participle for the active; not in ignorance, but because it was an ordinary practice in the literary compositions of his age. "to your _professed_ bosoms i commit him." _king lear_, act i. sc. . { } "i met the youthful lord at laurence' cell, and gave him what _becomed_ love i might. not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty." _romeo and juliet_, act iv. sc. . "thus ornament is but the _guiled_ shore to a most dangerous sea." _merchant of venice_, act iii. sc. . "then, in despite of _brooded_ watchful day, i would into thy bosom pour my thoughts." _king john_, act iii. sc. . "and careful hours, with time's _deformed_ hand, have written strange defeatures in my face." _comedy of errors_, act v. sc. . in all these passages, as well as in that in _measure for measure_, the simple remark, that the poet employed a common grammatical variation, is all that is required for a complete explanation. j.o. halliwell. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _execution of charles i.--sir t. herbert's "memoir of charles i_." (vol. ii. pp., . .).--is p.s.w.e. aware that mr. hunter gives a tradition, in his _history of hallamshire_, that a certain william walker, who died in , and to whose memory there was an inscribed brass plate in the parish church of sheffield, was the executioner of charles i.? the man obtained this reputation from having retired from political life at the restoration, to his native village, darnall, near sheffield, where he is said to have made death-bed disclosures, avowing that he beheaded the king. the tradition has been supported, perhaps suggested, by the name of walker having occurred during the trials of some of the regicides, as that of the real executioner. can any one tell me whether a narrative of the last days of charles i., and of his conduct on the scaffold, by sir thomas herbert, has ever been published in full? it is often quoted and referred to (see "notes and queries," vol. i., p. .), but the owner of the ms., with whom i am well acquainted, informs me that it has never been submitted to publication, but that some extracts have been secretly obtained. in what book are these printed? the same house which contains herbert's ms. (a former owner of it married herbert's widow), holds also the stool on which king charles knelt at his execution, the shirt in which he slept the night before, and other precious relics of the same unfortunate personage. alfred gatty. ecclesfield, july . . _execution of charles i._ (vol. ii., p .).--in ellis's _letters illustrative of english history_ second series, vol. iii. p. - ., p.s.w.e. will find the answer to his inquiry. absolute certainty is perhaps unattainable on the subject; but no mention occurs of the earl of stair, nor is it probable that any one of patrician rank would be retained as the operator on such an occasion. we need hardly question that richard brandon was the executioner. will p.s.w.e. give his authority for the "report" to which he refers? matfelonensis. _simon of ghent_ (vol. ii., p. .).--"simon gandavensis, patria londinensis, sed patre flandro gandavensi natus, a. . episcopus sarisburiensis."--fabric. _bibl. med. et infint. latin._, lib. xviii. p. . _chevalier de cailly_ (vol. ii., p. .)--mr. de st. croix will find an account of the chevalier jacque de cailly, who died in , in the _biographie universelle_; or a more complete one in goujet (_bibliothèque françoise_, t. xvii. p. .). s.w.s. _collar of esses_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--the question of b. has been already partly answered in an obliging manner by [greek: ph]., who has referred to my papers on the collar of esses and other collars of livery, published a few years ago in the _gentleman's magazine_. permit me to add that i have such large additional collections on the same subject that the whole will be sufficient to form a small volume, and i intend to arrange them in that shape. as a direct answer to b.'s question--"is there any list extant of persons who were honoured with that badge?" i may reply, no. persons were not, in fact, "honoured with the badge," in the sense that persons are now decorated with stars, crosses, or medals; but the livery collar was _assumed_ by parties holding a certain position. so far as can be ascertained, these were either knights attached to the royal household or service, who wore gold or gilt collars, or esquires in the like position, who wore silver collars. i have made collections for a list of such pictures, effigies, and sepulchral brasses as exhibit livery collars, and shall be thankful for further communications. to [greek: ph].'s question--"who are the persons _now_ privileged to wear these collars?" i believe the reply must be confined to--the judges, the lord mayor of london, the lord mayor of dublin, the kings, and heralds of arms. if any other officers of the royal household still wear the collar of esses, i shall be glad to be informed. john gough nichols. [to the list of persons now privileged to wear such collars given by mr. nichols, must be added the serjeants of arms, of whose creation by investiture with the collar of esses, pegge has preserved so curious an account in the fifth part of his _curialia_.] _hell paved with good intentions_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the history of the phrase which sir walter scott attributed "to a stern old divine," and which j.m.g. moralises upon, and asserts to be a misquotation for "the _road_ to hell," &c., is this:--boswell, { } in his _life of johnson_ (_sub_ th april, ), says that johnson, in allusion to the unhappy failure of pious resolves, said to an acquaintance, "sir, hell is paved with good intentions." upon which malone adds a note: "this is a proverbial saying. 'hell,' says herbert, 'is full of good meanings and wishings.'--_jacula prudentum_, p. . ed. ." but he does not say where else the proverbial saying is to be found. the last editor, croker, adds,-- "johnson's phrase has become so proverbial, that it may seem rather late to ask what it means--why '_paved_?' perhaps as making the _road_ easy, _facilis descensus averni_." c. _the plant "hæmony"_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i think mr. basham, who asks for a reference to the plant "hæmony", referred to by milton in his _comus_, will find the information which he seeks in the following extract from henry lyte's translation of rembert dodoen's _herbal_, at page , of the edition of . the plant is certainly not called by the name of "hæmony," nor is it described as having prickles on its leaves; but they are plentifully shown in the engraving which accompanies the description. "_allysson._--the stem of this herbe is right and straight, parting itself at the top into three or foure small branches. the leaves be first round, and after long whitish and _rough_, or somewhat woolly in handling. it bringeth foorth at the top of the branches little _yellow_ floures, and afterward small rough whitish and flat huskes, and almost round fashioned like bucklers, wherein is contained a flat seede almost like to the seed of castell or stocke gilloflers, but greater. "alysson, as dioscorides writeth, groweth upon rough mountaynes, and is not found in this countrey but in the gardens of some herboristes. "the same hanged in the house, or at the gate or entry, keepeth man and beast from _enchantments and witching_." k.p.d.e. as a "note" to dr. basham's "query", i would quote ovid's _metamorph._, lib vii. l. - .: "illic hæmoniá radices valle resectas. seminaque, et flores, et succos incoquit acres." t.a. _practice of scalping amongst the scythians--scandinavian mythology._--in vol. ii., p. ., i desired to be informed whether this practice has prevailed amongst any people besides the american indians. as you have established no rule against an inquirer's replying to his own query, (though, unfortunately for other inquirers, self-imposed by some of your correspondents) i shall avail myself of your permission, and refer those who are interested in the subject to herodotus, _melpomene _, where they will find that the practice of scalping prevailed amongst the scythians. this coincidence of manners serves greatly to corroborate the hypothesis that america was peopled originally from the northern parts of the old continent. he has recorded also their horrid custom of drinking the blood of their enemies, and making drinking vessels of their skulls, reminding us of the war-song of the savage of louisiana:-- "i shall devour their (my enemies') hearts, dry their flesh, drink their blood; i shall tear off their scalps, and make cups of their skulls." (bossu's _travels_.) "those," says this traveller through louisiana, "who think the tartars have chiefly furnished america with inhabitants, seem to have hit the true opinion; you cannot believe how great the resemblance of the indian manners is to those of the ancient scythians; it is found in their religious ceremonies, their customs, and in their food. hornius is full of characteristics that may satisfy your curiosity in this respect, and i desire you to read him."--vol. i. p. . but the subject of the "origines americanæ" is not what i now beg to propose for consideration; it is the tradition-falsifying assertion of mr. grenville pigott, in his _manual of scandinavian mythology_ (as quoted by d'israeli in the _amenities of english literature_, vol. i. p. , .), that the custom with which the scandinavians were long reproached, of drinking out of the skulls of their enemies, has no other foundation than a blunder of olaus wormius, who, translating a passage in the death-song of regner lodbrog,-- "soon shall we drink out of the curved trees of the head," turned the trees of the head into a skull, and the skull into a hollow cup; whilst the scald merely alluded to the branching horns, growing as trees from the heads of aninals, that is, the curved horns which formed their drinking cups. t.j. _cromwell's estates.--magor_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i have at length procured the following information respecting _magor_. it is a parish in the lower division of the hundred of caldicot, monmouthshire. its church, which is dedicated to st. mary, is in the patronage of the duke of beaufort. seleucus. _"incidis in scyllam," &c._ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. c. forbes says he "should be sorry this fine old proverb should be passed over with no better notice than seems to have been assigned to it in boswell's _johnson_," and then he quotes some account of it from the _gentleman's magazine_. i beg leave to apprise mr. forbes that there is no notice whatsoever of it in boswell's _johnson_, though it is introduced (_inter alia_) in a note of _mr. malone's_ in the later editions of boswell; but that note contains in substance all that mr. forbes's communication repeats. see the later { } editions of boswell, under the date of th march, . c. _dies iræ_ (vol. ii., p. . .).--will you allow me to enter my protest against the terms "extremely beautiful and magnificent," applied by your respectable correspondents to the _dies iræ_, which, i confess, i think not deserving any such praise either for its poetry or its piety. the first triplet is the best, though i am not sure that even the merit of that be not its _jingle_, in which king david and the sybil are strangely enough brought together to testify of the day of judgment. some of the triplets appear to me very poor, and hardly above macaronic latin. c. _fabulous account of the lion._--many thanks to j. eastwood (vol. i., p. .) for his pertinent reply to my query. the anecdote he refers to is mentioned in the _archæological journal_, vol. i. , p. ., in a review of the french work _vitraux peints de s. etienne de bourges_, &c. no reference is given there; but i should fancy philippe de thaun gives the fable. jarltzberg. _caxton's printing-office_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the abbot of westminster who allowed william caxton to set up his press in the almonry within the abbey of westminster, was probably john esteney, who became abbot in the year , and died in . if the date mentioned by stow for the introduction of printing into england by caxton, viz. , could be shown to be that in which he commenced his printing at westminster, abbot milling (who resigned the abbacy for the bishopric of hereford in ) would claim the honour of having been his first patron: but the earliest ascertained date for his printing at westminster is . in the _gentleman's magazine_ for april, , i made this remark: "there can, we think, be no doubt that the device used by caxton, and afterwards by wynkyn de worde, (w. . c.) was intended for the figures , (though dibdin, p. cxxvii, seems incredulous in the matter), and that its allusion was to the year which may very probably have been that in which his press was set up in westminster." will the editor of "notes and queries" now allow me to modify this suggestion? the figures " " and " " are interlaced, it is true, but the " " decidedly precedes the other figure, and is followed by a point (.). i thinly it not improbable that this cypher, therefore, is so far enigmatic, that the figure " " may stand for _fourteen hundred_ (the century), and that the " " is intended to read doubled, as _seventy-seven_. in that case, the device, and such historical evidence as we possess, combine in assigning the year for the time of the erection of caxton's press at westminster, in the time of abbot esteney. if _the game and play of the chesse_ was printed at westminster, it would still be . in the paragraph quoted by arun (vol. ii., p. .) from mr. c. knight's _life of caxton_, stow is surely incorrectly charged with naming abbot islip in this matter. islip's name has been introduced by the error of some subsequent writer; and this is perhaps attributable to the extraordinary inadvertence of dart, the historian of the abbey, who in his _lives of the abbots of westminster_ has altogether omitted esteney,--a circumstance which may have misled any one hastily consulting his book. john gough nichols * * * * * miscellaneous notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. _the fawkes's of york in the sixteenth century, including notices of the early history of guye fawkes, the gunpowder plot conspirator_, is the title of a small volume written, it is understood, by a well-known and accomplished antiquary resident in that city. the author has brought together his facts in an agreeable manner, and deserves the rare credit of being content to produce a work commensurate with the extent and interest of his subject. we learn from our able and well-informed contemporary, _the athenæum_ that "one curious fact has already arisen out of the proposal for the restoration of chaucer's monument,--which invests with a deeper interest the present undertaking. one of the objections formerly urged against taking steps to restore the perishing memorial of the father of english poetry in poets' corner was, that it was not really his tomb, but a monument erected to do honour to his memory a century and a half after his death. an examination, however, of the tomb itself by competent authorities has proved this objection to be unfounded:--inasmuch as there can exist no doubt, we hear, from the difference of workmanship, material, &c., that the altar tomb is the original tomb of geoffrey chaucer,--and that instead of nicholas brigham having erected an entirely new monument, he only added to that which then existed the overhanging canopy, &c. so that the sympathy of chaucer's admirers is now invited to the restoration of what till now was really not known to exist--_the original tomb_ of the poet,--as well as to the additions made to it by the affectionate remembrance of nicholas brigham." messrs. ward and co., of belfast, announce the publication, to subscribers only, of a new work in chromo-lithography, containing five elaborately tinted plates printed in gold, silver, and colours, being exact fac-similes of an _ancient irish ecclesiastical bell_, which is supposed to have belonged to saint patrick and the four sides of the jewelled shrine in which it is preserved, accompanied by a historical and descriptive essay by the rev. william reeves, d.d., m.r.i.a. by an irish inscription on the back of the case or shrine of the bell, which doctor reeves has translated, he clearly proves that the case or shrine was made in the end of the eleventh century, and that the bell itself is several hundred years older; and also that it has { } been in the hands of the mulhollands since the time the case or shrine was made; that they bore the same name, and are frequently mentioned as custodians of this bell in the "_annals of the four masters_." we have received the following catalogues:--william heath's, . lincoln inn fields, select catalogue, no. ., of second-hand books, perfect, and in good condition. thomas cole's, . great turnstile, catalogue of a strange collection from the library of a curious collector. john petheram's, . high holborn, catalogue of a collection of british (engraved) portraits. cornish's (brothers), . new street, birmingham, list no. ix. for of english and foreign books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (in continuation of lists in former nos.) odd volumes. bloomfield's recensio synoptica, vols. iii. and ix. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen._ _erratum_.--no. . p. . col. . l. ., for "participle" read "particle." * * * * * mr. a.k. johnston's new general gazetteer. in one large volume vo. of , pages, comprising nearly , names of places, price s. cloth; or half-russia, s. a new dictionary of geography, descriptive, physical, statistical, and historical; forming a complete general gazetteer of the world. by alexander keith johnston, f.r.s.e., f.r.g.s., f.g.s., geographer at edinburgh in ordinary to her majesty. "he appears to have executed in a very laudable manner the task which he has undertaken, and to have taken every precaution possible to secure accuracy and precision of statement."--_times._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * rochefoucauld's maxims, with notes. just published, in fcp. vo. price s. d. cloth, moral reflections, sentences, and maxims of francis duc de la rochefoucauld. newly translated from the french. with an introduction and notes. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * in post vo., price s. d. the fawkes's of york in the sixteenth century; including notices of the early history of guye fawkes, the gunpowder plot conspirator. by robert davies, esq., f.s.a. published by j.b. nichols and j.g. nichols, . parliament-street, westminster. * * * * * parker's educational catalogue, including the books produced under the sanction of the committee of council on education, and the publications of the committee of general literature and education appointed by the society for promoting christian knowledge, will be sent free of postage, on application to the publisher, . west strand, london. * * * * * cambridge books recently published. i. a treatise on moral evidence. illustrated by numerous examples both of general principles and of specific actions. by edward arthur smedley, m.a., late chaplain of trinity college, cambridge. vo. s. d. "the very grave and important questions opened by mr. smedley ... he treats them with considerable ability, and in a tone and temper befitting their great interest and solemn character."--_guardian._ "lucid in style, and forcible in argument, this treatise is distinguished by great felicity of illustration ... a masterly specimen of reasoning ... a most valuable contribution of the theological literature of this country."--_morning post._ ii. four sermons preached before the university of cambridge, in november, . by the rev. j.j. blunt, b.d., margaret professor of divinity. . the church of england--the communion of saints . the church of england--its title and descent. . the church of england--its text--the bible. . the church of england--its commentary--the prayer-book. price s. iii. by the same author. five sermons preached before the university of cambridge. the first four in november, . the fifth on the general fast day, wednesday, march , . vo. s. d. iv. second edition. the apology of tertullian, with english notes and a preface. intended as an introduction to the study of patristical and ecclesiastical latinity. by h.a. woodham, ll.d., late fellow of jesus college, cambridge. vo., s. d. v. an analysis of palmer's origines liturgicÆ; or, antiquities of the english ritual; and of his dissertation on primitive liturgies: for the use of students at the universities, and candidates for holy orders, who have read the original work. by w. beal, ll.d., f.s.a., vicar of brooke, norfolk. mo., price s. d. vi. fulwood's roma ruit: wherein all the several pleas of the pope's authority in england are revised and answered. by francis fulwood, d.d., archdeacon of totnes, in devon. edited, with additional matter, by charles hardwick, m.a., fellow of st. catherine's hall, cambridge. vo., s. d. this work will serve the purpose of a text-book on the subject of the papal jurisdiction, reproducing, in a short and well digested form, nearly all the arguments of our best divines. * * * * * preparing for publication. thoughts on the studies of the university of cambridge. by adam sedgwick, m.a., f.r.s., fellow of trinity college, and woodwardian professor, cambridge. the fifth edition, with a copious preliminary dissertation. nearly ready. liturgiÆ britannicÆ; or the several editions of the book of common prayer of the church of england, from its compilation to the last revision; together with the liturgy set forth for the use of the church of scotland: arranged to show their respective variations. by w. keeling, b.d., fellow of st. john's college. second edition. john deighton. * * * * * { } new works and new editions. young italy. by a. baillie cochrane, m.p. post vo., s. d. journal of summer time in the country. by r.a. willmott, incumbent of st. catherine's, bearwood. s. gazpacho, or summer months in spain. by w.g. clark, m.a., fellow of trinity college, cambridge. s. d. auvergne, piedmont, and savoy. a summer ramble. by c.r. weld, author of "history of the royal society." s. d. wanderings in the western republics of america. by g. byam, author of "wild life in the interior of central america." with illustrations, s. d. hesperos: or, travels in the west. by mrs. houstoun, author of "texas and the gulf of mexico." two volumes. post vo., s. dr. whewell on cambridge education. part i. principles and recent history. second edition. s. d. part ii. discussions and changes, - . s. d. also, the two parts bound together in cloth. s. d. on the influence of authority in matters of opinion. by g. cornewall lewis, m.p. vo., s. d. lectures on astronomy. delivered at king's college, london. by henry moseley, m.a., f.r.s. one of her majesty's inspectors of schools. third edition, revised s. d. lunacy and lunatic life. with hints on the personal care and management of those afflicted with derangement. by the late medical superintendant of an asylum for the insane. s. d. the new cratylus. contributions towards a more accurate knowledge of the greek language. by j. w. donaldson, d.d., head master of king edward's school, bury st. edmund's. second edition, enlarged. vo., s. Æschylus: translated into english verse. with notes, a life of Æschylus, and a discourse on greek tragedy. by j.s. blackie, professor of latin language in marischal college, aberdeen. two vols. post vo., s. agamemnon of Æschylus, the greek text. with a translation into english verse, and notes. by john conington, m.a., fellow of the university college, oxford. s. d. antigone of sophocles, in greek and english, with notes. by j.w. donaldson, d.d. vo., s. phÆdrus, lysis, and protagoras of plato. a new and literal translation. by j. wright, b.a., head master of sutton coldfield school. s. d. aristophanis comoediÆ undecim. textum usibus scholarum accommodabat h.a. holden, a.m. coll. ss. trin. cant. socius, vo., s. c. cornelii taciti opera, ad codices antiquissimos exacta et emendata, commentario critico et exegetico illustrata. edidit franciscus ritter, professor bonnensis. complete in four volumes. vo., s. the fables of babrius. edited, with notes, by g.c. lewis, m.p. s. d. neander's julian the apostate, and his generation: an historical picture. translated by g.v. cox, m.a. s. d. homeric ballads. the greek text, with a metrical translation, and notes. by the late dr. maginn. s. the cambridge greek and english testament. printed in parallel columns on the same page edited for the syndics of the university press, by professor scholefield, m.a. third edition, improved, s. d. london: john w. parker, west strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell. of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, july , . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents notes:-- further notes on derivation of the word "news", by samuel hickson more borrowed thoughts, by s. w. singer strangers in the house of commons, by c. ross folk lore:--high spirits considered a presage of impending calamity, by c forbes the hydro-incubator, by h. kersley etymology of the word "parliament" "incidis in scyllam, cupiens vitare charybdim," by c. forbes and t. h. friswell a note of admiration! the earl of norwich and his son george lord goring, by ch. and lord braybooke queries:-- james carkasse's lucida intervalla minor queries:--epigrams on the universities--lammas'day--mother grey's apples--jewish music--the plant "haemony"--ventriloquism-- epigram on statue of french king--lux fiat-hiring of servants-- book of homilies--collar of ss.--rainbow--passage in lucan--william of wykeham--richard baxter's descendants--passage in st. peter-- juicecups--derivation of "yote" or "yeot"--pedigree of greene family--family of love--sir gammer vans replies:-- punishment of death by burning to give a man horns, by c. forbes and j.e.b. mayor replies to minor queries:--shipster--three dukes--bishops and their precedence--why moses represented with horns--leicester and the reputed poisoners of his time--new edition of milton--christian captives--borrowed thoughts--north sides of churchyards--monastery--churchyards--epitaphs--umbrellas-- english translations of erasmus--chantrey's sleeping children, & c. miscellanies:-- separation of the sexes in time of divine service--error in winstanley's loyal martyrology--preaching in nave only miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, sales, & c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes further notes on derivation of the word "news". without being what the germans would call a _purist_, i cannot deem it an object of secondary importance to defend the principles of the law and constitution of the english language. for the adoption of words we have no rule; and we act just as our convenience or necessity dictates: but in their formation we must strictly conform to the laws we find established. your correspondents c.b. and a.e.b. (vol. ii., p. .) seem to me strangely to misconceive the real point at issue between us. to a question by the latter, why i should attempt to derive "news" indirectly from a german adjective, i answer, because in its transformation into a german noun declined as an adjective, it gives the form which i contend no english process will give. the rule your correspondents deduce from this, neither of them, it appears, can understand. as i am not certain that their deduction is a correct one, i beg to express it in my own words as follows:--there is no such process known to the english language as the formation of a noun-singular out of an adjective by the addition of "_s_": neither is there any process known by which a noun-plural can be formed from an adjective, without the previous formation of the singular in the same sense; except in such cases as "the rich, the poor, the noble," &c., where the singular form is used in a plural sense. c.b. instances "goods, the shallows, blacks, for mourning, greens." to the first of these i have already referred; "shallow" is unquestionably a noun-singular; and to the remaining instances the following remarks will apply. as it should be understood that my argument applies solely to the _english_ language, i think i might fairly take exception to a string of instances with which a.e.b. endeavours to refute me from a vocabulary of a language very expressive, no doubt, yet commonly called "slang". the words in question are not english: i never use them myself, nor do i recognise the right or necessity for any one else to do so; and i might, indeed, deem this a sufficient answer. but the fact is that the language in some degree is losing its instincts, and liberties are taken with it now that it would not have allowed in its younger days. have we not seen participial adjectives made from nouns? i shall therefore waive my objection, and answer by saying that there is no analogy between the instances given and the case in point. they are, one and all, elliptical expressions signifying "black clothes, green vegetables, tight pantaloons, heavy dragoons, odd chances," &c. "blacks" and "whites" are not in point, the singular of either being quite as admissible as the plural. the rule, if it be worth while to lay down a rule for the formation of such vulgarisms, appears to be { } that characteristic adjective, in constant conjunction with a noun in common use, may be used alone, the noun being understood. custom has limited in some measure the use of these abridged titles to classes or collective bodies, and the adjective takes the same form that the noun itself would have had; but, in point of fact, it would be just as good english to say "a heavy" as "the heavies" and they all become unintelligible when we lose sight of the noun to which they belong. if a.e.b. should assert that a glass of "cold without," _because_, by those accustomed to indulge in such potations, it was understood to mean "brandy and _cold_ water, _without_ sugar," was really a draught from some "well of purest english undefil'd," the confusion of ideas could not be more complete. indeed, i very much doubt whether our word "news" contains the idea of "new" at all. it is used with us to mean intelligence and the phrases, "is there any thing new?" and "is there any news?" present, in my opinion, two totally distinct ideas to the english mind in its ordinary mechanical action. "intelligence" is not necessarily "new", nor indeed is "news:" in the oldest dictionary i possess, baret's _alvearie_, , i find "olde newes or stale newes." a.e.b. is very positive that "news" is plural, and he cites the "cardinal of york" to prove it. all that i can say is, that i think the cardinal of york was wrong: and a.e.b. thought so too, when his object was not to confound me, as may be seen by his own practice in bloc concluding paragraph of his communication:--"the _newes_ was of the victory," &c. the word "means," on the other hand, is beyond all dispute plural. what says shakspeare? "yet nature is made letter by no mean but nature makes that mean." the plural was formed by the addition of "_s_:" yet from the infrequent use of the word except in the plural, the singular form has become obsolete, and the same form applies now to both numbers. those who would apply this reasoning to "news," forget that there is the slight difficulty of the absence of the _noun_ "new" to start from. i do not feel bound to furnish proof of so obvious a fact, that many of the most striking similarities in language are mere coincidences. words derived from the same root, and retaining the same meaning, frequently present the most dissimilar appearance, as "evêque" and "bishop;" and the most distant roots frequently meet in the same word. when your correspondents, therefore, remind me that there is a french word, _noise_, i must remind them that it contains not one element of our english word. richardson gives the french word, but evidently discards it, preferring the immediate derivation from "_noy_, that which noies or annoys." i confess i do not understand his argument; but it was referring to this that i said that our only known process would make a plural noun of it. i have an impression that i have met with "annoys" used by poetical license for "annoyances." "noise" has never been used in the sense of the french word in this country. if derived immediately from the french, it is hardly probable that it should so entirely have lost every particle of its original meaning. with us it is either _a loud sound_, or _fame, report, rumour_, being in this sense rendered in the latin by the same two words, _fama, rumor_, as news. the former sense is strictly consequential to the latter, which i believe to be the original signification, as shown in its use in the following passages:-- "at the same time it was noised abroad in the realme" _holinshed_. cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instantly. _ant. and cleo._, act i. sc. . _cre_. what was his cause of anger? _ser_. the noise goes, this. _troil. and cres._, act. i. sc. . whether i or your correspondents be right, will remain perhaps for ever doubtful; but the flight that can discover a relationship between this word and another pronounced[ ] as nearly the same as the two languages will admit of, and which gives at all events one sense, if not, as i think, the primary one, is scarcely so eccentric as that which finds the origin of a word signifying a loud sound, and fame, or rumor, in "nisus"; not even _struggle_, in the sense of _contention_, an endeavour an effort, a strain. samuel hickson. st. john's wood, june , . [footnote : i do not think it necessary, here, to defend my pronunciation of german; the expressions i now use being sufficient for the purpose of my argument. i passed over ch.'s observation on this subject, because it did not appear to me to touch the question.] * * * * * more borrowed thoughts. o many are the poets that are sown by nature men endowed with highest gifts, the vision and the facility divine, yet wanting the accomplishment of verse, nor having e'er, as life advanced, been led by circumstance to take the height, the measure of themselves, &c. wordsworth's _excursion_, b. i. this admired passage has its prototype in the following from the _lettere di battista guarini_, who points to a thought of similar kind in dante:-- "o quante nolili ingegni si perdono che riuscerebbe mirabili [in poesia] se dal seguir le inchinazione loro non fossero, ò dà loro appetiti ò da i padri loro sviati." coleridge, in his _bibliographia literaria_, st ed., vol. i. p. ., relates a story of some one who desired { } to be introduced to him, but hesitated because he asserted that he had written an epigram on "the ancient mariner," which coleridge had himself written and inserted in _the morning post_, to this effect:-- "your poem must eternal be dear sir! it cannot fail; for 'tis incomprehensible, and without head or tail." this was, however, only a gadshill robbery,--stealing stolen goods. the following epigram is said to be by mr. hole, in a ms. collection made by spence (penes me), and it appeared first in print in _terræ filius_, from whence dr. salter copied it in his _confusion worse confounded_, p. :-- "thy verses are eternal, o my friend! for he who reads them, reads them to no end." in _the crypt_, a periodical published by the late rev. p. hall, vol. i. p. ., i find the following attributed to coleridge, but i know not on what authority, as it does not appear among his collected poems:-- job's luck, by s. t. coleridge, esq. "sly beelzebub took all occasions to try job's constancy and patience; he took his honours, took his health, he took his children, took his wealth, his camels, horses, asses, cows,-- still the sly devil did not take his spouse. "but heav'n, that brings out good from evil, and likes to disappoint the devil, had predetermined to restore two-fold of all job had before, his children, camels, asses, cows,-- short-sighted devil, not to take his spouse." this is merely an amplified version of the th epigram of the d book of owen: "divitias jobo, sobolemque, ipsamque salutem abstulit (hoc domino non prohibens) satan. omnibus ablatis, miserò, tamen una superstes, quae magis afflictum redderet, uxor erat." of this there are several imitations in french, three of which are given in the _epigrammes choisies d'owen_, par m. de kerivalant, published by labouisse at lyons in . s.w. singer. mickleham, . * * * * * strangers in the house of commons. (vol. ii., p. .) as far as my observation extends, i.e. the last thirty-one years, no alteration has taken place in the practice of the house of commons with respect to the admission of strangers. in the house adopted the usual sessional order regarding strangers, which i transcribe, inserting within brackets the only material words added by mr. christie in :-- "that the serjeant-at-arms attending this house do, from time to time, take into his custody any stranger or strangers that he shall see or be informed of to be in the house or gallery [appropriated to the members of this house, and also any stranger who, having been admitted into any other part of the house or gallery, shall misconduct himself, or shall not withdraw when strangers are directed to withdraw] while the house or any committee of the whole house is sitting, and that no person so taken into custody be discharged out of custody without the special order of the house. "that no member of the house do presume to bring any stranger or strangers into the house, or the gallery thereof, while the house is sitting." this order appears to have been framed at a time when there was no separate gallery exclusively appropriated to strangers, and when they were introduced by members into the gallery of what is called the "body of the house." this state of things had passed away: and for a long series of years strangers had been admitted to a gallery in the house of commons in the face of the sessional order, by which your correspondent ch. imagines their presence was "absolutely prohibited." when i speak of strangers being admitted, it must not be supposed that this was done by order of the house. no, every thing relating to the admission of strangers to, and their accommodation in the house of commons, is effected by some mysterious agency for which no one is directly responsible. mr. barry has built galleries for strangers in the new house; but if the matter were made a subject of inquiry, it probably would puzzle him to state under what authority he has acted. mr. christie wished to make the sessional order applicable to existing circumstances; and, it may be, he desired to draw from the house a direct sanction for the admission of strangers. in the latter purpose, however, if he ever entertained it, he failed. the wording of his amendment is obscure, but necessarily so. the word "gallery," as employed by him, can only refer to the gallery appropriated to members of the house; but he intended it to apply to the strangers' gallery. the order should have run thus, "admitted into any other part of the house, or into the gallery appropriated to strangers;" but mr. christie well knew that the house would not adopt those words, because they contain an admission that strangers _are_ present whilst the house is sitting, whereas it is a parliamentary fiction that they are _not_. if a member in debate should inadvertently allude to the possibility of his observations being heard by a stranger, the speaker would immediately call him to order; yet at other times the right honourable gentleman will listen complacently to discussions { } arising out of the complaints of members that strangers will not publish to the world all that they hear pass in debate. this is one of the consistencies resulting from the determination of the house not expressly to recognise the presence of strangers; but, after all, i am not aware that any practical inconvenience flows from it. the non-reporting strangers occupy a gallery at the end of the house immediately opposite the speaker's chair; but the right hon. gentleman, proving the truth of the saying, "none so blind as he who will not see," never perceives them until just as a division is about to take place, when he invariably orders them to withdraw. when a member wishes to exclude strangers he addresses the speaker, saying, "i think, sir, i see a stranger or strangers in the house," whereupon the speaker instantly directs strangers to withdraw. the speaker issues his order in these words:--"strangers must withdraw." c. ross. _strangers in the house of commons_.--as a rider to the notice of ch. in "notes and queries," it may be well to quote for correction the following remarks in a clever article in the last _edinburgh review_, on mr. lewis' _authority in matters of opinion_. the reviewer says (p. .):-- "_this practice_ (viz., of publishing the debates in the house of commons) _which, &c., is not merely unprotected by law--it is positively illegal_. even the presence of auditors is a violation of the standing orders of the house." ed. s. jackson. * * * * * folk lore. _high spirits considered a presage of impending calamity or death_:-- . "how oft when men are at the point of death have they been merry! which their keepers call a lightning before death." _romeo and juliet_, act v. sc. . . "c'était le jour de noel [ ]. je m'étais levé d'assez bonne heure, et avec une humeur plus gaie que de coutume. dans les idées de vieille femme, cela présage toujours quelque chose do triste.... pour cette fois pourtunt le hasard justifia la croyance."--_mémoires de j. casanova_, vol. iii p. . . "upon saturday last ... the duke did rise up, in a well-disposed humour, out of his bed, and cut a caper or two.... lieutenant felton made a thrust with a common tenpenny knife, over fryer's arm at the duke, which lighted so fatally, that he slit his heart in two, leaving the knife sticking in the body."--_death of duke of buckingham_; howell. _fam. letters_, aug. , . . "on this fatal evening [feb. , ], the revels of the court were kept up to a late hour ... the prince himself appears to have been in unusually gay and cheerful spirits. he even jested, if we may believe the cotemporary manuscript, about a prophecy which had declared that a king should that year be slain."--_death of king james i_.; tytler, _hist. scotland_, vol. iii. p. . . "'i think,' said the old gardener to one of the maids, 'the gauger's _fie_;' by which word the common people express those violent spirits which they think a presage of death."--_guy mannering_, chap. . . "h.w.l." said: "i believe the bodies of the four persons seen by the jury, were those of g.b., w.b., j.b., and t.b. on friday night they were all very merry, and mrs. b. said she feared something would happen before they went to bed, because they were so happy."--_evidence given at inquest on bodies of four persons killed by explosion of firework-manufactory in bermondsey_, friday, oct. , . see _times_, oct. , . nos. , , , , are evidently notices of the belief; nos. , , are "what you will." many of your correspondents may be able to supply earlier and more curious illustrations. c. forbes june . * * * * * the hydro-incubator. most, if not all, of your readers have heard of the newly-invented machine for hatching and rearing in chickens, without the maternal aid of the hen; probably many of them have paid a visit (and a _shilling_) at no. . leicester square, where the incubator is to be seen in full operation. the following extract will, therefore, be acceptable, as it tends to show the truth of the inspired writer's words, "there is no new thing under the sun:"-- "therefore ... it were well we made our remarks in some creatures, that might be continually in our power, to observe in them the course of nature, every day and hour. sir _john heydon_, the lieutenant of his majesties ordnance (that generous and knowing gentleman and consummate souldier, both in theory and practice) was the first that instructed me how to do this, by means of a furnace, so made as to imitate the warmth of a sitting hen. in which you may lay several eggs to hatch and by breaking them at several ages, you may distinctly observe every hourly mutation in them, if you please. the first will be, that on one side you shall find a great resplendent clearness in the white. after a while, a little spot of red matter, like blood will appear in the midst of that clearness, fast'ned to the yolk, which will have a motion of opening and shutting, so as sometimes you will see it, and straight again it will vanish from your sight, and indeed, at first it is so little that you cannot see it, but by the motion of it; for at every pulse, as it opens you may see it, and immediately again it shuts, in such sort as it is not to be discerned. from this red speck, after a while, there will stream out a number of little (almost imperceptible) red veins. at the end of some of which, in time, there will be gathered together a knot of matter, which by little and little will take the form of a head and you will, ere long, begin to discern eyes and a beak in it. all this while the first red spot of blood grows bigger and solider, till at length it becomes { } a fleshy substance, and, by its figure, may easily be discern'd to be the heart; which as yet hath no other inclosure but the substance of the egg. but by little and little, the rest of the body of an animal is framed out of those red veins which stream out all about from the heart. and in process of time, that body encloses the heart within it by the chest, which grows over on both sides, and in the end meets and closes itself fast together. after which this little creature soon fills the shell, by converting into several parts of itself all the substance of the egg; and then growing weary of so strait a habitation, it breaks prison and comes out a perfectly formed chicken."--sir kenelm digby's _treatise of bodies_, ch. xxiv. p. . ed. . could sir kenelm return to the scenes of this upper world, and pay a visit to mr. cantelo's machine, his shade might say with truthfulness, what horace smith's mummy answered to his questioner,-- "--we men of yore were versed in all the knowledge you can mention." the operations of the two machines appear to be precisely the same: the only difference being the sir kenelm's was an experimental one, made for the purpose of investigating the process of nature; while cantelo's, in accordance with "the spirit of the iron time," is a practical one, made for the purposes of utility and profit. sir kenelm's treatise appears to have been first published in the year . henry kersley. corpus christi hall, maidstone. * * * * * etymology of the word "parliament." it has been observed by a learned annotator on the _commentaries of blackstone_, that, "no inconsiderable pains have been bestowed in analysing the word 'parliament;'" and after adducing several amusing instances of the attempts that have been made (and those too by men of the most recondite learning) to arrive at its true radical properties, he concludes his remarks by observing that "'parliament' imported originally nothing more than a council or conference, and that the termination '_ment_,' in parliament, has no more signification than it has in _impeachment_, _engagement_, _imprisonment_, _hereditament_, and ten thouand others of the same nature." he admits, however, that the civilians have, in deriving testament from _testari mentem_, imparted a greater significance to the termination "ment." amidst such diversity of opinion, i am emboldened to offer a solution of the word "parliament," which, from its novelty alone, if possessing no better qualification, may perhaps recommend itself to the consideration of your readers. in my humble judgment, all former etymologists of the word appear to have stumbled _in limine_, for i would suggest that its compounds are "_palam_" and "_mens_." with the romans there existed a law that in certain cases the verdict of the jury might be given clam vel palam, viz., _privily_ or _openly_, or in other words, by _tablet_ or _ballot_, or by _voices_. now as the essence of a parliament or council of the people was its representative character, and as secrecy would be inconsistent with such a character, it was doubtless a _sine quâ non_ that its proceedings should be conducted "_palam_," in an open manner. the absence of the letter "_r_" may possibly be objected to, but a moment's reflection will cast it into the shade, the classical pronunciation of the word _palam_ being the same as if spelt _parlam_; and the illiterate state of this country when the word parliament was first introduced would easily account for a _phonetic_ style of orthography. the words enumerated by blackstone's annotator are purely of english composition, and have no _correspondent_ in the dead languages; whilst _testament_, _sacrament_, _parliament_, and many others, are latin words anglicised by dropping the termination "_um_"--a great distinction as regards the relative value of words, which the learned annotator seems to have overlooked. "_mentum_" is doubtless the offspring of "_mens_", signifying the mind, thought, deliberation, opinion; and as we find "_palam populo_" to mean "_in the sight of the people_," so, without any great stretch of imagination, may we interpret "_palam mente_" into "_freedom of thought or of deliberation_" or "_an open expression of opinion_:" the essential qualities of a representative system, and which our ancestors have been careful to hand down to posterity in a word, viz., _parliament_. franciscus. * * * * * "incidis in scyllam, cupiens vitare charybdim." i should be sorry to see this fine old _proverb in metaphor_ passed over with no better notice than that which seems to have been assigned to it in boswell's _johnson_. erasmophilos, a correspondent of the _gentleman's magazine_ in , quotes a passage from dr. jortin's _life of erasmus_, vol. ii. p. ., which supplies the following particulars, viz.:-- . that the line was first discovered by galeottus martius of narni, a.d. . . that it is in lib. v. . of the "alexandreis," a poem in _ten_ books, by philippe gualtier (commonly called "de chatillon," though in reality a native of lille, in flanders). . that the context of the passage in which it occurs is as follows:-- "-- quo tendis inertem rex periture, fugam? nescis, heu perdite, nescis quem fugias: hostes incurris dum fugis hostem. incidis in scyllam, cupiens vitare charybdim." where the poet apostrophises darius, who, while { } flying from alexander, fell into the lands of bessus. (see _selections from gent. mag_. vol. ii. p. . london, .) c. forbes. this celebrated latin verse, which has become proverbial, has a very obscure authority, probably not known to many of your readers. it is from gualtier de lille, as has been remarked by galeottus martius and paquier in their researches. this gualtier flourished in the thirteenth century. the verse is extracted from a poem in ten books, called the "alexandriad," and it is the st of the th book; it relates to the fate of darius, who, flying from alexander, fell into the hands of bessus. it runs thus:-- "-- quo flectis inertem rex periture, fugam? nescis, heu perdite, nescis, quem fugias; hostes incurris dum fugis hostem; _incidis in scyllam, cupiens vitare charybdim_" as honest john bunyan, to his only bit of latin which he quotes, places a marginal note: "the latin which i borrow,"--a very honest way; so i i beg to say that i never saw this "alexandriad," and that the above is an excerpt from _menagiana_, pub. , edited by bertrand de la monnoie, wherein may also be found much curious reading and research. james h. friswell. * * * * * a note of admiration! sir walter scott, in a letter to miss johanna baillie, dated october , , (lockhart's _life of sir w. s._, vol. vi. p. .), says,-- "i well intended to have written from ireland, but alas! as some stern old divine says, 'hell is paved with good intentions.' there was such a whirl of laking, and boating, and wondering, and shouting, and laughing, and carousing--" [he alludes to his visiting among the westmoreland and cumberland lakes on his way home, especially] "so much to be seen, and so little time to see it; so much to be heard, and only two ears to listen to twenty voices, that upon the whole i grew desperate, and gave up all thoughts of doing what was right and proper on post-days, and so all my epistolary good intentions are gone to macadamise, i suppose, 'the burning marle' of the infernal regions." how easily a showy absurdity is substituted for a serious truth, and taken for granted to be the right sense. without having been there, i may venture to affirm that "hell is _not_ paved with good intentions, such things being _all lost or dropt on the way_ by travellers who reach that bourne;" for, where "hope never comes," "good intentions" cannot exist any more than they can be formed, since to fulfil them were impossible. the authentic and emphatical figure in the saying is, "the _road_ to hell is paved with good intentions;" and it was uttered by the "stern old divine," whoever he might be, as a warning _not_ to let "good intentions" miscarry for want of being realized at the time and upon the spot. the moral, moreover, is manifestly this, that people may be going to hell with "the best intentions in the world," substituting all the while _well-meaning_ for _well-doing_. j.m.g hallamshire. * * * * * the earl of norwich and his son george lord goring. as in small matters accuracy is of vital consequence, let me correct a mistake which i made, writing in a hurry, in my last communication about the two gorings (vol. ii., p. .). the earl of norwich was not under sentence of death, as is there stated, on january , . he was then a prisoner: he was not tried and sentenced till march.[ ] the following notice of the son's quarrels with his brother cavaliers occurs in a letter printed in carte's bulky appendix to his bulky _life of the duke of ormond_. as this is an unread book, you may think it worth while to print the passage, which is only confirmatory of clarendon's account of the younger goring's proceedings in the west of england in . the letter is from arthur trevor to ormond, and dated launceston, august , . "mr. goring's army is broken and all his men in disorder. he hates the council here, and i find plainly there is no love lost; they fear he will seize on the prince, and he, that they will take him: what will follow hereupon may be foretold, without the aid of the wise woman on the bank. sir john colepeper was at court lately to remove him, to the discontent of many. in short, the war is at an end in the west; each one looks for a ship, and nothing more. "lord digby and mr. goring are not friends; prince rupert yet goes with mr. goring, but how long that will hold, i dare not undertake, knowing both their constitutions." it will be observed that the writer of the letter, though a cavalier, here calls him _mr. goring_, when as his father was created earl of norwich in the previous year, he was _lord goring_ in cavalier acceptation. he is indiscriminately called mr. goring and lord goring in passages of letters by cavaliers relating to the campaign in the west of , which occur in carte's _collection of letters_ (vol. i. pp. , . . .). a number of letters about the son, lord goring's proceedings in the west in are printed in the third volume of mr. lister's _life of lord clarendon_. the earl of norwich's second son, charles, who afterwards succeeded as second earl, commanded a { } brigade under his brother in the west in . (bulstrode's _memoirs_, p. .; carte's _letters_, i. . .) some account of the father, earl of norwich's operations against the parliament in essex in , is given in a curious autobiography of arthur wilson, the author of the _history of james i_., which is printed in peck's _desiderata curiosa_, book xi. part . wilson was living at the time in essex. an interesting fragment of a letter from goring the son to the earl of dorset, written apparently as he was on the point of retiring into france, and dated pondesfred, january , , is printed in mr. eliot warburton's _memoirs of prince rupert_, iii. . mr. warburton, by the way, clearly confounds the father with the son when he speaks of the earl of norwich's trial and reprieve (iii. .). three letters printed in mr. w.'s second volume (pp. . , .), and signed "goring", are probably letters of the father's, but given by mr. warburton to the son. i perceive also that mr. bell, the editor of the lately published _fairfax correspondence_, has not avoided confusion between the father and son. in the first volume of the correspondence relating to the civil war (p. .), the editor says, under date january, ,-- "lord hopton in the meanwhile has been appointed to the command in cornwall, superseding goring. also has been sent off on several negociations to france." goring went off to france on his own account; his father was at that time charles i.'s ambassador at the court of france. i should like to know the year in which a letter of goring the son's, printed by mr. bell in vol. i. p. ., was written, if it can be ascertained. as printed, it is dated "berwick, june ." is _berwick_ right? is there a bath there? the letter is addressed to sir constantine huygens, and in it is this passage-- "i have now my lameness so much renewed that i cannot come to clear myself; as soon as the bath has restored me to my strength, i shall employ it in his highness's service, if he please to let me return into the same place of his favour that i thought myself happy in before." i should expect that this letter was written from france after goring's abrupt retreat into that country. it is stated that the letter comes from mr. bentley's collection. the earl of norwich was in flanders in november , and accompanied the dukes of york and gloucester from brussels to breda. (carte's _letters_, ii. .) ch. if the following account of the goring family given by banks (_dormant and extinct peerage_, vol. iii. p. .) is correct, it will appear that the father and both his sons were styled at different times. "lord goring," and that they may very easily be distinguished. "george goring, of hurstpierpont, sussex, the son of george goring, and anne his wife, sister to edward lord denny, afterwards earl of norwich, was created baron goring in the fourth of charles i., and in the xx'th of the same reign advanced to the earldom of norwich, which had become extinct by the death of his maternal uncle above-mentioned, s.p.m. "he betrayed portsmouth, of which he was governor, to the king, and rendered him many other signal services. he married mary, one of the daughters of edward nevill, vi'th baron of abergavenny, and had issue four daughters, and two sons, the eldest of whom, george, was an eminent commander for charles i., and best _known as 'general goring_,' and who, after the loss of the crown to his royal master, retired to the continent, and served with credit as lieutenant-general to the king of spain. he married lettice, daughter of richard earl of cork, and died abroad, s.p., in _the lifetime of his father_, who survived till , and was succeeded by _his only remaining son_, charles lord goring, and second earl of norwich, with whom, as he left no issue by his wife, daughter of ---- leman, and widow of sir richard beker, all his honours became extinct in . he was unquestionably the lord goring noticed by pepys as returning to england in , and not the old peer his father, who, if described by any title, would have been styled 'earl of norwich.'" braybrooke. july , . [footnote : let me also correct a misprint. banks, the author of the _dormant and extinct perrage_, is misprinted burke.] * * * * * queries james carkasse's lucida intervalla, an illustration of pepys' diary. i met lately with a quarto volume of poems printed at london in , entitled: "_lucida intevalla_ containing divers miscellaneous poems written at finsbury and bethlem, by the doctor's patient extraordinary." on the title-page was written in an old hand the native of the "patient extraordinary" and author _james carkasse_, and that of the "doctor" _thomas allen_. a little reading convinced me that the writer was a very fit subject for a lunatic asylum; but at page , i met with an allusion to the celebrated mr. pepys, which i will beg to quote:-- "get thee behind me then, dumb devil, begone, the lord hath eppthatha said to my tongue, him i must praise who open'd hath my lips, sent me from navy, to the ark, by pepys; by mr. pepys, who hath my rival been for the duke's[ ] favour, more than years thirteen; but i excluded, he high and fortunate, this secretary i could never mate; { } but clerk of th' acts, if i'm a parson, then i shall prevail, the voice outdoes the pen; though in a gown, this challenge i may make, and wager win, save if you can, your stake. to th' admiral i all submit, and vail--" the book from which i extract is _cropped_, so that the last line is illegible. can the noble editor of pepys' _diary_, or any of your readers, inform me who and what was this mr. james carkasse? w.b.r. [footnote : the duke of york, afterwards james ii.] * * * * * minor queries. _epigrams on the universities_.--there are two clever epigrams on the circumstance, i believe, of charles i. sending a troop of horse to one of the universities, about the same time that he presented some books to the other. the sting of the first, if i recollect right, is directed against the university to which the books were sent, the king-- "--right well discerning, how much that loyal body wanted learning." the reply which this provoked, is an attack on the other university, the innuendo being that the troops were sent there-- "because that learned body wanted loyalty." i quote from memory. can any of your readers, through the medium of your valuable paper, favour me with the correct version of the epigrams, and with the particular circumstances which gave rise to them? j. swann. norwich. _lammas day_.--why was the st of august called "lammas day?" two definitions are commonly given to the word "lammas." . that it may mean _loaf-mass_. . that it may be a word having some allusion to st. peter, as the patron of _lambs_. o'halloran, however, in his _history of ireland_, favours us with another definition; upon the value of which i should be glad of the opinion of some of your learned contributors. speaking of lughaidh, he says:-- "from this prince the month of august was called lughnas (lunas), from which the english adopted the name _lammas_, for the st day of august." j. sansom. _mother grey's apples_.--at the time i was a little girl,--you will not, i am sure, be ungallant enough to inquire when that was, when i tell you i am now a woman,--i remember that the nursery maid, whose duty it was to wait upon myself and sisters, invariably said, if she found us out of temper--"so, so! young ladies, you are in the sulks, eh? well, sulk away; you'll be like 'mother grey's apples,' you'll be sure to come round again." we often inquired, on the return of fine weather, who mother grey was, and what were the peculiar circumstances of the apples coming round?--questions, however, which were always evaded. now, as the servant was a cambridge girl, and had a brother a _gyp_, or bedmaker, at one of the colleges, besides her uncle keeping the tennis court there, i have often thought there must have been some college legend or tradition in alma mater, of mother grey and her apples. will any of your learned correspondents, should it happen to fall within their knowledge, take pity on the natural curiosity of the sex, by furnishing its details? a.m. _jewish music_.--what was the precise character of the _jewish music_, both before and after david? and what variety of musical instruments had the jews? j. sansom _the plant "haemony_."--can any of your readers furnish information of, or reference to the plant _haemony_, mentioned in milton's _comus_, l. .:-- "--a small unsightly root, but of divine effect,... the leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, but in another country, as he said, _bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:_ --more medicinal is it than that moly, that hermes once to wise ulysses gave; he called it _haemony_, and gave it me, and bade me keep it as of sov'reign use 'gainst all enchantments," &c. &c. the moly that hermes to ulysses gave, is the wild garlick, [greek: molu] by some thought the wild rue. (_odyss_. b. x. . .) it is the [greek: moluza] of hippocrates, who recommends it to be eaten as an antidote against drunkenness. but of _haemony_ i have been unable to find any reference among our ordinary medical authorities, paulus aeginata, celsus, galen, or dioscorides. a short note of reference would be very instructive to many of the readers of milton. j.m. basham. . chester street, belgrave square. _ventriloquism_.--what evidence is there, that _ventriloquism_ was made use of in the ancient oracles? was the [greek: pneuma puthonos] (acts, xvi. .) an example of the exercise of this art? was the witch of endor a ventriloquist? or what is meant by the word [greek: eggastrimuthos] at isai. xix. ., in the septuagint? "plutarch informs us," says rollin (_ancient history_, vol. i. p. .), "that the god did not compose the verses of the oracle. he inflamed the pythia's imagination, and kindled in her soul that living light which unveiled all futurity to her. the words she uttered in the heat of her enthusiam, having neither method nor connection, and coming only by starts, to use that expression [greek: eggastrimuthos] from the bottom of her stomach, or rather from her belly, were collected { } with care by the prophets, who gave them afterwards to the poets to be turned into verse." if the pythian priestess was really a ventriloquist, to what extent was she conscious of the deception she practised? j. sansom. _statue of french king, epigram on_.--can any of your readers inform me who was the author of the following epigram, written on the occasion of an equestrian statue of a french king attended by the virtues being erected in paris:-- "o la belle statue! o le beau piedestal! les vertus sont à pied, le vice est à cheval!" augustine. _lux fiat_.--who was the first christian or jewish writer by whom _lux fiat_ was referred to the creation of the _angels_? j. sansom. _hiring of servants_.--at maureuil, in the environs of abbeville, a practice has long existed of hiring servants in the market-place on festival days. i have observed the same custom in various parts of england, and particularly in the midland counties. can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of this? w.j. havre. _book of homilies_.--burnet, in his _history of the reformation in anno _, says,-- "a book of homilies was printed, in which the gospels and epistles of all the sundays and holidays of the year were set down with a _homily to every one of these_. to these were also added sermons upon several occasions, as for _weddings_, _christenings_, and _funerals_." can any learned clerk inform me where a copy of such homilies can be seen? b. _collar of ss_.--where can we find _much_ about the ss. collar? is there any list extant of persons who were honoured with that badge? b. _rainbow_.--by what heathen poet is the _rainbow_ spoken of as "risus plorantis olympi?" j. samson. _passage in lucan_.--what parallel passages are there to that of _lucan_:-- "communis mundo superest rogus, ossibus astra misturus?" j. samson. _william of wykeham_.--is there any better life of william of wykeham than the very insufficient one of bishop lowth? what were the circumstances of the rise of william of wykeham, respecting which lowth is so very scanty and unsatisfactory? where did william of wykeham get the wealth with which he built and endowed new college, oxon, and st. mary's, winchester; and rebuilt winchester cathedral? what are the present incomes of new college, and st mary's, winchester? is there a copy of the statutes of these colleges in the british museum, or in any other public library? w.h.c. april , . _richard baxter's descendants_.--can any of your correspondents inform me of the whereabouts of the descendants of the celebrated richard baxter? he was a northamptonshire man, but i think his family removed into some county in the west. w.h.b. _passage in st. peter_.--besides the well-known passage in the _tempest_, what _christian_ writers have used any kindred expression to pet. iii. .? j. sansom. . park place, oxford, june . . _juice-cups_.--is it beneath the dignity of "notes and queries" to admit an inquiry respecting the philosophy and real effect of placing an inverted cup in a fruit pie? the question is not about the _object_, but whether that object is, or can be, effected by the means employed. n.b. derivation of "yote" or "yeot."--what is the derivation of the word "yote" or "yeot," a term used in glocestershire and somersetshire, for "leading in" iron work to stone? b. _pedigree of greene family_.--at vol. i., p. ., reference is made to "a fine pedigree on vellum, of the greene family, penes t. wotton, esq." can any person inform me who now possesses the said pedigree, or is there a copy of it which may be consulted? one john greene, of enfield, was clerk to the new river company: he died , and was buried at enfield. he married elizabeth myddelton, grand-daughter of sir hugh. i wish to find out the birth and parentage of the said john greene and shall be _thankful_, if i may say so much, without adding too much to the length of my query. h.t.e. _family of love_.--referring to dr. rimbault's communication on the subject of this sect (vol. ii., p. .), will you allow me to inquire whether there is any evidence that its members deserved fuller's severe condemnation? queen elizabeth might consider them a "damnable sect," if they were believed to hold heterodox opinions in religion and politics; but were their lives or their writings immoral? n.b. _sir gammer vans_.--can any one give any account of a comic story about one "_sir gammer vans_," of whom, amongst other absurdities, it is said "_that his aunt was a justice of peace, and his sister a captain of horse_"? it is alluded to somewhere { } in swift's _letters_ or _miscellanies_; and i was told by a person whose recollection, added to my own, goes back near a hundred years, that it was supposed to be a _political satire_, and may have been of irish origin, as i think there is some allusion to it in one of goldsmith's plays or essays. c. * * * * * replies punishment of death by burning. probably some of the readers of "notes and queries" will share in the surprise expressed by e.s.s.w. (vol. ii., p. .), yet many persons now living must remember when spectacles such as he alludes to were by no means uncommon. an examination of the newspapers and other periodicals of the latter half of the eighteenth century would supply numerous instances in which the punishment of strangling and burning was inflicted; as well in cases of petit treason, for the murder of a husband, as more frequently in cases of coining, which, as the law then stood, was one species of high treason. i had collected a pretty long list from the _historical chronicle_ in the earlier volumes of the _gentleman's magazine_, but thought it scarcely of sufficient importance to merit insertion in "notes and queries." perhaps, however, the following extracts may possess some interest: one as showing the manner in which executions of this kind were latterly performed in london, and the other as apparently furnishing an instance of later date than that which mr. ross considers the last in which this barbarous punishment was inflicted. the first occurs in the th vol. of the magazine, part . p. ., under the date of the st june, -- "this morning, the malefactors already mentioned were all executed according to their sentence. about a quarter of an hour after the platform had dropped, phoebe harris, the female convict, was led by two officers to a stake about eleven feet high, fixed in the ground, near the top of which was an inverted curve made of irons, to which one end of a halter was tied. the prisoner stood on a low stool, which, after the ordinary had prayed with her a short time, was taken away, and she hung suspended by the neck, her feet being scarcely more than twelve or fourteen inches from the pavement. soon after the signs of life had ceased, two cartloads of faggots were placed round her and set on fire; the flames soon burning the halter, she then sunk a few inches, but was supported by an iron chain passed over her chest and affixed to the stake." the crime for which this woman suffered was coining. probably the method of execution here related was adopted in consequence of the horrible occurrence narrated by mr. ross. in vol. lix. of the same magazine, part . p. , under the date of the _ th of march_, , is an account of the executions of nine malefactors at newgate; and amongst them,-- "christian murphy, alias bowman, for coining, was brought out after the rest were turned off, and fixed to a stake, and burnt, being first strangled by the stool being taken from under her." from the very slight difference in dates, i am inclined to think that this is the same case with that alluded to by mr. ross. old bailey june , . * * * * * to give a man horns. (vol. i. p. .) your correspondent l.c. has started a most interesting inquiry, and your readers must, i am sure, join with me in regretting that he should have been so laconic in the third division of his query; and have failed to refer to, even if he did not quote, the passages from "late greek," in which "horns" are mentioned as a symbol of a husband's dishonor. the earliest notice of this symbolical use of horns is, i believe, to be found in the _oneirocritica_ of artemidorus, who lived during the reign of hadrian, a.d. - : [greek: "pepi de ippon en to peri agonon logo proeiraeiai. elege de tis theasameno tini epi kriou kathaemenpo, kai pesonti ex autou ek ton euprosthen, mnaesteuomeno de kai mellonti en autais tais haemerais tous gamous epetelein, proeipein auto hoti hae gunae sou porneusei, kai kata to legomenon, kerata soi poiaesei kai outos apethae, k.t.l."--artem. _oneirocritica_, lib. ii, cap. .] see menage, _origines de la langue françoise_, paris, , in verb. "cornard." i have only seen reiff's edition of artemidorus, vo. lipsiæ, . his illustrations of the passage (far too numerous to be quoted) seem to be curious, and likely to repay the reader for the trouble of examination. his note commences with a reference to olaus borrichius, _antiqua urb. rom. facies_:-- "alexander magnus ....successores ejus..... in nummis omnes cornuti quasi jovii, honore utique manifesto, donee cornuum decus in ludibria uxoriorum vertit somnorum interpres artimidorus." on which he observes,-- "benè. nam ante artimidorium nullus, quod sciam, hujus scommatis mentionem fecit. quod enim traug. fred. benedict. ad ciceron. _epist. ad div._ . . ad voc. 'cipius' conjecit, id paullo audientus mihi videtur conjecisse." i have not succeeded in obtaining a sight of this edition of the epistles. and i should feel much obliged to any one who would quote the "conjecture," and so enable your readers to gauge its "audacity" for themselves. is it not odd that reiff should have made no remark on the utter want of connection between the "honor manifestus," and the "ludibria" of olaus? or on the [greek: kata to legomenon] of the author that he was illustrating? { } artemidorus may certainly have been the first who _recorded_ the _scomma_; but the words [greek: kata to legomenon] would almost justify us supposing that "--the horn was a crest ere he was born." menage (referred to above) evidently lays some stress on the following epigram, as an illustration of the question:-- [greek: "ostis eso purous katalambanei ouk agorazon, keinou amaltheias hae gunae esti keras."] parmenon. _anthol._ lib. ii. but i confess that i am utterly unable to see its point and therefore cannot, of course, trace its connection with the subject. falstaff, it is true, speaks of the "horn of abundance," but then he assigns it to the husband, and makes the "lightness of the wife shine through it." (_k. henry iv._ act i. sc. ., on which see warburton's note.) c. forbes. temple, april . l.c. may find the following references of service to him in his inquiry into the origin of this expression:--"solanus ad luc. d.m. . .; jacobs ad lucill. epigr. .; belin. ad lucian, t. iii. p. .; huschk. _anal._ p. .; lambec. ad codin. § .; nodell in _diario class._ t. x. p. .; bayl. _dict._ in junone, not. e." boissonade's note in his _anecdotae_, vol. iii. p. . j.e.b. mayor. marlborough college. * * * * * replies to minor queries _shipster_ (vol. ii., p. .).--if c. b. will consult dr. latham's _english language_, nd ed., he will find that the termination _ster_ is not merely a _notion_ of tyrwhitt's, but a fact. sempstress has a _double_ feminine termination. _spinster_ is the only word in the present english which retains the old feminine meaning of the termination _ster_. e.s. jackson. _three dukes_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i should like a more satisfactory answer to this query than that i given by c. (vol. ii., p. .). i can give the i names of _two_ of the dukes (viz. monmouth and albermarle); but who was the _third_, and where can a _detailed account_ of the transaction be found? in wades' _british history chronologically arranged_, rd edit. p. , is the following paragraph under the date of feb. , (that is, - ):-- "the duke of monmouth, who had contrived the outrage on coventry, in a drunken frolic with the young duke of albemarle and others, deliberately kills a ward-beadle. charles, to save his son, pardoned all the murderers." the date given in the _state poems_ is sunday morning, feb. th, - . mr. lister, in his _life of edward, earl of clarendon_ (vol. ii. p. .), alludes to the affair:-- "the king's illegitimate son monmouth, in company with the young duke of albemarle and others, kills a watchman, who begs for mercy, and the king pardons all the murderers." c.h. cooper cambridge, june , . _bishops and their precedence_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i believe bishops have their precedence because they are both _temporal_ and _spiritual_ barons. some i years ago, i took the following note from the _gentleman's mag_. for a year between and ; i cannot say positively what year (for i was very young at the time, and unfortunately omitted to "note" it):-- "every bishop has a temporal barony annexed to his see. the bishop of durham is earl of sudbury and baron evenwood; and the bishop of norwich is baron of northwalsham." query, where may the accounts of the respective baronies of the bishoprics be found? henry kersley. _why moses represented with horns_.--your correspondent h.w. (vol. i, p. .) refers the origin of what he calls the strange practice of making moses appear horned to a mistranslation in the vulgate. i send you an extract from coleridge which suggests something more profound the such an accidental cause; and explains the statement of rosenmüller (p. .), that the jews attributed horns to moses "figuratively for power:"-- "when i was at rome, among many other visits to the tomb of julius ii, i went thither once with a prussian artist, a man of great genius and vivacity of feeling. as we were gazing on michael angelo's moses, our conversation turned on the horns and beard of that stupendous statue of the necessity of each to support the other; of the superhuman effect of the former, and the necessity if the existence of both to give a harmony and _integrity_ both to the image and the feeling excited by it. conceive them removed, and the statue would become _un_natural without being _super_natural. we called to mind the horns of the rising sun, and i repeated the noble passage from taylor's _holy dying_. that horns were the emblem of power and sovereignty among the eastern nations; and are still retained as such in abyssinia; the achelous of the ancient greeks; and the probable ideas and feelings that originally suggested the mixture of the human and the brute form in the figure, by which they realised the idea of their mysterious pan, as representing intelligence blended with a darker power, deeper, mightier, and more universal than the conscious intellect of man; than intelligence--all these thoughts passed in procession before our minds."--coleridge's _biographia literaria_, vol. ii. p. . edit. . { } [the noble passage from taylor's _holy dying_, which coleridge recreated, is subjoined.] "as when the sun approaches towards the gates of the morning, he first opens a little eye of heaven, and sends away the spirits of darkness, and gives light to a cock, and calls up the lark to matins, and by and bye gilds the fringes of a cloud, and peeps over the eastern hills, thrusting out his golden horns like those which decked the brows of moses, when he was forced to wear a veil, because himself had seen the face of god; and still, while a man tells the story, the sun gets up higher, till he shows a fair face and a full light, and then he shines one whole day, under a cloud often, and sometimes weeping great and little showers, and sets quickly; so is a man's reason and his life." --jeremy taylor's _holy dying_. c.k. _leicester and the reputed poisoners of his time_ (vol. ii., p. .).--"the lady who had lost her hair and her nails," an account of whom is requested by your correspondent h.c., was lady douglas, daughter of william lord howard of effingham, and widow of john lord sheffield. leicester was married to her after the death of his first wife anne, daughter and heir of sir john robsart, and had by her a son, the celebrated sir robert dudley, whose legitimacy, owing to his father's disowning the marriage with lady sheffield, in order to wed lady essex, was afterwards the subject of so much contention. on the publication of this latter marriage, lady douglas, in order, it is said, to secure herself from any future practices, had, from a dread of being made away with by leicester, united herself to sir edward stafford, then ambassador in france. full particulars of this double marriage will be found in dugdale's _antiquities of warwickshire_. the extract from d'israeli's _amenities of literature_ relates to charges against leicester, which will be found at large in _leicester's commonwealth_, written by parsons the jesuit,--a work, however, which must be received with great caution, from the author's well-known enmity to the earl of leicester, and his hatred to the puritans, who were protected by that nobleman's powerful influence. w.j. havre. _new edition of milton_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the rev. j. mitford, as i have understood, is employed upon a new edition of milton's works, both prose and verse, to be published by mr. pickering. i may mention, by the way, that the sentence from strada, "cupido gloriae, quae etiam sapientibus novissima exuitur," which is quoted by mr. mitford on lycidas, aldine edition, v. . ("fame, that last infirmity of noble minds"), is borrowed from tacitus _hist_. iv. . compare _athenæus_, xi. . § . p. . d., where plato is represented as saying:-- "[greek: eschaton ton taes doxaes chitona en to thanato auto apoduometha.]" will you allow me to add, that the quotation from seneca in vol. i., p. . of "notes and queries" is from the _nat. quaest. proef_. j.e.b. mayor. marlborough college, june . _christian captives_ (vol. i., p. .).--there is an unfortunate hiatus in the accounts of this parish from to , which prevents my stating positively the amount of the collection here made; but in , jan ., there occurs the following:-- "item. to mr. day for copying ouer the fower parts that was gathered in the parish for the reliefe of slaues in algiears - - - - " mr. day was curate of ecclesfield at that time; and in another part of the book there is, in his handwriting, a subscription list, which, though only headed "colected by hous row for the ..." is more than probably the copy referred to. from it the totals collected appear to have been,-- _s_. _d_. ecclesfield - / greno firth southey soke wadsley £ - / the above are the four byerlaws, or divisions of the parish, and the four churchwardens used separately to collect in their respective byerlaws; and then a fair copy of the whole was made out by the curate or schoolmaster. an ordinary collection in church, upon a brief, averaged _s_. _d_. at this period. j. eastwood. ecclesfield. _borrowed thoughts_ (vol. i., p. .).--the number of "notes and queries" here alluded to has unluckily not reached me; but in vol. ii., p. ., i observe that your correspondent c., in correcting one error, has inadvertently committed another. monsieur de la palisse is the hero alluded to in the popular song which was written at the commencement of the eighteenth century by bernard de la monnoye, upon the old ballad, composed after the battle of pavia, and commencing,-- "hélas! la palice est mort, il est mort devant pavie; hélas! s'il n'estait pas mort, il serait encore en vie!" w.j. havre. _north sides of churchyards_ (vol. ii., p. .).--a portion of many churchyards is said to have been left unconsecrated, though not to be used as playground for the youth of the parish, but for the burial of excommunicated persons. this was { } not, however, always on the north side of the church, as is evident from the following extract from the register of hart, durham:-- "dec. . , ellen thompson, fornicatrix (and then excommunicated), was buried of Þe people in Þe chaer at the entrance unto Þe Þeate or stile of Þe churchyard, on the east thereof." nor is the north side of the church always the less favourite part for burial. i could name many instances where this is the only part used. the churchyard now within two hundred yards of me contains about an acre of ground; the larger portion of which lies to the south of the church, but has been very little used for sepulture till of late years, though the churchyard is very ancient. even now the poor have an objection to bury their friends there. i believe the prejudice is always in favour of the part next the town or village; that on the other side of the church being generally called "the backside." i find various notices of excommunicated persons being very strangely buried, and in extraordinary places, but i have not as yet met with any act or injunction on the subject. if any of your readers can supply such a document, it would be extremely interesting and useful. w.h.k. d.b. _monastery, arrangement of one_ (vol. i., p. .),--a.p.h., who requests any information respecting the extent, arrangement, and uses of a monastic building, has doubtless consulted fosbroke's _british monachism_. w.j. havre. _churchyards, epitaphs_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i beg to submit the following observations in answer to the queries under this head. fairs, and also markets, were held in churchyards until put a stop to in by an enactment in the edw. i. c. :-- "e communde le rey e defend qe feire ne marche ne seient tenuz en cimeter pur honur de seint eglise." previous to the passing of this act, the king had forbidden the keeping of northampton fair in the church or churchyard of all saints in that town; and bishop grostête, following the monarch's example, had sent instructions through the whole diocese of lincoln, prohibiting fairs to be kept in such sacred places. (see burn's _eccl. law_, tit. "church," ed. .) fairs and markets were usually held on sunday, until the hen. vi. c. . ordered the discontinuing of this custom, with trifling exceptions. appended to the fourth report of the lincolnshire architectural society is a paper by mr. bloxan on "churchyard monuments," from which it appears that in the churchyards of cumberland and cornwall, and in those of wales, are several crosses, considered to be as early as, if not earlier than, the twelfth century: that in the churchyards of the isle of man are other crosses of various dates, from the eighth to the twelfth century and that in some of the churchyards in kent, of which those of chartham, godmersham, and godneston are specified, there are remaining some of the most simple headstone crosses that can be imagined, most of which the writer apprehends to be of the twelfth or thirteenth century, though he adds, "there is no sufficient reason why they should not be of later date." several other instances between the periods particularised are also given. the report is not published, but perhaps a copy might be obtained from the printer, w. edwards, corn market, louth. see further the _archaeological journal_, passim, and mr. cutt's work on _sepulchral crosses and slabs_. the privilege of sanctuary was taken from churchyards, as well as from all other places, in , by the jac. i. c. ., which provides, "that no sanctuary or privilege of sanctuary shall be hereafter admitted or allowed in any case" (sec. .). arun. _umbrella_ (vol. i., p. ; vol. ii., p. .).--seeing that the query respecting this useful article of domestic economy has been satisfactorily answered, may i be allowed to mention that umbrellas are described by the ancients as marks of distinction. pausanias and hesychius report that at alea, a city of arcadia, a feast called scieria was celebrated in honour of bacchus, in which the statue of the rosy god was carried in procession, crowned with vine leaves, and placed upon an ornamental litter, in which was seated a young girl carrying an umbrella, to indelicate the majesty of the god. on several bas-reliefs from persepolis, the king is represented under an umbrella, which a female holds over his head. w.j. havre. _english translations of erasmus' "encomium moriae"_ (vol. i., p. .).--perhaps jarlzberg, who seems interested in the various translations of this admirable work, might like to know of a french translation, with designs from holbein, which i purchased some weeks ago at a sale in a provincial french town. it is entitled _l'eloge de la folie, composé en forme de déclaration par erasme, et traduit par mr. guendeville, avec les notes de gerard listre, et les belles figures de holbein; le tout sur l'oiginal de l'academie de bâle_. amsterdam, chez françois l'honore. . w.j. havre. _lady slingsby_ (vol. ii., p. .).--she was a professional actress, who played under the name of _mrs_. (probably _miss_) _mary lee_, from about to , after which date she is called _lady_ { } _slingsby_, and she played under this title for about five years, when she seems to have quitted the stage. she survived her husband, for "dame mary slingsby, _widow_, of st. james's parish, was buried at pancras, st of march, ." c. _meaning of "bawn"_ (vol. i., p. .).--the poet campbell uses the word _bawn_ as follows:-- "and fast and far, before the star of day-spring, rush'd we through the glade, and saw at dawn the lofty _bawn_ of castle-connor fade." _o'connor's child_. robert snow. _chantrey's sleeping children_ (vol. ii., p. .)--your correspondent plectrum is anxious to know on what grounds i attribute to stothard any part of the design of the monument in lichfield cathedral known as chantrey's "sleeping children?" i will endeavour to satisfy him. the design, suggested, as it were, by the very nature of the commission, was communicated by chantrey to stothard with a request that he would make for him two or three sketches of sleeping children, at his usual price. what stothard did, i have heard my father say, was very like the monument as it now stands. the sketch from which chantrey wrought was given to me by my father a few months before his death, and is now suspended on the wall of the room in which i write. it is a pencil-sketch, shaded with indian ink, and is very stothard-like and beautiful. it wants, however, a certain sculptural grace, which chantrey gave with a master feeling; and it wants the snow-drops in the hand of the younger sister,--a touch of poetic beauty suggested by my father. the carver of the group (the person who copied it in marble) was the late mr. f.a. legé, to whom the merit of the whole monument has been foolishly ascribed. i should be sorry to impress the world with the belief that i mean in any way to detract from the merit of chantrey in making this statement. i have divulged no secret. i have only endeavoured to explain what till now has been too often misunderstood. peter cunningham. the following statement may perhaps give to plectrum the information he requires. dining one day alone with chantrey, in jan. , our conversation accidentally turned upon some of his monuments, and amongst other things he told me the circumstances connected with the monument at lichfield to the two children of mrs. robinson. as i was leaving chantrey, i asked him if i might write down what he had told me; his reply was, "certainly; indeed i rather wish you would." before i went to bed i wrote down what i now send you; i afterwards showed it to chantrey, who acknowledged it to be correct. it was hastily written, but i send it as i wrote it at the time, without alteration. nicholson, the drawing master, taught mrs. robinson and her two children. not long after the death of mr. robinson, the eldest child was burnt to death; and a very short time afterwards the other child sickened and died. nicholson called on chantrey and desired him to take a cast of the child's face, as the mother wished to have some monument of it. chantrey immediately repaired to the house, made his cast, and had a most affecting interview with the unhappy mother. she was desirous of having a monument to be placed in lichfield cathedral, and wished to know whether the cast just taken would enable chantrey to make a tolerable resemblance of her lost treasure. after reminding her how uncertain all works of art were in that respect, he assured her he hoped to be able to accomplish her wishes. she then conversed with him upon the subject of the monument, of her distressed feelings at the accumulated losses of her husband and her two children, in so short a space of time; expatiated upon their characters, and her great affection; and dwelt much upon her feelings when, before she retired to bed, she had usually contemplated them when she hung over them locked in each other's arms asleep. while she dwelt upon these recollections, it occurred to chantrey that the representation of this scene would be the most appropriate monument; and as soon as he arrived at home he made a small model of the two children, nearly as they were afterwards executed, and as they were universally admired. as mrs. robinson wished to see a drawing of the design, chantrey called upon stothard, and employed him to make the requisite drawing from the small model: this was done; and from this circumstance originated the story, from those envious of chantrey's rising fame, that he was indebted to stothard for all the merit of the original design. edw. hawkins * * * * * miscellanies. _separation of the sexes in time of divine service_.--i note with pleasure that traces of this ancient usage still exist in parts of sussex. in poling church, and also in arundel church, the movable seats are marked with the letters m. and w. respectively, according as they are assigned to the men or women. on the first sunday in the year i attended service in arundel church, and observed, with respect to the benches which were placed in the middle of the nave for the use of the poorer classes, that the women as they entered proceeded to those at the eastern end, which were left vacant for them, whilst the men by themselves { } occupied those at the western end. the existence of a distinction of this kind in regard to the open seats only, affords strong proof, if proof were necessary, that it was the introduction of appropriated pews which led to the disuse of else long established, and once general, custom of the men occupying the south side of the nave, and the women the north. b.h.b. _error in winstanley's loyal martyrology_.--winstanley, in _the loyall martyrology_ (london, printed by thomas mabb, ), p. ., says of master gerard, the author of that elaborate herbal which bears his name--"this gallant gentleman, renowned for arts and arms, was likewise at the storming of that (basing) house unfortunately slain." according to johnson, who edited his herbal in , gerard was born at namptwich, in cheshire, in the year ; and died about . basing house was stormed oct. : had gerard served there, he would have been years old. it appears that winstanley has confounded gerard with his editor thomas johnson above mentioned, who was killed during the siege of basing house, anno . (see fuller's _worthies_, vol. iii. p. . edit. . london.) e.n.w. _preaching in nave only.--prayers and preaching distinct services_--in ely cathedral the old and proper custom of sermons being delivered in the nave only is still maintained. and this observance has doubtless led to the continuance of another, which is a sufficient answer to those who object to the length of our service, as it shows that formerly in practice, as still in principle, prayers and preaching were distinct services. in the morning of sunday there is no sermon in either of the parish churches in ely, but prayers only; and those of the respective congregations who wish to hear a sermon remove to the cathedral, where they are joined by the ecclesiastics and others who have "been to choir". consequently, any one may "go to sermon" (i use the language of the place) without having been to prayers, or to prayers in one of the parish churches, or the choir, without necessarily hearing the sermon. i think it would be very interesting, if your widely scattered correspondents would from time to time communicate in your columns such instances of any variation from the now usual mode of celebrating divine service as may fall under their _personal_ observation. b.h.b. * * * * * miscellaneous notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. it has been frequently, more frequently, perhaps than justly, objected to the shakspeare society, that few of its publications bear directly upon the illustration of the works of the great dramatist. that the council would gladly publish works more immediately in connection with shakspeare and his writings, if the materials for them could be found, is proved by the fact of their having just published the _remarks of karl simrock on the plots of shakspeare's plays_, which that gentleman, whose name is honoured by all lovers of early german poetry and romance, appended to the third volume of the _quellen der shakspeare_, a collection of novels, tales, &c., illustrative of shakspeare, which simrock collected and translated in conjunction with echtermeyer and henschel, and which somewhat resembles mr. collier's _shakspeare's library_. the translation of these remarks, made for the society, was placed in the hands of mr. halliwell, and forms, with the notes and additions of that gentleman, a volume containing much new and curious information upon a very interesting point in shakspearian literature. messrs. sotheby and co., of wellington street, will sell on monday, july th, and six following days, a very choice cabinet of coins and medals, the property of a nobleman; and on monday, july th, and five following days, an extensive assemblage of historical, theological, and miscellaneous books. messrs. puttick and simpson, of . piccadilly, announce a sale of splendid engravings by british and foreign artists on monday next. we have received the following catalogues:--william nield's ( . burlington arcade) catalogue no. . of very cheap books; edward stibbs' ( . strand) select catalogue of a collection of books just purchased from a celebrated literary character. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (in continuation of lists in former nos.) drayton's polyolbion. (a perfect copy of any edition.) puleyn's etymological compendium. odd volumes. inglis's ireland. vol. ii. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries", . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents volume the first, _complete with index, may now be had, price _s_. _d_., bound in cloth_. the index, _published last week, is, we trust, sufficiently full to satisfy to the utmost the wishes of our subscribers. we feel that, if called upon at any time to establish the utility of_ notes and queries, _we may confidently point to the index as a proof that the literary inquirer, be his particular branch of study what it may, will not search in vain in our pages for valuable notes and illustrations of it. answers to several correspondents in our next_. errata. no. . p. ., for "d_o_lort" read "d_e_lort," and for "triar_mum_" , read "triar_num_". no. . p. . in the article on "carucate of land" for "acre", read "acras", and for "b_oe_julia", read "b_a_julia". the articles "god save the queen," p. ., and "royal and distinguished interments", p. ., should have been subscripted "f.k." instead of "j.h.m." { } * * * * * the edinburgh review, no. clxxxv., will be published on wednesday next, july th. contents: . quetelet on probabilities. . merivale's history of rome under the empire. . church and state education . mÉrimÉe's history of pedro the cruel. . blackie's aeschylus. . goethe's festival. . guizot on the english revolution. . the african squadron. . the gorham controversy. london: longman and co. edinburgh: a. and c. black. * * * * * now ready, octavo edition. plain, _s_.; quarto edition, having the plates of the tesselated pavements all coloured, _l_. _s_. remains of roman art, in cirencester, the site of ancient corinium: containing plates by de la motte, of the magnificient tesselated pavements discovered in august and september, , with copies of the grand heads of ceres, flora, and pamona; reduced by the talootype from facsimile tracings of the original; together with various other plates and numerous wood engravings. in the quarto edition the folding of the plates necessary for the smaller volume is avoided. london: george bell. cirencester: bailey and jones. norwich: c. muskett. plymouth: r. lidstone. reading: george lovejoy. * * * * * just published, a catalogue of books in various languages, among which will be found many of the works of the fathers, ecclesiastical history, liturgical works, councils, theology and canon law and a selection of many very rare spanish books: offered for sale at the prices affixed (for cash) by charles dolman, . new bond street. ***among other important works are the following:-- £ s. d. alberti magni opera omnia, studio et labore p. jammy, vols. folio, vellum, only amrosii opera, ed. benedictina, vols. folio, large paper arnaud, antoine, oeuvres complettes, vols. in , to., only athanasii opera omnia, editio benedictina, , vols. folio, fine copy, calf, gilt augustini opera omnia, editio benedictina, , vols. in , folio bedae opera omnia, vols. in , folio bibliotheca veterum patrum, de la bigne collecta, vols. in , folio bollandii acta sanctorum, vols. folio, vellum, venice, - , only bullarium romanum, ed. c. coquelines, &c., vols. folio, only chrysostomi opera omnia vols. folio, decisiones rotae romanae recentiores, vols. folio ephraem syri opera omnia, vols, folio gallia christiana, opera d. samarthani, vols. folio hieronymi opera omnia, ed. d vallarsii, vols. folio le quien, oriens christianus, vols. folio menologium graecorum, vols folio origenis opera omnia, ed. de la rue, vols. folio n.b. the catalogue will be forwarded free by post, on receipt of two postage stamps. * * * * * now publishing, the churches of the middle ages. by henry bowman and joseph s. crowthers, architects, manchester. to be completed in twenty parts, each containing six plates, imperial folio. issued at intervals of two months. price per part to subscribers. proofs, large paper, _s_. _d_.; tinted, small paper, _s_.; plain, _s_. _d_. parts to are now published, and contain illustrations of ewerby church, lincolnshire; temple balsall chapel, warwickshire; and heckington church, lincolnshire. "ewerby is a magnificent specimen of a flowing middle-pointed church. it is most perfectly measured and described: one can follow the most recondite beauties of the construction, mouldings and joints, in these plates, almost as well as in the original structure. such a monograph as this will be of incalculable value to the architects of our colonies or the united states, who have no means of access to ancient churches. the plates are on stone done with remarkable skill and distinctness. of heckington we can only say that the perspective view from the south-east presents a very vision of beauty; we can hardly conceive anything more perfect. we heartily recommend this series to all who are able to patronize it." --_ecclesiologist_ oct. . london. george bell., . fleet street * * * * * the primaeval antiquities of england illustrated by those of denmark. the primaeval antiquities of denmark. by j.j.a. worsaae. member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society. with numerous woodcuts. vo. _s_. _d_. "the best antiquarian handbook we have ever met with--so clear is the arrangement, and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well-executed engravings.... it is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquarians."--_morning herald._ "a book of remarkable interest and ability.... mr. worsaae's book is in all ways a valuable addition to our literature.... mr. thoms has executed the translation in flowing and idiomatic english, and has appended many curious and interesting notes and observations of his own."--_guardian._ "the work, which we desire to commend to the attention of our readers, is signally interesting to the british antiquary. highly interesting and important work."--_archaeological journal._ see also the _gentleman's magazine_ for february . oxford: john henry parker, and . strand. london * * * * * preparing for publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations." &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * vols. i. and ii. vo., price _s_. cloth. the judges of england; from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a. "a work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which mr. foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgement as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history."--_gent. mag._ london: longman, brown, green and longman. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, july , . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals, notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, august , . [price threepence stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:--page translations of juvenal--wordsworth dedication to milton by antonio malatesti, by s.w. singer pulteney's ballad of "the honest jury," by c.h. cooper notes on milton folk lore:--high spirits considered a sign of impending calamity or death--norfolk popular rhymes--throwing salt over the shoulder--charming for warts notes on college salting; turkish spy; dr. dee: from "letters from the bodleian, &c.," vols. minor notes:--alarm--taking a wife on trial--russian language--pistol and bardolph--epigram from buchanan queries:-- calvin and servetus etymological queries minor queries:--countess of desmond--noli me tangere--lines in milton's "penseroso"--"mooney's goose"--translation of the philobiblon--achilles and the tortoise--dominicals--yorkshire dales replies:-- tobacco in the east "job's luck," by coleridge, by j. bruce eccius dedolatus replies to minor queries:--hiring of servants--george herbert--lord delamere--execution of charles i.--charade--discursus modestus--"rapido contrarius orbi"--"isabel" and "elizabeth"--hanap--cold harbour miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. translations of juvenal--wordsworth. mr. markland's ascertainment (vol. i., p. .) of the origin of johnson's "from china to peru," where, however, i sincerely believe our great moralist intended not so much to borrow the phrase as to profit by its temporary notoriety and popularity, reminds me of a conversation, many years since, with the late william wordsworth, at which i happened to be present, and which now derives an additional interest from the circumstance of his recent decease. some mention had been made of the opening lines of the tenth satire of juvenal: "omnibus in terris, quae sunt a gadibus usque auroram, et gangem pauci dignoscere possunt vera bona, atque illis multum diversa, remotâ erroris nebulâ." "johnson's translation of this," said wordsworth, "is extremely bad: "'let observation, with extensive view, survey mankind from china to peru.' "and i do not know that gifford's is at all better: "'in every clime, from ganges' distant stream, to gades, gilded by the western beam, few, from the clouds of mental error free, in its true light, or good or evil see.' "but", he added, musing, "what is dryden's? ha! i have it: "'_look round the habitable world_, how few know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue.' "this is indeed the language of a poet; it is better than the original." the great majority of your readers will without doubt, consider this compliment to dryden well and justly bestowed, and his version, besides having the merit of classical expression, to be at once concise and poetical. and pity it is that one who could form so true an estimate of the excellences of other writers, and whose own powers, it will be acknowledged, were of a very high order, should so often have given us reason to regret his puerilities and absurdities. this language, perhaps, will sound like treason to many; but permit me to give an instance in which the late poet-laureate seems to have admitted (which he did not often do) that he was wrong. in the first edition of the poem of peter bell (the genuine, and not the pseudo-peter), london, vo. , that personage sets to work to bang the poor ass, the result of which is this, p. .: "among the rocks and winding crags-- among the mountains far away-- once more the ass did lengthen out more ruefully an endless shout, the long dry see-saw of his horrible bray."{ } after remarks on peter's strange state of mind when saluted by this horrible music, and describing him as preparing to seize the ass by the neck, we are told his purpose was interrupted by something he just then saw in the water, which afterwards proves to be a corpse. the reader is, however, first excited and disposed to expect something horrible by the following startling conjectures:-- "is it the moon's distorted face? the ghost-like image of a cloud? is it a gallows these pourtrayed? is peter of himself afraid? is it a coffin--or a shroud? "a grisly idol hewn in stone? or imp from witch's lap let fall? or a gay ring of shining fairies, such as pursue their brisk vagaries in sylvan bower or haunted hall? "is it a fiend that to a stake of fire his desperate self is tethering? or stubborn spirit doomed to yell in solitary ward or cell, ten thousand miles from all his brethren." "is it a party in a parlour? cramm'd just as they on earth revere cramm'd-- some sipping punch, some sipping tea, but, as you by their faces see, all silent and all damn'd! "a throbbing pulse the gazer hath," &c. part i., pp. , . this last stanza was omitted in subsequent editions. indeed, it is not very easy to imagine what it could possibly mean, or how any stretch of imagination could connect it with the appearance presented by a body in the water. to return, however, from this digression to the subject of translations. in the passage already quoted, the reader has been presented with a proof how well dryden could compress the words, without losing the sense, of his author. in the following, he has done precisely the reverse. "lectus erat codro procula minor."--_juv. sat._ iii. . "codrus had but one bed, so short to boot, that his short wife's short legs hung dangling out!" in the year there was published at oxford, in mo., a translation of the satires of juvenal in verse, by mr. william rhodes, a.m., superior bedell of arts in that university, which he describes in his title-page as "nec verbum verbo." there are some prefatory remarks prefixed to the third satire in which he says: "the reader, i hope, will neither contrast the following, nor the tenth satire, with the excellent imitation of a mighty genius; though similar, they are upon a different plan. i have not adhered rigidly to my author, compared with him; and if that were not the case, i am very sensible how little they are calculated to undergo so fiery an ordeal." and speaking particularly of the third satire, he adds: "this part has been altered, as already mentioned, to render it more applicable to london: nothing is to be looked for in it but the ill-humour of the emigrant." the reader will perhaps recollect, that in the opening of the third satire, juvenal represents himself about to take leave of his friends umbritius, who is quitting rome for canæ: they meet on the road (the via appia), and turning aside, for greater freedom of conversation, into the vallis egeriæ, the sight of the fountain there, newly decorated with foreign marbles, leads to an expression of regret that it was no longer suffered to remain in the simplicity of the times of numa: "in valem egeriæ descendimus, et speluncas dissimiles veris. quanto præstantius esset numen aquæ, viridi si margine clauderet undas herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum?" _sat._ iii. . in imitating this passage, mr. rhodes, finding no fons egeriæ, no numa, and perhaps no muses in london, transfers his regrets from a rivulet to a navigable stream; and makes the whole ridiculous, by suggesting that the thames would look infinitely better if it flowed through grass, as every ordinary brook would do. "next he departed to the river side, crowded with buildings, tow'ring in their pride. how much, much better would this river look, flowing 'twixt grass, like every other brook, if native sand its tedious course beguil'd, nor any foreign ornament defil'd." w ( .) * * * * * dedication to milton by antonio malatesti. dr. todd, in his _life of milton_, ed. , mentions the accidental discovery of a manuscript by antonio malatesti, bearing the following title: "la tina equivoci rusticali di antonio malatesti, c[=o]posti nella sua villa di taiano il settembre dell' anno . sonetti cinqu[=a]nta. dedicati al' iii'mo signore et padrone oss'mo signor giovanni milton, nobil' inghilese." it seems that this ms. had been presented, together with milton's works, to the academy della crusca, by mr. brand hollis, but had by some chance again found its way to england, and was sold by auction at evans's some short time before mr. todd published this second edition of milton's life. i know not if there has been any further notice of this ms., which is interesting as a monument of the respect and attention our great poet received from the most distinguished literary men of italy at the time of his visit, and i should be glad if any of your correspondents can indicate its existence, { } and the place where it is now preserved. when it was on sale, i had permission to copy the title and a few of the sonnets, which were such as we could not imagine would have given pleasure to the chaste mind of milton; each of them containing, as the title indicates, an _équivoque_, which would bear an obscene sense, yet very ingeniously wrapped up. the first sonnet opens thus:-- "queste sonnetti, o tina, ch' i' hó composto, me gl' há dettati una musa buffona, cantando d' improviso, alla carlona, sul suono, spinto dal oalor del mosto." the second may serve to show the nature of the _équivoque_:-- "tina, i' so legger bene, e rilevato la storia di liombrune, e josafatte, se ben, per esser noto in queste fratte sotto il maestro mai non sono stato. "e il lere del dificio m' ha giurato, quand' egli ha visto le poesie ch' i' hó fatte, ch' elle son belle, e i piedi in terra batte, e vuol ch' io mi sia in pisa adottorato. "io canto, quand' io son ben ben satollo, sul chitarrin con voce si sottile, ch'io ne disgrado insien maestro apollo. "vien un poco da me, tina gentile, che s' egli avvien che tu mi segga in collo, m' sentirai ben tosto alzar lo stile." antonio malatesti was a man of mark in his time, being distinguished for his talent as an improvisatore. among his friends were galileo, coltellini, and valerio chimentelli, who have all commendatory poems prefixed to malatesti's "sphinx," a collection of poetical enigmas, which has been frequently reprinted. beside his poetical talent, he studied astronomy, probably under galileo; and painting, in which he was a pupil of lorenzo lippi, author of the "malmantile raqquistato," who thus designates him under his academical name of _amostante latoni_ (canto i. stanza .):-- "e general di tutta questa mandra amostante laton poeta insigne. canta improviso, come un calandra: stampa gli enigmi, 'strologia, e dipigne." malatesti was a member of the academy degli apatisti, of which milton's friends coltellini and carlo dati had been the principal founders. the house of the latter was a court of the muses, and it was at the evening parties there that all who were distinguished for science or literature assembled: "era in firenze la sua casa la magione de' letterati, particolarmente oltramontani, da lui ricevuti in essa, e trattati con ogni sorta di gentilezza."[ ] heinsius, menage, chapelain, and other distinguished foreigners were members of this academy; and it is more than probable that, were its annals consulted, our poet's name would also be found there. s.w. singer. mickleham, july , . [footnote : salvino salvini fasti consolari dell' academia fiorentina, , p. . milton's stay of two months at florence must have been to him a period of pure enjoyment, and seems to have been always remembered with delight:--"illa in urbe, quam prae ceteris propter elegantiam cum linguæ tum ingeniorum semper colui, ad duos circiter menses substiti; illie multorum et nobilium sanè et doctorum hominum familiaritatem statim contraxi; quorum etiam privatas academias (qui mos illie cum ad literas humaniores assiduè frequentavi). tui enim jacobe gaddi, carole dati, frescobalde, cultelline, bonmatthaei, chimentille francine, aliorumque plurium memoriam apud me semper gratam atque jucundam, nulla dies delebit."--_defensio secunda_, p. ., ed. .] * * * * * pulteney's ballad of "the honest jury." on the application for a new trial, in the case of the king _against_ william davies shipley, dean of st. asaph ( ), wherein was raised the important and interesting question, whether in libel cases the jury were judges of the law as well as the fact, lord mansfield, in giving judgment, remarked in reference to trials for libel, before lord raymond: "i by accident (from memory only i speak now) recollect one where the _craftsman_ was acquitted; and i recollect it from a famous, witty, and ingenious ballad that was made at the time by mr. pulteney; and though it is a ballad, i will cite the stanza i remember from it, because it will show you the idea of the able men in opposition, and the leaders of the popular party in those days. they had not an idea of assuming that the jury put it upon another and much better ground. the stanza i allude to is this:-- "'for sir philip well knows, that his _innuendos_ will serve him no longer, in verse or in prose; for twelve honest men have decided the cause, who are judges of fact, though not judges of laws.' "it was the admission of the whole of that party; they put it right; they put it upon the meaning of the _innuendos_; upon _that_ the jury acquitted the defendant; and they never put up a pretence of any other power, except when talking to the jury themselves." in howell's _state trials_ (xxi. .) is a note on this passage. this note (stated to be from the _speeches of hon. thomas erskine_) is as follows:-- "it appears by a pamphlet printed in , that lord mansfield is mistaken. the verse runs thus:-- "'sir philip well knows, that his innuendos will serve him no longer in verse or in prose: for twelve honest men have determined the cause, _who are judges alike of the facts and the laws._'"{ } lord campbell, in his _lives of the chancellors_ (v. .) and _lives of the lord chief justices_ (ii. .), and mr. harris, in his _life of lord chancellor hardwicke_ (i. .), give the lines as quoted by lord mansfield, with the exception of the last and only important line, which they give, after the note to erskine's speeches, as "who are judges alike of the facts and the laws." and lord campbell (who refers to _state trials_, xxi.) says that lord mansfield, in the dean of st. asaph's case, misquoted the lines "to suit his purpose, or from lapse of memory." i know not what is the pamphlet referred to as printed in ; but on consulting the song itself, as given in the th volume of the _craftsman_, ., and there entitled "the honest jury; or, caleb triumphant. to the tune of 'packington's pound,'" i find not only that lord mansfield's recollection of the stanza he referred to was substantially correct, but that the opinion in support of which he cited it is expressed in another stanza besides that which he quoted. the first verse of the song is as follows: "rejoice, ye good writers, your pens are set free; your thoughts and the _press_ are at full liberty; for your _king_ and your _country_ you safely may write, you may say _black_ is _black_, and prove _white_ is _white_; let no pamphleteers be concerned for their ears; for every man now shall be tried by his _peers_. _twelve good honest men_ shall decide in each cause, and be judges of _fact_, tho' not judges of _laws_." in the third verse are the lines lord mansfield cited from memory:-- "for sir philip well knows that _innuen-does_ will serve him no longer in verse or in prose; since _twelve honest men_ have decided the cause, and were judges of _fact_, tho' not judges of _laws_." lord campbell and mr. harris both make another mistake with reference to this ballad which i may perhaps be excused if i notice. they say that it was composed on an unsuccessful prosecution of the _craftsman_ by sir philip yorke, and that this unsuccessful prosecution was subsequent to the successful prosecution of that paper on december rd, . this was not so: sir philip yorke's unsuccessful prosecution, and to which of course pulteney's ballad refers, was in , when francklin was tried for printing "the alcayde of seville's speech," and, as the song indicates, acquitted. c.h. cooper. cambridge, july . . * * * * * notes on milton. (continued from vol. ii., p. ) _comus._ on l. . (g.):-- "after life's fitful fever he sleeps well." _macbeth_, iii. . on l. . (m.):-- "the bridegroom sunne, who late the earth had spoused, leaves his star-_chamber_; early in the _east_ he shook his sparkling locks." fletcher's _purple island_ c. ix. st. . on l. . (m.):-- "and welcome him and his with _joy and feast_." fairfax's _tasso_, b. i. st. . on l. . (d.):-- "for if the sun's bright beams do _blear_ the sight of such as fix'dly gaze against his light." sylvester's _du bartas_. week i. day . on l. . (g.):-- "such reasons seeming plausible." warners _albion's england_, p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "we are a few of those collected here that ruder tongues distinguish _villager_." beaumont and fletcher's _two noble kinsmen_, iii. . on l. . (g.) "unblemished" was originally (_trin. coll. cam. mss._) written "unspotted," perhaps from drayton:-- "whose form unspotted chastity may take," on l. . (g.) add to mr. warton's note, that after the creation of sir robert dudley to be earl of leicester by queen elizabeth in , "he sat at dinner in his _kirtle_." so says stow in _annals_, p. . edit. . on l. . (g.):-- "my wrinckl'd face, grown _smooth as hebe's_." randolph's _aristippus_, p. . to. ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "of frame more than celestial." fletcher's _purple island_, c. . s. . p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "night begins to _muffle up_ the day." wither's _mistresse of philarete_. on l. . (g.):-- "that whiles thick _darkness_ blots the light, my thoughts may cast another _night_: in which _double shade_," &c. cartwright's _poems_, p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "singing to the sounds of _oaten reed_." _drummond_, p. . on l. . (g.):-- "virtue gives herself light thro' darkness for to wade." spenser's _f. queene_. { } (d.) for what is here finely said, and again beautifully expressed (v. .), we may perhaps refer to ariosto's description of the gems which form the walls of the castle of logistilla, or reason:-- "che chi l'ha, ovunque sia, sempre che vuole, febo (mal grado tuo) si può far giorno." _orl. fur_. x. . on l. . (g.):-- "whiles a puft and _rechlesse_ libertine, himselfe the primrose path of dalliance treads, and _reakes_ not his owne reed." _hamlet>_ i. . on l. . (g.):-- "where death and danger _dog_ the heels of worth." _all's well that ends well_, iii. . on l. . (m.):-- "thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just: and he but naked, though locked up in steel, whose conscience with injustice is corrupted." _henry iv._, iii. . on l. . (g.):-- "and now he treads th' _infamous_ woods and downs." ph. fletcher's _eclog._, i. p. . ed. . on l. . (g.) the same sort of compliment occurs in wither's _sheperd's hunting_. (see _gentleman's mag._ for december , p. .) "thou wert wont to charm thy flocks; and among the massy rocks hast so cheered me with thy song, that i have forgot my wrong." he adds:-- "hath some churle done thee a spight? dost thou miss a lamb to-night?" _juvenilia_, p. . ed. mo. . on l. . (m.):-- "not powerful circe with her _hecate rites_." ph. fletcher's _poetical miscellanies_, p. . ed. . on l. . (d.):-- "the soft sweet moss shall be thy bed with crawling woodbine overspread." herrick's _hesperides_, p. . on l. (g.):-- "and flattery to his sinne _close curtain_ draws." ph. fletcher's _purple island_, p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "_his clouted shoon_ were nailed for fear of wasting." ph. fletcher's _purple island_, p. . on l. . (g.) a passage in the spanish tragedy confirms mr. warton's reasoning-- "after them doth hymen hie as fast, _clothed in sable_ and a saffron robe." _old plays_, vol. iii. p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "saw you not a lady come this way on a sable horse _studded with stars_ of white?" beaumont and fletcher's _philaster_, act iv. on l. . (g.):-- "a sweet _vermilian tincture_ stained the bride's fair cheek." quarles' _argalus and parthenia_, p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "_bathed_ in worldly _bliss_." _drayton_, p. . ed. . "the fortunate who bathe in floods of joys." e. of sterline's _works_, p. . ed. . on l. . (d.):-- "the lily-wristed morn." the country life, herrick's _hesperides_, p. . (g.):-- "reacht him her ivory hand." ph. fletcher's _purple island_, p. . on l. . (g.) compare this line of drayton in his _baron's warrs_:-- "of gloomy magicks and benumbing charms." vol. i. p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "through whose _translucent_ sides much light is born." ph. fletcher's _pur. island_, c. . st. . p. . on l. . (m.):-- "all hundred nymphs, that in his rivers dwell, about him flock, with water-lilies crowned." ph. fletcher's _poet. miscell._, p . ed. . on l. . (g.) the use of ambergris, mentioned in warton's note, appears from drayton, v. ii. p. .:-- "eat capons cooked at fifteen crowns apiece, with their fat bellies stuft with ambergrise." on l. . (g.):-- "the wealth of tarsus nor the _rocks of pearl_, _that pave the court of neptune_, can weigh down that virtue." beaumont and fletcher's _philaster_, act iv. on l. . (g.):-- "beset at th' end with emeralds and turches." lingua iv. . _old plays_, v. . p. . ed. . on l. . (m.) mr. warton says this votive address was suggested by that of amoret in the _faithful shepherdess_; but observes that "the form and subject, rather than the imagery, is copied." in the following maledictory address from ph. fletcher's nd eclogue, st. ., the imagery is precisely similar to milton's, the good and evil being made to consist in the fulness or decrease of the water, the clearness or muddiness of the stream, and the nature of the plants flowing on its banks:-- "but thou, proud chame, which thus hast wrought me spite, some greater river drown thy hatefull name; let never myrtle on thy banks delight; but willows pale, the leads of spite and blame, crown thy ungratefull shores with scorn and shame: { } let dirt and mud thy lazie waters seize, thy weeds still grow, thy waters still decrease; nor let thy wretched love to gripus ever cease." p. . ed. . see also the "masque," in beaumont and fletcher's _maid's tragedy_, act i. vol. i. p. . edit. . on l. . (g.):-- "and here and there were pleasant arbors pight, and shadie seats and sundry flowring banks." spenser's _f. queen_, vol. ii. p. . ed. . on l. . (g.):-- "how now! back friends! shepherd, go off a little." _as you like it_, iii. . on l. . (d.) see bethsabe's address to zephyr in tire opening of peele's _david and bethsabe_:-- "and on thy wings bring delicate perfumes." on l. . (d.):-- "her gown should be goodliness well ribbon'd with renown, _purfil'd_ with pleasure in ilk place furr'd with fine fashioun." robert henryson's _garment of good ladies_. see ellis' _spec. of early eng. poets_, i. . j.f.m. * * * * * folk lore. _high spirits considered a sign of impending calamity or death_ (vol. ii., p. .).-- "_westmoreland_. health to my lord, and gentile cousin, mowbray. _mowbray_. you wish me health in very happy season; for i am, on the sudden, something ill. _archbishop of york_. against ill chances, men are ever merry; but heaviness foreruns the good event. _west_. therefore be merry, cos; since sudden sorrow serves to say thus,--some good thing comes to-morrow. _arch_. believe me, i am passing light in spirit. _mow_. so much the worse, if your own rule be true." second part of _king henry iv._, act iv. sc. . in the last act of _romeo and juliet_, sc. , romeo comes on, saying,-- "if i may trust the flattering eye of sleep, my dreams presage some joyful news at hand: my bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne; and, all this day, an unacustom'd spirit lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts." immediately a messenger comes in to announce juliet's death. in act iii. sc. ., of _king richard iii._, hastings is represented as rising in the morning in unusually high spirits. this idea runs through the whole scene, which is too long for extraction. before dinner-time he is beheaded. x.z. _norfolk popular rhymes_.--on looking over an old newspaper, i stumbled on the following rhymes, which are there stated to be prevalent in the district in which these parishes are situated, viz. between norwich and yarmouth:-- "halvergate hares, reedham rats, southwood swine, and cantley cats; acle asses, moulton mules, beighton bears, and freethorpe fools." they seem to proceed simply on the alliterative principle mentioned by j.m.b. (vol. i., p. .) as common to many popular proverbs, &c. two others i subjoin from my own recollection, which differ in this particular:-- "blickling flats, aylsham fliers, marsham peewits, and hevingham liars." these are four villages on the road between norwich and cromer. a third couplet alludes merely to the situation of a group of villages near the sea-coast,-- "gimingham, trimingham, knapton, and trunch, northrepps and southrepps, hang all in a bunch." e.s.t. _throwing salt over the shoulder_.--this custom i have frequently observed, of taking a pinch of salt without any remark, and flinging it over the shoulder. i should be glad to know its origin. e.s.t. _charming for warts_.--in vol. i., p. ., a correspondent asks if the custom of "charming for warts" prevails in england. a year or two ago i was staying in somersetshire, and having a wart myself, was persuaded to have it "charmed." the village-charmer was summoned; he first cut off a slip of elder-tree, and made a notch in it for every wart. he then rubbed the elder against each, strictly enjoining me to think no more about it, as if i looked often at the warts the charm would fail. in about a week the warts had altogether disappeared, to the delight of the operator. n.a.b. * * * * * notes on college salting; turkish spy; dr. dee; from "letters from the bodleian, &c." vols. . having been lately reading through this interesting collection, i have "noted" some references to subjects which have been discussed in your columns. . _college salting. salt at eton montem_ (vol. i., pp. . . . . . .).--i am not quite clear as to the connection between these two subjects: but an identity of origin is not improbable. a letter from mr. byrom to aubrey, "on the custom of salting at eton," nov. . , is in vol. ii. p. .: { } "i could send you a long answer to your queries, but have not the confidence to do it; for all that i can say was only heard from others when i was at school at eton, and if i should depend upon that, perhaps i should make too bold with truth. 'twas then commonly said that the college held some lands by the custom of salting; but having never since examined it, i know not how to account for it. one would think, at first view, considering the foundation was designed for a nursery of the christian religion, and has not been in being much above years, that it is not likely any remains of the gentiles, relating to their sacrifices, should in so public a manner be suffered in it; however, i cannot but own with those that understand anything of antiquity, that the christians very early assumed some rites of the heathens; and probably it might be done with this design,--that the nations, seeing a religion which in its outward shape was something like their own, might be the sooner pursuaded to embrace it. to be free, sir, with you, i am apt to believe, for the honour of that society of which i was once an unworthy member, that the annual custom of salting alludes to that saying of our saviour to his disciples, '_ye are the salt of the earth_;' for as salt draws up all that matter that tends to putrefaction, so it is a symbol of our doing the like in a spiritual state, by taking away all natural corruption.... if this will not please, why may it not denote that wit and knowledge by which boys dedicated to learning ought to distinguish themselves. you know what _sal_ sometimes signifies among the best roman authors: _publius scipio omnes sale facetiisque superabat_, cic.; and terent, _qui habet salem qui in te est_." the editor has a note on this letter:-- "there have been various conjectures relative to the origin of this custom. some have supposed that it arose from an ancient practice among the friars of selling consecrated salt and others, with more probability, from the ceremony of the _bairn_ or _boy_-bishop, as it is said to have been formerly a part of the montem-celebration for prayers to be read by a boy dressed in the clerical habit." a letter from dr. tanner to mr. hearne on _barne_ or _boy-bishops_, is in vol. i., p. . . _the turkish spy_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. .).--the letter or the authorship of this work quoted by dr. rimbault from the bodleian mss., is printed in vol. i. p. .; and i observe that dr. r. has incorporated in his communication the editor's note on the passage. . _dr. dee_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--a letter about dr. dee from mr. ballard to t. hearne occurs in vol. ii. p. . it does not throw light on the question of why dr. dee left manchester college? there are also notes for a life of dee among aubrey's _lives_, appended to these _letters_ (vol. ii. p. .) both letters and notes refer to original sources of information for dee's life. ch. * * * * * minor notes. _alarm_.--a man is indicted for striking at the queen, with intent (among other things) to _alarm_ her majesty. it turns out that the very judge has forgotten the legal (which is also the military) meaning of the word. an alarm is originally the signal to arm: query, is it not formed from the cry _à l'arme_, which in modern times is _aux armes_? the judge said that from the courage of her family, most likely the queen was not alarmed, meaning, not frightened. but the illegal intent to alarm merely means the intent to make another think that it is necessary to take measures of defence or protection. when an _alarm_ is sounded, the soldier who is _not_ alarmed is the one who would be held to be frightened. m. _taking a wife on trial_.--the following note was made upon reading _the historical and genealogical account of the clan of maclean_, by a seneachie, published by smith, elder, and co., london, . it may be thought worthy of a corner amongst the notes on folk lore, which form so curious and entertaining a portion of the "notes and queries." in the beginning of the year a commission, consisting of the archbishop of glasgow, the bishop of the isles (andrew knox), andrew stewart, lord ochiltree, and sir james hay of kingask, proceeded to the isles with power to summon the chiefs to a conference, for the purpose of intimating to them the measures in contemplation by the government. a meeting for this purpose was held at aross castle, one of the seats of maclean, in mull, at which the principal barons and heads of houses attended. the regulations contemplated had for their object the introduction of an additional number of pious divines, who were to be provided for out of the lands of the great island proprietors; the abolishing a certain remarkable custom which till then prevailed, namely, that of taking a wife on approbation, or, in plain intelligible terms, _on trial_! the following are two examples recorded of this singular custom. john mac-vic ewen, fourth laird of ardgour, had _handfasted_ (as it was called) with a daughter of mac ian of ardnamurchan, whom he had taken on a promise of marriage, if she pleased him. at the expiration of two years he sent her home to her father; but his son by her, the gallant john of invorscaddel, a son of maclean of ardgour, celebrated in the history of the isles, was held to be an illegitimate offspring by virtue of the "handfast ceremony." another instance is recorded of a macneil of borra having for several years enjoyed the society of a lady of the name of maclean on the same principle; but his offspring by her were deprived { } of their inheritance by the issue of his subsequent marriage with a lady of the clanrannald family. these decisions no doubt tended to the abolition of a custom or principle so subversive of marriage and of the legitimacy of offspring. j.m.g. worcester, july . _russian language_.--a friend of mine, about to go to russia, wrote to me some time since, to ask if he could get a _russian grammar in english, or any english books bearing on the language_. i told him i did not think there were any; but would make inquiry. dr. bowring, in his _russian anthology_, states as a remarkable fact, that the first russian grammar ever published was published in england. it was entitled _h.w. ludolfi grammatica russica quæ continet et manuductionem quandum ad grammaticam slavonicam_. oxon. . the russian grammar next to this, but published in its own language, was written by the great lomonosov, the father of russian poetry, and the renovator of his mother tongue: i know not the year, but it was about the middle of the last century. i have a german translation of this grammar "von johann lorenz stuvenhagen: st. petersburgh, ." grotsch, jappe, adelung, &c., have written on the russian language. jappe's grammar, dr. bowring says, is the best he ever met with. i must make a query here with regard to dr. bowring's delightful and highly interesting _anthologies_. i have his russian, dutch, and spanish _anthologies_: _did he ever publish any others_? i have not met with them. i know he contemplated writing translations from polish, servian, hungarian, finnish, lithonian, and other poets. jarltzberg. _pistol and bardolph_.--i am glad to be able to transfer to your pages a shakspearian note, which i met with in a periodical now defunct. it appears from an old ms. in the british museum, that amongst canoniers serving in normandy in , were "wm. pistail--r. bardolf." query, were these common english names, or did these identical canoniers transmit a traditional fame, good or bad, to the time of shakspeare, in song or story? if this is a well-known query, i should be glad to be referred to a solution of it, if not, i leave it for inquiry. g.h.b. epigram from buchanan. doletus writes verses and wonders--ahem--when there's nothing in _him_, that there's nothing in _them_. j.o.w.h. * * * * * queries. calvin and servetus. the fate of servetus has always excited the deepest commiseration. his death was a judicial crime, the rank offence of religious pride, personal hatred, and religious fanaticism. it borrowed from superstition its worst features, and offered necessity the tyrant's plea for its excuse. every detail of such events is of great interest. for by that immortality of mind which exists for ever as history, or through the agency of those successive causes which still link us to it by their effects, we are never separated from the past. there is also an eloquence in immaterial things which appeals to the heart through all ages. is there a man who would enter unmoved the room in which shakspeare was born, in which dante dwelt, or see with indifference the desk at which luther wrote, the porch beneath which milton sat, or sir isaac newton's study? so also the possession of a book once their own, still more of the ms. of a work by which great men won enduring fame, written in a great cause, for which they struggled and for which they suffered, seems to efface the lapse of centuries. we feel present before them. they are before us as living witnesses. thus we see servetus as, alone and on foot, he arrived at geneva in ; the lake and the little inn, the "auberge de la rose," at which he stopped, reappear pictured by the influence of local memory and imagination. from his confinement in the old prison near st. peter's, to the court where he was accused, during the long and cruel trial, until the fatal eminence of champel, every event arises before us, and the air is peopled with thick coming visions of the actors and sufferer in the dreadful scene. who that has read the account of his death has not heard, or seemed to hear, that shriek, so high, so wild, alike for mercy and of dread despair, which when the fire was kindled burst above through smoke and flame,--"that the crowd fell back with a shudder!" now it strikes me, an original ms. of the work for which he was condemned still exists; and i, thinking that others may feel the interest i have tried to sketch in its existence, will now state the facts of the case, and lay my authorities before your readers. "we condemn you, said the council, michael servetus, to be bound and led to champel, where you are to be fastened to a stake, and burnt alive together with your book, as well the printed as the ms." "about midday he was led to the stake. an iron chain encompassed his body; on his head was placed a crown of plaited straw and leaves strewed with sulphur, to assist in suffocating him. at his girdle were suspended his printed books; and the ms. he had sent to calvin." this ms. had been completed in , and sent to geneva for his opinion. calvin, in a letter to farel says: "servetus wrote to me lately, and accompanied his letter with a long volume _of his insanities_." this long volume was the ms. of the "restitutio christianismi," now ready for the press. we { } have seen that it was sent to calvin. it was never returned, but produced in evidence, and burnt with him at the stake. nevertheless, he either possessed another copy or took the pains of writing it afresh, and thus the work was secretly printed at vienna, at the press of balshazar arnoullet in . of this edition, those at frankfort were burnt at the instance of calvin; at geneva, robert stephens sacrificed all the copies which had come into his hands; so that of an edition of one thousand, it is said only six copies were preserved. these facts i owe to the excellent life of calvin by mr. t.h. dyer, recently published by mr. murray. now does the following ms. bear relation to that described as recopied by servetus, from which arnoullet printed? or is it the first rough sketch? can any of your readers say into what collection it passed? the extract is from the catalogue of the library of cisternay dufay, by gabriel martin, paris, vo. , being lot ., p. ., and was sold for livres. "librorum serveti de trinitate codex ms. autographus. in fronte libri apparet note quæ sequitur, manu ipsius defuncti d. du fay exarata. "forsan ipsius auctoris autographus codex hic ms. qui fuit percelebris bibliopolæ basiliensis coelii horatii curionis. videtur prima conceptio (vulgò l'esquisse, en termes de peinture) libri valdè famigerati mich. serveti, a joanne calvino cum ipso serveto combusti, cui titulus, _christianismi restitutio, hoc est totius ecclesiæ apostolicæ ad sua limina vocatio_, &c. &c., typis mandati anno , viennæ allobrogum, vo. pagg. ," concluding with an anecdote of the rarity of the volume. there may be some to whom these "notes" may be of use, others to whom a reply to the "queries" may have interest, and so i send them to you. such mss. are of great historical importance. s.h. athenæum, july . * * * * * etymological queries. any remarks on the meaning and derivation of the following words, will be thankfully received. _rykelot_.--a magpie? _berebarde_.--"in the fever or the _berebarde_." _wrusum_, or _wursum_.--"my wounds that were healed gather new _wrusum_, and begin to corrupt." _deale_.--placed always between two sentences without any apparent connection with either of them. is it an abbreviation of "dieu le sait?" _sabraz_.--"he drinks bitter _sabraz_ to recover his health." _heteneste_.--"inclosed _hetenest_ in a stone coffin or tomb." _schunche_.--"schunche away." _i-menbred_.--"a girdle _i-menbred_." _blodbendes_ of silk. _hesmel_.--"let their _hesmel_ be high _istiled_, al without broach." _irspille_.--"wear no iron, nor haircloth, nor _irspilles_ felles." j. mn. * * * * * minor queries _countess of desmond_.--i should be much obliged if any of your readers would inform me of the manner of the death of catherine fitzgerald, countess of desmond, commonly called the "old countess of desmond," who died in , aged above years,--some say, years. i think i remember reading, some years since, that she died from a fall from a cherry-tree, at the age of years. if so, where can the account be found? k. cheetham hill. _noli me tangere_.--can any of your readers refer me to pictures upon the subject of _noli me tangere_. i want to know what artists have treated the subject, and where their pictures exist. b.r. _line in milton's "penseroso."_--in those somewhat hacknied lines, "and may my due feet never fail," &c., i am somewhat puzzled to understand the expression, "with antique pillars massy _proof_." now what is "proof,"--a substantive or adjective? if the latter, no edition is rightly stopped; for, of course, there should be a comma after "massy;" and then i somewhat doubt the propriety of "proof" for "proved," unless joined with another word, as "star-proof," "rain-proof." if "proof" is a substantive, "massy proof" is in apposition to "antique pillars," and is very meaningless. can any of your readers suggest an explanation? h.a.b. _"mooney's goose."_--as a pendant to "ludlam's dog," i beg to insert the proverb of "full of fun and _fooster_, like mooney's goose," with the hope that your acute and ingenious correspondent d.v.s. may be able to throw some light upon "mooney." let me add that d.v.s. has perhaps somewhat misconceived my brief comment on ludlam, which my regard for conciseness has left some deal obscure; and it does not appear worth while to go over the ground again. i repeatedly heard "dick's hat-band" quoted by lancashire friends exactly as given by southey. does not the variation "cobbler's dog" tend to prove the alliterative principle for which i had been contending? j.m.b. _translation of the philobiblon_.--where can i procure a translation of robert de bury's _philobiblon_? l.s.{ } _achilles and the tortoise_.--where is the paradox of "achilles and the tortoise" to be found? leibnitz is said to have given it solution in some part of his works. there is also a geometrical treatment of the subject by gregoire de s. vincent. will some reading man oblige me with information or reference concerning it. [greek: idiotaes.] _dominicals_.--i am desirous of obtaining information on a subject of much interest to exeter. an ancient payment is made to the rectors of each parish within the city of exeter, called "dominicals," amounting to d. per week from every householder within the parish. payments of a similar nature are made in london, canterbury, and i believe worcester. can any of your numerous readers state the origin of dominicals, and give any information respecting them. w.r.c. _yorkshire dales_.--a pedestrian would be much obliged by being informed if there is any map, guide, or description published, that would serve as a hand-book to the dales in the west riding of yorkshire, between lancashire and westmoreland. * * * * * replies tobacco in the east. in the _edinburgh cabinet library_, vol. iii. p. ., art. "china," it is stated that three species of tobacco have been found in india and in china, under circumstances which can leave no doubt of their being native plants. dr. bigelow (_american botany_, to., vol. ii. p. .) tells us that _nicot. fructicosa_ is said to have been cultivated in the east prior to the discovery of america. linnæus sets down the same as a native of china and the cape of good hope. sir g. staunton says that there is no traditional account of the introduction of tobacco into china; nor is there any account of its introduction into india[ ]; though, according to barrow, the time when the cotton plant was introduced into the southern provinces of china is noted in their annals. bell of antermony, who was in china in , says, "it is reported the chinese have had the use of tobacco for many ages," &c.--_travels_, vol. ii. p. ., lond. ed. to. . ledyard says, the tartars have smoked from remote antiquity (_travels_, .). du halde speaks of tobacco as one of the natural productions of formosa, whence it was largely imported by the chinese (p. . lond. ed. vo. ). the prevalence of the practice of smoking at an early period among the chinese is appealed to by pallas as one evidence that in asia, and especially in china, the use of tobacco for smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the new world. (see _asiat. journ_., vol. xxii. p. .) the koreans say they received tobacco from japan, as also instructions for its cultivation, about the latter end of the sixteenth century. (authority, i think, hamel's _travels, pink. coll._, vii. .) loureiro states that in cochin china tobacco is indigenous, and has its proper vernacular name. java is said to have possessed it before . dr. ruschenberg says, "we are informed the portuguese met with it on their first visit to java."--_voy. of u.s.s. peacock_, vol. ii. p. , lond. ed. vo. . crauford dates its introduction into java, , but admits that the natives had traditions of having possessed it long before. (_indian archipelago_, vol. i. pp. . , . vo.) rumphius, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, found it universal even where the portuguese and spaniards had never been. savary, in his _parfait négociant_, states that the persians have used tobacco years, and probably received it from egypt. (see _med. chir. review_, , p. .) olearius found it fully established in persia, , only about fifty years after its arrival in england. (lond. , in fol. p. .) chardin states, the persians smoked long before the discovery of america, and had cultivated tobacco time immemorial. "coffee without tobacco is meat without salt."--persian proverb, sale's _koran_, preliminary discourse, . ed. vo. in olearius found the russians so addicted to tobacco that they would spend their money on it rather than bread. (see edit. above quoted, lib. iii. p. .) according to prof. lichtenstein, the beetjuanen smoked and snuffed long before their intercourse with europeans. (_med. and chir. rev._, , p. .) liebault, in his _maison rustique_, asserts that he found tobacco growing naturally in the forest of ardennes. libavius says that it grows in the hyrcinian forest. (ibid.) dr. cleland shows the three last to be falsehoods(?). ysbrants ides found tobacco in general use among the ostiaks and other tribes passed in his route to china, . (harris's _coll._, fol. vol. ii. pp. . and .) the story told of amurath iv. punishing a turk for smoking seems to be a mistake, since amurath only began to reign ; whereas sandys relates the same story of a certain morad bassa, probably murat iii., who began to reign { } , and ended . if this be the case, the turks were smokers before tobacco was known in england.--in persia smoking was prohibited by shah abbas. there were two princes of this name. the first began his reign a.d., died : the second began , died . the proclamation against smoking was probably issued by the first, since (as before mentioned) in olearius found the custom firmly established. if so, the persians must have been early smokers. smoking seems to have obtained at a very remote period among several nations of antiquity. dr. clarke quotes plutarch on rivers to show that the thracians were in the habit of intoxicating themselves with smoke, which he supposes to have been tobacco. the _quarterly review_ is opposed to this. lafitau quotes pomp. mela and solin to show the same; also herodotus and maximin of tyre, as evidences to the same custom prevailing amongst the scythians, and thinks that strabo alludes to tobacco in india. (see, for the scythians, the _universal history_.) logan, in his _celtic gaul_, advances that smoking is of great antiquity in britain. he says that pipes of the celts are frequently found, especially at brannocktown, co. kildare, where in they were dug up in great numbers; that a skeleton dug out of an ancient barrow, actually had a pipe sticking between its teeth when found. (from _anthol. hibern._, i. .) halloran says celtic pipes are found in the bog of cullen. in form, these pipes were very similar to those in use at this day. eulia effendi mentions having found a tobacco pipe, still in good preservation, and retaining a smell of smoke, embeded in the wall of a grecian edifice more ancient than the birth of mahomet. (_med. chir. rev._ , p. .) this dr. cleland proves to be a lie(?). he proves the same of chardin, bell of antermony, mr. murray, pallas, rumphius, savary, &c. masson describes a "chillum," or smoking apparatus, found embedded in an ancient wall in beloochistan. (_travels_, ii. .) dr. yates saw amongst the paintings in a tomb at thebes the representation of a smoking party. (_travels in egypt_, ii. .) there is an old tradition in the greek church, said to be recorded in the works of the early fathers, of the devil making noah drunk with tobacco, &c. (johnson's _abyssinia_, vol. ii. p. .) nanah, the prophet of the sikhs, was born . supposing him fifty when he published his _ordinances_, it would bring us to , or years before the discovery of america by columbus. in these _ordinances_ he forbade the use of tobacco to the sikhs; but found the habit so deeply rooted in the hindû that he made an exception in their favour. (masson's _beloochistan_, vol. i. p. .) should this be true, the hindû must have been in the habit of smoking long before the discovery of america, to have acquired so inveterate a predilection for it. if the prophecy attributed to mahomet be not a fabrication of after times, it is strongly corroborative, and goes to show that he was himself acquainted with the practice of smoking, viz. "to the latter day there shall be men who will bear the name of moslem, but will not be really such, and they shall smoke a certain weed which shall be called tobacco."--see sale's _koran_, ed. vo. p. . query. is tobacco the word in the original? if so, it is a stumbling-block. lieut. burns, in his _travels_, has the following curious statement: "the city of alore was the capital of a great empire extending from cachemere to the sea. this was conquered by the mahomedans in the seventh century, and in the decisive battle they are reported to have brought fire, &c., in their pipes to frighten the elephants." lieut. burns conjectures that they must have smoked bang, &c., tobacco being then unknown. buchanan's account of the cultivation and preparation of tobacco in mysore, carries with it a conviction that these elaborate processes were never communicated to them by europeans, nor brought in any way from america, where they have never been practised. they strike one as peculiarly ancient and quite indigenous. the rapid dissemination of tobacco, as also of forms and ceremonies connected with its use; its already very extensive cultivation in the remotest parts of the continent and islands of asia, within a century of its introduction into europe, amounts to the miraculous; and particularly when we see new habits of life, and novelties in their ceremonies of state, at once adopted and become familiar, to such otherwise unchangeable people as the orientals are known to be. extraordinary also is the fact that the forms and ceremonies adopted should so precisely coincide (in most respects) with those in use among the american indians, and should not be found in any of the intermediate countries through which we must suppose them to have passed. who taught them the presentation of the pipe to guests, a form so strictly observed by the red men of america, &c.? but the "narghile," the "kaleoon," the "hookah," the "hubble-bubble," whence came they? they are indigenous. great stress is laid on the silence of marco polo, rubruquis,--the two mahomedans, drake, cavendish, and pigafelta; also of the _arabian nights_, on the subject of smoking,--and with reason; but, after all, it is negative evidence: for we have examples of the same kind the other way. sir henry blount, who was in turkey in , describes manners and customs very minutely without a single allusion to smoking, though we know { } that twenty years previously to that date the turks were inveterate smokers. m. adr. balbi insists likewise on the prevalence of the haïtian name "tambaku" being conclusive as to the introduction of tobacco from america. this, however, is not exactly the case: in many countries of the east it has vernacular names. in ceylon it is called "dun-kol" or smoke-leaf; in china, "tharr"--barrow says, "yen." the yakuti (and tungusi?) call it "schaar." the crim tartars call it "tütün." the koreans give it the name of the province of japan whence they first received it. in the tartar (calmuc and bashkir?) "gansa" is a tobacco-pipe. in america itself tobacco has many names, viz. "goia," "gozobba" or "cohobba," "petun," "y'ouly," "yoly," and "uppwoc." are there any proofs of its growing wild in america? at the discovery it was every where found in a state of cultivation. the only mention i have met with is in drake's _book of the indians_[ ], where he says it grew spontaneously at wingandacoa[ ], and was called by the natives "uppewoc." does not this very notice imply something unusual? and might not this have been a deserted plantation? the indians have always looked to europeans for presents of tobacco, which they economise by mixing with willow-bark, the uva-ursi, &c., and there are some tribes totally unacquainted with its use. m'kenzie says, the chepewyans learnt smoking from europeans, and that the slave and dogrib indians did not even know the use of tobacco. in mentioning the silence of early visitors to the east on the subject of smoking, i might have added equally the silence of the norwegian visitors to america on the same subject. a.c.m. exeter, july . . [footnote : there is no positive notice of its introduction into turkey, persia, or russia?] [footnote : book iv., p. ., ed. vo., boston.] [footnote : virginia.] the tobacco-plant does not appear to be indigenous to any part of asia. sir john chardin, who was in persia about the year , relates in his travels, that tobacco had been cultivated there from time immemorial. "honest john bell" (of antermony), who travelled in china about , asserts that it is reported the chinese have had the use of tobacco for many ages. rumphius, who resided at amboyna towards the end of the seventeenth century, found it universal over the east indies, even in countries where spaniards or portuguese had never been. the evidence furnished by these authors, although merely traditional, is the strongest which i am aware of in favour of an asiatic origin for the use of tobacco. mr. lane, on the other hand, speaks of the "introduction of tobacco into the east, in the beginning of the seventeenth century of our era," (_arabian nights_, note . cap. iii.), "a fact that has been completely established by the researches of dr. meyer of konigsberg, who discovered in the works of an old hindostanee physician a passage in which tobacco is distinctly stated to have been introduced into india by the frank nations in the year ." (vide _an essay on tobacco_, by h.w. cleland, m.d. to. glasgow, , to which i am indebted for the information embodied in this reply to z.a.z., and to which i would beg to refer him for much curious matter on the subject of tobacco.) my own impression is, that the common use of _hemp_ in the east, for intoxicating purposes, from a very early period, has been the cause of much of the misconception which prevails with regard to the supposed ante-european employment of "tobacco, divine, rare, super-excellent tobacco," in the climes of the east. j.m.b. * * * * * "job's luck," by coleridge. these lines (see vol. ii., p. .) are printed in the collected editions of the poems of coleridge. in an edition now before me, vols. mo., pickering, , they occur at vol. ii. p. . as printed in that place, there is one very pointed deviation from the copy derived by mr. singer from the crypt. the last line of the first stanza runs thus: "_and_ the sly devil did not take his spouse." in the _gentleman's magazine_ for february, , there is a poem by coleridge, entitled "the volunteer stripling," which i do not find in the collected edition above mentioned. it was contributed to the _bath herald_, probably in ; and stands there with "s.t. coleridge" appended in full. the first stanza runs thus: "yes, noble old warrior! this heart has beat high, when you told of the deeds which our countrymen wrought; o, lend me the sabre that hung by thy thigh, and i too will fight as my forefathers fought." i remember to have read the following version of the epigram descriptive of the character of the world some twenty or thirty years ago; but where, i have forgotten. it seems to me to be a better _text_ than either of those given by your correspondents: "oh, what a glorious world we live in, to lend, to spend, or e'en to give in; but to borrow, to beg, or to come at one's own, 'tis the very worst world that ever was known." j. bruce. * * * * * eccius dedolatus. mr. s.w. singer, for an agreeable introduction to whom i am indebted to "notes and queries," having expressed a wish (vol. ii., { } p. .) "to see and peruse" the rare and amusing satire, entitled _eccius dedolatus, authore joanne-francisco cottalembergio, poeta laureato_, i shall willingly forward to him a quarto volume which contains two copies of it, at any time that an opportunity may present itself. in the meanwhile, he may not have any objection to hear that these are copies of distinct impressions; neither of them intentionally recording place or printer. four separate and curious woodcuts decorate the title-page of one exemplar, which was certainly printed at basil, apud andream cratandrum. the topmost woodcut, dated , is here misplaced; for it should be at the bottom of the page, in which position it appears when employed to grace the title of the facetious _responsio_ of simon hess to luther. the second copy is in gothic letter, and has typographical ornaments very similar to those used at leipsic in the same year. a peculiar colophon is added in the basle edition; and after the words "impressum in utopia," a quondam possessor of the tract, probably its contemporary, has written with indignation, "stulte mentiris!" the duplicate, which i suppose to be of leipsic origin, concludes with "impressum per agrippun panoplium, regis persarum bibliopolam l. simone samaritano et d. juda schariottide consulibus, in urbe lacernarum, apud confluentes rhenum et istrum." professor ranke, referred to by mr. singer, was mistaken in assigning "march, ," as the date of _eccius dedolatus_. the terms "acta decimo kalendas marcii" are, i believe, descriptive of tuesday, the th of february, in that year. perhaps mr. singer may be able to communicate some tidings respecting the apostolic prothonotary simon hess, of whom i have casually spoken. natalis alexander (_hist. eccles._, viii. . paris, ) attributes the humorous production which bears his name ("lege et ridebis," declares the original title-page) to luther himself, amongst whose works it may be seen (tom. ii, fol. - . witeb. ); and it is a disappointment to read in seckendorf, "hessus _simon_. quis hic fuerit, compertum mihi non est." (_scholia sive supplem ad ind. i. histor._, sig. . . _francof_. .) r.g. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _hiring of servants_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it was provided by several old statutes, the first of which was passed in , that all able-bodied persons who had no evident means of subsistence should put themselves as labourers to any that would hire them. in the following year were passed several other acts relating to labourers, by one of which, edward iii. stat. i. c. i., entitled, "the year and day's wages of servants and labourers in husbandry," it was enacted that ploughmen and all other labourers should be hired to serve for the full year, or other usual terms, and not by the day; and further, "that such labourers do carry openly in their hands, in market towns, their instruments of labour, and be there hired in a public place, and not privately." for carrying into effect these provisions, it would be necessary to have certain days, and a fixed place set apart for the hiring of servants. in the former particular, no days would be so convenient as feast days: they were well known, and were days commonly computed from; they were, besides, holidays, and days for which labourers were forbidden to receive wages (_see_ edw. iii. c. . and henry iv. c. .); so that, although absent from labour, they would lose no part of the scanty pittances allowed them by act of parliament or settled by justices. as to the latter requirement, no place was so public, or would so naturally suggest itself, or be so appropriate, as the market-place. thus arose in our own land the custom respecting which w.j. makes inquiry, and also our statute fairs, or statutes; thus called on account of their reference to the various "statutes of labourers." i was not aware that any usage to hire on all festivals (for to such, i take it, your correspondent refers) still existed in england. as to france, i am unable to speak; but it is not improbable that a similar custom in that country may be due to causes nearly similar. arun. _george herbert._--j.r. fox (vol. ii., p. .) will find in major's excellent edition of walton's _lives_ the information he requires. at p. . it is stated that mrs. herbert, the widow of george herbert, was afterwards the wife of sir robert cook, of highnam, in the county of gloucester, knt., eight years, and lived his widow about fifteen; all which time she took a pleasure in mentioning and commending the excellences of mr. george herbert. she died in the year , and lies buried at highnam; mr. herbert in his own church, under the altar, and covered with a gravestone without any inscription. and amongst the notes appended by major to these _lives_, is the following additional notice of herbert's burial-place. the parish register of bemerton states that "mr. george herbert, esq., parson of inggleston and bemerton, was buried the rd day of march, ." "thus he lived and thus he died," says walton, "like a saint, unspotted of the world, full of almsdeeds, full of humility, and all the examples of a virtuous life, which i cannot conclude better than with this borrowed observation: "'--all must to their cold graves; but the religious actions of the just smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust.'" altered from a dirge written by shirley, attached { } to his _contention of ajax and ulysses for the armour of achilles_, lond. , vo. see percy's _reliques of english poetry_, vol. i. p. . j.m.g. worcester, july . _lord delamere_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in mr. thomas lyte's _ancient ballads and songs_, mo. , is a ballad, taken down from tradition, entitled _lord delamere_. it begins as follows, and though different from the opening lines given by mr. peacock, i am inclined to think that it is another version of the same ballad: in the parliament house, a great rout has been there, betwixt our good king and the lord delamere; says lord delamere to his majesty full soon, will it please you, my liege, to grant me a boon? after nine more stanzas, the editor remarks, "we have not, as yet, been able to trace out the historical incident upon which the ballad appears to have been founded, yet those curious in such matters may consult, if they list, _proceedings and debates in the house of commons for and _, where they will find that some stormy debatings in these several years have been agitated in parliament regarding the corn laws, which bear pretty close upon the leading features of the above." edward f. rimbault. _execution of charles i._ (vol. ii., p. .).--p.s.w.e. is referred to _an exact and most impartial accompt of the indictment, arraignment, trial, and judgment (according to law), of twenty-nine regicides, &c._, . therein he will find minutes of the trial and _conviction_ of one "william hulett, alias howlett," on the charge of having struck "the fatal blow." how far the verdict was consistent with the evidence (or, indeed, the whole proceedings of that court with the modern sense of justice), abler judges than i have long since determined. on behalf of the prisoner hulett, witnesses ("not to be admitted upon oath against the king") deposed that the common hangman, richard brandon, had frequently confessed (though he had also denied) that _he_ had beheaded the king. one of these depositions, that of william cox, is so remarkable that i am induced to transcribe it. if it be true, "matfelonensis" is certainly justified in saying, "we need hardly question that richard brandon was the executioner." "_william cox_ examined. "when my lord capell, duke hamilton, and the earl of holland, were beheaded in the palace-yard, in westminster, my lord capell asked the common hangman, said he, 'did you cut off my master's head?' 'yes,' saith he. 'where is the instrument that did it?' he then brought the ax. 'is this the same ax; are you sure?' said my lord. 'yes, my lord,' saith the hangman, 'i am very sure it is the same.' my lord capell took the ax and kissed it, and gave him five pieces of gold. i heard him say, 'sirrah, wert thou not afraid?' saith the hangman, 'they made me cut it off, and i had thirty pound for my pains.'" william franks mathews. _charade_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i think i can answer mr. gatty's query as to the authorship of the charade in question. a schoolfellow of mine at charterhouse wrote the following: "what's that which all love more than life, fear more than death or mortal strife; that which contented men desire, the poor possess, the rich require, the miser spends, the spendthrift saves, and all men carry to their graves?" this was taken from the original copy, and it was certainly his own invention while at school, and was written about five years ago. i have not seen him since, and do not like therefore to give his name. while on the subject of charades, can any of your correspondents inform me of either the authorship or the answer of the following: "sir hilary charged at agincourt-- sooth! 'twas a fearful day! the rufflers of the camp and court had little time to pray. 'tis said sir hilary utter'd there two syllables, by way of prayer-- the first to all the young and proud who'll see to-morrow's sun; the next, with its cold and quiet cloud, to those who'll meet a dewy shroud before to-day's is gone: and both together to all bright eyes, that weep when a warrior nobly dies." i quote from recollection, so perhaps have omitted part, but believe it to be pretty correct. i heard it at the same time as the one quoted in no. ., and believe both to be hoaxes, as no answer i have heard (including that given in no. .) can be considered satisfactory. the former charade was attributed at the time to the late archbishop of canterbury, and it was reported that a reward of l. was promised for the correct answer, and i know that a clergyman sent him an answer with that belief. among the answers suggested was "tapir," taken in its various significations, which i think was as near the mark as "church," as given in no. . i have never heard any answer suggested to sir hilary's dissyllabic prayer. b.h.c. _discursus modestus_ (vol. i., pp. . .).--such of your readers as have been making inquiries and suggestions respecting _discursus modestus_ will { } be glad to hear that a copy exists in the british museum. its title is as follows: "a sparing discoverie of ovr english iesuits, and of fa. parson's proceedings vnder pretence of promoting the catholick faith in england: for a caueat to all true catholicks, ovr very louing brethren and friends, how they embrace such very uncatholike, though iesuiticall deseignments. eccles. . _vidi calumnias quæ sub sole geruntur, et lachrymas innocentium, et neminem consolatorem_.--newly imprinted, ." at the end of the preface are the initials w.w., making it clear that watson, the author of _important considerations_ and the _quodlibets_, was the writer, and accounting for the connection which seemed to exist between the _discursus_ and the _quodlibets_. the two passages quoted by bishop andrewes (_resp. ad apol._ pp. . .) are to be found in p. . but the question now arises, from what earlier book the quotations are taken, as they both appear in the _sparing discovery_ in latin, and not in english? did the jesuits publish a work containing such statements? or are we to accept them as their opinions only on the authority of so bitter an opponent as watson? james bliss. "_rapido contrarius orbi_" (vol. ii., p. .) is in one of the finest passages in ovid: "nitor in adversum nec me qui cætera vincit impetus, et rapido contrarius evehor orbi." c.b. _"isabel" and "elizabeth."_--at pages . and . of vol. i., "notes and queries," are questions and answers on the names of "isabel" and "elizabeth." the following, from the _epigrammaton joannis dunbari_, lond. , may amuse some of your readers: "ad. fredericum principem palatin. rh. "selectam elector sibi quando elegit elisam: verè electoris nomine dignus erat." "ad elishabetham eius sponsam. "el deus est, ish vir, requiem beth denique donat: hine meritò elisabeth nobile nomen habet. scilicet illa deo est motore, et principe primo, principis una sui lausque, quiesque viri." scotus. _hanap_ (vol. i., p. .).--"a cup raised on a stem, either with or without a cover." (_arch. journ._ vol. ii. , p. ., where may be found an interesting account of old drinking vessels, &c., many of them curiously named.) jarltzberg. _cold harbour_ (vol. ii., p. .).--there is a place bearing that designation at gosport, running along side of portsmouth harbour, between the town of gosport and the royal clarence victualling-yard. i am at present aware of none other. j.r. fox. * * * * * miscellaneous notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the "percy society" has just issued _the anglo-saxon passion of st. george_, from a manuscript in the cambridge university library. it is a work highly creditable to the society; and in the interesting introduction prefixed to it by the editor, the rev. c. hardwick, m.a., fellow of st. catharine's hall, he has gratified our national prejudices by showing the favour which the saint from whom we take "our ancient word of courage, fair saint george" enjoyed in england before the norman conquest. mr. hardwick's brief notice of the anglo-saxon allusions to saint george is complete and most satisfactory. messrs. puttick and simpson, of . piccadilly, will sell, on tuesday and wednesday next, the miscellaneous collections of the late rev. j. sundius stamp, including several thousand autograph letters of ever period and class. we need scarcely add that the autographs are classed and catalogued with messrs. p. and s.'s usual tact. we have received the following catalogues:--bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue of italian and french books; william brown's ( . and . old street, st. luke's) catalogue of books connected with wesleyan methodism. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the newe life of virginea, declaring the former successe and present state of that plantation; being the second part of nova britannia. published by the authoritie of his majestie's councell of virginea. london; imprinted by felix kyngston, for william welby, dwelling at the signe of the swan in paul's churchyard. . [a liberal price will be given for a copy in good condition.] letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen_. _the monthly part for july, being the second of vol. ii., is also now ready, price s_. _our valued correspondent at cambridge is assured that we could afford some a satisfactory explanation of the several points referred to in his friendly remonstrance._ * * * * * cambrian archÆological association. the fourth annual meeting will be held at dolgellau, august th to st, . _president_.--w.w.e. wynne, esq., f.s.a. john williams, llanymowddwy, mallwyd, w. basil jones, gwynfryn, machynileth, _general secretaries_. * * * * * rochefoucauld's maxims, with notes. just published, in fcp. vo. price s. d. cloth. moral reflections, sentences, and maxims of francis duc de la rochefoucald. newly translated from the french. with an introduction and notes. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * *{ } the gentleman's magazine and historical review. an historical magazine has long been the great desideratum of our literature. amongst many periodical publications, each appealing to some peculiar or exclusive class, no one has given special attention to that branch of knowledge which engages the feelings of all classes. the gentleman's magazine has stepped forward to occupy this vacant post. arrangements have been effected to secure for its pages contributions from gentlemen eminently conversant with the various branches of historical study, and every endeavour is made to render it a worthy organ and representative of historical as well as of archÆological literature. in its original articles, historical questions are considered and discussed; in its reviews, prominent attention is given to all historical books; its historical chronicle and notes of the month contain a record of such recent events as are worthy of being kept in remembrance; its obituary is a faithful memorial of all persons of eminence lately deceased; and these divisions of the magazine are so treated and blended together as to render the whole attractive and interesting to all classes of readers. every number is illustrated by several plates and vignettes. seven numbers of the new undertaking are before the public, and present a fair example of what the work will henceforth be. the following important subjects have been treated of in some of the recent articles: history of the first appearance of the gypsies in europe. curious deductions from the history of our most common english words, as illustrative of the social conditions of our anglo-saxon and anglo-norman forefathers. recovery of the long lost accusation of high treason made by bishop bonner against sir thomas wyatt the poet. unpublished letters of archbishop land, illustrative of the condition of england in . inquiry into the genuineness of the letters of logan of restalrig, on which depends the historical question of the reality of the gowrie conspiracy. alleged confession of sir walter raleigh of his intention to retrieve his fortune by piracy. three papers containing new facts relating to the life and writings of sir philip sidney the authorship of the fabricated english mercurie, , long esteemed to be the earliest english newspaper. chronicle of queen jane. the maids of taunton--mr. macaulay and william penn. the banquet of the dead--funeral of francis i. two papers on windsor castle in the time of queen elizabeth, with illustrative plates. documents relating to the execution of james duke of monmouth. account of the funeral of amy robsart. the price paid to charles ii. for dunkirk. expenses of the commissioners at the treaty of uxbridge. unpublished letters of dr. johnson, and of the man of ross; and letters of pope and lady wortley montague. notices of the society of gregorians alluded to by pope. who wrote shakspeare's henry viii.? inaccuracy of the common division into acts of king lear, much ado about nothing, and twelfth night. the christian iconography and legendary art of the middle ages; with especial regard to the nimbus and representations of the divinity; with many illustrations. facts for a new biographia britannica, consisting of unpublished documents relating to john locke, anne duchess of albemarle, nat. lee, captain douglas, sir s. morland, dr. harvey, dr. a. johnstone, betterton, rowe, arbuthnot, dennis, and gilbert west. unknown poem by drayton. minutes of the battle of trafalgar. memoirs of jaques l. s. vincent, a celebrated french protestant writer, of vincent de paul, and of paul louis courier. the coins of caractacus. memoir of inigo jones as court-dramatist of james i. and charles i.; with illustations. original letter of princess elizabeth to george iv. relating to the duke of cambridge at hanover. history of rambouillet. mediæval literature of spain. sávitri, an historical poem from the sanscrit. injustice of southey to mrs. barbauld. the lives of dr. chalmers, southey, chantrey, mahomet, tasso, ochlenschläger, plumer ward, and dr. a. combe. the report of the commissioners on the british museum and the present state of the library catalogue. on prisons and prison discipline. on the copyright of foreigners and translators. on the primeval antiquities of denmark; with illustrations. on the discovery of a singular roman temple at the source of the seine. history of pottery; with engravings. villa and tomb of a female gallo-roman artist. full reviews of lord campbell's chief justices; boutell's christian monuments in england, with illustrations; green's lives of the princesses; the historical memoirs of cardinal pacca; inkersley's romanesque and pointed architecture in france; cutt's monumental slabs and crosses, with illustrations; garbett's principles of design in architecture; merivale's history of the romans; col. mure's language and literature of greece; recollections of lord cloncurry; evelyn's diary; townsend's state trials; and shorter reviews of many other important books. every number contains notes of the month, or comments upon all passing literary events; reports of archaeological societies; and historical chronicle. the well-known obituary includes, in the last seven numbers, memoirs of h.r.h. the duke of cambridge; the rt. hon. sir robert peel; the earls of carnarvon, macclesfield, and roscommon; the lords alvanley, aylmer, colville, godolphin, and lord jeffrey; bishops coleridge and tottenham; hon. john simpson; adm. sir c. hamilton, bart.; hon. and rev. sir henry leslie, bart.; sir felix booth, bart.; sir james gibson craig, bart.; sir g. chetwynd, bart.; sir charles forbes, bart.; sir thomas cartwright, g.c.h.; lieut.-gens. sir john macdonald, sir james bathurst, and sir james buchan; major-gen. sir archibald galloway; general craven; col. weare; sir m. i. brunel; admirals sir j. c. coghill, schomberg, and hills; the deans of salisbury, hereford, and bristol; the rev. canon bowles; rev. w. kirby, f.r.s.; rev. doctor byrth; revs. e. bickersteth, t. s. grimshawe, and j. ford; mr. serjeant lewes; william roche, esq.; john mirehouse, esq.; w. c. townsend, esq., q.c.; thomas stapleton, esq.; t. f. dukes, esq.; j. p. deering, esq. r.a.; wordsworth; ebenezer elliott; j. c. calhoun, esq.; colonel sawbridge; lieut. waghorn; miss jane porter; mrs. bartley; madame dulcken; thomas martin, of liverpool; c. r. forrester (alfred crowquill); m. gay lussac; mr. john thom; mr. john glover; mr. r. j. wyatt; madame tussaud. the magazine for august, being the second number of the new volume, _was published on the st of the month, price s. d._ * * * * * nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, august . . proofreading team and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, august , . [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * *{ } contents. notes: sir william gascoigne, by edward foss an old guy, by dr. bell folk lore:--folk lore of south northamptonshire, no. mice, snakes, poultry, crows, owls, cuckoos, &c. minor notes:--hon. a. erskine--gloves--punishment of death by burning--india rubber queries: the "bar" of michael angelo, by s.w. singer annotated copies of bishop andrewes' works minor queries:--robert innes, a grub street poet--sicilian vespers--one bell--treasure trove--poeta anglicus--hornbooks--ben jonson, or ben johnson--ms. book of prayers belonging to queen catherine parr--waltheolf--de combre family--ilda--"de male quæsitis"--westminster abbey--haberdasher--martinet-- "querela cantabrigiensis"--long lonkin replies: treatise of equivocation boethius' consolations of philosophy, by c.h. cooper etymological queries answered, by albert way replies to minor queries:--solingen--blackguard--the three dukes--bonny dundee--was quarles pensioned?--collar of esses--the story of the three men and their bag of money--will. robertson of murton--long meg of westminster--churchwardens' accounts of st. antholin's--the plant "hæmony"--mildew in books--the carpenter's maggot--martello towers--highland kilts--derivation of penny--scarf--smoke-money--common, mutual, and reciprocal--juice cups--curfew--derivation of totnes, &c. miscellaneous: notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. sir william gascoigne. although you and i no doubt unite in the admiration, which all our fellow-countrymen profess, and some of them feel, for our immortal bard, yet i do not think that our zeal as shakspearians will extend so far as to receive him as an unquestionable authority for the facts introduced into his historical plays. the utmost, i apprehend, that we should admit is, that they represent the tradition of the time in which he wrote, and even that admission we should modify by the allowance, to which every poet is entitled, of certain changes adopted for dramatic effect, and with the object of enhancing our interest in the character he is delineating. two facts in his second part of _henry iv_, always referred to in connection with each other, notwithstanding the ingenious remarks on them made by mr. tyler in his _history of henry v._, are still accepted, and principally by general readers, on shakspeare's authority, as undoubtedly true. the one is the incident of prince henry's committal to prison by chief justice gascoigne; and the other is the magnanimous conduct of the prince on his accession to the throne, in continuing the chief justice in the office, which he had shown himself so well able to support. the first i have no desire to controvert, especially as it has been selected as one of the illustrations of our history in the house of lords. frequent allusion is made to it in the play. falstaff's page says to his master, on seeing the chief justice: "sir, here comes the nobleman that committed the prince for striking him about bardolph." and falstaff in the same scene thus addresses gascoigne: "for the box of the ear that the prince gave you,--he gave it like a rude prince, and you took it like a sensible lord. i have checked him for it, and the young lion repents." and gascoigne, when henry refers to the incident in these words: "how might a prince of my great hopes forget so great indignities you laid upon me? what! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison the immediate heir of england! was this easy? may this be wash'd in lethe, and forgotten?" thus justifies himself to the king: "i then did use the person of your father; the image of his power lay then in me: and in the administration of his law, whiles i was busy for the commonwealth, your highness pleased to forget my place,-- the majesty and power of law and justice, the image of the king whom i presented,-- and, struck me in my very seat of judgment; whereon, as an offender to your father, i gave bold way to my authority, and did commit you." { } now this is a relation that we are well content, although unsupported by contemporaneous authority, to receive on tradition; because in the nature of the circumstances we cannot expect to find any authentic evidence of the occurrence. but we should never think of citing these passages as fixing the fact of the _blow_, as chronicled by hall, in opposition to the milder representation of the story as told by sir thomas elliott in "the governour." the bard makes that selection between the two versions which best suits the scene he is depicting. we cannot, however, be so easily satisfied with the second fact,--the reappointment of gascoigne,--thus asserted by shakspeare when making henry say: "you did commit me; for which, i do commit into your hand the unstain'd sword that you have us'd to bear; with this remembrance,--that you use the same with the like bold, just, and impartial spirit, as you have done 'gainst me." we require better evidence for this than tradition, because, if true, better evidence can be adduced. a noble writer has very recently declared that he can "prove to demonstration that sir william gascoigne survived henry iv. several years, _and actually filled the office of chief justice of the king's bench under henry v_." as to the first of these points he implicitly follows mr. tyler's history, who proves that gascoigne died in december , in the seventh year of the fifth henry's reign; but as to the second point, deserting his authority and omitting the dates introduced in it, he entirely fails in supporting his assertion. the assertion, however, having been made in so recent a work, it becomes important to investigate its truth. the only fact that gives an apparent authenticity to the story is that gascoigne was summoned to the first parliament of henry v. as "chief justice of our lord the king." when we recollect, however, that this summons was dated on march , , the day following the king's accession, we must see that his majesty could have had little more time than to command a parliament to be summoned; that the officer who made out the writs would naturally direct them to those peers, judges, and others who were summoned to the preceding parliament; and that the proper title of gascoigne was chief justice until he was actually superseded. this evidence, therefore, is anything but conclusive, and in fact gives very little assistance in deciding the point at issue. it is well known that sir william hankford was gascoigne's successor as chief justice of the king's bench, and the real question is, when he became so. dugdale states that the date of his patent was january , , ten months after king henry's accession; and if this were so, the presumption would follow that gascoigne continued chief justice till that time. let us see whether facts support this presumption. now, hankford was a judge of the common pleas at the end of the previous reign; but he was omitted when his brethren of that court received their new patents from henry v., which were not issued till may , a day or two before easter term. and yet we find the name of hankford in the year-book reports of both that and trinity term; and we find it, not as acting in the common pleas, but as ruling in the king's bench. further, although gascoigne was summoned to the first parliament on march , yet on its meeting on may , he was not present;--added to which, his usual position, as first named legal trier of petitions, was filled by sir william hankford, placed too in precedence of sir william thirning, the chief justice of the common pleas. these facts, so contradictory to dugdale's date, rendered it necessary to refer to the roll. this, by the kindness of mr. duffus hardy (who certainly can never be called the "streict-laced" gaoler of the records, alluded to in your fourth number, vol. i., p. .), has been inspected; and the result is that the date of hankford's appointment, instead of being _january_ , , as stated by dugdale, turns out to be _march_ , ; just eight days after king henry's accession, and ten days previous to his coronation. the peculiar period chosen for this act, and its precipitancy in contrast with the delay in issuing the new patents to the other judges, tend strongly, i am afraid, to deprive us of the "flattering unction" of supposing that it resulted from gascoigne's choice, rather than henry's mandate. nor is the royal warrant of november , henry v. (twenty months afterwards), granting him four bucks and four does yearly, during his life, out of the forest of pontefract, a sufficient proof of favour to countervail the impression created by his early removal. with these facts before us, king henry's supposed generosity in renominating gascoigne can no longer be credited. but, even presuming that none of these facts had been discovered, i must own myself surprised that any one could maintain that gascoigne was ever chief justice to hen. v., with two existing records before him, both containing conclusive proof to the contrary. the first is the entry on the issue roll of july, , of a payment made of an arrear of gascoigne's salary and pension, in which he is called "_late_ chief justice of the bench of _lord henry, father of the present king_." the second is the inscription on his monument in harwood church in yorkshire, where he is described as "_nuper_ capit. justio. de banco hen. _nuper_ regis angliæ _quarti_." i think i may fairly ask whether it is possible to suppose that in either of these records, particularly { } the latter, he would have been docked his title, had he ever been chief justice of the reigning king? allow me to take this opportunity of thanking l.b.l. for his extracts from the hospitaller's survey (vol. ii., p. .), which are most interesting, and, to use a modern word, very _suggestive_. edward foss. street-end house, near canterbury. * * * * * an old guy? no one would at present think of any other answer to a query as to the meaning of this term than that the phrase originated with the scarecrows and stuffed apings of humanity with which the rising generation enlivens our streets on every fifth of november, and dins in our ears the cry, "please to remember the guy," and that it alludes to the christian name of the culprit, guido. have, however, any of your readers met this title, or any allusion to it, in any writer previously to ? and may its attribution to the supposed framer of the gunpowder plot only have been the accidental appropriation of an earlier term of popular reproach, and which had become so since the conversion of the nation to christianity? this naturally heaped contumely and insult upon every thing relating to the druids, and the heathen superstitions of the earlier inhabitants. amongst others, _guy_ was a term by which, no doubt, the druids were very early designated, and is cognate, with the italian _guido_ and our own _guide_, to the latin _cuidare_, which would give it great appropriativeness when applied to the offices of teachers and leaders, with which these lordly flamens were invested. narrowly connected with their rites, the term has descended to the present day, as is decidedly shown in the french name of the mistletoe, _le gui_, and as denoting the priesthood. the common cry of the children at christmas in france, _au gui l'an neuf_, marks the winter solstice, and their most solemn festival; so _ai-guil-lac_, as the name of new year's gifts, so necessary and expensive to a frenchman, which they particularly bear in the diocese of chartres, can only be explained by referring it to the same origin. in the french vocabulary at present this word, as i have before observed, is restricted to the mistletoe, the _viscum album_ of linnæus: but in germany we have pretty much the same conversion of a favourite druidical plant, the trefoil, or shamrock, and the cinquefoil; both of them go in bavaria and many other parts of germany under the name of _truten-fuss_, or druid's foot, and are thought potent charms in guarding fields and cattle from harm; but there too, as with us, possibly the oldest title of guy, the term druid, has grown into a name of the greatest disgrace: "_trute, trute, saudreck_," "druid, druid, sow dirt," is an insulting phrase reserved for the highest ebullitions of a peasant's rage in schwaben and franken. whilst on the subject of the mistletoe, i cannot forbear to mark the coincidences that run through the popular notions of a country in all ages. pliny, in his very exact account of the druidical rites, tells us, when the archdruid mounted the oak to cut the sacred parasite with a golden pruning-hook, two other priests stood below to catch it in a white linen cloth, extremely cautious lest it should fall to earth. one is almost tempted to fancy that shakspeare was describing a similar scene when he makes hecate say "upon the corner of the moon, there hangs a vap'rous drop profound, i'll catch it ere it come to ground." in a very excellent note to dr. giles' translation of richard of cirencester, p. ., he adduces the opinion of dr. daubeny, of oxford, that as the mistletoe is now so rarely found in europe on oaks, it had been exterminated with the other druidical rites on the introduction of christianity. i am not sufficiently botanist to determine how far it is possible to destroy the natural habitat of a plant propagated by extrinsic means, and should be more inclined to account for the difference then and now by supposing that the druids may have known the secret of inoculating a desirable oak with the seeds where birds had not done so, and practised it when necessary. p.s. since writing the above, i recollect that the latin verse, "_ad viscum druidæ_: druidæ clamare solebant," is frequently quoted from ovid, sometimes, and that recently, specifying the fasti. i need not tell you that it is not to be found there, and i wish to inquire if any of the numerous readers of your valuable publication can say where i can meet with it; if classical, it is another remarkable evidence of the endurance of popular customs to the present day. in the following quotation from keyssler's treatise _de visco_, the anklopferleinstag would be also a noisy demonstration dating from druidical times, at a period of the year not far removed from the beginning of november. "in superiori germaniæ parte, marchionatu onolsbacensi comprehensa, cujus inolæ plurimas gentilismi reliquias retinent, regio ipsa multis druidum vestigiis abundat, tempore adventus christi, sive media hyeme (am anklopferleinstag), vulgus per vias et pagos currit malleisque pulsat fores et fenestras indesinenter clamans _gutheyl! gutheyl!_ quod quidem non salutem per christi adventum partam indicat, quasi diceres: gut heyl; bona salus; multo minus fictitam sanctam günthildem, quam rustici illius tractus miris fabulis ac nugis celebrant, sed nomen ipsum visci est." { } the present popular and only german name of the mistletoe, the parent of our english denomination, is _mistel_, which is evidently only _meist-heyl_ (most heal, or healing), the superlative of the above _gut-heyl_, and both wonderfully agreeing with the name which pliny says it bore in his time, _omnia sanans_. william bell, ph.d. * * * * * folk lore. _folk lore of south northamptonshire._--no. . _mice._--a sudden influx of mice into a house, hitherto free from their ravages, denotes approaching mortality among its inhabitants. a mouse running over a person is considered to be an infallible sign of death, as is also the squeaking of one behind the bed of an invalid, or the appearance or apparition of a white mouse running across the room. to meet with a shrew-mouse, in going a journey, is reckoned ominous of evil. the country people have an idea that the harvest-mouse is unable to cross a path which has been trod by man. whenever they attempt, they are immediately, as my informant expressed it, "struck dead." this, they say, accounts for the numbers which on a summer's evening may be found lying dead on the verge of the field footpaths, without any external wound or apparent cause for their demise. _snakes._--there is a very prevalent belief that a snake can never die till the sun is down. cut or hack it as you will, it will never die till sunset. this idea has evidently its source in the amazing vitality common to the species. _poultry._--the crowing of a hen bodes evil, and is frequently followed by the death of some member of the family. when, therefore, dame partlet thus experiments upon the note of her mate, she pays her head as the price of her temerity, a complete severance of the offending member being supposed to be the only way of averting the threatened calamity. no house, it is said, can thrive whose hens are addicted to this kind of amusement. hence the old proverb often quoted in this district: "a whistling woman and a crowing hen, is neither fit for god nor men." according to pluquet, the normans have a similar belief, and a saying singularly like the english one: "un poule qui chante le coq, et une fille qui siffle, portent malheur dans la maison." before the death of a farmer his poultry frequently go to roost at noon-day, instead of at the usual time. when the cock struts up to the door and sounds his clarion on the threshold, the housewife is warned that she may soon expect a stranger. in what is technically termed "setting a hen," care is taken that the nest be composed of an odd number of eggs. if even, the chickens would not prosper. each egg is always marked with a little black cross, ostensibly for the purpose of distinguishing them from the others, but also supposed to be instrumental in producing good chickens, and preventing any attack from the weasel or other farm-yard marauders. the last egg the hen lays is carefully preserved, its possession being supposed to operate as a charm upon the well-doing of the poultry. in some cases, though less commonly, the one laid on good friday is preserved, from the same reason. when a baby is first taken out to see its friends, it is customary for them to give it an egg: this, if preserved, is held to be a source of good fortune to the future man. (vide _brand_, ii. p. .) the first egg laid by a pullet is usually secured by the shepherd, in order to present to his sweetheart,--the luckiest gift, it is believed, he can give her. _crows._--to see a crow flying alone is a token of bad luck. an odd one, perched in the path of the observer, is a sign of wrath. _owls._--the ominous screech of this, the most ominous of all birds, is still heard with alarm; and he remains with us, as in chaucer's days, "the oule eke that of deth the bode bringeth." when, as sometimes happens, he exchanges the darkness of his ivy bush for the rays of the sun at noon-day, his presence is looked upon as indicative of bad luck to the beholder. hence it not infrequently happens that a mortal is as much scared by one of these occasional flights as the small bird denizens of the tree on which he may happen to alight. _cuckoos._--when the cry of the cuckoo is heard for the first time in the season, it is customary to turn the money in the pocket, and wish. if within the bounds of reason, it is sure to be fulfilled. in reference to the pecuniary idea respecting the cuckoo, the children sing, "cuckoo, cuckoo, cherry tree catch a penny and give it to me." _robins and wrens._--the robin is considered a sacred bird: to kill one is little less than sacrilege, and its eggs are free from the destroying hand of the bird-nester. it is asserted that the respect shown to it by man is joined in by the animals of the wood. the weasel and wild cat, it is said, will neither molest it, nor eat it when killed. the high favour in which this bird is held is usually attributed to the ballad of _the babes in the wood_. few, however, among the peasantry of this district have even heard of it; and, however much that beautiful tale may have tended to popularise the belief, it is evident that we must trace the origin to a more remote source. one cause for the veneration in which it is held may be the superstition which represents him as the medium through which mankind are warned of approaching death. { } before the death of a person, a robin is believed, in many instances, to tap thrice at the window of the room in which he or she may be. the wren is also a bird which superstition protects from injury; but it is by no means treated with such reverence as the robin. the praises of both are sung in the old couplet:-- "the robin and the wren, be god a'mighty's cock and hen." _pigeons._--no one, it is believed, can die on pigeons' feathers. in the northern parts of the county, the same thing is said of game feathers,--a superstition also current in kent.--_ingolsby legends_, third series, p. . _wasps._--the first wasp seen in the season should always be killed. by so doing you secure to yourself good luck and freedom from enemies throughout the year. _bees._--the superstitious ceremonies and observances attached to these animals appear to be current throughout the kingdom, and by no means suffer any diminution in this county. among others of less common occurrence, we have the belief that they will not thrive in a quarrelsome fammily. the wild, or, as we term him, the _humble bee_, is not without a share of the superstitions which pertain to his more civilised brethren. the entrance of one into a cottage is deemed a certain sign of death. _spiders._--the small spiders called "money spinners" prognosticate good luck; in order to propitiate which, they must be thrown over the left shoulder. t.y. * * * * * minor notes _the hon. a. erskine._--in j. reed's copy of _boswell's and hon. a. erskine's correspondence_, mo. , was the following note in reed's autograph:-- "the hon. a. erskine was fourth son of the fifth earl of kelley. mr. boswell told me the th of may, , that a.e., having spent all his property, in a fit of despair threw himself from a rock into the sea last winter, and was drowned. his body was found five days after, when it appeared it was a deliberate act, as he had filled his pockets with stones." _gloves._--the question of f.e. (vol. i., p. .), "why are gloves not worn before royalty?" having hitherto received no answer, may probably be as difficult of solution as another custom in which a glove figures as a token of defiance. perhaps, however, covered hands, as well as a covered head, may have been considered discourteous. indeed, we learn frown cobarruvias, in his _tesoro_, that it was so considered in spain:-- "enguantado. el que entra con guantes adonde se le ha de tener a descortesia. el que sirve no los ha de tener delante de su senor: ni vasallo, sea quien fuere, delante de su rey." fo. . b. ed. . the use of gloves must be of very high antiquity. in the middle ages the priest who celebrated mass always, i believe, wore them during that ceremony; but it was just the contrary in courts of justice, where the presiding judge, as well as the criminal, was not allowed to cover his hands. it was anciently a popular saying, that three kingdoms must contribute to the formation of a good glove:--spain to prepare the leather, france to cut them out, and england to sow them. i think the etymology of the word _glove_ is in far from a satisfactory state. it is a good subject for some of your learned philological correspondents, to whom i beg leave to recommend its elucidation. s.w. singer. mickleham, july . . _punishment of death by burning_ (vol. ii., pp. , , .).--your correspondent e.s.s.w. gives an account of a woman burnt for the murder of her husband in , and asks whether there is any other instance of the kind in the latter part of the last century. i cannot positively answer this query, but i will state a circumstance that occurred to myself about the year . passing in a hackney-coach up the old bailey to west smithfield, i saw the unquenched embers of a fire opposite newgate; on my alighting i asked the coachman "what was that fire in the old bailey, over which the wheel of your coach passed?" "oh, sir," he replied, "they have been burning a woman for murdering her husband." whether he spoke the truth or not i do not know, but i received it at the time as truth, and remember the impression it made on me. it is, perhaps, as well to state that there were some fifteen to twenty persons standing around the smouldering embers at the time i passed. senex. _india rubber_ is now so cheap and common, that it seems worth while to make a note of the following passage in the _monthly review_ for feb. . it occurs at p. ., in the article on "a familiar introduction to the theory and practice of perspective, by joseph priestly, ll.d. f.r.s., vo. s., boards. johnson." "our readers, perhaps, who employ themselves in the art of drawing, will be pleased with a transcript of the following advertisement:--'i have seen, says dr. priestly, a substance, excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the marks of a black lead pencil. it must, therefore, be of singular use to those who practise drawing. it is sold by mr. nairne, mathematical instrument-maker, opposite the royal exchange. he sells a cubical piece, of about half an inch, for three shillings; and, he says, it will last several years.'" n.b. * * * * *{ } queries the "bar" of michael angelo. in that delightful volume, _in memoriam_, in which mr. tenyson has so nobly and pathetically enshrined the memory of his friend, arthur hallam, the following passage occurs, pp. , .:-- "to these conclusions, when we saw the god within him light his face, and seem to lift the form, and glow in azure orbits heavenly-wise; and over those ethereal eyes _the bar of michael angelo_." to what does this allude? in the fine profile portrait by julio bonasoni, michael angelo appears to have had a protuberant brow; and condivi says, in his very interesting and detailed account of his person, that his forehead was square, and that, seen in profile ("quasi avanza il naso"), it projected almost beyond the nose. it is remarkable that the same spirit pervades these verses which we find in the platonic breathings of the _rime_ of the great artist; but we are most forcibly reminded of the poet of vaucluse. the grief of the poet for the loss of his friend has however had a happier effect on his mind than the more impassioned nature of that of the lover of laura produced: yet a kindred feeling, of spiritual communion with the lost one, pervades both poets; and this might have been the motto of mr. tenyson's volume:-- "levommi il mio pensiero in parte ov' era quello eh' io cerco, e non ritrovo in terra; ... in questa spera sarai ancor meco, s' el desir non erra." foscolo has remarked that "when a great poet describes his own heart, his picture of _love_ will draw tears from the eyes of every sensitive mortal in every age." and no one can read these effusions of deepfelt virtuous affection without emotions of a happy tendency. s.w. singer. * * * * * annotated copies of bishop andrewes' works. acting on a suggestion given in previous number, i beg to state that i shall be much obliged by the use of any annotated copies of the following works of bp. andrewes, which i am engaged in taking through the press:--_tortura torti; responsio ad apolog. cordius bellarmini; opuscula posthuma; two answers to cardinal perron, &c.; preces privitæ_. james bliss. ogburne st. andrew, near marlborough. * * * * * minor queries. _robert innes, a grub street poet._--is there anything known respecting a strange "madcap," one robert innes, who, according to a printed broadside now before me, was a pauper in st. peter's hospital, ? he was in the habit of penning doggrel ballads and hawking them about for sale. some of them have a degree of humour, and are, to a certain extent, valuable at the present time for their notices of passing events. in one of these now rare effusions, he styles himself "r. innes, o.p.," and in explanation gives the following lines:-- "some put unto their name a.m., and others put a d. and d., if 'tis no harm to mimick them, i adds unto my name o.p. "master of arts, sure i am not, no doctor, no divine i be but oakum picking is my lot, of the same clay are we all three." the "works" of this "rogue and vagabond," now in my possession, were given me by the late mr. catnach of seven dials. edward f. rimbault. _the sicilian vespers._--in what english work can a full and correct narrative of this event be found? c.h. cooper. cambridge, july . . _one bell._--can any of your readers favour me with a reference to some authority for the following, which may be found in southey's _book of the church_ (vol. ii. p. .)? "somerset pretended that one bell in a steeple was sufficient for summoning the people to prayer; and the country was thus in danger of losing its best music." what follows is so beautiful and appropriate, that i may perhaps be excused for lengthening my quotation: "--a music, hallowed by all circumstances, which, according equally with social exultation and with solitary pensiveness, though it falls upon many an unheeding ear, never fails to find some hearts which it exhilarates, and some which it softens." it is a curious fact, that in many towers there may be often found a solitary _black-letter bell_ (if i may so call it), evidently of ante-reformation date, making one of the peal. h.t.e. _treasure trove._--the prejudicial effect which the law of _treasure trove_, as it now exists in this country, has been found to exercise upon the preservation of objects of archaeological interest, especially if such articles happen to be formed of either of the precious metals, is just now exciting the attention of the antiquarian world. any notes upon the state of this law upon the continent, any references to instances of valuable "finds" which have been lost to archaeological investigation through the operation of this law, or to cases in which the decisions of the courts have been given upon questions of this law; in short, any hints { } or information upon any points connected with the subject of _treasure trove_ will be thankfully received by, effessa. _poeta anglicus._--the gloss on the prooemium to the _constitutions of clement v._, col. iv. "corp. jur. can." t. iii. lugd. , has the following remark:-- "et dicitur a _papæ_, quod est, interjectio admirantis, et vere admirabilis: quia vices dei in terris gerit. inde dixit ille anglicus in poetria nova: _papa stupor mundi._ et circa fin., _qui maxima rerum, nec deus es nec homo, quasi neuter es inter utrumque_." who is the anglicus poeta? what is the name of his poem? j.b. _hornbooks._--can either of your numerous intelligent readers give me an account of the hornbooks from which our ancestors learned their letters? if so, i shall feel especially obliged for the information. john timbs. _ben jonson, or ben johnson._--among some papers i possess of the digby family, i have an autograph poem on _the picture of the minde of the lady venetia digby_, by ben "johnson." is this the same as ben "jonson?" and if so, how comes it the "h" has been dropped from his name? or was there some other ben "johnson," a poet of that period? n.a.b. _ms. book of prayers belonging to queen catherine parr._--in vol. ix. of the _gentleman's magazine_ is a description of a ms. book of prayers, bound in silver, which probably belonged to queen catherine parr. can you or any of your numerous readers inform me in whose possession the volume is _now_? j.l.w. _waltheof--de combre family--ilda._--in _waltheof, or the siege of york_, an historical drama published at york, , one of the _dramatis personæ_, judith, the niece of the conqueror, and daughter of the countess of albemarle, is made to say,-- "when gallant _waltheof, as his country's champion_, on bus'ness of high import and high matters, _oft at my royal uncle's court appeared_, ... "we married privately. two years and more have passed since this has happened, and one sweet pledge of love has crowned our vows." now i am anxious to know, . whether there be any historical authority for waltheof being sent as envoy to william? and, if so, on what mission? . is it not the more correct account, that the conqueror gave his niece judith in marriage to waltheof _after_ the surrender of the city, [at the same time that he conferred other honours upon him, out of respect for his brave defence of the city; creating him, first, earl of northhampton and huntingdon, and afterwards earl of northumberland, a.d. .] and if so, as waltheof could certainly not have had any "pledge of love" _before_ the siege of york; so neither is it probable that he had any issue at all by judith, as in the same year, , he was beheaded by william, for supposed participation in a conspiracy at york. the above drama is said to be "by a descendant of one of the _dramatis personæ_," viz. of "de combre, one of william's generals;" being written by rev. thomas comber, of oswaldkirk, yorkshire. this de combre is represented as having married _ilda_, a daughter of king harold, and sister of _edgar_. can any of your correspondents furnish me with information as to the origin and antiquity of this family of comber? i learn from the present representatives of this family, that they have no recorded pedigree which goes higher than the reign of henry vi., but that the family tradition has always been, that their ancestor came over from normandy with william, and married ilda, daughter of harold. it seems that the name of ilda is at this very day borne by one of the family. in the _memoirs of dr. thomas comber, dean of durham_, this de combre is said to have had the manor of barkham, in sussex, given to him by the conqueror. what family had king harold ii.? had he any daughter ilda? and, if so, is there any record or mention of her husband's name? t.e.l.l. th july, . _"de male quæsitis," &c._--spelman's striking argument, that spoliated church property is seldom enjoyed for more than three generations, seems but a special application of a general principle,-- "de male quæsitis gaudet non tertius hæraes." can any of your readers tell me who is the author of the above verse? i find it quoted as "an adage" by john gadsbury, in his work _on the doctrine of nativities_, . r.p. _westminster abbey._--the late sir harry englefield is known to have had access to some of the original fabric accounts of this venerable structure. can any of your readers inform me whether he published the information he may have obtained from those documents; and, if so, where it may be found? j.bt. _haberdasher--martinet._--can any of your correspondents suggest an etymology for the word _haberdasher_? i ought, perhaps, to say that i am acquainted with the derivations propounded by mr. richardson, but consider them all unsatisfactory. while on the subject, i would also ask if mr. richardson's _dictionary_ is considered the best { } source extant of information on english etymology, because i cannot help thinking that it has very many faults and deficiencies. the very word, for instance, on the derivation of which your valuable correspondent mr. forbes offered a suggestion in no. ., viz. _martinet_, i had in vain sought for in mr. richardson's _dictionary_, at least in his quarto edition, . priscian. * * * * * "_querela cantabrigiensis_."--is anything known of the authorship of the _querela cantabrigiensis: or, a remonstrance by way of apologie for the banished members of the late flourishing university of cambridge. by some of the said sufferers. anno dom. _? this seems a favourable time for inserting this query, as there is a chance of _a second series of "the universities' complaint"_ making its appearance before the year is out. j.m.b. * * * * * _long lonkin._--can any of your readers give me a clue to the personality of long lonkin, the hero of a moss-trooping ballad popular in cumberland, which commences-- "the lord said to his ladie, as he mounted his horse, beware of long lonkin that lies in the moss." and goes on to tell how long lonkin crept in at "one little window" which was left unfastened, and was counselled by the wicked maiden to-- "prick the babe in the cradle" as the only means of bringing down the poor mother, whom he wished to kill. are there any other traditions of him, and can he have any connection with the name bestowed by children on the middle finger, in the following elegant rhyme?-- "tom thumbkin, will wilkins, long lonkin," &c.? this i had always supposed merely to refer to the length of the finger, but the coincidence of names is curious. seleucus. * * * * * replies. treatise of equivocation. i can now inform you that the ms. _treatise of equivocation_, about which j.m. inquired (vol. i., p. .), is preserved in the bodleian library (laud, _miscellaneous mss. _.). dodd, in his _church history_ (vol. ii. pp. . .), under the names blackwell and francis tresham, mentions the work by its second title, _a treatise against lying and fraudulent dissimulation_, and states that the ms. is in the bodleian. through the kindness of dr. baudinel, i have seen the tract; and as there is a certain historical interest attached to it, some information on the subject may be acceptable to your readers. but it may be as well first to give the account of its production at the trial of guy fawkes and the conspirators, jan. , . (see _state trials_, vol. ii. col. .) after coke had introduced under the seventh head of his speech, as the fourth means for carrying on the plot, "their perfidious and perjurious equivocating," there follows:-- "and here was showed a book, written not long before the queen's death, at what time thomas winter was employed into spain, entituled, 'a treatise of equivocation,' which book being seen and allowed by garnet, the superior of the jesuits, and blackwell, the archpriest of england, in the beginning thereof garnet with his own hand put out those words in the title of 'equivocation,' and made it thus; 'a treatise against lying and fraudulent dissimulation.' ... and in the end thereof, blackwell besprinkles it with his blessing, saying, 'tractatus iste valde doctus, et vere pius et catholicus est. certe s. scripturarum, patrum, doctorum, scholasticorum, canonistarum, et optimarum rationum præsidiis plenissime firmat æquitatem æquivocationis; ideoque dignissimus est qui typis propagetur, ad consolationem afflictorum catholicorum, et omnium piorum instructionem.'" coke referred to it again at garnet's trial, march , (_state trials_, vol. ii. p. .); and the importance attached to the discovery of the work may be judged of by morton's _full satisfaction_, : a very large part of which is occupied in discussing it. the copy in the bodleian is the one which was produced at the trial. it is a small quarto in a vellum cover, on the outside of which is written, on the front side, in a later hand, "blackwell de equivocatione, &c.;" on the other side, in sir e. coke's hand, "equivocations." it consists of sixty-six pages in all; i.e. two leaves at the beginning originally left blank, and not numbered; sixty-one pages numbered continuously, and fifty-nine of them written on: p. ., that is, the fly-leaf at the end, contains blackwell's imprimatur as described by coke. on the first fly-leaf, at the beginning, is the following memorandum:-- "this booke, contening pages, i founde in a chamber in the inner temple, wherein sr thomas tresham used to lye, and whiche he obteyned for his two younger sonnes. this of december, ." edw. coke. "os quod mentitur occidit animam." it may be enough to remind the reader, that after nov. , , coke, being attorney-general, was engaged in prosecuting the discovery of the plot and seeking for evidence. francis tresham, to whom the authorship is attributed by dodd (vol. ii. p. , .), was a son of sir thomas tresham; his connection with garnet and the plot is well known. sir t. tresham died sept. , . (dodd, vol. ii. p. .) francis had been committed { } to prison, and died nov. , ; and coke found this in searching his chambers a fortnight after. the title originally stood thus:-- "a treatise of equivocation, _wherein is largely discussed the question_, whether a catholicke or any other person before a magistrate being demaunded uppon his oath whether a prieste were in such a place, may (notwithstanding his perfect knowledge to the contrary), without perjury, and securely in conscience answere, no: with this secreat meaning reserved in his minde, that he was not there so that any man is bound to detect it." the words in small capitals and italics occupying the first two lines are crossed out, and "whe-," the first syllable of whether, re-written at the beginning of line . at the end of this title, interlined by another hand, follow the words "_newly, overseer ... ignorants_;" but these words are also struck through and re-written on the preceding leaf, on which, written by the same hand by which the interlineation was made (garnet's, as it would seem), the title stands,-- "a treatise _of_ against lying and fraudulent dissimulation. newly overseen by the authour, and published for the defence of innocency and for the instruction of ignorants." the "_of_", in italics, is struck out. the ms. has other corrections throughout in the same (garnet's) hand; and was evidently prepared for the press, as blackwell's imprimatur implies. i have to apologise for some incorrect dates in my last communication. j.b. * * * * * boethius' consolations of philosophy. the celebrated treatise _de consolatione philosophiæ_, was translated into english verse by john walton, otherwise called johannes capellanus, in the year . a beautiful manuscript on parchment, of this translation, is preserved in the british museum (_harl. ms._ .). other copies are amongst the archives of lincoln cathedral, baliol college, &c. it was printed in the monastery of tavestok in , a copy of which impression is of the utmost rarity. there is an english prose translation by "george colvil, alias coldewell," printed by john cawood, to. . and again, _boethius' five bookes of philosophicall comfort_, translated by j.t., and printed at london in mo., . viscount preston's translation was _first_ printed in vo., . the edition of , mentioned by your correspondent, was the _second_. boethius was again translated by w. causton in , and with notes and illustrations, by the rev. p. ridpath, vo., . the latter is, i believe, an excellent translation; it is accompanied by a life of boethius, drawn up with great care and accuracy. in a translation by r. duncan appeared at edinburgh; and in , an anonymous translation was printed in london. the latter is said to be a miserable performance. king alfred's anglo-saxon version, with an english translation and notes, by j.s. cardale, was printed at london, in vo., . edward f. rimbault. _queen elizabeth's translation of boethius_ (vol. ii., p. .).--one of jarltzberg's inquiries is, "has queen elizabeth's work (which she executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne) been printed?" certainly not: if it had been, it would have been well known. may we venture to anticipate an affirmative reply to another parallel question--does queen elizabeth's translation of _boethius_ exist in manuscript? but where did jarltzberg learn that it was "executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne?" we know that she made such a translation when she was sixty years of age, that is, in october and november, , (see nichols's _progresses, &c., of queen elizabeth_, vol. iii. p. ., and the _gentleman's magazine_ for february last, p. .), and it is a very interesting proof of the continuance of her learned studies at that advanced period of her life; and, as the curious document which records this fact is unnoticed in the last edition of _royal and noble authors_ by mr. park, it is probably a misapprehension that the same task had engaged some of the hours of her captivity; or rather is it not one of those dove-tailing conjectures in which some of our most popular lady-biographers have recently exhibited such extravagant and misplaced ingenuity? john gough nichols. _boethius' consolations of philosophy_ (vol. ii., p. .).--jarltzberg is wrong in supposing that richard viscount preston's translation appeared _first_ in . i have now before me an edition in vo. "london: printed by j.d. for awnsham and john churchill, at the black swan, in paternoster row; and francis hildyard, bookseller in york, mdcxcv." horace walpole, in his _royal and noble authors_, states that the publication in was the "_second_ edition corrected;" and mr. park says in a note, that the first edition was in , vo. c.h. cooper cambridge, june . . * * * * * etymological queries answered. j. mn. (vol. ii., p. .) has propounded a dozen of most recondite and puzzling archaisms, upon which i have to offer a few notes. "_rykelot_, a magpie?"--the popular and provincial names of animals deserve more careful notice than they have received from glossarists. i need scarcely observe how frequently personal names were derived from those of birds. in the { } hundred rolls we find a "richard rikelot" in huntingdonshire (vol. ii. p. .). i know not what has led to the supposition that this name denotes the magpie. it may possibly be traced to the same root as that of a cognate species, the _cornix frugivora; roeck_, germ., according to gesner; friesic, _roek_; ang.-s. _hroc_, the rook: but i am at a loss to discover anything similar in old french to explain the occurrence of the termination, which seems to be a popular or familiar diminutive, a gallicism, analogous to _partlot_. "_wrusum or wursum._"--the latter is the correct reading. trotter brockett includes the word amongst northern provincialisms.--"_wursum_, pus, particularly when foul." jamieson is inclined to derive the word _woursom_ or _worsum_, used in the same sense by douglas, in his translation of virgil, and by other north country writers, from ang.-s. _wyr_, pus, and _sum_, as denoting quality. "_sabraz._"--this term has perplexed me much in preparing notes on the portion of the _promptorium_ i have now in hand. in the harl. ms. . is found "sabrace, _sabracia_, comm." the authority cited, the _commentarius curialium_, is still unknown to me; and i have failed in searching for the word _sabracia_, which is not found in ducange, or other glossaries of debased latinity. mr. halliwell gives "_sabras_, salve, plaster;" but he cites no authority. it appears, however, rather to signify a tonic or astringent solution than a salve. i have hitherto found it only in the following passage (_sloane ms_. ., f. ., late xv. sec.) in a recipe for making "cheuerel lether of perchemyne." the directions are, that it be "basked to and fro" in a hot solution of "alome roche;--aftir take xelkis of eyren and breke hem smale in a disch, as thou woldist make therof a caudel, and put these to thyn alome water, and chaufe it; thanne take it doun fro the fier, and put it in the cornetrey; thanne tak thi lether and basche it wel in this _sabras_, to it be wel drunken up into the lether." a little flour is then to be added, the mixture heated, and the "perchemyn well basked therein, and th't that saberas be wel drunken up into the lether;" and if it enters not well into the leather, "lay it abroad in a good long vessel that be scheld, the fleschside upward, and poure thi _sabrace_ al abouen the lether, and rubbe it wel yn." it is further recommended to "late the lether ligge so still al a nyzt in his owen _sabras_." "_i-menbred_, a girdle i-menbred." (thus, in old french, "menbrer, _membrer_," &c., roquefort). charpentier gives similar use of the latin word,--"membrare, instruere, ornare, gall. garnir;" citing a french document, dated : "item, unam zonam de serico _membratam_ de argento et esmandis;" and another of : "duas zonas de serico, argento stofatas et _membratas_." the term was thus used also in england, as in the inventory of valuables belonging to edward i. in (_liber garderobæ_, p. .):--"una zona, cum cathenis argenti annell' cum targ' et membris argenti." it might be supposed from this expression, that the _membra_ were, strictly speaking, the transverse bars of metals, or _cloux_, fr., by which the girdle was divided into several compartments, the intervening spaces being filled by chased ornaments of goldsmiths' work, and occasionally by armorial scutcheons, "_targie_." but enough for the present. i should esteem it a favour if your correspondent would inform me where these curious terms are found, as the context would greatly facilitate their elucidation. albert way. wonham, reigate, august . * * * * * replies to minor queries. _solingen_ (vol. ii., p. .).--will you allow me to state, for the information of t.s. lawrence, who inquires who s_a_lingen, the sword cutler, was,--that s_o_lingen is the name of a small town near elberfeld, in westphalia; a sort of sheffield for the whole of that part of germany. immense quantities of cutlery of all sorts are made there, and many knives are, i was told, made there, stamped with english names, and imported into england as true british ware,--being equally good with ours, and, of course, cheaper. solingen is still, and has been for centuries, renowned for its sword blades. you cannot ride through the town without meeting a troop or two of girls with a load of sword blades on their heads. may i suggest to your inquirer jarltzberg that the derivation of _blackguard_ is as likely to be _blagarode_, the russian for _nobleman_, as many words are to be descended from their reputed parents. c.b.m. p.c.s.s. believes that a little research would have enabled mr. lawrence (vol. ii., p. .) to ascertain that _solingen_ (not s_a_lingen) was not the name of a sword cutler, but of a place in prussian westphalia, long celebrated for the fabrication of that weapon, as well as of fencing-foils. of the latter instrument p.c.s.s. has several pairs in his possession, all marked with the inscription "in solingen." that the solingen manufactory still flourishes there, is stated in murray's _handbook for northern germany_, p. . p.c.s.s. _blackguard_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the second vol. of b. jonson's works by gifford, page ., there is the following note on this word:-- "in all great houses, but particularly in the royal residences, there were a number of mean, dirty dependants, whose office it was to attend the wool-yard, sculleries, &c.; of these the most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchens, halls, &c. to this smutty regiment, who attended the { } progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, the people in derision gave the name of _black_-guards" i find also the following in butlerts _hudibras_, part .:-- "thou art some paltry, _blackguard_ sprite, condemn'd to drudgery in the night; thou hast no work to do in the house, nor halfpenny to drop in shoes." aredjid kooez. _the three dukes_ (vol. ii., p. .).--perhaps a note which i have just stumbled upon, in a ms. account of the griffin family, may furnish some clue as to "the dukes who killed the beadell." "edward griffin was probably the same person, to whom a pardon was granted, april . , for the death of peter werriel; in the like manner as _was granted to the duke of albemarle and the_ duke of monmouth." at all events, both casualties occurred in the same spring, and a reference to the gazettes of the day would perhaps set the question at rest. braybrooke. audley end. _bonny dundee_ (vol. ii., p. .) is the name attached to one of the most beautiful of the scotch melodies. the song is said to be very old. the words, which i recollect to have heard sung to it more than half a century ago, began: "'o, whar gat ye that hauers-meal bannock, my bonny young lassie, now tell it to me?' 'i got it frae a sodger laddie, between saint johnstone and bonnie dundee." it is clear that it is to the town, not the man (though from the portraits of him he was very handsome), that the epithet applies. my version of the song differs from that given in cromek's burns, and also from allan cuningham's; and i am disposed to think my memory at fault from the so near recurrence of the word "bonnie" in the stanza. neither the date of the birth of viscount dundee, nor his age at the time of his death, is mentioned by the scottish peerage writers, crawford, douglas, or wood. f.r.s.l. and e. _was quarles pensioned?_ (vol. i., p. .).--i believe that no reply has been made to this query. the following passage, transcribed from the "epistle dedicatory" to the surreptitious edition of quarles's _judgment and mercy_, affords a slight negative proof to the contrary: "and being so usefull, i dare not doubt your patronage of this _child_, which survives a _father_ whose utmost abilities were (till death darkened that great light in his soule) sacrificed to your service." now if charles had conferred a pension on quarles, is it not exceedingly probable that the publisher and dedicator, richard royston, would have recalled so honourable a circumstance to the memory of his "most gratious sovereign king charles" in this "epistle dedicatory," when he had so excellent an opportunity of doing so? t.m.b. _collar of esses_ (vol. ii., p. .).--mr. j.g. nichols, in his reply to the query of [greek: phi]., says, that "the judges" are among those who are _now_ privileged to wear these collars. allow me to suggest to him that the privilege among them is limited to the _chiefs_ of the three courts. the other judges certainly now never wear them, and i am unaware that they ever did so. i have a large, though by no means a perfect collection of legal portraits, and there is not one puisne judge or baron so distinguished. the earliest legal worthy who is represented with this collar is in the reign of henry viii., and it adorns not a chief justice, but a chancellor, viz. sir thomas more; and he is the only chancellor upon whose shoulders it appears. this collar is formed by continuous esses, without any ornament between them. it is united in the front by two portcullises, with a rose pendant. the print is from holbein's picture, and presents him as chancellor, with the purse. the first chief justice wearing the collar is sir james dyer, ch.c.p. in the reign of elizabeth. the only difference between it and sir thomas more's is, that the rose is placed between the portcullises. i have another, in a later period of the same reign, of sir christopher wray, ch.k.b., in which the esses are alternated with ornamental knots. i am not aware of any portrait of a chief baron before sir thomas bury, in the first year of george i.; so that i am uncertain whether the collar was previously worn by that functionary. it is curious that during the commonwealth the collar of esses was worn by john glynne, the chief justice of the upper bench, with a difference; that difference being a quatrefoil, instead of the knot, between each s; and a large jewel, surrounded by smaller ones, being substituted for the portcullises and rose. these facts may, i hope, be of some use to mr. j.g. nichols in the volume i am glad to see that he contemplates. i hope he will not forget to answer the other query of [greek: phi]., "under what circumstances, and at what dates, was the privilege of wearing these collars reduced to its present limitation?" edward foss. _the story of the three men and their bag of money_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in _tales, and quicke answers, very mery, and pleasant to rede_, is the following, with the title "howe demosthenes defended a mayde:"-- "there were two men on a time, the whiche lefte a great somme of money in kepyng with a maiden, on this condition, that she shulde nat delyuer hit agayne, except they came bothe to gether for hit. nat lang { } after one of them cam to hir mornyngly arrayde, and sayde that his felowe was deed, and so required the money, and she delyuered it to hem. shortly came the tother man, and required to have the moneye that was lefte with her in kepyng. the maiden was than so sorrowfull, both for lacke of the money, and for one to defend her cause, that she thought to hange her selfe. but demosthenes, that excellent oratour, spake for her and sayd: 'sir, this mayden is redy to quite her fidelitie, and to deliuer agayne the money that was lefte with her in kepyng, so that thou wylt brynge thy felowe with thee to receyue it.' but that he coude not do." this is the th tale in the collection. i cite from the reprint which appeared in , under the title of _the hundred merry tales: or shakspeare's jest book_. c.h. cooper cambridge, july . . the story of _the three men and their bag of money_ (vol. ii., p. .) is here stated to be "in the notes to _rogers's italy_": but it is in the _body_ of the work, as a distinct story, headed, "the bag of gold." robert snow. _will. robertson of murton_ (vol. ii., p. .) is stated by douglas in his _baronage_, p. ., to be descended in the fourth decree from alexander robertson, fifth baron of strowan. the pedigree of robertson of strowan is given in the same vol. f.r.s.l. and e. _long meg of westminster._--i am not quite of dr. rimbault's opinion, that long meg of westminster is a fictitious personage. i believe her to have been as much a real wonton as moll cutpurse was a century later. if the large stone shown as long meg's grave had been anywhere else within the walls of westminster abbey than where it is, i should have had great dockets about the westminster tradition. but long meg, there is reason to believe from the numerous allusions to her in the elizabethan dramatists, was a heroine after the reformation, and her burial, therefore, in the cloisters, where few people of wealth or good reputation were buried between and , seems to me a common occurrence. had islip or esteney buried her among the abbots in the cloister, i could then have joined in dr. rimbault's surprise. i have altered the passage, however, to "marking, the grave, _it is said_." this will meet, i trust, dr. rimbault's objection, though i have gifford to support me in the passage as it at present stands: "there is a penny story-book of this tremendous virago [westminster meg], who performed many wonderful exploits about the time that jack the giant killer flourished. she was buried, as all the world knows, in the cloisters of westminster abbey, where a huge stone is still pointed out to the whitsuntide visitors as her gravestone." --gifford's _ben jonson_, viii. . let me add, that i am much obliged to dr. rimbault, as well as to other correspondents, for corrections and still more valuable additions to my book, printed in "notes and queries." peter cunningham _the churchwardens' accounts of st. antholin's_ (vol. i., pp. , .).--in my additions to mr. cunningham's _handbook for london_, i noticed two folio volumes of churchwardens' accounts, belonging to the parish of st. antholin's, that had _accidentally_ got away from the custody of their proper guardians. this notice roused from his slunbers one of the said guardians, the present overseer of the parish, w.c., junior, who stated in your journal of february . that "the churchwardens' accounts are in good preservation, and present (in an unbroken series) the parish expenditure for nearly three centuries." the worthy overseer also wishes to impress your readers with a belief that i had been misled by thorpe's _catalogue_, and that the books to which i referred were merely _extracts_. in justice to myself, i therefore give the entries in thorpe's _catalogue verbatim as they occur_. your readers will then be better able to judge which is the "true" dromio:-- "the churchwardens' accounts from to of the parish of st. antholin's, london. folio, l. s. "this curious and interesting volume appears to have been kept purposely for the various clergymen to write their receipts for preaching the morning lectures at the above church for nearly a century and a half. it contains the autographs of many eminent divines; among others, john goodwin, r. pearson, j. berriman, j. withers, j. cooksey, r. vann, t. shepperd. w. scott, r. chambre, j. todd, lilly butler, j. botham, c. evans, t. clarke, j. williams, j. povey, j. hotchkis, w. stringfellow, w. pott, c. bancroft, r. clarke, w. gearing, and many others." "the chuchwarden and overseers of the parish of st. antholin's in london, accounts from to inclusive. folio, l. s. "an interesting record of the expenses of this parish for sixty-four years. it commences with the gifts of various sacks of coals, faggots, &c., to the poor, receipts for flesh licences, collections, interest money, the lady martaine's gifts, sir w. craven's gifts, the merchant tailors' company's gifts, mercers' ditto, the company of ironmongers _forty fagots_, the company of mercers a load of charcoal, the gift of the late king james seven loads of newcastle coals,--_this royal bequest appears to have been annual gift for ever. query, if now in payment?_ annual gifts of lady coventry for putting out two poor children born in this parish. lady martin's, and many others, are annual gifts, which ought to be forthcoming to the parish at this time." this last note contains some queries which i should be glad to see answered. edward f. rimbault. { } _the plant "haemony"_ (vol. ii. p. . and p. .).--the mystical meaning of "haemony" is evolved by coleridge in a passage which occurs in his _statesman's manual_, appendix b., and which cannot fail to interest the readers of _comus_. "it is found in the study of the old and new testament, if only it be combined with a spiritual partaking of the redeemer's blood, of which, mysterious as the symbol may be, the sacramental wine is no mere or arbitrary _memento_. this is the only certain, and this is the universal, preventive of all debasing superstitions; this is the true haemony ([greek: haima], blood, [greek: oinos], wine), which our milton has beautifully allegorised in a passage strangely overlooked by all his commentators. bear in mind, reader! the character of a militant christian, and the results (in this life and in the next) of the redemption by the blood of christ, and so peruse the passage." t.m.b. _mildew in books_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent b. suggests that "any hints as to the cause or remedy of _mildew in books_ will be most acceptable". i venture therefore an opinion that the cause is to be found in the defective bleaching and manufacture of the rags from which the paper is made and the careless or intentional admixture of linen with cotton rags. the comparatively modern method of bleaching with oxymuriate of lime, or chlorine in substance, with the ad-libitum and unacknowledged admixture of gypsum (to give weight and firmness to the paper) are, i believe, the true causes of the defects in question, which are to be found more in modern books and prints than in those of an earlier date, and do not arise from damp, as the term "_mildew_" might seem to imply, although the same appearance no doubt arises from that cause alone in the older paper. but paper made and bleached by the processes i have mentioned will become covered with brown spots, however dry it may be kept. i have a folio edition of _la armeria real de madrid_, printed at paris, without date, but subsequently to by the preface. the paper is very stout and fine, and was free from blemish when i purchased it three years ago, but at present it is covered with brown patches, and the beauty of the work destroyed, although it has been kept in a very dry room. for such defects i should be equally delighted with b. to discover a remedy; but i fear that so long as our paper manufacturers study expedition and economy in preference to quality, the case is hopeless. the ashes left after the combustion of a sheet of paper clearly indicate the amount of modern sophistication, and greatly exceed those of more ancient paper. in fact, some paper may now be classed, with more propriety, among mineral than vegetable productions. mildew, arising from damp in old books, may be arrested, if not removed, by exposure to light, air, and a dry atmosphere. henry wilkinson. _the carpenter's maggot_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the ancient tune known as the _carpenter's maggot_, and until lately played at the annual dinner of the livery of the carpenters' company, may be found at p. . of the first volume of a rare work entitled _the dancing master_, sm. obl. . the same volume contains a choice assemblage of "maggots", i.e. barker's maggot, cary's maggot, draper's maggot, hill's maggot, huntington's maggot, m. coppinger's maggot, &c. the word maggot, from the french _magot_, means a whim, or a fancy. the bird "magpie", originally "maggoty-pie," was so called on account of its whimsical drollery. "a maggoty-pated fellow" is often used to imply a _whimsical_ man. i do not trace the word, as applied to a tune, earlier than the end of the seventeenth century. before that time, tunes of a similar description were termed _fancies_. if your correspondent f.t.p. wishes to have a copy of the tune from my volume, he is quite welcome. i append my london address to this reply, in order that he may favour me with a communication. edward f. rimbault. . augustus square, park village east. _martello towers_ (vol. ii., p. . and p. .).--the interesting account of le tellier's defence in corsica, shows clearly what first drew the attention of our government to these forts but e.v.'s queries do not yet seem satisfactorily answered. the late duke of richmond, it is said, gave the plan of the first erected along the british channel. but as to their name and origin i apprehend that (as in the case of charles martel, whose blows also fell so numberless and effectual on the heads of enemies, vol. i., p. .) the old frank word _martel_ is much more likely to have originated the name than any _locality_, town, or tower, in either spain or corsica and the following extract from dr. robertson's _life of charles v._ (bk. c. p. ., vo. ed.) should not be passed over in their history:-- "the commerce of the mediterranean was greatly interrupted by his cruisers (viz. haseen aga's, about ), and such frequent alarms given to the coast of spain, that there was a necessity of erecting watch towers at proper distances, and of keeping guards constantly on foot, in order to descry the approach of his squadrons, and to protect the inhabitants from his descents." the doctor then gives marginal reference to _jovii hist_. l. . p. . for authority. i have not jovius, nor access to him here but i would be obliged by learning whether he gives any and what more specific account of these towers, or how they were called. lambda. { } _highland kilts._--i have waited a "reasonable time" to learn a little about _kilts_ from your correspondents; but seeing that no one has yet entered the arena, i forward an additional glove to cast before any member of the scottish societies luxuriating in london. it is from a work written by one of themselves, hight dr. macculloch, who, in his _highlands and western isles of scotland_ (vol. i. p. .), gives a whole chapter on northern attire, which is well worth attention. to be sure, he is rather merciless on some of sandy's present likings, showing them to be of no standing as to time; and he declares that the kilt resembles the loricated skirts of the roman tunica, only just as much as macedon does monmouth. i will not mention how he laughs at the groups of masquerading highlanders; but will proceed to lay an extract before you, which may incite inquiry and reply: "a few enthusiasts have amused themselves with deriving the highland kilt from one of the dresses of the romans, to which the resemblance is sufficiently vague. these worthy antiquaries forget the anger they feel at the bare notion that the romans ever interfered with the highlanders...." "the roman theory of the kilt is, indeed, demolished at one blow, by the fact, that this article of dress in an independent form, or the philibeg, (feala beg), is of very modern introduction, and, what is still worse, that it was the invention of an englishman. it was first introduced at tyndrum about a century past, (_this was published in_ ), by rawlinson, the superintendent or agent for the lead mines; who, finding his labourers encumbered with their belted plaids, taught them to separate the two into the present form." [greek: s] _derivation of penny._--not from the celtic _pen_, but from the german _pfennig_, _pf_ being softened into _p_, as in _pfau, peacock_, and _ig_ into _y_, as in _hereig, hearty_. b.h.k. _scarf_ (vol. ii, p. .).--the custom of the church for many centuries, which is the authority for the wearing of the scarf, or stole, sanctions the use of it by all orders of the clergy now existing in the church of england, but with certain distinctions in the manner of wearing it. by deacons it is worn, as in ancient times, over the left shoulder only, hanging down before and behind; by priests, over both shoulders, hanging down in front only, and was formerly crossed on the breast and passed through the girdle at the waist; bishops have always worn it over both shoulders, and not crossed. it was once considered in some sort as a mark of authority, and as peculiarly appropriate to preachers; thus the sub-deacon wore no stole, because he had no authority to preach the gospel in public. so in the roman catholic church at the present day, when a number of clergymen are assembled together, except on a few extraordinary occasions, no person wears the stole but the presiding or principal clergyman, and the person who preaches or officiates. the stole was originally a linen handkerchief used for wiping the face, but being afterwards made of embroidered silk and other rich materials, it was retained as a decoration. previous to the reformation, the stole was one of the vestments used in the celebration of the holy eucharist, and consequently, in preaching also, but not at vespers or the ordinary services. the authorities for these statements are paley's _gothic architecture_, the oxford _manual for brasses, popular tracts illustrating the prayer-book_, no. ., and _an explanation of the construction, &c., of a catholic church_. arun. _smoke-money_ (vol. ii., p. .).--it may _contribute_ to answering b.'s query, to know that smoke-pennies are also yearly levied from most of the inhabitants of the new forest, and understood by them to be an indication for their right of cutting peat in the waste of the forest. lambda. _common, mutual, reciprocal._-- . what is equally related to a., b., (c., &c.), is _common_ to them. . what a. and b. entertain, feel, do, &c. towards one another, is said to be _mutual_. . what a. entertains, feels, does, &c. to b. in return for the same entertained, felt, done, &c. by b. towards him, is said to be _reciprocal_. thus: . a., b., (c., &c.), have a _common_ friend x. . a. and b. entertain a _mutual_ esteem for each other. . b. has a regard for a., and a. has a _reciprocal_ regard for b. in the passage quoted by mr. gatty (vol. i., p. .), i think, with deference to the eminent historian whom he cites, that _reciprocal_ should have been written instead of _mutual_. b.h.k. _juice cups._--should no more satisfactory reply to the query of n.b. (vol. ii., p. .) present itself, the following suggestions may be acceptable to him. without pretending to _professional_ knowledge on the point, i conceive that the use of an inverted cup in the centre of a fruit pie is two-fold. it answers the purpose of supporting the crust, which, being usually thin and light, has but little strength in itself, probably less than that of a meat pie, while, by the shrinking of the fruit in baking it is left unsupported: and it further serves, not indeed as some good ladies seem to suppose, to increase the quantity of juice, but to keep a portion of it in reserve; so that the pie may not become too dry when a few spoonfuls of its more liquid contents have been taken out. { } this, i conceive, it effects in the following manner. it contains, when inserted, a considerable quantity of cold air. this expands as the pie is heated in the oven, until it drives out from under the cup all, or nearly all, of the fluid that has originally collected under it; and then, continuing to expand, much of the air escapes through the air-holes of the pie into the oven. as the pie cools, the portion of air remaining under the cup, and which, while heated, was sufficient to fill it, contracts; and then the pressure of the external atmosphere, entering through the air-holes of the pie, and acting upon the surface of the juice round about the cup, forces a portion of it into the cup, just on the same principle that water rises into the chamber or cylinder of a pump when a partial vacuum is formed in it. having once risen into the cup, the same law of hydrostatic pressure keeps it there until the cup is raised sufficiently to admit air under its edge, when the juice of course escapes. j.t.s. _curfew_ (vol. ii., p. .).--your correspondent naboc will find the information he seeks upon this subject in a valuable communication to the _journal of the british archæological association_, vol. iv. p. , by mr. syer cuming. to mr. c.'s list may be added, charter house, london; newport, s.w.; and lowestoft, suffolk. e.b. price. _derivation of totnes._--from the anglo-saxon _toten_ or _totten_, to project, to rise above, and _ness_ or _nes_, nose, (french _nez_, german _nase_, latin _nasus_). tooting, tottenham, &c. b.h.k. _dogs in monuments._--s.s.s. (vol. i., p. .) is informed that a dog, at the feet of monumental effigies of females, is as common as a lion accompanying male figures. it is most probable that the dog was meant to represent affection, fidelity, &c., just as the lion signified courage, generosity, &c. there are, however, some instances (deerhurst, gloucestershire, ingham, norfolk) where the dog's _name_ is inscribed; and then it was doubtless the intention to give a favourite _pet_ the honour of a monument, that of itself, as well as of its mistress, should "witness live in brass." t.s. lawrence. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. it is long since the students of english archæology received a more welcome or valuable addition to their libraries than the recently published _antiquities of richborough, reculver, and lymne, in kent_, by charles roach smith, f.s.a., _illustrated by_ f.w. fairholt, f.s.a. originally intended to have been a volume confined to richborough, of which the well-known collections of mr. rolfe were to form the basis, it has been wisely extended to reculver and lymne, and now forms, both in its literary and pictorial illustrations of those highly interesting localities, a most valuable and instructlve memorial. messrs. sotheby and co. ( . wellington street, strand) will sell on wednesday, the st, and following day, a rare interesting and valuable collection of works, chiefly relating to the history of america, including an early edition of the celebrated letter of columbus, some curious books relating to the quakers and brownists, &c. we have received the following catalogue:--john petheram's ( . high holborn) catalogue (part cxiv., no. . for ) of old and new books. * * * * * books and odd volumes _wanted to purchase._ actio in henricum garnetum, &c. london, . a friendly advertisement to the pretended catholics of ireland, by christopher sibthorp, knt., one of h.m. justices of his court of chief place in ireland. . dublin. _odd volumes._ farmer's magazine and monthly journal of proceedings affecting the agricultural interest (old series), vo. the number for april, . new england judged not by man's but by the spirit of the lord: and the summe sealed up of new england's persecutions, &c. by george bishope, vo. from page to the end. a thousand notable things of sundrie sorts, whereof some are wonderfull, some strang, some pleasant, &c. printed by john haviland, mo. from the beginning to page , and pages to . rump songs. title-page and book ii., page to the end. thomas lyte's ancient ballads and songs, mo. . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to he sent to mr. bell, publisher of notes and queries, . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen_. _the monthly part for july, being the second of vol. ii., is also now ready, price s._ notes and queries _may be procured by the trade at noon on friday; so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels._ c.w.b. _will see in this latter notice an answer to his query._ de baldoc's _query in our next._ pray remember the grotto. _several correspondents who have applied to us respecting the origin of this now popular cry, are referred to_ no. ., p. ., _for a very probable explanation of it._ b.m.e.h. _we believe a life of st. philip neri, who founded the order of the oratory in , has been published by richardson of fleet street._ * * * * *{ } the gentleman's magazine for august price s. d., contains, who wrote shakspeare's henry viii.? contemporary account of the funeral of amy robsart. a record of rambouillet. michael drayton and lodge; by j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a. memoir of paul louis courier: by f. harwell, esq. great literary piracy in the prayer-book published by the ecclesiastical history society. the true principles of church restoration. memoirs of mr. plumer ward. the chronicle of queen jane. the duke of cambridge at hanover: a letter of elizabeth dowager landgravine of hesse homburg to her brother king george the fourth. history of pottery: by joseph marryat (_with three plates_). the college plate at oxford (_with two plates_). a full report of the meeting of the archæological institute at oxford. with notes and correspondence of the month. review of new publications. historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the duke of cambridge, sir robert peel, miss jane porter, w. c. townsend, esq., rev. william kirby, f.r.s., &c. &c. nichols and son, . parliament street. * * * * * just published, s. each plain; s. tinted. parts , and , of reliques of ancient english architecture, from drawings by john johnson, architect, f.s.a. lithographed by alfred newman. contents: hedon church, yorkshire; desborough, northamptonshire; molton, lincolnshire; bingham, notts; billingborough, lincolnshire; st john devizes, wiltshire; aumsby, lincolnshire; terrington st. clements, norfolk. to be completed in twenty parts. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, no. ., price s. (completing the work), gothic ornaments, drawn from existing authorities. by j.k. colling, architect. containing four plain and two coloured plates, and title and index to the second volume. vol. ii. will be ready in a few days. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, pages, price s. a synopsis of authorities on the doctrine of baptism. by j.a. wickham, esq. edited by his son, the rev. h.d. wickham, m.a., exeter college, oxford. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * preparing for publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations," &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * _english historical society's publications,_ all in vo. boards. chronicon ricardi divisiensis de rebus gestis ricardi primi regis angliæ, curante jo. stevenson, s. d. venerabilis bedÆ opera historica minora recensuit jo. stevenson, s. d. willelmi malmesbiriensis monachi gesta regum angelorum, atque historia novella, recensuit t.d. hardy, vols., l. s. codex diplomaticus Ævi saxonici, opera j. m. kemble, vols. ., iv., v., vl., s. each. - rogeri de wendover chronica, sive flores historiarum, edidit h. o. coxe, vols., vo., l. s. - appendix ad roger de wendover flores historiarum, s. f. nicholai triveti, de ordini fratris prædicatorum, annales sex regum angliæ, &c., - recensult thomas hog, s. adami murimuthensis, chronica sul temporis, - , cum eorundem continuatione, a.d. , recensuit t. hog, s. gesta stephani, regis anglorum, s. chronicque de la traÏson et mort de richart deux, roy d'angleterre, par b. williams, vo., s. florentii wigorniensis monachi, chronicon ex chronicis, ad fidem codd. ms. edidit b. thorpe, vols. l. s. - chronicon walteri de hemingburgh, de gestis regum angliæ, ad fidem codd. ms. recensult h. c. hamilton, vols. l. s. - * * * * * the agriculture and rural economy of france, belgium, and holland. by henry colman, esq. vol. vo., pp. , with illustrations, cloth, s. the agriculture and rural economy of great britain and ireland, from personal observation. by henry colman, esq. vols. large vo, with illustrations on wood and steel, cloth, l. s. european life and manners, in familiar letters to friends. by henry colman, esq. vols. post vo., pp. , cloth, s. remarks on church architecture, with two hundred and eighty illustrations. by the rev. j.l. petit, m.a., author of the "remarks on architectural character," vols. vo. cloth, published at l. s., red. to s. a history of england under the anglo saxon kings. translated from the german of dr. j.m. lappenberg, by benjamin thorpe, f.s.a. with additions and corrections by the author and the translator. vols. vo., including several folding genealogical tables (pub. s.), cloth, s., and in various bindings. the ancient exchequer of england; the treasury, and origin of the present management of the exchequer and treasury of ireland with a copious index. by f.s. thomas, secretary of the public record office. vo., closely printed pages, cloth, s. a history of the state paper office, with a view of the documents therein deposited, by f.s. thomas. vo., cloth, s. cyclops christianus: or, an argument to disprove the supposed antiquity of the stonehenge, and other megalithic erections in england and brittany. by a. herbert, late of merton college, and of the inner temple. vo., cloth, s. a catalogue of british portraits. just published. _gratis and post free._ also, a catalogue of books in all classes of literature. part viii. for . _gratis and post free._ john petheram, . high holborn. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, august . . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents notes: reprints of old books, by j.p. collier. catacombs and bone-houses. lines attributed to hudibras. notes from fly-leaves, no. . the pursuits of literature. queries:-- barryana. nine queries by the rev. j. jebb. minor queries:--mowbray coheirs--draytone and yong--fraternity of christian doctrine--treatise by engelbert--new year's day custom--under the rose--norman pedigrees--dr. johnson's library--golden frog--singular motto--sir stephen fox--antony alsop--derivation of calamity, &c. replies:-- field of forty footsteps, by e.f. rimbault. queries answered, no. .--pokership, by bolton corney. mertens the printer. etymology of armagh. matters of the revels, by e.f. rimbault. replies to minor queries:--red maids--poetical symbolism--fraternitye of vagabondes--anonymous ravennas--dick shore--travelling in england--sanuto--darnley's birth-place--history of edward ii., &c. miscellanies:--gray's elegy--shylock--sonnet--the devotee--by hook or by crook--macaulay's young levite--praise undeserved--cowper's "task". miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * english and american reprints of old books most people are aware of the great demand there is for english literature, and indeed for all literature in the united states: for some years the anxiety of persons in that part of the world to obtain copies of our early printed books, prose, poetry, and plays, has been well known to such as collect and sell them on this side of the water. where american purchasers could not obtain original editions they have, in all possible cases, secured reprints, and they have made some themselves. not very long since a present of a most creditable and well-edited republication of "four old plays" was sent to me from cambridge, u.s., consisting of "three interludes: _thersytes_, _jack jugler_, and heywood's _pardoner and frere_; and _jocasta_, a tragedy by gascoigne and kinwelmarsh." they are preceded by a very well written and intelligent, and at the same time modest, introduction, signed f.j.c., the initials of mr. francis james child; who in fact was kind enough to forward the volume to me, and who, if i am not mistaken, was formerly a correspondent of mine in a different part of the republic. my particular reason for noticing the book is to impress upon editors in this country the necessity of accuracy, not only for the sake of readers and critics here, but for the sake of those abroad, because mr. child's work illustrates especially the disadvantage of the want of that accuracy. it so happens that two, if not three, of the pieces included in the cambridge volume, are absolutely unique, and are now in the library of the duke of devonshire. they went through my hands some years ago, and as they had been previously reprinted in london (two of them for the roxburghe club), i took the opportunity of collating my copies of them. the third interlude, which was not reprinted for any society, but as a private speculation, "by george smeeton, in st. martin's church-yard," is heywood's _pardoner and frere_, the full title of which is "_a mery playe betwene the pardoner, and the frere, the curate and neybour pratte_." the original copy has the following imprint: "imprynted by wyllyam rastell the v. day of apryll, the yere of our lorde, m. ccccc. xxx iii." the reprint by smeeton is in black letter, and it professes to be a fac-simile, or as nearly so as possible; and although it consists of only eight leaves, it contains no fewer than forty variations from the original, all more or less important, and one of them the total omission of a line, so that the preceding line is left without its corresponding rhyme, and the sense materially injured. unfortunately, mr. child reprinted in america from this defective reprint in england; but his sagacity prevented him from falling into some of the blunders, although it could not supply him with the wanting line; and his notes are extremely clear and pertinent. i shall not go over the thirty-nine other errors; but i shall just quote the passage as it stands in the (as far as i know) unique copy, now deposited at devonshire house, and supply in italics the necessary line. it occurs in a speech by the pardoner, near the end, where he is praising one of his relics:-- { } "i wyll edefy more, with the syght of it than wyll all the pratynge of holy wryt; for that except that the precher, hym selfe lyue well, his predycacyon wyll helpe neuer a dell, and i know well, that thy lyuynge is nought: _thou art an apostata, yf it were well sought_, an homycyde thou art i know well inoughe," &c. the line omitted is the more remarkable, because it contains an instance of the employment of a word very old in our language, and in use in the best periods of our prose and poetry: "apostata" is explained in the _promptorium_, is found in skelton and heywood, and so down to the time of massinger, who was especially fond of it. how many copies were issued of smeeton's reprint of _the pardoner and the frere_, i know not; but any of your readers, who chance to possess it, will do well to add the absent line in the margin, so that the mistake may be both rectified and recorded. i was not aware of mr. child's intention to re-publish the interlude in the united states, or i would long ago have sent him the correction, as indeed i did, a day or two after i received his volume. it was, nevertheless, somewhat ungracious to thank him for his book, and at the same time to point out an important error in it, for which, however, he was in no way responsible. j. payne collier. kensington, jan. . . * * * * * catacombs and bone-houses. without attempting to answer the queries of mr. gatty, (no. . p. .) i venture to send a note on the subject. i believe it will generally be found that the local tradition makes such collections of bones to be "the grisly gleanings of some battlefield." one of the most noteworthy collections of this kind that i have seen is contained in the crypt of hythe church, kent, where a vast quantity of bones are piled up with great regularity, and preserved with much care. according to a written statement suspended in the crypt, they are the relics of britons and saxons slain in a battle fought on the beach in the sixth century; the local tradition is nearly to the same effect, but of course is of little value, as it has most likely arisen from or been conformed to this "written chronicle;" both writing and tradition must indeed be regarded with distrust. it is affirmed in the neighbourhood that the bones were _dug up_ from the beach; but i, at least, could hear of no tradition as to the period when they were exhumed. perhaps some resident will ascertain whether any such exists. the bones have all the appearance of considerable antiquity; yet they are in excellent preservation. the skulls are remarkably white and perfect, and are altogether a very curious collection, differing greatly in size, form, and thickness. the holes and fractures in many of them (made evidently during life) leave no doubt that they belonged to persons who met with a violent death. i will not pretend to reply to the concluding queries of your correspondent, but i would just remark that, from what we know of the feeling of our ancestors respecting the remains of the dead, it appears probably that if from any cause a large quantity of human bones were found, or were from any cause obliged to be disturbed, some ecclesiastic or pious layman would take measures to have them removed to some consecrated spot where they might be safe from further molestation. they would hardly be treated in any such manner as dr. mantell states the bones removed by the railway engineers from the priory ground at lewes were treated. i remain, sir, your very obedient servant, j.t. syndenham, jan. . . * * * * * lines attributed to hudibras. perhaps the following extract from a volume entitled _the relics of literature_, published by boys and co., ludgate hill, , may prove interesting, as further illustrating the so frequently disputed passage which forms the subject matter of your first article in no. .:-- "few popular quotations have more engaged the pens of critics than the following:-- 'for he that fights and runs away will live to fight another day.' "these lines are almost universally supposed to form a part of _hudibras_; and, so confident have even scholars been on the subject, that in a wager was made at bootle's, of twenty to one, that they were to be found in that inimitable poem. dodsley was referred to as the arbitrator, when he ridiculed the idea of consulting him on the subject, saying, 'every fool knows they are in _hudibras_.' george selwyn, who was present, said to dodsley, 'pray, sir, will you be good enough, then, to inform an old fool, who is at the same time your wise worship's very humble servant, in what canto they are to be found?' dodsley took down the volume, but he could not find the passage; the next day came, with no better success; and the sage bibliopole was obliged to confess, 'that a man might be ignorant of the author of this well-known couplet without being absolutely a fool.'" i have also the following memorandum in a common-place book of mine, but i do not remember from what source i transcribed it many years past:-- "the couplet, thus erroneously ascribed to the author of _hudibras_, occurs in a small volume of miscellaneous poems, by sir john mennis, written in the reign of charles the second, which has now become extremely scarce. the original of the couplet may, however, be traced to much higher authority, even to demosthenes, who has the following expression:-- { } '[greek: anaer ho pheugon kai palin machaesetai]', of which the lines are almost a literal translation." while on the subject of quotations, let me ask whether any of your correspondents can tell me where the passage, "providence tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," is to be found? among a few of the many floating quotable passages universally known, without any trace of the authors, among general readers and writers, are the following:-- "when wild in woods the noble savage ran." dryden's _conquest of grenada_. "and whistled as he went for want of thought." dryden's _cymon and iphigenia_. "great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide." dryden's _absalom and achitophel_, st. i. i. . "the tenth transmitter of a foolish face." savage. "when greek meets greek then comes the tug of war." nat. lee. the real line in lee is-- "when greeks join greeks then was the tug of war." lee's _alexander the great_. j.w.g. gutch * * * * * i wish to ask a few questions, referring to these lines, if you do not think the subject already exhausted by mr. rimbault's curious and interesting communication. . does not the _entire_ quotation run somewhat thus:-- "for he that fights and runs away may live to fight another day; but he that is in battle slain can never hope to fight again"? . are the two last lines in the _musarum deliciæ_? . may not the idea suggesting the two first lines be traced to some passage in one of the orations of _demosthenes_, and, past him, to the "[greek: anaer ho pheugon kai palin machaesetai]" of some contemporary, if not still older writer? . whose _apothegems_ [qy., those of demosthenes?] are under consideration on folio ., from which mr. rimbault quotes? queries , , have long stood _in ms._ in my note-book, and i should much like to see them in _print_, while the subject to which they refer is still fresh in the minds of your readers. melanion * * * * * the lines-- "for he that fights and runs away may live to fight another day," resemble the following quatrain in the _satyre menippée_, being one of the several verses appended to the tapestry on which was wrought the battle of senlis:-- "souvent celuy qui demeure est cause de son meschef; celuy qui fuit de bonne heure peut combattre de rechef." a.j.h. * * * * * notes from fly-leaves, no. . in the library of st. john's college are some hundreds of volumes bequeathed to it by thomas baker; most of these have little notices on the fly-leaves, some thirty or forty of which seem worth printing. one (strype's _life of parker_) has marginal notes throughout the book, the value of which will be duly appreciated by those who have read baker's notes on burnet's _reformation_. (see the _british magazine_ for the last year.) hereafter, if you do not object, i hope to send larger extracts from baker's mss.; at present i confine myself to a single specimen, taken from the fly-leaf of a copy of noy's _compleat lawyer_, london, . (st. john's library, class mark, i. . ) "gul. noye de s. buriens. com. cornub. armig. unus magistrorum de banco fieri fecit, . on a window in lincoln inn's chapell. see stow's _survey_, &c. vol. ii. lib. ii. p. . "this book has a former edition, london, ; but not so fair a print, and without the author's life. "see fuller's _worthies in cornwall_, p. . "see mr. gerard's letter to lord strafford, dated jan . . _mr. noy continues ill, & is retired to his house at brentford: i saw him much fallen away in his face & body, but as yellow as gold--with the jaundice--his bloody waters continue with drain his body._ "see lloyd's _state worthies_, p. , . &c. "aug. . [ ] wm noy esquire the king's attorney died at brainford.--mr. ric. smith's _obituary_. "see wm noy's will (very remarkable) ms. vol. xxx. p. . " th dec. . conc. ornatissimo viro gulielmo noye, ut sit de consilio universitatis--et annuatim th recipiat, &c.--regr. acad cant. "see howell's letters, sect . pp. , . "rex . october. constituit willielmum noye arm. attornatum suum generalem, durante beneplacito.--rymer, tom. . p. . "see his (w.n.) will, very pious except the last clause, which is next to impious. vol. xxxvi. ms. p. . "young noy, the dissipanding noy, is kill'd in france in a duell, by a brother of st. john biron; so now the younger brother is heir and ward to the king.--a letter to lord deputy wentworth, vol. ii. p. dat. apr. . ." it may be as well to add, that the references to vols. xxx. and xxxvi. of ms. are to two different copies of the will in two volumes of baker's mss., in the university library. the word "dissipanding," in the last quotation, doubtless is an allusion { } to "dissipanda" in the will itself. i once had occasion to take a copy of this will, and found the variations between the two copies trifling. j.e.b. mayor [we shall be obliged by our correspondent forwarding, at his convenience, the proposed copies of baker's ms. notes.] * * * * * the pursuits of literature. many years ago, the satirical poem, entitled _the pursuits of literature_, engaged public attention for a very considerable time; the author concealed his name; and from at least to , the world continued guessing at who could be the author. amongst the names to which the poem was ascribed were those of anstey, colman, jun., coombe, cumberland, harry dampier, goodall, hudderford, knapp, mathias, mansell, wrangham, stephen weston, and many others, chiefly etonians. george steevens, it is believed, fixed upon the real author at an early period: at least in the _st. james's chronicle_, from tuesday, may . to thursday, may . , we find-- "the pursuer of literature pursued "_hic niger est_. "with learned jargon and conceit, with tongue as prompt to lie as the veriest mountebank and cheat, steps forth the black ----. "at first the world was all astounded, some said it was _elias_; but when the riddle was expounded, 'twas little black ----. "this labour'd work would seem the job of hundred-handed _gyas_; but proves to issue from the nob of little black ----. "through learned shoals of garbled greek we trace his favourite bias, but when the malice comes to speak, we recognise ----. "what strutting _bantam_, weak but proud, e'er held his head so high as this pigmy idol of the crowd, the prancing pert ----. "[greek: touto to biblion], he'll swear, is [greek: plaeron taes sophias], but men of sense and taste declare 'tis little black ----. "oh! were this scribbler, for a time, struck dumb like _zacharias_, who could regret the spiteful rhyme of little black ----. "small was his stature who in fight o'erthrew the great _darius_ but small in genius as in height is little black ----. "say, could'st thou gain the butt of sack and salary that _pye_ has, would it not cheer thy visage black, thou envious rogue ----. "when next accus'd deny it not! do think of _ananias_! remember how _he_ went to pot, as thou may'st, friend ----. "barachias." i am, &c., your humble servant, h.e. * * * * * queries. barryana. the inquiries of "dramaticus," and others in your number for nov. ., prompt me to say that should any of your correspondents happen to possess information answering the following queries, or any of them, i shall be thankful to share it. . what became of the natural child of elizabeth barry, the actress, who died ; and whether the earl of rochester, its father, was really wilmot (as galt assumes) or hyde, on whom that title was conferred at wilmot's death? the former mentions a natural daughter in his last will; but he names it "elizabeth clerke," and does not allude to its mother. mrs. barry's will mentions no kindred whatever. but galt describes her as daughter of edward barry, esq., a barrister of charles i.'s reign.--who was he? spranger barry, the actor of fifty years later, sir william betham and myself have succeeded in connecting satisfactorily, and legitimately, with the noble house of barry, lord santry; but i cannot as yet show that mrs. e. barry inherited her theatrical talent from an identical source. . of what family was mr. barry, the secretary to the equivalent company, who died about ? i possess immense collections on the name of barry, but i cannot identify any london will or administration as this individual's. . whether sir robert walpole's secret government lists of the pretender's adherents, agents, and emissaries in london (who were supposed to be under the evil-eye of jonathan wild) still exist, and are accessible? william d'oyly bayley. coatham, yorkshire, jan. - . * * * * * nine queries. . _book-plate._--whose was the book-plate with the following device:--an eagle or vulture feeding with a snake another bird nearly as large as herself; a landscape, with the sea, &c. in the distance: very meanly engraved, in an oval, compassed with the motto, "pietas homini tutissima virtus"? . _addison's books._--i have two or three volumes, bound apparently at the beginning of { } the last century, with a stamp on the cover, consisting of j.a., in a cursive character, within a small circle. was this the book-stamp of joseph addison? . _viridis vallis._--where was the monastery of "viridis vallis," and what is its vernacular name? . _cosmopoli._--has _cosmopoli_ been ever appropriated to any known locality? archdeacon cotton mentions it among the pseudonymes in his _typographical gazetteer_. the work whose real locality i wish to ascertain is, _sandii paradox_. iv. _evang._ . vol. vo. . _seriopoli._--the same information is wanting respecting "seriopoli; apud entrapelios impensis catonis uticensis:" which occurs in the title-page of "seria de jocis," one of the tracts connected with the bollandist controversy. . _early edition of the vulgate._--where is there any critical notice of a very beautiful edition of the vultage, small to., entitled "sacra biblia, cum studiis ac diligentia emendata;" in the colophon, "venetiis, apud jolitos, "? the preface is by "johannes jolitus de ferrarüs." the book is full of curious wood-cuts. this is not the book mentioned in masch's _le long_ (part ii, p. ), though that was also printed by the gioliti in ; as the title of the latter book is "biblia ad vetustissima exemplaria castigata," and the preface is by hentenius. . _identity of anonymous annotators._--can any of the correspondents of "notes and queries" point out to a literary backwoodsman, like myself, any royal road towards assigning to the proper authors the handwriting of anonymous annotations in fly-leaves and margins? i have many of these, which i should be glad to ascertain. . _complutensian polyglot._--in what review or periodical did there appear, some time ago, a notice of the supposed discovery (or of conjectures as to the existence) of the mss. from which the "complutensian polyglot" was compiled, involving, of course, the repudiation of the common story of the rocket maker of alcala? has any further light been thrown on this subject? . _blunder in malone's shakspeare._--has any notice been taken of the following odd blunder in malone's _shakspeare_, dublin ed. ? in vol. ii. p. , the editor, speaking of _john_ shakspeare's will (the father of william), says "this extraordinary will consisted of fourteen articles, _but the first leaf being unluckily wanting_, i am unable to ascertain either its date, or the particular occasion on which it was written." he then gives a copy of the will, beginning at the third article, in the middle of a sentence, thus: "... at least spiritually." now, in the first vol. p. . is a document, professing to be william shakspeare's will. but of this the first three paragraphs belong to john shakspeare's will, his name being mentioned in each: and the third concludes with the words "at least spiritually." the fourth paragraph, to the end, belongs to william shakspeare's will, as given in johnson and stevens's editions. this is a palpable instance of editorial carelessness: mr. malone had mixed the two documents, mislaid the first portion of the transcript of william shakspeare's will, and then neglected to examine the postscript, or he must have found out his mistake. was this error acknowledged or corrected in any subsequent edition? john jebb. * * * * * minor queries _mowbray coheirs._--collins in his _peerage_ (ed. brydges, ), says, at p. ., speaking of thomas duke of norfolk:-- "in henry vii, he made partition with maurice, surviving brother of william marquiss of berkeley (who died issueless), of the lands that came to them by inheritance, by right of their descent, from the coheirs of _mowbray_, duke of norfolk;" and quotes, as his authority, _commun. de t. pasch, henry vii., rot._ . the roll of the whole year referred to has been examined, without finding any notice of the subject. should any of your readers have met with the statement elsewhere, it may happen that there is some error in collins's reference to his authority; and a clue to the right roll, or any other notice of the division of this great inheritance, will be acceptable. g. _draytone and yong._--the following note was found by me among the exchequer records, on their sale and dispersion, a few years ago:-- "i praye you fellowe draytone do so invehe for me as to resave all svche moneye as is dewe to me from the handes of ser vincente skyner knyghte or else wheare from thos offysers of the excheqer and this shalbe yovr discharge. written the laste daye of janvarye . henry yong." can your subscribers inform me who the writer was? mr. payne collier states that there was an interlude-maker of the name of henry yong in the reign of henry viii. is it likely that the note was addressed to michael drayton? robt. cole. upper norton street, jan. , . _the fraternity of christian doctrine._--i think i see some names among your correspondents who might inform me where i shall find the fullest account of the fraternity of christian doctrine, established by st. charles borromeo in the diocese of milan. i am acquainted with the regulations for their establishment in _acta. concil. mediol._, and with the incidental notices of them which { } occur in borromeo's writings, as also in the later authors, bishop burnet, alban butler, and bishop wilson (of calcutta). the numbers of the sunday schools under the management of the confraternity, the number of teachers, of scholars, the books employed, the occasional rank in life of the teachers, their method of teaching, and whether any manuals have ever been compiled for their guidance--are points upon which i would gladly gather any information. c.f.s. _treatise by englebert, archbishop of treves._--bishop cosin (in his _hist. trans._ cap. vii. § ) refers to _engelb. archiep. trevirensis, ap. goldasti imper._ tom. i. in goldast's _politica imperialia_ there is a treatise by s. engelb. abb. _admoutens_ in austria: but i find neither the author referred to, nor the treatise intended, by cosin. according to eisengrein, who is followed by possivinus, there were _two_ engelberts; viz. engelbertus, s. matthiæ _treverensis_, benedictinæ possessionis abbus, patria _mosellanus_, who lived a.d. ; and s. engelbert, who flourished a.d. , and who is described as _admontensis_ benedictinæ posessionis abbus, _germanus_. can any of your correspondents kindly direct me to the intended treatise of the archbishop of treves? j. sansom. oxford, jan. . . _new year's day custom._--i shall be glad if any of your readers can inform me of the origin and signification, of the custom of carrying about decorated apples on new year's day, and presenting them to the friends of the bearers. the apples have three skewers of wood stuck into them so as to form a tripod foundation, and their sides are ornamented with oat grains, while various evergreens and berries adorn the top. a raisin is occasionally fastened on each oat grain, but this is, i believe, and innovation. seleucus. _under the rose._--that the english proverbial expression, _under the rose_, is derived from the confessional, is, i believe, generally admitted: but the authorship of the well-known latin verses on this subject is still, as far as i am aware, a _rexata quæstio_, and gives a somewhat different and _tantaleau_[ ] meaning to the adage:-- "est rosa flas veneris, quem, quo sua furta laterent, harpoerati, matris dona, dicavit amor. inde rosam mensis hospes suspendit amicis, convivæ ut sub ca dicta tacenda sciant." can any of your correspondents obligingly inform me to whom these not inelegant or unclassical lines are to be attributed? archÆus. wiesbaden, dec. . . [footnote : see pindar's first olympic ode.] _norman pedigrees._--can any gentleman inform me where (in what book) may be found the situation of the places from which the companions of william the norman took their names? such _french_ names as have _de_ prefixed--in fact, a _gazetteer_? also, where may be found--if such exist--pedigrees of the same _worthies_? b. _dr. johnson's library._--i have long wanted to know what became of the library of dr. samuel johnson (of our city), or if he had any considerable collection of books. perhaps some of your correspondents would answer both these queries. i happen to have a few, some of which were used in compiling his dictionary, and are full of his marks, with references to the quotations, most of which are to be found in the dictionary. i have also his own prayer-book. t.g. lomax. lichfield, jan. . . _golden frog._--in the church of boxstead, in the county of suffolk, there is a large and very handsome monument of marble, in a niche of which stands, in full proportion, a man in armour, his head bare, with moustaches and a tuft on his chin; in his right hand he holds a truncheon, and by his side is his sword; his armour is garnished with gold studs, and his helmet stands on the ground behind him; from his right ear hangs a _gold frog_. this monument was erected in memory of sir john poley, of wrongay, in norfolk, knight, who died in , at the age of upwards of eighty, having served much abroad under henry iv. of france, christian king of denmark, &c., and in queen elizabeth's service against the spaniards. "illius ante alios cepit cum dextera gades militis angliaci, et fulmina sensit iberis." i send you this detail, in hopes that some of your correspondents may be able to explain the ornament in his ear, whether it be the badge of any order, and whether any other instance is known of its use. there is in boxstead hall, the seat of the very ancient family of poley, a portrait of sir john having the same ornament. d. _singular motto._--being at cheltenham in the summer of , i saw a chariot standing in an inn yard, on the panels of which, under a coat of arms, apparently belonging to some foreign family, was the following on a scroll, in the nature of a motto:--"oemn --ononoe. ano-- emn ." if any of your correspondents can inform me what is its meaning, and if it be a motto, to what family it belongs, he will oblige. p.h.f. stroud. _sir stephen fox._--will any of your intelligent correspondents inform me whether sir stephen fox, the ancestor of the present lord holland and the earl of ilchester, had any brothers or sisters, and if so, whether they had any children, and who are the legal representatives of those collateral branches, if any? vulpes. { } _antony alsop._--will any of your correspondents kindly tell me who antony alsop was? a thin quarto volume of latin odes was published in , with the following title: "antonii alsopi Ædis christi olim alumni ordarum libri duo," londoni, . they are extremely elegant, and deserving the attention of all lovers of latin poetry. i have also another volume, "latin and english poems, by a gentleman of trinity college, oxford," quarto london, . in this latter volume, with but two or three exceptions, the poems are very obscene, yet i find one or two of alsop's odes in it. could any of your readers tell me if both volumes are by the same author? was alsop at trinity college and subsequently a student of christ church? r.h. _derivations of "calamity," and "zero;" and meaning of "prutenicæ"._--will some of your correspondents give the derivations of calamity and zero; also the meaning of the word prutenicæ, used by erasmus rheinholt, in his astronomical work on the _motions of the heavenly bodies_? f.s. martin. _jew's-harp._--what is the origin of the term jew's-harp, applied to a well-known musical toy? melanion. _sir g. wyattville._--j.p. would be glad to be informed in what year sir g. wyattville was knighted? _sparse._--as i am "less an antique roman than a dane," i wish to know what authority there is for the use of this word, which is to be found in a leading article of _the times_, january th, ?--"a _sparse_ and hardy race of horsemen." i should like to see this among the queries, but i send it as a protest. "hostis et peregrinus unus et idem." c. forbes. _the word "peruse."_--i find the word _peruse_ employed as a substantive, and apparently as equivalent to _examination_, in the following part of a sentence in the martyr fryth's works, russell's ed., p. .:--"he would have been full sore ashamed so to have overseen himself at oxford, at a peruse." can any of your correspondents cite a corresponding instance of its use, or say whether it is still retained at oxford as the name of any academic exercise? h.w. _french maxim._--who is the author of the following french saying?-- "l'hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu." r.v. _ave trici and gheeze ysenoudi._--if "s.w. singer" can give information as to what convent, english or foreign, the sisters _ave trici_ and _gheeze ysenoudi_, mentioned in his note on otloh, state themselves (or are assumed) to have belonged, he will much oblige, by doing so, h.l.b. _a latin verse._--everybody has seen the following quotation-- "tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis," and everybody thinks he knows from whence it is taken. which of your readers can verify it? e.v. _table-book._--can any of your readers refer me to a museum containing a specimen of an ancient _table-book_? douce had one, which was in mr. rodd's catalogue, but now sold; and hone also possessed one. these two, and another in the hands of a friend of mine, are the only specimens i have heard of; but they are not quite as old or as genuine as one could wish. j.o. halliwell. _origin of the name "polly."_--will you allow me to ask how persons of my name came to be called _polly_? mary. _tomlinson, of southwingfield, derbyshire._--the parochial register of the parish of southwingfield, in the county of derby, contains, among its earliest entries (a.d. ), the name tomlinson, as then resident therein. the family, to the present time, continues to reside within the parish, as respectable yeomen, and has thence extended itself to many of the neighbouring parishes, as well as to more distinct localities. blore's _history of southwingfield_ makes no mention of such a family connected with the parish, as tenants or otherwise; nor does it appear that there is at present any family of tomlinson bearing arms that can have been derived from any of the ancient lords of wingfield. the wills at lichfield, to whose registry southwingfield belongs, are in a very dilapidated and unsatisfactory state, at the time immediately preceding the commencement of the southwingfield parochial register. probably some genealogist will be enabled to offer a suggestion as to the means which are available for tracing the genealogy of this fanily prior to the year . _the phrase "to have a button in the room," and "sally."_--i have again been reading that most amusing book, _the lives of the norths_. at p. of vol. i. (edit. ) there is a passage which has always puzzled me. speaking of some law proceedings in which the lady dacres was concerned, roger north says:-- "and herein she served herself another way, for her adversary defamed her for swearing and unswearing, and it was not amiss to _have a button in the room_." at p. . (_post_) there is another strange expression:-- { } "the horse, when he found himself clear of pursuers, stopped his course by degrees, and went with his rider (fast asleep upon his back) into a pond to drink, and there sat his lordship upon the '_sally_.' (qy. _saddle_?)" p.c.s.s. _st. philip and st. james._--"and near it was the house of the apostles philip and james the son of alpheus."--_early travels in palestine (mandeville)_, p. .; bohn's _antiquarian library_. this is the only place, except in the church service, where i have seen the above-named apostles coupled together, and have often wondered whether there was any old legend or tradition to account for the church joining them together in one commemorative festival. a.h.e. _sir william hamilton._--on a tombstone in the burial-ground at st. hilda's, south shields, in the county of durham, is the following inscription:-- "here lieth interr'd ye body of sir w. hamilton knt and baronet sonne to ye earle of abercorne and late servant to queen henrietta maria ye late queene mother of our soveraigne lord king charles that now is over england &c. who departed to ye mercy of god june th anno domni ." there is in the possession of an old lady living at durham, in , an original note in the handwriting of king charles the second, of which the following is a copy:-- "whereas a debte of foure thousande one hundred and fifty pounds sterlinge apeares to be remayning dew by the king my father to sir w. hamilton brother to the earle of abercorne for the service done to the queene my mother, i do hereby promis to pay ye sayde debte of £. to ye sayde sir william hamilton his heires and assigns or to satisfie him or them to the valew thereof when it shall please god to restore me to the possession of my dominions. "given at brussells mar. . "charles rex." is any thing known of sir william hamilton, or of the services he rendered to queen henrietta maria? a.h.e. _the koran by sterne._--can you or any of your readers inform me if the work entitled _the koran_, printed in some editions of sterne's writings, is a genuine composition of his, or not? if not, who was its author, and what is its literary history? my reason for asking is, that i have heard it asserted that it is not by sterne. e.l.n. _devices on standards of the anglo-saxons._--can any of your readers inform me what devices were borne on the standards of the several anglo-saxon kingdoms during the so-called heptarchy? the _white horse_ is by many supposed to have been the standard of wessex, and to have been borne by alfred; but was not this really the ensign of the jutish kingdom of kent, the county of kent to this day displaying the white horse in its armorial bearings? the standard of wessex is by others said to have been the _white dragon_; but thierry supposes that this, like the contrasted _red dragon_ of cymbri, was merely a poetical designation, and seems to infer that the flags of these two contending people were without any device. again, it has been thought that a _lion_ was the ensign of northumbria; in which case we may, perhaps, conclude that the lions which now grace the shield of the city of york have descended from anglo-saxon times. the memory of the danish standard of the _raven_, described by asser and other anglo-saxon chroniclers, still remains; but whether, when northumbria and east anglia fell under danish power, this device supplanted previous anglo-saxon devices, is a curious question for antiquarian research. the famous norwegian standard--the landeyda, or ravager of the world--under which harold hardrada triumphed at fulford, near york, but to fall a few days later at stanford bridge, is well known; but who can inform us as to the device which it bore? these early traces of heraldic usage appear to deserve more notice than i believe they have received. o. _burning the dead._--can any of your readers, who may have attended particularly to the funeral customs of different peoples, inform me whether the practice of burning the dead has ever been in vogue amongst any people excepting inhabitants of europe and asia? i incline to the opinion that this practice has been limited to people of indo-germanic or japetic race, and i shall be obliged by any references in favour of or opposed to this view. t. _meaning of "shipster."_--can any of your correspondents inform me what is the business or calling or profession of a shipster? the term occurs in a grant of an annuity of oct. . henry viii., , and made between "h.u., gentilman, and marie fraunceys de suthwerk, in com surr _shipster_." john r. fox. . welbeck street, jan. . . _why did dr. dee quit manchester?_--in the _penny cyclopædia_, art. dee, john, i find the following statement:-- "in the queen appointed dee warden of manchester college, he being then sixty-eight years of age. he resided there nine years; _but from some cause not exactly known, he left it in _, and returned to his house at mortlake, where he spent the remainder of his days." can any of your correspondents assign the _probable_ causes which led to dr. dee's resignation? t.t.w. burnley, lancashire, jan. . . { } _meaning of "emerod," "caredon."_--in the lansd. ms., british museum, no. ., there is a letter from mr. richard champernowne to sir robert cecil, dated in , referring to the discovery of some articles pillaged from the spanish carrack, which had then recently been captured and taken into dartmouth harbour. amongst these articles is one thus described:--"an emerod, made in the form of a cross, three inches in length at the least, and of great breadth." in the same volume of mss. (art. .) there is the description of a dagger "with a hefte of white caredon." from the size of the cross described, "emerod" can scarcely be read "emerald," as applied by us to one of the precious stones. is "white caredon" white cornelian? can any of your numerous correspondents give me a note in answer to the above queries? d. . parliament street, westminster, jan. . . _microscope, and treatise upon it._--i am about to commence the study of the microscope. i want to know where i can purchase the most perfect instrument, and also the best treatise upon it; this information will indeed be valuable to me, as it would enable me to go at once to the best sources without loss of time. r.m. jones. chelsea, jan. . . _old auster tenements._--"w.p.p." wishes to know the meaning of the expression "old auster tenements," by which certain lands in the parish of north curry, somerset, are described in deeds and court rolls. * * * * * replies the field of forty footsteps. the fields behind montague house were, from about the year , until towards the end of the last century, the scenes of robbery, murder, and every species of depravity and wickedness of which the heart can think. they appear to have been originally called the long fields, and afterwards (about strype's time) the southampton fields. these fields remained waste and useless, with the exception of some nursery grounds near the new road to the north, and a piece of ground enclosed for the toxophilite society, towards the northwest, near the back of gower street. the remainder was the resort of depraved wretches, whose amusements consisted chiefly in fighting pitched battles, and other disorderly sport, especially on the sabbath day. such was their state in . tradition had given to the superstitious at that period a legendary story of the period of the duke of monmouth's rebellion, of two brothers who fought in this field so ferociously as to destroy each other; since which, their footsteps, formed from the vengeful struggle, were said to remain, with the indentations produced by their advancing and receding; nor could any grass or vegetable ever be produced where these _forty footsteps_ were thus displayed. this extraordinary arena was said to be at the extreme termination of the northeast end of upper montague street; and, profiting by the fiction, miss porter and her sister produced an ingenious romance thereon, entitled, _coming out, or the forty footsteps_. the messrs. mayhew also, some twenty years back, brought out, at the tottenham street theatre, an excellent melodrama piece, founded upon the same story, entitled _the field of forty footsteps_. in , an ingenious and enterprising architect, james burton, began to erect a number of houses on the foundling hospital estate, partly in st. giles's and bloomsbury parishes, and partly in that of st. pancras. _baltimore house_, built, towards the northeast of _bedford house_, by lord baltimore, in , appears to have been the only erection since strype's survey to this period, with the exception of a chimney-sweeper's cottage still further north, and part of which is still to be seen in rhodes's mews, little guildford street. in , bedford house was demolished entirely; which with its offices and gardens, had been the site where the noble family of the southamptons, and the illustrious russells, had resided during more than years, almost isolated. hence commenced the formation of a fine uniform street, bedford place, consisting of forty houses, on the spot; also, the north side of bloomsbury square, montague street to the west, and one side of southampton row to the east. towards the north, the extensive piece of waste ground, denominated the _southampton fields_, was transformed into a magnificent square, with streets diverging therefrom in various directions. thus, as if by "touch of magic wand," those scenes, which had been "hideous" for centuries, became transformed into receptacles of civil life and polished society. the latest account of these _footsteps_, previous to their being built over, with which i am acquainted, is the following, extracted from one of joseph moser's _common-place books_ in my possession:-- "june . .--went into the fields at the back of montague house, and there saw, for the last time, the _forty footsteps_; the building materials are there ready to cover them from the sight of man. i counted more than _forty_, but they might be the foot-prints of the workmen." this extract is valuable, as it establishes the period of the final demolition of the footsteps, and also confirms the legend that _forty_ was the original number. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * { } queries answered, no. .--"pokership", by bolton corney. a query made by so experienced a writer as the noble historian of _audley end_, cannot admit of an easy solution; and instead of professing to answer the two-fold query on _pokership_, it might more become me to style this note an attempt to answer it. in the _historical collections of the noble families of cavendishe_, etc. the passage which contains the doubtful word is printed thus:-- "he [sir robert harley, of bramton, herefordshire] was in the next year [ ], on the th of july, made forester of boringwood, _alias_ bringwood forest, in com. hereford, with the office of _pokership_, and custody of the forest or chace of prestwood, for life." are we to read _parkership_ or _pokership_? if _pokership_, what is its meaning? skelton, the rhymer, has _parker_ for _park-keeper_, so that _parkership_ is an admissable word; but i reject it on this occasion, as inapplicable to a forest or chace. i incline to believe that _pokership_ is the true lection. _poke_ denoted a purse; witness chaucer:-- "gerveis answered; certes, were it gold, or in a _poke_ nobles all untold, thou shuldest it have."--c.t. v. . we do not find _poker_ in barret or cotgrave; but if _poke_ denoted a purse, _poker_ might denote a purse-bearer or treasurer, and _pokership_, the office of purse-bearer. so we have bursa, [glossarivm manvale, . i. .] _bursar_, _bursarship_, etc. bolton corney. * * * * * mertens, martins, or martini, the printer. a correspondent, "w.," in no. . p. ., wishes to learn "the real surname of theodoric mertens, martins, or martini, the printer of louvain." in latin the name is written theodoricus martinus; in french, thierri martin; in flemish, diedrych meertens, and occasionally, but i think incorrectly, dierix martens. in a side chapel of the chancel of the church at alost, midway between brussels and ghent, is the printer's tomb, and a double inscription, in latin and in flemish, commemorates his celebrity and the dates of his birth and death; in the latin inscription the name is theodoricus martinus; in the flemish, which is very old and nearly effaced, it is diedrych meertens. the name of _meertens_, as a surname, is as common in brabant and flanders as that of martin with us. a.b. * * * * * i beg to say that, in peignot's _dictionnaire raisonné de bibliologie_, the name of the printer mertens is given as "martens, mertens, ou martin d'alost (thierry), en latin theodoricus martinus." the article is too long for insertion in your pages, but it contains an account of the title-page of one of his editions, in to., in which the name is spelt _mertens_:--"theo. mertens impressore." two other title-pages have "apud theod. m_a_rtinum." so it appears that the printer himself used different modes of spelling his own name. erasmus wrote a latin epitaph on his friend, in which a graceful allusion is made to his printer's mark, the anchor:-- "hic theodoricus jaceo, prognatus alosto: ars erat impressis scripta referre typis. fratribus, uxori, soboli, notisque superstes octavam vegetus præterii decadem. anchora sacra manet, gratæ notissima pubi: christe! precor nunc sis anchora sacra mihi." hermes. * * * * * etymology of armagh. in reply to the inquiry of "d.s.y." (p. . of your th number), i beg to say that the name of armagh is written, in irish, ardmacha, and signifies the height (or high ground) of macha. it is supposed to have derived this name from macha mong-ruadh [i.e. macha of the red hair], who was queen of ireland, according to the chronology of o'flaherty, a.m. . i.h.t. dublin, jan. . . sir,--there are the following authorities for different derivations of the word _armagh_. camden, in his _britannia_, says:-- "_armach_ ab amarchâ reginâ; sic dictum fabulantur hibernici; at mihi eadem esse videtur quam _dearmach_ vocat beda: et _roborum campum_ ex lingua scotica sive hibernica interpretatur, ubi circa annum salutis dlx. monaterium extruxit celeberrimum columbanus." dr. keating's _hist. of ireland_ has as follows:-- "_macha_ the wife of nemedius died before her son ainnim ... from her _ardmagh_ received its name, because she was buried in that place." _circles of gomer_ (london, ), contains as follows:-- "ar, and ararat.--the earth, country, or upon and on the earth ... _armagh_ on the surrounding water confines." m. bullet, _mémoires de la langue celtique_, writes thus:-- "armagh, une des plus anciennes villes d'irland. _ar_, article. _mag_, ville."--vol. i. but the nd and rd vols. of these _mémoires_, which contain the celtic dictionary, afford a more probable interpretation:-- "_ar_ or _ard_ signifies a height, mountain, hill, { } elevation, the highest, noble, chief, &c. &c., and _ar_ in hebrew, chaldean, and armenian, has the same meaning. _magh_ is a field, a plain, ground, &c., as well as a town, dwelling, &c." now, the topographical description of the county of armarh is that it is _hilly_, and the hills (not very high) are of granite rock. the town of armagh again is described as situated on an _eminence_. i suggest, therefore, _the high field_ or ground, or _the field of the hill_, or the dwelling or town of the hill, as very natural derivations. if your correspondent prefers it, _ar_ bears also the signification of _rock_, and m. bullet says:-- "ce terme nous a été conservé dans la vie de saint colomb." who knows, therefore, whether in building the monastery alluded to by camden, he may not have given it the name of the dwelling of the rock? the celtic language affords many other possibilities, but an accurate knowledge of the locality is requisite in judging of their probablility. hermes. the etymology of _armagh_, in ireland, is very simple. _ard_, high, great, noble, a purely celtic root, found in many languages. latin, _arduus_, high, &c. welsh, _hardh_, fair, handsome, &c. _magh_, a plain, a level tract of land, a field. _ardmugh_, the great plain. others derive it from _eamhuin-magh_, from the regal residence of the kings of ulster, that stood in its vicinity; but the former is considered by those best capable of judging as the most correct. the original name was _druim-sailech_, "the hill of sallows," which was changed to _ard-sailech_, "the height of sallows," and then again to _ardmagh_. although now spelt _armagh_, it was formerly more correctly written _ardmagh_, which is undoubtedly the proper way. hibernicus jan. . . * * * * * the office of the master of the revels. your esteemed correspondent, "j.g.n.," asks (p. .) for the meaning of the letters "c.k.m.r." and "t.s." appended to the passage he quotes from the _common-place book_ of charles, duke of dorset. i think i can tell him. "c.k.m.r." stands for _charles killegrew_, master of the revells; and "t.s." means _thomas skipwith_, one of the patentees of drury lane theatre, who died in . sir henry herbert died in ; and his successor in the office was thomas killegrew. this person had previously been sir henry's deputy; and i am in possession of a curious list of ms. instructions, "the heads of what i gave to mr. thos. killegrew the th of march, ," in the hand-writing of sir henry herbert. thomas killegrew died in , and was succeeded by charles killegrew; the degree of the relationship between the two killegrews i do not know; and in the _london gazette_, dec. . , there is a notice commanding all "rope-dancers, prize-players, strollers and other persons showing motions and other sights, to have licenses from charles killegrew, esq., master of the revells." charles killegrew was one of the managers of drury lane theatre at the time of the union of the king's and duke of york's servants; and drydaen calls him, in the dedication to his translation of juvenal's _satires_, his "ingenious friend." upon the death of the latter, in , charles henry lee succeeded to the vacant office; who, dying in , solomon dayrolle was appointed in his room. i do not know the date of the decease of the last-named gentleman; but with him, i believe, died the office of the master of the revells. the ancient jurisdiction of the master of the revells has been transferred, by , by legal authority, to a "licenser of the stage," who, in conjunction with a deputy licenser, performed all the functions of the ancient office. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the red maids of bristol._--the answer to the query of "mr. a. griffenhoof" (no. . p. .), why the "red maids" in bristol are so called, is, because they are dressed in bright scarlet gowns. they are the incumbents of a benevolent school, founded in , by one of bristol's great benefactors, alderman whitson, of pious memory, for the maintenance and education of girls, which number has now increased to . your correspondent's curiousity respecting their name might be fully satisfied, and his interest increased, if he should happen to be in bristol on some sunny afternoon in the later part of may, or the beginning of june, by a sight of this bright "regiment of women"--the gay colour of their gowns subdued by the quaintness of their fashion, and the clean whiteness of their aprons, collars, &c.--proceeding, in double file, towards the downs, for air and recreation. an account of their foundation may be found in barret's _hist. of bristol_, p. . "blue-boys," so called for a similar reason, are a parallel case of much more general occurance. yours, &c. rufa. _poetical symbolism._--in answer to the question of your correspondent, "stephen beauchamp" (no. . p. .), i beg leave to mention a work, which answers in some degree to the description which he gives; namely, _de symbolica Ægyptiorum sapientia_, and _polyhistor symbolicus, electarum symbolarum et parabolarum historicurum stromata xii. libris complectens_, by nicolas caussin, { } vo. col. agr. . there were other editions, i believe, in the same century. the former work treats of egyptian symbols; the titles of the twelve books of the latter are: i. mundus et elementa. ii. dii gentium. iii. hominis bona. iv. hominis mala. v. ritus gentium. vi. aves. vii. quadrupedes. viii. pisces. ix. serpentes et insecta. x. plantæ. xi. lapilli. xii. manufacta. m. oxford. _fraternitye of vagabondes._--it does not appear very clearly from the wording of the query at p. . of your th number, whether the object of your correspondent, "a. griffinhoof, jun.," be to ascertain the fact of the reprint in question having been published by stace, or (having ascertained that fact) to procure further information as to the publisher. i cannot find any allusion to the work in the _censura literuria_, ( nd ed. ), another instance of the absolute necessity for exact references, the want of which you would do well in making a ground of exclusion from your columns. however, on the chance of being useful i send you an exact copy of the rubricated title-page of the reprint, which is as follows: "the fraternitye of vacabondes; as wel of ruflyng vacabondes, as of beggerley, of women as of men, of gyrles as of boyes, with their proper names and qualities. with a description of the crafty company of cousoners and shifters. whereunto also is adioined the xxv orders of knaues, otherwyse called a quartern of knaues. confirmed for euer by cocke lorell.--¶ the vprightman speaketh. ¶ our brotherhood of vacabondes, if you would know where dwell: in grauesend barge which syldome standes, the talke wyll shew ryght well. ¶ cocke lorell answereth. ¶ some orders of my knaues also in that barge shall ye fynde: for no where shall ye walke i trow, but ye shall see their knynde. ¶ imprinted at london by john awdely, dwellyng in little britayne streete without aldersgate. . westminster: reprinted for machell stace, no. , little queen-street, and r. triphook, st. james's street. ." those who are curious about mr. stace may consult boaden on the _shakespeare portraits_, p. ., wivell on do., p. ., and _chaleographimania_, p. . . . j.f.m. _anonymous ravennas._--in answer to the query of "w.c.," in no. ., p. ., i beg to state that gronovius published the _cosmography of ravennas_, with other ancient scraps of geography, annexed to a neat edition of _pomponius mela_, printed at leyden, in . gronovius refers the _anonymous_ author to the seventh century. his _chorography of britain_ forms a part of the work; but it is printed from one ms., and wretchedly obscure. j.i. _dick shore._--your correspondent, j.t. hammack, is not quite correct in stating, no. ., p. ., that the modern maps present no trace of the locality of "_dick shoare_," mentioned in the pepysian _diary_. in one of smith's maps, now before me, of the date of , i find "duke shore stairs," not far from the great turn of the river southward, opposite to the isle of dogs. whether the proper spelling to be dick, dyke, dock, dog, or duke, i leave to your readers to determine; but i presume there can be no doubt as to the identity of the place. as the origin of the name of "isle of doggs," according to the pepysian orthography, is said to be still underdetermined; may it not be connected with the modern term docks? we are daily familiarised to worse corruptions. _docks_ are excavations, large or small, formed by the operation of digging, in dutch called _dóken_. j.i. [dick's shore, _fore street_, _limehouse_, and dick's shore alley, _by dick's shore_, are both mentioned in _london and its environs_, vol. ii. p. .] _travelling in england._--mr. steven's quotation (no. ., p. .) of bernard calvert's rapid journey, as from _an anonymous history of england written in the early part of the reign of george i._, is to be found in more detail in stow ( .), and is transcribed in mr. croker's _notes on bassompière's embassy_, . _sanuto._--the _ragguagli sulla vita e sulle opere di maria sanuto_, referred to in no. ., p. ., were edited by mr. rawdon browne, an english gentleman long resident at venice, and a most accomplished italian scholar. the _diary of sanuto_ could hardly be printed, filling, as it does, some twenty or thirty thick large folio volumes. r.m.m. _darnley's birth-place._--in answer to the inquiry in no. ., p. ., as to the birth-place of henry lord darnley, i believe he was born at temple-newsom, near leeds, the seat of the lords irvine, and now of meynell ingram, esq. a noble room is there shown as the traditional scene of his birth. r.m.m. _history of edward ii._--the compilers of the _british museum catalogue_ attribute the _history of edward ii._ (referred to in no. ., p. .) to edward fannant, who also published a _narration of the memorable parliament of _, which has been several times printed. j.r.s. _lord chatham's speech on the american stamp act._--when i read the question of your correspondent { } (in no. . p. .) on this subject, i saw at once its importance; for, if my lord brougham's statements were correct, our historians must forthwith re-write a somewhat important chapter in our history. i felt assured, however, that it was not correct; and the result of a somewhat tedious search is as i had anticipated. his lordship had made an error in a date and should be . the authority, not acknowledged by his lordship, was, no doubt, the _parliamentary history of_ (vol. xvi. p. .), where your correspondent will find the statement, which of course, the date being correctly given, contains nothing that is not consistent with known facts. c. _bone-houses._--the number of skulls at rothewell (no. ., p. .) is greatly exaggerated, nor is the tradition of their being gathered from naseby battle-field more than a modern invention, the discovery of the bones being within the memory of living persons. their existence there is most puzzling. the vault, which is very small, is probably coeval with the church, and seems to have been made for the very purpose to which it is applied. when this vast building was erected in the th century, may not this vault have been made for the bones disturbed in the old churchyard by so extensive a foundation? t. _queen's messengers._--in answer to the query of your correspondent "j.u.g.g.," in no. ., p. ., i beg to call his attention to the authority quoted in the passage respecting the "knightes caligate of armes," to which he alludes, in mr. c. knight's _london_. he will find that he is referred to legh's _accedens of armory_, and upton, _de studio militari_. the latter wrote in the early part of the fifteenth century. we are at present, i believe, without earlier information on such subjects. whilst i am writing to you, may i ask you to correct a printer's error in my query in the same number, where "trepon" appears instead of "jupon"? it may save a query as to what i could mean by the former. j.r. planchÉ. _may-day._--in reply to melanion (no. . p. .), i would observe that in a collection of _vues des villes de londres_, &c., published by pierre vander at leyden (without date, but about the time of william iii., or early in anne's reign), there is a representation of "_la laitière de may à londres_," with an enormous head-dress of silver dishes, tankards, and cups, intermixed with flowers. there is no letter-press explanation; but it is evident that the practice of the milk-maids, in carrying their mail-pails balanced on their heads, suggested the idea of carrying this more precious burthen in _gala_ on may-day. c. * * * * * miscellanies. _gray's elegy._--your correspondent, "a. grayan" (no. ., p. .), in writing on the _elegy in a country church-yard_, suggests the existence of error or obscurity in the last stanza of the epitaph; and that, if the reading, as it now stand, be faulty, "some amendment" should be suggested. at the sale of mason's collection of gray's books and mss., in december, , i purchased gray's copy of dodsley's collection ( nd edition, ), with corrections, names of authors, &c., in his own hand. the _elegy_ is the first poem in vol. iv. in the nd stanza, the beetle's "_drony_ flight" is printed and corrected in the margin into "droning." in the th stanza, an obvious misprint of "the upland land" is corrected into "upland lawn;" and, in the th stanza, "he would rove" is altered into "would he rove." these are the only emendations in the _elegy_. the care displayed in marking them seems to me indicate that the author had no others to insert, and that the common reading is as he finally left it. to say that a man's merits and frailties repose in trembling hope before god, is surely not irreverent; and this is, i think, all that gray intended to convey in the words to which your correspondent objects. w.l.m. [the latter emendation "would he rove," which is neither in the aldine edition of the rev. j. mitford, nor in mr. van voorst's beautifully illustrated polyglot edition, should clearly be introduced, in future, as harmonising more perfectly with the "would he stretch" of the preceding stanza.] _gray's elegy._--to the list of german translations of gray's elegy should be added the version by kosegarten, which is said by mr. thimm, in his _view of german literature_, to be "very spirited." the edition of kosegarten i have now before me was printed at greifswald, in vols. in , and contains numerous translations from english poets. j.m. oxford, jan. . _gregori's italian version of "gray's elegy."_--in answer to the query of "j.f.m.," respecting the translations of gray's _elegy_, i beg to mention that, besides those already possessed by your correspondent, and those in torri's polyglot edition, there is one in italian by domenico gregori, published in the first volume of his _scelta di poesie di più celebri autori inglesi, recati in versi italiani_, and printed at rome in , in vols. small vo. m. oxford, jan. . . _name of shylock._--when mr. knight says that _scialac_ was "the name of a marionite (maronite?) of mount libanus," he appears to consider the { } term peculiar, or nearly so, to that personage; but upton, as long ago as , in his _critical observations_, nd ed. p. ., remarked, that _scialac_ was the generic name, and _shylock_ merely a corruption. i may also remark, that mr. knight dismisses dr. farmer's theory as worthless, without sufficient consideration. it by no means follows that is the date of the _first edition_ of _caleb shillocke_, merely because boswell saw a copy bearing that date. j.o. halliwell. * * * * * sonnet. _written on the close of the session_, . "the tyme cam that resoun was to ryse."--chaucer. "_corin_. and how like you this shepherd's life, master touchstone? "_touchstone._ truly, shepherd, in respect of itself it is a good life.... in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well."--shakspeare. ho! for the shady grove and silvery stream! now that yclosed is the fane, where i am doomed, by no unhappy destiny, to tend those mighty ones who find a theme for their lives' labour in the nation's weal. now am i free, or book or rod in hand, alone, or compassed by a cherub band of laughing children, by the brook to steal, seeking repose in sport which walton loved-- sport meet alike for youth or thoughtful age-- free, an i wish to go a pilgrimage with chaucer, my companion long approved, or thee, thou greater one, who lovedst to sing, "of books in brooks, and good in every thing." william j. thoms. * * * * * the devotee. (_from the latin_.) balbus, in vain you urge the notion that ignorance begets devotion-- we can't believe it till we see yourself a fervent devotee. rufus. * * * * * _by hook or by crook._--it is said that strongbow, when debating with his followers on the best mode of capturing ireland, said, that it must be taken "by hook or by crook." "_the hook_" is the name of a well-known promontory, forming the n.e. boundary of waterford harbour; and _crook-haven_ is an equally well-known harbour, on the south coast. could this have any thing to do with the proverb? j.g. kilkenny. _macaulay's young levite._--i send you an advertisement, from a local paper of , which shows what stipend was offered to a curate at that period. the population of burton bradstich and shepton gorge, in , was respectively and . i do not know what it was in . the value of the rectory of burton, with the chapelry of shepton, was returned, in , as l. in it was computed to be l. a.d.m. from "cruthwell's sherborne, shaftesbury, and dorchester journal; or yeovil, taunton, and bridgewater chronicle of th july, ." "a curate is wanted, at old michaelmas next, to serve the churches of burton and shipton, in dorsetshire; salary l. per annum, easter offerings, and surplice fees; together with a good house, pleasant gardens, and a pigeon house well stock'd. the churches are within a mile and a half of each other, served once a day, and alternately. the village of burton is sweetly situated, within half a mile of the sea, about a mile and a half from bridport harbour, and is noted in the summer for its fine mackarel fishery. application to be made to the rev. mr. richards, rector. "a married gentleman will be most agreeable." _praise undeserved._--does any one know where the oft-quoted line, "praise undeserved in censure in disguise," is to be found? a long search for it has hitherto proved ineffectual. d.s. [this line, which is so often quoted, with the variation-- "praise undeserved is _satire_ in disguise," is to be found in pope's _first epistle of the second book of horace_; where, however, we find that neither _censure_ nor _satire_ is the correct reading. it is moreover, both in warton's edition and in the _aldine poets_, edited by the rev. a. dyce, marked as a quotation, as will be seen in the following extract; so that pope, it appears, is not the author of it. perhaps some of our correspondents can trace the source from which he derived it:-- "besides, a fate attends on all i write, that when i aim at praise they say i bite. a vile encomium doubly ridicules; there's nothing blackens like the ink of fools. if true, a woeful likeness; and, if lies, 'praise undeserved is _scandal_ in disguise.'"] _passage in cowper's "task."_--in all early editions of cowper's _task_ the opening lines of the th book are punctuated as follows:-- "hark! 'tis the twanging horn! o'er yonder bridge, (that with its wearisome but needful length bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright,) he comes, the herald of a noisy world," &c. in modern editions, i believe universally, we find the following corruption of the passage:-- "hark! 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge, that with," &c. closing with a colon or period at "bright," and { } beginning a new sentence with "he comes;" and thus making the poet use the vulgar colloquialism "'tis the horn over the bridge," instead of the remark, that the postman is coming over it. w.p.p. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. all who have placed on their shelves--and who that desires to know thoroughly the history of this country during the period which it illustrates has not done so--the last edition of _the diary and correspondence of samuel pepys_, so ably edited by lord braybrooke, have felt the want of a corresponding edition of _evelyn's diary_. to meet this want, mr. coulburn has announced a new edition of it, "rendered as complete as possible by a careful revision," and accompanied by illustrative notes, to be completed in four monthly volumes. mr. parker, of oxford, has just issued a new edition of _the history of the church of england_, by j.b.s. carwithen, b.d. this work was very highly spoken of, at the time of its first appearance, for fidelity of narrative, accuracy of judgement, and soundness of principle; and its author was pronounced, by one well qualified to give an opinion, "a well-read historian, a sound divine, a charitable christian." as the original edition, in three volumes, has long been out of print, we think mr. parker has shown great judgment in bringing it out, in a cheaper form, for the use of students in divinity; and we do not doubt but that he will find a ready sale for the two closely but clearly and handsomely printed volumes, in which this _history of the church of england_ is now completed. those of our readers who take an interest in the writings of our early dramatists will be glad to learn that the rev. alexander dyce has at length completed, in three volumes, his long-looked-for edition of _the dramatic works of kit marlowe_. such of our clerical friends as have in their churches a peal of bells which, at the will of the ringers, "speak the loud language of a mighty knell," and who must, therefore, sometimes be painfully convinced of the ill practices which occasionally grow up in the belfry, will thank us for calling their attention to the _practical remarks on belfries and ringers_, lately published, by the rev. h.t. ellacombe, in which they will find some useful hints for the correction of such abuses. we have received the following catalogues:-- d. nutt ( . strand), select catalogue of classical and philological works. williams and norgate ( . henrietta street, covent garden), verzeichniss der bücher, landkarten etc welche vom juli bis zum december neu erschienen oder neu aufgelegt worden sind. (catalogue of books, maps, &c. published in german between july and december .) * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) odd volumes archÆologia. vol. iii. (a liberal price will be given for sheet c, pp. - .) todd's johnson's dictionary. to. - . last part, su to z, with the titles, preface, &c. barbauld's british novelist. zeluco, vol. ii.; and female quixote, vol. ii. tatler (lintot's edition.) london, . all the volumes after the second. spectator. (whittaker's edition.) london, . with portraits. vol. ii. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. folk lore. _we have received several letters, begging us to open our columns to the reception of articles and notes on our fast-fading_ folk lore, _and reminding us what good service_ the athenæum _did when it consented to receive communications of that interesting subject. we acknowledge with gratitude--for the point is one very interesting to us--the readiness with which_ the athenæum _listened to the suggestions of a correspondent, and what benefits resulted to that interesting branch of archæological study, when that influential journal consented to devote a portion of its valuable space to the reception of such notices. we at once, therefore, accede to the suggestions of our correspondent; and, following the example of our widely circulated contemporary, take this opportunity of assuring our now numerous readers that any contributions illustrative of_ the folk lore of england, _the manners, customs, observances, superstitions, ballads, proverbs, &c. of the olden time, will always find welcome admission to our pages. we think, too, we may venture to promise that such communications shall be illustrated, when they admit of it, from the writings of the continental antiquaries_. j.d.a. _is informed that we purpose so arranging_ "notes and queries" _as to form two volumes in the course of the year; each volume to be accompanied by a_ very copious index. emdee _will see that we have at once so far availed ourselves of his suggestion as to make_ replies _a distinct department of our paper. the other change he suggests requires consideration; which it shall certainly have_. _we are unavoidably compelled to postpone until our next number, mr. hickson's further communication on_ marlowe and the old taming of a shrew. t.s.n. _will find much curious information on the subject of his inquiry in some of the later volumes of_ the gentleman's magazine; _and we will take an early opportunity of furnishing him with information upon the point_. _we are compelled, by want of space, to omit our usual acknowledgment of_ communications received. _we are again compelled to omit many notes, queries, and answers to queries which are in type, as well as answers to correspondents_. * * * * * { } uniform with "hallam's literature of europe." now ready, vols. vo. s. a history of spanish literature. with criticism on particular works, and biographical notices of prominent writers. by george ticknor, esq. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new work by lord lindsay. this day is published, vols. vo. s. lives of the lindsays; or, a memoir of the houses of crawford and balcarres. by lord lindsay. also, by the same author, vols. vo. s. d. sketches of the history of christian art. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * cheap books.--a select list of second-hand books, in all classes of literature. gratis and post-free. wm. heath, - / . lincoln's inn fields, london. * * * * * vols. fcap. vo., third edition, s. d. each, sold separately. plain sermons, addressed to a country congregation. by the late rev. edward blencowe, curate of teversal, and formerly fellow of oriel college, oxford. "their style is simple--the sentences are not artfully constructed--and there is an utter absence of all attempts at rhetoric. the language is plain saxon language, from which 'the men on the wall' can easily gather what it most concerns them to know.... in the statements of christian doctrine, the reality of mr. blencowe's mind is very striking. there is a strength, and a warmth, and a life, in his mention of the great truths of the gospel, which show that he spoke from the heart, and that, like the apostle of old, he could say, 'i believe, and therefore have i spoken.'"--_theologian._ vols. mo., s. each, sold separately. sermons. by alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. "sermons of a high and solid character, and are the production of a good churchman. they are earnest and affectionate, and follow out the church's doctrine."--_theologian._ "warm hearted and thoughtful."--_guardian._ by the same author. vo., sewed, price s. baptism misunderstood, the great trouble of the church. "earnest and sound."--_christian remembrancer._. just published, mo., cloth, price s. short services for family worship; arranged chiefly from the book of common prayer, with a prefatory address. by john gibson, b.d., vicar of brent-with-furneux pelham, herts; late fellow and tutor of sidney sussex college, cambridge. the aim of this selection is to furnish a set of services that will take in all the great subjects of family prayer, and so short that the busiest household may have time for its devout utterance. it will be found suitable for those who have hitherto neglected the duty of family prayer. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * publications for february, . the land we live in. part xxx. the staffordshire potteries. volume iii. is now completed. the national cyclopÆdia of useful knowledge, part xxxvii. volume ix. is now completed. the history of england during thirty years' peace, part xii. the second volume and the work are now completed. france and its revolutions, part xx. the volume and the work are now completed. the bible history. by j. kitto, d.d., in one volume, with six engravings on steel and numerous wood engravings, is now completed. the british almanac for . price s. sewed, and the companion to the almanac. price s. d. sewed; or bound together in cloth, price s., are still on sale. london: charles knight, . fleet street; and sold by all booksellers in london and country. * * * * * the devotional library. edited by walter farquhar hook, d.d., vicar of leeds. the devotional library was commenced in . the design of the proprietors was to publish, at the lowest possible price, a series of works, original, or selected from well-known church of england divines, which, from their practical character, as well as their cheapness, would be peculiarly useful to the clergy for parochial distribution. since that period the following have appeared:-- helps to self-examination, / d. original the sum of christianity, d. a. ellis. directions for spending one day well, / d. abp. synge. short reflections for morning and evening, d. spinckes. prayers for a week, d. sorocold. the above may also be had, bound together in cloth, as "helps to daily devotion," price d. cloth. the crucified jesus, d. horneck. the retired christian, d. ken. holy thoughts and prayers, d. original. the sick man visited, d. spinckes. short meditations for ever day in the year, two vols. pp. cloth, s. original. ditto, two vols., calf, gilt edges, s. original. the separate parts may still be had. the christian taught by the church services. cloth, s. d. original. ditto ditto, calf, gilt edges, s. d. original. the separate parts may still be had. penitential reflections for days of fasting and abstinence. (tracts for lent), d. compiled. rules for the conduct of human life, d. abp. synge. ejaculatory prayers, d. a. cook. pastoral address to a young communicant, / d. original. litanies for domestic use, d. compiled. family prayers. cloth, d. original. companion to the altar. cloth, d. unknown. aphorisms by bishop hall. cloth, d. original. devout musings on the psalms. parts i. and ii, cloth, s. each. original. the evangelical history of our lord and saviour jesus christ. part i., d. reading. the common prayer book the best companion, d. unknown. the clergy and others purchasing for distribution, are informed that a reduction of twenty per cent. will be made on all orders of not less than s. in amount, if addressed direct to the publisher, mr. slocombe, leeds, or to mr. bell, fleet street, london, and payment made on delivery. leeds: r. slocombe. london: g. bell. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, and in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents. notes:-- unpublished letter of horace walpole, by s. hall. lady arabella stuard, by r. cole. the name martel, by w. robson. queries:-- query as to junius, by j. sudlow, esq. new edition of dr. owen's works. minor queries:--ms. book of hours--bess of hardwick--cæsar's wife--minar's books of antiquities--proverb against physicians--compendyous olde treatyse--topography of foreign printing presses--cromwell's estates--depinges. replies:-- origin of jew's-harp, by e.f. rimbault, ll.d. Ælfric's colloquy, by s.w. singer. reheting and rehetours. arabic numerals. fraternity of christian doctrine, chaucer's night charm, by rev. d. rock. replies to minor queries:--by hook or by crook, pokership, &c.--golden frog--madoc--twysden mss.--royal genealogies--astle's mss.--dr. hugh todd's mss.--sir w. ryder--scole inn--killegrew family--pavoise of the black prince--welsh ambassador--phoenix. by lactantius--catsup--buckingham motto--devices of anglo-saxons--purteninæ--pandoxare, &c. miscellanies:-- use of monosyllables--to endeavour oneself--evelyn's sculptura--william baxter--derivation of "avon"--warton and heinsius, &c. notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes unpublished letter of horace walpole i have the pleasure of inclosing to you (i believe) an unpublished letter of horace walpole's. it was found among the papers of the late william parsons, one of the della cruscan poets. that it is genuine i have no doubt. the handwriting is precisely similar to a note sent with a copy of the _mysterious mother_ to mr. parsons, in which horace walpole writes, "he is unwilling to part with a copy without protesting against his own want of judgment in selecting so disgusting a subject; the absurdity of which he believes makes many faults of which he is sensible in the execution overlooked." it is also guaranteed by its date,--"paris, july . ." by reference to his correspondence with sir h. mann (vol. ii. p. .), we find a letter dated july , , in which he writes, "i am not gone; i do go to-morrow;" and in his _general correspondence_, vol. v. p. ., writing to john chute, his letter is dated from amiens, july . , beginning, "i am got no farther yet;" and he returned to arlington street, september . , having arrived at paris on the th of july, and quitted it on the nd of september. i notice the dates, as they indicate the rate of travelling in some degree at that period. the query is, to whom was it addressed? there is nothing on the original to indicate the person. the letter is of no great importance, except as it shows that walpole, under certain conditions of being, was more earnest and sincere than perhaps was in his nature, or was generally his wont. spencer hall. athenæum, feb. . . "paris, july . . "dear s'r. "i have received no letter from my brother, and consequently have no answer to make to him. i shall only say that after entering into a solemn engagement with me, that we should dispose of the places alternately, i can scarce think him serious, when he tells you he has made an _entirely_ new arrangement for all the places, expects i shoud concur in it; and after that, is so good as to promise he will dispose of no more without consulting me. if he is so absolutely master of all, my concurrence is not necessary, _and i will give none_. if he chuses to dispose of the places without me, that matter with others _more important_, must be regulated in another manner,--and it is time they shoud, when no agreement is kept with me, and i find objections made which, upon the fullest discussion and after allowance of the force of my arguments and right, had been given up twenty years ago. "with regard to your letter, s'r, some parts of it are, i protest, totally unintelligible to me. others, which i think i do understand, require a much fuller answer than i have time to give now, as the post goes out to-morrow morning. that answer will contain matter not at all fit for the post, and which i am sure you woud not wish shoud be handled there; for which reason i shall defer it, till i can give my answer at length into your own hands. it will, i believe, surprize both you and my brother; and show how unkindly i have been { } treated after doing everything to accommodate both. as to the conditions which you say, s'r, you intend to exact from my brother, you will undoubtedly state them to him himself; and cannot expect i should meddle with them or be party to them. neither you nor he can imagine that i am quite so tame an idiot as to enter into bonds for persons of _his_ recommendation. if the office is _his_, he must be answerable for it, and for all the persons he employs in it. i protest against every thing that is not my own act--a consequence he perhaps did not foresee, when he chose, contrary to his agreement with me, to engross the whole disposition. i have always known clearly what is my own right and on what founded; and have acted strictly according to my right, and am ready to justify every step of my conduct. i have sufficiently shown my disposition to peace, and appeal to you yourself, s'r, and to my brother, whether either can charge me with the least encroachment beyond my right; and whether i have not acquiesced in every single step that either has desired of me. your letter, s'r, and that you quote of my brother, have shown how necessary it is for me to take the measure i am determined to take. i would have done any thing to oblige either you or my brother, but i am not to be threatened out of my right in any shape. i know when it is proper to yield and when to take my stand. i refused to accept the place for my own life when it was offered to me: when i declined _that_, it is not probable that i would hold the place to the wrong of anybody else; it will and _must_ be seen who claims any part or prerogatives of the place unjustly; my honour demands to have this ascertained, and i will add, that when i scorned a favour, i am not likely to be intimidated by a menace. "i say all this coolly and deliberately, and my actions will be conformable. i do not forget my obligations to you, dear s'r, or to your dead brother, whose memory will ever be most dear to me. unkind expressions shall not alter the affection i have for you and your family, nor am i so unreasonable, so unjust, or so absurd as not to approve your doing every thing you think right for your own interest and security and for those of your family. what i have to say hereafter will prove that these not only are but _ever have been_ my sentiments. i shall then appeal to your own truth whether it is just in you to have used some expressions in your letter, but as i mean to act with the utmost circumspection and without a grain of resentment to _anybody_, i shall say no more till i have had full time to weigh every word i shall use, and every step i mean to take. in the meantime i am, "dear s'r, "yr obliged humble serv't, "hor. walpole. "p.s. my refusal of the patent for my life has shown what value i set upon it; but _i will_ have justice, especially for my character, which no consideration upon earth shall prevent my seeking. it must and shall be known whether i enjoy the place to the wrong of any man living. you have my free consent, s'r, to show this letter to whom you please; i have nothing to conceal, and am ready to submit my conduct to the whole world." * * * * * lady arabella stuart. as a pendant to mr. p. cunningham's "new facts about lady arabella stuart" (no. . p. .). i send you a copy of bishop james' account and quietus in respect of l., placed in his hands "for the expences of dyett and other chardges of the ladye arabella seymour comytted to his safe kepinge." the original document is in my possession. robt. cole. feb. , . "_the accompte of the lorde byshopp of durham for cccli, receaved for the chardge of the ladye arbella seymour._ "the declaration of the accompte of the reverende father in god will'm james lorde bysshoppe of duresme for the some of three hundreth poundes imprested to him out of the receipte of the kinges ma^ts exchequer at westmynster for the expences of dyett and other chardges of the ladye arbella seymour comytted to his safe kepinge w^th an inteneon to have caryed into the bysshoprycke of duresme there to have remayned under his chardge duringe the kynges ma^ts pleasure, viz^t betweene the xiiij^th of marche in the viij^th year of his highnes raigne and the last daye of the same moneth as followeth. "_readye money receaved, viz. of_ "the threasorer and vnder threr. of th'exchequer in mychas terme in the viijth yeare of the kinges ma'ts raigne by t'handes of thomas wattson esquire one of the tell'rs for the chardges of himselfe and his servaunts in his yorney w'th the saide ladye arbella seymour by pvie seale dated the xiij of march and lves of the lordes of the councell ..._cccli_. whereof "_expences of dyett and other chardges of the ladye arabella seymour & others attendinge upon her, viz_. "_expences of dyett_ "at highgate for sixe dayes begonne the xvth daye of marche and ended the xxjst of the same moneth on w'ch daye her ladyshippe remoued to barnett. xviij_li._ vs. lijd. "at barnett for xj^en dayes begonne the xxjst of marche at supper and ended the firste of aprill at breakefaste beinge that daye remoued to eastbarnett. lxxj_li._ vs. viijd. "_chardges of y^e stable, viz_. "chardges of the stable for the xvij dayes aboue-menconed, viz. at highgate for vj dayes ix_li._ xvijs. xd. and at barnett for xj dayes with vs. for dressinge one of the lytter horses xxviij_li._ xijs. xjd., in all the some of xxxviij_li._ xs. ixd. { } "_lodginge and other necessaries, viz._ "lodginge of some of the retinewe of the lady arbella and the sayde lorde bysshoppe, viz. highgate xxs. and at barnett viijs., in all xxviijs. "fyer lightes and other nessces with the lodginge of the saide lorde bysshoppe and some of his servauntes at highgate and barnett during the xvij dayes aforesaide. xj_li._ xjs. "rydinge and postinge chardges, viz. for posthorses from lambeth to highgate xxxiiijs. iiijd. and from thence to barnett xxxiiijs. ixd. mr. beeston and others for there chardges three several tymes to barnett from london and from highgate xljs. iiijd. the servauntes of the lorde bysshoppe of durham sent at several tymes in the lordes of the councell and for other busynesses concerning this servyce xlvs. vjd. and to sr. james crofes knight for the chardges of himselfe his men and horses from monday to wednesday night attendinge at london for this service xlijs. vijd., in all ix_li._ xviijs. vjd. "rewardes to sondrye psons, viz. to messengers sent from the courte duringe the stay of the lorde bysshoppe at highgate and barnett xxxixs. vjd. dyverse psons whoe tooke paynes at those twoe places vij_li._ xijs., vjd., given in the yune for glasses broken and in rewardes to the meaner servauntes at barnett xxxs., given to such an attended about the posthorses vijs. vjd. and in rewarde to one of the tellors clerkes whoe told and delivered the ccc_li._ and came to durham house for the acquittance xxs., in all xij_li._, ixs. vjd. "money payde by the saide lorde bysshoppe pte of the ccc_li._ by him receaved to nicholas paye gen. whoe hath for the same yelded his accompte to the kinges ma'tie. c_li._.--cclxiij_li._ viijs. viijd. "aud soe remayneth the some of xxxvj_li._ xjs. iiijd. "whiche some the saide lorde bysshoppe of durham hath payde into the kinges m'ts receipte of th'excheq'r the vij'th daye of februarie in the nynth yere of his highnes raigne as by the tallie thereof remayninge may appeare. and soe here quyte. "ex p fra gofton "auditorem." * * * * * the name martel. i must confess that the article in no. . p. ., which deprived charles martel of his long-possessed distinction of "the hammerer" gave me but little satisfaction. it was one of those old associations that one does not like to have destroyed. i could not, however, contradict your correspondents; and remained that very uncomfortable person, "a man convinced against his will." on turning over my ménagiana, yesterday, i stumbled upon the name "martel," and, as the passage combines both your elements (being a good note, and producing a query) i beg leave to offer it to you. "dans le ll'me siècle les procès se faisaìent aux vassaux par leurs pairs, c'est-à-dire, par leurs convassaux, et toute sorte de procès se font encore présentement en angleterre à toutes sortes d'accusés par leurs pairs, c'est-à-dire, par des personnes de leur même état et de leur même condition, à la réserve des bourreaux et des bouchers, qui, à cause de leur cruauté ne sont point juges. _géoffroi martel_, comte d'anjou, fit faire ainsi le procès à guérin de craon, qu'il avait fait foi et hommage de la baronnie de craon à conan, duc de bretange. géoffroi fit assembler ses barons, qui, selon l'ancienne forme observée en matière féodale, firent le procès à guérin, son vassal, et le condamnèrent, quoiqu'il fùt absent.--et il est à remarquer à ce propos, que le pape innocent iii., qui favourisait jean _sans-terre_, parcequ'en il avait soûmis son royaume d'angleterre au saint siége au devoir de mille marcs d'argent par an, ayant allegué aus ambassadeurs de philippe auguste que jean _sans-terre_ avait été condammé absent, et que les loix défendent de condamner les accusés sans les ouïr; ils lui réspondirent que l'usage du royaume de france était de condamner les absents, aussi bien que les présents, lorqu'ils avaient été deuëment cités en jugement. chez les romains il n'était par permis de condamner les absents: _non licet civem inauditum damnare._" now, sir, this passage shows "_martel_," as a name, like that of "sans-terre," bestowed for some quality or circumstances attached to the bearer;--and i should like to ask your correspondents if they know how this comte d'anjou, became entitled to it? he appears, from the date, to be the same geoffrey who is the ancestor of our plantagenets, as the comte d'anjou, contemporary with william the conqueror, was named fulk. if it can be proved that this count received this addition from his martial prowess, i shall be strongly tempted to return to my creed regarding charles martel. w. robson. * * * * * queries as to junius. amongst the letters attributed to junius, and, in the opinion of dr. good, most certainly his production, is one signed "atticus," under date of the th aug. , which contains an allusion to the private affairs of the writer, by no means unimportant. it is as follows:-- "the greatest part of my property having been invested in the funds, i could not help paying some attention to rumours or events by which my fortune might be affected: yet i never lay in wait to take advantage of a sudden fluctuation, much less would i make myself a bubble to bulls and bears, or a dupe to the pernicious arts practised in the alley. i thought a prudent man, who had any thing to lose, and really meant to do the best for himself and his family, ought to consider the state of things at large, of the prospect before him, and the probability of public events. _a letter which appeared some days ago in the public advertizer_ revived many serious reflections of this sort in my mind, because it seemed to be written with candour and judgment. _the effect of those reflections was, that i did not hesitate to alter the situation of my property._ "i owe my thanks to that writer that i am safely { } _landed_ from a troubled ocean of fear and anxiety on which i think i will venture my fortune and my happiness again," &c. &c. there is no reason to question the truth of these sentiments. the letter is believed to be the first which appeared signed "atticus," and was written many months before the author became known as junius, and before any necessity had arisen for the exercise of that habitual caution which he afterwards evinced in the mention of any circumstance at all likely to lead to his detection. would it not, therefore, be worth while to ascertain the date of the letter in the _public advertizer_ which influenced him, and then to search the names of the transferrors of stock between that time and the th august? many of the contributors to the "notes and queries" have influence sufficient to obtain permission from the proper authority for such a search. it is observable, that as the amount _transferred_ formed the _greatest part_ of his property, it would be somewhat considerable, and might not be sold in the aggregate, but pass in various sums to several purchasers. jno. sudlow. manchester. _junius and sir g. jackson._--i find no one has answered my question about sir george jackson (no. . p. .). i will therefore put another. i possess an unpublished letter by junius to woodfall, which once belonged to sir george jackson. my query is, "is it likely he could have obtained it from junius, if he was neither junius himself nor a party concerned?" the manner in which burke evades the question as to himself being the author of _junius_ makes me think two or three were concerned in these _letters_. p. * * * * * new edition of rev. dr. owen's works. i gladly avail myself of the hint thrown out by "r.r." (in no. .) to state that as i am engaged in editing a reprint of the works of the rev. dr. owen, and as i am exceedingly anxious to ensure accuracy in the quotations from and references to the fathers, any suggestions which may be furnished by those of your learned correspondents who may be conversant with the works in question, will be very acceptable. i should wish much to obtain _original editions_ of the leading works, such as that _on the person of christ_; _on the work of the spirit_; _on the death of death, in the death of christ_. have any of your correspondents ever taken the trouble of collating the greek and latin quotations with the authors quoted from, and examined the references made to the fathers and other ancient writers? any communication addressed to the editor of the works of owen at messrs. johnstone and hunter, publishers, edinburgh, will be promptly forwarded to me. j.g. dunnichen, forfarshire. * * * * * minor queries. _ms. book of hours._--in the sale catalogue of the library of john bridges, of lincoln's inn, february, , is entered lot :-- "missale quondam henrici vii., regis angliæ, ut ex ipsius autographo in codicis initio patet, pulcherrime illuminatum, et inconibus fere exornatum. in pergameno, et ornatissime compact." it appears, from wanley's _diary_ (ms. lansd. .), that this volume, which he calls a _primer_, was purchased for the earl of oxford (for l. s., as i learn from a priced copy of the catalogue), and was highly valued. to judge from the above description, it must have been a very beautiful book; and as it does not seem to be at present among the harleian collection of mss. in the british museum, i should be glad to learn into whose hands it has fallen. it is _not_ the celebrated volume of _hours_ known under the name of the _bedford missal_, since that was purchased by lord harley of lady worseley, and is now in the possession of the rev. mr. tobin;--nor is it the book of _hours_ in the library of the duke of devonshire (described by dr. dibbin in the _bibl. decameron_, vol. i. p. .), which contains the autograph notes of henry vii.;--nor is it the similar volume formerly in the libraries of george wilkinson, of tottenham green (sold in ), and the rev. will. maskell, and now ms. add. , . in the british museum, in which are seen the autographs of henry vii. and his queen, henry viii., catherine of aragon, and others;--nor is it the beautiful volume of _hours_ executed for rené d'anjou, and subsequently presented to henry vii. by his chaplain george strangeways, archdeacon of coventry (now in the british museum, ms. eg. .);--nor, lastly, is it the book of _hours_ in the collection of george iii. (no. .), which contains the autograph writing of henry viii. f.m. b.m., feb. . . _bess of hardwick._--elizabeth, or bess of hardwick, celebrated for her distaste for celibacy, makes a considerable figure in the histories of the cavendish family, who in some degree owed their greatness to her judicious purchases and careful management of their derbyshire estates. it appears, from the _derbyshire visitations_, that she was one of the daughters of john hardwick, of hardwick co. derby, by his wife elizabeth, daughter of thomas leake, of hasland co. derby, and that john hardwick died hen. viii. can any of your readers inform me of the pedigree of this john hardwick?--what arms, crest, motto and quarterings he made use of?--what persons now living are descended from him?--and what became of his estates? i presume that your typographical arrangements { } do not admit of the insertion of a regular pedigree; but the descents may be stated as in burke and similar books. gules _cæsar's wife._.--"naso" wishes to know where the proverbial saying, "cæsar's wife must not even be suspected," first occurs. _minar's books of antiquities._--can any one conversant with the works of cardinal nicolas de cusa inform me what author he quotes as "minar in his books of antiquities," in what language, and where existing? _de doctâ ignorantiâ_, i. i. cap. . a.n. _proverb against physicians._--"m.d." wishes to be informed of the earliest writer who mentions the proverb "ubi tres medici, duo athei." _compendyous olde treatyse._--in ames's _typographical antiquities_, vol. i. p. . (ed. herbert), is described a work, printed by rycharde banckes, some time between and , entitled, "a compendyous olde treatyse shewynge howe that we ought to have the scripture in englyshe, with the auctours." mo. leaves. this copy belonged to herbert himself, and was probably obtained at the sale of thomas granger, in . any information as to its wherabout at present, or the existence of any other copy of the above tract, would confer a fabour on the inquirer. f.m. _the topography of foreign printing presses._--i have often been at a loss to discover the locality of names which designate the places where books have been printed at foreign presses; and "when found" to "make a note of it." i was therefore pleased to find in no. . p. ., by the reply of "r.g." to mr. jebb, that "_cosmopolis_ was certainly amsterdam," and that "coloniæ" signifies "amstelædami." and i will take the liberty of suggesting that it would be an acceptable service rendered to young students, if your learned correspondents would occasionally communicate in the pages of your work, the modern names, &c. of such places as are not easily gathered from the books themselves. p.h.f. _cromwell's estates._--in carlyle's edition of _cromwell's letters and speeches_, there is a note (p. . vol. iv. of the rd ed. ) containing a list of the estates which the protector owned at the time of his death, as follows; there being, besides newhall, specified as "in essex," five, viz.-- "dalby, broughton, burleigh, oakham, and egleton." of which the editor has ascertained the localities; and six, viz.-- £ s. d "gower, valued at per an. chepstall valued at magore valued at sydenham valued at woolaston valued at chaulton valued at ," of which, he say, "he knows nothing." it would surely be a proper, and, one might hope, an attainable object of inquiry, to search out these unplaced estates of the great protector, and give them a local habitation in modern knowledge. this is precisely one of the kind of queries which your publication seems best fitted to aid; and i therefore submit it, in the hope of some discoveries, to your correspondents. v. belgravia, feb. , . _what are depinges?_--in the orders made in for regulating the fishery at yarmouth, the dutch settlers there are "to provide themselves with twine and _depinges_ in foreign places." what are depinges? j.s.b. * * * * * replies origin of the jews-harp. the "jews-harp," or "jews-trump," is said by several authors to derive its name from the nation of the jews, and is vulgarly believed to be one of their instruments of music. dr. littleton renders jews-trump by _sistrum judaicum_. but no such musical intrument is spoken of by any of the old authors that treat of the jewish music. in fact, the jews-harp is a mere boy's plaything, and incapable of in itself of being joined either with a voice or any other instrument; and its present orthography is nothing more than a corruption of the french _jeu-trompe_, literally, a toy trumpet. it is called _jeu-trompe_ by bacon, _jew-trump_ by beaumont and fletcher, and _jews-harp_ by hackluyt. in a rare black-letter volume, entitled _newes from scotland_, , there is a curious story of one geilles duncan, a noted performer on the "jews-harp," whose performance seems not only to have met with the approval of a numerous audience of witches, but to have been repeated in the presence of royalty, and by command of no less a personage than the "scottish solomon," king james vi. agnes sampson being brought before the king's majesty and his council, confessed that "upon the night of all-hallow-even last, shee was accompanied as well with the persons aforesaid, as also with a great many other witches, to the number of two-hundredth; and that all they together went to sea, each one in a riddle or sive, and went into the same very substantially, with flaggons of wine, making merrie, and drinking by the way, in the same riddle or sives, to the kirk of north barrick in lowthian; and that after { } they had landed, tooke handes on the lande and daunced this reill or short daunce, singing all with one voice, "'commer goe ye before, commer goe ye: gif ye will not goe before, commer let me.' "at which time, she confessed that this geilles duncan (a servant girl) did goe before them, playing this reill or daunce uppon a small _trumpe_ called a _jews-trumpe_, until they entred into the kirk of north barrick. these confessions made the king in a wonderfull admiration, and sent for the said geilles duncan, who upon the like _trumpe_ did play the saide daunce before the kinge's majestie; who in respect of the strangenes of these matters tooke great delight to be present at their examinations." it may be as well to mention that in the belgic or low dutch, from whence come many of our toys, a _tromp_ is a rattle for children. another etymon for _jews-harp_ is _jaws-harp_, because the place where it is played upon is between the jaws. to those who wish to learn more upon the subject, i beg to refer them to pegge's _anonymiana_; dauncy's _ancient scottish melodies_; and to my edition of chettle's _kind-harts dream_ printed by the percy society. edward f. rimbault. [we are indebted also to trebor, e.w.d., j.f.m., and f.p. for replies to this query. they will perceive that dr. rimbault had anticipated the substance of their several communications.] * * * * * Ælfric's colloquy. i must trouble you and some of your readers with a few words, in reply to the doubt of "c.w.g." (no. . p. .) respecting the word _sprote_. i do not think the point, and the capital letter to _saliu_ in the latin text, conclusive, as nothing of the kind occurs in the a.-s. version, where the reading is clearly, "_swa hwylce swa_, on watere swymmath sprote." i have seen the cottonian ms., which, as mr. hampson observes, is very distinctly written, both in the saxon and latin portions; so much so in the latter, as to make it a matter of surprise that the doubtful word _saliu_ should ever have been taken for _salu_, or _casidilia_ for _calidilia_. the omission of the words _sprote_ and _saliu_, in the st. john's ms., would only be evidence of a more cautious scribe, who would not copy what he did not understand. your correspondent's notion, "that the name of some fish, having been first interlined, was afterwards inserted at random in the text, and mis-spelt by a transcriber who did know its meaning," appears to me very improbable; and the very form of the words (_sprote_, _saliu_, supposing them substantives), which have not plural terminations, would, in my mind, render his supposition untenable. for, be it recollected, that throughout the answers of the fiscere, the fish are always named in the _plural_; and it is not to be supposed that there would be an exception in favour of _sprote_, whether intended for _sprat_ or _salmon_. indeed, had the former been a river fish, hulvet and palsgrave would have countenanced the supposition; but then we must have had it in the plural form, _sprottas_. as for the suggestion of _sprod_ and _salar_, i cannot think it a happy one; salmon (_leaxus_) had been already mentioned; and _sprods_ will be found to be a very confined local name for what, in other places, are called _scurfes_ or _scurves_, and which we, in our ignorance, designate as salmon trout. in the very scanty a.-s. ichthyologic nomenclature we possess, there is nothing to lead us to imagine that our anglo-saxon ancestors had any corresponding word for a salmon trout. i must be excused, therefore, for still clinging to my own explanation of _sprote_, until something more _specious_ and _ingenious_ shall be advanced, but in full confidence, at the same time, that some future discovery will elucidate its truth. s.w. singer. feb. . . * * * * * reheting and rehetours. as dr. todd's query (no. . p. .) respecting the meaning of the words "reheting" and "rehetour," used by our early english writers, has not hitherto been answered, i beg to send him a conjectural explanation, which, if not conclusive, is certainly probable. in the royal household of france, there was formerly an officer whose duty it was to superintend the roasting of the king's meat; he was called the _hâteur_, apparently in the sense of his "hastening" or "expediting" that all-important operation. the fr. _hâter_, "to hasten or urge forward," would produce the noun-substantive _hâteur_; and also the similar word _hâtier_, the french name for the roast-jack. if we consider _rehâteur_ to be the reduplicate of _hâteur_, we have only to make an allowable permutation of vowels, and the result will be the expressive old english word "rehetour," an appropriate name for the royal turnspit. wycliffe uses it, i think, in the sense of a superfluous servant, one whose duties, like the hâteur's, were very light indeed. he compares the founding of new orders in an overburthened church-establishment to the making of new offices in a household already crowded with useless (and consequently idle and vicious) servants. the multitude of fat friars and burly monks charged upon the community were "the newe rehetours that ete mennes mete," &c. the term, thus implying an useless "do-nothing," would soon become one of the myriad of choice epithets in the vulgar vocabulary, as in the instances from dunbar and kennedy. in a better sense, a verb would be derived, easily; "to rehâte," or "rehete," i.e. "to provide, { } entertain, or refresh with meat," and thence, "to feast with words," as used by chaucer and the old romancists. mr. halliwell's authorities for rendering the participle "rehating" by "burning, or smarting," are not given; but if such a meaning existed, it may have a ready explanation by reference to the hâuteur's fireside labour, though suggestive of unskilfulness or carelessness on his part. john westby gibson. . queen square, aldersgate street, feb. . . in answer to dr. todd's inquiries, i would say, first of all, the "rehatours" of douglas and the other scots are beside his question, and a totally different word. feelings cherished in the mind will recur from time to time; and those malevolent persons, who thus retain them, were said to _re-hate_, as they are now said to re-sent. but the verb really in question is, _per se_, a perfectly plain one, to re-heat. the difficulty is as to its use. the primary use, of course, is to _heat again_. the nearest secondary use is "to cherish, cheer, or comfort, to refocillate;" which is too plain to require more words. another secondary meaning is "to re-vive or to re-kindle" in its metaphoric sense. this may be said well, as of life, health, or hope; or ill, as of war, hatred, grief; or indifferently, as of love. what difficulty mr. tyrwhitt could find in "the revival of troilus's bitter grief" being called "the reheating of his sore sighs," i cannot imagine. even literal heat is not wanting to sighs, and is often ascribed to them by poets: and lovers' sighs are warm in every sense. i think tyrwhitt has thrown upon this passage the only darkness that involves it. now comes the more difficult point, which alone concerns dr. todd in his highly interesting labours upon wycliffe. and the method which, until better advised, i should be inclined to follow with those passages, is to take the word nearly, though not exactly, in what seems to have been its most usual sense; not indeed for comforters or cherishers, but for those who promote comfort and convenience, viz., ministers or servants. it does not at all follow, because he is blaming the introduction of these persons as expensive, superfluous, and otherwise evil, that he describes them by a word expressive of evil. as a ministering angel would be a reheting angel, so i take a rehetor here to be simply a minister, one who waits upon your occasions and serves you. a.n. * * * * * arabic numerals. the history of the arabic numerals, as they are generally called, is so mixed up with that of the use of the decimal scale, that they form, in fact, but a single inquiry. the mere history of the bare forms of symbols has, doubtless, its use: but then it is only in the character of _matériel_ for a philosophical discussion of the question--a discussion into which the natural progress of the human mind and the urgency of social wants must enter largely. it might at first sight appear, from the cognate character of the hebrew and arabic languages, that the idea of using a single symbol for each number, might originate with either--with one as likely as with the other. but on reflection it will readily appear that the question rather resolves itself into one respecting the "hand-cursive" of the jews and saracens, than into one respecting the constitution of the languages. of the jewish we know nothing, or next to nothing, at the period in question; whilst the arabic is as well known as even our own present style of calligraphy. it deserves to be more carefully inquired into than has yet been done, whether the invention of contracting the written compound symbols of the digital numbers into single symbols did not really originate amongst the jews rather than the saracens; and even whether the arabs themselves did not obtain them from the "jew merchants" of the earlier ages of our era. one thing is tolerably certain:--that the jew merchant would, as a matter of precaution, keep all his accounts in some secret notation, or in cipher. whether this should be a modified form of the hebrew notation, or of the latin, must in a great degree depend upon the amount of literary acquirement common amongst that people at the time. assuming that the jews, as a literate people, were upon a par with their christian contemporaries, and that their knowledge was mainly confined to mere commercial notation, an anonymous writer has shown how the modifications of form could be naturally made, in vol. ii. of the _bath and bristol magazine_, pp. - .; the motto being _valent quanti valet_, as well as the title professing it to be wholly "conjectural." some of the speculations in it may, however, deserve further considerations than they have yet received.[ ] the contraction of the compound symbols for the first nine digits into single "figures," enabled the computer to dispense with the manual labour of the _abacus_, whilst in his graphic notation he retained its essential principle of _place_. it seems to be almost invariably forgotten by writers on { } the subject, what, without _this principle_, no improvement in mere notation would have been of material use in arithmetic; and on the other hand that the main difference between the arithmetic of the _abacus_ and the arithmetic of the _slate_, consists in the inevitable consequences of the denotation of the single digits by single symbols. the _abacus_, however, in its ordinary form, is essentially a decimal instrument: but its form was also varied for commercial purposes, perhaps in different ways. i never heard of the existence of one in any collection: but there is preserved in the british museum a picture of one. this was printed by mr. halliwell in his _rara mathematica_--not a fac-simile, but a rule and type representation of it, ciphers being used by him for the circles in the original. mr. halliwell gives it without note or remark; and evidently had not divined its meaning. this was done, however, soon after in a review of mr. halliwell's book in the _philosophical magazine_. i am not able at this moment to refer to either, so as to give exact dates: but is was somewhere from to . perhaps, however, i am giving "e.v." information that may be irrelevant to his purpose; though it may of some use to another class of inquirers. i proceed, therefore, to one or two notices that seem to have a more direct bearing on his object: . chasles' _aperçu historique sur l'origine et le développement de méthodes en géométrie_; passim, but especially in note xii.: to., bruxelles, . . chasles' several notices in _comptes rendus des séances de l'acad. des sciences._ all subsequent to the "aperçu." his _catalogue des manuscrits de la bibliothèque de ville de chartres_ should also be consulted, if accessible to "e.v." copies of it, however, are very rare in the country, as it was privately printed and never published. if, however, your correspondent have any serious inquiry in view which should render his consultation of it desirable, i can put it in his power to do so personally through you. . libri, several notices in the same series of papers. . libri, _histoire des sciences mathématiques en italie_. several places. bactulica. paris, - . tomes. vo. . peacock (dean of ely), "arithmetic," in the _encyclopædia metropolitana_. this is now, i believe to be had either separately, or in the volume devoted to pure "mathematics." . de morgan, _penny cyclopædia_ in loc., and occasionally elsewhere in the work. . leslie's _philosophy of arithmetic_. . humboldt, in a paper which is translated in the _journal of the royal institution_, vol. xxix. i believe a good many other references might be made, with little trouble, to foreign mémoires; and (perhaps still more to your correspondent's apparent purpose) to some amongst the mémoires that relate to inscriptions and topography, rather that amongst those relating directly to science or literature. however, the two parts of the subject cannot be effectively studied separately from each other; and i am not without a hope that these straggling notes may be of some use to "e.v." under the view of inscriptions it occurs to my memory that in two or three places on the church of st. brelade in jersey, there are marked four vertical straight lines, which are interpreted by the natives to signify the arabic numerals ; as the date mcxi of the building of the church. the church is evidently a very ancient one, and it is agreed to be the oldest in the island, and the island historians assign it to the early part of the th century. for these symbols being coeval with the building i do not vouch: as (though it is difficult to say what may constitute antiquity in the look of four parallel lines) i confess that to my eye they had "as modern a look" as four such lines could well have. the sudden illness of one of my party during our visit ( ), however, precluded my examining that beautiful spot and its interesting little church with the care i should have wished. i may be allowed to suggest the necessity of some degree of caution in discussing this question: especially not to assume that any arabic numerals which appear in ecclesiastical inscriptions are coeval with the dates they express; but rather inquire whether, from the condition of the stone bearing the inscription, these numbers may not have been put there at a later period, during repairs and alterations of the building itself. it is for many reasons improbable, rather than otherwise, that the arabic numerals should have been freely used (if used at all) on _ecclesiastical structures_ till long after the reformation: indeed they are not so even yet. but more. even where there is authentic evidence of such symbols being used in ecclesiastical inscriptions, the forms of them will tell nothing. for generally in such cases an antique form of symbol would be assumed, if it were the alteration of a "learned clerk;" or the arabesque taste of the carver of the inscription would be displayed in grotesque forms. we would rather look for genuine than coeval symbols of this kind upon tombs and monuments, and the altar, than upon the building itself; and these will furnish collateral proofs of the genuineness of the entire inscriptions rather than any other class of architectural remains. the evidence of the inscriptions on "balks and beams" in old manorial dwellings is especially to be suspected. t.s.d. shooter's hill, feb , . [footnote : in vol. iii. of the same work is another paper by the same author, entitled, "conjectures respecting the origin of alphabetic writing," pp. - . reference to these papers is principally made, not on the ground of any assumed merit, but because _all_ that has been written on any given subject ought, if possible, to be brought before the minds of those engaged in the prosecution of the inquiry.] _arabic numerals._--if you think the following { } title will do for your correspondent "e.v." (no. . p. .), please to communicate it to him: "mannert, k., de numerorum, quos arabicos voc., vera origine pythagorico; e. fig. aen. vo. nürnberg, ." oscar heun. cambridge, feb. . . _arabic numerals_ (no. . p. .).--your correspondent should consult peacock's "history of arithmetic" in the _encyclopædia metropolitana_; and, if he can get them, the notes to chasles' _aperçu historique des méthodes en géométric_, and various papers of mr. chasles, published in the _comptes rendus_ of the french institute. he may perhaps find some information in de morgan's _arithmetical books_, particularly at p. . m. * * * * * the fraternity of christian doctrine--chaucer's night charm. in a little work by costanzi, entitled _le istituzioni di pieta che si esercitano in roma_, &c., and published a.d. , in rome, where the schools under the management of that brotherhood are in great favour, "c.f.s." will find much to interest him on the subject, though not exactly in the order in which he has put his queries (no. . p. .), nor to their full extent. mr. thoms, to whom english mediæval literature is so much beholden, asks very earnestly for some information about "the white paternoster" and "seynte petres soster," (no. . p. .). perhaps the following guesses may not be without use. first, then, about the "white paternoster:" henry parker, a carmelite friar of doncaster, who wrote his admirable _compendiouse treatyse, or dialogue of dives and pauper_, during the reign of edward iv., speaking against superstitions, and especially "craftes and conjurations with holy prayers," says: "they that use holy wordes of the gospel, pater noster, ave, or crede, or holy prayers in theyr wytchecraftes, for charmes or conjurations--they make a full hye sacrifice to the fende. it hath oft ben knowen, that wytches, with sayenge of their pater noster and droppynge of the holy candell in a man's steppes that they hated, hath done his fete rotton of. dr. what should the pater noster, and the holy candell do therto? pau. ryght nought. but for the wytche worshyppeth the fende so highly with the holy prayers, and with the holy candell, and used suche holy thinges in despyte of god therefore is the fende redy to do the wytche's wylle and to fulfyll thinges that they done it for. 'the fyrst command,' cap. xxxv. fol. . imprynted by t. berthelet, . mo." that the pater noster used sometimes to be said with the wicked design of working ill to individuals, and by those who were deemed witches, is clear form the above extract: may not, then, this "wytche's" pater noster be the "white" pater noster, against which the night-spell in chaucer was employed? "wyche" may easily be imagined to have glided into "white." "seynte petres soster," i suspect has a reference to st. petronilla's legend. st. petronilla, among our forefathers, was called st. pernell, and _the golden lengend_ imprinted , by wynkyn de word, tells us, fol. cxxxi. b., that she "was doughter of saynt peter thappostle, whiche was ryght fayre and bewteous, and by the wyll of her fader she was vexed with fevers and akes." for a long while she lay bed-ridden. from the name of this saint, who went through so many years of her life in sickness, perhaps was borrowed the word "pernell," to mean a person in a sickly weak state of health, in which sense, sir thomas more (_works_, london, , p. ) employs it, while bantering tindal. st. peter's daughter (st. pernell) came to be looked upon, in this country, as the symbol of bad health under all its forms. now, if we suppose that the poet mistook, and wrote "soster" instead of "doughter," we immediately understand the drift of the latter part of the spell, which was, not only to drive away witchcraft, but guard all the folks in that house from sickness of every kind. daniel rock. buckland, faringdon. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _by hook or by crook--pokership--gib cat--emerod._--i regret that very pressing business has hitherto prevented me from supplying an omission in my communication relating to the probable derivation of "by hook or by crook;" namely, my authority for saying there was evidence of the usage i referred to in forest customs. i now beg to supply that omission, by referring to the numerous claims for fuel wood made by divers persons at the justice seats held in the reigns of charles i. and charles ii. for the new forest, and which will be found at the tower and chapter house. among others of these claims, i would mention that made by the tenant of land in barnford, no. ., who claims to have had the privilege, from _time immemorial_, of going into the king's wood to take the _dead branches_ off the trees therein, "with a cart, a horse, a _hook and a crook_, and a sail cloth." verily this necessity for a sail cloth seems to point very distinctly to his being obliged to collect his fire-wood "by hook or by crook." may i add, that i do not think that any of the notes i have seen hitherto, with reference to this subject, invalidate the supposition of the origin being forestal; all that they { } appear to me to prove is, that the saying is of long standing. with reference to the query regarding the word pokership (no. . p. .), i would observe, that the word is correctly copied from the grant, and that it was so spelt in all the previous grants that i have been able to refer to. as to the meaning of the word, i am of the opinion that it is intended to express the office of keeping the hogs in the forest, i.e. porcarius. pokership was probably spelt in early times pawkership, from pawn, i apprehend; subsequently it was either spelt or pronounced paukership or pokership. in corroboration of this view, i would mention, that on referring to the pipe roll, john, county of _hereford_, the following will be found:--"hubert de burgo, et i libæ const. parcario de heford, xxxs. vd." if, however, parkership be deemed the more correct reading, still it does not of necessity apply to the custody of a park; it might have denoted the pound-keeper, for, in matters relating to manors, _parcus_ means a pound. with respect to the query about gib cat, you will find the subject treated on largely in the _etymologicon_--i may say, exhausted. by the bye, there can be no doubt that emerod means emerald; formerly emerald would be spelt emeraud, and the transition is natural to emerode--emerod. with regard to the supposed size being an objection to this reading, it will be found that anciently the _matrix_ of the emerald, which is _tinged_ green, went by the name of the more valuable jewel. t.r.f. spring gardens, feb. . _golden frog_ (no. . p. .).--sir john poley's frog may have been a device alluding to his name; i imagine that poley is an appelative of frogs. i find in halliwell's _dict. of archaic words_, "_polly_wig," and in jamieson's _scottish dictionary_, "_pow_lick," both meaning _tadpole_, and both _diminutive_ forms; and rowley _poley_ is closely (though not very logically) connected with the _frog_ who would a-wooing go. the word has probably the same root as _poole_, _puddle_, &c. r.r. _madoc._--in addition to what is stated (no. . p. .) on this subject, may be noted, that in the ms. add. , . british museum, fol. ., is a letter from dr. david samwell to the gwyneddigion society, dated rd march, , in which he states, that the result of an interview, held by himself and william owen with general bowles, "places the existence of a race of welsh indians beyond all matter of doubt." this race is identified with _padongas_ on the missouri, who are said to be of a different complexion from the other indian races, and to have books, which they were not able to read. is this information to be depended on or not? f.m. _mss. of sir roger twysden_ (no. . p. .).--twysden's mss. were purchased by sir thomas sebright, in or before the year , and in the sebright sale at leigh and sotheby's, in , appear to be two of the mss. inquired after by the rev. l.b. larking, namely, lot ., "vita et epistolæ sancti thomæ, archiepiscopi cant." (purchased by heber, and, at his sale in , resold [lot .] to sir thomas phillipps), and lot ., "epistolæ beati anselmi, archieposcopi cant.", purchased by dardis; but what became of it afterwards i know not. f.m. _royal genealogies_ (no. . p. .).--the inquirer will find, probably, what he requires, in a work by j.f. dambergen, entitled, "sechzig genaealogische auch chronologische und statistische tabellen, zu fürstentafel und fürstenbuch der europäischen staatengeschichte," fol. regensburg, , in which the descents are brought down to a recent period. f.m. _astle's mss._ (no. . p. .).--after the death of astle, in , his collection of mss. was purchased, pursuant to his will, for the sum of l., by the marquess of buckingham, and they remained at stowe till the spring of last year, when they passed, with the rest of that noble collection, into the hands of the earl of ashburnham, for the sum of l.;--a loss to the public much to be regretted. f.m. _dr. hugh todd's mss_. (no. . p. .).--the first of the five mss. mentioned by mr. walbran, namely, the chartulary of fountains abbey, is at present in university college, oxford, and perhaps some of the other mss. may be there also. a catalogue of the mss. of this college has been printed, compiled by the rev. h.o. coxe, of the bodleian library; but i have not been able to consult a copy of it in london. f.m. _sir william ryder_ (no. . p. .),--"h.f." is informed that sir william ryder, lord mayor of london in , lived at bethnal green, received the honour of knighthood, th march, or ; died th august, ; and was buried th september following at st. andrew undershaft, london. he had two sons, one of whom was thomas ryder, who was an equerry to king james ii., and lord of the manor of bilsington, in kent. he performed some service at the coronation of queen anne; and his son, sir barnham ryder, was knighted at the coronation of her successor. the other son of sir william ryder was william ryder, gentleman. sir william ryder had five daughters:-- . elizabeth, who married richard, son of sir thomas midleton, of chirk castle in denbighshire, knight. . priscilla, the wife of richard baylie, son of dr. baylie, dean of { } sarum. . mary. . anne. . martha.--_harl. mss._ , . f.e. _scole inn._--in answer to the query (no. . p. .) respecting the sign and house at scole inn, i beg to refer to vol. ii. p. ., of the _history of norfolk_, published by crouse and booth of norwich, in , in vols. vo. i beg to state that i have impressions of two large prints, one of the "house," and the other of the "sign." they were published in .--"joshua kirby," del., "john fossey," sculpt. i have also a smaller print of the "sign" taken from the opposite side--from the larger one--apparently by the same parties, but the names of the drawer and engraver are cut off. i think the sign was not take down till after , as i have a recollection of having passed _under it_ when a boy, in going from norwich to ipswich. the sign was large and handsome, and extended across the road. in _kirby's print_, it is stated to have cost mr. james peck, who was a merchant at norwich, l. the prints are not very scarce, and may be got at many of the printsellers in london. j.b. about twenty years ago i have seen hanging up on the wall of the principal entry of this inn, a print of its original front, comprising the various figure, coats of arms, &c. which adorned it: in this account the founder peck was called a citizen of norwich, and the traveller was puzzled by this piece of information. "it is called scole inn, because it is at about the same distance from norwich, ipswich, and bury." m. prendergast. . serjeant's inn. fleet street, feb. . . _killigrew family and scole inn sign_ (no. . p. .).--doubtless there are pedigrees of the killigrew family in the _visitations of cornwall_, which would answer mr. lower's questions. many notices of them also occur in gilbert's _history of cornwall_, and wood's _athenæ oxon._, bliss. ed., and both those works have good indexes. there is a folded engraving of scole inn sign (no. . p. .) in armstrong's _history of norfolk_, vol. ii. p. ., but i never could learn when or why the sign was removed. the couchant stag in the centre was the cornwallis crest. braybrooke. audley end. _pavoise of the black prince_ (no. . p. ).--it is very probably that the _pavoise_ which "bolton" mentions as hanging in his time at the tomb of edward the black prince, was no part of the original collection. "a quilted coat-armour, with _half-sleeves tabard fashion_," reads oddly as part of this prince's costume; but we know that sometimes "coming events cast their shadows before." t.w. _welsh ambassador._--the following use of the word "welsh" _in metaphor_, may perhaps serve as a clue to, or illustration of, g.'s query (no. . p. .): _andrew_. "in tough _welsh_ parsley, which in our vulgar tongue, is strong hempen altars."--beaumont and fletcher, _elder brother_, act. . ad fin. petit andré pleissis-les-tours, fevrier, . _phoenix--by lactantius._--"seleucus" is informed, in answer to his query in no. . p. ., that he will find the latin poem of the _phoenix_, in hexameters _and pentameters_, in that scarce little volume, edited by pithaeus, and published at paris in (see brunet), _epigrammata et poematia vetera, &c._ (of which i am happy to say i possess a most beautiful copy), where it is headed "phoenix, incerti auctoris;" and again at the end of the edition of _claudian_ by p. burmann secundus amsterdam, ), with the following title,--_lactantia elegia, de phoenice; vulgo claudiano ad scripta, &c._, where also another correspondent, "r.g." (in no. . p. .), will find much information as to who was the author of the poem. c.j.c. feb. . . _catsup_ (no. . p. .).--"catsup" is to be found thus spelt in todd's _johnson's dictionary_ (london, ). he describes it as a kind of indian pickles imitated by pickled mushrooms; and quotes these two lines of swift: "and for our home-bred british cheer, botargo, catsup, and cavier." an eminnet sanscrit scholar informs me that "kuck-hup" is the hindostanee word for turtle; it is to be met in the vocabulary attached to gilchrist's _east indian guide_ ( vo. london, ). may not the name of the sauce take its origin from the use of it in preparing the turtle for the table? in the _cuisinier royal, par viart_, p. ., it is mentioned among the "petites sauces," as ket-chop, "ou soyac;" and the receipt for making it ends with "servez le avec le poisson." (published at paris, .) c.i.r. _the buckingham motto_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--on examining the original manuscript the true reading of this motto appears to me to be, sovente me sovene, harre bokynghame. i should translate it, "souvent me souvenez;" an anglo-french paraphrase of "sis memor mei;" or, "ne m'oubliez pas." i have great doubt { } whether the original ms. can be safely assumed to be an _autograph_. s. [our correspondent "p." writes, "it surprises me your oedipi should be so wide of the mark in this motto. it is simply, 'oft remember me.'"] _devices of the standards of the anglo-saxons_ (no. . p. .).--the arms, i.e. the standards of the successive rulers of britain, may be found in sir winston churchill's curious work, _divi britannici_, which gives (as your correspondent supposes) the white horse for kent, the white dragon for wessex, and the raven for the danes. c. _prutenicæ_ (no. . p. .).--the work to which your correspondent alludes is, i presume, _prutenicæ tabulæ cælestium motuum, autore erasmo reinholdo_: tubingæ, . this work is dedicated to albert, duke of _prussia_. in the dedication is the following passage: "ego has tubulas _prutenicas_ dici volui, ut sciret posteritas tuâ liberalitate, princeps alberte, nos adjutos esse, et tibi gratiam ab iis, quibus profuturæ sunt deberi." reinhold therefore called them prutenie, _i.e. prussian_ tables, in compliment to the reigning duke. _pruteni_ is an ancient name of the prussians. albert (grandson of albert the achilles, margrave of brandenburg) was in elected grand master of the teutonic knights, who then held prussia. he continued the war which his order had for some time carried on with his uncle, sigismund i., king of poland. but he subsequently embraced the doctrines of luther, deserted his order, became reconciled to sigismund, and for his reward east prussia was now first raised into a duchy as a fief of poland, and made hereditary in his family. this albert was the founder of the university of konigsberg. (see puffendorff, frederick the great, and robertson.) _pandoxare_ (no. . p. ., no. . p. .).--there is, or till very lately was, an officer of trinity college, cambridge, called the pandoxator. he had the oversight of the college brewhouse, and formerly of the college bakehouse also. see monk's _life of bentley_, nd ed. i. . in dr. bentley's time the office seems to have been held by a senior fellow. of late years junior fellows have held the situation. c.h. cooper. cambridge, feb. . . _gazetteer of portugal._--in answer to the inquiry of "northman" (no. . p. .), p.c.s.s. has to state, that he believes that the most recent, as it is unquestionably the most copious, work on the topography of portugal is the _diccionario geografico de portugal_, published at lisbon in , in seventeen volumes, vo. p.c.s.s. _dog latin_ (no. , p. .).--many things low and vulgar are marked with the prefix "dog"; as _dog-rose_, _dog-trick_, _dog-hole_, as also _dog-gerel_. when the great mortar was set up in st. james's park, some one asked "why the carriage was ornamented with dog's heads?" "to justify the latin inscription," said jekyl. c. _epigram_ (no. . p. .).--surely not by kenrick, if written, as it seems, about . kenrick was not heard of for near thirty years later. c. _pallace, meaning of_ (no. . p. .).--put out of all doubt by the following article in phillips's _world of words_. "_pallacia_, in old records, 'pales or paled fences.'" c. _meaning of pallace_ (no. . p. ., and no. . p. .).--bishop horsley seems to throw some light on this point by his note on the th verse of the th psalm. the learned prelate says "'out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad,'--rather, from 'cabinets of armenian ivory they have pleasured thee.' from _cabinets_ or _wardrobes_, in which the perfumes, or the garments were kept." this meaning of the word, derived from the hebrew, corroborates the sense given to it in mr. halliwell's _dictionary of archaic, &c. words_, viz, a _storehouse_. alfred gatty. ecclesfield, feb. . _Ælian._--the querist (no. . p. .) is informed that Ælian's treatise _de animalium naturâ_ has been translated into latin as well as his other works, by conrad gessner, fol. zurich, ; but, it does not appear that an english translation of it has hitherto been published. a.w. brighton. _why dr. dee quitted manchester._--a correspondent (no. . p. .) of yours wishes to know the reason why dr. dee resigned his wardenship and left manchester. i would refer him to the interesting "life of dee," by dr. cooke taylor, in his _romantic biography of the age of elizabeth_, who writes: "but in his days mathematics were identified with magic, and dee's learned labours only served to strengthen the imputations cast upon his character by the fellows of his college in manchester. he was so annoyed by these reports that he presented a petition to king james, requesting to have his conduct judicially investigated; but the monarch, on the mere report that dee was a conjuror, refused to show him the slightest favor. indignant at the injurious treatment he continued to receive, he quitted manchester with his family in the month of november, : it is uncertain whether he renounced his wardenship at the same time, but he seems to have received no more of its revenues; for, during the remainder of his life, { } which was passed at mortlake, he suffered severely from the pressure of poverty." he died in . dr. taylor, i suppose, writes on the authority of dee's mss. and journal, edited by dr. isaac casaubon. w.m.k. _viridis vallis_ (no. . p. .).--this is the monastery of _groenendael_, situated in the forest of soignies, near brussels. in the _bibliothèque des ducs de bourgoyne_ are preserved several manuscript volumes relative to its history. (see marchal's _catalogue_, vol. ii. p. .) sir thomas phillipps has also a chartulary of this monastery among his manuscripts. f.m. _recent novel._--i beg to inform "adolphus" that the novel of which he is in search (no. . p. .) is _le morne au diable_, by eugène sue; the hero of which is the duke of monmouth, who is supposed to have escaped to martinique. j.s. * * * * * miscellanies. _use of monosyllables._--in beaumont and fletcher's _boadicea_, act . sc. . (edinbugh, ), i meet with the following lines in caratach's apostrophe to "divine andate," and which seem to corroborate mr. c. forbes's theory (no. . p. .) on the employment of monosyllables by shakspeare, when he wished to express violent and overwhelming emotion: at least they appear to be used much in the same way by the celebrated dramatists whom i quote: "give us this day good hearts, good enemies, good blows on both sides, wounds that fear or flight can claim no share in; steel us both with anger, and warlike executions fit thy viewing. let rome put on her best strength, and thy britain, thy little britain, but as great in fortune, meet her as strong as she, as proud, as daring! and then look on, thou red-eyed god; who does best, reward with honour; who despair makes fly, unarm for ever, and brand with infamy!" c.i.r. feb. . _to endeavour oneself_ (no. . p. .).--"g.p." thinks that the verb "endeavour" takes a middle voice form in the collect for the second sunday after easter, in the preface to the confirmation service, and in the form of ordering of priests: but in these instances is it any thing more than the verb neuter, implying that we should endeavour ourselves to follow, &c.? in shepherd's _elucidation of the book of common prayer_ ( vols. vo. lord. ), under the head of the confirmation office, it is stated relative to the persons to be confirmed (vol. ii. p. .), "that they solemnly engage evermore to endeavour faithfully to perform their part of that covenant." c.i.r. _evelyn's sculptura._--in a copy of evelyn's _sculptura_, rd edit., with memoir of the author's life, vo. london, , i find the following memorandum, in pencil, prefixed to the memoirs: "by dr. warton of winchester, as he himself informed me in ." an autograph resembling "j. chelmar" is on the fly-leaf. as i do not see this memoir ascribed to dr. warton in any list, to which i have access, of his writings, perhaps the memoir is not generally, or at all, known to be by him, and i therefore send the memorandum to you to be winnowed in your literary threshing-floor, by those who have better means and more leisure to ascertain its value. j.m. oxford, feb. . _william baxter._--i do not know whether william baxter is authority for anything. when you see a word quoted from one of the languages or dialects which the moderns call celtic, that word will very commonly be found not to exist. when at a loss, quote celtic. if w. baxter says (see no. . p. .) that _buarth papan_ means the sun's ox-stall, or, in other words, that _papan_ means the sun, i should wish to know where else such a name for that luminary, for or any thing else, may be met with? i have not found any such thing. a.n. _derivation of the word "avon."_--among the many proofs of the prevalence of the gaelic roots in existing names at both ends of the island, it may be mentioned that there are ten rivers named _avon_ in britain, and _avon_ is simply the gaelic word for a river. j.u.g. gutch. _warton and heinsius._--a late critic thinks he has discovered that mr. thomas warton, a contemporary of mr. wise, and fellow of the same college, an antiquary and scholar of whom england may be proud, knew little of latin, and less of greek, because, forsooth, he did not notice milton's false quantities, which heinsius did! as well might it be argued, that the critic is an immoral man, because he did not notice the delinquencies of heinsius in a moral point of view; the said heinsius being obliged to resign his secretaryship to the city of amsterdam in consequence of a prosecution by a young woman for breach of promise of marriage, under the faith of which she had lived with him, and borne him two children. the sentence of _misdaadigheyd_ was pronounced against him, and confirmed, on appeal, by the supreme court of holland, in . so much for the unpatriotic puff of the learned foreigner, to { } the disparagement of one of the greatest ornaments of english literature. as one "note" naturally produces another, i hope your sense of justice, mr. editor, will admit this, in order to counter-balance the effect of the former one; appearing, as it did, in a periodical of considerable circulation, which, i am glad to hear, is soon to be very much improved. j.i. _queen's bagnio_ (no. . p. .).--the queen's bagnio in long acre was on the south side, nearly opposite to the door of long acre chapel. the duke's bath i have always heard was in old belton street, now endell street; the fourth house from castle street on the west side. it has been new fronted not long since; but at the time that i frequented the baths there--the exterior had pilasters, and a handsome cornice in the style of inigo jones,--all being built in dark red brick. within there was a large plunging bath, paved and lined with marble, the walls being covered by small tiles of blue and white, in the dutch fashion. the supply of water was from a well on the premises. there were several apartments for warm-bathing, having the baths and pavements of marble, and to several of these were attached dressing-rooms. the house is now, i believe, occupied by a carpenter; but the baths remained, though in a dilapidated condition, a short-time since, and probably are there still. t.w. _a flemish account._--in illustration of a query in your first number on the origin of the expression "a flemish account," unless you think it too late for insertion, i send the following extract from an old volume in the cathedral library at salisbury. it is entitled, "the accurate accomptant or london merchant, &c.; by thomas brown, accomptant: composed for the use and benefit of the poor blew-coat children educated in christ's hospital, &c. london, printed by william godbid, sen. . fol." the book consists almost entirely of examples of the best methods of keeping accounts, from which i select the following instance: "london, august th, . "to roger pace, factor, &c., for pieces cont. ells fl. at _s._ flem. per ell. is l. flem. exchange at _s_ makes sterling money l. s. d." the above extract strongly confirms the explanations of the expressions given by your correspondents "q.q." and "mr. bolton corney," in no. . p. ., as it proves both the necessity and early practice of accurately distinguishing in commercial dealings between english and flemish methods of reckoning. e.a.d. [the following is a curious illustration of the use of the phrase. "a person resident in london is said to have had most of caxton's publications. he sent them to amsterdam for inspection, and, on writing for them, was informed that they had been destroyed by accident. 'i am very much afraid,' says herbert, 'my kind friend received but _a flemish account_ of his caxtons.'"--_typ. antiq._, p. .] _la mer des histoires._--i find i have a note on that handsome old french work, _la mer des histoires_, which is commonly attributed to johannes de columna, archbishop of messina; but upon which francis douce, while taking notice of its being a translation of the _rudimentum noviciorum_ ascribed to mochartus, observes that it is a different work from the _mare historiarum_ of johannes de columna. douce also informs us, that there were several works passing under this title. columna is mentioned by genebrard as the author of a book, _cujus titulus est mater historiarum_. query? what is known of the work, which is really columna's? john sansom. * * * * * on passages in milton "and every shepherd _tells his tale_ under the hawthorn in the dale." milton's _l'allegro_. i used to suppose the _tale told_ was a love tale. now i take it to mean that each shepherd _tells the tale_, that is, counts the number of his sheep. is there any doubt on this point? milton (_paradise lost_, b. v.), speaks of "silent night with this her _solemn_ bird;" that is, the nightingale. most readers take "_solemn_" to mean "_pensive_;" but i cannot doubt that milton (who carries latinism to excess) used it to express _habitual_, _customary_, _familiar_, as in its latin form _sollemnis_. b.h.k. * * * * * notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the lovers of accurate and painstaking topography, the students of genealogical history, and, though last not least, those who like to see the writings of shakspeare, illustrated in a congenial spirit, will read with pleasure the announcement, in our advertising columns, that the fellow-townsmen of joseph hunter, the historian of "hallamshire" and "the deanery of doncaster," and the illustrator of the life and writings of shakspeare, have opened a subscription for the purpose of placing a full-length portrait of that gentleman in the cutlers' hall, sheffield. when we announced mr. archer's projected work, entitled _vestiges of old london, a series of finished etchings from original drawings, with descriptions, historical associations, and other references_, we spoke of it as one likely, we thought, to prove of especial interest. the appearance of the first number justifies to the fullest our anticipation. the pictorial representations are replete { } with variety, and the literary illustrations full of a pleasant gossipping anecdotical character. the first plate shows us _the old bulk shop at temple bar_, occupied by successive generations of fishmongers, and doubtless well remembered by most of our readers; although no trace of it any longer exists. _the house of john dryden_, in fetter lane, so designated on the authority of the late mr. upcott, forms the second plate; and is followed by _the altar of diana_, discovered in foster lane, cheapside, in december, . _the drapers' almshouses, crutched friars_, is the next illustration, which again is contrasted by a plate of _roman vestiges_, full of interest to those who like to investigate the roman occupation of our metropolis; and this first part concludes with a view of _the old chapel of st. bartholomew, kingsland_. the work is executed in a style to delight london antiquaries, and charm those who delight to illustrate pennant. the approaching _exhibition of works of ancient and mediæval art_ at the rooms of the society of arts in the adelphi, promises to be one of the most interesting displays of the kind ever exhibited in this or any other city. the possessors of objects of beauty and rarity have vied with each other in placing at the disposal of the committee their choicest specimens; and the inhabitants and visitors of the metropolis will shortly have an opportunity of judging how numerous are the relics of "barbaric pomp and gold" which are still left to us, and how much of beauty of design, and "skill in workmanship" were displayed by the "hard-handed" men of the good old times, to justify the enthusiasm of the antiquary, and gratify the man of taste. we have received, but at a moment too late to notice as it deserves, the catalogue of very choice books, and books printed on vellum, the property of the late mr. rodd, which are to be sold by messrs. sotheby, at their rooms in wellington street, on monday next. as a specimen, perhaps the most remarkable of this collection, we may point out the set of the works of thomas aquinas, in folio volumes, bound in , and which is well described as "a magnificent set of books, presenting one of the finest specimens, and at the same time the most extensive work, ever printed upon vellum. this copy was presented by pope pius v. to philip ii., king of spain, and was deposited in the library of the escurial, whence it was taken during the occupation of spain by bonaparte. the only other copy known is in the national library, paris. it is the best edition of this author's works." we have received the following catalogues: "john petheram's catalogue of old and new books on sale for cash only at . high holborn. part cviii. no. . for ." a catalogue containing some excellent books, which reached us last week, and was omitted from our last list by accident. "catalogue of miscellaneous english and foreign books in all classes of literature, selected from the stock of nattali and bond, . bedford street, covent garden." "bibliotheca salisburiensis. a catalogue of old and new books on sale by j. hearn, corner of the poultry cross, salisbury." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase (_in continuation of lists in former nos._) life of colonel birch. odd volumes. goldsmith's miscellaneous works. (cairn's edition.) mo. edinburgh. . vol. iii. british painters, sculptors, and architects. family library. . vol. iv. orbis phaeton, sive de universis vitus linguæ. pars prima, a to k. mons. . political magazine for . vol. ix. for . vol. xii. for . hudibras. mo. . vol. i. valpy's delphin classics. and . in the original boards. inchbald's british theater. mo. . vol. ix. chevallier's epistles of the apostolic fathers. historical romances. vols., or vol. i. constable, . letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have again had to indulge in the expensive luxury of a further reprint; and we have therefore the pleasure of announcing that our_ second _monthly part, which has been out of print, may now be had by such of our friends as want to complete their sets._ _we are again under the necessity of omitting many communications, including_ notes, queries, _and_ replies, _which are in type; but we hope, by enlarging next week's paper to_ _pages, instead of_ , _to find room for inserting many interesting papers which we have been hitherto compelled to omit for want of room._ _to correspondents inquiring as to the mode of procuring_ "notes and queries," _we have once more to explain, that every bookseller and newsman will supply it regularly_, if ordered; _and that gentlemen residing in the country, who may find a difficulty in getting it through any bookseller in their neighbourhood, may be supplied regularly with the_ stamped _edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher_, mr. george bell, . _fleet street, accompanied by a post office order, for a quarter, s. d.; a half year, s. d.; or one year, s. d._ a.j.v. _will find an answer to his query respecting_ angels' visits, _&c. in no. . p. .; and respecting the hudibrastic couplet, in no. . p. _. m.x. (bridport). _the work_ well bound _will only fetch about seven or eight pounds in a sale room, and may be purchased for about ten._ errata. no. . p. . col. . l. ., for "silent" read "select;" l. ., for "imposing" read "composing;" and col. . l. . after "that" insert "simpson's." no. . p. . col. . l. ., for "respublicæ" read "respublica." * * * * * { } exceedingly choice and rare books, and books printed upon vellum, the property of the late eminent bookseller, mr. thos. rodd. messrs. s. leigh sotheby and co., (auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts,) will sell by auction in pursuance of the will of the deceased, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, march . at precisely, a very choice selection of fine and rare books, and books printed upon vellum, the property of the late eminent bookseller, mr. thomas rodd, of great newport street, london; including among the more valuable books, aquinatis opera omnia, vols., romæ, , a magnificent set of books, printed on vellum, presented by pope pius v. to philip ii, king of spain; homer opera græce, editio princeps, fine copy, florentiæ, ; valerius maximus, printed on vellum, moguntiæ, ; vivaldus de veritate contritionis, printed on vellum, unique, ; lancelot du lac, chevalier de la table ronde, beautiful copy; ciceronis epistolæ ad familiares, venetiis, johannes de spira, ; sancti hieronymi epistolæ, printed on vellum, moguntiæ, ; a magnificent volume; pentateuchus hebraicus et chaldaicus, printed on vellum, a beautiful copy, sabionnettæ, ; many beautiful horae, printed on vellum; enchiridion ecclesiæ sarum, printed on vellum, extremely rare and interesting, paris. t. kerver, ; la collection des ouvrages, imprimées par ordre de m. le compte d'artois, vols., printed on vellum, paris didot. to be viewed three days prior, and catalogues had at the place of sale. * * * * * preparing for immediate publication, in vols. small vo. the folk-lore of england. by william j. thoms, f.s.a., secretary of the camden society, editor of "early prose romances," "lays and legends of all nations." &c. one object of the present work is to furnish new contributions to the history of our national folk-lore; and especially some of the more striking illustrations of the subject to be found in the writings of jacob grimm and other continental antiquaries. communications of inedited legends, notices of remarkable customs and popular observances, rhyming charms &c. are earnestly solicited, and will be thankfully acknowledged by the editor. they may be addressed to the care of mr. bell, office of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * topography, county and family history, etc.--john gray bell, bookseller, dealer in topographical prints, portraits, autographs, and literary curiosities, . and . bedford street, covent garden, london, invites collectors to examine his assortment of prints on the above interesting subjects. having gathered them with the greatest care and research, at a vast expenditure of time and capital, he flatters himself that his collection is the most extensive and best selected extant, and will be found well worthy of attention. john gray bell's catalogues are published monthly, and forwarded, free, by post. parties desirous of possessing the recent numbers can have them sent by enclosing their address. * * * * * royal mo., cloth, s.; morocco (hayday), s. selden's table talk. royal mo., price s. d. cloth, s. d. morocco (hayday). the temple, sacred poems, and private ejaculations. by george herbert. also, by the same author, price s. cloth, s. morocco (hayday), a priest to the temple; or, the country parson: his character, and rule of holy life, &c. london: george bell, fleet street. leicester: j.s. crossley. * * * * * the philological museum. edited by hare and thirlwall. thick vols. vo. cloth, s. e. stibbs, having purchased the remaining copies of this esteemed work, now offers it at the above reduced price, and respectfully suggests the necessity of early application, as it is entirely out of print, and but few copies remain for sale. . strand, opposite somerset house. * * * * * rev. joseph hunter, f.s.a. public portrait. the friends and admirers of the learned and respected historian of "hallamshire" and the "deanery of doncaster" having resolved to place a full-length portrait of him in the cutlers' hall, sheffield, his native town (vide "gentleman's magazine," feb. ), the committee beg respectfully to announce that subscriptions of one guinea, in furtherance of their object, will be received by thomas berks, esq., mayor, treasurer; and mr. henry jackson, secretary of the committee, sheffield. * * * * * just published, and may be had postage free, on a remittance of two stamps. a catalogue of english and foreign books, in all classes of literature. selected from the stock of nattali and bond (successors to the late m.a. nattali), . bedford street, covent garden. * * * * * now ready. stibb's catalogue of miscellaneous books, part iii., containing a very extensive collection of books relating to america, also a few choice and rare old books beautifully bound in morocco; it may be had gratis, and post free, on application. also, nearly ready, stibb's general catalogue, which will be forwarded gratis on receipt of eight stamps for the postage. . strand, opposite somerset house, * * * * * just published, price s. d. mo. cloth, s. calf or morocco. the english gentleman: his principles, his feelings, his manners, his pursuits. "we like him so well as to wish heartily we might meet many such."--_theologian._ "the object of the first of the four essays is to form the principles of a gentleman on a christian standard. in the other three subjects, of feelings, manners, and pursuits, the views, though strict, are of a more worldly kind."--_spectator._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * vo. cloth. s. d. original letters of john locke, algernon sidney, and lord shaftesbury. with an analytical sketch of the writings and opinions of locke and other metaphysicains. by t. forster, m.b. f.l.s., m.a.s., corresponding member of the acad. of natural science at philadelphia, &c. london: george bell, fleet street. * * * * * in vo. price s. d. cloth. history of the parish and town of bampton, with the district and hamlets belonging to it. by the rev. j.a. giles, d.c.l., late fellow of christ's ch. coll. oxford, author of "history of the ancient britons," &c. london: george bell, fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . [transcriber's note: original spelling varieties have not been standardized. underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. a list of volumes and pages in "notes and queries" has been added at the end.] notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. vol. iv.--no. . saturday, august . . price threepence. stamped edition _d._ contents. page notes:-- the pendulum demonstration of the earth's rotation minor notes:--the day of the month--foreign english--birds' care for the dead--snake's antipathy to fire--aldgate, london--erroneous scripture quotations queries:-- the lady elizabeth horner or montgomery pope and flatman, by w. barton minor queries:--southampton brasses--borough-english --passage in st. bernard--spenser's faerie queene--broad halfpenny down--roll pedigree of howard--rev. john paget, of amsterdam--visiting cards--duke de berwick and alva--the earl of derwentwater--"but very few have seen the devil"--aulus gellius' description of a dimple--forgotten authors of the th century minor queries answered:--sundays, on what days of the month?--john lilburne replies:-- "lay of the last minstrel" meaning of "prenzie," by samuel hickson house of yvery queen brunéhaut lord mayor not a privy councillor cowper or cooper replies to minor queries:--voce populi halfpenny--dog's head in the pot--"o wearisome condition of humanity"--bunyan and the "visions of heaven and hell"--pope's translations of imitations of horace --prophecies of nostradamus--thread the needle--salmon fishery in the thames--entomological query--school of the heart--fortune, infortune, fort une--ackey trade--curious omen at marriage miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements notes. the pendulum demonstration of the earth's rotation. if the propounders of this theory had from the first explained that they do not claim, for _the plane of oscillation_, an exemption from the general rotation of the earth, but only the difference of rotation due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other, it would have saved a world of fruitless conjecture and misunderstanding. for myself i can say that it is only recently i have become satisfied that this is the real extent of the claim; and i confess that had i been aware of it sooner, i should have regarded the theory with greater respect than i have hitherto been disposed to do. perhaps this avowal may render more acceptable the present note, in which i shall endeavour to make plain to others that which so long remained obscure to myself. it is well known that the more we advance from the poles of the earth towards the equator, so much greater becomes the velocity with which the surface of the earth revolves--just as any spot near the circumference of a revolving wheel travels farther in a given time, and consequently swifter, than a spot near the centre of the same wheel: hence, london being nearer to the equator than edinburgh, the former must rotate with greater velocity than the latter. now if we imagine a pendulum suspended from such an altitude, and in such a position, that one extremity of its line of oscillation shall be supposed to reach to london and the other to edinburgh; and if we imagine the ball of such pendulum to be drawn towards, and retained over london, it is clear that, so long as it remains in that situation, it will share the velocity of london, and rotate with it. but if it be set at liberty it will immediately begin to oscillate between london and edinburgh, retaining, _it is asserted_, the velocity of the former place. therefore during its first excursion towards edinburgh, it will be impressed with a velocity greater than that of the several points of the earth over which it has to traverse; so that when it arrives at edinburgh it will be in advance of the rotation of that place; and consequently its actual line of oscillation, instead of falling directly upon edinburgh, will diverge, and fall somewhere to the east of it. now it is clear that if the pendulum ball be supposed to retain the same velocity of rotation, _undiminished_, which was originally impressed upon it at london, it must, in its return from edinburgh, retrace the effects just described, and again return to coincidence with london, having all the time retained a velocity equal to that of london. if this were truly the case, the deviation in one direction would be restored in the opposite one, so that the only result would be a repetition of the same effects in every succeeding oscillation. it is this absence of an element of increase in the deviation that constitutes the first objection to this theory as a sufficient explanation of the pendulum phenomenon. it is answered (as i suppose, for i have nowhere seen it so stated in direct terms) that the velocity of rotation, acquired and retained by the pendulum ball, is _not_ that of london, but of a point midway between the two extremes--in fact, of that point of the earth's surface immediately beneath the centre of suspension. there is no doubt that, if this can be established, the line of oscillation would diverge in both directions--the point of return, or of restored coincidence, which before was in one of the extremes, would then be in the central point; consequently it would be of no effect in correcting the deviation, which would then go on increasing with every oscillation. therefore, in order to obtain credence for the theory, satisfactory explanation must be given of this first difficulty by not only showing that the medium velocity _is really that_ into which the extreme velocity first impressed upon the ball will ultimately be resolved; but it must also be explained _when_ that effect will take place, whether all at once or gradually; because, it must be recollected, the oscillations of the experimental pendulum cannot practically commence from the central point, but always from one of the extremes, to which the ball must first be elevated. but this is not enough: there must also be shown reasonable ground to induce the belief that the ball is _really free_ from the attraction of each successive point of the earth's surface over which it passes; and that, although in motion, it is _not_ as really and as effectually a partaker in the rotation of any given point, during its momentary passage over it, as though it were fixed and stationary at that point. those who maintain that this is not the case are bound to state the _duration of residence_ which any substance must make at any point upon the earth's surface, in order to oblige it to conform to the exact amount of velocity with which that point revolves. lastly, supposing theses difficulties capable of removal, there yet remains a third, which consists in the undeniable absence of _difference of velocity_ when the direction of oscillation is east and west. it has been shown that the difference before claimed was due to the nearer approach to the equator of one of the extremities of the line of oscillation in consequence of its direction being north and south; but when its direction is east and west both extremities are equally distant from the equator, and therefore no difference of velocity can exist. i have directed these observations to the fundamental truth and reality of the alleged phenomenon; it is quite clear that these must first be settled before the laws of its distribution on the surface of the globe can become of any interest. a. e. b. leeds, august . . minor notes. _the day of the month._--many persons might help themselves, as some do, by remembering throughout the year on what day the st of january fell, and by permanently remembering the first day of each month, which agrees with the first day of the year. thus, this present year began on wednesday, and the th of august is therefore wednesday, as are the th, th, th. by the following lines the key to the months may be kept in mind:-- the first day of october, you'll find if you try, the second of april, as well as july, the third of september, which rhymes to december, the fourth day of june, and no other, remember, the fifth of the leap-month, of march, and november, the sixth day of august, and seventh of may, show the _first_ of the year in the name of the day; but in leap-year, when leap-month has duly been reckoned, these month-dates will show, not the _first_, but the _second_. m. _foreign english._--the specimens given in "notes and queries" have reminded me of one which seems worthy to accompany them; in fact, to have rather a peculiar claim. i believe the facts of the case to have been these. when it was known that louis xviii. was to be restored to the throne of france, a report was circulated (whether on any good authority i do not know) that the then duke of clarence would take the command of the vessel which was to convey the returning monarch to calais. at all events the people of calais expected it; and inferring that the english royal duke would pass at least one night in their town, and of course go to the play, they deemed that it would be proper to perform the english national anthem at their theatre. it was obvious, however, that "god save the _king_" was so very appropriate to their own circumstances, that, notwithstanding its anglicism, it left less of compliment and congratulation for the illustrious foreigner than they really intended to offer. so that happy people, who can do everything in no time, forthwith prepared an additional verse. this being quite new, and of course unknown, they printed on the playbill, from which i learned it. if you give his lines a place in your pages, i will not say that the french poet's labour was thrown away; but for the time it was so, as the english duke did not accompany the french king. i believe that the additional verse was as follows:-- "god save noble clarénce who brings our king to france, god save clarénce; he maintains the glorý of the british navý, oh! god, make him happý, god save clarénce." i am sorry that i can only speak from memory of the contents of a document which i have not seen for so many years; but if i may have made any mistake, perhaps some reader may be able to correct me. s. r. m. _birds' care for the dead._--it is not uncommon to find in poets of all ages some allusion to the pious care of particular birds for the bodies of the dead. is there any truth in the idea? for certainly the old ballad of "the children in the wood" has made many a kind friend for the robin redbreast by the affecting lines: "no burial this pretty pair of any man receives, till robin redbreast piously did cover them with leaves." herrick also alludes to the same tradition in his verses "upon mrs. elizabeth wheeler, under the name of amarillis." (_works_, vol i. pp. - .: edin. ) "sweet amarillis, by a spring's soft and soule-melting murmurings, slept; and thus sleeping, thither flew, a robin redbreast; who at view, not seeing her at all to stir, brought leaves and moss to cover her; but while he, perking, there did prie about the arch of either eye, the lid began to let out day, at which poor robin flew away; and seeing her not dead, but all disleav'd, he chirpt for joy, to see himself disceav'd." in the earlier editions of gray's _elegy_, before the epitaph, the following exquisite lines were inserted: "there scatter'd oft, the earliest of the year, by hands unseen, are showers of violets found: the redbreast loves to build and warble there, and little footsteps lightly print the ground." and about the same time collin's "dirge in cymbeline" had adorned the "fair fidele's grassy tomb" with the same honour: "the redbreast oft, at evening hours, shall kindly lend his little aid, with hoary moss, and gather'd flowers, to deck the ground where thou art laid." rt. warmington, aug. . . _snake's antipathy to fire._--there is in brazil a very common poisonous snake, the surucucu (_trigonocephalus rhombeatus_), respecting which the matutos and sertanejos, the inhabitants of the interior, relate the following facts. they say that such is the antipathy of this reptile to fire, that when fires are made in the clearing away of woods, they rush into it, scattering it with their tails till it is extinguished, even becoming half roasted in the attempt; and that when an individual is passing at night with a torch, they pass and repass him, lashing him with their tales till he drop it, and the snake is immediately found closely coiled round the extinguished torch. the greatest enemy of this snake is an immense lacertian, five and six feet long, the tiju-açu (the great lizard--its name in the lingoa geral): it is said that when the snake succeeds in effecting a bite, the lizard rushes into the wood, eats some herb, and returns to the conflict, which almost invariable terminates in its favour. john manley. pernambucco, june . . _aldgate, london._ (a note for london antiquaries)--after this gate was taken down in , sir walter blackett, of wallington, northumberland, obtained some of the ornamental stone (part of the city arms, heads and wings of dragons, apparently cut in portland stone, and probably set up when the gate was rebuilt in ), and used them in decorating rothley castle, an eye-trap which he erected on the crags of that name, near wallington. w. c. trevelyan. wallington aug. . . _erroneous scripture quotations._--some of your correspondents have done good service by drawing attention to these things. has it ever occurred to you that the _apple_ is a fruit never connected in scripture with the fall of man;--that eve was not adam's helpmate, but merely a help _meet_ for him;--and that absalom's long hair, of which he was so proud, and which as consequently so often served "to point a moral and adorn a tale," had nothing to do with his death, his head itself, and not the hair upon it, having been caught in the boughs of the tree? p. p. queries. the lady elizabeth horner or montgomery. in some curious manuscript memoirs of the family of horner of mells, co. somerset, written probably about the middle of the last century, i find the following statement:-- "the gentleman at mells last mentioned, whose name i don't know, had his _eldest son george_, who succeeded him at mells. he married the countess of montgomery, supposed to be the widow of that earl, who, in tilting with henry ii., king of france caused his death by a splinter of his spear running into the king's eye. but most probably she was the widow of that lord's son, which i conjecture from the distance of the time of that king's death to her death, which must needs be near seventy years, as she lived at cloford to the year . she must certainly be a considerable heiress, as several estates came with her into the family, and, among others, postlebury-woods in particular, and, possibly, also the puddimore estate; as her son, sir john horner, was the first of the family that presented a clerk to that living in , viz., william kemp, who was afterwards one of the suffering clergy. her jointure was a _l._ a-year, which was very considerable at that time." can any of your readers assist in elucidating this story, of which no existing family records afford any corroboration, and which the parochial registers of the neighbourhood appear rather to invalidate in some of its statements? as far as we can gather from such sources, the gentleman alluded to in the extract was not _george_ but _thomas_ horner, born , m.p. for somersetshire , and sheriff , who was buried . he married three times: _first_, elizabeth pollard, who died, as well as her only son john in ; _secondly_, jane popham, who died , having had, amongst other issues, _sir john_, born about ; and _thirdly_, as it would seem, a person called "the lady elizabeth," who had issue _edward_, born , and who was buried at _cloford_, in . even allowing for the errors attendant upon a tradition, it is scarcely _possible_ that this "lady elizabeth" should have been widow of count gabriel de montgomery,--_elizabeth de la zouch_,--who married her first husband in , and was left a widow in . she _might_ have been widow of one of his sons; though the only two mentioned in the _biographie universelle_, gabriel and jacques, left issue, to whom their wives' property would have probably descended. the whole matter, as far as i have been able to examine it, is a very obscure one, and yet can hardly, i should think, be without some foundation in fact. the title-deeds of postlebury and puddimore perhaps would throw light upon it. c. w. b. pope and flatman. i possess a small volume entitled _manchester al mondo; contemplations of death and immortality_, by the earl of manchester: the th edit., . at the end are appended several short but quaint poems on the subject of mortality. one of them is stated to be taken from the "incomparable poems by the ingenious mr. thomas flatman," and is entitled "a thought of death." i have transcribed it side by side with pope's celebrated ode, "the dying christian to his soul," in which some lines run remarkably parallel. is it probable pope borrowed his idea of the fine couplet, "hark! they whisper; angels say, sister spirit, come away!" from flatman? if not, the coincidence is remarkable: has it been noticed before? perhaps some of your readers may be better able to enter into the subject than he who communicates this. william barton. . winchester place, southwark bridge road. "the dying christian to his soul. "vital spark of heavenly flame, quit, oh, quit this mortal frame! [*]_trembling, hoping, lingering, flying; oh the pain the bliss of dying!_ cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, and let me languish into life! "[+]_hark! they whisper; angels say, sister spirit, come away!_ what is this absorbs me quite, steals my senses, shuts my sight, drowns my spirits, draws my breath? tell me, my soul, can this be death? "the world recedes; it disappears! heaven opens on my eyes; my ears with sounds seraphic ring! lend, lend your wings! i mount! i fly! o grave! where is thy victory? o death! where is thy sting?" [alexander pope.] "a thought of death. "when on my sick bed i languish, full of sorrow, fully of anguish, [*]_fainting, gasping, trembling, crying, panting, groaning, speechless, dying_, my soul just now about to take her flight into the regions of eternal night; o tell me, you that have been long below, what shall i do? what shall i think when cruel death appears, that may extenuate my fears? [+]_methinks i hear some gentle spirit say be not fearful, come away!_ think with thyself that now thou shalt be free, and find thy long-expected liberty, better thou mayest, but worse thou canst not be, than in this vale of tears and misery. like cæsar, with assurance then come on, and unamaz'd attempt the laurel crown that lyes on th' other side death's rubicon." [thomas flatman.] minor queries. . _southampton brasses._--french church, otherwise god's house, southampton. about eight or nine years ago, two monumental brasses were discovered, in making some alterations in this church. i should feel greatly obliged to any correspondent who could give me a description of them, and inform me if they are still to be found there. w. w. king. . _borough-english._--which are the towns or districts in england in which _borough-english_ prevails or has prevailed; and are there any instances on record of its being carried into effect in modern times? w. fraser. . _passage in st. bernard._--wordsworth's _ecclesiastical sonnets_, part ii. .: "cistertian monastery. "here man more purely lives, less oft doth fall, more promptly rises, walks with nicer heed, more safely rests, dies happier, is freed earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal a brighter crown." _note._--"bonum est nos hic esse, quia homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, quiescit securius, moritur felicius, purgatur citius, præmiatur copiosius."--_bernard._ "this sentence," says dr. whitaker, "is usually inscribed in some conspicuous part of the cistertian houses." i cannot find in st. bernard's works the passage to which wordsworth's sonnet alludes, though i often see it referred to: e. g. whitehead's _college life_, p. ., ; and mrs. jameson's _legends of the monastic orders_, preface. can any of your correspondents direct me to it? rt. . _spenser's faerie queene_ (b. ii. c. ix. st. .).-- "the frame thereof seemed partly circulare, and part triangulare," &c. warton (_observations on the fairy queen_, vol. i. p. .) says that the philosophy of this abstruse stanza describing the castle of alma is explained in a learned epistle of sir kenelm digby addressed to sir edward stradling. in a foot-note he states that this epistle was-- "first printed in a single pamphlet, viz., _observations on xxii stanza, &c._, lond. , vo. it is also published in scrinia sacra, to. pag. . london, ." could any of your readers, acquainted with sir kenelm digby's works, give his explanation of this stanza? there is no note on it in the one-volume edition of spenser lately published by moxon. the best explanation of it that i have seen is in the _athenæum_, august , . e. m. b. . _broad halfpenny down._--there is a beautiful chalk down in the parish of hambledon, hants, which goes by the above name, pronounced, of course, _ha'penny_, like the coin. can any of your antiquarian readers give me the origin of this name? i have no doubt that the present appellation is a corruption of some british or saxon word, having, when spoken, a sound somewhat analogous to the modern word into which it has been converted. the "broad down" had a name of its own, i doubt not, before the existence of either a penny or halfpenny. effaress. . _roll pedigree of howard, of great howard, co. lancaster._--in an elaborate pedigree on vellum of the family of howard, of great howard, in rochdale, deduced, authenticated, and subscribed by sir william dugdale, about the year , was in the possession of a gentleman in rochdale, lately deceased. he is supposed to have lent it to some antiquarian friend, and its present _locale_ is unknown. as no record of this singular document exists in the college of arms, the writer of this note would feel obliged by being permitted to have a copy of the original for his lancashire m.s. collections. f. r. r. . _rev. john paget, of amsterdam._--of what family was john paget, pastor of the reformed english church at amsterdam for thirty years? he died there , and his works were published , being edited by thomas paget, who was, according to his own account, "called to the work of ministry many years ago in chester diocese," and r. paget, who writes a preface "from dort, ." perhaps the editors of the "navorscher" may be able to give some information on the subject. cranmore. . _visiting cards._--when did these social conveniencies first come into use? outis. . _duke de berwick and alva._--a sword amongst the spanish jewels in the great exhibition is said to be ordered by "s. e. jacques stuart, duc de berwick and alva." is this a descendant of james ii.'s illegitimate son, the duke of berwick? and if so, can any of your correspondents give me any information as to his descent, &c.? l. . _the earl of derwentwater._--the first earl, francis, had several sons--francis his successor, edward died unmarried, _thomas_ a military officer, arthur, &c. can any of your readers inform me in which army this thomas was an officer, whom he married, and where he died? the family name was radcliffe. broctuna. bury, lancashire. . _"but very few have seen the devil."_--can any of your readers inform me where some lines are to be found which run somewhat thus?--i cannot remember the intermediate lines:-- ". . . . but very few have seen the devil, except old noll, as echard tells us: . . . . but then old noll was one in ten, and sought him more than other men." w. fraser. hordley, near ellesmere, aug. . . . _aulus gellius' description of a dimple._--the poet gray, writing to his friend mr. west, asks him to guess where the following description of a _dimple_ is found: "sigilla in mento inpressa amoris digitulo vestigio demonstrant mollitudinem." _lett._ viii. sect. iii. vol. i. p. . mason's edition. london, . mr. west replies in the following letter: "your fragment is aulus gellius; and both it and your greek delicious." i have never met with it in aulus gellius, and should be glad to find it. rt. . _forgotten authors of the seventeenth century._--can any of your correspondents point out any biographical particulars relative to the following authors of the seventeenth century? . william parkes, gentleman, and sometimes student in barnard's inne, author of _the curtaine-drawer of the world_, . . peter woodhouse, author of _the flea; sic parva componere magnis_, . . rowland watkins, a native of herefordshire; author of _flamma sine fumo, or poems without fictions_, . . richard west, author of _the court of conscience, or dick whipper's sessions_, . edward f. rimbault. minor queries answered. _sundays, on what days of the month?_--is there any printed book which tells on what days of the several months the _sundays_ in each year occurred, during the last three or four centuries? if there be more such books than one, _which_ of them is the best and most accessible? h. c. [the most accessible works are sir harris nicolas' _chronology of history_, and _companion to the almanack_ for , pp. , . consult also _l'art de vérifier les dates_ and, above all, professor de morgan's _book of almanacks_.] _john lilburne._--a list of the pamphlets published by, or relating to, john lilburne, or any facts respecting his life or works, will be of service to one who is collecting for a biography of "free-born john." edward peacock, jun. bottesford moors, kirton in lindsey. [watt's _bibliotheca britannica_ contains a list of lilburne's pamphlets, which would occupy two pages of "notes and queries!" a collection of tracts relating to lilburne, , to., vols., will be found in the towneley catalogue, part i. p. . sold for _l._ _s._ _truth's victory over tyrants, being the trial of john lilburne_, london, , to., contains a portrait of him standing at the bar. butler, in _hudibrus_, part iii., canto ii., has vividly drawn his character in the paragraph commencing at line .:-- "to match this saint, there was another, as busy and perverse a brother, an haberdasher of small wares, in politics and state-affairs," &c. "this character," says dr. grey, "exactly suits john lilburne and no other. for it was said of him, when living, by judge jenkins, 'that if the world was emptied of all but himself, lilburne would quarrel with john, and john with lilburne;' which part of his character gave occasion for the following lines at his death:-- "'is john departed, and is lilburne gone? farewell to both, to lilburne and to john. yet, being dead, take this advice from me, let them not both in one grave buried be: lay john here, and lilburne thereabout, for, if they both should meet, they would fall out.' "lilburne died a quaker, august , . see _mercurius politicus_, no. . p. .; mr. peek's _desiderata curiosa_, from mr. smith's _obituary_, vol. ii. lib. xiv. p. . also a character of lilburne, in thurloe's _state papers_, vol. iii. p. ; and an account of his obstinacy, in his _trial_, reprinted in the _state trials_."] replies. "lay of the last minstrel." (vol. iii., p. .) i am obliged to m. for his notice of my paper upon this poem, and gratified by his concurrence with my remarks. very likely m. may be right in his explanations of the "_incuria_" imputed by me to the great author, and i may have made a _mistake_, without pleading guilty to the same charge: but if m. will refer to the th and two following sections of sixth canto of the _lay_, he will find it thus written: "me lists not at this tide declare the splendour of _the spousal rite_," &c. again, sec. v.: "some bards have sung, the ladye high chapel or altar came not nigh; nor dust the _rites of spousal grace_ so much she feared each holy place," &c. again, sec. vi.: "_the spousal rites_ were ended soon." and again, in sect. viii. are these words: "to quit them, on the english side, red roland forster loudly cried, 'a deep carouse to yon fair _bride_!'" now, in the ordinary acceptation of these words the _spousal rite_ means nuptials, and a _bride_ means a newly married wife; and as the ceremony of the _spousal rite_ is described as taking place with much pomp in the chapel, and at the altar, it looks very like a wedding indeed. but if, after all, it were only a betrothal, i willingly withdraw the charge of "_incuria_," and subscribe to the propriety of the "minstrel's" information, that the bridal actually "befel a short space;" "and how brave sons and daughters fair blest teviot's flower and cranstoun's heir." and now a word touching m.'s hint of giving a corner in the "notes and queries" to the "prophecy of criticism." if he will forgive me the remark, i do not think the phrase a very happy one. criticism does not _prophecy_, it _pronounces_, and is valuable only in proportion to the judgment, taste, and knowledge displayed in its sentence. above all, the critic should be impartial, and by no means allow himself to be biassed by either prejudice or prepossession, whether personal or political. still less should he sacrifice his subject in order to prove the acuteness and point of his own weapon, which is too often dipped in gall instead of honey. to what extent these qualifications are found in our modern reviewers let each man answer according to his own experience: but as critics are not infallible, and as authors generally see more, feel more, and think more than the ordinary run of critics and readers give them credit for, i doubt not that a place will always be open in the "notes and queries," in answer to the _fallacies_ of criticism, wherever they may be detected. a. borderer. meaning of "prenzie." (vol. iv., pp. , .) as your correspondent a. e. b. has endeavoured to strengthen the case in favour of the word _precise_ being the proper reading of "prenzie," will you allow me to suggest a few further points for consideration in inquiring into the meaning of this word? i am afraid your etymological readers are in danger of being misled by the plausible theory that "prenzie" is not an error of the press or copyist, but a true word. in reference to this view of the case, as taken by your several correspondents, allow me to suggest, first: that shakspeare was no word-coiner; secondly, that, for application in a passage of such gravity, he would not have been guilty of the affectation of using a newly-imported scotch word; and, thirdly, that, as we may reasonably infer that he was essentially popular in the choice of words, so he used such as were intelligible to his audience. a word of force and weight sufficient to justify its use twice in the passage in question, if merely popular, would surely not so entirely have gone out of use; whereas if merely literary it would still be to be found in books. my greatest objection to the word _precise_ is its inharmoniousness in the _position_ it holds in the verse; and this objection would not be removed by adopting _mr. singer's_ suggestion of accentuating the first syllable, which must then be short, and the word pronounced _pressis_? how horrible! besides, if that were the case, as shakspeare does not vary in his accent, the corroboratory passage on which the advocates of _precise_ depend would read, then, thus: "lord angelo is _pressis_, stands at a guard with envy, scarce _confesses_," &c., the double ending rhyme giving it the air of burlesque. the appropriateness of _precise_, moreover, depends chiefly upon its being assumed to express the quality of a _precision_, which has not only not been proved, but which i am inclined very much to doubt. has it not been a true instinct that has guided the early english commentators to the choice of words of the form of "prince_ly_," "priest_ly_," and myself to "saint_ly_," and do not the two passages taken together require this form in reference to a character such as that of a _prince_, a _priest_, or a _saint_? for instance, the term _pious_ might be applied to angelo, equally well with _priestly_ or _saintly_; but it could not correctly be applied to garb or vestments, while either of the latter could. in what respect is the "cunning" of the "livery of hell" shown, if "the damnedst body" be not invested in "guards" of the most opposite character? shakspeare never exactly repeats himself, though we frequently find the same idea varied in form and differently applied. the following passage from _othello_, act ii. sc. ., appears to be intended to convey the same idea as the one in question, and thus strengthens the opinion that, if not _saintly_, one of like form and meaning was intended: "divinity of hell! when devils will their blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as i do now." any of your readers who are acquainted with the common careless handwriting in use at the time, will greatly oblige by informing me if it be beyond likelihood that a word commencing with the letter _s_ should have been read as though it began with _p_. i have no intention of continuing the contest on the meaning of "eisell," nor should i have felt it necessary to notice the remarks of j. s. w. in no. ., had they been avowedly in opposition to mine and mr. singer's. but when the advocate assumes the ermine, and proceeds to sum up the evidence and pass judgment, i feel it only right that those points in which he has _misrepresented_ my argument should not be passed over. i did _not_ say "that the word cannot mean a river because the definite article is omitted before it." what i did say was, that "english idiom requires an article _unless it be personified_." milton's lines merely confirm this, though i am willing to admit that the argument is of little weight when, however, j. s. w. expresses his surprise that "a gentleman who exhorts," &c., had not looked to the _general drift_ of the passage, i fancy he cannot have read my first observations with regard to it, in which i say "the _idea_ of the passage appears to be," &c. what is this but the "general drift?" before finally leaving this subject, allow me to explain, that, in objecting to the terms "mere verbiage" and "extravagant rant" of a correspondent, i took them _together_. i included the latter perhaps hastily. but, however "extravagant" the "rant" of his real or assumed madmen may be, i am satisfied that there is _no_ "mere verbiage" to be found in shakspeare. samuel hickson. house of yvery. (vol. iii., p. .) some years ago, in the library of a noble earl in the north of england, i met with a "fair and _perfect_" copy of this rare book. the following is a list of the plates which it contained:-- vol. i. . view of the manor of weston, somersetshire, p. . . monument of richard perceval, p. . vol. ii. . manor of sydenham, co. somerset, p. . . portrait of richard perceval, p. . . another of the same, _ib._ . portrait of alice perceval, p. . . portrait of sir philip perceval, p. . . view of loghart castle, ireland, p. . . castle liscarrol, cork, p. . . portrait of catherine, wife of sir philip, p. . . portrait of george perceval, p. . . portrait of sir john perceval, p. . . view of castle kanturk, cork, p. . . portrait of catherine, wife of sir john perceval, p. . . portrait of robert perceval, p. . . portrait of sir philip perceval, second baronet, p. . . monument of ditto, p. . . portrait of sir john perceval, eighth baronet, p. . . portrait of catherine, wife to ditto, p. . . portrait of the hon. philip perceval, p. . . portrait of john perceval, earl of egmont, p. . . map of part of the estate of john perceval, earl of egmont, p. . . portrait of sir p. parker, ancestor of the countess of egmont, p. . . portrait of catherine, wife of ditto, p. . . portrait of the countess of egmont, born , p. . . view of mount pleasant, near tunbridge wells, p. . . portrait of john viscount perceval, p. . . portrait of catherine, wife of ditto, p. . . view of beverstan castle, p. . the copy here described contains the "folding plate" mentioned by your correspondent; and as it was a presentation copy from the earl of egmont to earl ferrers, the presumption is that it is an _unmutilated_ one. edward f. rimbault. in answer to the query of your correspondent h.t.e., i beg to state that the folding map of part of the estate of john perceval, earl of egmont, does occur in my copy of _the house of yvery_, at page . of the _first_ volume. lowndes, in his list of the plates, assigns this map to the second volume; but its proper place is as above. perhaps this mistake of lowndes may have given rise to the doubt as to the existence of this map; but i suppose any copy of the work without it must be considered imperfect. j. h. queen brunÉhaut. (vol. iv., p. ) i am sure that you will not be sorry to hear that "notes and queries" is a great favourite with young people; and i hope you will have no objection to encourage our "pursuits of literature" by admitting into your delightful miscellany this little contribution. i have been reading thierry's _history of the norman conquest_ these holidays; and when i saw mr. breen's queries respecting st. gregory and queen brunéhaut, i remembered that the historian had mentioned them. on referring to the passage, at p. . of the translation published by whittaker and co., , i found that ( .) "le saint pape grégoire," who "donna des éloges de gloire" to queen brunéhaut, _was_ gregory the great;--that ( .) this illustrious pope _did_ actually degrade himself by flattering the bad queen;--and ( .) that the proof of his having done so is to be found in a passage of one of gregory's letters given by thierry, and appearing in the foot-note " " at p. . of messrs. whittaker's edition, as follows: "excellentia ergo vestræ quæ proba in bonis consuevit esse operibus."--"in omnipotentis dei timore, excelleltiæ vestræ mens soliditate firmata."--_epist. greg. papæ, apud script. rer. gallic. et francic._, tom. iv. p. . edith c. preston, aug. . it is, i think, indisputable that the st. gregory commemorated on the tomb of brunéhaut is _pope gregory the great_. among his _letters_ are several addressed to the frankish queen, betokening the unqualified esteem in which she was held by the roman pontiff. see _gregor. opp._ (tom. ii., edit. paris, ), lib. v. indict. xiv. ep. ; lib. vii. indict. i. ep. .; lib. ix. indict. vi. ep. .; lib. xi. indict. vi. ep. . i will give a short specimen from the first and last _letters_: "excellentiæ vestræ prædicandam ac deo placitam bonitatem et gubernacula regni testantur et educatio fidel manifestat."--_col._ . "inter alia bona hoc apud vos præ ceteris tenet principatum, quod in mediis hujus mundi fluctibus, qui regentis animos turbulenta solent vexatione confundere, ita cor ad divini cultus amorem et venerabilium locorum disponendam quietam reducitis ac si vos nulla alia cura sollicitet."--_col. ._ much to her merit, in the eyes of gregory, arose from her abjuration of arianism, and the patronage she extended to religious houses. at the same time, it is impossible to acquit her of the serious charges under which she labours. "elle est diffamée," says moreri, "dans les écrits des autres auteurs, par sa cruauté, sa vengeance, son avarice, et son impudicité." c. h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. lord mayor not a privy councillor. (vol. iv., p. .) i entirely dissent from your correspondent's statements that "the lord mayor is no more a privy councillor than he is archbishop of canterbury." first, as to the argument on which your correspondent's conclusion is founded. he assumes first that the title of lord is a mere courtesy title; and, secondly, that it is because of this courtesy title that the mayor is deemed a privy councillor. the second assumption is the erroneous one. it is not necessary to have the courtesy title of lord in order to be a privy councillor; nor are all courtesy lords styled right honorables. your correspondent's assertion in this respect is a curious blunder, which every day's experience contradicts. no one styles a courtesy lord "right honorable" except such persons as will persist in the equally absurd blunder of calling a marquis "most noble." the boards of the treasury and admiralty are not designated "right honorable" merely because of the courtesy title of "lord" being attached to their corporate name, but because these boards are respectively the equivalents of the lord high treasurer and lord high admiral, each of whom was always a member of the sovereign's council. no individual member of the board is, by membership, "right hon." your correspondent's precedent is equally inconclusive on the subject. he says, "mr. harley, when ( ) lord mayor of london, was sworn of his majesty's most honorable privy council." this precedent does not prove the argument; and for this simple reason, that the individual who holds the office is not "right honorable," but the officer is. mr. harley was not, as an individual, a privy councillor, till he was made one: he could only have appeared in council as "the lord mayor," and not as "mr. harley." the description, therefore, of "the right honorable a. b., lord mayor," which has probably misled your correspondent, is, like the "most noble the marquis," a blunder of ignorant flattery; the correct description being "a. b., the right honorable the lord mayor:" or rather, the a. b. ought to be suppressed, except the individual, for a particular reason, is to be personally designated, and the style should be written, "the right honorable the lord mayor." this distinction between the officer and the man is almost universal in our system. our judges are lords in court (yet, by-the-bye, this courtesy "lord" does not give any one of them at any time the title of right honorable, another instance of the fallacy of your correspondent's reasoning), and they are sirs in individual designation. in scotland the judges assume the titles of baronies during their tenure of office, but become mere esquires on surrender of it. the lord mayor is always summoned to the council on the accession of a new sovereign, and was formerly, when his office was of greater practical importance than at present, accustomed to put his name very high on the list of signatures attached to the declaration of accession. a commoner might by the bare delivery of the great seal become "lord" in the court of chancery, and be the president of the house of lords, where he would sit by virtue of his office, without having any title to speak or vote. mr. henry brougham did so for one if not two nights before his patent of peerage was completed. the same distinction between officer and individual applies to the lord mayor, who is right honorable as lord mayor, but in no other way whatever. l. m. cowper or cooper. (vol. iv., pp. . ) the poet's family was originally of stroode in slinfold, sussex, not kent, as lord campbell (_lives of the chan._, vol. iv. p. .) states, and spelt their names cooper. the first person who altered the spelling was john cooper of london, father of the first baronet, and he probably adopted the spelling in affectation of the norman spelling; the family having in those days been styled le cupere, cuper, and coupre in norman-french, and cuparius in latin, as may be seen by the grants made to battle abbey. the pronunciation was never changed. all the sussex branches continued the spelling of cooper until the time of henry cowper of stroode, who died . in lord campbell's _lives of the chancellors_ (p. .) the first letter is signed "william cooper." w. d. cooper. _cowper._--there is an affectation in the present day for pronouncing words, not only contrary to established usage, but in defiance of orthography. the bar furnishes one example, and "polite society" the other. by the former, a judge on the bench is called, instead of "my _lord_" and "his _lordship_," "my _lud_" and "his _ludship_;" and in the latter, _cowper_ is metamorphosed into _cooper_. now, i fancy that "my _lord_" is a vast deal more euphonious than "my _lud_" and _cowper_, as shakspeare has it, "becomes the mouth as well" as _cooper_. we don't speak of getting milk from the _coo_, but from the _cow_; and _cow_ being the first syllable of the poet's name should not be tortured into _coo_, in compliment to a nonsensical fastidiousness, whoever may have set the example. as _cowper_ the poet has been hitherto known, and by that name will be cherished by posterity. john kemble, the great actor, i remember, tried to alter the pronunciation of _rome_ to _room_, and was laughed at for his pains, though he had the authority of a pun of the bard's own for the change: "old _rome_ and _room_ enough." but shakspeare was but an indifferent punster at the best, as is proved by falstaff's refusing to give a _reason_ on compulsion, even though "_reasons_ were as plentiful as blackberries;" corrupting _raisin_ into _reason_, for his purpose, which is as far-fetched as any instance of the kind on record, i think. but i digress, and beg pardon for running so away from the _cow_. john bull. lord campbell, in his entertaining lives of the _chief justices_, says, in paragraph introductory to the life of sir edward coke: "as the name does not correspond very aptly with the notion of their having come over with the conqueror, it has been derived from the british word 'cock' or 'coke' a 'chief;' but, like 'butler,' 'taylor,' and other names now ennobled, it much more probably took its origin from the occupation of the founder of the race at the period when surnames were first adapted in england. even in queen elizabeth's reign, as well as that of james i., sir edward's name was frequently spelt 'cook.' lady hatton, his second wife, who would not assume it, adopted this spelling in writing to him, and according to this spelling, it has invariably been pronounced." lord campbell, who seems rather fond of such speculations, however, in the case of lord cowper does not give the etymology of the name. but he gives a letter written from school by the subsequent chancellor, in which he signs his name "william cooper." however, elsewhere, in a note he speaks of the propensity evinced by those who have risen to wealth and station to obliterate the trace of their origin by dropping, adding, or altering letters and among them he mentions "cowper" as having its origin in "cooper." mr. mark antony lower, too, in his _essay on english surnames_, classes cowper among the surnames derived from trade. possibly, therefore, notwithstanding the alteration, the original pronunciation has been continued. tee bee. replies to minor queries _voce populi halfpenny_ (vol. iv., pp. . .).--i have _four_ varieties of this coin: . the one which j. n. c. describes, and which is engraved by lindsay, in his work on the coinage of ireland, and is considered the rarest type. . a precisely similar type, with the exception that the "p" is _beneath_, instead of being _on the side_ of the portrait. . a more youthful portrait, and of smaller size than the preceding, and a trifle better executed. it wants the "p" altogether, and has for "mm." a small quatrefoil. the engrailing also very different. . a totally different, and older portrait than any of the preceding. "mm." and engrailing the same as no. ., and it also wants the "p." the reverses of all four appear to differ only in very minute particulars. pinkerton, in his _essay on medals_, vol. ii. p. ., after stating that the irish halfpence and farthings were all coined in the tower, and then sent to ireland, there being no mint in that country, remarks-- "in , however, there was a great scarcity of copper coin in ireland; upon which a society of irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, those appeared with a very bad portrait of george ii., and 'voce populi' around it. the bust bears a much greater resemblance to the pretender; but whether this was a piece of waggery in the engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in drawing, must be left in doubt. some say that these pieces were issued without any leave being asked or obtained." e. s. taylor. i would have referred j. n. c. to either pinkerton or lindsay, where he would find a full account about his irish halfpenny, but as he may not possess a numismatic library, perhaps you will allow me to trouble you with the extracts. pinkerton says: "in there was a great scarcity of copper coin in ireland upon which a society of irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, those appeared with a very bad portrait of george ii., and 'voce populi' around it. the bust bears a much greater resemblance to the pretender; but whether this was a piece of waggery in the engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in drawing, must be left to doubt." pinkerton does not here specially refer to the type, where "the letter p is close to the nose:" but if j. n. c. can turn to lindsay's _coinage of ireland_, , he will find his coin engraved in the fifth supplementary plate, no. ., and in the advertisement, p. ., the following remarks on it: "this curious variety of the 'voce populi' halfpence exhibits a p before the face, and illustrates pinkerton's remark that the portrait on these coins seems intended for that of the pretender: it is a very neat coin, perhaps a pattern." blowen. _dog's head in the pot_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--the sign is of greater antiquity than may be expected. see _cocke lorelle's bote_:-- "also annys angry with the croked buttocke that dwelled at ye synge of ye dogges hede in ye pot. by her crafte a breche maker." thos. lawrence. ashby de la zouch. "_o wearisome condition of humanity_" (vol. iii., p. .).--as no one has hitherto appropriated these fine lines, as to the author of which your correspondent inquires, i may mention that they are taken from the "chorus sacerdotum," at the end of lord brook's _mustapha_. (see his works, fol. , p. .) the chorus is worth quoting entire: "_o wearisome condition of humanity! borne under one law, to another bound: vainely begot, and yet forbidden vanity; created sick, commanded to be sound:_ what meaneth nature by these diverse lawes? passion and reason self division cause. is it the mark or majesty of power to make offences that it may forgive? nature herself doth her own self defloure to hate those errors she herself doth give. for how should man think that he may not do if nature did not fail and punish too? tyrant to others, to herself unjust, only commands things difficult and hard, forbids us all things, which it knows is lust, makes easy pains, impossible reward. _if nature did not take delight in blood, she would have made more easy ways to good._ we that are bound by vows and by promotion, with pomp of holy sacrifice and rites, to teach belief in good and still devotion, to preach of heaven's wonders and delights; yet when each of us in his own heart looks, he finds the god there far unlike his books." i should like to see a collected edition of the works of the two noble grevilles, fulke and robert, lords brook; the first the friend of sir philip sidney, the second the honoured of milton. the little treatise on _truth_ of the latter, which wallis answered in his _truth tried_, is amply sufficient to prove that he possessed powers of no common order. james crossley. _bunyan and the "visions of heaven and hell"_ (vol. iii., pp. . . . .).--the work referred to by your correspondents is so manifestly not the composition of john bunyan that it is extraordinary that the title-page, which was evidently adopted to get off the book, should ever have imposed upon anybody. the question, however, put by your correspondents f. r. a. and n. h., as to who g. l. was, has not yet been answered. the person referred to by these initials is the real author of the book, who was george larkin, a printer and author, and great ally and friend of the redoubted john dunton, who gives a long character of him, in his _life and errors_, in his enumeration of london printers. (see _life and errors_, edit. , p. .) "mr. larkin, senior--he has been my acquaintance for twenty years, and the first printer i had in london. he formerly writ a _vision of heaven_, &c. (which contains many nice and curious thoughts), and has lately published an ingenious _essay on the noble art and mystery of printing_. mr. larkin is my _alter ego_, or rather my very self in a better edition." the book itself was first published about , and went through many editions in the early part of the last century. james crossley. _pope's translations or imitations of horace_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. iv., pp. . .).--i am much obliged to mr. crossley for having corrected the error (for which i cannot account) in the _title_ of the pamphlet in question, which was certainly not by "_the author of the critical history of england_," and certainly was by dennis, as is marked by pope's own hand in the copy now before me. as mr. crossley puts hypothetically the correctness of my quotation, i subjoin the whole passages. "after having been for fifteen years as it were an imitator, he has made no proficiency. his first imitations, though bad, are rather better than the succeeding, and this last imitation of horace the most execrable of them all."--p. . again: "an extravagant libel, ridiculously called an imitation of horace."--p. . and again: "of all these libellers the present imitator is the most impudent and incorrigible."--p. . mr. crossley says he has a fragment of the "imitation of the second satire of the first book of horace," published by curll in . this, which i never saw, nor before heard of, would solve the difficulty; and i respectfully request mr. crossley to favour us with a transcript of the title-page, which is the more desirable, because all pope's biographers, and indeed _he himself_ (to spence), have attributed his first imitation of horace to a _much_ later date, certainly subsequent to . the imitation, therefore, of that satire of horace, printed in by curll, is valuable as to pope's history, and great curiosity and as mr. crossley states that _lady mary_ is not mentioned in that edition, i am curious to know how pope managed the _rhyme_ now made by _her name_. mr. crossley adds that this imitation was reproduced in "folio, printed by j. boreman about , with some alterations from the former edition." would it be trespassing too much on your space and his kindness, to request him to give us a few specimens of the alterations, particularly the "change of _initials_" which mr. crossley mentions. mr. crossley seems to think that this poem was not reprinted after the folio in , till it appeared in a supplement to cooper's edition in . this is a mistake. it was published by pope himself, with his other imitations of horace, in the collection of his works by dodsley in ; and though only entitled "_in the manner of mr. pope_,", excited very natural surprise and disgust. his having deliberately embodied it in the general collection of his works, is warton's only excuse for having reproduced it. c. _prophecies of nostradamus_ (vol. iv., p. .).--in accordance with the wish of your correspondent speriend, i have examined the series of early editors of this celebrated astrologer in the bibliothèque nationale, and the following is the result of my inquiries. the _earliest_ edition of the _prophecies of nostradamus_ is not to be found in any library in paris, but was published in (so says the latest account of the prophet, by m. eugène bareste) but contains little more than three centuries (or cantos, as they might be called) of prophecies; each century containing a hundred quatrains. the next edition, which before the french revolution belonged to the benedictines of st. maur, is entitled: "les prophéties de m. michel nostradamus, dont il y en a trois cens qui n'ont encore jamais esté imprimées. adjoustées de nouveau par ledict autheur. a lyon, chez pierre rigaud, rue mercière, au coing de rue ferrandière. avec permission." it has, in ms., on the title-page, " et ." m. bareste says of this edition: "on prétend qu'elle est de ; mais nous ne le pensons pas, car elle a été probablement faite l'année même de la mort de l'auteur, c'est à dire, en ." however, as there is no known edition between , the date of the first, and , this doubtless is the earliest containing the ninth century; and at no. . of this century is to be seen the following quatrain: "gand et bruceles marcheront contre anvers, sénat de londres mettront à mort leur roy; le sel et vin luy seront à l'envers, pour eux avoir le regne en desarroy." i can find no edition of nostradamus dated ; but in the editions of , , , and , the prophecy is given as above, almost letter for letter, so that there can be no doubt it was not first known in that form in . as to the number of this quatrain agreeing with the year of king charles's death, it is most probably an accident; for out of the nine hundred and odd quatrains composing the twelve centuries (the th, th, and th being imperfect), and which are nearly all regularly numbered, it is, i believe, the only one in which this singularity occurs. on the fly-leaf of a copy of nostradamus in the _bibliothèque de ste geneviève_ (dated , but really printed in ), i found, in an old handwriting, a couplet that may be new to the english admirer of the astrologer: "falsa damus cum nostra damus, nam fallere nostrum est et cum nostra damus, non nisi falsa damus." if speriend wishes for more information on the subject of the life and works of nostradamus, i should recommend him to look at the work i have quoted above, which treats very fully on all matters connected with this "vaticinating worthy." it is entitled _nostradamus, par eugène bareste_: paris, , and will doubtless be found in the british museum. h. c. de st. croix. i have an edition of of these prophecies, _revueës et corrigées sur la coppie imprimée à lyon, par benoist rigaud_, , but without place or printer's name. it contains (century nine, stanza .), the quatrain quoted by speriend. the following quatrain may be thought to apply to cromwell (century eight, stanza .): "plus macelin que roy en angleterre, dieu obscur nay par force aura l'empire: lasche sans foy sans loy seignera terre, son temps s'aproche si près que je souspire." the edition of does not contain the line quoted by speriend, "sénat de londres," &c., nor any address "a mes imprimeurs de hongrie;" but, in addition to the ten centuries contained in the edition of (the _original_ edition), it contains the eleventh and twelfth centuries; also stanzas of additional "presages, tirez de ceux faicts par m. nostradamus en années et suivantes jusques en :" and "predictions admirables pour les ans courans en ce siecle, recueillies des memoires du feu m. nostradamus, par vincent seve, de beaucaire en languedoc, dès le mars, , au chateau de chantilly." my edition is not mentioned by brunet nor in any of the french catalogues that i have been able to consult. r. j. r. _thread the needle_ (vol. iv., p. .).--the following is an extract from a review in the _gentleman's magazine_ of dec. , of the life of shirley; it may be interesting as explaining some part of the verse in the game of "thread the needle:" "lord nugent, when at hebron, was directed _to go out by the needle's eye_, that is, by the small gate of the city; and in many parts of england, the old game of thread the needle is played to the following words: "'how many miles to hebron? three score and ten. shall i be there by midnight? yes, and back again. then thread the needle,' &c. "now this explains and modifies one of the strongest and most startling passages of scripture, on the subject of _riches_; for the camel can go through the needle's eye but with difficulty, and hardly with a full load, nor without stooping." the above was copied out from the magazine on account of its explaining the camel and the needle's eye: it does not tell much upon the query concerning the game of "thread the needle;" but it may be interesting, and so is sent with pleasure by e. f. p.s. a friend suggests, could the game have come from the crusades? a line of players, the longer the better, hold hands and one end of the line, which thus becomes almost a circle, runs and drags the rest of the line after it through the arch made by the uplifted arms of the first couple of the other end of the line--a process nearly enough resembling _threading a needle_. there are subsequent evolutions by which each couple becomes in succession the _eye of the needle_. c. _salmon fishery in the thames_ (vol. iv., p. .).--those of your readers who know that i am connected with billingsgate market would look to me for the reply to r. j. r.'s query. i must therefore inform them that only thirty or forty years back salmon were taken in rather large quantities in the thames; but since the introduction of steam-boats and the increase of traffic, the fish have gradually, i might say suddenly, disappeared, for during the last twenty years very few salmon indeed have been taken: those that found their way to market have realised high prices; not that thames salmon was ever esteemed for its flavour, but only for its extreme rarity of late years. the hindrance to salmon taking the thames is the steam-boat and other traffic, which, agitating the water, frightens them (they being a very timid fish), and stirs up the mud, which chokes them; for there is no doubt that ever after a salmon enters a river, it lives by suction. it is possible that one or two salmon a season even make up our river now, for becoming frightened, and rushing on having back and head nearly out of water, and the tide with them, they would get a long way in a night, and possible reach clear water above bridge with life, but in a very weak state. i believe that, under the most favourable circumstances, salmon would not again frequent the thames in any large quantities, it being too southern; and there is no doubt but that the fish have been fast decreasing of late years, for some of the best rivers in the north are now without salmon. blowen. billingsgate. _entomological query_ (vol. iv., p. .).--the insect which j. e. found on the _linaria minor_ is probably either the _euphitecia linariata_ or _e. pulchellata_. the former species is known to feed on toad flax, and there is little doubt that the latter does also. if j. e. found any of the caterpillars he may identify them by referring to westwood's _british moths_, vol ii. p. ., where the caterpillar of _euphitecia linariata_ is engraved and described as "yellow or greenish, with dark chesnut spots on the back and sides." b. p. d. e. _school of the heart_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the editor of the _christian poet_ referred to in a paragraph signed s. t. d. has not the _school of the heart_ by quarles at hand, and cannot now examine whether the two small pieces quoted in the former volume under the name of _thomas harvey_ from schola cordis _in forty-seven emblems_, , belong to one or the other writer. the only authority, from which he recollects to have gathered them, he believes to be sir egerton brydges' _censura literaria_, or his _restituta_, which are very voluminous and miscellaneous, and are at present beyond his research. from internal evidence, he thinks the two poems are not by quarles, though not unworthy of him in his best vein. j. m. g. hallamshire. p.s. since the foregoing note was written, i have found the copy of sir e. brydge's _restituta_, from which i copied the extract of _schola cordis_, in the _christian poet_. "_schola cordis_: or the heart of itself gone away from god, brought back again to him, and instructed by him. in emblems. . mo. pp. ." inscribed, without a signature, "to the divine majestie of the onely-begotten, eternall, well-beloved son of god and saviour of the world, christ jesus, the king of kings, the lord of lords; the maker, the mender, the searcher, and the teacher of the heart: the meanest of his most unworthy servants offers up this poore account of his thoughts, humbly begging pardon for all that is amisse in them, and a gracious acceptance of these weak endeavours for the advancement of his honour in the good of others." the third edition, dated , ascribes these emblems to the author of _the synagogue_, annexed to herbert's _poems_. this, according to sir john hawkins, in his notes on walton's _angler_, was _christopher harvie_: but wood, in his _athenæ_, positively affirms that the author of _the synagogue_, in imitation of the divine herbert, was _thomas harvey_, m.a., and first master of kingston school in herefordshire. to _him_, therefore (adds sir egerton brydges), we may presume to assign it, until a stronger testimony shall dispossess him of a tenure, which reflects honourable reputation on the copiousness of his fancy and the piety of his mind. _fortune, infortune, fort une_ (vol. iv., p. .).--i agree with mr. breen that this inscription on the tomb of margaret of austria, in the beautiful church of brou, is "somewhat enigmatical," a literal translation failing entirely to make sense of it. but perhaps mr. breen may be willing to accept the interpretation offered by a writer in the _magasin pittoresque_ for , where, describing the monuments in the church of notre dame de brou (p. .), he says: "cette légende bizarre est assez difficile à expliquer, si l'on ne regarde pas le mot _infortune_ comme un verbe. avec cette hypothèse, la devise signifierait: 'la fortune a rendu une personne très-malheureuse?' cette explication est d'autant plus plausible que la vie de marguérite d'autriche fut affligée de bien de revers. destinée à regner sur la france, elle est répudiée par charles viii., son fiancé; elle épouse le fils du roi d'aragon, qui la laisse bientôt veuve avec un fils qu'elle a aussi la douleur de perdre peu après; enfin, remariée à philibert le beau, elle le voit mourir au printemps de son âge." there is little doubt, i think that the inscription was meant to typify the misfortunes of margaret; but the preceding solution is still, in a grammatical point of view, unsatisfactory. if _fort_ could be transposed to _fait_, the reading would be simple enough; but in these cases we are bound to take the inscriptions as we find them, and the rebus in stone was the especial delight of the sculptors of the fifteenth century. d. c. st. john's wood, july . . _ackey trade_ (vol. iv., p. .).--ackey weights were, and i believe are, used on the guinea coast for weighing gold dust: ackey= -{ / } grains troy. the _ackey trade_ must be, i suppose, the african gold dust trade. w. t. _curious omen at marriage_ (vol. iii., p. .)--h. a. b. asks at the end of his note, "why a _coruscation of joy_, upon a wedding day, should forebode evil?" and "whether any other instances are on record of its so doing?" as these questions have remained unanswered for some weeks, i am tempted to suggest that your correspondent may have laid too much stress on the fact of the joy having been expressed at a _wedding_, and that the passage he quoted from miss benger's _memoirs of elizabeth, queen of bohemia_, may be simply an allusion to the old belief (still more or less prevalent) of "_high spirits being a presage of impending calamity or of death_." (see vol. ii., pp. . .) the late miss landon, in one of her novels, furnishes an additional notice of this belief: "the ex-queen of sweden has had one of the gentlemen of her suite put to death in a manner equally sudden and barbarous; and what excites in me a strong personal feeling on the subject is, that monaldeschi, the cavalier in question, dines with me the very day of his murder, as i must call it. such a gay dinner as we had! for monaldeschi--lively, unscrupulous, and sarcastic--was a most amusing companion. his spirits, far higher than his usual bearing, carried us all along with them: and i remember saying to him, 'i envy your gaiety: why, monaldeschi, you are as joyous as if there were nothing but sunshine in the world.' he changed countenance, and becoming suddenly grave, exclaimed, 'do not call me back to myself. i feel an unaccountable vivacity, which i know is the herald of disaster.' but again he became cheerful, and we rallied him on the belief, which he still gaily maintained, that great spirits were the sure forerunners of misfortune."--_francesca carrara_, vol. ii. chap. . perhaps some of your readers may be able to say whether miss landon had the authority of any cotemporary writer for the anecdote. is not the warning, "_sing_ before noon, and you'll _sigh_ before night," also a proof of the dread with which "_coruscations of joy_" were looked upon by our forefathers? c. forbes. temple. miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. the very unsatisfactory condition of the present laws on the subject of international copyright has induced the eloquent author the _the history of the girondists_, when giving to the world _the history of the restoration of monarchy in france_, to consent to write in english some of the most important passages of that history with the view of assisting his publishers in their endeavour to protect themselves against piracy. to this circumstance we are indebted for the appearance at the same moment of the english and french editions; and both at a much lower price than that at which we have hitherto been accustomed to receive original works. m. de lamartine's present contribution to the modern history of france cannot fail to excite great interest--despite of the manifest prejudices of the writer; for it is written with marked earnestness--not to say bitterness, and depicts in striking colours at once the military genius and the heartless selfishness of napoleon. the history of the murder of duc d'enghien is told with consummate dramatic effect; and as the reader finishes the narrative he feels, the force of the author's closing words, "the murderer has but his hour--the victim has all eternity." the book will be read and re-read for its brilliancy and interest; it can however never by quoted as an authority, for its writer has disdained to quote those on which his own statements are based. m. de lamartine in making this omission has done injustice both to himself and to his readers. _letters historical and botanical, relating chiefly to places in the vale of teign, &c._, by dr. fraser halle, is a small volume which we can conscientiously recommend as a desirable travelling companion to such of our friends as may be about to visit this beautiful district of "lovely devonia, land of flowers and songs." it is clearly the production of a thoughtful scholar; and besides its botanical notices and historical illustrations, contains many pleasant snatches of old song, and hints of by-gone legends. _lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors, and architects, translated from the italian of giorgio vasari, &c._, by mrs. foster, vol. iii., is another volume of mr. bohn's standard library. vasari's work was one of the favourite books of the unfortunate haydon; and now, when so much attention is being devoted by all classes to the fine arts, when our nobles are throwing open their galleries to the public, and admitting all to a free study of the exquisite works in their possession, an english version of such a series of biographies as vasari has given us, and enriched as it is by notes and illustrations drawn from his best commentators, cannot but find an extensive and ready sale. messrs. sotheby and wilkinson ( . wellington street) will sell on wednesday next a valuable collection of engravings, the property of a distinguished collector, by whom it was formed thirty years since, chiefly from the durand collection; and on thursday next a most interesting collection of manuscripts and books of the poet gray, the whole in beautiful condition, together with a collection of various editions of his works, a posthumous bust, and other items connected with the poet. on friday the same auctioneers will be engaged in the sale of the interesting collection of engraved british portraits formed by the late thomas harrison, esq. catalogues received.--j. lilly's ( . king street, covent garden) very cheap clearance catalogue of five thousand volumes; b. quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) cheap book circular, no. ., catalogue of books in all languages. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. natural history of the british entomostracÆ, by w. baird, m.d. (ray society's publication.) barrington's edition of the anglo-saxon version of orotius, by alfred the great. vo. london, . (an imperfect copy, containing only the anglo-saxon, from p. . to ., would be sufficient.) british essayists, by chalmers. vols. johnson and co. vols. vi. vii. viii. ix. and xxiii. knight's pictorial shakspeare. part xxv. _budden's life of archbishop morton_, . thomas lyte's ancient ballads and songs. mo. . dodwell (henry, m.a.), discourse proving from scriptures that the soul is a principle naturally mortal, &c. reflections on mr. burchet's memoirs; or, remarks on his account of captain wilmot's expedition to the west indies, by colonel luke lillingston, . gentleman's magazine. vol. i. . new england judged, not by man's but by the spirit of the lord, &c. by george bishope. . to. wanted from p. . to the end. reason and judgment, or special remarques of the life of the renowned dr. sanderson, late lord bishop of lincoln. . sm. to. wanted from p. . to the end. tristram shandy. mo. tenth edition. wanted vol. vii. mallay, essai sur les eglises romaines et byzantines du puy de dome. vol. folio. plates. an account of the remains of the worship of priapus, to which is added a discourse thereon, as connected with the mystic theology of the ancients. london, . to. by r. payne knight. ch. thillon's (professor of halle) nouvelle collection des apocryphes, augmentÉ, &c. leipsic, . social statics, by herbert spencer. vo. the journal of psychological medicine. the back numbers. encyclopÆdia britannica. the part of the th edition edited by prof. napier, containing the art. mortality. observations on the influence of climate on health and mortality, by arthur s. thomson, m.d. 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(_a subscriber from to _). _if this correspondent will forward copies of the queries referred to, they shall have immediate attention._ r. h.:-- "every one to their liking, as the old woman said when she kissed her cow-- is not the picture striking," _is the refrain of a song which was very popular some thirty or forty years since._ llaw gyffes. _the motto of the extinct viscounts mount cashel_, "sustenta la drechura," _is spanish and signifies_ "maintain the right." _the davies queries in an early number._ g. creed. _the newcastle apothecary, of whom george colman records that he_ "loved verse and took so much delight in it, that his directions he solved to write in it." _was, we believe, altogether an imaginary personage._ replies received.--_stonehenge--english sapphics--st. paul--collar of esses--on the word "rack"--suicides burned in cross roads--bensley family--curious inscription--in print--epitaph--thistle of scotland--saint and crosier, &c.--charles lamb and william hone--coke how pronounced--caxton memorial--shakspeare and cervantes--umbrella--east norfolk folk lore--bells in churches--the ten commandments--whale of jonah--the tradescants--george steevens--sun stand thou still--remarks upon some recent queries._ _copies of our_ prospectus, _according to the suggestion of_ t. e. h., _will be forwarded to any correspondent willing to assist us by circulating them._ vols. i., ii., _and_ iii., _with very copious indices, may still be had, price_ _s._ _d. each, neatly bound in cloth._ notes and queries _is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers may receive it on saturday. the subscription for the stamped edition is_ _s._ _d. for six months, which may be paid by post-office order drawn in favour of our publisher, mr. george bell, . fleet street; to whose care all communications for the editor should be addressed._ _erratum._--page . col. . l. . and . for "_proper_" read "_paper_." solomon's temple. the only drawings that have been made of the interior of the mosque of omar, standing on the site of the temple of solomon, were made by messrs. bonomi, catherwood and arundale, in : from them has been painted the view of the interior of the mosque of omar, in the diorama of the holy land. it is the only painting of the interior yet executed, and presents all the architectural detail. the great moving diorama of the holy land, egyptian hall, piccadilly. daily at three and eight. admission, _s._; pit, _s._ _d._; stalls, _s._ _d._ arnold's selections from ovid's metamorphoses, with english notes. now ready, in mo, price _s._ eclogÆ ovidianÆ, part ii., containing selections from the metamorphoses. with english notes. by the rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same editor, eclogÆ ovidianÆ, part i. _seventh edition_, _s._ _d._ this work is from the _lateinisches elementarbuch_ of professors jacob and döring, and has an immense circulation on the continent and in america. just published, vols. iii. and iv., vo. price _s._ cloth, the judges of england: with sketches of their lives, and miscellaneous notices connected with the courts at westminster from the time of the conquest. by edward foss, f.s.a., of the inner temple. lately published, vols. i. and ii. in vo. price _s._ cloth. "we spoke fully of the plan of this very able work on the appearance of the first and second volumes. the portion before me is in no respect inferior to that which was first published. it is now manifest that, quite apart from any biographical interest belonging to it, the work, in its complete state, will supply a regular and progressive account of english legal institutions, such as exists in no other equally accessible form in our language.... so completed, it will be a work of the highest merit--original in research, careful and conscientious in detail, bringing forward much that is new in connexion with the subject, correcting much that was doubtful in previous writers who have handled it, and supplying the best general view of our strictly legal history which any historian or jurist has yet aimed or attempted to give."--_examiner._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. price _s._ _d._; by post _s._ illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism. part i. by the rev. s. r. maitland, d.d. f.r.s. f.s.a. sometime librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, and keeper of the mss. at lambeth. "one of the most valuable and interesting pamphlets we ever read."--_morning herald._ "this publication, which promises to be the commencement of a larger worker, will well repay serious perusal."--_ir. eccl. journ._ "a small pamphlet in which he throws a startling light on the practices of modern mesmerism."--_nottingham journal._ "dr. maitland, we consider, has here brought mesmerism to the 'touchstone of truth,' to the test of the standard of right or wrong. we thank him for this first instalment of his inquiry, and hope that he will not long delay the remaining portions."--_london medical gazette._ "the enquiries are extremely curious, we should indeed say important. that relating to the witch of endor is one of the most successful we ever read. we cannot enter into particulars in this brief notice; but we would strongly recommend the pamphlet even to those who care nothing about mesmerism, or angry (for it has come to this at last) with the subject."--_dublin evening post._ "we recommend its general perusal as being really an endeavour, by one whose position gives him the best facilities, to ascertain the genuine character of mesmerism, which is so much disputed."--_woolmer's exeter gazette._ "dr. maitland has bestowed a vast deal of attention on the subject for many years past, and the present pamphlet is in part the result of his thoughts and inquiries. there is a good deal in it which we should have been glad to quote ... but we content ourselves with referring our readers to the pamphlet itself."--_brit. mag._ w. stephenson, . and . parliament street. cuttings from old newspapers and magazines. very interesting collections of old newspaper and magazine cuttings, curious exhibition and play bills, views, and portraits; relating to all the english counties and london parishes, to remarkable events, and to celebrated and extraordinary characters, may be had at moderate prices on application to mr. fennell, . warwick court, gray's inn. n.b. all the articles are carefully dated, and many of the cuttings are from newspapers above a century old, and of great rarity. now ready, price _s._, second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price _s._ to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post office order for that amount; and by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price _s._ c. lonsdale, . old bond street. the general land drainage and improvement company. incorporated by act of parliament, and vict. c. . directors. henry ker seymer, esq., m.p., hanford, dorset, chairman. john villiers shelley, esq., maresfield park, sussex, deputy-chairman. john chevallier cobbold, esq., m.p., ipswich. william cubitt, esq., great george street, westminster. henry currie, esq., m.p., west horsley, surrey. thomas edward dicey, esq., claybrook hall, lutterworth. william fisher hobbs, esq., boxted lodge, colchester. edward john hutchins, esq., m.p., eaton square, london. samuel morton peto, esq., m.p., great george street. colonel george alexander reid, m.p., bulstrode park, bucks. william tite, esq., f.r.s., lowndes square, london. william wilshere, esq., the frythe, welwyn, herts. this company is empowered to execute-- . all works of drainage (including outfalls through adjoining estates), irrigation, reclaiming, enclosing, and otherwise improving land. . to erect farm homesteads, and other buildings necessary for the cultivation of land. . to execute improvements, under contract, with commissioners of sewers, local boards of health, corporations, trustees, and other public bodies. . to purchase lands capable of improvement, and fettered by restrictions of entail; and having executed the necessary works, to resell them with a title communicated by the company's act. owners of entailed estates, trustees, mortgagees, corporations, incumbents, life tenants, and other persons having only limited interests, may obtain the use of the company's powers to carry out every kind of permanent improvement, either by the application of their own or the company's funds, secured by a yearly charge on the property improved. proposals for the execution of works to be addressed to william clifford, secretary. offices, . parliament street, westminster. printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, on the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, august . . [list of volumes and pages in "notes and queries", vol. i-iv] +---------------+-------------------+-----------+-------------+ | notes and queries vol. i. | +---------------+-------------------+-----------+-------------+ | vol., no. | date, year | pages | pg # xxxxx | +---------------+-------------------+-----------+-------------+ | vol. i no. | november , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | november , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | november , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | november , | - | pg # | +---------------+-------------------+-----------+-------------+ | vol. i no. | december , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | december , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | december , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | december , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | december , | - | pg # | +---------------+-------------------+-----------+-------------+ | vol. i no. | january , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | january , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | january , | - | pg # | | vol. i no. | january , | - | pg # | +---------------+-------------------+-----------+-------------+ | vol. i no. | february , | - 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[nov. -may ] | pg # | | index to the second volume. may-dec., | pg # | | index to the third volume. jan.-june, | pg # | +-----------------------------------------------+-------------+ proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, december , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents a few words of explanation. notes:-- letter from the earl of shaftesbury respecting monmouth's ash. drayton's poems. on a passage in goldsmith. ancient libraries, by rev. dr. todd. defence of a bald head, by j. payne collier. royal household allowances. adversaria:--printers' couplets--charles martel. bodenham and ling. travelling in england. minor notes:--ancient alms dish--bishop that burneth--ironworks in sussex, &c.--order of minerva, &c. queries answered:-- dorne the bookseller. henno rusticus. myles blomefylde. answers to minor queries:--curse of scotland--katherine pegg--rev. t. leman--burnet prize--humble pie, &c. minor queries: eva, daughter, &c.--john de daundelyon--genealogy of european sovereigns--duke of ashgrove, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, catalogues, sales, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * a few words of explanation. it was in no boastful or puffing spirit that, when thanking a correspondent in our last number for "his endeavour to enlarge our circulation," and requesting all our friends and correspondents "to follow philo's example by bringing 'notes and queries' under the notice of such of their friends as take an interest in literary pursuits," we added "for it is obvious that they will extend the usefulness of our paper in proportion as they increase its circulation." we wished merely to state a plain obvious fact. such must necessarily be the case, and our experience proves it to be so; for the number of queries which have been solved in our columns, has gone on increasing in proportion to the gradual increase of our circulation;--a result which fully justifies that passage of our opening address which stated, "that we did not anticipate any holding back by those whose notes were most worth having." no sooner is information asked for through our medium, than a host of friendly pens are busied to supply it. from north, south, east, and west,--from quarters the most unlooked for, do we receive notes and illustrations of every subject which is mooted in our pages. many of these replies, too, though subscribed only with an initial or a pseudonyme, _we_ know to be furnished by scholars who have won the foremost rank in their respective branches of study. such men manifest, by their willingness to afford information to those who need it, and their readiness to receive it from those who have it to bestow, the truthfulness of old chaucer's portrait of the scholar:-- "ful gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche." nor do our columns exhibit the total result of our labours. besides the information communicated to ourselves, some of our friends who inserted queries under their own names, have received answers to them without our intervention. in addition to those friends who promised us their assistance, we receive communications from quarters altogether unexpected. our present number furnishes a striking instance of this, in the answer to mr. bruce's inquiry respecting the "monmouth ash," kindly communicated by the earl of shaftesbury, its distinguished owner. we trust that each successive paper shows improvement in our arrangements, and proves also that our means of procuring answers to the queries addressed to us are likewise increasing. in the belief that such is the case, we feel justified in repeating, even at the risk of being accused of putting in _two_ words for ourselves under the semblance of _one_ of our readers, "that it is obvious that our friends will extend the usefulness of our paper in proportion as they increase its circulation." * * * * * { } monmouth's ash. _letter from the earl of shaftesburg accompanying a short "history of monmouth close," formerly printed by his lordship for the information of persons visiting that spot._ the whole of woodlands now belongs to me. the greater part of it was bought by my late brother soon after he came of age. i knew nothing of monmouth close till the year , when i was shooting on horton heath; the gamekeeper advised me to try for game in the inclosures called shag's heath, and took me to see monmouth close and the famous ash tree there. i then anxiously inquired of the inhabitants of the neighbouring houses respecting the traditions concerning monmouth close and the celebrated ash tree, and what i then learnt i have printed for the information of any person who may visit that spot. what i have since learnt convinces me that the duke was not going to christchurch. he was on his way to bournemouth, where he expected to find a vessel. monmouth close is in the direct line from woodyates to bournemouth. about sixty years ago there was hardly a house there. it was the leading place of all the smugglers of this neighborhood. shaftesbury. st. giles's house, nov. . . history of monmouth close. "the small inclosure which has been known by the name of monmouth close ever since the capture of the duke of monmouth there, in july, , is one of a cluster of small inclosures, five in number, which stood in the middle of shag's heath, and were called 'the island.' they are in the parish of woodlands. "the tradition of the neighbourhood is this: viz. that after the defeat of the duke of monmouth at sedgemoor, near bridgewater, he rode, accompanied by lord grey, to woodyates, where they quitted their horses; and the duke having changed clothes with a peasant, endeavoured to make his way across the country to christchurch. being closely pursued, he made for the island, and concealed himself in a ditch which was overgrown with fern and underwood. when his pursuers came up, an old woman gave information of his being in the island, and of her having seen him filling his pocket with peas. the island was immediately surrounded by soldiers, who passed the night there, and threatened to fire the neighbouring cotts. as they were going away, one of them espied the skirt of the duke's coat, and seized him. the soldier no sooner knew him, than he burst into tears, and reproached himself for the unhappy discovery. the duke when taken was quite exhausted with fatigue and hunger, having had no food since the battle but the peas which he had gathered in the field. the ash tree is still standing under which the duke was apprehended, and is marked with the initials of many of his friends who afterwards visited the spot. "the family of the woman who betrayed him were ever after holden in the greatest detestation, and are said to have fallen into decay, and to have never thriven afterwards. the house where she lived, which overlooked the spot, has since fallen down. it was with the greatest difficulty that any one could be made to inhabit it. "the duke was carried before anthony etterick, esq., of holt, a justice of the peace, who ordered him to london. "his gold snuff box was afterwards found in the pea-field, full of gold pieces, and brought to mrs. uvedaile, of horton. one of the finders had fifteen pounds for half the contents or value of it. "being asked what he would do if set at liberty,--the duke answered, that if his horse and arms were restored, he only desired to ride through the army, and he defied them all to take him again." * * * * * drayton's poems. in addition to the notes on drayton by dr. farmer, communicated in your nd number, the following occurs in a copy of drayton's _poems_, printed for smithwicke, in , mo.:-- "see the _return from parnassus_ for a good character of drayton. "see an _epigram_ by drayton, i suppose, prefixed to morley's first _booke of balletes_. "a sonnet to _john davies_, before his _holy roode, or christ's crosse_, to. ( ). a poem in line stanzas. "another to the old edit. of _wit's commonwealth_. "commendatory verses before chapman's _hesiod_. "sonnet to ant. mundy's nd book of _primation of greece_, . "his _heroical epistles_ were newly enlarged and republished in vo. ; which is the most antient edition we have seen or read of.--[_bodl. cat._]--_biographia his art_. "another edition, _as we have heard_, in .--ibid. "see merc's _wit's treasury_, p. . a modern edition was published by _oldmixon_.--cibber's _lives_, . . "see warton's _essay on pope_, . "drayton's last copy of verses was prefixed to sir john beaumont's _poems_, ." so far dr. farmer, whose books are often valuable for the notes on the fly-leaves. should any one act upon the suggestion of your correspondent, and think of a selection from drayton, it would be necessary to collate the various editions of his poems, which, as they are numerous, evince his popularity with his contemporaries. malone asserted that the _baron's wars_ was not { } published until . i have before me a copy, probably the first edition, with the following title: "_the barrons wars in the raigne of edward the second, with england's heroical epistles_, by michaell drayton. at london, printed by j.r. for n. ling, ," mo.; and the poem had been printed under the title of _mortimerindos_, in to., . i have an imperfect copy of an early edition (circa ) of "_poemes lyrick and pastorall. odes, eglogs, the man in the moon_, by michaell drayton esquier. at london, printed by r.b. for n.l. and j. flaskett." it is now thirty-five years since (eheu! fugaces labuntur anni!) the writer of this induced his friend sir egerton brydges to print the _nymphidia_ at his private press; and it would give him pleasure, should your notes be now instrumental to the production of a tasteful selection from the copious materials furnished by drayton's prolific muse. notwithstanding that selections are not generally approved, in this case it would be (if judiciously done) acceptable, and, it is to be presumed, successful. the _nymphidia_, full of lively fancy as it is, was probably produced in his old age, for it was not published, i believe, till , when it formed part of a small folio volume, containing _the battaile of agincourt_ and _the miseries of queene margarite_. prefixed to this volume was the noble but tardy panegyric of his friend ben jonson, entitled _the vision_, and beginning: "it hath been question'd, michael, if i be a friend at all; or, if at all, to thee." s.w.s. mickleham, nov. . . * * * * * on a passage in goldsmith. sir,--i observe in the _athenæum_ of the th inst. a quotation from the _life of goldsmith_ by irving, in which the biographer seems to take credit for appropriating to goldsmith the merit of originating the remark or maxim vulgarly ascribed to talleyrand, that "the true end of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them." this is certainly found in no. . of _the bee_, by goldsmith, and no doubt talleyrand acted upon the principle of dissimulation there enunciated; but the idea is much older than either of those individuals, as we learn from a note in p. . of vol. lxvii. _quart. rev._ quoting two lines written by young (nearly one hundred years before), in allusion to courts:-- "where nature's end of language is declined, and men talk only to conceal their mind." voltaire has used the same expression so long ago as , in his little satiric dialogue _la chapon et la poularde_, where the former, complaining of the treachery of men says, "ils n'emploient les paroles que pour déguiser leurs pénsees." (see xxix. tom. _oeuvres complétes_, pp. , . ed. paris, .) the germ of the idea is also to be found in lloyd's _state worthies_, where speaking of roger ascham, he is characterised as "an honest man,--none being more able for, yet none more averse to, that circumlocution and contrivance wherewith some men shadow their main drift and purpose. speech was made to open man to man, and not to hide him; to promote commerce, and not betray it." lloyd's book first appeared in , but i use the ed. by whitworth, vol. i. p. . f.r.a. oak house, nov. . . [the further communications proposed to us by f.r.a. will be very acceptable.] * * * * * ancient libraries--library of the augustinian eremites of york. mr. editor,--i have been greatly interested by the two numbers of the "notes and queries" which you have sent me. the work promises to be eminently useful, and if furnished with a good index at the end of each yearly volume, will become a book indispensable to all literary men, and especially to those who, like myself, are in charge of large public libraries. to testify my good will to the work, and to follow up mr. burtt's remarks on ancient libraries published in your second number, i venture to send you the following account of a ms. catalogue of the library of the monastery of the friars eremites of the order of st. augustine in the city of york. this ms. is now preserved in the library of trinity college, dublin, amongst the mss. formerly belonging to the celebrated archbishop ussher. it is on vellum, written in the th century, and begins thus:-- "inventarium omnium librorum pertinentium ad commune armariole domus ebor. ordinis fratrum heremitarum sancti augustini, factum in presentia fratrum johannis de ergum, johannis ketilwell, ricardi de thorpe, johannis de appilby, anno domini mº. ccc lxxij in festo nativitatis virginis gloriose. fratre willelmo de stayntoun tunc existente priore." the volume consists of forty-five leaves, and contains the titles of a very large and most respectable collection of books in all departments of literature and learning arranged under the following heads:-- biblie. hystorie scholastice. textus biblie glosati. postille. concordancie et interpretaciones nominum hebreorum. { } originalia. [under this head are included the works of the fathers, and medieval writers.] historie geneium. summe doctorum. scriptores super sententias. quodlibet. et questiones. tabulæ. [this division contained indexes to various authors, the scriptures, canon law, &c.] logicalia et philosophia cum scriptis et commentis. prophecie et supersticiosa. astronomia et astrologia. instrumenta astrologica magistri johannis erghome [who appears to have been a great benefactor to the library]. libri divini officii magistri johannis erghome. jura civilia. jura canonica et leges humane: magistri johannis erghome. auctores et philosophi extranei. [under this head occurs the following entry, "liber hebraice scriptus."] gramatica. rethorica. [two leaves of the ms. appear to have been cut out here.] medicina. hystorie et cronice. sermones et materie sermonum. summe morales doctorum et sermones. arithmetica, musica, geometria, perspectiva, magistri johannis erghome. each volume is identified, according to the usual practice, by the words with which its second folio begins: and letters of tha alphabet are added, probably to indicate its place on the shelves of the library. as a specimen, i shall give the division headed "biblie":-- biblie a. biblia. incipit in º. fo. samuel in[ ] heli. b. biblia. incipit in º. fo. zechieli qui populo. _in duobus voluminibus_. c. biblia. inc't. in º. fo. mea et in crane. d. biblia. inc't. in º. fo. ego disperdam. ¶ libri magistri johannis erghome biblia. º. _fol ravit quosdam._ } interpretationes. }--a e. _biblia incomplet. diversarum scripturarum. quondam fratris r. bossal. º. fo. me occidet me etc._ hystorie scolastice a. incipit in º. folio. secunda die. b. inci't. in º. fo. emperio sane formatis. _ligatus_. c. inci't. in º. fo. et celumque celi. the words printed in _italics_ are added by a more recent hand. under the head of "hystorie scolastice" are doubtless intended the copies which the library possessed of the celebrated _historia scholastica_, or abridgement of scripture history by peter comestor. from the foregoing specimen, i think your readers will agree with me that a catalogue of such antiquity and interest is well worthy of publication. but we have another ancient catalogue of a monastic library equally curious, and even more important from its magnitude, and the numerous works it contains on english history, early romances, &c. i remain, &c. james h. todd. trin. coll. dublin, nov. . . [footnote : _sic_ perhaps a mistake for et.] * * * * * defence of a bald head--the stationers' registers. i am about to supply a deficiency in my last volume of _extracts from the register of the stationers' company_ (printed for the shakespeare society, ), and thereby set an example that i hope will be followed, in order that various works, regarding which i could give no, or only incomplete, information, may be duly illustrated. it is impossible to expect that any one individual could thoroughly accomplish such an undertaking; and, by means of your excellent periodical, it will be easy for literary men, who possess scarce or unique books, mentioned in the registers and in my quotations from them, to furnish such brief descriptions as will be highly curious and very useful. a tract of this description has just fallen in my way, and it relates to the subsequent entry on p. . of vol. ii. of my _extracts_: the date is nd september, . "h. denham. lycensed unto him, &c. a paradox, provinge by reason and example that baldnes is much better than bushie heare. vj'd" when i wrote the comment on this registration i was only acquainted with the clever ms. ballad in _defence of a bald head_, which i quoted; but i hardly supposed it to be the production intended. it turns out that it was not, for i have that production now before me. my belief is that it is entirely unique; and the only reason for a contrary opinion, that i am acquainted with, is that there is an incorrect mention of it in warton, _h.e.p._ iv. .; but there is not a hint of its existence in ritson, although it ought to have found a place in his _bibliographia poetica_; neither do i find it noticed in later authorities; if it be, they have escaped my researches. you will not blame me, then, for indulging my usual wish to quote the title-page at length, which exactly agrees with the terms of the entry in the books of the stationers' company. it runs _literatim_ thus:-- "a paradoxe, proving by reason and example, that baldnesse is much better than bushie haire, &c. written by that excellent philosopher synesius, bishop of thebes, or (as some say) cyren. a prettie pamphlet to pervse, and relenished with recreation.--englished { } by abraham fleming.--herevnto is annexed the pleasant tale of hemetes the heremite, pronounced before the queenes maiestie. newly recognised both in latin and englishe, by the said a.f.--[greek: hae taes sophias phalakra saemeion.]--the badge of wisdome is baldnesse.--printed by h. denham, ." vo. b.l. if i am not greatly mistaken, your readers will look in vain for a notice of the book in any collected list of the many productions of abraham fleming; if i am not greatly mistaken, also, some of them will be disapppointed if i do not subjoin a few sentences describing more particularly the contents of the small volume, which (speaking as a bibliographer) extends to sign. f. iiij in eights. at the back of the title-page is "the life of synesius drawen out of suydas his gatherings," in greek and in english. then comes "the epistle apologeticall to the lettered reader," signed "thine for thy pleasure and profite--abraham fleming," which, in excuse for taking up so slight a subject, contains a very singular notice of the celebrated john heywood, the dramatist of the reign of henry viii., and of his remarkable poem _the spider and the fly_. the _pretie paradoxe_, by synesius, next commences, and extends as far as sign. d. v. b. this portion of the tract is, of course, merely a translation, but it includes a passage or two from homer, cleverly rendered into english verse. here we come to the word _finis_, and here, i take it, it was originally intended that the tract should end; but as it was thought that it would hardly be of sufficient bulk for the money ( d., or d. at the utmost), a sort of appendix was added, which, on some accounts, is the most interesting part of the work. it is headed "the tale of hemetes the heremite, pronounced before the queene's maiestie," which warton, who clearly never saw the book, calls the "fable of hermes." in fact, it is, with a few verbal changes, the tale of hemetes, which george gascoigne presented, in latin, italian, french, and english, to queen elizabeth, and of which the ms., with the portraits of the queen and the author is among the royal mss. in the british museum. fleming tells us that he had "newly recognised" (whatever may be meant by the words) this tale in latin and english, but he does not say a syllable whence he procured it. gascoigne died two years before the date of the publication of this _paradoxe, &c._ so that fleming was quite sure the property could never be challenged by the true owner of it. before i conclude, allow me to mention two other pieces by a. fleming (who became rector of st. pancras, soper-lane, in ), regarding which i am anxious to obtain information, and seek it through the medium of "notes and queries." a marginal note in fleming's translation of virgil's _georgics_, , to., is the following:--"the poet alludeth to the historie of leander and hero, written by museus, and englished by me a dozen yeares ago, and in print." my question is, whether such a production is in existence? fleming's tract, printed in in vo. (miscalled mo.), "a memorial, &c. of mr. william lambe, esquier," is well known; but many years ago i saw, and copied the heading of a _broadside_, which ran thus:--"an epitaph, or funeral inscription vpon the godlie life and death of the right worshipfull maister william lambe esquire, founder of the new conduit in holborne," &c. "deceased the st april anno . deuised by abraham fleming." at the bottom was--"imprinted at london by henrie denham for thomas turner," &c. in whose hands, or in what library, i saw this production, has entirely escaped my memory; and i am now very anxious to learn what has become of that copy, or whether any other copy of it has been preserved. j. payne collier. kensington, dec. . . * * * * * royal household allowances the following warrant for the allowance of the "diet" of a lady of the bedchamber, will be found to be a good and curious illustration of the note of antiquarius upon the domestic establishment of queen elizabeth, although more than half a century earlier than the period referred to, as it relates to the time of elizabeth's majestic sire:-- "henry r.--by the king. "we wol and commaunde you to allowe dailly from hensforth unto our right dere and welbilovede the lady lucy into hir chambre the dyat and fare herafter ensuying; furst every mornyng at brekefast oon chyne of beyf at our kechyn, oon chete loff and oon maunchet at our panatry barre, and a galon of ale at our buttrye barre; item at dyner a pese of beyfe, a stroke of roste, and a rewarde at our said kechyn, a cast of chete bred at our panatrye barre, and a galon of ale at our buttry barre; item at afternone a manchet at our panatry bar and half a galon of ale at our buttrye barre; item at supper a messe of porage, a pese of mutton and a rewarde at our said kechyn, a cast of chete brede at our panatrye, and a galon of ale at our buttrye; item at after supper a chete loff and a maunchet at our panatry barre, a galon of ale at our buttrye barre, and half a galon of wyne at our seller barre; item every mornyng at our wood yarde foure tall shyds and twoo ffagottes; item at our chaundrye barre in winter every night oon pryket and foure syses of waxe with eight candelles white lights and oon torche; item at our picherhouse wekely lix white cuppes; item at every tyme of our remoeving oon hoole carre for the carriage of her stuff. and these our lettres shal be your sufficient warrant and discharge in this behalf at all tymes herafter. yeven under our signet at our manour of esthampstede the xvjth. day of july the xiiijth year of our reigne. { } "to the lord steward of our household, the treasurer, comptroller, cofferer, clerke of our grene clothe, clerke of our kechyn, and to all other our hed officers of our seid houshold and to every of theym." as to sir christopher hatton, i would refer antiquarius, and all other whom it may concern, to sir harris nicolas's ably written _memoirs of the "dancing chancellor"_, published in . hatton had amble means for the building of holdenby, as he was appointed one of the gentlemen pensioners in , and between that time and his appointment as vice-chamberlain in (five years prior to the period referred to by antiquarius), he received numerous other gifts and offices. joseph burtt. * * * * * adversaria printers' couplets. it may not perhaps be generally known that the early printers were accustomed to place devices or verses along with their names at the end of the books which they gave to the public. vigneul-marville, in his _mélanges d'histoire et de littérature_, relates that he found the two following lines at the end of the "decrees of basle and bourges," published under the title of "pragmatic sanction," with a commentary by côme guymier,--andre brocard's paris edition, :-- "stet liber hic, donec fluctus formica marinos ebibat et totum testudo perambulet orbem." the printers, it would appear, not only introduced their own names into these verses, but also the names of the correctors of the press, as may be seen in the work entitled, _commentariis andreæ de ysernia super constitutionibus siciliæ_, printed by sixtus riffingerus at naples in :-- "sixtus hoc impressit: sed bis tamen ante revisit egregius doctor petrus oliverius. at tu quisque emis, lector studiose, libellum lætus emas; mendis nam caret istud opus." g.j.k. charles martel mr. editor,--perhaps the subjoined note, extracted from m. collin de plancy's _bibliothèque des légendes_, may not be without its value, as tending to correct an error into which, according to his account, modern historians have fallen respecting the origin of the surname "martel," borne by the celebrated charles martel, son of peppin of herstal, duke of austrasia, by his duchess alphéide[ ]:-- "it is surprising," he says, "that almost all our modern historians, whose profound researches have been so highly vaunted, have repeated the little tale of the _chronicle of st. denis_, which affirms that the surname of martel was conferred on charles for having hammered (_martelé_) the saracens. certain writers of the present day style him, in this sense, _karle-le-marteau_. the word martel, in the ancient frank language, never bore such a signification, but was, on the contrary, merely an abbreviation of martellus, martin."[ ] from a legend on this subject given by m. de plancy, it would appear that charles received the second name, martel, in honour of his patron saint st. martin. not having at present an opportunity of consulting the works of our own modern writers on early french history, i am ignorant if they also have adopted the version given in the _chronicle of st. denis_. mr. ince, in his little work, _outlines of french history_, states, that "he received the surname of _martel_, or the hammerer, from the force with which he _hammered_ down the saracens--_martel being the name of a weapon which the ancient franks used, much resembling a hammer_,--and from his strokes falling numberless and effectual on the heads of his enemies." query.--which of the two is the more probable version? perhaps some one of your numerous correspondents may be enabled to throw addition light on this disputed point. g.j.k. [footnote : this same alphéide, or alpaïde, as she was frequently called, though but scurvily treated by posterior historians, is honoured by contemporary chroniclers as the second wife of peppin, _uxor altera_. see frédégaire.] [footnote : _légendes de l'histoire de france_, par j. collin de plancy, p. . (notes.) paris. mellier frères.] * * * * * bodenham and ling. referring to bookworm's note at p. , i beg to observe that the dedication negativing bodenham's authorship of _politeuphuia_ is not peculiar to the edition of . i have the edition of , "printed by ja. flesher, and are to be sold by richard royston, at the angell in ivye lane," in which the dedication is addressed as follows:--"to his very good friend mr. bodenham, n.l. wisheth increase of happinesse." the first sentence of this dedication seems to admit that bodenham was something more than patron of the work:--"what you seriously begun long since, and have always been very careful for the full perfection of, at length thus finished, although perhaps not so well to your expectation, i present you with; as one before all most worthy of the same: bothe in respect of your earnest travaile therein, and the great desire you have continually had for the generall profit." in brydges' _censura literaria_, bodenham is spoken of as the _compiler_ of _the garden of the muses_, and _editor_ of the _wit's commonwealth_, the { } _wit's theatre of the little world_, and _england's helicon_. he seems to have less claim to be considered the author of the _wit's theatre_ than of the _wit's commonwealth_, for in the original edition of the former, "printed by j.r. for n.l., and are to be sold at the west doore of paules, ," the dedication is likewise addressed, "to my most esteemed and approved loving friend, maister j.b. i wish all happines." after acknowledging his obligations to his patron, the author proceeds: "besides this history or theatre of the little world, suo jure, first challengeth your friendly patronage, by whose motion i undertooke it, and for whose love i am willing to undergoe the heavy burden of censure. i must confesse that it might have been written with more maturitie, and deliberation, but in respect of my promise, i have made this hast, how happy i know not, yet good enough i hope, if you vouchsafe your kind approbation: which with your judgement i hold ominous, and as under which politeuphuia was so gracious." i.f.m. * * * * * travelling in england. sir,--i beg to acknowledge the notice which two of your correspondents have taken of my query on this subject. at the same time i must say that the explanations which they offer appear to me to be quite unsatisfactory. i shall be happy to give my reasons for this, if you think it worth while; but, perhaps, if we wait a little, some other solution may be suggested. for the sake of the inhabitants, i hope that your work is read at colchester. is there nobody there who could inform us at what time the london coach started a century ago? it seems clear that it arrived in the afternoon--but i will not at present trespass further on your columns. i am, &c., g.g. * * * * * minor notes. ancient inscribed alms dish. l.s.b. informs us that in the church of st. paul, norwich, is a brass dish, which has been gilt, and has this legend round it four times over:--"her: i: lifrid: grechº: wart."[ ] this seems to be another example of the inscription which was satisfactorily explained in no. . p. . [footnote : blomefeld's _norfolk_. folio. . vol. ii. p. .] * * * * * the bishop that burneth. i do not think major moor is correct in his application of tusser's words, "the bishop that burneth," to the lady-bird. whether lady-birds are unwelcome guests in a dairy i know not, but certainly i never heard of their being accustomed to haunt such places. the true interpretation of tusser's words must, i think, be obtained by comparison with the following lines from his _five hundred points of good husbandry_, quoted in ellis's _brand_, iii. .:-- "blesse cisley (good mistress) that bishop doth ban for burning the milk of her cheese to the pan." the reference here, as well as in the words quoted by major moor, is evidently to the proverb relating to burnt milk, broth, &c.--"the bishop has put his foot in it;" which is considered by ellis to have had its origin in those times when bishops were much in the habit of burning heretics. he confirms this interpretation by the following curious passage from tyndale's _obedyence of a crysten man_:-- "if the podech be burned to, or the meate ouer rosted, we saye the byshope hath put his fote in the potte, or the byshope hath playd the coke, because the bishopes burn who they lust, and whosoeuer displeaseth them." i fear the origin of the appellation "bishop barnaby," applied to the lady-bird in suffolk, has yet to be sought. d.s. iron manufactures of sussex. sir,--i have made two extracts from a once popular, but now forgotten work, illustrative of the iron manufacture which, within the last hundred years, had its main seat in this county, which i think may be interesting to many of your readers who may have seen the review of mr. lower's _essay on the ironworks of sussex_ in the recent numbers of the _athenæum_ and _gentleman's magazine_. the anecdote at the close is curious, as confirming the statements of macaulay; the roads in sussex in the th century being much in the condition of the roads in england generally in the th. "sowsexe," according to the old proverb, has always been "full of dirt and mier." "from hence (eastbourne) it was that, turning north, and traversing the deep, dirty, but rich part of these two counties (kent and sussex), i had the curiosity to see the great foundries, or ironworks, which are in this county (sussex), and where they are carried on at such a prodigious expense of wood, that even in a county almost all overrun with timber, they begin to complain of their consuming it for those furnaces and leaving the next age to want timber for building their navies. i must own, however, that i found that complaint perfectly groundless, the three counties of _kent_, _sussex_, and _hampshire_ (all which lye contiguous to one another), being one inexhaustible storehouse of timber, never to be destroyed, but by a general conflagration, and able, at this time, to supply timber to rebuild all the royal navies in europe, if they were all to be destroyed, and set about the building them together. "i left _tunbridge_ ... and came to _lewes_, through the deepest, dirtiest, but many ways the richest and most profitable country in all that part of england. { } "the timber i saw here was prodigious, as well in quantity as in bigness, and seem'd in some places to be suffered to grow only because it was so far off of any navigation, that it was not worth cutting down and carrying away; in dry summers, indeed a great deal is carried away to maidstone and other parts on the medway; and sometimes i have seen one tree on a carriage, which they call here a _tug_, drawn by two-and-twenty oxen, and even then this carried so little a way, and then thrown down and left for other _tugs_ to take up and carry on, that sometimes it is two or three years before it gets to chatham; for if once the rains come in it stirs no more that year, and sometimes a whole summer is not dry enough to make the roads passable. here i had a sight which, indeed, i never saw in any other part of england, namely, that going to church at a country village, not far from _lewes_, i saw an ancient lady, and a lady of very good quality, i assure you, drawn to church in her coach with six oxen; nor was it done in frolic or humour, but mere necessity, the way being so stiff and deep that no horses could go in it."--_a tour through great britain by a gentleman_. london, . vol. i. p. . letter ii. factotum "he was so farre the _dominus fac totum_ in this _juncto_ that his words were laws, all things being acted according to his desire."--p. . of foulis' _hist. of plots of our pretended saints_, nd edit. f.m. birthplace of andrew borde hearne says, in wood's _athenæ_, "that the doctor was not born at pevensey or pensey, but at boonds-hill in holmsdayle, in sussex." should we not read "borde-hill?" that place belonged to the family of borde for many generations. it is in cuckfield parish. the house may be seen from the ouse-valley viaduct. j.f.m. order of minerva "we are informed that his majesty is about to institute a new order of knighthood, called _the order of minerva_, for the encouragement of literature, the fine arts, and learned professions. the new order is to consist of twenty-four knights and the sovereign; and is to be next in dignity to the military order of the bath. the knights are to wear a silver star with nine points, and a straw-coloured riband from the right shoulder to the left. a figure of minerva is to be embroidered in the centre of the star, with this motto, 'omnia posthabita scientiæ.' many men eminent in literature, in the fine arts, and in physic, and law, are already thought of to fill the order, which, it is said, will be instituted before the meeting of parliament."--_perth magazine_, july, . scotus. flaws of wind the parish church of dun-nechtan, now dunnichen, was dedicated to st. causlan, whose festival was held in march. snow showers in march are locally called "st. causlan's flaws." scotus. * * * * * queries answered. dorne the bookseller and henno rusticus. sir,--circumstances imperatively oblige me to do that from which i should willingly be excused--reply to the observations of j.i., inserted in page . of the last saturday's number of the "notes and queries." the subject of these are three questions proposed by me in your first number to the following effect:-- . whether any thing was known, especially from the writings of erasmus, of a bookseller and publisher of the low countries named dorne, who lived at the beginning of the sixteenth century? or, ndly, of a little work of early date callled _henno rusticus_? or, dly, of another, called _of the sige (signe) of the end_? to these no answer has yet been given, although the promised researches of a gentleman of this university, to whom literary inquirers in oxford have ever reason to be grateful, would seem to promise one soon, if it can be made. but, in the mean time, the knot is cut in a simpler way: neither dorne, nor _henno rusticus_, his book, it is said, ever existed. permit me one word of expostulation upon this. it is perfectly true that the writing of the ms. which has given rise to these queries and remarks is small, full of contradictions, and sometimes difficult to be read; but the contractions are tolerably uniform and consistent, which, to those who have to do with such matters, is proved to be no inconsiderable encouragement and assistance. a more serious difficulty arises from the circumstance, that the bookselller used more than one language, and none always correctly. still it may be presumed he was not so ignorant as to make a blunder in spelling his own name. and the first words of the manuscript are these: "+in nomine domini amen ego johannes dorne, &c. &c." (in noie domi ame ego johanes dorne, &c.) from the inspection of a close copy now lying before me, in which all the abbreviations are retained, and from my own clear recollection, i am enabled to state that, to my full belief, the name of "dorne" is written by the man himself in letters at length, without any contraction whatever; and that the altered form of it, "domr," as applied to that particular person, exists nowhere whatever, except in page . of no. of the "notes and queries." the words "henno rusticus" (heno rusticus) are found twice, and are tolerably clearly written in both cases. of the "rusticus" nothing need be said; but the first _n_ in "henno" is expressed by a contraction, which in the ms. _very_ commonly denotes that letter, and sometimes the final _m_. how frequently it represents _n_ may be judged from the fact that in the few words already quoted, the final _n_ in "amen," and the first in "johannes," are supplied by it. so that { } we have to choose between "henno" and "hemno" rusticus (rather a clown than a gentleman, whatever was his name; and perhaps the treatise, if ever found, will prove to treat merely on rural affairs). and although it may turn out to be perfectly true that "homo rusticus" was the thing meant, as your correspondent suggests, still that is not the question at issue; but rather, amidst the confusion of tongues and ideas which seems to have possessed poor dorne's brain, what he actually wrote, rather than what he should have written. admitting, however, for supposition's sake, that your correspondent is right, that the man was named dormer, and the book _homo rusticus_--is there any one who will obligingly favour me with information respecting these, or either of them? one word more, and i have done; though perhaps you will think that too much has been said already upon a subject not of general interest; and indeed i cannot but feel this, as well as how painful it is to differ, even in opinion, with one towards whom nothing can be due from me but respect and affection. but the direct inference from your correspondent's remarks (although it is fully my persuasion he neither designed nor observed it) is, that my difficulties are no difficulties at all, but mistakes. to these we are all liable, and none more so than the individual who is now addressing you, though, it is to be hoped, not quite in the awful proportion which has been imputed to him. and let it stand as my apology for what has been said, that i owe it no less to my own credit, than perhaps to that of others, my kind encouragers and abettors in these inquiries, to vindicate myself from the charge of one general and overwhelming error, that of having any thing to do with the editing of a ms. of which my actual knowledge should be so small, that out of _three_ difficulties propounded from it contents, _two_ should be capable of being shown to have arisen from nothing else but my inability to read it. i remain, sir, your obedient servant, w. trin. coll. oxon. dec. , . [we have inserted the foregoing letter in compliance with the writer's wishes, but under a protest; because no one can entertain a doubt as to his ability to edit in a most satisfactory manner the work he has undertaken; and because also we can bear testimony to the labour and conscientious painstaking which he is employing to clear up the various obscure points in that very curious document. the following communication from a valued correspondent, in answering w.'s query as to _henno rusticus_, confirms the accuracy of his reading.] henno rusticus. the query of your correspondent w. at p. , no. . regards, i presume, _henno comediola rustico ludicra, nunc iterum publicata_; magdeburg, , vo.? if so, he will find it to be identical with the _scænica progymnasmata h. e. ludicra præexercitamenta_ of reuchlin, first printed at strasburg in , and frequently reprinted during the first part of the sixteenth century, often with a commentary by jacob spiegel. a copy, which was successively the property of mr. bindley and mr. heber, is now before me. it was printed at tubingen by thomas anselm in . i have another copy by the same printer, in ; both in small to. reuchlin, while at heidelberg, had amused himself by writing a satirical drama, entitled _sergius seu capitis caput_, in ridicule of his absurd and ignorant monkish opponent. this he purposed to have had represented by some students, for the amusement of his friends; but dalberg, for prudent reasons, dissuaded its performance. it being known, however, that a dramatic exhibition was intended, not to disappoint those who were anxiously expecting it, reuchlin hastily availed himself of the very amusing old farce of _maistre pierre patelin_, and produced his _scænica progymnasmata_, in which the _rustic henno_ is the principal character. it varies much, however, from its prototype, is very laughable, and severely satirical upon the defects of the law and the dishonesty of advocates. its popularity is evinced by the numerous editions; and, as the commentary was intended for the instruction of youth in the niceties of the latin language, it was used as a school-book; the copies shared the fate of such books, and hence its rarity. it is perhaps the earliest comic drama of the german stage, having been performed before dalberg, bishop of worms (at heidelberg in ), to whom it is also inscribed by reuchlin. it seems to have given the good bishop great pleasure, and he requited each of the performers with a gold ring and some gold coin. their names are recorded at the end of the drama. melchior adam gives the following account:-- "ibi comoediam scripsit, _capitis caput_ plenam nigri salis & acerbitatis adversus monachum, qui ejus vitæ insidiatus erat. ibi & alteram comoediam edidit _fabulam gallicam_, plenam candidi salis; in qua forensia sophismata præcipue taxat. hanc narrabat hac occasione scriptam & actam esse. cum alteram de monacho scipsisset, fama sparsa est de agenda comoedia, quod illo tempore inusitatum erat. dalburgius lecta, illius monachi insectatione, dissuasit editionem & actionem, quod eodem tempore & apud philipum palatinum franciscanus erat _capellus_, propter potentiam & malas artes invisus nobilibus & sapientibus viris in aula. intellexit periculum capnio & hanc comoediam occultavit. interea tamen, quia flagitabatur actio, alteram dulcem fabellam edit, & repræsentari ab ingeniosis adolescentibus, quorum ibi extant nomina, curat." mr. hallam (_literat. of europe_, vol. i. p. ., { } st ed.), misled by warton and others, gives a very defective and erroneous account of the _progymnasmata scænica_, which he supposed to contain several dramas; but he concludes by saying, "the book is very scarce, and i have never seen it." gottsched, in his _history of the german drama_, merely says he had seen some notice of a latin drama by reuchlin. hans sachs translated it into german, after his manner, and printed it in under the title of _henno_. s.w.s. mickleham, dec. . . * * * * * myles blomefylde--ortus vocabulorum. sir,--in reference to the query of buriensis in no. . of your periodical, as to the parentage of myles blomefylde, of bury st. edmund's, i beg to contribute the following information. in the library of st. john's college, cambridge, is a volume containing an _unique_ copy of "the boke called the informacyon for pylgrymes vnto the holy lande," printed by wynkyn de worde, in , at the end of which occurs the following manuscript note:-- "i, myles blomefylde, of burye saynct edmunde in suffolke, was borne ye yeare following after ye pryntyng of this boke (that is to saye) in the yeare of our lorde , the day of apryll, betwene & , in ye nyght, nyghest xi, my father's name john, and my mother's name anne." this tract is bound up with two others, on both of which blomefylde has written his initials, and from one entry seems to have been at venice in . he was undoubtedly an ardent book-collector, and i possess copies of the _ortus vocabulorum_, printed by w. de worde, in , and the _promptuarium parvulorum_, printed by the same, in , bound together, on both of which the name of _myles blomefylde_ in inscribed. i may add, as a slight contribution to a future edition of the _typographical antiquities_, that among bagford's curious collection of title-pages in the harleian collection of mss. (which i doubt if dr. dibdin ever consulted with care), there is the last leaf of an edition of the _ortus vocabulorum_, unnoticed by bibliographers, with the following colophon:-- "impr. london. per wynandum de worde, commorantem in vico nuncupato fletestrete, sub intersignio solis aurei, anno incarnatiôis dominice m.ccccc.ix. die vero prima mêsis decêbris."--_harl. mss._ . art. . * * * * * answers to minor queries. the curse of scotland--why the nine of diamonds is so called. when i was a child (now about half a century ago) my father used to explain the origin of the nine of diamonds being called "the curse of scotland" thus: that it was the "_cross_ of scotland," which, in the scotch pronunciation, had become "curse." st. andrew is the patron saint of scotland: he suffered on a cross, not of the usual form, but like the letter x, which has since been commonly called a st. andrew's cross. it was supposed that the similarity of the nine of diamonds to this form occasioned its being so called. the arms of the earl of stair, alluded to in your publication, are exactly in the form of this cross. if this explanation should be useful, you are most welcome to it. a.f. thistle of scotland. sir,--your correspondent r.l. (no. . p. .), will find the fullest information on this head in sir harris nicolas's work on the _orders of knighthood of the british empire_. he does not assign to its origin an earlier date than the reign of james iii, in an inventory of whose jewels, thistles are mentioned as part of the ornaments. the motto "_nemo me impune lacessit_," does not appear until james vi. adopted it on his coinage. g.h.b. for scottish thistle, see nisbet's _heraldry_, vol. ii. _order of st. andrew_. selden, _titles of honour_, p. . ed. , refers to "menenius, miræus, favin, and such more." scotus. record publications. will any of your readers kindly favour me with a reference to any easily-accessible list of the publications of the record commission, as well as to some account of the more valuable rolls still remaining unpublished, specifying where they exist, and how access is to be obtained to them? with every wish for the success of your undertaking, yours, &c. d.s. [the late sir h. nicolas compiled an account of the publications of the record commission, which was published in his _notitia historica_, and also in an vo. vol, and is easily obtainable. there is also a series of articles in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , which contains a good deal of information upon the subject, with a classified list of the publications. the principal unpublished records are in the tower and the rolls' chapel; any record may be inspected or copied at those places, or in any other record office, upon payment of a fee of one shilling.] katherine pegge. sir,--katherine pegge, one of the mistresses of charles ii., was the daughter of thomas pegge, of yeldersley, near ashborne in derbyshire, esq., where the family had been settled for several generations, and where mr. william pegge, the last of the elder branch, died without issue in . another branch of this family was of osmaston, in the same neighbourhood, and of this { } was dr. samuel pegge, the learned antiquary. they bore for arms:--argent, a chevron between three piles, sable. crest:--a demi-sun issuing from a wreath or, the rays alternately argent and sable. it was during his exile that the king first met with the fair katherine, and in had a son by her, whom he called charles fitz-charles,--not fitz-roy as granger says. fitz-charles had a grant of the royal arms with a baton sinistre, vairé; and in his majesty created him earl of plymouth, viscount totness, and baron dartmouth. he was bred to the sea, and having been educated abroad,--most probably in spain,--was known by the name of don carlos. in the earl married the lady bridget osborne, third daughter of thomas earl of danby, and died of a flux at the siege of tangier in , without issue. katherine pegge, the earl's mother, after her _liaison_ with the king, married sir edward greene, bart., of samford in essex, and died without issue by him in ----. from this marriage the king is sometimes said to have had a mistress named greene. there was long preserved in the family a half-length portrait of the earl, in a robe de chamber, laced cravat, and flowing hair (with a ship in the back-ground of the picture), by sir peter lely; and also two of his mother, lady greene: one a half length, with her infant son standing by her side, the other a three-quarters,--both by sir peter lely, or by one of his pupils. both mother and son are said to have been eminently beautiful. g.m. east winch, nov. . n., who refers our querist for particulars of this lady to the "memoirs of the rev. dr. samuel pegge and his family," in nichols' _literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century_, vol. vi. pp. , , adds--"as the lady had no issue by sir edward greene, it perhaps does not matter what his family was. "i see he was created a baronet th july, , and died s. p. dec. ; and that courthope, in his _extinct baronetage_, calls his lady 'dau. of ---- pegg,' not being aware of her importance as the mother of the earl of plymouth. this may be worth remarking." the rev. t. leman. sir,--your correspondent a.t. will find the information he requires respecting the reverend thomas leman, of bath, in the _gentleman's magazine_ for oct. , p. .; for aug. , p. .; and for feb. . he may also consult britton's _memoirs of the life, writings, and character of henry hatcher_. g.m. a memoir of the rev. thomas leman will be found in nichols's _illustrations of literature_, vol. vi. p. , _et seq._, comprising an enumeration of his writings in various county histories and other works of that character, and followed by eighteen letters addressed to mr. nicholls, j.n. brewer, esq., and the rev. dr. samuel parr. n. burnet prize at aberdeen. sir,--i sent a _query_ to the _athenæum_, who, by a _note_, referred it to you. my object is to ascertain _who gained_ the last _theological premium_ (forty years since, or nearly) at aberdeen. you no doubt know the subject: it is the best treatise on "the evidence that there is a being all powerful, wise, and good, by whom every thing exists; and particularly to obviate difficulties regarding the wisdom and goodness of the deity; and this, in the first place from considerations independent of written revelation, and, in the second place, from the revelation of the lord jesus; and, from the whole, to point out the inferences most necessary for and useful to mankind." i wish to know who gained the first prize, and _who_ the second premium. h. andrew manchester, nov. , . [we are happy to be able to answer our correspondent's query at once. the first burnet prize, on the last occasion, was gained by the reverend william lawrence brown, d.d., and principal, if we recollect rightly, of mareschal college, aberdeen. his prize work, entitled _essay on the existence of a supreme being possessed of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness_, was published at aberdeen in vols. vo. . the second prize man was the present amiable and distinguished archbishop of canterbury. his work, entitled _a treatise on the records of creation_, was published in london, in vols. vo. .] incumbents of church livings. sir,--in answer to the query of your correspondent l., i beg to inform him that he may find the _name_, if not the birth-place, of incumbents and patrons of church livings in the county of norfolk, long prior to , in the institution books at norwich, consisting of numerous well preserved folio volumes. blomefield and parkin, the historians of the county, have made ample use of these inestimable books. g.m. history of landed and commercial policy of england--history of edward ii. in reply to the two queries of your correspondent anglo-cambrian:-- . the _remarks upon the history of the landed and commercial policy of england_ was written by the rev. joseph hudson, prebendary of carlisle, , "a judicious and elegant writer, who could not be prevailed on to give his name with it to the public."--see nichols's _literary anecdotes of the eighteenth century_, vol. viii. p. , note. { } mr. n. characterises it as "a valuable work, richly deserving to be better known." . there are two histories of king edward ii., one in small _folio_, of which the title is accurately given by your correspondent, and another in vo., the title of which is given at the head of the reprint in the _harleian miscellany_, vol. i. p. . both these editions bear the date of . i had always supposed that the edition in vo. was a mere reprint of the folio; but on now comparing the text of the folio with that of the vo. as given in the _harl. miscellany_, i find the most essential differences; so much so, as hardly to be recognised as the same. mr. park, the last editor of the _harl. miscellany_ (who could only find the folio), appears to have been puzzled by these differences, and explains them by the supposition that the diction has been much modified by mr. oldys (the original editor of the _miscellany_), a supposition which is entirely erroneous. the "publisher's advertisement to the reader," and the "author's preface to the reader," signed "e.f.," and dated "feb. , ," are both left out in the vo.; and it will be seen that the anonymous authorship and date of composition in the title-page are suppressed, for which we have substituted "found among the papers of, and (supposed to be) writ by, the right honourable henry viscount faulkland." antony wood, without absolutely questioning its authenticity, seems to have regarded it as a mere ephemeral production, as brought out at a time "when the press was open for all such books that could make any thing against the then government, with a preface to the reader patch'd up from very inconsiderable authors, by sir ja. ii. as is supposed."--_athen. oxom._ vol. ii. p. . there is not the slightest evidence to connect the authorship either of the folio or the vo. with henry viscount falkland. your correspondent a.t. (p. .) will find all the information he desires about the rev. thomas leman, and the assistance he rendered to mr. hatcher in his edition of _richard of cirencester_, in mr. britton's own _autobiography_. see pp. and . c.l.l. to eat humble pie. mr. editor,--your correspondent, mr. hammack, having recorded mr. pepys's love of "brave venison pasty," whilst asking the derivation of the phrase, "eating humble pie," in reference to a bill of fare of pepys's age, i venture to submit that the _humble pie_ of that period was indeed the pie named in the list quoted; and not only so, but that it was made out of the "umbles" or entrails of the deer, a dish of the second table, inferior of course to the venison pasty which smoked upon the dais, and therefore not inexpressive of that humiliation which the term "eating humble pie" now painfully describes. the "umbles" of the deer are constantly the perquisites of the gamekeeper. a.g. ecclesfield, nov. , . * * * * * minor queries. eva, daughter of dermot mac murrough. mr. editor,--i should be glad if any of your readers, irish or english, could inform me whether we have any other mention of eva, daughter of dermot mac murrough, last independent king of leinster, than that she became, in the spring of the year , the wife of richard strongbow, earl of pembroke, at waterford. any fortunate possessor of o'donovan's new translation of _the annals of the four masters_, would much oblige me by referring to the dates and , and also to the period included between them, for any casual notice of the birth of this eva, or mention of other slight incident with which she is connected, which may there exist. a. hapless hunter malvern wells, nov. , . john de daundelyon. sir,--in the north chancel of st. john's church, margate, is a fine brass for john daundelyon, , with a large dog at his feet; referring to which the rev. john lewis, in his _history of the isle of tenet_, (p. .), says: "the two last bells were cast by the same founder, and the tenor the gift of one of the family of daundelyon, which has been extinct since . concerning this bell the inhabitants repeat this traditionary rhyme: "john de daundelyon, with his great dog, brought over this bell on a mill-cog." this legend is still given to visitors of this fine old church. will some of your antiquarian correspondents throw some light on the obscurity? c. genealogy of european sovereigns. sir,--can you or any of your correspondents tell me of one or two of the best works on the "genealogy of european sovereigns?" i know of one,--anderson's _royal genealogies_, london, , folio. but that is not of as late a date as i should wish to see. q.x.z. duke of ashgrove. at p. . of doctor simon forman's _diary_ (edited by mr. halliwell, ), mention is twice made of forman being engaged as "scholmaster to the _duke of ashgrove's_ sonnes." who was the person thus alluded to? p.c.s.s. { } sir william godbold. mr. editor,--in the _gentleman's magazine_ for july, , occurs this:-- "in the parish church of mendham, suffolk, is a mural monument bearing an inscription, of which the following is a transcript: "'m.s.v.cmi doctissimique d. gulielmi godbold militis ex illustri et perantiquâ prosapiâ oriundi, qui post septennem peregrinationem animi excolendi gratiâ per italiam, græciam, palæstinam, arabiam, persiam, in solo natali in bonarum literarum studiis consenescens morte repentinâ obiit londini mense aprilis ao. d. mdcxiiic, ætatis lxix.' "one would presume that so great a traveller would have obtained some celebrity in his day; but i have never met with any notice of sir william godbold. i have ascertained that he was the only son of thomas godbold, a gentleman of small estate residing at metfield, in suffolk, and was nephew to john godbold, esq., serjeant-at-law, who was appointed chief justice of the isle of ely in . he appears to have been knighted previously to , and married elizabeth daughter and heir of richard freston, of mendham (norfolk), esq., and relict of sir nicholas bacon, of gillingham, bart., whom he survived, and died without issue in . i should consider myself under an obligation to any of your correspondents who could afford me any further account of this learned knight, or refer me to any biographical or other notice of him." to the writer of that letter the desideratum still remains unsupplied. your welcome publication appears to offer a channel for repeating the inquiry. g.a.c. ancient motto. many years since i read that some pope or emperor caused the following, or a motto very similar to it, to be engraven in the centre of his table:-- "si quis amiecum absentem rodere delectat ad hanc mensam accumbere indignus est." it being a maxim which all should observe in the daily intercourse of life, and in the propriety of which all must concur, i send this to "notes and queries" (the long wished-for medium), in the hopes that some kind "note-maker" can inform me from whence this motto is taken, and to whom ascribed. j.e.m. works of king alfred. sir,--if any of your readers can inform me of mss. of the works of kings alfred the great, besides those which are found in the larger public collections of mss., he will confer a favour not only on the alfred committee, who propose to publish a complete edition of king alfred's works, but also on their secretary, who is your obedient servant, j.a. giles. bampton, oxford, nov. . "bive" and "chote" lambs. i should be much obliged to any of your readers who would favour me with an explanation of the words "bive" and "chote." they were thus applied in an inventory taken kent. " hen. viii. michaelm. bive lambes at xvid. the pece. chote lambes at xiid. the pece." t.w. anecdote of the civil wars. horace walpole alludes to an anecdote of a country gentleman, during the civil wars, falling in with one of the armies on the day of some battle (edgehill or naseby?) as he was _quietly going out with his hounds_. where did walpole find this anecdote? c. a political maxim--when first used. who first used the phrase--"_when bad men conspire, good men must combine_"? c. richard of cirencester s.a.a. inquires whether the authenticity of richard of cirencester, the monk of westminster, has ever been satisfactorily proved. the prevailing opinion amongst some of the greatest antiquaries has been that the work was a forgery by dr. bertram, of copenhagen, with a view of testing the antiquarian knowledge of the famous dr. stukeley; of this opinion was the learned and acute dr. whittaker and mr. conybeare. it is also further worthy of mention that some years since, when the late earl spencer was in copenhagen, he searched in vain for the original manuscript, which no one there could tell him had ever existed, and very many doubt if it ever existed at all. lord erskine's brooms. when and where was it that a man was apprehended for selling brooms without a hawker's licence, and defended himself by showing that they were the agricultural produce of lord erskine's property, and that he was lord e.'s servant? griffin. john bell of the chancery bar. when did john bell cease to practise in the court of chancery, and when did he give up practice altogether, and when was the conversation with lord eldon on that subject supposed to have take place? griffin billingsgate. mr. editor--stow, in his _survey of london_, with reference to billingsgate, states, from geoffrey of monmouth, "that it was built by belin, a king of the britons, whose ashes were enclosed in a vessel of brass, and set upon a high pinnacle of { } stone over the same _gate_." ... "that it was the largest water _gate_ on the river of thames." ... "that it is at this day a large water _gate_," &c. can you, mr. editor, or any of your respected correspondents, refer me to any drawing or description of the said _gate_? william williams. rood lane, nov. . . family of pointz of greenham. mr. editor,--can any of your readers inform me if that branch of the ancient family of _pointz_, which was seated at greenham, in the parish of ashbrittle, in somersetshire, is extinct, and when the male issue failed? some of them intermarried with the chichesters, pynes, and other old devonshire families. the pointzes remained at greenham after . l.b. marescaucia. sir,--in the _testa de nevill_ appear the following entries:-- p. . a "terra willi de montellis (read moncellis) in villa de cumpton pertinet ad _marescauciam_ domini regis," &c. p. . a. "will's de munceus tenet parvam angram (little ongar, in essex) de domino rege de _mareschaucie_ quæ fuit de baronia gilberti de tani." p. . b. "waleramus de munceus tenet cumpton per serjantiam _marescautiæ_." if any of your readers can throw any light on the signification of the word "marescautia," occurring in these extracts, and the tenure referred to, they will greatly oblige d.s. * * * * * notes on books, catalogues, sales, etc. the work of walter mapes, "_de nugis curialium_," respecting which we inserted a query from the rev. l.b. larking, in our last number, is editing for the camden society by mr. wright, and will form one of the next publications issued to the members. messrs. sotheby and co., of wellington street, strand, will be occupied during the week commencing on monday, the th instant, with the sale of "the third portion of the stock of the late eminent bookseller, mr. thomas rodd, comprising rare and valuable works of the early english poets and dramatists; facetiæ, romances, and novels, and other departments of elegant literature." mr. rodd's knowledge, great in all departments of bibliography, was particularly so in that of our early poetical and dramatical writers; and although the numerous commissions he held for such rarities in it as he secured, necessarily prevented their being left upon his shelves, the present collection exhibits a number of articles calculated to interest our bibliographical friends, as the following specimens of a few lots will show:-- dedekindus (fred.) school of slovenrie, or cato turned wrong side outward, in verse, by r.f. gent. _very rare, original binding: sold at perry's sale for_ £ s. de soto (barahona) primera parte de la angelica _blue morocco, rare granada_, no more than the first portion of this poem, which is in continuation of the orlando of ariosto, ever appeared. cervantes notices it with great praise in his don quixote. jests and jeeres, pleasant taunt and merry tales (_wants all before b _), very rare. one of these jests mentions shakspeare by name. marie of egypt, a sacred poeme describing the miraculous life and death of the glorious convert of, in verse. _rare, russia, gilt edges no date_ ( ) markham (robert), the description of that ever to be famed knight sir john burgh, _fine copy, with port. by cecill_ a poem of great rarity: the bindley copy, afterwards mr. heber's, sold for £ . shakespeare (w.), comedies, histories, and tragedies, first edition, _wanting the title and four leaves at the end, soiled_ folio, polimantcia, or the means lawfull and unlawfull to judge of the commonwealth, _rare_ to. notice is made of shakespeare (r ), spenser, sir d. lyndsay, harvey, nash, &c. scotland:--a very curious and rare series of latin poems (by alexander julius) on the marriage or deaths of some scottish nobles, as the marchioness of huntley, _edin._ --countess of argyle, _ib._ --earl keith, _ib._ --earl of montrose, _ib._ --prince henry, _ib._ --fredericke prince palatine, _ib._ --earl of lothian; with the author's sylvarum liber, of these rare poetical pieces four are unnoticed by lowndes; five of them are published anonymously; but their similarity to those with an author's name testifies the source from which the others emanated. the collection contains a good deal of early dutch poetry, well deserving attention for the lights which we are sure may be thrown from it upon our own early national literature. miller, of . chandos street, has issued his december catalogue, comprising, among other articles, "books on freemasonry, poetry, and he drama, histories of ireland and irish antiquities," which he states to be "mostly in excellent condition and good binding," and, he might have added, "at reasonable prices." * * * * * { } books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. (_in continuation of list in no. ._) dibdin's typographical antiquities. vol. ii. catalogue of library of john holme. vol. iv. or . in boards. pindar, by abraham moore, part ii, boards. uncut. a tract, or sermon, by wm. stephens, fellow of exeter collegeand vicar of bampton, "the several heterodox hypotheses concerning both the persons and the attributes of the godhead, justly chargeable with more inconsistencies than those imputed to the orthodox," &c. printed about or later. [wheatley's] christian exceptions to the plain account of the lord's supper. . the appendix to dr. rich. warren's aurora. . the appendix to hoadley's plain account of the sacrament. w.g. broughton's second reply to author of palÆoromaica. british critic for january, february, april, . uncut. dr. john edwards' remarks and reflections (_not_ his some brief critical remarks, ) on dr. clarke's scripture doctrine. spectator, vol. iv. of the edition in vols. small vo., , with preface by lynam. evans' old ballads. vol. iii. . holcroft's lavater. vol. i. . edmondson's heraldry. vol. ii. . fielding's works. vol. xi. . the vol. bookseller's edition. swift's works. vol i. of edition published by falconar, dublin. . rollin's ancient history. vol. i. of nd edition in vols. knapton. . letters stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents _the matter is so generally understood with regard to the management of periodical works, that it is hardly necessary for the editor to say that_ he cannot undertake to return manuscripts; _but on one point he wishes to offer a few words of explanation to his correspondents in general, and particularly to those who do not enable him to communicate with them except in print. they will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly his interest to take all he can get, and make the most, and the best of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received, and appreciated, even if our succeeding numbers bear no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgment will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation, when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and if they understoood an editor's position they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves undervalued; but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from an opposite course._ * * * * * communications received.--_naso.--j.i.--w. robson.--i.f.m.--i.s.-- laicus.--[omega.]--marianne.--q.d.--g.h.b.--j.b.yates--w.j.b.r--h.c.de st. c.--b.--f.e.--rev. l.b. larking (with many thanks).--i.p.l. (oxford).--a.d.m--w.h.--c.--t.h.t.--l.c.r--i.f.m._ _v. who is thanked for his letter, will see by a note in a former part, that the work of walter mapes referred to by the rev. l.b. larking, is on the eve of publication by the camden society. mr. larking's query refers to the transcripts of that and other works made by twysden._ _articles on "cold harbour" and "parallel passages in the poets," in an early number._ melanion _has our best thanks. the stamp office affix the stamp at the corner of the paper most convenient for stamping. the last page falling in the centre of the sheet prevents the stamp being affixed to it in that certainly more desireable place._ _we have received many complaints of a difficulty in procuring our paper. every bookseller and newsvender will supply it_ if ordered, _and gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the stamped edition by giving their orders direct to the publisher_, mr. george bell, . fleet street, _accompanied by a post office order for a quarter ( s d). all communications should be addressed_ to the editor of "notes and queries," . fleet street. _a neat case for holding one year's numbers ( ) of_ notes and queries _will be ready next week, and may be had_, by order, _of all booksellers._ * * * * * curious and rare books. just published, a small catalogue of old books: will be forwarded on receipt of a postage stamp; or various catalogues containing numerous works on the occult sciences, facetiæ, &c. may be had on application, or by forwarding six postage stamps, to g. bumstead, . high holborn. * * * * * just published, gratis, postage a single stamp. a catalogue of some books from the sale at brockley hall, somerset: also some which formerly belonged to browne willis, the antiquary, full of his autograph additions, &c.; and others from private libraries. now selling by thomas kerslake, bookseller, at no. . park street, bristol: the nett cash price being annexed to each lot. all warranted perfect. n.b. these books are all different from the contents of t. kerslake's recently-published large catalogue of upwards of lots, which may be examined at the public literary institution of almost all the cities and principal towns of the united kingdom, where copies have been deposited. libraries and good old books, of all kinds and languages, bought for cash, or valued for will probate or other purposes, and no charge made for such valuation when the books are also bought by t. kerslake. good prices given for black letter books and manuscripts. * * * * * { } the publishers' circular, and general record of british and foreign literature; containing a complete, alphabetical list of all new works published in great britain, and every work of interest published abroad. * * * * * published twice a month.--subscription, s. per annum, stamped. * * * * * the "publishers' circular" was established in under the management of a committee of the principal publishers of london. it contains an alphabetical list of every new work and new edition published in the united kingdom; together with a well-selected list of foreign works not in the usual abbreviated form, being a complete transcript of the title, with the number of pages, plates, size, and price; forming a very useful and comprehensive bibliographical companion for all persons engaged in literary pursuits. all the principal publishing houses contribute their early announcements of new works and their advertisements generally. subscribers have also the opportunity of inserting in the regular list of "books wanted" such works as are out of print, or not easily procurable--the publisher undertaking to communicate all replies to the parties requiring the books, with a small advance upon the price at which they are offered, so as to cover all expenses. sampson low, publisher, . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, part xii., completing the work, containing plates and letterpress. large paper, folio, s. india paper, s. royal vo., price s. d. the monumental brasses of england: a series of engravings on wood, with descriptive notices. by the rev. charles boutell, m.a., rector of downham market, norfolk. the volume, containing plates, will be ready on the th. price, royal vo., cloth, l. s.; folio, cloth, l. s.; india paper, l. s. _subscribers are requested to complete their sets at once, as the numbers will shortly be raised in price._ also, by the same author, royal vo., s., large paper, s. monumental brasses and slabs; an historical and descriptive notice of the incised monumental memorials of the middle ages. with illustrations. "a handsome large octavo volume, abundantly supplied with well-engraved woodcuts and lithographic plates; a sort of encyclopædia for ready reference.... the whole work has a look of pains-taking completeness highly commendable."--_athenæum._ "one of the most beautifully got up and interesting volumes we have seen for a long time. it gives, in the compass of one volume, an account of the history of those beautiful monuments of former days.... the illustrations are extremely well chosen."--_english churchman._ a few copies only of this work remain for sale, and, as it can never be printed in the same form and at the same price, the remaining copies will be charged s. small paper, s. large paper. early application for copies of the large paper edition is necessary. by the same author, to be completed in four parts. christian monuments in england and wales; an historical and descriptive sketch of the various classes of monumental memorials which have been in use in this country from about the time of the norman conquest. profusely illustrated with wood engravings. to be published in four parts. part i. price s. d., part ii. s. d. also, a well conceived and executed work, just published, part ii., containing plates, s. plain; s. d. coloured; to be completed in three or four parts. antiquarian gleanings in the north of england; being examples of antique furniture, plate, church decorations, objects of historical interest, &c. drawn and etched by w.b. scott. "a collection of antiquarian relics, chiefly in the decorative branch of art, preserved in the northern counties, pourtrayed by a very competent hand.... all are drawn with that distinctness which makes them available for the antiquarian, for the artist who is studying costume, and for the study of decorative art."--_spectator._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, december , . proofreading team, and the internet library of early journals notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. * * * * * "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, october , [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * { } contents notes:--page a note on "small words". gray's elegy, by bolton corney. gray's elegy in portuguese. further notes on the authorship of henry viii. queen elizabeth and sir henry nevill, by lord braybrooke. minor notes:--whales--bookbinding--scott's waverley--satyayrata. queries:-- the black rood of scotland. minor queries:--trogus pompeius--mortuary stanzas--laird of grant--bastille, records of,--orkney under norwegians--swift's works--pride of the morning--bishop durdent and the staffordshire historians--pope and bishop burgess--daniel's irish new testament--ale draper--eugene aram--latin epigram--couplet in defoe--books wanted to refer to--watermarks in writing-paper--puzzling epitaph--cornish mss.--bilderdijk the poet--egyptian mss.--scandinavian priesthood--thomas volusemus. replies:-- curfew. engelmann's bibliotheca scriptorum classicorum. crozier and pastoral staff, by rev. m. walcott. parsons, the staffordshire giant, by e.f. rimbault, l.l.d. wormwood wine, by s.w. singer, &c. replies to minor queries:--feltham's works--harefinder--fool or a physician--papers of perjury--pilgrim's road--capture of henry vi.--andrew beckett--passage in vida--quem deus--countess of desmond--confession--cayell, meaning of,--lord kingsborough's mexico--aërostation--concolinel--andrewes's tortura torti, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted. notices to correspondents. advertisements. * * * * * notes. a note on "small words." "and ten small words creep on in one dull line." most ingenious! most felicitous! but let no man despise little words, despite of the little man of twickenham. he himself knew better, but there was no resisting the temptation of such a line as that. small words he says, in plain prosaic criticism, are generally "stiff and languishing, but they may be beautiful to express melancholy." the english language is a language of small words. it is, says swift, "overstocked with monosyllables." it cuts down all its words to the shortest possible dimensions: a sort of half-procrustes, which lops but never stretches. in one of the most magnificent passages in holy writ, that, namely, which describes the death of sisera:-- "at her feet he bowed, he fell: at her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: where he bowed, there he fell down dead." there are twenty-two monosyllables to three of greater length, or rather to the same dissyllable thrice repeated; and that too in common parlance proncounced as a monosyllable. the passage in the book of ezekiel, which coleride is said to have considered the most sublime in the whole bible,-- "and he said unto me, son of man, can these bones live? and i answered, o lord god, though knowest,"-- contains seventeen monosyllables to three others. and in the most grand passage which commences the gospel of st. john, from the first to the fourteenth verses, inclusive, there are polysyllables twenty-eight, monosyllables two hundred and one. this it may be said is poetry, but not verse, and therefore makes but little against the critic. well then, out of his own mouth shall he be confuted. in the fourth epistle of his _essay on man_, a specimen selected purely at random from his works, and extending altogether to three hundred and ninety-eight lines, there are no less than twenty-seven (that is, a trifle more than one out of every fifteen,) made up _entirely_ of monosyllables: and over and above these, there are one hundred and fifteen which have in them only one word of greater length; and yet there are few dull creepers among the lines of pope. the early writers, the "pure wells of english undefiled," are full of "small words." hall, in one of the most exquisite of his satires, speaking of the vanity of "adding house to house, and field to field," has these most beautiful lines,-- "fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thy store, and he that cares for most shall find no more!" "what harmonious monosyllables!" says mr. gifford; and what critic will refuse to echo his exclamation? the same writer is full of monosyllabic lines, and he is among the most energetic { } of satirists. by the way, it is not a little curious, that in george webster's _white devil, or vittoria corombona_, almost the same thought is also clothed in two monosyllabic lines:-- "his wealth is summed, and this is all his store: this poor men get, and great men get no more." was young dull? listen, for it is indeed a "solemn sound:"-- "the bell strikes one. we take no note of time save by its loss, to give it then a tongue was wise in man." was milton tame? hear the "lost archangel" calling upon hell to receive its new possessor:-- "one who brings a mind not to be chang'd by place or time. the mind is its own place, and in _itself_ can make a heav'n of hell,--a hell of heav'n. what _matter_ where, if i be still the same, and what i should be; all but less than he whom _thunder_ hath made _greater_? here at least we shall be free; the _almighty_ hath not built here for his _envy_; will not drive us hence: here we may reign _secure_; and in my choice to reign is worth _ambition_, though in hell: _better_ to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n!" a great conjunction of little words! are monosyllables passionless? listen to the widowed constance:-- "thou mayst, thou shalt! i will not go with thee! i will _instruct_ my _sorrows_ to be proud; for grief is proud, and makes his _owner_ stout; to me, and to the state of my great grief, let kings _assemble_; for my grief's so great, that no _supporter_ but the huge firm earth can hold it up: here i and _sorrow_ sit; here is my throne: bid kings come bow to it." six polysyllables only in eight lines! the ingenuity of pope's line is great, but the criticism false. we applaud it only because we have never taken the trouble to think about the matter, and take it for granted that all monosyllabic lines must "creep" like that which he puts forward as a specimen. the very frequency of monosyllables in the compositions of our language is one grand cause of that frequency passing uncommented upon by the general reader. the investigation prompted by the criticism will serve only to show its unsoundness. k.i.p.b.t. * * * * * on gray's elegy. if required to name the most popular english poem of the last century, i should perhaps fix on the _elegy_ of gray. according to mason, it "ran through eleven editions in a very short space of time." if he means _separate_ editions, i can point out six other impressions in the life-time of the poet, besides those in miscellaneous collections viz. in _six poems by mr. t. gray_, london, . folio-- . folio--and in _poems by mr. gray_, london, . small o.--glasgow . o.--london. a new edition, . small o. a new edition, . small o. so much has been said of translations and imitations, that i shall confine myself to the text. of the _first_ separate edition i am so fortunate as to possess a copy. it is thus entitled:-- "_an elegy wrote in a country church-yard_. london: printed for r. dodsley in pal-mall; and sold by m. cooper in pater-noster-row, . price six-pense. o six leaves. "advertisement. "the following poem came into my hands by accident, if the general approbation with which this little piece has been spread, may be call'd by so slight a term as accident. it is this approbation which makes it unnecessary for me to make any apology but to the author: as he cannot but feel some satisfaction in having pleas'd so many readers already, i flatter myself he will forgive my communicating that pleasure to many more. "the editor." the history of this publication is given by gray himself, in a letter to walpole, dated in , and needs no repetition; but i must observe, as a remarkable circumstance, that the poem was reprinted _anonymously_, in its separate form, as late as . i have collated the editions of and , and find variations in stanzas , , , , , , , , and . all the amendments, however, were adopted as early as , except the correction of a grammatical peccadillo in the ninth stanza. i make this communication in the shape of a note, as it may interest men of the world not less than certain _hermits_. bolton corney. * * * * * gray's elegy in portuguese. in several numbers of the "notes and queries" mention is made of various translations into foreign languages of gray's _elegy in a country church-yard_. p.c.s.s. begs leave to add to the list a very elegant translation into portuguese, by the chevalier antonio de aracejo (afterwards minister of foreign affairs at lisbon and at rio de janeiro), to whose friendship he was indebted many years ago for a copy of it. it was privately printed at lisbon towards the close of the last century, and was subsequently reprinted at paris in , in a work called _traductions interlinéaires, en six langues_, by a.m.h. boulard. p.c.s.s. * * * * * further notes on the authorship of shakspeare's henry viii. the gentleman's magazine for the present month contains a letter from mr. spedding, the author of the essay which appeared in the august { } number of that magazine on the authorship of _henry viii._ after expressing himself "gratified but not surprised" by the coincidence between his views and those of mr. hickson in "notes and queries" (vol. ii., p. .), mr. spedding proceeds: "the resemblance of the style, in some parts of the play, to fletcher's, was pointed out to me several years ago by alfred tennyson (for i do not know why i should not mention his name); and long before that, the general distinctions between shakspeare's manner and fletcher's had been admirably explained by charles lamb in his note on the _two noble kinsmen_, and by mr. spalding in his essay. and in respect to this i had myself derived additional light, more, perhaps, than i am aware of, from mr. hickson himself, if he be (as i suppose he is) the s.h. of the _westminster review_. but having been thus put upon the scent and furnished with principles, i followed the inquiry out by myself, without help or communication. that two independent inquirers should thus have arrived at the same conclusions upon so many particulars, must certainly be considered very singular, except upon one supposition; viz., that the conclusions are according to reason. upon that supposition, nothing is more natural; and i must confess, for my own part, that i should have been more surprised if the coincidence had been less exact." we will borrow one more paragraph from mr. spedding's communication (which is distinguished throughout by the liberality of tone of a true scholar), and we doubt not that the wish expressed at its conclusion is one in which our readers join as heartily as ourselves:-- "i hope, however, that mr. hickson may be induced to pursue his own investigation further, and to develop more fully the suggestion which he throws out as to a difference of style discernible in the scenes which he attributes to shakspeare. if i understand him rightly, he sees traces in this play of the earlier as well as the later hand of both poets. i cannot say that i perceive any indications of this myself, nor, if it be so, can i well make out how it should have come to pass. but i should be glad to hear more about it." it will be seen by the following extract from mr. emerson's _representative men_, for which we are indebted to our correspondent a.r., that the subject had attracted the attention of that distinguished writer.-- "in _henry viii._, i think i see plainly the cropping out of the original rock on which his (shakspeare's) own finer stratum was laid. the first play was written by a superior, thoughtful man, with a vicious ear. i can mark his lines, and know well their cadence. see wolsey's soliloquy, and the following scene with cromwell, where, instead of the metre of shakspeare, whose secret is, that the thought constructs the tune, so that reading for the sense will best bring out the rhythm; here the lines are constructed on a given tune, and the verse has even a trace of pulpit eloquence. but the play contains, through all its length, unmistakeable traits of shakspeare's hand; and some passages, as the account of the coronation, are like autographs. what is odd, the compliment to queen elizabeth is in the bad rhythm." * * * * * queen elizabeth and sir henry nevill. many years ago i copied the following note from a volume of berkshire pedigrees in the british museum, my reference to which is unluckily lost. "queen elizabeth, in her first progress at maidenhithe bridge, being mett by all the nobility, kn'ts, and esquires of berks, they kneeling on both sides of her way, shee alighted at the bridge foot, and walked on foote through the midst, and coming just agaynst sir henry nevill of billingbear, made a stay, and leyd her glove on his head, saying, 'i am glad to see thee, _brother henry_.' hee, not pleased with the expression, swore she would make the court believe hee was a bastard, at which shee laughed, and passed on." the masquing scene in _henry viii._, as described by holinshed, perhaps furnishes a clue to the queen's pleasantry, though shakspeare has omitted the particular incident relating to sir henry nevill. the old chronicler, after giving an account of wolsey's banquet, and the entrance of a noble troop of strangers in masks, amongst whom he suspected that the king made one, proceeds as follows:-- "then the lord chamberlain said to the cardinal, sir, they confesse that among them there is such a noble personage whom, if your grace can appointe out 'from the rest, he is content to disclose himself and to accept your place.' whereupon the cardinal, taking good advisement among them, at the last quoth he, 'me seemeth the gentleman in the black beard should be even he.' and with that he arose out of his chaire and offered the same to the gentleman in the black beard, with his cap in his hand. the person to whom he offered the chaire was sir edward nevill, a comelie knight, that much more resembled the king's person in that mask than anie other. the king perceiving the cardinal so deceived, could not forbear laughing, and pulled down his visor and maister nevill's too." sir edward nevill of aldington, in kent, was the second surviving son of george nevill, lord abergavenny, and the father of sir henry nevill above mentioned, who laid the foundation-stone and built the body and one wing of billingbear house, which still belongs to his descendant. sir edward nevill was beheaded for high treason in , his likeness to henry viii. not saving him from the fate which befell so many of that king's unhappy favourites. brathbrooke. audley end. * * * * * minor notes. _whales._--tychsen thinks the stories of whales mistaken for islands originated in the perplexities of inexperienced sailors when first venturing from { } the mediterranean into a sea exposed to the tides. i think dr. whewell mentions that in particular situations the turn of the current occurs at a sufficient interval from the time of high or low water to perplex even the most experienced sailors. f.q. _bookbinding._--while the mischief of _mildew_ on the _inside_ of books has engaged some correspondents to seek for a remedy (vol. ii., . .), a word may be put in on behalf of the _outside_, the binding. the present material used in binding is so soft, flabby, and unsound, that it will not endure a week's service. i have seen a bound volume lately, with a name of repute attached to it; and certainly the _workmanship_ is creditable enough, but the _leather_ is just as miserable as any from the commonest workshop. the volume cannot have been bound many months, and yet even now, though in good hands, it is beginning to rub _smooth_, and to look, what best expresses it emphatically, _shabby_, contrasting most grievously with the leather of another volume, just then in use, bound some fifty or seventy years ago, and as sound and firm as a drum's head--_common_ binding too, be it observed--as the modern _cover_ is flabby and washy. pray, sir, raise a voice against this wretched _material_, for that is the thing in fault, not the workmanship; and if more must be paid for undoctored outsides, let it be so. novus. _scott's waverley._--some years ago, a gentleman of my acquaintance, now residing in foreign parts, told me the following story:-- "once upon a time," the great unknown being engaged in a shooting-match near his dwelling, it came to pass that all the gun-wadding was spent, so that he was obliged to fetch _paper_ instead. after sir walter had come back, his fellow-shooter chanced to look at the succedaneum, and was not a little astonished to see it formed part of a tale written by his entertainer's hand. by his friend's urgent inquiries, the scotch romancer was compelled to acknowledge himself the author, and to save the well nigh destroyed manuscript of _waverley_. i do not know whether sir walter scott was induced by _this_ incident to publish the first of his tales or not; perhaps it occurred after several of his novels had been printed. now, if any body acquainted with the anecdote i relate should perchance hit upon my endeavour to give it an english garb, he would do me a pleasure by noting down the particulars i might have omitted or mis-stated. i never saw the fact recorded. janus dousa. _satyavrata._--mr. kemble, _salomon and saturn_, p. ., does not seem to be aware that the satyavrata in question was one of the forgeries imposed on, and afterwards detected, by wilford. f.q. * * * * * queries. black rood of scotland. can any of your correspondents give me any information on the following points connected with "the black rood of scotland?" . what was the history of this cross before it was taken into scotland by st. margaret, on the occasion of her marriage with malcolm, king of scotland? did she get it in england or in germany? . what was its size and make? one account describes it as made of gold, and another (_rites of durham_, p. .) as of silver. . was the "black rood of scotland" the same as the "holy cross of holyrood house?" one account seems to make them the same: for in the _rites of durham_, p. ., we read,-- "at the east end of the south aisle of the choir, was a most fair rood, or picture of our saviour, _in silver_, called the _black rood of scotland_, brought out of holyrood house by king david bruce, and was won at the battle of durham, with the picture of our lady on the one side, and st. john on the other side, very richly wrought in silver, all three having crowns of gold," &c. &c. another account, in p. of the same work, seems to make them different; for, speaking of the battle of neville's cross ( th october, ), it says-- "in which said battle a _holy cross_, which was taken out of holyrood house, in scotland, by king david bruce, was won and taken," &c., p. . and adds,-- "in which battle were slain seven earls of scotland.... and also lost _the said cross_, and many other most worthy and excellent jewels ... together with the black rood of scotland (so termed) with mary and john, made of silver, being, as it were, smoked all over," &c., p. . . if they were the same, how is the legend concerning its discovery by the king, upon holyrood day, when hunting in a forest near edinburgh, to be reconciled with the fact of its being taken by st. margaret into scotland? if they were not the same, what was the previous history of each, and which was the cross of st. margaret? . how is the account of simeon of durham, that the black rood was bequeathed to durham priory by st. margaret, to be reconciled with the history of its being taken from the scotch at the battle of neville's cross? . may there not be a connexion between the legend of the discovery of the "holy cross" between the horns of a wild hart (_rites of durham_, p. .), and the practice that existed of an offering of a stag annually made, on st. cuthbert's day, in september, by the nevilles of raby, to the priory of durham? may it not have been an acknowledgement { } that the cross won at the battle of neville's cross was believed to have been taken by king david from the hart in the forest of edinburgh? in the "lament for robert neville," called by surtees "the very oldest rhyme of the north" we read-- "wel, qwa sal thir hornes blaw haly rod thi day? nou is he dede and lies law was wont to blaw thaim ay." . is it known what became of the "holy cross" or "black rood" at the dissolution of durham priory? p.a.f. newcastle-on-tyne. * * * * * minor queries. _trogus pompeius._--in hannay and dietrichsen's _almanuck for the year_ , i find the following statement under the head of "remarkable occurrences of the year :"-- "july . a portion of the history of trogus pompeius (the author abridged by justin) is discovered in the library of ossolinski at berlin." not having noticed any contemporary account of this occurrence, i should be glad of any information respecting the nature and extent of the discovery. e.l.n. _mortuary stanzas._--could any of your readers supply me with information respecting the practice of appending mortuary stanzas to the yearly bills of mortality, published in many parishes; whether there are any extant specimens of such stanzas besides those memorable poems of cowper written for the parish clerk of northampton; and whether, also, the practice is still kept up in any parts of the country? [greek: philopatris]. _laird of grant._--in the north of england, i have repeatedly heard the _auld wife_ remark, on observing any unwonted act of extravagance, such as burning more than the ordinary number of candles, &c. &c.,--"who is to be laird of grant next year?" as this saying appears to be used only in the north, i have no other medium at present than to seek a reply through the aid of your valuable little work. senex. [a similar "saw" was formerly current in the metropolis,--"what, three candles burning! we shall be lord mayor next year."] _bastille, ms. records of._--are there amongst the mss. of the british museum any documents relating to spies, or political agents, employed by the french and english governments from to , who were incarcerated in the bastille? m.v. _orkney under the norwegians._--torfæus (_orcades_), under the transactions of the year (p. - .), has an incidental mention of the orkneys as among the forbidden islands, "vetitæ insulas," of which the commerce was forbidden to strangers, and confined to the mother country, as to this day it is with denmark and her possessions of the faroe islands and iceland, both mentioned in the paragraph of the historian among the islands whose commerce was restricted. it would be very desirable to know of the social state of orkney under the government of norway and its native jarls of the norwegian race, and or its connexion with norway and denmark; and some of your correspondents may take the trouble to point out sources of information on the subject of this query. w.h.f. kirkwall _swift's works._--in wilde's _closing years of dean swift's life_ ( d edit. p. .) is mentioned an autograph letter from sir walter scott to c.g. gavelin, esq., of dublin, in the ms. library. t.c.d., in which he states he had nothing whatever to do with the publication or revision of the second edition of the _works of jonathan swift_. this does not agree with the statement given in mr. lockhart's _life of sir walter scott_, d edit. vol. vii. p. . who was the editor, and in what does the second edition differ from the first? w.h.f. "_pride of the morning_."--why is the small rain which falls in the morning, at some seasons of the year, called "the pride of the morning?" p.h.f. _bishop durdent and the staffordshire historians._--it is stated by sampson erdeswich, esq., in his _survey of staffordshire_, p. , mo. , that-- "not far from tame, roger durdent held fisherwicke of the bishop, ed. i. and ed. ii. nicholas durdent was lord of it, which i suppose was procured to some of his ancestors of the same name by their kinsman walter durdent, bishop of litchfield, in henry ii.'s time." but no authority is given for this statement. in shaw's _history of staffordshire_, p. ., fol., , it is further recorded that-- "walter durdent, in the beginning of henry ii., appears to have granted it (fisherwicke) to some of his relations, for we find william durdent of fisherwicke temp. henry ii.; and in the th of hen. iii. roger durdent occurs, who held fisherwicke of the bishop, ed. i. in the ed. ii. nicholas durdent was lord of it." shaw refers to erdeswick, and to the _annals of burton abbey_, p. . in dr. harwood's edition of erdeswick, vo., , the same statements are repeated, but no authority is adduced. could any of your correspondents obligingly furnish me with the original { } sources of information to which erdeswick had access, and also with any biographical notices of bishop durdent besides those which are recorded in godwin and shaw? the bishop had the privilege of coining money. (see shaw's _staffordshire_, pp. . .) are any of his coins known to numismatists? f.r.r. _pope and bishop burgess._--to what passage in pope's writings does the conclusion of the following extract refer?[ ] "digammaticæ doctrinæ idem accidit. in his _popius_ eam in ludibrium vertit, &c. sed eximius poeta neque in veteribus suæ ipsius linguæ, nedum græcæ monumentis versatus, tantum scilicet de antiqua illa litera vidit, quantum _de shakespearii_ sagittario." w.w. [footnote : d ed. of dawes's _mis. critic_, p. xviii, note x.] _daniel's irish new testament._--f.g.x. will be much obliged for information on the following points:-- . which is the most correct edition, as to printing and orthography, of daniel's irish new testament? . does the edition now on sale by the bible society bear the character for incorrectness as to these points, which, judged by itself, it appears to deserve, or is it really, though "bad, the best?" . f.g.x. is far advanced with an irish testament concordance. can any one possessed of the requisite information give him hope of the acceptableness of such a publication? he should expect it to be chiefly useful to clerical irish students in acquiring a knowledge of words and construction; but the lists of irish bibles disposed of of late years would lead to the supposition of its being desirable also as pointing out the place of passages to the native reader. . does the cambridge university library contain a copy of the first edition of daniel's translation? _ale draper--eugene aram._--in hargrove's well-known history of eugene aram, the hero of bulwer's still better known novel, one of the guilty associates of the knaresborough murderer is designated as an "ale draper." as this epithet never presented itself in my reading, and as i am not aware that _draper_ properly admits of any other definition than that given by johnson, "one who deals in cloth," may i ask whether the word was ever in "good use" in the above sense? my main purpose in writing, is to propound the foregoing query; but while i have the pen in hand permit me to ask,-- . whether it be possible to read the celebrated "defence," so called, which was delivered by aram on his trial at york, without concurring with the jury in their verdict, and with the judge in his sentence? in short, without a strong feeling that the prisoner would not have been hanged, but for that over-ingenious, and obviously evasive, address, in which the plain averment of "not guilty" does not occur. . has not the literary character, especially the philological attainments, of this noted malefactor been vastly over-rated? and . ought not the "memoirs" of "this great man" by mr. scatcherd to be ranked among the most remarkable attempts ever made, and surely made "--in vain, to wash the murderer from blood-guilty stain?" d. rotherfield _latin epigram._--can any of your correspondents inform me who was the author of the following epigram:-- in memoriam g.b.m.d. "te tandem tuus oreus habet, quo civibus orei gratius haud unquam misit apollo caput; quippe tuo jussu terras liquere, putantque tartara se jussu linquere posse tuo." the person alluded to was sir w. browne, m.d., the founder of the browne medals in the university of cambridge. some old fellow of king's college may be able to inform me. the medals were first given about the year , and in the first year, i presume, out of respect to the memory of the donor, no subject was given for epigrams. it has occurred to me, that perhaps some wag on that occasion sent the lines as a quiz. w.s. richmond, surrey _couplet in de foe_-- "restraint from ill is freedom to the wise, and good men wicked liberties despise." this couplet is at the end of the second letter in de foe's _great law of subordination_, p. . is it his own? if not, where did he get it? n.b. _books wanted to refer to_.-- "hollard's travels ( ), by a french protestant minister, afterwards suppressed by the author." "thomas bonnell, mayor of norwich, life of." "canterbury, letters and memoirs on the excommunication of two heretics, ." "the book of seventy-seven french protestant ministers, presented to will'm iii." if any of your readers can refer me to the above works i shall be glad. they may be in the british museum, although i have searched there in vain for them. j.s.b. _water-marks in writing-paper._--can any of your correspondents indicate any guide to the dating of { } paper by the water-mark. i think i have read of some work on that subject, but have no precise recollection about it. i have now before me several undated mss. written on paper of which it would be very desirable to fix the exact date. they evidently belonged to pope, swift, and lady m.w. montague, as they contain their autographs. they are all of that size called _pro patria_, and two of them have as water-mark a figure of britannia with a lion brandishing a sword within a paling, and the motto _pro patria_ over the sword. of one of these the opposite page has the initials gr, and the other has ix; but the paper has been cut off in the middle of the water-mark and only exhibits half the figure iv. another sheet has the royal arms ( . england and scotland impaled, . france, . ireland, . the white horse of hanover,) within the garter, and surmounted by the crown, and on the opposite page gr. within a crowned wreath. there is no doubt that they were all manufactured between and ; but is there any means of arriving at a more precise date? c. _puzzling epitaph._--the following curious epitaph was found in a foreign cathedral:-- epitaphium. "o quid tuæ be est biæ; ra ra ra es et in ram ram ram ii." the following is plainly the solution of the last four lines:-- _ra, ra, ra_, is thrice _ra_, i.e. _ter-ra=terra_. _ram, ram, ram_, is thrice _ram_, i.e. _ter-ram=terram_. _ii_ is _i_ twice, _i.e. i-bis=ibis_. thus the last four lines are,-- "terra es et in terram ibis." can any one furnish a solution of the two first lines? j. bdn. [we would suggest that the first two lines are to be read "o _super_ be, quid _super_ est, tuæ _super_ biæ," and the epitaph will then be-- "o superbe quid superest tuæ superbiæ terra es, et in terram ibis."--ed.] _mss. of cornish language._--are there any ancient mss. of the cornish language, or are there any works remaining in that language, besides the _calvary_ and _christmas carol_ published by the late davies gilbert? j.a. giles. _bilderdijk the poet._--banished from his native country, disowned by his own countrymen, the dutch poet willem bilderdijk pitched his tent for a while on the hospitable soil of old england. prince william v. residing in at hampton court, he resolved to stay there; but, possessing no income at all, and, like the sage of antiquity, having saved nothing from the shipwreck but his genius, he shifted his dwelling-place to london, where he gave lessons in drawing, languages, and various, even medical, sciences. he was married in england to katharine wilhelmina schweickhardt, on the th of may, . his residence in the birthplace of "notes and queries" makes me ask, if there be still persons living, who remember him as teacher, friend, or poet? a presentation-copy of mrs. bilderdijk's translation of _rodrick, the last of the goths_, was offered to southey, accompanied by a latin letter from her spouse. the poet-laureate visiting leyden in the summer of , bilderdijk would not suffer him to remain lodged in the inn, where an injury to his leg urged him to favour the landlord with a protracted stay. southey was transported accordingly to the dutch poet's house; and did not leave it before he was cured, several weeks having elapsed in the meanwhile. mention of this fact is made in a poem the british bard addresses to cuninghame. i do not know whether it is alluded to in southey's _life_. bilderdijk's foot was crushed accidentally, in the sixth year of his age, by one of his play-fellows; and thus he, who, by his natural disposition seemed to be destined to a military career, was obliged to enlist in the _militia togata_. he fought the good fight in verse. it is remarkable that byron and sir walter scott, his cotemporaries, were also lame or limping. janus dousa. _egyptian mss._--what is the age of the oldest ms. found in egypt? are there any earlier than the age of alexander? j.a. giles. _scandinavian priesthood._--will one of your correspondents do me the favour to let me know the best authority i can refer to for information as to the priesthood of the scandinavians; the mode of their election, the rank from which they were generally chosen, whether they were allowed to marry, &c.? max brandeson. _thomas volusemus (or wilson?)._--is anything known of thomas volusemus (wilson?) who edited the works of his father-in-law, patrick adamson, titular archbishop of st. andrew's, which were published in london a.d. ? h.a.e. * * * * * replies. curfew. we have received the following replies to naboc's inquiry (vol. ii., p. .) as to where the custom of ringing the curfew still remains. _bingley in yorkshire._--in the town of bingley, { } in yorkshire, the custom of ringing the curfew existed in the year . it may have been discontinued since that year, but i do not know that it has. it is also the custom at blackburn, in lancashire; and it was, if it is not now, at bakewell in derbyshire. h.j. _bromyard, herefordshire._--the curfew is still rung at bromyard, herefordshire, at nine p.m., from the th of november, until christmas day; and the bell is afterwards tolled the number of the day of the month. why it is merely confined to within the above days, i could never ascertain. g.f.c. _waltham-on-the-wolds._--the curfew is still rung at waltham-on-the-wolds, leicestershire, at five a.m., eight p.m. in summer, and at six a.m., seven p.m. in winter; the bell also tolling the day of the month. r.j.s. _oxfordshire._--i see that naboc's inquiry about the curfew is answered at p. . by a reference to the _journal of the british archæological association_. the list there is probably complete: but lest it should omit any, i may as well mention, from my own knowledge, woodstock, oxon, where it rings from eight to half-past eight in the evening, from october to march; bampton and witney, oxon, and stow, in gloucester; at some of which places it is also rung at four in the morning. c. _chertsey, surrey._--in the town of chertsey in surrey, the curfew is regularly tolled for a certain time at eight every evening, but only through the winter months. there is also a curious, if not an uncommon, custom kept up with regard to it. after the conclusion of the curfew, and a pause of half a minute, the day of the month is tolled out: one stroke for the st, two for the nd, and so on. h.c. de st. croix. _penrith._--the curfew bell continues to be rung at penrith, in cumberland, at eight o'clock in the evening, and is the signal for closing shops, &c. _newcastle-upon-tyne._--the curfew is still rung by all the churches of newcastle-upon-tyne at eight in the evening; and its original use may be said to be preserved to a considerable extent, for the greater bulk of the shops make it a signal for closing. g. bouchier richardson. _morpeth._--the curfew bell is still rung at eight p.m. at morpeth in northumberland. e.h.a. _exeter._--the curfew is rung in exeter cathedral at eight p.m. the present practice is to toll the bell thirty strokes, and after a short interval to toll eight more; the latter, i presume, denoting the hour. g.t. _winchester._--curfew is still rung at winchester. an old commoner prefect. _over, near winsford, cheshire._--the custom of ringing the curfew is still kept up at over, near winsford, cheshire; and the parish church, st. chads, is nightly visited for that purpose at eight o'clock. this bell is the signal amongst the farmers in the neighbourhood for "looking up" their cattle in the winter evenings; and was, before the establishment of a public clock in the tower of the weaver church at winsford, considered the standard time by which to regulate their movements. a reader. [we are indebted to the courtesy of the editor of the _liverpool albion_ for this reply, which was originally communicated to that paper.] _the curfew_, of which some inquiries have appeared in the "notes and queries," is generally rung in the north of england. but then it is also common in the south of scotland. i have heard it in kelso, and other towns in roxburghshire. the latter circumstance would appear to prove that it cannot have originated with the norman conqueror, to whom it is attributed. w. * * * * * engelmanns bibliotheca scriptorum classicorum. (vol. ii., p. .) the shortest reply to mr. de morgan's complaint against a foreign bookseller would be, that _engelmann himself_ printed for any of the purchasers of a large number of his catalogues the titles to which mr. de morgan objects so much. will you allow me to add one or two remarks occasioned by mr. de morgan's strictures? . engelmann is not, strictly speaking, a bookseller, and his catalogues are not booksellers' catalogues in the sense in which that term is generally received here. he is a publisher and compiler (and an admirable one) of general classified catalogues for the use of the trade and of students, without any reference to his stock, or, in many instances, to the possibility of easily acquiring copies of the books enumerated: and although he _might_ execute an order from his catalogues, getting orders is _not_ the end for which _he_ publishes them. . some foreign houses in london, as well as in other countries, bought a large number of his catalogues, not as a _book_ but as a _catalogue_, to be supplied to their customers at the bare cost, or, where it appears advisable, to be delivered gratis to purchasers of a certain amount. . it appears to me pardonable if, under these circumstances, a notice is inserted on the title, that orders may be directed to the house which has purchased a number, and supplies them without any immediate profit; and i may add that i do { } not believe any of the houses concerned would object to a notice being taken of such a proceeding in your paper. . the error in omitting the words "from " on the title-page, is one to which mr. de morgan's notice first directed my attention, classics printed before that date not being commonly in demand among foreign booksellers. . the practice of compiling catalogues for general use, with the names of the purchasers of any number of copies of the catalogue inserted on the title or wrapper, is very common in germany. hinrichs of leipsic issues-- . a six-monthly alphabetical catalogue, with a systematic index; . a quarterly catalogue, systematically arranged, with an alphabetical index; vandenhoeck of gottigen issues _half-yearly_-- . a bibliotheca medico-chirurgica et pharmaceuto-chemica; . a bibliotheca theologica, for protestant theology; . a bibliotheca classica et philologica; . a bibliotheca juridica; and engelmann, from time to time, numerous general catalogues;-- all of which are not only supplied to london houses, with english titles, but may be had all over germany, with the firms of different booksellers inserted as publishers of the catalogue. will you make use of the above in any way in which you may think it of advantage to your readers? another foreign bookseller. * * * * * crozier and pastoral staff. (vol. ii., p. .) a correspondent inquires what was the difference between a crozier and a pastoral staff. the crozier (_crocia_, mediæval latin), fr. _crosse_, ital. _rocco pastorale_, german. _bischofstab_, is the ornamental staff used by archbishops and legates, and derives its name from the cross which surmounts it. a crozier behind a pall is borne on the primatial arms of canterbury. the use of the crozier can only be traced back to the th century. _cavendish_ mentions "two great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his archbishoprick and the other for his legatry, always before" cardinal wolsey. the fact did not escape master _roy_, who sings thus:-- "before him rydeth two prestes stronge, and they beare two crosses right longe, gapinge in every man's face." _hall_ says that he removed from whitehall "with one cross." in the eastern church patriarchs only have a crozier; a patriarch has two transverse bars upon his crozier, the pope carries three. the pastoral staff was the ensign of bishops. honorius describes it as in the form of a shepherd's crook, made of wood or bone, united by a ball of gold or crystal, the lower part of the staff being pointed. "in evangelio dominus apostolis præcepit, ut in prædcatione nihil præter virgam tollerent. et quià episcopi pastores gregis dominici sunt, ideò baculum in custodiâ præferunt: per baculum, quo infirmi sustentatur, auctoritas doctrinæ designatur; per virgam, quà improbi emendantur, potestas regiminis figuratur. baculum ergò pontifices portant, ut infirmos in fide per doctrinam erigant. virgam bajulant, ut per potestatem inquietos corrigant: quæ virga vel baculus est recurvus, ut aberrantes à grege docendo ad poenitetiam trabat; in extremo est acutus, ut rebelles excommunicando retrudat; hæreticos, velut lupos, ab ovili christi potestativè exterreat."--_in gemmâ animæ_, lib. i. cap. , ., _apud hitterpium_. in its primitive form it appears to have been a staff shaped like a t, and used to lean upon. it was gradually lengthened, and in some cases was finished at the top like a mace. the pastoral staff is mentioned in the _life of s. cæsarius of arles_. gough says that the pastoral staff found in the coffin of grostete, bp. of lincoln, who died in , was made of red wood ending in a rudely shaped ram's horn. it was inscribed: "per baculi formam prælati discite normam." in the first prayer-book of the reformed english church, edward vi., at the time of the holy communion the bishop is directed to have "_his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne by his chaplain_." it was used in solemn benedictions; and so lately as at the coronation of queen elizabeth. the second book of king edward vi., published a.d. , being revived in that reign, the use of the staff was discontinued, as we find by the consecration service of archbishop parker. "postq' hæc dixissent, ad reliqua communionis solemnia permit cicestren. nullu. archie'po tradens pastorale baculum."--_bramhall_, vol. iii. p. ., part i. disc. . app., oxon. . a crozier was borne at the funerals of brian duppa, of winton, a.d. ; juxon of london, ; frewen of york, ; wren of ely, ; cosin of dunelm, ; trelawney of winton, ; lindsay of armagh, . it is engraven on the monuments of goodrich of ely, ; magrath of cashel, ; hacket of lichfield, ; creggleton of wells, lamplugh of york, ; sheldon, ; hoadley of winton, and porteus of london. their croziers (made of gilt metal) were suspended over the tombs of morley, , and mews, . the bishop's staff had its crook bent outwards to signify that his jurisdiction extended over his diocese; that of the abbot inwards, as his authority was limited to his house. the crozier of matthew wren was of silver { } with the head gilt. when bp. fox's tomb was opened at winchester some few years since, his staff of oak was found in perfect preservation. a staff of wood painted in azure and gilt, hangs over trelawney's tomb in pelynt church, cornwall. the superb staff of the pious and munificent founder of the two st. marie winton colleges is still preserved at oxford, as is also that of the illustrious wykehamist, bp. fox, to whose devotion we owe corpus christi college in that university. one of the earliest tombs bearing a staff incised, is that of abbot vitalis, who died in , and may be seen in the south cloister of st. peter's abbey in westminster. there were croziered as well as mitred abbots: for instance, the superior of the benedictine abbey at bourges had a right to the crozier, but not to the mitre. the abbot of westminster was croziered and mitred. i intended to write a reply, but have enabled with a note. mackenzie walcott, m.a. . college street, westminster j.z.p. will find a fully satisfactory answer to his query, in regard to the real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff, on referring to the article headed "crozier," in the _glossary of architecture_. it is there stated, that "the crozier of an archbishop is surmounted by a cross; but it was only at a comparatively late time, about the th century, that the archbishop laid aside the pastoral staff, to assume the cross as an appropriate portion of his personal insignia." from which it may be inferred, that the only existent real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff is, that the former is surmounted by a cross, and the latter is as it was before the th century, viz., surmounted by "a head curled round something in the manner of a shepherd's crook;" and the difference in regard to their use, that the crozier pertains to the archbishops, and the pastoral staff to the bishops. r.w. elliot cheltenham, sept. . . * * * * * parsons, the staffordshire giant. (vol. ii., p. .) harwood's note in erdeswick's _staffordshire_, quoted by your correspondent c.h.b., is incorrect, inasmuch as the writer has confused the biographies of two distinct "giants"--walter parsons, porter to king james i., and william evans, who filled the same office in the succeeding reign. the best account of these two "worthies" is that found in fuller, and which i extract from the original edition now before me:-- walter parsons, born in this county [staffordshire], was first apprenticed to a smith, when he grew so tall in stature, that a hole was made for him in the ground to stand therein up to the knees, so to make him adequate with his fellow-workmen. he afterwards was porter to king _james_; seeing as gates generally are higher than the rest of the building, so it was sightly that the porter should be taller than other persons. he was proportionable in all parts, and had strength equal to height, valour to his strength, temper to his valour, so that he disdained to do an injury to any single person. he would make nothing to take two of the tallest _yeomen_ of the _guard_ (like the _gizard_ and _liver_) under his arms at once, and order them as he pleased. "yet were his parents (for aught i do understand to the contrary) but of an ordinary stature, whereat none will wonder who have read what _st. augustine_ (_de civitate dei_, lib. xv. cap. .) reports of a woman which came to _rome_ (a little before the sacking thereof by the _goths_), of so giant-like a height, that she was far above all who saw her, though infinite troopes came to behold the spectacle. and yet he addeth, _et hoc erat maximæ admirationis, quod ambo parentes ejus, &c_. this made men most admire, that both her parents were but of ordinary stature. this _parsons_ is produced for proof, that all ages afford some of extraordinary height, and that there is no general decay of mankind in their _dimensions_, which, if there were, we had ere this time shrunk to be lower than _pigmyes_, not to instance in a lesse proportion. this _parsons_ died anno dom. ."--fuller's _history of the worthies of england_, (_staffordshire_), p. . "william evans was born in this county [monmouthshire], and may justly be accounted the _giant_ of our age for his stature, being, full two yards and a half in height. he was porter to king _charles i._, succeeding, _walter persons_ [sic] in his place, and exceeding him two inches in height, but far beneath him in an equal proportion of body; for he was not onely what the _latines_ call _compernis_, knocking his knees together, and going out squalling with his feet, but also haulted a little; yet made a shift to dance in an antimask at court, where he drew little jeffrey, the dwarf, out of his pocket, first to the wonder, then to the laughter, of the beholders. he dyed _anno dom_. ." _ibid. (monmouthshire)_, p. . from these extracts it will be seen that the christian name of parsons was _walter_, not william, as stated by harwood. _william_ was the christian name of evans, parsons' successor. the bas-relief mentioned by the same writer represents william evans and jeffrey hudson, his diminutive fellow-servant. it is over the entrance of _bull-head court_, newgate street; not "a bagnio-court," which is nonsense. on the stone these words are cut: "the king's porter, and the dwarf," with the date . this bas-relief is engraved in pennant. there is a picture of queen elizabeth's giant porter at hampton court but i am not aware that any portrait of parsons is preserved in the royal collections. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * { } eisell and wormwood wine. (vol. ii., p. .) if pepys' friends actually did _drink up_ the two quarts of _wormwood wine_ which he gave them, it must, as lord braybrooke suggests, have been rendered more palatable than the _propoma_ which was in use in shakspeare's time. i have been furnished by a distinguished friend with the following, among other notes, corroborative of my explanation of _eisell_: "i have found no better recipe for making wormwood wine than that given by old langham in his _garden of health_; and as he directs its use to be confined to 'streine out a _little_ spoonful, and drinke it with a draught of ale or wine,' i think it must have been so atrociously unpalatable, that to _drink it up_, as hamlet challenged laertes to do, would have been as strong an argumentum ad stomachum as to digest a crocodile, even when appetised by a slice of the loaf." it is evident, therefore, that but small doses of this nauseously bitter medicament were taken at once, and to take a large draught, _to drink up_ a quantity, "would be an extreme pass of amorous demonstration sufficient, one would think, to have satisfied even hamlet." our ancestors seem to have been partial to medicated wines; and it is most probable that the wormwood wine pepys gave his friends had only a slight infusion of the bitter principle; for we can hardly conceive that such "pottle draughts" as two quarts could be taken as a treat, of such a nostrum as the _absinthites_, or wormwood wine, mentioned by stuckius, or that prescribed by the worthy langham. s.w. singer. mickleham, sept. . . _eisell_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the attempt of your very learned correspondent, mr. singer, to show that "eisell" was _wormwood_, is, i fear, more ingenious than satisfactory. it is quite true that wormwood wine and beer were ordinary beverages, as wormwood bitters are now; but hamlet would have done little in challenging laertes to a draught of wormwood. as to "eisell," we have the following account of it in the "via recta ad vitam longam, or a plaine philosophical discourse of the nature, faculties, and effects of all such things as by way of nourishments, and dieteticale observations make for the preservation of health, &c. &c. by jo. venner, doctor of physicke at bathe in the spring and fall, and at other times in the burrough of north-petherton, neere to the ancient haven towne of bridgewater in somersetshire. london, ." "eisell, or the vinegar which is made of cyder, is also a good sauce, it is of a very penetrating nature and is like to verjuice in operation, but it is not so astringent, nor altogether so cold," p. . j.r.n. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _feltham's works_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in addition to the works enumerated by e.n.w., feltham wrote _a discourse upon ecclesiastes_ ii. .; _a discourse upon st. luke_ xiv. .; and _a form of prayer composed for the family of the right honourable the countess of thomond_. these two lists, i believe, comprise the whole of his writings. the meaning of the passage in his _remarks on the low countries_, appears to be this, that a person "courtly or gentle" would receive as little kindness from the inhabitants, and show as great a contrast to their boorishness, as the handsome and docile merlin (which is the smallest of the falcon tribe, anciently denominated "noble"), among a crowd of noisy, cunning, thievish crows; neither remarkable for their beauty nor their politeness. the words "after michaelmas" are used because "the merlin does not breed here, but visits us in october." _bewick's british birds_, vol. i. p. . t.h. kersley. king william's college, isle of man. _harefinder_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the following lines from drayton's _polyolbion_, song ., sufficiently illustrates this term:-- "the man whose vacant mind prepares him to the sport the _finder_ sendeth out, to seeke out nimble _wat_,-- which crosseth in the field, each furlong every flat, till he this pretty beast upon the form hath found: then viewing for the course which is the fairest ground, the greyhounds forth are brought, for coursing then in case, and, choycely in the slip, one leading forth a brace; the finder puts her up, and gives her coursers' law," &c. in the margin, at the second line, are the words, _the harefinder_. what other instances are there of _wat_, as a name of the hare? it does not occur in the very curious list in the _reliquiæ antiquæ_, i. . k. _fool or a physician--rising and setting sun_ (vol. i., p. .).--the inquiry of your correspondent c. forbes, respecting the authorship of the two well-known sayings on these subjects, seems to have received no reply. he thinks that we owe them both to that "imperial macchiavel, tiberius." he is right with respect to the one, and wrong with regard to the other. the saying, "that a man after thirty must be either a fool or a physician," had, as it appears, its origin from tiberius; but the observation that "more worship the rising than the setting sun," is to be attributed to pompey. tacitus says of tiberius, that he was "solitus eludere medicorum artes, atque eos qui post tricesimum ætatis annum ad internoscenda corpori { } suo utilia vel noxia alieni consilia indigerent." _annal_. vi. . suetonius says: "valetudine prosperrimâ usus est,--quamvis a tricesimo ætatis anno arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjumento consiliove medicorum." _tib._ c. . and plutarch, in his precepts _de valetudine tuendâ_, c. ., says-- [greek: "aekousa tiberion pote kaisara eipein, hos anaer huper hexaekonta [sic vulgò, sed bene corrigit lipsius ad tac. loc. cit. triakonta] gegonos etae, kai proteinon iatro cheira, katagelastos estin."] these passages sufficiently indicate the origin of the saying; but who first gave it the pointed form in which we now have it, by coupling _fool_ with _physician_, i am not able to tell. the authority for giving the other saying to pompey, is plutarch, who says that when pompey, after his return from africa, applied to the senate for the honour of a triumph, he was opposed by sylla, to whom he observed, [greek: "oti ton aelion anatellonta pleiones ae duomenon proskunousin,"] that more worship the rising than the setting sun--intimating that his own power was increasing, and that of sylla verging to its fall. (_vit. pomp_. c. .) j.s.w. stockwell, sept. . _papers of perjury_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in the absence of a "graphic account," it may interest your correspondent s.r. to be referred to the two following instances of "perjurers wearing papers denoting their crime." in _machyn's diary_, edited by the accomplished antiquary, john gough nichols, esq., and published by the camden society, at p. . occurs the following:-- "a.d. , april th.... the sam day was sett on the pelere in chepe iij. [men; two] was for the preuerment of wyllfull perjure, the iij. was for wyllfull perjure, with _paper sett over their hedes_." in the same works at p. ., we have also this additional illustration: "a.d. --i. the xij. day of feybruary xj. men of the north was of a quest; because they gayff a wrong evyde [nee, and] thay ware paper _a-pon their hedes_ for perjure." j. goodwin. birmingham. _pilgrims' road to canterbury._--being acquainted with the road to which your correspondent s.h. (vol. ii., p. .) alludes, he will, perhaps, allow me to say, that in the neighbourhood of kemsing a tradition is current, that a certain line of road, which may be traced from otford to wrotham, was the pilgrims' road from _winchester_ to canterbury. how far this may be correct i know not. i have not been able to discover any road in the neighbourhood of this city which goes by the name of the _pilgrims'_ road. if any of your correspondents would furnish any particulars respecting this road, i shall feel much obliged. r.v. winchester. _capture of henry vi._ (vol. ii., p. .).--in his correction of your correspondent, clericus cravensis, mr. nichols states:-- "both sir john tempest and sir james harrington of brierley, near barnesley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each received marks reward; but the fact of sir thomas talbot being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the larger reward of l." in this statement appears entirely to have been overlooked the grant of lands made by king edward iv. to sir james harrington-- "for his services in taking prisoner, and withholding as such in diligence and valour, his enemy henry, lately called king henry vi." this grant, which was confirmed in parliament, embraced the castle, manor, and domain of thurland; a park, called fayzet whayte park, with lands, &c. in six townships in the county of lancaster; lands at burton in lonsdale, co. york; and holme, in kendal, co. westmoreland, the forfeited lands of sir richard tunstell, and other "rebels." so considerable a recognition of the services of sir james harrington would seem to demand something more than the second-rate position given to them by your correspondent. the order to give sir james harrington possession of the lands under his grant will be found in rymer. the grant itself is printed in the _nugæ antiquæ_, by henry harrington, (vol. ii. p. .), and will, i believe, be found in baines' _lancashire_. mr. henry harrington observes that the lands were afterwards lost to his family by the misfortune of sir james and his brother being on the wrong side at bosworth field; after which they were both attainted for serving richard iii. and edward iv., "and commanding the party which seized henry vi. and conducted him to the tower." h.k.s.c. brixton. _andrew becket_ (vol. ii., p. .), about whom a.w. hammond inquires, when i knew him, about twelve years ago, was a strange whimsical old gentleman, full of "odd crotchets," and abounding in theatrical anecdote and the "gossip of the green-room." but as to his ever having been "a _profound_ commentator on the dramatic works of shakspeare," i must beg leave to express my doubts. at one period he filled the post of sublibrarian to the prince regent; and that he was "ardently devoted to the pursuits of literature" cannot be a question. his published works, as far as i can learn, are as follows:-- { } . a trip to holland, . . socrates, a dramatic poem, vo. . . lucianus redivivus, or dialogues concerning men, manners, and opinions, vo. . . shakspeare's himself, or the language of the poet asserted; being a full but dispassionate examin of the readings and interpretations of the several editors, vols. vo. . edward f. rimbault. _passage in vida_ (vol. i., p. .).--your correspondent a.w. asks for some light on the lines of vida, _christiad_, i. .: "quin age, te incolumi potius.... ... perficias quodcumque tibi nunc instat agendum." he cannot construe "te incolumi." no wonder. will not all be set right by reading, "quin age, et incolumi," &c.? j.s.w. stockwell, sept. . "_quem deus vult perdere_" (vol. i., p. ., &c.).--to the illustrations of the saying "_quem deus vult perdere prius dementat_," which have been given, may be added the following from the _fragments of constantinus manasses_ (edited with _nicet. eugen_., by boissonade. paris, ), book viii. line .:-- [greek: "ho gar theos aptomenos anthropou dianoias haenika to dusdaimoni kirnaesi penthous poma, ouden pollakis sugchorei bouleusasthai sumpheron."] j.e.b. mayor. marlborough college. _countess of desmond_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--r. is referred to smith's _history of cork_, and _european magazine_, vol. viii., for particulars respecting the countess of desmond. they show her picture at knowle house, kent, or penshurst (i forget which); and tell the story of the fall from the cherry (or plum) tree, adding that she cut three sets of teeth! wedsecnarf. _confession_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the name asked for by u.j.b. of the catholic priest, who, sooner than break the seal of confession, suffered death, is john of nepomuc, canon of prague. by order of the emperor wenceslas, he was thrown off a bridge into the muldaw, because he would not tell that profligate prince the confession of his religious empress. this holy man is honoured as st. john nepomucen on the th of may, in the kalendar of saints. d. rock. [u.j.b., if desirous of further particulars respecting st. john nepomuc, may consult mrs. jameson's interesting _legends of the monastic orders_, pp. . .--ed.] _cavell, meaning of_ (vol. i., p. .).--i concur entirely with the etymology of the word _cavell_ given at p. . a lake having been drained in my country, the land is still divided into _kavelingen_; as lots of land were formerly measured by strings of cord, _kavel_, _kabel_, _cable_. vide tuinman _trakkel_, d. n. t. p. . _kavelloten_ is to receive a cavell by _lot._ cf. _idem, verrolg_, p. . janus dousa. _lord kingsborough's antiquities of mexico._--has lord kingsborough's splendid work on mexican hieroglyphics ever been completed or not? j.a. giles. [this magnificent work has been recently completed by the publication of the eighth volume, which may, we believe, be procured from mr. henry bohn.--ed.] _aërostation_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the article balloon, in the _penny cyclopædia_, would give c.b.m. a good many references. the early works there mentioned are those of faujas de st. fond, bourgeois, and cavallo; to which i add the following: thomas baldwin, _airopaidia, containing the narrative of a balloon excursion from chester, sept_. . . chester, , vo. (pp. .). vincent lunardi published the account of his voyage (the first made in england) in a series of letters to a friend. the title is torn out in my copy. the first page begins, "an account of the first aërial voyage in england. letter i. london, july . ." ( vo. pp. + ii. with a plate.) it ends with a poetical epistle to lunardi by "a gentleman well known in the literary world" (query, the same who is thus cited in our day?) from which the following extracts are taken as a specimen of the original balloon jokes:-- "the multitude scarcely believed that a man, with his senses about him could form such a plan, and thought that as bedlam was so very nigh, you had better been there than turned loose in the sky. * * * * * "in their own way of thinking, all felt and all reasoned, greedy aldermen judged that your flight was ill-seasoned, that you'd better have taken a good dinner first, nor have pinched your poor stomach by hunger or thirst. "in perfect indifference the beau yawned a blessing, and feared before night that your hair would want dressing; but the ladies, all zeal, sent their wishes in air, for a man of such spirit is ever their care. "attornies were puzzled how now they could sue you, underwriters, what premium they'd now take to do you; while the sallow-faced jew, of his monies so fond, thanked moses he never had taken your bond." mr. baldwin ascended in lunardi's balloon, the latter being present at the start, though not taking part in the voyage. m. _concolinel_ (vol. ii., p. .).--i have been many years engaged in researches connected with { } the _original_ music of shakspeare's plays, but it has not been my good fortune to meet with the air of _concolinel_. the communication of your correspondent r. is of the greatest interest, and i should be for ever grateful if he would allow me to see the manuscript in question, in order that i might test the _genuineness_ of the air "stated, in a recent hand, to be the tune of _concolinel_ mentioned by shakspeare." this air has double claims on our attention, as its existence, in any shape, is placed amongst the "doubtful" points by the following note extracted from the rev. j. hunter's _new illustrations of shakspeare_, vol. i. p. .:-- "concolinel. in the absence of any thing like sufficient explanation or justification of this word, if word it is, i will venture to suggest the possibility that it is a corruption of a stage direction, _cantat ital._, for _cantat italicé_; meaning that here moth sings an italian song. it is quite evident, from what armado says, when the song was ended, 'sweet air!' that a song of some sort was sung, and one which shakespeare was pleased with, and meant to praise. if moth's song had been an english song, it would have been found in its place as the other songs are." i, for one, cannot subscribe to mr. hunter's suggestion that our great poet intended an _italian_ song to be sung in his play and for this reason, that italian music for a _single voice_ was almost unknown in this country in , at which date we know _love's labour's lost_ was in existence. surely _concolinel_ is just as likely to be the burden of a song as _calen o custure me_, mentioned in _henry the fifth_ (act iv. sc. .), of which there is now no doubt. i may just mention, in passing, that i have discovered the air of _calen o custure me_ in a manuscript that once belonged to queen elizabeth, and have ample proof that it was an especial favourite with her maiden majesty. the commentators were at fault when they pointed out the more modern tune of the same name in playford's _musical companion_, . edward f. rimbault. s. augustus square, regent's park. _andrewes's tortura torti_ (vol. ii., p. .).--on what forms mr. bliss's third quotation, which _does_ appear in some shape in bernard, _de consid. ad eugen._, iii. . ., the _bibliotheca juridica_, &c., of ferraris observes, under the head of _dispensatio_: "hinc dispensatio sine justa causa non dispensatio sed dissipatio dicitur communiter a doctoribus, ut observant et tenent sperell;" then referring to several romish canonists, &c., the last being reiffenstuel, lib. i., _decretal_, tit. ., n. ., of which i give the full reference, his volumes being accessible in the british museum, if not elsewhere. novus. _swords worn in public_ (vol. ii., p. .)--a very respected and old friend of mine, now deceased, used to relate that he had often seen the celebrated wilkes, of political notoriety, walking in the public streets, dressed in what is usually termed court dress, wearing his sword. wilkes died in . in connexion with this subject it may be interesting to your readers to know that in it was found necessary to prohibit footmen wearing swords. an order was issued by the earl marshal in that year, declaring that-- "whereas many mischiefs and dangerous accidents, tending not onely to the highest breach of the peace, but also to the destruction of the lives of his ma'ties subjects, have happend and been occasioned by footmen wearing of swords, for the prevention of the like evill accidents and disturbance for the future, i doe hereby order that no foot-man attending any of the nobilitye or gentry of his ma'ties realms, during such time as they or any of them shall reside or bee within the cities of london or westm'r, and the liberties and precincts of the same, shall wear any sword, hanger, bagonet, or other such like offensive weapon, as they will answer the contempt hereof." dated th dec. . f.e. _speech given to man to conceal his thoughts_ (vol. i., p. .).--the maxim quoted by your correspondent f.r.a. was invented, if i may rely upon the _notebook_ of memory, by the florentine machiavelli. the german writer ludwig börne says:-- "macchiavelli, der die freiheit liebte, schrieb seinem prinzen so, dass er alle rechtschaffenen psychologen in verlegenheit und in solche verwirrung gebracht, dass sie gar nicht mehr wussten, was sie sprachen und sie behaupteten, macchiavelli habe eine politische satyre geschrieben." le style c'est l'homme! janus dousa. _the character "&,", and meaning of "parse"_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--this character, being different from any of the twenty-four letters, was placed at the end of the alphabet, and children, after repeating their letters, were taught to indicate this symbol as _and-per-se-and_. instead of spelling the word _and_, as composed of three letters, it was denoted by a special symbol, which was "_and by itself, and_." hence the corruption, an _ampussy and_. the word _parse_ is also derived from the latin _per se_. to _parse_ a sentence is to take the words _per se_, and to explain their grammatical form and etymology. l. _wife of edward the outlaw_ (vol. ii., p. .).--with reference to the query of e.h.y. (vol. ii., p. .), there seems to be much confusion in all the accounts of edward's marriage. i think it is evident, from an attentive consideration of the various authorities, that the lady agatha was { } either sister to giselle, wife of _stephen_, king of hungary (to whom the young princes must have been sent, as _he_ reigned from a.d. till a.d. ), and sister also to the emperor henry ii., or, as some writers seem to think, she was the daughter of bruno, that emperor's brother. (see a note in dr. lingard's _history_, vol. i. p. .) that she was not the _daughter_ of either henry ii., henry iii., or henry iv., is very certain; in the first case, for the reason stated by your correspondent; and in the second, because henry iii. was only twelve years old when he succeeded his father conrad ii. (in the year ), which of course puts his son henry iv. quite out of the question, who was born a.d. . it strikes me (and perhaps some of your correspondents will correct me if i am wrong) that the two english princes _may_ have respectively married the two ladies to whom i have referred, and that hence may have arisen the discrepancies in the different histories: but that the wife of edward the outlaw was _one_ of these two i have no doubt. o.p.q. _translations of the scriptures_ (vol. ii., p. .).--c.f.s. may perhaps find _the bible of every land_, now publishing by messrs. bagster, serviceable in his inquiries respecting roman catholic translations of the scriptures. the saying of the duke of lancaster is found in the first edition of foxe's _acts and monuments_, and in the modern reprint, iv. .; the original of the treatise from which it is taken being in c.c. college, cambridge. (see nasmith's _catalogue_, p. .) novus. _scalping_ (vol. ii., p. .).--w.b.d. confounds beheading with scalping. in the american war many british soldiers, it was said, walked about without their _scalps_, but not without their heads. sandvicensis. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. no one branch of antiquarian study has been pursued with greater success during the last few years than that of gothic architecture; and, to this success, no single work has contributed in any proportion equal to that of the _glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture_. since the year , in which this work first appeared, no fewer than four large editions, each an improvement upon its predecessor, have been called for and exhausted. the fifth edition is now before us; and, we have no doubt, will meet, as it deserves, the same extended patronage and success. when we announce that in this fifth edition the text has been considerably augmented by the enlargement of many of the old articles, as well as by the addition of many new ones, among which professor willis has embodied a great part of his _architectural nomenclature of the middle ages_; that the number of woodcuts has been increased from eleven hundred to seventeen hundred; and lastly, that the index has been rendered far more complete, by including in it the names of places mentioned, and the foreign synonyms; we have done more to show its increased value than any mere words of commendation would express. while the only omission that has been made, namely, that of the utensils and ornaments of the mediæval church (with the exception of the few such as altars, credences, piscinas, and sedilias, which belong to architectural structure and decoration), is a portion of the work which all must admit to have been foreign to a glossary of architectural terms, and must therefore agree to have been wisely and properly left out. the work in its present form is, we believe, unequalled in the architectural literature of europe, for the amount of accurate information which it furnishes, and the beauty of its illustrations; and as such, therefore, does the highest credit both to its editor and to its publisher; if, indeed, the editor and publisher be not identical. mr. l.a. lewis, of . fleet street, has commenced a series of weekly book sales, to take place every friday during the months of october and november, and has arranged that parties sending large or small parcels of books for sale during the one week, may have them sold on the friday in the week following. we have received the following catalogues:--bernard quaritch's ( . castle street, leicester square) catalogue no. . for of oriental literature, manuscripts, theology, classics, &c.; john miller's ( . chandos street) catalogue no. . for of history, antiquities, heraldry, &c., and conchology, geology, and other popular sciences. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. an early edition of the history of jack and the giants. odd volumes turner's sacred history. vol. iii. first edition, vo. letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. volume the first of notes and queries, _with title-page and very copious index, is now ready, price s. d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen_. _the monthly part for september, being the fourth of vol. ii., is also now ready, price s._ notes and queries _may be procured by the trade at noon on friday: so that our country subscribers ought to experience no difficulty in receiving it regularly. many of the country booksellers are probably not yet aware of this arrangement, which enables them to receive copies in their saturday parcels_. _as the suggestion we threw out in our last week's paper of publishing an extra number for the purpose of clearing off our accumulation of replies, seems to have given general satisfaction, we shall, on saturday next, issue a double number, to be devoted chiefly, if not entirely, to replies._ * * * * * { } the quarterly review, no. clxxiv., is published this day. contents i. ticknor's history of spanish literature. ii. church and education in wales. iii. forms of salutation. iv. siberia and california. v. mure on the literature of greece. vi. metropolitan water supply. vii. anecdotes of the provisional government. viii. cochrane's young italy. ix. last days of louis-philippe. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * published this day saturday, october th, knight's pictorial shakspeare. the national edition. part ., containing the two gentlemen of verona, with forty illustrations, price s. london: charles knight, . fleet street. * * * * * knight's cyclopÆdia of the industry of all nations. number i., price d. knight's cyclopÆdia of london. number ., price d. the above will be published on saturday, november , and continued weekly. london: charles knight, . fleet street. and sold by all booksellers in town and country. * * * * * india overland mail.--diorama. gallery of illustration, . regent street, waterloo place.--a gigantic moving diorama of the route of the overland mail to india, exhibiting the following places, viz. southampton docks, isle of wight, osbourne, the needles, the bay of biscay, the berlings, cintra, the tagus, cape trafalgar, tarifa, gibraltar, algiers, malta, alexandria, cairo, the desert of suez, the central station, suez, the red sea, aden, ceylon, madras, and calcutta--is now open daily.--mornings at twelve; afternoons at three; and evenings at eight.--admission, s.; stalls, s. d.; reserved seats, s. doors open half an hour before each representation. * * * * * on the st of october, no. , price s., published quarterly, the journal of sacred literature. edited by john kitto, d.d., f.s.a. contents. genesis and geology. the bible and josephus. on the authorship of the acts of the apostles. jewish commentaries on isaiah. voices of the night. on the literal interpretation of prophecy. ramathaim zephim and rachel's sepulchre. the life of hugh heugh, d.d. reconsidered texts. miscellanea. correspondence.--notices of books.--biblical intelligence--list of publications. london: simpkin, marshall, and co., stationer's hall court. edinburgh: oliver and boyd. dublin: j. robertson, grafton street. * * * * * second edition, with illustrations, mo., s. cloth. the bell; its origin, history, and uses. by the rev. alfred gatty, vicar of ecclesfield. "a new and revised edition of a very varied, learned, and amusing essay on the subject of bells."--_spectator_. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * journal francais, publié à londres.--le courrier de l'europe, fondé en paraissant le samedi, donne dans chaque numéro les nouvelles de la semaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de paris, la semaine dramatique par th. gautier ou j. janin, la révue de paris par pierre durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en vogue par les premiers écrivains de france. prix d. london: joseph thomas, . finch lane. * * * * * important to authors.--gentlemen about to print and publish either books or pamphlets, will save nearly one half by employing hope & co., publishers, . great marlborough street. a specimen pamphlet of bookwork, with prices, a complete author's guide, sent post free for d. * * * * * memoirs of musick. by the hon. roger north, attorney-general to james i. now first printed from the original ms. and edited, with copious notes, by edward f. rimbault, ll.d., f.s.a., &c. &c. quarto; with a portrait; handsomely printed in to.; half-bound in morocco, s. this interesting ms., so frequently alluded to by dr. burney in the course of his "history of music," has been kindly placed at the disposal of the council of the musical antiquarian society, by george townshend smith, esq., organist of hereford cathedral. but the council, not feeling authorised to commence a series of literary publications, yet impressed with the value of the work, have suggested its independent publication to their secretary, dr. rimbault, under whose editorial care it accordingly appears. it abounds with interesting musical anecdotes; the greek fables respecting the origin of music; the rise and progress of musical instruments; the early musical drama; the origin of our present fashionable concerts; the first performance of the beggar's opera, &c. a limited number having been printed, few copies remain for sale: unsold copies will shortly be raised in price to l. s. d. folio, price s. the choral responses and litanies of the united church of england and ireland. collected from authentic sources. by the rev. john jebb, a.m., rector of peterstow. the present work contains a full collection of the harmonized compositions of ancient date, including nine sets of pieces and responses, and fifteen litanies, with a few of the more ancient psalm chants. they are given in full score, and in their proper cliffs. in the upper part, however, the treble is substituted for the "cantus" or "medius" cliff: and the whole work is so arranged as to suit the library of the musical student, and to be fit for use in the choir. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, octavo edition, plain, s., quarto edition, having the plates of the tesselated pavements all coloured, l. s. remains of roman art in cirencester, the site of ancient corinium; containing plates by de la motte, of the magnificent tesselated pavements discovered in august and september, , with copies of the grand heads of ceres, flora, and pomona; reduced by the talbotype from facsimile tracings of the original; together with various other plates and numerous wood engravings. in the quarto edition the folding of the plates necessary for the smaller volume is avoided. "these heads (ceres, flora, and pomona) are of a high order of art, and mr. de la motte, by means of the talbotype, has so successfully reduced them that the engravings are perfect facsimiles of the originals. they are, perhaps, the best of the kind, every tessella apparently being represented. "our authors have very advantageously brought to their task a knowledge of geology and chemistry, and the important aid which an application of these sciences confers on archæology, is strikingly shown in the chapter on the materials of the tessellæ, which also includes a valuable report by dr. voelcker, on an analysis of ruby glass, which formed part of the composition of one of the cirencester pavements. this portion of the volume is too elaborate and circumstantial for any justice to be done to it in an extract."--_gentleman's mag., sept._ london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, october . . generously made available by the internet library of early journals.) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, may . .. [price threepence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page the great exhibition, notes and queries, and chaucer's prophetic view of the crystal palace notes:-- on "the lay of the last minstrel" poems discovered among the papers of sir kenelm digby folk-lore:--the christmas thorn--milk-maids--disease cured by sheep--sacramental wine--"nettle in dock out" metropolitan improvements, by r. j. king minor notes:--meaning of luncheon--charade upon nothing translated--giving the lie--anachronisms of painters--spenser's faerie queene--prayer of mary queen of scots--a small instance of warren hastings' magnanimity--richard baxter--registry of dissenting baptisms in churches queries:-- notes and queries relating to scandinavia, by w. e. c. nourse the rotation of the earth, by robert snow minor queries:--william ap jevan's descendants-- "geographers on afric's downs"--irish brigade--passage in oldham--mont-de-piété--poem upon the grave--when self-striking clocks first invented--clarkson's richmond--sir francis windebank's elder son--incised slab--etymology of balsall--st. olave's churches-- sabbatical and jubilee years of the jews--arms of the isle of man--doctrine of the resurrection--national debts--leicester's commonwealth replies:-- histoire des sévarambes was there an "outer temple" in the possession of the knights templars or knights of st. john? by peter cunningham obeism, by h. h. breen san marino the bellman and his history, by c. h. cooper replies to minor queries:--"god takes those soonest," &c.--disinterment for heresy--the vellum-bound junius--pursuits of literature--dutch books--engilbert, archbishop of treves--charles lamb's epitaph--charles ii. in wales--"ex pede herculem"--god's acre--abbot eustacius--vox populi vox dei--francis moore and his almanack miscellaneous:-- notes on books, sales, catalogues, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * the great exhibition, notes and queries, and chaucer's prophetic view of the crystal palace. the first of may, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, will be remembered in the calendar for centuries after those who witnessed its glories shall have passed away. its memory will endure with our language; and the macaulays and hallams of the time to come will add brilliancy to their pages by recounting the gorgeous yet touching ceremonial of this great apotheosis of peace. peace has occasionally received some foretaste of that day's glory; but only at times, when the sense of its value had been purchased by the horrors which accompany even the most glorious warfare. but never until the reign of victoria were its blessings thus recognised and thus celebrated, after they had been uninterruptedly enjoyed for upwards of a quarter of a century. who then, among the thousands assembled around our sovereign in that eventful scene, but felt his joy heightened by gratitude, that his lot had been cast in these happy days. it was a proud day for queen victoria, for her illustrious consort, for all who had had "art or part" in the great work so happily conceived, so admirably executed. and we would add (even at the risk of reminding our readers of dennis' energetic claim, "that's my thunder!") that it was also a proud day for all who, like ourselves, desire to promote intercommunication between men of the same pursuits,--to bring them together in a spirit, not of envious rivalry, but of generous emulation,--to make their powers, faculties, and genius subservient to the common welfare of mankind. in our humble way we have striven earnestly to perform our share in this great mission; and although in the crystal palace cottons may take the place of comments, steam-engines of shakspeare, the palpable creations of the sculptor of the super-sensual imaginings of the poet, the real of the ideal,--still the great exhibition of the industry of all nations is, in more senses than one, merely a monster number of "notes and queries." so palpable, indeed, is this similarity, that, if the long-talked-of _order of civil merit_ should be instituted, (and certainly there was never a more fitting moment than the present for so honouring the cultivators of the peaceful arts), we make no doubt that "notes and queries" will not be forgotten. should our prophecy be fulfilled, we need scarcely remind our readers of captain cuttle's injunction and our motto. { } and here, talking of prophecy, we would, first reminding our readers how, in the olden time, the poet and the prophet were looked upon as identical, call their attention to the following vision of our queen in her crystal palace, which met the eye when in "fine phrensy rolling" of the father of english poetry, as he has recorded in his _house of fame_. had chaucer attended the opening of the exhibition as "_our own reporter_," could his description have been more exact? the temple y-made of glas. _a prevision by dan chaucer_, a.d. . now hearken every manir man that english understandè can, and listeth to my dreme to here, for nowe at erst shall ye lere: o thought, that wrote al that i met and in the tresorie it set of my braine, nowe shall men see if any vertue in thee bee to tellen al my dreme aright nowe kithe thy engine and thy might! * * * * * * but, as i slept, me mette i was within a temple ymade of glas, in which there were mo images of gold, standing in sundry stages, sette in mo rich tabernacles, and with perrie mo pinnacles, and mo curious portraitures, and queint manner of figures of gold worke, than i saw ever. but all the men that been on live ne han the conning to descrive the beaute of that ilke place, ne couden casten no compace soch another for to make, that might of beauty be his make; ne so wonderly ywrought, that it astonieth yet my thought, and maketh all my witte to swinke on this castel for to thinke, so that the wondir great beautie caste, crafte, and curiositie, ne can i not to you devise, my witte ne may not me suffise; but nathelesse all the substaunce i have yet in my remembraunce, for why? me thoughtin, by saint gile, all was of stone of berile, bothe the castel and the toure, and eke the hall, and every boure; without peeces or joynings, but many subtell compassings, as barbicans and pinnacles, imageries and tabernacles; i saw, and ful eke of windowes as flakes fallen in great snowes; and eke in each of the pinnacles weren sundry habitacles. when i had seene all this sight in this noble temple thus, hey, lord, thought i, that madest us, yet never saw i such noblesse of images, nor such richesse as i see graven in this church, but nought wote i who did them worche, yet certaine as i further passe, i wol you all the shape devise. yet i ententive was to see, and for to poren wondre low, if i could anywise yknow what manner stone this castel was: for it was like a limed glas, but that it shone full more clere, but of what congeled matere it was, i n' iste redely, but at the last espied i, and found that it was every dele a thing of yse and not of stele: thought i, "_by saint thomas of kent,_ _this were a feeble foundement_ _to builden on a place so hie;_ _he ought him little to glorifie_ _that hereon bilte, god so me save._" but, lord, so faire it was to shewe, for it was all with gold behewe: lo, how should i now tell all this, ne of the hall eke what need is? but in i went, and that anone, there met i crying many one "a larges, a larges, hold up well! god save the lady of this pell! our owne gentill lady fame and hem that willen to have a name." for in this lustie and rich place all on hie above a deis satte in a see imperiall that made was of rubie royall a feminine creature that never formed by nature was soche another one i saie: for alderfirst, soth to saie, me thought that she was so lite that the length of a cubite was lenger than she seemed to be; * * * * * * tho was i ware at the last as mine eyen gan up cast that this ilke noble queene on her shoulders gan sustene both the armes and the name of tho that had large fame. and thus found i sitting this goddesse in noble honour and richesse of which i stinte a while now other thing to tellen you. { } but lord the perrie and the richesse, i saw sitting on the goddesse, and the heavenly melodie of songes full of armonie i heard about her trone ysong that all the palais wall rong. tho saw i standen hem behind a farre from hem, all by hemselve many a thousand times twelve, that made loud minstralcies, in conemuse and shalmies, and many another pipe, that craftely began to pipe. and pursevauntes and heraudes that crien riche folkes laudes, it weren, all and every man of hem, as i you tellen can, had on him throwe a vesture which men clepe a coate armure. then saw i in anothir place, standing in a large space, of hem that maken bloudy soun, in trumpet, beme, and clarioun. then saw i stande on thother side streight downe to the doores wide, from the deis many a pillere of metall, that shone not full clere, but though ther were of no richesse yet were they made for great noblesse. there saw i, and knew by name that by such art done, men have fame. there saw i coll tragetour upon a table of sicamour play an uncouth thing to tell, i saw him carry a wind-mell under a walnote shale. then saw i sitting in other sees, playing upon sundrie other glees, of which i n' ill as now not rime, for ease of you and losse of time, for time ylost, this know ye, by no way may recovered be. what should i make longer tale? of all the people that i sey i could not tell till domisdey. then gan i loke about and see that there came entring into the hall a right great company withall, and that of sondry regions of all kind of condicions that dwelle in yearth under the moone, poore and riche; and all so soone as they were come into the hall they gan on knees doune to fall before this ilke noble queene. "_madame,_" sayd they, "_we bee_ _folke that here besechen thee_ _that thou graunt us now good fame,_ _and let our workes have good name;_ _in full recompensacioun_ _of good worke, give us good renoun._" and some of hem she graunted sone, and some she warned well and faire, and some she graunted the _contraire_. now certainly i ne wist how, ne where that fame dwelled or now, ne eke of her descripcion, ne also her condicion, ne the order of her _dome_ knew i not till i hider come. * * * * * * at the last i saw a man, which that i nought ne can, but he semed for to bee, a man of great auctoritie and therewithall i abraide, out of my slepe halfe afraide, remembring well what i had sene, and how hie and farre i had bene in my gost, and had great wonder of that the god of thonder had let me knowen, and began to write like as you have herd me endite, wherefore to study and rede alway, i purpose to do day by day. thus in dreaming and in game, endeth this litell booke of fame. we are indebted for this interesting communication to our correspondent a. e. b., whose admirable illustrations of chaucer in our columns have given so much pleasure to the admirers of the old poet. our correspondent has sent it to us in the hope that it may be made available in helping forward the good work of restoring chaucer's tomb. we trust it will. the committee who have undertaken that task could, doubtless, raise the hundred pounds required, by asking those who have already come forward to help them, to change their crown subscriptions into pounds. with a right feeling for what is due to the poet, they prefer, however, accomplishing the end they have in view by small contributions from the admiring many, rather than by larger contributions from the few. as we doubt not we number among the readers of "notes and queries" many admirers of "old dan chaucer, in whose gentle spright, the pure well-head of poetry did dwell," to them we appeal, that the monument which was erected by the affectionate respect of nicholas brigham, nearly three centuries ago, may not in our time be permitted to crumble into dust; reminding them, in chaucer's own beautiful language, "that they are gentle who do gentle dedes." * * * * * { } notes. on "the lay of the last minstrel." i resume the subject commenced in the comments on "a passage in _marmion_," printed in no. ., march , ; and i here propose to consider the groundwork and mechanism of the most original, though not quite the first production of scott's muse, _the lay of the last minstrel_. in the introduction prefixed to this poem, nearly thirty years after its publication, sir walter scott informs the world that the young countess of dalkeith, much interested and delighted with the wild border tradition of the goblin called "gilpin horner" (which is given at length in the notes appended to the poem), enjoined on him the task of composing a ballad on the subject: "and thus" (says sir walter) "the goblin story _objected to by several critics as an excrescence upon the poem_, was, in fact, the occasion of its being written." yes, and more than this; for, strange as it may appear to those who have not critically and minutely attempted to unravel the very artful and complicated plot of this singular poem, the goblin page is, as it were, the key-note to the whole composition, the agent through whose instrumentality the fortunes of the house of branksome are built up anew by the pacification of ancient feud, and the union of the fair margaret with henry of cranstoun. yet, so deeply veiled is the plot, and so intricately contrived the machinery, that i question if this fact be apparent to one reader out of a thousand; and assuredly it has never been presented to my view by any one of the critics with whose comments i have become acquainted. the aristarchus of the _edinburgh review_, mr. jeffrey, who forsooth thought fit to regard the new and original creations of a mighty and inventive genius "as a misapplication, in some degree, of very extraordinary talents," and "conceived it his duty to make one strong effort to bring back _the great apostle of this (literary) heresy to the wholesome creed of his instructor_," seems not to have penetrated one inch below the surface. in his opinion "the goblin page is the capital deformity of the poem," "_a perpetual burden_ to the poet and to the readers," "an undignified and improbable fiction, which excites neither terror, admiration, nor astonishment, but needlessly debases the strain of the whole work, and excites at once our incredulity and contempt." perhaps so, to the purblind vision of a pedantic formalist; but, nevertheless, _the lay of the last minstrel_, that poem, whose varied imagery and vivid originality, combined with all its other beauties, have been, and ever will be, the delight and admiration of its readers, could not exist without this so-called "capital deformity." this i shall undertake to demonstrate, and in so doing to prove the "capital absurdity" of such criticism as i have cited. let us therefore begin with the beginning. the widowed lady of branksome, brooding over the outrage which had deprived her husband of life, meditates only vengeance upon all the parties concerned in this affray. the lovely lady margaret wept in wild despair, for her lover had stood in arms against her father's clan: "and well she knew, her mother dread, before lord cranstoun she should wed, would see her on her dying bed." the first canto of the poem contains that singular episode, when-- "(the ladye) sits in secret bower in old lord david's western tower, and listens to a heavy sound that moans the mossy turrets round," &c. "from the sound of teviot's tide chafing with the mountain side, &c. &c. the ladye knew it well! it was the spirit of the flood that spoke, and he called on the spirit of the fell." and when the river spirit asks concerning the fair margaret, who had mingled her tears with his stream: "what shall be the maiden's fate? who shall be the maiden's mate?" the mountain spirit replies, that, amid the clouds and mist which veil the stars,-- "ill may i read their high decree: but no kind influence deign they shower on teviot's tide and branksome's tower, till _pride be quelled_, and _love be free_." i must here transcribe the following section xviii.: "the unearthly voices ceased, and the heavy sound was still; it died on the river's breast, it died on the side of the hill. but round lord david's tower, the sound still floated near, for it rung in the ladye's bower, and it rung in the ladye's ear, she raised her stately head, and her heart throbbed high with pride: 'your mountains shall bend, and your streams ascend, ere margaret be our foeman's bride!'" in pursuance of this stern resolution, "the ladye sought the lofty hall" where her retainers were assembled: "and from amid the armed train she called to her william of deloraine." she then gives him the commission, well remembered by every reader, to proceed on that night to melrose abbey to unclose the grave of michael { } scott, and to rifle it of the magical volume which was accessible only on st. michael's night, at the precise moment when the rays of the moon should throw the reflexion of the red cross emblazoned in the eastern oriel upon the wizard's monumental stone,--expecting that the possession of this "book of might" would enable her to direct the destiny of her daughter according to the dictates of her own imperious nature. "dîs aliter visum." fate and michael scott had willed it otherwise. and here i must beg my readers to take notice that this far-famed wizard, michael scott, although dead and buried, is supposed still to exert his influence from the world of spirits as the guardian genius of the house of buccleuch; and he had been beforehand with the ladye of branksome in providing henry of cranstoun with one of his familiar spirits, in the shape of the goblin page, _by whose agency alone_ (however unconscious the subordinate agent may be) a chain of events is linked together which results in the union of the two lovers. after this parenthesis i resume the thread of the narrative. deloraine rides to melrose in the night, presents himself to the monk of st. mary's aisle, opens the sepulchre of the wizard, and presumes to take "from the cold hand the mighty book," in spite of the _ominous frown_ which darkened the countenance of the dead. he remounts his steed and wends his way homeward "as the dawn of day began to brighten cheviot gray;" while the aged monk, having performed the last duty allotted to him in his earthly pilgrimage, retired to his cell and breathed his last in prayer and penitence before the cross. ere deloraine could reach his journey's end, he encounters a feudal foeman in the person of lord cranstoun, attended by his goblin page, who is here first introduced to the reader. a conflict takes place, and deloraine being struck down wounded and senseless, is left by his adversary to the charge of this elf, who in stripping off his corslet espied the "mighty book." with the curiosity of an imp he opens the iron-clasped volume by smearing the cover with the blood of the knight, and reads one spell, _and one alone, by permission_; for "he had not read another spell, when on his cheek a buffet fell, so fierce, it stretched him on the plain beside the wounded deloraine. from the ground he rose dismayed, and shook his huge and matted head; one word he muttered, and no more, 'man of age, thou smitest sore!' &c. &c. now, if you ask who gave the stroke, i cannot tell, so mot i thrive-- _it was not given by man alive._" but he had read sufficient for the purposes of his mission, and we shall see how he applies the knowledge so marvellously acquired. by the glamour of this spell he was empowered to make one thing assume the form of another. "it had much of glamour might, could make a ladye seem a knight; the cobwebs on a dungeon wall, seem tapestry in a lordly hall," &c. &c. the first use he makes of his power is to convey the wounded knight, laid across his weary horse, into branksome hall "before the beards of the warders all; and each did after swear and say, there only passed a wain of hay." having deposited him at the door of the ladye's bower, he repasses the outer court, and finding the young chief at play, entices him into the woods under the guise _to him_ of a "comrade gay." "though on the drawbridge, the warders stout, saw a terrier and a lurcher passing out;" and, leading him far away "o'er bank and fell," well nigh frightens the fair boy to death by resuming his own elvish shape. "could he have had his pleasure wilde, he had crippled the joints of the noble child; &c. &c. but his awful mother he had in dread, _and also his power was limited_," &c. &c. here let me observe that all this contrivance is essential to the conduct of the narrative, and if we simply grant the postulate which a legendary minstrel has a right to demand, to wit, the potency of magic spells to effect such delusions (pictoribus atque poetis _quidlibet audendi_ semper fuit æqua potestas), all the remainder of the narrative is easy, natural, and probable. this contrivance is necessary, because, in the first place, if it had been known to the warders that william of deloraine had been brought into the castle wounded almost unto death, he could not be supposed capable of engaging richard musgrave in single combat two days afterwards; nor, in the second place, would the young chief have been permitted to stroll out unattended from the guarded precincts. to proceed: the boy thus bewildered in the forest falls into the lands of an english forayer, and is by him conveyed to lord dacre, at that time one of the wardens of the marches, by whom he is detained as a hostage, and carried along with the english troops, then advancing towards branksome under the command of the lord wardens in person. "(but) though the child was led away, in branksome still he seemed to stay, for so the dwarf his part did play." { } and there, according to his own malicious nature, played likewise a score of monkey tricks, all of which, grotesque and "_undignified_"! as they may be, yet most ingeniously divert the mind of the reader from the real errand and mission of this supernatural being. shortly afterwards, on his exhibiting symptoms of cowardice at the expected contest, he is conveyed from the castle by the ladye's order, and speedily rejoins his lord, after the infliction of a severe chastisement from the arm of wat tinlinn. he then procures cranstoun's admission within the walls of branksome (where the whole clan scott was assembling at the tidings of the english raid) by the same spell-- "which to his lord he did impart, and made him seem, by glamour art, a knight from hermitage." and on the following day, as deloraine did not appear in the lists ready to engage in the appointed duel with richard musgrave, we are told,-- "meantime, full anxious was the dame, for now arose disputed claim, of who should fight for deloraine, 'twixt harden and 'twixt thirtlestaine, &c. &c. but yet, not long the strife--for, lo! himself the knight of deloraine, strong, as it seemed, and free from pain, in armour sheathed from top to toe, appeared, and craved the combat due; the dame her charm successful knew, and the fierce chiefs their claims withdrew." the conflict takes place, and ends in favour of the scottish knight; when the following scene occurs: "as if exhausted in the fight, or musing o'er the piteous sight, the silent victor stands: his beaver did he not unclasp, marked not the shouts, felt not the grasp of gratulating hands. when lo! strange cries of wild surprise, mingled with seeming terror rise among the scottish bands, and all, amid the thronged array, in panic haste gave open way to a half-naked ghastly man, who downward from the castle ran; he crossed the barriers at a bound, and wild and haggard looked around, as dizzy, and in pain; and all, upon the armed ground knew william of deloraine! each ladye sprung from seat with speed, vaulted each marshal from his steed; 'and who art thou,' they cried, 'who hast this battle fought and won?' his plumed helm was soon undone-- 'cranstoun of teviotside! for this fair prize i've fought and won,' and to the ladye led her son." then is described the struggle that takes place in the maternal breast: "and how the clan united prayed the ladye would the feud forego, and deign to bless the nuptial hour of cranstoun's lord and teviot's flower. xxvi. "she looked to river, looked to hill, thought on the spirit's prophecy, then broke her silence stern and still, 'not you, _but fate_, has vanquished me; _their influence kindly stars may shower_ on teviot's tide and branksome's tower, for pride _is_ quelled, and love _is_ free.'" the mission of the elf is now accomplished, his last special service having been to steal the armour of william of deloraine "while slept the knight," and thus to enable his master to personate that warrior. it may be remarked that hitherto there is no direct evidence that the page was sent by michael scott. that evidence is reserved for the moment of his final disappearance. on the same evening, after the celebration of the nuptials, a mysterious and intense blackness enveloped the assembled company in branksome hall. "a secret horror checked the feast, and chilled the soul of every guest; even the high dame stood half aghast, she knew some evil in the blast; the elvish page fell to the ground, and, shuddering, muttered, 'found! found! found!' xxv. "then sudden through the darkened air, a flash of lightning came, so broad, so bright, so red the glare, the castle seemed on flame, &c. &c. full through the guests' bedazzled band resistless flashed the levin-brand, and filled the hall with smouldering smoke, as on the elvish page it broke, &c. &c. when ended was the dreadful roar, the elvish dwarf was seen no more. xxvi. "some heard a voice in branksome hall, some saw a sight, not seen by all; that dreadful voice was heard by some cry, with loud summons, 'gylbin, come!' and on the spot where burst the brand, just where the page had flung him down, some saw an arm, and some a hand, and some the waving of a gown: the guests in silence prayed and shook, and terror dimmed each lofty look, but none of all the astonished train _was so dismayed as deloraine,_ &c. &c. { } at length, by fits, he darkly told, with broken hint, and shuddering cold, that he had seen, right certainly, _a shape with amice wrapped around,_ _with a wrought spanish baldric bound,_ _like a pilgrim from beyond the sea,_ and knew--but how it mattered not-- it was the wizard, michael scott." after this final consummation, it is amusing to notice a slight "incuria" on the part of the poet, which i wonder has never been corrected in the later editions. having described the nuptial ceremony of cranstoun and margaret in the early part of the last canto, he says in section xxviii., "nought of the bridal _will_ i tell, which _after_ in short space befell," &c. &c. i think i have now succeeded in proving that the goblin page, so far from being a mere "_intruder_" into this glorious poem--so far from being a mere after-thought, or interpolation, to "suit the taste of the cottagers of the border," as mr. jeffrey "suspects,"--is the essential instrument for constructing the machinery of the plot. we have, indeed, the author's word that it formed the foundation of the poem. my readers will therefore form their own estimate of the value of mr. jeffrey's criticisms, couched as they are in no very considerate, much less complimentary phraseology. i cannot but admire the "douce vengeance" of the gentle-spirited subject of his rebukes, who has contented himself with printing these worthless sentences of an undiscerning critic along with the text of his poems in the last edition,--there to remain a standing memorial of the wisdom of that resolution adhered to throughout the life of the accomplished author, who tells us, "that he from the first determined, that without shutting his ears to the voice of true criticism, he would pay no regard to that which assumed the form of satire." in point of fact, sir walter had no very exalted opinion of the _genus_ critic; and i could give one or two anecdotes, which i heard from his own lips, strongly reminding one of the old fable of the painter who pleased nobody and everybody. in conclusion, i beg leave to observe, that in these "notes" i do not presume to underrate, in any degree, mr. jeffrey's acknowledged powers of criticism. he and scott have alike passed away from the stage of which they were long the ornaments in their respective spheres; but i must consider that in the passages here cited, _as well as in many others_, he has proved himself either incompetent or unwilling to appreciate the originality, the power, and, above all, the invention of sir walter scott's genius. a borderer. * * * * * poems discovered among the papers of sir kenelm digby. since i last wrote to you on the subject of these poems, i have discovered the remaining portions of ben jonson's poem on the lady venetia: i have therefore no doubt now that my ms. is a genuine autograph; and if so, not only this, but the "houreglasse," which was inserted in your rd no., is ben jonson's. this last has, i think, never been published; nor have i ever seen in print the followings lines, which are written in the same hand and on the same paper as the "houreglasse." they were probably written after lady venetia's death. "you wormes (my rivals), whiles she was alive, how many thousands were there that did strive to have your freedome? for theyr sakes forbeare, unseemely holes in her soft skin to wear, but if you must (as what worme can abstaine?) taste of her tender body, yet refraine with your disordered eatings to deface her, and feed yourselves so as you most may grace her. first through her eartippes, see you work a paire of holes, which, as the moyst enclosed _ayre_ [_air_] turnes into water, may the cold droppes take, and in her eares a payre of jewels make. that done, upon her bosome make your feaste, where on a crosse carve jesus in her brest. have you not yet enough of that soft skinne, the touch of which, in times past, might have bin enough to ransome many a thousande soule captiv'd to love? then hence your bodies roule a little higher; where i would you have this epitaph upon her forehead grave; living, she was fayre, yong, and full of witt; dead, all her faults are in her forehead writt." if i am wrong in supposing this never to have been printed, i shall feel much obliged by one of your correspondents informing me of the fact. h. a. b. trin. col. cambridge. * * * * * folk lore. _the christmas thorn._--in my neighbourhood (near bridgewater) the christmas thorn blossoms on the th of january (twelfth-day), and on this day only. the villagers in whose gardens it grows, and indeed many others, verily believe that this fact pronounces the truth of this being the day of christ's birth. s. s. b. _milk-maids in ._--to folk-lore may be added the following short extract from read's _weekly journal_, may , : "on may-day the milk-maids who serve the court, danced minuets and rigadoons before the royal family, at st. james's house, with great applause." y. s. _diseases cured by sheep_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the attempted cure of consumption, or some { } complaints, by walking among a flock of sheep, is not new. the present archbishop of dublin was recommended it, or practised it at least, when young. for pulmonary complaints the principle was perhaps the same as that of following a plough, sleeping in a room over a cowhouse, breathing the diluted smoke of a limekiln, that is, the inhaling of carbonic acid, all practised about the end of the last century, when the knowledge of the gases was the favourite branch of chemistry. a friend of mine formerly met dr. beddoes riding up park street in bristol almost concealed by a vast bladder tied to his horse's mouth. he said he was trying an experiment with oxygen on a broken-winded horse. afterwards, finding that oxygen did not answer, he very wisely tried the gas most opposite to it in nature. c. b. _sacramental wine_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this idea is a relic of roman catholic times. in ireland a weakly child is frequently brought to the altar rails, and the priest officiating at mass requested to allow it to drink from the chalice of what is termed _the ablution_, that is, the wine and water with which the chalice is _rinsed_ after the priest has taken the communion, and which ablution ordinarily is taken by the priest. _here_ the efficacy is ascribed to the cup having just before contained the blood of our lord. i have heard it seriously recommended in a case of hooping-cough. your correspondent mr. buckman does not give sufficient credit for common sense to the believers in some portion of folk lore. red wine is considered tonic, and justly, as it contains a greater proportion of _turmic_ than white. the yellow bark of the barberry contains an essential tonic ingredient, as the jesuit's bark does _quinine_, or that of the willow _salicine_. nettle juice is well known as a purifier of the blood; and the navelwort, like euphrosia, which is properly called _eyebright_, is as likely to have had its name from its proved efficacy as a simple, as from any fancied likeness to the region affected. the old monks were shrewd herbalists. they were generally the physicians of their neighbourhood, and the names and uses of the simples used by them survive the ruin of the monasteries and the expulsion of their tenants. kerriensis. "_nettle in dock out_" (vol. iii., pp. . . .).--i can assure a. e. b. that in the days of my childhood, long before i had ever heard of chaucer, i used invariably, when i was stung with nettles, to rub the part affected with a dock-leaf or stalk, and repeat, "nettle out, dock in." this charm is so common in huntingdonshire at this day that it seems to come to children almost instinctively. none of them can tell where they first heard it, any more than why they use it. arun. * * * * * metropolitan improvements. the following passage from a sermon preached at paul's cross, march , , by john king, bishop of london, refers in a curious manner to many improvements and alterations which have either been already effected in our own time, or are still in contemplation. the sermon was "on behalfe of paule's church," then in a ruinous condition; and was delivered in the presence of james himself, who suggested the preacher's text, psal. cii. , . "so had my manner ever beene aforetime," says the bishop, "to open the volume of this booke, and goe through the fields of the old and new testament, plucking and rubbing such eares of corne therein as i best liked, makings, choice (i meane) of my text, and buckling myself to my task at myne owne discretion; but now i am girt and tied to a scripture by him, who as he hath most right to command, so best skill to direct and appoint the best service i can." after an elaborate laudation of england, and of london as the "gem and eye," which has "the body of the king, the morning and midday influence of that glorious sun; other parts having but the evening.... _o fortunati nimium_; you have the finest flowre of the wheat, and purest bloud of the grape, that is, the choice of his blessed word hath god given unto you; and great is the companie of the preachers"-- the bishop proceeds thus: "not to weary mine eyes with wandering and roving after private, but to fixe upon publicke alone,--when i behold that forrest of masts upon your river for trafficke, and that more than miraculous bridge, which is the _communis terminus_, to joyne the two bankes of that river; your royall exchange for merchants, your halls for companies, your gates for defence, your markets for victuall, your aqueducts for water, your granaries for provision, your hospitalls for the poore, your bridewells for the idle, your chamber for orphans, and your churches for holy assemblies; i cannot denie them to be magnificent workes, and your citty to deserve the name of an augustious and majesticall citty; to cast into the reckoning those of later edition, the beautifying of your fields without, and pitching your smithfield within, new gates, new waterworkes, and the like, which have been consecrated by you to the dayes of his majestie's happy reigne: and i hope the cleansing of the river, which is the _vena porta_ to your citty, will follow in good time. but after all these, as christ to the young man in the gospell, which had done all and more, _unum tibi deest, si vis perfectus esse, vade, vende_; so may i say to you. there is yet one thing wanting unto you, if you will be perfit,--perfit this church: not by parting from _all_, but somewhat, not to the poore, but to god himselfe. this church is your sion indeed, other are but _synagogues_, this your _jerusalem the mother to them all_, other but daughters brought up at her knees; this the cathedrall, other but parochiall churches; this the _bethel_ for the daily and constant service of god, other have their intermissions, this the common to you all, and to this _doe { } your tribes ascend_ in their greatest solemnities; others appropriated to several congregations, this the standart in the high rode of gaze; others are more retired, this the mirrour and marke of strangers, other have but their side lookes; finally, this unto you, as _s. peters in the vatican_ at rome, _s. marks_ at venice, and that of _diana_ at ephesus, and this at jerusalem of the jewes; or if there be any other of glory and fame in the christian world, which they most joy in." richard john king. * * * * * minor notes. _meaning of luncheon._--our familiar name of _luncheon_ is derived from the daily meal of the spaniards at eleven o'clock, termed _once_ or _l'once_ (pronounced _l'onchey_).--from ford's _gatherings in spain_. a. l. _charade upon nothing translated._--in your no. for july a correspondent asks who was the author of the very quaint charade upon "nothing:" "me, the contented man desires, the poor man has, the rich requires, the miser gives, the spendthrift saves, and all must carry to their graves." possibly he may not object to read, without troubling himself as to the authorship of, the subjoined translation: "me, qui sorte sua contentus vixerit, optat, et quum pauper habet, dives habere velit; spargit avarus opum, servat sibi prodigus æris, secum post fati funera quisque feret." effigies. _giving the lie._--the great affront of giving the lie arose from the phrase "thou liest," in the oath taken by the defendant in judicial combats before engaging, when charged with any crime by the plaintiff, and francis i. of france, to make current his giving the lie to the emperor charles v., first stamped it with infamy by saying, in a solemn assembly, that "he was no honest man that would bear the lie." blowen. _anachronisms of painters._--an amusing list is given in d'israeli's _curiosities of literature_ (edit. , p. .). the following are additional: at hagley park, worcestershire, the seat of lord lyttleton, is a painting by varotari, a pupil of paul veronese, of christ and the woman taken in adultery. one of the jewish elders present wears spectacles. at kedleston, derbyshire, the seat of lord scarsdale, is a painting by rembrandt, daniel interpreting belsazzar's dream. daniel's head is covered with a peruke of considerable magnitude. j. e. _spenser's faerie queene._--the following brief notes may perhaps prove interesting:-- . spenser gives us a hint of the annoyances to which shakspeare and burbage may have been subject:-- "all suddenly they heard a troublous noise, that seemed some perilous tumult to design, confused with women's cries and shorts of boys, such as the troubled theatres oft-times annoys."--b. iv. iii. . . spenser's solitary pun occurs in book iv. canto viii. verse .: "but when the world wox old, it wox _war-old_, whereof it hight." . cleanliness does not appear to have been a virtue much in vogue in the "glorious days of good queen bess." spenser (book iv. canto xi. verse .) speaks of "her silver feet, fair washed against this day," _i. e._ for a special day of rejoicing. . an instance of the compound epithets so much used by chapman in his translation of homer, is found in spenser's description of the sea-nymphs, book iv. canto xi. verse .: "eione well-in-age, and seeming-still-to-smile glauconome." j. h. c. adelaide, south australia. _prayer of mary queen of scots._--the incorrect arrangement, in seward's _anecdotes_, of the following beautiful lines, said to be composed by mary queen of scots, and repeated immediately before her execution, and a diffuse paraphrase subjoined, in which all their tenderness is lost by destroying their brevity and simplicity, may justify another arrangement, and an attempt to preserve their simple and tender character in fewer words and a different measure:-- "o domine deus, o lord, my god, speravi in te, i have trusted in thee: o mi care jesu, my jesu beloved, nunc libera me: me presently free: in dura catena, in cruel chains, desidero te. in penal pains, languendo, gemendo, i long for thee, et genu flectendo, i moan, i groan, adoro, imploro, i bend my knee; ut liberes me. i adore, i implore, me presently free." can any of your correspondents inform me where these lines first appear? on what authority they are ascribed to mary queen of scots? and also who mentions their having been repeated immediately before her execution? alexander pytts falconer. beeton-christchurch, hants. _a small instance of warren hastings' magnanimity._--during the latter years of his life, warren hastings was in the habit of visiting general d'oyley in the new forest; and thus he became { } acquainted with the rev. w. gilpin, vicar of boldre, and author of _forest scenery_, &c. mr. gilpin's custom was to receive morning visitors, who sat and enjoyed his agreeable conversation; and warren hastings, when staying in the neighbourhood, often resorted to the boldre parsonage. it happened, one sunday, that mr. gilpin preached a sermon on the character of felix, which commenced in words like these: "felix was a bad man, and a bad governor. he took away another man's wife and lived with her; and he behaved with extortion and cruelty in the province over which he ruled." other particulars followed equally in accordance with the popular charges against the late governor-general of india, who, to the preacher's dismay, was unexpectedly discovered sitting in the d'oyley pew. mr. gilpin concluded that he then saw the last of his "great" friend. but, not so: on the following morning warren hastings came, with his usual pleasant manner, for a chat with the vicar, and of course made no allusion to the sermon. this was told me by a late valued friend, who was a nephew and curate of mr. gilpin; and i am not aware that the anecdote has been put on record. alfred gatty. ecclesfield. _richard baxter._--in the long list of richard baxter's works, one is entitled, _an unsavoury volume of mr. jo. crawford's anatomized: or, a nosegay of the choicest flowers in that garden, presented to mr. joseph caryl, by richard baxter_. vo., lond. . at the end of a postscript to this tract, the following sentence is subjoined: "whatsoever hath escaped me in these writings that is against meekness, peace, and brotherly love, let it be all unsaid, and hereby revoked; and i desire the pardon of it from god and man. richard baxter." baxter's literary career was not the least extraordinary part of his history. orme's life of him says, that the catalogue of his works contains nearly a hundred and sixty-eight distinct publications. a list of no less than one hundred and seven is given at the end of his _compassionate counsel to all young men_, vo., lond. . baxter's most popular treatises, as the world knows, were his _call to the unconverted_, and his _saint's everlasting rest_. h. e. _registry of dissenting baptisms in churches._--a fact came to my knowledge some time since, which seems worthy of having _a note of it_ made, and recorded in your journal. on looking over the registry of baptisms administered in the meeting-house of an ancient city, i was struck by the occurrence of four names, which i had seen entered in a genealogy as from the baptismal registry of one of its parish churches. this appeared to me so strange, that i examined the parish registry in order to verify it; and i found that the baptisms were actually recorded as on the same days in both registries. of course, the father, having had his child baptized by the dissenting minister, prevailed on the clergyman of his parish church to register it. whether this was a common custom at the time when it took place ( - ) i have no means of knowing. as a fee was probably charged for the registration, it was not likely to be asked for in all instances; and, no doubt, when it was asked for, many clergymen would consider it inconsistent with their duty to grant it. d. x. * * * * * queries. notes and queries relating to scandinavia. can any of your readers furnish a list of the different editions of _olaus magnus_? i have lately met with a curious one entitled _historia delle gente et della natura delle cose settentrionali, da olao magno gotho arcivescovo di vpsala nel regno di suezia e gozia, descritta in xxii libri. tradotta in lingua toscana. in vinegia, ._ this edition, in folio, contains a very interesting old map of scandinavia, and a profusion of little cuts or engravings, representing men, animals, gods, mountains, weapons, religious rites, natural wonders, and everything relating to the people and the country that could be conceived or gathered together. is there any english translation of olaus magnus? is there any english translation of jornandes' _histoire générale des goths_? it is full of curious matter. the french edition of gives the following accounts of the midnight sun:-- "diverses nations ne laissent pas d'habiter ces contrées" (scanzia or scandinavia). "ptolomée en nomme sept principales. celle qui s'appelle adogit, et qui est la plus reculée vers le nord, voit (dit on) durant l'esté le soleil rouler l'horizon quarante jours sans se coucher; mais aussi pendant l'hyver, elle est privée de sa lumière un pareil espace de temps, payant ainsi par le long ennui que lui cause l'absence de cet astre, la joye que sa longue présence lui avoit fait ressentir." there is a little old book called _histoire des intrigues galantes de la reine christine de suède et de sa cour, pendant son sejour à rome. a amsterdam_, . it opens thus: "rome, qui est le centre de la religion, est aussi le théâtre des plus belles comédies du monde:" and after giving various accounts, personal and incidental, of her mercurial majesty, and of her pilgrimage to rome, recites the following epigram on her first intrigue there, which, to give due precedence to the church, happened to be with a cardinal, named azolin:-- { } "mais azolin dans rome sceut charmer ses ennuis, elle eût sans ce grand homme passé de tristes nuits;" adding: "dans ce peu de paroles mr. de coulanges [its author] dit beaucoup de choses, et fait comprendre l'intrigue du cardinal avec la reine." i can find no account of this reverend cardinal. who was he (if anybody), and what is his history? and who was the author of these odd memoirs of the swedish queen? at page . of "notes and queries" i see mention of an english translation of _danish_ ballads by mr. borrow. is there any translation of _norwegian_ ballads? many of them are very beautiful and characteristic, and well worthy of an able rendering into our own language, if there were any one to undertake it. there is also much beauty in the norwegian national music, of which a pretty but limited collection, the _norske field-melodier_, arranged by lindeman, is published at christiania. what is the best method of reaching iceland? and what _really good_ books have been published on that country within the last twenty years? william e. c. nourse. london, april . . * * * * * the rotation of the earth. query, has mons. foucault's pendulum experiment been as yet clearly enunciated? and do i understand it aright, when i conceive it is intended to show the existence of a certain uniform _rotation in azimuth of the horizon_, but different for different latitudes; which rotation, if made out to exist, is acquired solely in virtue of the uniform diurnal rotation ( ° hourly) in right ascension of the equator, identical in all latitudes. a pendulum, manifestly, can only be suspended vertically, and can only vibrate in a vertical plane; and surely can only be conceived, in the course of the experiment, to be referred to the _horizon_, that great circle of the heavenly sphere to which all vertical circles are referred. a spectator at the north pole has the pole of the heavens coincident with his zenith; and there, all declination circles are also vertical circles; and there, the equator coincides with the horizon; whereby the whole effect of the rotation of the earth there ( ° hourly) may be conceived to be given to the _horizon_: whilst, at the equator, the horizon is perpendicular to the equator, which therefore gives no such rotation at all to the horizon. simple inspection of a celestial globe will illustrate this. considering the matter thus, at the pole the rotation of the _horizon_ is ° hourly, and at the equator is , or nothing. but the sine of the latitude (= °) at the pole is unity, or ; and the sine of the latitude (= °) at the equator is . therefore, at these two extremes, the expression ° × sin. lat. actually does give the amount of _hourly apparent rotation of the horizon_; namely, ° at one place, and ° at the other. now, as i understand the experiment, as given in the public prints, it is asserted that the same expression of ° × sin. lat. will give the _rotation of the horizon_ in intermediate latitudes; of which rotation i subjoin a table calculated for the purpose. +-----------+-------------+-----------------------+---------------------+ | | | value of | apparent | | | natural | ° × sin. lat., | corresponding | | degrees | values of | or apparent | times of _horizon_, | | of | sine of the | _hourly_ amount of | performing | | latitude. | latitude. | rotation of | one rotation | | | | _horizon_, in degrees | of °, in hours | | | | and decimals. | and decimals. | +-----------+-------------+-----------------------+---------------------+ | ° | | ° | h | | | . | . | infinite time. | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | | | . | . | . | +-----------+-------------+-----------------------+---------------------+ now this is the point which, it should seem, ought to be the business of experimenters to establish; it being proposed, as we are informed, to swing, in different latitudes, freely suspended pendulums, over horizontal dials, or circular tables, properly graduated, similarly to the horizons of common globes; and to note the _apparent_ variation of the plane of oscillation of the pendulums with respect to the graduated dials; these latter serving as representatives of the horizon. for the hypothesis is (as i understand it), that the pendulums will continue to swing each of them severally in one invariable vertical plane fixed in free space, whilst the horizontal dials beneath, by their rotation, will slip away, as it were, and turn round in _azimuth_, from under the planes of the pendulums. it should seem to be imperative on those who wish to put this experiment to proof, to give all possible attention to the precautions suggested in the excellent paper that appeared on the subject, on saturday, april , in the _literary gazette_, copied also into the _morning post_ of monday the st. to my mind, the experiment is beset with practical difficulties; but even should the matter { } be satisfactorily made out to those best capable of judging, i cannot readily conceive of an experiment less likely than the above to carry conviction to the minds of the wholly unlearned of the rotation of the earth. i perceive that b.a.c., in the _times_ of april , avows his determined scepticism as to the virtue of the experiment. robert snow. * * * * * minor queries. _william ap jevan's descendants._--in burke's _landed gentry_, p. ., mention is made of william ap jevan, "an attendant upon jasper duke of bedford, and afterwards upon hen. vii.;" and of a son, morgan williams, ancestor of the cromwells. will some correspondent oblige by giving a reference to where any account may be met with of any other son, or children, to such william ap jevan, and his or their descendants? w. p. a. "_geographers on afric downs._"--can any of your correspondents tell me where these lines are to be found?-- "so geographers on afric downs, plant elephants instead of towns." they sound hudibrastic, but i cannot find them in _hudibras_. a. s. _irish brigade._--can any of your correspondents furnish any account of what were called "the capitulations of the irish brigades?" these _capitulations_ (to prevent mistakes) were simply the agreements under which foreign regiments entered the french service. the swiss regiments had their special "capitulations" until , when they ceased to be employed in france. they appear to have differed in almost every regiment of the irish brigade; the privileges of some being greater than those of others. one was common to all, namely, the right of _trial_ by their officers or comrades solely, and according to the laws of their own country. also, is there any history of the brigades published? i have heard that a colonel dromgoole published one. can any information be afforded on that head? k. _passage in oldham._--the following lines, on the virtues of "impudence," occur in that exquisite satirist, oldham, described by dryden as "too little and too lately known:" "get that great gift and talent, impudence, accomplish'd mankind's highest excellence: 'tis that alone prefers, alone makes great, confers alone wealth, titles, and estate; gains place at court, can make a fool a peer; an ass a bishop; can vil'st blockhead rear to wear red hats, and sit in porph'ry chair: 'tis learning, parts, and skill, and wit, and sense, worth, merit, honour, virtue, innocence." i quote this passage chiefly with reference to the "porphyry chair," and with the view of ascertaining whether the allusion has been explained in any edition of oldham's poems. does the expression refer to any established use of such chairs by the wearers of "red hats?" or is it intended merely to convey a general idea of the sumptuousness and splendour of their style of living? henry h. breen. st. lucia, march, . _mont-de-piété._-can any of your readers furnish information as to the connexion between these words and the thing which they are used to denote? mrs. jameson says, in her _legends of the monastic orders_, p. .: "another attribute of st. bernardin's of siena, is the _monte-di-pietà_, a little green hill composed of three mounds, and on the top either a cross or a standard, on which is the figure of the dead saviour, usually called in italy a _pietà_. st. b. is said to have been the founder of the charitable institutions still called in france _monts-de-piété_, originally for the purpose of lending to the poor small sums on trifling pledges--what we should now call a loan society,--and which, in their commencement, were purely disinterested and beneficial. in every city which he visited as a preacher, he founded a monte-di-pietà; and before his death, these institutions had spread all over italy and through a great part of france." it is added in a note: "although the figures holding the m. di p. are, in italian prints and pictures, styled 'san bernardino da siena,' there is reason to presume that the honour is at least shared by another worthy of the same order, 'il beato bernardino da feltri,' a celebrated preacher at the end of the fifteenth century. mention is made of his preaching against the jews and usurers, on the miseries of the poor, and on the necessity of having a _monte-di-pietà_ at florence, in a sermon delivered in the church of santa croce in the year ." on p. . is a representation of the monte-di-pietà, borne in the saint's hand. i need not specify the points on which the foregoing extract still leaves information to be desired. w. b. h. manchester. _poem upon the grave._--a. d. would be obliged by being informed where to find a poem upon the grave. two voices speak in it, and, it commences-- "how peaceful the grave; its quiet how deep! its zephyrs breathe calmly, and soft is its sleep, and flowerets perfume it with ether." the second voice replies-- "how lonesome the grave; how deserted and drear," &c. &c. _clocks: when self-striking clocks first invented._--in bolingbroke's _letters on the study of history_ { } (letter iv.), i read the following passage in relation to a certain person: "his reason had not the merit of common mechanism. when you press a watch or pull a clock, they answer your question with precision; for they repeat exactly the hour of the day, and tell you neither more nor less than you desire to know." i believe this work was written about . can you tell me when the self-striking clock was invented, and by whom? jingo. _clarkson's "richmond."_--can any of your readers inform me who is in possession of the papers of the late mr. clarkson, the historian of richmond, in yorkshire? i wish to know what were the ancient documents, or other sources, from which the learned author ascertained some facts stated in his valuable work. to whom should i apply on the subject? d. q. _"felix quem faciunt," &c._--i wish you could tell me where i can find this line: "felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum." effigies. whitehall. _sir francis windebank's elder son._--sir francis windebank, "of treacherous memory," it is well known, died at paris in september, . he had two sons; what became of thomas, the _elder_? francis, the _second_, was a colonel in the royal army: he was tried for cowardice in surrendering blechingdon house, in oxfordshire, to oliver cromwell without a blow; and being found guilty, was shot at broken hayes, near oxford, in april, . i am anxious to make out the fate of his elder brother. edward f. rimbault. _incised slab._--i have a large incised slab in my church, with the figures of a man (richard grenewey) and his wife upon it, with the date . following the date, and filling up the remainder of the line of the inscription, is the figure of a cock in a fighting attitude. can any of your readers enlighten me on the subject? h. c. k. _etymology of balsall._--will you allow me to ask some of your readers to give me the etymology of _balsall_? it occurs frequently about here, as balsall temple, b. street, b. grange, b. common, and near birmingham is balsall heath. it is not to be confounded with beausall common, which also is near this place. f. r. kenilworth. _st. olave's churches._--in the _calendar of the anglican church_, parker, oxford, , at pp. . and ., it is stated that saint olave helped king ethelred to dislodge the danes from london and southwark, by destroying london bridge; and that, in gratitude for this service, the churches at each end of the bridge are dedicated to him;--on the southwark side, st. olave's, tooley street, is; but was there ever a church on the london side, bearing the same name?--the nearest one to the bridge is st. olave's, hart street; but that is surely too distant to be called "at the end of the bridge." e. n. w. southwark, april . . _sabbatical and jubilee years of the jews._--as the solution of many interesting topics in connexion with jewish history is yet dependent on the _period_ of the institution of the sabbatical and jubilee years, the following observations will not perhaps be deemed unworthy of a "nook" in your columns. a spark may blaze! i therefore throw it out to be fanned into a more brilliant light by those of your readers whose studies peculiarly fit them to inquire more searchingly into the subject. the jews, it has been remarked by various writers, were ignorant of _astronomy_. both, however, the sabbatical and jubilee years have been, as i conceive and will endeavour to show, founded on astronomical observation, commemorative of no particular event in jewish history, but simply that of the moon's revolutions; for instance, with reference to the _sabbatical_ year, allowing for a difference of four days and a half, which occurs _annually_ in the time of the moon's position on the equator, it would require, in order to realise a number corresponding to the days ( ) employed by the moon in her synodical revolution round the earth, a period to elapse of little less than six years and a half: thus exhibiting the jews' _seventh_ or _sabbatical year_, or year of rest. this result, besides being instructive and commemorative of the moon's menstrual course, is at the same time indicative, as each sabbatical year rolls past, of the approach of the "_finisher of the seven sabbaths of years_," or year of jubilee, so designated from its being to the chosen people of god, under the jewish dispensation, a year of "freedom and redemption," in commemoration of the moon's _complete_ revolution, viz., her return to a certain position at the precise time at which she set out therefrom, an event which takes place but once in _fifty years_: in other words, if the moon be on the equator, say, on the first day of february, and calculating twenty-nine days to the month, or twelve lunations to the year, a cycle of fifty years, or "seven sabbaths of years," must elapse ere she will again be in that position on the same day. hipparchus. limehouse, march . . _arms of isle of man._--the arms of the isle of man are gules, three legs conjoined in the fess point, &c. &c. or. these arms were stamped on the old halfpence of the island, and we may well call them the current coin. in an old edition of the _mythology of natalis_ { } _comus_, patavii, , small to., at page ., i find an icon of triptolemus sent by ceres in a chariot drawn by serpents, hovering in the clouds over what i suppose to be sicily, or trinacria; and on a representation of a city below the chariot occurs the very same form of coin, the three legs conjoined, with the addition of three ears of corn. this seems to me to be a curious coincidence. merviniensis. _doctrine of the resurrection._--can any of your readers inform me of any traces of the doctrine of the resurrection to be found in authors anterior to the christian era? the following passage from diogenes laertius is quoted in st. john's _manners and customs of ancient greece_, vol. i. p. .: "[greek: kai anabiôsesthai, kata tous magous, phêsi (theopompos), tous anthrôpous, kai esesthai athanatous.]" how far does the statement in this passage involve the idea of a _bodily_ resurrection? i fancy the doctrine is not countenanced by any of the apparitions in the poetical hades of virgil, or of other poets. zeteticus. _national debts._--is there any published work descriptive of the origin of the foundation of a "national debt" in florence so early as the year , when the state, owing a sum of money, created a "mount or bank," the shares in which were transferable, like our stocks? it is not mentioned in niccolo machiavelli's _history of florence_; but i have a note of the fact, without a reference to the authority. is there any precedent prior to the foundation of our national debt? f. e. m. _leicester's commonwealth._--are the real authors of _leicester's commonwealth_, and the poetical tract generally found with it, _leicester's ghost_, known? according to dodd's _church history_, the first is _erroneously_ attributed to robert parsons the jesuit. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * replies. histoire des sÉvarambes. (vol. iii., pp. . . .) the history of the sevarites, in the original english edition, consists of two parts: the first published in , in pages, small mo., without a preface; the second published in , in pages, with a preface of six pages. the french version of this work is much altered and enlarged. the title is changed into _histoire des sévarambes_, the "sevarites" being dropped. there is a preface of fifteen pages, containing a supposed letter from thomas skinner, dated bruges, oct. , . the work is divided into five parts, three of which are in the first, and two in the second volume of the amsterdam edition of . these five parts are together more than twice as bulky as the two parts of the english work. there is no copy of the original french edition of - described by marchand, in any english public library; but if there is a copy in the french national library, any of your bibliographical correspondents at paris could easily ascertain whether (as is probably the case) the amsterdam edition is a mere reprint from the original paris edition. the french version of this work is not only much enlarged, but it differs in the names and incidents, and is fuller in the account of the institutions and customs of the imaginary state. the english edition of ( vol. vo.) is a literal translation from the french version, though it does not purport to be a translation. it may be doubted whether the translator was aware of the existence of the english publication of - . the german translation was published in ; the dutch translation in : both these appear to have been taken from the french. morhof (_polyhistor._, vol. i. p. .), who inserts this work among the _libri damnati_, and dwells upon its deistical character, refers to the french version; and though he knew that the book had originally appeared in english, he probably was not aware of the difference between the two versions. a note added by his first editor, moller, states that morhof often told his friends that he believed isaac vossius to have been the author of the work. isaac vossius was in england from until his death, which took place at windsor, february , . his residence in england, combined with the known laxity of his religious opinions, doubtless suggested to morhof the conjecture that he wrote this freethinking utopia. there is, however, no external evidence to support this conjecture, or to show that it had any better foundation than the conjecture that bishop berkeley wrote _gaudentio di lucca_. the university of leyden purchased the library of isaac vossius for , florins. if it is still preserved at leyden, a search among his books might ascertain whether there is among them any copy of the english or french editions of this work, and whether they contain any written remark by their former possessor. moreover, it is to be observed that the system of natural religion is for the first time developed in the french edition; and this was the part which chiefly gave the book its celebrity: whereas, the supposition of morhof implies that the english and french versions are identical. heumann, in his _schediasma de libris anonymis et pseudonymis_ (jena, ), p. . (reprinted in mylius, _bibliotheca anon. et pseudon._, hamburg, , vol. i. pp. - .) has an article on the _histoire des sévarambes_. it is there stated that "messieurs de portroyal" superintended the french translation of the work; but no authority is given for the statement. christian thomasius, { } in his _monthly review_ of november , attributed the work to d'allais (or vairasse). he alleged three reasons for this belief: . the rumour current in france; . the fact that allais sold the book, as well as his french grammar; . that a comparison of the two works, in respect of style and character of mind, renders it most probable that both are by the same author. the testimony of thomasius is important, as the date of its publication is only ten years posterior to the publication of the last part of the french version. leclerc, in a review of the _schediasma_ of heumann, in the _bibliothèque choisie_, published in (tom. xxv. p. ., with an addendum, tom. xxvi. p. .), attests positively that vairasse was the author of the work in question. he says that vairasse (or, as he spells the name, veiras) took the name of d'allais in order to sell his book. he had this fact from persons well acquainted with vairasse. he likewise mentions that vairasse was well known to locke, who gave leclerc an account of his birthplace. leclerc adds that he was acquainted with a person to whom vairasse wished to dedicate his book (viz. the _histoire des sévarambes_), _and who possessed a copy of it, with a species of dedication, written in his hand_. this testimony is so distinct and circumstantial, as to leave no reasonable doubt as to the connexion of vairasse with the french version. the difficulty as to the authorship of the english version still, however, remains considerable. the extensive alterations introduced in the french edition certainly render it probable that _two_ different writers were concerned in the work. the words of leclerc respecting the information received from locke are somewhat ambiguous; but they do not necessarily imply that locke knew anything as to the connexion of vairasse with the book, though they are not inconsistent with this meaning. locke had doubtless become acquainted with vairasse during his residence in england. considering the length of time which vairasse passed in england, and the eminence of the persons with whom he is said to have had relations (viz. the duke of york, lord clarendon, and locke), it is singular that no mention of him should be discoverable in any english book. the error, that the work in question was written by algernon sidney, appears to have arisen from a confusion with the name of captain siden, the imaginary traveller. fabricius (_bibliograph. antiq._, c. xiv. § . p. .) mentions sidney and vairasse as the two most probable claimants to the authorship. hume, in his _essay on polygamy and divorces_, refers to the _history of the sevarambians_, and calls it an "agreeable romance." l. * * * * * was there an "outer temple" in the possession of the knights templars or knights of st. john?--(vol. iii., p. .) i have great pleasure in complying with the very proper request of mr. foss, and give my authority at once for stating in the _hand-book for london_ that the so-called "outer temple" was a part of the fleet street possession of the knights templars or knights of st. john, or was in any manner comprehended within the new temple property of fleet street and temple bar. my authority is sir george buc, whose minute and valuable account of the universities of england is dedicated to sir edward coke. buc's words are these:-- "after this suppression and condemnation of the templers, their house here in fleete street came to the handes and occupation of diuers lordes. for our antiquaries and chronologers say, that after this suppression sir thomas plantagenet earl of lancaster (and cousin to the king then raigning) had it, but beeing after attainted of treason, hee enjoyed it but a short time. "then next hugh spencer earle of glocester got into it, but he also was soone after attainted, and executed for treason. after him andomare de valence, a nobleman of the great house of lusignan, and earle of pembrooke, was lodged in it for a while. but this house was '_equus seianus_' to them all: and (as here it appeareth) was ordayned by god for other better uses, and whereunto now it serueth. after all these noble tenants and occupants were thus exturbed, dead, and gone, then certaine of the reuerend, ancient professours of the lawes, in the raign of king edward the third, obtained a very large or (as i might say) a perpetuall lease of this temple, or (as it must bee understood) of two parts thereof distinguished by the names of the middle temple and the inner temple, from the foresayd ioannites.... but the other third part, called the outward temple, doctor stapleton, bishop of exceter, had gotten in the raign of the former king, edward the second, and conuerted it to a house for him and his successors, bishops of exceter ... of whom the late earle of essex purchased it, and it is now called essex house: hauing first beene (as i haue sayd) a part of the templers' house, and in regard of the scituation thereof, without the barre, was called the outward or utter temple, as the others, for the like causes, were called the middle temple and the inner temple."--sir george buc, in _stow_ by howes, ed. , p. . this seems decisive, if buc is to be relied on, as i think he is. but new facts, such as mr. foss's researches and mr. burtt's diligence are likely to bring to light, may upset buc's statement altogether. i must join mr. foss in his wish to ascertain _when_ the names inner temple and middle temple were first made use of, with a further query, which i should be glad to have settled, _when_ the see of exeter first obtained the site of the so-called { } "outer temple?" stapleton, by whom it was _perhaps_ obtained, was bishop of exeter from to . peter cunningham. * * * * * obeism. (vol. iii., p. .) in reply to f. h., i beg leave to state that obeism is not in itself a religion, except in the sense in which burke says that "superstition is the religion of feeble minds." it is a belief, real or pretended, in the efficacy of certain spells and incantations, and is to the uneducated negro what sorcery was to our unenlightened forefathers. this superstition is known in st. lucia by the name of _kembois_. it is still extensively practised in the west indies, but there is no reason to suppose that it is rapidly gaining ground. f. h. will find ample information on the subject in père labat's _nouveau voyage aux isles françaises de l'amérique_, tome ii. p. ., and tome iv. pp. . . and ., edition of ; in bryan edwards' _history of the west indies_, vol. ii. ch. iii., th edition (london, ); and in dr. r. r. madden's _residence in the west indies_, vol. ii. letter . perhaps the following particulars from bryan edwards (who says he is indebted for them to a mr. long) on the etymology of _obeah_, may be acceptable to some of your readers:-- "the term _obeah_, _obiah_, or _obia_, (for it is variously written,) we conceive to be the adjective, and _obe_ or _obi_, the noun substantive; and that by the word _obia_--men or women--is meant those who practise _obi_. the origin of the term we should consider as of no importance, in our answer to the question proposed, if, in search of it, we were not led to disquisitions that are highly gratifying to curiosity. from the learned mr. bryant's commentary upon the word _oph_, we obtain a very probable etymology of the term. 'a serpent, in the egyptian language, was called _ob_ or _aub_.' '_obion_ is still the egyptian name for a serpent.' 'moses, in the name of god, forbids the israelites ever to inquire of the demon _ob_, which is translated in our bible, charmer or wizard, divinator aut sorcilegus.' 'the woman at endor is called _oub_ or _ob_, translated pythonissa; and _oubaois_ (he cites from _horus apollo_) was the name of the basilisk or royal serpent, emblem of the sun, and an ancient oracular deity of africa.'" one of your correspondents has formed a substantive from _obe_ by the addition of _ism_, and another from _obeah_ by the same process; but it will be seen by the above quotation that there is no necessity for that obtrusive termination, the superstitious practice in question being already sufficiently described by the word _obe_ or _obi_. henry h. breen. st. lucia, march, . * * * * * san marino. (vol. iii., p. .) on the death of sigismondo pandolfo malatesta, without legitimate male issue, in october, , pope paul ii. declared rimini and his other fiefs to have reverted to the holy see. in the spring of the following year the pontiff proceeded, with the assistance of the venetians, to enforce his claim, and threatened the republicans of san marino with his vengeance if they did not aid him and his allies in gaining possession of rimini, which roberto malatesta, one of the illegitimate sons of sigismondo pandolfo, had seized by stratagem. by advice of their faithful friend federigo, count of urbino, who was at the head of the opposite league, comprising the king of naples, the duke of milan, and the florentines, the san-marinese forwarded the papal mandate to florence, and requested through their ambassador, one ser bartolomeo, the support of that republic. several letters appear to have been sent in answer to their applications, and the one communicated by mr. sydney smirke is characterised by melchiarre delfico (_memorie storiche della repubblica di san marino._ capolago, , vo. p. .) as "del tutto didattica e parenetica intorno alla libertà, di cui i fiorentini facevano gran vanto, mentre erano quasi alla vigilia di perderla intieramente." san marino was not attacked during the campaign, which terminated on the th of august of the same year ( ) with the battle of vergiano, in which alessandro sforza, the commander of the papal forces, was signally defeated by federigo. san marino has never, so far as i have been able to ascertain, undergone the calamity of a siege, and its inhabitants have uninterruptedly enjoyed the blessing of self-government from the foundation of the republic in the third or fourth century to the present time, with the exception of the few months of , during which the infamous cesare borgia forced them to accept a podestà of his own nomination. various causes have contributed to this lengthened independence; but it may be stated that, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the san marinese owed it no less to their own patriotism, courage, prudence, and good faith, than to the disinterested protection of the counts and dukes of urbino, whose history has been so ably written by mr. dennistoun, in his recently published memoirs of that chivalrous race. the privileges of the republic were confirmed on the th of february, , by napoleon buonaparte, who offered to enlarge its territory,--a boon which its citizens were wise enough to decline; thinking, perhaps, with montesquieu, that-- "il est de la nature d'une république qu'elle n'ait qu'un petit territoire: sans cela, elle ne peut guère subsister."--_esprit des lois_, liv. viii. chap. . your readers will find some notices of san { } marino in addison's _remarks on several parts of italy_; aristotle's _politics_, translated by gillies, lib. ii. appendix. its lofty and isolated situation has supplied jean paul with a simile in his _unsichtbare loge_: "alle andre wissenschaften theilen sich jetzt in eine universal monarchie über alle leser: aber die alten sitzen mit ihren wenigen philologischen lehnsleuten einsam auf einem s. marino-felsen."--_jean paul's_ werke (berlin, , vo.), vol. i. p. . in the first line of the letter, "ved_a_to" should be ved_u_to; and in the seventh line, "difender_ai_" difender_vi_. f. c. b. * * * * * the bellman and his history. (vol. iii., p. .) the bellman's songs may be found in the _bellman's treasury, containing above a hundred several verses, fitted for all humours and fancies, and suited to all times and seasons_. london: vo. . extracts from this book are given in hone's _every day book_, vol. ii. p. . i have now before me a broadside thus entitled: "a copy of verses, humbly presented to the right worshipful the mayor, aldermen, and common councilmen, and the rest of my worthy masters and mistresses, dwelling in cambridge. by thomas adams, bellman, ." there is a large engraving, from a wood-block, apparently a century old, representing a bellman, in a flowing wig and a three-cornered hat, holding, in his right hand a bell, and in his left a javelin and lantern; his dog is behind him. the verses are: . prologue. . to the right worshipful the mayor. . to the aldermen. . to the common councilmen. . to the town clerk. . to the members for the town. . on the king. . on the queen. . on christmas day. . on new year's day. . to the young men. . to the young maids. . on charity. . on religion. . epilogue. this is marked as the th sheet; that is, as i suppose, the th set of verses presented by mr. adams. i have also a similar broadside, "by isaac moule, jun., bellman, ," being "no. iii." of mr. moule's performances. the woodcut is of a more modern character than mr. adams's, and delineates a bellman in a three-cornered hat, modern coat, breeches, and stockings, a bell in his right hand, and a small dog by his side. the bellman is represented as standing in front of the old shire hall in cambridge, having hobson's conduit on his right. the subjects of mr. moule's verses are similar to those of mr. adams, with the following variations. he omits verses to the town clerk, the members for the town, the queen, on charity, and on religion, and inserts verses "on st. crispin," and "to my masters and mistresses." the office of bellman in this town was abolished in , and to the bellman's verses have succeeded similar effusions from the lamplighters, who distribute copies when soliciting christmas boxes from the inhabitants. c. h. cooper. cambridge, april . . * * * * * replies to minor queries. "_god takes those soonest_," &c. (vol. iii., p. .).--in morwenstow churchyard, cornwall, there is this epitaph on a child:-- "those whom god loves die young! they see no evil days,-- no falsehood taints their tongue, no wickedness their ways. "baptized, and so made sure, to win their blest abode,-- what shall we pray for more? they die, and are with god!" c. e. h. the belief expressed in these words is of great antiquity. see the story of cleobis and biton, in herod. l. ., and the verse frown the [greek: dis exapatôn] of menander: "[greek: hon hoi theoi philousin apothnêskei neos]." meineke, _fragm. com. gr._, vol. iv. p. . l. i would suggest to t. h. k. that the origin of this line is menander's "[greek: hon hoi theoi philousin apothnêskei neos]." fragm. . in meineke, _fr. com. gr._ imitated by plautus: "quem di diligunt adulescens moritur." _bacch._ iv. . . whence the english adage, "whom the gods love die young." wordsworth's _excur._, b. i., has this sentiment: "o, sir, the good die first, and those whose hearts are dry as summer dust, burn to the socket." c. p. ph****. [several other correspondents have kindly replied to this query.] { } _disinterment for heresy_ (vol. iii, p. .).--mr. tracy's will, dated th october, d henry viii. [ ], is given at length in hall's _chronicle_ (ed. , p. .), where will be found the particulars of the case to which arun alludes. see also burnet's _history of the reformation_ (ed. , vol. i. pp. . , . .), and strype's _annals of the reformation_, vol. i. p. . strype states that mr. tracy's body was dug up and burnt "anno ." william tyndale wrote _exposition on mr. will. tracies will_, published in vo. at nuremburgh, . (wood's _athen. oxon._, vol. i. p. .) c. h. cooper. cambridge, april . . "william tracy, a worshipful esquire in gloucestershire, and then dwelling at todington," made a will, which was thought to contain heretical sentiments. his executor having brought in this will to be proved two years after tracy's death (in ), "the convocation most cruelly judged that he should be taken out of the ground, and burnt as an heretick," which was accordingly done; but the chancellor of the diocese of worcester, to whom the commission was sent for the burning, was fined _l_. for it by king henry viii. such is the story in fox's _martyrs_, anno (vol. ii. p. . ed. , which i have before me). exon. the date and some particulars of the exhumation of the body of w. tracy, esq., of toddington park, ancestor of the present lord sudeley, arun will find in foxe's _acts and monuments_, vol. v. p. . ed. , and the note in appendix will point out other sources. novus. _the vellum-bound junius_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--in the number dated april , , p. ., is a request for information relative to the "vellum-bound copy of junius;" also a reference to the subject in a prior number of the "notes and queries." not being in england, and not having the prior numbers, it is not possible to make myself acquainted with the subject contained in that reference, but i will endeavour to throw some light on the query in the number which has been forwarded to me. the writer of the _letters of junius_ was the secretary of the first marquis of lansdowne, better known as lord shelburne. from his lordship he obtained all the political information necessary for his compositions. the late marquis of lansdowne possessed the copy bound in vellum (two volumes), with many notes on the margin in lord shelburne's handwriting; they were kept locked up in a beautiful ebony casket bound and ornamented with brass. that casket has disappeared, at least so i have been told, and not many years ago inquiry was made for it by the present head of that house. maclean was a dark, strong-featured man, who wore his hat slouched over his eyes, and generally a large cloak. he often corrected the slips or proofs of his letters at cox's, a well-known printer near lincoln's inn, who deemed himself bound in honour never to divulge what he knew of that publication, and was agitated when once suddenly spoken to on the subject near the door of the small room in which the proofs were corrected, and with a high and honourable feeling requested never to be again spoken to on the subject. the late president of the royal academy, benjamin west, knew maclean; and his son, the late raphael west, told the writer of these remarks, that when a young man he had seen him in the evening at his father's in newman street, and once heard him repeat a passage in one of the letters which was not then published. a more correct and veracious man than mr. r. west could not be. maclean stammered, and was consequently of no use to lord shelburne as a debater and supporter in parliament. a place in the east indies was obtained for him, and he sailed in the aurora frigate for that dependency, and was lost in her at the same time with falconer, the author of the poem entitled _the shipwreck_. the able tract published by mr. pickering, piccadilly, would constitute a fair foundation on which to build the inquiry. Ægrotus. _pursuits of literature_ (vol. iii., p. .).--i trust that the following notes may be useful in assisting your correspondent s. t. d. to ascertain "how the author of the _pursuits of literature_ became known." the first edition of the first part of the _pursuits of literature_ appears to have been published in quarto, by j. owen, . piccadilly, in . in a volume of pamphlets i have the above bound up with the following:-- "the sphinx's head broken: or a poetical epistle, with notes to thomas james m*th**s, cl*rk to the q***n's tr**s*r*r. proving him to be the author of the pursuits of literature: a satirical poem. with occasional digressions and remarks. by andrew oedipus, an injured author. london: printed for j. bell, no. . oxford street, opposite new bond street, mdccxcviii." this epistle is a very severe castigation for mathias, whom oedipus styles the "little black jogging man," whose "politics and religion are very well, but he is a detestable pedant, and his head is a lumber-garret of greek quotations, which he raps out as a juggler does ribbands at a country fair." and speaking of "chuckle bennet," he calls him in a note, "a good calf-headed bookseller in pall mall, the intimate confidant and crony of little m*th**s, and who, upon owen's bankruptcy, published part iv. of _pursuits of literature_ himself." of owen, who published part i., our author says: { } "hither the sly little fellow got crony becket to send his satirical trumpery;" which is further explained in the following note: "becket's back door is in an alley close to his house; here have i often seen little m*th**s jog in and sit upon thorns for fear of being seen, in the back-parlour, chattering matters over with old numscull. after passing through many hands, the proof sheets at last _very slily_ reached little m*th**s that he might revise the learned lumber." after alluding to several pieces published by mathias, our unmerciful critic adds in another note: "it is very remarkable how strongly the characteristic features of identity of authorship are marked in these several pieces; the little man had not even the wit to print them in a different manner, yet strange to tell, few, very few, could smell the he-goat! "who reads thy _hazy weather_ but must swear, 'tis thomas james m*th**s to a hair!" mercurii. _dutch books_ (vol. iii., p. .).--martinus is probably aware that the library of the fagel family is now a part of the university library of dublin, and that it contains a very fine collection of dutch literature, in which it is very possible some of the books of which he is in search may be found. the auction catalogue prepared in , when the library was to have been sold by auction, had it not been purchased by the university of dublin, is printed, and a copy of it is at his service, if he will inform me through you how to send it to him. this library contains many rare tracts and documents well worthy of mr. macaulay's attention, if he is about to continue his history of the revolution; but i have not heard whether he has made any inquiry after them, or whether he is aware of their existence. there is a curious ms. catalogue of them in the possession of the university, which was too voluminous to be printed, when the library was about to be sold. hibernicus. _engilbert, archbishop of treves_ (vol. i., p .).--there can be no doubt that the bishop's reference is incorrect, and the suggestion of t. j. (vol. iii., p. .) to consult the reprint of affords no aid in setting it right; for there we find (p. .) a note as follows: "there was no engilbert, archbishop of treves, nor is there any work in this name in goldasti." i have, however, consulted mr. bowden's _life and pontificate of gregory vii._, in order, if possible, to find a clue; and in a note in vol. ii. p. . of that work is a statement of the hesitation of the pope on the doctrine of the eucharist, with a reference as follows: "vid. _egilberti_ archiep. trevir. epist. adv. greg. vii., in eccardi corp. historic. medii Ævi. t. ii. p. ." this reference i have verified, and found in the epistle of egilbertus the passage which, no doubt, bishop cosin refers to, and which mr. bowden cites: "en verus pontifex et sacerdos, qui dubitat si illud quod sumatur in dominicâ mensâ sit verum corpus et sanguis christi!" so much for that part of the difficulty, but another still remains. was there ever an egilbertus, or engilbertus, archbishop of treves? to solve this question i consulted a list of the archbishops of treves in the _bibliothèque sacrée_ of richard et giraud, and i there find the following statement: "_engelbert_, grand-prévôt de passau, fut intrus par la faveur de l'empereur henri iv., et sacré par des évêques schismatiques. il mourut en ." tyro. dublin. _charles lamb's epitaph_ (vol. iii., p. .).--according to mr. thorne (_rambles by rivers_, st series, p. .) the inscription in the churchyard at edmonton, to the memory of charles lamb, was written "by his friend, dr. carey, the translator of 'dante.'" mr. thorne gives an anecdote concerning this inscription which i venture to transcribe, in the expectation that it may interest your correspondent maria s., and others of your numerous readers. "we heard a piece of criticism on this inscription that lamb would have enjoyed. as we were copying it, a couple of canal excavators came across the churchyard, and read it over with great deliberation; when they had finished, one of them said, 'a very fair bit of poetry that;' 'yes,' replied his companion, 'i'm blest if it isn't as good a bit as any in the churchyard; rather too long, though.'" by "dr. carey," of course, is meant the rev. henry francis cary, m.a., vicar of bromley abbots, staffordshire, and assistant librarian in the british museum, as he was the translator of "dante," and an intimate friend of charles lamb. c. h. cooper. cambridge, april . . _charles ii. in wales_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in answer to davydd gam's query, it may be observed that i have never heard of the tradition in question, nor have i met with any evidence to show that charles ii. was in any part of wales at this period. in "the true narrative and relation of his most sacred majesty's escape from worcester," _selection from the harleian miscellany_, to., p. ., it is stated that the king meditated the scheme of crossing into wales from white ladies, the house of the penderells, but that "the design was crossed." one of the "boscobel tracts," at p. ., treating of the same period, and compiled by the king himself in , mentions his { } intention of making his escape another way, which was to get over the severn into wales, and so get either to swansea, or some other of the sea towns that he knew had commerce with france; beside that he "remembered several honest gentlemen" that were of his acquaintance. however, the scheme was abandoned, and the king fled to the southward by madeley, boscobel, &c., to cirencester, bristol, and into dorsetshire, and thence to brighton, where he embarked for france on the th oct., . lancaiach is still in possession of the prichard family, descendants of col. prichard. there is a tradition that charles i. slept there on his way from cardiff castle to brecon, in , and the tester of the bed in which his majesty slept is stated to have been in the possession of a cardiff antiquary now deceased. the facts of the case appear in the _iter carolinum_, printed by peck (_desiderata curiosa_). the king stayed at cardiff from the th july to the th august, , on which day he dined at llancaiach, and supped at brecon. j. m. t. "_ex pede herculem_" (vol. iii., p. .).--the following allusion to the foot of hercules occurs in _herodotus_, book iv. section .: "[greek: ichnos hêrakleos phainousi en petrêi eneon, to oike men bêmati andros, esti de to megathos dipêchu, para ton turên potamon.]" alfred gatty. the origin of this phrase is connected with the following story:--a certain greek (whose name has for the present escaped me, but who must have been ready to contribute to the "notes and queries" of his time) was one day observed carefully "stepping" over the [greek: aulos] or footrace-course at olympia; and he gave as a reason for so doing, that when that race-course was originally marked out, it was exactly six hundred times as long as hercules' foot (that being the distance hercules could run without taking breath): so that by ascertaining how many times the length of his own foot is contained, he would know how much hercules' foot exceeded his foot in length, and might therefrom calculate how much hercules' stature exceeded that of ordinary men of those degenerate days. j. eastwood. ecclesfield. this proverb does not appear to be of classical origin. several proverbs of a similar meaning are collected in diogenian, v. . the most common is, [greek: ek tôn onuchôn ton leonta], _ex ungue leonem_. the allusion to hercules is probably borrowed from some fable. l. _bucaneers_ (vol. i., p. .).--your correspondent c. will find an interesting account of the bucaneers in a poem by m. poirié st. aurèle, entitled _le flibustier_, and published by ambroise dupont & co., paris, . the introduction and notes furnish some curious particulars relative to the origin, progress, and dissolution of those once celebrated pirates, and to the daring exploits of their principal leaders, montauban, grammont, monbars, vand-horn, laurent de graff, and sir h. morgan. the book contains many facts which go far to support bryan edwards's favourable opinion. i may add that the author derives the french word _flibustier_ from the english _freebooter_, and the english word _bucaneer_ from the french _boucanier_; which latter word is derived from _boucan_, an expression used by the caribs to describe the place where they assembled to make a repast of their enemies taken in war. henry h. breen. st. lucia, march, . _god's acre_ (vol. iii., p. .).--by a _saxon_ phrase, mr. longfellow undoubtedly meant _german_. in germany _gottes-acker_ is a name for churchyard; and it is to be found in wachter's _glossarium germanicum_, as well as in modern dictionaries. it is true there is the other word _kirchhof_, perhaps of more modern date. "gots-aker. cæmeterium. quasi ager dei, quia corpora defunctorum fidelium comparantur semini. cor. xv. ., observante keyslero in _antiq. septentr._ p. ."--wachter's _gloss. germanicum_. very interesting are also the other allegorical names which have been given to the burial-places of the dead. they are enlarged upon in minshew's _guide to tongues_, under the head "churchyard." "cæmeterium (from the greek), signifying a dormitory or place of sleep. and a hebrew term (so minshew says), beth-chajim, _i. e._ domus viventium, 'the house of the living,' in allusion to the resurrection." our matter-of-fact "church-_yard_ or inclosure" falls dull on the ear and mind after any of the above titles. hermes. _god's acre._--the term _god's acre_, as applied to a church-garth, would seem to designate the consecrated ground set apart as the resting-place of his faithful departed, sown with immortal seed ( cor. xv. .), which shall be raised in glory at the great harvest (matt. xiii. .; rev. xiv. .). the church-yard is "dedicated wholly and only for christian burial," and "the bishop and ordinary of the diocese, as _god's minister, in god's stead accepts it_ as a freewill offering, to be severed from all former profane and common uses, to be held as holy ground," and "to be _god's storehouse_ for the bodies of his saints there to be interred." see "bishop andrewes' form of consecration of a churchyard," _minor works_, pp. - ., oxf., . mackenzie walcott, m.a. { } p.s. when was the name of _poet's corner_ first attached to the south transept of westminster abbey? jermyn street. _abbot eustacius_, of whom j. l. (vol. iii., p. .) asks, was the abbot of flay, and came over from normandy to england, and preached all through this kingdom with much effect in the beginning of john's reign, a. d. , as roger hovedene tells us, _annal._, ed. savile, london, , _fos._ . _b_, . _b._ wendover (iii. .) and matt. paris _in anno_, mention him. d. rock. _vox populi vox dei_ (vol. iii., p. .) is, i find, a much older proverb in england than edward iii.'s reign, for whose coronation sermon it was chosen the text, not by simon mepham, but walter reynolds, as your correspondent st. johns rightly says. speaking of the way in which st. odo yielded his consent to the abp. of canterbury, circ. a. d. , william of malmesbury writes: "recogitans illud proverbium, _vox populi vox dei_."--_de gestis pont._, l. i. fo. ., ed. savile. d. rock. _francis moore and his almanack_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. knight, in his _london_, vol. iii. p. ., throws a little light on this subject: "the renowned francis moore seems to have made his first appearance about the end of the seventeenth century. he published a _kalendarium ecclesiasticum_ in , and his earliest _vox stellarum_ or _almanac_, as far as we can discover, came out in ," &c. but mr. knight is not sure that "francis moore" was not a _nom de guerre_, although at p. . he gives the portrait of the "physician" from an anonymous print, published in . a. a. abridge. there is an irish edition published in drogheda, sold for threepence, and _embellished_ with a portrait of francis moore. can ireland claim this worthy? many farmers and others rely much on the weather prophecies of this almanack. a tenant of mine always announces to me triumphantly that "moore is right:" but his triumphs come at very long intervals. k. i can answer part of h. p. w.'s query. francis moore's celebrated _almanack_ first appeared in . we have this date upon his own confession. before his _almanack_ for is a letter which begins thus: "kind reader, "this being the rd year since my almanack first appeared to the world, and having for several years presented you with observations that have come to pass to the admiration of many, i have likewise presented you with several hieroglyphics," &c. edward f. rimbault. that such a personage really did exist there can be little doubt, bromley (in _engraved portraits, &c._) gives as the date of his birth, and says that there was a portrait of him by drapentier _ad vivum_. lysons mentions him as one of the remarkable men who, at different periods, resided at lambeth, and says that his house was in calcott's alley, high street, then called back lane, where he seems to have enlightened his generation in the threefold capacity of astrologer, physician, and schoolmaster. j. c. b. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, sales, catalogues, etc. professor de morgan has just furnished a new contribution to _l' art de vérifier les dates_, in the shape of a small but most useful and practical book, entitled _the book of almanacks, with an index of reference, by which the almanack may be found for every year, whether in the old style or new, from any epoch ancient or modern up to_ a. d. . _with means of finding the day of any new or full moon from_ b. c. _to_ a. d. . an example will show, better even than this ample title-page, the great utility of this work to the historical enquirer. walter scott, speaking of the battle of bannockburn, which was fought on the day of st. john the baptist, june , , says, "it was a night of lovely june, high rose in cloudless blue the moon." now, should the reader be desirous of testing the accuracy of this statement, (and how many statements have ere this been tested by the fact of the moon's age!), he turns to professor de morgan's index, which at gives epact ., dominical letter f., number of almanack . turning to this almanack, he finds that the th june was on a monday; from the introduction (p. xiii.) and a very easy calculation, he learns that the full moon of june, , would be on the th, or within a day, and from a more exact method (at p. xiv.), that the full moon was within two hours of nine a.m., on the th. so that sir walter was correct, there being more than half moon on the night of which he was speaking. such an instance as the one cited will show how valuable the _book of almanacks_ must prove to all historical students, and what a ready test it furnishes as to accuracy of dates, &c. it must take its place on every shelf beside sir h. nicolas' _chronology of history_. we doubt not that many of our readers share our feeling as to the importance of children's books, from the influence they may be destined to exercise upon generations yet unborn. to all such we shall be doing acceptable service by pointing out mrs. alfred gatty's little volume, _the fairy godmothers and other tales_, as one which combines the two essentials of good books for children; namely, imagination to attract, and sound morals to instruct. both these requisites will be found in mrs. gatty's most pleasing collection of tales, which do not require the very clever frontispiece by miss barker to render the volume an acceptable gift to all "good little masters and mistresses." { } messrs. sotheby and wilkinson ( . wellington street, strand) will commence on monday a six-days' sale of most interesting autograph letters, historical documents, and original mss. of distinguished writers, as that of _kenilworth_ in the autograph of sir w. scott, of _madoc_ in that of southey, unpublished poems by burns, and _le second manuscrit venu de st. hélène_. one of the most curious lots is no. , shakspeare's play of _henry iv._, two parts condensed into one,--a contemporary and unique manuscript, being the only one known to exist of any of the productions by the sweet bard of avon. it is presumed to be a playhouse copy with corrections in the autograph of sir edward deering of surrenden, in kent, (who died in ); and, as no printed copy is known to contain the various corrections and alterations therein, is supposed to have been so corrected for the purposes of private representation, it being well known that theatricals formed a portion of the amusements in vogue at that baronet's country seat during the early portion of the reign of james i. our readers will remember that the shakspeare society showed their sense of its value by printing it under the editorship of mr. halliwell. catalogues received.--emerson charnley's ( . bigg market, newcastle-upon-tyne) catalogue part iv. of books old and new; w. brown's ( . high holborn) catalogue part liii. of valuable second-hand books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. diana (antoninus) compendium resolutionem moralium. antwerp.-colon. - . passionael efte dat levent der heiligen. folio. basil, . cartari--la rosa d'oro pontificia. to. rome, . broemel, m. c. h., fest-tanzen der ersten christen. jena, . the complaynt of scotland, edited by leyden. vo. edin. . thom's lays and legends of various nations. parts i. to vii. mo. . l'abbÉ de saint pierre, projet de paix perpetuelle. vols. mo. utrecht, . chevalier ramsay, essai de politique, où l'on traite de la nécessité, de l'origine, des droits, des bornes en des différentes formes de la souveraineté, selon les principes de l'auteur de télémaque. vols. mo. la haye, without date, but printed in . the same. second edition, under the title "essai philosophique sur le gouvernement civil, selon les principes de fénélon," mo. londres, . pullen's etymological compendium, vo. cooper's (c. p.) account of public records, vo. . vol. i. lingard's history of england. sm. vo. . vols. x. xi. xii. xiii. miller's (john, of worcester coll.) sermons. oxford, (or about that year). *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _although we have this week again enlarged our paper to twenty-four pages, we have been compelled to postpone many interesting articles. among these we may particularise "illustrations of chaucer, no. vi.," a valuable paper by_ mr. singer _on "john tradescant," and another on the "tradescent family" by_ mr. pinkerton; _and many replies_. a. x. _the brussels edition of the_ biographie universelle _is in vols. bickers of leicester square marks a copy half-bound in vols. at five guineas._ trivia _and_ a. a. d. _the oft-quoted line_ "tempora mutantur," &c., _is from borbonius_. _see_ "notes and queries," vol. i., pp. . . a. a. d. _is referred to_ p. . _of our last number for an explanation of "mind your ps and qs."_ nemo's _query respecting pope joan was inserted in_ no. . p. .; _a reply to it appears in_ no. . p. .; _and we have several more communications to which we hope to give insertion next week_. replies received.--_ramasse--prayer at the healing--m. or n.--deans very reverend--family of the tradescants--epitaph on the countess of pembroke--west chester--demosthenes and new testament--pope joan--handbills at funerals--ventriloquist hoax--solid-hoofed pigs--aerial apparitions--apple-pie order--wife of james torre--snail-eating--epigram by t. dunbar._ vols. i. _and_ ii., _each with very copious index, may still be had, price_ s. d. _each_. notes and queries _may be procured, by order, of all booksellers and newsvenders. it is published at noon on friday, so that our country subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. many of the country booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ notes and queries _in their saturday parcels_. _all communications for the editor of_ notes and queries _should be addressed to the care of_ mr. bell, no. . fleet street. errata.--page . l. . for "burkdo_n_" read "burkdo_u_." (i. e. bourdeaux); p. . l. . for "la_u_rando" read "la_ce_rando;" and in p. . instead of between the years " and ," read " and ;" and we are requested to add that the churchwardens' account of s. mary de castro, leicester, had disappeared from the parish chest long prior to the time mentioned. * * * * * printing. a lecture, speech, sermon, or oration, occupying about three quarters of an hour in delivery, printed on good paper, in bold clear type: copies, l. s. d.; copies, l. s. circulars, note size, printed on cream-laid note paper, fly leaf, s. d., ditto, on superfine cream-laid letter paper, fly leaf, l. s. bateman and hardwicke, . carey street, lincoln's inn. * * * * * this day is published, fcap. vo., price s., pleasures, objects, and advantages of literature. by the rev. r. a. willmott, st. catherine's, bear wood, author of "jeremy taylor, a biography." london: t. bosworth, . regent street. * * * * * new work by professor de morgan. this day, in one volume, oblong vo., price s., cloth, the book of almanacs; with index, by which the almanac belonging to any year preceding a. d. can be found; with means of finding new and full moons from b. c. to a. d. . by augustus de morgan, professor of mathematics in university college, london. the "book of almanacs" will enable any one to lay open before him the whole almanac of any past year, of the present year, or of any future year, up to a. d. , whether in old style or new, by one consultation of a simple index. this book will be useful to all who ever want an almanac, past, present, or future;--to clergymen, as a perpetual index to the sundays and festivals;--to lawyers in arranging evidence which runs over a long period, and to courts of law in hearing it;--to historical and antiquarian inquirers, in testing statements as to time and date;--to all, in fact, who are ever required to interest themselves about time past or future. taylor, walton, and maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * now ready, royal vo., pp. . s. a copious and critical latin-english lexicon, founded on the larger latin-german lexicon of dr. william freund; with additions and corrections from the lexicons of gesner, facciolati, scheller, georges, &c. &c. by e. a. andrews, ll.d. london: sampson low, . fleet street. new york: harper and brothers. * * * * * { } [illustration] great exhibition. * * * * * central avenue. * * * * * an illustrated priced catalogue of church furniture contributed by gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, forwarded free by post on application. * * * * * parcels delivered carriage free in london, daily. * * * * * catalogues of john russell smith's literary collections. . parts i. and ii. of a classified catalogue of , ancient and modern pamphlets. . books on the history and topography of great britain, arranged in counties. . twelve hundred books and pamphlets relating to america. . five hundred books relating to the counties of kent, sussex, and surrey. . ancient manuscripts, deeds, charters, and other documents relating to english families and counties. . parts ii. and iii. for , of choice, useful, and curious books, in most classes of literature, containing articles. *** any of the above catalogues may be had, gratis, on application, or any one will be sent by post on receipt of four postage labels to frank it. . old compton street, soho, london. * * * * * just published, mo. cloth, s. the dialect and folk-lore of northamptonshire. a glossary of northamptonshire provincialisms, collection of fairy-legends, popular superstitions, &c. by thomas sternberg. "a skilful attempt to record a local dialect."--_notes and queries_, no. . "mr sternberg has evinced a striking and peculiar aptitude for this branch of enquiry."--_northampton mercury._ "the notes on folk-lore are curious, and worthy consultation."--_gentleman's magazine._ j. russell smith, . old compton street, soho, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. valuable new principle. payment of premiums may be occasionally suspended without forfeiting the policy, on a new and valuable plan, adopted by this society only, as fully detailed in the prospectus. a. scratchley, m.a., actuary and secretary; author of "industrial investment and emigration; being a second edition of a treatise on benefit building societies, &c." price s. d. london: j. w. parker, west strand. * * * * * [illustration] committee for the repair of the tomb of geoffrey chaucer. john bruce, esq., treas. s.a., , upper gloucester street, dorset square. j. payne collier, esq., v.p.s.a., geys house, maidenhead. peter cunningham, esq., f.s.a., madeley villas, kensington. william richard drake, esq., f.s.a., _honorary treasurer_, . parliament street. thomas w. king, esq., f.s.a., york herald, college of arms, st. paul's. sir frederick madden, k.h., british museum. john gough nichols, esq., f.s.a., . parliament st. henry shaw, esq., f.s.a., . southampton row, russell square. samuel shepherd, esq., f.s.a., marlborough square, chelsea. william j. thoms, esq., f.s.a., _honorary secretary_, . holy-well street, millbank, westminster. the tomb of geoffrey chaucer in westminster abbey stands in need of repair. the portrait and the inscriptions have disappeared; the overhanging canopy has suffered damage; the table is chipped and broken; the base is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay. such an announcement is calculated to stir every heart that can respond to the claims of poetry, or feel grateful for the delight which it affords to every cultivated mind. it summons us, like the sound of a trumpet, "to the rescue!" it cannot be that the first and almost the greatest of english bards should ever be allowed to want a fitting memorial in our "poet's corner," or that the monument which was erected by the affectionate respect of nicholas brigham, nearly three centuries ago, should, in our time, be permitted to crumble into dust. a sum under one hundred pounds will effect a perfect repair. it is thought that there can be no difficulty in raising such a sum, and that multitudes of people in various conditions of life, and even in distant quarters of the globe, who venerate the name of chaucer, and have derived instruction and delight from his works, will be anxious to contribute their mite to the good deed. the committee have therefore not thought it right to fix any limit to the subscription; they themselves, with the aid of several distinguished noblemen and gentlemen, have opened the list with a contribution from each of them of five shillings, but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them. the design of the committee is sanctioned by the approval of the earl of carlisle, the earl of ellesmere, the earl of shaftesbury, lord braybrooke. lord londesborough, lord mahon, the right hon. c. w. w. wynn, and by the concurrence of the dean and chapter of westminster. an account of the sums received and expended will be published when the work is completed. subscriptions are received by all the members of the committee, and at the union bank, pall mall east. post-office orders may be made payable to william richard drake, esq., the treasurer, . parliament street, at the charing cross office. * * * * * { } in a few days will be published, in one handsome volume vo., profusely illustrated with engravings by jewitt, some account of domestic architecture in england; from the conquest to the end of the thirteenth century. with numerous illustrations of existing remains from original drawings. by t. hudson turner. the table of contents of this volume will best explain its object. introduction. the romans in england--their villas and houses--ordinary plan of a roman house--method of building--the saxons--their style of building; they probably occupied roman houses--a saxon hall--houses of winchester and london in the saxon period--decoration of buildings--romanesque style of architecture introduced during the saxon period--drawings in saxon mss., their character and value as architectural evidence--the greek, or byzantine school; its influence on saxon art--antiquity of chimneys; none at rome in the fourteenth century--character of the military buildings of the saxons--the castles of coningsburgh and bamborough later than the saxon period--arundel, the only castle said to have been standing in the time of the confessor--norman castles--domestic architecture of the normans--stone quarries--use of plaster--bricks and tiles--brickmaking, its antiquity in england--masons and other workmen--glazing--iron works in england--architectural designs of the middle ages, how made--working moulds of masons, &c. chapter i.--twelfth century. general remarks--imperfect character of existing remains of the twelfth century--materials for the history of domestic architecture; their nature--general plan of houses at this date--halls--other apartments of ordinary houses--bedchamber, kitchen, larder, &c.--king's houses at clarendon and other places--hall, always the chief feature of a norman house--alexander necham, his description of a house--plan of norman halls--their roofs--situation of other apartments relatively to the hall--kitchens--cooking in the open air--bayeux tapestry--remains of a norman house at appleton, berks--fences, walls, &c.--some norman houses built in the form of a parallelogram, and of two stories--boothby pagnell, lincolnshire--christ church, hants--jews' house at lincoln--moyses' hall, bury st. edmund's--staircases, internal and external--external norman stair at canterbury--houses at southampton--building materials--use of lead for roofs--english lead exported to france--style of norman roofs--metal work; hinges, locks, nail-heads, &c.--gloucester celebrated for its iron manufactures--external decoration of buildings--windows--glazing--fire-places--kitchens open in the roof--hostelry of the prior of lewes--internal walls plastered--furniture of houses, tapestry, &c--floors generally of wood--character london houses in the twelfth century--assize of regulating buildings in london--assize of the year relating to the same subject--- majority of london houses chiefly of wood and thatched--wages of workmen--cookshops on thames side--chimneys not mentioned in the london assizes, &c. chapter ii.--existing remains. oakham castle, rutlandshire--the king's house, southampton--minster, isle of thanet--christ church, hants--manor-house at appleton--sutton courtney, berks--st. mary's guild, and jews' houses, lincoln--staircase, canterbury--warnford, hants--fountain's abbey--priory, dover--moyses' hall, bury st. edmund's--hostelry of the prior of lewes, southwark--boothby pagnell, lincolnshire--barnack, northamptonshire--school of pythagoras, cambridge--notes on remains of early domestic architecture in france. chapter iii.--thirteenth century. general remarks--hall at winchester--reign of henry iii. remarkable for the progress of architecture--condition of norman castles in the thirteenth century--plan of manor-houses at this date--house built for edward i. at woolmer, hants--description of house at toddington, by m. paris--meaning of term _palatium_--longthorpe, stoke-say castle--west deane, sussex--aydon castle--little wenham hall--two halls at westminster, temp henry iii.--temporary buildings erected at westminster for the coronation of edward i.--private hospitality in this century--kitchens--wardrobes--influence of feudal manners on domestic architecture--building materials--wood extensively used--manor-house of timber engraved on a personal seal--extensive use of plaster--roofs of the thirteenth century--windows--glass and glazing--digression on the history of glass-making in england--no glass made in england until the fifteenth century--wooden lattices, fenestrals, &c.--fire-places and chimneys--mantels--staircases, external and internal--internal decoration of houses--wainscote--polychrome--artists of the time of henry iii.; their style--their names--spurs, screens, &c.--tapestry not used in private dwellings in the thirteenth century. flooring--tiles--baths cameræ privatæ--conduits and drains--houses in towns--parisian houses--other foreign examples--furniture--carpets--general state of england in the thirteenth century--state of towns--london and winchester compared--travelling--hackneymen--inns--state of trade in england--agriculture--remarks on horticulture. chapter iv.--thirteenth century.--existing remains. aydon castle, northumberland--godmersham, kent--little wenham hall, suffolk--longthorpe, near peterborough--charney basset, berks--master's house, st. john's hospital, northampton--stoke-say castle, shropshire--coggs, oxfordshire--cottesford, oxfordshire--parsonage house, west tarring, sussex--archdeacon's house, peterborough--crowhurst, sussex--bishop's palace, wells--woodcroft castle, northamptonshire--old rectory house, west deane, sussex--acton burnell, shropshire--somerton castle, lincolnshire--old soar, kent--the king's hall at winchester--the priory, winchester--stranger's hall, winchester--house at oakham, known as flore's house--thame, oxfordshire--chipping-norton, oxfordshire--middleton cheney, oxfordshire--sutton courtney, berkshire. chapter v.--historical illustrations. extracts from the liberate rolls of henry iii., - , relating to the following places:-- bridgenorth -- brigstock -- brill -- bristol -- canterbury -- clarendon -- cliff -- clipstone -- corfe castle -- dover -- dublin -- evereswell -- feckenham -- freemantle -- geddington -- gillingham -- gloucester -- guildford -- havering -- hereford -- hertford -- kennington -- litchfield -- london, (tower) -- ely house -- ludgershall -- marlborough -- newcastle -- northampton -- nottingham -- oxford -- rochester -- sherbourn -- silverstone -- westminster -- winchester -- windsor -- woodstock. supplementary notes of foreign examples. general remarks -- treves -- laon -- ratisbon -- gondorf -- metz -- toulouse -- laon -- brée -- coucy -- carden -- tours -- angers -- fontevrault, (kitchen) -- perigueux -- st. emilion -- mont st. michel -- beauvais. appendix of documents. oxford: john henry parker; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. brid in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . * * * * * corrections made to printed original. page , "knew william of deloraine" - 'delorane' in original. page , "at the end of a postscript" - 'postcript' in original. generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page original english royal letters to the grand masters of malta, by william winthrop fata morgana, by j. macray on the destruction of monumental brasses original letter of the countess of blessington to sir william drummond minor notes:--the late judge talfourd--authors' trustee society--the old clock at alderley--the olympic plain, &c.--electric telegraph--irish law in the eighteenth century--gravestone inscriptions queries:-- minor queries:--paintings of our saviour--heraldic-- dedication of kemerton church--consolato del mare-- consonants in welsh--atonement--sir stephen fox-- "account of an expedition to the interior of new holland"--darwin on steam--scottish female dress-- "the innocents," a drama--waugh of cumberland-- norton--de la fond--"button cap"--cobb family-- prince charles' attendants in spain--sack minor queries with answers:--ralph ashton the commander-- christopher hervie--dannocks--brass in all saints, newcastle-upon-tyne--imperfect bible--the poem of "helga"--"merryweather's tempest prognosticator"-- edward spencer's marriage--yew-tree at crowhurst replies:-- the electric telegraph in factitious pedigrees: dixon of beeston, by lord monson, e. p. shirley, &c. licences to crenellate, by the rev. w. sparrow simpson, &c. newspaper folk lore, by c. mansfield ingleby, &c. french season rhymes and weather rhymes, by edgar macculloch vault interments: burial in an erect posture: interment of the trogloditæ do conjunctions join propositions only? by h. l. mansel, &c. has execution by hanging been survived? photographic correspondence:--a stereoscopic note-- photographic query--deepening collodion negatives-- caution to photographers replies to minor queries:--artesian wells--prior's epitaph on himself--handwriting--"begging the question"--when and where does sunday begin or end?--precious stones-- scotch grievance--"corporations have no souls," &c.-- devereux bowly--reversible names--duval family, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * a new edition, in fcap. vo., price s. cloth: s. bound in embossed roan; or s. d. calf lettered. maunder's historical treasury: comprising a general introductory outline of universal history, ancient and modern, and a series of separate histories of every principal nation. new edition, revised. also, all uniform in size and price. maunder's biographical treasury; maunder's treasury of knowledge; treasury of natural history; and scientific and literary treasury. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * just published, in mo., price s. d., cloth, an account of the life and letters of cicero, translated from the german of abeken. edited by the rev. c. merivale, b.d., late fellow of st. john's college, cambridge; author of "history of the romans under the empire," "the fall of the roman republic," &c. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * archÆology of the streets of dublin, and celtic records of ireland, etc. for the series of papers illustrating the above, see vols. i. ii. and iii. of the "irish quarterly review." price, bound, s. each. london: simpkin & co. dublin: w. b. kelly. * * * * * this day, price s. d. sewed, or s. d. cloth. signs of the times; the moslem and his end, the christian and his hope. by the rev. john cumming, d.d. arthur hall, virtue, & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * in mo., price s. d. thucydides, book the second: with english notes, and grammatical references. edited by the rev. t. k. arnold, m.a., late rector of lyndon, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, waterloo place; of whom may be had (uniformly printed and edited), the first book of thucydides. price s. d. * * * * * the late duke of wellington. now ready, vols. vo., s. the speeches in parliament of field marshal his grace the duke of wellington. collected and arranged. also, a new edition, vo., s. col. gurwood's selection from the wellington despatches and general orders, arranged as a convenient travelling volume for officers. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review. no. clxxxviii. advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the th, and bills for insertion by the th april. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series): consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * on friday, march st, s. (post free, s. d.) the journal of sacred literature. no. xi. (april) commencing vol. vi. new series. . the bible and the common people. . on miracles. . the inspired character of the four gospels. . discrepancy and inspiration not incompatible. . hebrew tenses. . popular biblical writers--dr. kitto. . the burial of moses. . st. paul and josephus. correspondence, notices, intelligence, &c. blackader & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * in a few days, price d., stamped d., no. i. of the bibliographers's manual and collector's assistant: a periodical register of new and second-hand books, mss., autographs, prints, and literary miscellanies, on sale at very exceeding low prices by john gray bell, . oxford street, manchester. *** specimen number sent for postage stamp. * * * * * now ready gratis, and post free on the receipt of one postage stamp, part ii. of a catalogue of ancient and modern books in all classes of literature, offered at very low prices. nattali & bond, . bedford street, covent garden. * * * * * { } valuable books, for sale by thomas kerslake, bookseller, bristol. * * * * * biblia polyglotta, walton, and castelli lexicon. folio, vols., guineas. heraldic drawings: a series of nearly coats of arms to illustrate collinson's "somerset," beautifully executed in tincture on drawing paper, royal to., guineas. curtis's flora londinensis, by graves and hooker, coloured plates, folio, vols., half morocco, uncut, guineas (cost l.). dugdale's warwickshire, by thomas, , folio, vols., large paper, very rare, beautiful copy, russia, extra, gilt edges, sir m. sykes's copy, guineas. encyclopædia britannica, last edition, by napier, many hundred plates, to., vol., very handsomely bound, calf gilt, l. gough's sepulchral monuments, - , vols., a fine set, guineas. hesiod's opera, aldus, , folio, with numerous ancient greek manuscript notes in the handwriting of demetrius chalcondyles, editor of the first edition of homer of , l. s. ormerod's cheshire, , folio, vols., half russia, gilt, uncut, l. pennant's london, , illustrated by a very extensive collection of many hundred portraits, views. maps. &c., all very carefully mounted and inlaid on tinted paper, atlas folio, vols., russia, extra gilt, gilt edges, formerly the property of king george iv., l. s. philo judæus, mangey, , folio, vols., very handsomely bound, russia, gilt, l. s. piranesi opere, about plates, atlas folio, complete set, bound in vols., half russia, gilt, guineas. (about the sum paid by lord lichfield for the binding alone, besides l. for some additions in order to render it thoroughly complete.) purchas's voyages and travels, - , with the rare frontispiece, folio, vols., calf gilt, guineas. rees's cyclopædia, vols., in very neat whole calf binding, l. s. (half the cost of the binding.) rosellini monumenti dell' egitto e della nubia, plates, atlas folio, and vols., vo., l. (cost l.) swift's works, by scott, , vols., calf extra, gilt, a very beautiful set, l. s. turner's, (j. m. w.) picturesque views of the southern coast of england, , folio, large paper, most brilliant impressions, half russia, gilt, l. s. *** it will be necessary to order direct from the advertiser. the net cash prices being fixed, there can be no commission nor discount to booksellers or agents. just ready, a catalogue of books, including a portion of the library of the rt. hon. warren hastings, will be franked for one postage stamp. also, a catalogue of valuable books, including a portion of the library of the late king louis-phillipe. franked, four stamps. also, catalogues of several other collections of books lately bought. thomas kerslake, bristol. * * * * * parlour library.--april. * * * * * beauchamp, or the error: a story of english life, by g. p. r. james, boards, s. d. lately published in this series, viz.:-- tenant of wildfell hall. by acton bell, s. d. henry of guise. by g. p. r. james. s. d. scottish heiress. by r. m. daniels. s. mordaunt hall. by author of "emelia wyndham." s. d. rifle rangers. by captain mayne reid. s. d. lover upon trial. by lady lyons. s. monte christo. by alex. dumas. vols. s. * * * * * london: thomas hodgson, paternoster row. * * * * * murray's british classics. publishing monthly, in demy octavo volumes. * * * * * this day, with portrait and maps. vol. i. vo., s. d. (to be completed in vols.). gibbbon's decline and fall of the roman empire. with notes by milman end guizot. a new edition. edited with additional notes, by william smith. ll.d., editor of the "dictionary of greek and roman antiquities," &c. this edition includes the autobiography of gibbon, and is distinguished by careful revision of the text, verification of all the references to ancient writers, and notes incorporating the researches of modern scholars and recent travellers. vol. ii. will appear on march st. _examiner._--mr. murray's british classics, so edited and printed as to take the highest place in any library. * * * * * now ready, with vignette titles, vols. i. and ii., vo., s. d. each (to be completed in vols.). the works of oliver goldsmith. a new edition. edited by peter cunningham, f.s.a., author of the "handbook of london." this edition is printed from the last revised by the author, and not only contains more pieces than any other, but is also the first in which the works appear together exactly as their author left them. vol. iii. will appear in april. _guardian._--the best editions have been consulted, and the present volume certainly gives evidence of careful and conscientious editing. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * just published (post, stamps). williams & norgate's theological catalogue.--german and french publications at very reduced prices. (post, stamps.) scientific book circular.--new books, and books at reduced prices. (post, stamps.) williams & norgate. importers of foreign books, . henrietta street, covent garden, london. * * * * * vo., s. d. on the influence of authority in matters of opinion. by g. cornewall lewis. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * vo., s. view of the art of colonisation, with present reference to the british empire. by edward gibbon wakefield. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * third edition, vols. vo., s. principles of political economy. by john stuart mill. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * vols. vo., s. on the methods of observation and reasoning in politics. by g. cornewall lewis. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * third edition, much enlarged, s. the cloister life of the emperor charles the fifth. by william stirling, m.p. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * fourth edition, s. arundines cami, sive musarum cantabrigiensium lusus canori. collegit atque edidit henricus drury, m.a. london: john w. parker & son, cambridge: deighton. * * * * * this day. vo., with map s. claudius ptolemy and the nile; or, an inquiry into the geographer's real merit and speculative errors, his knowledge of eastern africa and the authenticity of the mountains of the moon. by w. d. cooley. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, march , ._ notes. original english royal letters to the grand masters of malta. (_continued from_ vol. ix., p. .) it will be remembered that the last english royal letters which we sent were translations of those from henry viii. to l'isle adam; and finding none recorded of edward vi., mary i., elizabeth, james i, charles i. (or from cromwell), we come to the reign of charles ii. we have now before us ten letters bearing the autograph of this monarch, all of which we hope to forward in due course according to their dates. the two of the earliest date are as follow. the first was written to introduce the english admiral, sir thomas allen, who had been sent with a squadron into the mediterranean to protect english commerce; and the second, to claim from the order a large amount of property which belonged to roger fowke, the english consul at cyprus, and had been seized by a maltese commander in one of his cruises against the turks in the neighbourhood of that island. their perusal will serve to show the deep interest taken by charles ii. in all which related to the commercial affairs or legal rights of his subjects. william winthrop. malta. no. vii. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most illustrious and most high prince, the lord nicholas cottoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--greeting: most illustrious and most high prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. having deemed it fitting to despatch a squadron of ships under the command of our well-beloved and valiant sir thomas allen, knight, for the protection of the freedom of navigation and commerce of our subjects in the mediterranean sea, which is never too sure, and sometimes becomes endangered, we have determined to request your highness, by right of amity, to permit him and our ships under his command, as friends, to touch, in case of need, at any of the coasts of your highness' dominions; and also to allow our ships to make use of your highness' harbours, whenever it may become necessary to refit or re-victual them; and that they may purchase at a proper price those things which they may require, and experience such other offices of friendship and humanity as may be needful: and as we no way doubt of your highness' amicable feelings towards us and ours, we are desirous that your highness should be assured that on any opportunity offering, we will reciprocate with equal readiness and benevolence. it only remains for us to express our wishes for your highness' perfect health and prosperous success everywhere. given in our palace of westminster, on the th day of the month of january, in the year of our lord - . your highness' good cousin and friend, charles rex. * * * * * no. viii. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. to the most illustrious and most high prince, the lord nicholas cottoner, grand master of the order of malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--greeting: most illustrious and most high prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. some years have elapsed since we first addressed letters to your highness concerning certain goods and merchandise, to the value of pieces of eight, which had been unjustly seized by some of the ships which it is customary to despatch annually from your highness' island to cruise against the turks in the neighbourhood of cyprus, from our subject roger fowke, a person for many reasons by us well beloved, and our consul in the island of cyprus; and also concerning the sentence which, after many delays and much trouble, had been at last unjustly given in favour of your people. farther complaints have, however, been received from our subject, stating that our letters have had little effect with your highness, and that he, already wearied with long expectation, has not had anything restored, that his expenses are increasing to a great amount, and that little or no hope remains of reparation for his loss. painful, indeed, was it to us to hear our subject relate such injustice on the part of the knights of malta; we, however, thought is right to make it clearly appear that nothing has remained untried to bring back to more sane counsels the generous minds of the maltese; and therefore, under the advice of our privy council, we deemed proper to refer, without loss of time, the complaint of our subject, together with the letters which we formerly addressed to your highness, and those which your highness latterly wrote to us, to our advocate in our high court of admiralty, sir robert wyseman, knight; who, having well considered the whole, has expressed his opinion in the following terms: "i have read and seriously pondered the petition of roger fowke, transmitted to me by your { } majesty's special mandate; as also the letters written by your majesty to the grand master of the order of malta in favour of the above-mentioned, and those from the said grand master in reply; and it is evident to me, after mature examination, that your majesty has done so much, and that it is proved that the sentence of the maltese tribunal against the said roger fowke was pronounced contrary to right and justice (as is clearly shown in the letters written by your majesty to the grand master); that therefore it appears to be incumbent on me only to set forth to your majesty, and to the lords of the privy council, whether it be my opinion that sufficient satisfaction has been given by the grand master's letters to your majesty, who by the above-cited letters demand restitution; and if not, whether in consequence it be lawful to your majesty to grant the so-called letters of reprisal, on which subject i beg humbly to submit to your majesty, and to the singular prudence and judgment of the above-mentioned lords, this my opinion; that is to say, that the answers of the grand master are so far from being in any way satisfactory, that from them it may be easily perceived that the above-mentioned grand master, although he does not deny in express terms reparation for his loss to the above roger, nevertheless does not decree anything certain on this head; from which your majesty may reasonably conclude that the said reparation was refused. nor does it tend to his defence that he asserts that all that was done by his tribunal was done by solemn sentence, that the judges were men of great reputation, and that it is to be believed that the reasons produced by both sides were justly considered; for judicial authority is not of the same value as regards foreigners and subjects. it is not lawful for subjects to demand a re-examination of the sentence pronounced by their superiors, although to foreign princes it entirely appertains to make such demand, in cases interesting themselves or their subjects; otherwise, if all given sentences were considered as freeing nations from reprisals, such decrees might perhaps be obtained in any case, even though manifestly unjust; and consequently it is by all agreed to be a just cause for reprisals, not only when justice is not rendered, but also when in any case, not of a doubtful nature, judgment may have been given against right; although certainly, in cases of a doubtful nature, the presumption would be in favour of those who may have been elected as public judges. had the grand master indicated to your majesty that the said roger fowke might have preferred an appeal against the sentence pronounced against him to a superior tribunal, and that by the negligence of the said roger the first sentence had become affirmed, in that case the remedy demanded by your majesty would have been untenable; but the said grand master makes no mention of such appeal: i am therefore of opinion that nothing in the law of nations could militate against the lawfulness of your majesty's granting letters of reprisal in the manner demanded. (signed) robert wyseman." without doubt the law of nations would warrant our extorting from the hands of your highness' subjects, by issuing letters of reprisal, that which we have not been able to obtain after so many years by means of the letters written in favour of our beloved subject and friend; and the deplorable state of the said roger requires that we should now exact by our own authority that which we have in vain sought to obtain by means of simple communications. but taking into serious consideration the lamentable present state of christianity, and the daily augmentation of the large empire of our common enemy, and how distinguished has been the valour of the maltese knights, always constantly exposing themselves as a bulwark to so pertinacious an enemy, it would be very painful to us to be compelled to have recourse to reprisals, or to any such severe mode of proceeding, for the reparation of the loss. the glory also of the christian name, so often valiantly defended, has caused us willingly to believe that we must not yet despair of obtaining from your highness' authority that reparation for his loss which our subject hopes to obtain by reprisal, and therefore, putting aside the remedy of right, and our privy council persuading us to milder measures, we have thought proper by this letter to seriously request your highness, by that justice which is the duty of princes, and of the defenders of christianity, to deign to procure without delay to our trustworthy subject, who has suffered so great an injustice from the maltese tribunal, and who is exhausted by the delays of so many years, full compensation for all his losses, including also the amount of his expenses; so that we may never have cause to regret that we, putting aside the law of nations, have till now abstained from reprisal, and so that henceforth the world may eulogise the maltese as not being less just than valiant. we have only now to recommend your highness and all your knights to the most good and most great god. given in our palace of whitehall on the th day of april, of the year of human redemption , and of our reign the twentieth. your highness' good cousin and friend, charles rex. raphael cottoner, to whom the last letter was addressed, ascended the maltese throne in october, , on the decease of his brother raphael. { } all historians agree in stating that he was a man of a noble carriage, high and honourable character, and withal a clever diplomatist. he died in march, , after a happy and glorious rule, in the seventy-third year of his age, and seventeenth of his reign. the following letter written by him may be of sufficient interest to excuse its length. its perusal will show the great respect which was paid by the order of st. john to an english monarch, and the "incorruptible" manner in which justice was administered at this island nearly two centuries ago. to the king of great britain. most serene and invincible king: a short time since john ansely, the attorney of roger fowke, delivered to us your most serene majesty's gracious letters, in reply to mine regarding the affair of the said roger; from which, not without great disturbance of mind, i perceived how incorrectly what had taken place had been reported to your majesty. but my grief was in some measure assuaged by your majesty's continued benignant protection of this my order; through which it came to pass that it was determined to abstain from granting the letters of reprisal which it was the opinion of your majesty's advocate in the high court of admiralty, inserted in the above-mentioned royal letters, might have been granted to the aforenamed roger, for which i truly return your majesty my most sincere and humble thanks. the above roger still claims of right the sum of , pieces of eight, which he asserts had been formerly seized by some armed ships of this island; from which sum, together with the expenses incurred, or to be incurred, he forms another greater sum of about , , which he also claims. but as it would sufficiently appear from your majesty's letter, which contains the above-mentioned opinion of the said advocate, and also from the verbal report made to me by the said john ansely, that your majesty felt persuaded that the said roger had both lost his cause before the judge of the prize court, and subsequently been denied an appeal to the supreme court, and, lastly, that his attorney had been treated with violence, rather than under any order of right, i, to confess the truth, being much mortified, cannot but endeavour, with all due respect in my power, to demonstrate the real state of the case to your majesty; and hope, by a more faithful narrative of all that occurred, to convince your majesty of that equal distribution of justice which in this place is constantly observed, both to the inhabitants and foreigners, with incorruptible honesty. before, however, beginning to explain the affair from its commencement, it behoves me to inform your majesty, that not only subjects of christian princes, but greeks and armenians, and other persons subject to the rule of the turks, the bitterest enemies of this order, are continually coming to these islands for the purpose of instituting or continuing suits at law against the captains of our ships and other inhabitants, yet we have never heard from them that justice is either denied or refused. i therefore humbly beseech your majesty to consider, and with benignant mind to reflect, what faith ought to be given to those who have dared to affirm that any contrary course had been pursued or tolerated by me against the said roger; and the more so, as it has been the constant wish of my order to deserve well of your majesty's subjects, and to take particular care of all foreigners. this we trust will be sufficiently shown from the fact of our always having employed one of the principal lawyers to undertake the defence of foreigners; not indeed altogether gratuitously, but under such laws and restrictions that he must remit to them the third part of the usual stipend which it is customary to receive from the inhabitants, and even my knights. from which it may be concluded how well and how honourably foreigners are treated here, and how unlikely it is that justice should be denied to any of those who it is proved are favoured with such grace and love. but to return to the affair in question, i humbly submit to your majesty, that in the year of our salvation , john, called de st. amand, acting as attorney in the name of the above-mentioned roger, appeared before the aforesaid judge of the prize court, demanding the restitution of different kinds of merchandise, which he asserted had been seized by certain captains of ships; but it not appearing to the said judge that he had produced convincing proofs of the fact, they were declared inadequate, and not sufficiently legal. from this decision the said attorney, as is usual in such controversies, appealed, on the th of july, , to the supreme court of audience in council, at which i, together with the chief grand crosses of my order, assist; but he afterwards of his own accord neglected to follow up said appeal. subsequently, in the year , there appeared another attorney of the said roger furnished with letters from your most serene majesty, to whom i immediately explained that i had no right to order the actual restitution of the money demanded; but that if he would act according to law, and seek it by a judgment, i promised to give my co-operation, which i undoubtedly would have done; so that he might have been permitted by the said court of audience to recommence the suit, although it had been in a former instance deserted. but the attorney having replied that he was not furnished with this authority, left the island of his own free will and accord. from that time no other person has appeared, except the above-mentioned john ansely, who { } recently delivered to me your majesty's above-mentioned letter; which i having thought proper to communicate to my council, i procured that the venerable brethren henry de estampes valancay, the grand prior of campania, and don gregory caraffa, prior of rocella, should be deputed commissioners to examine this case. and they having heard what the said ansely had to say, offered to him in any name, and in that of all my order, an opportunity to make an appeal which had been deserted; but the said ansely, for want of proper authority as he stated, did not accept the proposition. such being the case, i reverently submit to your most serene majesty the following arguments, to which i earnestly entreat your majesty to apply your royal attention, and your majesty's accustomed serenity and clemency. in the first place, it is possible that the said roger may have been really deprived of his property; but it does not follow that the proofs adduced by him of that fact were perfectly convincing, or entirely in accordance with the law. and even if they had been such, they might have appeared otherwise to the said judge of the prize court; and it is on this account that the superior of ten rescind the decrees of the inferior tribunals. secondly, the omission to continue the above-cited appeal, can in no way be attributed to the judges of this island; neither is it true that any threats were made use of towards the above-mentioned attorney. such a course would have been diametrically opposed to the statutes of my order; neither would its members have dared to act in such a manner, either against foreigners or the inhabitants my subjects, without incurring a heavy responsibility. finally, as it is impossible for my knights, putting aside the order of right, and neglecting the rule of our statutes, to restore to the above-mentioned roger that which he claims, nothing remains in our power but to grant him the faculty of again prosecuting his right before the above-mentioned court of audience as in law so often and earnestly offered to the aforenamed attorney. nor certainly can it be presumed, that your majesty in your clemency and justice can desire anything farther. to this conclusion i am the more drawn from the decision of the advocate of the admiralty himself, for he proposes the granting of letters of reprisal not for any other reason than that he supposed justice had been denied to the said roger, and that he had been precluded from the remedy of a court of appeal. this having been an erroneous conclusion, the entire foundation of the above-mentioned opinion is wholly removed. and it is the more to be hoped that this decision will be approved of by your most serene majesty, as my necessary subjection to the apostolic see and to the roman pontiff cannot be unknown to your majesty. from which it necessarily results that so large a sum could not be taken arbitrarily or by force from the parties concerned, without grave reprehension and prejudice, and also without infringing the forms of right as prescribed in the statutes above alluded to. confiding therefore in the singular clemency of your majesty, i entertain a hope that your majesty, moved by so many and such valid reasons, and considering also the high respect of this my order towards your majesty, will be pleased to direct the said roger not to prosecute his right by other means than by action at law before the said court of audience. and that he at length will cease to excite the mind of your majesty against the innocent by any such vain and unjust complaints; and that he refrain from any more seeking so inopportune and final a remedy of right, as the concession of letters of reprisal against an order obediently subject to the wishes of your majesty, and most ready to do anything for the advantage and utility of your majesty's subjects, as those who daily touch at these islands to re-victual or refit their ships can testify. and now, in my own name, and in that of my order, i humbly submit all this to your majesty by these letters, as i shall also do shortly by a nuncio, whom i shall send to your majesty with the necessary documents, in _order more clearly to prove the truth of my statements_. in the mean time, most submissively kissing your majesty's most serene hands, i devotedly implore the benignity of the most high and the most great god to grant to your majesty prosperity in all things. given at malta, on the eighteenth day of february, in the year . your serene majesty's most obedient servant, cottoner. to the above submissive letter the following reply was sent: no. ix. charles the second by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. &c. &c. to the most illustrious and most high prince, the lord nicholas cottoner, grand master of the order of malta. our well-beloved cousin and friend, greeting: most illustrious and most high prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. your highnesses letters of ---- february, having been delivered to us by the nuncio selected by your highness for that purpose, we caused roger fowke, our subject and consul in the island of cyprus, in whose favour we sometimes since addressed your highness, to be summoned before { } us, and having well pondered the grounds and reasons in which your highness' replies are based, we judged it right to announce farther to our said subject, that in our opinion the power of appeal to the supreme court of audience offered to him by your highness, after his attorney's previous neglect in the first instance, ought not by any means to be slighted; and that it did not seem to us there remained, all things considered, any other hope of future remedy. this we did the more willingly, in order to prove to your highness more clearly, that being so dear, and so highly esteemed by us, as is your highness personally, and all your knights, that we have preferred accepting any mode of properly settling this affair, rather than, by recurring to any harsher measures, diminish our friendship and affection towards so celebrated an order. this, our determination, we have also made known by our letters to the grand prior of france; and of which testimony may be borne by the bearer of the present, to whom we have thought proper particularly to recommend the urging of your highness, in our name, to see that such certain and speedy method of justice be established in the affair of our subject as may be lawful, and as was offered; and such as may afford new and sound proof of our ancient amity, and establish and affirm a mutual faith worthy of the christian name. in the mean time, we, from our heart, recommend your highness, and all your knights, to the safeguard of the most good and most great god. given from our palace of westminster on the th day of june, in the year of our lord , and of our reign the twenty-first. your highness' good cousin and friend, charles rex. no. x. charles by the grace of god, of great britain, france, and ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. &. &c. to the most eminent prince, the lord nicholas cottoner, grand master of the order of malta, our very dear cousin and friend, greeting: we apprehend that long since it must have come to the knowledge of your eminence, that a vessel of war of our royal fleet, named the "sapphire," went ashore some months ago on the coasts of sicily; and was so much damaged, that she became entirely unseaworthy. we have however heard, that some guns which belonged to the said ship have been taken to the island of malta, and there preserved. having, in consequence, ordered our well-beloved and faithful subject rudolf montague, the master of the horse of our most serene consort, and our minister near his most christian majesty, to send there some fitting person to inquire after any remains of the said wreck, and to depose of them in a manner most advantageous to us, we, as friends, beg your eminence to be pleased to interpose your authority; so that the persons already sent, or hereafter to be sent by our said minister, may experience no delays nor impediments, but rather find all favour and due aid from each and every chief of the arsenal, ports and customs, and other officers to whom it may appertain; which we, in a similar case, will endeavour fully to reciprocate to your eminence. in the mean time we recommend, with all our heart, your eminence to the protection of the most good and most great god. given from our palace of whitehall, on the th day of november, . your eminence's good cousin and friend, charles rex. * * * * * fata morgana. not having met with the following account in any english newspaper, of a phenomenon said to have been witnessed quite recently in germany, i beg to send you a translation from the _allgemeine zeitung_ (generally quoted in england by the name of the _augsburgh gazette_) of february , detailing, in a communication from westphalia, the particulars of a phenomenon, new, perhaps, to your pages, but by no means new to the world. "westphalia.--if the east has its _fata morgana_, we, in westphalia, have also quite peculiar natural phenomena, which, hitherto, it has been as impossible to explain satisfactorily, as to deny. a rare and striking appearance of this description forms now the subject of universal talk and comment in our province. on the nd of last month a surprising prodigy of nature was seen by many persons at büderich, a village between unna and werl. shortly before sunset, an army, of boundless extent, and consisting of infantry, cavalry, and an enormous number of waggons, was observed to proceed across the country in marching order. so distinctly seen were all these appearances, that even the flashing of the firelocks, and the colour of the cavalry uniform, which was white, could be distinguished. this whole array advanced in the direction of the wood of schafhauser, and as the infantry entered the thicket, and the cavalry drew near, they were hid all at once, with the trees, in a thick smoke. two houses, also, in flames, were seen with the same distinctness. at sunset the whole phenomenon vanished. as respects the fact, government has taken the evidence of fifty eye witnesses, who have deposed to a universal agreement respecting this most remarkable appearance. individuals are not wanting who affirm that similar phenomena were observed in former times in this region. as the fact is so well attested as to place the phenomenon beyond the possibility of successful disproof, people have not been slow in giving a meaning to it, and in referring it to the great battle of the nations at birkenbaum, to which the old legend, particularly since , again points." j. macray. { } * * * * * on the destruction of monumental brasses. any person might naturally be led to suppose, on seeing the many costly and learned works which, within the last few years, have appeared on the subject of monumental brasses, that their value was now fully appreciated, and that all due care was taken to ensure their preservation, or at least prevent their wanton destruction. but, unhappily, such is far from being the case; and though rubbings of brasses are to be found in every antiquarian society, and in the possession of very many private individuals, the churchwardens and other parties on whom their preservation principally depends, are for the most part wilfully blind to their importance as historical memorials, and with impunity allow them to be mutilated or stolen. in many of our country, and i may also add town churches, are these interesting records of the dead stowed away as useless lumber in the vestry, or hidden by some ugly modern pew. the writer wishes to make known, through the medium of your valuable journal, some instances which have fallen under his own observation, in the hope that those who read may make some exertions to rectify such acts of desecration were they have already occurred, and to prevent their future recurrence. to begin, then, with the most important as regards the loss incurred by the antiquary, though all show an equal want of good feeling and neglect of things sacred, i will first offer the substance of a few notes taken during a recent excursion to cobham, kent. the brasses in this church have long been noted as presenting some of the most interesting early examples of this species of monument, extending from the year to . they exemplify almost every variety of costume that prevailed during that period, executed with the most artistic skill, and accompanied with the most elegant accessories in the shape of canopies, brackets, and allegorical designs. imagine, then, the feelings of the antiquary, who, upon approaching the chancel where most of these brasses lie, finds that it is flooded with water! the roof has gradually fallen to decay, and the earl of darnley, whose property the chancel is, has refused to repair it. and yet this same nobleman can spend thousands of pounds in adorning his seat, cobham hall, the ancient domain of the family, in whose commemoration most of these brasses are laid down. i may also here mention that part of the rood-screen which forms the back of the earl's pew has been glazed, in order, i suppose, to keep out the damp of the chancel, while a portion on the other side has been entirely cut away. this is by far the most flagrant case of neglect which i have ever witnessed; but there are several minor instances which well demand exposure. at mendlesham, suffolk, is a fine large figure of john knyvet, esq., in armour, almost entirely concealed by a pew passing up the whole length of the brass. now, for a very little expense, the slab might be removed and laid down again the chancel. at polstead, in the same county, is a small brass of a civilian and family, date about , hidden in the same manner; and a figure of a priest in the chasuble, lying loose in the vestry. also at little waldingfield is a brass in memory of robert appleton and wife, , of which the male figure is covered by a pew. in upminster church, essex, were found, not very long since, during the progress of some alterations, two loose female figures under the flooring of a pew, which are still left to be tossed about in the vestry. one is an elegant figure of a lady in heraldic mantle and horned head-dress, with a dog at her feet, date about , the other about . at st. james's, colchester, the head of a figure was long left loose, till at last it has been stolen. and, to conclude, pews have lately been built over two brasses at margate, one of which is an early example of a skeleton. to these instances, which have fallen under my own observation, i doubt not that every collector can add several others of the same description; but these are sufficient to show the wide extent of the evil, and the necessity of correction. f. g. * * * * * original letter of the countess of blessington to sir william drummond. my dear sir william drummond.--the perusal of your beautiful poem _odin_ has delighted me so much, that i cannot deny myself the gratification of expressing my thanks to its author; and at the same time demanding, why so exquisite a poem remains unfinished? it is cruel to your readers, and unjust to england, to leave such a work incomplete; it is like the unfinished statues of michael angelo, which no hand has ever been found hardy enough to touch, for i am persuaded that we have no living poet who could write a sequel to _odin_. do not think me presumptuous for venturing to give my opinion on poetry; i have studied it from my infancy, and my admiration for it is so enthusiastic, that i feel more strongly than i can reason on the subject. with this passion for poetry, you can more easily imagine than i can describe, the delight that _odin_ gave me. i have copied many passages from it in my album under different heads: such as contemplation; love of country; liberty; winter; morning; meditation on a future state; immortality of the soul; superstition; vanity of life; jealousy; and many others too numerous to mention. and they are of such transcendent merit, as to be above all comparison, except with shakspeare or { } milton. in the sublimity and harmony of your verses, you have equalled, if not surpassed, the latter; and in originality of ideas and variety, you strikingly resemble the former; but neither call boast of anything superior to your beautiful episode of "skiold and nora." hitherto, my dear sir william drummond, i have looked on you as one of the first scholars and most elegant prose writers of the age; but, at present, permit me to say that i regard you as the _first poet_. when i have been charmed with the productions of writers, who were either personally unknown to me, or unhappily dead, how have i regretted not being able to pour out my thanks for the pleasure they had afforded me: in this instance i rejoice that i have the happiness of knowing you, and of being able to express, though feebly, the admiration with which your genius inspires me; and of offering up my fervent prayers that you may be long spared to adorn and do honour to the age which is, and ought to be, proud to claim you. in writing to you i abandon my pen to the guidance of my heart, which feels with all the warmth for which _irish hearts_ are so remarkable. a _poet_ can understand and pardon this irish warmth, though a _philosopher_ might condemn it; but in addressing you, i forget that i am writing to one of the most eminent of the last class, and only remember that i am talking of _odin_ to the most admirable of the first. i am at present reading _academical questions_, which, if _i dare_ take possession of, should not again find their way to chiaja; _odin_ i shall most _unwillingly_ resign, as i find it belongs to lady drummond; but if you have any other of your works by you, will you have the goodness to lend them to me? pray name what day you will dine with us, accompanied by mr. stewart, to whom i owe my best acknowledgments for having lent me _odin_. believe me, my dear sir william drummond, to be with unfeigned esteem, sincerely yours, marguerite blessington. villa gallo, april th, . the above letter is copied from the original in my possession. a. g. edinburgh. * * * * * minor notes. _the late judge talfourd._--some years since i ventured to request information as to the proper way of pronouncing the _elia_, from the talented and kind-hearted judge talfourd, whose days have just been brought to a close under such truly awful circumstances. the ready reply which he gave to an unknown inquirer, whilst it illustrates the courtesy and cordiality of his character, may prove interesting to your readers. temple, june , . sir, i have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the th, and to express my pleasure at finding that you sympathise with me in genial admiration of the delightful person to whom it refers. all i know respecting the signature of _elia_ will be found at p. of the second volume of lamb's letters. it was the real name of a coxcombical clerk thirty years dead, whom lamb remembered at the south sea house, and prefixed to his first essay (which was on the "old south sea house") in the _london magazine_. the editor afterwards used it to distinguish lamb's articles, and he finally adopted it. the _i_ is short (_el[)i]a_). it is an italian name. i have the honour to be, sir, your obedient and faithful servant, t. n. talfourd. c. w. b. _authors' trustee society._--authors, as a class, are perhaps the most unfit men in the world to make the most of their own property; and were they ever so competent, it will often happen that their works do not attain to any great value as copyrights till after the poor author is laid in his grave. it is then, when his family are sometimes exposed to severe distress, that more favourable terms might be obtained from publishers; but there is no one left who is capable of acting for the benefit of the widow or children. a society might be formed to take charge as trustees of the property of an author in his works, to make engagements with booksellers for the privilege of publishing future editions as they may be required, and to take care that the _honorarium_ for each edition be duly paid into the hands of the person who is entitled to receive it. no expense would attend the formation of such a society. its meetings could be held at scarcely any cost. the advertisements, to announce from time to time what works are open for offers from printers, booksellers, and publishers, would amount to a very small sum in the course of the year--i dare say the editor of "n. & q." would insert them gratuitously. but, if necessary, a small percentage on the fees paid would cover all the disbursements of the society. l. p. k. _the old clock at alderley._--in the investigation of this very old and curious piece of mechanism by the rev. joseph bockett, in the year , an inscription was found signifying that it was presented to the church of alderley by the great sir matthew hale. it was copied, _verbatim_ { } _et literatim_, by the said reverend gentleman, and is as follows: "this is the guift of the right honourable the lord cheif justice heale to the parish church of alderly. john mason, bristol, fecit, nov[=e]m. ^{st} ." it appears, by this inscription, to have been presented on his birth-day; which, from his tomb, was found to be november . alderley is the family place of the hale family to this day. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. _the olympic plain, &c._--the success which has attended the excavations of dr. layard at nineveh, has rekindled the curiosity of the antiquary and the classical scholar with regard to the buried remains of ancient greece and rome: "the tiber at rome," dodwell says, "is supposed to contain a vast assemblage of ancient sculpture; and thoughts are entertained of turning its course, in order to explore its hidden treasures." the same distinguished traveller remarks (_classical and topog. tour through greece_) that-- "it was a favourite plan of the learned winkelmann to raise a subscription for the excavation of the olympic plain. if such a project should ever be consummated, we may confidently hope that the finest specimens of sculpture, as well as the most curious and valuable remains, will be brought to light. no place abounded with such numerous offerings to the gods, and with such splendid and beautiful representations in marble and in bronze." alpha. oxford. _electric telegraph._--might not the telegraph be made serviceable in remote country districts, by connecting detached residences with the nearest police station; to which an alarm might be conveyed in cases of danger from thieves or fire? there are many who would willingly incur the expense for the sake of the security, and no doubt all details could be easily arranged. thinks i to myself. _irish law in the eighteenth century._--i send, for the information of the readers of "n. & q.," the following extract from reilly's _dublin news letter_, aug. , : "last week, at the assizes of kilkenny, a fellow who was to be tried for robbery not pleading, a jury was appointed to try whether he was wilfully mute, or by the hands of god; and they giving a verdict that he was wilfully mute, he was condemned to be pressed to death. he accordingly suffered on wednesday, pursuant to his sentence, which was as follows: that the criminal shall be confined in some low dark room, where he shall be laid on his back, with no covering except round his loins, and shall have as much weight laid upon him as he can bear, and more; that he shall have nothing to live upon but the worst bread and water; and the day that he eats, he shall not drink; and the day that he drinks, he shall not eat; and so shall continue till he dies." is it to be believed that, so late as the , such barbarity (to call it nothing worse) was practised according to law within the limits of great britain and ireland? i would be glad to hear from some correspondent upon the subject. abhba. _gravestone inscriptions._--in the churchyard of homersfield (st. mary, southelmham), suffolk, was the gravestone of robert crytoft, who died nov. , , aged ninety, bearing the following epitaph: "_myself._ as i walk'd by myself i talk'd to myself, and thus myself said to me, look to thyself and take care of thyself, for nobody cares for thee. so i turn'd to myself, and i answer'd myself in the self-same reverie, look to myself or look not to myself, the self-same thing will it be." this stone was some years since taken up, and has remained standing in the church tower. i know not whether the lines be original, but i have never seen them elsewhere. the following were and may be now in st. stephen's churchyard, ipswich, on the stone of one stephen manister, clerk to mr. baron thompson, who died in , and by his will desired the following words to be there inscribed: "what i gave i have, w^t i spent i had, what i left i lost for want of giving it." g. a. c. * * * * * minor queries. _paintings of our saviour._--in mrs. jameson's _legends of the monastic orders_, it is stated that "the painter, andrea vanni, was among the devout admirers of st. catherine;" and that "among his works was a head of christ, said to have been painted under the immediate instruction of st. catherine; representing the saviour as she had, in her visions, beheld him. unhappily this has perished." also, on the authority of mr. sterling, that st. juan de la cruz, the friend of st. theresa, "on one occasion when the saviour appeared to him, made an uncouth sketch of the divine apparition; which was long preserved as a relique in the convent of the incarnation at avila." can any of your readers supply particulars of, or references to, other similar portraitures, especially of any still in existence? j. p. { } _heraldic._--can any of your heraldic correspondents inform me to what families the following coat of arms belongs:--gules, a fess sanguine between three trefoils slipped proper? there is in this the not very frequent occurrence of a coloured charge upon a coloured field. the only similar instance i now remember is denham, suffolk: gules, a cross vert. loccan. _dedication of kemerton church._--the church at kemerton, gloucestershire, was, until a few years ago, marked by the authorities with a blank, just as the church of middleton ("n. & q.," vol. v., p. .); but it has now been discovered, it would appear, to have been dedicated to _st. nicholas_. how, or where? i. r. r. _consolato del mare._--the maritime code of the venetians derived from barcelona, observed also by the genoese and pisans, was called "consolato del mare," a.d. . why was it so called? r. h. g. _consonants in welsh._--it has often been asserted that the welsh language is remarkable for the number of its consonants. can any of your readers acquainted with that language inform me whether there is a larger proportion of consonants in welsh than in english? messrs. chambers, in a recent number of their _repository_, say: "on the road to merthyr, we heard a drunken welshman swear; oh for words to describe the effect! his mouth seemed full of consonants, which cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded, in an extraordinary way," &c. is this a true representation of the case? j. m. _"initiative" and "psychology."_-- " ... a previous act and conception of the mind, or what we have called an _initiative_, is indispensably necessary, even to the mere semblance of method."--coleridge's _treatise on method_. am i to understand from this sentence that this word was an original adaptation of coleridge's? if not, when was it first introduced, and by whom? in the same treatise, coleridge employs the word _psychological_, and apologises for using an _insolens verbum_. was this the first occasion of the familiar use of this word? i find _psychology_ in bailey. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _atonement._--can you or any of your readers inform me when the word "atonement" first came into use, and when it was first applied to the work of reconciliation wrought by our lord jesus christ? it is used once only in the new testament (romans v. .), and there the word does not quite convey the meaning of the original [greek: katallagê]. the etymology of it seems so purely english, that one would hardly expect to find the present use, or rather adaptation, of the word, so very modern as it appears to be. j. h. b. _sir stephen fox._--chambers' _journal_, no. ., nov. , , p. ., says: "charles james fox, who died in , at the age of fifty-seven, had an uncle who was paymaster of the forces in , the year of the battle of bothwell bridge, and his grandfather was on the scaffold with charles i." after consulting several books on the subject, i find that this latter statement is just possible; but i cannot learn under what circumstances sir stephen fox accompanied charles i. to the scaffold. can any of your readers give me the desired information? n. j. a. _"account of an expedition to the interior of new holland."_--can any one tell me the name of the writer of a book with the title i have here given? it was edited by lady mary fox, and published, in one vol. vo., by bentley, in the year . i may be mistaken, but i think i can recognise the style of a well-known writer. abhba. _darwin on steam._--where are the prophetic lines by dr. darwin to be found, commencing: "soon shall thy power, unrivalled _steam_, from far drag the slow barge, and urge the rapid car." uneda. philadelphia. _scottish female dress._--when did ladies cease to use hair-powder, face-patches, hoops, and high-heeled shoes? an old lady of about seventy recollects perfectly that her mother wore then all (so, she thinks, did her visitors, who came to a dish of tea) except the hoop, which was reserved for grand occasions. on the introduction of the new-fangled low-heeled shoes, she recollects her mother tottering about on them like a novice on skates, and groaning with pains in her legs, a victim to a change of fashion! at this time, she adds, was in every-day use the _milk tally_ and _bread-nick-stick_. the first, that represented in hogarth's picture; the second, a stick about a foot long, four-sided, on which each loaf was registered by a notch or nick in the stick; the servant kept a similar _nick-stick_ as a check on the baker; but during the flirtation, common _then_ as _now_ on such occasions, the old lady slyly remarks, the baker often gallantly nicked the check-stick, as well as his own, with a couple of notches for one. hence, possibly, the decline and fall of the use of this wooden system of book-keeping by double notch. is any date assigned to the ceasing of the practice of using the wooden tally and nick-stick? c. d. lamont. greenock. { } _"the innocents," a drama._--who is the author of a small volume of poetry, published anonymously about the year , and which is very favourably noticed in the _new monthly magazine_ for january, , vol. xviii. the title of the volume is, _the innocents, a sacred drama; ocean and the earthquake at aleppo, poems_. s. n. _waugh of cumberland._--can you inform a waugh, the family arms of waugh of cumberland; to whom they were first granted, and why? a subscriber. _norton._--wanted, the origin of, or the sources of information respecting, this name, the appellation of so many villages, &c. in oxfordshire. a family of the name of norton, after residing in those districts for many generations, have long moved to london, and are not possessed of the information sought by the inquirer. n. _de la fond._--can any of your readers explain the following inscription on an engraving by p. lombart of de la fond, and its application? "in effigiem de la fond, galli festivissimi, apud batavos, ephemeridum historicarum scriptoris, distichon. mille oculis videt hic fondus mille auribus audit; plus audit naso, plus videt ille, suo." a. f. b. diss. _"button cap."_--in the north of ireland there is a belief that just before a war breaks out, the spirit of an ancient warder of carrickfergus castle is heard examining the arms stored there, and, if they are not entirely to his satisfaction, he shows his displeasure by making an awful clatter among them. has old "button cap" (for that is his name) been inspecting the arms lately? what is the legend connected with him? if i mistake not, he is said to be the spirit of a warder who was drowned in the castle well in the reign of elizabeth. fras. crossley. _cobb family._--richard cobb, esq., and his wife joan, were painted by sir peter lely between and . these portraits are now in my possession. elizabeth cobb, granddaughter of the above, married, _circa_ , the rev. thos. paget, at that time fellow of corpus christi, oxford. thus, richard cobb would be born _circa_ , his son _circa_ , and his granddaughter _circa_ . i shall be obliged for any clue to the arms, residence, &c. of this mr. cobb. arthur paget. _prince charles' attendants in spain._--the assistance of your antiquarian correspondents is particularly requested towards the making out of a complete list of all the persons who were in attendance on prince charles on his romantic visit to spain. of course it is well known that the prince and buckingham started accompanied only by sir francis cottington, endymion porter, and sir r. graham. of the members of his household who afterwards joined him, the principal of course are also well known. but of the gentlemen and grooms of the privy chamber, pages, &c., i have been unable to discover a complete list, although notices of individuals are occasionally met with. any references to such notices are much desired. e. o. p. _sack._--what wine was this? is it still existing and known to the wine trade by any other name? if so, when and why was the name changed? falstaff. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _ralph ashton the commander._--in an ancient record i met with a year or two ago (two centuries old, i suppose), the name of a ralph ashton, "commander," occurred. the record related to lancashire, and it spoke of "isabella, the wife of ralph the commander." i believe that a gentleman of this name was commander of the lancashire forces under the commonwealth. will any of your readers oblige me (should they have access to any ancient pedigree of the ashton family) by saying whether any mention is made of this "isabella," and what her name was before her marriage to ralph the commander? jaytee. [the pedigree of the family of ashton, or assheton, of middleton, is given in baines's _lancaster_, vol. ii. p. ., which states that ralph ashton, esq., m.p. for clithero, temp. chas. i., for the county, chas. i., died th feb. , married elizabeth, daughter of john kaye of woodsome, co. york. in old documents isabella and elizabeth are used for one and the same name.] _christopher hervie._--m. zachary (vol. ix., p. .) obligingly replies to my question as to the quotation-- "one while i think, and then i am in pain, to think how to unthink that thought again." would he be kind enough to say where i may find any notice of christopher hervie? as i have been unable to find mention of him or his work in any biography to which i have access. w. m. m. [a biographical notice of christopher harvie, or harvey, is given by anthony à wood in his _athenæ oxonienses_, vol. iii. p. . (bliss), from which it appears he was "a minister's son of cheshire, was born in that county, became a batler of brasen-nose college in , aged sixteen years, took the degrees in arts, that of master being completed , holy orders, and at length was made vicar of clifton in warwickshire." wood, however (_ath. oxon._, vol. i. { } p. .), attributes _the synagogue_ to thomas harvey, first master of kington school in herefordshire. "there can be no doubt," adds mr. bliss, "but a ch. harvie was the author of this poem, particularly as walton contributed some commendatory verses to it, which were repaid by another copy prefixed to the _compleat angler_ by harvie; but whether this was christopher harvey, the vicar of clifton, or some other, remains to be decided. if it was, it is at least singular that wood, who was so inquisitive in these matters, should have been ignorant of the circumstance." harvey died before the th sept. , as on that day samuel bradwall was instituted to the vicarage of clifton, void by the death of the last incumbent.--see sir john hawkins' edition of _the complete angler_, p. .; also "n. & q.," vol. vi., pp. . .] _dannocks._--hedging-gloves made of whit-leather (untanned leather), and used by workmen in cutting and trimming fences, are called in this part of norfolk _dannocks_. can any of your correspondents say whence the word is derived? j. l. s. edingthorpe. ["it should rather be _dornecks_," says forby, "which is the proper flemish name of _tournai_, a frenchified name, long since universally substituted. two hundred years ago it was celebrated for its coarse woollen manufactures, principally of carpets and hangings, mentioned in some of our old comedies. probably thick gloves were another article of importation. our modern _dannocks_, indeed, are of thick leather, and made at home by our own glovers. dan. _dorneck_."] _brass in all saints, newcastle-upon-tyne._--in the church of all saints, newcastle-upon-tyne (an erection dating at some period of the protestant dark ages), there is a magnificent flemish brass, of which the incumbent refuses to allow a rubbing to be taken, on the ground that the process would _injure_ it! can any of your correspondents tell me if it has been engraved, and where? j. h. b. [there is a beautiful representation of the very curious plate of brass inlaid on the table monument of roger thornton, the celebrated patron of newcastle-upon-tyne, temp. henry iv., and still preserved in the church of all saints in that town, engraved in brand's _history of newcastle-upon-tyne_, vol. i. p. . mention is also made by that author of another work containing it, entitled _monuments in the churches of st. nicholas and all saints_.] _imperfect bible._--a bible has lately come into my possession in an imperfect state. it is in black letter, to., with the capitals commencing the chapters in roman letters. i wish to know the date and printer. it begins at fol. ., at the end of the th verse of xvth chapter of genesis, "counted that to him for righteousness." there are a number of engravings representing the instruments used in the temple and tabernacle, at fol. . . . . . &c. there is no date, but i think it is about or . an ignoramus on the subject. [this imperfect bible is one of the very numerous series of editions of the genevan or puritan version, commonly called the breeches bible. it is not a to. but a pot folio, having six leaves to the sheet or signature, "imprinted at london by the deputies of christopher barker, printer to the queen's most excellent maiestie, anno dom. . _cum privilegio._" our correspondent's copy wants the title and preface (three leaves), six leaves of genesis, the title to the n. testament, and at the end eleven leaves, including the two tables. the translation may be identified by the last word of cor. vi. ., or by tim. i. . there is another edition by the same printer, and of similar size, in the year ; but the title to the second part has "conteineth," instead of "conteining."] _the poem of "helga."_--at what date was this poem, by herbert, written? seleucus. [this poem was commenced, as the author states in his preface, "soon after the publication of the translations which he made from the relics of ancient icelandic and scandinavian poetry," issued in .] _"merryweather's tempest prognosticator."_--i wish to know if there be a book published entitled "merryweather's weather prognostication?" i think, if i mistake not, i saw it among the nautical instruments, &c. in the naval department of the london exhibition in . i cannot find here if there be any such book extant. j. t. c. dublin. [the work is entitled _an essay explanatory of the tempest prognosticator in the building of the great exhibition for the works of industry of all nations_, read before the whitby philosophical society, feb. , , by george merryweather, m.d., the designer and inventor: london, john churchill, princes street, soho, .] _edward spencer's marriage._--can any reader supply me with particulars of the marriage of edward spencer of rendlesham, co. suffolk, and grosvenor square, who lived in the early part of the last century, and whose daughters married the duke of hamilton and sir james dashwood? charles bridger. keppel st., russell sq. [the following entry is given in davy's suffolk collections (add. mss. , ., p. .): "edward spencer, son of john spencer, esq., ob. . edward, now living at naunton hall, is a barrister-at-law. he married anne, the only daughter of william baker of layham, clerk, by whom he had issue henry spencer, who died an infant, and ann spencer, their only daughter, and now living." this extract is copied from hawes's mss., the date of which, unfortunately, is not given.] { } _yew-tree at crowhurst._--could any of your readers inform me of the age of the yew-tree in crowhurst churchyard, sussex? c. bowmer. [decandolle assigns an antiquity of fourteen and a half centuries to this remarkable yew. see a valuable article on the "age of trees" in our fourth volume, p. .] * * * * * replies. the electric telegraph in . (vol. viii., p. .) as no reply has yet been given to the query of inquirendo as to who was c. m., who described in the _scots magazine_, vol. xv. p. ., as long since as , the electric telegraph, and as the article itself is one of great interest in the history of an invention which is justly considered one of the greatest wonders of our own times, i send a transcript of it, by way of satisfying the natural curiosity of many readers who may not have an opportunity of consulting it in the magazine in which it originally appeared, and also because the doing so may stimulate farther inquiry, and lead to the discovery of its ingenious writer, c. m. of renfrew. "renfrew, february , . "sir, "it is well known to all who are conversant in electrical experiments, that the electric power may be propagated along a small wire, from one place to another, without being sensibly abated by the length of its progress. let, then, a set of wires, equal in number to the letters of the alphabet, be extended horizontally between too given places, parallel to one another, and each of them about an inch distant from that next to it. at every twenty yards' end let them be fixed in glass, or jeweller's cement, to some firm body, both to prevent them from touching the earth, or any other non-electric, and from breaking by their own gravity. let the electric gun-barrel be placed at right angles with the extremities of the wires, and about an inch below them; also let the wires be fixed in a solid piece of glass at six inches from the end; and let that part of them which reaches from the glass to the machine have sufficient spring and stiffness to recover its situation after having been brought in contact with the barrel. close by the supporting glass let a ball be suspended from every wire, and about a sixth or an eighth of an inch below the ball place the letters of an alphabet, marked on bits of paper, or any other substance that may be light enough to rise to the electrified ball, and at the same time let it be so contrived that each of them may reassume its proper place when dropt. all things constructed as above, and the minute previously fixed, i begin the conversation with my distant friend in this manner:--having set the electrical machine a-going, as in ordinary experiments, suppose i am to pronounce the word _sir_; with a piece of glass, or any other _electric per se_, i strike the wire _s_, so as to bring it in contact with the barrel, then _i_, then _r_, all in the same way; and my correspondent, almost in the same instant, observes these several characters rise in order to the electrified balls at his end of the wires. thus i spell away as long as i think fit, and my correspondent, for the sake of memory, writes the characters as they rise, and may join or read them afterwards as often as he inclines. upon a signal given, or from desire, i stop the machine, and taking up the pen, in my turn i write down whatever my friend at the other end strikes out. "if anybody should think this way tiresome, let him, instead of the balls, suspend a range of bells from the roof, equal in number to the letters of the alphabet, gradually decreasing in size from the bell _a_ to _z_; and from the horizontal wires let there be another set reaching to the several bells; one, viz., from the horizontal wire _a_ to the bell _a_, another from the horizontal wire _b_ to the bell _b_, &c. then let him who begins the discourse bring the wires in contact with the barrel, as before, and the electric spark, breaking on bells of different size, will inform his correspondent by the sound what wires have been touched. and thus, by some practice, they may come to understand the language of the chimes in whole words, without being put to the trouble of noting down every letter. "the same thing may be otherwise effected. let the balls be suspended over the characters, as before, but instead of bringing the ends of the horizontal wires in contact with the barrel, let a second set reach from the electrificator, so as to be in contact with the horizontal ones; and let it be so contrived, at the same time, that any of them may be removed from its corresponding horizontal by the slightest touch, and may bring itself again into contact when left at liberty. this may be done by the help of a small spring and slider, or twenty other methods which the least ingenuity will discover. in this way the characters will always adhere to the balls, excepting when any of the secondaries is removed from contact with its horizontal; and then the letter at the other end of the horizontal will immediately drop from its ball. but i mention this only by way of variety. "some may perhaps think that, although the electric fire has not been observed to diminish sensibly in its progress through any length of wire that has been tried hitherto; yet, as that has never exceeded some thirty or forty yards, it may be reasonably supposed, that in a far greater length it would be remarkably diminished, and probably would be entirely strained off in a few miles by the surrounding air. to prevent this objection, and save longer argument, lay over the wires, from one end to the other, with a thin coat of jeweller's cement. this may be done for a trifle of additional expense; and as it is an electric _per se_, will effectually secure any part of the fire from mixing with the atmosphere. "i am, &c., "c. m." surely among the numerous readers of "n. & q." some one will be found to tell us who c. m. was. j. y. { } * * * * * factitious pedigrees: dixon of berston. (vol. ix., p. .) the inquiry of mr. r. w. dixon is one that i feel should not remain unanswered; and a few circumstances that i can detail will be sufficient to prove that his brother mr. j. h. dixon only exercised a just discretion in rejecting the information offered by william sidney spence. on th march, (a few months, therefore, earlier than the letter which has been quoted), a communication was forwarded to me by mr. spence so similar, as to warrant the supposition that a set form was kept on hand to be copied in different applications with such variations as each case might demand, though even then a discrepancy has crept in that would render the evidence suspicious. the first paragraph is the same, except that mr. spence states he was engaged by the "_widow_ of sir john cotgreave," instead of the "_sister_." in the second the pedigree is said to be the "work of randle holme, , from documents by william camden," instead of the work of "the great camden." monsons, of course, are substituted instead of dixons. four generations from sir john monson temp. edward iii., instead of five generations from ralph dixon temp. henry vi. and this sir john is slain fighting under lord audley at the battle of poictiers, , as a counterpart to ralph dixon, slain at the battle of wakefield, . the third paragraph is word for word the same, except that, to be consistent with the descents, four shields with sixteen quarterings are offered instead of five shields with twelve. lady cotgreave is to vouch for the authenticity instead of miss cotgreave. the quarterings promised in the next paragraph are only partially the same, and the conclusion merely differs in wording by the substitution of the names of "sir john monson" and "his mother elinor, daughter and coheir of sir john sutton, de sutton and congleton," in place of "ralph dixon and his mother maude, daughter and coheiress of sir ralph fitz hugh," &c. i acknowledge that from the first i did not believe a word of this ingenious tale; in fact i was rather an unfortunate subject for mr. spence's purpose, having for years made the early history of my family my especial study; but having a friend resident at birkenhead (a clergyman), i applied to him out of curiosity to find out something of my informant, who at least had shown some ingenuity. the answer was by no means in favour of mr. spence; and one fact was decidedly ascertained, that he neither lived nor was known in priory place, whence his letters were dated. i answered his letter, declining to give the remuneration of five pounds which he had asked; and on taxing him with the falsity of his residence, he said he had his letters left there for convenience. mr. dixon must now himself judge of the credit to be placed on the informant. as for the information in my own case, it bore internal proofs of being worthless; and if such a pedigree as is described should exist, i feel assured it is not the work of camden, but more probably of a cotemporary, of rather discreditable notoriety among genealogists, of the name of dakyns. monson. gatton park. i can give no information on the dixon family, but having some years ago received a letter from the same mr. spence, with an account of my own family, every word of which is not only entirely without authority, but a gross invention opposed to the facts, i thought mr. dixon might like to know that mr. spence founds the romance in question on a "pedigree of cotgreave de hargrave, the work of the celebrated randle holme, anno , from documents compiled by that learned antiquary william camden, in the year ," evidently the same veracious authority with that mentioned in the letter to mr. dixon. ev. ph. shirley. eatington park, stratford-on-avon. the following note will, i think, satisfy your correspondent r. w. dixon that the letter of william sidney spence which you inserted for him was an imposture, and that mr. j. h. dixon was not without reason in rejecting the information offered. a friend of mine, assuming descent from "a good old" family of the same name, which he was unable to prove, received, about the same time as mr. dixon did, a communication from mr. william sidney spence to precisely the same effect, and having no cautious brother to consult, readily took the bait, and paid some pounds for a specious pedigree, setting forth his "distinguished progenitors," with their armorial bearings, &c., purporting to be authenticated as a true copy of one in miss cotgreave's possession under that lady's own hand. the information so received being subsequently submitted to a genealogical friend, some doubt was excited of its genuineness in proving too much; and an inquiry, which i made through a correspondent in cheshire, tending to confirm this suspicion, a reference was had to miss cotgreave herself, when it turned out that the whole was an ingenious fabrication. mr. spence was then dead, and my friend, whose name i do not mention, as the subject is rather a sore one, was obliged to be content with the practical experience he had bought. the probability is, that whenever mr. spence read in burke's _landed gentry_ that mr. a. or { } mr. b., in preference to being considered as the founder of a new family, supposed himself, or wished to be supposed by others, to be descended from an old stock of the same name, he kindly offered to supply the desired information, and was ready to execute a pedigree to order. g. a. c. [the editor has been informed by a person on whose accuracy he can rely, that a lady who received a letter from mr. spence offering certain information respecting his family taken from the cotgreave pedigree, and who imprudently sent money for the same, got nothing but the most absurd rubbish in return, and having been induced to make inquiries into the subject, was fully satisfied that the whole thing was a fraud.] * * * * * licences to crenellate. (vol. ix., p. .) the subjoined list of names and places will supply mr. parker with the _counties_ of all the places named in his inquiry, except two in which i suspect some error. if farther references to authorities are desired, they will be given with pleasure in reply to a private application, but would crowd your pages inconveniently. . cokefield for melton--cokefeud for moulton, suffolk. . grisnak for molun--query this? . langeton for newton in makerfield.--l. for newton hall or castle, the head of the palatine barony of newton, in lancashire. . esselynton for esselynton--e. in northumberland. . trussel for cubleston--c. in staffordshire. . de la beche for de la beche--de la beche castle. aldworth, berks. . the same for beaumes--beaumys castle, shinfield, berks. . cobham for pringham--p. _alias_ sterborough castle, surrey. . the same for orkesdene--o. in kent. . "burghchier" for stanstede--bourchier for stansted, essex. . dalham for "credonio"--"fortalicium in loco _de_ crodonio." printed cal. rot. pat. p. . . lengleys for heyheved--highhead castle, in cumberland. . _a_eton for chevelyngham--_h_eton for chillingham, northumberland. geo. o. sedbury park, chepstow. there can, i think, be little doubt that _stansstede_, in mr. j. h. parker's list, is stanstead hall, near halstead in essex. i have never seen stanstead hall, but about a month since i was in company with the late occupant; from whom i learned, in casual conversations, that it was an ancient house, with moat and fortifications. in addition to this i may state, that there are monuments in the old church (st. andrew) of halstead to some of the bourchier family. these facts, taken together, seem to fix the locality with sufficient precision. one of the monuments just referred to is a brass, commemorating sir bartholomew bourchier and his two wives; which, when i copied it in , was under the flooring of a pew in the south aisle. he died may , ; and was previously the possessor of stanstead hall: so i learn from my own ms. catalogue of brass rubbings in my collection, but i am not able to give any better reference to authenticate the statement. w. sparrow simpson. _heyheved_, mentioned in mr. parker's list, is _highhead castle_ in cumberland. in the reign of edward ii. it was a _peel house_ (pelum de heyheved) possessed by harcla, earl of carlisle. in modern times it became the property of a family named richmond, one of whom erected the present house, after a plan by inigo jones. but he died before it was finished, leaving co-heirs, who quarrelled about the partition of the estate, and actually put a hedge through the centre of the house. eventually one-half came into the hands of lord brougham, who is understood to have purchased the other, and will probably restore the whole. k. * * * * * newspaper folk lore. (vol. vi., pp. . . .; vol. ix., pp. . .) it may be instructive to collate the four stories recorded in the above references, and compare them with a case that was brought before mr. jardine at bow street police court; and which was reported in _the times_ for february , . let the following extract suffice: it is descriptive of the operations of extracting a worm from the body of one harriet gunton, by a female quack of the name of jane browning: "i laid myself on the bed as she desired, and she told mrs. jones to hold my mouth to prevent my breathing. mrs. jones held me from behind, and nearly suffocated me. she kept me down, while the prisoner tried to get the worms out of my body with her hands. this lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and caused me dreadful pain. the prisoner told me that one of the worms had bit her finger, and slipped away again, and she could not get at it. she tried a second time, and said the worm had bit her again. i then begged her to leave off, if she could not succeed in getting it away; for i believed i should die under the operation. she tried a third time, and said she had broken two skins of it, which would prevent it getting up my body. ... she then put her hand under the clothes. i felt something touch me like a cloth, and she drew away her hand; throwing something into the pan, which sounded { } with a heavy splash. she said she had been trying at it all night, and had got it away at last." mr. robert biggs, the medical attendant, pronounced the "reptile" to be a fine conger eel, which he believed had often done duty in the same way. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. it would be well if every popular error were hunted down, as your correspondents have done in the case of the snake-vomiting at portsmouth. the public need to be told, that no animal can live in the alimentary canal but the parasites which belong to that part of the animal economy. of these the _lumbricus intestinalis_ is the largest, and is discharged by children even of the size mentioned in the case of jonathan smith. two years ago i met with a curious illustration of the popular ignorance of that branch of natural history which treats of our own reptiles, as well as of the mode of growth of a popular marvel. during the hot weather of the summer before last, i was asked by a respectable farmer, if i had seen the "serpent" which was lately killed in an adjoining parish. "serpent!" i replied; "i suppose you mean some overgrown common snake--perhaps a female full of eggs?" "well, it might have been a snake at first, but it was grown into a serpent; and pursued a boy through the hedge, but was fortunately encountered and killed by the father." it is a moot point, whether the parasites of animals are engendered or not within the body. in the case of the bots of horses, they are known to be the larvæ of a fly which deposits its eggs on the skin; from whence they are licked off, and conveyed into the animal's stomach, where they are hatched and prepared for their other metamorphoses. i believe the only parasite taken in with water in tropical climates is the guinea worm; an animal which burrows under the skin of the arms or legs, and is extremely difficult of extraction, and often productive of great inconvenience. but whether the egg of this worm be taken into the stomach, and conveyed by the blood into the limbs, there to be hatched into life, or whether it enter through the pores of the skin, i believe is not determined. the popular delusion respecting the swallowing of young snakes, and of their continuance in the stomach, is a very old one, and is still frequent. a medical friend of mine, not long since, was called on to treat a poor hysterical woman, who had exhausted the skill of many medical men (as she asserted) to rid her of "a snake or some such living creature, which she felt confident was and had been for a long time gnawing in her stomach." i suggested the expediency of working on the imagination of this poor hypochondriac, as was done in the well-known facetious story of the man who fancied he had swallowed a cobbler; and who was cured by the apparent discharge first of the awls and strap, then of the lapstone, and, finally, of crispin himself. m. ( ) * * * * * french season rhymes and weather rhymes. (vol. ix., p. .) the following weather rules are taken from a work which is probably but little known to the generality of english readers. it is entitled: "contes populaires, préjugés, patois, proverbes, noms de lieux, de l'arrondissement de bayeux, recueillis et publiés par frédéric pluquet, &c.: rouen, ." where saints' days are mentioned, i have added the day of the month on which they fall, as far as i have been able to ascertain it; but as it sometimes happens that there is more than one saint of the same name, and that their feasts fall on different days, i may perhaps, in some cases, have fixed on the wrong one: "année venteuse, année pommeuse." "année hannetonneuse, année pommeuse." "l'hiver est dans un bissac; s'il n'est dans un bout, il est dans l'autre." "pluie du matin n'arrête pas le pélerin." "À noël au balcon, À pàques au tison." "À noël les moucherons, À pàques les glaçons." "pàques pluvieux, an fromenteux." "le propre jour des rameaux sème oignons et poreaux." "après pàques et les rogations, fi de prêtres et d'oignons." "fêves fleuries temps de folies." "rouge rosée au matin, c'est beau temps pour le pélerin." "pluie de février vaut jus de fumier." "février qui donne neige bel été nous plège." "février l'anelier" [anneau]. this saying has probably originated in the number of marriages celebrated in this month; the season of lent which follows being a time in which it is not { } usual, in roman catholic countries, to contract marriage. "février emplit les fosses; mars les sèche." "mars martelle, avril coutelle." an allusion to the boisterous winds of march, and the sharp, cutting, easterly winds which frequently prevail in april. "nul avril sans épi." "avril le doux, quand il se fàche, le pis de tout." "bonne ou mauvaise poirette, il faut que mars a trouve faite." poirette, in the dialect of bayeux, means a leek. "froid mai et chaud juin donnent pain et vin." "en juignet [juillet], la faucille au poignet." "À la saint-vincent [jan. ], tout dégèle, ou tout fend." "saint-julien brise glace [jan. ], s'il ne la brise, il l'embrasse." "À la chandeleur [feb. ], la grande douleur." meaning the greatest cold. "À la chandeleur, où toutes bêtes sont en horreur." probably alluding to the rough state of their coats at this season. "À la saint-george [april ], sème ton orge." "quand il pleut le jour saint-marc [april ], il ne faut ni pouque ni sac." "À la saint-catherine [april ], tout bois prend racine." "À la saint-urbain [may ], le froment porte grain." "À la saint-loup [may ?], la lampe au clou." "s'il pleut le jour saint-médard [june ], il pleuvra quarante jours plus tard." "À la saint-barnabé [june ] la faux au pré." "À la saint-sacrement [this year, june ] l'épi est au froment." "quand il pleut à la saint-gervais [june ], il pleut quarante jours après." "À la madeleine [july ], les noix sont pleines." "À la saint-laurent [aug. ], la faucille au froment." "passé la saint-clément [nov. ?], ne sème plus le froment." "si le soleil rit le jour sainte-eulalie [dec. ], il y aura pommes et cidre à folie." "À la sainte-luce [dec. ?], les jours croissent du saut d'une puce." "À la saint-thomas [dec. ], les jours sont au plus bas." edgar macculloch. guernsey. vault interments (vol. ii., p. .): burial in an erect posture (vol. viii., pp. . .): interment of the trogloditÆ (vol. ii., p. .). in the th book of evelyn's _sylva_ there is much interesting matter on this subject, besides what has been quoted above; and, to those herein interested, the following extract from burn's _history of parish registers in england_ will doubtless be acceptable: "many great and good men have entertained scruples on the practice of interment in churches. the example of the virtuous and primitive confessor, archbishop sancroft, who ordered himself to be buried in the churchyard of fresingfield in suffolk, thinking it improper that the house of god should be made the repository of sinful man, ought to command the imitation of less deserving persons: perhaps it had an influence over the mind of his successor, archbishop secker, who ordered himself to be buried in the churchyard of lambeth. the bishops of london in succession, from bishop compton to bishop hayter, who died in , inclusive, have been buried in fulham churchyard."[ ] of the same opinion were dr. edward rainbow, bishop of carlisle; sir matthew hale, who used to say that churches were for the living and to churchyards for the dead[ ]; joseph hall, bishop of norwich, who "did not hold god's house a meet repository for the greatest saint;" and william bedell, bishop of kilmore, who made a canon in his synod to the following effect: "ix. ut corpora defunctorum deinceps in ecclesiis non humentur, sed nec intra quintum pedem a pariete extrorsum." sir thomas latymer, of braibroke in northamptonshire, by his will directed thus: i, thomas latymer of braybroke, a fals knyghte to god, &c., my wrecchyd body to be buried where that ever i die in the next chirche yerde, god vouchsafe, and naut in the chirche, but in the utterist corner, as he that is unworthy to lyn therein, save the merci of god." { } dr. isaac barrow, bishop of st. asaph, was buried in a churchyard, although, from his having generously repaired and endowed his cathedral, he might be considered to have a claim of interment within its walls; and baldwin, the great civilian, severely censures this indecent liberty, and questions whether he shall call it a superstition or an impudent ambition. lanfranc, archbishop of canterbury, was the first who made vaults under the chancel, and even under the altar, when he rebuilt the choir of canterbury, about .[ ] "the irish long retained an attachment to their ancient customs and pagan superstitions; and the custom of burying in consecrated ground was not universal in ireland in the twelfth century on the arrival of the english, as we find it enjoined in the council of cashel, held in , mentioned by cambrensis. a short time since some small earthen tumuli were opened on the curragh of kildare, under which skeletons were found standing upright on their feet, and in their hands, or near them, spears with iron heads. the custom of placing their dead erect was general among all the northern nations, and is still retained in lapland and some parts of norway; and the natives of north america bury their dead sitting in holes in the ground, and cover them with a mound of earth."--_transactions of the r. irish academy_, vol. iii. a query i proposed (vol. ii., p. .) in reference to the trogloditæ never having been answered, i shall, perhaps, be allowed to use this opportunity myself to furnish an apposite and explanatory quotation, viz.-- "troglodytæ mortui cervicem pedibus alligabant et _raptim cum risu et jocis efferebant_, nullaque loci habita cura mandabant terræ; ac ad caput cornu caprinum affigebant."--coelii rhodigini, _lectiones antiquæ_, p. . i shall conclude with the _rationale_ of the erect posture, as illustrated by staveley in his _history of churches in england_: "it is storied to be a custom among the people of megara in greece, to be buried with their faces downwards; diogenes gave this reason why he should be buried after the same way, that seeing all things were (according to his opinion) to be turned upside down in succeeding times, he, by this posture, would at last be found with his _face upwards, and looking towards heaven_." bibliothecar. chetham. [footnote : cole's mss. vol. iv. p. .] [footnote : the assembly at edinburgh, in , prohibited the burying in kirks.] [footnote : cole's mss., vol. iv.] in _much ado about nothing_, act iii. sc. ., don pedro says: "she shall be buried with her face upwards." theobald, johnson, and steevens have left notes upon this line. the following passage is part of steevens' note: "dr. johnson's explanation may likewise be countenanced by a passage in an old black-letter book, without date, intitled, 'a merye jest of a man that was called howleglas, &c.: how howleglas was buryed: "'thus as howleglas was deade, then they brought him to be buryed. and as they would have put the coffyn into the pytte with cordes, the corde at the fete brake, so that the fote of the coffyn fell into the botome of the pyt, and the coffyn stood bolt upryght in the middes of the grave. then desired y^e people that stode about the grave that tyme, to let the coffyn to stande bolt upryght. _for in his lyfe tyme he was a very marvelous man, &c., and shall be buryed as marvailously._ and in this maner they left howleglas,' &c. "were not the claphams and mauleverers buried _marvailously_, because they were _marvelous_ men?"--johnson and steevens' _shakspeare_, vol. ii. p. . j. w. farrer. "in oliver heywood's register is the following entry [oct. , ]: 'capt. taylor's wife of brig house, buried in her garden with head upwards, standing upright, by her husband, daughter, &c. quakers.'"--watson's _history of halifax_, p. . cervus. "some christians [russians?] decline the figure of rest, and make choice of an erect posture in burial."--browne's _hydriotaphia_, ch. iv. p. . query, with the desire of meeting the judge, face to face, when he cometh? mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * do conjunctions join propositions only? (vol. ix., p. .) professor boole's communication on the above question reminds me of some remarks of mine, published in an article on sir john stoddart's _philosophy of language_, in the _north british review_ for november, . in reference to the opinion maintained by sir john stoddart and dr. latham, that the conjunction always connects sentences, the preposition words, it is observed: "it does not apply to cases where the conjunction unites portions of the _predicate_, instead of the _subject_, of a proposition. if i assert that a gentleman of my acquaintance drinks brandy _and_ water, he might not relish the imputation of imbibing separate potations of the neat spirit and the pure element. stradling _versus_ stiles is a case in point: 'out of the kind love and respect i bear to my much honoured and good friend, mr. matthew stradling, gent., i do bequeath unto the said matthew stradling, gent., _all my black and white horses_.' the testator had six black horses, six white horses, and six pied horses. the whole point at issue turns upon the question whether the copulative _and_ joins sentences or words. if the former, the plaintiff is entitled to the black horses, and also to the { } white, but not to the pied. if the latter he has a right to the pied horses but must forego his claim to the rest. and if the latter interpretation be adopted, must we say that _and_ is a preposition, not a conjunction, or must we modify the definitions of these two parts of speech?" the following definitions are finally proposed in place of the ordinary ones: "a preposition is a part of speech annexed to a noun or verb in a proposition, and serving to connect it with a noun or pronoun by which it is limited, as the subject or predicate of that proposition." "a conjunction is a part of speech serving to unite two propositions as parts of the same complex assertion, or two words as similar parts of the subject or predicate of one proposition. by _similar parts_ it is meant that the words so united stand in similar relations to the term to which they belong. for example, . as attributes, both qualifying a subject, 'sic bonus et sapiens dignis ait esse paratus.' . as prepositions, both introducing limiting nouns 'without money and without price.' . as substantives, both forming parts of a collective subject, 'two and three are five.' whereas with the preposition, the words united are not similar, but opposed, the _limiting_ and the _limited_ notion." while differing from some of professor boole's views on the relation of logic to mathematics, i fully agree with him that the true functions of the several parts of speech must be determined by an analysis of the laws of thought. both grammar and logic might be considerably improved by an accurate development on psychological principles. h. l. mansel, b.d. st. john's college, oxford. has not your correspondent g. boole fallen into an inaccuracy whilst contending about the accuracy of another's logic? he seems to employ the proposition, _all trees are endogens or exogens_, as an example of an accurate proposition. i forget the technicalities in which the objection to such a proposition would be properly expressed; but it cannot well be denied that _all_ comprehends the whole genus, and expresses that whole collectively. if so, the proposition affirms that the whole genus of trees must either be acknowledged to be endogens, or else to be _all_ exogens. does not such an affirmation require the word _every_ to clear it from ambiguity? will it be cleared of ambiguity by saying, "every tree is endogen or exogen?" or must we say "every tree is either endogen or exogen?" if your correspondents should happen to take down the second volume of _locke on human understanding_, b. iii. ch. iii. § ., on "universals," his note will supply them with another knot to unravel, of which i would gladly see their solution. for he has there said, "three bobaques are all true and real bobaques, supposing the name of that species of animals belongs to them." is this name formed in jest? for the philosopher sometimes puts on an awkward affectation of humour in his replies to bishop stillingfleet, to whom this note is addressed. h. w. * * * * * has execution by hanging been survived? (vol. ix., p. .) two instances of criminals being restored to life after having been hanged are recorded, on good authority, to have occurred in this town. henry of knighton (who was a canon of leicester abbey) relates in his _chronicle_ (col. ), under the year , that-- "one walter wynkeburn having been hanged at leicester, on the prosecution of brother john dingley, master of dalby, of the order of knights hospitallers, after having been taken down from the gallows as a dead man, was being carried to the cemetery of the holy sepulchre of leicester, to be buried, began to revive in the cart, and was taken into the church of the holy sepulchre by an ecclesiastic, and there diligently guarded by this leicester ecclesiastic to prevent his being seized for the purpose of being hanged a second time. to this man king edward granted pardon in leicester abbey, and gave him a charter of pardon, thus saying in my hearing, 'deus tibi dedit vitam, et nos dabimus tibi cartam?" we learn, on the authority of a cotemporary record, preserved in the archives of this borough, and quoted in thompson's _history of leicester_, p. ., that in june, , matthew of enderby, a thief, was apprehended and imprisoned in the king's gaol at leicester; and that being afterwards convicted, he was sentenced by sir john digby and sir john daungervill, the king's justices, to be hanged; that he was led to the gallows by the frankpledges of birstall and belgrave, and by them suspended; but on his body being taken down, and carried to the cemetery of st. john's hospital for interment, he revived and was subsequently exiled. three instances are narrated in wanley's _wonders of man_, vol. i. pp. , ., and another will be found in seward's _spirit of anecdote and wit_, vol. iii. p. ., quoted from gamble's _views of society, &c. in the north of ireland_; whilst in vol. ii. p. . of the same work, another restoration to life is stated to have taken place in the dissecting-room of professor junker, of halle: but i know not how far these last-mentioned anecdotes are susceptible of proof. william kelly. leicester. there appears to be no reason to doubt the truth of individuals having survived execution by hanging. margaret dickson was tried, convicted, and executed in edinburgh, in the year . after { } the sentence had been accomplished, her body was cut down and delivered to her friends, who placed it in a coffin, and conveyed the same in a cart towards her native place for the purpose of interment. on her journey the dead came to life again, sat up in her coffin, and alarmed her attendants. she was, however, promptly bled, and by the next morning had perfectly recovered. she lived for twenty-five years afterwards, and had several children. in one john smith was executed at tyburn; after he had hung fifteen minutes a reprieve arrived. he was cut down and bled, and is said to have recovered. (paris and fonblanque, _med. jur._, vol. ii. p. .) when it is considered that death takes place after hanging, in most cases by asphyxia, in very rare instances by dislocation of the spine, we can understand the possibility of recovery within certain limits. that artificial means have been adopted to ensure recovery, the case of gordon, which occurred in the early part of the seventeenth century, satisfactorily establishes. this evil-doer had been condemned for highway robbery, and with a view to escape from his penalty, succeeded in obtaining the following friendly assistance. a young surgeon named chovell (concerning whose motives we will not inquire too curiously) introduced a small tube through an opening which he made in the windpipe. the hangman, having accomplished his part of the tragedy, gordon's body was handed over to his friends. chovell bled him, and the highwayman sighed deeply, but subsequently fainted and died. the want of success was attributed to the great weight of the culprit, who consequently dropped with unusual violence. (_memoirs of the royal academy of surgery in france_, sydenham society publications, p. .) how far the mechanical contrivance by which bouthron, in scott's _fair maid of perth_, was kept alive after hanging, was founded on successful experience, i know not. nor do i know whether hook, in his _maxwell_, had any farther authority than his imagination for his story of resuscitation, though i have heard it said to be founded on the supposed recovery of a distinguished forger, who had paid the last penalty for his offences, and who was said to have really died only a short time since. oliver pemberton. birmingham. the _cork remembrancer_, a chronicle of local events, which i recollect seeing among my late father's (a cork man) books, relates the fact of a men who was hanged in that city, and on the evening of the same day appeared, not in the _spirit_, but in _body_, in the theatre. i regret i have not the book, but it is to be had somewhere. undoubtedly your late venerable correspondent, james roche, esq., could have authenticated my statement, and with fuller particulars, as i only relate the record of it from memory, after a lapse of many years. i think the occurrence, of which there is no doubt, took place somewhere about the year or ; and after all there is nothing very extraordinary about it, for the mode of execution by hanging at that time presented many chances to the culprit of escaping death; he ascended a ladder, upon which he stood until all the arrangements were completed, and then was quietly turned off, commonly in such a manner as not to break the neck or hurt the spinal marrow. it was most likely so in the case i relate and the man having been suspended the usual time, and not having been a murderer, was handed over to his friends, who took prompt measures, and successfully, to restore animation, and so effectually, that the man, upon whom such little impression by the frightful ordeal he had passed was made, mixed in the world again, and was at the theatre that evening. little chance is there of escaping death by the present mode of executing. umbra. dublin. the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. x. p. ., after giving the names of those executed on nov. , says: "and william duell, for ravishing, robbing, and murdering sarah griffin at acton. the body of this last was brought to surgeons' hall to be anatomised; but after it was stripped and laid on the board, and one of the servants was washing him in order to be cut, he perceived life in him, and found his breath to come quicker and quicker; on which a surgeon took some ounces of blood from him: in two hours he was able to sit up in his chair, and in the evening was again committed to newgate." and at p. . of the same volume,-- "dec. th. wm. duell (p. .) ordered to be transported for life." other instances will be found in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. i. p. ., and vol. xxxvii. p. ; and in vol. lxx. pt. i. p. . is the very curious case of anne green of oxford, quoted from dr. plot's _natural history of oxfordshire_, p. ., which is well worth reading. also, in vol. lvii. pt. i. p. ., is a letter, containing the two following quotations from cardan, in explanation of the phenomenon of surviving death by hanging: "is qui diu suspensus bononiæ jacuit, vivus inventus est, quod asperam arteriam non cartilagineam sed osseam habuit."--_cardanus_, lib. ii. tr. . contr. . "constat quendam bis suspensum servatum miraculi specie; inde cum tertio judicis solertiâ periisset, { } inventam osseam asperam arteriam."--_cardanus_, lib. xiv., de rerum variet., cap. . in the _newgate calendar, or malefactors' bloody register_, vol. ii. p. ., is the account of margaret dickson, who was executed for child-murder at edinburgh, june , , with an engraving of her "rising from her coffin near edinburgh, as she was carrying from the place of execution in order for interment." "by the scottish law," says the author, "every person on whom the judgment of the court has been executed has no more to suffer, but must be for ever discharged; and the executed person is dead at law, so that the marriage is dissolved. this was exactly the case with margaret dickson, for the king's advocate could not pursue her any farther, but filed a bill in the high court of justiciary against the sheriff for not seeing the judgment executed. and her husband being a good-natured man, was publicly married to her within a few days after the affair happened." zeus. for the information of your correspondent i send an extract from the _gentleman's magazine_ for february, : "_saturday_ th (jan.).--one patrick redmond having been condemned at cork, in ireland, to be hanged for a street robbery, he was accordingly executed, and hung upwards of twenty-eight minutes, when the mob carried off the body to a place appointed, where he was, after five or six hours, actually recovered by a surgeon, and who made the incision in his windpipe called _bronchotomy_, which produced the desired effect. the poor fellow has since received his pardon, and a genteel collection has been made for him." c. r. i would refer your correspondent [sigma]., who has put a query whether persons who have suffered execution by hanging have outlived the infliction, to a case of a woman named anne green, which appears to be authenticated upon the most unequivocal testimony of two very estimable authors. the event to which i allude is described in dr. robert plot's _history of oxfordshire_, folio, oxford, , p. .; and also in the _physico-theology_ of rev. w. derham, f.r.s., rd edit., vo., london, , p. . the above-mentioned anne green was executed at oxford, december , . i will not trespass upon your space, which appears pretty well occupied, with a lengthened detail from the authors pointed out, as their works are to be found in most libraries; and thinking polonius's observation that "brevity is the soul of wit" may be more extensively applied than to what relates to fancy and imagination. i would, however, crave one word, which is, that you would suggest to your correspondents generally that in referring to works they would give, as distinctly as possible, the heads of the title, the name of the author, the edition, if more than one, the place of publication, date, and page. i have experienced much loss of time from incorrect and imperfect references, not to mention complete disappointment in many instances, which i trust may plead my apology for this remark.[ ] [gamma]. [footnote : as our pages are frequently consulted for literary purposes, the suggestion of [gamma] is extremely valuable, and we trust his hints will be adopted by our numerous correspondents.--ed.] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _a stereoscopic note._--i possess a small volume entitled _a disquisition about the final causes of natural things_, by t. h., b.b., fellow of the royal society, . "to which are subjoined, by way of appendix, some uncommon observations about vitiated sight." in this strange appendix, one of the uncommon observations is worth the notice of your correspondents who write on stereoscopic subjects. i give you an extract from it: "it has been of late the opinion of very learned men, that though both our eyes are open, and turned towards an object, yet 'tis but one of them at a time that is effectually employed in giving us the representation of it: which opinion, in this place where i am writing but observations, it were not proper to discuss, especially because what is suppos'd to be observed will not always uniformly happen, but may vary in particular persons according to their several customs, and the constitution of their eyes: for i have, by an experiment purposely made, several times found, that my two eyes together see an object in another situation than either of them apart would do." and in giving instances for and against binocular vision, the author says: "a yet more considerable instance of such mistakes i afterwards had from a noble person, who, having in a fight, where he play'd the _hero_, had one of his eyes strangely shot out by a musquet bullet, that came out at his mouth, answered me, that not only he could not well pour drink out of one vessel into another, but had broken many glasses by letting them fall out of his hand, when he thought he had put them into another's, or set them down upon a table." the whole book is a very curious one, and i should be obliged if the editor of "n. & q." could tell me who t. h. was?[ ] j. lawson sisson. edingthorpe. [footnote : the hon. robert boyle.] _photographic query._--i think many amateur photographers would be thankful for plain and simple directions how to mount their positives on cardboard. would the editor of "n. & q." assist us in this? j. l. s. _deepening collodion negatives._--i have lately been trying a method of deepening collodion negatives, so as to render instantaneous impressions capable of being printed from, which i have found to answer admirably; { } and although it is but a slight modification of mr. lyte's process described in "n. & q.," it is a very important one, and will be found to produce far better results. the picture having been developed in the usual way, with a solution of pyrogallic acid, is whitened by means of mr. archer's solution of bichloride of mercury. the plate is then washed with water and a solution of _iodide of cadmium_ poured on. this converts the white chloride of mercury, which constitutes the picture, into the yellow iodide, in the same manner as the solution of iodide of potassium recommended by mr. lyte; but is much to be preferred, as it produces a more uniform deposit. the solution of iodide of potassium dissolves the iodide of mercury as soon as it is formed, and therefore cannot be left on the plate until the decomposition of the chloride is complete, without injury resulting to the picture, as the half-tones are thereby lost, and those parts over which the solution first flows become bleached before the other parts have attained their highest tone; whereas the solution of iodide of cadmium may be allowed to remain for any length of time on the plate, without any fear of its injuring the negative. j. leachman. _caution to photographers._--about six months since, i procured some gun cotton from a chemist which appeared very good, being quite soluble, and the collodion produced by it was excellent. that which i did not use i placed in what i believed to be a clean dry-stopped bottle, and put the bottle in a dark cupboard. i was much surprised the other day, upon going to the cupboard, to find the stopper blown out, and the cotton giving out dense red fumes of nitrous acid. it appears to me to be almost upon the point of combustion, and i have, accordingly, placed it under a bell-glass in a porcelain dish to watch the result. i feel satisfied, however, that there is some risk, and, as it may often be near ether, spirits of wine, or other inflammable chemicals, that caution is necessary not only in preserving it at home, but especially in its transmission abroad, which is now done to some extent. an amateur. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _artesian wells_ (vol. ix., p. .).--wells are often so called without just pretence to a similarity with those in artois, whence this name is derived. there are some natural springs in the northern slope of the chalk in lincolnshire, near the humber, called _blow-wells_, which may be considered naturally artesian. the particular character by which an artesian well may be known is, that the water, if admitted into a tube, will rise above the level of the ground in its immediate vicinity up to the level of its sources in the basin of the district; this basin being usually gravel, lying betwixt two strata impervious to water, formed the surrounding hills, and extending often over many miles of the earth's surface. if we conceive the figure of a large bowl, inclosing a somewhat smaller one, the interstice being filled with gravel, and the rain falling on the earth being collected within such interstice, then this interstice being tapped by boring a well, the water will rise up from the well to the same height as it stands in the interstice, or rim of the natural basin. such is an artesian well. supposing this huge mineral double bowl to be broken by a geological _fault_, the same hydrostatic principle will act similarly. the question of _preferable_ put by stylites must be governed by the _cui bono_. universal adoption is forbidden, first, by the absence of a gravelly stratum betwixt two strata impervious to water; and secondly, by the excessive expense of boring to such great depths. where expense is not in excess of the object to be attained, and where the district is geologically favourable, the artesian wells are preferable to common ones derived from natural tanks or water caverns, first, for the superabundant supply; secondly, for the height to which the water naturally rises above the ground; and thirdly, because boring artesian wells, properly so called, does not rob a neighbour's well for your own benefit, afterwards to be lost when any neighbour chooses to dig a little deeper than you. this is a matter with which london brewers are familiar. t. j. buckton. lichfield. _prior's epitaph on himself_ (vol. i., p. .).--mr. singer quotes an epitaph on "john carnegie," and says it is the prototype of prior's epitaph on himself. i have looked among prior's poems for this epitaph, and have not been able to discover anything that can be said to answer mr. singer's description of it. would your correspondent oblige me with a copy of the epitaph to which he alludes? my edition of prior is a very old one; and this may account for the omission, if such it be. henry h. breen. st. lucia. [the following is a copy of the epitaph: "nobles and heralds, by your leave, here lies what once was matthew prior, the son of adam and of eve; can bourbon or nassau claim higher?"] _handwriting_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in your concluding number of last year, e. b. requested information as to any work in english, french, german, or spanish, giving a standard alphabet for the various kinds of writing now in use, with directions for teaching the same. i fear i shall not satisfy all your correspondent's inquiries; but the following may be of some service. i have in my possession a german work, nearly of the kind he requires. the title is, _gründliche anweisung zum schönschreiben_, by martin schüssler, wiesbaden, . it is of an oblong shape, and consists entirely of engraved plates, in number thirty-two. it begins with some directions for the form { } and inclination of letters; then follows an explanation of five rules for writing, which are given in the german handwriting. after exhausting the german, the author proceeds to english letters and handwriting, followed by engrossing hand. then he gives the _fractur_, or black-letter characters, with some elaborate and beautiful capitals. he next gives specimens of french handwriting, and ends with greek current hand, and plates of large capitals of ornamental patterns; all different. if this work would at all answer the purpose of e. b., and he would wish to see it, it shall be sent to him by post on his giving his address to the writer, whose card is enclosed. f. c. h. i have in my possession for sale, a scarce old work, folio, a good clean copy of geo. bickman's _universal penman_, ; with numerous engravings. d. h. strahan. . winsly street, oxford street. "_begging the question_" (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--it may interest your logical readers to be informed of the fact that this fallacy was called the _petition of the principle_, this being, of course, a literal rendering of the latin phrase. the earliest english work on logic in which i have found this latinism is, _the arte of logike, plainelie set foorth in our english tongue, easie both to be understoode and practised_, . here occurs the following passage: "now of the default of logike, called sophisme. it is eyther { generall. } / { speciall. } the generall are those which cannot be referred to any part of logike. they are eyther { begging of the question, called the petition of the principle. } / { bragging of no proof. } begging of the question is when nothing is brought to prooue, but the question, or that which is as doubtfull." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _when and where does sunday begin or end?_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the christian festival, commonly called sunday, named by the ancient church "the lord's day," because that thereon the resurrection was accomplished, and the new creation, the work of messias, commenced, this feast, i say, begins at six o'clock in the evening of saturday, the last day of the week, at the close of that hebrew fast; and the end of sunday arrives at six o'clock in the evening of that first day of the week. when time was measured out, the count began with "the evening," which was created first; and which, with the succeeding morning, reckoned as the first day. h. of morwenstow. this question has been, to a certain extent, before debated by mr. johnson in his addenda to his _clergyman's vade mecum_, pp. , ., and _ecclesiastical law_, as quoted by wheatly, who combated his reasoning of sunday beginning at six o'clock on the saturday evening. johnson rests his argument upon deuteronomy xvi. ., where the sacrifice of the passover is ordered "at even, on the going down of the sun;" upon exodus xii. ., where the whole "congregation of israel shall kill it in the evening;" and i think he might have also taken genesis i. ., "and the evening and the morning were the first day." johnson says that "the church of england has divided her nights and days according to the scriptural, not the civil account: and that though our civil day begins from midnight, yet our ecclesiastical day begins at six in the evening.... the proper time for vesper, or evening song, is six of the clock, and from that time the religious day begins." wheatly admits that "the festival is not past till evensong is ended," but does not agree to its commencing on the preceding evensong; for if it does, he cannot reconcile the rubric at the end of the table of vigils. on the whole, i think johnson has the best of the argument: and that sunday begins ecclesiastically at six in the evening on saturday; civilly, at midnight. r. j. s. _precious stones_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., pp. . .).--respecting precious stones, some information may be gleaned from the notes to sir john hill's translation of theophrastus' _history of stones_ ( vo., nd edit., london, ). j. m. oxford. _scotch grievance_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondents refer to coins of a period when the scotch do not complain. their grievance, as alleged, is as to the mode of bearing the lion _since_ the union in ; to which the instances quoted, between the time of james i. and william iii., have no reference. g. _"corporations have no souls," &c._ (vol. viii, p. .).--the following, which i extract from hone's _table-book_, is probably the remark to which your correspondent b. alludes: "mr. howel walsh, in a corporation case tried at the tralee assizes, observed that a corporation cannot blush. it was a body, it was true; had certainly a head--a new one every year--an annual acquisition of intelligence in every new lord mayor. arms he supposed it had, and long ones too, for it could reach at anything. legs, of course, when it made such long strides. a throat to swallow the rights of the community, and a stomach to digest them! but who ever yet discovered, in the anatomy of any corporation, either bowels or a heart?" henry h. breen. st. lucia. { } _devereux bowly_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reply to uneda's inquiry, devereux bowly, watchmaker, of lombard street, london, died mar. , , in his seventy-eighth year. he was a member of the society of friends, and being at the time of his decease a widower, and without family, he left a large portion of his property to their school, then at clerkenwell, in the neighbourhood of which he resided. t. s. n. _reversible names_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--there is a gentleman in this island who bears the name and surname of _xuaved devaux_, which are mutually reversible. henry h. breen. st. lucia. your correspondent balliolensis, in speaking of reversible or palindromic english names, seems to have overlooked the names of _hannah_ and _anna_. x. _duval family_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--a grant was made by the crown in ireland on the th july, james ii., to garret wall, _alias_ duvall, sen., esq.; garret wall, _alias_ duvall, jun.; jas. wall, _alias_ duvall; and michael wall of the manor, town, and lands of culenemucky, co. waterford. j. f. ferguson. _member of parliament electing himself_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the article forwarded by h. m. are many gross errors. william mcleod bannatyne, esq., was sheriff of buteshire from dec. , , till may , ; during which period there were only two county elections in buteshire, viz. april , , and june , (the counties of bute and caithness being represented only in alternate parliaments), and on _neither_ of those occasions was he the _sole_ freeholder present. the statement in question can therefore only refer to the election on nov. , , when, owing to some accidental circumstances, he was the only freeholder present. in he was raised to the bench of the court of session by the title of lord bannatyne; and consequently he neither _did_ nor _could_ act as sheriff seven years after he ceased to hold that office. it is true that, as a technical formality, he nominated himself chairman of the meeting to enable him to sign the minute of the election in that capacity; but it is _not true_ that he either administered the oaths to himself, or signed the return of the election as sheriff. i was then a lad, and was present as a spectator on that occasion, when i saw mr. blain the sheriff-substitute administer the oaths to lord bannatyne; and, of course, mr. blain also made the election return, certifying that "the honorable james stuart wortley mackenzie of rosehaugh, &c. (a relation of the family of bute) had been duly elected." thus you see that the title of the article is quite erroneous, and is not even borne out by the original account, as the freeholder did not elect _himself_, but another person; and he did not act in any other capacity than that of a freeholder: the case being extraordinary enough of only _one_ freeholder attending at a county election, without the addition of those marvellous circumstances. j. mck. _gresebrok, in yorkshire_ (vol. viii., p. .).--to assist your correspondent [greek: hêraldikos], i may tell him that the family he inquires about now resides at horton castle and audenham in staffordshire. many years ago, when i took some interest in genealogy, i had the pleasure of being a guest of this family; and i then heard it said, that they could trace a very ancient and brilliant line from one osbert, who married a great heiress at the conquest, and that they were direct descendants of the ancient kings of england. some of mr. burke's publications i think would assist [greek: hêraldikos]; not having them by me, i cannot give the exact reference; but some months ago i saw, either in the _landed gentry_, or in the _visitations_, a note of the family.[ ] but i think, if your correspondent could by any means see mr. grazebrook's papers (as above noted), he would obtain all the particulars he may require. hospes. charlotte street, london. [footnote : ferdinando smith, esq., of halesowen, born march , , a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant, and lieut.-colonel of the worcester militia, married first, in july, , eloisa knudson, who died _s. p._ sept. , ; and, secondly, oct. , , elizabeth, fourth daughter of michael grazebrook, esq., of audnam, co. stafford, by whom he left two surviving sons, ferdinando dudley lea, now of halesowen, and william lea, born feb. , . colonel smith died july , .--burke's _landed gentry_, p. .--ed.] _sir anthony fitzherbert not chief justice_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the accompanying extract will resolve the difficulty which m. w. r. proposes: "but here our author objects against himself: that once upon a time the archbishop called a synod by his own authority, without the king's licence; and was thereupon prohibited by fitzherbert, lord chief justice; but the archbishop regarded not his prohibition. what this is to his purpose i cannot tell, nor do i see wherefore he brought it in, unless it were to blame rolle for quoting speed for it. and therefore, in behalf of both, i shall take the liberty to say thus much. that i know not what harm it is for a man in his own private collections--for such rolle's _abridgment_ was, though afterwards thought worthy of a public view--to note a memorable passage of history, and make a remark of his own upon it, out of one of the most faithful and judicious of all our modern historians. "i have before taken notice of this passage, and that not from speed, but from roger hoveden; from { } whom i suppose speed may also have taken the relation. i shall therefore only beg to set this gentleman, to whom all our historians are i doubt equally unknown, right in two particulars; by telling him, that _neither was fitzherbert the man who prohibited the archbishop, neither was he chief justice when he did it. his name was geoffrey fitz-peter._ he was earl of essex, and a very eminent man in those days; and his place was much greater than this author represents it; even lord justice of england, which he was first made by king richard, anno ; and held in the king's absence to his death, anno ; in which year king john, going over into france, constituted peter, bishop of winchester, lord justice in his place."--wake's _authority of christian princes asserted_, pp. - . wm. fraser, b.c.l. tor-mohun. _the privileges of the see of canterbury_ (vol. viii., p. .).--as no one has yet volunteered to solve mr. fraser's question, how the letter of pope boniface ordaining that, _however human circumstances might be changed_, the city of canterbury should ever thereafter be esteemed the metropolitan see, can be reconciled with the creation of the archiepiscopal see of westminster,--i may suggest as a solution this maxim: "nihil tam conveniens est naturali æquitati, unumquodque dissolvi eo ligamine quo ligatum est." it is possible, too, that pope pius ix. may have considered that a case had arisen for applying this principle,-- "necessitas publica major est quam privata." but be this as it may (and you will excuse me in observing, by the way, that i do not concur in the correctness of this hypothetical view if taken by his holiness), i hope we shall hear from mr. fraser whether the former of the above maxims has been effectual to remove his difficulties, which, as i presume from their insertion in "n. & q.," are not of a purely theological nature. respondens. _chauncy or chancy_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent j. y. will find an account of charles chauncey, b.d., and fellow of trinity college, cambridge, born in , and died in , in vol. iii. p. . of brook's _lives of the puritans_. see also chalmers's _biographical dictionary_. [greek: halieus] dublin. _"three cats," &c._ (vol. ix., p. .).-miss bockett wishes for the remainder of the "old ballad" beginning with "three cats;" and i beg to inform her, that there never was any more than what she mentions. the object of the singer was, to cause fun by an elaborately modulated cadenza on the word _coal-dust_, and then to call on the company to join in chorus. he next continued with some significant word, as "notwithstanding;" and, after a pause of some bars rest, he went on with "three cats," as before, _ad infinitum_, changing the initial word each time. it required some tact to give it effect; but, if sung by a clever humorist, was sure to keep the room in a roar of laughter. but its day is gone by. grimalkin. halliwell, in his _collection of nursery rhymes_, does not mention "three cats by the fire-side," &c.; but i have in my possession several not named by him, and "three cats," &c. amongst the number, which i have much pleasure in transcribing for the benefit of julia r. bockett's ancient friend: "three cats sat by the fire-side, in a basket full of coal-dust, one cat said to the other in fun, pell mell, 'queen anne's dead.' 'is she,' said grimalkin, 'then i'll reign queen in her stead,' then up, up, up, they flew up the chimney." anon. probably this is the song of "the turnspits:" "two little dogs sat by the fire-side, in a basket full of coal-dust; says one little dog to the other little dog, 'if you don't go in, i must.'" n.b.--into the wheel. smokejack. _officers of charles i._ (vol. ix., p. .).--sir t. metcalfe mentions, as among the "curious stray sheets" in his possession, "a list of all the gentlemen and officers who fell in the cause of charles i." as i have long wished to see a list of king charles's officers, but have never, as yet, met with anything like a complete catalogue of those who fell, or of those who survived, it would be interesting to me, as i doubt not it would be interesting to many of your readers, to see this "curious stray sheet" transferred to the pages of "n. & q." can you refer me to any published, or otherwise accessible, list of the officers who fought _against_ charles i., whether by sea or land? is there any printed list of officers at the time of the restoration? * * _d. o. m._ (vol. iii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--would r. w. d. state his reasons for rendering these letters "datur omnibus mori?" such an inscription would of course be _à propos_ in the case of a tombstone; but the ordinary interpretation, "deo optimo maximo," would likewise be fitting, and it is not probable that the same initials should have two distinct meanings. w. m. n. _whitewashing in churches_ (vol. ix., p. .).--mr. hudson turner informs us (_domestic { } architecture in england_, vol. i. p. .) that as early as the thirteenth century the practice of the whitewashing buildings was universal; and that "the process, so vehemently denounced by modern antiquaries, was liberally applied also to ecclesiastical edifices." william kelly. leicester. mr. hudson turner says: "we are not to consider the practice of whitewashing stonework as a vice peculiar to modern times. our ancestors had as great an objection to the natural surface of stone, whether in churches or other buildings, as any church wardens or bricklayers of the nineteenth century. several writs of henry iii. are extant, directing the norman chapel in the tower to be whitewashed. westminster hall was whitewashed for the coronation of edward i.; and many other ancient examples might be cited. in fact it seems to have been the rule to plaster ordinary stonework."--_domestic architecture in england_, p. xxvi. a far earlier instance of the practice appears in deuteronomy xxvii. . k's question, however, is scarcely answered by the above, as it cannot be supposed that delicate sculpture was clogged with whitewash until it became obnoxious on religious grounds. c. r. m. _enfield church_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent is quite wrong as to the date of this building. the nave is separated from the north and south aisles by an arcade of five arches of undoubted middle pointed work; not later than the beginning of the fourteenth century, to which date also belongs the east window of the chancel: the "clere-story," which has the device of a rose and wing (not _ring_), is probably of the date assigned to the whole church by your correspondent. the south aisle was much altered about forty years ago, the windows of which are a bad imitation of those in the north aisle. in making alterations to the chancel in the piscina, and a portion of the sedilia, a drawing of which is given in _the builder_, vol. x. p. ., with a window over, were brought to light. they belong to the first pointed period, or about the latter part of the twelfth century; clearly showing that a portion, at least, of the church is of the last-mentioned date. i have always understood that the wing and rose, on the walls of the clere-story, was the cognizance of abbot wingrose of waltham. jas. p. st. aubyn. _coin of carausius_ (vol. ix., p. ).--c. g. is right in considering his coin as of carausius, who reigned from to a.u.c. i would suggest p. f. for pius felix, as preferable to p. p. the dates will show that the letters mlxxi have nothing to do with the year . on other coins of carausius we find the signs ml, _moneta londinensis_, or _moneta londini_ (_percussa_); and msl, _moneta signata londini_. these interpretations are justified by analogy with the roman coins, and by the signs on coins of constantine, msl, which must be interpreted as on the coins of carausius, mlon, and mln, _moneta londini_ (_percussa_). the abbreviation ln for lon is analogous to rv for _ravenna_, which is undoubted. as for the letters xxi, they occur very frequently, either alone or with others, on coins of aurelian and his successors. they have evidently relation to the value of the coin, and are replaced by the greek letters [greek: ka], which have the same numerical value, on coins of diocletian, &c. as analogous signs, i may quote lxxii and ob, the corresponding greek letters, on amei respectively of constantine and valentinian, showing the _ameus_ = / of a pound; lx on silver coins of constantius = / of a pound; and xcvi on denarii of diocletian = / of a pound. it has not yet been explained, however, in what relation these copper coins stood to the others, so as to justify the xxi, unless mommsen may have done so in a book i have not seen, _ueber den verfall des münzwesens in der kaiserzeit_, . see for the particulars of the above-cited coins, pinder and friedländer's _beiträge zur münzkunde_, p. . and following. w. h. scott. torquay. _society for burning the dead_ (vol. ix., p. .).-- "the pioneer metropolitan association for promoting the practice of decomposing the dead by the agency of fire. w. h. newman, hon. sec., to whom all communications are to be addressed, post paid, at the city of london mechanics' institute, gould square, crutched friars, or at . cleveland street, mile end road. "january, . "arthur trevelyan, "associate." anon. _map of dublin_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your querist c. h. will be shown with pleasure, at my house, a very ancient map of dublin, styled "an exact copy of a map of the city and harbour of dublin, from a survey by john rocque." there is no date to it, but i observe that the street i live in was called "fleet alley." john h. powell. . westmoreland street, dublin. _pettifogger_ (vol. vii., p. .).--one who "would cast a mist before," and around, his clients. he makes it his constant practice to raise a "petty-fog." "and thus much for this cloud, i cannot say rather than _petty-fog_ of witnesses, with which episcopal men would cast a mist before us, to deduce their exalted { } episcopacy from apostolick times."--milton, of _prelatical episcopacy_, ed. col. amst., , vol. i. p. . is not this a more probable origin of the word than the _pettivogueur_ of our etymologists? and mr. keightley will, i am sure, permit me to suggest that it is a derivation at least as obvious and expressive as _pettyfolker_. william beal. brooke vicarage, norfolk. _views in london by canaletto_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reply to the query of your correspondent gondola, i beg to say that i have long had the pleasure of possessing one of canaletto's london views, that of the thames from the temple gardens, in which the hand that painted gondolas and masks may be traced in thames wherries and grave templars. i believe there are others in the collections of the dukes of buccleugh and northumberland. edmund phipps. park lane. during the residence of antonio canaletto at venice, he painted a number of pictures, at low prices, for joseph smith, esq., the british consul; but that gentleman retailed those paintings at an enormous profit to english travellers. canaletto finding this out, was induced to visit a country where his talents were so much appreciated. he accordingly came to england in the year , being then about fifty years of age. he remained with us six or seven years (not _two_, as stated by walpole), and during that period received great encouragement from the english nobility. his delineations of london and its environs, especially those of thames scenery (of which he seems to have been very fond), are deservedly admired. two of these are at goodwood, and another (parliament street, looking towards charing cross) is in the buccleuch collection. several london paintings were, at the beginning of the present century, in the possession of the hon. percy wyndham. some others are to be found in the royal collections, and in those of many noblemen and gentlemen of fortune. edward f. rimbault. _london fortifications_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--during the last civil war a fortification was erected at the brill farm, near old st. pancras church, where, years after, somers town was built. a view of it is extant, and may be obtained for a few shillings. the brill is also stated to have been a roman station, but, i believe, without foundation. g. j. s. tavistock terrace, holloway. _what day is it at our antipodes?_ (vol. viii., pp . .).--after the able way in which this subject has been treated by a. e. b., i will only add an extract from _a complete system of geography_, by emanuel bowen, london, , vol. iii. p. .: "one thing more is worth observing concerning this place (macao), namely, that the portuguese sunday here is the saturday with the spaniards of the philippine islands, and so forward through all the days of the week, although there be scarce any difference in the longitude of both places. but the reason is, the portuguese, in coming to europe, pass eastward, whereas the spaniards, coming from america, pass westward; so that between both, they have sailed round the globe: in doing which there is necessarily one day lost, as we have taken occasion to show in the introduction to this work." john p. stilwell. dorking. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. when dr. ure tells us that from the year , when he conducted the schools of chemistry and manufactures in the andersonian institution, up to the present day, he has been assiduously engaged in the study and improvement of most of the chemical, and many of the mechanical, arts; that during that period he has been habitually consulted professionally by proprietors of factories, workshops, and mines, to rectify what was amiss in their establishments, and to supply what was wanting, he shows clearly how great were his qualifications for the preparation of _a dictionary of arts, manufactures, and mines, containing a clear exposition of their principles and practice_: and it is therefore little wonder that a work undertaken with such advantages should have reached what is now before us, a "fourth edition, corrected and greatly enlarged." dr. ure has, in this edition, turned to good account the many novelties of an interesting and useful nature first displayed in the great exhibition, and his two portly volumes may be consulted with advantage not only by manufacturers and professional men, but by lawyers, legislators, and, in short, all who take an interest in those achievements of science to which this great country owes its pre-eminence. unnoticed by reviewers, and unaided by favour or influence, mr. keightley tells us that his _mythology of ancient greece and italy_ has reached its third edition. so much the better, for it proves that the book has merits of its own, and those merits have won for it a place which will keep mr. keightley's name in memory as long as a love for classical literature and tasteful learning remains; and this, we suspect, will be longer than mr. keightley anticipates. as the success which has attended this valuable and original exposition of classical mythology renders it unnecessary to say one word as to its merits, we may content ourselves with stating that this edition has been carefully revised, has received numerous additions, and, although it is beautifully got up, is published at lower price than its predecessor. { } the children of lady falmouth are blessed with a mother who possesses that invaluable gift, the art of making learning a pleasure; and we doubt not many a loving mother will be glad to find her labours lightened by the recently published _conversations on geography, or the child's first introduction to where he is, what he is, and what else there is_, by viscountess falmouth, baroness le despencer. these conversations strongly remind one of mrs. marcet's, and we can give them no higher praise. whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the partial or impartial character of m. de custine's work upon _russia_, it contains much matter which will be read at the present important crisis with considerable interest; and in reprinting it in their _traveller's library_, at a price which will place it within the reach of all classes of readers, messrs. longman have taken steps for securing to _russia by_ m. de custine a wide-spread popularity. our valued correspondent mr. singer has kindly sent us a copy of a little offering to the manes of shakspeare and tieck, of which he has printed a few copies for private distribution. it is _the midsummer night, or shakspeare and the fairies, from the german of ludwig tieck_, by mary c. rumsay. the work, one of exuberant fancy, was written when tieck was only sixteen, but only published by his friend bulow in . it is translated with great ability; and we regret, for the sake of the many who would wish to possess it, that mr. singer did not carry out his original intention, and publish it in aid of the funds for the monument to tieck. _the journal of classical and sacred philology_, no. i., march, , is the first of a very valuable periodical, the nature and object of which are plainly indicated by its title. one very useful feature is its _contents of foreign journals_, in which it records all the important contributions on sacred and classical philology inserted in the chief periodicals of the continent. we have before us the publications of _the arundel society_, or _society for promoting the knowledge of the fine arts_, for the fourth year: and they are indeed of a nature to effect the great object for which the society was instituted. they consist of eight engravings on wood from drawings made by mr. williams, who was sent by the society to padua expressly for the purpose, from the frescos of giotto in the arena chapel. the woodcuts have been executed by messrs. dalziel. with the rest of these prints will be issued a short description of the chapel and its frescos, prepared by mr. ruskin. the second part of mr. netherclift's _autograph miscellany_ contains fac-similes of the original depositions of their marriage by james ii. and anne hyde; of an original letter from luther to cromwell, afterwards earl of essex; of a letter from glover, somerset herald, to the earl of leicester; and of that portion of sterne's _sentimental journey_ in which is related the episode of "the dead ass." the success which has attended the publication of miss burney's _diary_, or, to give the work its more correct title, _the diary and letters of madame d'arblay_, has induced mr. colburn to commence a new edition of it in seven three-shilling volumes. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: london labour and the london poor. various numbers, several of many of them. knight's national cyclopÆdia. parts. almanack of the month, by gilbert a. a'beckett. jan., feb., june, sept., and dec., . wanted by _geo. newbold_, . regent street, vauxhall road. an essay explanatory of the tempest prognosticator in the building of great exhibition. the last edition. wanted by _j. t. c._, care of messrs. mcgee & co., nassau street, dublin. the family instructor, by de foe. vols. . oxford, talboys. allan ramsay's tea-table miscellany. . hazlitt's select poets of great britain. . the lady's poetical magazine, or beauties of british poets. vols. london, . the hive, containing vol. i. first edition. . london magazine. vols. after the year . wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. evans's old ballads. vol. i. . any of the sermons, tracts, &c., by the late rev. a. g. jewitt. history of lincoln, by a. jewitt. howitt's gipsy king, and other poems. either one or two copies. wanted by _r. keene_, bookseller, irongate, derby. henry's (phillip) life, by sir j. b. williams. royal vo. wanted by _t. barcham_, bookseller, reading. fresenius' quantitative analysis. last edition. wanted by _smith, elder, & co._, . cornhill. two volumes of plates to glossary of architecture. parker, oxford. . wanted by _ed. appleton_, torquay. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _in consequence of the great length of_ mr. winthrop_'s valuable communication, and the number of articles waiting for insertion, we have this week the pleasure of presenting our readers with an extra eight pages_. _we are compelled to postpone until next week replies to several correspondents and notices of several books._ an old f.a.s., f.r.s., f.s.a. _we have not yet been favoured with a reply to our request for the name of this correspondent, who states that "he selected the eyre drawings from a large mass of papers" in , and "is satisfied they are authentic drawings." we therefore repeat our request._ mathew, a cornish family (vol. ix., p. .).--excuse my troubling you again about _real_ names, but it is extraordinary how shy some men seem to be of their _cognomen_ and habitat. in a late number, p. ., b. of birkenhead asks about the family of mathew. a great-great-grandmother of mine was of that devon family, and i should be delighted to learn more than i know of her, and perhaps b. birkenhead might instruct me. do try to draw him from his _cover_. h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george, topsham, devon. { } zeta. _for notices of mother shipton, see_ "n. & q.," vol. v., p. . c. w. b. _is our correspondent quite certain there was a naval engagement, as the words of the pedigree simply state that he was on board when he died, in command of a body of marines?_ j. d. _the wedge-shaped baths of glass, originally recommended by_ mr. archer, _are certainly the best. they are economical in use and very cleanly. they may, no doubt, be procured from_ mr. archer. _the one we have in we got at hockin's. there is little doubt that if, when properly constructed, they were sold at a reasonable price, they would entirely supersede baths of gutta percha._ b. p. (warrington). _we have often answered the question before. precipitate the silver in the form of a chloride by means of common salt; put this into a crucible with twice or thrice the quantity of common carbonate of soda: the crucible being exposed to a strong heat, the metallic silver will form in a button at the bottom of the crucible. . use a bath of thirty grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce, and drop into it a few drops of nitric acid, sufficient to turn litmus paper red. . a glass bath is far preferable to gutta percha._ e. w. (a beginner). _ . in all printing of positives it is needful to salt the paper; when albumenized paper is used it is combined with the albumen. . we have for many reasons entirely discarded the ammonio-nitrate of silver. we have seen very few positives produced by it which are permanent. . sel d'or causes a sort of plum colour, which is much admired by some; intensity of light alone will not produce certain tints. we have met with uniform success by trusting to the formula given in_ "n. & q." _by_ dr. diamond (vol. viii., p. .), _and its ease in manipulation has alone much to recommend it. . proofs should be left in the hypo, until they are quite clear and transparent when held up to the light, looking like a piece of chinese rice-paper. they at first change to a reddish-brown upon immersion, but if sufficiently printed that soon departs and becomes a very rich tint, the thin canson's paper giving best. as a beginner we will forward you a small specimen of the color obtained._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * this day is published, fcp. vo., s. d. cloth. the great sacrifice; or, the gospel according to leviticus. by the rev. john cumming, d.d. *** this forms the first companion volume to the sabbath morning readings. london: john f. shaw, southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * hamilton and the pianoforte.--just published, the fifty-second edition of this extraordinarily popular author's modern instructions for the pianoforte, newly revised and greatly enlarged by carl czerny (pupil of beethoven). large music folio, pages, price only s. also, by the same, hamilton's modern instructions for singing. large music folio, s. may be ordered of all music-sellers and booksellers. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street, music publishers to the queen. * * * * * sir henry bishop's new ballads. words by j. e. carpenter, esq. "her bright smile haunts me still." "he deems that i can love again." s. d. each, "on the banks of a beautiful river." "the mother's last farewell." s. each. also, "mourn for the mighty dead," words by dr. mackay, s. the same for four voices, s. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street, and of all booksellers. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * oliver cromwell.--a fac-simile of a newspaper, published during the commonwealth, announcing the death of oliver cromwell, and reviewing his public and private life. price d., or free (by post) on receipt of six stamps. king charles.--a fac-simile of a very curious, interesting, and droll newspaper of king charles's reign, with a sheet of extraordinary gleanings from numerous ancient newspapers. price d., or free (by post) on receipt of six stamps. j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * classical musical library.--subscribers are liberally supplied, on loan, with every description of new vocal and instrumental music, and have also at their disposal upwards of , volumes, including the standard operas, italian, german, french, and english songs, and all kinds of instrumental music. during the term of subscription, each subscriber has the privilege of selecting--for his own property--from , different pieces, guineas' worth of music. prospectuses forwarded free on application. jullien & co., . regent street. * * * * * to topographical and antiquarian print collectors. t. harwood begs to inform the above, that he has a large collection of prints, topographical and biographical cuttings, portraits, arms, and pedigrees, to illustrate any county in england and wales. lists are now ready, and can be had gratis, for the counties of cumberland, gloucester, and north and south wales, by addressing to . mansfield street, kingsland road, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * certificates in drawing are granted to schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, by the department of science and art, which will enable the holders of them to obtain an augmentation of salary from the committee of council for education. classes for the instruction of schoolmasters and mistresses and pupil-teachers in freehand and drawing, linear geometry, perspective and model drawing, are formed in the metropolis in the following places: . marlborough house, pall mall.--meeting on tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and friday evenings, from to ; and saturdays, from to . . spitalfields, crispin street.--meeting on wednesday and friday evenings, from to . . gore house, kensington.--meeting on monday and thursday evenings, from to . fee for the session of five months, from march to august, s. for information, and specimens of the examination papers, apply to the secretary of the department of science and art, marlborough house, pall mall, london. * * * * * entire stock of the publications of the shakspeare society; county histories, and other important works. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly. on wednesday, march , and two following days, the entire remaining stock of publications of the shakspeare society, consisting of complete sets, and the separate volumes arranged in series and otherwise; also, ormerod's cheshire, vols. large paper, subscription copy, uncut; hutchins's dorsetshire, vols. calf, gilt; gough's sepulchral monuments, vols. in , superb copy. russia extra; whitaker's leeds and richmondshire, vols. large paper; nichols's bibliotheca britannica topographica, vols. fine copy, uncut, very rare; nichols's collectanea topographica et genealogica, vols.: nichols's leicestershire, vols. uncut; manning and bray's surrey, vols.; j. m. w. turner's yorkshire views, proofs, eight copies, half-bound; stothard's monumental effigies, vols. largest paper, the arms finely painted by dowse: dibdin's spencer catalogue, vols. complete, large paper: clarendon's rebellion, vols. large paper, splendidly illustrated with rare engravings (from the stowe library): rogers's imitations of drawings, vols. half russia: gentleman's magazine, complete to , and several sets from to ; a few remainders of interesting works, including the privately printed catalogue of vols. of valuable manuscripts, late in the collection of dawson turner, esq.; haweis's sketches of the reformation, &c. catalogues will be sent on application; if in the country, on receipt of four stamps. * * * * * { } photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill & morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution. bond street; and at the manufactory above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collection, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainly by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail maintained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and its extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * chubb's fire-proof safes and locks.--these safes are the most secure from force, fraud, and fire. chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. complete lists, with prices, will be sent on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * arundel society.--the publication of the fourth year ( - ), consisting of eight wood engravings by messrs. dalziel. from mr. w. oliver williams' drawings after giotto's frescos at padua, is now ready; and members who have not paid their subscriptions are requested to forward them to the treasurer by post-office order, payable at the charing cross office. john j. rogers, treasurer and hon. sec. . & . pall mall east. march, . * * * * * surplices. gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, has prepared his usual large supply of surplices, in anticipation of easter. parcels delivered free at railway stations. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, , strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s., d. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale. messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be produced in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, aligned by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lamm, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osbourne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright." &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases and other travelling requisites, gratis on application or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * { } new and important works for the young, published by varty and owen, educational depository, . strand, london. * * * * * preceptive illustrations of the bible: a series of fifty-two new coloured prints to aid scriptural instruction. selected, in part, by the author of "lessons on objects." from original designs, by s. bendixen, artist, made expressly for this work. the fifty-two prints, coloured, in one vol., half-bound, morocco, l.; in paper wrapper, l. s.; single prints, s. d., coloured; in plain oak frame, with glass, l.; rosewood and gold frame, and glass, l. s. size of the prints, ½ in. by ½. opinions of the press. "a valuable help in home education." "admirably adapted for the purpose of instructing the young. suitable either for schools or for private families." "to aid parents on the sunday they are invaluable." chronological pictures of english history, from the ancient britons to queen victoria. designed and lithographed by john gilbert. in eight parts. every part contains five plates, with fac-similes of the autographs of the sovereigns and most distinguished characters, accompanied with tabular sheets of letterpress, carefully compiled. each plate illustrates a reign. price, complete in one vol., imperial folio, half-bound morocco, gilt tops, l. s. d.; or in eight parts, each part s. d., beautifully tinted. in a serial portfolio frame, with glass, l. s. varty's graphic illustrations of animals: showing their utility to man in their services during life, and uses after death. the size of the prints is inches by . single prints may be had. to present accurate drawings and pleasing pictures is not the only or primary object of this work, but rather to impart lessons of practical importance and daily application in an attractive form, and to open up a subject which, judiciously applied, is calculated to prove to the young a most interesting and instructive study. the design is to show the "utility of animals to man," both in their services during life, and in their uses after death; and to deduce results calculated to excite interest and admiration, and evince the wisdom and goodness of god in the subsistence, comfort, and social advancement of his creature man. price, in one volume, folio, exhibiting nearly sixty animals, in upwards of coloured illustrations, half-bound in morocco, and lettered, l. s. varty & co.'s select series of domestic and wild animals. in thirty-six carefully coloured plates. size ½ inches by . price l. s. the selection of animals has been limited to those which are most known and best adapted to elicit inquiry from the young, and afford scope for instruction and application. the set of outlines for drawings, s. the animal kingdom at one view. clearly exhibiting the relative sizes of animals to man, and their comparative sizes with each other. arranged in divisions, orders, &c., according to the method of baron cuvier. carefully and beautifully coloured after nature. on four imperial sheets. inches by , in sheets, beautifully coloured, with a key, l. s. d. the illustrated edition. the earth and man; or, comparative physical geography, according to the principals laid down by karl ritter, humboldt, steffens, elie, beaumont, &c. with ten illustrative coloured maps and plates. by arnold guyot. professor of physical geography and history at neufchatel. second edition, bound in cloth, demy mo. s. illustrated outline maps to the illustrated atlas. by dr. vogel. seven maps, each beautifully embellished with a border, exhibiting the animals, plants, &c., according to their geographical distribution. imp. to., in a cover, s. the set. new scripture prints. six illustrations from the parables. drawn by w. j. montaigne. size inches by . in a wrapper. s. vogel's illustrated atlas of political and elementary physical geography. in eleven coloured maps and plates. embellished with upwards of engravings of the races of man, animals, plants, &c. by dr. karl vogel. director of schools, berlin. with descriptive letter-press, by the editor of the "university atlas of the middle ages." &c. second edition, imp. vo., in cloth, s. d. an easy introduction to the study of the animal kingdom. price, in cloth, s. d. the treasury harmony of the four evangelists: having scripture illustrations, expository notes, practical reflections, geographical notices, &c. bound in cloth, vols., l. s. *** a few copies only remain on hand. vogel's illustrated physical maps, beautifully coloured, with letter-press descriptions, s. pictorial bible atlas. demy vo., covered cloth, containing six quarto maps, with numerous interesting illustrations of important events, manners, customs, religious rites and ceremonies, &c. full coloured, s. europe. a new map. divided politically, exhibiting the mountain ranges, and much useful information. four sheets, atlas size, feet by feet inches. on cloth and rollers, coloured, s. now ready, the third edition. christ an example for the young. illustrated by engravings on tinted papers, to aid the chronology of our lord's life and ministry. with a map. bound, cloth lettered, s. d. hand atlas for bible readers. by e. hughes. new edition, with very considerable additions, cloth lettered, s. d. varty's early lessons in geography. in fourteen lessons, in very bold type. there are numerous questions on each lesson. s. d. second edit. a large physical map of the world. showing its various physical features and phenomena. cloth and roller, coloured, l. s.; varnished, l. s. size, feet inches by feet. a large physical map of europe. exhibiting its physical features, &c. coloured. cloth and roller, s., varnished, l. s. size, feet by feet inches. physical earth, in hemispheres. without the lines of latitude and longitude, or any names of places. cloth and roller, s. size feet inches by feet inches. a large new map of the world. showing its civil divisions, and other useful information. in hemispheres. cloth and roller, s. size, feet inches by feet inches. historical maps of england--middle ages. two beautifully executed maps, with copious index sheets, map i. engla land, anglo-saxon period, from a.d. to a.d. . map ii. england, anglo-norman period, from a.d. to a.d. . price, in sheets, s.; on cloth and roller, s. educational maps (varty's cheap series), coloured and mounted on cloth and roller. the world (mercator's), s.; in hemispheres, s. the british islands (one map), s. europe s. asia s. africa s. america s. australia and new zealand s. england s. scotland s. ireland s. india s. roman empire s. the journeys of israel s. heathen palestine, or canaan s. jewish palestine, in twelve tribes s. palestine in the time of our saviour s. st. paul's voyages and travels s. jerusalem, the city of the lord s. outline maps to correspond, s. d. each plain; s. coloured; s. cloth and roller. a detailed catalogue of these works, maps, and apparatus, may be had on application. a very liberal discount to schools. * * * * * london: varty & owen, educational depository, york house, . strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page gossiping history works on bells, by the rev. h. t. ellacombe inedited letter of lord nelson, by e. w. jacob folk lore:--herefordshire folk lore--greenock fair--dragons' blood--charm for the ague psalms for the chief musician: hebrew music, by t. j. buckton minor notes:--"garble"--deaths in the society of friends--the eastern question--jonathan swift, dean of st. patrick's, dublin--english literature--irish legislation --anecdote of george iv. and the duke of york queries:-- anonymous works: "posthumous parodies," "adventures in the moon," &c. blind mackerel minor queries:--original words of old scotch airs-- royal salutes--"the negro's complaint"--"the cow doctor"-- soomarokoff's "demetrius"--polygamy--irish, anglo-saxon, longobardic, and old english letters--description of battles --do martyrs always feel pain?--carronade--darcy, of platten, co. meath--dorset--"vanitatem observare"--king's prerogative --quotations in cowper--cawley the regicide minor queries with answers:--dr. john pocklington --last marquis of annandale--heralds' college--teddy the tiler--duchess of mazarin's monument--halcyon days replies:-- dogs in monumental brasses, by the rev. w. s. simpson, &c. sneezing, by c. w. bingham sir john de morant inn signs "concilium delectorum cardinalium" pulpit hour-glasses, by dr. e. f. rimbault, &c. photographic correspondence:--a prize for the best collodion--double iodide of silver and potassium-- albumenized paper--cyanide of potassium replies to minor queries:--sawdust recipe--brydone the tourist--etymology of "page"--longfellow--canting arms-- holy loaf money--"could we with ink," &c.--mount mill, and the fortifications of london--standing while the lord's prayer is read--a dead sultan, with his shirt for an ensign --"hovd mact of lact"--captain eyre's drawings--sir thos. browne and bishop ken, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * just published, price d. oxford reformers. a letter to endemus and ecdemus. by a fellow of oriel. [greek: outoi diaptuchthentes ôphthêsan kenoi] oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * now ready, price s. d., a new edition of the christian scholar. by the author of "the cathedral." mo. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * just published, price s. a reply to professor vaughan's strictures on the third report of the oxford tutors' association. by one of the committee. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * just published, price s. the case of queen's college, oxford: in a letter addressed to the rt. hon. w. e. gladstone, m.p., chancellor of the exchequer. by john barrow, b.d., fellow, and formerly tutor, of queen's college. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * just published, vo., price s. d. sermons by the rev. e. harston, m.a., vicar and rural dean of tamworth. also, by the same author, the war in the east; a sermon preached in the parish church, tamworth, feb. , . vo., s., by post s. d. oxford and london: john henry parker. thompson: tamworth. * * * * * the civil service, etc. just published, price s., by post s. d. suggestions respecting the conditions under which university education may be made available for clerks in government offices, for barristers, for attorneys: by sir f. rogers, bart.; sir s. northcote, bart.; roundell palmer, esq.; w. h. tinney, esq.; w. palmer, esq.; christopher childs, esq.; j. gidley, esq. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * legal education. just published, price s., by post s. d. suggestions with regard to certain proposed alterations in the university and colleges of oxford, and to the possibility and advantages of a legal education at the university. by sir john wither awdry and the right hon. sir john patteson. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * just published, price s. reports of the oxford tutors' association, no. iv. recommendations respecting college statutes, and the alterations required in colleges, as adopted by the tutors' association, february, . oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * preparing for publication. dr. pusey's evidence vindicated from professor vaughan's strictures. by the rev. dr. pusey. oxford and london: john henry parker. * * * * * this day, cheaper edition, three volumes, s. d. family history of england, by g. r. gleig, m.a., chaplain general to the forces. by the same author, s. d., sketch of the military history of great britain. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * on march th, price d., stamped, by post, d. the bibliographical miscellany, no. v., containing a reprint of "a whip for an ape," or rhymes against martin mar-prelate, with notes by dr. rimbault. also, a notice of the hardwicke manuscripts; together with a catalogue of valuable books (upwards of articles) in all classes of literature, on sale by john petheram, . high holborn. * * * * * graduates of the universities and proprietors of schools who are desirous of becoming corresponding directors of this society, will be furnished with the particulars of the remuneration and duties on application, addressed to the head office, . basinghall street, london. english and irish church and university assurance office, january , . stephen j. aldrich, secretary. { } * * * * * just published, no. iii., price s., of the london quarterly review. contents:-- i. thiersch, as theologian and critic. ii. madagascar. iii. life and epistles of st. paul. iv. the mormons. v. meteorology: its progress and practical applications. vi. researches in palestine. vii. junction of the atlantic and pacific oceans. viii. richard watson. ix. modern poetry: its genius and tendencies. x. america, past and future. brief literary notices. london: partridge, oakey, & co., paternoster row, and edgware road. * * * * * royal mo., with portrait, price s. d., cloth, leila ada, the jewish convert. an authentic memoir. by osborn w. trenery heighway. fourth thousand. 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(to be completed in vols.). gibbon's decline and fall of the roman empire. with notes by milman and guizot. a new edition. edited, with additional notes, by william smith, ll.d., editor of the "dictionary of greek and roman antiquities," &c. this edition includes the autobiography of gibbon, and is distinguished by careful revision of the text, verification of all the references to ancient writers, and notes incorporating the researches of modern scholars and recent travellers. vol. ii. will appear on march st. _examiner._--mr. murray's british classics, so edited and printed as to take the highest place in any library. ------ now ready, with vignette titles, vols. i. and ii., vo., s. d. each (to be completed in vols.). the works of oliver goldsmith. a new edition. edited by peter cunningham, f.s.a., author of the "handbook of london." this edition is printed from the last revised by the author, and not only contains more pieces than any other, but is also the first in which the works appear together exactly as their author left them. vol. iii. will appear in april. _guardian._--the best editions have been consulted, and the present volume certainly gives evidence of careful and conscientious editing. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series): consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * rev. w. barnes's new work. now ready, in vo. cloth, s. a philological grammar, grounded upon english, and formed from a comparison of more than sixty languages. being an introduction to the science of grammar, and a help to grammars of all languages, especially english, latin, and greek. by william barnes, b.d., of st. john's college, cambridge, author of "poems in the dorset dialect," "anglo-saxon delectus," &c. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * preparing for immediate publication. miscellanea graphica. a collection of ancient medieval and renaissance remains in the possession of lord londesborough. illustrated by f. w. fairholt, f.s.a., &c. the work will be published in quarterly parts of royal to., with each part containing plates, one of which will be in chromolithography; representing jewellery, antique plate, arms and armour, and miscellaneous antiquities. london: chapman & hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, march , _ notes. gossiping history. "this is the jew that shakspeare drew." i do not know by whom or when the above couplet was first imputed to pope. the following extracts will show how a story grows, and the parasites which, under unwholesome cultivation, adhere to it. the restoration of shakspeare's text, and the performance of shylock as a serious part, are told as usual. "in the dumb action of the trial scene he was amazingly descriptive, and through the whole displayed such unequalled merit, as justly entitled him to that very comprehensive, though concise, compliment paid to him by mr. pope, who sat in the stage-box on the third night of the reproduction, and who emphatically exclaimed,-- 'this is the jew that shakspeare drew.'" _life of macklin_, by j. t. kirkman, vol. i. p. .: london, , vols. vo. the book is ill-written, and no authorities are cited. "a few days after, macklin received an invitation to dine with lord bolingbroke at battersea. he attended the rendezvous, and there found pope and a select party, who complimented him very much on the part of shylock, and questioned him about many little particulars, relative to his getting up the play, &c. pope particularly asked him why he wore a _red hat_, and he answered, because he had read that jews in italy, particularly in venice, wore hats of that colour. 'and pray, mr. macklin,' said pope, 'do players in general take such pains?' 'i do not know, sir, that they do; but as i had staked my reputation on the character, i was determined to spare no trouble in getting at the best information.' pope nodded, and said, 'it was very laudable.'"--_memoirs of macklin_, p. ., lond. . the above work has not the author's name, and is as defective in references as mr. kirkman's. it is, however, not quite so trashy. being published five years later, the author must have seen the preceding _life_, and his not repeating the story about the couplet is strong presumption that it was not then believed. it appears again in the _biographia dramatica_, vol. i. p. ., london, : "macklin's performance of this character (shylock) so forcibly struck a gentleman in the pit, that he as it were involuntarily exclaimed, 'this is,' &c. it has been said that this gentleman was mr. pope." i am not aware of its alteration during the next forty years, but this was the state of the anecdote in : "macklin was a tragedian, and the personal friend of alexander pope. he had a daughter, a beautiful and accomplished girl, who was likewise on the stage. on one occasion macklin's daughter was about to take a benefit at drury lane theatre, and on the morning of that evening, whilst the father and daughter were at breakfast, a young nobleman entered the apartment, and, with the most undisguised ruffianism, made overtures of a dishonourable character to macklin for his daughter. the exasperated father, seizing a knife from the table, rushed at the fellow, who on the instant fled, on which macklin pursued him along the street with the knife in his hand. the cause of the tragedian's wild appearance in the street soon got vent in the city. evening came, and old drury seldom saw so crowded a house. the play was the _merchant of venice_, macklin sustaining the part of shylock, and his interesting daughter that of jessica. their reception was most enthusiastic; but in that scene where the jew is informed of his daughter being carried off, the whole audience seemed to be quite carried away by macklin's acting. the applause was immense, and pope, who was standing in the pit, exclaimed,-- 'that's the jew that shakspeare drew.' macklin was much respected in london. he was a native of monaghan, and a protestant. his father was a catholic, and died when he was a child; and his mother being a protestant, he was educated as such."--_dublin weekly telegraph_, feb. , . one more version is given in the _irish quarterly review_, and quoted approvingly in _the leader_, dec. , . "the house was crowded from the opening of the doors, and the curtain rose amidst the most dreadful of all awful silence, the stillness of a multitude. the jew enters in the third scene, and from that point, to the famous scene with tubal, all passed off with considerable applause. here, however, and in the trial scene, the actor was triumphant, and in the applause of a thousand voices the curtain dropped. the play was repeated for nineteen successive nights with increased success. on the third night of representation all eyes were directed to the stage-box, where sat a little deformed man; and whilst others watched _his_ gestures, as if to learn his opinion of the performers, he was gazing intently upon shylock, and as the actor panted, in broken accents of rage, and sorrow, and avarice--'go, tubal, fee me an officer, bespeak him a fortnight before: i will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for were he out of venice, i can make what merchandise i will: go, tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go, good tubal; at our synagogue, tubal.'--the little man was seen to rise, and leaning from the box, as macklin passed it, he whispered,-- 'this is the jew, that shakspeare drew.' the speaker was alexander pope, and, in that age, from his judgment in criticism there was no appeal." { } no reference to cotemporary testimony is given by these historians. galt, in his _lives of the players_, lond. , does not notice the story. pope was at bath on the th of february, , as appears from his letter to warburton of that date; but as he mentions his intention to return to london, he may have been there on the th. that he was not in the pit we may be confident; that he was in the boxes is unlikely. his health was declining in . in his letter to swift, quoted in croly's edition, vol. i. p. lxxx., he says: "having nothing to tell you of my poetry, i come to what is now my chief care, my health and amusement; the first is better as to headaches, worse as to weakness and nerves. the changes of weather affect me much; the mornings are my life, _in the evenings i am not dead indeed, but sleepy and stupid enough_. i love reading still better than conversation, but my eyes fail, and the hours when most people indulge in company, i am tired, and find the labour of the past day sufficient to weigh me down; _so i hide myself in bed, as a bird in the nest, much about the same time_, and rise and chirp in the morning." i hope i have said enough to stop the farther growth of this story; but before laying down my pen, i wish to call attention to the practice of giving anecdotes without authorities. this is encouraged by the newspapers devoting a column to "varieties," which are often amusing, but oftener stale. a paragraph is now commencing the round, telling how a lady took a linendraper to a barber's, and on pretence of his being a mad relative, had his head shaved, while she absconded with his goods. it is a bad version of an excellent scene in foote's _cozeners_. h. b. c. garrick club. * * * * * works on bells. i have a note of many books on bells, which may be acceptable to readers of "n. & q." those marked *, cancellieri, in his work, calls protestant writers on the subject. * anon. recueil curieux et édifiant sur les cloches de l'eglise, avec les cérémonies de leur bénédiction. cologne, . barraud (abb.). notice sur les cloches. vo., caen, . boemeri (g. l.). programma de feudo campanario. gottingæ, . buonmattei (ben.). declamazione delle campane, dopo le sue cicalate delle tre sirocchie. pisa, . campani (gio. ant.). opera. the frontispiece a large bell. roma, . cancellieri (f.). descrizione della nuova campana magiore della basilica vaticana. roma, . cancellieri (f.). descrizione delle due nuove campane di campidoglio beneditte del pio vii. roma, , to. * cave (g. g.). an turrium et campanarum usus in repub. christ. deo displiceat? leipsiæ, , to. conrad (dietericus). de campanis. germanice. * eggers (nic.). dissertatio de campanarum materia et forma. eggers (nic.). dissertatio de origine et nomine campanarum. ienæ, . eschenwecker. de eo quod justum est circa campanas. fesc (laberanus du). des cloches. mo., paris, - . * goezii. diatriba de baptismo campanarum, lubecæ, . grimaud (gilb.). liturgie sacrée, avec un traité des cloches. lyons, , to. pavia, , mo. * hilschen (gio.). dissertatio de campanis templorum. leipsiæ, . * homberg (gas.). de superstitiosis campanarum pulsibus, ad eliciendas preces, quibus placentur fulmina, excogitatis. to., frankfortiæ, . lazzarini (alex.). de vario tintinnabulorum usu apud veteres hebræos et ethnicos. vols. vo., romæ, . ludovici (g. f.). de eo quod justum est circa campanas. halæ, et . magii (hier.). de tintinnabulis, cum notis f. swertii et jungermanni. mo., amstelodamæ et hanoviæ, , , . "a learned work."--parr. martène. de ritibus ecclesiæ. * medelii (geo.). an campanarum sonitus fulmina, tonitura, et fulgura impedire possit. to. . mitzler (b. a.). de campanis. * nerturgii (mar.). campanula penitentiæ. to., dresden, . paciaudi. dissertazione su due campane di capua. neapoli, . pacichelli (ab. j. b.). de tintinnabulo nolano lucubratio autumnalis. neapoli, . dr. parr calls this "a great curiosity." pagii. de campanis dissertatio. rocca (ang.). de campanis commentarius. to. romæ, . * reimanni (geo. chris.). de campanis earumque origine, vario usu, abusu, et juribus. to., isenaci, . saponti (g. m.). notificazione per la solenne benedizione della nuova campana da collocarsi nella metropolitana di s. lorenzo. geneva, . seligmann (got. fr). de campana urinatoria. leipsiæ, , to. * stockflet (ar.). dissertatio de campanarum usu. to., altdorfii, , . * storius (g. m.). de campanis templorum. to., leipsiæ, . swertius (fran.). thiers (g. b.). des cloches. mo., paris, , . thiers (j. b). traité des cloches. paris, . * walleri (ar.). de campanis et præcipuis earum usibus. vo. holmiæ, . willietti (car.) ragguaglio delle campane di viliglia. to., roma, . zech (f. s.). de campanis et instrumentis musicis. { } without enumerating any encyclopædias (in most of which may be found very able and interesting articles on the subject), in the following works the best treatises for all _practical_ purposes will be found: pirotechnia, del vannuccio biringuccio, nobile senese, , , , . there is a french translation of it by jasper vincent, -- , . the tenth chapter is about bells. magius refers to it in these words:--"in illa, perscriptum in italico sermone, et delineatum quisque reperiet, quicquid ad artem ediscendam conducit, usque adeo, ut et quo pacto, campanæ in turribus constituantur ac moveantur, edoceat, optimeque figuris delineatis commonstret." ducange in glossario, in vocibus Æs, campana, codon, cloca, crotalum, glogga, lebes, nola, petasus, signum, squilla, tintinnabulum. mersenni (f. m.). harmonicorum libri xii. paris, , . (liber quartus de campanis.) this and biringuccio contain all the art and mystery of bell-casting, &c. &c. puffendorff. de campanarum usu in obitu parochiani publice significando, in ejus observationibus. jur. univers., p. iv. no. . and now with regard to our english authors; their productions seem to be confined chiefly to the _art of ringing_, as the following list will show: tintinalogia, or the art of ringing improved, by t. w[hite]. mo., . this is the book alluded to by dr. burney, in his _history of music_, vol. iv. p. . campanalogia, or the art of ringing improved. mo., . this was by _fabian steadman_. campanalogia, improved by i. d. and c. m., london scholars. mo., . ditto nd edition mo., . ditto rd edition mo., . ditto th edition mo., . ditto th edition, by j. monk. mo., . the school of recreation, or gentleman's tutor in various exercises, one of which is _ringing_. . clavis campanalogia, by jones, reeves, and blackmore. mo., . reprinted in and ? the ringer's true guide, by s. beaufoy. mo., . the campanalogia, or universal instructor in the art of ringing, by william shipway. mo., . elements of campanalogia, by h. hubbard. mo., . the bell: its origin, history, and uses, by rev. a. gatty. mo., . ditto, enlarged. . blunt's use and abuse of church bells. vo., . ellacombe's practical remarks on belfries and ringers. vo., . ellacombe's paper on bells, with illustrations, in the report of bristol architectural society. . croome's few words on bells and bell-ringing. vo., . woolf's address on the science of campanology. tract. . plain hints to bell-ringers. no. . of _parochial tracts_. ? the art of change-ringing, by b. thackrah. mo., . to these may be added, as single poetical productions, the legend of the limerick bell founder, published in the _dublin university mag._, sept. . the bell, by schiller. perhaps some courteous reader of "n. & q." may be able to correct any error there may be in the list, or to add to it. there is a curious collection of mss. on the subject by the late mr. osborn, among the _additional mss._, nos. , and , . h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. * * * * * inedited letter of lord nelson. i have in my possession a long letter written by lord nelson, sixteen days before the battle of trafalgar, to the right hon. lord barham, who was at that time first lord of the admiralty. as an autograph collector, i prize it much; and i think that the readers of "n. & q." might be glad to see it. it has not yet, as far as i am aware, been published: victory, oct. th, . my dear lord, on monday the french and spanish ships took their troops on board which had been landed on their arrival, and it is said that they mean to sail the first fresh levant wind. and as the carthagena ships are ready, and, when seen a few days ago, had their topsail yards hoisted up, this looks like a junction. the position i have taken for this month, is from sixteen to eighteen leagues west of cadiz; for, although it is most desirable that the fleet should be well up in the easterly winds, yet i must guard against being caught with a westerly wind near cadiz: for a fleet of ships, with so many three-deckers, would inevitably be forced into the straits, and then cadiz would be perfectly free for them to come out with a westerly wind--as they served lord keith in the late war. i am most anxious for the arrival of frigates: less than eight, with the brigs, &c., as we settled, i find are absolutely inadequate for this service and to be with the fleet; and spartel, cape cantin, or blanco, and the salvages, must be watched by fast-sailing vessels, in case any squadron should escape. i have been obliged to send six sail of the line to water and get stores, &c. at tetuan and gibraltar; for if i did not begin, i should very { } soon be obliged to take the whole fleet into the straits. i have twenty-three sail with me, and should they come out, i shall immediately bring them to battle; but although i should not doubt of spoiling any voyage they may attempt, yet i hope for the arrival of the ships from england, that, as an enemy's fleet, they may be annihilated. your lordship may rely upon every exertion from your very faithful and obedient servant, nelson and bronte. i find the guerrier is reduced to the command of a lieutenant; i hope your lordship will allow me to seek sir william bolton, and to place him in the first vacant frigate; he will be acting in a ship when the captains go home with sir robert calder. this will much oblige _me_. if any valuable autographs come into my possession hereafter, you may expect to receive some account of them. eustace w. jacob. crawley, winchester. * * * * * folk lore. _herefordshire folk lore._--pray make an imperishable note of the following concentration of herefordshire folk lore, extracted from the "report of the secretary of the diocesan board of education," as published in _the times_ of jan. , : "the observation of unlucky days and seasons is by no means unusual. the phases of the moon are regarded with great respect: in one medicine may be taken; in another it is advisable to kill a pig; over the doors of many houses may be found twigs placed crosswise, and never suffered to lose their cruciform position; and the horse-shoe preserves its old station on many a stable-door. charms are devoutly believed in. a ring made from a shilling offered at the communion is an undoubted cure for fits; hair plucked from the crop of an ass's shoulder, and woven into a chain, to be put round a child's neck, is powerful for the same purpose; and the hand of a corpse applied to a neck is believed to disperse a wen. not long since, a boy was met running hastily to a neighbour's for some holy water, as the only hope of preserving a sick pig. the 'evil eye,' so long dreaded in uneducated countries, has its terrors amongst us; and if a person of ill life be suddenly called away, there are generally some who hear his 'tokens,' or see his ghost. there exists, besides, the custom of communicating deaths to hives of bees, in the belief that they invariably abandon their owners if the intelligence be withheld." may not any one exclaim: "o miseras hominum mentes! o pectora cæca! qualibus in tenebris vitæ, quantisque periclis degitur hoc ævi, quodcunque est!" s. g. c. _greenock fair._--a very curious custom existed in this town, and in the neighbouring town of port-glasgow, within forty years; it has now entirely disappeared. i cannot but look upon it as a last remnant of the troublous times when arms were in all hands, and property liable to be openly and forcibly seized by bands of armed men. this custom was, that the whole trades of the town, in the dresses of their guilds, with flags and music, each man armed, made a grand rendezvous at the place where the fair was to be held, and with drawn swords and array of guns and pistols, surrounded the booths, and greeted the baillie's announcement by tuck of drum, "that greenock fair was open," by a tremendous shout, and a straggling fire from every serviceable barrel in the crowd, and retired, bands playing and flags flying, &c., home. does any such _wappenschau_ occur in england on such occasions now? c. d. lamont. greenock. _dragons' blood._--a peculiar custom exists amongst a class, with whom unfortunately the schoolmaster has not yet come very much in contact, when supposed to be deserted or slighted by a lover, of procuring dragons' blood; which being carefully wrapped in paper, is thrown on the fire, and the following lines said: "may he no pleasure or profit see, till he comes back again to me." b. j. s. _charm for the ague.--_ "cut a few hairs from the cross marked on a donkey's shoulders. enclose these hairs in a small bag, and wear it on your breast, next to the skin. if you keep your purpose secret, a speedy cure will be the result." the foregoing charm was told to me a short time since by the agent of a large landed proprietor in a fen county. my informant gravely added, that he had known numerous instances of this charm being practised, and that in every case a cure had been effected. from my own knowledge, i can speak of another charm for the ague, in which the fen people put great faith, viz. a spider, covered with dough, and taken as a pill. cuthert bede, b.a. * * * * * psalms for the chief musician--hebrew music. the words [hebrew: lmntsch bngynwt], at the head of psalms iv., liv., lv., lxvii., and lxxvi., are rendered in the septuagint and vulgate [greek: eis to telos], _in finem_, as if they had read [hebrew: lanetsach], omitting the [hebrew: m] formative. the syriac and arabic versions omit this superscription altogether, from ignorance of the { } musical sense of the words. the chaldee reads [chaldee: lshbch' `l chngyt'], "to be sung on the pipe." the word [hebrew: lmntsch] is (from [hebrew: ntsch], to overcome, excel, or accomplish) a performance, and aquila translates the entire title, [greek: tôi nikopoiôi en psalmois melôdêma tôi dauid]; and jerome, _victori in canticis, psalmus david_. but symmachus, [greek: epinikios dia psaltêriôn ôidê]; and theodotius, [greek: eis to nikos humnois], who must have read [hebrew: lntsch]. the best reading is that of the present text, [hebrew: lmntsch], which jarchi, aben ezra, and kimchi render chief singer, or leader of the band (=_moderatorem chori musici_), as appropriate for a psalm to sung and played in divine service. therefore the proper translation is, "for the leading performer upon the neginoth." the neginoth appear from the greek translations, [greek: dia psaltêriôn] and [greek: en psalmois] ([greek: psallein] = playing on strings). and from its root, [hebrew: ngn], _to strike_, to be stringed instruments, struck by the fingers or hand. the words [hebrew: lmntsch 'l hnchylwt] at the head of psalm v. (for this is the only one so superscribed) should, perhaps, be read with [hebrew: `l] instead of [hebrew: 'l] meaning, "for the leading performer on the nehiloth." the nehiloth appear from the root [hebrew: chll], _to bore through_, and in piel, _to play the flute_, to be the same instruments as the _ná-y_ of the arabs, similar to the english flute, blown, not transversely as the german flute, but at the end, as the oboe. but the septuagint, aquila, symmachus, and theodotius translate [greek: huper tês klêronomousês]: and hence the vulgate _pro ea, quæ hereditatem consequitur_; and jerome, _pro hereditatibus_. suidas explains [greek: klêronomousa] by [greek: ekklêsia], which is the sense of the syriac. psalm vi. is headed [hebrew: bngynwt `l hshmynyt], and psalm vi. [hebrew: `l shmynyt], without the "neginoth;" and the "sheminith" is also mentioned (chron. xv. .). the chaldee and jarchi translate "harps of eight strings." the septuagint, vulgate, aquila, and jerome, [greek: huper tês ogdoês], appear also to have understood an instrument of eight strings. t. j. buckton. birmingham. * * * * * minor notes. "_garble._"--mr. c. mansfield ingleby has called attention to a growing corruption in the use of the word "eliminate," and i trust he may be able to check its progress. the word _garble_ has met with very similar usage, but the corrupt meaning is now the only one in which it is ever used, and it would be hopeless to try and restore it to its original sense. the original sense of "to _garble_" was a good one, not a bad one; it meant a selection of the good, and a discarding of the bad parts of anything: its present meaning is exactly the reverse of this. by the statute rich. iii. c. ., it is provided that no bow-staves shall be sold "ungarbled:" that is (as sir e. coke explains it), until the good and sufficient be severed from the bad and insufficient. by statute jac. i. c. ., a penalty is imposed on the sale of spices and drugs not "garbled;" and an officer called the _garbler_ of spices is authorised to enter shops, and view the spices and drugs, "and to _garble_ and make clean the same." coke derives the word either from the french _garber_, to make fine, neat, clean; or from _cribler_, and that from _cribrare_, to sift, &c. ( inst. .) it is easy to see how the corruption of this word has taken place; but it is not the less curious to compare the opposite meanings given to it at different times. e. s. t. t. _deaths in the society of friends, - ._--in "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. ., appeared a communication on the great longevity of persons at cleveland in yorkshire. i send you for comparison a statement of the deaths in the society of friends in great britain and ireland, from the year to , the accuracy of which may be depended on; from which it appears that one in three have attained from to years, the average being about ½; and that thirty-seven attain from to , and eight from to . it would be useful to ascertain to what the longevity of the inhabitants of cleveland may be attributed, whether to the situation where they reside, or to their social habits. the total number of the society was computed to be from , to , , showing the deaths to be rather more than ½ per cent. per annum. great numbers are total abstainers from strong drink. +----------------+---------+---------+---------+ | ages. | male. | female. | total. | +----------------+---------+---------+---------+ | under year | | | | | under years | | | | | from to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | | ,, to | | | | +----------------+---------+---------+---------+ | all ages | | | | +----------------+---------+---------+---------+ w. c. plymouth. { } _the eastern question._--the following extract from _tatler_, no. ., april , , appears remarkable, considering the events of the present day: "the chief politician of the bench was a great assertor of paradoxes. he told us, with a seeming concern, 'that by some news he had lately read from muscovy, it appeared to him there was a storm gathering in the black sea, which might in time do hurt to the naval forces of this nation.' to this he added, 'that, for his part, he could not wish to see the turk driven out of europe, which he believed could not but be prejudicial to our woollen manufacture.' he then told us, 'that he looked upon those extraordinary revolutions which had lately happened in those parts of the world, to have risen chiefly from two persons who were not much talked of; and those,' says he, 'are prince menzicoff and the duchess of mirandola.' he backed his assertions with so many broken hints, and such a show of depth and wisdom, that we gave ourselves up to his opinions." f. b. relton. _jonathan swift, dean of st. patrick's, dublin._--it is remarkable (and yet it has not been noticed, i believe, by his biographers) that dean swift was suspended from his degree of b.a. in trinity college, dublin, for exciting disturbances within the college, and insulting the junior dean. he and another were sentenced by the board to ask pardon publicly of the junior dean, on their knees, as having offended more atrociously than the rest. these facts afford the true solution of swift's animosity towards the university of dublin, and account for his determination to take the degree of m.a. at oxford; and the solution receives confirmation from this, that the junior dean, for insulting whom he was punished, was the same mr. owen lloyd (afterwards professor of divinity and dean of down) whom swift has treated with so much severity in his account of lord wharton. abhba. _english literature._--some french writer (victor hugo, i believe) has said that english literature consists of four distinct literatures, english, american, scottish, and irish, each having a different character. has this view of our literature been taken, and exhibited in all its aspects, by any english writer and if so, by whom? j. m. oxford. _irish legislation._--i have met with the following statement: is it to be received as true? in may, , a bill, intended to limit the privilege of franking, was sent from ireland for the royal sanction; and in it was a clause enacting that any member who, from illness or other cause, should be unable to write, might authorise some other person to frank for him, provided that on the back of the letter so franked the member gave at the same time, under his hand, a full certificate of his inability to write. abhba. _anecdote of george iv. and the duke of york._--the following letter was written in a boy's round hand, and sent with some china cups: dear old mother batten, prepare a junket for us, as fred. and i are coming this evening. i send you these cups, which we have stolen from the old woman [the queen]. don't you say anything about it. george. the above was found in the bottom of one of the cups, which were sold for five guineas on the death of mr. nichols, who married mother batten. the cups are now in possession of a mr. toby, no. . york buildings, st. sidwells, exeter. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. * * * * * queries. anonymous works: "posthumous parodies," "adventures in the moon," etc. a remote correspondent finds all help to fail him from bibliographers and cotemporary reviewers in giving any clue to the authorship of the works described below. but he has been conversant enough with the "n. & q." to perceive that no query, that he is aware, has yet been started in its pages involving a problem, for which somebody among its readers and contributors has not proved a match. encouraged thereby, he tenders the three following titles, in the full faith that his curiosity, which is pretty strong, will not have been transmitted over the waste of waters but to good result. . _posthumous parodies, and other pieces_, by several of our most celebrated poets, but not before published in any former edition of their works: john miller, london, mo., . this contains some twenty imitations or over, of the more celebrated minor poems, all of a political cast, and breathing strongly the tone of the anti-jacobin verse; executed for the most part, and several of them in particular, with great felicity. among that sort of _jeux d'esprit_ they hardly take second place to _the knife grinder_, the mention of which reminds me to add that it is manifest enough, from half-a-dozen places in the volume, that canning is the "magnus apollo" of the satirist. the final piece (in which the writer drops his former vein) is written in the spirit of sad earnest, in odd contrast with the preceding _facetiæ_, and betokening, in some lines, a disappointed man. yet, strange to tell, through all the range of british criticism of that year, there is an utter unconsciousness of its existence. whether there be another copy on this side the atlantic, besides the one which enables me to { } make these few comments, your correspondent greatly doubts. one living person there is on the other side, it is believed, who could throw light on this question, if these lines should be so fortunate as to meet his eye; since he is referred to, like many others, by initials and terminals, if not in full--mr. john wilson croker. . _adventures in the moon and other worlds_: longman & co., sm. vo., . of this work, a friend of the writer (who has but partially read it as yet himself), of keen discernment, says: "it is a work of very marked character. the author is an uncommonly skilful and practical writer, a philosophical thinker, and a scholar familiar with foreign literature and wide reaches of learning. he has great ingenuity and fancy withal; so that he is at the same time exceedingly amusing, and suggestive of weighty and subtle thoughts." this, too, is neglected by all the reviews. . _lights, shadows, and reflections of whigs and tories_: lond. mo., . this is a retrospective survey of the several administrations of george iii. from (his accession) to the regency in ; evincing much political insight, with some spirited portraits, and indicative both of a close observation of public measures and events, and of personal connexion or intercourse with men in high place. there is a notice of this in the _london spectator_ of (may th), and in the old _monthly review_; but neither, it is plain, had the author's secret. harvardiensis. cambridge, massachusetts, n.e. p.s.--two articles of recent time in the _london quarterly review_, the writer would fain trace to their source; "the life and correspondence of robert southey," edited by the rev. charles cuthbert southey, no. . ( ), and "physiognomy," no. . ( ), having three works as the caption of the article, sir charles bell's celebrated work being one. blind mackerel. can any of your numerous contributors, who may be lovers of ichthyology, inform me whether or not the mackerel is blind when it first arrives on our coasts? i believe it to be blind, and for the following reasons:--a few years ago, while beating up channel early in june, on our homeward-bound voyage from the west indies, some of the other passengers and myself were endeavouring to kill time by fishing for mackerel, but without success. when the pilot came on board and saw what we were about, he laughed at us, and said, "oh, gentlemen, you will not take them with the hook, because the fish is blind." we laughed in our turn, thinking he took us for flat-fish, and wished to amuse himself at our expense. observing this he said, "i will convince you that it is so," and brought from his boat several mackerel he had taken by net. he then pointed out a film over the eye, which he said prevented the fish seeing when it first made our coast, and explained that this film gradually disappeared, and that towards the middle of june the eye was perfectly clear, and that the fish could then take the bait. i have watched this fish for some years past, and have invariably observed this film quite over the eye in the early part of the mackerel season, and that it gradually disappears until the eye is left quite clear. this film appears like an ill-cleared piece of calf's-foot jelly spread over the eye, but does not strike you as a natural part of the fish, but rather as something extraneous. i have also remarked that when the fish is boiled, that this patch separates, and then resembles a piece of discoloured white of egg. this film may be observed by any one who takes the trouble of looking at the eye of the mackerel. i have looked into every book on natural history i could get hold of, and in none is the slightest notice taken of this; therefore i suppose my conclusion as to its blindness is wrong; but i do not consider this to be conclusive, as all we can learn from books is, "_scomber_ is the mackerel genus, and is too well known to require description." i believe less is known about fish than any other animals; and should you think this question on natural history worthy a place in your "n. & q.," i will feel obliged by your giving it insertion. an odd fish. * * * * * minor queries. _original words of old scotch airs._--can any one tell me where the original words of many fine old scotch airs are to be found? the wretched verses of allan ramsay, and others of the same school, are adapted to the "yellow-haired laddie," "ettrick banks," "the bush aboon traquair," "mary scott," and hundreds of others. there must exist old words to many of these airs, which at least will possess some local characteristics, and be a blessed change from the "nymphs" and "swains," the "stephens" and "lythias," which now pollute and degrade them. any information on this subject will be received most thankfully. i particularly wish to recover some old words to the air of "mary scott." the only verse i remember is this,-- "mary's black, and mary's white, mary is the king's delight; the king's delight, and the prince's marrow, mary scott, the flower of yarrow." l. m. m. r. _royal salutes._--when the queen arrives at any time in edinburgh after sunset, it has been { } remarked that the castle guns are never fired in salute, in consequence, it is said, of the existence of a general order which forbids the firing of salutes after sunset. is there such an order in existence? i would farther ask why twenty-one was the number fixed for a royal salute? s. _"the negro's complaint."_--who was the author of this short poem, to be found in all the earlier collection of poetry for the use of schools? it begins thus: "wide o'er the tremulous sea, the moon spread her mantle of light; and the gale gently dying away, breath'd soft on the bosom of night." henry stephens. "_the cow doctor._"--who is the author of the following piece?--_the cow doctor_, a comedy in three acts, . dedicated to the rev. thomas pennington, rector of thorley, herts, and kingsdown, kent; author of _continental excursions_, &c. this satire is addressed to the friends of vaccination.[ ] s. n. [footnote : on the title-page of a copy of this comedy now before us is written, "with the author's compliments to dr. lettsom;" and on the fly-leaf occurs the following riddle in ms.: "who is that learned man, who the secret disclos'd of a book that was printed before 'twas composed? _answer._ he is harder than iron, and as soft as a snail, has the head of a viper, and a file in his tail."--ed. _soomarokoff's_ "_demetrius._"--who translated the following drama from the russian? _demetrius_, a tragedy, vo., , translated by eustaphiere. this piece, which is a translation from a tragedy of soomarokoff, one of the most eminent dramatic authors of russia, is said to be the first (and i think it is still the only) russian drama of which there is an english translation. s. n. _polygamy._-- . do the jews at present, in any country, practise polygamy? . if not, when and why was that practice discontinued among them? . is there any religious sect which forbids polygamy, besides the christians (and the jews, if the jews do forbid it)? . was polygamy permitted among the early christians? paul's direction to timothy, that a bishop should be "the husband of one wife," seems to show that it was; though i am aware that the phrase has been interpreted otherwise. . on what ground has polygamy become forbidden among christians? i am not aware that it is directly forbidden by scripture. stylites. _irish, anglo-saxon, longobardic, and old english letters._--i would be glad to know the earliest date in which the irish language has been discovered inscribed on stone or in manuscript; also the earliest date in which the anglo-saxon, longobardic, and old english letter has been known in england and ireland. e. f. youghal. _description of battles._--judging from my own experience, historical details of battles are comparatively unintelligible to non-military readers. now that, unhappily, we shall probably be compelled to "hear of battles," would not some of our enterprising publishers do well to furnish to the readers of history and of the bulletins, a popular "guide to the battle field," drawn up some talented military officer? it must contain demonstratively clear diagrams, and such explanations of all that needs to be known, as an officer would give, on the spot, to his nonprofessional friend. the effects of eminences, rivers, roads, woods, marshes, &c., should be made plain; in short, nothing should be omitted which is necessary to render an account of a battle intelligible to ordinary readers, instead of being, as is too often the case, a mere chaotic assemblage of words. thinks i to myself. _do martyrs always feel pain?_--is it not possible that an exalted state of feeling--approaching perhaps to the mesmeric state--may be attained, which will render the religious or political martyr insensible to pain? it would be agreeable to think that the pangs of martyrdom were ever thus alleviated. it is certainly possible, by a strong mental effort, to keep pain in subjection during a dental operation. a firmly fixed tooth, under a bungling operator, may be wrenched from the jaw without pain to the patient, if he will only determine not to feel. at least, i know of one such case, and that the effort was very exhausting. in the excitement of battle, wounds are often not felt. one would be glad to hope that joan of arc was insensible to the flames which consumed her: and that the recovered nerve which enabled cranmer to submit his right hand to the fire, raised him above suffering. alfred gatty. _carronade._--what is the derivation of the term _carronade_, applied to pieces of ordnance shorter and thicker in the chamber than usual? here the idea is that they took their name from the carron foundries, where they were cast. in the early years of the old war-time, there were carron pieces or carron guns, and only some considerable time thereafter carronades. how does this stand? and is there any likelihood of the folk story being true? c. d. landry. greenock. { } _darcy, of platten, co. meath._--it is on record that, in the year , the citizens of dublin, encouraged by the earl of kildare and the archbishop, received lambert simnel, and actually crowned him king of england and ireland in christ's church; and that to make the solemnity more imposing, they not only borrowed a crown for the occasion from the head of the image of the virgin that stood in the church dedicated to her service at dame's gate, but carried the young impostor on the shoulders of "a monstrous man, one darcy, of platten, in the county of meath." did this "monstrous man" leave any descendants? and if so, is there any representative, and where, at the present day? platten has long since passed into other hands. abhba. _dorset._--in byrom's ms. journal, about to be printed for the chetham society, i find the following entry: "may , . i found the effect of last night drinking that foolish dorset, which was pleasant enough, but did not at all agree with me, for it made me very stupid all day." query, what is dorset? r. p. _"vanitatem observare."_--can any of your readers explain the following extract from the council of ancyra, a.d. ? i quote from a latin translation: "mulieribus quoque christianis non liceat in suis lanificiis vanitatem observare: sed deum invocent adjutorem, qui eis sapientiam texendi donavit." what is meant by "vanitatem observare?" r. h. g. _king's prerogative._--a writer in the _edinburgh review_, vol. lxxiv. p. ., asserts, on the authority of blackstone (but he does not refer to the volume and page of the _commentaries_, and i have in vain sought for the passages), that it is to _this day_ a branch of the king's prerogative, at the death of _every bishop_, to have his kennel of hounds, or a compensation in lieu of it. does the writer mean, and is it the fact, that if a bishop die without having a kennel of hounds, his executors are to pay the king a compensation in lieu thereof? and if it is, what is the amount of that compensation? is it merely nominal? i can understand the king claiming a bishop's kennel of hounds or compensation in feudal times, when bishops were hunters (vide raine's _auckland castle_, a work of great merit, and abounding with much curious information); but to say, to _this day_ it is a branch of the king's prerogative, is an insult alike to our bishops and to religious practices in the nineteenth century. of hunting bishops in feudal times, i beg to refer your readers, in addition to mr. raine's work, to an article in the fifty-eighth volume of the _quarterly review_, p. ., for an extract from a letter of peter of blois to walter, bishop of rochester, who at the age of eighty was a great hunter. peter was shocked at his lordship's indulgence in so unclerical a sport. it is obvious neither peter nor the pope could have heard of the hunting bishops of durham. fra. mewburn. _quotations in cowper._--can any of your correspondents indicate the sources of the following quotations, which occur in cowper's letters (hayley's _life and letters of cowper_, vols., )? in vol. iii. p. . the following verses, referring to the atonement, are cited: [greek: tou de kath' haima rheen kai soi kai emoi kai adelphois] [greek: hêmeterois, autou sôzomenois thanatôi.] in vol. iv. p. . it is stated that twining applied to pope's translation of homer the latin verse-- "perfida, sed quamvis perfida, cara tamen." l. _cawley the regicide._--mr. waylen, in his _history of marlborough_, just published, shows that cawley of chichester, the regicide, has in burke's _commoners_ been confounded with cawley of burderop, in wiltshire; and he adds, "the fact that a son of the real regicide (the rev. john cawley) became a rector of the neighbouring parish of didcot," &c. has helped to confound the families. may i ask what is the authority for stating that the rev. j. cawley was a son of the regicide? c. t. r. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _dr. john pocklington._--can any of your correspondents oblige me with information respecting the family, or the armorial bearings of dr. john pocklington? he wrote _altare christianum_ and _sunday no sabbath_. the parliament deprived him of his dignities a.d. ; and he died nov. , . dr. pocklington descended from ralph pocklington, who, with his brother roger, followed margaret of anjou after the battle of wakefield, a.d. . he is said to have settled in the west, where he lived to have three sons. the family is mentioned in connexion with the county of york, as early as a.d. . x. y. z. [john pocklington was first a scholar at sidney sussex college, b.d. in , and afterwards a fellow of pembroke hall, cambridge. he subsequently became rector of yelden in bedfordshire, vicar of waresley in huntingdonshire, prebend of lincoln, peterborough, and windsor; and was also one of the chaplains to charles i. "on the th may, , the earl of kent, with consent of lord harington, wrote to sidney college to dispense with mr. pocklington's holding a small living with cure of souls. { } see the original letter in the college treasury, box or ." (cole's mss., vol. xlvi. p. .). among the king's pamphlets in the british museum is "the petition and articles exhibited in parliament against john pocklington, d.d., parson of yelden, in bedfordshire, anno ." the petition "humbly sheweth, that john pocklington, d.d., rector of the parish of yelden in the county of bedford, vicar of waresley in the county of huntingdon, prebend of lincoln, peterborough, and windsor, hath been a chief author and ringleader in all those innovations which have of late flowed into the church of england." the articles exhibited (too long to quote) are singularly illustrative of the ecclesiastical usages in the reign of charles i., and would make a curious appendix to the rev. h. t. ellacombe's article at p. . of the present number. having rendered himself obnoxious to the popular faction by the publication of his _altare christianum_ and _sunday no sabbath_, the parliament that met on nov. , , ordered these two works to be burnt by the common hangman in both the universities, and in the city of london. he died on november , and was buried nov. , , in the churchyard of peterborough cathedral. on his monumental slab is the following inscription: "john pocklington, s.s. theologia doctor, obiit nov. , ." a copy of his will is in the british museum (lansdown, , p. .). it is dated sept. , ; and in it bequests are made to his daughters margaret and elizabeth, and his sons john and oliver. his wife anne was made sole executrix. he orders his body "to be buried in monk's churchyard, at the foot of those monks martyrs whose monument is well known: let there be a fair stone with a great crosse cut upon it laid on my grave." for notices of dr. pocklington, see willis's _survey of cathedrals_, vol. iii. p. .; walker's _sufferings of the clergy_, part ii. p. .; and fuller's _church history_, book xi. cent. xvii. sect. - .] _last marquis of annandale._-- . when and where did he die? . any particulars regarding his history? . when and why was lochwood, the family residence, abandoned? . how many marquisses were there, and were any of them men of any note in their day and generation? annandale. [the first marquis was william johnstone, third earl of annandale and hartfell, who was advanced th june, , to the marquisate of annandale. he died at bath, th january, , and was succeeded by his son james, who died st february, . george, his half-brother, born th may, , was the third and last marquis of annandale. an inquest from the court of chancery, th march, , found this marquis a lunatic, and incapable of governing himself and his estate, and that he had been so from the th december, . he died at turnham green on the th april, , in the seventy-second year of his age, and was buried at chiswick, th may following. (_gent. mag._, may, , p. .) since his decease the honours of the house of annandale have remained dormant, although they have been claimed by several branches of the family. (burke's _extinct peerages_.) before the union of the two crowns the johnstones were frequently wardens of the west borders, and were held in enthusiastic admiration for their exploits against the english, the douglasses, and other borderers. during the wars between the two nations, they effectually suppressed the plunderers on the borders; hence their device, a winged spur, and their motto, "alight thieves all," to denote their authority in commanding them to surrender. lochwood, the ancient seat of the marquisses of annandale, was inhabited till , three years after the death of the first marquis, when it was finally abandoned by the family, and suffered gradually to fall into decay. in _the new statistical account of scotland_, vol. iv. p. ., we read "that the principal estate in the parish of moffat has descended to mr. hope johnstone of annandale, to whom it is believed the titles also, in so far as claimed, of right belong, and whose restoration to the dormant honours of the family would afford universal satisfaction in this part of scotland; because it is the general feeling that he has a right to them, and that in his family they would not only be supported, but graced." some farther particulars of the three marquisses will be found in douglass' _peerage of scotland_ (by wood), vol. i. p. ., and in _the scots compendium_, edit. , p. .] _heralds' college._--richard iii. incorporated the college of arms in , and that body consisted of three kings of arms, six heralds, and four pursuivants. can you inform me of the names of these _first_ members of that heraldic body? escutcheon. ---- vicarage. [mark noble, in his _history of the college of arms_, p. ., remarks, "there is nothing more difficult than to obtain a true and authentic series of the heralds, previous to the foundation of the college of arms, or, to speak more properly, the incorporation of that body. mr. lant, mr. anstis, mr. edmondson, and other gentlemen, who had the best opportunities, and whose industry was equal to their advantage, have not been able to accomplish it; and from that time, especially in richard's reign, it is not practicable. some idea may be formed of the heraldic body at the commencement of this reign, by observing the names of those who attended the funeral of edward iv. sandford and other writers mention garter, clarenceux, norroy, march, and ireland, _kings_ at arms; chester, leicester, gloucester, and buckingham, _heralds_; and rouge-croix, rose-blanch, calais, guisnes, and harrington, _pursuivants_."] _teddy the tiler._--who was teddy the tiler? w. p. e. [this is a fire-and-water farce, taken from the french by g. herbert rodwell, esq., ending with one element and beginning with the other. mr. power's performance of teddy, as many of our readers will remember, kept the audience in one broad grin from beginning to end. it will be found in cumberland's _british theatre_, vol. xxv., with remarks, biographical and critical.] { } _duchess of mazarin's monument._--i read yesterday, in an interesting french work, that the beautiful hortense mancini, a niece of mazarin, and sister to mary mancini, the early love of louis xiv., after various peregrinations, died at chelsea, in england, on july , . although not an important question, i think i may venture to ask whether any monument or memorial of this remarkable beauty exists at chelsea, or in its neighbourhood? w. robson. [neither faulkner nor lysons notices any monumental memorial to the duchess of mazarin, whose finances after the death of charles ii. (who allowed her a pension of , l. per annum) were very slender, so much so that, according to lysons, it was usual for the nobility and others, who dined at her house, to leave money under the plates to pay for their entertainment. she appears to have been in arrear for the parish rates during the whole time of her residence at chelsea.] _halcyon days._--what is the derivation of "halcyon days?" w. p. e. [the halcyon, or king's fisher, a bird said to breed in the sea, and that there is always a calm during her incubation; hence the adjective figuratively signifies placid, quiet, still, peaceful: as dryden says,-- "amidst our arms as quiet you shall be, as halcyons brooding on a winter's sea." "the halcyon," says willsford, in his _nature's secrets_, p. ., "at the time of breeding, which is about fourteen days before the winter solstice, foreshews a quiet and tranquil time, as it is observed about the coast of sicily, from whence the proverb is transported, the halcyon days."] * * * * * replies. dogs in monumental brasses. (vol. ix., p. .) i may refer mr. b. h. alford to the oxford _manual of monumental brasses_, p. ., for an answer to his query: "knights have no peculiar devices besides their arms, unless we are to consider the lions and dogs beneath their feet as emblematical of the virtues of courage, generosity, and fidelity, indispensable to their profession. one or two dogs are often at the feet of the lady. they are probably intended for some favourite animal, as the name is occasionally inscribed," &c. neither dog nor lion occurs at the feet of the following knights represented on brasses prior to : "c. . sir john peryent, jun., digswell, herts. (engd. boutell.) . john daundelyon, esq., margate. (ditto.) c. . william de aldeburgh, aldborough, yorkshire. (engd. _manual_.) c. . sir edward cerue, draycot cerue, wiltshire. (engd. boutell.) . c. . john cressy, esq., dodford, northants. (ditto.) . thomas de st. quintin, esq., harpham, yorkshire. (ditto.)" whilst a dog is seen in the following: " . sir thomas grene, green's norton, northants. (ditto.) . john leventhorpe, esq., st. helen's, bishopsgate. (_manual._) . wife of thomas colte, esq., roydon, essex. c. . brass at grendon, northants. c. . brass, latton, essex. . robert baynard, esq., laycock, wilts." these examples are described or engraved in the works of the rev. c. boutell, or in the oxford _manual_, and i have little doubt that my own collection of rubbings (if i had leisure to examine it) would supply other examples under both of these sections. w. sparrow simpson. it is usually asserted that the dog appears at the feet of the lady in monumental brasses as a symbol of fidelity; while the lion accompanies her lord as the emblem of strength and courage. these distinctions, however, do not appear to have been much attended to. the dog, in most cases a greyhound, very frequently appears at the feet of a knight or civilian, as on the brasses of the earl of warwick, , sir john falstolf at oulton, , sir john leventhorpe at sawbridgeworth, , sir reginald de cobham at lingfield, , richard purdaunce, mayor of norwich, , and peter halle, esquire, at herne, kent, . sir john botiler, at st. bride's, glamorganshire, , has a dragon; and on the brass of alan fleming, at newark, , appears a lion with a human face seizing a smaller lion. on a very late brass of sir edward warner, at little plumstead, norfolk, , appears a greyhound, a full century after the date assigned by b. h. alford for the cessation of these symbolical figures. sometimes the lady has two little dogs, as lady bagot, at baginton, warwickshire, ; and in one instance, that of lady peryent, at digswell, herts, , there is a hedgehog, the meaning of which is sufficiently obvious. b. h. alford, in noticing the omission of the dog in the brass of lady camoys at trotton, , has not mentioned a singular substitute which is found for it, namely, the figure of a boy or young man, standing by the lady's right foot: but what this means i cannot attempt to determine; perhaps her only son. it may be interesting to add that some brasses of ecclesiastics exhibit strange figures, not easy to interpret, if meant as symbolical. the brass at { } oulton, of the priest ---- de bacon, , has a lion; that of the abbot delamere, at st. albans, , two dragons; that of a priest at north mimms, about , a stag; and, still more extraordinary, that of laurence seymour, a priest, at higham ferrers, , two dogs contending for a bone. f. c. h. * * * * * sneezing. (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .) i can add another item of the folk lore to those already quoted. one of the salutations, by which a sneezer is greeted amongst the lower class of romans at the present day, is _figli maschi_, "may you have male children!" the best essay on _sneezing_, that i am acquainted with, is to be found in strada's _prolusions_, book iii. prol. ., in which he replies at some length, and not unamusingly, to the query, "why are sneezers saluted?" it seems to have arisen out of an occurrence which had recently taken place at rome, that a certain _pistor suburranus_, after having sneezed twenty-three times consecutively, had expired at the twenty-fourth sneeze: and his object is to prove that sigonius was mistaken in supposing that the custom of saluting a sneezer had only dated from the days of gregory the great, when many had died of the plague in the act of sneezing. in opposition to this notion, he adduces passages from apuleius and petronius arbiter, besides those from ammianus, athenæus, aristotle, and homer, already quoted in your pages by mr. f. j. scott. he then proceeds to give five causes from which the custom may have sprung, and classifies them as religious, medical, facetious, poetical, and augural. under the first head, he argues that the salutation given to sneezers is not a mere expression of good wishes, but a kind of veneration: "for," says he, "we rise to a person sneezing, and humbly uncover our heads, and deal reverently with him." in proof of this position, he tells us that in ethiopia, when the emperor sneezed, the salutations of his adoring gentlemen of the privy chamber were so loudly uttered as to be heard and re-echoed by the whole of his court; and thence repeated in the streets, so that the whole city was in simultaneous commotion. the other heads are then pursued with considerable learning, and some humour; and, under the last, he refers us to st. augustin, _de doctr. christ._ ii. ., as recording that-- "when the ancients were getting up in the morning, if they chanced to sneeze whilst putting on their shoes, they immediately went back to bed again, in order that they might get up more auspiciously, and escape the misfortunes which were likely to occur on that day." one almost wishes that people now-a-days would sometimes consent to follow their example, when they have "got out of bed the wrong way." c. w. bingham. * * * * * sir john de morant. (vol. ix., p. .) in answer to the query of h. h. m., i beg to state that the sir john de morant chronicled by froissart was jean de morant, chevalier, seigneur d'escours, and other lordships in normandy. he was fourth in descent from etienne de morant, chevalier, living a.d. , and son of etienne de morant and his wife marie de pottier. his posterity branched off into many noble houses; as the marquis de morant, and mesnil-garnier, the count de panzès, the barons of fontenay, rupierre, biéville, coulonces, the seigneurs de courseulles, brequigny, &c. the sire jean de morant, born a.d. , was the hero of the following adventure, quoted from an ancient chronicle of brittany, by chesnaye-desbois. it appears that the sire de morant was one of five french knights, who fought a combat _à l'outrance_ against an equal number of english challengers, with the sanction, and in the presence, of john of gaunt, duke of lancaster, a.d. - . the result was in favour of the french. the chronicle proceeds: "le sire de morant s'étant principalement distingué dans cette action, un chevalier anglois lui propose de venger, tête-à-tête, la défaite de ses compatriotes, et qu'ils en vinrent aux mains; mais que l'anglois, qu'une indisposition aux genouils avoit forcé de combattre sans bottes garnies, avoit engagé son adversaire de quitter les siennes, en promettant, parole d'honneur, de ne point abuser de cette condescendance, à quoi le sire de morant consentit: le perfide anglois ne lui tint pas parole, et lui porta trois coups d'épée dans la jambe. le duc de lancastre, qui en fut témoin, fit arrêter ce lâche, et le fit mettre entre les mains du sire de morant, pour tirer telle vengeance qu'il jugeroit à propos, ou du moins le contraindre à lui payer une forte rançon. le seigneur de morant remercia ce prince, en lui disant 'qu'il étoit venu de bretagne non pour de l'or, mais pour l'honneur' et le supplia de recevoir en grace l'anglois, attribuant à son peu d'adresse ce qui n'étoit que l'effet de sa trahison. le duc de lancastre, charmé d'une si belle réponse, lui envoya une coupe d'or et une somme considérable. morant refusa la somme, et se contenta de la coupe d'or, par respect pour le prince." there is a short account of the branch of morant de mesnil-garnier in the _généalogie de france_, by le père anselme, vol. ix.; but a very full and complete pedigree is contained in the eighth volume of the _dict. de la noblesse française_, by m. de la chesnaye-desbois. { } as the rev. philip morant was a native of jersey, it is more than probable that he was an offset of the ancient norman stock, though their armorial bearings are widely different. the latter bore, azure, three cormorants argent; but the family of astle, of colne park in essex, are said to quarter for morant, gules, on a chevron argent, three talbots passant sable. having only a daughter and heiress, married to thomas astle, keeper of the records in the tower of london, the reverend historian of essex could hardly have been the ancestor of the morants of brockenhurst. there was also another family in normandy, named morant de bois-ricard, in no way connected with the first, who bore gules, a bend ermine. john o' the ford. malta. * * * * * inn signs. (vol. ix., p. .) alphege will find a good paper on the origin of signs in the _mirror_, vol. ii. p. .; also an article on the present specimens of country ale-house signs, in the first volume of the same interesting periodical, p. . in hone's _every-day book_, vol. i., are notices of curious signs at pp. . and . in vol. ii. some very amusing specimens are given at p. . others occur in hone's _table-book_, at pp. . . and . f. c. h. i can answer alphege's query, having some notes by me on the subject. he will pardon my throwing them, in a shapeless heap, jolting out as you unload stones. the romans had signs; and at pompeii a pig over the door represents a wine-shop within. the middle ages adopted a bush. "good wine needs no bush," &c., answering to the gilded grapes at a modern vintner's. the bush is still a common sign. at charles i.'s death, a cavalier landlord painted his bush black. then came the modern square sign, formerly common to all trades. old signs are generally heraldic, and represent royal bearings, or the blazonings of great families. the white hart was peculiar to richard ii; the white swan of henry iv. and edward iii.; the blue boar of richard iii.; the red dragon came in with the tudors. then we have the bear and ragged staff of leicester, &c. monograms are common; as bolt and tun for _bolton_; hare and tun for _harrington_. the three suns is the favourite bearing of edward iv.; and all roses, white or red (as at tewkesbury), are indications of political predilection. other signs commemorate historical events; as the bull and mouth, bull and gate (the boulogne engagement in henry viii.'s time, and alluded to by shakspeare). the pilgrim, cross keys, salutation, catherine wheel, angel, three kings, seven stars, st. francis, &c., are medieval signs. many are curiously corrupted; as the coeur doré (golden heart) to the queer door; bacchanals (the bag of nails); pig and whistle (peg and wassail bowl); the swan and two necks (literally two _nicks_); goat and compasses (god encompasseth us); the bell savage (la belle sauvage, or isabel savage); the goat in the golden boots (from the dutch, goed in der gooden boote), mercury, or the god in the golden boots. the puritans altered many of the monastic signs; as the angel and lady, to the soldier and citizen. in signs we may read every phase of ministerial popularity, and all the ebbs and flows of war in the sir home popham, rodney, shovel, duke of york, wellington's head, &c. at chelsea, a sign called the "snow shoes," i believe, still indicates the excitement of the american war. i shall be happy to send alphege more instances, or to answer any conjectures. g. w. thornbury. a century ago, when the houses in streets were unnumbered, they were distinguished by sign-boards. the chemist had the dragon (some astrological device); the pawnbroker the three golden pills, the arms of the medici and lombardy, as the descendant of the ancient bankers of england; the barber-chirurgeon the pole for the wig, and the parti-coloured ribands to bind up the patient's wounds after blood-letting; the haberdasher and wool-draper the golden fleece; the tobacconist the snuff-taking highlander; the vintner the bunch of grapes and ivy-bush; and the church and state bookseller the bible and crown. the crusaders brought in the signs of the saracen's head, the turk's head, and the golden cross. near the church were found the lamb and flag, the bell, the cock of st. peter, the maiden's head, and the salutation of st. mary. the chequers commemorated the licence granted by the earls of arundel, or lords warrenne. the blue boar was the cognizance of the house of oxford (and so the talbots, the bears, white lions, &c. may usually be reasonably referred to the supporters of the arms of noble families, whose tenants the tavern landlords were). the bull and mouth, the hostelry of the voyager to boulogne harbour. the castle, the spread eagle, and the globe (alphonso's), were probably adopted from the arms of spain, germany, and portugal, by inns which were the resort of merchants from those countries. the belle sauvage recalled some show of the day; the st. george and dragon commemorated the badge of the garter, the rose and fleur-de-lys, the tudors; the bull, the falcon, { } and plume of feathers, edward iv.; the swan and antelope were the arms of henry v.; the chained or white hart of richard ii.; the sun and boar of king richard iii.; the greyhound and green dragon of henry vii. the bag o' nails disguised the former bacchanals; the cat and fiddle the caton fidele; the goat and compasses was the rebus of the puritan motto "god encompasseth us." the swan with two nicks represented the thames swans, so marked on their bills under the "conservatory" of the goldsmiths' company. the cocoa tree and thatched house tell their own tale; so the coach and horses, reminding us of the times when the superior inns were the only posting-houses, in distinction to such as bore the sign of the pack-horse. the fox and goose denoted the games played within; the country inn, the hare and hounds, the vicinity of a sporting squire. mackenzie walcott, m.a. alphege will find some information on this subject in lower's _curiosities of heraldry_, _the beaufoy tokens_ (printed by the corporation of london), and the _journal of the archæological association_ for april, . william kelly. leicester. there are a series of articles on this subject in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. lxxxviii., parts i. and ii., and vol. lxxxix. parts i. and ii. taylor the water-poet wrote _a catalogue of memorable places and taverns within ten shires of england_, london, , vo. much information will also be found in akerman's _tokens_, and burn's _catalogue of the beaufoy cabinet_. zeus. * * * * * "consilium delectorum cardinalium." (vol. viii., p. . vol. ix., pp. - .) novus did not require correction; but mr. b. b. woodward has elaborately confounded the genuine _consilium_ of with vergerio's spurious letter of advice, written in . _four_ cardinals, and not _nine_ (as mr. woodward supposes), subscribed the authentic document; but perhaps _novem_ may have been a corruption of _novum_, applied to the later bolognese _consilium_; or else the word was intended to denote the number of _all_ the dignitaries who addressed pope paul iii. r. g. "this consilium was the result of an assembly of four cardinals, among whom was our pole, and five prelates, by paul iii. in , charged to give him their best advice relative to a reformation of the church. the corruptions of that community were detailed and denounced with more freedom than might have been expected, or was probably desired; so much so, that when one of the body, cardinal caraffa, assumed the tiara as paul iv., he transferred his own _advice_ into his own list of prohibited books. the consilium became the subject of an animated controversy. mccrie in his _history of the reformation in italy_, has given a satisfactory account of the whole, pp. , &c. the candid quirini could maintain neither the spuriousness of this important document, nor its non-identity with the one condemned in the index. (see schelborn's two epistles on the subject, tiguri, .) and now observe, gentle reader, the pontifical artifice which this discussion has produced. not in the index following the year , namely, that of (that was too soon), but in the next, that of , the article appears thus: 'consilium de emendanda ecclesia. _cum notis vel præfationibus hæreticorum. ind. trid._' the whole, particularly the ind. trid., is an implied and real falsehood."-- mendham's _literary policy of the church of rome_, pp. , . m. barbier, in his _dictionnaire des pseudoynmes_, has given his opinion of the genuineness of the consilium in the following note, in reply to some queries on the subject: "monsieur.--le _consilium quorundam episcoporum_, &c., me paraît une pièce bien authentique, puisque brown déclare l'avoir trouvé non-seulement dans les oeuvres de vergerio, mais encore dans les _lectiones memorabiles_, en vol. in fol. par wolphius. _je ne connais rien contre_ cette pièce. "j'ai l'honneur, &c. "barbier." the learned lorente has reprinted the "concilium" also in his work entitled _monumens historiques concernant les deux pragmatiques sanctions_. there can, therefore, be no just grounds for doubting the character of this precious article. bibliothecar. chetham. * * * * * pulpit hour-glasses. (vol. viii., pp. . . . . . .) i should be glad to see some more information in your pages relative to the _early_ use of the pulpit hour-glass. it is said that the ancient fathers preached, as the old greek and roman orators declaimed, by this instrument; but were the sermons of the ancient fathers an hour long? many of those in st. augustine's ten volumes might be delivered with distinctness in seven or eight minutes; and some of those of latimer and his contemporaries, in about the same time. but, query, are not the _printed_ sermons of these divines merely outlines, to be filled up by the preacher _extempore_? dyos, in a sermon preached at paul's cross, in , speaking of the walking and profane talking in the church at sermon time, also laments how they grudged the preacher his _customary hour_. so that an hour seems to have been the practice at the reformation. { } the hour-glass was used equally by the catholics and protestants. in an account of the fall of the house in blackfriars, where a party of romanists were assembled to hear one of their preachers, in , the preacher is described as-- "having on a surplice, girt about his middle with a linnen girdle, and a tippet of scarlet on both his shoulders. he was attended by a man that brought after him his book and _hour-glass_."--see _the fatal vespers_, by samuel clark, london, . in the preface to the bishops' _bible_, printed by john day in , archbishop parker is represented with an _hour-glass_ at his right hand. and in a work by franchinus gaffurius, entitled _angelicum ac divinum opus musice_, printed at milan in , is a curious representation of the author seated in a pulpit, with a book in his hand; an _hour-glass_ on one side, and a bottle on the other; lecturing to an audience of twelve persons. this woodcut is engraved in the second volume of hawkins' _history of music_, p. . hour-glasses were often very elegantly formed, and of rich materials. shaw, in his _dresses and decorations of the middle ages_, has given an engraving of one in the cabinet of m. debruge at paris. it is richly enamelled, and set with jewels. in the churchwardens' accounts of lambeth church are two entries respecting the hour-glass: the first is in , when s. d. was "payd to yorke for the frame in which the _hower_ standeth;" and the second in , when s. d. was "payd for an iron for the _hour-glasse_." in an inventory of the goods and implements belonging to the church of all saints, newcastle-upon-tyne, taken about , mention is made of "one _whole_ hour-glasse," and of "one _halfe_ hour-glasse." (see brand's _newcastle_, vol. i. p. .). fosbroke says, "preaching by the _hour-glass_ was put an end to by the puritans" (_ency. of antiq._, vol. i. pp. . .). but the account given by a correspondent of the _gentleman's magazine_ ( , p. .) is probably more correct: "hour-glasses, in the puritanical days of cromwell, were made use of by the preachers; who, on first getting into the pulpit, and naming the text, turned up the glass; and if the sermon did not hold till the glass was out, it was said by the congregation that the preacher was lazy: and if he continued to preach much longer, they would yawn and stretch, and by these signs signify to the preacher that they began to be weary of his discourse, and wanted to be dismissed." butler speaks of "gifted brethren preaching by a carnal _hour-glass_" (_hudibras_, part i., canto iii., v. .). and in the frontispiece of dr. young's book, entitled _england's shame, or a relation of the life and death of hugh peters_, london, , peters is represented preaching, and holding an _hour-glass_ in his left hand, in the act of saying: "i know you are good fellows, so let's have another _glass_." the same words, or something very similar, are attributed to the nonconformist minister, daniel burgess. mr. maidment, in a note to "the new litany," printed in his _third book of scottish pasquils_ (edin., , p. .), also gives the following version of the same: "a humorous story has been preserved of one of the earls of airly, who entertained at his table a clergyman, who was to preach before the commissioner next day. the glass circulated, perhaps too freely; and whenever the divine attempted to rise, his lordship prevented him, saying, 'another glass, and then.' after 'flooring' (if the expression may be allowed) his lordship, the guest went home. he next day selected a text: 'the wicked shall be punished, and that right early.' inspired by the subject, he was by no means sparing of his oratory, and the hour-glass was disregarded, although repeatedly warned by the precentor; who, in common with lord airly, thought the discourse rather lengthy. the latter soon knew why he was thus punished by the reverend gentleman, when reminded, always exclaiming, _not_ sotto voce, 'another glass, and then.'" hogarth, in his "sleeping congregation," has introduced an hour-glass on the left side of the preacher; and mr. ireland observes, in his description of this plate, that they are "still placed on some of the pulpits in the provinces." at waltham, in leicestershire, by the side of the pulpit was (or is) an hour-glass in an iron frame, mounted on three high wooden brackets. (see nichols' _leicestershire_, vol. ii p. .) a bracket for the support of an hour-glass is still preserved, affixed to the pulpit of hurst church, in berkshire: it is of iron, painted and gilt. an interesting notice, accompanied by woodcuts, of a number of existing specimens of hour-glass frames, was contributed to the _journal of the british archæological association_, vol. iii., , by mr. fairholt, to which i refer the reader for farther information. edward f. rimbault. i remember to have seen it stated in some antiquarian journal, that there are only three hour-glass stands in england where any portion of the glass is remaining. in cowden church, in kent, the glass is nearly entire. perhaps some of your readers will be able to mention the two other places. w. d. h. in salhouse church, near norwich, an iron hour-glass stand still remains fixed to the pulpit; and a bell on the screen, between the nave and the chancel. c--s. t. p. at berne, in the autumn of last year, i saw an hour-glass stand _still_ attached to the pulpit in the minster. w. sparrow simpson. * * * * * { } photographic correspondence. _a prize for the best collodion._--your "hint to the photographic society" (feb. ) i much approve of, but i have always found more promptness from individuals than from associated bodies; and all photographers i deem to be under great obligations to _you_ in affording us a medium of communication before a photographic society was in existence. during the past month your valuable articles, from some of our most esteemed photographists, show that your pages are the agreeable medium of publishing their researches. i would therefore respectfully suggest that you should yourself offer a prize for the best mode of making a good useful collodion, and that that prize should be a complete set of your valuable journal, which now, i believe, is progressing with its ninth volume. you might associate two independent names with your own, in testing the merits of any sample supplied to you, and a condition should be that the formula should be published in "n. & q." your observations upon the manufacturers of paper, respecting the intrinsic value of a premium, are equally applicable to this proposition, because, should the collodion prepared by any of the various dealers who at present advertise in your columns be deemed to be the most satisfactory, your sanction and that of your friends alone would be an ample recompense. i would also suggest that samples sent to you should be labelled with a motto, and a corresponding motto, _sealed_, should contain the name and address, the name and address of the successful sample _alone_ to be opened: this would effectually preclude all preconceived notions entertained by the testing manipulators who are to decide on the merits of what is submitted to them. a reader of "n. & q." and a photographer. [we are obliged to our correspondent not only for the compliment he has paid to our services to photography, but also for his suggestion. there are many reasons, and some sufficiently obvious, why _we_ should not undertake the task proposed; and there are as obvious reasons why it should be undertaken by the photographic society. that body has not only the means of securing the best judges of such matters, but an invitation from such a body would probably call into the field of competition all the best photographers, whether professional or amateur.] _double iodide of silver and potassium._--i shall feel greatly indebted to you, or to any correspondent of "n. & q.," for information as to the proportion of iodide of silver to the ounce of water, to be afterwards taken up by a _saturated solution_ of iodide of potassium, and converted into the double iodide of silver and potassium. i generally pour all waste solution of silver into a jar of iodide of potassium solution; and last year, having washed some of the precipitated iodide of silver, i redissolved it in a solution of iodide of potassium of an unknown strength. paper prepared with this solution answered very satisfactorily, kept well after excitation, and was very clear and intense; but this was purely accidental: and if you can tell me how to insure like success this summer, without a series of experiments, for which i have but little time just now, the information will be very acceptable to me, and probably to many others. i excite my paper with equal proportions of saturated solution of gallic acid and aceto-nitrate of silver, one or two drops of each to the drachm of distilled water. i always plunge the bottle of gallic acid solution into hot water when first made, which enables it to take up more of the acid; on cooling, the excess crystallises at the bottom. this ensures an even strength of solution: it will keep any length of time, if a small piece of camphor be allowed to float in it. j. w. walrond. wellington. [the resultant iodide from fifteen grains of nitrate of silver, precipitated by means of the iodide of potassium, will give the requisite quantity of iodide for every ounce of water; or about twenty-seven grains of the dried iodide will produce the same effect. it is however far preferable, and more economical, to convert all waste into chloride of silver, from which the pure metal may be again so readily obtained. iodide of silver, collected in the manner described by our correspondent, is very likely to lead to disappointment.] _albumenized paper._--i have by careful observation found that the cause of the albumen settling and drying in waving lines and blotches on my paper, arose from some parts of the paper being more absorbent than others, the gelatinous-like nature of the albumen assisting to retard its ready ingress into the unequal parts, and, consequently, that those places becoming the first dried, prevented the albumen, still slowly dripping over the now more wetted parts, from running down equally and smoothly, thereby causing a check to its progress; and as at last these become also dry, thicker and irregular patches of albumen were deposited, forming the mischief in question. the discovery of the cause suggested to me the propriety of either giving each sheet a prolonged floating of from ten to fifteen minutes on the salted albumen, or until every part had become fully and equally saturated; or, as a preliminary to the floating and hanging up by one corner on a line, of putting overnight between each sheet a damped piece of bibulous paper, and placing the whole between two smooth plates of stone, or other non-absorbent material. either method produces equally good results; but i now always use the latter, thereby avoiding the necessity of otherwise having several dishes of albumen at work at once. henry h. hele. _cyanide of potassium_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have for a long time been in the habit of using a solution of the above-named substance for fixing collodion _positives_, because the reduced silver has a much _whiter_ appearance when thus fixed, than when the hyposulphite of soda is used for the same purpose; but i cannot quite agree with mr. hockin that it is _equally_ applicable to negatives, though in many cases it will do very well. i find the reduced metal is more pervious to light when fixed with the cyanide solution, particularly in weak negatives. lastly, i find that a small quantity of the { } silver salts being added to the solution before using, produces less injury to the half-tones, and this not by merely weakening the solution, as one of double the strength with the silver is better than one without it, though only half as powerful. your correspondent c. e. f. (_ibid._) will find his positives will not stand a saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda, unless he prints them so intensely dark that all traces of a picture by reflected light are obliterated; but i have sometimes accidentally exposed my positives a _whole day_, and retained a fair proof by soaking the apparently useless impressions in such a solution. geo. shadbolt. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _saw-dust recipe_ (vol. ix., p. .).--see herschel's _discourse on the study of natural philosophy_, published in lardner's _cyclopædia_, p. ., where he says: "that sawdust itself is susceptible of conversion into a substance bearing no remote analogy to bread; and though certainly less palatable than that of flour, yet no way disagreeable, and both wholesome and digestible, as well as highly nutritive." to which passage the following note is appended: "see dr. prout's account of the experiments of professor autenrieth of tubingen, _phil. trans._, , p. . this discovery, which renders famine next to _impossible_, deserves a higher degree of celebrity than it has obtained." j. m. w. though not exactly the recipe for _saw-dust biscuits_ which i have heard of, there is an account of the process of making bread from bark in laing's "norway" (longman's _traveller's lib._), part ii. p. ., where, on the subject of pine-trees, it is stated: "many were standing with all their branches dead, stripped of the bark to make bread, and blanched by the weather, resembling white marble,--mere ghosts of trees. the bread is made of the inner rind next the wood, taken off in flakes like a sheet of foolscap paper, and is steeped or washed in warm water, to clear off its astringent principle. it is then hung across a rope to dry in the sun, and looks exactly like sheets of parchment. when dry it is pounded into small pieces mixed with corn, and ground into meal on the hand-mill or quern. it is much more generally used than i supposed. there are districts in which the forests suffered very considerable damage in the years and , when bad crops and the war, then raging, reduced many to bark bread. the fjelde bonder use it, more or less, every year. it is not very unpalatable; nor is there any good reason for supposing it unwholesome, if well prepared; but it is very costly. the value of the tree, which is left to perish on its root, would buy a sack of flour, if the english market were open." now, if g. d., or any enterprising individual, could succeed in converting saw-dust into wholesome food, or fit for admixture with flour, somewhat after the above manner, it would indeed be a "happy discovery," considering the present high price of "the staff of life." bread has also been made from the horse-chesnut; but the expense of preparation, removing the strong bitter flavour, is no doubt the obstacle to its success. what could be done with the spanish chesnut? willo. the saw-dust recipe is to be found in the _saturday magazine_, jan. , , taken from no. . of the _quarterly review_. it is entitled, "how to make a quartern loaf out of a deal board." j. c. your correspondent g. d. may find something to his purpose in a little german work, entitled _wie kann man, bey grosser theuerung und hungersnoth, ohne getreid, gesundes brod verschaffen?_ von dr. oberlechner: xav. duyle, salzburg, . w. t. _brydone the tourist_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the literary world would feel obliged to j. macray to tell us the name of the writer of the criticism who says, "brydone never was on the summit of etna." did the scholars of italy know more of what was done by englishmen in sicily in brydone's day than they do at present? how are the dates reconciled? brydone would be years old. mr. beckford, i think, must have been some thirteen or fourteen years younger. brydone was always considered to be in his relations in life a man of probity and honour. i used to hear much of him from one nearly related to me, whose father was first cousin to brydone's wife. h. r., nÉe f. _etymology of "page"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--_paggio_ italian, _page_ french and spanish, _pagi_ provençal, is derived by diez, _etymologisches wörterbuch der romanischen sprachen_ (bonn, ), p. ., from the greek [greek: paidion]. this derivation is evidently the true one. i may take this opportunity of recommending the above-cited work to all persons who feel an interest in the etymology of the romance languages. it is not only more scientific and learned, but more comprehensive, than any other work of the kind. l. _longfellow_ (vol. ix., p. .).--there was a family of the name of longfellow resident in brecon, south wales, about fifty or sixty years ago, who were large landowners in the county; and one of them (tom longfellow, alluded to in the lines below) kept the principal inn, "the golden lion," in that town. his son occupied a farm a few miles from brecon, about thirty years ago; and two of his sisters resided in the town. the family was frequently engaged in law suits (perhaps from the _proverbially_ litigious disposition { } of their welsh neighbours), and was ultimately ruined. many of the old inhabitants of that part of the principality could, no doubt, give a better and fuller account of them. the following lines (not very flattering to the landlord, certainly), said to have been written by a commercial traveller on an inside-window shutter of "the golden lion," when mr. longfellow was the proprietor, may not be out of place in "n. & q.:" "tom longfellow's name is most justly his due, long his neck, long his bill, which is very long too; long the time ere your horse to the stable is led, long before he's rubbed down, and much longer till fed; long indeed may you sit in a comfortless room, till from kitchen, long dirty, your dinner shall come; long the often-told tale that your host will relate, long his face whilst complaining how long people eat; long may longfellow long ere he see me again,-- long 'twill be ere i long for tom longfellow's inn." c. h. ( ) yesterday i happened to be looking over an old bristol paper (sarah farley's _bristol journal_, saturday, june , ), and the name of longfellow, which i had before only known as borne by the poet, caught my eye. at the end of the paper there is a notice in these words: "advertisements are taken in for this paper by agents in various places, and by mr. longfellow, brecon," &c. henry geo. tomkins. park lodge, weston-super-mare. there is now living at beaufort iron works, breconshire, a respectable tradesman, bearing the name of longfellow. he himself is a native of the town of brecon, as was his father also. but his grandfather was a settler; though from what part of the country this last-named relative originally came, he is unfortunately unable to say. he has the impression, however, that it was from cornwall or devonshire. perhaps this information will partly answer the question of oxoniensis. e. w. i. it is by no means improbable that the name is a corruption of _longvillers_, found in northamptonshire as early as the reign of edward i., and derived, i imagine, from the town of longueville in normandy. there is a newton longville in this county. w. p. storer. olney, bucks. _canting arms_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the introduction to the collection of arms alluded to was _not_ written by sir george naylor, but by the rev. james dallaway, who had previously published his _historical enquiries_, a work well known. g. _holy loaf money_ (vol. ix., p. .).--at some time before the date of present rubrics, it was the custom for every house in the parish to provide in rotation bread (and wine) for the holy communion. by the first book of king edward vi., this duty was devolved upon those who had the cure of souls, with a provision "that the parishioners of every parish should offer every sunday, at the time of the offertory, _the just value and price of the holy loaf_ ... to the use of the pastors and curates" who had provided it; "and that in such order and course as they were wont to find, and pay the said holy loaf." this is, i think, the correct answer to the query of t. j. w. j. h. b. "_could we with ink_," _&c._ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the idea embodied in these lines was well known in the seventeenth century. the following "rhyme," extracted from a rare miscellany entitled _wits recreations_, mo., , has reference to the subject. "_interrogativa cantilena._ "if all the world were paper, and all the sea were inke; if all the trees were bread and cheese, how should we do for drinke? "if all the world were sand'o, oh then what should we lack'o; if as they say there were no clay, how should we take tobacco? "if all our vessels ran'a, if none but had a crack'a; if spanish apes eat all the grapes, how should we do for sack'a? "if fryers had no bald pates, nor nuns had no dark cloysters; if all the seas were beans and pease, how should we do for oysters? "if there had been no projects, nor none that did great wrongs; if fiddlers shall turne players all, how should we doe for songs? "if all things were eternall, and nothing their end bringing; if this should be, then how should we here make an end of singing?" edward f. rimbault. _mount mill, and the fortifications of london_ (vol. ix., p. .).--b. r. a. y. will find that the name is still applied to an obscure locality in the parish of st. luke, situated close to the west end of seward street on the north side. the parliamentary fortifications of london are described in maitland's _hist._, and mount mill is noticed in cromwell's _clerkenwell_, pp. . . this writer supposes that the _mount_ (long since levelled) originated in the interment of a great number of persons during the plague of ; but { } this, i think, is a mistake, for the mount is mentioned in a printed broadside which, if i remember rightly, bears an earlier date. i cannot furnish its title, but it will be found in the british museum, with the press-mark . f. / . a plan of the city and suburbs, as fortified by order of the parliament in and , was engraved by george vertue, ; and a small plan of the same works appeared in the _gentleman's magazine_ a few years afterwards ( ?). w.p. storer. olney, bucks. _standing while the lord's prayer is read_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a custom noted to prevail at bristol: in connexion with it, it would be interesting to ascertain in what churches there still remain _any_ usages of by-gone days, but which have generally got into desuetude. it is probable that in some one or other church there may still exist a usage handed down by tradition, which is not generally recognised nor authorised in the present day. perhaps by means of our widely spread "n. & q.," and the notes of its able contributors, this may be ascertained. by way of example, and as a beginning, i would mention the following:-- at st. sampson's, cricklade (it was so before ), the people say, "thanks be to thee, o god!" after the reading of the gospel; a usage said to be as old as st. chrysostom. at talaton, devon, where the congregation turn towards the singing gallery at the west end, during the singing of the "magnificat" and other psalms, at the "gloria" they all turn round to the _east_. at bitton, gloucestershire, two parishioners, natives of lincolnshire, always gave me notice before they came to holy communion, as it was their _custom_ always to do. when a boy, i remember an old gentleman, who came from one of the midland counties, always stood up at the "glory" in the litany. in many country churches, the old women make a courtesy. in many country churches, the old men bow and smooth down their hair when they enter the church; and women make a courtesy. h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. in a late number of your miscellany, you say it is a general practice for congregations in churches to _stand_ during the reading of the lord's prayer, when it occurs in the order of morning lessons. in my experience, i do not remember any such custom prevalent in this part of the country; but may mention, as a curious and (as far as i know, or ever heard of) singular example of kneeling at the reading of st matt. vi. and st. luke xi., that at formby, a retired village on the lancashire coast, my first cure, the people observed this usage. the children in the schools were instructed to kneel whenever they read the section of these chapters which contains the lord's prayer. and at the "burial of the dead," as soon as the minister came to that portion of the ceremony where the use of the lord's prayer is enjoined, all the assembled mourners (old and young, and however cold or damp the day) would devoutly kneel down in the chapel yard, and remain in this posture of reverence until the conclusion of the service. i observed that their roman catholic neighbours, who often attended at funerals, when they happened to be present, did the same. so that it seemed to be "a tradition derived from their fathers," and handed down "from one generation to another." r. l. great lever, bolton. this custom is observed in the cathedral at norwich, but not (i believe) in the other churches in that city. i remember seeing it noticed in a very old number of the _gentleman's magazine_, and should be glad if any of your correspondents could tell me which number it is. i have looked through the index in vain. the writer denounced it as a _popish_ custom! w. _a dead sultan, with his shirt for an ensign_ (vol. ix., p. .).--mr. warden will find a long and interesting description of saladin in knolles' _turkish history_, pp. . ., published in london by adam islip in . i take from this learned work the following curious anecdote: "about this time (but the exact period is not stated) died the great sultan saladin, the greatest terrour of the christians; who, mindfull of man's fragilitie, and the vanitie of worldly honours, commanded at the time of his death no solemnitie to be vsed at his buriall, but only his shirt in manner of an ensigne, made fast vnto the point of a lance, to be carried before his dead bodie as an ensigne. a plaine priest going before and crying aloud vnto the people in this sort: '_saladin conquerour of the east, of all the greatnesse and riches hee had in this life, carrieth not with him after his death anything more than his shirt._'"--"a sight (says knolles) woorthie so great a king, as wanted nothing to his eternall commendation, more than the true knowledge of his salvation in christ jesu." w. w. malta. "_houd maet of laet_" (vol. ix., p. .).--one of your correspondents desires an explanation of _this_ phrase, which he found in the corner of an old dutch picture. it is a flemish proverb; i translate it thus: "keep within bounds, though 'tis late." it may either be the motto which the artist adopted to identify his work while he concealed { } his name; or it may be descriptive of the picture, which then would be an illustration of _this_ proverb. inscribed either by the artist himself, or by some officious person, who thus "tacked the moral full in sight." i think i have seen a similar inscription somewhere in flanders on an antique drinking-cup, a very appropriate place for such wholesome counsel. i should like to know the subject of the picture your correspondent refers to. in modern dutch the proverb reads thus: "houd maat of laat." e. f. woodman. the above dutch proverb means, in english: "keep within bounds, or leave off." [greek: halieus.] _captain eyre's drawings_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the mention of captain eyre's drawings of the fortifications in london, and the editorial note appended thereto, remind me of an inquiry i have long been desirous of making respecting the curious, if authentic, drawings by this same captain eyre, illustrative of shakspeare's residence in london, described in one of your earlier volumes (vol. vii., p. .). i have not myself had an opportunity of consulting mr. halliwell's first volume, but a friend who looked at it for me says he could not find any account of them there. in whose possession are they now? m. a. shrewsbury. _sir thomas browne and bishop ken_ (vol. ix., p. .).--had mr. mackenzie walcott referred to a preceding volume of "n. & q." (vol. viii., p. .), he would have seen that the "coincidences" between these writers had been already noticed in your pages by one of the bishop's biographers. the life of ken, from the pen of your correspondent, is omitted in mr. mackenzie walcott's list, and may be equally unknown to that gentleman as the note before mentioned; but in the _quarterly review_ (vol. lxxxix. p. .), and in many pages of mr. anderdon's valuable volume, mr. mackenzie walcott will find ample mention of the work in question. j. h. markland. _unfinished works_ (vol. ix., p. .).--j. m. is informed that dr. shirley palmer's _medical dictionary_ is finished. from the preface it appears to have been finished in ; but not published (in a complete form) till , with the title _a pentaglot dictionary of the terms employed in anatomy_, &c.; london, longman & co.; birmingham, langbridge. m. d. "_the lounger's common-place book_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the editor of this publication was jeremiah whitaker newman, who died july , , aged eighty years. some information respecting him and his work, supplied by me, appeared in the _gentleman's magazine_, june, . j. r. w. bristol. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. london labour and london poor. nos. xliv. and lxiv. to end of work. mrs. gore's banker's wife. tales by a barrister. schiller's wallenstein, translated by coleridge. smith's classical library. goethe's faust (english). smith's classical library. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the hive, containing vol. i. first edition. . london magazine. vols. after the year . wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. evans's old ballads. vol. i. . any of the sermons, tracts, &c., by the late rev. a. g. jewitt. history of lincoln, by a. jewitt. howitt's gipsy king, and other poems. either one or two copies. wanted by _r. keene_, bookseller, irongate, derby. henry's (philip) life, by sir j. b. williams. royal vo. wanted by _t. barcham_, bookseller, reading. fresenius quantitative analysis. last edition. wanted by _smith, elder, & co._, . cornhill. two volumes of plates to glossary of architecture. parker, oxford. . wanted by _ed. appleton_, torquay. the banner displayed, or, an abridgment of gwillin by samuel kent. thos. cox, printer. . vol . the holy bible. pictorial. c. knight. . vols. ii. and iii. wanted by _john garland_, solicitor, dorchester. a map, plan, and representations of interesting and remarkable places connected with ancient london (large size). a copy of an early number of "the times" newspaper, or of the "morning chronicle," "morning post," or "morning herald." the nearer the commencement preferred. copies or fac-similes of other old newspapers. a copy of the breeches or other old bible. wanted by mr. _joseph simpson_, librarian, literary and scientific institution, islington, london. enquiry after happiness. the third part. by richard lucas, d.d. sixth edition. . wanted by _rev. john james_, avington rectory, hungerford. * * * * * { } notices to correspondents. _we are unavoidably compelled to postpone our usual_ notes on books, &c. mr. ferguson, _of the exchequer record office, dublin, returns his best thanks to _j. o._ for his most acceptable present of a book of poems._ _will_ an old f.s.a., f.r.s., f.s.a., _who writes to us that the "eyre drawings are authentic," oblige us with his name? it is obvious that anonymous testimony can have little weight in such a case, when opposed to that of_ known and competent authorities. working man _will find the english equivalents for french weights and measures, and much of the information he desires, in walich's_ popular tables. bb. (bradford) _will probably find in the _journal of a naturalist_, white's _selborne_, and the valuable series of works illustrative of the _natural history of england_, published by van voorst of paternoster row, the materials of which he stands in need, and references to other authorities._ c. r. _will find scattered through our volumes many modern instances of the _mode of discovering the drowned_, to which his communication refers._ abhba. _our correspondent should procure a valuable tract, entitled _"an argument for the greek origin of the monogram ihs,"_ published by the cambridge camden society (masters), which clearly shows that this symbol is formed out of the first two and the last letter of the greek word_ [greek: iÊsous]. p. h. f. _the communication forwarded on "_lines attributed to hudibras_," will be found in our_ st volume, p. . f. t. _the _weekly pacquet_ and the _popish courant_ is one and the same periodical, the latter being merely an appendix to the former, and printed continuously, as shown by the running paginal figures; so that when chief justice scroggs prohibited the publication of the former, he at the same time suppressed the latter._ a beginner. _we again repeat that we cannot point out particular warehouses for the purchase of photographic materials. our advertising columns will show where they are to be purchased at every variety of price._ c. k. p. (newport). _from the specimen forwarded, we doubt whether the paper is turner's; if it is, it is not his desirable make. the negative it is evident, from its redness and want of gradation of tint throughout, has been far too long exposed. we have seen the brown spots complained of occur when the paper has been too long excited before use._ e. y. (rochester). _it is probable that the spot of which you complain is from light reflected from the bottom of the camera, not from the interior of the lens. if so, the application of a piece of black velvet would remedy this. as the spot is always is one place, it must depend upon light reflected from some one spot._ m. de s. (tendring). _we trust to be able to send a very satisfactory reply in the course of a few days. we have delayed answering only from a desire to accomplish our correspondent's object._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * valuable patristical works recently published in germany. irenÆi opera omnia, gr. et lat., acc. apparatus continens ex iis, quæ ab aliis editoribus aut de irenæo ipso aut de scriptis ejus sunt disputata, meliora et iteratione haud indigna, edid. a. stieren. thick vols. vo. ( , pages). price l. s. in cloth boards: or l. s. full bound calf, antique style, red edges. this is by far the most elaborate and complete edition of the works of irenæus, and is fruit of twenty-five years' labour and study on the part of the learned editor. tertulliani opera omnia, ed. f. oehler. thick vols. vo. (nearly , pages), price l. s. cloth boards; calf, antique, l. justini martyris opera omnia, gr. et lat., ed. j. t. otto. vols., in parts, vo., bound in vols., cloth boards, l. s. d. or calf antique, l. s. half-bound calf or vellum. l. s. london: d. nutt, . strand. * * * * * just published, in vol. mo., cloth, s. d. the law of the love of god, an essay on the commandments of the first table of the decalogue, by george moberly, d.c.l., head master of winchester college. "this recently published essay of dr. moberly, the law of the love of god, will not disappoint its readers, but will be found worthy of the author's reputation as a divine, and his high position as a scholar."--_scottish ecclesiastical journal._ london: d. nutt, . strand. * * * * * just published, large vo., stitched, price s. d., austria. the present state of its finances and currency. by an impartial observer. translated from the german. this work has excited a great sensation in germany, and , copies have been sold in the last few weeks. london: d. nutt, . strand. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each,--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal piano-fortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler. e. j. loder. w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panotka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * to nervous sufferers.--a retired clergyman having been restored to health in a few days, after many years of great nervous suffering, is anxious to make known to others the means of a cure; will therefore send free, on receiving a stamped envelope, properly addressed, a copy of the prescription used. direct the rev. e. douglass, . holland street, brixton, london. * * * * * certificates in drawing are granted to schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, by the department of science and art, which will enable the holders of them to obtain an augmentation of salary from the committee of council for education. classes for the instruction of schoolmasters and mistresses and mistresses and pupil-teachers in freehand and drawing, linear geometry, perspective and model drawing, are formed in the metropolis in the following places: . marlborough house, pall mall.--meeting on tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday evenings, from to : and saturdays, from to . . spitalfields, crispin street.--meeting on wednesday and friday evenings, from to . . gore house, kensington.--meeting on monday and thursday evenings, from to . fee for the session of five months, from march to august, s. for information, and specimens of the examination papers, apply to the secretaries of the department of science and art, marlborough house, pall mall, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory. . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold. , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * { } imperial life insurance company. . old broad street, london. instituted . ---- samuel hibbert, esq., _chairman_. william r. robinson, esq., _deputy-chairman_. ---- the scale of premiums adopted by this office will be found of a very moderate character, but at the same time quite adequate to the risk incurred. four-fifths, or per cent. of the profits, are assigned to policies _every fifth year_, and may be applied to increase the sum insured, to an immediate payment in cash, or to the reduction and ultimate extinction of future premiums. one-third of the premium on insurances of l. and upwards, for the whole term of life, may remain as a debt upon the policy, to be paid off at convenience; or the directors will lend sums of l. and upwards, on the security of policies effected with this company for the whole term of life, when they have acquired an adequate value. security.--those who effect insurances with this company are protected by its subscribed capital of , l., of which nearly , l. is invested, from the risk incurred by members of mutual societies. the satisfactory financial condition of the company, exclusive of the subscribed and invested capital, will be seen by the following statement: on the st october, , the sums assured, including bonus added, amounted to £ , , the premium fund to more than , and the annual income from the same source, to , insurances, without participation in profits, may be effected at reduced rates. samuel ingall, actuary. * * * * * chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete lists of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites. gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill & morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn: the photographic institution, bond street: and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand. have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to meet every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photographic papers manufactured by messrs. towgood, of st. neot's mills, as mentioned in "notes and queries," no. ., jan. . commercial and family stationery, &c. depôt for all works on physiology, phrenology, hydropathy, &c. catalogues sent free on application. london: hortell & shirress, . new oxford street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page where are the wills to be deposited? notes:-- "j. r. of cork" marmortinto, or sand-painting the soldier's discipline, from a broadside of the year leading articles of foreign newspapers minor notes:--materials for a history of druidism--domestic chapels--ordinary--thom's irish almanac and official directory for --antiquity of the word "snub"--charles i. at little woolford--coincidence between sir thomas browne and bishop ken--the english school of painting--"a feather in your cap" queries:-- domestic architecture: licences to crenellate, by j. h. parker dixon of beeston, by r. w. dixon, j.p. minor queries:--atherstone family--classic authors and the jews--bishop hooper's argument on the vestment controversy --the title of "dominus"--the de rous family--where was the fee of s. sanxon?--russian emperors--episcopal insignia of the eastern church--amontillado sherry--col. michael smith's family--pronunciation of foreign names--artesian wells--norman towers in london--papyrus--mathew, a cornish family minor queries with answers:--bunyan's descendants--epigram on dennis--football played on shrove tuesday--vossioner, its meaning--the game of chess--a juniper letter replies:-- clarence milton's widow, by t. hughes three fleurs-de-lys books burned by the common hangman, by c. h. cooper, &c. different productions of different carcases vandyke in america, by j. balch photographic correspondence:--cyanide of potassium--mode of exciting calotype paper--the double iodide solution: purity of photographic chemicals--hyposulphite of soda baths replies to minor queries:--daughters taking their mothers' names--the young pretender--a legend of the hive--hoby family--anticipatory use of the cross--longevity--"nugget" --the fifth lord byron--wapple, or whapple-way--the ducking-stool--double christian names--pedigree to the time of alfred--palace of lucifer--monaldeschi--anna lightfoot--lode, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * the eclectic review for march, price s. d., contains: . d'israeli.--a literary and political biography. . the theory of food. . the autobiography of a dissenting minister. . lord holland's history of the whig party. . sanitary farming. . st. john's search of beauty. . christianity, and its modern assailants. . the caucasus, and the country between the euxine and the caspian. review of the month, &c. the homilist for march, price s., contains: . the master impulse of true progress. . hinderance to prayer. by rev. david cook, dundee. . the terrible hypothesis; or the irrevocable fate. . saul; or, humanity consciously deserted of god. . the widow's mite; or the transcendent worth of true feeling. . the burial of christ; a display of three-fold power. . psalm ,--the moral mirror of the good. . the genius of the gospel. reviews, &c. ward & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * valuable liturgical works. liturgies of queen elizabeth.--liturgical services, - ; being the liturgies and occasional forms of prayer set forth in the reign of queen elizabeth. now first collected and edited, with preface and notes, by wm. keatinge clay, b.d., canon of ely. one handsome volume, vo., containing pp. beautifully printed at the cambridge university press. cloth extra, price s. also, private prayers put forth by authority during the reign of queen elizabeth. including the primer of ; the orarium of ; the preces privatæ, ; the book of christian prayers of ; with an appendix containing the litany of . now first collected and edited, with preface and notes, by wm. keatinge clay, b.d., canon of ely. one handsome volume, vo., containing pp., beautifully printed at the cambridge university press. cloth extra. price s. london: william brown, , , and . old street. * * * * * burke's peerage and baronetage for . the revised and improved edition of the peerage and baronetage for . by sir j. bernard burke, ulster king of arms, is now ready at all the booksellers. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * to book collectors.--millard's catalogue of , vols. of second-hand books, gratis: including encyclopædia britannica, th and last edition, cloth, guineas; another half russia, gilt, guineas; another, th edition, calf, fine copy, guineas. illustrated london news, complete to end of , clean as new, cloth, l. s. penny cyclopædia and supplement, vols., half calf, l. s. henry's bible, by bickersteth, vols. to., new half calf, l. s. dr. adam clarke's bible, vols. cloth, new, l. s. d'oyly's and mant's bible, vols. to., new, half calf, l.; large paper, calf, l. s. d. nash's mansions of england, vols. fol., new, half morocco, guineas. abbotsford waverley novels, vols., new, half calf, extra, guineas. magistrate's edition of statutes, to , vols. to., half law calf, guineas. tegg's london encyclopædia, vols., uncut, l. s. taylor's edition of plato's works, vols. to., half morocco, guineas.--libraries purchased. . newgate street, london. * * * * * a catalogue of a collection of ancient and modern books, comprising history, biography, fine arts, chess, poetry, drama, voyages, and travels, including a collection of works relating to america. offered for sale at the exceedingly low prices for cash only, by charles skeet, . king william street, charing cross. to be had gratis on application. * * * * * choice and valuable books. messrs. upham & beet (late rodwell) having recently made great addition to their extensive stock of books in all languages, beg respectfully to invite an inspection of them. catalogues are now ready, and will be sent by post on receipt of two stamps. . new bond street, corner of maddox street. * * * * * only a few copies remaining! of the former series of the journal of sacred literature. edited by john kitto, d.d., f.s.a. in vols. vo., cloth, lettered, comprising some hundreds of original criticisms and papers, and notes and queries bearing on biblical subjects. offered till the th of april, unless all sold previously, for l. s. blackader & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * { } historical works published by william blackwood & sons. the history of europe from to . by sir archibald alison, bart. to be completed in five volumes vo., price s. each. contents of volume i. chap. . general sketch of the whole period. . history of england: - . . history of france from the second restoration of louis xviii. to the ordinance of sept. . . domestic history of england: - . . progress of literature, science, the arts, &c., after the war. . france from the coup d'etat of sept. to the creation of peers in . contents of volume ii. chap. . spain and italy: - . . russia and poland - . . royalist reaction in france: - . . domestic history of england: - . . england, france, and spain, from the accession of villèle in to the congress of verona in . . congress of verona--french invasion of spain--death of louis xviii. (volume iii. will be published in the spring.) alison's history of europe during the french revolution. library edition, in fourteen volumes vo., with portraits, price l. s. the same work in twenty volumes post vo., price l. people's edition of the same work now publishing, to be completed in twelve volumes, price s. each. the atlas of coloured maps and plans of countries, battles, sieges, and sea fights, with a vocabulary of military and marine terms, to illustrate "alison's europe." by a. keith johnstone, f.r.s.e. in demy to., price l. s.; in crown to., price l. s. d. also, a people's edition, now publishing, in half-a-crown parts. the epitome of alison's europe: for the use of schools. post. vo., price, s. d. bound. greece under the romans: a historical view of the greek nation, from the time of its conquest by the romans until the extinction of the roman empire, b.c. , to a.d. . by george finlay, esq. vo., s. by the same author, history of the byzantine empire from dccxvi. to mlvii. vo., s. d. by the same author, history of greece, from its conquest by the crusaders to its conquest by the turks, and of the empire of trebizond, - . vo., s. d. by the author of "cyril thornton." annals of the peninsular campaigns. by thomas hamilton, esq. a new edition, edited by f. hardman, esq. vo., s. atlas of maps to illustrate the campaigns, s. lives of the queens of scotland, and english princesses connected with the regal succession of great britain. by agnes strickland. with portraits and historical vignettes. in six vols. post vo., s. d. each. four volumes are published. . george street, edinburgh; and . paternoster row, london. * * * * * a new historical tale is commenced in no. . of the home companion, an illustrated family magazine. which also contains: the turco-russian frontiers on the black sea. the fen country--how reclaimed. combats with king frost. dis-illusion. what bessie's gown cost. published weekly, price three halfpence, in a neat wrapper: and may be had of all booksellers in town and country, or of the publishers, wm. s. orr & co., amen corner, paternoster row, london. * * * * * the home companion for the present week commences a new historical romance, with an illustration: a view and description of sebastopol and the black sea; and other articles of interest. price three halfpence. london: wm. s. orr & co., amen corner, paternoster row. * * * * * gui de st. flore, an historical romance, is now publishing in "the home companion," an illustrated weekly magazine. price three halfpence. london: wm. s. orr & co., amen corner, paternoster row. * * * * * sebastopol is described and illustrated in "the home companion." an illustrated weekly journal. price three halfpence. london: wm. s. orr & co., amen corner, paternoster row. * * * * * professor johnston's chemistry of common life. no. iv., price d., contains the beverages we infuse. the previous numbers contain: . the air we breathe, and the water we drink. d. . the soil we cultivate, and the plant we rear. d. . the bread we eat, and the beef we cook. d. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. sold by all booksellers. * * * * * new publications. two vols. post vo., cloth, s. purple tints of paris: character and manners in the new empire. by bayle st. john, author of "two years' residence in a levantine family," &c. a visit to portugal and madeira. by the lady emmeline stuart wortley. post vo., cloth, s. d. the life of jerome cardan, of milan, physician. by henry morley, author of "palissy the potter," &c. burns. by thomas carlyle. forming the new volume of "reading for travellers." price s. london: chapman & hall. . piccadilly. * * * * * this day is published, history of the french protestant refugees, from the revocation of the edict of nantes. by charles weiss, professor of history in the lycée buonaparte. translated, with the assistance of the author, by frederick hardman. in demy octavo, price s., cloth. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * rare books and paintings, to be sold, the property of a gentleman, the great elzevir bible, with the maps and exquisite coloured plates, in original brass-bound binding, . complete. price l. the synod of dort: original black-letter report of the proceedings, with manuscript contemporary annotations in latin and old dutch, . unique. price l. s. wouverman. an exquisite cabinet painting by phillip wouverman. price l. the above may be seen at mr. harrison's, bookseller, . pall mall. * * * * * multæ terricollis linguæ, coelestibus una. [illustration] samuel bagster and sons' general catalogue is now free by post. it contains lists of quarto family bibles: ancient english translations: manuscript-notes bibles; polyglot bibles in every variety of size and combination of languages; parallel-passages bibles; greek critical and other testaments; polyglot books of common prayer; psalms in english, hebrew, and many other languages, in great variety; aids to the study of the old testament and of the new testament; and miscellaneous biblical and other works. by post free. london: samuel bagster & sons, . paternoster row. [greek: pollai men thnêtois glôttai, mia d' athanatoisin] * * * * * { } where are the wills to be deposited? the difficulties thrown in the way of all literary and historical inquiries, by the peculiar constitution of the prerogative office, doctors' commons, have long been a subject of just complaint. an attempt was made by the camden society, in , to procure their removal, by a memorial addressed to the archbishop of canterbury, which we now print, because it sets forth, plainly and distinctly, the nature and extent of those difficulties. "to the most rev. and the right hon. the lord archbishop of canterbury. "the humble memorial of the president and council of the camden society, respectfully showeth, "that the camden society was instituted in the year , for the publication of early historical and literary remains. "it has the honour to be patronised by h.r.h. the prince albert; and has supported, from its institution, by the countenance and subscription of your grace's predecessor in the see of canterbury. "the society has published forty volumes of works relating to english history, and continues to be actively engaged in researches connected with the same important branch of literature. "in the course of its proceedings, the society has had brought under its notice the manner in which the regulations of the prerogative office in doctors' commons interfere with the accuracy and completeness of works in the preparation of which the council is now engaged, and with the pursuits and labours of all other historical inquirers; and they beg leave respectfully to submit to your grace the results of certain investigations which they have made upon the subject. "besides the original wills deposited in the office of the prerogative court, there is kept in the same repository a long series of register books, containing copies of wills entered chronologically from a.d. to the present time. these registers or books of entry fall practically into two different divisions or classes. the earlier and the latter books contain information suited to the wants of totally different kinds of persons, and applicable to entirely different purposes. their custody is also of very different importance to the office. the class which is first both in number of books and in importance contains entries of modern wills. these are daily consulted by relatives of testators, by claimants and solicitors, principally for legal purposes, and yield a large revenue to the office in fees paid for searches, inspections, and copies. the second class, which comprises a comparatively small number of volumes, contains entries of ancient wills, dated before the period during which wills are now useful for legal purposes. these are never consulted by lawyers or claimants, nor do they yield any revenue to the office, save an occasional small receipt from the camden society, or from some similar body, or private literary inquirer. "with respect to the original wills, and the entries of modern wills, your memorialists beg to express clearly that this application is not designed to have any reference to them. your memorialists confine their remarks exclusively to the books of entries of those ancient wills which have long and unquestionably ceased to be useful for legal purposes. "these entries of ancient wills are of the very highest importance to historical inquirers. they abound with illustrations of manners and customs; they exhibit in the most authentic way the state of religion, the condition of the various classes of the people, and of society in general; they are invaluable to the lexicographer, the genealogist, the topographer, the biographer,--to historical writers of every order and kind. they constitute the most important depository in existence of exact information relating to events and persons of the period to which they relate. "but all this information is unavailable in consequence of the regulations of the office in which the wills are kept. all the books of entry, both of ancient and modern wills, are kept together, and can only be consulted in the same department of the same office, in the same manner and subject to precisely the same restrictions and the same payments. no distinction is made between the fees to be paid by a literary person who wishes to make a few notes from wills, perhaps three or four hundred years old, in order to rectify a fact, a name, a date, or to establish the proper place of a descent in a pedigree, or the exact meaning of a doubtful word, and the fees to be paid by the person who wants a copy of a will proved yesterday as evidence of a right to property perhaps to be established in a court of justice. no extract is allowed to be made, not even of a word or a date, except the names of the executors and the date of the will. printed statements in historical books, which refer to wills, may not be compared with the wills as entered; even ancient copies of wills handed down for many generations in the families of the testators, may not be examined in the registered wills without paying the office for making new and entire copies. "no such restrictions exclude literary inquirers from the british museum, where there are papers equally valuable. the public record offices are all open, either gratuitously or upon payment of easy fees. the secretary of state for the home department grants permission of access to her majesty's state paper office. your grace's predecessor gave the camden society free access to the registers of wills at lambeth--documents exactly similar to those at doctors' commons. the prerogative office is, probably, the only public office in the kingdom which is shut against literary inquirers. "the results of such regulations are obvious. the ancient wills at doctors' commons not being accessible to those to whom alone they are useful, yield scarcely any fees to the office; historical inquirers are discouraged; errors remain uncorrected; statements of facts in historical works are obliged to be left uncertain and incomplete; the researches of the camden society and other similar societies are thwarted; and all historical inquirers regard the condition of the prerogative office as a great literary grievance. { } "the president and council of the camden society respectfully submit these circumstances to your grace with a full persuasion that nothing which relates to the welfare of english historical literature can be uninteresting either to your grace personally, or to the church over which you preside; and they humbly pray your grace that such changes may be made in the regulations of the prerogative office as may assimilate its practice to that of the public record office, so far as regards the inspection of the books of entry of ancient wills, or that such other remedy may be applied to the inconveniences now stated as to your grace may seem fit. "(signed) braybrooke, president. thomas amyot, director. henry ellis. j. payne collier, treas. harry verney. h. h. milman. joseph hunter. william j. thoms, sec. chs. purton cooper. thos. stapleton. wm. durrant cooper. peter levesque. thos. j. pettigrew. john bruce. beriah botfield. bolton corney. _ . parliament street, westminster,_ _ april, ._" as the archbishop stated his inability to afford any relief, the camden society availed themselves of the appointment of the commission to inquire into the law and jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical and other courts in relation to matters testamentary, to address to those commissioners, in the month of january, , a memorial, of which the following is a copy: "to the right honourable and honourable the commissioners appointed by her majesty to inquire into the law and jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical and other courts in relation to matters testamentary. "my lords and gentlemen, "we, the undersigned, being the president and council of the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains, beg to submit to your consideration a copy of a memorial presented on the th april, , by the president and then council of this society, to his grace the archbishop of canterbury, praying that such changes might be made in the regulations of the prerogative office as might assimilate its practice to that of the public record office, so far as regards the inspection of the books of entry of ancient wills, or that such other remedy might be applied to the inconveniences stated in that memorial as to his grace might seem fit. "in reply to that memorial his grace was pleased to inform the memorialists that he had no control whatever over the fees taken in the prerogative office. "the memorialists had not adopted the course of applying to his grace the archbishop until they had in vain endeavoured to obtain from the authorities of the prerogative office, messrs. dyneley, iggulden, and gostling, some modification of their rules in favour of literary inquirers. the answer of his grace the archbishop left them, therefore without present remedy. "the grievance complained of continues entirely unaltered up to the present time. "in all other public repositories to which in the course of our inquiries we have had occasion to apply, we have found a general and predominant feeling of the national importance of the cultivation of literature, and especially of that branch of it which relates to the past history of our own country. every one seems heartily willing to promote historical inquiries. the public record offices are now opened to persons engaged in literary pursuits by arrangements of the most satisfactory and liberal character. his grace the archbishop of canterbury gives permission to literary men to search such of the early registers of his see as are in his own possession at lambeth. access is given to the registers of the bishop of london; and throughout the kingdom private persons having in their possession historical documents are almost without exception not only willing but anxious to assist our inquiries. the authorities of the prerogative office in doctors' commons, perhaps, stand alone in their total want of sympathy with literature, and in their exclusion of literary inquirers by stringent rules, harshly, and in some instances even offensively, enforced. "we have the honour to be, "my lords and gentlemen, "your most obedient and very humble servants, (signed) braybrooke, president. john bruce, director. c. purton cooper. j. payne collier, treas. w. r. drake. edwd. foss. peter levesque. strangford. w. h. blaauw. w. durrant cooper. bolton corney. henry ellis. lambert b. larking. fredk. ouvry. wm. j. thoms, sec. _ . parliament street, westminster,_ _january, ._" a report from that commission has been laid before parliament; and a bill for carrying into effect the recommendations contained in such report, and transferring the powers of the prerogative court to the court of chancery, has been introduced into the house of lords. the bill contains no specific enactments as to the custody of the wills. now, therefore, is the time for all who are interested in historical truth to use their best endeavours to procure the insertion of such clauses as shall place the wills under the same custody as the other judicial records of the country, namely, that of her majesty's keeper of records. with literature represented in the house of lords by a brougham and a campbell, in the commons by a macaulay, a bulwer, and a d'israeli, let but the real state of the case be once made public, and we have no fear but that the interests of english historical literature will be cared for and maintained. * * * * * { } notes. "j. r. of cork." my gifted and lamented countryman "the roscoe of cork"[ ] deserves more notice in these pages, which he has enriched by his contributions, than the handsome obituary of our editor (vol. vii., p. .); so a few words is with reference to him may be acceptable. mr. james roche was born in limerick some eighty-three years ago, of an ancient and wealthy family. at an early period of his life he was sent to france, and educated in the catholic college of saintes. after completing his studies, and paying a short visit to ireland, he settled in bordeaux, where he became acquainted with the most distinguished leaders of the girondists. mr. roche was in paris during the horrors of the first revolution, and in was arrested there as a british subject, but was released on the death of robespierre. for some years after his liberation, he passed his time between paris and bordeaux. at the close of the last century, he returned to ireland; and commenced business in cork as a banker, in partnership with his brother. he resided in a handsome country seat near the river lee, and there amassed a splendid library. about the year , a relative of mine, a wealthy banker in the same city, got into difficulties, and met with the kindest assistance from mr. roche. in his own troubles came on, and a monetary crisis ruined him as well as many others. all his property was sold, and his books were brought to the hammer, excepting a few with which his creditors presented him. i have often tried, but without success, to get a copy of the auction catalogue, which contained many curious lots,--amongst others, i am informed, swift's own annotated copy of _gulliver's travels_, which mr. roche purchased in cork for a few pence, but which produced pounds at the sale. mr. roche, after this, resided for some time in london as parliamentary agent. he also spent several years in paris, and witnessed the revolution of . eventually he returned to cork, where he performed the duties of a magistrate and director of the national bank, until his death in the early part of . mr. roche was intimately acquainted with many of the great men and events of his time, especially with everything concerning modern french history and literature. mr. roche was remarkable for accurate scholarship and extensive learning: the affability of his manners, and the earnestly-religious tone of his mind, enhanced his varied accomplishments. for a number of years he contributed largely to various periodicals, such as the _gentleman's magazine_, the _dublin review_, and the _literary gazette_; and the signature of "j. r. of cork" was welcome to all, while it puzzled many. in he printed _for private circulation_, _essays critical and miscellaneous_, by an octogenarian, vols.; printed by g. nash, cork. some of these essays are reprints, others are printed for the first time. the work was reviewed in the _dublin review_ for october, . a "sketch of j. r. of cork" was published in july, , in duffy's _irish catholic magazine_, which i have made use of in this note. my object in the present note is to suggest that mr. roche's reminiscences and essays should be given to the public, from whom i am well assured they would receive a hearty welcome. eirionnach. [footnote : mr. roche is thus happily designated by the rev. francis mahony in _the prout papers_.] * * * * * marmortinto, or sand-painting. there appeared in a late number of _the family friend_, an article on the above process. the writer attributes its invention to benjamin zobel of bavaria; and states, that although some few persons have attempted its revival, in no instance has success attended such efforts. this is not correct. there was a german confectioner to king george iii. whom i knew well. his name was haas; and those acquainted with bristol will recollect his well-frequented shop, nearly opposite the drawbridge on the way to college green, where he resided forty years ago, after retiring from his employment at court. there he was often engaged in decorating ceilings, lying on his back for weeks together on a scaffold for the purpose. he also ornamented the plateaus for the royal table; and he understood the art of sand-painting, and practised it in the highest perfection. whether he preceded zobel, or came after him, at windsor castle, i cannot tell; but i can testify that he was perfect master of the art in question. i have seen him at work upon his sand-pictures. he had the marble dust of every gradation of colour in a large box, divided into small compartments; and he applied it to the picture by dropping it from small cones of paper. the article in _the family friend_ describes the process of zobel to have consisted of a previous coating of the panel for the picture with a glutinous solution, over which the marble dust was strewed from a piece of cord. haas used small cones of paper; and my impression from seeing him at work was, that he sprinkled the sand on the dry panel, and fixed the whole finally at once by some process which he kept a secret. for i remember how careful he was to prevent the window or door from being opened, so as to cause a draught, before he had fixed his picture; and i { } have heard him lament the misfortune of having had one or two pictures blown away in this manner. the effect of his sand-pictures was extraordinary. they stood out in bold relief, and with a brilliancy far surpassing any oil painting. as may be supposed, this style of painting was particularly adapted for landscapes and rocky scenery; and it enabled the artist to finish foliage with a richness which nothing could surpass. mr. haas' collection of his sand-paintings was a rich treat to inspect. after his death, they were sold and dispersed; but many must be found in the collections of gentlemen in bristol and its neighbourhood. f. c. h. * * * * * the soldier's discipline, from a broadside of the year . "_the grounds of military discipline: or, certain brief rules for the exercising of a company or squadron._ _observed by all._ in march, in motion, troop or stand, observe both leader and right hand; with silence note in what degree you in the body placed be: that so you may, without more trouble, know where to stand, and when to double. _distances._ true distance keep in files, in ranks open close to the front, reare, flanks, backward, forward, to the right, left, or either, backward and forward both together. to the right, left, outward or in, according to directions given. to order, close, open, double, distance, distance, double, double: for this alone prevents distraction, and giveth lustre to the action. _facings._ face to the right, or to the left, both wayes to the reare, inward, outward, and as you were: to the front, reare, flanks, and peradventure to every angle, and to the centre. _doublings._ to bring more hands in the front to fight, double ranks unto the right, or left, or both, if need require, direct divisionall or intire: by doubling files accordingly, your flanks will strengthened be thereby. halfe files and bringers-up likewise to the front may double, none denies; nor would it very strange appear for th' front half files or double the reare: the one half ranks to double the other, thereby to strengthen one the other. _countermarches._ but lest i should seen troublesome, to countermarches next i come. which, though they many seem to be, are all included in these three: maintaining, gaining, losing ground, and severall wayes to each is found: by which their proper motion's guided, in files, in ranks, in both divided. _wheeling._ wheel your batten ere you fight, for better advantage to the right, or left, or round about to either angle, or where you doubt your enemie will first oppose you; and therefore unto their foot close you. divisionall wheeling i have seen in sundrie places practis'd been, to alter either form or figure, by wheeling severall wayes together. and, had i time to stand upon 't, i'de wheele my wings into the front. by wheeling flanks into the reare, they'll soon reduce them as they were. besides, it seems a pretty thing to wheel, front, and reare to either wing: wheele both wings to the reare and front; face to the reare, and having done 't, close your divisions; even your ranks, wheel front and reare into both flanks: and thus much know, cause, note i'll smother, to one wheeling doth reduce the other. _conversion and inversion._ one thing more and i have done; let files rank by conversion: to th' right, or th' left, to both, and then ranks by conversion fill again: troop for the colours, march, prepare for fight, behave yourselves like men, and so good night. the summe of all that hath been spoken may be comprised thus: open, close, face, double, countermarch, wheel, charge, retire; invert, convert, reduce, trope, march, make readie, fire." anon. * * * * * leading articles of foreign newspapers. the foreign correspondence of the english press is an invaluable feature of that mighty engine of civilisation and progress, for which the world cannot be too thankful; but as the agents in it at paris, berlin, vienna, &c., are more or less imbued with the insular views and prejudices which they carry with them from england, scotland, or ireland, it were well if the daily journals devoted more attention than they do to the _leading articles_ of the continental press, which is frequently distinguished by great ability and interest, and would { } enable englishmen, not versed in foreign languages, to judge, from another point of view, of continental affairs--now becoming of surpassing interest and importance. translations or abstracts of the leading articles of _the times_, _morning chronicle_, _morning post_, &c., are constantly to be met with in the best foreign papers. why should not our great london papers more frequently gratify their readers with articles from the pens of their continental brotherhood? this would afford an opportunity also of correcting the false statements, or replying to the erroneous judgments put forth and circulated abroad by writers whose distinguished position enables them, unintentionally no doubt, to do the more mischief. a surprising change for the better, however, as respects great britain, is manifest in the tone and information of the foreign press of late years. let us cherish this good feeling by a corresponding demeanour on our part. alpha. * * * * * minor notes. _materials for a history of druidism.--_ "it would be a commendable, useful, and easy task to collect what the ancients have left us on the subject of druidism. such a collection would form a very small but interesting volume. it would supersede, in every library, the idle and tedious dreams and conjectures of the stukeleys, the borlases, the rowlands, the vallanceys, the davies's, the jones's, and the whitakers. toland's work on the druids, though far from unexceptionable, has more solid intelligence than any other modern composition of its kind. it is a pity that he or some other person has not given as faithful translations of the irish christian mss. which he mentions, as these have, no doubt, preserved much respecting druidical manners and superstitions, of which many vestiges are still existing, though not of the kind usually referred to." "the roman history of britain can only be collected from the roman writers; and what they have left is very short indeed. it might be disposed of in the way recommended for the history of the druids."--douce's notes on whitaker's _history of manchester_, vol. i. p. . of corrections in book i., ibid. p. . anon. _domestic chapels._--there is an interesting example of a domestic chapel, with an upper chamber over it for the chaplain's residence, and a ground floor underneath it for some undiscoverable purpose, to be seen contiguous to an ancient farm-house at ilsam, in the parish of st. mary church, in the county of devon. the structure is quite ecclesiastical in its character, and appears to have been originally, as now, detached from the family house, or only connected with it by a short passage leading to the floor on which the chapel itself stood. john james. _ordinary._--the following is a new meaning for the word _ordinary_:--"do ye come in and see my poor man, for he is _piteous ordinary_ to-day." this speech was addressed to me by a poor woman who wished me to go and see her husband. he was ordinary enough, although she had adorned his head with a _red_ night-cap; but her meaning was evidently that he was far from well; and johnson's _dictionary_ does not give this signification to the word. a cottage child once told me that the dog opened his mouth "a power wide." [old english w. n.] _thom's irish almanac and official directory for ._--in the advertisement prefixed to this valuable compilation, which, according to the _quarterly review_, "contains more information about ireland than has been collected in one volume in any country," we may find the following words: "all parliamentary and official documents procurable, have been collected; and their contents, so far as they bore on the state of the country, carefully abstracted; and where any deficiencies have been observable, the want has been supplied by applications to private sources, which, in every instance, have been most satisfactorily answered. he [mr. thom] is also indebted to similar applications to the ruling authorities of the several religious persuasions _for the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department of the almanac_." i wish to call attention to the latter words; and in so doing, i assure you, i feel only a most anxious desire to see some farther improvements effected by mr. thom. i cannot allow "the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department," inasmuch as i have detected, even on a cursory examination, very many inaccuracies which a little care would certainly have prevented. for example, in p. . (_ecclesiastical directory_, established church and diocese of dublin), there are at least five grave mistakes, and four in the following page. these pages i have taken at random. i could easily point out other pages equally inaccurate; but i have done enough i think to prove, that while i willingly accord to the enterprising publisher the full meed of praise he so well deserves, a little more attention should be paid in future to the preparation of the ecclesiastical department. abhba. _antiquity of the word "snub."_-- "beware we then euer of discontente, and _snubbe_ it betimes, least it overthrowe us as it hath done manie." "such _snubs_ as these be little cloudes."--_comfortable notes on genesis_, by gervase babington, bishop of exeter, . j. r. p. _charles i. at little woolford._--there is an ancient house at little woolford (in the { } southeast corner of warwickshire) connected with which is a tradition that charles i., after the battle of edge hill, which is not far distant, secreted himself in an oven there. this oven is preserved for the inspection of the curious. b. h. c. _coincidences between sir thomas browne and bishop ken._--sir thomas browne wrote his _religio medici_ in - ; and in it suggested some familiar verses of the "evening hymn" of his brother wykehamist bishop ken. the lines are as follows: _sir thomas browne._ "guard me 'gainst those watchful foes, whose eyes are open, while mine close; let no dreams my head infest, but such as jacob's temples blest: sleep is a death: oh, make me try, by sleeping, what it is to die! and as gently lay my head on my grave, as now my bed. howe'er i rest, great god, let me awake again at last with thee." _bishop ken._ "let no ill dreams disturb my rest; no powers of darkness me molest. teach me to live, that i may dread the grave as little as my bed: teach me to die, that so i may rise glorious at the awful day. oh, may my soul on thee repose, and with sweet sleep mine eyelids close; sleep that may me more vigorous make, to serve my god when i awake." i have never seen this curious coincidence noticed by any of the good bishop's biographers, hawkins, bowles, or mr. anderdon. mackenzie walcott, m.a. _the english school of painting._--in a note to a volume of poems by victor hugo, published in , occur these remarks: "m. louis boulanger, à qui ces deux ballades sont dédiées, s'est placé bien jeune au premier rang de cette nouvelle génération de peintres, qui promet d'élever notre école au niveau des magnifiques écoles d'italie, d'espagne, de flandre, et d'angleterre." does this praise of the english school of painting show a correct appreciation of its claims to distinction? or am i in error in supposing, as i have done, that our school of painting is not entitled to the pompous epithet of "magnifique," nor to be named in the same category with the italian, spanish, and flemish schools? i am aware of the hackneyed and somewhat hyperbolical employment, by french writers and speakers, of such terms as _magnifique_, _superbe_, _grandiose_; and that they do not convey to a french ear the same idea of superiority, as they do to our more sober english judgment; but making every allowance on this score, i confess i was not a little startled to find such a term as _magnifique_, even in its most moderate acceptation, applied to our efforts in that branch of art. _magnifique_, in truth, must be our school, when the french can condescend to speak of it in such language! henry h. breen. st. lucia. "_a feather in your cap._"--my good friend dr. wolff mentioned in conversation a circumstance (also stated, i fancy, in his _journey to bokhara_) which seemed to afford a solution of the common expression, "that's a feather in your cap." i begged he would give it me in writing, and he has done so. "the kaffr seeyah poosh (meaning the infidels in black clothing) living around cabul upon the height of the mountains of the himalaya, who worship a god called dagon and imra, are great enemies of the muhamedans; and for each muhamedan they kill, they wear a feather in their heads. the same is done among the abyssinians and turcomans." has the feather head-dress of the american indian, and the eagle's feather in the bonnet of the highlander, any connexion with keeping a score of the deaths of the enemies or game they have killed? alfred gatty. * * * * * queries. domestic architecture: licences to crenellate. previous to the publication of the second volume of the _domestic architecture of the middle ages_, you were kind enough to insert some queries for me respecting existing remains of houses of the fourteenth century, which elicited some useful notes, partly through your columns and partly from private friends who were thus reminded of my wants. i am now preparing for the press the third and concluding volume of that work, comprising the period from the reign of richard ii. to that of henry viii. inclusive. i shall be glad of information of any houses of that period remaining in a tolerably perfect state, in addition to those mentioned in the _glossary of architecture_. i have reason to believe that there are many; and one class, the halls of the different guilds, seem to have been generally overlooked. with the kind assistance of mr. duffus hardy, i have obtained a complete list of the licences to crenellate contained in the patent rolls, and some other records preserved in the tower. most of these have the name of the county annexed; but there are a few, of which i add a list, in which no county is mentioned, and local information is necessary in order to identify them. perhaps some { } of your numerous readers will be able to assist me. _licences to crenellate._ +------------------------+----------------------+-----------------------+ |when granted. | name of place. | to whom granted. | +------------------------+----------------------+-----------------------+ | edward i. | melton. | john de cokefeld. | | edward ii. | molun. | raymond de grismak. | | edward iii. | newton in makerfeld. | robert de langeton. | | edward iii. | esselyngton. | robert de esselyngton.| | edward iii. | cublesdon. | john trussell. | | ditto. | la beche. | nicholas de la beche. | | ditto. | beaumes. | ditto. | | edward iii. | pringham. | reginald de cobham. | | ditto. | orkesdene. | ditto. | | ditto. | stanstede. | robert burghchier. | | edward iii. | credonio. | bernard de dalham. | | ditto. | heyheved. | william lengleys. | | edward iii. | chevelyngham. | thomas de aeton. | +------------------------+----------------------+-----------------------+ j. h. parker. * * * * * dixon of beeston. will the editor be kind enough to insert the accompanying letter, for _if true_ it is worthy of a place in the heraldic portion of "n. & q.," and _if not true_, its imposture should stand recorded? on receiving it i sent a copy to my brother, mr. j. h. dixon, an able antiquary, and late of the council of the percy society, who, somewhat too hastily i think, and without sufficient proof, rejected the information offered. that the family which my brother represents is a "good old" one, is sufficiently attested by the pedigree furnished by thoresby in the _ducatus leodiensis_, and thence copied by mr. burke in his _landed gentry_; but of its earlier history there is no reliable account, unless that by mr. spence can be considered such. i shall feel very much obliged if any of your correspondents learned in the genealogies of yorkshire and cheshire could either corroborate the genuineness of the information tendered by mr. spence, or prove the reverse; and it is only fair to that gentleman to add that he is entitled to credibility on the written testimony of the rev. mr. knox, incumbent of birkenhead. r. w. dixon, j.p. seaton carew, co. durham. sir, having been engaged by miss cotgreave, of notherlegh house, near chester, to inspect and arrange the title-deeds and other documents which belonged to her father, the late sir john cotgreave, i find a very ancient pedigree of the cotgreaves de hargrave in that county; which family became extinct in the direct male line in the year , but which was represented through females by the above sir j. c. it is the work of the great camden, anno , from documents in the possession of the cotgreave family, and contains the descents of five generations of the dixons of beeston, in the county of york, and congleton, cheshire, together with their marriages and armorial bearings, commencing with "ralph dixon, esq., de beeston and congleton, living temp. hen. vi., who was slain whilst fighting on the part of the yorkists, at the battle of wakefield, a.d. ." presuming that you are descended from this ancient family, i will (if you think proper) transmit to you extracts from the aforesaid pedigree, as far as relates to your distinguished progenitors, conditionally that you remunerate me for the information and definition of the armorial bearings, there being five shields, containing twelve quarterings connected with the family of dixon. miss cotgreave will allow me to make the extracts, and has kindly consented to attest the same. the arms of dixon, as depicted in the cotgreave pedigree, are "sable, a fleur-de-lis or, a chief ermine," quartering the ensigns of the noble houses of "robert fitz-hugh, baron of malpas in the county of chester, temp. william the conqueror; eustace crewe de montalt, lord of hawarden, flintshire, during the said reign; robert de umfreville, lord of tours, and vian, and reddesdale, in northumberland, who flourished in the same reign also; pole, talboys, welles, latimer," and others. in the pedigree, camden states that the aforesaid "ralph dixon quartered the ensigns of the above noble families in right of his mother maude, daughter and co-heiress of sir ralph fitz-hugh de congleton and elton in the county palatine of chester." i have the honour to be, sir, your very obedient humble servant, william sidney spence. priory place, birkenhead, chester. dec. . . * * * * * minor queries. _atherstone family._--can any of your readers oblige me with information concerning the atherstone family? is it an old name, or was it first given some three or four generations back to a foundling, picked up near the town of atherston? m. a. b. _classic authors and the jews._--where can i find a complete or full account of passages in greek and latin authors, which refer to judea and the jews? it has been said that these references are very few, and that in cicero, for instance, there is not one. this last is wrong, i know. (see _e.g._ cic. _pro l. flacco_, ., and _de prov. consul. ._) b. h. c. _bishop hooper's argument on the vestment controversy._--glocester ridley, in his _life of bishop ridley_, p. ., london, , states, in reference to bishop hooper's _book to the council against the use of those habits which were then used by the church of england in her sacred ministries_, written october, , "part of hooper's book i have by me in ms." could any one state whether that ms. is now in existence, or where it is to be found? it is of much importance to obtain { } an answer to this inquiry, as bishop ridley's ms. reply to bishop hooper is, for the first time, about to be printed by the parker society, through the kind permission of its possessor, sir thomas phillipps, bart., in the second volume of the writings of bradford which i am editing; and, to make ridley's reply fully intelligible, access is needed to bishop hooper's _book to the council_. a. townsend. weston lane, bath, february . _the title of "dominus."_--how is it that at cambridge the title of _dominus_ is applied to b.a.'s, while at oxford it is confined to the doctorate? w. fraser. tor-mohun. _the de rous family._--hugh rufus, or de rous, was bishop of ossory, a.d. . he had been previously an augustinian canon of bodmin, in cornwall. query, was he a cadet of the ancient family of de rous; and if so, what was his descent? james graves. _where was the fee of s. sanxon?_--at the end of "ordericus vitalis," in the _gesta normannorum_, is a list called the "feoda normanniæ," wherein, under the title "feoda ebroic.," occurs the entry: "s. sanxon dim. f. in friche." francis drake, in his _antiquities of york_, london, , p. ., speaks of "sampson, or _sanxo_," the archbishop of that see; and elsewhere mentions the parish church of s. sampson, "called by some sanxo." what i wish to ask is, where was this half fee of s. sanxon? whether it had any connexion with sanson sur rille? and whether it was the place from which "ralph de s. sanson" or "sanson clericus" of the _domesday book_, who was afterwards bishop of worcester, derived his name? * * _russian emperors._--is there any truth in a rumour that was current two or three years since respecting the limited period that was placed upon the reign of any russian monarch? twenty-five years was the time stated, at the termination of which the emperor had to abdicate. as this period has elapsed, and no abdication has taken place by the present autocrat, some one may perhaps be able to state how such a statement originated, and upon what grounds? thos. crosfield. _episcopal insignia of the eastern church._--having seen in a late number of the _illustrated london news_ (feb. , ) a peculiarly shaped episcopal staff, with a cross rising from between two in-curved dragons' heads, which is represented in the hand of the metropolitan of wallachia, i would be glad to know whether this form is peculiar to any branch of the eastern church. a reference to a work of authority on the subject will oblige a provincialist. james graves. _amontillado sherry._--what is the real meaning of this epithet? a friend, who had travelled in spain, and visited some famous cellars at xeres, told me that the peculiar flavour of the amontillado sherry was always an accidental result of mixing butts of wine brought to the merchant by a variety of growers. i mentioned this to another friend who had the wine on his table; and he ridiculed the account, saying that the amontillado sherry was from a grape peculiar to the district. what district, i could not ascertain. alfred gatty. _col. michael smith's family._--perhaps some of your readers may be enabled to give me some information of the family of smith, to which col. michael smith, lieut.-governor of nevis about , belongs. a west indian. _pronunciation of foreign names._--how shall we pronounce sinope, citate, and many other words which are now becoming familiar to our eyes? i think the bookseller who should give us a vocabulary of proper names of foreign persons and places, with the correct pronunciation attached, would be encouraged by an extensive sale. so far as my knowledge extends, such a work is a desideratum. thinks i to myself. _artesian wells._--one who is about to dig a well on his land would be glad to know:-- . whether, in all cases, artesian wells are preferable? . if yes, why they are not universally adopted, and whether they are more expensive then the common sort? . if not preferable in all cases, in what cases they are preferable? stylites. _norman towers in london._--can you inform me it there is any other church in the city of london with a norman tower, besides allhallows, mark lane? which, by the bye, has been colour-washed: i suppose, to preserve it! j. w. brown. _papyrus._--where, or of whom, can a specimen of papyrus be obtained? r. h. islington. _mathew, a cornish family._--i am anxious to know the connexion of a family of mathew, late of tresungar, co. cornwall, with any stock in wales; and i will gladly defray any necessary expense of search, if can attain this object. the descent of a family of the name, apparently the same from the arms, in an old recueil of devonshire families, is headed "nuper de walliâ;" and a visitation of that county ascribes their bearing { } (a stork) to a marriage with an heir of starkey, which i have been unable to verify. a visitation of cornwall, to which i have had access, gives a grant, or probably a confirmation of the arms by cooke. if this celebrated herald's grants are on record, some clew would probably be found; but i doubt not that many of your readers well versed in genealogical research can readily answer my query, and i trust to their kindness to do so. b. birkenhead. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _bunyan's descendants._--as a recent query respecting john bunyan may lead to some notices of his descendants, perhaps i may be informed in what edition of his works it is stated that a branch of his family settled in nottingham? for i find in the burgess-roll of that borough that george bunyan was entered freeman in . william bunyan, lieutenant in the navy, ; thomas bunyan, hosier, . in event of the above story being verified, a pedigree may possibly be extracted hereafter from the parish registers of the town. as far as my own examination goes, the editions in the british museum afford no corroboration to what i have heard. furvus. plumstead common. [we have been favoured with the following article on this subject from george offor, esq., of hackney: "_where are john bunyan's descendants?_--it is natural to inquire after the ancestors and descendants of great men, although experience proves that intellectual greatness runs not in blood, for earth's _great_ and most illustrious sons descended from and left descendants who merged among the masses of her _little_ ones. of his ancestors bunyan boasted not, but pleaded with the readers of the first edition of his _sighs from hell_, 'be not ashamed to own me because of my low and contemptible descent in the world.' from the life of the great dreamer, appended to my second edition of bunyan's works (blackie, glasgow), it appears that he left three children: thomas, a valuable member of his church; joseph, who settled in nottingham; and sarah. joseph is named by one of bunyan's earliest biographers, who told his father that 'a worthy citizen of london would take him apprentice without money, which might be a great means to advance him; but he replied to me, _god did not send him to advance his family, but to preach the gospel_.' "the rev. j. h. a. rudd of bedford and elstow has most kindly searched the registers of elstow and goldington, and has discovered some interesting entries; and, as his numerous engagements will permit, he will search the registry of the parish churches in bedford and its vicinity. information would be most acceptable relative to bunyan's father and mother, his two wives, and his children, john, elizabeth, and mary, who died in his life-time; and also as to joseph. if your correspondent furvus would search the registers at nottingham, he might discover some valuable records of that branch of the family. bunyan is said to have been baptized about ; and in the elstow register it appears that his daughter mary was registered as _baptized_ july , , while his next daughter, elizabeth, is on the register as _born_ april , , showing the change in his principles, as to infant baptism, to have taken place between those periods. the family bible given by john bunyan to his son joseph, now in my possession, confirms the statement verbally communicated to me by his descendant mrs. senegar, that her great-grandfather joseph, having conformed to please his rich wife, was anxious to conceal his affinity to the illustrious tinker. the registers contained in it begin with joseph's son thomas and susannah his wife, and it is continued to robert bunyan, born , and who was lately living at lincoln. i should be most happy to show the bible and copies of registers in my possession to any one who will undertake to form a genealogy." george offor.] _epigram on dennis._-- "should dennis publish you had stabb'd your brother, lampoon'd your monarch, or debauch'd your mother," &c. is printed as by savage in johnson's _life of savage_. in the notes to _the dunciad_, i. ., it is said to be by pope. _utri credemus?_ s. z. z. s. [from the fact, that this epigram was not only attributed to pope, in the notes to the second edition of _the dunciad_, published in , but also in those of , the joint edition of pope and warburton, and both published before the death of pope, it seems extremely probable that he was the author of it; more especially as he had been exasperated by a twopenny tract, of which dennis was suspected to be the writer, called _a true character of mr. pope and his writings_; printed for s. popping, . d'israeli however, in his _calamities of authors_, art. "the influence of a bad temper in criticism," quoting it from dr. johnson, conjectures it was written on the following occasion: "thomson and pope charitably supported the veteran zoilus at a benefit play, and savage, who had nothing but a verse to give, returned them very poetical thanks in the name of dennis. he was then blind and old, but his critical ferocity had no old age; his surliness overcame every grateful sense, and he swore as usual, 'they could be no one's but that _fool_ savage's,' an evidence of his sagacity and brutality. this perhaps prompted 'the fool' to take this fair revenge and just chastisement." after all, dr. johnson, who was at that time narrating savage's intimate acquaintance with pope, may have attributed to the former what seems to have been the production of the latter.] _football played on shrove tuesday._--the people of this and the neighbouring towns invariably play at football on shrove tuesday. what is the origin of the custom? and does it extend to other counties? j. p. s. dorking. ["shrove-tide," says warton, "was formerly a season of extraordinary sport and feasting. there was { } anciently a feast immediately preceding lent, which lasted many days, called _carniscapium_. in some cities of france an officer was annually chosen, called le prince d'amoreux, who presided over the sports of the youth for six days before ash wednesday. some traces of these festivities still remain in our universities." in these degenerate days more is known, we suspect, of pancakes and fritters, than of a football match and a cock-fight:--the latter, we are happy to say, is now almost forgotten among us. as to the pancake custom, no doubt that is most religiously observed by the readers of "n. & q.," in obedience to the rubric of the _oxford sausage_: "let glad shrove tuesday bring the pancake thin, or fritter rich, with apples stored within." according to fitz-stephen, "after dinner, all the youths go into the fields to play at the ball. the scholars of every school have their ball and bastion in their hands. the ancient and wealthy men of the city come forth on horseback to see the sport of the young men, and to take part of the pleasure, in beholding their agility." and till within the last few years: "... the humble play of trap or football on a holiday, in finsbury fields,"-- was sufficiently common in the neighbourhood of london and other places. see brande's _popular antiquities_, vol. i. pp. - . (bohn's edition), and hone's _every-day book_, vol. i. pp. . - .] _vossioner; its meaning._--in looking over a parcel of brass rubbings made some years since, i find the word _vossioner_ used, and not knowing its signification, i should be glad to be enlightened on the subject; but, in order to enable your readers to judge more correctly, i think it better to copy the whole of the epitaph in which the word occurs. the plate is in ufton church, near southam, county warwick; it measures eighteen inches in width by sixteen deep. "here lyeth the boddyes of richard hoddomes, parsson and pattron and _vossioner_ of the churche and parishe of oufton, in the countie of warrike, who died one mydsomer daye, . and margerye his wiffe w^{th} _her_ seven childryn, as namelye, richard, _john_, and _john_, anne, jane, elizabeth, ayles, _his_ iiii daughters, _whose soule_ restethe with god." i give the epitaph _verbatim_, with its true orthography. there are some curious points in this epitaph. first, the date of the death of the clergyman only is given; second, the children are called _hers_, while the four daughters are _his_; and two of the sons bear the same christian name, whilst only one _soul_ is said to rest with god. the family is represented kneeling. above the inscription, and between the clergyman and his lady, is a desk, on which is represented two books lying open before them. j. b. whitborne. [vossioner seems to be corruption of the italian _vossignor_, your lord, or the lord, _i.e._ owner or proprietor. many similar words were introduced by the italian ecclesiastics inducted into church livings during the sixteenth century. the inscription is given in dugdale's _warwickshire_, vol. i. p. .] _the game of chess._--at what period was the noble game of chess introduced into the british isles; and to whom are we indebted for its introduction among us? b. ashton. [the precise date of the introduction of this game into britain is uncertain. what has been collected respecting it will be found in the hon. daines barrington's paper in _archæologia_, vol. ix. p. .; and in hyde's treatise, _mandragorias, seu historia shahiludii_. oxoniæ, .] _a juniper letter._--fuller, in describing a letter written by bishop grosthead to pope innocent iv., makes use of a curious epithet, of which i should be glad to meet with another instance, if it be not simply a "fullerism": "bishop grouthead offended thereat, wrote pope innocent iv. such a _juniper letter_, taxing him with extortion and other vicious practices."--_church history_, book iii., a.d. . j. m. b. ["a juniper lecture," meaning a round scolding bout, is still in use among the canting gentry.] * * * * * replies. clarence. (vol. ix., p. .) clarence is beyond all doubt the district comprehending and lying around the town and castle of clare in suffolk, and not, as some have fancifully supposed, the town of chiarenza in the morea. some of the crusaders did, indeed, acquire titles of honour derived from places in eastern lands, but certainly no such place ever gave its name to an honorary feud held of the crown of england, nor, indeed, has _ever_ any english sovereign to this day bestowed a territorial title derived from a place beyond the limits of his own nominal dominions; the latest creations of the kind being the earldoms of albemarle and tankerville, respectively bestowed by william iii. and george i., who were both nominally kings of great britain, _france_, and ireland. in ancient times every english title (with the exception of aumerle or albemarle, which exception is only an apparent one) was either personal, or derived from some place in england. the ancient earls of albemarle were not english peers by virtue of that earldom, but by virtue of the tenure of lands in england, though, being the holders of a norman earldom, they were known in england by their higher designation, just as some of the { } barons de umfravill were styled, even in writs of summons, by their superior scottish title of earl of angos. if these earls had not held english fees, they would not have been peers of england any more than were the ancient earls of tankerville and eu. in later times the strictness of the feudal law was so far relaxed, that in two or three instances english peers were created with territorial titles derived from places in the duchy of normandy. as to the locality of clarence, see sandford's _genealogical history_, , p. . there is a paper on the subject in the _gentleman's magazine_ for november, . the king of arms called clarenceux, or in latin _clarentius_, was, as it has been very reasonably conjectured, originally a herald retained by a duke of clarence. (noble's _history of the college of arms_, p. .) hoping ere long to send you some notes respecting certain real or seeming anomalies amongst our english dignities, i reserve some particulars which may, perhaps, farther elucidate the present question. goldencross. your correspondent honorÉ de mareville has wandered too far in going to the morea to search for this title. clare in suffolk was one of the ninety-five manors in that county bestowed by the conqueror upon richard fitzgilbert, who (as well as his successor gilbert) resided at tunbridge, and bore the surname of de tonebruge. his grandson richard, the first earl of hertford, fixed his principal seat at clare, and thenceforth the family took the surname of de clare; and in the latin documents of the time the several members of it were styled _ricardus_ (or _gilbertus_), _dominus clarensis_, _comes hertfordiensis_. the name of the lordship thus becoming the family surname, it is easy to see how in common usage the formal epithet _clarensis_ soon became clarence, and why lionel, the son of edward iii., upon his marriage with elizabeth de burgh, the grand-niece and heiress of the last gilbertus clarensis, should choose as the title for his dukedom the surname of the great family of which he had now become the representative. vokaros. * * * * * milton's widow. (vol. viii., pp. . . . . . . . .) garlichithe is again on the wrong scent. in his first communication on this subject, he allowed himself to go astray by mistaking randle minshull the _grandfather_ for randle minshull the _son_; and now, with the like fatality, he fails to discriminate between richard minshull the _uncle_, and richard minshull the _brother_, of elizabeth milton. a second examination of my reply in vol. viii., p. ., will suffice to show him that richard minshull, the party to the deed there quoted, was named by me as the _brother_, and not the _uncle_, of milton's widow, and that therefore his argument, based on disparity of age, &c., falls to the ground. on the other hand, richard minshull of chester, to whom the letter alluded to was addressed, was the brother of randle minshull of wistaston, and by the same token, uncle of elizabeth milton, and of richard minshull, her brother and co-partner in the deed already referred to. garlichithe, and all others who have taken an interest in this discussion, will now, i trust, see clearly that there has been nothing adduced by either mr. marsh or myself inconsistent with ages or dates; but that, on the contrary, all our premises and conclusions are borne out by evidence clear, irreproachable, and incontestable. all objections being now, as i conceive, fully combated and disposed of, the substance of our investigations may be summed up in a very few words. the statement of pennant, adopted by all succeeding writers, to the effect that elizabeth, the widow of john milton, was a daughter of sir edward minshull of stoke, is clearly proved to be a fiction. it has been farther proved, from the parish registers, as well as from bonds and other documentary evidence, that she was, without doubt, the daughter of randle minshull of wistaston, a village about three miles from nantwich; that she was the cousin of milton's familiar friend, dr. paget, and as such became entitled to a legacy under the learned doctor's will, and that she is expressly named by richard minshull as his sister in the deed before quoted. t. hughes. chester. * * * * * three fleurs-de-lys. (vol. ix., pp. . .) devoniensis is informed that an example of this occurs in the arms of king james's school, almondbury, yorkshire. the impression, as taken from the great seal of the school, in which however the colours are not distinguished, may be imperfectly described as follows: three lions (two over one) passant gardant ----, on a chief ----, three fleurs-de-lys ----. as it is not unlikely that some other of king james's foundations may have the same arms, it would be considered a favour if any reader of "n. & q." possessing the information would communicate the proper colours in this case, or even the probable ones. camelodunensis. devoniensis is quite right in supposing that the bearing of three fleurs-de-lys alone, horizontal, in the upper part of the shield,--in other words, { } in chief, fess-ways,--is a very rare occurrence. i know of no instance of it in english blazon. coupled with another and principal charge, as a fess, a chevron, a lion, &c.; or in a chief, it is common enough. nor have i ever met with an example of it in french coat-armour. an english family, named rothfeld, but apparently of german extraction, gives: gules, two fleurs-de-lys, in chief, ermine. du guesclin bore nothing like a fleur-de-lys in any way. the armorial bearings of the famous constable were: argent, a double-headed eagle, displayed, sable, crowned, or, debruised of a bend, gules. john o' the ford. malta. p.s.--since writing the above, i have read three replies (vol. ix., p. .), which do not appear to me to exactly meet the query of devoniensis. i understand the question to be, does any english family bear simply three fleurs-de-lys, in chief, fess-ways--without any additional charge? and in that sense my reply above is framed. the first example given by mr. mackenzie walcott would be most satisfactory and conclusive of the existence of such a bearing, could it be verified; but, unfortunately, in the _heraldic dictionaries_ of berry and burke, the name even of trilleck or trelleck does not occur. and in malta, i have no opportunity of consulting edmondson or robson. your correspondent a. b. (p. .) has mistaken the three white lilies for fleurs-de-lys in the arms of magdalen college, oxford. waynflete, the founder, was also provost of eton, and adopted the device from the bearings of that illustrious school; by which they were borne in allusion to st. mary, to whom that college is dedicated. mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * books burned by the common hangman. (vol. viii., pp. . . .; vol. ix., p. .) the well-known law dictionary, entitled _the interpreter_, by john cowel, ll.d., was burned ( ) under a proclamation of james i. (d'israeli's _calamities of authors_, ed. , p. .) in june, , the commentary of david pare, or paræus _on the epistle to the romans_, was burned at london, oxford, and cambridge, by order of the privy council. (wood's _hist. and antiq. of univ. of oxford_, ed. gutch, vol. ii. pp. - .; cooper's _annals of cambridge_, vol. iii. pp. , .) on the th of february, , _elenchus religionis papisticæ_, by john bastwicke, m.d., was ordered to be burned by the high commission court. (prynne's _new discovery of the prelates' tyranny_, p. .) on the th of february, - the house of lords ordered that two books published by john pocklington, d.d., entitled _altare christianum_, and _sunday no sabbath_, should be publicly burned in the city of london and the two universities, by the hands of the common executioner; and on the th of march the house ordered the sheriffs of london and the vice-chancellors of both the universities, forthwith to take care and see the order of the house carried into execution. (_lords' journals_, vol. iv. pp. . .) on the th of august, , charles ii. issued a proclamation against milton's _defensio pro populo anglicano_, his _answer to the portraiture of his sacred majesty in his solitude and sufferings_, and a book by john goodwin, late of coleman street, london, clerk, entitled _the obstructors of justice_. all copies of these books were to be brought to the sheriffs of counties, who were to cause the same to be publicly burned by the hands of the common hangman at the next assizes. (kennett's _register and chronicle_, p. .) this proclamation is also printed in collet's _relics of literature_, with the inaccurate date , and the absurd statement that no copy of the proclamation was discovered till . in january, - , a pamphlet by charles blount, esq., entitled _king william and queen mary, conquerors, &c._, was burned by the common hangman in palace yard, westminster. (bohun's _autobiography_, ed. s. w. rix, vol. xxiv. pp. , . .; wilson's _life of de foe_, vol. i. p. _n_.) the same parliament consigned to the flames bishop burnet's _pastoral letter_, which had been published . (wilson's _life of de foe_, vol. i. p. .) on the st of july, , the second volume of anthony à wood's _athenæ oxonienses_ was burned in the theatre yard at oxford by the apparitor of the university, in pursuance of the sentence of the university court in a prosecution for a libel on the memory of edward hyde, earl of clarendon. (_life of mr. anthony à wood_, ed. , p. .) on the th of february, - , the house of commons ordered de foe's _shortest way with the dissenters_ to be burned by the hands of the common hangman on the morrow in new palace yard. (wilson's _life of de foe_, vol. ii. p. .) in or about , john humphrey, an aged non-conformist minister, having published a pamphlet against the test, and circulated it amongst the members of parliament, was cited before a committee, and his work was ordered to be burned by the common hangman. (wilson's _life of de foe_, vol. iii. p. .) the _north briton_, no. ., was on the rd of december, , burned by the common hangman at the royal exchange, by order of the house of { } commons. the following account is from malcolm's _anecdotes of london_, to., , p. .: "the rd of december was appointed for this silly ceremony, which took place before the royal exchange, amidst the hisses and execrations of the mob, not directed at the obnoxious paper, but at alderman harley, the sheriffs, and constables, the latter of whom were compelled to fight furiously through the whole business. the instant the hangman held the work to a lighted link it was beat to the ground, and the populace, seizing the faggots prepared to complete its destruction, fell upon the peace-officers and fairly threshed them from the field; nor did the alderman escape without a contusion on the head, inflicted by a bullet thrown through the glass of his coach; and several other persons had reason to repent the attempt to burn that publicly which the _sovereign people_ determined to approve, who afterwards exhibited a large _jack-boot_ at temple bar, and burnt it in triumph, unmolested, as a species of retaliation." i am not aware that what mr. malcolm terms a "silly ceremony" has been repeated since . c. h. cooper. cambridge. i know not whether you have noticed the following: "droit le roy; or, a digest of the rights and prerogatives of the imperial crown of great britain. by a member of the society of lincoln's inn. 'dieu et mon droit.' [royal arms, with g. r.] london: printed and sold by w. griffin, in fetter lane, mdcclxiv." lord mahon (_history of england_, vol. v. p. .) says: "it was also observed, and condemned as a shallow artifice, that the house of lords, to counterbalance their condemnation of wilkes's violent democracy, took similar measures against a book of exactly opposite principles. this was a treatise or collection of precedents lately published under the title of _droit le roy_, to uphold the prerogative of the crown against the rights of the people. the peers, on the motion of lord lyttleton, seconded by the duke of grafton, voted this book 'a false, malicious, and traitorous libel, inconsistent with the principles of the revolution to which we owe the present happy establishment;' they ordered that it should be burned by the hands of the common hangman, and that the author should be taken into custody. the latter part of the sentence, however, no one took any pains to execute. the author was one timothy brecknock, a hack scribbler, who, twenty years afterwards, was hanged for being accessary to an atrocious murder in ireland." a copy of the book (an octavo of xii. and pages) is in my possession. it was apparently a presentation copy, and formerly belonged to dr. disney; at whose sale it was purchased by the late richard heber, as his ms. note testifies. against the political views which this book advocates, i say not one word; as a legal treatise it is simply despicable. h. gough. lincoln's inn. the following extract is at the service of balliolensis: "in the seventh year of king james i., dr. cowel's _interpreter_ was censured by the two houses, as asserting several points to the overthrow and destruction of parliaments and of the fundamental laws and government of the kingdom. and one of the articles charged upon him to this purpose by the commons, in their complaint to the lords, was, as mr. petyt says, out of the _journal_, this that follows: "' thly. the doctor draws his arguments from the imperial laws of the roman emperors, an argument which may be urged with as great reason, and with as great authority, for the reduction of the state and the clergy of england to the polity and laws in the time of those emperors; as also to make the laws and customs of rome and constantinople to be binding and obligatory in the cities of london and york.' "the issue of which complaint was, that the author, for these his outlandish politics, was taken into custody, and his book condemned to the flames: nor could the dedication of it to his then grace of canterbury save it."--atterbury's _rights, powers, and privileges of convocation_, p. . of preface. wm. fraser, b.c.l. tor-mohun. i possess a copy of _the case of ireland being bound by acts of parliament in england stated_, by william molyneux of dublin, esq., which appears to have been literally "plucked as brand from the burning," as a considerable portion of it is consumed by fire. i have cut the following from a sale catalogue just sent to me from dublin: "smith's (matthew) _memoirs of secret service_, lond. . written by charles, earl of peterborough, and is very scarce, being burnt by the hangman. ms. note." james graves. kilkenny. a decree of the university of oxford, made july , , condemning george buchanan's treatise _de jure regni apud scotos_, and certain other books, the names of which i do not know, was on march , , ordered by the house of lords to be burned by the hangman. this was shortly after the trial of dr. sacheverel. w. p. storer. olney, bucks. * * * * * different productions of different carcases. (vol. vi., p. .) up to a very recent period, it was held, even by philosophers, that each of the four elements, as well as every _living_ plant and animal, both { } brute and human, generated insects; but of all sources of this equivocal generation, none was considered more potent than the putrefaction or corruption of animal matter: as du bartas says: "god, not contented to each kind to give, and to infuse the virtue generative, by his wise power, made many creatures breed, of _lifeless bodies_ without venus' deed." _sixth day._ pliny, after giving virgil's receipt for making bees, gives similar instances: "like as dead horses will breed waspes and hornets; and asses carrion, turne to be beetle-flies by a certaine metamorphosis which nature maketh from one creature to another."--lib. xi. c. xx. and soon after he says of wasps: "all the sorte of these live upon flesh, contrarie to _the manner of bees, which will not touch a dead carcasse_." this brings shakepeare's lines to mind: " 'tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb in the _dead carrion_." _henry iv._, part ii. act iv. sc. . the _belfast news letter_ of friday, aug. , , gives one of these rare occurrences: "a few days ago, when the sexton was digging a grave in temple cranney (a burying-place in portaferry, co. down), he came to a coffin which had been there two or three years: this he thought necessary to remove. in this operation, he was startled by a great quantity of wild bees issuing forth from the coffin; and upon lifting the lid, it was found that they had formed their combs in the dead man's skull and mouth, which were full. the nest was made of the hair of the head, together with shavings that had been put in the coffin with the corpse." this quotation is given in an interesting work of mr. patterson's, _letters on the natural history of the insects mentioned in shakspeare's plays_: london, . your correspondent r. t. shows that _serpents_ were supposed to be generated by _human_ carcases. pliny says: "i have heard many a man say that the _marrow of a man's backebone_ will breed to a snake."--_hist. nat._, x. . the story of the "fair young german gentleman" reminds me of one of a gentle shepherd and his beloved amarante, told in de britaine's _human prudence_, th edit., dublin, , part i. p. . the corpse of the "cæsar," seen by st. augustine and monica, was most probably that of maximus, emperor of the west, slain by the soldiers of theodosius, a.d. . sir thos. browne--"treating of the conceit that the mandrake grows under gallowses, and arises from the fat, or [greek: ouron], of the dead malefactor, and hence has the form of a man--says: "this is so far from being verified of animals in their corruptive mutations into plants, that they maintain not this similitude in their nearer translation into animals. so when the ox corrupteth into bees, or the horse into hornets, they come not forth in the image of their originals. so the corrupt and excrementitious humours in man are animated into lice: and we may observe that hogs, sheep, goats, hawks, hens, and others, have one peculiar and proper kind of vermin."--_works_, bohn's edit., vol. i. p. . the editor furnishes the following note: "the immortal harvey, in his _de generations_, struck the first blow at the root of the irrational system called _equivocal generation_, when he laid down his brief but most pungent law, _omnia ex ovo_. but the belief transmitted from antiquity, that living beings generated spontaneously from putrescent matter, long maintained its ground, and a certain modification of it is even still advocated by some naturalists of the greatest acuteness. the first few pages of the volume entitled _insect transformations_ (in _the library of entertaining knowledge_) are occupied by a very interesting investigation of this subject."--see also sir t. browne's _works_, vol. i. p. ., vol. ii. pp. , .; and izaak walton's _complete angler_, passim. the equivocal generation of bees is copiously dwelt on in bochart's _hierozoicon_, london, , fol., part ii. p. . instances of their attaching themselves to dead bodies, in spite of their ordinary antipathy, are given at p. . eirionnach. * * * * * vandyke in america. (vol. viii., pp. . .) to your correspondent c. i would say, that his observation--that the query was as to an _engraving_, whilst my answer was as to a _picture_--is not true; as i am sure, from memory, that mr. westmacott used the word "portraits." but i plead in extenuation of my pretended grave offence, . that the query was not propounded by c., but by a gentleman to whom the information given might be, as i supposed, of some interest; more particularly as i referred to the _travels_ of an englishman, both of which, author and work, were accessible. . that, in common with the american readers of "n. & q.," i regarded it as "a journal of inter-communication," through whose columns information might be asked for, the request to be treated with the same consideration and courtesy as though addressed to each individual subscriber. i may add that lord braybrooke and mr. wodderspoon (vol. iv., p. .) have urged "the necessity for recording the existence of painted historical portraits, scattered, as we know they are," &c. { } now, as to the expression "worthies, famous in english history." i presume i need do no more concerning its application to lord orrery, sir robert walpole, &c., than say, it was used as signifying "men of mark," without intending to endorse their "worth" either morally, mentally, or politically; its application to colonel hill and colonel byrd, as meaning "men of worth," might, did your limits permit, be defended on high grounds. then as to the possibility of vandyke's having painted the portraits. if c. will have the kindness to look at c. campbell's _history of virginia_, he will find,-- " . at a meeting of the assembly, william hatchin, having been convicted of having called colonel edward hill 'an atheist and blasphemer,' was compelled to make acknowledgment of his offence upon his knees before colonel hill and the assembly." this colonel hill, generally known as colonel edward hill the elder, a gentleman of great wealth, built the mansion at shirley, where his portrait, brought from england, hangs in the same place, in the same hall in which he had it put up. it represents a youth in pastoral costume, crook in hand, flocks in the background. by a comparison of dates, c. will find it possible for vandyke to have painted it. (see bryan's _engravers and painters_.) it has descended, along with the estate, to his lineal representative, the present owner. its authenticity rests upon _tradition_ coupled with the foregoing facts, as far as i know (though the family may have abundant documentary proof), and i doubt very much whether many "vandykes in england" are better ascertained. i would add that several english gentlemen, among them, as i have heard, a distinguished ambassador recently in this country, recognised it as a vandyke. this picture, amongst others, was injured by the balls fired from the vessels which ascended the james river, under command of general arnold, then a british officer. on the younger mr. hill's tomb at shirley is a coat of arms, a copy of which, had i one to send, would probably point out his family in england.[ ] as to colonel byrd's portrait. there were, i believe, three gentlemen of this name and title, more or less confounded in reputation, the second of whom, generally known as "colonel byrd the elder," by reason of his son's history, was born in . the picture is of his _father_, that is, of "old," or "the first colonel byrd," and is in the same style as that of colonel hill's, representing a shepherd lad. he was an english gentleman of great wealth, and certainly of some benevolence. in campbell's _virginia_, p. . (see also oldmixon, vol. i. p. .), it is stated, , a large body of huguenots were sent to virginia. "the refugees found in colonel byrd, of westover, a generous benefactor. each settler was allowed a strip of land running back from the river to the foot of the hill (henrico county). here they raised cattle," &c. he sent his son to england to be educated under the care of a friend, sir robert southwell. the son became a fellow of the royal society, "was the intimate and bosom friend of the learned and illustrious charles boyle, earl of orrery," was the author of the _westover mss._ (mentioned in oldmixon's preface, nd ed.), portions of which, "progress to the mines," "history of the dividing line," &c., have been printed, others are in the library of the american philosophical society.[ ] his portrait is "by kneller, a fine old cavalier face," says campbell. the letters received at westover might prove not uninteresting even to c., seeing that there were so many titled people among the writers; and to a gentleman of education and intelligence, the westover library would have been a treasure-house. in the loganian library in this city is a large ms. folio, whose title-page declares it to be "a catalogue of books in the library at westover, belonging to william byrd, esq.," from which it appears that in law there were the english reporters (beginning with y. b.) and text-writers, laws of france, scotland, rome (various editions of pandects, &c.); canon law, with numerous approved commentators on each. in physic a great many works, which, as i am told, were, and some still are, of high repute: i note only one, _poor planter's physician interleaved_. this, to every one who has been upon a great virginia plantation, bespeaks the benevolence characteristic of the proprietors of westover. in divinity, besides pages of orthodox divines, bibles in various languages (several in hebrew, one in seven vols.), are socinius, bellarmine, &c. the works on metallurgy, natural history, metaphysics, military science, heraldry, navigation, music, &c., are very numerous; and either of the collections of history, or entertainment, or classics, or political science, would form no inconsiderable library of itself. { } an impression of colonel byrd's book-plate, given by a friend, is enclosed. i must add that the pictures at brandon are at that mansion, through the marriage of mr. harrison (a signer of the declaration of independence) with the daughter of the third colonel byrd. i have occupied much more space than i intended, but i have said enough i hope to show, . that it is possible, from dates, from the character, wealth, and position of mr. byrd and mr. hill, together with the length of time the pictures have remained in the respective families, for vandyke to have painted these portraits. . that as men who directed the energies, developed the resources, of our infant settlements, who brought hither the products of science, literature, and art, who exhibited the refinements of birth, the graces of good breeding, yet were always ready to serve their country in the field or in the council, mr. byrd and mr. hill are vastly more worthy of commemoration and reverence than all the earls of dredlington that ever sat at his majesty's board of green cloth. j. balch. philadelphia. [footnote : it is curious to observe how matters of history appear and disappear as it were. "the mighty tottipottimoy," says hudibras (part ii. cant. ii. l. .),--on which the rev. dr. nash has this note: "i don't know whether this is a real name or only an imitation of north-american phraseology; the appellation of an individual, or a title of office:"--tottipottimoy was king of the warlike and powerful parnunkies, and was defeated and slain by the virginians, commanded by colonel hill, in the action from which bloody run takes its name.] [footnote : there is a curious passage in the westover mss. concerning william penn, of which mr. macaulay should have a copy, unless one has been already sent to him.] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _cyanide of potassium._--it may be interesting to our photographic friends to know that cyanide of potassium is capable of replacing hyposulphite of soda in all collodion processes. if used of the strength of five grains to one ounce of water, no danger need be apprehended from it. its merits are cleanliness, quickness of operation, and the minute quantity of water required for washing the picture fixed therewith. j. b. hockin. _mode of exciting calotype paper._--i forgot inserting this plan of exciting in my paper: it is very clean and convenient, simple and sure. obtain a piece of plate glass, two or three inches larger than your paper, level it on a table with a few bits of wood, pour on it your exciting mixture (say aceto-nitrate and gallic acid, solution of each minims, distilled water ounce), and spread it evenly over with a scrap of blotting-paper. float your paper two minutes, remove and blot off; this ensures perfect evenness, especially if the paper is large. you may thus excite half a dozen papers with little more trouble than one. thos. l. mansell. _the double iodide solution--purity of photographic chemicals._--the observations of mr. leachman upon the solvent powers of iodide of potassium (vol ix., p. .) are perfectly correct, but i believe our photographic chemicals are often much adulterated. the iodide of potassium is frequently mixed with the carbonate. dr. mansell writes me word, in a comment upon your note upon his communication, "what i used was _very_ pure, having been prepared by mr. arnold with great care: it was some that had gone to the great exhibition as a sample of guernsey make, and obtained a medal." i have this day used exactly seven ounces avoirdupois to make a pint of the iodizing solution, which, within a few grains, agrees with my former results. nitrate of silver, i am informed upon a most respectable authority, has been adulterated thirty per cent., and without careful testing has eluded detection; but i am inclined to think our cheapest article has come in for its largest share of mixture. i have lately perfectly failed in the removal of the iodide of silver with a _saturated_ solution of what i purchased as hyposulphite of soda, but which could have been little else than common glauber's salts; for upon applying a similar solution of some which was made by m. butka of prague, and supplied me by messrs. simpson and maule, the effect was almost immediate, demonstrating how much we are misled in our conclusions, from believing we are manipulating with the same substances, when in fact they are quite different. hugh w. diamond. _hyposulphite of soda baths._--is there any objection to using the same bath (saturated solution of hyposulphite) for fixing both paper calotype _negatives_ and positives printed on albumenized paper from glass collodion negatives? c. e. f. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _daughters taking their mothers' names_ (vol. viii., p. .).--buriensis asked for instances of temp. edw. i., ii., iii., of a daughter adding to her own name that of her mother: as alice, daughter of ada, &c. though i am not able to furnish an instance of a daughter doing so, i can refer him to a few of sons using that form of surname some years earlier, but the practice seems very limited. thus in _liber de antiquis legibus_, published by the camden society, we have, among the early sheriffs of london in , willielmus filius ysabelis, or, as in the appendix , ysabel; in , willielmus filius alicie; in , martinus filius alicie; and in and , simon filius marie,--the same person that, as simon fitz-mary, is known as the founder of the hospital of st. mary bethlehem without, bishopsgate. w. s. w. middle temple. _the young pretender_ (vol. ix., p. .).--will ceyrep, or any other correspondent, furnish me with particulars of the young pretender's marriage with a daughter of the house of stolberg; her name, place of burial, &c.? she was descended maternally from the noble house of bruce, through the marriage of thomas, second earl of aylesbury and third earl of elgin, with charlotte (his second wife) countess of sannu, or sannau, of the house of argenteau. they had a daughter, charlotte maria, i suppose an only child, who was married in the year to the prince of horn. these had issue mary and elizabeth, whom also i suppose { } to have been only children. one of them married the prince of stolberg, and the other the prince of salm. one of the descendants of this family was an annuitant on the estate of the marquis of aylesbury, as recently as twelve or fourteen years ago. information on any part of this descent would confer an obligation on patonce. _a legend of the hive_ (vol. ix., p. .).--with every feeling of gratitude to eirionnach, i cannot receive praise for false metre and erroneous grammar. in the fifth line of the first stanza of the quoted verse, the first of the above legend, "are" is redundant: and in the first line of the next stanza, "bore" should be "bare." i remember that in more cases than one the printer of my published rhymes has perpetrated this latter mistake. suffer me to reply to a question of the same courteous critic eirionnach, in vol. ix., p. ., about a "christ-cross-row." this name for the alphabet obtained in the good old cornish dame-schools when i was a boy. in a book that i have seen, there is a vignette of a monk teaching a little boy to read, and beneath "_a christ-cross rhyme._ i. "christ his cross shall be my speed! teach me, father john, to read: that in church, on holy-day, i may chant the psalm and pray. ii. "let me learn, that i may know what the shining windows show; where the lovely lady stands, with that bright child in her hands. iii. "teach me letters one, two, three, till that i shall able be signs to know and words to frame, and to spell sweet jesu's name! iv. "then, dear master, will i look day and night in that fair book, where the tales of saints are told, with their pictures all in gold. v. "teach me, father john, to say vesper-verse and matin-lay; so when i to god shall plead, christ his cross will be my speed!" h. of morwenstow. _hoby family_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., pp. . .).--sir philip hoby, or hobbie, who was born in , and died in , was not only gentleman of the privy chamber to henry viii., but, while he held that office, was attached to the embassy of sir thomas wyatt to the emperor charles v. in . he was himself ambassador to the same emperor in , being sent by the protector somerset to replace the bishop of westminster. it may be interesting to state that two volumes of papers containing instructions and other letters transmitted to sir philip during these embassies, and copies of his replies, together with his correspondence with some eminent reformers, were in the possession of wm. hare, esq., m.p. for the city of cork in . an account of them, drawn up by the rev. t. d. hincks, was read before the royal irish academy on december in that year, and printed in the sixth volume of its _transactions_. it is probable that these papers had formerly belonged to rev. sir philip hoby, bart., who was dean of ardfert and chancellor of st. patrick's; and died without an heir in . he was descended from sir thomas hoby, younger brother of sir philip; who was born in , and died in . the father of these two knights was william hobbie of leominster. i presume the two volumes of papers referred to are in the possession of the earl of listowel, great-grandson of the gentleman who possessed them in . e. h. d. d. _anticipatory use of the cross_ (vol. viii. passim).-- "it is strange, yet well authenticated, and has given rise to many theories, that the symbol of the cross was already known to the indians before the arrival of cortez. in the island of cozumel, near yucatan, there were several; and in yucatan itself there was a stone cross. and there an indian, considered a prophet amongst his countrymen, had declared that a nation bearing the same as a symbol should arrive from a distant country! more extraordinary still was a temple, dedicated to the holy cross by the toltec nation in the city of cholula. near tulansingo there is also a cross engraved on a rock with various characters, which the indians by tradition ascribe to the apostle st. thomas. in oajaca, also, there existed a cross, which the indians from time immemorial had been accustomed to consider as a divine symbol. by order of the bishop cervantes it was placed in a sumptuous chapel in the cathedral. information concerning its discovery, together with a small cup, cut out of its wood, was sent to rome to paul v.; who received it on his knees, singing the hymn 'vexilla regis,' &c."--_life in mexico_, by madame calderon de la barca, letter xxxvii. e. h. a. _longevity_ (vols. vii., viii., _passim_).-- "amongst the fresh antiquities of cornwall, let not the old woman be forgotten who died about two years since; who was one hundred and sixty-four years old, of good memory, and healthful at that age; living in the parish of gwithian by the charity of such as came purposely to see her, speaking to them (in default of english) by an interpreter, yet partly understanding it. she married a second husband after she was eighty, { } and buried him after he was eighty years of age."--scawens' _dissertation on the cornish tongue_, written temp. car. ii. anon. as very many, if not all, the instances mentioned in "n. & q." of those who have reached a very advanced age, were people of humble origin, may we not now refer to those of noble birth? to commence the list, i would name sir ralph de vernon, "who is said to have lived to the age of one hundred and fifty, and thence generally was called the old liver." my authority is, burke's _peerage and baronetage_, edit. , p. . w. w. malta. "_nugget_" (vol. viii., pp. . .).--a note from mundy's _our antipodes_: "the word _nugget_, among farmers, signifies a small compact beast, a runt: among gold-miners a lump, in contradistinction to the scale or dust-gold." clericus rusticus. _the fifth lord byron_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i believe it to be an acknowledged fact, that an old man's memory is generally good of events of years past and gone: and as an octogenarian i am not afraid to state that, from the discussions on the subject, i feel myself perfectly correct as to the main point of my observations (vol. viii., p. .), viz. the error committed in the limitation of the ultimate reversion of the estate; but as to the secondary point to which mr. warden alludes, i may perhaps be in error in placing it on the settlement of the son, inasmuch as the effect would be the same if it occurred in the settlement of the father; and mr. warden's observations leave an inference that the mistake may have there occurred; as, in such case, if the error had been discovered,--and by any altercation the son had refused to correct the mistake, which he could and ought to have consented to, after the failure of his own issue,--this alone, between two hasty tempers, would have been sufficient cause of quarrel, without reference to the question of marrying an own cousin, which is often very justly objectionable. wm. s. hesleden. _wapple, or whapple-way_ (vol. ix., p. .).--this name is common in the south, and means a bridle-way, or road in which carriages cannot pass. in sussex these ways are usually short cuts through fields and woods, from one road or place to another. (see halliwell's _dictionary_, and cooper's _sussex glossary_.) the derivation is not given by either writer. d. in manning's _surrey_, i find not any mention of this term; but apprehend it to be a corruption of the norman-french, _vert plain_, "a green road or alley:" which, as our saxon ancestors pronounced the _v_ as a _w_, easily slides into _war plain_ or _warple_. (see du cange, _supp._, _in voce_ "plain.") c. h. _the ducking-stool_ (vol. viii., p. .).--as late as the year , a woman was convicted of being a common scold in the court of quarter sessions of philadelphia county, and sentenced "to be placed in a certain instrument of correction called a cucking or ducking-stool," and plunged three times into the water; but the supreme court of pennsylvania, upon the removal of the case by writ of error, decided that this punishment was obsolete, and contrary to the spirit of the age. our fathers held the ducking-stool in higher respect, as appears from the following presentments of the grand juries of philadelphia, the originals of which have been lately discovered. in january, , they say (through william fishbourne, their foreman),-- "whereas it has been frequently and often presented by several former grand juries for this city, the necessity of a ducking-stool and house of correction for the just punishment of scolding, drunken women, as well as divers other profligate and unruly persons in this place, who are become a public nuisance and disturbance to this town in general; therefore we, the present grand jury, do earnestly again present the same to this court of quarter sessions for the city, desiring their immediate care, that _those publick conveniences_ may not be any longer delayed, but with all possible speed provided for the detection and quieting such disorderly persons." another, the date of which is not given, but which is signed by the same foreman, presents "alsoe that a ducking-stoole be made for publick use, being very much wanting for scolding women," &c. and in , another grand jury, of which benjamin duffield was foreman, say: "the grand inquest, we taking in consideration the great disorders of the turbulent and ill-behaviour of many people in this city, we present the great necessity of a ducking-stool for such people according to their deserts." uneda. philadelphia. _double christian names_ (vol. ix., p. .).--it is surely not correct to say that the earliest instance of two christian names is in the case of a person born in . surely henry, prince of wales, the son of james i., is an earlier instance. sir thomas strand fairfax was certainly born before that date. sir edmund berry godfrey was probably an earlier instance; and sir robert bruce colton, the antiquary, certainly so. writing at a distance from my books, i can only appeal to memory; but see southey's _common-place book_, vol. i. p. . venables, in his _travels in russia_, { } tells us that "a russian has never more than one christian name, which must be always that of a saint." to these a patronymic is often added of the father's name, with the addition _vich_, as in the case of the present czar, nicholas paulovich, the son of paul. w. denton. torquay. _pedigree to the time of alfred_ (vol. viii., p. .).--some ten or twelve years since i was staying at the king's head inn, egham, surrey (now defunct), when a fresh-looking, respectable man was pointed out to one as mr. wapshot, who had held an estate in the neighbourhood from his ancestors prior to the conquest. he was not represented as a blacksmith, but as farming his own estate. i am not connected with egham or the neighbourhood, or i would make farther inquiry. s. d. _palace of lucifer_ (vol. v., p. .).--if r. t. has not observed it, i would refer him to the note in the aldine edition of milton, vol. iii. p. ., where i find "luciferi domus" is the palace of the sun (see _prolusiones_, p. .); and not, as t. warton conjectured, the abode of satan. i. r. r. _monaldeschi_ (vol. viii., p. .).--_relation du meurte de monaldeschi, poignardé par ordre de christine, reine de suède_, by father de bel, is to be found in a collection of curious papers printed at cologne, , in mo. it is given at length in _cristina's revenge, and other poems_, by j. m. moffatt, london, printed for the author, . e. d. _anna lightfoot_ (vol. vii., p. .).--t. h. h. is referred to an elegantly printed pamphlet called _an historical fragment relative to her late majesty queen caroline_, printed for j. & n. l. hunt, london, , which, from p. . to p. ., contains a very circumstantial account of this extraordinary occurrence. e. d. _lode_ (vol. v., p. .).--it would not appear that this word means "an artificial watercourse," at least from its use at tewkesbury, where there is still the _lower lode_, at which a ferry over the severn still exists; and there was also the _upper lode_, until a bridge was erected over the river at that place. will this help to show its proper meaning? i. r. r. "_to try and get_" (vol. ix., p. .).--uneda inquires the origin of this erroneous mode of expression? doubtless euphony, to avoid the alliteration of so many t's: "_t_o _t_he _t_heatre _t_o _t_ry and get," &c. but evidently the word _to_ is understood, though not supplied after the word _and_. thus, "to try and (to) get," &c. celcrena. _abbott families_ (vol. ix. p. .).--in reply to mr. abbott's query, i have a pedigree of samuel abbott, born in or ; second son of wm. abbott of sudbury, who was born , and who was son to charles abbott of hawkden and sudbury, an alderman, which charles was son to wm. abbott of hawkden. this samuel married margaret, daughter to thomas spicer. should mr. abbott wish it, i would forward him a copy of the pedigree. i can trace no connexion between this family and that of archbishop abbott, whose father, maurice abbott of guildford, was son of ---- abbott of farnham, co. surrey. i wish especially to know what became of thomas abbott, only son of robert, bishop of sarum; which thomas dedicated his father's treatise against bellarmine in to his uncle the archbishop, calling himself in the preface, "imbellis homuncio." his sister was wife to sir nathaniel brent, whose younger son nathaniel left all his property to his cousin maurice abbott, of st. andrew's, holborn, gent., in ; which maurice was possibly son to thomas. g. e. adams. . lincoln's inn fields. "_mairdil_" (vol. viii., p. .).--is there any affinity between the word _mairdil_, which is used in forfarshire, to be overcome with fatigue for any oppressive or intricate piece of work, and the word _mardel_ or _mardle_, which signifies to gossip in norfolk, as stated by mr. j. l. sisson? what will h. c. k. say to this subject? jamieson confines _mairdil_ to an adjective, signifying unwieldy; but i have often heard work-people in forfarshire declare they were "perfectly _mairdiled_" with a piece of heavy work, using the word as a passive verb. _trachled_ has nearly the same meaning, but it is chiefly confined to describe fatigue arising from walking a long distance. henry stephens. _bell at rouen_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your valuable correspondent w. sparrow simpson, b.a., has probably taken his account of the great bell in the cathedral at rouen from a note made before the french revolution of - , because the george d'ambois, which was once considered the largest bell in europe (it was thirteen feet high, and eleven feet in diameter), excepting that at moscow, shared the destructive fate of many others at that eventful period, and was melted down for cannon. in the bulb of its clapper was outside the door of a blacksmith's shop, as you go out of the city towards dieppe. it was pointed out to me by a friend with whom i was then travelling--a gentleman of the neighbourhood, who was at rouen at the time it was brought there--and there, if i mistake not, but i cannot find my note, i saw it again within the last ten years. h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. { } _smiths and robinsons_ (vol. ix., p. .).--arms of smith of curdley, co. lancaster: argent, a cheveron sable between three roses gules, barbed, vert seeded, or. robinson (of yorkshire): vert, a cheveron between three roebucks trippant or. crest, a roebuck as in the arms. motto, "virtute non verbis." robinson of yorkshire, as borne by lord rokeby: vert, on a cheveron or, between three bucks trippant of the last, as many quatrefoils gules. crest, a roebuck trippant or. cid. _churchill's grave_ (vol. ix., p. .).--if i am not mistaken, there is a tablet to the memory of churchill, with a more lengthy inscription, within the church of st. mary, dover, towards the western end of the south aisle. w. sparrow simpson. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. before proceeding to notice any of the books which we have received this week, we will call the attention of the publishing world to two important works which we know to be now wanting a publisher, namely, i. _a syriac-english lexicon to the new testament and book of psalms_, arranged alphabetically, with the derivatives referred to their proper roots, and a companion of the principal words in the cognate languages; and ii. _a syriac-english grammar_, translated and abridged from hoffman's larger work. samuel pepys is the dearest old gossip that ever lived; and every new edition of his incomparable diary will serve but to increase his reputation as the especial chronicler of his age. every page of it abounds not only in curious indications of the tone and feelings of the times, and the character of the writer, but also in most graphic illustrations of the social condition of the country. it is this that renders it a work which calls for much careful editing and illustrative annotation, and consequently gives to every succeeding edition new value. well pleased are we, therefore, to receive from lord braybrooke a fourth edition, revised and corrected, of the _diary and correspondence of samuel pepys_. and well pleased to offer our testimony to the great care with which its noble editor has executed his duties. thanks to his good judgment, and to the great assistance which he acknowledges to have received from messrs. holmes, peter cunningham, yeowell, &c., his fourth edition is by far the best which has yet appeared, and is the one which must hereafter be referred to as the standard one. the index, too, has been revised and enlarged, which adds no little to the value of the book. mr. murray has broken fresh ground in his _british classics_ by the publication of the first volume of gibbon's _decline and fall of the roman empire, with notes and preface by dean milman and m. guizot_, and edited, with notes, by dr. smith. if the publisher showed good tact in selecting mr. p. cunningham for editor of _goldsmith_, he has shown no less in entrusting the editing of his new gibbon to dr. smith, whose various dictionaries point him out as peculiarly fitted for such a task. in such well practised hands, therefore, there can be little doubt as to the mode in which the labour of editing will be conducted; and a very slight glance at the getting up of this first volume will serve to prove that, for a library edition of gibbon, while this is the cheapest it will be also the handsomest ever offered to the public. books received.--macaulay's _critical and historical essays, people's edition_, part i. the first issue of an edition of these admirable essays, which will, when completed, cost only seven shillings! can cheapness go much lower?--_adventures in the wilds of north america_, by charles lanman, _edited_ by c. r. wild, forming parts lv. and lvi. of longman's _traveller's library_. these adventures, partly piscatorial, are of sufficient interest to justify their publication even without the _imprimatur_, which they have received, of so good a critic as washington irving.--darling's _cyclopædia bibliographica_, part xvii., extends from andrew rivet to william shepheard. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. london labour and london poor. nos. xliv. and lxiv. to end of work. mrs. gore's banker's wife. tales by a barrister. schiller's wallenstein, translated by coleridge. smith's classical library. goethe's faust (english). smith's classical library. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: a memoir of the life of james stanley, seventh earl of derby, by w. h. whatton, esq. published by fisher, newgate street. history of the westminster election. london, . vol. to. wanted by _g. cornewall lewis_, kent house, knightsbridge. a map, plan, and representations of interesting and remarkable places connected with ancient london (large size). a copy of an early number of "the times" newspaper, or of the "morning chronicle," "morning post," or "morning herald." the nearer the commencement preferred. copies or facsimiles of other old newspapers. a copy of the breeches or other old bible. wanted by _mr. joseph simpson_, librarian, literary and scientific institution, islington, london. percy society's publications. nos. xciii. and xciv. wanted by _g. j. hargreaves_, stretford, near manchester. cambridge installation ode, , by chr. wordsworth. to. edition. kitchener's economy of the eyes. part ii. brown's anecdotes of dogs. ---- ---- ---- of animals. wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. { } enquiry after happiness. the third part. by richard lucas, d.d. sixth edition. . wanted by _rev. john james_, avington rectory, hungerford. * * * * * notices to correspondents. m. "scarborough warning."--_this expression has been fully explained in our_ first volume, p. . j. c. b., _who writes respecting_ the gregorian tones, _is referred to our_ sixth volume, pp. . ., _and our_ seventh volume, p. . r. n. (liverpool). _there are many letters of charles i. among the mss. in the british museum. we do not know where the cabinet taken at naseby is preserved._ oxon. entire, _as applied to beer, signifies that it is drawn entirely from one butt. formerly the favourite beer was a mixture of ale or beer and twopenny, until a brewer named harwood produced a beer with the same flavour, which he called_ entire _or_ entire butt. g. w. t. _old rowley was the name of a celebrated stallion belonging to charles ii._ c. h. n., _who writes respecting_ royal arms in churches, _is referred to our_ sixth volume passim. tom tell-tale _is thanked. we are in possession of information respecting the drawings in question; but shall be glad to know of any other purchasers._ caveat emptor. _we have lately seen a curious pseudo-letter of cromwell, the history of which we may perhaps lay before our readers._ francis beaufort. _the copy of the_ biblia sacra latina _to which our correspondent refers, is now in the possession of mr. brown, bookseller, . old street_. j. o. _we have forwarded the book you so kindly sent to the gentleman for whom you intended it._ comus _may have a copy of the_ epitome of locke _on applying to mr. olive lasbury, bookseller, bristol_. hugh henderson (glasgow). _the fault must be in the quality of your pyrogallic. you need have no difficulty in obtaining it pure of some of the photographic chemists, and whose advertisements appear in our columns._ a. f. g. (march st.). _all papers for photographic purposes improve by keeping. when you have thoroughly satisfied yourself of the goodness of a sample, secure all you can; it will repay you well by time. consult our advertising columns for your market, which we prefer not to indicate._ _errata._--vol. ix., p. ., col. . th line, for "previous" read "precious"; p. ., col. . line , for "carre" read "cane;" p. ., col. . th line from bottom, for "richard i." read "henry i." our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * to nervous sufferers.--a retired clergyman having been restored to health in a few days, after many years of great nervous suffering, is anxious to make known to others the means of a cure; will therefore send free, on receiving a stamped envelope, properly addressed, a copy of the prescription used. direct the rev. e. douglass, . holland street, brixton, london. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, k. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, r. roekel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads, in iron, brass, japanned wood, polished birch, mahogany, rosewood, and walnut-tree woods; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * arundel society.--the publication of the fourth year ( - ), consisting of eight wood engravings by messrs. dalziel, from mr. w. oliver williams' drawings after giotto's frescos at padua, is now ready: and members who have not paid their subscriptions are requested to forward them to the treasurer by post-office order, payable at the charing cross office. john j. rogers, treasurer and hon. sec. . & . pall mall east. march, . * * * * * people's edition of the illustrated history of england, from the invasion of julius cæsar to the accession of queen victoria. by hume, smollett, and hughes. with copious notes, the author's last corrections, improvements, and enlargement. also historical illustrations, autographs, and portraits. to be published in crown vo., weekly, in seventy-two parts, at one shilling each: and in monthly volumes, price four shillings, bound in cloth. the publication will commence on the rd of april, and be continued regularly until the work is completed. in accordance with the universal desire of obtaining the best books at the cheapest possible price, the historical works of hume, smollett, and hughes, are now submitted to the public: it being the object of the publisher to place within the reach of all classes of readers, in a succession of weekly parts and monthly volumes, a more complete history of england than any extant. the eventful period in the annals of britain which has elapsed since the age of smollett, whose volumes close with the reign of george the second, demands a faithful and impartial record; and this portion of our national history, continued by the rev. t. s. hughes, late christian advocate at cambridge, will be printed from the corrected text of the third octavo edition, which was almost entirely rewritten. the additional volumes, containing a narrative of important events, commence with the accession of george the third, and will be continued to the accession of queen victoria. the work will be completed in eighteen volumes, and embellished with numerous engravings on steel, entirely re-engraved for this edition, comprising a selection of historical illustrations from bowyer's history of england, and from paintings by the most eminent masters, with portraits of all the sovereigns from the norman conquest, according to the costume of the different ages, and authentic facsimiles of their autographs. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * surplices. gilbert j. french, bolton, lancashire, has prepared his usual large supply of surplices, in anticipation of easter. parcels delivered free at railway stations. * * * * * { } collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenised paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill & morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street: and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post. s. d. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * chubb's fire-proof safes and locks.--these safes are the most secure from force, fraud, and fire. chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. complete lists, with prices, will be sent on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * mutual life assurance by moderate premiums. the sixteenth annual report of the scottish provident institution (the only society in which the advantages of mutual assurance can be secured by moderate premiums) is now published, and may be had free, on application. the results of business effected in are:-- . number of proposals accepted . amount of new assurances exclusive of annuities £ , ------------- . amount of annual premiums on new assurances £ , . amount of single payments on ditto , ------------ -------- new premiums received during the year £ , -------------- . amount of claims by death during the year £ , ------------- . addition to realised fund, arising entirely from accumulated premiums during the year £ , ------------ biennial progress of business during the last ten years. | number | amount of | accumulated in | of new | new | fund at end years. | policies. | assurances | of period. ---------+--------------+---------------+------------- | | £ | £ - | | , | , - | | , | , - | | , | , - | | , | , - | | , | , mutual life assurance. the scottish provident institution combines the advantage of participation in the whole profits with moderate premiums. the premiums are as low as those of the non-participating scale of the proprietary companies. they admit of being so not only with safety, but with ample reversion of profits to the policy-holders, being free from the burden of payment of dividend to shareholders. at the first division of surplus in the present year, bonus additions were made to policies which had come within the participating class, varying from to per cent. on their amount. in all points of practice--as in the provision for the indefeasibility of policies, facility of licence for travelling or residence abroad, and of obtaining advances on the value of the policies--the regulations of the society, as well as the administration, are as liberal as is consistent with right principle. policies now issued free of stamp duty. copies of the last annual report, containing full explanations of the principles, may be had on application to the head office in edinburgh; of the society's provincial agent: or of the resident secretary, london branch. james watson, manager. george grant, resident secretary. london branch, . moorgate street. the london branch will be removed on th march to the society's new premises, . gracechurch street, corner of fenchurch street, city. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold. , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page remarkable imprints legends of the co. clare, by francis robert davies canting arms minor notes:--selleridge--tombs of bishops--lines on visiting the portico of beau nash's palace, bath-- acrostic in ash church, kent--a hint to publishers-- uhland, the german poet--virgilian inscription for an infant school queries:-- the shippen family--john white, by thos. balch books issued in parts and not completed minor queries:--"hovd maet of laet"--hand in church-- egger moths--the yorkshire dales--ciss, cissle, &c.-- inn signs, &c.--smiths and robinsons--coin of carausius--verelst the painter--latin treatise on whipping school-boys--whitewashing in churches--surname "kynoch"--dates of published works--saw-dust recipe minor queries with answers:--branks, or gossips' bridles-- not caring a fig for anything--b. c. y.--earl nugent's poems--huntbach mss.--holy loaf money--st. philip's, bristol--foreign universities replies:-- death-warnings in ancient families, by c. mansfield ingleby starvation, by n. l. melville, &c. osmotherley in yorkshire, by t. gill echo poetry, by jas. j. scott blackguard "wurm," in modern german--passage in schiller's "wallenstein" was shakspeare descended from a landed proprietor? by h. gole, &c. lord fairfax photographic correspondence:--mr. lyte on collodion-- dr. diamond on sensitive collodion replies to minor queries:--portrait of alva--lord mayor of london not a privy councillor--new zealander and westminster bridge--cui bono--barrels regiment--sir matthew hale--scotch grievance--"merciful judgments of high church," &c.--robert dudley, earl of leicester-- fleet prison--the commons of ireland previous to the union--"les lettres juives"--sir philip wentworth-- general fraser--namby-pamby--the word "miser"--the forlorn hope--thornton abbey--"quid facies," &c.-- christ-cross-row--sir walter scott, and his quotations from himself, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * photographic society.--the exhibition of photographs and daguerreotypes is now open at the gallery of the society of british artists, suffolk street, pall mall, in the morning from a.m. to half-past p.m., admission _ s._; and in the evening from to p.m., admission d. catalogue d. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea: two extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases and other travelling requisites, gratis on application or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * recent discoveries at nineveh. a lecture, illustrated by numerous coloured diagrams, will be given upon the above subject by austen h. layard, esq., d.c.l., m.p., at the beaumont institution, beaumont square, mile end road, on wednesday evening, feb. nd, at a quarter before eight. the proceeds will be applied for the benefit of the schools and other parochial charities, of st. thomas, stepney, a district containing , people, who are mostly poor. tickets may be procured at messrs. hatchard's, . piccadilly; messrs. seeley's, . hanover square, and . fleet street; messrs. rivingtons, waterloo place; mann & co., . cornhill; and the rev. w. valentine, st. thomas', stepney. prices.--east of hall s.; balcony, s. d.; centre of hall, s.; reserved seats, s. * * * * * this day, crown vo., s. a year with the turks. by warington smyth, m.a., with a map, by j. w. lowry. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * grimm's teutonic works.--jacob grimm's deutsche grammatik, vols. vo., - (published at l.), sewed, guineas. grimm's geschichte der deutschen sprache, vols. vo., , sewed, s. sold by quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. *** quaritch's catalogues of valuable, rare, and curious works, many on philology, oriental literature, and the fine arts, &c., are published monthly, and sent gratis for a year on prepayment of twelve postage stamps. * * * * * spanish dictionaries, grammars, and all the principal works of spanish literature, sold by quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. *** catalogues gratis. * * * * * bibles in one hundred various oriental and european languages constantly on sale by b. quaritch, second-hand oriental and foreign bookseller, . castle street, leicester square. *** quaritch's monthly catalogues gratis, on prepayment of twelve stamps. * * * * * french novels by paul de kock. sold by quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. *** quaritch's catalogues of his extensive second-hand stock of french works, gratis. * * * * * { } works by the rev. dr. maitland. the dark ages; being a series of essays intended to illustrate the state of religion and literature in the th, th, th, and th centuries. reprinted from the "british magazine," with corrections, and some additions; uniformly with the present volume. third edition. s. d. essays on subjects connected with the reformation in england. reprinted, with additions, from the "british magazine." s. eruvin; or miscellaneous essays on subjects connected with the nature, history, and destiny of man. second edition. in small vo. s. eight essays on various subjects. in small vo. s. d. a letter to the rev. dr. mill, containing some strictures on mr. faber's recent work, entitled "the ancient vallenses and albigenses." vo. s. d. the voluntary system. new edition. small vo. s. d. notes on the contributions of the rev. george townsend, m.a., canon of durham, to the new edition of fox's martyrology. in three parts: . on the memoir of fox, ascribed to his son. . puritan thaumaturgy. . historical authority of fox. vo. s. d. remarks on the rev. s. r. cattley's defence of his edition of fox's martyrology. vo. s. d. twelve letters on fox's acts and monuments. reprinted from the "british magazine." vo. s. a review of fox's history of the waldenses. vo. s. d. a letter to the rev. hugh james rose, b.d., chaplain to his grace the archbishop of canterbury; with strictures on milner's church history. vo. s. d. a second letter to the rev. hugh james rose, b.d.: containing notes on milner's history of the church in the fourth century. vo. s. d. a letter to the rev. john king, m.a., incumbent of christ's church, hull; occasioned by his pamphlet, entitled "maitland not authorised to censure milner." vo. s. d. remarks on that part of the rev. j. king's pamphlet, entitled "maitland not authorised to censure milner," which relates to the waldenses, including a reply to the rev. g. s. faber's supplement, entitled "reinerius and maitland." vo. s. d. an index of such english books printed before the year mdc. as are now in the archiepiscopal library at lambeth. vo. s. rivingtons, waterloo place, pall mall. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount; and, by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * pulleyn's compendium. one volume, crown vo., bound in cloth, price s. the etymological compendium; or, portfolio of origins and inventions: relating to language, literature, and government. architecture and sculpture. drama, music, painting, and scientific discoveries. articles of dress, &c. titles, dignities, &c. names, trades, professions. parliament, laws, &c. universities and religious sects. epithets and phrases. remarkable customs. games, field sports. seasons, months, and days of the week. remarkable localities, &c. &c. by william pulleyn. the third edition, revised and improved, by merton a. thoms, esq. "the additions to this book indicate the editor to be his father's own son. he deals in folk lore, chronicles old customs and popular sayings, and has an eye to all things curious and note-worthy. the book tells everything."--_gentleman's magazine._ "the book contains a vast amount of curious information and useful memoranda."--_literary gazette._ "an invaluable manual of amusement and information."--_morning chronicle._ "this is a work of great practical usefulness. it is a _notes and queries_ in miniature.... the revision which the present edition of it has undergone has greatly enhanced its original value."--_era._ london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * just published, gratis, and post free, part ii. (new series) of a catalogue of useful and curious books, including an interesting collection on the times of charles i. and ii.; also a fine selection of the works of thomas bewick; together with autograph letters, &c. on sale by richard james bell, . bedford street, covent garden. * * * * * the topographer & genealogist, edited by john gough nichols, f.s.a. _the xiiith part of this work is now published, price_ s. d., _containing:_ some account of the manor of apuldrefield, in the parish of cudham, kent, by g. steinman steinman, esq., f.s.a. petition to parliament from the borough of wotton basset, in the reign of charles i., relative to the right of the burgesses to free common of pasture in fasterne great park. memoranda in heraldry, from the ms. pocket-books of peter le neve, norroy king of arms. was william of wykeham of the family of swalcliffe? by charles wykeham martin, esq., m.p., f.s.a. account of sir toby caulfield rendered to the irish exchequer, relative to the chattel property of the earl of tyrone and other fugitives from ulster in the year , communicated by james f. ferguson, esq., of the exchequer record office, dublin. indenture enumerating various lands in cirencester, hen. vii. ( ). * * * * * two volumes of this work are now completed, which are published in cloth boards, price two guineas, or in twelve parts, price s. d. each. among its more important articles are-- descent of the earldom of lincoln, with introductory observations on the ancient earldoms of england, by the editor. on the connection of arderne, or arden, of cheshire, with the ardens of warwickshire. by george ormerod, esq., d.c.l., f.s.a. genealogical declaration respecting the family of norres, written by sir william norres, of speke, co. lane. in ; followed by an abstract of charters, &c. the domestic chronicle of thomas godfrey, esq., of winchelsea, &c., m.p., the father of sir edmund berry godfrey, finished in . honywood evidences, compiled previously to , edited by b. w. greenfield, esq. the descendants of mary honywood at her death in . marriage settlements of the honywoods. pedigrees of the families of arden or arderne, arundell of aynho, babington, barry, bayley, bowet, browne, burton of coventry, clarke, clerke, clinton, close, dabridgecourt, dakyns or dakeynes, d'oyly, drew, fitzalan, fitzherbert, franceis, fremingham, gyll, hammond, harlakenden, heneage, hirst, honywood, hodilow, holman, horde, hustler, isley, kirby, kynnersley, marche, marston, meynell, norres, peirae, pimpe, plomer, polhill or polley, pycheford, pitchford, pole or de la pole, preston, viscount tarah, thexton, tregose, turner of kirkleatham, ufford, walerand, walton, and yate. the genealogies of more than ninety families of stockton-upon-tees, by wm. d'oyly bayley, esq., f.s.a. sepulchral memorials of the english at bruges and caen. many original charters, several wills, and funeral certificates. survey, temp. philip and mary, of the manors of crosthole, landren, landulph, lightdurrant, porpehan, and tynton, in cornwall; aylesheare and whytford, co. devon; ewerne courtenay, co. dorset; mudford and hinton, west coker, and stoke courcy, co. somerset; rolleston, co. stafford; and corton, co. wilts. survey of the marshes of the medway, temp. henry viii. a description of cleveland, addressed to sir thomas chaloner, temp. james i. a catalogue of the monumental brasses, ancient monuments, and painted glass existing in the churches of bedfordshire, with all names and dates. catalogue of sepulchral monuments in suffolk, throughout the hundreds of babergh, blackbourn, blything, bosmere and claydon, carlford, colnies, cosford, hartismere, hoxne, town of ipswich, hundreds of lackford and loes. by the late d. e. davy, esq. of ufford. published by j. b. nichols & sons, . parliament street, westminster; where may be obtained, on application, a fuller abstract of the contents of these volumes, and also of the "collectanea topographica et genealogica," now complete in eight volumes. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, february , ._ notes. remarkable imprints. more than one pen has considered titles, dedications, and imprints worth a note, and as there are still gleanings in their track, i take the liberty of sending you a few of the latter; some from my common-place book, others from the fountainheads on my own shelves, but all drawn at random, without much regard to classification or chronological arrangement. the horrors of the star chamber and the ecclesiastical courts produced many extraordinary imprints, particularly to those seditious books of the puritans, better known as the _marprelate family_; works which were printed by ambulatory presses, and circulated by unseen hands, now under the walls of archiepiscopal lambeth, and _presto_! (when the spy would lay his hands upon them) sprite-like, martin re-appeared in the provinces! this game at hide and seek between the brave old nonconformists and the church, went on for years without detection: but the readers of "n. & q." do not require from me the history of the marprelate faction, so well told already in the _miscellanies of literature_ and elsewhere; the animus of these towards the hierarchy will be sufficiently exhibited for my purpose in a few of their imprints. _an almond for a parrot_, for example, purports to be-- "imprynted at a place not farre from a place; by the assignes of signior some-body, and are to be soulde at his shoppe in trouble-knave street." again, _oh read ouer d. john bridges, for it is a worthy work_, is "printed ouer sea, in europe, within two forlongs of a bouncing priest, at the cost and charges of martin marprelate, gent, ." _the return of the renowned cavaliero pasquill_ has the following extraordinary imprint: "if my breath be so hote that i burne my mouthe, i suppose i was printed by pepper allie, ." the original "marprelate" was john penri, who at last fell into the hands of his enemies, and was executed under circumstances of great barbarity in elizabeth's reign. "martin junior," however, sprung up, and _the counter-cuffe_ to him is-- "printed between the skye and the grounde, wythin a myle of an oake, and not many fields off from the unpriuileged presse of the ass-ignes of martin junior, ." the virulency of this theological warfare died away in james's reign, but only to be renewed with equal rancour in that of charles, when marprelatism was again called into activity by the high-church freaks of archbishop laud. _vox borealis, or a northerne discoverie by way of dialogue between jamie and willie_, is an example of these later attacks upon the overbearing of the mitre, and affords the imprint-- "amidst the babylonians. printed by margery marprelate, in thwack-coat lane, at the signe of the crab-tree cudgell, without any privilege of the cater-caps, ." others of this stamp will occur to your readers: this time the puritans had the best of the struggle, and ceased not to push their advantage until they brought their enemy to the block. when the liberty of the press was imperfectly understood, the political satirist had to tread warily; consequently we find that class of writers protecting themselves by jocular or patriotic imprints. a satirical pamphlet upon the late _sicke commons_ is "printed in the happie year ." _a letter from nobody in the city to nobody in the country_ is "printed by somebody, ." _somebody's answer_ is "printed for anybody." these were likely of such a tendency as would have rendered both author and printer amenable to _somebody_, say judge jeffries. during the administration of sir robert walpole, there were many skirmishing satirists supported by both ministry and people, such as james miller, whose pamphlet, _contra, are these things so?_ is "printed for the perusal of all lovers of their country, ." this was answered by the ministers' champion, james dance, _alias_ love, in _yes, they are!_ alike addressed to the "lovers of their country." _what of that?_ was the next of the series, being miller's reply, who intimated this time that it was "printed, and to be had of all true hearts and sound bottoms." when there was a movement for an augmentation of the poor stipends of the scots clergy in , there came out a pamphlet under the title of _the presbyterian clergy seasonably detected_, , which exceeds in scurrility, if possible, the famous or infamous, _scotch presbyterian eloquence displayed_; both author and printer, however, had so much sense as to remain in the background, and the _thing_ purported to be "printed for mess john in fleet street." under the title of _the comical history of the marriage betwixt heptarchus and fergusia_, [ ], the scots figured the union of the lord heptarchus, or england, with the independent, but coerced, damsel fergusia, or scotland; the discontented church of the latter { } finding that the former broke faith with her, could not help giving way to occasional murmurings, and these found vent in (among others) a poetical presbyterian tract, entitled _melancholy sonnets, or fergusia's complaint upon heptarchus_, in which the author reduced to rhyme the aforesaid _comical history_, adding thereto all the evils this ill-starred union had entailed upon the land after thirty-five years' experience. this curious production was "printed at elguze? for pedaneous, and sold by circumferaneous, below the zenith, ."[ ] charles ii., when crowned at scone, took the solemn league and covenant; but not finding it convenient to carry out that part of his coronation oath, left the presbyterians at the restoration in the lands of their enemies. to mark their sense of this breach of faith, there was published a little book[ ] describing the inauguration of the _young profligate_, which expressively purports to be "printed at edinburgh in the year of covenant-breaking." the scots folk had such a horror of anything of a deistical tendency, that john goldie had to publish his _essays, or an attempt to distinguish true from false religion_ (popularly called "goldie's bible"), at glasgow, "printed for the author, and sold by him at kilmarnock, ;" neither printer nor bookseller would, apparently, be identified with the _unclean thing_. both churchmen and dissenters convey their exultations, or denouncements, upon political changes, through the medium of imprints; and your correspondents who have been discussing that matter, will see in some of these that the "good old cause" may be "all round the compass," as captain cuttle would say, depending wholly upon the party spectacles through which you view it. _legal fundamental liberty_, in an epistle from selburne to lenthal, is "reprinted in the year of hypocritical and abominable dissimulation, ;" on the other hand, _the little bible_ of that militant soldier captain butler is "printed in the first year of england's liberty, ." _the last will and testament of sir john presbyter_ is "printed in the year of jubilee, ." _a new meeting of ghosts at tyburn_, in which oliver, bradshaw, and peters figure, exhibits its royal tendency, being "printed in the year of the rebellious phanatick's downfall, ." "printed at n., with licence," is the cautious imprint of a republication of _doleman's conference_ in . _a proper project to startle fools_ is "printed in a land where self's cry'd up, and zeal's cry'd down, ." _the impartial accountant, wherein it is demonstratively made known how to pay the national debt, and that without a new tax, or any inconveniency to the people_, is "printed for a proper person," and, i may add, can be had of a _certain person_, if mr. gladstone will come down with an adequate consideration for the secret! these accountants are all mysterious,--you would think they were plotting to empty the treasury rather than to fill it; another says his _essay upon national credit_ is "printed by a. r. in bond's stables!" thomas scott, the english minister at utrecht, published, among other oddities, _vox coelis; or newes from heaven, being imaginary conversations there between henry viii.(!), edward vi, prince henrie, and others_, "printed in elysium, ." edward raban, an englishman, who set up a press in the far north, published an edition of lady culros' _godlie dreame_, and finding that no title commanded such respect among the canny scots as that of _laird_, announced the book to be "imprinted at aberdene, by e. r., laird of letters, ." _the instructive library_, containing a list of apocryphal books, and a satire upon some theological authors of that day, is "printed for the man in the moon, ." _the oxford sermon versified_, by jacob gingle, esq., is "printed by tim. atkins at dr. sacheverell's head, near st. paul's, ." "printed, and to be had at the pamphlett shops of london and westminster," was a common way of circulating productions of questionable morals or loyalty. the chapmen, or flying-stationers, had many curious dodges of this kind to give a relish to their literary wares: _the secret history of queen elizabeth and the earl of essex_ derived additional interest in the eyes of their country customers by its being "printed at cologne for will-with-the-wisp, at the sign of the moon in the ecliptic, ." the poems of that hard-headed jacobite, alexander robertson of struan, are "printed at edinburgh for charles alexander, and sold at his house in geddes close, where subscribers may call for their copies, circa ."[ ] _the new dialogues of the dead_ are "printed for d. y., at the foot of parnassus hill, ." professor tenant's poem of _papistry stormed_ imitates the old typographers, it being "imprentit at edinbrogh be oliver and boyd, anno ." a rare old book is goddard's { } _mastiffe whelpe_, "imprinted amongst the antipodes, and are to be sould where they are to be bought." another, by the same author, is a _satirical dialogue_, "imprinted in the low countreyes for all such gentlemen as are not altogether idle, nor yet well occupyed." these were both, i believe, libels upon the fair sex. john stewart, otherwise _walking stewart_, was in the habit of dating his extraordinary publications "in the year of man's retrospective knowledge, by astronomical calculation, ;" "in the year of astronomical history in the chinese tables;" and "in the fifth year of intellectual existence." "mulberry hill, printed at crazy castle," is an imprint of j. h. stevenson. _the button makers' jests_, by geo. king. of st. james', is "printed for henry frederick, near st. james' square;" a coarse squib upon royalty. one fisher entitled his play _thou shall not steal; the school of ingratitude_. thinking the managers of drury lane had communicated his performance, under the latter name, to reynolds the dramatist, and then rejected it, he published it thus: "printed for the curious and literary--shall we say? coincidence! refused by the managers, and made use of in the farce of 'good living,'" published by reynolds in . _harlequin premier, as it is daily acted_, is a hit at the ministry of the period, "printed at brentafordia, capital of barataria, and sold by all the booksellers in the province, ." "printed merrily, and may be read unhappily, betwixt hawke and buzzard, ," is the _satisfactory_ imprint of _the downefall of temporising poets, unlicensed printers, upstart booksellers, tooting mercuries, and bawling hawkers_. books have sometimes been published for behoof of particular individuals; old daniel rodgers, in his _matrimonial honour_, announces "a part of the impression to be vended for the use and benefit of ed. minsheu, gent., ." how full of interest is the following, "printed at sheffield by james montgomery, in the hart's head, !" a poor man, by name j. r. adam, meeting with reverses, enlisted, and after serving abroad for a period, returned but to exchange the barrack-room for the glasgow lunatic asylum. possessing a poetical vein, he indulged it here in soothing his own and his companions' misery, by circulating his verses on detached scraps, printed by himself. these on his enlargement he collected together, and gave to the world in , under the title of the _gartnavel minstrel_, a neat little square volume of pages, exceedingly well executed, and bearing the imprint "glasgow, composed, printed, and published by j. r. adam;" under any circumstances a most creditable specimen, but under those i have described "a _rara avis_ in literature and art." the list might be spun out, but i fear i have exceeded limits already with my dry subject. j. o. [footnote : g. chalmers ascribed this to one "balantyne." in lockhart's _memoirs_, lond. , mr. john balantyne, the minister of lanark, is noticed as the most uncompromising opponent of the union. i shall therefore assign the _comical history_ to him until i find a better claimant.] [footnote : this resembles in its doggrel style _scotland's glory and her shame_, and _a poem on the burgess oath_. can any of your correspondents, familiar with scottish typographical curiosities, tell me who was the author, or authors, of these?] [footnote : _a phoenix, or the solemn league and covenant, &c._, mo. pp. , with a frontispiece representing charles burning the book of the solemn league and covenant, above the flames from which hovers a phoenix.] [footnote : i have not met with the name of such a bookseller elsewhere, and would like to hear the history of this book; it was again published with the addition of _the martial achievements of the robertsons of struan_, and in imitation of the original is printed at edinburgh by and for alexander robertson, in morison's close, where subscribers may call for their copies ( ?).] * * * * * legends of the co. clare. in the west of clare, for many miles the country seems to consist of nothing but fields of grey limestone flags, which gives it an appearance of the greatest desolation: cromwell is reported to have said of it, "that there was neither wood in it to hang a man, nor water to drown him, nor earth to bury him!" the soil is not, however, by any means as barren as it looks; and the following legend is related of the way in which an ancestor of one of the most extensive landed proprietors in the county obtained his estates. 'twas on a dismal evening in the depth of winter, that one of cromwell's officers was passing through this part of the country; his courage and gallantry in the "good cause" had obtained for him a large grant of land in clare, and he was now on his journey to it. picturing to himself a land flowing with milk and honey, his disappointment may therefore be imagined when, at the close of a weary day's journey, he found himself bewildered amid such a scene of desolation. from the inquiries he had made at the last inhabited place he had passed, he was led to conclude that he could not be far distant from the "land of promise," where he might turn his sword into a pruning-hook, and rest from all his toils and dangers. could this be the place of which his imagination had formed so fair a vision? hours had elapsed since he had seen a human being; and, as the solitude added to the dismal appearance of the road, bitterly did the veteran curse the folly that had enticed him into the land of bogs and "papistrie." troublous therefore as the times were, the tramp of an approaching steed sent a thrill of pleasure through the heart of the puritan. the rider soon joined him, and as he seemed peaceably disposed, they entered into conversation; and the stranger soon became acquainted with the old soldier's errand, and the disappointment he had experienced. artfully taking advantage of the occasion, the stranger, who professed an acquaintance with the country, used every means to aggravate the disgust of his fellow-traveller, till the heart of the cromwellian, already half overcome by fatigue and hunger, sank within him; and at last he agreed that the land should be transferred to the stranger for a butt of claret and the horse on which he rode. as soon as this important matter was settled, the stranger conducted his new friend to a house of entertainment in a neighbouring hamlet, whose ruins are still called the claret house of k----. a plentiful, though coarse, entertainment soon smoked on the board; and as the eye of the puritan wandered over the "creature comforts," his heart rose, and he forgot his disappointment and his fatigue. it is even said that he dispensed with nearly ten of the twenty minutes which he usually bestowed on the benediction; { } but be this as it may, ere he retired to his couch--"vino ciboque gravatus"--the articles were signed, and the courteous stranger became possessed of one of the finest estates in the county! francis robert davies. * * * * * canting arms. in the introduction to a work entitled _a collection of coats of arms borne by the nobility and gentry of the county of gloucester_, london, j. good, . new bond street, , and which i believe was written by sir george nayler, it is asserted that-- "_armes parlantes_, or canting arms, were not common till the commencement of the seventeenth century, when they prevailed under the auspices of king james." now doubtless they were _more_ common in the seventeenth century, but i am of opinion that there are many instances of them _centuries_ previous to the reign of king james; as, for example, in a roll of arms of the time of edward ii. (a.d. - ), published by sir harris nicolas from a manuscript in the british museum, there are the following: "sire peres corbet, d'or, à un _corbyn_ de sable. sire johan le fauconer, d'argent, à iii _faucouns_ de goules. sire johan heroun, d'azure, à iii _herouns_ d'argent. sire richard de cokfeld, d'azure, à une crois e iiii _coks_ d'or. sire richard de barlingham, de goules, à iii ours (_bears_) d'argent. sire johan de swyneford, d'argent, à un cheveroun de sable, à iii testes de _cenglers_ (_swines' heads_) d'or." sire ammon de lucy bore three _luces_; sire william bernak a fers between three barnacles, &c. there are many other examples in the same work, but as i think i have made my communication quite long enough, i forbear giving them. cid. * * * * * minor notes. _selleridge._--the story of the author who was charged by his publisher for _selleridge_, and thought it for selling his books, whereas it was storing them in a cellar, is given by thomas moore in his _diary_, lately published, upon the authority of coleridge. it is to be found, much better told, in coleridge's _biographia literaria_. uneda. philadelphia. _tombs of bishops._--the following bishops, whose bodies were interred elsewhere, had or have tombs in the several cathedrals in which their hearts were buried:--william de longchamp, william de kilkenny, cardinal louis de luxembourg, at ely; peter de aquâ blancâ, at aquablanca, in savoy; thomas cantilupe, at ashridge, bucks (hereford); ethelmar (winton), at winchester; thomas savage (york), at macclesfield; robert stichelles (durham), at durham. mackenzie walcott, m.a. durham. _lines on visiting the portico of beau nash's palace, bath._-- and here he liv'd, and here he reign'd, and hither oft shall strangers stray; to muse with joy on native worth, and mourn those pleasures fled for aye. alas! that he, whose days were spent in catering for the public weal, should, in the eventide of life, be destin'd sad distress to feel. an ever open heart and hand, with ear ne'er closed to sorrow's tale, exalts the man, and o'er his faults draws the impenetrable veil. l. m. thornton. bath. _acrostic in ash church, kent._--the following acrostic is from a brass in ash church, kent. it is perhaps curious only from the fact of its being unusual to inscribe this kind of verse on sepulchral monuments. the capital letters at the commencement of each line are given as in the original: "j john brooke of the parish of ashe o only he is nowe gone. h his days are past, his corps is layd n now under this marble stone. b brookstrete he was the honor of, r robd now it is of name, o only because he had no sede o or children to have the same; k knowing that all must passe away, e even when god will, none can denay. "he passed to god in the yere of grace one thousand fyve hundredth ffower score and two it was, the sixteenthe daye of january, i tell now playne, the five-and-twentieth yere of elizabeth rayne." fras. brent. sandgate. _a hint to publishers._--the present period is remarkable for its numerous reprints of our poets and standard writers. however excellent these may be, there is often a great drawback, viz. that one must purchase an author's entire works, and cannot get a favourite poem or treatise separately. what i would suggest is, that a separate title-page be prefixed to every poem or treatise in an { } author's works, and that they be sold collectively or separately at the purchaser's option. thus few would encumber themselves with the entire works of dryden, but many would gladly purchase some of his poems if they could be had separately. these remarks are still more applicable to encyclopædias. the _encycl. metropol._ was a step in the right direction; and henceforth we may hope to have each article sold separately in _octavo_ volumes. is there no chance, amid all these reprints, of our seeing heywood, crashaw, southwell, habington, daniel, or drummond of hawthornden? mariconda. _uhland, the german poet._--mr. mitchell, in his speech at new york, is said to have stated that uhland, the german poet, had become an exile, and was now in ohio. this is a mistake; for uhland is now living in his native würtemberg, and is reported in the papers to have quite recently declined a civic honour proposed to be conferred on him by the king of prussia at the suggestion of baron humboldt. j. m. oxford. _virgilian inscription for an infant school._-- "... auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens, infantumque animæ flentes, in limine primo." _Ã�n._ vi. . anon. * * * * * queries. the shippen family--john white. the historical society of pennsylvania having requested me to edit certain mss., i should be very much indebted to any one for information, either through your columns, or addressed to me directly, concerning the following persons or their ancestry. edward shippen, son of william, born in yorkshire, near pontefract or wakefield, as supposed, ; emigrated to boston , was a member of the ancient and honourable artillery company, afterwards turned quaker, was publicly whipt for his faith (see thomas story's _journal_, quoted in southey's _common-place book_), removed to philadelphia, elected speaker , first mayor , &c., died . his son's family bible entries (now in possession of colonel jno. hare powel) say that his (the son's) relations in england were his "uncle william's children," viz. robert shippen, doctor of divinity; william shippen, doctor of laws and a parliament man; edward, a physician; john, a spanish merchant. the uncle william thus mentioned is conjectured to have been the rector of stockport, and the "parliament man" to have been his son, "downright shippen" (lord mahon's _hist. eng._, three vols.)--a conjecture strengthened by another mem., "john, son of the rector of st. mary's parish, stockport, was baptized july , a.d. . edward shippen's daughter, margaret, married john jekyll, collector of the port of boston, said to have been a younger brother of sir joseph; and a descendant, daughter of chief justice shippen, married general benedict arnold, then a distinguished officer in the american army. mr. shippen lived in great style (watson's _annals_, &c.), and among his descendants were, and are, many persons of consequence and distinction. besides information as to mr. shippen's ancestors, i should be glad to learn something of his kinsfolk, and of the jekyll and arnold branches. sabine's (_loyalists_) account of the latter is imperfect, and perhaps not very just. john white, chief justice shippen, whilst a law student in london, writes, - , as though mr. white was socially a man of dignified position. he was a man of large fortune; his sister married san. swift, who emigrated to this state. his portrait, by reynolds, represents a gentleman past middle age, whose costume and appearance are those of a person of refined and elegant education. his letters were destroyed by fire some years since. the china and silver ware, which belonged to him, have the following arms: "gules, a border sable, charged with seven or eight estoiles gold; on a canton ermines a lion rampant sable. crest, a bird, either a stork, a heron, or an ostrich." the copy inclosed is taken from the arms on the china; but our heralds' college (_i.e._ an intelligent engraver, who gave me the foregoing description) says, that on the silver the crest is "a stork close." thos. balch. philadelphia. * * * * * books issued in parts and not completed. from time to time various productions, many valuable, others the reverse, have issued from the press in parts or numbers; some have been completed, while others have only reached a few numbers. it would be desirable to ascertain what works have been finished, and what have not. i have therefore transmitted a note as to several that have fallen in my way, and should be happy for any information about them: " . john bull magazine, vo., london, . of this i possess four numbers. a friend of mine has also the four numbers, and, like myself, attaches great value to them, from the ability of many of the articles. one article, entitled "instructions to missionaries," is equal to any thing from the pen of t. hood. may it not have been written by him? { } . portraits of the worthies of westminster hall, with their autographs, being fac-similes of original sketches found in the note-book of a briefless barrister. london: thomas and william boone, . strand. small vo. part i. price twenty shillings. twenty sketches (very clever). . dictionary of terms employed by the french in anatomy, physiology, pathology, &c., by shirley palmer, m.d. vo., . birmingham: barlow. london: longman & co. two parts. stops at the letter h. . quarterly biographical magazine, no. i., may, . vo. london: hunt & hart. . complete illustrations of the british fresh-water fishes. london: w. wood. vo. three numbers. . new and compendious history of the county of warwick, &c. by william smith, f.r.s.a. to. birmingham: w. evans. london: j. t. hinton, . warwick square. . ten numbers, to be completed in twelve. on my copy there is written, "never finished." is this the case? . fishes of ceylon. by john whitchurch bennet, esq., f.h.s. london: longman & co. . to. two numbers. a guinea each. j. m. * * * * * minor queries. "_hovd maet of laet._"--will you kindly give me a translation of the above, which is in the corner of an old dutch panel painting in the style of ostade and teniers, jun., in my possession? reading. _hand in church_ (vol. viii., p. .).--what is the hand projecting under chancel arch, brighton old church? a. c. _egger moths._--what is the derivation of the word "egger," as applied to several species of moths? mountjoy. _the yorkshire dales_ (vol. ii., p. .).--is the guide to the above by j. h. dixon published? r. w. d. _ciss, cissle, &c._--can any of your readers give me any authority for a written usage of these words, or any one of them: _ciss_, _siss_, _cissle_ or _cizzle_? they are often heard, but i have never seen them written, nor can i find them in any dictionary. a. _inn signs, &c._--can any reader of "n. & q." supply information respecting inn and other signs; or refer to any printed books, or accessible mss., relating to the subject? alphege. _smiths and robinsons._--could any of your correspondents inform me what are the arms of miles smith, bishop of gloucester, those of the smiths of willoughby, those of the smiths of crudely, in lancashire, and those of the robinsons of the north riding of yorkshire? also, in what church, and in what year, did lady elizabeth robinson, otherwise known as betty of the boith, serve the office of churchwarden? john h. r. smith, jun. _coin of carausius._--a brass coin has lately come into my possession, bearing on the obverse the head and inscription: "imp. caravsius. p. p. avg." and on the reverse, a female figure, with spear and a branch: "pax. aug. s. p. mlxxi." i believe it to have been struck by carausius, an usurper of the end of the third century, and my query is as to the meaning of the letters mlxxi. some friends assert them to be the roman numerals, making the year , and conclude it to have been struck at that date. c. g. paddington. _verelst the painter._--can any of your readers inform me who was jo. verelst? i have in my possession a picture bearing the signature, with the addition of p. . the celebrated artists of that name mentioned in the _dictionary of painters_ cannot be the same. celcrena. _latin treatise on whipping school-boys._--what is the name of a modern latin author, who has written a treatise on the antiquity of the practice of whipping school-boys? the work is alluded to in the _history of the flagellants_, p. ., edit. , but the author's name is not given. betula. dublin. _whitewashing in churches._--can any of your correspondents inform me at what period, and about what year it became the custom to cover over with whitewash the many beautiful works of art, both in stone and wood, which have of late years been brought to light in our cathedrals and churches in the course of renovation? k. _surname "kynoch."_--can any of your correspondents supply any heraldic or genealogical information regarding this name, a few families of which are to be found in moray and aberdeen shires, north britain? j. _dates of published works._--is it possible to ascertain the exact time of publication of any book, for instance in the year , either at stationers' hall or elsewhere? d. _saw-dust recipe._--there is a recipe existing somewhere for converting saw-dust into palatable { } human food. can you tell me what it is, or where it is to be found? g. d. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _branks, or gossips' bridles._--walton church contains one of those strange instruments with which our ancestors used to punish those dames who were too free with the use of their tongues. they were called hanks [branks], or gossips' bridles, and were intended to inclose the head, being fastened behind by a padlock, and having attached to it a small piece of iron which literally "held the tongue." thus accoutred, the unhappy culprit was marched through the village till she gave unequivocal signs of repentance and humiliation. can any one give some account of this curious instrument? george hodges. oxford. [fosbroke says that "the brank is a sugar-loaf cap made of iron hooping, with a cross at top, and a flat piece projecting inwards to lie upon the tongue. it was put upon the head of scolds, padlocked behind, and a string annexed, by which a man led them through the towns." (see also brand's _popular antiquities_, vol. iii. p. ., bohn's edition.) engravings of them will be found in plot's _history of staffordshire_, p. ., and in brands _history of newcastle_, vol. ii. p. . in the _historical description of the tower of london_, p. ., edit. , occurs the following libellous squib on the fair sex: "among the curiosities of the tower is a collar of torment, which, say your conductors, used formerly to be put about the women's neck that cuckolded their husbands, or scolded them when they came home late; but that custom is left off now-a-days, to prevent quarrelling for collars, there not being smiths enough to make them, as most married men are sure to want them at one time or another." waldron, in his _description of the isle of man_, p. ., thus notices this instrument of punishment: "i know nothing in the manx statutes or punishments in particular but this, which is, that if any person be convicted of uttering a scandalous report, and cannot make good the assertion, instead of being fined or imprisoned, they are sentenced to stand in the market-place, on a sort of scaffold erected for that purpose, with their tongue in a noose made of leather, which they call a _bridle_, and having been exposed to the view of the people for some time, on the taking off this machine, they are obliged to say three times, 'tongue, thou hast lyed.'"] _not caring a fig for anything._--what is the origin of this expression? j. h. chateau. philadelphia. [nares informs us that the real origin of this expression may be found in stevens and pineda's dictionaries under _higa_; and, in fact, the same phrase and allusion pervaded all modern europe: as, _far le fiche_, ital.; _faire la figue_, fr.; _die feigen weisen_, germ., _de vÿghe setten_, dutch. (see du cange, in _ficha_.) johnson says, "to _fig_, in spanish, _higas dar_, is to insult by putting the thumb between the fore and middle finger. from this spanish custom we yet say in contempt, _a fig for you_." to this explanation mr. douce has added the following note: "dr. johnson has properly explained this phrase; but it should be added, that it is of italian origin. when the milanese revolted against the emperor frederick barbarossa, they placed the empress his wife upon a mule with her head towards the tail, and ignominiously expelled her their city. frederick afterwards besieged and took the place, and compelled every one of his prisoners, on pain of death, to take with his teeth a _fig_ from the posteriors of a mule. the party was at the same time obliged to repeat to the executioner the words _ecco la fica_. from this circumstance _far la fica_ became a term of derision, and was adopted by other nations. the french say likewise, _faire la figue_."] _b. c. y._--can you give me any information respecting the famous b. c. y. row, as it was called, which occurred about fifty years ago? a newspaper was started expressly to explain the meaning of the letters, which said it was "beware of the catholic yoke;" but it was wrong. h. y. [these "no-popery" hieroglyphics first appeared in the reign of charles ii. during the debates on the exclusion bill, and were chalked over all parts of whitehall and the houses of parliament. o b. c. y. was then the inscription, which meant, "o beware of catholic york." on their re-appearance in the y. was much taller than the b. c.; but the use and meaning at this time of these initials still remains a query.] _earl nugent's poems._--i would be much obliged for any information relating to the poems written by robert, afterwards earl nugent, between the years and . it is supposed that they were first published in some periodical, and afterwards appeared in a collected form. james f. ferguson. dublin. [a volume of his poems was published anonymously by dodsley, and entitled _odes and epistles_; containing an ode on his own conversion from popery: london, , vo., nd edit. there are also other pieces by him in dodsley's collection, and the _new foundling hospital for wit_. he also published _faith_, a poem; a strange attempt to overturn the epicurean doctrine by that of the trinity; and _verses to the queen_; with a new year's gift of irish manufacture, , to.] _huntbach mss._--can you tell me where the huntbach mss. now lie? shaw, in his _history of staffordshire_, drew largely from them. ursus. [dr. wilkes's collections, with those of fielde, huntbach, loxdale, and shaw, as also the engraved plates and drawings, published and unpublished, relative to the _history of staffordshire_, were, in the year , in the possession of william hamper, f.s.a., deritend house, birmingham.] { } _holy loaf money._--in dr. whitaker's _whalley_, p. ., mention is made of holy loaf money. what is meant by this? t. i. w. [this seems to be some ecclesiastical due payable on hlaf-mass, or loaf-mass, commonly called lammas-day (august st). see somner and junius. it was called loaf or bread-mass, because it was a day of oblation of grain, or of bread made of new wheat; and was also the holiday of st. peter ad vincula, when peter-pence were paid. du cange likewise mentions the _panis benedictus_, and that money was given by the recipients of it on the following occasion:--"since the catechumens," says he, "before baptism could neither partake of the divine mysteries, nor consequently of the eucharist, a loaf was consecrated and given to them by the priest, whereby they were prepared for receiving the body of christ."] _st. philip's, bristol._--can you inform me when the church of st. philip, bristol, was made parochial, and in what year the priory of benedictines, mentioned by william de worcester in connexion with this church, was dissolved, and when founded? e. w. godwin. [neither dugdale nor tanner could discover any notices of this priory, except the traditionary account preserved in william of worcester, p. .: "---- juxta cimiterium et ecclesiam sancti philippi, ubi quondam ecclesia religiosorum et prioratus scituatur." it was probably a cell to the tewkesbury monastery; and the historians of bristol state, that the exact time when it became parochial is not known; but it was very early, being mentioned in gaunt's deeds before the year ; and, like st. james's, became a parish church through the accession of inhabitants.] _foreign universities._--is there any history of the university of bologna? or where can be found any account of the foundation and constitution of the foreign universities in general? j. c. h. r. [our correspondent will find some account of the foreign universities, especially of bologna, in the valuable article "universities," _encyclopædia britannica_, vol. xxi., with numerous references to other works containing notices of them. consult also "a discovrse not altogether vnprofitable nor vnpleasant for such as are desirous to know the situation and customes of forraine cities without trauelling to see them: containing a discovrse of all those citties which doe flourish at this day priuiledged vniuersities. by samuel lewkenor. london, , to."] * * * * * replies. death-warnings in ancient families. (vol. ix. p. .) the remarks of john o' the ford of malta deserve to be followed up by all your correspondents who, at least, admit the possibility of "communications with the unseen world." in order to facilitate the acquisition of the requisite amount of facts, i beg to apprise john o' the ford, and your other correspondents and readers generally, that a society was founded about a year ago, and is now in existence, composed of members of the university of cambridge; the objects of which will be best gleaned from the following extract from the prospectus: "the interest and importance of a serious and earnest inquiry into the nature of the phenomena which are vaguely called 'supernatural,' will scarcely be questioned. many persons believe that all such apparently mysterious occurrences are due, either to purely natural causes, or to delusions of the mind or senses, or to wilful deception. but there are many others who believe it possible that the beings of the unseen world may manifest themselves to us in extraordinary ways; and also are unable otherwise to explain many facts, the evidence for which cannot be impeached. both parties have obviously a common interest in wishing cases of supposed 'supernatural' agency to be thoroughly sifted.... the main impediment to investigations of this kind is the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient number of clear and well-attested cases. many of the stories current in tradition, or scattered up and down in books, may be exactly true; others must be purely fictitious; others again, probably the greater number, consist of a mixture of truth and falsehood. but it is idle to examine the significance of an alleged fact of this nature, until the trustworthiness, and also the extent of the evidence for it, are ascertained. impressed with this conviction, some members of the university of cambridge are anxious, if possible, to form an extensive collection of authenticated cases of supposed 'supernatural' agency.... from all those who may be inclined to aid them, they request written communications, with full details of persons, times, and places." the prospectus closes with the following classification of phenomena: "i. appearances of angels. ( .) good. ( ) evil.--ii. spectral appearances of--( .) the beholder himself (_e.g._ 'fetches' or 'doubles'). ( .) other men, recognised or not. (i.) before their death (_e.g._ 'second sight.') (a.) to one person. (b.) to several persons. (ii.) at the moment of their death. (a.) to one person. (b.) to several persons. . in the same place. . in several places. i. simultaneously. ii. successively. (iii.) after their death. in connexion with--(a.) particular places remarkable for-- . good deeds. . evil deeds. (b.) particular times (_e.g._ on the anniversary of any event, or at fixed seasons). (c.) particular events (_e.g._ before calamity or death). (d.) particular persons (_e.g._ haunted murderers).--iii. 'shapes' falling under neither of the former classes. ( .) recurrent. in connexion with--(i.) particular families (_e.g._ the 'banshee'). (ii.) particular places (_e.g._ the 'mawth dog'). ( .) occasional. (i.) visions signifying events, past, present, or future. (a.) by actual representation (_e.g._ 'second sight'). (b.) by symbol. (ii.) visions of a fantastical nature.--iv. dreams remarkable for { } coincidences. ( .) in their occurrence. (i.) to the same person several times. (ii.) in the same form to several persons. (a.) simultaneously. (b.) successively. ( .) with facts. (i.) past. (a.) previously unknown. (b.) formerly known, but forgotten. (ii.) present, but unknown. (iii.) future.--v. feelings. a definite consciousness of a fact. ( .) past: an impression that an event has happened. ( .) present: sympathy with a person suffering or acting at a distance. ( .) future: presentiment.--vi. physical effects. ( .) sounds. (i.) with the use of ordinary means (_e.g._ ringing of bells). (ii.) without the use of any apparent means (_e.g._ voices). ( .) impressions of touch (_e.g._ breathings on the person). "every narrative of 'supernatural' agency which may be communicated, will be rendered far more instructive if accompanied by any particulars as to the observer's natural temperament (_e.g._ sanguine, nervous, &c.), constitution (_e.g._ subject to fever, somnambulism, &c.), and state at the time (_e.g._ excited in mind or body, &c.)." as i have no authority to give names, i can do no more than say that, though not a member of the society, i shall be happy to receive communications and forward them to the secretary. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. [_the night side of nature_ would seem to indicate that its ingenious, yet sober and judicious, authoress had forestalled the "folk-lore" investigations of the projected cambridge society. probably some of its members will not rest satisfied with a simple collection of phenomena relating to communications with the unseen world, but will exclaim with hamlet-- "thou com'st in such a questionable shape, that i will _speak_ to thee!" and will endeavour to ascertain the _philosophy_ of those communications, as newton did with the recorded data and phenomena of the mechanical or material universe. whether the transcripts of some of the voluminous unpublished writings of dionysius andreas freher, deposited in the british museum (add. mss. - .), will assist the inquirer in his investigations, we cannot confidently state; but in them he will find continual references to what jacob böhme terms "the eternal and astral magic, or the laws, powers and properties of the great universal will-spirit of the two co-eternal worlds of darkness and light, and of this third or temporary principle." freher was the principal illustrator of the writings of the celebrated jacob böhme, now exciting so much interest among the german literati; and, if we may credit william law, it was from the principles of this remarkable man that sir isaac newton derived his theory of fundamental powers. (see "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. .) but on this and other matters we may doubtless expect to be well informed by sir david brewster, in his new "memoir of the life, writings, and discoveries of sir isaac newton." according to law, the two-fold spiritual universe stands as near, and in a similar relation to this material mixed world, of darkness and light, evil and good, death and life, or rather the latter to the former, as water does to the gases of which it is essentially compounded.--ed.] * * * * * starvation. (vol. ix., p. .) until your correspondent q. designated the word _starvation_ as "an americanism," i never had the least suspicion that it was obtained from that source. on the contrary, i remember to have heard some thirty or forty years ago, that it was first employed by harry dundas, the first viscount melville, who might have spoken with a brogue, but whose despatches were in good intelligible english. i once asked his son, the second viscount, whose correctness must be fresh in the recollection of many of your readers, if the above report was true, and he seemed to think that his father had coined the word, and that it immediately got into general circulation. my impression is, that it was already current during the great scarcity at the end of the last, and the commencement of this century; but the dictionary makers, those "who toil at the lower employments of life," as old sam johnson termed it, are not apt to be alert in seizing on fresh words, and "starvation" has shared in the general neglect. if you permit me i will, however, afford them my humble aid, by transcribing some omitted words which i find noted in a little walker's _dictionary_, printed in , and which has been my companion in many pilgrimages through many distant lands. many of them may by this time have found their way even into dictionaries, but i copy them as i find them. fiat. lichen. dawdle. compete (verb). starvation. cupel (_see_ test). stationery (writing materials). chubby. mister (form of address). iodine. disorganise. growl (substantive). avadavat (school for scandal). apograph. flange. effete. jungle. celt (formed of touchstone). minivar. unhesitating. remittent. tannin. curry (substantive). uncompromised. duchess. resile (verb). gist. nascent. dictum. retinence. phonetic. lacunæ. extradition. laches. fulcrum. statics. Ã�sthetical. complicity. n.l. melville. however "strange it may appear, it is nevertheless quite true," that this word, "_starvation_ { } (from the verb), state of perishing from cold or hunger," is to be found, and thus defined, in "an appendix to dr. johnson's english dictionary," published along with the latter, by william maver, in vols. vo., glasgow, , now forty-five years ago. in his preface to this appendix he says: "in the compilation the editor is principally indebted to mr. mason, whose labours in supplying the deficiencies of dr. johnson's dictionary have so much enriched the vocabulary of our language, that every purchaser of the quarto edition should avail himself of a copy of mr. mason's supplement." whether or not mr. maver drew the word "starvation" from mr. mason's supplement, i cannot say; but from old date in the west of scotland it has been, and is still, popularly and extensively used in the exact senses given to it by mr. maver as above. i think it much more likely to be of scottish than of american origin, and that mr. webster may have picked it up from some of our natives in this country. i may add, that in early life i often spoke with mr. maver, who was a most intelligent literary man. in he followed the business of a bookseller in glasgow, but from some cause was not fortunate, and afterwards followed that of a book auctioneer, and may be dead fully thirty years ago. his edition of, and appendix to, johnson were justly esteemed; the latter "containing several thousand words omitted by dr. johnson, and such as have been introduced by good writers since his time," with "the pronunciation according to the present practice of the best orators and orthoepists" of the whole language. g. n. this word was first introduced into the english language by mr. dundas, in a debate in the house of commons on american affairs, in . from it he obtained the nick-name of "starvation dundas." (vide the _correspondence between horace walpole and mason_, vol. ii. pp. . . ., edition .) the word is of irregular formation, the root starve being old english, while the termination _-ation_ is latin. e. g. r. the word may perhaps be originally american; but if the following anecdote be correct, it was introduced into this country long before webster compiled his _dictionary_: "the word _starvation_ was first introduced into the english language by mr. dundas, in a speech in on an american debate, and hence applied to him as a nickname, 'starvation dundas.' 'i shall not,' said he, 'wait for the advent of starvation from edinburgh to settle my judgment.'"--_letters of horace walpole and mason_, vol. ii. p. . j. r. m., m.a. throughout this part of the country, "starved" always refers to cold, never to hunger. to express the latter the word "hungered" is always used: thus, many were "like to have been hungered" in the late severe weather and hard times. this is clearly the scriptural phrase "an hungred." to "starve" is to perish; and it is a common expression in the south, "i am quite perished with cold;" which answers to our northern one, "i am quite starved." h. t. g. hull. i cannot ascertain the period of the adoption of the unhappily common word "starvation" in our language, but it is much older than your correspondent q. supposes. it occurs in the _rolliad_: "'tis but to fire another sykes, to plan some new _starvation_ scheme for hindostan." m. * * * * * osmotherley in yorkshire. (vol. viii., p. .) r. w. carter gives an account of folk lore in reference to osmotherley, and expresses a desire to know if his statement is authentic. i have endeavoured to make myself acquainted with yorkshire folk lore, and beg to inform mr. carter that his statement approaches as near the truth as possible. in my early days i frequently had recited to me, by a respectable farmer who had been educated on the borders of roseberry (and who obtained it from the rustics of the neighbourhood), a poetical legend, in which all the particulars of this curious tradition are embodied. it is as follows: "in cleveland's vale a village stands, though no great prospect it commands; as pleasantly for situation as any village in the nation. great ayton it is call'd by name; but though i am no man of fame, yet do not take me for a fool, because i live near to this town; but let us take a walk and see this noted hill call'd roseberry, compos'd of many a cragged stone, resembling all one solid cone, which, monumental-like, have stood ever since the days of noah's flood. here cockles ... petrified, as by the curious have been tried, have oft been found upon its top, 'tis thought the deluge had cast up. 'tis mountains high (you may see that), though not compar'd with ararat. yet oft at sea it doth appear, } to ships that northern climates steer, } a land-mark, when the weather's clear. } if many ships at sea there be, a charming prospect then you'll see; don't think i fib, when this you're reading, they look like sheep on mountains feeding. { } then turn your eyes on the other hand, as pleasing views you may command. for thirty miles or more, they say, } the country round you may survey, } when the air's serene and clear the day. } there is a cave near to its top, vulgarly call'd the cobbler's shop, by nature form'd out of the rock, and able to withstand a shock. on the north side there is a well, relating which this fame doth tell: prince oswy had his nativity } computed by astrology, } that he unnatural death should die. } his mother to this well did fly } to save him from sad destiny; } but one day sleeping in the shade, supposing all secure was made, lo! sorrow soon gave place to joy; this well sprung up and drown'd the boy." it is confidently stated, in the neighbourhood of osmotherley and roseberry, that prince oswy and his mother were both interred at osmotherley, from whence comes the name of the place, os-by-his-mother-lay, or osmotherley. thomas gill. easingwold. * * * * * echo poetry. (vol. ix., p. .) as another and historically-interesting specimen of echo poetry, perhaps the readers of "n. & q." may not dislike to see preserved in your pages the following translation from the french. the original publication, it is said, exposed the bookseller, palm of nuremberg, to trial by court-martial. he was sentenced to be shot at braunau in --a severe retribution for a few lines of echo poetry. it is entitled "_bonaparte and the echo._ _bon._ alone, i am in this sequestered spot not overheard. _echo._ heard! _bon._ 'sdeath! who answers me? what being is there nigh? _echo._ i. _bon._ now i guess! to report my accents echo has made her task. _echo._ ask. _bon._ knowest thou whether london will henceforth continue to resist? _echo._ resist. _bon._ whether vienna and other courts will oppose me always? _echo._ always. _bon._ o, heaven! what must i expect after so many reverses? _echo._ reverses. _bon._ what? should i, like a coward vile, to compound be reduced? _echo._ reduced. _bon._ after so many bright exploits be forced to restitution? _echo._ restitution. _bon._ restitution of what i've got by true heroic feats and martial address? _echo._ yes. _bon._ what will be the fate of so much toil and trouble? _echo._ trouble. _bon._ what will become of my people, already too unhappy? _echo._ happy. _bon._ what should i then be, that i think myself immortal? _echo._ mortal. _bon._ the whole world is filled with the glory of my name, you know. _echo._ no. _bon._ formerly its fame struck this vast globe with terror. _echo._ error. _bon._ sad echo, begone! i grow infuriate! i die! _echo._ die!" it may be added that napoleon himself (_voice from st. helena_, vol. i. p. .), when asked about the execution of palm, said: "all that i recollect is, that palm was arrested by order of davoust, i believe, tried, condemned, and shot, for having, while the country was in possession of the french and under military occupation, not only excited rebellion amongst the inhabitants, and urged them to rise and massacre the soldiers, but also attempted to instigate the soldiers themselves to refuse obedience to their orders, and to mutiny against their generals. _i believe_ that he met with a fair trial." jas. j. scott. hampstead. * * * * * blackguard. (vol. ix., p. .) in a curious old pamphlet of twenty-three pages, entitled _everybody's business is nobody's business answer'd paragraph by paragraph_, by a committee of women-servants and footmen, london, printed by t. read for the author, and sold by the booksellers of london, and ... price one penny (without date), the following passage occurs: "the next great abuse among us is, that under the notion of cleaning our shoes, above ten thousand wicked, idle, pilfering vagrants are permitted to stroll about our city and suburbs. these are called the _black-guard_, who black your honour's shoes, and incorporate themselves under the title of the _worshipful company of japanners_. but the subject is so low that it becomes disagreeable even to myself; give me leave therefore to propose a way to clear the streets of those vermin, and to substitute as many honest and industrious persons in their stead, who are now starving for want of bread, while these execrable { } villains live (though in rags and nastiness) yet in plenty and luxury." "a(nswer). _the next abuse you see is_, black your shoes, your honour, _and the_ japanners _stick in his stomach. we shall not take upon us to answer for these pitiful scrubs, but in his own words_; the subject is so low, that it becomes disagreeable even to us, _as it does_ even to himself, _and he may_ clear the streets of these vermin _in what manner he pleases if the law will give him leave, for we are in no want of them; we are better provided for already in that respect by our masters and their sons_." g. n. the following lines by charles, earl of dorset and middlesex (the writer of the famous old song "to all you ladies now at land"), are an instance of the application of this term to the turbulent link-boys, against whom the proclamation quoted by mr. cunningham was directed. their date is probably a short time before that of the proclamation: "belinda's sparkling wit and eyes, united cast so fierce a light, as quickly flashes, quickly dies; wounds not the heart, but burns the sight. love is all gentleness, love is all joy; sweet are his looks, and soft his pace: _her_ cupid _is a black-guard boy,_ _that runs his link full in your face_." f. e. e. * * * * * "wurm," in modern german--passage in schiller's "wallenstein." (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .) i believe mr. keightley is perfectly right in his conjecture, so far as schiller is concerned. _wurm_, without any prefix, _had_ the sense of serpent in german. adelung says it was used for all animals without feet who move on their bellies, serpents among the rest. schiller does not seem to have had shakspeare in his thoughts, but the proverb quoted by adelung: "auch das friedlichste würmchen _beiszt_, wenn man es treten will." in this proverb there is evidently an allusion to the serpent, as if of the same nature with the worm; which, as _we_ know, neither _stings_ nor _bites_ the foot which treads on it. shakspeare therefore says "will turn," making a distinction, which schiller does _not_ make. in the translation coleridge evidently had shakspeare in his recollection; but he has not lost schiller's idea, which gives the worm a serpent's _sting_. _vermo_ is applied both by dante and ariosto to the devil, as the "great serpent:" "... i' mi presi al pel del _vermo_ reo, che 'l mondo fora." _inferno_, c. xxxv. "che al gran _vermo_ infernal mette la briglia." _orlando furioso_, c. xlv. st. . e. c. h. * * * * * with deference to c. b. d'o., i consider that _wurm_ is used, in poetry at least, to designate any individual of the tribe of _reptiles_. in the _kampf mit dem drachen_, the rebuke of the "master" is thus conveyed: "du bist ein gott dem volke worden, du kommst ein feind zurück dem orden, und einen schlimmern _wurm_ gebar. dein herz, als deiser _drache_ war, die _schlange_ die das herz vergiftet, die zwietracht und verderben stiftet!" the monster which had yielded to the prowess of the disobedient son of the "order" is elsewhere called "der _wurm_:" "hier hausete _der wurm_ und lag, den raub erspähend nacht und tag;" while the "counterfeit presentment" of it--"alles _bild ich nach genau_"--is delineated in the following lines: "in eine _schlange_ endigt sich, des rückens ungeheure länge halb _wurm_ erschien, halb molch und drache." the word in question is in this passage applicable perhaps to the _serpent_ section, but we have seen that it is used to denote the entire living animal. a. l. middle temple. * * * * * was shakspeare descended from a landed proprietor? (vol. ix., p. .) i am inclined to think that mr. halliwell has been misled by his old law-books, for upon looking at the principal authorities upon this point, i cannot find any such interpretation of the term _inheritance_ as that quoted by him from cowell. the words "the inheritance," in the passage "heretofore the inheritance of william shakspeare, gent., deceased," would most certainly appear to imply that shakspeare inherited the lands as heir-at-law to some one. but, however, it must not be concluded upon this alone that the poet's father was a landed proprietor, as the inheritance could proceed from any other ancestor to whom shakspeare was by law heir. blackstone, in his _commentaries_, has the following: "descent, or hereditary succession, is the title whereby a man on the death of his ancestor acquires his estate by right of representation, as his heir-at-law. an heir, therefore, is he upon whom the law casts the estate immediately on the death of the ancestor: and an estate, so descending to the heirs, is in law called _the inheritance_."--vol. ii. p. . { } again: "purchase, _perquisitio_, taken in its largest and most extensive sense, is thus defined by littleton; the possession of lands and tenements which a man hath by his own act or agreement, and not by descent from any of his ancestors or kindred. in this sense it is contra-distinguished from acquisition by right of blood, and includes every other method of coming to an estate, _but merely that by inheritance_: wherein the title is vested in a person, not by his own act or agreement, but by the single operation of law."--vol. ii. p. . thus it is clear the possession of an estate by inheritance is created only by a person being heir to it; and the mere purchase of it, though it vests the fee simple in him, can but make him the _assign_ and not the _heir_. the nomination (as it would be in the case of a purchase) of an heir to succeed to the inheritance, has no place in the english law; the maxim being "solus deus hæredem facere potest, non homo;" and all other persons, whom a tenant in fee simple may please to appoint as his successors, are not his heirs but his assigns. (see _williams on the law of real property_.) russell gole. mr. halliwell is perfectly right in his opinion as to the expression "heretofore the _inheritance_ of william shakspeare." all that that expression in a deed means is, that shakspeare was the absolute owner of the estate, so that he could sell, grant, or devise it; and in case he did not do so, it would descend to his heir-at-law. the term has no reference to the mode by which the estate came to shakspeare, but only to the nature of the estate he had in the property. and as a man may become possessed of such an estate in land by gift, purchase, devise, adverse possession, &c., as well as by descent from some one else, the mere fact that a man has such an estate affords no inference whatever as to the mode in which he became possessed of it. the authorities on the subject are littleton, section ix., and co. litt., p. . (a), &c. a case is there mentioned so long ago as the edw. iii., where, in an action of waste, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant held "de hæreditate suâ," and it was ruled that, albeit the plaintiff had purchased the reversion, the allegation was sufficient. in very ancient deeds the word is very commonly used where it _cannot_ mean an estate that has descended to an heir, but _must_ mean an estate that may descend to an heir. thus, in a grant i have (without date, and therefore probably before a.d. ), robert de boltone grants land to john, the son of geoffrey, to be held by the said john and his heirs "in feodo et hæreditate in perpetuum." this plainly shows that _hæreditas_ is here used as equivalent to "fee simple." i have also sundry other equally ancient deeds, by which lands were granted to be held "jure hæreditaris," or "liberè, quietè, _hæreditariè_, et in pace." now these expressions plainly indicate, not that the land has descended to the party as heir, but that it is granted to him so absolutely that it may descend to his heir; in other words, that an _estate of inheritance_, and not merely for life or for years, is granted by the deed. s. g. c. mr. halliwell's exposition of the term "inheritance," quoted from the shakspeare deed, is substantially correct, and there can be no question but that the sentence "heretofore the inheritance of william shakspeare, gent., deceased," was introduced in such deed, simply to show that shakspeare was formerly the _absolute owner in fee simple_ of the premises comprised therein, and not to indicate that he had acquired them by descent, either as heir of his father or mother, although he might have done so. as mr. halliwell appears to attach some importance to the word "purchase," as used by cowell in his definition of the term "inheritance," the following explanation of the word "purchase" may not prove unacceptable to him. purchase--"acquisitum, perquisitum, purchasium"--signifies the _buying_ or acquisition of lands and tenements, with _money_, or by taking them by deed or agreement, and _not by descent or hereditary right_. (lit. xii.; reg. orig., .) in law a man is said to come in by purchase when he acquires lands by legal conveyance, and he hath a lawful estate; and a purchase is always intended by title, either from some consideration or by gift (for a gift is in law a purchase), whereas descent from an ancestor cometh of course by act of law; also all contracts are comprehended under this word purchase. (coke on _littleton_, xviii., "doctor and student," c. .) purchase, in opposition to descent, is taken largely: if an estate comes to a man from his ancestors without writing, that is a descent; but where a person takes an estate from an ancestor or others, by deed, will, or gift, and _not as heir-at-law_, that is a purchase. this explanation might be extended, but it is not necessary to carry it farther for the purpose of mr. halliwell's inquiry. charlecote. the word "inheritance" was used for hereditament, the former being merely the french form, the latter the latin. littleton (§ .) says: "et est ascavoir que cest parol (enheritance) nest pas tant solement entendus lou home ad terres ou tenementes per discent de heritage, mes auxi chescun fee simple ou taile que home ad per son purchase puit estre dit enheritance, pur ceo que ses heires luy purront enheriter. car en briefe de droit que home portera de terre, que fuit de son purchase demesne, le briefe dira: quam clamat esse jus et hereditamentum suum. et issint serra dit en divers auters briefes, que home ou feme portera de son purchase demesne, come il appiert per le register." { } the word is still in use, and signifies what is capable of being inherited. h. p. lincoln's inn. * * * * * lord fairfax. (vol. ix., p. .) your correspondent w. h. m. has called my attention to his note, and requested me to answer the third of his queries. the present rightful heir to the barony of fairfax, should he wish to claim it, is a citizen of the united states, and a resident in the state of virginia. he is addressed, as any other american gentleman would be, mr., when personally spoken to, and as an esquire in correspondence. a friend of mine, captain w., has thus kindly answered the other queries of w. h. m.: . sir thomas fairfax of denton in yorkshire was employed in several diplomatic affairs by queen elizabeth, and particularly in negotiations with james vi. of scotland. by charles i. he was created a peer of scotland, his patent having been dated at whitehall on oct. , a.d. . . the family of fairfax never possessed property, or land, in scotland, and had no connexion with that country beyond their peerage. many english gentlemen were created peers of scotland by the stuart kings, although unconnected with the nation by descent or property. i may cite the following instances:--the old yorkshire house of constable of burton received a peerage in the person of sir henry constable of burton and halsham; by patent, dated nov. , , sir henry was created viscount dunbar and lord constable. sir walter aston of tixal in staffordshire, bart., was created baron aston of forfar by charles i., nov. , . and, lastly, sir thomas osborne of kineton, bart., was created by charles ii., feb. , , viscount dumblane. . answered. . william fairfax, fourth son of henry fairfax of tolston, co. york, second son of henry, fourth lord fairfax, settled in new england in america, and was agent for his cousin thomas, sixth lord, and had the entire management of his estates in virginia. his third and only surviving son, bryan fairfax, was in holy orders, and resided in the united states. on the death of robert, seventh lord fairfax, july , , this bryan went to england and preferred his claim to the peerage, which was determined in his favour by the house of lords. he then returned to america. bryan fairfax married a miss elizabeth cary, and had several children. (vide douglas, and burke's _peerage_.) there are several english families who possess scottish peerages, but they are derived from scottish ancestors, as talmash, radclyffe, eyre, &c. perhaps the writer may be permitted to inform your correspondent w. h. m. that the term "subject" is more commonly and correctly applied to a person who owes allegiance to a crowned head, and "citizen" to one who is born and lives under a republican form of government. w. w. malta. . thomas, first lord fairfax (descended from a family asserted to have been seated at towcester, co. northampton, at the time of the norman invasion and subsequently of note in yorkshire), accompanied the earl of essex into france, temp. eliz., and was knighted by him in the camp before rouen. he was created a peer of scotland, th may, ; but why of scotland, or for what services, i know not. . i cannot discover that the family ever possessed lands in scotland. they were formerly owners of denton castle, co. york (which they sold to the family of ibbetson, barts.), and afterwards of leeds castle, kent. . precise information on this point is looked for from some transatlantic correspondent. . the claim of the rev. bryan, eighth lord fairfax, was admitted by the house of lords, th may, (_h. l. journals_). he was, i presume, born before the acknowledgment of independence. . the title seems to be erroneously retained in the peerages, as the gentleman now styled lord fairfax cannot, it is apprehended, be a natural-born subject of the british crown, or capable of inheriting the dignity. it seems, therefore, that the peerage, if not extinct, awaits another claimant. as a direct authority, i may refer to the case of the scottish earldom of newburgh, in the succession to which the next heir (the prince gustiniani), being an alien, was passed over as a legal nonentity. (see _riddell on scottish peerages_, p. .) there is another case not very easily reconcilable with the last, viz. that of the earl of athlone, who, though a natural-born subject of the prince of orange, was on th march, , permitted to take his seat in the house of lords in ireland (_journals h. l. i._). perhaps some correspondent will explain this case. h. g. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mr. lyte on collodion._--when i had the pleasure of meeting you in london, i promised that i would write to you from this place, and give you a detailed account of my method of making the collodion, of which i left a sample with you; but since then have been making a series of experiments, with a view, first, to simplifying my present formulæ, and next, to produce two collodions, one of great sensibility, the other of rather slower action, but producing better half-tones. i have also been considering the subject of { } printing, and the best methods of producing those beautiful black tints which are so much prized; and i think that, although the processes formerly given all of them produce this effect with tolerable certainty, yet many operators, in common with myself, have met with the most provoking failures on this head, where they felt the most certain of good results. i do not pretend to make a collodion which is different in its ingredients from that compounded by others. the only thing is that i am anxious to define the best proportions for making it, and to give a formula which even the most unpractised operator may work by. first, to produce the collodion i always use the soluble paper prepared according to the method indicated by mr. crookes, and to which i adverted in "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. . take of colourless nitric acid of . , and sulphuric acid of . , equal quantities by measure, and mix them; then plunge into the mixture as much of the best swedish filtering paper (papier joseph is also very good) as the liquid will cover; it must be placed in it a single piece at a time. cover the basin, and let it remain a night, or at least some hours. then pour off the liquid, and wash the paper till its washings cease to taste the least acid, or to redden litmus paper. then dry it. of this paper i take grains to one pint of ether, and having placed them together, i add alcohol drop by drop, till the ether begins to dissolve the paper, which will be denoted by the paper becoming quite transparent. i have rather increased the quantity of paper to be added, as the after treatment rather thins the collodion. this, when shaken up and completely dissolved, forms the collodion. to sensitize i use two preparations, one prepared with potassium, the other with ammonium compounds; and, contrary to what many operators find the case, i find that the potassium gives the most rapid results. to prepare the potassium sensitizer, i take two bottles of, we will suppose, oz. each; into one of these i put about half an ounce of iodide of potassium in fine powder, and into the other an equal quantity of bromide of potassium, also pounded; we will call these no. . and no. . i fill the bottle no. . with absolute alcohol, taking great care that there is no oxide of amyle in it, as that seriously interferes with the action of the collodion. after leaving the alcohol in no. . for two hours, or thereabouts, constantly shaking it, let it settle, and then quite clear decant it off into no. ., where leave it again, with constant shaking, for two hours, and when settled decant the clear liquid into a third bottle for use. the oxide of amyle may be detected by taking a portion of the alcohol between the palms of the hands, and rubbing them together, till the alcohol evaporates, after which, should oxide of amyle be present, it will easily be detected by its smell, which is not unlike that exhaled by a diseased potato. of the liquid prepared, take one part to add to every three parts of collodion. the next, or ammonium sensitizer, is made as follows. take absolute alcohol oz. iodide of ammon. grs. bromide of ammon. grs. mix, and when dissolved, take one part to three of collodion, as before. i feel certain that on a strict adherence to the correct proportion depends all the success of photography; and as we find in the kindred process of the daguerrotype, that if we add too much or too little of the bromine sensitizer, we make the plate less sensitive, so in this process. when making the first of these sensitizers, i always in each case let the solution attain a temperature of about º before decanting, so as to attain a perfectly equable compound on all occasions. in the second, or ammonium sensitizer, the solution may be assisted by a moderate heat, and when again cooled, may advantageously be filtered to separate any sediment which may exist; but neither of these liquids should ever be exposed to great cold. i dissolve in my bath of nitrate of silver as much freshly precipitated bromide of silver as it will take up. next, as to the printing of positives to obtain black tints, the only condition necessary to produce this result is having an acid nitrate bath; whether the positive be printed on albumen paper, or common salted paper, the result will always be the same. i have tried various acids in the bath, viz. nitric, sulphuric, tartaric, and acetic, and prefer the latter, as being the most manageable, and having a high equivalent. the paper i now constantly use is common salted paper, prepared as follows. take chloride of barium grs. chloride of ammon. grs. chloride of potassium grs. water oz. mix, and pour into a dish and lay the paper on the liquid, wetting only one side; when it has lain there for about five minutes if french paper has been used, if english paper till it ceases to curl and falls flat on the liquid, let it be hung up by a bent pin to dry. these salts are better than those generally recommended, as they do not form such deliquescent salts when decomposed as the chloride of sodium does, and for this reason i should have even avoided the chloride of ammonium, only that it so much assists the tints; however, in company with the other salts, the nitrate of ammon. formed does not much take up the atmospheric moisture, and i have never found it stain an even unvarnished negative. to sensitize this paper take nitrate of silver grs. acetic acid, glacial drs. water oz. mix, and lay the paper on this solution for not less than five minutes, and if english paper, double that time. the hyposulphite to be used may be a very strong solution of twenty to twenty-five per cent., and this mode of treatment will always be found to produce fine tints. after some time it will be found that the nitrate bath will lose its acidity, and a drachm of acetic acid may be again added, when the prints begin to take a red tone: this will again restore the blacks. lastly, the bath may of itself get too weak, and then it will be best to place it on one side, and recover the silver by any of the usual methods, and make a new bath. one word about the addition of the bromide of { } silver to the double iodide, as recommended by dr. diamond. i tried this, and feel most confident that it produces no difference; as soon as the bromide of silver comes in contact with the iodide of potassium, double decomposition ensues, and iodide of silver is formed. indeed, farther, this very double decomposition, or a similar one, is the basis of a patent i have just taken for at the same time refining silver and manufacturing iodide of potassium; a process by which i much hope the enormous present price of iodide of potassium will be much lowered. f. maxwell lyte. hôtel de l'europe, à pau, basses pyrénées. p.s.--since writing the former part of this letter, i see in _la lumière_ a paper on the subject of printing positives, in part of which the addition of nitric acid is recommended to the bath; but as my experiments have been quite independent of theirs, and my process one of a different nature, i still send it to you. when i have an opportunity, i will send a couple of specimens of my workmanship. i had prepared some for the exhibition, but could not get them off in time. i may add that the developing agent i use is the same in every way as that i have before indicated through the medium of your pages; but where formic acid cannot be got, the best developer is made as follows: pyrogallic acid grs. acetic acid drs. water oz. _on sensitive collodion._--as i have lately received many requests from friends upon the subject of the most sensitive collodion, i am induced to send you a few words upon it. since my former communication, i believe a greater certainty of manufacture has been attained, whereby the operator may more safely rely upon uniformity of success. i have not only tried every purchasable collodion, but my experiments have been innumerable, especially in respect to the ammoniated salts, and i may, i think, safely affirm that all preparations containing ammonia ought to be rejected. often, certainly, great rapidity of action is obtained; but that collodion which acted so well on one day may, on the following, become comparatively useless, from the change which appears so frequently to take place in the ammoniacal compounds. that blackening and fogging, of which so much has been said, i much think is one of the results of ammonia; but not having, in my own manipulations, met with the difficulty, i have little personal experience upon the subject. the more simple a collodion is the better; and the following, from its little varying and active qualities, i believe to be equal to any now in use. a great deal has also been said upon the preparation of the simple collodion, and that some samples, however good _apparently_, never sensitize in a satisfactory manner. i have not experienced this difficulty myself, or any appreciable variation. the collodion made from the swedish filtering paper, or the papier joseph, is preferable, from the much greater care with which it is used. if slips of either of these papers be carefully and completely immersed for four hours in a mixture of an equal part (by weight) of strong nitric acid or nitrous acid (the aqua fortis of commerce) and strong sulphuric acid, then _perfectly_ washed, so as to get entirely rid of the acids, the result will be an entirely soluble material. about grains of dry paper to a pint (twenty ounces) of ether will form a collodion of the desired consistence for photographic purposes. if too thick, it may be reduced by pure ether or alcohol. however carefully this soluble paper or the gun cotton is prepared, it is liable to decompose even when kept with care. i would therefore advise it to be mixed with the ether soon after preparation, as the simple collodion keeps exceedingly well. excellent simple collodion is to be procured now at the reasonable price of eight shillings the pint, which will to many be more satisfactory than trusting to their own operations. _to make the sensitizing fluid._--put into a clean stoppered bottle, holding more than the quantity required so as to allow of free shaking, six drachms of iodide of potassium and one drachm of bromide of potassium; wet them with one drachm of distilled water first, then pour into the bottle ten ounces of spirits of wine (not alcohol); shake frequently until dissolved. after some hours, if the solution has not taken place, add a few more drops of water, the salts being highly soluble in water, though sparingly so in rectified spirits; but care must be taken not to add too much, as it prevents the subsequent adhesion of the collodion film to the glass. a drachm and a half to two drachms, according to the degree of intensity desired, added to the ounce of the above collodion, which should have remained a few days to settle before sensitizing, i find to act most satisfactorily; in fine weather it is instantaneous, being, after a good shake, fit for immediate use. if the sensitive collodion soon assumes a reddish colour, it is improved by the addition of one or two drops of a saturated solution of cyanide of potassium; but great care must be used, as this salt is very active. hugh w. diamond. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _portrait of alva_ (vol. ix., p. .).--there is a fine portrait of the duke of alva in the royal museum at amsterdam, by d. barendz (no. . in the _catalogue_ of ); and mr. warden will find a spirited etching of him, decorated with the order of the golden fleece, in the _historia belgica_ of meteranus (folio, ), at p. . the latter portrait is very quixotic in aspect at the first glance, but the expression becomes more satanic as the eye rests on it. lancastrienses. _lord mayor of london not a privy councillor_ (vol. iv. _passim_; vol. ix., p. .).--l. hartly a little misstates mr. serjeant merewether's evidence. the learned serjeant only said that "he believed" the fact was so. but he was undoubtedly mistaken, probably from confounding { } the privy council (at which the lord mayor _never_ appeared) with a meeting of other persons (nobility, gentry, and others), who assemble on the same occasion in a different room, and to which meeting (altogether distinct from the privy council) the lord mayor is always summoned, as are the sheriffs, aldermen, and a number of other notabilities, not privy councillors. this matter is conclusively explained in vol. iv., p. .; but if more particular evidence be required, it will be found in the _london gazette_ of the th june, , where the names of the privy councillors are given in one list to the number of eighty-three, and in another list the names of the persons attending the meeting to the number of above , amongst whom are the local mayor, sheriffs, under-sheriffs, aldermen, common sergeants, city solicitor, &c. as "n & q." has reproduced the mistake, it is proper that it should also reproduce the explanation. c. _new zealander and westminster bridge_ (vol. ix., p. .).--before i saw the thought in walpole's letter to sir h. mann, quoted in "n. & q.," i ventured to suppose that mrs. barbauld's noble poem, _eighteen hundred and eleven_, might have suggested mr. macaulay's well-known passage. the following extracts extracts describe the wanderings of those who-- "with duteous zeal, their pilgrimage shall take, from the blue mountains on ontario's lake, with fond adoring steps to press the sod, by statesmen, sages, poets, heroes, trod." "pensive and thoughtful shall the wanderers greet each splendid square, and still untrodden street; or of some crumbling turret, mined by time, the broken stairs with perilous step shall climb, thence stretch their view the wide horizon round, by scatter'd hamlets trace its ancient bound, and choked no more with fleets, fair thames survey, through reeds and sedge pursue his idle way. . . . . . . oft shall the strangers turn their eager feet, the rich remains of ancient art to greet, the pictured walls with critic eye explore, and reynolds be what raphael was before, on spoils from every clime their eyes shall gaze, egyptian granites and the etruscan vase; and when, 'midst fallen london, they survey the stone where alexander's ashes lay, shall own with humble pride the lesson just, by time's slow finger written in the dust." j. m. cranwells, near bath. the beautiful conception of the new zealander at some future period visiting england, and giving a sketch of the ruins of london, noticed in "n. & q." as having been suggested to macaulay by a passage in one of walpole's letters to sir h. mann, will be found more broadly expressed in kirke white's poem on time. talking of the triumphs of oblivion, he says: "meanwhile the arts, in second infancy, rise in some distant clime; and then, perchance, some bold adventurer, fill'd with golden dreams, steering his bark through trackless solitudes, where, to his wandering thoughts, no daring prow had ever plough'd before,--espies the cliffs of fallen albion. to the land unknown he journeys joyful; and perhaps descries some vestige of her ancient stateliness: then he with vain conjecture fills his mind of the unheard-of race, which had arrived at science in that solitary nook, far from the civil world; and sagely sighs, and moralises on the state of man." this hardly reads like a borrowed idea; and i should lean to a belief that it was not. kirke white's _poems and letters_ are but too little read. j. s. dalston. _cui bono_ (vol. ix., p. .).--reference to a dictionary would have settled this. according to freund, "cui bono fuit=zu welchem zwecke, or wozu war es gut?" that is, to what purpose? or, for _whose_ good? carnatic. the syntax of this common phrase, with the ellipses supplied, is, "cui homini fuerit bono negotio?" to what person will it be an advantage? literally, or more freely rendered, who will be the gainer by it? it was (see _ascon. in cicer. pro milone_, c. xii.) the usual query of lucius cassius, the roman judge, implying that the person benefiting by any crime was implicated therein. (consult facciolati's _dict. in voce_ bonum.) hk. the correct rendering of this phrase is undoubtedly that given by f. newman, "for the benefit of whom?" but it is generally used in such a manner as to make it indifferent whether that, or the corrupted signification "for what good?" was intended by the writer making use of it. the latter is, however, the idea generally conveyed to the mind, and in this sense it is used by the best writers. thus, _e.g._: "the question '_cui bono_,' to what practical end and advantage do your researches tend? is one," &c.--herschel's _discourse on nat. philosophy_, p. . william bates. birmingham. _barrels regiment_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--i am obliged to h. b. c. for his attention to my query, though it does not quite answer my purpose, which was to learn the circumstances which occasioned a print in my possession, entitled "the old scourge returned to barrels." it represents a regiment, the body of each { } soldier being in the form of a barrel, drawn up within view of edinburgh castle. a soldier is tied up to the halberts in order to be flogged; the drummer intercedes: "col., he behaved well at culloden." an officer also intercedes: "pray col. forgive him, he's a good man." the col.'s reply is, "flog the villain, ye rascal." under the print--"and ten times a day whip the barrels." i want to know who this flogging col. was; and anything more about him which gained for him the unenviable title of old scourge. e. h. _sir matthew hale_ (vol. ix., p. .).--from sir matthew hale, who was born at alderley, descends the present family of hale of alderley, co. gloucestershire. the eldest son of the head of the family represents west gloucestershire in parliament. the estcourts of estcourt, co. gloucestershire, are, i believe, also connexions of the family of hale. mackenzie walcott, m.a. the descendants of sir matthew hale still live at alderley, near wotton underedge, in gloucestershire. i believe a mr. blagdon married the heiress of hale, and took her name. the late robert blagdon hale, esq., married lady theodosia bourke, daughter of the late lord mayo, and had two sons. robert, the eldest, and present possessor of alderley, married a miss holford. matthew, a clergyman, also married; who appears by the clergy list to be archdeacon of adelaide, south australia. mr. john hale, of gloucester, is their uncle, and has a family. julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. the hales of alderley in gloucestershire claim descent from sir matthew hale, born and buried there. (see atkins, p. .; rudder, p. ., and bigland, p. .) when mr. hale of alderley was high sheriff of gloucestershire in , the judge then on circuit made a complimentary allusion to it in court. the descent is in the female line, and the name was assumed in . lancastriensis. _scotch grievance_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the scottish coins of james vi., charles i., william, have on the reverse a shield, bearing . and . scotland; . france and england quarterly; . irish harp. edw. hawkins. under this head a descendant of scottish kings asks: "can any _coin_ be produced, from the accession of james vi. to the english throne, on which the royal arms are found, with scotland in the first quarter, and england in the second?" will you kindly inform your querist, that in my collection i have several such coins, viz. a shilling of charles i.; a mark of charles ii., date ; a forty-shilling piece of william iii., date : on each scotland is _first_ and _third_. i shall be most happy to submit these to your inspection, or send them for the satisfaction of your correspondent. f. j. williams. . mark lane. _"merciful judgments of high church," &c._ (vol. ix., p. .).--the author of this tract, according to the bodleian catalogue, was matthew tindal. [greek: halieus]. dublin. _robert dudley, earl of leicester_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i can refer a. s. to camden's _history of elizabeth_, where, under the year , it related,-- "neither was the publick joy anything abated by leicester's death, who about this time, namely, on the th day of september, died of a continuall fever upon the way as he went towards killingworth." i can also refer him to sir william dugdale's _baronage of england_, vol. ii. p. ., where i find it stated that he-- "design'd to retire unto his castle at kenilworth. but being on his journey thitherwards, at cornbury park in com. oxon., he died upon the fourth of september, an. , of a feaver, as 'twas said, and was buried at warwick, where he hath a noble monument." but neither in the above writers, nor in any more recent account of his life, have i seen his death ascribed to poison. the ground on which stanfield hall has been regarded as the birthplace of amy robsart is, that her parents sir john and lady elizabeth robsart resided at stanfield hall in , according to blomefield in his _history of norfolk_, though where he resided at his daughter's birth does not appear. [greek: halieus]. dublin. _fleet prison_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a list of the wardens will be found in burn's _history of fleet marriages_, nd edit., . occasional notices of the under officers will also there be met with, and a list of wardens' and jailors' fees. s. _the commons of ireland previous to the union in _ (vol. ix., p. .).--allow me to inform c. h. d. that i have in my possession a copy (with ms. notes) of _sketches of irish political characters of the present day, showing the parts they respectively take on the question of the union, what places they hold, their characters as speakers, &c._, vo. pp. , london, . is this the book he wants? i know nothing of its author nor of the rev. dr. scott. abhba. _"les lettres juives"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the author of _les lettres juives_ was jean baptiste de boyer, marquis d'argens, one of the most prolific and amusing writers of the eighteenth century. { } his principal works are, _histoire de l'esprit humain_, _les lettres juives_, _les lettres chinoises_, _les lettres cabalistiques_, and his _philosophie du bons sens_. perhaps your correspondent may be interested to learn that a reply to the _lettres juives_ was published in , la haye, three vols. in twelve, by aubert de la chenaye des-bois under the title of _correspondence historique, philosophique et critique, pour servir de réponse aux lettres juives_. henry h. breen. _sir philip wentworth_ (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., pp. . .).--in wright's _essex_, vol. i. p. ., sir philip wentworth is said to have married mary, daughter of john, lord clifford. i do not recollect that wright cites authority. i know he has more than one error respecting the gonsles, who are in the same pedigree. anon. _general fraser_ (vol. viii., p. .).--simon fraser, lieut.-colonel, th regiment, and brigadier-general was second in command under burgoyne when he advanced from canada to new york with men in . he fell at stillwater, a short time before the surrender of burgoyne at saratoga. he was struck by a shot from a tree, as he was advancing at the head of his troops; and died of his wound october , . he was buried, as he had desired, in the redoubt on the field, in the front of the american army commanded by general gates. during his interment, the incessant cannonade of the enemy covered with dust the chaplain and the officers who assisted in performing the last duties to his remains, they being within view of the greatest part of both armies. an impression long prevailed among the officers of burgoyne's army, that if fraser had lived, the issue of the campaign, and of the whole war, would have been very different from what it was. burgoyne is said to have shed tears at his death. general fraser's regiment had been employed under wolfe in ascending the heights of abraham, sept. , ; where, both before and after the fall of wolfe, the highlanders rendered very efficient service. his regiment was also engaged with three others under murray at the battle of quebec in . some incidental mention of general fraser will be found in cannon's _history of the st regiment_, published by furnivall, . whitehall; but i am not aware of any memoirs or life of him having been published. j. c. b. _namby-pamby_ (vol. viii., pp . .).--henry carey, the author of _chrononhotonthologos_, and of _the dragoness of wantley_, wrote also a work called _namby-pamby_, in burlesque of ambrose phillips's style of poetry; and the title of it was probably intended to trifle with that poet's name. mr. macaulay, in his essay on _addison and his writings_, speaks of ambrose phillips, who was a great adulator of addison, as-- "a middling poet, whose verses introduced a species of composition which has been called after his name, _namby-pamby_." d. w. s. _the word "miser"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--cf. the use of the word _miserable_ in the sense of miserly, mentioned amongst other devonianisms at vol. vii., p. . and see trench's remarks on this word (_study of words_, p. . of nd edit.). h. t. g. hull. _the forlorn hope_ (vol. viii, p. .), _i.e._ the advanced guard.--this explains what has always been to me a puzzling expression in gurnall's _christian in complete armour_ (p. . of tegg's vo. edit., ): "the fearful are _in the forlorn_ of those that march for hell." see rev. xxi. ., where "the fearful and unbelieving" stand at the head of the list of those who "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." h. t. g. hull. the true origin and meaning of _forlorn hope_ has no doubt been fully explained in "n & q.," vol. viii., p. . richardson's _dictionary_ does not countenance this view, but his example proves it conclusively. he only gives one quotation, from north's _plutarch_; and as it stands in the dictionary, it is not easy to comprehend the passage entirely. on comparing it, however, with the corresponding passage in langhorne (valpy's edition, vol. iii. p. .), and again with pompei's italian version (vol. iii. p. .), i have no doubt that, by the term _forlorn hope_, north implied merely an advanced party; for as he is describing a pitched battle and not a siege, a modern forlorn hope would be strangely out of place. is _enfans perdus_ the idiomatic french equivalent, or is it only dictionary-french? and what is the german or the italian expression? r. cary barnard. malta. _thornton abbey_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the _archæological journal_, vol. ii. p. ., may be found not only an historical and architectural account of this building, but several views; with architectural details of mouldings, &c. h. t. g. hull. _"quid facies," &c._ (vol. viii., p. . vol. ix., p. .).--in a curious work written by the rev. john warner, d.d., called _metronariston_, these lines (as printed in vol. ix., p. .) are quoted, and stated to be-- "a punning epigram on _scylla as a type of lust_, cited by barnes." { } i have not the _metronariston_ with me, and therefore cannot refer to the page. d. w. s. _christ-cross-row_ (vol. iii., pp. . .; vol. viii., p. .).--quarles (_embl._ ii. .) gives a passage from st. augustine commencing,--"christ's cross is the christ-cross of all our happiness," but he gives no exact reference. wordsworth speaks of "a look or motion of intelligence from infant conning of the christ-cross-row." _excurs._ viii. p. . these lines suggest the query, is this term for the alphabet still in use? and, if so, in what parts of the country? eirionnach. _sir walter scott, and his quotations from himself_ (vol. ix, p. .).--i beg to submit to you the following characteristic similarity of expression, occurring in one of the poems and one of the novels of sir walter scott. i am not aware whether attention has been drawn to it in the letters of mr. adolphus and mr. heber, as i have not the work at hand to consult: "his grasp, as hard as glove of mail, forced the red blood-drop from the nail." _rokeby_, canto i. stan. . "he wrung the earl's hand with such frantic earnestness, that his grasp forced the blood to start under the nail."--_legend of montrose._ n. l. t. _nightingale and thorn_ (vol. viii., p. .).--add young's _night thoughts_, night first, vers. - .: "griefs sharpest thorn hard pressing on my breast, i strive with wakeful melody to cheer the sullen gloom, sweet philomel! like thee, and call the stars to listen--every star is deaf to mine, enamour'd of thy lay." h. t. g. hull. _female parish clerks_ (vol. viii., p. .).--within the last half-century, a mrs. sheldon discharged the duties of this post at the parish church of wheatley, five miles from oxford, and near cuddesdon, the residence of the bishop of oxford. this clerkship was previously filled by her husband; but, upon his demise, she became his successor. it is not a week since that i saw a relation who was an eye-witness of this fact. percy m. hart. stockwell. _hour-glass stand_ (vol. ix., p. .).--there is an hour-glass stand of very quaintly wrought iron, painted in various colours, attached to the pulpit at binfield, berks. j. r. m., m.a. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the rev. edward trollope, f.s.a., wisely conceiving that an illustrated work, comprising specimens of the arms, armour, jewellery, furniture, vases, &c., discovered at pompeii and herculaneum, might be acceptable to those numerous readers to whom the magnificent volumes, published by the neapolitan government, are inaccessible, has just issued a quarto volume under the title of _illustrations of ancient art, selected from objects discovered at pompeii and herculaneum_. the various materials which he has selected from the _museo borbonico_, and other works, and a large number of his own sketches, have been carefully classified; and we think few will turn from an examination of the forty-five plates of mr. trollope's admirable outlines, without admiring the good taste with which the various subjects have been selected, and acknowledging the light which they throw upon the social condition, the manners, customs, and domestic life, of the roman people. as the great duke of marlborough confessed that he acquired his knowledge of his country's annals in the historical plays of shakspeare, so we believe there are many who find it convenient and agreeable to study them in miss strickland's _lives of the queens of england_. to all such it will be welcome news that the first and second volumes of a new and cheaper edition, and which comprise the lives of all our female sovereigns, from matilda of flanders to the unfortunate anne boleyn, are now ready; and will be followed month by month by the remaining six. at the close of the work, we may take an opportunity of examining the causes of the great popularity which it has attained. mr. m. a. lower has just published a small volume of antiquarian gossip, under the title of _contributions to literature, historical, antiquarian, and metrical_, in which he discourses pleasantly on local nomenclature, the battle of hastings, the iron works of the south-east of england, the south downs, genealogy, and many kindred subjects; and tries his hand, by no means unsuccessfully, at some metrical versions of old sussex legends. several of the papers have already appeared in print, but they serve to make up a volume which will give the lover of popular antiquities an evening's pleasant reading. we beg to call the attention of our readers to the opportunity which will be afforded them on wednesday next of hearing mr. layard lecture on his recent _discoveries at nineveh_. as they will see by the advertisement in our present number, mr. layard has undertaken to do so for the purpose of contributing to the schools and other parochial charities of the poor but densely populated district of st. thomas, stepney. books received.--mantell's _geological excursions round the isle of wight, &c._ this reprint of one of the many valuable contributions to geological knowledge by the late lamented dr. mantell, forms the new volume of bohn's _scientific library_.--_retrospective review, no. vi._, containing interesting articles on drayton, lambarde, penn, leland, and other writers of note in english literature.--dr. lardner's _museum of_ { } _science and art_, besides a farther portion of the inquiry, "the planets, are they inhabited worlds?" contains essays on latitudes and longitudes, lunar influences, and meteoric stones and shooting stars.--_gibbon's rome, with variorum notes_, vol. ii. in a notice prefixed to the present volume, which is one of mr. bohn's series of british classics, the publisher, after describing the advantages of the present edition as to print, paper, editing, &c., observes: "the publisher of the unmutilated edition of humboldt's cosmos hopes he has placed himself beyond the suspicion of mutilating gibbon." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. torrens on wages and combinations. longmans. . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: wilkinson's ancient egypt. vols. iv. and v. baxter's flowering plants. plain or coloured. evelyn's diary. vols. vo. pepys's diary. vols. vo. transactions of geographical society. parts or volumes. life of bishop ken, by anderdon. percival's roman schism. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. one or two plans of the harbour of cronstadt, showing the mole, man-of-war's mole, fortress, fortress of cronslott opposite, as well as all the fortresses that are erected in the shallows defending the approach, &c. wanted by _h. e. baseley_, . old broad street. bible prints, either line engraving, mezzotint, or wood, and either with or without letter-press, for the purpose of binding with a to. edition of "matthew henry's commentary on the bible." wanted by _john garland_, solicitor, dorchester. the british preserve, etched by s. howitt. prints, . the badger, and . the stag. wanted by _mr. james pascoe_, solicitor, penzance. _an account of the ministers_, &c., who were ejected or silenced after the restoration in , by or before the act for uniformity. second edition. vol. i. by edmund calamy, d.d. . wanted by _john nurse chadwick_, solicitor, king's lynn, norfolk. sanders' history of shenstone, in staffordshire. wanted by _c. j. d._, post office, stourbridge, worcestershire. the hive, having the first edition of vol. i. wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. dublin university calendars and examination papers for , , , . sheridan's (thos.) lectures on the art of reading. vo. lond. . blacker's (col. val.) memoirs of the operations of the british army in india during the mahratta war of , , and . to. lond. . also, by the same, a map of hindostan, from his own survey. parker's (capt. robert) memoirs of the most remarkable military transactions from to . vo. lond. . wanted by _rev. b. h. blacker_, . pembroke road, dublin. allister's paradigma chess openings. russell's elements of painting with crayons. . phillip's life of smith (the geologist). hirscher's sympathies of the continent, translated by coxe. j. h. parker. . sir h. nicolas's edition of walton and cotton's angler. windsor castle, by ainsworth. the original edition, vo. with plates. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. wordsworth's poetical works. vols. mo. moxon. vol. i. morocco. (the missing volume was lent to a student at cambridge by c. b. w. in .) roscoe's italian novelist. second edition. vols. mo. vol. iii. first or early edition of the christian world unmasked, by john berridge. john berridge's works. vo. simpkin & co. geo. sandys' paraphrase of the psalms. small edition. poems by george withers. separate or collected. drayton's poems. mo. edition. walton's lives. tonson or dodsley. -vol. edition. paxton's magazine of botany. nos. . and . orr & co. wanted by _mr. hiscoke_, bookseller, richmond, surrey. * * * * * notices to correspondents. j. b. whitborne. _where shall we address a letter to this correspondent?_ oxford jeu d'esprit. _we hope next week to lay before our oxford friends a reprint of a clever_ jeu d'esprit, _which amused the university some five-and-thirty years since._ b. h. c. _will this correspondent, who states_ (p. .) _that he has found the termination_ -by _in sussex, be good enough to state the place to which he refers?_ c. c. _the ballad of "fair rosamond" is printed in percy's reliques, in the_ pictorial book of british ballads, _and many other places; but the lines quoted by our correspondent--_ "with that she dash'd her on the mouth, and dyed a double wound"-- _do not occur in it._ t. [phi]. _biographical notices of the author of_ drunken barnaby _will be found in chalmers' and rose's dictionaries. the best account of richard brathwait is that by joseph haslewood, prefixed to his edition of_ barnabæ itinerarium.--_gurnall has been noticed in our_ sixth volume, pp. . . w. fraser. _bishop atterbury's portrait, drawn by kneller, and engraved by vertue, is prefixed to vol. i. of the bishop's_ sermons and discourses, _edit. . the portrait is an oval medallion; face round, nose prominent, with large eye-brows, double chin, and a high expansive forehead, features regular and pleasant, and indicative of intellect. he is drawn in his episcopal habit, with a full-dress curled wig; beneath are his arms, surmounted by the mitre._ i. r. r. _the song "o the golden days of good queen bess!" will be found in_ the british orpheus, a selection of songs and airs, _p. ., with the music._ trench on proverbs. _we cannot possibly find space for any further discussion of the translation of_ ps. cxxvii. . blomefield's norfolk.--_gentlemen who possess a copy of this work will be kind enough to write to john nurse chadwick, solicitor, king's lynn, norfolk, stating the fact, with their names and addresses, by letter, post paid._ professor hunt's _letter shall appear next week. we can well understand how a gentleman, who labours so assiduously in his scientific investigations, can have little time and feel little anxiety to produce merely pretty pictures. we are glad that the question was asked (we are sure only in a friendly spirit); and our photographic readers will be as glad to hear that an enlarged edition of professor hunt's_ researches on light _may soon be expected._ c. e. f., four photographic readers, _and other correspondents, shall receive due attention next week._ our eighth volume _in now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * { } imperial life insurance company. . old broad street, london. instituted . ---- samuel hibbert, esq., _chairman_. william r. robinson, esq., _deputy-chairman_. ---- the scale of premiums adopted by this office will be found of a very moderate character, but at the same time quite adequate to the risk incurred. four-fifths, or per cent. of the profits, are assigned to policies _every fifth year_, and may be applied to increase the sum insured, to an immediate payment in cash, or to the reduction and ultimate extinction of future premiums. one-third of the premium on insurances of l. and upwards, for the whole term of life, may remain as a debt upon the policy, to be paid off at convenience; or the directors will lend sums of l. and upwards, on the security of policies effected with this company for the whole term of life, when they have acquired an adequate value. security.--those who effect insurances with this company are protected by its subscribed capital of , l., of which nearly , l. is invested, from the risk incurred by members of mutual societies. the satisfactory financial condition of the company, exclusive of the subscribed and invested capital, will be seen by the following statement: on the st october, , the sums assured, including bonus added, amounted to £ , , the premium fund to more than , and the annual income from the same source, to , insurances, without participation in profits, may be effected at reduced rates. samuel ingall, actuary. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hussé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads, in iron, brass, japanned wood, polished birch, mahogany, rosewood, and walnut-tree woods; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill & morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * calotype paper prepared by dr. diamond's process, s. per quire. albumenised ditto, s. ditto. canson's negative paper for mons. le gray's process:--waxed, s. per quire; iodized, s. ditto; sensitive, available for three weeks, s., size ½ by ½, demy folio. specimens of either papers sent between boards on receipt of carriage (ten stamps). sold by luke sams, . adelphi chambers, facing the society of arts; and retailed by j. b. hockin & co., . strand, london. * * * * * fcap. vo., s., cloth. thomas à becket, and other poems, by patrick scott. "mr. scott is a true poet."--_notes and queries._ "he knows well where lie the springs of the highest poetic inspiration."--_critic._ "a volume of great ability."--_guardian._ longman & co. * * * * * westminster hospital, broad sanctuary, opposite westminster abbey.--this hospital was instituted in the year , and is the oldest hospital in england supported by voluntary contributions. the high prices of provisions and coals have materially increased the current expenditure, and a sum of not less than l. is required to meet the payment of the tradesmen's bills to christmas last. , persons are relieved annually, and the doors of the hospital are open night and day for the reception of cases of accident and urgent disease. the committee earnestly entreat the aid of the benevolent at the present time. donations and subscriptions will be thankfully received by messrs. bouverie & co., . haymarket; messrs. hoare & co., fleet street; by the hon. p. pleydell bouverie, and p. r. hoare, esq., the joint treasurers; or by the secretary at the hospital. f. g. wilson, secretary. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post. s. d. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page griffin's "fidessa," and shakspeare's "passionate pilgrim" caps at cambridge letters of eminent literary men, by sir henry ellis newspaper folk lore king james's irish army list of - , by john d'alton minor notes:--authors and publishers--inscriptions on old pulpits--recent curiosities of literature--assuming names --false dates in water-marks of papers queries:-- captain farre marriage ceremony in the fourteenth century manuscript catena minor queries:--jews and egyptians--skin-flint--garlic sunday--custom of the corporation of london--general stokes--rev. philip morant--the position of suffragan bishops in convocation--cambridge mathematical questions--crabbe mss.--tilly, an officer of the courts at westminster--mr. gye--three fleurs-de-lys--the commons of ireland previous to the union in --"all holyday at peckham"--arthur de vere--master of the nails--nattochiis and calchanti--"ned o' the todding" minor queries with answers:--bridget cromwell and fleetwood--culet replies:-- the asteroids or recently discovered lesser planets, by the rev. h. walter emblematic meanings of precious stones--planets of the months symbolised by precious stones, by w. pinkerton non-recurring diseases milton's widow, by j. f. marsh table-turning, by j. macray celtic etymology photographic correspondence:--the calotype process: curling up of paper--turner's paper--a practical photographic query replies to minor queries:--"service is no inheritance"-- francis browne--catholic bible society--legal customs-- silo--laurie on finance--david's mother--anagram-- passage in sophocles--b. l. m.--"the forlorn hope"--two brothers of the same christian name--passage in watson-- derivation of "mammet"--ampers and--misapplication of terms--belle sauvage--arms of geneva--"arabian nights' entertainments"--richard i.--lord clarendon and the tubwoman--oaths--double christian names--chip in porridge--clarence dukedom--prospectuses, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * surrey archÆological society. president.--his grace the duke of norfolk. gentlemen desiring to join the society, are informed that copies of the rules, list of members (upwards of ), and forms of application for admission, may be obtained from the honorary secretary. £ s. annual subscription composition for life on and after january , , an entrance fee of s. will be required, from which those members who join the society during the present month will be exempt. george bish webb, honorary secretary. . addison road north, notting hill. * * * * * photographic society.--the exhibition of photographs and daguerreotypes, suffolk street, pall mall, is now open; in the morning from a.m. till half-past p.m., and in the evening from till . admission s. catalogue d. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, in now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * queenwood college, near stockbridge, hants. _principal_--george edmondson. _mathematics and natural philosophy._--dr. thos. a. hirst, of the universities of marburg and berlin. _chemistry._--dr. h. debus, late assistant in the laboratory of professor bunsen, and chemical lecturer in the university of marburg. _classics and history._--mr. john s. mummery, l.c.p. _modern languages and foreign literature._--mr. john haas, from m. de fellenberg's institution, hofwyl, switzerland. _geodesy._--mr. richard p. wright. _painting and drawing._--mr. richard p. wright. _english, and junior mathematics._--frederick iliff, m.a., late scholar of trinity college, cambridge, and m.c.p. _ditto._--mr. william singleton. _music._--mr. william cornwall. terms. for boys under years of age l. per ann. " from to " " above " for further information see prospectus, to be had of the principal. the first session of commences on the th of january. * * * * * in volumes for the pocket, price five shillings each. now ready, in six volumes, fcp. vo., price s. each. bowdler's family shakspeare. in which nothing is added to the original text; but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family. a new edition. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * in vo. with woodcuts, price s.; or half bound in russia, s. brande's dictionary of science, literature, and art. second edition, corrected; with a supplement, which may be had separately, price s. d. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * now ready, mr. dod's peerage, &c. new edition for : thoroughly revised, with many improvements. peerage, baronetage, knightage, &c., for (fourteenth year): by charles r. dod, esq., author of "the parliamentary companion," "electoral facts," &c. fcp. vo., handsomely bound in cloth, gilt. whittaker & co., ave-maria lane. * * * * * just published, to be continued monthly, no. i., price s. d. of the autograph miscellany. a collection of interesting letters of eminent and distinguished characters; with curious public and historical documents, english and foreign, executed in lithograph fac-simile. selected from the british museum, and from other sources, public and private. london: f. netherclift & durlacher, lithographers and general printers, . brewer street, golden square. * * * * * the sacred garland, or the christian's daily delight. "pluck a flower." a new edition on the above excellent and popular work will shortly be published in large type, crown vo., and may be obtained of any respectable bookseller in town or country. milner & sowerby, halifax. * * * * * physiognomy of insanity.--a series of photographic portraits from the life, by dr. hugh w. diamond, f.s.a., with brief medical notes. to be published in occasional parts, small quarto. s. highley, . fleet street. * * * * * { } prospectus and list of the oxford pocket classics, a new series of the greek and latin classics for the use of schools. the want of a good series of greek and latin classics, suited to the use of schools, with the english mode of punctuation, and under english editorship, has long been felt; and it is a rather of wonder that our schools should so long have been obliged to depend on germany for accurate greek and latin texts. to meet this want, the "oxford pocket classics" were commenced some years back, and each year has added some three or four authors to the collection. the series now consists of about thirty volumes. the advantages of this series of classics are, that they are printed from the best texts extant; and not only this, but each volume has, during its progress through the press, been superintended by some competent member of the university. there have also been supplied, where necessary, summaries, chronological tables, biographical notices, indices, and the like--aids which are often wanting in other editions. lastly, they are printed in a good plain type, and on a firm, fine paper, capable of receiving writing inks, for notes, and at the same time they are supplied at moderate prices. it is hoped that the advantages which the "oxford pocket classics" possess over other series will not fail to increase the circulation which they have already attained in both our public and private schools, as also in our universities. prices of the oxford pocket classics. paper. bound. s. d. s. d. Æschylus aristophanes. vols. aristotelis ethica cæsar cornelius nepos demosthenes de corona et Æschines in ctesiphontem euripides. vols. ---- tragoediæ sex herodotus. vols. homeri ilias ---- odyssea horatius juvenalis et persius livius. vols. lucanus lucretius phædrus sallustius sophocles tacitus. vols. thucydides. vols. virgilius xenophontis memorabilia poetÆ scenici grÆci, s. paper, s. bound. a liberal discount is allowed from these prices to schools, and where numbers are required. short notes to accompany the texts of the oxford pocket classics are now in course of publication, calculated as well for the use of schools as for the junior members of the universities. of sophocles are already published: s. d. the ajax (including the text) the electra (ditto) the oedipus rex (including the text) the oedipus coloneus the other plays are in preparation. of Æschylus is already published, the prometheus vinctus (with text), s.; the septem contra thebas, s.; the persÆ, s. the other plays are in preparation. the six plays of euripides are also in preparation. john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * archÆological works by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary of the society of antiquaries of london. * * * * * an archÆological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. vol. vo., price s. cloth, illustrated by numerous engravings, comprising upwards of five hundred objects. a numismatic manual. vol. vo., price one guinea. *** the plates which illustrate this volume are upon a novel plan, and will, at a glance, convey more information regarding the types of greek, roman, and english coins, than can be obtained by many hours' careful reading. instead of a fac-simile engraving being given of that which is already an enigma to the tyro, the most striking and characteristic features of the coin are dissected and placed by themselves, so that the eye soon becomes familiar with them. a descriptive catalogue of rare and unedited roman coins, from the earliest period to the taking of rome under constantine paleologos. vols. vo., numerous plates, s. coins of the romans relating to britain. vol. vo. second edition, with an entirely new set of plates, price s. d. ancient coins of cities and princes, geographically arranged and described, containing the coins of hispania, gallia, and britannia, with plates of several hundred examples. vol. vo., price s. new testament, numismatic illustrations of the narrative portions of the.--fine paper, numerous woodcuts from the original coins in various public and private collections. vol. vo., price s. d. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. in vol. fcp. vo., with numerous wood engravings from the original coins price s. d. cloth. contents:--section . origin of coinage--greek regal coins. . greek civic coins. . greek imperial coins. . origin of roman coinage--consular coins. . roman imperial coins. . roman british coins. . ancient british coinage. . anglo-saxon coinage. . english coinage from the conquest. . scotch coinage. . coinage of ireland. . anglo-gallic coins. . continental money in the middle ages. . various representatives of coinage. . forgeries in ancient and modern times. . table of prices of english coins realised at public sales. tradesmen's tokens, struck in london and its vicinity, from the year to inclusive. described from the originals in the collection of the british museum, &c. s. remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england. publishing in to., in numbers, at s. d. with coloured plates. a glossary of provincial words and phrases in use in wiltshire, mo., s. the numismatic chronicle is published quarterly. price s. d. each number. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * lately published, in seven volumes, medium vo., price l. s. in sheets; and in seven pocket volumes, price l. s. in sheets. the history of the grand rebellion and civil wars in england. by edward, earl of clarendon. also in one volume, royal vo., price l. in sheets. the history of the rebellion, together with the life of clarendon, written by himself, in which is included a continuation of his history of the grand rebellion. *** in these editions the original manuscript of the noble author, deposited in the bodleian library, has been followed throughout, the suppressed passages have been restored, and the interpolations made by the first editor have been rejected. the public, therefore, are now in possession of the genuine text of this important work. oxford: at the university press. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand; and e. gardner, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * now ready, in mo., price s. the iphigenia in tauris of euripides, explained by f. g. schÖne. translated from the german by the rev. henry browne, m.a., canon of chichester. (forming a new volume of arnold's school classics.) lately published, in this series, the following plays of euripides, edited, with english notes, by the rev. t. k. arnold, m.a., and the rev. h. browne, m.a. . medea.-- . bacchÆ.-- . hippolytus.-- . hecuba. price s. each. rivingtons, waterloo place. * * * * * pulleyn's compendium. one volume, crown vo., bound in cloth, price s. the etymological compendium; or, portfolio of origins and inventions: relating to language, literature, and government. architecture and sculpture. drama, music, painting, and scientific discoveries. articles of dress, &c. titles, dignities, &c. names, trades, professions. parliament, laws, &c. universities and religious sects. epithets and phrases. remarkable customs. games, field sports. seasons, months, and days of the week. remarkable localities, &c. &c. by william pulleyn. the third edition, revised and improved, by merton a. thoms, esq. "the additions to this book indicate the editor to be his father's own son. he deals in folk lore, chronicles old customs and popular sayings, and has an eye to all things curious and note-worthy. the book tells everything."--_gentleman's magazine._ "the book contains a vast amount of curious information and useful memoranda."--_literary gazette._ "an invaluable manual of amusement and information."--_morning chronicle._ "this is a work of great practical usefulness. it is a _notes and queries_ in miniature.... the revision which the present edition of it has undergone has greatly enhanced its original value."--_era._ london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, january , ._ notes. griffin's "fidessa," and shakspeare's "passionate pilgrim." i am the fortunate possessor of a thin volume, entitled _fidessa, a collection of sonnets_, by b. griffin, reprinted , from the edition of , at the chiswick press; i presume, by the monogram at the end, by mr. s. w. singer. the title of the original edition is _fidessa, more chaste then kinde_, by b. griffin, gent, at london, printed by the widdow orwin, for matthew lownes, . the advertisement prefixed by mr. singer to the reprint states, that the original is one of the rarest of those that appeared at the period in which it is dated; that he is not aware of the existence of more than two copies, from one of which the reprint is taken, and that the other was in the curious collection of the late mr. malone. besides the rarity of _fidessa_, mr. singer states that it claims some notice from the curious reader on account of a very striking resemblance between griffin's third sonnet, and one of shakspeare's, in his _passionate pilgrim_ (sonnet ix.). i will transcribe both sonnets, taking griffin's first, as it bears the earliest date. "venus, and yong adonis sitting by her, under a myrtle shade began to woo him: she told the yong-ling how god mars did trie her, and as he fell to her, so fell she to him. 'even thus,' quoth she, 'the wanton god embrac'd me,' and then she clasp'd adonis in her armes. 'even thus,' quoth she, 'the warlike god unlac'd me,' as if the boy should use like loving charms. but he, a wayward boy, refusde her offer, and ran away, the beautious queene neglecting: showing both folly to abuse her proffer, and all his sex of cowardice detecting. oh! that i lead my mistris at that bay, to kisse and clippe me till i ranne away!" sonnet iii., from _fidessa_. "fair[ ] venus, with adonis sitting by her, under a myrtle shade, began to woo him; she told the youngling how god mars did try her, and as he fell to her, she fell to him. 'even thus,' quoth she, 'the warlike god embrac'd me,' and then she clipp'd adonis in her arms: 'even thus,' quoth she, 'the warlike god unlac'd me,' as if the boy should use like loving charms: 'even thus,' quoth she, 'he seized on my lips,' and with her lips on his did act the seizure; and as she fetched breath, away he skips, and would not take her meaning nor her pleasure. ah! that i had my lady at this bay, to kiss and clip me till i run away!" sonnet ix., from shakspeare's _passionate pilgrim_. that the insertion of griffin's sonnet in the _passionate pilgrim_ was without shakspeare's consent or knowledge, is in my opinion evident for many reasons. i have long been convinced that the _passionate pilgrim_ was published surreptitiously; and although it bears shakspeare's name, the sonnets and ballads of which it is composed were several of them taken from his dramas, and added to by selections from the poems of his cotemporaries, raleigh, marlow, and others; that it was a bookseller's job, made up for sale by the publisher, w. jaggard. no one can believe that shakspeare would have been guilty of such a gross plagiarism. griffin's _fidessa_ bears date : the first known edition of the _passionate pilgrim_ was printed for w. jaggard, . it has no dedication to any patron, similar to shakspeare's other poems, the _venus and adonis_, the _rape of lucrece_, and the _sonnets_; and why it bears the title of the _passionate pilgrim_ no one has ascertained. but i am losing sight of the object i had in view when i took up my pen, which was, through the medium of "n. & q.," to request any of its readers to furnish me with any particulars of b. griffin, the author of _fidessa_. mr. singer supposes him to have been of a worcestershire family; as he addresses his "poore pamphlet" for patronage to the gentlemen of the innes of court, he might probably have been bred to the law. perhaps your correspondents cuthbert bede, or mr. noake, the worcestershire rambler, might in their researches into vestry registers and parish documents, find some notice of the family. i am informed there was a gentleman of the name resident in our college precincts early in the present century, that he was learned and respected, but very eccentric. j. m. g. worcester. [footnote : the early copies read "venus, with adonis sitting by her;" the defective word was added at dr. farmer's suggestion. had he seen a copy of _fidessa_, the true reading might perhaps have been restored. (note by mr. singer.)] * * * * * caps at cambridge. at the congregation in the senate house at cambridge, nov. , presided over by the prince chancellor, it was observed that the undergraduates in the galleries (for want i suppose of an obnoxious vice-chancellor or proctor upon whom to vent their indignation) poured it forth in yells and groans upon those members of the senate who kept on their hats or caps. the same has been done on several former occasions. it probably { } arises from a mistake, in ascribing to the _gaucherie_ of individuals what is really the observance of a very ancient custom. the following extract, from an unpublished ms. of the middle (i think) of the seventeenth century, in which the custom is incidentally noticed, will serve for a confirmation of what i say: "when i was regent, the whole house of congregation joyned together in a petition to the earle of pembroke to restore unto us the jus pileorum, the licence of putting on our cappes at our publicke meetings; which priviledge time and the tyrannie of our vicechancellours had taken from us. amongst other motives, we use the solemne forme of creating a m^r in the acte by putting on his cappe, and that that signe of libertie might distinguish us which were the regents from those boyes which wee were to governe, which request he graciouslie granted." this was written by an m.a. of oxford. at cambridge we have not hitherto had such haughty despots in authority, to trample upon our rights; but we seem to be in danger of losing our jus pileorum through "the tyrannie," not of our vice-chancellors, but "of those boyes which wee are to governe." a regent m.a. of cambridge. lincoln's inn. * * * * * letters of eminent literary men. (_continued from_ p. .) iv. _dr. john ward, professor of gresham college, to dr. cary, bishop of clonfert._ [ms. donat., brit. mus., , p. .] my lord, while there was any expectation of your lordship's speedy return to england, i forbore to congratulate you on your late promotion. for though none of your friends could more truly rejoice at this news than i did, both on your own account, and that of the public; yet in the number of compliments which i was sensible you must receive on that occasion, i close rather to be silent for fear of being troublesome. but as i find it is now uncertain, when your affairs may permit of your return hither, i could not omit this opportunity by your good lady to express my hearty congratulation upon the due regard shown by the government to your just merit; and shall think it an honour to be continued in your esteem as _ultimus amicorum_. i doubt not but your lordship has seen mr. horsley's _britannia romana_ advertised in some of our public papers; but i know not whether you have heard that the author died soon after he had finished the work, before its publication. when it was hoped that the credit of this book might have been of some service to him and his large family, he was suddenly and unexpectedly taken off by an apoplexy. such is the uncertainty of all human affairs. that your lordship may be long preserved in your high station for the good of the protestant religion, and the support of public liberty, are the sincere wishes of, my lord, your lordship's obed^t serv^t. john ward. gresham college, april , . v. _mr. michael mattaire to the earl of oxford._ , oct. . orange street. my lord, after my most humble thanks for the continuation of westminster elections you was so kind as to give me, i must acquit myself of my promise; and therefore i herewith send your lordship a copy transcrib'd exactly from the ms. given me by dr. south himself of his verses upon westminster school, with his name, and the year subscribed at bottom. they were indeed publish'd among his _opera posthuma latina anon._ , by curl, after his impudent way of dealing with dead authors' works; and sometimes also with those of the living. curl's printed copy differs from the ms. in these following places: _curl._ _ms._ vers. . multum. latè . et. dum. . ubi regnat. quòd regnet. . æmula. æmula, but over it ardua. . dirigit. digerit. . nitent. micant. . studiosæ. studiosa. . illa. ipsa. . lumen. lucem. your lordship by this may see how much this sawcy fellow has abused this learned man's fine copy of verses; and how justly he deserved the correction which was inflicted on him at that school. by the tenth distich it appears that the school (containing then _tercentum juvenes_) was managed by three masters onely: and, for aught we know, might flourish pretty well, though it had not twice that number. give me leave, my lord, to subscribe myself with profound respect, your honor's most oblig'd, most obedient, and most humble serv^t. m. maittaire. "in inclytam scholam regiam westmonasteriensem. reginæ fundata manu, regina scholarum; quam virgo extruxit, musáq; virgo colit. { } inconfusa babel, linguis et mole superba; celsior et famâ, quàm fut illa situ. gentibus et linguis latè celebrata; tacere de quâ nulla potest, nec satìs ulla loqui. opprobria exuperans, pariterq; encomia: linguis et tot laudari digna, quot ipsa doces. hæbræus græcusq; uno cernuntur in anglo; qui puer huc anglus venerat exit arabs. tercentum hic florent juvenes: mihi mira videtur tam numerosa simul, tam quoque docta cohors. sic numero bonitas, numerus bonitate relucet; ut stellas pariter lux numerusq; decet. arte senes, annis pueros mirabitur hospes; dum stupet, in pueris nil puerile videns. consurgit, crescitq; puer, velut hydra sub ictu; florescitq; suis sæpe rigatus aquis. stat regimen triplici fasces moderante magistro; doctaq; musarum regna triumvir habet. scilicet has inter sedes quòd regnet apollo, optimè apollineus comprobat ille tripos. ardua sic super invidiam sese effert æmula; nullis invida, sed cunctis invidiosa scholis. indè in septenas se digerit ordine classes; dispositæ, septem, quæ velut astræ, micant. discit et authores propria inter moenia natos; et generosa libros, quos legit, ipsa parit. instar araneolæ studiosa has exhibet artes; quas de visceribus texuit ipsa suis. literulas docet hic idem præceptor et author, idem discipulis bibliotheca suis. accipit hìc lucem, non ultrà cæcus, homerus: huc venit à scythicis naso reversus agris. utraq; divitijs nostris academia crescit; hæc schola ad implendas sufficit una duas. sic fons exiguus binos excurrit in amnes: parnassi geminus sic quoque surgit apex. huic collata igitur, quantùm ipsa academia præstat: dic, precor; hæc doctos accipit, illa facit. rob. south. ann. dom. , aut ." [ms. harl. , fols. , .] vi. _the earl of orrery to mr., afterwards dr., thomas birch._ [addit. ms., brit. mus., , art. . orig.] caledon, sept. , . dear sir, it either is, or seems to be, a long time since i heard from you. perhaps you are writing the very same sentence to me; but as the loss is on my side, you must give me leave to complain. this summer has passed away in great idleness and feasting: so that i have scarce looked into a book of any sort. mrs. pilkington and con. philips, however, have not escaped me. i was obliged to read them to adapt myself to the conversation of my neighbours, who have talked upon no other topic, notwithstanding the more glorious subjects of peace, and lord anson's voyage. the truth is, we are better acquainted with the stile of con. and pilky, than with the hard names and distant places that are mentioned in the voyage round the world. i have not peeped into the anti-lucretius: it is arrived at caledon, and reserved for the longest evenings. carte's voluminous history is weighing down one of my shelves. he likewise is postponed to bad weather, or a fit of the gout. last week brought us the first number of con's second volume. she goes on triumphantly, and is very entertaining. her sister pilkington is not so fortunate. she has squandered away the money she gained by her first volume, and cannot print her second. but from you, i hope to hear of books of another sort. a thin quarto named _louthiana_ is most delicately printed, and the cuts admirably engraved: and yet we think the county of louth the most devoid of antiquities of any county in ireland. the county of corke is, i believe, in the press; and i am told it will be well executed. i have seen the county of waterford, and approve of it very much. these kind of books are owing to an historical society formed at dublin, and of great use to this kingdom, which is improving in all arts and sciences very fast: tho' i own to you, the cheapness of french claret is not likely to add much at present to the encrease of literature. if all true hibernians could bring themselves to be of your opinion and pindar's, the glorious memory of king william might keep the head cool, and still warm the heart; but, alas, it sets both on fire: and till these violent fits of bacchanalian loyalty are banished from our great tables, i doubt few of us shall ever rise higher in our reading than the memoirs of that kind i first mentioned. i am, dear sir, and so is all my family, truly yours, orrery. to the rev. mr. thomas birch, at his house in norfolk street, london. free (boyle). * * * * * newspaper folk lore. the following paragraph is now going the round of the newspapers without reference to the source of information. i copy it from the _morning chronicle_ of friday, december . "_escape of a snake from a man's mouth._--an extraordinary circumstance occurred a few days ago to jonathan smith, gunner's mate, who was paid off at portsmouth on the th of may last, from her majesty's ship hastings, guns, on her return to england from the east indies. he obtained six weeks' leave. on the expiration of that time, after seeing his friends at chatham, he joined the excellent, gunnery-ship at portsmouth. after some time he was taken unwell, { } his illness increased, and he exhibited a swelling in his stomach and limbs. the surgeon considering that it arose from dropsy, he was removed into haslar hospital, and after much painful suffering, although he had every attention paid to him by the medical officers of the establishment, he died. two hours before his death a living snake, nine inches in length, came out of his mouth, causing considerable surprise. how the reptile got into his stomach is a mystery. it is supposed that the deceased must have swallowed the reptile when it was young, drinking water when the hastings was out in india, as the ship laid for some time at trincomalee, and close to a small island called snake island. the crew used very often to find snakes on board. the way they used to get into the ship was by the cable, and through the hawsers into the forecastle. the deceased was forty years of age. he was interred in kingston churchyard. his remains were followed to the grave by the ship's company of the excellent." the proverbial wisdom of the serpent is here clearly exemplified. it has long been well known among sailors that rats have the sense to change their quarters when a vessel becomes cranky; whence i believe arises the epithet "rat," which is sometimes scurrilously applied to a politic man who removes to the opposition benches when he perceives symptoms of dissolution in the ministry. the snake, in the simple narrative above quoted, was evidently guided by some such prudential motive when he quitted the stomach of the dying sailor, which could not continue for any great length of time to afford protection and support to the cunning reptile. i have an amiable friend who habitually swallows with avidity the tales of sea-serpents which are periodically imported into this country on american bottoms, and i have sufficient credulity myself to receive, without strict examination into evidence, the account of the swarming of the snakes up the cables into a ship; but i cannot so readily believe that "considerable surprise" was caused in the mind of any rational biped by the fact that a living snake, which had attained to the length of nine inches, took the very natural precaution to come out of a dying man's mouth. how the reptile got into his stomach is a mystery which the newspaper writer has attempted to clear up, but he has not attempted to explain how the reptile managed to live during many months in so unusual a habitation as a man's stomach. some obliging correspondent of "n. & q." will perhaps have the kindness to explain this remarkable fact in natural history. a londoner. * * * * * king james's irish army list of - . in last september i undertook a literary project, which i think could be greatly aided through the medium of "n. & q.," as there are few families in the empire that are not connected with its details, and who might therefore be expected to feel interested in them. the project i allude to is a publication of king james's irish army list of - . king i must call him in reference to that list. those that appear upon it were many his creedmen, and all his devoted adherents. the list, of which i have a copy in ms., extends over thirty-four pages octavo. the first two are filled with the names of all the colonels; the four ensuing are rolls of the regiments of horse; the four next, of the dragoons; and the remaining twenty-four record the foot: each regiment being arranged, with the colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major at head, and the captains, lieutenants, cornets or ensigns, and quarter-masters, in columns, on each respectively. to every regiment i proposed to append notices, historic and genealogical, to the extent of, perhaps, eight hundred pages or more, for the compilation of which i have ample materials in my own ms. collections. these notices i propose to furnish under him of the name who ranks highest on the list; and all the scattered officers of that name will be collected in that one article. after an especial and full notice of such officer, to when the family article is attached, his parentage, individual achievements, descendants, &c., each illustration will briefly glance at the genealogy of that family, with, if an irish sept, its ancient localities; if an english or scotch, the county from whence it branched, and the period when it settled here. i would next identify each family, so illustrated, with its attainders and forfeitures in ; with the great assembly of confederate catholics at kilkenny in ; with the persons denounced by name in cromwell's ordinance of , "for _settling_ ireland;" with the declaration of royal gratitude to the irish exiles who served king charles ii. "in parts beyond the seas," as contained in the _act of explanation_ of ; with (if space allowable) those advanced by james ii. to civil offices, as sheriffs, &c., or members of his new corporations; with those who represented irish counties or boroughs in the parliament of dublin in ; with the several outlawries and confiscations of , &c.; with else claims that were subsequently (in ) preferred as charges on these forfeitures, and how far allowed or dismissed; and, lastly, as far as attainable, their achievements in the glorious engagements of the spanish and french brigades: { } all statements throughout being _verified by authorities_. already have i compiled and arranged the materials for illustrating the eight regiments of horse upon this roll, viz. tyrconnel's, galmoy's, sarsfield's, abercorn's, luttrell's, sutherland's, parker's, and purcell's; a portion of the work in which, according to my plan, the illustrations will be appropriated to the families of-- aylmer. barnewall. butler. callaghan. cusack. de courcy. dempsey. everard. gernon. hamilton. kearney. lawless. lutrell. matthews. mcdonnell mcnamara. meara. morris. nagle. o'sullivan. o'kelly. plunket. prendergast. purcel. redmond. rice. roche. sarsfield. sheldon. synnott. talbot. &c. &c. and this section (about pages) is open to inspection on appointment. the above is but a tithe of the surnames whose genealogical illustrations i propose to furnish. the succeeding portions of the work, comprising six regiments of dragoons, and upwards of fifty of foot, will offer for notice, besides numerous septs of the o's and mac's, the anglo-irish names of-- barry. bellew. bermingham. burke. cheevers. cruise. d'alton. daly. d'arcy. dillon. dowdall. eustace. fagan. fitzgerald. fitzmaurice. fitzpatrick. fleming. grace. keatinge. lacy. nangle. netterville. nugent. power. preston. russell. savage. segrave. taaffe. trant. tyrrel. wogan. _cum multis aliis._ my inquiry touching lord dover, who heads the list, has heretofore elicited much curious information; and i confide that all who can afford literary assistance to the undertaking, by letters, inspection of documents, or otherwise, will promptly communicate on the subject. john d'alton. . summer hill, dublin. * * * * * minor notes. _authors and publishers._--as "n. & q." is, i believe, much read by booksellers as well as authors, would not both parties find great advantage by the latter advertising in your pages the completion and wished-for publication of any work on which they may have been engaged? publishers, in this way, might hear of works which they would be glad to bring before the public, and authors be spared much unnecessary and often useless trouble and correspondence. authors, i know, may feel some delicacy in coming before the world in this manner _before_ publication, although after that rubicon is passed, their names and productions are blazoned on the winds; but as a previous announcement in "n. & q." may be made _anonymously_, as respects the name of the writer, although not of course as regards the nature of his work, there seems no just reason why honorable and beneficial arrangements may not be made in this way as well as by any other. to me this plan seems to offer some advantages, and i throw out the hint for the consideration of all whom it may concern.[ ] alpha. [footnote : [any assistance which we can afford in carrying out this suggestion, which we may remark comes from one who has had practical experience on the subject, we shall be most happy to render.--ed.]] _inscriptions on old pulpits._--"n. & q." has given many kinds of inscriptions, from those on fonts and door-heads down to those on watch-papers; perhaps, therefore, it may not be without its use or interest to make a beginning for a list of inscriptions on old pulpits. the first inscription i quote is from richard baxter's pulpit, of which i have given a full description in vol. v., p. .: . kidderminster. baxter's pulpit (now preserved in the vestry of the unitarian chapel). on the panels of the pulpit: "alice . dawkx . widow . gave . this." on the front of the preacher's desk: "praise . the . lord." round the sounding-board: "o . give . thanks . unto . the . lord . and . call upon . his . name . declare . his . worship among . the . people." at the back of the pulpit: "anno . ." . suckley, worcestershire; round the sounding-board (apparently of very old date): "blessed . are . they . that . hear . the . worde . of god . and . keepe . it." . broadwas, worcestershire; on the panels: "william . noxon . and . roger . prince . c . w . ." round the sounding-board, the same text as at suckley. cuthbert bede, b.a. _recent curiosities of literature._--thackeray, in the second number of _the newcomes_, describes an old lady's death as being caused from her head having been _cut_ with a bed-room _candle_. n. p. willis, in his _health trip to the tropics_, speaks { } of being waited on by a carib, who had "no beard except a long moustache." professor spalding, of st. andrew's in his _history of english literature_, says that the sonnets of wordsworth "have _perfection_ hardly to be _surpassed_." and j. stanyan bigg (the "new poet"), in the december number of hogg's _instructor_, exclaims: "the winter storms come rushing round the wall, like him who at jerusalem shriek'd out 'wo!'" cuthbert bede, b.a. _assuming names._--last term, in the court of exchequer, application was made by counsel to add a surname to the name of an attorney on the roll; he having been left property with a wish expressed that he should take the surname in addition to his own, which he had done, but not by royal license. the court granted the application. (_law times_, vol. xxii. p. .) anon. _false dates in water-marks of papers._--lately, in cutting up some paper for photographic purposes, i found in one and the same quire two sheets without any mark, two of the date , nine bearing the date , and the remaining eleven were . i can imagine a case might occur in which the authenticity of a document might be much questioned were it dated , when the paper would be presumed not to have been made until a year afterwards. i think this is worth making a note of not only by lawyers, but those interested in historical documents. h. w. d. jan. , . * * * * * queries. captain farre. i send you a note and a query respecting the same person. many years since, i passed a few days in one of the wildest spots in the south of england--hawkley, in the neighbourhood of selbourne. on a visit to the church of emshott or empshot, i heard that the screen had been presented by a captain farre, whose memory was in some way connected with the days of the republic; and on farther inquiry tradition, it appeared, had come to the conclusion that farre had been one of the regicides who had retired into the neighbourhood, and lived and died there in a sort of concealment. i found out, also, the house in which he had lived: a pretty modest cottage, in which a small farmer resided. i was struck, on approaching it, by the beauty of the brick-work of the little porch, which appeared to have been an addition to the original building. on entering the cottage, i found that the kitchen and bed-room only were occupied by the family; the _one room_, which _had been_ the sitting-room, being used as a granary. the ceiling of this room was ponderous, with a deep rich sunken panelling. the little porch-entrance and the ceiling of this room were so out of character with the cottage, and indeed with all around, that i caused search to be made in the registers of the parish to see if i could find some trace of this captain farre; and i now send you the result. there was no regicide of that name; but col. phaer was one of those to whom the warrant for the execution of charles was addressed: and he certainly was not one of the twenty-nine subsequently tried for the high treason as it was called. what became of him i know not. whether he reappeared here as capt. farre, or who capt. farre was, i shall leave to the speculation of the better informed. there were many farrs and phaers _out_ in the great revolution, and the name is sometimes spelt one way, sometimes the other. empshot, under nore hill or noah hill, was certainly an excellent place for concealment. the neighbourhood was, and is, as white said, "famous for its oaks, and infamous for its roads." _extracts from the parish registers._ "_captaine farre of nore_, when our church was repaired, gave the new silke cushion and pullpit cloath, which was first used on christmas day, anno domini ." " , feb. . anne baker, kinswoman of _capt. farre_, was buried, and that very day the moone was new, and the snow thawed; and the frost broke, which had lasted from nov. , , to that day, which is weeks. the ponds were frozen feet, and that little water which was, was not sweet; the very grave wherein she was buried in the church was froze almost feet over, and our cattel were in a bad case, and we fared worse: and, just in our extremity, god had pitty on us, and sent a gracious raine and thaw. she was buried in linnen; and paid s. to the poore, and s. d. for being buried in the church." " , april . mrs. farre was buried in linnen, and p^d s. to the poore." " . john, son of mr. john palmer and elizabeth his wife, was born tuesday, may the st, and baptized at home may the th; y^e _captaine_ died thursday last, y^e day before." "an account of the briefe for the relief of the french protestants, read may th, at newton, . _at noare in newton._ _capt. mr. robert farre_ gave lib. for himself, and his kinswoman mrs. elizabeth farre. his man roger s. his maid anna d." "gathered towards the relief of the french protestants, may , ; _captain far_ and mrs. elizabeth far, s." c. f. { } * * * * * marriage ceremony in the fourteenth century. will some one of your correspondents (learned in such matters) refer me to a work treating of the marriage ceremony as performed in this country during the fourteenth century, in order to the explanation of the following passages, which refer to an event in english history--the marriage of edward i.'s daughter with the count of holland? the king's writ to the bishop of london speaks of the marriage as about to be celebrated on the day after the epiphany, upon which day (as shown by the wardrobe account) the ring was put on; but it was on the next day (the th) that the princess "despon[=s] fuit," as shown by the same account. in rymer's _foedera_, vol. i. p. ., will be found a writ directed to the bishop of london (and others) as follows: "quia inter comitem holandiæ et elizabetham, filiam nostram carissimam, _matrimonium_ hac proxima die lunæ, _in crastino epiphaniæ_, apud gyppesivicum solempnizari proponimus, domino concedente," &c. in the household book of king edward i. for the same year (add. ms. .) will be found the following entries, p. .: "_obla[=t] p'ticipa[=t]._--terc[=o] die janu[=ar] in obla[=t] [p=]ticipatis ad missam celebr[=a]tam ad magn[=u] altare eccl[=i]a priorat' [=b]i pe[=t] in gippewico die nupcia[=r] alienore de burgo.... vij. "_pro comitessa holland._--eodem die (vij janu[=ar]) in dena[=r] tam positis su[p=] libr[=u] qi[=n] jactatis [=i]ter homines circumstantes ad hostium in introitu eccl[=i]e magne prioratus pred[=c]i _ubi comes hollandie sub.... vit d[=n]am elizabetham filiam regis c[=u] anulo auri...._ lxs. "fratribus predicatoribus de gippewico [p=] ... sua unius diei videl[=tz] viij _diei janu[=ar] quo die d[=na] elizabeth filia r. despon[=s] fuit_, [p=] m. de cauford, xiijs. iiijd." r. c. * * * * * manuscript catena. about four years ago i purchased, at the sale of the museum of mr. george bell of whitehaven, a folio vellum ms. in latin, written apparently in the fourteenth century: containing a catena, or a series of notes on the epistles to the romans and corinthians, selected from the fathers of the church, viz. origines, ambrosius, gregorius, jeronimus, augustinus, cassianus, beda, lambertus, lanfrancus, anselmus, and ivo carnotensis. as many of those authors were english, i infer that the volume was compiled in england for some english monastery. the beginning of each chapter is noted on the margin, but there is no division into verses. the sentences, or short paragraphs of the text, are written in vermillion, and the comments upon them in black: those comments are generally taken from one, but often from two or three authors; the names of each being stated. there are large handsome capitals at the beginning of each book, and the initials to the paragraphs are distinguished by a spot of red, but there are no illuminations. two leaves have been cut out at the beginning of the volume; a few at two or three places throughout the volume, and at the end, by some former possessor. as the style of binding is very uncommon, i will describe it. it was bound in oak boards of half an inch thick; the sheets were sewed on thongs of white leather, similar to what cart harness is stitched with. instead of the thongs being brought _over_ the back edges of the boards (as in modern binding), they are inserted into mortices in the edges of the boards, and then laced through holes, and secured with glue and wedges. the boards were covered first with allumed leather, and over that seal-skin _with the hair on_. the board at the beginning of the book had four feet, placed near the corners, of nearly an inch in height, half an inch in diameter at the base, and about a quarter of an inch at the point. each was cast in one piece, with a circular base of about an inch and a quarter in diameter, and rising towards the centre; and they were each fastened on by three pins or nails. the board at the end of the book was ornamented with four circular brass plates about the size of a halfpenny, placed near the corners; having in the centre of each a stud, the head of which represented a prominent close flower of four petals. and in the centre of the board, there had been a stud or button, on which to fasten the strap from the other board to keep the book shut. only one stud and one foot remained; but the places where the others had been were easily seen. i presume that the volume was meant to lie on a lectern or reading-desk, resting on its feet; and when opened out, the other board rested on its studs, as both were worn smooth with use. the binding being loose, and the cover torn to shreds (part of which was held on by the stud), i got the book rebound as nearly as possible in the same manner as the first, only substituting russia leather for the unsightly seal-skin; and the remaining stud and foot afforded patterns, from which others were cast to supply the places of those deficient. nothing is known of the history of this volume, except that it was purchased by mr. bell from alexander campbell, a bookseller in carlisle. i am inclined to think, that it had belonged to some monastery in cumberland; and the _seal-skin_ cover would seem to indicate calder abbey (which is near _the coast_, where seals might be caught) as its original owner. can any of your correspondents inform me, from the marks which i have given, whether this is a { } copy of _some known work_ or an original compilation? and if the former, state where the original ms. is preserved; and if _printed_, the particulars of the edition? if my ms. can be ascertained to have formerly belonged to any library or individual, i shall be glad to learn any particulars of its history. j. m. k. shoreham. * * * * * minor queries. _jews and egyptians._--has any writer ever started the idea that the early colonisers of some of the grecian states, who are commonly stated to have been egyptians, may have been, in fact, jews? it seems to me that a good deal might be said in favour of this hypothesis, for the following reasons, amongst others: . the egyptian tradition preserved by hecatæus, and quoted from him by diodorus, that danaus and cadmus were leaders of minor branches of the great emigration, of which the main body departed under the guidance of moses. . the near coincidence in point of time, as far as can be traced, of the appearance of danaus, cadmus, and cecrops, in greece, with the jewish exodus. . the letter, preserved by josephus, of areus, king of sparta, to the high-priest of the jews, claiming a common descent with the latter from abraham, and proposing an alliance. it is difficult to explain this claim on any other supposition than that areus had heard of the tradition mentioned by diodorus, and, as he and his people traced their descent from danaus through hercules, they consequently regarded themselves as sprung from a common stock with the hebrews. i throw out this theory for the consideration of others, having myself neither leisure nor opportunity for pushing the subject any farther; but still i think that a distinguished statesman and novelist, who amused the world some years ago by endeavouring to trace most of the eminent men of modern times to a jewish origin, might, with at least as much reason, claim most of the glories of ancient greece for his favourite people. j. s. warden. _skin-flint._--is the word _skin-flint_, a miserly or niggardly person, of english or foreign derivation? and where is the earliest instance of the term to be met with? j. w. _garlic sunday._--the last sunday of summer has been heretofore a day of great importance with the irish, as upon it they first tried the new potato, and formed an opinion as to the prospects of future harvest. the day was always called, in the west in particular, "garlic sunday," perhaps a corruption of garland sunday. can any one give the origin of this term, and say when first it was introduced? u. u. dublin. _custom of the corporation of london._--in the evidence of mr. bennoch, given before the royal commissioners for inquiring into the corporation of the city of london, he stated that there is, amongst other payments, one of l. "for cloth to the great ministers of state," the city being bound by an old charter to give a certain amount of cloth annually to them. he subsequently states that this custom is supposed to be connected with the encouragement of the wool manufacture in its early history; and that four and a half yards of the finest black cloth that the country can produce are annually sent to the first secretary of state, the second secretary of state, the lord chancellor, the chamberlain of the household, the vice-chancellor of the household, the treasurer of the household, the lord steward, the controller, the lord chief justice of the queen's bench, the lord chief justice of the common pleas, the chief baron of the exchequer, the master of the rolls, the recorder of london, the attorney-general, the solicitor-general, and the common sergeant. can any of the readers of "n. & q." give a more particular account of this custom? cervus. _general stokes._--can any of your readers give me any information respecting the parentage of general stokes? in the historical table of remarkable events in the _jamaica almanack_ for it says: "general stokes, with men from nevis, arrived and settled near port morant, anno domini ." and in bryan edwards' work on _jamaica and the west indies_, mention is made of general stokes in the following words: "in the month of december, , general stokes, with men from nevis, arrived in jamaica, and settled near port morant. the family of the morants of vere (in jamaica) are the lineal descendants of general stokes, who took the name of morant from the port at which he landed. general stokes was governor of nevis; and on his arrival in jamaica was appointed one of the high commissioners for the island." h. h. m. _rev. philip morant._--i shall be obliged by any information respecting the lineage of the rev. philip morant, who wrote a _history of the county of essex_; and whether he was an ancestor of the morants of brockenhurst park, hants. he was born at st. saviour's, in the isle of jersey, oct. , ; entered, , pembroke college, oxford. he was presented to { } the following benefices in the county of essex, viz. shallow, bowells, bromfield, chicknal, imeley, st. mary's, colchester, wickham bishops, and to oldham in . he died nov. , ; and his only daughter married thomas astle, esq., f.r.s. and f.a.s. he was son of stephen morant. if any of the sons or daughters of that eminent antiquary thomas astle will give me any information relative to the pedigree of philip morant, m.a., they will greatly oblige me. h. h. m. malta. _the position of suffragan bishops in convocation._--in chamberlayne's _magnæ britanniæ notitia, or the present state of great britain_, , p. ., it is said: "all suffragan bishops and deans, archdeacons, prebendaries, rectors, and vicars, have privileges, some by themselves, others by proxy or by representatives, to sit and vote in the lower house of convocation." is there authority for this statement as regards suffragan bishops? there is no writ or mandate that i have seen for their appearance. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _cambridge mathematical questions._--can any of your readers inform me whether the university of cambridge puts forth, by authority, a collection of all the questions proposed to candidates for the b.a. degree? if not, how can one obtain access to the questions which have been asked during the last forty or fifty years? iota. _crabbe mss._--in some second-hand book catalogue the following is inserted, viz.,-- " . crabbe (rev. geo., _poet_), poems, prayers, essays, sermons, portions of plays, &c., _ vols. entirely autograph, together with a catalogue of plants, and extracts from the second volume of the transactions of the linnean society, (this volume only contains a few autograph verses in pencil at the end). an autograph letter of pages to the dean of lincoln, dated_ trowbridge, march , . _a curious anonymous letter from 'priscian' to mr. murray, dated_ dec. th, , _on the orthography of the name of the birthplace of the poet, and which the writer observed in the view of the town of aldeburgh in the frontispiece to the prospectus mr. m. has just issued, &c., interspersed with some portraits and scraps, in vols. to. and vo., dated from to , l. s._" this is a note underneath: "the following portion of a prayer, evidently alluding to his troubles, occurs in one of the volumes bearing date dec. , : 'a thousand years, most adored creator, are in thy sight as one day. so contract in my sight my calamities! the year of sorrow and care, of poverty and disgrace, of disappointment and wrong, is now passing on to join the eternal. now, o lord! let, i beseech thee, my afflictions and prayers be remembered; my faults and follies be forgotten.' 'o! thou who art the fountain of happiness, give me better submission to thy decrees, better disposition to correct my flattering hopes, better courage to bear up under my state of oppression,'" &c. can any of the reader of "n. & q." tell me who possesses this? i should very much like to know. h. t. bobart. ashby-de-la-zouch. _tilly, an officer of the courts at westminster._--what office did one tilly hold in one of the courts at westminster, circa william iii.? was he warden of the fleet? what were his connexions by birth and by marriage? was he dispossessed? and if so, why? j. k. _mr. gye._--who was mr. guye, or gye, who had chambers in the temple circa wm. iii.? j. k. _three fleurs-de-lys._--some of your heraldic contributors may perhaps be able to say whether there is any instance of an english coat of arms with three fleurs-de-lys in a line (horizontal), in the upper part of the shield? such are said to occur in coats of arms of french origin, as in that of the celebrated du guesclin, and perhaps in english coats in the form of a _triangle_. but query whether, in any instance, in a horizontal line? devoniensis. _the commons of ireland previous to the union in ._--i have understood there was a work which contained either the memoirs or sketches of the political characters of all the members of the last "commons of ireland;" and i have heard it was written by a rev. dr. scott of, i believe, trinity college, dublin. can any reader of "n. & q." inform me if there be such a work? and if there be a biographical account of the author to be met with? c. h. d. "_all holyday at peckham._"--can any of your correspondents inform me what is the origin of the phrase "all holyday at peckham?"[ ] r. w. b. [footnote : [probably some of our correspondents may know the _origin_ of this phrase; and as many of them, perhaps, are not acquainted with its meaning among the slang literati, we may as well enlighten them with a quotation from the _lexicon balatronicum et macaronicum_ of master jon bee: "_peckham_, going to dinner. 'all holiday at _peckham_,' no appetite. _peckish_, hungry."--ed.]] _arthur de vere._--what was the after history of arthur (philipson) de vere, son of john, earl of oxford, and hero of sir walter scott's novel { } _anne of geierstein?_ was sir walter scott justified in saying, "the manners and beauty of anne of geierstein attracted as much admiration at the english court as formerly in the swiss chalet?" [sigma]. _master of the nails._--it appears from the _historical register_, january, , "mr. hill was appointed master of all the nails at chatham dock." can any of your readers favour me by stating the nature of the above office? w. d. h. _nattochiis and calchanti._--few days since an ancient charter was laid before me containing a grant of lands in the county of norfolk, of the date (temp. edw. ii.), in which the following words are made use of: "cu' omnib; g'nis t natthocouks adjacentib;" &c. in a later portion of the grant this word is spelt _natthociis_. probably some of your learned readers can throw some light on what is meant by the words _granis et nattochiis_ as being appurtenant to marsh lands. in a grant i have also now before me of queen elizabeth-- "decimas, calchanti, liquor, mineral, metal," &c. are given to the grantee for a term of twenty-one years: probably your readers can also enlighten my ignorance of the term _calchanti_; the other words are obvious. if any authorities are to be met with, probably in the answers to these queries your correspondents will have the goodness to cite them. f. s. a. "_ned o' the todding._"--may i beg, through the medium of your excellent publication, to ask if any of your correspondents can inform me in which of our english authors i may find some lines headed "ned o' the todding?" w. t. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _bridget cromwell and fleetwood._--can you inform me whether bridget, daughter of oliver cromwell, who was first married in to ireton, lord deputy of ireland (and had by him a large family), and secondly, to general fleetwood, had any family by the latter? and, if so, what were the christian names of the children (fleetwood)? a new subscriber of . [noble, in his _memoirs of the house of cromwell_, vol. ii. p. ., says, "it is most probable that fleetwood had issue by his second wife bridget, especially as he mentions that she was in an increasing way in several of his letters, written in and . it is highly probable mr. charles fleetwood, who was buried at stoke newington, may , , was his son by the protector's daughter, as perhaps was ellen fleetwood, buried in the same place in a velvet coffin, july , ; if so, she must have been, at the time of her death, upwards of seventy years of age."] _culet._--in my bills from christ church, oxford, there is a charge of sixpence every term for _culet_. what is this? b. r. i. [in old time there was a collection made every year for the doctors, masters, and beadles, and this was called _collecta_ or _culet_: the latter word is now used for a customary fee paid to the beadles. "i suppose," says hearne, "that when this was gathered for the doctors and masters it was only for such doctors and masters as taught and read to scholars, of which sort there was a vast number in old time, and such a collection was therefore made, that they might proceed with the more alacrity, and that their dignity might be better supported."--appendix to _hist. rob. de avesbury_.] * * * * * replies. the asteroids or recently discovered lesser planets. (vol. vii., p. .; vol. viii., p. .) quÆstor has asked me a question to which i will not refuse a reply. if he thinks that the breaking up of a planetary world is a mere fancy, he may consult sir john herschel's _astronomy_, § ., in lardner's series, ed. , in which the supposition was treated as doubtful, and farther discoveries were declared requisite for its confirmation; and professor mitchell's _discoveries of modern astronomy_, lond. , pp. - ., where such discoveries are detailed, and the progress of the proof is narrated and explained. it may be briefly stated as follows:--in the last century, professor bode discovered the construction of a regular series of numbers, in coincidence with which the distances of all the known planets from the sun had been arranged by their creator, saving one exception. calling the earth's solar distance , the next numbers in the series are , , . the distances answering to and , on this scale, are respectively occupied by the planets mars and jupiter; but the position of seemed unoccupied. it was not likely that the creator should have left the methodical order of his work incomplete. a few patient observers agreed, therefore, to divide amongst themselves that part of the heavens which a planet revolving at the vacant distance might be expected to traverse; and that each should keep up a continuous examination of the portion assigned to him. and the result was the discovery by piazzi, in , of a planet revolving at the expected solar distance, but so minute that the elder herschel computed its diameter to be no more than miles. the discovery of a second by olbers, in the { } following year, led him to conjecture and suggest that these were fragments of a whole, which, at its first creation, had occupied the vacant position, with a magnitude not disproportionate to that assigned to the other planets. since then there have been, and continue to be, discoveries of more and more such fragmental planets, all moving at solar distances so close upon that numbered , as to pass each other almost, as has been said, within peril; but in orbits which seem capriciously elevated and depressed, when referred to the planes assigned for the course of the regular planets; so that, to most minds capable of appreciating these facts, it will seem that olber's conjecture has been marvellously confirmed. as to the theological conjecture appended to it in my previous communication, about which quÆstor particularly questions me, i can only say, that if he deems it rash or wrong, i have no right to throw the blame of it on any other man's shoulders, as i am not aware of its having been hazarded by any one else. but i hope he will agree with me, that if there has been a disruption of a planetary world, it cannot have arisen from any mistake or deficiency in the creator's work or foresight, but should be respectfully regarded as the result of some moral cause. henry walter. * * * * * emblematic meanings of precious stones (vol. viii., p. ).--planets of the months symbolised by precious stones (vol. iv., pp. . .). the poles have a fanciful belief that each month of the year is under the influence of a precious stone, which influence has a corresponding effect on the destiny of a person born during the respective month. consequently, it is customary, among friends and lovers, on birth-days, to make reciprocal presents of trinkets ornamented with the natal stones. the stones and their influences, corresponding with each month, are supposed to be as follows: january garnet. constancy and fidelity. february amethyst. sincerity. march bloodstone. courage. presence of mind. april diamond. innocence. may emerald. success in love. june agate. health and long life. july cornelian. contented mind. august sardonyx. conjugal felicity. september chrysolite. antidote against madness. october opal. hope. november topaz. fidelity. december turquoise. prosperity. the rabbinical writers describe a system of onomancy, according to the third branch of the cabala, termed _notaricon_, in conjunction with lithomancy. twelve anagrams of the name of god were engraved on twelve precious stones, by which, with reference to their change of hue or brilliancy, the cabalist was enabled to foretel future events. those twelve stones, thus engraved, were also supposed to have a mystical power over, and a prophetical relation to, the twelve signs of the zodiac, and twelve angels or good spirits, in the following order: _anagrams._ _stones._ _signs._ _angels._ [hebrew: yhwh] ruby. aries. mulchediel. [hebrew: yhhw] topaz. taurus. asmodel. [hebrew: ywhh] carbuncle. gemini. ambriel. [hebrew: hwhy] emerald. cancer. muriel. [hebrew: hwyh] sapphire. leo. verchel. [hebrew: hhyw] diamond. virgo. humatiel. [hebrew: whhy] jacinth. libra. zuriel. [hebrew: wyhh] agate. scorpio. barbiel. [hebrew: hwhy] amethyst. sagittarius. adnachiel. [hebrew: hyhw] beryl. capricornus. humiel. [hebrew: whyh] onyx. aquarius. gabriel. [hebrew: hywh] jasper. pisces. barchiel. these stones had also reference to the twelve tribes of israel, twelve parts of the human body, twelve plants, twelve birds, twelve minerals, twelve hierarchies of devils, &c. &c. _usque ad nauseum_. it is evident that all this absurd nonsense was founded on the twelve precious stones in the breast-plate of the high priest (exodus xxviii. .: see also numbers xxvii. ., and samuel xxviii. .). i may add that in the glorious description of the holy city, in revelation xxi., the mystical number twelve is again connected with precious stones. in the _sympathia septem metallorum ac septem selectorum lapidum ad planetus_, by the noted peter arlensis de scudalupis, the following are the stones and metals which are recorded as sympathising with what the ancients termed the seven planets (i translate the original words): saturn turquoise. lead. jupiter cornelian. tin. mars emerald. iron. sun diamond. gold. venus amethyst. copper. mercury loadstone. quicksilver. moon chrystal. silver. n. d. inquires in what works he will find the emblematical meanings of precious stones described. for a great deal of curious, but obsolete and useless, reading on the mystical and occult properties of precious stones, i may refer him to the following works:--_les amours et noveaux eschanges des pierres précieuses_, paris, ; _curiositez inouyes sur la sculpture talismanique_, paris, ; _occulta naturæ miracula_, antwerp, ; _speculum lapidi_, aug. vind., ; _les oeuvres de jean belot_, rouen, . w. pinkerton. * * * * * { } non-recurring diseases. (vol. viii., p. .) to give a full and satisfactory answer to the questions here proposed would involve so much professional and physiological detail, as would be unsuited to the character of such a publication as "n. & q." i will therefore content myself with short categorical replies, agreeable to the present state of our knowledge of these mysteries of the animal economy. it is true as a general rule that the infectious diseases, particularly the exanthemata, or those attended by eruption--the measles for example--occur but once. but there are exceptional cases, and the most virulent of these non-recurrent diseases, such even as small-pox, are sometimes taken a second time, and are then sometimes, though by no means always, fatal. why all the mammalia (for, be it observed, these diseases are not confined to the human race) are subject to these accidents, or why the animal economy should be subject to such a turmoil at all, or, being so subject, why the susceptibility to the recurrence of the morbid action should exist, or be revived in some and not in others; and why in the majority of persons it should be extinguished at once and for ever, remain amongst the arcana of nature, to which, as yet, the physiology of all the hunters, and the animal chemistry of all the liebigs, give no solution. those persons who take note of the able, and in general highly instructive, reports of the registrar of public health, will observe that the word _zymotic_ is now frequently used to signify the introduction into the body of some morbific poisons,--such as prevail in the atmosphere, or are thrown off by diseased bodies, or generated in the unwholesome congregation of a crowded population, which are supposed to act like yeast in a beer vat, exciting ferments in the constitution, in the case of the infections diseases, similar to those which gave them birth. but this explains nothing, and only shifts the difficulty and changes the terms, and is no better than a modification of the opinions of our forefathers, who attributed all such disorders to a fermentation of the supposed "humours" of the body. the essence of these changes in the animal economy, like other phenomena of the living principle, remain, and perhaps ever will remain, an unfathomable mystery. it is our business to investigate, as much as in our power, and by a slow and cautious induction, the laws by which they are governed. non-recurrence, or immunity from any future seizure in a person who has had an infectious disease, seems derivable from some invisible and unknown _impression_[ ] made on the constitution. there is good reason to suppose that this impression may _vary in degree_ in different individuals, and in the same individual at different times; and thence some practical inferences are to be drawn which have not yet been well advanced into popular view, but to which i cannot advert unless some reader of "n. & q." put the question. m. ( ) [footnote : this word is used for want of a better, to signify some unknown change.] * * * * * milton's widow. (vol. viii., p. . &c.) garlichithe's apologies to mr. hughes are due, not so much for neglecting his communications as for misquoting them. we all owe an apology to your readers for keeping up so pertinaciously a subject of which i fear they will begin to be tired. mr. hughes has _not_ stated that richard minshull of chester, son of richard minshull, the writer of the letter of may , , was born in . what mr. hughes _did_ state (vol. viii., p. .) was, that mrs. milton's brother, richard minshull of wistaston, was baptized on april in that year; and the statement is quite correct, as i can vouch, from having examined the baptismal register. richard minshull of chester was aged forty or forty-one at the date of his father's letter, as shown below; but even if he had been aged only fifteen, as supposed by garlichithe, i do not see that there is anything in the language of the letter to call for observation. he had conveyed to his father a communication from randle holmes, and the father writes in answer,--"deare and loveing sonne, my love and best respects to you and to my daughter [garlichithe may read daughter-in-law if he likes, but i see no necessity for it], tendered w^{th} trust of y^r health. i have reaceived mr. alderman holmes his letter, together with y^{rs}, wherin i understand that you desire to know what i can say concerning our coming out of minshull house;" and he proceeds to give the information asked for. garlichithe, in his former communication, confounds randle the great-grandfather with randle the great-grandson, and in his present one he confounds richard minshull of chester, the uncle, with richard minshull of wistaston, the nephew. i agree with garlichithe that "he, richard, the writer of the said letter, must be _fairly presumed_ to have been married at the date of such letter," which he addresses to his "deare and loveing sonne;" but what of that? whom he married, your readers are informed at p. . he died in the year following his letter, at the ripe age of eighty-six. the misquotations noticed above would, if not pointed out, lead to inextricable confusion of facts; and i am compelled therefore again to { } trouble you. in order, if possible, to set the matter at rest, i will put together in the form of a pedigree, compressed so as to be fit for insertion in your columns, the material facts which have been the subject of so much discussion; but, before doing so, permit me a word of protest against some of the communications alluded to, which are scarcely fair to "n. & q." a correspondent (vol. vii., p. .) asks for information as to milton's widow, and mr. hughes (vol. viii., p. .) refers him to a volume in which will be found the information asked for, and gives a brief outline of the facts there stated. on this garlichithe (vol. viii., p. .), misquoting mr. hughes, calls his attention to mr. hunter's letter, which, if garlichithe had availed himself of the reference furnished to him, he would have found duly noticed. a second correspondent, mr. singer, whose literary services render me unwilling to find fault with him (vol. viii., p. .), heading his article with five references, of which not one is correct, suggests as new evidence the very documents to which mr. hughes had furnished a reference; and a third, t. p. l. (quoting an anonymous pamphlet), jumps at once to the conclusion that "there can be little doubt" the author derived his information from an authentic source, "and, if so, it seems pretty clear"--that all the evidence supplied by heralds' visitations, wills, and title-deeds is to be discarded as idle fiction. such objections as these, and the replies which they have rendered necessary, are, with the exception of the valuable contribution of mr. arthur paget, the staple of the contributions which have filled so much of your valuable space. i conclude with my promised pedigree, the authorities for which are the cheshire visitation of - , and the lancashire visitation of - , confirmed by the letter to randle holmes, and the legal documents published by the chetham society: john mynshull, fourth and youngest son of john mynshull of mynshull, married the daughter and co-heiress of robert cooper of wistaston, and founded the family subsequently settled there, as stated in his great-grandson's letter. | randle mynshull of wistaston married the daughter of rawlinson of crewe, as stated in his grandson's letter. | thomas mynshull of wistaston married dorothy goldsmith of nantwich, as stated in his son's letter. | richard mynshull of wistaston married elizabeth, daughter of nicholas goldsmith of bosworth, in co. leic. (who was probably maternal aunt or great-aunt to the john goldsmith mentioned in dr. paget's will). he was the writer of the letters in , and died in , aged eighty-six. he had two daughters and three sons, viz.-- | +--------------------+--+------------------------+ | | | randle mynshull ( ) thomas mynshull ( ) richard mynshull ( ) | +------+-----------------------+--------------------------+ | | | richard mynshull ( ) john mynshull ( ) elizabeth ( ) ( ) randle mynshull of wistaston married ann boot, and had seven children, of whom it will be necessary to mention three only, viz.-- ( ) richard mynshull, baptized april , . on june , , he executed a bond, by the description of richard mynshull of wistaston, frame-work knitter, to elizabeth milton of the city of london, widow, who, though not stated to be his sister, was evidently a near relative, as appears from the contents of the bond. ( ) john mynshull appears to have resided in manchester, where he was buried, may , , and administration was granted at cheshire to elizabeth milton of nantwich, widow, his lawful sister and next of kin. ( ) elizabeth, baptized december , , married milton in , is described as of london in the bond from her brother, on the occasion of her purchase of an estate at brindley in cheshire; is described as of nantwich in three legal documents from to ; by the same description, administered to her brother john in , and made her will on august , , which was proved on october in the same year. ( ) thomas mynshull, the apothecary of manchester, mentioned in thomas paget's will, aged fifty-one in , had five sons and four daughters. ( ) richard mynshull, alderman of chester, to whom his father wrote the letter of may , , aged forty-seven in . j. f. marsh. warrington. * * * * * table-turning. (vol. viii., pp. . .) one of the most distinguished men of science in france, m. chevreul, the editor (late or present) of the _annales de chimie_, &c., has commenced a series of articles in the _journal des savants_ on the subject of the divining-rod, the exploring pendulum, table-turning, &c., his intention being to investigate scientifically the phenomena presented in these instances. having formerly written much on the occult sciences and being a veteran in experimental science, m. chevreul was generally deemed better qualified than most men living to throw light on the intervention of a principle whose influence he thinks he has proved by his own proper experience. it will be better to quote his own language: "ce principe concerne le _développement en nous d'une action musculaire qui n'est pas le produit d'une volonté, mais le résultat d'une pensée qui se porte sur un phénomène du monde extérieur sans préoccupation de l'action musculaire indispensable à la manifestation du phénomène_. cet énonce sera développé lorsque nous l'appliquerons à l'explication des faits observés par nous, et deviendra parfaitement clair, nous l'espérons, lorsque le lecteur verra qu'il est l'expression précise de ces mêmes faits." a farther quotation (if it should not prove too long for "n. & q.") from m. chevreul's { } preliminary remarks will be thought interesting by many persons: "en définitive, nous espérons montrer d'une manière précise comment des gens d'esprit, sous l'influence de l'amour du merveilleux, si naturel à l'homme, franchissent la limite du connu, du fini, et, dès lors, comment, ne sentant pas le besoin de soumettre à un examen réfléchi l'opinion nouvelle qui leur arrive sous le cachet du merveilleux et du surnaturel, ils adoptent soudainement ce qui, étudié froidement, rentrerait dans le domaine des faits aux causes desquels il est donné à l'homme de remonter. existe-t-il une preuve plus forte de l'amour de l'homme pour le merveilleux, que l'accueil fait de nos jours aux tables tournantes? nous ne le pensons pas. plus d'un esprit fort, qui accuse ses pères de crédulité en rejetant leurs traditions religieuses contemporains de louis xiv., ont repoussé comme impossible un traité de chimère. ce fait confirme ce que nous avons dit de la crédulité à propos de l'_essai sur la magie_ d'eusèbe salverte, car si l'esprit fort qui repousse la révélation ne s'appuie pas sur la méthode scientifique propre à discerner l'erreur de la vérité, l'incertain du fait démontré, il sera sans cesse exposé à adopter comme vraies les opinions les plus bizarres, les plus erronées, ou du moins les plus contestables." the two articles hitherto published by m. chevreul in the _journal des savants_ for the months of october and november, extend only to the first-mentioned subject of these inquiries, the divining-rod. the world will probably wait with some impatience to learn the final views of so eminent a scientific man. j. macray. oxford. * * * * * celtic etymology. (vol. viii., pp. . .) your correspondent is a very antæus. he has fallen again upon _uim_, and he rises up from it to defend the _heapian_ pronunciation with renewed vigour. but i cannot admit that he has proved the pedigree of _humble_ from the gaelic. but, even if _uim_ were the root of a sanscrit word, and not itself a derivative, still the many stages through which the derivation undoubtedly passes, without any need of reference to the gaelic, are quite enough to establish the existence and continuance of an aspirate, until we arrive at the french; and it has already been proved, that many words which lose the aspirate in french do not lose it in english. the progress from the sanscrit is very clear: _sanscrit._ _kshama._ _pracrit._ _khama._ _old greek._ [greek: chama]; whence [greek: chamai], [greek: chamaze], [greek: chthamalos]. _latin._ _humus_, _humilis_. _italian._ _umile_; because there is in italian no initial aspirate. _french._ _'humble_; because in words of latin origin the french almost always omit the aspirate. _english._ _'humble._ and here it may be observed, that _humilis_ never had, except in the vulgate and in ecclesiastical writers, the metaphorically christian sense to which its derivatives in modern tongues are generally confined, and to which i believe the gaelic _umhal_ to be strictly confined. but the original words for _humble_ are _iosal_ and _iriosal_, cognate with the irish _iosal_ and _iriseal_, and the cymric _isel_; and the olden and more established words for the earth are, both in gaelic and irish, _talamh_ and _lar_, cognate with the cymric _llawr_. all these facts lead to a reasonable suspicion that _uim_, _umhal_, and _umhailteas_ (an evident naturalisation of a latin word) are all derived from latin at a comparatively recent date, as certainly as _umile_, _humilde_, _'humble_, and _'humble_ are, and in the same christian sense. the omission of an aspirate in the gaelic word is then easily accounted for, without supposing it not to exist in other languages, and for this very simple reason, that no gaelic word commences with _h_. there are _some_ celtic roots undoubtedly in the latin language. it would be difficult, for example, to derive _moenia_, _munire_, _gladius_, _vir_, and _virago_ from any other origin, but much the larger number of words, in which the two languages resemble each other, are either adoptions from the latin or derivatives from one common source, e. g. _mathair_ and _mother_, _brathair_ and _brother_, as well as the latin _mater_ and _frater_, from the sanscrit _matri_ and _bhratri_, &c., as all comparative philologists are well aware. would your correspondents call it the _'ebrew_ language, because a gael calls it, as he must do, _eabrach_? e. c. h. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _the calotype process: curling up of paper._--i am happy in having the opportunity of replying to your correspondent c. e. f. (vol. ix., p. .), because, with himself, i have found great annoyance from the curling up of _some_ specimens of paper. in the papers recently sold as turner's, i find this much increased upon his original make, so much so that, until i resorted to the following mode, i spoiled several sheets intended for negatives, by staining the back of the paper, and which thereby gave a difference of intensity when developed after exposure in the camera. i have provided myself with some very thick extra white blotting-paper (procured of sandford). this being thoroughly damped, and placed between two pieces of slate, remains so for many weeks. if the paper intended to be used is properly interleaved between this damp blotting-paper, and allowed to remain there twelve hours at least before it is to be iodized, it will be found to work most easily. it should be barely as damp as paper which is intended to be printed on. { } this arrangement will be found exceedingly useful for damping evenly cardboard and printed positives when they are intended to be mounted, so as to ensure their perfect flatness. it is quite immaterial whether the paper is floated on a solution or applied with a glass rod. if a very few sheets are to be manipulated upon, then, for economy, the glass rod is preferable; but if several, the floating has the advantage, because it ensures the most even application. i sent you a short paragraph (vol. ix., p. .) showing how we may be deceived in water-marks upon paper; and when we are supposing ourselves to be using a paper of a particular date, in fact we are not doing so. i would also caution your photographic correspondents from being deceived in the quality of a paper by the exceeding high gloss which is given it by extra hot-pressing. this is very pleasing to the eye, and would be a great advantage if the paper were to remain dry; but in the various washings and soakings which it undergoes in the several processes before the perfect picture is formed, the artificial surface is entirely removed, and it is only upon a paper of a natural firm and even make that favourable results will be procured. h. w. diamond. _turner's paper._--there is great difficulty in procuring good paper of turner's make; he having lately undertaken a contract for government in making paper for the new stamps, the manufacture of paper for photographic purposes has been to him of little importance. in fact, this observation, of the little importance of photographic compared to other papers, applies to all our great paper-makers, who have it in their power to make a suitable article. mr. towgood of st. neots has been induced to manufacture a batch expressly for photography; but we regret to say that, although it is admirably adapted for albumenizing and printing positives, it is not favourable for iodizing, less so than his original make for ordinary purposes. all manufacturers, in order to please the eye, use bleaching materials, which deteriorate the paper chemically. they should be thoroughly impressed with the truth, that colour is of little consequence. a _bad-coloured paper_ is of no importance; it is the extraneous substances in the paper itself which do the mischief. ed. _a practical photographic query._--i have never had a practical lesson on photography. i have worked it out as far as i could myself, and i have derived much information in reading the pages of "n. & q.," so that now i consider myself (although we are all apt to flatter ourselves) an average good manipulator. independently of the information you have afforded me, i have read all the works upon photography which i could procure; and as the most extensive one is that by mr. robert hunt, i went to the exhibition of the photographic society just opened, thinking i might there see his works, and gain that information from an inspection of them which i desired. my disappointment was great on finding that mr. hunt does not exhibit, nor have i been able to see any of his specimens elsewhere. may i ask if mr. hunt _ever_ attempts anything practically, or is it to the _theory of photography_ alone that he directs his attention? i begin to fear, unless he lets a little of each go hand-in-hand, that he will mislead some of us amateurs, although i am quite sure unintentionally; for personally i much respect him, having a high opinion of his scientific attainments. a reader of all books on photography. * * * * * replies to minor queries. "_service is no inheritance_" (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--p. c. s. s. confesses that he is vulgar enough to take great delight in swift's _directions to servants_, a taste which he had once the good fortune of hearing avowed by no less a man than sir w. scott himself. g. m. t., who (vol. viii., p. .) quotes the _waverley novels_ for the use of the phrase "service is no inheritance," will therefore scarcely be surprised to find that it occurs frequently in swift's _directions_, and especially in those to the "housemaid," chap. x. (_quod vide_). p. c. s. s. _francis browne_ (vol. viii., p. )--it is not stated in the general pedigrees when or where he died, whether single or married. his sister elizabeth died unmarried, nov. , ; and his elder brother, sir henry browne of kiddington, in . a reference to their wills, if proved, might afford some information if he, francis, survived either of these dates. the will of sir henry knollys, of grove place, hants, the grandfather, might be referred to with the same view, and the respective registers of kiddington and grove place. g. _catholic bible society_ (vol. viii., p. .).--mr. cotton will find some account of this society (the only one i know of) in bishop milner's _supplementary memoirs of the english catholics_, published in the year , p. . it published a stereotype edition of the new testament without the usual distinction of verses, and very few notes. the whole scheme was severely reprobated by dr. milner, on grounds stated by him in the appendix to the _memoirs_, p. . the society soon expired, and no tracts or reports were, i believe, ever published by it. the correspondence between mr. charles butler and mr. blair will be found in the _gentleman's magazine_ for the year . s. fitzroy street. _legal customs_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the custom, related by your correspondent causidicus, of a chancery barrister receiving his first bag from one of the king's counsel, reminds me that there are many other legal practices, both obsolete and extant, which it would be curious and { } entertaining to collect in your pages, as illustrative of the habits of our forefathers, and the changes that time has produced. i recognise many among your coadjutors who are well able to contribute, either from tradition or personal experience, something that is worth recording, and thus by their mutual communications to form a collection that would be both interesting and useful. let me commence the heap by depositing the first stones. . my father has informed me that in his early years it was the universal practice for lawyers to attend the theatre on the last day of term. this was at a period when those who went into the boxes always wore swords. . it was formerly (within fifty years) the custom for every barrister in the court of chancery to receive from the usher, or some other officer of the court, as many buns as he made motions on the last day of term, and to give a shilling for each bun. edward foss. _silo_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the word _silo_ is derived from the celtic _siol_, grain, and _omh_, a cave; _siolomh_, pronounced _sheeloo_, a "grain cave." underground excavations have been discovered in various parts of europe, and it is probable that they were really used for storing grain, and not for habitations, as many have supposed. fras. crossley. i have no doubt but that mr. strong's query respecting _silos_ will meet with many satisfactory answers; but in the mean time i remark that the arab subterranean granaries, often used by the french as temporary prisons for refractory soldiers, are termed by then _silos_ or _silhos_. g. h. k. _laurie on finance_ (vol. viii., p. ).-- "a treatise on finance, under which the general interests of the british empire are illustrated, comprising a project for their improvement, together with a new scheme for liquidating the national debt," by david laurie, vo., london, . anon. _david's mother_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the following comment on this point is taken from vol. i. p. . of the rev. gilbert burrington's _arrangement of the genealogies of the old testament and apocrypha_, lond. , a learned and elaborate work: "in sam. xvii. ., abigail is said to be the daughter of nahash, and sister to zeruiah, joab's mother; but in chron. ii. ., both zeruiah and abigail are said to be the daughters of jesse; we must conclude, therefore, with cappell, either that the name [hebrew: nchsh], nahash, in sam. xvii. ., is a corruption of [hebrew: yshy], jesse, which is the reading of the aldine and complutensian editions, and of a considerable number of mss. of the lxx in this place or that jesse had two names, as jonathan in his targum on ruth iv. . informs us; or that nahash is not the name of the father, but of the mother of abigail, as tremellius and junius imagine; or, lastly, with grotius, we must be compelled to suppose that abigail, mentioned as the sister of zeruiah in sam., was a different person from abigail the sister of zeruiah, mentioned in chron., which appears most improbable." [greek: halieus]. dublin. _anagram_ (vol. vii., p. .).--some years since i purchased, at a book-stall in cologne, a duodecimo (i think it was a copy of milton's _defensio_), on a fly-leaf of which was the date , and in the neat italian hand of the period the following anagram. the book had probably belonged to one of the english exiles who accompanied charles ii. in his banishment. i have never met with it in any collection of anagrams hitherto published. perhaps some of your numerous readers may have been more fortunate, and can give some account of it. "carolus stuartus, angliæ, scotiæ, et hiberniæ rex, aulâ, statû, regno exueris, ac hostili arte necaberis." john o' the ford. malta. _passage in sophocles_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--your correspondent m. is quite right in translating [greek: prassein] _fares_, and referring it not to [greek: theos], but to the person whom the deity has infatuated; and he is equally right in explaining [greek: oligoston chronon] _for a very short time_. [greek: prassei], the old reading restored by herman, is probably right; but it must still be referred to the same person: _ille vero versatur_, &c. mr. buckton explains [greek: hôi], which is the relative to [greek: noun], to signify _when_, and translates [greek: bonleuetai] as if it were equivalent with [greek: bouletai]. [greek: ton noun hôi bouleuetai] is _the mental power with which he_ ([greek: ho blaphtheis], not [greek: theos]) _deliberates_. [greek: atê] is, as m. properly explains it, not _destruction_, but _infatuation, mental delusion; that judicial blindness which leads a man to his ruin_, not the ruin itself. it is a leading idea in the homeric theology (_il._ xix. ., xxiv. ., &c.). though the idea in the antigone closely resembles that which is cited in the scholia, it seems more than probable that the original source of both passages is derived from some much earlier author than a cotemporary of sophocles. as to the line given in boswell, it is not an iambic verse, nor even greek. it was probably made out of the latin by some one who would try his hand, with little knowledge either of the metre or the language. mr. buckton says, that to translate late [greek: oligoston] _very short_, is not to translate agreeably to the admonition of the old scholiast. now, the words of the scholiast are [greek: oude oligon], _not even a little_, that is, _a very little_: so [greek: oude tutthon], [greek: oud' êbaion], { } [greek: oude minuntha], and many forms of the same kind. e. c. h. _b. l. m._ (vol. viii., p. .).--the letters b. l. m., in the subscription of italian correspondence, stand for _bacio le mani_ (i kiss your hands), a form nearly equivalent to "your most obedient servant." in the present instance the inflection _baciando_ (kissing) is intended. w. s. b. "_the forlorn hope_" (vol. viii., pp. . .).--for centuries the "forlorn hope" was called, and is still called by the germans, _verlorne posten_; by the french, _enfans perdus_; by the poles and other slavonians, _stracona poczta_: meaning, in each of those three languages, a detachment of troops, to which the commander of an army assigns such a perilous post, that he entertains no hope of ever rescuing it, or rather gives up all hope of its salvation. in detaching these men, he is conscious of the fate that awaits them; but he sacrifices them to save the rest of his army, _i. e._ he sacrifices a part for the safety of the whole. in short, he has no other intention, no other thought in so doing, than that which the adjective _forlorn_ conveys. thus, for instance, in spain, a detachment of students volunteered to become a _forlorn hope_, in order to defend the passage of a bridge at burgos, to give time to an anglo-spanish corps (which was thrown into disorder, and closely pursued by a french corps of , men) to rally. the students all, to the last man, perished; but the object was attained. it much grieves me thus to sap the foundation of the idle speculation upon a word the late dr. graves indulged in, and which mr. w. r. wilde inserted in the _dublin quarterly journal of medical science_ for february, ; but, on the other hand, i rejoice to have had the opportunity of endeavouring to destroy the very erroneous supposition, that lord byron had fallen into an error in his beautiful line: "the full of hope, misnamed _forlorn_." what the late dr. graves meant by _haupt_ or _hope_, for head, i am at a loss to conceive. _haupt_, in german, it is true, means _head_; but in speaking of a small body of men, marching at the head of an army, no german would ever say _haupt_, but _spitze_. as to _hope_ (another word for _head_) i know not from what language he took it; certainly not from the saxon, for in that tongue _head_ was called _heafod_, _hefed_, or _heafd_; whilst _hope_ was called _hopa_, not _hope_. c. s. (an old soldier.) oak cottage, coniston, lancashire. _two brothers of the same christian name_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have recently met with another instance of this peculiarity. john upton, of trelaske, cornwall, an ancestor of the uptons of ingsmire hall, westmoreland, had two sons, living in , to both of whom he gave the christian name of john. the elder of these alike-named brothers is stated by burke, in his _history of the landed gentry_, to have been the father of the learned dr. nicholas upton, canon of salisbury and wells, and afterwards of st. paul's, one of the earliest known of our authors on heraldic subjects. the desire of the elder upton to perpetuate his own christian name may in some way account for this curious eccentricity. t. hughes. chester. _passage in watson_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent g. asks, whence bishop watson took the passage: "scire ubi aliquid invenire posses, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est." in the account of conference between spalato and bishop overall, preserved in gutch's _collectanea curiosa_, and printed in the anglo-catholic library, cosin's _works_, vol. iv. p. ., the same sentiment is thus expressed: "by keeping bishop overall's library, he (cosin) began to learn, 'quanta pars eruditionis erat bonos nosse auctores;' which was the saying of joseph scaliger." can any of your correspondents trace the words in the writings of scaliger? j. sansom. _derivation of "mammet"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--it may help to throw light on this question to note that wiclif's translation of cor. vi. . reads thus: "what consent to the temple of god with _mawmetis_?" calfhill, in his _answer to martiall_ (ed. parker soc., p. .), has the following sentence: "gregory, therefore, if he had lived but awhile longer; and had seen the least part of all the miseries which all the world hath felt since, only for maintenance of those _mawmots_; he would, and well might, have cursed himself, for leaving behind him so lewd a precedent." and at p. . this,-- "that jesabel irene, which was so bewitched with superstition, that all order, all honesty, all law of nature broken, she cared not what she did, so she might have her _mawmots_." see also the editor's note on the use of the word in this last passage. in dorsetshire, among the common people, the word _mammet_ is in frequent use to designate a puppet, a doll, an odd figure, a scarecrow. j. d. s. _ampers and, [&] or [&]_ (vol. viii., p. .).--_ampers [&]_, or _empessy [&]_, as it is sometimes called in this country, means _et per se [&]_; that is to say, [&] is a character by itself, or _sui generis_, representing not a letter but a word. it was formerly { } annexed to the alphabet in primers and spelling-books. the figure [&] appears to be the two greek letters [epsilon] and [tau] connected, and spelling the latin word _et_, meaning _and_. uneda. philadelphia. _misapplication of terms_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the apparent _lapsus_ noticed by your correspondent j. w. thomas, while it reminds one that-- "learned men, now and then," &c., is not so indefensible as many instances that are to be met with. i have been accustomed to teach my boys that _legend_ (à _lego_, to read) is not strictly to be confined to the ordinary translation of its derivative, since the latin admits of several readings, and among them, by the usage of plautus, _to hearken_; whence our english substantive takes equal license to admit of _a relation_ = _a narrative_, viz. "a thing to be heard;" and in this sense by custom has referred to many a gossip's tale. having thus ventured to defend the use of _legend_ by your correspondent (vol. v., p. .), i submit to the illuminating power of your pages the following novel use of a word i have met with in the course of reading this morning, and shall be gratified if some of your correspondents (better grecians than myself) can turn their critical bull's-eye on it with equal advantage to its employer. in the poems of bishop corbet, edited by octavius gilchrist, f.s.a., th edition, , an editorial note at p. . informs us that john bust, living in , "seems to have been a worthy _prototype_ of the nattus of antiquity." (_persius_, iii. .) our humorous friend in the farce, who was "'prentice and predecessor" to his coadjutor the 'pothecary whom he succeeded, is the only solecism at all parallel, that immediately occurs to squeers. dotheboys. p.s.--it would not be any ill-service to our language to pull up the stockings of the tight-laced occasionally, though i have here rushed in to the rescue. _belle sauvage_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--mr. burn, in his _catalogue of the beaufoy cabinet of tokens_ presented to the corporation of london, just published, after giving the various derivations proposed, says that a deed, enrolled on the claus roll of , puts the matter beyond doubt: "by that deed, dated at london, february , hen. vi., john frensh, eldest son of john frensh, late citizen and goldsmith of london, confirmed to joan frensh, widow, his mother--'totum ten' sive hospicium cum suis pertin' vocat' savagesynne, alias vocat' le belle on the hope;' all that tenement or inn with its appurtenances, called savage's inn, otherwise called the bell on the hoop, in the parish of st. bridget in fleet street, london, to have and to hold the same for term of her life, without impeachment of waste. the lease to isabella savage must therefore have been anterior in date; and the sign in the olden day was the bell. 'on the hoop' implied the ivy-bush, fashioned, as was the custom, as a garland."--p. . zeus. _arms of geneva_ (vol. viii., p. .).--berry's _encyclopædia_ and robson's _british herald_ give the following: "per pale or and gules, on the dexter side a demi-imperial eagle crowned, or, divided palewise and fixed to the impaled line; on the sinister side a key in pale argent; the wards in chief, and turned to the sinister; the shield surmounted with a marquis's coronet." boyer, in his _theatre of honour_, gives-- "party per pale argent and gules, in the first a demi-eagle displayed sable, cut by the line of partition and crowned, beaked, and membered of the second. "in the second a key in pale argent, the wards sinister." broctuna. bury, lancashire. "_arabian nights' entertainments_" (vol. viii., p. .).--there is a much stranger omission in these tales than any mr. robson has mentioned. from one end of the work to the other (in galland's version at least) the name of opium is never to be found; and although narcotics are frequently spoken of, it is always in the form of powder they are administered, which shows that that substance cannot be intended; yet opium is, unlike tobacco or coffee, a genuine eastern product, and has been known from the earliest period in those regions. j. s. warden. _richard i._ (vol. viii., p. .).--i presume that the richard i. of the "tablet" is the "richard, king of england," who figures in the roman calendar on the th february, but who, if he ever existed, was not even monarch of any of the petty kingdoms of the heptarchy, much less of all england. however, not to go farther with a subject which might lead to polemical controversy, surely mr. lucas is aware that a new series of kings began to be reckoned from the conquest, and that three edwards, who had much more right to be styled kings of england than richard could have possibly had, are not counted in the number of kings of that name; the reason was, i believe, that these princes, although the paramount rulers of the country, styled themselves much more frequently kings of the west saxons than kings of england. j. s. warden. { } _lord clarendon and the tubwoman_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i regret having omitted "when found, to make a note of," the number of chambers' _edinburgh journal_ in which i met with the anecdote referred to about sir thomas aylesbury, which is given at considerable length; and having lent my set of "chambers" to a friend at a distance, i cannot at present furnish the reference required; but l. will find it in one of the volumes between and inclusive. i do not recollect that the periodical writer gave his authority for the tale, but while it may very possibly be true as regards the wife of sir thomas aylesbury, it is evident that his daughter, a wealthy heiress, could never have been in such a position; and it is not recorded that lord clarendon had any other wife. j. s. warden. _oaths_ (vol. viii., p. .).--archbishop whitgift, in a sermon before queen elizabeth, thus addresses her: "as all your predecessors were at this coronation, so you also were sworn before all the nobility and bishops then present, and in the presence of god, and in his stead to him that anointed you, 'to maintain the church lands and the rights belonging to it;' and this _testified openly at the holy altar, by laying your hands on the bible then lying upon it_. (see walton's _lives_, zouch's ed., p. .)" i quote from the editor's introduction to spelman's _history of sacrilege_, p. ., no doubt correctly cited. h. p. _double christian names_ (vol. vii. _passim_).--the earliest instances of these among british subjects that i have met with, are in the families of james, seventh earl, and charles, eighth earl, of derby, both of whom married foreigners; the second son of the former by charlotte de la tremouille, born th february, , and named henry frederick after his grand-uncle, the stadt-holder, is perhaps the earliest instance to be found. j. s. warden. _chip in porridge_ (vol. i., p. . vol. viii., p. .).--the subjoined extract from a newspaper report (nov. ) of a speech of mr. byng's, at the middlesex election, clearly indicates the meaning of the phrase: "it has been said, that i have played the game of mr. mellish. i have, however, done nothing towards his success. i have rendered him neither service nor disservice" ["no, nor to anybody else," said a person on the hustings; "you are a mere _chip in porridge_."] w. r. d. s. _clarence dukedom_ (vol. viii., p. .).--w. t. m. will find a very interesting paper on this subject, by dr. donaldson, in the _journal of the bury archæological society_. g. _prospectuses_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have seen a very curious volume of prospectuses of works contemplated and proposed, but which have never appeared, and wherein may be found much interesting matter on all departments of literature. a collection of this description would not only be useful, but should be preserved. a list of contemplated publications during the last half century, collected from such sources, would not be misplaced in "n. & q.," if an occasional column could be devoted to the subject. g. "_i put a spoke in his wheel_" (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--this phrase must have had its origin in the days in which the vehicles used in this country had wheels of solid wood without spokes. wheels so constructed i have seen in the west of england, in ireland, and in france. a recent traveller in moldo-wallachia relates that the people of the country go from place to place mounted on horses, buffaloes, or oxen; but among the boyards it is "fashionable" to make use of a vehicle which holds a position in the scale of conveyances a little above a wheelbarrow and little below a dung-cart. it is poised on four wheels of solid wood of two feet diameter, which are more or less rounded by means of an axe. a vehicle used in the cultivation of the land on the slopes of the skirts of dartmoor in devonshire, has three wheels of solid wood; it resembles a huge wheelbarrow, with two wheels behind, and one in front of it, and has two long handles like the handles of a plough, projecting behind for the purpose of guiding it. it is known as "the old three-wheeled but." as the horse is attached to the vehicle by chains only, and he has no power to hold it back when going down hill, the driver is provided with a piece of wood, "a spoke," which is of the shape of the wooden pin used for rolling paste, for the purpose of "dragging" the front wheel of the vehicle. this he effects by thrusting the spoke into one of the three round holes made in the solid wheel for that purpose. the operation of "putting a spoke in a wheel by way of impediment" may be seen in daily use on the three-wheeled carts used by railway navvies, and on the tram waggons with four wheels used in collieries to convey coals from the pit's mouth. n. w. s. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. every lover of goldsmith--and who ever read one page of his delightful writings without admiring the author, and loving the man-- "... for shortness call noll, who wrote like an angel, but talk'd like poor poll?"-- must be grateful to mr. murray for commencing his new series of the _british classics_ with the _works of_ { } _oliver goldsmith_, edited by peter cunningham, f.s.a. the series is intended to be distinguished by skilful editorship, beautiful and legible type, fine paper, compactness of bulk, and economy of price. accordingly, these handsome library volumes will be published at s. d. each. if mr. murray has shown good tact in choosing goldsmith for his first author, he has shown equal judgment in selecting mr. cunningham for his editor. our valued correspondent, it is well known, and will be proved to the world when he gives us his new edition of johnson's _lives of the poets_ (which by the bye is to be included in this series of murray's _british classics_), has long devoted himself to the history of the lives and writings of the poets of the past century. but in the present instance mr. cunningham has had peculiar advantages. besides his own collections for an edition of goldsmith, he has had the free and unrestricted use of the collections formed for the same purpose by mr. forster and mr. corney: a liberality on the part of those gentlemen which deserves the recognition of all true lovers of literature. with such aid as this, and his own industry and ability to boot, it is little wonder that mr. cunningham has been able to produce under mr. murray's auspices the best, handsomest, and cheapest edition of goldsmith which has ever issued from the press. of all the critics of mr. dod's _peerage, baronetage, and knightage of great britain and ireland_, mr. dod is himself at once the most judicious and unsparing; and the consequence is, that every year he reproduces his admirable compendium with some additional feature of value and interest. for instance, in the volume for , which has just been issued, we find, among many other improvements, that, at a very considerable cost, the attempt made in to ascertain and record the birthplace of every person who is the possessor, or the next heir, of any title of honour, has been renewed and extended with such success, that many hundred additional birthplaces are now recorded; and the unknown remnant has become unimportant. these statements are perfectly new and original, acquired from the highest sources in each individual case, and wholly unprecedented in the production of peerage-books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. companion to the almanac. all published. isaac taylor's physical theory of another life. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: a sermon on knowledge. by rev. h. j. rose. lond. . letters by catholicus on sir robt. peel's tamworth address. lond. . kircher's musurgia universalis. romæ, . toms in . folio. granvil's lux orientalis, with notes by dr. h. more. lond. . vo. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. selden's works by wilkins. folio. vol. iii. part ii. . bishop gauden, the author of "icon basilike," by dr. todd. vo. (a pamphlet.) wanted by _thos. g. stevenson_, bookseller, edinburgh. kingdom's dictionary of quotations from the english poets. vols. published by whittaker. wanted by _a. griffith_, bookseller, . baker street. clarke's memoir of w. falconer wanted by _f. dinsdale_, leamington. prescott's conquest of mexico. bentley. . vol. i. wanted by _henry ditchburn, esq._, gravesend. g. macropedii, fabulÆ comicÆ. tom. vo. utrecht, . junius discovered, by p. t. published about . wanted by _william j. thoms_, . holywell street, millbank, westminster. gallery of portraits. published by charles knight, under the superintendence of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. no. xliii. (december, ), containing adam smith, calvin, mansfield. wanted by _charles forbes_, . elm court, temple. bristol drollery. . holborn drollery. . hick's grammatical drollery. . oxford jests. cambridge jests. wanted by _c. s._, . gloucester green, oxford. mudie's british birds. bohn. . nd volume. waverley. st edition. wanted by _f. r. sowerby_, halifax. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are compelled to postpone until next week several _notes on books_ and _notices to correspondents. _if _mr. kerslake_ will send the extract from his catalogue which illustrates the corrupted passage in _childe harold, "thy waters wasted them," &c.,_ we will give it insertion in our columns._ j. w. t. _thanks. your hint shall not be lost sight of._ e. r. (dublin). _erastianism is so called from erastus, a german heretic of the sixteenth century. (see, for farther particulars, hook's _church dictionary_, s. v.)_ a priest. _we do not like to insert this inquiry without being able to give our readers a specific reference to some paper containing the advertisement; will he enable us to do so?_ a. b. (glasgow). _this correspondent appears to have fallen into an error; on reference he will find ether not washed is recommended _(vol. vi., p. .)_; ndly, if he varnishes his pictures with amber varnish _(vol. vii., p. .)_ previous to the application of the black varnish, which should be _black lacquer_ and not _brunswick black_, then he will succeed. courtesy demands a reply; but we must beg a more careful reading of our recommendations, which will save him much disappointment._ photo-inquirer. restoring old collodion.--_the question was asked in a late number. mr. crookes being a practical as well as scientific photographer, we hope to receive a solution of the query._ index to volume the eighth.--_this is in a very forward state, and will be ready for delivery with _no. ._ on saturday next._ "notes and queries." vols. i. _to_ vii., _price three guineas and a half.--copies are being made up and may be had by order._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * policy holders in other companies, and intending assurers generally, are invited to examine the rates. principles, and progress of the scottish provident institution, the only society in which the advantages of mutual assurance can be secured by moderate premiums. established . number of policies issued , , assuring upwards of two and a half millions. full reports and every information had (free) on application. *** policies are now issued free of stamp duty and attention is invited to the circumstance that premiums payable for life assurance are now allowed as a deduction from income in the returns for income tax. george grant. resident sec. london branch, . moorgate street. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , and guineas. ditto in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett. watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. * * * * * cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard, and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras--ottewill's registered double-bodied folding camera, is superior to every other form of camera, for the photographic tourist, from its capability of elongation or contraction to any focal adjustment, its portability, and its adaptation for taking either views or portraits.--the trade supplied. every description of camera, or slides, tripod stands, printings frames, &c., may be obtained at his manufactory, charlotte terrace, barnsbury road, islington. new inventions, models, &c., made to order or from drawings. * * * * * improvement in collodion.-j. b. hockin co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture leas been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photography. a complete set of apparatus for l. s., containing an expanding camera, with warranted double achromatic adjusting lenses, a portable stand, pressure frame, levelling stand, and baths, complete. portrait lenses of double achromatic combination, from l. s. d_._ landscape lenses, with rack adjustment, from s. a guide to the practice of this interesting art, s., by post free, s. d. french polished mahogany stereoscopes, from s. d. a large assortment of stereoscopic pictures for the same in daguerreotype, calotype, or albumen, at equally low prices. achromatic microscopes. beautifully finished achromatic microscope, with all the latest improvements and apparatus, complete from l. s., at c. baker's, optical and mathematical instrument warehouse, . high holborn (opposite day & martin's). * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases and other travelling requisites, gratis on application or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * heal & son's eider down quilt is the warmest, the lightest and the most elegant covering for the bed, the couch, or the carriage; and for invalids, its comfort cannot be too highly appreciated. it is made in three varieties, of which a large assortment can be seen at their establishment. list of prices of the above, together with the catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * prince of wales's sketch-box.--containing colours pencils, &c., with printed directions, as now used by the royal family. price s. miller's, artist's colour manufacturer, . long acre, london and at her majesty's steam colour and pencil works, pimlico. * * * * * scientific recreation for youth--experimental chemistry amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * do you bruise your oats yet? new oat crushers, l. s. d., ditto l. s. d. chaff cutters l. s. d., ditto l. s. d., mangles, l. s. d.; flour mills, l. _s_ d. mary wedlake & co., . fenchurch street. * * * * * spectacles.--every description of spectacles and eye-glasses for the assistance of vision, adapted by means of smee's optometer: that being the only correct method of determining the exact focus of the lenses required, and of preventing injury to the sight by the use of improper glasses. bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * { } the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the camden society is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the civil, ecclesiastical, or literary history of the united kingdom; and it accomplishes that object by the publication of historical documents, letters, ancient poems, and whatever else lies within the compass of its designs, in the most convenient form, and at the least possible expense consistent with the production of useful volumes. the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due in advance on the first day of may in every year, and is received by messrs. nichols, . parliament street, or by the several local secretaries. members may compound for their future annual subscriptions, by the payment of l. over and above the subscription for the current year. the compositions received have been funded in the three per cent. consols to an amount exceeding l. no books are delivered to a member until his subscription for the current year has been paid. new members are admitted at the meetings of the council held on the first wednesday in every month. the publications for the year - were: . privy purse expenses of charles ii. and james ii. edited by j. y. akerman, esq., sec. s.a. . the chronicle of the grey friars of london. edited from a ms. in the cottonian library by j. gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. . promptorium: an english and latin dictionary of words in use during the fifteenth century, compiled chiefly from the promptorium parvulorum. by albert way. esq., m.a., f.s.a. vol. ii. (m to r.) (_now ready._) books for - . . the second volume of the camden miscellany, containing, . expenses of john of brabant, - ; . household accounts of princess elizabeth, - ; . requeste and suite of a true-hearted englishman, by w. cholmeley, ; . discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell, - ; . trelawny papers; . autobiography of dr. william taswell.--now ready for delivery to all members not in arrear of their subscription. . the verney papers. a selection from the correspondence of the verney family during the reign of charles i. to the year . from the originals in the possession of sir harry verney, bart. to be edited by john bruce, esq., trea. s.a. . regulÆ inclusarum: the ancren rewle. a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the thirteenth century, addressed to a society of anchorites, being a translation from the latin work of simon de ghent, bishop of salisbury. to be edited from mss. in the cottonian library, british museum with an introduction, glossarial notes, &c., by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. (_now ready._) the following works are at press, and will be issued from time to time, as soon as ready: . the correspondence of lady brilliana harley, during the civil wars. to be edited by the rev. t. t. lewis, m.a. (will be ready immediately.) roll of the household expenses of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, in the years , , with illustrations from other and coeval documents. to be edited by the rev. john webb, m.a., f.s.a. the domesday of st. paul's: a description of the manors belonging to the church of st. paul's in london in the year . by the ven. archdeacon hale. romance of jean and blonde of oxford, by philippe de reims, an anglo-norman poet of the latter end of the twelfth century. edited, from the unique ms. in the royal library at paris, by m. le roux de lincy, editor of the roman de brut. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or to messrs. nichols. william j. thoms, secretary. . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * works of the camden society, and order of their publication. . restoration of king edward iv. . kyng johan, by bishop dale. . deposition of richard ii. . plumpton correspondence. . anecdotes and traditions. . political songs. . hayward's annals of elizabeth. . ecclesiastical documents. . norden's description of essex. . warkworth's chronicle. . kemp's nine daies wonder. . the egerton papers. . chronica jocelini de brakelonda. . irish narratives, and . . rishanger's chronicle. . poems of walter mapes. . travels of nicander nucius. . three metrical romances. . diary of dr. john dee. . apology for the lollards. . rutland papers. . diary of bishop cartwright. . letters of eminent literary men. . proceedings against dame alice kyteler. . promptorium parvulorum: tom. i. . suppression of the monasteries. . leycester correspondence. . french chronicle of london. . polydore vergil. . the thornton romances. . verney's notes of the long parliament. . autobiography of sir john bramston. . correspondence of james duke of perth. . liber de antiquis legibus. . the chronicle of calais. . polydore vergil's history, vol. i. . italian relation of england. . church of middleham. . the camden miscellany, vol. i. . life of ld. grey of wilton. . diary of walter yonge, esq. . diary of henry machyn. . visitation of huntingdonshire. . obituary of rich. smyth. . twysden on the government of england. . letters of elizabeth and james vi. . chronicon petroburgense. . queen jane and queen mary. . bury wills and inventories. . mapes de nugis curialium. . pilgrimage of sir r. guylford. * * * * * just published, gratis and post free, part i. (new series) of a catalogue of useful and curious books, autograph letters, mss., and literary miscellanies, on sale by richard james bell, . bedford street, covent garden, london. part ii. will contain a collection of rare tracts, books, mss., &c., relating to the stirring times of charles i. and ii. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for january (being the first part of a new volume) contains the following articles-- . the princess (afterwards queen) elizabeth a prisoner at woodstock. . on supposed apparitions of the virgin mary; and particularly at la salette. . sir walter raleigh at sherborne. . manners and morals of the university of cambridge during the last century. . english sketches by foreign artists--max schlesinger's saunterings in and about london. . richard baxter's pulpit at kidderminster (with a plate). . cambridge improvements, . . the toxaris of lucian, correspondence of sylvanus urban: english physicians in russia--knights banneret--sir constantine phipps and sir william phipps--diaries of dr. stukeley, &c. with notes of the month; historical and miscellaneous reviews; reports of antiquarian and literary societies; historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of the queen of portugal, the duke of beaufort, the countess of newburgh, lord cloncurry, rear-adm. pasco, bickham escott, esq., wm. gardiner. esq., mrs. opie. mr. jas. trubshaw, c.e., mr. samuel williams, &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * charles i.--a curious collection of upwards of various portraits of this king, to be had at no. . osnaburgh place, new road. regent's park. also may be had on application, or on the receipt of six postage stamps, a list of books, drawings, and prints, illustrating the city of london. books on history, biography, and topography, illustrated, inlaid, and mounted. * * * * * curious books and mss. four days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on wednesday, january , and two following days, a large collection of rare, curious, and interesting books, on astrology, witchcraft, magic; the history of america, the east and west indies, and of england, ireland, and france; curious works on quakerism, controversial theology, and in general literature; history, philology, bibliography, voyages, and travels, &c.; also a few manuscripts, including bywater's account of the cutlers' company, containing many curious entries; the original drawings of carter's ancient architecture; a complete and early copy of chalon's etchings from rembrandt, &c. catalogues may be had. * * * * * library and mss. of the late earl of macartney. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on tuesday, january , , and following days, the important library and mss. of the late george, earl of macartney, ambassador to china in , &c. the mss. comprise heraldic visitations for many english counties; the ms. of hobbes's leviathan, presented by the author to charles ii.; volumes of superb oriental and other drawings; original mss. of bishop atterbury; state papers of sir george downing, &c. catalogues may now be had of messrs. parker, oxford; deighton, cambridge; langbridge, birmingham; hodges & smith, dublin; hyndman, belfast; blackwood, edinburgh; and of the auctioneers. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [with index, price d. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page a plea for the city churches, by the rev. r. hooper echo poetry ambiguity in public writing a carol of the kings sir w. scott and sir w. napier minor notes:--sign of rain--communications with iceland--starvation, an americanism--strange epitaphs queries:-- buonaparte's abdication death warnings in ancient families the scarlet regimentals of the english army minor queries:--berkhampstead records--"the secunde personne of the trinetee"--st. john's, oxford, and emmanuel, cambridge--"malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre"-- prelate quoted in procopius--the alibenistic order of freemasons--saying respecting ancient history--an apology for not speaking the truth--sir john morant--portrait of plowden--temperature of cathedrals--dr. eleazar duncon--the duke of buckingham--charles watson--early (german) coloured engravings minor queries with answers:--history of m. oufle--lysons' mss.--"luke's iron crown"--"horam coram dago" replies:-- hoby family, by lord braybrooke poetical tavern signs translation from sheridan, &c. florins and the royal arms chronograms, by the rev. w. sparrow simpson oaths, by james f. ferguson photographic correspondence:--splitting paper for photographic purposes--curling of iodized paper--how the glass rod is used replies to minor queries:--wooden tombs and effigies-- epitaph on politician--defoe's quotation from baxter on apparitions--barrels regiment--sneezing--does "wurm," in modern german, ever mean serpent?--longfellow's reaper and the flowers--charge of plagiarism against paley--tin --john waugh--rev. joshua brooks--hour-glass stand--teeth superstition--dog-whipping day in hull--mousehunt--st. paul's school library--german tree--derivation of the word "cash" miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * a catalogue of curious and entertaining books, just published by j. crozier, . new turnstile, holborn, near lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * photographic exhibition. the views exhibited by russell sedgfield may be obtained of mr. s. highley, . fleet street; and also of the artist, . willow cottages, canonbury. price s. each. london: samuel highley, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic society.--the exhibition of photographs and daguerreotypes is now open at the gallery of the society of british artists, suffolk street, pall mall, in the morning from a.m. to half past p.m., and in the evening from to p.m. admission s. catalogue d. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * scientific recreation for youth--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases and other travelling requisites, gratis on application or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * folious appearances, a consideration upon our way of lettering books, s.; by post for stamps. john russell smith, . soho square. * * * * * just published, to be continued monthly, no. i., price s. d., of the autograph miscellany. a collection of interesting letters of eminent and distinguished characters: with curious public and historical documents, english and foreign, executed in lithograph fac-simile. selected from the british museum, and from other sources, public and private. london: f. netherclift & durlacher, lithographers and general printers, . brewer street, golden square. * * * * * dr. crombie's etymology and syntax. the etymology and syntax of the english language explained and illustrated. by the rev. a. crombie, ll.d., f.r.s., m.r.s.l., and f.z.s. seventh edition, vo., s. d. cloth, lettered. by the same author, gymnasium; sive symbola critica, abridged. intended to assist the classical student in his endeavours to attain a correct latin prose style. by the rev. alexander crombie, ll.d., f.r.s., &c. fifth edition. mo., s. cloth. the gymnasium, complete. sixth edition, corrected and enlarged. vols. vo., l. s. cloth. clavis gymnasii. sixth edition. vo., s. cloth. london: simpkin, marshall, & co. * * * * * crabb's english synonymes. english synonymes explained; in alphabetical order: with copious illustrations and examples, drawn from the best writers. to which is added, an index to the words. by george crabb, a.m. ninth edition, greatly improved. vo. s. cloth. london: simpkin, marshall, & co. * * * * * the third volume of the cheap re-issue of evelyn's diary and correspondence, is just published. to be completed in one more volume, price s. bound. the subscribers to the former edition of evelyn's diary, who have not completed their sets, have now the opportunity of being supplied with the concluding volumes (iii. and iv.) at the same price as the present edition, namely, s. per volume. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * { } just published, nos. i. to iii., each one penny, and part i., price fivepence, of the museum of science and art. a miscellany of instructive and amusing tracts on the physical sciences, and on their application to the uses of life. edited by dr. lardner. this work will be published at one penny, in weekly numbers of sixteen pages, large mo., printed on good paper, in a clear type, and illustrated, when necessary, by engravings on wood; also in monthly parts, price d. in a wrapper; and in quarterly volumes, neatly bound, price s. d. the following subjects will form early numbers of the work: the planets: are they inhabited globes? weather prognostics. popular fallacies. the sun and moon. latitudes and longitudes. the tides. locomotion by land and water in the united states. the electric telegraph. lunar influences. cometary influences. eclipses. meteoric stones and shooting stars. steam power. the eye and sight. the ear and hearing. thunder and lightning. light. the obsolete elements,--air, earth, fire, and water. anecdotes of the arts.--no. . the potter's art. london: walton & maberly, upper gower street, and ivy lane, paternoster row. * * * * * just published, no. vi., vo., price s., plates, quarterly journal of microscopical science: including the transactions of the microscopical society of london: edited by e. lankester, m.d., f.r.s., f.l.s., &c., and g. busk, f.r.c.s.e., f.r.s., f.l.s., &c. contains: professor quekett's important paper on the microscopical examination of the torbanehill mineral, and its distinctive characters from coal. london: samuel highley, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, no. iv. (new series), vo. woodcuts. s. the chemist. a monthly journal of chemical and physical science. edited by john & charles watt, assisted in analytical chemistry by wm. herepath, f.c.s., and t. j. herepath; industrial chemistry, by lewis thomson, f.c.s.; mineralogy, by samuel highley, f.g.s.; pharmacy, by denham smith, f.c.s.; photography, by t. a. malone, f.c.s.; electro-metallurgy, by alexander watt; physics, by charles heisch, f.c.s.; public health, by j. neville warren, c.e. london: samuel highley, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, no. ii., vo., price d. the asylum journal. published by authority of the association of medical officers of asylums and hospitals for the insane. edited by dr. bucknill, devon county asylum. published every six weeks. london: samuel highley, . fleet street. * * * * * physiognomy of insanity.--a series of photographic portraits from the life. by dr. hugh w. diamond, f.s.a., with brief medical notes. to be published in occasional parts, small quarto. s. highley, . fleet street. * * * * * butler's school atlases and geography: new and thoroughly revised editions, enlarged and corrected to the present time, and edited by the author's son, the rev. thomas butler, rector of langar. a junior atlas of modern geography: comprising full-coloured maps, selected from bishop butler's "modern atlas." royal vo., price s. d. half-bound. a junior atlas of ancient geography: comprising full-coloured maps, selected from bishop butler's "ancient atlas." royal vo., price s. d. half-bound. butler's atlas of modern geography. enlarged to full-coloured maps; with a complete index. royal vo., price s. half-bound. butler's atlas of ancient geography. enlarged to full-coloured maps; with a complete index. royal vo., price s. half-bound. butler's geographical copy-books, or map projections, ancient and modern. oblong to., price s. each set; or s. d. together. butler's general atlas of ancient and modern geography. enlarged to full-coloured maps; with indexes. royal to., price s. half-bound. butler's sketch of modern and ancient geography: revised and corrected in both parts from the best authorities. vo., price s. cloth. london: longman, brown, green & longmans. * * * * * the fifth edition, in fcap. vo., price s. the power of the soul over the body, considered in relation to health and morals. by george moore, m.d., member of the royal college of physicians. by the same author, the use of the body in relation to the mind. the third edition, fcap. vo., price s. man and his motives. third edition. fcap. vo., s. health, disease, and remedy. post vo., s. d. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * the th edition, corrected and extended, with the statutes and legal decisions to hilary term, & victoria; in fcap. vo., price s. d. the cabinet lawyer: a popular digest of the laws of england. the supplement, comprising the public acts of the session , separately, price s. uniform with the above, price s. d.; or calf lettered, s., the cabinet gazetteer: a popular exposition of all the countries of the world. by the same author. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * the second edition, in square crown vo., with etchings by the author, and woodcuts, price s. legends of the monastic orders, as represented in the fine arts. forming the second series of "sacred and legendary art." by mrs. jameson. in the same series, price s. each, legends of the madonna; and-- legends of the saints and martyrs. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * just published, in one volume, medium vo., price s. thesaurus of english words and phrases, classified and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas, and assist in literary composition. by p. m. roget, m.d., f.r.s. second edition. *** several thousand words and phrases, not contained in the first edition, have now been added; many improvements have been made in the arrangement of the expressions; and the whole work has undergone careful revision with the view of increasing its general utility. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * william skeffington, bookseller and publisher, respectfully informs his friends and the public that he has removed his business from . to . piccadilly, opposite bond street. * * * * * the bishop of lincoln's lent lectures. seventh edition, small vo., s. d., by post, s. the sinfulness of little sins. by john jackson, d.d., lord bishop of lincoln. by the same author, repentance: its necessity, nature, and aids. third edition, s. d., by post, s. chilcot on evil thoughts: with rules for their restraint and suppression. edited by the rev. richard hooper. m.a., curate of st. stephen's, westminster, and assistant hospitaller of st. thomas's. southwark. this day, new edition, mo., s. d., by post, s. "a very admirable work."--_guardian._ london: william skeffington, . piccadilly. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for january (being the first part of a new volume) contains the following articles:-- . the princess (afterwards queen) elizabeth a prisoner at woodstock. . on supposed apparitions of the virgin mary; and particularly at la salette. . sir walter raleigh at sherborne. . manners and morals of the university of cambridge during the last century. . english sketches by foreign artists--max schlesinger's saunterings in and about london. . richard baxter's pulpit at kidderminster (with a plate). . cambridge improvements, . . the toxaris of lucian. correspondence of sylvanus urban: english physicians in russia--knights banneret--sir constantine phipps and sir william phips.--diaries of dr. stukeley, &c. with notes of the month; historical and miscellaneous reviews; reports of antiquarian and literary societies; historical chronicle; and obituary, including memoirs of the queen of portugal, the duke of beaufort, the countess of newburgh, lord cloncurry, rear-adm. pasco, bickham escott, esq., wm. gardiner. esq., mrs. opie, mr. jas. trubshaw, c.e., mr. samuel williams, &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, january , ._ notes. a plea for the city churches. when a bachelor is found wandering about, he cares not whither, your fair readers (for doubtless such a "dealer in curiosities" as you are has many of that sex who, however unjustly, have the credit of the "curious" bump) will naturally exclaim "he must be in love," or "something horrible has happened to him." let us, however, disappoint them by assuring them we shall keep our own counsel. if the former be the cause, green lanes and meandering streams would suit his case better than gracechurch street, london, with the thermometer five or six degrees below freezing point, and the snow (!) the colour and consistency of chocolate. such a situation, however, was ours, when our friend the incumbent of holy trinity, minories, accosted us. he was going to his church; would we accompany him? we would have gone to new zealand with him, if he had asked us, at that moment. the _locale_ of the minories was nearly as unknown to us as the aforesaid flourishing colony. on entering the church (which will _not_ repay an architectural zealot), while our friend was extracting a burial register, our eye fell on an old monument or two. there was a goodly sir john pelham, who had been cruelly cut down by the hand of death in , looking gravely at his sweet spouse, a dame of the noble house of bletsoe. behind him is kneeling his little son and heir oliver, whom, as the inscription informs us, "death enforced to follow fast" his papa, as he died in . and there was a stately monument of the first lord dartmouth, a magnanimous hero, and master of the ordnance to charles ii. and his renegade brother. we were informed that a gentlemen in the vestry had come for the certificate of the burial of viscount lewisham, who died some thirty years ago; that the legge family were all buried here; that after having dignified the aristocratic parish of st. george, hanover square, and the _salons_ of may fair, during life, they were content to lie quietly in the minories! does not the _high blood_ of the "city merchant" of the present clay, of the "gentleman" of the stock exchange, curdle at the thought? yes, there lie many a noble heart, many a once beautiful face but we must now-a-days, forsooth, forget the city as soon as we have made our money in its dirty alleys. to lie there after death! pooh, the thought is absurd. (thanks to lord palmerston, we have no option now.) well, we were then asked by the worthy incumbent, "would you not like to see my head?" did he take us for a lavater or a spurzheim? however, we were not left in suspense long, for out of the muniment closet was produced a tin box; we thought of reading biscuits, but we were undeceived shortly. taken out carefully and gently, was produced a human head! no mere skull, but a perfect human head! alas! its wearer had lost it in an untimely hour. start not, fair reader! we often lose our heads and hearts too, but not, we hope, in the mode our poor friend did. it was clear a choice had been given to him, but it was a hobson's choice. he had been _axed_ whether he would or no! he had been decapitated! we were told that now ghastly head had once been filled with many an anxious, and perhaps happy, thought. it had had right royal ideas. it was said to be the head of henry grey, duke of suffolk, the father of the sweet lady jane grey. we could muse and moralise; but captain cuttle cuts us short, "when found, make a note of it." we found it then there, sir; will you make the note? the good captain does not like to be prolix. has his esteemed old relative, sylvanus urban (many happy new years to him!), made the note before? we came away, shall we say better in mind? yes, said we, a walk in the city may be as instructive, and as good a cure for melancholy, as the charming country. an old city church can tell its tale, and a good one too. we thought of those quaint old monuments, handed down from older churches 'tis true, but still over the slumbering ashes of our forefathers; and when the thought of the destroying hand that hung over them arose amid many associations, the bard of avon's fearful monumental denunciation came to our aid: "blest be the man that spares these stones, and curst be he that moves these bones." richard hooper. st. stephen's, westminster. * * * * * echo poetry. "_a dialogue between a glutton and echo._ _gl._ my belly i do deifie. _echo._ fie. _gl._ who curbs his appetite's a fool. _echo._ ah fool! _gl._ i do not like this abstinence. _echo._ hence. _gl._ my joy's a feast, my wish is wine. _echo._ swine! _gl._ we epicures are happie truly. _echo._ you lie. _gl._ who's that which giveth me the lie? _echo._ i. _gl._ what? echo, thou that mock'st a voice? _echo._ a voice. _gl._ may i not, echo, eat my fill? _echo._ ill. { } _gl._ will't hurt me if i drink too much? _echo._ much. _gl._ thou mock'st me, nymph; i'll not believe it. _echo._ believe't. _gl._ dost thou condemn then what i do? _echo._ i do. _gl._ i grant it doth exhaust the purse. _echo._ worse. _gl._ is't this which dulls the sharpest wit? _echo._ best wit. _gl._ is't this which brings infirmities? _echo._ it is. _gl._ whither will't bring my soul? canst tell? _echo._ t' hell. _gl._ dost thou no gluttons virtuous know? _echo._ no. _gl._ wouldst have me temperate till i die? _echo._ i. _gl._ shall i therein finde ease and pleasure? _echo._ yea sure. _gl._ but is't a thing which profit brings? _echo._ it brings. _gl._ to minde or bodie? or to both? _echo._ to both. _gl._ will it my life on earth prolong? _echo._ o long! _gl._ will it make me vigorous until death? _echo._ till death. _gl._ will't bring me to eternall blisse? _echo._ yes. _gl._ then, sweetest temperance, i'll love thee. _echo._ i love thee. _gl._ then, swinish gluttonie, i'll leave thee. _echo._ i'll leave thee. _gl._ i'll be a belly god no more. _echo._ no more. _gl._ if all be true which thou dost tell, they who fare sparingly fare well. _echo._ farewell. "s. j." "_hygiasticon_: or the right course of preserving life and health unto extream old age: together with soundnesse and integritie of the senses, judgement, and memorie. written in latine by leonard lessius, and now done into english. mo. cambridge, ." i send the above poem, and title of the work it is copied from, in the hope it may interest those of your correspondents who have lately been turning their attention to this style of composition. h. b. warwick. * * * * * ambiguity in public writing. in brenan's _composition and punctuation_, published by wilson, royal exchange, he strongly condemns _the one_ and _the other_, as used for _the former_ and _the latter_, or _the first_ and _the last_. the understood rule is, that _the one_ refers to the nearest or _latter_ person or thing mentioned, and _the other_ to the farthest or _former_; and if that were strictly adhered to, no objection could be raised. but i have found, from careful observation for two or three years past, that some of our standard writers reverse the rule, and use _the one_ for _the former_, and _the other_ for _the latter_, by which i have often been completely puzzled to know what they meant in cases of importance. now, since there is not the slightest chance of unanimity here, i think the author is right in condemning their referential usage altogether. a french grammarian says, "ce qui n'est pas clair n'est pas français;" but though french is far from having no ambiguities, he showed that he fully appreciated what ought to be the proudest boast of any language, clearness. there is a notable want of it on the marble tablet under the portico of st. paul's, covent gardens, which says: "the church of this parish having been destroyed by fire on the th day of september, a.d. , was rebuilt, and opened for divine service on the st day of august, a.d. ." the writer, no doubt, congratulated himself on avoiding the then common error, in similar cases, of "_this_ church having," &c.; for that asserted, that the very building we were looking at was burned down! but in eschewing one manifest blunder, he fell into ambiguity, and inconclusiveness equally reprehensible. for, as it never was imperative that a parish church should be _always_ confined to a particular spot, we are left in doubt as to where the former one stood; nor, indeed, are we told whether the present building is the parish church. better thus: "the church of this parish, _which stood on the present site_, having," &c. even with this change another seems necessary, for we should then be virtually informed, as we are now, that the church was rebuilt, and opened for divine service, _in one day_![ ] such is the care requisite, when attempting comprehensive brevity, for the simplest historical record intended to go down to posterity. it is no answer to say, that every one apprehends what the inscription means, for that would sanction all kinds of obscurity and blunders. when paddy tells us of _wooden_ panes of glass and mile-stones; of dividing a thing into three halves; of backing a carriage straight forwards, or of a dismal solitude where nothing could be heard but silence, we all perfectly understand what he means, while we laugh at his unconscious union of sheer impossibilities. clarus. [footnote : the following arrangement, which only slightly alters the text, corrects the main defects: "the church of this parish, which stood on the present site, was destroyed by fire on [date] and, having been rebuilt, was opened for divine service on [date]."] { } * * * * * a carol of the kings. according to one legend, the three sons of noah were raised from the dead to represent all mankind at bethlehem. according to another, they slept a deep sleep in a cavern on ararat until messias was born, and then an angel aroused and showed them the southern cross, then first created to be the beacon of their way. when the starry signal had fulfilled its office it went on, journeying towards the south, until it reached its place to bend above the peaceful sea in memorial of the child jesu. i. three ancient men, in bethlehem's cave, with awful wonder stand: a voice had call'd them from their grave in some far eastern land! ii. they lived: they trod the former earth, when the old waters swell'd:-- the ark, that womb of second birth, their house and lineage held! iii. pale japhet bows the knee with gold; bright shem sweet incense brings: and ham--the myrrh his fingers hold-- lo! the three orient kings! iv. types of the total earth, they hail'd the signal's starry frame:-- shuddering with second life, they quail'd at the child jesu's name! v. then slow the patriarchs turn'd and trod, and this their parting sigh-- "our eyes have seen the living god, and now, once more to die!" h. of m. * * * * * sir w. scott and sir w. napier. some short time ago there appeared in _the times_ certain letters relative to a song of sir walter scott in disparagement of fox, said to have been sung at the dinner given in edinburgh on the acquittal of viscount melville. in one letter, signed "w. napier," it is asserted, on the authority of a lady, that scott _sang_ the song, which gave great offence to the whig party at the time. now, i must take the liberty of declaring this assertion to be incorrect. i had the honour of knowing pretty intimately sir walter from the year down to the period of his departure for the continent. i have been present at many convivial meetings with him, and conversed with him times without number, and he has repeatedly declared that, although fond of music, he could not sing from his boyhood, and could not even hum a tune so as to be intelligible to a listener. the idea, therefore, of his making such a public exhibition of himself as to sing at a public meeting, is preposterous. but in the next place the cotemporary evidence on the subject is conclusive. an account of the dinner was published in the _courant_ newspaper, and it is there stated "that _one_ song was sung, the poetry of which was said to come from the muse of 'the last lay,' and was sung with admirable effect by the proprietor of the _ballantyne press_." it is perhaps unnecessary to explain that the singer was the late john ballantyne, and i have my doubts if the song referred to in the controversy was the one sung upon the occasion. this, however, is merely a speculation arising from the fact, that this was a song not included in sir walter scott's works, which upon the very highest authority i have been informed was sung there, but of which lord ellenborough, and not charles fox, was the hero. it is entitled "justice law," and is highly laudatory of the archbishop of canterbury. it has been printed in the _supplement to the court of session garland_, p. ., and the concluding verse is as follows: "then here's to the prelate of wisdom and fame, tho' true presbyterians we'll drink to his name; long, long, may he live to teach prejudice awe, and since melville's got justice, the devil take law." again i repeat this conjecture may be erroneous; but that sir walter never sung any song at all at the meeting is, i think, beyond dispute. j. m. * * * * * minor notes. _sign of rain._--not far from weobley, co. hereford, is a high hill, on the top of which is a clump of trees called "ladylift clump," and thus named in the ordnance map: it is a proverbial expression in the surrounding neighbourhood, that when this clump is obscured with clouds, wet weather soon follows, connected with which, many years since i met with the following lines, which may prove interesting to many of your readers: "when ladie lift puts on her shift, shee feares a downright raine; but when she doffs it, you will finde the raine is o'er, and still the winde, and phoebus sloane againe." what is the origin of this name having been given to the said clump of trees? j. b. whitborne. _communications with iceland._--in the summer of i directed attention to the communications with iceland. i am just informed that the danish government will send a war steamer twice next summer to the faroe islands and to iceland, { } calling at leith both ways for passengers. the times of sailing will probably be announced towards spring in the public prints. this opportunity of visiting that strange and remarkable island in so advantageous a manner is worthy of notice, as desirable modes of getting there very rarely occur. the observing traveller, in addition to the wonders of nature, should not fail to note there the social and physical condition, and diseases of the inhabitants. he will there find still lingering, fostered by dirt, bad food, and a squalid way of living, the true leprosy (in icelandic, _spetalska_) which prevailed throughout europe in the middle ages and which now survives only there, in norway, and in some secluded districts in central and southern europe. he will also note the remarkable exemption of the icelanders from pulmonary consumption; a fact which seems extraordinary, considering the extreme dampness, inclemency, and variability of the climate. but the consumptive tendency is always found to cease north of a certain parallel of latitude. wm. e. c. nourse. . burwood place, hyde park. _starvation, an americanism._--strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless quite true that this word, now unhappily so common on every tongue, as representing the condition of so many of the sons and daughters of the sister lands of great britain and ireland, is not to be found in _our own_ english dictionaries; neither in todd's _johnson_, published in , nor in richardson's, published ten years later, nor in smart's--walker remodelled--published about the same time as richardson's. it is webster who has the credit of importing it from his country into this; and in a supplement issued a few years ago, mr. smart adopted it as "a _trivial_ word, but in very common, and at present good use." what a lesson might mr. trench read us, that it should be so! our older poets, to the time of dryden, used the compound "hunger-starved." we now say _starved_ with cold. chaucer speaks of christ as "he that _starf_ for our redemption," of creseide "which well nigh _starf_ for _feare_;" spenser, of arms "which doe men in _bale_ to sterve." (see _starve_ in richardson.) in the _pardoneres tale_, v. : "ye (yea), _sterve_ he shall, and that in lesse while than thou wilt gon a pas not but a mile; this _poison_ is so strong and violent." and again, v. : "it happed him to take the botelle there the poison was, and dronke; and gave his felau drinke also for which anone they _storven_ bothe two." mr. tyrwhit explains, "to die, to perish" and the general meaning of the word was, "to die, or cause to die, to perish, to destroy." q. _strange epitaphs._-the following combined "bull" and epitaph may amuse your readers. i copied it in april, , whilst on an excursion to explore the gigantic tumuli of new grange, dowth, &c. passing through the village of monknewtown, about four miles from drogheda, i entered a burial-ground surrounding the ivy-clad ruins of a chapel. in the midst of a group of dozen or more tombstones, some very old, all bearing the name of "kelly," was a modern upright slab, well executed, inscribed,-- "erected by patrick kelly, of the town of drogheda, mariner, in memory of his posterity." ------ "also the above patrick kelly, who departed this life the th august, , aged years. requiescat in pace." i gave a copy of this to a friend residing at llanbeblig, carnarvonshire, who forwarded me the annexed from a tombstone in the parish churchyard there: "of such is the kingdom of heaven. here lie the remains of thomas chambers, dancing master; whose genteel address and assiduity in teaching, recommended him to all that had the pleasure of his acquaintance. he died june , , aged ." r. h. b. bath. * * * * * queries. buonaparte's abdication. a gentleman living in the neighbourhood of london bought a table five or six years ago at wilkinson's, an old established upholsterer on ludgate hill. in a concealed part of the leg of the table he found a brass plate, on which was the following inscription: "le cinq d'avril, dix-huit cent quatorze, napoléon buonaparte signa son abdication sur cette table dans le cabinet de travail du roi, le me après la chambre à coucher, à fontainebleau." the people at wilkinson's could give no account of the table: they said it had been a long time in the shop; they did not remember of whom it had { } been bought, and were surprised when the brass plate was pointed out to them. the table is a round one, and rather pretty looking, about two feet and a half in diameter, and supported on one leg. it does not look like a table used for writing, but rather resembles a lady's work-table. the wood with which it is veneered has something the appearance of beef wood. wilkinson's shop does not now exist: he used to deal in curiosities, and was employed as an auctioneer. the gentleman who bought this table is desirous of ascertaining at what time the table still shown at fontainebleau, as that on which the abdication was signed, was first exhibited: whether immediately after the restoration of the bourbons, or later, in consequence of a demand for shows of that sort? whether it is a fact that the bourbons turned out the imperial furniture from fontainebleau and other palaces after their return? the date, "cinq d'avril," is wrong; the abdication was signed on the th. this error, however, leads one to suspect that the table is genuine: as any one preparing a sham table should have been careful in referring to printed documents. from the tenor of the inscription, we may infer that it is the work of a royalist. the marshals present with napoleon when he signed his abdication were ney, oudinot, and lefevre; and perhaps caulincourt. a cantab. university club. * * * * * death warnings in ancient families. i marvel much that none of your contributors in this line have touched upon a very interesting branch of legendary family folk lore, namely, the supernatural appearances, and other circumstances of a ghostly nature, that are said to invariably precede a death in many time-honoured families of the united kingdoms. we have all heard of the mysterious "white ladye," that heralds the approach of death, or dire calamity, to the royal house of hohenzollern. in like manner, the apparition of two gigantic owls upon the battlements of wardour is said to give sad warning to the noble race of arundel. the ancient catholic family of middleton have the same fatal announcement made to them by the spectral visitation of a benedictine nun; while a cheshire house of note, i believe, that of brereton, are prepared for the last sad hour by the appearance of large trunks of trees floating in a lake in the immediate vicinity of their family mansion. to two families of venerable antiquity, and both, if i remember right, of the county of lancashire, the approaching death of a relative is made known in one case by loud and continued knockings at the hall door at the solemn hour of midnight; and in the other, by strains of wild and unearthly music floating in the air. the "banshee," well known in ireland, and in the highlands of scotland, is, i believe, attached exclusively to families of celtic origin, and is never heard of below the grampian range; although the ancient border house of kirkpatrick of closeburn (of celtic blood by the way) is said to be attended by a familiar of this kind. again, many old manor-houses are known to have been haunted by a friendly, good-natured sprite, ycelpt a "brownie," whose constant care it was to save the household domestics as much trouble as possible, by doing all their drudgery for them during the silent hours of repose. who has not heard, for instance, of the "boy of hilton?" of this kindly race, i have no doubt, many interesting anecdotes might be rescued from the dust of time and oblivion, and preserved for us in the pages of "n. & q." i hope that the hints i have ventured to throw out may induce some of your talented contributors to follow up the subject. john o' the ford. malta. * * * * * the scarlet regimentals of the english army. when was the english soldier first dressed in red? it has been said the yeomen of the guard (_vulgo_ beef-eaters) were the company which originally wore that coloured uniform; but, seventy years before they were established, viz. temp. henry v., it appears the military uniform of his army was red: "rex vestit suos _rubro_, et parat transire in normaniam."--_archæolog. soc. antiquar._, lond., vol. xxi. p. . william iii. not only preferred that colour, but he thought it degrading to the dignity of his soldiers that the colour should be adopted for the dress of any inferior class of persons; and there is an order now extant, signed by henry, sixths duke of norfolk, as earl marshal, dated dec. , , "forbidding any persons to use for their liveries scarlet or red cloth, or stuff; except his majesty's servants and _guards_, and those belonging to the royal family or foreign misters." william iv., who had as much of true old english feeling as any monarch who ever swayed the english sceptre, ordered scarlet to be the universal colour of our light dragoons; but two or three years afterwards he was prevailed upon, from some fancy of those about him, to return to the blue again. still, it is well known that dressing our light dragoons in the colour prevailing { } with other nations has led to serious mistakes in time of action. a. * * * * * minor queries. _berkhampstead records._--where are the records of the now extinct corporation of great berkhampstead, co. herts, incorporated ? and when did it cease to exercise corporate rights, and why? j. k. "_the secunde personne of the trinetee_" (vol. viii., p. .).--what does the "old english homily" mean by "a womanne who was the secunde personne of the trinetee?" j. p. s. _st. john's, oxford, and emmanuel, cambridge._--can your readers give me any information respecting thomas collis, b.a., of st. john's college, oxford, ordained priest by richard (reynolds), bishop of lincoln, at buckden, th may, ? what church preferment did he hold, where did he die, and where was he buried? also of john clendon, b.d., fellow of emmanuel college, cambridge, who was presented to the vicarage of brompton-regis, somerset, by his college, in or about the year ? his correspondence with the fellows of emmanuel is amusing, as giving an insight into the every-day life of cambridge a century ago. you shall have a letter or two ere long as a specimen. thomas collis. boston. "_malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre._"--some years ago, at a book-stall in paris, i met with a work in one volume, being a dissertation in french on the origin and early history of the once popular song, "malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre." it seemed to contain much information of a curious and interesting character; and the author's name, if i remember rightly, is blanchard. i have since made several attempts to discover the title of the book, with the view of procuring a copy of it, but without success. can any of your readers assist me in this matter? henry h. breen. st. lucia. _prelate quoted in procopius._--in the th note (a), chap. xl., of gibbon's _decline and fall_, there is a quotation from procopius. can any of your readers conjecture who is meant by the "learned prelate now deceased," who was fond of quoting the said passage. [sigma]. _the alibenistic order of freemasons._--can any of your readers, masonic or otherwise, inform me what is meant by this order of freemasons? the work of henry o'brien of the _round towers of ireland_ is dedicated to them, and in his preface they are much eulogised. h. w. d. _saying respecting ancient history._--in niebuhr's _lectures on ancient history_, vol. i. p ., i find-- "an ingenious man once said, 'it is thought that at length people will come to read ancient history as if it had really happened,' a remark which is really excellent." who was this "ingenious man"? j. p. _an apology for not speaking the truth._--can any of your correspondents kindly inform me where the german song can be found from which the following lines are taken? "when first on earth the truth was born, she crept into a hunting-horn; the hunter came, the horn was blown, but where truth went, was never known." w. w. malta. _sir john morant._--in the fourth volume of sir john froissart's _chronicles_, and in the tenth and other chapters, he mentions the name of a sir john morant, knight, or sir john of chatel morant, who lived in - . how can i find out his pedigree? or whether he is an ancestor of the hampshire family of morants, or of the rev. philip morant? h. h. m. malta. _portrait of plowden._--is any portrait of edmund plowden the lawyer known to exist? and if so, where? p. p. p. _temperature of cathedrals._--can any of your readers favour me with a report from observation of the greatest and least heights of the thermometer in the course of a year, in one of our large cathedrals? i am informed that professor phillips, in a geological work, has stated that the highest and lowest temperatures in york minster occur about five weeks after the solstices; but it does not appear that the altitudes are named. t. _dr. eleazar duncon._--dr. eleazar duncon was of pembroke hall, cambridge, d.d., anno , rector of houghton regis same year, chaplain to king charles i., prebendary of durham. he is supposed to have died during the interregnum. can any of your correspondents say when or where? d. d. _the duke of buckingham._--do the books of the honorable society of the middle temple disclose any particulars relating to a "scandalous letter," believed to have been written by "a templar" to george villiers, the great duke of buckingham, in , the year before his grace was assassinated by felton; which letter was found by a servant of the inn in a temple drinking-pot, by { } whom it was handed over to the then treasurer of the society, nicholas hide, esq.? and was the author of such scandalous letter ever discovered and prosecuted? cestriensis. _charles watson._--can any of your readers give me any account of charles watson, of hertford college, oxford, author of poems, and _charles the first_, a tragedy? i believe a short memoir of this author was to have appeared in _blackwood's magazine_ (the second volume, i think); it was never published, however. a. z. _early (german) coloured engravings._--i have six old coloured engravings, which i suppose to be part of a series, as they are numbered respectively , , , , , . they are mounted on panels; and on the back of each is a piece of vellum, on which some descriptive verses in old german have been written. the ink retains its blackness; but dirt, mildew, and ill usage have rendered nearly all the inscriptions illegible, and greatly damaged the pictures; yet, through the laborious colouring and the stains, good drawing and expression are visible. perhaps a brief description may enable some of your readers to tell me whether they are known. nos. . and . are so nearly obliterated, that i will not attempt to describe them. no. . seems to be st. george attacking the dragon. the inscription is: "hier merke sohn gar schnell und bald, von grausam schwartzen thier im wald." no. . a stag and a unicorn: "man ist von nöthin dass ihr wiszt, im wald ein hirsch und eikhorn ist." no. . an old man with wings, and a younger wearing a crown and sword. they are on the top of a mountain overlooking the sea. the sun is in the left corner, and the moon and stars on the right. the perspective is very good. inscription obliterated. no. . the same persons, and a king on his throne. the elder in the background; the younger looking into the king's mouth, which is opened to preternatural wideness: "sohn in dein abwesen war ich tod, und mein leben in grosser noth; aber in dein beysein thue ich leben, dein widerkunfft mir freudt thut geben." the inscription is long, but of the rest only a word here and there is legible. any information on this subject will oblige, h. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _history of m. oufle._--johnson, in his _life of pope_, says of the _memoirs of scriblerus_: "the design cannot boast of much originality: for, besides its general resemblance to _don quixote_, there will be found in it particular imitations of the _history of m. oufle_." what is the _history of m. oufle?_ l. m. [_the history of the religious extravagancies of monsieur oufle_ is a remarkable book, written by the abbé bordelon, and first published, we believe, at amsterdam, in vols., . the paris edition of , in vols., entitled _l'histoire des imaginations extavagantes de monsieur oufle_, is the best, as it contains some curious illustrations. from the title-page we learn that the work was "occasioned by the author having read books treating of magic, the black art, demoniacs, conjurors, witches, hobgoblins, incubuses, succubuses, and the diabolical sabbath; of elves, fairies, wanton spirits, geniuses, spectres, and ghosts; of dreams, the philosopher's stone, judicial astrology, horoscopes, talismans, lucky and unlucky days, eclipses, comets, and all sorts of apparitions, divinations, charms, enchantments, and other superstitious practices; with notes containing a multitude of quotations out of those books which have either caused such extravagant imaginations, or may serve to cure them." if any of our readers should feel inclined to collect what we may term "a diabolical library," he has only to consult vol. i. ch. iii. for a catalogue of the principal books in mons. oufle's study, which is the most curious list of the black art we have ever seen. an english translation of these _religious extravagancies_ was published in .] _lysons' mss._--is the present repository of the ms. notes, used by messrs. lysons in editing their great work, the _magna britannia_, known? t. p. l. [the topographical collections made by the rev. daniel lysons for the _magna britannia_ and the _environs of london_, making sixty-four volumes, are in the british museum, add. mss. - . they were presented by that gentleman.] "_luke's iron crown_" (goldsmith's _traveller_, last line but two). to whom does this refer, and what are the particulars? p. j. (a subscriber). [this query is best answered by the following note from mr. p. cunningham's new edition of _goldsmith_: "when tom davies, at the request of granger, asked goldsmith about this line, goldsmith referred him for an explanation of 'luke's iron crown' to a book called _géographie curieuse_; and added, that by 'damiens' bed of steel' he meant the rack. see granger's _letters_, vo., , p. . "george and luke dosa were two brothers who headed an unsuccessful revolt against the hungarian nobles at the opening of the sixteenth century: and george (not luke) underwent the torture of the { } red-hot iron crown, as a punishment for allowing himself to be proclaimed king of hungary ( ) by the rebellious peasants (see _biographie universelle_, xi. .). the two brothers belonged to one of the native races of transylvania called szecklers, or zecklers (forster's _goldsmith_, i. ., edit. )."] "_horam coram dago._"--in the first volume of _lavengro_, p. .: "from the river a chorus plaintive, wild, the words of which seem in memory's ear to sound like 'horam coram dago.'" i have somewhere read a song, the chorus or refrain of which contained these three words. can any of your readers explain? [sigma]. [our correspondent is thinking of the song "amo, amas," by o'keefe, which will be found in _the universal songster_, vol. i. p. ., and other collections. we subjoin the chorus: "rorum coram, sunt divorum, harum scarum divo! tag rag, merry derry, perriwig and hat-band, hic hoc horum genitivo!"] * * * * * replies. hoby family. (vol. ix., p. .) many years have passed away since i went over bisham abbey; but i was then informed that any family portraits belonging to the old house had been taken away by the widow of sir john hoby mill, baronet, who sold the property to mr. george vansittart in , or shortly afterwards. i am not aware that there are any engraved portraits of the hobys, excepting those mentioned by your correspondent mr. whitborne, which form part of the series of holbein's _heads_, published in by john chamberlaine, from the original drawings still in the royal collection. in the meagre account of the persons represented in that work, lady hoby is described as "elizabeth, one of the four daughters of sir antony cooke, of gidea hall, essex," and widow of sir thomas hoby, who died in , at paris, whilst on an embassy there. the lady remarried john lord russell, eldest son of francis, second earl of bedford, whom she also survived, and deceasing rd of july, , was buried in bisham church, in which she had erected a chapel containing splendid monuments to commemorate her husbands and herself. the inscriptions will be found in ashmole's _berkshire_, vol. ii. p. ., and in wotton's _baronetage_, vol. iv. p. ., where the hoby crest is given as follows; "on a chapeau gules turned up ermine, a wolf regreant argent." the armorial bearings are described very minutely in edward steele's account of bisham church, gough mss., vol. xxiv., bodleian, which contains some other notices of the parish. braybrooke. * * * * * poetical tavern signs. (vol. viii., pp. . . .) i send two specimens from this neighbourhood, which may, perhaps, be worth inserting in your columns. the first is from a public-house on the basingstoke road, about two miles from this town. the sign-board exhibits on one side "the lively effigies" of a grenadier in full uniform, holding in his hand a foaming pot of ale, on which he gazes apparently with much complacency and satisfaction. on the other side are these lines: "this is the whitley grenadier, a noted house for famous beer. my friend, if you should chance to call, beware and get not drunk withal; let moderation be your guide, it answers well whene'er 'tis try'd. then use but not abuse strong beer, and don't forget the grenadier." the next specimen, besides being of a higher class, has somewhat of an historical interest. in a secluded part of the oxfordshire hills, at a place called collins's end, situated between hardwick house and goring heath, is a neat little rustic inn, having for its sign a well-executed portrait of charles i. there is a tradition that this unfortunate monarch, while residing as a prisoner at caversham, rode one day, attended by an escort, into this part of the country, and hearing that there was a bowling-green at this inn, frequented by the neighbouring gentry, struck down to the house, and endeavoured to forget his sorrows for awhile in a game at bowls. this circumstance is alluded to in the following lines, which are written beneath the sign-board: "stop, traveller, stop; in yonder peaceful glade, his favourite game the royal martyr play'd; here, stripp'd of honours, children, freedom, rank, drank from the bowl, and bowl'd for what he drank; sought in a cheerful glass his cares to drown, and changed his guinea, ere he lost his crown." the sign, which seems to be a copy from vandyke, though much faded from exposure to the weather, evidently displays an amount of artistic skill that is not usually to be found among common sign-painters. i once made some inquiries about it of the people of the house, but the only information they could give me was that they believed it to have been painted in london. g. t. reading. { } * * * * * translation from sheridan, etc. (vol. viii, p. .) i cannot furnish balliolensis with the translation from sheridan he requires, but i am acquainted with that from goldsmith. it is to be found somewhere in valpy's _classical journal_. as that work is in forty volumes, and not at hand, i am not able to give a more precise reference. i recollect, however, a few of the lines at the beginning: "incola deserti, gressus refer, atque precanti sis mihi noctivagæ dux, bone amice, viæ; dirige quà lampas solatia luce benigna præbet, et hospitii munera grata sui. solus enim tristisque puer deserta per agro, Ã�gre membra trahens deficiente pede, quà, spatiis circum immensis porrecta, patescunt me visa augeri progrediente, loca." "ulterius ne perge," senex, "jam mitte vagari, teque iterum noctis, credere, amice, dolis: luce trahit species certa in discrimina fati, ah nimium nescis quo malefida trahat! hic inopi domus, hic requies datur usque vaganti, parvaque quantumvis dona, libente manu. ergo verte pedes, caliginis imminet hora, sume libens quidquid parvula cella tenet ..." no doubt there is a copy of the _classical journal_ in the bodleian; and if balliolensis can give me volume and page, i in turn shall be much obliged to him. hypatia. the lines to which your correspondent balliolensis refers-- "conscia ni dextram dextera pressa premat." are a translation of the song in sheridan's _duenna_, act i. sc. ., beginning-- "i ne'er could any lustre see," &c. they were done by marmaduke lawson, of st. john's college, cambridge, for the pitt scholarship in , for which he was successful: "phyllidis effugiunt nos lumina. dulcia sunto. pulcra licet, nobis haud ea pulcra micant. nectar erat labiis, dum spes erat ista tenendi, spes perit, isque simul, qui erat ante, decor. votis me galatea petit. caret arte puella, parque rosis tenero vernat in ore color: sed nihil ista juvant. forsan tamen ista juvabunt. si jaceant, victâ mente, rubore genæ: pura manus mollisque fluit. neque credere possum. ut sit vera fides, ista premenda mihi est. nec bene credit amor (nam res est plena timoris), conscia ni dextram dextera pressa premat. ecce movet pectus suspiria. pectora nostris ista legenda oculis, si meus urat amor. et, nostri modo cura memor nostrique caloris tangat eam, facere id non pudor ullus erit." i have not sent the english, as it can be easily got at. the other translation i am not acquainted with. b. * * * * * florins and the royal arms. (vol. viii., p. .) the placing of the royal arms in four separate shields in the form of a cross first occurred upon the medals struck upon the nativity of king charles ii., anno ; and adopted upon the reverse of the coins for the first time in , upon the issue of what was then termed the improved milled coin, where the arms are so placed, having the star of the garter in the centre; the crowns intersecting the legend, and two crowns interlaced in each quarter. the shields, as here marshalled, are each surmounted by a crown; having in the top and bottom shield france and england quarterly, ireland on the dexter side (which is the second place), and on the sinister scotland.[ ] but on the milled money which followed, france and england being borne separately, that of france, which had been constantly borne in the first quarter singly until james i., and afterwards in the first place quarterly with england, is placed in the bottom shield or fourth quarter. mr. leake, in his _historical account of english money_[ ], after remarking that this irregular bearing first appeared upon the nativity medals of charles ii. in , where the shields are placed in this manner, adds, that this was no doubt originally owing to the ignorance of the graver, who knew no other way to place the arms circularly than following each other, like the titles, unless (as i have heard, says he) that the arms of each kingdom might fall under the respective title in the legend; and this witty conceit has ever since prevailed upon the coin, except in some of king william and queen mary's money, where the arms are rightly marshalled in one shield. that this was owing to the ignorance of the workman, and not with any design to alter the disposition of the arms, is evident from the arms upon the great seal, where france is borne quarterly with england, in the first and fourth quarters, as it was likewise used upon all other occasions, until the alteration occasioned by the union with scotland in . in reference to the arrangement consequent upon the union with scotland, he observes that, how proper soever the impaling the arms of the two kingdoms was in other respects, it appeared with great impropriety upon the money. the four escocheons in cross had hitherto been marshalled in their circular order from the _left_, whereby the dexter escocheon was the fourth; according to which order the united arms, being quartered first and fourth, would have fallen together; therefore they were placed at the top and bottom, { } which indeed was right: but then france by the same rule was then in the third place, and ireland in the second; unless to reconcile it we make a rule contrary to all rule, to take sinister first and dexter second. in the coinage of king george i., the representation of the armorial bearings in four separate shields, as upon the milled money of king charles ii., was continued. in the uppermost escocheon, england impaling scotland; the dexter the arms of his majesty's electoral dominions; sinister france; and in the bottom one ireland, all crowned with the imperial crown of great britain. the marshalling of the four escocheon's in this manner might and ought to have been objected to by the heralds (has it been brought under their cognizance?), because it appears by many instances, as well as upon coins and medals of the emperors and several princes of the entire, that arms marshalled in this circular form are blazoned, not in the circular order, but from the dexter and sinister alternately; and thus the emperor at that time bore eleven escocheons round the imperial eagle. in like manner, upon the money of henry julius, duke of brunswick, we see the crest with a circle of eleven escocheons in the same order. the same order is observed in marshalling the escocheons of the seven provinces of holland and there is a coin of the emperor ferdinand, another of gulick, and a third of erick, bishop of osnaburgh, with four escocheons in cross, and four sceptres exactly resembling the english coins. that it was not altered therefore at that time, the mistake being so evident, can be attributed only to the length of time the error had prevailed; so hard is it to correct an error in the first instance whereby the arms of his majesty's german dominions, which occupy the fourth quarter in the royal arms, do in fact upon the money occupy the second place; a mistake however so apparent, as well by the bearing upon other occasions as by the areas of ireland, which before occupied the same escocheon, that nothing was meant thereby to the dishonour of the other arms; but that being now established, it is the english method of so marshalling arms in cross or circle, or rather that they have no certain method. until the union with scotland, the dexter was the fourth escocheon; from that time the bottom one was fourth; now the dexter was again the fourth. such is the force of precedent in perpetuating error, that the practice has prevailed even to the present time and it may be inferred, that fancy and effect are studied by the engraver before propriety. no valid reason can be advanced for placing the arms in _separate_ shields after their declared union under one imperial crown. j. [footnote : evelyn's _discourse_, edit. , p. .] [footnote : london, vo., , nd edit., then clarenceux king of arms, and afterwards garter.] * * * * * chronograms. (vol. viii., p. . &c.) the banks of the rhine furnish abundant examples of this literary pleasantry: chronograms are as thick as blackberries. i send you a dozen, gathered during a recent tour. each one was transcribed by myself. . cologne cathedral, ; on a beam in a chapel, on the south side of the choir: "pia virginis mariæ sodalitas annos sæcv- lari renovat." . poppelsdorf church, near bonn. : "parochialis templi rvixis ædificabar." . bonn; on the base of a crucifix outside the minster, on the north side. : "glorificate et portate devm in corpore vestro. cor. ." . bonn; within the minster. : "capitvlvm patronis pie dicavit." . aix-la-chapelle; on the baptistery. : "sacrvm parochiale divi johannis baptistæ." . aix-la-chapelle.--st. michael: front of west gallery. : "svm pia civitatis liberalitate renovata decorata." . aix-la-chapelle, under the above. : "ecce michaelis aedes." . konigswinter; on the base of a crucifix at the northern end of the village. : "in vnivs veri ac in carnati dei honorem posvere. ------ joannes petrus mümrer et maria gengers conjuges d[=a] septembris." . konigswinter; over the principal door of the church. : "es ist seines mencher wohnung sondem ein herrliches hausz unseres gottes, i. b. d. ker. er. . c. v. i." . konigswinter; under the last. : "vni sanctissimo deo, patri atqve filio spiritviqve sancto." { } . konigswinter under the last. : "erigor svb max. friderico konigsegg antistite coloniensi pie gvbernante." . coblenz.--s. castor; round the arch of the west door. : "diro maria ivngfrav rein las coblenz aubefohlen sein." of these, nos. , . and . are incised on one stone, the letters indicating the chronograph being rubricated capitals; but in no. . the second i in "filio," and the first i in "spirituique," though capitals, are not in red. i shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who can supply a complete or corrected copy of the following chronogram, from the kreutzberg, near bonn. the height at which it was placed, and its defective colour, prevented me from deciphering the whole; nor do i vouch for the correctness of the subjoined portion: "scala iesv pr nobis passi. a.. clemente avgvsto . . . antistite coloniensi pie avgvst pretiosi exstrv." some parts of this inscription might be conjecturally supplied; but i prefer presenting it as i was able to transcribe it. the staircase in question was erected by the elector clement augustus, in or about , in imitation of the scala santa at rome. (see murray's _handbook_.) w. sparrow simpson. * * * * * oaths. (vol. viii., pp. . .) in primate colton's _metropolitan visitation of the diocese of derry_, a.d. , edited by the rev. william reeves, d.d., it is stated, at p. ., that several persons therein mentioned took their oath "tactis sacrosanctis evangeliis;" and in a note dr. reeves says that-- "until the arrival of the english the custom of swearing on the holy evangelists was unknown to the irish, who resorted instead to croziers, bells, and other sacred reliquaries, to give solemnity to their declarations. even when the gospels were used, it was not uncommon to introduce some other object to render the oath doubly binding. thus in a monition directed by primate prene to o'neill, he requires him to be sworn 'tactis sacrosanctis dei evangeliis ad ea, et super baculum jesu in ecclesia cathedrali sanctæ trinitatis dublin.' (_reg. prene_, fol. .)" the following lines upon the subject in question will be found in the _red book_ of the irish exchequer: "qui jurat super librum tria tacit. "primo quasi diceret omnia que scripta sunt in hoc libro nunquam mihi perficiant neque lex nova neque vetus si mencior in hoc juramento. "secundo apponit manum super librum quasi diceret numquam bona opera que feci michi proficiant ante faciem jeshu christi nisi veritatem dicam quando per manus significentur opera. "tercio et ultimo osculatur librum quasi diceret numquam oraciones neque preces quas dixi per os meum michi ad salutem anime valeant si falsitatem dicam in hoc juramento michi apposito." judging by the character of the handwriting, i would say that the above-mentioned lines were written not later than the time of edward i.; and as many of the vellum leaves of this book have been sadly disfigured, as well by the pressure of lips as by tincture of galls, i am inclined to think that official oaths were formerly taken in the court of exchequer of ireland by presenting the book when opened to the person about to be sworn in the manner at this day used (as we are informed by honoré de mareville) in the ecclesiastical court at guernsey. it appears by an entry in one of the order books of the exchequer, deposited in the exchequer record office, four courts, dublin, that in james i.'s time the oath of allegiance was taken upon bended knee. the entry to which i refer is in the following words: "_easter term, wednesday, nd april, ._--memorandum: this day at first sitting of the court, the lord threasurer, vice threasurer, and all the barons being present on the bench, the lord chauncellor came hither and presented before them thomas hibbotts, esq., with his majesty's letters patents of the office of chauncellor of this court to him graunted, to hold and execute the said office during his naturall life, which being read the said lord chauncellor first ministred unto him the oath of the king's supremacy, which hee tooke kneeling on his knee, and presently after ministred unto him the oath ordayned for the said officer, as the same is contayned of record in the redd booke of this court; all which being donn the said lord chauncellor placed him on the bench on the right hand of the lord threasurer, and then departed this court." james f. ferguson. dublin. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _splitting paper for photographic purposes._--if the real and practical mode of effecting this were disclosed, it would be (in many cases) a valuable aid to the photographer. i have had many negative calotypes ruined by red stains on the back (but not affecting the impressed side of the paper); which, could the paper { } have been split, would in all probability have been available, and printed well. i was sorry to see in "n. & q" (vol. iii., p. .) an article under this head which went the round of the papers several months ago. anything more impracticable and ridiculously absurd than the directions there given can hardly be imagined: "cylinders of amber!" or "cylinders of _metallic_ amalgam!!" "excited in the usual manner," &c. i presume _electrical_ excitation is intended. though, how cylinders of _metal_ are to receive electrical _excitation_, and to have sufficient attractive power over a sheet of paper as to rend it asunder, would be a problem which i believe even a faraday could not solve: neither would excited glass cylinders effect the object any better; or if they could, it would be erecting a wheel to break a fly upon. the whole proposition must originally have been a hoax: in fact, we live in a day when the masses of the people are easily induced to believe that _electricity_ can _do everything_. another, and far more feasible plan has been proposed ("n. & q.," vol. viii., p. .), viz. to paste the paper to be split between two pieces of calico or linen; and when perfectly dry, part them. one half, it is said, will adhere to each piece of the linen, and may afterwards be obtained or set free from the linen by soaking. i have tried this with partial, but not satisfactory success. it will be remembered that the _results_ of the _true_ process were some years ago exhibited before a scientific company (i think at the royal institution), when a page of the _london illustrated news_ was first exhibited in its usual condition, printed on both sides; and was then taken to an adjoining apartment, and in a short time (perhaps a quarter of an hour) re-exhibited to the company split into two laminæ, each being perfect. neither the _pasting_ plan, nor the electrical gammon, could have effected this. i hope some of your readers (they are a legion) will confer on photographers the favour of informing them of this art. cokely. _curling of iodized paper._--the difficulty which your correspondent c. e. f. has met with, in iodizing paper according to dr. diamond's valuable and simple process, may be easily obviated. i experienced the same annoyance of "curling up" till it was suggested to me to damp the paper previously to floating it. i have since always adopted this expedient, and find it answer perfectly. the method i employ for damping it is to leave it for a few hours previously to using it upon the bricks in my cellar: and i have no doubt but that, if c. e. f. will try the same plan, he will be equally satisfied with the result. w. f. w. _how the glass rod is used._--would you be kind enough to inform me how paper is prepared or excited with the glass rod in the calotype process? is the solution first poured on the paper, and then equally diffused over it with the rod? duthus. [the manner in which the glass rod is to be used for exciting or developing is very simple, although not easily described. the operator must provide himself with some pieces of thin board, somewhat larger than the paper intended to be used; on one of these two or three folds of blotting-paper are to be laid, and on these the paper intended to be excited, and which is to be kept steady by pins at the top and bottom right-hand corners, and the forefinger of the left hand. the operator, having ready in a small measure about thirty drops of the exciting fluid, takes the glass rod in his right hand, moves it steadily over the paper from the right hand to the left, where he keeps it, while with the left hand he pours the exciting fluid over the side of the glass rod, and moving this _to and fro_ once or twice to secure an equal portion of the exciting fluid along the whole length of the rod; he then moves the rod from left to right and back again, until he has ascertained that the whole surface is covered, taking care that none of the exciting fluid runs over the side of the paper, as it is then apt to discolour the back of it. when the whole surface has been thoroughly wetted, the superfluous fluid is to be blotted off with a piece of new blotting-paper.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _wooden tombs and effigies_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in addition to that mentioned by j. e. j., there is a wooden chest in the centre of the chancel of burford church, in the county of salop, with a figure in plated armour on the top; the head resting on a helmet supported by two angels, and at the feet a lion crowned. an ornament of oak leaves runs round the chest, at the edge. this effigy is supposed to represent one of the cornwall family, the ancient, but now extinct, barons of burford. as i am preparing, with a view to publication, a history of this very ancient family, with an account of the curious and interesting monuments in burford and other churches, i should esteem it a favour if any of your correspondents could furnish me with authentic information relative to any members of the family, or of any memorials of them in other churches than those of worcestershire and shropshire. j. b. whitborne. _epitaph on politian_ (vol. viii., p. .).--harwood's _alumni etonenses_, a.d. , hen. viii., p. .: "edward bovington was born at burnham, and was buried in the chapel. some member of the college made these lines on him: 'unum caput tres linguas habet, (res mira!) bovingtonus.'" this member must have seen politian's epitaph. j. h. l. _defoe's quotation from baxter on apparitions_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the story copied by dr. maitland from defoe's _life of duncan campbell_, is to be found nearly word for word in pp. , . of { } _the certainty of the worlds of spirits fully evinced by the unquestionable histories of apparitions, &c._, by richard baxter, london, . i can trace no mention of the dr. beaumont, author of the _treatise of spirits_, unless he be the "eminent apothecary in henrietta street, covent garden," stated by nichols (_literary anecdotes_, vol. ix. p. .) to be the father of mr. beaumont, registrar of the royal humane society. [greek: halieus]. dublin. _barrels regiment_ (vol. viii., p. .).--if the song referring to barrel's regiment was written about , it was not original, but a parody or adaptation of one in _the devil to pay_, performed as a ballad opera in ; and which still maintains its place, if not on the stage, in recent editions of the "acting drama." i have not an old edition of the play, but quote from a collection of songs called _the nightingale_, london, , p. .: "he that has the best wife, she's the plague of his life; but for her that will scold and will quarrel, let him cut her off short, of her meat and her sport, and ten times a day hoop her barrel, brave boys, and ten times a day hoop her barrel." may i append a query to my reply? was _the nightingale_ published with a frontispiece? my copy is mutilated, but has belonged to some person who valued it much more highly than i do, as he has neatly repaired and replaced torn leaves and noted deficiencies. prefixed is a mounted engraving of a bird in the act of singing, which, if intended for a nightingale, is really curious; as it is of the size and shape of a pheasant, with corvine legs and beak, and a wattle round the eye like that of a barb pigeon. the book is "printed and sold by j. osborn," and shows that the post assigned to him in _the dunciad_ was not worse than he deserved. h.b.c. garrick club. [our correspondent seems to have the veritable original engraving; the nightingale or pheasant, or whatever it may he, is mounted on a branch over a stream near to three houses, and a village on its banks is seen in the distance.] _sneezing_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--to the very interesting illustrations given by mr. francis scott of the ancient superstitions associated with sternutation, i should like to add one not less curious than any which he has given. it is recorded in xenophon's _anabasis_, lib. iii. cap. . at the council of greek generals, held after the death of cyrus, xenophon rose and made a speech. he set before his comrades the treachery of their late associate ariæus; the serious difficulties attendant upon the position of the greeks; and the necessity for immediate and vigorous action. just as he had alluded to the probability of a severe conflict, and had invoked the aid of the gods, one of the company _sneezed_. he paused for a moment in his harangue, and every one present did reverence ([greek: prosekonêsan]) to jupiter. the circumstance seemed to give new spirit and fortitude to the whole assembly; and when xenophon resumed, he said, "even now, my comrades, while we were talking of safety, zeus the saviour has sent us an omen; and i think it would become us to offer to the god a sacrifice of thanksgiving for our preservation." he then, in the manner of a modern chairman at exeter hall, invited all of that opinion to hold up their hands. this appeal having met a unanimous response, they all made their vows, sung the pæan, and the orator proceeded with his discourse. the adoration of the god, or the use of some auspicious words or religious formulary, appears to have been designed to avert any evil which might possibly be portended by the omen. it seems by no means certain that it was always regarded as favourable. xenophon, in the case referred to, contrived very adroitly to turn the incident to good account, and to interpret it as a sign of the divine favour. the form of one of the sentences i have translated-- "[greek: epei peri sôtêrias hêmôn legontôn oiônos tou dios tou sôtêros ephanê]." affords a little illustration of the benediction in current use among the greeks on such occasions, "[greek: zeu sôson]." j. g. f. _does "wurm," in modern german, ever mean serpent?_ (vol. viii pp. . .).--f. w. j. is quite right as regards his interpretation of the word _wurm_, used by schiller in his _wallenstein_ in the passage spoken by butler. _wurm_ is not used in german to mean a serpent. serpents (_schlangen_) are vertebrata, and are therefore not confounded with _würmer_ by the germans. the language of the people frames proverbs, not the language of science. the germans apply the word _wurm_ to express pity or contempt. the mother says to her sick child, "armes _würmchen_!" signifying poor, suffering, little creature. man to man, in order to express contempt, will say "elender _wurm_!" meaning miserable wretch; an application arising out of the contemplation of the helpless state and inferior construction of this division of the animal kingdom. the german proverb corresponds to the english. c. b. d'o. _longfellow's reaper and the flowers_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this charge of plagiarism, i think, is not a substantial one. to compare death to a reaper, and children to flowers, is a very general idea, and may be thought by thousands, and { } expressed in nearly the same words which longfellow, and before him luisa reichardt, have used. the first line of the two respective poems are certainly word for word the same, but that is all; although the tendency of both poems is the same. longfellow's poem is much superior to that of l. reichardt; for, while the former has a beautiful clothing, colouring, and harmony, the latter is very crude, poor, and defective. longfellow's long residence in germany has indeed rendered him very susceptible to the form and spirit of german poetry, and hence there exist in his poems frequently affinities as to general forms and ideas: still, affinities arising from such causes cannot justly be termed plagiarism, much less the accidental choice of a very widely existent, natural thought. when byron wrote his opening line to _the bride of abydos_, he did not probably think of göthe's "könnst du das land wo die citronen blühen?" byron was not a german scholar; and as the opening line is the only analogy between the two poems, we may justly believe it natural for any one who has lived in southern lands, to ask such a question. the charge of plagiarism, i think, ought to rest upon grounds which evince an actual copying. c. b. d'o. _charge of plagiarism against paley_ (vol. viii., p. .).--as a personal friend of the gentleman who, under the name of veritas, brought, about five years ago, a charge of plagiarism against paley, i feel called upon to say few words to fiat just. truth cannot be refuted, and f. j. may look at the translation of the old dutch book of nieuwentyt's, which he will find in the british museum library, the same place where veritas made the discovery while examining the works of some continental metaphysicians: and fiat just. will then no doubt regret having made the rash and illogical observation, "that the accusation be refuted, _or_ the culprit consigned to that contempt," &c. the character of veritas as man, moralist, and scholar, does not deserve so unjust and rash a remark. the dutch book, as well as the translation, are very scarce. five and six copies of the latter could only be found at the time of the discovery in london. c. b. d'o. _tin_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the suggestions of your correspondent s. g. c. are ingenious respecting the etymology of _cassiteros_, but a slight examination will show they are erroneous. the cassi was only one of the many tribes inhabiting britain in the time of cæsar, and it is by no means probable that it was able to confer its name upon the entire country, to the exclusion of all the rest; such as the iceni, the trinobanti, the coritani, the belgæ, and various others too numerous to mention. we must bear in mind that the phoenicians gave the name of cassiterides to the british isles; and that in naming places they invariably called them after some known or supposed quality possessed by them, or from some natural appearance which first arrested their notice: and such was the case in this instance. we learn that it was the common belief in ancient times, that the islands to the west of europe were shrouded in almost perpetual gloom and darkness; hence the british isles were called cassiterides, from _ceas_, pronounced _kass_, i. e. gloom, darkness, obscurity; and _tir_, i. e. lands, plural _ceasiterides_, i. e. "the islands of darkness." and the tin which the phoenicians procured from them received the appropriate name of cassiteros, _i. e._ the metal from the islands of darkness. fras. crossley. _john waugh_ (vol. viii, pp. . . .; vol. ix, p. .).--the rev. john waugh was of broomsgrove, worcester, and died unmarried and intestate. letters of administration of his estate in the province of york were granted oct. , , to his five sisters and co-heiresses, judith, isabella, elizabeth, mary, and margaret, spinsters, who all were living at carlisle; and were unmarried in august, . wm. durrant cooper. _rev. joshua brooks_ (vol. viii., p. .).--_blackwood's edinburgh magazine_ for march, , contains a paper entitled a "brief sketch of the rev. josiah streamlet." under this _sobriquet_, a few incidents in the life of the rev. joshua brooks are related, which may interest c. ( ). g. d. r. _hour-glass stand_ (vol. viii., p. .).--there is an hour-glass stand attached to the pulpit at nassington church, northants. nassington is about six miles frown the town of oundle. g. r. m. there is an hour-glass stand in bishampton church, worcestershire. cuthbert bede, b.a. _teeth superstition_ (vol. viii., p .).--my wife, who is a yorkshire woman, tells me that, whenever she lost a tooth as a child, her nurse used to exhort her to keep her tongue away from the cavity, and then she would have a golden tooth. she speaks of it as a superstition with which she has always been familiar. oxoniensis. walthamstow. _dog-whipping day in hull_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this custom obtains, or used to do, in york on st. luke's day, oct. , which is there known by the name of "whip-dog day." drake considers the origin of it uncertain and though he is of opinion that it is a very old custom, he does not { } agree with those who date it as far back as the romans. in the _history of york_, vol. i. p. ., respecting the author of which a query has appeared in "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. ., the traditional account of its origin is given: "that in times of popery, a priest celebrating mass at the festival in some church in york, unfortunately dropped the pix after consecration, which was snatched up suddenly and swallowed by a dog that lay under the table. the profanation of this high mystery occasioned the death of the dog; and a persecution began, and has since continued on this day (st. luke's), to be severely carried on against all the species in the city." a very curious whipping custom prevails at leicester, known by the name of "whipping toms," on the afternoon of shrove tuesday. it is thus described in hone's _year book_, p. .: "in this space (the newark) several (i think three) men called 'whipping toms,' each being armed with a large waggon whip, and attended by another man carrying a bell, claim the right of flogging every person whom they can catch while their attendant bell-man can keep ringing his bell." perhaps some one of your correspondents will be able to afford an origin for this odd usage. r. w. elliot. clifton. a spanish lady now resident in england, a member of the latin church, mentioned to me, some months since, a custom prevailing in her native land similar to that in hull described by mr. richardson. it arose on this wise: once upon a time, on a high festival of the church, when there was an exposition of the blessed sacrament, a dog rushed into the church when the altar was unguarded, and carried off the host. this deed of the sacrilegious animal filled the spaniards with such horror, that ever after, on the anniversary of that day, all dogs were beaten and stoned that showed themselves in the streets. edward peacock. bottesford moors. _mousehunt_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--i think the inquiry relative to this animal may be satisfactorily answered by the following quotation from a very excellent and learned work, entitled _a natural history of british and foreign quadrupeds, containing many original observations and anecdotes_, by james h. fennell, vo., london, : "the beech marten is the _martes foina_ of modern zoologists, the _martes fagorum_ of ray, the _martes saxorum_ of klein, the _mustela martes_ of linnæus, and the _mustela foina_ of gmelin. its english synonymes are not less numerous; for, besides beech marten, it is called stone marten, martern, marteron, martlett, and _mousehunt_. the last name i insert on the authority of henley, thee dramatic commentator, who says it is the animal to which 'charming willie shakspeare' thus alludes in _romeo and juliet_: '_capulet._ i have watch'd ere now all night---- _lady capulet._ ay, thou have been a _mouse-hunt_ in your time.'--act iv. sc. . "in knight's _pictorial edition of romeo and juliet_ ( ), this and many other terms equally requiring explanation are left quite unelucidated; though one picture of this said _mouse-hunt_ would doubtless have been more assistant to the professed object of the work than the two unnecessary pictures it contains of certain winged monstrosities called cupids."--p. . mr. fennell goes on to state, that the beech marten (_alias_ mousehunt) inhabits the woods and forests of most parts of europe, seldom quitting them except in its nocturnal excursions; and he adds that-- "the _beech marten_ does sometimes, in the highlands of scotland, where it is common, and called _tuggin_, take to killing lambs, and makes sad havoc. luckily, however, it is nearly exterminated in the south of that country. in selkirkshire, it has been observed to descend to the shore at night time to feed upon mollusks, particularly upon the large basket mussel (_mytilus modiolus_). but the ordinary prey of both this and the pine marten appears to the hares, rabbits, squirrels, moles, rats, _mice_; game birds; turkeys, pigeons, and other domestic poultry, and also the wild singing birds."--p. . in the above work mr. fennell has given many other interesting zoological elucidations of shakspeare, and of various other ancient poets. g. tennyson. rickmansworth. _st. paul's school library_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a catalogue of the library was privately printed in , vo. it is nominally under the care of the captain of the school, who, having his own duties to attend to, cannot be expected to pay much attention to it: this readily accounts for the disorder said to prevail. it is believed to contain the copy of _vegetius de re militari_, the perusal of which by marlborough, when a pupil at the school, imbued him with that love for military science he in after-life so successfully cultivated. it would be a good deed on the part of the wealthy company, the trustees of colet's noble foundation, to enlarge the library and pay a salary to a librarian; it might thus become a useful appendage to the school, and under certain regulations be made accessible to the vicinity. w. a. _german tree_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in answer to the inquiry of zeus, who wishes to be informed whether this custom was known in england previous to , i beg to refer him to coleridge's _friend_, second landing-place, essay iii. (vol. ii. { } p. .), entitled "christmas within doors in the north of germany." the passage (apparently from coleridge's journal) is dated "ratzeburg, ." it is, i think, also extracted in knight's _half-hours with the best authors_. coleridge went to germany in (_biog. lit._, vol. i. p. . note); but i imagine the passage i refer to did not appear till , when _the friend_ was published in three volumes (_biog. lit._, vol. ii. p. .). as the book is so common, i do not think it worth while to copy out the account. zeus has by this time, i hope, had a christmas yggdrasil in his olympus. eryx. _derivation of the word "cash"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--may not the word _cash_ be connected with the chinese coin bearing that name, which mr. martin, in his work on china (vol. i. p. .), describes as being-- "the smallest coin in the world, there being about to (cash) in a dollar, _i. e._ one-fifth to one-seventh of a farthing." if i am not mistaken, the coin in question is perforated in the centre to permit numbers of the pieces being strung together, payments being made in so many strings of cash. w. w. e. t. . warwick square, belgravia. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. _the poetical works of john dryden_, edited by robert bell, vol. i., is the first of what is proposed to be a revised and carefully annotated edition of the english poets, which is intended to supply what the publisher believes to be an existing want, namely, "a complete body of english poetry, edited throughout with judgment and integrity, and combining those features of research, typographical elegance, and economy of price, which the present age demands." certainly, half-a-crown a volume fulfils the latter requirement in an extraordinary manner; and there can be little doubt that if the other essentials be as strictly fulfilled, and the collection embraces, as it is intended, not only the works of several poets who have been entirely omitted from previous collections, but those stores of lyrical and ballad poetry in which our literature is so preeminently rich, _the annotated edition of the english poets_ will meet with that extensive sale to which alone the publisher can look for remuneration. _the museum of science and art_, edited by dr. lardner, is intended to supply a collection of instructive tracts and essays, composed in a popular and amusing style, and in easy language, on the leading discoveries in the physical sciences: so that persons, whose occupations exclude the possibility of systematic study, may in their short hours of leisure obtain a considerable amount of information on subjects of the highest interest. this design is extremely well carried out in the first four numbers, which are devoted to--i. and ii. the planets: are they inhabited worlds? iii. weather prognostics; and iv. popular fallacies. the introduction of details and incidents, which could not with propriety be introduced into works of a purely scientific character, give great variety and interest to the different papers. books received.--_the journal of sacred literature_, new series, no. x., contains, in addition to its notes, correspondence, &c., no less than twelve papers of varied interest to the peculiar class of readers to whom this periodical expressly addresses itself.--mr. bohn has just added to his _standard library_ a collection of the _novels and tales of göthe_, comprising his _elective affinities; the sorrows of werther; german emigrants; good women; and a nouvelette_: and in his _classical library_ he has commenced a revised edition of the oxford translation of _tacitus_. the ninth part of smith's _dictionary of greek and roman geography_, which extends from the conclusion of the article _germania_ to _hytanis_, concludes the first volume of this admirable addition to dr. smith's series of classical dictionaries.--_cyclopædia bibliographica_, part xvi., from _platina_ to _rivet_. every additional part confirms our opinion of the great utility of this indispensable library companion. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. companion to the almanac. all published. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: waverley novels. miniature edition. mo. published by constable & co. complete. horne's introduction to the scriptures. vols. vo. o'brien's round towers of ireland. last edition. rowe's dartmoor. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. lettres de xavier. vols. not the abridged edition. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. genuine and impartial memoirs of the life and character of charles ratcliffe, wrote by a gentleman of the family, mr. eyre, to prevent the public being imposed on by any erroneous or partial accounts to the prejudice of this unfortunate gentleman. london: printed for the proprietor, and sold by e. cole. . wanted by _mr. douglas_, . russell square, london. letters of the herbert family. wanted by _henningham & hollis_, . mount st., grosvenor sq. a sermon on knowledge. by rev. h. j. rose. lond. . letters by catholicus on sir robt. peel's tamworth address. lond. . kircher's musurgia universalis. romæ. . toms in . folio. glanvil's lux orientalis, with notes by dr. h. more. lond. . vo. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. { } selden's works by wilkins. folio. vol. iii. part ii. . bishop gauden, the author of "icon basilike," by dr. todd. vo. (a pamphlet.) wanted by _thos. g. stevenson_, bookseller, edinburgh. kingdom's dictionary of quotations from the english poets. vols. published by whittaker. wanted by _a. griffith_, bookseller, . baker street. clarke's memoir of w. falconer. wanted by _f. dinsdale_, leamington. prescott's conquest of mexico. bentley. . vol. i. wanted by _henry ditchburn, esq._, gravesend. g. macropedii, fabulÃ� comicÃ�. tom. vo. utrecht, . junius discovered, by p. t. published about . wanted by _william j. thoms_, . holywell street, millbank, westminster. * * * * * notices to correspondents. monthly part for january.--_catalogues of books, bills, &c. to be stitched into the forthcoming monthly part must be sent in by friday the th instant. eleven hundred copies are now required._ c. k. p. (eton) _will find the_ cherry tree carol _at p. . of sandys'_ christmas carols, _ed. . it is, perhaps, the most quaint and curious in the volume._ revocation of the edict of nantes.--_we cannot better rectify the error, natural error we had almost said, into which_ mr. macray _has fallen, than by printing entire the following communication:_ "british museum, jan. , . "sir, "an extremely clever and interesting review of pineton de chambrun's _history of the persecutions of the protestants by the french king in the principality of orange_ appeared in the _journal des débats_ of the th nov. last. this article is dated from the british museum (in the reading room of which establishment it may very probably have been written), and signed _william jones_. as i am the only person in the british museum bearing the surname of jones, the article has been attributed to me, in very courteous terms, by a correspondent of the "n. & q." as i cannot claim the merit of being the writer, i beg to place this correction of mr. macray's very natural mistake in your hands, to be used in such manner as you may think proper. "i have the honour to be, sir, "your very obedient servant, "j. winter jones." f. g. s. (colchester). _we have forwarded to_ dr. diamond _your request, and as soon as "light and leisure" permit, you shall receive some copies of the portrait._ a photographic correspondent, durham.--_we have been so unfortunate as to lose a letter asking questions respecting the enlargement of photographs, &c., for which we apologise, but believe a full answer will be found in the last number of the_ photographic journal. "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ viii., _price four guineas.--copies are being made up and may be had by order._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * now ready, quarto, cloth, twenty-five shillings. illustrations of ancient art, selected from objects discovered at pompeii and herculaneum. by the rev. edward trollope, f.s.a. contains figures engraved on wood, and coloured representations of the auldjo and naples vases. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, the christian remembrancer, no. lxxxiii., for january, . contents. . census of great britain, . . st. alfonso de liguori's theory of truthfulness. . the french pulpit and the court of louis xiv. . bishop kaye on the council of nicæa. . alison's europe from the fall of napoleon. . maurice's theological essays. . notices of new books, pamphlets, &c. london j. & c. mozley, . paternoster row. * * * * * reduction in price of french papers prepared for mons. le gray's process.--examination of the papers, and comparison with the prices hitherto charged for the same description, is respectfully solicited, combined with a hope that, as the most careful selection and chemical manipulation has been observed, the endeavour (by reducing their cost) to extend this beautiful and already extensively applied branch of photographic art, may secure a portion of public patronage. canson frères' waxed negative, s. per quire; iodised ditto, s. d.; sensitive, available for three weeks, s. size, ½ by ½, demy folio. specimens of either papers sent free on receipt of the postage ( stamps) between boards. address, post paid, to luke sams, . adelphi chambers, facing the society of arts, adelphi, london. * * * * * for family reading. blencowe's plain sermons. first series, fourth edition; second series, third edition; third series. sold separately, at s. d. per volume. these plain and short discourses have been found to be peculiarly suited for reading aloud in families and to the sick, on account of their simple and affectionate style, and the interesting and practical manner in which religious truths are inculcated. the publisher desires to point out their usefulness in these respects, having reason to believe that their circulation has hitherto been chiefly among the clergy, and that they are still comparatively little known to the laity. london: george bell. . (near st. dunstan's church) fleet street. * * * * * the english journal of education. continued monthly. price d., or stamped d. contents of january number. on making grammar schools more available as middle schools. on teaching modern languages. on the introduction of practical science into higher schools. the elegies of propertius. by f. a. paley. school atlases of ancient geography. notices of books. a specimen on receipt of seven stamps. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * valuable illustrated books at reduced prices. roberts' holy land. plates. l. s. published at guineas. digby wyatt's industrial arts of the nineteenth century. plates. vols. folio. half-bound morocco. l. s. published at l. s. digby wyatt's metal work, and its artistic design. plates. folio, half-bound morocco. l. s. published at l. s. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory. . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; 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george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * solicitors & general life assurance society, . chancery lane, london. ------ _subscribed capital, one million._ ------ this society presents the following advantages: the security of a subscribed capital of one million. exemption of the assured from all liability. premiums affording particular advantages to young lives. participating and non-participating premiums. in the former eighty per cent. or four-fifths of the profits are divided amongst the assured triennially, either by way of addition to the sum assured, or in diminution of premium, at their option. no deduction is made from the four-fifths of the profits for interest on capital, for a guarantee fund, or on any other account. policies free of stamp duty and indisputable, except in case of fraud. at the general meeting on the st may last, a bonus was declared of nearly two per cent. per annum on the _amount assured_ or at the rate of from thirty to upwards of sixty per cent. on the _premiums paid_. policies share in the profits, even if one premium only has been paid. next division of profits in . the directors meet on thursdays at o'clock. assurances may be effected by applying on any other day between the hours of and , at the office of the society, where prospectuses and all other requisite information can be obtained. charles john gill, secretary. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; 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and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page eliminate, by c. mansfield ingleby cranmer's bible sovereigns dining and supping in public parallel ideas from poets, by norris deck the great alphabetic psalm, and the songs of degrees, by t. j. buckton minor notes:--inscription on a grave-stone in whittlebury churchyard, northamptonshire--epitaph on sir henry st. george--newton and milton--eternal life--inscriptions in books--churchill's grave queries:-- coronation stone old mereworth castle, kent minor queries:--"i could not love thee, dear, so much"-- leicester as ranger of snowden--crabb of telsford-- tolling the bell while the congregation is leaving church--o'brien of thosmond--order of st. david of wales--warple-way--purlet--liveries, red and scarlet-- dr. bragge--chauncy, or chancy--plaster casts-- [greek: sikera]--dogs in monumental brasses minor queries with answers:--marquis of granby-- "memorials of english affairs," &c.--standing when the lord's prayer is read--hypocrisy, &c. replies:-- "consilium novem delectorum cardinalium," &c., by b. b. woodward john bunyan, by george offor the asteroids, &c., by j. wm. harris caps at cambridge, by c. h. cooper russia, turkey, and the black sea, by john macray high dutch and low dutch, by professor goedes de grüter photographic correspondence:--the calotype on the sea-shore replies to minor queries:--ned o' the todding--hour-glasses and inscriptions on old pulpits--table-turning--"firm was their faith"--the wilbraham cheshire ms.--mousehunt-- begging the question--termination "-by"--german tree-- celtic etymology--recent curiosities of literature-- d. o. m.--dr. john taylor--lines attributed to hudibras --"corporations have no souls," &c.--lord mayor of london a privy councillor--booty's case--"sat cito, si sat bene"--celtic and latin languages--brydone the tourist's birth-place miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * scientific recreation for youth--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments. d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william f. statham. operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * photographic society.--the exhibition of photographs and daguerreotypes is now open at the gallery of the society of british artists, suffolk street, pall mall, in the morning from a.m. to half-past p.m., and in the evening from to p.m. admission s. catalogue d. * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; two extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads, in iron, brass, japanned wood, polished birch, mahogany, rosewood, and walnut-tree woods; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * tegg's chronology. in one handsome volume, post vo., cloth, price s. tegg's dictionary of chronology: or, historical and statistical register, from the birth of christ to the present time. fifth edition, revised and improved. london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * this day, vo., price s. oxford reform, and oxford professors: a reply to certain objections against the report of the queen's commissioners. by henry halford vaughan, m.a., regius professor of modern history in the university of oxford. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, vo., s. d. a scriptural inquiry into the election of grace, as it concerns man's condition, and prospects. by jeremiah jackson, m.a., vicar of elm-cum-emneth. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * mr. maurice's new work. this day, vo., s. the unity of the new testament; a synopsis of the first three gospels, and of the epistles of st. james, st. peter, and st. paul. by frederick denison maurice, m.a., chaplain of lincoln's inn. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series): consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * all works published under the title scott's poetical works are imperfect and incomplete, unless they bear the imprint of robert cadell, or adam & charles black, edinburgh. author's edition of scott's poetry, including the copyright poem of the lord of the isles, engravings, cloth, gilt edges, s. a. & c. black, edinburgh. houlston & stoneman, london. * * * * * { } published by george bell, . fleet street. plain sermons. by the late rev. edward blencowe. vols., fcap. vo., cloth, s. d. each sold separately. "their style is simple; the sentences are not artfully constructed: and there is an utter absence of all attempt at rhetoric. the language is plain saxon language, from which 'the men on the wall' can easily gather what it most concerns them to know. "again, the range of thought is not high and difficult, but level and easy for the wayfaring man to follow. it is quite evident that the author's mind was able and cultivated; yet, as a teacher to men of low estate, he makes no display of eloquence or argument. "in the statements of christian doctrine, the reality of mr. blencowe's mind is very striking. there is a strength and a warmth and a life in his mention of the great truths of the gospel, which show that he spoke from the heart, and that, like the apostle of old, he could say,--'i believe, and therefore have i spoken.' "his affectionateness too is no less conspicuous; this is shown in the gentle, earnest, kind-hearted tone of every sermon in the book. there is no scolding, no asperity of language, not irritation of manner about them. at the same time there is no over-strained tenderness, nor affectation of endearment; but there is a considerate, serious concern about the peculiar sins and temptations of the people committed to his charge, and a hearty desire and determined effort for their salvation."--_theologian._ "simple, intelligible, and affectionate."--_church and state gazette._ "very stirring and practical."--_christian remembrancer._ * * * * * sermons on the doctrines and the means of grace, and on the seven words from the cross. by george trevor, m.a., canon of york. mo., cloth, s. "a volume of excellent, sound sermons, admirably suited to answer the end for which they were preached and are published, the promotion of practical piety."--_john bull._ ".... the sermons are manly and earnest in their resolution to look the truth in the face, and to enforce it against a prejudiced resistance of which the writer evidently knows but too much; and they show, moreover, a true conception of the tone by which that resistance is to be met."--_scottish episcopal journal._ thirty sermons. by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. second edition. mo., cloth, s. a second series of sermons. by the rev. alfred gatty. mo., s., cloth. "we say willingly of these sermons, what we can seldom say of sermons published at the request of parishioners, that they justify the respect paid to them, and appear to us in somewhat the same light as we should suppose they seemed to those who listened to and admired them. they are sermons of a high and solid character, and are the production of a good churchman. they are earnest and affectionate, and follow out the church's doctrine."--_theologian._ "plain and practical, but close and scholarly discourses."--_spectator._ "warm-hearted and thoughtful."--_guardian._ the vicar and his duties: being sketches of clerical life in a manufacturing town parish. by the rev. a. gatty. mo., cloth, with frontispiece, s. d. "as much a true effigy, though taken with pen and ink, as if mr. gatty had put that capital parish priest, the vicar of leeds, before his camera. to the many friends of dr. hook this little volume will be deeply interesting."--_notes and queries._ * * * * * messrs. upham & beete (late rodwell), . new bond street, have just issued two new catalogues, consisting of miscellaneous literature, topography, county history, &c., which may be had on application, or will be sent by post, on the receipt of two stamps. * * * * * great truths for thoughtful hours.--(preliminary)--human happiness: an essay. mo. s. d. by c. b. adderley, esq., m.p. "labour, if it were unnecessary to the existence, would be necessary to the _happiness_, of men." no. i.--the grand discovery: or, the fatherhood of god. by the rev. george gilfillan, dundee. mo. s. d. blackader & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * now ready. north british review. no. xl. february. price s. contents: i. the text of shakspeare. ii. exegetical study at the english universities. conybeare and howson on st. paul. iii. national music. iv. university representation. v. herodotus. vi. struggles and tendencies of german protestantism. vii. arago: his life and discoveries. viii. botanical geography. ix. the war in the east, and its political contingencies. edinburgh: w. p. kennedy. london: hamilton, adams & co. dublin: j. mcglashan. * * * * * pulleyn's compendium. one volume, crown vo., bound in cloth, price s. the etymological compendium: or, portfolio of origins and inventions: relating to language, literature, and government. architecture and sculpture. drama, music, painting, and scientific discoveries. articles of dress, &c. titles, dignities, &c. names, trades, professions. parliament, laws, &c. universities and religious sects. epithets and phrases. remarkable customs. games, field sports. seasons, months, and days of the week. remarkable localities, &c. &c. by william pulleyn. the third edition, revised and improved, by merton a thoms, esq. "the additions to this book indicate the editor to be his father's own son. he deals in folk lore, chronicles old customs and popular sayings, and has an eye to all things curious and note-worthy. the book tells everything."--_gentleman's magazine._ "the book contains a vast amount of curious information and useful memoranda."--_literary gazette._ "an invaluable manual of amusement and information."--_morning chronicle._ "this is a work of great practical usefulness. it is a notes and queries in miniature.... the revision which the present edition of it has undergone has greatly enhanced its original value."--_era._ london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * works by the rev. dr. maitland. the dark ages; being a series of essays intended to illustrate the state of religion and literature in the th, th, th, and th centuries. reprinted from the "british magazine," with corrections, and some additions; uniformly with the present volume. third edition. s. d. essays on subjects connected with the reformation in england. reprinted with additions, from the "british magazine." s. eruvin; or miscellaneous essays on subjects connected with the nature, history, and destiny of man. second edition. in small vo. s. eight essays on various subjects. in small vo. s. d. a letter to the rev. dr. mill, containing some strictures on mr. faber's recent work, entitled "the ancient vallenses and albigenses." vo. s. d. the voluntary system. new edition. small vo. s. d. notes on the contributions of the rev. george townsend, m.a., canon of durham, to the new edition of fox's martyrology. in three parts: . on the memoir of fox, ascribed to his son. . puritan thaumaturgy. . historical authority of fox. vo. s. d. remarks on the rev. s. r. cattley's defence of his edition of fox's martyrology. vo. s. d. twelve letters on fox's acts and monuments. reprinted from the "british magazine." vo. s. a review of fox's history of the waldenses. vo. s. d. a letter to the rev. hugh james rose, b.d., chaplain to his grace the archbishop of canterbury; with strictures on milner's church history. vo. s. d. a second letter to the rev. hugh james rose, b.d.; containing notes on milner's history of the church in the fourth century. vo. s. d. a letter to the rev. john king, m.a., incumbent of christ's church, hull; occasioned by his pamphlet, entitled "maitland not authorised to censure milner." vo. s. d. remarks on that part of the rev. j. king's pamphlet, entitled "maitland not authorised to censure milner," which relates to the waldenses, including a reply to the rev. g. s. faber's supplement, entitled "reinerius and maitland." vo. s. d. an index of such english books printed before the year mdc. as are now in the archiepiscopal library of lambeth. vo. s. rivingtons, waterloo place, pall mall. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, february , ._ notes. eliminate. (vol. v., p. .) "n. & q." has from time to time done much good service by holding up to reprobation modern and growing corruptions of the english language. i trust that its columns may be open to one more attempt to rescue from abuse the word which stands at the head of this article. its signification, whether sought from latin usage and etymology, or from the works of english mathematicians, is "to turn out of doors," "to oust," or, as we say in the midland counties, "to get shut of." in french it may be rendered as well by _se défaire_ as by _éliminer_. within the last seven or eight years, however, this valuable spoil of dead latinity has been strangely perverted, and, through the ignorance or carelessness of writers, it has bidden fair to take to itself two significations utterly distinct from its derivation, viz. to "elicit," and to "evaluate." the former signification, if less vicious, is more commonly used than the latter. i append examples of both from three of the most elegant writers of the day. in the third extract the word under consideration is used in the latter sense; in the other extracts it carries the former. _lectures on the philosophical tendencies of the age_, by j. d. morrell, london, , p. .: "had the men of ancient times, when they peopled the universe with deities, a deeper perception of the religious element in the mind, than had newton, when having _eliminated_ the great law of the natural creation, his enraptured soul burst forth into the infinite and adored?" i take one more illustration (among many others) from pp. , . of this work: "it would not be strictly speaking correct to call them philosophical methods, because a philosophical method only exists when any tendency works itself clear, and gives rise to a formal, connected, and logical system of rules, by which we are to proceed in the _elimination_ of truth." _the eclipse of faith_, by professor rogers, london, , p. .: "they are now at college, and have imbibed in different degrees that curious theory which professedly recognises christianity (as consigned to the new testament) as a truly _divine_ revelation, yet asserts that it is intermingled with a large amount of error and absurdity, and tells each man to _eliminate_ the divine 'element' for himself. according to this theory, the problem of eliciting revealed truth may be said to be indeterminate, the value of the unknown varies through all degrees of magnitude; it is equal to any thing, equal to every thing, equal to nothing, equal to infinity." _theological essays_, by f. d. maurice, cambridge, , p. .: "let us look, therefore, courageously at the popular dogma, that there are certain great ideas floating in the vast ocean of traditions which the old world exhibits to us, that the gospel appropriated some of these, and that we are to detect them and _eliminate_ them from its own traditions." but for the fact that such writers have given the weight of their names to so unparalleled a blunder, it would seem almost childish to occupy the columns of a literary periodical with exposing it. it is, however, somewhat singular that it should be principally men of _classical_ attainments who perpetrate it. in my under-graduate days at cambridge, the proneness of "classical men" to commit the blunder in question was proverbial. in conclusion, then, let it be remembered that the word "eliminate" obtained general currency from the circumstance of its being originally admitted into mathematical works. in such works _elimination_ signifies the process of causing a function to disappear from an equation, the solution of which would be embarrassed by its presence there. in other writings the word "elimination" has but one correct signification, viz. "the extrusion of that which is superfluous or irrelevant." as an example of this legitimate use of the word, i will quote from sir william hamilton's accurate, witty, and learned article on "logic," published in the _edinburgh review_, april, : "the preparatory step of the discussion was, therefore, an _elimination_ of these less precise and appropriate significations, which, as they could at best only afford a remote genus and difference, were wholly incompetent for the purpose of a definition." c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * cranmer's bible. queries which i have heard at various times lead me to think that a note on this interesting volume may be acceptable to many readers who possess or have access to it; and especially to those whose copies may be (as too many are) imperfect at the beginning and end. under this impression i send you an extract from the late mr. lea wilson's catalogue of his unrivalled collection of english bibles. as very few copies of this curious and beautiful work were printed, and not one, i believe, has been sold, it is probable that few of your readers are aware of the criteria which that gentleman's ingenuity and industry have furnished for distinguishing between the { } various editions which are known under the title of _the great bible_, or _cranmer's bible_. he begins his description of the edition of april, , thus: "as this volume is commonly called the first edition of cranmer's or the great bible, i class it with the six following; although in fact the archbishop had nothing whatever to do with either the translation or publication. it was put forth entirely by thomas lord cromwell, vide herbert's _ames_, p. . vol. iii., who employed coverdale to revise the existing translations. the first wherein cranmer took any part is the large folio of april , the text of which differs from this edition materially. the pages of this volume and of the four next following begin and end alike; and the general appearance of the whole five is so very similar that at first sight, one may be mistaken for another by those ignorant of the fact that they are all separate and distinct impressions: the whole of the titles, of which there are five in each book, and every leaf of kalendar, prologue, text, and tables being entirely recomposed, and varying throughout in orthography, &c. the desire to make perfect copies out of several imperfect, has also caused extreme confusion, by uniting portions of different editions without due regard to their identity. these remarks apply equally to the editions of nov. , and nov. , of which, in like manner, each page begins and ends with the same words. although the distinctive marks are very numerous, yet being chiefly typographical ornaments or arrangement, it is impossible to give here sufficient guides to ensure the integrity of each volume."--page . on the next page but one is added: "the following lines of the forty-first chapter of job differ in composition in all the seven volumes, and for the purpose of distinguishing the edition i have given them to each." _no. . april, ._ no m[=a] is so cruell, that is able to stere him up. *who is able to stande before me? or ++who hath geu[=e] me anything afore hande, that i maye rewarde him agayne? all thynges un- _no. . april, ._ no man is so cruell, y^t is able to stere h[=i] up. *who is able to st[=a]de before me? or ++who hath geuen me any thyng afore h[=a]de, y^e i maye rewarde him agayne? all thynges _no. . july, ._ no man is so cruell, y^t is able to stere hym up. *who is able to stande before me? or ++who hath geuen me any thynge aforehande, that i maye rewarde him agayne? _no. . may, ._ no man is so cruell, that is hable to styrre hym up. *who is hable to stande before me? or ++who hath geue me any thing aforehande, that i maye rewarde hym agayne? all thyn- _no. . december, ._ no m[=a] is so cruel, that is able to styrre hym up. *who is hable to stand before me? or ++who hathe gyuen me anye thynge afore hande, that i maye rewarde hym agayne? _no. . november, ._ no man is so cruell that is able to styr hym up. *who is able to stande before me? or ++who hath geuen me any thynge afore hande, that i maye re- _no. . november, ._ no man is so cruell that is hable to styrre hym up. *who is able to stande before me? or ++who hath gyuen me any thyng afore hande, that i maye rewarde hym agayne? all i believe the foregoing to be an exact copy of mr. wilson's catalogue, but, of course, i cannot be responsible for the accuracy of his transcripts. perhaps none but those who were admitted to his library ever had an opportunity of comparing together all those editions; and nobody would have done it with more care and fidelity than himself. s. r. m. * * * * * sovereigns dining and supping in public. in some observations which i made upon two or three pictures in hampton court palace, in vol. viii., p. ., i specified two worthy of notice on the above subject, and which are the first instances of such ceremony i have met with. it has been supposed to have been a foreign custom but i do not find any traces of it upon record.[ ] { } one can easily imagine that the _fastueux_ louis xiv. would have no objection to such display, and that his mistresses, as well as queen, would be of the party, when we read, that in the royal progresses two of the former were scandalously paraded in the same carriage with his queen. to this immoral exhibition, indeed, public opinion seemed to give no check, as we read, that "les peuples accouraient 'pour voir,' disaient-ils, 'les trois reines,'" wherever they appeared together. of these three _queens_, the true one was marie-thérèse: the two others were la marquise de montespan and mme. de la vallière. but to return to my subject. i find by the _london gazette_, no. . of sept. , , that geo. i., in his progress to the west of england, supped in public at the bishop's (dr. richard willis) palace at salisbury on wednesday, aug. , ; and slept there that night. the papers of the period of george ii. say: "there was such a resort to hampton court on sunday, july , , to see their majesties dine, that the rail surrounding the table broke; and causing some to fall, made a terrible scramble for hats, &c., at which their majesties laughed heartily." and,-- "on thursday, the th of the same month, it is stated, the concourse to see their majesties dine in public at hampton court was exceedingly great. a gang of robbers (the swell-mob of that day?) had mixed themselves among the nobility and gentry; several gold watches being lost, besides the ladies' gown tails and laced lappets cut off in number." and again: "on sunday, th september, , their majesties dined together in public at windsor (as they will continue to do every sunday and thursday during their stay there), when all the country people, whether in or out of mourning, were permitted to see them." besides those three occasions of george ii. and queen caroline dining in public, we have another recorded attended with some peculiar circumstances, as mentioned in the _london gazette_, no. . of tuesday, aug. , : "the st ult. being sunday, their majesties, the prince and princess of wales, and the princesses amelia and caroline, went to chapel at hampton court, and heard a sermon preached by the rev. dr. blomer. their majesties, and the rest of the royal family, dined afterwards in public as usual before a great number of spectators. about seven o'clock that evening, the princess of wales was taken with some slight symptoms of approaching labour, and was removed to st. james's; where, a little after eleven, she was delivered of a princess." this was the princess augusta, who was married to the prince of brunswick wolfenbüttel. [phi]. richmond. [footnote : [the custom was observed at a much earlier period; for we find that king edward ii. and his queen isabella of france kept their court at westminster during the whitsuntide festival of ; and on one occasion, as they were _dining in public_ in the great banqueting-hall, a woman in a mask entered on horseback, and riding up to the royal table, delivered a letter to king edward, who, imagining that it contained some pleasant conceit or elegant compliment; ordered it to be opened and read aloud for the amusement of his courtiers; but, to his great mortification, it was a cutting satire on his unkingly propensities, setting forth in no measured terms all the calamities which his misgovernment had brought upon england. the woman was immediately taken into custody, and confessed that she had been employed by a certain knight. the knight boldly acknowledged what he had done, and said, "that, supposing the king would read the letter in private, he took that method of apprising him of the complaints of his subjects."--strickland's _queens of england_, vol. i. p. .--ed.]] * * * * * parallel ideas from poets. longfellow and tennyson: "and like a lily on a river floating, she floats upon the river of his thoughts." _spanish student_, act ii. sc. . "now folds the lily all her sweetness up, and slips into the bosom of the lake; so fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip into my bosom and be lost in me." _princess_, part vii. wordsworth and keble: "a book, upon whose leaves some chosen plants by his own hand disposed with nicest care, in undecaying beauty were preserved;-- mute register, to him, of time and place, and various fluctuations in the breast; to her, a monument of faithful love conquered, and in tranquillity retained!" _excursion_, book vi. "like flower-leaves in a precious volume stor'd, to solace and relieve some heart too weary of the restless world." _christian year_: prayers to be used at sea. moore and keble: "now by those stars that glance o'er heaven's still expanse weave we our mirthful dance, daughters of zea!" _evenings in greece._ "beneath the moonlight sky, the festal warblings flow'd, where maidens to the queen of heaven wove the gay dance." _christian year_: eighth sunday after trinity. norris deck. cambridge. * * * * * the great alphabetic psalm, and the songs of degrees. in attempting to discover a reason for the division of psalm cxix. into twenty-two portions of _eight_ verses each, instead of _seven_ or _ten_, the more favourite numbers of the hebrew, i have thought that, as the whole psalm is chiefly laudatory of the thorah, or law of moses, and was written alphabetically for the instruction mainly of the younger people, to be by them committed to memory, a { } didactic reason might exist for making up the total number of verses, peculiar to this psalm. adverting then to the necessity, for the purposes of jewish worship, of ascertaining the periods of the new moons, to adjust the year thereby, i find that a mean lunation, as determined by the latest authorities, is very nearly . days ( d. h. m.) and as the jewish months were lunar, six of these would amount to d. h. m., being somewhat more than _one_ over the number of verses in this psalm. as lunations, from observation, vary from d. h. m. to d. h. m., the above was a very close approximation to the half-year. the other half of the year would vary a whole lunation (_veadar_) betwixt the ordinary and the intercalary year.[ ] this was, at least, the best possible combination of twenty-two letters for such purpose. this psalm might then have answered some of the purposes of an almanac. it is a very important one in fixing the hebrew metres, the initial letter being the same for every eight verses in succession. the words at the commencement of psalms cxx. to cxxxiv., rendered "song of degrees," appear to me to signify rather "song of _ascents_," in reference to the jewish practice of _ascending_ to the house-top to watch and pray, as well as to sleep. if it be assumed that these fifteen psalms were appropriated for domestic use on the jew retiring, by ascending the ladder or stairs, to the upper part or top of the house (ps. cxxxii. .), the meaning of several passages will be better apprehended, i conceive, than by supposing that they were composed solely for temple use, or, as eichhorn thinks, to be sung on a journey. standing on the house-top, the praying jew, like david and solomon, would have in view heaven and earth (cxxi. ., cxxiii .), the sun and moon (cxxi. .), the surrounding hills (cxxi. .) and mountains (cxxv. .), the gates and city of jerusalem (cxxii. . . .), mount zion (cxxv. .), the watchmen on the walls (cxxvii. ., cxxx. .), his wife and children at home (cxxviii. ., cxxxi. .), the mover bringing in his sheaves, compared with the grass on the house-tops (cxxix. - .), all subjects especially noted in these fifteen psalms. the number _eight_ appears to be a favourite one in these, as well as in psalm cxix., but there is no reason to believe that such number refers to the _octave_ in music. it may refer, however, to the number of stairs or steps of ascent. i am not aware that the above views have been previously taken, which is my reason for calling attention to this interesting and well-debated subject. t. j. buckton. [footnote : their shortest ordinary year consisted of , and its half of ½ days. the mahometan ordinary half-year consists of days. the calendar months of both jews and mahometans consist of and days.] * * * * * minor notes. _inscription on a grave-stone in whittlebury churchyard, northamptonshire._-- "in memory of john heath, he dy'd dec^{br} y^e ^{th}, . aged years. while time doth run from sin depart; let none e'er shun death's piercing dart; for read and look, and you will see a wondrous change was wrought on me. for while i lived in joy and mirth grim death came in and stop't my breath: for i was single in the morning light, by noon was marri'd, and was dead at night." h. t. wake. _epitaph on sir henry st. george_, garter principal king of englishmen [_sic_ in ms.], from a ms. in the office of arms, london (see ballard mss., vol. xxix.): "here lie a knight, a king, a saint, who lived by tilt and tournament. his namesake, george, the dragon slew, but, give the herald king his due, he could disarm ten thousand men, and give them arms and shields again. but now the mighty sire is dead, reposing here his hoary head; let this be sacred to the mem'ry of knight st. george and of king henry" balliolensis. _newton and milton._--has it been observed that sir isaac newton's dying words, so often quoted,-- "i am but as a child gathering pebbles on the seashore, while the great ocean of truth still lies undiscovered before me." are merely an adaptation of a passage in _paradise regained_, book iv.: "deep versed in books and shallow in himself, crude or intoxicate, collecting toys and trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge, as _children gathering pebbles_ on the shore." anon. _eternal life._--in the _mishna_ (berachoth, ch. ix. s. ) the doctrine of a future eternal state is clearly set forth in a passage which is rendered by de sola and raphall: "but since the epicureans perversely taught, there is but one state of existence, it was directed that men should close their benedictions with the form [blessed be the lord god of israel] from eternity to eternity." a like explicit declaration of such future state occurs again in the _mishna_ (sanhedrin, ch. xi. s. l.). t. j. buckton. birmingham. _inscriptions in books._--the following are taken _literatim_ from the margins of an old black-letter { } bible. from the numerous errors we may suppose they were copied from dictation by a person unacquainted with latin. "quanto doctiores tanto te gesas submiseias." "forasmuch as y^u art y^e better learned, by so much y^u must carry thy self more lowly." ------ "si deus est animus nobis ut carmina dicunt, sic tibi pricipus (bus?) sit pura mente colendus." "seing y^t god is, as y^e poets say, a liveing soul, lets worship him alway." ------ "tempora (e?) felici multa (i?) numerantur amici, cum fortuna perit nulus amicus erit." "in time of prosperity friends will be plenty, in time of adversity not one among twenty." on the title-page, "john threlkeld's book:" "hujus in dominum cupius (as?) cognescere libri, supra prospiscias, nomen habebis ibi." "whose booke i am if you would know, i will to you in letters show." on the other side: "thomas threlkeld is my name, and for to write ... ing ashame, and if my pen had bene any better, i would have mended it every letter." this last example closely resembles some others given in a late number of "n. & q." j. r. g. dublin. _churchill's grave._--it is not perhaps generally known, that the author of _the rosciad_ was buried in the churchyard of st. mary, dover. on a small moss-covered head-stone is the following inscription: " . here lie the remains of the celebrated c. churchill." "life to the last enjoy'd, here churchill lies. candidate." the notice is sufficiently brief; no date, except the year, nor age being recorded. the biographers inform us, that he died at boulogne of a fever, while on a visit to wilkes. the cemetery where his remains are deposited is in the centre almost of dover; and has recently been closed for the purposes of sepulture, with the exception of family vaults. adjoining it is a small retired burial-place, containing at the most but two or three graves, and originally belonging to the tavenors. here is the tomb of captain samuel tavenor, an officer of cromwell, and, during his ascendancy, one of the governors of deal castle. tavenor was a man distinguished for his courage, integrity, and piety. j. brent. * * * * * queries. coronation stone. a few years ago the following tradition was related to me by a friend, and i should be glad if any of your correspondents can inform me whether it is current in any part of great britain or ireland, and whether there are any grounds for it. as it is connected with one of our most interesting national relics, the coronation stone, it may not prove beneath notice; and i here give it in full, shielding myself with the last minstrel's excuse: "i know not how the truth may be, but i tell the tale as 'twas told to me." i must allow that its extreme vagueness, if not improbability, hardly warrants an inquiry; but having failed in obtaining any satisfactory proofs among my own friends, as a last resource i apply myself to the columns of your well-known and useful journal. when jacob awoke after his wonderful dream, as related in genesis (chap. xxviii.), he said, "surely the lord is in this place, and i knew it not;" and he was afraid, and said, "how dreadful is this place. this is none other but the house of god; and this is the gate of heaven." he "took the stone that he had put for his pillow and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. and jacob vowed a vow, saying, if god will be with me, and will keep me in this way that i go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that i come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the lord be my god: and this stone, which i have set for a pillar, shall be god's house; and of all that thou shalt give me i will surely give the tenth unto thee." that stone (so runs the legend) is supposed to have been taken away from bethel by the house of joseph, when they destroyed the city and its inhabitants (judges i.); and a tradition, that whosoever possessed that stone would be especially blessed, and be king or chief, was current among the jews; the stone itself being guarded by them with jealous care. on the first destruction of jerusalem, some of the royal family of judah are supposed to have escaped, and to have gone in search of an asylum beyond the sea, taking this precious stone with them. their resting-place was ireland, where they founded a kingdom. many centuries afterwards, a brother of the king descended from these exiles, named fergus, went, with his brother's permission, to found a kingdom in scotland. he said, however, he would not go without the sacred stone. this his brother refused to give him; but fergus stole it, and established a kingdom in scotland. his descendants became kings of all scotland, and were crowned sitting on that stone, { } which was taken away by edward i., and is now in westminster abbey. these are the outlines of this tradition. my object now is to ask whether any of your correspondents can inform me, first, whether the jews had, or have, any like superstition concerning jacob's pillar; and whether the royal family of judah possessed such a stone among their treasures? secondly, whether any jews are supposed to have settled in ireland at so early a period; and whether (that being the case) there are now, or were once, proofs of their having done so, either in the irish language or in any of the ancient laws, customs, buildings, &c. of the country? thirdly, whether the scotch believe that stone to have come from ireland; and whether that belief in the owner of it being king existed in scotland? and, lastly, can any of your correspondents, learned in geology, inform me whether the like kind of stone is to be met with in any part of the british isles? or whether, as the legend runs, a similar kind of stone is found in the arabian plains? the story has interested me greatly; and if i could gain any enlightenment on the subject, i should be much obliged for it. an indian subscriber. [several of our historians, as matthew of westminster, hector boethius, robert of gloucester, the poet harding, &c., have noticed this singular legend; but we believe the rabbinical writers (as suggested by our indian correspondent) have never been consulted respecting it. sandford, in his valuable _history of the coronation of james ii_. (fol., , p. .), has given some dates and names which will probably assist our correspondents in elucidating the origin of this far-famed relic. he says, "jacob's stone, or _the fatal marble stone_, is an oblong square, about twenty-two inches long, thirteen inches broad, and eleven inches deep, of a bluish steel-like colour, mixed with some veins of red; whereof history relates that it is the stone whereon the patriarch jacob is said to have lain his head in the plain of luza. that it was brought to brigantia in the kingdom of gallacia in spain, in which place gathal, king of scots, sat on it as his throne. thence it was brought into ireland by simon brech, first king of scots, about years before christ's time, and from thence into scotland, by king fergus, about years before christ. in the year it was placed in the abbey of scone in the sherifdom of perth by king kenneth, who caused it to be inclosed in a wooden chair (now called st. edward's chair), and this prophetical distich engraven on it: 'ni fallat fatum, scoti hunc quocunque locatum inveniunt lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem.' 'if fates go right, where'er this stone is found, the scots shall monarchs of that realm be crown'd.' which is the more remarkable by being fulfilled in the person of james i. of england." calmet, however, states that the mahometans profess to have this relic in their custody. he says, the mahometans think that jacob's stone was conveyed to the temple of jerusalem, and is still preserved in the mosque there, where the temple formerly stood. they call it _al-sakra_, or the stone of unction. the cadi gemaleddin, son of vallel, writes, that passing through jerusalem, in his way to egypt, he saw christian priests carrying glass phials full of wine over the sakra, near which the mussulmen had built their temple, which, for this reason, they call the temple of the stone. the wine which the christian priests set upon the stone was no doubt designed for the celebration of mass there."] * * * * * old mereworth castle, kent. among your subscribers there are doubtless many collectors of topographical drawings and engravings. i shall feel specially obliged if any of them could find in their collections a view of old mereworth castle (as it stood prior to the comparatively modern erection of lord westmoreland), and furnish me with a long desiderated description of it. local tradition represents it as having been a baronial castle rising from the middle of a small lake, like that of leeds, though of smaller dimensions, with the parish church attached. i should rather conjecture it to have been an ancient moated manor-house, magnified, in the course of tradition, into a baronial castle and lake. whatever the old building was, it was pulled down by john, seventh earl of westmoreland, during the first half of the last century. had it been of the character of leeds castle, as the representative of a long line of baronial ancestry, he would hardly have levelled such a structure, with all its inspiring associations, merely for the purpose of gratifying his passion for palladian architecture by the erection of the present mansion. the ancient building seems to have been the residence of the knightly family of de mereworth during the twelfth, thirteenth, and part of the fourteenth centuries, and from that time, till near the end of elizabeth's reign, it ceased to be a _family residence_; for, after passing through various hands (none of whom were likely to have resided there), it descended in to joan, wife of the lord burgavenny, sister and coheir to the earl of arundel. the burgavennys of that day resided always at their castle of birling, which circumstance would intimate that it was a grander and more baronial residence than mereworth castle (for they had come into possession of both estates very nearly at the same period); and afterwards mereworth by settlement passed to sir thomas fane of badsell, in marriage with mary, daughter and sole heiress of henry lord burgavenny, and "jure suo" baroness despencer, in . from that time till its dismantling in the last century, mereworth castle was again a family residence, the seat of the earls of westmoreland; francis, eldest son of said sir thomas { } fane and mary baroness despencer, having been advanced to that earldom. as the seat of a noble family for more than a century and a half, it is hardly likely that no view should have been taken of it; i have searched, however, in vain for it in harris, buck, and other published collections. it would be a matter of special interest to many besides myself, to obtain some information respecting it. john, seventh earl, the builder of the present palladian mansion, died in , when the earldom passed to a distant cousin, and the barony of despencer was called out of abeyance in favour of sir francis dashwood, the son and representative of mary, sister and _eldest_ co-heir of john, seventh earl of westmoreland, and heir to his estates. on his death _s.p._, sir thomas stapleton, sole heir to the barony of despencer (as lineal descendant and heir of catherine, the _younger_ sister and co-heir of the said john, seventh earl), succeeded to the estate; and from him it has lineally descended to mary, viscountess falmouth, and "jure suo" baroness despencer, the present representative of the family. at mereworth castle itself, where the viscount and viscountess falmouth reside, there is no view of the old building; but it is very possible that some drawing or engraving of it may exist in some of the residences of the earls of westmoreland subsequent to the seventh earl, or at the seat of the dashwoods, or in the british museum. i trouble you with this query, in the hope that, among your numerous readers, some one may be placed in a position to give us information on the subject. in doing so they would greatly oblige cantianus. * * * * * minor queries. "_i could not love thee, dear, so much._"--where are the following lines to be found? what is the context? "i could not love thee, dear, so much, loved i not honour more." h. _leicester as ranger of snowden._--in the reign of queen elizabeth, leicester was made ranger of snowden forest, and using violent means to extort unjust taxes from the people, under cover of this appointment, he was opposed and resisted by eight welsh gentlemen, under the leadership of sir richard bulkeley, of baron hill, in anglesey. among these was a madryn of madryn, a hugh ap richard of cefnllanfair, a griffith of cefn amlwch, &c. these patriotic gentlemen met with imprisonment in the tower of london as their only recompense; and there are extant poems by guttyn, peris, and other bards, addressed to them on the subject. i should be obliged to any of your correspondents to give me any farther information on this subject, or reference to documents which bear upon it. elffin ap gwyddno. _crabb of telsford._--any information respecting the settlement of the family of crabb, or crabbe, at telsford, county of somerset, together with the names of the present representatives of that family, would be most thankfully received through the medium of your valuable pages, or in any other way, by one of the name. _tolling the bell while the congregation is leaving church._--can you inform me why this is done at richmond church; and whether the custom is adopted in any other?[ ] j. h. m. [footnote : [this custom is observed in many of the london churches.--ed.]] _o'brien of thosmond._--in the _calendar of inquisitions post mortem_, there appears one taken on the death of alicia, wife of nicholas thosmound, in the second year of king henry iv. the estates were in somersetshire. from the appearance of this name, i suspect it is not an english one; but rather an old form of spelling the name of the province of tothmound or thomond (south munster), ireland; and that this nicholas was an o'brien, who called himself from his family's principality, for it was not uncommon in england formerly to take names from estates. perhaps some of your correspondents having access to the _inquisition_ would ascertain more on the subject, and give it to the public. the name of nicholas o'brien occurs in the irish rolls of chancery about that very period. a. b. _order of st. david of wales._--in the reign of queen elizabeth there was an order of knighthood--the order of st. david of wales. when was that order created? who was the first knight? who was the last knight? what prelate was the chaplain to the order? why was it dissolved? why is it not revived again? we have several welsh peers, noblemen, knights; four bishops, men of science and learning, welshmen. i hope the good queen victoria will revive this ancient order of knighthood, and the prince of wales be created the first knight. the emblem of wales is a red dragon. can any of your readers give an account of this ancient order? some years ago there were several letters in _the times_, and other papers, respecting it and the welsh motto. wales should have its knight as well as ireland, scotland, and england. w. _warple-way._--the manor of richmond, in surrey, has been the property of the crown for many hundred years, i may say from time { } immemorial: and in all the old records and plans, the green roads are called "warple-ways." some of the old plans are marked "w_o_rple way," some "w_a_rple way " can any of your readers tell me the derivation and meaning of the word, and refer me to an authority? wm. smythe. _purlet._--nelson, and the subsequent historians of islington, relate a marvellous story on the authority of _purlet de mir. nat._ x. c. iv.: "and as to the same heavings, or _tremblements de terre_, it is sayde, y^t in a certaine fielde neare unto y^e parish church of islingtoun, in like manner, did take place a wondrous commotion in uarious partes, y^e earthe swellinge, and turninge uppe euery side towards y^e midst of y^e sayde fielde; and, by tradycion of this, it is obserued y^t one richard de clouesley lay buryed in or neare y^t place, and y^t his bodie being restles, on y^e score of some sinne by him peraduenture committed, did shewe or seeme to signifye y^t religious obseruance should there take place, to quiet his departed spirit; whereupon certaine exorcisers, if wee may so term y^m, did at dede of night, nothing lothe, using divers diuine exercises at torche light, set at rest y^e unrulie spirit of y^e shade clouesley, and y^e earthe did returne aneare to its pristine shape, neuermore commotion procedeing therefrom to this day, and this i know of a verie certaintie."--nelson's _islington_, to. , p. ., or vo. , p. . the spelling of this extract seems at least as old as the time of cloudesley's death ( ), although it would appear to be a translation; and though the exorcism is apparently spoken of as having taken place long before the time of the writer. from these and other circumstances, i am led to suspect that nelson was the victim of cruel hoax, particularly as i am unable to find any such book as _purlet de mir. nat._ in the british museum. query, does any such book exist; and if so, where? frideswide. islington. _liveries, red and scarlet._--in a provincial paper, i noticed a paragraph dating the origin of wearing red coats in fox-hunting from a mandate of henry ii., who it appears made fox-hunting a royal sport, and gave to all distributors of foxes the scarlet uniform of the royal household: this also would involve another question as regards the origin of scarlet being the colour of the royal livery. can any of your sporting or antiquarian correspondents give me any authority for the former, and any information about the latter? w. e. w. rumbold. _dr. bragge._--i shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who will give me information respecting dr. bragge, who flourished about the year . who was he? where did he get his degree? who were his chief dupes? where did he live? he appears, from various inscriptions round an engraved portrait, to have been a great duping dealer in pictures. e. h. _chauncy, or chancy._--any reference to works containing biographical notices of charles chauncy, or chancy, m.a., fellow of trinity college, cambridge, circa , will oblige j. y. _plaster casts._--ruby would be thankful for a good receipt for bronzing plaster casts. "[greek: sikera]."--in the prophecy regarding the birth of john the baptist (luke i. .) the angel says: [greek: kai oinon kai sikera ou mê piêi.] this is in the authorised version (i quote the original edit.) rightly rendered: "and shal drinke neither wine nor strong drinke." now, in the _golden legend_, fol. cxl. (wynkyn de worde's edition, london, ) is this account: "for he shal be grete, and of grete meryte tofore our lord: he shall not drinke wyne, ne _syder_, ne thynge wherof he myght be dronken." i need hardly remind your readers that that [greek: sikera] was often used by the lxx translators for an intoxicating liquor, as distinguished from wine, viz. levit. x. ., numbers vi. ., &c., and in about nine places; but i do not remember "syder" as _the_ "thynge wherof he myghte be dronken." can any of your philological friends call to mind a similar version? i do not want to be told the derivation of [greek: sikera], for that is obvious; nor do i lack information as to the inebriating qualities of "syder," for, alas! an intimate acquaintance with devonshire has often brought before my notice persons "dronken" with that exhilarating beverage. richard hooper. st. stephen's, westminster. _dogs in monumental brasses._--is there any symbolical meaning conveyed in the dogs which are so often introduced at the feet of ladies in brasses, and dogs and lions at the feet of knights? one fact is worthy of notice, that while the omission of the dog is frequent in the brasses of ladies (e.g. in that of lady camoys, , at trotten, sussex, and joan, lady cobham, , cobham, kent, and several others), the lion or dog, as the case may be, of the knight is scarcely ever left out; indeed, i have only been able to find two or three instances. but again, in brasses later than , the dogs and lions are seldom, if ever, found either in the brasses of knights or ladies. can you afford me any information on these points? b. h. alford. tonbridge, kent. { } * * * * * minor queries with answers. _marquis of granby._--in a late number of _chamber's journal_ it is stated that there are eighteen taverns in london bearing the sign of the marquis of granby. how did this sign become so popular and which marquis was it whose popularity gained him immortality; and when lived he? j. m. wharton. [this sign is intended as a compliment to john manners, commonly called marquis of granby, eldest son of john, third duke of rutland, who appears to have been a good, bluff-brave soldier--active, generous, careful of his men, and beloved by them. mr. peter cunningham (_handbook_, p. ., edit. ) informs us, that "granby spent many an happy hour at the hercules pillars public-house, piccadilly, where squire western put his horses up, when in pursuit of tom jones." he died, much regretted, on october , , without succeeding to the dukedom. "what conquests now will britain boast, or where display her banners? alas! in granby she has lost true courage and good manners." his popularity is shown by the frequent occurrence of his portrait as a sign-board for public-houses, even of late years; a fact which at once testifies in favour of his personal qualities, and indicates the low state of our military fame during the latter half of the last century.] _"memorials of english affairs," &c._--can you inform me who was the author of a folio volume entitled-- "memorials of the english affairs; or an historical account of what passed from the beginning of the reign of king charles i. to king charles ii. his happy 'restauration;' containing the public transactions, civil and military, together with the private consultations and secrets of the cabinet. london: printed for nathanael conder, at the sign of the peacock in the poultry, near the church, mdclxxxii." i have never seen any other copy than the one in my possession. l. r. [this work is by sir bulstrode whitelocke. the edition of , possessed by our correspondent, was published by arthur, earl of anglesea, who took considerable liberties with the manuscript. the best edition, containing the passages cancelled by the earl, is that of , fol. "this work," says bishop warburton, "that has been so much cried up, is a meagre diary, wrote by a poor-spirited, self-interested, and self-conceited lawyer of eminence, but full of facts." at p. . (edit. ) occurs the following entry:--"from the council of state, cromwell and his son ireton went home with whitelocke to supper, where they were very cheerful, and seemed extremely well-pleased; they discoursed together till twelve o'clock at night, and told many wonderful observations of god's providence in the affairs of the war, and in the business of the army's coming to london, and seizing the members of the house, in all which were miraculous passages." to this sentence in the copy now before us, some sturdy royalist has added the following ms. note:--"whitelocke reports this of himself, as being well pleased with it; and the success of their villany they accounted god's providence!"] _standing when the lord's prayer is read._--on sunday, january , the second lesson for morning service is the sixth chapter of st. matthew, in which occurs the lord's prayer. when the officiating clergyman began to read the ninth verse, in which the prayer commences, the congregation at bristol cathedral rose, and remained _standing_ till its conclusion. is this custom observed in other places? and (if there is to be a change of position) why do the congregation _stand_, and not _kneel_, the usual posture of prayer in the church of england? cervus. [the custom, we believe, is observed in the majority of churches. the reasons for standing rather than kneeling seems to be, that when the lord's prayer comes in the course of the lessons it is only read historically, as a part of a narrative, which indicates that the whole sacred narrative should be treated, as it was anciently, with the like reverence. the rubric says nothing about sitting; standing and kneeling being the only postures expressly recognised. in the curious engraving of the interior of a church, prefixed to bishop sparrow's _rationale upon the book of common prayer_, , there is not a seat of any kind to be seen, pews not having become at this time a general appendage to churches; probably a few chairs or benches were required for the aged or infirm.. the only intimation of the sitting posture in our present common prayer-book occurs in the rubric, enjoining the people to stand when the gospel is read, which wheatly tells us was first inserted in the scotch common prayer-book. see "n. & q.," vol. ii., pp. . .] _hypocrisy, &c._--can you inform me with whom originated the following saying: "hypocrisy is the homage which vice renders to virtue"? a. c. w. [the saying originated with the duke de la rochefoucault, and occurs in his _moral maxims_, no. .] * * * * * replies. "consilium novem delectorum cardinalium," etc. (vol. viii., p. .) the note of your correspondent novus upon this _consilium_ ought to have been answered before; but as none of your contributors who can speak as "having authority" have undertaken to do so, i beg to offer to your readers the following statements and extracts, collected when my surprise at the assertions of novus was quite fresh. { } the first point on which novus requires correction is, the name of the pontiff to whom the _consilium_ purports to be addressed. novus says julius iii., but the date of this document is unquestionably not later than the beginning of , for sleidan tells us that editions of it were printed at rome, at cologne, at strasburg, and at another place, in the course of the year ; and in the title it is distinctly stated to have been presented to paul iii., who was pope in that year, whilst julius iii. was not elected till . when novus says that this _consilium_ "has just been once more quoted, for the fiftieth time, perhaps, within the present generation, as a genuine document, and as proceeding from adherents of the church of rome," he falls short of the fact. for _every writer_ of the least mark, or likelihood, whose subject has led him that way, has quoted it: thus, _e.g._, ranke, who in his great work on _the popes and the papacy_, book ii. § ., refers to it as indicative of no dishonourable design on the part of the supreme pontiff. amongst the writers of the time when the _consilium_ is said to have been drawn up, who regarded it as genuine, we may mention luther, who, soon after it found its way into germany, published a translation, with one of his biting caricatures prefixed; and sturm, who prefaced his translation with a letter to the cardinals to whom it was ascribed, for which reason alone his edition was put in the "index," no other edition being similarly honoured; and this sufficiently refutes a statement of schelhorn, in his letter to cardinal quirinus, upon which much reliance has been placed by those whom novus would regard as sharers of his opinion. the appearance of the editions at cologne and strasburg in , testifies to the speed with which the _consilium_ reached germany. sleidan asserts that, when it was published there, some fancied it to be fictitious, and intended to ridicule both the pope and the reformation; but others, that it was a device of the pope to gain credit for not being hostile to the correction of certain confessed abuses. in the next year, on july th, aleander wrote to cochlæus thus: "multa haberem scribere de republica, sed mali custodes estis rerum arcanarum,--consiliis cardinalium promulgatis, cum invectiva sturmii, manibus hominum teritur, antequam vel auctoribus edita, vel executioni fuerit demandata." which passage might be regarded as decisive of the question of genuineness, since aleander was one of the _cardinales delecti_ whose names are appended to the _consilium_. that le plat should insert a copy in his _monument. ad hist. concil. trident. potius illustr. spect._, may, perhaps, be considered an unsatisfactory argument; and the same will certainly be thought of the use of it by sarpi. but pallavicini is a witness not obnoxious to objections which apply to them, and he says: "it happened by divine providence, that this _consilium_ was published, since it showed what were in fact the deepest wounds in the discipline of the church, ascertained with great diligence, and exposed with the utmost freedom by men of incomparable zeal and knowledge. and these were neither falsity of dogmas, nor corruption of the scriptures, nor wickedness of laws, nor politic craft beneath the garb of humility, nor impure vices, as the lutherans asserted; but too great indulgence towards violations and abrogations of laws, which luther far more licentiously abrogated," &c.--vide book iv. ch. v., at the end. but ranke's note upon a casual reference to this document in book i. ch. ii. § . of his _history of the papacy_, completely disposes of the question of its genuineness, and therefore of its "seriousness" (to use one of novus' phrases), when taken in conjunction with what has gone before. "_consilium, &c._; printed more than once even at the time, and important as pointing out the evil, so far as it lay in the administration of discipline, precisely and without reserve. long after it had been printed, _the ms. remained incorporated with the mss. of the curia_." were it not that the assertion of novus is so roundly made, and in a form that is sure to adhere in the memories of readers sufficiently interested in the subject to notice his communication, it would have been enough to quote from one of the works he refers to, as containing copies of the _consilium_, to expose _the origin of his error_; and this, now that i have shown it to be an error, i crave your permission to do. this, then, is what brown says in his _appendix ad fascicul. rer. expetend. et fugiend._ (commonly cited as _fascicul. vol. ii._), ed. , pp. , .: "sæpius excusum est consilium sequens, cum alibi, tum hic londini, a.d. , ex bibliothecâ wilh. crashavii, qui in epistolâ dedicatoriâ ad rev^{mum} d. tobiam matthæum archiep. eboracen. citat quædam è commentariis espencæi in tit. cap. i. ad hoc consilium ab omni fraudis et fictionis suspicione liberandum; _quasi præsensisset crashavius fore aliquando ut pro re, omnino ficta et falsa censeretur_; cum id in novissimis conciliorum editionibus desiderari, et astute suppressum esse viderat, ut est in admonitione suâ ad lectorem. sed longe aliter res habebit; _suo enim de sorex prodidit indicio; et cochlæus ipse (qui nesciit pro nobis mentiri, quantumvis in causâ suâ parum probus aliquando), hujusce consilii fidem ab omni labe improbitatis vindicavit et asseruit_ in historiâ suâ de actis et scriptis lutheri, ad annum , fol. . &c. editionis colonien. . editum est præterea, hoc idem consilium, parisiis, publicâ authoritate, una cum guliel. durandi tractatu de modo generalis concilii celebrandi; libello clamengii de corrupto ecclesiæ statu; libello cardinalis de alliaco, de emendatione { } ecclesiæ; et gentiani herveti oratione de reparandâ ecclesiasticâ disciplinâ (quæ omnia, excepto primo, huic appendici inserentur), a.d. . in hac nostrâ editione sequimur virum doctissimum et pium hermannum conringium; adhibitis multis aliis exemplaribus, quæ omniâ simul in hoc uno leges. _vin' autem, lector, aliquid penitius de hoc corsilio rescire?_ adisis [_sic_] _p. paulum vergerium_ (invisum aliis sed charum nobis nomen), illiusque annotationes, in catalogum hæreticorum consule, fol. . tomi primi illius operum tubingæ editi, a.d. , in to., et siquid noveris de reliquorum tomorum editione, nos anglos fac, quæso, certiores. [it would seem that the need of your "n. & q." was felt long before any one thought of supplying it.] audi vero, interea, vel lege, hermannum conringium." and this is what that "learned and godly" man says: "libellus ipse cardinalis capuani [nicholas schomberg], ut creditur, cura ad amicum in germaniam missus, mox anno , et populari nostrâ et suâ est linguâ per lutherum et sturmium editus. _eundem post vulgavit_, cum acri ad _papam paulum iv. (qui olim fuerat auctorum)_ præfatione, _petrus paulus vergerius_, postquam protestantium partibus accessisset." i will not add to the length of this note by any farther quotations; but i am bound to say that if those i have given do not satisfy novus, he may expect to be overwhelmed by confirmations of them. b. d. woodward. bungay, suffolk. * * * * * john bunyan. (vol. ix., p. .) a highly respected correspondent, dr. s. r. maitland, has seen an advertisement in the _mercurius reformatus_ of june , , announcing the intention of bunyan's widow to publish ten manuscripts which her husband had left prepared for the press, together with some of his printed treatises which had become scarce. he inquires whether such a publication took place. in reply i beg leave to state that they were published in a small folio, containing "ten [and two fragments] of his excellent manuscripts, and ten of his choice books formerly printed." the volume bears the title of "the works of that eminent servant of christ mr. john bunyan, late minister of the gospel and pastor of the congregation at bedford. the first volume. london, by wm. marshall, ." it has the portrait by sturt, and an impression from the original curious copper-plate inscribed, "a mapp, showing the order and causes of salvation and damnation." in addition to the _mercurius_, john dunton and others noticed, in terms of warm approval, the intended publication, which became extensively patronised, but has now become very scarce. to the lovers of bunyan it is peculiarly interesting, being accompanied by a tract called "the struggler," written by one of his affectionate and intimate friends, the rev. c. doe, containing a list of bunyan's works, with the time when each of them was published, some personal characteristic anecdotes, and thirty reasons why all decided christians should read and circulate these invaluable treatises. a copy presented to me by my worthy friend the late mr. creasy of sleaford, which is in remarkably fine condition, has on the title to the index a printed dedication to sir john hartop of newington, the patron and friend of dr. watts. this volume was to have been followed by a second, to complete bunyan's works, but difficulties arose as to the copyright of the more popular pieces, which prevented its publication. the original prospectus is preserved in the british museum, which, with "the struggler" and a new index to the whole of these truly excellent treatises, is reprinted in my edition of bunyan's whole works for the first time collected and published, with his life, in three volumes imperial vo., illustrated with fac-similes of all the old woodcuts and many elegant steel plates. george offor. hackney. * * * * * the asteroids, etc. (vol. ix., p. .) it is certainly an uncomfortable idea to suppose that the asteroids are the fragments of a former world, perhaps accompanied with satellites which have been scattered either by internal convulsion or external violence. by looking into the constitution and powers contained within our own earth, we know that the means are not wanting to rend us asunder under the combined effects of volcanic action, intense heat, and water, meeting deep within the substance of the earth under great pressure. however, there is much to be said against the theory of olbers, notwithstanding its plausibility. the distance between the internal asteroid flora, and the external one hygeia, exceeds ninety millions of miles; or nearly the distance between the earth and the sun. the force which could shatter a world into fragments, and drive them asunder to such an extent, must indeed be tremendous. mr. hind has drawn attention to the singular fact, that the asteroids "appear to separate the planets of small mass from the greater bodies of the system, the planets which rotate on their axes in about the same time as our earth from those which are whirled round in less than half that time, though of ten times the diameter of the earth and," he continues, "it may yet be found that these small bodies, so far from being portions { } of the wreck of a planet, were created in their present state for some wise purpose, which the progress of astronomy in future ages may eventually unfold." one thing i think is certain, that no disruption of a world belonging to our system could take place without producing some perceptible effect upon every other member of the system. the single centre of attraction being suddenly diffused and spread abroad into many smaller ones, at variable distances, must produce a sudden sway and alteration of position in all the other planets, and to a certain extent, derange their respective economies. from this some striking changes would necessarily arise, such as in the length of their respective periods of revolution, the amount of light and heat, and other physical conditions. certain geological phenomena should be found to confirm such a change, if these suppositions be true. as far as the theological part of the question is concerned, it is, i should think, opposed to olbers' theory. human intellect can scarcely conceive the necessity for the utter breaking up of a globe, even for the most grievous amount of sin. a more merciful dispensation was granted to our earth in the deluge; and the power which removed all but eight lives from the earth could have equally removed the eight also, without destroying the integrity of the globe. it is as easy, and far more reasonable i think, to suppose, that the same power which gave to saturn a satellite nearly equal in size to mars, should throw a cluster of minute planetoids into the space which, according to bodes' empirical law, should have been devoted to one planet of larger dimensions. whilst addressing you on astronomical subjects, i would beg leave to offer a few remarks upon saturn, which i have not observed in any work on astronomy which i have yet consulted. this planet, with its satellites, appear to exhibit a close resemblance to the solar system, just as if it were a model of it. besides his rings, saturn is attended by eight satellites, so far as is at present known. the names of the satellites in their order from the body of the planet, are . mimas, . euceladus, . tethys, . dione, . rhea, . titan, . hyperion, . japetus. if we place them in a list in their order, and overagainst each place the names of the planets in their order from the sun, certain parallelisms will appear: . mimas . mercury. . euceladus . venus. . tethys . earth. . dione . mars. . rhea . asteroids. . titan . jupiter. . hyperion . saturn. . japetus . uranus. the relative magnitudes and relative positions of these bodies correspond in many points, i believe, so far as is at present known. titan, like jupiter, is the largest of his system; being but little less in size than the primary planet mars. the next in magnitude is japetus. rhea is supposed to be of considerable size. the four inner ones are smaller than the others. sir william herschell considered that tethys was larger than euceladus, and euceladus larger than mimas. dione and hyperion have not yet been well estimated. these dimensions, if correct, correspond in many points with those of the planets. the first three satellites revolve in orbits of less diameter than that of our moon. the orbit of dione, the fourth satellite, is almost precisely at the same distance from its primary as the moon is from the earth. as if to carry out the parallelism to the utmost, the zodiacal light of the sun has often been compared to the ring of saturn. one remark it would appear arises out of these observations, viz. that the laws of attraction and gravitation seem to require, for the proper regulation of the whole system, that where a number of bodies of various sizes revolve round one common centre, the larger body should revolve at a certain relative distance from that centre. thus titan, like a huge pendulum, seems to sway and maintain the regularity of the minor system, just as jupiter may be imagined to do in the great one. i must not intrude too far on your valuable space, but there remain some interesting points for discussion in the saturnian system. john william harrris. exon. * * * * * caps at cambridge. (vol. ix., p. .) the extract from an unpublished ms. given by a regent m.a. of cambridge refers to the year , as will appear from the following passages in anthony à wood's _hist. and antiq. of univ. of oxford_. " .--in the latter end of the last and beginning of this year, a spirit of sedition (as i may so call it) possessed certain of the regent masters against the vicechanc. and doctors. the chief and only matter that excited them to it was their sitting like boys, bare-headed, in the convocation-house, at the usual assemblies there, which was not, as 'twas thought, so fit, that the professors of the faculty of arts (on which the university was founded) should, all things considered, do it. the most forward person among them, named henry wightwicke, of gloucester hall, having had some intimation of a statute which enabled them to be covered with their caps, and discovering also something in the large west window of st. mary's church, where pictures of regents and non-regents were sitting covered in assemblies before the chancellor, clapt { } on his cap, and spared not to excite his brethren to vindicate that custom, now in a manner forgotten; and, having got over one of the regents to be more zealous in the matter than himself, procured the hands of most, if not all, of them to be set to a petition (in order to be sent to the chancellor of the university), for the effecting and bringing about the matter. but the vicechancellor, dr. singleton, having had timely notice of the design, sends a full relation of the matter to the chancellor; whereupon answer was returned, that he should deal therein as he should think fit. wightwicke, therefore, being called into question for endeavouring to subvert the honour and government of the university, whereby he ran himself into perjury (he having before taken an oath to keep and maintain the rites, customs, and privileges of the university), was banished, and his party, who had proved false to him, severely checkt by the chancellor. "at length wightwicke's friends, laying open to him the danger that he would run himself into, if he should not seek restauration and submit, did, after his peevish and rash humour had been much courted to it, put up a petition (subscribed in his behalf by the bishop of london and sir john bennett) to the chancellor of the university for his restauration, which being with much ado granted, but with this condition, that he make an humble recantation in the convocation, sent to his vicechancellor what should be done in the matter, and among other things thus:--'for the manner of his submission and recognition which he is to make, i will not take upon me to direct, but leave yt wholy unto your wisdomes, as well for manner as for the matter; only thus much generally i will intimate unto you, that the affront and offence committed by whittwicke in the congregation house by his late insolent carriage there was very great and notorious, and that offence afterwards seconded and redoubled by another as ill or worse than the former, in his seditious practizing and procuring a multitude of handes, thereby thinking to justifie and maintain his former errors, and his proud and insolent disobedience and contempt. i hold yt therefore very requisite that his submission and recognition, both of the one fault and of the other, should be as publique and as humble as possibly with conveniencye may bee. which being thus openly done, as i hope yt will bee a good example to others, to deter them from committing the like offence hereafter, so i do also wishe this his punishment may be only _ad correctionem et non ad destructionem_." "this being the effect of the chancellor's mind, wightwicke was summoned to appear to make his submission in the next convocation, which being held june this year, he placed himself in the middle of st. mary's chancel, and spoke with an audible voice as followeth: "'ornatissime domine procancellarie, vosque domini doctores pientissimi, quotquot me vel banniendum vel bannitionem meam ratam esse voluistis ut vobis omnibus et singulis innotescat discupio: me henricum whitwicke pileum coram domino vicecancellario thoma singleton capiti haud ita pridem imposuisse, quod nemini magistrorum in congregatione vel convocatione [in presentia domini vicecancellarii aut doctoris alicujus] licere fateor. scitote quæso prætereà, me supradictum henricum à sententia domini vicecancellarii ad venerabilem domum congregationis provocasse, quod nec licitum nec honestum esse in causa perturbationis pacis facilè concedo. scitote denique me solum, manus academicorum egregiè merentium theologia baccalaureorum et in artibus magistrorum in hac corona astantium collegiatim et aulatim cursitando rescripto apponendas curasse, in quibus omnibus præfectis [summe] displicuisse, in pacem almæ hujus academiæ et in dignissimum nostrum procancellarium deliquisse, parum nolenti animo confiteor, et sanctitates vestras humillimè imploro, ut quæ vel temerè et inconsultò, vel volenter et scienter feci, ea, ut deceat homines, condonentur. 'henricus wightwicke.' which submission or recognition being ended, he was restored to his former state, and so forthwith reassumed his place. but this person, who as lately beneficed at kingerbury in lincolnshire, could never be convinced, when he became master of pembroke college, forty-six years after this time, that he made any submission at all, but carried the business on and effected it against all the university; as to his young acquaintance that came often to visit him and he them (for he delighted in boyish company), he would, after a pedantical way, boast, supposing perhaps that, having been so many years before acted, no person could remember it; but record will rise up and justify matters when names and families are quite extirpated and forgotten among men. pray see more of this cap-business in the year ." " .--in the beginning of michaelmas term following, the cap-business, mentioned an. , was renewed again: for some disrelishment of the former transactions remaining behind, the regent masters met together several times for the effecting their designs. at length, after much ado, they drew up a petition subscribed by fifty-three of the senior masters for this year, and presented it to one whom they knew would not be violent against them, as dr. singleton was before. the beginning of it runs thus: "'reverendissimo viro domino doctori prideaux ornatissimo hujus academiæ vicecan. digniss, &c. "'multa jamjudum sunt (reverendissime vicecancellarie) quæ ab antiquis hujus academiæ institutis salubriter profecta, mala tandem consuetudo, et in pejus potens aut abrogavit penitus aut pessime corrupit, &c.' "among those that subscribed to it were these following, that afterwards became persons of note, viz, gilbert sheldon, alexand. gill, jun., and anthony farndon, of trinity coll.; pet. heylin of magd. coll. [robert newlin of c. c. c., &c.]. the chief solicitor of the business was rous clopton of corpus ch. coll., a restless, busy person, and one afterwards as much noted for his infamy as any of the former for their learning or place. this petition, i say, being presented to dr. prideaux the vicechancellor, and he considering well their several reasons for their sitting covered (one of which was that they were judges in congregations and convocations), sent it to the chancellor to have his consent, who also, after he had considered of it, wrote a letter to the vicechancellor, to { } be communicated to the convocation: the chief contents of which are these: "'after my very harty commendations, i doe take this manner of proceeding by the regent masters (for their sitting covered at congregations and convocations) in soe good part, that although i might well take some time to advise before i give answer, especially when i consider how long that custom hath continued, how much it hath been questioned, and that upon a long debate it hath been withstood by so grave and wise a counsellor of state as your late chancellor, my immediate predecessor; yet, when i weigh their undoubted right, their discreet and orderly proceedings to seek it, not to take it, the chief, if not the only, cause why it was formerly denied; the good congruity this doth beare, not with cambridge alone (though that were motive enough), but all other places, it being no where seen that those that are admitted judges are required to sit bare-headed; i cannot choose but commend and thus farre yield to theire request as to referre it to the convocation house. i hope no man can have cause to think that i have not the power to continew this custom as well as some others of my predecessors, if i had a mind to strive; nor that i seek after their applause in yielding them that now, which hath been so long kept from them, but the respect i have to their due, to the decency of the place, and honour of the university, which i cannot conceive to bee anyway diminished, but rather increased, by their sitting covered, are the only reasons that have moved me, and carried me to so quick a resolution, wherewith you may acquaint the convocation house with this also, that what they shall conclude i shall willingly agree to. and soe i doe very hartely take leave, and rest your assured loving friend, pembrooke. baynard's castle, this of december, .' which letter being publickly read in a convocation held dec., it was then agreed upon by the consent of all there present, that all masters of what condition soever might put on their caps in congregations and convocations, yet with these conditions: that in the said assemblies the said masters should use only square caps, and not sit bare, or without cap. and if any were found faulty in these matters, or that they should bring their hats in the said assemblies, they should not only lose their suffrages for that time, but be punished as the vicechancellor should think fit. lastly, it was decreed, under the said conditions and no otherwise, that in the next congregation in the beginning of hilary term, and so for ever after, all masters, of what condition soever, whether regents or not regents, should, in congregations and convocations, put on and use square caps. "all that shall be said more of this matter is, that the loss of using caps arose from the negligence of the masters, who, to avoid the pains of bringing their caps with them, would sit bare-headed; which being used by some, was at length followed by all, and so at length became a custom." it would seem, from lord pembroke's letter, that the right of the senate of this university to wear their caps had not been questioned. c. h. cooper. cambridge. * * * * * russia, turkey, and the black sea. (vol. ix., p. .) statements and complaints have often been made respecting the imperfect knowledge possessed by english navigators of the shores and coasts of the black sea, and of the great danger thence arising to ships and fleets from england, which would thus seem to be without the charts necessary for their guidance. _the guardian_ newspaper reiterates these complaints in its number for jan. . this deficiency of charts, however, ought not to exist, and probably does not; since, no doubt, the english and french governments would take care to supply them at the present time. as respects england, dr. e. d. clarke, in his well-known _travels in russia, &c._ (see vol. i. th edit., vo., london, , preface, p. x.), states that he brought-- "certain documents with him from odessa, at the hazard of his life, and deposited within a british admiralty." these documents, we are led naturally to infer, were charts; for he adds: "they may serve to facilitate the navigation of the russian coasts of the black sea, if ever the welfare of great britain should demand the presence of her fleets in that part of the world." happening to meet with this passage, in consulting dr. clarke's _travels_, at the beginning of december, when the fleets of great britain and france were on the point of entering the black sea, and having read in many quarters fears expressed for the fleets from the want of charts, i ventured to copy out the passage relating to these remarkable documents, and sent it to lord aberdeen; in case, from the alleged poverty of charts in the admiralty catalogues (see _the guardian_, jan. .), dr. clarke's "documents" should have fallen out of sight, and were forgotten. no notice, however, was taken of my communication; from which i concluded that it was wholly valueless. john macray. oxford. * * * * * high dutch and low dutch. (vol. viii., pp. . .) if "n. & q." were the publication in which questions were cursorily settled, the answer of james spence harry (p. .) might suffice with regard to the query of s. c. p. (p. .); but your correspondent e. c. h., who seems also { } to know something about the matter, wishes for german evidence. should your correspondents james s. harry and e. c. h. be acquainted (and i doubt not but they are) with the song, in which a german inquires "what is his native land?" and having called over some of the principalities, as prussia, suabia, bavaria, pomerania, westphalia, switzerland, tyrol, he cries disdainfully, "no! no! no! my fatherland must be greater:" at last, despairing, he asks to name him that land, and is answered, "wherever the german tongue is heard:"--should james s. harry and e. c. h. recollect these words, they will conceive that such a people must have several tribes, and each tribe their peculiar dialect, founded on prescribed rules, and to which individually equal justice is due. the dialects of the deutsche sprache, the german language, are the ober deutsche and nieder deutsche, upper german and low german: from the former dialect has, in course of time, proceeded the hoch deutsche sprache, the high german language, now used exclusively as the book language by the more educated classes throughout germany. the principal dialects of the ober deutsche are the following: . the allemanic, spoken in switzerland and the upper rhine. . the suabian, spoken in the countries between the black forest and the river lech. . the bavarian, spoken in the south of bavaria and austria. . the franconian, spoken in the north of bavaria, hessen, and the middle rhine. . the upper saxon or misnian, spoken in the plains of saxony and thüringia. these dialects differ from each other, and particularly from the high german language, with regard to their elements. the ober deutsche dialects differ from each other by the introduction of peculiar vowels. the nieder deutsche is distinguished from the ober deutsche by the shifting of consonants: _ex. gr._: +---------------------------------------------+-------------------------+ | ober deutsche dialects. |nieder deutsche dialects.| +-------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+--------+--------+-------+ |high |allem. |suab. |bavar. |franc.|upper | lower |holl. | engl. | |german.| | | | |saxony.| saxony.| | | +-------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+--------+--------+-------+ |wein. |wi. |wai. |wai. |wein. |wein. |win. |wein. |wine. | |stein. |stein. |stoi. |stoa. |staan.|steen. |steen. |steen. |stone. | |weit. |wit. |wait. |wait. |weit. |weit. |wet. |weid. |wide. | |breit. |breit. |broit.|broat. |braat.|breet. |breet. |breed. |broad. | |haus. |hus. |haus. |haus. |haus. |haus. |hus. |huis. |house. | |kaufen.|kaufen.|koufen|kafen. |kafen.|koofen.|koopen. |koopen. |to buy.| |feuer. |für. |fuir. |foir. |fair. |foier. |für. |für. |fire. | |kirche.|chilche|kieche|kirche.|kerche|kerche.|kerke. |kerk. |church.| |herz. |herz. |heaz. |herz. |harz. |harz. |hart. |hart. |heart. | |gross. |grosz. |grausz|grusz. |grausz|grusz. |groot. |groot. |great. | |buch. |buech. |busch.|buech. |bouch.|buch. |book. |boek. |book. | +-------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+--------+--------+-------+ i have introduced here, as a dialect of the nieder deutsche, the dutch = holländisch, the language spoken by the people of the nederlanden = niederlande = netherlands. the nieder deutsche dialect is also spoken in westphalia, and along the river weser, &c. all these dialects have also their own words, or at least their peculiar meanings of words, as well as particular modes of expression, and these are to be considered as provincialisms. professor goedes de grÜter. { } * * * * * photographic correspondence. dr. mansell having forwarded to me for publication the accompanying account of his mode of operation, i have much pleasure in laying it before the readers of "n. & q.;" because my friend dr. mansell is not only so fortunate in his results, but is one of the most careful and correct manipulators in our art. the proportions which he recommends, and his mode of operating, are, it will be seen, somewhat different from those hitherto published. in writing to me he says: "i make a point of making a short note in the evening of the day's experiments, a plan involving very little trouble, but of great service as a reference." if all photographers would adopt this simple plan, how much good would result! dr. m. complains to me of the constant variation he has found in collodion; (with your permission, i will in your pages furnish him, and all your readers with some plain directions on this point); and he has given me some excellent observations on the "fashionable" waxed-paper process, in which he has not met with such good results as he had anticipated; although with much experience which _may_ some day turn to good account. dr. mansell concludes with an observation in which i entirely concur, viz. "that the calotype process is by far the most useful; and i find the pictures it gives have better effect than the wax ones, which always to me appear flat, even when they are not gravelly." h. w. diamond. _the calotype on the sea-shore._--the great quantity of blue light reflected from the sea renders calotyping in its vicinity much more difficult than in the country; the more distant the object, the greater depth has the blue veil which floats over it, and as a consequence of this disproportion, if time enough is given in the camera to bring out the foreground, the sky becomes red, and the distance obscured. after constant failures with papers iodized in the usual manner, i made a number of experiments to obtain a paper that would stand the camera long enough to satisfy the required conditions, and the result was the following method, which gives an intensity of blacks and half-tones, with a solidity and uniform depth over large portions of sky, greater than i have seen produced by any other process. since i adopted it, in the autumn of , i have scarcely had a failure, and this success induces me to recommend it to those who, like myself, work in highly actinising localities. the object of the following plan is to impregnate the paper evenly with a strong body of iodide of silver. i prefer iodizing by the single process, and for this purpose use a strong solution of iodide of silver, as the paper when finished ought to have, as nearly as possible, the colour of pure iodide of silver. take grains of nitrate of silver, and grains of iodide of potassium[ ], dissolve each in two ounces of distilled water, pour the iodide solution into the nitrate of silver, wash the precipitate in three distilled waters, pour off the fluid, and dissolve it in a solution of iodide of potassium, about grains are required, making the whole up to four ounces. having cut the paper somewhat larger than the picture, turn up the edges so as to form a dish, and placing it on a board, pour into it the iodide solution abundantly, guiding it equally over the surface with a camel-hair pencil; continue to wave it to and fro for five minutes, then pour off the surplus, which serves over and over again, and after dripping the paper, lay it to dry on a round surface, so that it dries equally fast all over; when almost dry it is well to give it a sight of the fire, to finish off those parts which remain wet longest, but not more than _just to surface dry it_. immerse it in common rain-water, often changing it, and in about twenty minutes all the iodide of potash is removed. to ascertain this, take up some of the last water in a glass, and add to it a few drops of a strong solution of bichloride of mercury in alcohol, the least trace of hydriodate of potash is detected by a precipitate of iodide of mercury. a solution of nitrate of silver is no test whatever unless distilled water is used, as ordinary water almost invariably contains muriates. the sooner the washing is over the better. pin up the paper to drip, and finish drying before a slow fire, turning it. if hung up to dry by a corner, the parts longest wet are always weaker than those that dry first. when dry pass a nearly cold iron over the back, to smooth it; if well made it has a fine primrose colour, and is perfectly even by transmitted light. to excite the paper, take distilled water two drachms, drop into it four drops (not minims) of saturated solution of gallic acid, and eight drops (not minims) of the aceto-nitrate solution; mix. always dilute the gallic acid by dropping it into the water before the aceto-nitrate; gallate of silver is less readily formed, and the paper keeps longer in hot weather. if the temperature is under sixty degrees, use five drops of gallic acid, and ten of aceto-nitrate; if above seventy degrees, use only three drops of gallic acid, and seven of aceto-nitrate. the aceto-nitrate solution consists of nitrate of silver fifty grains, glacial acetic acid two drachms, distilled water one ounce. having pinned the paper by two adjacent corners to a deal board, the eighth of an inch smaller on each side than it is, to prevent the solutions getting to the back, lay on the gallo-nitrate abundantly with a soft cotton brush (made by wedging a portion of fine cotton into a cork); and keep the solution from pooling, by using the brush with a very light hand. in about two minutes the paper has imbibed it evenly, and lies dead; blot it up, and allow it to dry in a box, or place it at once in the paper-holder. for fear of stains on the { } back, it is better to place on the board a clean sheet of ordinary paper for every picture. it is very important to have the glass, in which the gallo-nitrate is made, _chemically_ clean; every time it is used, it should be washed with strong nitric acid, and then with distilled water. to develop:--pin the paper on the board as before; rapidly brush over it a solution of gallo-nitrate, as used to excite. as soon as the picture appears, in about a minute, pour on a saturated solution of gallic acid abundantly, and keep it from pooling with the brush, using it with a very light hand. in about ten minutes the picture is fully developed. if very slow in coming out, a few drops of pure aceto-nitrate brushed over the surface will rapidly bring out the picture; but this is seldom required, and it will sometimes brown the whites. it is better, as soon as the gallic acid has been applied, to put the picture away from the light of the candle in a box or drawer, there to develop quietly, watching its progress every three or four minutes; the surface is to be refreshed by a few light touches of the brush, adding more gallic acid if necessary. many good negatives are spoiled by over-fidgetting in this part of the process. when the picture is fully out, wash, &c. as usual; the iodide of silver is rapidly removed by a saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda, which acts much less on the weaker blacks than it does if diluted. if the picture will not develop, from too short exposure in the camera, a solution of pyrogallic acid, as dr. diamond recommends, after the gallic acid has done its utmost, greatly increases the strength of the blacks: it slightly reddens the whites, but not in the same ratio that it deepens the blacks. after the first wash with gallo-nitrate, it is essential to develop these strongly iodized papers with gallic acid only: the half-and-half mixture of aceto-nitrate and gallic acid, which works well with weaker papers, turns these red. the paper i use is whatman's . turner's paper, chafford mills, if two or three years old, answers equally well. m. l. mansell, a.b. m.d. guernsey, jan. , . [footnote : [having lately prepared this solution according to the formula given by _dr. diamond_ (vol. viii., p. .), in which it required grains to dissolve the -grain precipitate, we were inclined to think our correspondent had formed a wrong calculation, as the difference appeared so little for a solution more than one-third stronger. we found upon _accurately_ following dr. mansell's instructions, that it required grains of iodide of potassium to effect a solution, whilst we have at the same time dissolved the quantity recommended by dr. diamond with grains. this little experiment is a useful lesson to our correspondents, exhibiting as it does the constantly varying strength of supposed pure chemicals.--ed. "n. & q."]] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _ned o' the todding_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in answer to the inquiry of w. t., i beg to say that he will find the thrilling narrative of poor ned of the toddin in southey's _espriella's letters from england_, vol. ii. p. .; but i am not aware of any lines with the above heading, by which i presume w. t. to be in search of some poetical rendering of the tale. f. c. h. _hour-glasses and inscriptions on old pulpits_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--in st. edmund's church, south burlingham, stands an elegant pulpit of the fifteenth century, painted red and blue, and relieved with gilding. on it there still remains an old hour-glass, though such appendages were not introduced till some centuries probably after the erection of this pulpit. the following legend goes round the upper part of this pulpit, in the old english character: "inter natos mulierum non surrexit major johanne baptista." f. c. h. _table-turning_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--i have not ammianus marcellinus within reach, but, if i am not mistaken, after the table had been got into motion, the oracle was actually given by means of a ring. this being held over, suspended by a thread, oscillated or leaped from one to another of the letters of the alphabet which were engraved on the edge of the table, or that which covered it. the passage would not occupy many lines, and i think that many readers of "n. & q." would be interested if some one of its learned correspondents would furnish a copy of it, with a close english translation. n. b. "_firm was their faith_" (vol. ix., p. .).--grateful as i am to all who think well enough of my verses to discuss them in "n. & q.," yet i cannot permit them to be incorrectly quoted or wrongly revised. if, as f. r. r. alleges, i had written in the third line of the stanza quoted--"with _firm_ and trusting hands"--then i should have repeated the same epithet (_firm_) twice in three lines. whereas i wrote, as a reference to _echoes from old cornwall_, p. ., will establish, _stern_. r. s. hawker. _the wilbraham cheshire ms._ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--with regard to this highly curious ms., i am enabled to state that it is still preserved at delamere house, the seat of george fortescue wilbraham, esq., by whom it has been continued down to the present time. mr. wilbraham has answered this query himself, but from some accident his reply did not appear in the pages of "n. & q." i therefore, having recently seen the ms., take this opportunity of assuring your querist of its existence. w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _mousehunt_ (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .).--this animal is well known by this name in norfolk, where the marten is very rare, if not entirely unknown. the norfolk mousehunt, or mousehunter, is the _mustela vulgaris_. (vide forby's _vocab. of east anglia_, vol. ii. p. ., who errs, however, in calling it the stoat, but says that it is the "smallest animal of the weasel tribe, and pursues the smallest prey.") it would be of much use, both to naturalists and others, if our zoological works would give the popular provincial names of animals and birds; collectors might then more easily procure specimens from labourers, &c. i have formed a list of norfolk names for birds, { } which shall appear in "n. & q." if desired. the norfolk _mustelidæ_ in order of size are the "_poll_cat," or weasel; the stoat, or cane; the mousehunt, mousehunter, or lobster. a popular notion of gamekeepers is, that pollcats add a new lobe to their livers every year of their lives; but the disgusting smell of the animal prevents examining this point by dissection. e. g. r. if fennell's _natural history of quadrupeds_ be correctly quoted, as it is stated to be "a very excellent and learned work," mr. fennell must have been a better naturalist than geographer, for he says of the beech marten: "in selkirkshire it has been observed to descend to the shore at night time to feed upon mollusks, particularly upon the large basket mussel (_mytilus modiolus_)." selkirkshire, as you well know, is an inland county, nowhere approaching the sea by many miles: i would fain hope, for mr. fennell's sake, that selkirkshire is either a misprint or a misquotation. j. ss. _begging the question_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this is a common logical fallacy, _petitio principii_; and the first known use of the phrase is to be found in aristotle, [greek: to en archê aiteisthai] (topics, b. viii. ch. xiii., bohn's edition), where the five ways of "begging the question," as also the contraries thereof, are set forth. in the _prior analytics_ (b. ii. ch. xvi.) he gives one instance from mathematicians-- "who fancy that they describe parallel lines, for they deceive themselves by assuming such things as they cannot demonstrate unless they are parallel. hence it occurs to those who thus syllogise to say that each thing is, if it is; and thus everything will be known through itself, which is impossible." t. j. buckton. birmingham. _termination "-by"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--on going over an alphabetical list of places from a to g, i obtained these results: lincoln leicester york northampton cumberland norfolk westmoreland lancashire derby nottingham sussex --- total === results of a similar character were obtained in reference to _-thorp_, _-trop_, _-thrup_, or _-drop_; lincoln again heading the list, but closely followed by norfolk, then leicester, notts, &c. b. h. c. _german tree_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--eryx has mistaken my query owing to its vagueness. when i said, "is this the first notice of a german tree in england?" i meant, "is this the first notice of a german-tree-in-england?" and not "is this the first notice-in-england of a german-tree?" as _eryx_ understood it. zeus. _celtic etymology_ (vol. ix., p. .).--if the _h_ must be "exhasperated" (as matthews used to say) in words adopted into the english language, how does it happen that we never hear it in _hour_, _honour_, _heir_, _honest_, and _humour_? will e. c. h. be so kind as to inform me on this point? with regard to the word _humble_, in support of the _h_ being silent, i have seen it stated in a dictionary, but by whom i cannot call to mind, in a list of words nearly spelled alike, and whose sound is the same: "humble, low, submissive." "umbles, the entrails of a deer." hence the point of the sarcasm "he will be made to eat _humble_ pie;" and it serves in this instance to show that the _h_ is silent when the word is properly pronounced. the two words _isiol_ and _irisiol_, properly _uirisiol_, which e. c. h. has stated to be the original celtic words signifying _humble_, have quite a different meaning: for _isiol_ is quietly, silently, without noise; and _uirisiol_ means, sneaking, cringing, crawling, terms which could not be applied without injustice to a really humble honest person. the iberno-phoenician _umal_ bears in itself evidence that it is not borrowed from any other language, for the two syllables are intelligible apart from each other; and the word can be at once reduced to its root _um_, to which the sanscrit word _kshama_, as given by e. c. h., bears no resemblance whatever. fras. crossley. _recent curiosities of literature_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent mr. cuthbert bede has done well in directing mr. thackeray's attention to the error of substituting "candle" for "candlestick," at p. . of _the newcomes_; but it appears that the author discovered the error, and made a clumsy effort to rectify it; for he elsewhere gives us to understand, that she died of a wound in her temple, occasioned by coming into contact with the stone stairs. see h. newcome's letter. the following curiosity of literature lately appeared in the london papers, in a biographical notice of the late viscount beresford, which is inserted in the _naval and military gazette_ of january , : "of honorary badges he had, first, a cross dependent from seven clasps: this indicated his having been present in eleven battles during the peninsular war. his name was unaccountably omitted in the { } return of those present at ciudad rodrigo. when her majesty gracefully extended the honorary distinctions to all the survivors of the great war, lord beresford received the _peninsular_ medal, with two clasps, for _egypt_ and ciudad rodrigo." the expression should have been "the silver medal," not "peninsular;" as, among the names of battles engraved on the clasps attached to the silver war-medals, granted in , will be found the words "martinique," "fort détroit," "chateauguay," "chrystler's farm," and "egypt." juverna. _d. o. m._ (vol. iii, p. .).--i am surprised that there should be the least doubt that the above are the initials of "_datur omnibus mori_." r. w. d. _dr. john taylor_ (vol. viii., p. .).--there are several errors in the communication of s. r. he states that "dr. john taylor was buried at kirkstead, lancashire, where his tomb is distinguished by the following simple inscription." . kirkstead is in lincolnshire. . dr. john taylor lies interred in the burial-ground attached to the presbyterian chapel at chowbent, near bolton, in lancashire. . the inscription on the tombstone is as follows: "here is interred the rev. john taylor, d.d., of warrington, formerly of norwich, who died march , , aged ." . the inscription given by s. r. is on a slab in the chapel at chowbent. i may add that this inscription was drawn up by dr. enfield. thomas baker. manchester. _lines attributed to hudibras_ (vol. i., p. .).-- "for he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day." in so far as i can understand from the various articles in "n. & q." regarding the above quotation, it _is_ to be found in the _musarum deliciæ_, mo., . there is a copy of this volume now lying before me, the title-page of which runs thus: "musarum deliciæ, or the muses' recreation; containing severall pieces of poetique wit. the second edition, by s^r j. m. and ja. s. london: printed by j. g. for henry herringman, and are to be sold at his shop, at the signe of the anchor in the new exchange, ." this copy seems to have at one time belonged to longmans, as it is described in the _bib. an. poetica_, having the signatures of "orator henly," "ritson," and "j. park." i have read this volume over carefully twice, and i must confess my inability to find any such two lines as the above noted, there. as i do not think mr. cunningham, in his _handbook of london_, or dr. rimbault, would mislead any one, i am afraid my copy, being a second edition, may be incomplete; and as i certainly did not get the volume for _nothing_, will either of these gentlemen, or any other of the readers of "n. & q.," who have seen other editions, let me know this? there is a question asked by melanion regarding the _entire_ quotation, which i have not yet seen answered, which is,-- "for he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day; but he that is in battle slain, can never hope to fight again." are these last two lines in the _musarum deliciæ_? or are these four lines to be found anywhere in conjunction? if this could be found, it would in my opinion settle the question. s. wmson. _"corporations have no souls," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .).--in poynder's _literary extracts_, under the title "corporations," there occurs the following passage: "lord chancellor thurlow said that corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned; they therefore do as they like." there are also two long extracts, one from cowper's _task_, book iv., and the other from the _life of wilberforce_, vol. ii., appendix, bearing on the same subject. arch. weir. _lord mayor of london a privy councillor_ (vol. iv. _passim_).--mr. serjeant merewether, town clerk to the corporation of london, in his examination before the city corporation commission, said that it had been the practice from time immemorial, to summon the lord mayor of london to the _first_ privy council held after the demise of the crown. (the _standard_, jan. , , p. i. col. .) l. hartly. _booty's case_ (vol. iii., p. .).--a story resembling that of "old booty" is to be found in st. gregory the great's _dialogues_, iii. ., where it is related that a hermit saw theodoric thrown into the crater of lipari by two of his victims, pope john and symmachus. j. c. r. _"sat cito, si sat bene"_ (vol. vii. p. .).--st. jerome (ep. lxvi. § ., ed. vallars) quotes this as a maxim of cato's. j. c. r. _celtic and latin languages_ (vol. ix., p. .).--allow me to suggest to t. h. t. that the word _gallus_, a gaul, is not, _of course_, the same as the irish _gal_, a stranger. is it not rather the latin form of _gaoithil_ (pronounced _gael_ or _gaul_), the generic appellation of our erse population? in welsh it is _gwydyl_, to this day their term for an irishman. { } _gaoll_, stranger, is used in erse to denote a foreign settler, _e.g._ the earl of caithness is morphear (pronounced _morar_) _gaoll_, the stranger great man; being lord of a corner of the land inhabited by a foreign race. galloway, on the other hand, takes its name from the _gael_, being possessed by a colony of that people from kintyre, &c., who long retained the name of the wild _scots_[ ] of galloway, to distinguish them from the brets or british inhabitants of the rest of the border. francis john scott, m.a. holy trinity, tewkesbury. [footnote : scot or scott is applied only to the men of gaelic extraction in our old records.] _brydone the tourist's birth-place_ (vol. vii., p. .).--according to chambers's _lives of scotsmen_, vol. i. p. ., , brydone was the son of a clergyman in the neighbourhood of dumbarton, where he was born in the year . when he came to england, he was engaged as travelling preceptor by mr. beckford, to whom his _tour through sicily and malta_ is addressed. in a copy of this work, now before me, i find the following remarks written in pencil: "these travels are written in a very plausible style, but little dependence is to be placed upon their veracity. brydone never was on the summit of Ætna, although he describes the prospect from it in such glowing colours." it is right to add, that the writer of these remarks was long a resident in italy, and in constant habits of intercourse with the most distinguished scholars of that country. j. macray. oxford. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the second volume of _murray's british classics_, which is also the second of mr. cunningham's edition of _the works of oliver goldsmith_, fully justifies all we said in commendation of its predecessor. it contains goldsmith's _enquiry into the state of polite literature in europe_, and his admirable series of letters, entitled _the citizen of the world_. mr. cunningham tells us that "he has been careful to mark all goldsmith's own notes with his name;" his predecessors having in some instances adopted them as their own, and in others omitted them altogether, although they are at times curiously illustrative of the text. we are glad to see that mr. murray announces a new edition, revised and greatly enlarged, of mr. foster's valuable _life of goldsmith_, uniform with the present collection of goldsmith's writings. _memorials of the canynges family and their times; westbury college, redcliffe church, and chatterton_, by george pryce, is the somewhat abbreviated title of a goodly octavo volume, on which mr. pryce has bestowed great industry and research, and by which he hopes to clear away the mists of error which have overshadowed the story of the canynges family during the middle ages, and to show their connexion with the erection or restoration of westbury college and redcliff church. as mr. pryce has some few inedited memoranda relating to chatterton, he has done well to incorporate them in a volume dedicated in some measure to the history of bristol's "merchant prince." _poetical works of henry howard, earl of surrey, minor contemporaneous poets, and thomas sackville, lord buckhurst_, edited by robert bell, forms the second volume of parker's _annotated edition of the british poets_. availing himself, very properly, of the labours of his predecessors, mr. bell has given us very agreeable and valuable memoirs of surrey and buckhurst; and we have no doubt that this cheap edition of their works will be the means of putting them into the hands of many readers to whom they were before almost entirely unknown. the library committee of the society of antiquaries, having had under their consideration the state of the engraved portraits in the possession of the society, consulted one of the fellows, mr. w. smith, as to the best mode of arrangement. that gentleman, having gone through the collection, advised that in future the society should chiefly direct its attention to the formation of a series of _engraved portraits of the fellows_, and with great liberality presented about one hundred and fifty such portraits as his contribution towards such collection. mr. smith's notion is certainly a very happy one: and we mention that and his very handsome donation, in hopes of thereby rendering as good service to the society's collection of portraits, as we are glad to learn has been rendered to their matchless series of proclamations by our occasional notices of them. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. torrens on wages and combinations. longmans. . *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the british preserve, etched by s. howitt. prints, . the badger, and . the stag. wanted by _mr. james pascoe_, solicitor, penzance. an account of the ministers, &c., who were ejected or silenced after the restoration in , by or before the act for uniformity. second edition. vol. i. by edmund calamy, d.d. . blomefield's norfolk. wanted by _john nurse chadwick_, solicitor, king's lynn, norfolk. sander's history of shenstone, in staffordshire. wanted by _c. j. d._, post office, stourbridge, worcestershire. _the hive_, having the first edition of vol. i. wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. { } dublin university calendars and examination papers for , , , and . sheridan's (thos.) lectures on the art of reading. vo. lond. . blacker's (col. val.) memoirs of the operations of the british army in india during the mahratta war of , , and . to. lond. . also, by the same, a map of hindostan, from his own survey. parker's (capt. robert) memoirs of the most remarkable military transactions from to . vo. lond. . wanted by _rev. b. h. blacker_, . pembroke road, dublin. allister's paradigma chess openings. russell's elements of painting with crayons. . phillip's life of smith (the geologist). hirscher's sympathies of the continent, translated by coxe. j. h. parker. . sir h. nicolas's edition of walton and cotton's angler. windsor castle, by ainsworth. the original edition, vo. with plates. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. wordsworth's poetical works. vols. mo. moxon. vol. i. morocco. (the missing volume was lent to a student at cambridge by c. b. w. in .) roscoe's italian novelist. second edition. vols. mo. vol. iii. first or early edition of the christian world unmasked, by john berridge. john berridge's works. vo. simpkin & co. geo. sandys' paraphrase of the psalms. small edition. poems by george withers. separate or collected. drayton's poems. mo. edition. walton's lives. tonson or dodsley. -vol. edition. paxton's magazine of botany. nos. . and . orr & co. wanted by _mr. hiscoke_, bookseller, richmond, surrey. the acts and monuments of john foxe. vol. i. edited by rev. s. cattley. seeley and burnside. voltaire's works. vol. i. translated by smollett. francklin, london, . ecclesiologist. vol. v. in numbers or unbound. wanted by _e. hailstone_, horton hall, bradford, yorkshire. forster's perennial calendar and companion to the almanack. vo. london, . wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. * * * * * notices to correspondents. j. d. (cheltenham). _the work you allude to is wace's_ roman de brut, _which was published under the editorship of m. le roux de lincy in ._ b. o. _the paginal references are omitted to the extracts from mr. buckley's translation of Æschylus; but probably the original text would solve the query._ r. _the print of a bishop burnt in smithfield cannot be identified without a sight of the engraving._ g. d. _for the origin of plough monday, see brady's_ clavis calendaria, _vol. i. pp. - .; and brand's_ popular antiquities, _vol. i. pp. - . (bohn's edition)._ _a communication from_ dr. diamond _on the manufacture of collodion, and also a very interesting one from_ mr. j. maxwell lyte, _in our next number._ anonymous photographic correspondent. _we have given in former numbers admirable formulæ for printing positives._ mr. pollock_'s mode on albumenised paper produces beautiful results, as does also the more simple one recommended by_ dr. diamond. _in one of our earliest photographic communications an iodized form was given which may be used by feeble or artificial light, and which is highly useful._ a. r. (bombay). _iodide of silver should not be dried for photographic purposes after it is formed; therefore you must rest contented to approach the nearest you can to the requisite quantity by careful manipulation. a note appended to our photographic article in this number sufficiently indicates how often we must depend upon our own judgment, and how difficult it is to reduce photography to exact laws when the substances used are so constantly varying._ t. m. _the sample sent of whatman's writing-paper iodizes most beautifully. it has always been the case that paper made for ordinary purposes is often much better than that made for photography alone._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ * * * * * "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * chronicles of the ancient british church, previous to the arrival of st. augustine, a. d. . second edition. post vo. price s. cloth. "a work of great utility to general readers."--_morning post._ "the author has collected with much industry and care all the information which can throw light on his subject."--_guardian._ "not unworthy the attention of our clerical friends."--_notes and queries_, ii. . london: wertheim & macintosh, . paternoster row, and of all booksellers. * * * * * westminster hospital, broad sanctuary, opposite westminster abbey.--this hospital was instituted in the year , and is the oldest hospital in england supported by voluntary contributions. the high prices of provisions and coals have materially increased the current expenditure, and a sum of not less than l. is required to meet the payment of the tradesmen's bills to christmas last. , persons are relieved annually, and the doors of the hospital are open night and day for the reception of cases of accident and urgent disease. the committee earnestly entreat the aid of the benevolent at the present time. donations and subscriptions will be thankfully received by messrs. bouverie & co., . haymarket; messrs. hoare & co., fleet street; by the hon. p. pleydell bouverie, and p. r. hoare, esq., the joint treasurers; or by the secretary at the hospital. f. g. wilson, secretary. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases and other travelling requisites, gratis on application or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * mr. keightley's historical and classical works. s. d. history of england. vols. mo., th edition, cloth the volumes are sold separately, s. each. history of greece. mo., th edition, cloth history of rome. mo., th edition, cloth questions on the histories. mo. each history of india. vo., cloth history of the roman empire. mo., rd edition, cloth mythology of ancient greece and italy. vo., rd edition, cloth (nearly ready) the mythology abridged. mo. th edition, bound ovid's fasti. with notes and introduction. nd edition, vo., cloth the catilina and jugurtha of sallust, with notes and excursus, post vo., cloth tales and popular fictions. woodcuts, fcap. vo., cloth elementary history of england. mo., rd edition, bound elementary history of greece. mo., nd edit., bound elementary history of rome. mo., rd edition, bound these works are used at the chief public schools, and by the tutors at the universities, and are admirably adapted for private and self-instruction. whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * { } collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton: certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenised paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * photographic cameras.--ottewill & morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road. islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn: the photographic institution, bond street: and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * improvement in collodion--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimen of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. klallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * in a few days. architectural studies in france. by the rev. j. l. petit. with numerous illustrations from drawings by p. h. delamotte, and by the author. imperial vo. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * policy holders in other companies, and intending assurers generally, are invited to examine the rates, principles, and progress of the scottish provident institution, the only society in which the advantages of mutual assurances can be secured by moderate premiums. established . number of policies issued , , assuring upwards of two and a half millions. full reports and every information had (free) on application. *** policies are now issued free of stamp duty; and attention is invited to the circumstance that premiums payable for life assurance are now allowed as a deduction from income in the returns for income tax. george grant, resident sec. london branch, . moorgate street. * * * * * published monthly, price d.; or d. stamped. the english journal of education. especially designed for upper schools: containing papers on educational subjects, and impartial criticisms and notices of new books, contributed by distinguished scholars. contents of january number:--on making grammar schools more available as middle schools; on teaching modern languages; on the introduction of practical science into higher schools; review of paley's propertius, &c. contents of february number:--cathedral schools; on accent and quantity, with remarks on professor blackie; principles of astronomy; review of pillans's classical geography, &c. a specimen number will be sent gratis, via direct application. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * notice.--the new issue of "the kafir, the cape, and the frontier farmer," being selections from the journals of archdeacon merriman, will be ready next week. price s. d. george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d. a treatise on the episcopate of the ante-nicene church, (with especial reference to the early position of the roman see). by the reverend george m. gorham, b.a.. fellow of trinity college, cambridge, and crosse university scholar. cambridge: j. deighton. london: george bell, fleet street. * * * * * just published, price s. d. a treatise on hannibal's passage of the alps, in which his route is traced over the little mont cenis. by robert ellis, b.d., fellow of st. john's college, cambridge. cambridge: j. deighton. london: john w. parker & son. * * * * * the septuagint of the christian knowledge society. the gentleman's magazine for february contains a review of the conduct of the society for promoting christian knowledge in the production of their edition of the septuagint printed at athens. "we have the canon of scripture distinctly laid down in our articles, and exhibited in an authorised english bible. it is not an open question, whether we may follow that prescribed by our reformers, or select those of the eastern or western church. as members of the church of england, we are bound to conform to the canon of scripture laid down in the sixth article." nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are indicated by footnotes to the relevant item. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. page our seventh volume notes:-- proclamations of the society of antiquaries, and their value as historical evidences, by john bruce curiosities of advertising literature, by cuthbert bede on a passage in "king henry viii.," act iii. sc. ., by s. w. singer notes on bacon's essays, by p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. latin poems in connexion with waterloo, by lord braybrooke sir henry wotton and milton, by bolton corney folk lore:--unlucky to sell eggs after sunset-- old song--nursery tale--legend of change passage in hamlet volcanic influence on the weather, by rev. wm. s. hesledon minor notes:--value of mss.--robert hill--english orthography--bookselling in glasgow in --epitaph on a sexton queries:-- eustache de saint pierre, by philip s. king devizes, origin of: a question for the heralds, by j. waylen minor queries:--gold signet ring--ecclesia anglicana--tangiers: english army in --smith-- termination "-itis"--loak hen--etymological traces of the social position of our ancestors--locke's writings-- passage in göthe's "faust"--schomberg's epitaph by swift--the burial service said by heart--shaw's staffordshire mss.--"ne'er to these chambers," &c.-- county history societies--hugh oldham, bishop of exeter--the english domestic novel--dr. young--bishop hall's meditations--chatterton--passage in job--turner's view of lambeth palace--clarke's essay on the usefulness of mathematical learning--"the general pardon" minor queries with answers:--edward the confessor's ring--the bourbons replies:-- emblems marriages en chemise--mantelkinder--legitimation, by e. smirke, &c. editions of the prayer-book prior to , by archdeacon cotton etymology of pearl, by sir j. emerson tennant, &c. "martin drunk," by dr. e. f. rimbault göthe's reply to nicolai photographic correspondence:--processes upon paper--exhibition of photography at the society of arts replies to minor queries:--quotation in locke--pic-nic-- discovery at nuneham regis--door-head inscriptions--cross and pile--rhymes upon places--[greek: arnion]--who was the greatest general?--beech-trees struck by lightning-- passage in tennyson--inscriptions in churches-- dutensiana--early phonography--kentish local names; dray--monument at modstena--book-plates--"world without end," &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * our seventh volume. we might, without any offence against truth or modesty, begin our seventh volume by congratulating ourselves and our readers on the continued success and increasing circulation of our work. as to truth, our readers can only judge in part, and must take our word for the rest; but they may see enough in our pages to lead them to do so. let them but look at the signatures which from time to time appear in our columns, and they will see enough to prove that we have the sanction of a list of names, high in literary reputation, such as it might seem ostentatious to parade in our columns on an occasion like the present. we abstain the more readily, because we have felt it our duty to do the thing so frequently and fully in our prospectuses. and as to modesty, can there be any want of it in saying that with such--or perhaps we should say by such--contributors we have produced a work which the public has found acceptable? with such contributors, and others whom we should be proud to name with them, if they had given names which we cannot but know, but do not feel authorised to decypher--with such help, what sort of animal must an editor be who could fail to make a work worth reading? in fact, if not our highest praise, it is the plainest proof of the value of our publication, that we have done little or nothing except to give the reader the greatest possible quantity of matter in a legible form, wholly unassisted by graphic ornament or artistic decoration of any kind--without even the attraction of politics, scandal, or polemics. our pride is that we are useful; and that fact is proved by another to which it has given rise, namely, that we are favoured with many more contributions than we can possibly find room for; and therefore, instead of employing the occasion which offers for a few words with our readers, by way of introduction to a new volume, in any protracted remarks on what we have done, we would rather confer with them on the ways and means of doing more. in the first place, let us say explicitly that we do not mean by the most obvious method of increasing the bulk of our publication. it is quite clear that we { } could print twice as much on twice as many pages; but this is not what we mean. those who refer to our earliest numbers will see "how we are grown," and we are perfectly convinced that we are now quite grown up--that our quantity (to change the figure) is quite as much as our company wish to see set on the table at once, and our price quite as agreeable as if it were larger; for to enlarge the work without enlarging the price would be quite out of the question. but, in the course of what we may now call considerable experience, during which we have seen the work grow up into the form which it now wears, we have been led to think, that if our friends will allow us to offer a few suggestions (on which some of them may perhaps improve), we may be able, with the same space and cost, to oblige more correspondents; and not only by that means, but by rendering our information more select and valuable, increase the gratification of our readers. our name suggests the idea of a work consisting of two parts; and, with regard to the first, we can only offer such obvious remarks as, that the more a writer condenses what he has to say, the less room his communication will occupy in print--and the less room he occupies, the more he will leave for others, &c. these are weighty and important truths, but such as we need not insist on. but when we look at the other part, passing under the single name of "queries," it becomes obvious that our work, instead of having, as its title would import, what sir thomas browne calls a "bicapitous conformation," does in fact consist of three parts, which must be ranged under three different heads, and dealt with in three different ways. a little, modest, demure-looking query slips into print, and by the time it has been in print a fortnight, we find that it has a large family of replies, who all come about it, and claim a settlement on the ground of their parentage. now, it is on this matter that we think some improvement may be made. we would not on any account diminish our number of queries, and would wish even our notes to be notes of interrogation as well as information. but between queries and replies, notwithstanding their family connexion, there is an essential difference. in every case the query, in order to its answering the end for which it is proposed, must be public; but in a great many cases the reply need not be so. the query may be a very proper and curious one, and interesting in a high degree to the proposer and several other persons, but the reply to it may involve details not generally interesting.[ ] we shall not be thought to discourage such inquiries (while we consider the opportunity which we afford for making them one of the most valuable features of our work) if we illustrate this by suggesting that a. wishes for genealogical or family history; b. wants to know what the author of such or such a book which he is editing means by such or such a reference; c., who is editing another, wants a collation of this or that edition; d., who is writing a third book, in order to correct and enrich it, wants as many things (and heartily glad should we be to help him to get them) as would occupy half-a-dozen of our numbers; and so we might go on, were it not quite unnecessary to pursue in detail the illustration of what is so plain. now it has occurred to us, that if correspondents who wish to make inquiries, the answers to which would obviously be of no general interest, would, with their query, enclose a stamped envelope, directed in any way which they may think proper, it would often be in our power not only to transmit to them answers to their inquiries, but to put them in direct communication with those who could give them further information; and who would in many cases communicate with individuals of whose respectability and capacity they were satisfied, more freely than they would through a public channel. we shall be glad to know how far such a plan would be approved of. we must add, that it would enable us to make use of many replies which it is impossible, under present circumstances, to insert; and we believe that many answerers would not only be as well pleased to learn that their replies had been transmitted to the querist, but that, with a knowledge that they would be so transmitted, they would write with more freedom and fulness than if they expected the reply to be published. one thing only we should bargain for--and, having cut ourselves off from all hope of gain by desiring to have the envelopes directed, we think we have a right to ask it--it is, that if in this correspondence, of which we are the medium, they come to any curious and generally interesting results, they will send them to us, _pro bono publico_. [footnote : a valued correspondent, who has strongly urged the adoption of the course which we are now recommending to our readers, thus illustrates his position:-- "it seems to be a very good thing to have a medium of genealogical inquiry; but why should all the world be troubled with the answers to a man who writes,-- 'sir,--i shall be obliged to anybody who can give me a full account of my family. john smith.' "again, supposing x. y. wants to borrow some not very common book which one happens to have, i am not going to write (and if i did so write you would not print it), 'if x. y., as soon as he sees this, will call on the pump at aldgate, he will find my copy of the book tied to the spout, if the charity boys have not cribbed it; and he can return it or not, according to his conscience, if he has any."] { } * * * * * notes. proclamations of the society of antiquaries, and their value as historical evidences. the work that is now going on at the society of antiquaries in reference to the collection of royal proclamations in their library, is one in which not merely the fellows of that society, but all historical students, are deeply interested. the society possesses one of the three known largest collections of these public documents. they were formerly bound up in volumes of several different sizes, intermixed with a variety of fugitive publications, such as ballads and broadsides, which formed altogether a very incongruous collection. a short time since it was found that the binding of many of the volumes was very much worn, and that some of the documents themselves had been considerably torn and damaged. under these circumstances, mr. lemon, of the state paper office, offered his services to the council to superintend an entire new arrangement, mounting, binding, and calendaring, of the whole series of proclamations. his offer was of course gratefully accepted, and the work is now in active progress. the collection is certainly the most important that is known, and is especially so in the reign of elizabeth; in reference to which there is no collection at all approaching to it, either in completeness or value. still there are many proclamations wanting: several of the fellows of the society have come forward most liberally to fill up gaps. mr. payne collier led the way in a contribution of great value; mr. salt followed mr. collier with a munificent donation of a whole collection relating to charles ii. and james ii.; and upon mr. lemon's suggestion, and with the joint concurrence of mr. secretary walpole and the keeper of the state paper office, an interchange of duplicates has been effected between that office and the society of antiquaries, which has added forty proclamations to the society's collection. my principal reason for addressing you upon this subject is to ask you to suggest to your readers that a similar interchange of duplicates might be effected between the society and any persons who chance to have duplicate proclamations in their possession. it is of the very highest literary and historical importance that we should get together, in some accessible place, a collection of proclamations, which if not actually complete (a consummation hardly to be expected), shall yet approach to completeness. the collection at somerset house offers the best opportunity for forming such a collection. it is by far the most nearly complete in existence, and is strong in that particular part of the series in which other collections are most defective, and in which missing proclamations are the most difficult to be supplied. at the society of antiquaries the collection will be accessible to all literary inquirers, and no doubt the society will publish a proper catalogue, which is already in preparation by mr. lemon. it is obvious that any person who chooses to contribute such stray proclamations, or copies of proclamations, as he may chance to have in his possession, will be helping forward a really good work, and the possessor of duplicates may not only do the same, but may benefit his own collection by an interchange. the value of proclamations as historical authorities, and especially as authorities for the history of manners, and of our national progress, is indisputable. as i write, i have before me the _booke of proclamations_ of james i. from to ; and the page lying open affords a striking illustration of what i assert. it gives us a chapter in the history of our post-office. immediately on the accession of james i., the high north road from london to edinburgh was thronged with multitudes of pilgrims hastening to the worship of the newly risen sun. robert carey became, in the words of cowper's enigma, "the parent of numbers that cannot be told." scotland has never poured into the south more active or more anxious suppliants than then traversed the northward road through berwick. all ordinary accommodation soon fell short of the demand. messengers riding post from the council to the king were stayed on the road for want of the ordinary supply of post-horses, all which were taken up by lords and gentry--rushing northward in the fury of their new-born loyalty. as a remedy for these inconveniences, the lords of the council issued a proclamation, calling upon all magistrates to aid the postmasters "in this time so full of business," by seeing that they are supplied with "fresh and able horses as necessitie shall require." of course the supply was merely of horses. travellers could not in those days obtain carriages of any kind. the horses were directed to be "able and sufficient horses, and well furnished of saddles, bridles, girts and stirropes, with good guides to looke to them; who for their said horses shall demand and receive of such as shall ride on them, the prices accustomed." the new state of things became permanent. london, after james's removal from edinburgh, being really the seat of government for the whole island, the intercourse both ways was continuous, and further general orders for its management were published by proclamation. there were at that time, on all the high roads through the country, two sorts of posts:-- . special messengers or couriers who rode "thorough post," that is, themselves rode through the whole distance, "with horn and guide." such persons carried with them an authentication of their employment in the { } public service. in , they were charged "two-pence halfe-peny the mile" (raised in to threepence) for the hire of each horse, "besides the guide's groats." the hire was to be paid beforehand. they were not to ride the horses more than one stage, except with the consent of "the post of the stage" at which they did not change. nor were they to charge the horse "with any male or burden (besides his rider) that exceedeth the weight of thirtye pounds." nor to ride more than seven miles an hour in summer or six in winter. . the other sort of post was what was termed the "post for the packet." for this service every postmaster was bound to keep horses ready; and on receipt of a "packet" or parcel containing letters, he was to send it on towards the next stage within a quarter of an hour after its arrival, entering the transaction in "a large and faire ledger paper book." two horses were to be kept constantly ready for this service, "with furniture convenient," and messengers "at hand in areadinesse." the postmaster was also to have ready "two bags of leather, at the least, well lined with bayes or cotton, to carry the packet in." he was also to have ready "hornes to sound and blow, as oft as the post meets company, or foure times in every mile." the "post for the packet" was at first used only for the carriage of despatches for the government or for ambassadors, but a similar mode of conveyance soon began to be taken advantage of by merchants and private persons. difficulty in obtaining posts and horses for the conveyance of private packets, led to the interference of "certain persons called hackney-men, tapsters, hostlers, and others, in hiring out their horses, to the hinderance of publique service, danger to our state, and wrong to our standing and settled postes in their several stages." the government of james i. thought, in its blindness, that it could put a stop to the dangerous practice of transmitting unofficial letters, by rendering it penal for private persons to carry them; that of charles i., wiser, in this respect, in its generation, settled a scheme for their general conveyance through the medium of "a letter office." but the "post for the packet," with his leathern bag and his twanging horn (the origin, of course, of our mail-coach horn), continued down to a late period, and probably still lingers in some parts of the kingdom. cowper, it will be remembered, describes him admirably. john bruce. * * * * * curiosities of advertising literature. we are all well acquainted with the ingenious artifices by which modern advertisers thrust their wares upon the attention of newspaper readers. we may, perhaps, have been betrayed into the expression of come rude saxon expletive, when, in the columns devoted to news and general information, we have in our innocence been tempted with a paragraph that commenced with "a clever saying of the illustrious voltaire's," and dovetailed into a panegyric of messrs. aaron and son's reversible paletots; or we may have applauded the clever logician who so clearly demonstrates, that as napoleon's bilious affection frequently clouded his judgment in times of greatest need, the events of the present century, and the fate of nations, would have been reversed, had that great man only been persuaded to take two boxes of snooks's aperient pill, price s. ½d., with the government stamp on a red ground (see advt.). all these things we know very well; but, of the fugitive literature that does not find a place in the advertising columns of _the times_, but flashes into fame only in the pages of some local oracle, or in some obscurer broad-sheet, how often must it remain unappreciated, and doomed to "waste its sweetness on the desert air." that this may not be said of the following burst of advertising eloquence, i trust it may be found worthy a niche in the temple of "n. & q." in its composition the author was probably inspired by the grand scenery of the cheviots, in a village near to which his shop was situate. it was one of those "generally-useful" shops where the grocer and draper held equal reign, and anything could be got, from silks and satins to butter and bath bricks. the composition was printed and distributed among the neighbouring families; but shortly after, when the author heard that it had not produced the exact effect he had wished, he, with the irritability that often accompanies genius, resolved to get back and destroy every copy of his production, and deny to the world that which it could not appreciate. fortunately for the world's welfare, i preserved a copy of his hand-bill, of which this, in its turn, is a faithful transcript: "_to the inhabitants of g. and its neighbourhood._ "the present age is teeming with advantages which no preceding era in the history of mankind has afforded to the human family. new schemes are projecting to enlighten and extend civilisation, railways have been projected and carried out by an enterprising and spirited nation, while science in its gigantic power (simple yet sublime) affords to the humane mind so many facilities to explore its rich resources, the seasons roll on in their usual course producing light and heat, the vivifying rays of the sun, and the fructifying influences of nature producing food and happiness to the sons of toil; while to the people of g. and its neighbourhood a rich and extensive variety of fashionable goods is to be found in my warehouse, which have just been selected with the greatest care. the earliest visit is requested to convey to the mind an adequate idea of the great extent of his purchases, comprising as it does all that is elegant and useful, cheap and substantial, to the light-hearted votaries of matrimony, the matrons of reflection, the man of industry, and the disconsolate victims of bereavement. j-- m--." { } the peroration certainly exhibits what mrs. malaprop calls "a nice derangement of epitaphs:" and, us for the rest, surely "the force of" bathos "could no further go." cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * on a passage in "king henry viii.," act iii. sc. . one of the most desperately unintelligible passages in shakspeare occurs in this play, in the scene between the king and the cardinal, when the latter professes his devoted attachment to his service. it stands thus in the first folio: _car._ "i do professe that for your highnesse good, i euer labour'd more then mine owne: that am, haue, and will be (though all the world should cracke their duty to you, and throw it from their soule, though perils did abound, as thicke as thought could make 'em, and appeare in formes more horrid) yet my duty, as doth a rocke against the chiding flood, should the approach of this wilde riuer breake, and stand vnshaken yours." upon this mason observes: "i can find no meaning in these words (that am, have, and will be), or see how they are connected with the rest of the sentence; and should therefore strike them out." malone says: "i suppose the meaning is, '_that_ or _such a man_, i am, have _been_, and will _ever_ be.' our author has many hard and forced expressions in his plays; but many of the hardnesses in the piece before us appear to me of a different colour from those of shakspeare. perhaps however, a line following has been lost; for in the old copy there is no stop at the end of this line; and, indeed, i have some doubt whether a comma ought not to be placed at it, rather than a fullpoint." mr. knight, however, places a fullpoint at _will be_, and says: "there is certainly some corruption in this passage; for no ellipsis can have taken this very obscure form. z. jackson suggests 'that _aim has_ and will be.' this is very harsh. we might read 'that _aim_ i have and will,' _will_ being a noun." mr. collier has the following note: "in this place we can do no more than reprint exactly the old text, with the old punctuation; as if wolsey, following 'that am, have, and will be' by a long parenthesis, had forgotten how he commenced his sentence. something may have been lost, which would have completed the meaning and the instances have not been infrequent where lines, necessary to the sense, have been recovered from the quarto impressions. here we have no quarto impressions to resort to, and the later folios afford us no assistance, as they reprint the passage as it stands in the folio , excepting that the two latest end the parenthesis at 'break.'" i cannot think that the poet would have put a short speech into wolsey's mouth, making him forget how he commenced it! nor do i believe that anything has been lost, except the slender letter _i_ preceding _am_. the printer or transcriber made the easy mistake of taking the word _true_ for _haue_, which as written of old would readily occur, and having thus confused the passage, had recourse to the unconscionable long mark of a parenthesis. the passage undoubtedly should stand thus: _car._ "i do profess that for your highness' good i ever labour'd more than mine own; that _i_ am _true_, and will be though all the world should _lack_ their duty to you, and throw it from their soul: though perils did abound, as thick as thought could make them, and appear in forms more horrid; yet my duty (as doth a rock against the chiding flood,) should the approach of this wild river break, and stand unshaken yours." here all is congruous and clear. this slight correction of a palpable printer's error redeems a fine passage hitherto entirely unintelligible. i do not insist upon the correction in the fourth line of _lack_ for _crack_, yet what can be meant by _cracking a duty_? the duke, in the _two gentlemen of verona_, speaks of his daughter as "_lacking_ duty;" and seeing how very negligently the whole passage has been given in the folio, i think there is good ground for its reception. with regard to the correction in the second line, i feel confident, and doubt not that it will have the approbation of all who, like myself, feel assured that most of the difficulties in the text of our great poet are attributable to careless printer or transcriber. when i proposed (vol. vi., p. .) to read "_rail_ at once," instead of "_all_ at once," in _as you like it_, act iii. sc. ., i thought the conjecture my own, having then only access to the editions of mr. collier and mr. knight; i consequently said, "it is somewhat singular that the passage should hitherto have passed unquestioned." my surprise was therefore great, on turning to the passage in the _variorum shakspeare_, to find the following note by warburton, which had escaped my notice: "if the speaker intended to accuse the person spoken to only for _insulting_ and exulting, then, instead of '_all_ at once,' it ought to have been _both_ at once. but, examining the crime of the person accused, we shall discover that the line is to be read thus: 'that you insult, exult, and _rail_ at once,' for these three things phoebe was guilty of. but the oxford editor improves it, and, for _rail_ at once, reads _domineer_." i have no recollection of having ever read the note before, and certainly was not conscious of it. the coincidence, therefore, may be considered (as mr. collier observed in respect to the reading of _palpable_ for _capable_) as much in favour of this conjecture. { } that the most careful printers can _misread_, and consequently _misprint_, copy, is evident from the following error in my last note:--vol. vi., p. ., col. , for "in the edition which i gave of the _part_," read "_poet_." this mistake, like most of those i have indicated in the first folio shakspeare, might easily occur if the word was indistinctly written. s. w. singer. mickleham. * * * * * notes on bacon's essays. as i find that the editor of _bacon's essays_ for bohn's _standard library_ has not verified the quotations, i venture to send you a few "n. & q." on them, which i hope to continue from time to time, if they prove acceptable. in compliance with the recommendation of mr. sydney smirke and the rev. h. t. ellacombe (vol. vi., p. .), i append my name and address. n.b. the paging and notes of bohn's edition are followed throughout. preface, p. xiii. note *. "speech on the impeachment of warren hastings." see burke's _works_, vol. viii. p. . [ed. .] speech on the first day of reply. ditto, p. xv. letter to father fulgentio. see montagu's _bacon_, vol. xi. pref., p. vii.; vol. xii. p. . ditto, ditto. _spenser's faery queene, &c._ see preface to moxon's _spenser_ ( ), p. xxix., where this story is refuted, and montagu, xvi., note _x_. ditto, p. xvi. "it was like another man's fair ground," &c. see montagu, xvi. p. xxvii. ditto, ditto. "i shall die," &c. ditto, xxxiv. and note _ww_. ditto, p. xvii. note +. dugald stewart. supplement to _encycl. brit._, vol. i. p. . [ed. .] ditto, ditto. h_a_tton, not h_u_tton, as in _eliza cook's journal_, vi. . ditto, ditto. love an ignoble passion. essay x. _ad init._ ditto, p. xviii. "says macaulay." review of b. montagu's _bacon essays_, p. . [ed. .] ditto, ditto. a pamphlet. montagu, vi. . ditto, p. xix. "a place in the canticles." cap. ii. . bacon quotes, from memory it would appear, from the vulgate, which has "ego flos campi." by whom is the observation? see, for the story, montagu, xvi. p. xcviii. ditto, ditto. "books were announced." what? ditto, p. xx. "cæsar's compliment to cicero." where recorded? ditto, p. xxi. "the manufacture of particular articles of trade." montagu, xvi. . ditto, p. xxii. "says macaulay." _ut supra_, p. . ditto, ditto. ben jonson. see underwood's, lxix. lxxviii. [pp. , . ed. moxon, .] ditto, p. xxv. marcus lucius. who is here alluded to? ditto, p. xxvii. "which strangely parodies." the opening alluded to is "franciscus de verulam sic cogitavit." ditto, p. xxviii. "one solitary line." where is this to be found? ditto, ditto. "ben jonson after sketching." see _discoveries_, p. . _ut sup._ ditto, p. xxix. "might have censured with hume." where? ditto, ditto. "hobbes." where does he praise bacon? ditto, ditto. "bayle." in bayle's _dictionary_ [english edition, ], _s. v._, we find but fourteen lines on bacon. ditto, ditto. "tacitus." _vit. agric._, cap. . ditto, p. xxxiii. note. solomon's house. see p. . _seqq._ of the vol. of the _standard library_. ditto, p. xxxiv. note. paterculus, i. . . [burmann.] (_to be continued._) p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. . hill's road, cambridge. * * * * * latin poems in connexion with waterloo. i send you two copies of latin verses which have not, to my knowledge, appeared in print. they are however interesting, from the coincidence of their both relating to _elm-trees_, and in some measure belonging to the "story of waterloo," about which we never can hear too much. the lines themselves possess considerable merit; and, as their authors were respectively distinguished alumni of eton and winchester, i hope to see both compositions placed in juxtaposition in the columns of "n. & q." the first of these productions was written by marquis wellesley, as an inscription for a chair carved from the _wellington elm_ (which stood near the centre of the british lines on the field of waterloo), and presented to his majesty king george iv., to whom the lines were addressed: ampla inter spolia, et magni decora alta triumphi, _ulmus_ erit fastis commemoranda tuis, quam super exoriens faustâ tibi gloria pennâ palmam oleamque uno detulit alma die; immortale decus maneat, famâque perenni felicique geras sceptra paterna manu; et tua victrices dum cingunt tempora lauri, materies solio digna sit ista tuo. for the other verses subjoined, we are indebted to the late rev. william crowe, fellow of new college, oxford, and many years public orator in that university. it seems that he had planted _an elm_ at his parsonage, on the birth of his son, afterwards killed at waterloo, which sad event was { } commemorated by his afflicted father in the following touching monody, _affixed to the same tree_: _hanc_ ego quam felix annis melioribus _ulmum_ ipse manu sevi, tibi dilectissime fili consecro in æternum, gulielme vocabitur arbos hæc tua, servabitque tuum per secula nomen. te generose puer nil muneris hujus egentem te jam perfunctum vitæ bellique labore, adscripsit deus, et coelestibus intulit oris, me tamen afflictum, me consolabitur ægrum hoc tibi quod pono, quanquam leve pignus amoris, hic ego de vitâ meditans, de sorte futurâ, sæpe tuam recolam formam, dulcemque loquelam, verbaque tam puro et sacrato fonte profecta, quam festiva quidem, et facili condita lepore. at te, qui nostris quicunque accesseris hospes sedibus, unum oro, moesti reverere parentis, nec tu sperne preces quas hâc super arbore fundo. sit tibi non invisa, sit inviolata securi, et quantum natura sinet, crescat monumentum egregii juvenis, qui sævo est marte peremptus, fortiter ob patriam pugnando, sic tibi constans stet fortuna domûs, sit nulli obnoxia damno, nec videas unquam dilecti funera nati. braybrooke. * * * * * sir henry wotton and milton. the letter which sir henry wotton addressed to milton, on receiving the _maske presented at ludlow-castle_, appears to admit of an interpretation which has escaped the numerous editors of the works of milton; and i resolve to put this novel conjecture on its trial in the critical court of facts and inferences held at no. . fleet street. sir henry wotton thus expresses himself on the circumstance which i conceive to have been misinterpreted: "for the work itself [a dainty piece of entertainment, by milton] i had viewed some good while before with singular delight, having received it from our common friend mr. r. in the very close of the late r.'s _poems_, printed at oxford; whereunto [it] is added (as i now suppose) that the accessory might help out the principal, according to the art of stationers, and to leave the reader _con la bocca dolce_."--_reliquiæ wottonianæ_, . in the poems of milton, as edited by himself in , the date of this letter is " th april, ;" and as the _poems_ of "thomas randolph, master of arts, and late fellow of trinity colledge in cambridge," were printed at oxford in that year, in small quarto, it may be assumed that the gift of _mr. r._ was a copy of that volume, with the addition of the _maske_, as printed in the same size in . such was the conclusion of warton, and such is mine. the question at issue is, who was _mr. r._? warton says, "i believe _mr. r._ to be john rouse," the keeper of the bodleian library. is it not more probable that _mr. r._ means robert randolph, master of arts, and student of christchurch--a younger brother of thomas randolph, and the editor of his poems? i must first dispose of the assertion that the friendship between rouse and milton "appears to have subsisted in ." there is no evidence of their friendship till ; and that evidence is the ode to rouse, to which this address is prefixed: "jan. . . ad joannem rousium, oxoniensis academiæ bibliothecarium. de libro poematum amisso, _quem ille sibi denuo mitti postulabat_, ut cum aliis nostris in bibliotheca publica reponeret, ode." it seems that milton did not send the volume of till a copy of it had been requested; no evidence, certainly, of old friendship! i admit the probability that wotton and rouse were friends; but why should rouse _officiously stitch up_, as warton expresses it, the _mask_ of milton with the _poems_ of thomas randolph, and present the volume to wotton? did he give away that which is still wanting in the bodleian library? admit my novel conjecture, and all the difficulties vanish. thomas randolph, says phillips, was "one of the most pregnant young wits of his time;" and robert, who was also noted as a poet, could scarcely fail to offer the poems of his brother to so eminent a person as sir henry wotton. as sir henry _yearly went to oxford_, he may have made acquaintance with robert; and robert may have been introduced to milton by thomas, who was for eight years his cotemporary at cambridge, and in the enjoyment of much more celebrity. the _maske_ may have been added as an experiment in criticism. the rev. thomas warton was a man of extensive reading, an excellent critic, and a fascinating writer--but too often inattentive to accuracy of statement. he says that randolph _died_ the th march, : wood says he was _buried_ the th march, . he says it is so stated on his monument: the monument has no date. he says the _poems_ of randolph contain pages: the volume contains pages! he says the _maske_ is a slight quarto of pages only; it contains pages! is it not fit that such carelessness should be exposed? bolton corney. * * * * * folk lore. _unlucky to sell eggs after sunset._--the following paragraph is extracted from the _stamford mercury_ of october , : "there exists a species of superstition in north nottinghamshire against letting eggs go out of a house after sunset. the other day a person in want of some eggs called at a farm-house in east markham, and inquired of the good woman of the house whether she had any eggs to sell, to which she replied that she had a few scores to dispose of. 'then i'll take them home { } with me in the cart,' was his answer; to which she somewhat indignantly replied, 'that you'll not; don't you know the sun has gone down? you are welcome to the eggs at a proper hour of the day; but i would not let them go out of the house after the sun is set on any consideration whatever!'" draufield. _old song._-- my father gave me an acre of land, sing ivy, sing ivy. my father gave me an acre of land, sing green bush, holly, and ivy. i plough'd it with a ram's horn, sing ivy, &c. i harrow'd it with a bramble, sing ivy, &c. i sow'd it with a peppercorn, sing ivy, &c. i reap'd it with my penknife, sing ivy, &c. i carried it to the mill upon the cat's back, sing ivy, &c. then follows some more which i forget, but i think it ends thus: i made a cake for all the king's men, sing ivy, sing ivy. i made a cake for all the king's men, sing green bush, holly, and ivy. d. _nursery tale._-- i saddled my sow with a sieve full of buttermilk, put my foot into the stirrup, and leaped nine miles beyond the moon into the land of temperance, where there was nothing but hammers and hatchets and candlesticks, and there lay bleeding old noles. i let him lie, and sent for old hippernoles, and asked him if he could grind green steel nine times finer than wheat flour. he said he could not. gregory's wife was up in the pear-tree gathering nine corns of buttered peas to pay saint james' rent. saint james was in the meadow mowing oat cakes; he heard a noise, hung his scythe at his heels, stumbled at the battledore, tumbled over the barn-door ridge, and broke his shins against a bag of moonshine that stood behind the stairsfoot door, and if that isn't true you know as well as i. d. _legend of change._--in one of the magazines for november, a legend, stated to be of oriental origin, is given, in which an immortal, visiting at distant intervals the same spot, finds it occupied by a city, an ocean, a forest, and a city again: the mortals whom he found there, on each occasion, believing that the present state had existed for ever. i have seen in the newspapers, at different times, a poem (or i rather think two poems) founded on this legend; and i should like to know the author or authors, and whether it, or either of them, is to be found in any collection of poems. d. x. * * * * * passage in hamlet. "cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, unhousell'd, disappointed, unaneld'd." _hamlet_, act i. sc. . boucher, in his _glossary of archaic and provincial words_ (art. anyeal), has a note on this passage which seems to me to give so much better an idea of the word _disappointed_ than any i have met with, that i am induced to send it you as a note:-- "the last two words have occasioned considerable difficulty to the critics. the old copies, it is said, concur in giving _disappointed_, which dr. johnson is willing to understand as meaning _unprepared_; a sense that might very well suit the context, but will not be easily confirmed by any other instance of the use of the word _disappointed_. dissatisfied, therefore, with this interpretation, some have read _unanointed_, and some _unappointed_. not approving of either of these words, as connected with _unanealed_, pope, no timid corrector of texts, reads _unaneld_, which he supposes to signify _unknelled_, or the having no knell rung. to these emendations and interpretations mr. theobald, whose merit as a commentator of shakspeare mr. pope, with all his wit and all his poetry, could not bring into dispute, urged many strong objections. skinner rightly explains _anealed_ as meaning _unctus_; from the teutonic preposition _an_, and _ele_, oil. as correction of the second word is admitted by all the commentators to be necessary, it is suggested that a clear and consistent meaning, consonant with shakspeare's manner, will be given to the passage, if, instead of _disappointed_, _unassoiled_, which signifies 'without absolution,' be substituted. "the line-- 'unhousell'd, unassoil'd, unaneal'd,' will then signify 'without receiving the sacrament: without confession and absolution: and without extreme unction.' "the _unassoiled_ was no less proper, will appear from due attention to the word _assoile_, which of course is derived from _absolvo_; and the transition from _absolve_ into _assoyle_ is demonstrated in the following passage from piers plowman, vision, p. .: 'there preached a pardoner, as he a priest were, brought forth a bul, with many a bishop's seales, and saide, that himself might absoyle hem alle, of falshode, of fasting, and of vowes broken.' as a further confirmation of the propriety of substituting a word signifying _absolution_, which pre-supposes confession, the following sentence from _prince arthur_ may be adduced: 'she was confessed and houselled, and then she died,' part ii. p. . "it must be allowed that no instance can be given of the word _unassoiled_: but neither does any other instance occur to me of the word _unhouseled_ except the line in _hamlet_." b. j. s. * * * * * { } volcanic influence on the weather. the recent observations of your correspondent mr. noake (vol. vi., p. .) on the superstitions of the people of worcestershire regarding the weather, have called my attention to the present extraordinary wet season, on which subject i have been asked many questions. although i do not account myself any more weatherwise than my neighbours, yet i may note that, for many years past, i have remarked that whenever we have had any very serious volcanic disturbance in the mediterranean or its neighbourhood, or at mount hecla, we have always had some corresponding atmospheric agitation in this country, either in excessive heat or moisture, or both, and accompanied with very perceptible vibrations, at times so strong as to answer the name of earthquakes; and these vibrating so generally in the direction from north-west to south-east, i have been convinced that underneath us there is a regular steam passage from mount hecla in iceland to mount vesuvius in italy. i have unfortunately mislaid my memoranda on this subject, and have no regular roster of these occasional visitations to refer to, but i think my attention to this effect was first impressed on me by the season which followed the destruction at lisbon in . i recollect a friend of mine, the late mr. empson, of bouley, while attending some drainage improvements in his carrs within the level of ancholme, was aroused by an extraordinary noise, which he thought was occasioned by some "drunken fools," as he called them, racing with their waggons upon the turnpike road above the hill, which was two miles off from where he then was in the carrs. his uphill shepherd, however, told him, when he got home, that there had been no such occurrence as he supposed on the turnpike, as, had such been the case, he must have heard and seen it. the next day, however, added fresh information, and better observers discovered that the noise heard across the carrs was underground; and further intelligence confirmed the suspicion that it was occasioned by a species of earthquake that had been felt at different places with different intensities, through yorkshire and lancashire, and amongst the islands west of scotland; and afterwards came the same kind of intelligence across france, confirming me in my conclusions before noted. and ever since this period of we have never had any extraordinary alternation of extreme heat or wet, without its being to me the result of some accompanying volcanic agitation in mount hecla, or mount vesuvius or its neighbourhood; and the recurrence of the violent ebullition that has this year being going on at mount etna may therefore be considered as the electric cause not only of the extraordinary heat of our late summer, but also of the floods that have subsequently poured down upon us. it is only of late years that scientific men have paid due attention to these physical phenomena. sir humphrey davy, i think, was the first who laid down their causes; and if we recollect the account given by sir stamford raffles of the appalling effects of the tremendous explosion of tombora, in sambowa, one of the islands east of java, in the year , described as so violent in its immediate neighbourhood as to cause men, and horses, and trees to be taken up into the air like chaff; and of its effects being perceptible in sumatra, where, nearly at a thousand miles distance from it, they heard its thundering noisy explosions,--thinking of this, we may well accede the comparatively small vibrations that we occasionally feel, as arising from the interchange of civilities passing between our volcanic neighbours hecla and vesuvius, or etna; and glad we may be that we have them in no more inconvenient shape or degree than we have hitherto experienced them. i have some friends in lancashire who have been a good deal alarmed by the vibrations they have lately experienced; and i must confess that my good wife and myself were, on the morning of the th dec., not a little startled in our bed by a shock that aroused us early to inquire after the cause of it, but for which we cannot account otherwise than that, from its sudden electric character, the lancashire vibration had reached us. the chief purport, however, of my present communication is, to make inquiry amongst your readers, whether any of them, like myself, have observed and experienced any recurrence of these concomitant and physical obtrusions. wm. s. hesledon. barton upon humber. * * * * * minor notes. _value of mss._--in the cause of calvert _v._ sebright, a question arose as to the sale of a collection of manuscript books by the late sir john sebright in the year . in aid of the inquiry before the master, as to the difference in value of the manuscripts in and the year , mr. rodd made an affidavit, from which i have made the following extract, showing the prices at which five lots were sold in , and the prices at which the same lots were sold at the late mr. heber's sale in : "no. in catalogue, . bracton de (hen.) consuetudinibus et legibus anglicæ. (in pergamena) literis deauratis. sold in for l. s.: produced at heber's sale, , l. s. "lot . gul. malmesburiensis de gestis regum anglorum. (in pergamena.) sold in for l. s.: produced at heber's sale, , l. "lot . chronica gulielmi thorn. (in membranis.) sold in for s.: produced at heber's sale, , l. { } "lot . henrici archid. huntindoniensis de gestis anglorum et gyr. cambriensis expugnatio hiberniæ. (in pergamena.) sold in for l. s.: produced at heber's sale, , l. s. d. "lot . chronica matt. parisensis sine historia minor cum vitâ authoris, per doctissimum virum rog. twysden bar. (in papyro.) sold in for l. s.: produced at heber's sale, , l. s. d. total produce in , l. s.: in , l. s." in the catalogue of heber's books, &c., nos. . . . . and . correspond with the nos. . . . . . f. w. j. _robert hill._--i possess a latin bible which formerly belonged to this person, and contains many ms. notes in his handwriting. the following is by another hand: "this book formerly belonged to mr. robert hill, a taylor of buckingham, and an acquaintance of my cousin john herbert, surgeon of that town. j. l." "in literature we find of this profession (_i. e._ that of a taylor) john speed, a native of cheshire, whose merit as an historian and antiquary are indisputable--to whom may be added the name of a man who in literature ought to have taken the lead, we mean john stow. benjamin robins, the compiler of _lord anson's voyage_, who united the powers of the sword and the pen, was professionally a taylor of bath; as was robert hill of buckingham, who, in the midst of poverty and distress, while obliged to labour at his trade for the support of a large family, acquired a knowledge of the hebrew, and other languages, such as has only been equalled by magliabecchi, who studied in a cradle curtained by cobwebs and colonised by spiders."--see "vestiges revived," no. xx. _european mag._ for mar. . the above choice note is, i presume, an extract from the _europ. mag._, and may serve to show that although ordinarily it takes "nine tailors to make a man," it may occasionally require nine men to make such a tailor as r. hill seems to have been. b. h. c. _english orthography._--the agricultural newspapers and magazines in the united states have generally restored the spelling of _plow_ in place of _plough_, which has crept in since the translation of the bible into english. could not _cloke_, the old spelling, be also restored, in place of _cloak_, which has nothing but _oak_ to keep it in countenance; whilst _cloke_ is in analogy with _smoke_, _poke_, _broke_, &c.? there are two english words, in pronouncing which not a single letter of them is sounded; namely _ewe_ (yo!) and _aye_ (i!) uneda. philadelphia. _bookselling in glasgow in ._--the following curious report of a law case appears in morison's _dictionary of the decisions of the court of session_, p. . it appears from it that, so late as , the city of glasgow, now containing a population of nearly , , was considered too limited a sphere for the support of only _two_ booksellers. " , january . stalker against carmichael. carmichael and stalker entered into a co-partnery of bookselling within the city of glasgow, to continue for three years; and because _the place was judged too narrow for two booksellers at a time_, it was stipulated that after the expiry of three years, either of them refusing to enter into a new contract upon the former terms, should be debarred from any concern in bookselling within the city of glasgow. in a reduction of the contract, the lords found the debarring clause in the contract is a lawful practice, and not contrary to the liberty of the subject." x. y. edinburgh. _epitaph on a sexton._--epitaph on a sexton, who received a great blow by the clapper of a bell: "here lyeth the body of honest john capper, who lived by the bell, and died by the clapper." answer to the foregoing: "i am not dead indeed, but have good hope, to live by the bell when you die by the rope." e. * * * * * queries. eustache de saint pierre. with the siege of calais, and its surrender to edward iii. in , is associated the name of eustache de st. pierre, whose loyalty and devotedness have been immortalised by the historian, and commemorated by the artist's pencil. the subject of queen philippa's intercessions on behalf of eustache and his brave companions is, no doubt, familiar to most of your readers: the stern demeanour of the king; the tears and supplicating attitude of the queen philippa; and the humiliating position of the burgesses of calais, &c. but what if eustache de st. pierre had been bought over by king edward? for without going the length of pronouncing the scenes of the worthy citizens, with halters round their necks, to have been a "got up" affair, there is, however, some reason to doubt whether the boasted loyalty of eustache de st. pierre was such as is represented, as will appear from the following notes. and however much the statements therein contained may detract from the cherished popular notions regarding eustache de st. pierre, yet the seeker after truth is inexorable, or, to use the words of sir francis palgrave (_hist. of norm. and eng._, i. .), he is expected "to uncramp or shatter the pedestals supporting the idols which have won the false worship of the multitude; so that they may nod in their niches, or topple down." in one of the volumes forming part of that valuable collection published by the french { } government,and commenced, i believe, under the auspices of m. guizot, namely, the _documens inédits sur l'histoire de france_, the following passage attracted my notice: "il (m. de bréquigny) a prouvé par des titres authentiques et inconnus jusqu'à présent, qu'eustache de st. pierre, dont on a si fort vanté le dévouement pour les habitans de calais, fut séduit par edouard, et qu'il reçut de ce prince des pensions et des possessions fort peu de temps après la prise de cette place, aux conditions d'y maintenir le bon ordre, et de la conserver à l'angleterre."--see _lettres de rois, &c._, vol. i. preface, p. cix. the above statement is founded on a memoir read before the académie des belles-lettres by m. de bréquigny, respecting the researches made by him in london (see _mém. de l'acad. des belles-lettres_, tom. xxxvii.). lingard throws a doubt over the matter. he says: "froissart has dramatised this incident with considerable effect; but, i fear, with little attention to truth.... even in froissart there is nothing to prove that edward designed to put these men to death. on the contrary, he takes notice that the king's refusal of mercy was accompanied with a wink to his attendants, which, if it meant anything, must have meant that he was not acting seriously."--_lingard_, rd edit. , vol. iv. p. ., note . again, in hume: "the story of the six burgesses of calais, like all extraordinary stories, is somewhat to be suspected; and so much the more, as avesbury, who is particular in his narrative of the surrender of calais, says nothing of it, and, on the contrary, extols in general the king's generosity and lenity to the inhabitants."--_hume_, vo. , vol. ii., note h. both hume and lingard mention that edward expelled the natives of calais, and repeopled the place with englishmen; but they say nothing as to eustache de st. pierre becoming a pensioner of the king's "aux conditions d'y maintenir le bon ordre, et de la conserver à l'angleterre." châteaubriand (_etudes hist._, , vo., tome iv. p. .) gives froissart's narrative, by which he abides, at the same time complaining of the "esprit de dénigrement" which he says prevailed towards the end of the last century in regard to heroic actions. regarding queen philippa's share in the transaction above referred to, m. de bréquigny says: "la reine, qu'on suppose avoir été si touchée du malheur des six bourgeois dont elle venait de sauver la vie, ne laissa pas d'obtenir, peu de jours après, la confiscation des maisons que jean d'acre, l'un d'eux, avait possédées dans calais." miss strickland (_lives of queens_, st edit., vol. ii. p. .) likewise gives the story as related by froissart, but mentions the fact of queen philippa taking possession of jean d'acre's property, and the doubt cast upon eustache's loyalty; but she would appear to justify him by reason of king philip's abandoning the brave calaisiens to their fate. however this may be, documents exist proving that the inhabitants of calais were indemnified for their losses: and whether or not the family of eustache de st. pierre approved his conduct, so much is certain, that, on the death of the latter, the property which had been granted to him by king edward was confiscated, because they would not acknowledge their allegiance to the english. i wish to ask whether this new light thrown on the subject, through m. de bréquigny's labours, has been hitherto noticed, for it would appear the story should be re-written. philip s. king. * * * * * devizes, origin of: a question for the heralds. i will put the following case as briefly as i can. throughout the mediæval ages, the word _devise_ formed the generic term for every species of emblazonment. thus we have "_devises heroiques_, per claude paradin, lyons, ;" "_devises et emblems d'amour moralisés_, par flamen;" "_the paradise of dainty devices_, ;" "_minerva britannica, or a garden of heroical devices furnished and adorned with emblems and impressa's of sundry natives_, newly devised, moralised, and published by henry peachum, ;" and lastly, henry estienne's "discourse of hieroglyphs, symbols, gryphs, emblems, enigmas, sentences, parables, reverses of medals, arms, blazons, cimiers, cyphers, and rebus," which learned discourse, be it observed, is entitled _the art of making devises_, . as an additional proof that device included the motto, take the following: "henry iii. commanded to be written by way of device in his chamber at woodstock, 'qui non dat quod amat non accipit ille quod optat;'" quoted by sir eger. brydges. here i must stop, though i could add many illustrations; and go on to observe, that whereas all the explanations which i have ever met with, of the unique appellation of "castrum divisarum," or the castle of devises, are totally un-historic, if not ridiculous, i crave the attention of all whom it may concern to a new solution of the difficulty. first, then, in order to clear the way, i would observe, that if, as commonly stated, the name had signified a frontier fort, would it not have been called the castle of the division [singular] rather than the castle of the divided districts? in other words, why make it a plural term? secondly. if, as i surmise, the italian word _divisa_ bore at the time of the conquest its present meaning of "device," in greater force than the { } sense of divisions or partitions, is it unreasonable to suppose that castrum divisarum implied and constituted, at that early period, the deposit or fountain-head of the blazonry of the norman leaders? it was certainly not unsuited for such a species of heralds' college; being central, inland, a royal treasury, and the frequent scene of a court. when in the ensuing age re-edified by bishop roger, the monkish historians, without a dissentient voice, proclaimed it the most splendid castle in the realm; and though it may be objected that this observation belongs to a date not to our purpose, yet the pre-existence of the fortress is proved by its having been the temporary prison of duke robert. i am aware that such a notion as devizes having formed the nucleus of the tree heraldic in england is not countenanced, nor even suspected, by any of the popular writers on the art. i may add, that one gentleman, holding an important position therein, has signified his disapproval of so early an origin being assigned to the institution. but over-against this, i beg to parade a passage from a letter written by thomas blore in to sir egerton brydges: "the heralds," says he, "seem originally not to have been instituted for the manufacturing of armorial ensigns, but for the recording those ensigns which had been borne."--_censura literaria_, vol. iii. p. . my case is now stated. i shall be well content that some of your archæological friends should scatter it to the winds, provided they will explain how it is that devizes, in common with some of the ancient cities of egypt and greece, has so long rejoiced in a plural name. to aid this last endeavour, i close with one more statement. the castle stood nearly midway between two other adjoining towns or villæ, also bearing plural names: potternæ=arum [posternæ?] and kaningæ=arum. j. waylen. p.s.--i think i may plead the privilege of a postscript for the purpose of recording (what may be taken as) an indication, though perhaps not a proof, that the idea of devices or contrivances was implied in the name so recently as the period of the civil war. the _mercurius civicus_, a parliamentary paper, , states that devizes was being garrisoned for the king, in the following terms: "hopton is fortifying amain at the devises in wiltshire, but i fear greater fortifyings for the devices in oxford." * * * * * minor queries. _gold signet ring._--i possess an ancient gold signet ring, which was dug up a few years since not far from an old entrenchment in the borough of leominster, in the county of hereford, the device thereon being a _cock_; it is of very pure metal, and weighs grains. it is in fine preservation: and device is rudely cut, but i beg to inclose an impression from which you may judge. can any of your antiquarian readers throw any light on the subject to whom this device originally belonged? in levelling the fortified entrenchment above referred to some half century ago, various utensils of pottery, burnt bones, spear and arrow heads, tesselated tiles, fragments of sculptured stones, and other relics of antiquity, were found. j. b. whitborne. _ecclesia anglicana._--i observe, in an interesting letter published in the december number of the _ecclesiologist_, in an enumeration of service books belonging to the english church before the reformation, and now existing in the pepysian library, cambridge, the following title: "no. . servicium de omni officio episcopali consernenta (_sic_) chorum ... secundum usum ecclesie anglicane." now i am anxious to know from any of your readers, who are better informed on these subjects than i am, or who have access to old libraries, whether _ecclesia anglicana_ is a _usual_ designation of the catholic church in england before the reformation. service books according to the use of some particular cathedral church are of course well known, as in this same list to which i have referred we find "secundum usum insignis ecclesie eboracensis," "ad insignis ecclesiæ sarisburiensis usum," &c.: but i should be glad to learn, in these days of _ultramontane_ pretensions, whether, even prior to the reformation, the distinct nationality of the anglican church was _commonly_ asserted by the use of such a title in her service books. i need scarcely observe how many interesting cognate questions might be asked on this subject. g. r. m. _tangiers.--english army in ._--a merchant in deposed that he knew not how long complainant had been a _soldier_, or beyond the seas before may, , but that he has heretofore seen and knew him at tomger, before and at the time of the demolishing thereof, being then a _soldier_; and no doubt could prove that he was in england a considerable time next before may, . could the place be other than tangiers, destroyed in ? was complainant (a younger son of a well-connected family of gentry, but himself probably in poverty), who in deeds, and on his mon. tablet, is described as gent., likely to have been in (aged twenty-seven) a private, a non-commissioned, or commissioned officer? if the latter, would he not have been so described? a. c. { } _smith._--of what family was ---- smith, confessor of katherine of braganza, buried in york minster? and what are the arms on his tomb? where can information be obtained as to a judge smith, supposed to have been of the same family? a. f. b. diss. _termination "-itis."_--what is the derivation of the termination "-itis," used principally in medical words, and these signifying inflammation, as pleuritis, _vulgo_ pleurisy, inflammation of the pleura, &c.? adsum. _loak hen._--in two or more parishes in norfolk was a custom, or modus, of paying a _loak hen_ in lieu of tythes of fowls and eggs. i shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me what constituted a _loak hen_? g. j. _etymological traces of the social position of our ancestors._--i remember reading an account of the traces of the social position of our saxon ancestors yet remaining in our english customs, which interested me much at the time, and which i would gladly again refer to, as, captain cuttle's invaluable maxim not being then extant, i neglected "making a note of it." it described the norman derivation of the names of all kinds of _meat_, as beef, mutton, veal, venison, &c.; while the corresponding _animals_ still retained their original saxon appellations, ox, sheep, calf, &c.: and it accounted for this by the fact, that while the animals were under the care of the saxon thralls and herdsmen, they retained of course their saxon names; but when served up at the tables of their norman lords, it became necessary to name them afresh. i think the word _heronsewes_ (cf. vol. iii., pp. . .; vol. iv., p. .) is another example, which are called _harnseys_ at this day in norfolk; as it is difficult, on any other supposition, to account for an east-anglian giving a french appellation to so common a bird as the heron. e. s. taylor. _locke's writings._--in an unpublished manuscript of paley's _lectures on locke's essay_, it is stated that so great was the antipathy against the writings of this eminent philosopher, at the time they were first issued, that they were "burnt at oxford by the hands of the common hangman." is this fact recorded in any life of locke; or how may it be ascertained? there is no notice of it, i believe, in either law's _life_, or in that of lord king. george munford. east winch. _passage in göthe's "faust."_--has the following passage from the second part of _faust_ ever been noticed in connexion with the fact that the clock in göthe's chamber stopped at the moment that he himself expired? if it has not, i shall congratulate myself on having been the first to point out this very curious coincidence "_mephistopheles._ die zeit wird herr, der gries hier liegt im sand, _die uhr steht still_---- _chorus._ steht still! sie schweigt wie mitternacht _der zeiger fällt._ _mephistopheles._ er fällt, es ist vollbracht." _faust_, der tragödie zweiter theil, fünfter act. w. fraser. _schomberg's epitaph by swift._--a correspondent asks whether the epitaph alluded to in the following extract from the _daily courant_ of july , , is given in any edition of swift's _works_. "the latin inscription, composed by the rev. dr. swift, dean of st. patrick's, and ordered by the dean and chapter to be fixed up in the cathedral of the said church, over the place where the body of the great duke of schomberg lies, has been with all possible care and elegance engraved on a beautiful table of black kilkenny marble, about eight feet long and four or five broad; the letters are gilded, and the whole is now finished with the utmost neatness. people of all ranks are continually crowding to see it, and the inscription is universally admired." the _daily gazetteer_ of saturday, july , , gives a detailed account of the rejoicings in dublin on the tuesday preceding, being the anniversary of the battle of the boyne, and a particular account of the bonfire made by dean swift in st. kevin's street, near the watch-house. e. _the burial service said by heart._--bishop sprat (in his _discourse to his clergy_, , for which see _clergyman's instructor_, , p. .) relates that, immediately after the restoration, a noted ringleader of schism in the former times was interred in one of the principal churches of london, and that the minister of the parish, being a wise and regular conformist, and afterwards an eminent bishop, delivered the whole office of burial by heart on that occasion. the friends of the deceased were greatly edified at first, but afterwards much surprised and confounded when they found that their fervent admiration had been bestowed on a portion of the common prayer. southey (_common-place book_, iii. .) conjectures that the minister was bull. this cannot be, for bull, i believe, never held a london cure. was it hackett? and who was the noted ringleader of schism? j. k. _shaw's staffordshire mss._--can any of your staffordshire correspondents furnish information as to the present depository of the rev. stebbing shaw's staffordshire mss., and the ms. notes of dr. thomas harwood used in his two editions { } of erdeswick's _staffordshire_? and can they refer to a pedigree of thomas wood, esq., lord chief justice of the common pleas, ; who is said to have built hall o'wood, in batterley, near botley, staffordshire. n. c. l. _"ne'er to these chambers," &c._-- "ne'er to these chambers where the mighty rest since their foundation, came a nobler guest, nor to th' immortal entrance e'er convey'd a loftier spirit, or more welcome shade." where do these lines come from? aram. swillington. _county history societies._--i would suggest the idea whether county history societies might not be formed with advantage, as there are so many counties which have never had their histories written. they are very expensive and laborious for individuals to undertake, and constantly require additions on account of the many changes which are taking place, to make them complete as works of reference for the present time: i think that by the means suggested they might be made very useful, particularly if complete statistical tables were annexed to the general and descriptive account. with comparatively little expense, the history and statistics of every county could be brought down to the latest date, making a valuable work of reference to which all could refer with confidence for the information which is constantly being sought for. g. h. _hugh oldham, bishop of exeter._--is any pedigree extant of the family of hugh oldham? baines speaks of him (_hist. of lanc._, vol. ii. p. .) as "descended from an ancient family," born, "according to wood and godwin, at manchester; but, according to dodsworth, at oldham." what arms did he adopt? j. b. _the english domestic novel._--my first intention was to ask whether defoe was the founder of this pleasing class of literature, but have just recollected, that mrs. aphara behn wrote something of the kind in the time of charles ii. my first question will be, therefore, who was the earliest writer of this description? and, secondly, is not the matter of sufficient interest to ask your readers' assistance in the formation of a list, giving full titles, authors' names, and dates extending to or ? john miland. _dr. young._--in the most authentic biographical accounts we leave of dr. young the poet, it is stated that he left in the hands of his housekeeper a collection of manuscript sermons, with an injunction that after his death they should be destroyed; it is also added, that this request was only complied with _in part_. can any of your correspondents confirm the hope that these sermons may still be in existence; and if so, in what quarter information may be obtained concerning them? the housekeeper is said to have been the widow of a clergyman, and therefore was not regarded by the doctor in the light of a servant. j. h. cambridge. _bishop hall's meditations._--i have an old copy before me, the title-page of which runs as follows: "occasionall meditations by jos. exon. set forth by r. h. the third edition: with the addition of forty-nine meditations not heretofore published: london, printed by m. f. for nathaniel butter, ." it is edited by bishop hall's son (robert). i should be glad to learn whether this is a scarce edition. boeoticus. edgmond, salop. _chatterton._--dr. gregory, in his _life of chatterton_, p. . (reprinted by southey in the first volume of his edition of chatterton's _works_, p. lxx.), says: "chatterton, as appears by the coroner's inquest, swallowed arsenick in water, on the th of august, , and died in consequence thereof the next day." mr. barrett, the historian of bristol, one of chatterton's best friends and patrons, who, from his profession as a surgeon, was likely to have made, and seems to have made, inquiries as to the circumstances of his death, says, in his _history of bristol_, not published before , and therefore not misled by any false first report, that chatterton's principles impelled him to become his own executioner. he took a large dose of opium, some of which was picked out from his teeth after his death, and he was found the next morning a most horrid spectacle: with limbs and features distorted as after convulsions, a frightful and ghastly corpse" (p. .). i do not know whether this contradiction has ever been noticed, and shall be obliged to any correspondent who can give me information. i believe that sir herbert croft's _love and madness_ was the authority followed by dr. gregory, but i have not the book. n. b. _passage in job._--the wonderful and sublime book of job, authenticated by subsequent divine records, and about years old, is very probably the most ancient writing in the world: and though life and immortality were especially reserved as the glorious gift and revelation of our blessed redeemer, the eternal author and finisher of our salvation, yet job was permitted to declare his deep conviction, that he should rise from the dead and see god. this memorable declaration (chap. xix. ver. .) can be forgotten by none of your readers; but some of them may not know that the septuagint adds these words of life to chap. xlii. ver. .:"[greek: gegraptai de, auton palin anastêsesthai meth' hôn ho kurios anistêsin][ ]."--(but it is written that { } he shall rise again with those whom the lord raiseth up.) our authorised and truly admirable translation of the holy scriptures omits this deeply important conclusion of job's life, so properly noticed by the learned and excellent parkhurst. pray, can you or any of your readers explain the cause of this omission? as your pages have not been silent on the grand consummation which cannot be too constantly before us, i do not apologise for this very short addition to your notes. edwin jones. southsea, hants. [footnote : this passage was originally printed "[greek: gegraptai, seauton] ...". it was corrected by an erratum in next issue--transcriber.] _turner's view of lambeth palace._--in a newspaper memoir of the late mr. turner, r.a., published shortly after his death, it was stated that the first work exhibited by him at somerset house was a "view of lambeth palace," i believe in water colours. i should be glad to ascertain, through your columns, if this picture be still in existence, and in what collection. l. e. x. _clarke's essay on the usefulness of mathematical learning._--can any of the readers of "n. & q." assist me in obtaining a copy of this work? in the same author's _rationale of circulating numbers_ (murray, london, ) it is stated that the demonstrations of all the theorems and problems at the end of the rev. john lawson's _dissertation on the geometrical analysis of the ancients_ "will be given at the latter end of _an essay on the usefulness of mathematical learning_, which will soon be published." in a subsequent portion of the work, a sketch of the contents of the _essay_ is given, which include "a treatise on magic squares, translated from the french of frenicle, as published in _les ouvrages de mathématique par messieurs de l'académie royale des sciences_, with several additions and remarks." and in a list of "tracts and translations _written and published_ by h. clarke, ll.d.," which occurs at the end of my copy of the first volume of leybourn's _mathematical repository_ (london, ), the _essay_ appears as no. , and is stated to have been published in vo. at six shillings. none of my friends are acquainted with the work; but if the preceding description will enable any reader to help me to a copy, i shall esteem it a great favour. t. t. wilkinson. burnley, lancashire. "_the general pardon._"--an imperfect copy of a small tract (measuring five and a half inches by three and a half inches) has recently come into my hands, of which i much desire to obtain the wanting parts. it is entitled: "the general pardon, geuen longe agone, and sythe newly confyrmed, by our almightie father, with many large priuileges, grauntes, and bulles graunted for euer, as is to be seen hereafter: drawne out of frenche into english. by wyllyam hayward. imprinted at london, by wyllyam how, for wyllyam pickeringe." there is no date, but it is believed to have been printed in or about . it is in black letter, and is an imitation of the roman catholic pardons. it consists of twelve leaves. in my copy the last seven of these are torn through their middle vertically. i have not been able to meet with this tract in the catalogues of any of the great libraries which i have consulted; _e.g._ the british museum, bodleian, cambridge university, lambeth, and several of the college libraries at cambridge. i want any information concerning it, or its original in french, which the readers of "n. & q." can give: also access to a copy from which to transcribe the parts wanting in mine. charles c. babington. st. john's coll. cambridge. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _edward the confessor's rings._--there is an old legend of a ring given to one of our early kings, i think edward the confessor, by some saintly or angelic messenger. if any of your readers could give me any of the details of this story, it would very much oblige your constant reader m. j. t. [the following extract from taylor's _glory of regality_, pp. . _et seq._, will give our correspondent the legend referred to. "the ring with which our kings are invested, called by some writers 'the wedding ring of england,' is illustrated, like the ampulla, by a miraculous history, of which the following are the leading particulars: from the 'golden legende' (_julyan notary_, ), p. .:--'edward the confessor being one day askt for alms by a certain 'fayre olde man,' the king found nothing to give him except his ring, with which the poor man thankfully departed. some time after, two english pilgrims in the holy land having lost their road, as they travelled at the close of the day, 'there came to them a fayre auncyent man wyth whyte heer for age.' then the old man axed them what they were and of what regyon. and they answerde that they were pylgryms of englond, and hadde lost their felyshyp and way also. then this old man comforted theym goodly, and brought theym into a fayre cytee; and whan they had well refresshyd them, and rested theym alle nyght; on the morne, this fayre olde man wente with theym and brought theym in the ryght waye agayne. and he was gladde to hear theym talke of the welfare and holynesse of theyr kynge saynt edward. and whan he shold departe fro theym thenne he told theym what he was, and sayd i am johan theuangelyst, and saye ye unto edward your king, that i grete hym well by the token that he gaaf to me thys rynge with his one hondes, whych rynge ye shalle { } delyuer to hym agayne: and whan he had delyuerde to theym the ringe, he departed from theym sodenly.' "this command, as may be supposed, was punctually obeyed by the messengers, who were furnisht with ample powers for authenticating their mission. the ring was received by the royal confessor, and in after times was preserved with due care at his shrine in the abbey of westminster."] _the bourbons._--what was the origin of the bourbon family? how did henry iv. come to be the next heir to the throne on the extinction of the line of valois? e. h. a. [henri iv., king of navarre, succeeded to the throne on the extinction of the house of valois, as the head of the house of bourbon, which descends from robert of france, count de clermont, the fifth son of st. louis, and seigneur de bourbon. on the death of louis i. in , leaving two sons, this house was divided into the bourbon, or elder branch (which became extinct on the death of the constable of bourbon, in ), and the younger branch, or that of the counts de la marche, afterwards counts and dukes of vendome. henri was the son of antoine de bourbon, duc de vendome.] * * * * * replies. emblems. (vol. vi., p. .) the query confirms professor de morgan's excellent article in _the companion to the almanack for _, "on the difficulty of correct description of books." the manuscript note cited by h. j., though curiously inaccurate, guided me to the book for which he inquires. i copy the title-page: "_die betrübte pegnesis, den leben, kunst, und tugend-wandel des seelig-edeln floridans, h. sigm. von birken, com. pal. cæs. durch sinnbilder in kupfern, zur schuldigen nach-ehre fürstellend, und mit gesprach und reim-gedichten erklärend, durch ihre blumen-hirten._ nürnberg, , mo." i presume the annotator, not understanding german, and seeing "floridans" the most conspicuous word on the title-page, cited him as the author; but it is the pastoral academic name of the late herr sigmond von birken, in whose honour the work is composed. the emblem, with the motto "bis fracta relinquor," at p. . (not .), is a tree from which two boughs are broken. it illustrates the death of floridan's second wife, and his determination not to take a third. the chess-board, plate xiv. p. ., has the motto, "per tot discrimina rerum," and commemorates floridan's safe return to nuremberg after the multitudinous perils ("die schaaren der gefahren") of a journey through lower saxony. they must have been great, if typified by the state of the board, on which only a black king and a white bishop are left--a chess problem! i bought my copy at a book-sale many years ago, and, after reading a few pages, laid it aside as insufferably dull, although it was marked by its former possessor, the rev. henry white, of lichfield, "very rare, probably unique." on taking it up to answer h. j.'s query, i found some matter relating to the german academies of the seventeenth century, which i think may be interesting. mr. hallam (_literature of europe_, iv. v. .) says: "the arcadians determined to assume every one a pastoral name and a greek birthplace; to hold their meetings in some verdant meadow, and to mingle with all their own compositions, as far as possible, images from pastoral life; images always agreeable, because they recall the times of primitive innocence. the poetical tribe adopted as their device the pipe of seven reeds bound with laurel, and their president, or director, was denominated general shepherd or keeper--_custode generale_." he slightly mentions the german academics of the sixteenth century (iii. ix. .), and says: "it is probable that religious animosities stood in the way of such institutions, _or they may have flourished without obtaining much celebrity_." the academy of pegnitz-shepherds ("pegnitzshäfer-orden") took its name from the little river pegnitz which runs through nuremberg. herr sigmond von birken was elected a member in . he chose _floridan_ as his pastoral name, and the amaranth as his flower. in he was admitted to the palm academy ("palmen-orden"), choosing the name _der erwacsene_ (the adult?), and the snowdrop. in , a vacancy having occurred in the pegnitz-herdsmen ("pegnitz-hirten") he was thought worthy to fill it, and in he received the diploma of the venetian order of the recuperati. he died in . this, and what can be hung upon it, is _die betrübte pegnitz_, a dialogue of pages. it opens with a meeting of shepherds and shepherdesses, who go in and out of their cottages on the banks of the pegnitz, and tell one another, what all seem equally well acquainted with, the entire life of their deceased friend. it would not be easy to find a work more clumsy in conception and tasteless in execution. herr von birken seems to have been a prosperous man, and to have enjoyed a high pastoral reputation. his works are enumerated, but the catalogue looks ephemeral. there is, however, one with a promising title: _die trockene trunkenheit, oder die gebrauch und missbrauch des tabacks_. his portrait, as "der erwachsene," is prefixed. it has not a shepherd-like look. he seems about fifty, with a fat face, laced cravat, and large flowing wig. there are twenty-four emblematical plates, rather below the average of their time. as so secondary a town as nuremberg had at least three academies, we may infer that such { } institutions were abundant in germany, in the seventeenth century: that of the pegnitz shepherds lasted at least till the beginning of the eighteenth. in _der thörichte pritschmeister_, a comedy printed at coblenz, , one of the characters is "phantasirende, ein pegnitz schäffer," who talks fustian and is made ridiculous throughout. the comedy is "von menantes." i have another work by the same author: _galante, verliebte, und satyrische gedichte_, hamburg, . i shall be very glad to be told who he was, as his versification is often very good, and his jokes, though not graceful, and not very laughable, are real. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * marriages en chemise.--mantelkinder.--legitimation. (vol. vi., pp. . .) the popular error on the legal effect of marriage _en chemise_ is, i think, noticed among other vulgar errors in law in a little book published some twenty years ago under the name of _westminster hall_, to which a deceased lawyer of eminence, then young at the bar, was a contributor. i believe the opinion to be still extensively prevalent, and to be probably founded, not exactly in total ignorance, but in a misconception, of the law. the text writers inform us that "the husband is liable for the wife's debts, _because_ he acquires an absolute interest in the personal estate of the wife," &c. (bacon's _abridgment_, tit. "baron and feme.") now an unlearned person, who hears this doctrine, might reasonably conclude, that if his bride has no estate at all, he will incur no liability; and the future husband, more prudent than refined, might think it as well to notify to his neighbours, by an unequivocal symbol, that he took no pecuniary benefit with his wife, and therefore expected to be free from her pecuniary burdens. in this, as in most other popular errors, there is found a _substratum_ of reason. with regard to the other vulgar error, noticed at the foot of mr. brooks' communication (p. .), that "all children under the girdle at the time of marriage are legitimate," the origin of it is more obvious. every one knows of the "legitimatio per subsequens matrimonium" of the canonists, and how the barons assembled in parliament at merton refused to engraft this law of the church on the jurisprudence of england. but it is not perhaps so well known that, upon such a marriage the premature offspring of the bride and bridegroom sometimes used to perform a part in the ceremony, and received the nuptial benediction under the veil or mantle of the bride or the pallium of the altar. hence the children so legitimated are said to have been called by the germans _mantelkinder_. the learning on this head is to be found in hommel's _jurisprudentia numismatibus illustrata_ (lipsiæ, ), pp. - ., where the reader will also find a pictorial illustration of the ceremony from a codex of the _novellæ_ in the library of christian schwarz. the practice seems to have been borrowed from the form of adopting children, noticed in the same work and in ducange, verb. "pallium, _pallio cooperire_;" and in grimm's _deut. rechts alterth._, p. . let me add a word on the famous negative given to the demand of the clergy at merton. no reason was assigned, or, at least, has been recorded, but a general unwillingness to change the laws of england. as the same barons did in fact consent to change them in other particulars, this can hardly have been the reason. sir w. blackstone speaks of the consequent uncertainty of heirship and discouragement of matrimony as among the causes of rejection,--arguments of very questionable weight. others (as bishop hurd, in his _dialogues_) have attributed the rejection to the constitutional repugnance of the barons to the general principles of the canon and imperial law, which the proposed change might have tended to introduce,--a degree of forethought and a range of political vision for which i can hardly give them credit, especially as the great legal authority of that day, bracton, has borrowed the best part of his celebrated treatise from the corpus juris. the most plausible motive which i have yet heard assigned for this famous parliamentary negative on the bishops' bill at merton, is suggested (quod minimè reris!) in an assistant poor-law commissioner's report (vol. vi. of the vo. printed series), viz. that bastardy multiplied the escheats which accrued to medieval lords of manors. e. smirke. a venerable person whose mind is richly stored with "shreds and patches" of folk-lore and local antiquities, on seeing the "curious marriage entry" (p. .), has furnished me with the following explanation. it is the popular belief at kirton in lindsey that if a woman, who has contracted debts previous to her marriage, leave her residence in a state of nudity, and go to that of her future husband, he the husband will not be liable for any such debts. a case of this kind actually occurred in that highly civilised town within my informant's memory; the woman leaving her house from a bedroom window, and putting on some clothes as she stood on the top of the ladder by which she accomplished her descent. k. p. d. e. in that amusing work, burn's _history of the fleet marriages_, p. ., occurs the following entry:--"the woman ran across ludgate hill in her shift;" to which the editor has added this note:--"the _daily journal_ of th november, , mentions a similar exhibition at ulcomb in { } kent. it was a vulgar error that a man was not liable to the bride's debts, if he took her in no other apparel than her shift." j. y. saffron walden. * * * * * editions of the prayer-book prior to . (vol. vi., pp. . .) as mr. sparrow simpson invites additions to his list from all quarters, i send him my contribution: and as i see that he has included _translations_ of our liturgy into other languages, i do the same: . worcester. jo. oswen. folio. . london. jugge and cawood. to. . london. jugge and cawood. vo. . london. folio. . london. folio. . cambridge. folio. . london. to. . london. to. . london. folio. . london. to. . cambridge. to. . london. folio. . london. to. . cambridge. folio. . the scotch, by laud and the scotch bishops. printed by john jones. vo. . latine versa, per alex. absium. lipsiæ. to. . " " london. vo. s. a. " by reginald wolfe. london. to. . in greek. london. vo. . in french. london. to. . in irish. dublin. folio. . in spanish. london. to. . in welsh. london. to. all the foregoing editions are in the bodleian library. i may add to them the following three: .-- . dublin, by humfrey powell. folio .-- (?). dublin. company of stationers. to .-- . dublin. the _first_ of these, which is the first book printed in ireland, is extremely rare. i believe only two copies are certainly known to exist; one of which is in the library of trinity college, dublin; and the other in that of emmanuel college, cambridge. both are in very fine condition. the _second_ is in my possession. the book is quite perfect; but some wiseacre has carefully erased the date. the _almanac for xxvi yeares_ tells nothing, being for the years to . but the book contains a prayer for "frederick, the prince elector palatine, and the lady elizabeth, his wife, with their hopeful issue." he married the princess in ; and in he was elected king of bohemia, and thenceforward would be prayed for under his higher title. if the sunday letter in the calendar is to be trusted, the book was printed (according to de morgan's _book of almanacs_) in . the dublin society of stationers was established in that year; and it is not unlikely that they commenced their issues with a prayer-book. i have never seen nor heard of another copy, with which i might compare mine, and thus ascertain its date. the _third_, of , is reported; but i have never met with it. h. cotton. thurles. * * * * * etymology of pearl. (vol. vi., p. .) the inquiry of your correspondent ifigfowl respecting the etymology of the word _pearl_ does not admit of a simple answer. the word occurs in all the modern languages, both romance and teutonic: _perla_, ital. and span.; _perle_, french and german, whence the english _pearl_. adelung in v. believes the word to be of teutonic origin, and considers it as the diminutive of _beere_, a berry. others derive it from _perna_, the latin name of a shell-fish (see ducange in _perlæ_; diez, _grammatik der romanischen sprachen_, vol. i. p. .). neither of these derivations is probable: it is not shown that _beere_ had a diminutive form, and _perna_ was a local and obscure name: see pliny, _n. h._ xxxii. ad fin. salmasius (_exercit. plin._, p. . ed. ) thinks that _perla_ is formed from _perula_, for _sperula_, the diminutive of _sphæra_. a more probable origin is that the word is formed from the latin _pirum_, as suggested by diez, in allusion to the pear-shaped form of the pearl. ducange in v. says that the extremity of the nose was called _pirula nasi_, from its resemblance to the form of a pear. but _pirus_ was used to denote a boundary-stone, made in a pyramidal shape (ducange in v.); and this seems to have been the origin of the singular expression _pirula nasi_, as being something at the extremity. another supposition is, that the word _perla_ is derived from the latin _perula_, the diminutive of _pera_, a wallet. a wallet was a small bag hung round the neck; and the word _perula_, in the sense of a small bag, occurs in seneca and apuleius. the analogy of shape and mode of wearing is sufficiently close to suggest the transfer of the name. _perula_ and _perulus_ are used in low latin in the sense of _pearl_. ducange cites a passage from a hagiographer, where _perula_ means the white of the eye, evidently alluding to the colour of the pearl. the choice seems to lie between _perula_ as the diminutive of _pera_ or of _pirum_. neither derivation is improbable. it is to be observed that the modern italian form of _pirum_, the fruit of the pear, is _pera_; the modern feminine noun being, as in numerous other cases, formed from the plural of the latin neuter noun (see diez, ib. vol. ii. p. .). the analogy of _unio_ (to which i shall { } advert presently) supports the derivation from the fruit; the derivation from _pera_, a wallet, is, on merely linguistical grounds, preferable. the greek name of _pearl_ is [greek: margaritês], originally applied to a precious stone, and apparently moulded out of some oriental name, into a form suited to the greek pronunciation. scott and liddell in v. derive it from the persian _murwari_. pliny, _h. n._ ix. ., speaking of the pearl, says: "apud græcos non est, ne apud barbaros quidem inventores ejus, aliud quam margaritæ." the greek name _margarita_ was used by the romans, but the proper latin name for the pearl was _unio_. pliny (ibid.) explains this word by saying that each pearl is _unique_, and unlike every other pearl. ammianus marcellinus (lib. xxiii. ad fin.) thinks that pearls were called _uniones_, because the best were found single in the shell; solinus (c. .) because they were always found single. the more homely explanation of salmasius seems, however, to be the true one; namely, that the common word for an onion, growing in a single bulb, was transferred to the pearl (_exercit. plin._, pp. - .; columella _de r. r._ xii. .). the ancient meaning of _unio_ is still preserved in the french _ognon_. l. your correspondent asks the "etymon of our english word _pearl_." it would not be uninteresting to learn, at the same time, at what period _pearl_ came into general use as an english word? burton, who wrote his _anatomy_ in the reign of james i., uses the word _union_ (from the latin _unio_) instead of _pearl_ (_anat. melanc._, vol. ii. part . sec. . mem. ., and ib., p. . sec. . mem. . subs. .). in the latter passage he says "those smaller unions which are found in shells, amongst the persians and indians, are very cordial, and most part avail to the exhilaration of the heart." the latin term _unio_ differs from "margarita," in so far as it seems to have been applied by pliny to distinguish the small and ill-shaped pearls, from the large round and perfect, which he calls "margaritæ." and in his ninth book, c. ., he defines the difference philologically, as well as philosophically. philemon holland, who published his translation of pliny in , about thirteen years after burton published the first edition of his _anatomy_, uses the word _pearl_ indifferently as the equivalent both of _margarita_ and _unio_. query: was the word _union_ generally received in england instead of _pearl_ in burton's time, and when did it give place to it? j. emerson tennant. * * * * * "martin drunk." (vol. v., p. .) has not the following song something to do with the expression "martin drunk"? it is certainly cotemporary with thomas nash the elizabethan satirist, and was long a favourite "three man's" song. it is copied from _deuteromelia, or the second part of musick's melodie_, to., : "martin said to his man. "martin said to his man, fie! man, fie! o martin said to his man, who's the foole now? martin said to his man, fill thou the cup, and i the can; thou hast well drunken, man, who's the foole now? "i see a sheepe shering corne, fie! man, fie! i see a sheepe shering corne, who's the foole now? i see a sheepe shering corne, and a cuckold blow his horne; thou hast well drunken, man, who's the foole now? "i see a man in the moone, fie! man, fie! i see a man in the moone; who's the foole now? i see a man in the moone, clowting of st. peter's shoone; thou hast well drunken, man, who's the foole now? "i see a hare chase a hound, fie! man, fie! i see a hare chase a hound, who's the foole now? i see a hare chase a hound, twenty mile above the ground; thou hast well drunken, man, who's the foole now? "i see a goose ring a hog, fie! man, fie! i see a goose ring a hog, who's the foole now? i see a goose ring a hog, and a snayle that did bite a dog; thou hast well drunken, man, who's the foole now? "i see a mouse catch the cat, fie! man, fie! i see a mouse catch the cat, who's the foole now? i see a mouse catch the cat, and the cheese to eate the rat; thou hast well drunken, man, who's the foole now?" edward f. rimbault. * * * * * gÖthe's reply to nicolai. (vol. vi., p. .). had m. m. e. gone to the fountain-head, and consulted göthe's own statement in his autobiography, he would have seen in the _werke_, vol. xxvi. { } p. ., that mr. hayward's note was not written with that writer's usual care. göthe does not say that his reply to nicolai's _joys of werter_, though circulated only in ms., destroyed n.'s literary reputation: on the contrary, he says that his squib (for it was no more) consisted of an epigram, not fit for communication, and a dialogue between charlotte and werter, which was never copied, and long lost; but that this dialogue, exposing n.'s impertinence, was written with a foreboding of his sad habit, afterwards developed, of treating of subjects out of his depth, which habit, notwithstanding his indisputable merits of another kind, utterly destroyed his reputation. this was most true: and yet all such assertions must be taken in a qualified sense. nearly thirty years after this was written i partook of the hospitality of n. at berlin. it was in , when he was at the head, not of the berlin literati, but of the book-manufactory of prussia. he was then what, afterwards and elsewhere, the longmans, murrays, constables, cottas, and brockhauses were,--the great publisher of his age and country. the _entrepreneur_ of the _neue deutsche bibliothek_ may be compared with the publishers of our and the french great cyclopædias, and our quarterly reviews. it was unfortunate for the posthumous reputation of the great bibliopolist that he, patronising a school that was dying out, made war on the athletes of the rising school. he assailed nearly every great man, philosopher or poet, from kant and göthe downwards, especially of the schools of saxony, swabia, and the free imperial cities. no wonder that he became afterwards what macfleckno and colly cibber had been to dryden and pope. in some dozen of the _xenien_ of göthe and schiller, in , he was treated as the arch-philistine. m. m. e. characterises him as the "friend" and "fellow-labourer" of lessing. now lessing was incomparably the most eminent _littérateur_ of the earlier part of that age,--the man who was the forerunner of the philosophers, and whose criticisms supplied the place of poetry. the satirists of the _xenien_ affect to compassionate lessing, in having to endure a companion so forced on him as nicolai was, whom they speak of as a "thorn in the crown of the martyr." the few who care for the literary controversies of the age of göthe in germany will be greatly assisted by an edition of the _xenien_, with notes, published at dantzig, . h. c. r. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _processes upon paper._--the favourable manner in which the account i have given of the collodion process has been received, not only by your readers in general, as has been evinced by many private letters, but also by the numerous correspondents it has drawn forth, induces me, after some little delay, to request space for a description of the following processes upon paper. in giving these i wish it to be understood that i may offer but little that is original, my object being to describe, as plainly as i possibly can, these easy methods, and to make no observation but what i have found to be successful in my own hands. i have had the good fortune to obtain the friendship of some of the most successful photographers of the day; and taking three very eminent ones, i find they have each some peculiarities in his mode of manipulation, varying with each other in the strength of the solutions employed, and producing results the most agreeable to their respective tastes. reviewing these different processes in my own mind, and trying with patience the various results, i conclude that the following quantities are calculated to produce an adequate degree of sensibility in the paper, and yet to allow it to be prepared for the action of light for many hours previous to its use, and yet with more certainty than any other i am acquainted with. i think i may always depend upon it for twenty-four to thirty-six hours after excitement, and i have seen good pictures produced upon the third day. i believe it is a rule which admits of no contradiction, that the more you dilute your solution, the longer the excited paper will keep; but in proportion to its diminished sensibility, the time of exposure must be prolonged, and therefore i am, from this waste of time and other reasons, disposed to place much less value upon the wax-paper process than many do. the process i am about to describe is so simple, and i hope to make it so intelligible to your non-photographic readers, that a perfect novice, using ordinary care, must meet with success; but should i fail doing so upon all points, any information sought through the medium of "n. & q." shall meet with explanation from myself, if not from other of your experienced correspondents, whose indulgence i must beg should the communication be deemed too elementary, it being my earnest desire to point out to archæologists who are desirous of acquiring this knowledge, how easily they themselves may practise this beautiful art, and possess those objects they would desire to preserve, in a far more truthful state than could be otherwise accomplished. i have not myself met that uniform success with any other paper that i have with turner's photographic of chafford mills: a sheet of this divided into two portions forms at the same time a useful and also a very easily-managed size, one adapted for most cameras, forming a picture of nine inches by seven, which is adequate for nearly every purpose. each sheet being marked in its opposite corners with a plain pencil-mark on its smooth side (vide _antè_, p. .), the surface for { } all future operations is in all lights easily discerned. in my instructions for printing from collodion negatives, a form of iodized paper was given, which, although very good, is not, i think, equal to the following, which is more easily and quickly prepared, exhibits a saving of the iodide of potassium, and is upon the whole a neater mode. take sixty grains of nitrate of silver and sixty grains of iodide of potassium; dissolve each separately in an ounce of distilled water; mix together and stir with a glass rod. the precipitate settling, the fluid is to be poured away; then add distilled water to the precipitate up to four ounces, and add to it grains of iodide of potassium, which _should_ re-dissolve the precipitated iodide of silver, and form a perfectly clear solution; but if not, a little more must be carefully added, for this salt varies much, and i have found it to require grains to accomplish the desired object. the fluid being put into a porcelain or glass dish, the paper should be laid down upon its surface and immediately removed, and being laid upon a piece of blotting-paper with the wet surface uppermost, a glass rod then passed over it to and fro ensures the _total expulsion_ of all particles of air, which will frequently remain when the mere dipping is resorted to. when dry, this paper should be soaked in common water for three hours, changing the water twice or thrice, so as to remove all the soluble salts. it should then be pinned up to dry, and, when so, kept in a folio for use. i have in this manner prepared from sixty to eighty sheets in an evening with the greatest ease. it keeps good for an indefinite time, and, as all experienced photographers are aware, unless you possess good iodized paper, which should be of a _primrose_ colour, you cannot meet with success in your after-operations. iodized paper becomes sometimes of a bright brimstone colour when first made; it is then very apt to brown in its use, but tones down and improves by a little keeping. to excite this paper, dissolve thirty grains of nitrate of silver in one ounce of distilled water, and add a drachm and a half of glacial acetic acid; of this solution take one drachm, and one drachm of saturated solution of gallic acid[ ], and add to it two ounces and a half of distilled water. the iodized surface of the paper may then be either floated on the surface of the aceto-nitrate of silver or exciting fluid, and afterwards a rod passed over, as was formerly done in the iodizing, or the aceto-nitrate may be applied evenly with a brush; but in either instance the surface should be immediately blotted off; and the same blotting-paper never used a second time for this, although it may be kept to develop on and for other purposes. it will be scarcely needful to observe that this process of exciting must be performed by the light of a candle or feeble yellow light, as must the subsequent development. the excited paper may be now placed for use between sheets of blotting-paper; it seems to act equally well either when damp or when kept for many hours, and i have found it good for more than a week. the time for exposure must entirely depend upon the degree of light. in two minutes and a half a good picture may be produced; but if left exposed for twenty minutes or more, little harm will arise; the paper does not solarize, but upon the degree of image visible upon the paper depends the means of developing. when long exposed, a saturated solution of gallic acid only applied to the exposed surfaces will be sufficient; but if there is little appearance of an image, then a free undiluted solution of aceto-nitrate may be used, in conjunction with the gallic acid, the former never being in proportion more than one-third. if that quantity is exceeded, either a brownish or an unpleasant reddish tint is often obtained. these negatives should be fixed by immersing them in a solution of hyposulphite of soda, which may be of the strength of one ounce of salt to eight ounces of water--the sufficiency of immersion being known by the disappearance of the yellow colour, and when they have been once immersed they may be taken to the daylight to ascertain this. the hyposulphite must now be perfectly removed by soaking in water, which may extend to several hours; but this may be always ascertained by the tongue, for, if tasteless, it has been accomplished. if it is deemed advisable--which i think is only required in very dark over-done pictures--to wax the negative, it is easily managed by holding a piece of white wax or candle in front of a clean iron rather hot, and passing it frequently over the surface. the superabundant wax being again removed by passing it between some clean pieces of blotting-paper. although the minuter details can never be acquired by this mode which are obtained by the collodion process, it has the advantage of extreme simplicity, and by the operator providing himself with a bag or square of yellow calico, which he can loosely peg down to the ground when no other shade is near, to contain spare prepared papers, he can at any future time obtain a sufficient number of views, which afterwards he can develop at his leisure. it requires no liquids to be carried about with you, nor is that nice manipulation required which attends the collodion process. the wax-paper process has been extolled by many, and very successful results have been obtained: the paper has the undoubted advantage of keeping after being excited much longer than any other; but, from my own experience, just so much the weaker it is made, and so as to safely rely upon its long remaining useful, so it is proportionally slower in its action. and i have rarely seen from { } wax negatives positives so satisfactory in depth of tone, as from those which have been waxed after being taken on ordinary paper. it is all very well for gentlemen to advocate a sort of photographic tour, upon which you are to go on taking views day after day, and when you return home at leisure to develop your past proceedings: i never yet knew one so lukewarm in this pursuit as not to desire to know, at his _earliest possible_ opportunity, the result of his labours; indeed, were not this the case, i fear disappointment would more often result than at present, for i scarcely think any one can exactly decide upon the power of the light of any given day, without having made some little trial to guide him. i have myself, especially with collodion, found the action very rapid upon some _apparently_ dull day; whilst, from an unexplained cause, a comparatively brighter day has been less active in its photographic results. as in the previous process, i would strongly advise turner's paper to be used, and not the thin french papers generally adopted, because i find all the high lights so much better preserved in the english paper. it may be purchased ready waxed nearly as cheap as it may be done by one's self; but as many operators like to possess that which is entirely their own production, the following mode will be found a ready way of waxing:--procure a piece of thick smooth slate, a trifle larger than the paper to be used; waste pieces of this description are always occurring at the slate works, and are of a trifling value. this should be made very hot by laying it close before a fire; then, covered with one layer of thick blotting-paper, it will form a most admirable surface upon which to use the iron. taking a piece of wax in the left hand, an iron well heated being pressed against it, it may rapidly be made to flow over the whole surface with much evenness, the surplus wax being afterwards removed by ironing between blotting-paper. when good, it should be colourless, free from gloss, and having the beautiful semi-transparent appearance of the chinese rice-paper. to iodize the paper completely, immerse it in the following solution: iodide of potash grains. mannite drachms. cyanide of potash grains. distilled water ounces. allow it to remain three hours, taking care that air-particles are perfectly excluded, and once during the time turning over each sheet of paper, as many being inserted as the fluid will conveniently cover, as it is not injured by after keeping. it should be then removed from the iodide bath, pinned up, and dried, ready for use. when required to be excited, the paper should, by the light of a candle, be immersed in the following solution, where it should remain for five minutes: nitrate of silver drachms. glacial acetic acid drachms. distilled water ounces. being removed from the aceto-nitrate bath, immerse it into a pan of distilled water, where let it remain about a quarter of an hour. in order to make this paper keep a week or two, it must be immersed in a second water, which in point of fact is a mere reduction of the strength of the solutions already used; but for ordinary purposes, and when the paper is to be used within three or four days, one immersion is quite sufficient, especially as it does not reduce its sensitiveness in a needless way. it may now be preserved between blotting-paper, free from light, for future use. the time of exposure requisite for this paper will exceed that of the ordinary unwaxed, given in the previous directions. the picture may be developed by a complete immersion also in a saturated solution of gallic acid; but should it not have been exposed a sufficient time in the camera, a few drops of the aceto-nitrate solution added to the gallic acid greatly accelerates it. an excess of aceto-nitrate often produces an unpleasant red tint, which is to be avoided. instead of complete immersion, the paper may be laid upon some waste blotting-paper, and the surface only wetted by means of the glass rod or brush. the picture may now be fixed by the use of the hyposulphite of soda, as in the preceding process. it is not actually necessary that this should be a wax-paper process, because ordinary paper treated in this way acts very beautifully, although it does not allow of so long keeping for use after excitement; yet it has then the advantage, that a negative may either be waxed or not, as shall be deemed advisable by its apparent depth of action. hugh w. diamond. [footnote : the gallic acid was omitted in issue , but inserted by an erratum in issue . also "a saturated solution of gallic acid" was printed as "a solvent solution ...", "hyposulphate" appeared for "hyposulphite" throughout, and "solari_s_e" for "solari_z_e"--transcriber.] _exhibition of recent specimens of photography at the society of arts._--this exhibition, to which all interested in the art have been invited to contribute, was inaugurated by a conversazione at the society's rooms, on the evening of wednesday, the nd of december: the public have since been admitted at a charge of sixpence each, and it will continue open until the th of january. we strongly recommend all our friends to pay a visit to this most delightful collection. by our visit at the crowded conversazione, and another hasty view since, we do not feel justified to enter into a review and criticism of the specimens so fully as the subject requires; but in the mean time we can assure our archæological readers that they will find there such interesting records of architectural detail, together with views of antiquities from egypt and nubia, as will perfectly convince them of the value of this art with reference to their own immediate pursuits. those who feel less delight in mere antiquity will be gratified { } to see, for the first time, that there are here shown photographs which aim at more than the bare copying of any particular spot; for many of the pictures here exhibited may rank as fine works of art. we feel much delicacy and hesitation in mentioning any particular artist, where so many are entitled to praise, especially in some particular departments. we could point out pictures having all the minute truthfulness of nature, combined with the beautiful effects of some of the greatest painters. we must, however, direct especial attention to the landscapes of mr. turner, the views in the pyrenees by mr. stewart, and one splendid one of the same locality by le gray. mr. buckle's views in paper also exhibit a sharpness and detail almost equal to collodion; as do the various productions of mr. fenton in wax paper. the effects obtained also by mr. owen of bristol appear to be very satisfactory: why they are, with so much excellence, called _experimental_, we cannot tell. in collodion mr. berger has exhibited some effective portraits; and we think the success of mr. de la motte has been so great, that in some of his productions little remains to be desired. we cannot conclude this brief notice without directing attention to the minuteness and pleasing effect of the views in rome by m. eugène constant, which are also from collodion; as also the specimens from albumen negatives of m. ferrier; and, lastly, to the pleasant fact that lady amateurs are now practising this art,--very nice specimens being here exhibited by the ladies nevill, whose example we shall hope to see followed. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _quotation in locke_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the words "si non vis intelligi non debes legi" were, i believe, the exclamation of st. jerome, as he threw his copy of persius into the fire in a fit of testiness at being unable to construe some tough lines of that tough author. i set down this reply from memory, and am unable to give the authority for it. w. fraser. _pic-nic_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--the query of a. f. s. (p. .) as to the etymology of _pic-nic_ still remains unanswered. the note of w. w. (p. .) merely refers to the time ( ) when pic-nic suppers first became fashionable in england. under a french form, the word appears in a speech of robespierre's, quoted in the _british and foreign review_ for july, , p. .: "c'est ici qu'il doit m'accuser, et non dans les _piques-niques_, dans les sociétés particulières." an earlier instance occurs in one of lord chesterfield's letters (no. .), dated october . jaydee. _discovery at nuneham regis_ (vol. vi., pp. . . .).--nuneham regis was granted to john dudley, duke of northumberland, in the seventh year of king edward vi.; but as it was forfeited on his attainder, in the first year of queen mary, and immediately granted by her to sir rowland hill, knight, and citizen of london, from whom sir thomas leigh, knight, and alderman of london, almost immediately acquired it; and as he exercised the right of presentation to the vicarage in the first year of the reign of queen elizabeth, there is no probability of the body of john, duke of northumberland, being removed from the tower of london to newnham. the letters t. b. on the clothes on the body at nuneham are distinctly worked in roman capitals, like those on a common sampler. i have seen them. j. s.s. _door-head inscriptions_ (vol. vi., p. .).-- "sit mihi nec glis servus nec hospes hirudo." "from servant lazy as dormouse, or leeching guest, god keep my house." mr. woodward tells us that he quotes this inscription "from memory:" it is so very pertinent that it seems a pity even to hint a correction, but, as i read it, it seemed partly familiar to me, and i find something so like the latter part of it in two ancient authors, that i am tempted to inquire whether he may not have omitted _one letter_, which alters the sense as given above, and yet gives a sense as good. among the symbols of pythagoras, i read the following: "[greek: omôrophious chelidônas mê echein]." "domesticas hiru_n_dines ne habeto." to the same effect (but, strange to say, without any reference to pythagoras' dictum), we find it in the _proverbia_ of polydore virgil (a.d. ): "hiru_n_do suscipienda non est." and the exposition is the same in both: "hirundo garrula semper, _i.e._ garruli et tumigeri homines recipiendi non sunt." i find no original for the former part of the inscription. probably mr. woodward will agree with me, that it is difficult to decide whether a greedy or a gossipping guest would be the worst household infliction; but as a careful householder might well deprecate either, as matter of curiosity perhaps he would refer to the original inscription again, and decide whether he has or has not omitted an "n." a. b. r. belmont. stratford parsonage, wilts: "parva sed apta domino. ." montacute house, somerset: "through this wide opening gate none come too soon, none go too late. and yours." { } sudbury house, derbyshire: "omne bonum dei donum." at verona: "patet janua, cor magis." the next i have seen somewhere: "detur digniori." h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george. _cross and pile_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--the _pile_ is invariably on the obverse or _head_ side of a coin; and _pile_ or _poll_ both mean the head, from whence the "poll tax" and "poll groat"--a tax paid by the head, or a personal tax, of which we have an historical example of its collector in the case of wat tyler. ruding, in _annals of the coinage_, vol. ii. p. ., vo., edit. , states that ed. i. a.d. , in the delivering out the stamps for the coinage, orders that three _piles_ and six _crosses_ shall be given. it is well known to all numismatists that all, or most early coins, both saxon and english, had a head on the obverse and a cross on the reverse--the latter being placed on the coins as symbolical of christianity. _pile_ also means the hair, or any filament: as the "pile of velvet, the nap of woollen cloth," &c. and jamieson, in his _scotch dictionary_, says: "pile. the soft hair which first appears on the chins of young men." coles, ashe, webster, and others give the same meaning. the superstitious effect of the cross as a charm or amulet is well known; from whence the saying: "i have never a cross in my purse to keep the devil away." again: "priests were coin-proof against the devil, they never being without money; of course, always had a cross in their pocket."--gilpin's _beehive of the romish church_, , p. . and nash, in the supplication of pierce penniless to the devil, makes pierce to say: "whereas your impious excellence hath had the poore tenement of my purse anytime this half year for your dancing schole, and he, notwithstanding, hath received no penye nor crosse for farme," &c. and the poet skelton says: ". . . . . . . . and in his pouche, the devil might dance therein for any crouche." p. . trusting the above will be satisfactory to d. w. s., i beg to conclude, thinking, you will say i have already made "much ado about nothing." goddard johnson. _rhymes upon places_ (vol. vi. p. .).--perhaps you will think the following rhymes upon places worth insertion: "i stood upon eyemouth fort, and guess ye what i saw? fairmiside and furmintong, neuhouses and cocklaw, the fairy fouk o' fosterland, the witches o' edincran, the bly-rigs o' reston; but dunse dings a'." near the seaside village of eyemouth, in berwickshire, is a promontory marked with a succession of grassy mounds, the remains of a fort built there in the regency of mary of lorraine. a number of places are represented as visible from the fort: but here fact is not strictly adhered to. fosterland once existed in the parish of bunkle as a small village; but even its vestiges are not now visible on the brown moor where it once stood. edincran, properly auchinchran, is an estate in the vicinity of fosterland, as is reston also. there is a variation as follows: "the fairy fouk o' fosterland, the witches o' edincran, and the rye-kail o' reston gar'd a' the dogs die." the rye-kail alluded to must have been a broth chiefly made from rye, which grain, it is well known, is sometimes so much tainted as to be poisonous. c. benson. birmingham. [greek: arnion] (vol. vi., p. .).--probably your correspondent is aware of the explanation given by dr. wordsworth in his book on the apocalypse, but does not think it satisfactory. still, as he does not allude to it, i venture to transcribe it: "the apocalypse abounds in contrasts. for example, the lamb, who is always called [greek: amnos], never [greek: arnion], in st. john's _gospel_, is called [greek: arnion], never [greek: amnos], in st. john's _apocalypse_, in which [greek: arnion] occurs twenty-nine times. and why does [greek: ho amnos] here become [greek: to arnion]? to _contrast_ him more strongly with [greek: to thêrion], that is, to mark the _opposition_ between the lamb and the beast." to this a note is appended: "this contrast is even more striking in the original, where it is aided by an exact correspondence of syllables and accents. on one side are-- '[greek: hê pornê kai to thêrion]:' on the other-- '[greek: hê numphê kai to arnion].' see rev. xxi. . ., xxii. ."--_is the church of rome babylon?_ p. .: london, . a. a. d. [greek: arnion] and [greek: amnos] both denote a lamb. in john i. . ., the latter is applied to jesus by john the { } baptist. in acts viii. ., and pet. i. ., the term is manifestly derived from isa. liii. ., the septuagint translation. but, in the revelation, the word selected by the apostle is simply to be viewed as characteristic of his style. taken in connexion with john i. . ., the difference presents one of those points which so strikingly attest the authenticity of the scripture. if the writer had drawn upon his imagination, in all likelihood he would have used the word [greek: arnion] in the gospel; but he employed another, because the baptist actually made use of a different one, _i. e._ one different from that which he was in the habit of employing. b. h. cowper. _who was the greatest general_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in reply to the following query, "who was the greatest general, and why and wherefore did the duke of wellington give the palm to hannibal?" i think the following note appended to the eloquent sermon of dr. croly, preached on the death of the duke, sept. th, not only shows the humility of the duke in giving preference to hannibal over himself, but it contains so just a comparison between the two generals, that it deserves recording in the valuable and useful pages of the "n. & q." as well as being a perfect and true answer to c. t.: "it has been usual," the note says, "to compare wellington with hannibal. but those who make the comparison seem to forget the facts:-- "hannibal, descending from the alps with a disciplined force of , men, met the brave roman militia, commanded by brave blockheads, and beat them accordingly. but, as soon as he was met by a man of common sense, fabius, he could do nothing with him; when he met a manoeuvring officer, the consul nero, he was outmanoeuvred, and lost his brother asdrubal's army, which was equivalent to his losing italy; and when he met an active officer, scipio, he was beaten on his own ground. finally, forced to take refuge with a foreign power, he was there a prisoner, and there he died." "his administrative qualities seem to have been of the humblest, or of the most indolent, order. for fourteen years he was in possession of, or in influence with, all the powers of southern italy, then the richest portion of the peninsula. yet this possession was wrested from him without an effort; and where he might have been a monarch, he was only a pensioner. his _punic_ faith, his flight, his refuge, and his death in captivity, might find a more complete resemblance in the history of napoleon." the following, concluding sentence of dr. croly's note conveys a truer and far more just comparison with another great general: "the life of the first cæsar forms a much fairer comparison with that of wellington. both nobly born; both forcing their way up through the gradations of service, outstripping all their age; forming their characters by warfare in foreign countries; always commanding small armies, yet always invincible (cæsar won the world at pharsalia with only , men): both alike courageous and clement, unfailing in resources, and indefatigable in their objects; receiving the highest rewards, and arising to the highest rank of their times; never beaten: both of first-rate ability in council. the difference being in their objects; one to serve himself, the other to serve his country; one impelled by ambition, the other by duty; one destroying the constitution of his country, the other sustaining it. wellington, too, has given the soldier and statesman his 'commentaries,' one of the noblest transcripts of a great administrative mind." j. m. g. worcester. _beech-trees struck by lightning_ (vol. vi., p. .).--on thinnigrove common, near nettlebed, oxon, a beech-tree, one of three or four growing round a pit, was shattered by lightning about thirteen or fourteen years ago. a gentleman who has lived sixty years in the neighbourhood of the beech woods near henly, tells me that he remembers three or four similar cases. single beech-trees, which are very ornamental, generally grow very low and wide-spreading, which may be the reason why they often escape. on the other hand, in the woods where they run up close and very high, they present so many points of attraction to the electric fluid, that probably for that cause it is not often the case that one tree in particular is struck. corylus. portsmouth. _passage in tennyson_ (vol. vi., p. .).--it appears to me that tennyson has fallen into the error of a latin construction. i call it an error, because in that language the varied terminations of the cases and numbers make that plain which we have no means of evidencing in english. i should translate it "numenii strepitus volantis"--"the call of the curlew dreary (drearily) gleams about the moorland, _as he flies_ o'er locksley hall." the summer note of the curlew is a shrill clear whistle, but in winter they sometimes indulge in a wild melancholy scream. corylus. portsmouth. _inscriptions in churches_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i differ from your reply to norwood's query, in which you refer to the colloquy between queen elizabeth and dean nowell as the origin of these inscriptions. no doubt they were derived from the custom of our ante-reformation ancestors, of painting figures and legends of saints upon the walls of churches; but the following instance will suffice to prove that they originated in the reign of edward vi., and not in queen elizabeth's. in the interesting paper by the rev. e. venables in the _transactions of the cambridge camden society_, on "the church of st. mary the great, cambridge," he gives, under the year { } , the following extracts from the churchwardens' accounts: "for makyng of the wall where saynt george stood in the chyrche vj^d it. payd for wythynge y^e chyrch xx^s iiij^d it. payd for _wryghtynge of y^e chyrch walls with scriptures_ iiij^{lib} iij^s iiij^d." shortly after the accession of queen mary in , the following entry occurs: "payd to barnes for mendyng over the rode and over the altar in the chapell, and _for washing oute the scriptures_ ^s ^d." they do not appear to have been restored after this, for in the year some of the plaister between two of the windows of the south aisle peeling off, discovered traces of "wryghtynge" beneath; and i and another member of the cambridge camden society spent some time in laying it bare, and after much difficulty made out that it was the lord's prayer in english, headed, "the lord's prayer, called the paternoster," and written in the church text of the period, the whole enclosed in a sort of arabesque border; it was not merely whited over, but had evidently been partially effaced, or partly "washed oute," before being "concealed under its dreary shroud of whitewash." on examination there were traces of more of this writing between the other windows, but we had not time to make any further investigation, for the church was then being cleaned, and in a few days all that we had laid bare was again concealed under a veil of whitewash. thus, i think, we may assign to the reign of edward vi., not merely the obliteration of the numerous frescoes of st. christopher, the great dome, &c., which are now so constantly coming to light, but also the origin of "wryghtynge of y^e chyrch walls with scriptures" in their stead, some ten or twelve years _earlier_ than the remarkable colloquy between queen elizabeth and the worthy dean of st. paul's. norris deck. cambridge. _dutensiana_ (vol. vi., p. .).--lowndes gives a list of dutens' works, which does not include "correspondence interceptée," of which he _was_ the author; and i have seen a presentation copy of it proving this. w. c. trevelyan. _early phonography_ (vol. vi., p. .).--"have the modern phonographists ever owned their debt of gratitude to their predecessors in the phonetic art?" the subjoined advertisement may perhaps be considered an answer to this query: "hart's orthography, ; or, 'an orthographie conteyning the due order and reason, howe to write or paint thimage of manne's voice, most like to the life or nature. composed by j. h. [john hart], chester heralt;' reprinted from a copy in the british museum. cloth, s. "an unanswerable defence of phonetic spelling, and one of the earliest schemes of phonetic orthography. a considerable portion of the book being printed in the author's phonetic alphabet (given in the present edition in phonetic longhand), we have thus exhibited the pronunciation of the age of shakspeare." w. c. trevelyan. _kentish local names; dray_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in the low embanked land in the west of somersetshire, between bristol and taunton, the word _drove_ is used in the same acceptation; and _driftway_, i think, is also a term for ancient british roads in some parts of the kingdom. w. c. trevelyan. _monument at modstena_ (vol. vi., p. .).--this monument was first published in _archæologia Æliana_. i believe it is an incised slab; but i have written to a friend in the north to inquire whether i am correct. w. c. trevelyan. _book-plates_ (vol. iii., p. .).--mr. parsons, it appears, limits his inquiries to english book-plates, about which i cannot offer any information. it is certain, however, that book-plates were used on the continent at a very early period. i remember to have seen one, from a wood-block, which was cut by albert dürer for his friend pirkheimer. as it is sixteen years since i saw it at the imperial library at vienna, i cannot be expected to give a precise description; but (as far as i recollect) the wording of it was as follows: "bilibaldi pirckheimeri et amicorum." a copy which i possess of vesalius's great anatomical work (basil, ) has the book-plate of a former duke of mecklenburg pasted inside the cover. it is a woodcut, ten inches by six and a half, representing the ducal arms, surrounded by an ornamented border. beneath are the date and inscription: e h. g. v. v. g. vlrich h. z. me- ckelnbvrg. i do not know what the first six letters stand for, nor is it worth inquiring. the latter part of the inscription--"ulrich herzog zu mecklenburg"--identifies the former possessor of the volume. jaydee. "_world without end_" (vol. vi., p. .).--besides the places named by f. a., this phrase occurs in the authorised version of the bible, in is. xlv. ., ep. iii. . there is no doubt it is idiomatic, and is even now occasionally used in conversation. our translators render at least three hebrew words "world," and as many greek ones. one of the latter, and two of the former, properly refer to _time_, like the latin _ævum sæculum_; and this also { } appears to have been the original meaning of "world," as it is one which it certainly has frequently in the scriptures. "world without end" is the idiomatic rendering, equivalent to "in sæcula sæculorum," which is a literal following of an idiom common in both the hebrew and greek scriptures, and to be found in the chaldee of the book of daniel. "world without end" does not occur, so far as i am aware, in the modern european languages, which generally either follow the latin "in sæcula sæculorum;" or the german, and say, "eternally to eternity." b. h. cowper. _gloucester ballads_ (vol. iv., p. .).--since i inserted these ballads, i have been informed, that the one entitled a "gloucester ditty" was from the pen of charles dibdin, who, paying a visit to the "fair city," was pressed by some friends to leave them a memento of such. of my own knowledge, i cannot vouch for the truth of this story; my informant's veracity is, however, unquestionable. i have recently obtained another copy; like the former, it is without a date, but bears the well-known imprint, "raikes, southgate street." the "old harry" is intended for one "harry hudman, king of the island," a low district in gloucester, a mock officer chosen by the lower orders. harry kept the throne many years, but was at length outvoted; but resolving to retain by stratagem what he could not by free choice, invited his competitor to a glass; and while the latter was taking his draught, harry jumped into his seat, was chaired through the island, and was thus king another year. there was a ballad relating to this worthy, commencing-- "there was a man of renown, in gloucester's fam'd town." another verse informs us that-- "old coffins ne'er new, and old pulpits too, can be bought at his shop in the island." the "taylor's tale" alluded to is a ballad, written by person of that name, on the manners and customs of the island. i have not been able to obtain copies of either of these just noticed ballads; and should any correspondent of "n. & q." possess such, they would oblige me by their insertion. h. g. d. _satirical prints; pope_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i have never seen this print that your correspondent refers to. it will no doubt be found, however, to be a plate illustrating a _scene_ in the following tract: "_a letter from mr. cibber to mr. pope, &c._: london, printed and sold by w. lewis in russell street, covent garden, ," see pp. , , , , ., where is given rather a warm description of the whole scene. should this tract not be had by griffin, he may turn to d'israeli's _quarrels of authors_, article "pope and cibber," note p. ., col. ., edit. vo., moxon, ; where d'israeli adds: "this story, by our comic writer, was accompanied by a print, that was seen by more persons, probably, than read the _dunciad_." s. wmson. _raising the wind_ (vol. vi., p. .).--we say "the wind rises," and this is common in virgil (see _Æneid._ iii. . .; v. .: _georgics_, i. .; ii. .; and iii. .). the transition from rising to raising is easy; and as there is no sailing without a breeze, so there is no getting along without money: in both cases, the _wind_ is essential to progress. as to the mode of obtaining the "needful," i know not much, but probably whistling will be found as effectual in one case as in the other. b. h. cowper. _milton in prose_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i know of one performance in the french language, which answers the description of _milton in prose_: it is a rhapsody entitled _le paradis terrestre, poëme imité de milton_, by madame dubocage: london, . the french themselves had so poor an opinion of it, that one of their wits, the abbé yart, has ridiculed it in the following epigram: "sur cet écrit, charmante dubocage, veux-tu savoir quel est mon sentiment? je compte pour _perdus_, en lisant ton ouvrage, le paradis, mon temps, ta peine, et mon argent." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _the arundelian marbles_ (vol. iv., p. .).--mr. w. sidney gibson, in his account of this celebrated collection, quotes portions of an interesting letter, from james theobald to lord willoughby de parham, but he does not say from whence he obtained it. i have now before me two copies, one in _historical anecdotes of the howard family_, a new edition, , p. .; the other in a work entitled _oxoniana_ (published by richard phillips, vols. mo., no date), vol. iii. p. . now both these copies differ from mr. gibson's, and all three are at variance respecting some of those minor details which are of so much importance in inquiries of this description. where is a _genuine_ copy of mr. theobald's letter to be found? edward f. rimbault. _pambotanologia_ (vol. vi., p. .).--inivri will find a full account of this work in pulteney's _historical and biographical sketches of the progress of botany in england_, vol. i. p. . george munford. east winch. _can a man baptize himself?_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--this question has not yet received any { } correct answer. the following quotation from the _summa_ of st. thomas aquinas will resolve it as far as your querist w. is concerned: "similiter autem forma mutaretur, si diceretur 'ego baptizo me;' et ideo nullus potest baptizare seipsum propter quod et christus a joanne voluit baptizari."--_summa_, ^{tia} pars, quæstio lxvi. art. v. arg. . the rev. a. gatty, while right in the negative answer which he gives to the question of w., is quite wrong in the reasons on which he founds it. "christian fellowship" is _not_ of necessity a requisite for administering the sacrament of holy baptism. i quote again from the _summa_ of st. thomas: "ad primum ergo dicendum, quod baptismum a schismaticis recipere non licet, nisi in articulo necessitatis: quia melius est de hâc vitâ cum signo christi exire, a quocumque detur, etiam si sit judæus vel paganus, quam sine hoc signo, quod per baptismum confertur."--_summa_, ^{nda} pars, quæstio xxxix. art. iv. arg. . as our own church apparently only recognises sacerdotal baptism in her formularies, in answering such a question as that of w. we must have recourse to the schoolmen and casuists of earlier times. w. fraser. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. sharp's prose writers. vol. iv. vols. . piccadilly. inchbald's british theatre. vol. xxiv. vols. longman. meyrick's ancient armour, by skelton. part xvi. donne. [greek: biathanatos]. to. first edition, . ------ ------ ------ second edition, . ---- pseudo-martyr. to. ---- paradoxes, problems, and essays, &c. mo. . ---- essays in divinity. mo. . ---- sermons on isaiah l. . pope's works, by warton. vol. ix. . in boards. percy society publications. no. . three copies. memoirs of the duchess of abrantes. (translation.) vols. vo. bentley. smith's collectanea antiqua. vols. vo.; or vol. i. brewster's memoir of rev. hugh moises, m.a., master of newcastle grammar school. religio militis; or christianity for the camp. longmans, . milton's works. the first edition. dr. cotton mather's memorable providences on witchcraft and possessions. preface by baxter. date about . gibbon's roman empire. vols. i. and ii. of the twelve volume vo. edition. mÜller's notes on the euminides of Æschylus. campbell's gaelic poems. columbus' conundrums. poems of "alasdair mac mhaighstir alasdair" macdonald. turner's collection of gaelic poetry. mac aulay's history of st. kilda. grant's gaelic poems. gillies' collection of gaelic poems. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have this week been compelled to omit our usual notes on books, &c._ w. w. (malta) _is thanked for his suggestion_. _we fear, however, that the difficulties in the way of carrying it out, which are far more than he suspects, will still prevent our doing so, as we have often desired._ peter the saxonian _is referred to our_ st vol., p. ., _where he will find that both blair and campbell were anticipated by norris of bemerton, who sang of_ "angels' visits, short and bright." r. g. l. _the meaning and derivation of_ ditto _are obvious. it means_ "the same," _from the italian_ ditto, _the said_. touchstone. _music is sometimes engraved, sometimes printed from moveable types._ j. c., _who inquires whether shelley first imagined the name of_ mab, _has, we fear, never read shakspeare's romeo and juliet, or mercutio's account of "the fairie's midwife." we almost envy him._ f. r. s. (barkisland). _his query shall appear, and_ we think _we may promise him a full and satisfactory reply._ h. c. k., _and other correspondents respecting the inscription at dewsbury, are thanked_. a. b. _the line_ "and coming events cast their shadows before," _is from campbell's_ lochiel's warning. h. b. c. _the correspondent to whom h. b. c. refers us furnished his name and address. but perhaps our correspondent's reply had better appear_. w. h. t. (salisbury). ophiomaches _was written by the rev. philip skelton_. _see further our_ no. ., p. . _the other queries shall have early attention._ d'oyley and mant's commentary. _with reference to our note in no. ., a correspondent informs us that an edition is now publishing in parts at d. each, by strange_ photography. _owing to the length of dr. diamond's directions for the paper process in our present no., we are compelled to postpone many interesting communications. dr. diamond's former articles are contained in our nos. , , . and . all our nos., however, subsequent to ., contain communications on this interesting subject._ the index and title-page _to our sixth volume will be ready very shortly_. back numbers of notes and queries. _full price will be given for clean copies of nos. , , , . , , and ._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * mr. henri van laun assists gentlemen in obtaining a critical knowledge of the french, german, and dutch languages. from his acquaintance with the ancient as well as the modern literature of these three languages, and also with the best english authors, he can render his lessons valuable to gentlemen pursuing antiquarian or literary researches. he also undertakes the translation of manuscripts. communications to be addressed, pre-paid, andrew's library, . new bond street. * * * * * english counties.--a catalogue of interesting and curious books relating to english counties is published in the "shakspeare repository," and will be forwarded to any part of the kingdom (free) on receipt of eight postage stamps, by james h. fennell, no. . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * gratis, upon sending a postage stamp for franking each:--no. . dunkin's history of kent, after the plan of hasted's history of the county; dunkin's plan for preserving the monumental inscriptions in english churches; dunkin's (of dartford) prospectus ( pages) of his history of kent. apply to william chandler, archael mine office, dartford. * * * * * { } heal and son's eider down quilts are made in three varieties,--the bordered quilt, the plain quilt, and the duvet. the bordered quilt is in the usual form of bed quilts, and is a most elegant and luxurious article. the plain quilt is smaller, and is useful as an extra covering on the bed, as a wrapper in the carriage, or on the couch. the duvet is a loose case filled with eider down as in general use on the continent. lists of prices and sizes sent free by post, on application to heal & son's bedding factory, . tottenham court road. * * * * * ralph's sermon paper,--this approved paper is particularly deserving the notice of the clergy, as, from its particular form (each page measuring ¾ by inches), it will contain more matter than the size in ordinary use; and, from the width being narrower, is much more easy to read: adapted for expeditious writing with either the quill or metallic pen; price s. per ream. sample on application. envelope paper.--to identify the contents with the address and postmark, important in all business communications; it admits of three clear pages (each measuring ½ by inches), for correspondence, it saves time and is more economical. price s. d. per ream. f. w. ralph, manufacturing stationer, . throgmorton street, bank. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' reports_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it is furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." a. r. invites those interested in the art to inspect the large photographs of vienna, produced by his lenses and apparatus. catalogues sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn. * * * * * photographic portraits and views by the collodion and waxed paper process. apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparation for the above processes, superior iodized collodion, known by the name of collodio-iodide or xylo-iodide of silver, d. per oz. pyro-gallic acid, s. per drachm. acetic acid, suited for collodion pictures, d. per oz. crystallizable and perfectly pure, on which the success of the calotypist so much depends, s. per oz. canson frère's negative paper, s.; positive do., s. d.; la croix, s.; turner, s. whatman's negative and positive, s. per quire. iodized waxed paper, s. d. per quire. sensitive paper ready for the camera, and warranted to keep from fourteen to twenty days, with directions for use, × , s. per doz.; iodized, only s. per doz. george knight & sons (sole agents for voightlander & sons' celebrated lenses), foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be procured from r. w. thomas, operative chemist, . pall mall, whose well-known preparation of xylo-iodide of silver is pronounced by the most eminent scientific men of the day to excel every other photographic compound in sensitiveness, and in the marvellous vigour uniformly preserved in the middle tints of pictures produced by it. mr. r. w. thomas cautions photographers against unprincipled persons who (from the fact of xyloidin and collodion being synonymous terms) would lead them to imagine that the inferior compound sold by them at half the price is identical with his preparation. in some cases even the name of of mr. t.'s xylo-iodide of silver has been assumed. in order to prevent such dishonourable practice, each bottle sent from his establishment is stamped with a red label bearing his signature, to counterfeit which is felony. prepared solely by r. w. thomas, chemist, &c., . pall mall. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * burke's (right hon. edmund) works and correspondence.--the new edition (containing the whole of the contents of the former edition published in volumes, vo., at the price of l. s.) is now completed, handsomely printed in vols. vo., with portrait and fac-simile, price l. s. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. *** the reflections on the french revolution may be had separately, price s. d. in cloth boards. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for january , which is the first number of a new volume, contains the following articles:-- . king charles i. in the isle of wight. . original letters of benjamin franklin. . farinelli and pompadour. . henry newcome, the manchester puritan. . a journey to paris in . . the cloister life of charles v. . the hill intrenchments on the borders of wales, by t. wright, f.s.a. (with engravings). . report of the cambridge university commission. . correspondence of sylvanus urban:-- . pictures of the immaculate conception. . the relic of st. mary axe. . harley church, salop. . etymology of the word many. with notes of the month, reviews of new publications, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the earl of shrewsbury, countess of lovelace, sir j. j. guest, miss berry, professor empson, mr. serjeant halcomb, &c. &c. a specimen number sent on the receipt of s. d. in postage stamps. nichols & son, . parliament street. * * * * * miller's london librarian and bookbuyer's gazette for january, , in addition to valuable books in all departments of literature offered at low prices, will contain-- fly leaves; or scraps and sketches, literary, bibliographical, and miscellaneous. contents of no. i.--address; milton's country residence; pious chloe; neglected biography; jas. sibbold; memorials of old london; bibliographical notices; specimens of ancient english poetry; scraps and sketches; forming, with the list of books, pages imp. vo., price d., or stamped for the country, d. just ready, miller's london librarian from january to december, , inclusive; being vol. i., handsomely half-bound, price s., allowed to purchasers. john miller, . chandos street, trafalgar square. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * { } murray's railway reading: containing works of sound information and innocent amusement, printed in large readable type, varying in size and price, and suited for all classes of readers. this day is published, literary essays and characters. by henry hallam. s. the former volumes are-- life and character of wellington. by lord ellesmere. d. music and dress. two essays. s. the emigrant. by sir f. b. head. s. d. art of dining; or, gastronomy and gastronomers. s. d. joan of arc; an historical essay. by lord mahon. s. literary essays from "the times." s. nimrod on the turf. s. d. layard's popular account of nineveh. s. life of theodore hook. s. james' fables of Æsop. woodcuts. s. d. lord mahon's history of the "forty-five." s. bees and flowers. two essays. s. each. gifford's deeds of naval daring. s. d. nimrod on the chace and the road. s. each. oliphant's journey to nepaul. s. d. to be followed by-- a popular account of the electric telegraph. fall of jerusalem. by dean milman. john murray, albemarle street; and to be obtained at all booksellers, and railway stations. * * * * * now ready, in vo., price s. cloth, lettered, with a lithograph fac-simile of the corrected folio of , notes and emendations to the text of shakspeare's plays, from early manuscript corrections in a copy of the folio of in the possession of john payne collier, esq., f.s.a., forming a supplemental volume to the works of shakspeare by the same editor, in eight vols. vo. as only a limited number of the above work have been printed, purchases of "mr. collier's shakspeare" are requested to complete their sets without delay. whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * on st of january, price s., no. i. new series. the ecclesiastic. contents: latin poetry, classical and mediæval. cathedral and collegiate reform. sir f. b. head's fortnight in ireland. the bishop of exeter's letter on confession. greek hymnology. reviews and notices. the publisher, at the suggestion of friends, and with a view to extending its circulation amongst clergy and laity, has reduced the price from two shillings to one shilling, for which he can only look to be reimbursed by a large increase in the sale. a few sets of fourteen volumes complete may be had, price l. now ready, price s., part ii. of concionalia; outlines of sermons for parochial use throughout the year. by the rev. henry thompson, m.a., cantab., curate of wrington, somerset. it contains sermons for the second sunday after christmas: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sundays after epiphany; septuagesima sunday; sexagesima sunday; the circumcision, epiphany, and conversion of st. paul. to be continued monthly. part i. price s. london: j. masters, aldersgate street, and new bond street. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, december , contains articles on ammonia sulphate of, by mr. prideaux berwickshire farmers' club butter, taste in calendar, horticultural cattle, to feed ---- quarter evil, &c. in ---- to measure cork insect (with engraving) cottage, labourer's cucumber, hunter's draining, by mr. hewitt davis eau de lessive flax fibre game-laws glass walls grafting, wax grapes, colouring, by mr. watson guano, peruvian, substitute for haygarth (mr.), presentation to land question, by hamilton, rev. maize manure tank, liquid, by mr. rothwell mechi's (mr.) address mildew, vine pears, late, by mr. rivers pentas carnea, cellular tissue of pigs, greaves for plant growing, amateur ploughing potatoes, to cook, by mr. cuthill poultry poultry show, report of the hitchin and dorchester roots after tares, by mr. mechi roses in pots, culture of skimmia laureola smithfield club; implements societies, proceedings of the linnean; botanical of edinburgh; flax improvement; coggeshall agricultural strabo's geography, by meyer, reviewed tomato, cherry tree of , images ---- transplanting a large van diemen's land, enchanted valley in vine mildew walls, conservative ---- ewing's glass wheat, late sowing * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * the domestic architecture of the middle ages. *** the fourteenth century is in the press and will be ready shortly. the prospectus, table of contents, and list of plates, &c. in the volume, may be had free by post on application. books for presents. the fifth edition of the glossary of architecture. three volumes. illustrated by upwards of engravings. in octavo. one guinea, rickman's gothic architecture. mo., s. d., an introduction to the study of gothic architecture. by j. h. parker, f.s.a. *** a catalogue of old and second-hand books from the stock of john henry parker, oxford, is now being issued, and may be had on application. oxford & london: john henry parker. * * * * * just published, fcp. vo. s. democritus in london; with the mad pranks and conceits of motley and robin goodfellow: to which are added notes festivous, &c. by george daniel, author of "merrie england in the olden time," "the modern dunciad," &c. "an exquisite metrical conceit, sparkling with wit and humour, in the true spirit of aristophanes, in which democritus guides his brilliant and merry muse through every fantastic measure, evincing grace in the most grotesque attitudes. as a relief to his cutting sarcasm and fun, the laughing philosopher has introduced some fine descriptive scenes, and passages of deep pathos, eloquence, and beauty. not the least remarkable feature in this very remarkable book are the recondite and curious notes, at once so critical and philosophical, so varied and so amusing, so full of interesting anecdote and racy reminiscences. they form a rich mine of classical learning and antiquarian knowledge. to genius and virtue democritus will prove a delightful companion and friend, but a well-pickled rod to vice and folly--a scourge to make wince hollow pretenders of every kind--even down to the critical impostor and the stage-struck buffoon."--see _athenæum_, _critic_, &c. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * spanish catalogue.--just issued, b. quaritch's catalogue of rare and valuable spanish and portuguese books, gratis on application. bernard quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. * * * * * italian literature.--just issued, b. quaritch's catalogue of cheap, valuable, and curious italian books, gratis on application. bernard quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. * * * * * { } now ready, small to., handsomely bound in cloth l. s.; morocco, l. s. d. poetry of the year, passages from the poets descriptive of the seasons. with twenty-two coloured illustrations from drawings by the following eminent artists. t. creswick, r.a. c. davidson. w. lee. j. muller. e. duncan. birket foster. d. cox. h. le jeune. w. hemsley. c. branwhite. j. wolf. c. weigall. harrison weir. r. r. e. v. b. lucette e. barker. "bids fair to be the most beautiful and attractive of the 'gift books' of the present season. the designs, which are for the most part exceedingly good, have been lithographed, and printed in colours, so as to present the appearance of exquisite and really well-finished drawings, and the letter-press is compiled from the works of our most standard writers. this, in our opinion, is by far the best plan for illustrated works. the words should be worthy of the pictures, and then those who go to the expense of such works have the satisfaction of knowing that they have got the best of their kind, in both the text and the illustrations, instead of having, as is too often the case, capital pictures and second or third-rate prose or poetry. the book before us is, in every way, worthy to be placed upon the drawing-room table of her most gracious majesty, and we doubt not that it will shortly be found there."--_english churchman._ "'poetry of the year' is a most richly illustrated volume, containing more than a score of beautiful designs lithographed and printed in colours with a delightful effect. several of them (we may instance the timber waggon on the wintry road, the rich summer sunset, the view of windermere, the group of cattle, and the children gathering spring flowers) have the effect of finished water-colour drawings; and when we add that among the contributors of designs are mr. creswick, mr. david cox, mr. duncan, mr. davidson, mr. weir, e. v. b., and others hardly less admired, the reader will understand that the volume is above the average of illustrated books generally. we have to say also that the accompanying passages from the poets are extremely well made, with a true feeling and a catholic taste. the volume well deserves success."--_examiner._ "this is a charming volume, as much to be prized for the value of the letter-press, as admired for the beauty of the illustrations--a remark applicable to few books so ornamental. the poetry consists of selections from english classic authors, on subjects connected with the four seasons.... altogether, the volume is worthy of high praise, and will doubtless be a favourite gift-book of the new year, having also the advantage of being a book of pleasant reference for all the year round."--_literary gazette._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * first french book, by the rev. t. k. arnold. in mo., price s. d. the third edition of the first french book: on the plan of "henry's first latin book." by the rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a. rector of lyndon, and formerly fellow of trinity college, cambridge; author of the "first german book." "mr. arnold has succeeded in preparing a work admirably adapted to meet the wants of english students of the french language. the philosophical explanation of the changes of consonants, together with the frequent references to latin words and idioms by way of illustration and comparison, render it far superior as a school-book to any other introduction, even from the pen of a native writer. the sound principles of imitation and repetition which have secured for the author a reputation widely extended and well deserved, are here happily exemplified. his account of the differences of idiom is very satisfactory and complete:--whoever thoroughly masters it, will rarely want anything further on the subject."--_athenæum._ rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, a key to the exercises, by m. delille. price s. d. * * * * * just published, price sixpence, or sent free on receipt of eight postage stamps, fennell's shakespeare repository; containing interesting articles on the true orthography and etymology of shakspeare's name; remarks on his bequest to his wife; shakspeare considered as a comic writer; curious account of a great and destructive flood at stratford-on-avon in his time; the government and shakspeare's house; remarks on shakspeare's gallantry; notes on his pedigree; on shakspeare's manuscripts; old london theatres; some accounts of his mulberry tree and walnut tree; ancient verses on his coming to london, &c. &c. published by james h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * { } books on sale by john russell smith, . soho square, london. holbein's dance of death, with an historical and literary introduction by an antiquary. square post vo. with engravings, being the most accurate copies ever executed of these gems of art, and a frontispiece of an ancient bedstead at aix-la-chapelle, with a dance of death carved on it, engraved by fairholt, cloth, s. "the designs are executed with a spirit and fidelity quite extraordinary. they are indeed most truthful."--_athenæum._ lower's (m. a.) essays on english surnames. vols. post vo. third edition, greatly enlarged. cloth, s. biographia britannica literaria; or biography of literary characters of great britain and ireland, arranged in chronological order. by thomas wright, m.a., f.s.a., member of the institute of france. thick vols. vo. cloth. vol. i. anglo-saxon period. vol. ii. anglo-norman period. s. each, published at s. each. published under the superintendence of the royal society of literature. coins. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. by j. y. akerman. fcp. vo. with numerous wood engravings, from the original coins, s. d. coins of the romans relating to britain, described and illustrated. by j. y. akerman, f.s.a. second edition, vo. greatly enlarged with plates and woodcuts, s. d. cloth. guide to archÆology. an archæological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary of the society of antiquaries. vol. vo. illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upward of objects, cloth s. "one of the first wants of an incipient antiquary is the facility of comparison, and here it is furnished him at one glance. the plates, indeed, form the most valuable part of the book, both by their number and the judicious selection of types and examples which they contain. it is a book which we can, on this account, safely and warmly recommend to all who are interested in the antiquities of their native land."--_literary gazette._ "a book of such utility--so concise, so clear, so well condensed from such varied and voluminous sources--cannot fail to be generally acceptable."--_art union._ wright's (thos.) essays on the literature, popular superstitions, and history of england in the middle ages. vols. post vo. cloth, s. wright's (thos.) st. patrick's purgatory: an essay on the legends of purgatory, hell, and paradise, current during the middle ages. post vo. cloth, s. the nursery rhymes of england, collected chiefly from oral tradition. edited by j. o. halliwell. fourth edition, mo. with designs by w. b. scott. s. d. cloth. popular rhymes and nursery tales, with historical elucidations; a sequel to "the nursery rhymes of england." edited by j. o. halliwell. royal mo. s. d. lower's curiosities of heraldry, with illustrations from old english writers. vo. numerous engravings. cloth, s. heralds' visitations. an index to all the pedigrees and arms in the heraldic visitations and other genealogical mss. in the british museum. by g. sims, of the manuscript department. vo. closely printed in double columns, cloth, s. *** an indispensable book to those engaged in genealogical or topographical pursuits, affording a ready clue to the pedigrees and arms of above , of the gentry of england, their residences, &c. (distinguishing the different families of the same name in every country), as recorded by the heralds in their visitations, with indexes to other genealogical mss. in the british museum. it has been the work of immense labour. no public library ought to be without it. consuetudines kanciÆ. a history of gavelkind, and other remarkable customs in the county of kent, by charles sandys, esq., f.s.a. (cantianus), illustrated with fac-similes, a very handsome volume, vo. cloth, s. bruce's (rev. j. c.) historical and topographical account of the roman wall from the tyne to the solway. thick vo. plates and woodcuts, half morocco, l. s. bosworth's (rev. dr.) compendious anglo-saxon and english dictionary. vo. closely printed in treble columns, cloth, s. "this is not a mere abridgment of the large dictionary, but almost an entirely new work. in this compendious one will be found, at a very moderate price, all that is most practical and valuable in the former expensive edition, with a great accession of new words and matter."--_author's preface._ analecta anglo-saxonica. selections in prose and verse from anglo-saxon literature, with an introductory ethnological essay, and notes, critical and explanatory. by louis f. klipstein, of the university of giessen, thick vols. post vo. cloth, s. (original price s.) a delectus in anglo-saxon, intended as a first class-book in the language. by the rev. w. barnes, of st. john's college, cambridge, author of the poems and glossary in the dorset dialect. mo. cloth, s. d. "to those who wish to possess a critical knowledge of their own native english, some acquaintance with anglo-saxon is indispensable; and we have never seen an introduction better calculated than the present to supply the wants of a beginner in a short space of time. the declensions and conjugations are well stated, and illustrated by references to the greek, latin, french, and other languages. a philosophical spirit pervades every part. the delectus consists of short pieces on various subjects, with extracts from anglo-saxon history and the saxon chronicle. there is a good glossary at the end."--_athenæum, oct. , ._ facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards. by w. a. chatto, author of "jackson's history of wood engraving," in one handsome vol. vo. illustrated with many engravings, both plain and coloured, cloth, l. s. "it is exceedingly amusing."--_atlas._ "curious, entertaining, and really learned book."--_rambler._ "indeed the entire production deserves our warmest approbation."--_literary gazette._ "a perfect fund of antiquarian research, and most interesting even to persons who never play at cards."--_tait's mag._ bibliotheca madrigaliana: a bibliographical account of the music and poetical works published in england in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, under the titles of madrigals, ballets, ayres, canzonets, &c. by dr. rimbault. vo. cloth, s. a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs from the reign of edward i. by james orchard halliwell, f.r.s., f.s.a., &c. vols. vo. containing upwards of , pages closely printed in double columns, cloth l. s. it contains about , words (embodying all the known scattered glossaries of the english language), forming a complete key to the reading of the works of our old poets, dramatists, theologians, and other authors, whose works abound with allusions, of which explanations are not to be found in ordinary dictionaries and books of reference. most of the principal archaisms are illustrated by examples selected from early inedited mss. and rare books, and by far the greater portion will be found to be original authorities. a little book of songs and ballads, gathered from ancient musick books, ms. and printed. by e. f. rimbault, ll.d., &c. post vo. pp. , half-bound in morocco, s. ----antique ballads, sung to crowds of old, now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold. guide to the anglo-saxon tongue, with lessons in verse and prose, for the use of learners. by e. j. vernon, b.a., oxon. mo. cloth, s. d. *** this will be found useful as a second class-book, or to those well versed in other languages. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page legends and superstitions respecting bees oxford jeu d'esprit ansareys in mount lebanon primers of the reign of queen elizabeth, by the rev. t. lathbury minor notes:--objective and subjective--lucy walters, the duke of monmouth's mother--general haynau's corpse--"isolated"--office of sexton held by one family--sententious despatches--reprints suggested queries:-- pictures from lord vane's collection burial-place of thurstan, archbishop of york, by george fox minor queries:--admiral hopson--"three cats sat," &c.-- herbert's "church porch"--ancient tenure of lands-- dramatic works--devreux bowly--"corruptio optimi," &c. --lamenther--sheriff of somersetshire in --edward brerewood--elizabeth seymour--longfellow--fresick and freswick--has execution by hanging been survived?--maps of dublin--"the lounger's commonplace book"--mount mill, and the fortifications of london--"forms of public meetings" minor queries with answers:--queen elizabeth and the ring--lives of english bishops: bishop burnet--eden pedigree and arms--the gentleman's calling--obs and sols--fystens or fifteenths replies:-- hardman's account of waterloo dates of births and deaths of the pretenders "could we with ink," &c., by j. w. thomas mackey's theory of the earth by j. dawson, &c. do conjunctions join propositions only? by g. boole robert bloet, by edward foss photographic correspondence:--a hint to the photographic society--test for nitrate of silver--professor hunt's photographic studies--waxed-paper pictures--the double iodide solution--dr. mansell's process replies to minor queries:--buonaparte's abdication-- burton family--drainage by machinery--nattochiis and calchanti--"one while i think," &c.--"spires 'whose silent finger points to heaven'"--dr. eleazar duncon --"marriage is such a rabble rout"--cambridge mathematical questions--reversible masculine names-- the man in the moon--arms of richard, king of the romans--brothers with the same christian name-- arch-priest in the diocese of exeter, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * instruction in art, general and special, as afforded at the schools of the department of science and art, at marlborough house, pall mall, london. the school consists of i. a normal school for training teachers. ii. special classes for technical instruction. _art superintendent_:-- richard redgrave, r.a. the spring session will commence on st of march, and end st of july; and the fees are for that period. . the courses of instruction are intended to impart systematically a knowledge of the scientific principles of art, especially in its relation to the useful purposes of life. a limited application of those principles is demonstrated with the view of preparing students to enter upon the future practice of the decorative arts in manufactories and workshops, either as masters, overseers, or skilled workmen. at the same time, instruction is afforded to all who may desire to pursue these studies without reference to a preparation for any special branch of industry. special courses are arranged in order to train persons to become masters of schools of art, and to enable schoolmasters of parochial and other schools to teach elementary drawing as a part of general education concurrently with writing. . the lectures and courses of instruction are as follows:-- general course for male students only. a. free-hand, model, and elementary mechanical drawing, practical geometry and perspective, painting in oil, tempera, and water colours. modelling. the classes for drawing, painting, and modelling, include the figure from the antique and the life: and artistic anatomy. lectures, teaching, and practice, in the morning and evening, fee l. the session.--head master, mr. burchet; assistants, messrs. herman, walsh, denby, wills, and hancock. b. the evening instruction is limited to advanced drawing, painting, and modelling, including the figure. fee l. technical courses. c. practical construction, including architecture, building, and the various processes of plastic decoration, furniture, and metal working. lectures, teaching and practice, morning and evening. fee l. evening course only, fee l. for male students only. superintendent, professor semper. d. mechanical and machine drawing. class lectures with evening teaching and morning practice. for male students only. fee l. superintendent, mr. w. binns. e. surface decoration, as applied to woven fabrics of all kinds, lace, paper hangings, &c. lectures, teaching and practice, morning and evening. fee l. an afternoon class for females only, fee l. an evening class for male students only, fee l. superintendent, mr. octavius hudson. f. porcelain painting, daily teaching and practice for male and female students, fee l. superintendents, mr. simpson and mr. hudson. g. wood engraving. lectures, daily teaching and practice for female students only, fee l. superintendents, mr. thompson and miss waterhouse. h. lithography, chalk, pen, and colour. daily teaching and practice for female students only, fee l. superintendents, mr. brookes and miss channon. public lectures on the forms and colours of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, by professor e. forbes; on the human form, by mr. j. marshall, f.r.c.s.; on the history of ornamental art, by mr. wornum, &c. admission to each lecture, d. . the instruction for the general students is carried on daily, except on saturdays. . students may matriculate for a period of three years upon paying l. in one sum on entrance, or three annual payments of l. they are entitled to attend all the public and class lectures, the general and technical courses, to receive personal instruction, and to practice in the school at all times; they have also access to the museum and library. at the end of the session they may pass an examination, and have the privilege of competing for scholarships, varying from l. to l. a year in value. . occasional students are at liberty to attend only the particular courses for which they enter, and have admission to the museum, library, and public lectures. . a class for schoolmasters and pupil teachers will meet every wednesday and friday, tuesday and thursday evenings, and on saturdays, fee, s. superintendent of the training teaching, and elementary instruction, mr. burchet; assistant, mr. bowler. also at gore house, kensington, on monday and thursday. . a register of the students' attendances is kept, and may be consulted by parents and guardians. . the school for the female students passing through the general course, is at . gower street. superintendent, mrs. mcian; assistants, miss gann and miss west. fees:--advanced classes, l. and l.; elementary class, s.; evening class, s. a class also meets at gore house, kensington, mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. . district schools of art, in connexion with the department, are now established in the following places. open every evening (except saturday) from to : . entrance fee, s. admission, s. and s. per month. the instruction comprises practical geometry and perspective, free-hand and mechanical drawing, and elementary colour:-- . spitalfields, crispin street. . north london, high street, camden town. . finsbury, william street, wilmington square. . westminster, mechanics' institute, great smith street. . st. thomas, charterhouse, goswell street. . rotherhithe, grammar school. . st. martin's-in-the-fields, long acre. at . and . schools there are female classes. application for admission to be made at the offices in each locality. for farther information, apply at marlborough house, pall mall. henry cole, lyon playfair, joint secretaries. * * * * * { } murray's british classics. publishing monthly, in demy octavo volumes. * * * * * now ready (to be completed in vols.), vols. i. and ii., vo., s. d. each. the works of oliver goldsmith: an entirely new edition, edited and annotated by peter cunningham, f.s.a., author of the "handbook of london--past and present." this edition is printed from the last editions revised by the author, and not only contains more pieces than any other, but it is also the first in which the works appear together exactly as their author left them. _the times._--a library edition of goldsmith's works, well edited by mr. peter cunningham, and beautifully printed, at s. d. per volume. _examiner._--mr. murray's british classics, so edited and printed as to take the highest place in any library. _spectator._--laboured correctness of text, with sufficient annotation, distinguishes the present volume. _athenæum._--those who love to collect our standard authors in handsome library editions, may well congratulate themselves on the issue. _literary gazette._--mr. cunningham appears to have bestowed much pains in obtaining the text with the author's last revisions. _notes and queries._--distinguished by skilful editorship, beautiful and legible type, fine paper, compactness of bulk, and economy of price. _guardian._--the best editions have been consulted, and the present volume certainly gives evidence of careful and conscientious editing. _press._--mr. cunningham is an editor, not a commentator, and he does not confound these functions. the volume is beautifully printed. _leader._--goldsmith's works in four volumes, edited anew by peter cunningham. it is fit for the best shelves of a library. _builder._--mr. cunningham is peculiarly well fitted for the task; his studies have long been specially directed to the literature, manners, and people of the last century. to be followed on march st, by gibbon's decline and fall of the roman empire. with notes and preface by milman and guizot. a new library edition, carefully collated, preceded by the autobiography of gibbon, and edited, with notes, by william smith, ll.d., classical examiner in the university of london. with portrait and maps. vol. i., vo. s. d. (to be completed in vols.) john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * thomas moore, mr. croker, and lord john russell. this day, uniform with "moore's memoirs," post vo., s. the correspondence of mr. croker and lord john russell, in reference to moore's diary: to which is added, a postscript by mr. croker, explanatory of his acquaintance and correspondence with mr. moore. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, no. vi., s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series): consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith. . soho square, london. * * * * * the primitive christian church. second edition, vo., with wood engravings, price s. the church in the catacombs: a description of the primitive church of rome. illustrated by its sepulchral remains. by charles maitland. by the same author, in vo., price s. the apostles' school of prophetic interpretation: with its history to the present time. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * in vol., with etchings by the author, and woodcuts, price s. legends of the madonna; as represented in the fine arts. forming the third series of "sacred and legendary art." by mrs. jameson. in the same series. new editions, price s. each, legends of the monastic orders, and-- legends of the saints and martyrs. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * in one volume, medium vo., price s. thesaurus of english words and phrases, classified and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas, and assist in literary composition. by p. m. roget, m.d., f.r.s. second edition. *** several thousand words and phrases, not contained in the first edition, have now been added; many improvements have been made in the arrangement of the expressions; and the whole work has undergone careful revision with the view of increasing its general utility. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * new and complete gazetteer. in one volume vo., price s. cloth; or half-russia, s. mr. a. keith johnston's new dictionary of geography, descriptive, physical, statistical, and historical: forming a complete general gazetteer of the world. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * this day is published, price s. lectures upon the church catechism. by the rev. harvey goodwin m.a., late fellow of gonville and caius college, and minister of st. edward's, cambridge. lately published by the same, parish sermons, st and nd series. mo. s. each. short sermons at the celebration of the lord's supper. mo. s. four sermons preached before the university of cambridge, in the month of november, . mo. s. cambridge: john deighton. london: g. bell, fleet street. * * * * * bohn's standard library for march. cowper's complete works, edited by southey; comprising his poems, correspondence and translations; with memoir. illustrated with fifty fine engravings on steel, after designs by harvey. to be completed in vols. vol. iii., continuation of memoir and correspondence. post vo., cloth, s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for march. addison's works, with the notes of bishop hurd. in four volumes. with portrait and engravings on steel. vol. ii. post vo., cloth. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for march. athenÆus. the deipnosophists, or the banquet of the learned, translated by c. d. yonge, b.a., with an appendix of poetical fragments rendered into english verse by various authors, and general index. complete in vols, vols. ii. and iii. post vo. cloth, s. each. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for march. mudie's british birds, or history of the feathered tribes of the british islands. fifth edition, revised by w. c. l. martin, esq. complete in vols., post vo. illustrated with plates, containing figures of birds and additional plates of eggs. cloth. s. per volume; or, with the plates coloured, s. d. per vol. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for march. ingulph's chronicle of the abbey of croyland, with the continuations by peter of blois and other writers. translated, with notes and an index, by h. t. riley, b.a. complete in vol. post vo. cloth s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * this day, s. a discourse on church discipline and the burial service. by charles j. vaughan, d.d., head master of harrow school, chaplain in ordinary to the queen. by the same author, the epistle to the romans: the greek text, with english notes. in preparation. the personality of the tempter, and other sermons. s. d. independence and submission: the use and abuse of each. second edition. s. d. sermons preached in the parish church of st. martin's, london. second edition. s. d. sermons preached in the chapel of harrow school. second series. s. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, february , ._ notes. legends and superstitions respecting bees. the vicar of morwenstow, among the beautiful poems to be found in his _echoes from old cornwall_, has one entitled "a legend of the hive:" it commences-- "behold those winged images! bound for their evening bowers; they are the nation of the bees, born from the breath of flowers: strange people are they; a mystic race in life, and food, and dwelling-place!" as another poet has sung: "his quidam signis, atque hæc exempla secuti, _esse apibus partem divinæ mentis_ et haustus Ætherios dixere." mr. hawker's legend is to this effect: a cornish woman, one summer, finding her bees refused to leave their "cloistered home," and "ceased to play around the cottage flowers," concealed a portion of the holy eucharist which she obtained at church: "she bore it to her distant home, she laid it by the hive to lure the wanderers forth to roam, that so her store might thrive;-- 'twas a wild wish, a thought unblest, some evil legend of the west. "but lo! at morning-tide a sign, for wondering eyes to trace, they found above that bread, a shrine rear'd by the harmless race! they brought their walls from bud and flower, they built bright roof and beamy tower! "was it a dream? or did they hear float from those golden cells a sound, as of some psaltery near, or soft and silvery bells? a low sweet psalm, that griev'd within in mournful memory of the sin!" the following passage from howell's _parley of beasts_, lond. , furnishes a similar legend of the piety of bees. bee speaks: "know, sir, that we have also a religion as well as so exact a government among us here; our hummings you speak of are as so many hymns to the great god of nature; and ther is a miraculous example in _cæsaries cisterniensis_, how som of the holy eucharist being let fall in a medow by a priest, as he was returning from visiting a sick body, a swarm of bees being hard by took it up, and in a solemn kind of procession carried it to their hive, and there erected an altar of the purest wax for it, where it was found in that form, and untouched."--p. . it is remarkable that, in the septuagint version of prov. vi. ., the bee is introduced after the ant, and reference is made to [greek: tên ergasian hôs semnên poieitai: ergas. sem.] st. ambrose translates it _operationem venerabilem_; st. jerome, _opus castum_; castalio, _augustum opus_; bochart prefers _opus pretiosum, aut mirabile_.[ ] pliny has much to say about bees. i shall give an extract or two in the old english of philemon holland: "bees naturally are many times sick; and that do they shew most evidently: a man shall see it in them by their heavie looks and by their unlustines to their businesse: ye shall marke how some will bring forth others that be sicke and diseased into the warme sunne, and be readie to minister unto them and give them meat. nay, ye shall have them to carie forth their dead, and to accompanie the corps full decently, as in a solemne funerall. if it chaunce that the king be dead of some pestilent maladie, the commons and subjects mourne, take thought, and grieve with heavie cheere and sad countenance: idle they be, and take no joy to do any thing: they gather in no provision: they march not forth: onely with a certain doleful humming they gather round about his corps, and will not away. "then requisite it is and necessarie to sever and part the multitude, and so to take away the bodie from them: otherwise they would keepe a looking at the breathlesse carcasse, and never go from it, but still mone and mourne without end. and even then also they had need be cherished and comforted with good victuals, otherwise they would pine away and die with hunger."--lib. xi. cap. xviii. "we bury our dead with great solemnity; at the king's death there is a generall mourning and fasting, with a cessation from labour, and we use to go about his body with a sad murmur for many daies. when we are sick we have attendants appointed us, and the symptoms when we be sick are infallible, according to the honest, plain poet: "if bees be sick (for all that live must die), that may be known by signes most certainly; their bodies are discoloured, and their face looks wan, which shows that death comes on apace. they carry forth their dead, and do lament, hanging o' th' dore, or in their hives are pent.'" _howell_, p. . of bees especially the proverb holds good, that "truth is stranger than fiction." the discoveries of huber, swammerdam, reaumur, latreille, bonnet, and other moderns, read more like a fairy-tale than anything else, and yet the subject is far from being exhausted. at the same time modern naturalists have substantiated the accuracy of the ancients in many statements which were considered ridiculous fables. the ancients { } anticipated us so far as even to have used _glass hives_, for the purpose of observing the wonderful proceedings of this winged nation. bochart, quoting an old writer, says: "fecit illis aristoteles _alveare vitreum_, ut introspiceret, qua ratione ad opus se accingerent. sed abnuerunt quidquam operari, donec interiora vitri luto oblevisset."--_hierozoicon_, lond. , folio, part ii. p. . eirionnach. [footnote : the bee is praised for her pious labours in the offices of the roman church, "as the unconscious contributor of the substance of her paschal light." "alitur enim liquantibus ceris, quas in substantiam pretiosæ hujus lampadis _mater apia_ eduxit."--_office of holy saturday._] * * * * * oxford jeu d'esprit. the following _jeu d'esprit_ appeared at oxford in : printed, not published, but laid simultaneously on the tables of all the common rooms. no author's name was attached to it then, and therefore no attempt is now made to supply this deficiency by conjecture. since the attention of the discerning public has lately been directed towards the university of oxford, probably with the expectation of finding some faults in her system of education, it is possible that some of those who are engaged or interested in that inquiry may be amused and instructed by the good sense, humour, logic, and latinity of this satire. "eruditis oxoniÆ amantibus salutem. "acerrimis vestrûm omnium judiciis permittitur conspectus, sive syllabus, libri breviter edendi, et e prelo academico, si diis, _i. e._ delegatis, placet, prodituri: in quo multa dictu et notatu dignissima a tenebris et tineis vindicantur; multa ad hujusce loci instituta et disciplinam pertinentia agitantur; plurima quæ academiæ famam et dignitatem spectant fuse admodum et libere tractantur et explicantur. subjiciuntur operis illustrandi ergo capitum quorundam argumenta, '[greek: ek dios archômestha].' . Ælfredi magni somnium de sociis omnibus academicis ad episcopatum promovendis: 'with suppliant smiles they bend the head, while distant mitres to their eyes are spread.' _byron._ opus egregium perutile perjucundum ex membranis vetustissimis detritis tertium rescriptis, solertiâ plus quam angelo-maiana, nuperrime redintegratum. . devorguillæ, balliolensibus semper carissimæ, pudicitia laborans vindicatur. . contra kilnerum et mertonenses disputatur, pythagoram cantabrigiæ nunquam docuisse: '[greek: dedaidalmenoi pseudesi poikilois] [greek: exapatônti muthoi].'--_pind._ . wiccamici publicis examinationibus liberi, sibi et reipublicæ nocentes. . magdalenenses semper ædificaturientes nihil agunt: 'implentur veteris bacchi.'--_virg._ . orielensibus, ingenio, ut ipsi aiunt, exundantibus, aula b. m. v. malevole denegatur: 'barbara celarent darii.'--_ars logica._ . de reditibus annuis decani et canonicorum Ædis christi, sive de libris canonicis. . quæstiones duæ: an alumni Ædis christi _jure_ fiant canonici? an alumni Ædis christi _re-verâ_ fiant canonici? . respondetur serenissimæ archiducissæ de oldenburg quærenti: 'what do the fellows of all-souls do?' . e collegio Ænei nasi legati stamfordiam missi nasum illum celeberrimum, collegii [greek: epônumos], solemni pompâ oxoniam asportant. . nummi ad ornandam faciem occidentalem collegii lincolniensis erogati unde comparati fuerint? ... 'lucri bonus est odor ex re qualibet.'--_juv._ . _note._--the original heading of this chapter was altered in a later edition, and therefore is not reprinted here. . ex societatibus cæteris ejectos aula s. albani pessimo exemplo ad se recipit: 'facilis descensus averni.'--_virg._ . de golgotha et de golgothitis. . prælectores an prælectiones numero sint plures. . viro venerabili s. t. p. r. prælegente pecunia a clientibus sordide admodum exigitur. . magistri in venerabili domo convocationis necessario adsistentes more attico [greek: to triôbolon] recipere debent. . de academicorum in venerabili domo convocationis sedentium podicibus igneo quodam vapore calefaciendis: 'placetne vobis magistri?'--[greek: ho aei] vice-can. . de viris clarissimis bibliothecæ bodleianæ curatoribus. 'scene ii.--_enter_ quince the carpenter, snug the joiner, bottom the weaver, flute the bellows-mender, snout the tinker, _and_ starveling the tailor. _quince._ is all our company complete?' _shakspeare._ . de matulis in bibliothecâ studentibus copiosius suppeditandis: '[greek: amis gar ên ourêtiasêis autê] [greek: para soi kremêsetai engus epi tou pattalou].' _aristophanes._ . de bibliothecario et ejus adjutoribus. '_captain._ what are you about, dick? _dick._ nothing, sir. _captain._ thomas, what are you doing? _thomas._ helping dick, sir.' . examinantur examinatores. . cuinam eorum doctoris planissimi cognomen jure optimo concedendum sit. . de dodd. { } . de magistris scholarum. 'who made that wond'rous animal a soph?' _oxford spy._ . baccalaurei ad clepsydram determinantes. 'nor stop, but rattle over every word, no matter what, so it can not be heard.' _byron._ . de vocum great-go, little-go, by-go, in concione quâdam nuperâ perperam felici usu. '[greek: eti to auto hupokorizesthai; esti de hupokorismos hos elatton poiei k. t. l. eulabeisthai de dei].'--_aristotle._ . de statuà matronæ venerabilis [greek: tês] goose nuper defunctæ in medià scholarum areà collocandà. . de statutorum nostrorum simplici perspicuitate. '[greek: anarchaion te kai atelentaion to pan.]' ephraim jenkins, apud the _vicar of wakefield_. . an procuratorum pedissequi recte nominentur bull-dogs? . de passere intra templum b. mariæ concionantibus obstrepente per statutum coercendo. '[greek: Ô zeu basileu tou phthegmatos tournithiou].' . typographium clarendonianum famæ universitatis male consulit, dum cornelium nepotem et alios, id genus, libellos, in usum scholarum imprimit. 'fama malum.'--_virg._ 'quærenda pecunia primum.'--_horat._ . de celeberrimà matronà knibbs ex horatii mente deificanda. 'divina tomacula porci.' . exemplo viri clarissimi joannis gutch probatur mortales errori obnoxios esse. . petitur ut memoria viri prosapià ingenio et moribus spectatissimi gulielmi stuart oratione annuà celebretur. 'integer vitæ scelerisque purus.'--_hor._ 'the merry poacher who defies his god.' _oxford spy._ . oxonià novo lumine vestità, gaudent balænæ atlanticæ, exulant meretrices, procuratores otio enecantur. '[greek: hôs ektos ômen têsde tês alampias].' 'jam redit et virgo, redeunt saturnia regna.'--_virg._ . probatur bedellum academicum vero et genuino sensu esse quartum prædicabile; quippe qui comes adsit vice-cancellario omni soli et semper. doctissimus tamen higgenbrockius differentiam potius esse putat, eujus hæc sunt verba: 'bedellus est de vice-cancellarii essentia, nec potest dispensari cum absentia: nam sicat forma dat esse rei, sic esse dat bedellus ei.' nec errat forsan vir clarissimus, si enim collegii eujusvis præfectum (genus) recte dividat bedellus adstans (differentia), fit illico species optata.--_dominus vice-can._ . tutorum et examinatorum oxoniensium petitio mediolanum transmissa, ut auctorum deperditorum restitutor nequissimus angelus maius, iste malè feriatus, oculis et virilibus mulctetur. . statuto quamprimum cautum sit, idque sub poenis gravissimis, ne quis ad universitatis privilegia admissus auctoris cujuspiam libros feliciter deperditos invenire audeat, inventos huc asportet, imprimat, imprimendos curet, denique impressos legat. hæc sunt et horum similia, academici, quæ favore et auspiciis vestris auctor sibi evolvenda destinat. ei investigandi tædium, vobis delectatio, adsit, et honos et gloria. in quantam molem assurgat materies tam varia tam augusta non est in præsenti ut pro certo affirmetur. spes est, ut omnia rite collecta, in ordinem breviter et [greek: enkuklopaidikôs] redacta, voluminibus, formà quam vocant 'elephant-quarto,' non plusquam triginta contineantur. omnes igitur qui famam aut academiæ aut suam salvam velint, moras excutiant, bibliopolam nostrum integerrimum præsto adeant, symbolas conferant, deut nomina, ut hanc saltem a nobis immortalitatem consequantur, alià fortasse carituri." j. b. o. loughborough. * * * * * ansareys in mount lebanon. in the romance of _trancred_, mr. d'israeli mentions the ansareys, one of the tribes of lebanon, as worshipping the old heathen gods, jupiter, apollo, and astarte, or venus. a writer of fiction is certainly not expected to be bound to fact; but in such a matter as the present religion of an existing people, i feel doubtful whether to suppose this religion his own invention, or if he has any authority for it, and its connexion with pagan antioch. a people to-day retaining the worship of the old gods of greece and syria, is a matter of great interest. i have looked into volney's _travels in syria and egypt_, and in some later writers, but none of them state the paganism of tancred to be the religion of the ansareys. it is, however, said to be a mystery, so not impossibly the account in _tancred_ may be the reality. in the same work, the sheikhs of sheikhs, and his tribe, the beni-rechab children of rechab, are said to be jews on horseback, inhabiting the desert, and resembling the wandering arabs in their mode of life. this also is curious, if there be such a people; and some of your readers acquainted with the history and manners of syria may give information on these matters. the other tribes of lebanon are singular and equally interesting:--the maronites, christians of the roman catholic sect, who, however, allow their priests to marry; the metualis, mahomedans of the sect of ali; and the druses, whose religion is unknown, and, as lamartine tells us, was entirely so to lady hester stanhope, who lived years in the middle of them. volney divides the ansareys { } in several sects, of whom one worshipped the sun, another a dog, and a third had an obscene worship, with such lewd nocturnal meetings as were fabled of the yesedee. f. * * * * * primers of the reign of queen elizabeth. little is known respecting the primers of this reign, and yet several editions were published. my object will be to give some information on the subject, in the hope that more may be elicited from your correspondents. there is an edition of the year , to. two copies only are known at present; one in the library at christ church, oxford, and the other at jesus college, cambridge. it has been reprinted by the parker society. this primer contains certain prayers for the dead, as they stand in that of henry viii., . in short, with the exception of "an order for morning prayer," with which it commences, this primer follows the arrangement of that of ; some things, relative to saints, angels, and the virgin mary, having been excluded. but i have in my possession another edition in mo. of this reign, of which i can trace no other copy. my book wants the title, and consequently i cannot ascertain its date. it was formerly in gough's possession. i am inclined to think that it is earlier than the edition reprinted by the parker society. unlike the book of , mine commences with the catechism, but the subsequent arrangement is the same. the differences, when any exist, consist in a more literal following of the primer of . the prayers for the dead are retained as in the book of . the graces, also, are more numerous in my edition, and some of them are not found even in king henry's book. one consists of an address, as from the master of the family, with an answer from the other members. in some respects this is similar to a form in king edward's primer, while in others it is altogether different. at the close of the graces, the book of has the words "god save our queen and realm," while in my edition the reading is the same as in the book of , "lorde, save thy churche, our quene, and realme," &c. in "the dirige" there is a very singular variation. in we find "ego dixi, psalm esaic xxxviii.;" in it is only "esa. xxxviii.;" in that of the form is "ego dixi, psal. esa. xxxviii.;" and my edition has "ego dixi, psal. xxxv.," being different from all the rest. some curious typographical errors are also found in my edition. in the catechism the word king is substituted for queen. in the third petition in the litany for the queen, we have "that it may please thee to be hys defendour, and gevinge hym," &c.; yet in the previous clauses the pronoun is correctly used. it would seem that the printer had the primer of or before him, and that in these cases he followed his copy without making the necessary alterations. such are the more remarkable differences between my edition and that of . there is a primer of this reign in the bodleian, quite different from mine and that of . in this the prayers for the dead are expunged, and the character of the book is altogether dissimilar. two copies of this book exist in the bodleian, which have been usually regarded as different editions. from a careful examination, however, i have ascertained that they are the same edition. one copy has the title, with the date on the woodcut border; the other wants the title, but has the colophon, bearing the date . the latter is the true date of the book, and the date on the title is merely that of some other book, for which the compartment had been used in . such variations are common with early books. i have several volumes bearing an earlier date on the title than in the colophon. thus, the first edition of sir thomas elyot's _castle of health_ has on the title, and in the colophon. the latter was the true date. it may be remarked that the two books in the bodleian of will together make up a perfect copy. some of your correspondents may be able to mention another copy of the edition which i possess. i am very anxious to discover another. thomas lathbury. bristol. * * * * * minor notes. _objective and subjective._--i tried, a little while ago, to show in your pages that this antithesis, though not a good pair of terms, is intelligible, and justified by good english usage. but i must allow that the writers who use these terms, do all that is possible to put those who justify them in the wrong. in a french work at least, recently published, i find what appears to me a curious application of the corresponding words in that language. m. auguste comte, in the preface to the third volume of his _système de politique positive_, speaks of some of his admirers who had by their "cotisations," or contributions, supported him while he was writing the work; and he particularly celebrates one of them, mr. wallace, an american, adding: "devenu jusqu'ici le principal de mes souscripteurs, wallace a perpétué _subjectivement_ son patronage _objectif_, en me leguant une annuité de cinq cent francs." i must confess that the metaphysics according to which a sum paid by a living man is _objectif_, and a legacy _subjectif_, is beyond my depth. { } while i write, as if writers of all kinds were resolved to join in perplexing the use of these unfortunate words, i read in a journal, "objective discussion in the sense of hostile or adverse discussion, discussion which proposed _objections_." i think this is hard upon the word, and unfair usage of it. w. _lucy walters, the duke of monmouth's mother._--the death of this unfortunate woman is usually stated to have taken place at paris. the date is not given, and the authority cited is john evelyn. but evelyn's words have been misunderstood. he says, speaking of the duke of monmouth's execution: "his mother, whose name was barlow, daughter of some very mean creatures, was a beautiful strumpet, whom i had often seen at paris; she died miserably, without anything to bury her."--_diary_, july , . this passage surely does not imply that she _died_ at paris? in the parish registers of hammersmith is the following entry: " , june , lucy walters bur." which i am fully persuaded records the death of one of king charles's quondam mistresses. edward f. rimbault. _general haynau's corpse._--a most extraordinary account has reached us in a private letter from vienna to a high personage here, and has been the talk of our _salons_ for the last few days. it appears that the circumstance of the death of general haynau presented a phenomenon of the most awful kind on record. for many days after death the warmth of life yet lingered in the right arm and left leg of the corpse, which remained limpid and moist, even bleeding slightly when pricked. no delusion, notwithstanding, could be maintained as to the reality of death, for the other parts of the body were completely mortified, and interment became necessary before the two limbs above mentioned had become either stiff or cold. the writer of the letter mentioned that this strange circumstance has produced the greatest awe in the minds of those who witnessed it, and that the emperor had been so impressed with it, that his physicians had forbidden the subject to be alluded to in his presence. query, can the above singular statement be verified? it was copied from a french paper, immediately after the decease of general haynau was known in paris. w. w. malta. _"isolated."_--this word was not in use at the commencement of the eighteenth century, as is evident from the following expression of lord bolingbroke's: "the events we are witnesses of in the course of the longest life appear to us very often original, unprepared, single, and _unrelative_; if i may use such a word for want of a better in english. in french, i would say _isolés_." the only author quoted by richardson is stewart. r. cary barnard. malta. _office of sexton held by one family._--the following obituary, copied from the _derbyshire advertiser_ of jan. , , contains so extraordinary an account of the holding of the office of sexton by one family, that it may interest some of your readers, and may be difficult to be surpassed. "on jan. , , aged eighty-six, mr. peter bramwell, sexton of the parish church of chapel-en-le-frith. the deceased served the office of sexton forty-three years; peter bramwell, his father, fifty years; george bramwell, his grandfather, thirty-eight years; george bramwell, his great-grandfather, forty years; peter bramwell, his great-great-grandfather, fifty-two years: total years." s. g. c. _sententious despatches_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--in addition to the sententious dispatches referred to above, please note the following. it was sent to the emperor nicholas by one of his generals, and is a very good specimen of russian _double entendres_: "_voli[=a] v[=a]sch[=a]_, [=a] varsch[=a]voo vsiat nemogoo." "_volia is your's_, but warsaw i cannot take." also,-- "_your will is all-powerful_, but warsaw i cannot take." j. s. a. old broad street. _reprints suggested._--as you have opened a list of suggested reprints in the pages of "n. & q.," may i be allowed to remark that some of peter heylin's works would be well worth reprinting. there is a work of which few know the value, but yet a work of the greatest importance, i mean dr. o'connor's _letters of columbanus_. a carefully edited and well annotated edition of this scarce work would prove of greater value than any reprint i can think of. mariconda. * * * * * queries. pictures from lord vane's collection. my family became possessed of six fine portraits at the death of lord vane, husband to that lady of unenviable notoriety, a sketch of whose life (presented by her own hand to the author) is inserted, under the title "adventures of a lady of quality," in _peregrine pickle_. i quote from my { } relation who knew the facts.[ ] lord vane was the last of his race, and died at fairlawn, kent, probably about the latter half of the last century.[ ] the successor to his fortune selected a few pictures, and left the remaining, of which mine formed a part, to his principal agent. amateurs say they are by sir peter lely: a fact i should be glad to establish. i have searched windsor castle, hampton court, and knowle park collections in vain for duplicates. no. . is a young man in what appears to be a court dress, exhibiting armour beneath the folds of the drapery. point lace neck-tie. . do., in brocaded silk and fringed dress. point lace neck-tie and ruffles. a spaniel introduced, climbing up his knee. . a youth sitting under a tree, with pet lamb. point lace neck-tie and ruffles, but of simple dress. . a lady in flowing drapery. pearls in her hair and round her neck, sitting under a tree. an orange blossom in her hand. . a lady seated in an apartment with marble columns. costume similar to no. , minus the pearls in the hair. a kind of wreath in her hand. . a lady in simple, flowing drapery, without jewellery, save a broach or clasp on her left shoulder; holding a flower in her right hand. in all, the background is _very dark_, but trees and buildings can be traced through the gloom. the hands are models, and _beautifully painted_. size of pictures, divested of their carved and gilt frames, four feet two inches by three feet four inches. if any of your readers can, from this description, give me any clue to the name of the artist, it will greatly oblige and be duly appreciated by an elderly spinster. s. d. [footnote : [a correspondent in the _gentleman's magazine_ for may, , p. ., who was intimately acquainted with lord and lady vane, states that "though dr. smollet was as willing as he was able to embellish his works with stories marvellous, yet he did not dress up lady vane's story of her lord. she wrote it as well as she could herself, and dr. shebbeare put it in its present form at her ladyship's request."] [footnote : lord vane died april , , at his house in downing street, westminster. he was great-grandson of that inflexible republican, sir henry vane, executed on tower hill, june , .--ed.]] * * * * * burial-place of thurstan, archbishop of york. the church of all saints, in pontefract, county york, was some years ago partly restored for divine worship; and during the progress of the works, a broken slab was discovered in the chancel part of the church, upon which was cut an archiepiscopal cross, extending from the top apparently to the bottom. on the upper part of the stone, and on each side of the cross, was a circle or ring cut down the middle by a dagger; and bearing on the circle the following inscription in old english characters: "+ in . god . is . all ." in the middle of the stone, and on each side of the cross, also appear a shield emblazoned with a rabbit or coney _sejant_.[ ] beneath this part appears the commencement of the inscription, which seems to have run across the surface of the stone, "orate pro anim...." here the stone is broken across, and the lower part not found. can any of your numerous readers inform me if this stone could possibly be the tombstone of thurstan, archbishop of york? it is said that he resigned the see of york after holding it twenty-six years: "being old and sickly, he would have been made a monk of pontefract, but he had scarcely put off his pontifical robes, and put on his monk's dress, when death came upon him and made him assume his grave-clothes; for he survived but eleven days after his resignation, dying feb. , ." thurstan is stated to have been buried in the monastery; but may he not have been buried in the church of all saints, which was the conventual church of the priory of st. john the evangelist, and was situated adjoining the grange, the site of the priory? in the bull of pope celestine, "right of burial in this church was granted to the monks, saving the privileges of neighbouring churches." (_ch. de pontif._ fol. . a.) george fox. [footnote : in "n. & q.," vol. ix., p. ., i find, under the head of "wylcotes brass," an answer to the inscription "in . on . is . all;" and as the inscription on the tombstone discovered in all saints, pontefract, was very legibly written "in god is all," may not one family be a branch of the other? can you say where the quotation is from?] * * * * * minor queries. _admiral hopson._--in tomkins' _history of the isle of wight_ ( ), vol. ii. p. ., an anecdote is told of a native of bonchurch named hobson, who afterwards became admiral hobson. it is mentioned that he was _an orphan_, bound apprentice to a tailor; and that being struck with the sight of a squadron of ships off the isle of wight, he rowed off in a boat to them, and was received on the admiral's ship; that _the next day_, in an engagement with _the french_, when his ship was engaged yard-arm and yard-arm with the enemy, he climbed up the mast, clambered to the enemy's yard-arm, mounted to the top-gallant mast, and took down the flag. this created consternation in the enemy, who were soon defeated. hobson was { } promoted to be an officer, and ultimately became an admiral. this is the story as told by tomkins. i wish to know what was his authority. consulting chernoch's _lives of the admirals_, i find mention of admiral sir thomas hopson, a native of bonchurch; who ran away from his parents, and did not return to his home till he was an admiral. this sir thos. hopson was made second lieutenant in , the year of the action in solbay, in which the earl of sandwich perished. he rose to the rank of vice-admiral of the red; and in the action of vigo, in , he distinguished himself, and was knighted in consequence. he received a pension of l. a year, and retired from the service in this year. he died in . after he quitted the navy, he became member of parliament for newtown, in the isle of wight. it is evident that this hopson is the _hobson_ of tomkins; and that tomkins spoke of the french by mistake for the _dutch_ enemy. but i cannot discover what authority he had for his account of the manner in which young hobson first distinguished himself. g. currey. charterhouse. _"three cats sat," &c._--can any of your correspondents give me the end of a ballad, beginning thus, which a very old lady in her ninetieth year is most anxious to know?-- "three cats sat by the fire-side, with a basket full of coal dust, coal dust, coal dust, with a basket full of coal dust." julia r. bockett. southcote lodge. _herbert's "church porch."_--will any of your readers help me to the sense of the following stanza from george herbert's _church porch_, verse : "if thou be single, all thy good and ground submit to love; but yet not more than all. give one estate, as one life. none is bound to work for two, who brought himself to thrall. god made me one man; love makes me no more till labour come, and make my weakness score." the lines of which i want the meaning are the last three. s. singleton. greenwich. _ancient tenure of lands._--i should feel obliged to any of your readers who would inform me as to the ancient tenure by which estates were held in this country. for instance, a manor, including within its limits several hamlets, is held by a, who grants by subinfeudation one of the said hamlets to b; b dies, leaving a son and successor, who continues in possession of the hamlet, and grants leases, &c., and thus for several generations. my question is, did a, in granting to b, relinquish all interest in the hamlet, or how much did he still retain, since in after years the hamlet is found to have reverted to him, and no allusion is afterwards made to the subinfeudatory lords who possessed it for some generations? it is presumed that in early times lords of a manor were owners of the _lands_ of the manor of which they were lords; at present an empty title is all that remains. when did the practice of alienating lands by a piecemeal partition and sale commence? and did a subinfeudatory lord possess the power of alienation? in fact, what is the origin of the numerous small freeholds into which our ancient manors are broken up? j. b. _dramatic works._--_dramatic and poetical works_, very rare, privately printed, . information relative to this work will oblige john martin. woburn abbey. _devreux bowly._--an old and excellent hall clock in this city bears the name of devreux bowly, of lombard street, london, as the maker. can any of the readers of "n. & q." (either horologists or others) say when he lived? uneda. philadelphia. _"corruptio optimi," &c._--what is the origin or earliest use of the saying, "corruptio optimi est, al. fit, pessima," in its present form? i state it in this way, because i am aware of its having been referred to aristotle's remarks on the different forms of government. the old latin translation however, does not contain the expression, and i have not traced it farther back than to writers of the seventeenth century,--to jeremy taylor, for instance. e. m. hastings. _lamenther._--who was the writer of the _life of lamenther, written by herself_, published by subscription in ? is it a genuine narrative; and if so, where can i find a key to the initials? c. clifton barry. _sheriff of somersetshire in ._--will any of your correspondents resident in, or acquainted with the county of somerset, oblige me by stating the date of death of james perry, esq., the sheriff of that county in ; and also his place of residence, and the names of his children, if any; and where any of their descendants now reside? h. _edward brerewood._--is there any authenticated portrait extant of this learned mathematician? he was the first gresham professor of astronomy at the university of oxford, and the { } author of several important philosophical works; one of which, on the _diversity of language_, has been more than once reprinted. possibly at oxford, his _alma mater_, a portrait of him may be in existence; and i dare say some resident member of that university will kindly endeavour to ascertain the fact. t. hughes. chester. _elizabeth seymour._--i have lately met with a pedigree in which it is stated that sir joseph tredenham (i presume of cornwall or devonshire) married elizabeth, daughter of sir edward seymour, first baronet of the present duke of somerset's line, by his wife elizabeth champernown; but another pedigree gives this elizabeth to george cary of cockington, co. devon, esq. which is correct? or did the said elizabeth marry twice? and, in that case, which was the first husband? patonce. _longfellow._--could you inform me whether the name "longfellow" may still be traced in any parts of england? it is the belief of that distinguished american poet that his name still exists in some of the south-western counties; and it would be an additional gratification to him that his hopes were confirmed by testimony. oxoniensis. _fresick and freswick._--in the map of the kingdom of scotland, occurring in the _theatre of the empire of great britaine_, by john speed, , pp. - ., on the north-east point of scotland a place is noted as _fresick_ east, in the present maps _freswick_. is _fresick_ a contracted form of _freswick_? and if so, has it some reference to a settlement of the frisians (anciently fresians) on this coast? the village freswick, on the borders of the lek, and another freswick in the neighbourhood of deventus, both in the netherlands, near the frisians, are supposed to owe their names to a settlement or refuge of those first parents of the anglo-saxons. d. h. _has execution by hanging been survived?_--i have heard vague and indiscriminate tales of persons who, as criminals, have undergone infliction of the punishment of hanging without total extinction of life; but i have always been disposed to look upon such accounts as mere fables, till lately, in turning over some newspapers of the year , i found a case mentioned, under such circumstances that, if it were untrue, its refutation might have been easily accomplished. by _the craftsman_ of saturday, sept , , it appears one william dewell had been concerned in the violation, robbery, and murder of a young woman in a barn at acton (which place has so recently been the scene of another horrible crime). _the craftsman_ of saturday, nov. , , states that dewell, having undergone execution, and being brought to surgeons hall to be anatomised, _symptoms of life appeared, and he quite recovered_.[ ] this strikes me as a most unaccountable story; but perhaps similar ones may have been met with in the reading of some of your correspondents. [sigma]. [footnote : [matt of the mint in the _beggar's opera_ says, "my poor brother tom had an accident this time twelve-month; and so clever a made fellow he was, that i could not save him from those flaying rascals the surgeons; and now, poor man, he is among the 'otamies at surgeons' hall." the executed culprit noticed by our correspondent, however, seems to have been _re-animated_ at surgeons' hall.--ed.]] _maps of dublin._--in gough's _topographical antiquities of great britain and ireland_, p. ., it is stated that there is a map of the city and suburbs of dublin, by charles brookin, , and a map of the bay and harbour of dublin, with a small plan of the city, . i have brookin's map of the city, , but i have never seen or heard of any person who had seen the map of the bay and harbour of . possibly some of your correspondents could give information on the subject, and also state whether there be any map of the city, either manuscript or printed, between speed's map of and brookin's of , and where? c. h. dublin. "_the lounger's common-place book._"--who was the editor of this work? any information as to its literary history, and especially as to that of the revised edition of it, will be very acceptable to w. h. s. _mount mill, and the fortifications of london._--in a topographical account of middlesex, published in the middle of the last century, i find the following: "_mount mill_, at the end of goswell street, was one of the forts erected by the parliament for the defence of london." will any of your correspondents be kind enough to inform me what the exact site was; at what period it was demolished; what were the names and sites of any _other_ forts erected by the parliament at the time for the purposes of defence; and, lastly, in what work any record of them may be found? b. r. a. y. "_forms of public meetings._"--can any of your readers inform me of the name of the publisher of _forms and proceedings of public meetings_ referred to in _the times_ of sept. or last, and supposed to have been written by the speaker of the house of commons? z. y. { } * * * * * minor queries with answers. _queen elizabeth and the ring._--has the common story, respecting the earl of essex sending a ring to queen elizabeth by the countess of nottingham, in order to procure his pardon, any foundation in fact? t. t. w. [miss strickland seems to have examined the traditionary notices of this love-token. she says: "the romantic story of the ring which, it is said, the queen had given to essex in a moment of fondness as a pledge of her affection, with an intimation 'that, if he forfeited her favour, if he sent it back to her, the sight of it would ensure her forgiveness,' must not be lightly rejected. it is not only related by osborne, who is considered a fair authority for other things, and quoted by historians of all parties, but it is a family tradition of the careys, who were the persons most likely to be in the secret, as they were the relations and friends of all the parties concerned, and enjoyed the confidence of queen elizabeth. the following is the version given by lady elizabeth spelman, a descendant of that house, to the editor of her great-uncle robert carey's _memoirs_: 'when essex lay under sentence of death, he determined to try the virtue of the ring, by sending it to the queen, and claiming the benefit of her promise; but knowing he was surrounded by the creatures of those who were bent on taking his life, he was fearful of trusting it to any of his attendants. at length, looking out of his window, he saw early one morning a boy whose countenance pleased him, and him he induced by a bribe to carry the ring, which he threw down to him from above, to the lady scrope his cousin, who had taken so friendly interest in his fate. the boy, by mistake, carried it to the countess of nottingham, the cruel sister of the fair and gentle scrope, and, as both these ladies were of the royal bedchamber, the mistake might easily occur. the countess carried the ring to her husband the lord admiral, who was the deadly foe of essex, and told him the message, but he bade her suppress both.' the queen, unconscious of the accident, waited in the painful suspense of an angry lover for the expected token to arrive; but not receiving it, she concluded he was too proud to make this last appeal to her tenderness, and, after having once revoked the warrant, she ordered the execution to proceed. it was not till the axe had absolutely fallen, the the world could believe that elizabeth would take the life of essex."--_lives of the queens of england_, vol. iv. p. .] _lives of english bishops: bishop burnet._--i should be glad to know who is the author of _the lives of the english bishops, from the restauration to the revolution_; fit to be opposed to the aspersions of some late writers of secret history: london, printed for c. rivington, at the bible and crown in st. paul's churchyard, mdccxxxi? the name of "nath. salmon, ll.b. cccc," is written on the title-page; but it does not appear whether this is intended to indicate the author, or merely a former possessor of the copy now lying before me. from this work, in which burnet, kennett, and others are very severely criticised, i send a curious extract relating to burnet: "he puts me in mind of a petty canon of exeter, to whom he used military force upon refusal to alter the prayers at his command until he should receive the proper instructions. he brought a file of musqueteers upon him, and crammed his amendments down his throat. this man, in a journey to london, visited the musical part of the church of salisbury, and was as usual asked to sing an anthem at evening service. he was a lover of humour, and singing the th psalm, threw out his right hand towards the bishop's stall, and with great emphasis pronounced the words, 'if i forget thee--if i forget thee,' repeating it so often that the whole congregation inquired after the meaning of it. it was from that time ordered that no strange songster should come up more."--p. . e. h. a. [this work was written by nathaniel salmon, who was deprived of his curacy for being a nonjuror. he afterwards settled as a physician at bishop-stortford in hertfordshire, where he died in . see a notice of him, and his other works, in bowyer's _anecdotes_, p. .] _eden pedigree and arms._--i find in gough nicholl's _topographer and genealogist_, vol. i. p. ., mention of a monument in all saints' church, sudbury, to one of the eden family; and a pedigree painted on the east wall of eden, much defaced, with numerous arms, date . would any of your correspondents kindly give me particulars of this monument, pedigree, and arms? elffin ap gwyddno. [the monument was commenced by the second sir thomas eden in , and contained, some years since, an inscription upon brass, a limbed picture, and upon the wall, beneath the canopy, a pedigree of the marriages of the family with those of waldegrave, peyton, steward, workington, harrys, and st. clere. the whole having fallen into ruin, it became necessary in to remove it. the brass being gone, the following inscription upon the verge of the canopy alone was visible: "this tombe was finished at y^e coste of sir thomas eden, knight, maie , ." a large mural monument to the memory of several of the eden family is about to be erected by its side. see the rev. charles badham's _history and antiquities of all saints' church, sudbury_, pp. - . and ., london, ; who says that the pedigree upon the wall has been preserved, but does not state where it may be seen: it will, however, be found among the harleian mss. in the british museum.] _the gentleman's calling._--can any one tell me who was the author of this book? it was printed in london for t. garthwait, at the little north doore of st. pauls, . john scribe. [this work is attributed to the uncertain author of _the whole duty of man_, and is included among the collected works of that writer in the folio edition of { } . compare "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. ., with vol. viii., p. .] _obs and sols._--burton, in his _anatomy of melancholy_ ("democritus to the reader"), th edition, has the following passage: "bale, erasmus, hospinian, vives, kemnisius, explode, as a vast ocean of _obs_ and _sols_, school divinity." what is the meaning of the terms _obs_ and _sols_? henry h. breen. st. lucia. [this is a quaint abbreviation of the words _objectiones et solutiones_, being frequently so contracted in the margins of books of controversial divinity to mark the transitions from the one to the other. hence butler (_hudibras_, iii. ii. .) has coined the name of _ob_ and _sollers_ for scholastic disputants: "but first, o' th' first: the isle of wight will rise up, if you should deny't; where henderson, and the other masses, were sent to cap texts and put cases: to pass for deep and learned scholars, although but paltry _ob_ and _sollers_: as if th' unseasonable fools, had been a coursing in the schools."] _fystens or fifteenths._--can you inform me what is the meaning of the word "fystens." in looking over an old corporation chamber book some years ago i found the following entries, of which i made extracts: " . paid to mr. mayor for fystenes, iiij. [_sic_]. . paid mr. dyston for the fystens, xxxs. more for the fystens, xxvjs. . paid for the fystenes, xixs. iijd. more for the fystenes, xxxi_s_, vijd. _q._ . paid to make up the fystenes, xxxijs. iijd. . paid for the fistenies, xxxs." in a recent publication this last entry is extracted thus: " . paid for the fifteenths, s." patonce. [this was the tribute or imposition of money called _fifteenths_, formerly laid upon cities, boroughs, &c., so called because it amounted to a fifteenth part of that which each city or town was valued at, or a fifteenth of every man's personal estate, according to a reasonable valuation. in , on occasion of the spanish invasion, the parliament gave queen elizabeth two subsidies and four fifteenths.] * * * * * replies. hardman's account of waterloo. (vol. viii., p. .) the book for which g. d. inquires is, _a descriptive poem of the battle of waterloo, and two previous days_, dedicated to the earl of carlisle, by captain hardman, london, , vo., pp. . it appears from the dedication that he was adjutant to the th royal hussars, of which the hon. f. howard was major. he says: "we breakfasted together in the hovel on the th, in the morning, as stated in the poem; and during that dreadful bloody day, he and i were frequently discoursing about our situation; the good position occupied by us; the humane feeling of our brave duke for choosing that situation to save men's lives; and once during the day our regiment was completely sheltered; all the balls from the enemy flying over our heads, except one that dropped about six yards from the major and me. we were at that time dismounted about twenty minutes, to rest the horses. i took the ball up; we looked at it, and had a good hearty laugh over it." here is the description referred to: "at three in the morning i went to major howard,-- 'this morning, major, is enough to make us all cowards; such a night of heavy rain i never before saw, it has fell hard on my shoulders and made them raw; but still i am hearty, can i do anything for you? for on the face of this province i never will rue.' 'no, thank you, hardman, not now, come by-and-by; i have lain in this place till my neck's all awry. my servant is getting a light, then a letter i write; but i am so excessively cold i cannot one indite. he shall then make a fire, and set water over, come in an hour and live with me in clover; we will have some coffee and some fat fowl too, then we can face the french well at waterloo!' 'thank you, major, i will do myself the honour, that will be better than being sat on by the coroner." p. . the prose description of the charge is clear and vivid: "when we advanced to decide the destiny of the day, our right squadron was in front, led on by the brave major-general sir. h. vivian, commanding our brigade; lord robert manners commanding our regiment; major howard commanding the right squadron; and i, the adjutant, in front with those officers. just as we began to advance, i said, 'major, what a grand sight we have before us!' 'yes, it is,' said the major. these were the last words he spoke, for in half a minute afterwards we were right amongst them, slashing away; then there was no time to talk. we quickly made them turn their backs towards us; but there was one square of infantry that stood firm. that square made sad havoc among us. the major was killed by that square. he was not six yards from the muzzles of the french firelocks when he was shot. he fell off his horse, and, i believe, never moved a finger; but i had not a moment's time to stop, for we had not then cleared the field. this, my lord, is a true account of the last moments of your lordship's late son, and one of the best friends i ever had."--p. iv. "we then drove their cavalry past a solid square mass; this mass stood firm against us, like solid brass. { } this is the place where hon. major f. howard was killed, that grieved my mind sorely and my poor heart thrilled."--p. . then follow some reflections which i abstain from quoting, as the way in which they are expressed would produce an effect quite contrary to the author's intentions. the burial is thus described: "i ordered the party to mount their horses, and proceed to carry off and bury all our losses. the party assemble here, now instantly move forward: serjeant, take care where you bury major howard. take two objects in view, or three if you can, then you will be sure to find him again! he lies in the hollow, not far from the french guns. bury him by their side, but not where water runs." p. . the criticism of the note quoted by g. d. is sound: "hardman was no poet, but he could describe graphically what he saw and did." the poem seems to have been the result of a sudden thought. in the dedication he says it was not begun till may , and "a letter to the right hon. george canning," appended to it, is dated june . in the letter he says, that if he "can get into the printing-house again without loss," he will answer mr. canning effectually on the catholic question. he also hopes "to get before the public every week," and "to show that all gentlemen professing the law are the most abused, and at the same time more honest than any other class in this kingdom." had the last-mentioned hope been fulfilled, i think i should have heard of it. i have not met with any other work bearing captain hardman's name; and probably his printer's bill (he was his own publisher) put an end to his literary career. i subjoin two specimens of the poem which, though not relating to the subject of g. d.'s query, may be interesting if you have room for them, as such poetry is not published every day. an exhortation to good conduct ends thus: 'therefore let us prepare, the call may be very soon; then we shall not despair, if the call be made before noon: but if our sins weigh us down, what misery and woe! ah! devils all slily squinting, and to them we must go. their eyes are flames of fire, their tongues are frightful darts, their looks a venomous ire, ready to pierce our feeble hearts, their cloven feet of enmity, their taily stings so long, their poisonous hearts of calomel, daily forming vicious songs."--p. . the other describes his own narrow escape, and the death of an artilleryman: "a ball from their infantry went through my jacket, took the skin off my side, and made me racket. my sword-belt turned it, otherwise through it must have gone. the stroke was very severe, compare it to a sharp gore. captain fitzroy said, 'harding is severely wounded; a ball has gone through his side: here it comes, rounded!' 'stop,' said i, 'a minute; i shall be ready for another shot, i have now gotten my breath again, i will make them rot.' i then said to a gunner who was alleviating a gun, 'which of those columns do you mean to make run?' 'that,' said he, pointing with his finger to a very large mass. a ball came that instant and turned him into brass. it cut him in two; he then turned as yellow as that metal. he was a strange sight to see, and appeared quite brittle."--p. . h. b. c. u. u. c. * * * * * dates of births and deaths of the pretenders. (vol. viii., p. .) though it is much to be regretted that the dates in question are not recorded on the stuart monument in st. peter's, yet the deficiency is in part supplied by the cenotaph raised to the memory of his elder brother by cardinal york, in his cathedral church at frascati. from it we find that charles edward deceased on st january, , at the age of sixty-seven years and one month. this date also fixes the year of his birth at , and the month december; most probably the th, though often given as the st. we give a copy of the inscription below. the date of the birth and decease of james iii. is correctly given in "n. & q.," vol viii., p. . an account of the sepulchral monument of the last of the stuarts may interest the readers of "n. & q." in the south aisle of st. peter's, and against the first pier of the nave, is the monument of the stuarts. it was sculptured by canova to the memory of james, the old pretender; charles edward, the young pretender; and henry benedict, the cardinal, who was known in rome as cardinal york. part of the expense of the monument was defrayed by george iv., who sent a donation of fifty pounds for the purpose to pius vii. the monument is built on to the masonry of the pier, of white marble, about fifteen feet high, and is in the form of the frustrum of a { } pyramid, and surmounted above the entablature by the royal arms of england. below the arms are profile portraits in bas-relief of james, charles edward, and henry benedict, surmounted by a festoon of flowers. beneath the portraits is the following inscription: "jacobo iii. jacobi ii. magnæ brit. regis filio, karolo edvardo, et henrico, decano patrum cardinalium, jacobi iii. filiis, regiæ stirpis stuardiæ postremis. a.d. mdcccxix. beati mortui, qui in domino moriuntur." there is a representation of panelled doors, as if leading to a vault, below the inscription, though their sepulchre is not in this locality; a small triangular slab of marble surmounts the door, with the words "beati mortui," &c. a weeping angel in bas-relief guards the doorway on each side; the head of each angel resting on the bosom, the wings drooping, the hands elevated, joined together, and resting on the end of an extinguished and inverted torch. the figures of the two angels are exquisitely beautiful, and among canova's finest works. the bodies, however, of these last representatives of a fallen line are not buried beneath this monument, but in the crypt under the dome, and in that portion of it called the "grotto vecchie." there, in the first aisle to the left on entering, against the wall, a tomb about six feet long by three broad contains all that remains of the ashes of the last of the stuarts. over it is a plain slab of marble, with an inscription to announce that this is the burial-place of "james iii., charles iii., and henry ix., kings of england." even in death this royal race has not abandoned the claim they were unable to enforce. opposite to this monument is the monument of maria clementina, daughter of james sobieski, and grand-daughter of john sobieski, king of poland, wife of james iii., and mother of charles edward and henry benedict. she married on rd september, , and died at rome on th january, . the monument stands against the wall over the door leading to the staircase by which the public ascend to the cupola. pietro bracci carved the monument from the design of filippo barigioni, consisting of a pyramid of porphyry on a base of porta santa marble, the whole relieved by a ground of blue sky and clouds painted on the wall. under the elevated pyramid is the sarcophagus of porphyry, above which are two marble statues, one of charity, and the other of an infant, which support a circular medallion portrait in mosaic, of maria clementina, by cav. cristofori, from a painting by lewis stern. drapery of sicilian alabaster, with a fringe of gilded bronze, falls in ample folds on both sides of the sarcophagus, which is flanked by two angels, one holding a crown and the other a sceptre; and upon it the words are carved "maria clementina m. britann. fr. et hibern. regina." it was erected by the "fabbrica di s. pietro," at the cost of , scudi. there is another monument in rome to maria clementina, and it is in the church of the ss. apostoli, in the nave, upon the second pier on the right-hand side. it contains her heart, and consists of a circular urn of verde antico, surmounted by a crown, over which two angels hover, of white marble; and below, a tablet of rosso antico, bearing an inscription, thus: "mariæ clementinæ magnæ britanniæ etc. reginæ, fratres min. cons. venerabundi pp. hic clementinæ remanent præcordia, nam cor cælestis fecit ne superesset amor." charles edward has also another monument in addition to the one in st. peter's, namely, at frascati, fourteen miles from rome, of which see cardinal york was bishop. its position is to the left of the great entrance door; the inscription runs thus: "hic situs est karolus odoardus, cui pater jacobus iii., rex angliæ, scotiæ, franciæ, hiberniæ, primus natorum, paterni juris et regiæ dignitatis successor et hæres, qui, domicilio sibi romæ delecto, comes albanyensis dictus est. vixit annos lxvii et mensem: decessit in pace [chi-rho] pridie kal. febr. anno mdcclxxxviii. "henricus card. episc. tusculan., cui paterna jura titulique cessere, ducis eboracensis appellatione resumpta, in ipso luctu amori et reverentiæ obsequutus, indicto in templum suum funere multis cum lacrimis præsens justa persolvit fratri augustissimo, honoremque sepulchri ampliorem destinavit." henry benedict, or cardinal york, was born at rome on th of march, . he was bishop of ostia and velletri, dean of the sacred college, vice-chancellor of the roman church, arch-priest of st. peter's, and prefect of the fabric of st. peter's. he deceased at frascati in july, . in the church at frascati, on the left hand of the entrance into the sanctuary, there is a monument in his honour; but i have not a copy of the inscription. it is needless to add that though all these monuments are made of the richest marbles, and at great cost, the effect produced by them as christian sepulchral monuments is unsatisfactory in the extreme. the inscriptions upon them are in equally bad taste. ceyrep. { } * * * * * "could we with ink," etc. (vol. viii., p. ., &c.) i agree with your learned correspondent mr. margoliouth, that the authorship of the lines alluded to must be ascertained by comparing _the whole_, and not by a single expression. it seems to me highly probable that they were suggested, either by the chaldee hymn quoted by your correspondent, or by the lines of chaucer, quoted "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. . i cannot, however, agree that the popular lines in question are a are a translation of the chaldee hymn. the improbability will appear, if we compare them (as given "n. & q.," vol. viii., p. .) with the following version of the hymn; which, although metrical, will be found sufficiently literal: "to write the eternal power of god, no effort would suffice; although, such writing to contain, the volume were the skies; each reed a pen; and for the ink, the waters of the sea; and though each dweller on the earth, an able scribe should be." this hymn, i admit, is more succinct than the popular lines; but at the same time i cannot but think that its author was indebted to the passage in the koran ("n. & q.," vol. viii., p. .), immediately, or through chaucer; who has not only the general sentiment as there found, but also-- "eche sticke a pen, eche man a scrivener able." i am equally convinced, that mahomet himself took the thought from the passage in the new testament, as suggested by your correspondent e. g. r. each successive writer appears to have added something to what he borrowed. but when the evangelist, john, had said, "_the world itself_ would not be able to contain the books that should be written," it was easy for one writer to suppose an inkstand capacious as the sea; and for another to supply parchment, pens, and scribes _ad libitum_. that the phrase in the koran should _now_ be common in the east, is not wonderful, considering the extent to which mahomedanism has prevailed there. after all, i do not think that the _additions_ are any very great improvements. without disputing about tastes, i may say at least that, for my own part, i greatly prefer the simplicity of the original idea, as expressed by the beloved disciple. j. w. thomas. dewsbury. * * * * * mackey's theory of the earth. (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .) a friend called on me this morning with the number containing a notice of s. a. mackey, supposing that, being a neighbour, i could furnish a few particulars of that extraordinary man. the whole of his mss. came into my possession after his demise. amongst these was a ms. of his life, written by himself, and of which i took a faithful copy: which i have transcribed for gentlemen who wish to possess a copy. i am ready to furnish any gentleman with a copy, neatly written, book included, for s. it consists of fifty-two pages large demy to. the original is in the possession of a mr. brereton of flitcham, near lynn, norfolk, to whom i sold all the mss., mr. brereton being an intimate friend of s. a. mackey. i have on sale a copy of mr. mackey's _works_, selected by mr. shickle, another intimate friend; neatly done up in coloured cloth. also a copy of his _mythological astronomy_, with copious notes, in one hundred pages. also, an appendix of forty-eight pages. and another copy of the ms. astronomy, with notes; but minus the appendix. i may as well inform you, that a friend of mine has in his possession a half-length full-size portrait of mr. mackey; admirably executed, and in prime condition, in a handsome frame. i believe it is for sale. i assure you, when i first saw it, i felt at the moment a kind of impulse to shake hands with my old friend and neighbour. i shall feel great pleasure in answering any inquiries, so far as my knowledge extends. his life is truly interesting; being that of a man born in sorrow, and cradled in adversity. like him, i am a self-taught humble individual, and in my eighty-second year. j. dawson. . doughty's hospital, calvert street, norwich. in july, , sampson arnold mackey delivered a course of six "astro-historical lectures" in a large room near the philanthropic institution. the attendance was full, considering the subject, and i was surprised at the admiration which many well-educated persons expressed for his strange theories, to which they seemed to give full assent. to me his calculations and etymologies appeared as good as those of pluche, sir w. drummond, volney, and dupuis, but no better. i met him at the house of the late dr. wright, then resident physician to bethlehem hospital. he was quiet and unassuming; but so perfectly satisfied that he had proved his system, that though ready to explain, he declined to answer objections, or defend his opinions. as a remarkable example of "the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties," he excited sympathy, and i believe that he disposed of all the copies of his various works then unsold. h. b. c. u. u. club. { } * * * * * do conjunctions join propositions only? (vol. viii., pp. . .) as my name appears to have been referred to by two of your correspondents, mr. ingleby and h. c. k., in connexion with the above question, i request to be permitted to state my real views upon it, together with the grounds upon which they rest. in doing this i can only directly refer to the observations of h. c. k., not having seen those of mr. ingleby to which he makes allusion. admitting that there are many conjunctions which connect propositions only, i am unable to coincide with the view of my friend dr. latham and other grammarians, that the property is universal. and i agree with mr. ingleby, as quoted by h. c. k., in thinking that the incorrectness of that view may be _proved_. we possess the power of conceiving of any distinct classes of things, as "trees," "flowers," &c. and we possess the power of connecting such conceptions in thought, so as to form, for instance, the conception of that collection of things which consists of "trees and flowers" together. if we possess the power of _performing_ this mental operation, we have clearly also the power of _expressing_ it by a sign. this sign is the conjunction "and." it is assumed, what consciousness indeed makes evident, that the power of forming conceptions is antecedent to that of forming judgments expressed by propositions. but even if we proceed to form a judgment, as "trees and flowers exist," it may still be shown that the conjunction "and" connects the substantives "trees," "flowers," and not propositions. for if we reduce the given proposition to the form, "trees exist and flowers exist," the conjunction becomes wholly superfluous. it adds nothing whatever to the meaning of the separate propositions, "trees exist," "flowers exist." omit, however, the conjunction between the substantives in the original proposition, and the sense is wholly lost. what meaning can we attach, except by a convention, to the form of words "trees flowers exist." now there is, i conceive, no more obvious principle in grammar than that the doctrine of the elements of speech should be founded upon the examination of instances in which they have a real meaning--in which their employment is essential, not accidental. it is doubtless one of the consequences of the neglect of this principle, that the older grammarians have made it a part of the definition of a conjunction, that it is a word "devoid of signification" ([greek: phônê asêmos]). see references in harris, p. . were the philosophy of grammar founded, as alone it truly can be, upon the laws of thought, i venture to think that such statements would no longer be accepted. if the views which i have expressed needed confirmation, they would to my own mind derive it from the circumstance, that on applying to the original proposition that "mathematical analysis of logic" to which h. c. k. refers (not, i think, without a shade of scorn), it is resolved into the elementary propositions, "trees exist," "flowers exist," _unconnected by any sign_. let us take, as a second example, the proposition, "all trees are endogens or exogens." if the subject, "all trees," is to be retained, there is, i conceive, but one way in which the above proposition can mentally be formed. we form the conception of that collection of things which comprises endogens and exogens together, and we refer, by an act of judgment, "all trees" to that collection. and thus _the subject "all trees," remaining unchanged_, the conjunction "or" connects the terms of the predicate, as the conjunction "and" in the previous example connected those of the subject. i am prepared to show that this is the only view of the proposition consistent with its strictly logical use. if h. c. k. insist upon the resolution "any tree is an endogen, or it is an exogen," i would ask him to define the word "it." he cannot interpret it as "any tree," for the resolution would then be invalid. it must be applied to a _particular_ tree, and then the proposition resolved is really a "singular" one, and not the proposition whose subject is "all trees." not only do conjunctions in certain cases couple words, but in so doing they manifest the dominion of mental laws and the operation of mental processes, which, though never yet recognised by grammarians and logicians, form an indispensable part of the only basis upon which logic as a science can rest. and however strange the assertion may appear, i do not hesitate to affirm that the science thus established is a mathematical one. i do not by this mean that its subject is the same as that of arithmetic or geometry. it is not the _quantitative_ element to which the term is intended to refer. but i hold, with, i believe, an increasing school of mathematicians, that the processes of mathematics, as such, do not depend upon the nature of the subjects to which they are applied, but upon the nature of the laws to which those subjects, when they pass under the dominion of human thought, become obedient. now the ultimate laws of the processes which are subsidiary to general reasoning, such as attention, conception, abstraction, as well as of those processes which are more immediately involved in inference, are such as to admit of perfect and connected development in a mathematical form alone. we may indeed, without any systematic investigation of those laws, collect together a system of rules and canons, and investigate their common principle. this the genius of aristotle has done. but we cannot thus establish _general methods_. above all, { } we cannot thus establish such methods as may really guide us where the unassisted intellect would be lost amid the complexity or subtlety of the combinations involved. how small, for instance, is the aid which we derive from the ordinary doctrines of the logicians in questions in which we have to consider the operation of mixed causes and in various departments of statistical and social inquiry, in which the intellectual difficulty is almost wholly a logical one. for the ground upon which some of these statements are made, i must refer to my recently-published work on the _laws of thought_. i trust to your courtesy to insert these remarks, and apologise for the undesigned length to which they have extended. g. boole. queens college, cork. * * * * * robert bloet. (vol. ix., p. .) robert, earl of moreton, and odo, bishop of bayeux, the conquerors uterine brothers, both accompanied william, acting conspicuous parts on his invasion of england in . the former died about . odo had been elected bishop as far back as . in he headed a conspiracy against william ii.; but being defeated at rochester, retired to normandy. the time of his death is uncertain, but is supposed to have occurred in . the first notice of robert bloet's name, is as a witness to one of the charters of william ii. to the monastery of durham, granted in or . he was appointed chancellor in , consecrated bishop of lincoln in , and died in . these dates plainly prove that he was not "identical" with robert, earl of moreton; and scarcely could be called cotemporary with him. his supposed relationship to odo is affirmed by richardson, in his notes to goodwin _de præsulibus_, from an expression in his grant of the manor of charleton to the priory of bermondsey (claud. a. ., f. ., mss. hutton); in which he says, "quod pro salute animæ dom. mei willelmi regis, et _fratris mei_ bajocens. episcopi." if odo be the bishop here intended, the meaning of "fratris mei" may be translated, not in the natural, but in the episcopal sense, as brother of his order. but the grant is probably a forgery, or its date of incorrect, for at that time odo was in exile; and bloet would have scarcely ventured to insult the king, from whom he had just received rewards and advancement, by coupling with his the name of one who had been banished as a traitor. for farther particulars, allow me to refer your correspondent mr. sansom to _the judges of england_, vol. i. p. . edward foss. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _a hint to the photographic society._--it has been objected to this society, that beyond the establishment of its _journal_, and the forming of an exhibition, it has done very little to promote the improvement of the beautiful art it was specially intended to advance. such objections are very easily urged; but those who make them should at least propose a remedy. it is in no unfriendly spirit that we allude to these complaints; and we well know how difficult it is for a body like the photographic society to take any important step which shall not be liable to misconstruction. we would however suggest, that among those endeavours which it would become the society to make, there is one which might at once be taken, namely, to secure for the photographic public a good paper. the want of such an article is hourly felt. if the photographic society, following the example of the _society of arts_, should appoint a committee to take this matter into consideration, to define clearly and unmistakeably the essentials of a good _negative_ paper for calotypes (for perhaps it would be well to keep to a _good negative_ paper), and offer a premium for its production, a very short time would elapse before specimens of such an article would be submitted for examination. it is clear that the premium need be one only of small pecuniary value; for the fact of a maker having produced such an article as should gain the prize, would secure him an ample recompense in the enormous demand which would instantly arise for a paper which should be stamped with the public approval of a body entitled to speak with so much authority on such a subject as the council of the photographic society. _test for nitrate of silver._--the reader of photographic works, who in vol. ix., p. ., asked for information as to how he might know whether nitrate of silver was pure, can detect any impurities with which that salt is likely to be contaminated, by applying a few simple tests to an aqueous solution of it. the impurities which nitrate of silver most frequently contains are nitrate of copper, nitrate of potash, and free nitric acid. it is also sometimes intentionally adulterated with nitrate of lead. the presence of a salt of copper is detected by the solution assuming a blue colour when mixed with an excess of ammonia. to detect nitrate of potash, hydrochloric acid should be added to the solution in sufficient quantity to precipitate the whole of the silver. the liquid should then be freed from the precipitate by filtration, and evaporated; if nitrate of potash is present, a fixed residue will remain after evaporation. the presence of a salt of lead is detected by adding a few drops of sulphuric acid to the solution of nitrate of silver, which precipitates the lead as sulphate if present. it is, however, necessary to dilute the acid with a considerable quantity of water, and, if any precipitate forms, to allow it to subside previous to using it as a test for lead, as ordinary sulphuric acid is frequently contaminated with sulphate of lead, which is soluble in the strong, but not in dilute, acid. any free nitric acid in the nitrate of silver can be detected by the smell. the crystals can be freed from { } it, should they contain any, by fusing them in a porcelain crucible over a spirit-lamp. the ordinary fused lunar caustic of the surgeon is unfit for general use as a photographic agent. j. leachman. _professor hunt's photographic studies._--my attention has just been directed to a "practical photographic query" in your journal, vol. ix., p. ., which appears to require a reply from me. it is quite evident that your correspondent, notwithstanding the personal respect which he professes to entertain, cannot have any intimate knowledge of either my works or my studies. allow me to make my position clear to him and other of your readers. my first photographic experiment dates from january , , and since that period the investigation of the _chemical phenomena of the solar rays_ has been the constant employment of all the leisure which a busy life has afforded me. the production of photographic pictures has never been the ultimate object at which i have aimed, although my researches have caused me to obtain thousands. my object has been, and is, to endeavour to obtain some light into the mysteries of the radiant force with which the photographic artist works, being quite content to leave the production of beautiful images to other manipulators. as i write on the subject, it appears, of course, necessary that i should be familiar with all the details of manipulation in each process which i may describe. whenever i have mentioned, in either of my works, a process with which i have not been entirely familiar, i have given the name of the authority upon whom i have depended. but there will not be found in either my _photography_, or my _researches on light_ (of which a greatly enlarged edition will soon be submitted to the public), any one process upon which i have not made such experiments as appeared to me necessary to my understanding the _rationale_ of the chemical changes involved, and of the physical phenomena which arise. now, since it is not necessary to select a picturesque object to instruct me in these points, the same buildings, trees, and plaster casts have been copied times beyond number; and when the problem under examination has been solved, these pictures have been destroyed. there are twenty exhibitors of pictures in the photographic gallery who would certainly leave my productions far behind, as it concerns their pictorial character; but i am confident there is not one who has made the philosophy of photography so entirely his study as i have done. i have been engaged for the last two years in studying the chemical action of the prismatic spectrum. i inclose you my report on this subject to the british association for (that for is now in the hands of the printer), from which you will perceive that i am employing myself to greater advantage to photography, as science under art, than i should be did i enter the lists with those who catch the beauties of external nature on their sensitive tablets, and secure for themselves and others pictures drawn by the solar pencil, in which no one can more deeply delight than your humble servant. robert hunt. _waxed-paper pictures._--will your correspondents or yourself do me the favour to say, how such beautiful pictures have been produced and exhibited by mr. fenton and others by the waxed-paper medium, if that process be so bad and defective? when i have followed it, and exercised consistent patience, i have ever produced pleasing and faithful results. that when parties do not themselves prepare, it becomes expensive, i am willing to admit; but i am inclined to attribute many failures to the uncertain heat of hot irons, which _must_ vary; and i make this fact known to you as the result of my own observation on many sheets: added to which, defective manipulation, or impure chemicals, must not be allowed to do away with its having much merit. harley lane. _the double iodide solution._--in a note appended to dr. mansell's communication on the calotype (vol. ix., p. .), you state that having lately prepared the double iodide solution according to the formula given by dr. diamond, in which it required grains of iodide of potassium to dissolve a -grain precipitate, you were inclined to believe, until you made the experiment yourself, that dr. mansell must have made a wrong calculation as to the quantity of iodide of potassium ( grains) which he stated was sufficient to dissolve a -grain precipitate, as the difference appeared so small for a solution more than one-third stronger. the small difference referred to with respect to the quantity of iodide of potassium required, is owing to the amount of water used being in both cases the same. a slight difference in the strength of a solution of iodide of potassium makes a great difference with respect to the quantity of iodide of silver it is capable of dissolving. thus, if you remove a small proportion of the water from a solution of the double iodide of silver by evaporation, the slight increase of strength which the solution will thereby acquire, will enable it to take up a much larger proportion of iodide of silver than it already contains; and if, on the other hand, you dilute it with a small proportion of water, its diminished strength (unless the solution contains a great excess of iodide of potassium) will cause the precipitation of a large proportion of the iodide of silver. and hence the great variation in the amount of iodide of potassium which is found requisite to form a solution of the double iodide of silver, under the same apparent conditions with regard to the proportions of the other ingredients employed, may be accounted for by the impossibility of _measuring_ off with sufficient accuracy the proper proportion of water. whenever _exact_ quantities of liquids are required, recourse should always be had to the balance, for no great accuracy can be depended upon by measurement with our ordinary glass measures, even supposing them to be correctly graduated, which is not always the case. j. leachman. _dr. mansell's process._--dr. mansell's lucid and very practical paper on the calotype process in "n. & q." must, i am sure, be of the greatest service to photographers in general; and as one of the many i am irresistibly tempted to offer my sincere and hearty { } thanks to him for the truly valuable hints it contains. if dr. mansell will give the rationale of the necessity of not allowing a longer time than absolutely required for the soaking out the now injurious iodide of potassium, set free by the deposit of the iodide of silver; and also, an explanation of the cause of that part of the iodized papers which takes the longest time in drying being weaker than that part which had been more hastily dried, the learned doctor will still be adding to our present account of obligation to him. henry hele. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _buonaparte's abdication_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in an article on this subject, after referring to wilkinson's shop on ludgate hill, your correspondent states that "wilkinson's shop does not now exist." in justice to ourselves, we trust you will insert this letter, as such a remark may be prejudicial to us. having sold our premises on ludgate hill to the milton club, we have removed our establishment to no. . old bond street, piccadilly. as regards the table spoken of, your informant must be labouring under some strange error. we do not remember ever having, or pretending to have, the original table on which the emperor napoleon signed his abdication. many years ago, a customer of ours lent us a table with some such plate as you describe, which he had had made abroad from the original, for us to copy from; and after this we made and sold several, but only as copies. we cannot charge our memory with the correctness of the inscription you publish; and, moreover, we believe the words "a fac-simile," or something to that effect, were engraved as a heading to those made by us. chas. wilkinson & sons. . old bond street. [we willingly give insertion to this disclaimer from so respectable a firm as messrs. wilkinson & sons; from which it appears that our correspondent a cantab has not made "when found, a _correct_ note" of the fac-simile. another correspondent has favoured us with the following additional notices of the original table: "on dec. , , i saw the table on which napoleon signed his abdication at the chateau of fontainebleau, on which there are two scratches or incisures said to have been made by him with a penknife. these injuries upon the surface of the table were so remarkable as to attract my attention, and i inquired about them of the attendant. he said napoleon, when excited or irritated, was in the habit of handling and using anything which lay beside him, perhaps to allay mental agitation; and that he was considered to have so used a penknife, and disfigured the table."] _burton family_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i know not whether e. h. a. is interested about the burtons of shropshire. if he is, he will find an interesting account of them in _a commentary on antoninus his itinerary, &c. of the roman empire, so far as it concerneth britain_, &c.: london, , p. . clericus (d.). _drainage by machinery_ (vol. viii., p. .).--e. g. r. will perhaps find what he wants on this subject in walker's "essay on draining land by the steam engine; showing the number of acres that may be drained by each of six different-sized engines, with prime cost and annual outgoings: london, , vo., price s. d." he will find a complete history of the drainage of the english fens in sir william dugdale's "history of embanking and draining of divers fens and marshes, both in foreign parts and in this kingdom, and of the improvement thereby: adorned with sundry maps, &c. london, , fol. a new edition, with three indices to the principal matters, names, and places, by charles nelson cole, esq.: london, , fol." mr. samuel wells published, in , in vols. vo., a complete history of the bedford level, accompanied by a map; and i may add that the late mr. grainger, c.e., read a series of papers on the draining of the haarlem lake to the society of arts in edinburgh, which, i believe, were never published, but which may, perhaps, be accessible to e. g. r. henry stephens. _nattochiis and calchanti_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--the former of these words being sometimes spelt _natthocouks_ in the same deed, shows the ignorance or carelessness of the scribe, the reading being clearly corrupt; i would suggest _cottagiis_, cottages, and by "g^anis" i should understand not _granis_, as f.s.a. supposes, but _gardinis_, gardens. the line will then run thus: "cum omnibus gardinis et cottagiis adjacentibus." it will be seen that this differs from the solution proposed by mr. thrupp (p. .). with respect to the latter word, _calchanti_, i regret that i cannot offer a satisfactory solution. possibly the word intended may have been _calcanthi_, copperas, vitriol, or the water of copper or brass; but i find in the _index alter_ of ainsworth, the word-- "calecantum. a kind of earth like salt, of a binding nature. _puto pro chalcanthum, vitriol, l._" will this tally with the circumstances of the case? i presume that the words _liquor_, _mineral_, &c., following _calchanti_ in the grant, are contractions for the genitive plural of those words; the subject of the grant being the tithes of all those substances. h. p. lincoln's inn. { } _"one while i think," &c._ (vol. ix., p. .).--these lines will be found in _the synagogue_, p. ., by christopher hervie. m. zachary. _"spires 'whose silent finger points to heaven'"_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--f. r. m., m.a., seems not to have observed that wordsworth marks this line as a quotation; and in the note upon it (_excursion_, .) gives the poetical passage in _the friend_, whence he took it, thus acknowledging coleridge to be the author. the passage is not to be found in the modern edition of _the friend_, by the reference in wordsworth's note to "_the friend_, no. . p. ." i presume that _the friend_ was originally published in numbers, and that it is to that publication wordsworth refers. this is not simply the case, as f. r. m., m.a., suggests, of two authors using the same idea, but of one also honestly acknowledging his debt to the other. the idea is of much older date than the prose of coleridge, or the verse of wordsworth. milton, in his epitaph on shakspeare, has: "under a star y-pointing pyramid." prior has the following line: "these pointed spires that wound the ambient sky." prior's _poems_: power, vol. iii. p. ., edin. . in shakspeare we find: "yon towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds." _troilus and cressida_, act iv. sc. . the idea is traceable in virgil's description of "fame" or "rumour" in the th Æneid: "... caput inter nubila condit." j. w. farrer. _dr. eleazar duncon_ (vol. ix., p. .).--d. d. will find some mention of dr. duncon in a correspondence between sir edward hyde and bishop cosin, printed among the _clarendon state papers_ (ed. oxford, vol. iii., append. pp. ci. cii. ciii.), from which it appears that, in , dr. duncon was at _saumur_; where also dr. monk duncan, a scotch physician, was a professor (conf. note _a_, p. . of cosin's _works_, vol. iv., as published in the anglo-catholic library). i regret that i cannot furnish d. d. with the when and where of dr. duncon's death. j. sanson. _"marriage is such a rabble rout"_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "marriage is such a rabble rout, that those that are out would fain get in, and those that are in would fain get out." i do not think it is against the rules of "n. & q." for any querist to put a _rider_ on any of his own queries. in a volume entitled _the poetical rhapsody_, by francis davidson, edited, with memoirs and notes, by nicholas h. nicolas, london, pickering, , under the head of "a contention betwixt a wife, a widow, and a maid," p. ., occur the following lines: "_widow._ marriage is a continual feast. _maid._ wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been to public feasts, where meet a public rout, where they that are without would fain go in, and they that are within would fain go out," &c. this piece is signed "sir john davis." s. wmson. _cambridge mathematical questions_ (vol. ix., p. .).--iota is informed that the questions set at the examination for honours, are annually published in the _cambridge university calendar_. he should consult the back volumes of that work, which he will probably find in any large provincial library. these questions, with solutions at length, are also annually published by the moderators and examiners in one quarto volume. all the senate house examination papers are annually published by the editor of the _cambridge chronicle_, in a supplement to one of the january numbers of that periodical. c. mansfield ingleby. p.s.--as i write from memory, i may have been guilty of some slight inaccuracy in details. i think the _cambridge university calendar_ will contain all the mathematical questions proposed in the senate house for the period mentioned. those from to inclusively were also published by black and armstrong (lond. ), to accompany the revised edition of wright's solutions. the problems from to inclusive are reprinted in vol. v. of leybourne's _mathematical repository_, new series, and in vol. vi. those for and are given. in the rev. a. h. frost arranged and published the questions proposed in to . perhaps this may be found satisfactory. t. t. wilkinson. _reversible masculine names_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--if you allow _bob_, you cannot object to _lol_, the short for _laurence_. lord glenelg and the hebrew abba will not perhaps be held cases in point, but _nun_, _asa_, and _gog_, and probably many other scripture names, may be instanced; and _odo_ and _otto_ from profane history, as well as the peruvian capac. p. p. _the man in the moon_ (vol. vi., pp. . . . .).-- "as for the forme of those spots, some of the vulgar thinke they represent a man, and the poets guesse 'tis _the boy endymion_, whose company shee loves so well, that shee carries him with her; others will have it onely to be the face of a man as the moone is usually pictured; but albertus thinkes rather that it represents { } _a lyon_, with his taile towards the east and his head to the west; and some others (eusebius, nieremb. _hist. nat._, lib. viii. c. xv.) have thought it to be very much like a _fox_, and certainly 'tis as much like a lyon as that in the zodiake, or as ursa major is like a beare.... it may be probable enough that those spots and brighter parts may show the distinction betwixt the sea and land in that other world."--bishop wilkin's _discovery of a new world_, rd. edit., lond. , p. . "does the _man in the moon_ look big, and wear a huger periwig; show in his gait, or face, more tricks than our own native lunatics?" _hudibras_, pt. ii. c. iii. . to judge from his physiognomy, one would say the man in the moon was a _chinese_, or native of the celestial empire. eirionnach. _arms of richard, king of the romans_ (vol. viii., p. .).--with respectful submission to mr. norris deck, and notwithstanding his ingenious conjecture that the charges on the border are pois, and the seal which he mentions in his last communication, i think the evidence that the border belongs to cornwall, and not to poictou, is perfectly conclusive. . the fifteen bezants in a sable field have been time out of mind regarded as the arms of cornwall, and traditionally (but of course without authority) ascribed to cadoc, or caradoc, a cornish prince of the fifth century. they occur in juxtaposition with the garbes of chester, upon some of the great seals of england, and i think also upon the tomb of queen elizabeth; and they are, to the present day, printed or engraved on the mining leases of the duchy. . bezants on sable are extremely frequent in the arms of cornish families; but crowned lions rampant gules do not occur in a single instance of which i am aware, except in the arms of families named cornwall, who are known or presumed to be descended from this richard, and bear his arms with sundry differences. bezants on sable are borne (_e.g._) by bond, carlyon, chamberlayne, cole, cornwall (by some without the lion), killegrew, saint-aubyn, treby, tregyan (with a crowned eagle sable, holding a sword), treiago, and walesborough, all of cornwall; and it is to be remarked that bezants are not a common bearing in other parts of england, especially not on sable. . when roger valtorte married joan, daughter of reginald de dunstanville (who was natural son of henry i., and earl of cornwall nearly a century before richard, king of the romans, but never earl of poictou), he added to his paternal arms a border sable bezantée. this is but a small portion of the evidence which might be adduced; but it is, i think, quite enough to justify the statements of sylvanus morgan, sandford, mr. lower, and others, that the bezants pertain not to poictou, but to cornwall. h. g. _brothers with the same christian name_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--if your various correspondents, who adduce instances of two brothers in families having the same christian names (both brothers being alive), will consult lodge's _peerage_ for , they will find the names of the sons of the marquis of ormonde thus stated: "james edward wm. theobald, earl of ossory, born oct. , . "lord james hubert henry thomas, born aug. , . "lord james arthur wellington foley, born sept. , . "lord james theobald bagot john, born aug. , ." the christian name of the late marquis was james; and whichever of his grandsons shall succeed the present possessor of the title, will bear the same christian name as the late peer. juverna. _arch-priest in the diocese of exeter_ (vol. ix., p. .).--haccombe is doubtless the parish in the diocese of exeter, where mr. w. fraser will find the arch-priest about whom he is inquiring. haccombe is a small parish, having two houses in it, the manor-house of the carew family and the parsonage. it is said that, by a grant from the crown, in consequence of services done by an ancestor of the carews, this parish received certain privileges and exemptions, one of which was that the priest of haccombe should be exempt from all ordinary spiritual jurisdiction. hence the title of arch-priest, and that of chorepiscopus, which the priests of haccombe have claimed, and perhaps sometimes received. the incumbent of bibury, in gloucestershire, used to claim similar titles, and like exemption from spiritual jurisdiction. j. sansom. since sending my query on this subject, i have obtained the following information. the rectory of haccombe, which is a peculiar one, in the diocese of exeter, gives to its incumbent for the time being the dignity of arch-priest of the diocese. the arch-priest wears lawn sleeves, and on all occasions takes precedence after the bishop. the late rector, the rev. t. c. carew, i am told, constantly officiated in lawn sleeves attached to an a. m. gown, and took the precedence due to his spiritual rank as arch-priest of the diocese. the present arch-priest and rector of haccombe is the rev. fitzwilliam j. taylor. does such an office, or rather dignity, exist in any other case in the anglican church? wm. fraser, b.c.l. tor-mohun. { } _"horam coram dago"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent [sigma]. is probably thinking of burns' lines "written in a wrapper, inclosing a letter to captain grose," &c.: "ken ye aught o' captain grose? igo et ago, if he's among his friends or foes, _iram, coram, dago_." it is not very likely, however, that this should be the first appearance of this "burden," any more than of "fal de ral," which burns gives to other pieces both before and after this. it may have a meaning (as i believe one has been found for "lilliburlero," &c.), but i should think it more likely to be sheer _gibberish_. by the way, how comes _burden_ to be used in the sense of "chorus or refrain?" i believe we have the authority of shakspeare for so doing. "foot it featly here and there and let the rest the burden bear?" is it the _bourdon_, or big drone? certainly the chorus could not "bear a burden," in the sense of _hard work_, even before the time of hullah. j. p. orde. in chambers' _scottish songs_, edinburgh, , p. . is a piece beginning-- "and was you e'er in crail toun? _igo and ago_; and saw ye there clerk fishington? sing _irom, igon, ago_." and in _blackwood_ for jan. ("noctes ambrosianæ, no. .") is "a christmas carol in honour of maga, sung by the contributors," which begins thus-- "when kit north is dead, what will maga do, sir? she must go to bed, and like him die too, sir! fal de ral de ral, _iram coram dago_; fal de ral de ral, here's success to maga!" i suspect that the "chorus or refrain" of the first of these ditties suggested that of the second; and that _this_ is the song which was running in your contributor's head. j. c. r. [we are also indebted to s. wmson, f. crossley, e. h., r. s. s., and j. ss. for similar replies. see burns' _works_, edit. , vol. iv. p. ., and edit. glasgow, , vol. i. p. .] _children by one mother_ (vol. v., p. .).--in reply to the query, "if there be any well-authenticated instance of a woman having had more than twenty-five children," i can furnish you with what i firmly believe to be such an instance. the narrator was a relative of my late wife, a man of the very highest character in the city of london for many years, and formerly clerk to the london bridge (old) water works, a mark by which he may possibly be recognised by some of your readers. i have heard him relate, that once, as he was travelling into essex, he met with a very respectable woman, apparently a farmer's wife, who during the journey several times expressed an anxious desire to reach home, which induced my informant at length to inquire the cause of so great an anxiety. her reply was, "indeed, sir, if you knew, you would not wonder at it." when, upon his jocularly saying, "surely she could have no cause for so much desire to reach home," she said farther, that "the number of her children was the cause, for that she had _thirty_ children, it having pleased god to give to her and her husband fifteen boys; and because they were much dissatisfied at having no girl, in order to punish their murmuring and discontent, he was pleased farther to send them fifteen girls." i. r. r. _parochial libraries_ (vol. viii. _passim_).--in the small village of halton, cheshire, there is a small public library, of no inconsiderable extent and importance, founded in by sir john chesshyre, knight, of hallwood in that county. of the works comprised in the collection, the following may be selected as best worthy of mention: dugdale's _monasticon_, rymer's _foedera_, walton's _polyglot_, and a host of standard ecclesiastical authors, interspersed with modern additions of more general interest. the curate for the time being officiates as librarian; the books being preserved in a small stone building set apart for the purpose, in the vicinity of his residence. over the door is the following inscription: "hanc bibliothecam, pro communi literatorum usu, sub cura curati capellæ de halton proventibus ter feliciter augmentatæ, johannes chesshyre miles serviens d'ni regis ad legem, d. d. d. anno mdccxxxiii." sir john, the founder, was buried at runcorn, where a monument exists to his memory, bearing the following epitaph at its foot: "a wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod, an honest man's the noblest work of god." the parishes of stoke damarel, devon, and of st. james the great, devonport, have each their parochial library: the former commenced in , by the rev. w. b. flower, late curate of the parish; and the latter by the rev. w. b. killpack, the first incumbent of the district. t. hughes. chester. { } * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. schiller's poems, translated by merivale. s.n. coleridge's biographia literaria. ---- essays on his own times. ---- poems. vol. ---- confessions of an inquiring spirit. the circle of the seasons. london, . mo. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: scrapbook of literary varieties, and mirror of instruction, &c. prose, verse, and engravings. lacy, . st. paul's churchyard. vo. pp. wanted by _rev. g. t. driffield_, bow, middlesex. cambridge installation ode, , by chr. wordsworth. to. edition. kitchener's economy of the eyes. part ii. brown's anecdotes of dogs. ---- of animals. wanted by _fred. dinsdale_, esq., leamington. masterman ready. vol. i. first edition. swift's works. vol. xiii. london, . wanted by _w. h. bliss_, hursley, winchester. wilkinson's ancient egypt. vols. iv. and v. baxter's flowering plants. plain or coloured. evelyn's diary. vols. vo. pepys's diary. vols. vo. transactions of geographical society. parts or volumes. life of bishop ken, by anderdon. percival's roman schism. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. one or two plans of the harbour of cronstadt, showing the mole, man-of-war's mole, fortress, fortress of cronslott opposite, as well as all the fortresses that are erected in the shallows defending the approach, &c. wanted by _h. e. baseley_, . old broad street. bible prints, either line engraving, mezzotint, or wood, and either with or without letter-press, for the purpose of binding with a to. edition of "matthew henry's commentary on the bible." wanted by _john garland_, solicitor, dorchester. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we are this week compelled to omit our usual_ notes on books. &c. dr. rimbault _on_ burton's anatomy of melancholy, _and_ mr. lammin's _paper on_ grammont, _in our next number._ james samuels _will find full particulars of the legend of_ the wandering jew _in_ die sage vom ewigen juden, _by grässe, dresden, ._ thomas q. couch _is thanked for his cornish legends. he will, however, find that of the mole in our_ second vol., p. .; _and that of the owl, in the_ variorum shakspeare _and other works._ cabal.--_our correspondent on the origin of this word is referred to_ "n. & q.," vol. iv., pp. . .; vol v., pp. , ., _where he will find enough to satisfy him that it was not formed from the initials of the five chief ministers of charles ii._ w. _the date of the consecration the old st. pancras church has hitherto baffled research. the question was asked in our_ second volume, p. . _we doubt whether any drawing of the original structure is extant._ _the numerous articles on_ photography _already in type compel us to postpone until next week several other valuable papers._ _errata._--vol. ix., p. ., th line in translation from sheridan, for "victâ marte" read "victâ mente;" p. ., st line, for "erie" read "erse." "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * second-hand books.--t. & w. boone having recently completed the enlargement of their premises, respectfully invite the attention of book-buyers to an inspection of their very extensive stock of second-hand books, both english and foreign, which will be found to comprise several rare and early editions of versions of the scriptures and theology generally; english, irish, and scottish history, including some of the rarest works, black-letter chronicles, &c., and a series of hearne's antiquarian works: topography, heraldry, and genealogy; rare voyages and travels, many relating to america; english, french, and spanish romances; early english and italian poetry, the drama, &c.; fine books of prints, galleries, and illustrated books; books relating to the fine arts, numismatics, inscriptions, &c.; works on natural history, field sports, &c.; privately printed books, and books printed upon vellum with early woodcuts; a beautiful collection of illuminated missals, horæ, and other manuscripts. the whole in fine condition, many on large paper, and in the original morocco bindings (some being royal and presentation copies), for sale at prices to compete with any catalogue published. . new bond street, london. * * * * * valuable illustrated books at reduced prices. roberts' holy land. plates. l. s. published at guineas. digby wyatt's industrial arts of the nineteenth century. plates. vols. folio. half-bound morocco. l. s. published at l. s. digby wyatt's metal work, and its artistic design. plates. folio, half-bound morocco. l. s. published at l. s. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and, by order, of the principal book-sellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * completion of the catholic history of england. by wm. bernard mac cabe. esq. * * * * * in the press. the third and last volume of a catholic history of england. price s. orders to complete sets can be addressed to the publisher, t. c. newby, . welbeck street, cavendish square, london. n.b.--only a limited number of copies of this edition will be published. it will be therefore necessary for intending purchasers to give their orders as early as possible. "carefully compiled from our earliest records, and purporting to be a literal translation of the writings of the old chroniclers, miracles, visions, &c., from the time of gildas: richly illustrated with notes, which throw a clear, and in many instances a new light on what would otherwise be difficult and obscure passages."--thomas miller, _history of the anglo-saxons_, p. . works by the same author. bertha; or, the pope and the emperor. the last days of o'connell. a true history of the hungarian revolution. the life of st. ethelbert, king of the east angles. a grandfather's story-book; or, tales and legends, by a poor scholar. { } * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price and description of upwards of articles consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases and other travelling requisites, gratis on application or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. j. albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * policy holders in other companies, and intending assurers generally, are invited to examine the rates, principles, and progress of the scottish provident institution, the only society in which the advantages of mutual assurance can be secured by moderate premiums. established . number of policies insured , , assuring upwards of two and a half millions. full reports and every information had (free) on application. *** policies are now issued free of stamp duty; and attention is invited to the circumstance that premiums payable for life assurance are now allowed as a deduction from income in the returns for income tax. george grant, resident sec. london branch, . moorgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * photographic society.--the exhibition of photographs and daguerreotypes is now open at the gallery of the society of british artists, suffolk street, pall mall, in the morning from a.m. to half-past p.m., admission s.; and in the evening from to p.m., admission d. catalogue d. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenised paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operation chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in the beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads, in iron, brass, japanned wood, polished birch, mahogany, rosewood, and walnut-tree woods; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page prophets: francis dobbs, by henry h. breen sir walter scott and his quotations from himself thomas campbell folk lore:--legends of the co. clare--slow-worm superstition the vellum-bound junius, by sir t. metcalfe minor notes:--the scotch grievance--walpole and macaulay-- russian "justice"--false dates in watermarks of paper queries:-- mr. p. cunninghame, by j. macray was shakespeare descended from a landed proprietor? by j. o. halliwell minor queries:--"to try and get"--fleet prison--colonel st. leger--lord's descents--reverend robert hall--"lydia, or conversion"--personal descriptions--"one while i think," &c.--lord bacon--society for burning the dead-- cui bono--the stock horn--lady harington--descendants of sir m. hale--a query for the city commission-- cross-legged monumental figures--muffins and crumpets minor queries with answers:--"behemoth"--"deus ex machinâ" --wheelbarrows--persons alluded to by hooker replies:-- longfellow's originality, by wm. matthews queen elizabeth and queen anne's motto books burnt by the common hangman stone pulpits antiquity of fire-irons, by wm. matthews, &c. order of st. john of jerusalem, by wm. winthrop grammars, &c. for public schools, by mackenzie walcott, m.a., &c. derivation of mawmet--came, by j. w. thomas the gosling family, by honoré de mareville photographic correspondence:--tent for collodion purposes --multiplying negatives and collodion on paper-- photographic copies of ancient manuscripts--fox talbot's patents--antiquarian photographic society replies to minor queries:--"firm was their faith," &c.-- attainment of majority--three fleurs-de-lis--newspaper folk lore--nattochiis and calchanti--marriage ceremony in the fourteenth century--clarence--"the spire whose silent finger," &c.--henry earl of wotton--tenth (or the prince of wales's own) regiment of (light) dragoons, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * photographic institution.--an exhibition of pictures, by the most celebrated french, italian, and english photographers, embracing views of the principal countries and cities of europe, is now open. admission d. a portrait taken by mr. talbot's patent process, one guinea; three extra copies for s. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * spectacles.--every description of spectacles and eyeglasses for the assistance of vision, adapted by means of smee's optometer: that being the only correct method of determining the exact focus of the lenses required, and of preventing injury to the sight by the use of improper glasses. bland & long. opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * scientific recreation for youth--experimental chemistry. amusement for long evenings, by means of statham's chemical cabinets and portable laboratories, s. d., s. d., s. d., s., s. d., s., s., and upwards. book of experiments, d. "illustrated descriptive catalogue" forwarded free for stamp. william e. statham, operative chemist, c. rotherfield street, islington, london, and of chemists and opticians everywhere. * * * * * heal & son's eider down quilt is the warmest, the lightest, and the most elegant covering for the bed, the couch, or the carriage; and for invalids, its comfort cannot be too highly appreciated. it is made in three varieties, of which a large assortment can be seen at their establishment. list of prices of the above, together with the catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * heal & son's illustrated catalogue of bedsteads, sent free by post. it contains designs and prices of upwards of one hundred different bedsteads in iron, brass, japanned wood, polished birch, mahogany, rosewood, and walnut-tree woods; also of every description of bedding, blankets, and quilts. heal & son, bedstead and bedding manufacturers, . tottenham court road. * * * * * w. h. hart, record agent and legal antiquarian (who is in the possession of indices to many of the early public records whereby his inquiries are greatly facilitated) begs to inform authors and gentlemen engaged in antiquarian or literary pursuits, that he is prepared to undertake searches among the public records, mss. in the british museum, ancient wills, or other depositories of a similar nature, in any branch of literature, history, topography, genealogy, or the like, and in which he has had considerable experience. . albert terrace, new cross, hatcham, surrey. * * * * * william skeffington, bookseller and publisher, respectfully informs his friends and the public that he has removed his business from . to . piccadilly, opposite bond street. * * * * * the bishop of lincoln's lent lectures. seventh edition, small vo., s. d., by post, s. the sinfulness of little sins. by john jackson, d.d., lord bishop of lincoln. by the same author, repentance: its necessity, nature, and aids. third edition, s. d., by post, s. chilcot on evil thoughts: with rules for their restraint and suppression. edited by the rev. richard hooper, m.a., curate of st. stephen's, westminster, and assistant hospitaller of st. thomas's, southwark. this day, new edition, mo., s. d., by post, s. "a very admirable work."--guardian. london: william skeffington, . piccadilly. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxvii., is published this day. contents: i. life and works of gray. ii. humboldt's cosmos--sidereal astronomy. iii. missions in polynesia. iv. m. guizot. v. religion of the chinese rebels. vi. castren's travels among the lapps. vii. memoirs of king joseph. viii. turkey and russia. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new members.--now ready. mr. dod's parliamentary companion for (twenty-second year), contains the results of the recent election petitions, the thirty-three new members, &c. whittaker & co., ave maria lane, and all booksellers. * * * * * all works published under the title scott's poetical works are imperfect and incomplete, unless they bear the imprint of robert cadell, or adam & charles black, edinburgh. author's edition of scott's poetry, including the copyright poem of the lord of the isles, engravings, cloth, gilt edges, s. a. & c. black, edinburgh. houlston & stoneman, london. * * * * * { } pulleyn's compendium. one volume, crown vo., bound in cloth, price s. the etymological compendium: or, portfolio of origins and inventions: relating to language, literature, and government. architecture and sculpture. drama, music, painting, and scientific discoveries. articles of dress, &c. titles, dignities, &c. names, trades, professions. parliament, laws, &c. universities and religious sects. epithets and phrases. remarkable customs. games, field sports. seasons, months, and days of the week. remarkable localities, &c. &c. by william pulleyn. the third edition, revised and improved, by merton a. thoms, esq. "the additions to this book indicate the editor to be his father's own son. he deals in folk lore, chronicles old customs and popular sayings, and has an eye to all things curious and note-worthy. the book tells everything."--_gentleman's magazine._ "the book contains a vast amount of curious information and useful memoranda."--_literary gazette._ "an invaluable manual of amusement and information."--_morning chronicle._ "this is a work of great practical usefulness. it is a notes and queries in miniature.... the revision which the present edition of it has undergone has greatly enhanced its original value."--_era._ london: william tegg & co., . queen street, cheapside. * * * * * price s. d.; by post s. illustrations and enquiries relating to mesmerism. part i. by the rev. s. r. maitland, d.d. f.r.s. f.s.a. sometime librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, and keeper of the mss. at lambeth. "one of the most valuable and interesting pamphlets we ever read."--_morning herald._ "this publication, which promises to be the commencement of a larger work, will well repay serious perusal."--_ir. eccl. journ._ "a small pamphlet in which he throws a startling light on the practices of modern mesmerism."--_nottingham journal._ "dr. maitland, we consider, has here brought mesmerism to the 'touchstone of truth,' to the test of the standard of right or wrong. we thank him for this first instalment of his inquiry, and hope that he will not long delay the remaining portions."--_london medical gazette._ "the enquiries are extremely curious, we should indeed say important. that relating to the witch of endor is one of the most successful we ever read. we cannot enter into particulars in this brief notice; but we would strongly recommend the pamphlet even to those who care nothing about mesmerism, or _angry_ (for it has come to this at last) with the subject."--_dublin evening post._ "we recommend its general perusal as being really an endeavour, by one whose position gives him the best facilities, to ascertain the genuine character of mesmerism, which is so much disputed."--_woolmer's exeter gazette._ "dr. maitland has bestowed a vast deal of attention on the subject for many years past, and the present pamphlet is in part the result of his thoughts and inquiries. there is a good deal in it which we should have been glad to quote ... but we content ourselves with referring our readers to the pamphlet itself."--_brit. mag._ piper, brothers, & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * bohn's standard library for february. (double issue.) the carafas of maddaloni: naples under spanish dominion. translated from the german of alfred de reumont. with portrait of massaniello. post vo. cloth, s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's standard library for february. (double issue.) cowper's complete works, edited by southey: comprising his poems, correspondence, and translations: with memoir. illustrated with fifty fine engravings on steel, after designs by harvey. to be completed in vols. vol. ii., continuation of memoir and correspondence. post vo. cloth, s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's british classics for february. gibbon's roman empire, complete and unabridged, with variorum notes, including, in addition to all the author's own, those of guizot, wenck, niebuhr, hugo, neander, and other foreign scholars. edited by an english churchman. in six volumes (with maps). vol. ii., with portrait. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for february. (double issue.) plato. vol. vi., completing the work, and containing the doubtful works; viz. epinomis, axiochus, eryxias, on virtue, on justice, sisyphus, demodocus, and definitions; the treatise of timæus locrus on the son of the world and nature. to which are added, the lives of plato by diogenes laertius, hesychius, and olympiodorus; and the introduction to his doctrines by alcinous and albinus; apuleius on the doctrines of plato, and remarks on plato's writings by the poet gray, edited with notes, by george burges, m.a., trin. coll. cam. with general index. post vo. cloth. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for february. (double issue.) athenÆus. the deipnosophists, or the banquet of the learned, translated by c. d. yonge, b.a. with an appendix of poetical fragments rendered into english verse by various authors, and general index. complete in vols. vol. i. post vo. cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for february. dante, translated into english verse by i. c. wright, m.a. third edition, carefully revised. complete in vol., with portrait and illustrations on steel after flaxman. post vo. cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for february. ordericus vitalis; his ecclesiastical history of england and normandy, translated with notes and the introduction of guizot, by t. forester, m.a. vol. ii. post vo, cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's scientific library for february. mantell's (dr.) geological excursions, including the isle of wight. new edition, with prefatory note by t. rupert jones, esq. numerous beautifully executed woodcuts, and a geological map. post vo., cloth, s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bellenger's german, french and english conversations: containing elementary phrases and easy dialogues in parallel columns, for the use of learners and travellers. post vo. cloth, price s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * the university commission. just published, in vo., price s. the recommendations of the oxford university commissioners: with selections from their report, and a history of the university subscription tests; including notices of the university and collegiate visitations. by james heywood, m.p., f.r.s., of trinity college, cambridge. also, collected by mr. heywood and thomas wright, m.a., f.s.a., in vo. price s. ancient laws of the fifteenth century for king's college, cambridge, and for the public school of eton college. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * just published, in one volume, medium vo., price s. thesaurus of english words and phrases, classified and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas, and assist in literary composition. by p.m. roget, m.d., f.r.s. second edition. *** several thousand words and phrases, not contained in the first edition, have now been added: many improvements have been made in the arrangement of the expressions and the whole work has undergone careful revision with the view of increasing its general utility. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * dr. cornwell's educational works. a school geography. th edition, s. d.; with maps, s. d. a school atlas. plain, s. d.; coloured s. the young composer, progressive exercises in english composition. th edition, s. d. a key to the young composer. s. allen's select english poetry. th edition, s. allen's eutropius, with dictionary. new edition, s. allen and cornwell's grammar. st edition, red, s.; cloth, s. d. allen and cornwell's grammar for beginners. nd edition, d.; cloth. s. london: simpkin, marshall & co.; hamilton, adams & co. edinburgh; oliver & boyd; w. p. kennedy. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, january , ._ notes. prophets: francis dobbs. among the characters introduced to the readers of "n. & q.," under the name of _prophets_, there are few that deserve so distinguished a place as mr. francis dobbs. not only has he a claim to that title, in the derisive sense in which it is applied to all modern enthusiasts, but also on the higher grounds of political sagacity and practical wisdom. some men have exhibited this double character successively, and at different periods of their lives; but none have displayed it in such happy union as mr. dobbs. indeed, in that respect, he is perhaps one of the most striking instances on record of what is called the "duality of the human mind." the information i am able to furnish respecting this remarkable man, is derived from a pamphlet, published "by authority" (probably himself), by j. jones, dublin, , and entitled, _memoirs of francis dobbs, esq.; also genuine reports of his speeches in parliament on the subject of an union, and his prediction of the second coming of the messiah, with extracts from his poem on the millennium_. mr. dobbs was born on april , ; and was the younger son of the rev. richard dobbs, who was the younger brother of arthur dobbs of castle dobbs, co. antrim, formerly governor of north carolina. his ancestor, an officer in the army, came from england in the reign of queen elizabeth; and by a marriage with the great-granddaughter of hugh, earl of tyrone, got the estate of castle dobbs, with other estates in the co. antrim. his great-grandfather was mayor of carrickfergus at the time king william landed, and was the first subject in ireland that paid him allegiance. mr. dobbs devoted himself for some years to literary pursuits. in he purchased an ensigncy in the rd regiment, in which he continued till . having sold his commission, he turned his attention to the study of the law, and was called to the bar. he then married miss stewart of ballantroy, in the county of antrim, the daughter of a gentleman of considerable property, niece of sir hugh hill, and descended from the bute family. he afterwards joined the _volunteers_ under lord charlemont, was appointed major to the southern battalion, and acted as exercising officer at the great reviews held at belfast in , , and . he took an active part, in conjunction with lord charlemont, mr. grattan, mr. flood, and others, in the political agitation of that period; was the mover of an address to the king, approving of the proceedings of the irish parliament, and was a member of the deputation appointed to present it to his majesty, on which occasion he refused the honour of a baronetcy. at a later period, the earl of charlemont brought him into the irish parliament and it was while occupying a seat in that assembly, that he delivered the "speeches" already referred to. mr. dobbs's speech on the legislative union is one of the most remarkable ever pronounced then or since, on that fertile topic. he descants in forceful language on the evils, real or imaginary, likely to arise from that measure; and points out, with a striking minuteness of detail, some of the consequences which have actually resulted therefrom. indeed, the repealers of a subsequent period did little more than borrow mr. dobbs's language; nor were they able, after thirty years' experience of the practical working of the union, to add a single new grievance to the catalogue of those so eloquently expatiated upon by him in the year . as, however, we have to deal with mr. dobbs chiefly as a _religious_ prophet, i shall confine my extracts from his speeches to the illustration of his character in that capacity. the speech on the legislative union was delivered on february , . on june following (the bill having been carried in the mean time), mr. dobbs pronounced in the irish parliament a speech in which he predicted the second coming of the messiah. this speech, the most extraordinary that was ever made in a legislative assembly, presents a singular contrast to the sagacity which characterises his political performances. a few short extracts will show the change that had come over his prophetic vision: "sir, from the conduct pursued by administration during this session, and the means that were known to be in their power, it was not very difficult to foresee that this bill must reach that chair. it was not very difficult to foresee that it should fall to your lot to pronounce the painful words, 'that this bill do pass.' awful indeed would those words be to me, did i consider myself living in ordinary times: but feeling as i do that we are not living in ordinary times--feeling as i do that we are living in the most momentous and eventful period of the world--feeling as i do that a new and better order of things is about to arise, and that ireland, in that new order of things, is to be highly distinguished indeed--this bill hath no terrors for me. "sir, i did intend to have gone at some length into history, and the sacred predictions; but as i purpose, in a very few months, to give to the public a work in which i shall fully express my opinion as to the vast design of this terrestrial creation, i shall for the present confine myself to such passages as will support three positions:--the first is, the certainty of the second advent of the messiah; the next, the signs of the times of his coming, and the manner of it; and the last, that ireland is to have the glorious pre-eminence of being the first kingdom that will receive him." { } after dwelling, at some length on his first two positions, he thus proceeds: "i come now, sir, to the most interesting part of what i have to say; it is to point out my reasons for thinking this is the distinguished country in which the messiah is now to appear. the stone that is to be cut out of the mountain without hands, is to fall on the feet of the image, and to break the whole image to pieces. now, that would not be true, if christ and his army was to appear in any country that is a part of the image; therefore, all the countries that were comprised in the babylonish and assyrian empire, in the medo-persian empire, in the greek empire, and in the roman empire, are positively excluded. there is another light thrown on this question by a passage in the st chapter of isaiah: 'i have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name, and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.' this is manifestly the messiah; and we are therefore to look for a country north of judea, where the prophecy was given. the new world is out of the question, being nowhere a subject of prophecy; and as the image is excluded, it can only be in the russian empire, or in the kingdoms of denmark, sweden, or ireland. "the army that follows the messiah, we are told, amounts to , ; and there are a few passages in the revelation of st. john, that denote the place where they are to be assembled. one is, 'i saw them harping with their harps.' another, 'i saw them standing on a sea of glass, having the harps of god.' another is, 'that they were clothed in fine linen, white and clean.' another is, 'and he gathered them together in a place, in the hebrew tongue, called armageddon.' now, what respects the harp and the fine linen, peculiarly applies to ireland; and not at all to russia, denmark, or sweden. the sea of glass i think must be an island. and i believe the word armageddon in the hebrew tongue, and ardmah or armagh in the irish, mean the same thing. at all events, there is great similitude in their sounds; and st. patrick thought proper to make the city of ardmagh, which is the old name, the seat of the church government of ireland. but besides these sacred passages of scripture, there are some very particular circumstances attending ireland. she has never had her share in worldly prosperity, and has only since begun to rise; and i know no instance in history of any nation beginning to prosper, without arriving at a summit of some kind, before it became again depressed. the four great empires rose progressively west of each other; and great britain made the last toe of the image, being the last conquest the romans made in the west. now, ireland lies directly west of it, and is therefore in exactly the same progressive line, and it never was any part of the image, nor did the roman arms ever penetrate here. the arms of ireland is the harp of david, with an angel in its front. the crown of ireland is the apostolic crown. tradition has long spoken of it as a land of saints; and if what i expect happens, that prediction will be fulfilled. but what i rely on more than all, is our miraculous exemption from all of the serpent and venomous tribe of reptiles. this appears to me in the highest degree emblematic, that satan, the great serpent, is here to receive his first deadly blow." i had an idea of sending you some extracts from mr. dobbs's poem on _the millennium_, but i fear i have already trespassed too far on your valuable space. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * sir walter scott and his quotations from himself. your correspondent a. j. dunkin (vol. viii., p. .) asks who was the author of the couplet,-- "oh! for a blast of that dread horn, on fontarabian echoes borne." in reply to which query you refer him to the juvenile efforts of frank osbaldiston in the delightful novel of _rob roy_. you might have referred him likewise to a corresponding passage in the sixth canto of _marmion_, sec. xxxiii., from which the accomplished poet and novelist repeated _inadvertently_ his own verses: "o for a blast of that _dread_ horn, on fontarabian echoes borne, that to king charles did come," &c. i say "inadvertently" from any own knowledge. a few months after the well-known occurrence at a public dinner in edinburgh, when sir w. scott openly declared himself the author of the _waverley novels_, the writer of these lines was staying at abbotsford on a visit. on one occasion, when walking with sir walter about his grounds, i led the conversation to his late revelations; and while expressing some wonder at the length of time during which the secret of the authorship had been kept, i ventured to say that i for one had never felt the smallest doubt upon the matter, but that the intrinsic evidence of these several works, acknowledged and unacknowledged, had long ago convinced me that they were written by one and the same author. among other points i quoted _the very lines in question_ from the elegy on the death of the black prince in _rob roy_, which i reminded sir walter might also be found in their sixth canto of _marmion_. "ah! indeed," he replied, with his natural expression of comic gravity, "that _was very careless_ of me! i did not think i should have committed such a blunder!" we kept up the like strain of conversation during the whole ramble, with a good deal of harmless pleasantry. in the course of our walk sir walter stopped at a particular point, and leaning on his staff like his own "antiquary," he pointed out some ancient earth-works, whose undulating surface indicated the traces of a roman or pictish encampment. "there," said he, "you { } will perceive the remains of a very good camp." "yes, sir," said i, in the words of lovel, "i do see something _like a ditch indistinctly marked_." sir walter burst into a hearty fit of laughter, saying, "ay, my friends do call it the _kairn of kimprunes_." i trust your readers will forgive me for recording these trivialities; but mr. dunkin's query recalled them to my mind so forcibly after the lapse of many years, that i venture to obtrude them upon your notice. before i conclude this paper, i may be permitted to make reference to a series of letters addressed to richard heber, esq., m.p., by mr. adolphus, son of the historian of the reign of george iii. in the conversation referred to, sir walter scott mentioned these letters in terms of high approbation,--terms not undeserved; for a more elegant, ingenious, and convincing piece of literary criticism never issued from the press. at that time i had not seen it; but in reference to the passage in question, the coincidence of which in the poem and the romance has not escaped the critic's acuteness, mr. adolphus makes the following remarks: "a refined speculator might perhaps conceive that so glaring a repetition could not be the effect of inadvertence, but that the novelist, induced by some transient whim or caprice, had intentionally appropriated the verses of his great cotemporary. i cannot, however, imagine any motive for such a proceeding, more especially as it must appear somewhat unhandsome to take possession of another man's lines for the mere purpose of exhibiting them in a ridiculous light. nor does it seem to me at all unlikely that the author of _marmion_, supposing him to be also the author of _rob roy_, should have _unconsciously repeated himself_ in this instance, for we find him more than once apologising in his avowed works for having, in the haste of composition, snatched up expressions, and even whole lines, of other writers." the anecdote above recorded proves the justice and refinement of the critic's speculation. a borderer. * * * * * thomas campbell. in a small vo. volume before me, entitled _the history of the stage: in which is included the theatrical characters of the most celebrated actors who have adorned the theatre, &c.; with the theatrical life of mr. colly cibber_ (lond. ), i notice a very remarkable similarity of thought and expression between its author and the late thomas campbell. the dramatic author writes thus: "but with whatever strength of nature we see the poet show at once the philosopher and the hero, yet the image of the actor's excellence will still be imperfect to you, unless language could put colours into words to paint the voice with. "the most that a vandyke can arrive at is to make his portraits of great persons seem to think; a shakspeare goes farther yet, and tells you what his picture thought; a betterton steps beyond them both, and calls them from the grave to breathe and be themselves again, in feature, speech, and motion. when the skilful actor shows you all these powers at once united, and gratifies at once your eye, your ear, your understanding,--to conceive the pleasure arising from such harmony you must have been present at it; 'tis not to be told you." now compare this passage with the following lines from mr. campbell's "valedictory stanzas to j. p. kemble, esq.," composed for a public meeting held june, : "his was the spell o'er hearts which only acting lends, the youngest of the sister arts, where all their beauty blends: for ill can poetry express full many a tone of thought sublime; and painting, mute and motionless, steals but a glance of time. but by the mighty actor brought, illusion's perfect triumphs come,-- verse ceases to be airy thought, and sculpture to be dumb." serviens. * * * * * folk lore. _legends of the co. clare_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the lake of inchiquin, one legend of which has been already published in "n. & q.," is said to have been once a populous and flourishing city, and still on a calm night you may see the towers and spires gleaming through the clear wave. but for some dreadful and unabsolved crime, a holy man of those days whelmed all beneath the deep waters. the "dark spirit" of its king, who ruled also over the surrounding country, resides in a cavern in one of the hills which border the lake, and once every seven years at midnight, he issues forth mounted on his white charger, and urges him at full speed over hill and crag, until he has completed the circuit of the lake; and thus he is to continue, till the silver hoofs of his steed are worn out, when the curse will be removed, and the city reappear in all its splendour. the cave extends nearly a mile under the hill; the entrance is low and gloomy, but the roof rises to a considerable height for about half the distance, and then sinks down to a narrow passage, which leads into a somewhat lower division of the cave. the darkness, and the numbers of bats which flap their wings in the face of the explorer, and whirl round his taper, fail not to impress him with a sensation of awe. francis robert davies. _slow-worm superstition_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--i believe that the superstition alluded to is { } not confined to one country, nor to one species of reptile. i remember to have heard some countrymen in cornwall, who had killed an adder, say that it would not cease to writhe until the sun had gone down. like many other so-called superstitions, it is probably founded on a close observation of a natural phenomenon; and i feel quite sure that i have seen in print, although i cannot now call to mind where, that it is to be accounted for by the fact, that in these cold-blooded animals the nervous irritability does not cease until checked or destroyed by the chilling dews of evening. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. * * * * * the vellum-bound junius. (vol. v., pp. . . .; vol. viii., p. .) i have no doubt that it will be satisfactory to some of your readers to know that i have in my possession a copy, "vellum bound in gilt," of _junius_, printed for henry sampson woodfall, , vols. this copy has been in the family library for about sixty years. there are no marks by which it can be traced to its original owner. i imagine it must have been purchased by my grandfather, sir thomas metcalfe, after his arrival from india about ; this is, however, merely a conjecture, in default of any more probable theory. of the authenticity of this copy i have no doubt; i mean that it is now in the same condition as when it was first issued by the bookseller. the binding is evidently of an old date, the gilding is peculiar, and the books correspond exactly with the orders of junius as given to woodfall in note no. ., dec. , and although neatly bound, are, as woodfall mentions in no. ., not highly finished. are there many copies of this edition, or may i congratulate myself upon possessing _the_ one ordered by junius? it is quite possible that my grandfather possessed this copy some years before his return from india; and i may mention that i also have a great many political pamphlets and satires, chiefly in poetry, of different dates, from to , such as _catiline's conspiracy_; _the diaboliad_; _ditto_, with additions, dedicated to the worst man in the kingdom (rigby), and containing allusions to all the most celebrated characters of junius; _the senators_, _la fête champêtre_, and many miscellanies. these, however, are perhaps well known. i have also a pamphlet containing an alleged unpublished canto of the _faerie queene_ of spenser, and a great many religious tracts from to . some of the political poems are published by almon. among other curious stray sheets, is a list of all the gentlemen and officers who fell in the cause of charles i., and mr. richard brown appears amongst the number. i hope to communicate more fully upon some future occasion, and must conclude with an allusion to the claims of francis as the author of _junius_. strong as the proofs may be in his favour in england, i believe that in india there is testimony no less important; and i have been informed, by one who spoke with some authority, that the letters of francis upon record in this country bear no resemblance _whatever_ to those of junius. this assertion, however, is far too vague to satisfy any of your readers. i hope some day to be able to confirm it by examples. the india house might furnish the private correspondence between francis and hastings, which would be extremely interesting. t. metcalfe. delhi. * * * * * minor notes. _the scotch grievance._--can the demand of scotchmen, with respect to the usage of the royal arms, be justified by the laws of heraldry? i think not. they require that when the royal arms are used in scotland, the scotch bearings should be placed in the first quarter. surely it is against all rules that the armorial bearings, either of a person or of a nation, should be changeable according to the place where they are used. the arms of the united kingdom and of the sovereign are, first and fourth, england; second, scotland; third, ireland. the scotch have therefore the option of using these, or else the arms of scotland singly; but to shift the quarterings according to locality, seems repugnant to the principles of the science. queen anne and george i. bore, in the first quarter, england impaling scotland: is it to be supposed that, for scotch purposes, they bore scotland impaling england? can any _coin_ be produced, from the accession of james vi. to the english throne, on which the royal arms are found with scotland in the first quarter and england in the second? a descendant from scottish kings. _walpole and macaulay._--that well-known and beautiful conception of the new zealander in some future age sitting on the ruins of westminster bridge, and looking where london stood, may have been first suggested by a thought in one of walpole's lively letters to sir h. mann: "at last some curious native of lima will visit london, and give a sketch of the ruins of westminster and st. paul's." anon. _russian "justice."_--euler, in his nd letter to a german princess, says: "formerly there was no word in the russian language to express what we call _justice_. this was certainly a very great defect, as the idea of justice is of very great importance in a great number of our { } judgments and reasonings, and as it is scarcely possible to think of the thing itself without a term expressive of it. they have, accordingly, supplied this defect by introducing into that language a word which conveys the notion of justice." this letter is dated th february, . _statne nominis umbra?_ an answer is not needed to this query. but can nothing be done to rescue from destruction the precious analytical treasures of euler, now entombed in the archives of st. petersburgh? t. j. buckton. birmingham. _false dates in water-marks of paper._--your correspondent h. w. d. (vol. ix., p. .) on the subject of the water-mark in paper, is, perhaps, not aware that, within the last few years, the will of a lady was set aside by the heir-at-law, her brother, on account of the water-mark, she having imprudently, as it was surmised, made a fairer copy of her will on paper of a later date. the case will be in the recollection of the parties employed in the neighbourhood of the prerogative court. l. * * * * * queries. mr. p. cunninghame. can any of your correspondents communicate information respecting a mr. p. cunninghame, who was employed in the heralds' office in the years - , and who appears to have left his situation there in order to enter the church? mr. cunninghame, from a ms. volume of his letters now before me, had friends and correspondents of the names of towne, dehane, welsh, cockell, bawdwen, wainman, haggard, hammond, neve, gathorne, innes, connor, &c., and relations of his own name resided at deal. one of his letters is addressed to his cousin, captain george cunninghame, general majoribanks' regiment, in garrison at tournay, flanders. two gentlemen of the names of bigland and heard (probably sir isaac heard, who died a few years since at a very advanced age) were his superiors in the heralds' office at the time of his being there. a former possessor of this ms. volume has written in it as follows; and so warm a tribute of praise from a distinguished scholar and late member of this university, has induced me to send you his remarks, and to make the inquiry suggested by them. "i esteem myself fortunate in having purchased this volume of letters, which i met with in the shop of mr. robins, bookseller, at winchester, in january, . they do credit to the head and the heart of the author. he seems to have been a man whose imagination was lively, and whose mind was capacious, as well as comprehensive. his remarks on different subjects betray reading and reflection. his mental powers, naturally vigorous, he appears to have cultivated and improved by as much reading as his employments and his agitation of mind would allow. i wish that he had committed to this volume some specimens of his poetry, as it would have been more than mechanical, or partaking of common-place, for he writes in a style at once vigorous, lively, and elegant, and gives proofs of a correct taste. he had a manly spirit of independence, a generous principle of benevolence and a prevailing habit of piety. the first of these qualifications did not in him (as it is too frequently apt to do) overleap the bounds of prudence, or the still more binding ties of duty, as is exemplified in the excellent letters to his father, and mr. dehane. it is to be hoped that he entered into that profession from which he was so long and so perversely excluded; a profession suited to his genius and inclination, which would open an ample field for his benevolence, and which would receive additional lustre from the example of so much virtue and so much industry exerted in the cause of truth. it is to be hoped that he gained that competence and retirement to which the wishes of the interested reader must follow him, regretting that he knows not more of a man, who, from those amiable dispositions and those eminent talents, pourtrayed in this correspondence, would indeed-- 'allure to brighter worlds, and lead the way.' r. f." j. macray. oxford. * * * * * was shakspeare descended from a landed proprietor? mr. knight has on two occasions, the latter in his _stratford shakspeare_ just published, called attention to what he concludes is an oversight of mine in not drawing any conclusion from a deed in which certain lands are mentioned as "heretofore _the inheritance_ of william shakspeare, gent., deceased." these words are supposed by mr. knight to imply that the lands in question came to shakspeare by descent, as heir-at-law of his father. this opinion appeared to me to be somewhat a hasty one: believing that no conclusion whatever is to be drawn from the phrase as there used, and relying on the ordinary definition of _inheritance_ in the old works on law, i did not hesitate, some time since, to declare a conviction that the lands so mentioned were bought by shakspeare himself. as the question is of some importance in the inquiry respecting the position of the poet's ancestry, perhaps one of your legal readers would kindly decide which of us is in the right. i possess an useful collection of old law-books, but there are few subjects in which error is so easily committed by unprofessional readers. in the present instance, however, if plain words are to be relied upon, it seems certain that the term _inheritance_ was applied, to use cowell's words, to { } "every fee simple or fee taile that a man hath by his purchase." (see _the interpreter_, .) j. o. halliwell. * * * * * minor queries. _"to try and get."_--the word _and_ is often used instead of to after the verb _to try_: thus, in moore's _journal_ (june , ), "went to the theatre to try _and_ get a dress." what is the origin of this erroneous mode of expression? uneda. philadelphia. _fleet prison._--where can a list of the officers of the fleet prison, especially the under officers, and more especially the tipstaffs, a.d. , and shortly previously and subsequently, be seen? j. k. _colonel st. leger._--where can i find an account of the celebrated colonel st. leger, the friend and associate of george iv. when prince of wales? in what year did he die? what age was he when his picture, now in hampton court, was painted by gainsborough? w. p. m. dublin. _lords' descents._--is a ms. collection of lords' descents, by thomas maisterson, esq., made about the year , now extant? t. p. l. _reverend robert hall._--who was robert hall, a preacher of some celebrity in the time of james ii.? p. p. p. _"lydia, or conversion."_--can any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of the following excellent drama, published nearly twenty years since:--_lydia, or conversion; a sacred drama inscribed to the jews by a clergyman of the church of england_: london, vo., , published by rivingtons, and hatchard & son? a. z. _personal descriptions._--is sir walter scott's description of saladin taken from any ancient writer, or is it a fancy sketch? if the latter, i think he has fallen into error by describing in saladin the features of a civilised arab, rather than the very peculiar and unmistakeable characteristics of the koordish race. in a novel now publishing in _ainsworth's magazine_, styled the "days of margaret of parma," the celebrated duke of alva is described as a very tall man. i have never seen a portrait or read a description of his person, but had formed a very different idea of it from the circumstance that count tilly, who was certainly a short man, was said to be a striking counterpart of him in face, figure, and dress, a resemblance which added not a little to the terror and aversion with which tilly was regarded by the protestants of germany. can any of your correspondents refer me to a description of alva? j. s. warden. _"one while i think," &c._--whence are the following lines: "one while i think, and then i am in pain, to think, how to unthink that thought again." w. m. m. _lord bacon._--has the very discreditable attack made on the moral character of the great lord chancellor bacon, by his cotemporary sir simon d'ewes, and related by hearne the historian at the end of his _life and reign of king richard ii._, been investigated, and either established or disproved by later historians? cestriensis. _society for burning the dead._--wanted information as to the "society for burning the dead," which existed a few years ago in london. a reference to any reports or papers of them would oblige d. l. _cui bono._--what is the true rendering of the latin phrase _cui bono_? most text-books say it means "for what good?" or, "what use was it?" but francis newman, in p. . of _hebrew monarchy_, says it means "who gained by (the crime)," and quotes _cicero pro milone_, xii. § ., in favour of his meaning. t. r. dublin. _the stock horn._--can any of your readers or friends tell me where i can see a specimen of the musical instrument called the "stock horn?" or any musical instrument of primitive form, similar to that which wilkie has represented in a subject from the "gentle shepherd," entitled "roger and jenny." it seems to be a kind of hautboy, or oboe, and often appears in musical devices of the last century, especially by scotch printers. j. gordon smith. _lady harington._--can any of your readers give the pedigree of the late lady harington, mother of the lamented principal of brasenose coll. oxford? the writer of this, who was distantly related to her, recollects, though very young, being struck with her beauty when he saw her in . one of her brothers died in india; and another was curate of the lower church in guildford in ; he was probably thomas philpot, of magdalen hall, oxford, m.a. in . her mother was daughter or granddaughter of the celebrated mathematician abraham de moivre, and had a sister, or aunt, housekeeper of windsor castle. her mother, the writer believes, was related to the gomms, a branch of the family descended from eustache de st. pierre. anat. { } _descendants of sir m. hale._--are there any of the descendants of sir matthew hale, the famous judge of the seventeenth century, living either in england or ireland? w. a. _a query for the city commission._--in the _london gazette_ of january , - , we read that king charles ii. sent to the lord mayor, in a silver box sealed up with his majesty's seal, the receipts of the several cements used by the patentees for making sea-water fresh; as also the receipt of their metallic composition and ingredients, certified under the hand of the hon. robert boyle, to be kept so sealed up by the present and succeeding lord mayors, lest a secret of so great importance to the public might come to be lost, if lodged only in the knowledge of a few persons therein concerned. it is to be hoped that the commissioners who are now engaged in investigating the affairs of the corporation of london, will not fail in making inquiry of the present lord mayor after this silver box, committed so carefully to city preservation. h. e. _cross-legged monumental figures._--are any instances of the cross-legged figures, so common in england, to be seen in the churches of france, italy, or spain? and if so, where may engravings of them be found? j. y. _muffins and crumpets._--can any of your readers tell me the origin of the names "muffins and crumpets," and by whom and when introduced at the english breakfast-table? old fogie. athenæum. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _"behemoth."_--does any one know a book called _behemoth, an epitome of the civil wars from to _? c. w. b. [this was the last work written by the celebrated thomas hobbes of malmsbury. "this history is in dialogue," remarks bishop warburton, "and full of paradoxes, like all hobbes' other writings. more philosophical, political--or anything rather than historical; yet full of shrewd observations." the editions are, , vo.; , mo.; , vo.] _"deus ex machinâ."_--from what author is the phrase "deus ex machinâ" taken? and what was its original application? t. r. dublin. ["deus ex machinâ" was originally a greek proverb, and used to denote any extraordinary, unexpected, or improbable event. it arose from the custom or stage-trickery of the ancient tragedians, who, to produce uncommon effect on the audience, introduced a deity on special occasions--[greek: epi tôn paradoxôn kai paralogôn], "it is spoken of marvellous and surprising occurrences," as the german commentator f. smeider, thus explains the words of the passage in which the adage is to be found, viz. lucian's _hermotimus_, sub finem. the words are, [greek: to tôn tragôidôn touto, theos ek mêchanês epiphaneis]. to this custom horace alludes in his _ars poetica_, l. .: "nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus inciderit." conf. gesneri _thesaurus_, in machina.] _wheelbarrows._--who invented the wheelbarrow? it is ascribed to pascal. alpha. [fosbroke seems to have investigated the origin of this useful article. he says, "notwithstanding montfaucon, it is not certain that the ancients were acquainted with the wheelbarrow. hyginus, indeed, mentions a single-wheeled carriage, but it may apply to a vehicle of conveyance. some modern writers ascribe the invention to pascal, the famous geometer. the one-wheeled carriage alluded to was, perhaps, the _pabo_ of isidore. as to the invention by pascal, we find _berewe_, a barrow, rendered by lye, a versatile vehicle; but if more than the hand-barrow had been meant, the addition of _wheel_ would perhaps have been made to the world."--_encyclopædia of antiquities_, vol. i. p. .] _persons alluded to by hooker._--who was the ancient philosopher to whom hooker alludes in _eccles. polity_, b. iii. ch. xi. (iii.)? and the puritan champion of the church service, cited b. v. ch. xxvii. ( .)? mackenzie walcott, m.a. [the ancient philosopher is philemon: see the passage quoted by the rev. john keble, edit. hooker, , vol. i. p. ., from _fragm. incert._, xliii., ed. cler. the puritan champion is edward dering: see his work against harding, entitled _a sparing restraint of many lavish untruths, &c._, to. .] * * * * * replies. longfellow's originality. (vol. viii., p. .) j. c. b. has noticed "the similarity of thought, and even sometimes of expression," between "the reaper and the flowers" of this popular writer, and a song by luise reichardt. but a far more extraordinary _similarity_ than this exists between mr. longfellow's translation of a certain anglo-saxon metrical fragment, entitled "the grave" (tegg's edit. in _london domestic library_, p. .) and the literal translation of the same piece by the rev. j. j. conybeare, transcribed by sharon turner in _hist. ang. sax._, vo. edit. , vol. iii. p. . with the exception of a few verbal alterations, indeed, which render the fact of the plagiarism the more glaring, the two translations are identical. i place a few of the opening and { } concluding lines of each side by side, and would ask if the american poet has the slightest claim to the authorship of that version, to which he has affixed the sanction of his name. _conybeare's translation._ "for thee was a house built ere thou wert born, for thee was a mould shapen ere thou of mother camest. "who shall ever open for thee the door and seek thee, for soon thou becomest loathly, and hateful to look upon." _longfellow's translation._ "for thee was a house built ere thou wast born for thee was a mould meant ere thou of mother camest. "who will ever open the door for thee and descend after thee, for soon thou art loathsome, and hateful to see." wm. matthews. cowgill. * * * * * queen elizabeth and queen anne's motto. (vol. viii., pp. . . .) i was not aware that the query at page . was not fully answered by me in page ., but the following may be more satisfactory. camden, in his life of queen elizabeth (_annals of queen elizabeth_, p. .), says her first and chiefest care was for the most constant defence of the protestant religion as established by the authority of parliament. "her second care to hold an even course in her whole life and in all her actions, whereupon she took for her motto ( ), _semper eadem_ (always the same)." in his _remains_ (p. . to. ), camden says, "queen elizabeth upon occasions used so many heroical devices as would require a volume: but most commonly a sive without a motte for her words _video_, _taceo_, and _semper eadem_, which she as truly and constantly performed." sandford is silent as to her motto. leake says this motto, _semper eadem_, was only a personal motto; as queen, the old motto, _dieu et mon droit_, was used, and is so given in segar's _honour, military and civil_, dedicated to her majesty in , and which is also on her tomb. in some churches where there are arms put up to her memory, it is probable the motto _semper eadem_ may sometimes have been seen as being a personal motto to distinguish it from her brothers. queen anne, before the union with scotland, bore the same arms, crest, and supporters as her father king james ii., but discontinued the use of the old motto, _dieu et mon droit_, and instead thereof used _semper eadem_. the motto ascribed to queen elizabeth she took for the same reason to express her constancy; but this, which was personal as to queen elizabeth, was then made the motto of the royal achievement, and seems the first instance of discontinuing the old motto of _dieu et mon droit_, from the first assumption of it by king edward iii.; for as to the different ones attributed to queen mary, queen elizabeth, and king james i., they were personal only. the motto is indeed no part of the arms but personal, and therefore is frequently varied according to the fancy of the bearer; nevertheless, when particular mottoes have been taken to perpetuate the memory of great events, either in families or kingdoms, and have been established by long usage, such should be esteemed as family or national mottoes, and it is honourable to continue them. in (_gazette_, no. ) queen anne commanded the earl marshal to signify her pleasure that wheresoever her royal arms were to be used with a motto, that of _semper eadem_ should be used; and upon the union with scotland in , by her order in council it was ordered to be continued. king george i., upon his accession, thought proper to discontinue it, and restored the old motto, _dieu et mon droit_. g. * * * * * books burnt by the common hangman. (vol. viii., pp. . .) the _histoires_ of theodore agrippa d'aubigné were condemned, by an arrêt of the parliament of paris, to be burnt by the common hangman. the charge against the works was, that d'aubigné had spoken too freely of princes; and it may be added, too freely also of the jesuits, which was probably the greatest crime. d'aubigné said upon the occasion, that he could not be offended at the treatment given to his book, after having seen the holy bible ignominiously hanged upon a gibbet (for thus some fiery zealots used the bible which had taken from the huguenots, to show their pious hatred to all translations of that book into their native tongue), and fourscore thousand innocent persons massacred without provocation. the _histoire_ of james augustus de thou (a roman catholic, though a moderate one) met with the same fate at rome that d'aubigné's had at paris, and it was even debated in council whether the like sentence should not pass against it in france. d'aubigné, however, spoke strongly in its favour, affirming that no frenchman had ever before given such evident proofs of solid { } judgment and steady application, qualities not generally allowed to be the characteristic of the nation. (scott's _life of theodore agrippa d'aubigné_, p. .) in the _emilie_ of jean jacques rousseau was burnt at geneva by the common hangman. _le contrat social_ had soon afterwards the same fate. (_biographie universelle_, article "j. j. rousseau.") on june th, , nearly the whole of the edition of the _de christianismi restitutione_ of servetus, which had been seized at lyons, was cast into the flames, and servetus burnt in effigy at vienne in dauphiné. (_biographie universelle_, art. "servetus.") in the english bible, printed by grafton at paris, was (with the exception of a few copies) burnt by the order of the inquisition. during the reign of henry viii. (observes mr. d'israeli in _amenities of literature_, vol. iii. p. .), the bishop of durham had all the unsold copies of tindal's testament bought up at antwerp and burnt. in this age of unsettled opinions, both roman catholic and protestant books were burnt. in the reign of edward vi. roman catholic works fed the flames. "all red-lettered illuminated volumes were chopped in pieces with hatchets, and burned as superstitious. the works of peter lombard, duns scotus, and thomas aquinas, carried on biers, were tumbled into bonfires. in the reign of mary pyramids of protestant volumes were burnt. all the bibles in english, and all the commentators upon the bible in the vernacular idiom (which we are told from their number seemed almost infinite), were cast into the flames at the market-place, oxford."--d'israeli's _amenities of literature_, vol. ii. pp. , . in strype's _memorials_ ( rd part, nd ed., p. .) is a proclamation of philip and mary, "that whoever finds books of heresy and sedition, and does not forthwith _burn_ the same, shall be executed for a _rebel_." the stationers' company (who were granted a charter of incorporation during the reign of philip and mary) had power to seize, take away, and burn books which they deemed obnoxious to the state or to their own interests. "when elizabeth was upon the throne, political pamphlets fed the flames, and libels in the reign of james i. and his son."--d'israeli's _curiosities of literature_, "licensers of the press." "in the first year of the reign of king william iii., a.d. , a grand _auto-da-fé_ was performed by the university of oxford on certain political works. baxter's _holy commonwealth_ was amongst those condemned to the flames."--d'israeli's _amenities of literature_, vol. iii. p. . perhaps some correspondent of "n. & q." may furnish other instances of books burnt. l. a. * * * * * stone pulpits. (vol. viii., p. .) to mr. kersley's list i can add, from my own county, st. john the evangelist, cirencester, used; ss. peter and paul, northleach, used; staunton, all saints, in the hundred of st. briavell's, dean forest, not used. the last has a curious double arrangement in two storeys, like a modern reading-desk and pulpit, projecting west from the north side of the chancel arch, or rather (if i recollect rightly, for i took no notes on visiting the church) of the west tower arch, and to both which there is access from the newel leading to the ancient rood-loft. to the above might be added those of coombe, oxon; frampton, dorset; and trinity church, coventry: and if any other than those in churches, the angular one in the entrance court in magdalene college, oxford, from which, formerly, the university sermon used to be preached on the festival of st. john the baptist, when the court was strewed with rushes for the occasion (vide _glossary of architecture_, in verb.); that in the refectory of tinterne abbey, monmouthshire; and the well-known exquisite specimen of the later first pointed period, occupying a similar locality in the abbey of beaulieu, hants, so elaborately illustrated by mr. carter in weale's _quarterly papers_. brookthorpe. a collection of english examples alone would make a long list. besides the well-known one (a.d. ) in the outer court of magdalene college, oxford, the following are noted in the last edition of the oxford _glossary_, viz:--beaulieu, hants (a.d. ); beverley; chester; abbey garden, shrewsbury: these are in refectories of monasteries. in churches--at cirencester; coombe, oxon (circa a.d. ); frampton, dorset (circa a.d. ); trinity church, coventry (circa a.d. ): the latter appears from the cut to be stone. in the second edition of the _glossary_ is also st. peter's, oxon (circa ). devonshire abounds in good samples: see _trans. of exeter architectural society_, vol. i., at table of plates, and the engraved plates of three very rich specimens, viz. harberton, chittlehampton, north molton, each of which is encircled by canopied niches with statues. at north petherton, in somersetshire, is a curious grotesque human figure of stone, crouched on the floor, supporting the pulpit (which is of wood, as i think) upon his shoulders, atlas-like. j. j. r. temple. mr. kersley desires a list of ancient stone pulpits. i can give him the following, but cannot { } describe their positions, nor certify which of them are still used:--bedfordshire, st. paul's, bedford; cheshire, nantwich; cornwall, egloshayle; devonshire, chittlehampton, harberton, totnes, south wooton; dorsetshire, frampton; gloucestershire, north cerney, cirencester, cold ashton, northleach, pitchcomb, winchcomb, gloucester cathedral; hampshire, beaulieu abbey (fine early decorated), shorwell, isle of wight; oxfordshire, coombe ( ), oxford, magdalene college ( ), oxford, st. peter's; somersetshire, chedder, kew stoke, nailsea, stogumber, wrington; sussex, clymping; warwickshire, coventry, trinity church; worcestershire, worcester cathedral. c. r. m. the _glossary of architecture_ supplies the following examples:--beaulieu, hampshire, c. (plate .), in the refectory; combe, oxfordshire, c. (plate .); magdalene college, oxford, c. (plate .), in the outer court; frampton, dorset, c. (plate .); holy trinity, coventry, c. (plate .), restored by mr. rickman. are, or were, the pulpits in the refectories of the monasteries of beverley, shrewsbury, and chester, referred to in the glossary _sub voc._ pulpit, of stone? w. sparrow simpson. there are ancient stone pulpits still existing at beaulieu abbey church, now in use, a.d. ; wells cathedral, in the nave, a.d. ; magdalene college, oxford, a.d. , in the south-east angle of the first court, formerly used at the university sermon on st. john baptist's day; combe church, oxon., perp. style: frampton church, dorset, a.d. ; trinity church, coventry, a.d. . mackenzie walcott, m.a. to the list may be added that of holy trinity church, coventry, which is a very fine specimen, and furnished with bracket for the book. it adjoins the south aisle piers, and is in use. g. e. t. s. r. n. * * * * * antiquity of fire-irons. (vol. viii., p. .) the invention of these domestic instruments, called "tongs, fireshovels, and prongs" by sir t. browne, dates from a very early period. the "shovel" is the a.-s. _fyr-sceofl_. lye refers to "the fire-sholve" of the sixteenth century, which he tells us was "made like a grate to sift the sea-cole with," exactly as we see it constructed now (see gage's _hengrave_, p. .) the "poker" (see du cange, v. _titionarium_) is mentioned by johan. de januâ in the thirteenth century. it had formerly two massive prongs, and was commonly called the "fire-fork." there is a poker of this description, temp. hen. viii., in windsor castle, which is figured in britton's _archit. antiq._, vol. ii. p. . (see also strutt's _horda angelcynn_, vol. ii, pp. . ., and fosbrooke's _encyc. antiq._, pp. . . .) the "tongs," a.-s. _fyr-tang_ (see du cange, v. _tenalea_, _tenales_, _tenecula_), with which swift mischievously directs us to stir the fire "if the poker be out of the way," are of the remotest antiquity. they are frequently spoken of in the sacred records, as by isaiah, vi. .; and we all know to what purpose a similar weapon was applied by holy st. dunstan. in fact, they are doubtless coeval with fires themselves. the word "tongs" is the old icelandic, norræna, or dönsktúnga, _taung_, pl. _tángir_, the dan. _tang_, scot. and belg. _tangs_, _taings_, belg. _tanghe_, alem. _zanga_, germ. _zange_, gall. _tenaille_, ital. _tenaglia_, &c. the most ancient of the mytho-cosmogonic poems of the elder edda attribute to this implement an origin no less than divine; for in the _völo-spa_, st. vii., it is stated that when the mighty oesir assembled on idavöllr to regulate the courses of the stars, to take counsel for the erection of temples and palaces, and to build furnaces, amongst other tools, by them also then fabricated, _tángir scópo_, "they made tongs," for the use and delectation of the _völundr à járn_, or skilful blacksmith (the weyland smith of "kenilworth") and careful housewife of future days. wm. matthews. cowgill. aliquis will perhaps find his question satisfactorily answered by a visit to goodrich court, herefordshire, where the late sir samuel meyrick, with the industry and exactness which distinguished that indefatigable antiquary, had arranged a series of rooms illustrative of the domestic habits of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. it is so long ago since i saw these rooms (and then but very cursorily), that i will not undertake to say the series was complete from the twelfth inclusive; and when, recently, last there, the family were at home, and nothing but the armoury shown; but from the evident care taken of that unrivalled and magnificent collection by the present proprietor, the series of appropriate furniture, each _genuine_ specimens of the period they represent, is doubtless preserved intact, though i understood that the chambers had been since fitted up more consistently with the requirements of the nineteenth century. brookthorpe. * * * * * order of st. john of jerusalem. (vol. vii., p. .) r. l. p. asks "what members of the british language were present, when, in , the english commander upton attacked and defeated the famous corsair dragut at tarschien, in malta?" { } in answer to the above question i would beg to remark, that in september, , john d'omedes ascended the maltese throne on the decease of didier de saint jaille; and his reign continued seventeen years, _i. e._ to . in looking through several histories of the order, i am unable to find any mention made of a turkish descent on the island in . had such an occurrence taken place, it doubtless would have been recorded; but as it is not, it would have been impossible for the commander upton to have distinguished himself in any such conflict as your correspondent supposes. r. l. p. then asks, "what members of it were present (that is, the british language) when the chevalier repton, grand prior of england in , was killed, after signally defeating the turks in another attack on the island?" with all due deference i would beg to state, that there was not in july, , when dragut made an attack on malta, any english knight of the name of repton; and it can be satisfactorily shown by the following extract, that at the period referred to by r. l. p., nicholas upton was grand prior of england, and _was not_ "killed" after signally defeating the turks, but died from the effects of a _coup de soleil_: "l'isola del gozzo fu presa da sinam bassa, a persuasione di dragutte, il , essendosi renduto a discrezione f. galaziano de sesse aragonese, governatore, che vi rimase schiavo. ma poco dopo il cavaliere f. pietro d'olivares, la ristaurò da danni patiti e vi richiamò nuove famiglie a ripopolarla. sinam, prima di andare al gozzo, fece una discesa in malta, ma fu rispinto da cavaliere: _nella quale azione pel molto caldo sofferto, mori nicolas vpton, gran priore d'inghilterra._"--vide _codice dip._, vol. ii. p. .; as also vertot's _history of the order_, vol. iv. p. ., date july, . that sir nicholas upton was grand prior of england in , is sufficiently shown in the above extract; and that _he was_ commander of repton, or ripston, will be as readily seen by the following lines translated from the latin, and to be found in a book of manuscripts of the years , , , now in the record office. (vide lib. bull. m. m. f. j. homedes.) "on the th november, , nicholas upton was appointed by the grand master omedes commander of ripston in the language of england. and on the th of november, , he was exalted to the dignity of turcopolier, in place of the knight russell deceased." i am unable to inform r. l. p. what english knights were present in malta in ; but enough has already appeared in "n. & q." to show that they were few in number, and poor as regards their worldly effects. the reformation had destroyed the british language, and caused the ruin of its members. the first severe blow against the order of st. john of jerusalem was given by henry viii., and the last by queen elizabeth in the first year of her reign. (vide "n. & q.," vol. viii., pp. . .) william winthrop. la valetta, malta. * * * * * grammars, etc., for public schools. (vol. ix., p. .) st. mary's college, winchester (publisher, d. nutt).--_novum florilegium poeticum_; _carmina quædam elegantissima_; _de diis et heroibus poeticis libellus_; _homeri ilias_ (heyne) _et odysseæ_; _interpretatio poikiles istorias_; _ovidii fasti_, libri vi.; [greek: poikilê istoria]; _selectæ historiæ ex cæsare, justino et floro_; _notes on the diatessaron_, by the rev. frederic wickham, now second master; _græcæ grammatices rudimenta_, by bishop wordsworth, late second master; _greek and latin delectus_, by the rev. h. c. adams, late commoner tutor. of eton books there were in use the _latin and greek grammars_; pindar's _olympian and pythian odes_; _scriptores græci et romani_. a complete list of eton and westminster school-books will be found in the _london catalogue_, which enrols _vidæ de arte poeticâ_; trapp's _prælectiones poetica_, and the _rise, &c. of poetry and fine arts in ancient rome_, as winchester school-books. in , winchester and eton had a common grammar. hugh lloyd, d.c.l., head master, a.d. - , wrote _dictata_ and _phrases elegantiores_ for the use of the school. william horman, m.a., head master of winchester, - , and eton, - , wrote _vulgaria puerorum_. hugh robinson, d.d., head master, wrote _prayers_ and _latin phrases_ for the school. it is almost superfluous to name bishop ken's _manual for winchester scholars_, edited by dr. moberly, the present excellent head master, some years since. mackenzie walcott, m.a. in pursuance of the hint of mr. p. h. fisher, i will describe an old school-book in my possession, which is bound up with godwyn's _romanæ historicæ anthologia_. it contains, . _preces_; . _grammaticalia quædam_; . _rhetorica brevis_, and was printed at oxford in by joseph barnes. though there is nothing in the title-page to indicate that it was for the use of winchester college, this sufficiently appears from the "thanksgiving for william of wiccham" in the grace after dinner, and also from the insertion of william of wykeham's arms before the _rhetorica brevis_. it bears abundant marks of having been used in the school, and contains, on the blank pages with which it was furnished, several ms. wykehamical memoranda, some of them well known, and others, { } perhaps, the exercises of the original owner. all are in latin, except the following verses, which i transcribe: _"on queene anne, queene of the scots._ march with his winds hath strooke a cedar tall, and morning april weeps the cedar's fall, and may intends noe flowers her month shall bring, since shee must lose the flower of all the spring; thus march's winds have caused april showers, and yet sad may must lose her flower of flowers." c. w. b. * * * * * derivation of mawmet.--came. (vol. viii., pp. . .) that the word _mawmet_ is a derivation from the name of mahomet, is rendered exceedingly probable by two circumstances taken in connexion: its having been in common use to signify an idol, in the age immediately following that of the crusades; and the fact, that in the public opinion and phraseology of that time, a saracen and an idolater were synonymous. in the metrical romances of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, mahometanism is described as "hethenesse," and saracens as "paynims," "heathens," and "folks of the heathen law." the objects of their faith and worship were supposed to be mahomet, jupiter, apollo, pluto, and termagaunt. thus, in the romance of _richard coeur de lion_: "they slowe euery sarezyn, and toke the temple of apolyn."--l. - . "that we our god mahoun forsake."--l. . "and made ther her (their) sacryfyse, to mahoun, and to jupiter."--l. . "but to termagaunt and mahoun, they cryede fast, and to plotoun."--l. - . weber's _metrical romances_, vol. ii. the editor says: "there is no doubt that our romance existed before the year , as it is referred to in the _chronicles of robert de gloucester and robert de brunne_."--vol. i. introd., p. xlvi. in the same poem, the word _mawmettes_ is used to signify idols: "sarazynes before hym _came_, and asked off hym crystendame. ther wer crystend, as i find, more than fourty thousynd. kyrkes they made off crystene lawe, and her (their) _mawmettes_ lete down drawe." l. - . in wiclif's translation of the new testament also, the word occurs in the same sense: _mawmetis_, _idolis_, and _false goddis_ being used indifferently where _idola_ or _simulacra_ are employed in the latin vulgate: thus-- "fle ghe fro worschipyng of _mawmetis_." cor. x. . "my litel sones kepe ye you fro _mawmetis_." john v. . and in acts vii. ., the golden calf is designated by the same word, in the singular number: "and thei maden a calf in the daies, and offriden a sacrifice to the _mawmet_." in the first line of the quotation last given from _richard coeur de lion_, your correspondent h. t. g. will find an early instance of the word _came_; whether _early enough_, i cannot say. in wiclif's version, _cam_, _came_, and _camen_ are the usual expressions answering to "came" in our translation. if above five hundred and fifty years' possession does not give a word a good title to its place in our language, without a conformity to anglo-saxon usage, the number of words that must fall under the same imputation of novelty and "violent infringement" is very great indeed. j. w. thomas. dewsbury. * * * * * the gosling family. (vol. vi., p. .) one of the flock asks for information relative to the antiquity of the name and family of gosling. the norman name of gosselin is evidently the same as that of jocelyn, the tendency of the norman dialect being to substitute a hard _g_ for the _j_ or soft _g_, as _gambe_ for _jambe_, _guerbe_ for _gerbe_. as a family name it is far from uncommon in normandy, and many of your antiquarian readers may recognise it as the name of a publisher at caen of works on the antiquities of that province. a family of the name of gosselin has been established for many centuries in the island of guernsey. william gocelyn was one of those sworn upon the inquest as to the services, customs, and liberties of the island, and the laws established by king john, which inquest was confirmed by king henry iii. in the year . in the year an extent of the crown revenues, &c. was made by order of edward iii., and in this document the name of richard gosselin appears as one of the jury of the parish of st. peter-port. a genealogy of the guernsey family of gosselin is to be found in the appendix to berry's history of that island, and it is there stated that-- "the first on record in jersey is robert gosselin, who greatly assisted in rescuing the castle of mont orgueil from the french in the reign of edward iii., and was, for his gallant services, not only appointed governor of the castle by that monarch, but presented with the arms since borne by that family (viz. gules, a { } chevron between three crescents ermine), as appears by the original grant under the great seal of england, supposed to be upon record in the tower of london, or among the archives at winchester. this robert gosselin some time after settled in guernsey, where he married magdelaine, daughter of william maltravers, his majesty's lieutenant in that island." on referring to burke's _armory_, i find that families of the name of gosselin, gosling, and gooseling all bear arms similar to those described above, or but slightly differing, which affords a strong presumption that they are all descended from the same stock. the arms of gosselin of normandy are quite different. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _tent for collodion purposes._--some time ago, i saw in "n. & q." a slight notice of a tent for the collodion process: i think it is called "francis' collodion tent." would you, or some of your photographic correspondents, oblige me by giving a short description of this tent, or any other form, so that i may be able to operate with collodion in the open air? i am of an opinion, with a portable tent, so that we could expose paper in a damp state, the process might be done nearly as quick as collodion. all that need be done for a paper negative, would be to expose and develop; it can be fixed at home. but after being developed, it should be well washed and dried. james o. clazey. _multiplying negatives and collodion on paper._--as i am desirous of printing a large quantity of copies of a glass negative in my possession, i shall be obliged by any hints as to the best method of multiplying such negative, so as to guard against an accident from breakage. i should also feel obliged for any hints upon the use of collodion applied to glass, paper intervening; so that the paper may be afterwards removed from the glass, and used as a negative. i have heard of much success in this way, but am at a loss to know the best mode of operation. m. n. s. _photographic copies of ancient manuscripts._--might not photography be well employed in making facsimiles of valuable, rare, and especially of unique ancient manuscripts? if copies of such manuscripts could be multiplied at a moderate price, there are many proprietors of libraries would be glad to enrich them by what, for all purposes of reference, would answer equally well with the originals. a. [this subject, which has already been touched upon in our columns, has not yet received the attention it deserves. we have now before us a photographic copy of a folio page of a ms. of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, on which are inscribed a number of charters; and, although the copy is reduced so as to be but about inches high and ½ broad, it is perfectly legible; and the whole of the contractions are as distinct as if the original vellum was before us.] _fox talbot's patents._--would the editor of "n. & q." have the kindness to inform a. b. whether a photograph (portrait), taken from a _black cutting_ made by an amateur, and inserted in a published work, would infringe on mr. f. talbot's patent? also, whether collodion portraits come within his patent, as it was understood it could only apply to the _paper process_? (the cutting would be taken on albumenised paper.) a. b. would also be glad to know _where_ towgood of st. neot's _positive_ paper can be procured, and the price? a. b. mr. fox talbot having thrown open the whole of his patents,--with the exception of the taking of portraits for sale, on which it is understood that gentleman claims a royalty which may, in some cases, be considered a prohibition,--i should be glad to know under which of mr. talbot's patents such royalty can be enforced, and when the patent in question expires? h. h. _antiquarian photographic society._--we believe that most of the difficulties which have stood in the way of the organisation of this society have at length been got over; and that we shall, in the course of a week or two, be enabled to state full particulars of its rules, arrangements, &c. our readers are aware that its main object is the interchange of photographs among the members; each contributing as many copies of his own work as there are members of the society, and receiving in exchange as many different photographs, thus, if the society is limited to twenty-five or fifty members, each member will have to furnish twenty-five or fifty copies, as the case may be, of the photograph he presents to the society; and, in return, will receive one photograph from each of his fellow members. the difficulty, or rather trouble of printing, must necessarily limit the number of members; and as a consequence will, we doubt not, lead to the formation of many similar associations. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _"firm was their faith," &c._ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--i am utterly unable to account for the reserve shown by saxa in withholding the name of robert stephen hawker, vicar of morwenstow, author of the beautiful volume of poems entitled _echoes from old cornwall_: especially as the author's name appears on the title-page, and saxa appears so desirous that his merits should be better known to the world. [greek: halieus]. dublin. _attainment of majority_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i cannot, in courtesy, omit to notice mr. russell gole's obliging efforts to assist the investigation of this subject. i must, however, refer him to the first paragraph of my last communication (vol. viii., p. .), on the reperusal of which he will find { } that what he states to be "the question" has not been at any time questioned. he has apparently mistaken my meaning, and imagines that "about the beginning of the seventeenth century" means (that being the date of the case cited by him). i beg to assure him that i intended the expression, "beginning of the seventeenth century," to be understood in the ordinary acceptation. a. e. b. leeds. _three fleurs-de-lis_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have by me a ms. biographical history of the english episcopate, complete from the foundation of every see, with the armorial bearings of the several bishops: the whole i have collected from the best sources. i find among these, in the arms of trilleck of hereford, three fleurs-de-lis in chief; stillingfleet of worcester, coverdale of exeter, north of winchester, three fleurs-de-lis, two in chief and one in base; stretton of lichfield, three fleurs-de-lis in bend. mackenzie walcott, m.a. sir john _egles_, who was knighted by king james ii. in the last year of his reign, and was lord mayor of london in , bore: argent, a fess engrailed, and in chief three fleurs-de-lis sable. the family of _france_, now represented by james france, esq., of bostock hall, co. cheshire, bear: argent, on a mount in base a hurst proper, a chief wavy azure, charged with the three fleurs-de-lis or. (the last are probably _armes parlantes_.) _halford_ of wistow bears: argent, a greyhound passant sable, on a chief azure, three fleurs-de-lis or. lewis evans. devoniensis is informed, that the family of saunders bear the following coat of arms: viz. argent, three fleurs-de-lis sable, on a chief of the second three fleurs-de-lis of the first. also, that the families of chesterfield, warwyke, kempton, &c., bear: three fleurs-de-lis in a line (horizontal) in the upper part of the shield. see glovers' _ordinary_, augmented and improved in berry's _encyclopædia heraldica_, vol. i. h. c. c. _newspaper folk lore_ (vol. ix., p. .).--although (apparently unknown to londoner) the correspondent of _the times_, under "naval intelligence," in december last, with his usual accuracy, glanced at the "snake lore" merely to laugh at the fable, i have written to a gallant cousin of mine, now serving as a naval officer at portsmouth, and subjoin his reply to my letter; it will, i think, amply suffice to disabuse a londoner's, or his friend's, mind of any impression of credence to be attached to it, as regards the snake: "h.m.s. excellent.--jonathan smith, gunner's mate of the hastings, joined this ship from the hastings in july; went on two months' leave, but came back in august very ill, and was immediately sent to the hospital for general dropsy, of which he shortly after died, and he was buried in kingston churchyard, being followed to the grave by a part of the ship's company of the excellent. "shortly before his death a worm, not a snake, came from him. it was nine inches in length; but though of such formidable dimensions, such things are common enough in the east indies, where this man must have swallowed it, when very small, in water. they seldom are the cause of death, and, in the present instance, had nothing whatever to do with it. the story of the snake got into some of the papers, but was afterwards contradicted in several." mackenzie walcott, m.a. _nattochiis and calchanti_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent f.s.a. asks what "cum g^anis et nattochiis" means, in a charter of the date of edward ii. at that time _nattes_ signified reeds, and possibly _withies_: and the words quoted i believe to mean, "with all grass and reeds (or reed-beds)." he also inquires what is meant, in a deed of grant of the time of queen elizabeth, by a grant of "decimas calchanti," &c.? it signifies "tithes ways," &c. the original law latin for the modern phrase "all ways," &c., was _calceata_, signifying "raised ways." this word has (at different periods) been written, _calceata_, _calcata_, _calcea_, _calchia_, _chaucée_, and _chaussé_; all of them, however, meaning the same thing. john thrupp. . york gate. _marriage ceremony in the fourteenth century_ (vol. ix., p. .).--if r. c. will refer to palmer's _origines liturgicæ_ (rivington, , vol. ii. p. .), he will find that the first part of the matrimonial office was "anciently termed the _espousals_, which took place some time _before_ the actual celebration of marriage." palmer explains: "the espousals consisted in a mutual _promise_ of marriage, which was made by the man and woman before the bishop or presbyter, and several witnesses. after which, the articles of agreement of marriage (called _tabulæ matrimoniales_), which are mentioned by augustin, were signed by both persons. after this, _the man delivered to the woman the ring and other gifts_; an action which was termed _subarrhation_. in the latter ages the espousals have always been performed at the same time as the office of matrimony, both in the western and eastern churches; and _it has long been customary_ for the ring to be delivered to the woman _after the contract has been made_, which has always been in the actual office of matrimony." wheatly also speaks of the _ring_ as a "token of _spousage_." he tell us that-- "in the old manual for the use of salisbury, before the minister proceeds to the marriage, he is directed _to { } ask the woman's dowry_, viz. _the tokens of spousage: and by these tokens of spousage are to be understood rings, or money, or some other things to be given to the woman by the man; which said giving is called subarration_ (i. e. wedding or covenanting), _especially when it is done by the giving of a ring._"--_a rational illustration of the book of common prayer, &c._ (tegg, ), p. . perhaps the word _subarration_ may suggest to r. c. a clue, by which he can mend his extract? j. sansom. _clarence_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i made no note of it at the time, but i remember to have read, i think in some newspaper biography of william iv., that the title of clarence belonged to the plantagenets in right of some of their foreign alliances, and that it was derived from the town of chiarenza, or clarence, in the morea. as many of the crusaders acquired titles of honour from places in the byzantine empire, this account may be correct. lionel plantagenet's acquisition of the honour of _clare_ by his marriage with elizabeth de burgh, may have induced his father edward iii. to revive the dormant title of _clarence_ in his favour. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. _"the spire whose silent finger," &c._ (vo . ix., p. .).-- "and o! ye swelling hills and spacious plains! besprent from shore to shore with steeple-tow'rs, and spires _whose silent finger points to heav'n_." wordsworth, _excursion_, vi. . coleridge uses the same idea in his _friend_, no. xiv. p. .: "an instinctive taste teaches men to build their churches in flat countries with spire-steeples; which, as they cannot be referred to any other object, _point as with silent finger to the sky_ and stars; and sometimes, when they reflect the brazen light of a rich though rainy sunset, appear like a pyramid of flame burning heavenward." f. r. m., m.a. the following lines conclude a pretty little poem of rogers's, entitled _a wish_. they furnish at any rate a parallel passage to, if not the correct version of, the above: "the village church, among the trees, where first our marriage vows were given, with merry peals shall shell the breeze, and _point with taper spire to heaven_." c. w. b. _henry earl of wotton_ (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--in reply to the editors of the _navorscher_ i have to state-- . that neither of the lords stanhope mentioned died childless, the letters _s. p._ being a misprint for _v. p._ (_vitâ patris_); henry having died during the lifetime of his father: and it was "in regard that he did not live to enjoy his father's honours" that his widow was afterwards advanced to the dignity of countess of chesterfield. . it was charles stanhope's nephew (of the half-blood), charles henry van der kerckhove, who took the name of wotton. the insertion of the word "thereupon" between "who" and "took," on p. ., would have made the sentence less obscure. . philip, first earl of chesterfield, had, besides henry lord stanhope, two daughters and ten sons. these were--john, who died a student at oxford; ferdinando, m.p. for tamworth, , killed at bridgeford, notts, ; philip, killed in defence of his father's house, which was a garrison for the king, ; arthur, youngest son, m.p. for nottingham in the parliament of charles ii., from whom descended the fifth earl; charles, died _s. p._ ; edward, william, thomas, michael, george, died young. the earldom descended in a right line for three generations to the issue of henry, lord stanhope, viz. philip, his son, second earl; philip, third earl, his grandson; and philip, fourth earl, his great-grandson. the alexander stanhope mentioned by the editors of the _navorscher_ was the only son of philip, first earl of chesterfield, by his second marriage. his mother was anne, daughter of sir john pakington, of westwood, co. worcester, ancestor of the present baronet, late secretary of state for the colonies. broctuna. bury, lancashire. _tenth (or the prince of wales's own) regiment of (light) dragoons_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--the monarch of this realm reviewing a regiment, of which the heir apparent was not only colonel, but took the command, and directed all the military evolutions on the occasion, was such a particular event as to merit being commemorated by the splendid picture at hampton court palace. your correspondent [phi]., who desires to be informed on what particular day that review took place, will find that it was on thursday, aug. , . in the daily paper, _the true briton_, of aug. , , he will find some details, of which the following is an abridgment: "the prince of wales's regiment (the th light dragoons) was yesterday reviewed by his majesty on winkfield plain. the troops practised their manoeuvres through cranbourne woods, &c. his royal highness gave the word of command to his regiment, and wore in his military helmet 'an oak bough.' the prince of wales gave an entertainment afterwards to the officers at the bush inn, at staines." the general officers in attendance upon his majesty, and represented in the picture, were the commander-in-chief, field-marshal h. r. h. the { } duke of york, k.g. and k.b., colonel nd foot guards; lieut.-gen. and adjutant-gen. sir wm. fawcett, k.b., rd dragoon guards; lieut.-gen. david dundas, quarter-master-general, th light dragoons; major-gen. goldsworthy, first equerry, st royal dragoons. narro. _lewis and sewell families_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--c. h. f. will find m. g. lewis's ancestors, his family mausoleum, the tomb of his maternal grandfather, &c., incidentally mentioned in "m. g. lewis's negro life in the west indies," no. . of murray's _home and colonial library_, . the pedigrees of the shedden and lushington family would probably afford him some information upon the subject of his query. the right hon. sir thos. sewell's second wife was a miss sibthorp, daughter of coningsby sibthorp of canwick, lincolnshire. by her he had one child, which died young. the rev. george sewell, william luther sewell, robert sewell, attorney-general of jamaica, and lieut.-col. thomas bailey heath sewell, were sons of the right hon. sir thos. sewell by his first wife. thomas bermingham daly henry sewell, son of the above lieut.-col. thomas bailey heath sewell, died march , , æt. seventy-eight; and was buried in harold's cross cemetery, near dublin. two daughters, the duchess de melfort, and mrs. richards, wife of the rev. solomon richards, still survive him. (see burke's _commoners, supplement_, name cole of marazion; and burke's _dic. of peerage and baronetage_, , title westmeath.) w. r. d. s. _blue bell and blue anchor_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent [old english w]. inquires the origin of the sign-boards of the "blue bell" and the "blue anchor?" i have always understood that the sign of the bell, painted blue, was intended as a substitute for the little scotch flower bearing the name of the _blue-bell_. i believe it is either the blue flower of the flax, or that of the wild blue hyacinth, which in shape much resembles a bell. it was probably much easier to draw the metallic figure than the flower, and hence its use by the primitive village artists. as to the "blue anchor," the anchor is the well-known symbol of hope, and blue her emblematic colour. hence this adaptation is less a solecism than that of the bell for the hyacinth. w. w. e. t. . warwick square, belgravia. _sir anthony wingfield: ashmans_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--the portrait of sir anthony wingfield, "with the hand on the girdle," was, a few years ago, in the collection of dawson turner, esq., at yarmouth. a private etching of it was made by mrs. turner. the original was rescued from among the letheringham pictures at ashmans, where they appear to have been sadly neglected. the late robert rede, esq., whose father, thomas rede, purchased of sir edwin rich, bart., in , the manor of rose hall and ashmans, erected upon that estate the mansion called _ashmans_. the place is not styled ashmans _park_, nor does its extent warrant such a designation. this property, on the death of mr. robert rede in , passed to the late rev. robert rede cooper, who assumed the surname of rede; and on his death, without male issue, the estate devolved upon his four daughters, louisa charlotte, wife of francis fowke, esq.; anne cooper, wife of robert orford buckley, esq.; mary anne sarah bransby, wife of charles henry tottenham, esq.; and miss madeline naunton leman rede. the property has not been sold. its most interesting antiquarian feature is the old house called rose (or more properly roos) hall, which belonged successively to the colly, suckling, rich, and finally the rede, families. the pictures which remained at ashmans were removed from thence within the last year; but whether any of those from the letheringham gallery were among them, i know not. s. w. rex. beccles. _derivation of the word "celt"_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--job xix. . in the cologne (ely) edition of the vulgate, , the word is _celt_. in mareschal's bible (ludg. ), the word in the text is _celte_, but the marginal note is "al^s _certe_." in the louvain (or widen's) bible (antw., apud viduam et hæredes joannis stelsii, , cum priv.), the word in the text is _certé_. this latter being an authorised edition of the vulgate, it seems probable that _celté_, or _celt_, must have been an error. r. i. r. _the religion of the russians_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent j. s. a. has mentioned under the above head the worship of "gods," as he calls their pictures or images, by the russians. i am sure he will find no such name or meaning given to them by the russians in their writings; for an account of what they really believe and teach i would refer him to mouravieff's _history of the russian church_; _the catechism of the russian church translated_; _harmony of their doctrine with that of the english church_; all translated by mr. blackmore, late chaplain to the russian company. g. w. _french translation of the "london gazette"_ (vol. vi., p. .).--a correspondent describes a french edition of the _london gazette_, which he had met with of the date of may , ; and considering it as a curiosity, he wishes some reader would give an account of it. it has occurred to me to meet with a similar publication, which { } appeared twenty years antecedent to the time above specified. it is entitled _la gazette de londres, publiée avec privilège, depuis le jeudi , jusqu'au lundi , mai, (vieux style)_, no. . it gives a very circumstantial detail of the loss of the "gloucester" frigate, near the mouth of the humber, in the night of friday, may , , when she was conveying the duke of york (postquam james ii.) to scotland. sir john berry, who commanded the vessel, managed to remove the duke to another ship; but the earl of roxburgh, lord o'brien, the laird of hopetoun, sir joseph douglas, mr. hyde (lord clarendon's brother), several of the duke's servants, and about seamen, were lost in the "gloucester." the pilot was either deficient in skill, or obstinate, and was to be brought to trial.[ ] with regard to the reason of publishing a french version of the _gazette_, might it not be judged expedient (as the french was then spoken in every court in europe, and the english language almost unknown out of the british dominions) to publish this translation in french for foreign circulation? it is to be remarked that the copy i have met with is styled _privileged_? d. n. [footnote : [it will be remembered that pepys accompanied the duke of york on this excursion to scotland, and was fortunately on board his own yacht when the "gloucester" was wrecked. his graphic account of the disaster will be found in the correspondence at the end of his _diary_.--ed.]] _"poscimus in vitâ," &c._ (vol. ix., p. .).--allow me to correct a _double_ error in this line into which mr. potter has fallen, though he has improved upon the line of balliolensis. the true reading of it is-- "poscimus in _vitam_ pauca, nec _ista_ diu." _in vitam_ (for life) is better latin than "in vitâ;" and _ista_ is more appropriate than "illa," in reference to things spoken unfavourably of. c. delapryme. _pickard family_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the pickard family are not from normandy, but from piccardy. doubtless, many a le norman, le gascoign, and le piccard settled in this country during the plantagenet connexion with those provinces. p. p. _"man proposes, but god disposes"_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--piers ploughman's _vision_, quoted by your correspondent mr. thomas, proves that the above saying was used prior to the time of thomas à kempis; but in adding that it did not originate with the author of the _de imitatione_, your correspondent overlooked the view which attributes that wonderful work to john gerson, a benedictine monk, between the years and ; and afterwards abbat of the monastery of st. stephen. (vide _de imit. curâ joh. hrabiéta_, , præfat., viii. et seq.) can any of your correspondents give other early quotations from the _de imitatione_? the search after any such seems to have been much overlooked in determining the date of that work. h. p. lincoln's inn. _general whitelocke_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in reply to g. l. s., i well remember this unfortunate officer residing at clifton, near bristol, up to about the year ; but as i then removed to a distant part of the kingdom, i cannot say where the rest of his life was spent. although i was then but young, the lapse of years has not effaced from my memory the melancholy gloom of his countenance. if the information g. l. s. is seeking should be of importance, i cannot but think he may obtain it on the traces which have been given him. to which i may add, that up to a late period a son of the general, who was brought up to the church, held a living near malton, yorkshire; indeed, i believe he still holds it. d. n.'s information, that general whitelocke fixed his residence in _somersetshire_, may probably be correct; but it has occurred to me as just possible that clifton was the place pointed to, inasmuch as it is a vulgar error, almost universal, that bristol (of which clifton may now be said to be merely the _west end_) is in somersetshire; whereas the fact is, that the greater part of that city, and the whole of clifton, are on the gloucestershire side of the avon, there the boundary between the two counties. i may mention, that in a late number of _tait's magazine_, there was a tale, half fiction and half fact, but evidently meant to appear the latter, in which the narrator states that he was in the ranks in general whitelocke's army; and in that fatal affair, in which he was engaged, the soldiers found that the flints had been removed from all the muskets, so as to prevent their returning the enemy's fire! and this by order of their general. is not this a fresh invention? if so, it is a cruel one! m. h. r. _non-jurors' motto_ (vol. viii., p. .).--"cetera quis nescit" is from ovid, _amorum_, lib. i., elegia v. v. . w. j. bernhard smith. temple. _"the red cow" sign, near marlborough_ (vol. viii., p. .).--being informed that cromwell's old carriages, with the "red cow" on them, were some years ago to be seen as curiosities at manton near marlborough; cromwell being a descendant of a williams from glamorgan, and the cow being the coat of arms of cowbridge; and the signs of inns in that county being frequently { } named "the red cow;"--will any of your readers oblige with some account of the origin of "the red cow" as a sign; and what family has now a claim to such as the family arms? glywysydd. _emblematic meanings of precious stones_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix. p. .).--to the list of works on the mystical and occult properties of precious stones given by mr. w. pinkerton, allow me to add the following, in which the means of judging of their commercial value, and their medicinal properties, are chiefly treated of: "le parfaict ioaillier, ov histoire des pierreries: ov sont amplement descrites, leur naissance, juste prix, moyen de les cognoistre, et se garder des contrefaites, facultez medicinales, et proprietez curieuses. composé par anselme bocce de boot, &c.: lyon, , mo., pp. ." william bates. birmingham. _calves'-head club_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--a correspondent of the _cambridge chronicle_ of dec. says, that in the churchyard of soham, cambridgeshire, there is "a monster-tomb surrounded by a lofty iron railing," with the following inscription in letters of a large size: "robert d'aye, esquire, died april, . also mary, wife of robert d'aye, esquire, daughter of william russell, esquire, of fordham abbey, and elizabeth his wife, who was the only surviving daughter of henry cromwell, lord lieutenant of ireland, son of oliver cromwell, protector; died november , , aged years." after stating that in the same tomb lie the bodies of the daughter of d'aye, and his wife (ob. ), their grandson ( ), and great-grandson ( ), the writer adds that there is a _tradition_ in soham that, during the lifetime of mrs. d'aye, out of respect to the doings of oliver cromwell, on the anniversary of king charles's martyrdom, _a calf's head besmeared with blood_ was hoisted on a pole in front of the cot of the husband. p. j. f. gantillon. _burial in an erect posture_ (vol. viii., pp. . . . .); _eulenspiegel_ (vol. vii., p. ., &c.).--the german rogue eulenspiegel (or howleglass, as coplande renders it), of whose adventures "n. & q." has had several notices, is another example of upright burial, as the following passage, translated by roscoe, shows: "howleglass was buried in the year , and his latter end was almost as odd and as eccentric as his life. for, as they were lowering him again into the grave, one of the ropes supporting the feet gave way, and left the coffin in an upright position, so that howleglass was still upon his legs. those who were present then said: 'come, let us leave him as he is, for as he was like nobody else when he was alive, he is resolved to be as queer now he is dead.'" accordingly, they left howleglass bolt upright, as he had fallen; and placing a stone over his head, on which was cut the figure of an owl with a looking-glass under his claws, the device of his name, they inscribed round it the following lines: howleglass's epitaph. "here lies howleglass, buried low, his body is in the ground; we warn the passenger that so he move not this stone's bound. in the year of our lord mcccl." his tomb, which was remaining thirty years ago, and may be now, is under a large lime-tree at möllen, near lubeck. in roscoe's _german novelists_, vol. i. p. . et seq., there are references to several editions in various languages of the adventures of thyll eulenspiegel. j. r. m., a.m. _biting the thumb_ (vol. vi. pp. . . .).--the lower orders in normandy and britanny, and probably in other parts of france, when wishing to express the utmost contempt for a person, place the front teeth of the upper jaw between the nail and flesh of the thumb, the nail being turned inwards: and then, disengaging the thumb with a sudden jerk, exclaim, "i don't care that for you," or words of similar import. is not this the action alluded to by shakspeare and other writers, as "biting the thumb?" honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. _table-turning and table-talking in ancient times_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have received from a correspondent in berlin the subjoined translation of an article which was published in the _neue preussische zeitung_ of january : "we have been informed that professor ranke has found out a passage in ammianus marcellinus by which it is unquestionably proved that table-turning was known in the east of the roman empire. "the table-turners of those days were summoned as sorcerers before the council, and the passage referred to appears to have been transcribed from the protocol. the whole ceremony (_modus movendi hic fuit_) is very precisely described, and is similar to what we have so often witnessed within the last month; only that the table-turners, instead of sitting round the table, danced round it. the table-oracle likewise answered in verse, and showed a decided preference for hexameters. being asked 'who should be the next emperor?' the table answered 'theod.' in consequence of this reply, the government caused a certain theodorus to be put to death. theodosius, however, became emperor. "the table oracle, in common with other oracles, had a dangerous equivocal tendency." { } i learn from my correspondent, that the passage in ammianus marcellinus, though brought into notice by professor ranke, was discovered by professor august at this place (cheltenham). i am unable to verify the following reference: see ammianus marcellinus, _rerum gestarum_, lib. xxix. (p. ., bipont. edit.), and _ib._ lib. xxxi. (p. .) john t. graves. cheltenham. _the bell savage_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. james edmeston is correct in rejecting the modern acceptation of the sign of the well-known inn on ludgate hill, as being _la belle sauvage_. its proper name is "the bell savage," the bell being its sign, and savage the name of its proprietor. but he is wrong in supposing that "bell" in this case was the abbreviation of the name isabella, and that the inn "was originally kept by one isabella savage." in a deed enrolled on the close roll of , it is described as "savage's ynne, _alias_ le belle on the hope." the bell, as in many other ancient signs, was placed within a hoop. (see the _gentleman's magazine_ for november last, p. .) n. _door-head inscriptions_ (vol. viii., p. .).--about the year , i remember an old house known by the whimsical name of "wise-in-time," at stoke-bishop, near bristol; over the front door of which there was the following inscription, carved on a stone tablet: "ut corpus animo, sic domus corpori." the house had the reputation of being haunted. i cannot say whether it is still in existence. m. h. r. over the door of a house in alnwick, in the street called bondgate: "that which your father of old hath purchased and left you to possess, do you dearly hold to show his worthiness. m. w. ." ceyrep. _funeral customs in the middle ages_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in answer to your correspondent mr. peacock, as to whether a monument was usually erected over the burial-place of the heart, &c.? it is mentioned in miss strickland's life of queen mary stuart, that-- "an elegant marble pillar was erected by mary as a tribute of her affection, to mark the spot where the heart of francis ii. was deposited in orleans cathedral." l. b. m. _greek epigram_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the epigram, or rather epigrams, desired by your correspondent g. e. frere are most probably those which stand as the twelfth and thirteenth in the ninth division of the _anthologia palatina_ (vol. ii. p. ., ed. tauchnitz). their subjects are identical with that quoted by you, which stands as the eleventh in the same collection. the two best lines of epigram xiii. are-- "[greek: anera tis lipoguion huper nôtoio lipaugês] [greek: Êge, podas chrêsas, ommata chrêsamenos.]" p. j. f. gantillon. _mackey's "theory of the earth"_ (vol. viii. pp. . .).-- "died, on saturday se'night, at doughty's hospital in this city, samson arnold mackey, aged seventy-eight years. the deceased was born at haddiscoe, and was a natural son of captain samson arnold of lowestoft. he has been long known to many of the scientific persons of norwich, and was remarkable for the originality of his views upon the very abstruse subject of mythological astronomy, in which he exhibited great sagacity, and maintained his opinions with extraordinary pertinacity. he received but a moderate education; was put apprentice to a shoemaker at the age of eleven, served his time, and for many years afterwards was in the militia. he did not again settle in norwich until , when he hired the attic storey of a small house in st. paul's, where he followed his business and pursued his favourite studies. about he published his first part of _mythological astronomy_, and gave lectures to a select few upon the science in general. in he published his _theory of the earth_, and several pamphlets upon the antiquity of the hindoos. his room, in which he worked, took his meals, slept, and gave his lectures, was a strange exhibition of leather, shoes, wax, victuals, sketches of sphinxes, zodiacs, planispheres; together with orreries of his own making, geological maps and drawings, illustrative of the egyptian and hindoo mythologies. he traced all the geological changes to the different inclinations of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit, and was fully persuaded that about , years ago, according to his theory, when the poles of the earth were last in that position, the geological phenomena now witnessed were produced. from his singular habits, he was of course looked upon with wonder by his poor neighbours, and those better informed were inclined to annoy him as to his religious opinions. he had a hard struggle of late years to obtain subsistence, and his kind friend and patron the late mr. moneyment procured for him the asylum in which he died. he held opinions widely different to most men; but it must not be forgotten that, humble as he was, his scientific acquirements gained him private interviews with the late duke of sussex, the duke of somerset, and many learned men in the metropolis." the above is taken from the _norwich mercury_ of august , . trivet allcock. norwich. _"homo unius libri"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--d'israeli devotes a chapter, in the second series of his { } _curiosities of literature_, to "the man of one book." he says: "a predilection for some great author, among the vast number which must transiently occupy our attention, seems to be the happiest preservative for our taste ... he who has long been intimate with one great author will always be found a formidable antagonist.... the old latin proverb reminds us of this fact, _cave ab homine unius libri_, be cautious of the man of one book." and he proceeds to remark, that "every great writer appears to have a predilection for some favourite author," and illustrates it by examples. eirionnach. _muffs worn by gentlemen_ (vol. viii., p. .).--in the amusing quarrel between goldsmith's old friend and his cousin in st. james's park, "cousin jeffrey," says miss, "i knew we should have the eyes of the park upon us, with your great wig so frizzled and yet so beggarly." "i could," adds mr. jeffrey, "have patiently borne a criticism on all the rest of my equipage; but i had always a peculiar veneration for my muff." (essays, p. ., edit. .) mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. if, as we believe, the first and greatest qualifications for an editor of shakspeare be love for his author and a thorough appreciation of his beauties, mr. charles knight may well come forward once more in that character. and, as he well observes, the fact of his having laboured for many years in producing a body of commentary on shakspeare, so that he was, out of the necessity of its plan, compelled not to miss any point, or slur over any difficulty, renders him not the less fitted for the preparation of an edition which is intended to be "the people's shakspeare." the first volume of this edition, which he calls _the stratford shakspeare_, is now before us. it comprises the "facts connected with the life and writings of shakspeare," and the "notice of original editions," and a most valuable shilling's worth it is. and there can be little doubt that, if mr. knight realises his intentions of suiting the present work to the wants of the many, by his endeavours, without any elaborate criticism, to unravel the difficulties of a plot, to penetrate the subtlety of a character, and to show the principle upon which the artist worked, the present will be the crowning labour of his many praiseworthy endeavours to place a good edition of the works of our great dramatist within the reach of all. "who speak the tongue that shakspeare spake." we cannot better show the utility and interest of _the autograph miscellany; a collection of autograph letters, interesting documents, &c., selected from the british museum, and other sources public and private_, than by stating the contents of the first number, which certainly contains admirable lithographic facsimiles of--i. queen elizabeth's letter to the house of commons in answer to their petition respecting her marriage; ii. letter from catherine de medici; iii. wren's report on the design for the summit of the city monument; iv. letter from rubens on the defeat of the english at rochelle. their execution is certainly most creditable to the artist, mr. f. netherclift. books received.--_the works of joseph addison, with notes by dr. richard hurd, bishop of worcester, in four volumes, with engravings, vol. i._ this is the first of a new, cheap, and well-printed edition of hurd's _addison_, and forms one of mr. bohn's new series of _british classics_.--_the russians of the south_, by shirley brooks, the rd part of longman's _traveller's library_, is a very lively and amusing little volume. it would have been read with interest at any time, but is especially deserving of attention at the present moment. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. the establishment of the turks in europe. by lord john russell. of sir walter scott's novels, without the motes, constable's miniature edition: anne of geierstein, betrothed, castle dangerous, count robert of paris, fair maid of perth, highland widow. red gauntlet, st. ronan's well, woodstock, surgeon's daughter, and talisman. companion to the almanac. all published. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: penny cyclopÆdia, from part cvii. inclusive, to the end. wanted by _rev. f. n. mills_, . cunningham place, st. john's wood. birch's gallery of antiquities. parts i. and ii. burton's excerpta hieroglyphica. wilkinson's materia hieroglyphica. wanted by _prichard, roberts, & co._, booksellers, chester. waverley novels. miniature edition. mo. published by constable & co. complete. horne's introduction to the scriptures. vols. vo. o'brien's round towers of ireland. last edition. rowe's dartmoor. wanted by _simms & son_, booksellers, bath. lettres de xavier. vols. not the abridged edition. wanted by _mr. hayward_, bookseller, bath. genuine and impartial memoirs of the life and character of charles ratcliffe, wrote by a gentleman of the family, mr. eyre, to prevent the public being imposed on by any erroneous or partial accounts to the prejudice of this unfortunate gentleman. london: printed for the proprietor, and sold by e. cole. . wanted by _mr. douglas_, . russell square, london. { } letters of the herbert family wanted by _henningham & hollis_, . mount st., grosvenor sq. forster's perennial calendar and companion to the almanack. vo. london, . a sermon on knowledge. by rev. h. j. rose. lond. . letters by catholicus on sir robt. peel's tamworth address. lond. . kircher's musurgia universalis. romæ, . toms in . folio. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. selden's works by wilkins. folio. vol. iii. part ii. . bishop gauden, the author of "icon basilike," by dr. todd. vo. (a pamphlet.) wanted by _thos. g. stevenson_, bookseller, edinburgh. * * * * * notices to correspondents. caution to bookbuyers.--_we have received copies of some letters, which we may perhaps hereafter print, but to which we now need make no farther allusion than to warn gentlemen whose inquiries for books through _"n. & q."_ may be answered _not to part with their money_ until they receive the books--unless they are dealing with well-known and respectable booksellers._ scrutator, _who writes touching _the kilkenny cats_, is referred to our _ nd vol., p. . d. d. j. _the fragment of ms. forwarded by our correspondent is a portion of a latin commentary on st. luke._ our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday._ * * * * * completion of the catholic history of england. by wm. bernard mac cabe, esq. in the press. the third and last volume of a catholic history of england. price s. orders to complete sets can be addressed to the publisher, t.c. newby, . welbeck street, cavendish square, london. n.b.--only a limited number of copies of this edition will be published. it will be therefore necessary for intending purchasers to give their orders as early as possible. "carefully compiled from our earliest records, and purporting to be a literal translation of the writings of the old chroniclers, miracles, visions, &c., from the time of gildas; richly illustrated with notes, which throw a clear, and in many instances a new light on what would otherwise be difficult and obscure passages."--thomas miller, _history of the anglo-saxons_, p. . works by the same author. bertha; or the pope and the emperor. the last days of o'connell. a true history of the hungarian revolution. the life of st. ethelbert, king of the east angles. a grandfather's story-book; or, tales and legends, by a poor scholar. * * * * * annotated edition of the english poets, by robert bell. this day, foolscap octavo, s. d. cloth, the poems of the earl of surrey, of minor contemporaneous poets, and of sackville, lord buckhurst: with critical notes and biographical memoirs. the first volume of the new and annotated edition of the "english poets" by robert bell, was published on the st january, containing the poetical works of john dryden. vol i., s. d. cloth. on the nd march will be published dryden's poetical works, vol. ii. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day, fcp. vo., s. d. the four gospels, in one narrative. arranged by two friends. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * music.--the messrs. robert cocks & co., music publishers to the queen, new burlington street, have just issued, gratis and postage free, specimen pages of their fine octavo editions of messiah (price s. d.), the creation (price s. d.), and of handel's samson (price s.); as also of their chorister's hand-book (price s.), warren's psalmody (price s.), warren's chanter's hand-guide, chants, s.; and their hand-book of glees, &c., to., containing compositions (price s.) "we advise our numerous readers to inspect these beautiful specimens of music printing, and to possess themselves of works as remarkable for cheapness as they are for intrinsic merit and beauty of appearance."--vide _globe_, jun. . * * * * * elementary music.--hamilton's modern instructions for singing. third edition. hamilton's modern instructions for the pianoforte, fingered by carl czerny. forty-ninth edition, s. hamilton's dictionary of musical terms, by john bishop, forty-second edition, s. clarke's catechism of the rudiments of music, twenty-ninth edition, s. "we have long used these educational works, and fairly tested their value. we can most cordially recommend them for the use of all who are commencing the study of music."--vide the _british mother's magazine_ for december, edited by mrs. bakewell. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street. to be had of all musicsellers and booksellers. * * * * * eighth thousand, price one shilling. cobdenic policy the internal enemy of england. the peace society: its combativeness. mr. cobden: his secretiveness. by alexander somerville. 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[ - . *** b. quaritch's catalogue, containing upwards of rare and valuable philological works, general literature, books of prints, heraldry, &c., is just published, price d. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services. responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty, to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminister, on the receipt of a post-office order for that amount: and by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * vol. v.--no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page popular stories of the english peasantry, no. v., by t. sternberg dr. thomas morell's copy of h. stephens' edition of Æschylus, , with mss. notes, by richard hooper on a passage in the "merchant of venice," act iii. sc. ., by s. w. singer episode of the french revolution, by philip s. king milton indebted to tacitus, by thomas h. gill minor notes:--note by warton on aristotle's "poetics"-- misappropriated quotation--the god arciacon--gat-tothed-- goujere--the ten commandments in ten lines--vellum-bound books queries:-- thomas gill, the blind man of st. edmundsbury bronze medals, by john j. a. boase acworth queries minor queries:--"row the boat, norman"--the hereditary standard bearer--walton's angler; seth's pillars; may-butter; english guzman--radish feast--what kind of drink is whit?--"felix natu," &c.--"gutta cavat lapidem"--punch and judy--sir john darnall--the chevalier st. george--declaration of clergymen--ms. "de humilitate"--ms. work on seals--sir george carew--docking horses' tails--st. albans, william, abbot of--jeremy taylor on friendship--colonel or major-general lee-- "roses and all that's fair adorn" minor queries answered:--donne--dr. evans replies:-- carling sunday; roman funeral pile hart and mohun burial without religious service--burial, by alfred gatty "quod non fecerunt barbari," &c. restive men of kent and kentish men, by george r. corner replies to minor queries:--speculum christianorum, &c.-- smyth's mss. relating to gloucestershire--m. barrière and the quarterly review--"i do not know what the truth may be"--optical phenomena--stoup--seventh son of a seventh son--the number seven--commentators--banning or bayning family--tortoiseshell tom cat--a tombstone cut by baskerville--shakspeare, tennyson, &c.--rhymes on places--birthplace of josephine--the curse of scotland--waller family--"after me the deluge"--sun-dial motto--lines by lord palmerston--indian jugglers--sons of the conqueror--saint wilfrid's needle--frebord-- royd--spy wednesday--book of jasher--stearne's confirmation and discovery of witchcraft--lines on chaucer--fairlop oak--boy bishop at eton--plague stones; mr. mompesson--raleigh's ring--pandecte, an entire copy of the bible miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. popular stories of the english peasantry, no. v. by far the larger portion of our tales consist of those connected with the popular mythology of elves, and giants, and bleeding trees; of witches and their wicked doings; of frogs that _would_ go a-wooing, and got turned into princes; and amorous princes who became frogs; of primitive rough chests transformed into coaches; young ladies who go to bed young ladies, and get up owls; much despised younger sons crowned kings of boundless realms; and mediæval tabbies getting inducted into flourishing vizierships by the mere loss of their tails: stories, in short, of the metamorphosis of all conceivable things into all conceivable shapes. lest this catalogue should frighten your readers, i at once disavow any intention of reflecting more than a specimen. their puerility renders them scarcely suitable to your columns, and there is moreover such a sameness in those best worth preserving--the fairy legends--that a single example would be amply sufficient for our purpose of pointing out the different varieties of oral romance. whenever the story relates to the dealings of the fairy-folk with mankind, the elf is almost always represented as the dupe; while, in his transactions with rival supernaturals, he invariably comes off victorious. giants especially, being always of sleepy and obtuse intellect, afford a fine field for the display of his powers; and we find him baffling their clumsy plans, as well also as the more cunning devices of weird-sisters, in a manner which proves him to be a worthy scion of the warlike _avenger_ of the sagar. the lovers of folk-lore will probably agree with me in regarding the following tale as a choice bit of elfin history, illustrating the not very amicable relations of the witches and the good people. no sneers, therefore, gentle readers, but listen to the simple strain of "fairy jip and witch one-eye." once upon a time, just before the monkey tribe gave up the nauseous custom of chewing tobacco, there lived an old hag, who had conceived an inordinate desire to eat an elf: a circumstance, by the way, which indubitably establishes that elves were { } of masticable solidity, and not, as some one has it, mere "_shadowry_ dancers by the summer streams." so the old lady went to the place where the fairies dwelt, and knocked at the hill-top:--"pretty little jip!" said she; "come and see the sack of cherries i have brought thee, _so_ large, _so_ red, _so_ sweet." fairies, be it known, are extremely fond of this fruit, and the elf rushed out in eager haste. "ha! ha!" said one-eye, as she pounced upon him, and put him in her bag (witches always carry bags), "take care the stones don't stick in thy throttle, my little bird." on the way home, she has to visit a place some distance from the road, and left jip meanwhile in the charge of a man who was cutting faggots. no sooner was her back turned, than jip begged the man to let him out; and they filled the bag with thorns. one-eye called for her burden, and set off towards home, making sure she had her dinner safe on her back. "ay, ay! my lad," said she, as she felt the pricking of the thorns; "i'll trounce thee when i get home for stinging me with thy pins and needles." when she reached her house, she belaboured the bag with a huge stick, till she thought she had broken every bone in the elf's body; and when she found that she had been wasting her strength upon a "kit" of thorns, her rage knew no bounds. next day, she again got possession of jip in a similar manner, and this time left him in care of a man who was breaking stones by the road-side. the elf makes his escape as before, and they fill the sack with stones. "thou little rogue!" said the witch, as she perspired under the burden; "i'll soften thy bones nigh-hand." her appetite was only whetted, not blunted, by these repeated failures, and despairing of again catching her prey in the same way as before, she assumed the shape of a pedlar with a churn on his shoulder, and contrived to meet jip in a wood. "ah! master redcap," quoth she; "look alive, my little man, the fox is after thee. see! here he comes: hie thee into my churn, and i will shelter thee. quick! quick!" in jumped the elf. "pretty bird!" chuckled the old crocodile; "dost thee scent the fox?" this time she went straight home, and gave jip to her daughter, with strict orders that she should cut off his noddle and boil it. when the time came for beginning the cooking, miss one-eye led her captive to the chopping-block, and bade him lay down his head. "how?" quoth jip; "i don't know how." "like this, to be sure," said she; and, suiting the action to the word, she put her poll in the right position. instantly the fairy seizes the hatchet, and serves her in the manner she intended to serve him. then picking up a huge pebble, he climbs up the chimney to watch the progress of events. as he expected, the witch came to the fire to look after her delicacy; and no sooner does she lift up the lid of the pot, than "plop" came down jip's pebble right into the centre of her remaining optic, the light of which is extinguished for ever; or, according to some versions, killed her _stone_-dead.[ ] some of the stories are so extremely like the german ones, that, with very slight alterations, they would serve as translations. these, for obvious reasons, it will not be worth while to trouble you with. among them, i may particularise the following from the _kinder und hausmärchen_:--hans im gluck: der frieder und das catherlieschen; von der frau füchsin; and van den nachandel-boom. modern tales of diablerie are not so uncommon as might be expected. in the time of chaucer, the popular belief ascribed the departure of the elves to the great number of wandering friars who mercilessly pursued them with bell, book, and candle; and at the present day, in the opinion of our uneducated peasantry, the itinerant sectarian preachers are endowed with similar attributes. the stories told of these men, and their encounters with the powers of darkness, would fill a new golden legend. there is one tale in particular which comes within our designation of "popular stories," as is well known in almost all parts of england,--how a godly minister falls over the company of wicked scoffing elves, and how he gets out.[ ] the last time i heard it, it was related of a preacher of the ranting persuasion, well known some dozen years ago in a certain district of warwickshire; and i prefer to give it in this localised form, as it enables me to present your readers with "positively the last from fairyland." providence b---- was a well-known man throughout that whole country-side. he had made more converts than all his brethren put together, and, in the matter of spirits and demons, would stand a comparison with godred or gutlac, or, by'r lady, st. anthony himself. now it fell out one day, that providence was sent for to the house of a wealthy yeoman to aid in expelling an evil spirit which had long infested his daughter. i must here remark, _en parenthèse_, that scenes of this fearfully ludicrous nature are far from unfrequent in our country districts. the besotted state of ignorance in which a great portion of our rural population are still enwrapt, renders them peculiarly open to the fleecing of these fanatics, who, marvellous to relate, are almost everywhere { } looked upon with respect, and treated with the greatest consideration, proving incontestably that, "mad as christians used to be about the seventeenth century, there's others to be had in this the nineteenth just as bad." on this occasion the job proved a tough one, and it was not till a late hour that prov. set off on his road home. it was a pitchy dark night, and somehow or other the preacher and his nag contrived to lose their way among the green lanes, and it was not till they had floundered about for some time that our hero discerned (as is usual in such cases) a light gleaming through the thick foliage before him, which he incontinently discovers to proceed from a solitary dwelling in the middle of the woods. _of course_ he dismounts, and knocks at the door; and _of course_ it was opened by a suspicious-looking old woman in toggery which it would do mr. james's heart good to depict. to his request for a night's lodging, she yielded a ready assent--too ready, prov. thought; for it seemed from her manner as though he had been expected. he was shown into a bed-room, and was proceeding to divest himself of his garments, when he hears a knock at the door, and a voice asked him to come down to supper. prov. made answer that he didn't want any, that he was in bed, and that moreover he was engaged at his devotions; but presently the messenger returned, and declared that if he did not join the company downstairs, they would come and sup with him. poor prov. quaked with fright, but thought it politic to cloak his fears, so followed the servant to the house-room, where there were a number of people sitting round a table plentifully laden with good things. all of them were little "shrivelled up" old men; and, as the chairman motioned prov. to a vacant seat, they all regarded him with a stare that made him feel the reverse of jolly. although he is well acquainted with the neighbourhood, he recognises none of them. the meal proceeded in solemn silence: look which way he would, he encounters the gaze of his companions, who appear to scowl at him with an expression of fiendish hate. dreadful surmises flit across his brain. suddenly his attention becomes directed to the posterior portion of the gentleman next him. "by jove! he has a tail. yes, he has; and so has his neighbour, and so have they all." he fancies too he can trace a resemblance between the individual who sits at the head of the table and the fiend of the morning's exorcism. all is now clear as a pike-staff. it is a decided case of trepan. that dark fellow on the right has to complain of a forcible ejection from a comfortable dwelling in the portly corpus of master muggins the miller; and he on the left is the identical demon who got into farmer nelson's cow, and gave our hero a world of trouble to get him out. he is in the power of the incubi, whom he has been so long warring against. not a moment is to be lost, for already they are whispering together, and the scowls get fiercer and fiercer. what is to be done? a monk would have had recourse to his breviary; prov. thought of his hymn-book. "brethren," says he, "it is usual wi' us at the heend of a feast to ax a blessing." "a blessing quotha! and to _us_?" roared the fiends. "ha! ha! yea! yea!" said prov.; and _instanter_ he out with that _spirit-stirring_ stanza of "immortal john:" "jesus the name, high over all, in hell, or earth, or sky, angels and men before him fall, and devils fear and fly!" who shall depict the scene while these words were being uttered? the old men turn all sorts of colours, from green to blue, and blue to green, and back again to their original hue. at the last line, the uproar becomes terrible; and, amidst shouts of fiendish wailing, the whole company resolve themselves into a thin blue smoke, in which state they career up the chimney, taking with them a bran new chimney-pot, and leaving behind a most offensive odour of lucifer matches. prov. saw no more; he fainted. * * * * * some scandalous fellows spread abroad a report that the morning's sun discovered our valiant vessel snugly ensconced in a dry ditch; but as he always denounced strong waters, and was moreover a leading member of the steeple "united totals," i, for one, do not believe it. from the examples already given, i trust your readers will think with me that these old world relics are worth preserving. i hope they will not be backward in the good work. a few more years, and the scheme of an english work on the plan of grimm's will be impracticable. the romance-lore, both oral and written, which erewhile delighted the cottager, is growing out of date. the prosy narrative of "how john the serving-man wedded an earl's daughter, and became a squire of high degree;" and the less placid, but still intolerably dull feats of the "seven champions," have no charms for him now. he has outgrown the old chap-book literature, and affectionates the highly seasoned atrocities of the old bailey school; which, to the disgrace of the legislature, are allowed to poison the minds of our labouring community with their weekly broad-sheets of crime and obscenity. even those prime old favourites, the _robin hood garland_ and _shepherd's kalendar_, with its quaint letter-press and grim woodcuts, are getting out of fashion, and beginning to be missed from their accustomed nook beside the family bible. t. sternberg. { } p.s. owing to some unaccountable inadvertence, i have only just seen the number of "n.& q." containing the highly interesting communications of h. b. c. and mr. stephens. will mr. stephens allow me to ask him where he procured his tale, for i agree with h. b. c. that it is "desirable to fix the localities as nearly as possible." my version came from the gloucestershire side of the county. [footnote : this story is from northamptonshire, and by some oversight was omitted in my _dialect and folk-lore_.] [footnote : i use the term _elves_ advisedly; for though, of course, the creed of _rantism_ does not recognise the existence of the mere poetic beings, yet it absolutely inculcates belief in all sorts of _bona fide_ corporeal demons: which, like the club-footed gentry of the saintly hermits, are nothing more than teutonic _elfen_ in ecclesiastical masquerade.] * * * * * dr. thomas morell's copy of h. stephens' edit. of Æschylus, , with mss. notes. as your valuable paper is in the hands of scholars of every description in every part of the world, the following communication may meet the eye, and be of no slight interest to some of your classical readers, and, at the same time, give a stimulus to hunters at bookstalls. some time since, in one of my hunts, i stumbled upon a very fine copy of pet. victorine's (vettori) edition of Æschylus, printed by h. stephens, . i was much gratified in finding it had belonged to the celebrated thomas morell, d.d., f.r.s., f.s.a., the lexicographer, and had his book-plate and autograph. the margins were filled with many conjectures and emendations written in two very ancient hands, and, besides, some mss. scholia on the _prometheus_ and _poesæ_. in carefully examining them i found many were marked with the letters (a) and (p). i remembered the present very learned bishop of london, in the preface to his edition of the _choæphoræ_, mentioned the vast assistance he had received in editing that play from a copy of this very edition of Æschylus (h. stephens, ), lent to him by mr. mitford, the margins of which were similarly marked. the bishop observes these emendations were by auratus and portus, two learned french scholars; and that mr. mitford's volume contained several other emendations without the signatures (a) and (p), which he, for distinction's sake, marked (q). now my copy also possessed these readings marked (q). the bishop further observed, that the writer of the mss. notes was a cotemporary of casaubon's from a remark at p. . of the volume. the learned bishop's description of the volume will be found in the _museum criticum_, vol. ii. p. . i at first imagined i had met with this identical volume; but a closer examination proved i was mistaken, as my copy, besides all those carefully noted by dr. blomfield, contained many other emendations, but had _not_ the note at p. . of the _prometheus_. whoever was the copier or writer of the marginal mss. in my volume, was evidently a frenchman, as some of the notes are in french. the handwriting is very ancient and contracted, and has the appearance of being of the early portion of the seventeenth century. the most interesting part, however, of the story still remains. dr. thomas morell edited the _prometheus_, to., . the title is as follows: _Æschyli p. v. cum stanl. versione et scholiis, [alpha], [beta], (et [gamma] ineditis), &c._ now these scholia [gamma], which he professes to give for the first time, i found to be those in the very ancient hand in the margin of my volume. he frequently also gives the various marginal readings, and styles them "marg. ms." moreover he occasionally adopts these notes without any acknowledgment, especially where they throw any light on the text. the volume then is of great curiosity and value. from a curious note at the end of the _prometheus_, morell takes nine iambic lines, to which is affixed "ad calcem dramatis ms. regii." from this it would seem the scholia were taken from a ms. in the royal library at paris. we may observe then as a remarkable circumstance, that while bishop blomfield was describing the copy belonging to mr. mitford, a similar copy, with more notes, and of equal antiquity as to the mss. emendations, was in existence, and had once been in the possession of, and of much assistance to the great dr. morell. where morell got this volume, and how he should not have acknowledged the aid he derived from it, is a mystery. as i mentioned before, the handwriting is far prior to morell's day. the volume is rendered still more interesting by its having many of stanley's emendations, about which such a controversy arose from the observations made by blomfield in his preface to the _agamemnon_. and i am almost induced to think it might originally have belonged to stanley, who made a similar use of it to what morell did. many of the emendations are _still inedited_. this valuable volume, therefore, is of great interest, ( ) from the vast number of mss. readings, and ( ) from its having been formerly in the possession of dr. morell, and the circumstances above mentioned. it is a very large and clean copy of the now scarce edition of h. stephens; and your bibliographical readers will be astonished to hear i purchased it for _one shilling_! i may mention i showed it to the bishop of london and dr. wordsworth, canon of westminster, who were both interested with it. the latter showed me in return several volumes of mss. collections for a new edition of Æschylus, made by his lamented brother the late mr. john wordsworth, fellow of trinity college, cambridge, perhaps the profoundest greek scholar next to porson the university of cambridge ever possessed, and who so ably reviewed professor scholefield's Æschylus in the _philological museum_. the classical world can never sufficiently regret that death prevented us from receiving at his hands a first-rate edition of this noble poet, as he had been at much pains in travelling all over the continent, and examining all the mss. extant; and from his known partiality to the author, and { } vast learning, would doubtless have done ample justice to his task. richard hooper. st. stephen's, westminster. * * * * * on a passage in the "merchant of venice," act iii. sc. . the passage in which i am about to propose some verbal corrections has already been in part examined by your correspondent a. e. b. in p. . of this volume; but the points, except one, to which i advert, have not been touched by that gentleman. the first folio reads thus: "thus ornament is but the _guiled_ shore to a most dangerous sea, the beauteous scarfe vailing an indian _beautie_; in a word, the seeming truth which cunning times put on to intrap the wisest. therefore then, thou gaudie gold, hard food for midas, i will none of thee, nor none of thee, thou _pale_ and common drudge tweene man and man; but thou, thou meager lead, which rather threatnest than doth promise ought, thy palenesse moves me more than eloquence, and here choose i, joy be the consequence." the word _guiled_ in the first line is printed _guilded_ in the second folio, the form in which _gilded_ appears often in the old copies. i have no doubt that this is the true reading, and it would obviate the difficulty of supposing that shakspeare wrote guil_ed_ for guil_ing_. in henry peacham's _minerva britanna_, , p. ., of _deceitful_ "court favour" it is said: "she beares about a holy-water brush, wherewith her bountie round about she throwes fair promises, good wordes, and gallant showes: herewith a knot of _guilded_ hookes she beares," &c. notwithstanding your correspondent's ingenious argument to show that _beautie_ in the third line may be the true reading, i cannot but think that it is a mistake of the compositor caught from _beauteous_ in the preceding line; and that _gypsie_ was the word used by the poet, who thus designates cleopatra. the words in their old form might well be confused. for "thou _pale_ and common drudge," in the seventh line, i unhesitatingly read "thou _stale_ and common drudge;" and, by so doing, avoid the repetition of the same epithet to silver and lead. it is evident that the epithet applied to silver should be a depreciating one; while _paleness_ is said to _move more than eloquence_. the following passage in _king henry iv._, part i. act iii. sc. . confirms this reading: "so _common_ hackney'd in the eyes of men, so _stale_ and cheap." to obviate the repetition, warburton altered _paleness_ to _plainness_, but _paleness_ was the appropriate epithet for lead. thus, baret has, "_palenesse or wannesse_ like lead. ternissure." and in _romeo and juliet_, act ii. sc. ., we have: "unwieldly, slow, heavy and _pale as lead_." with these simple and, most of them, obvious corrections, i submit the passage to the impartial consideration of those who with me think that our immortal poet, so consummate a master of english, has been here, as elsewhere, rendered obscure, if not absurd, by the blunders of the printer. it will then run thus: "thus ornament is but the _gilded_ shore to a most dangerous sea: the beauteous scarf veiling an indian _gipsy_; in a word, the seeming truth which cunning times put on to entrap the wisest. therefore, thou gaudy gold hard food for midas, i will none of thee: nor none of thee, thou _stale_ and common drudge 'tween man and man: but thou, thou meagre lead, which rather threat'nest than doth promise aught, thy paleness moves me more than eloquence, and here choose i; joy be the consequence!" i may just observe, that in _troilus and cressida_, act ii. sc. ., the quarto copies have printed _pale_ for _stale_, which is corrected in the folio. s. w. singer. * * * * * episode of the french revolution. _mademoiselle de sombreuil and the glass of blood._ "... in the abbaye, sombreuil, the venerable governor of the invalides, was brought up to the table, and maillard had pronounced the words 'à la force,' when the governor's daughter, likewise a prisoner, rushed through pikes and sabres, clasped her old father in her arms so tightly that none could separate her from him, and made such piteous cries and prayers that some were touched. she vowed that her father was no aristocrat, that she herself hated aristocrats. but to put her to a further proof, or to indulge their bestial caprices, the ruffians presented to her a cup full of blood, and said 'drink! drink of the blood of the aristocrats, and your father shall be saved!' the lady took the horrible cup, and drank and the monsters kept their promise." thus, in relating the massacres of september, writes the author of knight's _pictorial hist. of engl._ (reign of geo. iii., vol. iii. p. .); and thus tradition has handed down to us this most horrible episode of the first french revolution; one which made so deep an impression on my own mind, that the scene was always uppermost whenever the atrocities committed during that eventful period of french history were under consideration. this impression, i am glad to say, has now been removed by m. granier de cassagnac, who (_histoire du directoire_) states that the tradition is not founded on fact; and as it is the first denial of the event which has come under my notice, i send you the substance of the evidence which m. de cassagnac brings forward in support of his statement:-- { } . the marquise de fausse-lendry, in her work, _quelques-uns des fruits amers de la révolution_, does not make any allusion to the fact, although she was in the same chamber with mlle. de sombreuil, and relates her heroic devotion to her father. . peltier, who was in paris at the time, and published his _histoire de la révolution du août_ early in , does not say a word as to the occurrence. . the report of piette, which was drawn up in mlle. de sombreuil's favour, and from details supplied by herself, is completely silent on the matter. . being arrested with her father, and her younger brother, mlle. de sombreuil was taken to the prison de la bourbe on the st of december, . one of the prisoners thus notices the event in his journal: "du nivôse, an ii. "l'on amena aussi a famille sombreuil, le père, le fils, et la fille: tout le monde sait que cette courageuse citoyenne se précipita, dans les journées du mois de septembre, entre son père et le fer des assassins, et parvint à l'arracher de leurs mains. depuis, sa tendresse n'avait fait que s'accroître, et il n'est sorte de soins qu'elle ne prodiguât à son père, malgré les horribles convulsions qui la tourmentaient tous les mois, pendant trois jours, depuis cette lamentable époque. quand elle parut au salon, tous les yeux se fixèrent sur elle et se remplirent de larmes."--_tableau des prisons de paris sous robespierre_, p. . here again, not a word about the glass of blood, although the narrative was written at no very distant period from the occurrences of september. maton de la varennes, in his _hist. particulière des evènemens_, written subsequent to the events of fructidor, year v., is enthusiastic in his praise of mlle. de s.'s devotion; but says not a word as to the horrible sacrifice by which she is represented to have purchased her father's life. the tradition is found for the first time in print in a note to legouvé's _mérite des femmes_, which appeared in ; and the subject has been consecrated by the pen of the exiled poet victor hugo, in an ode to mlle. de sombreuil. since then m. thiers, without further looking into the matter, has given place to it in his _hist. de la révolut. française_: victor hugo's lines are the following:-- "s'élançant au travers des armes: --mes amis, respectez ses jours! --crois-tu nous fléchir par tes larmes? --oh! je vous bénirai toujours! c'est sa fille qui vous implore; rendez-le moi; qu'il vive encore! --vois-tu le fer déjà levé; crains d'irriter notre colère; et si tu veux sauver ton père, bois ce sang....--mon père est sauvé!" the subsequent history of this unfortunate family was this. m. de sombreuil and his youngest son perished on the scaffold, the th june, . the elder brother, charles de sombreuil, was shot at vannes in june, , after the quiberon expedition. leaving prison and france, after the th thermidor, mlle. de s. married an emigrant, the comte de villelume, who, under the restoration, became governor of the invalides at avignon, at which place she died in . philip s. king. * * * * * milton indebted to tacitus. there is perhaps nothing in "lycidas" which has so commended itself to the memory and lips of men, as that exquisite strain of tender regret and pathetic despondency in which occur the lines-- "fame is the spur which the clear spirit doth raise (that last infirmity of noble mind) to scorn delights, and live laborious days." it is with no desire to impair our admiration of these noble lines that i would ask, if that graceful glorifying of fame as "the last infirmity of noble minds" was not suggested by the profound remark of tacitus, in his character of the stoical republican, helvidius priscus (_hist._, l. iv. c. .): "erant, quibus appetentior famæ videretur, quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriæ novissima exuitur." the great englishman has condensed and intensified the expression of the concise and earnest roman. this is one of those delightful obligations which repay themselves: milton has more than returned the favour of the borrowed thought by lending it a heightened expression. thomas h. gill. * * * * * minor notes. _note by warton on aristotle's "poetics."_--some of your correspondents having expressed a wish that the ms. remarks of eminent scholars, when met with by your readers, might be communicated to the world through your pages, i beg to send you the following observations, signed _j. warton_, which i have found on the blank leaf of a copy of aristotle's _poetics_ (edit. of ruddimannos, edinb. ):-- "to attempt to understand poetry without having diligently digested this treatise, would be as absurd and impossible as to pretend to a skill in geometry without having studied euclid. the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters, wherein he has pointed out the properest methods of exciting terror and pity, convince us that he was intimately acquainted with those objects which most forcibly affect the heart. the prime excellence of this precious treatise is the scholastic precision and philosophical clearness with which the subject is handled, without any address to { } the passions or imagination. it is to be lamented that the part of the poeticks in which he has given precepts for comedy did not likewise descend to posterity." a considerable number of notes, in the same handwriting, are also in the volume. j. m. oxford. _misappropriated quotation._--i have heard the following passage of lord bacon's, essay viii., and by a cambridge d.d. too, so far as the word "fortune," attributed to paley: "he that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, for they are impediments to great enterprises. the best works of the greatest merit for the public have proceeded from unmarried and childless men." b. b. _the god arciacon._--in a _descriptive account of the antiquities in the grounds and in the museum of the yorkshire philosophical society_, drawn up by the learned curator of the antiquities, at page . i find the following inscription and explanation:-- "n. iii. an altar recently discovered in the rubble foundation, under one of the pillars of the church of st. dionis, walmgate, york. it is inscribed: deo arciacon et n. avg. si mat. vitalis ord v. s. lm. which may be read thus: deo arciacon et numini augusti simatius vitalis ordovix votum solvit libens merito, _i.e._ to the god arciacon and to the divinity of augustus, simatius vitalis, one of the ordovices, discharges his vow willingly, deservedly--namely, by dedicating this altar. there is nothing in this inscription to indicate its date, or the emperor to whose divinity, in part, the altar is dedicated. the god arciacon, whose name occurs in no other inscription, was probably one of those local deities to whom the roman legions were so prone to pay religious reverence, especially if in the attributes ascribed to them they bore any resemblance to the gods of their own country. if the reading and interpretation of ord be right, vitalis was a briton; and arciacon may have been a deity acknowledged by the ordovices, who occupied the northern parts of wales." in the name arciacon i fancy that i see in a latinized form the british words arch iachawr, _i.e._ the supreme healer. _arch_ has the same meaning in welsh as it has in the english and several other languages. in combination it is shortened to _ar_, as in yr arglwdd dduw, the lord god. my conjecture is, that the britons may have worshipped a god whose attributes resembled those of the Æsculapius of the greeks. i hope that some of the contributors to "n. & q." will be so kind as to give some information on this subject. [inverted hand symbol] _gat-tothed._--i do not know whether this mysterious word in the description of the "wife of bath[ ]," has been satisfactorily explained since the time of tyrwhitt; but perhaps the following passage may suggest a new reading in addition to "cat-tothed" and "gap-tothed," which he gives in his note on _canterbury tales_, p. .: "the doctor deriveth his pedigree from grono ap heylyn, who descended from brocknel skythrac, one of the princes of powis-land, in whose family was ever observed that one of them had a _gag_-tooth, and the same was a notable omen of good fortune."--barnard's _life of heylyn_, p. ., reprinted in _heyl. hist. ref._ eccl. hist. soc., . xxxii. query, what was a _gag-tooth_? the "wife" herself says, "gat-tothed i was, and that became my wele, i hold the print of seinte venus sele."-- - . j. c. r. [footnote : "bath" corrected from "both"--transcriber.] _goujere._--the usage of this word by shakspeare (in the second part of _henry iv._) is another proof that he took refuge in cornwall, when he fled from the scene of his deerstalking danger. the _goujere_ is the old cornish name of the fiend, or the devil; and is still in use among the folk words of the west. c. e. h. morwenstow. _the ten commandments in ten lines._--in looking over the registers of the parish of laneham, notts, last april, i discovered on one of the leaves the commandments with the above title. it is signed "richard christian, :" he was vicar at that time. "have thou no other gods butt me. unto no image bow thy knee take not the name of god in vain doe not thy sabboth day profaine honour thy ffather and mother too and see y^t thou no murder doo ffrom vile adultry keep the cleane and steale not tho thy state be meane bear no ffalse witness, shun y^t blott what is thy neighbour's couet not. whrite these thy laws lord in my heart and lett me not from them depart." s. wiswould. _vellum-bound books._--in a list of thirty books printed for t. carnan and f. newbery, and issued in , i find the phrase _two volumes bound in one in the vellum manner_ in seven instances; also, _four volumes bound in two in the vellum manner_; and, _six volumes bound in three in the vellum manner_. in other cases we have only the word _bound_ or _sewed_. i have a suspicion that the phrase _in the vellum manner_ may have some obsolete meaning; and submit this note to the consideration of those who are in search of a _vellum-bound junius_. bolton corney. { } * * * * * queries. thomas gill, the blind man of st. edmundsbury. putting in order this morning a mass of pamphlets, which my women-kind threaten to sweep into the kitchen unless more _tidily_ kept, i came upon a few poetical tracts by "thomas gill, the blind man of st. edmundsbury." not having had any previous acquaintance with this poetical moralist, i have looked over the lot; but beyond the above description of himself upon their titles, they afford little information regarding their author. there is, however, proof, in _the blind man's case at london_, , that gill was a character in his day. in what he loftily calls "the argument" to these eight pages of doggrel, he says: "the blind man of bury by the persuasions of his printer, and some other supposed friends, takes his wife with him to london, with an intention to settle there, where they met with so many inconveniences, and so great difficulties and charges, as soon disgusted them with the place." hereupon the blind man, finding himself disappointed in his expectations of, apparently, a larger sphere for his begging operations, opens out upon the metropolis in a fine round style of abuse in his "letter to his good friend and benefactor at bury." desirous that my successor in the o---- library should have the advantage of all the information i can collect, in regard to the bibliographical curiosities therein contained, i am induced to avail myself of the medium your pages afford to inquire whether any of your suffolk antiquaries can give me, or point out where i can help myself to, any particulars touching my new friend with an old face. j. o. * * * * * bronze medals. having applied in vain to several distinguished numismatists respecting certain bronze medals in my cabinet, which have baffled my own researches, i now beg to seek for information through the medium of "n. & q.," to which i have been already much indebted; and have little doubt but that among your many intelligent correspondents some one will be found to solve my difficulties. the medals to which i refer, and which i will describe very briefly, are the following; and i am desirous of obtaining some account of the persons in whose honour they were struck:-- . _astalia._ size (mionnet's scale), . "diva julia astalia." bust to the left. rev. "unicum for. et pud. exemplum." a phoenix rising from its ashes. probably not later than the early part of the sixteenth century. . _conestagius._ size, ½. "hieronimus conestagius, mdxc." bust in armour to the right, with ruff round the neck. beneath, "mart. s***." rev. a pen and a sword in saltire. an oval in high relief, of italian workmanship. . _meratus._ size, ½. "franciscus meratus i.p.f." bearded bust to the right. rev. "me duce tutus eris." a figure seated holding a book in its right hand. query the meaning of the initials after the name? . _aragonia._ size, . "d. maria aragonia." bust to the right, with a crown falling from her head. rev. none. . _hanna._ size, . "martinus de hanna." bust in a gown, to the right. rev. "spes mea in deo est." a full-length figure, with hands clasped and raised towards heaven: apparently a foreign protestant divine. . _corsi._ size, . "laura corsi march. salviati." hooded bust to the left, with crucifix suspended from the neck. beneath, "mdccviii." rev. "mens immota manet." full-length female figure, with helmet on her head, leaning on a spear round which a serpent is twined, with a stag by her side. in the background, on one side, is represented a castle on a wooded height; on the other, a vessel is seen labouring in a storm. a striking medal; and the lady's portrait makes one feel interested to learn her history, which seemingly ought to be known: but i must confess my ignorance even whether the marquisate of salviati be in italy or sicily. john j. a. boase. p.s.--john de silvâ, count de portalegre, who accompanied don sebastian in his expedition to africa against muley moloch, published at genoa in a work entitled _dell' unione del regno di portogallo alla corona di castiglia_, under the name of _conestaggio_; but not having the book by me, i do not know whether the christian name "geronimo" also appears. [the remainder of the title-page reads, "istoria del sig. ieronimo de franchi conestaggio gentilhuomo genovese."] * * * * * acworth queries. in the church of st. mary luton, beds, there is a brass slab bearing the figures of a knight and his two wives, with the following inscription: "pray for the soules of john acworth squyer and alys and amy his wyfes, which john deceased the xvij day of march the yer of our lord m'v^cxiij. on whose souls jhu have mercy." for arms, he bore quarterly, st and th, erm. on a chief indented gu. coronets or. nd and rd, or, between roses a chev. gu. in the reign of henry viii. there was one johan acworth (a lady of the bedchamber to katherine howard), who married sir john bulmer, and went to reside at york. john acworth was, i believe, succeeded by his son, george acworth, who married margaret, the { } daughter of -- wilborefoss, of durham, esquire, and had issue a daughter, johan acworth. this johan acworth married sir edward waldegrave, the youngest son of george waldegrave, of smalbridge, essex, esq. i do not know if george acworth had any other issue. in there was a george acworth who was public orator of cambridge. he was formerly of peterhouse, and took his d.c.l. at st. john's, oxon. he was in his early days the friend and companion of archbishop parker. in , he was appointed master of the faculties, judge of the prer. court of ireland. he is said to have died in ireland, but where or when i do not know. there was another of the name, allin acworth, formerly of magdalen hall, oxon, and vicar of st. nicholas, rochester, kent. he was a sufferer by the act of uniformity, having been, in consequence of that act, expelled his vicarage in . of his subsequent history i find no trace. if any of your correspondents can give me any information relative to any of the above, their descent, or intermarriages, i shall be much obliged. the name is, i believe, an uncommon one, and is only borne, as far as i can learn, by one family now in existence. there was, however, another family of the name formerly belonging to suffolk, who bore for arms: sa. a griffin segreant armed and langued or. but i cannot find any trace of their residence, &c., or when they flourished or became extinct. i believe there was a baron of the name in the reign of one of the early henries, but unfortunately can discover no certain information about him. the above particulars are wanted for genealogical purposes. g. b. a. * * * * * minor queries. "_row the boat, norman._"--in the _chronicles of england_ collected by john stow, and printed in , is the following passage:-- " . john norman, draper, maior. before thys time the maiors, aldermen, and commoners of the citie of london were wonte all to ride to westminster when the maior should take hys charge, but this maior was rowed thyther by water; for the whiche the watermen made of hym a song, 'rowe the boate, norman,' &c." are any of your correspondents in possession of the words of this song? or is the tune to which it was sung known? t. g. h. _the hereditary standard bearer._--in crawford's _peerage of scotland_ it is mentioned, that in the year alexander i., by a special grant, appointed a member of the carron family (to whom he gave the name of scrimgeour, for his valour in a _sharp fight_) the office of hereditary standard bearer. can you inform me how the scrimgeours were deprived of this honour? the family is not extinct, and yet i see the hereditary royal standard bearer is now a wedderburne, and the earl of lauderdale is also hereditary standard bearer. there surely must have been injustice committed some time to cause such confusion. when and how did it take place? t. g. h. _walton's angler; seth's pillars; may-butter; english guzman._--in walton's _complete angler_, in the beginning of the discourse between piscator and venator, the former, expatiating on the antiquity of the art of angling, gives as one of the traditions of its origin, that seth, one of the sons of adam, "left it engraven on those pillars which he erected, and trusted to preserve the knowledge of the mathematics, music, and the rest of that precious knowledge, and those useful arts which, by god's appointment or allowance, and his noble industry, were thereby preserved from perishing in noah's flood." what is the tradition of seth's pillars? piscator in chap. v. says: "but i promise to tell you more of the fly-fishing for a trout, which i may have time enough to do, for you see it rains may-butter." what is may-butter, or the origin of the saying? in the amusing contest between the gypsies related in the same chapter, these worthies were too wise to go to law about the residuary shilling, and did therefore choose their choice friends rook and shark, and our late english guzman, to be their arbitrators and umpires. what is the explanation of these names? there appears to be some natural consequence to this choice, for the decision seems to have been arrived at by the act of reference. the notes explain that by "our english guzman"[ ] was intended one james, a noted thief. i suppose his prototype was don guzman d'alfarache; but no interpretation of the passage is given. would it be found to have reference to some passage in the book referred to in the note? anon. [footnote : [sir harris nicolas says: "the allusion is to a work which had appeared three years before: _the english gusman; or, the history of that unparalleled thief, james hind_, written by g. f. [george fidge] to., london, . hind appears to have been the greatest thief of his age; the son of a saddler at chipping norton, and apprenticed to a butcher. in the rebellion he attached himself to the royal cause, and was actively engaged in the battles of worcester and warrington. in , he was arrested by order of parliament, under the name of brown, 'at one denzy's, a barber over against st. dunstan's church, fleet street;' which circumstance may have introduced him to walton's notice."--ed.]] { } _radish feast._--i copied the following from the north door of st. ebbe's church, oxford. can any of your correspondents explain the origin and meaning of this feast? "_st. ebbe's parish._ "the annual meeting for the election of church-wardens for this parish will be held in the vestry of the parish church on easter tuesday, at o'clock in the afternoon. "wm. brunner, } wm. fisher, } churchwardens. "dated april, . "the radish feast will be at the bull inn, new street, immediately after the vestry." r. r. rowe. cambridge. _what kind of drink is whit?_--in going over the famous old mansion cothele, near tavistock, the other day, i saw, among other primæval crockery, three pot-bellied jugs, two of which were inscribed "sack, ;" and the third, a smaller one, "whit, ." what kind of drink is _whit_? w. g. c. _"felix natu," &c._-- "felix natu, felicior vitâ, felicissimus morte." of whom was this said, and by whom? henry h. breen. st. lucia. "_gutta cavat lapidem._"--can any reader of "n. & q." inform me whence the following verse is taken? "gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed sæpe cadendo." the first half, i know, is the commencement of a line in _ov. ex ponto_, ep. x. v. ., which concludes with-- "... consumitur annulus usu." i have seen it quoted, but no reference given. a. w. kilburn. _punch and judy._--are any of your readers of "n. & q." not aware that _punch and judy_ is a corruption, both in word and deed, of _pontius cum judæis_, one of the old mysteries, the subject of which was pontius pilate with the jews; and particularly in reference to st. matt. xxvii. .? i should be glad to hear of some similar instances. boeoticus. edgmond, salop. _sir john darnall_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--can either of your correspondents, e. n. or g., inform me whether the sir john darnall, who is the subject of their communications, is descended from john darnall, who was a baron of the exchequer in , or give me any particulars of the "birth parentage, education, life, character, and behaviour" of the latter? edward foss. _the chevalier st. george._--can any of the numerous readers of "n. & q." inform me where ample and minute accounts, either in print or ms., of the life and court of the chevalier st. george, particularly from the death of james ii. to his own death, can be obtained; also, of his ministers of state, personal attendants, &c.? i have already examined such of the stuart papers as have been published by mr. glover, and by brown in his _history of the highland clans_. j. w. h. _declaration of clergymen._--several allusions have been lately made at parliament to the clergymen who signed a declaration calling in question the queen's supremacy. was a list of these clergymen ever published? if so, in what newspaper or periodical? what were the exact words of the declaration? rusticus. _ms. "de humilitate."_--can any of your correspondents give me any information as to the date, authorship, or value of a ms. that has lately fallen into my hands? it is a thin quarto, beautifully written upon parchment. the title page is wanting, and the ms. commences with the index: but the title of the work is _de humilitate_. it consists of twenty-four chapters. the heading of the first two is as follows: "incipit prologus in libello qui inscribitur de humilitate, cap. i. quam perniciosum sit et deo odibile superbiæ initium, et qualiter ac de quibus gloriandum sit. ii. quod sit superbia fugienda et sectanda humilitas, quæ in sui vera cognitione fundata consistit," &c. the top of the first page has a rich initial letter; and at the bottom a coat of arms: crest, a leopard rampant; shield, argent, bars gules, on a chief azure fleur de lys or. the heading of each chapter is written in red ink. ceyrep. _ms. work on seals._--moule, in his _bibliotheca heraldica_, states that there was at the date of the publication of his work ( ), in the library at stowe, a ms. work, two volumes, folio, by anstis, on the antiquity and use of seals. can any of your readers inform me in whose possession this work now is? a. o. d. d. _sir george carew._--sir george carew, the able commander and crafty statesman of queen elizabeth's time, was created earl of totness. his grandfather mortgaged his ancestral estate of carew, in pembrokeshire, to sir rhys ap thomas, who, with its subsequent possessors, sir john perrot and the earl of essex, made great additions to carew castle, the magnificent remains of which entitle it to be called the ruined windsor of wales. the carews then pushed their fortunes in ireland, and endeavoured to recover the "marquisate of cork" on an obsolete and false claim. { } the writer wishes for an accurate pedigree of sir george carew, showing his relationship to sir peter carew, who was buried at ross, and to sir peter who was killed at the skirmish of glendalough in . h. _docking horses' tails._--i should be glad to learn when the practice of docking horses' tails commenced in england, or in any country of europe, and what was the immediate cause of this amputation? i cannot trace in the plates of froissart, or others of a later date, any indication of this practice, and in them there are no tails lopped of their fair proportions. what other nations besides the english have ever docked their horses' tails; and where is any account to be found of their reasons for so doing? if any of your correspondents will answer these queries, i shall feel obliged. tail. _st. albans, william, abbot of._--archbishop morton addressed a monition in to william, abbot of st. albans. it is to be found in wilkin's _concilia_, iii. ., and is extracted from archbishop morton's _register_, fol. . b. now, in tanner's _notitia_, and in dugdale's _monasticon_, it is stated that william wallingford, abbot of st. albans, died in ; and that the chair was vacant until , when thomas ramryge was elected abbot. archbishop morton's original letter is, i believe, to be seen in the register at lambeth, and its date is distinctly . this date, moreover, agrees with the excerpta of dr. ducarel in the british museum. can any of your readers solve this difficulty for me, as i am anxious to know immediately whether i may safely identify "william," the notorious evil-liver of morton's monition, with "wallington," who bears a respectable character in dugdale's _monasticon_. l. h. j. tonna. _jeremy taylor on friendship._-- "i am grieved at every sad story i hear. i am troubled when i hear of a pretty bride murdered in her bride-chamber by an ambitious and enraged rival," &c.--_jeremy taylor on friendship_, p. , fol. lond. . this was written a.d. : what is the case referred to? c. p. e. _colonel or major-general lee._--the dates of his letters tend to prove that lee was on the continent in , and this is apparently borne out by the "memoirs" published both in america and in england. but dr. girdleston, in his strange work published in , asserts that on the th april, , at the christening of sir charles davis's eldest son, charles sydney, lee was at rushbrooke in suffolk. the proof, however, is not adduced in a simple and straightforward manner. at page , dr. girdlestone tells us that some person, not named, remembers that lee stood sponsor, &c.; at page , that the register proves that the baptism took place on the th april, ; and at page , that the register proves that lee was on the th april "in that church." this last is the only fact bearing on the question at issue. will any of your intelligent correspondents residing at bury favour you with a copy of the register of the baptism of charles sydney on the th april, ? c. m. l. "_roses all that's fair adorn._"--can you inform me where i can find a copy of an old poem, which begins as follows: "roses all that's fair adorn, rosy-finger'd is the morn," &c.; since i have searched in vain for it. w. s. * * * * * minor queries answered. _donne._--in walton's _life of donne_ it is said that donne left behind him-- "the resultance of authors, most of them abridged and analysed with his own hand; he left also some six score of sermons, all written with his own hand." can any one tell me what has become of these mss., and where they are now to be found if they still exist? ajax. [the sermons have been published in three volumes folio: the first printed in , containing eighty; the second in , containing fifty; and the third in , containing twenty-six.] _dr. evans._--who was dr. evans, author of the _sketch of christian denominations_? it would not be easy to ascertain, from internal evidence, what "denomination" he was himself! who is the modern editor, the rev. james bransby? a. a. d. [mr. evans was born at uske in monmouthshire in , studied at the bristol academy, and afterwards at the universities of aberdeen and edinburgh. in he became pastor of a congregation of general baptists in worship street, london; and opened an academy for youth in hoxton, which was subsequently removed to islington. in he obtained the diploma of doctor of laws from brown university, in rhode island, america. his death took place jan. , . in doctrinal matters, we believe he was a mitigated socinian; and we believe his editor, who was a schoolmaster at carnarvon, held the same theological views.] * * * * * replies. carling sunday--roman funeral pile. (vol. iii., p. .; vol. iv., p. .; vol. v., p. .) at newcastle-upon-tyne, and many other places in the north of england, grey peas, after having been steeped a night in water, are fried with butter, given away, and eaten at a kind of entertainment on the sunday preceding palm sunday, which { } was formerly called care or carle sunday, as may be yet seen in some of our old almanacks. they are called _carlings_, probably, as we call the presents at fairs, _fairings_. marshal, in his _observations on the saxon gospels_, tells us that "the friday on which christ was crucified is called in german both gute freytag and carr freytag;" that the word _karr_ signifies a satisfaction for a fine or penalty; and that care or carr sunday was not unknown to the english in his time, at least to such as lived among old people in the country. in the old roman calendar i find it observed on this day (the th of march), that a dole is made of soft beans. i can hardly entertain a doubt but that our custom is derived from hence. it was usual among the romanists to give away beans in the doles at funerals; it was also a rite in the funeral ceremonies of heathen rome. there is a great deal of learning in erasmus's _adages_ concerning _the religious use of beans_, which were thought to belong to the dead. an observation which he gives us of pliny concerning pythagoras's interdiction of the pulse, is highly remarkable. it is "that beans contain the souls of the dead." for which cause also they were used in the parentalia. plutarch also, he tells us, held that pulse to be of the highest efficacy for invoking the manes. ridiculous and absurd as these superstitions may appear, it is yet certain that our _carlings_ deduce their origin from thence. on the interdiction of this pulse by pythagoras, the following occurs in spencer _de leg. hebr._, lib. i. p. .:-- "quid enim pythagoras, ejusque præceptores, Ægypti mystæ, adeo leguminum, fabarum imprimis, esum et aspectum fugerent; nisi quod cibi mortuorum coenis et exequiis proprii, adeoque polluti et abominandi haberentur," &c.--brand's _observations on popular antiquities_, ellis's ed., vol. i. pp. - . in the notes in loco is mentioned "a practice of the greek church, not yet out of use, to set boyled corne before the singers at their commemorations of the dead," v. _gregorii opusc._, p. . the length of this reply will not admit of my here enumerating the other emblems of the resurrection of the body used by the fathers and other writers. i shall therefore conclude with an extract from rennel's _geographical system of herodotus_, p. ., relating to the pythagorean prohibition of beans:-- "the bengalese have the _nymphæa nelumbo_ in their lakes and inundations; and its fruit certainly resembles at all points that of the second species of water-lily described by herodotus; that is, it has the form of the orbicular wasp's nest; and contains kernels of the size and shape of a small bean. amongst the bramins this plant is held _sacred_; but the kernels, which are of a better flavour than almonds, are almost universally eaten by the hindoos. "it may, however, be a question whether it has always been the case; and whether in the lapse of time that has taken place since the days of pythagoras (who is supposed to have visited india, as well as chaldæa, persia, and egypt), a relaxation in discipline may not have occasioned the law to be dispensed with; instances enough of a like kind being to be met with elsewhere. _kyamos_ in the greek language appears to signify, not only a bean, but also the fruit or bean of the _nymphæa nelumbo_. is it not probable then that the mystery of the famous inhibition of pythagoras, an enigma of which neither the ancients nor the moderns have hitherto been able to give a rational solution, may be discovered in those curious records of sanscrit erudition, which the meritorious labours of some of our countrymen in india are gradually bringing to light?" bibliothecar. chetham. * * * * * hart and mohun. (vol. v., p. .) in downes' _roscius anglicanus_, edit. , mention is made of these two actors, thus: "hart was apprentice to robinson, an actor who lived before the civil wars; he afterwards had a captain's commission, and fought for charles i. he acted women's parts when a boy. "mohun was brought up under robinson, as hart and others were: in his youth he acted bellamente, in _love's cruelty_, which part he retained after the restoration."--page . it appears to have been the practice of the old actors--the "master actors," as they were called--to take youths as apprentices, and to initiate them in female characters, as a preparatory step towards something weightier. richard robinson, above-mentioned, _circa_ , usually performed female characters himself.[ ] in his name occurs, with several others, prefixed to the dedication of the first folio edition of fletcher's _plays_. he served in the king's army in the civil wars, and was killed in an engagement by harrison, who refused him quarter, and who was afterwards hanged at charing cross. the patent of the theatre royal, drury lane, of which mr. hart and major mohun formed part of the company, having descended from thomas to charles killigrew-- "in he joined it to dr. davenant's patent, whose company acted then in dorset garden, which, upon the union, were created the king's company: after which mr. hart acted no more, having a pension to the day of his death from the united company. i must not omit to mention the parts in several plays of some of the actors, wherein they excelled in the performance of them. first, mr. hart, in the part of arbaces, in _king and no king_; amintor, in the _maid's tagedy_; othello; rollo; brutus, in _julius cæsar_; alexander. towards the latter end of his acting, if he { } acted in any one of these but once in a fortnight, the house was filled as at a new play, especially alexander; he acting that with such grandeur and agreeable majesty, that one of the court was pleased to honour him with this commendation; that hart might teach any king on earth how to comport himself."[ ] in rymer's _dissertation on tragedy_ he is thus noticed: "the eyes of the audience are prepossessed and charmed by his action, before aught of the poet can approach their ears; and to the most wretched of characters hart gives a lustre which dazzles the sight, that the deformities of the poet cannot be perceived." "he was no less inferior in comedy; as mosca, in the _fox_; don john, in the _chances_; wildblood, in the _mock astrologer_; with sundry other parts. in all the comedies and tragedies he was concerned, he perform'd with that exactness and perfection that not any of his successors have equall'd him."[ ] it would seem that through hart's "excellent action" alone ben jonson's _catiline_ (his own favourite play), which had been condemned on its first representation, was kept on the stage during the reign of charles ii. with hart this play died. previous to nell gwyn's elevation to royal favour, it is said, upon the authority of sir george etherge, in _lives of the most celebrated beauties, &c._, , she was "protected" by lacy, and afterwards by hart. whether this be true or not, it is certain that she received instructions in the thespian art from both of these gentlemen. the cause of hart retiring from the stage was in consequence of his being dreadfully afflicted with the stone and gravel, "of which he died sometime after, having a salary of forty shillings a week to the day of his death." hart's christian name was charles. he is believed by malone to have been shakspeare's great nephew.[ ] major mohun remained in the "united company" after hart's retirement. "he was eminent for volpone; face, in the _alchemist_; melantius, in the _maid's tragedy_; mardonius, in _king and no king_; cassius, in _julius cæsar_; clytus, in _alexander_; mithridates, &c. an eminent poet[ ] seeing him act this last, vented suddenly this saying: 'oh, mohun, mohun! thou little man of mettle, if i should write plays, i'd write a part for thy mouth.' in short, in all his parts, he was most accurate and correct."[ ] rymer remarks: "we may remember (however we find this scene of melanthius and amintor written in the book) that at the theater we have a good scene acted; there is work cut out, and both our Æsopus and roscius are on the stage together. whatever defect may be in amintor and melanthius, mr. hart and mr. mohun are wanting in nothing. to these we owe what is pleasing in the scene; and to this scene we may impute the success of the '_maid's tragedy_.'" major mohun's christian name was michael. w. h. ln. berwick-on-tweed. [footnote : see _the devil is an ass_, act ii. sc. .] [footnote : _roscius anglicanus_, p. .] [footnote : ibid., p. .] [footnote : see _historical account of the english stage_, in malone's edition of shakspeare, vol. i. part ii. p. . lond. .] [footnote : thought by thomas davies to have been lee.] [footnote : _roscius anglicanus._] * * * * * burial without religious service--burial. (vol. v., pp. . .) there can be no doubt, i think, that a burial ground, whether parish churchyard or cemetery, so long as it has been consecrated, or even licensed by the bishop, is only _legally_ useable for interments performed according to "the ecclesiastical laws of this realm;" _i.e._ the burial service, as rubrically directed, must be read by a clergyman over the corpse. whether the bishop would have proceeded by law against the clergyman in carlile's case, supposing he had desisted from the service under the protests of the sons, may be questioned; but that he could have done so is beyond a doubt. the sixty-eighth canon says, that "no minister shall refuse or delay to bury any corpse that is brought to the church or churchyard ... in such manner and form as is prescribed in the book of common prayer. and if he shall refuse, &c., he shall be suspended by the bishop of the diocese from his ministry by the space of three months." the consecration, or episcopal licence, seems to tie the burial ground to the burial service, except in the three cases of persons who die excommunicated, unbaptised, or by their own hands; and i imagine that a clergyman would render himself liable to suspension by his bishop, who either allowed interments to take place in the churchyard without the burial service, or, on the other hand, used the service in unconsecrated or unlicensed ground. by the ja. i. c. ., there is a penalty for burying a corpse away from the church; but this law is either repealed or obsolete. if any services of the church be used by a clergyman, except "according to order," i imagine that he renders himself liable to penal consequences; but it may be sometimes thought best to omit them. sometimes, however, as in the case of baptisms being allowed in drawing-rooms, there is such an intentional oversight as is quite indefensible. the story which i have heard of baskerville's burial is as follows;--he died at birmingham, but was not interred, and his corpse was kept in the house in which he had lived. after a time this house was sold, and the purchaser of it became embarrassed by the unexpected discovery that he was in possession of the old printer's mortal remains. he applied to the clergyman of { } the parish for release from his difficulty; and this gentleman, being a man of the world, said that he was the last person who ought to have been consulted, but since it was so, the churchyard and the shades of evening afforded a remedy. perhaps it is worth adding, that when sir w. page wood, the late solicitor-general, would have brought a bill into parliament to relieve dissenters from the payment of church rates, on condition that they consented to forego all claim upon the services of the church, including of course the burial service, the bargain was declined by them. alfred gatty. * * * * * "quod non fecerunt barbari," etc. (vol. v., p. .) your correspondent mr. breen is mistaken in supposing this "epigram" to refer to the barberini spoliation of the coliseum; it was an equally important and more sacrilegious theft that aroused pasquin's satire and indignation. urban viii. (matteo barberini), - , had just stripped the dome of the pantheon of the bronze that adorned it, to construct therewith the baldacchino over the high altar in st. peter's. the amount of metal obtained, says venuti, was upwards of , pounds weight; and upon the principle of robbing peter to pay paul, the material thus stolen from the madonna was dedicated to the service of san pietro. bernini was the artist employed, from whose taste, perhaps, little better was to be expected; and the baldacchino, though highly ornamented, richly gilt, and of imposing dimensions, certainly makes the beholder regret that the metal was moved from its original position. it was costly enough too, upwards of , l. having been expended upon its production. urban evidently had a practical turn for warfare by no means unusual to the possessors of the "holy see," for we find that the surplusage of the metal was cast into cannon for the defence of st. angelo. this pope certainly was _one_ of the most unsparing despoilers of the coliseum, inasmuch as the huge pile of the palazzo barbarini was erected by him with stone supplied solely from that convenient and inexpensive quarry. if, however, we reflect that he did but follow the example of many of his predecessors (paul ii. built the palazzo di venezia, and paul iii. the farnese, from the same exhaustless supply), and that the coliseum was not only much ruined by the "barbarians" during the various sieges of rome, but was used as a fortress by the frangipani in the middle ages, the pasquinade quoted by mr. breen would hardly have been applicable to urban's misdeeds in that quarter. nor was the coliseum at that time consecrated ground, as it was not till the year that benedict xiv., with a view to protect it from future depredation, dedicated it to the memory of the christian martyrs who had perished in its arena. but the pantheon, consecrated as early as a.d. , under the name of s. maria rotonda, had been respected and spared by all, whether arian or barb-"arian;" and it was reserved for a "santo padre" of the seventeenth century to despoil a christian church, and himself set an example of sacrilege to the christian world. urban was the sole member of the barberini family (of florentine extraction) that ever attained the papal tiara. the amount of wealth stated to have been amassed by him during his pontificate appears almost fabulous. the author of the pasquinade in question is, i believe, unknown. a. p. bayswater. * * * * * restive. (vol. v., p. .) i am inclined to think that your correspondents, however deeply they may be versed in "folk-lore," are generally not much acquainted with "horse-lore." such, at least, is the opinion that is warranted by the extraordinary nature of the questions (not many in number, it is true) which have been put in relation to that subject, and of the replies that have been given to them. in the case now before us, j. r. has only superficially considered the matter. he takes one out of many definitions "in our dictionaries," and on that takes his stand. he is manifestly in error. the tempting facility of referring all words similar in appearance to the same etymon lies at the root of his mistake; for _restive_, as he will find on more patient investigation, is by our lexicographers (richardson, for example) classed under a different root from _rest_, used to express _quiescence_, or _repose_. _restive_, or more properly _restiff_, is equivalent to the french _rétif_, or italian _restio_; and, as applied to horses, means those which resist the will of their rider. hence, whether in standing stock still, in running away, in rearing, in plunging, or in kicking, they employ their natural means of defence against the control of the cavalier, and may equally be called _restiff_. in support of this view, take the following quotation, to which others might be added. it is from grisone, _ordini di cavalcare_, to., : "se il cavallo è restio, il più delle volte procede per colpa del cavaliero, per una di questi ragioni. overo il cavallo è vile, e di poca forza, e essendo troppo molestato si abandona e avvilisce di sorte che accorando non vuole caminare avante; over è superbo, e gagliardo, e dandogli fatica, egli mancandogli un poco di lena, si prevalerà con salti, e con aggrupparsi, e con altre malignità, ò fara pur questo dal principio che si cavalca, di maniera che se allora conoscerà chi il cavaliero lo teme, { } prenderà tant' animo, che usando molte ribalderie, si fermerà contra la volontà sua; _e di queste due specie di restii_ [which j. r. will be pleased to _note_], la peggior è quella che nasce da viltà, e da poca forza."--folio , verso. thus much for the equestrian part of the subject. with regard to the use of the word _restive_ by the author of the _eclipse of faith_, that is purely a matter of taste, which it is unnecessary here to discuss; but i hope that the foregoing opinion of one who in his day passed for the most accomplished horseman of europe, will suffice to show that, in the passage quoted, the term is not so entirely misapplied as j. r. supposes. f. s. q. * * * * * men of kent and kentish men. (vol. v., p. .) in your answers to minor queries (vol. v., p. .) i find it stated, that the inhabitants of the part of kent lying between rochester and london being _invicti_, have ever since (the norman conquest) been designated as men of kent; while those to the eastward, through whose district the conqueror marched unopposed, are only "kentish men." as i have always understood that the contrary is the case, and that the inhabitants of east kent are called "men of kent," and those in west kent, "kentish men"--because in east kent the people are less intermixed with strangers than in west kent, from its proximity to the metropolis--i was desirous of correcting what appeared to me to be a manifest error: but not finding any direct authority on the point, i consulted my friend charles sandys, esq., of canterbury, as a kentish antiquary, on the subject. and i now send you a letter from that gentleman, which you are at liberty to print. geo. r. corner. eltham. "'men of kent,' and 'kentish men.' "i am not aware that any professed treatise has been written or published upon our provincial distinction of 'men of kent' and 'kentish men.' that some such traditionary distinction, however, (whatever it may be) has existed from time immemorial in our county, cannot be disputed, and i think it has an undoubted and unquestionable historic origin, which i will endeavour briefly to illustrate. "the west kent men, according to the tradition, are styled 'kentish men;' whilst those of east kent are more emphatically denominated 'men of kent.' "and now for my historical authorities:-- "that the east kent people were denominated from ancient time 'men of kent,' may, i think, be inferred from the ancient saxon name of its metropolis, [cant-wara-burh] [_canterbury_], literally, 'the city of the men of kent;' the royal city and seat of government of king ethelbert at the time of the arrival of st. augustine (a.d. ) to convert our idolatrous saxon ancestors from the worship of woden and his kindred deities to that of the saviour of the world. "st. augustine, having succeeded in his holy mission, and having been consecrated archbishop of the saxons and angles in britain, fixed his metropolitical see in the royal city of canterbury, which had been granted to him by king ethelbert on his conversion (who thereupon retired to his royal fortress, or castrum, of regulbium, _reculver_). and in that city it has ever since continued for a period of more than twelve centuries. "the conversion of the pagan inhabitants of kent proceeded so rapidly that st. augustine, with the assistance of king ethelbert, soon founded another episcopal see at rochester, and thus divided the kentish kingdom into two dioceses: the eastern, or diocese of canterbury; the western, or diocese of rochester. and thus, i conceive, originated the divisions of east and west kent: the men of the former retaining their ancient name of 'men of kent;' whilst those of the latter adopted that of 'kentish men.' "the saxon (or jutish) kingdom of kent continued a separate and independent kingdom of the octarchy from the time of hengist (a.d. ) until its subjugation by offa, king of mercia, in the eighth century, to which it continued tributary until king egbert reduced all the kingdoms of the octarchy under his dominion, at the commencement of the ninth century,--and thus became the first king of all england. "that kent was separated at an early period into the two divisions of east and west kent, may be inferred from a charter (kemble, _cod. dipl._ ii. .) relating to some property withheld from the church of canterbury, and which is specially described as having been that "of oswulf, duke and prince of the province of _east kent_" ('dux atque princeps provinciæ _orientalis cantiæ_') c. a.d. . "the _saxon chronicle_ also confirms this view of the matter, thus: a.d. . "ealhere with the 'men of kent' fought in _thanet_ against the heathen army (danes)."--thanet is in _east_ kent. a.d. . "the heathen army sate down in _thanet_, and made peace with the 'men of kent.' and the 'men of kent' promised them money for the peace." a.d. . ... "battle at the _holmes_, between the 'kentish men' and the 'danish men.'--this, i take it, occurred in _west_ kent. a.d. . "the army (danes) went up along the medway to _rochester_, and then the '_kentish_ forces' stoutly joined battle ... and full nigh { } all the 'west kentish men' they ruined and plundered." a.d.[ ] . "then came the vast hostile army (danes) to _sandwich_, and they soon went their way to _canterbury_; and all the people of '_east kent_' made peace with the army, and gave them pounds." "thus, i trust, i have satisfactorily shown from our ancient annals, that the distinction between 'kentish men' and 'men of kent,' existed at a period long anterior to the norman conquest, and is distinctly recognised in the foregoing historical passages. and its origin may, i think, be attributed to the ancient division of the jutish kingdom of kent into the two dioceses of _canterbury_ and _rochester_. "our gavelkind tenure and free kentish customs, of which i have attempted a history in my recently published _consuetudines kanciæ_, gave rise to our well-known old provincial song of 'the man of kent,' its burthen being: "of briton's race--if one surpass, 'a man of kent' is he." charles sandys, f.s.a. canterbury. [footnote : "a.d." corrected from "a.b."--transcriber.] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _speculum christianorum, &c._ (vol. v., p. .).--in case no fuller information should be forthcoming on this tract, allow me to refer mr. simpson to ames's _typographical dictionary_, p. ., where is an account of what is apparently another edition of the above, printed by william machlinia, or macklyn, about the year . the title runs thus: _incipit liber qui vocatur speculum xpristiani_. it is a short exposition of the common topics of divinity of that time, for the most part in latin, but there is some english which is chiefly in rhyme. the first english lines are-- "in heauen shall dwelle alle cristen men that knowe and kepe goddes byddynges ten." at the end, after-- "explicit liber qui vocatur specul[=u] xpr[=i]ani, sequitur exposicio oracionis dominice c[=u] quodam bono notabili et sept[=e] capitalia vicia c[=u] aliquibus ramis eor[=u]." afterwards-- "sequuntur monita de verbis beati ysidori extracta ad instruend[=u] homin[=e] qualiter vicia valeat euitare et in bonis se debeat informare." the whole concludes with this colophon: "jste libellus impressus est [=i] opulentissima ciuitate londoniarum per me willelmum de machlinia ad instanciam necnon expensas henrici vrankenbergh mercatoris." the author is said to be john watton in the catalogue of mss. in england and ireland, c.c.c., oxon. n. clv. p. . j. eastwood. _smyth's mss. relating to gloucestershire_ (vol. v., p. .).--a querist writes to know where any of these may be seen. the original manuscript (three vols. folio) was given to the library of the college of arms, through the hands of sir charles young, by the rev. r. w. huntley of boxwell court, about , who became possessed of it by a legacy from a descendant of mr. smyth. there is another copy in the "evidence room," at berkeley castle; and another in the library of smyth owen, esq., a descendant from the author, at condover hall, shropshire. there is another copy in the possession of the hon. robert berkeley at spetchley park, worcestershire. and an imperfect copy was sold at the sale at hill court, gloucester, in . it was bought by a bookseller for mr. pigott of brockley; it was resold in , but to whom i could never find out. this last is also in three vols.; two of these match in the binding, but the third does not: the leather of this odd vol. is thickly studded with the _portcullis_. the imperfection of this set consists in being _unfinished_ in many parts. mr. huntley's is considered the first copy of that at the castle; and that at condover was probably mr. smyth's own. the hill court copy seems to be about the same date. the _abstracts and extracts_ of these mss. as published by fosbroke in , are but a tantalising meagre sample of the very rich store of genealogical and historical information which the originals contain. h. t. ellacombe. clyst st. george, devon. _m. barrière and the quarterly review_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--as i see that j. r. (of cork) has resumed his correspondence with "n. & q.," i beg leave to call his attention to his statement, and to my inquiry under the above references: any one or two instances of what is stated to be "so frequent" a practice will suffice. c. "_i do not know what the truth may be_" (vol. v., p. .).--the lines run thus in the _lay of the last minstrel_, canto ii. .: "i cannot tell how the truth may be, i say the tale as 'twas said to me." j. eastwood. [j. m.--d. p. waters--naso--l. x. r.--w. j. b. s.--b. r. j.--mary, &c., have also furnished us with replies to this query.] _optical phenomena_ (vol. v., p. .).--you have not yet published any satisfactory reply to the optical query of n. b., at p. . of the present volume. i apprehend there is not much difficulty in finding the solution. i attribute the phenomenon to the refraction of light through a stratum of air that is more dense than the surrounding air. every solid is coated by such a stratum. this is the well-known fact of _adhesion_ { } alluded to by liebig, in his _letters on chemistry_, st series [ nd edit. by gardner, p. .] c. mansfield ingleby. _stoup_ (vol. v., p. .).--in answer to the inquiry of cuthbert bede, i beg to inform him that an _exterior_ stoup, in excellent preservation, is to be found on the outer wall of the south porch of hungerton church, leicestershire. the inquiry confirms the belief i have always entertained, that examples of exterior stoups are rarely met with in the ecclesiastic architecture of england. kt. aylestone. _seventh son of a seventh son_ (vol. v., p. .).--the note which appears in p. . has induced me to look out a rare old printed copy of "the quack doctor's speech," which is in my possession, and which was spoken by the witty lord rochester, in character, and mounted on a stage; it is altogether a very humorous and lengthy address, partaking of the licence of language not uncommon to the courtiers of that period, abounding in much technical phraseology, and therefore unsuited for an introduction into your pages _in extenso_. the titles assumed, however, are in character with the pretensions claimed by virtue of being the seventh begotten son of a seventh begotten father; and may perhaps prove an interesting addition to the collection of instances recorded by your correspondent henry edwards: "gentlemen, "i, waltho van clauterbauck, high german doctor, chymist and dentrificator--native of arabia deserta, citizen and burgomaster of the city of brandipolis--seventh son of a seventh son, unborn doctor of above sixty years' experience, having studied over galen, hypocrates, albumazer, and paracelsus, am now become the Æsculapius of this age. having been educated at twelve universities, and travelled through fifty-two kingdoms, and been counsellor to the counsellors of several grand monarchs, natural son of the wonder working chymical doctor signior hanesio, lately arrived from the farthest parts of utopia, famous throughout all asia, europe, africa, and america, from the sun's oriental exaltation to his occidental declination, out of mere pity to my own dear self and languishing mortals, have by the earnest prayers and entreaties of several lords, dukes, and honourable personages been at last prevailed upon to oblige the world with this notice, &c. &c. "veniente occurrite morbo--down with your dust. principiis obsta--no cure no money. querenda pecunia premium--be not sick too late. "you that are willing to render yourselves immortal, buy this pacquet, or else repair to the sign of the pranceis, in vico vulgo dicto ratcliffero, something south-east of templum dancicum, in the square of profound close, not far from titter tatter fair; and you may hear, see, and return re-infecta." kt. aylestone. at my father's school was a yorkshire lad, who was to be educated classically, because he was intended for the medical profession. the cause assigned was, that "he was the seventh son of a seventh son;" and the seventh son of a seventh son "_maks the bigg'st o' doctors_." c. c. c. _the number seven_ (vol. v., p. .).--mr. henry edwards is quite right in his conjecture that the number _seven_, so often used in the old and new testament, is generally put to mean "several," "many," or an indefinite number. hence the number seven was esteemed a sacred, symbolical, and mystical number. there were seven gifts of the holy ghost, seven days in the week, seven sacraments, seven branches on the candlestick of moses, seven liberal arts, seven churches of asia, seven mysterious seals, seven stars, seven symbolic trumpets, seven heads of the dragon, seven joys and seven sorrows of the blessed virgin, seven penitential psalms, seven deadly sins, seven canonical hours, &c. &c. "septenarius numerus est numerus universitatis," says j. de voragine. see also, bede, duranti, and rhabanus maurus, on the mystical explanation of this number. a curious french ms. belonging to the latter part of the thirteenth century has a singular illustration of the number seven. it is a miniature: a wheel cut into seven rays, and composed of seven concentric cordons. the rays form seven compartments, divided into as many cordons, containing in each cordon one of the seven petitions of the lord's prayer, one of the seven sacraments, one of the seven spiritual arms of justice, one of the seven works of mercy, one of the seven virtues, one of the seven deadly sins, and one of the seven gifts of the holy ghost. ceyrep. _commentators_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--the original verses are young's:-- "how commentators each dark passage shun, and hold their farthing candle to the sun. _the love of fame_, satire vii. l. x. r. _banning or bayning family_ (vol. v., p. .).--this surname is traced in ireland on _record_ from the time of richard ii., while the native annalists represent it with that milesian prefix which old alvary so ingraciously attaints--"_o datur ambiguis_." these annalists mark patrick "o'bainan" bishop of connor in , and gelasius "o'banan" bishop of clogher in . the records that i have alluded to spell the name "bannyn," or "banent." in creconnaght "bannan" was seised of lands in ulster; and in the army raised for the service of king james, while in this country in , william bannan was a quartermaster in colonel nicholas purcel's regiment of { } horse. i have reason myself to know that two families of "banon" still exist here. john d'alton. dublin. _tortoiseshell tom cat_ (vol. v., p. .).--i always thought the tortoiseshell tom cat was an animal of very rare occurrence; but i was not aware, until i read the note of your correspondent w. r., that it was unknown in natural history. the late (and highly respected) mr. john bannister, familiarly called "jack bannister," wrote, more than forty years ago, a humorous and witty _jeu d'esprit_ on this subject: this was composed for his "budget," a species of entertainment from which the late mr. matthews took the idea of his "at home;" an entertainment exhibiting a most extraordinary range of talent, and must be fresh in the memory of most of your readers. it supposes the auctioneer, "mr. catseye," in the great room in "cateaton street," and opens thus: "oh! what a story the papers have been telling us about a little animal of wond'rous price; who but an auctioneer would ever think of selling us, for two hundred yellow-boys, a trap for mice?" &c. &c. having, humorously described the company assembled, and enlarged on the "beauty and rarity" of the animal, it thus concludes: "now louder and warmer the competition growing, politeness nearly banished in the grand _fracas_; two hundred, two hundred and thirty-three--a-going! gone! never cat of _talents_ surely met avidly such _éclat_! e'en nine or ten fine gentlemen were in the fashion caught as well, as ladies in their bidding for this purring piece of tortoiseshell. and the buyer bore him off in triumph, after all the fun was done, and bells rang, as if whittington had been lord mayor of london; mice and rats flung up their hats, to find that cats so scarce were, and mouse-trap makers raised their prices cent. per cent.!" m. w. b. _a tombstone cut by baskerville_ (vol. v., p. .).--a correspondent complains that on visiting edgbaston church he was unable to obtain a sight of the tombstone, which he much wished to see. since i read his note, i have met with the following, which i copy from pye's _modern birmingham_, . after speaking of a monument in handsworth church, birmingham, to the late matthew boulton, the writer proceeds: "the other is a humble tombstone, remarkable as being one of the last works cut by his own hand, with his name at the top of it, of that celebrated typographer, baskerville; but this, being neglected by the relations of the deceased, has been mutilated, although the inscription is still perfect, but so much overgrown with moss and weeds, that it requires more discrimination than falls to the lot of many passing travellers, to discover the situation of this neglected gem. to those who are curious it will be found close to the wall, immediately under the chancel window. this precious relic of that eminent man is deserving of being removed at the expense of the parish, and preserved with the greatest care, withinside the church.... there is only one other of his cuttings known to be in existence, and that has lately been removed and placed withinside the church at edgbaston--" which is subsequently thus described: "there was in this churchyard a gravestone cut by the hands of the celebrated typographer baskerville, which is now removed and placed withinside the church. the stone being of a flaky nature, the inscription is not quite perfect, but whoever takes delight in well-formed letters, may here be highly gratified; it was erected to the memory of edw. richards, an idiot, who died st september, , with the following inscription:-- 'if innocents are the favourites of heaven, and god but little asks where little's given, my great creator has for me in store eternal joys; what wise man can have more?'" i am sorry i cannot just now give any further information, but hope this note will be new to some of your readers, and interesting to all. este. _shakspeare, tennyson, &c._ (vol. v., p. .).--the editorial note has supplied the latin parallel, but not "the origin and reason of the idea." this koenig's note to persius (i. .) will do: "_nascentur violæ_; hoc inde videtur natum esse quod veteres tumulos mortuorum sparsis floribus et corollis solebant ornate; pertinebat hoc ad religionem manium, qui, ut putabatur, libationibus annuis, coronis, floribus, cet. delectabantur." this is the first step. further: "beatissima mortui conditio, cui _vel natura ipsa inferias agat_, floribus in tumulo sponte nascentibus, videtur indicari." lastly: "videtur quoque privata nonnullorum opinio fuisse, _cinerem in flores mutari, idque contingere non nisi probis ac pulchris_ (_anthol. lat._); ex fabulis heroum in flores post mortem mutatorum fortasse nata." this last, and deepest thought, is that seized on by shakspeare and tennyson. koenig gives many parallels. a. a. d. _rhymes on places_ (vol. v., pp. . . . .).--the following rhymes (if so they can be termed) respecting the exploits of a certain giant named bell, and his wonderful sorrel horse, whose leaps were each a mile long, are, or were a few { } years since, prevalent in this neighbourhood among the inhabitants of the villages therein mentioned. the legend has been noticed by peck: "mountsorrel he mounted at, rodely[ ] he rode by, onelept[ ] he leaped o'er, at birstall he burst his gall, and belgrave he was buried at." leicestriensis. [footnote : now rothley.] [footnote : now wanlip.] the following i had years ago from a buckinghamshire gentleman: "_tring_, _wing_, and _ivinghoe_, three dirty villages all in a row, and never without a rogue or two. would you know the reason why? _leighton buzzard_ is hard by." j. eastwood. _birthplace of josephine_ (vol. v., p. .).--mr. breen's able and interesting note seems to establish beyond dispute that josephine was born in st. lucia, and not, as is commonly supposed, in martinique. but can mr. breen, or any other of your correspondents, speak to this still more curious query, whether or no she had african blood in her veins? i heard it confidently asserted lately by a gentleman of high standing on this island, who has business relations with martinique, that such was the case, and that either the grandmother or great-grandmother of the empress was a negress slave. he had the fact, he said, on good local authority, and appeared satisfied in his own mind of the truth of the statement. the sudden and surprising elevation of her grandson gives some interest to the inquiry. a. ker. antigua. _the curse of scotland_ (vol. i., pp. . .; vol. iii., pp. . . . .).-- "there is a common expression made use of at cards, which i have never heard any explanation of; i mean the nine of diamonds being commonly called the curse of scotland. "looking lately over a book of heraldry i found nine diamonds, or lozenges, conjoined, or, in the heraldic language, gules, a cross of lozenges, to be the arms of packer. "colonel packer appears to have been one of the persons who was on the scaffold when charles the first was beheaded, and afterwards commanded in scotland, and is recorded to have acted in his command with considerable severity. it is possible that his arms might, by a very easy metonymy, be called the curse of scotland; and the nine of diamonds, at cards, being very similar in figure to them, might have ever since retained the appellation."--_gent. mag._, vol. lvi. p. . "i cannot tell whence he learns that colonel packer was on the scaffold when king charles was beheaded."--_ibid._, p. . "when the duke of york (a little before his succession to the crown) came to scotland, he and his suite introduced a new game, there called _comet_, where the ninth of diamonds is an important card. the scots who were to learn the game, felt it to their cost: and from that circumstance the ninth of diamonds was nicknamed the curse of scotland."--_ibid._, p. . "the nine of diamonds is called the curse of scotland because it is the great winning card at comette, which was a game introduced into scotland by the french attendants of mary of lorraine, queen of james v., to the ruin of many scotch families."--_ibid._, p. . the explanation supplied by the game of pope joan is doubtless the correct one. goodluck. _waller family_ (vol. v., p. .).--francis waller, of amersham, bucks, grandfather of edmund waller the poet, by his will, dated th of january, - , entails his mansion house in beaconsfield, and other estates in bucks, herts, &c., on the child of which his wife anne is "now pregnant," with remainders to his two brothers, thomas and edmund, in tail, with divers remainders over, to francis waller, son of his brother ralph waller, and the heirs of his "sister pope" and his sister davys. the lady in question was of the beaconsfield branch of the wallers, and great aunt to the poet. (from the family muniments.) lambert h. larking. "_after me the deluge_" (vol. iii., pp. . .).--the modern, whoever he may be, can only lay claim to reviving this proverb of selfishness, which was branded by cicero long ago: "illa vox inhumana et scelerata ducitur, eorum, qui negant se recusare, quò minùs, ipsis mortuis, terrarum omnium deflagratio consequatur, quod vulgari quodam versu græco [[greek: emou thanontos gaia michthêtô puri]] pronuntiari solet." this passage occurs in his treatise _de finibus_, iii. xix., vol. xiv. p. . valpy's edition, . mackenzie walcott, m.a. _sun-dial motto_ (vol. v., p. .).--y. is informed that hazlitt, in his _sketches and essays_, has an essay on a sun-dial, beginning with these words: "_horas non numero nisi serenas_, is the motto of a sun-dial near venice." in _la gnomonique pratique_ of françois de celles, vo., there is pretty long list of latin mottos for sun-dials, but i do not find the above amongst them. it scarcely reads like a classical quotation. robert snow. _lines by lord palmerston_ (vol. i., p. .; vol. ii., p. . vol. iii., p. .).--in vol. i., p. ., indagator inquired whether there was any { } authority for attributing to the late lord palmerston the beautiful lines on the loss of his lady, beginning,-- "whoe'er like me his heart's whole treasure brings." indagator says they have been supposed to be hawksworth's and s. s. s. (vol. ii., p. .) that they have been also attributed to mason. i can state, _from the best authority_, that they are lord palmerston's. my authority needs no extrinsic confirmation, but i may as well observe that indagator has himself sufficiently disposed of hawksworth's claim, as his wife was still alive when the lines appeared; and the conjecture of s. s. s. is obviously a confusion of lord palmerston's lines with those of mason's (whose wife died at bristol), beginning-- "take, holy earth, all that my soul holds dear." but another of your correspondents, a. b. (vol. iii., p. .), or your printer, has made a mistake on this point which i cannot account for. a. b. says that he inquired after the author of the lines beginning-- "stranger, whoe'er thou art that viewest this tomb;" and this statement is headed with a reference to indagator's inquiry about lord palmerston, to which it had no reference whatsoever. i do not remember to have seen a. b.'s inquiry, but it assuredly has nothing to do with indagator's which i have now set at rest. c. _indian jugglers_ (vol. iv., p. .).--in looking over some former numbers i find an inquiry under this head. n. will find a full account of some of these wonderful and apparently inexplicable performances in the _dublin university magazine_. i have not a set to refer to, but the papers appeared about three or four years ago. este. _sons of the conqueror_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--i believe after all that sir n. wraxall is right. according to the old chroniclers, _three_ members of the conqueror's family met their death in the new forest. . _richard_, his _second son_, is said to have been killed by a stag in the new forest when hunting, and to have been buried at winchester in the choir of the cathedral there. . _henry_, youngest son of robert, duke of normandy, and _grandson_ of the conqueror, was accidentally slain in the new forest. . _william rufus_, third son of the conqueror, fell in a similar way and in the same place. j. r. w. bristol. _saint wilfred's needle_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--a very interesting account of this curious crypt beneath the central tower of ripon cathedral will be found in a pamphlet published twelve years ago, entitled "_sepulchri a romanis constructi infra ecclesiam s. wilfridi in civitate reponensi descriptio auctore gul. d. bruce_. london ." a copy is in the library of the society of antiquaries, and another in the british museum. d. w. _frebord_ (vol. v., p. .).--it may possibly assist the inquiries of your correspondents spes and p. m. m. to be informed that the right of frebord belongs to many estates in the midland counties. in some instances in leicestershire the claim extends from the boundary hedge of one lordship to the extent of twenty-one feet over the land of the adjoining lordship; it is here understood to represent a _deer's leap_, and is said to have been given with the original grant of the manor, in order to secure to the lord a right to take the deer he happened to shoot when in the act of leaping from his domain into his neighbour's manor. kt. aylestone. _royd_ (vol. v., p. .).--the meaning of this word may be further illustrated by reference to swiss etymology and history. the great battle of naefels (april , ) is celebrated on the first thursday of every april, on the spot where the fiercest part of the struggle took place. mount _ruti_, the meadow where the liberators of switzerland met, on the lake of the four cantons, and opposite brunner, is called the rutli: both words being derived from a common root of common use in the formation of names in german switzerland, _ruten-defricher_, "to clear;" or, _ruthen_, "to measure, gauge;" in short, "prepare for clearing;" whence, perhaps, our _ruthyn_ and rutland. h. p. s. _spy wednesday_ (vol. v., p. .).--your correspondent mr. chadwick is informed that the wednesday in holy week, _i. e._ the wednesday before easter sunday, is called _spy wednesday_. the term has its origin in the fact, that judas made his compact with the sanhedrim upon that day for the betrayal of our blessed saviour. see matthew, xxvi. , , . , , and . ceyrep. _book of jasher_ (vol. v., pp. . . .).--hartwell horne, in his _introduction_ (vol. ii. part ii. pp. - . ed. ), has with much diligence exposed both ilive's original forgery ( ) and the "unacknowledged reprint" ( ). he adds: "there is also extant a rabbinical hebrew book of jasher printed at _venice_ in , which is an explanation of the histories contained in the pentateuch and joshua. barlocci, in his _biblioth. rabbinica_, states that it contains some curious but many fabulous things; and particularly that this book was discovered at the time of the destruction of the temple of jerusalem in a certain place, in which an old man was shut up, in whose possession a great number of hebrew books were found, and among them the book of jasher; which was first carried into spain, and preserved at seville, whence finally it was taken to naples, where it was first published."--vol. iii p. . { } is this the work published at new york in ? i suppose so: at least, if "prof. noah" has been reproducing the _bristol book of jasher_ ( ), he can claim but little of the _justice and perfectness_ of his great namesake. a. a. d. _stearne's (not hearne's) confirmation and discovery of witchcraft_ (vol. v., p. .).--of this tract, inquired after by mr. clarke, and which is certainly one of the most extraordinary of all the treatises on witchcraft, the only copy i ever saw is the one i possess, and which i have fully described in the notes to pott's _discovery of witches_, printed for the chetham society, p. . the rev. author was no theorist, but a thoroughly practical man; having been an agent in finding and bringing to justice witches in the eastern counties. he has the subject so perfectly at his fingers' ends, and discusses it so scientifically, that hopkins sinks into insignificance by the side of him. pity it is that such a philanthropic individual should have had occasion to complain: "in many places i never received penny as yet, nor any am like, except that i should sue!!" jas. crossley. _lines on chaucer_ (vol. v., p. .).--the lines should be quoted:-- "britain's first poet, famous old chaucer, swan-like, in dying sung his last song when at his heart-strings death's hand was strong." they are taken from hymn cxxiii. of _hymns and anthems_, london, c. fox, . [gamma]. _fairlop oak_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--your correspondents j. b. colman and shirley hibberd will find much information relative to this oak and the fair in a work with the following title: "fairlop and its founder, or facts and fun for the forest frolickers. by a famed first friday fairgoer; contains memoirs, anecdotes, poems, songs, &c., with the curious will of mr. day, never before printed. a very limited number printed. tobham, printed at charles clark's private press. fairlop's friday, ." j. russell smith, . soho square, had several copies on sale some time back. s. wiswould. _boy bishop at eton_ (vol. v., p. .).--the festival of st. hugh, _bishop_ (_pontificis_) of lincoln, was kept on november . for "nihilensis," in the "consuetudinarium etonense," should be read "nicolatensis," as it stands in a compatus of winchester college, of the date : the boy bishop assuming his title on st. nicholas' day, dec. , and then performing his parody of divine offices for the first time; st. nicholas of myra being, according to the legend, the patron of children. it is singular that, whereas, as in other foundations, the feast of the holy innocents was appointed for the mummeries of the boy bishop at winchester by the founder, it was forbidden at eton and king's, although the statutes of the latter were borrowed almost literally from those of wykeham. it would therefore appear that there was some local reason for the exception. mackenzie walcott, m.a. _plague stones--mr. mompesson_ (vol. v., p. .).--i should be sorry that anything inaccurate was recorded in "n. & q." respecting so eminently worthy a person as the rev. william mompesson, rector of eyam during the time that it was scourged by the plague in , when, out of a population of only , died of the disorder. mr. m. himself did not fall a victim, as j. g. c. states; but his wife did, and her tomb remains to this day. he was, indeed, an ornament to his sacred profession. he not only stood by his flock in the hour of their visitation, but he obtained such an influence during the panic that they entirely deferred to his judgment, and remained, as he advised, within the village. he preached to them on sundays in the open air from a sort of natural pulpit in the rock, now called cucklet church; and he established the water troughs, or _plague stones_, into which the people dropped their money, in payment for the victuals that were brought to them from the surrounding country. when in reward for his devotedness the deanery of lincoln was offered him, he generously declined it in favour of his friend dr. fuller, author of the _worthies of england_, who thus obtained the appointment. mr. mompesson was subsequently presented to the living of eakring in notts, where he died in . there has recently been discovered on the moor near fullwood, by sheffield, a chalybeate spring, which flows into a small covered recess formed of ashlar stone, and this stands just as it did when the wretched inhabitants of eyam, believing the water to have sanatory virtues, came to drink of it, until a watch was placed on the spot by the sheffield people, and they were driven back to their infected homes. alfred gatty. _raleigh's ring_ (vol. v., p. .).--sir walter raleigh's ring, which he wore at the time of his execution, is, i believe, in the possession of capt. edward james blanckley, of the th foot, now serving at the cape of good hope. it is an heirloom in the blanckley family, of which captain blanckley is the senior representative, who are directly descended from sir walter, and have in their possession several interesting relics of their great ancestor, viz. a curious tea-pot, and a state paper box of iron gilt and red velvet. a descendant of sir walter's. { } _pandecte, an entire copy of the bible_ (vol. v., p. .).--your correspondent c. h. has noticed this word; i send you a short account of the irish mss. in the bodleian library, which i laid some time ago before the royal irish academy, and which is printed in their _proceedings_, vol. v. p. . i have there noticed a curious work by oengus cele de, or oengus the culdee, a writer of the eighth century, in which the word _pandecte_ (or, as the irish scribe spells it, _pantecte_) is used in the same sense as that in which alcuin employs it, for the _bibliotheca_, or bible of st. jerome. i have marked the passage, pp. , . of the enclosed paper, which if you think it worth while you may insert. but perhaps it may be enough to refer your readers to the above-mentioned volume of the _proceedings of the royal irish academy_. jas. h. todd. trin. coll. dublin. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. if among the writers of the present day there is one whose opinion with regard to robin hood and the cycle of ballads of which that renowned outlaw is the hero would be looked for with anxiety and received with respect, it is the rev. joseph hunter, a gentleman in whom are happily combined that thorough historical and antiquarian knowledge, and that sound poetic taste which are required to do justice to so interesting a theme. the announcement, therefore, that the fourth of mr. hunter's _critical and historical tracts_ is entitled _the great hero of the ancient minstrelsy of england, robin hood_. _his period, real character, &c., investigated, and perhaps ascertained_, will be received with welcome by all who rejoice "that the world was very guilty of such ballads some three ages since," and who, loving them and their hero, would fain know something of the history on which they are founded. mr. hunter dissents, and we think rightly, from two popular and recent theories upon the subject,--the one, that which elevates robin hood into the chief of a small body of saxons impatient of their subjection to the norman rule; the other, that which reduces him to one among the "personages of the early mythology of the teutonic people." mr. hunter, on the other hand, _identifies_ him with one "robyn hood" who entered the service of edward ii. a little before christmas , and continued therein somewhat less than a twelvemonth: "alas then said good robyn, alas and well a woo, if i dwele longer with the kynge sorowe wyll me sloo:" and the evidence which he adduces in favour of our popular hero having been one of the _contrariantes_ of the reign of the second edward; and the coincidences which he points out between the minstrel testimony of the _little geste_ and the testimony of records of different kinds and lying in different places, will, we are sure, be read with great interest even by those who may not think that our author has quite succeeded in unmasking the "junius" of those olden times. _richmondshire, its ancient lords and edifices: a concise guide to the localities of interest to the tourist and antiquary; with short notes of memorable men_, by w. hylton longstaffe, is a pleasant, chatty, and amusing guide to a beautiful locality, which the author describes as "the capital of a land whose riches of romance are scarcely exceeded by any other in england, the chosen seat of its own earls, the scropes, fitzhughs, marmions; and those setters up and pullers down of kings, the richest, noblest, and most prudent race of the north, the lordly nevilles:" and which as such may well tempt the tourist and antiquary to visit it during the coming autumn. those who do will find mr. longstaffe's little volume a pleasant companion. books received.--the second volume of charlotte a. eaton's _rome in the nineteenth century, containing, a complete account of the ruins of the ancient city, the remains of the middle ages, and the monuments of modern times_, which completes this lady's excellent guide to the eternal city.--the second volume of miss thomasina ross's well-executed translation of humboldt's _personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of america during the years - _, is the new volume of bohn's _scientific library_.--_the analogy of religion, natural and revealed, to the constitution and course of nature; to which are added two brief dissertations; on personal identity, and on the nature of virtue; and fifteen sermons_, by joseph butler, d.c.l., _late lord bishop of durham_.--the new volume of bohn's _standard library_ is deserving of especial mention. it is a reprint of bishop halifax's standard edition, with the addition of analytical introductions, and notes by a member of the university of oxford; and we have no doubt will be found a really useful _popular_ edition, such as may allure to the careful study of one of the best works in our language those minds which, without such help, might shrink from the task. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. mahon's england, vols. scott's lady of the lake. ---- lay of the last minstrel. ---- marmion. the original to. editions in boards. flanagan on the round towers of ireland. to. . a narrative of the proceedings in the douglas cause. london, griffin. vo. . clare's poems. fcap. vo. last edition. mallet's elvira. magna charta; a sermon at the funeral of lady farewell, by george newton. london, . chaucer's poems. vol. i. aldine edition. biblia sacra, vulg. edit., cum commentar. menochii. alost and ghent, . vol. i. barante, ducs de bourgogne. vols. i. and ii. st, nd, or rd edit. paris. ladvocat, . biographia americana, by a gentleman of philadelphia. potgieseri de conditione servorum apud germanos. vo. col. agrip. the comedies of shadwell may be had on application to the publisher of "n. & q." *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * { } notices to correspondents. replies received.--_optical phenomenon_--_the number seven_--_exterior stoup (several)_--_etymology of fetch and haberdasher_--_passage in "as you like it"_--_the name charing_--_etymology of camarthen_--_venit ad euphratem_--_mexican literature_--_surname of devil_--_family likenesses, &c._--_toad eater_--_lines on the crawford family_--_algernon sydney_--_monody on death of sir john moore_--_flanagan on the round towers_--_use of slings by early britons_--_giving the sack_--_how the ancient irish crowned their kings_--_papal seal_--_plague stones_--_wicliffe, &c._--_mother carey's chickens_--_cranes in storms_--_unicorns, &c._ j. smyth (dublin). _the line referred to_-- "_fine_ by degrees, and beautifully less," _is from prior's_ henry and emma. _see, for further illustration of it_, "n. & q.," no. ., p. . l. h. i. t. _will find much illustration of the oft-quoted passage from sterne, "god tempers the wind," in our_ st vol., pp. . . . . . w. cl._'s query respecting a remarkable experiment in our next._ lines on english history. _we have forwarded to_ an english mother one _of the copies so kindly sent by_ e. c. _one we retain for our own use. the lines forwarded by_ sewarg _are very generally known: not so those inquired by_ mÆris, _beginning_ "william and william, and henry and stephen, and henry the second, to make the first even;" _and of which we should be very glad to receive a copy._ b. b. _we shall be very glad to see the_ iter _to which our correspondent refers._ h. p. s., _who inquires for the author of_ "tempora mutantur," &c., _is referred to our_ st vol., pp. . . s. s. s. _richard ii. inherited the white hart as a badge from his mother joan, the fair maid of kent. the red rose was the badge of henry iv._ sirnames. _we have forwarded the curious list sent us by_ a.c.m., _and the notes by_ miss bockett _and_ e. h. a., _to_ mr. lower. errata.--page . col. . l. . and . for "marco_n_cies," read "marco_u_cies;" l. ., for "montag_n_" read "montag_u_;" col. l. ., for "robert_i_" read "robert_o_." * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photography.--j. b. hockin & co., operative chemists, . strand, manufacture all the pure chemicals used in this art; also apparatus for the glass, paper, and daguerreotype processes. achromatic lens and camera from s. instruction in the art. agents for "archer's iodised collodion and improved camera," which obviates the necessity for a dark room. electrotyping in all its branches. chemical cabinets for experimental and analytical purposes. apparatus for gold assaying, and instruction therein. * * * * * cigars of the choicest importations at greatly reduced prices for cash. the first class brands. "ptarga," "flor cabana," &c., s. per pound. british cigars from s. d. per pound. lord byron's, s. d., very fine flavour. genuine latakia, s. d. per pound, delicious aroma. every description of eastern and american tobaccos. meerschaum pipes, cigar cases, stems, porte monnaies, &c. &c. of the finest qualities, considerably under the trade prices. j. f. varley & co., importers. the havannah stores, . oxford street, opposite the princess's theatre. * * * * * mourning.--court, family, and complimentary.--the proprietor of the london general mourning warehouse begs respectfully to remind families whose bereavements compel them to adopt mourning attire, that every article of the very best description, requisite for a complete outfit of mourning, may be had at this establishment at a moment's notice. estimates for servants' mourning, affording a great saving to families, are furnished; whilst the habitual attendance of experienced assistants (including dressmakers and milliners), enables them to suggest or supply every necessary for the occasion, and suited to any grade or condition of the community. widows' and family mourning is always kept made up, and a note, descriptive of the mourning required, will insure its being sent forthwith, either in town or into the country, and on the most reasonable terms. w. c. jay, - . regent street. * * * * * queenwood college, near stockbridge, hants. _principal_--george edmondson. _natural philosophy._--dr. john tyndall, f.r.s., foreign member of the physical society, berlin. _chemistry._--dr. h. debus, late assistant in the laboratory of professor bunsen, and chemical lecturer in the university of marburg. _classics and history._--mr. henry phelan, t. c. d. _modern languages and foreign literature._--mr. john haas, from m. de fellenberg's institution, hofwyl, switzerland. _geodesy._--mr. richard p. wright. _painting and drawing._--mr. richard p. wright. _english and elementary mathematics._--mr. henry taylor, late pupil of m. de fellenberg. _music._--mr. cornwall. _farm superintendent._--mr. richard davis--farm, acres. terms. for pupils under years of age l. per ann. " from to " " above " for further information see prospectuses, to be had of the principal. the second session of commences on the th of july. * * * * * miss agnes strickland's new series of royal female biographies. lives of the queens of scotland, and english princesses connected with the regal succession, in vols., post vo., with portraits and historical vignettes, uniform with "lives of the queens of england," by the same author. vols. i. and ii. are published, price s. d. each, containing-- margaret tudor, queen of james iv. magdalene of france, first queen of james v. mary of lorraine, second queen of james v., and mother of mary queen of scots. margaret douglas, countess of lennox, and mother of darnley. vol. iii. will contain the life of mary queen of scots. "every step in scotland is historical; the shades of the dead arise on every side; the very rocks breathe. miss strickland's talents as a writer, and turn of mind as an individual, in a peculiar manner fit her for painting a historical gallery of the most illustrious or dignified female characters in that land of chivalry and song."--_blackwood's magazine._ william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * this day is published, price s., in post vo. cloth gilt, with numerous engravings, the celt, the roman, and the saxon. a history of the early inhabitants of britain down to the conversion of the anglo-saxons to christianity. illustrated by the ancient remains brought to light by recent research. by thomas wright, esq., m.a., f.s.a. arthur hall, virtue, & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * to book buyers. just published, gratis and post free on application, the exeter book circular: being a catalogue of second-hand books of all classes; comprising theology, classics, history, biography, voyages, and travels, &c. in good condition, and warranted perfect, now offered for sale by adam holden, exeter. * * * * * { } vo., price s. a manual of ecclesiastical history, from the first to the twelfth century inclusive. by the rev. e. s. foulkes, m.a., fellow and tutor of jesus college, oxford. the main plan of the work has been borrowed from spanheim, a learned, though certainly not unbiassed, writer of the seventeenth century; the matter compiled from spondanus and spanheim, mosheim and fleury, gieseler and döllinger, and others, who have been used too often to be specified, unless when reference to them appeared desirable for the benefit of the reader. yet i believe i have never once trusted to them on a point involving controversy, without examining their authorities. the one object that i have had before me has been to condense facts, without either garbling or omitting any that should be noticed in a work like the present, and to give a fair and impartial view of the whole state of the case.--_preface._ "an epitomist of church history has a task of no ordinary greatness.... he must combine the rich faculties of condensation and analysis, of judgment in the selection of materials, and calmness in the expression of opinions, with that most excellent gift of faith, so especially precious to church historians, which implies a love for the catholic cause, a reverence for its saintly champions, an abhorrence of the misdeeds which have defiled it, and a confidence that its 'truth is great, and will prevail.' "and among other qualifications which may justly be attributed to the author of the work before us, this last and highest is particularly observable. he writes in a spirit of manly faith, and is not afraid of facing 'the horrors and uncertainties,' which, to use his own words, are to be found in church history."--_from the scottish ecclesiastical journal, may, ._ john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london. * * * * * the history of the painters of all nations. now ready, the first part of a magnificent work in quarto, under the above title, printed on the best paper, and produced in the most perfect style of typography, containing the life of murillo, with a portrait, and eight specimens of his choicest works, including the "conception of the virgin," lately purchased by the french government for the sum of , l. this beautiful work, to the preparation of which many years have already been devoted, will comprise the "lives of the greatest masters" of the flemish, dutch, italian, spanish, english, french and german schools, with their portraits, and specimens of their most celebrated works, from drawings and engravings by the first artists of england and france. the editorship of the work has been confided to mr. m. digby wyatt, author of "the industrial arts of the nineteenth century," &c. &c., whose deep study of the fine arts, as well as of the connexion which should exist between their culture and industrial progress, will enable him to confer a utilitarian value upon the work by a judicious arrangement of the whole, and the supply of original notes and contributions. the parts will appear on the first of every month, at s. each; and will be supplied through every bookseller in town and country. john cassell, ludgate hill, london. * * * * * in crown vo. with woodcuts, price s. cloth, the great exhibition and london in review by dr. lardner, &c. "an instructive and varied memento of the great exhibition."--_spectator._ "dr. lardner's book is not so much a detailed account of the objects exhibited, or all the facts concerning that remarkable display, as essays on several branches of art illustrated by objects that were in the exhibition. his work will be long valuable as a record of the progress of knowledge. it has much scientific accuracy without its harshness."--_economist._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * the traveller's library. on wednesday, june , will be published, in mo. price s. the natural history of creation. by t. lindley kemp, m.d., author of "agricultural physiology," &c. also, on the same day, in mo., price s., brittany and the bible: with remarks on the french people and their affairs. by i. hope. *** the above works will form the d and th parts of the traveller's library. just published in this series, mrs. jameson's sketches in canada and rambles among the red men. price s. d.; or in two parts, s. each. london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * new edition, corrected to . just published, in vol. vo. with woodcuts, price l. cloth; or l. s. half-bound in russia, with flexible back. brande's dictionary of science, literature, and art: second edition, corrected; with a supplement, containing numerous additions, together with the chief scientific terms, processes, and improvements that have come into general use since the publication of the first edition. *** the supplement may be had separately, price s. d. "professor brande's valuable dictionary has reached a second edition; and is rendered still more valuable by a supplement, which extends the original , pages to nearly a hundred more, in which some of the latest discoveries are very fully treated of. we may cite, for instance, the accounts given of the screw propelling power and the tubular bridges."--_examiner._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * in vol., medium vo., price s. cloth, dr. roget's thesaurus of english words and phrases classified and arranged as to facilitate the expression of ideas and assist in literary composition. "there cannot be the slightest doubt that, upon the whole, it is one of the most learned as well as one of the most admirable contributions that have been made to philology in this country since the 'hermes' of harris, and the 'diversions of purley' by horne tooke."--_observer._ "dr. roget's 'thesaurus' will be found a most useful supplement to our ordinary english dictionaries. its value will be most recognised by those who are best acquainted with the language, and best practised in its use. the mere arrangement of the groups of words, unaccompanied by definitions, suggests often various ideas associated with the different expressions. in such practical operation as translation from a foreign language, the utility of such a thesaurus is obvious."--_literary gazette._ "the man who in writing cannot find the fit word to express a thought, may, if it please him, take down dr. roget's 'thesaurus,' look for the class containing any word of similar idea, and there he will find a miscellaneous collection, as complete as the compiler could make it, of words and phrases from which he may employ his tact to pick the syllables that suit him best.... the practical employer of the book will be directed to the object of his search by a full synopsis of categories at the beginning, or a very ample alphabetical index of words placed at the end, occupying three-columned pages. the philosophic student of the english language may undoubtedly pick up many ideas from the grouping of our words and vulgarisms here attempted, and attempted with a great deal of success."--_examiner._ london: longman, brown, green, and longmans. * * * * * book plates.--heraldic queries answered; family arms found, and every information afforded. drawing of arms, s. d.; painting ditto, s.; book plate crest, s.; arms, &c. from s.; crest on card plate, and one hundred cards, s.; queries answered for s. saxon, mediæval, and modern style book plates. the best authorities and ms. books of thirty-five years' practice consulted. heraldic stamps for linen or books, with reversed cyphers and crests. apply, if by letter, enclosing stamps or post-office order, to james friswell (son-in-law to j. rumley, publisher of "the crest book," "heraldic illustrations"), heraldic engraver, . brooke street, holborn. * * * * * foolscap vo. price s. the practical working of the church of spain. by the rev. frederick meyrick, m.a., fellow of trinity college, oxford. "pleasant meadows, happy peasants, all holy monks, all holy priests, holy every body. such charity and such unity, when every man was a catholic. i once believed in this utopia myself but when tested by stern facts, it all melts away like dream."--_a. welby pugin._ "the revelations made by such writers as mr. meyrick in spain and mr. gladstone in italy, have at least vindicated for the church of england a providential and morally defined position, mission, and purpose in the catholic church."--_morning chronicle._ "two valuable works ... to the truthfulness of which we are glad to add our own testimony: one, and the most important, is mr. meyrick's 'practical working of the church of spain.' this is the experience--and it is the experience of every spanish traveller--of a thoughtful person, as to the lamentable results of unchecked romanism. here is the solid substantial fact. spain is divided between ultra-infidelity and what is so closely akin to actual idolatry, that it can only be controversially, not practically, distinguished from it: and over all hangs a lurid cloud of systematic immorality, simply frightful to contemplate. we can offer a direct, and even personal, testimony to all that mr. meyrick has to say."--_christian remembrancer._ "i wish to recommend it strongly."--_t. k. arnold's theological critic._ "many passing travellers have thrown more or less light upon the state of romanism and christianity in spain, according to their objects and opportunities; but we suspect these 'workings' are the fullest, the most natural, and the most trustworthy, of anything that has appeared upon the subject since the time of blanco white's confessions."--_spectator._ "this honest exposition of the practical working of romanism in spain, of its everyday effects, not its canons and theories, deserves the careful study of all, who, unable to test the question abroad, are dazzled by the distant mirage with which the vatican mocks many a yearning soul that thirsts after water-brooks pure and full."--_literary gazette._ john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london. * * * * * black-letter rarities and other curious books. four days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on thursday, july , and three following days, a portion of the early-printed english books from the library of a well-known collector, removing from islington; among them many of considerable rarity, some interesting and highly curious english poetical and other manuscripts of early date, some autograph papers and miscellaneous collections, formerly in the libraries of the rev. joseph ames, f.s.a., the rev. john lewis, f.s.a., and sir peter thompson, f.s.a., f.r.s.; also many interesting and rare works relating to america and the indies, &c. catalogues will be sent on application (if in the country, on receipt of six postage stamps). * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are indicated by footnotes to the relevant item. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page italian english st. nicholas church, brighton key to dibdin's bibliomania parallel passages, by harry leroy temple antiquity of the polka: a note for the ladies seven score superstitious sayings, by j. westby gibson minor notes:--mormon etymologies--bandalore and tommy moore--electric clock--desirable reprints--the earldom of oxford--literary attainments of the scottish clergy in the seventeenth century queries:-- queries as to mr. collier's "notes and emendations" hone's "history of parody," by james b. murdoch the countess of pembroke's letter to sir joseph williamson minor queries:--mediæval parchment--"mater ait natæ"--fox of whittlebury forest--names and numbers of british regiments--daughters of st. mark--kentish fire--optical phenomenon--cardinal bentivoglio's description of england--remarkable signs--old fable--tide tables--passage in ovid--roger pele, abbot of furness--curtseys and bows--historical proverb--bishop patrick's "parable of a pilgrim"--dr. parr's dedications--"königl. schwedischer in teutschland geführter krieg"--"officium birgittinum anglice"--campbell's hymn on the nativity minor queries with answers:--"when our lord falls in our lady's lap"--hobnail-counting in the court of exchequer--a race for canterbury--nose of wax--"praise from sir hubert stanley!"--rosary replies:-- the rod: a poem the dutch east-india company "its," by thomas keightley commencement of the year "penardo and laissa" robin hood, by john d'alton and j. lewelyn curtis photographic notes and queries:--originator of collodion process--the soiling of the fingers--sir w. newton's process: chloride of bromium--the collodion process--portable camera replies to minor queries:--chaplains to noblemen--mitigation of capital punishment to a forger--brydone the tourist--yankee--miniature ring of charles i.--bishop of ossory: cardinal's hat--hugh oldham, bishop of exeter--"sic transit gloria mundi"--wake--"words given to man to conceal his thoughts"--inscription on penny of george iii.--"nine tailors make a man"--on quotations-- rhymes on places--coins in foundations--fleshed, meaning of--robert wauchope, archbishop of armagh--flemish and dutch schools of painting--furmety or frumenty--etymology of pearl, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. italian english. i have been favoured by a friend, who visited italy last year, with the perusal of a small guidebook, which has afforded me much amusement, and from which i send you a few extracts for the gratification of your readers. the title runs thus: "description of the front and interior of the cathedral of milan the first edition corrected, and increased with interesting things milan by the printer luigi di giacomo pirola m.dccc.xlvi." the preface is as follows: "in presenting to the learned and intelligent publick this new and brief description of the cathedral of milan, i must apprise that i do not mean to emulate with the works already existing of infinite merit for the notions they contain, and the perspicuity with which they are exposed. my idea only was to make an extract of them, not forgetting the principal things of observation, with the names of the most distinguished artists, and not to deprive them of all the digressions and explanations required by the scientificals, or those skilled in the art, so that it might be contained in a pamphlet, and of little expence, to be offered to the amateurs of fine arts, who come to visit this unique and magnificent edifice. therefore i have not failed to include in it, all that has been done subsequently to the publishment of the above works, with some other little trifles worthy to be seen, and in them not mentioned. such has been my sole design, no other pretention has induced me to it, and with a similar premise, i hope to be pardoned by the indulgent reader for all the errors in which i might have involuntarily incurred. g. p." in the introductory portion, giving a general account of the building, "g. p." says: "under the direction of honest, intelligent and active administrators, and by the pious munificence of our gracious sovereign, who bestowes an annual generous donation for completing the building of the cathedral of milan, one perceives tending with the greatest celerity to the perfection of this magnificent edifice, founded by a special vow in by the duke of milan giovanni galeazzo visconti. it is of fine white statuary marble, extracted from the quarry of mount gandolia, which among many gifts was expressly regaled for the building by its generous founder the duke visconti above mentioned." { } in describing the "fore-front" he gives a catalogue of the "bass-riliefs," from which a few extracts are made: " st. the tobiolo assisted by the angel in his jounrey to rages, ... the second is the angel that expells adam and eve from the eden, by carlo maria giudici. the two in the second order are: daniel in the lake of the lions by the above carabelli, and job on the dunghill, by the above giudici. the two upper statues that figure saint bartholomew and saint james junior, are works by buzzi donelli and buzzi giuseppe. the bass-riliefs that follow aside of the pilaster is god appearing to moses in the ardent-brambles.... over the great windout the bass-rilief representing samuel while he oints saul king of israel is by carlo maria giudici, and angelo pizzi a milanese, carved the vision of jacob on the side of the following pilaster. in sight of the same moses who makes the water gush from the mountain is by giuseppe buzzi, and the other bass-rilief that is placed above, represents the prophet elia presenting to the afflicted mother the resurrection of her son, by grazioso rusca. by canaillo pacetti is the statue of saint james senior.... the bass-rilief over the great window represents the prophetess debora providing captain barach with arms.... ornamented is the rest of the front with a great number of statues managed with skill by intelligent authors, and aside of the door are the apostles peter and paul of ancient work and unknown author ... as also of unknown chisel is saul who tempts to kill david.... the angel who assures sampson's father that his wife, believed to be sterile, will generate the strongest of israel's sons.... on reaching the fourth door one perceives in the frontispiece the bass-rilief that adorns it, which is by lasagni; representing givele that with a nail kills captain sisara.... esaù renouncing the primogeniture to his brother jacob.... over the great window is painted agar dying with thirst, with the son of ismael in the desert, while an angel appears indicating a fountain to her.... the first of the other four bass-riliefs in view figure gedeone preparing to fight the madianites, and the second sampson suffocating the lion.... the saints philip and thomas placed upwards are by the egregious pompeo marchesi ... the second is by ribossi, representing absatom suspended by his hair to a tree and pierced through by jacob." in describing the interior, "g. p." is rather more instructive, but not quite so entertaining: however, a number of the peculiar expressions already quoted are repeated with the same confiding simplicity. a few extracts will suffice for this portion: "the ornaments of the five doors are the designment of fabio mangone, ... the surprising vault a _chiaro-scuro_, drawn and painted in part by our milanese felice alberti, who in the year was ravished from the living by a fatal misfortune in the flower of his age ... in the inward columns on both sides are two very fine statues sitting in a very melancholy action, which represent military peace and virtue ... under the tomb-stone is another small and genteel bass-rilief representing the saviour afflicted, sustained by two little angels.... the altar of santa tecla, which is part of the left arm of the cross, or form of the church, as is mentioned above, representing the saint in a seraglio of wild beasts, is by the sculptor carlo beretta." lest i should have exhausted your patience, as well as that of your readers, i will close with one more quotation, which displays what mrs. malaprop calls "a nice derangement of epitaphs:" "the last altar that was seen not long since on this side was dedicated to the blessed virgin, whose image carved in wood dated a remote antiquity, but as to the remnant nothing was found to be appreciable in sort of art." a. r. x. paisley. * * * * * st. nicholas church, brighton. in matters touching the public weal, the editor of "n. & q." always finds space for his correspondents: a few lines are asked for the present subject, as being one on which his pages have already been earnestly devoted. the rebuilding of brighton old church has been announced, and those who have frequented the salubrious breezes of that unequalled marine residence have often enjoyed the commanding view of the town and noble sea, which is obtained from the hill on which this venerable fabric stands, and which is about to disappear and perhaps "leave not a wreck behind." the church is literally lined and flagged with monuments of the dead, more or less noted; but all of whom have passed through the stage of this life away from their native localities, and many falling where they went to seek in vain renovated health. the tombs in the churchyard, immediately adjoining the church, of capt. tettersell, who conveyed king charles to france after the battle of worcester; and phoebe hassell, who fought under the duke of cumberland at fontenoy, are continually surveyed by the old visitors. in a few months it may be too late to suggest to your friends interested in the preservation of monumental remains, and their inscriptions, to prevent such a similar removal and destruction as has taken place at lambeth, under the walls of the archbishop's residence, by the rector, church-wardens, and architects of lambeth new church. a notice to those interested in the history of the county of sussex may be the means of preserving at least the inscriptions, and calling attention of the amiable and respected vicar of brighton to a consideration of the subject. k. n. { } * * * * * key to dibdin's bibliomania. the following key to the characters in the _bibliomania_ (edit. ) has been collected with care, and will no doubt prove acceptable to some of the readers of "n. & q.": atticus richard heber, esq. aurelius george chalmers, esq. alphonso horne tooke? archimedes john rennie, esq. bernardo joseph haslewood, esq. boscardo james boswell, esq.? coriolanus john ph. kemble, esq. crassus watson taylor, esq. eumenius j. d. phelps, esq. ( .) gonzalo john dent, esq. hortensius w. bolland, esq. honorio george hibbert, esq. hippolyto samuel weller singer, esq. leontes james bindley, esq. lepidus dr. gosset. lysander rev. t. f. dibdin. lorenzo sir mark sykes. lavinia's husband j. harrison, esq. lisardo r. heathcote, esq. licius francis freeling, esq. marcellus edmond malone, esq. mustapha w. gardiner of pall mall. menander tom. warton. malvolio payne knight or townley? menalcas rev. henry drury. mercurii (iii.) mr. henry foss, mr. triphook, and mr. griffiths. meliadus r. lang, esq. nicas g. shepherd, esq. narcottus rev. j. jones. orlando michael woodhull, esq. prospero francis douce, esq. philemon j. barwise, esq. ( .) phormio rev. h. vernon. portius mr. john cuthill. palmeria robert southey, esq. philelphus geo. henry freeling, esq. palermo john north, esq. pontevallo duke of bridgewater? quisquilius george baker, esq. rinaldo j. edwards, esq. rosicrusius rev. t. f. dibdin. sir tristram walter scott, esq. sycorax joseph ritson. ulpian edw. vernon utterson, esq. ( .) attributed to birt } in sir francis ( .) ---- churton } freeling's copy. page . right-hand neighbor mr. george nicol. left-hand ditto mr. r. h. evans. opposite ditto mr. thomas payne. page . literary friend sir henry ellis. w. p. * * * * * parallel passages.[ ] . "in a drear-nighted december, too happy, happy tree, thy branches ne'er remember their green felicity," &c.--_keats._ "what would be the heart of an old weather-beaten hollow stump, if the leaves and blossoms of its youth were suddenly to spring up out of the mould around it, and to remind it how bright and blissful summer was in the years of its prime?"--hare's _guesses at truth_, st series, p. . . "spake full well, in language quaint and olden, one who dwelleth by the castled rhine, when he call'd the flowers, so blue and golden, stars that on earth's firmament do shine." longfellow, _flowers_. "and daisy-stars, whose firmament is green." hood, _plea of the midsummer fairies_, xxxvi. [and see the converse thought,-- "stars are the daisies that begem the blue fields of the sky." d. m. moir, quoted in _dubl. univ. mag._, oct. .] . "but she is vanish'd to her shady home under the deep, inscrutable; and there weeps in a _midnight_ made of her own hair." hood, _hero and leander_, cxvi. "within the _midnight_ of her hair, half-hidden in its deepest deeps," &c. barry cornwall, _the pearl wearer_. "but, rising up, robed in the long _night_ of her deep hair, so to the open window moved." tennyson, _princess_, p. . . "he who for love hath undergone the worst that can befall, is happier thousandfold than one who never loved at all." m. milnes, _to myrzha, on returning_. "i hold it true, whate'er befall, i feel it when i sorrow most,-- 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." tennyson, _in memoriam_, xxvii. . boileau, speaking of himself, when set in his youth to study the law, says that his family-- "... palit, et vit en frémissant dans la poudre du greffe un poëte naissant." while pope, in his _epistle to dr. arbuthnot_, speaks of-- "some clerk, foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, who pens a stanza when he should engross." harry leroy temple. p.s.--at p. . of vol. vi. are inserted some other parallels, noted by me in the course of my reading. for one of these so inserted, that relating { } to sylla, i was taken to task (see vol. vi., p. .) by p. c. s. s. now, the parallel between the two passages ("_parallel_, resemblance, conformity continued through many particulars, likeness," johnson's _dictionary_) is this: both verses endeavour to picture the mingled red and white of the "human face divine" (one satirically, the other eulogistically), by comparing their combined effect to that of the red hue of fruit seen through a partially superfused white medium--meal over mulberries, cream over strawberries. if there is not sufficient "resemblance" or "likeness" in the two (in the opinion of p. c. s. s.) to justify me in placing them _alongside of one another_ ([greek: parallêla]), i really cannot help it. i have now ascertained that the words "sylla's a mulberry sprinkled with meal" are to be found in langhorne's _plutarch_, as a translation of the original greek quoted by p. c. s. s. [footnote : continued from vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., p. .] * * * * * antiquity of the polka: a note for the ladies. the description of the _lavolta_ in sir john davies's poem on dancing, _the orchestra_ ( ), shows that it must have closely resembled the dance which we fondly boast of as one of the great inventions of the nineteenth century. it runs as follows: "yet is there one, the most delightful kind, a lofty jumping, or a leaping round, where arm in arm two dancers are entwined, and whirl themselves with strict embracements bound; and still their feet an anapæst do sound; an anapæst is all their music's song, whose first two feet are short, and third is long." the "anapæst" is conclusive; it points exactly to the peculiar nature of the polka, the pause on the _third_ step. moreover, it appears, that as there is no especial figure for the polka, so there was none for the lavolta; for it is classed among those dances "wherein that dancer greatest praise has won, which, with best order, can all orders shun; for everywhere he wantonly must range, and turn and wind with unexpected change." who can doubt after that? the polka was certainly danced before queen elizabeth! to this valuable historical parallel i may add that the galliard and coranto also were apparently danced _ad libitum_ (observing only a particular measure), just as our waltz and galop also are: "for more diverse and more pleasing show, a swift, a _wandering_ dance, he [love] did invent, with _passages uncertain_ to and fro, yet with a certain answer and consent, to the quick music of the instrument." b. r. i. * * * * * seven score superstitious sayings. my common-place books contain a goodly number of superstitious sayings, noted down as heard at different times and in various places, chiefly during the last ten or twelve years. i have made a selection from them, the greater portion of which will probably come under the printer's eye for the first time, should they be considered a fitting addition to the interesting records of folk lore in the pages of "n. & q." i reserve my comment or attempted illustration for future opportunities. _first score._ . _adder._ "look under the deaf adder's belly, and you'll find marked, in mottled colours, these words: 'if i could hear as well as see, no man of life [sic] should master me!'" (this saying was related to me by a friend, a native of lewes, sussex, where it is common.) . _adder-skin._ "it'll bring you good luck to hang an ether-skin o'er the chimbly [chimney-piece]." (heard in leicestershire.) . _beanfield._ "sleep in a beanfield all night if you want to have awful dreams, or go crazy." (in leicestershire.) . _chime-hours._ "a child born in chime-hours will have the power to see spirits." (a somerset friend.) . _egg-shells._ "always poke a hole through your eggshell before you throw it away."--why? "if you don't, the fairies will put to sea to wreck the ships." (somerset. query, for fairies, read witches?) . _eyebrows._ "it's a good thing to have meeting eyebrows. you'll never know trouble." (various places.) . _fern-root._ "cut a fern-root slantwise, and you'll see a picture of an oak-tree: the more perfect, the luckier chance for you." (croydon and elsewhere.) . _flowering myrtle._ "that's the luckiest plant to have in your window. water it every morning, and be proud of it." (somerset.) . _harvest spider._ "the _harvest-man_ has got four things on its back,--the scythe, the rake, the sickle, and [query the fourth?] it's most unlucky for the reaper to kill it on purpose." (from an essex man.) . _holly, ivy, &c._ "all your _christmas_ should be burnt on twelfth-day morning." (london, &c.) . _lettuce._ "o'er-much lettuce in the garden will stop a young wife's bearing." (richmond, surrey.) . _may-baby._ "a may-baby's always sickly. you may try, but you'll never rear it." (various.) . _may-kitten._ "you should drown a may-kitten. it's unlucky to keep it." (somerset.) { } . _new moon._ "you may see as many new moons at once through a silk handkerchief, as there are years before you will marry." (leicestershire.) . _onions._ "in buying onions always go in by one door of the shop, and come out by another. select a shop with two doorways. these onions, placed under your pillow on st. thomas's eve, are sure to bring visions of your true-love, your future husband." (london, &c.) . _parsley._ "where parsley's grown in the garden, there'll be a death before the year's out. (london and surrey.) . _ring-finger._ "the ring-finger, stroked along any sore or wound, will soon heal it. all the other fingers are poisonous, especially the fore-finger." (somerset.) . _salt._ "help to salt, help to sorrow." (various.) . _three dogs._ "if three dogs chase a rabbit or a hare, they can't kill it." (surrey.) . _white cow._ "a child that sucks a white cow will thrive better." (wilts.) j. westby gibson. . catherine street, strand. * * * * * minor notes. _mormon etymologies._--w. richards, "historian and general church recorder" of the mormons, says: "mormon is the name of an ancient prophet, and signifies _more good_. 'mormonism,' a new coined word by the enemy, signifies all truth, present, past and future; and the 'mormon's' creed is _the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth_. and this creed is what the devil and all his imps are eternally fighting against, and not against the believers of that creed only, so far as the _truth influences their actions_."--_millenial star_, , p. . this certainly displays the wisdom of the serpent, if not the meekness of wisdom. pray preserve it in your cabinet of literary curiosities. b. h. c. _bandalore and tommy moore._-- "what this toy was, we have no means of knowing," &c.--_fraser's mag._, january, p. . had our reviewer stepped in at dunnett's toy-shop, instead of searching all his french dictionaries, he would have learned, i doubt not, that bandalore is still a living toy, just as it was when moore was young. at tunbridge it is still made in their pretty ware; and sufficiently portable for any kind-hearted grandpapa to carry in his pocket. j. j. r. _electric clock._--it is said that the electric telegraph will annihilate time and space. of the former we have visible proof. look at the new clock in west strand. the minute-hand moves only once in each minute, and then it jumps a whole minute at once, and occupies a second of time in doing so. now, supposing the clock to indicate true time at the instant of each movement, it is obvious that it must indicate untrue time at every other instant: hence it only indicates true time during one second in each minute, twenty-four minutes in each day, and six days and two hours in the whole year, or less than two years in a century; whilst, during the remaining ninety-eight years and more, it is _annihilating_ true time, by imposing upon an unwary public that which is false! j. j. r. _desirable reprints._--will you allow me to commence a series of notes, which your readers can easily amplify, viz. suggestions of old books deserving to be reprinted, with the authorities quoted recommending them. . glanvil's _scepis scientifica_. "few books, i think, are more deserving of being reprinted."--hallam's _literature of europe_. j. m. _the earldom of oxford._--the following is so remarkable a coincidence, that i am sure many of your readers will be obliged to me for bringing it under their notice, particularly those who are interested in heraldry. the same individual who has been for many years the nearest heir _male_ to aubery de vere, twentieth and last earl of oxford of that family, who died in , has become, by the recent death of alfred, sixth earl of oxford and mortimer, the nearest heir _male_ to that race also, which title is likewise extinct. an m. d. _literary attainments of the scottish clergy in the seventeenth century._--in a deed granted by andro andersone, minister of loth, in sutherlandshire, anno , wherein he is designated "ministro veriti dei apud loithe," the instrument is signed with his mark, after which is added, "cannot wreitt myself." kirkwallensis. * * * * * queries. queries as to mr. collier's "notes and emendations." query . does mr. collier claim a copyright in the _emendations on the text of shakspeare_ lately published by him, and derived from ms. corrections in his old copy of the folio of ? he seems to intimate as much in what he says at p. . of his introduction, when he speaks of a certain phrase never being again seen in any edition of shakspeare, "unless it be reproduced by some one who, _having no right to use the emendations of our folio _, adheres _of necessity_ to the { } antiquated blunder, and pertinaciously attempts to justify it." i doubt much whether he is entitled to any such privilege. if the words as restored were really those of shakspeare, as is alleged, i do not see how the writer of the ms. corrections could _himself_ claim any property in them; and if _he_ had none, much less can mr. collier have. it would be a pity were the public to be deprived of the benefit of the corrections by the use of them being exclusively confined to mr. collier's editions. query . does the writer of the ms. corrections occasionally give reasons in support of the changes proposed? at p. ., mr. collier says: "the manuscript corrector _assures us_ that although the intention of the dramatist is evident, a decided misprint has crept into the line." again, at p. ., mr. collier says: "for 'senseless obstinate,' the corrector of the folio _states that we must substitute_ words," &c. again, at p. .: "a _note_ in the folio , induces us to believe that shakspeare did not use the term," &c. the ms. corrector is also sometimes made to tell us, that a certain error is the printer's, and another that of the copyist. perhaps these are only rhetorical forms of expression, to intimate that certain corrections appeared on the margin of the folio , and mr. collier's own opinion of their propriety. scotus. edinburgh. * * * * * hone's "history of parody." a small collection of the political squibs and pamphlets published by wm. hone about , has lately come into my possession. an advertisement in several of these announces that the large material collected for his defence had induced him to prepare, and "very speedily" to publish, _a complete history of parody_, "with extensive graphic illustrations." this on march . again, on october , same year, he says: "i take this opportunity of announcing that the work will appear in monthly parts, each containing at least five engravings, and that it will probably be completed in eight deliveries at s. each. i pledge myself that the first part shall be published, without fail, on the st january next, and respectfully invite the names of subscribers. the money to be paid on the delivery of each part." lastly, in an "explanatory address," appended to no. . of his _every-day book_, dated st dec., , hone says: "_the history of parody_, with enlarged reports of my three trials, a royal vo. volume of pages, handsomely printed, and illustrated by numerous engravings on copper and wood, plain and coloured, is in considerable forwardness. the price will be l. s., in extra cloth boards," &c. thus, though advertised more than four years previously, this work had not yet come out, and indeed, if not mistaken, i think it never appeared at all. will some of your bibliographical correspondents inform me if my surmise is correct? and if so, what has become of hone's mss., and the large collection he made on the subject of parody? james b. murdoch. . hope street, glasgow. * * * * * the countess of pembroke's letter to sir joseph williamson. sir joseph williamson, secretary of state to charles ii., having presumed to recommend a candidate for her borough of appleby, she wrote him the following spirited and well-known reply: "i have been bullied by an usurper: i have been neglected by a court: but i will not be dictated to by a subject. your man sha'n't stand. "anne dorset, pembroke, and montgomery." this statement is taken from _a sermon preached at the funeral of anne, countess of pembroke, &c._, by bishop rainbow; with _biographical memoirs_ ( ), page of the _memoir_ xiii. in a note, it is observed that-- "mr. lodge questions the genuineness of this letter, which appears to have been first published in _the world_ in ." i concur with mr. lodge. the style of the letter is quite modern: the verb "bully" seems also quite a modern coinage and the signature varies from the usual setting forth and sequence of titles contained in the inscriptions which the countess placed over the gateways of her castles, as she repaired them, and which ran thus, the peerages being placed in the order of their creation, viz.: "countess dowager of pembroke, dorset, and montgomery." in support of the genuineness of the letter, it may be urged that sir joseph williamson, from an early period after the restoration until , when he became secretary of state, held various offices about the court that might have thus brought him into collision with the countess; that he was not a very scrupulous man; that he was the "son of a clergyman somewhere in _cumberland_;" and that his highest promotion took place before the death of the countess in . (for some account of him, see evelyn's _memoirs_, index.) to this it may be added, that the letter accords with her courageous spirit. can no earlier authority be given for it than that of _the world_ in ? j. k. [although this subject has been already briefly discussed in our columns (see vol. i., pp. . . .), we think it of sufficient interest to be renewed, now that our increased circulation will bring it under the notice of so many more readers; among whom, { } perhaps one may be found in a position to solve the mystery in which the authenticity of this oft-quoted letter is at present involved.] * * * * * minor queries. _mediæval parchment._--in what way did mediæval illuminators prepare their parchment? for our modern parchment is so ill prepared, that it gets crumpled as soon as wet chalk for gilding, or any colour, is laid on it; whilst the parchment in mediæval mss. is quite smooth and level, as if it had not been moistened at all. should a full answer to this query take up too much of your valuable space, i should be satisfied with the titles of any works on the art of "illumination," in which special mention is made of the way of preparing parchment. f. m. (a maltese.) "_mater ait natæ._"--where can the following lines, thus "englished by hakewill," be found? "mater ait natæ, dic natæ, filiâ, natam ut moneat natæ plangere[ ] filiolam." "the aged mother to her daughter spake, daughter, said she, arise; thy daughter to her daughter take, whose daughter's daughter cries." my object in asking the above question is for the purpose of discovering if such a relationship ever existed. w. w. malta. [footnote : "plangere" corrected from "piangere".--transcriber.] _fox of whittlebury forest._--in mr. jessie's _life of beau brummel_, i met with a passage which spoke about the "well-known fox of whittlebury forest." can any of your readers kindly inform me in what the celebrity of this animal consists, that mr. jessie takes for granted is so well known? a fox hunter. _names and numbers of british regiments_ (vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi, p. .).--i feel disappointed that none of your numerous and well-informed readers have responded to my inquiries on this subject. hoping, however, that answers may still be obtained, i venture to repeat the questions for the _third_ time, viz.: . what was the origin of giving british regiments the _name_ of a certain officer, instead of _numbering_ them as at present? . if in honour of an officer commanding the corps, was the name changed when that officer died or removed to another regiment; or what was the rule? . _when_ did the present mode of _numbering_ regiments begin; and by whom was it introduced? . what was the rule or principle laid down in giving any regiment a certain _number_? was it according to the length of time it had been embodied? . what is the guide now, in identifying a _named_ with a _numbered_ regiment? for example, at the battle of culloden, in , "wolfe's," "barrell's," and "howard's foot" were engaged. now, what is the rule for ascertaining the _numbers_ of these, and other old regiments, in the british army at the present day? i shall feel greatly obliged by the above information. z. glasgow. _daughters of st. mark._--how many were adopted as daughters of the republic of st. mark? catherine cornaro was one, and, i believe, bianca capello another. i think there were but one or two more: but who were they? rosa. _kentish fire._--what is the origin of the term "kentish fire," signifying energetic applause? rosa. _optical phenomenon._--on the afternoon of the th january, at one o'clock, as i stood on the beach of llandudno bay, north wales, i observed a rainbow, from the circumference of which passed a number of bright pencils of light, apparently converging to a point near the invisible centre of the rainbow. what is the explanation of this phenomenon? c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _cardinal bentivoglio's description of england._--a ms. of this interesting work exists among bishop tanner's mss. in the bodleian library. has it ever been printed? the account is said to have been drawn up with great care and accuracy, and betrays no sinister views. did cardinal bentivoglio visit england in person, or how did he collect his information? edward f. rimbault. _remarkable signs._--can any of the learned contributors of the "n. & q." oblige a constant reader with the probable meanings or origins of the following signs, all of which are to be found in the london directories: anti-gallican (four taverns of this name). bombay grab. essex serpent. fortune of war (five). george and guy (two). moonrakers (two). grave maurice (two). sun and thirteen cantons (two). j. e. fleet street. _old fable._--there is a fable in the _vicar of wakefield_ of two brothers, a dwarf and giant, going out to battle, and sharing the victory but not the wounds. there is another, perhaps a sequel to it, which relates that the dwarf, "tot bellorum superstitem," { } was choked in the fraternal embrace, with the sorry consolation that it was "the giant's nature to squeeze hard." are these fables wholly modern or not? i have thought that some such are the key to juvenal's meaning: "malim fraterculus esse gigantis;" to the ordinary construing of which there are positive objections. j. e. g. _tide tables._--can you, or any of your subscribers, give me a rule for ascertaining the heights of tides and times of high water, the establishment of the port, and rise of springs and neaps, being known? one divested of algebraic formulæ would be preferred: say-- establishment h. m. springs' rise ½ feet. neaps' " feet. r. lancaster. _passage in ovid._--in speaking of the rude and unscientific state of the early romans, in the third book of his _fasti_, ovid has the following verses: "libera currebant, et inobservata per annum sidera: constabat sed tamen esse deos. non illi coelo labentia signa tenebant; sed sua: quæ magnum perdere crimen erat." v. - . the idea expressed in this passage is that the primitive romans cared more about war than astronomy. they did not observe the stars, though they believed them to be deities. the pun upon the word _signa_--constellations and military standards--is worthy of notice. but what is the meaning of _libera_, in the first verse? is it nearly equivalent to _inobservata_, and does it denote the absence of the prying curiosity of men? it cannot be intended that the courses of the stars were less regular before they were the subjects of observation, than after the birth of astronomy. l. _roger pele, abbot of furness._--is anything known of the antecedents of roger pele, last abbot of furness, who, after years of trouble and persecution, was at length constrained to execute a deed, dated th april, hen. viii., whereby he did "freely and hollie surrender, giff, and graunt unto the kynges highnes and to his heyres and assignes for evermore ... all his interest and titill in the said monasterie of ffurness, and of and in the landes, rentes, possessions, revenous, servyce, both spirituall and temporall," &c.? this deed is, i believe, given at length in the cotton mss., cleopatra e. iv. fol. . roger pele was elevated about , and became rector of dalton, a village near his old abbey, th nov., hen. viii. this rectory he held, i believe, during the remainder of his life, in spite of all the efforts made to dispossess him. (see beck's _annales furnessienses_, p. . et seq.) what was the origin and early history of this man, remarkable for the firmness and ability which so long baffled all the power and might of henry, whose vengeance pursued him even into obscurity. abbati. _curtseys and bows._--why do ladies curtsey instead of bow? is the distinction one which obtains generally; and what is the earliest mention of curtseys in any writer on english affairs? e. s. hampton court. _historical proverb._--i have frequently in youth heard the proverb, "you may change _norman_ for a worser (worse) horse." this sounds like the wise saying of some unpatriotic saxon, when urged to revolt against the conquering invaders. if so, it is an interesting relic of the days when "englishrie," though suppressed, yet became peacefully victorious in transmuting the intruders into its own excellent metal. j. r. p. _bishop patrick's "parable of a pilgrim."_--can any of your contributors inform me of any bibliographical notice of bishop patrick's _parable of a pilgrim_? its singular title, and the suggested plagiarism of bunyan, lately attracted my attention; but i incline to the belief that we may still regard the _pilgrim's progress_ to be as original as it is extraordinary. patrick's work appears to have been written in , while bunyan was not committed to prison until , and was released in : having written, or at least composed, his extraordinary work during the interval. bunyan might therefore have seen and read patrick's book; but, from a careful comparison of the two works, i am satisfied in my own mind that such a supposition is unnecessary, and probably erroneous. i may add that patrick honestly confesses, that not even his own work is entirely original, but was suggested by an elder "parable of the pilgrim" in baker's _sancta sophia_. george wm. bell. _dr. parr's dedications._--dr. parr has dedicated the three parts of _bellendences de statu_ respectively to burke, lord north, and fox, subscribing each dedication with the letters a. e. a. o. can any of your correspondents explain them? balliolensis. "_königl. schwedischer in teutschland geführter krieg_, - , von b. ph. v. chemnitz."--as is known, the first two parts of this important work were printed in and . the continuation of the original manuscript exists now in the swedish record office, with the exception, unfortunately, of the third part. the curator of the royal library in hanover, however, j. dan, { } grueber, testifies, in his _commercium epistolare leibnitianinum_, pars ^{ma}, p. ., hanoviæ, , in vo., that the missing part was then in that library: "tertius tomus excusus non est, quippe imperfectus; manuscriptum tamen quoad absolutus est, inter alia septentrionis cimelia nuper repertum, bibliothecæ regiæ vindicavimus." but this manuscript is no longer to be found there. is it possible it may have been removed to england, and still to be found in one of the public collections? an answer to any of the above questions would deeply oblige g. e. klemming, librarian in the royal library at stockholm. "_officium birgittinum anglice._"-- "integrum beatæ virginis officium quod à s. birgitta concinnatum, monialibus sui ordinis in usu publico fecit, anglice ab anonymo quodam conversum, londini prodiit ante annum in folio, ex caxtoni, uti videtur, prælo editum." is the notice of the above translation occurring in an old swedish author. information is requested as to whether any more detailed account can be obtained of the book referred to.[ ] for any such the querist will be especially thankful: if it should be possible to procure a copy of the same, his boldest hopes would be exceeded. if no english translation of s. birgitta's revelations, or of the prayers and prophecies extracted therefrom--the latter known under the name of _onus mundi_, should exist, either in print or in old manuscript, this, in consideration of the very general circulation which these writings obtained in the middle ages, would be a very peculiar exception. the book named at the head of this query would appear to be a translation of the _breviarium s. birgittæ._ g. e. klemming, librarian in the royal library at stockholm. [footnote : [see wharton, in his supplement to usher, _de scripturis et sacris vernaculis_, p. ., edit. .--ed.]] _campbell's hymn on the nativity._--the hymn, of which the following are the first two verses, is said to have been written by campbell. can any correspondent of "n. & q." say which campbell is the author, and when and where the hymn was first printed? "when jordan hush'd his waters still, and silence slept on zion's hill, when bethlehem's shepherds thro' the night watch'd o'er their flocks by starry light, "hark! from the midnight hills around, a voice of more than mortal sound in distant hallelujahs stole, wild murmuring o'er the raptur'd soul." h. s. s. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _when our lord falls in our lady's lap._--seeing that good friday in this year falls on lady day, may i beg to ask if any of your contributors could inform me where the following old saying is to be met with, viz.: "when good friday falls in a lady's lap, to england will happen some mishap," or to whom the prophecy (i hope a false one) may be attributed? i have seen it some years since, and have lately been asked the origin of the saying. j. n. c. hull. [our correspondent has not quoted this old proverb correctly. it is thus given by fuller (_worthies of england_, vol. i. p. . ed. ): "when our lady falls in our lord's lap then let england beware a sad { clap { mishap, _alias_ then let the clergyman look to his cap." but fuller shows that it refers to easter day, not good friday, falling on the th march, when he remarks:--"i behold this proverbial prophecy, or this prophetical menace, to be not above six score years old, and of popish extraction since the reformation. it whispereth more than it dares speak out, and points at more than it dares whisper; and fain would intimate to credulous persons as if the blessed virgin, offended with the english for abolishing her adoration, watcheth an opportunity of revenge on this nation. and when her day (being the five-and-twentieth of march, and first of the gregorian year) chanceth to fall on the day of christ's resurrection, then being, as it were, fortified by her son's assistance, some signal judgment is intended to our state, and churchmen especially." he then gives a list of the years on which the coincidences had happened since the conquest, to which, if our correspondent is curious on the subject, we must refer him. can he, or any other of our readers, furnish any proof of the existence of this proverb before the reformation, or the existence of a similar proverb on the continent?] _hobnail-counting in the court of exchequer._--i shall feel obliged by your informing me from what circumstance originates the yearly custom of the lord mayor of london counting six horse-shoes and sixty-one hobnails at the swearing in of the sheriff? a constant reader. chertsey. [the best explanation of this custom will be found in the _gentleman's magazine_ for , where we read: "the ceremony on this occasion in the court of exchequer, which vulgar error supposed to be an unmeaning farce, is solemn and impressive, nor have the new sheriffs the least connexion either with chopping of sticks, or counting of hobnails. the tenants of a manor in shropshire are directed to come forth and do their suit and service; on which the senior alderman below { } the chair steps forward and chops a single stick, in token of its having been customary for the tenants of that manor to supply their lord with fuel. the owners of a forge in the parish of st. clement (which formerly belonged to the city, and stood in the high road from the temple to westminster, but now no longer exists) are then called forth to do their suit and service; when an officer of the court, in the presence of the senior alderman, produces six horse-shoes and sixty-one hobnails, which he counts over in form before the cursitor baron, who on this particular occasion is the immediate representative of the sovereign."] _a race for canterbury._--i have just met with a little volume of sixteen pages entitled _a race for canterbury or lambeth, ho!_ it is dated , and was evidently written on the death of archbishop potter; and describes four aspirants to the see of canterbury as four rowers on the thames: "no sooner death had seized the seer, just in the middle of his prayer, but instantly on thames appear'd four wherries rowing very hard." &c. &c. &c. the first is thus introduced: "sh----, though old, has got the start, and vigorously plays his part." the second: "h---- in order next advances, and full of hopes he strangely fancies, that he by dint of merit shall get first to land by lambeth wall." the third: "m--s--n moves on a sober pace, and sits and rows with easy grace. no ruffling passion's in him seen, indifferent if he lose or win." the fourth: "next codex comes with lab'ring oar, and, envious, sees the three before; yet luggs and tuggs with every joint, in hopes at length to gain the point." having no list of the bishops by me, of the above-mentioned date, to which i can refer, i should be glad if any of your correspondents can tell me who these four bishops are. may i ask likewise, if it is known who was the author of this not very refined or elegant composition? john branfill harrison. maidstone. [the four aspirants probably were, . sherlock of salisbury; . herring of york, the next primate; . mawson of chichester; . gibson of london.] _nose of wax._--in so famous a public document as the _nottingham declaration of the nobles, gentry, and commons_, in november, , against the papistical inroads of the infatuated king james, i find in the ninth resolution that he is accused of "rendering the laws a _nose of wax_," in order to further arbitrary ends. i have often heard the phrase familiarly in my youthful days; may i ask of you to inform me of its origin? its import is plain enough,--a silly bugbear, of none effect but to be laughed at. w. j. [nares explains it more correctly as a proverbial phrase for anything very mutable and accommodating; chiefly applied to flexibility of faith. he adds, "it should be noticed, however, that the similitude was originally borrowed from the roman catholic writers, who applied it to the holy scriptures, on account of their being liable to various interpretations."] "_praise from sir hubert stanley!_"--i have somewhere heard or read this, or a very similar phrase, ironically expressive of surprise at approbation from an unexpected quarter. i would much like a clue to its source and correct shape. w. t. m. hong kong. [this is from morton's _cure for the heart ache_, act v. sc. .:--"approbation from sir hubert stanley is praise indeed."] _rosary._--what is the origin of the term _rosary_? is it derived from the latin _rogare_? g. c. c. [richardson derives it from fr. _rosaire_; ital. and sp. _rosario_; low lat. _rosarium, corona rosacea_, a garland or chaplet of roses. the definition of it by the abbé prevost is this:--"it consists," he says, "of fifteen tens, said to be in honour of the fifteen mysteries in which the blessed virgin bore a part. _five_ joyous, viz. the annunciation, the visit to st. elizabeth, the birth of our saviour, the purification, and the disputation of christ in the temple. _five_ sorrowful: our saviour's agony in the garden, his flagellation, crowning with thorns, bearing his cross, and crucifixion. _five_ glorious: his resurrection, ascension, the descent of the holy ghost, his glorification in heaven, and the assumption of the virgin herself."--_manuel lexique._ nares, quoting this passage, adds, "this is good authority; but why each of the fives is multiplied by ten the abbé does not explain; probably to make the chaplet of a sufficient length."] * * * * * replies. the rod: a poem. (vol. vi., p. .) my copy of this poem bears date , and is not stated to be a second edition. it has "an advertisement" of three pages, deprecatory of the imputation of any personal allusions, or design to encourage school rebellions. it has also a frontispiece ("jas. green, sculp., oxon."), representing two youths, one standing, the other sitting, on a form; and before them the figure of an ass, erect on his hind legs, clothed in a pallium. a birch, doctorial hat, and books, lettered priscian and { } lycophron, form the base; and on a ribbon above is the legend, "an ass in the greek pallium teaching." in other respects my copy agrees with mr. crossley's description of his, except that the argument (p. .) commences, "_the great and good_ king alfred," &c. perhaps the following lines (though i doubt their having been written at the age of thirteen) may be received as germane to the subject: the birch: a poem. _written by a youth of thirteen._ though the _oak_ be the prince and the pride of the grove, the emblem of power and the fav'rite of jove; though phoebus his temples with _laurel_ has bound, and with chaplets of _poplar_ alcides is crown'd; though pallas the _olive_ has graced with her choice, and old mother cybel in _pines_ may rejoice, yet the muses declare, after diligent search, that no tree can be found to compare with the _birch_. the birch, they affirm, is the true tree of knowledge, revered at each school and remember'd at college. though virgil's famed tree might produce, as its fruit, a crop of vain dreams, and strange whims on each shoot, yet the birch on each bough, on the top of each switch, bears the essence of grammar and eight parts of speech. 'mongst the leaves are conceal'd more than mem'ry can mention, all cases, all genders, all forms of declension. nine branches, when cropp'd by the hands of the nine, and duly arranged in a parallel line, tied up in nine folds of a mystical string, and soak'd for nine days in cold helicon spring, form a sceptre composed for a pedagogue's hand, like the fasces of rome, a true badge of command. the sceptre thus finish'd, like moses's rod, from flints could draw tears, and give life to a clod. should darkness egyptian, or ignorance, spread their clouds o'er the mind, or envelope the head, the rod, thrice applied, puts the darkness to flight, disperses the clouds, and restores us to light. like the virga divina, 'twill find out the vein where lurks the rich metal, the ore of the brain. should genius a captive in sloth be confined, or the witchcraft of pleasure prevail o'er the mind, the magical wand but apply--with a stroke the spell is dissolved, the enchantment is broke. like hermes' caduceus, these switches inspire rhetorical thunder, poetical fire: and if morpheus our temples in lethe should steep, their touch will untie all the fetters of sleep. here dwells strong conviction--of logic the glory, when applied with precision _à posteriori_. i've known a short lecture most strangely prevail, when duly convey'd to the head through the tail; like an electrical shock, in an instant 'tis spread, and flies with a jerk from the tail to the head; promotes circulation, and thrills through each vein, the faculties quickens, and purges the brain. by sympathy thus, and consent of the parts, we are taught, _fundamentally_, classics and arts. the birch, _à priori_, applied to the palm, can settle disputes and a passion becalm. whatever disorders prevail in the blood the birch can correct them, like guaiacum wood: it sweetens the juices, corrects our ill humours, bad habits removes, and disperses foul tumours. when applied to the hand it can cure with a switch, like the salve of old molyneux, used in the itch! as the famed rod of circe to brutes could turn men, so the twigs of the birch can unbrute them again. like the wand of the sybil, that branch of pure gold, these sprays can the gates of elysium unfold-- the elysium of learning, where pleasures abound, those sweets that still flourish on classical ground. prometheus's rod, which, mythologists say, fetch'd fire from the sun to give life to his clay, was a rod well applied his men to inspire with a taste for the arts, and their genius to fire. this bundle of rods may suggest one reflection, that the arts with each other maintain a connexion. another good moral this bundle of switches points out to our notice and silently teaches; of peace and good fellowship these are a token, for the twigs, well united, can scarcely be broken. then, if such are its virtues, we'll bow to the tree, and the birch, like the muses, immortal shall be. i copy from a ms. extract-book, and shall be glad of a reference to any place in which these lines have appeared in print. balliolensis. * * * * * the dutch east-india company. (vol. vi., p. .) these folio volumes appeared in , without name or place of either author or printer, under the title-- "begin ende voortgang van de vereenighde nederlandsche geoctroyeerde oost-indische compagnie, vervattende de voornaemste reysen, by de inwoonderen derselver provincien derwaerts gedaen, alles nevens de { } beschryvinghen der rycken, eylanden, hovenen, rivieren, stroomen, rheden, winden, diepten, ondiepten, mitsgaders religien, manieren, aerdt, politie, ende regeeringhe der volckeren, oock mede haerder specerÿen, drooghen, geldt ende andere koopmanschappen; met veele discoursen verryckt, nevens eenighe koopere platen verciert. nut ende dienstig alle curieuse ende andere zee-varende. met dry besondere tafels ofte registers; in twee delen verdeelt, waer het eerste begrypt veerttien voyagien den meerendeelen voor desen noyt in 't licht geweest. gedrukt in den jaere ." (_translation._) commencement and progress of the united dutch chartered east-india company, containing the principal travels made among the inhabitants of the provinces there, together with a description of the kingdoms, courts, islands, rivers, roadsteads, winds, deeps, shallows, as well as religions, manners, character, police, and governments of the people; also their spices, drugs, money, and other merchandise, enriched with many discourses, and adorned with copperplates. useful and profitable to all curious and seafaring virtuosi. with three separate tables or registers; divided into two parts, of which the first contains fourteen voyages, the most part never before published. printed in the year . the compiler, however, goes too far in asserting that the greatest part of these voyages had never been printed. the contrary appears when we open the folio catalogue of the leyden library, containing a fine collection of these early voyages of our ancestors. these voyages were printed consecutively in small folio before ; as also the _oost indische en west indische voyagien_, amsterdam, by michel colyn, boekverkooper (_east indian and west indian voyages_, amsterdam, by michel colyn, bookseller), anno , one volume, in the same form and thickness as those of : some of the plates also in this volume are similar to those of . this work was dedicated, th february, , to the heeren gecommitteerde raden ter admiraliteit residerende te amsterdam (advising committee to the admiralty residing at amsterdam), and begins with the _reis naar nova sembla_ (_voyage to nova zembla_), printed at enkhuizen in , by jacob lenaertsz meijn, at the vergulde schryfboek (gilt writing-book), so that it is not improbable that the whole work was printed at enkhuizen. michel colyn also published other dutch voyages in . concerning cornelis claesz (_i.q._ son of nicholas), printer at amsterdam, i have to observe that he died before , but that the late lucas jansz. wagenaer had bought all his plates, maps, privileges, &c. by a notarial act passed th august, , at enkhuizen, tryn haickesdr., widow of the above-named wagenaer, declared that the widow of cornelis claesz might make over to jacob lenaertsz all the above-mentioned maps, privileges, &c. see a resolution of the states-general of th september, , in dodt's _kerkelÿk en wereldlÿk archief_, p. . (_ecclesiastical and civil archives_).--_from the navorscher._ elsevier. leyden. j. a. de chalmot, in his _biographical dictionary of the netherlands_, vol. vii. p. ., names as author, or rather as compiler of this work, isaak commelin, born at amsterdam th october, , died rd jan. , and quotes kasp. commelin's _description of amsterdam_, which i have not at hand to refer to. the work was printed at amsterdam without printer's name: each _voyagie_ or description is separately paged; some places have a french text. in the second volume is a _generale beschryvinghe van indien, &c._, naer de copÿe ghedruckt tot batavia in de druckerÿe van gansenpen, anno (_general description of india, &c._, according to the copy printed at batavia at the office of the _goose quill_). whether any other pieces which commelin compiled had been earlier printed, i have not been able to discover.--_from the navorscher._ j. c. k. * * * * * "its." (vol. vi., p. .) the following are earlier instances of the employment of _its_ by the poets, than any that your correspondent seems to have met with: "how sometimes nature will betray _its_ folly, _its_ tenderness, and makes itself a pastime to harder bosoms! _winter's tale_, act i. sc. . "each following day became the next day's master, till the last made former wonders _its_." _henry viii._, act i. sc. . "on the green banks which that fair stream in-bound, flowers and odours sweetly smiled and smell'd, which, reaching out _its_ stretched arms around, all the large desert in _its_ bosom held." fairefax, _godfrey of bulloigne_, xviii. ., . i doubt if there are any earlier instances among the poets. i have had no opportunity of examining the prose writers of the sixteenth century, but think they must have employed _its_ earlier than the poets. as we may see in the version of the bible, and other works of the time, the english, like the anglo-saxon, long continued to use the genitive _his_ for neuters as well as for masculines; and _thereof_ for our present _of it_, _its_. _its_ leads me to reflect how ignorant people were of the old languages in the last century. if ever there was a palpable forgery, it is the poems of rowley: yet, if my memory does not deceive me, { } tyrwhitt regarded them as genuine; and malone authoritatively affirmed that "no one except the nicest judges of english poetry, from chaucer to pope, was competent to test their genuineness." why, this little word _its_ might have tested it. you see we have not been able to trace it in poetry higher up than the end of the sixteenth century; and i am quite sure that it is not to be found in either chaucer or spenser: and yet, in the very first page of rowley, we meet with the following instances of it: "the whyche in _yttes_ felle use doe make moke dere." "the thynge _yttes_ (_ytte is?_) moste bee _yttes_ owne defense." but there is a still surer test. we can hardly read a line of chaucer, gower, or any other poet of the time, without meeting with what the french term the feminine _e_, and which must be pronounced as a syllable to make the metre. from one end to the other of the poems of rowley, there is not a single instance of it! thos. keightley. * * * * * commencement of the year. (vol. vi., p. .) it may be of service to the inquirer as to the commencement of the year, to call his attention to the note appended to the "table of moveable feasts" in editions prior to . as given by keeling, from the editions antecedent and subsequent to the last review, in , they are as follows: "_note._--that the supputation of the year of our lord in the church of england beginneth the xxvth day of march, the same day supposed to be the first day upon which the world was created, and the day when christ was conceived in the womb of the virgin mary" [ ]. "_note._--that the supputation of the year of our lord in the church of england beginneth the xxvth day of march" [ ]. of course, after the act for alteration of the style ( geo. ii. c. .) was passed, this note was omitted. but up to that date the old supputation was authoritative and legal. reference to hampson's _medii Ævi kalendarium_ might further illustrate the point. to this note allow me to append a query. after the collect for st. stephen's day follows this rubric: "then shall follow the collect of the nativity, which shall be said continually until new year's eve." query, was this collect to be repeated from december to march ? for, according to the above supputation, that would be new year's eve. the following note, from the preface to granger's _biographical history_, may not be out of place: "the following absurdities, among many others, were occasioned by these different computations. in there were two easters, the first on the th of april, and the second on the nd of march following; and there were three different denominations of the year of our lord affixed to three state papers which were published in one week, viz. his majesty's speech, dated - ; the address of the house of lords, ; the address of the house of commons, ."--page xxiii., edit. . balliolensis. * * * * * "penardo and laissa." (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent e. d. is fortunate in the possession of a rare book, worth a "jew's eye" in the good old days of the bibliomania. it formed a part of the heber collection, where (see part iv. p. .) it figures under the following quaint title: "the first booke of the famous historye of penardo and laissa, other-ways called the warres of love and ambitione, wherein is described penardo his most admirable deeds of arms, his ambition of glore, his contempt of love, with loves mighte assalts and ammorous temptations, laissa's feareful inchantment, hir relief, hir travells, and lastly, loves admirabel force in hir releiving penardo from the fire. doone in heroik verse by patrik gordon. printed at dort by george waters, ." this copy, which was originally john pinkerton's, cost mr. heber l., and was resold at his sale for l. s., for the library of mr. miller, of craigentenny; another is in the possession of dr. keith, edinburgh. pinkerton, in his _ancient scottish poems_, london, , thus describes _penardo and laissa_: "rare to excess; nor can more than two copies be discovered, one in the editor's possession, another in that of an anonymous correspondent in scotland. the author was probably so ashamed of it as to quash the edition, for it is the most puerile mixture of all times, manners, and religions that ever was published; for instance, the christian religion is put as that of ancient greece." of the author, patrick gordon, little or nothing seems to be known beyond the fact of his styling himself "gentleman," probably the only ground for pinkerton calling him "a man of property." the fame of gordon, however, rests upon a better foundation than the above work, he having also "doone in heroik verse _the famous historie of the renouned and valiant prince robert, surnamed the bruce, king of scotland_," "a tolerable poem," says the same critic, "but not worth reprinting, although it had that compliment twice paid to it." { } the "bruce" of our author is a concoction from barbour and a certain _book of virgin parchment_, upon the same subject, by peter fenton, known only to gordon, and, like _penardo_, sets propriety at defiance, "christ and jupiter being with matchless indecorum grouped together:"[ ] it, too, came originally from the press of dort, ; again from that of james watson, edinburgh, ; and a third time, glasgow, by hall, . j. o. [footnote : irving's _scottish poets_.] * * * * * robin hood. (vol. vi., p. .) ireland, too, is associated with the fame of this renowned wood-ranger. this "_pen_-ultima thule," which received and protected the refugees of roman oppression and the victims of saxon extermination, was looked to in later times as a sanctuary where crime might evade punishment; and in the _annals of robin hood_ this national commiseration was evinced. "in the year ," writes holinshed, "there ranged three robbers and outlaws in england, among which 'robert' hood and little john were chieftains, of all thieves doubtless the most courteous. robert, being betrayed at a nunnery in scotland, called bricklies, the remnant of the 'crue' was scattered, and every man forced to shift for himself; whereupon little john was fain _to flee the realm_ by sailing into ireland, where he sojourned for a few days at dublin. the citizens being 'doone' to understand the wandering outcast to be an excellent archer, requested him heartily to try how far he could shoot at random, who, yielding to their behest, stood on the bridge of dublin and shot to a hillock in oxmantown (thereafter called little john's shot), leaving behind him a monument, rather by posterity to be wondered than possibly by any man living to be counterscored."--_description of ireland_, fol., p. . the danger, however, of being taken drove little john thence to scotland, where, adds the annalist, "he died at a town or village called moravie." john d'alton. i may perhaps be allowed to subscribe to the opinion expressed by h. k., that "though men of the name of robin hood may have existed in england, that of itself could afford no ground for inferring that some one of them was the robin hood of romantic tradition;" and at the same time to express my dissent from the conclusion, that "any pretence for such a supposition is taken away by the strong evidence, both scotch and french," which h. k. has "adduced in support of the opposite view." the inferences which i draw from the facts adduced by h. k. are, that the fame of the hero of english ballads probably extended to france and scotland, and that the people of scotland probably sympathised with this disturber of the peace of the kingdom of their "aulde ennemies." i must, however, confess that i have not met with any portion of "the discussion about the nature of robin hood," excepting that contained in ritson's notes and hunter's tract, and that the evidence adduced in the latter publication, in support of the tradition handed down to us in the ballad entitled _a lyttel geste of robyn hode_, seems to me to satisfactorily show that "the robin hood of romantic tradition really existed in england in the time of edward ii." j. lewelyn curtis. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _originator of collodion process_ (vol. vii., pp. . . .).--the fairest way of deciding m. le gray's claims would be, to quote what he really says. willat's pamphlet, published in , entitled _a practical treatise, &c._, by gustave le gray, translated by thomas cousins, ends with an appendix, which runs thus: "i have just discovered a process upon glass by hydrofluoric ether, the fluoride of potassium, and soda dissolved in alcohol °, mixed with sulphuric ether, and afterwards saturated with collodion; i afterwards re-act with aceto-nitrate of silver, and thus obtain proofs in the camera in five seconds in the shade. i develope the image by a very weak solution of sulphate of iron, and fix with hyposulphite of soda. i hope by this process to arrive at great rapidity. ammonia and bromide of potassium give great variations of promptitude. as soon as my experiments are complete i will publish the result in an appendix. this application upon glass is very easy: the same agents employed with albumen and dextrine, give also excellent results and very quick. i have also experimented with a mucilage produced by a fucus, a kind of sea-weed, which promises future success. i hope by some of these means to succeed in taking portraits in three or four seconds." i know not at what time of the year the pamphlet came out, nor whether the appendix was subsequently added; but any copy containing it was bought about the middle of august, . thos. d. eaton. [we have much pleasure in inserting this communication, as it may be the means of drawing fresh attention to the other substances mentioned by le gray; for we are strongly of opinion that, notwithstanding the advantages of collodion, there are other _media_ which may prove preferable.--ed.] _the soiling of the fingers_ may be entirely avoided by a simple expedient. use a slightly concave horizontal dish for sensitizing, and a depth of solution not sufficient to wet the back of the collodionized plate, and after the impressed plate { } has been placed on the levelled stand and developed, proceed thus: instead of holding the plate by the fingers to perform the subsequent processes, take a strip of glass (say five inches long and one and a half wide for the ordinary portrait size), put a single drop of water on it, and carefully pass it beneath the developed plate; lift the glass thereby; the adhesion is sufficiently firm to sustain the plate in any required position for the remaining manipulations till it is washed and finished. cokely. _sir w. newton's process.--chloride of bromium._--may i ask, through the medium of your very excellent journal, what purpose sir w. newton intends to meet by the application of his wash of chloride of barium previous to iodizing? f. maxwell lyte. _the collodion process._--absence from london has prevented my seeing your numbers regularly; but in one for december i see mr. archer has used my name in connexion with the collodion process. he states that he called several times, and made me familiar with the process; by which he would lead persons to suppose that he taught me in fact to take pictures. now i beg most distinctly to state that this is incorrect. mr. archer made, it is true, several attempts in my glass room to take a picture, but totally failed. and why? because he attempted to follow out the process as he himself had published it. from that time i worked it out by myself, assisted by hints from mr. fry, who at the time i allude to was a successful manipulator, and had produced and exhibited many beautiful pictures, and at whose suggestion i commenced it in the first instance. there is also another portion of mr. archer's letter incorrect; but as this relates to the sale of collodion, i will let it pass, trusting, as you have given insertion to his, you will not refuse space for mine. f. horne. . newgate street. _portable camera_ (vol. vii., p. .).--if india rubber should turn out to be what h. y. w. n. thinks he has found it to be, it would be capable of being turned to excellent account. for instance, instead of having a single "portable camera," which is on many accounts very awkward to use, why should not the tourist have a light framework constructed, and covered entirely with this india rubber: in fact, an india rubber box, in which his camera, and a partitioned shelf containing his collodion, developing fluid, hypo-soda solution, &c., might be easily packed, and in which, by the aid of sleeves, &c., he might coat his plates, and develop and fix them, quite apart from his camera? he _must_ have _something_ to pack his camera, &c. in; and the above-described packing-case would be very light, and also waterproof. j. l. s. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _chaplains to noblemen_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the statute in which chaplains to noblemen are first named is henry viii. c. . ( ); in which, by sect. ., it is enacted, "that every archbysshop and duke may have vj chapleyns;" "every markes and erle may have fyve chapleyns;" "every vycecount and other byshop may have foure chapleyns;" and "the chancellour of england for the tyme beying and every baron or knyght of the garter may have thre chapleyns:" and one chaplain of each order, whether duke, marquess, earl, viscount, or baron, is thereby authorised to purchase "lycence or dispensacion to take, receyve, and kepe two parsonages or benefices with cure of souls" (_stat. of the realm_, vol. iii. p. .). i believe that x. will find a regular registry of these appointments in doctors' commons. it may be interesting to add, that among the other persons named in this statute are the master of the rolls, who may have "two chapleyns;" and the "chefe justice of the kinges benche," who may have "one chapleyn." by another statute, henry viii. c. . ( - ), this last power to have one chaplain is extended to "every jugge of the seid high courtes" (king's bench and common pleas), "the chaunceller and cheffe baron of the exchequer, the kynges generall attorney and generall soliciter" (_ibid._ p. .) edward foss. _mitigation of capital punishment to a forger_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i have been and still am inquiring into the two cases of mitigation, intending to send the result, when i have found satisfactory evidence, or exhausted my sources of inquiry. the communication of whunside is the first direct testimony, and may settle the fawcett case. as he was "resident at mr. fawcett's when the circumstances occurred," perhaps he will be so kind as to state the date and place of the conviction, and the name of the convict. by adding his own name, the facts will stand upon his authority. h. b. c. u. u. club. _brydone the tourist_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a. b. c. inquires the birthplace of brydone, "the tourist and author." i presume he refers to patrick brydone, who wrote _travels in sicily and malta_, and who held, i believe, an appointment under the commissioners of stamps, and died about thirty years ago. some four-and-twenty years back, i arrived, late in the evening, at the hospitable cottage of hogg, the ettrick shepherd, at altrieve, in the vale of yarrow. it happened to be, as it often was, too full of guests to afford me a bed; and i was transferred by my host to the house of a neighbouring gentleman, where i slept. that gentleman was mr. brydone, of mount benger, { } who i found was a near relative of brydone the tourist, whose birthplace was in the forest of ettrick. m. r--son. _yankee_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i am afraid mr. bell's ingenious speculations must give way to facts. our transatlantic brethren do _not_, either willingly or unwillingly, adopt _yankee_ as their "collective name." _yankee_ was, and is, a name given exclusively to the natives of the new england states, and was never therefore applied, by an american, to the people of new amsterdam or new york. here, in england, indeed, we are accustomed to call all americans _yankees_; which is about the same thing as to call all englishmen devonians or lancastrians. y. a. _miniature ring of charles i._ (vol. vi., p. .).--one of the four rings inquired for is in the possession of mrs. andrew henderson, of . gloucester place, portman square, formerly miss adolphus. it came to her in the female line, through her mother's family. the unfortunate charles i. presented it to sir lionel walden, on the morning on which he lost his life. it bears (as the other one alluded to in hulbert's _history of salop_) a miniature likeness of the king, set in small brilliants. inside the ring are the words, "sic transit gloria regum." mrs. henderson understood the four rings to have been presented as follows:--bishop juxon, sir lionel walden, colonel ashburnham, and herbert his secretary. which of the four is now in the possession of the misses pigott is not mentioned. anon. _bishop of ossory--cardinal's hat_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a. s. a. is quite correct, that the _hat_ is common to all prelates, and that the distinction is only in the number of the tassels to the hat-strings; but i think he is wrong in attributing the hat to _priors_. i believe it only belonged to _abbots_, who had _black_ hats and tassels; while the colour of the prelatical hats and tassels was green. (see père anselme's _palais d'honneur_, chap. xxii. and plate.) c. _hugh oldham, bishop of exeter_ (vol. vii., p. .).--hugh oldham bore for his arms, sa. a chevron or, between three owls proper on a chief of the second, three roses gu. (see isaacke's _memorials of the city of exeter_; and also burke's _armory_, under the name _oldom_.) i have endeavoured to find some pedigree or particulars of his family, but as yet without success. the following notes from what i have collected may, however, assist j. b. in his inquiries. he was of queen's college, cambridge, and chaplain to the countess of richmond (king henry vii.'s mother), and by her interest was installed bp. of exeter, april , . he was a great benefactor to brazenose college, oxford, and joint founder (with richard fox, bishop of winchester) of corpus christi. he also founded and endowed a school at manchester, for educating boys in good and useful literature. he died june , , under sentence of excommunication, in consequence of an action at law then pending between him and the abbot of tavistock; but the pope's sanction being obtained, he was buried in a chapel built expressly for the purpose, at the upper end of the south aisle of his own cathedral. j. t--t. "_sic transit gloria mundi_" (vol. vi., pp. . .).--i have lately found two additional passages, which speak of this line being used at the pope's inauguration. the first is amongst the writings of cornelius à lapide: "_datus est mihi stimulus carnis meæ angelus satanæ, qui me colaphizet._" ... "datus est non a diabolo sed a deo; non quod deus tentationis sit auctor, sed quia diabolo tentare paulum parato, id permisit, idque tantum in specie et materia libidinis ad eum humiliandum. ita august. _de natura et grat._, c. . _hic monitor_, ait hieron., epist. ., ad paulum de obitu blæsillæ, _paulo datus est, ad premendam superbiam, uti in curru triumphali triumphanti datur monitor suggerens: hominem te esse memento_. uti et pontifici cum inauguratur, stupa accensa et mox extincta accinitur: "pater sancte sic transit gloria mundi." _commentaria_ in nd. epist. ad cor. cap. xii. . vol. ix. p. .: antwerpiæ, , fol. the second passage is merely a repetition of the above-quoted words of a lapide, but i may as well subjoin a reference to it: ursini _paralipomena_, lib. ii., meletematum, p. .: norimbergæ, , mo. rt. warmington. _wake_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in a wake pedigree in my possession, the name of the wife of sir hugh wake, knight, lord of blisworth, who died may , , is stated to be "joane, daughter and co-heiress of john de wolverton." i am unable to say now on what authority. w. s. (sheffield.) sir hugh wake, lord of deeping in lincolnshire and blyseworth in northamptonshire, married joane, daughter and co-heiress of john de wolverton. (see kimber and johnson's _baronetage_, vols. .) broctana. bury, lancashire. "_words are given to man to conceal his thoughts_" (vol. vi., p. .).--this saying _may_ be anterior to dr. south's time, as the first number of _the world_, under the assumed name of adam fitz-adam, thursday, january , , begins with the following: "at the village of arouche, in the province of estremadura (says an old spanish author), lived gonzales { } de castro, who from the age of twelve to fifty-two years was deaf, dumb, and blind." after relating the sudden restoration of his faculties, "fitz-adam" proceeds: "but, as if the blessings of this life were only given us for afflictions, he began in a few weeks to lose the relish of his enjoyments, and to repine at the possession of those faculties, which served only to discover to him the follies and disorders of his neighbours, and to teach him that _the intent of speech was too often to deceive_." it may serve to probe the matter of _age_ to ask, who was "the old spanish author" alluded to? also, where may be found the hexameter line-- "[greek: hos ch' heteron men keuthei eni phresin allo de bazei.]" equivalent to the common expression, "he says one thing and means another," and of which the maxim attribute to goldsmith, talleyrand, the _morning chronicle_, and south, seems only a stronger form? furvus. st. james's. _inscription on penny of george iii._ (vol. vii., p. .).--"stabit quocunque jeceris" (_it will stand in whatever way you throw it_) is the well-known motto of the isle of mann, and has reference to the arms of the island, which are--gules, three armed legs argent, flexed in triangle, garnished and spurred or. i venture to conjecture that the three legs of mann were also on the penny j. m. a. mentioned. some curious lines about this motto are to be found in _the isle of mann guide_, by james brotherston laughton, b.a. (douglas, ): one verse is-- "with spurs and bright cuishes, to make them look neat, he rigg'd out the legs; then to make them complete, he surrounded the whole with four fine roman _feet_. they were 'quocunque jeceris stabit,' a thorough-paced roman iamb." the fore-mentioned work also contains a song entitled "the copper row," referring to the disturbances occasioned by the coinage of . thompson cooper. cambridge. this is, i suppose, a manx penny, with the reverse of _three legs_, and the motto, which is usually read "quocunque jeceris stabit." c. "_nine tailors make a man_" (vol. vi., pp. . .).--i extract the following humorous account of the origin of this saying from _the british apollo_ ( mo., reprint of , vol. i. p. .): "it happen'd ('tis no great matter in what year) that eight taylors, having finish'd considerable pieces of work at a certain person of quality's house (whose name authors have thought fit to conceal), and receiving all the money due for the same, a virago servant maid of the house observing them to be but slender-built animals, and in their mathematical postures on their shop-board appearing but so many pieces of men, resolv'd to encounter and pillage them on the road. the better to compass her design, she procured a very terrible great black-pudding, which (having waylaid them) she presented at the breast of the foremost: they, mistaking this prop of life for an instrument of death, at least a blunder-buss, readily yielded up their money; but she, not contented with that, severely disciplin'd them with a cudgel she carry'd in the other hand, all which they bore with a philosophical resignation. thus, eight not being able to deal with one woman, by consequence could not make a man, on which account a ninth is added. 'tis the opinion of our curious virtuosos, that this want of courage ariseth from their immoderate eating of cucumbers, which too much refrigerates their blood. however, to their eternal honour be it spoke, they have been often known to encounter a sort of cannibals, to whose assaults they are often subject, not fictitious, but real man-eaters, and that with a lance but two inches long; nay, and although they go arm'd no further than their middle-finger." sigma. sunderland. _on quotations_ (vol. vi., p. .).--there can be no doubt that quotations have frequently been altered, to make them more apt to the quoter's purpose, of which i believe the following to be an instance. we frequently meet with the quotation, "nullum numen _abest_, si sit prudentia," with a reference to juvenal. i have not been able to find the passage in this shape, and presume it is an alteration from the address to fortune, which occurs twice in his _satires_, sat. x. v. , ., and sat. xiv. v. , .: "nullum numen _habes_, si sit prudentia: nos te nos facimus, fortuna, deam, coeloque locamus." the alteration is evidently not a mere verbal one, but changes entirely the meaning and allusion of the passage. j. s. warden. _rhymes on places_ (vol. v., pp. . . .).--in addition to the local rhymes given in your pages, i call to mind the following, not inserted in grose. they are peculiar to the north of england: "rothbury for goats' milk, and the cheviots for mutton; cheswick for its cheese and bread, and tynemouth for a glutton." "harnham was headless, bradford breadless, and shaftoe pick'd at the craw; capheaton was a wee bonny place, but wallington bang'd them a'." the _craw_, in the second rhyme, alludes to the _crasters_, anciently _crancester_, an old family in the parish of hartburn, who succeeded to the estates of the shaftoe family. edward f. rimbault. { } _coins in foundations_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i have a manuscript notice of an early example of this custom. it is in a hand of the earlier half of the seventeenth century. the bostonians knew better, however, than to bury their "great gifts;" and all who travel the great northern railway will be glad to preserve the names of the great givers, who afforded so noble a relief to the tedium of boston station. "_the buylding of boston steeple._ "_md._ that in the yeere of o^r lord god , the steeple of boston, on the monday next following palme sunday, was digged wt many myners till mydsomer; and by that time they were deeper than the bottom of the haven by fyve fote, and there they found a ball of sande nigh a fote thick, and that dyd lye uppon a spring of sand neere three fote thick, and that dyd lye uppon a bed of clay, the thicknesse thereof could not be known. and there, uppon monday nexte after the feast of st. john baptist, was layd the first stone, and that stone layd dame margaret tylney, and thereuppon layd she vl. sterling. the nexte stone was layd by s^r john tattersall, prson of boston, who layd down thereuppon vl. sterling. and richard stevenson, merchant of the staple, layd the third stone, and thereuppon vl. sterling. and these were all the great guifts that at that time were given thereunto. remaining amongst the records at lincolne. tho. turner." h. t. h. sheffield. _fleshed, meaning of_ (vol. vi., p. .).--johnson (edit. ) glosses _to flesh_ (from sidney), to harden in any practice. an old author, in a passage which i have lately read, though i cannot now refer to it, talks of vice being _fleshed_ (_i.e._ ingrown) in a man. w. barnes. dorchester. _robert wauchope, archbishop of armagh, _ (vol. vii., p. .).--i know of no detailed account of this prelate, and am unable to furnish any particulars in addition to those stated by a. s. a., except that "he died in a convent of jesuits at paris, on the th of november, ," as stated by ware, vol. i. p. . of his _works_, dublin, . i may also add the following remark, which i find in a note, by m. le courayer, to his french translation of fra-paolo sarpi's _history of the council of trent_ (london, ), tome i. p. .: "la raillerie que fait de lui fra-paolo, en le louant de bien courir la poste, et qu'il a tirée de sleidan, vient apparemment du nombre de voyages qu'il fit en allemagne, en france, et ailleurs, pour exécuter différentes commissions, dont il fut chargé par les papes." tyro. dublin. _flemish and dutch schools of painting_ (vol. vii., p. .).--karelvan glander, _leven der beroemdste schilders, hollandsche en vlaamsche_ (lives of the most celebrated dutch and flemish painters). this work is of the beginning of the seventeenth century. a better work is the _levens der beroemdste hollandsche en vlaamsche schilders_, by immerzeel, published in . h. v. l. _furmety or frumenty_ (vol. vi., p. .).--erica asks if _furmety_ can claim descent from the once popular dish plum-porridge, mentioned in the _tatler_ and _spectator_. though not a direct answer, the following quotation from washington irving's _sketch book_ will show that it was in request at the season when _plum-pudding_ abounds, notwithstanding the orthodoxy of its use on mid-lent sunday. in his account of the christmas festivities at bracebridge hall, speaking of the supper on christmas eve, he says: "the table was abundantly spread with substantial fare, but the squire made his supper of _frumenty_, a dish made of wheat cakes boiled in milk, with rich spices, _being a standing dish in old times for christmas eve_." w. h. cotton. _etymology of pearl_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--sir emerson tennent inquires as to the antiquity of the word _pearl_ in the english language. _pærl_ occurs in anglo-saxon (bosworth in v.), and corresponding forms are found in the scandinavian languages, as well as in the welsh and irish. the old german form of the word is _berille_. richardson in v. quotes an instance of the adjective _pearled_ from gower, who belongs to the fourteenth century. the use of _union_ for _pearl_, cited by sir e. tennent from burton, is a learned application of the word, and never was popular in our language. i may add that muratori inserts the word _perla_ in the _italian glossary_, in his rd dissertation on italian mediæval antiquities. he believes the origin of the word to be teutonic, but throws no light on the subject. it appears from halliwell's _arch. and prov. dictionary_, that white spots in the eyes were anciently called _pearls_. mcculloch, _commercial dictionary_ in v., particularly speaks of the pear-shaped form of the pearl; and, on the whole, the supposition that _perula_ is equivalent to _pear-ling_, seems the most probable. l. _folkestone_ (vol. vi., p. .).--various etymologies have been given with a view of arriving at the right one for this town. i have to inform you that the places of that part of kent where folkeston, so properly spelt on the seal of the ancient priory, is situated, receive their etymologies from local or geological distinctions. folkeston forms no exception to the general rule. the soil consists of a most beautiful yellow sand, such as the { } romans distinguished by the word _fulvus_. this the saxons contracted into fulk, which word has become a family prenomen, as in fulke-greville, fulk-brooke; in other terms, the yellow greville or yellow brook; and folkeston is nothing more than the yellow town, so called from the nature of the soil on which it is built. s. _the curfew bell_ (vol. vi., p. .).-- "during the last years, the curfew bell has been regularly tolled in the town of sandwich: but now it is said it is to be discontinued, in consequence of the corporation funds being at so low an ebb as not to allow of the payment of the paltry sum of some l. or l. per annum."--_kentish observer._ anon. _confirmation superstition_ (vol. vi., p. .).--it is singular, that though the office is called "the laying on of _hands_," the rubric says, "the bishop shall lay his _hand_ on the head of every one severally." when was the [greek: epithesis cheirôn] (heb. vi. .) changed into an [greek: epithesis cheiros]? a. a. d. _degree of b.c.l._ (vol. vii., p. .).--on feb. , , a statute was passed at oxford, by convocation, which requires that the candidate for the degree of b.c.l. should have passed his examination for the degree of b.a., and attended one course of lectures with the regius professor of civil law. in the case of particular colleges, twenty terms must have been kept: by members of other colleges, twenty-four terms must have been completed. the examination is upon the four books, or any part of them, of the _institutes of justinian_, or works which serve to illustrate them in the science of civil law, of which six months' notice is previously given by the regius professor. at cambridge, a b.a. of four years' standing can be admitted ll.b. the candidate must have passed the previous examination; attended the lectures of the professor for three terms; be examined; and after four years' standing, and residence of three terms, keep his act. mackenzie walcott, m.a. _robert heron_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the literary career of this individual in london is selected by d'israeli as an illustration of his _calamities of authors_. some farther particulars of him, in an editorial capacity, will be found in _fraser's magazine_, vol. xx. p. . william bates. birmingham. _shakspeare's "twelfth night"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--if the term "case," as applied to apparel, requires any further elucidation, it may be found in the "certaine opening and drawing distiches," prefixed to coryat's _crudities_, to., . and the engraved title, which the verses are intended to explain, places before the eye, in a most unmistakeable form, the articles which compose a man's "case." f. s. q. _catcalls_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--for a long and humorous dissertation upon this instrument, i beg to refer your sceptical correspondent m. m. e. to page . of a scarce and amusing little work, entitled _a taste of the town, or a guide to all publick diversions, &c._; london, printed and sold by the booksellers of london and westminster, , mo. the passages are not unworthy of transcription; but, i fear, would be too long for insertion in your columns. william bates. birmingham. "_plurima, pauca, nihil_," (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--the following couplet will be found in jo. burch. menckenii _de charlataneria eruditorum declamationes_, page . of the edit. amst. . the lines are there given as a specimen of "versus quos galli vocant _rapportez_:" "vir simplex, fortasse bonus, sed pastor ineptus, vult, tentat, peragit, plurima, pauca, nihil." n. b. i have met with the following metrical proverb, which may afford satisfaction to your correspondent, which dates certainly before : "modus retinendorum amicorum. temporibus nostris quicunque placere laborat, det, capiat, quærat, plurima, pauca, nihil." also this: "plurima des, perpauca petas, nil accipe: si nil accipias, et pauca petas, et plurima dones, gratus eris populo, te mille sequentur amici. si nihilum trades, citò eris privatus amico: plurima si quæres, multam patiêre repulsam: si multa accipias, populus te dicet avarum. nil cape, pauca petas, des plurima, habebis amicos." w. c. h. _ben jonson's adopted sons_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--i had made some notes on this subject, but have never seen stated that their number was limited to _twelve_. i have got _ten_ on _my_ list, but am unable at present to give my authorities; but i can assure your inquirer, at p. ., that their names are _honestly_ come by: "thomas randolph, richard brome, william cartwright, sir henry morrison, james howell, joseph rutter, robert herrick, lord falkland, sir john suckling, shackerly marmion." s. wmson. _mistletoe_ (vol. vi., p. .).--mistletoe grows on _one oak_ in hackwood park, near basingstoke, where it is extremely plentiful on hawthorns. j. p. o. { } * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the camden society has, after a long silence, just issued a volume, _the camden miscellany, volume the second_, which from the variety and interest of its contents, cannot but be acceptable to all the members. these contents are, i. _account of the expenses of john of brabant, and henry and thomas of lancaster, - ._--ii. _household account of the princess elizabeth, - ._--iii. _the bequeste and suite of a true-hearted englishman, written by william cholmeley, ._--iv. _discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell in march, - ._--v. _trelawny papers._--vi. _autobiography of william taswell, d. d._ this, which is the first book for the year - , will be immediately followed by a volume of _verney papers_, editing by mr. bruce; and this probably by _the domesday of st. paul's_, editing by archdeacon hale, or _the correspondence of lady brilliana harley_, editing by the rev. t. t. lewis. early in the ensuing camden year, which commences on the st of may, two volumes of considerable interest may be looked for, namely, _the roll of the household expenses of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, in the years - , with illustrations from other and coeval documents_ by the rev. john webb; and _regulæ inclusarum, the ancren rewle, a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, addressed to a society of anchorites by simon of ghent_, a work valuable for philology, for it is written in the semi-saxon dialect of the thirteenth century, and curious for its illustration of ancient manners. it will be accompanied by a translation by the rev. james morton, the editor. _the architectural, archæological, and historic society for the county, city, and neighbourhood of chester_, has just published the second part of its journal, in which objects of local interest are made available for much instructive information; and to accomplish which the conductors have, and as we think wisely, preferred a great number of apt illustrations, executed without any pretence to artistic skill, to a _few_ expensive and highly-finished engravings. our dutch neighbours seem to enjoy as much as ourselves the humour of charles dickens. not only is _bleak house_ regularly translated as it appears, but in a bookseller's circular which has just reached us, we see announced translations of the _sketches by boz_, and of a _selection from household words_. there is much tact required in writing for children, and no small share of this is exhibited in a _history of france for children_, which viscount cranborne has just compiled for the use of his nieces. the principal events are brought forward in succession, and related in a plain, unaffected style, well calculated for youthful readers. books received.--_joan of arc, by lord mahon_, the new number of murray's _railway library_, is a reprint, from the noble author's _historical essays_, of his careful summary of joan's extraordinary history.--_cyclopædia bibliographica, a library manual of theological and general literature_, the fifth part of mr. darling's most useful guide for authors, preachers, students, and literary men.--_synodalia, a journal of convocation_, nos. . to .; four parts of a monthly periodical, instituted not so much for the purpose of securing immediately synodical action in the church, as with the view of preparing the public mind for its reception.--_ferdinand i. and maximilian ii. of austria, or a view of the religion and political state of germany after the reformation._ an able and instructive essay by professor von ranke, well translated for _longman's traveller's library_ by sir a. and lady duff gordon.--_kidd's own journal for january, _. the new number of a journal which deserves the notice of all lovers of natural history and keepers of pets.--_remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england_, by j. y. akerman; part iii., containing _beads, crystal ball, and bulla_ from breach down, and _glass vase_ from cuddesden, drawn of their original size and coloured. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. chronon-ho-ton-thologos, by h. carey. the dragon of wantley, by h. carey. gammer gurton's story books, edited by ambrose merton. parts (original edition). hayward's british museum. vols. mo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . illustrated commentary on the old and new testaments. vol. i. . knight. history of the old and new testament, by prideaux. vol i. - . menageries--quadrupeds: "library of entertaining knowledge," vol. ii. peter simple. illustrated edition. saunders and otley. vols. ii. and iii. historical memoirs of queens of england, by hannah lawrance. vol. ii. ingram's saxon chronicle. to. london, . newman's ferns. large edition. enigmatical entertainer. nos. i. and ii. and . sherwood & co. northumbrian mirror. new series. , &c. british diary for , by cotes and hall. reuben burrow's diarie, - . marrat's scientific journal. new york. mathematical correspondent (american). leeds correspondent. vol. v., nos. , , and . mathematical miscellany. . whiting's select exercises, with key. walton and cotton's angler, by hawkins. part ii. . de la croix's connubia florum. bathoniæ, . vo. reid's historical botany. windsor, . vols. mo. anthologia borealis et australis. florilegium sanctarum aspirationum. laderchii annales ecclesiastici, tom. fol. romæ, - . townsend's parisian costumes. vols. to. - . the book of adam. the testaments of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of jacob. massinger's plays, by gifford. vol. iv. vo. second edition. . spectator. vols. v and vii. mo. london, . costerus (franÇois) cinquante meditations de toute l'histoire de la passion de nostre seigneur. vo. anvers, christ. plantin.; or any of the works of costerus in any language. guardian. mo. what the chartists are. a letter to english working men, by a fellow-labourer. mo. london, . letter of church rates, by ralph barnes. vo. london, . colman's translation of horace de arte poetica. to. . boscawen's treatise on satire. london, . johnson's lives (walker's classics). vol. i. titmarsh's paris sketch-book. post vo. vol. i. macrone, . fielding's works. vol. xi. (being second of "amelia.") mo. . holcroft's lavater. vol. i. vo. . { } otway. vols. i. and ii. vo. . edmondson's heraldry. vol. ii. folio, . sermons and tracts, by w. adams, d.d. ben jonson's works. (london, . vols.) vol. ii. wanted. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries" . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. j. f. (halifax). _how can a letter be addressed to this correspondent?_ j. o., _who inquired respecting_ johanna southcote. _how can we forward a letter to him?_ mousey. _a cat is called_ grimalkin, _or more properly_ gray malkin, _from the name of a fiend supposed to assume the shape of a cat. shakspeare, in his_ macbeth, _makes the first witch exclaim_, "i come, graymalkin." e. j. g. _we must refer our correspondent to the critical commentators on the passage: lowth or wintle, for instance._ inquisitor, _who writes respecting_ rotten row, _is referred to our_ st vol., p. .; nd vol., p. .; _and our_ th vol., pp. . . f. r. d. (dublin). _the arms on the impression of the seal forwarded by our correspondent are obviously german, from the helmet, the style of lambrequin, and more particularly from the charges or bearings of which the coat is composed. it is probably of the date assigned to it by_ f. r. d. shaw's stafford mss. _we have a note for our correspondent on this subject_, n. c. l. _where shall it be sent?_ o. g. _will our correspondent kindly favour us with the notices of dr. deacon contained in townshend's_ common-place book, _for the benefit of another member of the literary brotherhood, who, we know, has been for some time past making collections for a life of that remarkable nonjuring bishop?_ replies to photographic correspondents _next week_. an anxious inquirer _should state more precisely what branch of photography he intends to pursue. professor hunt's_ manual of photography, _of which the third edition has just been published, is the fullest which has yet appeared in this country. he will obtain lists of prices of lenses, cameras, &c. from any of the photographic houses whose advertisements appear in our columns._ photographic society. _all communications respecting this society should be addressed to the honorary secretary, "roger fenton, esq., . albert terrace, albert road, regent's park."_ _errata._--no. . p. . col. . line . for "with" read "in;" and p. . col. . l. . for "remark" read "mask." "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * m. guizot on the fine arts. now ready, medium vo., cloth extra, s. the fine arts: their nature and relations. with detailed criticisms on certain pictures of the italian and french schools. by m. guizot. translated from the french, with the assistance of the author, by george grove. with illustrations, drawn on wood by george scharf, jun. london: thomas bosworth, . regent street. * * * * * to members of learned societies, authors, &c. ashbee & dangerfield, lithographers, draughtsmen, and printers, . broad court, long acre. a. & d. respectfully beg to announce that they devote particular attention to the execution of ancient and modern fac-similes, comprising autograph letters, deeds, charters, title-pages, engravings, woodcuts, &c., which they produce from any description of copies with the utmost accuracy, and without the slightest injury to the originals. among the many purposes to which the art of lithography is most successfully applied, may be specified,--archÆological drawings, architecture, landscapes, marine views, portraits from life or copies, illuminated mss., monumental brasses, decorations, stained glass windows, maps, plans, diagrams, and every variety of illustrations requisite for scientific and artistic publications. photographic drawings lithographed with the greatest care and exactness. lithographic offices, . broad court, long acre, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas: silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * this day is published, vo., sewed, price s. d., or by post, s. the ghost of junius: or, the author of the celebrated "letters" by this anonymous writer identified with lieut.-general sir robert rich, bart. by francis ayerst. "look, my lord, it comes!" _hamlet_, act i. sc. . london: thomas bosworth, . regent street. * * * * * in vo., price s. d., the third edition of some account of the writings and opinions of justin martyr. by john kaye, d.d., lord bishop of lincoln. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same author, . clement of alexandria. vo. s. d. . tertullian. third edition. s. d. . the council of nicÆa, in connexion with the life of athanasius. (nearly ready.) * * * * * this day, fcap. vo., s. on the lessons in proverbs. five lectures. by richard chenevix trench, b. d., examining chaplain to the lord bishop of oxford; and professor of divinity, king's college, london. by the same author. on the study of words. six lectures. fourth edition. s. d. notes on the parables. fifth edition. s. notes on the miracles. third edition. s. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * on st of february, price s., no. ii. new series. the ecclesiastic. contents: the religion of the fine arts. master on the occasional services of the church. bishops, patrons, and presentees. the new editions of bishop wilson. greek hymnology. cambridge edition of minucius felix. religious opinions in ireland. reviews and notices. also, price s. d. no. xciv. (lviii. new series) of the ecclesiologist. published under the superintendence of the ecclesiological, late cambridge camden society. contents:--ely cathedral; the rood-screen and the iconostasis (no. i.); mr. beckman on swedish churches and church offices; "godwin's history in ruins;" the department of practical art and the architectural museum; the ecclesiological motett society; messrs. bowman and crowther; "churches of the middle ages;" english service books at cambridge; the munich glass in kilndown church; architectural institute of scotland; transactions of the exeter diocesan architectural society; new churches and restorations; mr. helmore's lecture at brighton; wells cathedral; reports, &c. london: j. masters, aldersgate street, and new bond street. * * * * * monasticon diocoesis exoniensis. the rev. dr. g. oliver's monasticon diocoesis exoniensis: being a collection of records and instruments illustrating the ancient conventual, collegiate, and eleemosynary foundations in devon and cornwall. folio, cloth boards (published at l.), now reduced to l. s. . the same, half bound in morocco, tops gilt, l. s. . just published, gratis, and post free, a. holden's exeter book circular. parts ii. and iii. a catalogue of second-hand books, of all classes, in good condition. exeter: a. holden. london: nattali & bond. { } * * * * * ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' reports_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it if furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." catalogues sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray. new edition. translated from the last edition of the french. george knight & sons., foster lane, london. manufacturers of photographic apparatus and materials, consisting of cameras, stands, coating boxes, pressure frames, glass and porcelain dishes, &c., and pure photographic chemicals, suited for practising the daguerreotype, talbotype, waxed-paper, albumen and collodion processes, adapted to stand any climate, and fitted for the requirements of the tourist or professional artist. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of hunt, le gray, brébisson, &c. &c., may be obtained of william bolton, manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists of prices to be had on application. . holborn bars. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- ---------+----------+--------------------+---------- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * the german language.--mr. egestorff, translator of klopstock's messiah, respectfully announces that he is forming classes for reading the german drama, his own english versions, and the german original. the readings may take place either at his lodging, no. . gillingham street, pimlico, or at the residence of one of the members. particulars may be obtained on application to mr. egestorff. the readings will commence with schiller's wallenstein, mary stuart, the maid of orleans, some lyric poems, &c. &c. * * * * * to photographers.--to be sold, a splendid achromatic double combination lens. the apertures, seven and eight inches, applicable for portraits, or one of the lenses for views; the proprietor leaving england. apply immediately to a.b., . jewin crescent, aldersgate street. to save trouble, price l. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | j. h. goodhart, esq. w. cabell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * { } incorporated according to act of parliament. athenÆum institute for authors and men of science, . sackville street, london. _vice-presidents._ the most hon. the marquis of bristol, &c. the right hon. the lord justice knight bruce, &c. the right hon. benjamin disraeli, m.p., &c. lieut.-general lord frederick fitzclarence, g.c.h., &c. the right hon. viscount goderich, m.p., &c. the right hon. lord viscount monck, m.p. sir george thomas staunton, bart., d.c.l, f.r.s., m.p., &c. _honorary directors._ the hon. j. master owen byng. william coningham, esq. william ewart, esq., m.p. charles kemble, esq. edward miall, esq., m.p. benjamin oliveira, esq., m.p. apsley pellatt, esq., m.p. henry pownall, esq. wm. scholefield, esq., m.p. the hon. c. pelham villiers, m.p. james wyld, esq. _treasurer._ sir john dean paul, bart. _trustees._ thomas j. arnold, esq. herbert ingram, esq. f.g.p. nelson, esq., f.l.s. _auditors._ alexander richmond, esq. william smalley, esq. _business directors._ _chairman._--lieut.-general palby, c.b. _deputy-chairman._--j. stirling coyne, esq. bayle bernard, esq. shirley brooks, esq. w. downing bruce, esq. j. b. buckstone, esq. thornton hunt, esq. g. h. lewes, esq. cyrus redding, esq. angus b. reach, esq. _managing director._ f. g. tomlins, esq. _secretary._ wm. dalton, esq. _solicitor._ g. e. dennes, esq., f.l.s. _consulting actuary._ r. thompson jopling, esq., f.s.s. _bankers._ messrs. strahan, paul, paul, and bates. . strand. _agent._ mr. c. mitchell, newspaper press directory office, red lion court, fleet street. constitution. the athenæum institute is legally incorporated as a mutual benefit society, and the rank and public status of its vice-presidents, honorary directors, trustee, and treasurer, and the well-known character of its business directors, present a security to authors, journalists, and all connected with literature, that it is based on sound principles, and will be conducted with fidelity and honour. it consists of two classes of supporters. _non-participating or honorary subscribers_, who, it is hoped, may include the royal family and great officers of the state, on account of the political and moral influences of authors; noblemen and men of fortune who have manifested a marked predilection for literature; authors of fortune and others sympathising with, and interested in the labours of literary men. _participating subscribers_, consisting of professional authors, and that large mass of writers who produce the current literature of the age in works of science, imagination, education, and the periodical and newspaper press of the empire. the constitution of the society is such that the general body of its members hold the directing power. the board of business directors is elected by it, and their powers and duties, as well as those of the officers, are clearly defined by the laws and rules of the institute, which are in strict conformity with the elaborate requirements of the friendly societies' act ( th and th victoria, chap. .). the qualification of membership is authorship in some shape, but a large and liberal will be the most just interpretation of the term. as close a definition as can be given perhaps is, that it intends to include all who use the pen with an intellectual aim, women as well as men. the printed forms (which can be had on application) will show more minutely what is required to constitute membership. revenue. the distinguishing feature of the institute is its applying the principle of life assurance in all its transactions. the _subscriptions_ of the _honorary subscribers_ are applied to an assurance of the life of the donors. for instance,--the right honourable benjamin disraeli, esq., sends a donation of twenty-five pounds, which is immediately invested on an assurance on his life, and will ultimately produce to the institute an endowment of l. or to take another instance,--the right hon. lord viscount goderich subscribes two guineas per year, which is invested in like manner on an assurance on his life, and will ultimately endow the institute with l. and thus the honorary subscriptions, instead of being spent as soon as received, are made to form a capital fund, which will be ultimately available, as the lives fall in, to the provident members and participating subscribers. the application of the subscriptions of the honorary members to assuring their lives, has these advantages:--it tends to create a large capital fund--it enables the honorary subscribers to see that the undertaking is successful, before their money is expended--it transforms such subscriptions from being an alms-giving for personal purposes, into an endowment for the general benefit of literature--it is not like most alms subscriptions to go in casual relief, but to produce a permanent result; such as the foundation of a hall and chambers, and ultimately the complete organisation of literature as a recognised profession; to endow permanent annuities, and otherwise aid literature by succouring authors. by this arrangement a very strong inducement is given to the working literary men to subscribe to this institute and society beyond all others: as they will not only have all the benefits and profits arising from their own subscriptions, but participate in the capital fund, which, there can be no doubt, will be augmented by donations, legacies, and endowments. there is also the special advantage peculiar to such an institution, of nominating a wife or child to receive immediately the amount assured at decease irrespective of all other claims. _the subscriptions of the participating class_ are as follows:-- one guinea must be subscribed by every member, which goes towards the expenses of the institute and the support of the philanthropic fund. for this he is entitled to be a candidate for assistance from the philanthropic fund; has a vote at all the general meetings of the institute; and will be entitled to certain benefits from the education and protective branches of the institute when they are brought into operation. every guinea subscribed annually _beyond_ the first guinea above mentioned, produces the subscriber an assurance on his life, according to the tables specially calculated by the consulting actuary of the institute, and which are in compliance with the act of parliament regulating such matters. the policies are issued by the institute under the friendly societies' act, and which are legally guaranteed by the athenæum life assurance society, which, also appealing more particularly to literary and scientific men, has made an arrangement that is liberal and advantageous to the athenæum institute. by this arrangement every provident member is equally safe, whether the members of the institute be few or many. one subscriber is thus rendered as secure as a thousand. annual subscribers of two guineas or more are entitled to become directors: and in awarding relief, regard will always be had to the amount subscribed. it will be perceived by these arrangements, that every member of the athenæum institute has the full value returned to him of _every_ guinea subscribed _beyond_ the first, in a policy on his life; and that he also has a participation in the capital fund formed by the subscriptions, donations, and endowments of the honorary subscribers; a privilege which it is probable will add from fifty to a hundred per cent. to his individual contributions. the friendly societies' act, under which the institute is registered, will not permit a member to make an assurance beyond l., the institute is therefore limited to this amount: but the athenæum life assurance society, which so liberally assists the institute, will insure to any amount, and in any mode. it is desirable that the members of the institute should assure up to the l. allowed by the act, and the tables will shew the annual amount required, according to the age of the subscriber. the power of nominating a wife or child, irrespective of all other claimants, is also a great inducement to assure in the institute to the utmost amount, namely, l. it is contemplated, as the institute progresses, to add protective and educational branches. the union of numbers has established the various commercial and philanthropic institutions of the empire, and it is earnest urged that authors and journalists should take advantage of their numbers. nothing can be accomplished without numbers--with them everything. the appeal now made is universal in its application to literary workers, and it is hoped it will be responded to so as to neutralise all cliquism, whether arising from literary sectarianism, or the antagonism of political sentiments. f. g. tomlins, manager, . sackville street, london. *** members are admitted by the directors (who meet monthly) according to forms which will be transmitted on application. post office orders to be made payable to the managing director at charing cross money order office. the rules of the institute, as legally drawn up by high professional authority, and as certified by the registrar, can be had, price s. d., or s. by post, pre-paid. prospectuses (with tables calculated especially for this society) may be had, gratis, at the office, . sackville street, or of mr. charles mitchell, agent to the institute, newspaper press directory office, . red lion court, fleet street, london. * * * * * { } new works. i. life of joan of arc. an historical essay. by lord mahon. fcap. vo. s. (murray's "railway reading.") ii. lives of the earls of essex, in the reigns of elizabeth, james i., and charles i. including many unpublished letters and documents. by hon. capt. devereux, r.n. vols. vo. s. iii. a fortnight in ireland. by sir francis head, bart. second edition. map. vo. s. iv. lives of lords falkland, capel, and hertford, the friends and contemporaries of lord chancellor clarendon. by lady theresa lewis. vols. vo. s. v. history of the roman state. by luigi farini. translated by the right hon. w. e. gladstone, m.p. vol. iii. vo. s. vi. a scheme for the government of india. by george campbell. maps. vo. s. vii. crime: its amount, causes, and remedies. by frederic hill, late inspector of prisons. vo. s. viii. my home in tasmania, during a residence of nine years. by mrs. charles meredith. woodcuts. vols. post vo. s. ix. a church dictionary. by rev. dr. hook, vicar of leeds. sixth edition, enlarged. vo. s. x. the peril of portsmouth; or, french fleets and english forts. by james ferguson, esq. second edition. with a plan. vo. s. d. xi. rational arithmetic. for schools and young persons. by mrs. g. r. porter. mo. s. d. xii. travels and researches in asia minor, and lycia. by sir charles fellows. new edition. post vo. s. xiii. the rivers, mountains, and sea coast of yorkshire described. by john phillips, f.r.s. plates. vo. s. xiv. history of england, from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles, - . by lord mahon. third edition, revised. vol. i. post vo. s. (a volume every two months.) xv. saxon obsequies, illustrated by ornaments and weapons recently discovered in a cemetery. by hon. r. c. neville. coloured plates. to. s. xvi. a naval and military technical dictionary of the french language. by lieut-col. burn, r.a. crown vo. s. xvii. history of europe during the middle ages. by henry hallam, esq. tenth edition, incorporating the supplemental notes. vols. vo. s. xviii. handbook of familiar quotations. from english authors. fcap. vo. xix. philosophy in sport, made science in earnest. seventh edition, with much additional matter, and woodcuts. fcap. vo. xx. the cabinet byron: a new and beautifully printed edition of lord byron's poetical works complete. in eight half-crown volumes. containing-- childe harold. dramas. vols. tales and poems. miscellanies. vols. beppo and don juan. vols. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new books and new editions. cloister life of the emperor charles the fifth. by william stirling, m.p. second edition, with additions. s. digby grand: an autobiography. by g. j. whyte melville. reprinted from "fraser's magazine." vols. post vo. s. jesuit executorship; or, passages in the life of a seceder from romanism. vols. post vo. s. heir of redclyffe. by the author of "henrietta's wish," "the kings of england," &c. vols. fcap. vo. s. water lily on the danube: an account of the perils of a pair-oar, during a voyage from lambeth to pesth. by the author of "the log of the water lily." with illustrations by one of the crew, and a map by a. petermann. s. sermons on the sabbath day, on the character of the warrior, and on the interpretation of history. by f. d. maurice, m.a., professor of divinity in king's college. s. d. natural history of infidelity and superstition in contrast with christian faith: the bampton lectures, preached before the university of oxford in , with notes. by j. e. riddle, m.a. vo. s. principles of imitative art: four lectures before the oxford art society. by geo. butler, m.a. s. comets: a descriptive treatise; with a condensed account of modern discoveries, and a table of all the calculated comets, from the earliest ages. by j. russell hind, foreign sectary of the royal astronomical society. s. d. astronomical vocabulary; an explanation of all terms in use amongst astronomers. by j. r. hind. s. d. meliora: or, better times to come. edited by viscount ingestre. second edition. s. sequentiÆ ex missalibus desumptÆ. collegit, recensuit, notulasque addidit joannes m. neale, a.m., collegii sackvillensis custos. s. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page predictions of the fire and plague of london, no. ii., by vincent t. sternberg examples of the french sizain, by w. pinkerton epigrams "goe, soule, the bodies guest," by george daniel petitions from the county of nottingham folk lore:--lancashire fairy tale--teeth, superstition respecting--new moon divination--the hyena an ingredient in love potions--the elder tree minor notes:--the word "party"--epitaphs--campbell's "pleasures of hope"--palindromical lines--"derrick" and "ship's painter"--lord reay's country queries:-- unanswered queries mr. john munro, by dan. wilson minor queries:--song in praise of the marquess of granby--venda--the georgiad--r. s. townshend of manchester--"mala malæ malo"--"dimidium scientiæ"-- portrait painters--"an impartial inquiry," &c.--"as poor as job's turkey"--fuss--suicide encouraged in marseilles--fabulous bird--segantiorum portus--stamping on current coinage--rhymes: dryden--the cadenham oak--st. mary's church, beverley--the rev. joshua marsden--bentley's examination--derivation of "lowbell"--meaning of assassin--punishment for exercising the roman catholic religion--hogarth's pictures--lines in a snuff-box--rosa mystica--old-shoe throwing at weddings--herbé's costumes français minor queries with answers:--humphry smith--meaning and etymology of "conyngers" or "connigries"--letters u, v, w, and st. ives replies:-- the orkney islands in pawn the passage in king henry viii., act. iii. sc. , by s. w. singer miniature ring of charles i., by c. ley chantry chapels photographic notes and queries:--the collodion process--mr. weld taylor's iodizing process--sir william newton's process: further explanations replies to minor queries:--lady nevell's music-book-- tuch--eva, princess of leinster--whipping post--the dodo--"then comes the reckoning," &c.--sir j. covert, not govett--chatterton--tennyson--llandudno on the great orme's head--oldham, bishop of exeter--arms of bristol--the cross and the crucifix--sir kenelm digby--martin drunk--the church catechism--sham epitaphs and quotations--door-head inscription--potguns--"pompey the little"--eagles supporting lecterns--lady day in harvest--inscriptions in churches--macaulay's young levite, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. predictions of the fire and plague of london, no. ii. one of the most striking predictions occurs in daniel baker's _certaine warning for a naked heart_, lond. . after much invective against the evil ways of the metropolis, he proceeds: "a fire, a consuming fire, shall be kindled in the bowels of the earth, which will scorch with burning heat all hypocrites, unstable, double-minded workers of iniquity.... a great and large slaughter shall be throughout the land of darkness where the unrighteous decrees and laws have been founded. yea, a great effusion of blood, fire, and smoke shall encrease up in the dark habitations of cruelty; howling and great wailing shall be on every hand in all her streets." thomas ellwood disposes of the city in a very summary manner: "for this shall be judgment of babylon (saith the lord); in one day shall her plagues come upon her, _death_, and _mourning_, and famine, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire; for great is the lord who judgeth her."--_alarm to the priests_, lond. . george fox also claims to have had a distinct prevision of the fire (see _journal_, p. ., ed .) he also relates the story of a quaker who was moved to come out of huntingdonshire a little before the fire, and to-- "scatter his money up and down the streets, turn his horse loose, untie the knees of his breeches, and let his stockings fall down, and to tell the people 'so they should run up and down scattering their money and goods, half undressed, like mad people, as he was a sign to them,' which they did when the city was burning." lilly's celebrated book of _hieroglyphicks_, which procured the author the dubious honour of an examination before the committee appointed to inquire into the origin of the fire, is well known. in one of the plates, a large city, understood to denote london, is enveloped in flames; and another rude woodcut, containing a large amount of graves and corpses, was afterwards interpreted to bear reference to the plague. aubrey seems to be a { } little jealous of the renown which lilly acquired by these productions for he asserts that-- "mr. thomas flatman (poet) did affirm that he had seen those _hieroglyphicks_ in an old parchment manuscript, writ in the time of the monks."--_misc._, p. . ed. . nostradamus also, more than a century before, is said to have foretold the very year of the burning. in the edition, or reputed edition, of , cent. ii. quatrain ., is the following: "le sang du jusse à londres fera faute bruslez par foudres de vingt trois les six la dame anticque cherra de place haute de mesme secte plusieurs seront occis." those of your readers who incline to dubiety on this subject, i refer to the copy from whence it was taken, in the museum library, press-mark . a . if it is a forgery (and such i take it to be), it is decidedly the best i ever met with. some time ago the queries of your correspondent speriend elicited some interesting particulars relative to nostradamus and his prophecies; but i do not think the question of his claim to having predicted the death of charles i. was finally decided. i should be glad if any of your correspondents could tell me whether the quatrain above, or anything like it, occurs in any of the _genuine_ early editions. dugdale, by the way, evidently believed in its authenticity, and has inserted a version in his _history of st. paul's_. such a promising theme as the destruction of london was, of course, too good a thing to escape the chap-book makers. during the period of the civil wars, we find many allusions to it. in a little quarto brochure, published in , entitled _twelve strange prophecies_, the following is placed in the mouth of the much maligned and caricatured mrs. ann shipton. the characteristic termination i consider a fine stroke of the art vaticinatory. "a ship shall come sayling up the thames till it come to london, and the master of the ship shall weep, and the mariners shall ask him why he weepeth, and he shall say, 'ah, what a goodly city was this! none in the world comparable to it! and now there is scarce left any house _that can let us have drinke for our money_.'" this string of notes, turned up at different times, and while in search of more important matter, can no doubt be materially increased from the collections of your correspondents. if my researches prove interesting, i may trouble you with another paper: at present i leave the facts brought together above to the candid investigation of your readers. vincent t. sternberg. * * * * * examples of the french sizain. the epigram (if it may with propriety receive that appellation) printed in vol. vi., p. ., reminded me of some similar pieces of composition stored in my note-book; and as they are not devoid of a certain degree of curious interest, i now forward them _pro bono publico_. on luther, calvin, and henry viii., the leaders of the reformation: "vous, dont le sens est encore sain, fuyez luther, henri, calvin. vous, dont le coeur n'est point flétri, fuyez calvin, luther, henri. vous, à qui le salut est cher, fuyez henri, calvin, luther." on the death of francis ii.: "par l'oeil, par l'oreille, et l'épaule, trois rois sont morts naguère en gaule; par l'épaule, l'oreille, et l'oeil, trois rois son entrés au cercueil; par l'épaule, l'oeil, et l'oreille, dieu a montré grande merveille." by beaumarchais: "connaissez-vous rien de plus sot que merlin, bazire, et chabot? non, certes, il n'est rien de pire que chabot, merlin, et bazire; et nul ne vit-on plus coquin que chabot, bazire, et merlin." a more modern one still, date : "l'etat est fort mal attelé avec thiers, guizot, ou molé; l'etat marche tout de travers, avec molé, guizot, ou thiers; vers l'abîme il court à galop, avec molé, thiers, ou guizot." the prophecy in the last two lines has been unfortunately fulfilled. w. pinkerton. ham. * * * * * epigrams. the two epigrams which follow were communicated to me many years ago by the rev. george loggin, m.a., of hertford college, long one of the masters of rugby school. he died july , , at the age of forty; and this reminiscence of their old tutor's name will be welcomed by many a rugbæan. they were represented to have proceeded from the pen of thomas dunbar of brasenose, who, from to , was keeper of the ashmolean museum. i have never seen them in print, or even in writing. they were recited _memoriter_, and from memory i write them down; and hence, no doubt, there will be some deviations from the true text. but they seem too good to be lost; and i am not { } without hope that a correct copy may eventually be elicited from some of your correspondents. with regard to the first, whether the lines were really made on the occasion stated, or the occasion was invented (as i am inclined to suspect) to suit the lines, is perhaps not very material: "_reply to miss charlotte ness, who inquired the meaning_ _of the logical terms_ abstract _and_ concrete. "'say what is _abstract_, what _concrete_? their difference define.' 'they both in one fair person meet, and that, dear maid, is thine.' 'how so? the riddle pray undo.' 'i thus your wish express; for when i lovely charlotte view, i then view loveli-_ness_.'" on a certain d.d. (who, from a peculiarity in his walk, had acquired the _sobriquet_ of dr. toe) being jilted by miss h----, who eloped with her father's footman: "'twixt footman sam and doctor toe a controversy fell, which should prevail against his foe, and bear away the belle. the lady chose the footman's heart. say, who can wonder? no man: the whole prevail'd above the part, 'twas _foot_-man _versus_ _toe_-man." i should like to ascertain the author of the following: _the parson_ versus _physician_. "how d.d. swaggers--m.d. rolls! i dub them both a brace of noddies:-- old d.d. takes the cure of souls, and m.d. takes the care of bodies. between them both what treatment rare our souls and bodies must endure! one takes the _cure_ without the _care_, t'other the _care_ without the _cure_." balliolensis. * * * * * goe, soule, the bodies guest." i have a cotemporaneous ms. of this wonderfully-fine poem, that came into my possession with a certain rare bunch of black-letter ballads, printed between the years and , and all of them unique (of the said bunch, mr. editor, more hereafter), which contains two additional verses not to be found in _a poetical rhapsodie_, compiled by francis davison, and "printed by william stansby for roger jackson, dwelling in fleet street, neere the great conduit, ;" nor in _poems by sir henry wotton, sir walter raleigh, and others_, carefully edited by the rev. john hannah, m.a., and published by my friend william pickering in . they are prefaced by the word "additions." they are written on the same leaf, and in the same quaint hand, and are as follow: tell london of their stewes, tell marchants of their usury; and, though it be no newes, tell courtyers of theyr lechery; and if they will reply, they best deserve the lye. let cuckolds be remembred, i will not dye theyr debtor; theire heads beying armed, theyl beare the brunt the better; and if they chaunce reply, theyr wives know best they lye. having compared this ms. with the poem as it is printed in the above-mentioned volumes (both of which are in my library), i find it contains several variations, not however very important. though these "additions," in good taste, expression, and power, do not equal the noble verses that precede them, they are interesting and curious, and well worthy of preservation. after much inspection and inquiry, i have not discovered that they have ever yet appeared in print. the cabinet in which they slept, and the company they kept (undisturbed, it would appear) for more than two centuries, assure me that they have not been published. if you, mr. editor, or any of your many friends desire to see this ms., say so, and you and they shall be welcome. it has been in my possession (unseen) twenty years. george daniel. canonbury. * * * * * petitions from the county of nottingham. the documents, copies of which i inclose, are written on the blank leaves in a copy of willett's _hexapla_, edit. . i should be glad to know if the petitions, of which they are drafts, or rather copies, were presented, and _when_? there is no date to the petitions; but the copy of a letter, on another blank page, which seems to be in the same handwriting (signed "william middleton"), is dated february th, . any information regarding the parties whose names are appended to the petitions would be acceptable. "to his highness the lord protector of the commonwealth of england, scotland, and ireland, and the dominions and territories thereunto belonging, the humble address and petition of diuers justices of the peace, gentlemen, ministers of the gospell, and others, wel-affected persons, inhabitants in the county of nottingham. "upon consideration of the signall and glorious appearances of god on the behalfe of his people and interest, wherein he hath pleased to make great use of your highness, we account ourselues deeply engaged to acknowledge the wonderfull power, wisdome, and { } goodness of god, and to ascribe the glory to him alone, yet would we not be found ingratefull to your highness, as an eminent instrument under god of the peace and liberty we have injoyed, with a continued series of manifold mercies from the lord, under your highness' gouernment (notwithstanding all our declensions and unworthynesses), together with the influence it hath had upon the nations abroad to the promoteing of the protestant interest, we judge it alsoe exceedingly remarkable that the lord hath so signally blasted the pernicious designes of the common enemy against your highness' person and gouernment, and against the common interest of the people of god and of these nations, for which we desire unfeignedly to bless the lord. "these things premised, we humbly pray, "that the lord would please to stir up the heart and strengthen the hands of your highness, in carrying on what yet remains for the reforming of these nations (according to the word of god) and the secureing of the interest of godlyness and righteousness for the future, that such as are found in the faith and of holy conversation may live peaceably, and receive encouragement to persevere in that upon which the lord may delight to doe your highness and these nations good; in order whereunto we humbly propose these following particulars to your highness' consideration: " . first, that a stop may be put to the spreading infection of damnable errors and heresies, by a lively and due suppressing of them according to the mind of the lord. " . that an effectuall course may be taken for the curbeing of all profaneness and libertineisme by the sword of justice, which the lord hath put into your magistrates' hands. " . that your highness would haue an eye upon the designes of the common enemy in generall, and particularly on this (vid.), their traininge up a young generation in the old destructive principles, as also on the designes of any persons whatsoeuer that indeauour to disturb your highness' gouernment and the peace of these nations. " . that the lawes of the nation may be reuised, that for what in them is agreeable to the rules of righteousness may be continued and executed, and whatever corruption is crept into, or may grow up in, courts of judicature may be duly purged away. " . that in your highness' lifetime such prouision be made for the future gouernment of the commonwealth, as may secure the interest of good people of these nations for succeeding generations, that they may call you blessed. "and in the prosecution of such ends we shall be ready, as the lord shall help us, with all that is dear to us, to defend your highness' person and gouernment, with the true interest of religion and the lawes, and shall ever pray, &c. "---- ansley. chrystopher sanderson, minister of annesley. will. lee. john dan. geo. brittain. abraham" [torn off]. "_to the honourable the parliament of england._ "the humble petition of diuers gentlemen, ministers of the gospell, and others, inhabiteing in the county of nottingham, "sheweth, "that your petitioners, haueing seriously considered how much of a thorough reformation of religion and pure administration of the ordinances of christianity would tend to the honour of god, the good of soules, and the abundant satisfaction of the truly godly in this nation, who have long waited for these mercies as the return of their prayers, and the fruit of their expense both of blood and treasure, and being alsoe very sensible that the duty we owe to god, the eminent and signall mercies of god towards this nation, and our own solemn engagements, doe strongly oblidge us euery one in our places, to the utmost of our power, to indeauour the promoteing and aduancement of pure gospell worship, we are humbly bold to address ourselues to your honors. "we are not undmindfull of, nor would we be unthankfull for, what hath been indeauoured this way by former parliaments, yet we cannot but sadly resent the many obstructions this work hath hitherto met withall, and how much it hath been retarded, chiefly, we confess, by our own sins, and the sins of these nations, partly through the malice of satan, the diuisions of brethren, the secret and subtile practices of romish emissaries, fomenting errors and heresies, and not a little, as we humbly conceive, through the want of church gouernment, settled and established by the ciuil authority, whereby those unto whom the exercise of church power is committed by christ may be impoured to keep back ignorant and prophane persons from polluting the ordinances of god, as alsoe by reason of some ancient lawes, alledged and urged by diuers as yet in force, injoyning ministers to dispense the sacrament of the lord's supper, without affording them (as we conceiue) sufficient power regularly to keep back such as are not duly qualified for the same, by reason whereof ministers are liable to prosecution att law (of which we have had a late instance in this county). "we therefore, your petitioners, in faithfulness to the interest of god and his glory, christ and his gospell, our own and other men's soules, and from our sincere desires of the aduancement of the kingdome of christ in these nations, in the promoting whereof the interest and welfare of states and nations is uery much concerned, we neither could nor durst be longer silent, but being persuaded of your willingness to act for christ, and hopeing that god hath raised you up to carry on the work of reformation already begun amongst us, and to be repairers of our breaches and restorers of pathes to dwel in, we are incouraged humbly to pray, " . that such ancient lawes as may be yet in force relating to the sacrament of the lord's supper, so far as they are or may prove burdensome to truly godly and conscientious ministers and people, may be duly regulated. " . that so far as you in your wisdomes shall think fitt, ordinances of parliament that have been made after aduice had with the late assembly of diuines in order { } to church settlement, may be returned upon, and begun reformation carried on. " . that in regard a thorough settlement of church affaires may be long under debate, in the mean time some speedy and effectuall course may be taken, where by ignorant and scandalous persons may be kept from the lord's supper. "and your petitioners shall ever pray. "charles jackson. lancelot coates. will. coup. francis brunt. will...llow [obliterated]. john hoyland. tho. shaw. hen. clark. will. farnworth. chrystopher clark. will. saunder. george flint. dauid taylor. charles shepheard. es. brettun." t. s. leeds. * * * * * folk lore. _lancashire fairy tale._--the nursery rhymes in one of your late numbers remind me of a story i used to be told in the nursery. it was, that two men went poaching, and having placed nets, or rather sacks, over what they supposed to be rabbit-holes, but which were in reality fairies' houses, the fairies rushed into the sacks, and the poachers, content with their prey, marched home again. a fairy missing another in the sack, called out (the story was told in broad lancashire dialect) "dick (dignified name for a fairy), where art thou?" to which fairy dick replied, "in a sack, on a back, riding up barley brow." the story has a good moral ending, for the poachers were so frightened that they never poached again. t. g. c. _teeth, superstition respecting_ (vol. vi., p. .).--a similar (perhaps the same) piece of childish superstition respecting the teeth is, that when the upper incisors are large, it is a sign that you will live to be rich. furvus. _new moon divination._--being lately on a visit in yorkshire, i was amused one evening to find the servants of the house excusing themselves for being out of the way when the bell rang, on the plea that they had been "hailing the first new moon of the new year." this mysterious salutation was effected, i believe, by means of a looking-glass, in which the first sight of the moon was to be had, and the object to be gained was the important secret as to how many years would elapse before the marriage of the observers. if one moon was seen in the glass, one year; if two, two years; and so on. in the case in question, the maid and the boy saw only one moon a-piece. whether the superstition would, in this instance, be suggestive to their minds of anything to be deduced from the coincidence, i do not know; but as they were both very old-fashioned folks, i suppose the custom may not be unknown to those learned in folk lore. what is the orthodox mode of conducting this kind of divination? oxoniensis. _the hyena an ingredient in love potions._--in busbequius's _letters_ (elzevir, ) i note that the turks consider the hyena useful in love potions. i extract the passage: "in amatoriis ei vim magnam turcæ, ut etiam veteres, tribuunt, cumque essent duæ eo tempore constantinopoli, mihi tamen vendere gravabantur, quod se sultanæ, hoc est, principis uxori, eas reservare dicerent, quippe quas philtris et magicis artibus animum mariti retinere, recepta in vulgus (ut dixi) opinio est."--p. . allow me to add a query: what ancient authors allude to this old specimen of folk lore? s. a. s. bridgewater. _the elder tree._--i was visiting a poor parishioner the other day, when the following question was put to me. "pray, sir, can you tell me whether there is any doubt of what kind of wood our lord's cross was made? i have always heard that it was made of _elder_, and we look carefully into the faggots before we burn them, for fear that there should be any of this wood in them." my query is, whether this is a common superstition? rubi. * * * * * minor notes. _the word "party."_--our facetious friend _punch_ has recently made merry with the modern use of the word "party," as applied to any absent person concerned in any pending negotiation. it was used thus, however, by william salmon, professor of physic, in his _family dictionary_, : "let the party, if it can be agreeable, rub frequently his teeth with the ashes that remain in a pipe after it is smoaked."--p. . "having cooled it, rub the party's mouth with a little of it," &c.--p. . e. d. _epitaphs._--churchyard literature presents to us some curious specimens of metaphor; and it is interesting to observe how an old idea is sometimes unintentionally reproduced. the following lines may be seen on a gravestone in the churchyard at kinver, staffordshire: "tired with wand'ring thro' a world of sin, hither we came to _nature's common inn_, to rest our wearied bodys for a night, in hopes to rise that christ may give us light." { } the writer was probably not aware that spenser says, in his _faerie queen_, iii. . .: "and if he then with victorie can lin, he shall his days with peace bring to his _earthly in_." and again, _faerie queen_, ii. . .: "palmer, quoth he, death is an equall doome to good and bad, the _common in of rest_." a leicestershire poet has recorded, in the churchyard of melton mowbray, a very different conception of our "_earthly inn_." he says: "_this world's an inn_, and i her guest: i've eat and drank and took my rest with her awhile, and now i pay her lavish bill, and go my way." you may, perhaps, consider this hardly worthy of a place in your paper; but i act upon the principle which you inculcate in your motto. erica. _campbell's "pleasures of hope."_--it has often occurred to me that in two lines of the most celebrated passage in this poem,-- "o'er prague's proud arch the fires of ruin glow, her blood-red waters murmuring far below," the author has confounded prague, the capital of bohemia, with praga, the suburb of warsaw. the bridge over the moldau, at the former place, is a stone one of european celebrity; and to it campbell must have referred when using terms not at all applicable to that over the vistula, which is of much humbler form and material. in campbell's "ode to the highland society on st march," he describes the nd regiment as having been at vimiera, which it assuredly was not; and no highland regiment was in the battle except the st. i suspect he confounded the "black watch" with the distinguished corps next to it on the army list,--an error into which the author of _charles o'malley_ also must have fallen, as he makes highlanders form a part of the light division, which consisted of the rd, nd, and th. j. s. warden. _palindromical lines._--in addition to the verses given by your correspondent h. h. breen (vol. vi., p. .), i send you the following, as perhaps the most remarkable of its kind in existence. it is mentioned by jeremy taylor as the inscription somewhere on a font. letter by letter it reads the same, whether taken backward or forwards: [greek: nipson anomÊma mÊ monan opsin.] "wash my guilt, and not my face only." agricola de monte. _"derrick" and "ship's painter."_--the following note may perhaps interest some of your readers:--the ancient british word _derrick_, or some such word, still exists in our marine. it is used in sea phrase to define a crane for temporary purposes, and is not unusually represented by a single spar, which is stepped near a hatchway, provided with a tackle or purchase, in order to the removal of goods from the hold of a vessel. the use of _derry_, both as a termination in the names of places, and in the old ballad chorus of _down derry down_, is familiar to every one. some other of our sea terms might receive apt illustration in "n. & q.;" and i should beg to suggest "unde derivatur" a boat's _painter_,--the name of the rope which confines a ship's boat to the vessel, when at sea. turner gave a world-wide interest to the phrase when he called, in his eccentric manner, one of his finest marine pictures "now for the painter." j. c. g. tavistock square. _lord reay's country._--formerly the parish of durness comprehended the whole of the district known as "lord reay's country," or, as it is called in gaelic, "duthaic mhic aoi," _i. e._ the land of the mackays, extending from the river of borgie, near strathnaver, to the kyle of assynt, and comprehending a space of about square miles! since it has been divided into three parishes, viz. eddrachillis, durness, and tongue, with the parish of farr: it was disjoined from the presbytery of caithness, and by an act of the assembly attached to the presbytery of tongue. kirkwallensis. * * * * * queries. unanswered queries. i think it may be permitted to querists, who may fail in obtaining answers, to recur to their questions after the lapse of a reasonable time, in order to awaken attention. i asked a question at page ., vol. vi., in which i was, and still am, much interested. perhaps mr. collier will do me the favour to answer it, particularly as his annotated folio is remarkably rich in "_stage directions_." before taking the liberty of putting the question so directly to mr. collier, i awaited an examination of his recently-published volume of selected corrections, in which, however, the point upon which i seek information is not alluded to. in glancing over that volume, i perceive that mr. collier, in his notes at the end (p. .), does "n. & q." the honour to refer to it, by alluding to an emendation "proposed by mr. cornish" ("n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .). when that emendation appeared i recognised it at once as having been proposed by warburton and applauded by dr. johnson. i did not, however, then think it of sufficient importance to trouble the editor of "n. & q.," by correcting a claim which, although apparent, might not perhaps be intentional. { } but now, since the ownership (_quantum valeat_) has deceived even mr. collier, and is endorsed by him, it is time to notice it. a. e. b. leeds. p.s.--i may add that, with respect to these words "happy low lie down," from my habit of looking for solutions of difficulties in parallels and antitheses, i have arrived at a different conclusion from any that has yet been suggested. finding "uneasy" used _adverbially_ in the last line, i see no reason why "happy" should not also be taken _adverbially_ in the preceding line: we should then have the same verb, "lie" and "lies," repeated antithetically in the same mood and tense. the article _the_ before "low" has probably been omitted in the press, and may be either actually restored or elliptically understood: "then _happy_ [the] low lie down; _uneasy_ lies the head that wears a crown." * * * * * mr. john munro. between the years and , a gentleman resident of london, under the signature a. z., presented from time to time to the society of antiquaries of scotland, a collection of works respecting the orkney and shetland islands, copiously illustrated with manuscript notes and inserted prints, maps, &c. the internal evidence leaves no room to doubt that the donor of this valuable collection was a native of kirkwall; and recent investigations lead to the conclusion that he was a mr. john munro, originally in the office of mr. john heddle, town clerk of kirkwall. he appears to have gone to london about , and to have passed the rest of his life there, down to may, , when his last communication was made to the scottish antiquaries. a list of his donations is printed in the _archæologia scotica_, vol. iii. pp. - . his copious manuscript notes, written in a very neat and legible hand, indicate not only a man of intelligence and research, but also of an exceedingly amiable and kindly disposition, and strongly influenced by the _amor patriæ_, which gave to his donations their exclusive character. i am anxious to ascertain what was mr. munro's occupation in london, the date of his death, and any interesting or characteristic notes concerning him. judging from his tastes, it seems highly probable that he may have been known to more than one of your metropolitan correspondents. perhaps you will not think such queries undeserving of a corner in your useful vehicle of literary intercommunication, nor a. z.'s _anonimity_ unworthy of an effort to rede the riddle. dan. wilson. edinburgh. * * * * * minor queries. _song in praise of the marquess of granby._--can any of your correspondents furnish me with the words of a song written in praise of the marquess of granby, who was so distinguished as a general officer in the middle of the last century? i think the first verse ended with-- "but the jewel of grantham is granby." it was sung to the tune of "over the water to charlie." f. w. s. _venda._--can any of your correspondents tell me what is the origin and use of this word, as a prefix to names of places in portugal; as it occurs, for instance, in venda da agua, venda da pia, venda das monachos, &c., places not far from torres vedras? c. e. f. _the georgiad._--about , at cambridge, some lines under this title were commonly attributed to the late rev. e. smedley (seaton prizeman). can any reader supply a copy? two stanzas run thus: "george b----[ ] has turn'd a saint, they say: but who believes the tale? george d---- [ ] might as soon turn gay! george c----'s[ ] flirting fail! "george d----[ ] set the thames on fire! george r---- his reign renew! george r---- imitate his sire, and to his friends be true!" aitch. [footnote : "g. a. b.," fellow of trinity, a lively companion.] [footnote : editor of the bible.] [footnote : lay fellow and tutor of jes. coll.; used to read theocritus _græcè_ in the stage-coach.] [footnote : author of _history of london_, or some topographical quarto. the next may be guessed.] _r. s. townshend of manchester._--i know that you have several intelligent correspondents in the neighbourhood of manchester, and it is probable that they may be able to give me some information respecting a mr. r. s. townshend, a person of literary taste and pursuits, who resided in that town about the year . his common-place book, or diary, which has fallen into my hands, contains numerous allusions to the leading gentry and clergy of the neighbourhood; and more than once it mentions the well-known dr. byrom, under the title of "il gran maestro de tachigraphia." dr. deacon, a distinguished person among the nonjurors, is also mentioned. the acting of cato by the scholars of the grammar-school on dec. , , is also mentioned, with some critiques upon the performers. the elections at the collegiate church are constantly referred to as subjects of all-absorbing interest; there being a strong party, { } as well in the town as in the church, of jacobites, and these elections being regarded as a trial of party strength. o. g. "_mala malæ malo._"--will any of your correspondents be good enough to complete the distich of which the following is the first line?-- "mala malæ malo mala pertulit omnia in orbem," or something like it. and, as a further favour, finish the hexameter in this epigram? "roma amor è retro perlecto nomine.... tendit enim retro roma in amore dei." this is in the style of audoenus. the former i have heard attributed to porson. balliolensis. "_dimidium scientiæ._"--i should be glad if some one of your baconian annotators would direct me to that famous maxim which coleridge ascribes to the great philosopher, "dimidium scientiæ, prudens quæstio," in the original. b. b. woodward. _portrait painters._--i am in possession of some good paintings, portraits, &c., which were taken at the end of the last, and early in the present century. some were painted at bath, and others at derby: and i should feel obliged if, in your notes, i could obtain information as to what artists of celebrity were known in those places from fifty to seventy years ago. i have heard that white of derby was an artist of high repute. j. knight. aylestone. _"an impartial inquiry," &c._--who was author of-- "an impartial inquiry into the true nature of the faith which is required in the gospel as necessary to salvation. in which is briefly shown upon how righteous terms unbelievers may become true christians: and the case of the deists is reduced to a short issue, by philalethes cestriensis. vo., lond. ." y. b. n. j. "_as poor as job's turkey._"--this proverbial expression is used in the united states, sometimes with an addition showing how poor he was, thus: "as poor as job's turkey, that had but one feather in his tail;" "as poor as job's turkey, that had to lean against a fence to gobble." uneda. _fuss._--perhaps some of your correspondents can favour the public with the etymology and date of the word _fuss_. w. w. _suicide encouraged in marseilles._--in the _lancet_ of nov. , , it is stated by de stone that anciently, in marseilles, persons having satisfactory reasons for committing suicide were supplied with poison at the public expense. what authority is there for this? i should also like to be informed what was the occasion on which a suicidal propensity in the milesian ladies was corrected by an appeal to their posthumous modesty? elsno. _fabulous bird._--among the many quaint and beautiful conceits in fuller, there is one preeminently fine: in which he likens the life-long remorse of a man who has slain another in a duel to the condition of "a bird i have read of, which hath a face like, and yet will prey upon, a man; who, coming to the water to drink, and finding there, by reflection, that he had killed one like himself, pineth away by degrees, and never afterwards enjoyeth itself." where did fuller read this story? i do not recollect it in pliny. v. t. sternberg. _segantiorum portus._--has there been any locality yet found for this port, mentioned by ptolemy in his _history of britain_? prestoniensis. _stamping on current coinage._--can any of your readers inform me whether the current english coinage may legally be used for stamping advertisements on? gregory. _rhymes: dryden._-- "thou breakst through forms, with as much ease as the french king through articles." "to sir g. etherege." "some lazy ages, lost in sleep and ease, no action leave to busy chronicles." _astræa redux_, , . and again, in _threnodia augustalis_, "these," ending line , and "miracles," ending line , are made to rhyme. was it ever the fashion to pronounce these different terminations alike; or does any other author of repute of that date use such rhymes? again, "hour" and "traveller" are made to rhyme in _astræa redux_, , ; "stars" and "travellers," in _religio laici_, ; "are" and "lucifer," in _the medal_; "men" and "sin," in _religio laici_, , ; "convince" and "sense," in _ibid._ ; _cum multis aliis_. harry leroy temple. _the cadenham oak._--can any of the correspondents of "n. & q." inform me if this famous old tree is still alive? it flourished for nearly three centuries in hampshire forest; and during this long period was visited by crowds of people, who, it must be confessed, entertained towards it a religious veneration--from its peculiarity of annually shooting forth its buds on old christmas-day. if dead, as i suppose--for the account which i read some years ago stated that it was fast decaying--then i would like to know if the young tree, one of its progeny, is still flourishing in the forest, and enjoying, from its peculiarity, the same veneration { } which was paid to the parent stock. those of your readers who wish to know more of this venerable oak, and of the trees which sprung from it, are referred to mr. gilpin's able and interesting work on forest scenery, published, as i believe, in london between sixty and seventy years ago. w. w. malta. _st. mary's church, beverley._--in the memorials of ray (_ray society_), at p. ., is a curious account of the church of st. mary at beverley. would some kind antiquary resident at beverley, or its vicinity, compare the present state of the church with what ray describes it to have been in his day; and at the same time state whether "the inhabitants of beverley" now "pay no toll or custom in any city, town, or port in england?" enivri. tredagh. _the rev. joshua marsden._--i should be glad if any of the correspondents of "n. & q." could furnish any particulars relative to the above gentleman. he was the author of a most exquisite _morceau_ of about forty lines, entitled "what is time;" in reference to which, a literary periodical of some thirty years ago says: "if our readers are half as much struck with the following solemn appeal, as we ourselves have been, they will not wonder at its insertion where poetry so rarely finds room." braemar. _bentley's examination._--i have found this anecdote of bentley in bishop sandford's _memoirs_. is it authentic? "when the great bentley, afterwards so distinguished, was examined for deacon's orders, he expected that the bishop would himself examine him; and his displeasure at what he considered neglect, he vented in such answers as the following: _chaplain._ quid est fides? _bentley._ quod non vides. _chaplain._ quid est spes? _bentley._ quod non habes. _chaplain._ quid est charitas? _bentley._ maxima raritas." are not these rhymes older than bentley? w. fraser. _derivation of "lowbell."_--i see mr. sternberg, in his "dialect and folk-lore of northamptonshire," gives a new explanation of the puzzling word _lowbell_, in beaumont and fletcher's _woman's prize_, act i. sc. . it appears that northamptonshire peasants have a way of their own for punishing offenders against good morals: "on the first appearance of the culprit in 'strit,' or on 'grin,' the villagers rise _en masse_, and greet him with a terrible din of tin pots and kettles, &c.; and, amidst the hooting and vociferation of the multitude, he is generally compelled to seek shelter by flight. this is called 'lowbelling,' and the actors are termed 'lowbells,' or 'lowbellers,' forming a tolerable explanation of the _lowbell_ in beaumont and fletcher's _woman's prize_, act i. sc. ., which has so long mystified the commentators: '_petru._ if you can carry't so, 'tis very well. _bian._ no, you shall carry it, sir. _petru._ peace, gentle _lowbell_.'" mr. sternberg derives it from the anglo-saxon _lowian_, past participle of the anglo-saxon _lowian_, and the verb _bellan_. this would seem satisfactory; but i should like to know whether the word is current anywhere else besides northamptonshire. h. t. w. _meaning of assassin._--can any reader of the "n. & q." inform me of the correct meaning of the word "assassin?" the old story of the nation of the assassins, under their prince the "old man of the mountain," i reject as absurd, although gibbon adopts it. i have my own idea, which agrees with mr. lane in his account of the modern egyptians, who derives it from the arabic word "_hushhusheen_, one drunk with hemp." m. volney says it comes from the arabic "_hass_, to kill, or lie in ambush to kill." which of all these derivations is correct? muhammed. a. and n. club, st. james's square. _punishment for exercising the roman catholic religion._--in burton's _narratives from criminal trials in scotland_, vol. ii. p. ., i find the following statement: "the latest case of punishment under the act is supposed to have occurred in , when neil mcfie was banished by the circuit court of inverness, for being 'held and reputed a popish priest.' later instances might be adduced of punishment for exercising the roman catholic religion in england." can any of your readers inform me of the date of the last instance in england, and where it is stated? s. y. _hogarth's pictures._--i have a catalogue of the pictures and prints, the property of the late mrs. hogarth deceased, which were sold by mr. greenwood on april th, . under the head "pictures by mr. hogarth," i see in lot .: "the heads of six servants of mr. hogarth's family." can any of your numerous readers inform me where this picture is placed, or say in what manner the heads are grouped? w. d. haggard. _lines in a snuff-box._--the following lines were recently found in a metal (probably silver) snuff-box, which had lain for many years undiscovered in a plate chest. they are engraved { } _inside_, on the bottom of the box, and are supposed to be a saying of cardinal mazarin. can any of your correspondents give any account of them, and where they are to be found? they are as follow, _verbatim et literatim_, punctuation included: "time and i, to any two chance & i to time and you " r. blakiston. ashington rectory, sussex. _rosa mystica._--where is information to be found on the subject of the _rosa mystica_; and what is the date of its institution? d. s. a. _old-shoe throwing at weddings._--can any of your readers inform me what is the origin of the custom of throwing an old shoe over the bride and bridegroom upon their leaving the church, or the "maison paternelle" after their wedding? this ceremony, though peculiar as i believe to scotland and our northern counties, has lately been adopted at our aristocratic marriages in london, and more should be known of its history. braybrooke. _herbé's "costumes français."_--the valuable work by m. herbé, _costumes français; civiles, militaires et religieux_, to. paris, is doubtless well known to your readers. i have heard that after its publication sundry persons, judging perhaps from the eccentricity of many of the costumes, doubted their accuracy, and even considered them the result of m. herbé's fancy; and that that gentleman, annoyed at the imputation, subsequently published another work citing his authorities. query, can any one verify this statement? and if true, inform me of the title of this latter work; and whether it is to be found in any library in this country, and where? pictor. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _humphry smith_ (vol. vii., p. .).--having heard of a work of his, giving an account of the persecution in his time, will you or one of your contributors be so good as furnish a list of the titles of his works; with a note naming where they may be met with for inspection? glywysig. [the first two in the following list of the works of humphry smith, the quaker, are in the british museum; the remainder are in the bodleian: . a sad and mournful lamentation for the people of these nations, but especially for the priests and leaders of them, to. . . meditations of an humble heart, to. . something further laid open of the cruel persecution of the people called quakers, by the magistrates and people of evesham, to. . . for the honour of the king, and the great advancing thereof (amongst men) over all nations in the world, in some proposals tending thereunto; stated in six particulars, to. . . sound things asserted in the king's own words, from late experience, from scripture truth, and according to reason and equity, offered in meekness and goodwill unto the consideration of all kings, lords, counsellors, &c., to. . . something in reply to edmund skipp's book, which he calles "the world's wonder, or the quaker's blazing starre," at the end of an answer to edmund skipp's book by r. f. watt, in his _bibliotheca_, has confounded smith the quaker with humphry smith, vicar of tounstal and st. saviour's, dartmouth.] _meaning and etymology of "conyngers" or "connigries."_--in the preamble to the statute rich. ii. c. ., entitled "none shall hunt but they which have a sufficient living," this word occurs; and i am totally at a loss as to its meaning. the passage is-- "vont chaceants es parkes, garennes et conyngers des seignurs et autres;" which, in pickering's edition of the _statutes at large_, is translated: "they go hunting in parks, warrens, and connigries of lords and others." would any reader of "n. & q." kindly enlighten me on the subject? a. w. kilburn. [blount explains _coningeria_ as a coney-borough, or warren of conies. "item dicunt, quod idem dominus potest capere in duabus _coningeriis_, quas habet infra insulam de vecta, cuniculos per annum, et valet quilibet cuniculos d." inq. de anno hen. iii., n. .] _letters u, v, w, and st. ives_ (vol. vii., p. .).--is st. ives by any possibility connected with st. jue's, st. jew's, or st. jude's? jve's and iue's must have been undistinguishable in the ancient confusion of j and i, v and u. if i am here displaying ignorance, i ask, what is the legend of st. ives? w. fraser. tor-mohun. [st. ives is named from iä, who was one of the missionary band that accompanied st. kiaran, alias piran, from ireland in the fifth century. the cornish have consecrated almost all their towns to the memory of these irish saints: "witness," says camden, "st. burian, st. ives, st. columb, st. mewan, st. erben, st. eval, st. wenn, and st. enedor." it appears that these missionaries landed in cornwall at pendinas, hill-head, now called st. ives; for in the legend of st. ives, contained in _nova legenda angliæ_, we read that "tewdor was king at that time, and had a palace at pendinas; and that dinan, a greate lord of cornwall, at the request of st. iä, built a church at the same place." see butler's _lives_, march th; and haslam's _perranzabuloe_, p. .] { } * * * * * replies. the orkney islands in pawn. (vol. vii., p. .) it gives me much pleasure to be enabled to inform your correspondent kirkwallensis that there is no fear of our losing these islands in the manner suggested by him, they having been renounced by denmark nearly four hundred years ago, as will be seen from the following sketch. the orkneys were taken from the picts about a.d. , by kenneth ii., king of scotland, to which kingdom they were attached until , when donald viii., surnamed bane, brother to malcolm canmore, usurped the crown, to the prejudice of his nephews edgar, alexander, and david; and requiring assistance to maintain his position, he applied to magnus, king of norway, to whom, says skene, "for help and supply he gave all the isles of scotland (camden says the orkneys only), where, through and for other causes, many bloody battles were fought, until the battle of larges, rd august, , in the time of alexander iii. of scotland, and acho, king of norway." the scots proving victorious, magnus of norway, son and successor of acho, made peace with alexander, and renounced and discharged all right and title which he or his successors had, or might have or pretend, to the isles of scotland, the king of scotland paying therefor yearly to the said magnus and his successors one hundred marks of sterling money. this contract was confirmed in by haquin v. of norway and robert i. of scotland. in eric x. of denmark renewed with james i. of scotland these ancient treaties, particularly with regard to the western isles; the pension or annuity having been long omitted to be paid, eric now freely gave it up to james; and thus, in appearance, the orkneys were finally confirmed to scotland; but virtually it was not so until , when, says skene, "at last the said annual, with all the arrearages and by-runs thereof, was discharged and renounced _simpliciter_, in the contract of marriage between king james iii. and margaret, daughter of christian i., king of norway, denmark, and sweden, on the th of september, ; which discharge is not only ratified, but renewed thereafter by the said king, on the th may, . it appears that james iii., on the th february, , commanded his ambassador sent to the pope to desire a confirmation of the said perpetual renunciation and discharge of the contribution of the isles." according to dr. wallace's account ( ), king christian agreed that the isles of orkney and zetland should remain in the possession of king james and his successors, as the princess margaret's dower, until either king christian or his successors should pay to king james or his successors the sum of fifty thousand florins of the rhine; but in the year following, hearing of his daughter's delivery of a prince at edinburgh, he "for joy thereof renounced for ever to the crown of scotland all right or claim to the said isles." broctuna. bury, lancashire. kirkwallensis seems to have been led into an error respecting the orkneys. it is true that orkney and shetland belonged to the crown of norway, to which the scottish family of st. clair, or sinclair, rendered military service for the earldom. it was not, however, to an english king, but to james iii. of scotland that christian gave the hand of "the maid of norway." in the marriage preliminaries the latter thus stipulates respecting the dower:--"rex cedit sexaginta aureorum rhenensium [florenorum] millia, ejus summæ priusquam è danæ regno sponsa digrediatur numeraturus aureorum decem millia, quod verò reliquum esset supplerent insulæ regni norvegici, jam memoratæ, _orcades_, una cum jurisdictione ac cæteris eodem pertinentibus, hac tamen lege, ut insulas eas, eousque teneat scotiæ rex sub firma _hypotheca_ donec vel ipse, vel ejus heredes, daniæ ac norvegiæ reges, æqua vicissim portione easdem redimant." this article was afterwards embodied in the marriage contract:--"et terræ insularum orchaden regi nostro jacobo _impignoratæ, ad norvegiæ reges revertentur_," &c. both documents are preserved in torfæus (_orcades_, pp. -- .). mr. auker's discovery of the original is, however, an interesting circumstance, as it would seem that the marriage in question was but the result of an attempt to settle amicably an ancient dispute respecting the sovereignty of the hebrides--"vetus controversia de hæbudis et mannia magnis utriusque populi cladibus agitata"--which the king of france, as umpire, had been unable to pronounce upon, in consequence of the loss or concealment of the original instruments. w. g. a. * * * * * the passage in king henry viii., act iii. sc. . (vol. vii., pp. . .) having no desire to enter into unnecessary controversy, i do not often reply to objections made to my conjectural emendations of passages in shakspeare; but on the present occasion i think it incumbent on me to appeal to the common sense of those who take interest in such matters, by merely placing in juxta-position the reading i have proposed, and that of your leeds correspondent, and thus leave it to their impartial decision without fear of the result. it may be necessary, as your correspondent has adverted to { } what precedes, to give the passage as it stands in the folio at some length. wolsey having said-- "for your great graces heap'd upon me (poore undeserver) i can nothing offer but my allegiant thankes, my prayres to heaven for you; my loyaltie which ever ha's, and ever shall be growing till death (that winter) kill it." the king replies: "fairely answer'd: a loyal, and obedient subject is therein illustrated, the honor of it does pay the act of it, as i'th' contrary the fowlenesse is the punishment. i presume that as my hand ha's open'd bounty to you, my heart dropt love, my powre rain'd honor, more on you, then any: so your hand, and heart, your braine, and every function of your power, should, notwithstanding that your bond of duty, as 'twer in love's particular, be more to me your friend, then any." wolsey rejoins: "i do professe that for your highnesse good, i ever labour'd more then mine owne: that am, haue, and will be (though all the world should crack their duty to you, and throw it from their soule, though perils did abound, as thicke as thought could make 'em, and appeare in formes more horrid) yet my duty, as doth a rocke against the chiding flood, should the approach of this wilde river breake, and stand unshaken yours." i read: "i do profess that for your highness' good i ever labour'd more than mine own: that _i'm true_, and will be, though all the world should lack their duty to you, and throw it from their soul: though perils did abound, as thick as thought could make them, and appear in forms more horrid; yet my duty (as doth a rock against the chiding flood) should the approach of this wild river break, and stand unshaken yours." your leeds correspondent would read: "i do profess that for your highness' good i ever labour'd more than mine own.--_that_, am _i_, have, and will be, though all the world should crack their duty to you and throw it from their soul," &c. for his arguments i must refer to his note (p. . _antè_), merely observing that i cannot conceive how any alteration in the punctuation of the king's speech could connect it with this! making _that_ emphatic helps nothing, as there is no antecedent to which it can refer; and if "we can by no means part with _have_," we must interpolate _been_ after it to make it any way intelligible, to the marring of the verse. with regard to the substitution of _lack_ for _crack_ in my former note, it should be recollected that i then said "i do not insist upon this." we might, however, substitute _slack_, if change should be deemed necessary, and it would be still nearer in form to the suspected word. i may safely leave the _palpable_ error in _as you like it_ to the decision of common sense. as i am dealing with corrections in the play of _king henry viii._, i may take occasion to observe that mr. collier, in his recent supplemental volume of _notes and emendations_, has, i have no doubt unwittingly, stated that a passage, act iv. sc. ., has been absurdly pointed, "over and over again, from the year to our own day." whereas it will be found corrected, exactly as it stands in his second folio, in the edition i gave of shakspeare in , with a note adverting to the absurdity of the old pointing. i may further add, that the first instance mr. collier gives in his preface of the corrections in his folio, is in the same predicament. he has stated that the reading of "aristotle's _cheeks_" for "aristotle's _ethics_," in the first scene of the _taming of the shrew_, "has been the invariable text from the first publication in until our own day;" when the fact is, that it stands properly corrected in my edition in , with the following note: "blackstone suggests that we should read _ethics_, and the sense seems to require it; i have therefore admitted it into the text." it is possible that mr. collier may have never looked into my edition of the poet, and i may honestly say that i regret it, not on my own account but on his, for i think, had he consulted it, his own would not have been the worse for it. s. w. singer. manor place, south lambeth. * * * * * miniature ring of charles i. (vol. vi., p. .) by the courtesy of w. k. rogers, esq. (in whose possession it is), i am enabled to account for another of these interesting and invaluable relics; one of the four said to have been presented by the martyr prior to his execution. "rogers of lota. this family was early remarkable for its loyalty and attachment to the crown; a ring is still preserved as an heir-loom, which was presented to its ancestor by king charles i. during his misfortunes."--burke's _commoners of great britain and ireland_. robert rogers of lota received extensive grants of land from charles ii., which upon the accession of james ii. were confirmed to him by letters patent. he was mayor of cork, , m. p. for that city , and again . in the body of his will, bearing date , and registered in the record court, dublin, occurs the following { } paragraph, embraced by brackets, as if he wished to convey forcibly his appreciation of the value of the relic: ["and i also bequeath to noblett rogers the miniature portrait-ring of the martyr charles i., given by that monarch to my ancestor previous to his execution; and i particularly desire that it may be preserved in the name and family."] the miniature, which is beautifully painted in enamel, and said to be by vandyke, has been reset in a tasteful and appropriate style; and it is in this state that i have seen it. but mr. rogers informs me that its original setting and inscriptions exactly corresponded with those of the ring in the possession of the misses pigott, described in hulbert's _history of salop_; and the same tradition exists in the family as to its having been _one of four_ presented by charles to certain of his friends or followers. there can be little question, therefore, as to the genuineness of both these rings. with regard to the portrait being the work of vandyke, mr. r. writes to me-- "i know not on what authority it is stated, but i believe there is not a family of old standing in the county cork in which tradition has not assigned its execution to that master; and certainly in rome, where it was much admired, the artists, when questioned 'whose style?' frequently answered, 'vandyke.'" portraits by vandyke in enamel, it is said, are known to be in existence. whether so renowned a master would have submitted to the wearisome and laborious operation of repeating a number of works so minute, even for a crowned head, seems to admit of a doubt; yet there is no difficulty in imagining him to have superintended the progress of the artist employed to copy his own portrait of charles, and even to have bestowed some finishing touches upon it. i have lately seen a ring with a portrait of charles on ivory, in coarse and very inferior style, and in a plain gold setting. it is in the possession of a gentleman in whose family it has continued for several generations. doubtless many such memorials of their murdered king were worn at the time by his devoted partizans, and may yet be in existence. c. ley. bere regis. * * * * * chantry chapels. (vol. vi., p. .) at the derby congress of the british archæological association, the duke of rutland exhibited a document of which the following notice by mr. h. n. black is made in the journal of their _transactions_ (vol. for , p. .): "a bull of pope alexander iv., dated at viterbo, id. mar., anno , viz., march, . it is addressed to the bishop of coventry, setting forth that richard de herthull lived in a place remote from the mother church, which at some seasons was inaccessible; that he already had a chapel on his own land, and desired to have a chaplain to serve therein, for whom he was prepared to provide fit support. the matter was therefore referred to his diocesan, to grant license accordingly if he should deem it expedient. the leaden seal is yet attached to this beautiful little document." then follow the words of the document in latin. herthull has been corrupted into _hartle_: and on the moor of this name a chapel still remains, although of much later date than that mentioned in the above-named document; traces of an earlier erection are however still visible in a portion of the present foundations. it is now used as a barn. distant from this about two miles, at meadow place, near yolgrave, is another chapel, now used for a similar purpose as the foregoing. in this, the jambs of all the windows still remain; the east window is a very large one. the above is not intended to answer w. h. k.'s query, but rather as a note in connexion with it. t. n. b. chester. in the north riding of yorkshire, celebrated for its monasteries, &c., were many chantry chapels, both in the hamlets, and in the rural situations apart from them. gill's _vallis eboracensis_ contains an account of several; among the rest may be noticed one at newton grange. this chapel, which is now used for agricultural purposes, is preserved, by request of its noble owner lord feversham, in its primitive form. it stands in a meadow field, at some distance from the ruins of the ancient seat of the cholmeleys, and was used as a burial chantry, but not exclusively so. in a vault was discovered beneath the floor; and five coffins were removed to oswald kirk churchyard, and re-interred there. in order to preserve the chapel from ruin, lady cholmeley bequeathed one pound per annum to the rector of ampleforth for preaching a sermon annually therein; but the ruinous state of the building at that time caused the removal of the pulpit, and the sermon is preached in the church at oswald kirk. the _valor ecclesiasticus_ contains the records of dissolved chantries. j. e. g. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _the collodion process._--i have been much pleased with the directions given by dr. diamond in your columns for the production of collodion positives; but they have been hitherto unaccompanied by any reference to the causes of those numerous failures that occur in this delicate process, and which are so disheartening to { } beginners. i will just enumerate a few of the appearances with which i have been troubled, and trust that they may elicit from other operators an account of some of their instructive failures. i will premise, as an answer to a former query respecting the cost and description of lenses, that i obtained mine of mr. goddard, now of jesse cottage, witton, middlesex. they are combination-lenses, two inches and a quarter in diameter (achromatic); the front lens can be used singly for views, producing a picture nearly seven inches square, but when combined covering four inches. for these, with brass mounting, i paid less than l.: a single lens, the same diameter, would be about l. they work to focus, cover flat, and define well, producing pictures equal to the most expensive. i have usually preferred mr. archer's collodion, as the most certain and cleanest. the silver bath is composed of thirty grains nitrate of silver and two drops of nitric acid to each ounce of distilled water. an even film may be obtained by the following means:--represent the plate of glass by the following figure: +--------------------+ | | | | | | | | +--------------------+ hold the plate with the left hand at , pour a body of collodion in the centre: tilt towards (being careful not to let it touch the thumb), incline towards , run into , and pour off at : then hold the plate vertically (resting the corner on the neck of the collodion bottle) to drain: incline it first to the right and then to the left, repeating this several times until the ridges are removed. by these means an even film may be produced, without a thick ridge, from to . the time it may be left before plunging into the silver bath will depend on the temperature (about half a minute). dip evenly into the bath, lifting up and down to allow of the evaporation of the ether: the film will also saturate more rapidly. when the greasy appearance is gone, it is ready for the camera. sometimes the film is nearly transparent and bluish, not having sufficient iodide of silver; or it may contain too much iodide, the greater part flaking off in the bath, leaving the collodion with very little, and that patchy; or from being placed in the bath too quick, the lower corner still present a reticulated appearance, which of course renders it useless. having exposed the plate the necessary time, the next step is the development. the solution i usually employ is prepared with protosulphate of iron. i do not find distilled water absolutely necessary (during the summer months i fancied the tones were improved by using ordinary water, perhaps from containing a little lime), and the acetate acid is not glacial, but a description termed beaufoy's, much less expensive. the proportions are-- water ounces. acetic acid drachm. protosulphate of iron grains. nitric acid drops. mix the water and acetic acid first; then dissolve the iron; and, lastly, add the nitric acid, which, by varying the quantity, produces different effects. on pouring the solution over the plate, there is sometimes a difficulty experienced in causing it to flow evenly. sometimes a little more acetic acid in the developing solution, or, if the plate has been out of the bath some time, redipping it, will prevent this; but if this does not remove it, and the resulting picture is hard and unpleasant in tone, a new bath is necessary. for positives, the resulting picture is more pleasing and delicate by using the developing agent rather weak. after it has remained on sufficiently long to bring out the image, the undecomposed iodide is to be removed by hyposulphite of soda. i always use the same solution, pouring it on and off until exhausted. having sufficiently washed, the picture may perhaps appear with many black spots, this may in future be obviated by adding a little alcohol to the collodion:--or it may be covered with white spots; in that case the collodion requires settling, or rapidly filtrating through an old piece of loose silk. sometimes it will look all black and white (a common fault with collodion positives), without middle tints: by adding a little more acetic acid, or an extra drop of nitric acid, to the developing solution, or the addition of a few drops of ordinary pyrogallic solution, this disagreeable effect may be overcome. in taking portraits, it is often caused by having the sitter placed with too much front light. then, again, the should-be whites of the picture may be dull and greenish by reflected, and red by transmitted, light. this effect i generally find remedied by putting less nitric acid in the developing solution. during the development, by watching the colour (by holding a piece of white paper underneath), this red tendency may be observed; in that case the drawing may be preserved by leaving the plate for about a minute after pouring the developing agent off, and before removing the iodide. some change appears to take place by its contact with the air; it gradually gets more opaque, and when finished, though not so white as many, yet presenting an extremely rich brownish-yellow tone. during the late dull weather, many of my plates have shown a tendency to an uniform leaden-looking deposit, destroying the blacks of the picture. a little more nitric acid in the bath will sometimes overcome this, but i have not yet found a sufficient remedy. during the summer months i was in the habit of using double the quantity of { } iron i have stated, diluting the solution more; then was compelled to diminish the quantity to twelve grains, and now i use eight. i have tried the proportions recommended by french photographers, but they seem to contain too large a proportion of iron. i prefer the use of the protosulphate to the protonitrate of iron from its cheapness, and the ease with which it is made up. it will also keep for any length of time, rather improving than otherwise. i back with liquid jet from suggitt, opposite the house of correction, mount pleasant, clerkenwell. it dries rapidly, and brightens the appearance. g. h. p. _mr. weld taylor's iodizing process._--the process i sent to your columns last month, for iodizing paper, is applicable _only_ to the paper of canson frères; and i may further explain, that if the solution does not answer well, it may be washed over again with a solution of iodide of potassa only of the usual strength, and then set on a dish of slightly-acidulated water, to assist the separation and set free the potash. to make the matter clear to mr. shadbolt, i may observe, to one who is in the habit of iodizing paper, a considerable amount of the passage relating to cyanide of potassa could not be misunderstood; the nitrate of silver being added to the iodide of potassa, forms at once a precipitate which it is required to take up. the old double iodide says, add iodide of potassa till it does so, and it will do so; but the cyanide of potassa does it much better, and the cyanogen is lost as the paper dries, otherwise it would take no image at all. in the process i gave it merely requires an equivalent, "and cyanide of potassa is always of use in many of these processes." that equivalent is of course best arrived at by a solution, as, if the cyanide of potassa were added in the lump, it would be lost or be in excess. further, i may enlighten mr. shadbolt by assuring him that the iodizing paper with the ammonio-nitrate of silver, which i never saw published yet, is the best way; and i may confidently assert that the better ways of iodizing papers are not published at all. it is a tedious process to do, but it is as certain as taking a positive from a negative. at present i have not space to give my way of doing it. i may also add, that it will not answer with all papers. in fact, all samples of paper require some modification of the process, as the chemicals are different in the various modes of bleaching paper by different manufacturers. the ammonio-nitrate is perfect with whatman's paper; indeed it is a subject of much regret, that this maker has not turned out a paper as thin and hard as the canson frères. the latter gentlemen have added some chemical, probably iodine, to their paper, which renders it almost impossible to iodize it at all. i believe it to be iodine, because the paper becomes perfectly black over _free_ iodine, which no english paper will do. at all events, this paper is very uncertain, although it has a quality in appearance that is unsurpassed by any other. weld taylor. . conduit street west, bayswater. _sir william newton's process: further explanations._--in reply to your correspondent f. maxwell lyte, who is desirous of knowing my motive for washing the paper over with chloride of barium previous to iodizing-- in the first place, i find that it appears to give strength to the paper. secondly, that the action in the camera is better and more certain. thirdly, it keeps cleaner in the bringing-out process, thereby allowing a longer time for a more complete development. fourthly, i have never found any _solarizing_ take place since i have used it (about three years); and, fifthly, i find that it keeps longer and better after it is excited for the camera. from the observations which i have made since i have made use of chloride of barium, i conclude that it has the effect of _destroying_ any injurious properties which may be in the paper, and more especially with respect to the size; and besides which, when combined with iodide of silver, greater intensity is obtained in the negative. i have occasionally prepared paper without chloride of barium, but i have always found (except for positives) that i could not rely upon it with the same degree of certainty. i need scarcely add that throughout the whole of this process the greatest care and attention is required, and that the water should be constantly agitated while the paper is in it, and that the water should be once changed. w. j. newton. . argyle street. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _lady nevell's music-book_ (vol. vii., p. .).--to transpose the six-line staves of old music into the five-line staves of modern notation, it is only necessary to treat the lowest line of the treble, and the highest line of the bass, as ledger lines. the five remaining will correspond with the five now in use. i should feel greatly obliged to your correspondent l. b. l. for a sight of his virginal book, as it appears to be an exact transcript of the one in dr. rimbault's possession. wm. chappell. . regent street. _tuch_ (vol. vii., p. .).--alphage suggests that the "touchstone" had its name because "a musical sound may be produced by touching it { } sharply with a stick." i think this is an error, and that it owes its name to its use in the assay of gold and silver. we find this application of it described in a work (now scarce) published in , under the title of _a touchstone for gold and silver wares_. the author, after describing the qualities of a good touchstone, observes (p. .): "the way to make a true touch on the touch-stone is thus: when your touch-stone is very clean ... your silver being filed ... rub it steadily, and very hard, on the stone ... until the place of the stone whereon you rub be like the metal itself ... wet all the toucht places with your tongue, and it will show itself in its own countenance." and that the touchstone was used in this connexion at a much earlier period is obvious from the language of the ancient statutes. the edward i., stat. . cap. ., requires all gold and silver wares to be "of good and true allay, that is to say, gold of a certain _touch_." and the word occurs in the same sense in other statutes. a. r. birmingham. the error of coleridge, alluded to by your correspondent alphage, is certainly not a little singular, especially as the word, in the sense of stone or marble, occurs in ben jonson, drayton, and sir john harrington, and there is a good article on the word in nares's _glossary_. i must, however, altogether dissent from your correspondent's statement that the reason for the name of touchstone is, that a musical sound may be produced by touching it sharply with a stick, and agree with nares that it obtained its name from being used as a test for gold. see a very interesting article on assay marks by mr. octavius morgan (_archæological journal_, ix. .), from which it appears that, for the trial of gold, touch-needles were applied to the touchstone. thompson cooper. cambridge. _eva, princess of leinster_ (vol. vi., p. .).--o'haloran, in his _history of ireland_, says: in , dermot mac murchad, king of leinster, having carried away dearbhorgie, wife of o'ruark, prince of breffin, was driven from his kingdom by the husband, assisted by the lady's father, the king of meath. "he arrived at bristol, having obtained letters patent of henry ii. for any of the king's subjects to assist him against his enemies: but no one in bristol was found able or willing to undertake such expedition, when strongbow, earl of pembroke, who resided at chepstow castle, offered his assistance (seyer's _memoirs of bristol_); and, in , entered ireland with two hundred knights and others, to the number of . the object being effected, strongbow was united to eva, the daughter of dermot; and, at that prince's death, became seised of leinster." by this it appears, that dermot eloped with the lady in ; and, as strongbow was united to eva the following year, eva consequently could not have been the offspring of that connexion. who her mother was, i am unable to find out. c. h. _whipping post_ (vol. vi., p. .).--these mementos of the salutary mode of punishment practised by our forefathers, are of frequent occurrence. i have met with them in country villages in all parts of england with which i am acquainted. they generally accompany that place of "durance vile," the stocks; and occasionally have accommodation for two persons, i suppose to suit the various sizes of offenders. t. h. kersley, b.a. audlem, cheshire. _the dodo_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the progress of the interesting inquiry in "n. & q." regarding the dodo, induces me to communicate the fact, that amongst the architectural decorations of the palace of the ancient kings of kandy, in ceylon (now inhabited by the governor, reginald c. buller, esq.), there occur frequent and numerous representations of a bird, which in every particular of shape is identical with the extinct fowl of mauritius. what is more curious is, that the natives were familiar with the figure as that of "the sacred bird," which is common on the buddhist monuments throughout the island; but ceylon possesses no existing species at all resembling the dodo. i have a drawing copied from the figures in the kandy palace; but as your publication does not admit of engraved illustration, i do not send it. j. emerson tennent. some weeks ago, on looking over a box of old kentish deeds and papers, p. c. s. s. found a lease, signed by his ancestor sir john fineux, on the th of october, , to which is affixed a seal in perfect preservation, bearing what p. c. s. s. has hitherto erroneously supposed to be the crest of the fineux family, viz. an eagle displayed. he is now, however, indebted to your correspondent (vol. vi., p. .) for the conviction that it must be a dodo, and that it can represent nothing else. for it is of "unwieldy form," has "disproportionate wings," and is altogether of a "clumsy figure." p. c. s. s. has till now believed that the uncouth appearance of the bird was owing to the want of skill in the artist. but it is now clear that it must undoubtedly be a dodo; and p. c. s. s. will henceforward live, _sibi carior_, in the certainty that the chief justice of england temp. henry viii., from whom he has the honour to descend, bore a "veritable dodo" as his crest. p. c. s. s. takes this occasion of adverting to some queries which appeared a few months ago, respecting serjeants' rings. he has in his { } possession one of those given by sir john fineux on his assumption of the coif. the motto is, "suæ quisque fortunæ faber." p. c. s. s. _"then comes the reckoning," &c._ (vol. v., p. .).--these two lines are to be found in act ii. sc. . of the tragi-comi-pastoral, _the what d'ye call it_, by john gay, author of the _beggar's opera_, _fables_, &c. the correct quotation is: "so comes a reck'ning when the banquet's o'er, the dreadful reck'ning, and men smile no more." s. wmson. _sir j. covert, not govett_ (vol. vii., p. .).--quÆro may be perfectly assured that there never was a baronet of the name of govett, nor a member of parliament so called. p. c. s. s. is confident that the individual to whom quÆro refers, as having sat in the second parliament of charles ii., must have been sir john covert, baronet, who was member for horsham. the misnomer would not be surprising in a list which contains such names as nosrooth for noseworthy, cowshop for courthope, meestry for masters, and grubbaminton and zerve for heaven knows what! p. c. s. s. _chatterton_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--i feel very much obliged to j. m. g. for his answer to my question. may i ask if he has any other documents or information which would throw light on the origin and history of the rowley poems? the inquiry has interested me for more than forty years, and i have long been about as fully convinced that chatterton did not write the poems, as that i did not write them myself. for any help towards finding out who _did_ write them, i should be very thankful. n. b. _tennyson_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following brief note from _democritus in london; with the mad pranks and comical conceits of motley and robin good-fellow_, is a reply to the _first_ query of h. j. j.: "ye may no see, for peeping flowers, the grasse." _george peele._ "you scarce could see the grass for flowers." _alfred tennyson._ a subscriber. query . is not the latin song catullus xlv. (edit. doering), where we find (v. .): "amor, _sinistram_ ut ante, _dextram sternuit approbationem?_" p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. _llandudno on the great orme's head_ (vol. v., pp. . . .).--i am surprised that the twice-repeated query of your correspondent l. g. t. of lichfield yet remains unanswered. "the cavern" he refers to is that called llech, and concerning which he has fallen into several errors. the cavern, so far from having been lately discovered, has been known for generations past, and is yearly visited by hundreds of strangers. if the entrance has been made as private and inaccessible as possible, there is nobody to blame but nature and time; for the ancient approach was from the summit of the cliff by means of a flight of stone and grass steps, of which traces still remain connected with an old stone wall. the cave is easily descried from the sea-shore below, whence it can be reached by the aid of a common ladder. the shape is not heptagonal, as stated by l. g. t.; but is semi-octagonal, terminated in front by two square columns of freestone. the front and seats are in perfect preservation; but of the stone table, which many years ago occupied the centre, the pedestal only remains. the font, or rather stone basin, is supplied by a spring of most delicious water, which, at certain seasons, flows in copious quantities into an artificial bath excavated in the rock below. it is said that the cave was fitted up as a grotto, or pleasure-house, by some ancestors of the mostyn family; and this is all that is known about it. i have measured the principal dimensions, and find the quantities given by l. g. t. sufficiently accurate. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _oldham, bishop of exeter_ (vol. vii., p. .).--no pedigree of this prelate's family is known to have been referred to by any of the devonshire historians. the arms used by the bishop, and still remaining in several churches of the diocese, were: sable, a chevron or, between three owls proper; on a chief of the second as many roses gules. burke, in the _encyclopedia of heraldry_, gives a different coat as borne by oldham of hatherleigh in the co. of devon. j. d. _arms at bristol_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it may afford a clue to e. d. to be informed that coats of arms bearing a chevron charged with three bucks' heads caboshed were used by the families of cervington or servington, and parry. j. d. _the cross and the crucifix_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--under this title i find two articles; and, as it is an interesting subject, i should like to send a quotation which i copied some time since from the _octavius_ of minucius felix, a.d. (adam. clarke): "cruces etiam nec colimus nec optamus. vos plane qui ligneos deos consecratis, cruces ligneas, ut deorum vestrorum partes, forsitan adoratis. nam et signa ipsa, et cantabra, et vexilla castrorum, quid aliud quam inauratæ cruces sunt et ornatæ? tropæa vestra victricia non tantum simplicis crucis faciem, verum et affixi hominis imitantur. signum sane crucis naturaliter visimus in { } navi, cum velis tumentibus vehitur, cum expansis palmulis labitur," &c. similar sentiments, in almost the same words, are expressed by tertullian, _apologet._, sect. .; and _ad nationes_, sect. . see also justin martyr, _apol._ lib. i. sect. . the quotation from m. felix is from the leipsic edit., , pp. , . b. h. c. _sir kenelm digby_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i am not at all convinced of the accuracy of the statement made by your correspondent vandyke, "that sir kenelm digby is (vandyke believes _always_) represented with a sunflower by his side." there are various prints of sir kenelm digby at the british museum, which i have very recently examined, and i can find but one which bears the device alluded to and which is placed, not "by the side of sir kenelm digby," but with other allegorical symbols, at the bottom of the print. nor do the _private memoirs_ (first published in by the late sir harris nicolas) contain anything to throw light on the supposed adoption of this emblem by sir kenelm digby. p. c. s. s. a correspondent signing himself vandyke asks, "why is sir kenelm digby represented, i believe always, with a sunflower by his side?" the very first portrait of digby i turned to, in lodge's _collection_, engraved, too, after vandyke, is without any flower at all. jaydee. _martin drunk_ (vol. v., p. .).--i cannot find that this phrase has been satisfactorily elucidated. perhaps the following will throw some additional light on the subject. in an _analysis of the gospels for the lord's days_, by conrad dieteric, edit. , p. ., i read: "tritum est illud veterum veriverbium: 'festa _martini_ iterata, absumunt anseres et prata.' id quod germanicus hunc in modum effert: 'wer all tag will s. martin prassen, der muss endlich s. nicias fasten.'" it would seem from this, that not the english alone were wont to enjoy themselves on st. martin's day. baxter, in his _saint's rest_ (p. . st edit.), seems to use the word _martin_ as synonymous with a noisy tippler: "the language of martin is there a stranger, and the sound of his echo is not heard." internal evidence clearly refers all these sayings to the unrestrained mirth and jollity with which the feast of st. martin was anciently celebrated. b. h. c. _the church catechism_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it might interest your correspondent to know that the _catechismus brevis et catholicus_ of jacobus schoepper (published at antwerp, ), contains a remarkable series of passages closely similar to the last twelve questions and answers of the church catechism. if desired, i would send these "parallel passages," as i expect the book is very scarce. b. h. c. _sham epitaphs and quotations_ (vol. vi., p .).--your correspondent a. a. d. asks, in reference to a certain epitaph, "has it really a local habitation, and where?" this is a query full of grave suggestions. are there not hundreds of epitaphs in print which have no existence except as printer's paragraphs, and which serve the same purpose as the immortal calf with six legs, and the numberless gigantic gooseberries and plethoric turnips. i have collected epitaphs for years past, and it is surprising how many--and those some of the best in a literary sense--defy every attempt to trace them to sepulchral sources. besides epitaphs, i believe many sham quotations are used by writers, such as couplets and queer phrases of their own coining; but which are inclosed between inverted commas, either to rid their authors of the responsibility of the sentiments they convey, or to add weight to the argument they are introduced to illustrate. a short time since, i contributed a tale to a journal; at the head of each chapter stood a couplet of my own composing, which the printer and editor both mistook for a series of quotations, and kindly affixed inverted commas to them; and, as in that instance i did not receive proof slips to correct, the tale was published, adorned with these sham quotations--the reader being bamboozled without intention, and i robbed of the credit of my original couplets. this is an important matter: for it is no pleasant affair to spend a month or two in the endeavour to trace a quotation, and then to become convinced that you have been hunting for a mare's nest. shirley hibberd. _door-head inscription_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in accordance with the suggestion of a. b. r., i have by means of a friend obtained an accurate transcript of the door-head inscription at wymondham. it runs thus: "nec mihi glis servus, nec hospes hirudo." the doubts i felt, when i stated that i quoted from memory, related to the first word or two; and it has proved that i was in error there. the _hirudo_, however, must stand; although it is a question not easy to decide, "whether a greedy or a gossiping guest would be the worst household infliction." b. b. woodward. st. john's wood. _potguns_ (vol. vi., p. .).--dr. rimbault, in reply to j. r. r., explains _potguns_ by "small guns." { } they are, in fact, short cylinders set perpendicularly in a frame, "flat-candlestick"-wise, four or six in a row; and were fired by a train of powder running from touch-hole to touch-hole, as a part of the entertainment (a _feu-de-joie_, i suppose) at the public grounds at norwich some twenty years ago, as i remember. b. b. woodward. st. john's wood. "_pompey the little._"--you mentioned lately the author of _pompey the little_ (vol. vi., pp. . .). there is a curious note respecting him attached to the entry of another anonymous publication of his, "philemon and hydaspes, relating to a conversation with hortensius upon the subject of false religion, nd edit., vo., ," in _bibliotheca parriana_, p. ., which i transcribe: "_mem._ these tracts are supposed to be wrote by h. c., esq., of mag. coll., cambridge.--j. hetherington. mr. coventry wrote _pompey the little_. he took orders, and became vicar of edgware, middlesex; and he often preached from a folio volume of tillotson's sermons, which lay in the pulpit from week to week. he died of the small-pox. when living at stanmore i heard much of his pleasantry, his politeness, and his integrity. i first read this book at the rev. dr. davy's house in norfolk, in august, . this copy was most obligingly sent to me by mr. holmes, keeper of an academy at stratford-upon-avon, thursday, feb. , .--s. p[arr]." balliolensis. _eagles supporting lecterns_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--are not many, or most of the so-called _eagles_ on lecterns in churches, _pelicans_? the symbolical significance of the pelican "vulning its breast," as the heralds have it, is well known. some of these, which i remember well, have the beak bent down upon the breast and beneath it, instead of the indications of plumage elsewhere visible, a strip cross-hatched; in sign, as i have supposed, of the flowing blood. b. b. woodward. st. john's wood. _lady day in harvest_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the _gotha almanac_ gives aug. for maria himmelfahrt, or the assumption; and sept. for maria geburt, or the nativity. i happened to be going up the rigi last year on the th august, and found that to be the day of pilgrimage to mary zum schnee, or notre dame des neiges, who has a chapel which is passed in the ascent. j. p. o. _inscriptions in churches_ (vol. vii., p. .).--norris deck's extract, assigning these inscriptions to the reign of edward vi., is valuable; but he need not have dissented from your account of the colloquy between elizabeth and dean nowell, as you clearly hinted that "similar inscriptions had been _previously_ adopted" (vol. vi., p. .). the colloquy occurred in the fourth year of elizabeth's reign; but, from the following extract, her majesty's proclamation was observed in ireland two years previously: "in , orders were sent to thomas lockwood, dean of christ church, dublin, to remove out of this church all relics and images, and to paint and whiten it anew; putting sentences of scripture on the walls instead of pictures, which orders were observed, and men set to work accordingly on the th may of the same year, which was the second of queen elizabeth's reign."--lynch's _life of st. patrick_, p. ., edit. . j. y. hoxton. _macaulay's young levite_ (vol. i., pp. . . . ., &c.).--i find another, and an apt illustration of more recent date, to be added to those already given from burnet, bishop earle, and beaumont and fletcher. betty hint, the "waiting wench" in macklin's _man of the world_, entertains matrimonial designs on sidney, the chaplain: "i wish she was out of the family once; if she was, i might then stand a chance of being my lady's favourite myself; ay, and perhaps of getting one of my young masters for a sweetheart, _or at least the chaplain: but as for him, there would be no such great catch, if i should get him_. i will try for him, however," &c. w. t. m. hong kong. _passage in wordsworth_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i can refer your edinburgh correspondent, who asks for "an _older_ original for wordsworth's graceful conceit," to the following lines by henry constable, an elizabethan poet, who published, in , a volume of sonnets entitled _diana_; and whose "ambrosiac muse" is lauded by ben jonson in his _underwoods_ (gifford, vol. viii. p. .): "the pen wherewith thou dost so heavenly singe, made of a quill pluckt from an angell's winge." these lines, which i find in the notes to todd's _milton_ (vol. v. p. ., edit. ), being addressed "to the king of scots whom as yet he had not seen," must have been written before , and were first printed on a ms. volume by todd in his first edition, ; where wordsworth, who was no reader of scarce old tracts like "diana primrose's chain of pearl," may very probably have seen them. w. l. n. bath. _smock marriages_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in reference to your remark on this article, i remember that a scotchman once told me that in the scotch law of marriage there is a clause providing that "all under the apron string" at the time of marriage shall be considered legitimate; and that instances have been known where children born out { } of wedlock have been legitimatised, on the marriage of their parents, by being placed beneath the mother's apron, and having the string tied over them, during the ceremony. perhaps some of your correspondents can give information as to whether such a provision does, or did, exist in the scotch marriage law. f. h. brett. wirksworth. "_perhaps it was right to dissemble your love_," (vol. iv., pp. . .).--these lines will be found in act i. sc. . of j. p. kemble's comedy of _the panel_, which is an alteration from bickerstaff's comedy of _'tis well it's no worse_. not having access to the original comedy, i am unable to say to which of the two authors the lines should be given; but i presume them to be kemble's. w. t. m. hong kong. _burial-place of spinosa_ (vol. vi., p. .).--spinosa died at the hague on sunday, rd february, , and was on the following tuesday interred in the new church there. see his life by colerus: "le corps fut porté en terre le fevrier, accompagné de plusieurs personnes illustres, et suivi de six carosses. au retour de l'enterrement, qui se fit dans la nouvelle église sur le spuy, les amis particuliers ou voisins furent régalés de quelques bouteilles de vin, selon la coutume du pays, dans la maison de l'hôte du défunt" (den schilder h. van der spÿck op de paviljoengracht).--_from the navorscher._ b. _st. adulph_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_trajectensem_ certainly applies to either utrecht or maestricht. one was trajectum ad rhenum, the other trajectum ad mosam. i incline to the opinion that the latter place is intended: utrecht being, i believe, generally expressed by ultrajectum. c. w. g. _samuel daniel_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the writer will be happy to communicate with i. m. on the subject of the life, &c. of this poet and historian; for which purpose his address is left with the editor. e. d. _la bruyère_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--there lies before me an elaborate ms. history of the family of brewer, with a pedigree. the former, which commences with ralph de bruera (temp. william i.), has been compiled from papers in the heralds' office, brompton, dugdale, and the more modern historians, general and local. the last individual mentioned therein is a physician, who bore the name and ancient arms of brewer, and died in . the pedigree embraces about sixty names, including the alliances, but reaches no further downwards than the sons of roger mortimer in the reign of henry iii. these documents do not contribute in any way to answer the inquiry of one of your correspondents as to la bruyère; and it may be satisfactory to the other to know that there is nothing in them to show any connexion with the name of de la bruere. j. d. s. _murray, titular earl of dunbar_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in correcting lord albemarle's mistake respecting "james murray, _titular_ earl of dunbar," your correspondent c. ( .), portsmouth, seems to have fallen into a similar error, which i hope he will pardon me for pointing out. the christian name of _murray of broughton_ was not _james_, but _john_; and the ancient border family to which he belonged was so distinctly connected with that of stormont (a branch of tullibardine), that even genealogical tradition was silent. his activity as an agent recommended him to prince charles, who employed him as his secretary during the campaign of , to the misfortunes of which he added by fomenting the prince's distrust of lord george murray: and his final treachery to his master and his cause has condemned him to an immortality of infamy. he had nothing in common with "james earl of dunbar," save the name which he disgraced and the cause which he betrayed. james murray, second son of lord stormont, and elder brother of the famous lord mansfield, escaped to the court of the exiled stuarts after . he became governor to the prince; and under the title of earl of dunbar, chief minister and secretary to his father. he never returned to scotland, but died in at avignon, at the age of eighty. his honorable fidelity to a ruined cause is admitted even by junius, when, "willing to wound," he taunts mansfield with this jacobite connexion; while the intensity of loathing with which scotland viewed his infamous namesake is illustrated by the anecdote of old walter scott throwing the cup out of the window, lest "lip of him, or his, should come after john murray of broughton." d. b. balfour. _loggerheads_ (vol. v., p. .).--as i do not find that any correspondent of "n. & q." on the subject of the sign of "we three" has mentioned the existence of a similar sign in a small village in denbighshire, on the border of flintshire, to which a curious tradition is attached, i am induced to forward the account of it. the last years of wilson, the landscape painter (who died in ), were passed at a house called clomendu, the dove-cote, situated on a property to which he had succeeded in the little village of llanoerris, through which the high road from mold, his burial-place, to ruthin passes. wilson was fond of ale, and is { } traditionally said to have frequented a small inn close by the roadside (on the right hand as you pass through the village from mold towards the vale of clwyd), and to have spent many an hour upon the bench under a tree which was lately, and is perhaps still standing opposite. his friend the landlord, wanting a new sign, or more probably a restoration of the old established one, wilson painted for him the heads of two very merry red-faced men, who are looking hard, with a broad grin, towards the spectator. long exposure to the wind and weather had, when i saw them, nearly obliterated the original colouring of the heads, and i have heard that some dick tinto has of late years restored the rubicund hue to their cheeks: but the words "we three loggerheads be" were quite legible ten years ago. the innkeeper, who sets a very high value on this sign, is, i believe, a son of the man for whom wilson painted it. it is not attached to a pole, but fastened against the front of the inn: and a few years ago, an idea prevailing that "the loggerheads" had been painted on the back of an unfinished landscape, an artist offered the innkeeper a sum of money to be allowed to take it down, and ascertain the fact. but it was indignantly refused, with a protest that the sign which wilson had painted should never be removed from its place, as long as he lived. cambrensis. _lord nelson and walter burke_ (vol. vi., p. .).--an obituary memoir of mr. burke appears in the _examiner_ for october , . h. g. d. _parochial libraries_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--an ancient parochial library existed some seven or eight and twenty years ago at gillingham in dorsetshire. i was for a short period at that time the _locum tenens_ of the then rector of gillingham; but at this distance of time remember scarcely more than that the books were kept in a small room devoted to the purpose in the rectory house, and were probably above two hundred in number. cokely. _st. botulph_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the life of st. botulph, contained in the harleian ms. no. ., is by fulcard, a monk of thorney, as appears by the dedication. it is the same as that printed by capgrave, who omits the dedication. fulcard wrote the lives of certain other saints buried at thorney (torhtred and tancred). the dedication does not belong exclusively to the life of botulph, but forms the introduction to all three lives. it was for this reason, i suppose, that capgrave (or rather john of tynemouth, from whom he borrowed) omitted it. c. w. g. _turner's picture of eltham palace_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. h. a. mentions a picture of "king john's palace at eltham, by the late mr. turner." could he inform me what has now become of that picture, and also whether it was rated among that celebrated artist's best works or not? a. w. s. "_mémoires d'un homme d'etat_" (vol. vi., pp. . .).--there seems to be sufficient reason for believing in the disavowal of prince hardenberg being the author, made by his friend and agent privy-counsellor schoell, to whom the prince, at his death, had confided his genuine _mémoires_. m. schoell thought the best care would be taken of them by placing them under the official safeguard of the prussian minister; and his decision was, that they were not to be published till after the lapse of fifty years from the prince's death, which took place in . copies, however, of the original _mémoires_ had been surreptitiously taken before their seclusion from the public eye; and from these copies, important and extensive extracts are said to have been undoubtedly made, and form part of the printed _mémoires_. in editing them, several well-known literary men were employed; among whom are enumerated, alphonse de beauchamp, a. schubart, and count a. f. d'allonville. a mons. montveran (the author, i believe, of a work on english jurisprudence) announced, some years ago, a publication, in which he promised to disclose the original sources of the _mémoires_ and the compilers' names; but, so far as i can discover, m. montveran has never redeemed his promise. j. m. oxford. _indian chess problem_ (vol. vi., p. .).--this most beautiful of chess problems was sent from india, in a letter addressed to the editor of the _chess player's chronicle_, signed "shagird" (native indian chess player). it was published in the _chronicle_ in , vol. vi. p. ., _without_ the solution, which is as follows: white. | black. | b. from r. th to b. st. | pawn advances. k. to kts. nd. | pawn advances. r. to qns. nd. | k. to b. th. r. to qns. th. _mate._ | t. b. o. "_god tempers the wind_" (vol. i., pp. . .).--mr. gutch will find the french proverb "in print" in ward's _national proverbs_, p. ., and assimilated as follows in four european languages: "a brebis tondue, dieu mesure le vent." "dio manda il freddo secondo i panni." "dios dá la ropa conforme al frio." "gott giebt die schultern nach der bürde." w. w. malta. _age of trees_ (vol. v., _passim_).--in the _saturday magazine_ of dec. , , mention is made { } of owen glendower's oak, at shelton, near shrewsbury,--a tree famed from the tradition attached to it, which states that the celebrated chieftain whose name it bears overlooked, from its branches, the desperate battle which took place between henry iv. and sir henry percy, on the th july, . "there is no difficulty, in believing," says e. b., "from the present appearance of the tree, that it is old enough to have been of a considerable size in the year . oaks are known to live to a much greater age than this; and there are documents which prove that the shelton oak was a fine large tree some centuries ago. it is perfectly alive, and bears some hundreds of acorns every year, though it has great marks of age, and is so hollow in the inside, that it seems to stand on little more than a circle of bark. at least six or eight persons might stand within it. "the girth at the bottom, close to the ground, is feet inches; at five feet from the ground, feet inch; at eight feet from the ground, feet inches. height of the tree, feet inches." what is known of this old oak at the present time? if it has passed away, perhaps its memory may claim a place in your columns: if not, will some of your correspondents give me some information respecting it? w. w. malta. _mummies in germany_ (vol. vi., _passim_).--in a large hall under the capuchin convent at florian, and only ten minutes' walk from valetta, there is a collection of "baked friars," as so termed in common parlance at this island. the niches in the walls are all filled, and when one of the order now dies, that mummy which has been the longest exposed, or most decayed, is removed to make way for the remains of him who is lately deceased. what with the appearance of these mummies, and the smell which comes from them, one visit will satisfy the most curious in such matters. your correspondent cheverells will find a well-written description, in willis's _pencillings by the way_, of a visit which he made to the capuchin convent near palermo. w. w. malta. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. bedell's irish old testament, irish type, to., . [a copy of o'domhnuill's "irish _new_ testament," irish type, to., st edition, (_being rare_), is offered in exchange.] percy society publications. nos. xciii. and xciv. southey's works. vol. x. longmans. . scott's continuation of milner's church history. vols. ii. and iii., or ii. only. chronon-ho-ton-thologos, by h. carey. the dragon of wantley, by h. carey. gammer gurton's story books, edited by ambrose merton. parts (original edition). hayward's british museum. vols. mo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . illustrated commentary on the old and new testaments. vol. i. . knight. menageries--quadrupeds: "library of entertaining knowledge," vol. ii. peter simple. illustrated edition. saunders and otley. vols. ii. and iii. historical memoirs of queens of england, by hannah lawrance. vol. ii. ingram's saxon chronicle. to. london, . newman's ferns. large edition. enigmatical entertainer. nos. i. and ii. and . sherwood & co. northumbrian mirror. new series. , &c. british diary for , by cotes and hall. reuben burrow's diarie, - . marrat's scientific journal. new york. mathematical correspondent (american). leeds correspondent. vol. v., nos. , , and . mathematical miscellany. . whiting's select exercises, with key. walton and cotton's angler, by hawkins. part ii. . de la croix's connubia florum. bathoniæ, . vo. anthologia borealis et australis. florilegium sanctarum aspirationum. laderchii annales ecclesiastici, tom. fol. romæ, - . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _the number of_ replies to minor queries _waiting for insertion, compels us to omit our usual_ notes on books, _and a number of very interesting communications_. sch. t. c. d., _who has pointed out a curious error in disraeli's_ curiosities of literature, _has been anticipated by_ mr. bolton corney _in his_ curiosities of literature illustrated, p. . _et seq._ a. b. r. _yes, as at present advised._ s. w. l. _is assured that the communications to which he refers interest as large and intelligent a class of readers, as will feel an interest in the communication which he proposes to forward, and which we shall gladly receive_. c. d. w. t. (jun.) _is thanked: but the edition is too well known to all the communicators, to require that he should be troubled upon the subject_. j. h. w._'s communication shall have early insertion. our arrangements would not admit of its appearing this week._ tyro. _the anonymous_ life of queen anne _inquired after_ (vol. vii., p. .) _is a different work to that of boyer's, and does not contain one-third the quantity of letter-press. the descriptive matter of the_ metallick history _has been copied from boyer, although the plates have been re-engraved_. mr. brown's _letter on_ mr. archer's _services to photography_; g. h. _on difficulties in the wax-paper process; and_ f. m. l. _on the albumen process, are unavoidably postponed until next week_. a. b. _your suggestions will be attended to in the_ notes on photography. enquirer (edinburgh). _if you follow the instructions given in our former numbers on the collodion process, you must meet with success. the deposit in negatives is often much blackened by adding an increased proportion of acetic acid to the pyrogallic solution--say two drachms to the ounce, so that the solution shall be one-fifth of acetic acid. a_ long _exposure often weakens a negative; and, during the recent fall of snow, thirty seconds has produced an effective printing negative, whilst three minutes' exposure has given a negative picture so transparent as to be useless_. e. f. (sheffield). _it is only in converting a positive picture into a negative one, or in increasing the powers of a feeble negative, that the bichloride of mercury is recommended to be used. a perfectly good printing negative will be procured by following the instructions we have given in our former numbers._ dr. diamonds's photographic notes _will treat fully upon this subject_. our sixth volume, _strongly bound in cloth, with very copious index is now ready, price s. d. arrangements are making for the publication of complete sets of_ "notes and queries," _price three guineas for the six volumes_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * { } photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j.b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of hunt, le gray, brébisson, &c. &c., may be obtained of william bolton, manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists of prices to be had on application. . holborn bars. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray. new edition. translated from the last edition of the french. george knight & sons., foster lane, london, manufacturers of photographic apparatus and materials, consisting of cameras, stands, coating boxes, pressure frames, glass and porcelain dishes. &c., and pure photographic chemicals, suited for practising the daguerreotype, talbotype, waxed-paper, albumen and collodion processes, adapted to stand any climate, and fitted for the requirements of the tourist or professional artist. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' reports_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it is furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." catalogues sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade or colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * proposals for repair and improvement of st. mary's church, vincent square, westminster. _incumbent._ rev. a. borradaile. _churchwardens._ mr. g. pearse. mr. g. pink. st. mary's church, vincent square, westminster, was erected in the year , and contains , sittings, of which are free. the pecuniary resources which were at the disposal of those by whose efforts this spacious church was built were only adequate to provide what was absolutely requisite for the performance of divine service. there was, however, much cause for thankfulness that so large and commodious a church was raised in so poor a district as st. mary's; and a hope was then entertained that the day would soon come when what was necessarily left incomplete might be accomplished. fifteen years have passed away since the church was consecrated; and the time appears now to have arrived when an effort should be made to supply what is wanting, and to render the interior more convenient, to paint, cleanse, and colour it; and to impart to it that religious decency and comeliness which befits the house of god. an additional reason for this endeavour is supplied by recent events. churches have arisen in the neighbourhood of st. mary's, erected by the munificence of pious founders, which are adorned with architectural beauty, and are among the best specimens of ecclesiastical fabrics that the present age has produced. st. mary's suffers from the contrast: its deficiencies have become more manifest; and the need of such an effort as has been mentioned is now felt more strongly. while, however, the exigencies of the case have increased, the means of satisfying them have become less. some of the less indigent portions of st. mary's district have been detached from it, and have been annexed to the other districts formed for more recent churches. thus the resources of st. mary's have been diminished; and circumstances of a local character render it undesirable, in the opinion of legal advisers, to press for the levying of a rate for the improvement of the church. perhaps, however, the strength of the present appeal may eventually be found to lie in these difficulties, when they are more generally known. a committee, therefore, has been formed, consisting of the churchwardens of the district, and other inhabitants, and of some personal friends of the incumbent, the rev. a. borradaile, whose zeal and energy in discharging the duties of the pastoral office in st. mary's district for more than ten years, through many and great difficulties, have been greatly blessed to his flock, and command the respect and sympathy of those who have witnessed his persevering exertions, and have seen the fruit of his labours. the committee are now engaged in an endeavour to raise funds for the reparation and improvement of the interior of st. mary's church; and they trust that many may be found to approve and encourage the design. an estimate has been prepared of the requisite expenditure by mr. h. a. hunt, of . parliament street, which amounts to five hundred and fifty pounds. this sum, it is anticipated, will suffice to provide for lowering and refixing the whole of the free seats, and to make them more commodious for the use of the poor; to improve the seats generally throughout the church; to alter and improve the position and character of the pulpit and reading desk; to paint, grain, and varnish the whole of the seats; and so give an appropriate appearance to the chancel of the church. *** subscriptions are received for "st. mary's vincent square fund" at messrs. hallett & co., little george street, westminster, or at . warwick terrace, belgrave road; or by the churchwardens of st. mary's; or w. j. thoms, esq., . holywell street, millbank, treasurer; or by rev. dr. wordsworth, cloisters, westminster, secretary. * * * * * { } to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, february , contains articles on boots, waterproof, by mr. prideaux calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural cattle, to feed cedars and deodars cells of plants chaff cutting chesnuts, early horse, by mr. aiton crops, rotation of, by mr. hope dahlias, prices of deodars and cedars diseases of sheep drains, depth of farm, mr. bell's gardeners, emigration of grape, pine-apple flavoured, by mr. tait grape mildew, by mr. cuthill heating, gas, by mr. lucas hotbeds, to make labourers, homes for single mackintosh's (mr.) nursery manure, when to apply melon pits mildew, grape, by mr. cuthill orchids, european, rev. pansies, by mr. edwards philibertia gracilis phosphorus paste, to make pine-apple, malformed plants, cells of poultry shows, sales by auction at rat poison, to make roses from cuttings sheep, diseases of societies, proceedings of the entomological, botanical of edinburgh, highland agricultural sulphuric acid and weeds timber, kyanising ---- hedgerow trade memoranda trees, oblique training of (with engraving) turnip disease, by mr. taylor vines in pots, soil for vine borders, to make weather in south wales weeds and sulphuric acid wheat, lois weedon, system of growing the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, - . volume four, - . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, - . volume two, - . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * classical education in france.--a married gentleman, of literary habits, a graduate and repeated prizeman of cambridge, who has resided many years in france, receives into his family three pupils, to whom with his own younger son he devotes the whole of his time. there are now vacancies: terms. including masters for french, german, and drawing, guineas per annum. address h. i. d., at mr. bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * autograph letters, etc.--a priced list just published including charles i. and ii., cromwell, clarendon, essex, fairfax, goethe, leicester, nelson, ormond, poussin, shenstone, henry southampton (the patron of shakspeare) very rare paul veronese, washington, wordsworth, and numerous others of great interest. apply to w. waller & son, . fleet street. gratis, or two stamps by post. * * * * * english counties.--a catalogue of curious and interesting books relating to english counties is published in the shakspeare repository, and will be forwarded to any part of the kingdom (free) on receipt of six postage stamps, by james h. fennell, no. . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and _l_. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | j. h. goodhart, esq. w. cabell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * foolscap vo. price s. the practical working of the church of spain. by the rev. frederick meyrick, m.a., fellow of trinity college, oxford. "pleasant meadows, happy peasants, all holy monks, all holy priests, holy every body. such charity and such unity, when every man was a catholic. i once believed in this utopia myself, but when tested by stern facts, it all melts away like dream"--_a. welby pugin._ "the revelations made by such writers as mr. meyrick in spain and mr. gladstone in italy, have at least vindicated for the church of england a providential and morally defined position, mission, and purpose in the catholic church."--_morning chronicle._ "two valuable works ... to the truthfulness of which we are glad to add our own testimony: one, and the most important, is mr. meyrick's 'practical working of the church of spain.' this is the experience--and it is the experience of every spanish traveller--of a thoughtful person, as to the lamentable results of unchecked romanism. here is the solid substantial fact. spain is divided between ultra-infidelity and what is so closely akin to actual idolatry, that it can only be controversially, not practically, distinguished from it: and over all hangs a lurid cloud of systematic immorality, simply frightful to contemplate. we can offer a direct, and even personal, testimony to all that mr. meyrick has to say."--_christian remembrancer._ "i wish to recommend it strongly."--t. k. _arnold's theological critic._ "many passing travellers have thrown more or less light upon the state of romanism and christianity in spain, according to their objects and opportunities; but we suspect these 'workings' are the fullest, the most natural, and the most trustworthy, of anything that has appeared upon the subject since the time of blanco white's confessions."--_spectator._ "this honest exposition of the practical working of romanism in spain, of its everyday effects, not its canons and theories, deserves the careful study of all, who, unable to test the question abroad, are dazzled by the distant mirage with which the vatican mocks many a yearning soul that thirsts after water-brooks pure and full."--_literary gazette._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * just published, fcap. vo., price s. in cloth. sympathies of the continent, or proposals for a new reformation. by john baptist von hirscher, d.d., dean of the metropolitan church of freiburg, breisgau, and professor of theology in the roman catholic university of the city. translated and edited with notes and introduction by the rev. arthur cleveland coxe, m.a., rector of st. john's church, hartford, connecticut, u.s. "the following work will be found a noble apology for the position assumed by the church of england in the sixteenth century, and for the practical reforms she then introduced into her theology and worship. if the author is right, then the changes he so eloquently urges upon the present attention of his brethren ought to have been made _three hundred years ago_; and the obstinate refusal of the council of trent to make such reforms in conformity with scripture and antiquity, throws the whole burthen of the sin of schism upon rome, and not upon our reformers. the value of such admissions must, of course, depend in a great measure upon the learning, the character, the position, and the influence of the author from whom they proceed. the writer believes, that questions as to these particulars can be most satisfactorily answered."--_introduction by arthur cleveland coxe._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are indicated by footnotes to the relevant item. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page blackguard, by sir j. emerson tennent predictions of the fire and plague of london, no. i., by t. sternberg notes and queries on bacon's essays, no. ii., by, p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. folk lore:--irish superstitious customs--charm for, warts--the devil--"winter thunder," &c. malta the burial-place of hannibal minor notes:--waterloo--"tuch"--the dodo--francis i. queries:-- dr. anthony marshall lindis, meaning of minor queries:--smock marriage in new york--the broken astragalus--penardo and laissa--st. adulph--st. botulph-- tennyson--"ma ninette," &c.--astronomical query--chaplains to noblemen--"more" queries--heraldic query--"by prudence guided," &c.--lawyers' bags--master family--passage in wordsworth--govett family--sir kenelm digby--riddles-- straw bail--wages in the west in --literary frauds of modern times minor queries with answers:--"very like a whale"--wednesday a litany day--"thy spirit, independence," &c.--"hob and nob," meaning of replies:-- wellesley pedigree, by john d'alton consecrated rings for epilepsy turner's view of lambeth palace, by j. walter, &c. etymological traces of the social position of our ancestors, by c. forbes, &c. goldsmiths' year-marks, by w. chaffers, jun., and h. t. ellacombe editions of the prayer-book prior to , by w. sparrow simpson, b.a. photographic notes and queries:--originator of the collodion process--mr. weld taylor's process--dr. diamond's services to photography--simplification of the wax-paper process the burial service said by heart, by mackenzie wallcott, m.a., &c. replies to minor queries:--mary queen of scots' gold cross--jennings family--adamson's "england's defence"-- chief justice thomas wood--aldiborontiphoscophornio-- statue of st. peter at rome--old silver ornament-- "plurima, pauca, nihil"--"pork-pisee" and "wheale"--did the carians use heraldic devices?--herbert family-- children crying at baptism, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. blackguard. in some of the earlier numbers of "n. & q.," there occur disquisitions as to the origin of the term _blackguard_, and the time at which it came into use in england in its present sense. but the communications of your correspondents have not been satisfactory upon either point--they have not shown the period at which the word came to be accepted _in its present sense_; and their quotations all apply to its use in a much more simple meaning, and one totally different from that which we now attach to it. one class of these quotations (vol. ii., pp. . .), such as the passages from butler and fuller, refer obviously to a popular superstition, during an age when the belief in witchcraft and hobgoblins was universal; and when such creatures of fancy were assigned as _black guards_ to his satanic majesty. "who can conceive," says fuller in the paragraph extracted, "but that such a prince-principal of darkness must be proportionally attended by a black guard of monstrous opinions?" (_church history_, b. ix. c. xvi.) and in the verses of butler referred to, hudibras, when deceived by ralpho counterfeiting a ghost in the dark,-- "believed it was some drolling sprite that _staid upon the guard_ at night:" and thereupon in his trepidation discourses with the squire as follows: "thought he, how does the _devil_ know what 'twas that i design'd to do? his office of intelligence, his oracles, are ceas'd long since; and he knows nothing of the saints, but what some treach'rous spy acquaints. this is some petty-fogging _fiend_, some under door-keeper's friend's friend, that undertakes to understand, and juggles at the second hand: and now would pass for spirit po, and all men's dark concerns foreknow. i think i need not fear him for't; these rallying _devils_ do not hurt. { } with that he roused his drooping heart, and hastily cry'd out, what art?-- a wretch, quoth he, whom want of grace has brought to this unhappy place. i do believe thee, quoth the knight; thus far i'm sure thou'rt in the right, and know what 'tis that troubles thee, better than thou hast guess'd of me. thou art some paltry, _blackguard sprite_, condemn'd to drudg'ry in the night; thou hast no work to do in th' house, _nor half-penny to drop in shoes_; without the raising of which sum you dare not be so troublesome; to pinch the slatterns black and blue, for leaving you their work to do. this is your business, good pug robin, and your diversion, dull dry bobbing." _hudibras_, part iii. canto . line , &c. it will be seen that butler, like fuller, uses the term in the simple sense as a _guard_ of the prince of darkness. but the concluding lines of hudibras's address to ralpho explain the process by which, at a late period, this term of the _black guard_ came to be applied to the lowest class of domestics in great establishments. the black guard of satan was supposed to perform the domestic drudgery of the kitchen and servants' hall, in the infernal household. the extract from hobbes (vol. ii., p. .) refers to this:-- "since my lady's decay, i am degraded from a cook; and i fear the devil himself will entertain me but for one of his _black guard_, and he shall be sure to have his roast burnt." hence came the popular superstition that these goblin scullions, on their visits to the upper world, confined themselves to the servants' apartments of the houses which they favoured with their presence, and which at night they swept and garnished; pinching those of the maids in their sleep who, by their laziness, had imposed such toil on their elfin assistants; but _slipping money into the shoes_ of the more tidy and industrious servants, whose attention to their own duties before going to rest had spared the goblins the task of performing their share of the drudgery. hudibras apostrophises the ghost as-- "... some paltry _blackguard_ sprite condemn'd to drudgery in the night; thou hast no work to do in th' house nor half-penny to drop in shoes;" and therefore, as the knight concluded--"this devil full of malice" had found sufficient leisure to taunt and rally him in the dark upon his recent disasters. this belief in the visits of domestic spirits, who busy themselves at night in sweeping and arranging the lower apartments, has prevailed in the north of ireland and in scotland from time immemorial: and it is explained in sir walter scott's notes to the _lay of the last minstrel_, as his justification for introducing the goblin page gilpin horner amongst the domestics of branksome hall. perhaps, from the association of these elves with the lower household duties, but more probably from a more obvious cause, came at a later period the practice described by gifford in his note on ben jonson, as quoted by your correspondent (vol. ii., p. .), by which-- "in all great houses, but particularly in the royal residences, there were a number of mean dirty dependents, whose office it was to attend the wool-yard, sculleries, &c. of these, the most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchens, halls, &c. to this smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, the people, in derision, gave the name of the _black guards_." this is no doubt correct; and hence the expression of beaumont and fletcher, quoted from the _elder brother_, that-- "... from the _black guard_ to the grim sir in office, there are few hold other tenets:" meaning from the lowest domestic to the highest functionary of a household. this too explains the force of the allusion, in jardine's _criminal trials_, to the apartments of euston house being "far unmeet for her highness, but fitter for the black guard"--that is, for the scullions and lowest servants of an establishment. swift employs the word in this sense when he says, in the extract quoted by dr. johnson in his _dictionary_ in illustration of the meaning of _blackguard_,-- "let a black-guard boy be always about the house to send on your errands, and go to market for you on rainy days." it will thus be seen, that of the six authors quoted in "n. & q." no one makes use of the term _black guard_ in an opprobrious sense such as attaches to the more modern word "blackguard;" and that they all wrote within the first fifty years of the seventeenth century. it must therefore be subsequent not only to that date, but to the reign of queen anne, that we are to look for its general acceptance in its present contumelious sense. and i believe that its introduction may be traced to a recent period, and to a much more simple derivation than that investigated by your correspondents. i apprehend that the present term, "a blackguard," is of french origin; and that its importation into our language was subsequent to the restoration of charles ii., a.d. . there is a corresponding term in french, _blague_, which, like our english adaptation, is not admissible in good society. it is defined by bescherelles, in his great _dictionnaire national_, to mean "fanfaronnade, hâblerie, mensonge; bourde, gasconade:" and to { } be "un mot populaire et bas, dont les personnes bien élevées évitent de se servir." from _blague_ comes the verb _blaguer_, which the same authority says means "dire des blagues; mentir pour le plaisir de mentir." and from _blaguer_ comes the substantive _blagueur_, which is, i apprehend, the original of our english word _blackguard_. it is described by bescherelles as a "diseur de sornettes et de faussetées; hâbleur, fanfaron. un _blagueur_ est un menteur, mais un menteur qui a moins pour but de tromper que de se faire valoir." the english term has, it will be observed, a somewhat wider and more offensive import than the french: and the latter being rarely to be found amongst educated persons, or in dictionaries, it may have escaped the etymologists who were in search of a congener for its english derivative. its pedigree is, however, to be sought in philological rather than archæological records. within the last two centuries, a number of words of honest origin have passed into an opprobrious sense; for example, the oppressed tenants of ireland are spoken of by spenser and sir john davies as "_villains_." in our version of the scriptures, "_cunning_" implies merely skill in music and in art. shakspeare employs the word "_vagabond_" as often to express pity as reproach; and i think it will be found, that as a _knave_, prior to the reign of elizabeth, meant merely a serving man, so a _blackguard_ was the name for a pot-boy or scullion in the reign of queen anne. the transition into its more modern meaning took place at a later period, on the importation of a foreign word, to which, being already interchangeable in sound, it speedily became assimilated in sense. j. emerson tennent. * * * * * predictions of the fire and plague of london, no. i. "it was a trim worke indeede, and a gay world no doubt for some idle cloister-man, mad merry friers, and lusty abbey-lubbers; when themselves were well whittled, and their paunches pretily stuffed, to fall a prophesieing of the woefull dearths, famines, plagues, wars, &c. of the dangerous days imminent."--harvey's _discoursive probleme_, lond. . among the sly hits at our nation, which abound in the lively pages of the sieur d'argenton, is one to the effect that an englishman always has an old prophecy in his possession. the worthy sieur is describing the meeting of louis x. and our henry ii. near picquini, where the chancellor of england commenced his harangue by alluding to an ancient prophecy which predicted that the plain of picquini should be the scene of a memorable and lasting peace between the two nations. "the bishop," says commines, "commença par une prophétie, dont," adds he, _en parenthèse_, "les anglois ne sont jamais despourveus."[ ] even at this early period, we had thus acquired a reputation for prophecies, and it must be confessed that our chronicles abound in passages which illustrate the justice of the sieur's sarcasm. from the days of york and lancaster, when, according to lord northampton "bookes of beasts and babyes were exceeding ryfe, and current in every quarter and corner of the realme,"[ ] up to the time of napoleon's projected invasion, when the presses of the seven dials were unusually prolific in visions and predictions, pandering to the popular fears of the country--our national character for vaticination has been amply sustained by a goodly array of prophets, real or pretended, whose lucubrations have not even yet entirely lost their influence upon the popular mind. to this day, the ravings of nixon are "household words" in cheshire; and i am told that a bundle of "dame shipton's sayings" still forms a very saleable addition to the pack of a yorkshire pedlar. recent discoveries in biological science have given to the subject of popular prophecies a philosophical importance beyond the mere curiosity or strangeness of the details. whether or not the human mind, under certain conditions, becomes endowed with the prescient faculty, is a question i do not wish to discuss in your pages: i merely wish to direct attention to a neglected and not uninteresting chapter in the curiosities of literature. in delving among what may be termed the popular religious literature of the latter years of the commonwealth, and early part of the reign of charles, we become aware of the existence of a kind of nightmare which the public of that age were evidently labouring under--a strong and vivid impression that some terrible calamity was impending over the metropolis. puritanic tolerance was sorely tried by the licence of the new court; and the pulpits were soon filled with enthusiasts of all sects, who railed in no measured terms against the monster city--the city babylon--the bloody city! as they loved to term her: proclaiming with all the fervour of fanaticism that the measure of her iniquities was well nigh full, and the day of her extinction at hand. the press echoed the cry; and for some years before and after the restoration, it teemed with "warnings" and "visions," in which the approaching destruction is often plainly predicted. one of the earliest of these prefigurations occurs in that leviathan of sermons, _god's plea for nineveh, or london's precedent for mercy_, by thomas reeve: london, . speaking of london, he says: it was troy-novant, it is troy le grand, and it will be troy l'extinct."--p. . { } and again: "methinks i see you bringing pick-axes to dig downe your owne walls, and kindling sparks that will act all in a flame from one end of the city to the other."--p. . and afterwards, in a strain of rough eloquence: "this goodly city of yours all in shreds, ye may seek for a threshold of your antient dwellings, for a pillar of your pleasant habitations, and not find them; all your spacious mansions and sumptuous monuments are then gone.... wo unto us, our sins have pulled down our houses, shaken down our city; we are the most harbourlesse featlesse people in the world.... foxes have holes, and the fowls of the air nests, but we have neither; our sins have deprived us both of couch and covert. what inventions shall ye then be put to, to secure yourselves, when your sins shall have shut up all the conduits of the city, and suffer only the liver conduit to run[ ]; when they allow you no showers of rain, but showers of blood; when ye shall see no men of your incorporation, but the mangl'd citizen; nor hear no noise in your streets but the crys, the shrieks, the yells and pangs of gasping, dying men; when, amongst the throngs of associates, not a man will own you or come near you," &c.--pp. . _et seq._ after alluding to the epidemics of former ages, he thus alludes to the coming plague: "it will chase men out of their houses, as if there was some fierce enemy pursuing them, and shut up shop doors, as if execution after judgment was served upon the merchants; there will then be no other music to be heard but doleful knells, nor no other wares to be born up and down but dead corpses; it will change mansion houses into pest-houses, and gather congregations rather into churchyards than churches.... the markets will be so empty, that scarce necessaries will be brought in, a new kind of brewers will set up, even apothecaries to prepare diet drinks."--p. . the early quakers, like most other religious enthusiasts, claimed the gift of prophecy: and we are indebted to members of the sect for many contributions to this branch of literature. humphrey smith was one of the most celebrated of the vaticinating quakers. little is known of his life and career. he appears to have joined the quakers about ; and after enduring a long series of persecutions and imprisonments for the sake of his adopted creed, finally ended his days in winchester gaol in . the following passage, from a _vision which he saw concerning london_ (london, ). is startling[ ]: "and as for the city, herself and her suburbs, and all that belonged to her, a fire was kindled therin; but she knew not how, even in all her goodly places, and the kindling of it was in the foundation of all her buildings, and there was none could quench it.... and the burning thereof was exceeding great, and it burned inward in a hidden manner which cannot be described.... all the tall buildings fell, and it consumed all the lofty things therein, and the fire searched out all the hidden places, and burned most in the secret places. and as i passed through her streets i beheld her state to be very miserable, and very few were those who were left in her, who were but here and there one: and they feared not the fire, neither did the burning hurt them, but they walked as dejected mournful people.... and the fire continued, for, though all the lofty part was brought down, yet there was much old stuffe, and parts of broken-down desolate walls, which the fire continued burning against.... and the vision thereof remained in me as a thing that was showed me of the lord." daniel baker, will lilly, and nostradamus, i shall reserve for another paper. t. sternberg. [footnote : _mémoires_, p. .: paris, .] [footnote : _defensative against the poyson of supposed prophecies_, p. .] [footnote : "it was a great contributing to this misfortune that the thames water house was out of order, so that the conduits and pipes were almost all dry."--_observations on the burning of london_: lond. , p. .] [footnote : for a sight of this extremely scarce tract, i am indebted to the courtesy of the gentleman who has the care of the friends' library in devonshire house, bishopsgate.] * * * * * notes and queries on bacon's essays, no. ii. (vol. vii., p. .) essay i. p. . "one of the fathers." who, and where? ditto, ditto. the poet. lucretus, ii., init. "suave mari magno," &c. ditto, p. . (note i). plutarch. does montaigne allude to plutarch, _de liberis educandis_, vol. ii. (ed. xyland.) c.: "[greek: to gar pseudesthai douloprepes k.t.l.]"? essay ii. p. . "you shall read in _some_ of the friars' books," &c. where? ditto, ditto. "pompa magis," &c. does bacon quote this from memory, referring to "tolle istam pompam, sub quâ lates, et stultos territas"? (ep. xxiv. vol. ii. p. .: ed. elzev. .) ditto, p. . "we read," &c. tac. _hist._, ii. . "quidam milites juxta rogum interfecere se, non noxâ neque ob metum, sed æmulatione decoris et caritate principis." cf. sueton. _vit. oth._, . ditto, ditto. "cogita quamdiu," &c. whence is this? ditto, ditto. "augustus cæsar died," &c. suet. _vit. octav._, . ditto, ditto. "tiberius in dissimulation." tac. _ann._, vi. . ditto, ditto. "vespasian." suet. _vit. vespas._, . ditto, ditto. "galba." tac. _hist._, i. . ditto, ditto. "septimus severus." whence is this? ditto, p. . (note _m_). "in the tenth satire of juvenal." v. ., _seq._ ditto, ditto. "extinctus amabitur idem." hor. _epist._ ii. l. . { } essay iii. p. . "a master of scoffing." rabelais, _pantagruel_, book ii. cap. viii. (p. . vol. i. ed. bohn, .) ditto, p. . "as it is noted by one of the fathers." by whom, and where? ditto, p. . "lucretius." i. . ditto, p. . "it was a notable observation of a wise father." of whom, and where? essay iv. p. . "for the death of pertinax." see _hist. aug. script._, vol. i. p. . (lugd. bat. .) ditto, ditto, (note _f_). "the poet." ovid, _ar. am._, i. . essay v. ditto. "bona rerum secundarum," &c. does bacon allude to seneca (ep. lxvi. p. ., _ut sup._), where, after stating that "in æquo est moderatè gaudere, et moderatè dolere;" he adds, "illa bona optabilia sunt, hæc mirabilia"? ditto, ditto. "vere magnum habere," &c. whence is this? ditto, ditto. "the strange fiction of the ancient poets." in note (_a_) we find "stesichorus, apollodorus, _and others_" named. whereabouts? ditto, p. . (note _c_). "this fine passage has been quoted by macaulay." _ut sup._, p. . essay vi. p. . "tacitus saith." _ann._, v. . ditto, ditto. "and again, when mucianus," &c. ditto, _hist._, ii. . ditto, ditto. "which indeed are arts, &c., as tacitus well calleth them." where? ditto, p. . "it is a good shrewd proverb of the spaniard." what is the proverb? essay vii. p. . "the precept, 'optimum elige,' &c." whence? though i am ashamed to ask. essay viii. p. . "the generals." see Æsch. _persæ_, . (dindf.), and blomfield _in loc._ (v. . ed. suæ). ditto, ditto. "it was said of ulysses," &c. by whom? compare _od._, v. . ditto, p. . "he was reputed," &c. who? (_to be continued._) p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. * * * * * folk lore. _irish superstitious customs._--the following strange practices of the irish are described in a ms. of the sixteenth century, and seem to have a pagan origin: "upon maie eve they will drive their cattell upon their neighbour's corne, to eate the same up; they were wont to begin from the rast, and this principally upon the english churl. onlesse they do so upon maie daie, the witch hath power upon their cattell all the yere following." the next paragraph observes that "they spitt in the face; sir r. shee spat in ladie ---- face." spenser alludes to spitting on a person for luck, and i have experienced the ceremony myself. h. _charm for warts._--i remember in leicestershire seeing the following charm employed for removal of a number of warts on my brother, then a child about five years old. in the month of april or may he was taken to an ash-tree by a lady, who carried also a paper of fresh pins; one of these was first struck through the bark, and then pressed through the wart until it produced pain: it was then taken out and stuck into the tree. each wart was thus treated, a separate pin being used for each. the warts certainly disappeared in about six weeks. i saw the same tree a year or two again, when it was very thickly studded over with old pins, each the index of a cured wart. t. j. liverpool. _the devil._-- "according to the superstition of the west countries if you meet the devil, you may either cut him in half with a straw, or force him to disappear by spitting over his horns."--_essays on his own times_, by s. t. coleridge, vol. iii. p. . j. m. b. if you sing before breakfast you will cry before supper. if you wish to have luck, never shave on a monday. j. m. b. _"winter thunder," &c._--i was conversing the other day with a very old farmer on the disastrous rains and storms of the present season, when he told me that he thought we had not yet seen the worst; and gave as a reason the following proverb: "winter thunder and summer flood bode england no good." h. t. ingatestone hall, essex. * * * * * malta the burial-place of hannibal. malta affords a fine field for antiquarian research; and in no part more so than in the neighbourhood of citta vecchia, where for some distance the ground is dotted with tombs which have already been opened. here, in ancient times, was the site of a burial-place, but for what people, or at what age, is now unknown; and here it is that archæologists should commence their labours, that in the result they may not be disappointed. in some of the tombs which have been recently entered in this vicinity, fragments of linen cloth have been seen, in which bodies were enveloped at the time of their burial; in others glass, and earthen candlesticks, and jars, hollow throughout and of a curious shape; while in a few were earrings and finger-rings made of the purest gold, but they are rarely found. { } there cannot be a doubt that many valuable antiquities will yet be discovered, and in support of this presumption i would only refer to those now known to exist; the giant's tower at gozo, the huge tombs in the bengemma hills, and those extensive and remarkable ruins at krendi, which were excavated by order of the late sir henry bouverie, and remain as a lasting and honourable memento of his rule, being among the number. an antiquary, being at malta, cannot pass a portion of an idle day more agreeably than in visiting some singular sepulchral chambers not far from notabile, which are built in a rocky eminence, and with entrances several feet from the ground. these are very possibly the tombs of the earliest christians, who tried in their erection "to imitate that of our saviour, by building them in the form of caves, and closing their portals with marble or stone." when looking at these tombs from a terrace near the cathedral, we were strongly reminded of those which were seen by our lately deceased friend mr. john l. stephens, and so well described by him in his _incidents of travel_ in eastern lands. had we time or space, we should more particularly refer to several other interesting remains now scattered over the island, and, among them, to that curious sepulchre not a long time ago discovered in a garden at rabato. we might write of the inscription on its walls, "in pace posita sunt," and of the figures of a dove and hare which were near it, to show that the ashes of those whom they buried there were left in peace. we might also make mention, more at length, of a tomb which was found at the point beni isa in , having on its face a phoenician inscription, which sir william drummond thus translates: "the interior room of the tomb of Ænnibal, illustrious in the consummation of calamity. he was beloved. the people, when they are drawn up in order of battle, weep for Ænnibal the son of bar malek." sir grenville temple remarks, that the great carthaginian general is supposed, by the maltese, to have been a native of their island, and one of the barchina family, once known to have been established in malta; while some writers have stated that his remains were brought from bithynia to this island, to be placed in the tomb of his ancestors; and this supposition, from what we have read, may be easily credited. might i ask if there is any writer, ancient or modern, who has recorded that malta was not the burial-place of hannibal? w. w. malta. * * * * * minor notes. _waterloo._--i do not know whether, in any of the numerous lives of the late duke of wellington, the following fact has been noticed. in strada's history of the belgian war (a work which deserves to be better known and appreciated than it is at present), there occurs a passage which shows that, about three hundred years since, waterloo was the scene of a severe engagement; so that the late sanguinary struggle was not the first this battle-ground has to boast of. the passage occurs in _famianæ stradæ de bello belgico, decas prima_, lib. vi. p. ., edit. romæ, ; where, after describing a scheme on the part of the insurgents for surprising lille, and its discovery by the royalists, he goes on: "et rassinghemius de armerteriensi milite inaudierat: nihilqve moratvs selectis centvmqvinqvaginta peditibvs et equitibus sclopetariis fermè qvinqveginta prope _waterlocvm_ pagvm pvgnam committit." what makes this more curious is, that, like the later battle, neither of the contending parties on this occasion were natives of the country in which the battle was fought, they being the french calvinists on one side and the spaniards on the other. philobiblion. "_tuch._"--in "the synagogue," attached to herbert's _poems_, but written by chr. harvie, m.a., is a piece entitled "the communion table," one verse of which is as follows: "and for the matter whereof it is made, the matter is not much, although it be of _tuch_, or wood, or mettal, what will last, or fade; so vanitie and superstition avoided be." s. t. coleridge, in a note on this passage, printed in mr. pickering's edition of herbert, (fcap. vo.), says: "_tuch_ rhyming to _much_, from the german _tuch_, cloth: i never met with it before as an english word. so i find _platt_, for foliage, in stanley's _hist. of philosophy_, p. ." whether coleridge rightly appreciated stanley's use of the word _platt_, i shall not determine; but with regard to _touch_, it is evident that he went (it was the tendency of his mind) to germany for error, when truth might have been discovered nearer home. the context shows that _cloth_ could not have been intended, for who ever heard of a table or altar made of cloth? the truth is that the poet meant _touchstone_, which the author of the _glossary of architecture_ ( rd edit., text and appendix) rightly explains to be "the dark-coloured stone or marble, anciently used for tombstones. a musical sound" (it is added) "may be produced by touching it sharply with a stick." and this is in fact the reason for its name. the author of the _glossary of architecture_ cites _ben jonson_ by gifford, viii. ., and _archæol._, xvi. . alphage. lincoln's inn. { } _the dodo._--among the seals, or rather sulphur casts, in the british museum, is one of nicholas saumares, anno . it represents an esquire's helmet, from which depends obliquely a shield with the arms--supporters--dexter a unicorn, sinister a greyhound; crest, a bird, which from its unwieldy body and disproportionate wings i take to be a dodo: and the more probability attaches itself to this conjecture, since _dodo_ seems to have been the surname of the counts de somery, or somerie (query saumarez), as mentioned in p. . of add. mss. , . in the british museum, and alluded to in a former no. of "n. & q." this seal, like many others, is not in such a state of preservation as to warrant the assertion that we have found a veritable dodo. i only offer it as a hint to mr. strickland and others, that have written so learnedly on this head. burke gives a falcon for the crest of saumarez; but the clumsy form and figure of this bird does not in any way assimilate with any of the falcon tribe. dodo seems also to have been used as a christian name, as in the same volume of mss. quoted above we find dodo de cisuris, &c. clarence hopper. _francis i._--mention has been made in "n. & q." of francis i.'s celebrated "tout est perdu hormis l'honneur!" but the beauty of that phrase is lost in its real position,--a long letter to louisa of savoy, his mother. the letter is given at full length in sismondi's _histoire des français_. m--a l. * * * * * queries. dr. anthony marshall. in anthony marshall, d.d., was rector of bottesford, in leicestershire. nichols adds a _query_ after his name; whether he were of the bishop of exeter's family? and a _note_, that anthony marshall was created d.d. at cambridge in by royal mandate (_hist. leic._, vol ii. p. .); and again, dr. anthony marshall preached a visitation sermon at melton in , aug. . i do not find that any bishop of exeter bore the name of marshall except henry marshall in , of course too far back to suppose that the query could refer to him; but i have not introduced this note to quarrel with mr. nichols, but to ask if this is all that is known of a man who must, in his day, have attained to considerable eminence. i more than suspect that this dr. marshall was a native of staveley in derbyshire. sir peter frescheville, in his will, dated in , gives to st. john's college, cambridge, l. "for the buying of bookes to furnish some one of the desks in the new library lately built and erected in the said college; and expresses his desire that the said money shall be layed forth, and the bookes bought, provided, and placed in the said library by the paines, care, and discression of his two loveing friends, mr. robert hitch, late fellow of trinity college in cambridge; and mr. robert marshall, fellow of st. john's college[ ]; or the survivor of them,"--which last robert, i suspect, should be anthony. in anthony marshall, d.d., rector of bottesford, was a subscriber of l. towards a fund then raised for yearly distribution; and there is only one name precedes his, or subscribes a larger amount, and that is dr. hitch before named. mr. bagshaw, in his _spiritualibus pecci_, , p. ., referring to thomas stanley, one of the ejected ministers, says: "mr. stanley was born at dackmonton, three miles from chesterfield, where he had part of his education, as he had another part of it at staley, not far from it. his noted schoolmaster was one mr. marshall, whose brother made a speech to king james i." is there any means of corroborating this incident? in i observe the name of dr. marshall amongst the king's chaplains in ordinary, and a dr. marshall (perhaps the same individual) dean of gloucester; but whether identified in the doctor about whom i inquire, remains a query. u. j. s. sheffield. [footnote : [there is a latin epigram, by r. marshall of st. john's college, cambridge, prefixed to john hall's _poems_, published in .--ed.]] * * * * * lindis, meaning of. we are told by bede that _lindisfarne_, now holy island, derives the first part of its name from the small brook lindis, which at high water is quite invisible, being covered by the tide, but at low water is seen running briskly into the sea. now i should be glad to know the precise meaning of _lindis_. we are informed by etymologists, that _lyn_ or _lin_, in names of places, signifies water in any shape, as lake, marsh, or stream: but what does the adjunct _dis_ mean? some writers assert that _lindis_ signifies the linden-tree; thus making the sound an echo to the meaning: and hence they assume that lindesey in lincolnshire must signify an isle of linden-trees. but it is very doubtful that such a tree ever existed in lincolnshire anterior to the conquest. the _linden_ is rather a rare tree in england; and the two principal species, the _tilia europea_ and the _tilia grandifolia_, are said by botanists not to be indigenous to this country, but to have been introduced into our island at an early period to adorn the parks of the nobles, and certainly not till after the conquest. dr. henry, in his _history of britain_, vol. iv., gives the meaning of "marsh isle" to lindsey, and of "lake colony" to lincolnia. this i consider the most probable signification to a district { } that abounded in marshes at that early period, when the rude briton or the saxon applied names to places the most consonant to the aspects they afforded them: nor is it likely they would give the name of lindentree to a small brook, where such a tree never could have grown. as to the antiquity of the name of lindes or lindesey, i should say lindentree must be of comparatively modern nomenclature. i should, however, be glad to have the opinion of some of your better-informed etymologists on the meaning of the word, as it may decide a point of some importance in genealogy. j. l. berwick. * * * * * minor queries. _smock marriage in new york._--in a curious old book, entitled _the interesting narrative of the life of oulandah equiano, or gustavus vassa, the african, written by himself_, and published in london, by subscription, in , i find the following passage: "while we lay here (new york, a.d. ) a circumstance happened which i thought extremely singular. one day a malefactor was to be executed on a gallows, but with a condition that if any woman, having nothing on but her shift, married the man under the gallows, his life was to be saved. this extraordinary privilege was claimed; a woman presented herself, and the marriage ceremony was performed."--vol. ii. p. . perhaps some of your new york correspondents can say whether the annals of that city furnish evidence of so extraordinary an occurrence. r. wright. _the broken astragalus._--where was the broken astragalus, given by the host to his guest, first used as the symbol of hospitality? c. h. howard. _penardo and laissa._--who is the author of a poem (the title-page of which is wanting) called _the historye of penardo and laissa_, unpaged, in seventeen caputs, with poems recommendatory, by drummond of hawthornden and others, small to., containing many scotticisms? e. d. _st. adulph_ (vol. v., pp. , .).--capgrave, quoting john of tynemouth (?), says: "sanctum igitur adulphum audita ejus fama ad _trajectensem_[ ] ecclesiam in episcopum _rex_ sublimavit." query . who is the "rex" here mentioned? query . "trajecteasem:" ought this to be applied to "utrecht" or "maestricht," or either? literally, it is "on the other side of the water." a. b. [footnote : "trajectensem" (passim) corrected from "trajecteasem" by erratum in issue .--transcriber.] _st. botulph_ (vol. v., pp. , .).--your correspondent c. w. g. says: "his (st. botulph's) life was first put into regular form by fulcard.... fulcard tells us what his materials were.... an early ms. of _this_ life is in the harleian collection, no. . it was printed by capgrave in the _legenda nova_." query: _fulcard's_ life of the saint, or the life by some other person: john of tynemouth to wit? a. b. _tennyson._--mr. gilfillan, in his _literary gallery_, speaking of that fine poem "the two voices," says that the following line-- "you scarce could see the grass for flowers"-- p. . l. ., th edit. is borrowed from one of the old dramatists. could you or any of your correspondents tell me what the line is? as also the latin song referred to in "edwin morris:" "shall not love to me, as in the latin song i learnt at school, sneeze out a full god-bless-you right and left?" p. . l. ., th edit. my last tennyson query is about the meaning of-- "she to me was proxy-wedded with a bootless calf, at eight years old." _princess_, p. . l. ., th edit. h. j. j. liverpool. _"ma ninette," &c._--can any of your french readers tell me the continuation, if continuation there be, of the following charming verses; as also where they come from? "ma ninette a quatorze ans, trois mois quelque chose; son teint est un printemps, sa bouche une rose." h. j. j. _astronomical query._--you style your paper a medium of communication between literary men, &c. i trust this does not exclude one of my sex from seeking information through the same channel. we have had additions to our solar system by the discovery of four planets within the last few years. supposing that these planets obey the same laws as the larger ones, they must be at all times apparently moving within the zodiac; and considering the improvements in telescopes within the last seventy years, and the great number of scientific observers at all times engaged in the pursuit of astronomy both in europe and north america, i am at a loss to understand why these planets were not discovered before. i suppose we may not consider them as new creations attached to our solar system, because the law of perturbations on which mr. herschel { } discourses at length, in the eleventh chapter of his _treatise on astronomy_, would seem to demonstrate that they would interfere with the equilibrium of the solar system. would some of your scientific contributors condescend to explain this matter, so as to remove the ignorance under which i labour in common with, i believe, many others? leonora. liverpool. _chaplains to noblemen._--under what statute, if any, do noblemen appoint their chaplains? and is there any registry of such appointments in any archiepiscopal or episcopal registry? x. _"more" queries._-- "when _more_ some years had chancellor been, no _more_ suits did remain; the same shall never _more_ be seen, till _more_ be there again." i infer from the first lines of this epigram that sir thomas more, by his unremitting attention to the business of the court of chancery, had brought to a close, in his day, the litigation in that department. is there any authentic record of this circumstance? are there, at the present day, any male descendants of sir thomas more, so as to render possible the fulfilment of the prophecy contained in the last two lines? henry h. breen. st. lucia. _heraldic query._--to what families do the following bearings belong? . two lions passant, on a chief three spheres (i think) mounted on pedestals; a mullet for difference. the crest is very like a lily reversed. . ermine, a bull passant; crest, a bull passant: initials "c. g." u. j. s. sheffield. _"by prudence guided," &c._--can any of the readers of "n. & q." supply me with the words deficient in the following lines, and inform me from what author they are quoted? i met with them on an old decaying tomb in one of the churchyards in sheffield: "by prudence guided, undefiled in mind, of pride unconscious, and of soul refined, . . . . conquest . . . . . . . . subdue with . . . . . . . . . . . . . .in view here . . . . . . . . the heaven-born flame which . . . . . . . from whence it came." w. s. (sheffield.) _lawyers' bags._--i find it stated by colonel landman, in his _memoirs_, that prior to the trial of queen caroline, the colour of the bags carried by barristers was green; and that the change to red took place at, or immediately after, the event in question. i shall be glad of any information both as to the fact of such change having taken place, and the circumstances by which it was brought about and accompanied. j. st. j. y. wellbank. _master family._--can you refer me to any one who may be able to give me information respecting the earlier history of the family of master or maistre, of kent, prior to : and any suggestions as to its connexion with the french or norman family of maistre or de maistre? this being a query of no public interest, i inclose a stamped envelope, according to the wish expressed by you in a recent number. george s. master. welsh-hampton, salop. _passage in wordsworth._--can any of your correspondents find an _older original_ for wordsworth's graceful conceit, in his sonnet on walton's lines-- "there are no colours in the fairest sky as fair as these: _the feather whence the pen_ _was shaped, that traced the lives of these good men,_ _dropt from an angel's wing_"-- than the following: "whose noble praise deserves a quill pluckt from an angel's wing." dorothy berry, in a sonnet prefixed to diana primrose's _chain of pearl, a memorial of the peerless graces, &c. of queen elizabeth_: published london, ,--a tract of twelve pages. m--a l. edinburgh. _govett family._--can you inform me for what town or county sir ---- govett, bart., was member of parliament in the year , and what were his armorial bearings? his name appears in the list of members given in page . of the grand duke cosmo's _travels through england_, published in . is the baronetcy extinct? if so, who was the last baronet, and in what year? where he lived, or any other particulars, will much oblige. quÆro. _sir kenelm digby._--why is sir kenelm digby represented, i believe always, with a sun-flower by his side? vandyke. _riddles._--it would take up too much of your valuable time and space to insert all the riddles for which correspondents cannot find answers; but will you find means to ask, through your pages, if any clever oedipus would allow me to communicate to him certain enigmas which puzzle me greatly, and which i should very much like to have solved. rubi. _straw bail._--fielding, in his _life of jonathan wild_, book i. chap. ii., relates that jonathan's aunt "charity took to husband an eminent gentleman, whose name i cannot learn; but who was famous for { } so friendly a disposition, that he was bail for above a hundred persons in one year. he had likewise the remarkable humour[ ] of walking in westminster hall with a straw in his shoe." what was the practice here referred to, and what is the origin of the expression "a man of straw," which is commonly applied to any one who appears, or pretends to be, but is not, a man of property? straw bail is, i believe, a term still used by attorneys to distinguish insufficient bail from "justifiable" or sufficient bail. j. lewelyn curtis. [footnote : "humour" corrected from "honour" by erratum in issue .--transcriber.] _wages in the west in ._--the marquis of hertford and lord poulett were very active in the west in the year . in the famous collection of pamphlets in the british museum ( , .) is contained lord poulett's speech at wells, somerset: "his lordship, with many imprecations, oaths, and execrations (in the height of fury), said that it was not fit for any yeoman to have allowed him from his own labours any more than the poor moiety of ten pounds a-year; and when the power shall be totally on their side, they shall be compelled to live on that low allowance, notwithstanding their estates are gotten with a great deal of labour and industry. "upon this the people attempted to lay violent hands upon lord poulett, who was saved by a regiment marching in or by at the moment." what was lord poulett's precise meaning? do we not clearly learn from the above, that the civil war was due to more than a mere choosing between king and parliament among the humbler classes of the remote country districts? george roberts. _literary frauds of modern times._--in a work by bishop (now cardinal) wiseman, entitled _the connexion between science and revealed religion_, rd edition, vol. ii. p. ., occurs the following remark: "the most celebrated literary frauds of modern times, the _history of formosa_, or, still more, the _sicilian code of vella_, for a time perplexed the world, but were in the end discovered." will you, or any of your readers, kindly refer me to any published account of the frauds alluded to in this passage? i have a faint remembrance of having read some remarks respecting the _code of vella_, but am unable to recall the circumstances. i was under the impression that chatterton's forgery of the rowley poems, macpherson's of the ossianic rhapsodies, and count de surville's of the poems of madame de surville, were "the most celebrated literary frauds of modern times." in what respect are those alluded to by dr. wiseman entitled to the unenviable distinction which he claims for them? henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * minor queries with answers. "_very like a whale._"--what is the origin of this expression? it occurs in the following doggerel verses, supposed to be spoken by the driver of a cart laden with fish: "this salmon has got a tail; _it's very like a whale_; it's a fish that's very merry; they say its catch'd at derry. it's a fish that's got a heart; it's catch'd and put in dugdale's cart." henry h. breen. st. lucia. [this expression occurs in _hamlet_, act iii. sc. _ ._: "_hamlet._ do you see yonder cloud, that is almost in shape of a camel? _polonius._ by the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. _hamlet._ methinks it is like a weasel. _polonius._ it is backed like a weasel. _hamlet._ or like a whale? _polonius._ very like a whale." since shakspeare's time, it has been used as a proverb in reply to any remark partaking of the marvellous.] _wednesday a litany day._--why is wednesday made a litany day by the church? we all know why friday was made a fast; but why should wednesday be sacred? anon. [wednesdays and fridays were kept as fasts in the primitive church: because on the one our lord was betrayed, on the other crucified. see mant and wheatley.] _"thy spirit, independence," &c._--could you, or any of your readers, inform me where are the following lines?-- "thy spirit, independence, let me share, lord of the lion heart and eagle eye! thy steps i'll follow with my bosom bare, nor heed the storm that howls along the sky." i quote from memory. h. [in smollett's _ode to independence_.] _"hob and nob," meaning of._--what is the origin of these words as verbs, in the phrase "hob or nob," which means, as i need not inform your readers, to spend an evening tippling with a jolly companion? what is the origin of "nob?" and is either of these two words ever used alone? c. h. howard. edinburgh. [this phrase, according to grose, "originated in the days of good queen bess. when great chimnies were in fashion, there was at each corner of the hearth, or grate, a small elevated projection, called _hob_, and behind it a seat. in winter-time the beer was placed on the hob to warm; and the cold beer was set on a small table, said to have been called the _nob_: so that the { } question, will you have hob or nob? seems only to have meant, will you have warm or cold beer? _i.e._ beer from the hob, or beer from the nob." but nares, in his _glossary_, s.v. _habbe_ or _nabbe_, with much greater reason, shows that _hob_ or _nob_, now only used convivially, to ask a person whether he will have a glass of wine or not, is most evidently a corruption of the old _hab-nab_, from the saxon _habban_, to have, and _nabban_, not to have; in proof of which, as nares remarks, shakspeare has used it to mark an alternative of another kind: "and his incensement at this moment is so implacable, that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of death and sepulchre: _hob, nob_ is his word; give't or take't."--_twelfth night_, act iii. sc. .] * * * * * replies. wellesley pedigree. (vol. vi., pp. . .) there is an anxiety to obtain further particulars on this interesting subject, and i have searched my genealogical mss. collections for such; the result has extended farther than i could have wished, but, while i am able to furnish _dates_ and _authorities_ for hitherto naked statements, i have inserted two or three links of descent not before laid down. a member of the somersetshire wellesleighs is said to have accompanied henry ii. to ireland. walleran or walter de wellesley, living in ireland in (lynch, _feud. dig._), witnessed a grant of certain townlands to the priory of christ church about (_registry of christ church_); while it is more effectively stated that he then "endowed the priory of all saints with a. of land, within the manor of cruagh, _which then belonged, with other estates, to his family_, and that he gave to the said priory _free common of pasture, of wood and of turbary, over his whole mountain there_." his namesake and son (according to lynch, _feud. dig._), "walran de wylesley," was in required, as one of the "fideles" of ireland, by three several letters, to do service in the meditated war in scotland (_parl. writs_, vol. i. p. .), and in the following year he was slain (_ms. book of obits, t.c.d._). the peerage books merge these two wallerans in one. william de wellesley, who appears to have been son to walleran, was in appointed constable of the castle of kildare (_rot. pat. canc. hib._), which he maintained when besieged by the bruces in their memorable invasion of ireland, and their foray over that county. for these and other services to the state he received many lucrative and honourable grants from the crown, and was summoned to parliament in . in he was slain at the siege of calais. (_obits, t.c.d._) sir john de wellesly, knight, son of william, having performed great actions against the o'tooles and o'byrnes of wicklow, had grants of sundry wardships and other rewards from the year . in he became one of the sureties for the appearance of the suspected earl of desmond, on whose flight sir john's estates were seised to the crown and withheld for some years. (lynch's _feud. dig._) his successor was another john de wellesley, omitted in the peerage books, but whose existence is shown by _close roll & edw. iii., c. h._ he died about the year . william wellesley, son of john, was summoned to great councils and parliaments of ireland from ; he was also entrusted by the king with various important commissions and custodies of castles, lands, and wards (_patent rolls c. h._). in he was sheriff of kildare, and henry iv. renewed his commission in . richard, son and heir of william de wellesley, as proved by _rot. pat. henry iv., canc. hib._, married johanna, daughter and heiress of sir nicholas de castlemartin, by whom the estates of dangan, mornington, &c. passed to the wellesley family; he and his said wife had confirmation of their estates in . (_rot. pat. henry vi., c. h._) he had a previous grant from the treasury by order of the privy council, in consideration of his long services as sheriff of the county of kildare, and yet more actively "in the wars of munster, meath, and leinster, with men and horses, arms and money." (_rot. claus. ric. ii., c. h._) in he was specially commissioned to advise the crown on the state of ireland, and was subsequently selected to take charge of the castle of athy, as "the fittest person to maintain that fortress and key of the country against the malice of the irish enemy." (_rot. pat. et claus. henry vi., c. h._) in resisting that "malice" he fell soon after. the issue of sir richard de wellesley by johanna were william wellesley, who married katherine ----, and dying in was succeeded by his next brother, christopher wellesley, whose recorded fealty in the same year proves all the latter links; his succession to william as brother and heir, and the titles of johanna as widow of his father richard, and of katherine as widow of william, to dower off said estates. (_rot. claus. henry vi._, _c. h._) at and previous to this time, another line of this family, connected as cousins with the house of dangan, flourished in the co. kildare, where they were recognised as palatine barons of norragh to the close of the seventeenth century. william wellesley of dangan was the son and heir of christopher. an (unprinted) act of edward iv. was passed in in favour of this william; and his two marriages are stated by lynch (_feud. dig._): the first was to { } ismay plunkett; the second, to maud o'toole, was contracted under peculiar circumstances. the law of ireland at the time prohibited the intermarriages of the english with the natives without royal licence therefor being previously obtained, and not even did the licence so obtained wash out the _original sin_ of irish birth; for, as in this instance, maud, having survived her first husband, on marrying her second, patrick hussey, had a fresh licence to legalise that marriage. it is of record (_rot. pat. henry vii., c. h._), and proves the second marriage of sir william clearly: yet it is not noticed in any of the peerage books, which derive his issue from the first wife, and not from the second, as lynch gives it, that issue being gerald the eldest son, walter the second, and alison a daughter. gerald had a special livery of his estate in ; walter the second son became bishop of kildare in , and died its diocesan in (see ware's _bishops_); and the daughter alison intermarried with john cusack of cushington, co. meath. (burke's _landed gentry_, supp. p. .) gerald, according to all the peerage books, married margaret, eldest daughter of sir thomas fitzgerald, who was lord chancellor of ireland in , and had issue william, his eldest son, lord of dangan, who married elizabeth cusack, of portrane, co. dublin, and died previous to (as i believe is proveable by _inquisitions_ of that year in the office of the chief remembrancer, dublin), leaving gerald, his eldest son and heir. an inquiry taken in as to the extent of the manor of dangan, finds him then seised thereof (_inquis. in c. h. eliz._). previous to this he appears a party in conveyances of record, as in , &c. he had a son edward (not mentioned in the peerage books), who joined in a family conveyance of , and soon after died, leaving a son, valerian wellesley. gerald himself died in , leaving said valerian, his grandson and heir, then aged ten (_inquis. jac. i. in rolls office_), and _married_, adds the inquisition; and lynch, in his _feudal dignities_, gives interesting particulars of the betrothal of this boy, and his public repudiation of the intended match on his coming to age. this valerian is traced through irish records to the time of the restoration; he married first, maria cusack (by whom he had william wellesley, his eldest son), and, second, anne forth, otherwise cusack, widow of sir ambrose forth, as shown by an inquisition of , in the rolls office, dublin. william wellesley, son and heir of valerian, married margaret kempe (_peerage books_), and by her had gerald wellesley, who on the restoration petitioned to be restored to his estates, and a decree of innocence issued, which states the rights of himself, his father, and his grandfather in "dingen." this gerald married elizabeth, eldest daughter of sir dudley colley, and their first daughter was baptized in by the name of margaret, some evidence, in the courtesy of christenings, of gerald's mother being margaret. (_registry of st. werburgh's._) gerald was a suitor in the court of claims in : he left two sons; william the eldest died _s. p._, and was succeeded by garrett, his next brother, who died also without issue in , having bequeathed all the family estates to richard colley, second son of the aforesaid sir dudley colley, and testator's uncle, enjoining upon said richard and his heirs male to bear thenceforth, as they succeeded to the estates, the name and arms of wellesley. this richard colley wellesley married elizabeth, daughter of john sale, ll.d. and m.p., by whom he had issue garrett wellesley, born, as the _dublin and london magazine_ for announces, " th july," when "the lady of richard colley westley was delivered of a son and heir, _to the great joy of that family_." this son was father of the marquis wellesley and of the duke of wellington! john d'alton. . summer hill, dublin. * * * * * consecrated rings for epilepsy. (vol. vi., p. .) sir w. c. t. has opened a very interesting field for inquiry regarding these blest rings. st. edward, in his last illness (obiit january , ), gave a ring which he wore to the abbot of westminster. the origin of this ring is surrounded by much mystery. a pilgrim is said to have brought it to the king, and to have informed him that st. john the evangelist had made known to the donor that the king's decease was at hand. "st. edward's ring" was kept for some time at westminster abbey, as a relic of the saint, and was applied for the cure of the falling sickness or epilepsy, and for cramp. from this arose the custom of our english kings, who were believed to have inherited st. edward's powers of cure, solemnly blessing every year rings for distribution. it is said, we know not on what authority, that the ring did not always remain at westminster, but that in the chapel of havering (so called from _having the ring_), in the parish of hornchurch, near rumford in essex (once a hunting-seat of the kings), was kept, till the dissolution of religious houses, the identical ring given by the pilgrim to st. edward. weaver says he saw it represented in a window of rumford church. these rings seem to have been blessed for two different species of cure: first, against the falling sickness (comitialis morbus); and, secondly, against the cramp (contracta membra). for the cure of the king's evil the sovereign did not bless rings, but continued to _touch_ the patient. { } good friday was the day appointed for the blessing of the rings. they were often called "medijcinable rings," and were made both of gold and silver; and as we learn from the household books of henry iv. and edward iv., the metal they were composed of was what formed the king's offering to the cross on good friday. the following entry occurs in the accounts of the th and th years of henry iv. ( ): "in oblacionibus domini regis factis adorando crucem in capella infra manerium suum de eltham, die parascevis, in precio trium nobilium auri et v solidorum sterlyng, xxv s. "in denariis solutis pro eisdem oblacionibus reassumptis, pro annulis medicinalibus inde faciendis, xxv s." the prayers used at the ceremony of blessing the rings on good friday are published in waldron's _literary museum_. cardinal wiseman has in his possession a ms. containing both the ceremony for the blessing the cramp rings, and the ceremony for the touching for the king's evil. at the commencement of the ms. are emblazoned the arms of philip and mary: the first ceremony is headed, "certain prayers to be used by the quenes heignes in the consecration of the crampe rynges." accompanying it is an illumination representing the queen kneeling, with a dish, containing the rings to be blessed, on each side of her. the second ceremony is entitled, "the ceremonye for y^e heling of them that be diseased with the kynges evill;" and has its illumination of mary kneeling and placing her hands upon the neck of the diseased person, who is presented to her by the clerk; while the chaplain, in alb and stole, kneels on the other side. the ms. was exhibited at a meeting of the archæological institute on th june, . hearne, in one of his manuscript diaries in the bodleian, lv. ., mentions having seen certain prayers to be used by queen mary at the blessing of cramp rings. may not this be the identical ms. alluded to? but, to come to w. c. t.'s immediate question, "when did the use of these blest rings by our sovereigns cease?" the use never ceased till the change of religion. in addition to the evidence already given of the custom in the fifteenth century, may be added several testimonies of its continuance all through the sixteenth century. lord berners, when ambassador to the emperor charles v., writing "to my lord cardinal's grace" from saragossa, june , , says, "if your grace remember me with some crampe ryngs, ye shall doo a thing muche looked for; and i trust to bestowe thaym well with goddes grace." (_harl. ms._ . f. . see also polydore virgil, _hist._ i. .; and harpsfield.) andrew boorde, in his _introduction to knowledge_, mentions the blessing of these rings: "the kynges of england doth halow every yere crampe rynges, y^e which rynges worne on one's finger doth helpe them whych hath the crampe:" and again, in his _breviary of health_, , f. ., mentions as a remedy against the cramp, "the kynge's majestie hath a great helpe in this matter, in halowing crampe ringes, and so given without money or petition." a curious remnant or corruption of the use of cramp rings is given by mr. g. rokewode, who says that in suffolk "the use of cramp rings, as a preservative against fits, is not entirely abandoned. instances occur where nine young men of a parish each subscribe a crooked sixpence, to be moulded into a ring, for a young woman afflicted with this malady." (_history, &c._, , introd. p. xxvi.) ceyrep. * * * * * turner's view of lambeth palace. (vol. vii., p. .) l. e. x. inquires respecting the first work exhibited by the late j. m. w. turner, r.a. the statement of the newspaper referred to was correct. the first work exhibited by turner was a water-colour drawing of lambeth palace, and afterwards presented by him to a gentleman of this city, long since deceased. it is now in the possession of that gentleman's daughter, an elderly lady, who attaches no little importance to it. the fact is, that mr. turner, when young, was a frequent visitor at her father's house, and on such terms that her father lent mr. turner a horse to go on a sketching tour through south wales. this lady has also three or four other drawings made at that time by turner,--one a view of stoke bishop, near bristol, then the seat of sir henry lippincott, bart., which he made as a companion to the lambeth palace; another is a small portrait of turner by himself, of course when a youth. as the early indications of so great an artist, these drawings are very curious and interesting; but no person that knows anything of the state of water-colour painting at that period, and previous to the era when turner, girtin, and others began to shine out in that new and glorious style, that has since brought water-colour works to their present style of splendour, excellence, and value, will expect anything approaching the perfection of latter days. j. walter, marine painter. . trinity street, bristol. whether or not the work deemed by l. e. x. to be the first exhibited by turner may have been in water-colours, or be still in existence, i leave to other replicants, availing myself of the occasion to ask him or you, whether in two works of w. turner, at mr. g. turner's, walthamstow, "no. . dover castle," "no. . wanstead house," were not, in fact, his first tilt in that arena of which he was the champion at the hour of his { } death? whether in the two following years he appeared at all in the ring; and, if not, why not? although in the succeeding he again threw down the glaive in the "no. . the archbishop's palace, lambeth," being then set down as "_t._ w. turner;" reappearing in as "w. turner, of maiden lane, covent garden," with "no. . king john's palace, eltham;" "no. . sweakley, near uxbridge." in the horizon of art (strange to say, and yet to be explained!) this luminary glows no more till , when he had "on the line" (?) several views of fonthill, as well as the "tenth plague of egypt," purchased of course by the proprietor of that princely mansion, as it is found mentioned in warner's _walks near bath_ to be that same year adorning the walls of one of the saloons. j. h. a. * * * * * etymological traces of the social position of our ancestors. (vol. vii., p. .) i was preparing to answer your correspondent e. s. taylor by a reference to the conversation between gurth and wamba, _ivanhoe_, chap. i., when a friend promised to supply me with some additional and fuller information. i copy from a ms. note that he has placed in my hands: "nec quidem temerè contigisse puto quod animalia viva nominibus germanicæ originis vocemus, quorum tamen carnem in cibum paratam originis gallicæ nominibus appellamus; puta,--bovem, vaccam, vitulum, ovem, porcum, aprum, feram, etc. (an ox, a cow, a calf, a sheep, a hog, a boar, a deer, &c.); sed carnem bubulam, vitulinam, ovinam, porcinam, aprugnam, ferinam, etc. (beef, veal, mutton, pork, brawn, venison, &c.) sed hinc id ortum putaverim, quod normanni milites pascuis, caulis, haris, locisque quibus vivorum animalium cura agebatur, parcius se immiscuerint[ ] (quæ itaque antiqua nomina retinuerunt) quam macellis, culinis, mensis, epulis, ubi vel parabantur vel habebantur cibi, qui itaque nova nomina ab illis sunt adepti."--preface to dr. wallis's _grammatica linguæ anglicanæ_, , quoted by winning, _comparative philology_, p. . c. forbes. temple. [footnote : "immiscuerint" corrected from "immiscuerunt" by erratum in issue .--transcriber.] if your correspondent e. s. taylor will refer to the romance of _ivanhoe_, he will find in the first chapter a dialogue between wamba the son of witless, and gurth the son of beowulph, wherein the subject is fully discussed as to the change of names consequent on the transmutation of live stock, under the charge of saxon herdsmen, into materials for satisfying the heroic appetites of their norman rulers. it would be interesting to know the source from whence sir walter scott derived his ideas on this subject: whether from some previous writer, or "some odd corner of the brain." a. r. x. paisley. see trench _on study of words_ ( rd edit.), p. . p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. mr. taylor will find in pegge's _anonymiana_, cent. i. ., and cent. vii. ., allusion to what he inquires after. thos. lawrence. * * * * * goldsmiths' year-marks. (vol. vi., p. .) in answer to mr. livett's query, as to the marks or letters employed by the goldsmiths' company to denote the year in which the plate was "hall-marked," i subjoin a list of such as i am acquainted with, and which might with a little trouble be traced to an earlier period: i have also added a few notes relating to the subject generally, which may interest many of your readers. in the year , the roman capital a was used; in , b; and so on alphabetically for twenty years, which would bring us to the letter u, denoting the year : the alphabet finishing every twenty years with the letter u or v. the next year, , commences with the old english letter [old english a], and is continued for another twenty years in the old english capitals. in is introduced another alphabet, called court alphabet. from to inclusive, old english capitals. to " small roman letters. to " the court alphabet. to " roman capitals. to " small roman letters. to " old english capitals. to " small roman letters. to " roman capitals. to " small roman letters. to " old english capitals. the letter for the present year, , being [old english s]. in this list it will appear difficult, at first sight, in looking at a piece of plate to ascertain its age, to determine whether it was manufactured between the years and , or between and , the court hand being used in both these cycles: but (as will presently be mentioned) instead of the lion passant and leopard's head in the former, we shall find the lion's head erased, and britannia, denoting the alteration of the standard during the latter period. the standard of gold, when first introduced into the coinage, was of carats fine; that is, pure gold. subsequently, it was ½ and half alloy; this, after an occasional debasement by henry viii., was fixed at carats fine and carats alloy by charles i.; and still continues so, being { } called the old standard. in an act was passed allowing gold articles to be made of a lower or worse standard, viz., of carats of fine gold out of ; such articles were to be stamped with a crown and the figures , instead of the lion passant. the standard of silver has always (with the exception of about twenty years) been oz. dwts., and dwts. alloy, in the pound: this was termed _sterling_, but very much debased from the latter end of henry viii. to the beginning of elizabeth's reign. in the reign of william iii., , an act was passed to alter the standard of silver to oz. dwts., and dwts. alloy: and instead of the usual marks of the lion and leopard's head, the stamps of this better quality of silver were the figure of a lion's head erased, and the figure of britannia: and the variable letter denoting the date as before. this act continued in operation for twenty-two years, being repealed in , when the standard was again restored. a duty of sixpence per ounce was imposed upon plate in , which was taken off again in ; in lieu of which, a licence or duty of forty shillings was paid by every vendor of gold or silver. in , a duty of sixpence per ounce was again imposed, and the licence still continued: which in was increased to one shilling, and in to eighteenpence--at which it still remains. the payment of this duty is indicated by the stamp of the sovereign's head. all gold plate, with the exception of watch-cases, pays a duty of seventeen shillings per ounce; and silver plate one shilling and sixpence; watch-cases, chains, and a few other articles being exempted. the letters used as dates in the foregoing list (it must be remembered) are only those of the goldsmiths' hall in london, as denoted by the leopard's head crowned. other halls, at york, newcastle, lincoln, norwich, bristol, salisbury, and coventry, had also marks of their own to show the year; and have stamped gold and silver since the year , perhaps earlier. edinburgh, glasgow, and dublin have had the same privilege from a very early period: and, more recently, chester, birmingham, and sheffield. thus it will be seen that four marks or punches are used on gold and silver plate, independent of the makers' initials or symbol, viz.: _the standard mark._--for gold of the old standard of carats, and silver of oz. dwts.: a lion passant for england. a thistle for edinburgh. a lion rampant for glasgow. a harp crowned for ireland. for gold of carats: a crown, and the figures . for silver of oz. dwts.: a lion's head erased, and britannia. _the hall mark._-- a leopard's head crowned for london. a castle for edinburgh. hibernia for dublin. five lions and a cross for york. a castle for exeter. three wheatsheaves and a dagger for chester. three castles for newcastle. an anchor for birmingham. a crown for sheffield. a tree and fish for glasgow. _the duty mark._--the head of the sovereign, to indicate that the duty has been paid: this mark is not placed on watch-cases, &c. _the date mark_, or variable letter, denoting the year as fixed by each hall. w. chaffers, jun. old bond street. the table inquired for by mr. livett, with a most interesting historical paper on the subject, was published in the last _archæological journal_, october, . h. t. ellacombe. * * * * * editions of the prayer-book prior to . (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .) since the publication of the professedly imperfect list of various editions of the prayer-book, at page . of your last volume, which list was compiled chiefly from liturgical works in my own possession, i have had occasion to consult the _catalogue_ of the british museum, from which i have gleaned materials for a more full and correct enumeration. all the editions in the following list are in the library of the british museum; and in order to increase its value and utility, i have appended to each article the press-mark by which it is now designated. in some of these press-marks a numeral is subscript, thus: c. . h. . ------------ in order to save space i have represented this in the following list thus, (c. . h. ) ., putting the subscript numeral outside the parenthesis. . (?) to. b. l. n. hyll for a. veale. ( . c.) . (?) fol. r. jugge. (c. . m. .) . . (?) vo. portion of prayer-book. ( . a.) . to. portion of prayer-book. ( . b. .) . fol. deputies of ch. barker. (c. . m. .) . . to. (c. h. .) . . fol. (c. . . .) . . (?) to. imperfect. ( . b. .) . . to. ( . e .) . . vo. ( . a.) . to. ( . c.) { } . to. portion of prayer-book. ( . c.) . . fol. ( . e.) . to. ( . e. .) . . fol. ( . k. .) . fol. ( . k. .) . . to. portion of prayer-book. ( . c.) . fol. ( . e.) . . vo. ( . a.) . . to. ( . f. .) . - . fol. ( . e.) . . to. ( . f. .) . . mo. ( . a.) . vo. ( . b. .) . - . fol. ( . f.) (with the "form of healing," two leaves.) . vo. ( . b.) . . to. ( . f. .) . . vo. ( . b.) . vo. ( . a. .) . . (?) vo. ( . c. .) . . mo. ( . a.) . mo. ( . b.) . in latin we have an early copy in addition to those already noted, viz.: . reg. wolfe. to. ( . c.) of which the british museum possesses two copies of the same press-mark, one of which is enriched with ms. notes and sixteen cancelled leaves. besides the above we have also . vo. london. in french. . to. london. deputies of ch. barker. in welsh. allow me to take this opportunity of thanking archdeacon cotton for his very valuable communication. i trust that he and others of your many learned readers will lend a helping hand to the correction of this list, and its ultimate completion; the notice of the editions of and (vol. vii., p. .) is as interesting as it is important. it will be perceived that editions of the prayer-book referred to in former lists are not enumerated in the present one. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _originator of the collodion process._--all those who take any interest in photography must agree with your correspondent g. c. that m. le gray is a talented man, and has done much for photography. g. c. has given a very good translation of m. le gray's _last published work_, p. ., which work i have: but i must take leave to observe, that it is no contradiction whatever to my statement. the translations to which m. le gray alludes, of , appeared in willat's publication, from which i gave him the credit of having first suggested the use of collodion in photography. the subject is there dismissed in three or four lines. m. le gray gave no directions whatever for its application to glass in his work published in july , wherein he alludes to it only as an "encallage" for paper, classing it with amidou, the resins, &c., which he recommends in a similar manner. i had, four months previous to this, published the process in detail in the _chemist_. i never asserted that he had not tried experiments with collodion in ; but he did not give the public the advantage of following him: and i again repeat that the first time m. le gray published the collodion process was in september, ,--a year and a half after my publication, and when it had become much used. it is obvious that if m. le gray had been in possession of any detailed process with collodion on glass in , he would not have omitted to publish it in his work dated july, . f. scott archer. . great russell street, bloomsbury. g. c., claiming for le gray the merit of the first use of collodion upon glass, states that a pamphlet upon the subject was published in , and which was _translated into english at the same time_. will he oblige me by stating who published this pamphlet, or where it may be obtained? i have heard this statement before, and have used every endeavour to obtain a sight of the publication, but without success. were the facts as stated by your correspondent, it would deprive mr. archer undoubtedly of the merit which he claims; but from all i have been able to learn, le gray mentioned collodion as a mere agent for obtaining a smooth surface to paper, or other substance, having no idea of making it the sole sensitive substance to be employed. i have been informed that in vienna, early in , collodion was tried upon glass by being first immersed in a bath of iodide of potassium; and it was afterwards placed in a second bath of nitrate of silver. these experiments had _very limited_ success, and were never published, and certainly were unknown to mr. archer. h. w. d. _mr. weld taylor's process._--in your th number (vol. vii., p. .) is a communication from weld taylor on photographic manipulation, which, in its present form, is perfectly unintelligible. at p. . he says: "twenty grains of nitrate of silver in half an ounce of water is to have half an ounce of solution of iodide of potassium of fifty grains to the ounce added." now this is unnecessarily mystifying. why not say: "take equal quantities of a forty-grain solution of nitrate of silver, and of a fifty-grain solution of iodide of potassium;" though, in fact, an _equal_ strength would do as well, and be quite as, if not more, economical. in the next place, he directs that cyanide of potassium should be added _drop by drop_, &c. it { } is to be presumed that he means a _solution_ of this salt, which is a solid substance as usually sold. what follows is so exceedingly droll, that i can do nothing more than _guess_ at the meaning. how one _solution_ is to be floated on another, and then, _after_ a bath of nitrate of silver, is to be _ready for the camera_, surpasses my comprehension. also, further on, he alludes to _iodizing_ with the _ammonio-nitrate_ (i presume of silver). what does he mean? geo. shadbolt. _dr. diamond's services to photography._--sir, we, the undersigned amateurs of photography in the city of norwich, shall be obliged if you will (privately, or otherwise, at your own discretion) convey to dr. diamond our grateful thanks for the frankness and liberality with which he has published the valuable results of his experiments in the pages of "n. & q." we have profited largely by dr. diamond's instructions, and beg to express our conviction that he is entitled to the gratitude of every lover of the art. we are, sir, your obedient servants, t. lawson sisson, clk., (edingthorpe rectory). thos. d. eaton. john crosse koope. james howes. t.g. bayfield. g. brownfield. henry pulley. w. bransby francis. j. blowers (cossey). benj. russell. [agreeing, as we do most entirely, with the photographers of norwich in their estimate of the skill and perseverance exhibited by dr. diamond in simplifying the collodion and paper processes, and of his liberality in making known the results of his experiments, we have great pleasure in giving publicity to this recognition of the services rendered by dr. diamond to this important art.] _simplification of the wax-paper process._--at a late meeting of the chemical discussion society, mr. j. how read the following paper on this subject:-- "the easiest way of waxing the paper is to take an iron (those termed 'box-irons' are the cleanest and best for the purpose) moderately hot, in the one hand, and to pass it over the paper from side to side, following closely after it with a piece of white wax, held in the other hand, until the whole surface has been covered. by thus heating the paper, it readily imbibes the wax, and becomes rapidly saturated with it. the first sheet being finished, i place two more sheets of plain paper upon it, and repeat the operation upon the top one (the intermediate piece serving to absorb any excess of wax that may remain), and so on, sheet after sheet, until the number required is waxed. "the sheets, which now form a compact mass, are separated by passing the iron, moderately heated, over them; then placed between folds of bibulous paper, and submitted to a further application of heat by the means just described, so as to remove all the superfluous wax from the surface, and render them perfectly transparent--most essential points to be attended to in order to obtain fine negative proofs. "i will now endeavour to describe the method of preparing the iodizing solution. "instead of being at the trouble of boiling rice, preparing isinglass, adding sugar of milk and the whites of eggs, &c., i simply take some milk quite fresh, say that milked the same day, and add to it, drop by drop, glacial acetic acid, in about the proportion of one, or one and a half drachm, fluid measure, to the quart, which will separate the caseine, keeping the mixture well stirred with a glass rod all the time; i then boil it in a porcelain vessel to throw down the remaining caseine not previously coagulated, and also to drive off as much as possible of the superfluous acid it may contain. of course any other acid would precipitate the caseine; still i give the preference to the acetic from the fact that it does not affect the after-process of rendering the paper sensitive, that acid entering into the composition of the sensitive solution. "after boiling for five or ten minutes, the liquid should be allowed to cool, and then be strained through a hair sieve or a piece of muslin, to collect the caseine: when quite cold, the chemicals are to be added. "the proportions i have found to yield the best results are those recommended by vicomte veguz, which i have somewhat modified, both as regard quantities and the number of chemicals employed. they are as follow: grains of iodide of potassium. " of bromide. " of cyanide. " of fluoride. " of chloride of sodium in crystals. ½ " of resublimed iodine. "the above are dissolved in thirty-five ounces of the strained liquid, and, after filtration through white bibulous paper, the resulting fluid should be perfectly clear and of a bright lemon colour. "the iodized solution is now ready for use, and may be preserved, in well-stopped bottles, for any length of time. "the waxed paper is laid in the solution, in a flat porcelain or gutta percha tray, in the manner described by m. le gray and others, and allowed to remain there for from half an hour to an hour, according to the thickness of the paper. it is then taken out and hung up to dry, when it should be of a light brown colour. all these operations may be carried on in a light room, taking care only that, during the latter part of the process, { } the paper be not exposed to the direct rays of the sun. "the 'iodized paper,' which will keep for almost any length of time, should be placed in a portfolio, great care being taken to lay it perfectly flat, otherwise the wax is liable to crack, and thus spoil the beauty of the negative. the papers manufactured by canson frères and lacroix are far preferable, for this process, to any of the english kinds, being much thinner and of a very even texture. "to render the paper sensitive, use the following solution: grains nitrate of silver crystals. fluid drachms glacial acetic acid, crystallizable. ounces distilled water. "this solution is applied in the way described by le gray, the marked side of the paper being towards the exciting fluid. the paper is washed in distilled water and dried, as nearly as possible, between folds of bibulous paper. it should be kept, till required for the camera, in a portfolio, between sheets of stout blotting-paper, carefully protected from the slightest ray of light, and from the action of atmospheric air. if prepared with any degree of nicety, it will remain sensitive for two or three weeks: indeed i have seen some very beautiful results on paper which had been kept for a period of six weeks. at this time of year, an exposure in the camera of from ten to twenty minutes is requisite. "the picture may be developed with gallic acid, immediately after its removal from the camera; or, if more convenient, that part of the process may be delayed for several days. whilst at this section of my paper, i may, perhaps, be allowed to describe a method of preparing the solution of gallic acid, whereby it may be kept, in a good state of preservation, for several months. i have kept it myself for four months, and have found it, after the lapse of that period, infinitely superior to the newly-made solution. this process has, i am informed, been alluded to in photographic circles; but not having seen it in print, and presuming the fact to be one of great practical importance, i trust i shall be excused for introducing it here, should it not possess that degree of novelty i attribute to it. "what is generally termed a saturated solution of gallic acid is, i am led to believe, nothing of the kind. in all the works on photography, the directions given run generally as follow:--'put an excess of gallic acid into distilled water, shake the mixture for about five minutes, allow it to deposit, and then pour off the supernatant fluid, which is found to be a saturated solution of the acid.' "now i have found by constant experiment, that by keeping an excess of acid in water for several days, the strength of the solution is greatly increased, and its action as a developing agent materially improved. the method i have adopted is to put half an ounce of crystallized gallic acid into a stoppered quart bottle, and then so to fill it up with water as that, when the stopper is inserted, a little of the water is displaced, and, consequently, every particle of air excluded. "the solution thus prepared will keep for several months. when a portion of it is required, the bottle should be refilled with fresh distilled water, the same care being taken to exclude every portion of atmospheric air,--to the presence of which i am led to believe, is due the decomposition of the ordinary solution of gallic acid. "it will be needless to detain you further in explaining the after-processes, &c. to be found in any of the recent works on the waxed-paper process, the translation of the last edition of le gray being the one to which i give the preference." * * * * * the burial service said by heart. (vol. vii., p. .) southey has confounded two stories in conjecturing that the anecdote mentioned by bp. sprat related to bull. it was the _baptismal_ and not the _funeral_ service that bull repeated from memory. i quote from his _life_ by robert nelson: "a particular instance of this happened to him while he was minister of st. george's (near bristol); which, because it showeth how valuable the liturgy is in itself, and what unreasonable prejudices are sometimes taken up against it, the reader will not, i believe, think it unworthy to be related. "he was sent for to baptize the child of a dissenter in his parish; upon which occasion, he made use of the office of baptism as prescribed by the church of england, which he had got entirely by heart. and he went through it with so much readiness and freedom and yet with so much gravity and devotion, and gave that life and spirit to all that he delivered, that the whole audience was extremely affected with his performance; and, notwithstanding that he used the sign of the cross, yet they were so ignorant of the offices of the church, that they did not thereby discover that it was the common prayer. but after that he had concluded that holy action, the father of the child returned him a great many thanks; intimating at the same time with how much greater edification they prayed who entirely depended upon the spirit of god for his assistance in their _extempore_ effusions, than those did who tied themselves up to premeditated forms; and that, if he had not made the sign of the cross, that badge of popery, as he called it, nobody could have formed the least objection against his excellent prayers. upon which, mr. bull, hoping to recover him from his ill-grounded prejudices, showed him the office of baptism in the liturgy, wherein was contained every prayer that was offered up to god on that occasion; which, with farther arguments that he then urged, so effectually { } wrought upon the good man and his whole family, that they always after that time frequented the parish-church; and never more absented themselves from mr. bull's communion."--pp. -- ., lond. , vo. some few dates will prove that bull could not have been the person alluded to. bp. sprat's _discourse to the clergy of his diocese_ was delivered in the year . and he speaks of the minister of the london parish as one who "was afterwards an eminent bishop of our church." we must therefore suppose him to have been _dead_ at the time of bp. sprat's visitation. now, in the first place (as j. k. remarks), "bull never held a london cure." and, in the second place, he was not consecrated bishop until the th of april, (ten years after bp. sprat's visitation), and did not die until feb. - . (_life_, pp. -- .) southey's conjecture is therefore fatally wrong. and now as regards bp. hacket. the omission of the anecdote from the _life_ prefixed to his _sermons_ must, i think, do away with his claims also, though he was restored to his parish of st. andrew's, holborn, and was not consecrated bishop of lichfield until december, . unfortunately, i have not always followed captain cuttle's advice, or i should now be able to contribute some more decisive information. i have my own suspicions on the matter, but am afraid to guess in print. rt. warmington. the prelate to whom your correspondent alludes was dr. john hacket, rector of st. andrews, holborn, cons. to the see of lichfield and coventry on december , . the anecdote was first related by granger. (chalmers's _biog. dict._, vol. xvii. p. .) bishop bull, while rector of st. george's near bristol, said the baptismal office by heart on one occasion. (nelson's _life_, i. § ix. p. .; _works_, oxford, .) mackenzie walcott, m.a. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _mary queen of scots' gold cross_ (vol. vi., p. .).-- "would it not facilitate the identification of the gold cross of mary queen of scotts, in the possession of mr. price of glasgow, if a representation of it was sent to _the illustrated london news_, as the publication of it by that journal would lead antiquaries to the identification of a valuable historical relic?" i hope you will insert the above in "n. & q." in the hope it may meet the eye of mr. price, and lead to a satisfactory result. w. h. c. _jennings family_ (vol. vi., p. .).--this family is supposed to have continued from some time in cornwall, after the visitation of ; but the name is not now found there in any great respectability. william jennings of saltash was sheriff of cornwall, ; but his arms differ from those of the visitation: argent, a chevron gules between three mariners, plumets sable. francis jennnings, who recorded the pedigree of , married the daughter of _spoure_ of trebartha; and in a ms. book of that family, compiled about the latter part of the seventeenth century, the same arms, strange to say, are stated to be his, and not the lion rampant of the jennings of shropshire. this seems to support the hypothesis that william jennings, the sheriff, was the same family. the _spoure_ mss. also mention "ursula, sister of sir william walrond of bradfield, devon, who married first, william jennings of _plymouth_ (query, the sheriff?), and afterwards the rev. william croker, rector of wolfrey (wolfardisworthy?) devon." percuriosus. _adamson's "england's defence"_ (vol. vi., p. .) is well worth attention at the present time; as is also its synopsis before publication, annexed to _stratisticos, by john digges, muster master_, &c., to., , and filling pp. . to . of that curious work, showing the wisdom of our ancestors on the subject of invasion by foreigners. e. d. _chief justice thomas wood_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in berry's _hampshire visitation_ (p. .), thomas wood is mentioned as having married a daughter of sir thomas de la more, and as having had a daughter named elizabeth, who married sir thomas stewkley of aston, devon, knight. i am as anxious as n. c. l. to know something about thomas wood's lineage; and shall be obliged by his telling me where it is said that he built hall o'wood. edward foss. _aldiborontiphoscophornio_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this euphonious and formidable name will be found in _the most tragical tragedy that ever was tragidized by any company of tragedians_, viz., _chrononhotonthologos_, written by "honest merry harry carey," who wrote also _the dragon of wantley_, a burlesque opera (founded on the old ballad of that name), _the dragoness_ (a sequel to _the dragon_), &c. &c. while the public were applauding his dramatic drolleries and beautiful ballads (of which the most beautiful is "sally in our alley"), their unhappy author, in a fit of despondency, destroyed himself at his lodgings in warner street, clerkenwell. there is an engraving by faber, in , of harry carey, from a painting by worsdale (the celebrated jemmy!); which is rare. george daniel. [we are indebted to several other correspondents for replies to the query of f. r. s.] { } _statue of st peter at rome_ (vol. vi., p. .).--this well-known bronze statue is falsely stated to be a jupiter converted. it is very far from being true, though popularly it passes as truth, that the statue in question is the ancient statue of jupiter capitolinus, with certain alterations. another commonly-received opinion regarding this statue is, that it was cast for a st. peter, _but of the metal of the statue of jupiter capitolinus_. but this can scarcely be true, for martial informs us that in his own time the statue of the capitoline jupiter was not of bronze but of _gold_. "scriptus et æterno nunc primum jupiter _auro_." lib. xi. ep. iv. undoubtedly the statue was cast for a st. peter. it was cast in the time of st. leo the great ( - ), and belonged to the ancient church of st. peter's. st. peter has the nimbus on his head; the first two fingers of the right hand are raised in the act of benediction; the left hand holds the keys, and the right foot projects from the pedestal. the statue is seated on a pontifical chair of white marble. ceyrep. _old silver ornament_ (vol. vi., p. .).--this ornament is very probably what your correspondent infers it is,--a portion of some military accoutrement: if so, it may have appertained to some scotch regiment. it represents precisely the badge worn by the baronets of nova scotia, the device upon which was the saltier of st. andrew, with the royal arms of scotland on an escutcheon in the centre; the whole surrounded by the motto, and ensigned with the royal crown. the insignia of the british orders of knighthood are frequently represented in the ornaments upon the military accoutrements of the present day. ebor. "_plurima, pauca, nihil_," (vol. vi., p. .).--a correspondent asks for the first part of an epigram which ends with the words "plurima, pauca, nihil." he is referred to an epigram of martial, which _i_ cannot find. but i chance to remember two epigrams which were affixed to the statue of pasquin at rome, in the year , upon two cardinals who were candidates for the popedom. they run as follows, and are smart enough to be worth preserving: "pasquinalia. "sit bonus, et fortasse pius--sed semper ineptus-- vult, meditatur, agit, _plurima, pauca, nihil_." "in alterum. "promittit, promissa negat, ploratque negata, hæc tria si junges, quis neget esse petrum." a. borderer. _"pork-pisee" and "wheale"_ (vol. vi., p. .).--has not mr. warde, in his second quotation, copied the word wrongly--"pork-pisee" for pork-_pesse_? a porpoise is the creature alluded to; or _porpesse_, as some modern naturalists spell it. "wheale" evidently means _whey_: the former expression is probably a provincialism. jaydee. _did the carians use heraldic devices?_ (vol. vi., p. .).--perhaps the following, from an heraldic work of dr. bernd, professor at the university of bonn, may serve to answer the queries of mr. booker. herodotus ascribes the first use, or, as he expresses it, the invention of signs on shields, which we call arms, and of the supporter or handle of the shield, which till then had been suspended by straps from the neck, as well as of the tuft of feathers or horse-hair on the helmet, to the carians; in which strabo agrees with him, and, as far as regards the supporters and crest, Ælian also: "herodot schrieb den ersten gebrauch, oder wie er sich ausdrückt, die erfindung der zeichen auf schilden, die wir wappen nennen, wie auch der halter oder handhaben an den schilden, die bis dahin nur an riemen um den nacken getragen wurden, und die büsche von federn oder rosshaaren auf den helmen, den cariern zu, worin ihm strabo (_geogr._ . i. § .), und was die handhaben und helmbüsche betrifft, auch Ælian (_hist. animal._ . .), beistimmen."--bernd's _wappenwissen der griechen und römer_, p. . bonn, . on thucydides i. ., where mention is made of carians disinterred by the athenians in the island of delos, the scholiast, evidently referring to the passage cited by mr. booker, says: [greek: kares prôtoi heuron tous omphalous tôn aspidôn, kai tous lophous. tois oun apothnêskousi sunethapton aspidiskion mikron kai lophon, sêmeion tês heureseôs.] from plutarch's _artaxerxes_ ( .) may be inferred, that the carian standard was a cock; for the king presented the carian who slew cyrus with a golden one, to be thenceforth carried at the head of the troop. for full information on the heraldry of the ancients, your correspondent can scarcely do better than consult the above-quoted work of dr. bernd. john scott. norwich. _herbert family_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the celebrated picture of lord herbert of cherbury by isaac oliver, at penshurst, represents him with a small swarthy countenance, dark eyes, very dark black hair, and mustachios. all the herberts whom i have seen are dark-complexioned and black-haired. this is the family badge, quite as much as the unmistakeable nose in the descendants of john of gaunt. e. d. _children crying at baptism_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i am inclined to suspect that the idea of its being lucky for a child to cry at baptism arose { } from the custom of _exorcism_, which was retained in the anglican church in the first prayer-book of king edward vi., and is still commonly observed in the baptismal services of the church of rome. when the devil was going out of the possessed person, he was supposed to do so with reluctance: "the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, he is dead." (st. mark, ix. .) the tears and struggles of the infant would therefore be a convincing proof that the evil one had departed. in ireland (as every clergyman knows) nurses will decide the matter by pinching the baby, rather than allow him to remain silent and unlachrymose. rt. warmington. _americanisms_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the word _bottom_, applied as your correspondent uneda remarks, is decidedly an english provincialism, of constant use now in the clothing districts of gloucestershire, which are called "the bottoms," whether mills are situated there or not. e. d. _dutch allegorical picture_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in the account i gave you of this picture i omitted one of the inscriptions, which i but just discovered; and as the picture appears to have excited some interest in holland (my account of it having been translated into dutch[ ], in the _navorscher_), i send you this further supplemental notice. i described a table standing under the window, on the left-hand side of the room, containing on the end nearest to the spectator, not two pewter flagons, as i at first thought, but one glass and one pewter flagon. on the end of this table, which is presented to the spectator, is an inscription, which, as i have said, had hitherto escaped my notice, having been partially concealed by the frame--a modern one, not originally intended for this picture, and partly obscured by dirt which had accumulated in the corner. i can now make out very distinctly the following words, with the date, which fixes beyond a question the age of the picture: "hier moet men gissen glasen te wasser daer in te pissen en soú niet passen. ." i may also mention, that the floor of the chamber represented in the picture is formed of large red and blue square tiles; and that the folio book standing on end, with another lying horizontally on the top of it, which i said in my former description to be standing on the end of the table, under the window, is, i now see, standing not on the table, but on the floor, next to the chair of the grave and studious figure who sits in the left-hand corner of the room. these corrections of my first description have been in a great measure the result of a little soap and water applied with a sponge to the picture. james h. todd, d.d. trin. coll., dublin. [footnote : with some corrections in the reading of the inscriptions.] _myles coverdale_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i have a print before me which is intended to represent the exhumation of coverdale's body. the following is engraved beneath: "the remains of myles coverdale, bishop of exeter, as they appeared in the chancel of the church of st. bartholomew, near the exchange. buried feb. . exhumed d sept. . chabot, zinco., skinner street." if i am not mistaken, his remains were carried to the church of st. magnus, near london bridge, and re-interred. w. p. storer. olney, bucks. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. one of the most beautifully got up cheap publications which we have seen for a long time, is the new edition of byron's _poems_, just issued by mr. murray. it consists of eight half-crown volumes, which may be separately purchased, viz. childe harold, one volume; tales and poems, one volume; and the dramas, miscellanies, and don juan, &c., severally in two volumes. mr. murray has also made another important contribution to the cheap literature of the day in the republication, in a cheap and compendious form, of the various journals of sir charles fellows, during those visits to the east to which we owe the acquisition of the xanthian marbles. the present edition of his _travels and researches in asia minor, and more particularly in the province of lycia_, as it embraces the substance of all sir charles's various journals and pamphlets, and only omits the greek and lycian inscriptions, and lists of plants and coins, and such plates as were not capable of being introduced into the present volume, will, we have no doubt, be acceptable to a very numerous class of readers, and takes its place among the most interesting of the various popular narratives of eastern travel. most of our readers will probably remember the memorable remark of lord chancellor king, that "if the ancient discipline of the church were lost, it might be found in all its purity in the isle of man." yet notwithstanding this high eulogium on the character of the saintly bishop wilson, it is painful to find that his celebrated work, _sacra privata_, has hitherto been most unjustifiably treated and mutilated, as was noticed in our last volume, p. . but here we have before us, in a beautifully printed edition of this valuable work, the good bishop _himself_, what he thought, and { } what he wrote, in his _private meditations, devotions, and prayers_, now for the first time printed from his original manuscripts preserved in the library of sion college, london. much praise is due to the editor for bringing this manuscript before the public, as well as for the careful superintendence of the press; and we sincerely hope he will continue his labours of research in sion college as well as in other libraries. there are doubtless many of our readers who echo ben jonson's wish that shakspeare had blotted many a line, referring of course to those characteristic of the age, not of the man, which cannot be read aloud. to all such, the announcement that messrs. longman have commenced the publication in monthly volumes of a new edition of bowdler's _family shakspeare, in which nothing is added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read in a family_, will be welcome intelligence. the work is handsomely printed in five-shilling volumes, of which the first three are already published. books received.--_memoirs of james logan, a distinguished scholar and christian legislator, &c._, by wilson armistead. an interesting biography of a friend of william penn, and one of the most learned of the early emigrants to the american continent.--_yule-tide stories, a collection of scandinavian and north german popular tales and traditions._ the name of the editor, mr. benjamin thorpe, is a sufficient guarantee for the value of this new volume of bohn's _antiquarian library_. in his _philological library_, mr. bohn has published a new and enlarged edition of mr. dawson w. turner's _notes on herodotus_: while in his _classical library_ he has given _the pharsalia of lucan literally translated into english prose, with copious notes_, by h. t. riley, b.a.; and has enriched his _scientific library_ by the publication of dr. chalmers's _bridgewater treatise on the power, wisdom, and goodness of god, as manifested in the adaption of external nature to the moral and intellectual constitution of man_, with the author's last corrections, and a biographical preface by dr. cumming. _photographic manipulation._ _the wax-paper process of gustave le gray_, translated from the french, published by knight & sons; and _hennah's directions for obtaining both positive and negative pictures upon glass by means of the collodion process, &c._, published by delatouche & co., are two little pamphlets which will repay the photographer for perusal, but are deficient in that simplicity of process which is so much to be desired if photography is to be made more popular. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. townsend's parisian costumes. vols, to. - . the book of adam. the testaments of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of jacob. massinger's plays, by gifford. vol. iv. vo. second edition. . spectator. vols. v. and vii. mo. london, . costerus (franÇois) cinquante meditations de toute l'histoire de la passion de nostre seigneur. vo. anvers, christ. plantin. the world without a sun. guardian. mo. two discourses of purgatory and prayers for the dead, by wm. wake. . what the chartists are. a letter to english working men, by a fellow-labourer. mo. london, . letter of church rates, by ralph barnes. vo. london, . colman's translation of horace de arte poetica. to. . casaubon's treatise on greek and roman satire. boscawen's treatise on satire. london, . johnson's lives (walker's classics). vol. i. titmarsh's paris sketch-book. post vo. vol. i. macrone, . fielding's works. vol. xi. (being second of "amelia.") mo. . holcroft's lavater. vol. i. vo. . otway. vols. i. and ii. vo. . edmondson's heraldry. vol. ii. folio, . sermons and tracts, by w. adams, d.d. the gentleman's magazine for january . ben jonson's works. (london, . vols.) vol. ii. wanted. rapin's history of england, vo. vols. i., iii. and v. of the continuation by tindal. . sharpe's prose writers. vol. iv. vols., . piccadilly. inchbald's british theatre. vol. xxiv. vols. longman. meyrick's ancient armour, by skelton. part xvi. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. back numbers. _parties requiring back numbers are requested to make immediate application for them; as the stock will shortly be made up into sets, and the sale of separate copies of the_ early numbers _will be discontinued_. m. w. b._'s note to_ j. b. _has been forwarded_. a. t. f. (bristol.) _our correspondent's kind offer is declined, with thanks._ sigma _is thanked: but he will see that we could not_ now _alter the size of our volumes_. w. c. h. d. _will find, in our_ th vol, pp. , ., _his query anticipated. the reading will be found in knight's_ pictorial shakspeare. h. e. _who asks who, what, and when_ captain cuttle _was? is informed that he is a_ relation _of one of the most able writers of the day--mr. charles dickens. he was formerly in the mercantile marine, and a skipper in the service of the well-known house of_ dombey and son. mistletoe on oaks. o. s. r. _is referred to our_ th volume, pp. . . . ., _for information upon this point_. mr. sims _is thanked for his communication, which we will endeavour to make use of at some future time_. iota _is informed that the chloride of barium, used in about the same proportion as common salt, will give the tint he desires. his second query has already been answered in our preceding numbers. as to the mode of altering his camera, he must tax his own ingenuity as to the best mode of attaching to it the flexible sleeves, &c._ _we are unavoidably compelled to postpone until next week_ mr. lawrence _on the albumen process, and_ mr. delamotte_'s notice of a portable camera_. photographic society. _particulars of this newly-formed society in our next._ _we again repeat that we cannot undertake to recommend any particular houses for the purchase of photographic instruments, chemicals, &c. we can only refer our correspondents on such subjects to our advertising columns._ our sixth volume, _strongly bound in cloth, with very copious index, is now ready, price s. d. arrangements are making for the publication of complete sets of_ "notes and queries," _price three guineas for the six volumes_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. { } * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now he had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett. watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also, every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c., used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photography.--a new work, giving plain and practical directions for obtaining both positive and negative pictures upon glass, by means of the collodion process, and a method for printing from the negative glasses, in various colours, on to paper. by t. h. hennah. price s., or by post s. d. published by delatouche & co., manufacturers of pure photographic chemicals, apparatus, prepared papers, and every article connected with photography on paper or glass. . oxford street. * * * * * ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' reports_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it is furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." a. r. invites those interested in the art to inspect the large photographs of vienna, produced by his lenses and apparatus. catalogues sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * lost.--two water-coloured drawings by mr. delamotte [engraved in nd volume of "journal of archæological institute"] of distemper paintings in stanton harcourt church. any person having them, is requested to return them to their owner, mr. dyke, jesus college, oxford. * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * photographic portraits and views by the collodion and waxed paper process. apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparation for the above processes, superior iodized collodion, known by the name of collodio-iodide or xylo-iodide of silver, d. per oz. pyro-gallic acid, s. per drachm. acetic acid, suited for collodion pictures, d. per oz. crystallizable and perfectly pure, on which the success of the calo-typist so much depends, s. per oz. canson frères' negative paper, s.; positive do., s. d.; la croix, s.; turner, s. whatman's negative and positive, s. per quire. iodized waxed paper, s. d. per quire. sensitive paper ready for the camera, and warranted to keep from fourteen to twenty days, with directions for use, × , s. per doz.; iodized, only s. per doz. george knight & sons (sole agents for voightlander & sons' celebrated lenses), foster lane, london. * * * * * photography, daguerreotype, etc. pure chemicals for the above processes supplied at the following prices, by john j. griffin & co., . baker street, portman square.--superior iodized collodion, in bottles at s. d.; pyrogallic acid, s. per drachm; pure crystallizable acetic acid, d. per oz.; iodide of potassium, s. d. per oz.; canson frères' negative paper, s.; positive ditto, s. per quire. bromine, s. d. per oz.; iodine, s. d. per oz.; charcoal, s. per bottle; rouge, s. per oz.; tripoli, finely prepared, d. per oz. an illustrated priced list of photographic apparatus and materials, post free, d. nearly ready, the third much enlarged edition of professor hunt's manual of photography. john j. griffin & co., . baker street, london; and richard griffin & co., glasgow. { } * * * * * just published, sixth edition, fcap. vo., s., of essays written in the intervals of business. also, by the same author, the conquerors of the new world and their bondsmen; being a narrative of the principal events which led to negro slavery in the west indies and america. vol. ii., post vo., s. just published. volume i., post vo., s. friends in council; a series of readings, and discourse thereon. a new edition. two vols., fcap. vo., s. companions of my solitude. fcap. vo., s. third edition. the claims of labour. an essay on the duties of the employers to the employed. fcap. vo. second edition, with additional essay. s. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * now ready, third edition, with considerable additions, fcp. vo., s. d. an outline of the necessary laws of thought. a treatise on pure and applied logic. by the rev. william thomson, fellow and tutor of queen's college, oxford. with an appendix on indian logic, by professor max muller. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * in volumes for the pocket, price five shillings each. on the st inst. will be published, in fcp. vo., vol. iv. of bowdler's family shakspeare. in which nothing is _added_ to the original text; but those words and expressions are _omitted_ which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family. a new edition, to be completed in six monthly volumes, price s. each. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * to literary gentlemen and publishers.--valuable literary property.--a magazine, one of the most popular, talented, and improvable of the present day, is to be sold by private bargain. the copyright, very numerous stereotype plates (which are of _permanent_ value), and stock of sheets, will require from l. to l., a portion of which may be taken on approved bill. applications by letter, and from principals only, to be addressed to x. y., care of mr. hodgson, auctioneer, . fleet street, corner of chancery lane, london. * * * * * ralph's sermon paper.--this approved paper is particularly deserving the notice of the clergy, as, from its particular form (each page measuring ¾ by inches), it will contain more matter than the size in ordinary use; and, from the width being narrower, is much more easy to read: adapted for expeditious writing with either the quill or metallic pen; price s. per ream. sample on application. envelope paper.--to identify the contents with the address and postmark, important in all business communications; it admits of three clear pages (each measuring ½ by inches), for correspondence, it saves time and is more economical. price s. d. per ream. f. w. ralph, manufacturing stationer, . throgmorton street, bank. * * * * * in the press, selections, grave and gay, from the writings, published and unpublished, of thomas de quincey, revised and enlarged by himself. vol. i.--autobiographic sketches. edinburgh: james hogg. london: r. groombridge & sons. * * * * * the edinburgh review, no. cxcvii., is just published. contents: i. bunsen's hippolytus and his age. ii. jervis's history of the island of corfu and the ionian islands. iii. saul of tarsus. iv. hungarian revolution. v. cathedral reform. vi. our indian army. vii. montalembert. viii. mrs. jameson's legends of the madonna, as represented in the fine arts. ix. the fall of the derby ministry. london: longman & co. edinburgh: a. & c. black. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, january , contains articles on agricultural societies arithmetic, rational, rev. botany, cryptogamic calendar, horticultural cattle, fat chironia, the college, cirencester draining, davis on england, climate of estates, improvement of, settled food, brewers' grains as fruit trees, oblique (with engraving) grapes, red hamburgh hyacinth, hints on irrigation ---- and liquid manure, by mr. mechi labourers, employment of larch, durability of lime, to apply, by mr. summers manure, liquid, by mr. mechi ---- lime as mildew, effect of salt on, by mr. watson montague, dr. narcissus, dormant, by mr. george pimelea, the plant, bed mooshk poultry, metropolitan show of ---- weights of rain at arundel roots, branch salt _v._ mildew, by mr. watson season, mildness of, by mr. george seed trade shamrock, the smithfield club, cattle at societies, agricultural ---- proceedings of the kirtling agricultural temperature, our winter tenant-right tithe commutation, by mr. willich trees, oblique fruit (with engraving) vines, effect of soil on, by mr. urquhart walls, ivy on ---- spring protection for weather, the ---- in sussex yuccas zygopetalon mackayii, by mr. woolley * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, - . volume four, - . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, - . volume two, - . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * now ready, price s., second edition, revised and corrected. dedicated by special permission to the (late) archbishop of canterbury. psalms and hymns for the service of the church. the words selected by the very rev. h. h. milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. the music arranged for four voices, but applicable also to two or one, including chants for the services, responses to the commandments, and a concise system of chanting, by j. b. sale, musical instructor and organist to her majesty. to., neat, in morocco cloth, price s. to be had of mr. j. b. sale, . holywell street, millbank, westminster, on the receipt of a post office order for the amount; and by order, of the principal booksellers and music warehouses. "a great advance on the works we have hitherto had, connected with our church and cathedral service."--_times._ "a collection of psalm tunes certainly unequalled in this country."--_literary gazette._ "one of the best collections of tunes which we have yet seen. well merits the distinguished patronage under which it appears."--_musical world._ "a collection of psalms and hymns, together with a system of chanting of a very superior character to any which has hitherto appeared."--_john bull._ london: george bell, . fleet street. also, lately published, j. b. sale's sanctus, commandments and chants as performed at the chapel royal st. james, price s. c. lonsdale, . old bond street. * * * * * vols. vo. price l. s. a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. the fifth edition enlarged, exemplified by woodcuts. "in the preparation of this the fifth edition of the glossary of architecture, no pains have been spared to render it worthy of the continued patronage which the work has received from its first publication. "the text has been considerably augmented, as well by the additions of many new articles, as by the enlargement of the old ones, and the number of illustrations has been increased from eleven hundred to seventeen hundred. "several additional foreign examples are given, for the purpose of comparison with english work, of the same periods. "in the present edition, considerably more attention has been given to the subject of mediæval carpentry, the number of illustrations of 'open timber roofs' has been much increased, and most of the carpenter's terms in use at the period have been introduced with authorities."--_preface to the fifth edition._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page autograph of edward of lancaster, son of henry vi., by sir frederic madden robert bloomfield, by george daniel note for london topographers, by lambert b. larking sermons by parliamentary chaplains, by r. c. warde a perspective view of twelve postage-stamps, by cuthbert bede, b.a. minor notes:--cremona violins--prices of tea-- coleridge a prophet--lord bacon's advice peculiarly applicable to the correspondents of "n. & q."--etymology of molasses--a sounding name queries:-- roman sepulchral inscriptions, by rev. e. s. taylor chapel plaster, by j. e. jackson minor queries:--martha blount--degree of b.c.l.-- the word "anywhen"--shoreditch cross, &c.--winchester and huntingdon--la bruyère--sir john davys or davies--fleshier of otley--letters u, v, w--heraldic queries--"drengage" and "berewich"--sidney as a female name--"the brazen head"--portrait of baron lechmere--"essay for a new translation of the bible," and "letters on prejudice"-- david garrick--aldiborontophoskophornio--quotations wanted--arago on the weather--"les veus du hairon," or "le voeu du héron"--inscription on a dagger-case--hallet and dr. saxby replies:-- descent of the queen from john of gaunt, by w. hardy uncertain etymologies: "leader" lines of tipperary shakspeare emendations, by thomas keightley statues represented on coins, by w. h. scott judge jeffreys, by dr. e. f. rimbault, &c. dutch allegorical pictures, by dr. j. h. todd the reprint, in , of the first folio edition of shakspeare photographic notes and queries:--le grey and the collodion process--ready mode of iodizing paper-- after-dilution of solutions--stereoscopic pictures from one camera--camera for out-door operations "'twas on the morn" alleged reduction of english subjects to slavery, by henry h. breen replies to minor queries:--royal assent, &c.--can bishops vacate their sees?--"genealogies of the mordaunt family," by the earl of peterborough--niágara, or niagára?--maudlin--spiritual persons employed in lay offices--passage in burke--ensake and cradock arms--sich house--americanisms so called--the folger family--wake family--shakspeare's "twelfth night"--electrical phenomena--daubuz family--lord nelson--robes and fees in the days of robin hood--wray--irish rhymes miscellaneous:-- notes of books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. autograph of edward of lancaster, son of henry vi. in the museum of antiquities of rouen is preserved an original document, thus designated, "lettre d'edouard, prince de galles ( )." it is kept under a glass case, and shown as "an undoubted autograph of the black prince," according to the testimony of the gentleman who has very obligingly placed a transcript of this interesting relic at my disposal. it is as follows: "chers et bons amis, nous avons entendu, que ung nostre homme lige subject, natif de nostre pays de galles, est occupé et détenu es prisons de la ville de diepe, pour la mort d'un homme d'icelle ville, dont pour le dict cas autres ont esté exécutez. et pour ce que nostre dict subject estoit clerc, a esté et est encores en suspens, parce qu'il a esté requis par les officiers de nostre très cher et aimé cousin l'archevesque de rouen, afin qu'il leur fut rendu, ainsi que de droict; pourquoy nous vous prions, que icelui nostre homme et subject vous veuillez bailler et delivrer aux gens et officiers de mon dict cousin, sans en ce faire difficulté. et nous vous en saurons un très grant gré, et nous ferez ung essingulier plaisir. car monseigneur le roy de france nous a autorisez faire grace en semblable cas que celui de mon dict subject, duquel desirons fort la delivrance. escript à rouen, le onziesme jour de janvier. (signed) eduard. (countersigned) martin." the error of assigning this signature to edward the black prince is sufficiently obvious, and somewhat surprising, since we here have an undoubted, and, i believe, _unique_ autograph of edward of lancaster, prince of wales, only son of henry vi. by margaret of anjou. he was born at westminster, october th, , and was therefore, in january, (no doubt the true date of the document), in the eighteenth year of his age. he had sought refuge from the yorkists, in france, with his mother, ever since the year , and in the preceding july or august, , had been affianced to anne neville, the youngest daughter of the earl of warwick. at the period when this { } letter was written at rouen, margaret of anjou was meditating the descent into england which proved so fatal to herself and son, whose life was taken away with such barbarity on the field at tewksbury, in the month of may following. the letter is addressed, apparently, to the magistrates of rouen or dieppe, to request the liberation of a native of wales (imprisoned for the crime of having slain a man), and his delivery to the officers of the archbishop of rouen, on the plea of his being a clerk. the prince adds, that he was authorised by the king of france (louis xi.) to grant grace in similar cases. as the signature of this unfortunate prince is at present quite unknown in the series of english royal autographs, it would be very desirable that an accurate fac-simile should be made of it by some competent artist; and perhaps the art of photography might in this instance be most advantageously and successfully used to obtain a perfect copy of the entire document. f. madden. * * * * * robert bloomfield. presuming that some of the many readers of "n. & q." may feel an interest in the author of _the farmer's boy_, whom i knew intimately (a sickly-looking, retiring, and meditative man), and have often seen trimming his bright little flower-garden fronting his neat cottage in the city road--a pastry-cook's shop, an apple and oyster stall, and part of the eagle tavern ("to what base uses," &c.) now occupy its, to me, hallowed site,--i send you a few extracts from his sale catalogue, an interesting and a rare document, as a mournful record of a genius as original and picturesque, as it was beautiful and holy. his books, prints, drawings ( lots), and furniture ( lots) were sold in the humble house in which he died, at shefford, beds, on the th and th may, . the far greater number of his books had been presented to him by his friends, viz. the duke of grafton (a very liberal contributor), dr. drake, james montgomery, samuel rogers, mrs. barbauld, richard cumberland, sir james bland burges, capel lofft, &c. his autograph manuscript of _the farmer's boy_, elegantly bound, was sold for l.; of _rural tales_, boards, for l.; of _wild flowers_, for l. s.; of _banks of the wye_, for l.; of _may-day with the muses_ (imperfect), for ten shillings; and _description of the Æolian harp_ (he was a maker of Æolian harps), for s. his few well-executed drawings by _himself_ (views of his city road cottage and garden, &c.) produced from s. to s. each. among his furniture were "a handsome inkstand, presented to him by the celebrated dr. jenner" (in return for his sweet poem of "good tidings"), and the "celebrated oak table, which mr. bloomfield may be said to have rendered immortal by the beautiful and pathetic poem inscribed to it in his _wild flowers_. the first was sold for l. s., the second for l. i am happy in the possession of the _original miniature_ (an admirable likeness, and finely painted) of robert bloomfield, by edridge. it is the first and most authentic portrait of him that was engraved, and prefixed to his poems: "and long as nature in her simplest guise, and virtuous sensibility we prize, of well-earn'd fame no poet shall enjoy a fairer tribute than _the farmer's boy_." george daniel. * * * * * note for london topographers. i send you a note for london topographers. the charter is dateless, but, inasmuch as walter de langeton was appointed to the bishopric of coventry and lichfield in , and sir john le bretun was "custos" of london to edw. i., _i.e._ to , we may fairly assign it to the years or :-- "omnibus christi fidelibus ad quos presentes litere pervenerint, johannes de notlee salutem in domino. noveritis me remisisse, et omnino quietum clamasse pro me et heredibus meis, domino waltero de langeton, coventrensi et lichfeldensi episcopo, heredibus, vel assignatis suis, totum jus et clameum quod habui, vel aliquo modo habere potui, in quadam placea terre cum pertinenciis in vico westmonasterio sine ullo retenemento, illam videlicet que jacet inter exitum curie et porte domini walteri episcopi supradicti, ex una parte, et tenementum henrici coci ex altera, et inter altum stratam que ducit de charryngg versus curiam westmonasterii, ex parte una et tenementum domini walteri episcopi supradicti, ex altera; ita quod ego predictus johannes, aut heredes mei, sive aliquis nomine nostro nuncquam durante seculo in predicta placea terre cum omnibus suis pertinenciis, aliquod jus vel clameum habere, exigere, vel vendicare poterimus quoquo modo in perpetuum. in cujus rei testimonium, sigillum meum apposui huic scripto. his testibus, dominis johanne le bretun tunc custode civitatis londonii; roberto de basingg, militibus; johanne de bankwelle; radulpho le vynneter; adam de kynggesheued; henrico coco; reginaldo le porter; henrico du paleys; hugone le mareschal, et aliis." lambert b. larking. * * * * * sermons by parliamentary chaplains. perhaps there is nothing in ecclesiastical writings more ludicrously and rabidly solemn than the sermons preached before "the honourable house of commons" during the protectorate, by that warlike race of saints who figure so extensively in the { } history of those times. i possess some thirty of these, and extract from their pages the following morsels, which may be taken as a fair sample of the general strain: from "'gemitus columbæ,' the mournful note of the dove; a sermon preached," &c.: by john langley, min. of west tuperley in the countie of southampton. . "the oxen were plowing, the asses were feeding beside them ('twas in the relation of one of job's messengers). by the oxen wee are to vnderstand the laborious clergie; by the asses, that were feeding beside them, wee may vnderstande the laity" (!).--p. . "the worde set on by the spirit, as scanderbags' sworde, by the arme of scanderbags, will make a deepe impression."--p. . query, what is the allusion here? "we came to the height, shall i saye, of our fever (or frenzie, rather), when _wee began to catch dotterills_, when wee fell to cringing and complimenting in worship, stretching out a wing to their wing, a legge to their legge."--p. . "time was when the _dove-cote was searched, the pistolls were cockt; the bloudie-birdes were skirring about_: then the lord withdrew the birds."--p. . "when your ginnes and snares _catch any of the bloudie-birdes, dally not with them, blood will have blood_; contracte not their bloude-guiltinesse vpon your owne soules, by an vnwarranted clemencie and mildnesse."--p. . "(_note._--the 'bloudie-birdes,' _i. e._ the cavaliers.)" from "a peace offering to god: a sermon preached," &c., by stephen marshall, b.d. . "not like tavernes, and alehouses, howses of lewd and debauched persons, where _zim and jim_ dwels, dolefull creatures, fitt only to be agents to satan."--p. . i conclude with a rather interesting scrap, which i do not remember to have met with elsewhere, from "the ruine of the authors and fomentors of ciuill warre; a sermon," &c., by samuel gibson. . "there was a good motto written ouer the gates at yorke, at king james the firste his firste entraunce into that city: 'suavis victoriæ amor populi.' _i. e._ the sweete victorie is the love of the people."--p. . r. c. warde. kidderminster. * * * * * a perspective view of twelve postage-stamps. in the advertising sheet of "n. & q." for december , , its unartistic readers have the tempting offer placed before them of being taught "the art of drawing and copying portraits, views, steel or wood engravings, with perfect accuracy, ease, and quickness, _in one lesson_! and when the gentle reader of "n. & q." has recovered from the shock of this startling announcement, he is further instructed that, "by sending a stamped directed envelope and twelve postage-stamps, the necessary articles will be forwarded with the instructions." who would not, thinks the gentle reader, be a raphael, a rubens, or a claude, when the metamorphosis may be effected for twelve postage-stamps? and then, delighted with the thought that no expensive residence in italy, or laborious application through long years of study, will be required, but that the royal road to art may be traversed by paying the small toll of twelve postage-stamps, he forthwith gives them to "mr. a. b. cleveland, . victoria street, brighton," and in due course of time mr. a. b. c. forwards him "the necessary articles with the instructions," the former of which the gentle reader certainly finds to be "no expensive apparatus," but as simple as a, b, c. the articles consist of a small piece of black paper, and a small piece of common tissue paper, oiled in a manner very offensive to a susceptible nose. the instructions are printed, and are prefaced by a paragraph which truly declares them to be "most simple:" "the outlines must be sketched by the following means, and may _be filled up according to pleasure_. in the first place, _lay what you intend to copy straight before you_; then _lay over it_ the transparent paper, and you will see the outlines most distinctly; pencil them over lightly, taking care to keep the paper in the same position until you have finished the outlines; after which, place the paper or card you intend the copy to appear on under the black tracing-paper, with the black side on it, and on which place the outlines you have previously taken, remembering to keep them all straight, and then, by passing a piece of wire (or anything brought to a point not sufficient to scratch) correctly over the said outlines, you will have an exact impression of the original upon the card intended, _which must then be filled up_. i would recommend a portrait _for the first attempt_, which can be done in a few minutes, and you will soon see your success. _of course you can ink or paint the copy according to pleasure._" "why, of course i can," probably exclaims the now un-gentle reader; "of course i can, when i have the ability to do it,--a consummation which i devoutly wish for, and which i am quite as far from as when i was weak-minded enough to send my twelve postage-stamps to mr. a. b. c.; and yet that individual encloses me a card along with his nasty oiled paper and 'instructions,' which card he has the assurance to head 'scientific!' and says, 'the exquisite and beautiful art of drawing landscapes, &c. from nature, in true perspective, with perfect accuracy, ease, and quickness, taught to the most inexperienced person in one _lesson_.' { } "i should like to know how i am to lay the landscape straight before me, and put my oiled paper on the top of it, and trace its outlines in true perspective? i should like also to know, since mr. a. b. c. recommends a portrait for the first attempt, how i am to lay the transparent paper over my wife's face, without her nose making a hole in the middle of it? it is all very well for mr. a. b. c. to say that he 'continues to receive very satisfactory testimonials respecting the result of his instructions, which are remarkable for simplicity (i allow that), and invaluable for correctness' (i deny that). but, although he prints 'result' in capital letters, all the testimonial that i can give him will be to testify to the (on his part) satisfactory result attending his 'art of drawing' twelve postage-stamps out of my pocket." thus, can i imagine, would the gentle reader soliloquise, on finding he had received two worthless bits of paper in return for his investment of postage-stamps. my thoughts were somewhat the same; for i, alas! sent "twelve postage-stamps," which are now lost to view in the dim perspective, and i shall only be too happy to sell mr. a. b. c. his instructions, &c. at half-price. in the mean time, however, i forward them for mr. editor's inspection. cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * minor notes. _cremona violins._--as many of your readers are no doubt curious about the prices given, in former times, for musical instruments, i transcribe an order of the time of charles ii. for the purchase of two cremona violins. "[_audit office enrolments_, vi. .] "these are to pray and require you to pay, or cause to be paid, to john bannester, one of his ma^{ties} musicians in ordinary, the some of fourty pounds for two cremona violins by him bought and delivered for his ma^{ts} service, as may appeare by the bill annexed, and also tenn pounds for stringes for two yeares ending june , . and this shall be your warrant. given under my hand, this th day of october, , in the fourteenth year of his majesty's reign. "e. manchester. "to s^r edward griffin, kn^t, treasurer of his ma^{ties} chamber." peter cunningham. _prices of tea._--from read's _weekly journal or british gazetteer_, saturday, april , : "green tea s. to s. per lb. congou s. to s. " bohea s. to s. " pekoe s. to s. " imperial s. to s. " hyson s. to s. " e. _coleridge a prophet._--among the political writers of the nineteenth century, who has shown such prophetic insight into the sad destinies of france as coleridge? it is the fashion with literary sciolists to ignore the genius of this great man. let the following extracts stand as evidences of his profound penetration. _friend_, vol. i. p. . ( ): "that man has reflected little on human nature who does not perceive that the detestable maxims and correspondent crimes of the existing french despotism, have already dimmed the recollections of democratic phrenzy in the minds of men; by little and little have drawn off to other objects the electric force of the feelings which had massed and upholden those recollections; and that a favourable concurrence of occasions is alone wanting to awaken the thunder and precipitate the lightning from the opposite quarter of the political heaven." let the events of and speak for themselves as to the fulfilment of this forecast. _biographia literaria_, vol. i. p. . ( ), [after a most masterly analysis of practical genius]: "these, in tranquil times, are formed to exhibit a perfect poem in palace, or temple, or landscape-garden, &c.... but alas! in times of tumult they are the men destined to come forth as the shaping spirit of ruin, to destroy the wisdom of ages in order to substitute the fancies of a day, and to change kings and kingdoms, as the wind shifts and shapes the clouds." let the present and the future witness the truth of this insight. we have (in coleridge's words) "lights of admonition and warning;" and we may live to repent of our indifference, if they are thrown away upon us. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _lord bacon's advice peculiarly applicable to the correspondents of "n. & q."_--lord bacon has written that-- "a man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket, and write down the thoughts of the moment. those that come unsought for are generally the most valuable, and should be secured, because they seldom return." w. w. malta. _etymology of molasses._--the affinity between the orthography of this word in italian (melássa), spanish (melaza), and french (mélasse), and our pronunciation of it (m_e_lasses), would seem to suggest a common origin. how comes it, then, that we write it with an _o_ instead of an _e_? walker says it is derived frown the italian "mellazzo" (_sic_); and some french lexicographers trace their "mélasse" from [greek: melas], with reference to the colour; others from [greek: meli], in allusion to the taste. but these greek derivations are too recondite for our early sugar manufacturers; and the likelihood { } is, that they found the word nearer home, in some circumstance which had less to do with literary refinement than with the refining of sugar. there is an expression in french which is identical in spelling with this word, namely, "molasse" (softish--so to speak); and which describes the liquidity of molasses, as distinguished from the granulous substance of which they are the residue. as our first sugar establishment was formed in , in an island (st. christopher) one half of which was then occupied by the french, it is possible that we may have adopted the word from them; and this conjecture is supported by the following passage in père labat (vol. iii. p. .), where he uses the word "molasse" in the sense of _soft_, to describe a species of sugar that had not received, or had lost, the proper degree of consistency. "je vis leur sucre qui me parut très beau et bien gréné, surtout lorsqu'il est nouvellement fait; mais on m'assura qu'il devenait cendreux ou _molasse_, et qu'il se décuisait quand il était gardé quelques jours." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _a sounding name._--at the church of elmley castle, worcestershire, is a record of one john chapman, whose name, it is alleged, "sounds in (or throughout) the world," but for my own part i have never been privileged to hear either the original blast or the echo. perhaps some of the readers of "n. & q." can inform me who and what was the owner of this high-sounding name. was he related to geo. chapman, the translator of homer? the inscription is as follows: "memoriæ defunctorum sacrum [greek: kai tuphônia] siste gradum, viator, ac leges. in spe beatæ resurrectionis hic requiescunt exuviæ johannis chapmanni et isabellæ uxoris, filiæ gulielmi allen de wightford, in comitat. war. ab antiquo proavorum stemmate deduxerunt genus. variis miseriarum agitati procellis ab strenue succumbentis in arrescenti juventutis æstate, piè ac peccatorum poenitentia expirabant animas. maij die anno domini . sistite pierides chapmannum plangere, cujus spiritus in coelis, _nomen in orbe sonat_." j. noake. worcester. * * * * * queries. roman sepulchral inscriptions. in the year i brought from the columbaria, near the tomb of scipio africanus at rome, a small collection of sepulchral fictile vessels, statuettes, &c., in terra cotta. among these was a small figure, resembling the athenian hermæ, consisting of a square pillar, surmounted by the bust of a female with a peculiar head-dress and close curled coiffure. the pillar bears the following inscription: "[greek: yst] [greek: ran] [greek: s] [greek: ani] [greek: kÊt] [greek: o.]" --a translation of which would oblige me much. another, in the form of a small votive altar, bears the heads of the "dii majores" and their attributes, the thunderbolt, two-pronged spear, and trident, and the inscription-- "diis propi m herennii vivntis" (_i.e._ vivantis). of the meaning of this i am by no means certain; and i have searched montfaucon in vain, to discover anything similar. a third was a figure of the egyptian osiris, exactly resembling in every point (save the material) the little mummy-shaped figures in bluish-green porcelain, which are found in such numbers in the catacombs of ghizeh and abousir. as the columbaria were probably the places of sepulture of the freedmen, these various traces of national worship would seem to indicate that they were still allowed to retain the deities peculiar to the countries from which they came, through their master might be of a different faith. e. s. taylor. ormesby, st. marg., norfolk. * * * * * chapel plaster. in north wilts, between corsham and bradford, and close to the meeting of five or six roads, there is a well-known public-house, contiguous to which is an ancient wayside chapel bearing this peculiar name. some account of the place, with two views of the chapel, is given in the _gentleman's magazine_, february, , page . the meaning of the word _plaster_ has always been a puzzle to local antiquaries, and no satisfactory derivation of it has yet been given. the first and natural notion is, that some allusion is made to the material with which it may have been coated. but this is improbable, the building being of good freestone, not requiring any such external addition. some have interpreted it to be the chapel of the _plas-trew_, or "woody place." but this again is very unlikely; as the place is not only as far as possible from being woody now, but can hardly ever have been otherwise than what it is. the rock comes close to the surface, and the general situation is on a bleak exposed hill, as unfavourable as can be for the growth of trees. leland, indeed, as he rode by, took it for a hermitage, and does also say that the country beyond it "begins to be woody." but { } a point of meeting of five or six much frequented roads, a few miles only from bath and other towns, would be an unsuitable spot for a hermit; besides which, the country _beyond_ a spot, is not the spot itself. others have thought it may have been built by a person of the name of _plaister_; one which, though uncommon, is still not entirely extinct in the county. of this, however, there is no evidence. a derivation has occurred to me from noticing a slight variety in the spelling and statement of the name, as it is given by one of the ancient historians of glastonbury. he calls it "the chapell of _playsters_," and says that, like one or two houses of a similar kind, it was built for the relief and entertainment of _pilgrims_ resorting to the great shrine at that monastery. this indeed is the most reasonable and probable account of it, as it lies on the direct road between malmesbury and glastonbury, and the prevailing tradition has always been that such was the purpose for which it was used. it is fair to presume that the name has some connexion with the use. now, it is well known that pilgrimages were not in all respects very painful or self-denying exercises, but that, with the devotional feeling in which they took their origin, was combined, in course of time, a considerable admixture of joviality and recreation. they were often, in short, looked upon as parties for merry-making, by people of every class of life, who would leave their business and duties, on pretence of these pious expeditions, but really for a holiday, and, as chaucer himself describes it, "to _play_ a pilgrimage." ("the shipmanne's tale.") many also were pilgrims by regular profession, as at this day in italy, for the pleasure of an idle gad-about life at other people's expense. may not such "play-ers" of pilgrimages have been called, in the vernacular of the times, _play-sters_? the termination _-ster_, said to be derived from a saxon noun, seems in our language to signify a _habit_ or _constant employment_. a _malt-ster_ is one whose sole business it is to make malt; a _tap-ster_, one whose duties are confined to the tap; a _road-ster_ is a horse exclusively used as a hack; a _game-ster_, the devotee of the gaming-table. from these analogies it seems not unreasonable to suppose that the persons who made a constant habit of attending these pleasant jaunts to glastonbury, may have been called by the now-forgotten name of _play-sters_. if so, "the chapell of _play-sters_" becomes nothing more than "the chapel of _pilgrims_," according to the best tradition that we have of it. perhaps some of your readers may have met with the word in this sense? j. e. jackson. leigh delamere. * * * * * minor queries. _martha blount._--is there any engraved portrait of this lady? and can any of your numerous correspondents give me reasonable hope of finding portraits of mrs. rackett and other connexions of pope? i would suggest, that when we are favoured with a new edition of the little great man's works, each volume should contain a portrait, if procurable, of those who catch a reflected ray of greatness from association with the poet. a. f. westmacott. feltham house, middlesex. _degree of b.c.l._--in vol. vi., p. ., an oxford b.c.l. asked the privileges to which a gentleman having taken this degree was entitled. perhaps your correspondent will inform me what is the least time of _actual_ residence required at the university, and the kind of examination a candidate for the honour has to be subjected to, before he becomes a b.c.l.? also the way for a stranger to go about it, who wants to spend as little money and time in the matter as is possible? j. f. halifax. _the word "anywhen."_--why should not this adverb, which exists as a provincialism in some parts of england, be legitimatised, and made as generally useful as _anywhere_, or _anyhow_, or _anyone_? if there be no classical precedent for it, will not some of the many authors who contribute to your pages take pity upon _anywhen_, and venture to introduce him to good society, where i am sure he would be appreciated? w. fraser. _shoreditch cross, &c._--can any of your readers inform me where a model or picture of the cross which formerly stood near the church of st. leonard, shoreditch, can be seen? also, where a copy of any description can be seen of the painted window in the said church? sir henry ellis, in his _history of the parish_, gives us no illustration of the above. j. w. b. _winchester and huntingdon._--i would with your permission ask, whether winchester and huntingdon have at any time been more populous than they are at present, and what may have been the largest number of inhabitants they are supposed to have contained? g. h. _la bruyère._--what is known concerning the family of jean de la bruyère, author of _les caractères_? did he belong to the great french house of that name? one of the biographical dictionaries states that he was grandson of a lieutenant civil, engaged in the fronde; but m. suard, in his "notice" prefixed to _les caractères_, says that nothing is known of the author except his birth, death, and office. his grand-daughter, { } magdalen rachel de la bruyère, married an officer of the name of shrom, and died in , at morden in surrey, where there is a handsome monument to her memory. being one of her descendants in the female line, i should feel much obliged by any information respecting her father, the son of jean de la bruyère; or tending to connect that writer with the family founded by thibault de la bruyère, the crusader. ursula. _sir john davys or davies._--i am very anxious to get any information that can be procured about sir john davys or davies, knight marshal of connaught, temp. elizabeth. what were his arms? any portions of his pedigree would be _most_ desirable; also any notices of the various grants of land given by him, particularly to members of his own family. i would also give any reasonable price for john davies' _display of heraldry of six counties of north wales_, published : or, if any of the readers of "n. & q." have the book, and would favour me with a loan of it, i would return it carefully as soon as i had made some extracts from it. seivad. _fleshier of otley._--what are the arms of fleshier of otley, yorkshire? they existed, not many years ago, in a window of a house built by one of the above-named family, in otley. b. m. a. bingley, yorkshire. _letters u, v, w._--could any correspondent of the "n. & q." give us any clear idea of the manner in which we ought to judge of those letters as they are printed from old mss. or in old books. is there any rule known by which their pronunciation can be determined? for instance, how was the name of wales supposed to have been pronounced four hundred years ago, or the name walter? how could two such different sounds as _u_ and _v_ now represent, come by the old printers both to be denoted by _v_? and is it supposed that our present mode of pronouncing some words is taken from their spelling in books? we see this done in foreign names every day by persons who have no means of ascertaining the correct pronunciation. can it have been done extensively in the ordinary words of the language? or can it be possible, that the confusion between the printed _v_ and _w_ and _u_ has produced the confusion in pronouncing such words now beginning with _w_, which some classes of her majesty's subjects are said to pronounce as if they commenced with _v_? i ask for information: and to know if the question has anywhere been discussed, in which case perhaps some one can refer me to it. a. f. h. _heraldic query._--i should be greatly indebted to any of your correspondents who will assist me in tracing the family to which the following arms belong. last century they were borne by a gentleman of the name of oakes: but i find no grant in the college, nor, in fact, can i discover any british arms like them. argent, a pale per pale or, and gules: between two limbs of an oak fructed proper. on a chief barry of six of the second and third; a rose between two leopards faces all of the last. c. mansfield ingleby. _"drengage" and "berewich."_--in _domesday_ certain tenants are described as drenches or drengs, holding by drengage; and some distinction is made between the drengs and another class of tenants, who are named _berewites_; as, for instance, in newstone,-- "huj' [manerium abbrev.] ali[=a] t'r[=a] xv ho[=e]s quos _drenchs_ vocabant pro xv [manerium abbrev.] tenet sed huj' [manerium abbrev.] _berewich_ erant." i shall be glad if any information as to these tenures, and also as to the derivation of the words "drengage" and "berewich," or berewite, both of which may be traced, i believe, to a danish origin. james crosby. streatham. _sidney as a female name._--in several families of our city the christian name of sidney is borne by _females_, and it is derived, directly or indirectly, from a traceable source. the object of the present inquiry is to ascertain whether the same name, and thus spelled, is similarly applied in any families of great britain? if at all, it should be found in the north of ireland. but your correspondent would be pleased to learn, from any quarter, of such use of the name, together with the tradition of the reason for its adoption. r. d. b. baltimore. "_the brazen head._"--will any reader of "n. & q." be good enough to inform the undersigned where he can obtain, by purchase or by loan, the perusal of any part or parts of the above-mentioned work? it was published as a serial in or . a. f. a. w. swillington. _portrait of baron lechmere._--can any of your correspondents inform me if there is any engraved portrait in existence of the celebrated whig, lord lechmere, baron of evesham, who died at camden house, london, in the year , and lies buried in the church of hanley castle, near upton-on-severn, co. worcester? while on the subject of portraits, some of your correspondents may be glad to learn that an excellent catalogue of engraved portraits is now passing through the press, by messrs. evans and sons, great queen street, lincoln's inn fields, of which forty-six numbers are issued. j. b. whitborne. { } _"essay for a new translation of the bible," and "letters on prejudice."_--a friend of mine has requested me to inquire through "n. & q." who are the authors of the undermentioned books, in his possession? _an essay for a new translation of the bible_, one volume vo.: "printed for r. gosling, ." dedicated to the bishops: the dedication signed "h. r."--_letters on prejudice_, two volumes vo.: "in which the nature, causes, and consequences of prejudice in religion are considered, with an application to the present times:" printed for cadell in the strand; and blackwood, edinburgh, . w. w. t. _david garrick._--in the sale catalogue of isaac reed's books is a lot described as "letter of david garrick against mr. stevens, with observations by mr. reed, ms. and printed." can any of your correspondents inform me in whose possession is this letter with reed's observations; whether garrick's letter was published; and, if so, what public library contains a copy? g. d. _aldiborontophoskophornio._--will you or some of your readers inform me in what play, poem, or tale this hero, with so formidable a name, is to be found? f. r. s. _quotations wanted._--will you or some of your correspondents tell _where_ this sentence occurs: "it requireth great cunning for a man to seem to know that which he knoweth not?" miss edgeworth gives it as from lord bacon. _i_ cannot find it. also, _where_ this very superior line: "life is like a game of tables, the chances are not in our power, but the playing is?" _this_ i have seen quoted as from jeremy taylor, but _where_? i have looked his works carefully through: it is so clever that it _must_ be from a superior mind. and _where_, in campbell, is "a world without a sun?" this, i _believe_, is in _gertrude of wyoming_. excuse this trouble, mr. editor; but you are now become the general referee in puzzles of _this_ kind. a. b. _arago on the weather._--i saw some of arago's meteorological observations in an english magazine some time ago, taken, i believe, from the _annuaire_. can any one give me a reference to them? elsno. _"les veus du hairon," or "le voeu du héron."_--is any more known of this curious historical romance than sainte palaye tells us in the third volume of his _mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie_? he gives the original text (i suspect not very correctly) from, he says, a ms. in the public library at berne. it is a poem in old french verse (something like chaucer's english), of about lines, descriptive of a series of _vows_, by which robert comte d'artois, then an exile in england, engaged edward iii., his queen and court, to the invasion of france: "dont maint bon chevalier fu jété fort souvin; mainte dame fu vesve, et maint povre orfelin; et maint bon maronier accourchit son termin; et mainte preude femme mise à divers destin; et encore sera, si jhesus n'i met fin." the first lines of the poem give the place and date of the transaction, "london, september, ," in king edward's "palais marbrin." the versification is as strange as the matter. the author has taken great pains to collect as many words rhyming together as possible. the first twenty-six lines rhyme to "in;" the hundred next to "is;" then fifty to "ent," and so on: but the lines have all their rhythm, and some are smooth and harmonious. has any other ms. been discovered? has it been elsewhere printed? has it been translated into english, or has any english author noticed it? if these questions are answered in the negative, i would suggest that the camden, or some such society, would do well to reprint it, with a translation, and sainte palaye's commentary, and whatever additional information can be gathered about it; for although it evidently is a _romance_, it contains many particulars of the court of england, and of the manners of the time, which are extremely curious, and which must have a good deal of truth mixed up with the chivalrous fable. c. _inscriptions on a dagger-case._--i have in my possession a small dagger-case, very beautifully carved in box-wood, bearing the following inscriptions on two narrow sides, and carved representations of scripture subjects on the other two broad sides. _inscriptions._ "die een peninck wint ende behovt die macht verteren als hi wort owt had." "ick dat bedocht in min ionge dagen so dorst ick het in min ovtheit niet beglagen." on the other sides the carvings, nine in number, four on one side, one above another, represent the making of eve, entitled "scheppin;" the temptation, entitled "paradis;" the expulsion, "engelde;" david with the head of goliath, "davide." at the foot of this side the date " ," and a head with pointed beard, &c. beneath. on the other side are five subjects: the uppermost, entitled "hesterine," represents queen esther kneeling before ahasuerus. . "vannatan," a kneeling figure, another stretching his arm over him, attendants following with offerings. . "solomone," the judgment of solomon. . "susannen." . "samson," the jaw-bone in his hand; beneath "slang;" and at the foot of all, a dragon. the case is handsomely mounted in silver. { } may i ask you or some of your readers to give me an interpretation of the inscriptions? g. t. h. _hallett and dr. saxby._--in the _literary journal_, july, , p. ., in an article on "the abuses of the press," it is stated: "hallett, to vex dr. saxby, published some disgraceful verses, entitled '_an ode to virtue_, by doctor morris saxby;' but the doctor on the day after the publication obliged the bookseller to give up the author, on whom he inflicted severe personal chastisement, and by threats of action and indictment obliged both author and bookseller to make affidavit before the lord mayor that they had destroyed every copy in their possession, and would endeavour to recover and destroy the eight that were sold." can any of your readers throw a further light upon this summary proceeding, as to the time, the book, or the parties? s. r. rugby. * * * * * replies. descent of the queen from john of gaunt. (vol. vi., p. .) i have in my possession a pedigree, compiled from original sources, which will, i believe, fully support your correspondent's opinion that the year usually assigned for the death of joan beaufort's first husband ( ) is inaccurate. two entries on the patent rolls respectively of the st and d richard ii., as cited in the pedigree, prove that event to have taken place before lord neville of raby's creation as earl of westmoreland; and i am inclined to think that his creation was rather a consequence of his exalted alliance than, as the later and falsely assigned date would lead one to infer, that his creation preceded his marriage by twelve or thirteen years. robert ferrers son and heir of robert, first lord ferrers of wemme (second son of robert, third baron ferrers of chartley), and of elizabeth, daughter and heiress of william boteler of wemme, was born circa , being eight years old at his father's death in (_esc._, ric. ii., no. .). he married joan beaufort, only daughter of john duke of lancaster by catharine swynford, who became the duke's third wife, th january, ; their issue before marriage having been made legitimate by a patent read in parliament, and dated th february, (_pat._, ric. ii. p. . m. .). it might almost be inferred from the description given to joan, lady ferrers, in the patent of legitimation, "dilectæ _nobis nobili mulieri johannæ beauford, domicellæ_," that her first husband was not then living. we find, however, that she had certainly become the wife of the lord neville before the th of february following, and that lord ferrers was then dead (_johanne qui fuist femme de monsieur robert ferrers que dieu assoile_): _pat._, ric. ii. p. . m. .; _pat_., ric. ii. p. . m. . the lord ferrers left by her only two daughters, his coheirs, viz. elizabeth, wife of john, sixth baron greystock, and mary, wife of ralph neville, a younger son of ralph, lord neville of raby, by his first wife margaret stafford. the mistake in ascribing lord ferrers' death to the year , has probably arisen from that being the year in which his mother died, thus recorded in the pedigrees: "robert ferrers, s. & h. ob^t _vita matris_," who (_i.e._ the mother) died (_esc._, hen. iv., no. .). his widow remarried ralph, lord neville of raby, fourth baron, who was created earl of westmoreland, th september, [ ], { } and died . the countess of westmoreland died th november, . as regards the queen's descent from john, duke of lancaster, in the strictly legitimate line, i may wish to say a word at another time. allow me now, with reference to the same pedigree, to append a query to this reply: can any of your learned genealogical readers direct me to the authority which may have induced miss a. strickland, in her amusing _memoirs of the lives of the english queens_, to give so strenuous a denial of henry viii.'s queen, jane seymour's claim to a royal lineage? miss strickland writes: "through margaret wentworth, the mother of jane seymour, a descent from the blood-royal of england was claimed, from an intermarriage with a wentworth and a daughter of hotspur and lady elizabeth mortimer, grand-daughter to lionel, duke of clarence. this lady percy is stated by all ancient heralds to have died childless. few persons, however, dared dispute a pedigree with henry viii.," &c.--_lives of the queens of england_, by agnes strickland, vol. iv. p. . this is a question, i conceive, of sufficient historical importance to receive a fuller investigation, and fairly to be determined, if possible. the pedigree shows the following descent:--lionel plantagenet, duke of clarence, third son of king edward iii. and philippa of hainault, left by elizabeth de burgh (daughter of william de burgh, earl of ulster, and maud plantagenet, second daughter of henry, third earl of lancaster) an only child, philippa, married to edmund mortimer, third earl of march (_esc._, ric. ii., no. .). the eldest daughter of philippa plantagenet by the earl of march was elizabeth mortimer, who married the renowned hotspur, henry lord percy, son and heir apparent of henry lord percy, created earl of northumberland, th july, , k. g. hotspur was slain at the battle of shrewsbury, th september, , _v.p._ his widow experienced the revengeful persecution of king henry (rymer, viii. ., oct. , ), and died, leaving by her said husband one son, henry, who became second earl of northumberland, and an only daughter, elizabeth de percy, who married firstly, john, seventh lord clifford of westmoreland, who died th march, (_esc._, henry v., no. .), and secondly, ralph neville, second earl of westmoreland (_esc._, hen. vi., no. .), by whom she left an only child, sir john neville, knight, who died during his father's lifetime, th march, , _s.p._ (will proved th march, .) lady elizabeth de percy, who died in october, , left by her first husband, the lord clifford, three children: thomas, eighth lord clifford; henry, her second son; and an only daughter, mary, who became the wife of sir philip wentworth, knight. the lady mary clifford, who must have been born before (her father having died in that year), was probably only a few years older than her husband sir philip, the issue of a marriage which took place in june, henry vi., (_cott. mss. cleop._, f. iv. f. .); she was buried in the church of the friars minor at ipswich, where her mother-in-law directed a marble to be laid over her body. sir philip's father, roger wentworth, esq. (second son of john wentworth of north elmsal, a scion of the house of wentworth of the north), had married in margery lady de roos, widow of john lord de roos, sole daughter and heiress of elizabeth de tibetot, or tiptoft (third daughter and co-heir of robert, lord de tibetot), and of sir philip le despenser chivaler (_esc._, edw. iv., no. .). by this marriage came, first, sir philip wentworth, knight, born circa , and married when about { } twenty-three years of age, in ; he was slain in , and attainted of high treason in the parliament held edw. iv.; second, henry wentworth of codham, in the county of essex; third, thomas wentworth chaplain; and fourth, agnes, wife of sir robert constable of flamborough (_harl. mss._, . - , and will of margery, lady de roos, proved in the prerogative court of canterbury, th may, ). sir philip, about the year , as before stated, married the lady mary clifford (_harl. mss._, . and .), sister of thomas lord clifford, who was slain at the battle of st. alban's in , and aunt of the lord clifford who stabbed the youthful edmund plantagenet at the battle of wakefield, and was himself slain and attainted in parliament, st edward iv. . the issue of this marriage was sir henry wentworth of nettlestead, in the county of suffolk, knight, his son and heir (will of margery, lady de roos, proved as above), born circa , being thirty years of age at his grandmother's death in (_esc._, edward iv., no. .), and died in . his will was proved in the prerogative court of canterbury, th february, . sir henry, son of sir philip, was restored in blood by an act of parliament passed in the th of edward iv. (_parliament rolls_, v. .), and having married anne, daughter of sir john say, knight (_rot. pat._, ric. ii., p. ., no. ., th february, ), left by her several children, viz. sir richard wentworth, knight, son and heir, edward wentworth, and four daughters, the second of whom, margery, was married to sir john seymour of wolf hall, in the county of wilts, knight (_harl. mss._, - . ., &c.), of which marriage, among other children, were born sir edward seymour, created duke of somerset, and jane, third wife of king henry viii., mother of edward vi. wm. hardy. [footnote : there is amongst the records of the duchy of lancaster an interesting grant from john, duke of lancaster, to his daughter joan beaufort, very soon after her marriage with lord neville of raby. this document, of which the following is a translation, proves that robert ferrers died before th february, . "john, son of the king of england, duke of guienne and of lancaster, earl of derby, of lincoln, and of leicester, steward of england, to all who these our letters shall see or hear, greeting. know ye that, of our especial grace, and forasmuch as our very loved son, the lord de neville, and our very loved daughter, joan, his wife (sa compaigne), who was the wife (femme) of monsieur robert ferrers (whom god assoyl), have surrendered into our chancery, to be cancelled, our other letters patent, whereby we formerly did grant unto the said monsieur robert and our aforesaid daughter marks a-year, to be received annually, for the term of their two lives, out of the issues of our lands and lordships of our honour of pontefract, payable, &c., as in our said other letters more fully it is contained: we, willing that our abovesaid son, the lord de neville, and our aforesaid daughter, his wife (sa compaigne), shall have of us, for the term of their two lives, marks a-year, or other thing to the value thereof, have granted by these presents to the same, our son and daughter, all those our lordships, lands, and tenements in easingwold and huby, and our three wapentakes of hang, hallikeld, and gilling, the which monsieur john marmyon (whom god assoyl) held of us in the county of york: to have and to hold our abovesaid lordships, tenements, and wapentakes, with their appurtenances, to our said son and daughter, for the term of their two lives, and the life of the survivor of them, in compensation for l. a-year, part of the abovesaid marks yearly. and also, we have granted by these presents to the same, our son and daughter, the manor of lydell, with appurtenances, to have and to hold for their lives, and the life of the survivor, in compensation for marks a-year of the abovesaid marks yearly, during the wars or truces between our lord the king and his adversary of scotland: so, nevertheless, that if peace be made between our same lord the king and his said adversary of scotland, and on that account the said manor of lydell, with the appurtenances, shall be found lawfully to be of greater and better yearly value than the said marks a-year, then our said son and daughter shall answer to us, during such peace as aforesaid, for the surplusage of the value of the said manor, beyond the said marks a-year, and the yearly reprises of the said manor. and in full satisfaction of the aforesaid marks a-year we have granted to our abovesaid son and daughter l. s. d. yearly, to be received out of the issues of our honours of pontefract and pickering, by the hands of our receiver there for the time being. in witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent. given under our seal, at london, on the th day of february, in the twentieth year of the reign of our most dread sovereign lord king richard the second after the conquest" (a.d. ). the above grant was confirmed on the th of september, in the twenty-second of richard the second, , by the eldest son of john of gaunt, henry of lancaster, duke of hereford, a few weeks only before the duke's banishment, in the following words: "we, willing to perform and accomplish the good will and desires of our said very honoured lord and father, and in the confidence which we have in our said very loved brother, now earl of westmoreland, that he will be a good and natural son to our said very dread lord and father, and that he will be to us in time to come a good and natural brother, and also because of the great affection which we bear towards our said very loved sister, the countess his wife (sa compaigne), do, for us and our heirs, as far as in us lies, ratify and confirm to our said brother and sister the aforesaid letters patent, &c. given under our seal, at london, on the th day of september, in the twenty-second year of the reign of our most dread lord king richard the second after the conquest." king henry the fifth, on his accession, by a patent under the seal of the duchy of lancaster, dated at westminster, on the st of july, in the first year of his reign, confirmed the above letters "to the aforesaid earl and joan his wife;" and king henry the sixth in like manner confirmed his father's patent on the th of july, in the second year of his reign.--_regist. ducat. lanc. temp. hen. vi._, p. . fol. .] * * * * * uncertain etymologies--"leader." (vol. vi., p. .) i must differ from your correspondent c., in believing that the "n. & q." have effected much good service to etymology. even the exposure of error, and the showing up of crotchets, is of no inconsiderable use. i beg to submit that c. himself (unless there are other richmonds in the field) has done good service in this way. see _grummett_, _slang phrases_, _martinet_, _cockade_, _romane_, _covey_, _bummaree_, &c. i do not, indeed, give implicit faith to his _steyne_, and some more. he, however, would be a rash man who should write or help to write a dictionary of the english language (a desideratum at present) without turning over the indices of the "n. & q." even in the first volume, the discussions on _pokership_, _daysman_, _news_, and a great many others, seem to me at least valuable contributions to general knowledge on etymology. as to my remark (vol. vi., p. .) about the derivation of _leader_, c. has, perhaps excusably, for the sake of the pun, done me injustice. i hazarded it on the authority of one who has been in the trade, and, as i believe, in the _cuicunque perito_. i beg to inclose his own account. he says: "it is a fact, that when _editorial_ articles are sent to the printer, written directions are generally sent with them denoting what type is to be used: thus, _brevier leads_, or _bourgeois leads_, signifying that the articles are to be set in brevier or bourgeois type with _lead_ strips between the lines, to keep them further asunder. it is also a fact, that such articles are denominated in the printing-office 'leaded articles'--hence, leaders." i submit if this does not justify my note. i grant, however, many of those articles are entitled also to be called _leaden_, as c. will have it. i do not think, however, that in tracing recent words, we should not give possible as well as certain origins. many words, if not a double, have at least several putative origins. let me subscribe myself--_seu male seu bene_-- nota. p. s.--i would like to suggest that this origin of the term "leading article" is the most favourable to the modesty of any single writer for the press, who should hardly pretend to _lead_ public opinion. * * * * * lines on tipperary. (vol. vi., p. .) these lines were said to have been addressed to a dr. fitzgerald, on reading the following couplet in his apostrophe to his native village:-- "and thou! dear village, loveliest of the clime, fain would i name thee, but i scant in rhyme." i subjoin a tolerably complete copy of this "rime doggrele:" "a bard there was in sad quandary, to find a rhyme for tipperary. long labour'd he through january, yet found no rhyme for tipperary; toil'd every day in february, but toil'd in vain for tipperary; search'd hebrew text and commentary, but search'd in vain for tipperary; bored all his friends at inverary, to find a rhyme for tipperary; implored the aid of 'paddy cary,' yet still no rhyme for tipperary; he next besought his mother mary, to tell him rhyme for tipperary; but she, good woman, was no fairy, nor witch--though born in tipperary;-- knew everything about her dairy, but not the rhyme for tipperary; { } the stubborn muse he could not vary, for still the lines would run contrary, whene'er he thought on tipperary; and though of time he was not chary, 'twas thrown away on tipperary; till of his wild-goose chase most weary, he vow'd to leave out tipperary. . . . . . . but, no--the theme he might not vary, his longing was not temporary, to find meet rhyme for tipperary. he sought among the gay and airy, he pester'd all the military, committed many a strange vagary, bewitch'd, it seem'd, by tipperary. he wrote post-haste to darby leary, besought with tears his auntie sairie:-- but sought he far, or sought he near, he ne'er found a rhyme for tipperary. he travell'd sad through cork and kerry, he drove 'like mad' through sweet dunleary, kick'd up a precious tantar-ara, but found no rhyme for tipperary; lived fourteen weeks at stran-ar-ara, was well nigh lost in glenègary, then started 'slick' for demerara, in search of rhyme for tipperary. through 'yankee-land,' sick, solitary, he roam'd by forest, lake, and prairie, he went _per terram et per mare_, but found no rhyme for tipperary. through orient climes on dromedary, on camel's back through great sahara; his travels were extraordinary, in search of rhyme for tipperary. fierce as a gorgon or chimæra, fierce as alecto or megæra, fiercer than e'er a lovesick bear, he raged through 'the londe' of tipperary. his cheeks grew thin and wond'rous hairy, his visage long, his aspect 'eerie,' his _tout ensemble_, faith, would scare ye, amidst the wilds of tipperary. becoming hypochon-dri-ary, he sent for his apothecary, who ordered 'balm' and 'saponary,' herbs rare to find in tipperary. in his potations ever wary, his choicest drink was 'home gooseberry,' on 'swipes,' skim-milk, and smallest beer, he scanted rhyme for his tipperary. had he imbibed good old madeira, drank 'pottle-deep' of golden sherry, of falstaff's sack, or ripe canary, no rhyme had lack'd for tipperary. or had his tastes been literary, he might have found extemporary, without the aid of dictionary, some fitting rhyme for tipperary. or had he been an antiquary, burnt 'midnight oil' in his library, or been of temper less 'camsteary,' rhymes had not lack'd for tipperary. he paced about his aviary, blew up, sky-high, his secretary, and then in wrath and anger sware he, there was _no_ rhyme for tipperary." may we not say with touchstone, "i'll rhyme you so, eight years together; dinners, and suppers, and sleeping hours excepted: it is the right butter-woman's rank to market." j. m. b. * * * * * shakespeare emendations. (vol. vi., p. .) i cannot receive mr. cornish's substitution (p. .) of "chommer" for _clamour_ in the _winter's tale_, act iv. sc. . in my opinion, _clamour_ is nearly or altogether the right word, but wrongly spelt. we have a verb _to clam_, which, as connected with _clammy_, we use for sticking with glutinous matter; but which originally must, like the kindred german _klemmen_, have signified _to press_, _to squeeze_; for the kind of wooden vice used by harness-makers is, at least in some places, called a _clams_. i therefore suppose the clown to have said _clam_, or perhaps _clammer_ (_i.e._ hold) _your tongues._ highly plausible as is mr. c.'s other emendation in the same place of _ henry iv._, act iii. sc. ., i cannot receive it either. in shakspeare the word _clown_ is almost always nearly equivalent to the spanish _gracioso_, and denotes humour; and surely we cannot suppose it to be used of the ship-boy. besides, a verb is wanted, as the causal particle _for_ is as usual to be understood before "uneasy lies," &c. i see no objection whatever to the common reading, though _possibly_ the poet wrote: "then, happy _boy_, lie down." there never, in my opinion, was a happier emendation than that of _guidon_ for _guard_; _on_, in _henry v._, act iv. sc. .; and its being made by two persons independently, gives it--as mr. collier justly observes of _palpable_ for _capable_ in _as you like it_--additional weight. we are to recollect that a frenchman is the speaker. i find _guidon_ used for banner in the following lines of clément marot (elégie iii.): "de fermeté le grand _guidon_ suivrons," and-- "cestuy _guidon_ et triomphante enseigne, nous devons suyvre: amour le nous enseigne." the change of _a sea of troubles_ to _assay of troubles_ in _hamlet_ is very plausible, and ought perhaps to be received. so also is sir f. madden's of _face_ for _case_ (which last is downright nonsense) in _twelfth night_, act v. sc. . but i would just hint that as all the rest of the duke's speech is in rhyme, it is not impossible that the poet may have written-- "o thou dissembling cub! what wilt thou be when time hath sow'd a grizzle upon thee?" { } allow me now to put a question to the critics. in the two concluding lines of the _merchant of venice_ (the speaker, observe, is the jesting gratiano): "well, while i live, i'll fear no other thing so sore, as keeping safe nerissa's ring." may there not be a covert allusion to the story first told by poggio in his _facetiæ_, then by ariosto, then by rabelais, then by la fontaine, and, finally, by prior, in his _hans carvel_? rabelais was greatly read at the time. thomas keightley. * * * * * statues represented on coins. (vol. vi., p. .) mr. burgon (_inquiry into the motive of the representations on ancient coins_, p. .) says: "i do not believe that the types of coins are, on any occasion, original compositions; but always copied from some sacred public monument.... when we find minerva represented on coins, we are not to understand the type as _a minerva_, but _the minerva of that place_; and in some cases which might be brought forward, the individual statues which are represented on coins, or ancient copies, will be found still to exist." this opinion is certainly borne out by a very great number of proofs, and may almost be considered demonstrated. the farnese hercules is found on many coins, roman and greek. the commonest among the roman are those of gordianus pius, st and nd brass, with "virtvti avgvsti." three colonial coins of corinth, of severus, caracalla, and geta (vaillant, _num. imp. coloniis percuss_., ii. . . .), exhibit the same figure. as an additional illustration of mr. burgon's view, i would advert to the corinthian coin of aurelius (vaill. i. .), which has a hercules in a different attitude; and which vaillant regards as a copy of the statue mentioned by pausanias as existing at corinth. du choul (_religio vet. rom._, , pp. , .) gives a coin representing hercules killing antæus; and quotes pliny for a statue representing this by polycletus. haym also (_tesoro_, i. .) gives a coin with a reversed view of the same subject. the figures of hercules on coins of commodus are certainly copied from the statues of that emperor. baudelot de dairval (_de l'utilité des voyages_) gives a small silver statuette of commodus as hercules, certainly copied from the larger statues, and corresponding with those on coins. i am not aware of any coins exhibiting exactly the venus de medici. it is possible, however, that they exist, though i cannot at present find them. haym (_tesoro_, ii. ., tab. xvi. .) gives a coin of cnidus, with a very similar representation, the cnidian venus, known to be copied from a statue by praxiteles. i must say the same as to the apollo belvidere. i cannot at present refer to an engraving of the equestrian statue of aurelius, but mr. akerman (_descr. cat._, i. . . ., . .) describes gold coins and a medallion of aurelius, representing him on horseback; and i find in the plates appended by de bie to _augustini antiquatum ex nummis dialogi_, antw., , plate ., one of these coins engraved. i find the medallion engraved also by erizzo (last edition, n. d., p. .) who explains it as referring to this statue. he says, however, that the attribution of the statue was uncertain; and that on a medallion of antoninus pius, which he possessed, exactly the same representation was found, whence he was inclined to suppose it rather erected for antoninus pius. i suppose the coins of domna, alluded to by mr. taylor, are those with the legend "veneri victrici." in spite of the attitude, i can hardly think this intended for venus callipyge, from the fact that venus victrix is found in the same attitude on other coins, holding arms; and sometimes again holding arms, but in a different attitude, and more or less clothed. the legend is opposed also to this idea. see the coins engraved by ondaan, or oiselius, plate lii. the coin of plantilla in du choul (l. c. p. .) is a stronger argument; for here is seen a partially clothed venus victrix, with the same emblems, leaning on a shield, as the venus of domna leans on a column, but turned towards the spectator instead of away: thus demonstrating that no allusion to callipyge is to be seen in either. erizzo (l. c. p. .) mentions the discovery at rome of a fragment of a marble statue inscribed "veneris victricis." in the british museum (_townley gallery_, i. .) is a bas-relief representing the building of the ship argo. there is described in the _thomas catalogue_, p. . lot ., an unpublished (?) medallion of aurelius, possibly copied from this very bas-relief. a very doubtful specimen exists in the museum of the scottish antiquaries, which enables me to make this assertion, although it is not minutely described in the catalogue, and is otherwise explained. this is an additional confirmation of the original statement, and many more might be added but for the narrower limits allowed, which i fear i have already transgressed. w. h. scott. edinburgh. * * * * * judge jeffreys. (vol. vi., pp. . . .) this extraordinary and inhuman man was the sixth son of john jeffreys, esq., of acton, near wrexham, co. denbigh, by margaret, daughter of sir thomas ireland, knight, of bewsey, and was born _at his father's house_ about the year . { } he died on the th of april, , at thirty-five minutes past four in the morning. the tradition that his remains were deposited at enfield is incorrect. he was first interred in the tower privately, and after three years, when the day of persecution was past, his friends petitioned that they might be allowed to remove the coffin. this was granted, and by a warrant dated the th of september, , signed by the queen and directed to the governor of the tower, the body of lord jeffreys was removed, and buried a second time in a vault under the communion-table of st. mary, aldermanbury. as regards the number of places pointed out as the residence of judge jeffreys, the following are mentioned in the bill that was brought in for the forfeiture of his honour and estate. in salop he had the manors of wem and loppington, with many other lands and tenements; in leicestershire the manors of dalby and broughton; he bought dalby of the duke of buckingham, and after his death it passed to sir charles duncombe, and descended to anthony duncombe, afterwards lord feversham. in bucks he had the manor of bulstrode, which he had purchased of sir roger hill in , and the manor of fulmer, with other tenements. he built a mansion at bulstrode, which came afterwards to his son-in-law, charles dive, who sold it in the reign of queen anne, to william, earl of portland, in whose family, now aggrandised by a dukedom, it still continues. and he had an inclination at one time to have become the purchaser of another estate (gunedon park), but was outwitted by one of his legal brethren. judge jeffreys held his court in duke street, westminster, and made the adjoining houses towards the park his residence. these houses were the property of moses pitt the bookseller (brother of the western martyrologist), who, in his _cry of the oppressed_, complains very strongly against his tenant, the chancellor. jeffreys's "large house," according to an advertisement in the _london gazette_, was let to the three dutch ambassadors who came from holland to congratulate king william upon his accession in . it was afterwards used for the admiralty office, until the middle of king william's reign. "the house is easily known," says pennant, "by a large flight of stone steps, which his royal master permitted to be made into the park adjacent, for the accommodation of his lordship. these steps terminate above in a small court, on three sides of which stands the house." edward f. rimbault. the birthplace of judge jeffreys should not be a matter of doubt. the old house at acton in which his father lived, was in the parish of wrexham, and close to the confines of that parish and gresford. it was pulled down about seventy years ago, about the time when the present mansion bearing that same name was built. twenty years ago there were several persons living in the neighbourhood who remembered that it stood in the parish of wrexham. lord campbell, in his _lives of the lord chancellors of england_, vol. iii. p. ., writes,-- "he (judge jeffreys) of whom such tales were to be told, was born in his father's lowly dwelling at acton in the year ." and he subjoins the following note: "this is generally given as the year of his birth, but i have tried in vain to have it authenticated. there is no entry of his baptism, nor of the baptism of his brothers, in the register of wrexham, the parish in which he was born, nor in the adjoining parish of gresford, in which part of the family property lies. i have had accurate researches made in these registers by the kindness of my learned friend serjeant atcherley, who has estates in the neighbourhood. it is not improbable that, in spite of the chancellor's great horror of dissenters, he may have been baptized by 'a dissenting teacher.'" the fact is, however, and it is a fact known certainly twenty years ago to several of the inhabitants of gresford and wrexham, that no register has been preserved in the parish of wrexham for a period extending from to ; and none in the parish of gresford from to . i may add that no such registers have been discovered up to this time. taffy. when the family of jeffreys became possessed of acton is uncertain, probably at a very early period, being descended from cynric ap rhiwallon, great-grandson of tudor trevor. george jeffreys, afterwards chancellor, was born at acton, and was sixth son of john jeffreys and mary, daughter of sir thomas ireland of bewsey, near warrington, in lancashire. in the estate passed into the family of the robinsons of gwersyllt by the marriage of the eldest daughter and heiress of sir griffith jeffreys. ellis yonge, esq., of bryny orchyn (in the immediate neighbourhood), purchased the estate of acton from the trustees of the said robinson. the yonges were in no way related to the jeffreys, although bearing the same arms, as being also descended from the same tribe. gresford. * * * * * dutch allegorical picture. (vol. vi., pp. . .) in answer to the obliging notice which your correspondent cuthbert bede (vol. vi., p. .) has taken of my description of the dutch allegorical picture, i beg to say that i agree with him, and admit myself to be mistaken in supposing the { } middle picture described (vol. vi., p. .) to represent st. john baptist. on examining it again, i have no doubt it is intended to denote the ascension of our lord. the right hand is raised as in the act of benediction, and, as far as i can make it out (for the paint is here somewhat rubbed), the fingers are in the position of benediction described by your correspondent. i do not, however, concur in his suggestions as to the meaning of the figures on the frame of the picture; which is not shaped as a _vesica piscis_, but is (as i described it) a lozenge. the female figure, holding a flaming heart, is, i would say, _certainly not_ the virgin mary. the appearance of my account of this picture in your pages has been the occasion of a very agreeable correspondence with the editor of the _navorscher_ (the dutch daughter of "n. & q."). that gentleman has taken a great interest in the subject, and has enabled me to decypher the mottoes on the scrolls which run across the three pictures on the right-hand wall of the room, which, in my former communication, i said i was unable to read. the scroll on the picture nearest the fireplace contains these words: "trouw moet blÿcken." that on the second picture, noticed by cuthbert bede, is, "liefde boven al." and the scroll on the third bears the inscription, as i stated in my former communication, "in liefd' getrouwe;" for so it ought to have been printed. these, as the editor of the _navorscher_ informs me, are the mottoes of three haarlem societies of rhetoricians called, . "de pelicaen," whose motto was, "_trouw moet blÿcken_:" . "de wyngaertrancken," whose motto was, "_liefde boven al_:" and, . "witte angiren," whose device was, "_in liefde getrouwe_." i think you are entitled to have whatever information i may glean respecting this picture, as you so kindly inserted my description of it in your columns; and i have to thank you for procuring me the acquaintance and correspondence of the editor of the _navorscher_. j. h. todd, d.d. trin. coll. dublin. * * * * * the reprint, in , of the first folio edition of shakspeare. (vol. vi., p. .) in reply to the query of varro, i beg to state that i possess the late mr. upcott's collation of the reprint of the first folio edition of shakspeare. it consists of twenty-six folio leaves, exclusive of the fly-leaves, on the first of which occur the following notes in the handwriting of the collator: "london institution, "moorfields, dec. , . "four months and twenty-three days were occupied, during my leisure moments, at the suggestion of our late librarian, professor porson, in reading and comparing the _pretended_ reprinted fac-simile _first_ edition of shakspeare with the original first edition of . with what _accuracy_ it passed through the press, the following pages, noticing typographical errors, will sufficiently show. wm. upcott." "ms. note written in mr. dawson turner's transcript of these errors in the reprint of shakspeare, edit. . "the contents of the following pages are the result of days' close attention by a very industrious man. the knowledge of such a task having been undertaken and completed, caused some alarm among the booksellers, who had expended a considerable sum of money upon the reprint of shakspeare, of which this ms. discloses the numerous errors. fearful, therefore, lest this should be published, they made many overtures for the purchase of it, and at length mr. upcott was induced to part with it to john and arthur arch, cornhill, from whom he expected a handsome remuneration; he received a single copy of the reprint, published at five guineas. "n.b. this copy, _corrected_ by myself from the above ms., i sold to james perry, proprietor of the _morning chronicle_, for six guineas: which at his sale (part iii.) produced l. s. d. wm. upcott." at the end of the volume is written: "finished this collation jan. , , at three minutes past o'clock. wm. upcott." upon comparing these remarks of mr. upcott with lowndes' _bibliographer's manual_, p. ., col. ., it will be seen that the latter was not accurately informed as to perry's copy; professor porson having had no farther share in that laborious work than the recommending mr. upcott to undertake the collation, from which perry's copy was subsequently corrected. f. c. b. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _le grey and the collodion process._--as the claim to the invention of the collodion process is disputed, i think, in justice to mr. le grey, whom all will acknowledge as a talented man, and who has done much for photography, that the claims he puts forth, and which i give, should be known to your readers who have not got his work, as they are in direct contradiction to mr. archer's letter in your th no. in his last published work, page ., he states: "i was the first to apply collodion to photography. my first experiments were made in . i used that substance then principally to give more equality and { } fineness to the paper. i employed for that purpose a solution of iodide of potassium in alcohol of forty degrees saturated with collodion. "in continuing these studies i was induced to apply this body upon glass, to obtain more fineness, and i was soon in possession of an extremely rapid proceeding, _which i at last consigned to the pamphlet that i published in , and which was translated into english at the same time_. "i had already at that time indicated the protosulphate of iron for developing the image, the ammonia and the fluorides as accelerating agents; and i was the first to announce having obtained by these means portraits in five seconds in the shade. "the pyro-gallic acid is generally used now in place of the sulphate of iron that i had indicated; but this is wrong, that last salt forming the image much more rapidly and better, it having to be left less time in the camera. "i believe, then, i have a right to claim for my country and myself the invention of this would-be english process, _and of having been the first to indicate the collodion, and of giving the best method that has been discovered up to the present time_. "from the publication of my process, till my return from the voyage that i had made for the minister, i was little occupied in practising it, my labours on the dry paper having taken all my time. this has been used as a weapon against me, to make out that the first trials before setting out had been quite fruitless, as they had heard nothing more about it. "nevertheless, i have made my discovery completely public; and if i had practised it but little, leaving it to others to further develope, it has only been to occupy myself upon other works of which the public has still profited. it is then much more ungenerous to wish to take from me the merit of its invention." g. c. _ready mode of iodizing paper._--the readiest way i have found of iodizing the beautiful paper of canson frères, is the cyano-iodide of silver, made as follows: twenty grains of nitrate of silver may be placed in half an ounce of distilled water, and half an ounce of solution of iodide of potassa, fifty grains to the ounce, added to the silver solution. cyanide of potassa may then be added, drop by drop, till the precipitate is dissolved, and the whole filled up with four ounces of water. this solution requires but a very few minutes' floating upon water containing a small quantity of sulphuric acid; and it is then ready, after a bath of nitrate of silver, for the camera, and will not present any of the disagreeable spots so noticed by most photographers. this paper is probably the best for negative pictures we have at present; although, if very transparent paper is required, oiled paper may be used for negative pictures very successfully; or paper varnished is equally good. the oiled paper may be prepared as follows: take the best walnut oil, that oil having less tendency to darken paper of any other kind, and oil it thoroughly. it must then be hung up in the light for a few days, the longer the better, till quite dry. it may then be iodized with the ammonio-nitrate, the ammoniated solution passing more readily over greased surfaces. the varnished paper may be prepared by half an ounce of mastic varnish and three ounces of spirits of turpentine, hung up to dry, and treated as the oiled paper in iodizing; but both are better for resting a short time previous to iodizing upon water containing a little isinglass in solution, but used very sparingly. as i have experienced the excellence of these preparations, i hope they may be useful to your photographic students. weld taylor. bayswater. _after-dilution of solutions._--there are in general use two methods of preparing sensitive paper. in one, as in mr. talbot's, the iodide of silver is formed in a state of purity, before being rendered sensitive: and as, for this end, a small quantity only of nitrate of silver is necessary, a very dilute solution will answer the purpose as well, or even better, than a strong one; but by the other method, the paper being prepared with iodide of potassium only, or with some other analogous salt, the iodide of silver has to be formed by the same solution that renders it sensitive. now as for every . parts of iodide of potassium . parts of nitrate of silver are required for this purpose, it is evident that a dilute solution could not be employed unless a very large bulk were taken, and the paper kept in a considerable time. the after-washing is to remove from the surface of the paper the great excess of silver, which is of but little service, and prevents the paper from keeping. william crookes. hammersmith. _stereoscopic pictures from one camera._--your correspondent ramus will easily obtain stereoscopic pictures by either of the following plans:--after the first picture is taken, move the subject, as on a pivot, either to the right or left, through an angle of about °; then take the second impression: this will do very well for an inanimate object, as a statue; but, if a portrait is required, the camera, after taking the first picture, must be moved either to the right or left, a distance of not more than one-fifth of the distance it stands from the sitter; that is, if the camera is twenty feet from the face of the sitter, the distance between its first and second position should not exceed four feet, otherwise the picture will appear distorted, and the stereosity unnaturally great. of course it is absolutely necessary in this plan that the sitter do not move his position between the taking of the two impressions, and also that the distance between him and the camera be the same in both operations. { } in reply to the very sensible inquiry of simplicitas, there is an essential difference between the calotype of talbot and the waxed-paper process, the picture in the first being almost entirely superficial, whilst in the latter it is much more in the body of the paper; this causes the modification of the treatment. a _tolerably-strong_ solution of (a_ o no_ ) nitrate of silver is required to decompose the (ki) iodide of potassium, with which the paper is _saturated_, in any reasonable time, but if this were allowed to dry on the surface, stains would be the inevitable result; therefore it is floated in distilled water, to remove this from the _surface_; and it seems to me that the keeping of the paper depends on the greater or less extent to which this surface-coating is removed. there can be no doubt that the paper would be far more sensitive, if used immediately, without the washing, simply blotting it off; but then the great advantage of the process would be lost, viz. its capability of being kept. william pumphrey. _camera for out-door operations._--i should be glad to see a clear description of a camera so constructed as to supersede the necessity for a dark room. such a description has been promised by dr. diamond (vol. vi., p. .); and if he could be induced to furnish it at an early period, i at least, amongst the readers of "n. & q.," should feel much additionally indebted to him. e. s. * * * * * "'twas on the morn." (vol. vi., p. .) this is a very celebrated gloucestershire ballad, which though at one time popular, is, i believe, rarely heard now. i have before me an old and much mutilated broadside of it, which, at the conclusion, has the initials "l. & b." i presume the words are wanted, and therefore send them; and not knowing whether the tune has been published, will also forward it, if wished for by your querist. . "'twas on the morn of sweet may-day, when nature painted all things gay, taught birds to sing, and lambs to play, and gild the meadows fair; young jockey, early in the morn, arose and tript across the lawn; his sunday clothes the youth put on, for jenny had vow'd away to run with jockey to the fair. for jenny had vow'd away to run with jockey to the fair. . the cheerful parish bells had rung, with eager steps he trudg'd along, while rosy garlands round him hung, which shepherds us'd to wear; he tapt the window: 'haste, my dear;' jenny impatient cry'd, 'who's there?' ''tis i, my love, and no one near; step gently down, you've nought to fear, with jockey to the fair.' step gently, &c. . 'my dad and mammy's fast asleep, my brother's up, and with the sheep; and will you still your promise keep, which i have heard you swear? and will you ever constant prove?' 'i will, by all the powers above, and ne'er deceive my charming dove. dispel those doubts, and haste, my love, with jockey to the fair.' dispel, &c. . 'behold the ring,' the shepherd cry'd; 'will jenny be my charming bride? let cupid be our happy guide, and hymen meet us there.' then jockey did his vows renew; he would be constant, would be true. his word was pledg'd; away she flew, with cowslips tipt with balmy dew, with jockey to the fair. with cowslips, &c. . in raptures meet the joyful train; their gay companions, blithe and young, each join the dance, each join the throng, to hail the happy pair. in turns there's none so fond as they, they bless the kind, propitious day, the smiling morn of blooming may, when lovely jenny ran away with jockey to the fair. when lovely, &c. h. g. d. * * * * * alleged reduction of english subjects to slavery. (vol. v., p. .) the crime imputed to the dutch authorities (that of reducing english subjects to slavery) is of so atrocious a character, that any explanation that should place the matter in a less offensive light, would be but an act of justice to the parties implicated. with this view i venture to submit to ursula and w. w. the following conclusions which i have arrived at, after a careful consideration of all the circumstances. i am of opinion that the writer of the letter in question (charging the dutch governor with the above mentioned offence) was the officer commanding the troops in the english division of st. christopher; and, in that capacity, invested with the civil government. at that period, the { } administration of our west indian possessions was generally confided to the military commandants: our policy, in that respect, being different from that of the french, who have contrived at all times to maintain, in each of their colonies, an uninterrupted succession of governors appointed from home. the name of the dutch governor of st. martin, to whom the letter was addressed, has not been ascertained. he was probably some buccaneering chief, who cared as little for the states-general as he did for the governor of st. christopher. if not actually engaged in the piratical enterprises of his countrymen, he certainly had no objection to receive, according to usage, the lion's share of the booty as a reward for his connivance. it is very doubtful whether the outrage imputed, in this instance, to the dutch governor, was perpetrated, or even attempted. the buccaneers, english, french, and dutch, began by uniting their efforts against the spaniards. after a time they "fell out" (as thieves will sometimes do), and, turning from the common enemy, they directed their marauding operations against each other. it was doubtless during one of these that the dutch captured the english ship in question; detaining the passengers and crew at st. martin, in the hope of extorting some considerable ransom for their release. when, therefore, the english governor threatened to complain to the states-general of the "reduction to slavery of english subjects," we must presume that, by the words "reducing to slavery," he meant to describe the forcible _detention_ of the passengers and crew; and that, in doing so, he merely resorted to the expedient of magnifying a common act of piracy into an outrage of a more heinous character, with the view of frightening the dutch authorities into a compliance with his wishes, and obtaining the restitution of the property and subjects of his "dread sovereigne lord y^e king." the annals of that period are replete with similar adventures; and labat relates several of them which he witnessed during a voyage to guadaloupe in a vessel belonging to the french buccaneers. as to the english, the daring exploits of sir henry morgan and his followers, and the encouragement which they received, both at home and in the colonies, show that _we_ were not behind our neighbours in those days of marauding notoriety. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _royal assent, &c._ (vol. vi., p. .).-- . no such forms as those referred to by clarendon are usual now. . the last time the prerogative of rejecting a bill, after passing both houses of parliament, was exercised, was in , when william iii. refused his assent to the bill for triennial parliaments. two years after, however, he was induced to allow the bill to become the law of the land. j. r. w. bristol. _can bishops vacate their sees?_ (vol. v., p. .).--r. c. c., in his reply to this query of k. s., writes, that he has never heard of any but dr. pearce who wished so to do. there is another instance in the case of berkeley, bishop of cloyne, who, having failed in his attempt to exchange his bishopric for some canonry or headship at oxford, applied to the secretary of state for his majesty's permission to resign his bishopric. so extraordinary a petition excited his majesty's curiosity, and caused his inquiry from whence it came; when, learning that the person was his old acquaintance, dr. berkeley, he declared that he should die a bishop in spite of himself, but gave him full power to choose his own place of residence. this was in . the above is taken from bp. mant's _history of the church of ireland_, vol. ii. p. . rubi. _"genealogies of the mordaunt family," by the earl of peterborough_ (vol. vi., p. .).--bridges, in his _history of northamptonshire_, vol. ii. p. ., states that twenty-four copies of the work were printed. there is a large paper copy of the work, in the library at drayton house, the former seat of the mordaunts, now the property of w.b. stopford, esq. j. b. _niágara, or niagára?_ (vol. vi., p. .).--an enthusiastic person, of the name of pemberton (who had spent much time at the falls, and was so enthusiastic in his admiration of them that he protested he _could not_ keep away from them, and went back and died there), informed me that the proper name was _ni-ágara_ or _aghera_,--two indian words signifying "hark to the thunder." j. g. _maudlin_ (vol. vi., p. .).--your massachusetts correspondent comes a long way for information which he might surely have obtained on his own side of the atlantic. dr. johnson says, "_maudlin_ is the corrupt appellation of _magdalen_, who is drawn by painters with swollen eyes and disordered look." and do we not know that magdalene college is always called _maudlin_, and that _madeleine_ is the french orthography? very closely resembling our vernacular pronunciation? j. g. _spiritual persons employed in lay offices_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--your correspondents w. and e. h. a. seem to have overlooked the modern instances of this practice, which the _london gazette_ has recently recorded, in { } announcing the appointment of several clergymen as deputy-lieutenants. this is an office which is so far of a military character, that it is supposed to place the holder in the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and certainly entitles him to wear a military uniform. if these members of the "church militant" should be presented at her majesty's court in their new appointment, will they appear in their clerical or military habit? [omega]. [phi]. _passage in burke_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the reply to quando tandem's query is given, i imagine, by burke himself, in a passage which occurs only a few lines after that which has been quoted: "little did i dream that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom." this means, i suppose, that marie antoinette carried a dagger, with which, _more romano_, she would have committed suicide, had her brutal persecutors assaulted her. alfred gatty. _ensake and cradock arms_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in a pedigree of the family of barnwell, of cransley in northamptonshire, now before me, i find emblazoned the arms of ensake: paly of six azure and or, on a bend sable three mullets pierced. cradock: argent, three boars' heads couped sable armed or. g. a. c. _sich house_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--_sike_ or _syke_, a word in common use in the south of scotland, and on the border, meaning a small water run. in jamieson's _dictionary_ it is spelt "_sike_, _syik_, _syk_, a rill or rivulet; one that is usually dry in summer; a small stream or rill; a marshy bottom with a small stream in it." j. s.s. _americanisms so called_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the word _bottom_, signifying a piece of low ground, whether _upon_ a stream of water or not, is english. i recollect two places at this moment (both dry), in the county of surrey, to which the word is applied, viz. smitham bottom, to the north of reigate, through which the railway runs; and boxhill bottom, a few miles to the westward, in the same range of chalk hills. _sparse_ and _sparsely_, it is said by uneda of philadelphia, _are_ americanisms. this, however, is not so. there is a query on the word _sparse_ in vol. i., p. . by c. forbes: and on p. . of the same volume j. t. stanley supposes it to be an americanism, on the authority of the _penny cyclopædia_. i have a strong conviction that i then wrote to "n. & q." to claim the word _sparse_ as aboriginal to the british isles, for i find memoranda i had made at the time on the margin of my jamieson's _dictionary_ on the subject; but i do not find that what i then wrote had been printed in "n. & q." in the _supplement to jamieson's dictionary_ is the following: "spars, sparse, _adj._ widely spread; as, 'sparse writing' is wide open writing, occupying a large space." the word is in common use throughout the south of scotland. i have come to be of opinion that there are few, if any, words that are real americanisms, but that (except where the substance or the subject is quite modern) almost every word and expression now in use among the anglo-americans may be traced to some one of the old provincial dialects of the british isles. j. s.s. _the folger family_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i do not know whether there are any of that name in wales, but there was a family of that name near tregony in cornwall some years ago, and may be now. i am not quite certain whether they spell it folger or fulger, but rather think the latter was the mode of spelling it. s. jennings-g. _wake family_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the rev. robert wake was vicar of ogbourne, st. andrew, wilts, from to , n.s., during which time he had these children:--thomas, born the th of july, , and baptized on the th of the same month; elizabeth and anne, both baptized on the th of july, . arthur r. carter. camden town. _shakspeare's "twelfth night"_ (vol. vi., p. .).--agreeing with mr. singer in his doubts regarding the propriety of changing the word _case_ into _face_, in the line,-- "when time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy _case_"-- i would instance a passage in _measure for measure_, where angelo says-- "o place! o form! how often dost thou with thy _case_, thy habit, wrench awe from fools," &c. w. c. _electrical phenomena_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the case recorded by adsum is not at all an infrequent one, and the phenomena alluded to have been noticed for a very long period, and are of very common occurrence in dry states of the atmosphere. the following, from daniel's _introduction to chemical philosophy_ (a most useful work for general readers), will probably explain all that adsum is desirous of knowing: "it was first observed by otto de guericke and hawsbee, that the friction of glass and resinous substances not only produced the phenomena which we have just described (those of vitreous and resinous electricity), but, under favourable circumstances, was accompanied by a rustling or crackling noise; and, when the experiment was made in a dark room, by flashes and sparks of light upon their surfaces. when once the attention has been directed to the observation, { } most persons will find that such phenomena of electrical light are familiar occurrences, and often present themselves in suddenly drawing off from the person a silk stocking, or a flannel waistcoat, or in the _friction of long hair by combing_. how small a degree of friction is sufficient to excite electricity in the human body, is shown in a striking way by placing a person upon an insulating stool (with glass legs). if in such a position he place his finger upon a gold-leaf electrometer, and another person flip him lightly with a silk handkerchief, the leaves will immediately repel each other" (resinous electricity has been excited).--page . par. . s. jennings-g. _daubuz family_ (vol. vi., p. .).--where are the descendants of this worthy family (daubuz)? it may possibly give mr. corser a clue to the information he desires, if i tell him that there is a very respectable family of that name in cornwall. one lives in the neighbourhood of truro, and a brother is vicar of creed, near grampound, cornwall. the father of these gentlemen was the first of the family, i believe, who resided in cornwall, where he amassed a large fortune from his connexion with mining speculations. s. jennings-g. _lord nelson_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i am obliged to mr. kersley for giving me an opportunity of reconciling my statement respecting dr. scott (vol. vi., p. .) with the inscription on mr. burke's monument. both, i believe, are true. i quote from the _authentic narrative of the death of lord nelson_, by william beatty, m.d. &c. the copy of this work which is before me has the following in sir w. beatty's own handwriting: "to the rev. doctor scott, with every sentiment of regard, by his friend and messmate, the author." in this "narrative," dr. scott and mr. burke are generally described as personally attending on lord nelson from the time of his being brought down into the cockpit. and at p. . it is said: "doctor scott and mr. burke, who had all along sustained the bed under his shoulders," &c.: and again at p. . "his lordship breathed his last at thirty minutes past four o'clock: at which period dr. scott was in the act of rubbing his lordship's breast, and mr. burke supporting the bed under his shoulders." all this is represented in west's beautiful picture, which hangs, in a bad light, in the hall of greenwich hospital. there is another claimant for the honour of having been nelson's last nurse, whose name i forget. his pretensions are recorded on a tablet to his memory in the chapel of greenwich hospital. dr. scott's daughter, who was with me there one day, remonstrated on the subject with old blue jacket who lionised us. and i put in the lady's right to speak with some authority. but "what is writ is writ," was enough for our guide: we could make nothing of him, for he fought our arguments as if they had been so many guns of the enemy. alfred gatty. _robes and fees in the days of robin hood_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in translating the ordinances and statutes against maintainers and conspirators, mr. lewellyn curtis more than once translates "gentz de _pais_," by "persons of _peace_." this is a material error: it should be "_of the country_;" "pays," not "paix." for the subject referred to, mr. foss's _judges of england_, vol. iii., should be consulted. j. bt. _wray_ (vol. iv., p. .).--in one of the wray pedigrees in burke's _landed gentry_, it is stated that the yorkshire family of that name originally resided in coverdale in richmondshire. in clarkson's _history of richmond_ is a pedigree of the "wrays," which commences (if i rightly recollect) with an ancestor (six or eight years before him) of sir christopher wray, of whose fore-elders, some lived at st. nicholas, near to richmond. i have traced a family of the name of _wray_ or _wraye_ for three centuries back, in wensleydale, and at coverham in coverdale (both in richmondshire), but am unable to connect it by direct evidence with either of the pedigrees above referred to; and should be much obliged for any information touching any part of the family in richmondshire, particularly such as might aid in showing the relation of the several branches to one another. with reference to the origin of the name, i may mention, that there is a valley called raydale, between wensleydale and craven, adjacent to coverdale and also a village in westmoreland, near to the western extremity of wensleydale, called _wray_ or _ray_. the arms of the wensleydale wrays are: azure, a chevron ermine between three helmets proper on a chief or, three martlets gules; crest a martlet, and motto "servabo fidem." i am informed that there is to be found, in the heralds' college, an entry of a _wray_ pedigree with these arms; and i should be glad to have particulars of such entry. the motto of the st. nicholas family is, to the best of my recollection, "et juste et vraye:" a canting motto, as is that of pak-rae. calcutta. _irish rhymes_ (vol. vi., pp. . . .).--for the benefit of irishmen, i beg to adduce shakspeare as a writer of _irish rhymes_. in that exquisite little song called for by queen catharine, "to soothe her soul grown sad with troubles," we have: "everything that heard him _play_, even the billows of the _sea_." w. c. { } * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. we have received a copy of _notes and emendations on the text of shakspeare's plays from early manuscript corrections in a copy of the folio in the possession of j. payne collier, esq., f.s.a., forming a supplemental volume to the works of shakspeare, by the same editor, in eight volumes, vo._ with the nature of this volume the readers of "n. & q." are already so fully acquainted, from the frequent references which have been made to it in these columns, that on this occasion we feel that we need do little more than record its publication, and the fact that it appears to be edited with the same scrupulous care, for which all works which appeared under the superintendence of mr. collier are invariably distinguished. that all the critics will agree either with the ms. corrections, or with mr. collier in his estimate of the value of the emendations, is not to be expected; but all will acknowledge that he has done good service to shakspearian literature by their publication. "the new year," observes _the athenæum_, "opens with some announcements of promise in our own literary world. mr. bentley announces the memorials and correspondence of charles james fox, on which the late lord holland was understood to be so long engaged. the work, however, is now to be edited by lord john russell, and to extend to two volumes octavo. the same publisher promises a history, in one large volume, of 'the administration of the east india company,' by mr. kaye, author of the 'history of the war in affghanistan;' and a 'history (in two volumes octavo) of the colonial policy of the british empire from to ,' by the present earl grey.--the fifth and concluding volume of 'the letters of the earl of chesterfield,' including some new letters now first published from the original mss., under the editorship, as before, of lord mahon, will, we believe, shortly appear.--two volumes of 'letters of the poet gray,' so often announced by mr. bentley, are to come out at last during the present season. they will be edited by the rev. j. mitford, author of 'the life of gray.'--nor is mr. murray without his usual attractive bill of fare for the literary appetite. the lowe papers, left in a mass of confusion at the death of sir harris nicolas, are now nearly ready; and the st. helena life of napoleon will appear, it is said, for the first time, as far as sir hudson lowe is concerned, in its true light. the castlereagh papers (now in mr. murray's hands) will include matter of moment connected with the congress of vienna, the battle of waterloo, and the occupation of paris. the same publisher announces the speeches of the duke of wellington (to which we called attention some time back):--also a work by mr. george campbell, called 'india as it may be,'--and another by captain elphinstone erskine about the western pacific and feejee islands.--the messrs. longman announce a private life of daniel webster, by his late private secretary, mr. charles lanman--and a new work by signor mariotti, 'an historical memoir of fra dolcino and his times.'--mr. bohn will have ready in a few days 'yule-tide legends,' a collection of scandinavian tales and tradition, edited by b. thorpe, esq.--messrs. hurst and blackett--whose names now take the place of mr. colburn's, as his successors--are about to publish memoirs of the court and cabinets of george the third, to be compiled from original family documents by the duke of buckingham and chandos." we need scarcely remind the fellows of the society of antiquaries who may have in their minds suggestions for the improvement of the society, how desirable it is that they should bring those suggestions at once under the consideration of the committee just appointed. we are sure that all such as are submitted to mr. hawkins and his colleagues will receive every attention; and we trust that the committee will at once proceed to their task, so that the society may have time to well consider their report before the anniversary in april. books received.--_dictionary of greek and roman geography, by various writers_. edited by william smith. part v. the new issue of this most useful work extends from _campi raudii_ to _cimolus_.--_cyclopædia bibliographica, a library manual of theological and general literature, analytical, bibliographical, and biographical._ part iv. of this useful guide for authors, preachers, students, and literary men, extends from henry bull to isaac chauncy.--_the journal of sacred literature._ new series. edited by dr. kitto. no. vi.--_swift and richardson_, by lord jeffrey, is the new number of longman's _traveller's library_.--_the goose girl at the well_, &c., completes the interesting collection of grimm's _household stories_.--_the shakspeare repository_ is the first number of a work especially devoted to shakspeare, containing a great variety of matter illustrative of his life and writings, by j. h. fennell.--_the chess player's chronicle_, the first number of which professes and appears to be an improved series of this indispensable chess player's companion. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. lud. guicciardini's descrip. belgii. rastall's exposition of words. the gentleman's magazine for january . ben jonson's works. (london, . vols.) vol. ii. wanted. the pursuit of knowledge. (original edition.) vol. i. rapin's history of england, vo. vols. i., iii. and v. of the continuation by tindal. . sharpe's prose writers. vol. iv. vols. . piccadilly. inchbald's british theatre. vol. xxiv. vols. longman. meyrick's ancient armour, by skelton. part xvi. donne, [greek: biathanatos], to. first edition, . ------ ------ ------ second edition, . ---- pseudo-martyr. to. ---- paradoxes, problems, and essays, &c. mo. . ---- essays in divinity. mo. . ---- sermons on isaiah l. . pope's works, by warton. vol. ix. . in boards. percy society publications. no. . three copies. memoirs of the duchess of abrantes. (translation.) vols. vo. bentley. poems of "alasdair mac mhaighstir alasdair" macdonald. { } smith's collectanea antiqua. vols. vo.; or vol. i. brewster's memoir of rev. hugh moises, m.a., master of newcastle grammar school. religio militis; or christianity for the camp. longmans, . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. notices to correspondents.--_in our early numbers we inserted an address to correspondents, in which we observed, "correspondents will see, on a very little reflection, that it is plainly the editor's interest to take all he can get, and make the most and the best of everything; and therefore he begs them to take for granted that their communications are received and appreciated, even if the succeeding numbers bear no proof of it. he is convinced that the want of specific acknowledgment will only be felt by those who have no idea of the labour and difficulty attendant on the hurried management of such a work, and of the impossibility of sometimes giving an explanation, when there really is one which would quite satisfy the writer, for the delay or non-insertion of his communication. correspondents in such cases have no reason, and, if they understood an editor's position, they would feel that they have no right, to consider themselves undervalued: but nothing short of personal experience in editorship would explain to them the perplexities and evil consequences arising from the opposite course." we have thought well to repeat this general explanation because we have this week received two inquiries respecting the non-insertion of communications, neither party giving us his name nor the subject of the non-inserted communication._ h. h. h.'s (ashburton) _letter has been forwarded to_ dr. diamond. _it is not the first by many which we have received expressive of the writer's thanks for his valuable photographic papers._ alpha _complains in so generous a spirit that we regret we cannot agree with him. we assure him that, on the first point on which he writes, he is the only one who has so written, while we have had dozens of letters of thanks; and he will see in the present no._ (antè, p. .) _the value of the art recognised by a gentleman under whose notice it would probably never have been brought in a purely scientific journal. the second suggestion is one to which we, and many of our brethren of the press, have turned our attention frequently, but hitherto unsuccessfully. the difficulties are greater than alpha imagines._ t. w. u. keye. _will our correspondent favour us with particulars?_ enquirer _cannot do better than follow the directions for the paper process given by_ dr. diamond _in our last number. we hope soon to be able to give him satisfactory information on the other points of his communication_. the index and title-page _to our sixth volume will be ready for delivery on saturday next_. _a neat case for holding the numbers of_ "notes and queries," _until the completion of each volume, is now ready, price_ s. d., _and may be had, by order, of all booksellers and newsmen_. erratum. _in the number of last week the passage from the septuagint quoted at_ p. . _ought to have stood thus_: "[greek: gegraptai de, auton palin agastêsesthai meth' hôn ho kurios anistêsin]."--cambridge edition of . * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * shakspeare society. mr. payne collier's volume of notes and emendations on the text of shakspeare, derived from the unpublished and highly important manuscript corrections, made by a cotemporary, in the folio edition of , will be ready on the th instant for delivery to the subscribers who have paid their subscription for the year ending december, , at the agents', mr. skeffington, . piccadilly. f. g. tomlins, secretary. * * * * * ralph's sermon paper,--this approved paper is particularly deserving the notice of the clergy, as, from its particular form (each page measuring ¾ by inches), it will contain more matter than the size in ordinary use, and, from the width being narrower, is much more easy to read: adapted for expeditious writing with either the quill or metallic pen; price s. per ream. sample on application. envelope paper.--to identify the contents with the address and postmark, important in all business communications; it admits of three clear pages (each measuring ½ by inches), for correspondence, it saves time and is more economical. price s. d. per ream. f. w. ralph, manufacturing stationer, . throgmorton street, bank. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * foolscap vo. price s. the practical working of the church of spain. by the rev. frederick meyrick, m.a., fellow of trinity college, oxford. "pleasant meadows, happy peasants, all holy monks, all holy priests, holy every body. such charity and such unity, when every man was a catholic. i once believed in this utopia myself, but when tested by stern facts, it all melts away like dream."--_a. welby pugin._ "the revelations made by such writers as mr. meyrick in spain and mr. gladstone in italy, have at least vindicated for the church of england a providential and morally defined position, mission, and purpose in the catholic church."--_morning chronicle._ "two valuable works ... to the truthfulness of which we are glad to add our own testimony: one, and the most important, is mr. meyrick's 'practical working of the church of spain.' this is the experience--and it is the experience of every spanish traveller--of a thoughtful person, as to the lamentable results of unchecked romanism. here is the solid substantial fact. spain is divided between ultra-infidelity and what is so closely akin to actual idolatry, that it can only be controversially, not practically, distinguished from it: and over all hangs a lurid cloud of systematic immorality, simply frightful to contemplate. we can offer a direct, and even personal, testimony to all that mr. meyrick has to say."--_christian remembrancer._ "i wish to recommend it strongly."--_t. k. arnold's theological critic._ "many passing travellers have thrown more or less light upon the state of romanism and christianity in spain, according to their objects and opportunities; but we suspect these 'workings' are the fullest, the most natural, and the most trustworthy, of anything that has appeared upon the subject since the time of blanco white's confessions."--_spectator._ "this honest exposition of the practical working of romanism in spain, of its everyday effects, not its canons and theories, deserves the careful study of all, who, unable to test the question abroad, are dazzled by the distant mirage with which the vatican mocks many a yearning soul that thirsts after water-brooks pure and full."--_literary gazette._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * { } to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le grey's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le grey. new edition. translated from the last edition of the french. george knight & sons., foster lane, london, manufacturers of photographic apparatus and materials, consisting of camera, stands, coating boxes, pressure frames, glass and porcelain dishes, &c., and pure photographic chemicals, suited for practising the daguerreotype, talbotype, waxed-paper, albumen and collodion processes, adapted to stand any climate, and fitted for the requirements of the tourist or professional artist. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. * * * * * photography.--a new work, giving plain and practical directions for obtaining both positive and negative pictures upon glass, by means of the collodion process, and a method for printing from the negative glasses, in various colours, on to paper. by t. h. hennah. price s., or by post, s. d. published by delatouche & co., manufacturers of pure photographic chemicals, apparatus, prepared papers, and every article connected with photography on paper or glass. * * * * * ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' report_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully correct, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it is furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." a. r. invites those interested in the art to inspect the large photographs of vienna, produced by his lenses and apparatus. catalogues sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn. * * * * * volume i. of the re-issue of lives of the queens of england, by agnes strickland, comprising all the recent important additions, portraits of all the queens, &c., is published this day, to be completed in eight monthly volumes vo., price s. d. each, handsomely bound. published for henry colburn, by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. * * * * * just published, vol. vo., price s. ancient irish minstrelsy, by rev. w. hamilton drummond, d.d., m.r.s.a. "a graceful addition to the lover of ancient minstrelsy, whether he be irishman or not. a man need not be english to enjoy the chevy chace, nor scotch to value the border minstrelsy. the extracts we have given from dr. drummond's work, so full of force and beauty, will satisfy him, we trust, he need not be irish to enjoy the fruits of dr. d.'s labours."--_the dublin advocate._ dublin: hodges & smith, grafton street. london: simpkin, marshall, & co., . stationers' hall court. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be procured from r. w. thomas, operative chemist, . pall mall, whose well-known preparation of xylo-iodide of silver is pronounced by the most eminent scientific men of the day to excel every other photographic compound in sensitiveness, and in the marvellous vigour uniformly preserved in the middle tints of pictures produced by it. mr. r. w. thomas cautions photographers against unprincipled persons who (from the fact of xyloidin and collodion being synonymous terms) would lead them to imagine that the inferior compound sold by them at half the price is identical with his preparation. in some cases, even the name of mr. t.'s xylo-iodide of silver has been assumed. in order to prevent such dishonourable practice, each bottle sent from his establishment is stamped with a red label bearing his signature, to counterfeit which is felony. prepared solely by r. w. thomas, chemist, &c., . pall mall. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for january , which is the first number of a new volume, contains the following articles:-- . king charles i. in the isle of wight. . original letters of benjamin franklin. . farinelli and pompadour. . henry newcome, the manchester puritan. . a journey to paris in . . the cloister life of charles v. . the hill intrenchments on the borders of wales, by t. wright, f.s.a. (with engravings). . report of the cambridge university commission. . correspondence of sylvanus urban:-- . pictures of the immaculate conception. . the relic of st. mary axe. . harley church, salop. . etymology of the word many. with notes of the month, reviews of new publications, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the earl of shrewsbury, countess of lovelace, sir j. j. guest, miss berry, professor empson, mr. serjeant halcomb, &c. &c. a specimen number sent on the receipt of s. d. in postage stamps. nicols & son, . parliament street. * * * * * valuable books, cheap.-- . kramer's strabo, vols. vo., best ed., - . s. . adelung's mithridates, vols. vo., - , s. . sismondi, histoire des français, vols. vo., complete, - , l. s. . carr's glossary of the craven dialect in yorkshire, vols. vo., , cloth, s. . goethe's werke, vols. in , mo., stuttgart, , l. s. . oliphant's musa madrigalesca, a collection of madrigals, ballets, of the elizabethan age, vo., , cloth, s. . müller's ancient art and its remains, a manual of the archæology of art, best edition, vo., (published at s.), cloth, s. . ulphila's gothic text, with grammar and vocabulary, vols. in , royal vo., passau, , hf.-morocco, s. d. . rask's anglo-saxon grammar, vo., , hlf.-calf, s. . müller, collectanea anglo-saxonica, cum vocabulario, mo., , hf. bound, s. d. . poèmes des bardes bretons du vi. s. in breton and french, by villemarqué, vo., , pp. s. . fables de lokman, par cherbonneau, in arabic, and two french translations, with the pronunciation, mo., , s. . armorial universel par curmer, vols. impl. vo., - , numerous coats of arms, some emblazoned, s. . legonidec, dictionnare celto-breton et français, vols. to., best edition, complete, with the grammar, st. brieux, - , sd. s. . tesoro de los romanceros y cancioneros espanoles, to., barcelona, , sd. s. sold by bernard quaritch, . castle street, leicester square. *** b. quaritch's catalogue of oriental books and manuscripts, comprising the valuable libraries of the rev. w. morton of calcutta, and of the late earl mount norris of arley castle, staffs., is just published, and may be had gratis. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * { } now ready, in seven volumes, medium to., cloth, pp. , , price fourteen guineas, the annals of ireland; from the original of the four masters, from the earliest historic period to the conclusion in ; consisting of the irish text from the original mss., and an english translation, with copious explanatory notes, an index of names, and an index of places, by john o'donovan, esq., ll.d., barrister at law; professor of the celtic language, queen's college, belfast. _extract from the_ dublin review. "we can but hope, within the limited space at our disposal, to render a scanty and imperfect measure of justice to a work of such vast extent and varied erudition.... we would beg the reader, if he be disposed to doubt our opinion, to examine almost every single page out of the four thousand of which the work consists, in order that he may learn the true nature and extent of mr. o'donovan's editorial labours. let him see the numberless minute verbal criticisms; the elaborate topographical annotations with which each page is loaded; the historical, genealogical, and biographical notices; the lucid and ingenious illustrations, drawn from the ancient laws, customs, traditions and institutions of ireland; the parallelisms and discrepancies of the narrative with that of other annalists, both native and foreign; the countless authorities which are examined and adjusted; the errors which are corrected; the omissions and deficiencies supplied; in a word, the curious and various learning which is everywhere displayed. let him remember the mines from which all those treasures have been drawn are, for the most part, unexplored; that the materials thus laudably applied to the illustration of the text are in great part manuscripts which ussher and ware, even waddy and colgen, not to speak of lynch and lanigan, had never seen, or left unexamined; many of them in a language which is to a great extent obsolete." a prospectus of the work will be forwarded gratis to any application made to the publishers. dublin: hodges & smith, grafton street, booksellers to the university. london: longman & co.; and simpkin, marshall, & co. * * * * * . _fleet street, london_, jan. . . _one hundred days' sale of books and other property._ mr. l.a. lewis, auctioneer of literary property (established , without change of name or firm), will have sales by auction of libraries, small parcels of books, early duplicates of circulating libraries, editor's books, prints, pictures, and miscellaneous effects every week throughout the present year, on the under-named days. property sent in not later than the previous friday will be certain to be sold (if required) in the following week. on friday, th, and saturday, th of january. on friday, th, and saturday, th of january. on friday, st, and saturday, nd of january. on thursday, th, friday, th, and saturday, th of january. on saturday, th of february. on friday, th, and saturday, th of february. on friday, th, and saturday, th of february. on friday, th, and saturday, th of february. on thursday, rd, friday, th, and saturday, th of march. on saturday, th of march. on friday, th, and saturday, th of march. on saturday, th of march. on friday, st, and saturday, nd of april. on thursday, th, friday, th, and saturday, th of april. on saturday, th of april. on friday, nd, and saturday, rd of april. on friday, th, and saturday, th of april. on friday, th, and saturday, th of may. on thursday, th, friday, th, and saturday, th of may. on saturday, st of may. on friday, th, and saturday, th of may. on friday, rd, and saturday, th of june. on friday, th, and saturday, th of june. on thursday, th, friday, th, and saturday, th of june. on saturday, th of june. on friday, st, and saturday, nd of july. on friday, th, and saturday, th of july. on friday, th, and saturday, th of july. on thursday, st, friday, nd, and saturday, rd of july. on saturday, th of july. on thursday, th, friday, th, and saturday, th of august. on friday, th, and saturday, th of august. on friday, th, and saturday, th of august. on friday, th, and saturday, th of august. on saturday, rd of september. on friday, th, and saturday, th of september. on friday, th, and saturday, th of september. on friday, rd, and saturday, th of september. on friday, th of september, and saturday, st of october. on saturday, th of october. on friday, th, and saturday, th of october. on friday, st, and saturday, nd of october. on friday, th, and saturday, th of october. on friday, th, and saturday, th of november. on saturday, th of november. on friday, th, and saturday, th of november. on friday, th, and saturday, th of november. on friday, nd, and saturday, rd of december. on friday, th, and saturday, th of december. on saturday, th of december. on friday, rd, and saturday, th of december. on friday, th, and saturday, st of december. mr. l. a. lewis will also have occasional sales of printing and book-binding materials, household furniture, and general effects. * * * * * classical education in france.--a married gentleman, of literary habits, a graduate and repeated prizeman of cambridge, who has resided many years in france, receives into his family three pupils, to whom with his own younger son he devotes the whole of his time. there are now vacancies: terms, including masters for french, german, and drawing, guineas per annum. address h. i. d., at mr. bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, january , contains articles on agriculture, progress of aphelexis apple, golden pippin birds, destructive, by messrs. hardy calendar, horticultural carrots, cattle cement for stoneware chicory, to roast college, cirencester, sessional examination at drains, stoppage of, by mr. sherrard eau de lessive emigrant, the, rev. fairclough's (mr.) farm farm valuation, by mr. morton farming, the year's experience in, by the rev. l. vernon harcourt flowers, florist, by mr. edwards fruits, syrian gardenia fortuni gift hall farm, cheese-making at grapes, red hamburgh, by mr. thompson hort. society's garden land question lanktree's elements of land valuation, rev. larch, durability of, by mr. patterson melons in st. michael's, by mr. wallace mildew mushrooms, by mr. massey nuts, cedar plough, drain poultry primula sinensis rabbits, rearing of reptiles, temperature of, by m. aug. duméril reviews, miscellaneous roots, curious instances of formation of, by mr. booth (with engraving) societies, proceedings of the caledonian; horticultural; fylde agricultural st. michael's, melons in, by mr. wallace statistics, agricultural, by dr. mackenzie tanks, water tree-lifter, mcglashen's turnips, lois weedon ---- at kettering wardian cases wind gauge. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [with index, price d. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page inedited poem by pope southey's "doctor:" st. matthias' day in leap-year, by p. j. yarrum oxfordshire legend in stone, by b. h. cowper lady nevell's music-book bishop burnet, by wm. l. nichols a monastic kitchener's account the fairies in new ross, by patrick cody minor notes:--the duke of wellington and marshal ney: parallel passage in the life of washington and major andré--st. bernard _versus_ fulke greville--st. munoki's day--epitaph in chesham churchyard--gentlemen pensioners--marlborough: curious case of municipal opposition to county magistracy--wet season in --general wolfe queries:-- pope and the marquis maffei the church catechism, by c. j. armistead a countess of southampton minor queries:--hardening steel bars--pierrepoint--ceylon-- flemish and dutch schools of painting--"to talk like a dutch uncle"--ecclesiastical antiquities of belgium-- charter of waterford--inscription on penny of george iii.--"shob" or "shub," a kentish word--bishop pursglove (suffragan) of hull--stewarts of holland--robert wauchope, archbishop of armagh, --plum-pudding--"whene'er i asked"--immoral works--arms at bristol--passage in thomson--"for god will be your king to-day"--"see where the startled wild fowl"--ascension-day--the grogog of a castle replies:-- canongate marriages lady katherine grey howlett the engraver, by b. hudson chaucer photographic notes and queries:--pyrogallic acid-- stereoscopic pictures with one camera--mr. crookes' wax-paper process--india rubber a substitute for yellow glass--dr. diamond's paper processes replies to minor queries:--ancient timber town-halls-- magnetic intensity--monument at wadstena--david routh, r. c. bishop of ossory--cardinal erskine--"ne'er to these chambers," &c.--the budget--"catching a tartar"--the termination "-itis" miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. inedited poem by pope. in an original letter from james boaden to northcote the artist, i find the following passage; and i add to it the verses to which allusion is therein made: " . warren street, fitzroy square. " th august, . "my dear friend, "the verses annexed are so fine, that you should put them into your copy of pope, among the miscellanies. dr. warburton received them too late for his edition of our poet, and i find them only in a letter from the prelate to dr. hurd, dated 'prior park, june th, .' "i have used the freedom to mark a few of the finest touches with a pencil, to show you _my_ feeling. these you can rub out easily, and afterwards indulge your own. the style of interrogation seems to have revived in gray's elegy. hurd would send the verses to mason as soon as he got them; and mason and gray, as you know, were _one_ in all their studies. "i do not forget the fables. "yours, my dear friend, always, "j. boaden. "j. northcote, esq." not having by me any modern edition of pope's _works_, may i ask whether these verses, thus transcribed for northcote by his friend boaden, have yet been introduced to the public? _verses by mr. pope, on the late dean of carlisle's (dr. bolton) having written and published a paper to the memory of mrs. butler, of sussex, mother to old lady blount of twickenham._ [they are supposed to be spoken by the deceased lady to the author of that paper, which drew her character.] "stript to the naked soul, escaped from clay, from doubts unfetter'd, and dissolved in day; unwarm'd by vanity, unreach'd by strife, and all my hopes and fears thrown off with life; why am i charm'd by friendship's fond essays, and tho' unbodied, conscious of thy praise? { } has pride a portion in the parted soul? does passion still the formless mind control? can gratitude outpant the silent breath, or a friend's sorrow pierce the glooms of death? no, 'tis a spirit's nobler taste of bliss, that feels the worth it left, in proofs like this; that not its own applause but thine approves, whose practice praises, and whose virtue loves; who liv'st to crown departed friends with fame; then dying, late, shalt all thou gav'st reclaim. mr. pope." a. f. w. * * * * * southey's "doctor;" st. matthias' day in leap-year. in looking over the edition of southey's book, _the doctor_, i observe an error which has escaped the care and revision of the editor, the rev. j. w. warter, b.d. at p. ., where southey is referring to the advantages of almanacs, he writes: "who is there that has not sometimes had occasion to consult the almanac? maximilian i., by neglecting to do this, failed in an enterprise against bruges. it had been concerted with his adherents in that turbulent city, that he should appear before it at a certain time, and they would be ready to rise in his behalf, and open the gates for him. he forgot that it was leap-year, and came a day too soon; and this error on his part cost many of the most zealous of his friends their lives. it is remarkable that neither the historian who relates this, nor the writers who have followed him, should have looked into the almanac to guard against any inaccuracy in the relation; _for they have fixed the appointed day on the eve of st. matthias, which being the rd of february, could not be put out of its course by leap-year_." the words in italics show southey's mistake. this historian was quite correct: as, according to the calendar of the roman catholic church, although the regular festival of st. matthias is celebrated upon the th of february, yet, "in anno bissextili februarius est dierum , et festum s. mathiæ celebratur februarii." thus it will be seen, that the year when maximilian was to have appeared before bruges being leap-year, and the day appointed being the eve of st. matthias, he should have come upon the th, not the rd of february: the leap-year making all the difference. p. j. yarrum. dublin. * * * * * oxfordshire legend in stone. a few miles from chipping-norton, by the side of a road which divides oxfordshire from warwickshire, and on the brow of a hill overlooking long compton, stand the remains of a druidical temple. leland speaks of them as "rollright stones," from their being in the parish of rollright. the temple consists of a single circle of stones, from fifty to sixty in number, of various sizes and in different positions, but all of them rough, time-worn, and mutilated. the peasantry say that it is impossible to count these stones, and certainly it is a difficult task, though not because there is any witchcraft in the matter, but owing to the peculiar position of some of them. you will hear of a certain baker who resolved not to be outwitted, so hied to the spot with a basketful of small loaves, one of which he placed on every stone. in vain he tried; either his loaves were not sufficiently numerous, or some sorcery displaced them, and he gave up in despair. of course no one expects to succeed now. in a field adjoining are the remains of a cromlech, the altar where, at a distance from the people, the priests performed their mystic rites. the superimposed stone has slipped off, and rests against the others. these are the "whispering knights," and this their history:--in days of yore, when rival princes debated their claims to england's crown by dint of arms, the hostile forces were encamped hard by. certain traitor-knights went forth to parley with others from the foe. while thus plotting, a great magician, whose power they unaccountably overlooked, transformed them all into stone, and there they stand to this day. not far from the temple, but on the opposite side of the road, is a solitary stone, probably the last of two rows which flanked the approach to the sacred circle. this stone was once a prince who claimed the british throne. on this spot he inquired of the magician above named what would be his destiny: "if long compton you can see, king of england you shall be," answered the wise man. but he could not see it, and at once shared the fate of the "whispering knights." this is called the "king's stone," and so stands that, while you cannot see long compton from it, you can if you go forward a very little way. on some future day an armed warrior will issue from this very stone, to conquer and govern our land! it is said that a farmer, who wished to bridge over a small stream at the foot of the hill, resolved to press the "whispering knights" into the service; but it was almost too much for all the horse power at his command to bring them down. at length they were placed, but all they could do was not sufficient to keep them in their place. it was therefore resolved to restore them to their original post, when, lo! they who required so much to bring them down, and defied all attempts to keep them quiet, were taken back almost without an effort by a single horse! so there they stand, { } till they and the rest (for i believe the large circle was once composed of living men) shall return to their proper manhood. other legends respecting this curious relic might, i doubt not, be obtained on the spot. i obtained the above in answer to inquiries, when making a pilgrimage to the place. b. h. cowper. * * * * * lady nevell's music-book. the following contents of the lady nevell's music-book ( ) may be interesting to many of your readers: " . my ladye nevell's grownde. . que passe, for my ladye nevell. . the march before the battell. . the battell. the march of footemen. the march of horsemen. the trumpetts. the irishe marche. the bagpipe and drone. the flute and dromme. the marche to fight. tantara. the battells be ioyned. the retreat. . the galliarde for the victorie. . the barley breake. . the galliarde gygg. . the hunt's upp. . ut re mi fa sol la. . the first pauian. . the galliard to the same. . the seconde pauian. . the galliarde to the same. . the third pauian. . the galliarde to the same. . the fourth pauian. . the galliarde to the same. . the fifte pauian. . the galliarde to the same. . the sixte pauian. . the galliarde to the same. . the seventh pauian. . the eighte pauian. the passinge mesurs is, . the nynthe pauian. . the galliarde to the same. . the voluntarie lesson. . will you walk the woods soe wylde. . the mayden's song. . a lesson of voluntarie. . the second grownde. . have w^t you to walsingame. . all in a garden greene. . the lo. willobie's welcome home. . the carman's whistle. . hughe ashton's grownde. . a fancie, for my ladye nevell. . sellinger's rownde. . munser's almaine. . the tenth pauian, mr. w. peter. . the galliarde to the same. . a fancie. . a voluntarie. finis. ffinished and ended the leventh of september, in the yeare of our lorde god , and in the yeare of the raigne of our sofferaine ladie elizabeth, by the grace of god queen of england, &c., by me, jo. baldwine of windsore. laudes deo." the songs have no words to them. most of the airs are signed "mr. william birde." a modern ms. note in the book states that the book is "lady nevell's music-book," and that she seems "to have been the scholar of birde, who professedly composed several of the pieces for her ladyship's use;" and that sixteen of the forty-two pieces are "in the virginal book of queen elizabeth," and that "jo. baldwine was a singing-man at windsor." the music is written on four-staved paper of six lines, in large bold characters, with great neatness. the notes are lozenge-shape. can any of your correspondents furnish rules for transposing these six-line staves into the five-line staves of modern notations? l. b. l. * * * * * bishop burnet. having but recently become acquainted with your useful and learned work (for _scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, magna pars eruditionis est_), i have been much interested in looking over the earlier volumes. allow me to add a couple of links to your _catena_ on bishop burnet. the first is the opinion of hampton, the translator of polybius; the other is especially valuable, it being nothing less than the portrait of burnet drawn by himself, but certainly not with any idea of its being suspended beside the worthies of his "own time," for the edification of posterity. hampton's testimony is as follows: "his personal resentments put him upon writing history. he relates the actions of a persecutor and benefactor; and it is easy to believe that a man in such circumstances must violate the laws of truth. the remembrance of his injuries is always present, and gives venom to his pen. let us add to this, that intemperate and malicious curiosity which penetrates into the most private recesses of vice. the greatest of his triumphs is to draw the veil of secret infamy, and expose to view transactions that were before concealed from the world; though they serve not in the least either to embellish the style or connect the series of his history, and will never obtain more credit than, perhaps, to suspend the judgment of the reader, since they are supported only by one single, _suspected_ testimony."--_reflections on ancient and modern history_, to.: oxford, . let me now refer you to a document, written with his own hand, which sets the question of { } burnet's truthfulness and impartiality in his delineations of character completely at rest. from the napier charter-chest, "by a species of retributive justice," there has recently risen up in judgment against him _a letter of his own, proving his own character_. it is, i regret, too long for insertion in your pages _in extenso_, but no abstract can give an adequate idea of its contents. it is, in fact, so mean and abject as almost to overpass belief. i must refer your readers to mr. mark napier's _montrose and the covenanters_, vol. i. pp. - . all the reflections of the whig historian dalrymple, all the severe remarks of swift and lord dartmouth, as to burnet's dishonesty and malice, would now seem well bestowed upon a writer so despicable and faithless, and the credit of whose statements, when resting _on his own sole authority_, must be totally destroyed. this curious epistle was written, in an agony of fear, on a sunday morning, during the memorable crisis of the rye-house plot, and while lord russell was on the eve of his execution. addressed to lord halifax, it was intended to meet the eye of the king. it evidently proves the writer's want of veracity in divers subsequent statements in his history. the future bishop also protests that he never will accept of any preferment, promises never more to oppose the court, and intimates an intention to paint the king in the fairest light--"if i ever live to finish what i am about;" _i.e._ the _history of his own time_, in which the villanous portrait of charles afterwards appeared. "here, then," says mr. napier, "is burnet _redivivus_; and now the bishop may call montrose a coward or what he likes, and persuade the world of his own super-eminent moral courage, if he can. for our own part, after reading the above letter, we do not believe one malicious word of what burnet has uttered in the _history of his own time_ against charles i. and montrose; and he has therein said nothing about them that is not malicious. we do not believe that the apology for hamilton, which he has given to the world in the memoirs of that house, is by any means so truthful an exposition of the character of that mysterious marquis as the letters and papers entrusted to the bishop enabled him to give. we feel thoroughly persuaded that bishop burnet, in that work, as well as in the _history of his own time_, reversed the golden maxim of cicero, '_ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat_.' the marvellous of himself, and the malicious of others, we henceforth altogether disbelieve, when resting on the sole authority of the bishop's historical record, and will never listen to when retailed traditionally and at second-hand from him. finally, we do believe the truth of the anecdote, that the bishop, 'after a debate in the house of lords, usually went home and altered everybody's character as they had pleased or displeased him that day;' and that he kept weaving in secret this chronicle of his times, not to enlighten posterity or for the cause of truth, but as a means of indulging in safety his own interested or malicious feelings towards the individuals that pleased or offended him. so much for bishop burnet, whose authority must henceforth always be received _cum nota_." wm. l. nichols. lansdown place, bath. * * * * * a monastic kitchener's account. (from a volume of memoranda touching the monastery of whalley, temp. henry viii., among the records of the court of augmentation.) "dyv'se somes of money leid oute by me jamys more, monke and kechyner to the late abbot of whalley, for and conc'nynge dyv'se caitts bought by the seid jamys of dyv'se [p=]sons, as hereaft' dothe [p=]ticlerly appire by [p=]cells whiche came to thuse of the seid house, and spent yn the seid house from the last daye of december until the ---- daye of marche then next folowynge yn the xxviij^{th} yere of the reign of kynge henry the viij^{th}, whiche somes of money the said jamys asketh allowance. first payde to edmunde taillor fischer for ---- salt salmons, spent in the seyd late abbott kechyn syns the tyme of his accompt xxv^s itm. payde to the seid edmunde for xj freshe salmons, bought of the said edmunde to thuse, &c. of the seid house, there spent by the seid tyme xxv^s itm. payde to will'm newbbet for fresh fische iij^s iij^d itm. payde for vj capons, bought at fastyngeseven of dyv'se [p=]sons ij^s itm. payde for xxxv hennes, bought of dyv'se [p=]sons v^s x^d itm. payde for eggs, butter, chese, bought of dyv'se [p=]sons betwixt cristmas and fastyngsevyn, spent yn the seid house xxiiij^s itm. payde for mustersede v^s itm. bought of will'm fische viij potts hony-pric x^s itm. bought of anthony watson vij gallons hony ix^s iiij^d itm. bought of john colthirst ij gallons hony ij^s iiij^d itm. payde to richard jackson for xvij^c sparlyngs ix^s viii^d sum of the payments vj^{li} xviij^d (sic in orig.) itm. the same jamys askyth allowance of xiiij^s, whiche the seid late abbott dyd owe hym at the tyme of his last accompt, whiche endyd at cristmas last past, as yt dothe appire by the accompt of the seid jamys more. itm. the late abbott of whalley dyd owe unto the seid jamys more, for a grey stagg that the seid late abbott dyd by of the same jamys by the space of a yere syns x^s by me james mor." the advowson of the parish church of whalley having been bequeathed to the white monks of stanlawe (cheshire), they removed their abbey { } there a.d. ; it being dedicated to the virgin mary ("locus benedictus de whalley"), and having about sixty indwellers. (tanner's _notitia_.) anon. * * * * * the fairies in new ross. "when moonlight near midnight tips the rock and waving wood; when moonlight near midnight silvers o'er the sleeping flood; when yew tops with dew-drops sparkle o'er deserted graves; 'tis then we fly through welkin high, then we sail o'er yellow waves." _book of irish ballads._ there lived, some thirty years since, in the eastern part of the suburbs of new ross, in the county of wexford, denominated the "maudlins," a hedge carpenter named davy hanlan, better known to his neighbours by the sobriquet of "milleadh maide," or "speilstick." davy plied his trade with all the assiduity of an industrious man, "and laboured in all kinds of weather" to maintain his little family; and as his art consisted principally in manufacturing carts, ploughs, and harrows (iron ploughs not being then in use) for the surrounding farmers, and doctoring their old ones, the sphere of davy's avocations was confined to no mean limits. it was a dry, sharp night, in the month of november, and darkness had set in long before davy left mount hanover, two miles distant from his home. at length he started forward, and had already reached the bridge of the maudlins, when he stopped to rest; for besides his tools he carried a bundle of wheaten straw, which he intended for a more than usually comfortable "shake-down" for his dear rib winny. the moon had by this time ascended above the horizon, and by its silvery radiance depicted in delicate outline the hills rising in the distance, while the tender rays mixing with, and faintly illumining the gloom of the intermediate valleys, formed a mass of light and shade so exquisitely blended as to appear the work of enchantment. as davy leaned on the parapet of the bridge, a thrill of alarm involuntarily disturbed his feelings: he was about to depart when he heard a clamorous sound, as of voices, proceeding from that part of the valley on which he still gazed. curiosity now tempted him to listen still longer, when suddenly he saw a group of dwarfish beings emerging from the gloom, and coming rapidly towards him, along the green marsh that borders the maudlin stream. poor davy was terror-stricken at this unusual sight; in vain he attempted to escape: he was, as it were, spellbound. instantly the whole company gained the road beside him, and after a moment's consultation they simultaneously cried out, "where is my horse? give me my horse!" &c. in the twinkling of an eye they were all mounted. davy's feelings may be more easily imagined than described, and in a fit of unconsciousness his tongue, as it were mechanically, articulated "where is my horse?" immediately he found himself astride on a rude piece of timber, somewhat in shape of a plough-beam, by which he was raised aloft in the air. away he went, as he himself related, at the rate of nine knots an hour, gliding smoothly through the liquid air. no aeronaut ever performed his expedition with more intrepidity; and after about two hours' journeying the whole cavalcade alighted in the midst of a large city, just as "the iron tongue of midnight had told twelve." one of the party, who appeared to be a leader, conducted them from door to door, davy following in the rear; and at the first door he passed them the word, "we cannot enter, the dust of the floor lies not behind the door."[ ] other impediments prevented their ingress to the next two or three doors. at length, having come to a door which was not guarded by any of these insuperable sentinels which defy the force of fairy assault, he joyfully cried out "we can enter here:" and immediately, as if by enchantment, the door flew open, the party entered, and davy, much astonished, found himself within the walls of a spacious wine-store. instantly the heads of wine vessels were broken; bungs flew out; the carousing commenced; each boon companion pledged his friend, as he bedewed his whiskers in the sparkling beverage; and the wassail sounds float round the walls and hollow roof. davy, not yet recovered from his surprise, stood looking on, but could not contrive to come at a drop: at length he asked a rather agreeable fairy who was close to him to help him to some. "when i shall have done," said the fairy, "i will give you this goblet, and you can drink." very { } soon after he handed the goblet to davy, who was about to drink, when the leader gave the word of command: "away, away, my good fairies, away! let's revel in moonlight, and shun the dull day." the horses were ready, the party mounted, and davy was carried back to the maudlin bridge, bearing in his hand the silver goblet, as witness of his exploit. half dead he made his way home to winny, who anxiously awaited him; got to bed about four in the morning, to which he was confined by illness for months afterwards. and as davy "lived from hand to mouth," his means were soon exhausted. winny took the goblet and pledged it with mr. alexander whitney, the watchmaker, for five shillings. in a few days after a gentleman who lived not twenty miles from creywell cremony came in to mr. whitney's, saw the goblet, and recognised it as being once in his possession, and marked with the initials "m. r.," and on examining it found it to be the identical one which he had bestowed, some years before, on a spanish merchant. davy, when able to get out, deposed on oath before the mayor of ross (who is still living) to the facts narrated above. the spanish gentleman was written to, and in reply corroborated davy's statement, saying that on a certain night his wine-store was broken open, vessels much injured, and his wine spilled and drunk, and the silver goblet stolen. davy was exonerated from any imputation of guilt in the affair, and was careful, during his life, never again to rest at night on the maudlin bridge. patrick cody. mullinavat, county of kilkenny. [footnote : every good housewife is supposed to sweep the kitchen floor previously to her going to bed; and the old women who are best skilled in "fairy lore" affirm, that if, through any inadvertence, she should leave the dust thus collected behind the door at night, this dust or sweepings will have the power of opening the door to the fairies, should they come the way. it is also believed that, if the broom should be left behind the door, without being placed standing on its handle, it will possess the power of admitting the fairies. should the water in which the family had washed their feet, before going to bed, be left in the vessel, on the kitchen floor, without having a coal of fire put into it, if not thrown out in the yard, it will act as porter to the fairies or good people.] * * * * * minor notes. _the duke of wellington and marshal ney. parallel passage in the life of washington and major andré._--j. r. of cork (vol. vi., p. .) tells how wellington was in his youth smitten with the charms of a lady, who, in after-life having appealed to him to save the life of ney, was not simply unsuccessful in her object but was ordered to quit paris forthwith. j. b. burke, in the _patrician_, vol. vi. p. ., tells how washington endeavoured to win the love of mary phillipse, and how he failed: how years rolled on, and the rejected lover as commander-in-chief of the american forces was supplicated by the same mary, then the wife of roger morris, to spare the life of andre. the appeal failed, and one of the general's aides was ordered to conduct the lady beyond the lines. st. johns. _st. bernard versus fulke greville._--on lately reading over the fine philosophical poem _of humane learning_, by fulke greville, lord brooke, i was struck at finding that the th stanza was a literal transcript from st. bernard. some of your readers may possibly be amused or interested by the discovery: "yet some seeke knowledge, meerely to be knowne, and idle curiositie that is; some but to sell, not freely to bestow, these gaine and spend both time and health amisse; embasing arts, by basely deeming so, some to build others, which is charity, but those to build themselves, who wise men be." _workes_, p. .: lond. , vo. "sunt namque qui scire volunt eo fine tantum, ut sciant: et turpis curiositas est. et sunt item qui scire volunt, ut scientiam suam vendant, verbi causa pro pecunia, pro honoribus: et turpis quæstus est. sed sunt quoque qui scire volunt, ut ædificentur: et prudentia est."--s. bernardi _in cantica serm._ xxxvi. sect . _opp._, vol. i. p. . parisiis, , fol. it is no mean eulogy upon lord brooke's poem just referred to, to say that it stood high in the estimation of the late rev. hugh james rose, and was quoted approvingly by him in his lectures before the durham university. my acquaintance with it was first derived from that source, and i am confident that many others of your readers sympathise with the wishes of mr. crossley, for "a collected edition of the works of the two noble grevilles" ("n. & q.," vol. iv., p. .). the facts upon which the tragedy of _mustapha_ is founded are graphically summed up by knolles in his _historie of the turkes_, pp. - .: london, , fol. rt. warmington. _st. munoki's day._--professor craik, in his _romance of the peerage_, vol. ii. p. ., with reference to the date of the death of margaret tudor, queen dowager of scotland, gives two authorities, namely, th november, , from the _diurnal of remarkable occurrents_, and _st. munoki's_ day, from the _chronicle of perth_, and then says: "i find no saint with a name resembling _munok_ in the common lists." now this note of mine has originated in the belief that i _have found_ such a name in the _calendar of saints_, or at any rate one very closely resembling it, if not the identical _munok_. "st. marnok, b. patron of killmarnock in scotland, honoured on the th october in the scots calendar." now "marnok" is most probably _munok_, the latter, perhaps, misspelt by a careless scribe in the _chronicle of perth_. there is a discrepancy of a month certainly in these two dates, th october and th november; but that is not very wonderful, as a doubt of the exact day of queen margaret's decease evidently exists among historians, for pinkerton (vol. ii. p. .) conjectures june. the above extract regarding st. marnok is from a { } curious old work in my possession, published in in london, and entitled _a memorial of ancient british piety, or a british martyrology_. it gives also the names of st. moroc, c., nov. ; st. munnu, ab., oct. , both saints in the scottish calendar. a. s. a. punjaub. _epitaph in chesham churchyard._-- "as an encouragement to regularity, integrity, and good conduct, this stone was erected at the general expense of the inhabitants of this town and parish to perpetuate the memory of matthew archer, who served the office of clerk with the utmost punctuality and decorum for upwards of thirty years. he died th december, ." f. b. relton. _gentlemen pensioners._-- "on saturday last, the secretary to the band of gentleman pensioners did, by order of the duke of montague their captain, dispatch circular letters to the said gentlemen, signifying his grace's pleasure to revive the ancient rules and orders that were practised at the time of the first institution of the band in the reign of king henry vii., viz. that five of the said gentleman pensioners shall attend constantly every day in the antechamber of the palace where his majesty shall be resident, from ten in the forenoon till three in the afternoon, the usual time of his majesty's retiring to go to dinner; and on every drawing room night from eight to twelve."--_weekly journal_, jan. , . e. _marlborough; curious case of municipal opposition to county magistracy._--shortly after the invasion of the elder pretender, the corporation of marlborough so far defied the royal authority as to drive the quarterly county sessions from the town; and high legal opinions were not wanting to fortify the position thus assumed by the borough, on the ground, namely, of its municipal charter, which secured to the town a court of its own. now, we all know that in early times a borough's court-leet exempted the burgesses from the jurisdiction of the sheriff's "tourn," and that up till the period of the municipal reform bill, many charters still existed, verbally sustaining such right of exemption; but the queries which i wish to put are the following. first, though the crown's representative had no jurisdiction, had he not a right to enter, and sit on cases foreign to the borough? secondly, what are the earliest instances of county quarter sessions sitting in independent boroughs? thirdly, were the cases numerous of similar acts of resistance at the period alluded to, viz. the reign of george i.? i take this occasion to state that i am drawing to conclusion a history of silkely hundred, which includes marlborough and lord ailesbury's seat; and shall feel grateful for any information relating to the pretender's influence in that district. that it must have been considerable may be argued from the ailesbury alliance by marriage with the young pretender. j. waylen. devizes. _wet season in ._--accidentally looking into holinshed a few days ago, i found that our present unusually wet season is not without a parellel, indeed much exceeded; as on that occasion the harvest must have been a complete failure, and dearth and disease consequently ensued. providence, however, has kindly blessed us with an average harvest; and, exclusive of the disasters attendant upon storms and floods, i trust we shall escape any further visitation. i annex an extract of the passage in holinshed: "in this yeare [of edward iii., a.d. ], from midsummer to christmasse, for the more part it continuallie rained, so that there was not one day and night drie togither, by reason whereof great flouds insued, and the ground therewith was sore corrupted, and manie inconueniences insued, as great sickenes, and other, insomuch that in the yeare following, in france, the people died wonderfullie in diverse places. in italie also, and in manie other countries, as well in the lands of the infidels as in christendome, this grieuous mortalitie reigned, to the great destruction of people. about the end of august, the like dearth began in diuerse places of england, and especiallie in london, continuing so for the space of twelue moneths following. and vpon that insued great barrennesse, as well of the sea as the land, neither of them yielding such plentie of things as before they had done. wherevpon vittels and corne became scant and hard to come by."--_the chronicles of raphaell holinshed_, fol., vol. iii. p. (black letter). [phi]. _general wolfe._--it may interest many of your readers to know that a portrait of general wolfe, by ramsay, , is to be sold by messrs. christie and manson, at their rooms, . king street, st. james's square, on saturday, february . the picture is marked no. in the catalogue of the first two days' sale. it formed part of the collection of a gentleman lately deceased, whom i had the pleasure of knowing. c. forbes. temple. { } * * * * * queries. pope and the marquis maffei. i would beg the insertion of the following note, which occurs at p. . of walker's _historical memoir on italian tragedy_; with a view to ascertaining whether any light has been thrown on the subject since the publication of the work in question. i fear there is little chance of such being the case, but still i would be glad to learn from any of your correspondents, whether there is other evidence than the passage given from the marquis's letter to voltaire, to prove that pope was actually engaged in the translation of his tragedy; or whether there is any allusion in the cotemporary literature of the day, to such a work having been undertaken by the bard of twickenham. "it seems to have escaped the notice of all pope's biographers, that when the marquis maffei visited twickenham, in company with lord burlington and dr. mead, he found the english bard employed on a translation of his _merope_: yet the public have been in possession of this anecdote about fifty years. the marquis, in his answer to the celebrated letter addressed to him by voltaire, says: 'avendomi mylord conte di burlington, e il sig. dottore mead, l'uno e l'altro talenti rari, ed à quali quant' io debba non posso dire, condotto alla villa del sig. pope, ch' è il voltaire dell inghilterra, come voi siete il pope della francia, quel bravo poeta mi fece vedere, che lavorava alla versione della mia tragedia in versi inglesi: se la terminasse, e che ne sia divenuto, non so.'--_la merope_, ver. , p. . with the fate of this version we are, and probably shall ever remain, unacquainted: it may, however, be safely presumed, that it was never finished to the satisfaction of the translator, and therefore committed to the flames." t. c. s. * * * * * the church catechism. allow me to make the following inquiries through the pages of "n. & q.," which may possibly elicit valuable information from some of your many correspondents. in the archbishop of york's questions put to candidates for holy orders, feb. , occurred this query: "the church catechism ... by whom was the latter part added and put into its present form; and whence is it chiefly derived?" the former part of this is readily answered; being, as any one at all read in the history of the prayer-book well knows, added at the hampton court conference, ; and was drawn up by bishop overall, at that time dean of st. paul's: but _whence is it chiefly derived?_ that is the question for which i have hitherto sought in vain a satisfactory solution, and fear his grace, or his examining chaplain, must have looked in vain for a correct reply from any of his _quasi_ clergymen, college education though they may have had. it is a point which seems to be passed over entirely unnoticed by all of our liturgical writers and church historians, as i have been at no little pains in searching works at all likely to clear it up, but, hitherto, without success. it may be conjectured that the part referred to, viz., on the sacraments, was taken from dean nowell's catechism; or, at all events, that overall borrowed some of the expressions while he changed its meaning, as nowell's was purely calvinistic in tendency. he may have had before him the fourth part of peter lombard's _liber sententiarum_, or some such work. but all this is mere supposition; and what i want to arrive at, is some correct data or authoritative statement which would settle the point. another interesting matter upon which i am desirous of information, is, as to the protestation after the rubrics at the end of the communion service. in our _present_ prayer-book it is in marks of quotation, which we do not find in the second book of king edward vi., where it originally appears--and the expressions there admit the real presence. it was altogether left out in elizabeth's prayer-book, but again inserted in the last review in , when the inverted commas first appear: the sense being somewhat different, allowing the spiritual but not the actual or bodily presence of christ. why are the _commas_ or marks of quotation, if such they be, then inserted? i have written to a well-known archdeacon, eminent for his works on the sacraments, but his answer does not convey what is sought by c. j. armistead. springfield mount, leeds. * * * * * a countess of southampton. i have just been reading, in the _revue des deux mondes_, an interesting article upon the recently-published _memoirs of mademoiselle de koenigsmark_, in which i meet with the following passage: "ce fut à venise que charles-jean de koenigsmark rencontra la belle comtesse de southampton, cette vaillante amoureuse qui, plantant la fortune et famille, le suivit désormais par le monde déguisée en page: romanesque anecdote que la princesse palatine a consignée dans ses mémoires avec cette brusque rondeur de style qui ne marchande pas les expressions. 'il doit être assez dans le caractère de quelques dames anglaises de suivre leurs amans. j'ai connu un comte de koenigsmark qu'une dame anglaise avait suivi en habit de page. elle était avec lui à chambord, et comme, faute de place, il ne pouvait loger au château, il avait fait dresser dans la forêt une tente où il logeât. il me raconta son aventure à la masse; j'eu la curiosité de voir le soi-disant page. je n'ai jamais rien vu de plus beau que cette figure: les plus beaux yeux du monde, une bouche charmante, une prodigieuse quantité de cheveux du plus beau brun, qui tombèrent en grosses boucles sur ses épaules. elle sourit en me voyant, se doutant bien que je savais son secret. { } lorsqu'il partit de chambord pour l'italie, le comte koenigsmark se trouva dans une auberge, et en sortit le matin pour faire un tour de promenade. l'hotesse de cette maison courut après lui et lui cria: 'montez vite là-haut, monsieur, votre page accouche!' le page accoucha en effet d'une fille: on mit la mère et l'enfant dans un couvent à paris." he afterwards went to england, where-- "les frères, cousins, et petits cousins de lady southampton l'attendaient, et les duels se mirent à lui pleuvoir dessus. comme son épée aimait assez à luire au soleil, il la tira volontiers, et avec une chance telle que ses ennemis, ne pouvant le vaincre par le fer, jugèrent à propos d'essayer du poison. dégouté de perdre son temps à de pareilles misères, &c. &c. tant que le comte a vecu il en a eu grand soin; mais il mourut en morée, et le page fidèle ne lui survécut pas long-temps. elle est morte comme une sainte." can you, or any of your correspondents, say _who_ this interesting _countess of southampton_ was? she lived at the end of the seventeenth century. in addition to these particulars, which are so nicely told that i would not venture to alter them, as orsino asks viola, "what was her history?" w. r. * * * * * minor queries. _hardening steel bars._--can any of your readers inform me how thin, flat, steel bars (say three feet long) can be prevented from "running" crooked when hardened in water? j. h. a. _pierrepont._--who was john pierrepont of wadworth, near doncaster, who died july, , aged . a. f. b. diss. _ceylon._--i should be much obliged to sir james tennent, if he would kindly inform me where the best map of ceylon is to be got? such as are to be found in the atlases within my reach are only good enough to try a man's temper, and no more. may i also take the liberty of asking how soon we may expect the appearance of sir james tennent's book on the history, &c. of ceylon? a work which will be a great work indeed, if we have at all a fair specimen of its author's learning and powers in the _christianity in ceylon_. ajax. _flemish and dutch schools of painting._--would any of your correspondents direct me to some work giving me some information about the painters of the dutch and flemish schools, their biographers, their peculiarities, chefs-d'oeuvre, &c.? ajax. "_to talk like a dutch uncle._"--in some parts of america, when a person has determined to give another a regular lecture, he will often be heard to say, "i will talk to him like a dutch uncle;" that is, he shall not escape this time. as the emigrants to america from different countries have brought their national sayings with them, and as the one i am now writing about was doubtless introduced by the knickerbockers, may i ask if a similar expression is now known or used in holland? w. w. malta. _ecclesiastical antiquities of belgium_.--i want some work on this subject: can any one tell me of one? n.b.--a big book does not frighten me. ajax. _charter of waterford._--i have a copy of the english translation of this charter, published in kilkenny, with the following note, written in an old hand, on the title-page: "this was first translated by william cunningham cunningham (_sic_), a native of carrick-on-suir, born on ballyrichard road: his father and brother were blacksmiths; his grand-nephew cunningham lives now a cowper (_sic_) in new street in do. town." i wish to know if this note is worth anything, and if the statement contained in it is true? r. h. _inscription on penny of george iii._--on an old penny of george iii., on the reverse, i find the following inscription: "stabit qvocvnqve ieceris." what does this precisely mean; or why and when was it adopted? j. m. a. _"shob," or "shub," a kentish word._--your correspondent on the kentish word _sheets_ (vol. vi., p. .) may possibly be able to give some account of another kentish word, which i have met with in the country about horton-kirby, dartford, crayford, &c., and the which i cannot find in halliwell, or any other dictionary in my possession,--viz. to _shob_ or _shub_. it is applied to the trimming up elm-trees in the hedge-rows, by cutting away all the branches except at the head: "to shob the trees" is the expression. now, in german we have _schaben_, v. r. to shave; but in the anglo-saxon i find nothing nearer than _scaf_, part. _scof_, to shave. a. c. m. exeter. _bishop pursglove (suffragan) of hull._--this prelate is buried in tideswell church, devonshire, and a copy of his monumental brass is given in _illustrations of monumental brasses_, published in by the cambridge camden society. perhaps some reader of "n. & q." who has access to that work will send the inscription for insertion in your columns. any information also as { } to his consecration, character, and period of decease, would be acceptable. what is the best work on english suffragan bishops? i believe wharton's _suffragans_ (which, however, i do not possess to refer to) is far from being complete or correct. it would be interesting to have a complete list of such bishops, with the names of their sees, and dates of consecration and demise. i find no suffragan bishop after bishop john sterne, consecrated for colchester th november, , and this from the valuable list in percival's _apol. for ap. suc._ a. s. a. punjaub. _stewarts of holland._--in the year there lived in holland a lieutenant dougal stewart, of the dutch service, who was married to susan, daughter of lieutenant-colonel fairfowl, of bracindam. he was descended from the ancient scottish family of stewarts of appin, in argyleshire; and this query is to inquire whether anything is known regarding him or his descendants, if he had such? this might find a reply in _de navorscher_ perhaps. a. s. a. punjaub. _robert wauchope, archbishop of armagh, ._--is there any detailed account of this prelate extant? the few particulars i have been able to glean respecting him are merely that he was a native of scotland, and doctor in divinity of the university of paris, where he probably studied theology, as was common with scottish ecclesiastics of that day. he arrived in ireland about the year , and is memorable for the glory, or shame, of being the first who introduced the jesuit order into that country. pope paul iii. nominated him to the primatial see of armagh, after the death of archbishop cromer in , and during the lifetime of archbishop dowdal, who was a catholic also, but being appointed archbishop of armagh in november , by king henry viii., was not acknowledged at rome as such. _waucup_, as his name is also spelt, and latinized "venantius," never appears, however, to have been able to obtain regular possession of the see of armagh and primacy of ireland, being merely titular archbishop. some accounts state that he was blind from his childhood, but others say, and probably more correctly, that he was only short-sighted. he was present at the council of trent in - , being one of the four irish prelates who attended there; and, in _hist. del concil. trid._, l. ii. p. ., he is alluded to as having been esteemed the _best at riding post in the world!_--"huomo di brevissima vista era commendato di questa, di correr alla posta meglio d'huomo del mondo." i should like much to ascertain the date and place of his birth, consecration, and death. a. s. a. _plum-pudding._--can any of your readers inform me of the origin of the following custom, and whether the ceremony is still continued? i can find no mention of it in any topographical dictionary or history of devon, but it was copied from an old newspaper, bearing date june , : "at paignton fair, near exeter, the ancient custom of drawing through the town a plum-pudding of an immense size, and afterwards distributing it to the populace, _was revived_ on tuesday last. the ingredients which composed this enormous pudding were as follows: lbs. of flour, lbs. of beef suet, lbs. of raisins, and eggs. it was kept constantly boiling in a brewer's copper from saturday morning to the tuesday following, when it was placed on a car decorated with ribbons, evergreens, &c., and drawn along the street by eight oxen." everard horne coleman. "_whene'er i asked._"--i shall be very glad to know the author and the exact whereabouts of the following lines, which i find quoted in a ms. letter written from london to america, and dated nd october, : "whene'er i ask'd for blessings on your head, nothing was cold or formal that i said; my warmest vows to heaven were made for thee, and love still mingled with my piety." w. b. r. philadelphia, u. s. _immoral works._--what ought to be done with works of this class? it is easy to answer, "destroy them:" but you and i know, and mr. macaulay has acknowledged, that it is often necessary to rake into the filthiest channels for historical and biographical evidence. i, personally, doubt whether we are justified in destroying _any_ evidence, however loathsome and offensive it may be. what, then, are we to do with it? it is impossible to keep such works in a private library, even under lock and key, for death opens locks more certainly than mr. hobbs himself. i think such ought to be preserved in the british museum, entered in its catalogue, but only permitted to be seen on good reasons formally assigned in writing, and not then allowed to pass into the reading-room. what is the rule at the museum? i ask these questions because i have, by accident, become possessed of a poem (about lines) which professes to be written by lord byron, is addressed to thomas moore, and was printed abroad many years since. it begins,-- "thou ermin'd judge, pull off that sable cap." more specific reference will not be necessary for those who have seen the work. is the writer known? i am somewhat surprised that not one of byron's friends has, so far as i know, hinted a denial of the authorship; for, scarce as { } the work may be, i suppose some of them must have seen it; and, under existing circumstances, it is possible that a copy might get into the hands of a desperate creature who would hope to make a profit, by republishing it with byron's and moore's names in the title-page. i. w. _arms at bristol._--in a window now repairing in bristol cathedral is this coat:--arg. on a chevron or (_false heraldry_), three stags' heads caboshed. whose coat is this? it is engraved in lysons' _gloucestershire antiquities_ without name. e. d. _passage in thomson._--in thomson's "hymn to the seasons," line , occurs the following passage: "but wandering oft, with brute, unconscious gaze, man marks not thee; marks not the mighty hand that, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres; works in the secret deep; shoots, _steaming_, thence the fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring," &c. can any of your readers oblige by saying whether the word _steaming_, in the fourth line of the quotation, is the correct reading? if so, in what sense it can be understood? if not, whether _teeming_ is not probably the correct word? w. m. p. "_for god will be your king to-day._"-- "for god will be your king to-day, and i'll be general under." my grandmother, who was a native of somersetshire, and born in , used to recite a ballad to my mother, when a child, of which the above lines are the only ones remembered. do they refer to the rising under the duke of monmouth? and where can the whole of the ballad be found? m. a. s. . dover road. "_see where the startled wild fowl._"--where are the following lines to be found? i copy them from the print of landseer's, called "the sanctuary." "see where the startled wild fowl screaming rise, and seek in martial flight those golden skies. yon wearied swimmer scarce can win the land, his limbs yet falter on the wat'ry strand. poor hunted hart! the painful struggle o'er, how blest the shelter of that island shore! there, while he sobs his panting heart to rest, nor hound nor hunter shall his lair molest." g. b. w. _ascension-day._--was "ascension-day" ever kept a close holiday the same as good friday and christmas-day? and, if so, when was such custom disused? h. a. hammond. _the grogog of a castle._--it appears by a record of the irish exchequer of edw. ii., that one walter haket, constable of maginnegan's castle in the co. of dublin, confined one of the king's officers in the _grogog_ thereof. will you permit me to inquire, whether this term has been applied to the prison of castles in england? j. f. f. dublin. * * * * * replies. canongate marriages. (vol. v., p. .) i had hoped that the inquiry of r. s. f. would have drawn out some of your edinburgh correspondents; but, as they are silent upon a subject they might have invested with interest, allow me to say a word upon these canongate marriages. i need not, i think, tell r. s. f. how loosely our countrymen, at the period alluded to, and long subsequent thereto, looked upon the marriage tie; as almost every one who has had occasion to touch upon our _domestic_ manners and customs has pointed at, what appeared to them, and what really was, an anomaly in the character of a nation somewhat boastful of their better order and greater sense of propriety and decorum. besides the incidental notices of travellers, the legal records of scotland are rife with examples of litigation arising out of these irregular marriages; and upon a review of the whole history of such in the north, it cannot be denied that, among our staid forefathers, "matrimony was more a matter of merriment"[ ] than a solemn and religious engagement. the courts in scotland usually _frowned_ upon cases submitted to them where there was a strong presumption that either party had been victimised by the other; but, unfortunately, the requirements were so simple, and the facility of procuring witnesses so great, that many a poor frolicksome fellow paid dearly for his joke by finding himself suddenly transformed, from a bachelor, to a spick and span benedict; and that too upon evidences which would not in these days have sent a fortune-telling impostor to the tread-mill: the lords of the justiciary being content that some one had heard him use the endearing term of wife to the pursuer, or had witnessed a mock form at an obscure public-house, or that the parties were by habit and repute man and wife. how truly then may it have been said, that a man in the northern capital, so open to imposition, scarcely knew whether he was married or not. in cases where the ceremony was performed, it { } did not follow that the priest of hymen should be of the clerical profession: "to tie the knot," says john hope, "there needed none; he'd find a clown, in brown, or gray, booted and spurr'd, should preach and pray; and, without stir, grimace, or docket, lug out a pray'r-book from his pocket; and tho' he blest in wond'rous haste, should tie them most securely fast." _thoughts_, . in chambers's _traditions of edinburgh_, there is a slight allusion to these canongate marriages: "the white horse inn," says he, "in a close in the canongate, is an exceedingly interesting old house of entertainment. it was also remarkable for the runaway couples from england, who were married in its large room." the white hart, in the grass-market, appears to have been another of these gretna green houses. a curious fellow, well known in edinburgh at the period referred to, was the high priest of the canongate hymeneal altar. i need hardly say this was the famous "claudero, the son of nimrod the mighty hunter," as he grandiloquently styled himself: otherwise james wilson, a disgraced schoolmaster, and poet-laureate to the edinburgh _canaille_. in the large rooms of the above inns, this comical fellow usually presided, and administered relief to gallant swains and love-sick damsels, and a most lucrative trade he is said to have made of it:-- "claudero's skull is ever dull, without the sterling shilling:" in allusion to their being called half-merk or shilling marriages. chambers gives an illustrative anecdote of our subjects' matrimonial practices in that of a soldier and a countryman seeking from wilson a cast of his office: from the first claudero took his shilling, but demanded from the last a fee of five, observing-- "i'll hae this sodger ance a week a' the times he's in edinburgh, and you (the countryman) i winna see again." the scottish poetical antiquary is familiar with this eccentric character; but it may not be uninteresting to your general readers to add, that when public excitement in edinburgh ran high against the kirk, the lawyers, meal-mongers, or other _rogues_ in _grain_, claudero was the vehicle through which the democratic voice found vent in squibs and broadsides fired at the offending party or obnoxious measure from his lair in the canongate. in his _miscellanies_, edin. , now before me, claudero's cotemporary, geordie boick, in a poetical welcome to london, thus compliments wilson, and bewails the condition of the modern athens under its bereavement of the poet: "the ballad-singers and the printers, must surely now have starving winters; their press they may break a' in splinters, i'm told they swear, claudero's muse, alas! we've tint her for ever mair." for want of claudero's _lash_, his eulogist goes on to say: "now vice may rear her hydra head, and strike defenceless virtue dead; religion's heart may melt and bleed, with grief and sorrow, since satire from your streets is fled, poor edenburrow!" claudero was, notwithstanding, a sorry poet, a lax moralist, and a sordid parson; but peace to the manes of the man, or his successor in the latter office, who gave me in that same long room of the white horse in the canongate of edinburgh the best parents son was ever blest with! j. o. [footnote : _letters from edinburgh_, london, . see also, _letters from a gentleman in scotland to his friend in england_ (commonly called _burt's letters_): london, .] * * * * * lady katherine grey. (vol. vi., p. .) there appears to be some doubt if the alleged marriage ever did take place, for i find, in baker's _chronicles_, p. ., that in "divers great persons were questioned and condemned, but had their lives spared," and among them-- "lady katherine grey, daughter to henry grey duke of suffolk, by the eldest daughter of charles brandon, having formerly been married to the earl of pembroke's eldest son, and from him soon after lawfully divorced, was some years after found to be with child by edward seymour earl of hartford, who, being at that time in france, was presently sent for: and being examined before the archbishop of canterbury, and affirming they were lawfully married, but not being able within a limited time to produce witnesses of their marriage, they were both committed to the tower." after some further particulars of the birth of a second child in the tower, the discharge of the lieutenant, sir edward warner, and the fining of the earl by the star chamber, to the extent of l., the narrative proceeds: "though in pleading of his case, one john hales argued they were lawful man and wife _by virtue of their own bare consent, without any ecclesiastical ceremony_." collins, in his _peerage_ ( ), states: "the validity of this marriage being afterwards tried at common law, the minister who married them being present, and other circumstances agreeing, the jury (whereof john digby, esq., was foreman) found it a good marriage." { } sharpe, in his _peerage_ ( ), under the title "stamford," says: "'the manner of her departing' _in the tower_, which mr. ellis has printed from a ms. so entitled in the harleian collection, although less terrible, is scarcely less affecting than that of her heroic sister," &c. perhaps your correspondent a. s. a. may be enabled to consult this work, and so ascertain further particulars. broctuna. bury, lancashire. * * * * * howlett the engraver. (vol. i., p. .) in your first volume, an inquiry is made for information respecting the above person. as i find on referring to the subsequent volumes of "n. & q." that the query never received any reply, i beg to forward a cutting from the obituary of the _new monthly magazine_ for june, , referring to howlett; concerning whom, however, i cannot give any further information. "mr. bartholomew howlett. "lately in newington, surrey, aged sixty, mr. bartholomew howlett, antiquarian, draughtsman, and engraver. this artist was a pupil of mr. heath, and for many years devoted his talents to the embellishment of works on topography and antiquities. his principal publication, and which will carry his name down to posterity with respect as an artist, was _a selection of views in the county of lincoln; comprising the principal towns and churches, the remains of castles and religious houses, and seats of the nobility and gentry; with topographical and historical accounts of each view_. this handsome work was completed in to. in . the drawings are chiefly by t. girtin, nattes, nash, corbould, &c., and the engravings are highly creditable to the burin of mr. howlett. mr. howlett was much employed by the late mr. wilkinson on his _londina illustrata_; by mr. stevenson in his second edition of bentham's _ely_; by mr. frost, in his recent _notices of hull_; and in numerous other topographical works. he executed six plans and views for major anderson's _account of the abbey of st. denis_; and occasionally contributed to the _gentleman's magazine_, and engraved several plates for it. in , mr. howlett issued proposals for _a topographical account of clapham, in the county of surrey, illustrated by engravings_. these were to have been executed from drawings by himself, of which he made several, and also formed considerable collections; but we believe he only published one number, consisting of three plates and no letter-press. we hope the manuscripts he has left may form a groundwork for a future topographer. they form part of the large collections for surrey, in the hands of mr. tytam. in , whilst the royal hospital and collegiate church of st. katharine, near the tower, was pulling down, he made a series of drawings on the spot, which it was his intention to have engraved and published. but the greatest effort of his pencil was in the service of his kind patron and friend, john caley, esq., f.r.s., f.s.a., keeper of the records in the augmentation office. for this gentleman mr. howlett made finished drawings from upwards of a thousand original seals of the monastic and religious houses of this kingdom." b. hudson. congleton, cheshire. * * * * * chaucer. (vol. vi., p. .) in reference to the question raised by j. n. b., what authority there is for asserting that chaucer pursued the study of the law at the temple, i send you the following extract from a sketch of his life by one of his latest biographers, sir harris nicolas: "it has been said that chaucer was originally intended for the law, and that, from some cause which has not reached us, and on which it would be idle to speculate, the design was abandoned. the acquaintance he possessed with the classics, with divinity, with astronomy, with so much as was then known of chemistry, and indeed with every other branch of the scholastic learning of the age, proves that his education had been particularly attended to; and his attainments render it impossible to believe that he quitted college at the early period at which persons destined for a military life usually began their career. it was not then the custom for men to pursue learning for its own sake; and the most rational manner of accounting for the extent of chaucer's acquirements, is to suppose that he was educated for a learned profession. the knowledge he displays of divinity would make it more likely that he was intended for the church than for the bar, were it not that the writings of the fathers were generally read by all classes of students. one writer says that chaucer was a member of the inner temple, and that while there he was fined two shillings for beating a franciscan friar in fleet street[ ]; and another (leland) observes, that after he had travelled in france, 'collegia leguleiorum frequentavit.' nothing, however, is positively known of chaucer until the autumn of , when he himself says he was in the army with which edward iii. invaded france, and that he served for the first time on that occasion." the following remarks are from the _life of chaucer_, by william godwin, lond. , vol. i. p. .: "the authority which of late has been principally relied upon with respect to chaucer's legal education is that of mr. speght, who, in his _life of chaucer_, says, 'not many yeeres since, master buckley did see a record in the same house [the inner temple], where geoffrey chaucer was fined two shillings for beating a franciscane fryar in fleet-streete.' this certainly { } would be excellent evidence, were it not for the dark and ambiguous manner in which it is produced. i should have been glad that mr. speght had himself seen the record, instead of master buckley, of whom i suppose no one knows who he is: why did he not? i should have been better satisfied if the authority had not been introduced with so hesitating and questionable a phrase as 'not many yeeres since;' and i also think that it would have been better if master buckley had given us the date annexed to the record; as we should then at least have had the satisfaction of knowing whether it did not belong to some period before our author was born, or after he had been committed to the grave. much stress, therefore, cannot be laid upon the supposition of chaucer having belonged to the society of the inner temple." tyro. dublin. [footnote : "speght, who states that a mr. buckley had seen a record of the inner temple to that effect."--_note by sir h. n._] * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _pyrogallic acid_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in answer to the query of your correspondent e. s., i beg to give the following method of preparing pyrogallic acid (first published by dr. stenhouse), which i have tried and found perfectly successful. make a strong aqueous infusion of powdered galls; pour it off from the undissolved residue, and carefully evaporate to dryness by a gentle heat: towards the conclusion of the process the extract is very liable to burn; this is best prevented by continued stirring with a glass or porcelain spatula. next, procure a flat-bottomed iron pan, about ten inches diameter and five inches deep. make a hat of cartridge paper pasted together, about seven inches high, to slip over and accurately fit the top of the iron pan. strew the bottom of the pan with the gall extract to the depth of three-quarters of an inch; over the top stretch and tie a piece of bibulous paper pierced with numerous pin-holes; over this place the hat, and tie it also tightly round the top of the pan. the whole apparatus is now to be placed in a sand-bath, and heat cautiously applied. it is convenient to place a glass thermometer in the sand-bath as near the iron pan as possible. the heat is to be continued about an hour, and to be kept as near ° fah. as possible; on no account is it to exceed °. the vapour of the acid condenses in the hat, and the crystals are prevented from falling back into the pan by the bibulous paper diaphragm. when it is supposed that the whole of the acid is sublimed, the strings are to be untied, and the hat and diaphragm cautiously taken off together; the crystals will be found in considerable quantity, and should be removed into a stoppered bottle; they should be very brilliant and perfectly white; if there is any yellow tinge, the heat has been too great. i believe that close attention to the above details will ensure success to any one who chooses to try the process, but at the same time i must remind your correspondents that scarcely any operation in chemistry is perfectly successful the first time of trial. j. g. h. clapham. _stereoscopic pictures with one camera_ (vol. vi., p. .).--in reply to the inquiry of ramus, allow me to say the matter is not difficult. my plan is as follows:--suppose a piece of still-life to be the subject. set up the camera at such a distance as will give a picture of the size intended, suppose it sixteen feet from the principal and central object; by means of a measuring tape or a piece of string, measure the exact distance from the principal object to the front of the camera. take and complete the first picture; if it prove successful, remove the camera about two feet either to the right or left of its first station (_i.e._ according to the judgment formed as to which will afford the most artistic view of the subject), taking care by help of the tape or string to preserve the same distance between the principal object and the camera, and that the adjustment of focus is not disturbed. in other words, the camera must be moved to another part of the arc of a circle, of which the principal object is the centre, and the measured distance the radius. if the arc through which the camera is moved to its second station be too large, the stereoscopic picture will be unnaturally and unpleasingly distorted. the second picture is now to be taken. if the subject be a sitter, it is of the utmost importance to proceed as quickly as possible, as the identical position must be retained movelessly till both pictures are completed. this (in my experience) is scarcely practicable with collodion pictures, unless by the aid of an assistant and two levelled developing-stands in the dark closet; for the time occupied by starting the first picture on its development, and preparing the second glass plate (scarcely less than three or four minutes), will be a heavy tax on the quiescent powers of the sitter. this difficulty is avoided by adopting the daguerreotype process, as the plates can be prepared beforehand, and need not be developed before both pictures are taken. in this case the only delay between the pictures is in the shifting the position of the camera. this is readily done by providing a table of suitable height (instead of the ordinary tripod), on which an arc of a circle is painted, having for its centre the place of the sitter. if the sitter be at the distance of eleven or twelve feet (my usual distance with a ¼ inch voightlander), the camera need not be moved more than ten or twelve inches; and even this distance produces some visible distortion to an accurate observer. the second levelling stand is required when using the collodion process, because the second { } picture will be ready for development before the developing and fixing of the first has set its stand at liberty. cokely. _mr. crookes' wax-paper process_ (vol. vi., p. .).--r. e. wishes to know the exact meaning of the sentence, "with the addition of as _much free iodine_ as will give it a sherry colour." after adding the iodide of potassium to the water, a small quantity of iodine (this can be proctored at any operative chemist's) is to be dissolved in the mixture until it be of the proper colour. the paper is decidedly more sensitive if exposed wet, but it should not be washed; and i think it is advisable to have a double quantity of nitrate of silver in the exciting bath. i have not yet tried any other salt than iodide of potassium for the first bath; but i hope before the summer to lay before your readers a simpler, and i think superior wax-paper process, upon which i am at present experimenting. william crookes. hammersmith. p.s.--i see that in the tables r. e. has given, he has nearly doubled the strength of my iodine bath. it should be twenty-four grains to the ounce, instead of forty-four; and he has entirely left out the iodine. _india rubber a substitute for yellow glass._--i think that i have made a discovery which may be useful to photographers. it is known that some kinds of yellow glass effectually obstruct the passage of the chemical rays, and that other kinds do not, according to the manner in which the glass is prepared. i have never heard or read of india rubber being used for this purpose; but i believe it will be found perfectly efficient, and will therefore state how i arrived at this conclusion. having occasion to remove a slate from the side of my roof, to make an opening for my camera, i thought of a sheet of india rubber to supply the place of the slate, and thus obtain a flexible waterproof covering to exclude the wet, and to open and shut at pleasure. this succeeded admirably, but i found that i had also obtained a deep rich yellow window, which perfectly lighted a large closet, previously quite dark, and in which for the last ten days i have excited and developed the most sensitive iodized collodion on glass. i therefore simply announce the fact, as it may be of some importance, if verified by others and by further experiment. i have not yet tested it with a lens and the solution of sulphite of quinine, as i wished the sun to shine on the sheet of india rubber at the time, which would decide the question. however, sheet india rubber can be obtained of any size and thickness required: mine is about one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and one foot square; and the advantages over glass would be great in some cases, especially for a dark tent in the open air, as any amount of light might be obtained by stitching a sheet of india rubber into the side, which would fold up without injury. it is possible that gutta percha windows would answer the same purpose. h. y. w. n. brompton. _dr. diamond's paper processes._--we have been requested to call attention to, and to correct several errors of the press overlooked by us in dr. diamond's article, in the hurry of preparing our enlarged number (no. .). the most important is in the account of the _exciting_ fluid,--the omission, at p. . col. . l. . (after directions to take one drachm of aceto-nitrate of silver), of the words "_one drachm of saturated solution of gallic acid_." the passage should run thus: "of this solution take one drachm, and one drachm of saturated solution of gallic acid, and add to it two ounces and a half of distilled water." in the same page, col. . l. ., "solvent" should be "saturated;" and in the same article, _passim_, "hyposulphate" should be "hyposulphite," and "solari_s_e" should be "solari_z_e." * * * * * replies to minor queries. _ancient timber town-halls._--since my account of ancient town-halls (vol. v., p. .) was written, one of these fabrics of the olden time noticed therein has ceased to exist, that of kington, co. hereford, it having been taken down early in november last, but for what reason i have not learned. another, formerly standing in the small town of church stretton, in the co. of salop, which was erected upon wooden pillars, and constructed entirely of timber, must have been a truly picturesque building, was taken down in september, . a woodcut of the latter is now before me. of the old market-house at leominster i possess a very beautiful original drawing, done by mr. carter upwards of half a century ago. j. b. whitborne. _magnetic intensity_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the magnetic intensity is greatest at the poles; the ratio may roughly be said to be . , but more accurately to . . this is found by observation of the oscillations of a vertical or horizontal needle. a needle which made oscillations in ten minutes at paris, made only at ° ' south lat. in peru. the intensity and variations to which it is subject is strictly noted at all the magnetic observatories, and i believe the disturbances of intensity which sometimes occur have been found to be simultaneous by a comparison of observations at different latitudes. for the fullest information on magnetic intensity, adsum is referred to sabine's _report on_ { } _magnetic intensity_, also sabine's _contributions to terrestrial magnetism_, , no. v. t. b. _monument at wadstena_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--i have received the following (which i translate) from my friend in denmark, whom i mentioned in my last communication on this monument: "it is only about a month since i saw queen philippa's tombstone in the church of vadstena monastery. it is a very large stone, on which the device and inscription are cut in outline, but there is no _brass_ about it. king erik menved's and queen ingeberg's monument in ringsted church is the finest brass i ever saw, and i have seen many." there is a good engraving of the brass alluded to, which is a very rich one, in _antiquariske annaler_, vol. iii.: copenhagen, . the inscriptions are curious, and the date . w. c. trevelyan. wallington. _david routh, r. c. bishop of ossory_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in the article on a cardinal's monument, by mr. j. graves, of kilkenny, allusion is made to the monument of the above catholic bishop routh or rothe, as being in the cathedral of st. canice, kilkenny, with his arms "surmounted by a _cardinal's hat_," and that he died some years after . if mr. graves would give the date of this prelate's decease, or rather a copy of the full inscription on his monument, with a notice of the sculptured armorial bearings thereupon, he would be conferring a favour on a distant inquirer; and as mr. graves is, apparently, a resident at kilkenny, no obstacle exists to prevent his complying with this request. any notices procurable regarding bishop routh are well deserving of insertion in "n. & q.," for he was a man of deep learning and research, and is well known to have assisted the celebrated archbishop ussher of armagh in the compilation of his _primordia_, for which he had high compliments paid him by that eminent prelate, notwithstanding their being of different religions. bishop routh was also himself the author of a work on _irish ecclesiastical history_, now very rare, and seldom procurable complete. he published it anonymously, in two volumes vo., in the year , at "coloniæ, apud steph. rolinum," with the following rather long title: "analecta sacra, nova, et mira, de rebus catholicorum in hibernia: divisa in tres partes, quarum i, continet semestrem gravaminam relationem, secundâ hac editione novis adauctam additamentis, et notis illustratam. ii. parænesin ad martyres designatos. iii. processum martyrialem quorundam fidei pugilium; collectore et relatore, t. n. philadelpho." i fear this has degenerated from a note into a query; however, i may state in conclusion, that mr. graves is in error in styling the hat on bishop routh's monument a cardinal's, for all catholic prelates, and abbots also, have their armorial bearings surmounted by a hat, exactly similar to a cardinal's hat, with this difference only, that the number of tassels depending from it varies according to the rank of the prelate, from the _cardinal's_ with fifteen tassels in five rows, down to that of a _prior_ with three only on each side in two rows. a. s. a. punjaub. _cardinal erskine_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .).--several notices of this ecclesiastic have appeared in "n. & q.," but as none of them give the exact information required, i now do so, though perhaps tardily. he was born th february, , at rome, where his father, colin erskine, a jacobite, and exiled scion of the noble scottish house of erskine, earls of kellie, had taken up his residence. "monsignor charles erskine," having embraced the ecclesiastical life at an early age, and passed through several gradations in the church of rome, was, in , "promotore della fede," an office of the congregation of rites; in auditor to pope pius vi., and raised to the purple by pope pius vii., who created him a _cardinal_-deacon of the holy roman church, th february, . cardinal erskine accompanied the latter pontiff in his exile from rome in the year , and died at paris, th march, , in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and eleventh of his cardinalate. a. s. a. punjaub. _"ne'er to these chambers," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to aram's query: "where do these lines come from?" they come from tickell's sublime and pathetic "elegy on the death of addison." aram ("wits have short memories," &c.) has _misquoted_ them. in a poem of so high a mood, to _displace_ a word is to destroy a beauty. aram has _interpolated_ several words. the following is the _true_ version: "ne'er to these chambers, where the mighty rest, since their foundation, came a nobler guest, nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss convey'd a fairer spirit, or more welcome shade." george daniel. canonbury. these lines are taken from the "elegy on the death of addison," written by tickell. they are, if i remember rightly, inscribed on the gravestone recently placed over his remains by the earl of ellesmere, in the north aisle of henry vii.'s chapel. the last two lines which your correspondent quotes should be as follows: "nor _e'er was to the bowers of bliss convey'd_ a _fairer_ spirit, or more welcome shade." j. k. r. w. { } _the budget_ (vol. vi., p. .).--it may be useful to inform prestoniensis, that, in a recent work on political economy, m. ch. coquelin says, that the word _budget_, in its present signification, has passed into france from england: the latter country having first borrowed it from the old french language--_bougette_ signifying (and particularly in old norman) a leather purse. it was the custom in england to put into a leather bag the estimates of receipts and expenditure presented to parliament: and hence, as coquelin observes, the term passed from the containant to the contained, and, with this new signification, returned from this country into france; where it was first used in an official manner in the _arrêtés_ of the consul's th themidor, year x, and th germinal, year xi. f. h. "_catching a tartar_" (vol. vi., p. .).--this common and expressive saying is thus explained in arvine's _cyclopædia_: "in some battle between the russians and the tartars, who are a wild sort of people in the north of asia, a private soldier called out, 'captain, halloo there! i've caught a tartar!' 'fetch him along then,' said the captain. 'ay, but he won't let me,' said the man. and the fact was the tartar had caught him. so when a man thinks to take another in, and gets himself bit, they say he's caught a tartar." grose says that this saying originated with an irish soldier who was in the "imperial," that is, i suppose he means the austrian service. this is hardly probable; the irish are made to father many sayings which do not rightly belong to them, and this i think may be safely written as one among the number. eirionnach has now two references before him, grose's _glossary_ and arvine's _cyclopædia_, in which his query is partly explained, if he can but find the dates of their publication. in this search i regret i cannot assist him, as neither of these works are to be found in the libraries of this island; at least thus far i have not been able to meet with them. w. w. malta. _the termination "-itis"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--adsum asks: "what is the derivation of the term _-itis_, used principally in medical words, and these signifying, inflammation?" if "n. & q." were a medical journal, the question might be answered at length, to the great advantage of the profession; for, of late years, this termination has been tacked on by medical writers, especially foreigners, to words of all kinds, in utter defiance of the rules of language: as if a greek affix were quite a natural ending to a latin or french noun. _-itis_ can with propriety be appended only to those greek nouns whose adjectives end in [greek: -itês]: _e.g._ [greek: pleura, pleuritês]; [greek: keras, keratitês], &c. [greek: pleuritis] is used by hippocrates. [greek: pleura] means the membrane lining the side of the chest: [greek: pleuritis] ([greek: nodos] understood) is morbus lateralis, the side-disease, or pleurisy. in the same manner _keratitis_ is a very legitimate synonym for disease of the horny coat (cornea) of the eye. but medical writers, disregarding the rules of language, have, for some years past, revelled in the use of their favourite _-itis_ to a most ludicrous extent. thus, from _cornea_, they make "corneitis," and describe an inflammation of the crystalline lens as _lentitis_. nay, some french and german writers on diseases of the eyes have coined the monstrous word "descemetitis," on the ground that one monsieur descemet discovered a structure in the eye, which, out of compliment to him, was called "the membrane of descemet." jaydee. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. defence of usury, by bentham. (a tract.) treatise on law, by mackinloch. two discourses of purgatory and prayers for the dead, by wm. wake. . what the chartists are. a letter to english working men, by a fellow-labourer. mo. london, . letter of church rates, by ralph barnes. vo. london, . colman's translation of horace de arte poetica. to. . casaubon's treatise on greek and roman satire. boscawen's treatise on satire. london, . johnson's lives (walker's classics). vol. i. titmarsh's paris sketch-book. post vo. vol. i. macrone, . archbishop leighton's works. vol. iv. vo edition. . fielding's works. vol. xi. (being second of "amelia.") mo. . holcroft's lavater. vol. i. vo. . otway. vols. i. and ii. vo. . edmondson's heraldry. vol. ii. folio, . sermons and tracts, by w. adams, d.d. the gentleman's magazine for january . ben jonson's works. (london, . vols.) vol. ii. wanted. the pursuit of knowledge. (original edition.) vol. i. rapin's history of england, vo. vols. i., iii. and v. of the continuation by tindal. . sharpe's prose writers. vol. iv. vols. . piccadilly. inchbald's british theatre. vol. xxiv. vols. longman. meyrick's ancient armour, by skelton. part xvi. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _owing to the necessity of infringing on the present number for the title-page of our sixth volume, we are compelled to omit many interesting communications, and also our usual_ notes on books, _&c._ b. h. c._'s communication on the subject of "proclamations" has been forwarded to_ mr. bruce. { } a. s. t. _the line is from prior_: "fine by degrees and beautifully less." t. m. g. (worcester) _is thanked_. _as the entire document would not occupy any great space, we shall be obliged by the opportunity of inserting it._ notes on old london _have only been thrust aside_. _they are intended for early insertion._ m. b. c. _we fear this cannot be avoided. the only consolation is, the additional interest with which the volumes will be regarded a century hence._ n. c. l., _who writes respecting shaw's_ stafford mss., _is requested to say how a communication may be forwarded to him_. a reader, _who writes respecting the "arnold family," the same_. w. s.'s (sheffield) _communications are at press, and shall have early attention_. j. e. l. _is thanked_. _we can assure him that the present result of much consideration and many communications, both by letter and personally, is to impress us with the feeling that the majority approve. the book-men shall, however, be no losers._ new ordinary of arms. _the anonymous correspondent on this subject will obtain the information of which he is in search on reference to its editor, mr. j. w. papworth, a. great marlborough street, london._ aldiborontophoskophornio--world without a sun. _the many correspondents who have replied to these queries are thanked._ c. (pontefract) _is requested to forward copies of the queries in question_. rev. e. b. (b***) _is requested to state the subject of his communication. in his last very extraordinary letter he has omitted this important piece of information._ c. e. f. _who complains of the disappearance of a portion of the collodion film at the spot where the hyposulphite of soda is applied, is informed that this is by no means an uncommon occurrence, and indicates the feeble action of the light at the present time of year. by using the glass a little larger than is required, as has been before recommended, and pouring the hyposulphite of soda on the portion which is to be cut off, and allowing it to flow over the picture, the defect will generally be avoided. a much stronger solution of the hyposulphite of soda may be used--say, one ounce to two ounces of water; and then, by preserving the solution, and using it over and over again, a more agreeable picture is produced. the solution, when it becomes weak, may be refreshed by a few crystals of the fresh salt added to it._ f. w. _if the bath of nitrate of silver produces the semi-opaque appearance upon the collodion, in all probability there is no hyposulphite of soda in the bath: three or four drops of tincture of iodine added to each ounce of the solution of nitrate of silver in the bath, often acts very beneficially. all doubtful solutions of nitrate of silver it is well to precipitate by means of common salt, collect the chloride, and reduce it again to its metallic state. the paper process described by dr. diamond in our th number is calculated both for positives and negatives._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * the eclectic review for january, price s. d., or by post s. (commencing a new volume), contains: i. the hungarian struggle and arthur görgey. ii. scottish preachers and preaching. iii. thackeray's history of colonel esmond. iv. british south africa. v. solwan; or waters of comfort. vi. religious persecutions in tuscany. vii. the distribution of the representation. viii. review of the month, &c. &.c this day is published, no. ix., price s. ( pp.), the homilist; and bi-monthly pulpit review. contents: homily:--the historic forms of anti-theism. germs of thought. the genius of the gospel:--the temptation of christ; or, the typal battle of the good. glances at some of the great preachers of england:--hugh latimer. theological and pulpit literature:--schleiermacher. wellington and the pulpit. no. x. will be published on the st of march. ward & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * just published, vol. vo., price s. ancient irish minstrelsy, by rev. w. hamilton drummond, d.d., m.r.s.a. "a graceful addition to the lover of ancient minstrelsy, whether he be irishman or not. a man need not be english to enjoy the chevy chace, nor scotch to value the border minstrelsy. the extracts we have given from dr. drummond's work, so full of force and beauty, will satisfy him, we trust, he need not be irish to enjoy the fruits of dr. d.'s labours."--_the dublin advocate._ dublin: hodges & smith, grafton street. london: simpkin, marshall, & co., . stationers' hall court. * * * * * just published, vol. i., l. s. d. details of gothic architecture, measured and drawn from existing examples, by j. k. colling, architect. no. xxv. of vol. ii. contains: west doorway of north aisle, kingsbury church, warwick. south doorway, ebony chapel, kent. corbel from the mayor's chapel, bristol. sedilia and piscina in the chantry chapel, bitton church, gloucestershire. ditto, ditto, section and details. naves, piers, and arches, wittersham church, kent. ditto, fishtoft church, lincoln, ditto, st. mary's church, scarborough. also, gothic ornaments, being a series of examples of enriched details and accessories of the architecture of great britain. drawn from existing authorities by james k. colling, architect. vols. to., l. s., cloth. london: george bell, . fleet street, and david bogue. * * * * * to members of learned societies, authors, &c. ashbee & dangerfield, lithographers, draughtsmen, and printers, . broad court, long acre. a. & d. respectfully beg to announce that they devote particular attention to the execution of ancient and modern fac-similes, comprising autograph letters, deeds, charters, title-pages, engravings, woodcuts, &c., which they produce from any description of copies with the utmost accuracy, and without the slightest injury to the originals. among the many purposes to which the art of lithography is most successfully applied, may be specified,--archÆological drawings, architecture, landscapes, marine views, portraits from life or copies, illuminated mss., monumental brasses, decorations, stained glass windows, maps, plans, diagrams, and every variety of illustrations requisite for scientific and artistic publications. photographic drawings lithographed with the greatest care and exactness. lithographic offices, . broad court, long acre, london. * * * * * twenty-five letters of nelson, near one hundred interesting letters of the duke of wellington, important state papers illustrative of the reign of george iii., and other very valuable autographs. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on tuesday, january , and two following days, a valuable assemblage of autograph letters, in the finest preservation; including the joint collections of s. j. pratt and dr. mavor; amongst which will be found many letters of great rarity and interest, selections from the fairfax and rupert correspondence, &c. catalogues will be sent on application (if in the country, on receipt of six stamps). * * * * * theology, voyages and travels, american history and literature, and the celebrated copy of the scriptures known as "the bowyer bible." puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on saturday, feb. , and five following days, an extensive and valuable collection of curious and interesting voyages and travels, many of which relate to america, the east and west indies, &c.: also valuable theological books, including a large collection of the works of puritan writers; to which is added, the celebrated copy of the holy scriptures, known as "the bowyer bible," the most extensively illustrated book extant formed at a cost of several thousand pounds; the elaborately carved oak case to contain the same, &c. catalogues are preparing, and may shortly be had. * * * * * recently published, price d. death the leveller. a sermon preached in ecclesfield parish church, by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar, on the st of november, , the sunday after the funeral of the duke of wellington. published by request. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * { } bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from ls. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * mr. henri van laun assists gentlemen in obtaining a critical knowledge of the french, german, and dutch languages. from his acquaintance with the ancient as well as the modern literature of these three languages, and also with the best english authors, he can render his lessons valuable to gentlemen pursuing antiquarian or literary researches. he also undertakes the translation of manuscripts. communications to be addressed, pre-paid. andrew's library, . new bond street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be procured from r.w. thomas, operative chemist, . pall mall, whose well-known preparation of xylo-iodide of silver is pronounced by the most eminent scientific men of the day to excel every other photographic compound in sensitiveness, and in the marvellous vigour uniformly preserved in the middle tints of pictures produced by it. mr. r. w. thomas cautions photographers against unprincipled persons who (from the fact of xyloidin and collodion being synonymous terms) would lead them to imagine that the inferior compound sold by them at half the price is identical with his preparation. in some cases, even the name of mr. t.'s xylo-iodide of silver has been assumed. in order to prevent such dishonourable practice, each bottle sent from his establishment is stamped with a red label bearing his signature, to counterfeit which is felony. prepared solely by r. w. thomas, chemist, &c., . pall mall. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic portraits and views by the collodion and waxed paper process. apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparation for the above processes, superior iodized collodion, known by the name of collodio-iodide or xylo-iodide of silver, d. per oz. pyro-gallic acid, s. per drachm. acetic acid, suited for collodion pictures, d. per oz. crystallizable and perfectly pure, on which the success of the calo-typist so much depends, s. per oz. canson frère's negative paper, s.; positive do., s. d.; la croix, s.; turner, s. whatman's negative and positive, s. per quire. iodized waxed paper, s. d. per quire. sensitive paper ready for the camera, and warranted to keep from fourteen to twenty days, with directions for use, x , s. per doz.; iodized, only s. per doz. george knight & sons (sole agents for voightlander & sons' celebrated lenses), foster lane, london. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frère's make. waxed-paper for le grey's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * general cornwallis. an original portrait for sale, by cotes. address h. w., care of samuel edwards, esq., . harpur street, red lion square. * * * * * cheap books.--just published, a catalogue of second-hand books (many curious), on sale for ready money, by j. crozier. no. . new turnstile (near lincoln's inn fields), holborn. * * * * * archer's photographic camera.--this very useful apparatus for working the various photographic processes in the open air, without the aid of any tent or dark chamber, can only be obtained of mr. archer, . great russell street, bloomsbury. these cameras are made either folding or otherwise. also a portable folding tripod stand, so constructed that the camera can be raised or lowered, at pleasure. achromatic fluid and other lenses from l. s. to l. s. iodized collodion, s. per lb., d. per oz.; and all chemicals of the best quality. practical instruction given in the art. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of hunt, le grey, brébisson, &c. &c., may be obtained of william bolton, manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists of prices to be had on application. . holborn bars. * * * * * ralph's sermon paper,--this approved paper is particularly deserving the notice of the clergy, as, from its particular form (each page measuring ¾ by inches), it will contain more matter than the size in ordinary use: and, from the width being narrower, is much more easy to read: adapted for expeditious writing with either the quill or metallic pen; price s. per ream. sample on application. envelope paper.--to identify the contents with the address and postmark, important in all business communications; it admits of three clear pages (each measuring ½ by inches), for correspondence, it saves time and is more economical. price s. d. per ream. f. w. ralph manufacturing stationer, . throgmorton street, bank. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * { } now ready, in seven volumes, medium to., cloth, pp. , , price fourteen guineas, the annals of ireland; from the original of the four masters, from the earliest historic period to the conclusion in ; consisting of the irish text from the original mss., and an english translation, with copious explanatory notes, an index of names, and an index of places, by john o'donovan, esq., ll.d., barrister at law; professor of the celtic language, queen's college, belfast. _extract from the_ dublin review. "we can but hope, within the limited space at our disposal, to render a scanty and imperfect measure of justice to a work of such vast extent and varied erudition.... we would beg the reader, if he be disposed to doubt our opinion, to examine almost every single page out of the four thousand of which the work consists, in order that he may learn the true nature and extent of mr. o'donovan's editorial labours. let him see the numberless minute verbal criticisms; the elaborate topographical annotations with which each page is loaded; the historical, genealogical, and biographical notices; the lucid and ingenious illustrations, drawn from the ancient laws, customs, traditions, and institutions of ireland; the parallelisms and discrepancies of the narrative with that of other annalists, both native and foreign; the countless authorities which are examined and adjusted; the errors which are corrected; the omissions and deficiencies supplied; in a word, the curious and various learning which is everywhere displayed. let him remember the mines from which all those treasures have been drawn are, for the most part, unexplored; that the materials thus laudably applied to the illustration of the text are in great part manuscripts which ussher and ware, even waddy and colgen, no to speak of lynch and lanigan, had never seen or left unexamined; many of them in a language which is to a great extent obsolete." a prospectus of the work will be forwarded gratis to any application made to the publishers. dublin: hodges & smith, grafton street, booksellers to the university. london: longman & co.; and simpkin, marshall, & co. * * * * * now ready, small to., handsomely bound in cloth, l. s. d.; morocco, l. s. d. poetry of the year, passages from the poets descriptive of the seasons. with twenty-two coloured illustrations from drawings by the following eminent artists. t. creswick, r.a. c. davidson. w. lee. j. muller. e. duncan. birket foster. d. cox. h. le jeune. w. hemsley. c. branwhite. j. wolf. c. weigall. harrison weir. r. r. e. v. b. lucette e. barker. "christmas has seldom produced a gift-book more creditable to all concerned in it than this beautiful volume. the poetry is well chosen; the passages being for the most part bits of real description, excellent in their kind, from the writings of our poets, from the time of lord surrey to that of tennyson, with two or three beautiful bits from american authors. now and then a poem is inserted, which, if not descriptive, is in spirit and feeling akin to the season to which it is referred; and this gives variety to what might otherwise be too great a mass of description. as a book of extracts merely, it would be an intelligent and creditable selection, made upon a distinct and coherent plan. but the drawings of messrs. foster, davidson, weir, creswick, cox, duncan, and branwhite, are a great addition to the volume; and the coloured engravings have been happy in catching the spirit and character of the artist themselves. "though on a small scale, the feeling of some of the designs is admirable, specially those devoted to the illustration of spring and summer--the seasons which, both in poetry and painting, have the greatest amount of honour in this volume. the publisher is entitled to the praise of great care and attention to the appearance of the book; the colour and texture of the paper, the type, and the binding are unexceptionable. it is a book to do credit to any publisher."--_guardian._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are indicated by footnotes to the relevant item. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page jacob grimm on the genius and vocation of the english language preservation of valuable papers from damp; drying closets position of the clergy in the seventeenth century, by j. lewelyn curtis general wolfe inscriptions in books folk lore:--baptismal custom--subterranean bells-- leicestershire custom--hooping cough: hedera helix minor notes:--the aught and forty daugh--alliterative pasquinade--the names "bonaparte" and "napoleon"--a parish kettle--pepys's diary; battle of st. gothard-- first folio shakspeare--an ancient tombstone queries:-- excessive rainfall, by robert rawlinson baptist vincent lavall, by william duane graves of mickleton, co. gloucester, by james graves searson's poems minor queries:--haberdon or habyrdon--holles family--"to lie at the catch"--names of planets: spade--arms in painted glass--the sign of "the two chances"-- consecrators of english bishops--a nunting table--john pictones--gospel place--york mint--chipchase of chipchase--newspapers--on alleged historical facts-- costume of spanish physicians--genoveva--quotation-- "god and the world"--"solid men of boston"--lost ms. by alexander pennecuik--"the percy anecdotes"--norman song--god's marks--the bronze statue of charles i., charing cross minor queries with answers:--hutter's polyglott--ethnology of england--pitt of pimperne--"the bottle department" of the beer-trade replies:-- bishop pursglove (suffragan) of hull, by john i. dredge, &c. the gregorian tones by dr. e. f. rimbault love's labour's lost, act v. sc. ., by thos. keightley niágara or niagára, by robert wright drengage, by wm. sidney gibson chatterton literary frauds of modern times sir h. wotton's letter to milton photographic notes and queries:--sir w. newton's process--collodion film on copper plates--treatment of the paper positive after fixing replies to minor queries:--essay for a new translation of the bible--touchstone--early edition of solinus--straw bail--doctor young--scarfs worn by clergymen--cibber's lives of the poets--"letters on prejudice"--statue of st. peter, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. jacob grimm on the genius and vocation of the english language. i send you a very eloquent tribute to the genius and power of the english language by jacob grimm, extracted from a paper entitled "ueber den ursprung der sprache," read before the royal academy of berlin, january , , and contained in the _transactions_ of that society, "section of philology and history for ," p. .: berlin, to., :-- "jacob grimm _ueber den ursprung der sprache_. abhandlungen der k. akademie der wissenschaften zu berlin, . "keine, unter allen neueren sprachen, hat gerade durch das aufgeben und zerrütten alter lautgesetze, durch den wegfall beinahe sämmtlicher flexionen, eine grössere kraft und stärke empfangen, als die englische, und von ihrer nicht einmal _lehrbaren_, nur _lernbaren_ fülle freier mitteltöne ist eine wesentliche gewalt des ausdrucks abhängig geworden, wie sie vielleicht noch nie einer andern menschlichen zunge zu gebote stand. ihre ganze überaus geistige, wunderbar geglückte anlage und durchbildung war hervorgeganen aus einer überraschenden vermählung der beiden edelsten sprachen des späteren europas, der germanischen und romanischen, und bekannt ist, wie im englischen sich beide zu einander verhalten, indem jene bei weitem die sinnliche grundlage hergab, diese die geistigen begriffe zuführte. ja, die englische sprache, von der nicht umsonst auch der grösste und überlegenste dichter der neuen zeit im gegensatz zur classischen alten poesie, ich kann natürlich nur shakespeare meinen, gezeugt und getragen worden ist, sie darf mit vollem recht eine weltsprache heissen, und scheint gleich dem englischen volke ausersehn künftig noch in höherem masse an allen enden der erde zu walten. denn an reichthum, vernunft und gedrängter füge lässt sich keine aller noch lebenden sprachen ihr an die seite setzen, auch unsere deutsche nicht, die zerrissen ist, wie wir selbst zerrissen sind, und erst manche gebrechen von sich abschütteln müsste, ehe sie kühn mit in die laufbahn träte." (_translation._) of all modern languages, not one has acquired such great strength and vigour as the english. it has accomplished this by simply freeing itself from the ancient phonetic laws, and casting off almost all { } inflections; whilst, from its abundance of intermediate sounds [_mitteltöne_[ ]], tones not even to be taught, but only to be learned, it has derived a characteristic power of expression such as perhaps was never yet the property of any other human tongue. its highly spiritual genius, and wonderfully happy development, have proceeded from a surprisingly intimate alliance of the two oldest languages of modern europe--the germanic and romanesque.[ ] it is well known in what relation these stand to one another in the english language. the former supplies the material groundwork, the latter the higher mental conceptions. indeed, the english language, which has not in vain produced and supported the greatest, the most prominent of all modern poets (i allude, of course, to shakspeare), in contradistinction to the ancient classical poetry, may be called justly a language of the world: and seems, like the english nation, to be destined to reign in future with still more extensive sway over all parts of the globe. for none of all the living languages can be compared with it as to richness, rationality, and close construction [vernunft und gedrängter füge], not even the german--which has many discrepancies like our nation, and from which it would be first obliged to free itself, before it could boldly enter the lists with the english. i transmit the text, as many of your readers may prefer the extract--as most "foreign extracts" are preferred--"neat as imported:" although, owing to the kindness of a friend, it is fairly represented in the translation. it is however very difficult to find words which precisely express the meaning of german scientific terms. s. h. [footnote : _mitteltöne_ are those sounds which stand between the three fundamental vowels, _a_, _i_, _u_, as pronounced by the continental nations.] [footnote : _romanesque._ those languages which have descended from the latin, as the spanish, frank, or french, &c.] * * * * * preservation of valuable papers from damp; drying closets. the desiccative powers of lime are familiar to chemists, and, i believe, to many practical men; but i do not know of lime having been used for the above purpose. a strong chest, in my possession, containing important papers (title-deeds, marriage certificates, &c.), gradually became damp, and subjected its contents to a slow process of decay. this arose, i found, from a defect in its construction, wood having been improperly introduced into the latter, and concealed; so that some singular chemical compounds would appear to have been formed. the papers were gradually injured to an extent enforcing attention; and the process continued in them after their removal into a well-constructed chest, giving me the impression of a process resembling the action of a ferment. several attempts were made to dry them by fires, the rays of the sun, &c.; but the damp was always renewed. they were thoroughly dried in a very few days, and permanently kept dry, by placing and keeping in the chest a box containing a little quicklime. at a later period, a large closet, so damp as to render articles mouldy, was thoroughly dried, and kept dry, by a box containing lime. the chest was about feet inches, by feet inch, and foot inches; and the box placed in it for several months was about foot ½ inches, by ½ inches, and inches. after about a year, although no very perceptible damp was discovered, yet, in consequence of the value of the papers, and the beauty of some of them as manuscripts, i introduced two such boxes. these proportions were selected to enable the boxes to stand conveniently on a shelf with account-books and packages of papers. the closet is about feet inches, by , irregular dimensions, which i estimate at about feet, and feet inches. the box used in this case is foot inches, by inches, and inches. the lime should be in pieces of a suitable size. for the chest, i prefer pieces about the size of a large english walnut; for the closet, of an orange. it is necessary either that the box should be strongly made, or be formed of tin, or other metal, on account of the lateral expansive force of the lime. room for expansion upwards is not sufficient protection. the same expansion renders it necessary that the box should not be more than two-fifths filled with fresh lime. i leave the tops open. if covered, they must be so disposed that the air within the boxes shall freely communicate with that of the chest or closet. i have used these boxes several years, and only changed the lime once a year. b. h. c. philadelphia. * * * * * position of the clergy in the seventeenth century. the _proceedings and papers_ of the historic society of lancashire and cheshire, session iv., - , include a paper contributed by thomas dorning hibbert, of the middle temple, esq., being the second of a series of "letters relating to lancashire and cheshire, temp. james i., charles i., and charles ii." one of these letters, written in or about the year , by the rev. william batemanne, from ludgarsall (ludgar's hall), "a parish which lies in the counties of oxford and bucks," and addressed "to his louinge father ihon batemanne, alderman at maxfelde" (macclesfield), contains, as the learned contributor remarks, "strong confirmation of mr. macaulay's controverted statement, that the country clergy occupied a very humble position in the sixteenth and seventeenth { } centuries." he adds, that "no clergyman could now be found who would think of sending his sister to an inn to learn household matters." the rev. william batemanne, "who appears to have been educated at oxford," writes thus: "... my sister katren is placed in a verie good house in bissiter [bicester], wher shea shall learne to doe all manner of thinges that belonge to a good huswyfe. it is a vitailinge house greatlie occupied. shea shall not learne onelie to dresse meate and drinke excellent well, but allso bruinge, bakinge, winnowinge, with all other thinges theirunto appertaininge, for they are verie rich folkes, and verie sharpe and quicke both of them. the cause why my ant received her not, as shea answered us, was because all this winter shea intendeth to have but one servant woman, and shea thought my sister was not able to doe all her worke, because shea imagined her to be verie raw in theire countrey worke, w^{ch} thinge trewlie shea that hath her now did thinke, and theirefore her wage is the slenderer, but xvj^s [ s.], w^{ch} in this place is counted nothinge in effecte for such a strong woman as shea is; but i bringinge her to bissiter uppon wednesday, beinng michaelmas even, told her dame the wage was verie small, and said i trusted shea would mend it if shea proved a good girle, as i had good hope shea would. quoth i, it will scarce bye her hose and shooes. nay, saith shea, i will warrant her have so much given her before the yeare be expyred, and by god's helpe that w^{ch} wants i myselfe will fill upp as much as i am able...." j. lewelyn curtis. * * * * * general wolfe. i copy the following interesting note from the _london chronicle_, august , : it is a circumstance not generally known, but believed by the army which served under general wolfe, that his death-wound was not received by the common chance of war, but given by a deserter from his own regiment. the circumstances are thus related:--the general perceived one of the sergeants of his regiment strike a man under arms (an act against which he had given particular orders), and knowing the man to be a good soldier, reprehended the aggressor with much warmth, and threatened to reduce him to the ranks. this so far incensed the sergeant, that he took the first opportunity of deserting to the enemy, where he meditated the means of destroying the general, which he effected by being placed in the enemy's left wing, which was directly opposite the right of the british line, where wolfe commanded in person, and where he was marked out by the miscreant, who was provided with a rifle piece, and, unfortunately for this country, effected his purpose. after the defeat of the french army, the deserters were all removed to crown point, which being afterwards suddenly invested and taken by the british army, the whole of the garrison fell into the hands of the captors; when the sergeant of whom we have been speaking was hanged for desertion, but before the execution of his sentence confessed the facts above recited."[ ] in smith's _marylebone_, p. ., is a notice of lieutenant mcculloch, according to whose plan wolfe attacked quebec. mcculloch became destitute, and died in marylebone workhouse in . a letter from wolfe to admiral saunders is in the _gentleman's magazine_ for ; and one addressed by him to barré was sold by puttick and simpson about three years since. a portrait of wolfe by sir joshua reynolds is in possession of mr. cole of worcester. since my last notice, i have heard that mr. henry george, proprietor of the _westerham journal_, made some collections towards a life of wolfe: if so, it is not improbable that mr. streatfield obtained them at his sale in . in conclusion, i beg to inquire, whence come the lines quoted by the marquis of lansdowne?-- "enough for him that chatham's language was his mother-tongue, and wolfe's great name compatriot with his own." h. g. d. knightsbridge. [footnote : [the incident related above has been preserved by sir william musgrave, in his _biographical adversaria_ (additional mss., no. ., british museum), who has added the following note:--"this account was had from a gentleman who heard the confession." for some further notices of mrs. henrietta wolfe, the mother of the general, relative to her death and the disposal of her property, see the addit. mss., no. ., p. .--ed.]] * * * * * inscriptions in books. it occurs to me that an interesting collection might be formed of the various forms and methods by which the ownership of books is sometimes found to be asserted on their fly-leaves. _borrowers_ are exhorted to faithful restitution; and consequences are threatened to those who misuse, or fail to return, or absolutely steal the valued literary treasure. i forward a few such notes as have fallen in my way, thinking they may interest your readers, and shall be obliged by any additions. the first is an admonition to borrowers, by no means a superfluous one, as i know to my cost. it is _printed_ on a small paper, about the size of an ordinary book-plate, with blank for the owner's name, to be filled up in manuscript: "this book belongs to . . . . . . "if thou art borrowed by a friend, right welcome shall he be to read, to study--not to lend, but to return to me. { } "not that imparted knowledge doth diminish learning's store; but books, i find, if often lent, return to me no more. . . . . . . "give your attention as you read, and frequent pauses take; think seriously; and take good heed that you no _dog's-ears_ make. "don't wet the fingers, as you turn the pages, one by one. never _touch_ prints, _observe_: and learn each idle gait to shun." on the fly-leaf of a bible i find the following, which, however, is taken from _the weekly pacquet of advice from rome_, vol. ii. p. . no ., dated friday, dec. , : "sancte liber! venerande liber! liber optime, salve! o animæ nostræ, biblia dimidium!" a very common formula, in works of a devotional nature, is as follows: "this is giles wilkinson his book. god give him grace therein to look." we now come to some of a menacing description: "si quis hunc furto rapiet libellum, reddat:--aut collo dabitur capistrum, carnifex ejus tunicas habebit, terra cadaver." and again: "si quis hunc librum rapiat scelestus, atque furtivis manibus prehendat, pergat ad tetras acherontis undas non rediturus." these last partake somewhat of the character of the diræ and anathemas which are sometimes found at the end of old mss., and were prompted, doubtless, by the great scarcity and consequent value of books before the invention of printing. balliolensis. * * * * * folk lore. _baptismal custom._--in many country parishes the child is invariably called by the name of the saint on whose day he happens to have been born. i know one called _valentine_, because he appeared in the world upon the th of february; and lately baptized a child myself by the name of benjamin _simon jude_. subsequently, on expressing some surprise at the strange conjunction, i was informed that he was born on the festival of ss. simon and jude, and that it was always _very unlucky to take the day from a child_. rt. warmington. _subterranean bells._--hone, in his _year-book_, gives a letter from a correspondent in relation to a tradition in raleigh, nottinghamshire, which states that many centuries since the church and a whole village were swallowed up by an earthquake. many villages and towns have certainly shared a similar fate, and we have never heard of them more. "the times have been when the brains were out the man would die, that there an end." but at raleigh, they say, the old church-bells still ring at christmas time, deep, deep in earth; and that it was a christmas-morning custom for the people to go out into the valley, and put their ears to the ground to listen to the mysterious chimes of the subterranean temple. is this a tradition peculiar to this locality? i fancy not, and seem to have a faint remembrance of a similar belief in other parts. can any of your correspondents favour "n. & q." with information hereon? j. j. s. _leicestershire custom._--a custom exists in the town of leicester, of rather a singular nature. the first time a new-born child pays a visit, it is presented with an egg, a pound of salt, and a bundle of matches. can any of your correspondents explain this custom? w. a. _hooping cough: hedera helix._--in addition to my former communications on this subject, i beg to forward the following:-- drinking-cups made from the wood of the common ivy, and used by children affected with this complaint, for taking therefrom all they require to drink, is current in the county of salop as an infallible remedy; and i once knew an old gentleman (now no more) who being fond of turning as an amusement, was accustomed to supply his neighbours with them, and whose brother always supplied him with the wood, cut from his own plantations. it is necessary, in order to be effective, that the ivy from which the cups are made should be cut at some particular change of the moon, or hour of the night, &c., which i am now unable to ascertain: but perhaps some of your readers could give you the exact period. j. b. whitborne. * * * * * minor notes. _the aught and forty daugh._--the lordship of strathbogie, now the property of his grace the duke of richmond, was anciently known by this name. it is one of the toasts always drunk at the meetings of agricultural associations, the anniversary of his grace's birthday, &c., in the district. the meaning has often puzzled newspaper readers at a distance. it was the original estate of the powerful family of gordon in the north of scotland. a _daugh_, or _davach_, contains oxgates of acres each, or acres of arable land. at { } this rate, the whole lordship was anciently estimated at , acres of arable land, and comprehends square miles in whole. kirkwallensis. _alliterative pasquinade._--the following alliterative pasquinade on convocation, which i have cut from one of the newspapers, is, i think, sufficiently clever to deserve preservation in the pages of "n. & q.:" "the earl of shaftesbury has given notice that he will call the attention of the house to the subject of convocation after the recess. the exact terms of his lordship's motion have not as yet been announced; but it is understood that it will be in the form of an abstract resolution, somewhat to the following effect:-- "'that this house, considering the consanguinity and concordant consociation of gog and magog to be concludent to, and confirmatory of, a consimilar connatural conjunction and concatenation between convocation and confession with its concomitant contaminations, and conceiving the congregating, confabulating, and consulting of convocation to be conducive to controversy and contention, and consequent conflicts, confusion and convulsion, concurs in the conviction that to convene, and to continue convocation, is a contumacious contravention of the constitution, and a contrivance for constraint of conscience, and that the contemptible conspiracy, concocted for concerting the constituting and conserving of the continuous concorporal consession and conciliar conference of convocation, is to be contumeliously conculcated by the consentient and condign condemnation of this house.'" agrippa. _the names "bonaparte" and "napoleon."_--among the many fabulous tales that have been published respecting the origin of the name of _bonaparte_, there in one which, from its ingeniousness and romantic character, seems deserving of notice. it is said that the "man in the iron mask" was no other than the twin (and elder) brother of louis xiv.; that his keeper's name was _bonpart_; that that keeper had a daughter, with whom the man in the mask fell in love, and to whom he was privately married; that their children received their mother's name, and were secretly conveyed to corsica, where the name was converted into _bonaparte_ or _buonaparte_; and that one of those children was the ancestor of napoleon bonaparte, who was thus entitled to be recognised not only as of french origin, but as the direct descendant of the rightful heir to the throne of france. the bonapartes are said to have adopted the name of _napoleon_ from napoleon des ursins, a distinguished character in italian story, with one of whose descendants they became connected by marriage; and the first of the family to whom it was given was a brother of joseph bonaparte, the grandfather of napoleon i. many are the _jeux de mots_ that have been made on this name; but the following, which i have just met with in _littérature française contemporaine_, vol. ii. p. ., is perhaps the most remarkable. the word _napoleon_, being written in greek characters, will form seven different words, by dropping the first letter of each in succession, namely, [greek: napoleôn, apoleôn, poleôn, oleôn, leôn, eôn, Ôn]. these words make a complete sentence, and are thus translated into french: "napoléon, étant le lion des peuples, allait détruisant les cités." henry h. breen. st. lucia. _a parish kettle._--in the accounts of the churchwardens of chudleigh in devonshire, during a period extending from to , occasional mention is made of "the church chyttel," "parish chettle," "parish chetell or furnace," "parish crock;" and charges are made for malt and hops for brewing ale; and the money received for ale sold is accounted for. there may also have been provided, for the use of the parish, a vessel of smaller dimensions than the crock, for in the year there is an entry of s. d. received "for the lone of the parish panne." as cyder must have been at that time, as it is now, the common drink of the working-classes, the parish "crock" must have been provided for the use of the occupiers of the land. i suppose that the term _crock_, for a pot made of brass or copper, had its origin in times when our cooking-vessels were made of crockeryware. i have never seen, in the ancient accounts of churchwardens, any mention made of a "town plough," which gastros notices (vol. vi., p. .). s. s. s. ( .) _pepys's diary; battle of st. gothard._--lord braybrooke, in a note on th august, , on which day pepys mentions a great battle fought in hungary, observes, "this was the battle of st. gothard, fought st august, so that the news reached england in eight days." this would scarcely be possible even in these days of railways. the difference of styles must have been overlooked, which would make the intelligence arrive in eighteen days, instead of eight. j. s. warden. _first folio shakspeare._--it would be extremely desirable that every one who possesses, or knows of a copy of the _first folio_, would send to "n. & q." a note of the existence of such copy; its present owner's name; date of acquisition; last owner's name; the price paid; its present condition; and any other circumstances peculiar to the copy. when the editor should receive an adequate number of replies to this suggestion, he might publish a list in some methodised form, and subsequent lists as occasion might require. i have examined the libraries of several great country-houses, and have never found a first folio; not even at wilton, { } where, of all the houses in england, we are most sure that it must have been. c. _an ancient tombstone._--in the month of december, , a tombstone was found at the quay of aberdeen, near weigh house square, in excavating for a common sewer. on it is carved a cross, and a shield containing the initials "g. m.," a nameless instrument, or a couple of instruments, placed crosswise, and a heart with a cross in the centre. round the edge is cut exquisitely, in old english letters, with contractions such as we see in old mss., the following inscription, "hic jacet honorabilis vir georgius manzs (menzies?), civis de abirden, cum uxore eius anneta scherar, qui obiit xxvii die mensis septembris, anno d. n. i. miiiixx." in former times, the menzieses, the collisons, and the rutherfords held ruling power in aberdeen, as in more recent times did the gibbons, bannermans, and hogarths. kirkwallensis. * * * * * queries. excessive rainfall. the following quotation induces me to put a query to the numerous scientific readers of your widely-circulated publication: "it is a remarkable circumstance that an unprecedented quantity of rain has fallen during the last year ( ) all over the world,--england, ireland, europe generally, africa, india, and even in australia." query, is it anywhere recorded that so widespread a rainfall has been previously noticed? it is said that excessive rainfall has been general all over the world; and it would appear to have been general over a great portion of the land. this, however, does not constitute the whole world. the area of our globe is composed of about four-fifths water to one-fifth land; so that an excess of rain might fall upon every square mile of land, and yet the _average_ rainfall of the whole world not be exceeded. this is an important truth, and should be generally understood. taking the surface of the whole world, there is probably, year by year, the same amount of sunshine and heat, the same quantity of evaporation, and the same volume of rainfall; but there is inequality of distribution. we find a dry summer in america, and a wet one in europe; excessive wet in the south of europe, with excessive drought in the north; with similar excesses over much more limited areas. this case holds good even for the extraordinary year of . excess of rain has fallen on most of the land over the earth's surface; but there has been a minimum on the great oceans; as see the accounts of the fine weather, light winds, and calms, experienced in the voyages to australia. the question of general equality and local excesses may now, through our commerce, have that attention given to it which has hitherto been impossible. it is well worthy of study. robert rawlinson. * * * * * baptist vincent lavall. i have in my possession a manuscript of about six hundred pages, entitled "lavall's tour across the american continent, from the north pacific to the atlantic ocean, in a more southern latitude than any yet attempted: performed in the years and ." a map of the route accompanies it. the accounts of the country, and of the indian tribes, correspond with what we learn from other sources; and gentlemen of information in indian affairs believe the work to be the genuine production of a person who has been over the ground described. according to this work, lavall was a native of philadelphia, and born in . his father, who was a royalist, settled in upper canada, and engaged in the fur trade. in baptist vincent lavall visited england to receive a legacy left him by a relation. here he was persuaded to join a vessel fitting out for the purpose of trading in the north pacific. it was a schooner of about two hundred tons, called the sea otter, commanded by captain niles. this vessel was lost upon the coast of oregon, on the th of august, , whilst lavall and three of the crew were on shore hunting. they made their way across the continent to new orleans. can any information be furnished from any custom-house in england as to the sea otter, captain niles? william duane. philadelphia. * * * * * graves of mickleton, co. gloucester. there are three portraits engraved by vertue, which give the pedigree of this family thus far: john graves of york, = born , ob. . | | +------------------+ | ---- graves = | +-------+ | = richard graves of mickleton, esq., = ob. . | | +--------------------------+ | ---- graves = | +--------------+ | richard graves of mickleton, esq. = ob. . the title engraved on the plate states that the first richard graves given above, was twice { } married, and had _six_ sons and _thirteen_ daughters. it does not give the christian names of any of the children, and leaves it uncertain whether the richard graves who died in was a child of the first or second marriage. this last-mentioned richard was an antiquary of some note, and a correspondent of hearne, who calls him "gravesius noster." query . is the full pedigree of this family anywhere to be had? . is there a record of any of the six sons of the richard who died in having settled in ireland, as a soldier or otherwise, in the time of the commonwealth? according to mr. editor's excellent arrangement, i transmit to him a stamped envelope, and shall feel much obliged to any correspondent of "n. & q." who will give me the desired information. in the life of the rev. richard graves, a younger son of richard the antiquary (_public characters_, dublin, p. .), it is stated that his collections for the history of the vale of gresham came, after his death, into the hands of james west, esq., president of the royal society, at whose death they were purchased by the earl of shelburne, a.d. . query, are they still in existence? james graves. kilkenny. * * * * * searson's poems. the query of g. c. (vol. vi., p. .) relative to mrs. mackey's _poems_, has induced me to trouble you with a similar one respecting the author of a volume in my possession. it is entitled _mount vernon_, a poem, &c. &c., by john searson, formerly of philadelphia, merchant; philadelphia, printed for the author by folwell. after the title-page (which is too long to be given _in extenso_) follows a dedication to general washington, in which the author, after recording that he last returned to america from ireland in , and that having been established for several years at philadelphia as a merchant, he had been subjected to unforeseen losses in trade and merchandize, proceeds as follows: "having a pretty good education in my youth, from an uncle, a clergyman of the church of england, i published two poems in ireland, was well received, and two publications since my last arrival in america, having disposed of the last copy of one thousand, _art of contentment_, and did myself the honour to visit your excellency th may last [ ], so as to obtain an adequate idea of mount vernon, wishing to compose a poem on that beautiful seat, which i now most humbly dedicate to your excellency, with your likeness," &c. next follows a "preface to the readers of mount vernon, a poem," in which he says: "i published a rural, romantic, and descriptive poem of down hill, the seat of the earl of bristol, bishop of londonderry, in ireland; for which the gentlemen of that country actually gave me a guinea per copy, and sir george hill, from dublin, gave me five guineas in the city of londonderry; more, i am assured, as feeling from my having seen better days, than from the intrinsic value of it." besides _mount vernon_, the book contains several other poems, &c., and extends to eighty-three pages, vo., with four pages subsequently inserted at the end. it is, i believe, a very scarce book in america, and the copy i possess is probably unique in this country. like mrs. mackey's poems, it seems to have been written in earnest, and it is impossible within the limits of an article of this nature to give an adequate idea of the vein of self-complacency which pervades the book, or of the high estimation in which the author evidently held his own productions both in prose and verse. a few quotations illustrative of his descriptive powers must suffice: "mount vernon! i have often heard of thee, and often wish'd thy beauties for to see."--p. . "the house itself is elegant and neat, and is two stories high, neat and complete."--p. . "a thought now strikes my mind, of mount vernon, that happiness may ever shine thereon; for, nature form'd it pleasing to the mind; therefore, true earthly bliss we here might find: or, in a cottage, if our god be there, for he is omnipresent, everywhere. a garden was the first habitation of our parents, and near relat'on," (_sic_) &c.--p. . of alexandria he informs us that-- "the buildings here are generally neat, the streets well pav'd, which makes walking complete. i've seen their houses, where they preach and pray, but th' congregation small on stormy day."--p. . of george town he says: "a pleasing rural prospect rises here, to please th' enquiring mind as we draw near. the building in george town is very neat; but paving of the streets not yet complete. some rural seats near to the town is fine, which please the fancy and amuse the mind."--p. . and lastly, from his _valedictory_, we learn that-- "poets, like grasshoppers, sing till they die, yet, in this life, some laugh, some sing, some cry."--p. . these extracts are not given as the _worst_ specimens. is anything more known of john searson, and of his other valuable productions, either in ireland or america? as i perceive you have correspondents at philadelphia, they will perhaps kindly afford me some information on the subject. leicestriensis. [another work by this author may be found in some of our public libraries, entitled _poems on various { } subjects and different occasions, chiefly adapted to rural entertainment in the united states of america_. vo. . the preface to this work also gives some account of searson's residence in ireland, where, he says, "i lived happily for fifteen years, till another king (or agent) arose, who knew not joseph, who, in the most inhuman, cruel, and tyrannical manner, made use of his interest to have me put out of my place." the work concludes with the following advertisement respecting himself:--"being unemployed at present, should any of my kind subscribers know of any vacancy as tutor in some gentleman's family, a place in some public office, genteel compting-house, or vacancy for a schoolmaster, the author will be grateful for the favour of acquainting him of it. he may be heard of by applying to mr. mathew carey, of market street, bookseller."] * * * * * minor queries. _haberdon, or habyrdon._--a manor now belonging to the school at bury st. edmund's bears this name. can any meaning be given to the word? the land formerly belonging to the abbey of st. edmund, several registers of that monastery, a.d. and , let the said manor of habyrdon, on condition the tenant should yearly find one white bull, &c. the leases all describe this manor of habyrdon and make it specially necessary to find a white bull. the land is contiguous to the town of bury, and is called haberdon at the present time, presents a hilly appearance and remains of ancient intrenchments. i have not heard of any other place by this name. c. g. paddington. _holles family._--i am very desirous of obtaining any information that can be procured concerning the holles family prior to the time of sir william, who was lord mayor of london in . i should also be obliged if any of your numerous correspondents can inform me, whether that member of the family who married a lady named gelks, i think since , left any posterity; from whom he was descended, and in what county he lived? also, who the gelkses were, and whether the family is represented now; and, if so, of what county they are? the arms of the holleses were--ermine, two piles conjoining in the points sable. the crest was a boar's head erased, azure, langued gules, pierced with a pheon. the gelks bore--ermine, three chevrons azure, charged with nine bezents inter nine annulets gules. m. t. p. reading. "_to lie at the catch_" (vol. vi., p. .).--from accidental circumstances i have only lately seen the notice of my query. will you excuse my saying that i do not yet understand the meaning of the phrase "to lie at the catch," and that i shall be greatly obliged if you or any of your correspondents will explain it further, or, in other words, give me a paraphrase that will suit the two passages i have quoted. m. d. _names of planets--spade._--would any of your correspondents give me some information respecting the _names_ of the different planets of our system, whether their titles are coeval with the apotheosis of the various denizens of olympus whose names they bear; or whether such names were bestowed upon the heavenly bodies at some later date in honour of those divinities? i should also like to hear explained, how the word _spade_, which from its affinities in other languages would appear to have originally meant _sword_, ever came to be transferred from a weapon of war to the useful and harmless implement it now designates. [greek: ouden]. _arms in painted glass._--the following arms have recently been found in some decorated windows of the early part of the fourteenth century. information as to whom belonging would be esteemed a favour. . gules, a chevron, or. . quarterly, first and fourth gules, a mullet, or, second and third sable, a cross, or. . argent, on a chevron, or, three bucks' heads caboshed, tincture indistinct, probably sable. quÆrens. _the sign of "the two chances."_--an inn, at clun, in this county, bears the unusual sign of "the two chances." what can this mean? mine host is also registrar of births and deaths for the district. does it refer to _these two chances_? george s. master. welsh-hampton, salop. _consecrators of english bishops._--it may appear a waste of space to insert in your columns my queries on this subject, but when you consider that i have been an exile in india for the last eleven years, and consequently unable to refer, in this country, to authorities, which are easily accessible at home, i venture to hope that you will not only give a place to this, but also that you, or some clerical reader of "n. & q.," will afford me the required information. i have continued mr. perceval's list of english consecrations, given in his able work, _an apology for the doctrine of apostolical succession_, nd edition of , but have been unable to complete it with the names of the consecrators of the following prelates, the objects of my query; viz. . bishop gilbert, of chichester, on th february, ; . bishop field, of newfoundland, th april, ; , , & . bishops turton of ely, medley of fredericton, and chapman of { } colombo, on th may, ; . bishop gobat, th july, ; & . bishops smith of victoria, and anderson of rupert's land, on th may, ; . bishop fulford of montreal, th july, ; and . bishop harding of bombay, on th august, . the dates are, i believe, correct, but if not, of course i should like the mistakes to be pointed out. i also desiderate the date of bishop binney's (of nova scotia) consecration, in march or april, , with names of his consecrators; and finally, the place of bishop lonsdale's (of lichfield) consecration, on rd december, . if these data are supplied, the lacunæ in my supplemental list of english consecrations, from the reformation to the present day, will be complete. a. s. a. punjaub. _a nunting table._--what is it? the word occurs in a quotation from dr. newman in the _irish ecclesiastical journal_ for december, , describing a modern english church. i suppose i shall be snubbed for not giving the passage; but my copy of the journal has vanished. a. a. d. _john pictones._--is anything known of john pictones, or pyctones, a person mentioned in a ms. as having taught languages to queen elizabeth when she was young? c. r. m. _gospel place._--in a definition of the boundaries of bordesley abbey, dated , given in nash's _worcestershire_, there frequently occurs the term "gospel place," thus: "and so to a cross or gospel place near to brown's cottage, and from thence to a gospel place under a tree near to a mill ... thence to the old gospel place oak that standeth on the common." i have heard that at each one of these "gospel places" there was kept up a mound on which it was usual to rest a corpse on its way to the churchyard, during which time some portion of the gospel was read. can any of your correspondents say if such a practice was observed in any other part of the country, its origin, its intention, and the period of its discontinuance? and if not, can give any other explanation of the term? g. r. _york mint._--can any of your correspondents inform me of the names of the officers of the local mint at york, instituted about ? o. o. o. _chipchase of chipchase._--i should be glad to learn if any pedigree exists of the ancient family of chipchase, or de chipches (as the name is spelt in pleadings and deeds of the fourteenth century). a family bearing that name appears to have occupied or dwelt near the "turris de chipches," co. northumberland, so early as edward i.; at which time the manor of prudhoe, of which chipchase is a member, was held by the umfravilles. the fact of the principal charges in the armorial bearings of both families being similar, seems to have led to the suggestion that the chipchases were cadets of the former; but this opinion is without sufficient foundation. a. g. w. _newspapers._--which is the oldest newspaper, town or country, daily or weekly, now published? the _lincoln, rutland, and stamford mercury_ (weekly), published at stamford, is the oldest paper i am acquainted with. the paper for the st january, , is numbered "vol. . no. ." this gives the year as the commencement of the paper. perhaps other readers of "n. & q." will follow up this interesting subject. vide vol. ii., p. ., and vol. iii., pp. . and . l. l. l. _on alleged historical facts._-- "during the troubles in the reign of charles i., a country girl came up to london in search of a place as a servant-maid; but not succeeding, she applied herself to carrying out beer from a brewhouse, and was one of those then called 'tub-women.' the brewer observing a well-looking girl in this low occupation, took her into his family as servant, and, after a little while, she behaving herself with so much prudence and decorum, he married her; but he died when she was yet a young woman, and left her a large fortune. the business of the brewery was dropped, and the young woman was recommended to mr. hyde, as a gentleman of skill in the law, to settle her affairs. hyde (who was afterwards the great earl of clarendon), finding the widow's fortune very considerable, married her. of this marriage there was no other issue than a daughter, who was afterwards the wife of james ii., and mother of mary and anne, queens of england."--_newspaper paragraph._ what truth is there in the foregoing statement; and if in any degree true, what further is known of the fortunate "tub-woman?" is her existence ignored in the hyde pedigree? j. b. _costume of spanish physicians._--i have been informed that the spanish physicians for a very considerable period, and even until about forty years ago, wore a dress peculiar to their profession. can any of your readers inform me where i can find a representation or a description of this dress; and also whether it would be the one worn by a flemish physician residing in spain about the middle of the sixteenth century? z. _genoveva._--can any of your readers inform me what history or legend is illustrated by a fine engraving in line, by felsing after steinbrück (size × inches), which has no other clue to its subject than the word _genoveva_, in the lower border. it represents a beautiful maiden, with a sleeping child in her lap, at the foot of a beech-tree in { } a forest, and a hind or fawn in the background approaching from a cavern. it was published some years ago at darmstadt, and is not common: but beyond a guess that it is meant for st. genevieve, the printsellers can tell me nothing about it; and i do not find in _her_ history, as given by alban butler, any such incident. silurian. _quotation._--in the miscellaneous writings of the celebrated franklin (chambers's people's edition) i find the following anecdote, in an article on "the art of procuring pleasant dreams." franklin says: "it is recorded of methusalem, who, being the longest liver, may be supposed to have best preserved his health, that he slept always in the open air; for when he had lived five hundred years, an angel said to him, 'arise, methusalem, and build thee an house; for thou shalt live yet five hundred years longer.' but methusalem answered and said, 'if i am to live but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while to build me an house: i will sleep in the open air as i have been used to do.'" from what source did franklin derive this information? christophoros. "_god and the world._"--i shall be obliged by being informed from what poet are the following lines: "god and the world we worship both together, draw not our laws to him, but his to ours; untrue to both, so prosperous in neither, th' imperfect will brings forth but barren flowers; unwise as all distracted interests be, strangers to god, fools in humanity; too good for great things, and too great for good, while still 'i dare not' waits upon 'i would.'" w. h. "_solid men of boston._"--where are the verses to be found of which the following were part? i have an indistinct recollection that they were quoted in parliament during the american revolution: "solid men of boston, make no long orations; solid men of boston, drink no strong potations; solid men of boston, go to bed at sundown, never lose your way like the loggerheads of london. bow, wow, wow. "sit down neighbours all, and i'll tell you a merry story, about a disappointed whig that wish'd to be a tory, i had it piping hot from ebenezer barber, who sail'd from old england, and lies in boston harbour. bow, wow, wow." uneda. _lost ms. by alexander pennecuik._--in the advocates' library, edinburgh, is preserved a ms. in to., called _the whole works of alexander pennecuik, gent._, vol. ii. it commences at p. . upon the boards is written "edinburgh, january . ex dono viduæ j. graham, bibliopegi, cum altero volumine." it is not known in what way the faculty of advocates became possessed of this volume. query, where is the first? edward f. rimbault. "_the percy anecdotes._"--who were the compilers of this excellent collection, published about thirty years ago? uneda. _norman song._--in the year there was a song current in normandy, which ran that the arrow was being made in limousin by which richard coeur de lion was to be slain. can any of the readers of "n. & q." inform me where the ballad is to be found, or if ms., give me a copy? r. l. _god's marks._--in roper's _life of more_ there is an account of margaret roper's recovery from an attack of the sweating sickness. the belief of the writer was, that the recovery was miraculous; and to enforce that opinion he asserts, that the patient did not begin to recover until after "god's marks (an evident undoubted token of death) plainly appeared upon her." (roper's _more_, p. ., singer's edition.) pray what is meant by "god's marks?" john bruce. _the bronze statue of charles i., charing cross._--what is known of the life and history of john rivers[ ], to whose loyalty the good people of london are now indebted for the preservation of this bust, which the parliament in the time of cromwell had ordered to be destroyed? that he was a brazier, and a handy workman, is all that i know of him. w. w. malta. [footnote : [john _rivett_, a brazier living at the dial, near holborn conduit. see walpole's _anecdotes of painting_ vol. ii. p. .--ed.]] * * * * * minor queries with answers. _hutter's polyglott._--can any one inform me whether the following work was ever completed, or give me any particulars respecting it? _biblia sacra, ebraice, chaldaice, græce, latine, germanice, saxonice; studio et labore_ eliæ hutteri, germani, noribergæ, . of this work i have the first volume--a splendid book, which recently came from abroad; but i cannot hear of the other volumes: this includes the pentateuch. a reply to this query will be thankfully received. b. h. c. [we have an edition before us, printed at noribergæ, , to the end of the book of ruth, but without the sclavonic column. according to ebert (_bibliog. dict._) there is "a fourfold edition, differing only in the last column, and goes only as far as the book of ruth. scarce, but of no value. the edition with the { } sclavonic column is the most scarce." in , hutter published a polyglott of the new testament, in twelve languages, viz. the syriac, hebrew, greek, latin, german, bohemian, italian, spanish, french, english, danish, and polish; which, in an edition printed in , were reduced to the hebrew, greek, latin, and german. he died at nuremberg, about .] _ethnology of england._--will any of your readers favour me with a reference to the best work or works which refer to the ethnology of this island, more particularly in reference to the craniology of the different races which have settled in it? i beg to ask whether it is yet clearly settled that there are types of the heads of ancient britons, saxons, danes, and other races, to be referred to as standards or examples of the respective crania of those people? if so, will any of your readers be kind enough to direct me to any work which contains engraved outlines of such crania? ethnologicus. [ethnologicus is referred to the works of dr. prichard and dr. latham; more especially to _the ethnology of the british islands_, by the last-named writer, noticed in our th number, p. . that types of the heads of the ancient britons, saxons, danes, &c. are to be found, there can be no doubt, though they have never hitherto been brought together for comparison. to do this is the object of the projected _crania britannica_, about to be published by dr. thurnam of devizes, and mr. j. b. davis, of which some particulars will be found at p. . of our sixth volume.] _pitt of pimperne._--can any of your readers tell me what works of mr. pitt, formerly rector of pimperne, dorset, and translator of virgil's _Æneid_, &c., have been printed? w. barnes. dorchester [in addition to the _Æneid_, christopher pitt translated veda's _art of poetry_, about ; and subsequently published a volume of _poems and translations_, vo. . his _poems_ will be found in the twelfth volume of chalmers's collection.] _"the bottle department" of the beer-trade_ was evidently _terra incognita_ in those days: "he that buys land buys many stones; he that buys flesh buys many bones; he that buys eggs buys many shells; but he that buys good ale buys nothing else." "a favourite proverbial rhyme among topers," quoth that most amusing of lexicographers, old n. bailey, [greek: philologos], who inserts it under the word "buy," folio edition. query, what was his christian name? balliolensis. [nathan bailey. a short account of him will be found in chalmers's _biog. dict._] * * * * * replies. bishop pursglove (suffragan) of hull. (vol. vii., p. .) some time since, when at tideswell (which is in derbyshire, not devonshire), i made a rubbing from the brass of bishop pursglove, from which i have copied the inscription asked for by a. s. a., on a plate of brass underneath the figure. "under this stone as here doth ly, a corps sumtime of fame, in tiddeswall bred and born truely, robert pursglove by name; and there brought up by parents' care, at schoole and learning trad; till afterwards, by uncle dear, to london he was had, who, william bradshaw hight by name, in pauls w^{ch} did him place, and y^r at schoole did him maintain full thrice three whole years' space; and then into the abberye was placed as i wish, in southwarke call'd, where it doth ly, saint mary overis. to oxford then, who did him send, into that colledge right, and there fourteen years did him find wh. corpus christi hight; from thence at length away he went, a clerke of learning great, to gisburn abbey streight was sent, and plac'd in prior's seat. bishop of hull he was also, archdeacon of nottingham, provost of rotheram colledge too, of york eak suffragan. two gramer schooles he did ordain with land for to endure, one hospital for to maintain twelve impotent and poor. o gisburne, thou, with tiddeswall town, lement and mourn for may, for this said clerk of great renoun lyeth here compact in clay. though cruell death hath now down brought this body w^c here doth ly, yet trump of fame stay can he nought to sound his praise on high." "qui legis hunc versum crebro reliquum memoreris vile cadaver sum, tuque cadaver eris." the inscription is in black letter, except the words which are in small capitals. on a fillet round the slab, with the evangelistic symbols at the corners,-- "[maltese cross] christ is to me as life on earth, and death to me is gaine, because i trust through him alone saluation to obtaine; { } so brittle is the state of man, so soon it doth decay, so all the glory of this world must pas and fade away. "this robert pursglove, sometyme bishoppe of hull, deceased the day of maii, in the year of our lord god, ." wood says (_ath. oxon._, edit. bliss, ii. c. .), that about the beginning of queen mary's reign he was made archdeacon of nottingham, and suffragan bishop of hull; but dr. brett, in a letter printed in drake's _eboracum_, , fol., p. ., says he was appointed in , the last year of the reign of edward vi. john i. dredge. in wharton's _list of suffragan bishops_, the following entry occurs: "robertus silvester, _alias_ pursglove, ep[=u]s hullensis, , ." but this is probably a mistake, as, in a short account of his life by anthony à wood (vol. ii. col. ., _athen. oxon._, edited by bliss), i find it stated, that "on the death of rob. sylvester about the beginning of queen mary's reign, he was made archdeacon of nottingham, and suffragan bishop of hull, under the archbishop of york." wood afterwards adds: "after queen elizabeth had been settled in the throne for some time, the oath of supremacy was offered to him, but he denying to take it, was deprived of his archdeaconry and other spiritualities." tyro. it appears, from dugdale's _warwickshire_, that pursglove assented to the suppression of gisburne in december, , and became a commissioner for persuading other abbots and priors to do the same. it is doubtful at what time he was appointed to the see of hull; whether in the last year of edward vi. or in queen mary's reign, though it is certain, in , he refused to take the oath of supremacy to elizabeth. the hospital and schools mentioned in the epitaph are gisborough and tideswell. r. j. shaw. * * * * * the gregorian tones. (vol. vi., pp. . .) i have neither time nor inclination to expose all the errors and fallacies of mr. matthew cooke's article on "gregorian tones;" but i cannot resist pointing out certain statements which are calculated to mislead the readers of "n. & q." in no trifling degree. the writer says: "the most ancient account we have is, that st. ambrose of milan knew of _four_ tones in his day, and that he added _four_ others to them; the former being those termed authentic, the latter the plagal modes." now the fact is, that st. ambrose, bishop of milan (a.d. to ), chose from the ancient greek modes four series or successions of notes, and called them simply the first, second, third, and fourth tones; laying completely aside the ancient heathen names of doric, phrygian, lydian, ionic, &c. st. gregory the great, who governed the christian church from a.d. to , added the _four additional_ tones. these eight ecclesiastical successions or scales, which still exist as such in the music of the roman liturgy, are called gregorian after their founder. thus the old ambrosian chant is known at present only through the medium of the gregorian. the writer continues his statement in these words-- "some years since, the renowned french theorist, mons. fetis, went to milan for the express purpose of consulting the celebrated _book of offices_, written by st. ambrose _in his own handwriting, which is there preserved_ [the italics are added]; and in his work, published in belgium, he says that he collated them with those known and received amongst us; and that the variations were of the slightest possible character, the tones being ostensibly the same." this extraordinary statement cannot be accepted without the title of m. fetis' work, and the passage upon which it rests, _verbatim_ in the author's own words. but i have no hesitation in saying that it is founded in error. thibaut (_ueber der reinheit der tonkunst_, pp. - .) speaks of a ms. of the gregorian chants at st. gall, in switzerland, as old as the _ninth_ century. this is believed, by all accredited modern writers upon music, to be the oldest ms. of the tones extant. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * love's labour's lost, act v. sc. . (vol. vi., pp. . .) of this passage we might almost say _conclamatum est_; for really no good sense has yet been made of it, except by bold alterations. for my own part, i agree with a. e. b., that _no alteration is required_ except in the punctuation, and not much even then. the text of the folios is given by mr. singer (vol. vi., p. .), and i would read it thus: "nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you now. that sport best pleases that doth least know how, where zeal strives to content, and the contents dies in[ ] the zeal of that which it presents. their form confounded makes most form in mirth, when great things labouring perish in the birth." the whole difficulty seems to lie in the word _dies_ in the fourth line, and that i think may be removed by merely changing _i_ into _y_, and reading _dyes_. the meaning then will be: that sport will yield most pleasure in which, though the actors are devoid of skill, they are zealous and anxious to give pleasure for their zeal in the endeavour, { } _dyes_, or tinges (_i. e._ communicates its own hue to) the _contents_ or satisfaction of the spectators (_i. e._ makes them sympathise with the actors). while on the other hand: my good lord, when, as in your late attempt, great things labouring perish in the birth, _their_ confusion causes laughter and derision instead of pleasure, like the former simple effort. i take, as will be seen, _contents_, in the third line, as the substantive of the preceding verb _content_, and not, with mr. knight and a. e. b., as "things contained." the poet put it in the plural evidently for the sake of the rhyme. in the next line, _zeal_ may not be the word actually written by the poet, but it makes a very fair sense; and i know no word that could be substituted for it with certainty--we still use the phrase, _to dye in_. in understanding the last two lines of the mask[ ] of the king and his lords, i think i am justified by the remark of byron: "a right description of our sport, my lord." perhaps it is needless to add, that _labouring_ is i.q. _travailing_; and that _most form in mirth_ means _the highest form in_ (i. e. _the greatest degree of_) _mirth_. in these, and any other remarks on shakspeare with which i may happen to trouble you at any time, i beg to be regarded as a mere _guerilla_ as compared with regularly trained and disciplined shakspearians like _mr. singer_, mr. collier, and others. i have never read the folios of or . i do not even possess a _variorum_ edition of the poet; my only copy being mr. collier's excellent edition. finally, my studies have lain most about the sunny shores of the mediterranean; and i am most at home in the literature of its three peninsulas, and the coasts of asia. thos. keightley. [footnote : "in" corrected from "with" by erratum in issue .--transcriber.] [footnote : "mask" corrected from "remark" by erratum in issue .--transcriber.] * * * * * niÁgara, or niagÁra. (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) as i consider j. g.'s apology for the popular, though undoubtedly erroneous, pronunciation of this word to be far from satisfactory, may i trouble you with some evidence in favour of niagára, which mr. w. fraser truly says is the huron pronunciation? i also agree with him, that it is "unquestionably the most musical." for my own part, the sound of niágara is painful to my ear; even moore himself could not knock music out of it. witness the following lines: "take, instead of a bowl, or a dagger, a desperate dash down the falls of niágara."[ ] how very different is the measured, solemn sound, which the word bears in the noble lines of goldsmith, who, it is reasonable to suppose, was as well informed of its proper pronunciation as of its correct interpretation. travelling a few years since in canada, i was assured by an old gentleman, who for many years held constant intercourse with the aborigines, that they invariably place the accent upon the penult. if this be true, as i doubt not, it is conclusive: and in order to testify to the correctness of the assertion, i could cite numberless aboriginal names of places in "the states," as well as in canada: a few, however, will here suffice: stadacóna. hochelága. torónto. mississíppi. alleghány. apalachicóla. saratóga. ticonderóga. narragánset. oswégo. canandáigua. tuscalóosa. now, i am aware that there are other indian words which would seem, at first sight, if not to contradict, to be at least exceptions to the rule, but upon investigation they, i conceive, rather strengthen my argument: for instance, connécticut--the original of which is, quonehtácut, the long river. in conclusion, we should bear in mind that we have the prevalent pronunciation of such words through either of two channels,--the french or the american; consequently, in canada, we find them frenchified, and in "the states" yankeefied. i therefore hold that niágara is a most inharmonious yankeefication of the melodious aboriginal word niagára. robert wright. . tavistock street, covent garden. [footnote : i quote these lines from memory. they occur, i believe, in the _fudge family_.] * * * * * drengage. (vol. vii., p. .) the tenure in _drengage_ was common in, if it was not confined to, the territory which was comprised in the ancient kingdom of northumbria. _drenghs_ are mentioned in domesday on the lands between the ribble and the mersey, which then formed part of northumbria. they occur in yorkshire; and they are mentioned in the survey, called the _boldon book_, compiled in a.d. , by order of hugh pudsey, the great bishop of durham, which may be termed the domesday of the palatinate. sir henry ellis, in his _general introd. to domesday_, says, "the _drenchs_ or _drenghs_ were of the description of allodial tenants ... and from the few entries in which they occur, it certainly appears that the allotments of territory they possessed were held as manors." (_domesd._, tom. i. fo. .) but as menial services (to be rendered, nevertheless, by the villans of the tenant in _drengage_) were attached to the tenure, at all events in the county of durham, it was inferior to military tenure; and the instance in the pipe rolls of westmoreland, henry ii., of the enfranchisement of _drenghs_, together with the particulars { } given in records of the palatinate of durham and the county of northumberland, as to the services attached to _drengage_, show that it was far from being a free tenure. yet spelman (_gloss._, ed. , p. .) speaks of _drenges_ as "tenantes per servitium militare;" and coke calls them "free tenants of a manor."[ ] from the _boldon book_ we learn, however, that the services of the _drengh_ were to plough, sow, and harrow a portion of the bishop's land, to keep a dog and horse for the bishop's use, and a cart to convey his wine; to attend the chase with dogs and ropes; and perform certain "precaria," or harvest works. to take an example from the roll of bishop de bury in :--we find nicholas de oxenhale held of the bishop in capite the manor of oxenhale, performing, amongst other services, "the fourth part of a _drengage_; to wit, he was to plough four acres, and sow the land with seed of the bishop's, and harrow it, and do four days' work in autumn." and in the pipe roll for westmoreland, already mentioned, we find eighteen _drenghs_ in the honour held by hugh de morvill, who had not been enfranchised by him, and who remained paying a fine to be exempt from foreign service. in northumberland the tenants in _drengage_ paid a fixed money-rent, and were subject to tallage, heriots, merchet, &c. so, in the palatinate, in th bishop hatfield (a. d. ), john warde, of hoton, died seised in his demesne of a messuage and sixty acres which were held of the bishop in capite, by homage and fealty in _drengage_, rendering six bushels of oats and three bushels of barley, at the manor of middleham. but the agricultural and menial services were lighter than those of the villan, and, as already stated, were not performed by the tenant in person, or by those of his household. this tenure existed in tynedale at the close of the thirteenth century, as appears from _rot. orig. edw. i._, vol. i. p. ., where the "consuetudinem partium prædictarum" are mentioned. "a _drengage_," says blount, in his _fragmenta antiquitatis_, "seems to have consisted of sixteen acres, to be ploughed, sown, and harrowed." the word _drengage_ is derived, by the rev. wm. greenwell, in the glossary to his recent valuable edition of _boldon book_, from the anglo-saxon _dreogan_, to do, work, bear; the root, according to tooke, of our english word _drudge_. _drengage_ is, in kelham's _norman-french dictionary_, explained to be "the tenure by which the _drenges_ held their lands." in lye's _saxon dictionary_ i find "_dreng_, miles, vir fortis." wm. sidney gibson. newcastle-upon-tyne. [footnote : spelman says they were "e genere vassallorum non ignobilium," and such as, being at the conquest put out of their estate, were afterwards restored.] * * * * * chatterton. (vol. vii., p. .) the following account of the whole of the proceedings at the inquest which was held at the three crows, brook street, holborn, on friday, aug. , , before swinson carter, esq., and ten jurymen, whose names are mentioned, is from a ms. copy in my possession. i am not acquainted with any printed work which contains a report of the inquest. it is not in the large collection of chatterton's _works_ and _lives_, and the innumerable newspaper and magazine cuttings, which fill several volumes, and which belonged to mr. haslewood; nor is it in barrett's _bristol_, or herbert croft's _love and madness_. "account of the inquest held on the body of thomas chatterton, deceased, at the three crows, brook street, holborn, on friday, the th august, , before swinson carter, esq., and the following jury:--charles skinner, ---- meres, john hollier, john park, s. g. doran, henry dugdale, g. j. hillsley, c. sheen, e. manley, c. moore, ---- nevett. "mary angell, sack maker, of no. . brook street, holborn, deposed, that the deceased came to lodge at her house about nine or ten weeks ago; he took the room below the garret; he always slept in the same room; he was always very exact in his payments to her; and at one time, when she knew that he had paid her all the money he had in the world, she offered him sixpence back, which he refused to take, saying: 'i have that here (pointing to his forehead) which will get me more.' he used to sit up nearly all night, and she frequently found his bed untouched in the morning, when she went to make it. she knew that he always bought his loaves--one of which lasted him for a week--as stale as possible, that they might last the longer: and, two days before his death, he came home in a great passion with the baker's wife, who had refused to let him have another loaf until he paid her s. d. which he owed her previously. he, the deceased, appeared unusually grave on the th of august; and, on her asking him what ailed him, he answered pettishly: 'nothing, nothing--why do you ask?' on the morning of the th august, he lay in bed longer than usual; got up about ten o'clock, and went out with a bundle of paper under his arm, which he said 'was a treasure to any one, but there were so many fools in the world that he would put them in a place of safety, lest they should meet with accident.' he returned about seven in the evening, looking very pale and dejected; and would not eat anything, but sat moping by the fire with his chin on his knees, and muttering rhymes in some old language to her. witness saw him for the last time when { } he got up to go to bed; he then kissed her (a thing he had never done in his life before), and then went upstairs, stamping on every stair as he went slowly up, as if he would break it. witness stated that he did not come down next morning, but she was not alarmed, as he had lain longer than usual on the day before; but at eleven o'clock, mrs. wolfe, a neighbour's wife, coming in, they went and listened at the door, and tried to open it, but it was locked. at last, they got a man who was near to break it open; and they found him lying on the bed with his legs hanging over, quite dead: the bed had not been lain on. the floor was covered all over with little bits of paper; and on one piece the man read, in deceased's handwriting, 'i leave my soul to its maker, my body to my mother and sister, and my curse to bristol. if mr. ca....' the rest was torn off. the man then said he must have killed himself, which we did not think till then, not having seen the poison till an hour after. deceased was very proud, but never unkind to any one. i do not think he was quite right in his mind lately. the man took away the paper, and i have not been able to find him out. "frederick angell deposed to the fact of deceased lodging at their house; was from home when deceased was found. always considered him something wonderful, and was sometimes afraid he would go out of his mind. deceased often came home very melancholy; and, on his once asking him the reason, he said, 'hamilton has deceived me;' but could get no more from him. deceased was always writing to his mother or sister, of whom he appeared to be very fond. i never knew him in liquor, and never saw him drink anything but water. "edwin cross, apothecary, brook street, holborn. knew the deceased well, from the time he came to live with mrs. angell in the same street. deceased used generally to call on him every time he went by his door, which was usually two or three times in a day. deceased used to talk a great deal about physic, and was very inquisitive about the nature of different poisons. i often asked him to take a meal with us, but he was so proud that i could never but once prevail on him, though i knew he was half-starving. one evening he did stay, when i unusually pressed him. he talked a great deal, but all at once became silent, and looked quite vacant. he used to go very often to falcon court, fleet street, to a mr. hamilton, who printed a magazine; but who, he said, was using him very badly. i once recommended him to return to bristol, but he only heaved a deep sigh; and begged me, with tears in his eyes, never to mention the hated name again. he called on me on the th august about half-past eleven in the morning, and bought some arsenic, which he said was for an experiment. about the same time next day, mrs. wolfe ran in for me, saying deceased had killed himself. i went to his room, and found him quite dead. on his window was a bottle containing arsenic and water; some of the little bits of arsenic were between his teeth. i believe if he had not killed himself, he would soon have died of starvation; for he was too proud to ask of any one. witness always considered deceased as an astonishing genius. "anne wolfe, of brook street. witness lived three doors from mrs. angell's; knew the deceased well; always thought him very proud and haughty. she sometimes thought him crazed. she saw him one night walking up and down the street at twelve o'clock, talking loud, and occasionally stopping, as if to think on something. one day he came in to buy some curls, which he said he wanted to send to his sister; but he could not pay the price, and went away seemingly much mortified. on the th august, mrs. angell asked her to go upstairs with her to thomas's room: they could make no one hear. and, at last, being frightened, they got a man who was going by to break open the door, when they found him dead on the bed. the floor was covered with little bits of paper, and the man who was with them picked up several and took away with him. "_verdict._--felo de se." j. m. g. worcester. * * * * * literary frauds of modern times. (vol. vii., p. .) it is not for p. c. s. s. to explain the grounds on which cardinal wiseman considers the _history of formosa_, and the _sicilian code of vella_, as the most celebrated literary frauds of modern times. but he thinks that before he penned the query, mr. breen might have recollected the well-known name of _george psalmanazar_, and the extraordinary imposture so successfully practised in by that good and learned person; a fraud scarcely redeemed by the virtue and merits of a man of whom dr. johnson said, that "he had never seen the close of the life of any one that he so much wished his own to resemble, as that of psalmanazar, for its purity and devotion." with respect to the _sicilian code of vella_, mr. breen will find, on a very little inquiry, that the work to which the cardinal adverts (entitled _libro del consiglio di egitto, tradotto da giuseppe vella_) was printed at palermo in ; that the book, from beginning to end, is an entire fiction of the learned canon; that the forgery was detected before the publication of the second part--which, consequently, never saw the light; that the detection was due to the celebrated orientalist hager, whose account thereof (a masterpiece of { } analytical reasoning) was published in by palm, the bookseller of erlang (murdered in by order of the uncle of the present french emperor). but this was not the only imposture of the kind of which vella was the author, and which his profound knowledge of arabic enabled him to execute in a way which it would scarcely have been possible for any other european to have accomplished. he had published, , at the royal press at palermo, under the name of alfonso airoldi, a fictitious _codex diplomaticus siciliæ, sub saracenorum imperio_, to the discovery of which ingenious fraud we are also indebted to the acute pyrrhonism of m. hager. p. c. s. s. * * * * * sir h. wotton's letter to milton. (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .) i am obliged to apologise for having made sir henry wotton use the words "some long time before," instead of "some good while before," and therefore take the opportunity of saying that i think sir henry's allusion to "the art of stationers," in binding a good and a bad book up together, almost proves "our common friend mr. r." to have been a bookseller. notwithstanding the very high authorities against me, i will then venture to insinuate, that instead of john rouse, or robert randolph, plain humphrey _robinson_ is meant, by whom _comus_ was printed in , "at the signe of the three pidgeons, in paul's church-yard." once grant the probability of this being the case, and we have no further difficulty in understanding why _comus_ should be stitched up "with the late rd. poems," or wotton be left in ignorance of the author's name. lawes tells us in the dedication to _comus_, that it was "not openly acknowledged by the author;" and the publisher would naturally keep the secret: but why rouse or robert randolph should do so, appears to me inexplicable. i hope soon to have access to some public libraries, and also to return to this very interesting question again. meanwhile, may i beg the forbearance of your more learned correspondents? rt. warmington. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _sir w. newton's process._--having been requested by several friends to give them a statement of my mode of proceeding with reference to the calotypic art, and as i am of opinion that we ought to assist each other as much as possible in the pursuit of this important branch of photography, i beg therefore to offer the following for insertion in your "n. & q.," if you should deem them worth your acceptance. _to iodize the paper._-- st. brush your paper over with muriate of barytes (half an ounce, dissolved in nearly a wine-bottle of distilled water): lay it flat to dry. nd. dissolve sixty grains of nitrate of silver in about an ounce of distilled water. ditto sixty grains of iodide of potassium in another bottle with the like quantity of water. mix them together and shake well: let it subside: pour off the water, and then add _hot_ water: shake it well: let subside: pour off the water, and then add three ounces of distilled water, and afterwards as much iodide of potassium as will redissolve the iodide of silver. brush your previously prepared paper well with this, and let dry; then place them in water, one by one, for about one hour and a half or two hours, _constantly agitating the water_. as many as a dozen pieces may be put into the water, one after the other, taking care that there are no air-bubbles: take them out, and pin to the edge of a board at one corner. when dry they will be ready for exciting for the camera by the following process: (these are supposed to be in six -ounce bottles with glass stoppers.) +-------------------+--------------------+--------------+ | . | . | . | | drachm of no. | min. of no. ., | a saturated | | ., drachms of | drachms of | solution of | | distilled water. | distilled water. | gallic acid. | +-------------------+----------------+---+--------------+ | . | . | . | | grains of | drachms of | equal parts of | | nitrate of silver | no. ., drs. | nos. . and . | | to half an ounce | of water. | | | of water. add | | n.b.--this must | | minims of glacial | | be mixed just | | acetic acid. | | before using, | | | | and the bottle | | | | cleaned | | | | afterwards. | +-------------------+----------------+------------------+ _to excite for the camera._--mix equal parts of nos. . and ., and with a glass rod excite the iodized paper and blot off; and it may be put in the slide at once, or the number you require may be excited, and put into a blotting paper book, one between each leaf, and allowed to remain until required to be placed in the slide. _time of exposure._--the time varies from three minutes to a quarter of an hour, according to the nature of the subject and the power of the sun; but five minutes is _generally_ the proper time. _to bring out._--bring out with no. ., and when the subject begins to appear, add no. .; and when sufficiently developed hold it up, and pour water upon it; and then put it into hyposulphite of soda to fix it, for about half an hour { } or more, and then into water: this is merely to fix it for the after process at your leisure. _to clean the negative._--get a zinc tray about three or four inches deep, with another tray to fit in at the top, about one inch deep; fill the lower tray with boiling water, so that the upper tray may touch the water; put your solution of hyposulphite of soda, not strong, in the upper tray, and then your negatives one by one, watching them with care until the iodine is removed; then put them in hot water, containing a small piece of common soda (the size of a nutmeg to about two quarts of water), for about ten minutes; pour off the dirty water, and then add more hot water, shaking them gently for a short time; pour off the water again, and then add fresh hot water, and let it remain until it is cold, after which take them out carefully, one by one, and put them in clean cold water for an hour or two; then take them _all out together_, and hold up to drain for a short time, and then put them between three or four thicknesses of linen, and press as much of the water out as you can; then _carefully_ (_for now all the size is removed_) lay them out flat upon linen to dry. _mode of waxing the negatives._--melt the pure white wax over a lamp of moderate heat, just merely to keep it in a liquid state; then fill the same deep tray as above described with boiling water, and with _another_ similar to the upper one before described (_which must be kept for this purpose only_); put a clean piece of blotting-paper in this tray, and lay your negative _face downwards_, and with a soft _flat_ hog's hair-brush, about an inch wide, dip it into the liquid wax, and brush the negative over, when it will be immediately transparent, and it can be done so that there is very little redundant wax, after which it may be put between two or three thicknesses of blotting-paper and ironed, if necessary, which, however, should not be _very_ hot, when it is ready to take positives from. _positives on negative paper._--take one part of the iodide of silver before described, and add two parts of water; then add as much iodide of potassium as will redissolve it. brush your paper with the foregoing, let dry, put into water, and proceed, in all respects, as above described for the negatives. _excite for positives._--excite with no. .; blot off: lay it in your press, place the negative face downwards: expose to the light from ten seconds to half a minute, or more, according to the light (_not in the sun_), and bring out with no. .; and when it is nearly developed add no. .; then take it up and pour water upon it, and then place it in hyposulphite of soda (cold) until the iodine is removed; after which put it into allum water, about half a teaspoonful of powdered allum in two quarts of water; this will readily remove the hyposulphite, and also fix the positive more particularly; it will also take away any impurities which there may be in the paper, after which put it into clean cold water, and change two or three times. i have been thus particular in describing the process which i have adopted, more especially for beginners; and with great cleanliness and care in each process, and especially in keeping all the bottles with the chemicals free from dirt of every kind, the foregoing will lead to favourable results. w. j. newton. i have been making some experiments in preparing the iodized paper in the following manner, more especially in consideration of the present price of iodide of potassium:-- grains of nitrate of silver; ditto of iodide of potassium, cleaned and prepared as before described, by the addition of three ounces of water,--that is oz. altogether; grains of cyanide of potassium; add a little of this at a time, and shake it up; and i generally find that this quantity is sufficient to redissolve the grains of iodide of silver. brush the paper over with the above, and when the wet surface disappears, dip it into cold water containing one drachm of dilute sulphuric acid to one quart of water; and then into water for half an hour, changing the water once: pin up to dry. i have not had an opportunity of trying this for negatives, but i have taken some good positives with the paper so prepared. n.b.--i find that if the paper is allowed to dry with the cyanide of potassium, or that it is allowed to remain in the dilute sulphuric acid water too long, it weakens the paper so much as to be very absorbent. i would therefore wish to know from any of your correspondents whether this arises from taking away the size, or injuring the fibres of the paper? and, if so, whether a paper prepared with starch, instead of size, would be better? as it appears to me that this mode of iodizing might be an improvement. at all events, it is an enormous saving of iodide of potassium; as, for instance, to redissolve the grains, it would take ½ oz. of iodide of potassium (about four shillings); whereas grains of cyanide would not cost more than one penny or twopence. w. j. n. _collodion film on copper plates._--would any of your correspondents kindly describe the manner in which the collodion film may be transferred to prepared copper plates? it was noticed by your correspondent h. w. d. in vol. vi., p. . j. m. s. _treatment of the paper positive after fixing._-- . is it absolutely necessary for the preservation of the picture, that the size should be wholly removed from the paper? it seems to me that the hot-water treatment materially injures the tone. { } . in re-sizing, what is the kind of size and degree of strength generally made use of, and mode of application? i have tried gelatine and isinglass size, of various degrees of strength, without satisfactory results. . should the hot iron, used for improvement of tone, be applied previous to the picture being re-sized, or as a finishing operation? i find much difficulty from the liability of the paper to shrivel under it. . is the glossy appearance, observed in finished photographs, attained solely by use of the burnisher? . what is albumenized paper? used, i believe, by some in printing; and the mode of its preparation? h. b. b. p.s.--if i am not presuming too much upon your kindness, i should feel greatly indebted for information upon the above points, either privately or through the medium of "n. & q.," according to the importance you may attach to them. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _essay for a new translation of the bible_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this work was written by charles le cene, a french protestant minister, who, on the revocation of the edict of nantes, sought refuge in england, and died at london in . the translation was made by hugh ross, a scotchman and sea-chaplain, but who was not sufficiently ingenuous to tell his readers that it was a translation. orme says: "the essay contains a good deal of valuable information; points out many erroneous renderings of passages of scripture; and suggests better meanings, and the means of correcting the modern translations generally."--_bibliothecha biblica_, p. . a short account of le cene will be found in chalmers's _biog. dict._ see also lewis's _translations of the bible_, vo. , p. . john i. dredge. i have a copy of the _essay for a new translation of the bible_, second edition, (not ), which your correspondent w. w. t. inquires about (vol. vii., p. .). it is the translation of a work of the huguenot refugee, charles le cene, _projet d'une nouvelle version françoise de la bible_. h. r., who signs the dedication, was hugh ross, according to a note in my copy, which my father made on the authority of one of the clergy of norwich about twenty years ago, i believe of dr. charles sutton. i have been unable to ascertain anything about him, his name not appearing in any biographical dictionary i have seen, and the book not being in the museum library. the _biog. universelle_ charges le cene with a tendency to pelagian or socinian errors, both in his _projet_, and in the _version_ he actually made, and which was printed at amsterdam. this was a great curiosity in its way, the ancient oriental titles, &c. being rendered in their corresponding modern analogues. b. b. woodward. _touchstone_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i think your correspondent alphage is mistaken in alleging that the word _touchstone_ is so called because it "gives a musical sound when touched with a stick." the _touchstone_ is the dark-coloured flinty slate or schistus (the _lapis lydius_ of the ancients), which has been used from the remotest ages, down even to our own days, for testing gold. by touching the black stone with the metal, it leaves behind a clear mark, the colour of which indicates the distinction between the pure and alloyed. pliny describes it (lib. xxxiii. cap. .): "auri argentique mentionem comitatur lapis quem coticulam appellant, quondam non solitus inveniri, nisi in flumine tmolo, ut auctor est theophrastus: nunc vero passim; quem alii heraclium, alii lydium vocant. his coticulis periti, cum e vena ut lima rapuerint experimentum, protinus dicunt quantum auri sit in ea, quantum argenti vel æris, scripulari differentia, mirabili ratione, non fallente." this is the substance referred to in the apothegms of lord bacon, that "gold is tried by the _touchstone_, and men by gold." the french, from the same practice, know the same substance by the name of _pierre de touche_. the use of the touchstone, at the present day, is thus described by ure in his _dictionary of arts and mines_, under the head of "assay:" "in such small work as cannot be assayed, by scraping off a part and cupelling it, the assayers endeavor to ascertain its fineness or quality by the touch. this is a method of comparing the colour and other properties of a minute portion of the metal, with those of small bars, the composition of which is known. these bars are called _touch needles_, and they are rubbed upon a smooth piece of black basaltes, or pottery, which _for this reason is called the touchstone_." w. w. e. t. . warwick square, belgravia. _early edition of solinus_ (vol. vi., p. .).--"solinus _de situ et memor. orbis_, editio princeps, folio, venet. ." my copy was described as above in the catalogue of the bookseller of whom i purchased it. it contains a very fine illuminated initial letter, red, blue, and gold. it has no pagination. at the end, in capitals: "ivlii solini de sitv orbis et memorabilibvs qvae mvndi ambitu continentvr liber impressvs venetiis per nicolavm ienson gallicvm. m.cccc.lxxiii." should any gentleman wish to see it, i shall be happy to oblige him. mine is marked " s.," and below this price, "sold s." a. dunkin. dartford. { } _straw bail_ (vol. vii., p. .).--part of this query may be answered by the following extract: "for the bribery and perjury so painfully frequent in attic testimony, the editor contents himself with quoting from an article in the _quarterly review_ (vol. xxxiii. p. .), in which the greek courts of justice are treated of.--'we have all heard of a race of men who used, in former days, to ply about our own courts of law, and who, from their manner of making known their occupation, were recognized by the name of _straw-shoes_. an advocate, or lawyer, who wanted a _convenient_ witness, knew by these signs where to find one, and the colloquy between the parties was brief. 'don't you remember?' said the advocate--(the party looked at the fee and gave no sign; but the fee increased, and the powers of memory increased with it). 'to be sure i do.' 'then come into the court and swear it.' and straw-shoes went into the court and swore it. athens abounded in straw-shoes." see mitchell's _wasps_ of aristophanes, note on line . c. forbes. temple. _doctor young_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. h. will find an account of mrs. hallows, the lady meant as young's housekeeper, in boswell's _johnson_, p. ., ed. ; and i can add to anderson's note, that in the duchess of portland's correspondence with young, of which i have seen the originals, mrs. hallows is always mentioned by her grace with civility and kindness. c. _scarfs worn by clergymen_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent will find the subject of his query fully discussed in the _quarterly review_ for june, (vol. lxxxix. p. .), the result being that the use of the scarf, except by chaplains of peers, dignitaries, &c., is a wholly unauthorised usurpation of very recent date. c. _cibber's lives of the poets_ (vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--mr. w. l. nichols has transmitted to "n. & q." what he calls a "curious letter which appears to have escaped the notice of mr. croker, though it corroborates his statement," relative to dr. johnson's mistake as to the authorship of those _lives_. mr. nichols is informed that he will find this "curious letter" _in extenso_ in mr. croker's last edition of _boswell_, p. ., with the date of ; the letter itself having been published in . it is again referred to in p. . as decisive of the question. c. "_letters on prejudice_" (vol. vii., p. .).--i have always understood from private and family sources, that _letters on prejudice_, inquired after by w. w. t., were written by a miss mary kenny, an irishwoman of great worth and ability. if i am right in this assertion, her brother, who was some time a fellow of the irish university, and, if not lately dead, rector of one of the london churches, should be able to confirm it. a. b. r. belmont. _statue of st. peter_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--on what authority does ceyrep rest the confident statement, that this statue was undoubtedly cast for a st. peter "in the time of st. leo the great?" i have always understood that it was an ancient statue which had been found in the tiber; but here is a distinct assertion as to the period of its origin, for which some good authority would be very acceptable. b. h. c. _lord goring_ (vol. ii., pp. . .).--i see him mentioned (in the _herstelde leeuw_, fol. .) as having been present at the baptism of william iii. in . he escorted madam van dhona, by whom the young prince was carried to church.--_from the navorscher_. w. d. v. _revolutionary calendar_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--the lines to which c. refers may be seen in brady's _clavis calendaria_, vol. i. p. . he gives them as the lines of an english wit, thus: "autumn, wheezy, sneezy, freezy, winter, slippy, drippy, nippy; spring showery, flowery, bowery; summer hoppy, croppy, poppy." thomas lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _scanderbags' sword_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this alludes to a proverb given by fuller, "scanderbags' sword must have scanderbags' arm." zeus. _rhymes upon places_ (vol. vii., p. .).--lincolnshire: "gosberton church is very high, surfleet church is all awry; pinchbeck church is in a hole, and spalding church is big with foal." zeus. _nicknames_ (vol. vi., p. .).--if your correspondent will look at mr. bellenden ker's _archæology of popular phrases_, vol. i. p. ., he will find an attempt to show the origin of nickname; but, whether we agree or not with mr. ker, the whole paragraph is worth reading for its comparative philology: it may, perhaps, bear out that the "nic" in "pic-nic" is also allied. thomas lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _nugget_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--e. n. w. inquires the meaning of the word _nugget_; and w. s. replies that in persian _nuqud_ signifies "ready money." this may have satisfied e. n. w., but it reminds me of jonathan oldbuck and { } a. d. l. l. i should have thought that any one who had the slightest skill in etymology would have seen at once that _a nugget_ is nothing more than a yankee (?) corruption of _an ingot_. as many may be in the case of e. n. w., you may as well, perhaps, give this a place in "n. & q." t. k. _lawyers' bags_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i think the statement that "prior to the trial of queen caroline, the colour of the bags carried by barristers was _green_," will surprise some legal readers. i had been a barrister several years when that trial took place, and cannot think that i had ever seen (indeed that i have yet seen) a barrister or a barrister's clerk carrying a green bag. i suspect it is a mere blunder arising out of the talk about the "green bag" which was said to contain the charges against the queen. that, however, i apprehend was not a lawyer's bag, whatever some lawyers might have to do with it. a templar. j. st. j. y. may assure himself that colonel landman is mistaken. i have been an attendant upon the courts for fifty years, and therefore long before the terrible green bag containing the charges against queen caroline was brought into the house of commons; and i can confidently assert that i never saw a green bag borne by a barrister or solicitor during that time. the only colours that were ever paraded in my experience by those legal functionaries, were purple and crimson; and they have so continued till the present time--i will not say without interruption, because i have been grieved to see that tailors and small london pedlars have invaded the privilege. causidicus. _catherine barton_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--my attention has been drawn to some questions in your early numbers respecting this lady. she was the daughter of robert barton of brigstock, northamptonshire, and hannah smith, half-sister of sir isaac newton. the colonel barton of whom she is said to be the widow, was her cousin, colonel noel barton, who served with distinction under marlborough, and died at the age of forty. he was son of thomas, eldest son of thomas barton of brigstock. the lieutenant matthew barton mentioned by de camera was the son of jeffery barton, rector of rashden, northamptonshire, afterwards admiral barton. jeffery was the youngest son of thomas barton of brigstock. o. o. o. _bells and storms_ (vol. iv., p. .).--wynkin de worde, one of the earliest of the english printers, in _the golden legend_, observes: "it is said, the evil spirytes that ben in the region of th' ayre, doubte moche when they here the belles ringen whan it thondreth, and when grete tempeste and rages of wether happen, to the ende that the feinds and wycked spirytes should ben abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of tempeste." we have, in sir john sinclair's statistical account of scotland, an account given of a bell belonging to the old chapel of st. fillan, in the parish of killin, perthshire, which usually lay on a gravestone in the churchyard. mad people were brought hither to be dipped in the saint's pool; the maniac was then confined all night in the chapel, bound with ropes, and in the morning the bell was set on his head with great solemnity. this was the highland cure for mania. it was the popular superstition of the district, that this bell would, if stolen, extricate itself out of the thief's hands, and return to its original place, ringing all the way. russell gole. _latin poem_ (vol. vii., pp. , .).--lord braybrooke does not appear to be so correct as usual in his belief, that neither of the two latin poems, which he quotes, have been previously in print. crowe's beautiful monody will be found at p. . of his collected poems, published by murray, . the printed copy, however, which is headed "inscriptio in horto auctoris apud alton in com. wilt. ---- m. s. gulielmi crowe, signif. leg. iv. qui cecidit in acie, die jan. a.d. . Æt. s. ." has the following differences: line ., "respexit" for "ascripsit;" l. ., "solvo" for "pono." l. . and the following lines stand thus: "quinetiam assidue hic veniam, lentæque senectæ, de te, dulce caput, meditando, tempora ducam: sæpe tuam recolens formam, moresque decentes, dictaque, tum sancto, et sapienti corde profecta, tum festiva quidem, et vario condita lepore. id mihi nunc solamen erit, dum vita manebit. tu verò, quicunque olim successoris hæres, sedibus his oro, moesti reverere parentis," and so on to the end, with one or two alterations; except in the penultimate line, "sit" for "stet;" and, in the last, "jucundi" for "dilecti." c. w. bingham [lord braybrooke was certainly not aware that crowe's monody had been published with his poems. lord braybrooke's version was copied, about thirty years ago, _verbatim et literatim_, from a manuscript in the handwriting of the late lord glastonbury, who died in .] _daubuz_ (vol. vi., p. .).--an interesting notice of the rev. charles daubuz occurs in hunter's _hallamshire_, p. . it is unnecessary to quote the whole, and i shall content myself with merely observing that if the dates in the { } _hallamshire_ are to be depended upon, and i have almost invariably found them correct, there is a slight inaccuracy in the note copied from the commentary. mr. hunter writes-- "he (daubuz) was a native of guienne, but at twelve years of age was driven from his native country, with his only surviving parent julia daubuz, by the religious persecution of . in he was admitted of queen's college, cambridge, and remained in college till , when he accepted the situation of head master of the (grammar) school of sheffield. he left sheffield in on being presented to the vicarage of brotherton near ferry-bridge, where he was much loved and respected. he died there on the th of june, ," &c. w. s. (sheffield.) when the levant company surrendered their charter to the crown in the year , mr. j. t. daubuz was treasurer to the company. he was a highly respected merchant in the city of london, and had purchased the estate of offington, near worthing in sussex, an estate formerly belonging to the lords de la warr. mr. daubuz still resides at offington. j. b. _the bride's seat in church_ (vol. vi., p. .).--one of the sermons mentioned in surtees' note, and inquired after by j. r. m., m.a., was written by william whately, the learned and celebrated puritan, who was vicar of banbury in oxfordshire. it is entitled "a bride bush, or a wedding sermon, compendiously describing the duties of married persons. by performing whereof, marriage shall be to them a great helpe, which now find it a little hell. london, . to. on eph. v. ." i believe a copy of the sermon may be found in the bodleian library. two propositions contained in this sermon led to whately's being convened before the high commission, when he acknowledged that he was unable to justify them, and recanted may , . (see wood's _ath. oxon._ by bliss, vol. ii. col. .) john. i. dredge. _louis napoleon, president of france_ (vol. vi., p. .).--modern history furnishes more than one instance of the anomaly adverted to by mr. relton. after the murder of louis xvi., his son, though he never ascended the throne, was recognized by the legitimists of the day as louis xvii.; and on the restoration of the family in , the comte d'artois assumed the title of louis xviii. in this way the revolutionary chasm was, as it were, bridged over, and the dynasty of the elder bourbons exhibited on an uninterrupted line. so it is as regards the napoleon dynasty. the duke de reichstadt, napoleon's son, was in the same predicament as the son of louis xvi. he received from the bonapartists the title of napoleon ii.; and louis napoleon therefore becomes napoleon iii. a similar case _might_ have occurred to the house of stuart, if the pretender's son, who began by taking the title of henry ix., had not extinguished the hopes and pretensions of his ill-fated race, by exchanging his "crown" for a cardinal's hat. and to-morrow (though that is perhaps a little too soon) the same thing may happen again to the elder branch of the bourbons, should the comte de chambord (henry v.) leave a son of that name to ascend the throne as henry vi. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _chapel plaster_ (vol. vii., p. .).--for an explanation of the word _plaster_, on which your correspondent has offered so elaborate a commentary, i would beg to refer him to white's _selborne_ (vol. i. p. ; vol. ii. p. ., to. edit.): "in the centre of the village, and near the church, is a square piece of ground surrounded by houses, and vulgarly called _the plestor_. in the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak.... this venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings; where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them. "this _pleystow_ (saxon, plegstow), _locus ludorum_, or play-place, continues still, as in old times, to be the scene of recreation for the youths and children of the neighbourhood." _chapel plaster_ is, i believe, an outlying hamlet belonging to the parish of box; and the name imports merely what in scotland would be called "the kirk on the green"--the chapel built on, or near to, the playground of the villagers. the fascinating volumes above named will afford a reply to an unanswered query in your second volume (vol. ii., p. .), the meaning of the local word _hanger_: "the high part to the s.w. consists of a vast hill of chalk, rising feet above the village; and is divided into a sheep down, the high wood, and _a long hanging wood_, called _the hanger_."--vol. i. p. . w. l. nichols. lansdown place, bath. _passage in thomson_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_steaming_ is clearly the true reading, and means that the exhalations which _steam_ from the waters are sent down again in the showers of spring. this will appear still clearer by reference to a similar passage in milton's morning hymn, which thomson was evidently copying: "ye mists and exhalations that now rise from hill or _steaming_ lake, dusky or grey," &c. c. { } _passage in locksley hall_ (vol. vii., p. .).--if tennyson really meant his readers to gather from the lines in question, that the curlew's _call gleams_ about the moorland, he used a very bold figure of speech, yet one not uncommon in the vivid language of greece. for example: "[greek: paian de lampei stonoessa te nêrus homaulos.]" and again, "[greek: elampse ... artiôs phaneisa phama.]" (sophocles.) so also, "[greek: boa prepei.]" (pindar and Æschylus.) may it not, however, be just possible that tennyson did not mean _anything_? a. a. d. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. newman's ferns. large edition. enigmatical entertainer. nos. i. and ii. and . sherwood & co. northumbrian mirror. new series. , &c. british diary for , by cotes and hall. heath's palladium. reuben burrow's diarie, - . marrat's scientific journal. new york. mathematical correspondent (american.) leeds correspondent. vol. v., nos. , , and . mathematical miscellany. . turner's mathematical miscellany. . whiting's select exercises, with key. walton and cotton's angler, by hawkins. part ii. . de la croix's connubia florum. bathoniæ, . vo. reid's historical botany. windsor, . vols. mo. anthologia borealis et australis. florilegium sanctarum aspirationum. laderchii annales ecclesiastici, tom. fol. romæ, - . townsend's parisian costumes. vols. to. - . the book of adam. the testaments of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of jacob. massinger's plays, by gifford. vol. iv. vo. second edition. . spectator. vols. v. and vii. mo. london, . costerus (franÇois) cinquante meditations de toute l'histoire de la passion de nostre seigneur. vo. anvers, christ. plantin.; or any of the works of costerus in any language. guardian. mo. what the chartists are. a letter to english working men, by a fellow-labourer. mo. london, . letter of church rates, by ralph barnes. vo. london, . colman's translation of horace de arte poetica. to. . casaubon's treatise on greek and roman satire. boscawen's treatise on satire. london, . johnson's lives (walker's classics). vol. i. titmarsh's paris sketch-book. post vo. vol. i. macrone, . fielding's works. vol. xi. (being second of "amelia.") mo. . holcroft's lavater. vol. i. vo. . otway. vols. i. and ii. vo. . edmondson's heraldry. vol. ii. folio. . sermons and tracts, by w. adams, d.d. the gentleman's magazine for january . ben jonson's works. (london, . vols.) vol. ii. wanted. rapin's history of england, vo. vols. i., iii. and v. of the continuation by tindal. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. notes on books, &c. _in consequence of the number of_ replies _waiting for insertion, we have thought it right this week to omit our usual_ notes on books, _&c._ j. l. (islington). _the ordinary spirits of wine, sixty over proof, is that referred to. the ether is to be common rectified ether, and_ not _the washed ether_. a constant reader _is informed that stereoscopic views may be taken in any camera. we must refer him for answers to his other queries to any of the numerous dealers in such objects_. inquirer (edinburgh)_'s photographic difficulty shall be solved next week_. h. h. h. (ashburton). _it is only some specimens of gutta percha that can be acted upon by collodion, which then takes up a very minute portion of a waxy substance which occurs in some gutta percha, and some other eastern products. the advantages derived from its use are very questionable._ t. n. b._'s offer is accepted with thanks_. t. k. g. _the enigma_ "'twas whisper'd in heaven" _was certainly written by miss catherine fanshawe. another enigma from her pen, "on the letter_ i," _will be found in our_ th vol., p. . w. h. l. _the line_ "to err is human, to forgive divine," _is the th of pope's_ essay on criticism. h. g. d. _we should be glad to see the notes referred to._ varro. _we have a letter on the subject of the reprint of the first folio shakspeare for this correspondent. shall it be forwarded, or left at our publisher's?_ shakspeare. _we have in type, or in the printer's hands, two or three articles on the text of shakspeare, to which we propose to give immediate insertion. after which we would suggest the propriety of our correspondents suspending their labour on this subject until the appearance of_ mr. collier_'s promised edition, which is to contain all the ms. emendations in his copy of the folio of _. prestoniensis. _a_ tandem _was so named from some university wag, because he drove his two horses not abreast, but_ at length. w. l. c. (preston). _a common brass medal, of no pecuniary value._ j. g. t. (near eden bridge). _the word_ quarantine _is from the italian_ quaranto, _and refers to the forty days, after which it was supposed there was no further danger of infection. the hymn "rock of ages" was written by toplady; and "lo, he comes, in clouds descending!" by oliver_. t. f. (taunton) _is thanked for his suggestions. the first and second shall have due consideration. as to the third, the taking of it is in no case intended to be compulsory._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--the ammonio-iodide of silver in collodion (price d. per oz.), prepared by delatouche & co., photographic and operative chemists, . oxford street, has now stood the test of upwards of twelve months' constant use; and for taking portraits or views on glass, cannot be surpassed in the beautiful results it produces. messrs. delatouche & co. supply apparatus with the most recent improvements, pure chemicals, prepared sensitive papers, and every article connected with photography on paper or glass. paintings, engravings, and works of art copied in their glass room, at moderate charges. instruction given in the art. see hennah's new work on the collodion process, price s., by post s. d. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette. (the horticultural part edited by prof lindley) of saturday, january , contains articles on agricultural commissioners ---- college, cirencester, sessional examination at ---- prize essays allamanda neriifolia apple trees, to graft bee, cure for sting of, by m. gumprecht beet, sugar birds, predatory bird skins butter, to make cabbage weevil (with engraving) calendar, horticultural ---- agricultural chemical works cherry trees, to root-prune college, cirencester, agricultural sessional examination at copings for walls cottages, labourers' cucumber, hunter's draining, experience in drip, to prevent dwyer on engineering, rev. euphorbia jacquiniflora, by mr. bennett farming, year's experience in, by the rev. g. wilkins fern, new british fertilisation floriculture, past and present grapes, red hamburgh, by mr. wheeler gardeners, emigration of gutters, zinc henderson's (messrs.) nursery larch, rot in lotus of ancients manures, town melons, surda, by lieut. lowther orchids, guano-water for pigs, greaves for pleuropneumonia, by mr. marnell poppies, to sow potatoes, luminous, by mr. grice poultry dealers rain, fall of reviews, miscellaneous roses in derbyshire season, mildness of shows, reports of the cornwall and torquay poultry societies, proceedings of the linnean sugar beet truffles walls, coping for wall trees, badly pruned weather in scotland weevil, cabbage (with engraving) wheat, system of growing at lois weeden ---- culture of willow, weeping woodland question, by mr. bailey denton wool, wood the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * photographic portraits and views by the collodion and waxed-paper process. apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations for the above processes, superior iodized collodion, known by the name of collodio-iodide or xylo-iodide of silver, d_._ per oz. pyro-gallic acid, s. per drachm. acetic acid, suited for collodion pictures, d. per oz. crystallizable and perfectly pure, on which the success of the calotypist so much depends, s. per oz. canson frères' negative paper, s.; positive do., s. d.; la croix, s.; turner, s. whatman's negative and positive, s. per quire. iodized waxed paper, s. d. per quire. sensitive paper ready for the camera, and warranted to keep from fourteen to twenty days, with directions for use, × , s. per doz.; iodized, only s. per doz. george knight & sons (sole agents for voightlander & sons' celebrated lenses), foster lane, london. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of hunt, le gray, brébisson, &c. &c., may be obtained of william bolton, manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists of prices to be had on application. . holborn bars. { } * * * * * books published by the university press, oxford. the holy bible, containing the old and new testaments, with the apocryphal books, in the earliest english versions made from the latin vulgate by john wycliffe and his followers. edited by the rev. josiah forshall, f.r.s., &c., and sir frederic madden, k.h.f.r.s., &c. vols. to. l. s. d. in boards. editions of the bible and parts thereof, in english, from the year mdv. to mdcccl. with an appendix containing specimens of translations and bibliographical descriptions. second edition, corrected and enlarged. by the rev. henry cotton, d.c.l., archdeacon of cashel, &c. vo. price s. d. in boards. the ormulum, now first edited from the original manuscript in the bodleian, with notes and a glossary by robert meadows white, d.d., late fellow of st. mary magdalene college, and formerly professor of anglo-saxon in the university of oxford. vols. vo. price l. s. in boards. catalogus codicum mss. qui in collegiis aulisque oxoniensibus hodie adservantur. confecit henricus o. coxe, m.a., bibliothecæ bodleianæ hypo-bibliothecarius. vols. to. l. s. in boards. fasti temporis catholici and origines kalendariæ. by edward greswell, b.d., fellow of corpus christi college, oxford. vols. vo., and a quarto volume of tables. price l. s. in boards. fasti hellenici. the civil and literary chronology of greece and rome, from the cxxivth olympiad to the death of augustus. by henry fynes clinton, esq., m.a., late student of christ church. second edition, with additions. to. price l. s. in boards. an epitome of the civil and literary chronology of greece, from the earliest accounts to the death of augustus. by henry fynes clinton, esq., m.a., late student of christ church. vo. price s. d. in boards. carte's life of james duke of ormond; containing an account of the most remarkable affairs of his time, and particularly of ireland under his government; with an appendix and a collection of letters, serving to verify the most material facts in the said history. a new edition, carefully compared with the original mss. vols. vo. price l. s. in boards. bishop burnet's history of the reign of king james the second. notes by the earl of dartmouth, speaker onslow, and dean swift. additional observations now enlarged. vo. price s. d. in boards. bishop burnet's memoirs of the lives and actions of james and william dukes of hamilton and castle-herald. a new edition. vo. price s. d. in boards. philosophumena origenis? (sive hippolyti?) e codice parisino nunc primum edidit emmanuel miller. vo. boards. s. sold by john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london. e. gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * bohn's standard library for february. vol. iv., containing the christian doctrine, translated and edited, with notes (many additional), by the right rev. charles summer, d.d., bishop of winchester. post vo. cloth, s. d. bohn's classical library for february. theocritus, bion, moschus, and tyrtÆus, literally translated into english prose, by the rev. j. banks, m.a. with the metrical versions of chapman. post vo. frontispiece, cloth, s. bohn's illustrated library for february. mary and wm. howitt's stories of english and foreign life, with twenty beautiful steel engravings. post vo., cloth, s. bohn's antiquarian library for february. matthew paris's english chronicle, translated by dr. giles. vol. ii. post vo., s. bohn's scientific library for february. bacon's novum organum and advancement of learning. complete, with notes by j. devey, m.a. post vo., cloth, s. now ready. turner's liber fluviorum: or river scenery of france. sixty-one highly finished line engravings on steel by willmore, goodall, and others. to which is prefixed, a memoir of turner (including a copy of his will) by alaric a. watts. imp. vo. gilt cloth extra (a remarkably splendid volume), l. s. d. now ready. humming birds. a general history of the trochilidæ, or humming birds, with especial reference to the collection of j. gould, f.r.s., &c. (now exhibiting in the gardens of the zoological society, london), by w.c.l. martin, late one of the scientific officers of the zoological society of london. fcap. vo. with plates, cloth gilt., s.--the same, with plates beautifully coloured, heightened with gold, cloth gilt, s. d. now ready. sowerby's conchological manual, new edition, considerably enlarged, with numerous woodcuts in the introduction, and additional plates, containing in all upwards of figures, vo., cloth, s.--the same, with the plates beautifully coloured, gilt cloth, l. s. this day is published. the wide, wide world, by elizabeth wetherell. complete in vol. post vo. blue cloth extra, gilt edges, s. d.--or splendidly illustrated with highly finished engravings on steel, post vo. richly bound in cloth, gilt edges, s. *** this by far the most elegant edition yet published. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * in vo., price s. vocabulaire archeologique français-anglais, et anglais-français; par adolphe berty, architecte: avec renvois au vignettes illustrant le "glossaire d'architecture." j.h. parker, editeur. . quai voltaire, paris, et . strand, londres. * * * * * arnold's (rev. t.k.) school editions of the greek dramas, with english notes. now ready, in mo., price s. euripidis hippolytus; with english notes. by the rev. thomas kerchever arnold, m.a., rector of lyndon, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. recently published in this series:-- . euripidis hecuba. with english notes. s. . sophoclis antigone, s. . ---- oedipus coloneus, s. . ---- oedipus tyrannus, s. . ---- philoctetes, s. . ---- ajax, s. *** with english notes translated from the german of schneidewin. . eclogÆ aristophanicÆ (clouds), s. d. . ---- (birds), s. d. *** with english notes, by professor felton. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * just published, in vo., price two shillings, a second letter to the rev. s. r. maitland, d.d., formerly librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, on the genuineness of the writings ascribed to cyprian, bishop of carthage. by edward john shepherd, m.a., rector of luddesdown; author of "history of the church of rome to the end of the episcopate of damasus." *** a first letter on the same subject, price s., may still be had. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine and historical review for february contains the following articles:-- . memorials of john home, the author of douglas. . the roman wall: with engravings. . sonnet to wordsworth, by the rev. c. v. le grice. . giordano bruno. . notices of the american indians. . the baroness d'oberkirch and citizen mercier. . the vale of york: with engravings. . the life of thomas moore. . original papers relative to dr. young, dr. akenside, and james boswell. . a journey from paris to italy in . correspondence of sylvanus urban: . rise and progress of the dowlais ironworks. . robin hood and sherwood forest. . english etymology: amaze and amate, &c. . the prince of orange's march in . . posterity of ralph thoresby. . register of the widdringtons. with notes of the month, proceedings of antiquarian societies, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of adm. sir t. briggs, rear-adm. sir t. troubridge, dr. merriman, professor lee, j. m. cripps, esq., j. f. stephens, esq., g. m. c. burney, esq., &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & son, . parliament street. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page st. augustine on clairvoyance, by j. e. b. mayor edward gibbon, father and son bohn's "ordericus vitalis" a curious exposition minor notes:--inscription--antiquarian documents--bishop watson's map of europe in --extracts from the registers of the bishops of lincoln--marston and erasmus--puzzle for the heralds queries:-- sepulchral monuments queries on south's sermons, by the rev. w. h. gunner minor queries:--norwich, kirkpatrick collection of mss. for the history of--corbet--initials in glass quarries-- church service: preliminary texts--the spinning-machine of the ancients--view of dumfries--"to pass the pikes"-- may-day custom--maydenburi--richard fitz-alan, ninth earl of arundel--french refugees--"dilamgabendi"--mr. plumley--designation of works under review--north-west passage--fountains--pope and john dennis minor queries with answers:--the irish at the battle of crecy--king of the isle of wight--theodore de la guard--back--broom at masthead replies:-- the advice supposed to have been given to julius iii., by b. b. woodward, &c. lord rosehill major andré the terminations "-by" and "-ness," by wm. matthews, &c. newspaper folk lore, by edward peacock ventilation, by t. j. buckton photographic correspondence:--history of photographic discovery--photographic cautions--a query respecting collodion--the céroléine process--mr. fox talbot's patents replies to minor queries:--the olympic plain--encylopædia of indexes, or table of contents--"one new year's day"-- unregistered proverbs--orange blossoms--peculiar use of the word "pure"--worm in books--chapel sunday--bishop inglis of nova scotia--gutta percha made soluble--impe-- bothy--work on ants--jacobite garters--"the three pigeons"--corporation enactments--the passion of our lord dramatised--hardman's account of waterloo-- aristotle--papyrus--bell at rouen--word-minting-- coleridge's christabel, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * multæ terricolis linguæ, coelestibus una. samuel bagster and sons' [illustration] general catalogue is sent free by post. it contains lists of quarto family bibles; ancient english translations; manuscript-notes bibles; polyglot bibles in every variety of size and combination of language; parallel-passages bibles; greek critical and other testaments; polyglot books of common prayer; psalms in english, hebrew, and many other languages, in great variety; aids to the study of the old testament and of the new testament; and miscellaneous biblical and other works. by post free. london: samuel bagster & sons, . paternoster row. [greek: pollai men thnêtois glôttai, mia d'athanatoisin] * * * * * this day, fcp. vo., s. synonyms of the new testament: being the substance of a course of lectures addressed to the theological students, king's college, london. by richard chenevix trench, b. d., professor of divinity, king's college, and examining chaplain to the lord bishop of oxford. cambridge: macmillan & co. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * this day. fcp. vo., s. d. sketches of scripture female characters. dedicated to her children by the viscountess hood. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * annotated edition of the english poets. by robert bell. in monthly volumes, s. d. each, in cloth. this day, the second volume of cowper's poetical works. already published. dryden. complete in three volumes. surrey, minor contemporaneous poets, and sackville, lord buckhurst. in one volume. on the first of july, the third and concluding volume of cowper. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * american books.--low, son, & co., as the importers and publishers of american books in this country, have recently issued a detailed catalogue of their stock in theology, history, travels, biography, practical science, fiction, &c., a copy of which will be forwarded upon application. by arrangements with the american publishers, all works of known or anticipated interest will in future be published by low, son, & co., simultaneously with their appearance in america. works not in stock obtained within six weeks of order. lists of importations forwarded regularly when desired. literary institutions, the clergy, merchants and shippers, and the trade, supplied on advantageous terms. small enclosures taken for weekly ease to the united states at a moderate charge. * * * * * just published. a catalogue of books, all perfect and in good condition, and marked at extremely low prices. may be had on application, or sent post free. upham & beet (late rodwell), . new bond street, corner of maddox street. * * * * * books.--just ready, no. . of reeves & turner's catalogue of books in every class of literature, sent free on application to . chancery lane. * * * * * catalogue of classical, mathematical, and school books just ready, to be had, or sent free on application to reeves & turner, . chancery lane. * * * * * in mo., price, bound and clasped, s. d. the sermon in the mount. printed by c. whittingham, uniformly with the thumb bible from the edition of --which may still be had, price s. d. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * fourth edition, price s. cloth ( s. d. by post). a word to the wise, or hints on the current improprieties of expression in writing and speaking. by parry gwynne. "all who wish to mind their p's and q's should consult this little volume."--_gentleman's magazine._ grant & griffith, corner of st. paul's church yard. * * * * * the original quadrilles, composed for the piano forte by mrs. ambrose merton. london: published for the proprietor and may be had of c. lonsdale, . old bond street; and by order of all music sellers. price three shillings. * * * * * { } important sale by auction of the whole of the remaining copies of that splendid national work, known as "finden's royal gallery of british art," the engraved plates of which will be destroyed during the progress of the sale, and in the presence of the purchasers. southgate & barrett have received instructions from mr. hogarth, of the haymarket, to sell by public auction at their fine art and book auction rooms, . fleet street, london, on wednesday evening, june th, and following evenings, the whole of the remaining copies of the very celebrated work, known as finden's royal gallery of british art, consisting of a limited number of artists' and other choice proofs, and the print impressions, which are all in an exceedingly fine state. the work consists of plates, the whole of which are engraved in line by the most eminent men in that branch of art, and the pictures selected will at once show that the great artists--turner, eastlake, landseer, stanfield, webster, roberts, wilkie, maclise, mulready, and more than thirty other british masters, are represented by the works which established and upheld them in public favour, and by themes which appeal to universal sympathy and happiest affections, or which delineate the peculiar glories of our country, and commemorate its worthiest and most honourable achievements. the attention of the public is also particularly directed to the fact that all the engraved plates from which the impressions now offered have been taken, will be destroyed in the presence of the purchasers, at the time of sale. by thus securing the market from being supplied with inferior impressions at a future time, and at a cheaper rate, the value of the existing stock will be increased, and it will become the interest of all who wish to possess copies of these eminent works of art, at a reduced price, to purchase them at this sale, which will be the only opportunity of obtaining them. under these circumstances, therefore, southgate & barrett presume to demand for this sale the attention of all lovers of art--the amateur, the artist, and the public;--believing that no opportunity has ever offered so happily calculated to promote taste and to extend knowledge, while ministering to the purest and best enjoyments which the artist conveys to the hearts and homes of all who covet intellectual pleasures. framed copies of the work can be seen at mr. hogarth's, . haymarket; messrs. lloyd, brothers, & co., . ludgate hill; and at the auctioneers, . fleet street, by whom all communications and commissions will be promptly and faithfully attended to. *** catalogues of the entire sale will be forwarded on receipt of postage stamps. * * * * * sale by auction of the stocks of extremely valuable modern engravings, the engraved plates of which will be destroyed in the presence of the purchasers at the time of sale. southgate & barrett beg to announce that they will include in their sale by auction of "finden's royal gallery," and other valuable works of art of a similar character, to take place at their fine art and book auction rooms, . fleet street, london, on wednesday evening, june th, and seventeen following evenings (saturdays and sundays excepted), the whole of the stocks of proofs and prints of the following highly important engravings, published by mr. hogarth and messrs. lloyd & co. "ehrenbreitstein," painted by j. m. w. turner, r.a., engraved by john pye. "ecce homo," from the picture by correggio, engraved by g. t. doo. "the dame school," painted by t. webster, r.a., engraved by l. stocks. "eton montem," two views illustrative of, from pictures by evans of eton, engraved by charles lewis. "portrait of mrs. elizabeth fry," engraved by samuel cousins, a.r.a. from a picture by george richmond. "portraits of eminent persons," by george richmond and c. baugniet. "portrait of w. c. macready, esq., as werner," painted by d. maclise, r.a., engraved by sharpe. flowers of german art, a series of plates by the most eminent engravers. cranstone's fugitive etchings, plates. turner and girtin's river scenery, plates. "cottage piety," painted by thomas faed, engraved by henry lemon (unpublished). "see saw," painted by t. webster, r.a., engraved by holl (unpublished). "village pastor," painted by w. p. frith, r.a., engraved by holl. "the immaculate conception," painted by guido, engraved in line by w. h. watt. "harvey demonstrating to charles the first his theory of the circulation of the blood," painted by hannah, engraved by lemon. "the origin of music," painted by selous, engraved by wass. "the first step," painted by faed, engraved by sharpe. "the prize cartoons," published by messrs. longmans & co. and numerous other highly interesting and valuable works of art. all the engraved plates of the above-mentioned engravings will be destroyed in the presence of the purchasers at the time of sale, which will thereby secure to the purchasers the same advantages as are mentioned in the advertisement given above, of the sale of the remaining copies of "finden's royal gallery." framed impressions of each of the plates can be seen at mr. hogarth's, . haymarket; at messrs. lloyd, brothers, & co., . ludgate hill; and at the auctioneers, . fleet street, by whom all communications and commissions will be promptly and faithfully attended to. *** catalogues of the entire sale will be forwarded on receipt of postage stamps. * * * * * the very extensive, highly important, and extremely choice stock of modern english and foreign engravings, water-colour drawings, and expensive books of prints, of mr. hogarth of the haymarket. southgate & barrett will sell by auction at their fine art and book auction rooms, . fleet street, on wednesday evening, june th, and seventeen following evenings (saturdays and sundays excepted), in the same sale as the "finden's royal gallery of british art," this extremely valuable and highly interesting stock. amongst the engravings will be found in the best states of artists' and other choice proofs, nearly all the popular plates that have been published during the last quarter of a century; also an important collection of foreign line engravings in the best states; a large variety of portraits and other subjects after sir joshua reynolds, some very rare; an extensive series of prints by hogarth, in early proofs, and with curious variations; a most complete series of artists' proofs of the works of george cruikshank, including nearly all his early productions, many unique; a number of scarce old prints, and a series in fine states by sir robert strange. the stock is peculiarly rich in the works of j. m. w. turner, r.a., and comprises artists' proofs and the choicest states of all his important productions, and matchless copies of the england and wales and southern coast. the collection of high-class water-colour drawings consists of examples of the most eminent artists (particularly some magnificent specimens by j. m. w. turner), as well as a great variety of the early english school, and some by the ancient masters; also a most interesting collection by members of the sketching society. of the modern school are examples by-- absolon austin barrett cattermole collins fielding, c. holland hunt landseer, e. leslie lewis, j. liverseege maclise muller nesfield prout tayler, f. uwins webster wilkie catalogues of the entire sale will be forwarded on receipt of postage stamps, and all communication and commissions promptly and faithfully attended to. . fleet street, london. * * * * * arundel society.--the publication of the fourth year ( - ), consisting of eight wood engravings by messrs. dalziel, from mr. w. oliver williams' drawings after giotto's frescos at padua, is now ready; and members who have not paid their subscriptions are requested to forward them to the treasurer by post-office order, payable at the charing cross office. john j. rogers, treasurer and hon. sec. . & . pall mall east. march, . * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * dr. de jongh's light brown cod liver oil. prepared for medicinal use in the loffoden isles, norway, and put to the test of chemical analysis. the most effectual remedy for consumption, bronchitis, asthma, gout, chronic rheumatism, and all scrofulous diseases. approved of and recommended by berzelius, liebig, woehler, jonathan pereira, fouquier, and numerous other eminent medical men and scientific chemists in europe. specially rewarded with medals by the governments of belgium and the netherlands. has almost entirely superseded all other kinds on the continent, in consequence of its proved superior power and efficacy--effecting a cure much more rapidly. contains iodine, phosphate of chalk, volatile acid, and the elements of the bile--in short, all its most active and essential principles--in larger quantities than the pale oils made in england and newfoundland, deprived mainly of these by their mode of preparation. a pamphlet by dr. de jongh, with detailed remarks upon its superiority, directions for use, cases in which it has been prescribed with the greatest success, and testimonials, forwarded gratis on application. the subjoined testimonial of baron liebig, professor of chemistry at the university of giessen, is selected from innumerable others from medical and scientific men of the highest distinction: "sir,--i have the honour of addressing you my warmest thanks for your attention in forwarding me your work on the chemical composition and properties, as well as on the medicinal effects, of various kinds of cod liver oil. "you have rendered an essential service to science by your researches, and your efforts to provide sufferers with this medicine in its purest and most genuine state, must ensure you the gratitude of every one who stands in need of its use. "i have the honour of remaining, with expressions of the highest regard and esteem, "yours sincerely "dr. justus liebig." "giessen, oct. . . "to dr. de jongh at the hague." sold wholesale and retail, in bottles, labelled with dr. de jongh's stamp and signature, by ansar, harford, & co., . strand, sole consignees and agents for the united kingdom and british possessions; and by all respectable chemists and venders of medicine in town and country, at the following prices:--imperial measure, half-pints, s. d.; pints, s. d. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, june , ._ * * * * * notes. st. augustine on clairvoyance. dr. maitland, in his valuable _illustrations of mesmerism_, has not, i think, noticed an important passage in st. augustine's treatise, _de genesi ad litteram_, l. xii. c. . §§ . _seq._, in which, after saying that demons _can read men's thoughts_, and know what is passing at a distance, he proceeds to give a detailed account of two cases of _clairvoyance_. the whole is written with his usual graphic power, and will well reward the perusal. i must content myself with a brief outline of the facts. . a patient, suffering from a fever, was supposed to be possessed by an unclean spirit. twelve miles off lived a presbyter, with whom, in mesmerist phraseology, he was _en rapport_. he would receive no food from any other hands; with him, except when a fit was upon him, he was calm and submissive. when the presbyter left his home the patient would indicate his position at each stage of his journey, and mark his nearer and nearer approach. "he is entering the farm--the house--he is at the door;" and his visitor stood before him. once he foretold the death of a neighbour, not as though he were predicting a future event, but as if recollecting a past. for when she was mentioned in his hearing, he exclaimed, "she is dead, i saw her funeral; that way they carried out her corpse." in a few days she fell sick and died, and was carried out along that very road which he had named. . a boy was labouring under a painful disorder, which the physicians had vainly endeavoured to relieve. in the exhaustion which followed on his convulsive struggles, he would pass into a trance, keeping his eyes open, but insensible to what was going on around him, and passively submitting to pinches from the bystanders (_ad nullam se vellicationem movens_). after awhile he awoke and told what he had seen. generally an old man and a youth appeared to him; at the beginning of lent they promised him ease during the forty days, and gave him _directions by which he might be relieved and finally cured_. he followed their counsel, with the promised success. augustine's remarks (c. xviii. § .) on these and similar phenomena are well worth reading. he begs the learned not to mock him as speaking confidently, and the unlearned not to take what he says on trust, but hopes that both will regard him simply as an inquirer. he compares these visions to those in dreams. some come true, and some false; some are clear, others obscure. but men love to search into what is singular, neglecting what is usual, though even more inexplicable; just as when a man hears a word whose sound is new to him, he is curious to know its meaning; while he never thinks of asking the meaning of words familiar to his ear, however little he may really understand them. if any one then wishes for a satisfactory account of these strange phenomena, let him first explain the phenomena of dreams, or let him show how the images of material objects reach the mind through the eyes. j. e. b. mayor. st. john's college, cambridge. * * * * * edward gibbon, father and son. gibbon mentions in his _memoirs_ (edit. , p. .), that in his father and mr. delmé successfully contested southampton against mr. henly, subsequently lord chancellor, but that, after the dissolution in , he was unable or unwilling to maintain another contest, and "the life of the senator expired in that dissolution." not so the hopes of the senator, as will appear from the following extract from a letter, dated "beriton, january , :" "i received the favour of your letter according to the time you promised. as lord m---- has promised his own votes, i find there is nothing to be done: strange behaviour, sure! but there seems to be such infatuation upon this poor country, that even a good catholic shall join with a dissenter to rivet on her chains. there are several of the independents would have me stand it out, but i would not on any account, for i find it would make great dissensions, and even several of lord m----'s fagots and tenants would vote against him; and another thing, it would lessen him in the opinion of a _great many people_ to have him making interest for the two _present worthy candidates_ against me. i shall therefore, upon his account, give over all thoughts of standing; and i hope it may give me some little more credit and merit with him against another election, especially if you would _be so good as to improve it for me_." the following is of far greater interest--full of character. how well it illustrates the paragraph in the _memoirs_ (pp. - .): "my stay at beriton was always voluntary ... i never handled a gun, i seldom mounted a horse; and my philosophic walks were soon terminated by a shady bench, where i was long detained by the sedentary amusement of reading or meditation." it appears however, by this letter, that on one occasion he trespassed on some neighbour's game preserves, and received a hint on the subject: beriton, nov. , . sir, as i am extremely well convinced of your politeness, and your readiness to grant your { } neighbours any reasonable liberty with regard to country sports, so i should be very sorry if either myself or my servants had taken any improper ones. i am no sportsman, sir, and was as much tempted this morning by the beauty of the day and the pleasure of the ride as by the hopes of any sport. i went out, and, neither acquainted with the bounds of the manors nor your request to the neighbouring gentlemen, could only follow my groom where he led me. i quitted your manor the instant i received your message, without having killed anything in it. i assure you that you shall never have again the same subject of complaint. with regard to the liberty you are so good as to grant me for other sports, i return you my most humble thanks, but shall not make much use of it, as there are still in my father's manor more game than would satisfy so moderate a sportsman as myself. my father would be extremely angry if his servants had destroyed any of your game; but they all assure him they have killed no one hare upon your liberties. as to pheasants, they have only killed one this season, and that in inwood copse. i am, sir, your obedient humble servant, e. gibbon, junior. e. g. f. s. * * * * * bohn's "ordericus vitalis." in looking through the pages of _ordericus vitalis_, vol. ii. (bohn's edition), i have noticed some trifling inaccuracies, to one or more of which you will perhaps suffer me to call the editor's attention through the medium of "n. & q.," in case he be not already aware of them. at p. . king william is described as offering the bishopric of mans to "samson, _bishop_ of bayeux, his chaplain." so in the index to _histor. anglic. circa tempus conquestûs, &c., a francisco maseres_, i find this passage of vitalis referred to under the title of "sanson baiocensis _episcopus_." but yet odo was bishop of bayeux at this time; and notwithstanding what marbode _afterwards_ said of bayeux, when he invited his old pupil to meet him there, viz. "sedes præsulibus sufficit illa tribus," yet samson, even then, was not bishop of bayeux, but of worcester. the original words of vitalis are, "sansoni _baiocensi_," samson being (temp. will. i.) canon and treasurer of bayeux, as well as baron of dover, and canon of st. martin's there, dean of wolverhampton, and chaplain to william. he was a married man, and apparently at the time in question only in deacon's orders. one of his sons, at a later period, became bishop of bayeux, as did also a grandson, whose mother (according to beziers) was "isabelle de dovre, maîtresse de robert conte de glocester, bâtard de henri i., roi d'angleterre." upon which i would found a query, viz., was this grandson of samson, whose name was richard, an _uterine_ or a _half_ brother of roger, bishop of worcester? both are described as sons of robert, earl of gloucester. at p. . alberede is described in the text of the translation to be a daughter of "hugh, bishop of evreux," whereas in the original she is said to be "hugonis bajocensis episcopi filia." in a note to this passage we are informed that hugh, bishop of lisieux, died at the council of rheims (oct. ), and that he was eldest son of ralph, count d'ivri &c. on the contrary, we are told at p. , note , that it was odo's predecessor (_i. e._ hugh d'ivri) in the see of bayeux, who died at the council of rheims, oct. . again, in a note at p. , we learn that hugh d'eu, who succeeded herbert as bishop of lisieux in , or the year following the council in question, did not vacate that see until . before i close this note, i should be glad to inquire what grounds the editor has for asserting (p. , n. .) that thomas, archbishop of york, "was not a chaplain to the king" before his promotion. thierry, _histoire de la conquête, &c._ (par. , tome ii. p. .), says: "thomas, l'un des chapelains du roi, fut nommé archevêque d'york." and by godwin (_de præsul. angl._, tom. ii. p. .) we are told that odo-- "eum (thomam) thesaurarium baiocensem constituit, et postea _regi fratri commendavit, ut illi esset a sacras_." anon. * * * * * a curious exposition. the following curious illustration, which i met with the other day in a book where few would be likely to look for it, seems to me fairly to deserve a place among the notes of your interesting publication. it forms the _moral_ exposition, by cornelius à lapide, of ex. vii. .: "and the magicians of egypt did so with their enchantments," &c. "see here," he says, "how the devil contends with god, the magicians with the prophets, and heretics with the orthodox, by imitating their words and deeds. in our days, as the english martyrology testifies, richard white (_vitus_) disputed with a wicked english calvinist, who was more mighty in drinking than in argument, concerning the keys of the church, and when the heretic pertinaciously asserted that they were given to himself, white wittily and ingeniously replied: 'i believe that they have been given to you as they were to peter, but with this distinction, that his were the keys of heaven, but yours of the beer-cellar; { } for this the _rubicund promontory of your nose_ indicates.' thus do heretics turn water into blood. this is their miracle." richard white i presume to have been an ejected fellow of new college, oxford, afterwards rector of the university of douai, and a count palatine of the empire, author of sundry antiquarian and theological works; but it is surely strange that this piece of ribaldry, of which he had been guilty, should be thought worthy of being recorded; and still more so, that it should be thus applied by a grave and learned jesuit commentator. c. w. b. * * * * * minor notes. _inscription._--the following quaint inscription is to be found on a gravestone in the churchyard of llangollen, north wales: "our life is but a winter's day: some only breakfast and away; others to dinner stay, and are full fed; the oldest man but sups, and goes to bed. large is the debt who lingers out the day; who goes the soonest has the least to pay." j. r. g. dublin. _antiquarian documents._--at a time when public records and state papers are being thrown open by the government in so liberal a spirit, might not some plan be devised for admitting the public to the church's antiquarian documents also, treasured in the various chapter-houses, diocesan registries, and cathedral libraries? might not catalogues of these be printed, as well as the more historically valuable and curious of the papers themselves? and is there any sufficient reason why the earlier portions of the parochial registers throughout the country might not be published, say down to the commencement of the present century, prior to which they appear to have no other value except for literary purposes? j. sansom. _bishop watson's map of europe in ._--the following paragraph is an extract from a letter written by bishop watson to dr. falconer of bath, in the year : "the death of a single prince in any part of europe, remarkable either for wisdom or folly, renders political conjectures of future contingencies so extremely uncertain, that i seldom indulge myself in forming them; yet it seems to me probable, that europe will soon be divided among three powers, france, austria, and russia; and in half a century between two, france and russia; and that america will become the greatest naval power on the globe, and be replenished by migrations of oppressed and discontented people from every part of europe."--see _anecdotes of the life of richard watson, bishop of llandaff_, vols. vo., london, , vol. ii. p. . c. forbes. temple. _extracts from the registers of the bishops of lincoln._--in searching through the registers of the bishops of lincoln, the following curious entries met my eye: "_smoke-farthings._--commissio domini episcopi ad levandum le smoke farthinges, alias dict. lincoln farthinges a nostris archidiaconatus nostri leycestriæ: subditis ad utilitatem nostræ matricis ecclesiæ cath. linc. sponsæ nostræ convertend., dicti smoke farthinges conceduntur ad constructionem campanili ecclesiæ prebendalis sanctæ margaretæ leycestr. ." the above entry occurs at fo. . of the register of william alnewick, bishop of lincoln. "a^o . _testamentum domini thomæ cumberworth, militis._--in the name of gode and to his loveyng, amen. i, thomas cumbyrworth, knyght, the xv day of feberer, the yere of oure lord m^lcccc and l. in clere mynde and hele of body, blyssed be gode, ordan my last wyll on this wyse folowyng. furst, i gyff my sawle to god, my lorde and my redemptur, and my wrechid body to be beryd in a chiffe w^towte any kyste in the northyle of the parych kirke of someretby be my wyfe, and i wyll my body ly still, my mowth opyn, untild xxiiij owrys, and after laid on bere w[t]towtyn any thyng y^ropon to coverit bot a sheit and a blak cloth, w^t a white crose of cloth of golde, but i wyl my kyste be made and stande by, and at my bereall giff it to hym that fillis my grave; also i gif my blissid lord god for my mortuary there i am bered my best hors." this entry occurs at fo. . of the register of marmaduke lumley, bishop of lincoln. z. _marston and erasmus._--i am not aware the following similarity of idea, between a passage in marston's _antonio and mellida_ and one in erasmus' _colloquies_, has ever been pointed out: " . . . . as having clasp'd a rose within my palm, the rose being ta'en away, my hand retains a little breath of sweet. so may man's trunk, his spirit slipp'd away, hold still a faint perfume of his sweet guest." _antonio and mellida_, act iv. sc. . from the reprint in the _ancient british drama_. "anima quæ moderatur utrunque corpus animantis, improprie dicitur anima cum revera sint tenues quædam animæ reliquiæ, non aliter quam odor rosarum manet in manu, etiam rosa submota."--_erasmi colloq._, leyden edit. , vol. i. p. . h. f. s. cambridge. _puzzle for the heralds._--some years ago sir john newport, bart., and who was married, and sir simon newport, who had received the honour of knighthood, and was also married, lived in or { } near the city of waterford; and i have heard that owing to the frequent mistakes arising from the two ladies being called each "lady newport," a case was sent to dublin for the opinion of the ulster king of arms. it is said he himself was puzzled; sir simon's lady was not "lady newport," for sir john's lady had a prior and higher claim; she was not "lady simon," for her husband was not lord simon; but he ultimately decided that the lady was to be called "lady sir simon," and she was never afterwards known by any other title. y. s. m. * * * * * queries. sepulchral monuments. as recumbent effigies are in vogue, there are some points connected herewith worthy of discussion at the present time in your pages. the ultra-admirers of the mediæval monuments will not allow the slightest deviation from what they regard as the prescriptive model--a figure with the head straight, and the hands raised in prayer. one of their arguments is, that the ancient effigy is alive, while the modern modifications are in a state of death, and consequently repulsive to the feelings of the spectator. in my opinion, however, the vitality of the old ones is very questionable. let us reflect upon their probable origin. in former times the bodies of ecclesiastics and other personages were laid in state, exposed to public view, and even carried into the churches in that condition: a custom still prevalent abroad. it is reasonable to conjecture that the monuments intended to perpetuate this scene in stone, imitating the form of the deceased, with the canopy and bier, and adorned with armorial bearings and other appropriate devices. images of wax were frequently substituted for the corpse, some of which (among them queen elizabeth's) are still preserved in westminster abbey; but the practice was kept up even down to the time of the great duke of marlborough. it is recorded in history, that during the progress of the body of our henry v. from france, a figure of the king, composed of boiled leather, was placed upon the coffin. york cathedral contains a beautiful example of a complete monument of this description in the early english style, which degenerated by degrees into the four-post bed, with its affectionate couple, of the elizabethan period. it is obviously a fair deduction, from these circumstances, that the sepulchral effigies are "hearsed in death." from mr. ruskin's _stones of venice_, it appears that the figures on the venetian tombs of the middle ages are manifestly dead; and such, it may be inferred, is the impression conveyed to his highly cultivated mind by the contemplation of those in our own country. "in the most elaborate examples," says this observant writer, "the canopy is surmounted by a statue, generally small, representing the dead person in the full strength and pride of life, while the recumbent figure shows him as he lay in death. and at this point the perfect type of the gothic tomb is reached." describing one at verona, of the fourteenth century, he observes: "the principal aim of the monument is to direct the thoughts to his image as he lies in death, and to the expression of his hope of resurrection." and towards the conclusion of his review of their development he writes: "this statue in the meantime has been gradually coming back to life through a curious series of transitions. the vendramin monument is one of the last which shows, or pretends to show, the recumbent figure laid in death. a few years later this idea became disagreeable to polite minds; and lo! the figures which before had been laid at rest upon the tomb pillow, raised themselves on their elbows, and began to look around them. the soul of the sixteenth century dared not contemplate its body in death." flaxman, in his remarks on the monuments of aylmer de valence and edmund crouchback in westminster abbey, admires "the solemn repose of the principal figure, representing the deceased in his last prayer for mercy to the throne of grace, the delicacy of thought in the group of angels bearing the soul, and the tender sentiment of concern variously expressed in the relations ranged in order round the basement." as, however, a canopy on the former exhibits a living figure of the departed on horseback, such as mr. ruskin notices in italy, and as the angels are said to bear the soul, the knight must certainly have breathed his last. the raised hands are no refutation of the argument, since there are grounds for the assertion that those of the dead bodies laid in state were sometimes tied together to retain them in the suitable position. a few exceptional instances, no doubt, occur of variations in the attitude irreconcileable with death, and equally inconsistent with a reclining posture. it must also be admitted that in brasses and incised slabs (which may be regarded in many respects as parallel memorials), the eyes are almost invariably unclosed; yet the fact, neither in this case nor in that of the carved marble, does not by any means certify that the individuals are alive. since then there is so much reason for the supposition that the generality of our ancestors are sculptured in the sleep of death, the recumbent figure of a christian clasping the bible, and slightly turning his head, just passed away into another state of existence (not into purgatory, { } but into a happier world), cannot surely be now deemed unsuitable to a gothic church. c. t. * * * * * queries on south's sermons. i should be glad to know the authority for the following statement in south's sermon, _against long extempore prayers_, vol. i. p. ., tegg's edition, : "these two things are certain, and i do particularly recommend them to your observation: one, that this way of praying by the spirit, as they call it, was begun, and first brought into use here in england, in queen elizabeth's days, by a popish priest and dominican friar, one faithful commin by name. who, counterfeiting himself a protestant, and a zealot of the highest form, set up this new spiritual way of praying, with a design to bring the people first to a contempt, and from thence to an utter hatred and disuse of our common prayer; which he still reviled as only a translation of the mass, thereby to distract men's minds, and to divide our church. and this he did with such success, that we have lived to see the effects of his labours in the utter subversion of church and state; which hellish negociation, when this malicious hypocrite came to rome to give the pope an account of, he received of him, as so notable a service well deserved, besides a thousand thanks, two thousand ducats for his pains." also, who was w. w., the author of "a virulent and insulting pamphlet, entitled, _a letter to a member of parliament_, printed in the year , and as like the author himself, w. w., as malice can make it," referred to in a note by south at the end of his sermon on _the recompence of the reward_, vol. ii. p. . is this pamphlet still in existence? w. h. gunner. winchester. * * * * * minor queries. _norwich, kirkpatrick collection of mss. for the history of._--mr. simon wilkin, in the preface to the _repertorium_, contained in his fourth volume of his valuable edition of the works of sir thomas browne, p. ., having spoken of the large collections for the history of norwich made by mr. john kirkpatrick, who died in , and gave the said collections by will to the mayor, sheriffs, citizens, and commonalty of the city of norwich, in order that "some citizen hereafter, being a skilful antiquary, may, from the same, have an opportunity of completing and publishing the said history," &c., goes on to say, "the mss. referred to were some years ago in the possession of the corporation, but we fear the original intention of the donor has been lost sight of, and that these valuable mss. are for ever lost to the lover of local antiquities." this was printed in . but the subject ought not to be permitted to drop and rest there. up to that date, can it be ascertained that the papers remained in the keeping of the corporation? are they still in their hands, though inaccessible? can any information be obtained as to the _when_ and the _how_ they passed out of their possession? or, above all, can any clue be found to their subsequent history and present resting-place? it may be suggested to any patriotic citizen and antiquary of the fair city of norwich, that, inasmuch as the corporation, by the terms of the will, are only _trustees_ for the property, the court of chancery might be moved to assist in the recovery thereof. t. a. t. florence, march, . _corbet._--can any of your readers furnish information relative to the scottish family of corbet, one member of whom emigrated to america, about the year , from the neighbourhood of dumfries? corbie. philadelphia. _initials in glass quarries._--in st. clement's church, norwich, are some diamond-shaped panes of glass, or _quarries_, containing initial letters, &c. . the letters i. v. beneath a mitre. (glass probably about a.d. .) do these belong to any bishop of norwich? . a. a. . a. i. glass and style probably give - for the date. at st. neots' parish church, huntingdonshire, the initials w. and m. interlaced, g., and c., occur on several quarries. at puttenham, hertfordshire, is a broken quarry bearing a shield, charged with a ship in full sail; on a chief, the arms of king's coll. cambridge. the living belongs to that college, i believe. can any of your correspondents assist in assigning these initials and arms to their respective owners? the date of the glass in the two last-named cases is probably the end of the seventeenth century. g. r. york. _church service: preliminary texts._--among the texts with which the church of england service commences, is one with two references; the former of these is the correct index to the words, the latter points to a kindred text. at jer. x. . we find the passage; then why is ps. vi. . added, no parallel text being indicated to any of the other ten? has this always so stood? w. t. m. hong kong. _the spinning-machine of the ancients._--can any of your readers give a satisfactory explanation of the difficult passage which occurs at the end of catullus' _epithalamium_, containing the description of the spinning-wheel of the fates? as this has been such a perplexing subject hitherto to commentators, a solution of the terms there employed, { } illustrated by a plan of the machine, would doubtless be a boon to many who have unsuccessfully tried to understand it. [greek: philomathês.] _view of dumfries._--i have a modern lithographed view of the town of dumfries, said to have been taken from an old engraving in some printed book. it represents a small chapel (the crystal chapel) on a height in the foreground, and the walls of the town and the old church behind. i have in vain sought for the original, and have almost come to the conclusion that the drawing is a forgery. can any of your readers who have access to the bodleian, inform me whether anything of the kind is to be found in gough's _topographical collections_, which are there deposited? balivus. edinburgh. "_to pass the pikes._"--what is the origin of this phrase? g. taylor. _may-day custom._--can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of a singular custom which prevails in huntingdonshire on may , viz. that of suspending from a rope, which is hung across the road in every village, a doll with pieces of gay-coloured silk and ribbon, and no matter what, attached to it; candlesticks and snuffers, spoons and forks, being parts of those i saw the other day in summersham, st. ives, and several other places. henrietta m. cole. . gloucester crescent, hyde park. _maydenburi._--the seal with which i close my letter was purchased some years ago on the west coast of wales. it is engraved on brass; the upper part being much beaten down, as if struck with a hammer when used, but the face is perfect. the legend is, "s. ionis. de maydenbvri:" but being engraved in the usual direction, it reads on the impression from right to left. the "s." may be read either as "sanctus" or "sigillum." the figure is that of st. christopher, bearing christ across a running stream. i have not been able to discover the locality of maydenburi, and therefore my questions to such of your readers as are more skilled in mediæval lore than myself, are, where is this place situated, and what was its previous destination, monastic or otherwise? and who was the original proprietor of the seal? h. e. s. tewkesbury. _richard fitz-alan, ninth earl of arundel._--can any one tell me why richard fitz-alan, earl of arundel and surrey, who married eleanora, daughter of henry plantagenet, earl of lancaster, relict of henry lord beaumont, received the _sobriquet_ of "richard with the copped hat?" h. m. _french refugees._--during the time of the french revolution, - , many families emigrated to england, and received shelter and support at an hospital then situate in spital fields. i should feel obliged for any information relating to the books or registers of that hospital wherein would be found the names of the emigrants, and also whether there is any publication relating to them. j. f. f. dublin. "_dilamgabendi._"--what is the precise meaning of the word _dilamgabendi_; is it of ancient british origin, or to what language does it belong? a traveller. _mr. plumley._--in the _literary intelligencer_ for march, , no. ., in an article entitled "extremes meet," it is said: "mr. plumley concludes one of his tragedies with a dying speech and an execution. and gives an appendix of references to the passages of scripture quoted in his plays." who was mr. plumley, and what did he write? i cannot find any book to which the above passage can refer in the british museum. c. l. _designation of works under review._--i shall be much indebted to the editor of "n. & q.," or to any of his correspondents, if he or they will inform me of the designation under which the works, whose names stand at the head of a review, should be technically referred to by the reviewer. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _north-west passage._--in , captain thomas button made a voyage to discover the north-west passage, and was afterwards knighted by king james. can any of your readers refer me to a pedigree, or other particulars, of sir thomas button's family? they appear to have been seated at duffryn, in glamorganshire, as early as the fourteenth or fifteenth century. sir thomas' daughter ann married general rowland langharne, of st. bride's, pembrokeshire, a noted character in the civil war. notary. _fountains._--will some kind reader obligingly state the names of any works that give representations or descriptions of foreign fountains? aquarius. _pope and john dennis._--what is the authority for the universal assumption that pope wrote _the narrative of dr. robert norris_? it is said, in the notes to the _dunciad_, to have been published in swift and pope's _miscellanies_, vol. iii. this does not prove that pope wrote it. farther, it is not { } in the third volume of the _miscellanies_ as republished in . what are the facts? p. j. d. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _the irish at the battle of crecy._--i should feel obliged if any of your readers could inform me where the authority is for the irish at the battle of crecy having been the first to come to close fight with the french, and doing, "after the manner of their own countrie," effective service with their skenes or long knives. m. p. [there is the best authority for this assertion, even that of the veritable holinshed, who quotes from froissart, the cotemporary of our victorious edward. "the armie which he (edward) had over with him, was to the number of men of armes, and , archers, besides _irishmen_ and welshmen that followed the host on foot." the french historian also informs us, that the skene or knife was the chief weapon used by the irish in that age: "the irish have pointed knives with broad blades, sharp on both sides, like a dart-head, with which they kill their enemies," &c. johnes's _translation_, vol. iv. p. .: see also grafton's _chronicle_, p. .; and keightley's _history of england_, vol. i. p. .] _king of the isle of wight._--i was not aware that the isle of wight, like the isle of man, had once been a kingdom. it seems that henry de beauchamp, earl and duke of warwick, was crowned, _circa_ , king of the isle of wight. perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to throw some light on this matter. e. h. a. [henry beauchamp, duke of warwick, son of richard earl of warwick, was crowned king of the isle of wight by patent henry vi., king henry in person assisting at the ceremonial, and placing the crown on his head. leland (_itiner._, vol. vi. p. .) says, "henricus comes de warwike ab henrico vi. cui carissimus erat, coronatus _in regem de wighte_, et postea nominatus primus comes totius angliæ." leland takes this _ex libello de antiquitate theoksibriensis monasterii_, in the church of which house this duke of warwick was buried. but little notice has been taken of this singular event by our historians, and, except for some other collateral evidence, the authenticity of it might be doubted; but the representation of this duke with an imperial crown on his head and a sceptre before him, in an ancient window of the collegiate church at warwick, leaves no doubt that such an event did take place. (see worsley's _hist. of the isle of wight_ for a plate copied from an accurate drawing of the king.) this honourable mark of the royal favour, however, conveyed no regal authority, the king having no power to transfer the sovereignty of any part of his dominions, as is observed by lord coke in his _institutes_, where this transaction is discussed; and there is reason to conclude that, though titular king, he did not even possess the lordship of the island, no surrender appearing from duke humphrey, who was then living, and had a grant for the term of his life. mr. selden too, in his _titles of honour_, p. ., treating of the title of the king of man, observes that "it was like that of king of the isle of wight, in the great beauchamp, duke of warwick, who was crowned king under henry vi." henry beauchamp was also crowned king of guernsey and jersey. he died soon after these honours had been conferred on him, june , , when the regal title expired with him, and the lordship of the island, at the death of the duke of gloucester, reverted to the crown.] _theodore de la guard._--i have a tract by him with the title of _the simple cobler of aggawam, in america_, london, . who was he? and where can i find any account of him or his work? cpl. [the rev. nathaniel ward was the author of this work. he was born at haverhill in essex, of which place his father was a clergyman; and after studying at cambridge, became minister of standon in herts; but was cited before the bishop, dec. , , to answer for his nonconformity. being forbidden to preach, he embarked for america in april, , and settled as pastor of the church at ipswich, or aggawam. he returned to england in , and on june , , preached before the house of commons, and the same year published _the simple cobler_. he was afterwards settled at shenfield, near brentwood, where he died in , in his eighty-third year. fuller, in his _worthies_, co. suffolk, speaking of him, says, that he, "following the counsel of the poet, 'ridentem dicere verum, quis vetat?' 'what doth forbid that one may smile, and also tell the truth the while?' hath in a jesting way, in some of his books, delivered much smart truth of the present times." dr. mather, in his _magnalia_, remarks of him, that "he was the author of many composures full of wit and sense; among which that entitled _the simple cobler_ (which demonstrated him to be a subtil statesman) was most considered." this work passed through several editions in england in . it was reprinted in boston in . the best edition, containing the author's subsequent additions, is that edited by david pulsifer, boston, .] _back._--what is the meaning and derivation of "back," as applied to several localities in bristol, as, for instance, the back, welsh back, temple back, st. augustine's back, st. james' back, redcliffe back? many of them are not on the river, or i should have imagined it a corruption of the word bank. malcolm fraser. clifton. [barrett, in his _history of bristol_, p. ., gives a clue to the origin of this local name: "before the quay was made the usual place, as leland says, for landing goods out of the ships was at the back (or _bec_, a saxon word for a river), where was the old custom-house. the quay being completed, and the marsh of bristol thereby effectually divided from that { } of st. augustine, houses and streets began to be built there; marsh street terminated with a chapel, dedicated to st. clement, and a gate; and back street, with a gate also, and a chapel near it, dedicated to st. john, and belonging to st. nicholas; the church of st. stephen and its dependent parish, and the buildings between the back and the quay, seem to have taken their rise at this period, and were all enclosed with a strong embattled wall, _externa_ or _secunda moenia urbis_, extending from the quay to the back, where king street has since been built."] _broom at mast-head._--whence did the custom originate of a broom being fastened to the mast-head of boats and small craft, to indicate their being for sale? j. r. g. dublin. [it originated from the old custom of putting up boughs upon anything which was intended for sale; and "this is the reason," says brande, "why an old besom (which is a sort of _dried bush_) is put up at the top-mast-head of a ship or boat when she is to be sold."] * * * * * replies. the advice supposed to have been given to julius iii. (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix. _passim_.) your correspondent novus has very judiciously warned controversialists on the use of a document as emanating from the papal court, which, to every one who reads it through (if a shorter examination will not be satisfactory), must carry evidence of its not being papal authority, but intended as a satire on rome. a writer in the _christian remembrancer_, vol. xii., attaches undue importance to the signatures, in the absence of which, he admits, "we should conclude that this was the production of some enemy in disguise." in a to. volume of tracts now before me is a copy of the genuine document-- "consilium delectorum cardinalium et aliorum prælatorum, de emendanda ecclesia. s. d. n. papa paulo iii. ipso jubente conscriptum et exhibitum anno ;" two copies of the supposititious "consilium quorundam episcoporum bononiæ congregatorum quod de ratione stabiliendæ romanæ ecclesiæ julio iii. pont. max. datum est. quo artes et astutiæ romanensium et arcana imperii papalis non pauca propalantur. ex bibliotheca w. crashauii. londini, ;" and several other tracts, so rare that an enumeration of them, and a few extracts, will perhaps be acceptable to many of the readers of "n. & q." fourth in order: "marcus antonius de dominis archiepiscopus spalatensis, suæ profectionis consilium exponit. londini, ." "bellum papale, sive concordia discors sixti quinti et clementis octavi, circa hieronymianam editionem, etc. auctore thoma jamesio. londini, ." "[ejusdem] bellum gregorianum, sive corruptionis romanæ in operibus d. gregorii m. jussu pontificum rom. recognitis atque editis, etc. oxoniæ, ." "summa actorum facultatis theologiæ parisiensis contra librum inscriptum, controversia anglicana de potestate regis et pontificis, etc. auctore martino becano. londini, ." "antitortobellarminus, sive refutatio calumniarum, mendaciorum, et imposturarum laico-cardinalis bellarmini, contra jura omnium regum et sinceram illibatamque famam serenissimi, potentissimi piissimique principis jacobi ... fidei catholicæ defensoris et propugnatoris: per joan. gordonium. londini, ." "tu super _hoc cepha_ fingis christum ore loquutum fundamen caulæ nidificabo meæ: vernac'lo at christus solymis sermone loquutus, separat articulis mascula foemineis; petre, ait, hic cepha es, sanctæ fundamina caulæ, et super _hac cepha_ ponere dico meæ: . . . . . . quòd tu sic audes christi pervertere verba et pro foemineo subdere masculeum, nil mirum; papis solenne est cardineisque sic pro foemineo subdere masculeum." "epilogus ad quatuor colloquia d^{ni} d^{ris} wrighti pro mala fide habita; et a jacobo nixon non bona fide relata; et guilielmo stanleio nullius fidei perduelli dicata: pro amico et gentili suo d^{no} thoma roe equite editus. authore guilielmo roe. londini, ." "d^{no} d^{ri} wright anglo, malæ causæ clienti: et jacobo nixon hiberno, advocato pejori: et guilielmo stanleio, patrono pessimo; religionis et patriæ hostibus: poenam seram et poenitentiam seriam guilielmus roe exoptat." this is the opening of the epilogus _colloquii spadani_, a copy of which rare tract is in the extensive collection of the president of the chetham society. the epilogue contains an unmeasured invective against these three "vassal slaves of servile rome."[ ] wright's panegyric on stanley is thus introduced and distorted: "egregia facinora tua vidit hibernia, experta est hollandia, agnoscit hispania, prædicat gallia, fatetur flandria, neque potest negare anglia. ergo cum bona frontis tuæ serenitate sustinebis, si elogii tui vocem ad assensum nostrum repercussam, instar ecchus remittamus, et stanleium hominem egregie facinorosum dixerimus, quod in hispanis consilio suo immissis vidit hibernia, in daventriæ proditione { } experta est hollandia, in stipendio proditioni imputato agnoscit hispania, in pluribus locis frustra et cum ignominia tentatis prædicat gallia, et nullam illi præfecturam unquam integrè credendo fatetur flandria, neque post tot in patriam suam molitiones, et præsertim expeditionem quam ad fragorem pulverariæ conjurationis in nos habiturus erat, negare potest anglia." "eadgarus in jacobo redivivus: seu pietatis anglicanæ defensio. ab adamo reuter. londini, ." "[ejusdem] libertatis anglicanæ defensio seu demonstratio: regnum angliæ non esse feudum pontificis: in nobilissima et antiquissima oxoniensi academia, publice apposita martino becano. londini, ." "[ejusdem] oratio: quam papam esse bestiam quæ non est et tamen est, apud johan. apoc. xvii. . in fine probantem ... recitavit adam reuter. londini, ." "[ejusdem] contra conspiratorum consilia orationes duæ. habitæ ... ^o aug. et ^o nov., anno , diebus regiæ liberationis a conspiratione govvrie, et tormentaria. londini, ." "ejusdem, delineatio consilii brevissima: quam societati mercatorum belgarum londini florentiss. commorantium consecrat a. r. londini, ." "[greek: ponêsis christophorou tou angelou], etc. at oxford, ." "[the same]. christopher angell, who tasted of many stripes and torments, inflicted by the turkes for the faith which he had in christ jesus. at oxford, ." "[ejusdem] labor c. a. græci. de apostasia ecclesiæ, et de homine peccati scilicet antichristo, etc. gr. et lat. londini, ."[ ] "expositio mysteriorum misse et verus modus rite celebrandi. a guilhelmo de gouda. daventrie, ." had i not already occupied so much space, i should have added an extract from angell's _epistle in commendation of england and the inhabitants thereof_. he begins thus: "o faire like man, thou most fertill and pleasant countrie of england, which art the head of the world, indued with those two faire eies, the two universities." bibliothecar. chetham. [footnote : "valete tria animalia religionis servæ, et in servitutem nata."] had your correspondent novus, in his first communication, specified by name the _consilium quorundam episcoporum_ as the document whose fictitious character he desired to notify, i should not have been betrayed into my supererogatory vindication of the _consilium delectorum cardinalium_; the latter piece having lately been much before me, and its very extraordinary frankness in acknowledging the existence of the gravest abuses, of which the reformers complained, giving it so much the air of satirical fiction. the use of the other document, moreover, being chiefly in the hands of a class of writers i am happy in not being able to boast a very extensive acquaintance with, recent anti-papal controversialists, i certainly did think that novus had impugned the authenticity of the genuine _consilium_. r. g. is mistaken in supposing that i thought there were _nine cardinals_ in the committee which drew up the genuine _consilium_, as the full title of this piece will show:--_consilium novem delectorum cardinalium et aliorum prælatorum, de emendanda ecclesia._ b. b. woodward. bungay, suffolk. * * * * * lord rosehill. (vol. ix., p. .) something more than a partiality for the novelist takes me now and then to the scene of the antiquary--aberbrothock, or arbroath. on one occasion, in company with a few friends, we made a day of it in a ramble along the romantic eastern coast of that burgh, and the scene of the perilous incident related of sir arthur lekiss wardour, when rescued from the incoming tide by being drawn up the face of the precipitous cliff by the doughty mucklebacket, under the superintendence of oldbuck and young lovel. the fresh breeze from the german ocean, and the excitement of the occasion, imparted a keen relish for the locality and its associations; and by the time we reached the hostelry of mrs. walker, at auchmithie, a no less sharp appreciation of the _piscatorial spread_ we had the foresight to bespeak the previous day. ushered into lucky walker's best dining-room, our attention was immediately drawn to an aristocratic emblazonment of arms which occupied one entire side of the room, with a ribbon, artistically disposed over the same, upon which was inscribed lord rosehill, who was, we were informed, the eldest son of the earl of northesk (carnegie), a great proprietor in that neighbourhood, and the special patron of our hostess and her establishment. with respect to the particular lord rosehill, alluded to by your correspondent w. d. r., i beg to offer him the following brief notice from douglas' _peerage_, by wood, edin. : "david l. rosehill (son of geo. th e. of northesk) was born at edin., th april, ; had an ensign's commission in the th reg. foot in ; quitted the army , and went to america. he married in maryland, in aug. , miss mary cheer, and died without issue at rouen, in normandy, feb. , æt. ." from a dear old lady, whom i always find a mine of forfarshire anecdote of the last century, i obtain some corroborative proof that the said david { } lord rosehill was the eccentric character we might infer from the above, in the assurance that he was "a ne'er do weel, and ran away with the tincklers (_i. e._ gypsies) in early life." if i may farther travel out of the record, allow me here to recommend to such of your readers as meditate the northern tour this summer, to diverge a little from the beaten track, and visit the neighbourhood above alluded to; your antiquarian friends, especially, will be delighted with that fine old ruin, the abbey of aberbrothock, now that it is brushed up and fit to receive visitors. the worthy mr. peter, in charge, has some curious relics acquired at the last diggins, and possesses a fragment of a black-letter chronicle to satisfy the incredulous that in identifying the objects exhibited, he has his warrant in hector boece. the man of progress, too, will find in fairport, or arbroath, a hive of industry; but, i regret to add, threatened with a check by this closing of the baltic trade, which is, if i may say so, both _woof_ and _warp_ in the prosperity of this and other towns on the east coast of scotland. and lastly, the lovers of ocean, rocks, and caves, will be not less interested with the environs, and i doubt not all would leave it exclaiming with johnson, that if they had seen no more of old scotia than aberbrothock, they would not have regretted their journey. j. o. * * * * * major andrÉ. (vol. ix., p. .) on the th of january, , mr. chappell made a report unfavourable to the petition of john paulding (one of the citizens who captured major andré), who prays for an increase of the pension allowed to him by the government in consequence of that service. on the question to reverse this report, an interesting debate followed. we copy the following from the _national intelligencer_, january , : "what gave interest principally to the debate, was the disclosure by mr. tallmadge of connecticut (an officer at the time, and commanding the advance guard when major andré was brought in) of his view of the merit of this transaction, with which history and the records of the country have made every man familiar. the value of the service he did not deny; but on the authority of the declaration of major andré (made while in the custody of colonel tallmadge), he gave it as his opinion that, if major andré could have given to these men the amount they demanded for his release, he never would have been hung as a spy, nor in captivity on that occasion. mr. t.'s statement was minutely circumstantial, and given with expressions of his individual confidence in its correctness. among other circumstances he stated, that when major andré's boots were taken off by them, it was to search for plunder, and not to detect treason. these persons, indeed, he said, were of that class of people who passed between both armies, as often in one camp as the other, and whom, he said, if he had met with them, he should probably as soon have apprehended as major andré, as he had always made it a rule to do with these suspicious persons. the conclusion to be drawn from the whole of mr. tallmadge's statement, of which this is a brief abstract, was, that these persons had brought in major andré only because they should probably get more for his apprehension than for his release." the question on reversing the report was decided in the negative:--ayes, ; noes, or . it is proper to say that the question was decided on the ground taken in the report, viz. on the injustice of legislating on a single case of pension, whilst there were many survivors of the revolution whom the favour of the government had not distinguished. from _the gleaner_, published at wilkesbury, pennsylvania (copied into the _national intelligencer_ of washington, march , ): "the disclosure recently made by colonel tallmadge in the house of representatives, relative to the capture of major andré, seems to have been received in every instance with the confidence to which it was certainly entitled. that gentleman related what he saw and knew; and those who are attempting to dispute him, relate only what they had been informed of. to those of our readers who may not have seen the report of colonel tallmadge's remarks, it may be proper to observe, that those three men who captured major andré, applied to congress for an increase of pension settled on them by the government, and that when this application was under consideration, colonel tallmadge (a member for connecticut) rose and stated, that having been the officer to whom the care of andré was entrusted, he had heard andré declare that those men robbed him, and upon his offer to reward them for taking him to the british lines, he believes they declined only from the impossibility of giving them sufficient security, &c., and that it was not patriotism but the hope of gain which induced them to deliver him to the americans. to this declaration of colonel tallmadge, and in support of his opinion, we are happy to have it in our power to offer the following corroborating testimony. "there is now living in this town a gentleman who was an officer in the massachusets line, and who was particularly conversant in all the circumstances of that transaction. it was this gentleman who, in company with captain hughes, composed the special guard of andré's person, was with him during the last twenty-four hours of his life, and supported him to the place of execution. from him we have received the following particulars: it is needless to say we give them our implicit belief, since to those who are acquainted with the person to whom we allude, no other testimony is ever necessary than his simple declaration. "to this gentleman andré himself related that he was passing down a hill, at the foot of which, under a tree, playing cards, were the three men who took him. { } they were close by the road side, and he had approached very near them before either party discovered the other; upon seeing him they instantly rose and seized their rifles. they approached him and demanded who he was; he immediately answered that he was a british officer, supposing, from their being so near the british lines, that they belonged to that party. they then seized him, robbed him of the few guineas which he had with him, and the two watches which he then wore, one of gold and the other of silver. he offered to reward them if they would take him to new york; they hesitated, and in his (andré's) opinion, the reason why they did not do so, was the impossibility on his part to secure to them the performance of the promise. "he informs also that it was an opinion too prevalent to admit of any doubt, that these men were of that description of persons called 'cow boys,' or those who, without being considered as belonging to either party, made it a business to pillage from both. he has frequently heard this opinion expressed at that time by several officers who were personally acquainted with all these men, and who could not have been mistaken in their general characters. "andré frequently spoke of the kindness of the american officers, and particularly of the attention of major tallmadge; and on the way to the place of execution sent for that officer to come near him, that he might learn the manner in which he was to die." statement of van wart (from the _national intelligencer_ of feb. , ): "isaac van wart, of the town of mount pleasant, in the county of westchester, being duly sworn, doth depose and say, that he is one of the three persons who arrested major andré during the american revolutionary war, and conducted him to the american camp. that he, this deponent, together with david williams and john paulding, had secreted themselves at the side of the highway, for the purpose of detecting any person coming from, or having unlawful intercourse with, the enemy, being between the two armies; a service not uncommon in those times. that this deponent and his companions were armed with muskets, and upon seeing major andré approach the place where they were concealed, they rose and presented their muskets at him, and required him to stop, which he did. he then asked them whether they belonged to his party, and then they asked him which was his party? to which he replied the lower party. upon which they, deeming a little stratagem under such circumstances not only justifiable but necessary, gave him to understand that they were of his party, upon which he joyfully declared himself to be a british officer, and told them that he had been out upon very particular business. having ascertained thus much, this deponent and his companions undeceived him as to their characters, declaring themselves to be americans, and that he must consider himself their prisoner. upon this, with seeming unconcern, he said he had a pass from general arnold, which he exhibited, and then insisted on their permitting him to proceed. but they told him that, as he had confessed himself to be a british officer, they deemed it to be their duty to convey him to the american camp; and then took him into a wood, a short distance from the highway, in order to guard against being surprised by parties of the enemy, who were frequently reconnoitering in that neighbourhood. that when they had him in the wood they proceeded to search him, for the purpose of ascertaining who and what he was, and found inside of his stockings and boots, next to his bare feet, papers which satisfied them he was a spy. major andré now showed them his gold watch, and remarked that it was evidence of his being a gentleman, and also promised to make them any reward they might name, if they would but permit him to proceed, which they refused. he then told them that if they doubted the fulfilment of his promise, they might conceal him in some secret place, and keep him there until they could send to new york and receive their reward. and this deponent expressly declares, that every offer made by major andré to them was promptly and resolutely refused. and, for himself, he solemnly declares that he had not, and he does most sincerely believe that paulding and williams had not, any intention of plundering their prisoner; nor did they confer with each other, or even hesitate whether they should accept his promise, but, on the contrary, they were, in the opinion of this deponent, governed, like himself, by a deep interest in the cause of the country, and a strong sense of duty. and this deponent further says that he never visited the british camp, nor does he believe or suspect that either paulding or williams ever did, except that paulding was, once before andré's capture, and once afterwards, made a prisoner by the british, as this deponent has been informed and believes. and this deponent, for himself, expressly denies that he ever held any unlawful traffic or any intercourse whatever with the enemy. and, appealing solemnly to that omniscient being, at whose tribunal he must soon appear, he doth expressly declare that all accusations, charging him therewith, are utterly untrue. isaac van wart. "sworn this th day of january, , before jacob radcliff. "we the subscribers, inhabitants of the county of westchester, do certify that during the revolutionary war we were well acquainted with isaac van wart, david williams, and john paulding, who arrested major andré; and that at no time during the revolutionary war was any suspicion ever entertained by their neighbours or acquaintances, that they, or either of them, held any undue intercourse with the enemy. on the contrary, they were universally esteemed, and taken to be ardent and faithful in the cause of the country. we further certify that the said paulding and williams are not now resident among us, but that isaac van wart is a respectable freeholder of the town of mount pleasant, that we are all well acquainted with him, and we do not hesitate to declare our belief that there is not an individual in the county of westchester, acquainted with isaac van wart, who would hesitate to describe him as a man of a sober, moral, industrious, and religious life, as a man whose integrity is as unimpeachable as his veracity is undoubted. in { } these respects no man in the county of westchester is his superior. jonathan g. tompkins, aged years. jacob purdy, . john odell, . john boyce, . j. requa, . william paulding, . john requa, . archer read, . george comb, . gilbert dean, . jonathan odell, . cornelius van tassel, . thomas boyce, . tunis lint, . jacobus dyckman, . william hammond. john romer." f. d. the following works furnish much that is interesting concerning major andré:-- _an authentic narrative of the causes which led to the death of major andré_, by joshua hett smith, london, . printed for matthews and leigh, . strand. _the plot of arnold and sir henry clinton against the united states, and against general washington_, paris, . printed by didot the elder. niles' _weekly register for _, vol. ii. p. . printed at baltimore. anon. * * * * * the terminations "-by" and "-ness." the linguistic origin of these descriptive syllables, when found as suffixes to the names of places, is a question of some interest to the antiquary and ethnologist; and, as to the former of them, has, on that account, fitly enough been made the subject of occasional discussion in the pages of "n. & q." the _-by_, as your pages evince (vol. vii., p. .), is implicitly relied upon by mr. worsaae and his disciples, in support of the danish theory of that eminent northern scholar; and that too, as it appears, without any very minute regard to the etymology and meaning of the former syllabic divisions of proper names so characterised. if only the designation of a locality end with _-by_, evidence sufficient is given, that it owes its paternity specially to the danes alone, of all the scandinavian tribes who obtained a permanent footing on our shores. the same is the case with respect to the termination _-ness_, and its orthographic varieties. as with the ashbys, newbys, and kirbys of our several counties, so (_inter alia_) with the hackness of yorkshire, the longness of man, the bowness of westmoreland, and the foulness of essex. all have the danish mark upon them; and all, therefore, possess a danish original, and bear witness of a danish location. with regard to the _-by_, i have already, in these pages, taken occasion to suggest a doubt whether, in that particular instance, the worsaaen theory be not as fallacious as it is dogmatical. and, adopting the same method with the _-ness_, i think it will be evident, on examination of the following list of almost identical forms of the expression, that, as to this point also, no argument can be founded upon it, one way or the other, beyond the fact of its derivation from some of the scandinavian tribes who, in the fifth and succeeding centuries, established themselves on our shores: if, indeed, i do not, even with this enlarged extension, assign to the presence of the term in our topography a too restricted application. i have a list now before me of places with this suffix, distributed over twenty-five counties. it does not pretend to be complete; but as it offers a more extended view of the question than in vol. ix., p. ., i subjoin the results: yorkshire lincolnshire leicestershire norfolk cumberland westmoreland northamptonshire lancashire nottinghamshire suffolk and derbyshire, each durham and warwickshire, each essex and isle of man, each cardiganshire, cheshire, cornwall, kent, monmouthshire, northumberland, pembrokeshire, salop, and wiltshire, each --- === our termination _-ness_, then, is the old northern or icelandic _nes_, the parent of the dan. _næs_, and the ang.-sax. _nese_ and _næs_, signifying "a neck of land, or promontory." from this _nes_ came, naturally enough, the old northern _naos_ or _nös_, whence the dan. _næse_, the germ. _nase_; the ang.-sax. _nase_, _næse_, _nose_; the norman-fr. _naz_, and su.-goth. _naese_ (in al. and sansc. _nasa_, and in gall. _nes_); the latin _nasus_, and eng. _nose_, or _nase_ as it is spelt by gower in his _conf. am._ b. v., "both at mouth and at _nase_." closely akin to the same word, and probably derived from an identical source, is the old northern _nef_, whence were formed the vulg.-isl. _nebbi_, the dan. _neb_, and the ang.-sax. _nebbe_ and _neb_ (in pers. _anef_; in c. tscherh. _ep_, in curd. _defin_), the beak or bill, the _neb_ or _nib_ of a bird; and also used of the prominent feature of the human face divine, to which the term is applied by shakspeare and bacon, as it is occasionally at the present day by the older inhabitants of the yorkshire dales. thus have we the origin of our _nase_, _-nese_, _-ness_, _-nib_, _-nab_, &c., which are found in the composition of many of our local proper names; but, after looking over the foregoing paragraph, who can tell whether these forms were transported to our shores in a saxon, jutish, anglic, or danish bark? wm. matthews. cowgill. { } _the termination "-by."_--having gone over the remaining letters h to z, i send you the following results: lincoln , in former list total york " " " leicester " " " norfolk " " " notts " " " cumberland " " " lancaster " " " westmoreland " " " warwick " " " northampton " " " suffolk " " " essex (kirby-le-soken) " " " chester (west kirby or kirkby) " " " pembroke (tenby) " " " --- === derby " sussex " --- --- === === i leave this for the study of others. b. h. c. as b. h. c. could only find seven places in cumberland ending in _-by_, i take the liberty of sending him a few additional names. writing from memory, i may very possibly have omitted many more: aglionby. | maughanby. allonby. | melmerby. alwardby. | moresby. arcleby. | motherby. birkby. | netherby. botcherby. | ormesby. corby. | ousby. crosby. | outerby. cross cannonby. | parsonby. dovenby. | ponsonby. etterby. | rickerby. flimby. | scaleby. gamelsby. | scotby. glassonby. | sowerby. harby. | tarraby. harraby. | thursby. ireby. | uckmanby. johnby. | uprightby, pronounced langwathby. | heaverby. lazonby. | many names of places in cumberland commence with _cum_, as our cumbrian bard has it: "we've cumwhitton, cumwhinton, cumranton, cumrangen, cumrew, and cumcatch; wi' mony mair cums i' the county, but nane wi' cumdivock can match." from whence is derived the prefix _cum_? john o' the ford. malta. * * * * * newspaper folk lore. (vol. vi., pp. . . .; vol. ix., pp. . . ) is it quite certain that "no animal can live in the alimentary canal but the parasites which belong to that part of the animal economy?" being ignorant of the matter i give no opinion, but would bring before your readers' notice the following seemingly well-authenticated instance. i quote from _insect transformations_, , p. ., a work put forth by the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. "that insects are, in some rare cases, introduced into the human stomach, has been more than once proved, though the greater number of the accounts of such facts in medical books are too inaccurate to be trusted.[ ] but one extraordinary case has been completely authenticated, both by medical men and competent naturalists, and is published in the _dublin transactions_, by dr. pickells of cork.[ ] mary riordan, aged twenty-eight, had been much affected by the death of her mother, and at one of her many visits to the grave seems to have partially lost her senses, having been found lying there on the morning of a winter's day, and having been exposed to heavy rain during the night. when she was about fifteen, two popular catholic priests had died, and she was told by some old women that if she would drink daily, for a certain time, a quantity of water mixed with clay taken from their graves, she would be for ever secure from disease and sin. following this absurd and disgusting prescription, she took from time to time large quantities of the draught; some time afterwards, being affected with a burning pain in the stomach (cardialgia), she began to eat large pieces of chalk, which she sometimes also mixed with water and drank. "now, whether in any or in all these draughts she swallowed the eggs of insects, cannot be affirmed; but for several years she continued to throw up incredible numbers of grubs and maggots, chiefly of the churchyard beetle (_blaps mortisaga_). 'of the larvæ of the beetle,' says dr. pickells, 'i am sure i considerably underrate, when i say that not less than have been thrown up from the stomach at different times since the commencement of my attendance. a great proportion were destroyed by herself to avoid publicity; many, too, escaped immediately by running into holes in the floor. upwards of ninety were submitted to dr. thomson's examination; nearly all of which, including two of the specimens of the meal-worm (_tenebrio molitor_), i saw myself thrown up at different times. the average size was about an inch and a half in length, and four lines and a half in girth. the larvæe of the dipterous insect, though voided only about seven or eight times, according to her account, came up almost literally in myriads. they were alive and moving.' altogether, dr. pickells saw nearly , grubs of the beetle, and there were { } many which he did not see. mr. clear, an intelligent entomologist of cork, kept some of them alive for more than twelve months. mr. s. cooper cannot understand whence the continued supply of the grubs was provided, seeing that larvæ do not propagate, and that only one pupa and one perfect insect were voided[ ]; but the simple fact, that most beetles live several years in the state of larvæ, sufficiently accounts for this. their existing and thriving in the stomach, too, will appear the less wonderful from the fact that it is exceedingly difficult to kill this insect; for mr. henry baker repeatedly plunged one into spirits of wine, so fatal to most insects, but it revived, even after being immersed a whole night, and afterwards lived three years.[ ] "that there was no deception on the part of the woman, is proved by the fact that she was always anxious to conceal the circumstance; and that it was only by accident that the medical gentlemen, drs. pickells, herrick, and thomson, discovered it. moreover, it does not appear that, though poor, she ever took advantage of it to extort money. it is interesting to learn that, by means of turpentine in large doses, she was at length cured." edward peacock. bottesford moors, kirton-in-lindsey. [footnote : in the _bibliotheca grenvilliana_ the tract _de apostasia_ is not included, although the compilers say, "the present is a _complete collection of his tracts_, including the folding sheet."] [footnote : see good's _nosologia_, _helminthia alvi_, and _study of medicine_, vol. i. p. .] [footnote : _trans. of assoc. phys. in ireland_, vols. iv. viii. and v. p. . vo: dublin, - .] [footnote : cooper's edition of good's _study of medicine_, vol. i. p. .] [footnote : _philosophical transactions_, no. .] * * * * * ventilation. (vol. ix., p. .) "airs from heaven or blasts from hell." the mistake which, it is very respectfully submitted, the professed ventilationists fall into, and which may be considered the _fons et origo malorum_, is the notion that foul air rises upwards, and that pure air comes from below; which is just the reverse of the fact. in any room containing animals or vegetables, the air undergoes a change by respiration. leaving the vegetables to care for themselves, and considering the animals, if such a title may be reverently given to members of the house and others shut up in confined apartments for the benefit of their species, it is obvious that the pure air of heaven must undergo a change by the respiratory organs of the members, which change is absolutely necessary to preserve their lives, and each such apartment is a manufactory for converting pure into foul air. its steam-power is seated in the lungs, which, at each inspiration, take up the oxygen (the principle of life and flame) of the air, and at each expiration give out the carbon of the blood, conveyed by the veins from all parts of the body as refuse, and when purged therefrom by oxygen inspired, convert the venous blood into arterial, and bring life out of death. what, then, becomes of the expired carbon? the professional ventilationists say it _ascends_, and they provide mechanically, but not scientifically, accordingly. on the contrary, it finally _descends_; and this is the reason why our beds are always a few feet above the floor. if proof is needed, it may be found by applying a candle to the door, slightly ajar, of a room occupied by a few persons, when it will be found that the flame of the candle will point, when held at the lower part of the door, outwards, and at the upper part of the door inwards, showing how the currents of air pass; and as every one knows carbon to be heavier than air, the lower current is the one charged with carbon. the _grotto del cane_ derives its name from the fact, that a dog passing the stream of carbon issuing from the fissure in the rock, dies; whilst a man walking erect, with his mouth above the stream of carbon, escapes. our lime-kilns furnish a common example of the fact of the density of carbon compared with atmospheric air. experiments in proof are constantly exhibited in chemical lectures. the practical inference, _experto crede_, is that holes in the skirting-boards should be made so as to draw off the foul air, whilst the angelic visits of pure air should be sought from above. bellows, such as are used in diving-bells, with hot or cold air, might be necessary in an extreme case--long debates in the commons, for example,--which may require extraordinary ventilation. t. j. buckton. lichfield. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _history of photographic discovery._--without entirely agreeing with the opinion expressed to us a few days since, by an eminent scholar and most original thinker, that photography was destined to change the face of the whole world; we have little doubt it is destined to produce some striking social effects. its history is, therefore, an interesting one, and the following extract from a paper "on some early experiments in photography, being the substance of a letter addressed to robert hunt, esq., by the rev. j. b. reade, m.a., f.r.s.," from the _philosophical magazine_ for may, , seems, in that point of view, so important, that we have transferred it to "n. & q." "i may assume that you are already aware, from my letter to mr. brayley of march , , and published in the _british review_ for august, , that the principal agents i employed, before mr. talbot's processes were known, were infusion of galls as an accelerator, and hyposulphite of soda as a fixer. "i have no doubt, though i have not a distinct recollection of the fact, that i was led to use the infusion of galls from my knowledge of the early experiments by wedgwood. i was aware that he found _leather_ more sensitive than _paper_; and it is highly probable that the tanning process, which might cause the silver { } solution to be more readily acted upon when applied to the leather, suggested my application of the tanning solution to paper. "in your own history of the photographic process," says mr. reade, addressing mr. hunt, "you say, 'the discovery of the extraordinary property of the gallic acid in increasing the sensibility of the iodide of silver was the most valuable of the numerous contributions which mr. talbot has made to the photographic art.' it is nevertheless true, as stated by sir david brewster, that 'the first public use of the infusion of nut-galls, which is an _essential element_ in mr. talbot's patented process, is due to mr. reade;' and in my letter to mr. brayley i attribute the sensitiveness of my process to the formation of a gallate or tannate of silver. i need scarcely say, that among various experiments i tried gallic and tannic acid in their pure state, both separately and mixed; but the colour of the pictures thus obtained with the solar microscope was at that time less pleasing to my eye, than the rich warm tone which the same acids produced when in their natural connexion with solutions of vegetable matter in the gall-nut. this organic combination, however, was more effective with the solar microscope than with the camera, though the lenses of my camera were five inches in diameter. it is probable enough that the richer tone was due to the greater energy of direct solar rays. in using the solar microscope, i employed a combination of lenses which produced a convergence of the luminous and photogenic rays, together with a dispersion of the calorific rays, and the consequent absence of all sensible heat enabled me to use ross's cemented powers, and to make drawings of objects inclosed in canada balsam, and of living animalcules in single drops of water. the method i employed was communicated to the royal society in december, , and a notice of it is contained in the 'abstracts.' "you inform me that some persons doubt whether i really obtain _gallate of silver_ when using an infusion of gall-nuts, and that one of mr. talbot's friends raises the question. it is sufficient to reply, that though gallic acid is largely formed by a long exposure of an infusion of gall-nuts to the atmosphere, as first proposed by scheele, yet this acid does exist in the gall-nut in its natural state, and in a sufficient quantity to form gallate of silver as a photogenic agent; for m. deyeux observes, that 'when heat is very slowly applied to powdered gall-nuts, gallic acid sublimes from them, a part of which, when the process is conducted with great care, appears in the form of small white crystals.' m. fiedler also obtained gallic acid by mixing together a solution of gall-nuts and pure alumina, which latter combines with the tannin and leaves the gallic acid free in the solution; and this solution is found, on experiment, to produce very admirable pictures. but what is more to the point, mr. brayley, in explaining my process in his lectures, showed experimentally how gallate of silver was formed, and confirmed my view of the sensitiveness of the preparation. it is therefore certain that the use of gallate of silver as a photogenic agent had been made public in two lectures by mr. brayley at least two years before mr. talbot's patent was sealed. "i employed hyposulphite of soda as a fixer. mr. hodgson, an able practical chemist at apothecaries' hall, assisted me in the preparation of this salt, which at that time was probably not be found, as an article of sale, in any chemist's shop in london. sir john herschel had previously announced the peculiar action of this preparation of soda on salts of silver, but i believe that i was the first to use it in the processes of photography. i also used iodide of potassium, as appears from my letter, as a fixer, and i employed it as well to form iodide of lead on glazed cards as an accelerator. iodide of lead has of itself, as i form it, considerable photographic properties, and receives very fair impressions of plants, lace, and drawings when placed upon it, but with the addition of nitrate of silver and the infusion of galls the operation is perfect and instantaneous. pictures thus taken were exhibited at the royal society before mr. talbot proposed his iodized paper. the microscopic photographs exhibited at lord northampton's in remained in his lordship's possession. i subsequently made drawings of sections of teeth; and one of them, a longitudinal section of a tooth of the _lamna_, was copied on zinc by mr. lens aldous for owen's 'odontography.' i may say this much as to my own approximation to an art, which has deservedly and by universal consent obtained the name of talbotype." _photographic cautions._--diffused light being one of the most common causes of photographic failures, i beg to call the attention of your readers to the construction of their cameras. working with a friend, and taking the same localities, using the same paper and chemicals, his pictures have proved comparative failures, a general browning pervading the whole, evidently the effect of light. every inspection failed to discover it, until the mode was adopted of putting one of the paper-holders in its position as for taking a picture, then removing the lens, and, with the aid of the focussing-bag, looking through the hole where the lens is applied, when light became visible in many spaces, entirely accounting for these failures. as many such cameras are now becoming made upon the same sliding construction, every one should test his apparatus before he commences, for such a one is entirely useless. lately also the glass corners for collodion plate-holders in the dark slides, have been by some makers replaced by a sort of silver _looking_ wire, but possessing little of that metal. the most minute portion of the copper in this wire coming in contact with the excited collodion, produces a decomposition sufficient to spoil any picture. these may appear trivial things to "make a note of," but as they have caused much vexation to one who has had some photographic experience, they may still more perplex a novice; and as you have done so much towards making the science plain, i hope you will give them space in your forthcoming number. lux in camera. _a query respecting collodion._--i have been making some collodion by mr. tery's process, and have iodized it with a very sensitive medium. the collodion is very clear and properly diluted. the ether i used had a very powerful smell of sulphur, and was likewise very strong and volatile. i diluted it with an equal { } volume of alcohol. the ether was then still very strong. the cotton dissolved freely. on mixing the iodizing medium, the colour of the collodion turns immediately to nearly a port-wine colour, but still remains very clear. i obtain a very good film of iodide of silver from the bath, but cannot produce a picture under five or seven minutes, whereas with the same lens, and the same iodizing medium, viz. alcohol drms. iodide of potassium grs. iodide of ammonium grs. iodide of silver ½ gr. i have obtained beautiful pictures in less than one second with collodion prepared by the same (archer's) process. as i have made a quantity of it, and am unwilling it should be wasted, i have taken the liberty of asking your opinion on the subject. do you think the collodion is too new, or the ether not good? on pouring the developing solution on the plate (protosulphate of iron), the plate has the appearance of having ink poured on it; but this appearance is removed on the application of the hyposulphite of soda, and the plate remains as clear as when it was taken from the nitrate of silver bath. j. cook. _the céroléine process._--have any of your photographic correspondents made such experiments on the céroléine process as to enable them to communicate the results to "n. & q."? is mr. crooke's process for preserving the sensitiveness of collodion applicable to all collodions? if not, what collodion is best suited for it? silex. _mr. fox talbot's patents._---the injunction moved for by mr. fox talbot, as reported in _the times_ of saturday last, reminds us of a query which we have been sometimes asked, and which may just now be brought forward with advantage, namely: if mr. talbot's patents extend to the collodion process, how comes it that the earliest practisers of the collodion art had to make their own researches? we know one skilful photographer whose experiments were so extensive before he made any tolerable pictures, that his spoiled glass and cuttings were more than a man could lift. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the olympic plain_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have just seen, in examining the contents of a german periodical, that in may, , a proposal was submitted to the public by professor ross, of the university of halle, for setting on foot a subscription to defray the expense of making excavations in olympia, thus anticipating, by nearly a year, a recent suggestion to the same effect in "n. & q." professor ross expatiates at considerable length (see _jahrbücher für philologie und pädagogik_, vol. lxviii. p. .) on the advantages to be derived, as regards the arts, the literature, and the history of greece, from the exploration of so celebrated a spot; but, notwithstanding all his arguments and eloquence, the amount of the subscriptions, after the lapse of nine months, only amounted, in february, , to about l. as this sum was so utterly inadequate for the object intended, it was resolved to devote it to excavations in mykenæ. professor ross takes occasion to pay a high tribute of praise to lord aberdeen, for the service rendered by his lordship in discovering the treasury at mykenæ. the facilities at olympia for carrying on excavations are stated by professor ross to be very great. it is but a few miles distant from the sea, on the banks of a navigable river, and opposite to the very populous island of zante; so that workmen, and means, and helps of all kinds can easily be procured. it was intended to give the superintendence of the excavations to professor alexander rizo rangabe, of the university of athens, who was to be supplied with an adequate staff of artists, &c. whatever discoveries might be made, were to become the property of the greek nation. travellers were to be permitted to visit the excavations during their progress, and to see all that was going on; and it was thought that a considerable number might be attracted to the spot, as the austrian steamers convey passengers weekly in three or four days from trieste to the western coast of the morea. j. macray. _encyclopædia of indexes, or table of contents_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent thinks i to myself inquires respecting the desirableness and practicability of forming an "encyclopædia of indexes, or tables of contents." it was to meet this want (which is very commonly felt) that the publication of the _cyclopædia bibliographica_ was undertaken. the work has met your approval, and i have the pleasure of announcing that the volume will be completed on june . i think it will meet the desire of your correspondent and many others, who, "in reading up on any subject, wish to know whether any author treats upon it, without being obliged to examine his works, at a great expense of time and labour." james darling. "_one new year's day_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the lines quoted by mr. skyring are the opening lines of an old ballad, entitled "richard of taunton dean, or dumble dum deary." it may be found in _ancient poems, ballads, and songs of the peasantry of england_, edited (for the percy society) by j. h. dixon, esq., who says: "this song is very popular with the country people in every part of england, but more particularly so with the inhabitants of somerset, devon, and cornwall. there are many different versions." in the notes to his volume, mr. dixon mentions two irish versions of this ballad, communicated to him by t. c. croker, esq., one of which, entitled "last new year's day," is almost _verbatim_ with { } the english ballad. the other version (which is given by mr. d.) is entitled "dicky of ballyman." j. k. r. w. [this reference renders it unnecessary to insert the versions kindly supplied by e. l. h. and j. a.] _unregistered proverbs_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the following i find among the poor parishioners of tor-mohun in devonshire, and they were new to me. in answer to some remarks of mine on the necessary infirmities of old age, one of them replied, "you cannot have two forenoons in the same day." and on another occasion, in answer to my saying that something _ought_ to be done, although it was not, there came, "_oughts_ are nothings unless they've strokes to them." wm. fraser, b.c.l. _orange blossoms_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--i have seen it stated that the use of these flowers at bridals was derived from the saracens, or at least from the east, and that they were thus employed as emblems of fecundity. wm. fraser, b.c.l. _peculiar use of the word "pure"_ (vol. viii., p. .).--your correspondent is evidently not a gloucestershire man. the word _pure_ is commonly used in that county to express being in good health. i remember an amusing instance, which occurred many years ago. a gentleman, a friend of mine, who resided in an establishment where young ladies were educated, was met one day by an honest farmer; who, after inquiring kindly for his own health, said with equal good nature and simplicity, "i hope, zur, the ladies be all _pure_." gloucestrensis. _worm in books_ (vol. viii., p. .).--alethis is presented with the following recipe from a very curious old french book of receipts and secrets for everything connected with arts and trades. put some powdered colocynth into a phial, and cover the mouth with parchment pierced with holes. with this the books should be powdered, and from time to time beaten to drive out the powder, when the same process must be repeated. f. c. h. _chapel sunday_ (vol. vii., p. .).--not having received an answer to my query of the origin of the celebration of chapel sunday in the lake district, i would venture a surmise which some cumbrian antiquary will perhaps correct, if wrong. i take it to be the day in honour of the patron saint of the chapel: and now, when such festivals are little observed, it has been changed to the nearest sunday. in this thinly populated district, and where, from its mountainous and rugged character, travelling before the formation of the present good roads was neither agreeable nor (probably) safe, "at chapel" was the only time many of the inhabitants saw each other. meeting, therefore, on so auspicious a day as that of the patron saint, might in "merrie time" of old induce a little festivity. prestoniensis. _bishop inglis of nova scotia_ (vol. vii., p. .).--according to a short biography in the _documentary history of new york_, vol. iii. p. ., this prelate was born a.d. . his birth-place is not mentioned. some letters and other writings by him may be found in the fourth volume of the same work. uneda. philadelphia. _gutta percha made soluble_ (vol. ix., p. .).--e. b. can procure at any chemist's establishment a solution of gutta percha in chloroform, which may answer the purpose required by him. it is used by medical men as a dressing for abrasion in the skin of bed-ridden persons, and is applied with a camel's-hair brush. it hardens on being applied, and produces an artificial skin, which saves the patient from farther suffering in the place to which it has been applied. experto crede. naphtha will render gutta percha soluble; and if needed to be used as a varnish, it is only necessary to make a solution in a closed vessel, and apply it with a brush. the naphtha will evaporate and leave a thin coating of firmly-adhering gutta percha behind. shirley hibberd. _impe_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--this epithet has been much discussed, but i think that no reference has been made to the following remarkable instances of its application. in the beauchamp chapel at st. mary's warwick is the altar-tomb and effigy of the infant son of robert dudley, earl of leicester, with a long inscription, which begins: "heere resteth the body of the noble impe robert of dudley, baronet of denbigh, sonne of robert, erle of leycester, nephew and heire unto ambrose, erle of warwike." in a letter from edinburgh, dated th november, , john aleyn to the bishop of carlisle, writes of "the goodly young imp their king," who was afterwards our james i.; and the earl of shrewsbury in writes of "my wife and her imps," the lady being his energetic countess elizabeth hardwick, widow of sir william cavendish. (see lodge's _illustrations of british history_, vol. ii. pp. . .) r. a. melford. "_bothy_" (vol. ix., p. .).--for a very complete account of "the bothy system" in scotland, see the able and interesting pamphlet of the rev. harry stuart: _agricultural labourers as they were, are, and should be_ (blackwood). w. c. trevelyan. { } _work on ants_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i presume that the work for which [sigma]. inquires is, _recherches sur les moeurs des fourmis indigènes_, par p. huber, paris, .[ ] [greek: halieus.] dublin. [footnote : [our correspondent [sigma]. begs us to acknowledge the favour of the communication of [greek: halieus], but his inquiry "on the habits of ants" is by an author, a m. hauhart, and of a much later date than huber's. he is informed it is to be found in the transactions of the university of basle in switzerland, published with this title, _die zeitschrift der basler hochschule_, , p. ; but he has not been successful in obtaining a sight of that work.]] _jacobite garters_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have lately seen a watch-ribbon, or perhaps garter, with a jacobite inscription in white letters somewhat like that described by e. l. j., but only about half the length. the middle stripe was red between two blue ones, and yellow edges; there was no attempt at a plaid. the owner had no tradition about it, as connected with any particular incident in prince charles' career. p. p. "_the three pigeons_" (vol. ix., p. .).--i think washington irving, in his _life of goldsmith_, satisfactorily explains the origin of the song in _she stoops to conquer_, which your correspondent g. taylor supposes was suggested by the inn at brentford, mentioned by dr. rimbault. the american biographer says that goldsmith and his companion bryanton "got up a country club at the inn at ballymahon, of which goldsmith soon became the oracle and prime wit; astonishing his unlettered associates by his learning, and being considered capital at a song and story. from the rustic conviviality of the inn at ballymahon, and the company which used to assemble there, it is surmised that he took some hints in afterlife for his picturing of tony lumpkin and his associates, 'dick muggins the exciseman, jack slang the horse doctor, little aminadab that grinds the music-box, and tom twist that spins the pewter-platter.' nay, it is thought that tony's drinking-song at the 'three jolly pigeons' was but a revival of one of the convivial catches at ballymahon." and the author farther remarks, that "though goldsmith ultimately rose to associate with birds of a finer feather, his heart would still yearn in secret after the 'three jolly pigeons.'" if this be correct, as it most likely is, the song referred to, and the scene it illustrates, were not suggested by the inn at brentford. b. m. philadelphia. the alehouse situate at lishoy in ireland, where goldsmith's father was vicar, was, no doubt, "the three pigeons" of _she stoops to conquer_. there is a sketch of it in the _tourist's handbook for ireland_, p. . the author refers to mr. john forster's _life of goldsmith_, which i have not at hand. thompson cooper. cambridge. _corporation enactments_ (vol. ix., p. .).--it is an easy, but generally an unsafe thing to quote from quotations. abhba should have referred to _the dublin penny journal_, vol. i. p. ., for his extracts from the town books of the corporation of youghal, co. cork; and, even then, might have made farther reference to crofton croker's _researches in the south of ireland_, p. ., whence the paragraph (unacknowledged) was introduced into _the dublin penny journal_. mr. croker, moreover, fell into error with respect to the dates of these curious enactments, which were long antecedent to and . i have seen them in the original (book a), and vouch for the accuracy of the subjoined: " - . thomas geoffry made a freeman (being a barber), on condition that he should trim every freeman for sixpence per ann. " . john bayly made free, on condition to dress the dinners of the several mayors." i may give you some farther extracts from a ms. note book relative to this corporation at a future period. samuel hayman, clk. south abbey, youghal. _the passion of our lord dramatised_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a drama on the _passion of christ_ (the first specimen of the kind that has descended to our days) is attributed to st. gregory of nazianzum, but is more probably the production of gregory of antioch (a.d. ). it is described by most of the ecclesiastical writers: tillemont, baillet, baronius, bellarmin, dupin, vossius, rivet, labbæus, ceillier, fleury, &c. in , when _la mistère de la passion_, or the passion of our saviour, was exhibited at antwerp, the beholders were astonished by _five_ different scaffolds, each having several stages rising perpendicularly: paradise was the most elevated, and it had two stages. but even this display was eclipsed by another exhibition of _the passion_, where no fewer than _nine_ scaffolds were displayed to the wondering gaze of the people. in , according to strype (_life of sir thos. pope_, pref. p. vii.), the _passion of christ_ was represented at the grey friers in london, on corpus christi day, before the lord mayor, the privy council, and many great persons of the realm. again, the same historian informs us (_ecclesiastical memorials_, iii. c. xlix.) under the date : "the _passion of christ_ was acted at the grey friers on the day that war was proclaimed against france, and in honour of that occasion." { } it is generally considered that the last miracle play represented in england was that of _christ's passion_, in the reign of james i., which prynne informs us was-- "performed at elie house in holborne, when gondomar lay there, on good friday at night, at which there were thousands present." busby's idea, "that the manner of reciting and singing in the theatres formed the original model of the church service," is as absurd as it is untenable. edward f. rimbault. it is said that apollonarius of laodicea (a.d. ), and gregory of nazianzum not much later, dramatised our lord's passion. many, however, regard the _christus patiens_, ascribed to gregory, as spurious. the passion of our lord was represented in the coliseum at rome as much as six centuries ago. the subject was a favourite one in italy. in france, "the fraternity of the passion of our saviour" received letters patent from charles vi. in . their object was to perform moralities or mysteries, _i. e._ plays on sacred subjects. in , the chapter of the church at lyons gave sixty livres to those who had played the mystery of the passion of our lord jesus christ. in , francis i. confirmed by letters patent the privileges of the confrères de la passion: one of their pieces, reprinted in , is entitled _le mystère de la passion de n. s. j. c._ the same subject was common in spain and germany. in england the coventry mysteries, &c. partook of the same character. the cotton ms. (vespasian, b. viii.) and the chester whitsun plays (harleian ms. .) would probably afford information which i cannot now give. so late as , sandys wrote a tragedy, on a plan furnished by grotius, upon christ's passion. a little research would give h. p. a number of similar facts. b. h. c. if your correspondent wishes for authority for the fact of our blessed lord's passion being dramatised, he will find an example in gregor. naz., the _editio princ._ of which i have before me, entitled [greek: christos paschôn], rom. . j. c. j. see the true account and explanation of the service of the passion, in cardinal wiseman's _lectures on the offices of holy week_, , vo., dolman. w. b. t. _hardman's account of waterloo_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--lieutenant samuel hardman was present with the th hussars at the cavalry actions of sahagun (dec. , ) and benevente (dec. , ), previous to his appointment, may , , as cornet, royal waggon train, "from serjeant-major, th light dragoons." i was in error in stating that he was appointed "lieutenant and adjutant, dec. , , in the th hussars, _in which he had commenced his military career_." the th and th hussars were in action at sahagun and benevente, but mr. hardman never served in the th hussars until december . query, why is sahagun not to be found on the appointments of the th hussars, as well as on those of the th hussars, as both regiments were engaged with the enemy on that occasion? g. l. s. _aristotle_ (vol. ix., p. .).--see aristotle's _ethics_, bk. v. ch. iv. b. h. c. _papyrus_ (vol. ix., p. .).--if r. h. means the growing plant, it is to be found in most botanical gardens. p. p. _bell at rouen_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--a portion of the great george d'ambois is preserved in the museum of antiquities at rouen, where i saw it four years ago. cpl. _word-minting_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--your correspondent j. a. h. cannot have seen richardson's _dictionary_, where he will find the word _derangement_, in the sense of madness, illustrated by an instance from paley, _evidences_, prop. . cpl. _coleridge's christabel_ (vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .).--my query relative to christabel (vol. vii., p. .) seems to have been lost sight of, and has not as yet received a reply. will you kindly permit me to renew it? in the _european magazine_ for april, , there appeared a poem entitled "christobell: a gothic tale. written as a sequel to a beautiful legend of a fair lady and her father, deceived by a witch in the guise of a noble knight's daughter." it is dated "march, ," and signed "v.," and was reprinted in _fraser's magazine_ for january, . it commences thus: "whence comes the wavering light which falls on langdale's lonely chapel-walls? the noble mother of christobell lies in that lone and drear chapelle." query, what is known of the history and authorship of this poem? it will be observed from the dates, that the _sequel_ appeared in print before christabel was published by coleridge. j. m. b. _garrick's funeral epigram_ (vol. vii., p. .).--bishop horne was, i believe, the author of these verses; at least i have seen them in a volume published by him, entitled (i think) _miscellanies_: and i think they are stated to be his in jones' _life of horne_. but i have neither work at this moment before me to refer to. geo. e. frere. roydon hall, diss. { } * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the church of england magazine. vol. xxi. . in good order, and in the cloth case. wanted by the _rev. b. h. blacker_, . pembroke road, dublin. the trials of robert powell, edward burch, and matthew martin, for forgery, at the old bailey. london. vo. . wanted by _j. n. chadwick, esq._, king's lynn. the following works of symon patrick, late lord bishop of ely, &c.:-- a prayer for perfecting our late deliverance. . a prayer for charity, peace, and unity, chiefly to be used in lent. a prayer for the king's success in ireland. . a letter to the clergy of the diocese of ely, at his primary visitation. . the dignity of the christian priesthood, delivered to his clergy at his fourth triennial visitation. . an exhortation to the clergy before his fifth triennial visitation. . with a discourse on rev. xvi. ., upon occasion of the late terrible storm of wind. an exhortation at his sixth triennial visitation. . wanted by the _rev. alexander taylor_, . blomfield terrace, paddington. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have this week omitted our_ notes on books _to make room for the many_ replies to minor queries _waiting for insertion._ t. w. _will find the line_-- "men are but children of a larger growth" _in dryden's_ all for love, _act iv. sc. _. [delta]. _has our correspondent consulted the rev. j. blunt's_ vestiges of ancient customs and manners in modern italy and sicily, vo. ? h. edwards. _the epithet referred to is an obvious corruption of an extremely coarse one, formerly applied to all who refused to wear the oak-apple on the th of may._ tom king. monsieur tonson _was written by the late john taylor, the well-known editor of_ the sun, _and will be found in the collection of his poems_. loccan. bâtman, _from fr._ bât, _hence corrupted into_ bawman, _an officer's servant_. i. r. r. _valentine schindler, a learned german, was born at oedern, in misnia, and became professor of the oriental languages at wittemberg, and at helmstadt, where he died in .--rodrigo sanchez de arevalo, lat._ rodericus sanctius, _a learned spanish prelate, was born in . he was successively promoted to the bishoprics of zamora, calahorra, and palencia. he died in ._ w. s., a topographer, and p. b. _for a person to be eligible to the "antiquarian photographic club," he must be a fellow of the royal or antiquarian societies, or a member of the royal institution, and be unanimously elected. this rule, after much consideration, was decided by its promoters. a few others than photographers are admitted, who join the excursions, and are required to furnish the notes, historical and literary, of the spots visited._ h. h. (glasgow) _is thanked for the kind manner in which he speaks of our services to photography_. l. l. _however imperfect the specimens of your skill, we shall be glad to receive them. if all who, like you, have benefited by the photographic articles which have appeared in our columns, would send us, in acknowledgment, some of their productions, our portfolio would be better filled than it is._ erratum. vol. ix., p. ., col. , line , _for_ "_german_ sherry wines," _read_ "_genuine_ sherry wines." "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * now ready, no. vii. (for may), price s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * price one shilling, the national miscellany for june contains: . oxford, its past and present. . something about grammar. . lloyd's scandinavian adventures. . old and new paris. . life in an american man-o'-war. . rubini, the king of tenors. . newspaper stamps. . the military geography of turkey.--no. ii. . notices. . poetry. at the office, no. . exeter street, strand, london. * * * * * now ready, crown vo. a new edition, in large type, of the sacred garland, or, the christian's daily delight. "pluck a flower." price s. cloth lettered; s. full calf; s. morocco elegant. upwards of , copies of this book in a smaller form have been sold. milner & sowerby, halifax. * * * * * spanish literature. professor e. delmar's new work, comprising choice selections of prose, poetry, and the drama, from the most classic castilian writers from the fifteenth century to the present day, is now ready for delivery. the work also contains a brief sketch on spanish literature, and explanatory notes in english. vol. mo., cloth, price s. d. nutt, . strand. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * second edition. "a very beautiful book; it is an extraordinary specimen of typography."--_critic, london literary journal._ the eggs of british birds, displayed in a series of engravings, by dickes, copied and coloured from nature, with descriptions and anecdotes of british birds. small vo., beautifully bound, price s. d. also kept in elegant papier maché covers. this handsome volume gives the exact representations of the size, shape, and colour of the eggs of our british birds; and contains a clear and correct description of eggs; together with numerous anecdotes and facts concerning british birds. london: binns & goodwin, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * { } xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas, chemist. . pall mall, manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards. . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * to photographers, daguerreotypists, &c.--instantaneous collodion (or collodio-iodide silver). solution for iodizing collodion. pyrogallic, gallic, and glacial acetic acids, and every pure chemical required in the practice of photography, prepared by william bolton, operative and photographic chemist, . holborn bars. wholesale dealer in every kind of photographic papers, lenses, cameras, and apparatus, and importer of french and german lenses, &c. catalogues by post on receipt of two postage stamps. sets of apparatus from three guineas. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. use in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles, s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small: s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * chubb's fire-proof safes and locks.--these safes are the most secure from force, fraud, and fire. chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. complete lists, with prices, will be sent on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * { } this day, with woodcuts, fcp. vo., s. the old printer and the modern press, in relation to the important subject of cheap popular literature. by charles knight. also, by the same author, vols. fcp. vo., s. once upon a time. "the old bees die, the young possess the hive."--_shakspeare._ "they relate to all manner of topics--old folks, old manners, old books; and take them all in all, they make up as charming a pair of volumes as we have seen for many a long day."--_fraser's magazine._ "'once upon a time' is worth possessing."--_examiner._ "this varied, pleasant, and informing collection of essays."--_spectator._ "mr. charles knight's entertaining little work is full of various knowledge agreeably told."--_quarterly review._ "this pleasant gallery of popular antiquarianism."--_john bull._ john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * murray's railway reading. now ready, vols. fcap. vo., s. essays from "the times:" being a selection from the literary papers which have appeared in that journal, reprinted by permission. contents: vol. i. nelson and lady hamilton. railway novels. louis-philippe and his family. john howard. drama of the french revolution. lord holland's reminiscences. robert southey. dean swift--stella and vanessa. reminiscences of coleridge. john keats. grote's history of greece. literature of the rail. vol. ii. lord coke. discoveries at nineveh. lord mansfield. lion hunting in africa. jeremy taylor. lord clarendon and his friends. john sterling. autobiography of a chartist. americans in england. francis chantrey. career of lord langdale. afghanistan. the greek revolution. dickens and thackeray. *** each volume may be had separately. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new work by sir david brewster. this day. fcp. vo., s. more worlds than one; the creed of the philosopher and the hope of the christian. by sir david brewster. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * new work by dean milman. now ready, vols. i. to iii., vo., s. history of latin christianity, including that of the popes to the pontificate of nicholas v. by henry hart milman, d.d., dean of st. paul's. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * art and artists in england. now ready, vols. vo., s. the treasures of art in great britain. being an account of the chief collections of paintings, sculptures, mss., &c., in this country. by dr. waagen, director of the royal gallery of pictures at berlin. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * now ready, in fancy boards, price s. d.; cloth, elegant, s. orr's circle of the sciences. volume i. containing: introductory treatise: on the nature, connexion, and uses of the great departments of human knowledge. by the editor. physiology of animal and vegetable life. by the editor. principal forms of the skeleton--principal forms and structures of the teeth. by professor owen. varieties of the human species. by robert gordon latham, m.d., f.r.s. copious explanatory and glossarial index, &c., and upwards of highly finished engravings. london: wm. s. orr & co., amen corner. * * * * * in small vo., price s. d., cloth, elegant, household medicine and surgery, sick-room management, and diet for invalids. being the first volume of orr's household handbooks: a series of works intended to impart plain and practical information on subjects connected with the comforts and refinements of home. london: wm. s. orr & co., amen corner. * * * * * new illustrated journal. published weekly, price ½d., or ½d. stamped. the crystal palace and park. a complete account of the crystal palace and its objects, with numerous illustrations from photographs, by m. delamotte, will be given in the home companion, no. xxiv., which will be a double number ( pages), without increase of price. as none will be printed beyond the usual number, unless ordered previous to the day of publication, immediate orders should be given to any bookseller. london: wm. s. orr & co., amen corner. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine and historical review for june, contains the following articles:-- . leaves from a russian parterre. . history of latin christianity. . our lady of montserrat. . memorials of amelia opie. . mansion of the dennis family at pucklechurch, with an illustration. . the revocation of the edict of nantes. correspondence of sylvanus urban: a plea for the threatened city churches--the british museum library--the late master of sherburn hospital--original letter and anecdotes of admiral vernon, &c. with notes of the month, historical and miscellaneous reviews, reports of antiquarian and literary societies, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the duke of parma, the marquis of anglesey, the earl of lichfield, lord colborne, lord cockburn, john davies gilbert, esq., t. p. halsey, esq., alderman thompson, alderman hooper. dr. wardlaw, dr. collyer, professors jameson and wilson, montgomery the poet, &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * her majesty's concert rooms, hanover square. the royal society of female musicians, _established , for the relief of its distressed members._ _patroness_: her most gracious majesty the queen. _vice-patronesses_: her royal highness the duchess of kent, her royal highness the duchess of cambridge. on wednesday evening, june , , will be performed, for the benefit of this institution, a miscellaneous concert of vocal and instrumental music. _vocal performers_--miss birch, miss dolby, miss pyne, miss helen taylor, mrs. noble, and miss louisa pyne. madame persiani. madame caradori, madame therese tanda, and madame clara novello. signor gardoni. mr. h. r. allen, mr. lawler, and signor belletti. in the course of the concert, the gentlemen of the abbey glee club will sing two favourite glees. _instrumentalists_--pianoforte, m. emile prudent; violin, m. remenyi; violoncello, m. van gelder, solo violoncellist to his majesty the king of holland. the band will be complete in every department--_conductor_, mr. w. sterndale bennett. the doors will be opened at seven o'clock, and the concert will commence at eight precisely. tickets, half-a-guinea each. reserved seats, one guinea each. an honorary subscriber of one guinea annually, or of ten guineas at one payment (which shall be considered a life subscription), will be entitled to two tickets of admission, or one for reserved seat, to every benefit concert given by the society. donations and subscriptions will be thankfully received, and tickets delivered, by the secretary, mr. j. w. holland, . macclesfield, st., soho; and at all the principal music-sellers. * * * * * an english gentleman, well acquainted with french and german, and of some experience in translating, is desirous of employing his leisure time in the translation of some popular work from either of those languages into english. address, mr. burton, h. w. white's, esq., leutram house, inverness. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale.--messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page political predictions, by henry h. breen derivation of the word "bigot" "book of almanacs," by professor de morgan minor notes:--distances at which sounds have been heard--anagram--logan or rocking stones queries:-- a rubens query the paxs pennies of william the conqueror minor queries:--peculiar customs at preston, in lancashire--obsolete statutes--sale of offices and salaries in the seventeenth century--board of trade--sacheverell's and charles lamb's residences in the temple--braddock and orme minor queries with answers:--cromwell's bible--canne's bible--dryden and luke milbourne--portrait painters of the last century--Ætna--sir adam, or sir ambrose, brown replies:-- norwich, kirkpatrick collection of mss. for the history of, by b. b. woodward, &c. early german coloured engravings the bellman at newgate, by j. w farrer herbert's "church porch" ancient usages of the church popiana, by r. carruthers catholic floral directories photographic correspondence:--mr. lyte's new instantaneous process--photographs, &c. of the crystal palace--soluble cotton--cameras replies to minor queries:--shakspeare portrait-- "aches"--"waestart"--willow bark in ague--lord fairfax--the young pretender--dobney's bowling-green; wildman; sampson--palæologus--children by one mother-- robert brown the separatist--hero of the "spanish lady's love"--niagara--hymn attributed to handel--marquis of granby--convocation and the society for the propagation of the gospel--cassie--"three cats sat," &c.--tailless cats--francklyn household book--"violet-crowned" athens--smith of nevis and st. kitt's--hydropathy-- leslie and dr. middleton--lord brougham and horne tooke--irish rhymes--cabbages--sir william "usher," not "upton"--"buckle"--cornwall family--john of gaunt-- "wellesley" or "wesley"--mantel-piece--"perturbabantur," &c.--edition of "othello"--perspective--"go to bath," &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * multæ terricolis linguæ, coelestibus una. samuel bagster and sons' [illustration] general catalogue is sent free by post. it contains lists of quarto family bibles; ancient english translations; manuscript-notes bibles; polyglot bibles in every variety of size and combination of language; parallel-passages bibles; greek critical and other testaments; polyglot books of common prayer; psalms in english, hebrew, and many other languages, in great variety; aids to the study of the old testament and of the new testament; and miscellaneous biblical and other works. by post free. london: samuel bagster & sons, . paternoster row. [greek: pollai men thnêtois glôttai, mia d'athanatoisin] * * * * * this day, two volumes, crown octavo, s. history and theology of the three creeds. by william wigan harvey, m.a., rector of buckland, herts, late fellow of king's college, cambridge. london: john w. parker & son. cambridge: deighton. * * * * * this day, the first volume, from septuagesima sunday to the second sunday after trinity inclusive, post octavo, s. d. sermons on the sunday historical lessons from the old testament throughout the year. by henry arthur woodgate, b.d., honorary canon of worcester, and rector of belbroughton. to be completed in two volumes, or six parts, containing fifty-six sermons in all. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * now ready, no. vii. (for may), price s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * glasgow cathedral. will be published on or about th june, with plan and historical notice, four views of the cathedral church of glasgow, drawn on stone from original sketches, and printed in the first style of chromolithography by messrs. n. j. holmes & co., glasgow. complete in ornamental wrapper, price one guinea. london: messrs. hering & remington, regent street. glasgow: n. j. holmes & co., cochran street; morison & kyle, queen street. * * * * * american books.--low, son, & co., as the importers and publishers of american books in this country, have recently issued a detailed catalogue of their stock in theology, history, travels, biography, practical science, fiction, &c., a copy of which will be forwarded upon application. by arrangements with the american publishers, all works of known or anticipated interest will in future be published by low, son, & co., simultaneously with their appearance in america. works not in stock obtained within six weeks of order. lists of importations forwarded regularly when desired. literary institutions, the clergy, merchants and shippers, and the trade, supplied on advantageous terms. small enclosures taken for weekly case to the united states at a moderate charge. * * * * * archÆological institute of great britain. the annual meeting will be held at cambridge, commencing tuesday. july , and closing july . patron. his royal highness the prince albert, chancellor of the university. president. the lord talbot de malahide, f.s.a. presidents of sections. _history._--edwin guest, esq., ll.d., master of gonville and caius college. _antiquities._--the hon. richard neville, f.s.a. _architecture._--the rev. w. whewell, d.d., master of trinity college. programmes may be obtained at the offices of the institute, . suffolk street, pall mall. george vulliamy, _sec._ * * * * * "it is conducted with ability, industry, and learning."--_nottingham mercury._ now ready, price s. d., the half-yearly volume (january to june, ), of the british controversialist and magazine of self-culture. containing interesting debates on episcopacy, presbyterianism, or congregationalism--communications from a spiritual world--napoleon buonaparte--justice to scotland--slavery. a series of articles on european philosophy, and "self-culture." essays on poetry--modern poets--building societies: their constitution and advantages--language--phonetics, &c. information in answer to numerous questions, on the plan of "notes and queries." also a monthly list of new books, literary intelligence, notices of books, &c. the british controversialist is also published on the first of every month, in parts, price threepence each, containing forty pages of superior letterpress, with a wrapper devoted to notices to correspondents. london: houlston & stoneman. * * * * * { } third edition. considerably enlarged, with numerous illustrations, fcp. vo., s. d. dr. albert j. bernays' household chemistry; or, rudiments of the science applied to everyday life. sampson low & son, . ludgate hill. * * * * * miss strickland's scottish queens. a second edition of vols. i. and ii. of lives of the queens of scotland, and english princesses connected with the regal succession of great britain. by agnes strickland. the volumes published contain:-- . life of margaret tudor, magdalene of france, and mary of lorraine. . continuation of mary of lorraine, margaret douglas, countess of lennox. . and . life of mary stuart. price s. d. each, with portraits and historical vignettes. the fifth volume will be published early in summer. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * sir archibald alison's new history. this day is published, price s., the third volume of the history of europe, from the fall of napoleon to the accession of louis napoleon. by sir archibald alison, bart., d.c.l. contents of this volume: asia minor, greece, turkey, in --the greek revolution, battle of navarino, and establishment of greek independence--the war between russia and turkey, - --france to the revolution of --domestic history of england to the monetary crisis of , &c. &c. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * mr. finlay's new work. this day is published, in vo., price s., history of the byzantine and greek empires--from to the storming and sack of constantinople by the crusaders in ; and from to the siege and capture of constantinople by the turks under mohammed ii. in . by george finlay, esq. lately published, by the same author, greece under the romans, b.c. , to a.d. . vo. s. history of the byzantine empire, to . vo. s. history of greece, and of the empire of trebizond, - . s. d. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * in one volume vo., price s., history of the french protestant refugees from the revocation of the edict of nantes to the present time. by charles weiss, professor of history at the lycée buonaparte. translated, with the assistance of the author, by f. hardman. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * history of missions. this day is published, a new edition, being the third, history of the propagation of christianity among the heathen since the reformation. by the rev. william brown, m.d., secretary of the scottish missionary society. third edition, brought down to the present time. in three volumes, demy vo. price s. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * shaksperian discovery.--an important shaksperian discovery, by george wightwick, esq., is given in the current number of the "critic," london literary journal. also all the literature of the day, and the new war books. a copy, post free, for six stamps. office, . essex street, strand. * * * * * this day, in one vol. vo., s. transcaucasia: sketches of the nations and races between the black sea and the caspian. by baron von haxthausen, author of "studien über die innern zustände russlands." with illustrations by c. graeb. printed in colours by leighton. london: chapman & hall, . piccadilly. * * * * * cheap books.--richard james bell, bookseller, . bedford street, covent garden, has on sale the following cheap works, viz.:--portrait gallery of poets, philosophers, statesmen, &c., complete in parts, fine subscription copy, l., published at l., ; figures to bewick's histories of birds and quadrupeds, with the vignettes taken off as proofs without letter-press, vols. to., half-morocco, fine and rare, l. s., ; bewick's vignettes, india paper proofs of exquisite tailpieces, mounted on crayon paper, imp. vo., half-morocco, l. s. d.; clarendon's history of the rebellion, vols. vo., calf extra, l. s., ; edinburgh review, from commencement in to , vols., and index vol., vo., calf and half-calf (not uniform), only l. s.; lockhart's life of sir w. scott, vols. vo., cloth, s., ; darling's cyclopædia bibliographica, a manual of theological and general literature, parts complete, l. s. d., just published at l. s. d., ; robertson's life of charles v., vols. vo., half-calf, s. d., ; beautiful india paper proof of thomas bewick's celebrated cut, "the chillingham wild bull," extremely rare, s. d.; robinson's scripture characters, by hall, vols. vo., cloth, s., published at s., ; voyages of captain cook round the world, vols. imperial vo., cuts, cloth, s.; bewick's history of quadrupeds, vo., half-morocco, s., ; froissart's chronicles, translated by johnes, vols. thick vo., cloth, s., ; the harmonist, or musical cabinet, vols. folio, half-calf extra, s., . for a more detailed list of works, equally cheap, see r. j. bell's catalogues, which are published monthly, and may be had gratis, or post free on gentlemen forwarding two stamps to the above address. * * * * * ross & sons' instantaneous hair dye, without smell, the best and cheapest extant.--ross & sons have several private apartments devoted entirely to dyeing the hair, and particularly request a visit, especially from the incredulous, as they will undertake to dye a portion of their hair, without charging, of any colour required, from the lightest brown to the darkest black, to convince them of its effect. sold in cases at s. d., s. d., s., s., and s. each case. likewise wholesale to the trade by the pint, quart, or gallon. address, ross & sons, . and . bishopsgate street, six doors from cornhill, london. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * the london school of photography, . newgate street.--at this institution, ladies and gentlemen may learn in one hour to take portraits and landscapes, and purchase the necessary apparatus for five pounds. no charge is made for the instruction. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * wholesale photographic depot: daniel mcmillan, . fleet street, london. the cheapest house in town for every description of photographic apparatus, materials, and chemicals. *** price list free on application. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, june , ._ * * * * * notes. political predictions. it would be interesting, and perhaps not wholly unprofitable, to bring together the various attempts that have been made to shadow forth the approaching crisis in the political world. as literary curiosities, such things may be worth preserving; and i therefore send you a few samples as a contribution. the first is from the abbé de la mennais, whose words, uttered about twenty years ago, are thus given in a provincial paper: "england, like all other countries, has had her period of aggrandisement; during a whole century europe has seen her dawning above the horizon until, having attained her highest degree of splendour, she has begun to decline, and this decline dates from the day of which the fall of napoleon, due principally to her exertions, marked the most brilliant period of her glory. since that time her policy has undergone a striking change, which every year becomes more evident. instead of that vigour and promptitude of resolution of which she used to give so many proofs (though they could not all be praised alike, because there were more than one act repugnant to morality), she is now timid, she hesitates, she labours painfully through the dark and crooked paths of diplomacy, and substitutes intrigue for action; incapable, it would seem, of taking a decisive part at the right moment, even on the most momentous occasions. the english nation has evidently lost its strength, or the belief in its strength; and as to actual results, one differs not from the other. look at this england, so haughty, so wedded to her interests, so skilful formerly in defending them, so bold in extending their influence over the whole world; look at her now in the presence of russia. humbled, braved by that young power, one would say that she trembles before its genius. the czars exercise over her a species of fascination which disturbs her councils and relaxes the muscles of her robust arms. the conquests of the russians in the east menace the possessions of england in india; they close the dardanelles to her fleets, they shut out her commerce from the mouths of the danube and the shores of the black sea. after what fashion would she have resisted these things thirty years ago?" the next quotation is from alison's _history of europe from the fall of napoleon_, published in . in chap. i. p. ., after citing some lines from gray on _education and government_, he thus proceeds: "it will be so to the end of the world; for in the north, and there alone, are found the privations which insure hardihood, the poverty which impels to conquest, the difficulties which rouse to exertion. irresistible to men so actuated is the attraction which the climate of the south, the riches of civilisation, exercise on the poverty and energy of the native wilds. slowly but steadily, for two centuries, the muscovite power has increased, devouring everything which it approaches--ever advancing, never receding. sixty-six millions of men, doubling every half century, now obey the mandates of the czar; whose will is law, and who leads a people whose passion is conquest. europe may well tremble at the growth of a power possessed of such resources, actuated by such desires, led by such ability; but europe alone does not comprise the whole family of mankind. the great designs of providence are working out their accomplishment by the passions of the free agents to which their execution has been intrusted. turkey will yield, persia be overrun by muscovite battalions; the original birth-place of our religion will be rescued by their devotion; and as certainly as the transatlantic hemisphere, and the islands of the indian sea, will be peopled by the self-acting passions of western democracy, will the plains of asia be won to the cross by the resistless arms of eastern despotism." i shall conclude with two or three extracts from a pamphlet, published some time last year at toronto, and bearing the significant title, _the coming struggle among the nations of the earth; or the political events of the next fifteen years, &c._ the writer begins by interpreting, as applicable to the present times, the prophecies of ezekiel, daniel, and the apocalypse, from which he foretells the following events: . the seizure of constantinople, and overthrow of turkey by the emperor of russia. . war between france and austria: overthrow of the latter, and consequent destruction of the papacy. . the conquest of the horns or continental powers by the emperor of russia. . britain rapidly extends her eastern possessions, prevents the occupation of judea, and completes the first stage of the restoration of the jews. the writer then continues in the following strain: "turning his eyes eastward on the wealth and prosperity of the countries under british protection, the triumphant conqueror of europe will conceive the idea of spoiling them, and appropriating their goods and cattle. scarcely is this idea formed, than its execution is begun; and sudden and terrific as a whirlwind he enters the 'glorious land.' so sudden and unexpected is his onslaught, that the british power is unprepared, and egypt, ethiopia, and libya fall into his hands. "meanwhile, britain has been making strenuous efforts to stop the progress of this gigantic napoleon; and every soldier that can be spared is sent away in the direction of the rising sun. but what can the british army do against such a host as the russian autocrat has around him? brave as the officers and men may be, what success or what renown can be gained in such an unequal conflict? in the critical emergency, the parent island sends a cry across the atlantic, 'come over and help us!' swiftly is the sound borne over the waves, and soon an answering { } echo is wafted back from the shores of columbia. the cause is common, and the struggle must be common too. 'we are coming, brother john, we are coming,' is the noble reply; and, almost ere it is delivered, a fleet of gallant vessels is crossing the pacific, with the stars and stripes gleaming on every mast. another force is on its way from the far south, and soon the flower and strength of anglo-saxon race meet on the sacred soil of palestine. the intelligence of their approach reaches the sacrilegious usurper, and he leads forth his army towards the mountains that rise in glory round about jerusalem. the jews within the city now arm themselves, and join the army that has come from the east and west, the north and south, for their protection: and thus these two mighty masses meet face to face, and prepare for the greatest _physical_ battle that ever was fought on this struggling earth. on the one side the motley millions of russia, and the nations of continental europe, are drawn up on the slopes of the hills, and the sides of the valleys toward the north; while, on the other, are ranged the thousands of britain and her offspring; from whose firm and regular ranks gleam forth the dark eyes of many of the sons of abraham, determined to preserve their newly recovered city or perish, like their ancestors of a former age, in its ruins. "all is ready. that awful pause, which takes place before the shock of battle, reigns around; but ere it is broken by the clash of meeting arms, and while yet the contending parties are at a little distance from each other, a strange sound is heard over head. the time for the visible manifestation of god's vengeance has arrived, his fury has come up in his face, and he calls for a sword against gog throughout all the mountains. 'tis this voice of the lord that breaks the solemn stillness, and startles the assembled hosts. the scene that follows baffles description. amid earthquakes and showers of fire, the bewildered and maddened armies of the autocrat rush, sword in hand, against each other, while the israelites and their anglo-saxon friends gaze on the spectacle with amazement and consternation. it does not appear that they will even lift their hand against that foe which they had come so far to meet. their aid is not necessary to accomplish the destruction of the image. the stone, cut without hands, shall fall on its feet and break them to pieces; and then shall the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind shall carry them away. the various descriptions which we have of this battle, all intimate that god is the only foe that shall contend with the autocrat at armageddon. john terms it, 'the battle of that great day of god almighty;' and we believe the principal instrument of their defeat will be mutual slaughter. the carnage will be dreadful. out of all the millions that came like a cloud upon the land of israel, only a scattered and shattered remnant will return; the great mass will be left to 'cleanse the land,' and fill the valley of hamongog with graves." i refrain from quoting the remarks made by napoleon, at st. helena, respecting russia, and the likelihood of her ultimately subjugating western europe, as your readers must be familiar with them from the writings of o'meara and others. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * derivation of the word "bigot." at p. . of mr. trench's admirable little volume _on the study of words_, an etymology is assigned to the word _bigot_, which is, i think, clearly erroneous: "two explanations of it are current," writes mr. trench, "one of which traces it up to the early normans, while they yet retained their northern tongue, and to their often adjuration by the name of god; with sometimes a reference to a famous scene in french history, in which rollo, duke of normandy, played a conspicuous part: the other puts it in connexion with _beguines_, called often in latin _beguttæ_, a name by which certain communities of pietist women were known in the middle ages." i agree with mr. trench in thinking, that neither of these derivations is the correct one. but i am obliged, quite as decidedly, to reject that which he proceeds to offer. he thinks that we owe-- "_bigot_ rather to that profound impression which the spaniards made upon all europe in the fifteenth and the following century. now the word _bigote_," he continues, "means in spanish 'moustachio;' and as contrasted with the smooth, or nearly smooth, upper lip of most other people, at that time the spaniards were the 'men of the moustachio'.... that they themselves connected firmness and resolution with the mustachio; that it was esteemed the outward symbol of these, it is plain from such phrases as 'pombre de bigote,' a man of resolution; 'tener bigotes,' to stand firm. but that in which they eminently displayed their firmness and resolution in those days was their adherence to whatever the roman see imposed and taught. what then more natural, or more entirely according to the law of the generation of names, than that this striking and distinguishing outward feature of the spaniard should have been laid hold of to express that character and condition of mind which eminently were his, and then transferred to all others who shared the same?" of this it must be admitted, that "se non e vero, e ben trovato." and the only reason for rejecting such an etymology is the existence of another with superior claims. _bigot_ is derived, as i think will be hardly doubted on consideration, from the italian _bigio_, grey. various religious confraternities, and especially a branch of the order of st. francis which, from being parcel secular and parcel regular, was called "terziari di s. francesco," clothed themselves in grey; and from thence were called _bigiocchi_ and _bigiotti_. and from a very early period, the word was used in a bad sense. { } menage, in his _origini della lingua italiana_, under the word bizoco, writes: "persono secolare vestita di abito di religione. quasi 'bigioco' perche ordinariamente gli ipocriti, e coloro che si fanno dell' ordine di s. francesco si vestono di bigio." and sansovino on the _decameron_ says that-- "_bizocco_ sia quasi _bigioco_, o _bigiotto_, perchè i terziari di s. francesco si veston di bigio." abundance of instances might be adduced of the use of the term _bizocco_ in the sense of hypocrite, or would-be saint. and the passage which mr. trench gives after richardson from bishop hall, where _bigot_ is used to signify a pervert to romanism, "he was turned both _bigot_ and physician," seems to me to favour my etymology rather than that from the spanish; as showing that the earliest known use of the term was its application to a popish religionist. the "pervert" alluded to had become that which cotemporary italians were calling a _bigiotto_. must we not conclude that bishop hall drew his newly-coined word thence? t. a. t. florence. * * * * * "book of almanacs." when i published this work, i knew of no predecessor except francoeur, as noted in the preface; but another has been recently pointed out to me. there was a work compiled for the use of the dominicans, entitled _kalendarium perpetuum juxta ritum sacri ordinis prædicatorum, s. p. n. dominici_. the copy now before me, rome, , vo., is said to be "tertio emendatum," which probably signifies the fourth edition. it contains the thirty-five almanacs, with rules for determining epacts and dominical letters from a.d. to , and a table for choosing the almanac when the epact and letter are known. this work must have been compiled before the reformation of the calendar. a note in explanation of the thirty-fifth almanac, contains the statement that a.d. belongs to that calendar, and to the letters d.c. this is true of the old style, and not of the new. it seems, then, that _books of almanacs_ are older than the gregorian reformation: that they may have been completely forgotten, may be inferred from my book never having produced any mention of them either in your pages or elsewhere. perhaps some older instances may be yet produced. a. de morgan. * * * * * minor notes. _distances at which sounds have been heard._--the story of st. paul's clock striking being heard by a sentry at windsor is well known, and i believe authentic. let me add the following:--the rev. hugh salvin (who died vicar of alston, cumberland, sept. , ) mentions an equally remarkable instance whilst he was chaplain on board h.m.s. "cambridge," on the coast of south america: "our salutes at chancay were heard at callao, though the distance is thirty-five miles, and several projecting headlands intervene, and the wind always blows northward. the lieutenant of the arab store-ship, to whom the circumstance was mentioned, observed, that upon one occasion the evening gun at plymouth was heard at ilfracomb, which is sixty miles off, and a mountainous country intervenes."--_journal of the rev. h. s. salvin_, p. ., mo.: newcastle-on-tyne, . balliolensis. _anagram._--the accompanying anagram i saw, some weeks back, in a country paper; perhaps you will give it a local habitation in "n. & q." it is said to be by a president of one of the committees of the arrondissement of valenciennes: "a sa majesté impériale le szar nicholas, souverain et autocrate de toutes les russies." "oho! ta vanité sera ta perte; elle isole la russie; tes successeurs te maudiront à jamais." philip strange. _logan or rocking stones._--the following extract from sir c. anderson's _eight weeks' journal in norway, &c. in _, under july , may interest your devonshire and cornish readers: "mr. de c----k, a most intelligent danish gentleman, told me, that when a proprietor near drammen, was at bjornholm island, in the baltic, he was told there were stones which made a humming noise when pushed, and on examination they proved to be rocking-stones; on his return, he found on his own property several large stones, which, on removing the earth around them, were so balanced as to be moveable. if this be an accurate statement, it tends to strengthen the notion that stones, laid upon each other by natural causes, have, by application of a little labour, been made to move, as the stones at brimham craggs in yorkshire; and this seems more likely than that such immense masses should have been ever raised by mechanical force and poised." balliolensis. * * * * * queries. a rubens query. there is a somewhat curious mystery with regard to certain works of the immortal rubens, which some of your readers, who are connoisseurs in art, may possibly assist to dispel. lommeline, who engraved the finest works of rubens, has left a print of "the judgment of paris," which { } differs in several points from the subject of "the decision of paris," now in the national gallery. for instance, in the one, paris rests the apple upon his knee, and in the other he is offering it to the fair goddess of beauty. this print has also _five_ more figures than there are in the gallery painting. now, two questions arise hereon: first, what has become of the original painting from which this print was taken? and secondly, where is the line engraving of the picture now in the national gallery? j. j. s. downshire hill, hampstead. * * * * * the paxs pennies of william the conqueror. perhaps some of your numerous readers may be able to satisfy me on a subject which has for a long time troubled me. all coin collectors are aware that there are many different reverses to the pennies of william i. one is commonly called the _pax_-type: and _why_, is the question. on the obverse, it is "pillm rex," or sometimes differently spelt; but "p" always stands for "w," and pronounced so. on the reverse, it is p [=a] x s (each letter being encircled), but the "p" is here pronounced "p;" this is in the centre compartment: surrounding it is the moneyer's name, with place where the coin was struck--"edpi (edwi) on lvnd," "godpine (godwine) on lvnd," &c. it is very inconsistent that letters should be pronounced differently on the same coin. i am rather of opinion that we have not arrived at the right reading, and that _pax_ has nothing to do with it. it is paxs, axsp, xspa, or spax: for i find, on comparing nineteen different coins, the letters stand in different positions compared with the cross, which denotes the beginning of the inscription around them; so no one can tell which letter of the four in the circles near the large cross should come first. besides, what does the "s" stand for, after you get the "pax?" i am not a member of the antiquarian society, but have asked gentlemen belonging to it to explain this puzzle (to me), without success. i now ask them and others, through your pages, to give a solution of the difficulty. w. m. f. * * * * * minor queries. _peculiar customs at preston, in lancashire._--i wish to know if it be true that the use of _mourning_ is nearly, if not altogether, discountenanced at the above town, even for the loss of the nearest and dearest friends; and that a widow's cap is only worn by those to whom another husband would be particularly acceptable? if these, and other peculiar customs prevail, i wish some correspondent from lancashire would kindly enlighten the readers of "n. & q." with respect to them. anon. _obsolete statutes._--there was published, in the pamphlet form (pp. .), in , a capital piece of _irony_ under the title of-- "a letter to a member of parliament, containing a proposal for bringing in a bill to revise, amend, or repeal certain obsolete statutes, commonly called 'the ten commandments.' th edition." as this will doubtless be known to some of your readers, may i ask the name of the author, and the occasion of its publication? j. o. _sale of offices and salaries in the seventeenth century._--has the subject of the sale of offices in former times ever been investigated? in the reign of charles ii., a new secretary of state, lord chamberlain, &c., always paid a large sum of money to his predecessor, the king often helping to find the required sum. was this the case with all offices? i do not think the lord chancellorship was ever paid for. when and how did the practice originate, and when and how fall into disuse? has the subject of salaries of offices (including fees) in these times ever been accurately investigated? what were the emoluments of the lord chancellor, chancellor of the exchequer, and president of the council, in the reign of charles? c. h. _board of trade._--a council for trade was appointed during the recess of the convention parliament after the restoration. are the names of that council anywhere published? did this council continue to exist till the appointment (i think in ) of the council of trade, of which lord sandwich was made president? c. h. _sacheverell's and charles lamb's residences in the temple._--in which house in crown office row, temple, was charles lamb born? and which were the chambers occupied by dr. sacheverell, also in the temple, at the time of the riots caused by his admirers? an admirer of your publication. _braddock and orme._--can you, or any of your correspondents, furnish me (in reply to an inquiry made of me by the historical society of pennsylvania) with any information about the families of braddock and orme, in relation to general braddock, who commanded and was killed at the battle of the monongahela river; and to orme, who, with washington and morris, were his aides-de-camp in the melancholy and fatal engagement. f. o. morris. nunburnholme rectory, york. { } * * * * * minor queries with answers. _cromwell's bible._--i have seen it stated that an edition of the bible, "printed by john field, one of his highness's printers, ," in mo., london, was printed by order of cromwell for distribution to his soldiers. can any of your correspondents furnish authority for such tradition? it is one of the most incorrectly printed books which i ever met with. in cotton's list i do not find this edition: he has one in vo., , cambridge, j. field. w. c. trevelyan. [george offor, esq., of hackney, has kindly favoured us with a reply to this and the following query: "eighteen different editions of the bible, printed by john field, are in my collection, published between the years and . in some of these he is described as printer to the university of cambridge, in others as 'one of his highness's printers;' but in those which _tradition_ says were published for the army, he is called 'printer to the parliament.' they are all as correctly printed as bibles were generally published during that time, excepting that by giles calvert the quaker, published in , which is singularly correct and beautiful. field's editions being remarkable for beauty of typography and smallness, have been much examined, and many errors detected. that of is the most beautiful and called genuine, and is the copy said to have been printed for the use of the army and navy. of this i have five different editions, all agreeing in the error in matthew, ch. vi. v. ., 'ye cannot serve and mammon;' and in having the first four psalms on one page. but in some the following errors are corrected, cor. vi. v. ., 'the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of god;' rom. ch. vi. v. ., 'neither yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness unto sin.' the copy of , which sir. w. c. trevelyan describes, is a counterfeit of the genuine edition of , vulgarly called 'the bastard field's bible.' these were reprinted many times. i possess four different editions of it, so exactly alike in form and appearance, that the variations throughout can only be detected by placing them in juxtaposition. they are all neatly printed, without a black line between the columns, and make thicker volumes than the genuine edition. i have never been able to verify the tradition that the field's bible, , was printed for the army by order of cromwell. it is the only one, as far as i can discover, 'printed by john field, printer to the parliament.' i received the tradition from my father nearly sixty years ago, and have no doubt but that it is founded in fact. it is an inquiry well worthy of investigation.--g. offor."] _canne's bible._--what is the value of a good copy of canne's bible, printed at edinburgh by john kincaid, ? sigma. ["canne's bibles were first printed at amsterdam, , , and ; in london, , , : these are all pocket volumes. then again in amsterdam, to., . at edinburgh by watkins in , and by kincaid in ; after which there followed editions very coarsely and incorrectly printed. they are all, excepting that of , in my collection. kincaid's, , vols. nonpareil, in beautiful condition, bound in green morocco, cost me five shillings. that of , by watkins, not in such fine condition, two shillings. sigma can readily imagine the value of kincaid's edition , by comparison with those of and . if any of your readers could assist me to procure the first edition, , i should be greatly obliged.--g. offor."] _dryden and luke milbourne._--among the "quarrels of authors," i do not find that between _glorious john_ and this reverend gentleman. in a poetical paraphrase of _the christian's pattern_, by the latter ( vo., ), he shows unmistakeable evidence of having been lately skinned by the _witty tribe_, which i take to mean dryden and his _atheistical crew_. i am aware that milbourne invited the attack by his flippant remarks upon the english virgil, but i know not in which piece of dryden's to look for it. j. o. [dryden's attack on milbourne occurs in his preface to the fables (scott's edition of his _works_, vol. xi. p. .). "as a corollary to this preface," says dryden, "in which i have done justice to others, i owe somewhat to myself; not that i think it worth my time to enter the lists with one milbourne and one blackmore, but barely to take notice that such men there are, who have written scurrilously against me without any provocation. milbourne, who is in orders, pretends, amongst the rest, this quarrel to me, that i have fallen foul on priesthood; if i have, i am only to ask pardon of good priests, and am afraid his part of the reparation will come to little. let him be satisfied that he shall not be able to force himself upon me for an adversary. i contemn him too much to enter into competition with him." a little lower down dryden hints that milbourne lost his living for writing a libel upon his parishioners.] _portrait painters of the last century._--i am anxious to obtain some information respecting the portrait painters of the last century. i have in my collection a picture by h. smith, . can any of your readers give me an account of him? durandus. [a biographical list, alphabetically arranged, of portrait painters, is given in hobbes's _picture collector's manual; being a dictionary of painters_, vol. ii. pp. - ., edit. ; a useful work of the kind. the name of h. smith is not noticed.] _Ætna._--to whom can the following passage refer? "we found a good inn here (catania), kept by one caca sangue, a name that sounds better in italian than it would in english. this fellow is extremely pleasant and communicative, and among other things he told us that mr. ----, who has published such a minute description of his journey to the crater of Ætna, was never there, but sick in catania when his { } party ascended, he having been their guide."--_travels through switzerland, italy, sicily, &c._, vol. ii. p. ., by thomas watkins, a.m., f.r.s., in the years , , ; vols. vo., nd edition, london, . anon. [the reference is probably to m. d'orville, whose minute description of his journey up mount Ætna was copied into the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. xxxiv. p. ., extracted from d'orville's work, entitled _sicula, or the history and antiquities of the island of sicily, &c._, vols. folio, amsterdam.] _sir adam, or sir ambrose, brown._--this friend of evelyn, who lived at betchworth park, is sometimes called sir adam, and sometimes sir ambrose, in evelyn's _memoirs_. is not sir adam the correct name? c. h. [the entries in evelyn's _diary_ seem to be correct. sir ambrose brown, obit. , was the father of sir adam, obit. . see the pedigree in manning and bray's _surrey_, vol. i. p. .] * * * * * replies. norwich, kirkpatrick collection mss. for the history of. (vol. ix., p. .) your correspondent t. a. t. can find a full, but in one respect a most unsatisfactory reply to his inquiry, in the preface to a _history of the religious orders and communities, and of the hospital and castle of norwich_, by mr. john kirkpatrick, treasurer of the great hospital, bearing the names of edwards and hughes, london, and stevenson and hatchett, norwich, as publishers, and dated . this volume was printed at the expense of hudson gurney, esq., whose "well-known liberality and laudable desire to perpetuate the knowledge of the antiquities of his native city," the preface fitly records; but it was not, in the commercial sense of the word, _published_; and, therefore, the information it gives may not be generally accessible. the following is the list of the collections which were "safe in the custody of the corporation about thirty years ago (say between and ), when m. de hague held the office of town-clerk." " . a thick volume of the early history and jurisdiction of the city; date . . a similar folio volume, being an account of the military state of the city, its walls, towns, ponds, pits, wells, pumps, &c.; date . . a thick quarto. . several large bundles, foolscap folio; annals of norwich. . a fasciculus, foolscap folio; origin of charities and wills relating thereto, in each parish. . memorandum books of monuments. . ditto of merchants' marks. . ditto of plans of churches. . paper containing drawings of the city gates, and a plan of norwich. . drawings of all the churches. . an immense number of small pieces of paper, containing notes of the tenures of each house in norwich." no portion of these collections remains at present in the hands of the legatees, and the greater number of them is not so much as known to be in existence. the "thick quarto," marked " " in the list, is that which mr. gurney's zeal has caused to be printed; and it is now the property of the representatives of the late mr. william herring of hethersett, whose father purchased it many years ago of a bookseller. the paper marked " " was "said to have been in the possession of the friars' society," which was discovered some twenty years ago. my father had tracings of the "drawings of the city gates;" but i am not sure that they are made from kirkpatrick's original. the collection marked " ," my father saw "in the possession of mr. william matthews, mr. de hague's clerk." and "a portion of the papers included under the last number" was said to be existence in ; but mr. dawson turner, who compiled the "preface," was "not fully informed" respecting them, and i can throw no light upon the subject. it is very remarkable that the norfolk and norwich archæological association has done nothing for the recovery or _dis_covery of the remainder of this invaluable bequest; perhaps the inquiry of t. a. t. may incite them to attempt both, and in this hope i trouble you with this reply. b. b. woodward. bungay, suffolk. in the year , one of the mss. of mr. john kirkpatrick was printed at yarmouth, edited by mr. dawson turner, at the expense of mr. hudson gurney. this ms. is the _history of the religious orders and communities, and of the hospital and castle of norwich_, and filled a quarto of folios in the handwriting of the author. in a very interesting preface, the editor states that no portion of kirkpatrick's bequest remains at present in the hands of the corporation of norwich, or is even known to be in existence, except the volume thus edited, and perhaps some fragments of the "small pieces of paper," described in the will as "containing notes of the tenure of each house in norwich," which, if such do exist, are, it is to be feared, so scattered and injured as to be useless. the editor enumerates and describes eleven mss. which, he says, were safe in the custody of the corporation about forty years ago from the present time: but, he adds, they have now disappeared, with the exception of the volume which he has edited. this ms. is the property of the representatives of the late mr. william herring, of hethersett, whose father purchased it of a bookseller. f. c. h. { } * * * * * early german coloured engravings. (vol. ix., p. .) h.'s prints are probably cut from a work on alchemy, entitled "lambspring, das ist ein herzlichen teutscher tractat vom philosophischen steine, welchen für jahren ein adelicher teutscher philosophus so lampert spring geheissen, mit schönen figuren beschreiben hat. frankfurt-am-main, bey lucca jennis zu finden." , to. pp. . the series of plates extends to fifteen, among which are those described by h. some are remarkable for good drawing and spirited expression, and all are good for the time. the verses which belong to plate . are printed on the back of plate ., and so on, which rendered transcription necessary on mounting them. each represents, figuratively, one of the steps towards the philosopher's stone. some have latin explanations at the foot. not understanding alchemy, i can appreciate them only as works of art. an account of one as a specimen may be of some interest, so i select the least unintelligible. plate . a dragon eating his own tail. above: "das ist gross wundr und seltsam list, die höchst artzney im drachen ist." below: "mercurius recte et chymice præcipitatus, vel sublimatus, in sua propria aqua resolutus et rursum coagulatus." on the opposite page: "ein drach im walde wohnend ist am gifft demselben nichts gebrisst; wenn er die sonn sieht und das fewr, so speüsst er gifft, fleugt ungehewr kein lebend thier für ihm mag gnesn der basilisc mag ihm nit gleich wesn, wenn diesen wurmb wol weiss zu tödtn der kömpt auss allen seinen nöthn, sein farbn in seinem todt sich vermehrn auss seiner gifft artzney thut werden sein gifft verzehrt er gar und gans, und frisst sein eign vergifften schwanz. da muss er in sich selbst volbringen der edlst balsam, auss ihm thut tringen. solch grosse tugend wird mann schawen, welches alle weysn sich hoch erfrawen." the three persons in plate . appear first in plate . the superscription is-- "vater, sohn, führer, haben sie beym handen: corpus, spiritus, anima, werden verstanden." in plate . the father's mouth may well be "of a preternatural wideness" as he swallows the son; and in plate . undergoes a sudorific in a curiously-furnished bedchamber. in plate . the three are seated upon one throne. the stone is found. they also will find it who strictly follow dr. lambspring's directions, as given in a rhyming preface. only one ingredient is left out of the prescription: "denn es ist nur ein ding allein, drinn alls verborgn ist ins gemein. daran solt ihr gar nicht verzagen, zeit und geduld müst ihr dran wagen." what is it? h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * the bellman at newgate. (vol. i., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . . . .: and see _continental watchmen_, vol. iv., pp. . .) formerly it was, according to a very ancient custom, the practice on the night preceding the execution of condemned criminals, for the bellman of the parish of st. sepulchre to go under newgate, and, ringing his bell, to repeat the following verses, as a piece of friendly advice, to the unhappy wretches under sentence of death: "all you that in the condemn'd hold do lie, prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die. watch all and pray, the hour is drawing near, that you before the almighty must appear. examine well yourselves, in time repent, that you may not to eternal flames be sent. and when st. sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls, the lord have mercy on your souls! past twelve o'clock!" the following extract from stowe's _survey of london_, p. . of the quarto edition, printed , will prove that the above verses ought to be repeated by a clergyman instead of a bellman: "robert doue, citizen and merchant taylor, of london, gave to the parish of st. sepulchre's the sum of l. that after the several sessions of london, when the prisoners remain in the gaole, as condemned men to death, expecting execution on the morrow following; the clarke (that is the parson) of the church shoold come in the night time, and likewise early in the morning, to the window of the prison where they lye, and there ringing certain tolls with a hand-bell appointed for the purpose, he doth afterwards (in most christian manner) put them in mind of their present condition, and ensuing execution, desiring them to be prepared therefore, as they ought to be. when they are in the cart, and brought before the wall of the church, there he standeth ready with the same bell. and after certain tolls rehearseth an appointed prayer, desiring all the people there present to pray for them. the beadle also of merchant taylors' hall hath an honest stipend allowed to see that it is duely done." this note is an extract from the _romance of the forum_, vol. ii. p. . j. w. farrer. { } * * * * * herbert's "church porch." (vol. ix., p. .) i venture the following as the meaning of the curious stanza in george herbert's _church porch_, referred to by your correspondent s. singleton: "god made me one man; love makes me no more, till labor come and make my weakness score." if you are single, give all you have to the service of god. but do not be anxious to make the gift larger by toil: for god only requires that which is suitable to the position in which he has placed you. he bestows a certain "estate" upon every man as he bestows life: let both be dedicated to him. for if you give first yourself, and then what he has given you, this is sufficient; you need not try to be more rich, that you may be more charitable. but if you choose a life of labour to gain an "estate" beyond the original position assigned to you in the providence of god, then you must reckon yourself responsible for the "one man" which god "made" you, and for _the other_ which you make yourself besides. i conceive the stanza to be a recommendation of the contemplative life with poverty, in preference to the active life with riches. j. h. b. * * * * * ancient usages of the church. (vol. ix., pp. . .) as your well-known correspondent from clyst st. george has addressed an inquiry to you on this subject, it may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to learn that the practice of kneeling at funerals still exists in this neighbourhood. on a cold december day have i seen men, women, and children bend the knee on the bare sod, during the lord's and the other prayers used in the outdoor portion of our service, not rising till the valedictory grace concluded the service. indeed, i have never known (at least the _majority_ of) those attending our funerals here, omit this old custom. that of dressing graves with flowers, at easter and whitsuntide, prevails here as in wales: and the older folks still maintain the ancient practice of an obeisance as often as the gloria occurs during the ordinary services. the last railful of communicants are also in the habit of remaining in their place at the altar rails till the service is concluded; but whether these observances are widely spread, or merely local, i have not had sufficient opportunity to judge. j. t. p. dewchurch vicarage. at the church of south stoke, near arundel, i have heard the clerk respond after the gospel: "thanks be to god for the holy gospel." at southwick, near brighton, the rector was wont (about four years since) to stand up at the "glory" in the litany. the bishop of london believes bowing the head when the doxology, or ascription of praise, is pronounced, to be a novelty in our church (letter to the knightsbridge churchwarden, march , ). i remember an old woman regularly attending the services of exeter cathedral, who was wont always to curtsy at the "glory." and in _the guardian_ of april , w. g. t. alludes to a parish in staffordshire where the custom prevails. and a. w. says: "in the western counties of england there are many parishes where the custom of bowing at the 'gloria' has been universally observed by the poor from time immemorial. i could mention parishes in worcestershire or herefordshire where it has always prevailed." it should be observed, that the custom is not to bow at the "glory" only, but whenever, in the course of the service, the names of the three persons of the blessed trinity are mentioned. see isaiah, vi. , . i have heard sermons commenced in the name of the holy trinity, and ended with "the glory," the preacher repeating the former part and the congregation the latter. i believe this is agreeable to very ancient use. can any one say whether it has anywhere been retained in our own church? j. w. hewett. the custom of lincolnshire mentioned by mr. ellacombe as observed by his two parishioners at bitton had its origin doubtless in the first rubric to the order for the administration of the lord's supper in our book of common prayer, which enjoins that-- "so many as intend to be partakers of the holy communion, shall signify their names to the curate at least some time the day before." on this bishop wilson remarks: "it is with great reason that the church has given this order; wherefore do not neglect it." "you will have the comfort of knowing, either that your pastor hath nothing to say against you, or, if he has, you will have the benefit of his advice: and a good blessing will attend your obedience to the church's orders." george e. frere. _reverence to the altar_ (vol. vi., p. .).--statute xi. such obeisance was always made in the college to which i belonged, at oxford, to the provost by every scholar, and by the bible clerks when they proceeded from their seats to the eagle lectern, to read the lessons of the day. i. r. r. _separation of the sexes in church._--it was the custom a few years ago (and i have every reason { } to believe it to be so at present), for the men to sit on one side of the aisle, and the women on the other, in the church of grange, near armagh, in the north of ireland. no one remembered the introduction of the custom. abhba. _standing while the lord's prayer is read_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--the congregation of the english episcopal chapel at dundee stood during the reading of the lord's prayer, the ten commandments, and the song of the angels at the birth of christ, when these occur in the order of morning lessons. this congregation joined that of the scottish episcopalians several years ago, and whether the practice is continued in the present congregation i cannot say. in st. paul's chapel, edinburgh, york place, the congregation stand at the reading of the ten commandments in the fifth chapter of deuteronomy, and they chant "glory be to thee, o god," on the giving out of the gospel, and "thanks be to thee, o god," &c., after the reading of it. in the communion they sit during the reading of the exhortation, "dearly beloved in the lord;" and it is but very lately that they have stood when repeating "glory be to god on high," &c., in the post communion. henry stephens. in durham cathedral, on sept. , , at the anniversary of the sons of the clergy, the congregation rose simultaneously on the occurrence of the lord's prayer in the lesson. i remember also that the same custom was observed at trinity church, chelsea, during the incumbency of the rev. henry blunt. where the bidding prayer enjoined by the th canon is used (that, by-the-way, being the only authorised pulpit prayer), it is usual i believe for the people to stand during the lord's prayer; the preacher then teaching us to pray as our lord taught his disciples. the short doxology at the end of the gospel, to which mr. ellacombe refers at p. ., is common in the north of england. e. h. a. this custom prevails generally in the episcopalian churches in scotland; and our congregations also stand up while the commandments are read in course of the lessons. we have also the practice of singing, after the gospel: "thanks be to thee, o lord, for this thy holy gospel!" balivus. edinburgh. this is the practice on the reading of this prayer in the second lesson at the parish church of edgbaston, near birmingham. it is probably a remanet of the ancient practice in the church, not only to stand up during the reading of the gospel, but throughout the whole service, as symbolic of the resurrection of christ--the lord's day; which still exists in the greek church, and may be witnessed any sunday in london, on visiting the recent edifice in london wall. t. j. buckton. birmingham. the custom is observed in st. thomas' church. w. hazel. portsmouth. at exeter cathedral the people _kneel_ whenever the lord's prayer is read in the lesson. j. w. hewett. _tolling the bell on leaving church_ (vol. ix., pp. . , .).--in this parish a bell is always rung on the conclusion of the morning service, to give notice that a sermon will be given at the evening service. this bell, which a very respectable old man, who was parish clerk here for fifty-four years, called the "sermon bell," is never tolled unless there is a second service. if at any time the morning service is not performed, the bell is tolled at twelve o'clock at noon to inform the parishioners that an evening service will take place. a bell is also rung at eight and nine o'clock on sunday, or any other morning when morning prayer is said. the custom of ringing the church bell on shrove tuesday, as mentioned by newburiensis (vol. ix., p. .), is observed here too, and is generally called "the pancake bell." c. f. p. normanton-upon-soar, notts. i am disposed to agree in opinion with e. w. i. as to this custom, not only as regards the priests, but the people also, for in most country parishes it is the signal for the baker--who usually cooks the sunday's dinner of the humbler classes--to open his oven: and i have often heard old folks speak of it as "the pudding bell." g. taylor. reading. the object is to announce that another service is to follow, either in the afternoon or evening, as the case may be. here the tolling is, not as the congregation are leaving the church, but at one o'clock. wm. hazel. portsmouth. e. w. i., in his answer to this query in vol. ix., p. ., refers to the custom of tolling the church bell at eight o'clock on sunday morning, and again at nine. this custom is followed at the chapel of ease (at maidenhead) to the parishes of bray and cookham. newburiensis. "the pudding bell," as country folks sometimes call it (under the impression that its use is to warn those at home to get the dinner ready), is still rung in some of the old lancashire parish churches as the congregation go out. but as in this county parish churches are scarce, and two full services quite a matter of course, w. s.'s { } reason cannot apply here. i remember well the custom of the congregations _kneeling_ when the lord's prayer occurred in the lesson; it was left off in my own church about thirty years since, this custom, curtseying at the "gloria," and some others, being considered _ignorant_, and therefore discountenanced by those who knew better. p. p. _arch-priest in the diocese of exeter_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--a question has been asked: "does a dignity or office, such as rector of haccombe, exist in the anglican church?" i find something similar in the case of the vicar of newry, who is entirely free from ecclesiastical control; he holds his appointment from the ex-officio rector (lord kilmony), who derives his title from the original patent granted by edward vi. to his irish marshal sir nicholas pagnall, who, on the dissolution of the "monasterium nevoracense," obtained possession of the land attached, and was farther granted: "that he shall have all and singular, and so many and the like courts leet, frank pledge, law days, rights, jurisdictions, liberties, privileges, &c. &c., in as large, ample, and beneficial a manner as any abbot, prior, convent, or other chief, head, or governor of the late dissolved monastery heretofore seized, held or enjoyed," &c. the seal of the ancient charter, on which is inscribed the legend, "sigillum exemptæ jurisdictionis de virido ligno alias newry et mourne," is still used in the courts. a mitred abbot in his albe, sitting in his chair, supported by two yew-trees, is also engraved on it; to perpetuate (it is said) the tradition that these trees had been planted by st. patrick in the vicinity of the convent. n. c. atkinson. . waterloo road, dublin. _holy-loaf money_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--in normandy and brittany, and probably in other roman catholic countries, bread is blessed by the officiating priest during the performance of high mass, and handed round in baskets to the congregation by the inferior officers of the church. on inquiring into the meaning of this custom, i was told that it represented the _agapæ_ of the primitive church; and that, before the first revolution, every substantial householder in the parish was bound in turn to furnish the loaves, or a money equivalent. it is now, i believe, a voluntary gift of the more devout parishioners, or furnished out of the ordinary revenues of the church. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. * * * * * popiana. (vol. ix., p. .) in mr. harry leroy temple's _popiana_, allusion is made to pope's _imitation of horace_, second satire, book i., and the question is asked, in what modern editions of pope is this imitation to be found? it is in warton's edition, and also in the aldine edition published by pickering. it appeared to me (as to bowles, roscoe, mr. cary, and others) too glaringly indecent for a popular edition of pope. the poet never acknowledged it; he published it as "imitated in the manner of mr. pope," but it is a genuine production. see note in my edition of pope, vol. iv. p. . mr. temple says,-- "roscoe and croly give _four_ poems on _gulliver's travels_. why does mr. carruthers leave out the third? his edition appears to contain (besides many additions) all that all previous editors have admitted, with the exception of the _third_ gulliver poem, the sixteen additional verses to mrs. blount on leaving town, the verses to dr. bolton, and a fragment of eight lines (perhaps by congreve); which last three are to be found in warton's edition." the _third_ gulliver poem was not published with the others by pope in the _miscellanies_. it should, however, have been inserted, as it is acknowledged by pope in his correspondence with swift. the omission must be set down as an editorial oversight, to be remedied in the next edition. the verses on dr. bolton are assuredly _not_ pope's; they are printed in aaron hill's _works_, . see a copious note on this subject in "n. & q.," vol. vii., p. . the two other omissions noticed by mr. temple (with others unnoticed by him, as the parody on the first psalm, &c.) were dictated by the same feeling that prompted the exclusion of the _imitation of horace_. in several of pope's letters, preserved at maple durham, are grossly indecent and profane passages, which he omitted himself in his printed correspondence, and which are wholly unfit for publication. the same oblivion should be extended to his unacknowledged poetical sins. r. carruthers. inverness. * * * * * catholic floral directories (vol. viii., p. .): _anthologia borealis et australis; florilegium sanctarum aspirationum_. since i last wrote, i have not succeeded in unravelling the mystery which envelops these two works; but i have gotten some clue to it, for which i am indebted to the extreme courtesy and kindness of two correspondents. one of these gentlemen informs me that the _anthologia_ is quoted at p. . of dr. forster's work on the atmosphere: london, . my { } second correspondent writes to say, "if you can procure the _circle of the seasons_, by dr. forster, published in , you will there find very copious extracts from the books in question." before we go any farther i would ask, _is_ dr. forster the author of this book? the copy i have met with in a public library is anonymous, and is thus entitled: _the circle of the seasons, and perpetual key to the calendar and almanac_: london, thomas hookham, , pp. . mo. it is a valuable book, and forms a complete catholic floral directory. though the _anthologia_ and the _florilegium_ are lavishly quoted, no references are given save the bare names. it is easy to see why mr. weale, the "compiler" of the _catholic florist_, declined giving the information requested. the quotations in question are all _second-hand_ from the _circle of the seasons_. the very preface of the _florist_ is not original; the most valuable part of it (commencing at p. .) i have discovered to be a verbatim reprint from _the truthteller_, or, rather, from hone's _every-day book_, vol. i. pp. . ., where some extracts are given from the contributions to this periodical from a correspondent with the signature _crito_. these quotations in hone first drew my attention to _the truthteller_, and i advertised for it, but without success. it was edited, i believe, by thomas andrews. i have met with the second series of this periodical, published in london in , and i should be glad to get the whole of it.[ ] in forster's _perennial calendar_, london, , the _anthologia_ is quoted at pp. . . . . . .: one of these passages is requoted in hone, vol. i. p. . i may here remark that this work of hone's is furnished with a _floral directory_. i feel rather piqued, both on my own account and for the honour of "n. & q.," at being baffled by two english books, and i am somewhat surprised that thirty years should have elapsed without any inquiry having been made respecting the remarkable quotations adduced by dr. forster. the queries i now propose are: who was the compiler of the _circle of the seasons_? are the _anthologia_ and the _florilegium_ quoted in any works previous to forster's time? eirionnach. p.s.--can i get a copy of the _catholic friend_, which is referred to in the preface of the _catholic florist_ as a scarce and valuable work; and also a copy of the _catholic instructor_: london, ? march, . [footnote : [_the truthteller_ was discontinued at the end of vol. i. the first number was published sept. , , and the last on sept. , . the publisher and editor, w. a. andrews, closes his labours with the following remarks: "having given _the truthteller_ a year's trial, we feel ourselves called upon, as a matter of justice to our family, to discontinue it as a newspaper. the negligence of too many of our subscribers, in not discharging their engagements to us, and the indifference of others of the catholic body, to support the vindicator of their civil and religious principles, leave us no alternative but that of dropping it as a newspaper, or carrying it on at a loss." only two of crito's papers on botany were given in _the truthteller_, viz. in no. ., p. ., and no. ., p. . he probably continued them in _the catholic friend_, also published by w. a. andrews. the following extract from a letter signed f., and dated jan. , , given in _the truthteller_, vol. i. no. . p. ., recommends the publication, among other works, of a "catholic calendar. there should also be a catholic calendar, something like _the perennial calendar_, but more portable, and fuller of religious information, in which, under each saint, his or her particular virtues, intelligence, good works, or martyrdom, should be succinctly set forth, so as to form a sort of calendar of human triumphs, such as is recommended by mr. counsellor basil montagu in his essays." in a note the writer adds, "this i believe will soon be undertaken." this letter seems to have been written by dr. forster.--ed.]] thanks to mr. pinkerton, i am enabled to turn my surmise into certainty, and have the pleasure of clearing up a literary _hoax_, which has, it seems, passed without challenge till my note of interrogation appeared in these pages. the _anthologia_ and the _florilegium_ are purely imaginary titles for certain pieces in prose and verse, the production of dr. forster, and have no existence save in the _circle of the seasons_. in the autobiography of the eccentric doctor--which is entitled _recueil de ma vie, mes ouvrages et mes pensées: opuscule philosophique_, par thomas ignace marie forster: bruxelles, --at p. . he enumerates the _anthologia_ and _florilegium_ among his "pièces fugitives," and ends the list in the following words: "encore je me confesse d'avoir écrit toutes ces essais détachés dans le _perennial calendar_, auxquels j'ai attaché quelques signatures, ou plus proprement des lettres, comme a. b. s. r. etc." in the solitude of his garden at hartwell he conceived the idea of making a floral directory, which he eventually carried out, and published under the title of the _circle of the seasons_. see p. . mr. pinkerton has most kindly lent me a rare and privately-printed book of forster's, entitled _harmonia musarum, containing nugæ cantabrigenses, florilegium sanctæ aspirationis, and anthologia borealis et australis_, chiefly from a college album, edited by alumnus cantabrigensis (n.b. not published): , pp. , vo. the preface is signed t. f., and is dated "bruges, sept. , ." in it he says: "the harmony of the muses has been divided into three parts--the first being the _nugæ cantab_. the { } second contains the sacred subjects, hymns, &c., written chiefly by a relation, and formerly collected under the title of _florilegium sanctæ aspirationis_. the third consists merely of a small collection of latin verses selected by some student, with occasional notes from the rest, and called _fragments from north and south_: they have, many at least, been printed before." it is impossible to give an idea of this extraordinary olla; we have in it pieces of porson, gray, and byron, &c., cowper's _john gilpin_, and coleridge's _devil's walk_; at p. . we have "spring impromptu, found among some old papers," with the signature "n." attached, which turns out to be gray on the "pleasures of vicissitude." i regret to say that this volume contains much that is coarse and offensive, which is the less excusable, and the more surprising, as coming from the author of the very beautiful and devotional pieces published in the _circle of the seasons_. the _florilegium_ and the _anthologia_ of the _circle_ have little in common with their namesakes in the _harmonia_, which latter contain poems by southwell, byron, gray, hogg, porson, jortin, &c., but none of forster's prose pieces, which form so large a portion of the other _florilegium_ and _anthologia_. dr. forster's life would make a very entertaining biography, and i should be glad to know more about him, whether he be yet alive, what books he printed at bruges, &c.[ ] in concluding this matter, i beg to return my best thanks to mr. pinkerton for the valuable information he so freely imparted to me, and the handsome manner in which he placed it at my disposal. [footnote : dr. forster was born in london in , of an ancient catholic family; he was himself a protestant until the year , when it appears that he became a convert to the church of rome: at the same time he received the additional names of ignatius maria. it is most probable that he is yet alive and in belgium, where he has resided for many years. the editor of "n. & q." has kindly sent me a list from the catalogue of the british museum, of some four and thirty works by dr. forster. there is, however, another book by dr. forster not contained in the museum list, _onthophilos, ou les derniers entretiens d'un philosophe catholique_ (brussels?), .] * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mr. lyte's new instantaneous process._--i beg to communicate to you a new process in photography, which is by far the most rapid i believe yet discovered, and combines at the same time great stability. it has been the result of a great many experiments on my part, and even now i am hardly prepared to say that it is brought to its fullest perfection; but it suffices to say that it is sufficiently rapid to give pictures of the waves of the sea in motion with perfect sharpness, and ships sailing at ten knots an hour, and puttling up and down at the same time, and all with a landscape lens. by it also, and by the same lens, we may take instantaneous portraits. the process is as follows:--after the plate, prepared with the collodion and sensitised with the nitrate bath, as i have described in one of your former numbers, is taken from the bath, i pour over it a solution composed as follows: . take-- nitrate of silver grains. distilled water ounces. iodide of silver, as much as will dissolve. mix and filter. . take-- grape sugar or honey ounces. water ounces. alcohol ounce. mix, dissolve, and filter. and when required for use, mix equal parts of these solutions, and pour them over the plate. the plate is to be allowed to drain; and then, when placed in the frame, is ready for the camera, and is easily impressed as a deep negative by a ross's landscape lens instantaneously. to develop, i use always the same agents as i have before specified. one or two cautions are to be observed in this process. first, the grape-sugar or honey must be quite pure, and free from any _strong_ acid re-action; and, secondly, these substances are much improved by a long exposure to the air, by which the oxidation of them is commenced, and the result made much more certain and effective. however, i find that the addition of the least possible quantity of nitric acid has the same effect; but nothing is so good as long exposure of the sugar or honey, so as to become completely candied before mixing. the sugar may as conveniently of course be mixed in the collodion as in the bath, but in that case the keeping properties are lost, as the plate is not thus kept longer moist than usual. if, however, the former process be used and well conducted, the plate when sensitised may be kept for four hours at least without injury. the grape sugar should be made with oxalic, and the acid removed by lime as usual, and not with sulphuric acid, as is often done; as in the latter case sulpho-saccharic acid is formed, which much injures the result. i have been trying numerous experiments in this line, and i think i have almost hit upon another and quite new and instantaneous process; but as it is only in embryo, i will not give it to you till perfect. there are of course many other substances to be yet mixed in the bath or the collodion, _e. g._ all the alkaloids, or indeed any of the deoxidating agents known, and probably with good results. i am still continuing my experiments on this head, and if i make any farther improvements i will lose no time in communicating them to you. some negatives taken by this means were exhibited on friday evening at the royal institution, and were much admired. f. maxwell lyte. [by mr. lyte's kindness, who has shown us a number of the pictures taken by this new process, we { } are enabled to hear our testimony to its beautiful results. we are glad to learn also, that there is a probability that the admirers of photography may soon be enabled to purchase specimens of the productions of this accomplished amateur, who is about to return to the pyrenees for the purpose of securing photographic views of the splendid scenery and various objects of interest which are to be found there.--ed. "n. & q."] _photographs, &c. of the crystal palace._--all who have visited the photographic institution, in new bond street, must have admired the large photographic views of the crystal palace, from collodion negatives taken by mr. delamotte, who, combining the taste of the artist with the skill of the photographer, has succeeded in producing some most effective views of this new temple of education. at lord rosse's soirée on saturday last, the closing one unfortunately of those most agreeable reunions, mr. williams exhibited three daguerreotypes, taken that morning, of the ceremony of opening the crystal palace, which, although only about three inches by five, contained some hundreds of figures. the portraits of the queen and the brilliant cortege which surrounded her at the moment were strikingly effective. _soluble cotton._--in answer to the observations of h. u. (vol. ix., p. .), i should imagine that the nitrate of potash used was not thoroughly dried; and consequently, the amount of water used was in excess of that directed. the temperature should be from ° to ° fahr. and thermometers of a proper construction (with the lower part of the scale to bend up from the bulb) can be obtained in abundance at from s. to s. d. at several of the makers in hatton garden or elsewhere. geo. shadbolt. _cameras._--at one of the earliest meetings of the photographic society, i suggested the use of papier maché as a material for the construction of cameras, as possessing _nearly_ all the requisite qualities; but there is one serious objection to its application to this purpose, its _brittleness_, as a smart blow is apt to snap it like a biscuit. i think, however, upon the whole, that if a peculiar kind of _honduras_ mahogany, such as is used for coach panels, is adopted, the possessor would never desire a change. it should be as plain as a piece of deal, without the slightest beauty of grain, which is positive detriment to a camera, from the accompanying liability to warping. geo. shadbolt. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _shakspeare portrait_ (vol. viii., p. .).--j. s. smith, in his _nollekins and his times_ (vol. i. p. .), has a passage referring to the portrait mentioned by your correspondent: "clarkson, the portrait painter, was originally a coach-panel and sign painter; and he executed that most elaborate one of shakspeare, which formerly hung across the street at the north-east corner of little russell street, in drury lane. the late mr. thomas grignon informed me, that he had often heard his father say, that this sign cost _five hundred pounds!_ in my boyish days it was for many years exposed for sale for a very trifling sum, at a broker's shop in lower brook street, grosvenor square. the late mr. crace, of great queen street, assured me that it was in his early days a thing that country people would stand and gaze at, and that that corner of the street was hardly passable." edwards, in his _anecdotes of painters_ (p. .), assigns the portrait to a different painter, samuel wale, r.a. his account, however, being more minute than smith's, is worth transcribing: "mr. wale painted some signs; the principal one was a whole-length of shakspeare, about five feet high, which was executed for, and displayed before the door of a public-house, the north-west corner of little russell street, in drury lane. it was enclosed in a most sumptuous carved gilt frame, and suspended by rich iron work; but this splendid object of attraction did not hang long before it was taken down, in consequence of the act of parliament which passed for paving, and also for removing the signs and other obstructions in the streets of london. such was the total change of fashion, and the consequent disuse of signs, that the above representation of our great dramatic poet was sold for a trifle to mason the broker, in lower grosvenor street; where it stood at his door for several years, until it was totally destroyed by the weather and other accidents." edward f. rimbault. "_aches_" (vol. ix., pp. . .).--_aches_, as a dissyllable, may be heard any day in shropshire: "my yead _eaches_" (my head aches) is no uncommon complaint in reply to an inquiry about health. wm. fraser, b.c.l. "_waestart_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the querist, i humbly presume, is not a yorkshireman himself; or, probably, he would have at once resolved _waestart_ into the ungrammatical but natural inquiry, "where ist' 'art"--_ist'_ meaning _are you_, _thou_ being vulgarly used for you; the _h_ is elided in _hurt_, the _u_ in _'urt_ being pronounced as _a_, changing the vowel, as is very common among the illiterate. for instance, church is often called _ch_a_rch_ by those who live a little to the north-west; and person, where the _e_ is almost equivalent to the soft _u_ in sound, is made into _p_a_rson_! l. j. _willow bark in ague_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in the _philosophical transactions_ ( ?) is a memoir by the rev. e. stone, of chipping norton, of the salutary effects of the bark of the duck willow in agues and intermittent fevers. the author states, that being dried in an oven, and pounded, and administered in doses of one drachm every four hours in the intervals of the paroxysms, it soon reduces the distemper; and, except in very severe cases, removes it entirely. with the addition of one fifth part of peruvian bark, it { } becomes a specific against these disorders, and never fails to remove them. one advantage it possesses of influencing the patient beneficially immediately it is adopted, without the necessity of preparation previously. it is a safe medicine, and may be taken in water or tea. i copy the above from an entry in an old notebook. i imagine the duck willow to be the common white willow (_salix albæ vulgaris_) of ray. shirley hibberd. see pereira's _materia medica_: salix. he refers to a paper by the rev. mr. stone in the _phil. trans._ vol. liii. p. ., on the efficacy of the bark of the _salix alba_ as a remedy for agues. see also a. t. thomson's _london dispensatory_, in which is given an account of mr. stone's mode of administration. h. j. _lord fairfax_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i apprehend that there is nothing in the reply of a fairfax kinsman at all calculated to shake the opinion which i expressed touching the barony of fairfax of cameron. the case of the earldom of newburgh, which your correspondent does not even mention, is, i submit, of greater weight than all the "peerages," and even than the roll of scottish peers. as to the irish case--that of the earl of athlone--i can but repeat my query. whether right or wrong, it is not binding on the british house of lords. the cases of the king of hanover, the duke of wellington, and earl nelson, are not in point. his hanoverian majesty is not an alien; and though some british subjects may be recognised as peers by foreign states, it does not follow that a foreigner can be a peer of britain. h. g. _the young pretender_ (vol. ix., pp. . .)--the wife of the young pretender was louisa maximiliene, the daughter of gustavus adolphus, prince of scholberg, who was born in , and married in . as a widow, she lived in paris as the countess of albany, but in her drawing-room called herself queen of great britain. she was alive at the time of the death of the princess charlotte (nov. ). see fisher's _companion and key to history of england_, p. . o. s. _dobney's bowling-green; wildman; sampson_, (vol. ix., p. .).--dobney's, or, more correctly, _d'aubigney's_ bowling-green, ceased to be a place of public amusement about the year . it is now occupied by a group of houses called _dobney's place_, near the bottom of penton street. the late mr. upcott had a drawing of prospect house (as the building was called), taken about . a hand-bill of the year (in a volume formerly belonging to lysons) thus describes the nature of wildman's performance: "_the bees on horseback._--daniel wildman rides, standing upright, one foot on the saddle, and the other on the horse's neck, with a curious mask of bees on his face. he also rides standing upright on the saddle, with the bridle in his mouth, and, by firing a pistol, makes one part of the bees march over a table, and the other part swarm in the air, and return to their proper places again." sampson, price, johnson, and coningham were celebrated equestrian performers towards the close of the last century. astley was the pupil of sampson, and his successor in agility. bromley, in his _catalogue of engraved portraits_, mentions a folio engraving of sampson, without date or engraver's name. it is hardly likely that any life of him was published. edward f. rimbault. _palæologus_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your readers will find, in oldmixon's _west indies_, a later notice of the strange descent and fortunes of this once illustrious family. from cornwall they appear to have settled in barbadoes, where it is very possible that with mutilated name the family may yet be found among the "poor whites" (many among them of ancient lineage) of that island. b. _children by one mother._--in vol. ix., p. ., i. r. r., in reply to a query in vol. v., p. .--"if there be any well-authenticated instance of a woman having had more than twenty-five children?"--sends an account of a case, which he "firmly believes" to be authenticated, of a farmer's wife who had thirty. i now send you a much better authenticated case of _polyprogenitiveness_, which utterly throws the farmer's wife into the shade. in palazzo frescobaldi, in this city, the ancient residence of the old florentine family of that name, there is, among many other family portraits, one full-length picture of a tall and good-looking lady with this inscription beneath it: "dianora salviati, moglie di bartolomeo frescobaldi, fece cinquantadue figli, mai meno che tre per parto" (dianora salviati, wife of bartolomeo frescobaldi, gave birth to fifty-two sons, and never had less than three at a birth). the case is referred to by gio. schenchio, in his work _del parto_, at p. . the essex lady, as well as i should suppose all other ladies whatsoever, must hide their diminished heads in presence of this noble dame of florence. t. a. t. florence. _robert brown the separatist_ (vol. ix., p. .).--mr. corner will probably find an answer to his question in the _history of stamford_, by w. harrod ( ), and in blore's _history of the county of rutland_, , fol.; bawden's _survey_, , to.; wright's _history of rutlandshire_, and . the last descendant of robert brown died on sept. , , æt. sixty-nine, widow of george, third earl of pomfret; and as she had no issue, her house and estate at toltrop { } (_i. e._ tolthorp), in rutlandshire, about two miles from stamford in lincolnshire, probably passed to his heir and brother thomas william, the fourth earl. at the time of her marriage, her servants (as was believed by orders from their mistress) _persevered_ in chiming the only _two_ bells of the parish church, to the hazard and annoyance of the vicar's wife, just confined of her first child in a room hardly a stone's throw from it. his pupils were so indignant, that they drove away the offenders and took the clappers out of the bells: and the son of a near neighbour, then a member of st. john's college, cambridge (thos. foster, a.b., ), made it the subject of a mock-heroic poem of some merit, called the _brunoniad_ (london, , printed by kearsley). so few copies were printed, that the queen and princesses could not procure one; and a lady employed at court requested a young friend of hers, resident at stamford, to make a transcript of it for their use. this your present note-writer can aver, as the transcriber was a sister of anat. _hero of the "spanish lady's love"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--concerning the origin of this interesting old ballad, the following communication appeared in _the times_ of may , . it is dated from coldrey, hants, and signed charles lee: "the hero of this beautiful ballad was my ancestor, sir john bolle of thorpe hall, lincolnshire, of most ancient and loyal family, and father of that colonel bolle who fell in alton church, whilst fighting against the rebels in december, . of the truth of this i am prepared to give the curious in these matters the most abundant evidence, but the space which the subject would occupy would necessarily exclude it from your columns. "the writer of the paper in the _edinburgh_ says:--'had the necklace been still extant, the preference would have been due to littlecot.' the necklace is still extant, in the possession of a member of my family, and in the house whence i write. in illingworth's _topographical account of scampton, with anecdotes of the family of bolles_, it is stated: 'the portrait of sir john, drawn in , at the age of thirty-six years, having on the gold chain given him by the spanish lady, &c., is still in the possession of his descendant, capt. birch.' "that portrait is now in the possession of capt. birch's successor, thomas bosvile bosvile, esq., of ravensfield park, yorkshire, my brother, and may be seen by any one. i will only add another extract from illingworth's _scampton_:--'on sir john bolle's departure from cadiz, the spanish lady sent as presents to his wife, a profusion of jewels and other valuables, amongst which was her portrait drawn in green; plate, money, and other treasure. some articles are still in possession of the family; though her picture was unfortunately, and by accident, disposed of about half a century since. this portrait being drawn in green, gave occasion to her being called, in the neighbourhood of thorpe hall, the green lady; where, to this day, there is a traditionary superstition among the vulgar, that thorpe hall was haunted by the green lady, who used nightly to take her seat in a particular tree near the mansion.' in illingworth there is a long and full account of the spanish lady, and the ballad is given at length." edward f. rimbault. _niagara_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--let me add one other authority of comparatively recent date on goldsmith's side of the _vexata quæstio_, about the pronunciation of this name: "and we'd take verses out to demerara, to new south wales, and up to niagara." proëme to _the monks and the giants_, by william and robert whistlecraft, _i. e._ john hookham frere. balliolensis. _hymn attributed to handel_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i do not understand whether mr. storer's query refers to the _words_ or _music_ of this hymn. if to the former, it is most assuredly not handel's. it is strange that the church does not possess one _genuine_ psalm or hymn tune of this mighty master, although he certainly composed several. the popular melody called _hanover_, usually attributed to handel, was printed in the _supplement to the new version of psalms_ (a collection of tunes) in . handel did not arrive in england till . it is improbable, from many circumstances, that he composed this grand melody. it was probably the work of dr. croft. d'almaine, the eminent music-seller of soho square, published some years back-- "three hymns, the words by the late rev. charles wesley, a.m., of christ church college, oxon; and set to music by george frederick handel, faithfully transcribed from his autography in the library of the fitzwilliam museum, cambridge, by samuel wesley, and now very respectfully presented to the wesleyan society at large." among my musical autographs is one which, as it relates to the foregoing publication, i transcribe: "the late comedian rich, who was the most celebrated harlequin of his time, was also the proprietor of covent garden theatre, during the period that handel conducted his oratorios at that house. he married a person who became a serious character, after having formerly been a very contrary one; and who requested handel to set to music the _three hymns_ which i transcribed in the fitzwilliam library from the autography, and published them in consequence. s. wesley. monday, march , ." the first lines of the hymns are as follows: . sinners, obey the gospel word. . o love divine, how sweet thou art! . rejoice! the lord is king. edward f. rimbault. { } _marquis of granby_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--in a critique which appeared in the _quarterly review_ for january or april, , on dickens's earlier works, it is stated that sumpter, a discharged soldier of the royal regiment of horse guards, opened a public-house at hounslow, having as its sign "the marquis of granby," which was the first occasion of the marquis's name appearing on the sign-board of a public-house. this note appeared in reference to the public-house kept at dorking by mrs. weller, the "second wentur" of tony weller, father of the immortal samivel, of that ilk. john, marquis of granby, was colonel of the royal regiment of horse guards from may , , to his decease, which occurred oct. , , and was justly considered the soldier's friend. (see captain packer's _history of the royal regiment of horse guards_, p. .) mr. dickens, in his description of the sign-board at dorking, has arrayed the marquis in the uniform, not of the regiment, but of a general officer: he states,-- "on the opposite side of the road was a sign-board representing the head and shoulders of a gentleman with an apoplectic countenance, in a red coat, with deep blue facings, and a touch of the same over his three-cornered hat for a sky. over that, again, were a pair of flags, and beneath the last button of his coat were a couple of cannon; and the whole formed an expressive and undoubted likeness of the marquis of granby of glorious memory." witty, i admit, but that "touch of the same" (blue _facings_?) for a sky is ambiguous. _brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio._ the uniform of the royal regiment of horse guards, from to , consisted of a dark blue coatee, with red facings, red breeches, jacked boots, and three-cornered hats bound with gold lace. g. l. s. _convocation and the society for the propagation of the gospel_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the archdeacon of stafford, in his last visitation charge, at stafford, may , , said of convocation: "he was not aware that the two venerable societies, the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, and the society for promoting christian knowledge, owed their existence to it." atterbury, writing to bishop trelawny, march , - , says: "we appointed another committee, for considering the methods of propagating the christian religion in foreign parts, who sat the first time this afternoon in the chapter house of st. paul's"--atterbury's _correspondence_, vol. i. p. . though the venerable society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts does not owe, strictly speaking, its _existence_ to convocation, yet it certainly is indebted to it, both for the general outline of its operations, and also for its name. wm. fraser, b.c.l. _cassie_ (vol. ix., p. .).--with regard to w. t. m. about _cassie_, he will find an approximation to that word as used for _causeway_, in the old editions of ludlow's _memoirs_, and others, where causeway is always spelt _causey_. a. ( ) _"three cats sat," &c._ (vol. ix., p. .).--i am delighted to say that a long course of laborious research among the antiquities of nurserydom have enabled me to supply julia r. bockett (i dare not venture on any prefix to the name, for fear of doing grievous wrong in my ignorance of the lady's civil status) with the missing canto the poem her ancient friend is so desirous of completing. it will be seen to convey a charming lesson of amiable sociality--admirably adapted _d'ailleurs_ to the pages of a work which seeks to encourage "intercommunications." it runs thus: "said one little cat, to the other little cat, if you don't speak, i must; i must. if you don't speak, i must." julia r. bockett will doubtless feel with me, that though the antithesis requires that the "i" should be strongly emphasised in the first case, the sentiment expressed imperatively demands an intense force to be given to the "must" in the second repetition. t. a. t. florence. p. s.--by-the-bye, talking of cats, there is a story current, that a certain archbishop, who sits neither at canterbury nor york, having once, in unbending mood, demanded of one of his clergy if he could decline "cat," corrected the reverend catechumen, when, having arrived at the vocative case, he gave it, "vocative, o cat!" and declared such declension to be wrong, and that the vocative of "cat" was "_puss_." of course, it will be henceforth considered so in the diocese presided over by the prelate in question, as the gender of "carrosse" was changed throughout _la belle france_, by a blunder of the _grand monarque_. but surely the archbishop was as palpably wrong as the king was. at least, if he was not, we have only the alternative of considering shakspeare to have blundered. for, have we not stefano's address to poor caliban: "open your mouth; here is that which will give language to you, _cat_." and again, does not lysander, somewhat ungallantly, thus apostrophise hermia: "hang off, thou _cat_, thou burr!" moreover, will not the pages of our nursery literature furnish on the other hand abundance of { } instances _passim_ of _puss_ used in every one of the oblique cases, as well as in the nominative? _tailless cats_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--it may be interesting to your correspondent shirley hibberd to know, that the burmese breed of cats is, like that of the isle of man, tailless; or, if not exactly without tails, the tails they have are so short as to be called so merely by the extremest courtesy. this is the only respect, however, in which they differ from other cats. s. b. lucknow. _francklyn household book_ (vol. ix., p. .).-- _bay-salt to stop the barrels._--before heading down a cask of salted meat, the vacant spaces are filled up with salt. _giggs and scourge-sticks._--whip-tops, and whips for spinning them. _jumballs._--a kind of gingerbread. john p. stilwell. dorking. _"violet-crowned" athens_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have always understood that the adoption of the _violet_ as the heraldic flower of old athens involved, as heraldry so often does, a pun. as you well know, the greek for violet is [greek: ion], and thence its adoption as the symbolical flower of the chief city in europe of the _ion_ian race. cantab. _smith of nevis and st. kitt's_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i find by some curious letters from an old lady, by birth a miss williams of antigua, and widow of the son of the lieut.-governor of nevis, now in the possession of a friend of mine connected with the west indies, that the arms of that family were--gules, on a chevron between three bezants or, three cross crosslets sable. and the crest, from a ducal coronet or, an indian goat's head argent. this may facilitate the search of your correspondent for the affiliation of that family to the united kingdom. b. _hydropathy_ (vol. ix., p. .).--"john smith, c.m." (_i. e._ clock-maker), of the parish of st. augustin, london, was the author of several pamphlets. he published in the year a treatise in recommendation of the medicinal use of water as "a universal remedy," as well by drinking as by applying it externally to the body. in the british museum there is a french translation of it, which appeared in paris, a.d. . this is a proof of the notoriety which the treatise obtained. the tenth edition, dated "edinburgh, ," contains additions communicated by mr. ralph thoresby, f.r.s., and others. in the year he published a short treatise entitled _a designed end to the socinian controversy; or, a rational and plain discourse to prove, that no other person but the father of christ is god most high_. this attracted the notice of the civil power, and by order of parliament it was burnt, and the author prosecuted. (see wallace's _anti-trinitarian biography_, vol. iii. p. ., london, .) n. w. s. _leslie and dr. middleton_ (vol. ix., p. .).-- "middleton was one of the men who sought for twenty years some historical facts that might conform to leslie's four conditions, and yet evade leslie's logic."--_blackwood's magazine_, july, , p. . j. o. b. _lord brougham and horne tooke_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i have not lord brougham's book before me, but i have no doubt but that q. has missed the meaning of his lordship. the reference would probably be to horne tooke's anticipation of the strange immoral reveries of emerson and others, that _truth_ is entirely subjective; because the word bears etymological relation to "to trow," to think, or believe: and so _truth_ has no objective existence, but is merely what a man troweth. if that be an argument, lord brougham would say then the law of libel would be unjust, merely because "libel" means primarily a little book; he might have added that, according to horne tooke and mr. emerson, if a man had been killed by falling against a post at charing cross, a jury might deny the fact of the violent death, because "post" means a place for depositing letters, and he had not been near st. martin's-le-grand. the remark of lord brougham is not as to a fact, but is a _reductio ad absurdum_. w. denton. it is suggested to q. (bloomsbury), that lord brougham meant not to say that horne tooke _had ever held_ or _maintained_ this strange doctrine, "that the law of libel was unjust and absurd, because libel means a little book," but that he _would_ have done so, or might have done so consistently with his etymological theory, namely, that the _present_ sense of words is to be sought in their primitive signification: _e.g._, in the _diversions of purley_, vol. ii. p. ., horne tooke says,-- "_true_, as we now write it, or _trew_, as it was formerly written, means simply and merely that which is _trowed_; and, instead of its being a rare commodity upon earth, except only in words, there is nothing but truth in the world." if we ought _now_ to use the word truth only in this sense, then, _pari ratione_, we ought to mean only a little book when we use the word libel. j. o. b. thorpe. _irish rhymes_ (vol. viii., p. .).--a. b. c. asks, "will any one say it was through ignorance { } that he (swift) did not sound the _g_ in dressing?" now i cannot tell whether or not i shall raise a nest of hornets about my ears, but my private impression is that in doing so swift meant to be "more _english_ and less nice." i think it invariably strikes an irishman as one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the english people, the almost constant omission of that letter from every word ending (i should have said, if i was an englishman, "endin'") with it. the fair sex, i fear i must add, are, of the two, rather more decided in clippin' (_g_) the queen's english. y. s. m. _cabbages_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i was aware of the passage in evelyn's _acetaria_, and am anxious to know whether there is any confirmation of that statement. is there any other information extant as to the first introduction of cabbages into england? c. h. _sir william "usher," not "upton"_ (vol. viii., p. .), was appointed clerk of the council in ireland, march , . he was knighted by sir george carey, law deputy, on st. james' day, ; and died in --, having married isabella loftus, eldest daughter of adam loftus, archbishop of dublin. of what family was he? y. s. m. "_buckle_" (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--an awkward person, working incautiously with a saw, will probably, to use a carpenter's phrase, _buckle_ it; that is, give it a bend or twist which will injure its working. y. s. m. _cornwall family_ (vol. ix., p. .).--john cornwall, esq., a director of the bank of england, , bore the arms and crest of the ancient family of that name of burford, in shropshire, of which he was a member. a full account of this distinguished family is now preparing under their sanction. e. d. _john of gaunt_ (vol. ix., p. .).--perhaps the best method of explaining to y. s. m. the unmistakeable nose of the descendants of john of gaunt, will be to refer him to the complete series of portraits at badminton, concluding with the late duke of beaufort. he will then comprehend what is difficult to describe in the physiognomy of "that mighty line, whose sires of old sprang from britain's royal blood; all its sons were wise and bold, all its daughters fair and good!" e. d. _"wellesley" or "wesley"_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--your readers will find, in lynch's _feudal dignities_, the name spelt _wellesley_ in ireland, so long ago as the year , and continued so for several centuries at least subsequent to that date. the public records also bear evidence of the high position and great influence of the wellesleys, not _wesleys_, for a lengthened period in irish history. y. s. m. _mantel-piece_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--in old farm-houses, where the broad, open fireplace and hearth still exist, a small curtain, or rather valance, is often suspended from below the mantle-shelf, the object apparently being the exclusion of draughts and smoke. may not the use of this sort of _mantel_ have caused the part of the fireplace from which it hangs to be called the mantel-piece? edgar macculloch. guernsey. "mantel, _n. s._ (_mantel_, old french, or rather the german word _mantel_, 'germanis _mantel_ non pallium modo significat, sed etiam id omne quod aliud circumdat: hinc murus arcis, atque structura quæ focum invertit, _mantel_ ipsis dicitur.' v. ducange in v. mantum). work raised before a chimney to conceal it, whence the name, which originally signifies a cloak."--todd's _johnson_. richardson gives the two following quotations from wotton: from them (italians) we may better learn, both how to raise fair _mantles_ within the rooms, and how to disguise gracefully the shafts of chimneys abroad (as they use) in sundry forms."--_reliquiæ wottonianæ_, p. . "the italians apply it (plastick) to the _mantling_ of chimneys with great figures, a cheap piece of magnificence."--id. p. . zeus. _"perturbabantur," &c._ (vol. ix., p. .).--when i first learned to scan verses, somewhere about thirty years ago, the lines produced by your correspondent p. were in every child's mouth, with this story attached to them. it was said that oxford had received from cambridge the first line of the distich, with a challenge to produce a corresponding line consisting of two words only. to this challenge oxford replied by sending back the second line, pointing out, at the same time, the false quantity in the word "constantin[)o]politani." j. sansom. the story connected with these lines current at cambridge in my time was, that the university of oxford challenged the sister university to match the first line; to which challenge the second line was promptly returned from cambridge by way of reply. at oxford, i believe, the story is reversed, as neither university is willing to own to the false quantity in "constantin[)o]politani." j. eastwood, m.a. the classic legend attached to these two lines (and there are only two in the legend) is that the oxonians sent a challenge to the cantabs to make { } a binomial pentameter corresponding to "perturbabantur constantinopolitani." the cantabs immediately returned the challenge by sending "innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus." perhaps it is worthy of remark, though not evident except to a greek scholar, that the first line contains at least _one_ false quantity, for "constantinopol[)i]tani" must have the antepenultima long, as being derived from [greek: politês]. the lengthening of the fourth syllable may perhaps have been considered as a compensation, though rather a _præ-posterous_ one. charles de la pryme. i remember to have heard that the history of these two lines is as follows:--the head of one of our public schools having a talent for composing extraordinary verses, sent the first line, "perturbabantur constantinopolitani," to a friend of his, who was at the time the captain of another public school, asking him at the same time whether he could compose anything like it. the answer returned was the second line, "innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus,"--a line, in my opinion, much superior to the former, as well for other reasons as that it is free from any false quantity; while, as any greek scholar will at once find out, the antepenultimate syllable of "constantinopolitani" must be long, being derived from the greek word [greek: politês]. i never heard of any more lines of the same description. p. a. h. i have always understood that once upon a time the eton boys, or those of some other public school, sent the hexameter verse, "perturbabantur constantinopolitani," to the winchester boys, challenging them to produce a pentameter verse consisting of only two words, and making sense. the winchester boys added, "innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus." wiccamicus. _edition of "othello"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the work inquired for, with the astrological (the editor would have called them hieroglyphic) notes, forms part of the third volume of the lunatic production of mr. robert deverell, which i described in "n. & q.," vol. ii., p. ., entitled _discoveries in hieroglyphics and other antiquities_, vols. vo., lond. . j. f. m. in case it would be of any use to m. a., mr. cole, the late lessee of the theatre royal, dublin, is now reader of plays (i think) to mr. kean at the princesses theatre; at all events he is connected with that establishment. l. m. n. dublin. _perspective_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--i shall be glad of a reference to any work on perspective which treats satisfactorily of that part of the subject on which i made my note. i think if mr. ferrey will draw a lofty building on either side of a landscape, he will not be satisfied with its appearance, if he makes that side of it which is in the plane of the picture perfectly rectangular. i often meet with instances in which it is so drawn, and they produce the effect on me of a note out of time. mr. stilwell's observation is only partially correct. there is one position of the eye, at a fixed distance from the picture, at which all the lines subtend equal angles at the eye with the corresponding lines of the original landscape. but a picture is not to be looked at from one point, and that at, probably, an inconvenient proximity to the eye. i have before me a print (in the _ill. lond. news_) of the interior of st. paul's, of which the dome gives about as good an idea of proportion to the building, as the north part of mercator's projection of the world. the whole building is depressed and top-heavy, simply because the perspective of lines in the plane of the picture is rectangular throughout. i have another interior (of winchester cathedral, by owen carter), which, being drawn on the same plan, gives the idea of a _squat tunnel_, unless looked at from one point of view, about eight inches from the picture. i feel that drawing these interiors so as not to offend the eye by either the excess or deficiency of perspective, is a great difficulty. but i think something may be done in the way of "humouring" the perspective, and approximating in our drawing to that which we know we see. the camera has thrown light upon the subject. we ought not to despise altogether the hints it gives us by its perhaps exaggerated perspective, in the case of parallel lines in the plane of the picture. i hope i may at least be able to draw out some more remarks upon a subject which i cannot help thinking, with mr. ingleby, is in an unsatisfactory and defective state. g. t. hoare. tandridge. "_go to bath_" (vol. ix., p. .).--i have little doubt but that this phrase is connected with the fact of bath's being proverbially the resort of beggars; and what more natural, to one acquainted with this fact, than to bid an importunate applicant betake himself thither to join his fellows? see also fuller's _worthies_ (co. somerset). i transcribe the passage for the benefit of those who have not the book at hand: "_beggars of bath._--many in that place; some natives there, others repairing thither from all parts of the land; the poor for alms, the pained for ease. whither should fowl flock in a hard frost, but to the barn-door? here, all the two seasons, being the general confluence of gentry. indeed laws are daily made to restrain beggars, and daily broken by the connivance of those who make them; it being impossible when the hungry belly barks, and bowels sound, to keep the tongue silent. and although oil of whip { } be the proper plaister for the cramp of laziness, yet some pity is due to impotent persons. in a word, seeing there is the lazar's-bath in this city, i doubt not but many a good lazarus, the true object of charity, may beg therein." j. eastwood, m.a. r. r. inquires the origin of the above saying, but has forgotten the context, viz. "and get your head shaved." i have often heard it explained as an allusion to the fact, that, in former days, persons who showed symptoms of insanity were sent to bath to drink the medicinal waters; the process of shaving the head being previously resorted to. the saying is applied to those who either relate "crack-brained" stories, or propose undertakings that raise a doubt as to their sanity. n. l. t. _ridings and chaffings_ (vol. ix., p. .).--though unable to give mr. thomas russell potter any information respecting the "ridings and chaffings" of nottinghamshire and leicestershire, i send the following note of a somewhat similar custom prevalent in oxfordshire (i never heard of it elsewhere), thinking it may perhaps interest him and others of your correspondents. i remember once, about three years ago, i was walking in blenheim park, with a friend then resident at woodstock, when suddenly the stillness of a summer evening was broken by strange and inharmonious sounds, coming to us across the water from the old town. the sounds grew louder and louder, and in great surprise i appealed to my friend for an explanation; when i learned that it was a custom in that part of the country, whenever it was discovered that a man had been beating his wife, for the neighbours to provide themselves with all sorts of instruments, fire-irons, kettles, and pots, in fine, anything capable of making a noise, and proceed _en masse_ to the house of the offender, before whose door they performed in concert, till their indignation subsided or their arms grew weary; and that the noise we then heard was the distant sound of such music. i do not know if my friend gave any name to this practice; if he did, i have since forgotten it. doubtless, some of your oxford readers can assist me. r. v. t. mincing lane. at marchington, in staffordshire, the custom exists of having what is called a "rantipole riding" for every man who beats his wife. the ceremony is performed with great care and solemnity. a committee is formed to examine into the case. then the village poet is employed to give a history of the occurrence in verse. the procession goes round in the evening with a cart, which serves as a stage on which the scene is acted and from which the verses are recited. the custom has been there observed, with so much judgment and discretion, that it has been productive of much good, and has now almost entirely put a stop to this disgraceful practice. i can remember several "ridings" in my younger days. h. b. mr. potter will find, upon referring to vol. i., p. ., that this custom prevails in gloucestershire, with the substitution of _straw_ for _chaff_. i have seen the gloucestershire version both in kent and sussex, and have received an explanation of it similar to mr. potter's own supposition. g. william skyring. somerset house. _faithful commin_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent w. h. gunner will find a detailed account of faithful commin in _foxes and firebrands_, a tract of which mention has been made in various numbers of "n. & q." it is there said to be extracted from the memorials of cecil lord burleigh, from whose papers it was transmitted to archbishop ussher. "the papers of the lord primate coming to the hands of sir james ware, his son, robert ware, esq., has obliged the public by the communication of them." [greek: halieus.] dublin. _heraldic anomaly_ (vol. ix., p. .).--tee bee's description of the arms on st. john's gate is somewhat defective. they are engraved, and more completely described, in cromwell's _history of clerkenwell_ [ ], p. . w. p. storer. olney, bucks. _odd fellows_ (vol. ix., p. .).--c. f. a. w. will find some of the odd fellows' secrets disclosed in a small volume entitled _a ritual and illustrations of free masonry, &c._, by a traveller in the united states (third thousand): published by james gilbert, . paternoster row, . the odd fellows date from adam, who was the odd and solitary representative of the human race before the creation of eve. kennedy mcnab. "_branks_" (vol. ix., p. .).--the word _branks_ does occur in burns, and signifies "wooden curb," but it is not in that sense it is used by wodrow. the _branks_ of the covenanters was an iron collar and chain firmly fixed to a tree, or post, or pillar, about three feet from the ground. this was locked round the neck of the luckless offender, who was thus obliged to remain in a most inconvenient and painful crouching posture, being neither able to stand nor lie. many of these are still to be seen in the neighbourhood of the residences of old highland families who, ere lord hardwicke's jurisdiction act, exercised the powers of pit and gallows. there is one at the entrance to culloden house, near inverness. kennedy mcnab. { } * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the trials of robert powell, edward burch, and matthew martin, for forgery, at the old bailey. london. vo. . wanted by _j. n. chadwick, esq._, king's lynn. ayre's life of pope. vols. . pope and swift's miscellanies. . vols. (motte), with two vols. subsequently published, together vols. familiar letters to h. cromwell by mr. pope. curl, . pope's literary correspondence. curl, - . vols. pope's works. to. . pope's correspondence with wycherley. gilliver, . narrative of dr. robert norris concerning frenzy of j. d. lintot, . the new rehearsal, or bayes the younger. roberts, . complete art of english poetry. vols. gay's miscellaneous works. vols. mo. . richardsoniana, or reflections on moral nature of man. . a collection of verses, essays, &c., occasioned by pope and swift's miscellanies. . wanted by _mr. francis_, . wellington street north, strand. a true account of the voyage of the nottingham-galley of london, &c., by captain john dean. vo. london, . a falsification of the above, by longman, miller, and white. london, . vo. a letter from moscow to the marquis of carmarthen, relating to the czar of muscovy's forwardness in his great navy since his return home, by j. deane. london, . fol. hours of idleness, lord byron. vo. newark, . bacon's essays in latin. wanted by _s. f. creswell_, king's college, london. the church of england magazine. vol. xxi. . in good order, and in the cloth case. wanted by the _rev. b. h. blacker_, . pembroke road, dublin. father bridoul's school of the eucharist. trans. by claget. london, . freitaghii mythologia ethica, with plates. antv. . to. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _owing to the number of replies to minor queries waiting for insertion, we have this week omitted our_ notes on books, _&c._ salop _will find an interesting article on_ bostal _or_ borstal road, _a winding way up a hill, in cooper's_ sussex glossary, _s. v._ a subscriber. _the passage "music hath charms," &c. is from congreve's_ mourning bride, _act i. sc. i._ j. l. (edinburgh) _will find the line_ "dan chaucer (well of english undefiled)" _in spenser's_ faerie queene, _b. iv. canto ii. stanza _. b. b. _is referred to chapter iv. of ferriar's_ illustrations of sterne, _ vols., , for some notice of sterne's obligations to burton's_ anatomy of melancholy. h. c. c. (devizes). _the failure in the picture sent has the appearance of having been caused by air-bubbles in the solution when exciting the albumenized paper._ _we hope next week to present our photographic readers with a very simple mode of preparing paper for the talbotype process. in the mean time we can assure them of the beautiful results we have seen produced by mr. lyte's process in the present number. let those who try it remember, however, that by how much more rapid is the action, by so much more care is required in the operation, and so much greater is the risk of failure._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. "notes and queries" _is also issued in_ monthly parts, _for the convenience of those who may either have a difficulty in procuring the unstamped weekly numbers, or prefer receiving it monthly. while parties resident in the country or abroad, who may be desirous of receiving the weekly numbers, may have_ stamped _copies forwarded direct from the publisher. the subscription for the stamped edition of_ "notes and queries" _is eleven shillings and fourpence for six months, which may be paid by post-office order, drawn in favour of the publisher_, mr. george bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * xylo-iodide of silver, exclusively used at all the photographic establishments.--the superiority of this preparation is now universally acknowledged. testimonials from the best photographers and principal scientific men of the day, warrant the assertion, that hitherto no preparation has been discovered which produces uniformly such perfect pictures, combined with the greatest rapidity of action. in all cases where a quantity is required, the two solutions may be had at wholesale price in separate bottles, in which state it may be kept for years, and exported to any climate. full instructions for use. caution.--each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing my name, richard w. thomas, chemist, . pall mall, to counterfeit which is felony. cyanogen soap: for removing all kinds of photographic stains. the genuine is made only by the inventor, and is secured with a red label bearing this signature and address, richard w. thomas. chemist. . pall mall. manufacturer of pure photographic chemicals: and may be procured of all respectable chemists, in pots at s., s., and s. d. each, through messrs. edwards, . st. paul's churchyard; and messrs. barclay & co., . farringdon street, wholesale agents. * * * * * to photographers, daguerreotypists, &c.--instantaneous collodion (or collodio-iodide silver). solution for iodizing collodion. pyrogallic, gallic, and glacial acetic acids, and every pure chemical required in the practice of photography, prepared by william bolton, operative and photographic chemist, . holborn bars. wholesale dealer in every kind of photographic papers, lenses, cameras, and apparatus, and importer of french and german lenses, &c. catalogues by post on receipt of two postage stamps. sets of apparatus from three guineas. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross. featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * wholesale photographic and optical warehouse. j. solomon, . red lion square, london. depôt for the pocket water filter. * * * * * camera to be sold, second-hand, well made, english make, sliding principle, with front, universal adjustment, focussing-glass, and double paper-holder. pictures by . price l. also french stand, s. apply to p. le neve foster, society of arts, adelphi, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * cocoa-nut fibre matting and mats, of the best quality.--the jury of class , great exhibition, awarded the prize medal to t. treloar, cocoa-nut fibre manufacturer, . ludgate hill, london. * * * * * { } western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale.--messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * chubb's fire-proof safes and locks.--these safes are the most secure from force, fraud, and fire. chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements, cash and deed boxes of all sizes. complete lists, with prices, will be sent on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * imperial life insurance company. . old broad street, london. instituted . ---- samuel hibbert, esq., _chairman_. william r. robinson, esq., _deputy-chairman_. ---- the scale of premiums adopted by this office will be found of a very moderate character, but at the same time quite adequate to the risk incurred. four-fifths, or per cent. of the profits, are assigned to policies _every fifth year_, and may be applied to increase the sum insured, to an immediate payment in cash, or to the reduction and ultimate extinction of future premiums. one-third of the premium on insurances of l. and upwards, for the whole term of life, may remain as a debt upon the policy, to be paid off at convenience; or the directors will lend sums of l. and upwards, on the security of policies effected with this company for the whole term of life, when they have acquired an adequate value. security.--those who effect insurances with this company are protected by its subscribed capital of , l., of which nearly , l. is invested, from the risk incurred by members of mutual societies. the satisfactory financial condition of the company, exclusive of the subscribed and invested capital, will be seen by the following statement: on the st october, , the sums assured, including bonus added, amounted to £ , , the premium fund to more than , and the annual income from the same source, to , insurances, without participation in profits, may be effected at reduced rates. samuel ingall, actuary. * * * * * the original quadrilles, composed for the piano forte by mrs. ambrose merton. london: published for the proprietors, and may be had of c. lonsdale, . old bond street; and by order of all music sellers. price three shillings. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen. . cheapside. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page memoirs of grammont, by w. h. lammin, &c. bohn's reprint of woodfall's "junius," by h. martin minor notes:--mutilating books--the plymouth calendar-- divinity professorships queries:-- sepulchral monuments roger ascham and his letters, by j. e. b. mayor minor queries:--symbolism in raphael's pictures-- "obtains"--army lists for seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--anonymous poet--john bale--a short sermon minor queries with answers:--quakers' calendar--"rodondo, or the state jugglers"--rathlin island--parochial registers--"trevelyan," &c.--grammar school of st. mary de crypt, gloucester replies:-- cranmer's martyrdom, by john p. stilwell, &c. coleridge's unpublished manuscripts, by c. mansfield ingleby life inscriptions on bells, by peter orlando hutchinson, cuthbert bede, rev. h. t. ellacombe, &c. de beauvoir pedigree, by edgar macculloch right of refuge in the church porch, by goddard johnson, &c. ferdinand charles iii., duke of parma, by j. reynell wreford, &c. photographic correspondence:--mr. townsend's wax-paper process--photographic litigation replies to minor queries:--vandyking--monteith--a. m. and m. a.--greek denounced by the monks--caldecott's translation of the new testament--blue bells of scotland--"de male quæsitis gaudet non tertius hæres"--mawkin--"putting a spoke in his wheel"--dog latin--swedish words current in england--mob--"days of my youth"--encore--richard plantagenet, earl of cambridge--right of redeeming property--latin inscription on lindsey court-house--myrtle bee--mousehunt--longfellow's "hyperion"--benjamin rush--quakers executed in north america miscellaneous:-- notices to correspondents * * * * * multæ terricolis linguæ, coelestibus una. samuel bagster and sons' [illustration] general catalogue is sent free by post. it contains lists of quarto family bibles; ancient english translations; manuscript-notes bibles; polyglot bibles in every variety of size and combination of language; parallel-passages bibles; greek critical and other testaments; polyglot books of common prayer; psalms in english, hebrew, and many other languages, in great variety; aids to the study of the old testament and of the new testament; and miscellaneous biblical and other works. by post free. london: samuel bagster & sons, . paternoster row. [greek: pollai men thnêtois glôttai, mia d'athanatoisin] * * * * * now ready, no. vii. (for may), price s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. the original quadrilles, composed for the piano forte by mrs. ambrose merton. london: published for the proprietors, and may be had of c. lonsdale, . old bond street; and by order of all music sellers. price three shillings. * * * * * "it is conducted with ability, industry, and learning."--_nottingham mercury._ now ready, price s. d., the half-yearly volume (january to june, ), of the british controversialist and magazine of self-culture. containing interesting debates on episcopacy, presbyterianism, congregationalism--communications from a spiritual world--napoleon buonaparte--justice to scotland--slavery. a series of articles on european philosophy, and "self-culture." essays on poetry--modern poets--building societies: their constitution and advantages--language--phonetics, &c. information in answer to numerous questions, on the plan of "notes and queries." also a monthly list of new books, literary intelligence, notices of books, &c. the british controversialist is also published on the first of every month, in parts, price threepence each, containing forty pages of superior letterpress, with a wrapper devoted to notices to correspondents. london: houlston & stoneman. * * * * * american books.--low, son, & co., as the importers and publishers of american books in this country, have recently issued a detailed catalogue of their stock in theology, history, travels, biography, practical science, fiction, &c., a copy of which will be forwarded upon application. by arrangements with the american publishers, all works of known or anticipated interest will in future be published by low, son, & co., simultaneously with their appearance in america. works not in stock obtained within six weeks of order. lists of importations forwarded regularly when desired. literary institutions, the clergy, merchants and shippers, and the trade, supplied on advantageous terms. small enclosures taken for weekly case to the united states at a moderate charge. * * * * * to book-buyers.--just published, gratis, part xiv. of a catalogue of second-hand books, in the various classes of english literature (including numerous choice illustrated works), in excellent condition, and at very low prices, by w. j. crawford (successor to the late j. dowding), . newgate street, london. * * * * * to book-collectors.--now ready, gratis and post-free, t. millard's xxxvith catalogue of second-hand books, containing illustrated london news, complete, vols., hf. calf, l., another, cloth, l.; encyclopædia britannica, sixth edition, calf, fine copy, gs., seventh edition, cloth, l.; penny cyclopædia, with supplement, new hf. calf., l. s.; dr. adam clarke's bible, new, l. s.; d'oyly and mant's bible, l.; nash's mansions, new, gs.; magistrated statutes, to , gs.; tegg's london cyclopædia, l. s. . newgate street, london. *** books bought. * * * * * books.--the catalogue for june is now ready, containing rare, curious, and valuable books at reduced prices for ready money. gratis and post free. john petheram, . high holborn. * * * * * old and second-hand books.--a catalogue of second-hand books, free by post on receipt of address. a catalogue of mathematical and scientific books, in various languages, free on receipt of two postage stamps. address w. b. kelly, bookseller, dublin. * * * * * literary curiosities.--fac-similes of extremely curious and interesting newspapers, published during the times of king charles and oliver cromwell, sent (post free) on receipt of stamps. j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * { } murray's british classics.--the third volume of gibbon's roman empire, edited by dr. wm. smith will be published with the magazines on june th. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the quarterly review. no. clxxxix. advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the st, and bills for insertion by the rd july. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * alford's greek testament with english notes. now ready, in vo., vol. i., second edition (containing the four gospels) of the greek testament: with a critically revised text: a digest of various readings: marginal references to verbal and idiomatic usage: prolegomena; and a copious critical an exegetical commentary. for the use of theological students and ministers. by henry alford, b.d., minister of quebec chapel, london, and late fellow of trinity college, cambridge. rivingtons, waterloo place, london; and deighton, cambridge. of whom may be had, the second volume. (the third and concluding volume is in preparation.) * * * * * family music.--stephen glover's new quadrilles: the turkish army. the turkish navy. le perroquet, osborne, the great globe, the gipsies', the welsh, mamma's, papa's, eugenie, the nice young maidens', and the nice young bachelors'. piano solos, s. each; duets, s. each. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street. * * * * * family music.--robert cocks & co.'s handbook of glees. madrigals, catches, canons, part songs, &c., with an accompaniment for the piano or harmonium. edited by joseph warren. numbers. price d. each. nos. . to . may be had in one vol., cloth boards, s. london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street; and of all music-sellers. * * * * * longfellow, the poet.--there is a sweet song by this admired writer just now much inquired after. it is called "excelsior." this really sublime effusion of the poet is charmingly wedded to music by miss m. lindsay. it is particularly a song for the refined evening circle, and is adorned with a capital illustration. it is among the recent publications of the messrs. robert cocks & co., her majesty's music publishers, of new burlington street.--see _the observer_, may , . * * * * * indispensable to correct writers and speakers. just ready, price s. d., square mo., cloth, a new dictionary of synonyms, arranged in alphabetical order. by d. l. mackenzie. this is an entirely new dictionary of english synonyms. considerable pains have been taken to render it what, on comparison with others, it will be found to be--the most complete in the language. published by g. willis, great piazza, covent garden. * * * * * just published, in one volume mo., sewed, pp., price s. d. the governing classes of great britain. political portraits, by edward m. whitty. "in this volume we have some exceedingly smart sketches of various public men."--_church and state gazette._ "these portraits of what the author terms the 'governing classes of great britain,' are republished from 'the leader' newspaper, and form a little thesaurus of information of a peculiar and interesting character."--_leeds times._ "these lively sketches of living political characters are, many of them, admirably written, always satirical in spirit, and occasionally far-seeing in their ken. there are points which thackeray could hardly have done better."--_era._ "the readers of the 'leader' need only be informed that the series of papers, 'the governing classes of great britain,' which were contributed by a non-elector, have been collected into an eighteenpenny volume, in handsome legible type; the non-elector declaring himself to be mr. edward whitty, a name which has only the aspirate _de trop_."--_leader._ trÜbner & co., . paternoster row. * * * * * this day is published in vo., s. d., the first volume (embracing the topography and botany) of a natural history of the eastern borders. by g. johnston, m.d., author of "a history of british zoophytes," &c. john van voorst, . paternoster row. * * * * * just published, vols. post vo., s. a volunteer's indian scramble. by lieut. hugo james, bengal army. "there is variety in the volumes: rough adventure in the earlier journeys through scinde and the punjab; camp life at the siege of mooltan; interviews with half independent princes." &c.--_spectator._ "a perusal will certainly delight and instruct the reader."--_morning advertiser._ just received from india. in vo., cloth, price s.; by post s. d. hints on examinations in the vernacular languages of western india. by a. st. john richardson, bombay civil service. w. thacker & co., . newgate street. * * * * * just published, in crown vo., price s. d. cloth, the last of the old squires: a sketch. by cedric oldacre. esq., of sax-normanbury, sometime of christ church, oxon. london: longman. brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * edward offor, lithographic draughtsman and missal painter, . leadenhall street, city, and grove street. hackney, having received permission to make fac-similes from the bibles and autographs, and copy the illuminated manuscripts in the british museum, is ready to fulfil any orders entrusted to him. he has also free access to his father's well-known valuable collection of bibles and manuscripts, from which he has made many fac-similes. autograph and other letters accurately fac-similed on stone or paper. architectural drawings; all kinds of plans; old woodcuts; missals, and various kinds of illuminated writing; as also designs in any style made or copied, plain or in colours, on stone, wood, zinc, paper, &c., on the shortest notice. e. o. has received the appointment of heraldic draughtsman to the "star clubs" of london, an undertakes all kinds of heraldry on vellum or stone. valuable books or drawings will be preserved with the greatest care, and security given if required. * * * * * urgent questions. by the rev. john cumming, d.d. on the st july will be published, what think ye of christ? the first of a series of personal, practical, and pointed questions, adapted for universal circulation. the series will be continued monthly neatly printed, with a wrapper, in imperial mo., price twopence. these questions are personal, practical, and pointed. they are designed to suggest trains of inquiry in which every human being has a deep interest, and to indicate answers full of peace. each question, with its solution, will be published monthly, and at so low a price, that christian heads of houses and establishments may be induced to circulate or distribute them. they may awaken inquiries, which will be satisfied with nothing short of an answer from the only source of light, life, and truth. the second will be published on the st of august, what must i do to be saved? london: john f. shaw, . southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * works by dr. cumming. the great sacrifice; or, the gospel according to leviticus. fcp. vo., s. d. cloth. *** this forms the first companion volume to the "sabbath morning readings." fourth thousand. uniform with "voices of the night." benedictions; or, the blessed life. fcp. vo., s. cloth. voices of the night. twelfth thousand. fcp. vo., s. cloth. voices of the day. ninth thousand. fcp. vo., s. cloth. voices of the dead. sixth thousand. fcp. vo., s. cloth. christ receiving sinners. sixteenth thousand. fcp. vo., s. d. cloth; also in mo., price s. cloth. god in history. eighth enlarged edition. fcp. vo., s. d. cloth. sabbath morning readings on the old testament. the book of genesis. seventh thousand. s. cloth. the book of exodus. fifth thousand. s. cloth. the book of leviticus. london: john f. shaw, . southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * just published, fcp. vo. s. d. cloth. tales of ireland and the irish. by j. g. macwalter. author of the "scarlet mystery," "history of the irish church." london: john f. shaw. . southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * turkey.--shaw's family library. price s. boards. the sultan of turkey, abdul medjid khan. a brief memoir of his life and times, with notices of the country, its army, navy, and present prospects. by the rev. henry christmas, m.a. fcp. vo., s. d. cloth. russia and turkey. lives of the emperor of russia, nicholas i. and the sultan of turkey, abdul medjid khan. by the rev. henry christmas, m.a. london: john f. shaw, . southampton row, and paternoster row. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, june , ._ * * * * * notes. memoirs of grammont. (vol. viii., pp. . .; vol. ix., pp. . . .) "des gens qui écrivent pour le comte de grammont peuvent compter sur quelque indulgence."--vide introduction to the memoirs. grammont's first visit to england may have been in nov. , when bordeaux, the french ambassador, concluded a treaty with cromwell, whereby france agreed totally to abandon the interests of charles ii.; and cromwell, on his part, declared war against spain, by which we gained jamaica. another opportunity occurred in , when cromwell's son-in-law, lord fauconberg, was sent to compliment louis xiv. and cardinal mazarin, who were near dunkirk. the ambassador presented some horses to the king and his brother, and also to the cardinal. they made the ambassador handsome presents, and the king sent the duke de crequi as his ambassador extraordinary to the protector, accompanied by several persons of distinction. grammont was at the siege of montmedi, which surrendered on the th august, . he accompanied his brother, the marshal, to madrid in , to demand the hand of the infanta for his sovereign. on the kings entry into paris the same year with his queen, madame de maintenon writes: "the chevalier de grammont, rouville, bellefont, and some other courtiers, followed the household of cardinal mazarin, which surprised everybody: it was said it was out of flattery. the chevalier was dressed in a flame-coloured suit, and was very brilliant." in he was disgraced on account of madlle de la motte houdancourt, aggravated also, it is said, by his having watched the king getting over the tiles into the apartments of the maids of honour, and spread the report about. the writer of the notes to the _memoirs_ supposes that the count's circumstances were not very flourishing on his arrival in england, and that he endeavoured to support himself by his literary acquirements. a scarce little work in latin and french on king charles's coronation was attributed to him, the initials to which were p. d. c., which it was said might stand for philibert de cramont. there seems no reason for this supposition: his finances were no worse in england than they had been in france; and there is no doubt he made his appearance at the court of england under the greatest advantages. his family were specially protected by the duke and duchess of orleans, the favourite sister of king charles; and the count was personally known to the king and to the duke of york; and from a letter of comminges', dated th dec. , it may be almost inferred that the duke sent his own yacht to fetch the count to london. bussi-rabutin writes of the count, that he wrote almost worse than any one, and therefore not very likely to recruit his finances by authorship. the exact date of grammont's marriage has yet to be fixed: probably a search at doctors' commons for the licence, or in the whitehall registers, if such exist, would determine the day. the first child, a boy, was born on the th august, o. s., th september, , but did not live long. this would indicate that the marriage took place in december, . from comminges' letters, dated in that month, it must have been on a day subsequent to the th december. their youngest child, who was afterwards an abbess, was born on the th december, . it has been stated that grammont was the hero of molière's _mariage forcée_, which was performed before the court at versailles in . comminges' letter of may - , , may allude to the count's conduct to miss hamilton. he was twenty years older than the lady. under date of october -november , , comminges announces the departure from london of the count and countess de grammont. the count was present with the king at the conquest of franche comte in , and in particular at the siege of dôle in february, . the count and countess were subsequently in england, as king charles himself writes to the duchess of orleans on the th october, , that the count and countess, with their family, were returning to france by way of dieppe. in , according to st. evremond, the count was successful in procuring the recall of his nephew, the count de guiche. evelyn mentions in his _diary_ dining on the th may, , at sir thomas clifford's, "where dined monsieur de grammont and several french noblemen." madame de sévigné names the count in her letter of th january, . he was present at the siege of maestricht, which surrendered to the king in person on the th june, . madame de sévigné names the count again in her letter of the st july, . the duchess of orleans (the second) relates the great favour in which the count was with the king. he was present at the sieges of cambray and namur in april, , and february, . we obtain many glimpses of the count and countess in subsequent years in the pages of madame de sévigné, dangeau, and others, which may be consulted in preference to filling your columns with extracts. { } in , grammont was sent by the duke of orleans to congratulate james ii. on the birth of his son; in the _ellis correspondence_, under the date of th july, , it appears there was to have been an exhibition of fire-works, but it was postponed, and the following intimation of the cause was hinted at by a person behind the scenes: "the young prince is ill, but it is a secret; i think he will not hold. the foreign ministers, zulestein and grammont, stay to see the issue." grammont died on the th january, , aged eighty-six years; his countess survived him only until the rd june, , when she expired, aged sixty-seven years. they only left one child, namely, claude charlotte, married on the th april, , to henry howard, earl of stafford; marie elizabeth de grammont, born the th december, , abbess of sainte marine de poussey, in lorraine, having died in , previous to her parents. maurepas says that grammont's eldest daughter was maid of honour to the second duchess of orleans, who suspected her of intriguing with her son, afterwards the celebrated regent. the duchess, he adds, married her to lord stafford. another writer says, that although grammont's daughters were not handsome, yet they caused as much observation at court as those who were. w. h. lammin. fulham. count hamilton is little to be trusted to in his chronology, from a mischievous custom that he has of, whenever he has to record a marriage or love affair between two parties considerably different in age, adding to that difference extravagantly, to make the thing more ridiculous. sir john denham is a well-known instance of this; but another, which is not noticed by the editor of bohn's edition, nor any other that i have seen, is his making out col. john russell, a younger brother of the first duke of bedford, to have been seventy years of age in , although his eldest brother was born in , and the colonel could have been little older than, if as old as, de grammont himself. j. s. warden. * * * * * bohn's reprint of woodfall's "junius." when a publisher issues a series of such works as are comprised in _bohn's standard library_, and thereby brings expensive publications within the reach of the multitude, he is entitled to the gratitude and the active support of the reading portion of the public; but, if he wish to be ranked amongst the respectable booksellers, he ought to see to the accuracy of his reprints. bohn's edition of woodfall's _junius_, in two volumes, purports to contain "the entire work, as originally published." this it does not. some of the notes are omitted; and the text is, in many instances, incorrect. i have examined the first volume only; and i shall state some of the errors which i have found, on comparing it with woodfall's edition, three volumes vo., . the pages noted are those of bohn's first volume. p. . in his dedication, junius says: "if an honest, and, i may truly affirm, a laborious zeal." bohn turns it into nonsense, by printing it: "if an honest _man_, and i may truly," &c. p. . in letter i., junius speaks of "distributing the _offices_ of state, by rotation." bohn has it "_officers_." p. . in letter ii., sir w. draper says that "all junius's _assertions_ are false and scandalous." bohn prints it "_exertions_." p. . in letter xxii., junius says, "it may be advisable to _gut_ the resolution." bohn has it "to _put_." p. . in letter xxx., junius says: "and, if possible, to perplex _us with_ the multitude of their offences." bohn omits the words "_us with_." p. . in letter xlii., junius speaks of the "future _projects_" of the ministry. bohn prints it "future _prospects_." p. . in the same letter, junius says: "how far people may be animated _to resistance_, under the present administration." bohn omits "_to resistance_." p. . in letter liii., horne says: "and in case of refusal, _threaten_ to write them down." bohn omits "_threaten_." p. . in letter lxi., philo-junius says, "his view is to change a court of _common law into a court of_ equity." bohn omits the words "_common law into a court of_." p. . in letter lxiii., junius writes, "love _and kindness_ to lord chatham." bohn omits "_and kindness_." p. . in letter lxiv., junius speaks of "a multitude of _prerogative writs_." bohn has it "a multitude of _prerogatives_." p. . in letter lxviii., junius says to lord mansfield: "if, on your part, you should have no plain, substantial _defence_." bohn substitutes "_evidence_" for "_defence_." these are the most important errors, but not all that i have found in the text. i now turn to the reprint of dr. mason good's preliminary essay. the editor says: "the omission of a quotation or two, of no present interest, and the correction of a few inaccuracies of language, are the only alterations that have been made in the preliminary essay." we shall see how far this is true. such alterations as "arrogance" for "insolence," p. .; "classic purity" for "classical chastity," p. .; "severe" for "atrocious," p. ., i shall not particularise farther; but merely observe that, so far from being merely "corrections { } of inaccuracies of language," they are frequently changes of meaning. at pp. . and ., extracts from speeches by burke and north are introduced into the text. in woodfall, they are given in a note, so as not to interrupt the writer's argument. occasionally, a sentence is partly rewritten. i take one specimen. dr. good says that, "but for the letters of junius, the commons of england might still ... have been exposed to the absurd and obnoxious harassment of parliamentary arrests, upon a violation of privileges undefined and incapable of being appealed against--defrauded of their estates upon an arbitrary and interested claim of the crown." in bohn, p. ., the words are altered to "have been exposed to arbitrary violations of individual liberty, under undefined pretexts of parliamentary privileges, against which there _were_ (?) no appeal--defrauded of their estates upon capricious and interested claims of the crown." dr. good, to show that burke could not be junius, cites several passages from his works; and then proves, by quotations from junius, that the opinions of the one were opposed to those of the other. in bohn's edition all these quotations, which occupy twelve octavo pages in woodfall, are omitted as unnecessary, although the writer's argument is partly founded upon them; and yet the editor has retained (evidently through carelessness), at p. ., dr. good's subsequent reference to these very quotations, where, being about to give some extracts from general lee's letters, he says: "they may be compared with those of junius, _that follow the preceding extracts from mr. burke_." this reference is retained, but the extracts spoken of are omitted. some of woodfall's notes are wholly left out; but i will not lengthen these remarks by specially pointing them out. the new notes of bohn's editor offer much matter for animadversion, but i confine myself to one point. in a note to sir w. draper's first letter (p. .), we are told that sir william "married a miss de lancy, who died in , _leaving him a daughter_." in another note relating to sir william (p. .), it is stated that "he married a daughter of the second son of the duke of st. alban's. her ladyship died in , _leaving him no issue_." how are we to reconcile these statements? h. martin. halifax. [the work professes to be edited by mr. wade. mr. wade therefore, and not mr. bohn, is responsible for the errors pointed out by our correspondent.--ed.] * * * * * minor notes. _mutilating books._--swift, in a letter to stella, jan. , , says, "i went to bateman's the bookseller, and laid out eight-and-forty shillings for books. i bought three little volumes of lucian in french, for our stella." this bateman would never allow any one to look into a book in his shop; and when asked the reason, he would say, "i suppose you may be a physician, or an author, and want some recipe or quotation; and if you buy it i will engage it to be perfect before you leave me, but not after; as i have suffered by leaves being torn out, and the books returned, to my very great loss and prejudice. abhba. _the plymouth calendar._--to your collection of verses (vol. vii. _passim_) illustrative of local circumstances, incidents, &c., allow me to add the following: "the west wind always brings wet weather, the east wind wet and cold together; the south wind surely brings us rain, the north wind blows it back again. if the sun in red should set, the next day surely will be wet; if the sun should set in grey, the next will be a rainy day." balliolensis. _divinity professorships._--in the last number of _the journal of sacred literature_ (april, ), there is a well-deserved eulogium on the biblical labours of dr. kitto; who, though in the enjoyment of the title of d.d. (conferred on him some years ago by a continental university), is nevertheless a layman, and not, as is very commonly imagined, in orders. the article, however, to which i refer, contains a curious mistake. michaelis is cited (p. .) as an instance of a layman being able, on the continent, to hold a professorship relating to theology and biblical science, in contrast to what is assumed to be the invariable system at the english universities. it is true, indeed, that for the most part such professorships are here held by clergymen; but from several of them laymen are not excluded by any law. at cambridge, the norrisian professor of divinity, for example, may be a layman. with respect to the degree of d.d., it is observed by the writer of the article, p. .: "in germany this degree is given to laymen, but in england it is exclusively appropriated to the clergy. this led to the very general impression among strangers, that dr. kitto is a clergyman." abhba. [we have frequently seen the celebrated nonjuror henry dodwell noticed as in orders, perhaps from his portrait exhibiting him in gown and bands as camden professor of history at oxford. miss strickland, too, in her _lives of the queens of england_, vol. vii. p. ., and vol. viii. p. ., edit. , speaks of that worthy layman, robert nelson, both as a _doctor_ and a clergyman!--ed.] { } * * * * * queries. sepulchral monuments. (_concluded from_ p. .) a divine, reasoning philosophically with a lady on the possibility of the appearance of ghosts, was much perplexed by her simple inquiry as to where the clothes came from. if then the mediæval effigies are alive, how can the costume be reconciled with their position? where do their clothes come from? the theory advanced in the two preceding numbers seems to offer a ready solution. another corroborative fact remains to be stated, that when a kneeling attitude superseded the recumbent, the brasses were placed upon the wall, testifying, in some degree at least, that the horizontal figures were not traditionally regarded as living portraits. in anticipation of objections, it can only be said that "they have no speculation in their eyes;" that out of the thousands in existence, a few exceptions will only prove the rule; and that their incongruities were conventional. it is now my purpose to offer a few more reasons for releasing the sculptors of the present day from a rigid adherence to the uplifted hands and the straight head. that there is grace, dignity, and pious serenity occasionally perceptible in these interesting relics of bygone days, which so appropriately furnish our magnificent cathedrals, and embellish numbers of our parochial churches, is freely admitted; but that they are formal, conventional, monotonous, and consequently unfitted for modern imitation, cannot reasonably be denied by a person with pretensions to taste. from the study of anatomy, the improvement in painting, the invention of engraving, our acquaintance with the matchless works of greece, and other causes, this branch of art has made considerable advance. why, then, should a sculptor be now "cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in," by such inflexible conditions? if some variation is discoverable in the ancient types, why should he not have the advantage of selection, and avail himself of that attitude best adapted to the situation of the tomb and the character of the deceased? not to multiply examples of deviation--the queen of henry iv., in canterbury cathedral, has one arm reposing at her side, and the other upon her breast. the arms of edward iii., in westminster abbey, are both stretched at his side. an abbot of peterborough, in that cathedral, holds a book and a pastoral staff. the hands of richard beauchamp, earl of warwick, in his beautiful chapel, are raised, but separate. several have the arms crossed, expressive of humility and resignation. others (lay as well as clerical) press a holy book to their bosom; and some place the right hand upon the heart, denoting the warmth of their love and faith. in his description of italian monuments, mr. ruskin remarks, that "though in general, in tombs of this kind, the face of the statue is slightly turned towards the spectator, in one case it is turned away" (_stones of venice_, vol. iii. p. .); and instances are not unfrequent of similar inclinations of the head at home. why then should this poor choice be denied? why should he be fettered by austere taskmasters to this stereotyped treatment, to the proverbial stiffness of "our grandsires cut in alabaster." indignation has been excited in many quarters against that retrograde movement termed "pre-raphaelism," yet what in fact is this severe, angular, antiquated style, but identically the same thing in stone? what but pre-angeloism? upon the supposition that the effigies have departed this life, or even that the spirit is only about to take its flight, anatomical and physiological difficulties present themselves, for strong action would be required to hold the hands in this attitude of prayer. the drapery, too, hanging in straight folds, has been always apparently designed from upright figures, circumstances evincing how little the rules of propriety were then regarded. their profusion occasions a familiarity which demands a change, for the range is here as confined as that of the sign-painter, who could only depict lions, and was therefore precluded from varying his signs, except by an alteration in the colour. such is the yearning of taste for diversity, that in the equestrian procession on the frieze of the parthenon, out of about ninety horses, not two are in the same attitude; yet to whatever extent our churches may be thronged with these sepulchral tombs, all must be, as it were, cast in the same mould, till by repetition their beauty "fades in the eye and palls upon the sense." it is evidently imitating the works of antiquity under a disadvantage, inasmuch as modern costume is far inferior in picturesque effect to the episcopal vestments, the romantic armour, and numerous elegant habiliments of an earlier day. every lesser embellishment and minuteness of detail are regarded by an artist who has more enlarged views of his profession as foreign to the main design; yet the robes, millinery, jewellery, and accoutrements usually held a place with the carvers of that time of equal importance with the face, and engaged as large a share of their attention. the comparative easiness of execution forms another argument. having received the simple commission for a monument (specifications are needless), the workmen (as may be imagined) fixes the armour of the defunct knight upon his table, places a mask moulded from nature on the helmet-pillow, fits on a pair of hands with which, like an { } assortment of gloves, his studio is provided, diligently applies his compasses to insure exact equality by means of a receipt, perchance imparts some devotional expression, and the work is ready to be transferred to stone. mr. petit, in the preface (page x.) to his _architectural studies_, after due praise, asserts-- "that no sculptor anxious to advance his own reputation and art will ever set up a mediæval statue as his model. he may acknowledge its merits, and learn much from a careful examination of it, but still he will not look up to its designer as his master and guide." again, the efforts of genius are cramped by such uncompromising terms. the feet must unavoidably be directed towards the east; still, whatever the situation of the tomb may chance to be, from whatever point it may be viewed, or whether the light may fall on this side or on that, no way of escape is open, and no ingenuity can be employed to grapple with the uncontrollable obstruction. portrait painters can choose the position most favourable to the features, but the monumental sculptor of the nineteenth century may only exhibit what is generally shunned, the direct profile; the contour of the face, and the wide expanse of brow, which might probably give the most lively indications of intellectual power, amiability of disposition, and devout tranquillity of soul, must be sacrificed to this unbending law "which altereth not." sculptors, we are told, should overcome difficulties; but here they are required to "strive with impossibilities, yea, get the better of them." whether painted windows, or some other ornament, or a tomb alone in harmony with the architecture (the form and features of the individual being elsewhere preserved), may constitute a more desirable memorial, is a separate question, but as statues are only admissible in a recumbent posture, some little latitude must be allowed. like our reformers in higher things, it behoves us to discard what is objectionable in art, while we cherish that which is to be admired. instead of treading in the footsteps of those lofty spirits, we should endeavour to follow the same road. fully appreciating their excellences, let us avoid the distorted drawing of their brilliant glass, their irregularities in architectural design, the irreverence of their carving, and the conventionalism of their monumental sculpture. c. t. i agree with c. t. in thinking that the usual recumbent figure on mediæval tombs was intended to represent a dead body, and more particularly to represent the body as it had lain in state, or had been borne to the grave; and i will add one or two additional reasons for this opinion. in the description in speed, of the intended monument of henry viii., taken from a ms. given to speed by that industrious herald master, charles lancaster, the following direction occurs:-- "item, upon the same basement shall be made two tombes of blacke touch, that is to say, on either side one, and upon the said tombes of blacke touch shall be made the image of the king and queen, on both sides, not as death [dead], but as persons sleeping, because to shewe that famous princes leaving behind them great fame never doe die, and shall be in royall apparels after the antique manner."--speed's _hist. of great brit._, p. . ed. . the distinction here taken between a dead and a sleeping figure, and the reason assigned for the latter, show, i think, that at that time a recumbent figure generally was supposed to represent death. in a monument of sir roger aston, at cranford, middlesex, in lysons' _environs of london_, the knight and his two wives are represented praying, and by the side of the knight _lies_ the infant son who had died in his lifetime. in the monument of pope innocent viii. (pistolesi, _il vaticano_, vol. i. plate .), the pope is in one part represented in a living action, and in another as lying on his tomb, and from the contrast which would thus be afforded between life and death, the latter representation seems to indicate death. the hands raised in prayer are accounted for by c. t. open eyes, i think, may be intended to express, by their direction towards heaven, the hope in which the deceased died. this is suggested by the description of the funeral car of henry v. "preparations were made to convey the body of henry from rouen to england. it was placed within a car, on which reclined his figure made of boiled leather, elegantly painted. a rich crown of gold was on its head. the right hand held a sceptre, and the left a golden ball. _the face seemed to contemplate the heavens._"--turner's _hist. of eng._, vol. ii. p. . i must, however, add that on referring to monstrelet, i doubt whether turner does not go too far in this last particular. monstrelet merely says, "le visage vers le ciel." (monst. _chron._ vol. i. . ed. .) speed adds an additional circumstance: "the body (of this figure) was clothed with a purple roabe furred with ermine." from the mutilated state of the tomb it is impossible to say how far the recumbent effigy resembled this boiled figure, but it is evidently just such a representation of the king as might have been laid on his tomb, and so far it tends to support the opinion that the effigy on a tomb represents the deceased as he had lain in state, or was borne to and placed in his tomb, an opinion fully borne out by the agreement which, in some cases, has been found to exist between the effigy on a tomb and the body discovered within it, or between the effigy and the description of the body as it had lain in state. see the tombs of king { } john, robert lord hungerford, and henry ii., in stothard's _monumental effigies of great britain_, and the introduction to that work. i think it is not irrelevant to remark that at a very early period a recumbent figure was sometimes placed on a tomb as in a state of death. the recumbent etruscan figures generally represent a state of repose or of sensual enjoyment; but there is one given by micali (_monumenti inediti a illustrazione degli antichi popoli italiani_, tav. . p. .), which is, undoubtedly, that of a dead person. in his description of it, micali says, "on the first view of it one would say it was a sepulchral monument of the middle ages, so greatly does it resemble one." mrs. gray, too (_tour to the sepulchres of etruria_, p. .), mentions a sepulchral urn, "very large, with a woman robed, and with a dog upon it, exactly like an english monument of the middle ages." if it were not for the dog, i should suppose this to be the one given by micali. though it may be too much to suppose that this form of representation may have been not uncommon, and may have passed into early christian monuments, the instance in micali at least shows that the idea of representing a dead body on a tomb is a very ancient one. it may be added, perhaps, that it is an obvious one. though the reasons for thinking that the ordinary mediæval figure represents death may not be conclusive, still that opinion is, i think, entitled to be looked upon as the more probable one, until some satisfactory reason is given why a _living_ person should be represented outstretched, and lying on his back--a position, as it seems to me, more inconsistent with life than the open eyes and hands joined in prayer are with death. for too much weight is not to be attached to slight inconsistencies. these would probably be disregarded for the sake of expressing some favourite idea or sentiment. thus, in the proposed monument of henry viii., though the king and queen are directed to be represented as living, their souls are to be represented in the hand of "the father." in modern tombs the mediæval idea has been entirely departed from, and the recumbent position sometimes expresses neither death, nor even sleep, but simple repose, or contemplation, resignation, hope, &c. if it is proper or desirable to express these or other sentiments in a recumbent figure, it seems unreasonable to exclude them for the sake of a rigid adherence to a form, of which the import is either obscure, or, if rightly conjectured, has, by the change of customs, become idle and unmeaning. f. s. b. e. * * * * * roger ascham and his letters. to the epistles of roger ascham, given in elstob's edition, have since been added several to raven and others[ ], two to cecil[ ], and several to mrs. astley, bp. gardiner, sir thos. smith, mr. callibut, sir w. pawlett, queen elizabeth, the earl of leicester, and mr. c. h.[owe].[ ] some of your correspondents will, doubtless, be able farther to enlarge this list of printed letters. in a ms. volume, once belonging to bp. moore, now in the university library, cambridge, is a volume of transcripts[ ], containing, amongst other documents, letters from ascham to petre[ ] and to cecil; one (p. .) "written by r. a., for a gent to a gentlewoman, in waie of marriage," and one to the b. of w.[inchester], which, though without a signature, is certainly ascham's. in another ms. volume, in the same collection (ee. v. .), are copies of ascham's letter to his wife on the death of their child[ ], and of a letter to mr. richard goodrich. lastly, ascham's college (st. john's) possesses his original letter to cardinal pole, written on the fly-leaf of a copy of osorius _de nobilitate civili_[ ]; and also the original ms. of the translation of oecumenius, accompanied by a latin letter to seton.[ ] these unpublished letters will shortly be printed for the cambridge antiquarian society. early information respecting any other ms. works of ascham, or collations of his published letters with the originals, will be thankfully acknowledged. j. e. b. mayor. st. john's college, cambridge. p. s.--i may add that we have at st. john's a { } copy of ascham's letters (ed. elstob), with many dates and corrections in baker's hand. there may be something new in kennett's biographical notice of ascham (lansdowne mss. . art. .) [footnote : in _the english works of roger ascham_, london, , vo.: this edition is reprinted from bennet's, with additions. bennet took these letters from baker's extracts (in his mss. xiii. - ., now in the harleian collection), "from originals in mr. strype's hands." one letter is more fully given by mr. tytler, _england under edward vi. and mary_, vol. ii. p. .] [footnote : in sir h. ellis's _letters of eminent literary men_, camden soc. nos. and . correcter copies than had before appeared from the lansdowne mss.] [footnote : most incorrectly printed in whitaker's _history of richmondshire_, vol. i. p. . seq. the letters themselves are highly important and curious.] [footnote : dd. ix. . some of the letters are transcribed by baker, mss. xxxii. p. . seq.] [footnote : this letter has many sentences in common with that to gardiner, of the date jan. [ ], printed by whitaker (p. . seq.)] [footnote : whitaker, who prints this (p. . seq.) says that it had been printed before. where?] [footnote : this, i believe, unpublished letter is referred to by osorius, in a letter to ascham (_aschami epistolæ_, p. .: oxon. ).] [footnote : both of these have been printed, the letter in _aschami epistolæ_, lib. i. ep. . p. . seq. compare on the commentary, ibid. pp. . and .] * * * * * minor queries. _symbolism in raphael's pictures._--in some of the most beautiful pictures of "the virgin and child" of raphael, and other old masters, our lord is represented with his right foot placed upon the right foot of the blessed virgin. what is the symbolism of this position? in the church of rome, the god-parent at holy confirmation is, if i remember right, directed by a rubric to place his or her right foot upon the right foot of the person confirmed. is this ceremony at all connected with the symbolism i have noticed? wm. fraser, b.c.l. "_obtains._"--every one must have observed the frequent recurrence of this word, more especially those whose study is the law: "this practice on that principle _obtains_." how did the word acquire the meaning given to it in such a sentence? y. s. m. _army lists for seventeenth and eighteenth centuries._--where are they to be found? not at the horse guards, as the records there go back only to . i want particulars of many officers in both centuries; some of them who came to ireland temp. charles i., and during cromwell's protectorate, and others early in the last century. y. s. m. _anonymous poet._-- "it is not to the people of the west of scotland that the energetic reproach of the poet can apply. i allude to the passage in which he speaks of-- 'all scotia's weary days of civil strife-- when the poor whig was lavish of his life, and bought, stern rushing upon clavers' spears, the freedom and the scorn of after years.'" _peter's letters to his kinsfolk_, vol. iii. p. . edin. . who is "the poet?" anon. _john bale._--strype, in his _life of parker_, book iv. sec. . p. . edit. , speaking of bale, says: "he set himself to search many libraries in oxford, cambridge," &c. bale himself, in the list of his own writings, enumerates "ex diversis bibliothecis." did this piece contain any account of his researches in libraries alluded to? if so, has it ever been published? tanner makes no mention of it in his _bibliotheca britannico-hibernica_. h. f. s. cambridge. _a short sermon._--in an essay on benevolence, by the rev. david simpson of macclesfield, it is reported of dean swift, that he once delivered in his trite and laconic manner the following short sermon, in advocating the cause of a charitable institution, the text and discourse containing thirty-four words only: "he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again. now, my brethren, if you like the security, down with your money." when and where did this occur, and what was the result? henry edwards. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _quakers' calendar._--what month would the quakers mean by " th month," a century and a half since? d. [before the statute geo. ii., for altering the calendar in great britain, the quakers began their year on the th of march, which they called the _first_ month; but at the yearly meeting for sufferings in london, oct. , a committee was appointed to consider what advice might be necessary to be given to the friends in relation to the statute in question. the opinion of the committee was, "that in all the records and writings of friends from and after the last day of the month, called december, next, the computation of time established by the said act should be observed; and that, accordingly, the first day of the eleventh month, commonly called january, next, should be reckoned and deemed by friends the first day of the _first_ month of the year ." consequently the twelfth month, a century and a half since, would be _february_. see nicolas's _chronology_, p. .] "_rodondo, or the state jugglers._"--who was the author of this political squib, three cantos, - ; reproduced in _ruddiman's collection_, edinburgh, ? in my copy i have written hugh dalrymple, but know not upon what authority. it is noticed in the _scots mag._, vol. xxv., where it is ascribed to "a caledonian, who has laid about him so well as to vindicate his country from the imputation of the _north briton_, that there is neither wit nor humour on the other side the tweed." j. o. [a copy of this work in the british museum contains the following ms. entry: "the author of the three cantos of _rodondo_ was hugh dalrymple, esq. he also wrote _woodstock_, an elegy reprinted in pearch's _collection of poems_. at the time of his death he was attorney-general for the grenades, where he died, march , . his daughter married dr., afterwards sir john elliott, from whom she was divorced, and became a celebrated courtezan."] _rathlin island._--has any detailed account of this island, which is frequently called rahery, { } and is a few miles from the northern coast of ireland, appeared in print? the locality is most interesting in many particulars, historical and geological, and might therefore be made the subject of an instructive paper. a brief account was inserted, i think, a few years ago in an english periodical. abhba. [an interesting and detailed account of this island, which he calls raghery, is given in hamilton's _letters concerning the northern coast of the county of antrim_, , vo., pp. - . consult also lewis's _topographical history of ireland_, vol. ii. p. .] _parochial registers._--when and where were parochial registers first established? the earliest extant at the present day? abhba. [we fear our correspondent has not consulted that useful and amusing work, burn's _history of parish registers in england, also of the registers of scotland, ireland, the east and west indies, the fleet, king's bench, mint, chapel royal, &c._, vo. , which contains a curious collection of miscellaneous particulars concerning them.] _"trevelyan," &c._--who was the author of two novels, published about twenty years ago, called _a marriage in high life_ and _trevelyan_: the latter the later of the two? uneda. philadelphia. [these works are by the hon. caroline lucy scott, at present residing at petersham, in surrey.] _grammar school of st. mary de crypt, gloucester._--can you give me the name of the master of the grammar school of st. mary de crypt in ? sigma ( ). [daniel bond, b.a., was elected master march , , and was also vicar of leigh. he died in .] * * * * * replies. cranmer's martyrdom. (vol. ix., pp. . .) i thank g. w. r. for his courteous remarks on my note on cranmer. perhaps i have overstated the effect of pain on the nervous system; certainly i was wrong in making a wider assertion than was required by my case, which is, that no man could hold his hand over unconfined flame till it was "entirely consumed" or "burnt to a coal." "bruslée à feu de souphre" does not go so far as that, nor is it said at what time of the burning ravaillac raised his head to look at his hand. j. h. has mistaken my intention. i have always carefully avoided everything which tended to religious or moral controversy in "n. & q." i treated cranmer's case on physiological grounds only. i did not look for "cotemporaneous evidence against that usually received," any more than i should for such evidence that st. denis did not walk from paris to montmartre with his head in his hand. if either case is called a miracle, i have nothing to say upon it _here_; and for the same reason that i avoid such discussion, i add, that in not noticing j. h.'s opinions on cranmer, i must not be understood as assenting to or differing from them. j. h. says: "it would surely be easy to produce facts of almost every week from the evidence given in coroners' inquests, in which persons have had their limbs burnt off--to say nothing of farther injury--without the shock producing death." if favoured with one such fact, i will do my best to inquire into it. none such has fallen within my observation or reading. the heart remaining "entire and unconsumed among the ashes," is a minor point. it does not seem impossible to j. h., "in its plain and obvious meaning." do the words admit two meanings? burnet says: "but it was no small matter of astonishment to find his heart entire, and not consumed among the ashes; which, though the reformed would not carry so far as to make a miracle of it, and a clear proof that his heart had continued true, though his hand had erred; yet they objected it to the papists, that it was certainly such a thing, that if it had fallen out in any of their church, they had made it a miracle."--vol. ii. p. . h. b. c. u. u. club. permit me to offer to h. b. c.'s consideration the case of mutius scævola, who, failing in his attempt to kill porsenna in his own camp, and being taken before the king, thrust his right hand into the fire, and held it there until burnt; at the same time declaring that he knew three hundred men who would not flinch from doing the same thing. to a certain extent, i am inclined to think with alfred gatty (vol. ix., p. .), "that an exalted state of feeling may be attained;" which, though it will not render the religious or political martyr insensible to pain, it will yet nerve him to go through his martyrdom without demonstration of extreme suffering. this ability to endure pain may be accounted for in either of the following ways: . an exalted state of feeling; instance joan of arc. . fortitude; instance mutius scævola. . nervous insensibility; which carries the vanquished american indian through the most exquisite tortures, and enables him to fall asleep on the least respite of his agony. should these three be united in one individual, it is needless to say that he could undergo any bodily pain without a murmur. john p. stilwell. { } * * * * * coleridge's unpublished manuscripts. (vol. ix., pp. . .) every admirer of coleridge's writings must feel, as i do, grateful to mr. green for the detailed account he has rendered of the manuscripts committed to his care. a few points, however, in his reply call for a rejoinder on my part. i will be as brief as possible. i never doubted for an instant that, had i "sought a private explanation of the matters" comprised in my note, mr. green would have courteously responded to the application. this is just what i did _not_ want: a public explanation was what i desired. "n. & q." (vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., p. .; vol. viii., p. .) will bear witness to the fact that the public required to know the reason why works of coleridge, presumed to exist in manuscript, were still withheld from publication: and i utterly deny the justice of mr. green's allegation, that because i have _explicitly_ stated the charge _implied_ by mr. alsop (the editor of _letters, conversations, and recollections of coleridge_) in his strictures, i have made an inconsiderate, not to say a coarse, attack upon him (mr. green). when a long series of appeals to the fortunate possessor of the coleridge manuscripts (whoever he might turn out to be) had been met with silent indifference, i felt that the time was come to address an appeal personally to mr. green himself. that he has acted with the approbation of coleridge's family, nobody can doubt; for the public (thanks to mr. alsop) know too well how little the greatest of modern philosophers was indebted to that family in his lifetime, to attach much importance to their approbation or disapprobation. no believer in the philosophy of coleridge can look with greater anxiety than i do for the forthcoming work of mr. green. that the pupil of coleridge, and the author of _vital dynamics_, will worthily acquit himself in this great field, who can question? but i, for one, must enter my protest against the publication of mr. green's book being made the pretext of depriving the public of their right (may i say?) to the perusal of such works as do exist in manuscript, finished or unfinished. again i beg most respectfully to urge on mr. green the expediency, not to say paramount duty, of his giving to the world _intact_ the _logic_ (consisting of the _canon_ and other parts), the _cosmogony_, and, as far as possible, the _history of philosophy_. if his plea, that these works are not in a finished state, had been heretofore held good in bar of publication, we should probably have lost the inestimable privilege of reading and possessing those fragmentary works of the great philosopher which have already been made public. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. * * * * * life. (vol. vii., pp. . . .; vol. viii., pp. . .) your correspondent h. c. k. (vol. vii., .) quotes a passage from sir thomas browne's _religio medici_, sect. xlii. the following passage from the same writer's _christian morals_ is much more to the point: "when the stoic said ('vitam nemo acciperet, si daretur scientibus'--_seneca_) that life would not be accepted if it were offered unto such as knew it, he spoke too meanly of that state of being which placeth us in the form of men. it more depreciates the value of this life, that _men would not live it over again_; for although they would still live on, yet _few or none can endure to think of being twice the same men upon earth, and some had rather never have lived than to tread over their days once more_. cicero, in a prosperous state, had not the patience to think of beginning in a cradle again. ('si quis deus mihi largiatur, ut repuerascam et in cunis vagiam, valdè recusem.'--_de senectute._) job would not only curse the day of his nativity, but also of his renascency, if he were to act over his disasters and the miseries of the dunghill. but the greatest underweening of this life is to undervalue that unto which this is but exordial, or a passage leading unto it. the great advantage of this mean life is thereby to stand in a capacity of a better; for the colonies of heaven must be drawn from earth, and the sons of the first adam are only heirs unto the second. thus adam came into this world with the power also of another; not only to replenish the earth, but the everlasting mansions of heaven."--part iii. sect. xxv. "looking back we see the dreadful train of woes anew, which, were we to sustain, we should refuse to tread the path again." prior's _solomon_, b. iii. the crown is won by the cross, the victor's wreath in the battle of life: "this is the condition of the battle[ ] which man that is born upon the earth shall fight. that if he be overcome he shall suffer as thou hast said, but if he get the victory, he shall receive the thing that i say."-- _esdr._ vii. . our grade in the other world is determined by our probation here. to use a simile of asgill's, this life of time is a university in which we take our degree for eternity. heaven is a pyramid, or ever-ascending scale; the world of evil is an inverted pyramid, or ever-descending scale. life is motion. there is no such thing as stagnation: everything is either advancing or retrograding. corruption itself is an activity, and evil is ever growing. according to the _habits_ formed within us, we are ascending or descending; we cannot stand still. a man, then, in whom the higher life predominates, were he to live life over again, would { } grow from grace to grace, and his status in the spirit world would be higher than in the first life, and _vice versâ_; an evil man[ ] would be more completely evil, and would rank in a darker and more bestial form. they who hear not the good tidings will not be persuaded though one rose from the dead; and those with whom the experience of one life failed would not repent in the second. the testimony of the shunamite's son, lazarus, and of those who rose from the dead at the crucifixion, is not recorded; but they who have escaped from the jaws of death, by recovery from sickness or preservation from danger, may in a certain sense be said to live life over again. after the fright is over the warning in most cases loses its influence, and we have a verification of the two proverbs, "out of sight out of mind," and-- "the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be; the devil was well, the devil a monk would he." in a word, this experiment of a second life would best succeed with him whose habits are formed for good, and whose life is already overshadowed by the divine life. even of such an one it might be said, "man is frail, the battle is sore, and the flesh is weak; even a good man may fall and become a castaway." the most unceasing circumspection is ever requisite. the most polished steel rusts in this corrosive atmosphere, and purest metals get discoloured. finally, it is very probable that god gives every man a complete probation; that is to say, he cuts not man's thread of life till he be at the same side of the line he should be were he to live myriads of years. every man is made up of a mixture of good and evil: these two principles never become soluble together, but ever tend each to eliminate the other. they hurry on in circles, alternately intersecting and gaining the ascendancy, till one is at last precipitated to the bottom, and pure good or evil remains. in the nature of things there are critical moments and tides of circumstances which become turning-points when time merges into eternity and mutability into permanence: and such a crisis may occur in the course of a short life as well as in many lives lived over again. eirionnach. [footnote : "a field of battle is this mortal life!" _young_, n. viii. [footnote : see a recent novel by frederick souillet, entitled _si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait_.] _life and death_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the following is on a monument at lowestoft, co. suffolk, to the memory of john, son of john and anne wilde, who died february , , aged five years and six months: "quem dii amant moritur juvenis." sigma. the following may be added to the parallel passages collected by eirionnach. chateaubriand says, in his _memoirs_, that the greatest misfortune which can happen to a man is to be born, and the next greatest is to have a child. as chateaubriand had no children, the most natural comment on the last branch of his remark is "sour grapes." uneda. philadelphia. * * * * * inscriptions on bells. (vol. ix., p. .) _st. nicholas church, sidmouth._--having, on october , , taken intaglios in pressing-wax of the inscription forwarded by mr. gordon, from which plaster casts were made, the writer is able to speak of it with some degree of confidence. the inscription, however, is not peculiar to sidmouth: it is found at other places in the county of devon, and perhaps elsewhere. in harvey's _sidmouth directory_ for march, , there is an article descriptive of all the six bells at this place, in which there is a fac-simile, engraved on wood, of the inscription in question. the words run all round the bell; and each word is placed on a cartouche. the rev. dr. oliver of exeter, in his communication to the writer on this subject, calls the bell the "jesus bell." the _directory_ observes: "it was formerly the practice to christen bells with ceremonies similar to, but even more solemn than, those attending the naming of children; and they were frequently dedicated to christ (as this is), to the virgin, or some saint." dr. oliver to the writer says: "i have met with it at whitstone, near this city [exeter], at east teignmouth, &c.; _michi_ for _mihi_; [ihc (black-letter)], the abbreviation for jesus. very often the word _veneratum_ occurs instead of _amatum_, and _illud_ instead of _istud_." the [ihc (black-letter)] stands thus: [=i]h[=c]. the _directory_, on this abbreviated word, remarks,-- "the ihs, as an abbreviation for jesus, is a blunder. casley, in his _catalogue of the king's mss._, observes, p. ., that 'in latin mss. the greek letters of the word christus, as also jesus, are always retained, except that the terminations are changed according to the latin language. jesus is written [=ihs], or in small characters ihs, which is the greek [greek: [=iÊs]] or [greek: [=iês]], an abbreviation for [greek: iêsous]. however, the scribes knew nothing of this for a thousand years before the invention of printing, for if they had they would not have written [=ihs] for [greek: iêsous]; but they ignorantly copied after one another such letters as they found put for these words. nay, at length they pretended to find _jesus hominum salvator_ comprehended in the word [=ihs], which is another proof that they took the middle letter for _h_, not [eta]. the dash also over the word, which is a sign of abbreviation, some have changed to the sign of the cross' [hone's _mysteries_, p. .]. the old way of { } spelling jhesus with an _h_ may perhaps be referred to the same mistake. the inscription, then, runs thus: [est mihi collatum jesus istud nomen amatum], which may be rendered, jesus, that beloved name, is given to me. the bell bears no date, but is of course older than the period of the reformation. but it remains to be observed that the last letter of the three is not an _s_ but a c. it seems that in the old greek inscriptions the substitution of the _c_ for the _s_ was common. several examples are given in horne's introduction, vol. ii. pt. . ch. iii. sect. ., but we have not room to quote them. suffice it to say that at p. ., in speaking of the mss. of the codex vaticanus, he says, 'the abbreviations are few, being confined chiefly to those words which are in general abbreviated, such as [theta]c, kc, ic, xc, for [greek: theos], [greek: kurios], [greek: iêsous], [greek: christos], _god_, _lord_, _jesus_, _christ_.' at the end of these words, in the abbreviations, the _c_ is used for the _s_.--_peter._" this fourth bell is the oldest in the tower. the third, dated , has quite a modern appearance as compared with it. the second, fifth, and sixth are all dated , and the first, or smallest, was added in . peter orlando hutchinson. sidmouth. an appropriate inscription is to be found on the bell of st. john's cathedral in this colony, date london, . it is in the words of st. paul's mission, acts xxii. .: "i will send thee far hence unto the gentiles." w. t. m. hong kong. here is a modern achievement in this kind of literature. it exists on one of the eight bells belonging to the church tower of pilton, devon: "recast by john taylor and son, who the best prize for church bells won at the great ex-hi-bi-ti-on in london, -- -- and ." r. w. c. i continue (from vol. viii., p. .) my notes of inscriptions on bells. mathon, worcestershire. a peal of six bells: . "peace and good neighbourhood." . "glory to god." . "fear god and honour the king." . "god preserve our church and state." . "prosperity to the town." . "the living to the church i call, and to the grave do summon all." bromsgrove, worcestershire. ten bells; the inscriptions on two are as follows, the rest merely bearing the names of churchwardens, &c.: . "god prosper the parish. a. r. ." . "i to the church the living call, and to the grave do summon all. ." the latter seems to be a favourite inscription. the rev. w. s. simpson mentions it (vol. viii., p. .) on a bell in one of the oxfordshire churches. fotheringay, northamptonshire. four bells: . "thomas norris made me. ." . "domini laudem, , non verbo sed voce resonabo." the two others respectively bear the dates , , with the initials of the rector and churchwarden, and (on the fourth bell) the words "praise god." on a recent visit to this church i copied the following inscription from a bell, which, being cracked, is no longer used, and is now placed within the nave of the church. this bell is not mentioned by archdeacon bonney in his _historic notices of fotheringay_, though he gives the inscriptions on the four others. "non clamor sed amor cantat in aure dei. a. m. r. r. w. w. i. l. ." the inscription is in lombardic characters. mr. simpson notes the same at girton, cambridgeshire (vol. viii., p. .). godmanchester, hunts. eight bells: . "thomas osborn, downham, _fecit_, . intactum sillo. percute dulce cano." . "t. osborn {our voices shall with joyful sound} _fecit_. {make hills and valleys echo round.} ." . "rev. castel sherard, rector; jno. martin, robert waller, bailiffs; john scott, richard mills, churchwardens; t. osborn _fecit_. ." morborne, hunts. two bells: . "cum voco ad ecclesiam, venite." . "henry penn _fusore_. ." stilton, hunts. two bells: . "thomas norris made me. ." cuthbert bede, b.a. at bedale, in yorkshire, is a bell weighing by estimation twenty-six hundredweight, which is probably of the same date, or nearly so, as the dyrham bell. it measures four feet two inches and a half across the lip, and has the following inscription round the crown: "[+] iou : ego : cum : fiam : cruce : custos : laudo : mariam : digna : dei : laude : mater : dignissima : gaude;" the commencement of which i do not understand. there are five smaller bells belonging to the peal at bedale, and a prayer bell. they bear inscriptions in the following order: the prayer bell: "voco. veni. precare. ." s.s. { } the first, or lightest of the peal: "gloria in excelsis deo. . edw^d place, rector; e. seller, ebor. jn^o pullein, churchwarden." the second: "iesus be ovr speed. p. s., t. w., h. s., i. w., m. w. ." the third: "deo gloria pxa hominibus. ." the fourth: "jesus be our speed. ." the fifth: "soli deo gloria pax hominibus. ." the letters p. s., on the second bell, are the initials of dr. peter samwaies, who died april , , having been thirty-one years rector of bedale. on the fly-leaf of one of the later registers at hornby, near bedale, is written the following memorandum: "inscription on the third bell at hornby: 'when i do ring, god's praises sing; when i do toll, pray heart and soul.' this bell was given to the parish church of hornby by the lord conyers in the reign of henry vii., but, being broken, was recast by william lord d'arcy and conyers, the second of the name, ." patonce. charwelton church, northants: . broken to pieces: some fragments in the vestry. on one piece, "ave maria." . "jesus nazarenus rex judeorum fili dei miserere mei. ." . appears a collection of saxon letters put together without connexion. . "nunquam ad preces cupies ire, cum sono si non vis venire. ." heyford church, northants: . "god saue the king. ." . "cum cum praie. ." . "henry penn made me. . john paine, thmoas [_sic_] middleton, churchwardens." . "thomas morgan, esquier, gave me to the church of heford, frank and free. ." with coat of arms of the morgans on the side. floore church, northants: . "russell of wooton, near bedford, made me. . james phillips, thomas clark, churchwardens." . "cantate domino cantum novum. ." . "henry bagley made mee. ." . "matthew bagley made mee. ." . "john phillips and robert bullocke, churchwardens. ." . "to the church the living call, and to the grave do summonds [_sic_] all. russell of wooton made me, in seventeen hundred and forty-three." three coins inserted round the top. slapton church, northants: . [the sancte bell] "richard de wambis me fesit" [_sic_]. . "xpe audi nos." . "ultima sum trina campana vocor katerina." all in saxon letters. no dates. inscription cut on the frame of slapton bells: "be . it . kno wen . un to . all . th is . same . th at . thomas cowper . of woodend . made . this . frame. ." hellidon church, northants: . "god save the king. ." . "ihs nazarenus rex judæorum fili dei miserere mei. ." . "celorum christe platiat [_sic_] tibi rex sonus iste. ." . same as . dodford church, northants: . "matthew bagley made me. ." . "campana gravida peperit filias. ." . "ihs nazarenus [&c., as before]. ." . "ex dono johannis wyrley armiger. ." and five coins round the lip. . inscription same as . date . . ditto ditto date . wappenham church, northants: . "henry bagley made me. ." . "r. t. . [+]" . "praise the lord. ." . "god save king james. r. a. ." three coins on lip and bell-founder's arms. the sancte bell was recast in , and hangs now in the north window of belfry. { } brackley, st. peter's church, northants: . "jesus nazarenus [&c., as before]. ." . "god save the king. ." . same as . . "celorum christe platiat [_sic_] tibi rex sonus iste. ." . "cum sono si non vis venire, } nunquam ad preces cupies ire } ." dunton church, leicestershire: . "ihs nazarenus [&c., as before]. ." . "be it knone to all that doth me see, that clay of leicester made me. nick. harald and john more, churchwardens. ." . same as . date . leire church, leicestershire: . "jesus be oure good speed. ." . "henricus bagley _fecit_. ." . "recast a.d. , john sleath, c.w.; tho^s eyre de kettering _fecit_." frolesworth church, leicestershire: . "jesus nazarenus [&c., as before]. ." . in old english characters (no date): "dum rosa precata mundi maria vocata." . same as . j. r. m., m.a. the legend noted from a bell at sidmouth (vol. ix., p. .), namely,-- "est michi collatum ihc istud nomen amatum," is not an unusual inscription on mediæval black-letter bells, if i may use the expression. the characters are small. it is on two bells at teignmouth, and is on one of the bells in this tower: . "[+] voce mea viva depello cuncta nociva." . "[+] est michi collatum ihc istud nomen amatum." . "embrace trew museck." a correspondent, mr. w. s. simpson (vol. viii., p. .), asks the date of the earliest known examples of bells. dates on mediæval bells are, i believe, very rare in england. i have but few notes of any. my impression is that such bells are as old as the towers which contain them, judging from the character of the letter, the wear and tear of the iron work, aye, of the bell itself. many old bells have been recast, and on _such_ there is often a record of the date of its prototype. for instance, at st. peter's, exeter: "ex dono petri courtenay," &c., " ;" "renovat," &c., " ." at chester-le-street: "thomas langley dedit," &c., " ;" "refounded," &c., " ." i will add two or three with dates. bruton, somerset: "est stephanus primus lapidatus gracia plenus. ." at st. alkmond's, derby: "ut tuba sic resono, ad templa venite pii. ." at lympey stoke, somerset: "w. p., i. a. f. ." hexham. old bells taken down : . "ad primos cantus pulsat nos rex gloriosus." . "et cantare ... faciet nos vox nicholai." . "est nobis digna katerine vox benigna." . "omnibus in annis est vox deo grata johannis. a.d. mcccciiii." . "andrea mi care johanne consociare. a.d. mcccciiii." . "est mea vox orata dum sim maria vocata. a.d. mcccciiii." any earlier dates would be acceptable. on the continent bells are usually dated. i will extract, from roccha _de campanis_, those at st. peter's at rome. the great bell: "in nomine domini, matris, petriq., pauliq. accipe devotum, parvum licet, accipe munus, quod tibi christe dat[=u] petri, pauliq. tri[=u]phum, explicat, et nostram petit, populiq. salutem ipsorum pietate dari, meritisq. refundi et verbum caro factum est. anno milleno trecento cum quinquageno additis et tribus septembris mense colatur; ponderat et millia decies septiesq. librarum." . "in nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. am[=e]. ad honorem dei, et beatæ mariæ virginis, et beatorum apostolorum petri et pauli, verbum caro factum est, solve jubente deo terrar[=u] petre cathenas, qui facis, ut pateant coelestia regna beatis, m hæc campana cum alia majore ponderante --- xvi. post consumptionem ignito fulgure, anno precedente imminente, fusa est, anno domini mcccliii. mense junii, et ponderat hæc mx et centena librarum. amen." . "nomine dominico patris, prolisq. spirati ordine tertiam petri primæ succedere noscant. per dies paucos quotquot sub nomine dicto sanctam ecclesiam colunt in agmine trino. amen." . "anno domini mcclxxxviiii. ad honorem dei, et beatæ mariæ virginis, et sancti thomæ apostoli tempore fratris joannis de leodio ministri, factum fuit hoc opus de legato quondam domini { } rikardi domini papæ notarii. guidottus pisanus me fecit." on a small bell: "mentem sanctam spontaneam, honorem deo, et patris liberationem. ave maria gratia plena dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui." in the church of st. john lateran was a bell with a mutilated inscription; but the date is plain, . the name of boniface ix. is on it, who was sum. pont. in that year. in the church of st. mariæ majoris were two bells dated anno dom. ; and another . in the church of the jesuits was a bell with this inscription, brought from england: "facta fuit a. dom. , die vi m[=e]sis sept[=e]bris. sancta barbara, ora pro nobis." roccha, who published his _commentary_ , says: "in multis campanis _fit mentio de anno, in quo facta est campana_, necnon de ipsius ecclesiæ rectore, vel optime merito, et campanæ artifice, _ut ego ipse vidi romæ_, ubi præcipuarum ecclesiarum, et basilicarum inscriptiones campanis incisas perlegi."--p. . so that it would appear that the practice of inscribing dates on bells was usual on the continent, though for some reason or other it did not generally obtain in england till after the reformation. i have a note of another foreign bell or two with an early date. at strasburg: "[+] o rex gloriæ christe, veni cum pace! mccclxxv. tertio nonas augusti." on another: "vox ego sum vitæ, voco vos, orate, venite. ." on a bell called st. d'esprit: "anno dom. mccccxxvii mense julio fusa sum, per magistrum joannem gremp de argentina. nuncio festa, metum, nova quædam flebile lethum." a bell called the magistrates: "als man zahlt jahr war kaiser friedrick hier offenbar: da hat mich meister thomas jost gegossen dem rath zu laüten ohnverdrossen." on another: "nomen domini sit benedictum. ." i would beg to add a note of one more early and interesting bell which was at upsala: "[+] anno . domini . mdxiiii . fusa . est . ista . campana . in . honorem . sancti . erici . regis . et . martiris . rex . erat . ericus . humilis . devotus . honestus . prudens . v." what v. means is rather a puzzle. i fear i have already extended this reply to a length beyond all fair limit. i may at some future time (if desirable) send you a long roll of legends on mediæval bells without dates, and others of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some of a devotional character, and others of the style of unseemly and godless epitaphs. but it is to be hoped that in these, as in other like matters, a better taste is beginning to predominate; and it must be a subject of congratulation that "jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto." h. t. ellacombe. rectory, clyst st. george. in the steeple of foulden church, south greenhoe hd., norfolk, are six bells with inscriptions as under: . "thos. osborn _fecit_. . peace and good neighbourhood." . "the laws to praise, my voice i raise." . "thos. osborn _fecit_, downham, norfolk." . "our voices shall with joyful sound make hill and valley echo round." . "i to the church the living call, and to the grave i summon all." . "long live king george the third. thomas osborn _fecit_, ." goddard johnson. * * * * * de beauvoir pedigree. (vol. ix., p. .) your correspondent mr. thomas russell potter inquires whether any descendants of the de beauvoirs of guernsey are still existing. the family was, at one time, so numerous in that island that there are few of the gentry who cannot claim a de beauvoir among their ancestors; but the name itself became extinct there by the death of osmond de beauvoir, esq., in . some few years later, the last of a branch of the family settled in england died, leaving a very large property, which was inherited by a mr. benyon, who assumed the name of de beauvoir. the name is also to be found in the irish baronetcy; a baronet of the name of brown having married the daughter and heiress of the rev. peter de beauvoir, the widow i believe of an admiral mcdougal, and thereupon taking up his wife's maiden name. with respect to the pedigree which mr. potter quotes, and of which many copies exist in this island, it is without doubt one of the most impudent forgeries in that way ever perpetrated. from internal evidence, it was drawn up at the latter end of the reign of elizabeth, or at the beginning { } of the reign of james i., as the compiler speaks of roger, earl of rutland, as being living. this nobleman succeeded to the title in , and died in . the pedigree ends in the guernsey line with henry de beauvoir; whom we may therefore presume to have been still alive, or but recently deceased; and whose great-grandfather, according to the pedigree, was the first of the name in the island. allowing three generations to a century, this would throw back the arrival of the first of the de beauvoirs to some part of the sixteenth century; but we have proof that they were settled here long before that time. in an authentic document, preserved among the records of the island, the extent of the crown revenues drawn up by order of edward iii. in , the names of pierre and guillaume de beauvoir are found. another pierre de beauvoir, apparently the great-grandson of the above-mentioned pierre, was bailiff of guernsey from to . as for the family of harryes, no such i believe ever existed in guernsey; but a gentleman of the name of peter henry, belonging to a family of very ancient standing in the island, bought property in salisbury in the year , where the name seems to have been anglicised to harrys or harris; as the name of his son andrew, who was a jurat of the royal court of guernsey, appears as often on the records of the island in the one form as in the other. one of peter henry's or harris's daughters was married at salisbury to a henry de beauvoir; and i have no doubt this is the marriage with which the pedigree ends. if i am right, the harryes' pedigree has no more claim to authenticity than the de beauvoir. if mr. potter wishes for farther information, and will communicate with me, i shall be happy to answer his inquiries as far as i am able. the pedigree itself, however, suggests two or three queries which i should like to see answered. the heading is signed hamlet sankye or saukye. is anything known of such a person? the pedigree speaks of sir robert de beauveir of tarwell, knt., _now living_. was there ever a family of the name of de beauveir, de beauvoir, or beaver, of tarwell, in nottinghamshire? and if there was, what arms did they bear? if there was such a family, was it in any way connected with any of the early proprietors of belvoir castle? is anything known of a family of the name of harryes or harris of orton, and what were their arms? edgar macculloch. guernsey. * * * * * right of refuge in the church porch. (vol. ix., p. .) the following entry appears in a corporation book of this city, under the year : "thomas corbold, who hath a loathesome disease, have, with his wife and two children, layne in the porch of st. peters per mountegate above one year; it is now ordered by the court that he be put into some place in the pest-houses during the pleasure of the court, untill the lazar-houses be repaired." how they were supported during the year does not appear, or if he belonged to the parish; nor is it said that it was considered he gained settlement on the parish by continuing in the porch one year. i have heard of similar instances under an idea that any person may lodge in a church porch, and are not removable; but i believe it is an erroneous idea. goddard johnson. in proof of the idea being current among the lower orders, that the church porch is a place of refuge for any houseless parishioners, i beg to state that a poor woman of the adjoining parish of langford, came the other day to ask whether i, as a magistrate, could render her any assistance, as, in consequence of her husband's father and mother having gone to america, she and her family had become houseless, and were obliged to take up their abode in the church porch. a. s. west tofts rectory, brandon, norfolk. i know an instance where a person found a temporary, but at the same time an involuntary, home in a church porch. there was a dispute between the parishes of frodingham and broughton, co. lincoln, some twelve months ago, as to the settlement of an old woman. she had been living for some time in, and had become chargeable to the latter parish, but was said to belong to the former. by some means or other the woman's son was induced to convey his mother to the parish of frodingham, which he did; and as he knew quite well that the overseer of the parish would not receive her at his hands, he adopted the somewhat strange course of leaving her in the church porch, where she remained until evening, when the overseer of frodingham took her away, fearing that her life might be in danger from exposure to the cold, she being far advanced in years. until i saw cheverells' query, i thought the depository of the old woman in the church porch was, so far as the _place_ of deposit was concerned, more accidental than designed; but after all it may be the remnant of some such custom as that of which he speaks, and i, for one, should be glad to see farther inquiry made into it. to which of j. h. parker's _parochial tales_ does cheverells allude? w. e. howlett. kirton-in-lindsey. { } * * * * * ferdinand charles iii., duke of parma. (vol. ix., p. .) the late duke of parma was not the first lineal representative of the stuarts, as stated by e. s. s. w. victor emanuel, king of sardinia, who succeeded in , left by his wife maria theresa of austria four daughters. the eldest of these four, beatrix, born in , married, in , francis iv., duke of modena, and by him (who died on the st of january, ) had issue two sons and two daughters. the eldest of these sons, francis v., the present reigning duke of modena, is therefore the person who would be now sitting on the english throne had the stuarts kept the succession. he has no children, i believe, by his wife adelgonda of bavaria; and the next person in succession would therefore be dorothea, the infant daughter of his deceased brother victor. victor emanuel's _second_ daughter was maria theresa, who married charles duke of parma, as stated by e. s. s. w. the present countess of chambord is maria theresa beatrice-gaëtana, the eldest of the two sisters of francis v., duke of modena. she is therefore wife of the representative of the house of bourbon, and sister to the representative of the house of stuart. s. l. p. oxford and cambridge club. allow me to correct the statement made by your correspondent, that the duke of parma represented the royal house of stuart. the mother of the late duke of parma had an elder sister, maria beatrice, who married francis iv., late duke of modena, and upon her death, in , the _representation_ devolved upon her son, francis v., the present duke of modena, who was born in . p. v. allow me to remark on the article of e. s. s. w. (vol. ix., p. .) respecting the house of stuart, that he is in error in assigning that honour to the late duke of parma, and, as a consequence, to his infant son and successor, robert, now duke of parma. the late duke was undoubtedly a descendant of charles i. through his mother; but his mother had an _elder_ sister, beatrice, late duchess of modena, whose son, francis v., now duke of modena, born st june, , is the unquestionable heir to the house of stuart, and, as a jacobite would say, if any such curiosity there be in existence, legitimate king of great britain and ireland. j. reynell wreford. bristol. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _mr. townsend's wax-paper process._--at the last meeting of the photographic society a paper was read by mr. townsend, giving the results of a series of experiments instituted by him in reference to the wax-paper process. one of the great objections hitherto made to this process has been its slowness, as compared with the original calotype process, and its various modifications; and another, that its preparation involved some complexity of manipulation. mr. townsend has simplified the process materially, having found that the use of the fluoride and cyanide of potassium, as directed by le gray, in no way adds to the efficiency of the process, either in accelerating or otherwise. the iodide and bromide of potassium with free iodine give a paper which produces rapid, sure, and clean results. he discards whey, sugar of milk, grape sugar, &c., hitherto deemed essential, but which his experience shows to be unnecessary. he exhibited three negatives of the same view taken consecutively at eight o'clock in the morning, with the respective exposures of thirty seconds, two and a half minutes, and ten minutes, each of which was good and perfect. the formula he adopts is: iodide of potassium grs. bromide of potassium, from to " re-sublimed iodine " distilled water oz. the waxed papers are wholly immersed in this solution, and left to soak at least two hours, and are then hung to dry in the usual way. the papers are made sensitive by wholly immersing them in aceto-nitrate of silver of the following proportions: nitrate of silver grs. acetic acid minims. distilled water oz. the papers remaining in this solution not less than eight minutes. they are washed in two waters for eight minutes each, and then blotted off in the ordinary manner. mr. townsend states that there is no need to fear leaving the paper in the sensitive bath too long. he has left it in the bath fourteen hours without any injury. the paper thus prepared will keep ten or twelve days; it may be longer, but his experience does not extend beyond that time. with paper thus prepared a portrait was exhibited, taken in fifty-five seconds, in a room with a side light; but it must be added, that in this instance the paper was not washed, but was blotted off immediately on its leaving the sensitive bath, though not used until two hours had elapsed. mr. townsend uses for developing a saturated solution of gallic acid with a drachm of aceto-nitrate to every four ounces of it, but he considers that this proportion of aceto-nitrate may be beneficially lessened. he finds that by this process he is certain of success, and is never troubled with that browning over of the paper which so often attends the use of the other methods of preparation. besides the rapidity of action which he states, there is the farther advantage that a lengthened exposure is not injurious. the proportion of bromide may vary from grs. to grs.; less than is not sufficient to produce a maximum of rapidity, whilst more than adds nothing to the effect. _photographic litigation._--will you allow me, through the medium of "n. & q.," to suggest to those who { } take an interest in the collodion process, the desirableness of making a subscription to aid mr. henderson in his defence against the proceedings commenced by mr. talbot, to restrain him (and through him, no doubt, all others) from taking collodion portraits.[ ] it does not appear just that one person should bear the whole expense of a defence in which so many are interested; and i have no doubt that if a subscription be set on foot, many photographers will willingly contribute. a subscription, besides its material aid to mr. henderson, would also serve to show that public opinion is opposed to such absurd and unjust attempts at monopoly. it is difficult to imagine how a claim can be established to a right in an invention made many years subsequent to the date of the patent under which the claim is made--not only made by another person, but differing so widely in principle from the patent process. the advertisement in the _athenæum_ of saturday last (june ) shows plainly that it is intended, if possible, to prevent the production of portraits on collodion by any person not licensed by mr. talbot; and the harshness of this proceeding, after the process has been in public use for several years, needs no comment. h. c. sands. . spring gardens, bradford. [footnote : the words of the advertisement are "making _and selling_."] [we insert this communication, because we believe it gives expression to a sentiment shared by many. subscriptions in favour of m. la roche, whose case stands first for trial, are received by messrs. horne and thornthwaite. our correspondent does not, however, accurately represent the caution issued by mr. f. talbot's solicitors, which is against "making _and selling_" photographic portraits by the collodion process. when giving up his patent to the public, mr. fox talbot reserved "in the hands of his own licensees the application of the invention to the taking photographic portraits for sale," and we have always regretted that mr. f. talbot should have made such reservation, founded, as it is, upon a very questionable right.--ed. "n. & q."] * * * * * replies to minor queries. _vandyking_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent p. c. s. s. asks the meaning of the term _vandyking_, in the following passage of a letter from secretary windebanke to the lord deputy wentworth, dated westminster, nov. , , the lord deputy being then in ireland:-- "now, my lord, for my own observations of your carriage since you had the conduct of affairs there [in ireland], because you press me so earnestly, i shall take the boldness to deliver myself as freely. "first, though while we had the happiness and honour to have your assistance here at the council board, you made many ill faces with your pen (pardon, i beseech your lordship, the over free censure of your vandyking), and worse, oftentimes, with your speeches, especially in the business of the lord falconberg, sir thomas gore, vermuyden, and others; yet i understand you make worse there in ireland, and there never appeared a worse face under a cork upon a bottle, than your lordship hath caused some to make in disgorging such church livings as their zeal had eaten up."--_strafford's letters_, vol. i. p. . this passage, as well as what follows, is written in a strain of banter, and is intended to compliment the great lord deputy under the pretence of a free censure of his conduct. the first part of the second paragraph evidently alludes to wentworth's habit of drawing faces upon paper when he was sitting at the council table, and the word _vandyking_ is used in the sense of _portrait-painting_. vandyck was born in ; he visited england for a short time in , and in he came to england permanently, was lodged by the king, and knighted; in the following year he received a pension of l. for life, and the title of painter to his majesty. it was therefore quite natural that windebanke should, in november, , use the term _vandyking_ as equivalent to _portrait-painting_. in the latter part of the same paragraph, the allusion is to the wry faces, which the speeches of this imperious member of council sometimes caused. can any of your correspondents explain the expression, "a worse face under a cork upon a bottle?" l. _monteith_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the monteith was a kind of punch-bowl (sometimes of delf ware) with scallops or indentations in the brim, the object of which was to convert it into a convenient tray for bringing in the glasses. these were of wine-glass shape, and being placed with the brims downwards, and radiating from the centre, and with the handles protruding through the indentations in the bowl, were easily carried, without much jingling or risk of breakage. of course the bowl was empty of liquor at the time. p. p. _a. m. and m. a._ (vol. ix., p. .).--juverna, m. a., is certainly wrong in stating that "masters of arts of oxford are styled 'm. a.,' in contradistinction to the masters of arts in every other university." a. b., a. m., are the proper initials for _baccalaureus_ and _magister artium_, and should therefore only be used when the name is in latin. b.a. and m.a. are those for bachelor and master of arts, and are the only ones to be used where the name is expressed in english. thus john smith, had he taken his first degree in arts at any university, might indicate the fact by signing john smith, b.a., or johannes s., a.b. if he put john smith, a.b., a doubt might exist whether he were not an _able-bodied_ seaman, for that is implied by a.b. attached to an english name. the editor of farindon's _sermons_, who is, i believe, a dissenter, styles himself the reverend t. jackson, s.t.p., _i. e._ sacrosanctæ theologiæ { } professor. he might as well have part of his title in sanscrit, as part in english and part in latin. i believe this mistake is made more frequently by graduates of cambridge than by those of oxford. indeed, they have now created a new degree, master of laws, with the initials ll.m. (legum magister). but they are usually infelicitous in their nomenclature, as witness their _voluntary_ theological examination, now made _compulsory_ by all the bishops. e. g. r., m.a. cambridge. _greek denounced by the monks_ (vol. ix., p. ).--in his _history of the reformation_ (b. i. ch. iii.), d'aubigné says,-- "the monks asserted that all heresies arose from those two languages [greek and hebrew], and particularly from the greek. 'the new testament,' said one of them, 'is a book full of serpents and thorns. greek,' continued he, 'is a new and recently-invented language, and we must be upon our guard against it. as for hebrew, my dear brethren, it is certain that all who learn it immediately become jews.' heresbach, a friend of erasmus and a respectable author, reports these expressions." had there been more authority, probably d'aubigné would have quoted it. b. h. c. in lewis's _history of the english translation of the bible_, edit. london, , pp. , ., the following passage occurs: "these proceedings for the advancement of learning and knowledge, especially in divine matters, alarmed the ignorant and illiterate monks, insomuch that they declaimed from the pulpits, that 'there was now a _new language_ discovered called greek, of which people should beware, since it was that which produced all the heresies; that in this language was come forth a book called the _new testament_, which was now in everybody's hands, and was full of thorns and briers: that there was also another language now started up which they called hebrew, and that they who learnt it were termed hebrews.'" the authority quoted for this statement is hody, _de bibliorum textibus_, p. . see also the rebuke administered by henry viii. to a preacher who had "launched forth against greek and its new interpreters," in erasmus, _epp._, p. ., quoted in d'aubigné's _reformation_, book xviii. . c. w. bingham. _caldecott's translation of the new testament_ (vol. viii., p. .).--j. m. caldecott, the translator of the new testament, referred to by your correspondent s. a. s., is the son of the late ---- caldecott, esq., of rugby lodge, and was educated at rugby school, where i believe he obtained one or more prizes as a first-class greek and hebrew scholar. after completing his studies at this school, his father purchased for him a commission in the east india company's service; but soon after his arrival in india, conceiving a dislike to the army, he sold his commission and returned to england. being somewhat singular in his notions, and altogether eccentric both in manner and appearance, he estranged himself from his family and friends, and, as i have been informed, took up his temporary abode in this city about the year . although his income was at that time little short of l. per annum, he had neither house nor servant of his own; but boarded in the house of a respectable tradesman, living on the plainest fare (so as he was wont to say), to enable him to give the more to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. in this way, and by being frequently imposed upon by worthless characters, he gave away, in a few years, nearly all his property, leaving himself almost destitute: and, indeed, would have been entirely so, but for a weekly allowance made to him by his mother (sometime since deceased), on which he is at the present time living in great obscurity in one of our large seaport towns; but may be occasionally seen in the streets with a long beard, and a broad-brimmed hat, addressing a group of idlers and half-naked children. i could furnish your correspondent s. a. s. with more information if needful. t. j. chester. _blue bells of scotland_ (vol. viii., p. . vol. ix., p. .).--surely [w (black-letter)] of philadelphia is right in supposing that the blue bell of scotland, in the ballad which goes by that name, is a bell painted blue, and used as the sign of an inn, and not the flower so called, as asserted by henry stephens, unless indeed there be an older ballad than the one commonly sung, which, as many of your readers must be aware, contains this line,-- "he dwells in merry scotland, at the _sign_ of the blue bell." i remember to have heard that the popularity of this song dates from the time when it was sung on the stage by mrs. jordan. can any one inform me whether the air is ancient or modern? honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. "_de male quæsitis gaudet non tertius hæres_" (vol. ii., p. .).--the quotation here wanted has hitherto been neglected. the words may be found, with a slight variation, in _bellochii praxis moralis theologiæ, de casibus reservatis, &c._, venetiis, , to. as the work is not common, i send the passage for insertion, which i know will be acceptable to other correspondents as well as to the querist: "divino judicio permittitur ut tales surreptores rerum sacrarum diu ipsis rebus furtivis non lætentur, sed imo ab aliis nequioribus furibus præfatæ res illis { } abripiantur, ut de se ipso fassus est ille, qui in suis ædibus hoc distichon inscripsit, ut refert jo. bonif., lib. de furt., § contrectatio, num. . in fin.: 'congeries lapidum variis constructa rapinis, aut uret, aut ruet, aut raptor alter habebit.' et juxta illud: 'de rebus male acquisitis, non gaudebit tertius hæres.' lazar (de monitorio), sect. . . ., num. ., imo nec secundus, ut ingenuè et perbellè fatetur in suo poemate, nostro idiomate jerusalem celeste acquistata, cant. x. num. . pater frater augustinus gallutius de mandulcho, ita canendo: 'd'un' acquisto sacrilego e immondo, gode di rado il successor secondo, pero che il primo e mal' accorto herede senza discretion li da di piedi.'" bibliothecar. chetham. _mawkin_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--is not _mawkin_ merely a corruption for _mannikin_? i strongly suspect it to be so, though forby, in his _vocabulary of east anglia_, gives the word _maukin_ as if peculiar to norfolk and suffolk, and derives it, like l., from _mal_, for moll or mary. f. c. h. this word, in the scottish dialect spelt _maukin_, means a hare. it occurs in the following verse of burns in _tam samson's elegy_: "rejoice, ye birring paitricks a'; ye cootie moorcocks, crousely craw; ye _maukins_, cock your fud fu' braw, withouten dread; your mortal fae is now awa', tam samson's dead!" kennedy mcnab. "_putting a spoke in his wheel_" (vol. viii., pp. . . .).--there is no doubt that "putting a spoke in his wheel" is "offering an obstruction." but i have always understood the "spoke" to be, not a radius of the wheel, but a bar put between the spokes at right angles, so as to prevent the turning of the wheel; a rude mode of "locking," which i have often seen practised. the correctness of the metaphor is thus evident. wm. hazel. _dog latin_ (vol. viii., p. .).--the return of a sheriff to a writ which he had not been able to serve, owing to the defendant's secreting himself in a swamp, will be new to english readers. it was "non come-at-ibus in swampo." since the adoption of the federal constitution, the motto of the united states has been "e pluribus unum." a country sign-painter in bucks county, pennsylvania, painted "e pluribur unibus," instead of it on a sign. uneda. philadelphia. _swedish words current in england_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--very many swedish words are current in the north of england, _e. gr._ _barn_ or _bearn_ (scotticè _bairn_), sw. _barn_; _bleit_ or _blate_, bashful, sw. _blöd_; to _cleam_, to fasten, to spread thickly over, sw. _klemma_; _cod_, pillow, sw. _kudde_; to _gly_, to squint, sw. _glo_; to _lope_, to leap, sw. _löpa_; to _late_ (cumberland), to seek, sw. _leta_; _sackless_, without crime, sw. _saklös_; _sark_, shirt, sw. _särk_; to _thole_ (derbyshire), to endure, sw. _tala_; to _walt_, to totter, to overthrow, sw. _wälta_; to _warp_, to lay eggs, sw. _wärpa_; _wogh_ (lancashire), wall, sw. _wägg_, &c. it is a fact very little known, that the swedish language bears the closest resemblance of all modern languages to the english as regards grammatical structure, not even the danish excepted. suecas. _mob_ (vol. viii., p. .).--i have always understood that this word was derived from the latin expression _mobile vulgus_, which is, i believe, in virgil. uneda. philadelphia. "_days of my youth_" (vol. viii., p. .).--in answer to the inquiry made a few months since, whether judge st. george tucker, of virginia, was the author of the lines beginning-- "days of my youth." the undersigned states that he was a friend and relative of judge tucker, and knows him to have been the author. they had a great run at the time, and found their way not only into the newspapers, but even into the almanacs of the day. g. t. philadelphia. _encore_ (vol. viii., pp. . .).--a writer in an english magazine, a few years ago, proposed that the latin word _repetitus_ should be used instead of _encore_. among other advantages he suggested that the people in the gallery of a theatre would pronounce it _repeat-it-us_, and thus make english of it. uneda. philadelphia. _richard plantagenet, earl of cambridge_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent will find his question answered by referring to the _history of the royal family_, vo., lond., , pp. . . for an account of this book, which is founded upon the well-known sandford's _genealogical history_, see clarke's _bibliotheca legum_, edit. , p. . t. e. t. islington. _right of redeeming property_ (vol. viii., p. .).--this right formerly existed in normandy, and, i believe, in other parts of france. in the bailiwick of guernsey, the laws of which are based on the ancient custom of normandy, the right is still exercised, although it has been abolished for some years in the neighbouring island of jersey. { } the law only applies to real property, which, by the norman custom, was divided in certain proportions among all the children; and this right of "retrait," as it is technically termed, was doubtless intended to counteract in some measure the too minute division of land, and to preserve inheritances in families. it must be exercised within a year of the purchase. for farther information on the subject, berry's _history of guernsey_, p. ., may be consulted. honorÉ de mareville. guernsey. _latin inscription on lindsey court-house_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--i cannot but express my surprise at the learned (?) trifling of some of your correspondents on the inscription upon lindsey court-house. try it thus: "fiat justitia, , hæc domus _o_dit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, _n_equitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos." which will make two lines, an hexameter and a pentameter, the first letters, _o_ and _n_, having perhaps been effaced by time or accident. neglectus. [that this emendation is the right one is clear from the communication of another correspondent, b. r. a. y., who makes the same, and adds in confirmation, "the following lines existed formerly (and do, perhaps, now) on the market-house at much wenlock, shropshire, which will explain their meaning: 'hic locus _o_dit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, _n_equitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos.' the _o_ and _n_, being at the beginning of the lines as given by your correspondent, were doubtless obliterated by age."] the restoration of this inscription proposed by me is erroneous, and must be corrected from the perfect inscription as preserved at pistoia and much wenlock, cited by another correspondent in p. . the three inscriptions are slightly varied. perhaps "amat pacem" is better than "amat leges," on account of the tautology with "conservat jura." l. _myrtle bee_ (vol. ix., p. . &c.).--"i have carefully read and reread the articles on the myrtle bee, and i can come to no other conclusion than that it is not a bird at all, but an insect, one of the hawkmoths, and probably the humming-bird hawkmoth. we have so many indefatigable genuine _field naturalists_, picking up every straggler which is blown to our coasts, that i cannot think it possible there is a bird at all common to _any_ district of england, and yet totally unknown to science. now, insects are often exceedingly abundant in particular localities, yet scarcely known beyond them. the _size_ c. brown describes as certainly not larger than _half_ that of the common wren. the humming-bird (_h. m._) is scarcely so large as this, but its vibratory motion would make it look somewhat larger than it really is. its breadth, from tip to tip of the wings, is twenty to twenty-four lines. the myrtle bee's "short flight is rapid, steady, and direct," exactly that of the hawkmoth. the tongue of the myrtle bee is "round, sharp, and pointed at the end, appearing capable of penetration," not a bad _popular_ description of the suctorial trunk of the hawkmoth, from which it gains its generic name, _macroglossa_. its second pair of wings are of a rusty yellow colour, which, when closed, would give it it the appearance of being "tinged with yellow about the vent." it has also a tuft of scaly hairs at the extremity of the abdomen, which would suggest the idea of a tail. in fact, on the wing, it appears very like a little bird, as attested by its common name. in habit it generally retires from the mid-day sun, which would account for its being "put up" by the dogs. the furze-chat, mentioned by c. brown, is the _saxicola rubetra_, commonly also called the whinchat. wm. hazel. _mousehunt_ (vol. ix., p. . &c.).--g. tennyson identifies the mousehunt with the beechmartin, the _very largest_ of our _mustelidæ_, on the authority of henley "the dramatic commentator." was he a naturalist too? i never heard of him as such. now, mr. w. r. d. salmon, who first asked the question, speaks of it as _less_ than the common weasel, and quotes mr. colquhoun's opinion, that it is only "the young of the year." i have no doubt at all that this is correct. the young of all the _mustelidæ_ hunt, and to a casual observer exhibit all the actions of full-grown animals, when not more than half the size of their parents. there seems no reason to suppose that there are more than four species known in england, the weasel, the stoat or ermine, the polecat, and the martin. the full-grown female of the weasel is much smaller than the male. go to any zealous gamekeeper's exhibition, and you will see them of many gradations in size. wm. hazel. _longfellow's "hyperion"_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i would offer the following rather as a suggestion than as an answer to mordan gillott. but it has always appeared to me that longfellow has himself explained, by a simple allusion in the work, the _reason_ which dictated the name of his _hyperion_. as the ancients fabled hyperion to be the offspring of the heavens and the earth; so, in his aspirations, and his weakness and sorrows, flemming (the hero of the work) personifies, as it were, the mingling of heaven and earth in the heart and { } mind of a man of true nobility. the passage to which i allude is the following: "noble examples of a high purpose, and a fixed will! do they not move, hyperion-like, on high? were they not likewise sons of heaven and earth?"--book iv. ch. . seleucus. _benjamin rush_ (vol. ix., p. .).--inquirer asks "why the freedom of edinburgh was conferred upon him?" i have looked into the records of the town council, and found the following entry: " th march, . the council admit and receive richard stocktoun, esquire, of new jersey, councillour at law, and benjamin rush, esquire, of philadelphia, to be burgesses and gild brethren of this city, in the most ample form." but there is no reason assigned. james laurie, conjoint town clerk. _quakers executed in north america_ (vol. ix., p. .).--a fuller account of these nefarious proceedings is detailed in an abstract of the sufferings of the people called quakers, in vols., ; vol. i. (appendix) pp. - ., and in vol. iii. pp. - . e. d. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _for the purpose of inserting as many replies as possible in this, the closing number of our_ ninth volume, _we have this week omitted our usual_ notes on books _and_ lists of books wanted to purchase. w. w. (malta). _received with many thanks._ r. h. (oxford). _for_ kentish men _and_ men of kent, _see_ "n. & q.," vol. v., pp. . . mr. long_'s easy calotype process reached us too late for insertion this week. it shall appear in our next._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. "notes and queries" _is also issued in_ monthly parts, _for the convenience of those who may either have a difficulty in procuring the unstamped weekly numbers, or prefer receiving it monthly. while parties resident in the country or abroad, who may be desirous of receiving the weekly numbers, may have_ stamped _copies forwarded direct from the publisher. the subscription for the stamped edition of_ "notes and queries" _(including a very copious index) is eleven shillings and fourpence for six months, which may be paid by post-office order, drawn in favour of the publisher_, mr. george bell, no. . fleet street. * * * * * dr. de jongh's light brown cod liver oil. prepared for medicinal use in the loffoden isles, norway, and put to the test of chemical analysis. the most effectual remedy for consumption, bronchitis, asthma, gout, chronic rheumatism, and all scrofulous diseases. approved of and recommended by berzelius, liebig, woehler, jonathan pereira, fouquier, and numerous other eminent medical men and scientific chemists in europe. specially rewarded with medals by the governments of belgium and the netherlands. has almost entirely superseded all other kinds on the continent, in consequence of its proved superior power and efficacy--effecting a cure much more rapidly. contains iodine, phosphate of chalk, volatile acid, and the elements of the bile--in short, all its most active and essential principles--in larger quantities than the pale oils made in england and newfoundland, deprived mainly of these by their mode of preparation. sold wholesale and retail, in bottles, labelled with dr. de jongh's stamp and signature, by ansar, harford, & co., . strand, * * * * * sole consignees and agents for the united kingdom and british possessions; 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london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * ross & sons' instantaneous hair dye, without smell, the best and cheapest extant.--ross & sons have several private apartments devoted entirely to dyeing the hair, and particularly request a visit, especially from the incredulous, as they will undertake to dye a portion of their hair, without charging, of any colour required, from the lightest brown to the darkest black, to convince them of its effect. sold in cases at s. d., s. d., s., s., and s. each case. likewise wholesale to the trade by the pint, quart, or gallon. address, ross & sons, . and . bishopsgate street, six doors from cornhill, london. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * one thousand bedsteads to choose from.--heal & son's stock comprises handsomely japanned and brass-mounted iron bedsteads, children's cribs and cots of new and elegant designs, mahogany, birch, and walnut-tree bedsteads, of the soundest and best manufacture, many of them fitted with furnitures, complete. a large assortment of servants' and portable bedsteads. they have also every variety of furniture for the complete furnishing of a bed room. heal & son's illustrated and priced catalogue of bedsteads and bedding, sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. * * * * * { } photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * the london school of photography, . newgate street.--at this institution, ladies and gentlemen may learn in one hour to take portraits and landscapes, and purchase the necessary apparatus for five pounds. no charge is made for the instruction. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * wholesale photographic depot: daniel mcmillan, . fleet street, london. the cheapest house in town for every description of photographic apparatus, materials, and chemicals. *** price list free on application. * * * * * cocoa-nut fibre matting and mats, of the best quality.--the jury of class , great exhibition, awarded the prize medal to t. treloar, cocoa-nut fibre manufacturer, . ludgate hill, london. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the the trade supplied. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee. a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. e. wright", &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale.--messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles genuine from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete lists of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page stone pillar worship somersetshire folk lore irish records, by james f. ferguson derivation of curious botanic names, and ancient italian kalydor, by dr. hughes fraser halle minor notes:--forensic jocularities--ridley's university-- marvellous, if true--progress of the war--hatherleigh moor, devonshire--cromwellian gloves--restall queries:-- sepulchral monuments "es tu scolaris" on a digest of critical readings in shakespeare, by j. o. halliwell minor queries:--"original poems"--a bristol compliment-- french or flemish arms--precedence--"[greek: sphidê]"-- print of the dublin volunteers--john ogden--columbarium in a church tower--george herbert--apparition which preceded the fire of london--holy thursday rain-water--freemasonry minor queries with answers:--lewis's "memoirs of the duke of gloucester"--apocryphal works--mirabeau, talleyrand, and fouché--"the turks in europe," and "austria as it is"--"forgive, blest shade"--"off with his head," &c.--"peter wilkins"--the barmecides' feast--captain replies:-- coleridge's unpublished manuscripts, by joseph henry green king james's irish army list, barrell's regiment clay tobacco-pipes, by w. j. bernhard smith madame de staël cranmer's martyrdom photographic correspondence:--difficulties in making soluble cotton--light in cameras--cameras--progress of photography--a collodion difficulty--ferricyanide of potassium replies to minor queries:--postage system of the romans--epigram on the feuds between handel and bononcini--power of prophesying before death--king john--demoniacal descent of the plantagenets--burial service tradition--paintings of our saviour--widdrington family--mathew, a cornish family--"[greek: pistis]," unde deriv.--author of "the whole duty of man"-- table-turning--pedigree to the time of alfred--quotation wanted--"hic locus odit, amat"--writings of the martyr bradford--latin inscription on lindsey court-house--blanco white's sonnet--"wise men labour," &c.--copernicus--meals, meols--byron and rochefoucauld--robert eden--dates of maps--miss elstob--corporation enactments, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents * * * * * multæ terricolis linguæ, coelestibus una. samuel bagster and sons' [illustration] general catalogue is sent free by post. it contains lists of quarto family bibles; ancient english translations; manuscript-notes bibles; polyglot bibles in every variety of size and combination of language; parallel-passages bibles; greek critical and other testaments; polyglot books of common prayer; psalms in english, hebrew, and many other languages, in great variety; aids to the study of the old testament and of the new testament; and miscellaneous biblical and other works. by post free. london: samuel bagster & sons, . paternoster row. [greek: pollai men thnêtois glôttai, mia d'athanatoisin] * * * * * the original quadrilles, composed for the piano forte by mrs. ambrose merton. london: published for the proprietors and may be had of c. lonsdale, . old bond street; and by order of all music sellers. price three shillings. * * * * * the astley cooper prize essay for . this day, vo., with illustrations, s. on the structure and use of the spleen. by henry grey, f.r.s., demonstrator of anatomy at st. george's hospital. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * just published, in fcap. vo., price s. d. cloth. the book of psalms in english verse, and in measures suited for sacred music. by edward churton, m.a., archdeacon of cleveland. john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * just published, in fcap. vo., price s. cloth. the western world revisited. by the rev. henry caswall, m.a., vicar of figheldean; author of "america and the american church," "scotland and the scottish church," &c. john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * in mo., price, bound and clasped, s. d. the sermon in the mount. printed by c whittingham, uniformly with the thumb bible from the edition of --which may still be had, price s. d. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * american books.--low, son, & co., as the importers and publishers of american books in this country, have recently issued a detailed catalogue of their stock in theology, history, travels, biography, practical science, fiction, &c., a copy of which will be forwarded upon application. by arrangements with the american publishers, all works of known or anticipated interest will in future be published by low son, & co., simultaneously with their appearance in america. works not in the stock obtained within six weeks of order. lists of importations forwarded regularly when desired. literary institutions, the clergy, merchants and shippers, and the trade, supplied on advantageous terms. small enclosures taken for weekly case to the united states at a moderate charge. * * * * * to literary men, publishers, and others. messrs. hopper co., _record agents, &c._, beg to inform the literary world, that they continue to undertake searches among, and transcripts from, the public records in the british museum, or other collections. ancient mss. deciphered. translations from the norman-french, law-latin, and other documents carefully executed. genealogies traced, and wills consulted. *** mss. bought, sold, or valued. . southampton street, camden town. * * * * * this day, in one large volume, super-royal vo., price l. s. d. cloth lettered. cyclopÆdia bibliographica: a library manual of theological and general literature, and guide to books for authors, preachers, students and literary men, analytical, bibliographical, and biographical. by james darling. a prospectus, with specimens and critical notices, sent free on receipt of a postage stamp. london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * now ready, no. vii. (for may), price s. d., published quarterly. retrospective review (new series); consisting of criticisms upon, analyses of, and extracts from, curious, useful, valuable, and scarce old books. vol. i., vo., pp. , cloth s. d., is also ready. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * longfellow, the poet.--there is a sweet song by this admired writer just now much inquired after. it is called "excelsior." this really sublime effusion of the poet is charmingly wedded to music by miss m. lindsay. it is particularly a song for the refined evening circle, and is adorned with a capital illustration. it is among the recent publications of the messrs. robert cocks & co., her majesty's music publishers, of new burlington street.--see _the observer_, may , . * * * * * { } the gentleman's magazine and historical review for june, contains the following articles:-- . leaves from a russian parterre. . history of latin christianity. . our lady of montserrat. . memorials of amelia opie. . mansion of the dennis family at pucklechurch, with an illustration. . the revocation of the edict of nantes. correspondence of sylvanus urban: a plea for the threatened city churches--the british museum library--the late master of sherburn hospital--original letter and anecdotes of admiral vernon, &c. with notes of the month, historical and miscellaneous reviews, reports of antiquarian and literary societies, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the duke of parma, the marquis of anglesey, the earl of lichfield, lord colborne, lord cockburn, john davies gilbert, esq., t. p. halsey, esq., alderman thompson, alderman hooper, dr. wardlaw, dr. collyer, professors jameson and wilson, montgomery the poet, &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & sons, . parliament street. * * * * * this day is published, price s. consecration _versus_ desecration.--an appeal to the lord bishop of london against the bill for the destruction of city churches and the sale of burial grounds. "i hate robbery for burnt-offering." isaiah lxi. . j. b. nichols & sons, . parliament street; j. h. parker, oxford and london; g. bell, fleet street. * * * * * over the waves we float. duet by stephen glover, author of "what are the wild waves saying?" words by j. e. carpenter, esq. s. d. "we cordially recommend it. there is a rich strain of harmony flowing through the whole of it. it is within easy compass of voice," &c. &c.--see the _sheffield independent_, may , . london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street, music publishers to the queen. * * * * * this day, fcp. vo., s. synonyms of the new testament: being the substance of a course of lectures addressed to the theological students, king's college, london. by richard chenevix trench, b. d., professor of divinity, king's college, and examining chaplain to the lord bishop of oxford. cambridge: macmillan & co. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * just published, with ten coloured engravings, price s., notes on aquatic microscopic subjects of natural history, selected from the "microscopic cabinet." by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. also, in vo., pp. , plates , price s., or coloured, s., a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, containing descriptions of every species, british and foreign, the methods of procuring and viewing them, &c., illustrated by numerous engravings. by andrew pritchard, m.r.i. "there is no work extant in which so much valuable information concerning infusoria (animalcules) can be found, and every microscopist should add it to his library."--_silliman's journal._ london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * glasgow cathedral. will be published on or about th june, with plan and historical notice, four views of the cathedral church of glasgow, drawn on stone from original sketches, and printed in the first style of chromolithography by messrs. n. j. holmes & co., glasgow. complete in ornamental wrapper, price one guinea. london: messrs. hering & remington, regent street. glasgow: n. j. holmes & co., cochran street; morison & kyle, queen street. * * * * * dr. van oven.--on the decline of life in health and disease. being an attempt to investigate the causes of longevity and the best means of attaining a healthful old age. cloth, vo., s. d. "old and young, the healthy and the invalid, may alike obtain useful practical hints from dr. van oven's book. his advice and observations are marked by much experience and good sense."--_literary gazette._ "good sense is the pervading characteristic of the volume."--_spectator._ john churchill, princes street, soho. * * * * * her majesty's concert rooms, hanover square. the royal society of female musicians, _established , for the relief of its distressed members._ _patroness_: her most gracious majesty the queen. _vice-patronesses_: her royal highness the duchess of kent, her royal highness the duchess of cambridge. on wednesday evening, june , , will be performed, for the benefit of this institution, a miscellaneous concert of vocal and instrumental music. _vocal performers_--miss birch, miss dolby, miss pyne, miss helen taylor, mrs. noble, and miss louisa pyne. madame persiani, madame caradori, madame therese tanda, and madame clara novello. signor gardoni, mr. h. r. allen, mr. lawler, and signor belletti. in the course of the concert, the gentlemen of the abbey glee club will sing two favourite glees. _instrumentalists_--pianoforte, m. emile prudent; violin, m. remenyi; violoncello, m. van gelder, solo violoncellist to his majesty the king of holland. the band will be complete in every department.--_conductor_, mr. w. sterndale bennett. the doors will be opened at seven o'clock, and the concert will commence at eight precisely. tickets, half-a-guinea each. reserved seats, one guinea each. an honorary subscriber of one guinea annually, or of ten guineas at one payment (which shall be considered a life subscription), will be entitled to two tickets of admission, or one for a reserved seat, to every benefit concert given by the society. donation and subscriptions will be thankfully received, and tickets delivered, by the secretary, mr. j. w. holland, . macclesfield st., soho; and at all the principal music-sellers. * * * * * chubb's locks, with all the recent improvements. strong fire-proof safes, cash and deed boxes. complete lists of sizes and prices may be had on application. chubb & son, . st. paul's churchyard, london; . lord street, liverpool; . market street, manchester; and horseley fields, wolverhampton. * * * * * library of the late john holmes, esq., of the british museum, framed engravings, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on thursday, june , the library of the late john holmes, esq., of the manuscript department of the british museum, consisting chiefly of modern useful books in various classes of literature, books of reference, privately printed books, &c.; also several framed engravings, including the popular works of sir d. wilkie, engraved by raimbach and burnet; others by sir r. strange, woollett, raphael morghen, &c.; stothard's canterbury pilgrimage, proof; and other engravings, and inclosed print case, &c. catalogues may now be had, or will be sent on receipt of two stamps. * * * * * an exceedingly interesting and rare collection of early english poetry. messrs. s. leigh sotheby & john wilkinson, auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on thursday, june , and following day, at precisely, a very valuable and important collection of early english poetry, more particularly of the reigns of elizabeth, james i., and charles i., from the extensive library of an eminent collector, deceased; including many volumes of the greatest rarity and interest, obtained from the principal sales during the last years.--may be viewed two days previously, and catalogues had; if in the country, on receipt of six postage stamps. * * * * * the principal portion of the very valuable, important, and exceedingly choice library of j. d. gardner, esq., extending over eleven days' sale. messrs. s. leigh sotheby & john wilkinson, auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on thursday, july , and ten following days, at precisely each day, the principal portion of the very valuable and choice library of j. d. gardner, esq., of chatteris, cambridgeshire, removed from his late residence, bottisham hall, near newmarket. the collection comprises several of the first and very rare editions of the classics, forming beautiful specimens of the typography of the th century; a very extensive assemblage of the early typographical productions of this country, comprising beautiful specimens from the presses of caxton, maclinia, pynson, wynkyn de worde, and others, including a most beautiful copy of chaucer's canterbury tales, printed by wynkyn de worde; a rare assemblage of the very early editions of the scriptures in english, including a remarkably fine copy of the first edition, usually termed coverdale's bible, complete with the exception of two leaves, which are admirably supplied in fac-simile by harris, and may be considered as unique, it having the original map of the holy land complete. among other versions of the scripture may be mentioned the first edition of the new testament, by tyndale. the library is also rich in early english theology, history, and particularly so in the poetry of the elizabethan period, including many of the rarest volumes that have occurred for sale in the heber, jolley, utterson, and other collections. also the first four folio editions of the works of shakspeare, the copy of the first edition being from the library of john wilks, esq., the finest copy ever sold by public auction. among other important and valuable works in the collection, may be mentioned a remarkably choice and very complete collection of the works of de bry. early italian poetry and general italian literature form a feature of the collection, many of them being first editions and of considerable rarity. there are also many other valuable books in general literature, history, and topography. catalogues are now ready, and may be had on application; if in the country, on the receipt of twelve postage stamps. * * * * * { } _london, saturday, june , ._ * * * * * notes. stone pillar worship. in vol. v., p. . of "n. & q.," there is an interesting note on this subject by sir j. emerson tennent, which he concludes by observing that "it would be an object of curious inquiry, if your correspondents could ascertain whether this (the superstitious veneration of the irish people for such stones) be the last remnant of pillar worship now remaining in europe." i am able to assure him that it is not. the province of brittany, in france, is thickly studded with stone pillars, and the history and manners of its people teem with interesting and very curious traces of the worship of them. in fact, brittany and breton antiquities must form the principal field of study for any one who would investigate or treat the subject exhaustively. a list of the principal of these pillars still remaining may be found in the note at p. . of the first vol. of manet's _histoire de la petite bretagne_: st. malo, . but abundant notices of them will be met with in any of the numerous works on the antiquities and topography of the province. they are there known as "menhirs," from the celtic _maen_, stone, and _hirr_, long; or "peulvans," from _peul_, pillar, and _maen_ (changed in composition into _vaen_), stone. see _essai sur les antiquités du département du morbihan_, par j. mahé, vannes, , where much curious information on the subject may be found. this writer, as well as the chevalier de freminville, in his _monuments du morbihan_, brest, , p. ., thinks that these menhirs, so abundant throughout brittany, may be distinguished into three classes: . those intended as sepulchral monuments; . those erected as memorials of some great battle, or other such national event; and . those intended to represent the deity, and which were objects of worship. i have little doubt that these gentlemen are correct in the conclusions at which they have arrived in this respect. but it is curious to find both of them--men unquestionably of learning, and of widely extended and varied reading--considering the poems of ossian as indisputably authentic, and quoting from them largely as from unquestioned documents of historic value. the largest "menhir" known to be in existence--if, indeed, it can still be said to be so--is that of locmariaker, a commune of the department of morbihan, a little to the south of vannes. this vast stone, before it was thrown down and broken into four pieces--its present condition--was fifty-eight french feet in length. its form, when entire, was that of a double cone, so that its largest diameter was at about the middle of its length. it has been calculated to weigh more than four hundred thousand french pounds. in its immediate neighbourhood is a very large specimen of the "dolmens" or druidical altars on which victims were sacrificed. as to the question when the worship of these stones ceased, my own observations of the manners and habits of the people there, some fifteen years since, would lead me to say that it had not then ceased. no doubt such an assertion would be indignantly repelled by the clergy, and perhaps by many of the peasantry themselves. the question, however, if gone into, would become a subtle one, turning on another, as to what is to be deemed _worship_. and we all know that the tendency of unspiritual minds to idolatry has led the priesthood of rome to institute verbal distinctions on this point, which open the door to very much that a plain unbiassed man must deem rank polytheism. my knowledge of the people in italy enables me to affirm, with the most perfect certainty, that not only the peasantry very generally, but many persons much above that rank, do, to all intents and purposes, and in the fullest sense of the word, _worship_ the madonna, and believe that there are several separate and wholly distinct persons of that name. and that this worship is often as wholly pagan in its nature as in its object, is curiously proved by the fact, which brings us back again to brittany, that in many instances in that province we find chapels dedicated to "notre dame de la joye," and "notre dame de liesse," which are all built on spots where, as m. de freminville says in his _antiquités du finisterre_, p. ., "the celts worshipped a divinity which united the attributes of cybele and venus." and souvestre, in his _derniers bretons_, vol. i. p. ., tells us that there still exists near the town of tréguier, a chapel dedicated to notre dame de la haine; that it would be a mistake to suppose that the people have ceased to believe in a deity of hate, and that persons may still be seen skulking thither to pray for the gratification of their hatred. sir j. emerson tennent quotes a passage from borlase, in which he says, speaking of this stone-worship among the cornish, a people of near kin to the armorican bretons, that it might be traced by the prohibitions of councils through the fifth and sixth, and even into the seventh century. i find a council, held at nantes in , ordering that the stones worshipped by the people shall be removed and put away in places where their worshippers cannot find them again; a precaution which the history of some of these stones in brittany shows to have been by no means superfluous. but the usage may be traced by edicts seeking to restrain it to a later period than this. for in the _capitulaires_ of charlemagne (lib. x. tit. .), he commands that the abuse of worshipping stones shall be abolished. there can be no doubt, however, that this worship remained even avowedly to a very much more recent period in brittany. "it is well known," { } says de freminville, in his _antiquités des côtes-du-nord_, p. ., "that idolatry was still exercised in the isle of ushant, and in many parishes of the diocese of vannes, in the seventeenth century. and even at the present day," he adds, "how many traces of it do we find in the superstitious beliefs of our peasants!" many of these notions still so prevalent in the remoter districts of that remote province, seem to point to nearly obliterated indications of a connexion between these "peulvans" or pillar-stones, and the zodiacal forms of worship, which the druids are known to have, more or less exoterically, practised. thus it is believed in many localities that a "menhir" in the neighbourhood _turns on its axis at midnight_. (mahé, _essai sur les antiq. du morbihan_, p. .) in other cases the peasantry make a practice of specially visiting them on the eve of st. john, _i. e._ at the summer solstice. various other remnants of the ideas or practices inculcated by the ancient faith may be traced in usages and superstitions still prevalent, and, without such a key to their explanation, meaningless. with such difficulty did the new supplant the old religion. many curious illustrations may be found in brittany of the means adopted by the priests of the new faith to steal, as it were, for their own emblems the adoration which all their efforts were ineffectual to turn from its ancient objects, in the manner mentioned by the writer in the _archæologia_, cited by sir j. e. tennent in his note. thus we find "menhirs" with crosses erected on their summits, and sculptured on their sides. see _notions historiques, etc. sur le littoral du département des. côtes-du-nord_, par m. habasque: st. brieuc, , vol. iii. p. . in conclusion, i may observe that this worship prevailed also in spain--, doubtless, throughout europe--inasmuch as we find the eleventh and twelfth councils of toledo warning those who offered worship to stones, that they were sacrificing, to devils. t. a. t. florence, march, . * * * * * somersetshire folk lore. . all texts heard in a church to be remembered by the congregation, for they must be repeated at the day of judgment. . if the clock strikes while the text is being given, a death may be expected in the parish. . a death in the parish during the christmas tyde, is a token of many deaths in the year. i remember such a circumstance being spoken of in a village of somerset. thirteen died in that year, a very unusual number. very many attributed this great loss of life to the fact above stated. . when a corpse is laid out, a plate of salt is laid on the chest. why, i know not. . none can die comfortably under the cross-beam of a house. i knew a man of whom it was said at his death, that after many hours hard dying, being removed from the position under the cross-beam, he departed peaceably. i cannot account for the origin of this saying. . ticks in the oak-beams of old houses, or death-watches so called, warn the inhabitants of that dwelling of some misfortune. . coffin-rings, when dug out of a grave, are worn to keep off the cramp. . water from the font is good for ague and rheumatism. . no moon, in its change, ought to be seen through a window. . turn your money on hearing the first cuckoo. . the cattle low and kneel on christmas eve. . should a corpse be ever carried through any path, &c., that path cannot be done away with. for cases, see wales, somerset, bampton, devon. . on the highest mound of the hill above weston-super-mare, is a heap of stones, to which every fisherman in his daily walk to sand bay, kewstoke, contributes one towards his day's good fishing. . smothering hydrophobic patients is still spoken of in somerset as so practised. . origin of the saying "i'll send you to jamaica." did it not take its source from the unjudge-like sentence of judge jeffries to those who suffered without sufficient evidence, for their friendly disposition towards the duke of monmouth: "to be sent ---- ---- to the plantations of jamaica?" many innocent persons were so cruelly treated in somerset. . the nurse who brings the infant to be baptized bestows upon the first person she meets on her way to the church whatever bread and cheese she can offer, _i. e._, according to the condition of the parents. . in devonshire it is thought unlucky not to catch the first butterfly. . mackerel not in season till the lesson of the rd and th of numbers is read in church. i cannot account for this saying. a better authority could have been laid down for the remembering of such like incidents. you may almost form a notion yourself without any help. the common saying is, mackerel is in season when balaam's ass speaks in church. m. a. balliol. * * * * * irish records. it not unfrequently happens that ancient deeds and such like instruments executed in england, and relating to english families or property, are { } to be found on record upon the rolls of ireland. the following transcripts have been taken from the memoranda roll of the irish exchequer of the first year of edward ii.: "noverint universi me johannem de doveria rectorem ecclesie de litlington lyncolnensis dyocesis recepisse in hibernia nomine domini roberti de bardelby clerici subscriptas particulas pecunie per manus subscriptorum, videlicet, per manus johannis de idessale dimid' marc'. item per manus thome de kancia marc'. item per manus ade coffyn marc'. item per manus mercatorum friscobaldorum libri una vice et alia vice per manus eorundem mercatorum ^s, fratre andr' de donscapel de ordine minorum mediante. item per manus johannis de seleby ^s. item de eodem johanne alia vice marc' et dimid'. item per manus ejusdem johannis tertia vice tres marc' et dimid'. item per dominum willielmum de estden per manus ricardi de onyng ^s. et per manus domini johannis de hothom pro negociis domini walteri de la haye centum solid? de quibus particulis pecunie memorate predictum dominum robertum de bardelby et ejus executores quoscumque per presentes quieto imperpetuum. ita tamen quod si alia littera acquietancie ab ista littera de dictis particulis pecunie inveniatur de cetero alicubi pro nulla cassa cancellata irrita et majus imperpetuum habeatur. in cujus rei testimonium sigillum meum presentibus apposui. datum apud dublin', die februarij, anno regni regis edwardi primo."--_rot. mem._ edw. ii. m. . dorso. "a toutz ceaux q' ceste p'sente l're verrount ou orrount rauf de mounthermer salutz en dieu--sachez nous avoir ordeine estably e assigne n're foial et loial mons' waut' bluet e dan waut' de la more, ou lun de eaux, si ambedeux estre ne point, de vendre e n're p'fit fere de totes les gardes e mariages es parties dirlaunde q' escheierent en n're temps, e de totes autres choses q'a nous aparten[=e]t de droit en celes p'ties, e q^cunque eaux ferount p^r n're prou, co'me est susdit, teignoms apaez e ferme e estable lavoms. en tesmoigne de quele chose a ceste n're l're patente avoms mys n're seal. don' a tacstede le qu^it jour de octobr lan du regne le rey edward p^imer."--_rot. mem._ edw. ii. m. . "rogerus calkeyn de gothurste salutem in domino sempiternam. noveritis me remisisse et quietum clamasse pro me et heredibus meis johanni de yaneworth heredibus suis et assignatis, totum jus et clame[=u] quod habui vel aliquo modo habere potui, in tenemento de gothurste in dominio de cheddeworth. ita quod nec ego nec heredes mei nec aliquis nomine nostro, aliquid juris vel clamei in prædicto tenemento habere vendicare poterimus imperpetuum. in cujus rei testimonium huic presenti scripto sigillum meum apposui. hiis testibus, magistro waltero de istelep tunc barone domini regis de scaccario dublin', thoma de yaneworth, rogero de glen, roberto de bristoll, roberto scriptore, et aliis."--_rot. mem._ edw. ii. m. . james f. ferguson. dublin. * * * * * derivation of curious botanic names, and ancient italian kalydor. the generic name of the fern _ceterach officinarum_ is generally said to be derived from the arabic _chetherak_. i find however, among a list of ancient british names of plants, published in at the end of johnson's edition of gerard, the expression _cedor y wrach_, which means _the joined_ or _double rake_, and is exactly significant of the form of the ceterach. the fernrakes are joined as it were back to back; but the single prongs of the one alternate botanically with those of the other. master robert dauyes, of guissaney in flintshire, the correspondent of johnson, gives the name of another of the filices (_equisetum_) as the english equivalent of the ancient british term. but the form of this plant does not at all correspond to that signified by the celtic words. it is not improbable, therefore, that he was wrong as respects the correct english name of the plant. the turkish _shetr_ or _chetr_, to cut, and _warak_, a leaf, seem to point out the meaning of the arabic term quoted in hooker's _flora_ and elsewhere. probably some of your oriental readers will have the kindness to supply the exact english for _chetherak_. it appears to me, however, that the transition from _cedorwrach_ to _ceterach_ is more easy, and is a more probable derivation. hooker and loudon say that another generic name, _veronica_, is of doubtful origin. in the arabic language i find _virunika_ as the name of a plant. this word is evidently composed of _nikoo_, beautiful, and _viroo_, remembrance; viroonika. therefore means beautiful remembrance, and is but an oriental name for a forget-me-not, for which flower the _veronica chamædrys_ has often been mistaken. possibly the name may have come to us from the spanish-arabian vocabulary. the spaniards call the same plant _veronica_. they use this word to signify the representation of our saviour's face on a handkerchief. when christ was bearing his cross, a young woman, the legend says, wiped his face with her handkerchief, which thenceforth retained the divine likeness.[ ] the feminine name _veronica_ is of course the latin form of [greek: pheronikê], victory-bearer (of which berenice is the macedonian and latin construction), and is plainly, thus derived, inappropriate as the designation of a little azure wild flower which, like loving eyes, greets us everywhere. in looking over martin mathée's notes on _dioscorides_, published , i find that italian women of his time used to make a cosmetic of the root of the _arum_, commonly called "lords and ladies." the mixture, he says, makes the skin wondrously { } white and shining, and is called _gersa_. ("_ils font des racines d'aron de l'eaue et de lexive_," &c., tom. v. p. .) hughes fraser halle, ll.d. south lambeth. [footnote : [see "n. & q.," vol. vi., pp. . . .]] * * * * * minor notes. _forensic jocularities._--the epigram on "four lawyers," given in vol. ix., p. . of "n. & q.," has recalled to my recollection one intended to characterise four worthies of the past generation, which i heard some thirty years since, and which i send for preservation among other flies in your amber. it is supposed to record the history of a case: "mr. leech made a speech, neat, concise, and strong; mr. hart, on the other part, was wordy, dull, and wrong. mr. parker made it darker; 'twas dark enough without. mr. cooke, cited his book; and the chancellor said--i doubt." --a picture of chancery practice in the days "when george iii. was king," which some future macaulay of the twenty-first or twenty-second century, when seeking to reproduce in his vivid pages the form and _pressure_ of the time, may cite from "n. & q." without risk of leading his readers to any very inaccurate conclusions. t. a. t. florence. _ridley's university._--the author of _the bible in many tongues_ (a little work on the history of the bible and its translations, lately published by the religious tract society, and calculated to be useful), informs us that ridley "tells us incidentally," in his farewell letter, that he learned nearly the whole of st. paul's epistles "in the course of his solitary walks at oxford." what ridley tells us directly in his "farewell" to pembroke hall, cambridge, is as follows: "in my orchard (the walls, butts, and trees, if they could speak, would bear me witness) i learned without book almost all paul's epistles; yea, and i ween all the canonical epistles, save only the apocalypse." abhba. _marvellous, if true._-- "this same duc de lauragnois had a wife to whom he was tenderly attached. she died of consumption. her remains were not interred; but were, by some chemical process, reduced to a sort of small stone, which was set in a ring which the duke always wore on his finger. after this, who will say that the eighteenth century was not a romantic age?"--_memoirs of the empress josephine_, vol. ii. p. .: london, . e. h. a. _progress of the war._--one is reminded at the present time of the satirical verses with reference to the slow progress of business in the national assembly at the first french revolution, which were as follows: "une heure, deux heures, trois heures, quatre heures, cinq heures, six heures, sept heures, midi; allons-nous diner, mes amis! allons-nous," &c. "une heure, deux heures, trois heures, quatre heures, cinq heures, six heures, sept heures, minuit; allons-nous coucher, c'est mon avis! allons-nous coucher," &c. which may be thus imitated in our language: "one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four, five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight, nine o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, noon; let's go to dinner, 'tis none too soon! let's go to dinner," &c. "one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four, five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight, nine o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven, midnight; let's go to bed, 'tis all very right! let's go to bed," &c. f. c. h. _hatherleigh moor, devonshire._--i copy the following from an old devonshire newspaper, and should be obliged if any of your correspondents can authenticate the circumstances commemorated: "when john o'gaunt laid the foundation stone of the church he built by the river; then hatherleigh was poor as hatherleigh moor, and so it had been for ever and ever. when john o'gaunt saw the people were poor, he taught them this chaunt by the river; the people are poor as hatherleigh moor, and so they have been for ever and ever. when john o'gaunt he made his last will, which he penn'd by the side of the river, then hatherleigh moor he gave to the poor, and so it shall be for ever and ever." the above lines are stated to have been found "written in an ancient hand." balliolensis. _cromwellian gloves._--the _cambridge chronicle_ of may , says that there is in the possession of mr. chas. martin, of fordham, a pair of gloves, reputed to have been worn by oliver cromwell. they are made of strong beaver, richly fringed with heavy drab silk fringe, and reach half way between the wrist and the elbow. they were for a long time in the possession of a family at huntingdon. there is an inscription on the inside, bearing the name of cromwell; but the date is nearly obliterated. p. j. f. gantillon. { } _restall._--in the curious old church book of the abbey parish, shrewsbury, the word _restall_ occurs as connected with burials in the interior of the church. i cannot find this word in any dictionary to which i have access. can the readers of "n. & q." explain its meaning and origin, and supply instances and illustrations of its use elsewhere? i subjoin the following notes of entries in which the word occurs: " . received for restall and knyll. . received for buryalls in the church, viz. itm. for a restall of jane powell for her gra^d mother, vijs. viijd." . the word is now altered to "lastiall," and so continues to be written till april , , when it is written "restiall," which continues to be its orthography until , when it ceases to be used altogether, and "burials in the church" are alone spoken of. prior robert of salop. * * * * * queries. sepulchral monuments. (_continued from_ p. .) in a previous communication, fighting under the shield of a great authority, i attempted to prove that the effigies of the mediæval tombs presented the semblance of death--death in grandeur, mortality as the populace were accustomed to behold it, paraded in sad procession through the streets, and dignified in their temples. the character of the costume bears additional testimony to their supposed origin, and strongly warrants this conclusion. it is highly improbable that the statuaries of that age would clothe the expiring ecclesiastic in his sacerdotal robes, case the dying warrior in complete steel, and deck out other languishing mortals in their richest apparel, placing a lion or a dog, and such like crests or emblems, beneath their feet. they were far too matter-of-fact to treat a death-bed scene so poetically. the corpse however, when laid in state, _was_ arrayed in the official or the worthiest dress, and these heraldic appurtenances _did_ occupy that situation. thus in were the veritable remains of prince paul of wurtemburg, in full regimentals and decorated with honours, publicly exhibited in the chapelle ardente at paris (_illustrated london news_, vol. xx. p. .). unimaginative critics exclaim loudly against the anomaly of a lifeless body, or a dying christian, being thus dressed in finery, or covered with cumbrous armour; and such would have been the case in former days had not the people been so familiarised with this solemn spectacle. in an illumination in froissart we have the funeral of richard ii., where the body is placed upon a simple car attired in regal robes, a crown being on the head, and the arms crossed. we are informed that "the body of the effigies of oliver cromwell lay upon a bed of state covered with a large pall of black velvet, and that at the feet of the effigies stood his crest, according to the custom of ancient monuments." the chronicler might, perhaps, have said with more propriety "in accordance with tradition;" cause and effect, original and copy, being here reversed. "in a magnificent manner (he proceeds) the effigies was carried to the east end of westminster abbey, and placed in a noble structure, which was raised on purpose to receive it. it remained some time exposed to public view, the corpse having been some days before interred in henry vii.'s chapel." in the account of the funeral obsequies of general monk, duke of albemarle, in , the writer says: "wren has acquitted himself so well, that the hearse, now that the effigy has been placed upon it, and surrounded by the banners and bannerols, is a striking and conspicuous object in the old abbey. it is supported by four great pillars, and rises in the centre in the shape of a dome." it is here also worthy of note, that horncastle church affords a curious example of the principle of a double representation--one in life, and the other in death; before alluded to in the italian monuments, and in that of aylmer de valence. on a mural brass ( ), sir lionel dymock kneels in the act of prayer; and on another plate covering the grave below, the body is delineated wrapt in a shroud--beyond all controversy dead. mr. markland, in his useful work, mentions "the steel-clad sires, and mothers mild _reposing_ on their marble tombs;" and borrows from another archæologist an admirable description of the chapel of edward the confessor, who declares that "a more august spectacle can hardly be conceived, so many renowned sovereigns _sleeping_ round the shrine of an older sovereign, the holiest of his line." it can only be the sleep of death, and this the sentiment conveyed: "these all died in faith." the subjects of this disquisition are not lounging in disrespectful supplication, nor wrapt in sleep enjoying pious dreams, nor stretched on a bed of mortal sickness: but the soul, having winged its way from sin and suffering, has left its tenement with the beams of hope yet lingering on the face, and the holy hands still refusing to relax their final effort. impossible as this may seem to calculating minds, it is nevertheless one of the commonest of the authorised and customary modes designed to signify the faith, penitence, and peace attendant on a happy end. c. t. { } * * * * * "es tu scolaris." allow me through your pages to ask some of your correspondents for information respecting an old and very curious book, which i picked up the other day. it is a thin _unpaged_ octavo of twelve leaves, in black-letter type, without printer's name or date; but a pencil-note at the bottom of a quaint woodcut, representing a teacher and scholars, gives a date ! and in style of type, abbreviations, &c., it seems evidently of about the same age with another book which i bought at the same time, and which bears date as printed at "padua, ." the book about which i inquire bears the title _es tu scolaris_, and is a latin-german or dutch grammar, of a most curious and primitive character, proving very manifestly that when william lilly gave to the world the old _powle's grammar_, it was not before such a work was needed. a few extracts from my book will give some idea of the erudition and etymological profundity of the "learned theban" who compiled this guide to the temple of learning, which, if they do not instruct, will certainly amuse your readers. i should premise that the contractions and abbreviations in the printing of the book are so numerous and arbitrary, that it is extremely difficult to read, and that this style of printing condenses the subject-matter so much, that the twelve leaves would, in modern typography, extend to twenty or thirty. the book commences in the interrogatory style, in the words of its title, _es tu scolaris?_--"_sum._" it then proceeds to ring the changes on this word "_sum_," what part of speech, what kind of verb, &c.; and setting it down as _verbum anormalium_, goes on to enumerate the anormalous verbs in this verse,-- "sum, volo, fero, atque edo, tot et anormala credo." now begins the curious lore of the volume: "_q._ unde derivatur _sum_? _a._ derivatur a greca dictione, _hemi_ ([greek: emi]); mutando _h_ in _s_ et _e_ in _u_, et deponendo _i_, _sic habes sum_!" i dare say this process of derivation will be new to your classical readers, but as we proceed, they will say, "foregad this is more exquisite fooling still." "_q._ unde derivatur _volo_? _a._ derivatur a _beniamin_ (sic pro [greek: boulomai]) grece; mutando _ben_ in _vo_ et _iamin_ in _lo_, sic habes _volo_. versus est _volo_ formatum a _beniamin_, bene vocatum. _q._ unde derivatur _fero_? _a._ dicitur a _phoos_! grece; mutando _pho_ in _fe_ et _os_ in _ro_, sic habes _fero_! _q._ unde derivatur _edo_? _a._ a _phagin_, grece; mutando _pha_ in _e_ et _gin_ in _do_, sic habes _edo_!" here be news for etymologists, and proofs, moreover, that when some of the zealous antagonists of martin luther in the next century denounced "heathen greek" as a diabolical _invention_ of his, there was little in the grammar knowledge of the day to contradict the accusation. but we have not yet exhausted the wonders and virtues of the word _sum_; the grammar lesson goes on to ask,-- "_q._ quare _sum_ non desinit in _o_ nec in _or_? _a._ ad habendum, _d[=r][=n]am_[ ] [i cannot expand this contraction, though from the context it means a mark or token], dignitatis sue respectu aliorum verborum. _q._ declara hoc, et quomodo? _a._ quia per _sum_ intelligitur trinitas, cum tres habeat litteras, scl. _s_. _u_. et _m_. etiam illud verbum sum, quamvis de omnibus dici valeat, tamen de deo et trinitate proprie dicitur. _q._ quare _sum_ potius terminatur in _m_ quam in _n_? _a._ quia proprie _m_ rursus intelligitur trinitas, cum illa littera _m_, tria habet puncta." i shall feel much obliged for any particulars about this literary curiosity which you or any of your correspondents can give. a. b. r. belmont. [footnote : [drnam stands for differentiam.]] * * * * * on a digest of critical readings in shakspeare. with reference to this subject, which has been so frequently discussed in your columns, daily experience convincing me still farther in the opinion that the complete performance of the task is impracticable, would you kindly allow me to ask what can be done in the now acknowledged case of frequent occurrence, where different copies of the folios and quartos vary in passages in the very same impression? what copies are to be taken as the groundworks of reference; and whose copy of the first folio is to be the standard one? mr. knight may give one reading as that of the edition of , and mr. singer may offer another from the same work, while the author of the "critical digest" may give a third, and all of them correct in the mere fact that such readings are really those of the first edition. thus, in respect to a passage in _measure for measure_,-- "for thy own bowels, which do call thee _sire_,"-- it has been stated in your columns that one copy of the second folio has this correct reading, whereas every copy i have met with reads _fire_; and so likewise the first and third folios. then, again, in reference to this same line, mr. collier, in his shakspeare, vol. ii. p. ., says that the folio edition of also reads _fire_ for _sire_; but in my copy of the fourth folio it is distinctly printed _sire_, and the comma before the word very { } properly omitted. it would be curious to ascertain whether any other copies of this folio read _fire_. j. o. halliwell. * * * * * minor queries. "_original poems._"--there is a volume of poetry by a lady, published under the following title, _original poems, on several occasions_, by c. r., to., . can you inform me whether these poems are likely to have been written by miss clara reeve, authoress of _the old english baron_, and other novels? i have seen at least one specimen of this lady's poetry in one of the volumes of mr. pratt's _gleaner_. sigma. _a bristol compliment._--a present made of an article that you do not care about keeping yourself is called "a bristol compliment." what is the origin of the phrase? haughmond st. clair. _french or flemish arms._--what family (probably french or flemish) bears azure, in chief three mullets argent; in point a ducal coronet or; in base a sheep proper crowned with a ducal coronet or. penn. _precedence._--will any of your correspondents assign the order of precedence of officers in army or navy (having no decoration, knighthood, or companionship of any order of knighthood), not as respects each other, but as respects civilians? i apprehend that every commission is addressed to the bearer, embodying a civil title, as _e.g._, "john smith, esquire," or as we see ensigns gazetted, "a. b., gent." my impression therefore is, that in a mixed company of civilians, &c., no officer is entitled to take rank higher than the _civil_ title incorporated in his commission would imply, apart from his grade in the service to which he belongs. on this point i should be obliged by any notices which your correspondents may supply; as also by a classification in order of precedence of the ranks which i here set down alphabetically: barristers, doctors (in divinity, law, medicine), esquires, queen's counsel, serjeants-at-law. it may be objected that esquire, ecuyer, armiger, is originally a military title, but by usage it has been appropriated to civilians. suum cuique. "[greek: sphidê]."--the meaning of this word is wanted. it is not in stephens' _thesaurus_. it occurs in eichhoff's _vergleichung der sprachen europa und indien_, p. .: "sanscrit _bhid_, schneiden, brechen; gr. [greek: phazô]; lat. fido, findo, fodio; fr. fends; lithuan., fouis; deut. beisse; eng. bite" [to which kaltschmidt adds, beissen, speisen, fasten, futter, butter, mund, bitter, mästen, feist, weide, wiese, matte]; "sans. bhidâ, bhid, spaltung, faser; gr. [greek: sphidê], lat. fidis; sans. bhittis, graben; lat. fossa; sans. bhaittar, zerschneider; lat. fossor." t. j. buckton. lichfield. _print of the dublin volunteers._--can any of your correspondents inform me when, and where, and by whom, the well-known print of "the volunteers of the city and county of dublin, as they met on college green, the th day of nov., ," was republished? an original copy is not easily procured. abhba. _john ogden._--can any reader of "n. & q." furnish an account of the services rendered by john ogden, esq., to king charles i. of england? the following is in the possession of the inquirer: "ogden's arms, granted to john ogden, esq., by king charles ii., for his faithful services to his unfortunate father, charles i. "shield, girony of eight pieces, argent and gules; in dexter chief an oak branch, fructed ppr. "crest, oak tree ppr. lion rampant against the tree. "motto, et si ostendo, non jacto." oakden. _columbarium in a church tower._--at collingbourne ducis, near marlborough, i have been told that the interior of the church tower was constructed originally to serve as a columbarium. can this really be the object of the peculiar masonry, what is the date of the tower, and can a similar instance be adduced? it is said that the niches are not formed merely by the omission of stones, but that they have been carefully widened from the opening. are there any ledges for birds to alight on, or any peculiar openings by which they might enter the tower? j. w. hewett. _george herbert._--will any one of your correspondents, skilled in solving enigmas, kindly give me an exposition of this short poem of george herbert's? it is entitled-- "hope. "i gave to hope a watch of mine; but he an anchor gave to me. then an old prayer-book i did present, and he an optic sent. with that, i gave a phial full of tears; but he a few green ears. ah, loiterer! i'll no more, no more i'll bring; i did expect a ring." g. d. _apparition which preceded the fire of london._--an account of the apparition which predicted the great fire of london two months before it took place, or a reference to the book in which it may be found, will oblige ignipetus. { } _holy thursday rain-water._--in the parish of marston st. lawrence, northamptonshire, there is a notion very prevalent, that rain-water collected on holy thursday is of powerful efficacy in all diseases of the _eye_. ascension-day of the present year was very favourable in this respect to these village oculists, and numbers of the cottagers might be seen in all directions collecting the precious drops as they fell. is it known whether this curious custom prevails elsewhere? and what is supposed to be the origin of it? anon. _freemasonry._--a (hamburg) paper, _der freischütz_, brings in its no. . the following: "the great english lodge of this town will initiate in a few days two deaf and dumb persons; a very rare occurrence." and says farther in no. .: "with reference to our notice in no. ., we farther learned that on the th of march, two brethren, one of them deaf and dumb, have been initiated in the great english lodge; the knowledge of the language, without its pronunciation, has been cultivated by them to a remarkable degree, so that with noting the motion of the lips they do not miss a single word. the ceremony of initiation was the most affecting for all present." query . would deaf and dumb persons in england be eligible as members of the order? . have similar cases to the above ever occurred in this country? j. w. s. d. . * * * * * minor queries with answers. _lewis's "memoirs of the duke of gloucester."_--can you inform me who was the editor of "memoirs of prince william henry, duke of gloucester, from his birth, july the th, , to october : from an original tract written by jenkin lewis. printed for the editor, and sold by messrs. payne, &c., london: and messrs. prince & cooke, and j. fletcher, oxford, ." in a rare copy of this volume now before me, it is attributed by a pencil-note to the editorship of dr. philip hayes, who was organist of magdalen college chapel, oxford, from to . i should be glad to learn on what authority this could be stated. i am anxious also to know the names of any authors who have published books respecting the life, reign, or times of king william iii.? j. r. b. oxford. [some of our readers will probably be able to authenticate the editorship of jenkin lewis' _memoirs of the duke of gloucester_. the following works on the reign of william iii. may be consulted among others: walter harris's _history of the reign of william iii._, fol., ; _the history of the prince of orange and the ancient history of nassau_, vo., ; _an historical account of the memorable actions of the prince of orange_, mo., ; _history of william iii._, vols. vo., ; _life of william iii._, mo., ; another, vo., ; _the history of the life and reign of william iii._, dublin, vols. mo., ; vernon's _letters of the reign of william iii._, edited by g. p. r. james, vols. vo., ; paul grimbolt's _letters of william iii. and louis xiv._ consult also watt and lowndes' _bibliographical dictionaries_, art. william iii.; and _catalogue of the london institution_, vol. i. p. .] _apocryphal works._--can you inform me where i can procure an english version of the _book of enoch_, so often quoted by mackay in his admirable work _the progress of the human intellect_? also the _epistle of barnabas_, and the _spurious gospels_? w. s. cleveland bridge, bath. [_the book of enoch_, edited by archbishop laurence, and printed at oxford, has passed through several editions.--_the catholic epistle of st. barnabas_ is included among archbishop wake's _genuine epistles of the apostolical fathers_.--"the spurious gospels" will probably be found in _the apocryphal new testament_; being all the gospels, epistles, and other pieces now extant, attributed in the first four centuries to jesus christ, his apostles, and their companions, and not included in the new testament by its compilers: london, vo., ; nd edition, . anonymous, but edited by william hone.] _mirabeau, talleyrand, and fouché._--can any of your correspondents tell me which are the best lives of three of the most remarkable men who figured in the age of the french revolution, viz. mirabeau, talleyrand, and fouché? if there are english translations of these works? and also if there is any collection of the fierce philippics of mirabeau? kennedy mcnab. [mirabeau left a natural son, lucas montigny, who published _memoirs of mirabeau, biographical, literary, and political_, by himself, his uncle, and his adopted child, vols. vo., lond., .--_memoirs of c. m. talleyrand_, vols. mo., lond., . also his _life_, vols. vo., lond., .--_memoirs of joseph fouché_, translated from the french, vols. vo., lond., .] _"the turks in europe," and "austria as it is."_--i possess an vo. volume consisting of two anonymous publications, which appeared in london in , one entitled _the establishment of the turks in europe, an historical discourse_, and the other _austria as it is, or sketches of continental courts_, by an eye-witness. can you give me the names of the authors? abhba. [_the turks in europe_ is by lord john russell: but the author of _austria as it is_, we cannot discover; he was a native of the austrian empire.] "_forgive, blest shade._"--where were the lines, commencing "forgive, blest shade," first { } published? i believe it was upon a mural tablet on the chancel wall of a small village church in dorsetshire (wyke regis); but i have seen it quoted as from a monument in some church in the isle of wight. the tablet at wyke, in dorset, was erected anonymously, in the night-time, upon the east end of the chancel outer wall; but whether they were _original_, or copied from some prior monumental inscription, i do not know, and should feel much obliged could any of your readers inform me. s. s. m. [snow, in his _sepulchral gleanings_, p. ., notices these lines on the tomb of robert scott, who died in march, , in bethnal green churchyard. prefixed to them is the following line: "the grief of a fond mother, and the disappointed hope of an indulgent father." our correspondent should have given the date of the wyke tablet.] _"off with his head," &c._--who was the author of the often-quoted line-- "off with his head! so much for buckingham!" which is not in shakspeare's _richard iii._? uneda. philadelphia. [colley cibber is the author of this line. it occurs in _the tragical history of richard iii._, altered from shakspeare, act iv., near the end.] "_peter wilkins._"--who wrote this book? and when was it published? uneda. philadelphia. [this work first appeared in , and in its brief title is comprised all that is known--all that the curiosity of an inquisitive age can discover--of the history of the work, and name and lineage of the author. it is entitled _the life and adventures of peter wilkins, a cornish man_. taken from his own mouth, in his passage to england, from off cape horn in america, in the ship hector. by r. s., a passenger in the hector; lond. , vols. the dedication is signed r. p. "to suppose the unknown author," remarks a writer in the _retrospective review_, vol. vii. p. ., "to have been insensible to, or careless about, the fair fame to which a work, original in its conception, and almost unique in purity, did justly entitle him, is to suppose him to have been exempt from the influence of that universal feeling, which is ever deepest in the noblest bosoms; the ardent desire of being long remembered after death--of shining bright in the eyes of their cotemporaries, and, when their sun is set, of leaving behind a train of glory in the heavens, for posterity to contemplate with love and veneration."] _the barmecides' feast._--can you tell me where the story of the barmecides and their famed banquets is to be found? j. d. [in _the thousand and one nights_, commonly called _the arabian nights' entertainments_, lane's edition, chap. v. vol. i. p. . consult also _the barmecides_, , by john francis de la harpe; and moreri, _dictionnaire historique_, art. barmécides.] _captain._--i shall feel greatly obliged by your informing me the proper and customary manner of rendering in a latin epitaph the words "captain of the th regiment." ainsworth does not give any word which appears to answer to "captain." _ordinum ductor_ is cumbrous and inelegant. clericus. [the words, "captain of the th regiment," may be thus rendered into latin: "centurio sive capitanus vicesimæ nonæ cohortis." the word _capitanus_, though not ciceronian, was in general use for a military captain during the middle ages, as appears from du cange's _glossary_: "item vos armati et congregati quendam de vobis in _capitaneum_ elegistis."] * * * * * replies. coleridge's unpublished manuscripts. (vol. ix., p. .) in an article contained in the number of "n. & q." for may the th last, and signed c. mansfield ingleby, an inconsiderate, not to say a coarse attack has been made upon me, which might have been spared had the writer sought a private explanation of the matters upon which he has founded his charge. he asks, "how has mr. green discharged the duties of his solemn trust? has he made any attempt to give publicity to the _logic_, the 'great work' on _philosophy_, the work on the old and new testaments, to be called _the assertion of religion_, or the _history of philosophy_, all of which are in his custody, and of which the first is, on the testimony of coleridge himself, a finished work?... for the four works enumerated above, mr. green is responsible." now, though, by the terms of coleridge's will, i do not hold myself "responsible" in the sense which the writer attaches to the term, and though i have acted throughout with the cognizance, and i believe with the approbation of coleridge's family, yet i am willing, and shall now proceed to give such explanations as an admirer of coleridge's writings may desire, or think he has a right to expect. of the four works in question, the _logic_--as will be seen by turning to the passage in the letters, vol. ii. p. ., to which the writer refers as "the testimony of coleridge himself"--is described as _nearly_ ready for the press, though as yet _unfinished_; and i apprehend it may be proved by reference to mr. stutfield's notes, the gentleman to whom it is there said they were dictated, and who possesses the original copy, that the work never was finished. of the three parts mentioned as the components of { } the work, the _criterion_ and _organon_ do not to my knowledge exist; and with regard to the other parts of the manuscript, including the _canon_, i believe that i have exercised a sound discretion in not publishing them in their present form and _unfinished_ state. of the alleged work on the old and new testaments, to be called _the assertion of religion_, i have no knowledge. there exist, doubtless, in coleridge's handwriting, many notes, detached fragments and marginalia, which contain criticisms on the scriptures. many of these have been published, some have lost their interest by the recent advances in biblical criticism, and some may hereafter appear; though, as many of them were evidently not intended for publication, they await a final judgment with respect to the time, form, and occasion of their appearance. but no work with the title above stated, no work with any similar object--except the _confessions of an inquiring spirit_--is, as far as i know, in existence. the work to which i suppose the writer alludes as the _history of philosophy_, is in my possession. it was presented to me by the late j. hookham frere, and consists of notes, taken for him by an eminent shorthand writer, of the course of lectures delivered by coleridge on that subject. unfortunately, however, these notes are wholly unfit for publication, as indeed may be inferred from the fact, communicated to me by coleridge, that the person employed confessed after the first lecture that he was unable to follow the lecturer in consequence of becoming perplexed and delayed by the novelty of thought and language, for which he was wholly unprepared by the ordinary exercise of his art. if this _history of philosophy_ is to be published in an intelligible form, it will require to be re-written; and i would willingly undertake the task, had i not, in connexion with coleridge's views, other and more pressing objects to accomplish. i come now to the fourth work, the "great work" on _philosophy_. touching this the writer quotes from one of coleridge's letters: "of this work something more than a volume has been dictated by me, so as to exist fit for the press." i need not here ask whether the conclusion is correct, that because "something more than a volume" is fit for the press, i am therefore responsible for the whole work, of which the "something more than a volume" is a part? but--shaping my answer with reference to the real point at issue--i have to state, for the information of coleridge's readers, that, although in the materials for the volume there are introductions and intercalations on subjects of speculative interest, such as to entitle them to appear in print, the main portion of the work is a philosophical _cosmogony_, which i fear is scarcely adapted for scientific readers, or corresponds to the requirements of modern science. at all events, i do not hesitate to say that the completion of the whole would be requisite for the intelligibility of the part which exists in manuscript. i leave it then to any candid person to decide whether i should have acted wisely in risking its committal to the press in its present shape. whatever may be, however, the opinion of others, i have decided, according to my own conscientious conviction of the issue, against the experiment. but should some farther explanation be expected of me on this interesting topic, i will freely own that, having enjoyed the high privilege of communion with one of the most enlightened philosophers of the age--and in accordance with his wishes the responsibility rests with me, as far as my ability extends, of completing his labours,--in pursuance of this trust i have devoted more than the leisure of a life to a work in which i hope to present the philosophic views of my "great master" in a systematic form of unity--in a form which may best concentrate to a focus and principle of unity the light diffused in his writings, and which may again reflect it on all departments of human knowledge, so that truths may become intelligible in the one light of divine truth. meanwhile i can assure the friends and admirers of coleridge that nothing now exists in manuscript which would add materially to the elucidation of his philosophical doctrines; and that in any farther publication of his literary remains i shall be guided, as i have been, by the duty which i owe to the memory and fame of my revered teacher. joseph henry green. hadley. * * * * * king james's irish army list, . (vol. ix., pp. , . .) i was much pleased at mr. d'alton's announcement of his work; and i should have responded to it sooner, if i could have had any idea that he did not possess king's _state of the protestants in ireland_; but his inquiry about colonel sheldon, in vol. ix., p. ., shows that he has not consulted that work, where (p. .) he will find that dominick sheldon was "lieutenant-general of the horse." but after the enumeration of the general staff, there follows a list of the field officers of eight regiments of horse, seven of dragoons, and fifty of infantry. in tyrconnel's regiment of horse, dominick sheldon appears as lieutenant-colonel. this must have been, i suppose, a sheldon junior, son or nephew of the lieutenant-general of horse. this reference to king's work has suggested to me an idea which i venture to suggest to mr. d'alton as a preliminary to the larger work on irish family genealogies which he is about, and for which we shall { } have i fear to wait too long. i mean an immediate reprint (in a separate shape) of the several lists of gentlemen of both parties which are given in king's work. this might be done with very little trouble, and, i think, without any pecuniary loss, if not with actual profit. it would be little more than pamphlet size. the first and most important list would be of the names and designations of all the persons included in the acts of attainder passed in king james's irish parliament of may, . they are, i think, about two thousand names, with their residences and personal designations; and it is interesting to find that a great many of the same families are still seated in the same places. these names i think i should place alphabetically in one list, with their designations and residences; and any short notes that mr. d'alton might think necessary to correct clerical error, or explain doubtful names: longer notes would perhaps lead too far into family history for the limited object i propose. in a second list, i would give the names of king james's parliament, privy council, army, civil and judicial departments, as we find them in king, adding to them an alphabetical index of names. the whole would then exhibit a synopsis of the names, residences, and politics of a considerable portion of the gentry of ireland at that important period. c. * * * * * barrell's regiment. (vol. ix., pp. . .) your correspondent h. b. c. is undoubtedly correct in his statement that "ten times a day whip the barrels," is a regimental parody on the song "he that has the best wife," sung in charles coffey's musical farce of _the devil to pay_, published in . popular songs have been made the subject of political or personal parodies from time immemorial; and no more fruitful locality for parodies can be found than a barrack, where the individual traits of character are so fully developed, and afford so full a scope to the talents of a satirist. indeed, i knew an officer, who has recently retired from the service, who seized on every popular ballad, and parodied it, in connexion with regimental affairs, to the delight of his brother officers; and in many instances his parodies were far more witty than the original comic songs whence they were taken. as regards the regiment known as barrell's, at the period assigned as the date of the song relative to that corps, _i. e._ circa , there can be no doubt as to what corps is alluded to. barrell's regiment, now the th, or king's own, regiment of infantry, is the only corps that was ever known in the british army as barrell's; for although colonel william barrell was colonel of the present th regiment from sept. , , to august , , and of the present nd regiment from the latter date to august , , yet neither of these regiments appears to have seen any war-service during the periods that they were commanded by him, or to have been known in military history as barrell's regiments. he was appointed to the th regiment of infantry august , , and retained the command of that distinguished corps exactly fifteen years, for he died august , . while he commanded the regiment it embarked for flanders, and served the campaign of , under field-marshal wade. it remained in flanders until the rebellion broke out in scotland, when it returned to england, and marched from newcastle-on-tyne to scotland in january, , arriving on the th of that month at edinburgh. the regiment was engaged at the battle of falkirk, jan. , , where its conduct is thus noticed in the _general advertiser_: "the regiments which distinguished themselves were barrell's (king's own), and ligonier's foot." ligonier's regiment is now the glorious th regiment, of albuera fame. at the battle of culloden barrell's regiment gained the greatest reputation imaginable; the battle was so desperate that the soldiers' bayonets were stained with blood to the muzzles of their muskets; there was scarce an officer or soldier of the regiment, and of that part of munro's (now th regiment) which engaged the rebels, that did not kill one or two men each with their bayonets. (_particulars of the battle_, published .) now it will be remembered that your correspondent e. h., vol. ix., p. ., represents a drummer of the regiment interceding with the colonel for the prisoner, by stating that "he behaved well at culloden." and this leads me to the question, who was the colonel against whom this caricature was directed? it is proved ("n. & q.," vol. vii., p. .) that regiments were known by the names of their _colonels_, whether commanded personally by the colonel or not, until july , , and indeed for several subsequent years. now the reference to culloden renders it probable that the colonel appealed to was present at that battle, and perhaps an eye-witness of the personal bravery on that occasion of the soldier who was subsequently flogged. but although colonel barrell _retained_ the colonelcy of the th infantry until august, , yet he was promoted to major-general in , after which time he would have commanded a _division_, not a _regiment_. in he was farther promoted to lieut.-general, and appointed the same year governor of pendennis castle, which office would necessarily remove him from the personal command of his regiment. he was not present at the battle of culloden, april , , where his regiment was commanded by lieut.-colonel robert { } rich, who was wounded on that occasion. as to the epithet of "colonel," used by the drummer, that term is always used in conversation when addressing a lieutenant-colonel, or even a brevet lieutenant-colonel, and its use only proves, therefore, that the officer in command of the parade held a higher rank than major. after culloden, the th regiment moved to the highlands, and in returned to stirling. in general barrell died, and the colonelcy of the regiment was given to lieut.-colonel rich, whom i suspect to be the officer alluded to in the caricature. i have searched the military records of the th regiment, but can find no mention of the places at which it was stationed from to , in the spring of which year it embarked from great britain for the mediterranean, just as it is now doing in the spring of . i am inclined to fix the date of the print as (not ), when "old scourge" _returned_ to his regiment as colonel, at the decease of general barrell. colonel rich was not promoted to major-general until jan. , , and his commission as colonel is dated aug. , , the day on which he became colonel of the th regiment. he died in , but retired from the service between the years and : he succeeded his father as a baronet in . g. l. s. * * * * * clay tobacco-pipes. (vol. ix., p. .) i was much pleased at reading mr. h. t. riley's note on this neglected subject, in which i take no small interest, and feel happy in communicating the little amount of information i possess regarding it. i have long thought that the habit of smoking, i do not say tobacco, but some other herb, is of much greater antiquity than is generally supposed. tobacco appears to have been introduced amongst us about by captain r. greenfield and sir francis drake (vide brand's _popular antiquities_); but i have seen pipe-bowls of english manufacture, which had been found _beneath_ the encaustic pavement of buildwas abbey in shropshire, which gives a much earlier date to the practice of smoking _something_. i remember an old man, a perfect dominie sampson in his way, who had been in turn gaoler, pedagogue, and postmaster, at st. briavel's, near tintern abbey, habitually smoking the leaves of coltsfoot, which he cultivated on purpose; he told me that he could seldom afford to use tobacco. the pipes found in such abundance in the bed of the thames, and everywhere in and about london, i believe to be of dutch manufacture; they are identical with those which teniers and ostade put into the mouths of their boors, and have for the most part a small pointed heel, a well-defined milled ring around the lip, and bear no mark or name of the maker. such were the pipes used by the soldiers of the parliament, to be found wherever they encamped. i will only instance barton, near abingdon, on the property of g. bowyer, esq., m.p., where i have seen scores while shooting in the fields around the ruins of the old fortified mansion. the english pipes, on the contrary, have a very broad and flat heel, on which they may rest in an upright position, so that the ashes might not fall out prematurely; and on this heel the potter's name or device is usually stamped, generally in raised characters, though sometimes they are incised. occasionally the mark is to be found on the side of the bowl. a short time ago i exhibited a series of some five-and-twenty different types at the archæological institution, and my collection has been enlarged considerably since. these were principally found in shropshire and staffordshire, and appear for the most part to have been made at broseley. they are of a very hard and compact clay, which retains the impress of the milled ring and the stamp in all its original freshness. i shall feel much obliged by receiving any additional information upon this subject. w. j. bernhard smith. temple. * * * * * madame de staËl. (vol. ix., p. .) i cannot direct r. a. to the passage in madame de staël's works. the german book for which he inquires is not by schlegel _assisted_ by fichte, but-- "friedrich nicolai's leben und sonderbare meinungen. ein beitrag zur literatur-geschichte des vergangenen und zur pädagogik des angehenden jahrhunderts, von johan gottlieb fichte. herausgegeben von a. w. schlegel: tubingen, , ^o, pp. ." there certainly is no ground for the charge that fichte attacked nicolai when he was too old to reply. nicolai was born in , and died in ; so that he was sixty-eight when this pamphlet was published. his _leben sempronius gundiberts_ was published in ; and your correspondent h. c. r. (vol. vii., p. .) partook of his hospitality in berlin in . as to the provocation, fichte (at p. .) gives an account of attacks on his personal honour; the worst of which seems to be the imputation of seeking favourable notices in the _literary gazette_ of jena. in _gundibert_ fichte's writings were severely handled, but no personal imputation was made. i do not know what was said of him in the _neue deutsche bibliothek_, but i can hardly imagine any justification for so furious an attack { } as this on nicolai. i also concur with madame de staël in thinking the book dull: "non est jocus esse malignum." it begins with an attempt at grave burlesque, but speedily degenerates into mere scolding. take one example: "es war sehr wahr, dass aus seinen (nicolais) händen alles beschmutzt und verdreht herausging; aber es war nicht wahr, das er beschmutzen und verdrehen wollte. es ward ihm nur so durch die eigenschaft seiner natur. wer möchte ein stinkthier beschuldigen, dass es bohafter weise alles was es zu sich nehme, in gestank,--oder die natter, das sie es in gift verwandle. diese thiere sind daran sehr unschuldig; sie folgen nur ihrer natur. eben so unser held, der nun einmal zum literarischen stinkthier und der natter des achtzehnten jahrhunderts bestimmt war, verbreitete stank um sich, und spritze gift, nicht aus bosheit, sondern lediglich durch seine bestimmung getrieben."--p. . the charge of defiling all he touched will be appreciated by those who have read _sebaldus nothanker_ and _sempronius gundibert_, two of the purest as well as of the cleverest novels of the last century. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * cranmer's martyrdom. (vol. ix., p. .) the long-received account of a very striking act in the martyrdom of cranmer is declared to involve an "impossibility." the question is an important one in various ways, for it involves moral and religious, as well as literary and physiological, considerations of deep interest; but as i think the pages of "n. & q." not the most appropriate vehicle for discussion on the former heads, i shall pass them over at present with a mere expression of regret that such a subject should have been so mooted there. with reference, then, to the literary evidence in favour of the fact, that the noble martyr voluntarily put forth his hand into the hottest part of the fire which was raging about him, and burnt it first, the historians quoted are entirely agreed, differing as they do only in such details as might seem rather to imply independent testimony than discrepant authority. but the action is declared to be "utterly impossible, because," &c. why beg the question in this way? "because," says h. b. c., "the laws of physiology and combustion show that he could not have gone beyond _the attempt_;" adding, "if the hand were chained over the fire, the shock would produce death." leaving the _hypothetical_ reasoning in both cases to go for what it is worth, it would surely be easy to produce facts of almost every week from the evidence given in coroners' inquests, in which persons have had their limbs burnt off--to say nothing of farther injury--without the shock "producing death." the only question then which i think can fairly arise, is, whether a person in cranmer's position could _voluntarily_ endure that amount of mutilation by fire which many others have _accidentally_ suffered? this may be matter of opinion, but i have no doubt, and i suppose no truly christian philosopher will have any, that the man who has faith to "give his body to be burned," and to endure heroically such a form of martyrdom, would be quite able to do what is attributed to cranmer, and to hooper too, "high medical authority" to the contrary notwithstanding. i might, indeed, adduce what might be called "high medical authority" for my view, _i. e._ the historical evidence of the fact, but i think the bandying of opinions on such a subject undesirable. it would be more to the point, especially if there really existed any ground for "historic doubt" on the subject, or if there was any good reason for creating one, to cite cotemporaneous evidence against that usually received. with respect to the heart of the martyr being "entire and unconsumed among the ashes," i must be permitted to say that, neither on physiological nor other grounds, does even this alleged fact, taken in its plain and obvious meaning, strike me as forming one of the "impossibilities of history." j. h. rotherfield. your correspondent h. b. c. doubts the possibility of the story about cranmer's hand, and says that "if a furnace were so constructed that a man might hold his hand in the flame without burning his body, the shock to the nervous system would deprive him of all command over muscular action before the skin could be entirely consumed. if the hand were chained over the fire, the shock would produce death." now, this last assertion i doubt. the following is an extract from the account of ravaillac's execution, given with wonderfully minute details by an eye-witness, and published in cimber's _archives curieux de l'histoire de france_, vol. xv. p. .: "on le couche sur l'eschaffaut, on attache les chevaux aux mains et aux pieds. sa main droite percée d'un cousteau fut bruslée à feu de souphre. ce misérable, pour veoir comme ceste exécrable main rotissoit, eut le courage de hausser la teste et de la secouer pour abattre une étincelle de feu qui se prenoit à sa barbe." so far was this from killing him that he was torn with red-hot pincers, had melted lead, &c. poured into his wounds, and he was then "longuement tiré, retiré, et promené de tous costez" by four horses: "s'il y eut quelque pause, ce ne fut que pour donner temps au bourreau de respirer, au patient de se sentir mourir, aux théologiens de l'exhorter à dire la vérité." and still: "sa vie estoit forte et vigoureuse; telle que retirant { } une fois une des jambes, il arresta le cheval qui le tiroit." i fear your correspondent underrates the power of the human body in enduring torture. i have seen a similar account of the execution of damiens, with which i will not shock your readers. the subject is a revolting one, but the truth ought to be known, as it is (most humanely, i fully believe) questioned. g. w. r. oxford and cambridge club. * * * * * photographic correspondence. _difficulties in making soluble cotton._--in making soluble cotton according to the formula given by mr. hadow in the _photographic journal_, and again by mr. shadbolt in "n. & q.," i have been subject to the most provoking failures, and should feel obliged if mr. shadbolt or any other of your correspondents could explain the causes of my failures, which i will endeavour to describe. st. in using nitrate of potash and sulphuric acid, with a certain quantity of water as given, i have _invariably_ found that on adding the cotton to the mixture it became _completely dissolved_, and the mass began to effervesce violently, throwing off dense volumes of deep red fumes, and the whole appearing of a similar colour. i at first thought it might be the fault of the sulphuric acid; but on trying some fresh, procured at another place, the same effects were produced. again, in using the mixed acids (which i tried, not being successful with the other method) i found, on following mr. hadow's plan, that the cotton was also entirely dissolved. how is the proper temperature at which the cotton is to be immersed to be arrived at? are there any thermometers constructed for the purpose? as, if one of the ordinary ones, mounted on wood or metal, was used, the acids would attack it, and, i should imagine, prove injurious to the liquids. at the same time i would ask the reason why all the negative calotypes i have taken lately, both on turner's and sandford's papers, iodized according to dr. diamond's plan, are never intense, especially the skies, by transmitted light, although by reflected light they look of a beautiful black and white. i never used formerly to meet with such a failure; but at that time i used always to wet the plate glass and attach the paper to it, making it adhere by pressing with blotting-paper, and then exciting with a buckles brush and dilute gallo-nitrate. but the inconvenience attending that plan was, that i was compelled to take out as many double slides as i wished to take pictures, which made me abandon it and take to dr. diamond's plan of exciting them and placing them in a portfolio for use. i imagine the cause of their not being so intense is the not exposing them while wet. a bag made of yellow calico, single thickness, has been recommended for changing the papers in the open air. i am satisfied it will not do, especially if the sun is shining; it may do in some shady places, but i have never yet seen any yellow calico so fine in texture as not to allow of the rays of light passing through it, unless two or three times doubled. i have proved to my own satisfaction that the papers will not bear exposure in a bag of single thickness, without browning over immediately the developing fluid is applied. with regard to the using of thin collodion, as recommended by mr. hardwick in the last number of the _photographic journal_, i am satisfied it is the only plan of producing thoroughly good positives; and i have been in the habit of thinning down collodion in the same manner for a long time, finding that i produced much better pictures with about half the time of exposure necessary for a thick collodion. h. u. _light in cameras._--i cannot sufficiently express my acknowledgments to "n. & q." for the photographic benefits i have derived from its perusal, more especially from the communication in no. . of lux in camera. since i took up the art some months ago, i have had (with two or three exceptions) nothing but a succession of failures, principally from the browning of the negatives, and on examining my camera, as recommended by lux in camera, i find it lets in a blaze of light from the cause he mentions[ ], and thence doubtless my disappointments. but why inflict this history upon you? i inclose for your acceptance the best photograph i have yet produced from dr. diamond's "simplicity of the calotype." printed from delamotte's directions:-- first preparation, oz. of aq. dist.; ¼ oz. of muriate of ammonia. second process, floating on solution grains of nitrate of silver, ounce of distilled water. is there any better plan than the above? charles k. probert. p.s.--the view inclosed is the porch and transept of newport church, essex, from the parsonage garden. is it printed too dark? i wish i could get the grey and white tints i saw in the photographic exhibition.[ ] had your readers behaved with ordinary gratitude, your photographic portfolio ought to have overflowed by this time. [footnote : it was an expensive one, bought of one of the principal houses for the supply of photographic apparatus, &c.] [footnote : [some of the best specimens of these tints were forwarded to us by mr. pumphrey, accompanying the description of his process, printed in our eighth volume, p. .--ed. "n. & q."]] _cameras._--the note of lux in camera has brought in more than one letter of thanks; and a valued correspondent has written to us, suggesting "that the attention of the photographic society, who have as yet done far less than they might have done to advance the art, should be _at once_ turned, and that seriously and earnestly, to the production of a light, portable, and effective camera for field purposes; one which, at the same time that it has the advantages of lightness and portability, should be capable of resisting our variable climate." our correspondent throws out a hint which possibly may be adopted with advantage, { } that papier maché has many of the requisites desired, being very firm, light, and impervious to wet. _progress of photography._--as a farther contribution to the history of photography, we have been favoured with the following copy of a letter from a well-known amateur, which details in a graphic manner his early photographic experiences. "as there is a sort of reflux of the tide to mr. fox talbot's plan, and different people have succeeded best in different ways, it may amuse you to hear how i _used_ to work, with better luck than i have had since. "mr. talbot's sensitive wash was very strong, so he floated his paper upon distilled water immediately after its application. "mr. g. s. cundell, of finsbury circus, diluted the sensitive wash with water, instead of floating the paper. amateurs date their success from the time mr. cundell published this simple modification of the original process. "mr. william hunt, of yarmouth, was my first friend and instructor in the art; and _if_ there be any merit in the pictures i did before i knew you, the credit is due to _him entirely_. "the first paper we tried was whatman's ivory post, very thick and hard, and yet it gave good negatives. we afterwards got a thinner paper, but always stuck to whatman. neither were we troubled with that _porosity_ in the skies of which you complain in the more recently-made papers of that manufacturer. "we first washed the paper with a solution of nitrate of silver, fifteen grains to the ounce, going over the surface in all directions with a camel-hair brush. as soon as the fluid ceased to run, the paper was _rapidly dried before the fire_, and then immersed in a solution of iodide of potassium, grains to the pint of water. we used to draw it through the solution frequently by the corners, and then let it lie till the yellow tint was visible at the back. it was then immediately taken to the pump and pumped upon vigorously for two or three minutes, holding it at such an angle that the water flushed softly over the surface. we then gave it a few minutes in a rain-water bath, inclining the dish at different angles to give motion to the water. by this time the iodide of silver looked like pure solid brimstone in the wet paper. then we knew that it was good, and hung it up to dry. "to make this paper sensitive, we took drops of gallic acid (saturated solution), drops of glacial acetic acid, drops of a -grain solution of nitrate of silver, and drops of water. the sensitive wash was poured upon a glass plate, and the paper placed thereon. we used to lift the paper frequently by one or other corner till it was perfectly limp. we then blotted off and placed in the camera, where it would keep a good many hours. "whether such pictures would have come out spontaneously under the developing solution, i know not, for we had not patience enough to try. we forced them out in double quick time with red-hot pokers; and great was the alarm of my wife to see me rush madly about the house armed with these weapons. yet the plan had its advantages; by presenting the point of the poker at a refractory spot, its reluctance to appear was speedily overcome, and we persuaded out the shadows. * * * "p.s.--i now have the first picture i ever did, little, if at all, altered. it was done in july, , with a common meniscus lens. i have just got a _capital negative_ by dr. diamond's plan, but which is spoiled by the metallic abominations in turner's paper." _a collodion difficulty._--with reference to mr. j. cook's collodion, i would suggest that his ether was indeed "still very strong" of _acid_; by which the iodine was set free, and gave him "nearly a port-wine colour." this is a common occurrence when the ether or the collodion is acid. the remedy is at hand, however. powder a few grains of _cyanide of potassium_, and introduce about a grain at a time, according to the quantity: shake up till dissolved, and so on, until you get the clear golden tint. thus will "the mystery be cleared up." i need not say that the essential properties of the solution will not be impaired. andrew steinmetz. p.s.--in a day or two i shall send you a _recipe_ for easily turning to immediate use the "used-up dipping baths" of _nitrate_, without the troublesome process recommended to one of your correspondents. _ferricyanide of potassium._--i have used with success the ferricyanide of potassium (the _red_ prussiate of potash, as it is called) for removing the stains contracted in photographing. this it does very readily when the stains are recent, and it has no injurious effect upon cuts and sore places should any exist on the hands. an old stain may with a little pumice be very readily removed. i have mentioned this to several friends, and, if not a novelty, it is certainly not generally known. s. pelham dale. sion college. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _postage system of the romans_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent ardelio probably alludes to the system of posts for the conveyance of persons, established by the romans on their great lines of road. an account of this may be seen in the work of bergier, _histoire des grands chemins de l'empire romain_, lib. iv.; and compare gibbon's _decline and fall_, chap. xvii. communications were made from rome to the governors of provinces, and information was received from them, by means of these posts: see suet. _oct._ c. xlix. but the romans had no public institution for the conveyance of private letters. a letter post is a comparatively modern institution; in england it only dates from the reign of james i. an account of the ancient persian posts is given by xenoph. _cyrop._ viii. vi. § , .; herod. viii. .: compare schleusner, _lex. n. t._ in [greek: angareuô]. l. as a proof that there is at least one eminent exception to the assertion of ardelio, that "_we_ know that the romans must have had a postal system," i send the following extract from dr. william { } smith's _dictionary of greek and roman antiquities_, sub voc. tabellarius: "as the romans had no public post, they were obliged to employ special messengers, who were called tabellarii, to convey their letters, when they had not an opportunity of sending them otherwise." [greek: halieus]. dublin. _epigram on the feuds between handel and bononcini_ (vol. ix., p. .).--this epigram, which has frequently been printed as swift's, was written by dr. byrom of manchester. in his very interesting _diary_, which is shortly about to appear under the able editorship of my friend dr. parkinson in the series of chetham publications, byrom mentions it. "nourse asked me if i had seen the verses upon handel and bononcini, not knowing that they were mine; but sculler said i was charged with them, and so i said they were mine; they both said they had been mightily liked."--byrom's _remains_ (cheetham series), vol. i. part i. p. . the verses are thus more correctly given in byrom's _works_, vol. i. p. ., edit. : "_epigram on the feuds between handel and bononcini._ some say, compar'd to bononcini, that mynheer handel's but a ninny; others aver that he to handel is scarcely fit to hold a candle: strange all this difference should be, 'twixt tweedledum and tweedledee!" jas. crossley. _power of prophesying before death_ (vol. ii., p. .).--in st. gregory's _dialogues_, b. iv. ch. xxv., the disciple asks,-- "velim scire quonam modo agitur quod plerumque morientes multa prædicunt." the answer begins (ch. xxvi.),-- "ipsa aliquando animarum vis subtilitate sua aliquid prævidet. aliquando autem exituræ de corpore animæ per revelationem ventura cognoscunt. aliquando vero dum jam juxta sit ut corpus deserant, divinitus afflatæ in secreta coelestia incorporeum mentis oculum mittunt." j. c. r. _king john_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i cannot reply to the queries of prestoniensis, but i have a note of a grant made by john (as _com. moritoniæ_) of the tithes of the parishes between rible and merse, which appears to have received the bishop of coventry's confirmation, _ap. cestriam, an. pont. papæ coelestini_. john's grant was to the priory of lancaster. my reference is to madox, _formulare anglicanum_, lond. , p. , mxcvi. the deed is witnessed by adam de blakeburn and robert de preston, as well as by phil. sanson (de worcester?) and others. anon. _demoniacal descent of the plantagenets_ (vol. ix., p. .).--h. b. c. will find another passage, illustrative of this presumption, in henry knyghton's _chronica_: "de isto quoque henrico, quondam infantulo et in curia regis francorum nutrito, beatus bernardus abbas de eo sic prophetavit, præsente rege, _de diabolo venit, et ad diabolum ibit_: notans per hoc tam tyrannidem patris sui galfridi, qui sagiensem episcopum eunuchaverat, quam etiam istius henrici futuram atrocitatem qua in beatum thomam desæviret."--twysden, _hist. angl. scriptores_, pp. . ., and . . c. h. _burial service tradition_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the only cases in which a clergyman is legally justified in refusing to read the entire service over the body of a parishioner or other person admitted to burial in the parochial cemetery, are the three which are mentioned in the preliminary rubric, which, as expounded by the highest authorities, are as follows: . in case the person died without admission to the universal church by christian baptism. . or "denounced 'excommunicate majori excommunicatione' for some grievous and notorious crime, and no man able to testify of his repentance." (canon .) . or _felo de se_; for in a case of suicide the acquittal of the deceased by a coroner's jury entitles him to christian burial. the extraordinary notion of the clergyman, mentioned by the rev. s. adams, is certainly erroneous in law. i can only suppose it originated from some case in which the severance of the deceased's right hand was regarded by the jury as a proof that he did not kill himself. except in certain special cases, none but parishioners are entitled to burial in a parochial burying-place at all. advocatus. _paintings of our saviour_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent j. p. may hear of something to his advantage by visiting the church of santa prassede (saint praxedes?), not far from santa maria maggiore in rome. in the former he will see, as usual, a list of wonderful relics preserved therein, and amongst them "a portrait of the saviour, presented by st. peter to santa prassede." a valuable gift, truly, if only authentic. the name of the artist is not given, i believe, in the above veracious document. they had better have made the catalogue complete by putting in the name of st. luke himself, whose pencil, i rather think, is stated to have furnished other such portraits elsewhere. "credat judæus!" the santa prassede above alluded to is stated to have been a daughter of pudens, mentioned in the epistles of st. paul. m. h. r. _widdrington family_ (vol. ix., p. .).--the church of nunnington, near helmsly, in the north { } riding of yorkshire, contains two handsome marble monuments of lords preston and widdrington. the old hall at nunnington, now occupied by a farmer, was once the seat of viscount preston, and afterwards of lord widdrington. william, lord widdrington, who is said to be descended from the brave witherington, celebrated in chevy chace for having fought upon his stumps, was of the very noble and ancient family of the widdringtons of widdrington castle, in the county of northumberland; and great-grandson of the brave lord widdrington who was slain gallantly fighting in the service of the crown at wigan, in lancashire, in . william, his grandson, was unfortunately engaged in the affair of preston in , when his estate became forfeited to the crown, and he afterwards confined himself to private life. he married a daughter of the lord viscount preston above mentioned, one of the co-heiresses of the estate at nunnington, and was in consequence buried in the family vault in , aged sixty-five. for other particulars of the family of widdrington, see camden's _britannia_. thomas gill. easingwold. _mathew, a cornish family_ (vol. ix., pp. . .).--i fear i cannot give the rev. h. t. ellacombe much information on the point he desires of the descent of the devon and cornwall branches of the mathew family, which i yet entertain the hope some of your readers having access to the cambrian genealogical lore at dinevawr, penline, margam, fonmon, and other places, may be able to graft correctly on their welsh tree. i was unable to corroborate in the british museum the marriages given in the heralds' visitation of devon, with starkey and gamage. did a son of reynell of malston by an heir of mathew take that name? mr. ellacombe will find by the heralds' visitation that _both_ of the west of england branches settled before in cornwall, the one at tresingher, the other at milton; but that of the former, william married elizabeth wellington, and john married rebecca soame, both reverting to settle in devonshire, from whom, perhaps, his ancestress derives. b. birkenhead. "[greek: pistis]," _unde deriv._ (vol. ix., p. .).--the perfect impossibility of deriving this word from [greek: histêmi] is at once evident, on the following grounds: . to obtain the letter [pi], recourse is had to the compound form [greek: ephistamai]; but where have we a similar instance, in any derived word, of the [epsilon] in [greek: epi] being thus absorbed, and the [pi] taken to commence a fresh word? . allowing such an extraordinary process, what possible meaning of [greek: ephistamai] can be adduced in the slightest degree corresponding to the established interpretation of [greek: pistis]? throwing aside the termination [greek: -is], we obtain the letters [greek: pist-], which a very slight knowledge of etymology enables us to trace back to [greek: peithô]; for the stem of this verb is [greek: pith] (cf. aor. . [greek: epithon]), and the formation of the adjective [greek: pistos] from [greek: pe-peist-ai] is clearly analogous to that of the word in question, the long syllable and diphthong [greek: ei] being altered into the short and single letter [greek: i], to which many similar instances may be adduced. [phi]. there is no doubt as to the derivation of [greek: pistis] from [greek: peithô]. compare [greek: knêstis] from [greek: knaô] or [greek: knêthô], [greek: pristis] or [greek: prêstis] from [greek: prêthô], [greek: pustis] from [greek: punthanomai]. verbs of this form introduce the [greek: s] into the future and other inflected tenses, as [greek: peisô], [greek: peusomai]. l. _author of "the whole duty of man"_ (vol. vi., p. .).--it is asserted in the _english baronetage_ (vol. i. p. ., ), on the authority of sir herbert perrot pakington, bart., in support of the claim of lady pakington to the authorship, "the _manuscript, under her own hand_, now remains with the family." can this ms. now be found? b. h. c. _table-turning_ (vol. ix., pp. . ., &c.).--in turning over sozomen's _ecclesiastical history_, i observed at b. vi. ch. . an account of the transaction already printed in your pages from ammianus marcellinus. it is in brief as follows:--certain philosophers who were opposed to christianity were anxious to learn who should succeed valens in the empire. after trying all other kinds of divination, they constructed a tripod (or table with three legs: see servius on virgil, _Æn._ iii. .) of laurel wood, and by means of certain incantations and formulæ, succeeded (by combining the letters which were indicated, one by one, by a contrivance of some kind connected with the table) in obtaining th. e. o. d. now, being anxious and hopeful for one theodorus to succeed to the throne, they concluded that he was meant. valens, hearing of it, put him and them to death, and many others whose names began with these letters. on referring to socrates, i find that he also names the circumstances just alluded to. although he does not give all the particulars, he adds one important statement, which serves to identify the thing more closely with modern table-moving and spirit-rapping. "the devil," he says, "induced certain curious persons to practise _divination, by calling up the spirits of the dead_ ([greek: nekuomanteian poiêsasthai]), in order to find out who should reign after valens." they succeeded in obtaining the letters th. e. o. d. i observe a reference to nicephorus, b. xi. ., but have not his works at hand to consult. { } the use of _laurel_, in the construction of the table, seems to connect the occurrences with the worship of apollo. those who would investigate the subject fully must consult such passages in the classics as this from lucan [lucretius?], lib. i. - .: "sanctius et multo certa ratione magis, quam pythia, quæ _tripode_ ex phoebi _lauro_que profatur." i have a reference to le nourry, p. ., who, i see, has some remarks upon the passage already given from tertullian; he, however, throws little light upon the subject. henry h. breen (vol. viii., p. .) says, "it is not unreasonable to suppose that table-turning ... was practised in former ages:" to this i think we may now subscribe. b. h. c. poplar. _pedigree to the time of alfred_ (vol. viii., p. .; vol. ix., p. .).--the person s. d. met at the "king's head," egham, was doubtless mr. john wapshott of chertsey, surrey (late of almoner's barn farm in that neighbourhood), an intelligent, respectable yeoman, who would feel much pleasure in giving s. d. any information he may require. b. s. elcock. bath. _quotation wanted_ (vol. ix., p. .).--"extinctus amabitur idem," is from _horace_, epist. ii. i. . (see vol. vii., p. .) p. j. f. gantillon. "_hic locus odit, amat._"--in vol. v. of "n. & q.," at p. ., "procurator" gives the two quaintly linked lines-- "hic locus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat nequitiam, leges, crimina, jura probos." as "carved in a beam over the town hall of much wenlock, in shropshire." they are to be found also in the ancient hall of judicature of the "palazzo del podesta," at pistoja, in tuscany. the ancient stone seats, with their stone table in front of them, where the magistrates of the republic administered justice in the days of the city's independence, are still remaining, and these lines are cut in the stone just over the benches. this simple and primitive tribunal was built as it now stands in , and there can be no doubt that the verses in question existed there before they found their way to much wenlock. but as it is hardly likely that they travelled direct from tuscany into shropshire, the probability is that they may be found in some other, or perhaps in many other places. i have not been able to light on any clue to the authorship or history of the lines. perhaps some of your correspondents, who have the means of wider researches than this city commands, might be more fortunate. t. a. t. florence, march, . _writings of the martyr bradford_ (vol. ix., p. .).--in reply to mr. townsend's inquiry respecting early editions of bradford's writings, i can add to the information furnished by the editor that the copy of his _hurt of hearyng masse_, sold at mr. jolley's sale, was purchased subsequently of mr. thorpe, and deposited in the chetham library. this edition is not noticed by watt. in stevens's _memoirs of the life and martyrdom of john bradford, with his examinations, letters, &c._, there is no mention of the letter _ad calcem_ of-- "an account of a disputation at oxford, anno domini . with a treatise of the blessed sacrament; both written by bishop ridley, martyr. to which is added a letter written by mr. john bradford, never before printed. all taken out of an original manuscript [and published by gilbert ironside], oxford, , to." bibliothecar. chetham. _latin inscription on lindsey court-house_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent l. l. l. gives this inscription as follows: "fiat justitia, . hæc domus dit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, equitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos." this couplet, in its correct form, evidently stood thus: "hæc custodit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, Æquitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos." that is to say, "custodit æquitiam, amat pacem, punit crimina, conservat jura, honorat bonos." the substantive of _æquus_ is _æquitas_, not _æquitia_. if these verses were composed in good latinity, the first word of the pentameter probably was _justitiam_. l. _blanco white's sonnet_ (vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .).--this sonnet is so beautiful, that i hope it will suffer no disparagement in the eyes of any of your admiring readers, if i remind them of a passage in sir thomas browne's _quincunx_, which i conceive may have inspired the brilliant genius of blanco white on this occasion. i regret that i have not the precise reference to the passage: "_light_" (says browne) "_that makes things seen, makes some things invisible_. were it not for darkness, and the shadow of the earth, _the noblest part of creation had remained unseen_, and _the stars in heaven as invisible_ as on the fourth day, when they were created above the horizon _with the sun_, or there was not an eye to behold them. the greatest mystery of religion is expressed by adumbration; and, in the noblest part of the jewish types, we find the cherubim shadowing the { } mercy-seat. _life itself is but the shadow of death_, and souls departed but the shadows of the living: all things fall under this name. _the sun itself is but the dark simulacrum_, and _light but the shadow of god_!" j. sansom. oxford. _"wise men labour," &c._ (vol. ix., p. .).--the following version of these lines is printed in the _collection of loyal songs, written against the rump parliament between the years - _: "_complaint._ "wise men suffer, good men grieve, knaves devise and fools believe; help, o lord! send aid unto us, else knaves and fools will quite undo us." these four lines constitute the whole of the piece, which is anonymous: vol. i. p. ., and also on the title-page. b. h. c. [we are indebted to s-c. p. j. for a similar reply.] _copernicus_ (vol. ix., p. .).--this inscription, as given in "n. & q.," contains two false quantities, _gr[=a]tiam_ and _v[=e]niam_. may i suggest the transposal of the two words, and then all will be right, at least as to _prosody_, which, in latin poetry, seems to override all other considerations. c. de la pryme. n.b.--what is the nominative to poor _dederat_? _meals, meols_ (vol. vii., pp. . .; vol. ix., p. .).--the word "mielles" is of frequent occurrence in normandy and the channel islands, where it is applied to sandy downs bordering the sea-shore. it is not to be found in french dictionaries, and, like the words _hougue_, _falaise_, and others in use in normandy, has probably come down from the northmen, who gave their name to that province. edgar macculloch. guernsey. _byron and rochefoucauld_ (vol. ix., p. .).--allow me to refer your correspondent sigma to "n. & q.," vol. i., p. ., where, under the signature of melanion, i noted byron's two unacknowledged obligations to _la rochefoucauld_, and the blunder made in the note on _don juan_, canto iii. st. . sigma will also find these and other passages from byron given among the notes in the translation of _la rochefoucauld_, published in (june) by messrs. longman and co. c. forbes. temple. _robert eden_ (vol. ix., p. .).--robert eden, archdeacon and prebendary of winchester, was the son of robert eden, of newcastle-upon-tyne. the edens of auckland and the edens of newcastle were descended from two brothers. the archdeacon was fourth cousin of the first baronet. his daughter, mary, married ebenezer blackwell, esq., and their daughter, philadelphia, married lieut.-col. g. r. p. jarvis, of doddington, in lincolnshire. i am descended from a first cousin of the archdeacon, and could furnish r. e. c., if i knew his address, with farther particulars respecting the edens of newcastle. e. h. a. _dates of maps_ (vol. ix., p. .).--i think the answer to mr. warden's very just complaint respecting maps not being _dated_ is easily accounted for, much more easily, i fear, than reformed. the last published map is considered the most exact and useful; it, therefore, is the interest of the map-seller to sell off all of the old ones that he can; hence it is difficult, unless some pains are taken, to ascertain which is the last. a. publishes a new map of france, b. then publishes one; but _both_ avoid putting the date, as the oldest date would sell fewer, and the newer map proprietor expects a still newer one soon to appear. by a. i do not mean to allude to mr. arrowsmith in particular, who is one of the best, if not the best, map-seller we have. but why are large military map-sellers so much dearer with us than on the continent? i must except the ordnance map, which is now sold cheaply, thanks entirely to mr. hume's exertions in parliament. a. ( ) _miss elstob_ (vol. iii., p. .).--this surname is so uncommon that i have met with but three instances of persons bearing it; one was the lady referred to by your correspondent, the second was her brother, the rev. william elstob, and the third was dryden elstob, who served for some time in the rd light dragoons, and also, i believe, in the royal navy,--at least i know that he used to wear a naval uniform in the streets of london. i believe that the family was settled at one time at newcastle-on-tyne.[ ] what is known of the family? juverna. [footnote : [both william elstob and his learned sister were born at newcastle-upon-tyne, of which place their father, ralph elstob, was a merchant.]] _corporation enactments_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent abhba having omitted to mention where he found the curious piece of information which under this title he supplied to you, i beg leave to supply the deficiency. the same paragraph, nearly _verbatim_, has been long since published in a book which is by no means rare, the _dublin penny journal_, vol. i. p. . (no. , january , ), where it appears thus: "in the town books of the corporation of youghal, among many other singular enactments of that body, are two which will now be regarded as curiosities. in the years and , a cook and a barber were made freemen, on condition that they should severally { } dress the mayor's feasts, and shave the corporation--gratis!" is not this the very paragraph which has been supplied to you as an original? the attempt to disguise it by the alteration of two or three words is below criticism. surely, if passages from common or easily accessible books are to occupy valuable space in the pages of "n. & q.," it is not too much to expect that reference be honestly given to the work which may be cited. arterus. dublin. _misapplication of terms_ (vol. ix., p. .).--your correspondent is quite entitled to the references he demands, and which i had considered superfluous. i beg to refer him to the school dictionaries in use by my boys, viz. mr. young's and dr. carey's edition of _ainsworth_, abridged by dr. morell; also to the following, all i possess, viz. dr. adam littleton's, to. th ed., ; robertson's ed. of _gouldman_, to., ; and gesner's _thesaurus_, vols. fol. i may add that the observations of horne tooke are quite to my mind, especially when applied to the "legendary stories of nurses and old women." (todd's _johnson_.) working in the same direction as your correspondent who has caused this invasion of your space, i cannot resist the opportunity of protesting against the use of "opened up" and "opened out," as applied to the developments of national enterprise and industry. these expressions, common to many, and frequently to be read in the "leading journal," stand a fair chance of becoming established vulgarisms. it is, however, something worse than slipshod when a paper of equal pretension, and more particularly addressed to the families of the educated classes, informs its readers "that some of the admirers of the late justice talfourd contemplate the erection of a _cenotaph over his grave_ in the cemetery at norwood." (_illustrated news_, march , .) squeers. dotheboys. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. on the publication of the first volume of mr. peter cunningham's edition of _the works of oliver goldsmith_, we did not hesitate to pronounce it "the best, handsomest, and cheapest edition of goldsmith which has ever issued from the press." the work is now completed by the publication of the fourth volume, which contains goldsmith's biographies; reviews; animated nature; cock lane ghost; vida's game of chess (now first printed as it has been found transcribed in goldsmith's handwriting from the original ms. in the possession of mr. bolton corney), and his letters. and after a careful revision of the book, we do not hesitate to repeat our original opinion. it is a book which every lover of goldsmith will delight to place upon his shelves. we have to congratulate mr. darling, and also all who are interested in any way in theological literature, on the completion of that portion of his _cyclopædia bibliographica_ which gives us, under the names of the authors, an account, not only of the best works extant in various branches of literature, but more particularly on those important divisions, biblical criticism, commentaries, sermons, dissertations, and other illustrations of the holy scriptures; the constitution, government, and liturgies of the christian church; ecclesiastical history and biography; the works of the fathers, and all the most eminent divines. we sincerely trust that a work so obviously useful, and which has been so carefully compiled, will meet with such encouragement as will justify mr. darling in very speedily going to press with the second and not less important division--that in which, by an alphabetical arrangement of subjects, a ready reference may be made to books, treatises, sermons, and dissertations on nearly all heads of divinity, theological controversy, or ecclesiastical inquiry. the utility of such an index is too obvious to require one word of argument in its favour. the subject of the non-purchase of the faussett collection by the trustees of the british museum was brought before parliament by mr. ewart on thursday, st june, when copies were ordered to be laid before the house of commons "of all reports, memorials, or other communications to or from the trustees of the british museum on the subject of the faussett collection of anglo-saxon antiquities." books received.--miss strickland's _lives of the queens of england_, vol. vi. this volume is entirely occupied with the biography of mary beatrice of modena, the queen of james ii., in which miss strickland has availed herself of a large mass of inedited materials.--_selections from the writings of the rev. sydney smith_, forming nos. . and . of longman's _traveller's library_, and containing his admirable essays on education, the ballot, american debts, wit and humour, the conduct of the understanding, and taste.--_critical and historical essays, &c._, by the right honourable t. b. macaulay, _people's_ edition, part iii., includes his essays on lord mahon's war of succession, walpole's letters, lord chatham, mackintosh's history of the revolution, and lord bacon.--_annotated edition of the english poets_, edited by robert bell. this month's issue consists of the second volume of the _poetical works of william cowper_. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. particulars of price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose: the trials of robert powell, edward burch, and matthew martin, for forgery, at the old bailey. london. vo. . wanted by _j. n. chadwick, esq._, king's lynn. { } ayre's life of pope. vols. . pope and swift's miscellanies. . vols. (motte), with two vols. subsequently published, together vols. familiar letters to h. cromwell by mr. pope. curl, . pope's literary correspondence. curl, - . vols. pope's works. to. . pope's correspondence with wycherley. gilliver, . narrative of dr. robert norris concerning frenzy of j. d. lintot, . the new rehearsal, or bayes the younger. roberts, . complete art of english poetry. vols. gay's miscellaneous works. vols. mo. . richardsoniana, or reflections on moral nature of man. . a collection of verses, essays, &c., occasioned by pope and swift's miscellanies. . wanted by _mr. francis_, . wellington street north, strand. a true account of the voyage of the nottingham-galley of london, &c., by captain john dean. vo. london, . a falsification of the above, by longman, miller, and white. london, . vo. a letter from moscow to the marquis of carmarthen, relating to the czar of muscovy's forwardness in his great navy since his return home, by j. deane. london, . fol. hours of idleness, lord byron. vo. newark, . bacon's essays in latin. wanted by _s. f. creswell_, king's college, london. the church of england magazine. vol. xxi. . in good order, and in the cloth case. wanted by the _rev. b. h. blacker_, . pembroke road, dublin. father bridoul's school of the eucharist. trans. by claget. london, . freitaghii mythologia ethica, with plates. antv. . to. wanted by _j. g._, care of messrs. ponsonby, booksellers, grafton street, dublin. * * * * * notices to correspondents. y. s. m. _the letter to this correspondent has been forwarded._ w. s. _can our correspondent find a more correct report of the lines quoted at the meeting of the peace society? those sent to us are certainly inaccurate._ r. b. allen. _the monument in the chancel of the church of stansted montfichet, in essex, is to sir_ thomas _(not hugh) middleton. see wright's_ essex, vol. ii. p. . _other correspondents shall be answered next week._ errata. vol. ix., p. ., _throughout the "curious marriage agreement," for jacob_ sprier _read jacob_ spicer. _he was an inhabitant of cape may county, new jersey._--page . col i. line ., _for_ _read_ .--page ., _in art. "old rowley," for "father of the_ jury," _read "father of the_ turf."--page ., _in quotation from ausonius, for_ "erplevi" _read_ "explevi." our eighth volume _is now bound and ready for delivery, price s. d., cloth, boards. a few sets of the whole eight volumes are being made up, price l. s.--for these early application is desirable._ "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * gratis and post free on application. foreign theology and oriental books.--mr. brown's catalogue, no. ., contains bibles in most languages, books in all branches of biblical criticism and ecclesiastical history, liturgies, councils, a good collection of the fathers, works relating to the greek church, a large number of books relative to the jesuits, metaphysical works, a capital selection of hebrew and oriental philology, &c. &c. london: william brown, . . and . old street. * * * * * oliver cromwell and king charles.--a fac-simile of an exceedingly curious and interesting newspaper, published during the commonwealth, announcing the death of oliver cromwell. also, a fac-simile of king charles's newspaper, containing curious gossip about many eminent persons and extraordinary occurrences. sent (post free) on receipt of postage stamps. address, j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * allen's illustrated catalogue, containing size, price, and description of upwards of articles, consisting of portmanteaus, travelling-bags, ladies' portmanteaus, despatch-boxes, writing-desks, dressing-cases, and other travelling requisites, gratis on application, or sent free by post on receipt of two stamps. messrs. allen's registered despatch-box and writing-desk, their travelling-bag with the opening as large as the bag, and the new portmanteau containing four compartments, are undoubtedly the best articles of the kind ever produced. j. w. & t. allen, . & . west strand. * * * * * pianofortes, guineas each.--d'almaine & co., . soho square (established a.d. ), sole manufacturers of the royal pianofortes, at guineas each. every instrument warranted. the peculiar advantages of these pianofortes are best described in the following professional testimonial, signed by the majority of the leading musicians of the age:--"we, the undersigned members of the musical profession, having carefully examined the royal pianofortes manufactured by messrs. d'almaine & co., have great pleasure in bearing testimony to their merits and capabilities. it appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. (signed) j. l. abel, f. benedict, h. r. bishop, j. blewitt, j. brizzi, t. p. chipp, p. delavanti, c. h. dolby, e. f. fitzwilliam, w. forde, stephen glover, henri herz, e. harrison, h. f. hassé, j. l. hatton, catherine hayes, w. h. holmes, w. kuhe, g. f. kiallmark, e. land, g. lanza, alexander lee, a. leffler, e. j. loder, w. h. montgomery, s. nelson, g. a. osborne, john parry, h. panofka, henry phillips, f. praegar, e. f. rimbault, frank romer, g. h. rodwell, e. rockel, sims reeves, j. templeton, f. weber, h. westrop, t. h. wright," &c. d'almaine & co., . soho square. lists and designs gratis. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * whitefield's pulpit. the executrix of a deceased clergyman, amongst other interesting local relics collected by her late husband, is possessed of the pulpit in which whitefield is supposed to have preached his first sermon; and, at the time of the restoration of st. mary-de-cryps, gloucester, passed into the present owner's possession. the pulpit is oak, with carved panels, in shape hectagonal, and has a sounding-board. application for farther particulars to be addressed to messrs. davies & son, booksellers, gloucester. * * * * * ross & sons' instantaneous hair dye, without smell, the best and cheapest extant.--ross & sons have several private apartments devoted entirely to dyeing the hair, and particularly request a visit, especially from the incredulous, as they will undertake to dye a portion of their hair, without charging, of any colour required, from the lightest brown to the darkest black, to convince them of its effect. sold in cases at s. d., s. d., s., s., and s. each case. likewise wholesale to the trade by the pint, quart, or gallon. address, ross & sons, . and . bishopsgate street, six doors from cornhill, london. * * * * * one thousand bedsteads to choose from.--heal & son's stock comprises handsomely japanned and brass-mounted iron bedsteads, children's cribs and cots of new and elegant designs, mahogany, birch, and walnut-tree bedsteads, of the soundest and best manufacture, many of them fitted with furnitures, complete. a large assortment of servants' and portable bedsteads. they have also every variety of furniture for the complete furnishing of a bed room. heal & son's illustrated and priced catalogue of bedsteads and bedding, sent free by post. heal & son, . tottenham court road. { } * * * * * photographic institution. the exhibition of photographs, by the most eminent english and continental artists, is open daily from ten till five. free admission. £ s. d. a portrait by mr. talbot's patent process additional copies (each) a coloured portrait, highly finished (small size) a coloured portrait, highly finished (larger size) miniatures, oil paintings, water-colour, and chalk drawings, photographed and coloured in imitation of the originals. views of country mansions, churches, &c., taken at a short notice. cameras, lenses, and all the necessary photographic apparatus and chemicals, are supplied, tested, and guaranteed. gratuitous instruction is given to purchasers of sets of apparatus. photographic institution, . new bond street. * * * * * the london school of photography, . newgate street.--at this institution, ladies and gentlemen may learn in one hour to take portraits and landscapes, and purchase the necessary apparatus for five pounds. no charge is made for the instruction. * * * * * wholesale photographic depot: daniel m^cmillan, . fleet street, london. the cheapest house in town for every description of photographic apparatus, materials, and chemicals. *** price list free on application. * * * * * collodion portraits and views obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using bland & long's preparation of soluble cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer. albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, s. per quire. waxed and iodized papers of tried quality. instruction in the processes. bland & long, opticians and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street, london. *** catalogues sent on application. * * * * * the sight preserved by the use of spectacles adapted to suit every variety of vision by means of smee's optometer, which effectually prevents injury to the eyes from the selection of improper glasses, and is extensively employed by bland & long, opticians, . fleet street, london. * * * * * improvement in collodion.--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, have, by an improved mode of iodizing, succeeded in producing a collodion equal, they may say superior, in sensitiveness and density of negative, to any other hitherto published; without diminishing the keeping properties and appreciation of half-tint for which their manufacture has been esteemed. apparatus, pure chemicals, and all the requirements for the practice of photography. instruction in the art. the collodion and positive paper process. by j. b. hockin. price s., per post, s. d. * * * * * photographic apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations. knight & sons' illustrated catalogue, containing description and price of the best forms of cameras and other apparatus. voightlander and son's lenses for portraits and views, together with the various materials, and pure chemical preparations required in practising the photographic art. forwarded free on receipt of six postage stamps. instructions given in every branch of the art. an extensive collection of stereoscopic and other photographic specimens. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic cameras. ottewill and morgan's manufactory, . & . charlotte terrace, caledonian road, islington. ottewill's registered double body folding camera, adapted for landscapes or portraits, may be had of a. ross, featherstone buildings, holborn; the photographic institution, bond street; and at the manufactory as above, where every description of cameras, slides, and tripods may be had. the trade supplied. * * * * * patronised by the royal family. two thousand pounds for any person producing articles superior to the following: the hair restored and greyness prevented. beetham's capillary fluid is acknowledged to be the most effectual article for restoring the hair in baldness, strengthening when weak and fine, effectually preventing falling or turning grey, and for restoring its natural colour without the use of dye. the rich glossy appearance it imparts is the admiration of every person. thousands have experienced its astonishing efficacy. bottles, s. d.; double size, s. d.; s. d. equal to small; s. to small; s. to small. the most perfect beautifier ever invented. superfluous hair removed. beetham's vegetable extract does not cause pain or injury to the skin. its effect is unerring, and it is now patronised by royalty and hundreds of the first families. bottles, s. beetham's plaster is the only effectual remover of corns and bunions. it also reduces enlarged great toe joints in an astonishing manner. if space allowed, the testimony of upwards of twelve thousand individuals, during the last five years, might be inserted. packets, s.; boxes, s. d. sent free by beetham, chemist, cheltenham, for or post stamps. sold by pring, . westmorland street; jackson, . westland row; bewley & evans, dublin; goulding, . patrick street, cork; barry, . main street, kinsale; grattan, belfast; murdock, brothers, glasgow; duncan & flockhart, edinburgh. sanger, . oxford street; prout, . strand; keating, st. paul's churchyard; savory & moore, bond street; hannay, . oxford street; london. all chemists and perfumers will procure them. * * * * * photography. on the production of waxed-paper negatives, by james how.--just published in the chemist, a monthly journal of chemical and physical science. edited by john and charles watt. june. price s. london: samuel highley, . fleet street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. j. h. goodhart, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._--w. whateley, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., t. grissell, esq. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * allsopp's pale or bitter ale.--messrs. s. allsopp & sons beg to inform the trade that they are now registering orders for the march brewings of their pale ale in casks of gallons and upwards, at the brewery, burton-on-trent; and at the under-mentioned branch establishments: london, at . king william street, city. liverpool, at cook street. manchester, at ducie place. dudley, at the burnt tree. glasgow, at . st. vincent street. dublin, at . crampton quay. birmingham, at market hall. south wales, at . king street, bristol. messrs. allsopp & sons take the opportunity of announcing to private families that their ales, so strongly recommended by the medical profession, may be procured in draught and bottles _genuine_ from all the most respectable licensed victuallers, on "allsopp's pale ale" being specially asked for. when in bottle, the genuineness of the label can be ascertained by its having "allsopp & sons" written across it. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are indicated by footnotes to the relevant item. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, january . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page robertson's "index of charters" cowper or cooper, by george daniel yankee, its origin and meaning, by dr. william bell shakspeare's bedside, or the doctors enumerated: a new ballad, by james cornish folk lore:--cures for the hooping cough: rubus fruticosus, gryphea incurva, donkey minor notes:--epitaphs--nostradamus on the gold-diggings-- whimsical bequest--the orkneys in pawn--lord duff's toast queries:-- the meteoric stone of the thracian chersonesus, by w. s. gibson banbury cakes and zeal minor queries:--richardson or murphy--legend attached to creeper in the samoan isles--shearman family--american fisheries--grindle--a gentleman executed for whipping a slave to death--brydone--"clear the decks for bognie's carriage"--london queries--scarf worn by clergyman--life of queen anne--erasmus smith--croxton or crostin of lancashire--grub street journal--chaplain to the princess elizabeth--"the snow-flake" minor queries with answers:--leamhuil or lahoel--orte's maps, edition of --prayer for the recovery of george iii. replies:-- mrs. mackey's poems map of ceylon, by sir j. emerson tennent "am, have, and will be:" henry viii., act iii. sc. . sir henry wotton's letter to milton skull-caps _versus_ skull-cups, by thomas lawrence inedited poem by pope cibber's "lives of the poets," by w. l. nichols english comedians in the netherlands la bruyère, by j. sansom southey's criticism upon st. mathias' day in leap-year photographic notes and queries:--portable camera for travellers--the albumen process--black tints of french photographers--originator of the collodion process-- developing paper pictures with pyrogallic acid replies to minor queries:--waterloo--irish peerages-- martha blount--quotations wanted--pepys's morena-- goldsmiths' year-marks--turner's view of lambeth palace--"for god will be your king to-day"--jennings family--the furze or gorse in scandinavia--mistletoe-- inscription on a dagger--steevens--"life is like a game of tables," &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. robertson's "index of charters." this work, so often quoted, is familiar to every antiquary; but as the name of the intelligent and laborious editor does not appear in any of our biographical dictionaries, a short sketch may not be unacceptable to our readers. william robertson was born at fordyce, in the county of banff, in the year . having gone through the usual course of elementary instruction in reading and writing, he entered the latin class at the grammar school of his native parish; a seminary then, as now, of great celebrity in the north of scotland. among his schoolfellows he contracted a particular intimacy with mr. george chalmers, afterwards secretary of the board of trade; so well known by many elaborate and valuable commercial, historical, and biographical publications. the connexion between the schoolboys, originating in a similarity of taste and pursuits, was strengthened at a subsequent period of their lives by the contributions of the intelligent deputy keeper of the records of scotland to the local and historical information of the author of _caledonia_, so honourably recorded in that national work. he completed his academical studies at king's college, aberdeen, where he was particularly distinguished by his proficiency in the greek language, under professor leslie. he was then apprenticed to mr. turner of turnerhall, advocate in aberdeen; but had been little more than a year in that situation, when mr. burnett of monboddo applied to professor leslie to recommend to him as his second clerk a young man who had a competent knowledge of the greek language, and properly qualified to aid him in his literary pursuits. the professor immediately mentioned young robertson; and mr. turner, in the most handsome manner, cancelled his articles of apprenticeship. during his connexion with mr. burnett, he accompanied him in several visits to france, on taking evidence as one of the counsel in the great douglas cause. on his first visit there, he went with him to see the savage girl, who, at that time, was creating a great sensation in paris; and, at his request, made a translation { } of m. condamines' account of her, to which mr. burnett wrote a preface. in the year he was appointed chamberlain to james, earl of findlater and seafield, on the recommendation of lord monboddo. in he published, at edinburgh, _the history of greece, from the earliest times till it became a roman province_, being a concise and particular account of the civil government, religion, literature, and military affairs of the states of greece, for the use of seminaries of education, and the general reader, in vol. mo. at this period, having caught a portion of the jealous nationality of the multitude, he published a political _jeu d'esprit_ entitled _a north briton extraordinary_, by a young scotsman in the corsican service, to., : designed to repel the illiberal invectives of mr. wilkes against the people of scotland. some of the popular objections to the union reiterated by the young scotsman having been found in the characteristic discussion between lieutenant lesmahagon and matthew bramble on the same subject, in _the expedition of humphrey clinker_, the authorship was on that account erroneously attributed to dr. smollet, who had then discontinued an unsuccessful opposition to mr. wilkes in the _the briton_. in mr. robertson married miss donald, only child of captain alexander donald, of the th, or gordon highlanders. in the year he received his commission from lord frederick campbell, the lord clerk register of scotland, as colleague of his brother, mr. alexander robertson, who had been appointed one of the deputy keepers of the records of scotland some years before. he was now in a situation completely suited to his wishes, and entered on the duties of his office with the utmost enthusiasm. it very early occurred to him, that many ancient records of scotland, which had been removed by edward i., might still be recovered; and he suggested to lord frederick campbell, who was as enthusiastic as himself in everything tending to throw light on the early history of scotland, that searches ought to be made in the state paper office in london for the purpose of ascertaining whether some of the earlier records might yet be found. lord frederick campbell entered warmly into his views, and the success with which the search was made may be ascertained by consulting the preface to the _index of charters_. the reports to the parliamentary commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of the records, with the suggestions made by him, and which have been so ably followed up since his death by the late thomas thomson, esq., deputy clerk register, were considered of such importance as to merit a vote of thanks of the select committee, which was transmitted to him along with a very friendly letter from mr. abbot, then speaker of the house of commons, afterwards lord colchester. he commenced the laborious work of printing _the records of the parliament of scotland_, in which he made considerable progress, having, previous to his death, completed one very large folio volume. between the years and , in consequence of a strict investigation into the validity of the claims of several persons to peerages in scotland, mr. robertson was much employed in inquiring into the state of the peerage, both by those who made and those who rejected such claims. this circumstance naturally led him to a minute acquaintance with the subject; and induced him to publish, in , a quarto volume, entitled _proceedings relative to the peerage of scotland from th january, , to th april, _: a work which has been found of the greatest service in conducting the elections of the representative peers of scotland. in , at the request of lord frederick campbell, he published an-- "index, drawn up in the year , of many records of charters granted by the different sovereigns of scotland, between and (which had been discovered by mr. astle in the british museum), most of which records have been long missing; with an introduction, giving a state, founded upon authentic documents still preserved, of the ancient records of scotland, which were in that kingdom in ." the object of this publication was to endeavour to recover many ancient records, which there was much reason to believe were still in existence. the labour which he underwent in preparing this volume for the press, and in transcribing a very ancient quarto manuscript, written on vellum, which was found in the state paper office, was very great. every word of this ancient vellum ms. he copied with his own hand, and it is printed along with the volume of the _records of the parliament of scotland_. the preface, introduction, notes, and appendix to the _index of charters_, show, not only the great labour which this work required from him, but the extensive information also, on the subject of the ancient history of scotland, which he possessed. at a general meeting of the royal society of edinburgh, held jan. , , he was elected a member, and placed in the literary class of the society. he died march , , at his house, st. andrew's square, edinburgh, in the sixty-third year of his age. elginensis. * * * * * cowper, or cooper. in the midsummer holidays of , being on a visit to an old and opulent family of the name of deverell, in dereham, norfolk, i was taken to the house of an ancient lady (a member of the aforesaid family), to pay my respects to her, and to drink { } tea. two visitors were _particularly_ expected. they soon arrived. the first, if i remember rightly (for my whole attention was singularly riveted to the _second_), was a pleasant-looking, lively young man--very talkative and entertaining; his companion was above the middle height, broadly made, but not stout, and advanced in years. his countenance had a peculiar charm, that i could not resist. it alternately exhibited a deep sadness, a thoughtful repose, a fearful and an intellectual fire, that surprised and held me captive. his manner was embarrassed and reserved. he spoke but little. yet _once_ he was roused to animation; then his voice was full and clear. i have a faint recollection that i saw his face lighted up with a momentary smile. his hostess kindly welcomed him as "mr. cooper." after tea, we walked for a while in the garden. i kept close to his side, and once he addressed me as "my little master." i returned to school; but that variable, expressive, and interesting countenance i did not forget. in after years, standing, as was my wont, before the shop windows of the london booksellers (i have not _quite_ left off this old habit!), reading the title-pages of tomes that i intensely longed, but had not then the money, to purchase, i recognised at a shop in st. paul's churchyard that well-remembered face, prefixed to a volume of poems, "written by william cowper, of the inner temple, esq." the _cap_ (for when i saw "mr. cooper" he wore a wig, or his hair, for his age, was unusually luxuriant) was the only thing that puzzled me. to make "assurance doubly sure," i hastened to the house of a near relation hard by, and i soon learnt that "mr. cooper" was william cowper. the welcome present of a few shillings put me in _immediate_ possession of the coveted volumes. i will only just add, that i read, and re-read them; that the man whom, in my early boyhood, i had so mysteriously reverenced, in my youth i deeply and devotedly admired and loved! many, many years have since passed away: but that reverence, that admiration, and that love have experienced neither diminution nor change. it was something, said washington irving, to have seen even the _dust_ of shakspeare. it is something too, good mr. editor, to have beheld the face and to have heard the voice of cowper. george daniel. * * * * * yankee, its origin and meaning. the meaning of the term _yankee_, which our transatlantic brethren now willingly adopt as their collective name, has acquired more notoriety than it deserved from the unlucky and far-fetched derivations which it has received in so many different publications. the term is of anglo-saxon origin, and of home-growth. we all know, from the veritable diedricht knickerbocker's _history of new york_, that its earliest settlers were exclusively dutchmen, who naturally named it, though from anything but similarity in local situation, new amsterdam. we may, of course, suppose that in the multitude of these dutch settlers the names they carried over would be pretty nearly in the same proportion as at home. both then and now the dutch _jan_ (the _a_ sounded very broad and long), abbreviated from the german _johann_, our _john_, was the prevailing christian appellative; and it even furnished, in _jansen_, &c. (like our _johnson_), frequent patronymics, particularly with the favourite diminutive _cke_, _jancke_: and so common does it still remain as such, that it would be difficult to open the directory of any decent-sized dutch or northern german town without finding numerous instances, as _jancke_, _jaancke_, _jahncke_, &c., according as custom has settled the orthography in each family. it is scarcely necessary to say that the soft _j_ is frequently rendered by _y_ in our english reading and speaking foreign words (as the scandinavian and german _jule_ becomes our _yule_), to show how easily and naturally the above names were transformed into _yahnkee_. so much for the name as an appellative; now for its appropriation as a generic. the prominent names of individuals are frequently seized upon by the vulgar as a designation of the people or party in which it most prevails. we have _paddies_ for irishmen, _taffies_ for welshmen, and _sawnies_ (abbreviated _alexander_) for our scotch brethren: so, therefore, when english interests gained the upper hand, and the name of _new amsterdam_ succumbed to that of _new york_, the fresh comers, the english settlers, seized upon the most prominent name by which to designate its former masters, which extended to the whole of north america, as far as canada: and the addition of _doodle_, twin brother to _noodle_, was intended to mark more strongly the contempt and mockery by the dominant party; just as a _sawney_ is, in most of the northern counties, a term next door to a fool. it is, however, to the credit of our transatlantic brethren, and the best sign of their practical good sense, that they have turned the tables on the innuendo, and by adopting, carried the term into repute by sheer resolution and determinate perseverance. the term _slave_ is only the misappropriation, by malevolent neighbours, of the slavonic term _slaus_ or _laus_, so frequent in the proper names of that people; _ladislaus_, _stanislaus_, _wratislaus_, &c., meaning, in their vernacular tongue, glory or praise, like the latin _laus_, with which it is no doubt cognate: and so _servi_ and _servants_ is but a derivative from the _serbs_, _sorbs_, or _servians_, whose glorious feats in arms against their turkish oppressors have proved that there is nothing _servile_ in their character. william bell, phil. dr. . gower place, euston square. { } * * * * * shakspeare's bedside, or the doctors enumerated.--a new ballad. on looking over a collection of mss. which has lain untouched for many years, i have lighted on the accompanying ballad. of its source i know nothing; nor do i recollect how it fell into my hands. i have never seen it in print. the author, fancifully enough, imagines the various editions of shakspeare brought in succession to the sick-bed of the immortal bard, and has curiously detailed the result of their several prescriptions. if you do me the favour of giving it insertion in your valuable "n. & q." i shall feel obliged; and i think that your numerous shakspeare correspondents, to some of whom it may be unknown, will not be displeased at seeing it in the columns of your interesting journal. the editorial period to which the ballad is brought down will tolerably fix its date: old shakspeare was sick--for a doctor he sent-- but 'twas long before any one came; yet at length his assistance nic row did present; sure all men have heard of his name. as he found that the poet had tumbled his bed; he smooth'd it as well as he could; he gave him an anodyne, comb'd out his head, but did his complaint little good. doctor pope to incision at once did proceed, and the bard for the simples he cut; for his regular practice was always to bleed, ere the fees in his pocket he put. next theobald advanced, who at best was a quack, and dealt but in old women's stuff; yet he caused the physician of twick'nam to pack, and the patient grew cheerful enough. next hanmer, who fees ne'er descended to crave, in gloves lily-white did advance; to the poet the gentlest of purges he gave, and, for exercise, taught him to dance. one warburton, then, tho' allied to the church, produced his alterative stores; but his med'cines the case so oft left in the lurch that edwards[ ] kick'd him out of doors. next johnson arrived to the patient's relief, and ten years he had him in hand; but, tired of his task, 'tis the gen'ral belief, he left him before he could stand. now capel drew near, not a quaker more prim, and number'd each hair in his pate; by styptics, call'd stops, he contracted each limb, and crippled for ever his gait. from gopsal then strutted a formal old goose, and he'd cure him by inches, he swore; but when the poor poet had taken one dose, he vow'd he would swallow no more. but johnson, determined to save him or kill, a second prescription display'd; and, that none might find fault with his drop or his pill, fresh doctors he call'd to his aid. first, steevens came loaded with black-letter books, of fame more desirous than pelf; such reading, observers might read in his looks, as no one e'er read but himself. then warner, by plautus and glossary known, and hawkins, historian of sound[ ]; then warton and collins together came on, for greek and potatoes renown'd. with songs on his pontificalibus pinn'd, next, percy the great did appear; and farmer, who twice in a pamphlet had sinn'd, brought up the empirical rear. "the cooks the more num'rous the worse is the broth," says a proverb i well can believe; and yet to condemn them untried i am loth, so at present shall laugh in my sleeve. rigdum funnidos. james cornish. falmouth. [footnote : one edwards, an apothecary, who seems to have known [more] of the poet's case than some of the regular physicians who undertook to cure him.] [footnote : from the abilities and application of sir j. hawkins, the publick is now furnished with a compleat history of the science of musick.] [this ballad originally appeared in the _gentleman's mag._ for , p. .; and at p. . of the same volume will be found the following reply: "answer to shakspeare's bed-side; or, the doctors enumerated. how could you assert, when the poet was sick, none hit off a method of cure; when montagu's pen, like a magical stick, his health did for ever ensure?"] * * * * * folk lore. _cures for the hooping cough (rubus fruticosus)._--the following is said to prevail in the counties of warwick, worcester, and stafford, as a remedy for this harrowing disorder in children: that if a child is put to walk beneath a common bramble (_rubus fruticosus_), having rooted in the ground at both extremities (which may be very commonly met with where they grow luxuriantly), a certain number of times, a perfect cure would be the result. { } _gryphea incurva._--in the course of conversation with an old man in the county of warwick, relative to ancient customs, he related to me as a fact within his own knowledge, that the pretty round stone shell, as he termed it (picking one up at the same time), a specimen of the _gryphea incurva_, or devil's thumb, as it is frequently called, which is found in considerable quantities in the gravel beds of that county, when prepared in a certain manner--calcined, i believe--is a certain specific for this complaint in its most obstinate form. indeed, he related to me some very extraordinary cures which he had himself witnessed. _donkey._--a certain number of hairs taken from the black cross on the shoulders of a donkey, and put into a small bag made of black silk, and worn round a child's neck afflicted with the complaint, is a never-failing remedy. t. b. whitborne. * * * * * minor notes. _epitaph_ in tynemouth churchyard: "wha lies here? pate watt, gin ye speer. poor pate! is that thou? ay, by my soul, is't; but i's dead now." j. mn. _epitaph_ composed by an old gardener at ilderton, northumberland, for his own tombstone: "under this stone lies bobbity john, who, when alive, to the world was a wonder; and would have been so yet, had not death in a fit cut his soul and his body asunder." j. mn. _nostradamus on the gold-diggings._--nostradamus (physician to henry ii. of france) has the following among his prophecies (p. .): "las, qu'on verra grand peuple tourmenté et la loy sainte en totale ruine, par autres loix toute la christianité, quand d'or, d'argent trouve nouvelle mine." garencières translates thus: "alas! how a great people shall be tormented, and the holy law in an utter ruin; by other laws all christendom be troubled, when new mines of gold and silver shall be found." agricola de monte. _whimsical bequest._--is the following cutting from the _ipswich journal_ of january th, , worth preserving in your pages? whimsical bequest.--on saturday last, the unmarried of whatever age and sex, numbering between and residents in the parish of st. leonard's, colchester, received their new year's gift in the shape of 'a penny roll,' bequeathed to them in days of yore, under the following singular circumstances:--many years ago, a piece of waste land, called 'knave's acre,' in the parish of st. leonard's, was used as a playground by the boys of this and the adjacent parish of st. mary magdalen; but one day, the young gentlemen falling out, the affair ended in a regular 'fight;' and the result was that the boys of st. leonard's vanquished their opponents, and ever after remained victors of the field. the ground was subsequently let for gardening purposes; but the owner, in perpetual remembrance of the juvenile victory, whimsically bequeathed its annual rent of l. to be appropriated in the manner above mentioned." j. b. colman. _the orkneys in pawn._--dr. clarke mentions a curious circumstance, which was related to him in norway, by bernard auker, of christiana. he stated that great britain had the orkney islands only in pawn. looking over some old deeds and records, belonging to the danish crown, at copenhagen, mr. auker found that these islands were consigned to england, in lieu of a dowry for a danish princess, married to one of our english kings, upon condition that these islands should be restored to denmark whenever the debt for which they were pledged should be discharged. therefore, as the price of land, and the value of money, have undergone such considerable alteration since this period, it is in the power of denmark, for a very small sum, to claim possession of the orkneys. kirkwallensis. _lord duff's toast._--having made a considerable collection of old scots almanacks, i find occasionally on the waste papers at the beginnings and ends some curious notes: they, however, chiefly refer to the weather, crops, fairs, and prices of corn, starting-hours of coaches, &c. i find the following toast noted on the _new scots almanack_ for : i send it to "n. & q.," not knowing if it ever has been in print: "lord duff's toast a.d. ' . a. b. c. a blessed change. d. e. f. down every foreigner. g. h. j. god help james. k. l. m. keep lord marr. n. o. p. noble ormond preserve. q. r. s. quickly restore[ ] stewart. t. u. v. w. truss up vile whigs. x. y. z. 'xert your zeal." s. wmson. [footnote : "restore" corrected from "resolve" by erratum in issue .--transcriber.] * * * * * queries. the meteoric stone of the thracian chersonesus. in the _quarterly review_ just published, the reviewer, in the course of an interesting article on "meteors, aerolites, and shooting stars," makes a suggestion which, if admitted into "n. & q.," may { } meet the eye of some english resident or traveller in the east, who will give to it the attention it deserves. a great degree of interest is attached to the recorded fall of aerolites in times past, and the most remarkable and authentic record of antiquity on this subject is that of the massive stone which fell in the th olympiad (about the time of the birth of socrates), at Ægospotamos (the goat's river), on the hellespont,--the place soon afterwards the scene of that naval victory of lysander, in the last year of the peloponnesian war, which subjected athens and greece for a time to the spartan power. the fall of this stone, says the reviewer, is expressly mentioned by aristotle; by the author of the parian chronicle; by diogenes of apollonia; and most fully by plutarch and pliny, both of whom distinctly state it to be shown in their time--the sixth century after its fall. pliny's description is well marked. "qui lapis etiam nunc ostenditur, magnitudine vehis, colore adusto;" and he adds the fact that a burning comet (meteor) accompanied its descent. plutarch explicitly states that it was still held in much veneration by the inhabitants of the chersonesus. he also speaks of its vast size. if the mass remained visible, and of such magnitude as described, down to pliny's time, it is far from impossible (remarks the reviewer) that it may even now be re-discovered, with the aid, perchance, of some stray tradition attached to the place, surviving, as often happens, the lapse of ages, the changes of human dominion, and even the change of race itself, upon the spot. the locality, indeed, is not further indicated than by the statement of its fall at Ægospotamos; but the invariable manner in which it is thus described defines tolerably well the district to be examined. we learn (he adds) from the old geographers, that there was a town called Ægospotami on the thracian side of the hellespont, and we may infer a stream from which its name was derived. the description of the naval fight, and the situation relatively to lampsacus (the modern lamsaki), further define the locality within certain limits. the reviewer then adds some practical suggestions of importance. the traveller devoting himself to this research should make his head-quarters at various places near the spot in question. he should render himself previously familiar with the aspect of meteoric stones, as now seen in european cabinets, and should study the character of rocks and fragmentary masses in the vicinity, to appreciate the differences of aspect. a small part only of the mass may now appear above the surface, and may even be wholly concealed by alluvial deposits, in which case the research would, of course, be in vain, unless happily aided by local tradition, which at the outset should be sedulously sought for. the research, if successful, would be of interest enough, both for history and science, to perpetuate a man's name. in the hope that some of the correspondents of "n. & q.," now sojourning in, or likely to visit the locality, may be tempted to undertake it, i send you these suggestions, extracted from an article of no small scientific interest and value; and i will conclude with the query, whether the "sacred black stone," which is mentioned by colonel williams (the british commissioner for the settlement of the turkish boundary question) to be regarded by the seids inhabiting despool as their palladium, has any legend of meteoric origin connected with its history? wm. sidney gibson. newcastle on tyne. * * * * * banbury cakes and zeal. _the tatler_, no. ., in describing his "ecclesiastical thermometer" which gave indication of the changes and revolutions in the church, and of the different degrees of heat in religion throughout the country, says: "to complete the experiment, i prevailed upon a friend of mine, who works under me in the occult sciences, to make a progress with my glass through the whole island of great britain; and after his return, to present me with a register of his observations. i guessed beforehand at the temper of several places be passed through by the characters they have had time out of mind. thus that facetious divine, dr. fuller, speaking of the town of banbury near a hundred years ago, tells us, it was a place famous for cakes and zeal, which i find by my glass is true to this day as to the latter part of this description; though i must confess it is not in the same reputation for cakes that it was in the time of that learned author." in gough's _camden_, vol. i. p. ., there is rather an amusing account of the manner in which the town of banbury gained a proverbial reputation for zeal; and the following note by mr. camden, in his ms. supplement to the _britannia_, is added: "put out the word _zeale_ in banbury, where some think it a disgrace, when as _zeale_ with knowledge is the greater grace among good christians; for it was first foysted in by some compositor or pressman, neither is it in my latin copie, which i desire the reader to hold as authentic." and ray gives as a proverbial saying: "banbury veal, cheese, and cakes." and refers to the mistake in camden.[ ] now it is { } possible, that dr. fuller derived his estimation of the town of banbury from camden; still, as we know that banbury in the seventeenth century had a character for puritanism, he may have intended by the word _zeal_ to refer to the sectarian spirit of the inhabitants. but what i would ask is, whether any events occurred in banbury in the eighteenth century, which justify _the tatler_ in classing it among those places which were hot in the cause of the church; and giving to the words of the "facetious divine," whom he quotes, a signification entirely different to that which must have been intended? also, where is the first mention of banbury cakes? did their reputation decline in the eighteenth century, and revive again afterwards; or had they a celebrity in early days to which the present age can present no parallel? the banbury people would hardly assent to _the tatler's_ disparaging remark. erica. warwick. [footnote : [the following note respecting this misprint is given in gibson's _camden_, vol. i. p. ., edit. :--"there is a credible story, that while philemon holland was carrying on his english edition of the _britannia_, mr. camden came accidentally to the press, when this sheet was working off; and looking on, he found, that to his own observation of banbury being famous for cheese, the translator had added cakes and ale. but mr. camden, thinking it too light an expression, changed the word _ale_ into _zeal_; and so it passed, to the great indignation of the puritans, who abounded in this town."--ed.]] * * * * * minor queries. _richardson or murphy._--i have in my collection a portrait, purporting to be that of "joseph richardson, esq., barrister, and member for newport in cornwall," engraved in line by w. j. newton, from a picture by the late president, m. a. shee, esq., r.a.; and another impression, from the _same_ plate, inscribed "james murphy, esq., architect." will any of your readers be good enough to inform me which of those gentlemen was the real _simon pure_, and what induced the alteration of name, &c.? i could cite numerous instances of the same kind of trick having been practised, and may trouble you with further inquiries on a future occasion. at present i am anxious to ascertain whether i have got a genuine or spurious portrait in my portfolio of artists. j. burton. . avenham lane, preston. _legend attached to creeper in the samoan isles._--walpole, in his _four years in the pacific_, mentions a creeper of most singular toughness, to which the natives attach a legend, which makes it the material employed by some fabulous ancestor to bind the sun, and which they term _facehere_, or _itu's cord_, affirming that it cannot be broken "even by the white man, clever as he is." mr. walpole certainly failed in his attempts to clear a way through it. will any of your botanical readers give me the proper name of the plant? and also of the "giant arum," which the same people call the king or chief of plants? seleucus. _shearman family._--is there a family named either shearman or spearman in yorkshire or in wales? what are their arms? is there any record of a member of this family settling in ireland, county of kilkenny, about the middle of the seventeenth century; his name, &c.? are there any genealogical records concerning them? james graves. kilkenny. _american fisheries._--almost from the first settlement of the colony of massachusetts bay, this has been a troublesome question; and now that it is under the consideration of the english and american governments, it is to be hoped that it may be finally settled. in june, , a vessel arrived at plymouth, cape cod, commanded by admiral west, who had been sent from england for the sole purpose of preventing all persons, whether subjects of great britain or foreigners, from fishing on the coast, unless they had previously obtained permission for that purpose from the council of new england. the admiral meeting with much opposition, and finding he could not settle the question in an amicable manner, left plymouth in disgust, and sailed for southern virginia. the colonists then appealed to parliament, and an act was passed that the fisheries _should be free_. query, in what year was this act passed, and has the permission then granted ever been annulled? w. w. malta. _grindle._--what is the true meaning of this word, and are any other parts of the kingdom called thus? the one i allude to is still called "the grindle," close adjoining the town of bury st. edmund's; and consists of an encampment and earthworks, very similar to several mentioned before in "n. & q." under the articles "grimsdyke" (vol. iv., pp. . . .; vol. v., p. . &c.). a local guide to the town (gillingwater, p. .) gives the word _grim_, a fortress=_grinneal_, depths in the ground. can any reader of your valuable notes give any further explanation of the word, or of its origin at bury? c. g. _a gentleman executed for whipping a slave to death._--in the first volume of _eastern europe_, published in london by t. c. newby, in , it is thus recorded: "during the administration of spencer perceval, on the th of may, , the honourable a. w. hodge, a member of his britannic majesty's council at tortola, was executed for the murder of one of his negroes by excessive flogging." { } might i ask if there is any other instance known of a gentleman's having suffered similar punishment for the same crime, during the period the west india islands were held as slave colonies of england? w. w. malta. _brydone._--a. j. c. would be glad to be informed of the birthplace of mr. brydone, the tourist and author. the biographies state that he was the son of a clergyman, and born in scotland; but do not give the exact _locus in quo_. "_clear the decks for bognie's carriage._"--the announcement, in _punch_, that the lords of the admiralty had ordered a large supply of arm-chairs (of course on castors) for the use of our veteran commanders, has recalled to my recollection the above, which used to pass current in banffshire, as a call for a clear stage. can any of your readers tell us who was "bognie;" what was his "carriage," and what the connexion between it and "decks?" from the neighbourhood of bognie brae. _london queries._--answers to the following queries would very much oblige me. the date when chains and bars were first erected for levying toll into the city of london. the date of the erection of the first temple bar, its architect's name, and when pulled down or destroyed, and if burnt during the great fire. the authority for the present gate having been built after designs of sir christopher wren. j. n. g. g. _scarf worn by clergymen._--by what authority do clergymen, who are neither chaplains to any member of the royal family, or to any peer or peeress, or have not taken the degree of d.d., wear a _scarf_ either over the surplice or the black gown? c-- j. t. p. w---- rectory. _life of queen anne._--who is the author of "the history of the life and reign of her late majesty queen anne: wherein all the transactions of that memorable reign are faithfully compiled from the best authorities, and impartially related. illustrated with a regular series of all the medals that were struck to commemorate the great events of this reign; with a variety of other useful and ornamental plates. london, printed and sold by the booksellers in town and country. ." the size is small folio. e. s. jackson. _erasmus smith._--the undersigned is much interested in learning something of the life and history of erasmus smith, the founder of the numerous schools in ireland that still go under his name, and are governed by a chartered incorporation. if it was a great act to found and endow so many schools, assuredly erasmus smith gives additional authority to the dictum, that "the world knows nothing of its greatest men." d. c. l. _croxton or crostin of lancashire._--can any of the readers of "n. & q." furnish me with any particulars of this family; whether they bore arms, and what they were? they are, i believe, of lancashire origin,--the name frequently occurring in the history of that county. where is also the ancient (and formerly very extensive) parish of crostin? w. h. colles. _grub street journal._--can any of your readers give me information as to the parties by whom this journal was conducted; or who formed the grub street society, shortly before, and for a few years after ; or what this society was: or refer me to the best sources of information on the subject? my reason for asking the question is, that i have lately found a manuscript book--a common thickish square account-book in a vellum back--containing at one end, as it seems, the minutes of the meetings of the grub street society, signed by the members at each meeting: at the other end, the accounts of the funds of the association. if it should prove that the entries are genuine, and they should prove to be of any interest, i should send you some extracts from the book. reginensis. _chaplain to the princess elizabeth._--what was the surname of the person who officiated as chaplain to the princess elizabeth during her imprisonment at woodstock in ? his christian name was william. c. r. m. "_the snow-flake._"--in a comparatively obscure poem, _the snow-flake_, not very long published, occurs the line: "when kola's mild blue eyes shall weep." pray, to what is allusion made? a. s. t. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _leamhuil or lahoel._--can you, or any of your readers, give me a description of the place, abbey, or other ancient building, called _leamhuil_ or _lahoel_, or refer me to some work where i may find the history of the same? in lewis's _topographical dictionary_ it is said to be somewhere in queen's county, ireland. also, inform me whether there has been any family of that name? frederick kenneth. clonea. [leamchuill is in the barony of portnehinch, queen's county. archdale, in his _monasticon hibernicum_, p. ., states, that "st. fintan-chorach was abbot here towards the close of the sixth century. by some writers he is said to have been interred here; and from { } others we learn that cluainednach, or clonfert brendan, was the place of his sepulture. st. mochonna was abbot or bishop here, but at what period is unknown." stevens, however, says this abbey was in leinster. "st. fintan, otherwise called st. munnu, in the sixth century, founded the abbey of cluian Ædnach; those of achad-arglass, achad-finglass, and _lanchoil_ in _leinster_, and those of dumbleske and ross-coerach in munster." (_monasticon hibernicum_, p. ., edit. .) consult also the authorities quoted in butler's _lives of the saints_, art. st. fintan, october nd.] _orte's maps, edition of ._--i have in my possession a quarto volume of fifty-three coloured maps, by abraham orte, and printed at antwerp in . almost all the maps are ornamented with some miniature paintings, representing the ships or galleys used in the country which the map describes. on many of these there are also the figures of whales and flat-fish. on the map of russia, in one part, there are three large tents, with three men, clothed in coloured garments, at the entrance of them; and near by some camels are grazing. in another part is seen a cluster of trees, and seated in the branches of the first and largest there is the figure of a saint, to whom it would appear five men, or priests, are kneeling and praying, with their heads uplifted and hands outstretched. on the branches of the trees in the background several persons are hanging. on the twenty-eighth map there is a large town represented at the foot of a hill, and above it these words: "urbis salis burgensis genuina descriptio." can any of your correspondents inform me if there is another copy of this work known to be extant; and, if so, whether the maps are like those i have briefly described? in a catalogue of rare books, i have seen no mention made of this edition of , though reference is made to one of twenty years a later date. w. w. malta. [this edition is in the british museum, and agrees in every respect with the one possessed by our correspondent, except that it is in folio. it appears extremely rare.] _prayer for the recovery of george iii._--in , when i first went to school, one of my schoolfellows had (i think in manuscript in the fly-leaf of his prayer-book) a prayer for the king's recovery, of which i remember only two detached portions:--"restore, we implore thee, our beloved sovereign to his family and his people"--"and whether it shall seem fit to thine unerring wisdom, presently to remove from us this great calamity, or still to suspend it over us, dispose us, under every dispensation of thy providence, patiently to adore thine inscrutable goodness." the rest i forget. can any of your correspondents supply the remainder of the prayer; or tell me where it is to be found, or who was the author? laicus. [this prayer was composed by dr. sutton, archbishop of canterbury, and will be found in the _gentleman's magazine_ of november , p. .] * * * * * replies. mrs. mackey's poems. (vol. vi., p. .) mrs. mary mackey was "a real person," and the widow of a conveyancer in good practice. of him she says (_scraps of nature_, p. .): "the husband of poor nature was a gentleman and an honest man, made a fortune and spent it nearly, in which his wife had no share, for that he governed and ruled the roast is well known to many: he had a noble and generous soul, but always kept poor nature's talents under a bushel, where they shall never go again. he was old enough to be her father, and ever treated her like a child." he left only enough to purchase for her a small annuity. she was uneducated, as she says, p. .: "i never learned to write or spell, although i read and write so well;" but laboured under the illusion that she was a poetess. she sought an interview with hewson clarke by inviting him to meet a lady who admired his writings in white conduit fields. he went, and was somewhat mortified to find a matron of about forty-five, who placed her ms. in his hand, and requested his candid opinion on a future day. she was lady-like and sensible upon all matters except her own poems. of course his opinion was easily formed; but he assured her that, though the poems were very good, they would not suit the public taste, and that she would be rash in publishing. she took his advice, but unfortunately happened to know peter pindar, who had been one of her husband's friends. she devotes a "scrap" to a kiss which he gave her (p. .). he was blind, but on hearing some of her poems read, he exclaimed, "oh, my god, madam, there is nothing like this in shakspeare!" such a compliment turned her head; she sold her annuity to publish her book, and was reduced to extreme distress and misery. this is stated in a notice of the book in _the british stage_, sept. , p. . the article, which is signed k., was written by the editor, mr. jones broughton of the india house, a friend of hewson clarke, and once editor of _the theatrical inquisitor_. i agree with g. c. that the "scraps" are _niaiseries_; as literature nothing can be worse; but they are curious and, i think, deeply interesting as genuine expressions of feeling. mary mackey was vain and weak, but true-hearted, { } generous, and affectionate; she conceals nothing, and lays bare her poverty and her wish to marry again. she advertises herself under the form of a pony for sale: "for since she has been free by the death of her late owner, the poor thing has been a scamperer, _and has often known the want of a good meal;_ _for she was highly fed in her old master's lifetime._ but he, alas! sleeps in peace, and peace be to his soul. he was a good master and a real gentleman, and left his little trotter to a merciless world: she is gentle by nature; _but the poor thing's heart_ _is now breaking_; yet by kind treatment she might be made one of the most valuable and amusing things in nature. she is a little foundered, but not to hurt or retard her movements; she is of some mettle and high spirit, notwithstanding her hard fate, she will even kick if roughly handled, nor would she suffer a dirty hand to touch her."--p. . again, she says: "i wish i had an only friend, to shield me from the winter's blast, for should i live to see another, he may cut keener than the last; and i shall never wish to feel a keener winter than the past."--p. . she complains of a refusal from one to whom she wrote "to beg or solicit some bacon," and says: "to him she has given, _she never did lend_, for her plan is to give to the foe or the friend."--p. . some one, probably clarke, wrote an anonymous letter to dissuade her from publishing. this she answers indignantly in prose, concluding: "should he be tempted to write again, let him sign his name, or where a letter may find the kind-hearted creature, who has such a love for nature. his stinging advice was to run down the widow's soul's delight, her dear scraps, which not a block in nature can suppress"--p. . throughout the silliness run veins of feeling, respect for her husband, gratitude for the smallest acts of kindness, and cheerfulness under want. in some lines to a cat, apparently written during her husband's sickness, she says: "now grimalkin each day on her throne takes a seat, with a smile on her face when her master can eat; _but, alas! he eats little._"--p. . truly mary mackey must have been a good wife and friend, and i hope i may claim some credit for extracting evidence thereof from perhaps the weakest verses ever written. her own opinion was different, and is thus expressed in her "preface or no preface.--no preface can be to the scraps of nature, for god gave none when he formed creation, nor was there ever a book sent into the world like the volume of nature, since the creation of the world, nor ever so bold an undertaking. it has never been seen by any eye, nor corrected by any hand, but the eye and hand of the writer. no volume has more humour," &c. g. c.'s copy is defective. mine has a portrait of mrs. mary mackey, which indicates considerable beauty, despite of very poor drawing and engraving, and the execrable thin curls and short waist of . the "falling tear is visible;" but, had not the authoress told us what it was, it might be taken for a mole or a wart. as the face is perfectly cheerful, and the "scrap" is headed "compliment to the engraver," i hazard the conjecture that he was instructed to add the tear to a miniature painted before she had been compelled to shed tears on her own account. h. b. c. u. u. club. * * * * * map of ceylon. (vol. vii., p. .) your correspondent ajax asks information of me as to the best, or even a tolerable, map of ceylon. i am not surprised at the inquiry, as no satisfactory map of that island exists to my knowledge. it may illustrate this assertion to mention, that in i travelled through the vast and interesting district of neura kalawa, to the north of the kandyan range; and i carried with me the map of "india and ceylon," then published, and since reprinted in , by the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. in that map the country i was passing through appears as a large blank, with the words "unknown mountainous region." but i found it abounding in prosperous villages, and tracts of land cultivated both for rice and dry grain. so far from being "unknown," its forests have a numerous though scattered population; and as to its being "mountainous," there is scarcely a hill in the entire "region." there is a meagre map of ceylon, drawn by george atkinson, who was civil engineer and surveyor-general of the colony, and published by wylde in . it is more correct than others, but sadly deficient in information. mr. arrowsmith, of soho square, published in an admirable map of what is called the kandy zone, being the central province of the island, prepared by the deputy quarter-master-general, colonel frazer; assisted by captain gallwey and major skinner, of the ceylon civil service. col. frazer has since placed in mr. arrowsmith's hands a map of the entire island: it has not yet appeared; but when published it will be found to be as nearly perfect in its details as any map can be. in reply to the inquiry of ajax as to the publication of my own work on the history and { } topography of ceylon, it is still in hand; but the pressure of official and parliamentary duties has sadly retarded its preparation for the press. j. emerson tennent. . warwick square, belgravia. * * * * * "am, have, and will be:" henry viii., act iii. sc. . (vol. vii., p. .) independently of the obvious probability that shakspeare, in these three words, intended to embody the present, the past, and the future, there is another reason why we can by no means part with _have_, or suffer it to be changed into any other word; and that is, because it is open to one of those parallel analogies which i have so often upheld as sure guides to the true reading. only a few lines before, in a previous speech of wolsey's, he makes use of a precisely similar elliptical coupling together of the verbs _have_ and _be_: "my loyalty, which ever _has_, and ever _shall be_, growing." here we have, in "has and shall be," the identical combination which, in the case of "have and will be," has given rise to so much doubt; so that we have only to understand the one phrase as we do the other, and make the slight addition of the personal pronoun i (not before, but after _am_), to render wolsey's exclamation not only intelligible, but full of emphasis and meaning. but in the first place the king's speech to wolsey might be more intelligibly pointed if the words "your bond of duty" were made a parenthetical explanation of _that_. the "bond of duty" is the mere matter-of-course duty to be expected from every subject; but the king says that, over and above _that_, wolsey ought, "as 'twere in loves particular," to be _more_! thereupon wolsey exclaims-- "i do profess that for your highness' good i ever labour'd more than mine own." here he pauses, and then immediately continues his protestation in the fine passage, the meaning of which has been so much disputed; suddenly reverting to what the king had just said he _ought_ to be, he exclaims: "_that_, am i, have, and will be, though all the world should crack their duty to you, and throw it from their soul," &c. still less can it be permitted to change "crack their duty" into "lack their duty." setting aside all consideration of the comparative force of the two words, and the circumstance that _crack_ is frequently used by shakspeare in the sense of _sever by violence_--the adoption of _lack_ would be to attribute to shakspeare an absolute blunder, for how could "all the world" _throw from their soul_ that which they _lacked_? with reference to another alteration ("capable" into "palpable," in _as you like it_, act iii. sc. .), notwithstanding that it seems so obvious, and has been declared so self-evident, "_as to be lauded needs but to be seen_," i, for one, enter my protest against it, being of opinion that the conservation of _capable_ is absolutely essential to the context. _capable_ may be, and has been, defended upon various grounds; but there is one consideration which, with me, is all-sufficient, viz., it is necessary for the explanation and defence of the accompanying word "_cicatrice_." _capable_ is _concave_, and has reference to the _lipped_ shape of the impression, and _cicatrice_ is a _lipped_ scar; therefore one word supports and explains the other. and it is not a little singular that _cicatrice_ should, in its turn, have been condemned as an improper expression by the very critic (dr. johnson) who, without perceiving this very cogent reason for so doing, nevertheless explains "capable impressure" as _a hollow mark_. a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * sir henry wotton's letter to milton. (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) i desire to speak with the greatest deference to mr. bolton corney's superior judgment, but still i cannot help saying that thomas warton's remarks upon "our common friend mr. r." and "the late r.'s poems" do not seem to be supported by the facts. randolph's poems were printed at oxford in , but in which month we are not told. the first question then is this, were they printed before or after the th of april, when wotton's letter was written? if _after_ the th, or even the th of april, when milton's presentation copy of _comus_ was forwarded, of course the matter is decided. but, allowing for the present that they were printed _before_ the th of april in the year , i must ask, in the second place, could sir h. wotton predicate of any volume printed in that year before that date (or rather of _comus_ stitched up with that volume), that he had viewed it _some long time before_ with singular delight? i certainly think not, but shall be very happy to have my objections overruled. then, again, if we admit mr. bolton corney's "novel conjecture" (which i freely allow to be a great improvement upon that of thomas warton), how comes it the sir h. wotton knew nothing of "the true artificer" of _comus_ until he was let into the secret by milton himself? if robert randolph was the "common friend" of wotton and milton, was he not likely to have { } known something of the authorship of _comus_, and to have enlightened sir henry thereon? my principal objection remains. thomas randolph was far too popular a poet to have been contemptuously alluded to by wotton or any one else in that age, and, making all due allowance for laudation and compliment, wotton does disparage the poems to which milton's _masque_ was appended. i think that quaint old winstanley gives the general opinion of randolph. he says: "he was one of such a pregnant wit that the muses may seem not only to have smiled, but to have been tickled at his nativity, such the festivity of his poems of all sorts."--_lives of english poets_, p. ., lond. . we must therefore, perhaps, look out for some more obscure and worthless poet, whose "principal" milton's "accessory" was to "help out." when writing on this subject before, i said that samuel hartlib had not settled in england at the time of sir h. wotton's letter to milton (vol. vi., p. .). i am indebted to warton for that mistake. he fixes the date of his coming hither to "about the year ." (_illustrations of milton's minor poems_, p. .: lond. .) samuel hartlib figures amongst the correspondents of joseph mede in march, , and even then dated from london. (mede's _works_, vol. ii. lib. iv. p. .: lond. , fol.) amongst the _letters and despatches_ of lord strafforde are two letters from sir henry wotton, which do not appear in the _reliquiæ_ (vide vol. i. pp. - .: dublin, , fol.), though some sentences in the former of the two may be found at p. . of said work. i often find it a pleasant employment to fill up the gaps and trace out the allusions in wotton's correspondence. may i give a short specimen of one of his letters filled up? it was written, i suppose, to nicholas pey: "my dear nic, "more than a voluntary motion doth now carry me towards suffolk, especially that i may confer by the way with an excellent physician at b., whom i brought myself from venice."--_reliquiæ_, p. . by "b." is meant st. edmund's bury, and by the "excellent physician" no less than _gaspero despotine_, who, together with mark anthony de dominis, accompanied sir h. wotton and his chaplain bedell from italy. however, he was very unlike the archbishop of whom dr. crakanthorp used to say, that he was well called "de dominis in the plural, for he could serve two masters, or twenty if they would all pay him wages." (hacket's _life of williams_, part i. p. .: lond. , fol.) despotine left italy that he might at the same time leave the communion of the church of rome, and when bedell was appointed to the living of st. edmund's bury, he accompanied him thither. one of wotton's very interesting letters announces the event. (_reliquiæ_, p. .) under the fostering care of the saintly bedell, despotine rose to eminence in his profession at st. edmund's bury, and kept up a kind correspondence with his guide and patron after his promotion to the provostship of trinity college, dublin, and the sees of ardagh and kilmore. (burnet's _life of bishop bedell_, ad init.) in another letter (_reliquiæ_, p. .) wotton speaks of having given also to michael brainthwaite and the young lord scudamore the advice of alberto scipioni to himself, to "keep his eyes open and his mouth shut," which milton sadly disregarded. rt. warmington. * * * * * skull-caps versus skull-cups. (vol. vi., pp. . .) your correspondent james graves seems to consider cooking in a skull impossible. i certainly have never tried it, nor do i wish to express an opinion as to the taste of the irish or their invaders, a.d. , though methinks those who relished the "flesh" need not have demurred to the pot. but as to the possibility, in ewbank on _hydraulic machines_, book i. cap. ., i find the following mention of "primitive boilers.--the gourd is probably the original vessel for heating water, &c. &c., its exterior being kept moistened by water while on the fire, as still practised by some people, while others apply a coating of clay to protect it from the effects of flame." he then quotes kotzebue as finding "the radack islanders boiling something in cocoa-shells." a primitive sumatran vessel for boiling rice is the bamboo, which is still used; by the time the rice is dressed the vessel is nearly destroyed by the fire. this destructibility needs hardly to be considered an objection to the "starving fugitives," as plenty of the same kind must have been at hand, and even an irishman's skull is probably as little inflammable as gourds, cocoa-sells, or bamboos. j. p. o. should the following extract not be considered as bearing on the question, we must admit that it is a remarkable bit of folk lore. the quotation is second-hand, being taken from the chronicles of london bridge, _family library_, p. .; the authority is, however, there given. the passage refers to some parties engaged to refine the coinage, and who were taken ill, affected probably by the fumes of arsenic. "---- the mooste of them in meltinge fell sycke to deathe, w^{th} the sauoure, so as they were advised to drynke in a dead man's skull for theyre recure. { } "whereupon he w^{th} others who had thovergyght of that worke, procured a warrant from the counsaile to take of the heades vppon london bridge and make cuppes thereof, whereof they dranke and founde some reliefe, althoughe the moost of them dyed." this is supposed to have been about or . thomas lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. * * * * * inedited poem by pope. (vol. vii., p. .) this, which is headed "note," ought to have been headed _query_: and it affords an instance of ignorance on the part of some of our correspondents; and of, i fear i must add, inattention on that of our worthy editor, which i think it right to notice as a warning to all parties for the future: and i appeal to the candour of our editor himself to give my protest a place. the first step in this curious affair is to be found in "n. & q.," vol. ii., p. ., where "_the editor of bishop warburton's literary remains_" produced, as attributed to mr. charles yorke, a kind of epitaph of sixteen lines, beginning-- "stript to the naked soul, escaped from clay." that the "editor of bishop warburton's _literary remains_," and his friend "an eminent critic," should have been at a loss to know where these well-known verses were to be found, and should have countenanced their having been charles yorke's, seems the more wonderful: for the verses are given in _warburton's own letters_ as _pope's_, and were printed near a hundred years ago in ruffhead's _life of pope_, _as pope's_; and in the ms. copy furnished by mr. yorke, they are marked as "mr. pope's." the next error is, that this mention of mr. yorke's name--though his ms. bore the name of _pope_--seems to have given rise to the idea that _he_ was the author, which lord campbell has so fully adopted as to have reprinted, in his _lives of the chancellors_ (vol. v. p. .), the verses as the composition of _charles yorke_. we next find in "n. & q.," vol. iii., p. ., a reply of w. s. to the query of warburton's editor, stating "that the verses were by _pope_," and _lately_ republished in a miscellany by james tayler, with a statement that they _were not inserted in any edition of pope's works_. the fact being, that they have been inserted in warton's edition, ; and in bowles', and in all subsequent editions that i have seen: and it seems strange that w. s. did not take the trouble of verifying, by a reference to _any_ edition of pope, the statement that he quoted. next we have, in the same ( rd) volume of "n. & q.," a communication from mr. crossley, which states correctly all the foregoing circumstances, with the addition, that the verses appeared as _aaron hill's_ in an edition of his works as early as . thence arises another discussion; were they pope's or hill's? roscoe thought they were hill's; mr. crossley thinks they were pope's. i think, both from external and internal evidence, that they were not pope's. but that has little to do with my present object, which is to show how often the matter has been already discussed in "n. & q." i must observe, however, that mr. crossley has fallen into a slight anachronism. he says that the verses were "transferred from ruffhead into _bowles'_ edition;" whereas they, as i have stated, were transferred into _warton's_ many years earlier. after all this disquisition comes a recent number of "n. & q.," of which a _column and a quarter_ is wasted by a correspondent a. t. w., who confesses that he (or she) has _not a modern edition of pope within reach_, and begs to know whether these verses (repeated _in extenso_) "have been yet introduced to the public?" surely "n. & q." should beware of correspondents that write to inquire about pope, without having an edition of his works; and i cannot but wonder that this _crambe_, which had been served up thrice before, and so fully by mr. crossley, should have been _recocta_, and introduced as a new theme, entitled to a special attention. c. * * * * * cibber's "lives of the poets." (vol. v., p. .) allow me to draw your attention to a _curious letter_ which i transcribe, with reference to the above. it appears to have escaped the notice of mr. croker, although it corroborates his statements. it was written by the bookseller himself who published the _lives_, and would seem to set the matter as to their authorship completely at rest. griffiths appears to have been also the editor of the _monthly review_; and cartwright, the inventor of the power-loom, to whom the letter is addressed, to have been one of his contributors. "mr. griffith to mr. cartwright. "turnham green, th june [ ?]. "dear sir, "i have sent you a _feast_! johnson's _new_ volumes of the _lives of the poets_. you will observe that savage's _life_ is one of the volumes. i suppose it is the same which he published about thirty years ago, and therefore you will not be obliged to notice it otherwise than in the course of enumeration. in the account of hammond, my good friend samuel has stumbled on a material circumstance in the publication of cibber's _lives of the poets_. he intimates that cibber never saw the work. this is a reflection on the bookseller, your humble servant. the bookseller { } has now in his possession theophilus cibber's receipt for twenty guineas (johnson says ten), in consideration of which he engaged to 'revise, correct, and improve the work, and also to affix his name in the title-page.' mr. cibber did accordingly very punctually revise every sheet; he made numerous corrections, and added many improvements: particularly in those lives which came down to his own times, and brought him within the circle of his own and his father's literary acquaintance, especially in the dramatic line. to the best of my recollection, he gave some entire lives, besides inserting abundance of paragraphs, of notes, anecdotes, and remarks, in those which were compiled by shiells and other writers. i say _other_, because many of the best pieces of biography in that collection were not written by shiells, but by superior hands. in short, the engagement of cibber, or some other _englishman_, to superintend what shiells in particular should offer, was a measure absolutely necessary, not only to guard against his scotticisms, and other defects of expression, but his virulent jacobitism, which inclined him to abuse every whig character that came in his way. this, indeed, he would have done; but cibber (a stanch williamite) opposed and prevented him, insomuch that a violent quarrel arose on the subject. by the way, it seems to me, that shiell's jacobitism has been the only circumstance that has procured him the regard of mr. johnson, and the favourable mention that he has made of shiell's 'virtuous life and pious end'--expressions that must draw a smile from every one who knows, as i did, the real character of robert shiells. and now, what think you of noticing this matter in regard to truth, and the fair fame of the honest bookseller?"--_memoir of the life, writings, and mechanical inventions of edmund cartwright, d.d., f.r.s._: saunders & otley. w. l. nichols. lansdown place, bath. * * * * * english comedians in the netherlands. (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. iii., p. .) from the following extract from the _thes. rek._ (treasury accounts) of utrecht, it appears that english actors performed there: "schenkelwyn, july, . sekere engelsche comedianten, voor hore speelen op ten stadhuyse, q. fransche wyns."--(to certain english comedians, for their playing at the town-hall, eight quarts of french wine.) in the _gerechtsdagboecken_ (minutes of the council) of leyden appear several requests of english comedians to perform there in ; these i hope soon to have in hand. i can now give the decision of the council on the request of the englishman w. pedel: "op te requeste daerby den voorn. willem pedel, versochte aen die van de gerechte der stadt leyden omme te mogen speelen verscheyde fraeye ende eerlicke spelen mettet lichaem, sonder eenige woorden te gebruycken, stont geappostileert: die van de gerechte deser stadt leyden hebben voor zoe veel in hem es, den thoonder toegelaten ende geconsenteert, laten toe ende consenteren mits desen binnen dezer stede inde kercke vant bagynhoff te mogen spelen voor de gemeente ende syne speelen verthoonen, mits dat hy hem daervan zalt onthouden geduyrende tdoen van de predicatien van gods woorts, en dat de arme weesen alhier zullen genieten de gerechte helfte van de incomende proffyten, en dat zulex int geheel zullen werden ontfangen en gecollecteert by een persoon daertoe bij m^{ren} van de arme weesen te stellen ende committeeren. "aldus gedaen op ten xviij nov. ." (_translation._) on the request by which the aforesaid w. pedel petitioned the authorities of the city of leyden to allow him to exhibit various beautiful and chaste performances with his body, without using any words, was determined: the authorities of this city of leyden have consented and allowed the exhibitor to perform in the church of the bagynhoff within this city, provided he cease during the preaching of god's word, and that the poor orphans here have half the profits, and that they be received and collected by a person appointed by the masters of the poor orphans. done on the th november, . in english comedians came to dordrecht, but were soon obliged to withdraw. about some appeared in germany, who considerably diminished the taste for biblical and moral pieces. see dr. schotel, _blik in de gesch. v.h. tooneel._; gervinus, _neuere geschichte der poetischen nationalliteratur der deutschen_, vol. iii. pp. - .--_from the navorscher._ w. d. v. * * * * * la bruyÈre. (vol. vii., p. .) i am unable to reply to ursula's questions; but i would ask permission to solicit from such of your better-informed correspondents as may become votaries to ursula, that they would extend the range of their genealogical pilgrimage so far as to pay a visit to the ruins of tor abbey. i should be glad to learn whether either william lord _briewere_ or william de la _bruere_ (both of whom were connected with the foundation of that religious house) were of the same family as thibault de la _bruyère_, the crusader, who is one of the subjects of ursula's inquiry. dr. oliver (_monast. exon._, note at p. .) thinks that these two william brewers may have represented families originally distinct from each other: "there is some doubt," he says, "whether the family _de brueriâ_ or _bruerâ_, which was settled in devon at the time of the domesday, and then held some of the lands afterwards given by w. _briwere_ to torr abbey, was the same as that of the founder. in this cartulary the two names are spelt differently, and briwere seems { } to have been a purchaser of de bruerâ. see, upon this subject, dugdale's _baronage_, vol. i. p. ., and lysons' _devonshire_, vol. i. p. . the names of brieguerre and de bruera existed contemporaneously in normandy. see _rot. scacc. norm. indices_." whether these two william brewers represented distinct families or not, it appears that they became closely allied by marriage. at fol. . of an "abstract of the tor cartulary, at trinity college, dublin," given by oliver, p. ., the following grants occur; viz.: "grant from william briewere to william de la brueriâ, of four librates of land in wodeberi, with engelesia his sister, _in liberum maritagium_, &c. "grant from said william de la bruera, with the assent of engelesia his wife, of all their land in grendle to william briewere, brother of the said engelesia, &c. "confirmation thereof by said engelesia." both families appear to have given the name of _brewer_ to their places of residence. "the tything of _teign grace_," says risdon, "anciently _teign brewer_, was in the time of king henry the second the land of anthony de la brewer, whom divers knights of that race succeeded. sir william de la brewer, the last of the male line, left this inheritance among co-heirs, eva, wife of thomas le _grace_, and isabel, &c.... concerning which lands these lines i found in the leger-book of the abbey of torr: '_galfridus de breweria dominus de teigne pro salut. animæ will. de breweria & argalesia uxor ejus conc. abbat. de torr liberum transitum in teigne._'"--p. . _buckland brewer_, on the other hand, derived its name (according to the same authority) from the family of which william lord brewer was the representative. the brewers appear to have founded other religious houses, and to have held possessions in other parts of england. it was from welbeck abbey, in nottinghamshire, that william lord briwere obtained subjects for his abbey at tor; and bruern, or temple bruer, in lincolnshire, belonging to the hospital of st. john of jerusalem, clerkenwell (see dugdale's _monast._, new edition, vol. vi. par. ii. p. .), would seem to owe its name to some connexion with the brewer family, as did also, perhaps, bruera in chester, &c. mention is made of a william de la bruera in the _history of northamptonshire_ (edit. oxon., , tom. i. p. .), in connexion with the township of grafton, to which manor joane, his wife, and her sister bruna, appear to have been co-heirs, as daughters of ralph de s. samson, temp. henry iii. william brewer, bishop of exeter (_brother_ of the william lord briewere already mentioned), was "put in trust" by king henry iii. "to conduct his sister, the lady isabella, into germany, to her intended marriage with the emperor frederic." see jenkins's _history of exeter_, , p. . "this bishop brewer also went into the holy land (_transfretavit, cruce signat._) the eleventh of henry the third."--risdon, edit. lond., , p. . there was another william brewer, a _son_ of william lord brewer; but he died without male issue. i fear these few notices bear no very precise relation to ursula's inquiries. still i send them, in the hope of discovering, by the kindness of some of your erudite contributors, what is the difference (if any) between the names _la bruyère_, _de la bruere_, and _briewere_; and also whether, _originally_, these names belonged to _two_ or _three_ distinct families, or only to so many different branches of the same family. j. sansom. p.s.--the name _bruere_ is probably not yet extinct, either in france or in england. in the bodleian library there is a letter, addressed by _john bruere_ to the clergy of the diocese of oxford, written within the last century, and bearing date "may , ," "odington, near islip," of which place the author was probably the rector. and in the british museum _catalogue_, under the name of (_m. de la_) _bruere_, is mentioned _histoire du règne de charlemagne_, tom. ^o; paris, . * * * * * southey's criticism upon st. mathias' day in leap-year. (vol. vii., p. .) mr. yarrum's _exposé_ of southey's singular blunder is perfectly just; but it does not include _the whole_ truth, a consideration of which renders the lapsus even more notable and unaccountable than if it arose _only_ from a want of acquaintance with the distribution of roman catholic feriæ. the allegation of error against the historians, because they had "fixed the appointed day on the eve of mathias," would seem to imply that they might have fixed upon some other feast-day with more correctness; whereas there is no other in the calendar which could by any possibility be affected by leap-year: but the most extraordinary part of the mistake is, the ignorance it displays (scarcely credible in southey) of the origin and etymology of the bissextile institution--the very subject he was criticising. because the name "bissextile," as every body knows, arose from the repetition in leap-year of the identical day in question: the sixth of the kalends of march; the th of february; the feast of the regifugium amongst the romans; and of its substitute, that of st. mathias, amongst the christians. it is clear, that since the regifugium was held upon the sixth day before the st of march (both inclusive), that day must, according to our { } reckoning, be the th of february in common years, and the th in leap-years: therefore, the supernumerary or superfluous day, added on account of leap-year, was considered to be the th of february, and not the th; which latter, in those years, became the true "sixth before the kalends." indeed, it is highly probable, although it cannot be supported by direct evidence, that the first day of the double sextile was distinguished from its name-fellow of the following day by having the word "bis" prefixed to _sextum_; so that, in leap-years, the th of february would be expressed as follows: "ante diem _bis_-vi calend. martias;" while the following day, or the th of february (being considered the real simon pure), would retain the usual designation of "a.d. vi calend. mar." such an hypothesis offers a reasonable explanation of the seeming reversal in terms of calling the day which _first_ arrived _posterior_, and that which succeeded it _prior_. although the church of england calendar now places the feast of saint mathias invariably on the th of february in all years, yet the earlier copies of the book of common prayer allocated it to "the sixth of the kalends of march," without any direction as to which of the two days, bearing that name in leap-years, it should be appropriated. the modern reformed church calendar therefore repudiates the usage of the romans themselves, rather than that of the roman catholics. a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _portable camera for travellers._--your correspondent e. s. asks for a clear description of a camera that will supersede the necessity of a dark room. mr. stokes has invented one; and in the early part of the photographic exhibition at the society of arts it was exhibited. the weight of the camera is only nine pounds, including focussing-glass, lens, shutter, &c. the shutter is so arranged that it will contain from twelve to twenty pieces of prepared paper, each piece between separate sheets of blotting-paper. light and air are completely excluded, by the paper being pressed by the front portion of the shutter. when required for use, the first piece of paper is placed at the back of the glass. by the assistance of a small hood, the impression is then taken; and, by removing the millboard, the paper will fall back into its place. at the same time another piece can be brought forward, ready for a second picture, before focussing, and so on to the end. the hood is made of india rubber cloth, and answers the purpose of a focussing cloth, without the trouble of removing it from the camera throughout the day. the size of the pictures that can be taken by it is ½ by inches. it has been tried during the latter part of the last year, and proved most successful. philip h. delamotte. bayswater. _the albumen process._--i shall be greatly obliged to dr. diamond, or any other photographer, by their kindly communicating through your medium their experience with albumenized glass. i have thornthwaite's _guide to photography_. i should like answers to the following queries: must the albumen be poured off from the plate after it is spread over the surface, in the same manner as collodion? is the plate (while roasting, according to the process of messrs. thompson and ross) nearly perpendicular in the process? will the iodized albumen, for giving the film, keep; and how long? how long will the plate retain its sensitiveness after exciting? may the same sensitive bath be used for a number of plates without renewing, in the same way as silver bath for collodion? in conclusion, what is the average time with single achromatic lens, six or seven inch focus, to allow to get a good picture? will photographers who are chemists turn their attention to obtain sensitive dry glass plates? for i think there can scarcely be any doubt of the advantage of glass over paper for _small_ pictures (weight, expense, &c., are perhaps drawbacks for pictures larger than × inches); but the desideratum is a sensitiveness nearly equal to collodion, and a plate that can be used dry. thos. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _black tints of french photographers._--can you inform me, through the medium of your valuable periodical, how those beautiful black tints, so much prized in the french prints from photographic negatives, are obtained? by so doing you will give great pleasure to several excellent amateur photographers, and especially your constant reader, philophotog. _originator of the collodion process._--as some think the credit of the invention of the collodion process a matter of dispute, will you allow me to remind your correspondents that the truth will be much easier to discover if they will confine themselves to actual facts? in no. ., p. ., g. c. first recklessly accuses mr. archer of untruth, and then tests his own claim to truth by quoting from le gray's edition of , to prove le gray's edition of . why did he not go back at once to the edition; and if that contains anything like an intelligible process, why is it altogether omitted from le gray's edition of , which was the one mr. archer spoke of, and correctly? { } the history of collodion is (as far as i know) this. in september, , dr. diamond invited me to meet mr. archer at his house, and for the first time mr. archer produced some prepared collodion, a portion of which identical sample dr. diamond now has in his possession. mr. archer had then been trying it some five or six weeks. his experiments then went on, and in march, , he published it in the _chemist_. let any of your readers procure that number, and compare mr. archer's claim with le gray's, who, in , states that he published it in , and gave "the best method that has been discovered up to the present time;" and yet, singularly enough, in his edition of , leaves out _this best method_ entirely. w. brown. ewell. _developing paper pictures with pyrogallic acid, &c._--have any of your photographic correspondents tried developing their paper negatives with pyrogallic acid? if so, perhaps he would favour the readers of "n. & q." with the result of his experiments. in dr. diamond's process for paper negatives, he says the paper, after the iodizing solution has been applied, must be dried before soaking in water. i wish to ask whether it may be dried quickly by the fire, or must it be dried spontaneously by suspension, &c.? again, how long must the paper remain on the sensitive mixture: must it be placed on the sensitive solution, and _immediately_ taken off and blotted, or placed on the sensitive solution, and _after some time_ (what time?) taken off and _immediately_ blotted? have any of your readers substituted iodide of ammonium for iodide of potassium, in preparing paper, collodion, &c., and with what success? and have they substituted nitrate of zinc for glacial acetic acid, as recommended in a french work, with any success? r. j. f. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _waterloo_ (vol. vii., p. .).--p. c. s. s. conceives that it may be interesting to philobiblion to learn that the greatest man in the world was not ignorant of the passage in strada regarding _waterloo_, to which philobiblion refers. from a diary kept for some years, it appears that on saturday, the th of october, , p. c. s. s., who was then on a visit at walmer castle, had the pleasure of directing the duke of wellington's attention to the passage in question, as translated by du ryer (paris, ). he well remembers that the duke seemed to be greatly struck with it; that he more than once referred to it, in subsequent conversations; and that on the following day he requested p. c. s. s. to furnish him with a transcript, which he doubts not might still be found among the duke's papers. p. c. s. s. your correspondent philobiblion has been led into a double error by a similarity of name. the _pagus waterloeus_ mentioned by strada is the french village of wattrelo, in the modern département du nord, about six miles to the northeast of lille. j. s. norwich. _irish peerages_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the book alluded to by d. x. as professing to give pedigrees of ennobled irish families, may be the contemptible _letters to george iv._, by captain rock, a miserable attempt at a continuation of moore's _memoirs_ of that mystic personage. some half of the former book contains libellous notices of the "low origin" of the irish nobility. can your correspondent refer me to the play in which there is some sneer that "the housemaid is cousin to an irish peer?" h. _martha blount_ (vol. vii., p. .).--an engraving of this lady, from "an original picture, in the collection of michael blount, esq., at maple-darham," is prefixed to the tenth volume of pope's _works_ by bowles, . w. a. in reply to mr. a. f. westmacott (vol. vii., p. .), i have, in my collection of engraved portraits, one of the subject of his inquiry, "martha blount." it is in _stipple_, by picart, after a picture by gardner. i have no idea the portrait is rare, and think your correspondent may easily procure it among the printsellers in london. j. burton. _quotations wanted_ (vol. vii., p. .).--bacon, in his essay "of studies," has this sentence: "and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not." which is perhaps the reference miss edgeworth intended. "a world without a sun," is from campbell's _pleasures of hope_, part ii. line .: "and say, without our hopes, without our fears, without the home that plighted love endears, without the smile from partial beauty won, oh! what were man?--a world without a sun." i beg to add a parallel from burns: "what is life, when wanting love? night without a morning: love's the cloudless summer sun, nature gay adorning." see the song beginning: "thine am i, my faithful fair." arthur h. bather. east sheen, surrey. { } _pepys's morena_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--in the note on this word in the last edition of the _diary_, it is stated that it may be read either "morma" or "morena." there is little doubt but the latter is the correct reading. "morena" is good portuguese for a brunette, and may have been used by pepys as a term of endearment for miss dickens, like the "colleen dhas dhun" of the irish, which has much the same meaning. the marriage of the king to catherine of braganza in the previous year would have caused her language to be more studied at this time, especially by persons about the court. morma has no meaning whatever. j. s. warden. _goldsmiths' year-marks_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--i observe that, a few weeks ago, in the "n. & q.," one of your correspondents made inquiries respecting the publication of my paper on plate-marks, which was read at the bristol meeting of the archæological institute. in reply, i beg to inform him that he will find, in the last two numbers of the journal of the institute, the first and second parts of the paper, and that the concluding portion of it, and i hope also the table of annual letters, will appear in the forthcoming number. should it not be possible to get the table in a fit state for printing in that number, it will appear in the next; and the whole subject of the assay marks of british plate will then be complete. octavius morgan. the friars. _turner's view of lambeth palace_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--in reply to your correspondent l. e. x., respecting mr. turner's picture of lambeth palace (which is in _water-colours_), i beg leave to say that it is in the possession of a lady residing in bristol, to whose father _it_ was given by the artist after its exhibition at somerset house, and it has never been in any other hands. the same lady has also a small portrait of mr. turner, done by _himself_ when visiting her family about the year or : further particulars respecting these pictures (if desired) may be known by a line addressed to miss n----, . st. james' square, bristol. anon. j. h. a., after referring to the exhibition at the royal academy in , by mr. turner, of "king john's palace, eltham" (no. .), and "sweakley, near uxbridge" (no. .), adds: "in the horizon of art (strange to say, and yet to be explained!) this luminary glows no more till , when he had 'on the line' (?) several views of fonthill, as well as 'the tenth plague of egypt.'" a reference to the catalogues of the royal academy exhibitions will prove that mr. turner's name appears as an exhibitor there every year between and , excepting the years , , and . several views of fonthill abbey, and "the fifth (not the tenth) plague of egypt," were exhibited in , and "the tenth plague of egypt" in . g. b. "_for god will be your king to-day_" (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to your querist h. a. s. with respect to the above line, i believe that it belongs not to somersetshire, but to ireland; not to monmouth's rebellion, but to the civil wars of . it is the closing couplet of a stanza in the popular ballad on the "battle of the boyne." a very perfect copy of this ballad will be found in wilde's _beauties of the boyne_, p. ., beginning with-- "july the first, of a morning clear, one thousand six hundred and ninety, king william did his men prepare-- of thousands he had thirty,-- to fight king james and all his host, encamp'd near the boyne water," &c. the passage from which the lines in question are taken is as follows: "when that king william he observed, the brave duke schomberg falling, he rein'd his horse with a heavy heart, on the enniskilleners calling. "'what will you do for me, brave boys? see yonder men retreating; our enemies encouraged are, and english drums are beating.' "he says, 'my boys feel no dismay, at the losing of one commander, _for god shall be our king this day,_ _and i'll be general under_.'" w. w. e. t. . warwick square, belgravia. the lines here referred to occur in the old ballad of _boyne water_, some fragments of which are given in duffy's _ballad poetry of ireland_, th edition, p. . they are supposed to have been spoken by william iii. on the death of the duke schomberg. "both horse and foot they marched on, intending them to batter, but the brave duke schomberg he was shot, as he crossed over the water. when that king william he observed the brave duke schomberg falling, he rein'd his horse, with a heavy heart, on the enniskilleners calling: 'what will you do for me, brave boys? see yonder men retreating; our enemies encouraged are, and english drums are beating.' he says, 'my boys, feel no dismay at the losing of one commander, for god shall be our king this day, and i'll be general under.'" { } the lines quoted by your correspondent also occur in the more modern song of _the battle of the boyne_, which may be found at p. of mr. duffy's work. thompson cooper. cambridge. [we are indebted to many other correspondents for similar replies to this query.] _jennings family_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i am much obliged to percuriosus for his reply to my query. the william jennings, who was sheriff of cornwall in , an admiral, and knighted by king james ii. (see le neve's _knights_, harleian ms. .), was most probably descended from the yorkshire family of that name, his escutcheon being the same. the francis who married elizabeth, daughter of henry spoure of trebartha, was descended from the shropshire family, whose arms were--ermine, a lion rampant, gules quartered with those of jay, as recorded in the visitation by henry, the son of francis. this francis died about - . his will (the executor being henry spoure) was proved at doctors' commons in . but what i particularly wanted to ascertain was, whether rowland, who is the first that occurs in the cornish visitation, was the first who settled in cornwall. i have inquired at the heralds' college, but can gain no further information than that to be found in the visitations of salop and cornwall in the british museum. percuriosus would gratify my curiosity, if he would kindly inform me where the spoure mss. are to be seen. they are not to be found in the british museum. i have always thought that they were in the hands of some member of the rodd family, whose ancestor (a life guardsman) was about to be married to the heiress of all the spoures, but she, dying before the marriage, left him all her estates, trebartha among the rest which is in the possession of the family to this day. s. jennings-g. p. s.--i inclose my card, in order that percuriosus (who evidently knows something of the family) may communicate personally or by letter. i think that i might possibly be able to give him some information in return for his kindness. _the furze or gorse in scandinavia_ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--henfrey, in his _vegetation of europe_, states that the furze (_ulex europæus_) occurs, but not abundantly, in the south-western parts of the scandinavian peninsula. it is well known that in central germany it is a greenhouse plant. seleucus. _mistletoe_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., pp. . . . .).--there is in the parish of staveley, derbyshire, a solitary mansion called the hagg, erected by sir peter frescheville, in what was at that time a park of considerable extent, for a hunting lodge, when age and infirmity prevented him from otherwise enjoying the pleasures of the chase. in one of colepeper's mss. at the british museum, there is the following curious notice of this house: "this is the parke house which sir peter frescheville, in his will, th march, , calls my new lodge in staveley parke. heare my lord frescheville did live, and heare growes _the famous mistleto tree, the only oake in england that bears mistleto_, which florished at my deare wife's birth, who was born heare." i presume it is the same which is referred to in the following letter addressed by the countess of danby to mrs. colepeper; it is without date, but was written between and : "dear cosen.--pray if you have any of the miselto of yo^r father's oke, oblidge me so far as to send sum of it to yo^r most affectionat servant, bridget danby." the oak tree still exists, and in it contained mistletoe, but there is none to be seen now. about a quarter of a mile from this locality i observed the mistletoe in a large crab-tree, and i recently found it in a venerable yew of many centuries' growth near sheffield. w. s. (sheffield.) _inscription on a dagger_ (vol. vii., p. .).--these lines form a dutch proverb, and, if thus written, rhyme: "die een peninck wint ende behovt die macht verteren als hi wort owt. had ick dat bedocht in min ionge dagen dorst ick het in min ovtheit niel beklagen." which being interpreted inform us that, he who gains a penny, and saves it, may live on it when he becomes old. had i minded this in my youthful days, i should not have to complain in my old age. j. s. norwich. _steevens_ (vol. ii., p. .; vol. iii., p. .; vol. vi., pp. . .).--steevens's will contains no mention of any portrait of himself, nor any other except his picture of "mr. garrick and mrs. cibber, in the characters of jaffier and belvidera, painted by zottanij," which he bequeaths to george keate, esq. he gives to miss charlotte collins of graffham, near midhurst, daughter of the late christopher and margaret collins of midhurst, l. to his cousin mary collinson (late mary steevens), wife of william collinson of narrow street, ratcliffe cross, middlesex, l. for a ring (so in my copy). the residue of his property he gives to his dearest cousin elizabeth steevens of poplar, spinster, and appoints her sole executrix of his will. a copy of the will can be met with in the ninth volume of the _monthly mirror_ for . w. s. (sheffield.) { } _"life is like a game of tables," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--the sentiment is very possibly "_from_ jeremy taylor," but it is not his own. it occurs in terence's _adelphi_ and plato's _commonwealth_. a. a. d. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the issue by the shakspeare society of an edition of the _notes and emendations to the text of shakspeare's plays from early ms. corrections in a copy of the folio , in the possession of j. payne collier, esq._, affords an opportunity, of which we gladly avail ourselves, to recall attention to a volume which is unquestionably the most important contribution to shakspearian literature which has issued from the press for many years. although we have no evidence of the authority upon which these _notes and emendations_ were made, an examination of them must, we think, convince even the most sceptical, that they were made upon _authority_, and are not the result of clever criticism and happy conjecture. the readers of "n. & q." know well what discussions have been raised upon such phrases as "prenzie angelo," "whose mother was her painting," "ribaudred nag," "most busy, least when i do it," &c. the writer of the _notes and emendations_, now first published, has given in these, and hundreds of other difficult and disputed passages, corrections which are consistent with shakspeare's character as the poet of common sense. he converts the "_prenzie_ angelo" into the "priestly," and the "_prenzie guards_" into "_priestly garb_." so that the passage now reads-- "_claud._ the priestly angelo. _isab._ o, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, the damned'st body to invest and cover in priestly garb." in the passages to which we have referred above, "whose mother was her painting," is changed into "who smothers her with painting;" "ribraudred nag" into "ribald hag;" and the passage from _the tempest_ is made plain-- "most busy blest when i do it." we think these examples are sufficient to make all lovers of shakspeare anxious not only to examine the present volume, but to see the promised new edition of his works, in which mr. collier proposes to give the text as corrected by this great, although unknown authority. the meeting for the establishment of the photographic society, held on thursday week at the society of arts, was most numerously attended. the society was formed, sir charles eastlake elected president for the first year, mr. fenton honorary secretary, and mr. roslyn treasurer. the subscription was fixed at one guinea, with an admission fee of the same amount. at a recent meeting of the _surtees society_, it was announced that the works in progress for this year are the _pontifical of egbert_, archbishop of york (to be edited by the rev. w. greenwell), and a volume of _wills and inventories from the registry at richmond_, by mr. raine, jun. the books for are to be the northumbro-saxon translation of _the gospel of st. matthew_, to be edited by the rev. joseph stevenson, and the _inventories and account rolls of the monasteries of monkwearmouth and jarrow_ until the dissolution, which will appear under the editorship of the rev. james raine. the corporation of london library is being thrown open to all literary men; the tickets of admission being accompanied by letters expressive of a wish that the holders should make frequent use of them. this is an act of becoming liberality, worthy of imitation in other quarters. books received.--_history of england from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles, - _, by lord mahon, vol. i. this is the first volume of a new and revised edition of this history of a most important period in our national annals, by the noble president of the society of antiquaries.--_the ethnology of the british islands_, by r. g. latham, m.d. the value of all dr. latham's researches, whether into the history of our language, or of the races by which these islands have been successively inhabited, is so fully recognised, that we may content ourselves by merely calling attention to the publication of this able little volume.--_on the lessons in proverbs: five lectures, &c._, by the rev. r. c. trench. those who know the value of mr. trench's admirable lectures _on the study of words_, will find in this companion volume, in which he attempts to sound the depths and measure the real significance of national proverbs, a book which will give them a pleasant hour's reading, and subjects for many pleasant hours' meditation. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. free thoughts on the brute creation, by the rev. john hildrop. lond. . de la croix's connubia florum. bathoniæ, . vo. reid's historical botany. windsor, . vols. mo. anthologia borealis et australis. florilegium sanct. aspirat. laderchii annales ecclesiastici, tom. fol. romæ, - . townsend's parisian costumes. vols. to. - . the book of adam. the testaments of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of jacob. massinger's plays, by gifford. vol. iv. vo. second edition. . spectator. vols. v. and vii. mo. london, . costerus (franÇois) cinquante meditations de toute l'histoire de la passion de nostre seigneur. vo. anvers, christ. plantin.; or any of the works of costerus in any language. the world without a sun. guardian. mo. what the chartists are. a letter to english working men, by a fellow-labourer. mo. london, . letter of church rates, by ralph barnes. vo. london, . colman's translation of horace de arte poetica. to. . casaubon's treatise on greek and roman satire. boscawen's treatise on satire. london, . johnson's lives (walker's classics). vol. i. titmarsh's paris sketch-book. post vo. vol. i. macrone, . fielding's works. vol. xi. (being second of "amelia.") mo. . holcroft's lavater. vol. i. vo. . { } otway. vols. i. and ii. vo. . edmondson's heraldry. vol. ii. folio, . sermons and tracts, by w. adams, d.d. the gentleman's magazine for january . ben jonson's works. (london, . vols.) vol. ii. wanted. rapin's history of england, vo. vols. i., iii. and v. of the continuation by tindal. . *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. dick the treble _will find the gloucestershire ballad_ george ridler's oven _in our_ th volume, p. . hogmanay. _our correspondent_ j. bd., _who inquires the etymology of this word, is referred to jamieson's_ scottish dictionary _and brand's_ popular antiquities (ed. bohn. ), vol. i. p. ., _for the very numerous and contradictory derivations which the learned have given of it_. w. w. (stilton.) _the stone of which our correspondent has forwarded an impression appears to be one of those gems called_ abraxas, _used by the gnostic and basilidian heretics. on it is a double serpent, and the seven vowels of the greek alphabet_, [greek: a e Ê i o u Ô], _which constantly appear on their engraved stones, and to which they referred certain mystical ideas. these were worn as amulets: sometimes used as love charms; and our correspondent will find some curious facts about them in an old greek papyrus just published by mr. godwin, in the_ proceedings or transactions of the cambridge antiquarian society. c. e. f. _is informed that mr. eaton's proportion of ten grains of salt to the pint is quite correct; and he will find it produce a most agreeable tint_. g. s. _"the cataract of lodore" will be found in longman's one-volume edition ( ) of southey's_ poetical works, _p._ . rubi. _we have several communications for this correspondent. how may they be forwarded?_ rosa, _who asks about_ men of kent and kentish men, _is referred to our_ th vol., p. . i. n. (leicester.) _there must be something wrong in the preparation of your chemicals. consult the directions given in our nos. , . we have seen some glass negatives of landscapes taken by dr. diamond during the past week, which have all the intensity which can be desired. the time of exposure in these cases has varied from fifteen to sixty seconds, the lens used being a single meniscus._ amber varnish. _our correspondent littlelens will find the directions for making this in_ no. . p. . _it will be reprinted in the_ photographic notes _announced in our advertising columns_. dr. diamond's papers on photography. _it is as well to remind writers on photography that, dr. diamond being about to republish his_ photographic notes, _the reprinting of them by any other parties would be uncourteous--not to say piratical_. sir w. newton's calotype process _in our next. his first communication was in type before the amended copy reached us_. _errata._--p. . col. . for "immiscuer_u_nt" read "immiscuer_i_nt." p. . col. . for "honour" read "humour"." p. . col. . lines . and ., for "trajecte_a_sem" read "trajectensem." _we again repeat that we cannot undertake to recommend any particular houses for the purchase of photographic instruments, chemicals, &c. we can only refer our correspondents on such subjects to our advertising columns._ our sixth volume, _strongly bound in cloth, with very copious index, is now ready, price s. d. arrangements are making for the publication of complete sets of "notes and queries," price three guineas for the six volumes_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * just published, fcp. vo., s., democritus in london; with the mad pranks and comical conceits of motley and robin goodfellow: to which are added notes festivous, &c. by george daniel, author of "merrie england in the olden time," "the modern dunciad," &c. "an exquisite metrical conceit, sparkling with wit and humour, in the true spirit of aristophanes, in which democritus guides his brilliant and merry muse through every fantastic measure, evincing grace in the most grotesque attitudes. as a relief to his cutting sarcasm and fun, the laughing philosopher has introduced some fine descriptive scenes, and passages of deep pathos, eloquence, and beauty. not the least remarkable feature in this very remarkable book are the recondite and curious notes, at once so critical and philosophical, so varied and so amusing, so full of interesting anecdote and racy reminiscences.--see _athenæum, critic_, &c. william pickering, . piccadilly. * * * * * handel's messiah, newly arranged by john bishop, of cheltenham, from his large folio edition, including mozart's accompaniments. this edition contains the appendix, and is printed on extra fine stout paper, imperial vo., pp. . price (whole bound in cloth) s. d. "mr. john bishop, coming after other arrangers, has profited by their omissions." hamilton's modern instructions for the pianoforte. edited by czerny. th edition, large folio pages, s. "it is sufficient to say that the present edition is the th edition, to stamp it with the genuine mark of excellence. it really deserves all the popularity it enjoys."--_sunday times._ london: robert cocks & co., new burlington street; and of all musicsellers. also, their musical almanack for , gratis and postage free. * * * * * ralph's sermon paper.--this approved paper is particularly deserving the notice of the clergy, as, from its particular form (each page measuring ¾ by inches), it will contain more matter than the size in ordinary use; and, from the width being narrower, is much more easy to read: adapted for expeditious writing with either the quill or metallic pen; price s. per ream. sample on application. envelope paper.--to identify the contents with the address and postmark, important in all business communications; it admits of three clear pages (each measuring ½ by inches), for correspondence, it saves time and is more economical. price s. d. per ream. f. w. ralph, manufacturing stationer, . throgmorton street, bank. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * notice. subscribers to evelyn's diary and correspondence are respectfully informed that the third and fourth volumes of the new and enlarged edition, printed uniformly with pepys's celebrated "diary," are now ready for delivery; and they are requested to order the completion of their sets without delay, to prevent disappointment, as the volumes will only be sold separately for a limited period. published for henry colburn by his successors, hurst & blackett, . great marlborough street. orders received by all booksellers. * * * * * foolscap vo., s. d. the calendar of the anglican church: illustrated with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names, or whose images are most frequently met with in england; also the early christian and mediæval symbols, and an index of emblems. "it is perhaps hardly necessary to observe, that this work is of an archæological, and not a theological character. the editor has not considered it his business to examine into the truth or falsehood of the legends of which he narrates the substance; he gives them merely as legends, and, in general, so much of them only as is necessary to explain why particular emblems were used with a particular saint, or why churches in a given locality are named after this or that saint."--_preface._ "the latter part of the book, on the early christian and mediæval symbols, and on ecclesiastical emblems, is of great historical and architectural value. a copious index of emblems is added, as well as a general index to the volume with its numerous illustrations. the work is an important contribution to english archæology, especially in the department of ecclesiastical iconography."--_literary gazette._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. { } * * * * * to members of learned societies, authors, &c. ashbee & dangerfield lithographers, draughtsmen, and printers, . broad court, long acre. a. & d. respectfully beg to announce that they devote particular attention to the execution of ancient and modern fac-similes, comprising autograph letters, deeds, charters. title-pages, engravings, woodcuts, &c., which they produce from any description of copies with the utmost accuracy, and without the slightest injury to the originals. among the many purposes to which the art of lithography is most successfully applied, may be specified.--archÆological drawings, architecture, landscapes, marine views, portraits from life or copies. illuminated mss., monumental brasses, decorations, stained glass windows, maps, plans, diagrams, and every variety of illustrations requisite for scientific and artistic publications. photographic drawings lithographed with the greatest care and exactness. lithographic offices, . broad court, long acre, london. * * * * * photography.--the ammonio-iodide of silver in collodion (price d. per oz.), prepared by delatouche & co., photographic and operative chemists, . oxford street, has now stood the test of upwards of twelve months' constant use; and for taking portraits or views on glass, cannot be surpassed in the beautiful results it produces. messrs. delatouche & co. supply apparatus with the most recent improvements, pure chemicals, prepared sensitive papers, and every article connected with photography on paper or glass. paintings, engravings, and works of art copied in their glass room, at moderate charges. instructions given in the art. see hennah's new work on the collodion process, price s., by post s. d. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of hunt, le gray, brébisson, &c. &c., may be obtained of william bolton, manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists of prices to be had on application. . holborn bars. * * * * * ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' reports_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it is furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." catalogue sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months; it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photographic portraits and views by the collodion and waxed-paper process. apparatus, materials, and pure chemical preparations for the above processes, superior iodized collodion, known by the name of collodio-iodide or xylo-iodide of silver, d. per oz. pyro-gallic acid, s. per drachm. acetic acid, suited for collodion pictures, d. per oz. crystallizable and perfectly pure, on which the success of the calotypist so much depends. s. per oz. canson frères' negative paper, s.; positive do., s. d.; la croix, s.; turner, s. whatman's negative and positive, s. per quire. iodized waxed paper, s. d. per quire. sensitive paper ready for the camera, and warranted to keep from fourteen to twenty days, with directions for use, × , s. per doz.; iodized, only s. per doz. george knight & sons (sole agents for voightlander & sons' celebrated lenses), foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chapstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. { } * * * * * second volume of landon's ecclesiastical dictionary. now ready, in mo., price s. d., carefully edited and revised, vol. ii. (containing pages) of a new general ecclesiastical dictionary. by the rev. edward h. landon, m.a., formerly of corpus christi college, cambridge. this work includes an account of the sees, patriarchates, religious foundations and brotherhoods, together with lists of the archbishops and bishops throughout christendom from the earliest times; also, a history of sects; an explanation of rites and ceremonies, and of ecclesiastical and ecclesiological terms; and a copious biographical dictionary of eminent ecclesiastical persons, with a list of their writings. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * samuel bagster and sons, . paternoster row, london. polyglot bibles in every style of elegant flexible bindings, with and without the book of common prayer, indexes, maps, metrical psalms, concordances, the greek new testament interleaved, &c. &c., in various sizes, from the small pocket editions to large print facsimile editions. detailed catalogues by post free. family bibles (bagster's comprehensive bible) in various sizes, and in every style of durable elegant binding. copies for presentation sumptuously prepared. catalogues by post free. bibles for manuscript annotations, with either broad margins for the notes, or alternate blank pages, ruled and indexed in great variety. catalogues by post free. ancient english bibles and testaments, by the reformers. the genevan version, tyndale's, coverdale's, &c. &c. catalogues by post free. parallel passage bibles, pocket and quarto sizes. catalogues by post free. hebrew, greek, latin, french, german, italian, spanish, portuguese, and syriac bibles and testaments, alone or combined, in every variety of interpaging, and bound in "bagster's flexible turkey" binding. the greek testaments with and without english lexicons, &c., constitute an important feature of this class. psalters also in very great variety. catalogues by post free. aids to the study of the old testament scriptures, critical, philological, and devotional; lexicons, grammars, analyses, &c. &c. catalogues by post free. aids to the study of the new testament, in the same variety. general, biblical, and miscellaneous works. catalogues by post free. specimens, prospectuses, &c., will be forwarded by the post, free of expense. [greek: pollai men thnêtois glottai mia d' athanatôsin.] london: samuel bagster & sons, . paternoster row. * * * * * third edition, cloth, s.; by post, s. d. welsh sketches, first series. by the author of "proposals for christian union." contents:-- . bardism. . the kings of wales. . the welsh church. . monastic institutions. . giraldus cambrensis. london: james darling, . great queen street, lincoln's inn fields. * * * * * sir archibald alison's works. just published, price s., vol. i. history of europe, from the fall of napoleon in to the accession of louis napoleon in . by sir archibald alison, bart. to be completed in vols. vo., uniform with the library edition of the "history of europe from to ." by the same author. the history of europe, from the commencement of the french revolution in to the battle of waterloo. library edition (eighth), vols. demy vo., with portraits, l. s. crown octavo edition, vols., l. the life of john duke of marlborough, with some account of his contemporaries, and of the war of the succession. second edition. vols. demy vo., portraits and maps, l. s. essays, political, historical, and miscellaneous. vols. demy vo., l. s. epitome of alison's europe, for the use of schools and young persons. th edition, bound, s. d. atlas to alison's europe: plates. constructed under the direction of sir a. alison, by a. keith johnston, f.r.s.e., &c., author of the "physical atlas," &c. demy to., l. s.; crown to., l. s. d. william blackwood & sons, edinburgh and london. * * * * * this day is published (fourth edition), price s. [this edition contains pages of additional matter, and the price has been reduced from s. to s.] an elementary course of mathematics, designed principally for students of the university of cambridge. by the rev. harvey goodwin, m.a., late fellow and mathematical lecturer of gonville and caius college. fourth edition. "as tennis is a game of no use in itself, but of great use in respect it maketh a quick eye, and a body ready to put itself into all postures; so in the mathematics, that use which is collateral and intervenient is no less worthy than that which is principal and intended."--bacon, _advancement of learning_. cambridge: john deighton. simpkin, marshall & co., and george bell, london. * * * * * preparing for immediate publication. photographic notes: comprising plain directions for the practice of photography, including the collodion process on glass; the paper and wax-paper processes; printing from glass and paper negatives, &c. by dr. diamond, f.s.a. with notes on the application of photography to archæology, &c., by william j. thoms, f.s.a. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * royal irish academy transactions. vol. xxii. art. part iii.--science. price s. d. vii. description of a new anemometer, &c.; by rev. t.r. robinson, d.d., &c. viii. on the equilibrium and motion of an elastic solid; by the rev. j.h. jellett, m.a., &c. ix. account of experiments made with a friction sledge for stopping railway trains; by the rev. samuel haughton, m.a., &c. x. on certain improvements in the construction of galvanometers, &c.; by michael donovan, esq., &c. xi. on the original and actual fluidity of the earth and planets; by the rev. samuel haughton, m.a., &c. xii. on the homology of the organs of the tunicata and the polyzoa; by geo. james allman, m.d., &c. part iv.--polite literature, price s. iii. on two medallion busts which are preserved in the library of trinity college, dublin, and on two inedited patmian inscriptions; by rev. james kennedy baillie, d.d., &c. iv. on the assyrio-babylonian phonetic characters; by rev. edward hincks, d.d., &c. the proceedings, vol. v., part ii., are also ready, price s. d. dublin: royal irish academy, and hodges & smith, . grafton street. london: t. & w. boone, . new bond street. * * * * * this day is published, price s. apostolic missions: five sermons preached before the university of cambridge in may, , by the rev. w. b. hopkins, m.a., fellow and tutor of st. catharine's hall, and formerly fellow and mathematical lecturer of gonville and caius college. cambridge: john deighton. london: f. & j. rivington. * * * * * this day is published, price s. d. the confirmation of faith by reason and authority. the hulsean lectures, preached before the university of cambridge in . by the rev. george currey, b.d., preacher at the charterhouse, formerly fellow and tutor of st. john's college. cambridge: john deighton; macmillan & co. london: f. & j. rivington. { } * * * * * books on sale by john russell smith, . soho square, london. holbein's dance of death, with an historical and literary introduction by an antiquary. square post vo. with engravings, being the most accurate copies ever executed of these gems of art, and a frontispiece of an ancient bedstead at aix-la-chapelle, with a dance of death carved on it, engraved by fairholt, cloth, s. "the designs are executed with a spirit and fidelity quite extraordinary. they are indeed most truthful."--_athenæum._ lower's (m. a.) essays on english surnames. vols. post vo. third edition, greatly enlarged. cloth, s. biographia britannica literaria; or biography of literary characters of great britain and ireland, arranged in chronological order. by thomas wright, m.a., f.s.a., member of the institute of france. thick vols. vo. cloth. vol. i. anglo-saxon period. vol. ii. anglo-norman period. s. each, published at s. each. published under the superintendence of the royal society of literature. coins. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. by j.y. akerman. fcp. vo. with numerous wood engravings, from the original coins, s. d. coins of the romans relating to britain, described and illustrated. by j.y. akerman, f.s.a. second edition, vo. greatly enlarged with plates and woodcuts, s. d. cloth. guide to archÆology. an archæological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary to the society of antiquaries. vol. vo. illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upwards of objects, cloth, s. "one of the first wants of an incipient antiquary is the facility of comparison, and here it is furnished him at one glance. the plates, indeed, form the most valuable part of the book, both by their number and the judicious selection of types and examples which they contain. it is a book which we can, on this account, safely and warmly recommend to all who are interested in the antiquities of their native land."--_literary gazette._ "a book of such utility--so concise, so clear, so well condensed from such varied and voluminous sources--cannot fail to be generally acceptable."--_art union._ wright's (thos.) essays on the literature, popular superstitions, and history of england in the middle ages. vols. post vo. cloth, s. wright's (thos.) st. patrick's purgatory: an essay on the legends of purgatory, hell, and paradise, current during the middle ages. post vo. cloth, s. the nursery rhymes of england, collected chiefly from oral tradition. edited by j. o. halliwell. fourth edition, mo. with designs by w. b. scott. s. d. cloth. popular rhymes and nursery tales, with historical elucidations; a sequel to "the nursery rhymes of england." edited by j.o. halliwell. royal mo. s. d. lower's curiosities of heraldry, with illustrations from old english writers. vo. numerous engravings. cloth, s. heralds' visitations. an index to all the pedigrees and arms in the heraldic visitations and other genealogical mss. in the british museum. by g. sims, of the manuscript department. vo. closely printed in double columns, cloth, s. *** an indispensable book to those engaged in genealogical or topographical pursuits, affording a ready clue to the pedigrees and arms of above , of the gentry of england, their residences, &c. (distinguishing the different families of the same name, in every county), as recorded by the heralds in their visitations, with indexes to other genealogical mss. in the british museum. it has been the work of immense labour. no public library ought to be without it. consuetudines kanciÆ. a history of gavelkind, and other remarkable customs in the county of kent, by charles sandys, esq., f.s.a. (cantianus), illustrated with fac-similes, a very handsome volume, vo. cloth, s. bruce's (rev. j.c.) historical and topographical account of the roman wall from the tyne to the solway. thick vo. plates and woodcuts, half morocco, l. s. bosworth's (rev. dr.) compendious anglo-saxon and english dictionary. vo. closely printed in treble columns, cloth, s. "this is not a mere abridgment of the large dictionary, but almost an entirely new work. in this compendious one will be found, at a very moderate price, all that is most practical and valuable in the former expensive edition, with a great accession of new words and matter."--_author's preface_. analecta anglo-saxonica. selections in prose and verse from anglo-saxon literature, with an introductory ethnological essay, and notes, critical and explanatory. by louis f. klipstein, of the university of giessen, thick vols. post vo. cloth, s. (original price s.) a delectus in anglo-saxon, intended as a first class-book in the language. by the rev. w. barnes of st. john's college, cambridge, author of the poems and glossary in the dorset dialect. mo. cloth, s. d. "to those who wish to possess a critical knowledge of their own native english, some acquaintance with anglo-saxon is indispensable; and we have never seen an introduction better calculated than the present to supply the wants of a beginner in a short space of time. the declensions and conjugations are well stated, and illustrated by references to the greek, latin, french, and other languages. a philosophical spirit pervades every part. the delectus consists of short pieces on various subjects, with extracts from anglo-saxon history and the saxon chronicle. there is a good glossary at the end."--_athenæum_, oct. , . facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards. by w.a. chatto, author of "jackson's history of wood engraving," in one handsome vol. vo. illustrated with many engravings, both plain and coloured, cloth l. s. "it is exceedingly amusing."--_atlas._ "curious, entertaining, and really learned book."--_rambler._ "indeed the entire production deserves our warmest approbation."--_literary gazette._ "a perfect fund of antiquarian research, and most interesting even to persons who never play at cards."--_tait's mag._ bibliotheca madrigaliana; a bibliographical account of the music and poetical works published in england in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, under the titles of madrigals, ballets, ayres, canzonets, &c. by dr. rimbault. vo. cloth, s. a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs from the reign of edward i. by james orchard halliwell, f.r.s., f.s.a., &c. vols. vo. containing upwards of , pages closely printed in double columns, cloth l. s. it contains about , words (embodying all the known scattered glossaries of the english language), forming a complete key to the reading of the works of our old poets, dramatists, theologians, and other authors, whose works abound with allusions, of which explanations are not to be found in ordinary dictionaries and books of reference. most of the principal archaisms are illustrated by examples selected from early inedited mss. and rare books, and by far the greater portion will be found to be original authorities. a little book of songs and ballads, gathered from ancient musick books, ms. and printed. by e.f. rimbault, ll.d., &c. post vo. pp. , half-bound in morocco, s. ---- antique ballads, sung to crowds of old, now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold. guide to the anglo-saxon tongue, with lessons in verse and prose, for the use of learners. by e.j. vernon, b.a., oxon. mo. cloth, s. d. *** this will be found useful as a second class-book, or to those well versed in other languages. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, january . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) transcriber's note: a few typographical errors have been corrected: they are indicated by footnotes to the relevant item. * * * * * { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * vol. v.--no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page defoe's pamphlet on the septennial bill, by james crossley arthur o'connor inedited poetry, by w. sparrow simpson folk lore:--lancashire may-day custom--hair cut off, an antidote--weather prophecy--the oak tree and the ash the diphthong "ai" minor notes:--a bit o' fine writin'--custom of cranes in storms--aldress--how the ancient irish used to crown their king--one of junius's correspondents identified queries:-- old music treasury of st. mark's; record at tiberius unicorn flanagan on the round towers of ireland minor queries:--st. augustine's six treatises on music--bishop merriman--the escubierto--j. scandret--mary horton--biblicus on the apocalypse--cleopatra playing at billiards--"then comes the reckoning"--giving the sack--scotch provincial tokens of the seventeenth century--burial of sir john moore--mexican, &c. grammar--foundation stones--mary faun--tonson and the westminsters minor queries answered:--lady farewell's funeral sermon-- sir e. k. williams--order of the cockle--waller family-- life of st. werburgh--blindman's holiday--ab. seller-- martin-drunk--bagster's english version replies:-- reply to mr. hickson's objections the term "milesian," by john d'alton ben. jonson's adopted sons, by c. h. cooper shakspeare's seal reason and understanding according to coleridge general wolfe "the miller's melody," an old ballad, by dr. e. f. rimbault surnames sir john trenchard, by sydney walton papal seal market crosses replies to minor queries:--the two gilberts de clare-- baxter's shove--frebord--devil--mummy wheat--nacar-- mistletoe--the number seven--gabriel hounds--burial-- marvell's life and works--the death-watch--the rabbit as a symbol, &c. miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. defoe's pamphlet on the septennial bill. it is impossible to read chalmers' and wilson's _lives of defoe_ without being constantly struck not merely by the want of all critical acumen and ordinary knowledge of the characteristics of defoe's style which they display, but also by the absence of research on almost every point of importance connected with his career. out of innumerable instances, i may mention his pamphlet on the subject of the septennial bill. chalmers, and after him wilson, are satisfied with repeating boyer's statement that defoe was the author of _the triennial bill impartially stated_, london, ; but neither of them appears to have referred to the pamphlet itself, and wilson does not seem to have even consulted boyer. he observes, "mr. chalmers thinks the pamphlet was not his." whatever chalmers might think, he does not certainly say so in express terms. the point itself is a curious one; and as it has not hitherto been gone into, perhaps i shall not trespass too much upon your space if i give your readers the results of my examination of it. in boyer's _political state for april_, (p. .), he enumerates in the following terms the pamphlets on the septennial bill:-- "_a letter to a country gentleman, showing the inconveniences which attend the last act for triennial parliaments_, which, i am informed, was written by the learned dr. tyndal. this was followed with others intitled, _an epistle to a whig member of parliament_; _some considerations on a law for triennial parliaments_; _the suspension of the triennial bill, the properest means to unite the nation_; _a first and second letter to a friend in suffolk_; _the alterations in the triennial act considered_; _the innkeeper's opinion of the triennial act_; and a few others. the only pamphlet that was published on the other side was called _the triennial act impartially stated_, &c. this pamphlet was judged, from its loose style and way of arguing, to be written by that prostituted fool of the last ministry, d---- d-- f--; but whatever was offered either in print, or vivâ voce, against the septennial bill, was fully answered and confuted by the following writing, generally fathered on the ingenious and judicious joseph addison, esq." { } then follows (pp. - .) a printer of a pamphlet, certainly an able one, entitled: "arguments about the alteration of triennial elections of parliament. in a letter to a friend in the country." in the following year, when defoe had occasion to notice _the minutes of the negociations of mons. mesnager_, , vo., the well-known work which has been so frequently attributed to him, in a letter in the public prints, which letter seems entirely to have escaped all his biographers, and yet is of the most interesting description, he adverts to the above charge of being the author of _the triennial act impartially stated_, in the followings words:-- "about a year since, viz., when the debates were on foot for enlarging the time for the sitting of the present parliament, commonly called repealing the triennial bill, a stranger, whom i never knew, wrote a warm pamphlet against it; and i, on the other hand, wrote another about a week before it. mr. boyer, with his usual assurance, takes notice of both these books in his monthly work, and bestows some praises, more than i think it deserved, upon one; but falls upon the other with great fury, naming, after much ill language, d. d. f. to be the author of it, which, he said, might be known by the inconsistency of the style, or to that effect. now that the world may see what a judge this frenchman is of the english style, and upon what slender ground he can slander an innocent man, i desire it may be noted, that it has been told him by his own friends, and i offer now to prove it to him by three unquestionable witnesses, _that the book which he praised so impertinently i was the author of, and that book which he let fly his dirt upon i had no concern in_." this declaration of defoe, which claims to him the pamphlet fastened on the "ingenious and judicious joseph addison, esq.," and repudiates that "judged to be written by that prostituted fool of the last ministry, d---- d-- f--," will amuse your readers, as it seems to form an admirable commentary on the text-- "and every blockhead knows me by my style." we can fully accept his disclaimer of _the triennial act impartially stated_. it is, however, singular enough that the style of the _arguments about the alteration of triennial elections of parliament_, without attaching too much importance to that criterion, is not the style of defoe; and the bill of commerce with france is denounced in it in such terms as "that destructive bill," "that fatal bill," as one can scarcely suppose, without entertaining a meaner opinion of him than i feel assured he deserves, he could or would, under any circumstances, have made use of. to carry this bill of commerce he exerted all his great powers as a writer, and supported it in the _review_ and the _mercator_, in the _essay on the treaty of commerce with france_ ( , vo.), and in two other tracts, both of which were unknown to chalmers and wilson, and have never been noticed or included in the list of his works, namely, _some thoughts upon the subject of commerce with france: by the author of the review_ (baker, , vo.), and _a general history of trade, in which an attempt is made to state and moderate the present disputes about settling a commerce between great britain and france for the month of september_ (baker, ); being the fourth number of the _history of trade_, which wilson says "extended only to two numbers" (vol. iii. p. .). in the _appeal to honour and justice_, published only the year before ( ), he supports the same cause with all his strength. he vindicates the part he had taken, and says-- "this was my opinion, and is so still; and i would venture to maintain it against any man upon a public stage, before a jury of fifty merchants, and venture my life upon the cause, if i were assured of fair play in the dispute."--_works_, edit. , vol. xx. p. . his opinion on the policy of the bill, as appears by all his subsequent commercial works, never changed: and that he could so speak of it in this pamphlet (_arguments about the alteration, &c._), supposing it to be his, seems almost incredible. i feel convinced that no other similar instance can be found, during the whole of his career, in which he can be shown to express himself with such a total disregard of his avowed opinions and his honest convictions. were it certain that he had done so, then the character which the tolands, oldmixons, and boyers have given of him, as ready to take up any cause for hire, and as the prostituted agent of a party, and which i believe to be a base slander, would indeed be well deserved. but it will be asked how, after so apparently distinct and explicit an avowal, can it be doubted that he was the author of the pamphlet in question? i can only account for it on the supposition that defoe, in writing from recollection of what boyer had stated, in the following year, confounded the pamphlet praised with one of the pamphlets noticed. it appears to me that one of them, the full title of which is _some considerations on a law for triennial parliaments, with an enquiry_, . _whether there may not be a time when it is necessary to suspend the execution even of such laws as are most essential to the liberties of the people?_ . _whether this is such a time or no?_ (london, printed for j. baker and t. warner, at the black boy, in paternoster row, , pp. .), and which is noticed in boyer's list, has infinitely more both of defoe's style and manner of treating a subject than the other pamphlet. i entertain no doubt that it was written by him, though it has never hitherto been attributed to him; and it is far from being unlikely that his recollection may have deceived him and that he may have thought that boyer's praise applied to this pamphlet, written on the same side, and not to the other. it { } will be observed that defoe does not give the title of the pamphlet, and that he does not notice that it was attributed by boyer to addison; which he would scarcely have omitted doing if he had written his letter with boyer's words before him, in which also the term "inconsistency" is not used. such is my solution of the difficulty, which unexplained would throw a new, and certainly a very unfavourable light on defoe's character as a pamphleteer and politician. james crossley. * * * * * arthur o'connor. from the french recent papers we learn that arthur o'connor, one of the prominent actors in the irish rebellion of , has just closed his prolonged life at his residence, the château de bignon, near nemours (seine et marne) in france. when, in , by permission of the government of lord grey, he and his accomplished wife were in this city (cork), with the view of disposing of his inherited and not confiscated property, in order to invest the produce in france, i was almost in daily intercourse with them; and, from my recollection of the lady's father, the marquis de condorcet, a distinguished mathematician, but better known as the biographer and ardent propagator of voltaire's infidel principles, as well as the zealous partisan of the revolution, though finally its victim, i was always a welcome visitor. o'connor, whom bonaparte had raised to the rank of general of division, equivalent to that of general in full in our service, being next to the degree of marshal, told me that the disunion and personal altercations of the irish legion engaged in the service of the then republican france had deservedly and utterly estranged and disgusted the french successive rulers, particularly napoleon, in whose triumphs they consequently were not allowed to participate as a national body. the rancorous duel between two officers, mcsweeny and corbet, both from cork, had made a deep impression on the great soldier, and the legion was disbanded. having inquired from o'connor whether he did not intend to publish the events of his variegated life, he told me that he was preparing the narrative; but, on mentioning to his wife that he had made this acknowledgment, she immediately called on me with an earnest request that i would dissuade him from doing so. she did not explain her motive, and i only promised to avoid the future renewal of the subject in our conversations. as yet, whatever preparations he may have made, the press has not been resorted to; though, if in existence, as may be presumed, the work, or its materials, will not, most probably, be suffered to remain in closed and mysterious secrecy. the memoirs, for so he entitled it, cannot fail to be most interesting; for he was a man of truth, and incapable of misrepresentation, though, of course, liable to misconception, in his recital of events; nor can it be denied, that a history, in any degree worthy of the theme--that is, of the irish rebellion, is still unpublished.[ ] whatever objection may have prevented the publication during his life, none, i should suppose and hope, can now be urged after his death, which, singularly enough, in an article devoted to him in the _biographie universelle_, i find as having occurred so long since as . his son, too, is there represented as the husband of his own mother! the writer, with other confusions of facts, having mistaken arthur for his elder brother, roger o'connor, father of the present eccentric feargus, m.p. it is thus, too, that the great vocalist braham is in the same voluminous repository stated to have died of the cholera in august, , though, several years subsequently, i saw him in hale flesh and blood; but the compilation, valuable, it must be admitted, in french biography, teems with ludicrous blunders on english lives, which, in the new edition now in state of preparation, will, i hope, be corrected. even the articles of newton, though by biot, and of shakspeare and byron by villemain, are not much to their credit, particularly the latter, in which the national prejudices prominently emerge. o'connor, after having for sixteen years occupied apartments in the house of an eminent bookseller and printer, monsieur renouard, in the rue de tournan, leading to the luxembourg, and the only street that i remember, now sixty years since, had a flagged footpath in that, at present, embellished metropolis, purchased his late residence, the château de bignon, with the proceeds of his paternal estates sold here, as previously stated, in . the purchase was made from the heirs of mirabeau, who was born in that mansion, and not in provence, as generally supposed, because that southern province was the family's original seat. the great orator's father, distinguished, _per antiphrasim_, as "l'ami des hommes," for he was the most unamiable of men, had acquired and removed to the castle so called, in order to approach the royal court of versailles. the renowned son's bursts of eloquence still, i may say, resound in my ears, dazzling and entrancing my judgment, as lord chatham is reported similarly to have affected his hearers. yet my old friend vergniaux's genuine oratory and reasoning power struck me as far superior; and i can well believe that chatham's son's were to those of his father, which his contemporary, hume, no incompetent judge, and doubtless his { } hearer, by no means exalts, though the effects on his parliamentary audience appear to have been so extraordinary. "at present," writes hume (essay xiii.), "there are above half-a-dozen speakers in the two houses, who, in the judgment of the public, have reached very nearly the same pitch of eloquence, and no man pretends to give any one a preference over the next. this seems to me a certain proof that none of them have attained much beyond mediocrity in this art." hume's _essays_ first appeared in , when the elder pitt was, indeed, young in parliament; but he survived till , during which interval chatham's fame reached its culminating point. yet, in all the ensuing editions, the author never thought it necessary to modify his depreciation of british eloquence. o'connor, it is said, published his father-in-law condorcet's _collective_ works; but whether the edition of in volumes is meant, i cannot determine, though i know no other; nor does this contain his mathematical writings. while outlawed in with the girondist faction, he evaded, from october to march, , the revolutionary search, when he poisoned himself, unwilling, he said, in some verses addressed to his wife, the sister of marshal grouchy, further to participate in the horrors of the period, though he had been most instrumental in preparing the way for them. he chose, however, the better side, in his conception, of the proposed alternative or dilemma: "ils m'ont dit: choisis d'être oppresseur ou victime; j'embrassai le malheur, et leur laissai le crime." madame o'connor, a child of five years old at her father's death, had a very faint recollection of him; but i perfectly remember him, with his ardent look, and, while still young, a grey head,--"a volcano covered with snow," as was observed of him. o'connor's only child, a mild gentlemanly young man, but certainly not the inheritor of his parent's talents, predeceased him, so that no descendant, either of condorcet or o'connor, now survives. j. r. (of cork). [footnote : indeed, the general history of the kingdom is still a sad desideratum, and, in the impassioned dissensions of the people, not likely to be adequately supplied.] * * * * * inedited poetry. (vol. v., pp. . .) by way of concluding my notes upon the ms. volume of poetry, from which i have already transcribed two pieces (inserted at pages . . of your present volume), i now send you the short poem referred to in my first communication: "february th, past two in the morning. going to bed very ill. oh, when shall i, from pain and sorrow free, enjoy calm rest, and lasting peace with thee! when will my weary pilgrimage be o'er, } when shall my soul from earth to heav'n soar, } and, freed from flesh, the god of gods adore. } oh thou who only knowest what is best, give me, oh give me, peace, content and rest! in life and death, oh be thou ever nigh, and my great weakness with thy strength supply. if on the bed of sickness i am laid, then let me find that thou can'st give me aid. my drooping soul may thy blest spirit che_a_r, and dissipate d_i_sponding gloomy fear. may the bright angels watch around my bed, and keep my timorous soul from fear and dread. and should excess of agony or pain, or fever's rage o'er reason longest gain; even then protect me by thy mighty power, oh save me, save me, in that dreadful hour! make every thought such as thou mayst approve, and every word show i my maker love. if void of reason i should think, or say, _o_ught that's improper, wash such stain_e_s away. resign'd unto thy will let me submit, with joy to whatsoe_v_er thou think'st fit. in peace let me resign my latest breath, and, void of fear, meet the grim tyrant death. my parting soul let me to god entrust, and hope a resurrection with the just." the devotional feeling displayed in these lines, and the circumstances under which they were composed, will probably render them interesting to some of your readers. the other poems in the little volume relate chiefly to the death of her beloved husband. i should have sent one of these had i thought them suitable to your columns. suffice it to say, that her grief for her bereavement seems only to have been equalled by her affectionate reminiscences of the piety and excellence of the departed bishop, and only to have been assuaged by the "sure and certain hope" which filled her mind. the queries which i would found upon the ms. are two in number: . what is the precise date of the author's death? . the meaning (if any) of the subscription to the piece printed at page .? permit me to notice a trifling error of the press, p. . col. . l. , for _then_ read _them_; and to thank you for the space given to these three communications. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. p.s.--since writing the above i have seen the observation of your correspondent c. b., p. .: i cannot think the meaning of the signature so evident as he implies. his reason for the use of the name juba is evidently correct: i am indebted to him for the suggestion, and must confess that the coincidence had escaped me. with regard to the word issham, had it been intended to signify that the former name was "assumed, or false," it would certainly have been written i-sham, as c. b. evidently feels. it is _possible_ that this part of the signature may have no meaning: this i must leave for some other correspondent to determine. * * * * * { } folk lore. _lancashire may-day custom._--on the st of may, the following custom is observed in some parts of lancashire, though now very nearly obsolete. late on the preceding night, or early on that morning, small branches of trees are placed at the doors of houses in which reside any marriageable girls. they are emblematical of the character of the maidens, and have a well understood language of their own, which is rhythmical. some speak flatteringly, others quite the reverse: the latter being used when the character of the person for whom it is intended is not quite "above suspicion." a malicious rustic wag may sometimes put a branch of the latter description where it is not deserved, but i believe this is an exception. i only remember a few of the various trees which are laid under contribution for this purpose. the following will illustrate what i am writing about. i must premise that _wicken_ is the local name for mountain ash: _wicken_, sweet chicken. _oak_, for a joke. _ash_, trash. _gorse in bloom_--rhymes with at noon, (i omit the epithet given here, as commonly, to an unchaste woman), and is used for a notorious delinquent. a. b. liverpool. _hair cut off, an antidote._--a few days ago i observed my old servant thrusting something into the ear of one of my cows. upon inquiry, i was informed that it was hair cut off the calf's tail, the said calf having been taken away from the cow on the previous morning: the butcher cut it off, for the above purpose, "to make her forget the calf." i half resolved on sending this account to "n. & q.," but i hesitated, under the idea that it would perhaps hardly be worth the while. but this afternoon my eye caught the following scrap in a newspaper just published: "at oldham, last week, a woman summoned the owner of a dog that had bitten her. she said that she should not have adopted this course had the owner of the animal given her some of its hair, to ensure her against any evil consequences following the bite." there is so much similarity in the two cases, that i now would ask whether your readers can throw any light on the subject? boeoticus. edgmond, salop. _weather prophecy--the oak tree and the ash_ (vol. v., p. .).--when the oak comes out before the ash, there will be fine weather in harvest. i have remarked this for several years, and find it generally correct, as far as such things can be. bosquecillo viego. * * * * * the diphthong "ai." speaking of the diphthong _ai_, walker, in the "principles of english pronunciation" prefixed to his _dictionary_, says (art. .): "the sound of this diphthong is exactly like the long slender sound of _a_; thus, _pail_ a vessel, and _pale_ a colour, are perfectly the same sound." this sound is analysed (art. .) as follows: "this triphthong (_aye_) is a combination of the slender sound of _a_, heard in _pa-per_; and the _e_ in metre." the sound, therefore, is a combination of _two simple_ sounds. but in a previous article ( .) _a_, _e_, _o_ are called _simple_ vowels; or (according to his definition): "those which are formed by _one_ conformation of the organs only; that is, the organs remain exactly in the _same_ position at the _end_ as at the _beginning_ of the letter; whereas, in the _compound_ vowels _i_ and _u_, the organs _alter_ their position before the letter is completely sounded." walker, therefore, makes the sound to be "_combination_ of _two simple_ sounds," although he had already declared it to be a _simple_ sound. now, strange to say, dr. richardson, in his very valuable contribution to our literature, viz. his vo. _dictionary_ (a veritable _richardson_, very long ago foretold by joe miller), is guilty of the same inconsistency. in the "grammatical and etymological examination adapted to the dictionary," he reckons _thirteen simple_ vowels in our language. the _tenth_ is the "long slender sound of _a_," as walker would call it; and the sound is given us (according to richardson) in these words: "_lame_, _tame_, _crane_, _faint_, and _layman_." my query is, ought not this sound to be transferred from the _simple vowels_ under the _true diphthongs_? and ought we not to distinguish between the pronunciation of _pail_ and _pale_, just as we do between _neigh_, and _né_ (french); _bait_ and _bête_ (french); or between _pay_ and _pe_ (welsh); _tay_ and _te_ (welsh)? it is worthy of remark, that the welsh language has only the _simple_ sound, _not_ the _diphthongal_? r. price. * * * * * minor notes. _a bit o' fine writin'._--in the preface to certain _lectures on ecclesiastes_, recently published, there occurs a choice scientific illustration, the "intellectual vastitude" whereof "necessitates a certain catholicity" of acquirements possessed by few readers. the author is referring to jerome, and says: "the most painful thing in his writings is the tone of _litigious infelicity_ by which they are pervaded. it is a sort of _formic acid which flows from the finger-points not of our good father alone, but of a whole class of { } divines; and, like the red marks left by the feet of ants on litmus-paper, it discolours all his pages_." there are two vignettes in the work: one illustrates "consider the lilies," concerning which the artist had the benefit of an eminent botanist's opinion, to ensure correctness in the design. the other represents solomon in all his glory, _driving his own chariot_, holding the reins in his right hand, and a sceptre or "morning-star" in his left hand. methinks this illustration would not have passed muster with mr. scharf or dr. braun. an uplondishe manne. _custom of cranes in storms._--some of your readers may be able further to illustrate the customs which i mention: "ex avibus est præsagium coeli. when the crane taketh up a stone and flies with it in his _foot_, it is a sign of a storm."--bishop andrewes' _orphan lectures_, p. .: lond. , fol. nonnus describes cranes as carrying stones in their _mouths_ to prevent them from being carried hither and thither by the violence of winds and storms.--_dyonysiacks_, lib. xii. p. .: antwerp, . bishop j. taylor mentions a similar custom in the case of geese, but there is a different reason assigned for it: "Ælian tells of the geese flying over the mountain taurus: [greek: hôsper embalontes sphisi stomion diapetontai]; that for fear of eagles nature hath taught them to carry stones in their _mouths_ till they be past their danger."--sermon xxiii. _the good and evil tongue._ part ii. ab init., p. .: lond. , fol. rt. warmington. _aldress._--this word signifies the wife of an alderman. it is found on a brass plate in the following epitaph, in the church of st. stephen, norwich, as given by blomefield, _hist. norw._, , vol. ii. p. . where else may it be met with? it is assuredly a better designation than that of "mrs. ald. a.," or "the lady of ald. b.;" and, from its occurrence in this place, seems to be a term once in use: "here ly buried misstresse maud heade, sometyme an aldress, but now am deade, anno mccccclx and seaven, the xiii day of april, then my lyf i leafte, as must all men, my body yelding to christen dust, my soule to god the faithfull and just." cowgill. _how the ancient irish used to crown their king._-- "a white cow was brought forth, which the king must kill, and seeth in water whole, and bathe himself therein stark naked; then, sitting, in the same cauldron, his people about him, he must eat the flesh and drink the broth wherein he sitteth, without cup or dish, or use of his hand." cited by sir r. peel in the debate on the union with ireland, april th, . (_mirror of parliament_, p. .) _one of junius's correspondents identified._--it has often appeared to me that a portion of the pages of "n.& q." would be usefully employed in supplying information relative to works either anonymous, or by authors of whom little is known. the french have one or two works expressly on this subject, but we have not any of the kind. i have a volume now before me, concerning the author of which i now seek for information, as he was one of those who entered the lists with junius, and addressed him under the signature of "an advocate in the cause of the people." one of his letters is reprinted in vol. i. p. . of (i am sorry to say) the unsatisfactory edition of the _letters of junius_ recently published by mr. bohn; but the editor does not seem to have known the name of this "advocate." this i learn from the work in question: _hope's curious and comic miscellaneous works, started in his walks_: london, printed for the author, vo. without year or printer's name; but the preface is dated april , , and the dedication is signed "john hope," who had, he tells us, "once the honour of sitting" in the house of commons; and he also informs us that falkner wrote part of the poem _the shipwreck_ under his roof. besides many amusing articles in prose and verse, the volume contains twenty-one papers entitled "the leveller," which i believe originally appeared periodically in the _westminster mag._; but i do not find them noticed by drake in his essays on that class of literature. f. r. a. oak house. [we entirely agree with our correspondent on the subject of the first part of his note; and can assure him there are no communications which we more earnestly desire than such as identify the authors of anonymous works, or furnish new information respecting writers of whom little is known.--ed.] * * * * * queries. old music. i feel thankful to dr. rimbault for the "old concert bill" which you have printed in vol. v., p. ., and wish it may lead to more contributions towards what does not exist, but is much to be wished for, a history of _instrumental_ music in this country. having had this subject in my mind a good while, and having had occasion to observe how defective and erroneous the supposed sources of information are, i have from time to time made memoranda, which would be at the service of anybody who would undertake such a { } work as the correction of the _dictionary of musicians_, or the compilation of a more complete work. my notes indeed are not of much importance, but it is the kind of case in which every little helps. in this concert bill, for instance, relating to a first-rate performance, we have five names, grano, dieupart, pippo, vebar, and baston, which are not in the dictionary. as to the first, i only know him by a set of solos for a violin or flute, which i have; of the next three, i know nothing; and of the last, i did not know that he performed woodcock's music, or indeed that he performed at all, though i knew him as a composer. and in a volume now lying before me, "xii concertos" by woodcock are followed by "six concertos in six parts for violins and flutes, viz.: a fifth, sixth, and concert flute: the proper flute being nam'd to each concerto; composed by mr. john baston," and printed for walsh. he is not, however, named either as a composer or performer in the dictionary. it may be said that these are obscure persons; but that is the very reason why some slight, plain notice of them should exist somewhere; for the history of an art is not well written, or well understood, if there is not some easy way of learning more or less about the obscure persons who are every now and then coming on the stage. to this note, may i be allowed to add a couple of queries which perhaps some musical reader may be able and willing to answer. . who was "_joseph_ jackson, batchelor in music, late of st. john's college, oxford;" and did he compose anything beside six sonatas for two violins and a violoncello, which were "printed for the widow by thompson and son in st. paul's churchyard," i suppose (from some other "just published" music advertised on the title-page) about a century ago? . i have also-- "six trio pour deux violons et alto viola ou basse obligé. composés par mr. bach; mis au jour par mr. huberty de l'academie royale de musique, gravés par m^e son epouse. oeuvre ii." which bach was the composer? i do not pretend to know by the style, being only-- an amateur. * * * * * treasury of st. mark's; record at tiberius. in howell's _familiar letters_, edit. , p. ., he says that he saw in the treasury of st. mark's, venice, a huge[ ] iron chest as tall as himself-- "that hath no lock, but a crevice through which they cast in the gold that's bequeathed to st. mark in legacies, whereon is engraven this proud motto: 'quando questo scrinio s'apria, tutto 'l mundo tremera.' 'when this chest is opened, the whole world shall tremble.'" is there any other account of this chest, or of its having been opened, as it was evidently reserved for some great necessity? did not the exigencies of the state, during its decline, compel the venetians to resort to it; if not, such a treasure could hardly escape the lynx-eyed rapacity of some one of the many spoilers to whom the unfortunate city has been subject. at p. . he gives an account of having read in _suidas_, that in his time a record existed at tiberius which was found in the temple at jerusalem when it was destroyed, which affirms that our saviour was in his lifetime upon earth chosen a priest of the temple, and registered therein as "jesus christ, the son of god and of the virgin mary." howell requests the opinion of dr. usher, lord primate of ireland, on the subject. is there any corroborative evidence that such a register existed? e. n. w. southwark. [footnote : "huge" corected from "hugh"--transcriber.] * * * * * unicorn. can any of your correspondents refer me to an account of the supposed habits of this animal, which in these matter-of-fact days we must, i presume, be content to consider as fabulous? i am desirous to know from what source we derive the stories of the animosity between the lion and unicorn, and the curious way of catching the latter, which are referred to in spenser's _faerie queen_, act ii. sc. . .: "like as a lyon, whose imperiall powre, a prowd rebellious unicorn defyes, t'avoide the rash assault and wrathful stowre of his fiers foe, him a tree applyes, and when him ronning in full course he spyes, he slips aside; the whiles that furious beast his precious horne, sought of his enemyes, strikes in the stocke, ne thence can be releast, but to the mighty victor yields a bounteous feast." shakspeare also (_julius cæsar_, act ii. sc. .) speaks of the supposed mode of entrapping them: "for he loves to hear, that unicorns may be betrayed with trees, and bears with glasses, elephants with holes, lions with toils, and men with flatterers." the ancients were most liberal with their descriptions of fabulous animals, and the monoceros or unicorn was a favourite subject with them; but i am not aware whether or no the account which spencer gives has so early an origin. the connexion of the unicorn with the lion in the royal arms of this country naturally forces itself upon the attention, and i find that the present arms were settled at the accession of george i. we owe the introduction of the unicorn, however, to james i.; who, as king of scotland, bore two unicorns, and coupled one with the english lion when the two kingdoms were { } united. perhaps some of your correspondents can inform me how two unicorns became the "supporters" of the "achievement" of the scottish kings. the position of the lion and unicorn in the arms of our country seems to have given rise (and naturally enough in the mind of one who was ignorant of heraldic decoration) to a nursery rhyme, which i well remember to have learnt: "the lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown, the lion beat the unicorn all round the town," &c. &c.; unless it alludes to a contest for dominion over the brute creation, which spenser's "rebellious unicorn" seems to have waged with the tawny monarch. erica. * * * * * flanagan on the round towers of ireland. can you tell me anything of the history of a little work, of which the following is the title?-- "a discourse of the round towers of ireland, in which the errors of the various writers on that subject are detected and confuted, and the true cause of so many differences among the learned, on the question of their use and history, is assigned and demonstrated. by john flanagan, kilkenny. printed for the author by thomas kelly, ." it was purchased by a dublin bookseller at jones' last sale (catalogue, no. .), for s. d. the bookseller, who has kindly lent me the book, says that it was never printed in kilkenny, and that it is very scarce, he having seen only one other copy of it. it is a small quarto of twenty-four pages, beautifully printed on good paper, which leads me also to believe that the book could not have been printed in kilkenny. the author, whoever he was or is, boldly says that, "there are no round towers in ireland," p. ., and through the pages of the work runs a vein of nonsense, which would lead a person to think that the author was not very right in his mind. still, there is something very remarkable in the production. r. h. * * * * * minor queries. _st. augustine's six treatises on music._--dupin mentions st. augustine's _six treatises on music_: do these exist in print? if so, in what edition are they to be found? e. a. h. l. _bishop merriman._--a few years ago inquiry was unsuccessfully made in the _gentleman's magazine_, and elsewhere both in england and ireland for some particulars of john merriman, the first protestant bishop of down and connor. in cox's _hibernia anglicana_ it appears that "loftus, archbishop of armagh, was consecrated by the popish archbishop curwin; thomas lancaster, the first protestant bishop of kildare, was consecrated by archbishop brown; and john merriman, the first protestant bishop of down and connor, was consecrated by lancaster when primate." this bishop merriman had been chaplain to queen elizabeth; he was made vicar of st. john's, atheboy, in the first year of her reign, and was consecrated bishop of down and connor, jan. , / . he died in . the probable father of bishop merriman may be found in the _rutland papers_, published by the camden society, where _mr. meryman_, in a second list called _william meryman_, who held some office in the "kechyn," is selected as one of the attendants on henry viii. and queen katherine to the field of the cloth of gold in . there was formerly a family of the name of merriman residing in ireland: does it now exist? in england there are several families of this name: are any of them descended from this source? t. d. p. _the escubierto._--where can the effusions of the capateiro da bandarra be seen in england? and has any of your correspondents read them, so as to be able to explain the nature of his language and teaching concerning the escubierto? i believe it is admitted, that the doctrine of the sebastianistas is superadded, exegetically, to that of the capateiro, and is not to be found in him. a. n. _j. scandret._--i should be much obliged for any information respecting "j. scandret, priest of the church of england," the author of a little treatise entitled _sacrifice, the divine service_, originally published in ; with a recommendation from the celebrated charles leslie, chancellor of connor. mr. parker, of oxford, reprinted it in ; but as "n. & q." had not then begun its useful career, the editor was unable to satisfy that curiosity which most readers feel respecting the authors of such books as merit their attention. e. h. a. _mary horton._--i find in burke's _extinct baronetage_, p. . (article "horton of chadderton"), that "william horton, of coley, in halifax parish, died in - : by mary his wife, daughter of (thomas) chester, esq., he left an only daughter, _mary_, living and unmarried in ." can any one inform me whether this mary horton ever _married_, when she _died_, and where she was buried? tewars. _biblicus on the apocalypse._--i shall feel much obliged if any reader of "n. & q." will give me information respecting a series of articles which appeared about the year in some newspaper or periodical with the signature of _biblicus_ { } appended to them: they were intended, as far as i can learn, to be a sort of commentary on some portion of the apocalypse. the writer left his work unfinished; but as many as appeared thus periodically were afterwards published in a separate pamphlet. i should be glad to know where a copy of this pamphlet is to be had; or in what paper the articles originally appeared. f. n. _cleopatra playing at billiards._--perhaps one of your readers, more learned in shakspeare than myself, can tell me what game he refers to in the following extract: "_cleo._ let us to billiards. come, charmian. _char._ my arm is sore: best play with mardian." _ant. and cleo._, act ii. sc. . can the game of billiards, as we now have it, boast of such high antiquity as to have been played by "the serpent of old nile;" or is the mention of it simply one of the great poet's anachronisms? cuthbert bede, b.a. "_then comes the reckoning_," &c.--who is the author of the following well-known couplet? "then comes the reckoning when the feast is o'er, the dreadful reckoning, when men smile no more." a constant reader. _giving the sack._--will any of your numerous readers kindly explain to me the _origin_ of the phrases "to give any one the sack or bag," and "einem einen korb geben"? we must all be aware of their acceptation. thomas lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _scotch provincial tokens of the seventeenth century._--can any of your readers inform me if there were any of these tokens, which were so abundant throughout england, wales, and ireland, issued in scotland? r. h. b. _burial of sir john moore._--you have had many very interesting communications respecting the justly admired poem on "the burial of sir john moore." let me ask whether it was a matter of fact, that they "buried him darkly at dead of night"? i believe the clergyman who read the service is now living near hereford, and that he will state that the interment took place _in the morning_ after the battle. balliolensis. _mexican, &c. grammar._--i hope some of your readers can tell me where i may get a grammar of the language of the mexicans, chilians, or any other of the tribes of south america. the spanish missionaries compiled grammars of some of the south american tongues; but i think they must have become scarce, as i can never find one in any catalogue of old books. w. b. d. _foundation stones._--in the _illustrated news_ of the th of may, is an account of the masonic jewels for the grand lodge of england, including three ivory gavels for "laying foundation stones:" hence arise the following queries. when did the laying of foundation stones first become a ceremony? what old foundation stones have been restored to light, showing the date of laying, and the accessories used, whether oil, wine, and corn, or what else? i have never seen an allusion to such discovery in the demolition of old buildings. jno. d. allcroft. oxford square. _mary faun._--can any of your subscribers give me any account of the ancestry of mary faun said to have married thomas charlton, esq.? see burke's _landed gentry_, vol. i. p. . b. _tonson and the westminsters._--i have a small duodecimo print, in which are represented three scenes,-- a man tossed in a blanket. a man flogged. a man begging. this victim is said to be jacob tonson, the printer. the tormentors, who are all in collegiate dresses, are said to be westminster collegians. are these scenes facts or fictions? what was tonson's offence? is there any other explanation of the print? i hope some old westminster to whom the school tradition may have descended will be kind enough to answer these queries. griffin. * * * * * minor queries answered. _lady farewell's funeral sermon._--would any of your correspondents help me to unravel the mystery (if there be any) involved in the typography of the latin portion of the following title of a book "printed for edw. brewster, at the crane, in st. paul's church-yard, ?" "magna charta; or the christian's charter epitomized. in a sermon preached at the funerall of the right worshipfull the lady mary farewell at hill-bishops near taunton, by geo. newton, minister of the gospel there. d. farewell obiit maria salvtis in anno hos annos positos vixit & ipsa vale." w. a. j. [the information required by our correspondent is more quaint and curious than difficult to supply. the four lines with which the title concludes form a chronogram, or an inscription comprising a certain date and number, expressed by those letters inserted in larger characters; which are to be taken separately and added together, according to their value as roman numerals. when the arithmetical letters occurring in the first two lines are thus taken, they will be found to compose the year , when the lady farewell died, { } as the words declare; and when the numerals are selected from the last two lines, they exhibit , her age at the time, as they also indicate; in the following manner:-- d i ll vixi ii i mi vl lvi -- i ---- -- the lady who is commemorated in this inscription was the daughter of sir edwald seymour of berrie castle, in devonshire, baronet, and wife of "the excellently-accomplished sir george farewell, knight, who died may , ;" as it is recorded on his monument at hill-bishops. in the same epitaph it is stated, that she was the mother of twenty children, and that she died dec. , ; and the inscription concludes with these verses to the united memory of sir george and lady farewell: "a person graceful, learn'd, humble, and good, well match'd with beautie, virtue, and high blood: yet, after sufferings great and long, both dead to mind us where great worth is honouréd." collinson's _somersetshire_, vol. iii. p. . the practice of making chronograms for the expressing of dates in books, epitaphs, and especially on medals, was extremely common in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. one of the most remarkable is that commemorating the death of queen elizabeth:-- "my day is closed in immortality:" the arithmetical formula of which is m = + d = + c = + iii = = a. d. . in the second paper by addison on the different species of false wit (_spectator_, no. ) is noticed the medal that was struck of gustavus adolphus, with the motto: "christvs dux ergo trivmphvs." "if you take the pains," continues the author, "to pick the figures out of the several words, and range them in their proper order, you will find they amount to mdcxvvvii, or ; the year in which the medal was stamped." there is one peculiarity in the chronogram sent by our correspondent, which singularly illustrates a passage in shakspeare, and by which also it is most amusingly illustrated. it will be observed, that the rev. g. newton takes advantage of the double letters at the end of farewell, to express : and it will be remembered that "good m. holofernes," in _love's labour's lost_, introduces the same thought into his sonnet as an exquisite and far-fetched fancy: "if sore be sore, then _l to sore_ _makes fifty sores_: oh sore l! of _one_ sore i _an hundred_ make, by adding but _one more l_."] _sir e. k. williams._--will any gentleman refer me to the pedigree of lieut.-gen. sir edmund kenyon williams, a distinguished peninsular officer, who died about three years ago? and also, where can i find or obtain such a book as the _history of aberystwith, or blaina gwent?_ c. w. bradford. [sir edmund keynton williams, k.c.b., born , at mathern, county of monmouth, died dec. , , colonel of the th regiment of foot, was only son of the rev. henry williams, vicar of undy, county of monmouth; who was second son of edmund williams, of incasryddit, in the parish of bedwelty, county of monmouth; and grandson of william williams of the same place. where any farther account of his family can be found we know not.] _order of the cockle._--what sort of order was this? was it the order of _st. michael_? it is mentioned incidentally by john knox in his _history of the reformation of religion in scotland_ (book v.): "in the end of january [ ] arrived an ambassador from france, named monsieur rambullet, having with him about forty horse in train, who came from england. he brought with him the order of the cockle from the king of france to the king [lord darnley], who received the same at the mass, in the chapel of the palace of holyrood house." in , also, the duke of chatelherault, and the earls of huntly, argyle, and angus, had been invested with the same order (book i.). of course, knox was always ready to ridicule such "remnants of paganism and popery." r. s. f. perth. [the order which dudley received was that of st. michael. there was formerly in france an order "du navire et de la coquille de mer," instituted, says perrot[ ], by st. louis, in , in memory of a perilous expedition which he made by sea for the succour of christians; but adds, "il a peu survécu à son fondateur."] [footnote : _collection historique des ordres de chevalerie._ paris, to. , p. .] _waller family._--i find from clutterbuck's _herts_, vol. ii. p. ., that sir henry boteler, kt., of hatfield woodhall, herts, married to his first wife, at watton woodhall, herts, july , , katherine, daughter of robert waller, of hadley, and widow of mr. pope. i have examined all the pedigrees of the wallers i can find to ascertain to which branch of them this lady belonged. can any of your readers supply me with any particulars of her family? tewars. [possibly from the wallers of groombridge, county of sussex. thomas waller, of lansdall, in that county, second son of thomas waller, of groombridge, had a son, thomas, whose only daughter and heir, catherine, married thomas pope, of henfield, county of sussex. in such cases the christian name given by clutterbuck may be wrong.--see the histories of kent and sussex for the account of the wallers.] { } _life of st. werburgh._--in king's _vale royal_, and other works on cheshire antiquities, reference is made to a _life of st. werburgh_ in verse, by henry bradshaw, a monk of chester. i am anxious to ascertain whether the original ms. is now in existence; and, if not, in what collection a _copy_ of the poem is preserved? t. h. [mr. hawkins of the british museum edited a reprint of this _life of st. werburgh_ for the chetham society, and in mr. h.'s preface will be found all that is known of the existing copies of the printed work. the editor did not know of any manuscript copy of the _life_.] _blindman's holiday._--i have frequently heard the term "blind man's holiday" used when it is getting dark in the evening, and one cannot see to read or write, work, &c. i have asked several persons if they knew the origin and reason of application of this expression, but can obtain no satisfactory explanation. can any of your readers furnish one? w. h. c. [florio has "_feriato_, vacancy from labour, rest from worke, _blindman's holiday_." that amusing old antiquary, dr. pegge, made a query of this term about half a century ago. he says, "the twilight, or rather the hour between the time when one can no longer see to read, and the lighting of the candle, is commonly called _blindman's holiday_: _qu._ the meaning or occasion of this proverbial saying? i conceive, that at that time, all the family being at leisure to converse and discourse, should there be a blind person in the family, it is the time when his happiness is greatest, every one then being at liberty to attend to, and to entertain him."--_anonymiana_, cent. iii. sect. xviii.] _ab. seller._--any information respecting ab. seller, rector of combentynhead, devon, and author of _the devout communicant, assisted with rules for the worthy receiving of the blessed eucharist_, london, , will be much valued by e. d. r. [abednego seller was a native of plymouth, educated at lincoln college, oxford; minister of combentynhead, in devonshire, and subsequently vicar of st. charles, plymouth; but was deprived for refusing to take the oaths to william iii. in hearne's _ms. diaries_, , vol. xxv. occurs a notice of him:--"mr. abednego seller was another nonjuror, and had also collected an excellent study of books; but as he was a man of less learning than dr. thomas smith [the editor of bede], so his books were inferior to them, and heaped together with less discretion." another notice of him occurs in granger's _biog. dict._, vol. iv. p. .;--"mr. ashby, president of st. john's college, cambridge, has a copy of _konigii bibliotheca_, interleaved and filled with ms. notes by a. seller." he was the author of several works which are given in watt's _bibliotheca britan._, but the following is omitted: _remarks upon the reflections of the author of 'popery misrepresented,' &c. in his answerer, particularly as to the deposing doctrine_, anon., london, to. . another work has also been attributed to him, viz. _considerations upon the second canon in the book entitled 'constitutions and canons ecclesiastical,'_ &c. lond., to. . seller died about , aged seventy-three. a letter from seller to humphrey wanley, concerning greek music, &c., will be found in the harl. mss. no. , art. . consult also wood's _athenæ oxon._, vol. iv. p. . edit. bliss.] _martin-drunk._-- . thomas nash, in his classification of drunkards, describes the seventh species as "martin-drunk, when a man is drunk, and drinks himself sober ere he stir." what is the origin of the expression "martin-drunk?" . this passage reminds me of a line, which i fancied i had read in lord byron, but which i am now unable to trace. it is (if i remember aright): "and drinking largely sobers one again." can you give me a reference for this, either in byron or any other of our poets? henry h. breen. st. lucia. [ . the latter passage occurs in pope's _essay on criticism_, line :-- "a little learning is a dangerous thing! drink deep, or taste not the pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."] _bagster's english version._--who edited bagster's english version of the _polyglott bible_? the preface is signed t. c. whence is the motto: [greek: pollai men thnêtois glôttai, mia d' athanatoisin?] a. a. d. [the late dr. thomas chevalier was the editor, and wrote the preface; and the rev. h. f. cary supplied the greek motto.] * * * * * replies. reply to mr. hickson's objections. vol. v., pp. . .) that mr. hickson should have discovered no graver objections to certain suggestions of mine respecting the text of shakspeare than those he has brought forward, is of itself no slight testimonial in their favour. in one instance i have already (vol. v., p. .) shown mr. hickson (i trust _satisfactorily_) that his then somewhat similar objection had no weight; nor do these now advanced appear much more formidable. as to the passage from _as you like it_, which mr. hickson remarks is capable of a moral as well as a physical interpretation--undoubtedly it is! but, in the first place, it must still remain a matter of opinion _which_ sense best accords with the context: and, secondly, even admitting the moral sense to be the true one, still it does not necessarily disturb the analogy between it and { } imogen's allusion to the _jay of italy_. in that case, also, the _moral_ sense may be understood as implying the absence of all principle other than that derived from her own gaudy vanity. were i disposed to cavil, i might, in my turn, question mr. hickson's estimate of phebe's beauty. surely rosalind's depreciation of it is not real, but only assumed, for the purpose of humbling, phebe! _inky brows, black silk hair, bugle eye-balls, cheek of cream_--these are not items in a catalogue of ugliness! mr. hickson's second objection (p. .) is to my explanation of the demonstrative _that_ in the duke's opening speech in _measure for measure_. he thinks that, according to "the language we in england use," the duke would have used the word _this_ instead of _that_. does mr. hickson seriously mean to say that shakspeare's language is to be scanned by our present ideas of correctness? is the bold sweep of the master's hand to be measured by the graduation of modern convention? are there no instances in shakspeare of the indiscriminate substitution of personal and impersonal pronouns--of active and passive participles--of words and phrases waiting upon the magician's wind, like familiar spirits, to be moulded to his will, and acknowledging no rule but of _his_ creation? but, in the present case, i will not admit that any such licence is necessary. to mr. hickson's question, "is this the language we in england use?" i answer, it is! we do, even at the present day, say to a messenger, "take _that_ to," &c., even before we have transferred the missive from our hand to his. i can even fancy an individual, less anxious perhaps about grammar than benevolence, stretching forth to some unfortunate, and exclaiming, while yet his intended gift was in his own keeping, "_there needs but_ that _to your relief--there it is!_" it does not seem to have occurred to mr. hickson that the same "fatal objection" which he brings forward against _that_, might also be pleaded against _there_. when the duke says, "_there_ is our commission:" why not, "_here_ is our commission"? _there_ stands precisely in the same relation to _that_, as _here_ does to _this_! a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * the term "milesian." (vol. v., p. .) in reference to the communication of mr. richards, but i have not seen mr. fraser's query, i beg to observe, for the honour of "old ireland," that upwards of thirty years since, the royal irish academy awarded to me a prize of l., with the cunningham gold medal, for an _essay on the ancient history, &c. of ireland_. it was published in the sixteenth volume of their _transactions_ to an extent of pages quarto; and mr. moore has done me the honour to write to me, that it was his guide throughout the first two volumes of his history of this country. in that essay, i have written very fully of the "milesian" colonisation; so called, not directly from milesius himself, but from his two sons, heber and heremon, who led the expedition. the native annalists represent the course of the emigrants through the mediterranean by such progressive stages as indicate the state and progress of the phoenicians after their exodus under the conduct of cadmus; though the ingenuity of the bards occasionally introduced that colouring of romance, which perhaps can alone make very remote objects distinguishable. external testimonies of these oriental wanderers are traceable through _herodotus_, lib. iv. c. .; _pliny_, c. .; nennius, _hist. britt._, c. .; thomas walsingham, _ypodigma neustriæ_ ad ann. . the venerable wintoun adopts all the traditions of the irish chronicles on the subject (_cronyk. of scotl._, lib. ii. c. .); and macpherson declares (_dissertation_, p. .) that such of the ancient records of scotland as escaped the barbarous policy of edward i. support this account. the writers on spanish history, the _hispania illustrata_, de bellegarde's _hist. gen. d'espagne_, vol. i. c. i. p. ., emanuel de faria y sousa, &c., carry the links through spain; and such indeed has been the long and general faith in the tradition, that it has been actually embodied, even to the names of those alleged leaders heber and heremon, in an act of parliament (of ireland i must admit) in the eleventh year of the reign of queen elizabeth, and through an occurrence therein engrafted upon it is expressly derived one of her majesty's-- "auntient and sundrie strong authentique tytles for the kings of england to this land of ireland." john d'alton. . summer hill, dublin. * * * * * ben. jonson's adopted sons. (vol. v., p. .) i doubt if _alexander_ brome was one of ben. jonson's adopted sons. it is not improbable, however, that _richard_ brome (author of the comedies of _the northern lass_ and the _antipodes_) was one. in ben. jonson's _underwoods_ is a poem to richard brome "on his comedy of _the northern lass_," which commences thus: "i had you for a servant once, dick brome, and you perform'd a servant's faithful parts; now you are got into a nearer room of fellowship, professing my old arts." thomas randolph was certainly one of jonson's sons. see in his _poems_ ( th edit. p. .): "a { } gratulatory to m. ben. jonson for his adopting of him to be his _son_." in jonson's _underwoods_ is a poem "to my _dear son_ and right learned friend master joseph rutter." this is in praise of his "first play," but i am unable to state what that play was; nor can i give further information respecting master joseph rutter, than that he is apparently the author of "an elegy upon ben. jonson" in _jonsonus viribus_. of william cartwright ben. jonson used to say, "_my son_, cartwright, writes all like a man." (campbell's _specimens of the british poets_, ed. , p. .) james howell was another of jonson's sons, and has, in _jonsonus viribus_, some lines "upon the poet of his time, benjamin jonson, his honoured friend and _father_." shackerley marmion seems to have been another son. see in _jonsonus viribus_, "a funeral sacrifice to the sacred memory of _his thrice-honoured father_ ben. jonson." if jonson really had twelve sons, it is not improbable that some of the following were of the number: sir kenelm digby, thomas carew, john cleveland, sir john suckling, thomas may, edward hyde (afterwards earl of clarendon), owen feltham, jasper mayne, richard west, john vaughan, thomas hobbes. i should have been disposed to have added to the above illustrious list the name of edmund waller, but for a statement of aubrey, who says, "he told me he was not acquainted with ben. jonson" (aubrey's _lives_, p. .). aubrey (_lives_, p. .), speaking of ben. jonson, says: "serjeant jo. hoskins, of herefordshire, was his _father_. i remember his sonne (s^r bennet hoskins, baronet, who was something poeticall in his youth), told me, that when he desired to be adopted his son, 'no,' sayd he, ''tis honour enough for me to be your brother; i am your father's son, 'twas he that polished me, i do acknowledge it.'" i observe that, prefixed to randolph's _poems_, are some lines by richard west, b.a., and student of christ's church: "to the pious memory of my dear _brother-in-law_, mr. thomas randolph." as west must have been unmarried, and as i believe randolph was also unmarried, it is possible that west calls him his brother-in-law from his being also an adopted son of ben. jonson. c. h. cooper. cambridge. * * * * * shakspeare's seal. (vol. v., p. .) there is a very full and curious account of a _ring_-seal (of which i possess two red wax impressions), supposed to have belonged to shakspeare, in a work unassumingly entitled _a guide to stratford-upon-avon_, by r. b. wheler, published in . i presume _that_ is the seal--or, rather, _ring_-seal--to which reference is made; but how far mr. wheler's statements and speculations may encourage "belief in the genuineness of this relic," your correspondent, and others taking any interest in such matters, must for themselves determine. as the publication above named is before me, it may not be unacceptable to give a summary of mr. wheler's narrative, which occupies eight concluding pages of the _guide_. it appears that on the th march, , an ancient gold ring, weighing dwts., and bearing the initials "w. s.," engraved in roman characters, was found by a labourer's wife upon the surface of the mill-close adjoining stratford churchyard, being the exact spot whereon mr. oldaker since erected his present residence. it had undoubtedly been lost a great many years, being nearly black; and, continues mr. w.,-- "though i purchased it upon the same day, for s. (the current value of the _gold_), the woman had sufficient time to destroy the 'precious _ærugo_' by having it unnecessarily immersed in _aquafortis_, to ascertain and prove the metal, at a silversmith's shop, which consequently restored its original colour. it is of tolerably large dimensions, and evidently a gentleman's ring of elizabeth's age. similar seal-rings are represented on cotemporary paintings and monuments: and the crossing of the central lines of the 'w.' with the oblique direction of the lines of the 's.' exactly agree with the characters of that day. for proof we need wander no farther than stratford church, where the totness and clopton tombs will furnish representations of rings, and shakspeare's monument of letters, perfectly corresponding in point of shape. the connexion or union of the letters by _the ornamental string and tassels_" [or _true lover's knot_, according to your correspondent], "was then frequently used, of which numberless instances may be found upon seals and upon inscriptions, in painted windows, and in the title-pages of books of that period; and for further coincidence of circumstances, it may be observed over the porch leading into the hall of charlcote house near stratford (erected in the early part of elizabeth's reign, by the very sir thomas lucy said to have prosecuted shakspeare for deer-stealing), that the letters 't. l.' are surrounded in a manner precisely similar." after adverting to many vain efforts made by him to discover whether there existed anywhere shakspeare's seal attached to letter or other writing, mr. wheler states that he had examined-- "a list of all the inhabitants of stratford assessed to the levies in , wherein i cannot discover any apparently _respectable_ person the initials of whose name agree with 'w. s.:' but from this assessment, though probably copied from an anterior one, nothing conclusive can be estimated, it being made in the year subsequent to shakspeare's death; and i should, from a close observation of the ring, be inclined to suppose that it was { } made in the early part of the poet's life. mr. malone, in a conversation i had with him in london," (adds mr. wheler), "the th april, , about a month before his death, said that he had nothing to allege against the probability of my conjecture as to its owner." mr. w. afterwards proceeds: "that such a seal was used by a person connected with shakspeare by a marriage is certain; for i possess an impression of the seal (and apparently a seal-ring) of adrian quiney, bailiff of stratford in - ; and who, i have every reason to believe, was the uncle of thomas quiney, our poet's son-in-law. this seal of quiney's, which is appended to a deed dated june , eliz., , being a conveyance of property in bridge street, stratford, very minutely corresponds with the shakspeare ring in size, and has a very near resemblance to it in _the string and tassels_ uniting the roman initials 'a. q.;' which ornamental junction is carved somewhat similar to what is now called _the true lover's knot_, and in the shakspeare ring the upper bow or flourish resembles a heart." in shakspeare's age-- "seal-rings were very fashionable, but were probably more limited than at present to the nobility and respectable families; for i still confine myself to the respectability of its proprietor.... after numerous and continued researches into public and private documents, i find no stratfordian of that period so likely to own such a ring as shakspeare." mr. wheler concludes-- "at present, i possess no positive proof whatever. let it be remembered that my observations are merely relative. i yet hope to meet with an impression of the ring in my possession; and in this i am more particularly encouraged by the fact, that should success attend the investigation, this seal-ring would be the _only existing article_ proved to have originally belonged to our immortal poet." when mr. wheler wrote, the signatures in montaigne's work, &c. had not been restored to the light. a hermit at hampstead. * * * * * reason and understanding according to coleridge. (vol. v., p. .) your correspondent c. mansfield ingleby will pardon me if i deny the discrepancy in coleridge's statements on the difference between these faculties. coleridge refuses to brutes the possession of reason as a contemplative faculty; he allows them, that which in kind differs from reason, the understanding _in a certain degree_, and asserts that they do possess, in a very marked and characteristic manner, instinct, which, in degree only, falls below understanding. instinct is distinguishable in _degree_ from understanding. reason is distinguishable from it in _kind_. some kinds of brutes, as dogs and elephants, possess more intelligence than others, as tigers and swine; and some individual dogs possess more of this intelligence than others. this intelligence arises from the superior activity of the "faculty judging according to sense;" and, when coleridge says that it is not clear to him "that the dog may not possess an analogon to words," he might have gone, i think, further, and have said, with much probability of truth on his side, that the dog _has_ this analogon of words. i am sure i have often known a dog's thoughts by his own way of expressing them, far more distinctly than i am sometimes able to gather a fellow man's meaning from his words. nay, much as i love and venerate coleridge--his goodness, his genius, his writings, his memory--i find a dog sometimes far more intelligible. language is a property of the understanding, but it cannot be developed in words unless there be in the creature an adequate degree of the faculty. this degree of the faculty, dogs have not. if they had it, they might fairly be expected to speak, read, and write. what we want is the man, or the observation and experiment, which shall show us where the line is to be drawn, if in the nature of such gradations lines can be drawn at all, which shall distinguish the degree at which instinct overlaps understanding. the case is perhaps too hopelessly complicated. coleridge has carefully guarded his expressions, that they should not seem to assert for brutes more than he can _prove_ that they possess, by the use of the words "analogous or fully equivalent." that brutes can and do reflect, abstract, and generalise, it needs but an understanding of the terms, and some observation of their habits, to feel assured. caspar. * * * * * general wolfe. (vol. v., pp. . . &c.) since my last communication relative to this celebrated soldier, i have fallen in with a volume of the _london chronicle_ for the first half of the year , and from it i send the following extracts: although there is more information relative to the battle, these only i thought worth insertion in "n. & q." the first is entitled: "a call to the poets, on the taking of quebec. "while to brave wolfe such clouds of incense rise, and waft his glory to his native skies; shall yet no altar blaze to moncton's name, and consecrate his glorious wound to fame; shall townshend's deeds, o'er canada renown'd, so faint in british eulogies resound! no grateful bard in some exalted lay brave townshend's worth to future times convey who, for his country, and great george's cause, forsook the fulness of domestic joys, to crush 'midst dangers of a world unknown, the savage insults on the british crown. { } see him return'd triumphant to his king, wafted on vict'ry's, and on glory's wing: hast thou, great patroness of martial fire, no fav'rite genius, clio, to inspire? shall worth, like his, unnotic'd pass away but with the pageant of a short-liv'd day? no; soul of numbers, tune the votive strings on which thou sing'st of heroes and of kings; rouse from ungrateful silence some lov'd name or from the banks of isis, or of cam; bid him, tho' grateful to the dead, rehearse the living hero in immortal verse: so shall each warlike briton strive to raise, like him, a monument of deathless praise; so shall each patriot heart his merit move by the warm glow of sympathy of love."--t. d. p. . jan. . at p. ., june st, is "a new song, entitled and called, britain's remembrancer for the years and ." the fourth verse runs as follows: "quebec we have taken, and taken breton; tho' the coast was so steep, that a man might as soon, as the frenchmen imagin'd, have taken the moon, which nobody can deny." may th, p. .: "capt. bell, late aide-de-camp to the great gen. wolfe, is appointed captain in the fifth regiment," &c. under the date of june th is gen. murray's despatch. among the advertisements are, "a discourse delivered at quebec," &c., by the rev. eli dawson (dedicated to mrs. wolfe); "two discourses by jonathan mayhew, d.d. of boston;" and "quebec, a poetical essay, in imitation of the miltonic style, composed by a volunteer in the service; with notes entertaining and explanatory." a notice of the death of sir harry smith, bart., aide-de-camp to wolfe, appears in the _examiner_ for october nd, . among other instances of the name is a notice of major j. wolfe in _gentleman's magazine_ for , p. . h. g. d. * * * * * "the miller's melody," an old ballad. (vol. v., p. .) the original ballad of "the miller's melody" is the production of no less a person than a "doctor in divinity," of whom the following are a few brief particulars. james smith was born about , educated at christ church and lincoln colleges, in oxford; afterwards naval and military chaplain to the earl of holland, and domestic chaplain to thomas earl of cleveland. on the restoration of charles ii. he held several church preferments, and ultimately became canon and "chauntor" in exeter cathedral. he was created d.d. in , and quitted this life in . wood informs us he was much in esteem "with the poetical wits of that time, particularly with philip massinger, who call'd him his son." i have an old "broadside" copy of the ballad in question, "printed for francis grove, ," which is here transcribed, _verbatim et literatim_, for the especial benefit of your numerous readers. it may also be found in a rare poetical volume, entitled _wit restored_, , and in dryden's _miscellany poems_ (second edition, which differs materially from the first). "the miller and the king's daughter. _by mr. smith._ "there were two sisters they went playing, with a hie downe, downe, a downe-a, to see their father's ships come sayling in, with a hy downe, downe, a downe-a. "and when they came unto the sea-brym, with, &c. the elder did push the younger in; with, &c. "o sister, o sister, take me by the gowne, with, &c. and drawe me up upon the dry ground, with, &c. "o sister, o sister, that may not bee, with, &c. till salt and oatmeale grow both of a tree, with, &c. "sometymes she sanke, sometymes she swam, with, &c. until she came unto the mill-dam; with, &c. "the miller runne hastily downe the cliffe, with, &c. and up he betook her withouten her life, with, &c. "what did he doe with her brest bone? with, &c. he made him a violl to play thereupon, with, &c. "what did he doe with her fingers so small? with, &c. he made him peggs to his violl withal; with, &c. "what did he doe with her nose-ridge? with, &c. unto his violl he made him a bridge, with, &c. "what did he doe with her veynes so blew? with, &c. he made him strings to his violl thereto; with, &c. "what did he doe with her eyes so bright? with, &c. upon his violl he played at first sight: with, &c. { } "what did he doe with her tongue so rough? with, &c. unto the violl it spake enough; with, &c. "what did he doe with her two shinnes? with, &c. unto the violl they danc'd _moll syms_; with, &c. "then bespake the treble string, with, &c. o yonder is my father the king; with, &c. "then bespake the second string, with, &c. o yonder sitts my mother the queen; with, &c. "and then bespake the strings all three; with, &c. o yonder is my sister that drowned mee. with, &c. "now pay the miller for his payne, with &c. and let him bee gone in the divel's name. with, &c." as this old ditty turns upon the making "a viol," it may be as well to add that this instrument was the precursor of the violin: but while the viol was the instrument of the higher classes of society, the "fiddle" served only for the amusement of the lower. the viol was entirely out of use at the beginning of the last century. moll (or mall) symms (mentioned in the thirteenth stanza) was a celebrated dance tune of the sixteenth century. the musical notes may be found in _queen elizabeth's virginal book_, in the fitzwillian museum, cambridge; and in the curious dutch collection, _neder lantsche gedenck clank_, haerlem, . edward f. rimbault. * * * * * surnames. (vol. v., p. .) i shall endeavour to answer some of mr. lower's queries. . names having the prefix _le_ and ending in _er_ or _re_. they are undoubtedly norman or french, and generally relate to personal trade or employment, as _le mesurier_, _le tellier_, _le tanneur_, _le fevre_. another class with the prefix _le_, but of various terminations, are obviously of french origin, as _leblanc_, _lenoir_, _lebreton_, _lechaplin_, _lemarchant_. all these came to us by the french protestant refugees, or from jersey and guernsey. . the meaning of _worth_. this word generally implies a _military work_, and, i think, an _earth-work_; and i doubt whether _worth_ and _earth_ are not from the same root; i personally have been able to trace _works_ in many places whose names end in _worth_. i am satisfied all such surnames were _local_, that is, derived from _places_ so named from military mounds or _earth-works_. . the meaning of _le chaloneur_. it is evidently the same as our english name _challoner_, which cole admits into his dictionary as "the name of an ancient family." it means in old french either the _boatman_, from "chalun," a boat; or a _fisherman_, from "chalon," a kind of net. as we have in english _fisher_, in modern french _lepécheur_, in italian _piscatory_. . _le cayser._ the same as _cæsar_, a name now, we believe, extinct amongst us, but preserved in our literature by lord clarendon and pope. i suspect that it was of a class of _fancy_ names which i shall mention presently. . baird and aird are scotch names, and probably local. jameson (whose authority is very low with me) derives _baird_ from _bard_, and _aird_ he does not mention. _aird_ or _ard_ is celtic for _high_, and is a common local denomination in scotland and ireland. . for the rest of the out-of-the-way names mr. lower mentions i can give no more explanation than of many thousands others which have been probably produced by some peculiarity or incidents in the first nominee, or some corruption of a better known name. as to this class of fancy names, i can give mr. lower a hint that may be of use to him. it used to be the custom at the old foundling hospital and in all parish workhouses, to give the children what i venture to call _fancy_ names. i remember being shocked at the heterogeneous nomenclature that was outpoured on fifty or a hundred poor babes at the foundling. i happened once to accompany a noble lady--the daughter of a great sea officer--to one of these foundling christenings, when the names of howe, duncan, jervis, and nelson, were in fashion, and they were each given to half-a-dozen children; and while this was going on, my fair and noble friend whispered me, "what a shame! all these poor little creatures will grow up to be our cousins." sometimes the names given were grotesque, such as ought not to have been permitted; and sometimes the children brought into the hospital, pinned to their clothes, names in which i suppose the poor mother may have had a meaning, but which seemed to us fantastical and extravagant. illegitimacy is a considerable source of strange names. i could give some droll instances. corruption is another; there are half-a-dozen names of labourers in my village which are mere corruptions by vulgar pronunciation of some of the noblest names of the peerage. mr. lower cannot have failed to observe the { } great tendency in the united states to vary the orthography, and of course, i suppose, the pronunciation of some of their old english patronymics; not from any dislike to them, for the contrary sentiment, i believe, is very prevalent, but the emigrants who carried out the names were ignorant or indifferent as to the true orthography or pronunciation, and in time the departure grows more wide. instances of this may be also found in the small towns of england, where mr. lower will find on the signs frequent deviations from the usual spelling of the commonest as well as of the rarer names. c. in glancing through cole's mss. in the british museum, my eye rested on two paragraphs, which perhaps may be unknown to mr. lower. in additional mss. no. . p. iv., cole says: "before surnames were in use they were forced to distinguish one another by the addition of _fitz_ or _son_, as john fitz-john, or john the son of john, or john johnson, as now in use. this was in the first edward's time: nay, so late as the reign of queen elizabeth, in some places in france they had no surnames, but only christian names, as the learned monsieur menage informs us: 'il y a environ cent ans, à ce que dit m. baluze, qu'à tulle on n'avait que des noms propres, et point de surnoms.'--_menagiana_, tom. i. p. . edit. ." again, in cole's mss., vol. xliii. p. ., relating to a deed of the priory of spalding, cole says: "one observes in this deed several particulars: first that the priory used a seal with an image of the blessed virgin, together with one of their arms; if possibly they used one of the latter sort so early as this john the spaniard's time, in the reign, as i conceive, of king richard i., when arms for the chief gentry were hardly introduced. among the witnesses are two simons, one distinguished by his complexion, and called simon blondus, or the fair; the other had no name as yet to distinguish him by, and therefore only called here 'another simon.' this occasioned the introduction of sirnames, and shows the necessity of them." j. y. hoxton. * * * * * sir john trenchard. (vol. v., p. .) your querist e. s. taylor will find an interesting account of the manner in which a pardon was obtained for john trenchard, afterwards secretary of state under william iii., in mr. hepworth dixon's work on william penn. mr. taylor is evidently wrong in supposing that the pardon, of which he furnishes a copy, was issued in , and at the very critical period to which he refers it. it was issued in , that being the third year, reckoning by the old style, of king james's reign; so that his quotation from pepys, and his suggestion of a reason for the pardon, are beside the purpose. it appears from mr. dixon's account, that william penn was the mediator between trenchard and the king; but the circumstances which led to it were so curious, that i transcribe part of the statement from page of the new edition. "lawton, a young man of parts and spirit, had attracted penn's notice; in politics he was a state whig, and it was at his instance that he had braved the king's frown by asking a pardon for aaron smith. one day over their wine at popples, where penn had carried lawton to dine, he said to his host, 'i have brought you such a man as you never saw before; for i have just now asked him how i might do something for himself, and he has desired me to obtain a pardon for another man! i will do that if i can; but,' he added, turning to lawton, 'i should be glad if thou wilt think of some kindness for thyself.' 'ah,' said lawton, after a moment's thought, 'i can tell you how you might indeed prolong my life.' 'how so?' returned the mediator, i am no physician.' lawton answered, 'there is jack trenchard in exile; if you could get leave for him to come home with safety and honour, the drinking of a bottle now and then with jack would make me so cheerful that it would prolong my life.' they laughed at the pleasantry, and penn promised to do what he could. he went away to the lord chancellor, got him to join in the solicitation, and in a few days the future secretary was pardoned and allowed to return to england." it appears also frown mr. dixon's narrative, that trenchard was employed by penn to dissuade james from his bigoted and violent course, and that he had interviews with the king for this purpose. mr. taylor will find in the same place curious particulars, given on the authority of lawton himself, concerning the intrigues which preceded the fall of james. sydney walton. * * * * * papal seal. (vol. v., p. .) i have in my possession a _leaden_ seal, which has on the one side a precisely similar impression to that described by h. f. h. in p. . of "n. & q.:" viz. two heads, with a cross between them, and the letters "s p a s p e" over them. the head under "s p a" has straight hair and a long pointed beard. the other head, under "s p e," has curled hair and a short curled beard, the whole surrounded with a circle of raised spots. on the other side of the seal is the following inscription, also surrounded by a circle of raised spots: + · e v g e n i v s . p.p · i i i i · it was attached by a strong cord that runs through the substance of the seal to a parchment { } document that, some thirty years since, i found being cut into strips for labels for a gardener. the few fragments i was enabled to preserve showed that the document related to some conventual matter, from the repetition of the words "abbati, conventii, et monasterii." one of the lines commences with an illuminated capital of about half an inch in height, as follows: "militanti ecdie licet immeriti disponente domino presidente".... another line commences-- "persone tam religiose qua seculares necnon duces marchione".... on one of the fragments, apparently an endorsement on the back of the document, are the names "anselmus," and beneath it "bonanmy" or "bouanmy." there are unfortunately no traces of the name of any place, or of a date. the writing is very clear and in good condition. is the document a papal bull? i shall be obliged by any reply to my inquiries. r. h. kensington. * * * * * market crosses. (vol. v., p. .) it is stated in gillingwater's _history of bury st. edmunds_, edition , that "the theatre, an elegant structure, originally the _old market cross_, was erected in the year , from a design by mr. adams." in alexander downing's _plan of the ancient borough of bury st. edmunds_, published in , there is a very good view of the old _cross_. it appears from this print to have been a fine old building; the lower part open. it is possible that there might have been a chapel in the upper part of the cross, as it appears in the print on downing's map to have been three stories high, with a bell turret or tower. downing's _plan_ is not scarce: it is one large sheet, and is engraved by w. c. toms, sculpt. in thomas warren's _plan of bury_, subsequently published, there is a view of the _new_ cross, with the theatre above it, as built in . j. b. since i sent you a hasty note respecting the old market cross at bury st. edmunds, with reference to your correspondent's query, i bethought me of the old market cross which formerly stood in the great market place at norwich. blomefield, in his _history of norfolk_, vol. ii. p. ., gives an account of that ancient cross, which is too long to quote but he states that "it was a neat _octagonal_ building, with steps round it, and an _oratory or chapel in it_, with a chamber over it." now possibly there might have been such a "chapel" in the old cross at bury, wherein "henry gage was married in ;" for i put faith in all that mr. rookwood gage said or wrote. there is still standing, at wymondham in norfolk, an old wooden market cross, with a chamber over it, supported by wooden columns: it is an octagon building. blomefield makes no mention of it. an etching was published of this cross, by -- dixon, of norwich, some few years back. j. b. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the two gilberts de clare_ (vol. v., p. .).--in reference to no. . of "irish queries", as to the relationship which existed between the two gilberts de clare, earls of gloucester, i beg to send you the information required by your correspondent mac an bhaird. gilbertus co. gloucest. = isabella, tertia natu filiarium & hertf.: | & cohær. will. mareschalli obiit henr. . | co. pembr. | +-------------------+ | ricardus, co. gloucest. = matilda, filia joh. de laci & hertf.: | comit. lincoln ux. . obiit henr. . | | +-------------------+ | gilbertus, comes = joanna de acres, filia regis glouc. & hertf. | ed. . cogn. rufus, ob. | ed. . /|\ dugdale's _baronage_, i. . see also miller's _catalogue of honor_, pp. - .; vincent's _errours of brooke_, pp. , .; yorke's _union of honour_, pp. , . farnham. farnham, cavan. _baxter's shove, &c._ (vol. v., p. .).--i fear it may savour somewhat of presumption in me to offer the following remarks to one who confesses himself to be a collector of baxter's works; but if they afford no information to your correspondent mr. clark, they may probably prove acceptable to other less sedulous inquirers after the writings of this truly pious man. baxter, in his enthusiastic zeal in the cause of religion, did not hesitate to append to some of his popular tracts, titles more calculated to excite the curiosity of the vulgar than engage the attention of the refined reader; as the age became more enlightened, this breach of propriety was discontinued, and these records of genius and piety have been since reprinted under more appropriate appellations. if i am not misinformed, the title of baxter's _shove_ has undergone this transformation, and now appears under that of _the call to the unconverted_. { } the two following works are doubtless familiar to your correspondent, viz.: _crumbs of grace for &c._, and _hooks and eyes to &c._ i think the former is the original title to _the saint's rest_; but as to the latter, i am not able to say whether it has been issued under any new name or not. m. w. b. _frebord_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--in some, if not in all, of the manors in this vicinity in which this right exists, the quantity of ground claimed as _frebord_ is thirty feet in width from the set of the hedge. leicestriensis. _devil_ (vol. v., p. .).--if [greek: diabolos] was used as an equivalent for adversarius, i should say that "the rendering _would_ be accurate" in no slight degree; especially when understood in the juridical sense. but the "adversarius in judicio" is the character of the hebrew satan in job, c. i. and ii., and zechariah, c. iii.; and the same appears clearly in revelations, c. : "the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our god day and night." the term [greek: diabolos] adds, to that of [greek: katêgoros], the idea of falsehood and injustice, essential to the accuser of the saints, but not expressed in the latter word[ ]. why the word should mean "a supernatural agent of evil," i cannot form the slightest idea. the name of a thing does not express all which that thing is! _physician_ does not mean a natural agent of good. as little can i understand how the correctness of a derivation can form "a case of ecclesiastical usage." with what words, manifestly and analogically greek, but yet clearly derived in reality from the vague sources termed _oriental_, nay even from hebrew, are "the septuagint and greek testament replete?" i say "clearly," because one paradoxical conjecture cannot obtain support from others. i am surprised that mr. littledale should be struck by the "similarity" of the gipsy word _debel_, "god," "and our word devil," after himself admitting that our word is _diabolos_, and confining his attack to that "first link in the chain." i will add a very few words on the other point, though not relevant. what is holy at one time, becomes the direct contrary in subsequent times and circumstances. homer's minerva ascended to heaven [greek: meta daimonas allous], among the other dæmons. but that word in modern europe means a devil of hell. _deva_ and _devi_ are (i believe) god and goddess in sanskrit. _div_, in persian (mr. l. says), is a wizard or dæmon. i have no _zend avesta_ at hand: but we require to know whether _div_ had a decidedly evil and ahrimanian sense, in the language of the dualistic pagan ages; or only in ferdoosi and the like. if _afriti_ is "blessed" in zend, and "a devil" in arabic, i again ask whether the allusion be to the literary remains of arabic polytheism, or to islam? i suspect the latter; and so, it would come to nothing. a. n. [footnote : "word" corected from "work"--transcriber.] i think mr. littledale's difficulty about the same hebrew word's representing both [greek: diabolos] and _adversarius_ is, on the contrary, rather a confirmation of the old derivation. had he forgotten that "the adversary" is often technically used for the _devil_? surely there can be no more doubt that _devil_ comes from _diavolo_, and that from [greek: diabolos], than that _journal_ comes from _giorno_, and that from _diurnus_. c. _mummy wheat_ (vol. v., p. .).--having a few grains of mummy wheat in my possession, i send you the following information concerning it, with a portion thereof as sample. about three years ago, when in new york, i purchased, at a sale of the hon. judge furman's effects, a small parcel which was stated in his own writing to be "egyptian wheat such as is mentioned in scripture, and taken out of a mummy case." i planted a few of the grains in a flower-pot, and they came up in an apparently very healthy and flourishing manner, with an appearance similar to that represented in scriptural illustrations as egyptian corn. but after attaining a height of about two inches, i noticed that it began to grow sickly, and in a short time afterwards died away. upon examining the mould i found some of the grains still there; but they looked as though some very minute insect had eaten away the entire heart, leaving the shell only. it seemed to me that such insect must have been within, and not entered the grain from without. lately i have again tried in my garden a few of the grains i had reserved from the original stock. these, however, have not come up at all; and i find, on uprooting them, that the same sort of decay had taken place as occurred in new york. i am not able to forward you any of the husks, for they are now rotted: but i thought that some of your readers and your last correspondent might feel interested in knowing other attempts had also been made to rear mummy wheat. s. meadow cottage, ealing. [we have placed the grains forwarded by our correspondent in the hands of a skilful horticulturist; and will publish the result.--ed.] _nacar_ (vol. v., p. .).--this word is not, i believe, a name appropriated to any one particular shell, but is the term used for the pearl-like substance which, in greater or smaller quantities, forms the lining of many shells. this substance, frequently called mother-of-pearl, exhibits in some species a beautiful play of colours, said to be due to a particular arrangement of the particles. the words _naker_ and _nacreous_--with _nacar_ spanish, _nacchera_ italian, and _nacre_ french--are given { } in webster's _dictionary_, vols. to., london . the beard, or byssus, found in a few genera only, as _avicula_, _mytilus_, _pinna_, and some others, is strong and silky, formed of numerous fibres produced from a gland near the foot of the soft animal, and employed by it to form an attachment to rocks or other objects. in sicily this is sometimes made into gloves or stockings, more for curiosity than use. a byssus now before me measures six inches in length, is delicately soft and glossy, varying in colour from a rich dark brown to golden yellow, and is nearly as fine as the production of the silk-worm. _byssine_ is an old name for fine silk. wm. yarrell. _mistletoe_ (vol. v., p. .).--mr. jesse, in his agreeable and instructive _scenes and tales of country life_, has devoted a chapter of eight pages to the mistletoe, giving a list of more than forty different species of trees and shrubs upon which this parasitic plant has been found, with many localities. in this list the white, gray, black, and lombardy poplars are included. the mistletoe is there stated to have been found growing on the oak near godalming, surrey; at penporthleuny, parish of goitre, monmouthshire; also on one near usk, and another at st. dials near monmouth. wm. yarrell. _the number seven_ (vol. v., p. .).--the reply to the query of mr. edwards is, that _sheva_, "seven," is used indefinitely for _much_ or _frequently_ in ruth iv. ., sam. ii. ., is. iv. ., jer. xv. ., and ezech. xxxix. . .; also in prov. xxiv. ., where, however, it may refer to seven witnesses or pledges, as in gen. xxi. - . compare herodotus, l. . c. . on the seven stones of the arabs, with homer's _iliad_, l. . v. . on the seven tripods of agamemnon. in arabic and hebrew the word _seva_ means finished, completed, satiated, as in ezech. xvi. , . and hos. iv. . seven, as an astronomical period, is known to most nations, and has been from times prior to history. clemens alex. (_stromat._ lib. vi. p. ., paris, ) says the moon's phases are changed every seven days. seleucus, the mathematician, he also says distinguished seven phases of that luminary. he notices the seven planets, seven angels, seven stars in the pleiades and in the great bear, seven tones in music, seventh days in diseases, and gives an elegant elegy of solon on the changes of every seven years in man's life. clemens (lib. v. p. ., paris, ) has accumulated a variety of passages from ancient poets on the sacredness of the seventh day. cicero, in the _somnium scipionis_, speaks of seven as "numerus rerum fere omnium nodus est." the following have treated on this mystic number: _fabii paulini hebdomades, sive septem de septenario libri_; omeisius _de numero septenario_; philo, _de mundi opificio_; macrobius, in _somnio scipionis_, l. . c. .; gellius, _noct. attic._ l. . .; censorinus _de die natali_, c. .; and eusebius, _de praep. evang._ l. . c. . the hebrews commemorated their seventh day, a seventh week (pentecost), the seventh month (commencing their _civil_ year), the seventh year (for fallowing the land), and the seven times seventh year, or jubilee. t. j. buckton. bristol road, birmingham. _gabriel hounds_ (vol. v., p. .).--the term occurs in mr. halliwell's _dictionary of archaic and provincial words, &c._, vol. i. p. ., with the following, explanation:-- "at wednesbury, in staffordshire, the colliers going to their pits early in the morning hear the noise of a pack of hounds in the air, to which they give the name of _gabriel's hounds_, though the more sober and judicious take them only to be wild geese making this noise in their flight.--kennett, ms. lansd. ." the species here alluded to is the bean goose _anser segetum_, of authors. a few of them breed in scotland and its islands, but by far the larger portion breed still farther north, in scandinavia. of the various birds which resort to this country to pass the winter season the bean goose is one of the first. i have seen very large flocks in norfolk early in september, where they feed on the stubbles. i have good authority for their appearance in gloucestershire, in the vicinity of the severn, by the last week in august. this is in accordance with the habits of this goose in some parts of the continent; sonnerat and m. de selis longchamps calling it _l'oie des moissons_, or harvest goose. they are frequently very noisy when on the wing during the night, and the sound has been compared to that of a pack of hounds in full cry. wm. yarrell. _burial_ (vol. v., p. .).--to the names already given of those interred in ground not consecrated, may be added that of the eccentric samuel johnson, formerly a dancing-master, but through his talent, wit, and gentlemanly manners, became the guest and table companion of the principal families of cheshire. he is not mentioned in chalmers's _biog. dict._, and but very meagrely in that of rose. the best notice of him is in the _biographia dram._, ed. , as the author of _hurlothrumbo: or the supernatural_, and five other dramatic pieces, the first of which took an amazing run, owing to the whimsical madness and extravagance which pervade through the whole piece. besides these, he is the writer of another strange mystical work, which, as i do not find it anywhere mentioned, i will give the title of, from my copy now before me: "a vision of heaven, which is introduc'd with essays upon happiness, a description of the court, the characters of the quality: politics, manners, satyr, wit, humour, pastoral, sublimity, extasy, { } love, fire, fancy and taste universal. written by mr. samuel johnson. lond., for e. withers, &c., where may be had hurlothrumbo, ." vo., two neat engravings, and six pages of music. the compilers of the _biog. dram._ state that they had not discovered the date of his death; but we learn from hanshall's _hist. of the county palatine of chester_: , to. p. ., that he died in , aged eighty-two, and was buried in the plantation forming part of the pleasure-grounds of the old hall at gawsworth, near macclesfield, in cheshire. over his remains is a stone (now there) with an inscription, stating that he was so buried at his own desire. f. r. a. _marvell's life and works_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--i thought the question proposed by j. g. f. had been answered to the satisfaction of all unprejudiced minds by the remarks on this subject published long ago. (see _gentleman's magazine_, vols. xlvi. & xlvii.; _retrospective review_, vol. xi., &c.) i say all _unprejudiced_ minds; for i confess that, although i am strongly prejudiced in favour of marvell, yet the internal evidence of the poems in question is so strongly against marvell, that i am compelled to resign them to their rightful owner. any careful reader of poetry must acknowledge that every feature in the style is addison's. captain thompson's having found them in mss. in marvell's own hand, is no proof of parentage, as in the same mss. is one which undoubtedly belongs to mallet, and another which has been proved to be from the pen of dr. watts. my chief reason, however, for intruding on your space is for the purpose of correcting a mistake into which all the biographers of marvell have fallen, as to the time and place of his birth. it is again and again stated, without any correction, that he was born at hull, on the th november, . that he was not born at hull i am at length reluctantly compelled to believe; and that the date of his birth is "march , ," i can prove from authorised documents in my own possession, copied from ms. in his father's hand-writing. with reference to mr. crossley's hope that a new edition of his works might soon be published, i may say that a new biography of marvell, with a selection from his works by a townsman, is already in the press. jos. a. kidd. hull. _the death-watch_ (vol. v., p. .).--a good account of this small insect will be found in the second volume of the _introduction to entomology_ by messrs. kirby and spence. a chapter is devoted to the "noises produced by insects." "in old houses, where these insects abound, they may be heard in warm weather during the whole day. the noise is produced by raising the head, and striking the hard mandibles against wood. "thus sings the muse of the witty dean of st. patrick on the subject: --------------------'a wood worm[ ] that lies in the old wood, like a hare in her form: with teeth or with claws it will bite or will scratch, and chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch: because like a watch it always cries click; then woe be to those in the house who are sick! for, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost, if the maggot cries click, when it scratches the post; but a kettle of scalding hot water injected, infallibly cures the timber affected: the omen thus broken, the danger is over, the maggot will die, and the sick will recover.'" the kettle of scalding hot water is also very useful in houses infested with ants or black-beetles. wm. yarrell. [footnote : a small beetle, the _anobium tesselatum_ of fabricius.] the query of m. w. b. reminds me of a family bereavement that followed the visit of this insect to my father's homestead. the ticking was heard in a closet, which opened out of the drawing-room. i first discovered it; and was struck with the fact that it occasionally altered the interval which formed the standard of the beats, though with one standard the beats remained punctually uniform. on examination, i found a very tiny insect, in shape like an elongated spider, whose "hind leg" kept beat with the sound; so i suppose that member to have been the instrument by which the ticking was effected. the family bereavement that ensued was the total extinction of the last dying embers of our faith in this world-famed omen; for unhappily, in this instance, no death ensued in our domestic circle. c. mansfield ingleby. birmingham. _the rabbit as a symbol_ (vol. v., p. .).--it will be remembered that richard of the lion heart, on his way to the holy land, proceeded to sicily, where he played all manner of rough fantastic tricks, to the infinite disgust of the king and people of the island. on pretence of certain assumed claims, but the rather _pour passer le temps_, our achilles and his myrmidons fixed a quarrel upon the reigning sovereign, tancred the bastard, whose immediate predecessor, william the good, had married joanna[ ], richard's sister; took forcible possession of an important fortress; turned the monks out of a monastery whose situation was convenient for the purposes of his commissariat; and at last, by an act of most unjustifiable aggression, laid siege to the city and castle of messina, { } on whose walls was soon triumphantly planted the royal banner of the plantagenets. now the hare and rabbit frequently occur upon the coins of spain and sicily, of which countries they were, indeed, the particular and well-recognised symbols. (fosb. _ency. antiq._, pp. . .); and i would suggest that the device in question has reference to richard's proceedings in the latter kingdom, which, in an age whose acknowledged principle was that "might makes right," would be looked upon as redounding vastly to his credit and renown, and most worthy, therefore, of commemoration amongst the other emblematic representations which give so remarkable a character to the monumental effigies at rouen. regarding it in this point of view, there appears to be much inventive significancy in this device, and the exercise of a little ingenuity would soon, i think, render manifest the peculiar applicability of its "singular details" to the circumstances of richard's transactions with tancred, as they are presented to us by our own chroniclers. the appearance of this symbol or device of a rabbit, upon old examples of playing cards, as referred to by symbol, is easily accounted for. these "devil's books" came to us originally from spain; and in ancient cards of that country, columbines were spades, _rabbits_[ ] clubs, pinks diamonds, and roses hearts.--fosb. _ut sup._, p. . cowgill. [footnote : this lady afterwards married raymond, count de st. gilles, son of the count of toulouse. eleanora, another of richard's sisters, married alphonso, third king of castile.] [footnote : the clubs, in spanish cards, are not, as with us, trefoils, but cudgels, i. e. _bastos_: the spades are swords, i. e. _espadas_.--fosb. _ut sup._; see the plate of "sports, amusements," &c.] _spanish vessels wrecked on the irish coast_ (vol. v., p. .).--a fair account of this eventful visitation may be expected from the _annals of the four masters_, a work compiled within forty years of the occurrence, and not near so many miles removed from the waters over which most of its fatalities were felt: "a large fleet (says this work) consisting of eight sure ships, came on the sea from the king of spain this year ( ), and some say it was their intention to take harbour and land on the coasts of england should they obtain an opportunity; but in that they did not succeed, for the queen's fleet encountered them at sea, and took four of their ships, and the rest of the fleet was scattered and dispersed along the coasts of the neighbouring countries, viz., on the eastern side of england, on the north-eastern shores of scotland, and on the north-western coast of ireland. a great number of the spaniards were drowned in those quarters, their ships having been completely wrecked; and the smaller proportion of them returned to spain, and some assert that , of them were lost on that occasion." this narrative is utterly innocent of the wholesale, or of any _execution_ of the unfortunate invaders; and, in truth, our lord deputies have too much to answer for, without throwing the barbarism of such a massacre upon one of them. some colouring is, however, given to the charge by the writings of smith, _history of kerry_; cox, _hibernia anglicana_; and even leland, _history of ireland_, vol. ii. p. . the deviation of these spaniards northwards can be, i think, accounted for by the discomfitures they sustained from the english and dutch fleets, who so kept the seas east and south of england, as to make a circuit round the orkney islands, with a descent to the westward of ireland, the most advisable, though as it proved, not the less dangerous line of return. john d'alton. . summer hill, dublin. _second exhumation of king arthur's remains_ (vol. v., p. .).--the details of the circumstances attending the first (i am not aware of any second) exhumation of these remains at glastonbury in , have been transmitted to us by giraldus cambrensis, who saw both the bones and the inscription, by the monk of glastonbury, and, briefly, by william of malmesbury, all cotemporaries with the event. sharon turner, in his _history of the anglo-saxons_, vo. edit., , vol. i. pp. - ., gives a full account, from these and other authorities, of this remarkable discovery. cowgill. _etymology of mushroom_ (vol. iii., p. .).--dr. rimbault states that the earliest example with which he is acquainted of this word, being spelt _mushrump_, occurs in the following passage in robert southwell's _spirituall poems_, : "he that high growth on cedars did bestow, gave also lowly _mushrumps_ leave to growe." i suppose that this word has been derived from _maesrhin_, one of the names of the mushroom in welsh. as the meanings of the word _rhin_ are "a channel," "a virtue," "a secret," "a charm," none of which are applicable to a mushroom, i conjecture that it is a corruption of the word _rhum_ (also spelt _rhump_), but i am unable to mention an instance of the word being spelt by any welsh writer of ancient times. the etymology which i suggest is _maesrhum_; from _maes_, "a field," and _rhum_, "a thing which bulges out." this meaning very nearly resembles that of the french name of one kind of mushroom, _champignon_. s. s. s. ( .) _the grave of cromwell_ (vol. v., p. .).--mr. oliver pemberton has referred your correspondent a. b. to lockinge's _naseby_ for an account of the protector's funeral and probable burial on the field of naseby. as the volume may not be very generally known, would a. b. like a summary of mr. lockinge's ten mo. pages? or could you, mr. editor, spare room for the whole? mastin, in his _history of naseby_, alludes to the doubts that have been expressed { } "relative to the funeral-place of the protector cromwell", and quotes a passage from banks's _life of cromwell_, but gives no opinion thereon. este. _edmund bohun_ (vol. v., p. .).--of edmund bohun's _historical collections_, in eight vols. folio, i became the purchaser at mr. bright's sale. they consist of a most curious and interesting collection of the newspapers, ballads, tracts, broadsides of the period ( - ) in regular series, bound up with original ms. documents, and with a manuscript correspondence with bohun from hickes, roger, coke, charlotte, and others, relating to the politics and news of the day. if your correspondent mr. rix, from whom i am glad to find we are to expect the private diary of bohun, wishes for a more particular description of the volumes, i shall be happy to furnish it. jas. crossley. _sneezing_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--d'israeli, in the first series of the _curiosities_, in a paper on the custom of saluting persons after sneezing, says: "a memoir of the french academy notices the practice in the new world, on the first discovery of america." a relation of mine tells me, that when young, he once fell down in a fit after a violent sneeze; the "cryst helpe" may therefore not be totally superfluous! a. a. d. _braem's memoires_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--permit me to inform mr. j. f. l. coenen that the ms. volume containing braem's _memoires touchant le commerce, &c._, is at oxford, in the library of sir robert taylor's institution, where it may be seen and consulted, but cannot be disposed of. mr. coenen is thanked for his obliging information. j. m. _portrait of mesmer_ (vol. v., p. .).--i beg to inform sigma there is a very good engraved profile (bust) of mesmer in a german work by him, entitled _mesmerismus, oder system der wechselwirkungen, &c._, published at berlin in , in vol. vo., a copy of which is now before me. j. m. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. scott's lady of the lake. ---- lay of the last minstrel. ---- marmion. the original to. editions in boards. flanagan on the round towers of ireland. to. . a narrative of the proceedings in the douglas cause. london, griffin, vo. . clare's poems. fcap. vo. last edition. mallet's elvira. magna charta; a sermon at the funeral of lady farewell, by george newton. london, . boothby's sorrows sacred to the memory of penelope. cadell and davies. . chaucer's poems. vol. i. aldine edition. biblia sacra, vulg. edit. cum commentar. menochii. alost and ghent, . vol. i. barante, ducs de bourgogne. vols. i. and ii. st, nd, or rd edit. paris. ladvocat, . biographia americana, by a gentleman of philadelphia. potgieseri de conditione servorum apud germanos. vo. col. agrip. the comedies of shadwell may be had on application to the publisher of "n. & q." *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. maria s. _will find ben. jonson's "verses on the marriage of the earl of somerset" in no. ., p. . of the present volume_. w. m. h. _the song quoted by mr. bernal osborne, which begins_, "who fears to speak of ninety-eight," _is reprinted in a volume of poetry extracted from the_ nation _newspaper, and printed in dublin under the title of "the spirit of the nation."_ eirionach'_s note on the fern will be welcome_. cuthbert bede. _how can we forward a letter to this correspondent?_ w. m. h. _the author of the work on the apocalypse, to which our correspondent refers, has no present intention of completing it, for reasons which our correspondent would, we are sure, respect._ _we are this week compelled by want of space to omit many articles of great interest--among which we may mention some shakspearian illustrations by mr. singer and_ a. e. b.; _mr. sternberg's popular stories of the english peasantry; rev. r. hooper's account of a copy of Æschylus, &c.; and for the same reason have omitted our usual_ notes on books _and_ list of replies received. _full price will be given for clean copies of_ no. . _upon application to our publisher_. 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[illustration: grotto del cani.] [illustration: _engraved for the book of curiosities. p. _] the book of curiosities: containing ten thousand wonders and curiosities of nature and art; and of remarkable and astonishing places, beings, animals, customs, experiments, phenomena, etc., of both ancient and modern times, on all parts of the globe: comprising authentic accounts of the most wonderful freaks of nature and arts of man. by the rev. i. platts. first american edition. complete in one volume. philadelphia: published by leary & getz. . contents. abderites, or inhabitants of abdera, curious account of, abstinence, wonders of, act of faith, adansonia; or, african calabash tree, agnesi, maria gaetana, account of, agrigentum, in sicily, ruins of, air, its pressure and elasticity, alarm bird, alexandria, buildings and library of, alhambra, alligators, american natural history, anagrams, andes, androides, anger, surprising effects of, animalcules, animal generation, curiosities respecting, animals, formation of, animals, preservation of, animals, destruction of, animal reproductions, animals and plants, winter sleep of, animals, remarkable strength of affection in, animals, surprising instances of sociality in, animals, unaccountable faculties possessed by some, animals, remarkable instances of fasting in, animal flower, anthropophagi, or men-eaters, account of, ants, curiosities of, ants, green, ants, white, or termites, ant, lion, ants, visiting, aphis, curiosities respecting, aqueducts, remarkable, arc, joan of, ark of noah, artificer, unfortunate, artificial figure to light a candle, asbestos, athos, mount, attraction, examples of, augsburg, curiosities of, aurora borealis, automaton, description of, b babylon, bacon flitch, custom at dunmow, essex, balbeck, ancient ruins of, bannian tree, baptism, a curious one, baratier, john philip, premature genius of, barometer, rules for predicting the weather by it, beards, remarks concerning, beaver, description of, beavers, habitations of the, bee, the honey, bees, wild, curiosities of, clothier bee, carpenter bee, mason bee, upholsterer bee, leaf-cutter bee, , , , bees, account of an idiot-boy and, bees, mr. wildman's curious exhibitions of, explained, bells, baptism of, benefit of clergy, origin and history of, bird of paradise, bird, singular account of one inhabiting a volcano in guadalope, bird-catching fish, bird-catching, curious method of, birds, method of preserving, birds, hydraulic, birds, song of, birds' nests, bisset, samuel, the noted animal instructor, bletonism, blind clergyman of wales, blind persons, astonishing acquisitions made by some, blind jack of knaresborough, blood, circulation of, blunders, book of, boa constrictor, boat-fly, body, human, curiosities of the, bolea, monte, books, curious account of the scarcity of, borrowdale, bottles, to uncork, boverick's curiosities, bowthorpe oak, bread-fruit tree, bread, old, curious account of, brine, to ascertain the strength of, brown, simon, and his curious dedication to queen caroline, bunzlau curiosities, buonaparte, principal events in the life of, burning spring in kentucky, burning and hot springs, , , , burning, extraordinary cures by, burning-glasses, bustard, the great, butterflies, beauty and diversities of, butterflies, to take an impression of their wings, c camera obscura, to make, candiac, john lewis, account of, candlemas-day, cannon, extraordinary, cards, origin of, carrier, or courier pigeon, carthage, ancient grandeur of, case, john, celebrated quack doctor, catching a hare, curious custom respecting, caterpillar, caterpillar-eaters, cave of fingal, cave near mexico, centaurs and lapithæ, chameleon, particulars respecting, changeable flower, cheese-mite, curiosities respecting, chemical illuminations, chick, formation of in the egg, child, extraordinary arithmetical powers of a, chiltern hundreds, china, great wall of, chinese, funeral ceremonies of the, christmas-boxes, origin of, cinchona, or peruvian bark, curious effects of, clepsydra, clock-work, extraordinary pieces of, clouds, electrified, terrible effects of, coal-pit, visit to one, cocoa-nut tree, coins of the kings of england, cold, surprising effects of extreme, colossus, colours, experiments on, colours, incapacity of distinguishing, combustion of the human body by the immoderate use of spirits, common house-fly, curiosities of the, company of stationers, singular custom annually observed by the, conscience, instances of the power of, cormorant, coruscations, artificial, cotton wool, curious particulars of a pound weight of, countenance, human, curiosities of the, cromwell, a. m. of hammersmith, a rich miser, creeds of the jews, crichton, the admirable, crichup linn, crocodile, crocodile, fossil, curiosity of, cuckoo, curiosities respecting, curfew bell, why so called, curious historical fact, d dancer, daniel, account of, dajak, inhabitants of borneo, curious funeral ceremonies of, deaf, to make the, perceive sounds, deaths, poetical, grammatical, and scientific, death-watch, diamond mine, on the river tigitonhonha, in the brazilian territory, diamond, wonderful, diana, temple of, at ephesus, dictionary, modern, dimensions, &c. of some of the largest trees growing in england, diseases peculiar to particular countries, dismal swamp, dog, remarkable, dog, curious anecdotes of a, dogs, sagacity of, dreams, instances of extraordinary, dwarfs, extraordinary, e eagle, the golden, ear, curious structure of the, earl of pembroke, curious extracts from the will of an, earth-eaters, earthquakes, and their causes, eating, singularities of different nations in, eclipses, eddystone rocks, egg, to soften an, electricity, illumination by, electrical experiments, elephant, account of an, elephant, docility of the, elwes, john, account of, english ladies turned hottentots, ephemeral flies, ephesus, temple of diana at, escurial, etna, extraordinary custom, eye, curious formation of the, f fact, the most extraordinary on record, fairy rings, falling stars, faquirs, travelling, fasting, extraordinary instances of, fata morgana, feasts, among the ancients of various nations, female beauty and ornaments, fiery fountain, fire-balls, fire of london, fire, perpetual, fisher, miss clara, fishes, air bladder in, fishes, respiration in, fishes, shower of, flea, account of a, flea, on the duration of the life of a, florence statues, fly, the common house, fly, the hessian, fly, the may, fly, the vegetable, fly, the boat, flying, artificial, fountain trees, freezing mixture, to form, freezing, astonishing expansive force of, friburg, curiosities of, friendship, curious demonstrations of, friendship, true roman, recipe for establishing, fright, or terror, remarkable effects of, frog, the common, frog-fish, frosts, remarkable, flower, the animal, fruits, injuries from swallowing the stones of, funeral ceremonies of the ancient ethiopians, fungi, g galley of hiero, galvanism, gardens, floating, gardens, hanging, garter, origin of the order of the, gas lights, miniature, gauts, or indian appenines, giants, curious account of, giant's causeway, gipsies, glaciers, glass, ductility of, glass, to cut, without a diamond, glass, to write on, by the sun's rays, gluttony, instances of extraordinary, gold, remarkable ductility and extensibility of, graham, the celebrated dr. gravity, experiments respecting the, great events from little causes, grosbeak, the social, grosbeak, the bengal, grotto in south america, grotto del cani, grotto of antiparos, grotto of guacharo, growth, extraordinary instances of rapid, guinea, explanation of all the letters on a, gulf stream, h hagamore, rev. mr. a most singular character, hail, surprising showers of, hair of the head, account of, hair, instances of the internal growth of, hair, ancient and modern opinions respecting the, halo, or corona, and similar appearances, hand-fasting, harmattan, harrison, a singular instance of parsimony, heat, diminished by evaporation, hecla, heidelberg clock, heinecken, christian henry, account of, hell, opinions respecting, henderson, john, the irish crichton, henry, john, singular character of, herculaneum and pompeii, herschel's grand telescope, hessian fly, hobnails, origin of the sheriff's counting, holland, north, curious practice in, honour, extraordinary instances of, horse, remarkable instances of sagacity in a, human heart, structure of the, humming bird, huntingdon, william, eccentric character of, hurricane, curious particulars respecting a, husband long absent, returned, hydra, or polypes, account of, i ice, greenland or polar, ice, tremendous concussions of fields of, ice, showers of, ignis fatuus, improvement of the learned, incubus, or nightmare, indian jugglers, individuation, indulgences, romish, ingratitude, shocking instances of, inks, various sympathetic, to insects, metamorphoses of: the butterfly, the common fly, the grey-coated gnat, the shardhorn beetle, insects blown from the nose, -- integrity, striking instances of, inverlochy castle, island, new, starting from the sea, j jew's harp, john bull, origin of the term of, k killarney, the lake of, kimos, singular nation of dwarfs, knout, kraken, l labrador stone, lady of the lamb, lama, lambert, daniel, account of, lamps, remarkable, lamp, phosphoric, lanterns, feast of, laocoon, monument of, leaves, to take an impression of them, letter, curious, from pomare, king of otaheite, to the missionary society, libraries, celebrated, light produced under water, lightning, extraordinary properties and effects of, lightning, to produce artificial, liquids, to produce changeable-coloured, liquids, to exchange two in different bottles, literary labour and perseverance, lizard, imbedded in coal, locusts, and their uses in the creation, london, compendious description of, london, intellectual improvement in, longevity, extraordinary instances of, louse, love-letter, and answer, curious, luminous insects, m m'avoy, miss margaret, maelstrom, magdalen's hermitage, magic oracle, magical bottle, magical drum, magnetism, magnetic experiments, magnify, to, small objects, mahometan paradise, maiden, mammoth, or fossil elephant, found in siberia, man with the iron mask, mandrake, marmot, or the mountain rat of switzerland, marriage custom of the japanese, marriage ceremonies, curious, in different nations, masons, free and accepted, mathematical talent, curious instance of, matrimonial ring, matter, divisibility of, may-fly, may poles and garlands, the origin of, memnon, palace of, memory, remarkable instance of, metals, different, to discover, metals, mixed, to detect, metcalf, john, alias blind jack of knaresborough, microscopic experiments, migration of birds, mills, remarkable, mint of segovia, miraculous vessel, mirage, account of, miners, curious effects of, mite, the cheese, curiosities respecting, mock suns, mocking bird of america, mole, the common, money, test of good or bad, monkey, sagacity of a, monsoons, or trade winds, monster, montague, edward wortley, mont blanc, in switzerland, moon, account of three volcanoes in the, morland, george, account of, moscow, great bell of, mosquitoes, and their uses, mourning, ancient modes of, mountains, natural descriptions of, mountains written, mountains of inscription, or jibbel el mokatteb, mount snowden, excursion to the top of, mud and salt, volcanic eruptions of, in the island of java, murdering statue, museum, mushroom, mushroom-stone, n names, curious, adopted in the civil war, naphtha springs, national debt, singular calculation respecting, natural productions, resembling artificial compositions, natural history, curious facts in, nautilus, navigation, perfection of, needles, needle's eye, news, origin of the word, newspapers, origin of, new studies in old age, instances of, new year's gifts, origin of, niagara, and its falls, nicholas pesce, nitre caves of missouri, nokes, edward, a miser, numbers, remarkable instance of skill in, numbers, curious arrangements of, , nuns, particulars respecting, nuovo, monte, o oak-tree, remarkable account of, oakham, custom at, obelisk, remarkable, near forres, in scotland, okey hole, orang-outang, origin of 'that's a bull,' origin of the old adage respecting st. swithin, and rainy weather, ornithorhynchus paradoxus, ostrich, curiosities of the, owl, adventure of an, p pausilippo, peacock, the common, peak in derbyshire, description of, peeping tom of coventry, peg, to make a, to fit three differently shaped holes, pelican, the great, penance, curious account of a, performances of a female, blind almost from her infancy, persons born defective in their limbs, wonderful instances of adroitness of, peruke, peru, mines of, pesce, nicholas, extraordinary character of, pharos of alexandria, phosphoric fire, sheet of, phosphorus, pichinca, pico, pigeon, wild, its multiplying power, pigeon, carrier, or courier, pin-making, pitch-wells, plague, dreadful instances of the, in europe, plant, curious, plants, curious dissemination of, plants upon the earth, prodigious number of, plough-monday, origin of, poison-eater, remarkable account of, pompey's pillar, pope joan, portland vase, praxiteles' venus, praying machines of kalmuck, price, charles, the renowned swindler, prince rupert's drops, prolificness, extraordinary instances of, psalmanazar, george, noted impostor, pulpit, curious, pyramids of egypt, q quaint lines, queen charlotte, curious address to, queen, a blacksmith's wife become a, queen elizabeth's dinner, curious account of the ceremonies at, queen elizabeth, quaint lines on, r recreations, amusing, in optics, &c. to recreations, amusing, with numbers, to religion, celebrated speech on, reproduction, repulsion, examples of, respiration, interesting facts concerning, revivified rose, rhinoceros, rings, on the origin of, rosin bubbles, royal progenitors, ruin at siwa in egypt, s salutation, various modes of, sand-floods, account of, savage, richard, extraordinary character of, scaliot's lock, scarron, paul, account of, schurrman, anna maria, scorpion, sea, curiosities of the, sea, on the saltness of, sea, to measure the depth of the, sea serpent, american, seal, common account of, seal, ursine, seeds, germination of, sensibility of plants, sensitive plant, seraglio, serpents, fascinating power of, sexes, difference between the, sexes at birth, comparative number of the, shark, sheep, extraordinary adventures of one, shelton oak, description of, ship worm, ship at sea, to find the burden of a, shoes, curiosities respecting, shoe-makers, literary, shower of gossamers, curious phenomenon of a, shrovetide, silk-mill at derby, silk stockings, electricity of, silkworm, singular curiosity, skiddaw, sleep-walker, sleeping woman of dunninald, smeaton, john, sneezing, curious observations on, snow grotto, solfatara, the lake of, sound, experiments on, spectacle of a sea-fight at rome, spectacles, a substitute for, spectre of the broken, spider, curiosities of the, spider, tamed, spider, ingenuity of a, spider, curious anecdote of a, spirits of wine, to ascertain the strength of, spontaneous inflammations, sports, book of, 'squire, old english, stalk, animated, star, falling or shooting, stephenson, the eccentric, steel, to melt, stick, to break a, on two wine-glasses, stone, the meteoric, stone, the labrador, stone, the changeable, stone-eater, remarkable account of, stonehenge, storks, storm, singular effects of a, strasburg clock, sugar, antiquity of, sulphur mountains, sun, diminution of the, sun, spots in the, --to shew ditto, surgical operation, extraordinary, swine's concert, sword-swallowing, sympathetic inks, to t tallow-tree, tantalus' cup, tape-worm, tea, chinese method of preparing, telegraph, temple of tentira, in egypt, tenures, curious, thermometrical experiments, thermometer, moral and physical, thread burnt, not broken, thunder powder, thunder rod, tides, titles of books, toad, common, description of, topham, thomas, character of, tornado, description of a, torpedo, tortoise, the common, tree of diana, trees, account of a country, in which the inhabitants reside in, u unbeliever's creed, unfortunate artificer, unicorn, upas, or poison tree, v valentine's-day, origin of, van butchell, mrs. preservation of her corpse, vegetable kingdom, curiosities in the, vegetables, number of known, vegetable fly, velocity of the wind, ventriloquism, vesuvius, , vicar of bray, voltaic pile, to make a cheap, vulture, egyptian, vulture, secretary, w wasp, curiosities respecting the, watch, the mysterious, watches, invention of, water, to boil without heat, water, to weigh, water, to retain, in an inverted glass, waterspout, waves stilled by oil, weaving engine, whale, great northern, or greenland, whale fishery, whig and tory, explanation of the terms, whirlpool near sudero, whirlwinds of egypt, whispering places, and extraordinary echoes, whitehead's ship, whittington, sir richard, wild man, account of a, wind, velocity of, winds, remarkable, in egypt, wine cellar, curious, winter in russia, wolby, henry, extraordinary character of, women with beards, curious account of, wooden eagle, and iron fly, writing, origin of the materials of, writing, minute, x xerxes' bridge of boats over the hellespont, z zeuxis, celebrated painter, . introduction. "ye curious minds, who roam abroad, and trace creation's wonders o'er! confess the footsteps of the god, and bow before him, and adore." it was well observed by lord bacon, that "it would much conduce to the magnanimity and honour of man, if a collection were made of the extraordinaries of human nature, principally out of the reports of history; that is, what is the last and highest pitch to which man's nature, of itself, hath ever reached, in all the perfection of mind and body. if the wonders of human nature, and virtues as well of mind as of body, were collected into a volume, they might serve as a calendar of human triumphs." the present work not only embraces the curiosities of human nature, but of nature and art in general, as well as science and literature. surrounded with wonders, and lost in admiration, the inquisitive mind of man is ever anxious to know the hidden springs that put these wonders in motion; he eagerly inquires for some one to take him by the hand, and explain to him the curiosities of the universe. and though the works of the lord, like his nature and attributes, are great, and past finding out, and we cannot arrive at the perfection of science, nor discover the secret impulses which nature obeys, yet can we by reading, study, and investigation, dissipate much of the darkness in which we are enveloped, and dive far beyond the surface of this multifarious scene of things--the noblest employment of the human understanding is, to contemplate the works of the great creator of the boundless universe; and to trace the marks of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, throughout the whole. this is the foundation of all religious worship and obedience; and an essential preparative for properly understanding, and cordially receiving, the sublime discoveries and important truths of divine revelation. "every man," says our saviour, "that hath heard, and hath learned of the father, cometh unto me." and no man can come properly to christ, or, in other words, embrace the christian religion, so as to form consistent views of it, and enter into its true spirit, unless he is thus drawn by the father through a contemplation of his works. such is the inseparable connection between nature and grace. a considerable portion of the following pages is devoted to curiosities in the works of nature, or, more properly, the works of god, for, "nature is but an effect, and god the cause." the deity is the "father of all that is, or heard, or hears! father of all that is, or seen, or sees! father of all that is, or shall arise! father of this immeasurable mass of matter multiform; or dense, or rare; opaque, or lucid; rapid, or at rest; minute, or passing bound! in each extreme of like amaze, and mystery, to man." the invisible god is seen in all his works. "god is a spirit, spirit cannot strike these gross material organs: god by man as much is seen, as man a god can see. in these astonishing exploits of power what order, beauty, motion, distance, size! concertion of design, how exquisite! how complicate, in their divine police! apt means! great ends! consent to general good!" this work also presents to the reader, a view of the great achievements of the human intellect, in the discoveries of science; and the wonderful operations of the skill, power, and industry of man in the invention and improvement of the arts, in the construction of machines, and in the buildings and other ornaments the earth exhibits, as trophies to the glory of the human race. but we shall now give the reader a short sketch of what is provided for him in the following pages. the work is divided into eighty-seven chapters. the curiosities respecting man occupy eleven chapters. the next four chapters are devoted to animals; then two to fishes; one to serpents and worms; three to birds; eleven to insects; six to vegetables; three to mountains; two to grottos, caves, &c.; one to mines; two to the sea; one to lakes, whirlpools, &c.; one to burning springs; one to earthquakes; one to remarkable winds; one to showers, storms, &c.; one to ice; one to ruins; four to buildings, temples, and other monuments of antiquity; and one to basaltic and rocky curiosities. the fifty-eighth chapter is devoted to the ark of noah--the galley of hiero--and the bridge of xerxes. the next six chapters detail at length the various customs of mankind in different parts of the world, and also explain many old adages and sayings. the next five chapters exhibit a variety of curious phenomena in nature, such as the ignis fatuus; thunder and lightning; fire balls; water spouts; fairy rings; spots in the sun; volcanoes in the moon; eclipses; shooting stars; aurora borealis, or northern lights; &c. &c. the seventieth chapter is on galvanism. the seventy-first on magnetism. the next three chapters delineate the principal curiosities respecting the arts. then follow five chapters on some of the principal curiosities in history; three on the curiosities of literature; and five on miscellaneous curiosities. an appendix is added, containing a number of easy, innocent, amusing experiments and recreations. this is "a new compilation," inasmuch as not one article is taken from any book bearing the title of beauties, wonders, or curiosities. the compiler trusts the work will afford both entertainment and instruction for the leisure hour, of the philosopher or the labourer, the gentleman or the mechanic. in short, all classes may find in the present work something conducive to their pleasure and improvement, in their hours of seriousness, as well as those of gaiety; and it will afford a constant source of subjects for interesting and agreeable conversation. the book of curiosities. chap. i. curiosities respecting man. _the human body--the countenance--the eye--the ear--the heart--the circulation of the blood--respiration--the hair of the head--the beard--women with beards--sneezing._ "come, gentle reader, leave all meaner things to low ambition, and the pride of kings. let us, since life can little more supply than just to look about us, and to die; expatiate free o'er all this scene of man, a mighty maze! but not without a plan. a wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot; or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. together let us beat this ample field, try what the open, what the covert yield; the latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore, of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar: eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, and catch the manners living as they rise; laugh where we must, be candid where we can, but vindicate the ways of god to man." we shall, in the first place, enter on the consideration of the curiosities of the human body.--the following account is abridged from the works of the late drs. hunter and paley. dr. hunter shows that all the parts of the human frame are requisite to the wants and well-being of such a creature as man. he observes, that, first the mind, the thinking immaterial agent, must be provided with a place of immediate residence, which shall have all the requisites for the union of spirit and body; accordingly, she is provided with the _brain_, where she dwells as governor and superintendant of the whole fabric. in the next place, as she is to hold a correspondence with all the material beings around her, she must be supplied with organs fitted to receive the different kinds of impression which they will make. in fact, therefore, we see that she is provided with the _organs of sense_, as we call them: the eye is adapted to light; the ear to sound; the nose to smell; the mouth to taste; and the skin to touch. further, she must be furnished with _organs of communication_ between herself in the brain, and those organs of sense; to give her information of all the impressions that are made upon them; and she must have organs between herself in the brain, and every other part of the body, fitted to convey her commands and influence over the whole. for these purposes the _nerves_ are actually given. they are soft white chords which rise from the brain, the immediate residence of the mind, and disperse themselves in branches through all parts of the body. they convey all the different kinds of sensations to the mind in the brain; and likewise carry out from thence all her commands to the other parts of the body. they are intended to be occasional monitors against all such impressions as might endanger the well-being of the whole, or of any particular part; which vindicates the creator of all things, in having actually subjected us to those many disagreeable and painful sensations which we are exposed to from a thousand accidents in life. moreover, the mind, in this corporeal system, must be endued with the power of moving from place to place; that she may have intercourse with a variety of objects; that she may fly from such as are disagreeable, dangerous, or hurtful; and pursue such as are pleasant and useful to her. and accordingly she is furnished with limbs, with _muscles_ and _tendons_, the instruments of motion, which are found in every part of the fabric where motion is necessary. but to support, to give firmness and shape to the fabric; to keep the softer parts in their proper places; to give fixed points for, and the proper directions to its motions, as well as to protect some of the more important and tender organs from external injuries, there must be some firm _prop-work_ interwoven through the whole. and in fact, for such purposes the _bones_ are given. the prop-work is not made with one rigid fabric, for that would prevent motion. therefore there are a number of bones. these pieces must all be firmly bound together, to prevent their dislocation. and this end is perfectly well answered by the _ligaments_. the extremities of these bony pieces, where they move and rub upon one another, must have smooth and slippery surfaces for easy motion. this is most happily provided for, by the _cartilages_ and _mucus_ of the joints. the interstices of all these parts must be filled up with some soft and ductile matter, which shall keep them in their places, unite them, and at the same time allow them to move a little upon one another; these purposes are answered by the _cellular membrane_, or edipose substance. there must be an outward covering over the whole apparatus, both to give it compactness, and to defend it from a thousand injuries; which, in fact, are the very purposes of the _skin_ and other integuments. say, what the various bones so wisely wrought? how was their frame to such perfection brought? what did their figures for their uses fit, their numbers fix, and joints adapted knit; and made them all in that just order stand, which motion, strength, and ornament, demand? _blackmore._ lastly, the mind being formed for society and intercourse with beings of her own kind, she must be endued with powers of expressing and communicating her thoughts by some sensible marks or signs, which shall be both easy to herself, and admit of great variety. and accordingly she is provided with the _organs_ and faculty of _speech_, by which she can throw out signs with amazing facility, and vary them without end. thus we have built up an animal body, which would seem to be pretty complete; but as it is the nature of matter to be altered and worked upon by matter, so in a very little time such a living creature must be destroyed, if there is no provision for repairing the injuries which she must commit upon herself, and those which she must be exposed to from without. therefore a treasure of blood is actually provided in the heart and vascular system, full of nutritious and healing particles; fluid enough to penetrate into the minutest parts of the animal; impelled by the heart, and conveyed by the arteries, it washes every part, builds up what was broken down, and sweeps away the old and useless materials. hence we see the necessity or advantage of the _heart_ and _arterial system_. what more there was of the blood than enough to repair the present damages of the machine, must not be lost, but should be returned again to the heart; and for this purpose the _venous_ system is provided. these requisites in the animal explain the circulation of the blood, _a priori_.[ ] all this provision, however, would not be sufficient; for the store of blood would soon be consumed, and the fabric would break down, if there was not a provision made by fresh supplies. these, we observe, in fact, are profusely scattered round her in the animal and vegetable kingdoms; and she is furnished with hands, the fittest instruments that could be contrived for gathering them, and for preparing them in their varieties for the mouth. but these supplies, which we call food, must be considerably changed; they must be converted into blood. therefore she is provided with teeth for cutting and bruising the food, and with a stomach for melting it down; in short, with all the organs subservient to digestion: the finer parts of the aliments only can be useful in the constitution; these must be taken up and conveyed into the blood, and the dregs must be thrown off. with this view, the intestinal canal is provided. it separates the nutritious parts, which we call chyle, to be conveyed into the blood by the system of the absorbent vessels; and the coarser parts pass downwards to be ejected. we have now got our animal not only furnished with what is wanting for immediate existence, but also with powers of protracting that existence to an indefinite length of time. but its duration, we may presume, must necessarily be limited; for as it is nourished, grows, and is raised up to its full strength and utmost perfection; so it must in time, in common with all material beings, begin to decay, and then hurry on into final ruin. thus we see, by the imperfect survey which human reason is able to take of this subject, that the animal man must necessarily be complex in his corporeal system, and in its operations. he must have one great and general system, the vascular, branching through the whole circulation: another, the nervous, with its appendages--the organs of sense, for every kind of feeling: and a third, for the union and connection of all these parts. besides these primary and general systems, he requires others, which may be more local or confined: one, for strength, support, and protection,--the bony compages: another, for the requisite motions of the parts among themselves, as well as for moving from place to place,--the muscular system: another to prepare nourishment for the daily recruit of the body,--the digestive organs. dr. paley observes, that, of all the different systems in the human body, the use and necessity are not more apparent, than the wisdom and contrivance which have been exerted, in putting them all into the most compact and convenient form: in disposing them so, that they shall mutually receive from, and give helps to one another: and that all, or many of the parts, shall not only answer their principal end or purpose, but operate successfully and usefully in a variety of secondary ways. if we consider the whole animal machine in this light, and compare it with any machine in which human art has exerted its utmost, we shall be convinced, beyond the possibility of doubt, that there are intelligence and power far surpassing what humanity can boast of. one superiority in the natural machine is peculiarly striking.--in machines of human contrivance or art, there is no internal power, no principle in the machine itself, by which it can alter and accommodate itself to injury which it may suffer, or make up any injury which admits of repair. but in the natural machine, the animal body, this is most wonderfully provided for, by internal powers in the machine itself; many of which are not more certain and obvious in their effects, than they are above all human comprehension as to the manner and means of their operation. thus, a wound heals up of itself; a broken bone is made firm again by a callus; a dead part is separated and thrown off; noxious juices are driven out by some of the emunctories; a redundancy is removed by some spontaneous bleeding; a bleeding naturally stops of itself; and the loss is in a measure compensated, by a contracting power in the vascular system, which accommodates the capacity of the vessels to the quantity contained. the stomach gives intimation when the supplies have been expended; represents, with great exactness, the quantity and quality, of what is wanted in the present state of the machine; and in proportion as she meets with neglect, rises in her demand, urges her petition in a louder tone, and with more forcible arguments. for its protection, an animal body resists heat and cold in a very wonderful manner, and preserves an equal temperature in a burning and in a freezing atmosphere. a farther excellence or superiority in the natural machine, if possible, still more astonishing, more beyond all human comprehension, than what we have been speaking of, is the distinction of sexes, and the effects of their united powers. besides those internal powers of self-preservation in each individual, when two of them, of different sexes, unite, they are endued with powers of producing other animals or machines like themselves, which again are possessed of the same powers of producing others, and so of multiplying the species without end. these are powers which mock all human invention or imitation. they are characteristics of the _divine architect_.--thus far paley. galen takes notice, that there are in the human body above muscles, in each of which there are, at least, several intentions, or due qualifications, to be observed; so that, about the muscles alone, no less than ends and aims are to be attended to! the bones are reckoned to be ; and the distinct scopes or intentions of these are above --in all, about , ! and thus it is, in some proportion, with all the other parts, the _skin_, _ligaments_, _vessels_, and _humours_; but more especially with the several vessels, which do, in regard to their great variety, and multitude of their several intentions, very much exceed the homogeneous parts. --------------------how august, how complicate, how wonderful, is man! how passing wonder he who made him such!-- from different natures marvellously mixt;-- though _sully'd_ and _dishonour'd_, still divine! _young._ "come! all ye nations! bless the lord, to him your grateful homage pay: your voices raise with one accord, jehovah's praises to display. from clay our complex frames he moulds, and succours us in time of need: like sheep when wandering from their folds, he calls us back, and does us feed. then thro' the world let's shout his praise, ten thousand million tongues should join, to heav'n their thankful incense raise, and sound their maker's love divine. when rolling years have ceas'd their rounds, yet shall his goodness onward tend; for his great mercy has no bounds, his truth and love shall never end!" so curious is the texture or form of the human body in every part, and withal so "fearfully and wonderfully made," that even atheists, after having carefully surveyed the frame of it, and viewed the fitness and usefulness of its various parts, and their several intentions, have been struck with wonder, and their souls kindled into devotion towards the all-wise maker of such a beautiful frame. and so convinced was galen of the excellency of this piece of divine workmanship, that he is said to have allowed epicurus a hundred years to find out a more commodious shape, situation, or texture, for any one part of the human body! indeed, no understanding can be so low and mean, no heart so stupid and insensible, as not plainly to see, that nothing but infinite wisdom could, in so wonderful a manner, have fashioned the body of man, and inspired into it a being of superior faculties, whereby he teacheth us more than the beasts of the field, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of the heaven. --------------thrice happy men, and sons of men, whom god hath thus advanc'd; created in his image, here to dwell, and worship him; and, in return, to rule o'er all his works. _milton._ we now proceed to consider the curiosities of the human countenance.--on this subject we shall derive considerable assistance from the same german philosopher that was quoted in the last section. indeed, we shall make a liberal use of sturm's reflections in our delineations of the curiosities of the human frame. the exterior of the human body at once declares the superiority of man over all living creatures. his _face_, directed towards the heavens, prepares us to expect that dignified expression which is so legibly inscribed upon his features; and from the countenance of man we may judge of his important destination, and high prerogatives. when the soul rests in undisturbed tranquillity, the features of the face are calm and composed; but when agitated by emotions, and tossed by contending passions, the countenance becomes a living picture, in which every sensation is depicted with equal force and delicacy. each affection of the mind has its particular impression, and every change of countenance denotes some secret emotion of the heart. the _eye_ may, in particular, be regarded as the immediate organ of the soul; as a mirror, in which the wildest passions and the softest affections are reflected without disguise. hence it may be called with propriety, the true interpreter of the soul, and organ of the understanding. the colour and motions of the eye contribute much to mark the character of the countenance. the human eyes are, in proportion, nearer to one another than those of any other living creatures; the space between the eyes of most of them being so great, as to prevent their seeing an object with both their eyes at the same time, unless it is placed at a great distance. next to the eyes, the eye-brows tend to fix the character of the countenance. their colour renders them particularly striking; they form the shade of the picture, which thus acquires greater force of colouring. the eye-lashes, when long and thick, give beauty and additional charms to the eye. no animals, but men and monkeys, have both eye-lids ornamented with eye-lashes; other creatures having them only on the lower eye-lid. the eye-brows are elevated, depressed, and contracted, by means of the muscles upon the forehead, which forms a very considerable part of the face, and adds much to its beauty when well formed: it should neither project much, nor be quite flat; neither very large, nor small; beautiful hair adds much to its appearance. the _nose_ is the most prominent, and least moveable part of the face; hence it adds more to the beauty than the expression of the countenance. the _mouth_ and _lips_ are, on the contrary, extremely susceptible of changes; and, if the eyes express the passions of the soul, the mouth seems more peculiarly to correspond with the emotions of the heart. the rosy bloom of the lips, and the ivory white of the teeth, complete the charms of the human face divine. another curiosity on this subject is, the wonderful diversity of traits in the human countenance. it is an evident proof of the admirable wisdom of god, that though the bodies of men are so similar to each other in their essential parts, there is yet such a diversity in their exterior, that they can be readily distinguished without the liability of error. amongst the many millions of men existing in the universe, there are no two that are perfectly similar to each other each one has some peculiarity pourtrayed in his countenance, or remarkable in his speech; and this diversity of countenance is the more singular, because the parts which compose it are very few, and in each person are disposed according to the same plan. if all things had been produced by blind chance, the countenances of men might have resembled one another as nearly as balls cast in the same mould, or drops of water out of the same bucket: but as that is not the case, we must admire the infinite wisdom of the creator, which, in thus diversifying the traits of the human countenance, has manifestly had in view the happiness of men; for if they resembled each other perfectly, they could not be distinguished from one another, to the utter confusion and detriment of society. we should never be certain of life, nor of the peaceable possession of our property; thieves and robbers would run little risk of detection, for they could neither be distinguished by the traits of their countenance, nor the sound of their voice. adultery, and every crime that stains humanity, might be practiced with impunity, since the guilty would rarely be discovered; and we should be continually exposed to the machinations of the villain, and the malignity of the coward: we could not shelter ourselves from the confusion of the mistake, nor from the treachery and fraud of the deceitful; all the efforts of justice would be useless, and commerce would be the prey of error and uncertainty: in short, the uniformity and perfect similarity of faces would deprive society of its most endearing charms, and destroy the pleasure and sweet gratification of individual friendship. we may well exclaim with a celebrated writer,-- "what a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form, and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god!" the next subject is, the curious formation of the eye.--the _eye_ infinitely surpasses all the works of man's industry. its structure is one of the most wonderful things the human understanding can become acquainted with; the most skilful artist cannot devise any machine of this kind which is not infinitely inferior to the eye; whatever ability, industry, and attention he may devote to it, he will not be able to produce a work that does not abound with the imperfections incident to the works of men. it is true, we cannot perfectly become acquainted with all the art the divine wisdom has displayed in the structure of this beautiful organ; but the little that we know suffices to convince us of the admirable intelligence, goodness, and power of the creator. in the first place, how fine is the disposition of the exterior parts of the eye, how admirably it is defended! placed in durable orbits of bone, at a certain depth in the skull, they cannot easily suffer any injury; the over-arching eye-brows contribute much to the beauty and preservation of this exquisite organ; and the eye-lids more immediately shelter it from the glare of light, and other things which might be prejudicial; inserted in these are the eye-lashes, which also much contribute to the above effect, and also prevent small particles of dust, and other substances, striking against the eye.[ ] the internal structure is still more admirable. the globe of the eye is composed of tunics, humours, muscles, and vessels; the coats are the cornea, or exterior membrane, which is transparent anteriorly, and opake posteriorly; the charoid, which is extremely vascular; the uvea, with the iris, which being of various colours, gives the appearance of differently coloured eyes; and being perforated, with the power of contraction and dilatation, forms the pupil; and, lastly, the retina, being a fine expansion of the optic nerve, upon it the impressions of objects are made. the humours are the aqueous, lying in the forepart of the globe, immediately under the cornea; it is thin, liquid, and transparent; the crystalline, which lies next to the aqueous, behind the uvea, opposite to the pupil, it is the least of the humours, of great solidity, and on both sides convex; the vitreous, resembling the white of an egg, fills all the hind part of the cavity of the globe, and gives the spherical figure to the eye. the muscles of the eye are six, and by the excellence of their arrangement it is enabled to move in all directions. vision is performed by the rays of light falling on the pellucid and convex cornea of the eye, by the density and convexity of which they are united into a focus, which passes the aqueous humours, and pupil of the eye, to be more condensed by the crystalline lens. the rays of light thus concentrated, penetrate the vitreous humour, and stimulate the retina upon which the images of objects, painted in an inverse direction, are represented to the mind through the medium of the optic nerves. ------------------the _visual orbs_ remark, how aptly station'd for their task; rais'd to th' imperial head's high citadel, a wide extended prospect to command. see the arch'd outworks of impending lids, with hairs, as palisadoes fenc'd around to _ward annoyance_ from without. _bally._ again:-- who form'd the curious organ of the _eye_, and cloth'd it with its various tunicles, of texture exquisite; with crystal juice supply'd it, to transmit the rays of light; then plac'd it in its station eminent, well _fenc'd_ and _guarded_, as a _centinel_ to watch abroad, and needful caution give? _needler._ the next subject is, the curious structure of the ear. the channel'd ear, with many a winding maze, how artfully perplex'd, to catch the sound. and from her repercussive caves augment! _bally._ dark night, that from the eye his function takes, the ear more quick of apprehension makes; wherein it doth impair the seeing sense, it pays the hearing--_double recompense_. _shakspeare._ although the ear, with regard to beauty, yields to the eye, its conformation is not less perfect, nor less worthy of the creator. the position of the ear bespeaks much wisdom; for it is placed in the most convenient part of the body, near to the brain, the common seat of all the senses. the exterior form of the ear merits considerable attention; its substance is between the flexible softness of flesh, and the firmness of bone, which prevents the inconvenience that must arise from its being either entirely muscular or wholly formed of solid bone. it is therefore cartilaginous, possessing firmness, folds, and smoothness, so adapted as to reflect sound; for the chief use of the external part is to collect the vibrations of the air, and transmit them to the orifice of the ear. the internal structure of this organ is still more remarkable. within the cavity of the ear is an opening, called the meatus auditorius, or auditory canal, the entrance to which is defended by small hairs, which prevent insects and small particles of extraneous matter penetrating into it; for which purpose there is also secreted a bitter ceruminous matter, called ear-wax. the auditory canal is terminated obliquely by a membrane, generally known by the name of drum, which instrument it in some degree resembles; for within the cavity of the auditory canal is a kind of bony ring, over which the membrana tympani is stretched. in contact with this membrane, on the inner side, is a small bone (malleus) against which it strikes when agitated by the vibrations of sound. connected with these are two small muscles: one, by stretching the membrane, adapts it to be more easily acted upon by soft and low sounds; the other, by relaxing, prepares it for those which are very loud. besides the malleus, there are some other very small and remarkable bones, called incus, or the anvil, as orbiculare, or orbicular bone, and the stapes, or stirrup: their use is, to assist in conveying the sounds received upon the membrana tympani. behind the cavity of the drum, is an opening, called the eustachian tube, which begins at the back part of the mouth with an orifice, which diminishes in size as the tube passes towards the ear, where it becomes bony; by this means, sounds may be conveyed to the ear through the mouth, and it facilitates the vibrations of the membrane by the admission of air. we may next observe the cochlea, which somewhat resembles the shell of a snail, whence its name; its cavity winds in a spiral direction, and is divided into two by a thin spiral lamina: and lastly is the auditory nerve, which terminates in the brain. the faculty of hearing is worthy of the utmost admiration and attention: by putting in motion a very small portion of air, without even being conscious of its moving, we have the power of communicating to each other our thoughts, desires, and conceptions. but to render the action of air in the propagation of sound more intelligible, we must recollect that the air is not a solid, but a fluid body. throw a stone into a smooth stream of water, and there will take place undulations, which will be extended more or less according to the degree of force with which the stone was impelled. conceive then, that when a word is uttered in the air, a similar effect takes place in that element, as is produced by the stone in the water. during the action of speaking, the air is expelled from the mouth with more or less force; this communicates to the external air which it meets, an undulatory motion; and these undulations of the air entering the cavity of the ear, the external parts of which are peculiarly adapted to receive them, strike upon the membrane, or drum, by which means it is shaken, and receives a trembling motion: the vibration is communicated to the malleus, the bone immediately in contact with the membrane, and from it to the other bones; the last of which, the stapes or stirrup, adhering to the fenestra ovalis, or oval orifice, causes it to vibrate; the trembling of which is communicated to a portion of water contained in the cavity called the vestibulum, and in the semicircular canals, causing a gentle tremor in the nervous expansion contained therein, which is transmitted to the brain; and the mind is thus informed of the presence of sound, and feels a sensation proportioned to the force or to the weakness of the impression that is made. let us rejoice that we possess the faculty of hearing; for without it, our state would be most wretched and deplorable; in some respects, more sorrowful than the loss of sight; had we been born deaf, we could not have acquired knowledge sufficient to enable us to pursue any art or science. let us never behold those who have the misfortune to be deaf, without endeavoring better to estimate the gift of which they are deprived, and which we enjoy; or without praising the goodness of god, which has granted it to us: and the best way we can testify our gratitude is, to make a proper use of this important blessing. we now proceed to a more particular description of the curiosities of the human heart; and the circulation of the blood. ------though no shining sun, nor twinkling star bedeck'd the crimson curtains of the sky; though neither vegetable, beast, nor bird, were extant on the surface of this ball, nor lurking gem beneath; though the great sea slept in profound stagnation, and the air had left no thunder to pronounce its maker: yet man at home, _within himself_ might find the deity immense, and in that frame _so fearfully, so wonderfully made_! see and adore his providence and power. _smart._ with what admirable skill and inimitable structure is formed that muscular body, situated within the cavity of the chest, and called the human heart! its figure is somewhat conical, and it is externally divided into two parts: the base, which is uppermost, and attached to vessels; and the apex, which is loose and pointing to the left side, against which it seems to beat. its substance is muscular, being composed of fleshy fibres, interwoven with each other. it is divided internally into cavities, called auricles and ventricles; from which vessels proceed to convey the blood to the different parts of the body. the ventricles are situated in the substance of the heart, and are separated from each other by a thick muscular substance; they are divided into right and left, and each communicates with its adjoining auricle, one of which is situated on each side the base of the heart. the right auricle receives the blood from the head and superior parts of the body, by means of a large vein; and in the same manner the blood is returned to it from the inferior parts, by all the veins emptying their stores into one, which terminates in this cavity; which, having received a sufficient portion of blood, contracts, and by this motion empties itself into the right ventricle, which also contracting, propels the blood into an artery, which immediately conveys it into the lungs, where it undergoes certain changes, and then passes through veins into the left auricle of the heart, thence into the left ventricle, by the contraction of which it is forced into an artery, through whose ramifications it is dispersed to all parts of the body, from which it is again returned to the right auricle; thus keeping up a perpetual circulation, for, whilst life remains, the action of the heart never ceases. in a state of health the heart contracts about seventy times in a minute, and is supposed, at each contraction, to propel about two ounces of blood; to do which, the force it exerts is very considerable, though neither the quantity of force exerted, nor of blood propelled, is accurately determined. the heart comprises within itself a world of wonders, and whilst we admire its admirable structure and properties, we are naturally led to consider the wisdom and power of him who formed it, from whom first proceeded the circulation of the blood, and the pulsations of the heart; who commands it to be still, and the functions instantly cease to act. this important secret of the circulation of blood in the human body was brought to light by william harvey, an english physician, a little before the year : and when it is considered thoroughly, it will appear to be one of the most stupendous works of omnipotence. _the blood_, the fountain whence the spirits flow, the generous stream that waters every part, and motion, vigour, and warm life conveys to every particle that moves or lives, ----------------through unnumber'd tube. _pour'd by the heart_, and _to the heart again refunded_.---------- _armstrong._ who in the dark the vital flame illum'd, and from th' impulsive engine caused to flow th' ejaculated streams through many a pipe _arterial_ with meand'ring lapse, then bring refluent their _purple tribute_ to their fount: who spun the _sinews'_ branchy thread, and twin'd the azure _veins_ in spiral knots, to waft life's tepid waves all o'er; or, who with _bones_ compacted, and with nerves the fabric strung: their specious form, their fitness, which results from figure and arrangement, all declare th' artificer divine! _bally._ again:-- ------the nerves, with equal wisdom made. arising from the tender brain, pervade and secret pass in pairs the channel'd bone. and thence advance through paths and roads unknown. form'd of the finest complicated thread, the num'rous cords are through the body spread. these subtle channels, such is every nerve, for vital functions, sense, and motion serve;-- they help to labour and concoct the _food_, refine the _chyle_, and animate the _blood_. _blackmore._ we now proceed to some curious and interesting facts concerning respiration, or the act of breathing. anatomists have, not unaptly, compared the lungs to a sponge; containing, like it, a great number of small cavities, and being also capable of considerable compression and expansion. the air cells of the lungs open into the windpipe, by which they communicate with the external atmosphere: the whole internal structure of the lungs is lined by a transparent membrane, estimated by haller at only the thousandth part of an inch in thickness; but whose surface, from its various convolutions, measures fifteen square feet, which is equal to the external surface of the body. on this extensive and thin membrane innumerable branches of veins and arteries are distributed, some of them finer than hairs; and through these vessels all the blood in the system is successively propelled, by an extremely curious and beautiful mechanism, which will be described in some future article. the capacity of the lungs varies considerably in different individuals.[ ] on a general average, they may be said to contain about cubic inches, or nearly five quarts of air. by each inspiration about forty cubic inches of air are received into the lungs, and at each expiration the same quantity is discharged. if, therefore, we calculate that twenty respirations take place in a minute, and forty cubic inches to be the amount of each inspiration, it follows, that in one minute, we inhale cubic inches; in an hour, the quantity of air inspired will be , cubic inches; and in the twenty-four hours, it will amount to , , cubic inches. this quantity of air will almost fill wine hogsheads, and would weigh nearly pounds. from this admirable provision of nature, by which the blood is made to pass in review, as it were, of this immense quantity of air, and over so extensive a surface, it seems obvious, that these two fluids are destined to exert some very important influence on each other; and it has been proved, by a very decisive experiment of dr. priestley's, that the extremely thin membrane, which is alone interposed, does not prevent the exercise of the chemical affinity which prevails between the air which is received in the lungs, and the blood which is incessantly circulating through them. it must surely, therefore, be of the first importance to health, that the fluid of which we hourly inhale, at least, three hogsheads, should not be contaminated by the suspension of noxious effluvia. the purity of the atmosphere may be impaired either by the operation of what some denominate natural causes, or by the influence of circumstances resulting from our social condition. its chemical constitution is changed by respiration; the vital principle is destroyed, and its place supplied by a highly poisonous gas. the emanations from the surface of our bodies contribute, in a still greater degree, to vitiate the atmosphere, and to render it less fit for the healthful support of life. many of the organs which compose our wonderfully complicated frame are engaged in discharging the constituent parts of our bodies, which, by the exercise of the various animal functions, are become useless, and, if retained, would become noxious. physiologists have instituted a variety of experiments, to ascertain the amount of the exhalations from the surface of the body. sanctorius, an eminent italian physician, from a series of experiments performed during a period of thirty years, estimates it as greater than the aggregate of all our other discharges. from his calculations it would appear, that if we take of liquid and solid food eight pounds in the twenty-four hours, that five pounds are discharged by perspiration alone, within that period; and of this, the greater part is what has been denominated insensible perspiration, from its not being cognizable to the senses. we may estimate the discharge from the surface of the body, by sensible and insensible perspiration, as from half an ounce to four ounces per hour. the exhalations from the lungs and the skin are, to a certain extent, offensive even in the most healthy individuals; but when proceeding from those labouring under disease, they are in a state very little removed from putrefaction. animal miasmata, like all other poison, become more active in proportion to the quantity which we imbibe. when, therefore, the air is stagnant, and when many individuals contribute their respective supplies of effluvia to vitiate it, the atmosphere necessarily becomes satured with the poison; and when inhaled, conveys it in a more virulent and concentrated state to the extensive and delicate surface of the lungs. the collection of animal effluvia in confined places, is the source of the generation and diffusion of febrile infection: but when the miasmata are respired, in a diluted state, the ill effects which they produce, though slower in their operation, are equally certain. they, to a certain extent, pollute the fountain of life, and ultimately break down the vigour of the most robust frame; impairing the action of the digestive organs, engendering the whole train of nervous disorders, and rendering the body more susceptible of disease. the lungs and the skin may equally become the means of introducing poisonous or infectious matter into the constitution. the venom of a poisonous animal, the matter of small-pox, and many other contagions, produce their influence through the medium of the skin. infectious diseases are communicated by the reception of air in our lungs, impregnated with contagious matter. the influence of the constant respiration of air in any degree impure, is fully evinced in the pallid countenances and languid frames of those who live in confined and ill-ventilated places; and the health of all classes of society suffers precisely in proportion to the susceptibility of their constitutions, and according to the greater or less impurities of the air which they habitually respire. of the offensive nature of animal effluvia, the senses of every one who enters a crowded assembly, must immediately convince him. when, therefore, we reflect on the state of the air which we breathe in churches, theatres, schools, and all crowded assemblies; and when we consider the amount of the exhalations emitted by each individual, and the very offensive nature of those emitted by many; and when, on the other hand, we take into consideration the importance of air to life, and the great quantity of this fluid which we daily respire, we must be naturally led to the adoption of such measures as would secure in our private dwellings, as well as in our public buildings, a full and unintermitting supply of fresh atmospheric air. it is curious to observe the influence of habit, in reconciling us to many practices which would otherwise be considered in the highest degree offensive. thus, while, with a fastidious delicacy, we avoid drinking from a cup which has been already pressed to the lips of our friends, we feel no hesitation in receiving into our lungs an atmosphere contaminated by the breath and exhalations of every promiscuous assembly. "were once the energy of air deny'd, the heart would cease to pour its purple tide the purple tide forget its wonted play, nor back again pursue its curious way." the next subject of curiosity we shall consider, is, the hair of the head. if we consider the curious structure, and different uses of the hair of our heads, we shall find them very well worth our attention, and discover in them proofs of the wisdom and power of god. in each entire hair we perceive with the naked eye, an oblong slender filament, and a bulb at the extremity thicker and more transparent than the rest of the hair. the filament forms the body of the hair, and the bulb the root. the large hairs have their root, and even part of the filament, enclosed in a small membraneous vessel or capsule. the size of this sheath is proportionate to the size of the root, being always rather larger, that the root may not be too much confined, and that some space may remain between it and the capsule. the root or bulb has two parts, the one external, the other internal. the external is a pellicle composed of small laminæ; the internal is a glutinous fluid, in which some fibres are united; it is the marrow of the root. from the external part of the bulb proceed five, and sometimes, though rarely, six small white threads, very delicate and transparent, and often twice as long as the root. besides these threads, small knots are seen rising in different places; they are viscous, and easily dissolved by heat. from the interior part of the bulb proceeds the body of the hair, composed of three parts; the external sheath, the interior tubes, and the marrow. when the hair has arrived at the pore of the skin through which it is to pass, it is strongly enveloped by the pellicle of the root, which forms here a very small tube. the hair then pushes the cuticle before it, and makes of it an external sheath, which defends it at the time when it is still very soft. the rest of the covering of the hair, is a peculiar substance, and particularly transparent at the point. in a young hair this sheath is very soft, but in time becomes so hard and elastic, that it springs back with some noise when it is cut. it preserves the hair a long time. immediately beneath the sheath are several small fibres, which extend themselves along the hair from the root to the extremity. these are united amongst themselves, and with the sheath that is common to them, by several elastic threads; and these bundles of fibres form together a tube filled with two substances; the one fluid, the other solid; and these constitute the marrow of the hair. the wonders of creating power are seen in every thing, even in the hair that adorns our surface. all are but parts of one stupendous whole, whose body nature is, and god the soul. that, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the same; great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame; warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent, spreads undivided, operates unspent; breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, as full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; as full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, as the rapt seraph that adores and burns: to him no high, no low, no great, no small; he fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. _pope._ we shall now introduce to our readers some _ancient and modern opinions respecting the hair_. the ancients held the hair a sort of excrement, fed only with excrementitious matters, and no proper part of a living body. they supposed it generated of the fuliginous parts of the blood, exhaled by the heat of the body to the surface, and then condensed in passing through the pores. their chief reasons were, that the hair being cut, will grow again, even in extreme old age, and when life is very low; that in hectic and consumptive people, where the rest of the body is continually emaciating, the hair thrives; nay, that it will even grow again in dead carcases. they added, that hair does not feed and grow like the other parts, by introsusception, i. e. by a juice circulating within it, but, like the nails, by juxtaposition. but the moderns are agreed, that every hair properly and truly lives, and receives nutriment to fill it, like the other parts; which they prove hence, that the roots do not turn grey in aged persons sooner than the extremities, but the whole changes colour at once; which shews that there is a direct communication, and that all the parts are affected alike. in strict propriety, however, it must be allowed, that the life and growth of hairs is of a different kind from that of the rest of the body, and is not immediately derived therefrom, or reciprocated therewith. it is rather of the nature of vegetation. they grow as plants do, or as some plants shoot from the parts of others; from which, though they draw their nourishment, yet each has, as it were, its distinct life and economy. they derive their food from some juices in the body, but not from the nutritious juices of the body; whence they may live, though the body be starved. wulferus, in the _philosophical collections_, gives an account of a woman buried at nurenberg, whose grave being opened forty-three years after her death, hair was found issuing forth plentifully through the clefts of the coffin. the cover being removed, the whole corpse appeared in its perfect shape; but, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, covered over with thick-set hair, long and curled. the sexton going to handle the upper part of the head with his fingers, the whole fell at once, leaving nothing in his hand but a handful of hair: there was neither skull nor any other bone left: yet the hair was solid and strong. mr. arnold, in the same collection, gives a relation of a man hanged for theft, who, in a little time, while he yet hung upon the gallows, had his body strangely covered over with hair. before we dismiss this subject, we shall give the following curious _instances of the internal growth of hair_. though the external surface of the body is the natural place for hairs, we have many well-attested instances of their being found also on the internal surface. amatus lusitanus mentions a person who had hair upon his tongue. pliny and valerius maximus say, that the heart of aristomenes the messenian, was hairy. cællus rhodiginus relates the same of hermogenes the rhetorician; and plutarch, of leonidas king of sparta. hairs are said to have been found in the breasts of women, and to have occasioned the distemper called _trichiasis_; but some authors are of opinion, that these are small worms, and not hairs. there have been, however, various and indisputable evidences of hairs found in the kidneys, and voided by natural discharge. hippocrates says, that the glandular parts are the most subject to hair; but bundles of hair have been found in the muscular parts of beef, and in parts of the human body equally firm. hair has been often found in abscesses and imposthumations. schultetus, opening the abdomen of a human body, found twelve pints of water, and a large lock of hair swimming loosely in it. it has, however, been found on examination, that some of the internal parts of the body are more subject to an unnatural growth of hair than others. this has long been known to anatomists; and many memorable instances have been recorded by dr. tyson, and others. in some animals, hairs of a considerable length have been discovered growing in the internal parts; and on several occasions, they have been found lying loosely in the cavities of the veins. there are instances of mankind being affected in the same manner. cardan relates, that he found hair in the blood of a spaniard; slonatius, in that of a gentlewoman of cracovia; and schultetus declares, from his own observation, that those people, who are afflicted with the plica polonica, have very often hair in their blood. we shall, in the next place, call the reader's attention to some curious remarks concerning the beard. a beard gives to the countenance a rough and fierce air, suited to the manners of a rough and fierce people. the same face without a beard appears milder; for which reason, a beard becomes unfashionable in a polished nation. demosthenes, the orator, lived in the same period with alexander the great, at which time the greeks began to leave off beards. a bust, however, of that orator, found in herculaneum, has a beard, which must either have been done for him when he was young, or from reluctance in an old man to a new fashion. barbers were brought to rome from sicily, the th year after the building of rome. and it must relate to a time after that period, what aulus gellius says, that people accused of any crime were prohibited to shave their beards till they were absolved. from hadrian downward, the roman emperors wore beards. julius capitolinus reproaches the emperor verus for cutting his beard at the instigation of a concubine. all the roman generals wore beards in justinian's time. the pope shaved his beard, which was held a manifest apostasy by the greek church, because moses, jesus christ, and even god the father, were always drawn with beards by the greek and latin painters. upon the dawn of smooth manners in france, the beaus cut the beards into shapes, and curled the whiskers. that fashion produced a whimsical effect: men of gravity left off beards altogether. a beard, in its natural shape, was too fierce even for them; and they could not, for shame, copy after the beaus. this accounts for a regulation, anno , of the university of paris, forbidding the professors to wear a beard. now follows, _a curious account of_ women _with beards_. of women remarkably bearded we have several instances. in the cabinet of curiosities at stutgard, in germany, there is the portrait of a young woman, called _bartel graetje_, whose chin is covered with a very large beard. she was drawn in , at which time she was but twenty-five years of age. there is likewise, in another cabinet, the same portrait of her when she was more advanced in life, but likewise with a beard. it is said, that the duke of saxony had the portrait of a poor swiss woman taken, remarkable for her long bushy beard; and those who were at the carnival of venice in , saw a female dancer astonish the spectators, not more by her talents, than by her chin covered with a black bushy beard. charles xii. had in his army a female grenadier, who wanted neither courage nor a beard to be a man. she was taken at the battle of pultowa, and carried to petersburg, where she was presented to the czar, in : her beard measured a yard and a half. we read in the trevoux dictionary, that there was a woman seen at paris, who had not only a bushy beard on her face, but her body likewise covered all over with hair. among a number of other examples of this nature, that of the great margaret, the governess of the netherlands, is very remarkable. she had a very long stiff beard, which she prided herself on: and being persuaded that it contributed to give her an air of majesty, she took care not to lose a hair of it. it is said, that the lombard women, when they were at war, made themselves beards with the hair of their heads, which they ingeniously arranged on their cheeks, that the enemy, deceived by the likeness, might take them for men. it is asserted, after suidas, that in a similar case the athenian women did as much. these women were more men than our _jemmy-tessamy_ countrymen. about a century ago, the french ladies adopted a mode of dressing their hair in such a manner, that curls hung down their cheeks as far as their bosom. these curls went by the name of _whiskers_. this custom, undoubtedly, was not invented after the example of the lombard women, to fight men. we shall close this chapter with some curious observations on sneezing. the practice of saluting the person who sneezed existed in africa, among nations unknown to the greeks and romans. strada, in his _account of monomotapa_, informs us, (_prol. acad._) that when the prince sneezes, all his subjects in the capital are advertised of it, that they may offer up prayers for his safety. the author of the conquest of peru assures us, that the cacique of gachoia having sneezed in the presence of the spaniards, the indians of his train fell prostrate before him, stretched forth their hands, and displayed to him the accustomed marks of respect, while they invoked the sun to enlighten him, to defend him, and to be his constant guard. the ancient romans saluted each other on these occasions: and pliny relates, that tiberius exacted these signs of homage when drawn in his chariot. superstition, whose influence debases every thing, had degraded this custom for several ages, by attaching favourable or unfavourable omens to sneezing, according to the hour of the day or night, according to the signs of the zodiac, according as a work was more or less advanced, or according as one had sneezed to the right or to the left. if a man sneezed at rising from table, or from his bed, it was necessary for him to sit or lie down again. 'you are struck with astonishment,' said timotheus to the athenians, who wished to return into the harbour with their fleet, because he had sneezed; 'you are struck with astonishment, because among ten thousand there is one man whose brain is moist.' it is singular enough, that so many ridiculous, contradictory, and superstitious opinions, have not abolished those customary civilities which are still preserved equally among high and low. the reason is obvious: they are preserved, because they are esteemed civilities, and because they cost nothing. among the greeks, sneezing was almost always a good omen. it excited marks of tenderness, of respect, and attachment. the young parthenis, hurried on by her passion, resolved to write to sarpedon an avowal of her love; she sneezes in the most tender and impassioned part of her letter: this is sufficient for her; this incident supplies the place of an answer, and persuades her that sarpedon is her lover. penelope, harassed by the vexatious courtship of her suitors, begins to curse them all, and to pour forth vows for the return of ulysses. her son telemachus interrupts her by a loud sneeze. she instantly exults with joy, and regards this sign as an assurance of the approaching return of her husband. (_hom. odyss._ lib. xvii.). xenophon was haranguing his troops; a soldier sneezed in the moment when he was exhorting them to embrace a dangerous but necessary resolution. the whole army, moved by this presage, determined to pursue the project of their general; and xenophon orders sacrifices to jupiter the preserver. this superstitious reverence for sneezing, so ancient, and so universal even in the times of homer, excited the curiosity of the greek philosophers, and of the rabbins. these last have a most absurd tradition respecting it. aristotle remounts likewise to the sources of natural religion, because the brain is the origin of the nerves, of our sentiments, sensations, &c. such were the opinions of the most ancient and sagacious philosophers of greece; and mythologists affirmed, that the first sign of life prometheus's artificial man gave, was by sternutation. chap. ii. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _difference between the sexes--comparative number of the sexes at a birth--extraordinary prolification--extraordinary instances of rapid growth--giants--dwarfs--kimos--curious account of the abderites--account of a country in which the inhabitants reside in trees._ difference between the sexes. o woman, lovely woman! nature made you to temper man!------------ angels are painted fair to look like you. there's in you all that we believe of heav'n, amazing brightness, purity, and truth, eternal joy, and everlasting love! _otway._ under his forming hands a creature grew; --------------------------------adorn'd with what all earth or heaven could bestow, to make her amiable.---- grace was in all her steps, heav'n in her eye, in every gesture dignity and love. _milton._ lavater has drawn the following characteristic distinctions between the male and female of the human species. the primary matter of which women are constituted, appears to be more flexible, irritable, and elastic, than that of man. they are formed to maternal mildness and affection; all their organs are tender, yielding, easily wounded, sensible, and receptible. among a thousand females, there is scarcely one without the generic feminine signs,--the flexible, the circular, and the irritable. they are the counterpart of man, taken out of man, to be subject to man; to comfort him like angels; and to lighten his cares. this tenderness, this sensibility, this light texture of their fibres and organs, this volatility of feeling, render them so easy to conduct and to tempt, so ready of submission to the enterprise and power of the man; but more powerful, through the aid of their charms, than man with all his strength. the female thinks not profoundly; profound thought is the power of the man. women feel more. sensibility is the power of woman: they often rule more effectually, more sovereignly, than man. they rule with tender looks, tears, and sighs, but not with passion and threats; for if, or _when_, they so rule, they are no longer _women_ but _abortions_. they are capable of the sweetest sensibility, the most profound emotion, the utmost humility, and the excess of enthusiasm. in their countenance are the signs of sanctity and inviolability, which every feeling man honours, and the effects of which are often miraculous. therefore, by the irritability of their nerves, their incapacity for deep inquiry and firm decision, they may easily, from their extreme sensibility, become the most irreclaimable, the most rapturous enthusiasts. their love, strong and rooted as it is, is very changeable; their hatred almost incurable. men are most profound; women are more sublime. man hears the bursting thunder, views the destructive bolt with serene aspect, and stands erect amidst the fearful majesty of the streaming clouds; woman trembles at the lightning, and the voice of distant thunder; and sinks into the arms of man. woman is in anguish when man weeps, and in despair when man is in anguish; yet has she often more faith than man. man, without religion, is a diseased creature, who would persuade himself he is well, and needs not a physician; but women without religion are monstrous. a woman with a beard is not so disgusting as a woman who is a free-thinker; her sex is formed to piety and religion: to them christ first appeared. the whole world is forgotten in the emotion caused by the presence and proximity of him they love. they sink into the most incurable melancholy, as they also rise to the most enraptured heights. male sensations is more imagination, female more heart. when communicative, they are more communicative than man; when secret, more secret. in general they are more patient, long-suffering, credulous, benevolent, and modest. they differ also in their interior form and appearance. man is the most firm; woman is the most flexible. man is the straightest; woman the most bending. man is serious; woman is gay. man is the tallest and broadest; woman the smallest and weakest. man is rough and hard; woman smooth and soft. man is brown; woman is fair. man is wrinkly; woman is not. the hair of man is more strong and short; of woman more long and pliant. the eye-brows of man are compressed; and of woman less frowning. man has most convex lines; woman most concave. man has most straight lines; woman most curved. the countenance of man, taken in profile, is more seldom perpendicular than that of woman. man is most angular; woman most round. in determining the comparative merit of the two sexes, if it should be found (what is indeed the fact) that women fill up their appointed circle of action with greater regularity than men, the claim of preference must decide in their favour. in the prudential and economical parts of life, they rise far above us. the following is a very curious calculation of the comparative number of the sexes at a birth. the celebrated m. hufeland, of berlin, has inserted in his journal of practical medicine, some interesting observations in illustration of the comparative numbers of the sexes at a birth. the number of males born, to that of females, observes the learned professor, seems to be to over the whole earth; and before they reach the age of puberty, the proportion of the sexes is reduced to perfect equality; more boys than girls die before they are fourteen. after extending his interesting comparison over animated nature in general, professor hufeland enters into an inquiry, peculiar to himself, in endeavouring to ascertain the principles and commencement of the equality of the sexes. in some families, says he, equality evidently does not hold. in some, the children are all boys; in others, all girls. he next proceeds to take several families, as , , , or , in one place, in conjunction; or small villages of or inhabitants. but even then, the just proportion was not yet established. in some years, only boys, in others only girls were born; nay, this disproportion continued for a series of a year or two; but by uniting ten or fifteen years together, the regular equality appeared. he next considered, that what took place in small populations must take place every year in larger societies; and he accordingly found it confirmed by actual enumeration. he went so far as, by the aid of the minister of state, schackman, to ascertain the comparative number of boys and girls born in one day over the whole prussian dominions, and the result corresponded with his anticipations. the general conclusions arrived at by m. hufeland, are as follow:-- st. there is an equal number of males and females born in the human race.-- d. the equality occurs every day in a population of ten millions.-- d. every week in , .-- th. every month in , .-- th. every year in , .-- th. and in small societies of several families, every ten or fifteen years.-- th. that it does not occur in individual families. the reader will be amused by the following instances of extraordinary prolification. the prolific powers of some individuals among mankind are very extraordinary. instances have been found where children, to the number of six, seven, eight, nine, and sometimes sixteen, have been brought forth at one birth. the wife of emmanuel gago, a labourer near valladolid, was delivered, the th of june, , of five girls. the celebrated tarsin was brought to bed in the seventh month, at argenteuil near paris, th of july, , of three boys, each fourteen inches and a half long, and of a girl thirteen inches: they were all baptized, but did not live twenty-four hours. in june, , one maria ruiz, of lucena in andalusia, was successively delivered of sixteen boys, without any girls: seven of them were alive on the th of august following. in , a muscovite peasant, named james kyrloff, and his wife, were presented to the empress of russia. this peasant had been twice married, and was then seventy years of age. his first wife was brought to bed twenty-one times; namely, four times of four children each time, seven times of three, and ten times of two; making in all fifty-seven children, who were then alive. his second wife, who accompanied him, had been delivered seven times, once of three children, and six times of twins. thus he had seventy-two children by his two marriages. we now proceed to narrate some extraordinary instances of rapid growth. a remarkable instance of rapid growth in the human species was noticed in france, in , by the academy of sciences. it was a lad, then only seven years old, who measured four feet eight inches and four lines high, without his shoes. his mother observed his extraordinary growth and strength at two years old, which continued to increase with such rapidity, that he soon arrived at the usual standard. at four years old he was able to lift and throw the common bundles of hay in stables into the horses' racks; and at six years old, he could lift as much as a sturdy fellow of twenty. but although he thus increased in bodily strength, his understanding was no greater than is usual with children of his age; and their playthings were also his favourite amusements. another boy, a native of bouzanquet, in the diocese of alais, though of a strong constitution, appeared to be knit and stiff in his joints, till he was about four years and a half old. during this time, nothing farther was remarkable respecting him, than an extraordinary appetite, which nothing could satisfy, but an abundance of the common aliments of the inhabitants of the country, consisting of rye bread, chesnuts, bacon, and water. his limbs, however, soon becoming supple and pliable, and his body beginning to expand itself, he grew up in such an extraordinary manner, that at the age of five years he measured four feet three inches. some months after, he was four feet eleven inches; and at six, five feet, and bulky in proportion. his growth was so rapid, that every month his clothes required to be made longer and wider; yet it was not preceded by any sickness, nor accompanied with any pain. at the age of five years his voice changed, his beard began to appear; and at six, he had as much as a man of thirty; in short, all the unquestionable marks of maturity were visible in him. though his wit was riper than is commonly observable at the age of five or six, yet its progress was not in proportion to that of his body. his air and manner still retained something childish, though by his bulk and stature he resembled a complete man, which at first sight produced a very singular contrast. his voice was strong and manly, and his great strength rendered him already fit for the labours of the country. at five, he could carry to a great distance, three measures of rye, weighing eighty-four pounds; when turned of six, he could lift up easily to his shoulders, and carry loads of one hundred and fifty pounds weight to a great distance; and these exercises were exhibited by him as often as the curious engaged him thereto by some liberality. such beginnings made people think that he should soon shoot up into a giant. a mountebank was already soliciting his parents for him, and flattering them with hopes of putting him in a way of making a great fortune. but all these hopes suddenly vanished. his legs became crooked, his body shrunk, his strength diminished, his voice grew sensibly weaker, and he at last sunk into a total imbecility;--thus his rapid maturity was followed by as swift decay. in the _paris memoirs_, there is an account of a girl, who, when four years old, was four feet six inches in height, and had her limbs well proportioned, and her breasts fully expanded, like those of a girl of eighteen. these things are more singular and marvellous in the northern than in the southern climates, where females come sooner to maturity. in some places of the east indies, they have children at nine years of age. it seems at first view astonishing, that children of such early and prodigious growth do not become giants; but it appears evident, that the whole is only a premature expansion of the parts; and accordingly, such children, instead of becoming giants, always decay and die apparently of old age, long before the natural term of human life. as it is our intention in this work to keep as close as possible to facts, we shall not, knowingly, deal in fiction or fable. it is from a most respectable source that we have derived the following curious account of giants. m. le cat, in a memoir read before the academy of sciences at rouen, gives the following account of giants that are said to have existed in different ages. profane historians have given seven feet of height to hercules, their first hero; and in our days we have seen men eight feet high. the giant, who was shown in rouen, in , measured eight feet some inches. the emperor maximin was of that size. shenkins and platerus, physicians of the last century, saw several of that stature; and goropius saw a girl who was ten feet high. the body of orestes, according to the greeks, was eleven feet and a half; the giant galbara, brought from arabia to rome, under claudius cæsar, was near ten feet; and the bones of secondilla and pusio, keepers of the gardens of sallust, were but six inches shorter. funnam, a scotsman, who lived in the time of eugene ii. king of scotland, measured eleven feet and a half; and jacob le maire, in his voyage to the straits of magellan, reports, that on the th of december, , they found at port desire, several graves covered with stones; and having the curiosity to remove the stones, they discovered human skeletons of ten and eleven feet long. the chevalier scory, in his voyage to the peak of teneriffe, says, that they found, in one of the sepulchral caverns of that mountain, the head of a gaunche, which had eighty teeth, and that the body was not less than fifteen feet long. the giant ferragus, slain by orlando, nephew of charlemagne, was eighteen feet high. rioland, a celebrated anatomist, who wrote in , says, that some years before, there was to be seen, in the suburbs of st. germain, the tomb of the great giant isoret, who was twenty feet high. in rouen, in , in digging in the ditches near the dominicans, they found a stone tomb, containing a skeleton whose skull held a bushel of corn, and whose shin bone reached up to the girdle of the tallest man there, being about four feet long; and, consequently, the body must have been seventeen or eighteen feet high. upon the tomb was a plate of copper, whereon was engraved, "in this tomb lies the noble and puissant lord, the chevalier ricon de vallemont, and his bones." platerus, a famous physician, declares, that he saw at lucerne, the true human body of a subject which must have been at least nineteen feet high. valence, in dauphiné, boasts of possessing the bones of the giant bucart, tyrant of the vivarias, who was slain with an arrow by the count de cabillon, his vassal. the dominicans had a part of the shin bone, with the articulation of his knee, and his figure painted in fresco, with an inscription, showing "that this giant was twenty-two feet and a half high, and that his bones were found in , near the banks of the morderi, a little river at the foot of the mountain of crusal, upon which (tradition says) the giant dwelt." m. le cat adds, that skeletons have been discovered of giants, of a still more incredible height, viz. of theutobochus, king of the teutones, found on the th of january, , twenty-five feet and a half high; of a giant near mazarino, in sicily, in , thirty feet; of another, in , near palermo, thirty feet; of another, in , of thirty-three feet; of two found near athens, thirty-three and thirty-six feet; and of one at tuto, in bohemia, in , whose leg bones alone measured twenty-six feet! but whether these accounts are credited or not, we are certain that the stature of the human body is by no means fixed. we are ourselves a kind of giants, in comparison of the laplanders; nor are these the most diminutive people to be found upon the earth. the abbé la chappe, in his journey into siberia, to observe the last transit of venus, passed through a village inhabited by people called wotiacks, who were not above four feet high. the accounts of the patagonians likewise, which cannot be entirely discredited, render it very probable, that somewhere in south america there is a race of people very considerably exceeding the common size of mankind; and consequently that we cannot altogether discredit the relations of giants, handed down to us by ancient authors, though what degree of credit we ought to give them, is not easy to be determined. no less true than remarkable is the following curious account of dwarfs. jeffery hudson, the famous english dwarf, was born at oakham in rutlandshire, in ; and about the age of seven or eight, being then but eighteen inches high, was retained in the service of the duke of buckingham, who resided at burleigh on the hill. soon after the marriage of charles i. the king and queen being entertained at burleigh, little jeffrey was served up to table in a cold pie, and presented by the duchess to the queen, who kept him as her dwarf. from seven years till thirty, he never grew taller; but after thirty he shot up to three feet nine inches, and there fixed. jeffery became a considerable part of the entertainment of the court. sir william davenant wrote a poem called _jeffreidos_, on a battle between him and a turkey cock; and in was published a very small book, called the _new year's gift_, presented at court by the lady parvula to the lord minimus, (commonly called _little jeffery_,) her majesty's servant, written by microphilus, with a little print of jeffery prefixed. before this period, jeffery was employed on a negociation of great importance: he was sent to france to fetch a midwife for the queen; and on his return with this gentlewoman, and her majesty's dancing-master, and many rich presents to the queen from her mother mary de medicis, he was taken by the dunkirkers. jeffery, thus made of consequence, grew to think himself really so. he had borne with little temper the teazing of the courtiers and domestics, and had many squabbles with the king's gigantic porter. at last, being provoked by mr. crofts, a young gentleman of family, a challenge ensued: and mr. crofts coming to the rendezvous armed only with a squirt, the little creature was so enraged, that a real duel ensued; and the appointment being on horseback, with pistols, to put them more on a level, jeffery, at the first fire, shot his antagonist dead. this happened in france, whither he had attended his mistress during the troubles. he was again taken prisoner by a turkish rover, and sold into barbary. he probably did not remain long in slavery, for, at the beginning of the civil war, he was made a captain in the royal army; and in , attended the queen to france, where he remained till the restoration. at last, upon suspicion of his being privy to the popish plot, he was taken up in , and confined in the gate-house of westminster, where he ended his life in the sixty-third year of his age. [illustration: the orang-outang, satyr, great ape, or man of the woods.--page .] [illustration: jeffrey hudson.--page . a remarkable english dwarf who flourished in the reigns of charles the first and charles the second. the female figure is the midwife whom he brought from france for the queen.] in the memoirs of the royal academy of sciences, a relation is given by the count de tressau, of a dwarf, called _bebe_, kept by stanislaus iii. king of poland; who died in , aged twenty-three, when he measured only thirty-three inches. at his birth, he measured only between eight and nine inches. diminutive as were his dimensions, his reasoning faculties were not less scanty; appearing indeed not to have been superior to those of a well-taught pointer: but, that the size and strength of the intellectual powers are not affected by the diminutiveness or tenuity of the corporeal organs, is evident from a still more striking instance of littleness, given us by the same nobleman, in the person of monsieur borulawski, a polish gentleman, whom he saw at luneville, whence he visited paris, and who, at the age of twenty-two, measured only twenty-eight inches. this miniature of a man, considering him only as to his bodily dimensions, appears a _giant_ with _regard_ to his mental powers and attainments. he is described by the count as possessing all the graces of wit, united with a sound judgment and an excellent memory; so that we may with justice say of m. borulawski, in the words of seneca, and nearly in the order in which he has used them, "_posse ingenium, fortissimum ac beatissimum, sub quolibet corpusculo latere_." epist. . count borulawski was the son of a polish nobleman attached to the fortunes of king stanislaus, who lost his property in consequence of that attachment, and who had six children; three dwarfs, and three well grown. what is singular enough, they were born alternately, a big one and a little one, though both parents were of the common size. the little count's youngest sister was much less than him, but died at the age of twenty-three. the count continued to grow till he was about thirty, when he had attained the height of three feet two inches: he lived to see his fifty-first year. he never experienced any sickness, but lived in a polite and affluent manner, under the patronage of a lady, a friend of the family, till love, at the age of forty-one, intruded into his little peaceful bosom, and involved him in matrimony, care, and perplexity. the lady he chose was of his own country, but of french extraction, and the middle size. they had three children, all girls, and none of them likely to be dwarfs. to provide for a family now became an object big with difficulty, requiring all the exertion of his powers (which could promise but little) and his talents, of which music alone afforded any view of profit. he played extremely well upon the guitar; and by having concerts in several of the principal cities in germany, he raised temporary supplies. at vienna he was persuaded to turn his thoughts to england, where, it was believed, the public curiosity might in a little time benefit him sufficiently to enable him to live independent in so cheap a country as poland. he was furnished by very respectable friends with recommendations to several of the most distinguished characters in this kingdom, as the duchess of devonshire, rutland, &c. whose kind patronage he was not backward to acknowledge. he was advised to let himself be seen as a curiosity, and the price of admission was fixed at a guinea. the number of his visitors, of course, was not very great. after a pretty long stay in london, he went to bath and bristol; visited dublin, and some other parts of ireland; whence he returned by way of liverpool, manchester, and birmingham, to london. he also visited edinburgh, and some other towns in scotland. in every place he acquired a number of friends. in reality, the ease and politeness of his manners and address pleased no less than the diminutive yet elegant proportions of his figure, astonished those who visited him. his person was pleasing and graceful, and his look manly and noble. he spoke french fluently, and english tolerably. he was remarkably lively and cheerful, though fitted for the most serious and rational conversation. such was this wonderful little man--an object of curiosity really worthy the attention of the philosopher, the man of taste, and the anatomist. his life has been published, written by himself. the following account of a singular nation of dwarfs, is taken from the monthly review for , being vol. , of the new series. the subject is a review of "a voyage to madagascar; by the abbé rochon." they are called the kimos. the kimos are a nation of pigmies, said to inhabit the mountains in the interior part of the island of madagascar, of whom tradition has long encouraged the belief:--but flacourt, in the last century, treated the stories then in circulation with great contempt. the abbé rochon, however, has revived them; and has not only given them the sanction of his own belief, but that of _m. commerson_, and of _m. de modave_, the late governor of fort dauphin. as their opinions are of weight, and as the subject is curious, we shall present our readers with an epitome of the memoirs which these gentlemen drew up concerning the _kimos_, and which our author has inserted entire in the body of his work. "lovers of the marvellous, (says _m. commerson_,) who would be sorry to have the pretended size of the patagonian giants reduced to six feet, will perhaps be made some amends by a race of pigmies, who are wonderful in the contrary extreme. i mean those half men, who inhabit the interior part of the great island of madagascar, and form a distinct nation, called, in the language of the country, _kimos_. these little men are of a paler colour than the rest of the natives, who are in general black. their arms are so long, that when stretched out, they reach to the knees, without stooping. the women have scarcely breasts sufficient to mark their sex, except at the time of lying-in; and even then they are obliged to have recourse to cow's milk, to feed their children. "the intellectual faculties of this diminutive race are equal to those of the other inhabitants of the island, who are by no means deficient in understanding, though extremely indolent. indeed, the kimos are said to be much more active and warlike, so that their courage being in a duplicate ratio of their size, they have never suffered themselves to be oppressed and subdued by their neighbours, who have often attempted it. it is astonishing, that all we know of this nation is from the neighbouring people; and that neither the governors of the isle of france, of bourbon, nor the commanders of our forts on the coast of madagascar, have ever endeavoured to penetrate into this country. it has indeed been lately attempted, but without success. "i shall however attest, as an eye-witness, that in a voyage which i made in to fort dauphin, _m. de modave_, the last governor, gratified my curiosity, by shewing me, among his slaves, a female of the kimos tribe, about thirty years of age, and three feet seven inches high. she was of a much paler colour than any other natives of madagascar that i had seen, was well-made, and did not appear misshapen, nor stinted in her growth, as accidental dwarfs usually are. her arms were indeed too long, in proportion to her height, and her hair was short and woolly: but her countenance was good, and rather resembled that of an european than an african. she had a natural habitual smile on her face, was good-humoured, and seemed, by her behaviour, to possess a good understanding. no appearance of breasts was observable, except nipples: but this single instance is not sufficient to establish an exception so contrary to the general law of nature. a little before our departure from madagascar, the desire of recovering her liberty, joined to the fear of being carried into france, stimulated this little slave to run away into the woods. "on the whole, i conclude, in firmly believing the existence of this diminutive race of human beings, who have a character and manners peculiar to themselves. the laplanders seem to be the medium between men of the common size and these dwarfs. both inhabit the coldest countries and the highest mountains upon the earth. these of madagascar, on which the _kimos_ reside, are sixteen or seventeen hundred toises, or fathoms, above the level of the sea. the plants and vegetables which grow on these heights, are naturally dwarfs." _m. de modave_ says,--"when i arrived at fort dauphin, in , i had a memoir put into my hands, which was ill drawn up, giving an account of a pigmy race of people, called _kimos_, who inhabit the middle region of madagascar, in latitude °. i tried to verify the fact, by preparing for an expedition into the country which is said to be thus inhabited: but by the infidelity and cowardice of the guides, my scheme failed. yet i had such indisputable information of this extraordinary fact, that i have not the least doubt of the existence of such a nation. the common size of the men is three feet five inches. they wear long round beards. the women are some inches shorter than the men, who are thick and stout. their colour is less black and swarthy than that of the natives; their hair is short and cottony. they forge iron and steel, of which they make their lances and darts; the only weapons that they use. the situation of their country is about sixty leagues to the north-west of fort dauphin. i procured a female of this nation, but she was said to be much taller than usual among the _kimos_, for she was three feet seven inches in height. she was very thin, and had no more appearance of breasts than the leanest man." to these relations, the _abbé rochon_ says, he might add that of an officer who had procured a _kimos_ man, and would have brought him to europe, but m. de surville, who commanded the vessel in which he was to embark, refused to grant his permission. respectable historians have presented us with the following curious account of the abderites, or inhabitants of abdera. it is reported, that in the reign of cassander, king of macedon, they were so pestered with frogs and rats, that they were obliged to desert their city for some time: and lucian tells us, that in the reign of lysimachus, they were for some months afflicted with a fever of a most extraordinary nature, whose crisis was always on the seventh day, and then it left them; but it so distracted their imaginations, that they fancied themselves players. after this, they were ever repeating verses from some tragedy, and particularly out of the andromeda of euripides, as if they had been upon the stage; so that many of these pale, meagre actors, were pouring forth tragic exclamations in every street. this delirium continued till the winter following; which was a very cold one, and therefore fitter to remove it. lucian, who has described this disease, endeavours to account for it in this way:--archelaus, an excellent player, acted the andromeda of euripides before the abderites, in the height of a very hot summer. several had a fever at their coming out of the theatre, and as their imaginations were full of the tragedy, the delirium, which the fever raised, perpetually represented andromeda, perseus, medusa, &c. and the several dramatic incidents, and called up the ideas of those objects, and the pleasure of the representation, so strongly, that they could not forbear imitating archelaus' action and declamation: and from these the fever spread to others by infection. a most respectable writer (madame de genlis) has given us the following curious account of a country, the inhabitants of which reside in trees. a young spanish adventurer, of the name of vasco nugnez, whom a handsome figure, united to a natural wit and courage, advanced to the highest eminence of glory and fortune; pursuing his researches over the darien, a region abounding in lakes and marshes, arrived in a country where the houses were of a very singular contrivance, being built in the largest trees, the branches of which enveloped the sides, and formed the roof. they contained chambers and closets of a tolerable construction. each family was separately lodged. every house had two ladders, one of which reached from the foot to the middle of the tree, and the other from thence to the entrance of the highest chamber: they were composed of cane, and so light as to be easily lifted up, which was done every night, and formed a security from the attacks of tigers and other wild beasts, with which this province abounds. the chief of the country was in his palace, that is to say--his tree, when the castilians came among them. on seeing the strangers, he hastened to draw up his ladders, while the spaniards called to him aloud to descend without fear. he replied, that being unconscious of having offended any one, and having no concern with strangers, he begged he might be suffered to remain undisturbed in his habitation. on this they threatened to cut down or set fire to his tree, and at length obliged him to descend with his two sons. to their inquiries, 'if he had any gold,' he replied, that he had none there, because it was of no use to him; but, if they would suffer him to go, he would fetch them some from a neighbouring mountain. the castilians the more readily believed the promise, as he consented to leave with them his wife and children. but after having waited some days for his return, they discovered that this pretence was only a stratagem to withdraw himself from their hands; that their hostages likewise, during the night, had found an opportunity of escaping by means of their ladders, and that the inhabitants of every neighbouring tree had, in the same manner, fled. chap. iii. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _astonishing acquisitions made by blind persons--wonderful performances of a female, blind almost from infancy--wonderful instances of adroitness of persons born defective in their limbs--curious account of incapacity of distinguishing colours--ventriloquism--sword-swallowing._ astonishing acquisitions made by blind persons. we find various recompenses for blindness, or substitutes for the use of the eyes, in the wonderful sagacity of many blind persons, recited by zahnius, in his 'oculus artificialis,' and others. in some, the defect has been supplied by a most excellent gift of remembering what they had seen; in others, by a delicate nose, or the sense of smelling; in others, by an exquisite touch, or a sense of feeling, which they have had in such perfection, that, as it has been said of some, they learned to hear with their eyes, so it may be said of these, that they taught themselves to see with their hands. some have been enabled to perform all sorts of curious and subtle works in the nicest and most dexterous manner.--aldrovanus speaks of a sculptor who became blind at twenty years of age, and yet, ten years after, made a perfect marble statue of cosmo ii. de medicis; and another of clay, like urban viii. bartholin tells us of a blind sculptor in denmark, who distinguished perfectly well, by mere touch, not only all kinds of wood, but all the colours; and f. grimaldi gives an instance of the like kind; besides the blind organist, living in paris, who is said to have done the same. the most extraordinary of all is a blind guide, who, according to the report of good writers, used to conduct the merchants through the sands and deserts of arabia. james bernouilli contrived a method of teaching blind persons to write. an instance, no less extraordinary, is mentioned by dr. bew, in the "transactions of the manchester society." it is that of a person, whose name is john metcalf, a native of the neighbourhood of manchester, who became blind at so early an age as to be altogether unconscious of light, and its various effects. his employment in the younger period of his life was that of a waggoner, and occasionally as a guide in intricate roads during the night, or when the common tracks were covered with snow. afterwards he became a projector and surveyor of highways in difficult and mountainous parts; and, in this capacity, with the assistance merely of a long staff, he traverses the roads, ascends precipices, explores valleys, and investigates their several extents, forms, and situations, so as to answer his purpose in the best manner. his plans are designed, and his estimates formed, with such ability and accuracy, that he has been employed in altering most of the roads over the peak in derbyshire, particularly those in the vicinity of buxton; and in constructing a new one between wilmslow and congleton, so as to form a communication between the great london road, without being obliged to pass over the mountain. although blind persons have occasion, in a variety of respects, to deplore their infelicity, their misery is in a considerable degree alleviated by advantages peculiar to themselves. they are capable of a more fixed and steady attention to the objects of their mental contemplation, than those who are distracted by the view of a variety of external scenes. their want of sight naturally leads them to avail themselves of their other organs of corporeal sensation, and with this view to cultivate and improve them as much as possible. accordingly, they derive relief and assistance from the quickness of their hearing, the acuteness of their smell, and the sensibility of their touch, which persons who see are apt to disregard. many contrivances have also been devised by the ingenious, for supplying the want of sight, and for facilitating those analytical or mechanical operations, which would otherwise perplex the most vigorous mind, and the most retentive memory. by means of these, they have become eminent proficients in various departments of science. indeed, there are few sciences in which, with or without mechanical helps, the blind have not distinguished themselves. the case of professor saunderson at cambridge, is well known. his attainments and performances in the languages, and also as a learner and teacher in the abstract mathematics, in philosophy, and in music, have been truly astonishing; and the account of them appears to be almost incredible, if it were not amply attested and confirmed by many other instances of a similar kind, both in ancient and modern times. cicero mentions it as a fact scarcely credible, with respect to his master in philosophy, diodotus, that "he exercised himself in it with greater assiduity after he became blind; and, which he thought next to impossible to be performed without sight, that he professed geometry, and described his diagrams so accurately to his scholars, as to enable them to draw every line in its proper direction." jerome relates a more remarkable instance of didymus in alexandria, who "though blind from his infancy, and therefore ignorant of the letters, appeared so great a miracle to the world, as not only to learn logic, but geometry also to perfection; which seems (he adds) the most of any thing to require the help of sight." professor saunderson, who was deprived of his sight by the small-pox when he was only twelve months old, seems to have acquired most of his ideas by the sense of feeling; and though he could not distinguish colours by that sense, which, after repeated trials, he said was pretending to impossibilities, yet he was able, with the greatest exactness, to discriminate the minutest difference between rough and smooth on a surface, or the least defect of polish. in a set of roman medals, he could distinguish the genuine from the false, though they had been counterfeited in such a manner as to deceive a connoisseur, who judged of them by the eye. his sense of feeling was so acute, that he could perceive the least variation in the state of the air; and, it is said, that in a garden where observations were made on the sun, he took notice of every cloud that interrupted the observation, almost as justly as those who could see it. he could tell when any thing was held near his face, or when he passed by a tree at no great distance, provided the air was calm, and there was little or no wind; this he did by the different pulse of air upon his face. he possessed a sensibility of hearing to such a degree, that he could distinguish even the fifth part of a note; and, by the quickness of this sense, he not only discriminated persons with whom he had once conversed so long as to fix in his memory the sound of their voice, but he could judge of the size of a room into which he was introduced, and of his distance from the wall; and if he had ever walked over a pavement in courts, piazzas, &c. which reflected a sound, and was afterwards conducted thither again, he could exactly tell in what part of the walk he was placed, merely by the note which it sounded. sculpture and painting are arts which, one would imagine, are of very difficult and almost impracticable attainment to blind persons; and yet instances occur, which shew, that they are not excluded from the pleasing, creative, and extensive regions of fancy. de piles mentions a blind sculptor, who thus took the likeness of the duke de bracciano in a dark cellar, and made a marble statue of king charles i. with great justness and elegance. however unaccountable it may appear to the abstract philosopher, yet nothing is more certain in fact, than that a blind man may, by the inspiration of the muses, or rather by the efforts of a cultivated genius, exhibit in poetry the most natural images and animated descriptions even of visible objects, without deservedly incurring the charge of plagiarism. we need not recur to homer and milton for attestations to this fact; they had probably been long acquainted with the visible world before they had lost their sight, and their descriptions might be animated with all the rapture and enthusiasm which originally fired their bosoms, when the grand and delightful objects delineated by them were immediately beheld. we are furnished with instances in which a similar energy and transport of description, at least in a very considerable degree, have been exhibited by those on whose minds visible objects were never impressed, or have been entirely obliterated. dr. blacklock affords a surprising instance of this kind; who, though he had lost his sight before he was six months old, not only made himself master of various languages, greek, latin, italian, and french; but acquired the reputation of an excellent poet, whose performances abound with appropriate images and animated descriptions. dr. nicholas bacon, a blind gentleman, descended from the same family with the celebrated lord verulam, was, in the city of brussels, with high approbation created ll. d. he was deprived of sight at nine years of age by an arrow from a cross-bow, whilst he was attempting to shoot it. when he had recovered his health, which had suffered by the shock, he pursued the same plan of education in which he had been engaged; and having heard that one nicasius de vourde, born blind, who lived towards the end of the fifteenth century, after having distinguished himself by his studies in the university of louvain, took his degree as d. d. in that of cologne, he resolved to make the same attempt. after continuing his studies in learning philosophy and law a sufficient time, he took his degree, commenced pleading as counsellor or advocate in the council of brabant, and has had the pleasure of terminating almost every suit in which he has been engaged to the satisfaction of his clients. another instance, which deserves being recorded, is that of dr. henry moyes, in our own country; who, though blind from his infancy, by the ardour and assiduity of his application, and by the energy of native genius, not only made incredible advances in mechanical operations, in music, and in the languages; but acquired an extensive acquaintance with geometry, optics, algebra, astronomy, chemistry, and all other branches of natural philosophy. from the account of dr. moyes, who occasionally read lectures on philosophical chemistry at manchester, delivered to the manchester society by dr. bew, it appears, that mechanical exercises were the favourite employment of his infant years: and that at a very early age he was so well acquainted with the use of edge-tools, as to be able to construct little windmills, and even a loom. by the sound, and the different voices of the persons that were present, he was directed in his judgment of the dimensions of the room in which they were assembled; and in this respect he determined with such a degree of accuracy, as seldom to be mistaken. his memory was singularly retentive; so that he was capable of recognizing a person on his first speaking, though he had not been in company with him for two years. he determined with surprising exactness the stature of those with whom he conversed, by the direction of their voices; and he made tolerable conjectures concerning their dispositions, by the manner in which they conducted their conversation. his eyes, though he never recollected having seen, were not totally insensible to intense light: but the rays refracted through a prism, when sufficiently vivid, produced distinguishable effects upon them. the red produced a disagreeable sensation, which he compared to the touch of a saw. as the colours declined in violence, the harshness lessened, until the green afforded a sensation that was highly pleasing to him, and which he described as conveying an idea similar to that which he gained by running his hand over smooth polished surfaces. such surfaces, meandering streams, and gentle declivities, were the figures by which he expressed his ideas of beauty; rugged rocks, irregular points, and boisterous elements, furnished him with expressions for terror and disgust. he excelled in the charms of conversation; was happy in his allusions to visual objects, and discoursed on the nature, composition, and beauty of colours, with pertinence and precision. this instance, and some others which have occurred, seem to furnish a presumption, that the feeling or touch of blind persons may be so improved as to enable them to perceive that texture and disposition of coloured surfaces by which some rays of light are reflected, and others absorbed; and in this manner to distinguish colours. in music, there are at present living instances of how far the blind may proceed. in former periods we shall find illustrious examples, how amply nature has capacitated the blind to excel, both in the scientific and practical departments of music. in the sixteenth century, when the progress of improvement both in melody and harmony was rapid and conspicuous, francis salinas was eminently distinguished. he was born a. d. , at burgos in spain; and was son to the treasurer of that city. though afflicted with incurable blindness, he was profoundly skilled both in the theory and practice of music. as a performer, he is celebrated by his contemporaries with the highest encomiums. as a theorist, sir john hawkins says, his book is equal in value to any now extant in any language. though he was deprived of sight in his earliest infancy, he did not content himself to delineate the various phenomena in music, but the principles from whence they result, the relations of sound, the nature of arithmetical, geometrical, and harmonical ratios, which were then esteemed essential to the theory of music, with a degree of intelligence which would have deserved admiration, though he had been in full possession of every sense requisite for these disquisitions. he was taken to rome in the retinue of petrus sarmentus, archbishop of compostella, and having passed twenty years in italy, he returned to salamanca, where he obtained the professorship of music, an office at that time equally respectable and lucrative. having discharged it with reputation and success for some time, he died at the venerable age of seventy-seven. in the same period flourished caspar crumbhom, blind from the third year of his age; yet he composed several pieces in many parts with so much success, and performed both upon the flute and violin so exquisitely, that he was distinguished by augustus, elector of saxony. but preferring his native country, silesia, to every other, he returned to it, and was appointed organist of the church of st. peter and paul in lignitz, where he had often the direction of the musical college, and died june , . to these might be added martin pesenti of venice, a composer of vocal and instrumental music almost of all kinds, though blind from his nativity; with other examples equally worthy of public attention. but if vulgar prejudice is capable of blushing at its own contemptible character, or of yielding to conviction, those already quoted are more than sufficient to shew the musical jugglers of our time that their art is no monopoly, with which those alone who see are invested, by the irrevocable decree of heaven. in the _annual register_ for , the following narrative of the surprising acquisitions of a blind lady is inserted. "a young gentlewoman of a good family in france, now in her eighteenth year, lost her sight when only two years old, her mother having been advised to lay some pigeon's blood on her eyes, to preserve them in the small-pox; whereas, so far from answering the end, it eat into them. nature, however, may be said to have compensated for the unhappy mistake, by beauty of person, sweetness of temper, vivacity of genius, quickness of conception, and many talents which certainly much alleviate her misfortune. she plays at cards with the same readiness as others of the party. she first prepares the pack allotted to her, by pricking them in several parts; yet so imperceptibly, that the closest inspection can scarce discern her indexes: she sorts the suits, and arranges the cards in their proper sequence, with the same precision, and nearly the same facility, as they who have their sight. all she requires of those who play with her, is to name every card as it is played; and these she retains so exactly, that she frequently performs some notable strokes, such as shew a great combination and strong memory. the most wonderful circumstance is, that she should have learned to read and write; but even this is readily believed on knowing her method. in writing to her, no ink is used, but the letters are pricked down on the paper, and by the delicacy of her touch, feeling each letter, she follows them successively, and reads every word with her finger ends. she herself in writing makes use of a pencil, as she could not know when her pen was dry; her guide on the paper is a small thin ruler, and of the breadth of the writing. on finishing a letter, she wets it, so as to fix the traces of her pencil, that they are not obscured or effaced; then proceeds to fold and seal it, and write the direction; all by her own address, and without the assistance of any other person. her writing is very straight, well cut, and the spelling no less correct. to reach this singular mechanism, the indefatigable cares of her affectionate mother were long employed, who accustomed her daughter to feel letters cut in cards of pasteboard, brought her to distinguish an a from a b, and thus the whole alphabet, and afterwards to spell words; then, by the remembrance of the shape of the letters, to delineate them on paper; and, lastly, to arrange them so as to form words and sentences. she has learned to play on the guitar, and has even contrived a way of pricking down the tunes, as an assistance to her memory. so delicate are her organs, that in singing a tune, though new to her, she is able to name the notes. in figured dances she acquits herself extremely well, and in a minuet, with inimitable ease and gracefulness. as for the works of her sex, she has a masterly hand; she sews and hems perfectly well; and in all her works she threads her needles for herself, however small. by the watch her touch never fails telling her exactly the hour and minute." diderot gives a very curious account of a blind lady. it is so remarkable, that we shall distinguish it by the separate title of wonderful performances of a female, blind almost from infancy. the name of this remarkable person was, mademoiselle melanie de salignac, a young lady, who had been blind almost from her birth. her feeling, hearing, and smell, were exquisite. she could distinguish, by the impression of the air, whether it was fine or cloudy, whether she was in an open place or a street, and whether the street was open at the end;--also, whether she was in a room or not, and of what size it was. having once gone over a house, she became so well acquainted with the different parts, as to be able to warn others of any danger they were exposed to, by the existence of a step, or the lowness of a door. she could thread the smallest needle, with the greatest dexterity; and could execute every sort of needle-work. she played very well at many games at cards, which she distinguished by some little mark, known to herself by the touch, but imperceptible to the sight of any other person. she had learnt, and understood very well, music, geography, geometry, and dancing. she was, indeed, extremely clever; what made her more interesting, she was modest, mild, cheerful, and affectionate. she wrote with a pin, by pricking a sheet of paper, stretched on a frame, and read what she had written, by feeling the pin-marks on the other side of the paper. she could read a book, printed on one side only; some were printed expressly for her, in this manner. in a piece of twelve or fifteen lines, if the number of letters in each word, together with the letter which it began with, was given her, she could tell every word, however oddly composed. "this fact," says diderot, "was attested by every one of her family, by myself, and twenty other persons, still alive. she died at the age of twenty-two. she was the daughter of madame de blacy, a woman distinguished for the eminence of her moral qualities," and moving in a respectable sphere of life.--see _grimn's memoirs_. we now proceed to detail the following wonderful instances of adroitness of persons born defective in their limbs. several instances of such births have occurred, and the wonderful acquirements of persons thus maimed by nature have often been the subject of public astonishment, and proved a source of gain to themselves or their relations. giraldus cambriensis speaks of a young woman born without arms, whom he saw at chester, in the reign of henry ii. he mentions her working very dexterously with her needle. stowe gives an account of a dutchman born without arms, who in , exhibited surprising feats of activity in london; such as flourishing with a rapier, shooting an arrow near a mark, &c. bulwer, in his artificial changeling, speaks of john simons, a native of berkshire, born without arms or hands, who could write with his mouth; thread a needle; tie a knot; shuffle, cut, and deal a pack of cards, &c. he was shewn in public in . john sear, a spaniard, born without arms, was shewn in london in king william's reign, who could comb and shave himself, fill a glass, thread a needle, embroider, write six sorts of hands, and play on several instruments of music. matthew buckinger, a german, born without arms or legs, who came to england, wrote a good hand, (many specimens of which are extant,) and performed several wonderful feats. he died in , aged forty-eight. thomas pinnington, a native of liverpool, born without legs or arms, performed much the same feats as sear, in , and several years ensuing; since which, a miss hawtin, from coventry, born without arms, and others whose names have not been mentioned, have exhibited themselves at bartholomew fair and other places. thomas inglefield, born without arms or legs, at hook, in hampshire, (anno ) died a few years ago in london. he was not publicly shewn, but got his bread by writing and drawing. there are two portraits of him, one of which was etched by himself. there was, a short time since, a farmer living at ditch-heat in somersetshire, born without arms,--william kingston, of whom frequent mention has been made in the public papers. he surpasses, according to accounts which seem very well attested, all that have been yet spoken of. the following account was given a few years since, in the papers, by a person who visited him. "in order to give the public a satisfactory account of william kingston," says the writer, "i went to ditcheat and the next morning got him to breakfast with me at mrs. goodfellow's, and had ocular proof of his dexterity. he highly entertained us at breakfast, by putting his half-naked feet upon the table as he sat, and carrying his tea and toast between his great and second toe to his mouth, with as much facility as if his foot had been a hand, and his toes fingers. i put half a sheet of paper upon the floor, with a pen and ink-horn. he threw off his shoes as he sat, took the ink-horn in the toes of his left foot, and held the pen in those of his right. he then wrote three lines as well as most ordinary writers, and as swiftly. he writes all his own bills and other accounts. he then shewed me how he shaves himself with the razor in his toes; and he can comb his own hair. he can dress and undress himself, except buttoning his clothes. he feeds himself, and can bring both his meat or his broth to his mouth, by holding the fork or spoon in his toes. he cleans his own shoes, lights the fire, and does almost any domestic business as well as any other man. he can make hen-coops. he is a farmer by occupation. he can milk his cows with his toes, and cuts his own hay, binds it up in bundles, and carries it about the field for his cattle. last winter he had eight heifers constantly to fodder. the last summer he made all his hay-ricks. he can do all the business of the hay-field (except mowing) as fast and as well with his feet as others can with rakes and forks. he goes to the field, and catches his horse. he saddles and bridles him with his teeth and toes. if he has a sheep among his flock that ails any thing, he can separate it from the rest, and drive it into a corner when nobody else can: he then examines it, and applies a remedy to it. he is so strong in his teeth, that he can lift ten pecks of beans with them. he can throw a great sledge-hammer as far with his feet, as other men can with their hands. in a word, he can nearly do as much without as others can with their arms. "he began the world with a hen and chickens. with the profit on these he procured a ewe. the sale of these procured a ragged colt (as he termed it) and a sheep, and he now occupies a small farm." "necessity is the mother of invention." this proverb was never more fully exemplified than in the cases above mentioned. habit, early acquired and long practised, may render the toes almost as useful as the fingers: the lips are also endued with acute feeling and great flexibility, and may become powerful assistants where the hands are wanting. one lesson, at least, may be taught by this maimed tribe:--that few things are so difficult, that they cannot be acquired by perseverance and application. while some persons are noted for their extraordinary and wonderful faculties, others are remarkable for defects in natural capacities. the reader will feel interested in the following curious account of incapacity of distinguishing colours. of this extraordinary defect in vision, we have the following instances in the philosophical transactions for . one of the persons lived at maryport in cumberland. the account was communicated by mr. huddart to dr. priestley; and is as follows:--"his name was harris; by trade a shoemaker. i had often heard from others that he could discern the form and magnitude of all objects very distinctly, but could not distinguish colours. this report had excited my curiosity; i conversed with him frequently on the subject. the account he gave was this: that he had reason to believe other persons saw something in objects which he could not see: that their language seemed to mark qualities with precision and confidence, which he could only guess at with hesitation, and frequently with error. his first suspicion of this arose when he was about four years old. having by accident found in the street, a child's stocking, he carried it to a neighbouring house to inquire for the owner: he observed the people called it a _red_ stocking, though he did not understand why they gave it that denomination, as he himself thought it completely described by being called _a stocking_. this circumstance, however, remained in his memory, and together with subsequent observations, led him to the knowledge of this defect. he also observed, that when young, other children could discern cherries on a tree by some pretended difference of colour, though he could only distinguish them from the leaves, by the difference of their size and shape. he observed also, that by means of this difference of colour they could see the cherries at a greater distance than he could, though he could see other objects at as great a distance as they, that is, where the sight was not assisted by the colour. large objects he could see as well as other persons; and even the smaller ones, if they were not enveloped in other things, as in the case of cherries among the leaves. i believe he could never do more than guess the name of any colour; yet he could distinguish white from black, or black from any light or bright colour. dove or straw colour he called _white_, and different colours he frequently called by the same name; yet he could discern a difference between them when placed together. in general, colours of an equal degree of brightness, however they might otherwise differ, he confounded together. yet a striped ribbon he could distinguish from a plain one; but he could not tell what the colours were with any tolerable exactness. dark colours, in general, he often mistook for black; but never imagined white to be a dark colour, nor dark to be a white colour. he was an intelligent man, and very desirous of understanding the nature of light and colours, for which end he had attended a course of lectures in natural philosophy. he had two brothers in the same circumstances as to sight; and two others (brothers and sisters) who, as well as their parents, had nothing of this defect. one of the first mentioned brothers, who is now living, i met with at dublin, and wished to try his capacity to distinguish the colours in a prism; but not having one by me, i asked him, whether he had ever seen a rainbow? he replied, he had often; and could distinguish the different colours; meaning only, that it was composed of different colours, for he could not tell what they were. i then procured, and shewed him a piece of ribbon: he immediately, and without any difficulty, pronounced it a striped, and not a plain, ribbon. he then attempted to name the different stripes: the several stripes of white he uniformly, and without hesitation, called white: the four black stripes he was deceived in; for three of them he thought brown, though they were exactly of the same shade with the other, which he properly called black. he spoke, however, with diffidence, as to all those stripes; and it must be owned, that the black was not very distinct: the light green he called yellow; but he was not very positive: he said, "i think this what you call yellow." the middle stripe, which had a slight tinge of red, he called a sort of blue. but he was most of all deceived by the orange colour: of this he spoke very confidently, saying, "this is the colour of grass, this is green." i also shewed him a great variety of ribbons, the colour of which he sometimes named rightly, and sometimes as differently as possible from the true colour. i asked him, whether he imagined it possible for all the various colours he saw to be mere difference of light and shade; and that all colours could be composed of these two mixtures only? with some hesitation he replied, no, he did imagine there was some other difference. it is proper to add, that the experiment of the striped ribbon was made in the day-time, and in a good light." incredible as the above phenomena may appear, we can add the following fact in confirmation of them, from personal knowledge. there is a gentleman now living in edinburgh, whose optical nerves have laboured under a defect perfectly similar, since his infancy; but whose powers of vision are in other respects so much superior to those of most other people, that he draws the most striking likenesses, being a limner by profession, and requires for this purpose only once to see the person whose portrait is intended to be drawn, scarcely desiring a single sitting, much less repeated visiting. and what is still more extraordinary, he can, from such a momentary glance, retain the idea of the features, and even the gait and manner of the person, for years afterwards, so exactly as to be able to finish either a miniature head, or full portrait, at that distant period, as well as if the person were present. his friends, incredulous of this phenomenon, have, by placing his colours out of the order in which he keeps them, sometimes made him give a gentleman a _green beard_, and paint a beautiful young lady with a pair of _blue cheeks_. we now proceed to the consideration of a very remarkable acquirement of man, called ventriloquism. this is an art of speaking, by means of which the human voice and other sounds are rendered audible, as if they proceeded from several different places; though the utterer does not change his place, and in many instances does not appear to speak. it has been supposed to be a natural peculiarity; because few, if any persons, have learned it by being taught, and we have had no rules laid down for acquiring it. it seems to have been in consequence of this notion, that the name 'ventriloquism' has been applied to it, from a supposition that the voice proceeds from the thorax or chest. it has seldom been practised but by persons of the lower classes of society; and as it does not seem to present any advantages beyond that of causing surprise and entertainment, and cannot be exhibited on an extended theatre, the probability is, that it will continue amongst them. mr. gough, in his manchester memoirs, and in various parts of nicholson's journal, has entertained the opinion that the voice of ventriloquists is made to proceed, in appearance, from different parts of a room, by the management of an echo. but the facts themselves do not support this hypothesis, as a great and sudden variety and change of echoes would be required; and his own judicious remarks, in the same work, on the facility with which we are deceived as to the direction of sound, are adverse to his theory. from numerous attentive observations, it appears manifest that the art is not peculiar to certain individuals, but may with facility be acquired by any person of accurate observation. it consists merely in an imitation of sounds, as they occur in nature, accompanied with appropriate action, of such a description as may best concur in leading the minds of the observers to favour the deception. any one who shall try, will be a little surprised to find how easy it is to imitate the noise made by a saw, or by a snuff-box when opened and shut, or by a large hand-bell, or cork-cutter's knife, a watch while going, and numberless other inanimate objects; or the voices of animals, in their various situations and necessities, such as a cat, a dog, or a hen enraged, intimidated, confined, &c.; or to vary the character of the human voice by shrillness or depth of tone, rapidity or drawling of execution, and distinctness or imperfection of articulation, which may be instantly changed by holding the mouth a little more opened or more closed than usual, altering the position of the jaw, keeping the tongue in any determinate situation, &c. and every one of the imitations of the ventriloquist will be rendered more perfect by practising them at the very time the sounds are heard, instead of depending on the memory. the leading condition of performance is, that the voices and sounds of the dramatic dialogue to be exhibited, should succeed each other so rapidly that the audience should lose sight of the probability that one actor gives effect to the whole, and that where the business is simple, the aid of scenery or local circumstance should be called in. we have seen an eminent philosopher of our own time, who had no previous practice of this art, but when speaking on the subject in a mixed company, took up a hat, and folding the flaps together, said, by way of example, "suppose i had a small monkey in this hat;" and then cautiously putting his hand in, as if to catch it, he imitated the chatter of the supposed struggling animal, at the same time that his own efforts to secure it had a momentary impression on the spectators, which left no time to question whether there was a monkey in it or not: this impression was completed when, the instant afterwards, he pulled out his hand as if hurt, and exclaimed, "he has bit me!" it was not till then that the impression of the reality gave way to the diversion arising from the mimic art; and one of the company, even then, cried out, "is there really a monkey in the hat?" in this manner it was that, at the beginning of the last century, the famous tom king, who is said to have been the first man who delivered public lectures on experimental philosophy in the country, was attended by the whole fashionable world, for a succession of many nights, to hear him "kill a calf." this performance was done in a separated part of the place of exhibition, into which the exhibiter retired alone; and the imagination of his polite hearers was taxed to supply the calf and three butchers, besides a dog who sometimes raised his voice, and was checked for his unnecessary exertions. it appears, from traditional narrative, that the calf was heard to be dragged in, not without some efforts and conversation on the part of the butchers, and noisy resistance from the calf; that they conversed on the qualities of the animal, and the profits to be expected from the veal; and that, as they proceeded, all the noises of knife and steel, of suspending the creature, and of the last fatal catastrophe, were heard in rapid succession, to the never-failing satisfaction of the attendants; who, upon the rise of the curtain, saw that all these imaginary personages had vanished, and tom king alone remained to claim the applause. a similar fact may be quoted in the person of that facetious gentleman, who has assumed and given celebrity to the name of peter pindar. this great poet, laughing at the proverbial poverty of his profession, is sometimes pleased to entertain his friends with singular effusions of the art we speak of. one of these is managed by a messenger announcing to the doctor (in the midst of company) that a person wants to speak with him: he accordingly goes out, leaving the door a-jar, and immediately a female voice is heard, which, from the nature of the subject, appears to be that of the poet's laundress, who complains of her pressing wants, disappointed claims, and of broken promises no longer to be borne with patience. it is more easy to imagine than describe the mixed emotions of the audience. the scene, however, goes on by the doctor's reply; who remonstrates, promises, and is rather angry at the time and place of this unwelcome visit. his antagonist unfortunately is neither mollified nor disposed to quit her ground. passion increases on both sides, and the doctor forgets himself so far as to threaten the irritated female; she defies him, and this last promise, very unlike the former ones, is followed by payment; a severe smack on the face is heard; the poor woman falls down stairs, with horrid outcries; the company, of course, rises in alarm, and the doctor is found in a state of perfect tranquillity, apparently a stranger to the whole transaction. a very able ventriloquist, fitz-james, performed in public, in soho-square, about four years ago. he personated various characters by appropriate dresses; and by a command of the muscles of his face he could very much alter his appearance. he imitated many inanimate noises, and among others, a repetition of noises of the water machine at marli. he conversed with some statues, which replied to him; and also with some persons supposed to be in the room above, and on the landing-place; gave the watchman's cry, gradually approaching, and when he seemed opposite the window, fitz-james opened it and asked what the time was, received the answer, and during his proceeding with his cry, fitz-james shut the window, immediately upon which the sound became weaker, and at last insensible. in the whole of his performance, it was clear that the notions of the audience were governed by the auxiliary circumstances, as to direction, &c. this mimic had, at least, six different habitual modes of speaking, which he could instantly adapt one after the other, and with so much rapidity, that when in a small closet, parted off in the room, he gave a long, confused, and impassioned debate of democrats (in french, as almost the whole of his performance was;) it seemed to proceed from a multitude of speakers: and an inaccurate observer might have thought that several were speaking at once. a ludicrous scene of drawing a tooth was performed in the same manner. these examples, and many more which might be added, are sufficient, in proof that ventriloquism is the art of mimicry, an imitation applied to sounds of every description, and attended with circumstances which produce an entertaining deception, and lead the hearers to imagine that the voice proceeds from different situations. when distant low voices are to be imitated, the articulation may be given with sufficient distinctness, without moving the lips, or altering the countenance. it was by a supposed supernatural voice of this kind, from a ventriloquist, that the famous musical small-coal man, thomas britton, received a warning of his death, which so greatly affected him, that he did not survive the affright. the following quotation from richerand's physiology will be sufficient to give the reader a further idea of the mechanism of this singular art. "at first," says richerand, "i had conjectured that a great portion of the air driven out by expiration did not pass out by the mouth and nostrils, but was swallowed and carried into the stomach, reflected in some part of the digestive canal, and gave rise to a real echo; but after having attentively observed this curious phenomenon, in mr. fitz-james, who represents it in its greatest perfection, i was enabled to convince myself that the name ventriloquism is by no means applicable, since the whole of its mechanism consists in a slow gradual expiration, drawn in such a way that the artist either makes use of the influence exerted by volition over the muscles or parietis of the thorax, or that he keeps the epiglottis down by the base of the tongue, the apex of which is not carried beyond the dental arches. "he always makes a strong inspiration just before this long expiration, and thus conveys a considerable mass of air into the lungs, the exit of which he afterwards manages with such address. therefore, repletion of the stomach greatly incommodes the talent of mr. fitz-james, by preventing the diaphragm from descending sufficiently to admit of a dilatation of the thorax, in proportion to the quantity of air that the lungs should receive. by accelerating or retarding the exit of the air, he can imitate different voices, and induce his auditors to a belief that the interlocutors of a dialogue, which is kept up by himself alone, are placed at different distances; and this illusion is the more complete in proportion to the perfection of his peculiar talent. no man possesses, to such a degree as mr. fitz-james, the art of deceiving persons who are least liable to delusion, he can carry his execution to five or six different tones, pass rapidly from one to another, as he does when representing an animated dispute in the midst of a popular assembly." some persons are of opinion that the witch of endor was a ventriloquist, and that she practised this art before king saul, and deceived him in the resurrection of samuel; the present writer, however, does not vouch for this opinion. another very extraordinary acquirement, and which the present writer has been witness to, is, sword-swallowing. this surprising act is performed by the indian jugglers; the following account of which, is extracted from forbes's oriental memoirs. "i have elsewhere mentioned some feats of the indian jugglers: at zinore i saw one which surpassed every thing of the kind i had before witnessed, i mean the swallowing a sword up to the hilt. had i not afterwards met with the same set on the island of salsette, exhibiting before the english chief at tannah, i should have doubted the evidence of my senses. i witnessed the fact more than once, and am convinced there was no deception. finding my tale generally disbelieved in europe, i suppressed it; but having since read a clear and satisfactory account of this extraordinary transaction, drawn up by mr. johnson, surgeon in the navy, who, in the year , was an eye-witness of this performance, and having described it as a professional man, i shall transcribe the account from his memoir:-- "'having been visited by one of these conjurers, i resolved to see clearly his mode of performing this operation; and for that purpose ordered him to seat himself on the floor of the veranda. the sword he intended to use has some resemblance to a common spit in shape, except at the handle, which is merely a part of the blade itself, rounded and elongated into a little rod. it is from twenty-two to twenty-six inches in length, about an inch in breadth, and about one-fifth of an inch in thickness; the edges and point are blunt, being rounded, and of the same thickness as the rest of the blade; it is of iron or steel, smooth, and a little bright. having satisfied himself with respect to the sword, by attempting to bend it; and by striking it against a stone, i firmly grasped it by the handle, and ordered him to proceed. he first took a small phial of oil, and with one of his fingers rubbed a little of it over the surface of the instrument; then, stretching up his neck as much as possible, and bending himself a little backwards, he introduced the point of it into his mouth, and pushed it gently down his throat, until my hand, which was on the handle, came in contact with his lips. he then made a sign to me with one of his hands, to feel the point of the instrument between his breast and navel: which i could do, by bending him a little more backwards, and pressing my fingers on his stomach, he being a very thin and lean fellow. on letting go the handle of the sword, he instantly fixed on it a little machine that spun round, and disengaged a small fire-work, which encircling his head with a blue flame, gave him, as he then sat, a truly diabolical appearance. on withdrawing the instrument, several parts of its surface were covered with blood, which shewed that he was still obliged to use a degree of violence in the introduction. "'i was at first a good deal surprised at this transaction altogether; but when i came to reflect a little upon it, there appeared nothing at all improbable, much less impossible, in the business. he told me, on giving him a trifle, that he had been accustomed, from his early years, to introduce at first small elastic instruments down his throat, and into his stomach; that by degrees he had used larger ones, until at length he was able to use the present iron sword.'" oriental memoirs, vol. ii. pp. - . two of these jugglers have lately visited england, and performed the above exploit, with many others, almost equally surprising, to the satisfaction of crowded audiences. we may learn from various instances in this chapter the value of perseverance; this will overcome difficulties, which at first appear insuperable; and it is amazing to consider, how great and numerous obstacles may be removed by a continual attention to any particular point. by such attention and perseverance, what may not man effect! any man, unless he be an absolute idiot, may by these means raise himself to excellence in some branch or other; and what is best of all, by divine assistance, and by unwearied and keen application, he may resist temptation, conquer the evil principle, rise superior to all the difficulties and trials of life, excel in wisdom and goodness, and thus be fitted for a better country, when death summons him away from the present world. --------------------------------man must soar. an obstinate activity within, an insuppressive spring, will toss him up, in spite of fortune's load. not kings alone, each villager has his ambition too; no sultan prouder than his fetter'd slave. slaves build their little babylons of straw, echo the proud assyrian, in their hearts, and cry--"behold the wonders of my might!" and why? because immortal as their lord; and souls immortal must for ever heave at something great; the glitter, or the gold; the praise of mortals, or the praise of heav'n. _young._ chap. iv. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _instances of extraordinary gluttony--instances of extraordinary fasting--wonders of abstinence--sleep walking--sleeping woman of dunninald--instances of extraordinary dreams--poetical, grammatical, and scientific deaths--anthropophagi, or men-eaters--account of a wild man._ instances of extraordinary gluttony. habitual gluttons may be reckoned among the monsters of nature, and even punishable for endeavouring to bring a famine into the places where they live. king james i. when a man was presented to him who could eat a whole sheep at one meal, asked, "what work could he do more than another man?" and being answered, "he could not do so much," said, "hang him, then; for it is unfit a man should live, that eats as much as twenty men, and cannot do so much as one." the emperor clodius albinus devoured more than a bushel of apples at once. he ate figs to his breakfast, peaches, melons, lbs. of grapes, gnat-snappers, and oysters. hardi canute, the last of the danish kings in england, was so great a glutton, that an historian calls him bocca di porco, "swine's-mouth." his tables were covered four times a day with the most costly viands that either the air, sea, or land, could furnish; and as he lived he died; for, revelling at a banquet at lambeth, he fell down dead. one phagon, in the reign of aurelianus, at one meal, ate a whole boar, loaves of bread, a sheep, and a pig, and drank above three gallons of wine. one mallet, a counsellor at law, in the reign of charles i. ate at one time a dinner provided in westminster for men. his practice not being sufficient to supply him with better meat, he fed generally on offals, ox livers, hearts, &c. he lived to near years of age, but during the seven last years of his life ate as moderately as other men. among the many accounts of extraordinary eaters, there are, perhaps, none that have exceeded those of nicholas wood, of harrison, in kent, related in fuller's worthies, p. , whose enormous appetite appears to exceed all probability. he ate at one meal a whole sheep, of sixteen shillings price, raw; at another time, thirty dozen of pigeons. at sir william sidley's, in the same county, he ate as much victuals as would have sufficed thirty men. at lord wotton's mansion-house, in kent, he devoured, at one dinner, rabbits, which, at the rate of half a rabbit a man, would have served men. he ate to his breakfast yards of black-pudding. he devoured at one meal a whole hog; and after it, being accommodated with fruit, he ate three pecks of damsons. gluttony is a most degrading vice. be sober; be temperate; be virtuous; for health consists with temperance alone. and peace, o virtue! peace is all thy own. _pope._ we shall, with the readers permission, now introduce some extraordinary instances of fasting. a full account of a very uncommon case is given in the phil. trans, vol. lxvii. part i. _janet m'leod_, an inhabitant in the parish of kincardine, in ross-shire, continued healthy till she was fifteen years of age, when she had a pretty severe epileptic fit; after this she had an interval of health for four years, and then another epileptic fit, which continued a whole day and a night. a few days afterwards she was seized with a fever, which continued with violence several weeks, and from which she did not perfectly recover for some months. at this time she lost the use of her eyelids; so that she was under the necessity of keeping them open with the fingers of one hand, whenever she wanted to look about her. in other respects she continued in pretty good health; only she periodically spit up blood in pretty large quantities, and at the same time it flowed from the nose. this discharge continued several years; but at last it ceased; and soon after she had a third epileptic fit, and after that a fever, from which she recovered slowly. six weeks after the crisis, she stole out of the house unknown to her parents, who were busied in their harvest work, and bound the sheaves of a ridge before she was observed. in the evening she took to her bed, complaining much of her _heart_ (probably meaning her _stomach_) and her head. from that time she never rose for five years, but was occasionally lifted out of bed. she seldom spoke a word, and took so little food, that it seemed scarcely sufficient to support a sucking infant. even this small quantity was taken by compulsion; and at last, about whitsunday, , she totally refused every kind of food or drink. her jaws now became so fast locked, that it was with the greatest difficulty her father was able to open her teeth a little, in order to admit a small quantity of gruel or whey; but of this so much generally run out at the corners of her mouth, that they could not be sensible any had been swallowed. about this time they got some water from a noted medical spring in brae-mar, some of which they attempted to make her swallow, but without effect. they continued their trials, however, for three mornings; rubbing her throat with the water which ran out at the corners of her mouth. on the third morning, during the operation, she cried out, "give me more water;" and swallowed with ease all that remained in the bottle. she spoke no more intelligibly for a year, though she continued to mutter some words, for days, which her parents only understood. she continued to reject all kinds of food and drink till july, . at this time her sister thought, by some signs she made, that she wanted her jaws opened; and this being done, not without violence, she called intelligibly for some liquid, and drank with ease about an english pint of water. her father then asked why she would not make some signs when she wanted to drink? to which she answered,--why should she, when she had no desire? it was now supposed that she had regained the faculty of speech; and her jaws were kept open for about three weeks, by means of a wedge. but in four or five days she became totally silent, and the wedge was removed, because it made her lips sore. she still, however, continued sensible; and when her eyelids were opened, knew every body. this could be guessed from the signs she made. by continuing their attempts to force open her jaws, two of the under fore teeth were driven out; and of this opening her parents endeavoured to avail themselves, by putting some thin nourishing drink into her mouth, but without effect, as it always returned by the corners. sometimes they thought of thrusting a little dough of oatmeal through this gap of the teeth, which she would retain a few seconds, and then return with something like a straining to vomit, without one particle going down. nor were the family sensible of any thing like swallowing for four years, excepting the small draught of brae-mar water, and an english pint of common water. for the last three years she had no natural discharge, except that once or twice a week she passed a few drops of water. in this situation she was visited by dr. mackenzie, who communicated the account to the royal society. he found her not at all emaciated; her knees were bent, and the hamstrings tight, so that her heels were drawn up behind her body. she slept much, and was very quiet; but when awake, kept a constant whimpering like a new-born weakly infant. she never could remain a moment on her back, but always fell to one side or another; and her chin was drawn close to her breast, nor could it by any force be moved backwards. the doctor paid his first visit in october, ; and five years afterwards, viz, in october, , was induced to pay her a second visit, by hearing that she was recovering, and had begun to eat and drink. the account given him was most extraordinary. her parents one day returning from their country labours, (having left their daughter fixed to her bed as usual,) were greatly surprised to find her sitting upon her hams, in a part of the house opposite to her bed-place, spinning with her mother's distaff. all the food she took at that time was only to crumble a little oat or barley cake in the palm of her hand, as if to feed a chicken. she put little crumbs of this into the gap of her teeth; rolled them about for some time in her mouth; and then sucked out of the palm of her hand a little water, whey, or milk; and this only once or twice a day, and even that by compulsion. she never attempted to speak; her jaws were fast locked, and her eyes shut. on opening her eyelids, the balls were found to be turned up under the edge of the os frontis; her countenance was ghastly, her complexion pale, and her whole person emaciated. she seemed sensible and tractable, except in taking food. this she did with the utmost reluctance, and even cried before she yielded. the great change of her looks, dr. mackenzie attributed to her spinning flax on the distaff, which exhausted too much of the saliva; and therefore he recommended to her parents to confine her totally to the spinning of wool. in , she was visited again, and found to be greatly improved in her looks as well as strength; her food was also considerably increased in quantity; though even then she did not take more than would be sufficient to sustain an infant of two years of age. in the _gentleman's magazine_, for , p. , is recorded the death of one caleb elliot, a visionary enthusiast, who meant to have fasted days, and actually survived without food, having obstinately refused sustenance of every kind. at the same time that we should guard against superstitious fasting, we should be cautious not to transgress the bounds of temperance. occasional abstinence is useful and praiseworthy, and we shall now give some instances of the wonders of abstinence. many wonders are related of the effects of abstinence, in the cure of several disorders, and in protracting the term of life. the noble venetian, cornaro, after all imaginable means had proved vain, so that his life was despaired of at , recovered, and lived to near , by mere dint of abstinence; as he himself gives account. it is indeed surprising to what a great age the primitive christians of the east, who retired from the persecutions into the deserts of arabia and egypt, lived, healthful and cheerful, on a very little food. cassian assures us, that the common rate for hours was ounces of bread, and mere water; with this, st. anthony lived years; james the hermit, ; arsenius, tutor of the emperor arcadius, ; s. epiphanius, ; simeon, the stylite, ; and romauld, . indeed, we can match these instances of longevity at home. buchanan writes, that one lawrence preserved himself to , by force of temperance and labour; and spottiswood mentions one kentigern, afterwards called st. mongah, or mungo, who lived to , by the same means. abstinence, however, is to be recommended only as it means a proper regimen; for in general it must have bad consequences, when observed without a due regard to constitution, age, strength, &c. according to dr. cheyne, most of the chronical diseases, the infirmities of old age, and the short lives of englishmen, are owing to repletion; and may be either cured, prevented, or remedied, by abstinence: but then the kinds of abstinence which ought to obtain, either in sickness or health, are to be deduced from the laws of diet and regimen. among the brute creation, we see extraordinary instances of long abstinence. the serpent kind, in particular, bear abstinence to a wonderful degree. rattlesnakes are reported to have subsisted many months without any food, yet still retained their vigour and fierceness. dr. shaw speaks of a couple of cerastes, (a sort of egyptian serpents,) which had been kept five years in a bottle close corked, without any sort of food, unless a small quantity of sand, wherein they coiled themselves up in the bottom of the vessel, may be reckoned as such: yet when he saw them, they had newly cast their skins, and were as brisk and lively as if just taken. but it is even natural for divers species of creatures to pass four, five, or six months' every year, without either eating or drinking. accordingly, the tortoise, bear, dormouse, serpent, &c. are observed regularly to retire, at those seasons, to their respective cells, and hide themselves,--some in the caverns of rocks or ruins; others dig holes under ground; others get into woods, and lay themselves up in clefts of trees; others bury themselves under water, &c. and yet these animals are found as fat and fleshy after some months' abstinence as before.--a gentleman (_phil. trans._ no. .) weighed his tortoise several years successively, at its going to earth in october, and coming out again in march; and found that, of four pounds four ounces, it only used to lose about one ounce.--indeed, we have instances of men passing several months as strictly abstinent as other creatures. in particular, the records of the tower mention a scotchman imprisoned for felony, and strictly watched in that fortress for six weeks; in all which time he took not the least sustenance; for which he had his pardon. numberless instances of extraordinary abstinence, particularly from morbid causes, are to be found in the different periodical memoirs, transactions, ephemerides, &c. it is to be added, that, in most instances of extraordinary human abstinence related by naturalists, there were said to have been apparent marks of a texture of blood and humour, much like that of the animals above mentioned; though it is not an improbable opinion, that the air itself may furnish something for nutrition. it is certain, there are substances of all kinds, animal, vegetable, &c. floating in the atmosphere, which must be continually taken in by respiration. and that an animal body may be nourished thereby, is evident from the instance of vipers, which, if taken when first brought forth, and kept from every thing but air, will yet grow very considerably in a few days. the eggs of lizards, also, are observed to increase in bulk after they are produced, though there be nothing to furnish the increment but air alone, in like manner as the eggs or spawn of fish grow and are nourished by the water. and hence, say some, it is, that cooks, turnspit dogs, &c. though they eat but little, yet are usually fat. we shall next offer the reader a few remarks on sleep-walking. many instances are related of persons who were addicted to this practice. a very remarkable one has been published from a report made to the physical society of lausanne, by a committee of gentlemen appointed to examine a young man who was accustomed to walk in his sleep. the disposition to sleep-walking seems, in the opinion of this committee, to depend on a particular affection of the nerves, which both seizes and quits the patient during sleep. under the influence of this affection, the imagination represents to him the objects that struck him while awake, with as much force as if they really affected his senses; but it does not make him perceive any of those that are actually presented to his senses, except in so far as they are connected with the dreams which engross him at the time. if, during this state, the imagination has no determined purpose, he receives the impression of objects as if he were awake; only, however, when the imagination is excited to bend its attention towards them. the perceptions obtained in this state are very accurate, and, when once received, the imagination renews them occasionally with as much force as if they were again acquired by means of the senses. lastly, these academicians suppose, that the impressions received during this state of the senses, disappear entirely when the person awakes, and do not return till the recurrence of the same disposition in the nervous system. our next article is, a curious account of the sleeping woman of dunninald, near montrose. the following narrative was communicated to the royal society of edinburgh, by dr. brewster. margaret lyall, aged , daughter of john lyall, labourer at dunninald, was first seized with a sleeping fit on the th of june, , which continued to the th of june; next morning she was again found in a deep sleep: in this state she remained for seven days, without motion, food, or the use of any animal function. but at the end of this time, by the moving of her left hand, and by plucking at the coverlet of the bed and pointing to her mouth, a wish for food being understood, it was given her. this she took; but still remained in her lethargic state till tuesday the th of august, being six weeks from the time she was seized with the lethargy, without appearing to be awake, except on the afternoon of friday the th of june. during the first two weeks, her pulse was generally about , the third week about , and previous to her recovery, at to . though extremely feeble for some days after her recovery, she gained strength so rapidly, that before the end of august, she began to work at the harvest, on the lands of mr. arkley, and continued without inconvenience to perform her labour. the account is drawn up by the clergyman of the parish, and is accompanied with the medical report of the surgeons who attended; to whose attestations are added those of mr. arkley, the proprietor of dunninald, and lyall, the father; and the statement is, in every respect, entitled to the fullest credit. we shall proceed to some instances of extraordinary dreams. the following account is by no means intended either to restore the reign of superstition, or to induce the reader to put faith in the numberless ridiculous interpretations, given by some pretenders to divination, of the ordinary run of dreams. the absurdity of the many traditional rules, laid down by such persons; such as, that dreaming of _eggs_ prognosticates _anger_; of the _washing_ of linens, forebodes _flitting_; of green fields, _sickness_; of hanging, _honour_; of death, _marriage_; of fish, _children_; and of raw flesh, _death_, &c. &c. can only be exceeded by the folly of those who put faith in such fooleries. but instances have occurred of particular persons, whose veracity cannot be doubted, having dreams of so singular a nature, and so literally and exactly fulfilled, that it may be well to mention one or two of them, for the entertainment, at least, of the reader, if they should not contribute to his improvement.-- mr. richard boyle, manufacturer, residing in stirling, about , dreamed that he saw a beautiful young woman, with a winding sheet over her arm, whose image made a deep impression on his mind. upon telling his mother the dream, she said, you will probably marry that woman, and if you do, she will bury you. going to glasgow in , he met with a young woman in a friend's house, exactly resembling the person he had dreamed of; and notwithstanding the disheartening interpretation he had got, and the additional discouraging circumstance told him, that she was already engaged with another young man, was sure she was to be his wife, and did not give up his pursuit till he made her his own. the melancholy part of his dream was soon fulfilled. he lived only months with her; a short, but happy period. his widow, during his life, dreamed with equal exactness of her second husband, whom she did not see till three years afterwards, when the sight of him, at church, in montrose, disturbed her devotion so much, upon recollecting her dream, that she hardly knew a word the minister said afterwards. within less than two months, they were introduced to each other; and within four, were married.--another young lady had dreamed so often, and so particularly, about the gentleman who afterwards married her, that at their first meeting, she started back, as if she had seen a ghost.--the editors of the encyclopedia perthensis declare they knew the parties concerned in the foregoing relations. but these instances of prophetic dreams, they observe, are trifling, compared to one narrated in the _weekly mirror_, printed at edinburgh, in , and signed _verax_; and which, they say, they quote the more readily, as also, from personal acquaintance with the parties, they know the narrative to be true: "in june, , mr. robert aikenhead, farmer, in denstrath, of arnhall, in the mearns, about miles north of brechin, and from montrose, went to a market called _tarrenty-fair_, where he had a large sum of money to receive. his eldest son, robert, a boy about years of age, was sent to take care of the cattle, and, happening to lie down upon a grassy bank before sun-set, fell fast asleep. although the boy had never been far from home, he was immediately carried in his imagination to tarrenty market, where, he dreamed, that his father, after receiving the money, set out on his return home, and was followed all the way by two ill-looking fellows, who, when he had got to the western dykes of inglis-mauldy, (the seat of the then lord halkerton, afterwards earl of kintore,) and little more than a mile from home, attacked and attempted to rob him. whereupon the boy thought he ran to his assistance, and, when he came within a gun-shot of the place, called out some people, who were just going to bed, who put the robbers to flight. he immediately awoke in a fright, and, without waiting to consider whether it was a vision or a reality, ran as fast as he could to the place he had dreamed of, and had no sooner reached it, than he saw his father in the very spot and situation he had seen in his dream, defending himself with his stick against the assassins. he therefore immediately realized his own part of the visionary scene, by roaring out, _murder!_ which soon brought out the people, who running up to mr. aikenhead's assistance, found him victor over one of the villains, whom he had previously knocked down with a stone, after they had pulled him off his horse; but almost overpowered by the other, who repeatedly attempted to stab him with a sword; against which he had no other defence than his stick and his hands, which were considerably mangled by grasping the blade. upon sight of the country people, the villain who had the sword ran off; but the other not being able, was apprehended and lodged in gaol. meantime there was no small hue and cry after young robert, whose mother missing him, and finding the cattle among the corn, was in the utmost anxiety, concluding that he had fallen into some water or peat moss. but her joy and surprise were equally great, when her husband returned with the boy, and told her how miraculously both his money and life had been preserved by his son's dream; although she was at first startled at seeing her husband's hands bloody. "to those who deny the existence of a god, (adds the writer,) or the superintendence of a divine providence, the above narrative will appear as fabulous as any story in ovid. to those who measure the greatness and littleness of events by the arbitrary rules of human pride and vanity, it will perhaps appear incredible that such a miracle should have been wrought for the preservation of the life of a country farmer. but all who found their opinions upon the unerring rule of right and truth, which assures us that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without the permission of our heavenly father, (and who know, that in the sight of him, with whom there is no respect of persons or dignities, the life of the greatest monarch on earth, and that of the lowest of his subjects, are of equal value,) will laugh at such silly objections, when opposed to well-attested facts. that the above is one, could be attested upon oath, were it necessary, by mr. and mrs. aikenhead, from whom i had all the particulars above narrated about months ago.--edinburgh, march , ."--indeed, whoever can persuade himself that such facts as are stated above, can happen by chance, may easily adopt the system of those philosophers, who tell us that the universe was formed by the fortuitous concourse of atoms. the title of our next subject is curious,--poetical, grammatical, and scientific deaths. the emperor adrian, dying, made that celebrated address to his soul, which is so happily translated by pope, in the following words: vital spark of heav'nly flame, quit, oh quit this mortal frame. trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying, oh the pain, the bliss of dying! cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, and let me languish into life. hark! they whisper; angels say, sister spirit, come away. what is this absorbs me quite? steals my senses, shuts my sight? drowns my spirits, draws my breath? tell me, my soul, can this be death! the world recedes; it disappears! heav'n opens on my eyes! my ears with sounds seraphic ring: lend, lend your wings! i mount! i fly! o grave! where is thy victory? o death! where is thy sting? lucan, when he had his veins opened by order of nero, expired reciting a passage from his pharsalia, in which he has described the wound of a dying soldier. petronius did the same thing on the same occasion. patris, a poet of caen, perceiving himself expiring, composed some verses which are justly admired. in this little poem he relates a dream, in which he appeared to be placed next to a beggar, when, having addressed him in the haughty strain he would probably have employed on this side of the grave, he received the following reprimand: "here all are equal; now thy lot is mine! i on my dunghill, as thou art on thine." des barreaux, it is said, wrote, on his death-bed, that sonnet which is well known, and which is translated in the "spectator." margaret of austria, when she was nearly perishing in a storm at sea, composed for herself the following epitaph in verse: "beneath this tomb is high-born margaret laid, who had two husbands, and yet died a maid." she was betrothed to charles viii. of france, who forsook her. being next intended for the spanish infant, in her voyage to spain she wrote these lines in a storm. roscommon, at the moment he expired, with an energy of voice (says his biographer) that expressed the most fervent devotion, uttered two lines of his own version of "dies iræ!" waller, in his last moments, repeated some lines from virgil: and chaucer took his farewell of all human vanities by a moral ode, entitled, "a ballad made by geffrey chauycer upon his dethe-bedde lying in his grete anguysse." "the muse that has attended my course (says the dying gleim, in a letter to klopstock[ ]) still hovers round my steps to the very verge of the grave." a collection of songs, composed by old gleim on his death-bed, it is said, were intended to be published. chatellard, a french gentleman, beheaded in scotland, for having loved the queen, and even for having attempted her honour, brantome says, would not have any other viaticum than a poem of ronsard. when he ascended the scaffold, he took the hymns of this poet, and for his consolation read that on death; which, he says, is well adapted to conquer its fear. he preferred the poems of ronsard to either a prayer-book or his confessor: such was his passion. the marquis of montrose, when he was condemned by his judges to have his limbs nailed to the gates of four cities, the brave soldier said that, "he was sorry he had not limbs sufficient to be nailed to all the gates of the cities in europe, as monuments of his loyalty." as he proceeded to his execution, he put this thought into beautiful verse. philip strozzi, when imprisoned by cosmo the first, great duke of tuscany, was apprehensive of the danger to which he might expose his friends, (who had joined in his conspiracy against the duke,) from the confessions which the rack might extort from him. having attempted every exertion for the liberty of his country, he considered it no crime therefore to die. he resolved on suicide. with the point of the sword, with which he killed himself, he first engraved on the mantle-piece of the chimney, this verse of virgil: exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor. _rise, some avenger, from our blood!_ such persons realize that beautiful fiction of the ancients, who represent the swans of cayster singing at their death; and have been compared to the nightingale singing with a thorn on its breast. the following anecdotes are of a different complexion: they may perhaps excite a smile. we have given them the title of grammatical deaths. pere bouhours was a french grammarian, who had been justly accused of paying too scrupulous an attention to the minutiæ of letters. he was more solicitous of his _words_ than his _thoughts_. it is said, that when he was dying, he called out to his friends (a correct grammarian to the last,) "_je_ vas, _ou je_ vais _mourir; l'un ou l'autre se dit!_" when malherbe was dying, he reprimanded his nurse for making use of a solecism in her language! and when his confessor represented to him the felicities of a future state in low expressions, the dying critic interrupted him: "hold your tongue," he said, "your wretched style only makes me out of conceit with them!" several persons of science have died in a scientific manner.--haller, the greatest of physicians, beheld his end approach with the utmost composure. he kept feeling his pulse to the last moment, and when he found that life was almost gone, he turned to his brother physician, and observed, "my friend, the artery ceases to beat,"--and almost instantly expired. de lagny, who was intended by his friends for the study of the law, having fallen on an euclid, found it so congenial to his disposition, that he devoted himself to mathematics. in his last moments, when he retained no further recollection of the friends who surrounded his bed, one of them, perhaps to make a philosophical experiment, thought proper to ask him the square of ; the dying mathematician instantly, and perhaps without knowing that he answered it, replied, " ." the following lines, from the pen of mrs. barbauld, in an address to the deity, express the desires and hopes of a real christian in the contemplation of death: "o when the last, the closing hour draws nigh, and earth recedes before my swimming eye; when trembling on the doubtful edge of fate, i stand, and stretch my view to either state; teach me to quit this transitory scene with decent triumph and a look serene; teach me to fix my ardent hopes on high, and, having liv'd to thee, in thee to die!" the following article is not of a pleasing description, but nevertheless proper to be inserted in "the book of curiosities." it is anthropophagi, or men-eaters: the cyclops, the lestrygons, and scylla, are all represented in homer as anthropophagi, or man-eaters, and the female phantoms, circe and the syrens, first bewitched with a show of pleasure, and then destroyed. this, like the other parts of homer's poetry, had a foundation in the manners of the times preceding his own. it was still in many places the age spoken of by orpheus, "when men devour'd each other like the beasts, gorging on human flesh." history gives us divers instances of persons driven by excess of hunger to eat their own relations. and also out of revenge and hatred, where soldiers, in the heat of battle, have been known to be carried to such an excess of rage, as to tear their enemies with their teeth. the violence of love has sometimes produced the same effect as the excess of hatred. among the essedonian scythians, when a man's father died, his neighbours brought him several beasts, which they killed, mixed up their flesh with that of the deceased, and made a feast. among the massageti, when any person grew old, they killed him, and ate his flesh; but if the party died of sickness, they buried him, esteeming him unhappy. idolatry and superstition have caused the eating more human flesh, than both love and hatred put together. there are few nations but have offered human victims to their deities; and it was an established custom to eat part of the sacrifices they offered. it appears pretty certain, from dr. hawkesworth's account of the voyages to the south seas, that the inhabitants of new zealand ate the bodies of their enemies. mr. petit has a learned dissertation on the nature and manners of the anthropophagi. among other things, he disputes whether or no the anthropophagi act contrary to nature? the philosophers, diogenes, chrysippus, and zeno, followed by the whole body of stoics, held it a very reasonable thing for men to eat each other. according to sextus empiricus, the first laws were those made to prevent men from eating each other, as had been done until that time. the greek writers represent anthropophagi as universal before orpheus. leonardus floroventius informs us, that having fed a hog with hog's flesh, and a dog with dog's flesh, he found a repugnance in nature to such food; the former lost all his bristles; the latter its hair, and the whole body broke out in blotches. if even this horrid practice of eating human flesh originates from hunger, still it must be perpetuated from revenge: as death must lose much of its horror among those who are accustomed to eat the dead; and where there is little horror at the sight of death, there must be less repugnance to murder. we shall conclude this chapter with an account of a wild man, given by m. le roy. in , a wild man was discovered in the neighbourhood of yuary. this man, who inhabited the rocks near a forest, was very tall, covered with hair like a bear, very nimble, and of a gay humour. he neither did, nor seemed to intend, harm to any body. he often visited the cottages, without ever attempting to carry off any thing. he had no knowledge of bread, milk, or cheese. his greatest amusement was to see the sheep running, and to scatter them; and he testified his pleasure at this sight by loud fits of laughter, but never attempted to hurt them. when the shepherds (as was frequently the case) let loose their dogs at him, he fled with the swiftness of an arrow, and never allowed the dogs to come too near him. one morning he came to the cottage of some workmen, and one of them endeavouring to catch him by the leg, he laughed heartily, and then made his escape. he seemed to be about thirty years of age. as the forest is very extensive, and had a communication with a vast wood that belongs to the spanish territories, it is natural to suppose that this solitary, but cheerful creature, had been lost in his infancy, and subsisted on herbs. chap. v. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _striking instances of integrity--shocking instances of ingratitude--extraordinary instances of honour--surprising effects of anger--remarkable effects of fright, or terror--notable instance of the power of conscience._ striking instances of integrity. a man of integrity will never listen to any reason, or give way to any measure, or be misled by any inducement, against conscience. the inhabitants of a great town offered marshal de turenne , crowns, upon condition he would take another road, and not march his troops their way. he answered them, "as your town is not on the road i intend to march, i cannot accept the money you offer me."--the earl of derby, in the reign of edward iii. making a descent in guienne, carried by storm the town of bergerac, and gave it up to be plundered.--a welsh knight happening to light upon the receiver's office, found such a quantity of money, that he thought himself obliged to acquaint his general with it, imagining that so great a booty belonged to him. but he was agreeably surprised, when the earl wished him joy of his good fortune, and said he did not make the keeping of his word depend on the great or little value of what he had promised.--in the siege of falisci, by camillus, general of the romans, the schoolmaster of the town, who had the children of the senators under his care, led them abroad, under the pretext of recreation, and carried them to the roman camp; saying to camillus, that, by this artifice, he had delivered falisci into his hands. camillus, abhorring his treachery, said, "that there were laws for war as well as for peace; and that the romans were taught to make war with integrity, not less than with courage." he ordered the schoolmaster to be stripped, his hands to be bound behind his back, and to be delivered to the boys, to be lashed back into the town. the falerians, hitherto obstinate in resistance, struck with an act of justice so illustrious, delivered themselves up to the romans; convinced that they would be far better to have the romans for their allies, than their enemies. shocking instances of ingratitude.--herodotus informs us, that when xerxes, king of persia, was at celene, a city of phrygia, pythius, a lydian, who resided there, and, next to xerxes, was the most opulent prince of those times, entertained him and his whole army with an incredible magnificence, and made him an offer of all his wealth towards defraying the expenses of his expedition. xerxes, surprised at so generous an offer, inquired to what sum his riches amounted. pythius answered, that having the design of offering them to his service, he had taken an exact account of them, and that the silver he had by him, amounted to talents, (about £ , sterling), and the gold to , , darics (about £ , , sterling). all this money he offered him, telling him, that his revenue was sufficient for the support of his household. xerxes made him very hearty acknowledgments, and entered into a particular friendship with him, and declined accepting his present. some time after this, pythius having desired a favour of him, that out of his five sons, who served in his army, he would be pleased to leave him the eldest, to comfort him in his old age; xerxes was so enraged at the proposal, though so reasonable in itself, that he caused the eldest son to be killed before his father's eyes, giving the latter to understand, that it was a favour he spared him and the rest of his children. yet, this is the same xerxes who is so much admired for his humane reflection at the head of his numerous army.--the emperor basilius i. exercised himself in hunting: a great stag running furiously against him, fastened one of the branches of his horns in the emperor's girdle, and, pulling him from his horse, dragged him a good distance, to the imminent danger of his life; which a gentleman of his retinue perceiving, drew his sword, and cut the emperor's girdle asunder, which disengaged him from the beast, with little or no hurt to his person. but, observe his reward! "he was sentenced to lose his head for putting the sword so near the body of the emperor; and suffered death accordingly." (_zonor. annal._ _tom._ . p. .)--in a little work entitled _friendly cautions to officers_, the following atrocious instance is related. an opulent city, in the west of england, had a regiment sent to be quartered there: the principal inhabitants, glad to shew their hospitality and attachment to their sovereign, got acquainted with the officers, invited them to their houses, and shewed them every civility in their power. a merchant, extremely easy in his circumstances, took so prodigious a liking to one officer in particular, that he gave him an apartment in his own house, and made him in a manner master of it, the officer's friends being always welcome to his table. the merchant was a widower, and had two favourite daughters: the officer cast his wanton eyes upon them, and too fatally ruined them both. dreadful return to the merchant's misplaced friendship! the consequence of this ungenerous action was, that all officers ever after were shunned as pests to society; nor have the inhabitants yet conquered their aversion to a red coat.--we read in rapin's history, that during monmouth's rebellion, in the reign of james ii. a certain person, knowing the humane disposition of one mrs. gaunt, whose life was one continued exercise of beneficence, fled to her house, where he was concealed and maintained for some time. hearing, however, of the proclamation, which promised an indemnity and reward to those who discovered such as harboured the rebels, he betrayed his benefactress: and such was the spirit of justice and equity which prevailed among the ministry, that he was pardoned, and recompensed for his treachery, while she was burnt alive for her charity!--the following instance is also to be found in the same history. humphrey bannister and his father were both servants to, and raised by, the duke of buckingham; who being driven to abscond by an unfortunate accident befalling the army he had raised against the usurper richard iii. he retired to bannister's house near shrewsbury, as to a place where he might be quite safe. bannister, however, upon the king's proclamation promising l. reward to him that should apprehend the duke, betrayed his master to john merton, high sheriff of shropshire, who sent him under a strong guard to salisbury, where the king then was; and there, in the market-place, the duke was beheaded. but divine vengeance pursued the traitor bannister; for, demanding the l. that was the price of his master's blood, richard refused to pay it him, saying, "he that would be false to so good a master, ought not to be encouraged." he was afterwards hanged for manslaughter; his eldest son went mad, and died in a hog-sty; his second became deformed and lame; and his third son was drowned in a small puddle of water; his eldest daughter became pregnant by one of his carters, and his second was seized with a leprosy whereof she died. _hist. of eng._ i. p. . let us guard against this odious vice, ingratitude, being assured that sooner or later the bitter effects of this, as well as of all other sins, will find us out. our following article consists of some extraordinary instances of honour. the spanish historians relate a memorable instance of inviolable regard to the principles of honour and truth. a spanish cavalier, in a sudden quarrel, slew a moorish gentleman, and fled. his pursuers soon lost sight of him, for he had, unperceived, leaped over a garden wall. the owner, a moor, happening to be in his garden, was addressed by the spaniard on his knees, who acquainted him with his case, and implored concealment. "eat this," said the moor (giving him half a peach), "you now know that you may confide in my protection." he then locked him up in his garden, telling him, as soon as it was night he would provide for his escape to a place of greater safety. the moor then went into his house, where he had but just seated himself, when a great crowd, with loud lamentations, came to his gate, bringing the corpse of his son, who had just been killed by a spaniard. when the first shock of surprise was a little over, he learned, from the description given, that the fatal deed was done by the very person then in his power. he mentioned this to no one; but, as soon as it was dark, retired to his garden, as if to grieve alone, giving orders that none should follow him. then accosting the spaniard, he said, "christian, the person you have killed is my son, his body is now in my house. you ought to suffer; but you have eaten with me, and i have given you my faith, which must not be broken." he then led the astonished spaniard to his stables, mounted him on one of his fleetest horses, and said, "fly far while the night can cover you; you will be safe in the morning. you are indeed guilty of my son's blood; but god is just and good; and thank him, i am innocent of your's, and that my faith given is preserved." this point of honour is most religiously observed by the arabs and saracens, from whom it was adopted by the moors of africa, and by them was brought into spain.--the following instance of spanish honour may still be in the memory of many living, and deserves to be handed down to the latest posterity. in , when britain was at war with spain, the elizabeth of london, captain william edwards, coming through the gulf from jamaica, richly laden, met with a most violent storm, in which the ship sprung a leak, that obliged them to run into the havannah, a spanish port, to save their lives. the captain went on shore, and directly waited on the governor, told the occasion of his putting in, and that he surrendered the ship as a prize, and himself and his men as prisoners of war, only requesting good quarter. "no, sir," replied the spanish governor, "if we had taken you in fair war at sea, or approaching our coast with hostile intentions, your ship would then have been a prize, and your people prisoners; but when, distressed by a tempest, you come into our ports for the safety of your lives, we, though enemies, being men, are bound, as such, by the laws of humanity, to afford relief to distressed men who ask it of us. we cannot, even against our enemies, take advantage of an act of god. you have leave therefore to unload your ship, if that be necessary, and to stop the leak; you may refit her here, and traffic so far as shall be necessary to pay the charges; you may then depart, and i will give you a pass to be in force till you are beyond bermuda: if after that you are taken, you will then be a lawful prize; but now you are only a stranger, and have a stranger's right to safety and protection." the ship accordingly departed, and arrived safe in london.--a remarkable instance of honour is also recorded of an african negro, in captain snelgrave's account of his voyage to guinea. a new-england sloop, trading there in , left her second mate, william murray, sick on shore, and sailed without him. murray was at the house of a black, named _cudjoe_, with whom he had contracted an acquaintance during their trade. he recovered; and the sloop being gone, he continued with his black friend till some other opportunity should offer of his getting home. in the mean time a dutch ship came into the road, and some of the blacks coming on board her, were treacherously seized and carried off as slaves. the relations and friends, transported with sudden rage, ran to the house of cudjoe, to take revenge by killing murray. cudjoe stopped them at the door, and demanded what they wanted. "the white men," said they, "have carried away our brothers and sons, and we will kill all white men. give us the white man you have in your house, for we will kill him." "nay," said cudjoe, "the white men that carried away your relations are bad men, kill them when you can take them; but this white man is a good man, and you must not kill him."--"but he is a white man," they cried, "and the white men are all bad men, we will kill them all."--"nay," says he, "you must not kill a man that has done no harm, only for being white. this man is my friend, my house is his post, i am his soldier, and must fight for him; you must kill me before you can kill him. what good man will ever come again under my roof, if i let my floor be stained with a good man's blood?" the negroes, seeing his resolution, and being convinced by his discourse that they were wrong, went away ashamed. in a few days murray went abroad again with his friend cudjoe, when several of them took him by the hand, and told him, "they were glad they had not killed him; for, as he was a good man, their god would have been very angry, and would have spoiled their fishing." as it is our intention to record whatever we meet with, that is curious or wonderful, we hesitate not in inserting the following surprising effects of anger. physicians and naturalists afford instances of very extraordinary effects of this passion. borrichius cured a woman of an inveterate tertian ague, which had baffled the art of physic, by putting the patient in a furious fit of anger. valeriola made use of the same means, with the like success, in a quartan ague. the same passion has been equally salutary to paralytic, gouty, and even dumb persons; to which last it has sometimes given the use of speech. etmuller gives divers instances of very singular cures wrought by anger; among others, he mentions a person laid up in the gout, who, being provoked by his physician, flew upon him, and was cured. it is true, the remedy is somewhat dangerous in the application, when a patient does not know how to use it with moderation. we meet with several instances of princes, to whom it has proved mortal; _e. g._ valentinian i. wenceslaus, matthias corvinus, king of hungary, and others. there are also instances wherein it has produced the epilepsy, jaundice, cholera morbus, diarrhoea, &c. in fact, this passion is of such a nature, that it quickly throws the whole nervous system into preternatural commotions, by a violent stricture of the nervous and muscular parts; and surprisingly augments, not only the systole of the heart, and its contiguous vessels, but also the tone of the fibrous parts in the whole body. it is also certain, that this passion, by the spasmodic stricture it produces in the parts, exerts its power principally on the stomach and intestines, which are highly nervous and membraneous parts; whence the symptoms are more dangerous, in proportion to the greater consent of the stomach and intestines with the other nervous parts, and almost with the whole body. the unhappy influence of anger likewise on the biliary and hepatic ducts, is very surprising; since, by an intense constriction of these, the liver is not only rendered scirrhous, but stones also are often generated in the gall-bladder and biliary ducts: these accidents have scarcely any other origin than an obstruction of the free motion and efflux of the bile, by means of this violent stricture. from such a stricture, likewise, proceeds the jaundice, which, in process of time, lays a foundation for calculous concretions in the gall-bladder. by increasing the motion of the fluid, or the spasms of the fibrous parts, by means of anger, a large quantity of blood is forcibly propelled to certain parts; whence it happens, that they are too much distended, and the orifices of the veins distributed there, opened. it is evident, from experience, that anger has a great tendency to excite enormous hemorrhages, either from the nose, the aperture of the pulmonary artery, &c. the effects of this passion are well described by armstrong in the following lines:-- "but there's a passion, whose tempestuous sway tears up each virtue planted in the heart, and shakes to ruin proud philosophy: for pale and trembling anger rushes in with falt'ring speech, and eyes that wildly stare, fierce as the tiger, madder than the seas, desp'rate, and arm'd with more than human strength; but he whom anger stings, drops, if he dies, at once, and rushes apoplectic down; or a fierce fever hurries him to hell." now follows an account of some remarkable effects of fright, or terror. out of many instances of the fatal effects of fear, the following is selected as one of the most singular:--george grochantzy, a polander, who had enlisted as a soldier in the service of the king of prussia, deserted during the last war. a small party was sent in pursuit of him, and, when he least expected it, surprised him singing and dancing among a company of peasants in an inn. this event, so sudden, and so dreadful in its consequences, struck him in such a manner, that, giving a great cry, he became altogether stupid and insensible, and was seized without the least resistance. they carried him away to glocau, where he was brought before the council of war, and received sentence as a deserter. he suffered himself to be led and disposed of at the will of those about him, without uttering a word, or giving the least sign that he knew what had happened or would happen to him. he remained immoveable as a statue wherever he was placed, and was wholly regardless of all that was done to him or about him. during all the time that he was in custody, he neither ate, nor drank, nor slept, nor had any evacuation. some of his comrades were sent to see him; after that, he was visited by some officers of his corps, and by some priests; but he still continued in the same state, without discovering the least signs of sensibility. promises, entreaties, and threatenings, were equally ineffectual. it was at first suspected that these appearances were feigned; but such suspicions gave way, when it was known that he took no sustenance, and that the involuntary functions of nature were in a great measure suspended. the physicians concluded that he was in a state of hopeless idiocy; and after some time they knocked off his fetters, and left him at liberty to go where he would. he received his liberty with the same insensibility that he had shewn on other occasions; he remained fixed and immoveable, his eyes turned wildly here and there, without taking cognizance of any object, and the muscles of his face were fallen and fixed, like those of a dead body. he passed twenty days in this condition, without eating, drinking, or any evacuation, and died on the th day. he had been sometimes heard to fetch deep sighs; and once he rushed with great violence on a soldier who had a mug of liquor in his hand, forced the mug from him, and having drank the liquor with great eagerness, let the mug drop to the ground.--among the ludicrous effects of fear, the following instance, quoted from a french author, by mr. andrews, in his volume of anecdotes, shews upon what slight occasions this passion may be sometimes excited in a very high degree, and even in persons the most unlikely to entertain fear. "charles gustavus (successor to christina, queen of sweden,) was besieging prague, when a boor of a most extraordinary visage desired admittance to his tent; and being allowed entrance, offered, by way of amusing the king, to devour a whole hog of weight in his presence. the old general, konigsmarc, who stood by the king's side, and who, soldier as he was, had not got rid of the prejudices of his childhood, hinted to his royal master that the peasant ought to be burnt as a sorcerer. 'sir,' said the fellow, irritated at the remark, 'if your majesty will but make that old gentleman take off his sword and his spurs, i will eat him, before i begin the hog.' konigsmarc (who had, at the head of a body of swedes, performed wonders against the austrians, and who was looked upon as one of the bravest men of the age,) could not stand this proposal; especially as it was accompanied by a most hideous and preternatural expansion of the frightful peasant's jaws. without uttering a word, the veteran turned round, ran out of the court, nor thought himself safe until he had arrived at his quarters, where he remained above hours locked up securely, before he had got rid of the panic which had so severely affected him." such is the influence of fright or terror. the following is a notable instance of the power of conscience. it is a saying, that no man ever offended his own conscience, but first or last it was revenged upon him. the power of conscience indeed has been remarked in all ages, and the examples of it upon record are numerous and striking.--the following is related by mr. fordyce, in his _dialogues on education_, (vol. ii. p. .) as a real occurrence, which happened in a neighbouring state not many years ago. a jeweller, a man of good character and considerable wealth, having occasion, in the way of his business, to travel to some distance from the place of his abode, took along with him a servant, in order to take care of his portmanteau. he had with him some of his best jewels, and a large sum of money, to which his servant was likewise privy. the master having occasion to dismount on the road, the servant watching his opportunity, took a pistol from his master's saddle, and shot him dead on the spot; then rifled him of his jewels and money, and, hanging a large stone to his neck, threw him into the nearest canal. with his booty he made off to a distant part of the country, where he had reason to believe that neither he nor his master were known. there he began to trade in a very low way at first, that his obscurity might screen him from observation, and in the course of a good many years seemed to rise, by the natural progress of business, into wealth and consideration; so that his good fortune appeared at once the effect and reward of industry and virtue. of these he counterfeited the appearance so well, that he grew into great credit, married into a good family, and by laying out his sudden stores discreetly, as he saw occasion, and joining to all an universal affability, he was admitted to a share of the government of the town, and rose from one post to another, till at length he was chosen chief magistrate. in this office he maintained a fair character, and continued to fill it with no small applause, both as a governor and a judge; till one day, as he sat on the bench, with some of his brethren, a criminal was brought before him, who was accused of murdering his master. the evidence came out full, the jury brought in their verdict that the prisoner was guilty, and the whole assembly waited the sentence of the president of the court (which he happened to be that day) with great suspense. meanwhile he appeared to be in unusual disorder and agitation of mind, and his colour changed often; at length he rose from his seat, and coming down from the bench, placed himself by the unfortunate man at the bar. "you see before you (said he, addressing himself to those who had sat on the bench with him,) a striking instance of the just awards of heaven, which, this day, after years' concealment, presents to you a greater criminal than the man just now found guilty." then he made an ample confession of his guilt, and of all the aggravations: "nor can i feel (continued he) any relief from the agonies of an awakened conscience, but by requiring that justice be forthwith done against me in the most public and solemn manner." we may easily suppose the amazement of all the assembly, and especially of his fellow judges. however, they proceeded, upon this confession, to pass sentence upon him, and he died with all the symptoms of a penitent mind. let it be our constant aim to keep a conscience void of offence towards god, and towards man; being assured that, one self-approving hour whole years outweighs of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas. _pope._ chap. vi. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _remarkable instance of memory--surprising instance of skill in numbers--extraordinary arithmetical powers of a child--curious instance of mathematical talent--stone eater--poison eater--bletonism--longevity._ remarkable instance of memory. whence came the active and sagacious mind, self-conscious, and with faculties endued of understanding, will, and memory, and reason, to distinguish true from false? ------------whence, but through an infinite, almighty god, supremely wise and just? _newler._ hortensius, one of the most celebrated orators of ancient rome, had so happy a memory, that after studying a discourse, though he had not written down a single word of it, he could repeat it exactly in the same manner in which he had composed it. his powers of mind in this respect were really astonishing; and we are told, that in consequence of a wager with one sienna, he spent a whole day at an auction, and, when it was ended, recapitulated every article that had been sold, together with the prices, and the names of the purchasers, in their proper order, without erring in one point, as was proved by the clerk, who followed him with his book. the following is a very surprising instance of skill in numbers. jedidiah buxton, was a prodigy, with respect to skill in numbers. his father, william buxton, was schoolmaster of the parish where he was born, in : yet jedediah's education was so much neglected, that he was never taught to write; and with respect to any other knowledge but that of numbers, seemed always as ignorant as a boy of ten years of age. how he came first to know the relative proportions of numbers, and their progressive denominations, he did not remember; but to this he applied the whole force of his mind, and upon this his attention was constantly fixed, so that he frequently took no cognizance of external objects, and, when he did it, it was only with respect to their numbers. if any space of time was mentioned, he would soon after say it was so many minutes; and if any distance of way, he would assign the number of hair-breadths, without any question being asked, or any calculation expected by the company. when he once understood a question, he began to work with amazing facility, after his own method, without the use of a pen, pencil, or chalk, or even understanding the common rules of arithmetic, as taught in the schools. he would stride over a piece of land, or a field, and tell the contents of it almost as exactly as if one had measured it by the chain. in this manner he measured the whole lordship of elmton, belonging to sir john rhodes, and brought him the contents, not only of some thousands in acres, roods, and perches, but even in square inches. after this, for his own amusement, he reduced them into square hair-breadths, computing to each side of the inch. his memory was so great, that while resolving a question, he could leave off, and resume the operation again, where he left off, the next morning, or at a week, a month, or several months, and proceed regularly till it was completed. his memory would doubtless have been equally retentive with respect to other objects, if he had attended to them with equal diligence; but his perpetual application to figures prevented the smallest acquisition of any other knowledge. he was sometimes asked, on his return from church, whether he remembered the text, or any part of the sermon: but it never appeared that he brought away one sentence; his mind, upon a closer examination, being found to have been busied, even during divine service, in his favourite operation, either dividing some time, or some space, into the smallest known parts, or resolving some question that had been given him as a test of his abilities. as this extraordinary person lived in laborious poverty, his life was uniform and obscure. time, with respect to him, changed nothing but his age; nor did the seasons vary his employment, except that in winter he used a flail, and in summer a ling-hook. in , he came to london, where he was introduced to the royal society, who, in order to prove his abilities, asked him several questions in arithmetic; and he gave them such satisfaction, that they dismissed him with a handsome gratuity. in this visit to the metropolis, the only object of his curiosity, except figures, was to see the king and royal family; but they being at kensington, jedidiah was disappointed. during his stay in london, he was taken to see king richard iii. performed at drury-lane playhouse; and it was expected, either that the novelty and the splendour of the show would have fixed him in astonishment, or kept his imagination in a continual hurry, or that his passions would, in some degree, have been touched by the power of action, though he did not perfectly understand the dialogue. but jedidiah's mind was employed in the playhouse just as it was employed in every other place. during the dance, he fixed his attention upon the number of steps; he declared, after a fine piece of music, that the innumerable sounds produced by the instruments had perplexed him beyond measure; and he attended even to mr. garrick, only to count the words that he uttered, in which, he said, he perfectly succeeded. jedidiah returned to the place of his birth, where, if his enjoyments were few, his wishes did not seem to be greater. he applied to his labour with cheerfulness; he regretted nothing that he left behind him in london; and it continued to be his opinion, that a slice of rusty bacon afforded the most delicious repast. the following account of the extraordinary arithmetical powers of a child, is extracted from the _annual register_ of . it is entitled, some particulars respecting the arithmetical powers of zerah colburn, a child under eight years of age. "the attention of the philosophical world, (says the writer,) has been lately attracted by the most singular phenomenon in the history of the human mind, that perhaps ever existed. it is the case of a child, under eight years of age, who, without any previous knowledge of the common rides of arithmetic, or even of the use and power of the arabic numerals, and without having given any particular attention to the subject, possesses, as if by intuition, the singular faculty of solving a great variety of arithmetical questions by the mere operation of the mind, and without the usual assistance of any visible symbol or contrivance. "the name of the child is zerah colburn, who was born at cabut, (a town lying at the head of onion river, in vermont, in the united states of america,) on the st of september, . about two years ago (august, ,) although at that time not six years of age, he first began to shew those wonderful powers of calculation, which have since so much attracted the attention, and excited the astonishment, of every person who has witnessed his extraordinary abilities. the discovery was made by accident. his father, who had not given him any other instruction than such as was to be obtained at a small school established in that unfrequented and remote part of the country, (and which did not include either writing or ciphering,) was much surprised one day to hear him repeating the products of several numbers. struck with amazement at the circumstance, he proposed a variety of arithmetical questions to him, all of which the child solved with remarkable facility and correctness. the news of this infant prodigy soon circulated through the neighbourhood; and many persons came from distant parts to witness so singular a circumstance. the father, encouraged by the unanimous opinion of all who came to see him, was induced to undertake, with this child, the tour of the united states. they were every where received with the most flattering expressions; and in the several towns which they visited, various plans were suggested, to educate and bring up the child, free from all expense to his family. yielding, however, to the pressing solicitations of his friends, and urged by the most respectable, and powerful recommendations, as well as by a view to his son's more complete education, the father has brought the child to this country, where they arrived on the th of may last: and the inhabitants of this metropolis have for these last three months had an opportunity of seeing and examining this wonderful phenomenon, and verifying the reports that have been circulated respecting him. many persons of the first eminence for their knowledge in mathematics, and well known for their philosophical inquiries, have made a point of seeing and conversing with him; and they have all been struck with astonishment at his extraordinary powers. it is correctly true, as stated of him, that--'he will not only determine, with the greatest facility and despatch, the exact number of minutes or seconds in any given period of time; but will also solve any other question of a similar kind. he will tell the exact product arising from the multiplication of any number, consisting of two, three, or four figures, by any other number, consisting of the like number of figures; or any number, consisting of six or seven places of figures, being proposed, he will determine, with equal expedition and ease, all the factors of which it is composed. this singular faculty consequently extends not only to the raising of powers, but also to the extraction of the square and cube roots of the number proposed; and likewise to the means of determining whether it be a prime number (or a number incapable of division by any other number;) for which case there does not exist, at present, any general rule amongst mathematicians.' all these, and a variety of other questions connected therewith, are answered by this child with such promptness and accuracy (and in the midst of his juvenile pursuits) as to astonish every person who has visited him. "at a meeting of his friends, which was held for the purpose of concerting the best methods of promoting the views of the father, this child undertook, and completely succeeded in raising the number progressively up to the sixteenth power!!! and, in naming the last result, viz. , , , , , he was right in every figure. he was then tried as to other numbers, consisting of one figure; all of which he raised (by actual multiplication, and not by memory) as high as the tenth power, with so much facility and despatch, that the person appointed to take down the results, was obliged to enjoin him not to be so rapid! with respect to numbers consisting of two figures, he would raise some of them to the sixth, seventh, and eighth power; but not always with equal facility: for the larger the products became, the more difficult he found it to proceed. he was asked the square root of ; and before the number could be written down, he immediately answered . he was then required to name the cube root of , , ; and with equal facility and promptness he replied, . various other questions of a similar nature, respecting the roots and powers of very high numbers, were proposed by several of the gentlemen present; to all of which he answered in a similar manner. one of the party requested him to name the factors which produced the number , : this he immediately did, by mentioning the two numbers and ; which indeed are the only two numbers that will produce it, viz. × , × , × , × , × , × , and × . he was then asked to give the factors of : but he immediately replied that it had none; which, in fact, was the case, as is a prime number. other numbers were indiscriminately proposed to him, and he always succeeded in giving the correct factors, except in the case of prime numbers, which he discovered almost as soon as proposed. one of the gentlemen asked him how many minutes there were in forty-eight years: and before the question could be written down, he replied, , , ; and instantly added, that the number of seconds in the same period was , , , . various questions of the like kind were put to him; and to all of them he answered with nearly equal facility and promptitude, so as to astonish every one present, and to excite a desire that so extraordinary a faculty should (if possible) be rendered more extensive and useful. "it was the wish of the gentlemen present, to obtain a knowledge of the method by which the child was enabled to answer, with so much facility and correctness, the questions thus put to him; but to all their inquiries upon this subject (and he was closely examined upon this point) he was unable to give them any information. he positively declared (and every observation that was made seemed to justify the assertion) that he did not know how the answers came into his mind. in the act of multiplying two numbers together, and in the raising of powers, it was evident (not only from the motion of his lips, but also from some singular facts which will be hereafter-mentioned) that some operation was going forward in his mind; yet that operation could not, from the readiness with which the answers were furnished, be at all allied to the usual mode of proceeding with such subjects: and, moreover, he is entirely ignorant of the common rules of arithmetic, and cannot perform, upon paper, a simple sum in multiplication or division. but in the extraction of roots, and in mentioning the factors of high numbers, it does not appear that any operation can take place, since he will give the answer immediately, or in a very few seconds, where it would require, according to the ordinary method of solution, a very difficult and laborious calculation; and moreover, the knowledge of a prime number cannot be obtained by any known rule. "it has been already observed, that it was evident, from some singular facts, that the child operated by certain rules known only to himself. this discovery was made in one or two instances, when he had been closely pressed upon that point. in one case he was asked to tell the square of : he at first hesitated, fearful that he should not be able to answer it correctly; but when he applied himself to it, he said, it was , , . on being questioned as to the cause of his hesitation; he replied, that he did not like to multiply four figures by four figures: but, said he, 'i found out another way; i multiplied by , and then multiplied this product twice by the number , which produced the same result.' on another occasion, his highness the duke of gloucester asked him the product of , , multiplied by : he immediately replied, , , ; but, upon some remark being made on the subject, the child said that he had, in his own mind, multiplied by . now, although, in the first instance, it must be evident to every mathematician, that is equal to × , and consequently that ( ){ } = ( ){ } × ( ){ }; and, further, that in the second case, is equal to × , and consequently that × ( × ) = ( × ) × ; yet it is not the less remarkable, that this combination should be immediately perceived by the child, and we cannot the less admire his ingenuity in thus seizing instantly the easiest method of solving the question proposed to him. "it must be evident, from what has here been stated, that the singular faculty which this child possesses is not altogether dependent upon his memory. in the multiplication of numbers, and in the raising of powers, he is doubtless considerably assisted by that remarkable quality of the mind: and in this respect he might be considered as bearing some resemblance (if the difference of age did not prevent the justness of the comparison) to the celebrated jedidiah buxton, and other persons of similar note. but, in the extraction of the roots of numbers, and in determining their factors, (if any,) it is clear, to all those who have witnessed the astonishing quickness and accuracy of this child, that the memory has little or nothing to do with the process. and in this particular point consists the remarkable difference between the present and all former instances of an apparently similar kind. "it has been recorded as an astonishing effort of memory, that the celebrated culer (who, in the science of analysis, might vie even with newton himself,) could remember the first six powers of every number under . this, probably, must be taken with some restrictions: but, if true to the fullest extent, it is not more astonishing than the efforts of this child; with this additional circumstance in favour of the latter, that he is capable of verifying, in a very few seconds, every figure which he may have occasion for. it has been further remarked, by the biographer of that eminent mathematician, that 'he perceived, almost at a single glance, the factors of which his formulæ were composed; the particular system of factors belonging to the question under consideration; the various artifices by which that system may be simplified and reduced; and the relation of the several factors to the conditions of the hypothesis. his expertness in this particular probably resulted, in a great measure, from the ease with which he performed mathematical investigations by head. he had always accustomed himself to that exercise; and, having practised it with assiduity, (even before the loss of sight, which afterwards rendered it a matter of necessity,) he is an instance to what an astonishing degree it may be acquired, and how much it improves the intellectual powers. no other discipline is so effectual in strengthening the faculty of attention: it gives a facility of apprehension, an accuracy and steadiness to the conceptions; and (what is a still more valuable acquisition) it habituates the mind to arrangement in its reasonings and reflections.' "it is not intended to draw a comparison between the humble, though astonishing, efforts of this infant prodigy, and the gigantic powers of that illustrious character, to whom a reference has just been made: yet we may be permitted to hope and expect that those wonderful talents, which are so conspicuous at this early age, may, by a suitable education, be considerably improved and extended; and that some new light will eventually be thrown upon those subjects, for the elucidation of which his mind appears to be peculiarly formed by nature, since he enters the world with all those powers and faculties which are not even attainable by the most eminent, at a more advanced period of life. every mathematician must be aware of the important advantages which have sometimes been derived from the most simple and trifling circumstance; the full effect of which has not always been evident at first sight. to mention one singular instance of this kind:--the very simple improvement of expressing the powers and roots of quantities by means of indices, introduced a new and general arithmetic of exponents: and this algorithm of powers led the way to the invention of logarithms, by means of which all arithmetical computations are so much facilitated and abridged. perhaps this child possesses a knowledge of some more important properties connected with this subject: although he is incapable at present of giving any satisfactory account of the state of his mind, or of communicating to others the knowledge which it is so evident he does possess; yet there is every reason to believe, that, when his mind is more cultivated, and his ideas more expanded, he will be able not only to divulge the mode by which he at present operates, but also point out some new sources of information on this interesting subject. "the case is certainly one of great novelty and importance; and every literary character, and every friend to science, must be anxious to see the experiment fairly tried, as to the effect which a suitable education may produce on a mind constituted as his appears to be. with this view, a number of gentlemen have taken the child under their patronage, and have formed themselves into a committee for the purpose of superintending his education. application has been made to a gentleman of science, well known for his mathematical abilities, who has consented to take the child under his immediate tuition: the committee, therefore, propose to withdraw him for the present from public exhibition, in order that he may fully devote himself to his studies. but whether they shall be able to accomplish the object they have in view, will depend upon the assistance which they may receive from the public. what further progress this child made under the patronage and tuition of his kind and benevolent friends, the editor is not, at present, able to ascertain." we proceed to a curious instance of mathematical talent. a singular instance of early mathematical talent has been made known by mr. gough, in the philosophical magazine.--thomas gasking, the son of a journeyman shoemaker of penrith, was but nine years of age when the account was written: "he was, (says the writer), however, in consequence of the education given him by his father, (an acute and industrious man,) become well acquainted with the leading propositions of euclid, reads and works algebra with facility, understands and uses logarithms, and has entered on the study of fluxions. on being examined, he demonstrated propositions from the first books of euclid; discovered the unknown side of a triangle, from the two sides and the angle given; and solved cases in spherical trigonometry. in algebra, he gave the solutions of a number of quadratic equations; answered questions which contained two unknown quantities; and applied algebra to geometry. he answered problems relating to the maxima of numbers and of geometrical magnitudes, with ease; and, on many other mathematical points, gave very high promises of future excellence." the following remarkable account of a stone eater, is given as a fact in several respectable works. in , was brought to avignon, a true lithophagus, or stone-eater. he not only swallowed flints of an inch and a half long, a full inch broad, and half an inch thick; but such stones as he could reduce to powder, such as marble, pebbles, &c. he made into paste, which was to him a most agreeable and wholesome food. i examined this man, says the writer, with all the attention i possibly could; i found his gullet very large, his teeth exceedingly strong, his saliva very corrosive, and his stomach lower than ordinary, which i imputed to the vast number of flints he had swallowed, being about five-and-twenty, one day with another. upon interrogating his keeper, he told me the following particulars: "this stone-eater," says he, "was found three years ago, in a northern uninhabited island, by some of the crew of a dutch ship. since i have had him, i make him eat raw flesh with the stones; i could never get him to swallow bread. he will drink water, wine, and brandy, which last liquor gives him infinite pleasure. he sleeps at least twelve hours in a day, sitting on the ground, with one knee over the other, and his chin resting on his right knee. he smokes almost all the time he is not asleep, or is not eating. the flints he has swallowed, he voids somewhat corroded, and diminished in weight; the rest of his excrements resembles mortar." the following account of a poison eater is said to be an undoubted fact. a man, about years of age, formerly living in constantinople, was known all over that city by the name of solyman, the eater of corrosive sublimate. in the early part of his life, he accustomed himself, like other turks, to the use of opium; but not feeling the desired effect, he augmented his dose to a great quantity, without feeling any inconvenience, and at length took a drachm of sixty grains daily. he went into the shop of a jew apothecary, to whom he was unknown, asked for a drachm of sublimate, which he mixed in a glass of water, and drank directly. the apothecary was dreadfully alarmed, because he knew the consequence of being accused of poisoning a turk: but what was his astonishment, when he saw the same man return the next day for a dose of the same quantity. it is said that lord elgin, mr. smith, and other englishmen, knew this man, and have heard him declare, that his enjoyment after having taken this active poison, is the greatest he ever felt from any cause whatever. we now proceed to give an account of a very extraordinary faculty, entitled bletonism. this is a faculty of perceiving and indicating subterraneous springs and currents by sensation. the term is modern, and derived from a mr. bleton, who excited universal attention by possessing this faculty, which seems to depend upon some peculiar organization. concerning the reality of this extraordinary faculty, there occurred great doubts among the learned. but m. thouvenel, a french philosopher, seems to have put the matter beyond dispute, in two memoirs which he published upon the subject. he was charged by louis xvi. with a commission to analyze the mineral and medicinal waters of france; and, by repeated trials, he had been so fully convinced of the capacity of bleton to assist him with efficacy in this important undertaking, that he solicited the ministry to join him in the commission upon advantageous terms. all this shews that the operations of bleton have a more solid support than the tricks of imposture or the delusions of fancy. in fact, a great number of his discoveries are ascertained by respectable affidavits. the following is a strong instance in favour of bletonism.--"for a long time the traces of several springs and their reservoirs in the lands of the abbey de verveins had been entirely lost. it appeared, nevertheless, by ancient deeds and titles, that these springs and reservoirs had existed. a neighbouring abbey was supposed to have turned their waters for its benefit into other channels, and a lawsuit was commenced upon this supposition. m. bleton was applied to: he discovered at once the new course of the waters in question; his discovery was ascertained; and the lawsuit terminated." m. thouvenel assigns principles upon which the impressions made by subterraneous waters and mines may be accounted for. having ascertained a general law, by which subterraneous electricity exerts an influence on the bodies of certain individuals, eminently susceptible of that influence, and shewn that this law is the same whether the electrical action arise from currents of warm or cold water, from currents of humid air, from coal or metallic mines, from sulphur, and so on, he observes, that there is a diversity in the physical and organical impressions which are produced by this electrical action, according as it proceeds from different fossile bodies, which are more or less conductors of electrical emanations. there are also artificial processes, which concur in leading us to distinguish the different conductors of mineral electricity; and in these processes the use of electrometrical rods deserves the attention of philosophers, who might perhaps, in process of time, substitute in their place a more perfect instrument. their physical and spontaneous mobility, and its electrical causes, are demonstrated by indisputable experiments. on the other hand, m. thouvenel proves, by very plausible arguments, the influence of subterraneous electrical currents, compares them with the electrical currents of the atmosphere, points out the different impressions they produce, according to the number and quality of the bodies which act, and the diversity of those which are acted upon. the ordinary sources of cold water make impressions proportional to their volume, the velocity of their currents, and other circumstances. their stagnation destroys every species of electrical influence; at least, in this state they have none that is perceptible. their depth is indicated by geometrical processes, founded upon the motion and divergence of the electrical rays. we shall conclude this chapter with some extraordinary instances of longevity. in october, , a prodigy is said to have appeared in france, in the person of one nicholas petours, who one day entered the town of coutances. his appearance excited curiosity, as it was observed that he had travelled on foot: he therefore gave the following account of himself, viz. that he was one hundred and eighteen years of age, being born at granville, near the sea, in the year ; that he was by trade a shoemaker; and had _walked_ from st. malo's to coutances, which is twenty-four leagues distant, in two days. he seemed as active as a young man. he said, "he came to attend the event of a lawsuit, and that he had had four wives; with the first of whom he lived fifty years, the second only twenty months, and the third twenty-eight years and two months, and that to the fourth he had been married two years; that he had had children by the three former, and could boast a posterity which consisted of one hundred and nineteen persons, and extended to the _seventh_ generation." he further stated, "that his family had been as remarkable for longevity as himself; that his mother lived until ; and that his father, in consequence of having been _wounded_, died at the age of one hundred and twenty-three, that his uncle and godfather, nicholas petours, curate of the parish of balcine, and afterward canon and treasurer of the cathedral of coutances, died there, aged above one hundred and thirty-seven years, having celebrated mass five days before his decease. jacqueline fauvel, wife to the park-keeper of the bishop of coutances, (he said,) died in consequence of a fright, in the village of st. nicholas, aged one hundred and twenty-one years, and that she was able to spin eight days before her decease." among the refugees from this part of france, we have known and heard of many instances of longevity, but certainly none equal to these. chap. vii. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _combustion of the human body, produced by the long immoderate use of spirituous liquors. from the journal de physique, pluviose, year : written by pierre aime lair._ in natural as well as civil history, there are facts presented to the meditation of the observer, which, though confirmed by the most convincing testimony, seem, on the first view, to be destitute of probability. of this kind is that of people consumed without coming into contact with common fire, and of bodies being thus reduced to ashes. how can we conceive that fire, in certain circumstances, can exercise so powerful an action on the human body as to produce this effect? one might be induced to give less faith to these instances of combustion, as they seem to be rare. i confess, that at first they appeared to me worthy of very little credit; but they are presented to the public as true, by men whose veracity seems unquestionable. bianchini, mossei, rolli, le cat, vicq. d'azyr, and several men distinguished by their learning, have given certain testimony of the facts. besides, is it more surprising to experience such incineration than to void saccharine urine, or to see the bones softened, or of the diabetes mellitus. this marbific disposition, therefore, would be one more scourge to afflict humanity; but in physics, facts being always preferable to reasoning, i shall here collect those which appear to me to bear the impression of truth; and, lest i should alter the sense, i shall quote them just as they are given in the works from which i have extracted them. we read in the transactions of copenhagen, that in , a woman of the lower class, who for three years had used spirituous liquors to such excess that she would take no other nourishment, having sat down one evening on a straw chair to sleep, was consumed in the night-time, so that next morning no part of her was found, but the skull, and the extreme joints of the fingers; all the rest of her body, says jacobeus, was reduced to ashes. the following extract of the memoir of bianchini, is taken from the annual register for :--the countess cornelia bandi, of the town of cesena, aged , enjoyed a good state of health. one evening, having experienced a sort of drowsiness, she retired to bed, and her maid remained with her till she fell asleep. next morning, when the girl entered to awaken her mistress, she found nothing but the remains of her mistress, in a most horrid condition. at the distance of four feet from the bed was a heap of ashes, in which could be distinguished the legs and arms untouched. between the legs lay the head, the brain of which, together with half the posterior part of the cranium, and the whole chin, had been consumed; three fingers were found in the state of a coal; the rest of the body was reduced to ashes, and contained no oil; the tallow of two candles was melted on a table, but the wicks still remained, and the feet of the candlesticks were covered with a certain moisture. the bed was not damaged; the bed-clothes and coverlid were raised up and thrown on one side, as is the case when a person gets up. the furniture and tapestry were covered with a moist kind of soot, of the colour of ashes, which had penetrated the drawers and dirtied the linen. this soot having been conveyed to a neighbouring kitchen, adhered to the walls and the utensils. a piece of bread in the cupboard was covered with it, and no dog would touch it. the infectious odour had been communicated to other apartments. the annual register states, that the countess cesena was accustomed to bathe all her body in camphorated spirits of wine. bianchini caused the detail of this deplorable event to be published at the time when it took place, and no one contradicted it: it was also attested by sapio maffei, a learned contemporary of bianchini, who was far from being credulous: and, in the last place, this surprising fact was confirmed to the royal society of london, by paul rolli. the annual register mentions also two other facts of the same kind, which occurred in england; one at southampton, and the other at coventry. an instance of the like kind is preserved in the same work, in a letter of mr. wilmer, surgeon:--"mary clues, aged , was much addicted to intoxication. her propensity to this vice had increased after the death of her husband, which happened a year and a half before: for about a year, scarcely a day had passed, in the course of which she did not drink at least half a pint of rum or aniseed-water. her health gradually declined, and about the beginning of february she was attacked by the jaundice, and confined to her bed. though she was incapable of much action, and not in a condition to work, she still continued her old habit of drinking every day, and smoking a pipe of tobacco. the bed in which she lay, stood parallel to the chimney of the apartment, the distance from it about three feet. on saturday morning, the st of march, she fell on the floor; and her extreme weakness having prevented her from getting up, she remained in that state till some one entered and put her to bed. the following night she wished to be left alone: a woman quitted her at half past eleven, and, according to custom, shut the door and locked it. she had put on the fire two large pieces of coal, and placed a light in a candlestick, on a chair, at the head of the bed. at half after five in the morning, a smoke was seen issuing through the window; and the door being speedily broken open, some flames which were in the room were soon extinguished. between the bed and the chimney were found the remains of the unfortunate clues; one leg and a thigh were still entire, but there remained nothing of the skin, the muscles, or the viscera. the bones of the cranium, the breast, the spine, and the upper extremities, were entirely calcined, and covered with a whitish efflorescence. the people were much surprised that the furniture had sustained so little injury. the side of the bed which was next to the chimney, had suffered the most; the wood of it was slightly burnt, but the feather-bed, the clothes, and covering, were safe. i entered the apartment about two hours after it had been opened, and observed that the walls and every thing in it were blackened; that it was filled with a very disagreeable vapour; but that nothing except the body exhibited any strong traces of fire." this instance has great similarity to that related by vicq. d'azyr, in the _encyclopedie methodique_, under the head of pathologic anatomy of man. a woman, about years of age, who indulged to excess in spirituous liquors, and got drunk every day before she went to bed, was found entirely burnt, and reduced to ashes. some of the osseous parts only were left, but the furniture of the apartment had suffered very little damage. vicq. d'azyr, instead of disbelieving this phenomenon, adds, that there has been many other instances of the like nature. we find also a circumstance of this kind, in a work entitled, _acta medica et philosophica hafniensia_, and in the work of henry bohanser, entitled, _le nouveau phosphore enflamme_.--a woman at paris, who had been accustomed, for three years, to drink spirit of wine to such a degree that she used no other liquor, was one day found entirely reduced to ashes, except the skull and the extremities of the fingers. the transactions of the royal society of london present also an instance of human combustion, no less extraordinary. it was mentioned at the time it happened, in all the journals; it was then attested by a great number of eye-witnesses, and became the subject of many learned discussions. three accounts of this event, by different authors, all nearly coincide. the fact is related as follows:--"grace pitt, the wife of a fishmonger, of the parish of st. clement, ipswich, aged about , had contracted a habit, which she continued for several years, of coming down every night from her bed-room, half-dressed, to smoke a pipe. on the night of the th of april, , she got up from her bed as usual. her daughter, who slept with her, did not perceive she was absent till next morning when she awoke, soon after which she put on her clothes, and, going down into the kitchen, found her mother stretched out on the right side, with her head near the grate, the body extended on the hearth, with the legs on the floor, which was of deal, having the appearance of a log of wood, consumed by a fire without apparent flames. on beholding this spectacle, the girl ran in great haste, and poured over her mother's body some water, contained in two large vessels, in order to extinguish the fire; while the fetid odour and smoke which exhaled from the body, almost suffocated some of the neighbours who had hastened to the girl's assistance. the trunk was in some measure incinerated, and resembled a heap of coals, covered with white ashes. the head, the arms, the legs, and the thighs, had also participated in the burning. this woman, it is said, had drunk a large quantity of spirituous liquor, in consequence of being overjoyed to hear that one of her daughters had returned from gibraltar. there was no fire in the grate, and the candle had burnt entirely out in the socket of the candlestick, which was close to her. besides, there were found near the consumed body, the clothes of a child, and a paper screen, which had sustained no injury by the fire. the dress of this woman consisted of a cotton gown." le cat, in a memoir on spontaneous burning, mentions several other instances of combustion of the human body.--"having (says he) spent several months at rheims in the year and , i lodged with sieur millet, whose wife got intoxicated every day. the domestic economy of the family was managed by a pretty young girl; which i must not omit to remark, in order that the circumstances which accompanied the fact i am about to relate, may be better understood.--this woman was found consumed on the th of february, , at the distance of a foot and a half from the hearth in her kitchen. a part of the head only, with a portion of the lower extremities, and a few of the vertebræ, had escaped combustion. a foot and a half of the flooring under the body had been consumed, but a kneading-trough and a powdering-tub, which were near the body, sustained no injury. m. criteen, a surgeon, examined the remains of the body with every judicial formality. jean millet, the husband, being interrogated by the judges who instituted the inquiry into the affair, declared, that about eight in the evening on the th february, he had retired to rest with his wife, who not being able to sleep, had gone into the kitchen, where he thought she was warming herself; that, having fallen asleep, he was awakened about two o'clock with a disagreeable odour, and that, having run to the kitchen, he found the remains of his wife in the state described in the report of the physicians and surgeons. the judges having no suspicion of the real cause of this event, prosecuted the affair with the utmost diligence. it was very unfortunate for millet that he had a handsome servant-maid, for neither his probity nor innocence was able to save him from the suspicion of having got rid of his wife by a concerted plot, and of having arranged the rest of the circumstances in such a manner as to give it the appearance of an accident. he experienced, therefore, the whole severity of the law; and though, by an appeal to a superior and very enlightened court, which discovered the cause of the combustion, he came off victorious, he suffered so much from uneasiness of mind, that he was obliged to pass the remainder of his melancholy days in a hospital." le cat relates another instance, which has a most perfect resemblance to the preceding: "m. boinnean, curé of plerquer, near dol, (says he,) wrote to me the following letter, dated february , :--'allow me to communicate to you a fact which took place here about a fortnight ago. madame de boiseon, years of age, exceedingly meagre, who had drunk nothing but spirits for several years, was sitting in her elbow chair before the fire, while her waiting-maid went out of the room for a few moments. on her return, seeing her mistress on fire, she immediately gave an alarm; and some people having come to her assistance, one of them endeavoured to extinguish the flames with his hand, but they adhered to it as if it had been dipped in brandy or oil on fire. water was brought, and thrown on the lady in abundance, yet the fire appeared more violent, and was not extinguished until the whole flesh had been consumed. her skeleton, exceedingly black, remained entire in the chair, which was only a little scorched; one leg only, and the two hands, detached themselves from the rest of the bones. it is not known whether her clothes had caught fire by approaching the grate. the lady was in the same place in which she sat every day; there was no extraordinary fire, and she had not fallen. what makes me suppose that the use of spirits might have produced this effect is, my having been assured, that at the gate of dinan an accident of the like kind happened to another woman, under similar circumstances.'" to these instances, which i have multiplied to strengthen the evidence, i shall add two other facts of the same kind, published in the _journal de medicine_. the first took place at aix, in provence, and is thus related by muraire, a surgeon:--"in the month of february, , mary jauffret, widow of nicholas gravier, shoemaker, of a small size, exceedingly corpulent, and addicted to drinking, having been burnt in her apartment, m. rocas, my colleague, who was commissioned to make a report respecting her body, found only a mass of ashes, and a few bones, calcined in such a manner, that on the least pressure they were reduced to dust. the bones of the cranium, one hand, and a foot, had in part escaped the action of the fire. near these remains stood a table untouched, and under the table a small wooden stove, the grating of which, having been long burnt, afforded an aperture, through which, it is probable, the fire that occasioned the melancholy accident had been communicated: one chair, which stood too near the flames, had the seat and fore feet burnt. in other respects, there was no appearance of fire, either in the chimney or in the apartments; so that, except the fore part of the chair, it appears to me, that no other combustible matter contributed to this speedy incineration, which was effected in the space of seven or eight hours." the other instance mentioned in the _journal de medicine_, took place at caen, and is thus related by merille, a surgeon of that city, still alive: "being requested, on the d of june, , by the king's officers, to draw up a report of the state in which i found mademoiselle thuars, who was said to have been burnt, i made the following observations:--the body lay with the crown of the head resting against one of the hand-irons, at the distance of eighteen inches from the fire, the remainder of the body was placed obliquely before the chimney, the whole being nothing but a mass of ashes. even the most solid bones had lost their form and consistence; none of them could be distinguished except the coronal, the two parietal bones, the two lumbar vertebræ, a portion of the tibia, and a part of the omoplate; and even these were so calcined, that they became dust by the least pressure. the right foot was found entire, and scorched at its upper junction, the left was more burnt. the day was cold, but there was nothing in the grate, except two or three bits about an inch diameter, burnt in the middle. none of the furniture in the apartment was damaged. the chair on which mademoiselle thuars had been sitting, was found at the distance of a foot from her, and absolutely untouched. i must here observe, that this lady was exceedingly corpulent, that she was about sixty years of age, and much addicted to spirituous liquors; that the day of her death she had drunk three bottles of wine, and about a bottle of brandy; and that the consumption of the body had taken place in less than seven hours, though, according to appearance, nothing around the body was burnt but the clothes." the town of caen affords several other instances of the same kind. i have been told by many people, and particularly a physician of argentan, named bouffet, author of an essay on intermittent fevers, that a woman of the lower class, who lived at place villars, and who was known to be much addicted to strong liquors, had been found in her house burnt. the extremities of her body only were spared, but the furniture was very little damaged. the town of caen records the history of another old woman, addicted to drinking. i was assured, by those who told me the fact, that the flames which proceeded from the body, could not be extinguished by water: but i think it needless to relate this, and the particulars of another event which took place in the same town, because they were not attested by a _procés verbal_, and not having been communicated by professional men, they do not inspire the same degree of confidence. this collection of instances is supported, therefore, by all those authentic proofs, which can be required to form human testimony; for while we admit the prudent doubt of descartes, we ought to reject the universal doubt of the pyrrhonists. the multiplicity and uniformity even of these facts, which occurred in different places, and were attested by so many enlightened men, carry with them conviction; they have such a relation to each other, that we are inclined to ascribe them to the same cause. difficulties would, no doubt, be offered from reasoning against these facts; but the writer remarks, that human testimony is not to be rejected, unless the probability that the facts must be impossible, shall be greater than that arising from the concurrence of evidence: and he adds, that the narratives, though varying so widely as to time and place, do very remarkably agree in their tenor. the circumstances are, that, ( ) the combustion has usually destroyed the person by reducing the body to a mass of pulverulent fatty matter, resembling ashes. ( ) there were no signs of combustion in surrounding bodies, by which it could be occasioned, as these were little, if at all, injured; though, ( ) the combustion did not seem to be so perfectly spontaneous, but that some slight cause, such as the fire of a pipe, or a taper, or a candle, seems to have begun it. ( ) the persons were generally much addicted to the use of spirituous liquors; were very fat; in most instances women, and old. ( ) the extremities, such as the legs, hands, or cranium, escaped the fire. ( ) water, instead of extinguishing the fire, gave it more activity, as happens when fat is burned. ( ) the residue was oily and fetid ashes, with a greasy soot, of a very penetrating and disagreeable smell. the theory of the author may be considered as hypothetical, until maturer observations shall throw more light on the subject. the principal fact is, that charcoal and oil, or fat, are known in some instances to take fire spontaneously, and he supposes the carbon of the alcohol to be deposited in the fat parts of the human system, and to produce this effect. chap. viii. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _john elwes--daniel dancer--henry wolby--john henley--simon brown, and his curious dedication to queen caroline--edward wortley montague--blaise pascal--old parr--george psalmanazar--john case--john lewis cardiac--john smeaton--george morland--henry christian heinecken--thomas topham--zeuxis._ biographical. john elwes.--the family name of this extraordinary miser was meggot, which he altered in pursuance of the will of sir harvey elwes, his uncle, who left him at least £ , , and he was possessed of nearly as much of his own. at this time he attended the most noted gaming houses, and after sitting up a whole night at play for thousands, he would proceed to smithfield to meet his cattle, which were coming to market from his seat in essex, and there would he stand disputing with a cattle-butcher for a shilling. if the cattle did not arrive, he would walk on to meet them; and more than once he has gone the whole way to his farm without stopping, which was seventeen miles from london. he would walk in the rain in london, sooner than pay a shilling for a coach; sit in wet clothes, to save the expense of a fire; eat his provisions in the last stage of putrefaction; and he wore a wig for a fortnight, which he picked up in a lane. in he was chosen knight of the shire for berkshire, and his conduct in parliament was perfectly independent. he died in , aged about , leaving a fortune of £ , , besides entailed estates. another extraordinary miser was daniel dancer. he was born in , near harrow, in middlesex. in he succeeded to his family estate, which was considerable; but his fathers before him were too great lovers of money to lay out any in improvements: daniel followed their example, and the farm went worse and worse. he led the life of a hermit for above half a century; his only dealing with mankind arose from the sale of his hay; and he was seldom seen, except when he was out gathering logs of wood from the common, or old iron, or sheep's dung under the hedges. he was frequently robbed; to prevent which, he fastened his door up, and got into his house through the upper window, to ascend which he made use of a ladder, which he drew up after him. his sister, who lived with him many years, left him at her death a considerable increase to his wealth; on which he bought a second-hand pair of black stockings, to put himself in decent mourning. this was an article of luxury, for at other times daniel wore hay-bands on his legs. he died in , and left his estates to lady tempest, who had been very charitable to the poor man and his sister. another extraordinary character was henry wolby, esq.--he was a native of lincolnshire, and inherited a clear estate of more than l. a year. he was regularly bred at the university, studied for some time in one of the inns of court, and in the course of his travels had spent several years abroad. on his return, this very accomplished gentleman settled on his paternal estate, lived with great hospitality, matched to his liking, and had a beautiful and virtuous daughter, who was married, with his entire approbation, to a sir christopher hilliard, in yorkshire. he had now lived to the age of forty, respected by the rich, prayed for by the poor, honoured and beloved by all; when, one day, a youngster, with whom he had some difference in opinion, meeting him in the field, snapped a pistol at him, which happily flashed in the pan. thinking that this was done only to frighten him, he coolly disarmed the ruffian, and, putting the weapon carelessly in his pocket, thoughtfully returned home; but, after examination, the discovery of bullets in the pistol had such an effect on his mind, that he instantly conceived an extraordinary resolution of retiring entirely from the world, in which he persisted to the end of his life. he took a very fair house in the lower end of grub-street, near cripplegate, london, and contracting a numerous retinue into a small family, having the house prepared for his purpose, he selected three chambers for himself; the one for his diet, the other for his lodging, the other for his study. as they were one within another,--while his diet was set on the table by an old maid, he retired into his lodging room; and when his bed was making, into his study; still doing so till all was clear. out of these chambers, from the time of his entry into them, he never issued, till he was carried thence, years after, on men's shoulders; neither, in all that time, did his son-in-law, daughter, or grand-child, brother, sister, or kinsman, young or old, rich or poor, of what degree or condition soever, look upon his face, save the ancient maid, whose name was elizabeth. she only made his fire, prepared his bed, provided his diet, and dressed his chambers. she saw him but seldom, never but in cases of extraordinary necessity, and died not six days before him. in all the time of his retirement, he never tasted fish or flesh; his chief food was oatmeal gruel; now and then, in summer, he had a salad of some choice cool herbs; and for dainties, when he would feast himself upon a high day, he would eat the yoke of a hen's egg, but no part of the white; what bread he did eat, he cut out of the middle of the loaf, but the crust he never tasted; his constant drink was four-shilling beer, and no other, for he never tasted wine or strong drink. now and then, when his stomach served, he would eat some kind of sackers, and he sometimes drank red cow's milk, which was fetched hot from the cow. nevertheless, he kept a bountiful table for his servant, and sufficient entertainment for any stranger or tenant, who had occasion of business at his house. every book that was printed was bought for him, and conveyed to him; but such as related to controversy he always laid aside, and never read. in christmas holidays, at easter, and other festivals, he was provided with all dishes in season, served into his own chamber, with stores of wine, which his maid brought in. then, after thanks to god for his good benefits, he would pin a clean napkin before him, and putting on a pair of clean holland sleeves, which reached to his elbows, cutting up dish after dish in order, he would send one to a poor neighbour, the next to another, whether it were brawn, beef, capon, goose, &c. till he had left the whole table empty; when, giving thanks again, he laid by his linen, and caused the dishes to be taken away: and this he would do, at dinner and supper, upon these days, without tasting of any thing whatsoever. when any clamoured impudently at his gate, they were not, therefore, immediately relieved; but when, from his private chamber, he espied any sick, weak, or lame, he would presently send after them, to comfort, cherish, and strengthen them, and not a trifle to serve them for the present, but so much as would relieve them many days after. he would moreover inquire which of his neighbours were industrious in their callings, and who had great charge of children; and withal, if their labour and industry could not sufficiently supply their families: to such he would liberally send, and relieve them according to their necessities. he died at his house in grub-street, after an anchoretical confinement of forty-four years, october , , aged . at his death, his hair and beard was so overgrown, that he appeared rather like a hermit of the wilderness, than the inhabitant of one of the first cities in the world. a very singular character was john henley, m. a. commonly called orator henley. he was born at melton-mowbray, leicestershire, in . his father, the rev. simon henley, and his maternal grandfather, john dowel, m. a. were both vicars of that parish. having passed his exercises at cambridge, and obtained the degree of b. a. he returned to his native place, where he was desired by the trustees to take the direction of the school, which he soon raised to a flourishing condition. here he began his universal grammar; finished ten languages, with dissertations prefixed; and wrote his poem on esther, which was well received. he was ordained a deacon by dr. wake, then bishop of lincoln; and having taken his degree of m. a. was admitted to priest's orders by dr. gibson. after preaching many occasional sermons, he went to london, recommended by above thirty letters from the most considerable men in the country, both of the clergy and laity. he there published translations of pliny's epistles, of several works of abbé vertot, of montfaucon's italian travels, in folio, and many original lucubrations. his most generous patron was the earl of macclesfield, who gave him a benefice in the country, the value of which, to a resident, would have been above £ a year; he had likewise a lecture in the city; sermons about town; was more numerously followed, and raised more for the poor children, than any other preacher, except the celebrated george whitfield. but when he pressed his promise from a great man, of being fixed in town, it was negatived. he then gave up his benefice and lecture, believing the public would be a more hospitable protector of learning and science, than some of the higher ranks in his own order. he preached on sundays on theological matters, and on wednesdays upon all other sciences. he declaimed several years against the greatest persons, and occasionally, says warburton, did pope that honour. that great poet, however, retaliated in the following satirical lines: "imbrown'd with native bronze, lo, henley stands, tuning his voice, and balancing his hands. how fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue! how sweet the periods, neither said nor sung! still break the benches, henley, with thy strain, while kennet, hare, and gibson, preach in vain, o great restorer of the good old age, preacher at once, and zany, of thy age!" instead of tickets, this extraordinary person struck medals, which he dispersed among his subscribers: a star rising to the meridian, with this motto, "_ad summa_;" and below, "_inveniam viam, aut faciam_." "_each auditor paid us._" he was author of a weekly paper, called "the hyp doctor," for which he had £ a year. in his advertisements and lectures, he often introduced satirical and humorous remarks on the public transactions of the times. he once collected an audience of a great number of shoemakers, by announcing that he could teach them a speedy mode of operation in their business; which proved only to be, the making of shoes from ready-made boots. he died on the th of october, , in his th year. the next character we introduce is simon browne, with _his curious dedication to queen caroline_. simon browne was a most extraordinary dissenting minister, and began to preach before he was twenty, at portsmouth, but afterwards became the pastor at old jewry. in , he lost his wife and son, which so affected him, that he quitted his office, and would not even attend public worship, alleging, "that he had fallen under the displeasure of god, who had caused his rational soul to perish, and left him only an animal life, common with brutes; that though he might appear rational to others, he knew no more what he said than a parrot; that it was in vain for him to pray;" and as such, he no longer accounted himself a moral agent. yet he frequently amused himself with translating the ancient latin and greek poets. at the same time, he wrote two very able works in defence of christianity against woolston and tindal. he dedicated one of these works to the queen, but the dedication was suppressed by his friends. being a curiosity of its kind, we shall annex it. "to the queen.--madam: of all the extraordinary things that have been tendered to your royal hands, since your first happy arrival in britain, it may be boldly said, what now bespeaks your majesty's acceptance is the chief. not in itself indeed; it is a trifle unworthy your exalted rank, and what will hardly prove an entertaining amusement to one of your majesty's deep penetration, exact judgment, and fine taste; but on account of the author, who is the first being of the kind, and yet without a name. "he was once a man, and of some little name; but of no worth, as his present unparalleled case makes but too manifest: for, by the immediate hand of an avenging god, his very thinking substance has for more than seven years been continually wasting away, till it is wholly perished out of him, if it be not utterly come to nothing. none, no, not the least remembrance of its very ruins, remain; not the shadow of an idea is left, nor any sense, so much as one single one, perfect or imperfect, whole or diminished, ever did appear to a mind within him, or was perceived by it. "such a present, from such a thing, however worthless in itself, may not be wholly unacceptable to your majesty, the author being such as history cannot parallel; and if the fact, which is real, and no fiction, or wrong conceit, obtains credit, it must be recorded as the most memorable, and indeed, astonishing event, in the reign of george ii. that a tract composed by such a thing, was presented to the illustrious caroline;--his royal consort need not be added; fame, if i am not misinformed, will tell that with pleasure to all succeeding times. he has been informed, that your majesty's piety is genuine and eminent, as your excellent qualities are great and conspicuous. this can, indeed, be truly known to the great searcher of hearts only. he alone, who can look into them, can discern if they are sincere, and the main intention corresponds with the appearance; and your majesty cannot take it amiss, if such an author hints, that his secret approbation is of infinitely greater value than the commendation of men, who may be easily mistaken, and are too apt to flatter their superiors. but, if he has been told the truth, such a case as his will certainly strike your majesty with astonishment; and may raise that commiseration in your royal breast, which he has in vain endeavoured to excite in those of his friends; who, by the most unreasonable and ill-founded conceit in the world, have imagined that a thinking being could not, for seven years together, live a stranger to its own powers, exercises, operations, and state; and to what the great god has been doing in it, and to it. if your majesty, in your most retired address to the king of kings, should think of so singular a case, you may perhaps make it your devout request, that the reign of your beloved sovereign and consort may be renowned to all posterity, by the recovery of a soul now in the utmost ruin, the restoration of one utterly lost at present amongst men; and should this case affect your royal breast, you will commend it to the piety and prayers of all the truly devout, who have the honour to be known to your majesty: many such doubtless there are; though courts are not usually the places where the devout resort, or where devotion reigns. and it is not improbable, that multitudes of the pious throughout the land may take a case to heart, that, under your majesty's patronage, comes thus recommended. "could such a favour as this restoration be obtained from heaven, by the prayers of your majesty, with what transport of gratitude would the recovered being throw himself at your majesty's feet, and, adoring the divine power and grace, profess himself. i am, &c. simon browne." the next curious character we shall exhibit is edward wortley montague. he was son of the celebrated lady mary wortley montague. he passed through such various scenes, that he is well entitled to a place in this collection of curiosities. from westminster school, where he was placed for education, he ran away thrice. he exchanged clothes with a chimney-sweeper, and followed for some time that sooty occupation. he next joined a fisherman, and cried flounders in rotherhithe. he then sailed as a cabin-boy for spain; where he had no sooner arrived, than he ran away from the vessel, and hired himself to a driver of mules. after thus vagabondizing it for some time, he was discovered by the consul, who returned him to his friends in england. they received him with joy, and a private tutor was employed to recover those rudiments of learning which a life of dissipation, blackguardism, and vulgarity, might have obliterated. wortley was sent to the west indies, where he remained some time; then returned to england, acted according to the dignity of his birth, was chosen a member, and served in two successive parliaments. his expenses exceeding his income, he became involved in debt, quitted his native country, and commenced that wandering traveller he continued to the time of his death. having visited most of the eastern countries, he contracted a partiality for their manners. he drank little wine, but a great deal of coffee; wore a long beard; smoked much; and even whilst at venice, was habited in the eastern style. he sat cross-legged in the turkish fashion, from choice. with the hebrew, the arabic, the chaldaic, and the persian languages, he was as well acquainted as with his native tongue. he published several pieces: one on the rise and fall of the roman empire; another on the causes of earthquakes. he had seraglios of wives; but the lady whom he married in england was a washerwoman, with whom he did not cohabit. when she died without leaving issue to him, being unwilling that his estate should go to the bute family, he set out for england, to marry a young woman already pregnant, whom a friend had provided for him; but he died on his journey. the next character that comes before us is blaise pascal. he was one of the sublimest geniuses the world ever produced; was born at clermont, in auvergne, in . he never had any preceptor but his father. so great a turn had he for the mathematics, that he learned, or rather invented, geometry, when but twelve years old; for his father was unwilling to initiate him in that science early, for fear of its diverting him from the study of the languages. at sixteen, he composed a curious mathematical piece. about nineteen, he invented his machine of arithmetic, which has been much admired by the learned. he afterwards employed himself assiduously in making experiments according to the new philosophy, and particularly improved upon those of toricellius. at the age of twenty-four his mind took a different turn; for, all at once, he became as great a devotee as any age has ever produced, and gave himself up entirely to prayer and mortification. the next is a character famous for longevity.--thomas, or old parr, a remarkable englishman, who lived in the reign of ten kings and queens. he was the son of john parr, a husbandman, of winnington, in the parish of alderbury, salop. following the profession of his father, he laboured hard, and lived on coarse fare. being taken up to london by the earl of arundel, the journey proved fatal to him. owing to the alteration of his diet, to the change of the air and his general mode of life, he lived but a very short time; though one robert samber says, in his work entitled long livers, that parr lived years after his presentation to charles ii. he was buried in westminster abbey. after his death his body was opened, and an account was drawn up by the celebrated dr. harvey, of which the following is an extract: "he had a large breast, not fungous, but sticking to his ribs, and distended with blood; a lividness in his face, as he had a difficulty of breathing a little before his death; and a long lasting warmth in his arm-pits and breast after it; which sign, together with others, were so evident in his body as they use to be on those who die by suffocation. his heart was great, thick, fibrous, and fat; the blood in the heart, blackish and diluted; the cartilages of the sternum not more bony than in others, but flexile and soft. his viscera were sound and strong, especially the stomach; and he used to eat often, by night and day, though contented with old cheese, milk, coarse bread, small beer, and whey; and, which is more remarkable, he ate at midnight a little before he died. his kidneys were covered with fat, and pretty sound; only on the interior surface were found some aqueous or serous abscesses, whereof one was near the bigness of a hen's egg, with a yellowish water in it, having made a roundish cavity, impressed on that kidney; whence some thought it came, that, a little before his death, a suppression of urine had befallen him; though others were of opinion, that his urine was suppressed upon the regurgitation of all the serosity into his lungs. there was not the least appearance of any stony matter, either in the kidneys or bladder. his bowels were also sound, a little whitish without. his spleen very little, hardly equal to the bigness of one kidney. in short, all his inward parts appeared so healthy, that if he had not changed his diet and air, he might, perhaps, have lived a good while longer. the cause of his death was imputed chiefly to the change of food and air; forasmuch as coming out of a clear, thin, and free air, he came into the thick air of london; and, after a constant, plain, and homely country diet, he was taken into a splendid family, where he fed high, and drank plentifully of the best wines, whereupon the natural functions of the parts of his body were overcharged, his lungs obstructed, and the habit of the whole body quite disordered; upon which there could not but ensue a dissolution. his brain was sound, entire, and firm; and though he had not the use of his eyes, nor much of his memory, several years before he died, yet he had his hearing and apprehension very well; and was able, even to the th year of his age, to do any husbandman's work, even threshing of corn."--the following summary of his life is from oldy's ms. notes on fuller's worthies: "old parr was born ; lived at home until , aged , when he went out to service. , aged , returned home from his master. , aged , spent four years on the remainder of his father's lease. , aged , ended the first lease he renewed of mr. lewis porter. , aged , married jane, daughter of john taylor, a maiden; by whom he had a son and a daughter, who both died very young. , aged , ended the second lease which he renewed of mr. john porter. , aged , ended the third lease he had renewed of mr. hugh porter. , aged , did penance in alderbury church, for having a criminal connection with katherine milton, by which she proved with child. , aged , he buried his wife jane, after they had lived years together. , aged , having lived ten years a widower, he married jane, widow of anthony adda, daughter of john lloyd, of gilsells, in montgomeryshire, who survived him. , aged and months, he died, after they had lived together years, and after years' possession of his last lease."--length of years are of no use, unless they be spent in the practice of virtue. the next character is a noted impostor, under the assumed name of george psalmanazar. he was a very extraordinary genius, born in france, and educated in a jesuit's college; upon leaving which, he fell into a mean, rambling way of life. at liege, he entered into the dutch service, and afterwards into that of cologne. having stolen the habit and staff of a pilgrim out of a church, he begged through several countries, in elegant latin, and, accosting only gentlemen and clergymen, received liberal supplies, which he spent as freely. in germany, he passed for a native of formosa, a convert to christianity, and a sufferer for it. at rotterdam he lived upon raw flesh, roots, and vegetables. at sluys he fell in with brigadier lauder, a scots colonel, who introduced him to the chaplain; who, to recommend himself to the bishop of london, took him over to that city. the bishop patronised him with credulous humanity, and a large circle of his great friends considered him as a prodigy. he published a history of formosa, and, what was most extraordinary, invented a character and language for that island, and translated the church catechism in to it, which was examined by learned critics, and approved. some of the learned, however, doubted him, particularly drs. halley, mead, and woodward. he was allowed the use of the oxford library, and employed in compiling the universal history. some errors in his history first led him to be suspected as an impostor. he died in ; and in his last will confessed the imposture. the next subject is a celebrated quack doctor, named john case. he was a native of lyme regis, in dorsetshire, was a noted empyric and astrologer, and looked upon as the successor of the famous lilly, whose magical utensils he possessed. he is said to have got more by this distich over his door, than dryden, by all his poetry: "within this place lives doctor case." and he was, doubtless, well paid for composing that which he affixed to his pill boxes: "here's fourteen pills for thirteen pence, enough in any man's own conscience." there is a story told of him and dr. radcliff: being together at a tavern, radcliff said, "here, brother case; i drink to all the fools your patients."--"thank ye," quoth case; "let me have all the fools, and you are welcome to the rest." he wrote a nonsensical rhapsody, called the angelical guide, shewing men and women their lot and chance in this elementary life. our next character is famous for prematurity of genius, and named john lewis candiac. he was born at candiac, in the diocese of nismes, in france, in . in the cradle he distinguished his letters; at thirteen months he knew them perfectly; at three years of age he read latin, either printed or in manuscript; at four, he translated from that tongue; at six, he read greek and hebrew, was master of the principles of arithmetic, history, geography, heraldry, and the science of medals; and had read the best authors on almost every branch of literature. he died of a complication of disorders, at paris, in . the next character deserves to be recorded as one that was eminently useful in his day and generation. john smeaton, born near leeds, in , was an eminent civil engineer. the strength of his understanding, and the originality of his genius, appeared at an early age: his playthings were not the playthings of children, but the tools which men employ: and he appeared to have greater entertainment in seeing the men in the neighbourhood work, and in asking them questions, than in any thing else. one day he was seen (to the distress of his friends) on the top of his father's barn, fixing up something like a windmill: another time he attended some men fixing a pump, at a neighbouring village, and observing them cut off a piece of bored pipe, he was so lucky as to procure it, and he actually made with it a working pump that raised water. this happened while he was in petticoats, and most likely before he had attained his sixth year. while we admire the ingenuity of the next character, we must lament that his conduct was licentious. it is the well-known george morland, an ingenious, dissipated, and unfortunate painter. as he had no other education than what was connected with the pencil and pallet, he shunned the society of the well-informed and well-bred; and his pictures accordingly are taken, for the most part, from low life, and from the most humble, if not the most shocking, situations in which mankind consort. the following anecdote will give a sufficient view of morland's character, upon which it would give us pain to dwell at greater length. "he was found (says his biographer) at one time in a lodging in somer's-town, in the following extraordinary circumstances: his infant child, that had been dead nearly three weeks, lay in its coffin in one corner of the room; an ass and foal stood munching barley straw out of the cradle; a sow and pigs were solacing themselves in the recess of an old cupboard; and himself whistling over a beautiful picture that he was finishing at his easel, with a bottle of gin hung upon the side, and a live mouse sitting (or if you please, kicking) for its portrait." his constitution, exhausted by dissipation, rapidly gave way, and he died before he had reached his fortieth year. the next character was indeed a prodigy, that shone like a meteor, and soon vanished away. we shall introduce him under the name of christian henry heinecken. he was born at lubeck, february , , and died there, june , , after having displayed the most amazing proofs of intellectual powers. he could talk at ten months old, and had scarcely completed his first year, when he already knew and recited the principal facts contained in the five books of moses, with a number of verses on the creation: at thirteen months, he knew the history of the old testament; and the new, at fourteen; in his thirtieth month, the history of the nations of antiquity, geography, anatomy, the use of maps, and nearly latin words. before the end of his third year, he was well acquainted with the history of denmark, and the genealogy of the crowned heads of europe; in his fourth year he had learned the doctrines of divinity, with their proofs from the bible; ecclesiastical history; the institutes; hymns, with their tunes; psalms; entire chapters of the old and new testaments; verses and sentences from ancient latin classics; almost the whole orbis pictus of comenius, whence he had derived all his knowledge of the latin language; arithmetic; the history of the european empires and kingdoms; could point out, in the maps, whatever place he was asked for, or passed by in his journeys; and recited all the ancient and modern historical anecdotes relating to it. his stupendous memory caught and retained every word he was told: his ever active imagination used, whatever he saw or heard, instantly to apply some example or sentence from the bible, geography, profane or ecclesiastical history, the orbis pictus, or from ancient classics. at the court of denmark, he delivered twelve speeches without once faltering; and underwent public examination on a variety of subjects, especially the history of denmark. he spoke german, latin, french, and low dutch, and was exceedingly good-natured, and well-behaved, but of a most tender and delicate bodily constitution; never ate any solid food, but chiefly subsisted on nurse's milk, not being weaned till within a very few months of his death, at which time he was not quite four years old. there is a dissertation on this, published by m. martini, at lubeck, , where the author attempts to assign the natural causes for the astonishing capacity of this great man in embryo, who was just shewn to the world, and snatched away. the next character is of a different description, being famous for strength of body; he is named thomas topham. this person was remarkable for muscular strength. he kept a public-house at islington, and used to perform surprising feats, such as breaking a broomstick of the first magnitude, by striking it against his bare arm; lifting two hogsheads of water; heaving his horse over the turnpike-gate; carrying the beam of a house as a soldier would his firelock, &c. he also could roll up a pewter dish of seven pounds, as a man rolls up a sheet of paper; squeeze a pewter quart together at arms' length; and lift two hundred weight with his little finger, over his head. at derby, he broke a rope fastened to the floor, that would sustain twenty hundred weight; and lifted an oak table, six feet long, with his teeth, though half a hundred weight was hung at the extremity. he took mr. chambers, vicar of all saints, who weighed twenty-seven stone, and raised him with one hand. he stabbed himself, after quarrelling with, and wounding his wife, .--extraordinary strength of body is of little value, if strength of virtue be wanting. we shall conclude this chapter with a celebrated painter of antiquity, named zeuxis. this celebrated painter flourished about years b. c. he was born at heraclea; but as there have been many cities of that name, it cannot be certainly determined which of them had the honour of his birth. some conjecture, that it was heraclea, near crotona, in italy. he carried painting to a much higher degree of perfection than apollodorus had left it; discovered the art of properly disposing of lights and shades, and particularly excelled in colouring. he amassed immense riches; and then resolved to sell no more of his pictures, but gave them away; saying, "that he could not set a price on them equal to their value." pliny observes, that this admirable painter, disputing for the prize of painting with parrhasius, painted some grapes so naturally, that the birds flew down to peck them: parrhasius, on the other hand, painted a curtain so very artfully, that zeuxis, mistaking it for a real one, that hid his rival's work, ordered the curtain to be drawn aside, to shew what parrhasius had done; but having found his mistake, he ingenuously confessed himself vanquished, since he had only imposed upon birds, while parrhasius had deceived even a master of the art. another time he painted a boy loaded with grapes; when the birds also flew to this picture,--at which he was vexed, and confessed that his work was not sufficiently finished, since, had he painted the boy as perfectly as the grapes, the birds would have been afraid of him. archelaus, king of macedon, made use of zeuxis's pencil for the embellishment of his palace. one of this painter's finest pieces was a hercules strangling two serpents in his cradle, in the presence of his affrighted mother; but he himself chiefly esteemed his athleta, or champion, under which he placed a greek verse, that afterwards became very famous, and in which he says, "that it was easier to criticize than to imitate the picture." he made a present of his alcmena to the agrigentines. zeuxis did not value himself on speedily finishing his pictures; but knowing that agatharcus gloried in his being able to paint with ease and in a little time, he said, "that for his part, he, on the contrary, gloried in his slowness; and if he was long in painting, it was because he painted _for eternity_." chap. ix. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) _nicholas pesce--paul scarron--maria gaetana agnesi--anna maria schurman--samuel bisset, the noted animal instructor--john philip baratier--buonaparte._ biographical. nicholas pesce, the first extraordinary character we shall introduce, was a famous diver, of whom f. kircher gives the following account. "in the time of frederick king of sicily, (says kircher,) lived nicholas, who, from his amazing skill in swimming, and his perseverance under water, was surnamed the _fish_. this man had from his infancy been used to the sea; and earned his scanty subsistence by diving for coral and oysters, which he sold to villagers on shore. his long acquaintance with the sea, at last brought it to be almost his natural element. he was frequently known to spend five days in the midst of the waves, without any other provisions than the fish which he caught there, and ate raw. he often swam over from sicily to calabria, a tempestuous and dangerous passage, carrying letters from the king. he was frequently known to swim among the gulfs of the lipari islands, no way apprehensive of danger. some mariners out at sea, one day observed something at some distance from them, which they regarded as a sea-monster; but, upon its approach, it was known to be nicholas, whom they took into their ship. when they asked him whither he was going in so strong and rough a sea, and at such a distance from land; he shewed them a packet of letters, which he was carrying to one of the towns of italy, exactly done up in a leather bag, in such a manner that they could not be wetted by the sea. he kept them thus company for some time in their voyage, conversing and asking questions; and after eating a hearty meal with them, he took his leave, and, jumping into the sea, pursued his voyage alone. "in order to aid his powers of enduring in the deep, nature seemed to have assisted him in a very extraordinary manner: for the spaces between his fingers and toes were webbed, as in a goose; and his chest became so very capacious, that he could take in at one inspiration as much breath as would serve him for several hours. the account of so extraordinary a person did not fail to reach the king himself; who commanded nicholas to be brought before him. it was no easy matter to find nicholas, who generally spent his time in the solitudes of the deep; but, at last, after much searching, he was found, and brought before his majesty. the curiosity of this monarch had been long excited by the accounts he had heard of the bottom of the gulf of charybdis. he now, therefore, conceived that it would be a proper opportunity to have more certain information. accordingly, he commanded our poor diver to examine the bottom of this dreadful whirlpool; and as an incitement to his obedience, he ordered a golden cup to be flung into it. nicholas was not insensible of the danger to which he was exposed: dangers best known only to himself; and therefore he presumed to remonstrate; but the hopes of the reward, the desire of pleasing the king, and the pleasure of shewing his skill, at last prevailed. he instantly jumped into the gulf, and was as instantly swallowed up in its bosom. he continued for three-quarters of an hour below, during which time the king and his attendants remained on shore, anxious for his fate; but he at last appeared, holding the cup in triumph in one hand, and making his way good among the waves with the other. it may be supposed he was received with applause when he came on shore; the cup was made the reward of his adventure; the king ordered him to be taken proper care of; and, as he was somewhat fatigued and debilitated by his labour, after a hearty meal, he was put to bed, and permitted to refresh himself by sleeping. when his spirits were thus restored, he was again brought, to satisfy the king's curiosity with a narrative of the wonders he had seen, and his account was to the following effect. "he would never, he said, have obeyed the king's commands, had he been apprised of half the dangers that were before him. these were four things, he said, which rendered the gulf dreadful, not only to men, but to fishes themselves: . the great force of the water bursting up from the bottom, which required great strength to resist. . the abruptness of the rocks, that on every side threatened destruction. . the force of the whirlpool dashing against those rocks. and, . the number and magnitude of the polypous fish, some of which appeared as large as a man; and which, every where sticking against the rocks, projected their long and fibrous arms to entangle him. being asked how he was able so readily to find the cup that had been thrown in, he replied, that it happened to be flung by the waves into the cavity of a rock, against which he himself was urged in his descent. "this account, however, did not satisfy the king's curiosity. being requested to venture once more into the gulf for further discoveries, he at first refused; but the king, desirous of having the most exact information possible of all things to be found in the gulf, repeated his solicitations; and, to give them still greater weight, produced a larger cup than the former, and added also a purse of gold. upon these considerations, the unfortunate diver once again plunged into the whirlpool, and was never heard of more." paul scarron.--this famous french burlesque writer, was the son of a counsellor in parliament, and was born at paris, about the end of , or beginning of . his father marrying a second wife, he was compelled to assume the ecclesiastical profession. at the age of , he visited italy, and freely indulged in licentious pleasures. after his return to paris, he persisted in a life of dissipation, till a long and painful disease convinced him that his constitution was almost worn out. at length, when engaged in a party of pleasure, at the age of , he lost the use of those legs which had danced so gracefully, and of those hands which once could paint, and play on the lute, with so much elegance. this happened in the following manner: in he was attending the carnival at mentz, of which he was canon. having dressed himself one day as a savage, his singular appearance excited the curiosity of the children of the town. they followed him in multitudes, and he was obliged to take shelter in a marsh. this wet and cold situation produced a numbness which totally deprived him of the use of his limbs; yet he continued gay and cheerful. he took up his residence in paris, and by his pleasant humour soon attracted to his house all the men of wit about the city. the loss of his health was followed by the loss of his fortune. on the death of his father he entered into a process with his step-mother; and pleaded his own cause in a ludicrous manner, though his whole fortune depended on the decision. he was unsuccessful, and was ruined. mademoiselle de hautefort, compassionating his misfortunes, procured for him an audience of the queen. the poet requested to have the title of valetudinarian to her majesty: the queen smiled, and scarron considered the smile as a commission to his new office. cardinal mazarine gave him a pension of crowns; but that minister having received disdainfully the dedication of his typhon, the poet immediately wrote a mazarinade, and the pension was withdrawn. he then attached himself to the prince of condé, and celebrated his victories. he at length formed the extraordinary resolution of marrying, and was accordingly, in , married to madame d'aubigne, afterwards celebrated by the name of maintenon. at this time (says voltaire) it was considered as a great acquisition for her to gain for a husband, a man who was disfigured by nature, impotent, and very little enriched by fortune. she restrained by her modesty his indecent buffooneries; and the good company which had formerly resorted to his house again frequented it. scarron now became more decent in his manners and conversation; and his gaiety was thus more agreeable. but he lived with so little economy, that his income was soon reduced to a small annuity, and his marquisate of quinet, _i. e._ the profits of his publications, which were printed by one quinet. he was accustomed to talk to his superiors with great freedom in his jocular style, as appears from the dedication of his _don japhet d'armenie_ to the king. though scarron wrote comedies, he had not patience to study the rules of dramatic poetry. aristotle and horace, plautus and terence, would have frightened him. he saw an open path before him, and he followed it. it was the fashion of the times to pillage the spanish writers. scarron was acquainted with that language, and he found it easier to use materials already prepared, than to rack his brain by inventing subjects. as he borrowed liberally from them, a dramatic piece cost him little labour. the great success of his _jodelet maitre_ was a vast allurement to him. the comedians who acted it, requested more of his productions. they were written with little toil, and they procured him large sums. they also served to amuse him. he dedicated his books to his sister's greyhound bitch. fouquet gave him a pension of livres. christiana, queen of sweden, having come to paris, was anxious to see scarron, "i permit you (said she to scarron) to fall in love with me. the queen of france has made you her valetudinarian, and i create you my roland." scarron did not long enjoy that title; he was seized with a violent hiccough. he retained his gaiety to his last moment. he died on the th of october, , aged . his works have been collected, and published by bruzen de la martiniere, in vols. mo. . his comic romance, in prose, merits attention. it is written with much humour and purity of style, and contributed to the improvement of the french language. it had a prodigious run; it was the only one of his works that boileau could submit to read. scarron can raise a laugh on the most serious subjects; but his sallies are rather those of a buffoon, than the effusions of ingenuity and taste. he is continually falling into the mean and the obscene. sterne seems to have imitated scarron in his tristram shandy. we shall now introduce two female characters of note. the first is maria gaetana agnesi, a lady of extraordinary genius, and most extensive acquirements, who was born at milan, on the th of may, . her father, pietro agnesi, of milan, was royal feudatory of monteveglia, and its dependencies; and being a man of some rank and consequence, he was disposed, from paternal affection, to provide suitably for the education of his infant daughter, who gave the most striking indications of talent. from her tenderest years, she discovered a wonderful aptness, and a vehement desire, for acquiring languages. under the direction of proper masters, she studied at the very same time the latin and greek, the french and german; and while the rapidity of her progress excited astonishment, such were the prodigious powers of her memory, that she could easily pursue those diversified objects without feeling the smallest degree of confusion. when yet scarcely nine years old, this surprising child delivered a latin oration, to prove that the cultivation of letters is not inconsistent with the female character,--before an assembly of learned persons, invited to her father's house. at the age of eleven, the young agnesi could not only read greek, and translate it instantly into latin, but could even speak that refined language with the same apparent ease and fluency as if it had been her native tongue. nor did these acquisitions absorb her whole attention; a nobler field was opened to the exercise of her mental faculties. she now began to read euclid's elements, and proceeded in algebra as far as quadratic equations. thus prepared, she advanced with ardour to the study of natural philosophy; but not content with the sober proofs there unfolded, she soared to the height of metaphysics, and engaged in the most abtruse and intricate disquisitions of that contentious science. after this young lady had attained the age of , her father, anxious to forward her ardour for improvement, and willing to gratify her ambition for literary distinction, invited occasionally to his house a number of persons, the most respectable in milan for their rank and learning. in the midst of this grave auditory, donna agnesi made her appearance; and, without resigning the native delicacy of her sex, she maintained a succession of new theses on various difficult parts of philosophy, and handled the arguments with such dexterity and commanding eloquence, as singly to vanquish every opponent that entered the field of controversy. these disputations were all of them carried on in the latin language, which she spoke with the utmost ease, purity, and copious elegance. every thing conspired to heighten the impression produced on the admiring spectators. in the full bloom of youth, her person agreeable, her manner graceful, an air of gentleness and modesty gave irresistible charms to her whole demeanour. such, for several years, was the great theatre of her glory. but having nearly completed the circle of philosophy, and exhausted the chief topics of discussion, she resolved at length to close that career with a solemnity suitable to the occasion. in the year , agnesi made her last brilliant display, before an august assembly, composed of the most learned and illustrious of the milanese nobility, the senators, and foreign ministers, with the most distinguished professors in all the branches of science and literature. the substance of these philosophical conferences was afterwards published in a quarto volume, entitled, "_propositiones philosophicæ, quas, crebris disputationibus domi habitis, coram clarissimis viris, explicabat extempore, et ab objectis vindicabat maria cajetana de agnesi mediolanensis_." agnesi now bent her whole attention to the culture of mathematics; and, without guide or assistance, she composed a very useful commentary on l'hospital's conic sections, which is said to exist still in manuscript. in the sublimer departments of that science, her studies were directed by the matured experience of rampinelli, professor of mathematics in the university of pisa; but she soon gave proofs of her amazing proficiency, in digesting a complete body of the modern calculus. this excellent work, entitled, "analytical institutions, for the use of the italian youth," appeared in , in two volumes quarto, and was highly esteemed by the best judges, and justly regarded as exhibiting the fullest and clearest view of the state of the science at that period. she was, in consequence, elected by acclamation a member of the institute of sciences of bologna; and the pope farther conferred on her the title of professor of mathematics in the university of that city. but agnesi was already sated with literary fame. that sun, which in its ascent had shone forth with such dazzling radiance, was, through the rest of its course, shrouded in clouds and darkness. the fever of genius had preyed on her mind, and the high fit of excitement was quickly succeeded by a hopeless depression of spirits. she repelled the seductions of human learning, and abandoned for ever her favourite mathematical pursuits. renouncing the vanities of this world, she withdrew from society, embraced a life of religious seclusion, and sunk by degrees into the languor of religious melancholy. she studied nothing but hebrew, and the rhapsodies of the greek fathers of the church. for upwards of twenty years she denied all access to strangers. the famous lalande complains, in his "travels through italy," that he was not allowed the honour of visiting that prodigy; and father boscovick himself, whose religious principles must have been unexceptionable, experienced, notwithstanding his repeated importunities, a similar refusal. indulging that gloomy temper, she retired into a convent, and assumed the habit of a blue nun. she sought to forget the world, and was herself forgotten. she died about the year . the _inshhizioni analytiche_ of agnesi were translated into english, many years ago, by mr. colson, lucasian professor of mathematics at cambridge. the translation was discovered among the papers of that ingenious mathematician, by the learned baron maseres, who put the manuscript into the hands of mr. hellins, as editor, and generously defrayed the expenses attending the publication. anna maria schurman, the other distinguished female character, was born at cologne, , of parents sprung from noble protestant families. from her infancy she discovered an uncommon dexterity of hand; for, at six years of age, she cut with her scissors all sorts of figures upon paper, without any pattern or model. at eight, she learned in a few days to design flowers in a very agreeable manner; and two years after, took no more than three hours in learning to embroider. she was afterwards instructed in music, painting, sculpture, and engraving; and succeeded to admiration in all these arts. her hand-writing in all languages was inimitable; and some curious persons have preserved specimens of it in their cabinets. mr. joby, in his journey to munster, relates, that he had a view of the beauty of her writing in french, greek, hebrew, syriac, and arabic; and was an eye-witness of her skill in drawing in miniature, and making portraits upon glass with the point of a diamond. she painted her own picture; and made artificial pearls, so nearly resembling natural ones, that they could not be distinguished, except by pricking them with a needle. the powers of her understanding were equally capacious; for, at eleven years of age, when her brothers were examined in their latin exercises, she frequently whispered them what to answer, though she had only heard them say their lessons _en passant_, which her father observing, and perceiving she had a genius for literature, determined to cultivate those talents he saw she was possessed of, and accordingly assisted her in gaining that noble stock of learning, for which she was afterwards so eminent. the latin, greek, and hebrew languages were so familiar to her, that she not only wrote, but spoke them fluently, to the surprise of the most learned men. she made a great progress also in the oriental languages which had an affinity with the hebrew, as the syriac, chaldee, arabic, and ethiopic; understood the living languages perfectly well, and could converse readily in french, english, and italian. she was likewise competently versed in geography, astronomy, philosophy, and the sciences; but as her mind was naturally of a religious cast, these learned amusements gave her but little satisfaction; and at length she applied herself to divinity, and the study of the holy scriptures. while she was an infant, her father had settled at utrecht, but afterwards, for the more convenient education of his children, removed to praneker, where he died . upon which his widow returned to utrecht, where anna maria continued her studies very intensely; which undoubtedly kept her from marrying, as she might advantageously have done with mr. cotts, pensionary of holland, and a celebrated poet, who wrote verses in her praise, when she was no more than fourteen years of age. her modesty, which was as remarkable as her knowledge, would have kept her merit and learning in obscurity, if rivetus, spanheim, and vossius, had not produced her, contrary to her own inclination, upon the stage of the world. to these three divines we may add salmasius, beveronicius, and huygens, who maintained a literary correspondence with her, and, by shewing her letters, spread her fame into foreign countries. this procured her letters from eminent men; and her name became so famous, that persons of the first distinction, even princesses, paid her visits; and cardinal richelieu shewed her marks of his esteem. about the year , she made a visible alteration in her religious system. she no longer went to public worship, but performed her devotions in private; which occasioned a report that she was inclined to popery: but the truth was, she had attached herself to labadie, the famous quietist, and embracing his principles and practices, accompanied him wherever he went. she lived some time with him at altena, in holstein, where she attended him at his death in . she afterwards retired to weimart, in friesland, where mr. william penn, the quaker, visited her in ; and died at this place, . she took for her device these words of st. ignatius, _amor meus crucifixus est_, my love is crucified. samuel bisset, the noted animal instructor, next follows.--a most singular character, famous for teaching quadrupeds to perform very remarkable actions. he was born at perth, in . he first tried his skill on a horse and a dog which he bought in london, and he succeeded beyond all expectation. two monkeys were the next pupils he took in hand; one of these he taught to dance and tumble on the rope, whilst the other held a candle with one paw for his companion, and with the other played a barrel organ. these antic animals he also instructed to play several fanciful tricks, such as drinking to the company, riding and tumbling upon the horse's back, and going through several regular dances with the dog. being a man of unwearied patience, three young cats were the next objects of his tuition. he taught those domestic tigers, to strike their paws in such directions on the dulcimer, as to produce several tunes, having music-books before them, and squalling at the same time in different keys or tones, first, second, and third, by way of concert. in such a city as london, these feats could not fail of exciting attention. the well-known cat's opera was performed at the haymarket; the horse, the dog, the monkeys, and the cats, went through their several parts with uncommon applause, to crowded houses; and in a few days bisset found himself in possession of nearly a thousand pounds to reward his ingenuity. this success excited a desire of extending his dominion over other animals, including even the feathered kind. he procured a leveret, and reared it to beat several marches on the drum with its hind-legs, until it became a good stout hare. this creature, which is always set down as the most timid, he declared to be as mischievous and bold an animal, to the extent of its power, as any with which he was acquainted. he taught canary-birds, linnets, and sparrows, to spell the name of any person in company, to distinguish the hour and minute of time, and play many other surprising tricks; he trained six turkey cocks to go through a regular country dance. in the course of six months' teaching, he made a turtle fetch and carry like a dog; and having chalked the floor, and blackened his claws, could direct it to trace out any given name in the company. the following is a surprising instance of premature genius, in the person of john philip baratier. a most extraordinary person, born , in the margravate of anspach, of such extraordinary powers of memory, that, at the age of four, he conversed with his mother in french, with his father in latin, and with his servants in german. the rapidity of his improvement augmented with his years, so that he became acquainted with greek at six, with hebrew at eight, and in his eleventh year translated from the hebrew into french the travels of benjamin of tudela, which he enriched with valuable annotations. his proficiency in mathematics was so great, that he submitted to the london royal society, a scheme for finding the longitude, which, though insufficient, exhibited the strongest marks of superior abilities. he visited halle with his father in , where he was offered by the university the degree of m. a. the young philosopher drew up theses, which he printed, and the next morning disputed upon them with such logical precision, that he astonished a most crowded audience. at berlin he was received with kindness by the king of prussia, and honoured with marks of distinction. his abilities, however, shone but like a meteor: a constitution, naturally delicate, was rendered still more weak by excessive application; and a cough, spitting of blood, and fever on the spirits, put an end to his life at halle, , in his th year. baratier is mentioned as a prodigy of learning and of genius; his memory was universally retentive, and his application scarcely credible, when it is recollected that he spent twelve hours in bed till his tenth year, and ten afterwards. in one winter he read twenty great folios, with all the attention of a vast comprehensive mind; and the large work which he prepared on egyptian antiquities, shewed the most judicious and laborious arrangement. in his domestic economy he was very temperate; he ate little flesh, lived totally on milk, tea, bread, and fruit; he disliked wine; he had an aversion to dancing, music, and the sports of the field; so that he wished for no recreation from study, but in walking, or in the conversation of a few friends. we shall conclude this chapter with an account of the principal events in the life of-- buonaparte.-- , born at ajaccio, corsica, aug. .-- , placed at the military school of brienne, march.-- , an officer of artillery at the siege of toulon, and appointed general of brigade.-- , commands the conventional troops, and defeats the parisians, oct. .-- , appointed to the command of the army of italy. battle of lodi, may . battle of castiglione, aug. . battle of arcola, nov. .-- , surrender of mantua, feb. . trieste surrenders, march . preliminaries with austria signed at leoben, april . french take possession of venice, may . treaty of campo formeo, with austria, .-- , buonaparte sails for egypt, may . battle of embabe, or of the pyramids, july . insurrection at cairo, oct. .-- , siege of acre raised, may . sails from egypt for france, aug. . lands at frejus, oct. . dissolves the conventional government, nov. . declared first consul, .-- , peace with the chouans, feb. . buonaparte crosses mount st. bernard, may. battle of marengo, june . preliminaries with austria signed at paris. battle of hohenlinden, dec. . explosion of the infernal machine, .-- , treaty of luneville with austria, feb. . nelson attacks the buologne flotilla, aug. . preliminaries with england, oct. .-- , the cisalpine republic placed under buonaparte, jan. . definitive treaty with england, march . legion of honour instituted, may . declared consul for life, aug. . swiss form of government changed by the interference of the french, .-- , english declaration of war, may . hanover conquered, june .-- , moreau arrested, feb. duc d'enghien shot, march . pichegru dies in prison, april . buonaparte made emperor, may . crowned by the pope, nov. .-- , writes a pacific letter to the king of england, feb. treaty of petersburgh, between england, russia, austria, and sweden, april . buonaparte declared king of italy, may . buonaparte heads his army against austria, sept. . mack's army surrenders at ulm, oct. . french enter vienna, nov. . battle of austerlitz, dec. . treaty of vienna with prussia, . treaty of presburg with austria, .-- , joseph buonaparte declared king of naples, march . louis buonaparte declared king of holland, june . convocation of the jews, july . confederation of the rhine published, . buonaparte marches against prussia, sept. . battle of auerstadt, or jena, oct. . buonaparte enters berlin, . hamburgh taken, nov. . berlin decree.-- , battle of eylau, feb. . battle of friedland, june . treaty of tilsit, july .-- , joseph buonaparte declared king of spain, july . surrender of dupont's army at baylen, . joseph buonaparte evacuates madrid, . battle of vimeira, august . conferences at erfurth, sept. . buonaparte arrives at vittoria, nov. . surrender of madrid, dec. .-- , battle of corunna, jan. . buonaparte returns to paris, . war declared by austria, april . bonaparte heads his army against austria, . french enter vienna, may . battle of esling, or asperne, . battle of wagram, july . flushing taken by the english, august . treaty of vienna, oct. . lucien buonaparte arrives in england, dec. . buonaparte's marriage with josephine dissolved, . walcheren evacuated by the english, .-- , buonaparte marries maria louisa, daughter of francis ii. march . holland and the hanse towns annexed to france, july . bernadotte elected crown prince of sweden, aug. . decree for restraining the liberty of the press, dec.-- , hamburgh annexed to the empire, jan. . the empress delivered of a son, who is styled king of rome, april . buonaparte present at an engagement between the boulogne flotilla and an english cruiser, sept. .-- , swedish pomerania seized by buonaparte, jan. . he heads the army against russia, may . arrives at konigsberg, june . enters wilna, . smolensko taken, aug. . battle of moskwa, sept. . french enter moskow, . evacuate it, october . buonaparte at smolensko, nov. . deserts the army, dec. . arrives at paris, .-- , takes the command of the army on the elbe, april. battle of lutzen, may . battle of bautzen, . armistice agreed on, june . battle of vittoria, . hostilities re-commence, aug. . battle of dresden, moreau killed, . english enter france, sept. , buonaparte evacuates dresden, . battle of leipsic, oct. . revolution in holland, nov. . declaration of the allies at frankfort, dec. . english army cross the nive, .-- , allies cross the rhine, jan. . battle of montmartre, march . allies enter paris, . buonaparte abdicates the throne, april . arrives at elba, may .-- , sails from elba to france, march . arrives at paris, and reascends the throne, . is declared an outlaw by the sovereigns of europe then assembled at vienna, . calls a new house of peers and chamber of representatives of the people. calls a champ de mai, april. defeats the prussians, june . loses his army in the great battle of waterloo, . abdicates the throne a second time, . surrenders himself to capt. maitland, commanding the english ship of war, the bellerophon, in basque roads, july . arrives at torbay, . sailed from england in the northumberland, for st. helena, aug. .-- , died at st. helena, may . buried there, . chap. x. curiosities respecting man.--(_continued._) richard savage, one of the most extraordinary characters that is to be met with in all the records of biography, was the son of anne, countess of macclesfield, by the earl of rivers, according to her own confession; and was born in . this confession of adultery was made, to procure a separation from her husband, the earl of macclesfield: yet, having obtained this end, no sooner was a spurious offspring brought into the world, than she resolved to disown him; and, as long as he lived, she treated him with the most unnatural cruelty. she delivered him over to a poor woman to educate as her own; maliciously prevented the earl of rivers from leaving him a legacy of £ , by declaring him dead; and deprived him of another legacy which his godmother, mrs. lloyd, had left him, by concealing from him his birth, and thereby rendering it impossible for him to prosecute his claim. she endeavoured to send him secretly to the plantations; but this plan being frustrated, she placed him apprentice with a shoemaker. in this situation, however, he did not long continue; for his nurse dying, he went to take care of the effects of his supposed mother, and found in her boxes some letters, which discovered to young savage his birth, and the cause of its concealment. from the moment of this discovery he became dissatisfied. he conceived that he had a right to share in the affluence of his real mother; and therefore he applied to her, and tried every art to attract her regard. but in vain did he solicit this unnatural parent; she avoided him with the utmost precaution, and took measures to prevent his ever entering her house. meantime, while he was endeavouring to rouse the affections of a mother, in whom all natural affection was extinct, he was destitute of the means of support. having a strong inclination to literary pursuits, especially poetry, he wrote poems; and afterwards two plays, woman's a riddle, and, love in a veil: he was allowed no part of the profits from the first; but by the second he acquired the acquaintance of sir richard steel and mr. wilkes, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and relieved. but the kindness of his friends not affording him a constant supply, he wrote the tragedy of sir thomas overbury; which not only procured him the esteem of many persons of wit, but brought him £ . the celebrated aaron hill, esq. was of great service to him in correcting and fitting this piece for the stage and the press; and extended his patronage still farther. but savage was, like many other wits, a bad economist. as fast as his friends raised him out of one difficulty, he sunk into another; and when he found himself greatly involved, he rambled about like a vagabond, with scarcely a shirt on his back. he was in one of these situations all the time he wrote his tragedy above mentioned; without a lodging, and often without a dinner. mr. hill also promoted a subscription to a volume of his miscellanies, and furnished part of the poems of which it was composed. to this miscellany savage wrote a preface, in which he gives an account of his mother's cruelty, in a very uncommon strain of humour. the profits of his tragedy and his miscellanies had now somewhat raised him, both in circumstances and credit, so that the world began to behold him with a more favourable eye, when both his fame and life were endangered by a most unhappy event: a drunken frolic, in which he one night engaged, ended in a fray, and savage unfortunately killed a man, for which he was condemned to be hanged: his friends earnestly solicited the mercy of the crown, while his mother as earnestly exerted herself to prevent his receiving it. the countess of hertford, at length, laid his whole case before queen caroline, and savage obtained a pardon. savage now lost that affection for his mother which the whole series of her cruelty had not been able wholly to repress; and considering her as an implacable enemy, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy, threatened to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a copious narrative of her conduct, unless she consented to allow him a pension. this expedient proved successful; and lord tyrconnel, upon his promise of laying aside his design of exposing his mother's cruelty, took him into his family, treated him as an equal, and engaged to allow him a pension of £ a year. this was the happy period of savage's life. he was courted by all who wished to be thought men of genius and taste. at this time he published the temple of health and mirth, on the recovery of lady tyrconnel from a languishing illness; and the wanderer, a moral poem, which he dedicated to lord tyrconnel, in strains of the highest panegyric: but these praises he soon was inclined to retract, being discarded by the man on whom they were bestowed. of this quarrel, lord tyrconnel and mr. savage gave very different accounts. but our author's conduct was ever such as made all his friends, sooner or later, grow weary of him, and even forced most of them to become his enemies. being thus once more turned adrift upon the world, savage, whose passions were very strong, and whose gratitude was very small, exposed the faults of lord tyrconnel. he also took revenge upon his mother, by publishing the bastard, a poem, remarkable for the vivacity of its beginning (where he humorously enumerates the imaginary advantages of base birth;) and for the pathetic conclusion, wherein he recounts the real calamities which he suffered by the crime of his parents. the following lines, in the opening of the poem, are a specimen of this writer's spirit and versification: "blest be the bastard's birth! thro' wondrous ways he shines eccentric, like a comet's blaze. no sickly fruit of faint compliance he; he! stamp'd in nature's mint with ecstasy! he lives to build, not boast, a generous race; no tenth transmitter of a foolish face. he, kindling from within, requires no flame; he glories in a bastard's glowing name. nature's unbounded son, he stands alone, his heart unbias'd, and his mind his own. o mother! yet no mother!--'tis to you my thanks for some distinguish'd claims are due." this poem had an extraordinary sale; and its appearance happening at the time when his mother was at bath, many persons there repeated passages from it in her hearing. this was perhaps the first time that ever she discovered a sense of shame, and, on this occasion, the power of wit was very conspicuous. the wretch, who had without scruple proclaimed herself an adulteress, and who had first endeavoured to starve her son, then to transport him, and afterwards to hang him, was not able to bear the representation of her own conduct, but fled from reproach, though she felt no pain from guilt; and left bath in haste, to shelter herself among the crowds of london. some time after this, savage formed the resolution of applying to the queen; who, having once given him life, he hoped she might extend her goodness to him, by enabling him to support it. with this view, he published a poem on her birth-day, which he entitled the volunteer laureat; for which she was pleased to send him £ , accompanied with an intimation that he might annually expect the same bounty. but this annual allowance was nothing to a man of his strange and singular extravagance. his usual custom was, as soon as he had received his pension, to disappear with it, and secrete himself from his most intimate friends, till every shilling of it was spent; which done, he again appeared penniless as before: but he would never inform any person where he had been, nor in what manner his money had been dissipated. from the reports, however, of some who penetrated his haunts, he expended both his time and his cash in the most sordid and despicable sensuality; particularly in eating and drinking, in which he would indulge in the most unsocial manner, sitting whole days and nights by himself, in obscure houses of entertainment, over his bottle and trencher, immersed in filth and sloth, with scarcely decent apparel; generally wrapped up in a horseman's great coat; and, on the whole, with his very homely countenance, exhibiting an object the most disgusting to the sight, if not to some other of the senses. his wit and parts, however, still raised him new friends, as fast as his misbehaviour lost him his old ones. yet such was his conduct, that occasional relief only furnished the means of occasional excess; and he defeated all attempts made by his friends to fix him in a decent way. he was even reduced so low as to be destitute of a lodging; insomuch that he often passed his nights in those mean houses that are set open for casual wanderers; sometimes in cellars, amidst the riot and filth of the most profligate of the rabble; and not seldom would he walk the streets till he was weary, and then lie down, in summer, on a bulk,--or, in winter, with his associates, among the ashes of a glasshouse. yet, amidst all his penury and wretchedness, this man had so much pride, and so high an opinion of his own merit, that he was always ready to repress, with scorn and contempt, the least appearance of any slight towards himself, in the behaviour of his acquaintance; among whom he looked upon none as his superior. he would be treated as an equal, even by persons of the highest rank. he once refused to wait upon a gentleman, who was desirous of relieving him, when at the lowest distress, only because the message signified the gentleman's desire to see him at nine in the morning. his life was rendered still more unhappy, by the death of the queen, in . his pension was discontinued; and the insolent manner in which he demanded of sir robert walpole to have it restored, for ever cut off his supply, which probably might have been recovered by proper application. his distress now became so notorious, that a scheme was at length concerted for procuring him a permanent relief. it was proposed that he should retire into wales, with an allowance of £ a year, on which he was to live privately, in a cheap place, for ever quitting his town haunts, and resigning all farther pretensions to fame. this offer he seemed gladly to accept; but his intentions were only to deceive his friends, by retiring for awhile to write another tragedy, and then to return with it to london. in , he set out for swansey, in the bristol stage-coach, and was furnished with guineas, to bear the expense of his journey. but, on the th day of his departure, his friends and benefactors, the principal of whom was mr. pope, who expected to hear of his arrival in wales, were surprised with a letter from savage, informing them that he was yet upon the road, and could not proceed for want of money. there was no other remedy than a remittance, which was sent him, and by the help of which he was enabled to reach bristol, whence he was to proceed to swansey by water. at bristol, however, he found an embargo laid upon the shipping; so that he could not immediately obtain a passage. here, therefore, being obliged to stay for some time, he so ingratiated himself with the principal inhabitants, that he was often invited to their houses, distinguished at their public entertainments, and treated with a regard that highly gratified his vanity. at length, with great reluctance, he proceeded to swansey; where he lived about a year, very much dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary, for he had, in his letters, treated his contributors so insolently, that most of them withdrew their subscriptions. here he finished his tragedy, and resolved to return with it to london; which was strenuously opposed by his constant friend mr. pope; who proposed that savage should put this play into the hands of mr. thomson and mr. mallet, that they might fit it for the stage; that his friends should receive the profits it might bring in; and that the author should receive the produce by way of annuity. this kind and prudent scheme was rejected by savage with contempt. he declared he would not submit his works to any one's correction; and that he would no longer be kept in leading-strings. accordingly, he soon returned to bristol, in his way to london; but at bristol, meeting with a repetition of the same kind treatment he had before found there, he was tempted to make a second stay in that opulent city for some time. here he was not only caressed and treated, but the sum of £ was raised for him; with which it would have been happy if he had immediately departed for london. but he never considered that a frequent repetition of such kindness was not to be expected. in short, he remained here till his company was no longer welcome. his visits in every family were too often repeated, his wit had lost its novelty, and his irregular behaviour grew troublesome. necessity came upon him before he was aware; his money was spent, his clothes were worn out, his appearance was shabby, and his presence was disgustful at every table. he now began to find every man from home at whose house he called, and he found it difficult to obtain a dinner. thus reduced, it would have been prudent in him to have withdrawn from the place; but prudence and savage were never acquainted. he staid, in the midst of poverty, hunger, and contempt, till the mistress of a coffee-house, to whom he owed about l. arrested him for the debt. he remained for some time at the house of the sheriff's officer, in hopes of procuring bail; which expense he was enabled to defray by a present of five guineas from mr. nash at bath. no bail, however, was to be found; so that poor savage was at last lodged in newgate, a prison in bristol. but it was the fortune of this extraordinary mortal always to find more friends than he deserved. the keeper of the prison took compassion on him, and greatly softened the rigours of his confinement by every kind of indulgence; he supported him at his own table, gave him a commodious room to himself, allowed him to stand at the door of the gaol, and often took him into the fields for the benefit of the air and exercise; so that, in reality, savage endured fewer hardships here than he had usually suffered during the greatest part of his life. while he remained in this agreeable prison, his ingratitude again broke out, in a bitter satire on the city of bristol; to which he certainly owed great obligations, notwithstanding his arrest, which was but the lawful act of an individual. this satire is entitled, london and bristol delineated; and in it he abused the inhabitants of the latter with such a spirit of resentment, that the reader would imagine he had never received any other than the worst of treatment in that city. when savage had remained about six months in this hospitable prison, he received a letter from mr. pope, (who still allowed him £ a year,) containing a charge of very atrocious ingratitude; and though the particulars have not transpired, yet, from the notorious character of the man, there is reason to fear that savage was but too justly accused: he, however, solemnly protested his innocence; but he was very unusually affected on this occasion:--in a few days after, he was seized with a disorder, which, at first, was not suspected to be dangerous; but growing daily more languid and dejected, at last a fever seized him, and he died on the st of august, , in the th year of his age. thus lived, and thus died, richard savage, esq. leaving behind him a character strangely chequered with vices and good qualities. of the former we have mentioned a variety of instances; of the latter, his peculiar situation in the world gave him but few opportunities of making any considerable display. he was, however, undoubtedly a man of excellent parts; and had he received the full benefits of a liberal education, and had his natural talents been cultivated to the best advantage, he might have made a respectable figure in life. he was happy in a quick discernment, a retentive memory, and a lively flow of wit, which made his company much coveted; nor was his judgment of men and writings inferior to his wit: but he was too much a slave to his passions, and his passions were too easily excited. he was warm in his friendships, but implacable in his enmity; and his greatest fault was ingratitude. he seemed to think every thing due to his merit, and that he was little obliged to any one for those favours which he thought it their duty to confer upon him. he therefore never rightly estimated the kindness of his many friends and benefactors, or preserved a grateful sense of their generosity towards him. the works of this original writer, after having long lain dispersed in magazines and fugitive publications, were collected and published in an elegant edition, in vols. vo. to which are prefixed the admirable memoirs of savage, written by dr. samuel johnson. chap. xi. curiosities respecting man.--(_concluded._) william huntingdon, a very eccentric personage, who was originally a coal-heaver, and afterwards became a popular preacher of the calvinistic persuasion. the following account, formed principally from the preacher's own words, was first presented to the public in the first volume of "the pulpit," . excepting the circumstance of enlarging his name from hunt to huntingdon, which is stated as one of the inevitable consequences of "the follies of his youth," mr. huntingdon has already written, with tolerable truth, the greater portion of the history of himself. he was born, he says, in the weald of kent; and "suffered much from his parents' poverty, when young." he long felt other disadvantages attending his birth. being born in "none of the most polite parts of the world," he "retained a good deal of his provincial dialect;" so that many of his "expressions sounded very harsh and uncouth." of this he complains, with some cause, as it afterwards occasioned numbers of "unsanctified critics to laugh and cavil at" him. he was first an errand boy, then a daily labourer, then a cobbler; and, though he "worked by day," and "cobbled by night," he, at one time, "lived upon barley." his first ministerial preparation is thus told: "i had now (says mr. h.) five times a week to preach constantly: on which account i was forced to lay the bible in a chair by me, and now and then read a little, in order to furnish myself with matter for the pulpit. it sometimes happened that i was under sore temptations and desertions: the bible, too, appeared a sealed book, insomuch that i could not furnish myself with a text; nor durst i leave my work in order to study or read the bible; if i did, my little ones would soon want bread; my business would also run very cross at those times." his earnings did not then amount to more than eight shillings per week. even when his state grew better, when he got his first "parsonic livery" on his back, he could not study at his ease. "my little cot (he says) was placed in a very vulgar neighbourhood, and the windows were so very low, that i could not study at any of them, without being exposed to the view of my enemies; who often threw stones through the glass, or saluted me with a volley of oaths or imprecations." this must have been painful enough to one whose "memory was naturally bad." providence had long furnished him with very superior accommodations. after many years of itinerant and irregular preaching, william huntingdon, weary of living at thames ditton, secretly longed to leave it, fully persuaded that he "should end his ministry in london." "having unsuccessfully laboured in the vineyard of the country," and as he "did not see that god had any thing more for him to do there," he, like one durant of late, "saw the lord himself open the door" for his removal. he had resolved to be off; and he contrived to get off. he was now, as he himself says, "to perch upon the thick boughs." ditton was to be left for london. yet had poor ditton not been so unkind to him. "some few years before i was married," says mr. h. "all my personal effects used to be carried in my hand, or on my shoulders, in one or two large handkerchiefs; but after marriage, for some few years, i used to carry all the goods that we had gotten, on my shoulders, in a large sack: but when we removed from thames ditton to london, we loaded two large carts with furniture and other necessaries; besides a post-chaise, well filled with children and cats." being viewed as ludicrous while in the country, he was fearful of being considered as ridiculous elsewhere. i here transcribe his words: "at this (says mr. h.--having been advertised in margaret-street chapel,) i was sorely offended, being very much averse to preaching in london, for several reasons. first, because i had been told it abounded so much with all sorts of errors, that i was afraid of falling into them, there were so many that lay in wait to deceive. secondly, because i had no learning, and therefore feared i should not be able to deliver myself with any degree of propriety; and as i knew nothing of greek or hebrew, nor even of the english grammar, that i should be exposed to the scourging tongue of every critic in london." "during many weeks, (he adds,) i laboured under much distress of mind respecting my want of abilities to preach in this great metropolis." i think this one of the few rational passages to be found in the "bank of faith." mr. huntingdon here candidly confesses his own conviction of his then ministerial incompetency, and expresses his apprehension as to the probable nullity of his divine mission. his call seems to fail him now. he feels just as most men would feel in the same state,--fears just as they would fear,--and takes the same chance as to the great end he had in view. "during the space of three years, (says mr. huntingdon,) i secretly wished in my soul, that god would favour me with a chapel of my own, being sick of the errors that were perpetually broached by some one or other in margaret-street chapel, where i then preached. but though i so much desired this, yet i could not ask god for such a favour, thinking it was not to be brought about by one so very mean, low, and poor as myself. however, god sent a person, unknown to me, to look at a certain spot, who afterwards took me to look at it; but i trembled at the very thought of such an immense undertaking. then god stirred up a wise man to offer to build a chapel, and to manage the whole work without fee or reward. god drew the pattern on his imagination, while he was hearing me preach a sermon. i then took the ground; this person executed the plan; and the chapel sprung up like a mushroom. as soon as it was finished, this precious scripture came sweet to my soul, 'he will fulfil the desire of them that fear him:' psa. cxlv. . "i will now inform my reader of the kind providence of my god at the time of building the chapel, which i named providence chapel ( ); and also mention a few free-will-offerings which the people brought. they first offered about eleven pounds, and laid it on the foundation at the beginning of the building. a good gentleman, with whom i had but little acquaintance, and of whom i bought a load of timber, sent it in with a bill and receipt-in-full, as a present to the chapel of providence. another good man came with tears in his eyes, and blessed me, and desired to paint my pulpit, desk, &c. as a present to the chapel. another person gave half a dozen chairs for the vestry; and my friends, mr. and mrs. lyon, furnished me with a tea-chest, well stored, and a set of china. my good friends, mr. and mrs. smith, furnished me with a very handsome bed, bedstead, and all its furniture and necessaries, that i might not be under the necessity of walking home in the cold winter nights. a daughter of mine in the faith, gave me a looking-glass for my chapel study. another friend gave me my pulpit-cushion, and a book-case for my study. another gave me a book-case for the vestry. and my good friend, mr. e. seemed to level all his displeasure at the devil; for he was in hopes i should be enabled, through the gracious arm of the lord, to cut rahab in pieces; therefore he furnished me with a sword of the spirit--a new bible, with morocco binding and silver clasps. i had got one old cart-horse, (says w. h.) that i had bought with the rest of the stock on the farm, and i wanted two more, but money ran short; and i determined also to have a large tilted cart, to take my family to chapel, and the man should drive it on the sunday and on lecture nights, and i would ride my little horse. this was the most eligible plan that i could adopt; and on this i determined, as soon as god should send money to procure them. i came to this conclusion on a friday; and on the next day, toward evening, came two or three friends from town to see me. i wondered not a little at their coming, as they knew that on a saturday i never like to see any body, and therefore i conceived that they must be come with some heavy tidings; some friend was dead, or something bad had happened. but they came to inform me that some friends had agreed among themselves, and bought me a coach and a pair of horses, which they intended to make me a present of. i informed them that the assessed taxes ran so high, that i should not be able to keep it. but they stopped my mouth by informing me, that the money for paying the taxes for the coach and horses was subscribed also; so that nothing lay upon me, but the keep of the horses. thus, instead of being at the expense of a tilted cart, god sent me a coach without cost, and two horses without my purchasing them; and which, with my other old horse, would do the work of the farm, as well as the work of the coach; and my bailiff informed me that he could drive it, having formerly drove one. thus was i set up. but at this time the pocket was bare, and many things were wanting, both in the house and on the farm, and a place to fit up for my bailiff and dairy-woman to live in. and it was but a few days afterward before a gentleman out of the country called upon me; and, being up in my study with me, he said, 'my friend, i often told you, you would keep your coach before you died; and i always promised, that whenever you had a coach, i would give you a pair of horses; and i will not be worse than my word. i have inquired of father green, and he tells me that the horses cost forty-five pounds, and there is the money.' in a day or two after, the coach, horses, and harness, came; and, having now a little money, i wrote to a friend in the country to send me twelve ewes, and a male with them; and he sent me twelve excellent ones, and the male with them, but would not be paid for them; they were a present to the farm. 'whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the lord.' ps. cvii. ." much did mr. huntingdon owe to the singularity of his ways. singular in his outset and career, singular in his opinions, singular in his own appearance, singular in his chapel, singular in his style of preaching, he seemed to know, as well as most men, the value of singularity. he not only excelled in extempore eloquence, but his peculiarities distinguished him from most other preachers. having formally announced his text, he laid his bible at once aside, and never referred to it again. having laid on one side the volume of inspiration, and disdaining the trammels of transcription, he proceeded directly to his object; and, excepting incidental digressions, as, "take care of your pockets!" "wake that snoring sinner!" "silence that noisy numscull!" "turn out that drunken dog!" excepting such occasional digressions, which, like the episodes of poetry, must, when skilfully introduced, be understood to heighten the effect of the whole, our orator never deviated from the course in which he commenced his eccentric career of ministerial labour. he had other advantages over many of his pulpit compeers. being of the metaphorical and allegorical school, as well as possessing his citations by rote, there is seldom to be found the passage, from the book of genesis to the revelation of st. john, that may not have, remotely or allusively, some connection with the subject immediately under his investigation. hence the variety, as well as the fertility, of his eloquence. hence the novelty of his commentaries; his truly astonishing talent of reconciling texts, else undoubtedly incongruous; and of discovering dissimilarities, and asserting difficulties, where none were believed to exist. nothing could exceed the dictatorial dogmatism of this famous preacher. believe him, none but him,--and that is enough. if he aimed thus to pin the faith of those who hear him, he would say over and over, "as sure as i am born, 'tis," &c. or, "i believe this," or, "i know this," "i am sure of it," or, "i believe the plain english of it (some difficult text) to be," &c. when he adds, as he was wont, by way of fixing his point, "now, you can't help it," or, "so it is," or, "it must be so in spite of you," he did this with a most significant shake of his head, with a sort of beldam _hauteur_, with all the dignity of defiance. action he seemed to have none, except that of shifting his handkerchief from hand to hand, and hugging his cushion as though it were his bolster. he therefore owed his distinction to the absence of those qualities by which most men rise. self has done great things for him: self-taught, self-raised, all of self. "god (says mr. h.) enabled me to put out several little books, which were almost universally exclaimed against, both by preachers and professors, and by these means god sent them into all winds; so that i soon rubbed off one hundred, and soon after another, so that, in a short time, i had reduced my thousand pounds (debt) down to seven hundred." of his works, he adds, that "they are calculated (as he thinks,) to suit the earnest inquirer; the soul in bondage, in the furnace, in the path of tribulation, or in the strong hold of satan; and (says he) i have heard of them from wales, from scotland, from ireland, from various parts of america, from cadiz in spain, from alexandria in egypt, and, i believe, from both the east and west indies." his "bank of faith" has proved a bank of gold! when he wrote so much of what came to him as gifts, was it not to rouse more to give? the man who says he lives by gifts, will, as he gets his friends, find gifts by which he may live. he died at london, in ; and such was the avidity of his adherents to obtain a relic of him, that his furniture sold at ten times the original value. an old chair went off at forty pounds. chap. xii. curiosities respecting animals. _animal generation--formation of animals--preservation of animals--destruction of animals--animal reproductions._ see, thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth, all matter quick, and bursting into birth. above, how high progressive life may go! around, how wide! how deep extend below! vast chain of being! which from god began, natures ethereal, human, angel, man, beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, no glass can reach; from infinite to thee, from thee to nothing. _pope._ in entering upon the subject of curiosities respecting animals, we shall first introduce to the reader some interesting observations respecting the generation, formation, preservation, destruction, and reproduction, of animals in general; and, first, of animal generation. animal generation holds the first place among all that raise our admiration when we consider the works of the creator, and chiefly that appointment by which he has regulated the propagation, which is wisely adapted to the disposition and mode of life of every different species of animals, that people earth, air, or sea. "increase and multiply," said the benevolent author of nature, when he pronounced his blessing on the new made world. by virtue of this powerful mandate, all the various tribes of sentient beings have not only been preserved, but increased in an astonishing degree. it is not in our province to describe the laws of gestation; we will content ourselves with a few brief hints upon this subject; and we shall find, that in different animals, nature operates in different ways, in order to produce the same general end. the human female, and the female of quadrupeds, are possessed of a temperate cherishing warmth; this fits them for easy gestation, and enables them to afford proper nourishment to their young, till the time of birth. birds are intended to soar in the air, or to flit from place to place in search of food. gestation, therefore, would be burdensome to them. for this reason, they lay eggs, covered with a hard shell: these, by natural instinct, they sit upon, and cherish till the young be excluded. the ostrich and the cassowary are said to be exempt from this law; as they commit their eggs to the sand, where the intense heat of the sun hatches them. fishes inhabit the waters, and most of them have cold blood, unfit for nourishing their young. the all-wise creator, therefore, has ordained that most of them should lay their eggs near the shore; where, by means of the solar rays, the water is warmer, and also fitter for that purpose; and also because water insects abound more there, which afford nourishment to the young fry. salmon, when they are about to deposit their eggs, are led by instinct to ascend the stream, where purity and freshness are to be found in the waters: and to procure such a situation for its young, this fish will endure incredible toil and hazard. the butterfly-fish is an exception to this general law, for that brings forth its young alive. the species of fish whose residence is in the middle of the ocean, are also exempt. providence has given to these, eggs that swim; so that they are hatched among the sea-weeds, which also swim on the surface. the various kinds of whales have warm blood, and therefore bring forth their young alive, and suckle them with their teats. some amphibious animals also bring forth their young alive, as the viper, &c. but such species as lay eggs, deposit them in places where the heat of the sun supplies the want of warmth in the parent. thus the frog, and the lizard, drop their's in shallow waters, which soon receive a genial heat by the rays of the sun; the common snake, in dunghills, or other warm places. the crocodile and sea-tortoise go ashore to lay their eggs in the sand; in these cases, nature, as a provident nurse, takes care of all. the multiplication of animals is not restrained to the same rule in all; for some have a remarkable power of increase, while others are, in this respect, confined within very narrow limits. yet, in general, we find, that nature observes this order, that the least animals, and those which are most useful for food to others, usually increase with the greatest rapidity. the mite, and many other insects, will multiply to a thousand within the compass of a few days; while the elephant hardly produces a young one in two years. birds of the hawk-kind seldom lay more than two eggs; while poultry will produce from fifteen to thirty. the diver, or loon, which is eaten by few animals, lays also only two eggs; but the duck-kind, moor game, partridges, &c. and small birds in general, lay a great many. most of the insect tribes neither bear young nor hatch eggs; yet they are the most numerous of all living creatures; and were their bulk proportionable to their numbers, there would not be room on the earth for any other animals. the creator has wisely ordained the preservation of these minute creatures. the females lay not their eggs indiscriminately, but are endued with instinct to choose such places as may supply their infant offspring with proper nourishment: in their case, this is absolutely necessary, for the mother dies as soon as she has deposited her eggs, the male parent having died before this event takes place; so that no parental care ever falls to the lot of this orphan race. and indeed, were the parents to live, it does not appear that they would possess any power to assist their young. butterflies, weevils, tree-bugs, gall-insects, and many others, lay their eggs on the leaves of plants; and every different tribe chooses its own species of plants. nay, there is scarce any plant which does not afford nourishment to some insect; and still more, there is hardly any part of a plant which is not preferred by some of them. thus one feeds upon the flower; another upon the leaves; another upon the trunk; and still another upon the root. but it is particularly curious to observe how the leaves of some trees of plants are formed into dwellings for the convenience of these creatures. thus the gall-insect, fixes her eggs in the leaves of an oak; the wounded leaf swells, and a knob arises like an apple, which includes, protects, and nourishes the embryo. in the same manner are the galls produced, which are brought from asiatic turkey, and which are used both as a medicine, and as a dye in several of our manufactories. when the tree-bug has deposited its eggs in the boughs of the fir-tree, excrescences arise, shaped like pearls. when another insect of the same species has deposited its eggs in the mouse-ear, chick-weed, or speedwell plants, the leaves contract in a wonderful manner into the shape of a head. the water spider excludes eggs either on the extremities of juniper, which from thence forms a lodging that resembles the arrow-headed grass; or on the leaves of the poplar, from whence a red globe is produced. the tree-louse lays its eggs on the leaves of the black poplar, which turn into a kind of inflated bag; and so in many other instances. nor is it only upon plants that insects live and lay their eggs. the gnat commits her's to stagnant waters; the flesh-fly, in putrified flesh; another kind of insect deposits her's in the cracks of cheese. some insects exclude their eggs on certain animals; the mill-beetle, between the scales of fishes; a species of the gadfly, on the back of bullocks; another of the same species, on the back of the rein-deer; another, in the noses of sheep; another still, in the intestinal tube, or the throat of horses. nay, even insects themselves are generally surrounded with the eggs of other insects; so that there is, perhaps, no animal to be found, but what affords both lodging, and nourishment, and food, to other animals: even man himself, the haughty lord of this lower world, is not exempt from this general law. we shall next call the reader's attention to some particulars respecting the formation of animals. whatever matter may be in itself as to its essence, it is certain that it appears to our senses as various and heterogeneous: however, the modus of the formation of animals is still unknown. the inspired writers express themselves here, at least, according to the capacity of the learned, as well as the vulgar, when they acknowledge the ignorance of mankind,--how the bones do at first grow in their embryo state,--and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, when we are fashioned secretly in the lower parts of the earth. however, it seems not probable, that one part of matter acting upon another, should produce animal existence, though we grant it may have a strange and unaccountable power in the alteration of matter purely insensible or inanimate. fermentation may dilate, and extremely alter the parts of animated matter, when they are delineated and marked out by the finger of the almighty; but still, matter being a principle purely passive and irrational, we cannot conceive how it should become an animal, any more than a world, it being much more easy for stones to leap out of a quarry, and make an escurial, without asking the architect's leave, or calling for the mason, with his mortar and trowel, to assist them. nor seems it necessary, or rational, that the first seed of every creature should formally include all those seeds that should be afterwards produced from it; since it is, we think, sufficient that it should potentially include them, just as abraham did levi; or as one kernel does all those indeterminate kernels that may be thence afterwards raised; the first seeds being doubtless of the same nature with those that now exist, after so many thousand years, the order of time making only an accidental difference; which if we do not grant, we must run into this absurdity, that every thing does not produce its like,--a bird a bird, or a horse a horse,--which would be to fill all the world with monsters, which nature does so much abhor. but every vegetable seed, or kernel, for example, does now actually and formally contain all the seeds or kernels which may be at any time afterwards produced from them. a kernel has indeed, as we have found by microscopes, a pretty fair and distinct delineation of the tree and branches into which it may be afterwards formed by the fermentation of its parts, and addition of suitable matter; as in the tree are potentially contained all the thousands and millions of kernels, and so of trees, that shall or may be thence raised afterwards: and some are apt to believe it must be similar in the first animals; whereas the finest glasses, which are brought to an almost incredible perfection, cannot discover actual seeds in seeds, or kernels in kernels; though, if there were any such thing as an actual least atom, they might, one would think, be discovered by them, since they have shewn us not only seeds, but even new animals, in many parts of matter where we never suspected them, and even in some of the smallest animals themselves, whereof our naked sight can take no cognizance. as for the parts of matter, be they how they will, finite or infinite, it makes no great alteration; for, if these parts are not all seminal, we are no nearer. nay, at best, an absurdity seems to be the consequence of this hypothesis; because, if those parts are infinite, and include all successive generations of animals, it would follow that the number of animals too should be infinite; and, instead of one, we should have a thousand infinites; and it would be strange too if they should not, some of them, be greater or less than one another. for that pleasant fancy, that all the seeds of animals were distinctly created at the beginning of time and things, that they are mingled with all the elements, that we take them in with our food, and the _he_ and _she_ atoms either fly off or stay, as they like their lodgings; we hope there is no need of being serious to confute it. and we may ask of this, as well as the former hypothesis,--what need of them, when the work may be done without them? the kernel, as before, contains the tree, the tree a thousand other fruits, and ten thousand kernels; the first animal several others; and as many of them as nature can dispose of, and provide fit nourishment for, are produced into what we may call actual being, in comparison to what they before enjoyed. if it be asked, whether these imperfect creatures have all distinct souls while lurking yet in their parent? we answer, that there is no need of it; they are not yet so much as well-defined bodies, but rather parts of the parent: there is required yet a great deal more of the chemistry and mechanism of nature, and that in both sexes, to make one or more of these embryo beings, the offspring of man, capable of receiving a rational soul; but when that capacity comes, and wherein it consists, perhaps he only knows, who is the father of spirits, as well as the former of the universe. on the preservation of animals.--with respect to the preservation of animals, it maybe observed, that in tender age, while the young are unable to provide for themselves, the parent possesses the most anxious care for them. the lioness, the tigress, and every other savage of the wilderness, are gentle and tender towards their offspring; they spare no pains, no labour, for their helpless progeny; they scour the forest with indescribable rage; destruction marks their path; they bear their victim to the covert, and teach their whelps to quaff the blood of the slain. there is one great law, which the all-wise creator has implanted in animals towards their offspring, which is, that, according to their nature, they should provide for their nourishment, defence, and comfort. all quadrupeds give suck to their young, and support them by a liquor of a most delicate taste, and perfectly easy of digestion, till they are capable of receiving nourishment from more solid food. birds build their nests in the most artificial manner, and line them as soft as possible, that the eggs or young may not be injured. nor do they build promiscuously, but chuse such places as are most concealed, and likely to be free from the attacks of their enemies: thus the hanging-bird of the tropical countries, makes its nest of the fibres of withered plants lined with down, and fixes it at the extremity of some bough hanging over the water, that it may be out of reach; and the diver places its swimming nest upon the water itself, among the rushes. the male rooks and crows, during the time of incubation, bring food to the females. pigeons, and most of the small birds which pair, sit by turns; but where polygamy prevails, the males scarcely take any care of the young. birds of the duck kind pluck the feathers off their breast, and cover their eggs with them, lest they should be injured by cold when they quit their nest for food; and when the young are hatched, they shew the utmost solicitude in providing for them, till they are able to fly, and shift for themselves. young pigeons are fed with hard seeds, which the parents first have prepared in their own crops, that so the infant bird may digest them easily. and the eagle makes its nest on the highest precipices of mountains, and in the warmest spot, facing the sun; here the prey which it brings is corrupted by the heat, and made digestible to the young. there is, indeed, an exception to this fostering care of animals in the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in the nest of some small bird, generally the wagtail, yellow-hammer, or white-throat, and leaves both the incubation and preservation of the young to them. but naturalists inform us that this apparent want of instinct in the cuckoo proceeds from the structure and situation of its stomach, which disqualifies it for incubation; still its care is conspicuous in providing a proper, though a foreign situation, for its eggs. amphibious animals, fishes, and insects, which cannot come under the care of their parents, yet owe this to them, that they are deposited in places where they easily find proper nourishment. when animals come to that maturity as no longer to want parental care, they exercise the utmost labour and industry for the preservation of their own lives. but the different species are many, and the individuals of each species are very numerous. in order, therefore, that all may be supported, the creator has assigned to each class its proper food, and set bounds and limits to their appetites. some live on particular species of plants, which are produced only in particular animalcula; others on carcases, and some even on mud and dung. for this reason, providence has ordained that some should swim in certain regions of the watery element; that others should fly; and that some should inhabit the torrid, the frigid, or the temperate zones. different animals also are confined to certain spots in the same zone: some frequent the deserts, others the meadows, or the cultivated grounds; thus the mountains, the woods, the pools, the gardens, have their proper inhabitants. by this means there is no terrestrial tract, no sea, no river, no country, but what teems with life. hence one species of animals does not injuriously invade the aliment of another; and hence the world at all times affords support to so many, and such various inhabitants, and nothing which it produces is in vain. we ought to remark, also, the wisdom and goodness of providence in forming the structure of the bodies of animals for their peculiar manner of life, and in giving them clothing which is suitable both to the country and element in which they live. thus the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the various kinds of monkeys, are destined to live in the torrid regions, where the sun darts its fiercest rays; their skins are therefore naked, for were they covered with hair, they would perish with heat. they are also of such conformation of body as to suit their different manner of life. the rein-deer has his habitation in the coldest parts of lapland; his food is the liverwort, which grows nowhere else so abundantly; and as the cold is in that country intense, this useful animal is covered with hair of the densest kind; by this means he easily defies the keenness of the arctic regions. the rough-legged partridge passes its life in the lapland alps, where it feeds on the seeds of the dwarf birch: while, to withstand the cold, and to enable it to run freely among the snow, even its feet are thickly beset with feathers. the camel is a native of the arid sandy deserts, which, with their dreadful sterility, are yet capable of yielding him support. how wisely has the creator formed him! his foot is made to traverse the burning sands; and as the place of his habitation affords but little water, he is made capable of enduring long journeys, and going many days without quenching his thirst; for he is furnished with a natural reservoir, in which, when he drinks, he stores up a quantity of water, and has the power of using it in a frugal and sparing manner, when, for his food, he crops the dry thistle of the desert. the bullock delights in low rich grounds, because there he finds the food which is most palatable to him. the wild horse chiefly resorts to woods, and feeds upon leafy plants. sheep prefer hills of moderate elevation, where they find a short sweet grass, of which they are very fond. goats climb up the precipices of mountains, that they may brouse on the tender shrubs; and, in order to fit them for their situation, their feet are made for jumping. swine chiefly get provision by turning up the earth; for which purpose their snouts are peculiarly formed. in this employment they find succulent roots, insects, and reptiles. so various is the appetite of animals, that there is scarcely any plant which is not chosen by some, and left untouched by others. thus the horse refuses the water hemlock, which the goat will eat: the goat will not feed on monkshood, but the horse eats it with avidity. the long-leafed water hemlock is avoided by the bullock; yet the sheep is fond of it. the spurge is poisonous to man; but the caterpillar finds it a wholesome nourishment. some animals live on the leaves of certain plants, others on the stalks, and others still on the rind, or even the roots of the same vegetable. it should seem from hence, that no plant is absolutely poisonous, but only relatively so: that is, there is no plant but what is wholesome food to some animal or other. thus divine wisdom has assigned an use for all its productions. the care of providence is further evident in giving to each animal an instinctive knowledge of its proper aliment; but that delicacy of taste and smell, by which they accurately distinguish the wholesome from the pernicious, is not so evident in domestic animals as in those which are in a state of nature. all birds of the goose kind pass great part of their lives in water, feeding on water-insects, fishes, and their eggs. it is evident that they are calculated for this mode of existence; their beaks, their necks, their feet, and their feathers, are formed for it. all other birds are as aptly fitted for their manner of life as these. the sea-swallow is said to get his food in a very singular way. fish are his support, but he is not capable of diving in order to catch them like other aquatic birds; the sea-gull, therefore, is his caterer: when this last has gorged himself, he is pursued by the former, who buffets him till he casts up a part of his prey, which the other catches before it reaches the water; but in those seasons when the fishes hide themselves in deep water, the merganser supplies even the gull himself with food, being capable of plunging deeper into the sea. small birds are generally supposed to live principally upon the berries of ivy and hawthorn; but modern naturalists contradict this, and affirm that their winter food is the knot-grass, which bears heavy seeds, like those of the black bind-weed. this is a very common plant, not easily destroyed; it grows in great abundance by the sides of roads, and trampling on it will not kill it; it is extremely plentiful in corn-fields after harvest, and gives a reddish hue to them by the multitude of its seeds. wherever the husbandman ploughs, this plant will grow, nor can all his art prevent it: thus a part of his labours are necessarily destined for the propagation of a plant which our heavenly father has designed immediately for the support of the "fowls of the air;" for though "they sow not, neither gather into barns," yet are they fed by him. some birds who live on insects, migrate every year to foreign regions, in order to seek food in a milder climate; while all the northern countries, where they live well in summer, are covered with snow. some naturalists reckon the different species of the hirundo, or swallow, among the birds of passage; while others affirm that they do not migrate, but, at the approach of winter, seek an asylum from the cold in the clefts of rocks, with which our island is surrounded, or take refuge in the bottom of pools and lakes, among the reeds and rushes; others still, who have made their observations with more attention and patience than either of the former, allow that the old swallows with their early brood do migrate; but that the latter hatches, which are incapable of distant flight, lay themselves up, and become torpid during the winter; and at the approach of spring, by the wonderful appointment of nature, they come forth again with renewed life and activity. in these, and all other animals which become torpid in the winter, the peristaltic motion of the bowels ceases while they are dormant, so that they do not suffer by hunger. dr. lister remarks, concerning this class of animals, that their blood, when poured into a vessel, does not coagulate, like that of all other animals; and therefore is no less fit for circulation when they revive, than before. the birds called moor-fowl, during great snows, work out paths for themselves under its surface, where they live in safety, and get their food. they moult in summer, so that about the latter end of august they cannot fly, and are therefore obliged to run in the woods; but then the blackberries and bilberries are ripe, from whence they are abundantly supplied with food: but the young do not moult the first year, and therefore, though they cannot run so well, are enabled to escape danger by flight. the migration of birds is not only a fact, but, as it relates to many kinds of them, is an useful fact to mankind. this remark applies to such of them as feed on insects, the number of which is so great, that if these birds did not destroy them, it would be almost impossible for us to live. of the various kinds of water-fowl that are known in europe, there is hardly any but what, in the spring, are found to repair to lapland. this is a country of lakes, rivers, swamps, and mountains, covered with thick and gloomy forests, that afford shelter during summer to these birds. in these arctic regions, by reason of the thickness of the woods, the ground remains moist and penetrable, and the waters contain the larvæ of the gnat in innumerable quantities. the days there are long, and the beautiful and splendid meteors of the night indulge them with every opportunity of collecting so minute a food; at the same time, men are very sparingly scattered over that vast northern waste. yet, linnæus, that great explorer of nature, in his excursion to lapland, was astonished at the myriads of water-fowl that migrated with him out of that country, which exceeded in multitude the army of xerxes, covering, for eight whole days and nights, the surface of the river calix! the surprise of linnæus was occasioned by his supposing their support to be furnished chiefly by the vegetable kingdom, almost denied to the lapland waters; not knowing that the all-bountiful creator had plenteously provided insect food for them in that dreary wilderness. certain beasts, also, as well as birds, become torpid, or at least inactive, when they are, by the rigour of the season, excluded from the necessaries of life. thus the bear, at the end of autumn, collects a quantity of moss, into which he creeps, and there lies all the winter, subsisting upon no other nourishment than his fat, collected during the summer in the cellulous membrane, and which, without doubt, during his fast, circulates through his vessels, and supplies the place of food. the hedge-hog, badger, and some kinds of mice, fill their winter quarters with vegetables, which they eat during mild weather in the winter, and sleep during the frosts. the bat seems cold and quite dead, but revives in the spring: while most of the amphibious animals get into dens, or the bottom of lakes and pools. among other instances of the preservation of animals, we ought to mention that of the pole-cat of america, commonly called the squash or skink. this is a small animal of the weasel kind, which some of the planters of that country keep about their premises to perform the office of a cat. this creature has always a very strong and disagreeable smell, but when affrighted or enraged, it emits so horrible a stench, as to prevent any other creature from approaching it: even dogs in pursuit of it, when they find this extraordinary mode of defence made use of, will instantly turn, and leave him undisputed master of the field; nor can any attempts ever bring them to rally again. kalm, as quoted by buffon, says, "one of these animals came near the farm where i lived in the year . it was in the winter season, during the night; and the dogs that were upon the watch, pursued it for some time, until it discharged against them. although i was in bed a good way off, i thought i should have been suffocated; and the cows and oxen themselves, by their lowings, shewed how much they were affected by the stench." nor is even the serpent, in its various kinds, destitute of the care of the common father of nature. this reptile, which has neither wings to fly, nor the power to run with much speed, would not have the means to take its prey, were it not endowed with superior cunning to most other creatures. in favour of the serpent, also, there is a terror attending its appearance, which operates with such power upon birds and other small animals, as often to cause them to fall an easy prey to it. hence, probably, has arisen the fiction of the power of fascination, which has been confidently ascribed to the rattlesnake and some other serpents. on the destruction of animals. in considering the destruction of animals, we may observe that nature is continually operating: she produces, preserves for a time, and then destroys all her productions. man himself is subject to this general order; for he also, like other creatures, returns to the dust from whence he was taken. this process of nature is marked even in the vicissitudes of the seasons. spring, like the jovial, playful infancy of all living creatures, represents childhood and youth; for then plants spread forth their flowers, fishes play in the waters, birds sing, and universal nature rejoices. summer, like middle age, exhibits plants and trees full clothed in green; fruits ripen; and every thing is full of life. but autumn is comparatively gloomy; for then the leaves fall from the trees, and plants begin to wither, insects grow torpid, and many animals retire to their winter quarters. the day proceeds with steps similar to the year. in the morning every thing is fresh and playful; at noon all is energy and action; evening follows, and every thing is inert and sluggish. thus the age of man begins from the cradle; pleasing childhood succeeds; then sprightly youth; afterwards manhood, firm, severe, and intent on self-preservation; lastly, old age creeps on, debilitates, and, at length, totally destroys our tottering bodies. but we must consider the destruction of animals more at large. we have before observed, that all animals do not live on vegetables, but there are some which feed on animalcula; others on insects. nay, some there are which subsist only by rapine, and daily destroy some or other of the peaceable kind. the destruction of animals by each other, is generally in progression,--the strong prevailing against the weak. thus, the tree-louse lives on plants; the fly called musca amphidivora, lives on the tree-louse; the hornet and wasp-fly, on the musca amphidivora; the dragon-fly, on the hornet and wasp-fly; the larger spider, on the dragon-fly; small birds feed on the spider; and lastly, the hawk kind on the small birds. in like manner, the monoculus delights in putrid waters; the gnat eats the monoculus; the frog eats the gnat; the pike eats the frog; and the sea-calf eats the pike. the bat and the goat-sucker make their excursions only at night, that they may catch the moths, which at that time fly about in great quantities. the woodpecker pulls out the insects which lie hid in the trunks of trees. the swallow pursues those which fly about in the open air. the mole feeds on worms and grubs in the earth. the large fishes devour the small ones. and perhaps there is not an animal in existence, which has not an enemy to contend with. among quadrupeds, wild beasts are most remarkably pernicious and dangerous to others. but that they may not, by their cruelty, destroy a whole species, these are circumscribed within certain bounds: as to the fiercest of them, they are few in number, when compared with other animals; sometimes they fall upon and destroy each other; and it is remarked also, that they seldom live to a great age, for they are subject, from the nature of their diet, to various diseases, which bring them sooner to an end than those animals which live on vegetables. it has been asked, why has the supreme being constituted such an order in nature, that, it should seem, some animals are created only to be destroyed by others? to this it has been answered, that providence not only aimed at sustaining, but also keeping a just proportion amongst all the species, and so preventing any one of them from increasing too much, to the detriment of men and other animals. for if it be true, as it assuredly is, that the surface of the earth can support only a certain number of creatures, they must all perish, if the same number were doubled or trebled. there are many kinds of flies, which bring forth so abundantly, that they would soon fill the air, and, like clouds, intercept the light of the sun, unless they were devoured by birds, spiders, and other animals. storks and cranes free egypt from frogs, which, after the inundation of the nile, cover the whole country. falcons clear palestine from mice. bellonius, on this subject, says, "the storks come to egypt in such abundance, that the fields and meadows are quite white with them. yet the egyptians are not displeased with them, as frogs are generated in such numbers, that, did not the storks devour them, they would over-run every thing. besides, they also catch and eat serpents. between belba and gaza, the fields of palestine are often injured by mice and rats; and were these vermin not destroyed by the falcons, that come here by instinct, the inhabitants could have no harvest." the white fox is of equal advantage in the lapland alps; as he destroys the norway rat, which, by its prodigious increase, would otherwise entirely destroy vegetation in that country. it is sufficient for us to believe that providence is wise in all its works, and that nothing is made in vain. when rapacious animals do us mischief, let us not think that the creator planned the order of nature according to our private principles of economy; for the laplander has one way of living, the european husbandman another, and the hottentot differs from them both; whereas the stupendous deity is one throughout the globe; and if providence do not always calculate according to our method of reckoning, we ought to consider this affair in the same light as when different seamen wait for a fair wind, every one with respect to the port to which he is bound: these we plainly see cannot all be satisfied. we shall conclude this branch, by turning once more to man, and tracing him through his progressive stages of decay, until death puts a final period to his earthly existence. the human form has no sooner arrived at its state of perfection, than it begins to decline. the alteration is at first insensible, and often several years are elapsed before we find ourselves grown old. the news of this unwelcome change too generally comes from without; and we learn from others that we grow old, before we are willing to believe the report. when the body is come to its full height, and is extended into its just dimensions, it then also begins to receive an additional bulk, which rather loads than assists it. this is formed of fat, which, generally, at about the age of forty, covers all the muscles, and interrupts their activity. every exertion is then performed with greater labour, and the increase of size only serves as the forerunner of decay. the bones also become every day more solid. in the embryo they are almost as soft as the muscles and the flesh, but by degrees they harden, and acquire their proper vigour; but still, for the purpose of circulation, they are furnished through all their substance with their proper canals. nevertheless, these canals are of very different capacities during the different stages of life. in infancy they are capacious, and the blood flows almost as freely through the bones as through any other part of the body; in manhood their size is greatly diminished, the vessels are almost imperceptible, and the circulation is proportionably slow. but in the decline of life, the blood which flows through the bones, no longer contributing to their growth, must necessarily serve to increase their hardness. the channels which run through the human frame may be compared to those pipes that we see crusted on the inside, by the water, for a long continuance, running through them. both every day grow less and less, by the small rigid particles which are deposited within them. thus, as the vessels are by degrees diminished, the juices also, which circulate through them, are diminished in proportion; till at length, in old age, these props of the human frame are not only more solid, but more brittle. the cartilages, likewise, grow more rigid; the juices circulating through them, every day contribute to make them harder, so that those parts which in youth are elastic and pliant, in age become hard and bony, consequently the motion of the joints must become more difficult. thus, in old age, every action of the body is performed with labour, and the cartilages, formerly so supple, will now sooner break than bend. as the cartilages acquire hardness, and unfit the joints for motion, so also that mucous liquor, which is always secreted between the joints, and which serves, like oil to a hinge, to give them an easy and ready play, is now grown more scanty. it becomes thicker and more clammy, more unfit for answering the purposes of motion, and from thence, in old age every joint is stiff and awkward. at every motion this clammy liquor is heard to crack; and it is not without a great effort of the muscles, that its resistance is overcome. old persons have been known, that seldom moved a single joint without thus giving notice of the violence that was done to it. the membranes that cover the bones, joints, and the rest of the body, become, as we grow old, more dense and more dry. those which surround the bones soon cease to be ductile. the fibres, of which the muscles or flesh is composed, become every day more rigid; and while, to the touch, the body seems, as we advance in years, to grow softer, it is in reality increasing in hardness. it is the skin, and not the flesh, that we feel on such occasions. the fat, and the flabbiness of it, seem to give an appearance of softness, which the flesh itself is very far from having. none can doubt this after trying the difference between the flesh of young and old animals. the first is soft and tender, the last is hard and dry. the skin is the only part of the body that age does not harden; that stretches to every degree of tension; and we have often frightful instances of its pliancy, in many disorders which are incident to humanity. in youth, while the body is vigorous and increasing, it continues to give way to its growth. but although it thus adapts itself to our increase, its does not in the same manner conform to our decay. the skin, in youth and health, is plump, glossy, veined, and clear; but when the body begins to decline, it has not elasticity enough to shrink entirely with its diminution; it becomes dark or yellow, and hangs in wrinkles, which no cosmetic can remove. the wrinkles of the body in general proceed from this cause; but those of the face seem to proceed from another, namely, from that variety of positions into which it is put by the speech, the food, or the passions. every grimace, every passion, and every gratification of appetite, puts the visage into different forms. these are visible enough in young persons; but what at first was accidental or transitory, becomes, by habit, unalterably fixed in the visage as it grows older. hence, as we advance in age, the bones, the cartilages, the membranes, the flesh, and every fibre of the body, becomes more solid, more dry, and more brittle. every part shrinks, motion becomes more slow, the circulation of the fluids is performed with less freedom; perspiration diminishes; the secretions alter; the digestion becomes laborious; and the juices no longer serve to convey their accustomed nourishment. thus the body dies by little and little, and all its functions are diminished by degrees; life is driven from one part of the frame to another; universal rigidity prevails; and death, at last, seizes upon the remnant that is left. as the bones, the cartilages, the muscles, and all other parts of the body, are softer in women than in men, these parts must, of consequence, require a longer time to arrive at that state of hardness which occasions death. women, therefore, ought to be longer in growing old than men, and this is, generally speaking, the case. if we consult the tables which have been drawn up respecting human life, we shall find that, after a certain age, they are more long-lived than men, all other circumstances the same. thus a woman of sixty has a greater probability, than a man of the same age, of living till eighty. we shall close this chapter with an account of animal reproductions. here we discover a new field of wonders, that seems entirely to contradict the principles that we had adopted concerning the formation of organized bodies. it was long thought that animals could only be multiplied by eggs, or by young ones. but it is now found that there are some exceptions to this general rule, since certain animal bodies have been discovered, that may be divided into as many complete bodies as you please; for each part thus separated from the parent body, soon repairs what is deficient, and becomes a complete animal. it is now no longer doubtful that the polypus belongs to the class of animals, though it much resembles plants, both in form, and in its mode of propagating. the bodies of these creatures may be either cut across or longitudinally, and the pieces will become so many complete polypi. even from the skin, or least part, cut off from the body, one or more polypi will be produced; and if several pieces cut off be joined together by the extremities, they will perfectly unite, nourish each other, and become one body. this discovery has given rise to other experiments, and it has been found that polypi are not the only animals which live and grow after being cut in pieces. the earth-worm will multiply after being cut in two; to the tail there grows a head, and the two pieces then become two worms. after having been divided, they cannot be joined together again; they remain for some time in the same state, or grow rather smaller; we then see at the extremity which was cut, a little white button begin to appear, which increases and gradually lengthens. soon after, we may observe rings at first very close together, but insensibly extending on all sides; a new stomach, and other organs, are then formed. we may at any time make the following experiment with snails: cut off their heads close by the horns, and in a certain space of time the head will be reproduced. a similar circumstance takes place in crabs; if one of their claws is torn off, it will again be entirely reproduced. a very remarkable experiment was made by duhamel, on the thigh of a chicken. after the thigh-bone which had been broken was perfectly restored, and a callus completely formed, he stripped off the flesh down to the bone;--the parts were gradually reproduced, and the bone, and the circulation of the blood, again renewed. we know then that some animals may be multiplied by dividing them into pieces; and we no longer doubt that the young of certain insects may be produced in the same manner as a branch is from a tree; that, being cut in pieces, they will live again in the smallest piece; that they may be turned inside out like a glove, divided into pieces, then turned again, and yet live, eat, grow, and multiply. here a question offers itself, which perhaps no naturalist can resolve in a satisfactory manner: how does it happen that the parts thus cut off, can be again reproduced? we must suppose that germs are distributed to every part of the body; whilst in other animals they are only contained in certain parts. these germs unfold themselves when they receive proper nourishment. thus, when an animal is cut in pieces, the germ is supplied with the necessary juices, which would have been conveyed to other parts, if they had not been diverted into a different channel. the superfluous juices develop those parts which without them would have continued attached to each other. every part of the polypus and worm, contains in itself, as the bud does the rudiments of a tree, all the viscera necessary to the animal. the parts essential to life are distributed throughout the body, and the circulation is carried on even in the smallest particles. as we do not understand all the means that the author of nature makes use of to distribute life and feeling to such a number of animals, we have no reason to maintain, that the creatures of which we have been speaking, are the only ones that are exceptions to the general rule in their mode of propagating. the fecundity of nature, and the infinite wisdom of the creator, always surpass our feeble conceptions. the same hand that has formed the polypus and the worm, has shewn us that it is able to simplify the structure of animals. chap. xiii. curiosities respecting animals.--(_continued._) _the beaver, and its habitations--the mole--the frog--the toad--the rhinoceros--crocodiles and alligators--fossil crocodile--the ornithorhynchus paradoxus--the marmot, or mountain rat, of switzerland._ nature's unnumber'd family combine in one beneficent, one vast design; e'en from inanimates to breathing man,-- a heaven-conceiv'd, heaven-executed plan; onward, from those who soar or lowly creep, the wholesome equipoise through all to keep, as faithful agents in earth, sea, and air, the lower world to watch with constant care; her due proportion wisely to conserve:-- a wondrous trust, from which they never swerve. _pratt._ it would not be consistent with the plan of this work to embrace the whole natural history of the animal and vegetable kingdom. this is a book of curiosities; and it is our intention to present the reader with a sketch of the most remarkable things in the universe: our present subject, therefore, being curiosities respecting animals, we shall commence with-- the beaver.--this animal was known to the ancients for its possession of that sebaceous matter called castor, secreted by two large glands near its genitals and anus, and of which each animal has about two ounces; but they appear to have been unacquainted with its habits and economy, with that mental contrivance and practical dexterity, which in its natural state so strikingly distinguish it. beavers are found in the most northern latitudes of europe and asia, but are most abundant in north america. in the months of june and july, they assemble in large companies to the number of two hundred, on the banks of some water, and proceed to the formation of their establishment. if the water be subject to risings and fallings, they erect a dam, to preserve it at a constant level; where this level is naturally preserved, this labour is superseded. the length of this dam is occasionally eight feet. in the preparation of it, they begin with felling some very high, but not extremely thick tree, on the border of a river, which can be made to fall into the water; and, in a short time, this is effected by the united operation of many, with their fore-teeth, the branches being afterwards cleared by the same process. a multitude of smaller trees are found necessary to complete the fabric, and many of these are dragged from some distance by land, and formed into stakes; the fixing of which is a work of extreme difficulty and perseverance, some of the beavers with their teeth raising their large ends against the crossbeam, while others at the bottom dig with their fore-feet the holes in which the points are to be sunk. a series of these stakes, in several rows, is established from one bank of the river to the other, in connection with the cross-tree, and the intervals between them are filled up by vast quantities of earth, brought from a distance, and plashed with materials adapted to give it tenacity, and prevent its being carried off. the bark is formed at the bottom, of about the width of twelve feet, diminishing as it approaches the surface of the water, to two or three; being thus judiciously constructed to resist its weight and efforts by the inclined plane instead of perpendicular opposition. these preparations, of such immense magnitude and toil, being completed, they proceed to the construction of their mansions, which are raised on piles near the margin of the stream or lake, and have one opening from the land, and another by which they have instant access to the water. these buildings are usually of an orbicular form, in general about the diameter of ten feet, and comprehending frequently several stories. the foundation walls are nearly two feet in thickness, resting upon planks or stakes, which constitute also their floors. in the houses of one story only, the walls, which in all cases are plastered with extreme neatness both externally and within, after rising about two feet perpendicularly, approach each other, so as at length to constitute, in closing, a species of dome. in the application of the mortar to their habitations, the tails as well as feet of the beavers are of essential service. stone, wood, and a sandy kind of earth, are employed in their structures, which, by their compactness and strength, completely preclude injury from winds and rain. the alder, poplar, and willow, are the principal trees which they employ; and they always begin their operations on the trunk, at nearly two feet above the ground; nor do they ever desist from the process till its fall is completed. they sit instead of stand, at this labour, and while reducing the tree to the ground, derive a pleasure at once from the success of their toils, and from the gratification of their palate and appetite by the bark, which is a favourite species of food to them, as well as the young and tender parts of the wood itself. for their support in winter, ample stores are laid up near each separate cabin; and occasionally to give variety and luxury to their repasts during a long season, in which their stores must have become dry and nearly tasteless, they will make excursions into the neighbouring woods for fresh supplies. depredations by the tenants of one cabin on the magazines of another are unknown, and the strictest notions of property and honesty are universal. some of their habitations will contain six only, others twelve, and some even twenty or thirty inhabitants; and the whole village or township contains in general about twelve or fourteen habitations. strangers are not permitted to intrude on the vicinity; but, amidst the different members of the society itself, there appears to prevail that attachment and that friendship which are the natural result of mutual co-operation, and of active and successful struggles against difficulty. the approach of danger is announced by the violent striking of their tails against the surface of the water, which extends the alarm to a great distance; and, while some throw themselves for security into the water, others retire within the precincts of their cabins, where they are safe from every enemy but man. the neatness as well as the security of their dwellings is remarkable, the floors being strewed over with box and fir, and displaying the most admirable cleanness and order. their general position is that of sitting, the upper part of the body, with the head, being considerably raised, while the lower touches, and is somewhat indeed immersed in, the water. this element is not only indispensable to them in the same way as to other quadrupeds, but they carefully preserve access to it even when the ice is of very considerable depth, for the purpose of regaling themselves by excursions to a great extent under the frozen surface. the most general method of taking them is by attacking their cabins during these rambles, and watching their approach to a hole dug in the ice at a small distance, to which they are obliged, after a certain time, to resort for respiration. if a man, who had never been informed of the industry of beavers and their manner of building, were shewn the edifices that they construct, he would suppose them to be the work of most eminent architects. every thing is wonderful in the labours of these amphibious animals; the regular plan, the size, the solidity, and the admirable art of these buildings, must fill every attentive observer with astonishment. the works of beavers have a great resemblance to those of men; and upon their first appearance we may imagine them to be produced by rational and thinking beings; but when we examine them nearer, we shall find that in all their proceedings, these animals do not act upon the principles of reason, but by an instinct which is implanted in them by nature. if reason guided their labours, we should naturally conclude that the buildings which they now construct would be very different from those they formerly made, and that they would gradually advance towards perfection. but we find that they never vary in the least from the rules of their forefathers, never deviate from the circle prescribed to them by nature, and the beavers of to-day build exactly after the same plan as those which lived before the deluge. but they are not the less worthy of our admiration. in these sagacious creatures we have an example of the great diversity there is in the instinct of animals--how superior is the instinct of the beaver to that of the sheep! the flesh of the anterior part of the bodies of beavers resembles that of land animals in substance and flavour; while that of the lower possesses the taste, and smell, and lightness of fish. the sexual union among these animals is connected with considerable individual choice, sentiment, and constancy.--every couple pass together the autumn and winter, with the most perfect comfort and affection. about the close of winter, the females, after a gestation of four months, produce, in general, each two or three young, and soon after this period they are quitted by the males, who ramble into the country to enjoy the return of spring; occasionally returning to their cabins, but no longer dwelling in them. when the females have reared their young, which happens in the course of a few weeks, to a state in which they can follow their dams, these also quit their winter residence, and resort to the woods, to enjoy the opening bloom and renovated supplies of nature. if their habitations on the water should be impaired by floods, or winds, or enemies, the beavers assemble with great rapidity to repair the damage. if no alarm of this nature occurs, the summer is principally spent by them in the woods, and on the advance of autumn they assemble in the scene of their former labours and friendships, and prepare with assiduity for the confinement and rigours of approaching winter. when taken young, the beaver may be tamed without difficulty; but it exhibits few or no indications of superior intelligence. some beavers are averse to that association which so strikingly characterizes these animals in general, and satisfy themselves with digging holes in the banks of rivers, instead of erecting elaborate habitations. the fur of these is comparatively of little value. another subject of animal curiosity is, the mole.--this animal is about six inches in length, without the tail. its body is large and cylindrical, and its snout strong and cartilaginous. its skin is of extraordinary thickness, and covered with a fur, short, but yielding to that of no other animal in fineness. it hears with particular acuteness, and, notwithstanding the popular opinion to the contrary, possesses eyes, which it is stated to be able to withdraw or project at pleasure. it lives partly on the roots of vegetables, but principally on animal food, such as worms and insects, and is extremely voracious and fierce. shaw relates, from sir thomas brown, that a mole, a toad, and a serpent, have been repeatedly inclosed in a large glass vase, and that the mole has not only killed the others, but has devoured a very considerable part of them. it abounds in soft ground, in which it can dig with ease, and which furnishes it with a great supply of food. it forms its subterraneous apartments with great facility by its snout and feet, and with a very judicious reference to escape and comfort. it produces four or five young in the spring, in a nest a little beneath the surface, composed of moss and herbage. it is an animal injurious to the grounds of the farmer, by throwing up innumerable hills of mould, in the construction of its habitation, or the pursuit of its food, and many persons obtain their subsistence from the premiums, which are, on this account, given for their destruction. moles can swim with considerable dexterity, and are thus furnished with the means of escape in sudden inundations, to which they are frequently exposed. in ireland, the mole is unknown. the common frog.--this is an animal so well known, that it needs no description: but some of its properties are very singular. its spring, or power of taking large leaps, is remarkably great, and it is the best swimmer of all four-footed animals. its parts are finely adapted for those ends, the fore members of the body being very lightly made, the hind legs and thighs very long, and furnished with very strong muscles. while in a tadpole state, it is entirely a water animal, for in this element the spawn is cast. as soon as frogs are released from their tadpole state, they immediately take to land; and if the weather has been hot, and there fall any refreshing showers, the ground for a considerable space is perfectly blackened by myriads of these animalcules, seeking for some secure lurking places. some persons not taking time to examine into this phenomenon, imagined them to have been generated in the clouds, and showered on the earth: but had they, like mr. derham, traced them to the next pool, they would have found a better solution of the difficulty. as frogs adhere closely to the backs of their own species, so we know they will do the same by fish. that they will injure, if not entirely kill carp, is a fact indisputable, from the following relation. not many years ago, on fishing a pond belonging to mr. pitt, of encomb, dorsetshire, great numbers of the carp were found, each with a frog mounted on it, the hind legs clinging to the back, and the fore legs fixed to the corner of each eye of the fish, which were thin and greatly wasted, teased by carrying so disagreeable a load. the croaking of frogs is well known; and from that, in fenny countries, they are distinguished by ludicrous titles,--thus they are styled _dutch nightingales_, and _boston waites_. yet there is a time of the year when they become mute, neither croaking nor opening their mouths for a whole month; this happens in the hot season, and that is in many places known to the country people by the name of the paddock-moon. it is said, that during that period their mouths are so closed, that no force (without killing the animal) will be capable of opening them. these, as well as other reptiles, feed but a small space of the year. their food is flies, insects, and snails. during winter, frogs and toads remain in a torpid state; the last of which will dig into the earth, and cover themselves with almost the same agility as the mole. not less remarkable is the common toad.--this is the most deformed and hideous of all animals. the body is broad, the back flat, and covered with a pimply dusky hide; the belly large, swagging, and swelling out; the legs short, and its pace laboured and crawling; its retreat gloomy and filthy: in short, its general appearance is such as to strike one with disgust and horror. yet it is said that its eyes are fine. Ælian and other ancient writers tell many ridiculous fables of the poison of the toad. this animal was believed by some old writers to have a stone in its head fraught with great virtues, medical and magical: it was distinguished by the term of, the reptile, and called the toad-stone, bufonites, krottenstern, and other names, but all its fancied powers vanished on the discovery of its being nothing but the fossil tooth of the sea-wolf, or of some other flat-toothed fish, not unfrequent in our island, as well as several other countries. but these fables have been long exploded. and as to the notion of its being a poisonous animal, it is probable that its excessive deformity, joined to the faculty it has of emitting a juice from its pimples, and a dusky liquid from its hind parts, is the foundation of the report. that it has any noxious qualities, there seem to be no proofs in the smallest degree satisfactory, though we have heard many strange relations on that point. on the contrary, many have taken them in their naked hands, and held them long without receiving the least injury. it is also well known that quacks have eaten them, and have squeezed their juices into a glass, and drank them with impunity. they are also a common food to many animals; to buzzards, owls, norfolk plovers, ducks, and snakes, which would not touch them, were they in any degree noxious. the fullest information concerning the nature and qualities of this animal is contained in letters from mr. arscott and mr. pitfield to dr. milles, communicated to mr. pennant; concerning a toad that lived above thirty-six years with them, was completely tame, and became so great a favourite that most of the ladies in the neighbourhood got the better of their prejudices so far as to be anxious to see it fed. its food was insects, such as millepedes, spiders, ants, flies, &c. but it was particularly fond of flesh worms, which were bred on purpose for it. it never appeared in winter, but regularly made its appearance in the spring, when the warm weather commenced, climbing up a few steps, and waiting to be taken up, carried into the house, and fed upon a table. before it attacked the insects, it fixed its eyes on them, and remained motionless for a quarter of a minute, when it attacked them by an instantaneous motion of its tongue, darted on the insect with such rapidity that the eye could not follow it, whereby the insect stuck to the tip of its tongue, and was instantly conveyed to its mouth. this favourite toad at last lost its life, in consequence of being attacked by a tame raven, which picked out one of its eyes; and although the toad was rescued, and lived a year longer, it never recovered its health or spirit. it never showed any signs of rage, being never provoked. our next subject is an animal of great bulk, the rhinoceros.--this quadruped is exceeded in size only by the elephant. its usual length, not including the tail, is twelve feet, and the circumference of its body nearly the same. its nose is armed with a horny substance, projecting, in the full-grown animal, nearly three feet, and is a weapon of defence, which almost secures it from every attack. even the tiger, with all his ferocity, is but very rarely daring enough to assail the rhinoceros. its upper lip is of considerable length and pliability, acting like a species of snout, grasping the shoots of trees and various substances, and conveying them to the mouth; and it is capable of extension and contraction at the animal's convenience. the skin is, in some parts, so thick and hard as scarcely to be penetrable by the sharpest sabre, or even by a musket-ball. these animals are found in bengal, siam, china, and in several countries of africa; but are far less numerous than the elephant, and of sequestered solitary habits. the female produces only one at a birth; and at the age of two years the horn is only an inch long, and at six only of the length of nine inches. the rhinoceros is not ferocious, unless provoked, when he exhibits paroxysms of rage and madness, and is highly dangerous to those who encounter him. he runs with great swiftness, and rushes through brakes and woods with an energy to which every thing yields. he is generally, however, quiet and inoffensive. its food consists entirely of vegetables, the tender branches of trees, and succulent herbage, of which it will devour immense quantities. it delights in retired and cool situations, near lakes and streams, and appears to derive one of the highest satisfactions from the practice of rolling and wallowing in mud,--in this respect bearing a striking resemblance to the hog. [illustration: rhinoceros.--page . many varieties of this formidable animal are found in asia and africa. the above figure represents the asiatic variety, which has but one horn.] [illustration: rhinoceros.--page . of the african rhinoceros, mr. cumming, the famous hunter, describes several kinds. the above figure represents the two-horned kind, which is found nowhere but in africa. mr. cumming killed many of this kind.] this animal was exhibited, by augustus, to the romans, and is supposed to be the unicorn of the scripture, as it possesses the properties ascribed to that animal, of magnitude, strength, and swiftness, in addition to that peculiarity of a single horn, which may be considered as establishing their identity. this animal can distinguish, by its sight, only what is directly before it, and always, when pursued, takes the course immediately before it, almost without the slightest deviation from a right line, removing every impediment. its sense of smelling is very acute, and also of hearing, and, on both these accounts, the hunters approach him against the wind. in general, they watch his lying down to sleep, when, advancing with the greatest circumspection, they discharge their muskets into his belly. the flesh is eaten both in africa and india. we now proceed to the crocodile.--this animal is a native both of africa and asia, but is most frequently found in the former, inhabiting its vast rivers, and particularly the niger and the nile. it has occasionally been seen of the length of even thirty feet, and instances of its attaining that of twenty are by no means uncommon. it principally subsists on fish, but such is its voracity, that it seizes almost every thing that comes within its reach. the upper part of its body is covered with a species of armour, so thick and firm, as to be scarcely penetrable with a musket-ball; and the whole body has the appearance of an elaborate covering of carved work. it is an oviparous animal, and its eggs scarcely exceed in size those of a goose. these eggs are regarded as luxuries by the natives of some countries of africa, who will also with great relish partake of the flesh of the crocodile itself. when young, the small size and weak state of the crocodile prevent its being injurious to any animal of considerable bulk or strength; and those which have been brought living to england have by no means indicated that ferocious and devouring character which they have been generally described to possess; a circumstance probably owing to the change of climate, and the reducing effect of confinement. in its native climate its power and propensity to destruction are unquestionably great, and excite in the inhabitants of the territories near its haunts a high degree of terror. it lies in wait near the banks of rivers, and, with a sudden spring, seizes any animal that approaches within its reach, swallowing it with an instantaneous effort, and then rushing back into its watery recesses, till renewed appetite stimulates the repetition of its insidious exertions. these animals were occasionally exhibited by the romans among their collections of the natural wonders of the provinces; and scaurus and augustus are both recorded to have entertained the people with a sight of these new and formidable objects. it is reported by some travellers, that crocodiles are capable of being tamed, and are actually kept in a condition of harmless domestication at the grounds and artificial lakes of some african princes, chiefly as appendages of royal splendour and magnificence. a single negro will often attack a crocodile, and by spearing it between the scales of the belly, where it is easily penetrable, secure its destruction. in some regions these animals are hunted by dogs, which, however, are carefully disciplined to the exercise, and are armed with collars of iron spikes. aristotle appears to have been the first who asserted that the under jaw of the crocodile was immoveable, and from him it was transmitted and believed for a long succession of ages. but the motion of the jaw in this animal is similar to that of all other quadrupeds. the ancients also thought it destitute of a tongue; an idea equally false. the tongue, however, is more fixed in this than in other animals, to the sides of its mouth, and less capable, therefore, of being protruded.--the eggs of the crocodile are deposited in the mud or sand of the banks of rivers, and immediately on being hatched, the young move towards the water; in their passage to which, however, vast numbers are intercepted by ichneumons and birds, which watch their progress. the alligator, or american crocodile, has a vast mouth, furnished with sharp teeth; from the back to the end of the tail, it is serrated; its skin is tough and brown, and covered on the sides with tubercles. this dreadful species, which grows to the length of or feet, is found in the warmer parts of north america, and is most numerous, fierce, and ravenous, towards the south. yet, in carolina, it never devours the human species, but on the contrary, shuns mankind; it, however, kills dogs as they swim the rivers, and hogs which feed in the swamps. it is often seen floating like a log of wood on the surface of the water, and is mistaken for such by dogs and other animals, which it seizes, draws under water, and devours. like the wolf, when pressed by long hunger, it will swallow mud, and even stones, and pieces of wood. they often get into the wears in pursuit of fish, and do much mischief by tearing them to pieces. they are torpid during winter, in carolina, and retire into their dens, which they form by burrowing far under ground. they make the entrance under water, and work upwards. in spring they quit their retreats, and resort to the rivers, and chiefly seek their prey near the mouth, where the water is brackish. they roar and make a dreadful noise at first leaving their dens, and against bad weather. the female lays a vast number of eggs in the sand, near the banks of lakes and rivers, and leaves them to be hatched by the sun: multitudes are destroyed as soon as hatched, either by their own species, or by fish of prey. in south america, the carrion vulture is the instrument of providence to destroy multitudes; and it thus prevents the country from being rendered uninhabitable. the following account of eastern alligators is extracted from forbes's oriental memoirs. the eastern districts of travancore, intersected by lakes and rivers, abound with amphibious animals, especially alligators and seals. there seems to be no essential difference between the alligator of india, and the egyptian crocodile; lacerta alligator, and lacertus crocodilus. naturalists seem to confine the alligator to south america, the crocodile to asia and africa; but in india the lacerta crocodilus, generally called the alligator, is from five to twenty feet long, shaped like the genus to which he belongs; the back is covered with impenetrable scales; the legs short, with five spreading toes on the fore feet, and four in a straight line on the hinder, armed with claws: the alligator moves slowly, its whole formation being calculated for strength, the back bone firmly jointed, and the tail a most formidable weapon: in the river, he eagerly springs on the wretch unfortunately bathing within his reach, and either knocks him down with his tail, or opens his wide mouth for his destruction, armed with numerous sharp teeth of various lengths; by which, like the shark, he sometimes severs the human body at a single bite: the annals of the nile and ganges, although wonderful, are not fabulous. the upper jaw only of the alligator was thought to be moveable; but that is now completely disproved: the eyes are of a dull green, with a brilliant pupil, covered by a transparent pellicle, moveable as in birds: from the heads of those of large size, musk is frequently extracted. it may not be improper in this place to introduce to the reader's notice, one of the greatest curiosities of its kind, which late ages have produced; that is, a fossil crocodile. this is the skeleton of a large crocodile, almost entire, found at a great depth under ground, bedded in stone. this was in the possession of linkius, who wrote many pieces in natural history, and particularly an accurate description of this curious fossil. it was found in the side of a large mountain in the midland part of germany, and in a stratum of black fossil stone, somewhat like our common slate, but of a coarser texture, the same with that in which the fossil fishes in many parts of the world are found. this skeleton had the back and ribs very plain, and was of a much deeper black than the rest of the stone; as is also the case with the fossil fishes, which are preserved in this manner. the part of the stone where the head lay was not found; this being broken off just at the shoulders, but that irregularly; so that in one place a part of the back of the head was visible in its natural form. the two shoulder-bones were very fair, and three of the feet were well preserved: the legs were of their natural shape and size; and the feet preserved even to the extremities of the five toes of each. our next subject is named the ornithorhynchus paradoxus, and is a very singular quadruped, remarkable for its structure. the head is similar to that of a duck, which would lead to the supposition that it belonged to an aquatic bird. both jaws are as broad and low as those in a duck, and the calvaria has no traces of a suture, as is generally the case in full-grown birds. in the cavity of the skull there is a considerably bony falx, which is situated along the middle of the os frontis, and the ossa bregmatis. the mandible of this animal consists of a beak, the under part of which has its margin indented as in ducks, and of the proper instrument for chewing that is situated behind within the cheeks. dr. shaw says it has no teeth, though mr. home found, in a specimen examined by him, two small and flat molar teeth on each side of the jaws. the fore part of this mandible, or beak, is covered and bordered with a coriaceous skin, in which three parts are to be distinguished, within the proper integument of the beak. into these three parts of that membrane numerous nerves are distributed, intended, probably, as the organs of feeling, a sense which, besides men, few mammalia enjoy; that is, few animals possess the faculty of distinguishing the form of external objects and their qualities, by organs destined for that purpose,--a property very different from the common feeling, by which every animal is able to perceive the temperature and presence of sensible objects, but without being informed, by the touch, of their peculiar qualities. thus the skin in the wings of the bat, and its ear, are supposed the organs of common feeling, by means of which they are enabled to flutter, after being blinded, without flying against any thing. the whiskers of many animals appear likewise to serve the same purpose of informing them of the presence of sensible bodies, and hence they have been compared to the antennæ of insects. but to return to the ornithorhynchus: it is an animal which from the similarity of its abode, and the manner of searching for food, agrees much with the duck, on which account it has been provided with an organ for touching, viz. with the integument of the beak, richly endowed with nerves. this instance of analogy in the structure of a singular organ of sense in two species of animals, from classes quite different, is a most curious circumstance in comparative physiology, and hence the ornithorhynchus is looked upon as one of the most remarkable phenomena in zoology. we shall close this chapter with an account of the marmot, or mountain-rat of switzerland.--this rat is almost the size of a leveret, and resembles a common rat very much in appearance. these little creatures live together in societies, and have different dwellings for winter and summer; their fore paws are remarkably strong, which qualifies them for scooping out their burrows. the same form is always preserved in the construction of their dwellings, which consist of a long passage, just big enough to let the marmot enter, leading to two apartments; the largest of these serves the whole family for a chamber, where they lie close together, in a torpid state, rolled up like hedge-hogs, during the cold season, as dormice do in england. when they betake themselves to their winter quarters, after having lined their chamber with soft hay, they carefully stop up the entrance with a sort of cement, which they make of earth, mixed with stones and dry grass. before they collect the grass, either for food, or for their winter habitations, they form themselves into a circle, sitting on their hind legs, looking with a cautious eye on every side. if the least thing stirs that alarms them, the first which perceives it makes a particular kind of cry, which its next neighbour repeats, and so on till it goes round, when they hastily make their escape. they are often seen upon the slopes of the alps, where grass is in plenty; but they love a warm sheltered situation, and change their residence according to the season. chap. xiv. curiosities respecting animals.--(_continued._) _the elephant--fossil elephant--the chameleon--the common tortoise--orang-outang--the unicorn--the common seal--the ursine seal--american natural history._ let no presuming impious railer tax creative wisdom, as if aught was form'd in vain, or not for admirable ends. _thomson._ the elephant.--this is a very wonderful animal; and has, both in ancient and modern times, been duly estimated in the eastern world. his virtues are thus enumerated by buffon:--to form a just estimation of the elephant, he must be allowed to possess the sagacity of the beaver, the address of the ape, the sentiment of the dog, together with the peculiar advantages of strength, largeness, and long duration of life. neither should we overlook his arms or tusks, which enable him to transfix and conquer the lion! we should also consider that the earth shakes under his feet; that with his trunk, as with a hand, he tears up trees; that by a push of his body he makes a breach in a wall; that, though tremendous in strength, he is rendered still more invincible by his enormous mass, and by the thickness of his skin; that he can carry on his back an armed tower, filled with many warriors; that he works machines, and carries burdens, which six horses are unable to move; that to this prodigious strength he adds courage, prudence, coolness, and punctual obedience; that he preserves moderation even in his most violent passions; that he is constant and impetuous in love; that when in anger, he mistakes not his friends; that he never attacks any but those who offend him; that he remembers favours as long as injuries; that having no appetite for flesh, he feeds on vegetables alone, and is born an enemy to no living creature; and, in fine, that he is universally beloved, because all animals respect, and none have any reason to fear him! the following account is extracted from forbes's oriental memoirs, a highly interesting work. "the largest elephants are from ten to eleven feet in height, some are said to exceed it; the average is eight or nine feet. they are fifty or sixty years before they arrive at their full growth; the female goes with young eighteen months, and seldom produces more than one at a birth, which she suckles until it is five years old: its natural life is about one hundred and twenty years. the indians are remarkably fond of these animals, especially when they have been long in their service. i have seen an elephant valued at twenty thousand rupees: the common price of a docile well-trained elephant is five or six thousand; and in the countries where they are indigenous, the company contract for them at five hundred rupees each, when they must be seven feet high at the shoulders. the mode of catching and training the wild elephants is now well known; their price increases with their merit during the course of education. some, for their extraordinary qualities, become in a manner invaluable; when these are purchased, no compensation induces a wealthy owner to part with them. "the skin of the elephant is generally of a dark grey, sometimes almost black; the face frequently painted with a variety of colours; and the abundance and splendour of his trappings add much to his consequence. the mogul princes allowed five men and a boy to each elephant: the chief of them, called the mahawut, rode upon his neck, to guide him; another sat upon his rump, and assisted in battle; the rest supplied him with food and water, and performed the necessary services. elephants bred to war, and well disciplined, will stand firm against a volley of musketry, and never give way unless severely wounded. i have seen one of those animals, with upwards of thirty bullets in the fleshy parts of his body, perfectly recovered from his wounds. all are not equally docile; and when an enraged elephant retreats from battle, nothing can withstand his fury; the driver having no longer a command, friends and foes are involved in undistinguished ruin." the elephants in the army of antiochus were provoked to fight by shewing them the blood of grapes and mulberries. the history of the maccabees informs us, that "to every elephant they appointed a thousand men, armed with coats of mail, and five hundred horsemen of the best: these were ready at every occasion; wherever the beast was, and whithersoever he went, they went also; and upon the elephant were strong towers of wood, filled with armed men, besides the indian that ruled them." "elephants in peace and war know their duty, and are more obedient to the word of command than many rational beings. it is said they can travel, on an emergency, two hundred miles in forty-eight hours; but will hold out for a month at the rate of forty or fifty miles a day, with cheerfulness and alacrity. i performed many long journeys upon an elephant given by ragobah to colonel keating. nothing could exceed the sagacity, docility, and affection, of this noble quadruped: if i stopped to enjoy a prospect, he remained immoveable until my sketch was finished; if i wished for ripe mangoes growing out of the common reach, he selected the most fruitful branch, and breaking it off with his trunk, offered it to the driver for the company in the houdah, accepting of any part given to himself with a respectful salem, by raising his trunk three times above his head, in the manner of the oriental obeisance, and as often did he express his thanks by a murmuring noise. when a bough obstructed the houdah, he twisted his trunk around it, and, though of considerable magnitude, broke it off with ease, and often gathered a leafy branch, either to keep off the flies, or as a fan to agitate the air around him, by waving it with his trunk; he generally paid a visit at the tent door during breakfast, to procure sugar-candy or fruit, and be cheered by the encomiums and caresses he deservedly met with; no spaniel could be more innocent, playful, or fonder of those who noticed him, than this docile animal, that on particular occasions appeared conscious of his exaltation above the brute creation." the following account of the docility of the elephant, from ancient writers, will interest the reader. "they have been taught to adore the king, says aristotle, to dance, to throw stones at a mark, to cast up stones at a mark, to catch them again in their fall, and to walk upon ropes: galba was the first, says suetonius, that exhibited this at rome. and these things they learned with such care, that they have often been found practising in the night what had been taught them in the day. they write too, says pliny, speaking of one which wrote in the greek tongue, _ipse ego hæc scripsi et spolia lettica dicavi_. i myself saw, says Ælian, one of them writing roman letters on a tablet with his trunk; and the letters he made were not ragged, but straight and even; and his eyes were fixed upon the tablet, as one that was serious. and in the plays that germanicus cæsar shewed at rome, there were twelve elephants, six males and six females; these were clothed as men and women. at the command of their keeper, they danced, and performed all the gestures of a mimic. at last they were brought where they were to feast; a table was covered with all kinds of dainties, and beds were covered with purple carpets, after the manner of the roman eating, for them to lie upon. upon these they lay down, and, at the signal given, they reached out their trunks to the table, and with great modesty fell to eating, and ate and drank as civil men would do." this seems to be the most proper place for introducing an account of the mammoth. the mammoth is a fossil elephant; a most remarkable one of which was found in the ice, at the mouth of the river lena, in siberia. the following account is extracted from an abridgment of a paper by dr. tilesius, from the journal of science. "in the year , when the russian expedition under krusenstern returned for the third time to kamschatka, patagof, master of a russian ship, bringing victualling stores from okotsk, related that he had lately seen a mammoth elephant, dug up on the shores of the frozen ocean, clothed with a hairy skin; and shewed, in confirmation of the fact, some hair three or four inches long, of a reddish black colour, a little thicker than horse hair, which he had taken from the skin of the animal: this he gave to me, says dr. tilesius, and i sent it to professor blumembach. no further knowledge has been obtained on this subject, and unfortunately patagof was not employed by any of our societies to return to siberia. thus was this curious fact consigned to oblivion; nor should we now possess any information respecting the carcase of the mammoth, if the rumour of its discovery had not reached mr. adams, a man of great ardour in pursuit of science, who undertook the labour of a journey to these frozen regions, and of preparing these gigantic remains, and transporting them to a great distance. "the preservation of the flesh of the mammoth through a long series of ages, is not to be wondered at, when we recollect the constant cold and frost of the climate in which it was found. it is a common practice to preserve meat and berries throughout the winter, by freezing them, and to send fish, and all other provisions, annually at that period, from the most remote of the northern provinces, to st. petersburg, and other parts of the empire. "i was told, at jakutsk, says mr. adams, by the merchant papoff, chief of the body of merchants in that town, that there had been discovered on the shores of the frozen ocean, near the mouth of the river lena, an animal of extraordinary magnitude. the flesh, the skin, and the hair, were in a state of preservation, and it was supposed that the fossil production known under the name of mammoth's horns, must have belonged to an animal of this species. the news of this interesting discovery determined me to hasten the journey which i had in contemplation, for the purpose of visiting the shores of the lena, as far as the frozen ocean; wishing to preserve these precious remains, which might otherwise be lost. "the third day of our journey we pitched our tents, at some hundred paces distant from the mammoth, on a hill, called kembisaga-shæta. schumachof, a tungusian chief, related to me, nearly in these terms, the history of the discovery of the mammoth. "the tungusians, who are a wandering people, remain but a little time in the same place. those who live in the forests, often take ten years or more, to travel over the vast regions between the mountains: during this time, they do not once return to their habitations. each family lives isolated, and knows no other society. if, during the course of several years, two friends meet by chance, they then communicate to each other their adventures, their different successes in hunting, and the number of skins they have obtained. after having passed some days together, and consumed the few provisions they had, they separate cheerfully, carrying each other's compliments to their acquaintance, and trusting to providence for another meeting. the tungusians inhabiting the coast differ from the former, in having more regular and fixed habitations, and in collecting together at certain seasons for fishing and hunting. during winter, they inhabit cottages, built side by side, so that they form villages. it is to one of these annual trips that we owe the discovery of the mammoth. "towards the end of the month of august, when the fishing season in the lena is over, schumachof generally goes with his brothers to the peninsula of tamut, where they employ themselves in hunting, and where the fresh fish of the sea offer them a wholesome and agreeable food. in , he had constructed for his wife some cabins on the banks of the lake oncoul, and had embarked, to seek along the coasts for mammoth horns. one day, he perceived along the blocks of ice a shapeless mass, not at all resembling the large pieces of floating wood which are commonly found there. to observe it nearer, he landed, climbed up a rock, and examined this new object on all sides, but without being able to discover what it was. "the following year, , he found the carcase of a walrus, (_trichecus rosmarus_.) he perceived, at the same time, that the mass he had before seen was more disengaged from the blocks of ice, and had two projecting parts, but was still unable to make out its nature. towards the end of the following summer, , the entire side of the animal, and one of his tusks, were quite free from the ice. on his return to the borders of the lake oncoul, he communicated this extraordinary discovery to his wife and some of his friends; but the way in which they considered the matter filled him with grief. the old men related, on this occasion, their having heard their fathers say, that a similar monster had been formerly seen in the same peninsula, and that all the family of the discoverer had died soon afterwards. the mammoth was therefore considered as an augury of future calamity, and the tungusian chief was so alarmed, that he fell seriously ill; but becoming convalescent, his first idea was the profit which he might obtain by selling the tusks of the animal, which were of extraordinary size and beauty. he ordered that the place where the mammoth was found should be carefully concealed, and that strangers should, under different pretexts, be diverted from it, at the same time charging trust-worthy people to watch that the treasure was not carried off. "but the summer of , which was less warm and more windy than common, caused the mammoth to remain buried in the ice, which had scarcely melted at all. at length, towards the end of the fifth year, , the ardent wishes of schumachof were happily accomplished; for the part of the ice between the earth and the mammoth having melted more rapidly than the rest, the plane of its support became inclined, and this enormous mass fell, by its own weight, on a bank of sand. of this, two tungusians, who accompanied me, were witnesses. "in the month of march, , schumachof came to his mammoth, and having cut off his horns (or tusks) he exchanged them with the merchant bultunof, for goods of the value of fifty rubles. "two years afterwards, or the seventh after the discovery of the mammoth, i fortunately traversed these distant and desert regions, and i congratulate myself in being able to prove a fact which appears so improbable. i found the mammoth still in the same place, but altogether mutilated. the prejudices being dissipated, because the tungusian chief had recovered his health, there was no obstacle to prevent approach to the carcase of the mammoth; the proprietor was content with his profit from the tusks, and the jakutski of the neighbourhood seized upon the flesh, with which they fed their dogs during the scarcity. wild beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverenes, and foxes, also fed upon it, and the traces of their footsteps were seen around. the skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, remained whole, with the exception of one fore leg. the head was covered with a dry skin; one of the ears, well preserved, was furnished with a tuft of hairs. all these parts have necessarily been injured in transporting them a distance of , wersts ( , miles:) yet the eyes have been preserved, and the pupil of the left eye can still be distinguished. the point of the lower lip had been gnawed; and the upper one having been destroyed, the teeth could be perceived. the brain was still in the cranium, but appeared dried up. "the parts least injured are one fore foot and one hind foot; they are covered with skin, and have still the sole attached. according to the assertion of the tungusian chief, the animal was so fat and well fed, that its belly hung down below the joints of the knees. "this mammoth was a male, with a long mane on the neck, but without tail or proboscis.[ ] the skin, of which i possess three-fourths, is of a dark grey colour, covered with a reddish wool, and black hairs. the dampness of the spot where the animal had lain so long, had in some degree destroyed the hair. the entire carcase, of which i collected the bones on the spot, is four archines ( ft. in.) high, and seven archines ( ft. in.) long, from the point of the nose to the end of the tail, without including the tusks, which are a toise and a half[ ] in length; the two together weighed lbs. avoirdupois; the head alone, without the tusks, weighs poods and a half, lbs. avoirdupois. "the principal object of my care was to separate the bones, to arrange them, and put them up safely, which was done with particular attention. i had the satisfaction to find the other scapula, which had remained not far off. i next detached the preserved parts. the skin was of such extraordinary weight, that ten persons found great difficulty in transporting it to the shore. after this, i dug the ground in different places, to ascertain whether any of its bones were buried, but principally to collect all the hairs,[ ] which the white bears had trod into the ground, while devouring the flesh. although this was difficult, for the want of proper instruments, i succeeded in collecting more than a pood ( pounds) of hair in a few days the work was completed, and i found myself in possession of a treasure which amply recompensed me for the fatigues and dangers of the journey, and the considerable expenses of the enterprise. "the place where i found the mammoth is about sixty paces distant from the shore, and nearly paces from the escarpment of the ice from which it had fallen. this escarpment occupies exactly the middle between the two points of the peninsula, and is three wersts long (two miles), and in the place where the mammoth was found, this rock has a perpendicular elevation of or toises. its substance is a clear pure ice; it inclines towards the sea; its top is covered with a layer of moss and friable earth, half an archine ( inches) in thickness. during the heat of the month of july a part of this crust is melted, but the rest remains frozen. curiosity induced me to ascend two other hills at some distance from the sea; they were of the same substance, and less covered with moss. in various places were seen enormous pieces of wood, of all the kinds produced in siberia; and also mammoths' horns, in great numbers, appeared between the hollows of the rocks; they all were of astonishing freshness. "how all these things could become collected there, is a question as curious as it is difficult to resolve. the inhabitants of the coast call this kind of wood adamschina, and distinguish it from the floating pieces of wood which are brought down by the large rivers to the ocean, and collect in masses on the shores of the frozen sea. the latter are called noachina. i have seen, when the ice melts, large lumps of earth detached from the hills, mix with the water, and form thick muddy torrents, which roll slowly towards the sea. this earth forms wedges, which fill up the spaces between the blocks of ice. "the escarpment of ice was to toises high; and, according to the report of the tungusians, the animal was, when they first saw it, seven toises below the surface of the ice, &c. "on arriving with the mammoth at bonchaya, our first care was to separate the remaining flesh and ligaments from the bones, which were then packed up. when i arrived at jakutsk, i had the good fortune to re-purchase the tusks, and from thence expedited the whole to st. petersburg. "the skeleton is now put up in the museum of the academy, and the skin still remains attached to the head and feet. the mammoth is described by m. cuvier as a different species from either of the two elephants living at the present day, the african or the indian. it is distinguished from them by the teeth, and by the size of the tusks, which are from ten to fifteen feet long, much curved, and have a spiral turn outwards. the alveali of the tusks are also larger, and are protruded farther. the neck is shorter, the spinal processes larger, all the bones of the skeleton are stronger, and the scabrous surfaces for the insertion of the muscles more prominent, than in the other species. the skin being covered with thick hair, induces m. cuvier to consider that it was the inhabitant of a cold region. the form of the head is also different from that of the living species, as well as the arrangement of the lines of the enamel of the teeth." the mammoth more nearly resembles the indian than the african species of elephant. a part of the skin, and some of the hair of this animal, was sent by mr. adams to the late sir joseph banks, who presented them to the museum of the royal college of surgeons. from forbes's work we extract the following particulars respecting the chameleon. the greatest curiosity in the east, says forbes, is the chameleon, found in every thicket. i kept one for several weeks, of which, as it differed in many respects from those described in arabia, and other places, i shall mention a few particulars. the chameleon of the concan, including the tail, is about nine inches long; the body only half that length, varying in circumference, as it is more or less inflated; the head, like that of a fish, is immoveably fixed to the shoulders; but every inconvenience is removed by the structure of its eyes, which, like spheres rolling on an invisible axis, are placed in deep cavities, projecting from the head; through a small perforation in the exterior convexity, appears a bright pupil, surrounded with a yellow iris, which, by the singular formation and motion of the eye, enables the animal to see what passes before, behind, or on either side; and it can give one eye all these motions, while the other remains perfectly still; a hard rising protects these delicate organs, another extends from the forehead to the nostrils: the mouth is large, and furnished with teeth, with a tongue half the length of the body, and hollow like an elephant's trunk; it darts nimbly at flies and other insects, which it seems to prefer to the aërial food generally supposed to be its sustenance. the legs are longer than usual in the licerta genus; on the fore feet are three toes nearest the body, and two without; the hinder exactly the reverse; with these claws it clings fast to the branches, to which it sometimes entwines itself by the tail, and remains suspended; the skin is granulated like shagreen, except a range of hard excrescences, or denticulations, on the ridge of the back, which are always of the same colour as the body; whereas a row of similar projections beneath continue perfectly white, notwithstanding any metamorphosis of the animal. the general colour of the chameleon so long in my possession, was a pleasant green, spotted with pale blue; from this it changed to a bright yellow, dark olive, and a dull green; but never appeared to such advantage as when irritated, or a dog approached it; the body was then considerably inflated, and the skin clouded like tortoise-shell, its shades of yellow, orange, green, and black. a black object always caused an almost instantaneous transformation: the room appropriated for its accommodation was skirted by a board painted black; this the chameleon carefully avoided; but if he accidentally drew near it, or we placed a black hat in his way, he was reduced to a hideous skeleton, and, from the most lively tints, became black as jet: on removing the cause, the effect as suddenly ceased; the sable hue was succeeded by a brilliant colouring, and the body was again inflated. our next subject is the common tortoise.--the weight of this animal is three pounds, and the length of its shell about seven inches. it abounds in the countries surrounding the mediterranean, and particularly in greece, where the inhabitants not only eat its flesh and eggs, but frequently swallow its warm blood. in september or october it conceals itself, remaining torpid till february, when it re-appears. in june it lays its eggs, in holes exposed to the full beams of the sun, by which they are matured. the males frequently engage in severe conflicts, and strike their heads against each other with great violence, and very loud sounds. tortoises attain most extraordinary longevity, and one was ascertained to have lived in the gardens of lambeth to the age of nearly years. its shell is preserved in the archiepiscopal palace. so reluctant is the vital principle to quit these animals, that shaw informs us, from redi, that one of them lived for six months after all its brain was taken out, moving its limbs, and walking, as before. another lived twenty-three days after its head was cut off, and the head itself opened and closed its jaws for a quarter of an hour after its separation from the body. it may not only be tamed, but has in several instances exhibited proofs, in that state, of considerable sagacity in distinguishing its benefactors, and of grateful attachment in return for their kindness, notwithstanding its general sluggishness and torpor. it will answer the purpose of a barometer, and uniformly indicates the fall of rain before night, when it takes its food with great rapidity, and walks with a sort of mincing and elate step. it appears to dislike rain with extreme aversion, and is discomfited and driven back by only a few and scarcely perceivable drops. the following particulars respecting the instinct of the tortoise, are copied from vaillant's travels in africa.--"it is very remarkable, that when the waters are dried up by excessive heat, the tortoises, which always seek for moisture, bury themselves under the earth, in proportion as the surface of it becomes dry. to find them, it is then sufficient to dig to a considerable depth, in the spot where they have concealed themselves. they remain as if asleep, and never awake, or make their appearance, until the rainy season has filled the ponds and small lakes, on the borders of which they deposit their eggs, where they continue exposed to the air; they are as large as those of a pigeon; they leave to the heat and the sun the care of hatching them. these eggs have an excellent taste; the white, which never grows hard by the force of fire, preserves the transparency of a bluish jelly. i do not know whether this instinct be common to every species of water tortoises, and whether they all employ the same means; but this i can assert, that every time, during the great droughts, when i wished to procure any of them, by digging in those places where there had been water, i always found as many as i had occasion for. this method of fishing, or whatever else it may be called, was not new to me; for at surinam a stratagem of the same kind is employed to catch two species of fish, which bury themselves also; and which are called, one the _varappe_, and the other the _gorret_ or the _kevikwi_." the next curious animal which we shall consider, is, the orang-outang.--this animal is sometimes called the satyr, great ape, or man of the woods. it is a native of the warmer parts of africa and india, as well as of some of the indian islands, where it resides principally in woods, and is supposed to feed, like most others of this genus, on fruits. the orang-outang appears to admit of considerable variety in point of colour, size, and proportions; and there is reason to believe, that, in reality, there may be two or three kinds, which, though nearly approximated as to general similitude, are yet specifically distinct. the specimens imported into europe have rarely exceeded the height of two or three feet, and were supposed to be young animals; but it is said the full-grown ones are, at least, six feet in height. the general colour seems to be dusky or brown, in some ferruginous or reddish brown; and in others coal-black, with the skin itself white. the face is bare; the ears, hands, and feet, nearly similar to the human, and the whole appearance such as to exhibit the most striking approximation to the human figure. the likeness, however, is only a general one, and the structure of the hands and feet, when examined with anatomical exactness, seems to prove, in the opinion of those most capable of judging with accuracy on the subject, that the animal was principally designed by nature for the quadrupedal manner of walking, and not for an upright posture, which is only occasionally assumed, and which, in those exhibited to the public, is, perhaps, rather owing to instruction, than truly natural. the count de buffon, indeed, makes it one of the distinctive characters of the real or proper apes, (among which the orang-outang is the chief,) to walk erect on two legs only; and it must be granted, that these animals support an upright position much more easily and readily than most other quadrupeds, and may probably be very often seen in this attitude even in a state of nature. the manners of the orang-outang, when in captivity, are gentle, and perfectly void of that disgusting ferocity so conspicuous in some of the larger baboons and monkeys. the orang-outang is mild and docile, and may be taught to perform, with dexterity, a variety of actions in domestic life. thus, it has been taught to sit at table, and, in its manner of feeding and general behaviour, to imitate the company in which it was placed; to pour out tea, and drink it, without awkwardness or constraint; to prepare its bed with exactness, and compose itself to sleep in a proper manner. such are the actions of one which was exhibited in london, in the year ; and the count de buffon relates nearly similar particulars of that which he saw at paris. dr. tyson, who, about the close of the last century, gave a very exact description of a young orang-outang, then exhibited in the metropolis, assures us, that in many of its actions it seemed to display a very high degree of sagacity, and was of a disposition uncommonly gentle; "the most gentle and loving creature that could be. those that he knew on shipboard, he would come and embrace with the greatest tenderness, opening their bosoms, and clasping his hands about them; and, as i was informed, though there were monkeys on board, yet it was observed, he would never associate with them, and, as if nothing akin to them, would always avoid their company." but, however docile and gentle when taken young, and instructed in its behaviour, it is said to be possessed of great ferocity in its native state, and is considered as a dangerous animal, capable of readily overpowering the strongest man. its swiftness is equal to its strength, and for this reason it is but rarely to be obtained in its full-grown state, the young alone being taken. the next is, the unicorn.--the following account is extracted from the st. james's chronicle of dec. to , . "we have no doubt that a little time will bring to light many objects of natural history, peculiar to the elevated regions of central asia, and hitherto unknown in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, particularly in the two former. this is an opinion which we have long entertained; but we are led to the expression of it on the present occasion, by having been favoured with the perusal of a most interesting communication from major latter, commanding in the rajah of sikkim's territories, in the hilly country east of nepaul, addressed to adjutant-general nicol, and transmitted by him to the marquis of hastings. this important paper explicitly states, that the unicorn, so long considered a fabulous animal, actually exists at this moment in the interior of thibet, where it is well known to the inhabitants. "this (we copy from the major's letter) is a very curious fact, and it may be necessary to mention how the circumstance became known to me. in a thibetian manuscript, containing the names of different animals, procured the other day from the hills, the unicorn is classed under the head of those whose hoofs are divided; it is called the one-horned tso'-po. upon inquiring what kind of animal it was, to our astonishment, the person who brought me the manuscript, described exactly the unicorn of the ancients: saying, that it was a native of the interior of thibet, about the size of a tattoo (a horse from to hands high,) fierce, and extremely wild; seldom, if ever, caught alive, but frequently shot; and that the flesh was used for food. "the person (major latter adds) who gave me this information, has repeatedly seen these animals, and eaten the flesh of them. they go together in herds, like our wild buffaloes, and are very frequently to be met with on the borders of the great desert, about a month's journey from lassa, in that part of the country inhabited by the wandering tartars. this communication is accompanied by a drawing, made by the messenger from recollection: it bears some resemblance to a horse, but has cloven hoofs, a long curved horn growing out of the forehead, and a boar-shaped tail, like that of the 'fera monoceros,' described by pliny.[ ] from their herding together, as the unicorns of the scripture are said to do, as well as from the rest of the description, it is evident that this singular animal cannot be the rhinoceros, which is a solitary creature; besides that, in the thibetian manuscript, the rhinoceros is described under the name of servo, and classed with the elephant. neither can it be the wild horse, well known in thibet, for that also has a different name, and is classed in the ms. with the animals which have the hoofs undivided.--i have written (he subjoins) to the sachia lama, requesting him to procure me a perfect skin of the animal, with the head, horn, and hoofs; but it will be a long time before i can get it down, for they are not to be met with nearer than a month's journey from lassa." we now make a few remarks on seals.--first, the common seal. these animals are found on the coasts of the polar regions, both to the north and south, often in extreme abundance, and are generally about five feet in length, closely covered with short hair. they swim with great vigour and rapidity, and subsist on various kinds of fish, which they are often observed to pursue within a short distance of the shore. they possess no inconsiderable sagacity, and may, without much difficulty, if taken young, be familiarized to their keepers, and instructed in various gesticulations. they are supposed to attain great longevity. the female is particularly attentive to her young, and scarcely ever produces more than two at a birth, which, after being suckled a fortnight on the shore, where they are always born, are conducted to the water, and taught by their dam the means of defence and subsistence; and when they are fatigued by their excursions, are relieved by being taken on her back. they distinguish her voice, and attend at her call. the flesh of seals is sometimes eaten, but they are almost always destroyed for their oil and skins. the latter are manufactured into very valuable leather, and the former is serviceable in a vast variety of manufactures. a young seal will supply about eight gallons of oil. the smell of these animals, in any great number upon the shore, is highly disagreeable. in the month of october, they are generally considered as most valuable; and as they abound in extended caverns on the coast, which are washed by the tide, the hunters proceed to these retreats about midnight, advancing with their boat as far into the recess as they are able, armed with spears and bludgeons, and furnished with torches, to enable them to explore the cavern. they begin their operations by making the most violent noises, which soon rouse the seals from their slumbers, and awaken them to a sense of extreme danger, which they express by the most hideous yellings of terror. in their eagerness to escape, they come down from all parts of the cavern, running in a promiscuous and turbulent mass along the avenue to the water. the men engaged in this perilous adventure oppose no impediment to this rushing crowd, but, as this begins to diminish, apply their weapons with great activity and success, destroying vast numbers, and principally the young ones. the blow of the hunter is always levelled at the nose of the seal, where a slight stroke is almost instantly fatal. this leads us to the consideration of the ursine seal.--this animal grows to the length of eight feet, and to the weight of an hundred pounds. these are found in vast abundance in the islands between america and kamschatka, from june till september, when they return to the asiatic or american shores. they are extremely strong, surviving wounds and lacerations which almost instantly destroy life in other animals, for days, and even weeks. they may be observed, not mearly by hundreds, but by thousands, on the shore, each male surrounded by his females, from eight to fifty, and his offspring, amounting frequently to more than that number. each family is preserved separate from every other. the ursine seals are extremely fat and indolent, and remain, with little exercise, or even motion, for months together, upon the shore. but if jealousy, to which they are ever alive, once strongly operates, they are roused to animation by all the fierceness of resentment and vengeance; and conflicts arising from this cause between individuals, soon spread through families, till at length the whole shore becomes a scene of the most horrid hostility and havoc. when the conflict is finished, the survivors plunge into the water, to wash off the blood, and recover from their exhaustion. those which are old, and have lost the solace of connubial life, are reported to be extremely captious, fierce, and malignant, and to live apart from all others, and so tenaciously to be attached to the station which pre-occupancy may be supposed to give each a right to call his own, that any attempt at usurpation is resented as the foulest indignity, and the most furious contests frequently occur in consequence of the several claims for a favourite position. it is stated, that in these combats two never fall upon one. these seals are said, in grief, to shed tears very copiously. the male defends his young with the most intrepid courage and fondness, and will often beat the dam, notwithstanding her most supplicating tones and gestures, under the idea that she has been the cause of the destruction or injury which may have occurred to any of them. the flesh of the old male seal is intolerably strong; that of the female and the young is considered as delicate and nourishing, and compared, in tenderness and flavour, to the flesh of young pigs. the bottle-nosed seal is found on the falkland islands; is twenty feet long; and will produce a butt of oil, and discharge, when struck to the heart, two hogsheads of blood. we shall close this chapter with an extract from the public journals of , on american natural history. on the unfrequented, solitary, remote banks of the missouri, grows one of the most ornamental trees that adorn creation--the _ten-petalled bartonia_. its height is four feet; flowers, beautifully white, expand as the sun sets, and close at the approach of morning.--shall we say that all things were made for the gratification of man only, when he is daily taught that some of the loveliest objects the world contains, he is destined never to behold?--shall we believe that the sylvan natives are not formed with taste, and enjoy the scenery with which the great artist has decorated their abode? a _leopard_ was killed on the th day of june, , by john six, living on the waters of green river, ten miles south-east of hartford, in the ohio county: length from the end of the nose to the buttock, five feet, and a tail two feet long; under the jaw the colour was black, with white spots equally proportioned; the sides and back are yellow, with black spots, curiously arranged; a row of black spots on its back, much larger than those on its sides, extending half way of the tail; small round ears, black outside, white inside; around its nose and mouth were long stiff bristles; some appeared to grow out black half the length, then white six inches long. the hair on the end of the tail is longer than elsewhere; tail slim; its legs short, and its feet like a cat's, only much larger, with large claws; large teeth; supposed to weigh about one hundred and fifty pounds. _two-headed snake._--an extraordinary snake was recently killed in mason, massachusetts. it was first discovered basking in the sun, and, after much exertion, although its astonishing agility baffled for a considerable time its pursuers' efforts, it was taken. it measured two feet in length, had two heads, and two legs. the legs were nearly three inches long, were placed about four inches from the heads, and appeared well calculated to assist the animal in running. a large _black snake_ was lately killed near halifax, nova scotia, which measured eleven feet nine inches. it was first noticed by a slight crack which it made with its tail, not unlike the cracking of a horse-whip, and appeared to be in great agony; jumping up from the ground, twisting, coiling, &c. after it was killed, this was accounted for satisfactorily. out of its mouth the tail of another snake was observed to be sticking; on pulling it out, it actually measured five feet three inches. this was the cause of the uneasiness in the living snake; having no doubt been partly strangled by its large mouthful. this great snake was long the terror of the cow-hunters in the neighbourhood of the place where it was killed, and no doubt would have continued so for a long time, had it not been for its voraciousness, which prevented it from running. it was fleeter than any horse, and bade defiance to the puny efforts of man to overtake it. chap. xv. curiosities respecting animals.--(_concluded._) _remarkable strength of affection in animals--surprising instances of their sociality--unaccountable faculties possessed by some animals--remarkable instances of fasting in animals--extraordinary adventures of a sheep--sagacity of a monkey--astonishing instance of sagacity in a horse--sagacity of dogs--curious anecdotes of a dog--remarkable dog._ far as creation's ample range extends, the scale of sensual, mental powers, ascends: mark, how it mounts to man's imperial race, from the green myriads in the peopled grass! what modes of sight, betwixt each wide extreme, the mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam: of smell, the headlong lioness between, and hound sagacious, on the tainted green: of hearing, from the life that fills the flood. to that which warbles thro' the vernal wood: the spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! feels at each thread, and lives along the line: in the nice bee, what sense so subtly true, from pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew: how instinct varies in the grovelling swine, compar'd, half-reasoning elephant, with thine! 'twixt that and reason, what a nice barrier, for ever separate, yet for ever near! _pope._ remarkable strength of affection in animals.--mr. white, in his natural history, &c. of selborne, speaking of the natural affection of brutes, says, "the more i reflect on it, the more i am astonished at its effects. nor is the violence of this affection more wonderful, than the shortness of its duration. thus, every hen is in her turn the virago of the yard, in proportion to the helplessness of her brood; and will fly in the face of a dog or sow in defence of those chickens, which, in a few weeks, she will drive before her with relentless cruelty. this affection sublimes the passions, quickens the invention, and sharpens the sagacity, of the brute creation. thus, a hen, just become a mother, is no longer that placid bird she used to be, but, with feathers standing on end, wings hovering, and clucking note, she runs about like one possessed. dams will throw themselves in the way of the greatest danger, in order to avert it from their progeny. thus a partridge will tumble along before a sportsman, in order to draw away the dogs from her helpless covey. in the time of nidification, the most feeble birds will assault the most rapacious. all the hirundines of a village are up in arms at the sight of a hawk, whom they will persecute till he leaves that district. a very exact observer has often remarked, that a pair of ravens, nestling in the rock of gibraltar, would suffer no vulture or eagle to rest near their station, but would drive them from the hill with amazing fury; even the blue thrush, at the season of breeding, would dart out from the clefts of the rocks, to chase away the kestrel or the sparrow-hawk. if you stand near the nest of a bird that has young, she will not be induced to betray them by an inadvertent fondness, but will wait about at a distance with meat in her mouth for an hour together. the fly-catcher builds every year in the vines that grow on the walls of my house. a pair of these little birds had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a naked bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the inconvenience that followed; but a hot sunny season coming on before the brood was half fledged, the reflection of the wall became insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the tender young, had not affection suggested an expedient, and prompted the parent birds to hover over the nest all the hotter hours, while, with wings expanded and mouths gaping for breath, they screened off the heat from their suffering offspring. a farther instance i once saw of notable sagacity in a willow-wren, which had built in a bank in my fields. this bird, a friend and myself had observed as she sat in her nest; but we were particularly careful not to disturb her, though we saw she eyed us with some degree of jealousy. some days after, as we passed that way, we were desirous of remarking how this brood went on; but no nest could be found, till i happened to take up a large bundle of long green moss as it were carelessly thrown over the nest, in order to deceive the eye of any impertinent intruder." next in order is the account of surprising instances of sociality in animals.--a wonderful spirit of sociality in the brute creation, independent of sexual attachment, has been frequently remarked. many horses, though quiet with company, will not stay one minute in a field by themselves; the strongest fences cannot restrain them. a horse has been known to leap out of a stable window, through which dung was thrown, after company; and yet in other respects was remarkably quiet. oxen and cows will not fatten by themselves, but will neglect the finest pasture that is not recommended by society. it would be needless to instance in sheep, which constantly flock together. but this propensity seems not to be confined to animals of the same species. mr. white mentions a doe that was brought up from a little fawn with a dairy of cows. "with them it goes to the field, and with them it returns to the yard. the dogs of the house take no notice of this doe, being used to her; but if strange dogs come by, a chase ensues; while the master smiles to see his favourite securely leading her pursuers over hedge, or gate, or style, till she returns to the cows, who with fierce lowings and menacing horns drive the assailants quite out of the pasture."--even great disparity of kind and size does not always prevent social advances and mutual fellowship. of this the following remarkable instance is given by the same author. "a very intelligent and observant person has assured me, that in the former part of his life, keeping but one horse, he happened also on a time to have but one solitary hen. these two incongruous animals spent much of their time together in a lonely orchard, where they saw no creature but each other. by degrees an apparent regard began to take place between these two sequestered individuals. the fowl would approach the quadruped with notes of complacency, rubbing herself gently against his legs; while the horse would look down with satisfaction, and move with the greatest caution and circumspection, lest he should trample on his diminutive companion. thus by mutual good offices each seemed to console the vacant hours of the other." in the gentleman's magazine for march, , we have the following anecdotes of a raven, communicated by a correspondent who does not sign his name, but says it is at the service of the doubtful. the raven alluded to lived at the red lion at hungerford; his name was _ralph_. "you must know then, (says the writer,) that coming into that inn, my chaise ran over or bruised the leg of my newfoundland dog, and while we were examining the injury done to the dog's foot, ralph was evidently a concerned spectator; for, the minute the dog was tied up under the manger with my horse, ralph not only visited him, but fetched him bones, and attended upon him with particular and repeated proofs of kindness. the bird's notice of the dog was so marked, that i observed it to the hostler; for i had not heard a word before of the history of this benevolent creature. john then told me, that he had been bred from his pin-feather in intimacy with a dog; that the affection between them was mutual; and that all the neighbourhood had often been witnesses of the innumerable acts of kindness they had conferred upon each other. ralph's poor dog, after a while, unfortunately broke his leg; and during the long time he was confined, ralph waited upon him constantly, carried him provisions daily, and scarcely ever left him alone! one night by accident the hostler had shut the stable-door, and ralph was deprived of his friend the whole night; but the hostler found in the morning the bottom of the door so pecked away, that had it not been opened, ralph would in another hour have made his own entrance-port. i then inquired of my landlady, (a sensible woman,) and heard what i have related confirmed by her, with several other singular traits of the kindnesses this bird shews to all dogs in general, but particularly to maimed or wounded ones. i hope and believe, however, ralph is still living; and the traveller will find i have not over-rated this wonderful bird's merit." to these instances of attachment between incongruous animals from a spirit of sociality, or the feelings of sympathy, may be added the following instance of fondness from a different motive, recounted by mr. white, in the work already so often quoted. "my friend had a little helpless leveret brought to him, which the servants fed with milk in a spoon; and about the same time his cat kittened, and the young were dispatched and buried. the hare was soon lost, and supposed to be gone the way of most foundlings, or to be killed by some dog or cat. however, in about a fortnight, as the master was sitting in his garden in the dusk of the evening, he observed his cat, with tail erect, trotting towards him, and calling with little short inward notes of complacency, such as they use towards their kittens, and something gambolling after, which proved to be the leveret, which the cat had supported with her milk, and continued to support with great affection. thus was a graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and predacious one! why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a cat, of the ferocious genus of _felis_, the _murian leo_, (the lion of the mice,) as linnæus calls it, should be affected with any tenderness towards an animal which is its natural prey, is not so easy to determine. the strange affection probably was occasioned by that sympathy, and those tender maternal feelings, which the loss of her kittens had awakened in her breast; and by the complacency and ease she derived to herself from the procuring her teats to be drawn, which were too much distended with milk; till from habit she became as much delighted with this foundling, as if it had been her real offspring. this incident is no bad solution of that strange circumstance which grave historians, as well as poets, assert, of exposed children being sometimes nurtured by female wild beasts, that probably had lost their young; for it is not one whit more marvellous that romulus and remus, in their infant state, should be nursed by a she-wolf, than that a poor little suckling leveret should be fostered and cherished by a bloody grimalkin." we shall now give the history of the unaccountable faculties possessed by some animals.--besides reflection and sagacity, often in an astonishing degree, and besides the sentiments and actions prompted by social or natural attachments, brutes seem on many occasions inspired with a superior faculty, a kind of presentiment or second sight, as it were, with regard to events and designs altogether unforeseen by the rational beings whom they concern. the following account is of unquestionable authenticity. at the seat of the late earl of litchfield, three miles from blenheim, there is a portrait in the dining-room of sir henry lee, by johnston, with that of a mastiff dog which saved his life. a servant had formed the design of assassinating his master, and robbing the house; but the night he had fixed on, the dog, which had never been much noticed by sir henry, for the first time followed him up stairs, got under his bed, and could not be got from thence by either master or man: in the dead of night, the same servant entered the room to execute his horrid design, but was instantly seized by the dog, and, being secured, confessed his intentions. upon what hypothesis can we account for a degree of foresight and penetration such as this? will it be suggested, as a solution of the difficulty, that a dog may possibly become capable in a great measure of understanding human discourse, and of reasoning and acting accordingly; and that, in the present instance, the villain had either uttered his design in soliloquy, or imparted it to an accomplice, in the hearing of the animal? it has been disputed whether the brutes have any language whereby they can express their minds to each other; or whether all the noise they make consists only of cries, inarticulate and unintelligible even to themselves. father bougeant gives the following instance, among others, to prove that brutes are capable of forming designs, and of communicating those designs to others.--a sparrow, finding a nest that a martin had just built, standing very conveniently for him, possessed himself of it. the martin, seeing the usurper in her house, called for help to expel him. a thousand martins came full speed, and attacked the sparrow; but the latter being covered on every side, and presenting only his large beak at the entrance of the nest, was invulnerable, and made the boldest of them who durst approach him repent of their temerity. after a quarter of an hour's combat, all the martins disappeared: the sparrow thought he had got the better, and the spectators judged that the martins had abandoned the undertaking. not in the least; immediately they returned to the charge, and each of them having procured a little of that tempered earth with which they make their nests, they all at once fell upon the sparrow, and enclosed him in the nest, to perish there, though they could not drive him thence.--can it be imagined that the martins could have been able to hatch and concert this design all of them together, without speaking to each other, or without some medium of communication equivalent to language? remarkable instances of fasting in animals.--the following remarkable instances of brutes being able to live long without food, are related by sir william hamilton, in his account of the earthquakes in italy, (phil. trans. vol. .) "at soriano, two fattened hogs, that had remained buried under a heap of ruins, were taken out alive the d day; they were lean and weak, but soon recovered.--at messina, two mules belonging to the duke de belviso, remained under a heap of ruins, one of them days, and the other : they would not eat for some days, but drank water plentifully, and are now recovered.--there are numberless instances of dogs remaining many days in the same situation; and a hen belonging to the british vice-consul at messina, that had been closely shut up under the ruins of his house, was taken out the d day, and is now recovered: it did not eat for some days, but drank freely; it was emaciated, and shewed little signs of life at first. from these instances, and several others of the same kind that have been related to me, but which, being less remarkable, i omit, one may conclude, that long fasting is always attended with great thirst and total loss of appetite." an instance not less remarkable than any of these, we find in the gent. mag. for jan. . "during the heavy snow which fell in the night of the th of january, , a parcel of sheep belonging to mr. john wolley, of matlock, in derbyshire, which were pastured on that part of the east moor that lies within the manor of matlock, were covered with the drifted snow. in the course of a day or two all the sheep that were covered with the snow were found again, except two, which were consequently given up as lost, but on the th of feb. following (some time after the break of the snow in the valleys, and days after the fall) as a servant was walking over a large parcel of drifted snow, which remained on the declivity of a hill, a dog he had with him discovered one of the two sheep that had been lost, by winding (or scenting) it, through a small aperture which the breath of the sheep had made in the snow. the servant thereupon dug away the snow, and released the captive from its prison; it immediately ran to a neighbouring spring, at which it drank for a considerable time, and afterwards rejoined its old companions, as though no such accident had befallen it. on inspecting the place where it was found, it appeared to have stood between two stones which lay parallel with each other, at about two feet and a half distance, and probably were the means of protecting it from the great weight of the snow, which in that place lay several yards thick: from the number of stones around it, it did not appear that the sheep had been able to pick up any food during its confinement. soon afterwards its owner removed it to some low lands; but as it had nearly lost its appetite, it was fed with bread and milk for some time: in about a fortnight after its enlargement, it lost its sight and wool; but in a few weeks afterwards they both returned again, and in the course of the following summer it was quite recovered. the remaining sheep was found dead, about a week after the discovery of the other." the following authentic history of the extraordinary adventures of a sheep, which was transmitted to a respectable periodical journal, from salisbury, where the animal died, will, we doubt not, prove interesting to our readers, as it affords an instance of animal sagacity, in that species on which nature has bestowed it with a sparing hand. she was born in the north highlands of scotland; embarked, in , in the arab, and visited iceland, greenland, and norway: here she was sent on shore to graze; the next day, seeing the boat row past the place where she was feeding, she leaped into the water, and swam to the boat: this circumstance protected her ever after from the butcher, and her life was one scene of gratitude. she was in fourteen different actions with the enemy's flotilla and batteries off boulogne, in the last of which she lost part of one of her horns. after that she traversed the whole of the western extent of africa, across the equator to the brazils, and along the guiana coast of south america to the west indies; from thence to ireland, and then home. she was so tame as to feed from the hand, and, like the dog, followed her protector; would dance for a cabbage leaf; preferred the house and fire-side to the stable; for several months was never known to touch hay or grass, living with the sailors on pudding and grog, and nibbling the ends of rope or canvass. the paring of an apple or a potato was her highest luxury. the docility of the animal was highly amusing: putting her head under your arm, she would eat off your plate at dinner; would drink wine or spirits, and tea, if well sweetened; run up and down the stairs; and, if she got into the kitchen, would take the cover from the pot, and peep into it. her wool was of a soft and silky nature. after having weathered so many storms and hardships, she was brought as a present by lieut. bagnold, of the royal navy, to a lady in salisbury; where, alas! their fleecy friend died of a bowel complaint the second day after her arrival, most sincerely lamented, the d of january, . lines written on the preceding most remarkable sheep. scarce thirty suns had brighten'd o'er her head, when to arab's deck young jack[ ] was led; here from her master's side she ne'er would stray, ate of his meat, and on his hammock lay. grateful for this, when left on norway's beach, she brav'd the sea, the distant ship to reach. this act heroic stays the murd'rous knife, and all the crew demand to save her life. thus spar'd, she visits each far distant main: in fourteen battles, amid heroes slain. she 'scapes unhurt; save that the whizzing lead bears off one horn, then gently graz'd her head. all perils past, she reach'd her native shore, to tempt the rage of war and seas no more.-- "go, my dear jack," her grateful master said, (as on her snow-white head his hand he laid;) "go seek the shady grove, the verdant mead; there rest securely, and securely feed. a thousand joys shall thy long life attend, blest with that greatest good, a faithful friend.-- vain were these hopes! at sarum safe arriv'd, sudden she sicken'd, and as sudden died.-- well, then, dear jack, since fate has seal'd thy doom, be thine the honours of the sculptur'd tomb. there too shall this just eulogy appear, "a sheep, a much-lov'd sheep, reposes here." merits in thee some future bard shall trace, such as ne'er yet adorn'd the fleecy race. a patient temper, to all ills resign'd, sense almost human, to good nature join'd. no charms for her had flow'ry lawn or grove, 'twas man she sought--to man gave all her love. had she but liv'd in fiction's classic days, the muse had sung her fame in deathless lays; had fondly told, that her not mortal frame return'd from earth to heav'n, from whence it came; advanc'd to share with aries on high, the space assign'd him in her native sky. the following is a notable instance of the sagacity of a monkey.--some strolling showmen, being at stonin, a town of lithuania, belonging to count ogienski, grand general of that province, diverted the inhabitants by exhibiting the tricks and gambols of half a dozen monkeys they had along with them: this new spectacle roused the curiosity of people of all degrees, insomuch that the overseers of the improvements which were carrying on in that neighbourhood saw themselves deserted by all their workmen. desirous to recall them to their duty, yet unwilling to drive the strollers away by main force, they offered the chief a round sum of money, on condition of his leaving the town immediately: the man agreed to this; and, with his two assistants, and company of four-footed comedians, set off from stonin. they had hardly proceeded out of town, when they were beset by some banditti, who robbed and murdered not only them, but all their harmless followers, except one, who escaped the general slaughter, and, unperceived, climbed up a tree, whence he could spy all the proceedings of the villains, who had no sooner made sure of their spoils, than they proceeded to inter the bodies, both of the men and beasts, covering the place with earth and boughs, and then made off. sometime after, a coach-and-four approached; which the surviving monkey no sooner descried, than he set up a most dismal yell. the gentleman, who, as it afterwards proved, was going on a visit to the grand-general, amazed at so unusual a noise, ordered the coachman to stop, when, alighting, he was still more surprised to see the animal coming down the tree, and making towards him; the monkey, taught perhaps to reverence people of rank, began to lick his feet, and, by several gestures, seemed to intimate that he had something extraordinary to discover; the animal led the way, and the gentleman followed with his servant. as soon as they came to the place, the monkey rent the air with the most piteous accents; then taking up some of the branches, he began to scratch the earth, and throw it up with all his might: the gentleman seeing this, ordered his man to fall to work, and in a few minutes the whole scene of horror opened to his view. fearing a similar fate, the lithuanian, forgetting the sagacious animal, got into his carriage, and posted to the grand-general as fast as his horses could carry him. poor pug, rather than be left behind, fastened about the coach as well as he could, and arrived likewise at the count's, who, having heard the gentleman's report, sent a proper force after the banditti: they were overtaken, and committed to prison. the grand-general ordered the monkey to be taken into his palace, and kept with the greatest care. this surprising mark of instinct and gratitude is deemed the more wonderful, as that animal generally turns his natural sagacity to mischief and treachery. we shall in the next place give an astonishing instance of sagacity in a horse. at chepstow, in monmouthshire, there is a bridge, the construction of which is extremely curious, as the planks that form the floor rise with the tide, which, at certain times, is said to attain to the height of seventy feet. this floor of the bridge it was necessary at one time to remove; which was accordingly done, and only one or two of the planks remained for the convenience of the foot passengers. this way was well lighted, and a man placed at the end to warn those that approached of their danger. but it so happened, that one dreadful stormy night the lamps blew out, and the monitor, supposing that no one would in such a hurricane attempt to pass, wisely retired to shelter. after midnight, a traveller knocked at the door of an inn at chepstow. "who is there?" said the landlord, who had long retired to rest, and was now called out of bed. the traveller mentioned his name, which was well known. "how did you come?" said the landlord. "how did i come? why, over the bridge to be sure!" "what! on horseback?" "yes." "no!" said the landlord, "that is impossible! however, as you are here, i'll let you in." the host, when the traveller repeated his assertion, was staggered. he was certain that he must have come over the bridge, because there was no other way; but also knowing the state in which the passage was, he could only attribute the escape of the traveller and his horse to witchcraft. he, however, said nothing to him that night; but the next morning took him to the bridge, and showed him the plank that his horse must have passed over, at the same time that he pointed to the raging torrent beneath. struck with this circumstance, the traveller, it is said, was seized with an illness from which he did not speedily recover. it is from a respectable source that we insert the following narrative of the sagacity of dogs. m. la valee, in his journey through the departments of france, published in , gives the following curious account of the manner in which the country people, in the neighbourhood of peronne and doulens, had trained their dogs to elude the vigilance of the officers of the revenue.--at night, these animals were laden, each with a parcel of goods proportioned to its size; except one alone, who was their leader, and went without any burden. a crack of a whip was a signal for them to set out. the leader travelled a little distance before the rest; and, if he perceived the traces of any stranger, he returned to the other dogs: these either took a different way, or, if the danger was pressing, concealed themselves behind the hedges, and lay close till the patrole had passed. when they arrived at the habitation of their master's associate, they hid themselves in the neighbouring fields and hedges, while their leader went to the house, and scratched at the door, or barked, till he was admitted, when he lay quietly down, as at home: by this the smuggler knew that the caravan was come; and, if the coast was clear, he went out, when he gave a loud whistle, and the dogs came running to him from their several hiding-places! peltier, in his annals of paris, no. , for december, , records the following anecdote:--at the beginning of the revolution, a dog went daily to the parade before the palace of the thuilleries, thrust himself between the legs of the musicians, marched with them, halted with them, and after the parade, disappeared until the next morning, when he resumed his occupation. the constant appearance of this dog, and the pleasure which he seemed to take in the music, made him a favourite with the band, who nicknamed him, parade. one gave him food to-day, another to-morrow; and he understood, by a slight signal, and a word or two, whom he was to follow for his dinner; after which, faithful to his independence, the dog always withdrew, in spite of any caresses or threats. sometimes he went to the opera, sometimes to the comedie italienne, and sometimes to the theatre feydeau; in each of which houses he found his way to the orchestra, and would lie down silently in one corner of it, until the performance was over. "i know not, (says peltier) whether this dog be now alive: but i know many musicians, to whom his name, his figure, and the singularity of his habits, are perfectly familiar." in petit's campaign of italy, under the chief consul buonaparte, published in , we have the following anecdote, which places this animal in the most engaging light: "in traversing the alps over the mountain great st. bernard, many people perish among the almost inaccessible rocks, whose summits are covered with eternal snow. at the time we crossed them, the chapel of the monastery of st. bernard was filled with dead bodies, which their dogs had discovered suffocated and benumbed under the snow. with what emotions of pleasure did i caress these dogs, so useful to travellers! how can one speak of them without being moved by their charitable instinct! notwithstanding the paucity of our eatables, there was not a french soldier who did not manifest an eagerness to give them some biscuit, some bread, and even a share of their meat. morning and evening, these dogs go out on discovery; and if in the midst of their wandering courses the echo of some unfortunate creature ready to perish reaches their attentive ears, they run towards those who call out, express their joy, and seem to bid the sufferer take courage, till they have been to procure assistance; in fact, they hasten back to the convent, and, with an air of inquietude and sadness, announce in a very discernible manner what they have seen. in that case, a small basket is fastened round the dog's neck, filled with food proper for reanimating life almost exhausted; and, by following the benevolent messenger, an unhappy creature is thus frequently snatched from impending destruction." a florentine nobleman possessed a dog, which would attend his table, change his plates, and carry his wine to him, with the utmost steadiness, and the most accurate attention to his master's notices. it is related by the illustrious leibnitz, that a saxon peasant was in possession of a dog of the middling size, then about three years of age. the peasant's son, perceiving accidentally, as he imagined, some resemblance in its sounds to those of the human voice, attempted to teach it to speak. by the perseverance of the lad, the dog acquired the power, we are told, of pronouncing about thirty words. it would, however, exercise this extraordinary faculty only with reluctance, the words being always first spoken by the preceptor, and then echoed by the pupil. this circumstance is attested by leibnitz, who himself heard it speak; and it was communicated by him in a memoir to the royal academy of france. in the theatre of marcellus, a case occurred, which many will consider more probable, but which is almost as extraordinary, as mentioned by plutarch.--"a dog was here exhibited which excelled in various dances of great complication and difficulty, and represented also the effects of disease and pain upon the frame, in all the contortions of countenance and writhings of the body, from the first access, to that paroxysm which often immediately precedes dissolution. having thus apparently expired in agony, he would suffer himself to be carried about motionless, as in a state of death; and after a sufficient continuance of the jest, he would burst upon the spectators with an animation and sportiveness, which formed a very interesting conclusion of this curious interlude, by which the animal seemed to enjoy the success of his scenic efforts, and to be delighted with the admiration which was liberally and universally bestowed upon him." "a tinker (says pezelius) brought a wonderful dog to constantinople; and a number of people being assembled to behold him, many of them laid their rings in a heap confusedly before him. at the command of his master, he would restore to every man his own, without any mistake. also, when his master asked him which of the company was a captain, which a poor man, which a wife, which a widow, and the like, he would discover all this without error, by taking the garment of the party inquired after in his mouth." chap. xvi. curiosities respecting fishes. _the frog-fish--bird-catching fish--the nautilus--the air-bladder in fishes--respiration in fishes--shower of fishes._ "----------------the scaly brood in countless myriads cleave the crystal flood." "who can old ocean's pathless bed explore, and count her tribes that people ev'ry shore." the frog-fish.--there is a very singular animal of surinam, bearing this name, of which a figure is given by mr. edwards, in his history of birds, vol. i. but of which no specimen is to be found either in the british museum, or in any private collection, except that of dr. fothergill. it was brought from surinam, in south america. frogs, both in asia and africa, according to merian, change gradually from fishes to frogs, as those in europe; but after many years, revert again into fishes, though the manner of their change has never been investigated. in surinam these fishes are called _jakjes_: they are cartilaginous, of a substance like our mustela, and exquisite food; they are formed with regular vertebræ, and small bones all over the body, divided into equal parts; are first darkish, and then gray; and their scales make a beautiful appearance. whether this animal is, in its perfect state, a species of frog with a tail, or a kind of water-lizard, mr. edwards does not pretend to determine; but he observes, that when its size is considered, if it should be deemed a tadpole, at first produced from spawn, and in its progress towards a frog, such an animal, when full-grown; if it bears the same proportion to its tadpole state that those in europe do to theirs, it must be of enormous size; for our full-grown frogs exceed the tadpoles at least fifty times. another curiosity is, the bird-catching fish.--this fish is called by the natives of canada, _chaousaron_; its body is nearly the shape of a jack or pike, but is covered with scales that are proof against the stab of a dagger; its colour is a silver gray, and there grows under its mouth a fin that is flat, jagged at the edges, and pierced at the end, which gives reason to conjecture that it breathes by that part. this fish is about five feet in length, and as thick as a man's thigh; but some of them, it is said, are eight or ten feet long. in order to catch birds, it hides itself among the reeds in such a manner, that no part of it can be seen but the fin just mentioned; this it erects upright out of the water, and birds that want to rest themselves, take this fin for a reed, or a dry piece of wood; but no sooner have they alighted on it, than the fish opens his mouth, and makes such a quick motion to seize its prey, that it seldom escapes. another curious object is, the nautilus. learn of the little nautilus to sail, spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. _pope._ the shell of this animal consists of one spiral valve, divided into several apartments. there are seventeen species, chiefly distinguished by peculiarities in their shells. the most remarkable division of the nautilus is into the thin and thick-shelled kinds. the first is called _nautilus papyraceus_; and its shell is indeed no thicker than a piece of paper, when out of the water. this species is not at all fastened to its shell; but there is an opinion, as old as the days of pliny, that this creature creeps out of its shell, and goes on shore to feed. when this species is to sail, it expands two of its arms on high, and between these supports a membrane, which it throws out on this occasion: this serves for its sail, and the two other arms it hangs out of its shell, to serve occasionally either as oars or as a steerage; but this last office is generally served by the tail. when the sea is calm, numbers of these creatures may frequently be seen diverting themselves in this manner, in the mediterranean: but as soon as a storm rises, or any thing gives them disturbance, they draw in their legs, and take in as much water as makes them specifically heavier than that in which they float; and then they sink to the bottom. when they rise again, they void this water by a number of holes, of which their legs are full. the other nautilus, whose shell is thick, never quits its habitation. this shell is divided into forty or more partitions, which grow smaller and smaller as they approach the extremity or centre of the shell: between each of these cells there is a communication by means of a hole in the centre of the partitions. through this hole there runs a pipe, of the whole length of the shell. it is supposed by many, that by means of this pipe the fish occasionally passes from one cell to another; but this seems by no means probable, as the fish must undoubtedly be crushed to death by attempting to pass through it. it is much more likely that the fish always occupies the largest chamber in its shell; that is, that it lives in the cavity between the mouth and the first partition, and that it never removes out of this; but that all the apparatus of cells, and a pipe of communication, which we so much admire, serve only to admit occasionally air or water into the shell, in such proportion as may serve the creature in its intentions of swimming. some authors call this shell the _concha margaritifera_: but this can be only on account of the fine colour on its inside, which is more beautiful than any other mother-of-pearl; for it has not been observed than this species of fish ever produced pearls. it must be observed, that the polypus is by no means to be confounded with the paper-shelled nautilus, notwithstanding the great resemblance in the arms and body of the inclosed fish; nor is the cornu ammonis, so frequently found fossil, to be confounded with the thick-shelled nautilus, though the concamerations and general structure of the shell are alike in both: for there are great and essential differences between all these genera. there is a pretty copious and minute account of this curious animal in the gentleman's magazine, vol. xxii. p. , , , and , and vol. xxv. p. . we now proceed to describe that destructive inhabitant of the mighty deep, the shark.--sharks, though voracious creatures, are seldom destructive in the temperate regions; it is in the torrid zone that their ravages are most frequent. in the west indies, accidents happen from them daily. during the american war in , while the pallas frigate was lying in kingston harbour, a young north american jumped overboard one evening, to make his escape, and perished by a shark in a shocking manner. he had been captured in a small vessel, lost all his property, and was detained by compulsion in the english navy, to serve in a predatory war against his country. but he, animated with that spirit which pervaded every bosom in america, resolved, as soon as he arrived at some port, to release himself from the mortifying state of employing his life against his country, which, as he said when dying, he was happy to lay down, as he could not employ it against her enemies. he plunged into the water: the pallas was a quarter of a mile from the shore. a shark perceived him, and followed him very quietly, till he came near the shore; where, as he was hanging by a rope that moored a vessel to a wharf, scarcely out of his depth, the shark seized his right leg, stripped the flesh entirely from the bones, and took the foot off at the ancle. he still kept his hold, and called to the people in the vessel near him, who were standing on the deck, and saw the affair. the shark then seized his other leg, which the man by his struggling disengaged from his teeth, but with the flesh cut through down to the bone, into a multitude of narrow slips. the people in the vessel threw billets of wood into the water, and frightened the shark away. the young man was brought on shore. dr. mosely was called to him; but he had lost so much blood before any assistance could be given him, that he expired before the mangled limbs could be taken off. a few weeks before this, a shark of twelve feet in length was caught in the harbour; and on being opened, the entire head of a man was found in his stomach. the scalp and flesh of the face were macerated to a soft pulpy substance; which, on being touched, separated entirely from the bones. the bones were somewhat softened, and the sutures loosened.--(moseley on tropical diseases.) [illustration: terrible adventure with a shark--page .] a very extraordinary instance of intrepidity and friendship is given by m. hughes, in his natural history of barbadoes. it happened about the end of queen anne's wars, at barbadoes.--the sailors of the york merchant, having ventured into the sea to wash themselves, a large shark made towards them; upon which they swam back, and all reached the boat except one, whom the monster overtook, and, griping him by the small of his back, soon cut him asunder, and swallowed the lower part of his body; the remaining part was taken up and carried on board, where was a comrade of the deceased, between whom friendship had been long reciprocal. when he saw the severed trunk of his friend, with a horror and emotion too great for words to paint, he vowed that he would make the devourer disgorge, or be swallowed himself in the same grave, and plunged into the deep, armed with a sharp-pointed knife. the shark no sooner saw him, than he made furiously toward him: both were equally eager, the one of his prey, the other of revenge. the moment the shark opened his rapacious jaws, his adversary dexterously diving, and grasping him with his left hand somewhat below the upper fins, successfully employed his knife in his right hand, giving him repeated stabs in the belly. the enraged shark, after many unavailing efforts, finding himself overmatched in his own element, endeavoured to disengage himself, sometimes plunging to the bottom, then, mad with pain, rearing his uncouth form, now stained with his own streaming blood, above the foaming waves. the crews of the surrounding vessels saw the doubtful combat, uncertain from which of the combatants the streams of blood issued; till at length the shark, much weakened by the loss of blood, made towards the shore, and with him his conqueror; who, now assured of victory, pushed his foe with redoubled ardour, and, by the help of an ebbing tide, dragged him on shore, ripped up his bowels, and united and buried the severed carcase of his friend. "it is evident, (says dr. moseley,) that digestion in these animals is not performed by trituration, nor by the muscular action of the stomach; though nature has furnished them with a stomach of wonderful force and thickness, and far exceeding that of any other creature. whatever their force of digestion is, it has no effect upon their young ones, which always retreat into their stomachs in time of danger. that digestion is not performed by heat in fish, is equally evident. the coolness of the stomach of these fishes is far greater than the temperature of the water out of which they are taken; or of any other part of the fish, or of any other substance of animated nature i ever felt. on wrapping one of them round my hand, immediately on being taken out of the fish, it caused so much aching and numbness that i could not endure it long. of these voracious sea monsters, there are thirty three species." the torpedo.--the torpedo inhabits the mediterranean and the north seas, and grows to the weight of twenty pounds. this fish possesses a strong electrical power, and is capable of giving a very considerable shock through a number of persons forming a communication with it. this power was known to the ancients, but exaggerated by them with all the fables natural to ignorance; and it is only recently that the power has been ascertained to be truly electric. it is conducted by the same substances as electricity, and intercepted by the same. in a minute and a half, no fewer than fifty shocks have been received from this animal, when insulated. the shocks delivered by it in air, are nearly four times as strong as those received from it in water. this power appears to be always voluntarily exercised by the torpedo, which occasionally may be touched and handled without its causing the slightest agitation. when the fish is irritated, however, this quality is exercised with proportional effect to the degree of irritation; and its exercise is stated, in every instance, to be accompanied by a depression of the eyes. when that animal exerts the benumbing power, from which it derives its name, and when it operates by separate and repeated efforts, this is always the case. both in the continued, and in the instantaneous process, the eyes, which are at other times prominent, are withdrawn into their sockets; a circumstance very naturally attaching both to the condensation and discharge of the subtle fluid. specimens have been known of this fish weighing fifty, and even eighty pounds. it commonly lies in forty fathoms of water, and is supposed to stupify its prey by this extraordinary faculty. it is sometimes nearly imbedded in the sands of shallows; and it is stated, in these cases, to give to any who happens to tread upon it, an astonishing and overwhelming shock. on dissection, it was found to exhibit no material difference from the general structure of the ray, excepting with respect to the electric or galvanic organs, which have been minutely examined and detailed by the celebrated anatomist, john hunter: he states them "to be placed on each side of the cranium and gills, reaching thence to each great fin, and extending longitudinally from the anterior extremity of the animal, to the transverse cartilage which divides the thorax from the abdomen." from the whole description, it appears that these organs, as mr. shaw observes, constitute a pair of galvanic batteries, disposed in the form of perpendicular hexagonal columns; while, in the gymnotus electricus, the galvanic battery is disposed lengthwise on the lower part of the animal. it is stated, that the torpedo, in its dying state, communicates shocks in more than usually rapid succession, but in proportional weakness; and in seven minutes, in these circumstances, three hundred and sixty small shocks were distinctly felt. on the same authority (that of spallanzani) it is reported, that the young torpedo can exercise this power at the moment after its birth, and even possesses it while a foetus, several of these having been taken from the parent fish, and being found to communicate perceivable shocks, which, however, were most distinctly felt when these animals were insulated on a plate of glass. a very curious object is, the air-bladder in fishes.--there is no doubt that fishes extract air from water by means of their gills, since it is through them that they renew the air of their air-bladder. this bladder is an oblong bag, consisting of two or three membranes easily separated; sometimes it has only a single lobe or cavity, as in the case of pikes, whitings, trouts, &c.; at other times it has two lobes, as in the case of barbel and carp; three, as in that of the sea tench; or four, as in the chinese gold fish. it is by expanding or compressing this bladder, that the fish occupies more or less space in the water, becomes more or less heavy, and ascends or descends as it chooses. the division of the bladder into different lobes has proceeded from a very sufficient reason. when the bladder has only one cavity, as in the case of fishes of prey, the motion of ascent or descent takes place slowly, and without a break; because, as they compress the whole bladder at once, the whole body is moved horizontally, upwards or downwards, as the case may be; a circumstance which has the effect of lessening, in consequence of the resistance of the water, the swiftness of those tyrants of the deep. when the bladder has two lobes, as in the case of the carp, which lives on insects, that fish, by expanding the anterior and compressing the posterior lobe, rises rapidly with the head foremost to the surface of the water, or sinks to the bottom with equal expedition, by compressing its two lobes in different ways. the consequence is, an increased promptitude of movement, and additional means of escaping from its enemies. when the bladder has four lobes, as in the case of the gold fish, that fish is thus enabled to vary greatly its contractions and expansions. it rises, sinks, bends, erects, or turns itself in a thousand ways, and plays in the water, like a bird in the air. it displays all the richness of the colours of gold, silver, or purple, with which nature has adorned it. its attitudes are so graceful, and its movements so varied, that the chinese, from whom we originally received it, are said to pass whole days in looking at it, in the basins of the fountains in their gardens, or in crystal vessels. it is evidently indebted for the ease and grace of its motions, to the modulations consequent on the four divisions of its air-bladder. another subject of curiosity is, the respiration in fishes.--fish derive air from the water which they are inaccessantly swallowing through the mouth, and throwing out by the gills. the gills are formed with infinite skill, and may be called a delicate kind of sieve, adapted for separating air from water. their operation proves the radical difference between these two elements, and leads to the conclusion, that they are not joined even when mixed. the gills are placed in the back part of the sides of the head, and are contained in a cavity adapted for them. they are a kind of red and flexible leaflets, consisting of a row of thin plates, like the blade of a knife, pressed against each other, and forming a succession of barbs or fringed substances, similar to those on the side of a goose-quill. these gills are covered with a small lid, and with a membrane, supported by cartilaginous threads. both are capable of being raised and lowered; and, by being thus opened, they afford a passage to the water swallowed by the animal. a prodigious number of muscles give motion to these minute particles. it may appear almost incredible, that the number of particles connected with the respiration of the carp is not fewer than . of these, sixty-nine are muscles; while the arteries of the gills, in addition to eight principal branches, throw forth smaller ramifications, while each of the latter gives birth to a number of cross arteries. add to this, that the quantity of nerves is not smaller than that of the arteries; and that the veins are divided and subdivided, like the arteries, inasmuch as they do not give rise to any transverse capillary vessels. in this manner the blood flowing from the heart of the fish is spread over all the plates or blades of which the gills are composed; so that a very small quantity of blood is exposed to the action of the water, for the purpose, no doubt, that each part may be easily penetrated by the particles of air detached from the water. it is not easy to explain in what manner these particles are detached from the water by the operation of the gills; but there seems no doubt of the fact, nor of the redness of the gills being a consequence of the operation of the air. that redness is exactly similar to the vermilion of the blood in the veins of animals with lungs, a vermilion considerably brighter than that of the arteries. we shall conclude this chapter with an account of a shower of fishes.--in the philosophical transactions for , mr. robert conny gives the following account of a phenomenon of this kind. on wednesday before easter, anno , a pasture field at cranstead, near wrotham, in kent, about two acres, which is far from any part of the sea, or branch of it, and a place where there are no fish-ponds, but a scarcity of water, was all overspread with little fishes, conceived to be rained down, there having been at that time a great tempest of thunder and rain: the fishes were about the length of a man's little finger, and judged by all who saw them to be young whitings. many of them were taken up, and shewed to several persons. the field belonged to one ware, a yeoman, who was at that easter sessions one of the grand inquest, and who carried some of the fish to the sessions of maidstone, in kent, and shewed them, among others, to mr. lake, a bencher of the middle temple, who procured one of them, and brought it to london. the truth of it was averred by many that saw the fishes lie scattered all over the field. there were none in the other fields adjoining: the quantity of them was estimated to be about a bushel. it is probable that these fishes were absorbed from the surface of the water by the electric power of a water-spout; or brushed off by the violence of a hurricane. the phenomenon, though surprising, has occurred in various countries, and occasionally in situations far more remote from the coast than that before us. chap. xvii. curiosities respecting fishes.--(_concluded._) _the whale--whale fishery--the kraken._ "----------------------------the whales toss in foam their lashing tails. wallowing unwieldly, enormous in their gait, they seem a moving land, and at their gills draw in, and at their trunk spout out, a sea." the following account of the great northern, or greenland whale, was first published by mr. w. scoresby, jun. m. w. s. in the memoirs of the wernerian society, vol. i. "the whale, when fullgrown, is from to feet in length, and from to in circumference, immediately before the fins. it is thickest a little behind the fins, and from thence gradually tapers towards the tail, and slightly towards the neck. it is cylindrical from the neck until near the junction of the tail and body, where it becomes rigid. "the head has a triangular shape. the bones of the head are very porous, and full of a fine kind of oil. when the oil is drained out, the bone is so light as to swim in water. the jaw-bones, the most striking portions of the head, are from to feet in length, are curved, and the space between them is or feet, by or . they give shape to the under part of the head, which is almost perfectly flat, and is about feet in length by in breadth. the tongue is of great size, and yields a ton or more of oil. the lips, which are at right angles to the flat part of the base of the head, are firm and hard, and yield about two tons of oil. "to the upper jaw is attached the substance called whalebone, which is straight in some individuals, and in others convex. the laminæ, or blades, are not all of equal length: neither are the largest exactly in the middle of the series, but somewhat nearer the throat; from this point they become gradually shorter each way. in each side of the mouth are about laminæ of whalebone. they are not perfectly flat; for besides the longitudinal curvature already mentioned, they are curved transversely. the largest laminæ are from ten to fourteen feet, very rarely fifteen feet, in length. the breadth of the largest, at the thick ends, or where they are attached to the jaw, is about a foot. the greenland fishers estimate the size of the whale by the length of the whalebone: where the whalebone is six feet long, then the whale is said to be a size-fish. in suckers, or young whales still under the protection of the mother, the whalebone is only a few inches long. the whalebone is immediately covered by the two under lips, the edges of which, when the mouth is shut, overlap the upper part in a squamous manner. "on the upper part of the head there is a double opening, called the spout-holes, or blow-holes. their external orifices are like two slits, which do not lie parallel, but form an acute angle with each other. through these openings the animal breathes. "the eyes are very small, not larger than those of an ox; yet the whale appears to be quick of sight. they are situated about a foot above where the upper and under lip join. "in the whale, the sense of hearing seems to be rather obtuse. "the throat is so narrow as scarcely to admit a hen's egg. "the fins are from four to five feet broad, and eight to ten feet long, and seem only to be used in bearing off their young, in turning, and giving a direction to the velocity produced by the tail. "the tail is horizontal, from to feet in breadth, indented in the middle, and the two lobes pointed and turned outwards. in it lies the whole strength of the animal. by means of the tail, the whale advances itself in the water with greater or less rapidity; if the motion is slow, the tail cuts the water obliquely, like forcing a boat forward by the operation of sculling; but if the motion is very rapid, it is effected by an undulating motion of the rump. "the skin in some whales is smooth and shining; in others, it is furrowed, like the water-lines in laid paper, but coarser. "the colour is black, gray, and white, and a tinge of yellow about the lower parts of the head. the back, upper part of the head, most of the belly, the fins, tail, and part of the under jaw, are deep black. the fore part of the under jaw, and a little of the belly, are white, and the junction of the tail with the body gray. such are the common colours of the adult whale. i have seen piebald whales. such whales as are below size are almost entirely of a bluish black colour. the skin of suckers is of a pale bluish colour. the cuticle, or scarf-skin, is no thicker than parchment; the true skin is from three-fourths to an inch in thickness all over the body. "immediately beneath the skin lies the blubber, or fat, from to inches in thickness, varying in different parts of the body, as well as in different individuals. the colour, also, is not always the same, being white, red, and yellow; and it also varies in denseness. it is principally for the blubber that the greenland fishery is carried on. it is cut from the body in large lumps, and carried on board the ship, and then cut into smaller pieces. the fleshy parts, and skin connected with the blubber, are next separated from it, and it is again cut into such pieces as will admit of its being passed into casks by the bung-hole, which is only three or four inches in diameter. in these casks it is conveyed home, where it is boiled in vessels capable of containing from three to six tons, for the purpose of extracting the oil from the fritters, which are tendinous fibres, running in various directions, and containing the oil, or rather connecting together the cellular substance which contains it. these fibres are finest next the skin, thinnest in the middle, and coarsest near the flesh. "the whales, according to their size, produce from two to twenty tons of oil. the flesh of the young whale is of a fine red colour; that of the old approaches to black, and is coarse, like that of a bull, and is said to be dry and lean when boiled, because there is little fat intermixed with the flesh. "the food of the whale is generally supposed to consist of different kinds of sepiæ, medusæ, or the clio limacina of linnæus; but i have great reason to believe, that it is chiefly, if not altogether, of the squill or shrimp tribe; for, on examining the stomach of one of large size, nothing else was found in it; they were about half an inch long, semi-transparent, and of a pale red colour. i also found a great quantity in the mouth of another, having been apparently vomited by it. when the whale feeds, it swims with considerable velocity under water, with its mouth wide open; the water enters by the forepart, but is poured out again at the sides, and the food is entangled and sifted as it were by the whalebone, which does not suffer any thing to escape. "it seldom remains longer below the surface than twenty to thirty minutes; when it comes up again to blow, it will perhaps remain ten, twenty, or thirty minutes at the surface of the water, when nothing disturbs it. in calm weather, it sometimes sleeps in this situation. it sometimes ascends with so much force, as to leap entirely out of the water; when swimming at its greatest velocity, it moves at the rate of seven to nine miles an hour. "its maternal affection deserves notice. the young one is frequently struck for the sake of its mother, which will soon come up close by it, encourage it to swim off, assist it by taking it under its fin, and seldom deserts it while life remains. it is then very dangerous to approach, as she loses all regard for her own safety in anxiety for the preservation of her cub, dashing about most violently, and not dreading to rise even amidst the boats. except, however, when the whale has young to protect, the male is in general more active and dangerous than the female, especially males of about nine feet bone." to the above account of mr. scoresby's, we shall add the following particulars: the fidelity of whales to each other exceeds whatever we are told even of the constancy of birds. some fishers, as anderson informs us, having struck one of two whales, a male and a female, that were in company together, the wounded fish made a long and terrible resistance; it struck down a boat with three men in it, with a single blow of its tail, by which all went to the bottom. the other still attended its companion, and lent it every assistance; till, at last, the fish that was struck sunk under the number of its wounds; while its faithful associate, disdaining to survive the loss, with great bellowing stretched itself upon the dead fish, and shared its fate. inoffensive as the whale is, it is not without enemies. there is a small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the whale-louse, that sticks to its body, as we see shells sticking to the foul bottom of a ship. this insinuates itself chiefly under the fins; and whatever efforts the great animal makes, it still keeps its hold, and lives upon the fat, which it is provided with instruments to arrive at. the sword-fish is, however, the whale's most terrible enemy. at the sight of this little animal, the whale seems agitated in an extraordinary manner, leaping from the water as if with affright, wherever it appears; the whale perceives it at a distance, and flies from it in the opposite direction. the whale has no instrument of defence except the tail; with that it endeavours to strike the enemy, and a single blow taking place would effectually destroy its adversary; but the sword-fish is as active as the other is strong, and easily avoids the stroke; then bounding into the air, it falls upon its enemy, and endeavours not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut with its toothed edges. the sea all about is soon dyed with blood, proceeding from the wounds of the whale; while the enormous animal vainly endeavours to reach its invader, and strikes with its tail against the surface of the water with impotent fury, making a report at each blow louder than the noise of a cannon. there is still another powerful enemy of this fish, which is called the oria, or killer. a number of these are said to surround the whale in the same manner as dogs get round a bull. some attack it with their teeth behind; others attempt it before; until, at last, the great animal is torn down, and its tongue is said to be the only part they devour, when they have made it their prey. but of all the enemies of these enormous fishes, man is the greatest and most formidable; he alone destroys more in a year than the rest in an age, and actually has thinned their numbers in that part of the world where they are chiefly sought. the reader will be interested in the following account of the whale fishery. as when enclosing harpooners assail, in hyperborean seas, the slumbering whale; soon as their javelins pierce the scaly side, he groans, he darts impetuous down the tide; and rack'd all o'er with lacerating pain, he flies remote beneath the flood in vain. _falconer._ whales are chiefly caught in the north sea: the largest sort are found about greenland, or spitzbergen. at the first discovery of this country, whales not being used to be disturbed, frequently came into the very bays, and were accordingly killed almost close to the shore, so that the blubber being cut off, was immediately boiled into oil on the spot. the ships, in those times, took in nothing but the pure oil and the fins, and all the business was executed in the country; by which means, a ship could bring home the product of many more whales, than she can according to the present method of conducting this trade. the fishery also was then so plentiful, that they were obliged sometimes to send other ships to fetch off the oil they had made, the quantity being more than the fishing ships could bring away. but time and change of circumstances have shifted the situation of this trade. the ships coming in great numbers from holland, denmark, hamburgh, and other northern countries, all intruders upon the english, who were the first discoverers of greenland, disturbed the whales, which gradually, as other fish often do, forsaking the place, were not to be killed so near the shore as before; but they are now found, and have been so ever since, in the openings and spaces among the ice, where they have deep water, and where they go sometimes a great many leagues from the shore. the whale fishery begins in may, and continues all june and july; but whether the ships have good or bad success, they must come away, and get clear of the ice by the end of august, so that in the month of september, at farthest, they may be expected home; but a ship that meets with a fortunate and early fishery in may, may return in june or july. [illustration: the whale fishery.--page . the engraving represents the lancing of the whale, who has already been harpooned, and is in a dying state. in his last struggles he has broken one of the whalers' boats.] the manner of taking whales at present is as follows: as soon as the fishermen hear the whale blow, they cry out, _fall! fall!_ and every ship gets out its long-boat, in each of which there are six or seven men, who row till they become pretty near the whale; then the harpooner strikes it with the harpoon: this requires great dexterity, for through the bone of his head there is no striking, but near his spout there is a soft piece of flesh, into which the iron sinks with ease. as soon as he is struck, they take care to give him rope enough, otherwise, when he goes down, as he frequently does, he would inevitably sink the boat: this rope he draws with such violence, that, if it were not well watered, it would, by its friction against the sides of the boat, be soon set on fire. the line fastened to the harpoon is six or seven fathoms long, and is called the fore-runner; it is made of the finest and softest hemp, that it may slip the easier: to this they join a heap of lines of or fathoms each, and when there are not enough in one long-boat, they borrow from another. the man at the helm observes which way the rope goes, and steers the boat accordingly, that it may run exactly out before; for the whale runs away with the line with so much rapidity, that he would overset the boat if it were not kept straight. when the whale is struck, the other long-boats row before, and observe which way the line stands, and sometimes pull it: if they feel it stiff, it is a sign the whale still pulls in strength; but if it hangs loose, and the boat lies equally high before and behind upon the water, they pull it in gently, but take care to coil it, that the whale may have it again easily, if he recovers strength: they take care, however, not to give him too much line, because he sometimes entangles it about a rock, and pulls out the harpoon. the fat whales do not sink as soon as dead, but the lean ones do, and come up some days afterwards. as long as they see whales, they lose no time in cutting up what they have taken, yet keep fishing for others: when they see no more, or have taken enough, they begin with taking off the fat and whiskers in the following manner. the whale being lashed alongside, they lay it on one side, and put two ropes, one at the head and the other in the place of the tail, (which, together with the fins, is struck off as soon as he is taken,) to keep those extremities above water. on the off-side of the whale are two boats, to receive the pieces of fat, utensils, and men, that might otherwise fall into the water on that side. these precautions being taken, three or four men, with irons at their feet to prevent slipping, get on the whale, and begin to cut out pieces of about three feet thick and eight long, which are hauled up at the capstan or windlass. when the fat is all cut off, they cut off the whiskers of the upper jaw with an axe, previously lashing them together to keep them firm, which also facilitates the cutting, and prevents them from falling into the sea; when on board, five or six of them are bundled together, and properly stowed: and after all is got off, the carcase is turned adrift, and devoured by the bears, who are very fond of it. in proportion as the large pieces of fat are cut off, the rest of the crew are employed in slicing them smaller, and picking out all the lean. when this is prepared, they stow it under the deck, where it lies till the fat of all the whales is on board; then cutting it still smaller, they put it up in tubs in the hold, cramming them very full and close. nothing now remains but to sail homewards, where the fat is to be boiled, and melted down into train oil. during the summer of , an attempt was made to kill whales with sir william congreve's rockets. the trial was conducted by william scoresby, esq. who took out with him, on board of the fame, in which he sailed, several rockets, by way of experiment. success attended his expectation; and little doubt can remain, if they continue to be skilfully applied, that the danger attending the harpoon will be nearly done away; and, consequently, this valuable branch of commerce will be essentially benefited by the discovery. we shall conclude this short sketch of some of the curiosities respecting fishes, with an account of the kraken.--this is a most amazingly large sea animal, said to be seemingly of a crab-like form; the credit of whose existence rests upon the evidence produced by bishop pontoppidan, in his natural history of norway. "our fishermen (says the author) unanimously and invariably affirm, that, when they are several miles from the land, particularly in the hot summer days, and, by their distance, and the bearings of some points of land, expect from eighty to a hundred fathoms depth, and do not find but from twenty to thirty,--and especially if they find a more than usual plenty of cod and ling,--they judge the kraken to be at the bottom: but if they find by their lines that the water in the same place still shallows on them, they know he is rising to the surface, and row off with the greatest expedition till they come into the usual soundings of the place; when, lying on their oars, in a few minutes the monster emerges, and shews himself sufficiently, though the whole body does not appear. its back or upper part, which seems an english mile and a half in circumference, (some have affirmed, considerably more than this,) looks at first like a number of small islands, surrounded with something that floats like sea-weeds; at last several bright points of horns appear, which grow thicker the higher they emerge, and sometimes stand up as high and large as the masts of middle-sized vessels. in a short time it slowly sinks, which is thought as dangerous as its rising; as it causes such a swell and whirlpool as draws every thing down with it, like that of maelstrom." the bishop justly regrets the omission of probably the only opportunity that ever has or may be presented of surveying it alive, or seeing it entire when dead. this, he informs us, once did occur, on the credit of the rev. mr. früs, minister at nordland, and vicar of the college for promoting christian knowledge; who informed him, that in , a kraken (perhaps a young and careless one, as they generally keep several leagues from land) came into the waters that run between the rocks and cliffs near alstahong; where, in turning about, some of its long horns caught hold of some adjoining trees, which it might easily have torn up, but that it was also entangled in some clefts of the rocks, whence it could not extricate itself, but putrefied on the spot. our author has heard of no person destroyed by this monster; but he relates a report of the danger of two fishermen, who came upon a part of the water full of the creature's thick slimy excrements, (which he voids for some months, as he feeds for some other;) they immediately strove to row off, but were not quick enough in turning to save the boat from one of the kraken's horns, which so crushed the head of it, that it was with difficulty they saved their lives on the wreck, though the weather was perfectly calm, the monster never appearing at other times. his excrement is said to be attractive of other fish on which he feeds; which expedient was probably necessary, on account of his slow unwieldy motion, to his subsistence; as this slow motion again may be necessary to the security of ships of the greatest force and burden, which must be overwhelmed on encountering such an immense animal, if his velocity were equal to his weight; the norwegians supposing, that if his arms, on which he moves, and with which he takes his food, were to lay hold of the largest man of war, they would pull it down to the bottom. in confirmation of the reality of this animal, our learned author cites debes's description of faroe, for the existence of certain islands, which suddenly appear and as suddenly vanish. many seafaring people, he adds, give accounts of such, particularly in the north sea; which their superstition has either attributed to the delusion of the devil, or considered as inhabited by evil spirits. but our honest historian, who is not for wronging even the devil himself, supposes such mistaken islands to be nothing but the kraken, called by some the _soe trolden_, or sea-mischief; in which opinion he was greatly confirmed by the following quotation of dr. hierne, a learned swede, from baron grippenheilm; and which is certainly a very remarkable passage, viz. "among the rocks about stockholm, there is sometimes seen a tract of land, which at other times disappears, and is seen again in another place. buræus has placed it as an island, in his map. the peasants, who call it _gummars-ore_, say, that it is not always seen, and that it lies out in the open sea; but i could never find it. one sunday, when i was out amongst the rocks, sounding the coast, it happened, that in one place i saw something like three points of land in the sea, which surprised me a little, and i thought i had inadvertently passed them over before. upon this, i called to a peasant, to inquire for gummars-ore; but when he came, we could see nothing of it; upon which, the peasant said, all was well, and that this prognosticated a storm, or a great quantity of fish." to which our author subjoins, "who cannot discover that this gummars-ore, with its points and prognostications of fish, was the kraken, mistaken by buræus for an island, which may keep itself about that spot where he rises?" he takes the kraken, doubtless, from his numerous tentaculi, which serve him as feet, to be of the polypus kind; and the contemplation of its enormous bulk led him to adapt a passage from ecclesiasticus, xliii. , . to it. whether by it may be intended the "dragon that is in the sea," mentioned isaiah xxvii. . we refer to the conjecture of the reader. after paying but a just respect to the moral character, the reverend function, and diligent investigations, of our author, we must admit the possibility of its existence, as it implies no contradiction; though it seems to encounter a general prepossession of the whale's being the largest animal on or in our globe, and the eradication of any long prepossession is attended with something irksome to us. but were we to suppose a salmon or a sturgeon the largest fish any number of persons had seen or heard of, and the whale had discovered himself as seldom, and but in part, as the kraken, it is easy to conceive that the existence of the whale had been as indigestible to such persons then, as that of the kraken may be to others now. some may incline to think such an extensive monster would encroach on the symmetry of nature, and would be over proportionate to the size of the globe itself; as a little calculation will inform us, that the breadth of what is seen of him, supposing him nearly round, must be full feet, (if more oval, or crab-like, full feet,) and his thickness, which may rather be called altitude, at least feet; our author declaring he has chosen the least circumference mentioned of this animal, for the greater certainty. these vast dimensions, nevertheless, we apprehend will not argue conclusively against the existence of the animal, though considerably against a numerous increase or propagation of it. in fact, the great scarcity of the kraken, his confinement to the north sea, and perhaps to equal latitudes in the south; the small number propagated by the whale, which is viviparous; and by the largest land animals, of which the elephant is said to go nearly two years with young; all induce us to conclude, from analogy, that this creature is not numerous; which coincides with a passage in a manuscript ascribed to svere, king of norway, and it is cited by ol. wormius, in his museum, p. , in latin, which we shall exactly translate:-- "there remains one kind, which they call hasgufe, whose magnitude is unknown, as it is seldom seen. those who affirm they have seen its body, declare, it is more like an island than a beast, and that its carcase was never found; whence some imagine that there are but two of the kind in nature." whether the vanishing island lemair, of which captain rodney went in search, was a kraken, we submit to the fancy of our readers. in fine, if the existence of the creature is admitted, it will seem a fair inference, that he is the scarcest as well as the largest in our world; and that if there are larger in the universe, they probably inhabit some sphere or planet more extended than our own, and such we have no pretence to limit; but that fiction can devise a much greater than this, is evident from the cock of mahomet, and the whale in the bava bathra of the talmud, which were intended to be credited; and to either of which, our kraken is a very shrimp in dimensions. we conclude this account in the words of goldsmith: "to believe all that has been said of these animals, would be too credulous; and to reject the possibility of their existence, would be a presumption unbecoming mankind." chap. xviii. curiosities respecting serpents and worms. _the scorpion--the boa constrictor--the american sea serpent-- fascinating serpents--the caterpillar--caterpillar-eaters--the silk-worm--the tape-worm--the ship-worm--the lizard imbedded in coal._ the scorpion. their flaming crests above the waves they shew, their bellies seem to burn the seas below; their speckled tails advance to steer their course, and on the sounding shore the flying billows force. and now the strand and now the plain they held; their ardent eyes with bloody streaks are fill'd; their nimble tongues they brandish'd as they came, and lick'd their hissing jaws that sputter'd flame. _dryden._ of all the classes of noxious insects, the scorpion is the most terrible. its shape is hideous; its size among the insects is enormous; and its sting is generally fatal. happily for britain, the scorpion is entirely unknown among us. in several parts of the continent of europe, it is too well known, though it seldom grows above four inches long; but in the warm tropical climates, it is seen a foot in length, and in every respect as large as a lobster, which it somewhat resembles in shape. there have been enumerated nine different kinds of this dangerous insect, including species and varieties, chiefly distinguished by their colour; there being scorpions yellow, brown, and ash-coloured; others that are the colour of rusty iron, green, pale yellow, black, claret colour, white, and gray. there are four principal parts distinguishable in this creature; the head, the breast, the belly, and the tail. the scorpion's head seems, as it were, jointed to the breast, in the middle of which are seen two eyes; and a little more forward, two eyes more, placed in the fore part of the head; these eyes are so small, that they are scarcely perceivable, and it is probable the creature has but little occasion for them. the mouth is furnished with two jaws; the undermost is divided into two, and the parts notched into each other, which serve the creature as teeth, and with which it breaks its food, and thrusts it into its mouth; these the scorpion can at pleasure pull back into its mouth, so that no part of them can be seen. on each side of the head are two arms, each composed of four joints; the last of which is large, with strong muscles, and made in the manner of the claw of a lobster. below the breast are eight articulated legs, each divided into six joints; the two hindmost of which are each provided with two crooked claws, here and there covered with hair. the belly is divided into seven little rings; from the lowest of which is continued a tail, composed of six joints, which are bristly, and formed like little globes; the last being armed with a crooked sting. this is that fatal instrument which renders this insect so formidable; it is long, pointed, hard, and hollow; it is pierced near the base with two small holes, through which, when the creature stings, it ejects a drop of poison, which is white, caustic, and fatal. the reservoir in which this poison is kept, is a small bladder near the tail, into which the venom is distilled by a peculiar apparatus. if this bladder be greatly pressed, the venom will be seen issuing out through the two holes above mentioned; it therefore appears, that when the creature stings, the bladder is pressed, and the venom issues through the two apertures into the wound. there are few animals more formidable, or more truly mischievous, than the scorpion. as it takes refuge in a small place, and is generally found sheltering in houses, it must frequently sting those among whom it resides. in some of the towns of italy, and in france, in the ci-devant province of languedoc, it is one of the greatest pests that torment mankind; but its malignity in europe is trifling, when compared to what the natives of africa and the east are known to experience. in batavia, where they grow twelve inches long, there is no removing any piece of furniture without the utmost danger of being stung by them. bosman assures us, that along the gold coast they are often found larger than a lobster, and that their sting is inevitably fatal. in europe, however, they are by no means so large, so venomous, or so numerous. the general size of this animal does not exceed two or three inches, and its sting is very seldom fatal. no animal in the creation seems endued with such an irascible nature; they have often been seen, when taken and put into a place of security, to exert all their rage against the sides of the glass vessel that contained them. they will attempt to sting a stick when put near them, and attack a mouse or a frog, while these animals are far from offering any injury. maupertuis put three scorpions and a mouse into the same vessel together, and they soon stung the little animal in different places. the mouse, thus assaulted, stood for some time upon the defensive, and at last killed them all, one after another. he tried these experiments, in order to see whether the mouse, after it had killed, would eat the scorpions; but the little quadruped seemed satisfied with the victory, and even survived the severity of the wounds it had received. wolkemar tried the courage of the scorpion against the large spider, and inclosed several of both kinds in glass vessels for that purpose. the success of this combat was very remarkable. the spider at first used all his efforts to entangle the scorpion in his web, which it immediately began spinning; but the scorpion rescued itself from the danger, by stinging its adversary to death; and soon after cut off, with its claws, all the legs of the spider, and then sucked all the internal parts at its leisure. if the scorpion's skin had not been so hard, wolkemar is of opinion that the spider would have obtained the victory; for he had often seen one of these spiders destroy a toad. the fierce spirit of this animal is equally dangerous to its own species, for scorpions are the cruellest enemies to each other. maupertuis put about a hundred of them together in the same glass; and they scarcely came in contact before they began to exert all their rage in mutual destruction: there was nothing to be seen but one universal carnage, without any distinction of age or sex; so that in a few days there remained only fourteen, which had killed and devoured all the rest. but their unnatural malignity is still more apparent, in their cruelty to their offspring. he inclosed a female scorpion, big with young, in a glass vessel, and she was seen to devour them as fast as they were excluded; there was but one of the number that escaped the general destruction, by taking refuge on the back of its parent; and this soon after revenged the cause of its brethren, by killing the old one in its turn. such is the terrible and unrelenting nature of this insect, that it is asserted, when driven to an extremity, that the scorpion will even destroy itself. the following experiment was ineffectually tried by maupertuis: "but (says mr. goldsmith) i am so well assured of it by many eye-witnesses, who have seen it both in italy and america, that i have no doubt remaining of its veracity. a scorpion newly caught is placed in the midst of a circle of burning charcoal, and thus an egress prevented on every side; the scorpion, as i am assured, runs about a minute round the circle, in hopes of escaping, but finding that impossible, it stings itself on the back of the head, and in this manner the undaunted suicide instantly expires." it is happy for mankind that these animals are so destructive to each other; since otherwise they would multiply in so great a degree as to render some countries uninhabitable. the male and female of this insect are very easily distinguishable; the male being smaller, and less hairy. the female brings forth her young alive, and perfect in their kind. redi having bought a quantity of scorpions, selected their females, and, putting them in separate glass vessels, kept them for some days without food. in about five days one of them brought forth thirty-eight young ones, well shaped, and of a milk-white colour, which changed every day more and more into a dark rusty hue. another female, in a different vessel, brought forth twenty-seven of the same colour; and the day following, the young ones seemed all fixed to the back and belly of the female. for near a fortnight all these continued alive and well, but afterwards some of them died daily; until, in about a month, they all died, except two. were it worth the trouble, these animals might be kept living as long as curiosity should think proper. their chief food is worms and insects; and upon a proper supply of these, their lives might be lengthened to their natural extent: how long that may be we are not told; but, if we may argue from analogy, it cannot be less than seven or eight years, and perhaps, in the larger kind, double that duration. as they have somewhat the form of a lobster, so they resemble that animal in casting their shell; or, more properly, their skin, since it is softer by far than the covering of the lobster, and set with hairs, which grow from it in great abundance, particularly at the joinings. the young, prior to their birth, lie each covered up in its own membrane to the number of forty or fifty, and united to each other by an oblong thread, so as to exhibit altogether the form of a chaplet. such is the manner in which the common scorpion produces its young; but there is a scorpion of america, produced from the egg, in the manner of the spider. the eggs are no larger than pin's points; and they are deposited in a web, which they spin from their bodies, and carry about with them till they are hatched. as soon as the young ones are excluded from the shell, they get upon the back of the parent, who turns her tail over them, and defends them with her sting. it seems probable, therefore, that captivity produces that unnatural disposition in the scorpion, which induces it to destroy its young; since, at liberty, it is found to protect them with such unceasing assiduity. another subject of curiosity belonging to this class, is, the boa constrictor.--a serpent very remarkable for its vast size; some of the principal species of which are met with in india, africa, and south america, and have been seen between thirty and forty feet long, possessed of so much strength as to be able to kill cattle by twisting around them, and crushing them to death by pressure, after which they devour them, eating till they are almost unable to move; and in that state they may be easily shot. dr. shaw observes, that these gigantic serpents are become less common, in proportion to the increased population of the parts where they are found; they are, however, still to be seen, and they will approach the abodes of man in the vicinity of their residence. this species is beautifully variegated with rhombic spots; the belly is whitish; it is of vast strength, and from thirty to thirty-six feet long. with respect to age, sex, and climate, it is subject to great variations. it is supposed that an individual of this species once diffused terror and dismay through a whole roman army; a fact alluded to by livy in one of the books that have not come to us, but which is quoted by valerius maximus, in words to the following effect: "since we are on the subject of uncommon phenomena, we may here mention the serpent so eloquently recorded by livy, who says, that near the river bagrada, in africa, a snake was seen of such enormous magnitude, as to prevent the army of attilius regulus from the use of the river; and after snatching up several soldiers with its enormous mouth, and devouring them, and killing several more by striking and squeezing them with the spires of its tail, it was at length destroyed by assailing it with all the force of military engines and showers of stones, after it had withstood the attack of their spears and darts; that it was regarded by the whole army as a more formidable enemy than even carthage itself; and that the whole adjacent region being tainted with the pestilential effluvia proceeding from its remains, and the waters with its blood, the roman army was obliged to remove its station. the skin of the monster was feet long, and was sent to rome as a trophy." another account says, that "it caused so much trouble to regulus, that he found it necessary to contest the possession of the river with it, by employing the whole force of the army, during which a considerable number of soldiers were lost, while the serpent could neither be vanquished nor wounded; the strong armour of its scales easily repelling the force of all the weapons that were directed against it: upon which recourse was had to battering engines, with which the animal was attacked in the manner of a fortified tower, and was thus at length overpowered. several discharges were made against it without success, till its back being broken by an immense stone, the monster began to lose its powers, and was with difficulty destroyed, after having diffused such a horror among the army, that they confessed they would rather attack carthage itself, than such another monster." the flesh of the serpent is eaten by the indians and negroes of africa, and they make its skin into garments. the following account of the american sea serpent, is given in the words of an eye-witness:--"i, the undersigned joseph woodward, captain of the adamant schooner, of hingham, being on my rout from penobscot to hingham, steering w. n. w., and being about ten leagues from the coast, perceived, last sunday, at two p. m. something on the surface of the water, which seemed to me to be of the size of a large boat. supposing that it might be part of the wreck of a ship, i approached; but when i was within a few fathoms of it, it appeared, to my great surprise, and that of my whole crew, that it was a monstrous serpent. when i approached nearer, it coiled itself up, instantly uncoiling itself again, and withdrew with extreme rapidity. on my approaching again, it coiled itself up a second time, and placed itself at the distance of sixty feet at most, from the bow of the ship. "i had one of my guns loaded with a cannon ball and musket bullets. i fired it at the head of the monster; my crew and myself distinctly heard the ball and bullets strike against the body, from which they rebounded, as if they had struck against a rock. the serpent shook his head and tail in an extraordinary manner, and advanced toward the ship with open jaws. i had caused the cannon to be reloaded, and pointed it at his throat; but he had come so near, that all the crew were seized with terror, and we thought only of getting out of his way. he almost touched the vessel, and had not i tacked as i did, he would certainly have come on board. he dived; but in a moment we saw him appear again, with his head on one side of the vessel, and his tail on the other, as if he was going to lift us up and upset us. however, we did not feel any shock. he remained five hours near us, only going backward and forward. "the fears with which he at first inspired us having subsided, we were able to examine him attentively. i estimate, that his length is at least twice that of my schooner, that is to say, feet; his head is full twelve or fourteen; the diameter of the body below the neck, is not less than six feet; the size of the head is in proportion to that of the body. he is of a blackish colour, his ear-holes, (ornes,) are about twelve feet from the extremity of his head. in short, the whole has a terrible look. when he coils himself up, he places his tail in such a manner, that it aids him in darting forward with great force: he moves in all directions with the greatest facility and astonishing rapidity. (signed,) "joseph woodward." "_hingham_, may , ." this declaration is attested by peter holmes and john mayo, who made affidavit of the truth of it before a justice of peace. on the fascinating power of serpents.--major alexander garden, of south carolina, has, in a paper read to the new york historical society, attributed the supposed power of fascination possessed by serpents, to a vapour which they can spread around them, and to objects at a little distance, at pleasure. he first reduces the exaggerated idea which has been entertained of this power, and then adduces instances of the effect of a sickening and stupifying vapour, perceived to issue from the animal. a negro is mentioned, who, from a very peculiar acuteness in smell, could discover the rattlesnake at a distance of two hundred feet, when in the exercise of this power; and on following this indication, always found some animal suffering from its influence. we shall now give some curiosities respecting worms; and first, of the caterpillar.--the larvæ of butterflies are universally known by the name of caterpillars, and are extremely various in their forms and colours, some being smooth, others beset with either simple or ramified spines, and some are observed to protrude from their front, when disturbed, a pair of short tentacula, or feelers, somewhat analogous to those of a snail. a caterpillar, when grown to its full size, retires to some convenient spot, and, securing itself properly by a small quantity of silken filaments, either suspends itself by the tail, hanging with its head downwards, or else in an upright position, with the body fastened round the middle by a number of filaments. it then casts off the caterpillar-skin, and commences chrysalis, in which state it continues till the butterfly is ready for birth, which, liberating itself from the skin of the chrysalis, remains till its wings, which are at first short, weak, and covered with moisture, are fully extended; this happens in about a quarter of an hour, when the animal suddenly quits the state of inactivity to which it had been so long confined, and becomes at pleasure an inhabitant of the air. it will now be proper to give some account of the caterpillar-eaters.--caterpillar-eaters are a species of worms bred in the body of the caterpillar, and which eat its flesh. these are produced by a certain kind of fly, that lodges her eggs in the body of this insect; and they, after their proper changes, become flies like their parents. mr. reaumur has given us, in his history of insects, some very curious particulars respecting these little worms. each of them spins itself a very beautiful case, of a cylindric figure, of a very strong sort of silk, in which this animal spends its state of chrysalis; and they have a mark by which they may be known from all other animal productions of this kind, which is, that they have always a broad stripe or band surrounding their middle, which is black when the rest of the case is white, and white when that is black. mr. reaumur has had the patience to find out the reason of this singularity. the whole shell is spun of a silk produced out of the creature's body; this at first runs all white, and towards the end of the spinning turns black. the outside of the case must necessarily be formed first, as the creature works from within; consequently this is truly white all over, but it is transparent, and shews the last spun, or black silk, through it. it might be supposed that the whole inside of the shell should be black; but this is not the case: the whole is fashioned before this black silk comes; and this is employed by the creature, not to line the whole, but to fortify certain parts only; and therefore is all applied either to the middle,--or to the two ends, omitting the middle,--or a blackness at both ends, leaving the white in the middle to appear. it is not uncommon to find a sort of small cases, in garden walks, which appear to move of themselves; when these are opened, they are found to contain a small living worm. this is one of the species of these caterpillar-eaters; which, as soon as it comes out of the body of that animal, spins itself a case for its transformation, and lives in it without food till that change comes on, when it becomes a fly, like that to which it owed its birth. in the next place we shall introduce a subject of great curiosity, well known by the name of the silk-worm.--the silk-worm is a species of caterpillar, and, like it, is formed of several moveable rings, and is well furnished with feet and claws, to rest and fix itself where it pleases. it has two rows of teeth, which do not move upwards and downwards, but from right to left, which enables it to press, cut, and tear the leaves in every direction. along the whole length of its back we perceive through its skin a vessel which performs the functions of a heart. on each side of this insect are nine orifices, which answer to as many lungs, and assist the circulation of the chyle, or nutritive juice. under the mouth it has a kind of reel with two holes, through which pass two drops of the gum with which its bag is filled; they act like two distaffs, continually furnishing it with the materials of which it makes its silk. the gum which distils through the two holes takes their form, lengthens into a double thread, which suddenly loses the fluidity of the liquid gum, and acquires the consistence necessary to support or to envelope the worm. when that time arrives, it joins the two threads together, by gluing them one over the other with its fore feet. this double thread is not only very fine, but also very strong, and of great length. each bag has a thread which is nearly five hundred ells long; and as this thread is double, and joined together throughout its length, each bag will be found to contain a thousand ells of silk, though the whole weight does not exceed two grains and a half. the life of this insect in its vermiform state is very short, and it passes through different states till it gradually arrives at its greatest degree of perfection. when it first emerges from the egg, it is extremely small, perfectly black, and its head of a still brighter black than the rest of its body: in a few days it begins to grow white, or of an ash colour; its coat becomes dirty and ruffled; it casts it off, and appears in a new dress; it becomes larger and much whiter, though a little tinged with green, from feeding upon green leaves. after a few more days (the length of time varying according to the degree of heat and quality of its nourishment) it ceases to eat, and sleeps for about two days; it then agitates and frets itself extremely, becoming red with the efforts it makes; its skin wrinkles and shrivels up, and it throws it off a second time, together with its feet. within the space of three weeks or a month, we see it fresh dressed three times. it now begins to eat again, and might be taken for a different creature, so much is the appearance of its head, colour, and figure, altered. after continuing to eat for some days, it falls again into a lethargic state; on recovering from which, it once more changes its coat, which makes the third since it issued from its shell. it continues to eat for some time, then, entirely ceasing to take any nutriment, prepares for itself a retreat, and draws out a silken thread, which it wraps round its body in the same manner as we might wind thread round an oval piece of wood. it remains quietly in the bag it has formed, and at the end of fifteen days would pierce it, to issue forth, if it was not killed by being exposed to the heat of the sun, or shut up in an oven. the silk-bags are thrown into hot water, and stirred about with birch twigs to draw out the heads or beginning of the threads, and the silk is afterwards wound upon reels made for the purpose. thus we are indebted to this little insect for our greatest luxury in clothing: a reflection which ought to humble our pride; for how can we be vain of the silk which covers us, when we reflect to what we are indebted for it, and how little we are instrumental in the formation of those beauties in our clothing, of which we are vain? thus we find the most insignificant and despicable objects are the instruments of ornament and advantage to man; an insect that we scarcely condescended to look at, becomes a blessing to thousands of human beings, forms an important article of trade, and is the source of great riches. our next subject is, the tape-worm.--this genus of worms is destined to feed on the juices of various animals, and they inhabit the internal parts of almost every species of living beings. the structure and physiology of the tænia are curious, and it may be amusing as well as instructive to consider it with attention. the tænia appears destined to feed upon such juices of animals as are already animalized; and it is therefore most commonly found in the alimentary canal, and in the upper part, where there is the greatest abundance of chyle, for chyle seems to be the natural food of the tænia. as it is thus supported by food which is already digested, it is destitute of the complicated organs of digestion. as the tænia solium is most frequent in this country, it may be proper to describe it more particularly. it is from three to thirty feet long; some say sixty feet. it is composed of a head, in which are a mouth adapted to drink up fluids, and an apparatus for giving the head a fixed situation. the body is composed of a great number of distinct pieces articulated together, each joint having an organ by which it attaches itself to the neighbouring part of the inner court of the intestine. the joints nearest the head are always small, and they become gradually enlarged as they are farther removed from it; but towards the tail a few of the last joints again become diminished in size. the extremity of the body is terminated by a small semicircular joint, which has no opening in it. the head of this animal is composed of the same kind of materials as the other parts of its body; it has a rounded opening at its extremity, which is considered to be its mouth. this opening is continued by a short duct into two canals; these canals pass round every joint of the animal's body, and convey the aliment. surrounding the opening of the mouth, are placed a number of projecting radii, which are of a fibrous texture, and whose direction is longitudinal. these radii appear to serve the purpose of tentacula, for fixing the orifice of the mouth, from their being inserted along the brim of that opening. after the rounded extremity or head has been narrowed into the neck, the lower part becomes flatted, and has two small tubercles placed on each flatted side; the tubercles are concave in the middle, and appear destined to serve the purpose of suckers, for attaching the head more effectually. the internal structure of the joints composing the body of this animal is partly vascular and partly cellular; the substance itself is white, and somewhat resembles in its texture the coagulated lymph of the human blood. the alimentary canal passes along each side of the animal, sending a cross canal over the bottom of each joint, which connects the two lateral canals together. mr. carlisle injected, with a coloured size, at a single push with a small syringe, three feet in length of these canals, in the direction from the mouth downwards. he tried the injection the contrary way, but it seemed to be stopped with valves. the alimentary canal is impervious at the extreme joint, where it terminates without any opening analogous to an anus. each joint has a vascular joint occupying the middle part, which is composed of a longitudinal canal, from which a great number of lateral canals branch off at right angles. these canals contain a fluid like milk. the tænia seems to be one of the simplest vascular animals in nature. the way in which it is nourished is singular; the food being taken in by the mouth, passes into the alimentary canal, and is thus made to visit in a general way the different parts of the animal. as it has no excretory ducts, it would appear that the whole of its alimentary fluid is fit for nourishment; the decayed parts probably dissolve into a fluid, which transudes through the skin, which is extremely porous. this animal has nothing resembling a brain or nerves, and seems to have no organs of sense, but those of touch. it is most probably propagated by ova, which may easily pass along the circulating vessels of other animals. we cannot otherwise explain the phenomena of worms being found in the eggs of fowls, and in the intestines of a foetus before birth, except by supposing their ova to have passed through the circulating vessels of the mother, and by this means to have been conveyed to the foetus. the chance of an ovum being placed in a situation where it will be hatched, and the young find convenient subsistence, must be very small; hence the necessity for their being very prolific. if they had the same powers of fecundity which they now possess, and their ova were afterwards very readily hatched, then the multiplication of these animals would be immense, and become a nuisance to the other parts of the creation. another mode of increase allowed to tænia, (if we may call it increase,) is by an addition to the number of their joints. if we consider the individual joints as distinct beings, it is so; and when we reflect upon the power of individuality given to each joint, it makes this conjecture the more probable. we can hardly suppose that an ovum of a tænia, which at its full growth is thirty feet long, and composed of four hundred joints, contained a young tænia composed of this number of pieces; but we have seen young tænia not half a foot long, and not possessed of fifty joints, which still were entire worms. we have also many reasons to believe, that when a part of this animal is broken off from the rest, it is capable of forming a head for itself, and of becoming an independent being. the simple construction of the head makes its regeneration a much more easy operation than that of the tails and feet of lizards, which are composed of bones and complicated vessels; but this last operation has been proved by the experiments of spallanzani, and many other naturalists. an article of great curiosity is, the ship-worm.--this worm has a very slender, smooth, cylindrical shell; it inhabits the indian seas, whence it was imported into europe. it penetrates easily into the stoutest oak planks, and produces dreadful destruction to the ships, by the holes it makes in their sides: and it is to avoid the effects of this insect that vessels require sheathing. the head of this creature is coated with a strong armour, and furnished with a mouth like that of the leech. a little above this it has two horns, which seem a kind of continuation of the shell; the neck is furnished with several strong muscles; the rest of the body is only covered by a very thin transparent skin, through which the motion of the intestines is plainly seen by the naked eye. this creature is wonderfully minute when newly excluded from the egg, but it grows to the length of four or six inches, and sometimes more. when the bottom of a vessel, or any piece of wood which is constantly under water, is inhabited by these worms, it is full of small holes; but no damage appears till the outer parts are cut away. then their shelly habitations come into view, in which there is a large space for inclosing the animal, and surrounding it with water. there is an evident care in these creatures never to injure each other's habitations; by which means each case or shell is preserved entire. these worms will appear, on a very little consideration, to be most important beings in the great chain of creation, and pleasing demonstrations of the infinitely wise and gracious power, which formed, and still preserves the whole, in such wonderful order and beauty; for if it were not for the rapacity of these and such animals, tropical rivers, and indeed the ocean itself, would be choked with the bodies of trees which are annually carried down by the rapid torrents, as many of them would last for ages, and probably be productive of evils, of which, happily, we cannot in the present state of things form any idea; whereas, being consumed by these animals, they are more easily broken in pieces by the waves; and the fragments which are not devoured become specifically lighter, and are consequently more readily and more effectually thrown on shore, where the sun, wind, insects, and various other instruments, speedily promote their entire dissolution. we shall conclude this chapter with an account of a singular curiosity that was found in a colliery. it is a living lizard, imbedded in coal.--this animal, preserved in spirits, is now in the possession of mr. james scholes, engineer to mr. fenton's colliery, near wakefield. it is about five inches long; its back of a dark brown colour, and it appears rough and scaly; its sides are of a lighter colour, and spotted with yellow; the belly yellow, streaked with bands of the same colour as the back. mr. s. related to me the following circumstances of its being found. in august last, they were sinking a new pit or shaft, and after passing through measures of stone, gray-bind, and blue stone, and some thin beds of coal, to the depth of one hundred and fifty yards, they came upon that intended to be worked, which is about four feet thick. when they had excavated about three inches of it, one of the miners (as he supposed) struck his pick, or mattock, into a crevice, and shattered the coal around into small pieces; he then discovered the animal in question, and immediately carried it to mr. s.: it continued very brisk and lively for about ten minutes, then drooped and died. about four inches above the coal in which the animal was found, numbers of muscle-shells, in a fossil state, lay scattered in a loose gray earth. chap. xix. curiosities respecting birds. _the common peacock--the egyptian vulture--the secretary vulture--the stork--the great pelican--the bird of paradise--the ostrich--the mocking-bird of america--the social grosbeak--the bengal grosbeak--the humming-bird--the golden eagle._ the peacock. how rich the peacock! what bright glories run from plume to plume, and vary in the sun! he proudly spreads them to the golden ray, and gives his colours to adorn the day; with conscious state the spacious round displays, and slowly moves amid the waving blaze. _young._ this very beautiful and interesting bird has a compressed crest and solitary spurs. it is about the size of a turkey; the length from the top of the bill to the end of the tail being three feet eight inches. the bill is nearly two inches long, and is of a brown colour. the irides are yellow. on the crown there is a sort of crest, composed of twenty-four feathers, not webbed, except at the ends, which are gilded green. the shafts are of a whitish colour; and the head, neck, and breast, are of a green gold colour. over the eye there is a streak of white, and beneath there is the same. the back and rump are of a green gold colour, glossed over with copper; the feathers are distinct, and lie over each other like shells. above the tail springs an inimitable set of long beautiful feathers, adorned with a variegated eye at the end of each; these reach considerably beyond the tail, and the longest of them in many birds are four feet and a half long. this beautiful train, or tail, as it is improperly called, may be expanded in the manner of a fan, at the will of the bird. the true tail is hid beneath this group of feathers, and consists of eighteen gray-brown feathers, one foot and a half long, marked on the sides with rufous gray; the scapulars, and lesser wing coverts, are reddish cream colour, variegated with black; the middle coverts deep blue, glossed with green gold; the greatest and bastard wing, rufous; the quills are also rufous, some of them variegated with rufous, blackish, and green; the belly and vent are greenish black, the thighs yellowish, the legs stout, those of the male furnished with a strong spur, three-quarters of an inch in length, the colour of which is gray-brown. these birds, now so common in europe, are of eastern origin. they are found wild in the islands of ceylon and java, in the east indies; and at st. helena, barbuda, and other west india islands. they are not natural to china; but they are found in many places in asia and africa. they are, however, no where so large or so fine as in india, in the neighbourhood of the ganges, whence they have spread into all parts, increasing in a wild state in the warmer climates, but requiring care in the colder regions. in ours, this species does not come to its full plumage till the third year. the female lays five or six grayish white eggs; in hot climates twenty, the size of those of a turkey. these, if let alone, she lays in some secret place, at distance from the usual resort, to prevent their being broken by the male, which he is apt to do if he find them. the time of sitting is from twenty-seven to thirty days. the young may be fed with curds, chopped leeks, barley-meal, &c. moistened; and they are fond of grasshoppers, and some other insects. in five or six months they will feed as the old ones, on wheat and barley, with what else they can pick up in the circuit of their confinement. they seem to prefer the most elevated places to roost on during the night; such as high trees, tops of houses, and the like. their cry is loud and inharmonious,--a perfect contrast to their external beauty. they are caught in india, by carrying lights to the trees where they roost, and having painted representations of the bird presented to them at the same time; when they put out the neck to look at the figure, the sportsman slips a noose over the head, and secures his game. in most ages they have been esteemed a salutary food. hortensius gave the example at rome, where it was counted the highest luxury, and sold dear, and a young peacock is thought a dainty, even in the present times. the life of these birds is reckoned by some at about twenty-five years; by others a hundred. so beautiful a species of birds as the peacock could not long remain unknown: so early as the days of solomon, we find, among the articles imported in his tarshish navies, apes and peacocks. Ælian relates, that they were brought into greece from some barbarous country; and that they were held in such high esteem, that a male and female were valued at athens at drachmæ, or £ . s. d. at samos they were preserved about the temple of juno, being sacred to that goddess; and gellius, in his _noctes atticæ_, c. xvi. commends the excellency of the samian peacocks. when alexander was in india, he found vast numbers of wild ones on the banks of the hyarotis; and was so struck with their beauty, as to appoint a severe punishment on any person that killed them. peacocks' crests, in ancient times, were among the ornaments of the kings of england. ernald de aclent was fined to king john in one hundred and forty palfreys, with sackbuts, lorams, gilt spurs, and peacocks' crests, such as would be for his credit. we shall now introduce the egyptian vulture.--the appearance of this bird is as horrid as can well be imagined. the face is naked and wrinkled; the eyes are large and black; the beak black and hooked; the talons large, and extended, ready for prey; and the whole body polluted with filth: these are qualities enough to make the beholder shudder with horror. notwithstanding this, the inhabitants of egypt cannot be thankful enough to providence for this bird. all the places round cairo are filled with the dead bodies of asses and camels, and thousands of these birds fly about and devour the carcases before they putrefy, and fill the air with noxious exhalations. the inhabitants of egypt say, (and after them maillet, in his description of egypt,) that they yearly follow the caravan to mecca, and devour the filth of the slaughtered beasts, and the carcases of the camels which die on the journey. they do not fly high, nor are they afraid of men. if one of them is killed, all the rest surround it in the same manner as do the royston crows; they do not quit the places they frequent, though frightened by the explosion of a gun, but immediately return. the secretary vulture.--this is a most singular species, being particularly remarkable from the great length of its legs, which at first sight would induce us to think it belonged to waders: but the characters of the vulture are so strongly marked throughout, as to leave no doubt to which class it belongs. this bird, when standing erect, is full three feet from the top of the head to the ground. the bill is black, sharp, and crooked, like that of an eagle; the head, neck, breast, and upper parts of the body, are of a bluish ash-colour; the legs are very long, stouter than those of a heron, and of a brown colour; claws shortish, but crooked, not very sharp, and of a black colour. from behind the head spring a number of long feathers, which hang loose behind, like a pendent crest; these feathers rise by pairs, and are longer as they are lower down on the neck; this crest, the bird can erect or depress at pleasure; it is of a dark colour, almost black; the webs are equal on both sides, and rather curled, and the feathers, when erected, somewhat incline towards the neck; the two middle feathers of the tail are twice as long as any of the rest. this singular species inhabits the internal parts of africa, and is frequently seen at the cape of good hope. it is also met with in the philippine islands. as to the manners of this bird, it is on all hands allowed that it principally feeds on rats, lizards, snakes, and the like; and that it will become familiar; whence sonnerat is of opinion, that it might be made useful in some of our colonies, if encouraged, towards the destruction of those pests. they call it at the cape of good hope, _flang-eater_, i. e. snake-eater. a great peculiarity belongs to it, perhaps observed in no other, which is, the faculty of striking forwards with its legs, never backwards. dr. solander saw one of these birds take up a snake, small tortoise, or such like, in its claws; when, dashing it against the ground with great violence, if the victim were not killed at first, it repeated the operation till that end was answered; after which it ate it up quietly. dr. j. r. forster mentioned a further circumstance, which he says was supposed to be peculiar to this bird,--that should it by any accident break the leg, the bone would never unite again. the curious reader will be interested by the following singular particulars respecting the stork.--the veneration shewn by the germans for storks, is a very remarkable superstition. the houses which these birds light upon, are considered as under the special favour of heaven. it is usual to contrive a small flat square spot on the top of the roof, for them to rest upon, and build their nests. catholic curates, as well as protestant ministers, endeavour to allure them to their churches. "i observed (says a french traveller) four or five steeples dignified by such visitors. there are people so lucky as to attract some of them into their poultry-yard, where they stalk about with the hens, but without yielding up any particle of their freedom. were any one to kill a stork, he would be pursued like an egyptian of old for killing an ibis, or for fricaseeing a cat." in a fire, by which the town of delft in holland was burnt to ashes, a stork, which had built her nest upon a chimney, strove all she could to save her little ones: she was seen spreading her wings around them, to keep off the sparks and burning embers. already the flame began to seize upon her, but, unmindful of herself, she cared only for her offspring, bemoaning their loss, and at length fell a prey to the fire, under the eyes of a sympathizing crowd; prefering death with the pledges of her love, to life without them. this interesting anecdote was celebrated by a flemish poet, who lived in , in an effusion bearing the title of the "stork of delft; or, the model of maternal love." the great pelican.--this bird is sometimes of the weight of twenty-five pounds, and of the width, between the extreme points of the wings, of fifteen feet; the skin, between the sides of the upper mandible, is extremely dilatable, reaching more than half a foot down the neck, and capable of containing many quarts of water. the skin is often used by sailors for tobacco-pouches, and has been occasionally converted into ladies' elegant work bags. about the caspian and black seas, these birds are very numerous; and they are chiefly to be found in the warmer regions, inhabiting almost every country of africa. they build in the small isles of lakes, far from the habitations of man. the nest is a foot and a half in diameter; and the female, if molested, will remove her eggs into the water till the cause of annoyance is removed, and then return them to her nest of reeds and grass. these birds, though living principally upon fish, often build in the midst of deserts, where that element is rarely to be found. they are extremely dexterous in diving for their prey, and, after having filled their pouch, will retire to some rock, and swallow what they have taken at their leisure. they are said to unite with other birds in the pursuit of fish. the pelicans dive, and drive the fish into the shallows; the cormorants assist by flapping their wings on the surface, and, forming a crescent, perpetually contracting, they at length accomplish their object, and compel vast numbers into creeks and shallows, where they gratify their voracity with perfect ease, and to the most astonishing excess. another curiosity is, the bird of paradise.--in natural history, a genus of birds of the order picæ. generic character: bill covered at the base with downy feathers; nostrils covered by the feathers; tail of ten feathers, two of them, in some species, very long; legs and feet very large and strong. these birds chiefly inhabit north guinea, whence they emigrate in the dry season to the neighbouring islands. their feathers are used in these countries as ornaments for the head-dress; and the japanese, chinese, and persians, import them for the same purpose. the rich and great among the latter attach these brilliant collections of plumage, not only to their own turbans, but to the housings and harnesses of their horses. they are found only within a few degrees of the equator. gmelin enumerates twelve species, and latham eight. _p. apoda_, or the greater paradise bird, is about as large as a thrush. they pass in companies of thirty or forty together, headed by one whose flight is higher than that of the rest. they are often distressed by means of their long feathers, in sudden shiftings of the wind, and unable to proceed in their flight; are easily taken by the natives, who catch them with bird-lime, and shoot them with blunted arrows. they are sold at aroo for an iron nail each, and at banda for half a rix-dollar. their food is not ascertained, and they cannot be kept alive in confinement. the smaller bird of paradise is supposed, by latham, to be a mere variety of the above. it is found only in the papuan islands, where it is caught by the natives often by the hand, and exenterated and seared with a hot iron in the inside, and then put into the hollow of a bamboo, to secure its plumage from injury. [illustration: the great bustard.--page . found in europe, asia, and africa, but in no part of the new world.] [illustration: ostriches of south africa--page . they are so fleet as easily to distance the swiftest horse.] the following account of the curiosities of the ostrich, is taken from lichtenstein's travels in south africa, vol. ii.--"the habits of the ostrich are so remarkable, and have been so imperfectly described by travellers in general, that i cannot forbear bringing together here all the knowledge i acquired upon the subject, both in this and subsequent journeys. i have noticed, on a former occasion, a large flock of ostriches, which we met in the neighbourhood of komberg. in that country, the drought and heat sometimes compel these gigantic birds to leave the plains, and then they pursue their course together in large flocks to the heights, where they find themselves more commodiously lodged. at the time of sitting, there are seldom more than four or five seen together, of which only one is a cock, the rest are hens. these hens lay their eggs all together in the same nest, which is nothing more than a round cavity made in the clay, of such a size as to be covered by one of the birds, when sitting upon it. a sort of wall is scraped up round with their feet, against which the eggs in the outermost circle rest. every egg stands upon its point in the nest, that the greatest possible number may be stowed within the space. when ten or twelve eggs are laid, they begin to sit, the hens taking their turns, and relieving each other during the day; at night the cock alone sits, to guard the eggs against the jackals and wild cats, who will run almost any risk to procure them. great numbers of these smaller beasts of prey have often been found crushed to death about the nests; a proof that the ostrich does not fight with them, but knows very well how to conquer them at once by her own resistless power; for it is certain, that a stroke of her large foot trampling upon them, is enough to crush any such animal. "the hens continue to lay during the time they are sitting, and that, not only till the nest is full, which happens when about thirty eggs are laid, but for some time after. the eggs laid after the nest is filled are deposited round about it, and seem designed by nature to satisfy the cravings of the above-mentioned enemies, since they very much prefer the new-laid eggs to those which have been brooded. but they seem also to have a more important designation, that is, to assist in the nourishment of the young birds. these, when first hatched, are as large as a common pullet, and since their tender stomachs cannot digest the hard food eaten by the old ones, the spare eggs serve as their first nourishment. the increase of the ostrich race would be incalculable, had they not so many enemies, by which great numbers of the young are destroyed after they quit the nest. "the ostrich is a very prudent, wary creature, which is not easily ensnared in the open field, since it sees to a very great distance, and takes to flight upon the least idea of danger. for this reason the quaggas generally attach themselves, as it were instinctively, to a troop of ostriches, and fly with them, without the least idea that they are followed. xenophon relates, that the army of cyrus met ostriches and wild asses together, in the plains of syria. "the ostriches are particularly careful to conceal, if possible, the places where their nests are made. they never go directly to them, but run round in a circle at a considerable distance before they attempt to approach the spot. on the contrary, they always run directly up to the springs where they drink, and the impressions they make on the ground, in the desolate places they inhabit, are often mistaken for the footsteps of men. the females, in sitting, when they are to relieve each other, either both remove awhile to a distance from the nest, or change so hastily, that any one who might by chance be spying about, could never see both at once. in the day-time, they occasionally quit the nest entirely, and leave the care of warming the eggs to the sun alone. if at any time they find that the place of their nest is discovered, that either a man or a beast of prey has been at it, and has disturbed the arrangement of the eggs, or taken any away, they immediately destroy the nest themselves, break all the eggs to pieces, and seek out some other spot to make a new one. when the colonist therefore finds a nest, he contents himself with taking one or two of the spare eggs that are lying near, observing carefully to smooth over any footsteps which may have been made, so that they may not be perceived by the birds. thus visits to the nest may be often repeated, and it may be converted into a storehouse of very pleasant food, where, every two or three days, as many eggs may be procured as are wanted to regale the whole household. "an ostrich's egg weighs commonly near three pounds, and is considered as equal in its square contents to twenty-four hen's eggs. the yolk has a very pleasant flavour, yet, it must be owned, not the delicacy of a hen's egg. it is so nourishing and so soon satisfies, that no one can eat a great deal at once. four very hungry persons would be requisite to eat a whole ostrich's egg; and eight africans, who are used to so much harder living, might make a meal of it. these eggs will keep for a very long time: they are often brought to the cape town, where they are sold at the price of half a dollar each. "in the summer months of july, august, and september, the greatest number of ostriches' nests are to be found; but the feathers, which are always scattered about the nest at the time of sitting, are of very little value. i have, however, at all times of the year, found nests with eggs that have been brooded: the contrasts of the seasons being much less forcible in this part of the world than in europe, the habits of animals are consequently much less fixed and regular. the ostrich sits from thirty-six to forty days before the young are hatched. "it is well known that the male alone furnishes the beautiful white feathers which have for so long a time been a favourite ornament in the head-dress of our european ladies. they are purchased from the people who collect them, for as high as three or four shillings each; they are, however, given at a lower price, in exchange for european wares and clothing. almost all the colonists upon the borders have a little magazine of these feathers laid by, and when they would make a friendly present to a guest, it is generally an ostrich's feather. few of them are, however, prepared in such a manner as to be wholly fit for the use of the european dealers. the female ostriches are entirely black, or rather, in their youth, of a very dark gray, but have no white feathers in the tail. in every other respect, the colour excepted, their feathers are as good as those of the males. it is very true, as mr. barrow says, that small stones are sometimes found in the ostrich's eggs; it is not, however, very common; and, among all that i ever saw opened, i never met with one." we must not omit to give some account of the mocking-bird of america.--those who have not heard the mocking-bird, can have no conception of his great superiority of song: he seems the merryandrew among birds, and the most serious and laboured efforts of the best performers appear to him only sport: he performs an antic dance to the sound of his own music; like jack-pudding, too, he seems to make game of his audience, for often, when he has secured the attention by the most delightful warblings, he will stop suddenly, and surprise them by the quack of a duck, the hiss of a goose, the monstrous note of the whip-poor-will, or any other unexpected sound: he possesses also the power of a ventriloquist, in being able to deceive his hearers as to the direction of the sound. when he is not seen, and while his listeners are looking for the enchanter on the roof of their own houses, he is perhaps playing his antic tricks on the chimney-top of some house at a considerable distance. when, however, there are no spectators during the stillness of night, he lays aside his frolic, and pours his "love-laboured songs;" and surely, if there is fascination in sweet sounds, it must be in the song of this delightful bird, perched on the chimney-top, or on some tree near to the dwelling of man. he seems never to tire. the next subject of curiosity is the social grosbeak.--this bird inhabits the interior country of the cape of good hope, where it was discovered by mr. paterson. these birds live together in large societies, and their mode of nidification is extremely uncommon. they build in a species of mimosa, which grows to an uncommon size, and which they seem to select for that purpose, as well on account of its ample head, and the great strength of its branches, calculated to admit and to support the extensive buildings which they have to erect, as for the tallness and smoothness of its trunk, which their great enemies, the serpent tribe, are unable to climb. the method in which the nests themselves are fabricated, is highly curious. in the one described by mr. paterson, there could be no less a number (he says) than from eight hundred to a thousand, residing under the same roof. he calls it a roof, because it perfectly resembles that of a thatched house; and the ridge forms an angle so acute and so smooth, projecting over the entrance of the nest below, that it is impossible for any reptile to approach them. the industry of these birds is almost equal, in his opinion, to that of the bee: throughout the day they appear to be busily employed in carrying a fine species of grass, which is the principal material they employ for the purpose of erecting this extraordinary work, as well as for additions and repairs.--"though my short stay in the country was not sufficient to satisfy me, by ocular proof, that they added to their nest as they annually increased in numbers, still, from the many trees which i have seen borne down with the weight, and others which i have observed with their boughs completely covered over, it would appear, that this is really the case; when the tree, which is the support of this aërial city, is obliged to give way to the increase of weight, it is obvious they are no longer protected, and are under the necessity of building in other trees. "one of these deserted nests i had the curiosity to break down, so as to inform myself of the internal structure of it, and found it equally ingenious with that of the external. there many entrances, each of which forms a regular street, with nests on both sides, at about two inches distant from each other. the grass with which they build, is called, the boshman's grass; and i believe the seed of it to be their principal food; though, on examining their nests, i found the wings and legs of different insects. from every appearance, the nest which i dissected had been inhabited for many years; and some parts of it were much more complete than others: this therefore i conceive nearly to amount to a proof, that the animals added to it at different times, as they found necessary from the increase of the family, or rather of the nation or community." the bengal grosbeak.--this is an indian bird, and is thus described by mr. latham. "this little bird (called _bayà_, in hindu; _berbera_, in sanscrit; _bábùi_, in the dialect of bengal; _cíbù_, in persian; and _tenauwit_, in arabic, from its remarkably pendent nest) is rather larger than a sparrow, with yellow brown plumage, a yellowish head and feet, a light coloured breast, and a conic beak, very thick in proportion to his body. this bird is exceedingly common in hindostan; he is astonishingly sensible, faithful, and docile, never voluntarily deserting the place where his young were hatched, but not averse, like most other birds, to the society of mankind, and easily taught to perch on the hand of his master. in a state of nature, he generally builds his nest on the highest tree that he can find, especially on the palmyra, or on the indian fig-tree, and he prefers that which happens to overhang a well or rivulet: he makes it of grass, which he weaves like cloth, and shapes like a large bottle, suspending it firmly on the branches, but so as to rock with the wind, and placing it with its entrance downwards, to secure it from birds of prey. his nest usually consists of two or three chambers; and it is the popular belief that he lights them with fire-flies, which he catches alive at night, and confines with moist clay or cow-dung. that such flies are often found in his nest, where pieces of cow-dung are also stuck, is indubitable: but as their light could be of little use to him, it seems probable that he only feeds on them. he may be taught with ease to fetch any small thing that his master points out to him: it is an attested fact, that if a ring be dropped into a deep well, and a signal be given to him, he will fly down with amazing celerity, catch the ring before it touches the water, and bring it up with apparent exultation; and it is asserted, that if a house or any other place be shewn to him once or twice, he will carry a note thither immediately on a proper signal. "one instance of his docility, i can myself mention with confidence, having often been an eye-witness of it. the young hindoo women at benares, and in other places, wear very thin plates of gold, called _ticas_, slightly fixed by way of ornament between their eye-brows; and when they pass through the streets, it is not uncommon for the youthful libertines, who amuse themselves with training bayas, to give them a signal, which they understand, and send them to pluck the pieces of gold from the foreheads of their mistresses, which they bring in triumph to the lovers. the baya feeds naturally on grasshoppers and other insects, but will subsist, when tame, on pulse macerated in water: his flesh is warm and drying, and easy of digestion. the female lays many beautiful eggs, resembling large pearls; the white of them, when boiled, is transparent, and the flavour is exquisitely delicate. when many bayas are assembled on a high tree, they make a lively din, but it is rather chirping than singing; their want of musical talents is, however, amply supplied by their wonderful sagacity, in which they are not excelled by any feathered inhabitant of the forest." another subject of acknowledged curiosity is, the humming bird.--there are sixty species enumerated by latham, and gmelin has sixty-five. the birds of this genus are the smallest of all birds. these diminutive creatures subsist on the juices of flowers, which they extract, like bees, while on the wing, fluttering over their delicate repast, and making a considerable humming sound, from which they derive their designation. they are gregarious, and build their nests with great neatness and elegance, lining them with the softest materials they can possibly procure. the red-throated humming-bird is rather more than three inches long, and is frequent in various parts of north america. its plumage is highly splendid and varying; it extracts the nectar of flowers, particularly those of a long tube, like the convolvulus or tulip. they will suffer themselves to be approached very near, but on observing an effort to seize them, dart off with the rapidity of an arrow. a flower is frequently the subject of bitter conflict between two of these birds; they will often enter an open window, and, after a short contest, retire. they sometimes soar perpendicularly to a considerable height, with a violent scream. if a flower which they enter furnishes them with no supply, they pluck it, as it were in punishment and revenge, from its stalk. they have been kept alive in cages for several weeks, but soon perish for want of the usual food, for which no adequate substitute has yet been found. latham, however, mentions a curious circumstance of their being preserved alive by captain davies for four months, by the expedient of imitating tubular flowers with paper appropriately painted, and filling the bottom of the tubes with sugar and water as often as they were emptied. they then took their nourishment in the same manner as when unconfined, and soon appeared familiarized and happy. they build on the middle of the branch of a tree, and lay two eggs in an extremely small and admirably constructed nest. the smallest of all the species is said, when just killed, to weigh no more than twenty grains. its total length is an inch and a quarter. it is found in the west indies and south america, and is exceeded both in weight and magnitude by several species of bees. we shall close this chapter with an account of the golden eagle.--this bird weighs above twelve pounds, and is about three feet long, the wings, when extended, measuring seven feet four inches. the sight and sense of smelling are very acute; the head and neck are clothed with narrow, sharp-pointed feathers, of a deep brown colour, bordered with tawny; the hind part of the head is of bright rust colour. these birds are very destructive to fawns, lambs, kids, and all kinds of game, particularly in the breeding season, when they bring a vast quantity of prey to their young. smith, in his history of kerry, relates, that a poor man in that country got a comfortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of famine, out of an eagle's nest, by robbing the eaglets of the food the old ones brought, whose attendance he protracted beyond the natural time, by clipping the wings and retarding the flight of the former. it is very unsafe to leave infants in places where eagles frequent; there having been instances in scotland of two being carried off by them; but, fortunately, the thefts were discovered in time, and the children were restored unhurt out of the eagles' nests. in order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there is a law in the orkney isles, which entitles every person that kills an eagle to a hen out of every house in the parish where it was killed. eagles seem to give the preference to the carcases of dogs and cats. people who make it their business to kill those birds, lay one of these carcases by way of bait; and then conceal themselves within gun-shot. they fire the instant the eagle alights; for she that moment looks about before she begins to prey. yet, quick as her sight may be, her sense of hearing seems still more exquisite. if hooded crows or ravens happen to be nearer the carrion, and resort to it first, and give a single croak, the eagle instantly repairs to the spot. these eagles are remarkable for their longevity, and for sustaining a long abstinence from food. mr. keysler relates, that an eagle died at vienna after a confinement of years. this pre-eminent length of days is alluded to by the psalmist, "thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." one of this species, which was nine years in the possession of owen holland, esq. of conway, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a present of it; but what its age was, when the latter received it from ireland, is unknown. the same bird also furnishes us with a proof of the truth of the other remark; having once, through the neglect of servants, endured hunger for twenty-one days without any sustenance whatever. here it is proper to take notice of a very singular variety of the golden eagle, described by mr. bruce, in his travels in abyssinia; for, whether it properly belongs to this species or not, we do not find that it has been, as yet, either arranged under any other, or ranked as a different genus, (which indeed it appears to be,) by mr. kerr, or any other ornithologist. mr. bruce says, it is not only the largest of the eagle kind, but the largest bird that flies. by the natives it is vulgarly called _abon duchem_, or, father long-beard. it is not an object of any chase, nor stands in need of any stratagem to bring it within reach. upon the highest top of mount lamalmon, while mr. bruce's servants were refreshing themselves after their toilsome ascent, and enjoying the pleasure of a most delightful climate, eating their dinner in the open air, with several large dishes of boiled goat's flesh before them, this eagle suddenly made its appearance; he did not stoop rapidly from a height, but came flying slowly along the ground, and sat down close to the meat, within the ring the men had made around it. a great shout, or rather cry of distress, which they raised, made the bird stand for a minute as if to recollect himself; but while the servants ran for their lances and shields, his attention was fully fixed upon the flesh. he put his foot into the pan, where was a large piece in water nearly boiling; but feeling the smart, he withdrew it, and forsook the piece which he held. there were two large pieces, a leg and a shoulder, lying on a wooden platter: into these he struck his claws, and carried them off, skimming slowly along the ground, as he had come, till he disappeared behind a cliff. but being observed, at his departure, to look wistfully at the large piece which remained in the warm water, it was concluded that he would soon return; in expectation of which, mr. bruce loaded a rifle gun with ball, and sat down close to the platter by the meat. it was not many minutes before he came; and a prodigious shout was raised by the attendants, "he is coming, he is coming!" enough to have discouraged a less courageous animal. whether he was not quite so hungry as at his first visit, or suspecting something from mr. bruce's appearance, he made a small turn, and sat down about ten yards from him, the pan with the meat being between them. in this situation mr. bruce fired, and shot him with the ball through the middle of his body, about two inches below the wing, so that he lay down upon the grass without a single flutter. upon laying hold of his monstrous carcase, our author was not a little surprised at seeing his hands covered and tinged with yellow dust. upon turning him upon his belly, and examining the feathers of his back, they produced a brown dust, the colour of the feathers there. the dust was not in small quantities, for, upon striking his breast, the yellow powder flew in a greater quantity than from a hair-dresser's powder-puff. the feathers of the belly and breast, which were of a gold colour, did not appear to have any thing extraordinary in their formation, but the large feathers in the shoulders and wings seemed apparently to be fine tubes, which, upon pressure, scattered the brown dust upon the finer part of the feathers. upon the side of the wing, the ribs, or hard part of the feather, seemed to be bare, as if worn, or, in our author's opinion, were rather renewing themselves, having before failed in their function. what the reason is of this extraordinary provision of nature, mr. bruce does not attempt to determine. but as it is an unusual one, it is probably meant, he thinks, for a defence against the climate in favour of those birds, which live in those almost inaccessible heights of a country, doomed even in its lower parts to several months' of excessive rain. this bird, from wing to wing, was eight feet four inches; and from the tip of his tail to the point of his beak, four feet seven inches. he was remarkably short in the legs, being only four inches from the foot to the junction of the leg with the thigh; and from that to the body six inches. the thickness of his thigh was little less than four inches; it was extremely muscular, and covered with flesh. his middle claw was about two inches and a half long, not very sharp at the point, but extremely strong. from the root of the bill to the point was three inches and a quarter, and one inch and three-quarters in breadth at the root. a forked brush of strong hair, divided at the point into two, proceeded from the cavity of his lower jaw at the beginning of his throat. his eye was remarkably small in proportion to his bulk, the aperture being scarcely half an inch. the crown of his head, and the front, where the bill and skull joined, were bald. chap. xx. curiosities respecting birds.--(_continued._) _the cuckoo--the cormorant--the great bustard--the alarm-bird--the carrier, or courier, pigeon--the wild pigeon, its multiplying power--singular bird, inhabiting a volcano in guadaloupe--curious adventure of an owl--curious facts in natural history--the chick in the egg._ the cuckoo.--we shall introduce this curious bird, with the following well-known beautiful piece of poetry:-- hail, beauteous stranger of the wood, attendant on the spring! now heav'n repairs thy rural seat, and woods thy welcome sing. soon as the daisy decks the green, thy certain voice we hear: hast thou a star to guide thy path, or mark the rolling year? delightful visitant! with thee i hail the time of flow'rs, when heaven is fill'd with music sweet of birds among the bow'rs. the school-boy, wand'ring in the wood, to pull the flow'rs so gay, starts, thy curious voice to hear, and imitates thy lay. soon as the pea puts on the bloom, thou fly'st thy vocal vale, an annual guest, in other lands, another spring to hail. sweet bird! thy bow'r is ever green, thy sky is ever clear; thou hast no sorrow in thy song, no winter in thy year! o could i fly, i'd fly with thee; we'd make, with social wing our annual visit o'er the globe, companions of the spring. this bird is described, in natural history, as a genus of the order of picæ. generic character: bill smooth, somewhat bending and weak; nostrils surrounded by a small rim; tongue short and arrowed; toes, two forward and two backward; tail wedge-formed, of ten soft feathers. gmelin enumerates fifty-five species, and latham forty-six. the following are the most general characteristics of the cuckoo:-- this bird is about fourteen inches long. it is found in europe, asia, and africa. its food consists of insects and the larvæ of moths, but when domesticated, which it may be without much difficulty, it will eat bread, fruits, eggs, and even flesh. when fattened, it is said to be excellent for the table. it is in this country a bird of passage, appearing first about the middle of april, and cheering the vicinity of its habitation with that well-known note, with which so many exquisite ideas and feelings are associated. this note is used only by the male bird, and this is the intimation of love. it has been heard, (though very rarely,) like the song of the nightingale, in the middle of the night. about the close of june this note ceases, but the cuckoo remains in england till towards the end of september. it is imagined sometimes to continue in the country for the whole of the year, as it has occasionally been seen here so early as february. cuckoos are supposed to winter in africa, as they are seen twice a year in the island of malta. with the history of these birds have been blended much fable and superstition; their manners, however, are unquestionably very curious; and fable in this, as in many other cases, is in a great degree connected with fact. it is almost universally agreed by naturalists, that the cuckoo does not hatch its own eggs, but deposits them in the nest of some other bird. buffon mentions the names of twenty birds, or more, on which the cuckoo passes this fraud. those most frequently duped by it, however, in this manner, are the yellow-hammer, the water-wagtail, and the hedge-sparrow; and of these three, by far more than the other two, the hedge-sparrow. the most minute and attentive examiner into this extraordinary peculiarity, is mr. edward jenner; from whose observations on this interesting subject we shall select a few of the most important. he states, that the hedge-sparrow is generally four or five days in completing her number of eggs, during which time the cuckoo finds an opportunity of introducing one of its own into the nest, leaving the future management of it to the hedge-sparrow; and that, though it frequently occurs that the latter is much discomposed by this intrusion, and several of the eggs are injured by her, and obliged to be removed from the nest, yet the egg of the cuckoo is never of this number. when the usual time of incubation is completed, and the young sparrows and cuckoo are disengaged from the eggs, the former are ejected from the nest, and the stranger obtains exclusive possession. a nest, built in a situation extremely convenient for minute observation, fell under the particular examination of this gentleman, and was found on the first day to contain a cuckoo's and three hedge-sparrows' eggs. on the day following, he observed a young cuckoo and a hedge-sparrow, and as he could distinctly perceive every thing passing, he was resolved to watch the events which might take place. he soon, with extreme surprise, saw the young cuckoo, hatched only the day before, exerting itself with its rump and wings to take the young sparrow on its back, which it actually accomplished, and then climbed backwards with its burden to the verge of the nest, from which, with a sudden jerk, it clearly threw off its load; after which it dropped back into the nest, having first, however, felt about with the extremities of its wings, as if to ascertain whether the clearance were completely effected. several eggs were afterwards put in to the young usurper, which were all similarly disposed of.--he observes, that in another instance, two cuckoos and a hedge-sparrow were hatched in the same nest, and one hedge-sparrow's egg remained unhatched. within a few hours, a conflict began between the two cuckoos for the possession of the nest, which was conducted with extreme spirit and vigour, and in which each appeared occasionally to have the advantage, lifting its adversary to the very brink of the nest, and then, from exhaustion of strength, sinking with it again to the bottom. these vicissitudes of success were repeated and reiterated; but towards the close of the following day, the contest was decided by one of them, which was rather the larger of the two, completely expelling his rival; after which, the egg and the young hedge-sparrow were dislodged with extreme facility. the infant conqueror was brought up by the step-mother with the most assiduous affection. the sagacity of the female cuckoo appears not inconsiderable, in her introducing her egg into the nests of birds whose young are inferior in size and strength to the young cuckoo, and which the latter is consequently able to exclude without difficulty from its usurped dominions. we shall now call the reader's attention to the cormorant.--this bird, which is nearly as large as a goose, is found in many places both of the old and the new world; it is to be met with in the northern parts of this island, and one of them, not very long since, was shot while perched on the castle of carlisle. these birds are shy and crafty, but frequently eat to so great an excess, as to induce a species of lethargy, in which they are caught by nets thrown over them without their making an effort to escape. they are trained by the chinese to fish for them. by a ring placed round their necks, they are prevented from swallowing what they take, and, when their pouches are filled, they unload them, and at the command of their owners, renew their divings. two will sometimes be seen combining their efforts to secure a fish too large for the management of one only. when their work is finished to the employer's satisfaction, the birds have a full allotment of the spoil, for their reward and encouragement. in macao, also, these birds are thus domesticated, taking extreme delight in the exercise, and constituting a source of very considerable profit to their owners. they were formerly trained, and used in the same manner in england; and charles i. had an officer of his household, called master of the cormorants. the next curiosity among birds which we shall introduce, is, the great bustard.--this bird is found in the plains of europe, asia, and africa, but it has never been observed in the new continent. in england, it is occasionally met with on salisbury plain, and on the wolds of yorkshire, and formerly it was not uncommonly seen in flocks of forty or fifty. it is the largest of british land birds, weighing often twenty-five or thirty pounds. it runs with great rapidity, so as to escape the pursuit of common dogs, but falls speedily a victim to the greyhound, which often overtakes it before it has power to commence its flight, the preparation for which, in this bird, is slow and laborious. the female lays her eggs on the bare ground, never more than two in number, in a hole scratched by her for the purpose, and if these are touched or soiled during her occasional absence, she immediately abandons them. the male is distinguished by a large pouch, beginning under the tongue, and reaching to the breast, capable of holding, according to linnæus, seven quarts of water. this is sometimes useful to the female during incubation, and to the young before they quit their nest; and it has been observed to be eminently advantageous to the male bird himself, who, on being attacked by birds of prey, has often discomfited his enemies by the sudden and violent discharge of water upon them. these birds are solitary and shy, and feed principally upon grasses, worms, and grain. they were formerly much hunted with dogs, and considered as supplying no uninteresting diversion. they swallow stones, pieces of metal, and other hard substances. buffon states, that one was opened by the academicians of france, which contained in its stomach ninety doubloons, and various stones, all highly smoothed by the attrition of the stomach. the following deserves to be ranked among the curiosities of the feathered tribe; the alarm-bird.--near the coppermine river, which falls into hudson's bay, live a tribe of indians, who traverse the immense and dreary solitudes that surround them, in pursuit of deer or other game, from which they derive their only subsistence. the animals, however, taught by experience to shun the haunts of men, and instinctively led to conceal themselves in the most sequestered spots, would with difficulty be discovered, were it not for one of the winged tribe of the owl genus, called the alarm-bird. no sooner does this bird descry man or beast, than it directs its flight towards them, and, hovering over them, forms gyrations round their head. should two objects at once arrest its attention, it flies from one to the other alternately, with a loud screaming, resembling the crying of a child; and in this manner it will follow travellers, or attend a herd of deer, for the space of a day. by means of this guide, whose qualities so well correspond with its name, the copper indians are apprised of the approach of strangers, or directed to the herds of deer and musk-oxen, which otherwise they would frequently miss. is it to be wondered at, then, that they hold the alarm-bird in the highest veneration? it seems, indeed, to have been intended by providence for the solace and friend of the miserable inhabitants of those wild and sterile regions; and will furnish a new evidence of that superintending care which watches over all. the cuculus indicator, so celebrated in the warmer climates for detecting the treasures of the bees, in the deep recesses of the woods, within the hollow trunks of trees, has, or may be thought to have, a view and an object in its services. it feels the want of human assistance, to enable it to enjoy the fruits of its discoveries, and therefore instinctively calls for it, in hopes of being recompensed with a share of the honey, which, we are told, the natives readily allow it; but the alarm-bird appears perfectly disinterested in its labours, it answers no purpose of its own, and therefore may be considered as one of the bounties of heaven, to a people and a country almost shut out from the participation of the common blessings of life. it confers benefits without the prospect of a reward; and, for this reason, is entitled to the greater regard. to contemplate the various animals that are dispersed over the globe, and the various blessings and advantages of different climates, will naturally lead us to the source and dispenser of all; and though some parts of the works of creation are more conspicuously beneficial, and cannot escape the most common observer, yet we may, from analogy and reason, conceive that nothing was made in vain. a subject of great curiosity, and pleasing admiration, is, the carrier, or, courier pigeon.--these birds, though carried, hoodwinked, twenty, thirty, or even a hundred miles, will find their way in a very little time to the place where they were bred. they are trained to this service in turkey and persia; and are carried first, while young, short flights of half a mile, afterwards more, till at length they will return from the farthest part of the kingdom. every bashaw has a basket of these pigeons bred in the seraglio, which from a distance, upon any emergent occasion, (as an insurrection, or the like,) he dispatches, with letters braced under their wings, to the seraglio; which proves a more speedy method, as well as a more safe one, than any other: he sends out more than one pigeon, however, for fear of accidents. lithgow assures us, that one of these birds will carry a letter from babylon to aleppo, which is thirty days' journey, in forty-eight hours. this practice is very ancient: hirtius and brutus, at the siege of modena, held a correspondence by pigeons; and ovid tells us, that taurosthenes, by a pigeon stained with purple, gave notice to his father of his victory at the olympic games, sending it to him at Ægina. in modern times, the most noted were the pigeons of aleppo, which served as couriers at alexandretta and bagdad. but this use of them has been laid aside for the last thirty or forty years, because the curd robbers killed the pigeons. the manner of sending advice by them, was this: they took pairs which had young ones, and carried them on horseback to the place whence they wished them to return, taking care to let them have a full view. when the news arrived, the correspondent tied a billet to the pigeon's foot, and let her loose. the bird, impatient to see its young, flew off like lightning, and arrived at aleppo in ten hours from alexandretta, and in two days from bagdad. it was easy for them to find their way back, as aleppo may be discovered at an immense distance. this pigeon has nothing peculiar in its form, except its nostrils, which, instead of being smooth and even, are swelled and rough. it is presumed it will not be out of place to insert the following curious particulars respecting the multiplying power of the wild pigeon.--the following account is extracted from janson's stranger in america. mr. richard hazen, a land-surveyor, who, in , drew the line which divides massachusetts from vermont, gives an interesting account of the multiplying power of nature in the wild pigeon: "for three miles together, (says he,) the pigeons' nests were so thick, that five hundred might be reckoned on beech-trees at one time, and, could they have been counted on the hemlocks as well, he did not doubt that five thousand might be seen at one turn round. twenty-five nests were frequently found in one beech-tree, in new england. the earth was covered with these trees and with hemlocks, thus loaded with the nests of pigeons. for one hundred acres together, the ground was covered with their dung, to the depth of two inches. their noise in the evening was extremely troublesome, and so great, that the traveller could not get any sleep where their nests abounded. about an hour before sun-rise they rose in such quantities as to darken the air. when the young pigeons were grown to a proper size, it was common for the first settlers to cut down the trees, and gather a horse-load in a few minutes. the markets at this season, even at philadelphia, are often overstocked with them; a score of them have lately been purchased for sixpence. but as the land becomes settled, they retire into the back forests, where they are at this day in equal numbers! in north carolina, wild pigeons or doves pass over the country in such numbers as to darken the air, devouring all kinds of grain in their progress. a large musket, loaded with small shot, fired among them, has killed scores; and boys knock them down with sticks and stones. i did not see this destructive phenomenon; but was credibly informed at edenton, that it occurs once in seven, and sometimes in ten years. during my residence in that state, i cut holes in the top of my barn, and, by placing food on the roof, soon enticed about half a dozen from the adjacent woods. in a short time they became domesticated, and fed with the fowl, affording a constant and an agreeable food. when i left my residence, they had, notwithstanding the use i made of the young ones, increased to many scores. they grew so familiar, that they would watch my appearance in the morning, and perch upon me, in hopes of obtaining food, with which it was my practice to supply them. they distinguished me from my domestics, whom they would not suffer to approach them. they would permit me to go into their dovecot, without retreating; but the dam would often oppose my taking her young ones." the following account of a singular bird inhabiting a volcano in guadaloupe, is taken from a respectable source. father dutertre, in his description of guadaloupe, the best and most beautiful, in his opinion, of all the leeward islands, speaks of an extraordinary bird which inhabits its volcanic mountain, called la souffriere. this creature, called the devil by the inhabitants, on account of its deformity, is both a night and sea bird. during the day, its vision appears to be indistinct, and it takes refuge near the top of the mountain, where it has its nest in the ground, and where it hatches its eggs. during the night, it flies about, and goes to prey on fish. its flesh is so delicate, (adds father dutertre,) that no huntsman returns from the souffriere without ardently desiring to have a dozen of these birds suspended at his neck. labat, the colleague of dutertre, confirms and adds to the account of the latter. "the bird called the devil, of la souffriere, has (he says) membranes at his feet like a duck, and claws like a bird of prey, a sharp and curved beak, large eyes, which cannot bear the light of day, or discern almost any object, so that when surprised in the day-time, at a distance from his nest, he runs against every thing in his way, and falls to the ground; but during the night he is active in extracting his prey from the sea." he adds, that "he is a bird of passage, and is considered a kind of petrel. i have taken pleasure in occasionally observing fishermen catch fish during the night by the light of a straw torch; but here we have a sea-bird of much greater ingenuity, which fishes by the light of a volcano, and hatches his eggs by the warmth of its sulphureous discharge." the following story is recorded in history as a fact, under the title of a curious adventure of an owl. in a council held at rome by pope john xxiii. at the first session, happened the adventure of the owl.--"after the mass of the holy ghost, all being seated, and john sitting on his throne, suddenly a frightful owl came screaming out of his hole, and placed himself just before the pope, staring earnestly upon him. the arrival of this nocturnal bird in the day-time, caused many speculations: some took it for an ill omen, and were terrified; others smiled, and whispered to each other. as to the pope, he blushed, was in a sweat, arose, and brake up the assembly. but at the next session, the owl took his place again, fixing his eyes upon john; who was more dismayed than before, and ordered the bird to be driven away. a pleasant sight it was, to behold the prelates occupied in hunting him, for he would not decamp! at last they killed him, as an incorrigible heretic, by throwing their canes at him."--_jortin's ecclesiastical history_, vol. v. p. , . we shall next record some curious facts in natural history.--we often meet in our aviaries with what are called mule canary birds, that is, the offspring of the gray linnet and the canary. "in the country, where the domestic fowls are accustomed to wander to a considerable distance from the farm-yard, i believe it is no uncommon occurrence for a chicken to make its appearance, that is evidently the offspring of the partridge and common hen. indeed, i am inclined to think that the breed between fowls of the same genus are oftener crossed than we are aware of." it is a common practice in the country, to set a hen, as it is called, with ducks' eggs; and the agony which she suffers, when she sees her young charge first take to their natural element, the water, has often been observed with sympathy. the following anecdote may be relied upon, as the circumstance was observed by a gentleman of science:-- a hen, which was employed to hatch some ducks' eggs in the neighbourhood of a dyer's mill, where there was a small pond, was observed to exhibit the usual symptoms of terror and alarm when the ducklings first took to the water; but by degrees she became quite reconciled to their habits, and was accustomed to enjoy herself, in great quietness, on the banks, while they gamboled in the pool. for two or three years she uniformly brought out ducklings, and at last, as regularly led them to the water as their natural dam would have done. in the course of time, however, she brought out a brood of chickens. these she immediately led to the side of the pool also; but, on finding they did not enter the water, she became quite uneasy, invited them close to it, made every motion for them to enter it, flew over the pond, and then called them to follow, but all to no purpose. when she found that nothing would entice them to enter the water, she actually seized upon one or two of them, and threw them into it; and, if she had not been prevented, it is believed she would have drowned her whole progeny. this shews how much the native habits, even of fowls, may be changed by circumstances; and proves, in some degree, the existence of memory without judgment in the feathered tribes. some years ago, a farmer in the lower district of annandale, took it into his head to rob a wild duck of her eggs, and to place them under one of his tame ducks, that was sitting at that time. the young brood (twelve in number) came into the world at the usual period, but one only continued with her stepdame. this extraordinary bird, however, never perfectly acquired the habits or dispositions of her new sisterhood: she never would associate with the tame drakes, but every spring left the farm-yard, and proceeded to the wilds in quest of mates; and, what was remarkably singular, she seemed to have a malicious pleasure in leading them into a snare, and was at great pains to draw them into such situations as admitted of their being easily shot, or otherwise destroyed. she always hatched her young in a peat moss, at some distance from the house, but never failed to bring them to the farm-yard, as soon as they were able to follow her. when this duck was about four years old, the owner was visited by a kinsman from fife, who was so much taken up with her, that he begged for, and obtained her, as a present. she was put into a cage, and by him conveyed to his house near kinross. she was kept in confinement for a night and a day; when, seeming perfectly contented, she was let out into the yard, where she set about adjusting herself for some time; she then suddenly took wing, and in the course of a few hours was among her old companions in annandale. she was a second time conveyed to fife, and her wings clipped. she continued perfectly happy, to appearance, till her feathers grew, when she again bade her new friends farewell. she was shot in the neighbourhood of biggar, by a gentleman, who communicated the circumstance to the owner, whose name he learned from the collar that was found about her neck, containing his name and place of abode. formation of the chick in the egg.--scarcely has the hen sat upon the eggs twelve hours, before some lineaments of the head and body of the chick are discernible in the embryo; at the end of the second day, the heart begins to beat, but no blood is to be seen. in forty-eight hours we may distinguish two vesicles with blood, the pulsation of which is evident; one of them is the left ventricle, the other, the root of the great artery; soon after, one of the auricles of the heart is perceptible, in which pulsation may be remarked as well as in the ventricle. so early as the seventh hour, the wings may be distinguished, and on the head two globules for the brain, one for the beak, and two others for the front and hind part of the head. towards the end of the fourth day, the two auricles, now distinctly visible, approach nearer the heart than they did before. about the fifth day the liver may be perceived; at the end of one hundred and thirty-eight hours, the lungs and stomach become visible; and in a few hours more, the intestines, veins, and upper jaw. on the seventh day, the brain begins to assume a more consistent form. one hundred and ninety hours after incubation, the beak opens, and flesh appears on the breast. in two hundred and ten, the ribs are formed, and the gall bladder is visible. the bile, in a few hours more, is seen of a green colour; and if the chick be separated from its coverings, it will be seen to move. the feathers begin to shoot towards the two hundred and fortieth hour, and at the same time the skull becomes cartilaginous; in twenty-four hours more, the eyes appear; at the two hundred and eighty-eighth, the ribs are perfected; and at the three hundred and thirty-first, the lungs, the stomach, and the breast, assume their natural appearance. on the eighteenth day of incubation, the first faint piping of the chick is heard. it then continually increases in size and in strength till it emerges from its prison. by so many different gradations does the adorable wisdom of god conduct these creatures into life; all their progressive evolutions are arranged with order, and there are none without sufficient cause. if the liver is always formed on the fifth day, it is from the preceding state of the chick. no part of its body could appear sooner or later, without some injury to the embryo, and each of its members appears at the most convenient moment. the wise and invariable order in the production of this little body, is evidently the work of supernal power; and we shall be more convinced of it, if we consider the manner in which the chick is formed from the parts which compose the egg. how admirable is that principle of life, the source of a new being, contained in the egg; all the parts of the animal being invisible till they become developed by warmth! what a wonderful order and regularity is observed in this amazing process,--the same evolutions taking place at once in twenty eggs! neither does changing the position of the egg at all injure the embryo, or retard the formation of the chick; which, at the time when it breaks the shell, is found to be heavier than the whole egg was at first. these, however admirable, are far from being all the wonders displayed in the progress of incubation. the microscope, and the penetrating investigations of the curious, have only discovered what comes more immediately under the observation of our senses; whilst the discovery of many things remains for those who are to follow us, or perhaps they may never be known in this state of our existence. much might be asked concerning the mystery connected with the formation of animal bodies, which at present is impenetrable to our researches; but let not this discourage us; let us only endeavour to improve, and make a good use of, the little knowledge we are permitted to acquire, and we shall have a sufficiency to discover at every step the wisdom and power of god, and enough to employ for the benefit of our fellow-creatures. chap. xxi. curiosities respecting birds.--(_concluded._) _birds' nests--migration of birds--curious method of bird-catching in the faro isles--song of birds._ birds' nests. ----------it wins my admiration, to view the structure of that little work, a bird's nest: mark it well within, without; no tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut, no nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, no glue to join! his little beak was all; and yet how neatly finish'd! _hurdis._ the structure of bird's nests discovers to us many curious objects, which cannot be uninteresting to the reflecting mind. and who does not admire those little regular edifices composed of so many different materials, collected and arranged with so much pains and skill, and constructed with so much industry, elegance, and neatness, with no other tools than a bill and two feet? that men can erect great buildings according to certain rules of art, is not surprising, when we consider that they enjoy the reasoning faculty, and that they possess tools and instruments of various kinds, to facilitate their work; but that a delicate little bird, in want of almost every thing necessary for such an undertaking, with only its bill and claws, should know how to combine so much skill, regularity of form, and solidity of composition, in constructing its nest, is truly wonderful, and never enough to be admired. we shall therefore consider it more minutely. nothing is more curious than the nest of a goldfinch or a chaffinch. the inside of it is lined with cotton, wool, and fine silky threads, while the outside is interwoven with thick moss; and that the nest may be less remarkable, and less exposed to the eye of observers, the colour of the moss resembles that of the bark of the tree, or of the hedge, where the nest is built. in some nests, the hair, the down, and the straws, are curiously laid across each other, and interwoven together. there are others, all the parts of which are neatly joined and fastened together by a thread which the bird makes of flax, horse or cow hair, and often of spiders' webs. other birds, as the blackbird and the lapwing, after having constructed their nest, plaster the outside with a thin coating of mortar, which cements and binds together all the lower parts, and which, with the help of some cow-hair or moss, stuck to it whilst the plaster is wet, keeps it compact and warm. the nests of swallows are differently constructed from the rest. they use neither sticks, straws, nor strings; but they compose a sort of cement, with which they make themselves nests, perfectly neat, secure, and convenient. to moisten the dust of which they form their nests, they frequently skim over the surface of some lake or river, and, dipping their breasts into the water, shake their wet feathers upon the dust till it is sufficiently moist, and then knead it up into a kind of clay with their bills. but the nests most worthy of our admiration are those of certain indian birds, which suspend them with great art from the branches of trees, that they may be secure from the pursuit of several animals and insects. in general, each species of bird has a peculiar mode of fixing its nest; some build them on houses, others in trees, some in the grass, others on the ground, and always in that way which is most adapted for the rearing of their young, and the preservation of their species. such, therefore, is the wonderful instinct of birds, even in the structure and disposition of their nests alone, that we may safely conclude they cannot be mere machines. but is it not also apparent, that in all their works they propose to themselves certain ends? they construct their nests hollow, forming the half of a sphere, that the heat may be more concentric. the nest is covered without by substances more or less coarse, not only to serve as a foundation, but to prevent the wind and insects from entering. within, it is lined with the most delicate materials, such as wool and feathers, that the nestlings may be soft and warm. is it not something nearly approaching to reason, which teaches the bird to place its nest in such a manner as to be sheltered from rain, and out of the reach of destructive animals? where have they learned that they are to produce eggs, which will require a nest to prevent them from being broken, and to keep them in the necessary temperature? that the heat would not be sufficiently concentrated if the nest were larger; and that, if it were smaller, all the young ones could not be contained in it? who has taught them not to mistake the time, but to calculate so exactly, that the eggs are not laid before the nest is finished? these questions have never been satisfactorily answered, neither can this mystery in nature be clearly explained; all we can do is, to refer it to an instinct, which some animals seem to possess in a manner almost equal to reason: and instinct to them is much more happy and beneficial than reason would be; for they seem to enjoy all the sweets of life without their moments being imbittered by the consideration of their inferior rank in the creation, and without the pain of anticipating evil. the following account is principally abridged from that very interesting work, the contemplative philosopher. the present compiler acknowledges his obligations to that work on many occasions, and gives it his warmest recommendations to the public. migration of birds.--the migration of birds has been justly considered as one of the most wonderful exhibitions of nature. this migration, which is common to the quail, the stork, the crane, the fieldfare, the woodcock, the cuckoo, the martin, the swallow, and various others, is, indeed, a very curious article in natural history, and furnishes a very striking instance of a powerful instinct impressed by the creator. dr. derham observes two circumstances remarkable in this migration: the first, that these untaught, unthinking creatures, should know the proper times for their passage, when to come and when to go; as also, that some should come when others retire. no doubt, the temperature of the air as to heat and cold, and their natural propensity to breed their young, are the great incentives to these creatures to change their habitations. but why should they at all change their habitations? and why is some certain place to be found, in all the terraqueous globe, that, all the year round, can afford them convenient food and habitation?--the second remarkable circumstance is, that they should know which way to steer their course, and whither to go. what instinct is it that can induce a poor foolish bird to venture over vast tracts of land and sea. if it be said, that by their high ascents into the air, they can see across the seas; yet what shall instruct or persuade them, that another land is more proper for their purpose than this? that great britain, for instance, should afford them better accommodation than egypt, the canaries, spain, or any of the other intermediate countries?--_physico-theology_, book vii. chap. . birds of passage, moreover, are all peculiarly accommodated, by the structure of their parts, for long flights; and it is remarked, that in their migrations, they observe a wonderful order and polity: they fly in troops, and steer their course, without the aid of a compass, to vast unknown regions. the flight of the wild geese, in a wedge-like figure, has been often observed; to which it is added, by the natural historian of norway, that the three foremost, who are the soonest tired, retreat behind, and are relieved by others, who are again succeeded by the rest in order. but this circumstance has been observed, many ages before, by pliny, who describes certain birds of passage flying in the form of a wedge, and spreading wider and wider; those behind resting upon those before, till the leaders being tired, are, in their turn, received into the rear. "wild ducks and cranes (says abbé de la pluche) fly, at the approach of winter, in quest of more favourable climates. they all assemble at a certain day, like swallows and quails. they decamp at the same time, and it is very agreeable to observe their flight. they generally range themselves in a long column like an i, or in two lines united in a point like a > reversed." and thus, as milton says "rang'd in figure, wedge the way." "the duck or quail that forms the point (adds the abbé) cuts the air, and facilitates a passage to those that follow: but he is charged with this commission only for a certain time, at the conclusion of which he wheels into the rear, and another takes his post." and thus again, as milton says, "----------with mutual wing easing their flight." it has been observed of the storks, that for about the space of a fortnight before they pass from one country to another, they constantly resort together, from all the circumjacent parts, to a certain plain, and there forming themselves once every day into a _dou-wanne_, (according to the phrase of the people,) are said to determine the exact time of their departure, and the places of their future abode. mr. biberg, an ingenious naturalist of sweden, has observed, that "the starling, finding, after the middle of summer, that worms are less plentiful in that country, goes annually into scania, germany, and denmark. the female chaffinches, every winter, about michaelmas, go in flocks to holland; but as the males stay in sweden, the females come back next spring. in the same manner, the female carolina yellow-hammer, in the month of september, while the rice on which she feeds is laid up in granaries, goes towards the south, and returns in the spring to seek her mate. our aquatic birds (continues he) are forced by necessity to fly toward the south every autumn, before the water is frozen. thus we know, that the lakes of poland and lithuania are filled with swans and geese every autumn, at which time they go in great flocks, along many rivers, as far as the euxine sea. but in the beginning of spring, as soon as the heat of the sun molests them, they return back, and go again to the northern ponds and lakes, in order to lay their eggs. for there, and especially in lapland, there is a vast abundance of gnats, which afford them excellent nourishment, as all of this kind live in the water before they get their wings."--mr. biberg proceeds to enumerate many other birds that migrate to different regions; and he then adds: "by these migrations, birds become useful to many different countries, and are distributed almost over all the globe; and i cannot here forbear expressing my admiration, that all of them exactly observe the times of coming and going, and that they never mistake their way."--_biberg on the economy of nature_, in _stillingfleet's misc. tracts_. the principal food of the birds of passage, while in great britain, is the fruit of the whitethorn, or haws, which hang on our hedges in winter in prodigious plenty; but where they breed, and seem to be most at ease, as in sweden, &c. there are no haws; nor indeed in many of the countries through which they journey on their way: so that it is evident they change their food in their passage. the manner in which the birds of passage journey to their southern abodes is supposed to vary, according to the different structure of their bodies, and their power of supporting themselves in the air. the birds with short wings, such as the red-start, black-cap, &c. though they are incapable of such long flights as the swallow, or of flying with such celerity, yet may pass to less distant places, and by slower movements. swallows and cuckoos may perform their passage in a very short time; but there is for them no necessity for speed, since every day's passage affords them an increase of warmth, and a continuance of food. swallows are often observed, in innumerable flocks, on churches, rocks, and trees, previous to their departure hence; and mr. collinson proves their return here, perhaps in equal numbers, by two curious relations of undoubted credit; the one communicated to him by mr. wright, the master of a ship, and the other by admiral sir charles wager.--"returning home, (says sir charles,) in the spring of the year, as i came into soundings in our channel, a great flock of swallows came and settled on my rigging; every rope was covered; they hung on one another, like a swarm of bees; the decks and awning were filled with them. they seemed almost famished and spent, and were only feathers and bones; but, being recruited with a night's rest, they took their flight in the morning." this apparent fatigue proves that they must have had a long journey, considering the amazing swiftness of these birds; so that, in all probability, they had crossed the atlantic ocean, and were returning from the shores of senegal, or other parts of africa. naturalists are much divided in their opinion concerning the periodical appearance and disappearance of swallows.--some assert, that they remove from climate to climate, at those particular seasons when winged insects, their natural food, fail in one country and are plentiful in another, where they likewise find a temperature of air better suited to their constitution. in support of this opinion, we have the testimony of sir charles wager, and of mr. adamson, who, in the account of his voyage, informs us, that, about fifty leagues from the coast of senegal, four swallows settled upon the ship, on the th day of october; that these birds were taken; and that he knew them to be the true swallow of europe, which he conjectures were then returning to the coast of africa. but mr. daines barrington, in a curious essay on this subject, has adduced many arguments and facts, to prove that no birds, however strong and swift in their flight, can possibly fly over such large tracts of ocean as has been commonly supposed. he is of opinion, therefore, that the swallows mentioned by mr. adamson, instead of being on their passage from europe, were only fluttering from the cape de verde islands to the continent of africa; a much nearer flight, but to which they seemed to be unequal, as they were obliged, from fatigue, to alight upon the ship, and fall into the hands of the sailors. and mr. kalm, another advocate for the torpidity of swallows during the winter, having remarked, however, that he himself had met with them nine hundred and twenty miles from any land; mr. barrington endeavours to explain these, and similar facts, by supposing that birds discovered in such situations, instead of attempting to cross large branches of the ocean, have been forcibly driven from some coast by storms, and that they would naturally perch upon the first vessel they could see. in a word, mr. barrington is further of opinion, with some other naturalists, that the swallows do not leave this island at the end of autumn, but that they lie in a torpid state, till the beginning of summer, in the banks of rivers, in the hollows of decayed trees, the recesses of old buildings, the holes of sand-banks, and in similar situations. among other facts, mr. barrington communicated one to mr. pennant, that "numbers of swallows have been found in old dry walls, and in sand-hills, near the seat of the late lord belhaven, in east lothian; not once only, but from year to year; and that, when they were exposed to the warmth of a fire, they revived." these, and other facts of the same kind, are allowed to be incontrovertible; and mr. pennant, in particular, infers from them, that "we must divide our belief relative to these two so different opinions, and conclude, that one part of the swallow tribe migrate, and that others have their winter quarters near home." but there are still more wonderful facts related. mr. kalm remarks, that "swallows appear in the jerseys about the beginning of april; that, on their first arrival, they are wet, because they have just emerged from the sea or lakes, at the bottom of which they had remained, in a torpid state, during the whole winter." other naturalists have asserted, that swallows pass the winter immersed under the ice, at the bottom of lakes, or beneath the waters of the sea. olaus magnus, archbishop of upsal, seems to have been the first who adopted this opinion. he informs us, that "swallows are found in great clusters at the bottoms of the northern lakes, with mouth to mouth, wing to wing, foot to foot, and that in autumn they creep down the reeds to their subaqueous retreats." in other instances, mr. pennant remarks, the good archbishop did not want credulity. but the submersion of the swallows under water does not rest upon his testimony alone. klein asserts the same; and gives the following account of the manner of their retiring, which he had from some countrymen: "they asserted, that the swallows sometimes assembled in numbers on a reed, till it broke, and sunk them to the bottom; that their immersion was preceded by a kind of dirge, which lasted more than a quarter of an hour; that others united, laid hold of a straw with their bills, and plunged down in society; that others, by clinging together with their feet, formed a large mass, and in this manner committed themselves to the deep." bishop pontoppidan asserts, that clusters of swallows, in their torpid winter state, have sometimes been found by fishermen, among reeds and bushes in lakes; and he charges mr. edwards with having, in his natural history of birds, groundlessly contradicted this incontestable truth. and mr. heerkens, a celebrated dutch naturalist, in a poem on the birds of friesland, speaks in positive terms of the torpid state, and submersion, of the swallows: "ere winter his somnif'rous power exerts, six dreary months the swallow-tribes are seen in various haunts conceal'd; in rocks, and caves, and structures rude, by cold benumb'd, asleep; bill within bill inserted, clust'ring thick: or solitary some, of mate bereft. but, wonderful to tell! some lie immers'd, inanimate, beneath the frigid waves, as if a species of the finny kinds." mr. heerkens, after reciting many instances, and producing in his notes many authorities, of swallows having been found in a torpid state, proceeds, in his poem, to describe, very minutely, their ascent out of the water. the drowsy birds appear on the shore, as if unconscious still of life. some inhale the soft breeze, like one of the finny tribe exiled from its stream. some begin to adjust their dishevelled wings.--others, almost revived, essay, with busy bill, to assist their aged companions. all, at length, restored to the unrestrained use of their wings, range, in numerous flights, the aërial way. two reasons have, been adduced to prove this supposed submersion of swallows impossible. "in the first place, (says mr. smellie,) no land animal can exist so long without some degree of respiration. the otter, the seal, and water fowls of all kinds, when confined under the ice, or entangled in nets, soon perish; yet it is well known, that animals of this kind can remain much longer under water than those who are destitute of that peculiar structure of the heart, which is necessary for any considerable residence beneath that penetrating element." mr. john hunter, in a letter to mr. pennant, informs us, "that he had dissected many swallows, but found nothing in them different from other birds, as to the organs of respiration; that all those animals which he had dissected, of the class that sleep during the winter, such as lizards, frogs, &c. had a very different conformation as to those organs; that all those animals, he believes, do breathe in their torpid state, and, as far as his experience reaches, he knows they do; and that, therefore, he esteems it a very wild opinion, that terrestrial animals can remain any long time under water without drowning." another argument against their submersion arises from the specific gravity of the animals themselves. of all birds, the swallow tribes are perhaps the lightest. their plumage, and the comparative smallness of their weight, indicates that nature destined them to be almost perpetually on the wing, in quest of food. from this specific lightness, the submersion of swallows, and their continuing for months underwater, amount to a physical impossibility. even water fowls, when they wish to dive, are obliged to rise and plunge with considerable exertion, in order to overcome the resistance of the water. klein's idea of swallows employing reeds and straws as means of submersion, is rather ludicrous; for these light substances, instead of being proper instruments for assisting them to reach the bottom, would infallibly contribute to support them on the surface, and prevent the very object of their intention. besides, admitting the possibility of their reaching the bottom of lakes and seas, and supposing they could exist for several months without respiration, what would be the consequence? the whole would soon be devoured by otters, seals, and fishes, of various kinds. nature is always anxious for the preservation of its species. but if the swallow tribes were destined to remain torpid during the winter months, at the bottom of lakes and seas, she would act in opposition to her own intentions; for, in a season or two, the whole genus would be annihilated. this reasoning is very ingenious, but, on the other hand, the facts related above are very stubborn; and the celebrated buffon does not hesitate to yield to the force of such strong and concurrent evidence. he had procured some chimney-swallows, and kept them some time in an icehouse, in order to ascertain whether they were of the torpid kind, and he thus relates the result of his experiments. "none of them fell into the torpid state; the greater part died, and not one of them revived by being moved into the warmth of the sun. those that had not long suffered the cold of the icehouse, had all their movements, and went out briskly. from these experiments i thought i might conclude, that this species of the swallow was not liable to that state of torpor and insensibility, which supposes, notwithstanding, and very necessarily, the fact of their remaining at the bottom of the water during the winter. having had recourse, moreover, to the most creditable travellers, i found them agreed as to the passage of swallows over the mediterranean. and mr. adamson has positively assured me, that during the long stay he made in senegal, he observed the long-tailed swallow, the same with the chimney-swallow we are now speaking of, arrive constantly in senegal about the time it leaves france, and as constantly leave senegal in the spring. it cannot, therefore, be doubted, that this species of the swallow passes from europe into africa in the autumn, and from africa to europe in the spring; of consequence, it neither sleeps nor hides itself in holes, nor plunges into the water on the approach of winter. there is, besides, another well authenticated fact, which comes in proof here, and shews that this swallow is not reduced to a torpid state by cold, which it can bear to a certain degree, (and if that degree is exceeded, it dies,) for if we observe these birds towards the end of the warm season, we shall see them, a little before their departure, flying together in families, the father, the mother, and the young brood. afterwards several families unite, and form themselves into flocks, more or less numerous in proportion as the time of their departure draws near. at last they go all together, three or four days before the end of september, or about the beginning of october. still, however, some remain, and do not set off till a week, a fortnight, or three weeks after the rest: and some too there are which do not go at all, but stay and perish under the first rigours of the cold. these swallows that delay their flight, or never undertake it, are such as find their young too weak to follow them; such as have had the misfortune to have their nests destroyed after laying, and have been obliged to rebuild them a second or a third time. they stay for the love of their little ones, and choose rather to endure the rigour of the season, than to abandon their offspring. thus they remain some time after the rest for the purpose of taking their young with them; and if they are unable to carry them off in the end, they perish with them. "these facts then plainly demonstrate (concludes mr. buffon) that the chimney-swallows pass successively and alternately from our climate to another that is warmer; that they spend their summer here, and their winter there; and of consequence never fall into a state of insensibility. but, on the other hand, what have we to oppose to the precise testimony of those, who, on the approach of winter, have seen these swallows in troops throw themselves into the water; nay, not only this, but have seen them taken out in nests from beneath the ice? what answer shall we make to those who have beheld them in the torpid state, and seen them gradually recover motion and life, when they were brought into the warmth, and moved cautiously towards a fire? i know but of one means of reconciling these facts: we must suppose that the sleeping and travelling swallow are of different species, though the difference, for want of attention, has not been observed." thus this great philosopher concurs with mr. pennant, in his solution, already mentioned, of the difficulty, by supposing two species--the migrating, and the sleeping swallow. with respect to the principal objects of this wonderful instinct, that teaches such various kinds of the feathered race to migrate to different countries, it is obvious, from what has already been said, that they are governed by their food, temperature of air, and convenient situations for breeding. we shall now give an account of the curious method of bird-catching in the faro isles.--the manner of bird-catching in the faro islands, is exceedingly strange and hazardous. necessity compels man to wonderful attempts. the cliffs which contain the objects of their search, are often two hundred fathoms in height, and are attempted both from above and below. in the first case, the fowlers provide themselves with a rope eighty or a hundred fathoms in length. the fowler fastening one end about his waist, and between his legs, recommends himself to the protection of the almighty, and is lowered down by six others, who place a piece of timber on the margin of the rock, to preserve the rope from wearing against the sharp edge. they have, besides, a small line fastened to the body of the adventurer, by which he gives signals, that they may lower or raise him, or shift him from place to place. the last operation is attended with great danger, by the loosening of the stones, which often fall on his head, and would infallibly destroy him, were he not protected by a strong thick cap; but even this is found unequal to save him against the weight of the larger fragments of rock. the dexterity of the fowlers is amazing; they will place their feet against the front of the precipice, and dart themselves some fathoms from it; with a cool eye survey the places where the birds nestle, and again shoot into their haunts. in some places the birds lodge in deep recesses. the fowler will alight there, disengage himself from the rope, fix it to a stone, and at his leisure collect the booty, fasten it to his girdle, and resume his pendulous seat. at times he will again spring from the rock, and in that attitude, with a fowling-net placed on a staff, catch the old birds that are flying to and from their retreats. when he has finished his dreadful employ, he gives a signal to his friends above, who pull him up, and share his hard-earned profit. the feathers are preserved for exportation: the flesh is partly eaten fresh, but the greater part is dried for winter's provision. [illustration: perilous adventure of a bird-catcher. the engraving represents the situation of a bird-catcher at st. kilda. a tale is told of one of these men who had entered such a cavern, and in the excitement produced by finding its floor all strewn over with eggs, forgot the rope and loosened his hold: in a moment it was gone, and as he turned he saw it swinging at the mouth of the cavern. in vain he tried to reach it, it was beyond his grasp; he tried again and again, but all to no purpose, while, as if in mockery of his dismay, it swung idly in the air, just passing beyond his reach. what was he to do? a projection of rock concealed him from the observation of those above, while the roar of the sea prevented their hearing his cries. if they drew up the rope and found him not there, he knew they would conclude he had lost his hold and dropped into the sea, and he would then be left to starve in the cave. the rope still kept passing backwards and forwards, as if tantalizing him with the hope of escape. every minute now seemed an age; at length, almost wild with despair, he formed the desperate resolution to spring at the rope as it passed by him. he watched for a favorable opportunity and leaped from the cave: fortunately he was successful in catching it with a firm grasp, and was safely drawn again to the top.] the fowling from below has also its share of danger. the party goes on the expedition in a boat; and when it has attained the base of the precipice, one of the most daring, having fastened a rope about his waist, and furnished himself with a long pole, with an iron hook at one end, either climbs or is thrust up by his companions, who place a pole under his breech, to the next footing spot he can reach. he, by means of the rope, brings up one of the boat's crew; the rest are drawn up in the same manner, and each is furnished with his rope and fowling-staff. they then continue their progress upwards in the same manner, till they arrive at the regions of the birds, and wander about the face of the cliff in search of them. they then act in pairs; one fastens himself to the end of his associate's rope, and, in places where the birds have nestled beneath his footing, he permits himself to be lowered down, depending for his security on the strength of his companion, who has to haul him up again; but it sometimes happens that the person above is overpowered by the weight, and both inevitably perish. they fling the fowl into the boat, which attends their motions, and receives the booty. they often pass seven or eight days in this tremendous employ, and lodge in the crannies which they find in the face of the precipice. we shall close this division of our work with a curious account of the song of birds.--we introduce the subject by the following poetical quotations; which, we have no doubt, will interest every admirer of nature, and nature's god. --------------------------every copse deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads of the coy choristers that lodge within, are prodigal of harmony. _thomson._ ----------------------------each bird, or high in air, or secret in the shade, rejoicing, warbles wild his grateful hymn. _mallet._ from branch to branch the smaller birds with song solace the woods, and spread their painted wings till even; nor then the solemn nightingale ceases to warble: in shadiest covert hid, she all the night tunes her soft lays. _milton._ again:-- ----------------the sweet poet of the vernal groves melts all the night in strains of am'rous woe. _armstrong._ again:-- --------when the spring renews the flow'ry field, and warns the pregnant nightingale to build, she seeks the safest shelter of the wood, where she may trust her little tuneful brood. fond of the chosen place, she views it o'er, sits there, and wanders through the grove no more: warbling, she charms it each returning night;-- and gives the pensive mind a calm delight. _rowe._ the lark, that shuns on lofty boughs to build her humble nest, sits silent in the field; but if the promise of a cloudless day, (aurora smiling,) bids her rise and play, then straight she shews 'twas not for want of voice, or pow'r to climb, she made so low a choice; singing she mounts, her airy wings are stretch'd tow'rds heaven, as if from heav'n her note she fetch'd. _waller._ --------------------birds of sweetest song attune from native boughs their various lay, and cheer the forest; those of brighter plume with busy pinion skim the glitt'ring wave, or tempt the sun, ambitious to display their several merit. _shenstone._ the song of birds is defined, by the hon. daines barrington, to be a succession of three or more different notes, which are continued without interruption, during the same interval, with a musical bar of four crotchets, in an adagio movement, or whilst a pendulum swings four seconds. it is affirmed, that the notes of birds are no more innate than language in man, and that they depend upon imitation, as far as their organs will enable them to imitate the sounds which they have frequent opportunities of hearing: and their adhering so steadily, even in a wild state, to the same song, is owing to the nestling attending only to the instruction of the parent bird, whilst they disregard the notes of all others that may be singing around them. birds in a wild state do not usually sing above ten weeks in the year; whereas birds that have plenty of food in a cage, sing the greatest part of the year: the female of no species of birds ever sings. this is a wise provision, because her song would discover her nest. in the same manner, we may account for her inferiority of plumage. the faculty of singing is confined to the cock birds; and accordingly mr. hunter, in dissecting birds of several species, found the muscles of the larynx to be stronger in the nightingale than in any other bird of the same size; and in all those instances where he dissected both cock and hen, the same muscles were stronger in the cock. it is an observation as ancient as the time of pliny, that a capon does not crow. some ascribe the singing of the cock in the spring solely to the motive of pleasing his mate during incubation; others, who allow that it is partly for this end, believe it is partly owing to another cause, viz. the great abundance of plants and insects in spring, which are the proper food of singing birds at that time of the year, as well as seeds. mr. barrington remarks, that there is no instance of any singing bird which exceeds our blackbird in size; and this, he supposes, may arise from the difficulty of concealing itself, should it call the attention of its enemies, not only by its bulk, but by the proportionate loudness of its notes. he further observes, that some passages of the song in a few kinds of birds correspond with the intervals of our musical scale, of which the cuckoo is a striking and known instance; but the greater part of their song cannot be reduced to a musical scale; partly because the rapidity is often so great, and it is also so uncertain when they may stop, that we cannot reduce the passages to form a musical bar in any time whatsoever; partly also, because the pitch of most birds is considerably higher than the most shrill notes of those instruments which have the greatest compass; and principally, because the intervals used by birds are commonly so minute, that we cannot judge of them from the more gross intervals into which we divide our musical octave. this writer apprehends, that all birds sing in the same key; and he found by a nightingale, as well as a robin which was educated under him, that the notes reducible to our intervals of the octave were always precisely the same. most people, who have not attended to the notes of birds, suppose, that every species sing exactly the same notes and passages: but this is not true; though there is a general resemblance. thus the london bird-catchers prefer the song of the kentish goldfinches, and essex chaffinches; and some of the nightingale fanciers prefer a surrey bird to those of middlesex. of all singing birds, the song of the nightingale has been most universally admired; and its superiority consists in the following particulars: its tone is much more mellow than that of any other bird, though, at the same time, by a proper exertion of its musical powers, it can be very brilliant. another superiority is, its continuance of song without a pause, which is sometimes twenty seconds; and when respiration becomes necessary, it takes it with as much judgment as an opera singer. the skylark, in this particular, as well as in compass and variety, is only second to the nightingale. the nightingale also sings with judgment and taste. mr. barrington says, that his nightingale began softly, like the ancient orators, reserving its breath to swell certain notes, which thus had a most astonishing effect. he adds, that the notes of birds which are annually imported from asia, africa, and america, both singly and in concert, are not to be compared to those of european birds. he has also formed a table, to exhibit the comparative merits of the british singing birds; wherein twenty being the point of perfection, he states the nightingale at nineteen; the woodlark and skylark at eighteen; the blackcap at fourteen; the titlark, linnet, goldfinch, and robin, at twelve; with some variations respecting mellowness, sprightliness, execution, &c. for which, with the proportional differences of other birds, we refer to his work. we cannot resist the temptation to insert the following well-known invitation to the feathered race. _written at claverton, near bath_ again the balmy zephyr blows, fresh verdure decks the grove; each bird with vernal rapture glows, and tunes his notes to love. ye gentle warblers, hither fly, and shun the noontide heat; my shrubs a cooling shade supply, my groves a safe retreat. here freely hop from spray to spray, or weave the mossy nest, here rove and sing the live-long day, at night here sweetly rest. amidst this cool translucent rill, that trickles down the glade, here bathe your plumes, here drink your fill, and revel in the shade. no schoolboy rude, to mischief prone, e'er shows his ruddy face, or twangs his bow, or hurls a stone, in this sequester'd place. hither the vocal thrush repairs, secure the linnet sings: the goldfinch dreads no slimy snares, to clog her painted wings. sad philomel! ah, quit thy haunt, yon distant woods among, and round my friendly grotto chaunt thy sweetly plaintive song. let not the harmless redbreast fear, domestic bird, to come and seek a sure asylum here, with one that loves his home. my trees for you, ye artless tribe, shall store of fruit preserve: o let me thus your friendship bribe! come, feed without reserve. for you these cherries i protect, to you these plums belong; sweet is the fruit that you have pick'd, but sweeter far your song. let then this league betwixt us made, our mutual int'rest guard; mine be the gift of fruit and shade, your songs be my reward. _graves._ chap. xxii. curiosities respecting insects. to their delicious task the fervent bees, in swarming millions, tend; around, athwart, through the soft air the busy nations fly, cling to the bud, and with inserted tube suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul; and oft, with bolder wing, they, soaring, dare the purple heath, or where the wild thyme grow, and yellow load them with the luscious spoil. _thomson._ what various wonders may observers see in a small insect--the sagacious bee! mark how the little untaught builders square their rooms, and in the dark their lodgings rear; nature's mechanics, they unwearied strive and fill, with curious labyrinths, the hive. see what bold strokes of architecture shine through the whole frame, what beauty, what design! _blackmore._ the honey bee. this important insect has been long and justly celebrated for its wonderful polity, the neatness and precision with which it constructs its cells, and the diligence with which it provides, during the warmth of summer, a supply of food for the support of the hive during the rigours of the succeeding winter. the general history of this interesting insect has been amply detailed by various authors, as swammerdam, reaumur, &c. &c. among the most elaborate accounts of later times, may be mentioned that of mr. john hunter, which made its appearance in the philosophical transactions for the year ; and that of m. huber, contained in his _nouvelles observations sur les abeilles_, addressed to m. bonnet, the celebrated author of the "_contemplations de la nature_." the following account is drawn principally from hunter and huber. there are three periods, observes hunter, at which the history of the bee may commence: first, in the spring, when the queen begins to lay her eggs; in the summer, at the commencement of a new colony; or in the autumn, when they go into winter-quarters. we shall begin the particular history of the bee with the new colony, when nothing is formed. when a hive sends off a colony, it is commonly in the month of june; but that will vary according to the season, for, in a mild spring, bees sometimes swarm in the middle of may, and very often at the latter end of it. before they come off, they commonly hang about the mouth of the hole or door of the hive for some days, as if they had not sufficient room within for such hot weather, which we believe is very much the case; for if cold or wet weather come on, they stow themselves very well, and wait for fine weather. but swarming appears to be rather an operation arising from necessity; for they do not seem to remove voluntarily, because if they have an empty space to fill, they do not swarm; therefore, by increasing the size of the hive, the swarming is prevented. this period is much longer in some than in others. for some evenings before they come off, is often heard a singular noise, a kind of ring, or sound of a small trumpet; by comparing it with the notes of a piano-forte, it seemed to be the same sound with the lower a of the treble. the swarm commonly consists of three classes; a female or females, males, and those commonly called mules, which are supposed to be of no sex, and are the labourers; the whole, about two quarts in bulk, making about six or seven thousand. it is a question that cannot easily be determined, whether this old stock sends off only young of the same season, and whether the whole of their young ones, or only a part. as the males are entirely bred in the same season, part go off; but part must stay, and most probably it is so with the others. they commonly come off in the heat of the day, often immediately after a shower. when one goes off, they all immediately follow, and fly about, seemingly in great confusion, although there is one principle actuating the whole. they soon appear to be directed to some fixed place; such as the branch of a tree or bush, the cavities of old trees, or holes of houses leading into some hollow place; and whenever the stand is made, they immediately repair to it till they are all collected. but it would seem, in some cases, that they had not fixed upon any resting-place before they come off, or, if they had, that they were either disturbed, if it was near, or that it was at a great distance; for, after hovering some time, as if undetermined, they fly away, mount up into the air, and go off with great velocity. when they have fixed upon their future habitation, they immediately begin to make their combs for they have the materials within themselves. "i have reason," says mr. hunter, "to believe that they fill their crops with honey when they come away, probably from the stock in the hive. i killed several of those that came away, and found their crops full, while those that remained in the hive had their crops not near so full: some of them came away with farina on their legs, which i conceive to be rather accidental. i may just observe here, that a hive commonly sends off two, sometimes three swarms in a summer, but that the second is commonly less than the first, and the third less than the second; and this last has seldom time to provide for the winter. "the materials of their dwelling or comb, which is the wax, is the next consideration, with the mode of forming, preparing, or disposing of it. in giving a totally new account of the wax, i shall first shew it can hardly be what it has been supposed to be. first, i shall observe that the materials, as they are found composing the comb, are not to be found in the same state (as a composition) in any vegetable, where they have been supposed to be got. the substance brought in on the legs, which is the farina of the flowers of plants, is, in common, i believe, imagined to be the materials of which the wax is made, for it is called by most, the wax: but it is the farina, for it is always of the same colour as the farina of the flower where they are gathering; and, indeed, we see them gathering it, and we also see them covered almost all over with it like a dust: nevertheless, it has been supposed to be the wax, or that the wax was extracted from it. reaumur is of this opinion. "i made several experiments, to see if there was such a quantity of oil in it, as would account for the quantity of wax to be formed, and to learn if it was composed of oil. i held it near the candle; it burnt, but did not smell like wax, and had the same smell when burning, as farina when it was burnt. i observed, that this substance was of different colours on different bees, but always of the same colour on both legs of the same bee; whereas a new-made comb was all of one colour. i observed, that it was gathered with more avidity for old hives, where the comb is complete, than for those hives where it was only begun, which we could hardly conceive, admitting it to be the materials of wax. also we may observe, that at the very beginning of a hive, the bees seldom bring in any substance on their legs for two or three days, and after that, the farina gatherers begin to increase; for now some cells are formed to hold it as a store, and some eggs are laid, which, when hatched, will require this substance as food, and which will be ready when the weather is wet. "the wax is formed by the bees themselves; it may be called an external secretion of oil, and i have found that it is formed between each scale of the under side of the belly. when i first observed this substance, in my examination of the working bee, i was at a loss to say what it was: i asked myself if it were scales forming, and whether they cast the old, as the lobster, &c. does? but it was to be found only between the scales on the lower side of the belly. on examining the bees through glass hives, while they were climbing up the glass, i could see that most of them had this substance, for it looked as if the lower or posterior edge of the scale was double, or that there were double scales; but i perceived it was loose, not attached. finding that the substance brought in on their legs was farina, intended, as appeared from every circumstance, to be the food of the bee, and not to make wax; and not having yet perceived any thing that could give me the least idea of wax; i conceived these scales might be it, at least i thought it necessary to investigate them. i therefore took several on the point of a needle, and held them to a candle, where they melted, and immediately formed themselves into round globules; upon which i no longer doubted that this was the wax, which opinion was confirmed to me by not finding those scales but in the building season. "the cells, or rather the congeries of cells, which compose the comb, may be said to form perpendicular plates, or partitions, which extend from top to bottom of the cavity in which they build, and work downwards; but if the upper part of this vault to which their combs are fixed, is removed, and a dome is put over, they begin at the upper edge of the old comb, and work up into the new cavity at the top. they generally may be guided, as to the directions of their new plates, by forming ridges at top, to which they begin to attach their combs. in a long hive, if these ridges are longitudinal, their plates of comb will be longitudinal; if placed transversely, so will be the plates; and if obliquely, the plates of comb will be oblique also. each plate consists of a double set of cells, whose bottoms form the partition between each set. the plates themselves are not very regularly arranged, not forming a regular plane where they might have done so, but are often adapted to the situation or shape of the cavity in which they are built. "the bees do not endeavour to shape their cavity to their work, as the wasps do, nor are the cells of equal depths, also fitting them to their situation; but as the breeding cells must all be of a given depth, they reserve a sufficient number for breeding in, and they put the honey into the others, as also into the shallow ones. the attachment of the comb round the cavity is not continued, but interrupted, so as to form passages in the middle of the plates, especially if there be a cross-stick to support the comb; these allow of bees to go across from plate to plate. the substance which they use for attaching their combs to surrounding parts, is not the same as the common wax; it is softer and tougher, a good deal like the substance with which they cover in their chrysalis, or the humblebee surrounds her eggs. it is probably a mixture of wax with farina. the cells are placed nearly horizontal, but not exactly so; the mouth raised a little, which probably may be to retain the honey the better: however, this rule is not strictly observed, for often they are horizontal, and towards the lower edge of a plane of comb they are often declining. the first combs that a hive forms are the smallest, and much neater than the last or lowermost. their sides or partitions, between cell and cell, are much thinner, and the hexagon is much more perfect. the wax is purer, being probably little else but wax, and it is more brittle. the lower combs are considerably larger, and contain much more wax, or perhaps, more properly, more materials; and the cells are at such distances as to allow them to be of a round figure; the wax is softer, and there is something mixed with it. i have observed that the cells are not all of equal size, some being a degree larger than others; and that the small are the first formed, and of course at the upper part, where the bees begin; and the larger are nearer the lower part of the comb, or last made: however, in hives of a particular construction, where the bees may begin to work at one end, and can work both down and towards the other end, we often find the larger cells both on the lower part of the combs, and also at the opposite end; these are formed for the males to be bred in: in the hornet and wasp combs there are larger cells for the queens to be bred in; these are also formed in the lower tier, and are the last formed. "the first comb made in a hive is all of one colour, viz. almost white; but is not so white towards the end of the season, having then more of a yellow cast." what follows is principally abridged from huber, who in many instances is more correct than hunter.--a hive contains three kind of bees. . a single queen bee, distinguishable by the great length of her body, and the proportional shortness of her wings. . working-bees, female non-breeders, or, as they were formerly called, neuters, to the amount of many thousands; these are the smallest bees in the hive, and are armed with a sting. . drones, or males, to the number perhaps of fifteen hundred or two thousand; these are larger than the workers, and of a dark colour; they make a great noise in flying, and have no sting. the whole labour of the community is performed by the workers: they elaborate the wax, and construct the cells; they collect the honey, and feed the brood. the drones, numerous as they are, serve no other purpose than to ensure the increase of the hive, and are regularly massacred by the workers at the beginning of autumn. it is the office of the queen-bee to lay the eggs. these remain about three days in the cells before they are hatched. a small white worm then makes its appearance, (called indifferently, worm, larva, maggot, or grub;) this larva is fed with honey for some days, and then changes into a nymph or pupa. after passing a certain period in this state, it comes forth a perfect winged insect. m. huber, after noticing the propagation of this industrious race, next states the accidental discovery of the very singular and unexpected consequences which follow from retarding the impregnation of the queen-bee beyond the twentieth or twenty-first day of her life. in the natural order of things, or when impregnation is not retarded, the queen begins to lay the eggs of workers forty-six hours after, and she continues for the subsequent eleven months to lay none but these; "and it is only after this period, that a considerable and uninterrupted laying of the eggs of drones commences. when, on the contrary, impregnation is retarded after the twenty-eighth day, the queen begins, from the forty-sixth hour, to lay the eggs of drones; and she lays no other kind during her whole life." it would be tedious to detail the experiments; they were numerous, and the results uniform. "i occupied myself (says m. huber) the remainder of , and the two subsequent years, with experiments on retarded fecundation, and had constantly the same results." it is undoubted, therefore, that when the course of natural instinct is retarded beyond the twentieth day, only an imperfect generation is produced; as the queen, instead of laying the eggs of workers and of males equally, will lay those of males only. this discovery is entirely m. huber's own: and so difficult is it to offer any plausible explanation of the fact, that he himself has scarcely attempted it. the working-bees had been for ages considered as entirely destitute of sex; and hence, in the writings of many authors, they are denominated neuters, but from the experiments of schirach and huber, it seems now to be clearly ascertained, that the workers are really of the female sex. m. huber confirms the curious discovery of m. schirach, that when bees are by any accident deprived of their queen, they have the power of selecting one or two grubs of workers, and of converting them into queens; and that they accomplish this by greatly enlarging the cells of those selected larvæ, by supplying them more copiously with food, and with that of a more pungent sort than is given to the common larvæ. m. huber gives the following curious account of the manner in which bees proceed in forming capacious cells for the workers' grubs destined to royalty.--"bees soon become sensible of having lost their queen, and in a few hours commence the labour necessary to repair their loss. first they select the young common worms, which the requisite treatment is to convert into queens, and immediately begin with enlarging the cells where they are deposited. their mode of proceeding is curious; and the better to illustrate it, i shall describe the labour bestowed on a single cell, which will apply to all the rest containing worms destined for queens. having chosen a worm, they sacrifice three of the contiguous cells; next they supply it with food, and raise a cylindrical enclosure around, by which the cell becomes a perfect tube, with a rhomboidal bottom; for the parts forming the bottom are left untouched. if the bees damaged it, they would lay open three corresponding cells on the opposite surface of the comb, and consequently destroy their worms, which would be an unnecessary sacrifice, and nature has opposed it. therefore, leaving the bottom rhomboidal, they are satisfied with raising a cylindrical tube around the worm, which, like the other cells in the comb, are horizontal. but this habitation remains suitable to the worm called to the royal state, only during the first three days of its existence: another situation is requisite for the other two days it is a worm. during that time, though so small a portion of its life, it must inhabit a cell nearly of a pyramidical figure, and hanging perpendicularly. the workers, therefore gnaw away the cells surrounding the cylindrical tube, mercilessly sacrifice their worms, and use the wax in constructing a new pyramidical tube, which they solder at right angles to the first, and work it downwards. the diameter of this pyramid decreases insensibly from the base, which is very wide, to the point. in proportion as the worm grows, the bees labour in extending the cell, and bring food, which they place before its mouth, and near its body, forming a kind of cord around it. the worm, which can move only in a spiral direction, turns incessantly to take the food before its head: it insensibly descends, and at length arrives at the orifice of the cell. now is the time of transformation to a nymph. as any further care is unnecessary, the bees close the cell with a peculiar substance appropriated for it, and there the worm undergoes both its metamorphoses." m. huber relates some experiments which confirm the singular discovery of m. riems, concerning common working bees that are capable of laying eggs,--which, we may remark, is certainly a most convincing proof of their being of the female sex. eggs were observed to increase in number daily, in a hive in which there were no queens of the usual appearance; but small queens considerably resemble workers, and to discriminate them, required minute inspection. "my assistant," (says m. huber,) "then offered to perform an operation that required both courage and patience, and which i could not resolve to suggest, though the same expedient had occurred to myself. he proposed to examine each bee in the hive separately, to discover whether some small queen had not insinuated herself among them, and escaped our first researches. it was necessary, therefore, to seize every one of the bees, notwithstanding their irritation, and to examine their specific character with the utmost care. this my assistant undertook, and executed with great address. eleven days were employed in it; and, during all that time, he scarcely allowed himself any relaxation but what the relief of his eyes required. he took every bee in his hand; he attentively examined the trunk, the hind limbs, and the sting; and he found that there was not one without the characteristics of the common bee, that is, the little basket on the hind legs, the long trunk, and the straight sting." when a supernumerary queen is produced in a hive, or is introduced into it in the course of experiment, either she or the rightful owner soon perishes. the german naturalists, schirach and riems, imagined that the working bees assailed the stranger, and stung her to death. reaumur considered it as more probable, that the sceptre was made to depend on the issue of a single combat between the claimants; and this conjecture is verified by the observations of huber. the same hostility towards rivals, and destructive vengeance against royal cells, animates all queens, whether they be virgins, or in a state of impregnation, or mothers of numerous broods. the working bees, it may here be remarked, remain quiet spectators of the destruction, by the first-hatched queen, of the remaining royal cells; they approach only to share in the plunder presented by their havock-making mistress, greedily devouring any food found at the bottom of the cells, and even sucking the fluid from the abdomen of the nymphs before they toss out the carcase. the following fact, connected with this subject, is one of the most curious perhaps in the whole history of this wonderful insect. whenever the workers perceive that there are two rival queens in the hive, numbers of them crowd around each; they seem to be perfectly aware of the approaching deadly conflict, and willing to prompt their amazonian chieftains to the battle; for as often as the queens shew a disinclination to fight, or seem inclined to recede from each other, or to fly off, the bees immediately surround and detain them; but when either combatant shews a disposition to approach her antagonist, all the bees forming the clusters instantly give way, to allow her full liberty for the attack. it seems strange that those bees, who in general shew so much anxiety about the safety of their queen, should, in particular circumstances, oppose her preparations to avoid impending danger,--should seem to promote the battle, and to excite the fury of the combatants. when a queen is removed from a hive, the bees do not immediately perceive it; they continue their labours, "watch over their young, and perform all their ordinary occupations. but, in a few hours, agitation ensues; all appears a scene of tumult in the hive. a singular humming is heard; the bees desert their young, and rush over the surface of the combs with a delirious impetuosity." they have now evidently discovered that their sovereign is gone; and the rapidity with which the bad news spreads through the hive, to the opposite side of the combs, is very remarkable. on replacing the queen in the hive, tranquillity is almost instantly restored. the bees, it is worthy of notice, recognize the individual person of their own queen. if another be palmed upon them, they seize and surround her, so that she is either suffocated, or perishes by hunger; for it is very remarkable, that the workers are never known to attack a queen bee with their stings. if, however, more than eighteen hours have elapsed before the stranger queen be introduced, she has some chance to escape: the bees at first seize and confine her, but less rigidly; and they soon begin to disperse, and at length leave her to reign over a hive, in which she was at first treated as a prisoner. if twenty-four hours have elapsed, the stranger will be well received from the first, and at once admitted to the sovereignty of the hive. in short, it appears that the bees, when deprived of their queen, are thrown into great agitation; that they wait about twenty hours, apparently in hopes of her return; but that, after this interregnum, the agitation ceases, and they set about supplying their loss by beginning to construct royal cells. it is when they are in this temper, and not sooner, that a stranger queen will be graciously received; and upon her being presented to them, the royal cells, in whatever state of forwardness they may happen to be, are instantly abandoned, and the larvæ destroyed. reaumur must therefore have mistaken the result of his own experiments, when he asserts, that a stranger queen is instantly well received, though presented at the moment when the other is withdrawn. he had seen the bees crowding around her at the entrance of the hive, and laying their antennæ over her; and this he seems to have taken for caressing. the structure of the hives he employed prevented him from seeing further: had he used the leaf-hive, or one of similar construction, he would have perceived that the apparent caresses of the guards were only the prelude to actual imprisonment. it is well known, that after the season of swarming, a general massacre of the drones is commenced. several authors assert, in their writings, that the workers do not sting the drones to death, but merely harass them till they are banished from the hive and perish. m. huber contrived a glass table, on which he placed several hives, and he was thus able to see distinctly what passed at the bottom of the hive, which is generally dark and concealed: he witnessed a real and furious massacre of the males, the workers thrusting their stings so deep into the bodies of the defenceless drones, that they were obliged to turn on themselves as on a pivot, before they could extricate them. the work of death commenced in all the hives much about the same time. it is not, however, by a blind or indiscriminating instinct, that the workers are impelled thus to sacrifice the males; for if a hive be deprived of its queen, no massacre of the males takes place in it, while the hottest persecution rages in all the surrounding hives. in this case, the males are allowed to survive the winter. mr. bonner had observed this fact; he supposed, however, that the workers thus tolerated the drones for the sake of the additional heat they generated in the hive; but we now see the true reason to be, that without them the new queen would not be fruitful. the drones are also suffered to exist in hives that possess fertile workers, but no proper queen; and, what is remarkable, they are likewise spared in hives governed by a queen whose fecundity has been retarded. here, then, we perceive a counter-instinct opposed to that which would have impelled them to the usual massacre. upon the subject of swarming, m. huber commences with an interesting account of the hatching of the queen bee. when the pupa is about to change into the perfect insect, the bees render the cover of the cell thinner, by gnawing away part of the wax; and with so much nicety do they perform this operation, that the cover at last becomes pellucid, owing to its extreme thinness. this must not only facilitate the exit of the fly, but, m. huber remarks, it may possibly be useful in permitting the evaporation of the superabundant fluids of the nymph. after the transformation is complete, the young queens would, in common course, immediately emerge from their cells, as workers and drones do; but the bees always keep them prisoners for some days in their cells, supplying them in the mean time with honey for food; a small hole being made in the door of each cell, through which the confined bee extends its proboscis to receive it. the royal prisoners continually utter a kind of song, the modulations of which are said to vary. the final cause of this temporary imprisonment, it is suggested, may possibly be, that they may be able to take flight at the instant they are liberated. when a young queen at last gets out, she meets with rather an awkward reception; she is pulled, bitten, and chased, as often as she happens to approach the other royal cells in the hive. the purpose of nature here seems to be, that she should be impelled to go off with a swarm as soon as possible. a curious fact was observed on these occasions: when the queen found herself much harassed, she had only to utter a peculiar noise, (the commanding voice, we may presume, of sovereignty,) and all the bees were instantaneously constrained to submission and obedience. this is, indeed, one of the most marked instances in which the queen exerts her sovereign power. the conclusions at which m. huber arrives on the subject of swarms are the following:-- first, "a swarm is always led off by a single queen, either the sovereign of the parent hive, or one recently brought into existence. if, at the return of spring, we examine a hive well peopled, and governed by a fertile queen, we shall see her lay a prodigious number of male eggs in the course of may, and the workers will choose that moment for constructing several royal cells." this laying of male eggs in may, m. huber calls the great laying; and he remarks, that no queen ever has a great laying till she be eleven months old. it is only after finishing this laying, that she is able to undertake the journey implied in leading a swarm; for, previously to this, "_latum trahit alvum_," which unfits her for flying. there appears to be a secret relation between the production of the male eggs, and the construction of royal cells. the great laying commonly lasts thirty days; and regularly, on the twentieth or twenty-first, several royal cells are founded. secondly, "when the larvæ hatched from the eggs laid by the queen in the royal cells are ready to transform to nymphs, this queen leaves the hive, conducting a swarm along with her; and the first swarm that proceeds from the hive is uniformly conducted by the old queen." m. huber remarks, that it was necessary that instinct should impel the old queen to lead forth the first swarm: for, that she being the strongest, would never have failed to have overthrown the younger competitors for the throne. an old queen, as has already been said, never quits a hive at the head of a swarm, till she has finished her laying of male eggs; but this is of importance, not merely that she may be lighter and fitter for flight, but that she may be ready to begin with the laying of workers' eggs in her new habitation, workers being the bees first needed, in order to secure the continuance and prosperity of the newly-founded commonwealth. thirdly, "after the old queen has conducted the first swarm from the hive, the remaining bees take particular care of the royal cells, and prevent the young queens, successively hatched, from leaving them, unless at an interval of several days between each." under this head he introduces a number of general remarks, some of which may prove useful. "a swarm (he observes) is never seen unless in a fine day, or, to speak more correctly, at a time of the day when the sun shines, and the air is calm. sometimes we have observed all the precursors of swarming, disorder and agitation: but a cloud passed before the sun, and tranquillity was restored; the bees thought no more of swarming. an hour afterwards, the sun having again appeared, the tumult was renewed; it rapidly augmented, and the swarm departed." a certain degree of tumult commences as soon as the young queens are hatched, and begin to traverse the hive: the agitation soon pervades the whole bees; and such a ferment soon rages, that m. huber has often observed the thermometer in the hive to rise suddenly from about ° to above °: this suffocating heat he considers as one of the means employed by nature for urging the bees to go off in swarms. in warm weather, one strong hive has been known to send off four swarms in eighteen days. the cause of the bees, which has been so eloquently and pathetically pleaded by the poet of the seasons, is supported by m. huber, on a principle more intelligible, perhaps, and more persuasive, to most country bee-masters, viz. interest. he deprecates the destruction of bees, and recommends to the cultivator to be content with a reasonable share of the wealth of the hive; arguing very justly, we believe, that a little taken from each of a number of hives, is ultimately much more profitable than a greater quantity obtained by a total destruction of a few. we conclude our observations on this curious insect by two poetical quotations. "of all the race of animals, alone the bees have common cities of their own. mindful of coming cold, they share the pain, and hoard for winter's use the summer's gain. some o'er the public magazines preside, and some are sent new forage to provide; these drudge in fields abroad, and those at home lay deep foundations for the labour'd comb; to pitch the waxen flooring some contrive; some nurse the future nation of the hive. their toil is common, common is their sleep; they shake their wings when morn begins to peep: rush through the city gates without delay, nor ends their work but with declining day." churchill, after the following beautiful and picturesque description, introduces a sovereign, drawing from it, in a soliloquy, the most natural reflections on the momentous duties of his station. "* * * * * * strength in her limbs, and on her wings dispatch, the bee goes forth; from herb to herb she flies, from flow'r to flow'r, and loads her lab'ring thighs with treasur'd sweets, robbing those flow'rs, which left, find not themselves made poorer by the theft, their scents as lively, and their looks as fair, as if the pillager had not been there. ne'er doth she flit on pleasure's silken wing, ne'er doth she loit'ring let the bloom of spring unrifled pass, and on the downy breast of some fair flow'r indulge untimely rest. ne'er doth she, drinking deep of those rich dews which chemist night prepar'd, that faith abuse due to the hive, and, selfish in her toils, to her own private use convert the spoils. love of the stock first call'd her forth to roam, and to the stock she brings her honey home." chap. xxiii. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _the clothier bee.--the carpenter bee.--the mason bee.--the upholsterer bee.--the leaf-cutter bee.--curious account of an idiot boy and bees.--mr. wildman's curious exhibitions of bees explained._ wild bees. the clothier bee. learn each small people's genius, policies, the ants' republic, and the realm of bees; how those in common all their wealth bestow and anarchy without confusion know; and these for ever, though a monarch reign, their separate cells and properties maintain. mark what unvary'd laws preserve each state, laws, wise as nature, and as fixt as fate. _pope._ the following curious account of wild bees is principally abridged from kirby and spence's very interesting work on entomology. the clothier bee is a lively and gay insect. it does not excavate holes for their reception, but places them in the cavities of old trees, or of any other object that suits its purpose. sir thomas cullum discovered the nest of one in the inside of the lock of a garden gate, in which mr. kirby also since twice found them. it should seem, however, that such situations would be too cold for the grubs without a coating of some non-conducting substance. the parent bee, therefore, after having constructed the cells, laid an egg in each, and filled them with a store of suitable food, plasters them with a covering of vermiform masses, apparently composed of honey and pollen; and having done this, aware (long before count rumford's experiments) what materials conduct heat most slowly, she attacks the woolly leaves of stachy's lanata, agrostemma coronaria, and similar plants, and with her mandibles industriously scrapes off the wool, which with her fore legs she rolls into a little ball, and carries to her nest. this wool she sticks upon the plaster that covers her cells, and thus closely envelopes them with a warm coating of down, impervious to every change of temperature. the carpenter bee.--a numerous family of wild bees may properly be compared to carpenters, boring with incredible labour, out of the solid wood, long cylindrical tubes, and dividing them into various cells. amongst these, one of the most remarkable is the apis violacea, l. (xylacopa, latr.) a large species, a native of southern europe, distinguished by beautiful wings of a deep violet colour, and found commonly in gardens, in the upright putrescent espaliers, or vine props, of which, and occasionally in the garden seats, doors, and window-shutters, she makes her nest. in the beginning of spring, after repeated and careful surveys, she fixes upon a piece of wood suitable for her purpose, and with her strong mandibles begins the process of boring. first proceeding obliquely downwards, she soon points her course in a direction parallel with the sides of the wood, and at length with unwearied exertion forms a cylindrical hole or tunnel not less than twelve or fifteen inches long, and half an inch broad. sometimes, where the diameter will admit of it, three or four of these pipes, nearly parallel with each other, are bored in the same piece. herculean as this task (which is the labour of several days) appears, it is but a small part of what our industrious bee cheerfully undertakes. as yet she has completed, but the shell of the destined habitation of her offspring; each of which, to the number of ten or twelve, will require a separate and distinct apartment. in excavating her tunnel, she has detached a large quantity of fibres, which lie on the ground like a heap of saw-dust. this material supplies all her wants. having deposited an egg at the bottom of the cylinder, along with the requisite store of pollen and honey, she next, at the height of about three-quarters of an inch, (which is the depth of each cell,) constructs of particles of the saw-dust glued together, and also to the sides of the tunnel, what may be called an annular stage or scaffolding. when this is sufficiently hardened, its interior edge affords support for a second ring of the same materials, and thus the ceiling is gradually formed of these concentric circles, till there remains only a small orifice in its centre, which is also closed with a circular mass of agglutinated particles of saw-dust. when this partition, which serves as the ceiling of the first cell, and the flooring of the second, is finished, it is about the thickness of a crown piece, and exhibits the appearance of as many concentric circles as the animal has made pauses in her labour. one cell being finished, she proceeds to another, which she furnishes and completes in the same manner, and so on, until she has divided her whole tunnel into ten or twelve apartments. such a laborious undertaking as the constructing and furnishing these cells, cannot be the work of one, or even of two days. considering that every cell requires a store of honey and pollen, not to be collected but with long toil, and that a considerable interval must be spent in agglutinating the floors of each, it will be very obvious that the last egg in the last cell must be laid many days after the first. we are certain, therefore, that the first egg will become a grub, and consequently a perfect bee, many days before the last. what then becomes of it? it is impossible that it should make its escape through eleven superincumbent cells, without destroying the immature tenants; and it seems equally impossible that it should remain patiently in confinement below them until they are all disclosed. this dilemma our heaven-taught architect has provided against. with forethought, never enough to be admired, she has not constructed her tunnel with one opening only, but at the farther end has pierced another orifice, a kind of back door, through which the insects produced by the first-laid eggs successively emerge into day. in fact, all the young bees, even the uppermost, go out by this road; for, by an exquisite instinct, each grub, when about to become a pupa, places itself in its cell, with its head downwards, and thus is necessitated, when arrived at its last state, to pierce its cell in this direction. we shall now describe the mason-bee.--there is a family of wild bees which carry on the trade of masons, building their solid houses solely of artificial stone. the first step of the mother bee, _apis mururia, oliv._ (_anthophara, f. megachile, latr._) is to fix upon a proper situation for the future mansion of her offspring. for this she usually selects an angle, sheltered by any projection, on the south side of a stone wall. her next care is to provide materials for the structure. the chief of these is sand, which she carefully selects, grain by grain, from such as contain some mixture of earth; these grains she glues together with her viscid saliva into masses the size of small shot,[ ] and transports by means of her jaws to the site of her castle. with a number of these masses, which are the artificial stone of which her building is to be composed, united by a cement preferable to ours, she first forms the basis or foundation of the whole. next she raises the walls of a cell, which is an inch long and half an inch broad, and, before its orifice is closed, in form resembles a thimble. this, after depositing an egg, and a supply of honey and pollen, she covers in, and then proceeds to the erection of a second, which she finishes in the same manner, until the whole number, which varies from four to eight, is completed. the vacuities between the cells, which are not placed in any regular order, some being parallel to the wall, others being perpendicular to it, and others inclined to it at different angles, this laborious architect fills up with the same material of which the cells are composed, and then bestows upon the whole group a common covering of coarser grains of sand. the form of the whole nest, which, when finished, is a solid mass of stone, so hard as not to be easily penetrated with the blade of a knife, is an irregular oblong, of the same colour as the sand, and, to a casual observer, more resembling a splash of mud than an artificial structure. these bees sometimes are more economical of their labour, and repair old nests, for the possession of which they have very desperate combats. one would have supposed that the inhabitants of a castle so fortified might defy the attack of an insect marauder. yet an ichneumon, and a beetle (_clerius apiarius, f._) both contrive to introduce their eggs into the cells, and the larvæ proceeding from them devour their inhabitants.--_reaum._ vi. , . _mon. ap. angl._ i. . other bees of the same family use different materials in the construction of their nests. some employ fine earth made into a kind of mortar made with gluten. another, (_a. coerulescens, l._) as we learn from de geer, forms its nest of argillaceous earth, mixed with chalk, upon stone walls, and sometimes probably builds in chalk-pits. _apis bicornis, l._ selects the hollows of large stones for the site of its dwelling; whilst others prefer the holes in wood. we now proceed to the upholsterer-bee.--such may those be denominated which line the holes excavated in the earth for the reception of their young, with an elegant coating of flowers or of leaves. amongst the most interesting of these is _apis papaveris_, (_megachile, latr., anthophora, f._) a species whose manners have been admirably described by reaumur. this little bee, as though fascinated with the colour most attractive to our eyes, invariably chooses for the hangings of her apartments the most brilliant scarlet, selecting for its material the petals of the wild poppy, which she dexterously cuts into the proper form. her first process is to excavate in some pathway a burrow, cylindrical at the entrance, but swelled out below, to the depth of about three inches. having polished the walls of this little apartment, she next flies to a neighbouring field, cuts out oval portions of the flowers of poppies, seizes them between her legs, and returns with them to her cell; and though separated from the wrinkled petal of a half-expanded flower, she knows how to straighten their folds, and, if too large, to fit them for her purpose by cutting off the superfluous parts. beginning at the bottom, she overlays the walls of her mansion with this brilliant tapestry, extending it also on the surface of the ground round the margin of the orifice. the bottom is rendered warm by three or four coats, and the sides have never less than two. the little upholsterer, having completed the hangings of her apartment, next fills it with pollen and honey to the height of about half an inch; then, after committing an egg to it, she wraps over the poppy lining, so that even the roof may leave this material; and lastly, closes its mouth with a small hillock of earth.--_reaum._ . to . the great depth of the cell, compared with the space which the single egg and the accompanying food deposited in it occupy, deserves particular notice. this is not more than half an inch at the bottom, the remaining two inches and a half being subsequently filled with earth. the leaf-cutter bee.--there is a species of wild bee, that cover the walls of their cells with coatings of sober-coloured materials, generally selecting for their hangings the leaves of trees, especially of the rose, whence they have been known by the name of the leaf-cutter bees. they differ also from _a. papaveris_ in excavating longer burrows, and filling them with several thimble-shaped cells, composed of portions of leaves so curiously convoluted, that, if we were ignorant in what school they have been taught to construct them, we should never credit their being the work of an insect. their entertaining history, so long ago as , attracted the attention of our countrymen, ray, lister, willoughby, and sir edw. king; but we are indebted for the most complete account of the procedure, to reaumur. the mother bee first excavates a cylindrical hole eight or ten inches long, in a horizontal direction, either in the ground or in the trunk of a rotten willow-tree, or occasionally in other decaying wood. this cavity she fills with six or seven cells, wholly composed of portions of leaf in the shape of a thimble, the convex end of one closely fitting into the open end of another. her first process is to form the exterior coating, which is composed of three or four pieces, of larger dimensions than the rest, and of an oval form. the second coating is formed of portions of equal size, narrow at one end, but gradually widening towards the other, where the width equals half the length. one side of these pieces is the serrate margin of the leaf from which it was taken, which, as the pieces are made to lap one over the other, is kept on the outside, and that which has been cut within. the little animal now forms a third coating of similar materials, the middle of which, as the most skilful workman would do in similar circumstances, she places over the margins of those that form the first tube, thus covering and strengthening the junctures. repeating the same process, she gives a fourth and sometimes a fifth coating to her nest, taking care, at the closed end or narrow extremity of the cell, to bend the leaves so as to form a convex termination. having thus finished a cell, her next business is to fill it, to within half a line of the orifice, with a rose-coloured conserve, composed of honey and pollen, usually collected from the flowers of thistles; and then having deposited her egg, she closes the orifice with three pieces of leaf so exactly circular, that a pair of compasses could not define their margin with more truth, and coinciding so precisely with the walls of the cell, as to be retained in their situation merely by the nicety of their adaptation. after this covering is fitted in, there remains still a concavity, which receives the convex end of the succeeding cell; and in this manner the indefatigable little animal proceeds until she has completed the six or seven cells composing her cylinder. the process which one of these bees employs in cutting the pieces of leaf that compose her nest, is worthy of attention. nothing can be more expeditious; she is not longer about it than we should be with a pair of scissors. after hovering for some moments over a rose bush, as if to reconnoitre the ground, the bee alights upon the leaf which she has selected, usually taking her station upon its edge, so that the margin passes between her legs. with her strong mandibles she cuts without intermission in a curve line, so as to detach a triangular portion. when this hangs by the last fibre, lest its weight should carry her to the ground, she balances her little wings for flight, and the very moment it parts from the leaf, flies off with it in triumph; the detached portion remaining bent between her legs in a direction perpendicular to her body. thus without rule or compasses do these diminutive creatures mete out the materials of their work into portions of an ellipse, into ovals or circles, accurately accommodating the dimensions of the several pieces of each figure to each other. what other architect could carry impressed upon the tablet of his memory the entire idea of the edifice which he has to erect, and, destitute of square or plumb-line, cut out his materials in their exact dimensions without making a single mistake? yet this is what our little bee invariably does. so far are human art and reason excelled by the teaching of the almighty.--_reaum._ vi. - . _mor. ap. angl._ i. . _apis_ c. . a curious account of an idiot boy, and bees.--mr. white has given the following curious account of an idiot boy. from a child he shewed a strong propensity to bees. they were his food, his amusement, his sole object. in the winter he dozed away his time in his father's house, by the fire-side, in a torpid state, seldom leaving the chimney-corner: but in summer he was all alert, and in quest of his game. hive-bees, humble-bees, and wasps, were his prey, wherever he found them. he had no apprehension from their stings, but would seize them with naked hands, and at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. sometimes he would fill his bosom between his shirt and skin with these insects; and sometimes he endeavoured to confine them in bottles. he was very injurious to men that kept bees, for he would glide into their bee-gardens, and, sitting down before the stools, would rap with his fingers, and so take the bees as they came out. he has even been known to overturn the hives for the sake of the honey, of which he was passionately fond. where metheglin was making, he would linger round the tubs and vessels, begging a draught of what he called bee-wine. as he ran about, he used to make a humming noise with his lips, resembling the buzzing of bees. this lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous complexion; and, except in his favourite pursuit, in which he was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner of understanding. had his capacity been better, and directed to the same object, he had perhaps abated much of our wonder at the feats of a more modern exhibiter of bees; and we may justly say of him now, --------------------------thou had thy presiding star propitious shouldst wildman be. _white's natural history._ we conclude this chapter with an explanation of the preceding lines. mr. wildman's curious exhibitions of bees.--mr. wildman, by his dexterity in the management of bees, some years ago, surprised the whole kingdom. he caused swarms to light where he pleased, almost instantaneously; he ordered them to settle on his head, then removed them to his hand, and commanded them to settle on a window, table, &c. at pleasure. we subjoin the method of performing these feats, in his own words: "long experience has taught me, that as soon as i turn up a hive, and give it some taps on the sides and bottom, the queen immediately appears, to know the cause of this alarm; but soon retires again among her people. being accustomed to see her so often, i readily perceive her at first glance; and long practice has enabled me to seize her instantly, with a tenderness that does not in the least endanger her person. this is of the utmost importance; for the least injury done to her brings immediate destruction to the hive, if you have not a spare queen to put in her place, as i have too often experienced in my first attempts. when possessed of her, i can, without injury to her, or exciting that degree of resentment that may tempt her to sting me, slip her into my other hand, and, returning the hive to its place, hold her there, till the bees missing her, are all on wing, and in the utmost confusion. when the bees are thus distressed, i place the queen wherever i would have the bees to settle. the moment a few of them discover her, they give notice to those near them, and those to the rest; the knowledge of which becomes so general, that in a few minutes they all collect themselves round her, and are so happy in having recovered this sole support of their state, that they will long remain quiet in their situation: nay, the scent of her body is so attractive of them, that the slightest touch of her along any place or substance, will attach the bees to it, and induce them to any path she takes."--this was the only witchcraft used by mr. wildman, and is that alone which is practised by others, who have since made similar exhibitions. chap. xxiv. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _the wasp._ the laws of life, why need i call to mind, obey'd by insects, too, of ev'ry kind! of these, none uncontroll'd and lawless rove, but to some destin'd end spontaneous move: led by that instinct heav'n itself inspires, or so much reason as their state requires. see all with skill acquire their daily food, all use those arms which nature has bestow'd; produce their tender progeny, and feed with care parental, while that care they need. in these lov'd offices completely blest, no hopes beyond them, nor vain fears molest. _jenyns._ for the following account of the wasp, we are indebted to kirby and spence; and we take this opportunity of making a general acknowledgment of our obligations to those gentlemen, for the assistance we have derived from their highly interesting treatise, in drawing up this account of the curiosities respecting insects. compared with hive-bees, wasps may be considered as a horde of thieves and brigands: while the bees are peaceful, honest, and industrious subjects; the wasps attack their persons, and plunder their property. yet, with all this love of pillage and other bad propensities, they are not altogether disagreeable or unamiable; they are brisk and lively; they do not usually attack unprovoked; and their object in plundering us is not purely selfish, but is principally to provide for the support of the young brood of their colonies. the societies of wasps, like those of ants, and other social _hymenoptera_, consist of females, males, and workers. the females may be considered as of two sorts: first, the females, by way of eminence, are much larger than any other individuals of the community; they equal six of the workers (from which in other respects they do not materially differ) in weight, and lay both male and female eggs: then the small females, not larger than the workers, which lay only male eggs. this last description of females, which are found also both amongst the humble-bees and hive-bees, were first observed among wasps, by m. perrot, a friend of huber's. the large females are produced later than the workers, and make their appearance in the next spring; and whoever then destroys one of them, destroys an entire colony, of which she would be the founder. different from the queen-bee, the female wasp is at first an insulated being, that has had the fortune to survive the rigours of winter. when in the spring she lays the foundation of her future empire, she has not a single worker at her disposal; with her own hands and teeth she often hollows out a cave wherein she may lay the first foundations of her paper metropolis: she must herself build the first houses, and produce from her own body their first inhabitants; which in their infant state she must feed and educate, before they can assist her in her great design. at length she receives the reward of her perseverance and labour; and from being a solitary unconnected individual, in the autumn is enabled to rival the queen of the hive in the number of her children and subjects, and in the edifices which they inhabit--the number of cells in a vespiary sometimes amounting to more than sixteen thousand, almost all of which contain either an egg, a grub, or a pupa, and each cell serving for three generations in a year; which, after making every allowance for failures and other casualties, will give a population of at least thirty thousand. even at this time, when she has so numerous an army of coadjutors, the industry of this creature does not cease, but she continues to set an example of diligence to the rest of the community. if by any accident, before the other females are hatched, the queen-mother perishes, the neuters cease their labours, lose their instincts, and die. the number of females in a populous vespiary is considerable, amounting to several hundreds; they emerge from the pupa about the latter end of august, at the same time with the males, and fly in september and october, when they pair. of this large number of females, very few survive the winter. those that are so fortunate, remain torpid till the vernal sun recalls them to life and action. they then fly forth, collect provision for their young brood, and are engaged in the other labours necessary for laying the foundation of their empire; but in the summer months they are never seen out of the nest. the male wasps are much smaller than the female, but they weigh as much as two workers. their antennæ are longer than those of either, not, like theirs, thicker at the end, but perfectly filiform; and their abdomen is distinguished by an additional segment. their numbers about equal those of the females, and they are produced at the same time. they are not so wholly given to pleasure and idleness as the drones of the hive. they do not, indeed, assist in building the nest, and in the care of the young brood; but they are the scavengers of the community, for they sweep the passages and streets, and carry off all the filth. they also remove the bodies of the dead, which are sometimes heavy burdens for them; in which case two unite their strength, to accomplish the work; or, if a partner be not at hand, the wasp thus employed cuts off the head of the defunct, and so effects its purpose. as they make themselves so useful, they are not, like the male bees, devoted by the workers to an universal massacre when the great end of their creation is answered; but they share the general lot of the community, and are suffered to survive till the cold cuts off them and the workers together. the workers are the most numerous, and to us the only troublesome part of the community; upon whom devolves the main business of the nest. in the summer and autumnal months they go forth by myriads into the neighbouring country to collect provisions; and on their return to the common den, after reserving a sufficiency for the nutriment of the young brood, they divide the spoil with great impartiality; part being given to the females, part to the males, and part to those workers that have been engaged in extending and fortifying the vespiary. this division is voluntarily made, without the slightest symptom of compulsion. several wasps assemble round each of the returning workers, and receive their respective portions. it is curious and interesting to observe their motions on this occasion. as soon as a wasp that has been filling itself with the juice of fruits arrives at the nest, it perches upon the top, and, disgorging a drop of its saccharine fluid, is attended sometimes by two at once, who share the treasure; this being thus distributed, a second, and sometimes a third drop, is produced, which falls to the lot of others. wasps, though ferocious and cruel towards their fellow-insects, are civilized and polished in their intercourse with each other, and form a community whose architectural labours will not suffer on comparison even with those of the peaceful inhabitants of a bee-hive. like these, the great object of their industry is the erection of a structure for their beloved progeny, towards which they discover the greatest affection and tenderness, and, like bees, construct combs consisting of hexagonal cells for their reception; but the substance which they make use of is very dissimilar to the wax employed by bees, and the general plan of their city differs in many respects from that of a bee-hive. the common wasp's nest, usually situated in a cavity under ground, is of an oval figure, about sixteen or eighteen inches long, by twelve or thirteen broad. externally, it is surrounded by a thick coating of numerous leaves of a sort of grayish paper, which do not touch each other, but have a small interval between each, so that if the rain should chance to penetrate one or two of them, its progress is speedily arrested. on removing this external covering, we perceive that the interior consists of from twelve to sixteen circular combs of different sizes, not ranged vertically, as in a bee-hive, but horizontally, so as to form so many distinct and parallel stories. each comb is composed of a numerous assembiage of hexagonal cells, formed of the same paper-like substance as the exterior covering of the nest, and, according to a discovery of dr. barclay, each, as in those of bees, a distinct cell, the partition walls being double.--_memoirs of the wernerian society_, ii. . these cells, which, as wasps do not store up any food, serve merely as the habitations of their young, are not, like those of the honey-bee, arranged in two opposite layers, but in one only, their entrance being always downwards: consequently the upper part of the comb, composed of the bases of the cells, which are not pyramidal, but slightly convex, forms a nearly level floor, on which the inhabitants can conveniently pass and repass, spaces of about half an inch high being left between each comb. although the combs are fixed to the sides of the nest, they would not be sufficiently strong without further support. the ingenious builders, therefore, connect each comb to that below it by a number of strong cylindrical columns or pillars, having, according to the rules of architecture, their base and capital wider than the shaft, and composed of the same paper-like material used in other parts of the nest, but of a more compact substance. the middle combs are connected by a rustic colonnade of from forty to fifty of these pillars; the upper and lower combs by a smaller number. the cells are of different sizes, corresponding to that of the three orders of individuals which compose the community; the largest for the grubs of females, the smallest for those of workers. the last always occupy an entire comb, while the cells of the males and females are often intermixed. besides openings which are left between the walls of the combs to admit of access from one to the other, there are at the bottom of each nest two holes, by one of which the wasps uniformly enter, and through the other issue from the nest, and thus avoid all confusion or interruption of their common labours. as the nest is often a foot and a half under ground, it is requisite that a covered way should lead to its entrance. this is excavated by the wasps, who are excellent miners, and is often very long and tortuous, forming a beaten road to the subterranean city, well known to the inhabitants, though its entrance is concealed from curious eyes. the cavity itself, which contains the nest, is either the abandoned habitation of moles or field-mice, or a cavern purposely dug out by the wasps, which exert themselves with such industry as to accomplish the arduous undertaking in a few days. when the cavity and entrance to it are completed, the next part of the process is to lay the foundations of the city to be included in it, which, contrary to the usual customs of builders, wasps begin at the top, continuing downwards. it has already been observed, that the coatings which compose the dome, are a sort of rough but thin paper, and that the rest of the nest is composed of the same substance variously applied. "whence do the wasps derive it?" they are manufacturers of the article, and prepare it from a material even more singular than any of those which have of late been proposed for this purpose; namely, the fibres of wood. these they detach by means of their jaws from window-frames, posts, and rails, &c. and, when they have amassed a heap of the filaments, moisten the whole with a few drops of a viscid glue from their mouth, and, kneading it with their jaws into a sort of paste, or _papier mâché_, fly off with it to their nest. this ductile mass they attach to that part of the building upon which they are at work, walking backwards, and spreading it into laminæ of the requisite thinness by means of their jaws, tongue, and legs. this operation is repeated several times, until at length, by aid of fresh supplies of the material, and the combined exertions of so many workmen, the proper number of layers of paper, that are to compose the roof, is finished. this paper is as thin as the leaf you are reading; and you may form an idea of the labour which even the exterior of a wasp's nest requires, on being told that no fewer than fifteen or sixteen sheets of it are usually placed above each other, with slight intervening spaces, making the whole upwards of an inch and a half in thickness. when the dome is completed, the uppermost comb is next begun, in which, as well as all the other parts of the building, precisely the same material and the same process, with little variation, are employed. in the structure of the connecting pillars, there seems a greater quantity of glue made use of than in the rest of the work, doubtless with the view of giving them superior solidity. when the first comb is finished, the continuation of the roof or walls of the building is brought down lower; a new comb is erected; and thus the work successively proceeds until the whole is finished. as a comparatively small proportion of the society is engaged in constructing the nest, its entire completion is the work of several months: yet, though the fruit of such severe labour, it has scarcely been finished a few weeks before winter comes on, when it merely serves for the abode of a few benumbed females, and is entirely abandoned at the approach of spring, as wasps are never known to use the same nest for more than one season. there is good reason for thinking, and the opinion had the sanction of the late sir joseph banks, that wasps have sentinels placed at the entrances of their nests, which, if you can once seize and destroy, the remainder will not attack you. this is confirmed by an observation of mr. knight, in the philosophical transactions, (vol. . d ed. p. ;) that if a nest of wasps be approached without alarming the inhabitants, and all communication be suddenly cut off between those out of the nest and those within it, no provocation will induce the former to defend it and themselves. but if one escapes from within, it comes with a very different temper, and appears commissioned to avenge public wrongs, and prepared to sacrifice its life in the execution of its orders. he discovered this when quite a boy. in october, wasps seem to become less savage and sanguinary; for even flies, of which, earlier in the summer, they are the pitiless destroyers, may be seen to enter their nests with impunity. it is then, probably, that they begin to be first affected by the approach of the cold season, when nature teaches them it is useless longer to attend to their young. they themselves all perish, except a few of the females, upon the first attack of frost. reaumur, from whom most of these observations are taken, put the nests of wasps under glass hives, and succeeded so effectually in reconciling these little restless creatures to them, that they carried on their various works under his eye. chap. xxv. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _ants--white ants--green ants--visiting ants--the ant-lion._ these emmets, how little they are in our eyes! we tread them to dust, and a troop of them dies without our regard or concern: yet, as wise as we are, if we went to their school, there's many a sluggard, and many a fool, a lesson of wisdom might learn. _watts._ the societies of ants, as also of other _hymenoptera_, differ from those of the termites, in having inactive larvæ and pupæ, the neuter, or workers, combining in themselves both the military and civil functions. besides the helpless larvæ and pupæ, which have no locomotive powers, these societies consist of females and workers. the office of the females, at their first exclusion distinguished by a pair of ample wings, (which however, they soon cast,) is the foundation of new colonies, and the furnishing of a constant supply of eggs, for the maintenance of the population in the old nests, as well as in the new. these are usually the least numerous part of the community. gould indeed says, that the males and females are nearly equal in number, p. ; but from huber's observations it seems to follow that the former are the most numerous, p. . upon the workers devolves, except in nascent colonies, all the work, as well as the defence of the community, of which they are the most numerous portion. in the warm days that occur from the end of july to the beginning of september, and sometimes later, the habitations of the various species of ants may be seen to swarm with winged insects, which are the males and females, preparing to quit for ever the scene of their nativity and education. every thing is in motion: and the silver wings, contrasted with the jet bodies which compose the animated mass, add a degree of splendour to the interesting scene. the bustle increases, till at length the males rise, as it were by a general impulse, into the air, and the females accompany them. the whole swarm alternately rises and falls with a slow movement to the height of about ten feet, the males flying obliquely with a rapid zigzag motion; and the females, though they follow the general movement of the column, appearing suspended in the air, like balloons, seemingly with no individual motion, and having their heads turned towards the wind. sometimes the swarms of a whole district unite their infinite myriads, and, seen at a distance, produce an effect resembling the flashing of an aurora borealis. rising with incredible velocity in distinct columns, they soar above the clouds. each column looks like a kind of slender net-work, and has a tremulous undulating motion, which has been observed to be produced by the regular alternate rising and falling just alluded to. the noise emitted by myriads and myriads of these creatures, does not exceed the hum of a single wasp. the slightest zephyr disperses them; and if in their progress they chance to be over your head, if you walk slowly on, they will accompany you, and regulate their motions by yours. captain haverfield, r. n. gives an account of an extraordinary appearance of ants observed by him in the medway, in the autumn of , when he was first-lieutenant of the clorinde; which is confirmed by the following letter, addressed by the surgeon of that ship, now dr. bromley, to mr. mac leay. "in september, , being on the deck of the bulk to the clorinde, my attention was drawn to the water by the first-lieutenant (haverfield) observing there was something black floating down with the tide. on looking with a glass, i discovered they were insects. the boat was sent, and brought a bucket full of them on board; they proved to be a large species of ant, and extended from the upper part of salt-pan reach out towards the great nore, a distance of five or six miles. the column appeared to be in breadth eight or ten feet, and in height about six inches, which i suppose must have been from their resting one upon another." purchas seems to have witnessed a similar phenomenon on shore. "other sorts (of ants)," says he, "there are many, of which some become winged, and fill the air with swarms, which sometimes happens in england. on bartholomew-day, , i was in the island of foulness, on our essex shore, where were such clouds of these flying pismires, that we could no where flee from them, but they filled our clothes; yea, the floors of some houses where they fell were in a manner covered with a black carpet of creeping ants; which, they say, drown themselves about that time of the year in the sea."--_pilgrimage_, . these ants were winged; but whence this immense column came, was not ascertained. from the numbers here accumulated, one would think that all the ant-hills of the counties of kent and surrey could scarcely have furnished a sufficient number of males and females to form it. when colonel sir augustus frazer, of the horse artillery, was surveying, on the th of october, , the scene of the battle of the pyrenees, from the summit of the mountain called pena de aya, or les quatre couronnes, he and his friends were enveloped with a swarm of ants, so numerous as entirely to intercept their view, so that they were glad to remove to another station, in order to get rid of these troublesome little creatures. the females that escape from the injury of the elements and their various enemies, become the founders of new colonies, doing all the work that is usually done by the neuters. m. p. huber has found incipient colonies,[ ] in which were only a few workers engaged with their mother in the care of a small number of larvæ; and m. perrot, his friend, once discovered a small nest, occupied by a solitary female, who was attending upon four pupa only. such is the foundation and first establishment of those populous nations of ants with which we every where meet. but though the majority of females produced in a nest probably thus desert it, all are not allowed this liberty. the prudent workers are taught by their instinct, that the existence of their community depends upon the presence of a sufficient number of females. some, therefore, that are fecundated in or near the spot, they forcibly detain, pulling off their wings, and keeping them prisoners till they are ready to lay their eggs, or are reconciled to their fate. de geer, in a nest of _f. rufa_, observed that the workers compelled some females that were come out of the nest to re-enter it; (vol. ii. ,)--and from m. p. huber we learn, that, being seized at the moment of fecundation, they are conducted into the interior of the formicary, when they become entirely dependent upon the neuters, who, hanging pertinaciously to each leg, prevent their going out, but at the same time attend upon them with the greatest care, feeding them regularly, and conducting them where the temperature is suitable to them, but never quitting them a single moment. by degrees these females become reconciled to their condition, and lose all desire of making their escape; their abdomen enlarges, and they are no longer detained as prisoners, yet each is still attended by a body-guard, a single ant, which always accompanies her, and prevents her wants. its station is remarkable, being mounted upon her abdomen, with its posterior legs upon the ground. these sentinels are constantly relieved; and to watch the moment when the female begins the important work of oviposition, and carry off the eggs, of which she lays four or five thousand or more in the course of the year, seems to be their principal office. when the female is acknowledged as a mother, the workers begin to pay her a homage very similar to that which the bees render to their queen. all press round her, offer her food, conduct her by her mandibles through the difficult or steep passages of the formicary; nay, they sometimes even carry her about their city: she is then suspended upon their jaws, the ends of which are crossed; and, being coiled up like the tongue of a butterfly, she is packed so close as to incommode the carrier but little. when these set her down, others surround and caress her, one after another tapping her on the head with their antennæ. "in whatever apartment (says gould) a queen condescends to be present, she commands obedience and respect. a universal gladness spreads itself through the whole cell, which is expressed by particular acts of joy and exultation. they have a particular way of skipping, leaping, and standing upon their hind-legs, and prancing with the others. these frolics they make use of, both to congratulate each other when they meet, and to shew their regard for the queen: some of them walk gently over her, others dance round her; she is generally encircled with a cluster of attendants, who, if you separate them from her, soon collect themselves into a body, and inclose her in the midst." nay, even if she dies, as if they were unwilling to believe it, they continue sometimes for months the same attentions to her, and treat her with the same courtly formality as if she were alive, and they will brush her and lick her incessantly. that the ants, though they are mute animals, have the means of communicating to each other information of various occurrences, and use a kind of language which is mutually understood, will appear evident from the following facts. if those at the surface of a nest are alarmed, it is wonderful in how short a time the alarm spreads through the whole nest. it runs from quarter to quarter; the greatest inquietude seems to possess the community; and they carry with all possible dispatch their treasures, the larvæ and pupæ, down to the lowest apartments. amongst those species of ants that do not go much from home, sentinels seem to be stationed at the avenues of their city. "disturbing once the little heaps of earth thrown up at the entrances into the nest of _f. flava_, which is of this description, (says huber,) i was struck by observing a single ant immediately come out, as if to see what was the matter, and this three separate times." the _f. herculanea, l._ inhabits the trunks of hollow trees on the continent, for it has not yet been found in england, upon which they are often passing to and fro. m. huber observed, that when he disturbed those that were at the greatest distance from the rest, they ran towards them, and, striking their head against them, communicated their cause of fear or anger that these, in their turn, conveyed in the same way the intelligence to others, till the whole colony was in a ferment, those neuters which were within the tree running out in crowds to join their companions in the defence of their habitation. the same signals that excited the courage of the neuters, produced fear in the males and females, which, as soon as the news of the danger was thus communicated to them, retreated into the tree as to an asylum. the legs of one of this gentleman's artificial formicaries were plunged into pans of water, to prevent the escape of the ants; this proved a source of great enjoyment to these little beings, for they are a very thirsty race, and lap water like dogs.--(_gould_, . _de geer_, ii. . _huber_, , .) one day, when he observed many of them tippling very merrily, he was so cruel as to disturb them, which sent most of the ants in a fright to the nest; but some, more thirsty than the rest, continued their potations: upon this, one of those that had retreated, returns to inform his thoughtless companions of their danger; one he pushes with his jaws; another he strikes first upon the belly, and then upon the breast; and so obliges three of them to leave off their carousing, and march homewards; but the fourth, more resolute to drink it out, is not to be discomfited, and pays not the least regard to the kind blows with which his compeer, solicitous for his safety, repeatedly belabours him; at length, determined to have his way, he seizes him by one of his hind-legs, and gives him a violent pull: upon this, leaving his liquor, the loiterer turns round, and opening his threatening jaws with every appearance of anger, goes very coolly to drinking again; but his monitor, without further ceremony, rushing before him, seizes him by his jaws, and at last drags him off in triumph to the formicary.--_huber_, . the language of ants, however, is not confined merely to giving intelligence of the approach or presence of danger; it is also co-extensive with all their other occasions for communicating their ideas to each other, or holding any intercourse. some engage in military expeditions, and often previously send out spies, to collect information. these, as soon as they return from exploring the vicinity, enter the nest; upon which, as if they had communicated their intelligence, the army immediately assembles in the suburbs of their city, and begins its march towards that quarter whence the spies had arrived. upon the march, communications are perpetually making between the van and the rear; and when arrived at the camp of the enemy, and the battle begins, if necessary, couriers are dispatched to the formicary for reinforcements.--_huber_, , , . if you scatter the ruins of an ant's nest in your apartment, you will be furnished with another proof of their language. the ants will take a thousand different paths, each going by itself, to increase the chance of discovery; they will meet and cross each other in all directions, and perhaps will wander long before they can find a spot convenient for their re-union. no sooner does any one discover a little chink in the floor, through which it can pass below, than it returns to its companions, and, by means of certain motions of its antennæ, makes some of them comprehend what route they are to pursue to find it, sometimes even accompanying them to the spot; these, in their turn, become the guides of others, till all know which way to direct their steps.--_huber_, . it is well known also, that ants give each other information when they have discovered any store of provision. bradley relates a striking instance of this. a nest of ants in a nobleman's garden discovered a closet, many yards within the house, in which conserves were kept, which they constantly attended till the nest was destroyed. some in their rambles must have first discovered this depôt of sweets, and informed the rest of it. it is remarkable that they always went to it by the same track, scarcely varying an inch from it, though they had to pass through two apartments; nor could the sweeping and cleaning of the rooms discomfit them, or cause them to pursue a different route.--_bradley_, . here may be related a very amusing experiment of gould's. having deposited several colonies of ants (_f. fusca_) in flowerpots, he placed them in some earthen pans of water, which prevented them from making excursions from their nest. when they had been accustomed some days to this imprisonment, he fastened small threads to the upper part of the pots, and extending them over the water-pans, fixed them in the ground. the sagacious ants soon found out that by these bridges they could escape from their moated castle. the discovery was communicated to the whole society, and in a short time the threads were filled with trains of busy workers passing to and fro.--_gould_, . legion's account of the ants in barbadoes, affords another most convincing proof of this: as he has told his tale in a very lively and interesting manner, it shall be given nearly in his own words. "the next of these moving little animals are ants, or pismires: these are but of a small size, but great in industry; and that which gives them means to attain to this end is, they have all one soul. if i should say they are here or there, i should do them wrong, for they are every where:--under ground, where any hollow or loose earth is; amongst the roots of trees; upon the bodies, branches, leaves, and fruit of all trees; in all places without the houses and within; upon the sides, walls, windows, and roofs, without; and on the floors, side-walls, ceilings, and windows, within; tables, cupboards, beds, stools, all are covered with them, so that they are a kind of ubiquitaries. we sometimes kill a cockroach, and throw him on the ground; and mark what they will do with him: his body is bigger than a hundred of them, and yet they will find the means to take hold of him, and lift him up; and having him above ground, away they carry him, and some go by as ready assistants, if any be weary; and some are the officers that lead and shew the way to the hole into which he must pass; and if the vancouriers perceive that the body of the cockroach lies across, and will not pass through the hole or arch through which they mean to carry him, order is given, and the body turned endwise, and this is done a foot before they come to the hole, and that without any stop or stay; and it is observable, that they never pull contrary ways. a table being cleared with great care, (by way of experiment,) of all the ants that are upon it, and sugar being put upon it, some, after a circuitous route, will be observed to arrive at it; and again departing, without tasting the treasure, will hasten away to inform their friends of the discovery, who, upon this, will come by myriads: you may then, while they are thickest upon the table, clap a large book, or any thing fit for that purpose, upon them, so hard as to kill all that are under it; and when you have done so, take away the book, and leave them to themselves but a quarter of an hour, and when you come again, you shall find all these bodies carried away.--other trials we make of their ingenuity, as thus: take a pewter dish, and fill it half full of water, into which put a little gallipot filled with sugar, and the ants will presently find it, and come upon the table, but when they perceive it environed with water, they try about the brims of the dish where the gallipot is nearest; and there the most venturous amongst them commits himself to the water, though he be conscious how bad a swimmer he is, and is drowned in the adventure; the next is not warned by his example, but ventures too, and is alike drowned; and many more, so that there is a small foundation of their bodies to venture; and then they come faster than ever, and so make a bridge of their own bodies."--_hist. of barbadoes_, p. . the fact being certain, that ants impart their ideas to each other, we are next led to inquire by what means this is accomplished. it does not appear that, like the bees, they emit any significant sounds; their language, therefore, must consist of signs or gestures, some of which i shall now detail. in communicating their fear, or expressing their anger, they run from one to another in a semicircle, and strike with their head or jaws the trunk or abdomen of the ant to which they mean to give information on any subject of alarm. but those remarkable organs, their antennæ, are the principal instruments of their speech, if i may so call it, supplying the place both of voice and words. when the military ants before alluded to go upon their expeditions, and are out of the formicary, previously to setting off, they touch each other on the trunk with their antennæ and forehead; this is the signal for marching, for, as soon as any one has received it, he is immediately in motion. when they have any discovery to communicate, they strike with them those that they meet in a particularly impressive manner. if a hungry ant wants to be fed, it touches with its two antennæ, moving them very rapidly, those of the individual from which it expects its meal:--and not only ants understand this language, but even aphides and cocci, which are the milch kine of our little pismires, do the same, and will yield them their saccharine fluid at the touch of these imperative organs. the helpless larvæ also of the ants are informed, by the same means, when they may open their mouths to receive their food. next to their language, and scarcely different from it, are the modes by which they express their affections and aversions. whether ants, with man and some of the larger animals, experience any thing like attachment to individuals, is not easily ascertained; but that they feel the full force of the sentiment which we term patriotism, or the love of the community to which they belong, is evident from the whole series of their proceedings, which all tend to promote the general good. distress or difficulty falling upon any member of their society, generally excites their sympathy, and they do their utmost to relieve it. m. latreille once cut off the antennæ of an ant; and its companions, evidently pitying its sufferings, anointed the wounded part with a drop of transparent fluid from their mouth: and whoever attends to what is going forward in the neighbourhood of one of their nests, will be pleased to observe the readiness with which they seem disposed to assist each other in difficulties. when a burden is too heavy for one, another will soon come to ease it of part of the weight; and if one is threatened with an attack, all hasten to the spot, to join in repelling it. the satisfaction they express at meeting after absence is very striking, and gives some degree of individuality to their attachment. m. huber witnessed the gesticulations of some ants, originally belonging to the same nest, that, having been entirely separated from each other four months, were afterwards brought together. though this was equal to one-fourth of their existence as perfect insects, they immediately recognized each other, saluted mutually with their antennæ, and united once more to form one family. they are also ever intent to promote each other's welfare, and ready to share with their absent companions any good thing that they may meet with. those that go abroad feed those which remain in the nest, and if they discover any stock of favourite food, they inform the whole community, as we have seen above, and teach them the way to it. m. huber, for a particular reason, having produced heat, by means of a flambeau, in a certain part of an artificial formicary, the ants that happened to be in that quarter, after enjoying it for a time, hastened to convey the welcome intelligence to their compatriots, whom they even carried suspended upon their jaws (their usual mode of transporting each other) to the spot, till hundreds might be seen thus laden with their friends. if ants feel the force of love, they are equally susceptible of the emotions of anger; and when they are menaced or attacked, no insects shew a greater degree of it. providence, moreover, has furnished them with weapons and faculties which render them extremely formidable to their insect enemies, and sometimes, as i have related on a former occasion, a great annoyance to man himself, (vol. i. d ed. p. .) two strong mandibles arm their mouth, with which they sometimes fix themselves so obstinately to the object of their attack, that they will sooner be torn limb from limb than let go their hold; and, after their battles, the head of a conquered enemy may often be seen suspended to the antennæ or legs of the victor, a trophy of his valour, which, however troublesome, he will be compelled to carry about with him to the day of his death. their abdomen is also furnished with a poison-bag, (_ioterium_,) in which is secreted a powerful and venomous fluid, long celebrated in chemical researches, and once called _formic acid_, though now considered a modification of the _acetic_ and _malic_;[ ] which, when their enemy is beyond the reach of their mandibles, (it is spoken here particularly of the hill ant, or _f. rufa_,) standing erect on their hind legs, they discharge from their anus with considerable force, so that from the surface of the nest ascends a shower of poison, exhaling a strong sulphurous odour, sufficient to overpower or repel any insect or small animal. such is the fury of some species, that with the acid, according to gould, p. . they sometimes partly eject the poison-bag itself. if a stick be stuck into one of the nests of the hill ant, it is so saturated with the acid as to retain the scent for many hours. a more formidable weapon arms the species of the genus _myrmica latr._; for, besides the poison-bag, they are furnished with a sting; and their aspect is also often rendered peculiarly revolting, by the extraordinary length of their jaws, and by the spines which defend their head and trunk. but weapons without valour are of but little use; and this is one distinguishing feature of this pigmy race. their courage and pertinacity are unconquerable, and are often sublimed into the most inconceivable rage and fury. it makes no difference to them whether they attack a mite or an elephant; and man himself instils no terror into their warlike breasts. point your finger towards any individual of _f. rufa_; instead of running away, it instantly faces about, and, that it may make the most of itself, stiffening its legs into a nearly straight line, it gives its body the utmost elevation it is capable of; and thus-- "collecting all its might, dilated stands," prepared to repel your attack. put your finger a little nearer, it immediately opens its jaws to bite you, and rearing upon its hind legs, bends its abdomen between them, to eject its venom into the wound.[ ] this angry people, so well armed and so courageous, we may readily imagine, are not always at peace with their neighbours; causes of dissension may arise, to light the flame of war between the inhabitants of nests not far distant from each other. to these little bustling creatures, a square foot of earth is a territory worth contending for; their droves of aphides being equally valuable with the flocks and herds that cover our plains; and the body of a fly or a beetle, or a cargo of straws and bits of stick, an acquisition as important as the treasures of a lima fleet to our seamen. their wars are usually between nests of different species; sometimes, however, those of the same, when so near as to interfere with and incommode each other, have their battles; and with respect to ants of one species, _myrmica rubra_, combats occasionally take place, contrary to the general habits of the tribe of ants, between those of the same nest. the wars of the red ant (_m. rubra_) are usually between a small number of the citizens; and the object, according to gould, is to get rid of a useless member of the community, (it does not argue much in favour of their humanity, that it is all one if it be by sickness that this member is disabled,) rather than any real civil contest. the red colonies, (says this author,) are the only ones i could ever observe to feed upon their own species. you may frequently discern a party of from five or six to twenty, surrounding one of their own kind, or even fraternity, and pulling it to pieces. the ant they attack is generally feeble, and of a languid complexion, occasioned perhaps by some accident or other.--_gould_, . "i once saw one of these ants dragged out of the nest by another, without its head; it was still alive, and could crawl about. a lively imagination might have fancied that this poor ant was a criminal, condemned by a court of justice to suffer the extreme sentence of the law. it was more probably, however, a champion that had been decapitated in an unequal combat, unless we admit gould's idea, and suppose it to have suffered because it was an unprofitable member of the community.[ ] at another time i found three individuals that were fighting with great fury, chained together by their mandibles; one of these had lost two of the legs of one side, yet it appeared to walk well, and was as eager to attack and seize its opponents, as if it was unhurt. this did not look like languor or sickness." the wars of ants that are not of the same species take place usually between those that differ in size; and the great endeavouring to oppress the small, are nevertheless often outnumbered by them, and defeated. their battles have long been celebrated; and the dates of them, as if they were events of the first importance, have been formally recorded. Æneas sylvius, after giving a very circumstantial account of one contested with much obstinacy by a great and small species, on the trunk of a pear-tree, gravely states, "this action was fought in the pontificate of eugenius the fourth, in the presence of nicholas pistoriensis, an eminent lawyer, who related the whole history of the battle with the greatest fidelity!" a similar engagement between great and small ants is recorded by olaus magnus, in which the small ones being victorious, are said to have buried the bodies of their own soldiers, but left those of their giant enemies a prey to the birds. this event happened previous to the expulsion of the tyrant christian the second from sweden.--_mouffet, theatr. ins._ . m. p. huber is the only modern author that appears to have been witness to these combats. he tells us, that when the great attack the small, they seek to take them by surprise, (probably to avoid their fastening themselves to their legs,) and, seizing them by the upper part of the body, they strangle them with their mandibles; but when the small have time to foresee the attack, they give notice to their companions, who rush in crowds to their succour. sometimes, however, after suffering a signal defeat, the smaller species are obliged to shift their quarters, and to seek an establishment more out of the way of danger. in order to cover their march, many small bodies are then posted at a little distance from the nest. as soon as the large ants approach the camp, the foremost sentinels instantly fly at them with the greatest rage; a violent struggle ensues, multitudes of their friends come to their assistance, and, though no match for their enemies singly, by dint of numbers they prevail, and the giant is either slain or led captive to the hostile camp. the species whose proceedings m. huber observed, were _f. herculanea_, _l. and f. sanguinea, latr._; neither of which have yet been discovered in britain.--_huber_, . the white ants, or termites.--the majority of these animals are natives of tropical countries, though two species are indigenous to europe; one of which, thought to have been imported, is come so near to us as bourdeaux. their society consists of five different descriptions of individuals: workers or larvæ, nymphs or pupæ, neuters or soldiers, males, and females. . the workers or larvæ, answering to the hymenopterous neuters, are the most numerous, and, at the same time, most active part of the community; upon whom devolves the office of erecting and repairing the buildings, collecting provision, attending upon the female, conveying the eggs, when laid, to the nurseries, and feeding the young larvæ till they are old enough to take care of themselves. they are distinguished from the soldiers by their diminutive size, by their round heads, and shorter mandibles. . the nymphs, or pupæ, differ in nothing from the larvæ, and probably are equally active, except that they have rudiments of wings, or rather wings folded up in cases. . the neuters are much less numerous than the workers, bearing the proportion of one to one hundred, and exceeding them greatly in bulk. they are also distinguishable by their long and large heads, armed with very long tubulate mandibles. their office is that of sentinels; and when the nest is attacked, to them is committed the task of defending it. these neuters seem to be a kind of abortive females, and there is nothing analogous to them in any other department of entomology. and . males and females, or the insects arrived at a state of perfection, and capable of continuing the species. there is only one of each in every separate society; they are exempted from all participation in the labours and employments occupying the rest of the community, that they may be wholly devoted to the furnishing of a constant accession to the population of the colony. though at their first disclosure from the pupæ they have four wings, like the female ants, they soon cast them; but they may then be distinguished from the blind larvæ, pupæ, and neuters, by their large and prominent eyes. the different species of termites, which are numerous, build nests of very various forms. some construct upon the ground a cylindrical turret of clay, about three-quarters of a yard high, surrounded by a projecting conical roof, so as in shape considerably to resemble a mushroom, and composed interiorly of innumerable cells, of various figures and dimensions. others prefer a more elevated site, and build their nests, which are of different sizes, from that of a hat to that of a sugar-cask, and composed of pieces of wood glued together, amongst the branches of trees, often seventy or eighty feet high. but by far the most curious habitations, are those formed by the _termes bellicosus_, a species very common in guinea, and other parts of the coasts of africa, of whose proceedings we have a very particular and interesting account in the st volume of the philosophical transactions. these nests are formed entirely of clay, and are generally twelve feet high, and broad in proportion; so that when a cluster of them, as is often the case in south america, are placed together, they may be taken for an indian village, and are in fact sometimes larger than the huts which the natives inhabit. the first process in the erection of these singular structures, is the elevation of two or three turrets of clay, about a foot high, and in shape like a sugar-loaf. these, which seem to be the scaffolds of the future building, rapidly increase in number and height, until at length being widened at the base, joined at the top into one dome, and consolidated all around into a thick wall of clay, they form a building of the size above-mentioned, and of the shape of a haycock, which, when clothed, as it generally soon becomes, with a coating of grass, it at a distance very much resembles. when the building has assumed this its final form, the inner turrets, all but the tops, which project like pinnacles from different parts of it, are removed, and the clay employed over again in other services. it is the lower part alone of the building that is occupied by the inhabitants; the upper portion, or dome, which is very strong and solid, is left empty, serving principally as a defence from the vicissitudes of the weather and the attacks of natural or accidental enemies, and to keep up in the lower part a genial warmth and moisture, necessary to the hatching of the eggs and cherishing of the young ones. the inhabited portion is occupied by the royal chamber, or habitation of the king and queen; the nurseries for the young; the storehouses for food; and innumerable galleries, passages, and empty rooms, arranged according to the following plan:-- in the centre of the building, just under the apex, and nearly on a level with the surface of the ground, is placed the royal chamber, an arched vault of a semi-oval shape, or not unlike a long oven; at first not above an inch long, but enlarged, as the queen increases in bulk, to the length of eight inches or more. in this apartment the king and queen constantly reside, and, from the smallness of the entrances, which are barely large enough to admit their more diminutive subjects, can never possibly come out; thus, like many human potentates, purchasing their sovereignty at the dear rate of the sacrifice of liberty. immediately adjoining the royal chamber, and surrounding it on all sides to the extent of a foot or more, are placed the royal apartments, an inextricable labyrinth of innumerable arched rooms, of different shapes and sizes, either opening into each other, or communicating by common passages, and intended for the accommodation of the soldiers and attendants, of whom many thousands are always in waiting on their royal master and mistress. next to the royal apartments come the nurseries and the magazines. the former are invariably occupied by the eggs and young ones, and, in the infant state of the nest, are placed close to the royal chamber; but when the queen's augmented size requires a larger apartment, as well as additional rooms for the increased number of attendants wanted to remove her eggs, the small nurseries are taken to pieces, rebuilt at a greater distance, a size larger, and their number increased at the same time. in substance they differ from all the other apartments, being formed of particles of wood, apparently joined together with gums. a collection of these compact, irregular, and small wooden chambers, not one of which is half an inch in width, is inclosed in a common chamber of clay, sometimes as big as a child's head. intermixed with the nurseries, lie the magazines, which are chambers of clay, always well stored with provisions, consisting of particles of wood, gums, and the inspissated juices of plants. these magazines and nurseries, separated by small empty chambers and galleries, which run round them, or communicate from one to the other, are continued on all sides to the outer wall of the building, and reach up within it two-thirds or three-fourths of its height. they do not, however, fill up the whole of the lower part of the hill, but are confined to the sides, leaving an open area in the middle, under the dome, very much resembling the nave of an old cathedral, having its roof supported by two very large gothic arches, of which those in the middle of the area are sometimes two and three feet high, but as they recede on each side, rapidly diminish, like the arches of aisles in perspective. a flattish roof, imperforated, in order to keep out the wet, if the dome should chance to be injured, covers the top of the assemblage of chambers, nurseries, &c.; and the area, which is a short height above the royal chamber, has a flattish floor, also waterproof, and so contrived as to let any rain, that may chance to get in, run off into the subterraneous passages. these passages or galleries, which are of an astonishing size, some being above a foot in diameter, perfectly cylindrical, and lined with the same kind of clay of which the hill is composed, served originally, like the catacombs of paris, as the quarries whence the materials of the building were derived, and afterwards as the grand outlets by which the termites carry on their depredations at a distance from their habitations. they run in a sloping direction, under the bottom of the hill, to the depth of three or four feet, and then branching out horizontally on every side, are carried under ground, near to the surface, to a vast distance. at their entrance into the interior, they communicate with other small galleries, which ascend the outside of the outer shell in a spiral manner, and, winding round the whole body to the top, intersect each other at different heights, opening either immediately in the dome in various places, and into the lower half of the building, or communicating with every part of it by other smaller circular or oval galleries of different diameters. the necessity for the vast size of the main underground galleries, evidently arises from the circumstance of their being the great thoroughfares for the inhabitants, by which they fetch their clay, wood, water, or provision; and their spiral and gradual ascent is requisite for the easy access of the termites, which cannot, but with great difficulty, ascend a perpendicular. to avoid this inconvenience, in the interior vertical parts of the building, a flat pathway, half an inch wide, is often made to wind gradually, like a road cut out of the side of a mountain; by which they travel with great facility up ascents otherwise impracticable. the same ingenious propensity to shorten their labour, seems to have given birth to a contrivance still more extraordinary: this is a kind of bridge, or vast arch, sprung from the floor of the area to the upper apartments at the side of the building, which answers the purpose of a flight of stairs, and must shorten the distance exceedingly in transporting eggs from the royal chambers to the upper nurseries, which in some hills would be four or five feet in the straightest line, and much more if carried through all the winding passages which lead through the inner chambers and apartments. mr. smeathman measured one of these bridges, which was half an inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and ten inches long, making the size of an elliptic arch of proportionable dimensions, so that it is wonderful it did not fall over, or break by its own weight, before they got it joined to the side of the column above. it was strengthened by a small arch at the bottom, and had a hollow or groove all the length of the upper surface, either made purposely for the greater safety of the passengers, or else worn by frequent treading. it is not the least surprising circumstance attending this bridge, the gothic arches before spoken of, and in general all the arches of the various galleries and apartments, that, as mr. smeathman saw every reason for believing, the termites project them, and do not, as one would have supposed, excavate them. consider what incredible labour and diligence, accompanied by the most unremitting activity, and the most unwearied celerity of movement, must be necessary to enable these creatures to accomplish (their size considered) these truly gigantic works. that such diminutive insects, for they are scarcely the fourth of an inch in length, however numerous, should, in the space of three or four years, be able to erect a building twelve feet high, and of proportionable bulk, covered by a vast dome, adorned without by numerous pinnacles and turrets, and sheltering under its ample arch myriads of vaulted apartments, of various dimensions, and constructed of different materials,--that they should moreover excavate, in different directions and at different depths, innumerable subterranean roads or tunnels, some twelve or thirteen inches in diameter, or throw an arch of stone over other roads leading from the metropolis into the adjoining country, to the distance of seven hundred feet,--that they should project and finish the vast interior staircases or bridges, lately described,--and finally, that the millions necessary to execute such herculean labours, perpetually passing to and fro, should never interrupt and interfere with each other, is a miracle of nature, far exceeding the most boasted works and structures of man; for, did these creatures equal him in size, retaining their usual instincts and activity, their buildings would soar to the astonishing height of half a mile, and their tunnels would expand to a magnificent cylinder of more than three hundred feet in diameter; before which, the pyramids of egypt, and the aqueducts of rome, would lose their celebrity, and dwindle into nothing. the most elevated of the pyramids of egypt is not more than six hundred feet high, which, setting the average height of man at only five feet, is not more than a hundred and twenty times the height of the workmen employed. whereas, the nests of the termites being at least twelve feet high, and the insects themselves not exceeding a quarter of an inch in stature, their edifices are upwards of five hundred times the height of the builders; which, supposing them of human dimensions, would be more than half a mile. the shaft of the roman aqueducts was lofty enough to permit a man on horseback to travel in them. the first establishment of a colony of termites takes place in the following manner. in the evening, soon after the first tornado, which at the latter end of the dry season proclaims the approach of the ensuing rains, these animals, having attained to their perfect state, in which they are furnished and adorned with two pair of wings, emerge from their clay-built citadels by myriads and myriads, to seek their fortune. borne on these ample wings, and carried by the wind, they fill the air, entering the houses, extinguishing the lights, and are sometimes driven on board the ships that are not far from the shore. the next morning, they are discovered covering the earth and waters, deprived of the wings which enabled them to avoid their numerous enemies, and which were only calculated to carry them a few hours. they now look like large maggots; and, from the most active, industrious, and rapacious creatures, they are become the most helpless and cowardly beings in nature, the prey of innumerable enemies, to the smallest of which they make not the least resistance. insects, especially ants, which are always on the hunt for them, leave no place unexplored: birds, reptiles, beasts, and even man himself, look upon this event as their harvest, and, as the reader has been told before, make them their food, so that scarcely a pair in many millions get into a place of safety. the workers, who are continually prowling about in their covered ways, occasionally meet with one of these pairs, and being impelled by their instinct, pay them homage, and they are elected as it were to be king and queen, or rather founders, of a new colony: all that are not so fortunate, inevitably perish; and, considering the infinite host of their enemies, probably in the course of the following day. the workers, as soon as this election takes place, begin to inclose their new rulers in a small chamber of clay, before described, suited to their size, the entrances to which are only large enough to admit themselves and the neuters, but much too small for the royal pair to pass through;--so that their state of royalty is a state of confinement, and so continues during the remainder of their existence. the female, after this confinement, soon begins to furnish the infant colony with new inhabitants. the care of feeding her and her companion, devolves upon the industrious larvæ, which supply them both with every thing that they want. as she increases in dimensions, they continue to enlarge the cell in which she is detained. when the business of oviposition commences, they take the eggs from her, and deposit them in their nurseries. her abdomen now begins gradually to extend, till in process of time it is enlarged to fifteen hundred or two thousand times the size of the rest of her body, and her bulk equals that of twenty or thirty thousand workers. this part, often more than three inches in length, is now a vast matrix of eggs, which make long circumvolutions through numberless slender serpentine vessels: it is also remarkable for its peristaltic motion, (in this resembling the female ant; see _gould's_ account of english ants, p. .) which, like the undulations of water, produces a perpetual and successive rise and fall over the whole surface of the abdomen, and occasions a constant extrusion of the eggs, amounting sometimes in old females to sixty in a minute, or eighty thousand and upwards in twenty-four hours. as these females live two years in their perfect state, how astonishing must be the number produced in that time! this incessant extrusion of eggs must call for the attention of a large number of the workers in the royal chamber, (and indeed it is always full of them,) to take them as they come forth, and carry them to the nurseries, in which, when hatched, they are provided with food, and receive every necessary attention, till they are able to shift for themselves. one remarkable circumstance attends these nurseries; they are always covered with a kind of mould, amongst which arise numerous globules, about the size of a pin's head. this is probably a species of _mucor_; and by mr. köenig, who found them also in nests of an east indian species of _termes_, is conjectured to be the food of the larvæ. the royal cell has also some soldiers in it, a kind of body-guard to the royal pair that inhabit it; and the surrounding apartments contain always many, both labourers and soldiers, in waiting, that they may successively attend upon and defend the common father and mother, on whose safety depend the happiness and even existence of the whole community; and whom these faithful subjects never abandon even in the last distress. these little busy creatures are taught by providence always to work under cover. if they have to travel over a rock, or up a tree, they vault, with a coping of earth, the route they mean to pursue, and they form subterranean paths and tunnels, some of a diameter wider than the bore of a large cannon, on all sides from their habitation, to their various objects of attack, or which sloping down, (for they cannot well mount a surface quite perpendicular,) penetrate to the depth of three or four feet under their nests into the earth, till they arrive at a soil proper to be used in the erection of their buildings. were they, indeed, to expose themselves, the race would soon be annihilated by their innumerable enemies. if any accident happen to their various structures, or if they are dislodged from any of their covered ways, they are active and expeditious in repairing it; and in a single night they will restore a gallery of three or four yards in length. if, attacking the nest, you divide it into halves, leaving the royal chamber, and thus lay open thousands of apartments, all will be shut up with their sheets of clay by the next morning; nay, even if the whole be demolished, provided the king and the queen be left, every interstice between the ruins, at which either cold or wet can possibly enter, will be covered, and, in a year, the building will be raised nearly to its pristine size and grandeur. besides building and repairing, a great deal of their time is occupied in making necessary alterations in their mansion and its approaches. the royal presence chamber, as the female increases in size, must be gradually enlarged; the nurseries must be removed to a greater distance; the chambers and interior of the nest receive daily accessions, to provide for a daily increasing population; and the direction of their covered ways must often be varied, when the old stock of provision is exhausted, and new sources are discovered. the collection of provisions for the use of the colony is another employment, which necessarily calls for incessant attention: these, to the naked eye, appear like raspings of wood; but when examined by the microscope, they are found to consist chiefly of gums and the inspissated juices of plants, which, formed into little masses, are stored up in magazines made of clay. when any one is bold enough to attack their nest, and make a breach in its walls, the labourers, who are incapable of fighting, retire within, and give way to another description of its inhabitants, whose office it is to defend the fortress when assailed by enemies; these, as observed before, are the neuters or soldiers. if the breach be made in a slight part of the building, one of these comes out to reconnoitre; he then retires and gives the alarm. two or three others next appear, scrambling as fast as they can one after the other; to these succeed a large body, who rush forth with as much speed as the breach will permit, their numbers continually increasing during the attack. it is not easy to describe the rage and fury by which these diminutive heroes seem actuated. in their haste they frequently miss their hold, and tumble down the sides of their hill: they soon, however, recover themselves, and, being blind, bite every thing they run against. if the attack proceeds, the bustle and agitation increase to a tenfold degree, and their fury is raised to its highest pitch. wo to him whose hands or legs they can come at! for they will make their fanged jaws meet at the very first stroke, drawing as much blood as will counterpoise their whole body, and never quitting their hold, even though they are pulled limb from limb. the naked legs of the negroes expose them frequently to this injury; and the stockings of the europeans are not thick enough to defend them. on the other hand, if, after the first attack, you get a little out of the way, giving them no further interruption, supposing the assailant of their citadel is gone beyond their reach, in less than half an hour they will retire into the nest; and before they have all entered, you will see the labourers in motion, hastening in various directions towards the breach, every one carrying in his mouth a mass of mortar, half as big as his body, ready tempered; this mortar is made of the finest parts of the gravel, which they probably select in the subterranean pits or passages before described, which, worked up to a proper consistence, hardens to the solid substance resembling stone, of which their nests are constructed: they never appear to embarrass or interrupt one another. by the united labours of such an infinite host of creatures, the wall soon rises, and the breach is repaired. while the labourers are thus employed, almost all the soldiers have retired quite out of sight, except here and there one, who saunters about amongst the labourers, but never assists in the work. one in particular places himself close to the wall which they are building; and turning himself leisurely on all sides, as if to survey the proceedings, appears to act the part of an overseer of the works. every now and then, at the interval of a minute or two, by lifting up his head and striking his forceps upon the wall of the nest, he makes a particular noise, which is answered by a loud hiss from all the labourers, and appears to be a signal for dispatch; for, every time it is heard, they may be seen to redouble their pace, and apply to their work with increased diligence. renew the attack, and this amusing scene will be repeated: in rush the labourers, all disappearing in a few seconds, and out march the military, as numerous and vindictive as before. when all is once more quiet, the busy labourers re-appear, and resume their work, and the soldiers vanish. repeat the experiment a hundred times, and the same will always be the result; you will never find, be the peril or emergency ever so great, that one order attempts to fight, or the other to work. we have seen how solicitous the termites are to move and work under cover, and concealed from observation: this, however, is not always the case; there is a species larger than _t. bellicosus_, whose proceedings we have been principally describing, which mr. smeathman calls the marching termes (_termes viarum_). he was once passing through a thick forest, when on a sudden, a loud hiss, like that of serpents, struck him with alarm. the next step produced a repetition of the sound, which he then recognized to be that of white ants; yet he was surprised at seeing none of their hills or covering ways. following the noise, to his great astonishment and delight, he saw an army of these creatures emerging from a hole in the ground; their number was prodigious, and they marched with the utmost celerity. when they had proceeded about a yard, they divided into two columns, chiefly composed of labourers, about fifteen abreast, and following each other in close order, and going straight forward. here and there was seen a soldier, carrying his vast head with apparent difficulty, and looking like an ox in a flock of sheep, who marched on in the same manner. at the distance of a foot or two from the columns, many other soldiers were to be seen, standing still or pacing about as if upon the look-out, lest some enemy should suddenly surprise their unwarlike comrades; other soldiers, (which was the most extraordinary and amusing part of the scene,) having mounted some plants, and placed themselves on the points of their leaves, elevated from ten to fifteen inches from the ground, hung over the army marching below, and by striking their forceps upon the leaf, produced at intervals the noise above-mentioned. to this signal the whole army returned a hiss, and obeyed it by increasing their pace. the soldiers at these signal-stations sat quite still during the interval of silence, except now and then making a slight turn of the head, and seemed as solicitous to keep their posts as regular sentinels. the two columns of this army united, after continuing separate from twelve to fifteen paces, having in no part been above three yards asunder, and then descended into the earth by two or three holes. mr. smeathman continued watching them for above an hour, during which time their numbers appeared neither to increase nor diminish: the soldiers, however, who quitted the line of march and acted as sentinels, became much more numerous before he quitted the spot. the larvæ and neuters of this species are furnished with eyes. the societies of _termes lucifergus_, discovered by latreille, at bourdeaux, are very numerous; but instead of erecting artificial nests, they make their lodgment in the trunks of pines and oaks, where the branches diverge from the tree. they eat the wood nearest the bark, or the alburnum, without attacking the interior, and bore a vast number of holes and irregular galleries. that part of the wood appears moist, and is covered with little gelatinous particles, not unlike gum-arabic. these insects seem to be furnished with an acid of a very penetrating odour, which, perhaps, is useful to them for penetrating the wood. the soldiers in these societies are as about one to twenty-five of the labourers. the anonymous author of the observations on the termites of ceylon, seems to have discovered a sentry-box in his nests. "i found," says he, "in a very small cell in the middle of the solid mass, (a cell about half an inch in height, and very narrow,) a larva with an enormous head. two of these individuals were in the same cell; one of the two seemed placed as sentinel at the entrance of the cell. i amused myself by forcing the door two or three times; the sentinel immediately appeared, and only retreated when the door was on the point of being stopped up, which was done by the labourers." the green ants.--captain cook gives the following account of a very peculiar kind of ants, which he met with at botany bay.--"they are as green as a leaf. they live upon trees, where they build their nests. the nests are of a very curious structure: they are formed by bending down several of the leaves, each of which is as broad as a man's hand; they glue the points of them together, so as to form a purse. the viscus used for this purpose is an animal juice, which nature has enabled them to elaborate. their method of first bending down the leaves, our naturalists had not an opportunity of observing; but they saw thousands uniting all their strength to hold them in this position, while other busy multitudes were employed within, in applying the gluten that was to prevent their returning back. to satisfy themselves that the leaves were bent and held down by the efforts of these diminutive artificers, our people disturbed them in their work, and, as soon as they were driven from their station, the leaves on which they were employed sprang up with a force much greater than they could have thought them able to conquer, by any combination of their strength." the visiting ants.--at paramaribo, a dutch colony in the province of surinam, there is a species of ants, which the portuguese call visiting ants: they march in troops, and as soon as they appear, all the coffers and chests of drawers are laid open, which they clear of rats, mice, and a peculiar sort of insect in that country, called _cackerlacks_, and of other noxious animals. if any one chance to molest them, they fall upon him, and tear in pieces his stockings and shoes. their visits are rare; and sometimes they do not appear for three years.--_templeman's obs._ vol. i. p. . we conclude this chapter with an account of the ant-lion.--there is no insect more remarkable for its dexterity than the ant-lion, though its figure announces nothing extraordinary. it nearly resembles the woodlouse; its body being provided with six feet, composed of several membranous rings, and terminated in a point. its head, flat and square, is armed with two moveable crooked horns, whose singular structure shews how admirable nature is, even in the least of her works. this insect is the most subtle and dangerous enemy the ant has; the plans which he forms to ensnare his prey, are very ingenious. he mines a portion of land in the form of a funnel, at the bottom of which he waits to seize the ants, which coming by chance to the edge of the precipice, are thence hurried down to their merciless foe. in order to dig it, he first traces in the sand a circular furrow, whose circumference forms precisely the mouth of the funnel, the diameter of which is always equal to the depth he gives to his ditch. when he has determined the space of this opening, and traced the first furrow, he immediately digs a second, concentric to the other, in order to throw out all the sand contained in the first circle. he makes all these operations with his head, which serves him instead of a shovel, and its flat and square form admirably adapts it to this purpose. he also takes some sand with one of his fore feet, to throw it beyond the first furrow; and this work is repeated till the insect has reached a certain depth of sand. sometimes, in digging, he meets with grains of sand larger than usual, or with little bits of dry earth, which he will not suffer to remain in his tunnel; of these he disencumbers himself by a sudden and well-timed manoeuvre of his head. should he find particles yet larger, he endeavours to push them away with his back, and he is so assiduous in this labour, that he repeats it six or seven times. at length the ant-lion comes to collect the fruits of his toil. his nets being once well laid, he has nothing to do but to put himself on the watch; accordingly, immoveable and concealed at the bottom of the ditch which he has dug, he patiently waits for the prey which he cannot pursue. if some unhappy ant is inadvertently drawn to the borders of this fatal precipice, she is almost sure to roll down to the bottom, because the brink is made sloping, and thus the sand giving way beneath her feet, she is forced to follow the dangerous declivity till she falls into the power of her destroyer, who, by means of his horns, draws her under the sand, and feasts upon her blood. when he has sucked all the juices from her body, he contrives to eject from his habitation the dry and hollow carcase, repairs any damage his trench may have sustained, and puts himself again in ambush. he does not always succeed in seizing his prey at the moment of its fall; it frequently escapes him, and endeavours to remount the funnel; but then the ant-lion works with his head, and causes a shower of sand to descend upon his captive, and precipitate it once more to the bottom. all the actions of this little animal display an art so extraordinary, that we might often examine them without being wearied. the ant-lion employs itself in preparing trenches even before having seen the animal which they are to ensnare, and which is to serve it for nourishment; and yet its actions are regulated in a manner the best adapted to accomplish these purposes. how would an animal, so destitute of agility, have been able to entrap its prey more easily than by digging in a moveable sand, and giving a sloping declivity to this funnel? what better stratagem could it have devised for recovering the ants which were on the point of escaping even from this skilfully constructed snare, than in overwhelming them with showers of sand, and thus cutting off all hopes of a retreat? all its actions have fixed principles by which they are directed. the trench must be dug in the sand, or it could not answer the desired purpose; and it must, according to the structure of its body, work backwards, using its horns like a pair of pincers, in order to throw the sand over the brink of the funnel. the instinct which governs this insect, discovers to us a first cause, whose intelligence has foreseen and ordained every thing that was necessary for the preservation and well-being of such an animal. chap. xxvi. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _the spider--ingenuity of the spider--spider tamed--curious anecdote of a spider, &c._ the spider. the spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! feels at each thread, and lives along the line. _pope._ one of the largest of the european spiders is the _aranea diadema_ of linnæus, which is extremely common in our own country, and is chiefly seen during the autumnal season, in gardens, &c. the body of this species, when full grown, is not much inferior in size to a small hazel-nut: the abdomen is beautifully marked by a longitudinal series of round or drop-shaped milk-white spots, crossed by others of similar appearance, so as to represent, in some degree, the pattern of a small diadem. this spider, in the months of september and october, forms, in some convenient spot or shelter, a large round close or thick web of yellow silk, in which it deposits its eggs, guarding the round web with a secondary one of a looser texture. the young are hatched in the ensuing may, the parent insects dying towards the close of autumn. the aranea diadema being one of the largest of the common spiders, serves to exemplify some of the principal characters of the genus in a clearer manner than most others. at the tip of the abdomen are placed five papillæ, or teats, through which the insect draws its thread; and as each of these papillæ is furnished with a vast number of foramina or outlets, disposed over its whole surface, it follows, that what we commonly term a spider's thread, is in reality formed of a collection of a great many distinct ones; the animal possessing the power of drawing out more or fewer at pleasure; and if it should draw from all the foramina at once, the thread might consist of many hundred distinct filaments. the eyes, which are situated on the upper part or front of the thorax, are eight in number, placed at a small distance from each other, and have the appearance of the stemmata in the generality of insects. the fangs, or piercers, with which the animal wounds its prey, are strong, curved, sharp-pointed, and each furnished on the inside, near the tip, with a small oblong hole or slit, through which is injected a poisonous fluid into the wound made by the point itself, these organs operating in miniature on the same principle with the fangs in poisonous serpents. the feet are highly curious, the two claws, with which each is terminated, being furnished on its under side with several parallel processes, resembling the teeth of a comb, and enabling the animal to dispose and manage, with the utmost facility, the disposition of the threads in its web, &c. the _aranea tarantula_, or tarantula spider, of which so many idle recitals have been detailed in the works of the learned, and which, even to this day, continues in some countries to exercise the faith and ignorance of the vulgar, is a native of the warmer parts of italy, and other warm european regions, and is generally found in dry and sunny plains. it is the largest of all the european spiders; but the extraordinary symptoms supposed to ensue from the bite of this insect, as well as their supposed cure by the power of music alone, are entirely fabulous, and are now sufficiently exploded among all rational philosophers. the gigantic _aranea avicularia_, or bird-catching spider, is not uncommon in many parts of the east indies and south america, where it resides among trees, frequently seizing on small birds, which it destroys by wounding with its fangs, and sucking their blood. during the early part of the last century, a project was entertained by a french gentleman, monsieur bon, of montpellier, of instituting a manufacture of spiders' silk; and the royal academy, to which the scheme was proposed, appointed the ingenious reaumur to repeat the experiments of m. bon, in order to ascertain how far the proposed plan might be carried: but, after making the proper trials, m. reaumur found it to be impracticable, on account of the natural disposition of these animals, which is such as will by no means admit of their living peaceably together in large numbers. m. reaumur also computed that , spiders would scarcely furnish a single pound of silk. monsieur bon, however, the first projector, carried his experiments so far as to obtain two or three pairs of stockings and gloves of this silk, which were of an elegant gray colour, and were presented, as samples, to the royal academy. it must be observed, that in this manufacture it is the silk of the egg-bags alone that can be used, being far stronger than that of the webs. monsieur bon collected twelve or thirteen ounces of these, and having caused them to be well cleared of dust, by properly beating with sticks, he washed them perfectly clean in warm water. after this, they were laid to steep, in a large vessel, with soap, saltpetre, and gum-arabic. the whole was left to boil over a gentle fire for three hours, and was afterwards again washed to get out the soap; then laid to dry for some days, after which it was carded, but with much smaller cards than ordinary. the silk is easily spun into a fine and strong thread; the difficulty being only to collect the silk-bags in sufficient quantity. there remains one more particularity in the history of spiders, viz. the power of flight. it is principally in the autumnal season that these diminutive adventurers ascend the air, and contribute to fill it with that infinity of floating cobwebs, which are so peculiarly conspicuous at that period of the year. when inclined to make these aërial excursions, the spider ascends some slight eminence, as the top of a wall, or the branch of a tree; and turning itself with its head towards the wind, protrudes several threads, and, rising from its station, commits itself to the gale, and is thus carried far beyond the height of the loftiest towers, and enjoys the pleasure of a clearer atmosphere. during their flight, it is probable that spiders employ themselves in catching such minute winged insects as may happen to occur in their progress; and when satisfied with their journey and their prey, they suffer themselves to fall, by contracting their limbs, and gradually disengaging themselves from the thread. these insects are but ill calculated to live in society. whenever thus stationed, they never fail to wage war with each other. the females, in particular, are of a disposition peculiarly capricious and malignant; and it is observed, that they sometimes spring upon the males, and destroy them. on this occasion, says linnæus, if ever, may be justly applied the ovidian line:-- res est solliciti plena timoris amor! the following is a notable instance of the ingenuity of the spider. t. a. knight, esq. of herefordshire, has, in a treatise on the culture of the apple and pear, introduced the following concerning this curious insect.-- "i have frequently placed a spider on a small upright stick, whose base was surrounded by water, to observe its most singular mode of escape. after having discovered that the ordinary means of escape are cut off, it ascends the point of the stick, and, standing nearly on its head, ejects its web, which the wind readily carries to some contiguous object. along this, the sagacious insect effects its escape, not however till it has previously ascertained, by several exertions of its whole strength, that its web is properly attached to the opposite end. i do not know that this instance of sagacity has been mentioned by any entomological writer, and i insert it here in consequence of the erroneous accounts of some periodical publications, of the spider's threads, which are observed to pass from one tree or bush to another in dewy mornings." the reader will be pleased with the following account of a spider tamed, given by the abbé d'olivet, author of the life of pelisson, in the following passage:-- "confined at that time in a solitary place, and where the light of day only penetrated through a mere slit, having no other servant than a stupid and dull clown, a basque, who was continually playing on the bagpipes, pelisson studied by what means to secure himself against an enemy, which a good conscience alone cannot always repel; i mean, the attacks of unemployed imagination, which, when it once exceeds proper limits, becomes the most cruel torture of a recluse individual. he adopted the following stratagem:--perceiving a spider spinning her web at the spiracle, he undertook to tame her; and to effect this, he placed some flies on the edge of the opening, while the basque was playing on his favourite bagpipe. the spider by degrees accustomed herself to distinguish the sound of that instrument, and to run from her hole to seize her prey; thus, by means of always calling her out by the same tune, and placing the flies nearer and nearer his own seat, after several months' exercise, he succeeded in training the spider so well, that she would start at the first signal, to seize a fly at the farthest end of the room, and even on the knees of the prisoner." it has been stated, that a prisoner confined in the bastile, retained his senses, contrary to expectation, by playing daily so many games at push-pin; he having, unknown to his keepers, secreted a battalion or two of these hostile implements. the device of pelisson is more interesting to us, as we learn from it, that the spider, though amongst the most quarrelsome of insects, yet is capable of being rendered familiar by the reason and perseverance of man. in the introduction to a modern entomology there is a description of the process by which the spider weaves its web. after describing the four spinners, as they are termed, from which the visible threads proceed, the writer makes the following curious observations:--"these are machinery, through which, by a process more singular than that of rope-spinning, the thread is drawn. each spinner is pierced, like the plate of a wire-drawer, with a multitude of holes, so numerous, and exquisitely fine, that a space often not larger than a pin's point includes a thousand. through each of these holes proceeds a thread of inconceivable tenuity, which, immediately after issuing from the orifice, unites with all the other threads from the spinner, into one. hence, from each spinner proceeds a compound thread; and these four threads, at the distance of about one-tenth of an inch from the apex of the spinner, again unite, and form the thread we are accustomed to see, which the spider uses in forming its web. thus, a spider's web, even spun by the smallest species, and when so fine that it is almost imperceptible to our senses, is not, as we suppose, a straight line, but a rope, composed of at least yarns." we shall close this chapter with a curious anecdote of a spider, connected with observations on the utility of ants in destroying venomous creatures; by captain bagnold. "desirous of ascertaining the natural food of the scorpion, i inclosed one (which measured three-quarters of an inch from the head to the insertion of the tail) in a wide-mouthed phial, together with one of those large spiders so common in the west indies, and closed it with a cork, perforated by a quill for the admission of air. the insects seemed carefully to avoid each other, retiring to opposite ends of the bottle, which was placed horizontally. by giving it a gradual inclination, the scorpion was forced into contact with the spider, when a sharp encounter took place, the latter receiving repeated stings from his venomous adversary, apparently without the least injury; while, with his web, he soon lashed the scorpion's tail to his back, and afterwards secured his legs and claws with the same materials. in this state i left them some time, in order to observe what effect would be produced on the spider, by the wounds he had received. on my return, however, i was disappointed, the ants having entered, and destroyed them both. "in the west indies i have daily witnessed crowds of these little insects destroying the spider or cockroach, which, as soon as he is dispatched, they carry to their nest. i have frequently seen them drag their prey perpendicularly up the wall, and, although the weight would overcome their united efforts, and fall to the ground, perhaps twenty times in succession, yet, by unremitting perseverance, and the aid of reinforcements, they always succeeded. "a struggle of this description once amused the officers of his majesty's ship retribution, for nearly half an hour: a large centipede entered the gun-room, surrounded by an immense concourse of ants; the deck, for four or five feet round, was covered with them; his body and limbs were encrusted with his lilliputian enemies; and although thousands were destroyed by his exertions to escape, they ultimately carried him in triumph to their dwelling. "in the woods near sierra leone, i have several times seen the entire skeletons of the snake beautifully dissected by these minute anatomists." from these circumstances it would appear, that ants are a considerable check to the increase of those venomous reptiles, so troublesome in the torrid zone; and their industry, perseverance, courage, and numerical force, seem to strengthen the conjecture: in which case they amply remunerate us for their own depredations. chap. xxvii. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _luminous insects._ many insects are possessed of a luminous preparation or secretion, which has all the advantages of our lamps and candles, without their inconveniences; which gives light sufficient to direct our motion; which is incapable of burning; and whose lustre is maintained without needing fresh supplies of oil, or the application of snuffers. of the insects thus singularly provided, the common glow-worm (_lampyris noctiluca_) is the most familiar instance.--this insect in shape somewhat resembles a caterpillar, only it is much more depressed; and the light proceeds from a pale-coloured patch that terminates, the under side of the abdomen. it has been supposed by many, that the males of the different species of lampyris do not possess the property of giving out any light; but it is now ascertained that this supposition is inaccurate, though their light is much less vivid than that of the female. ray first pointed out this fact with respect to (_l. noctiluca_.) geoffrey also observed, that the male of this species has four small luminous points, two on each of the two last segments of the belly: and his observation has been recently confirmed by miller. this last entomologist, indeed, saw only two shining spots; but from the insects having the power of withdrawing them out of sight, so that not the smallest trace of light remains, he thinks it is not improbable that at times two other points, still smaller, may be exhibited, as geoffrey has described. in the males of _l. splendidula_, and of _l. hemiptera_, the light is very distinct, and may be seen in the former while flying. the females have the same faculty of extinguishing or concealing their light; a very necessary provision to guard them from the attacks of nocturnal birds. mr. white even thinks that they regularly put it out between eleven and twelve every night, and they have also the power of rendering it for a while more vivid than ordinary. though many of the females of the different species of lampyris are without wings, and even elytra, (in _coleoptera_,) this is not the case with all. the female of _l. italica_, a species common in italy, and which, if we may trust to the accuracy of the account given by mr. waller, in the philosophical transactions for , would seem to have been taken by him in hertfordshire, is winged; and when a number of these moving stars are seen to dart through the air in a dark night, nothing can have a more beautiful effect. dr. smith says, that the beaus of italy are accustomed in an evening to adorn the heads of the ladies with these artificial diamonds, by sticking them into their hair; and a similar custom prevails amongst the ladies of india. besides the golden species of the genus _lampyris_, all of which are probably more or less luminous, another insect of the beetle tribe, _elater noctilucus_, is endowed with the same property, and that in a much higher degree. this insect, which is an inch long, and about one-third of an inch broad, gives out its principal light from two transparent eye-like tubercles placed upon the thorax; but there are also two luminous patches concealed under the elytra, which are not visible except when the insect is flying, at which time it appears adorned with four brilliant gems of the most beautiful golden-blue lustre: in fact, the whole body is full of light, which shines out between the abdominal segments when stretched. the light emitted by the two thoracic tubercles alone is so considerable, that the smallest print may be read by moving one of these insects along the lines; and in the west india islands, particularly in st. domingo, where they are very common, the natives were formerly accustomed to employ those living lamps, which they called _cucuij_, instead of candles, in performing their evening household occupations. in travelling at night, they used to tie one to each great toe; and in fishing and hunting, required no other flambeau.--_pietro martire's decades of the new world_, _quoted in madoc_, p. . southey has happily introduced this insect in his "madoc," as furnishing the lamp by which coatel rescued the british hero from the hands of the mexican priests. "she beckon'd and descended, and drew out, from underneath her vest, a cage, or net it rather might be called, so fine the twigs which knit it, where, confined, two fire-flies gave their lustre. by that light did madoc first behold the features of his lovely guide." pietro martire tells us, that cucuij serve the natives of the spanish west india islands not only instead of candles, but as extirpators of the gnats, which are a dreadful pest to the inhabitants of the low grounds. they introduce a few fire-flies, to which the gnats are a grateful food, into their houses, and by means of these "commodious hunters," are soon rid of the intruders. "how they are a remedy (says this author) for so great a mischiefe, it is a pleasant thing to hear. hee who understandeth that he has those troublesome guestes (the gnattes) at home, diligently hunteth after the cucuij. whoso wanteth cucuij, goeth out of the house in the first twilight of the night, carrying a burning fire-brande in his hande, and ascendeth the next hillock, that the cucuij may see it, and hee swingeth the fire-brande about, calling cucuie aloud, and beating the ayre with often calling out, cucuie, cucuie." he goes on to observe, that the simple people believe the insect is attracted by their invitations; but that, for his part, he is rather inclined to think that the fire is the magnet. having obtained a sufficient number of cucuij, the beetle-hunter returns home, and lets them fly loose in the house, where they diligently seek the gnats about the beds and the faces of those asleep, and devour them.--_martire ubi supr. colonies_, i. . these insects are also applied to purposes of decoration. on certain festival-days, in the month of june, they are collected in great numbers, and tied all over the garments of young people, who gallop through the streets on horses similarly ornamented, producing on a dark evening the effect of a large moving body of light. on such occasions, the lover displays his gallantry by decking his mistress with these living gems.--_walton's present state of the spanish colonies._ and according to p. martire, "many wanton wilde fellowes" rub their faces with "the flesh of a killed cucuij," as boys with us use phosphorus, "with purpose to meet their neighbours with a flaming countenance," and derive amusement from their fright. besides _elater noctilucus_, _e. ignitus_, and several others of the same genus, are luminous: not fewer than twelve species of this family are described by illiger in the berlin naturalist society's magazine. the brilliant nocturnal spectacle presented by these insects to the inhabitants of the countries where they abound, cannot be better described than in the language of the poet above referred to, who has thus related its first effect upon british visitors of the new world: "------------------------sorrowing we beheld the night come on: but soon did night display more wonders than it veil'd; innumerable tribes from the wood-cover swarm'd, and darkness made their beauties visible; one while they stream'd a bright blue radiance upon flowers that clos'd their gorgeous colours from the eye of day; now motionless and dark, eluding search, self-shrouded; and anon starring the sky, rose like a shower of fire." if we are to believe mouffet, (and the story is not incredible,) the appearance of the tropical fire-flies on one occasion led to a more important result than might have been expected from such a cause. he tells us, that when sir thos. cavendish and sir john dudley first landed in the west indies, and saw in the evening an infinite number of moving lights in the woods, which were merely these insects, they supposed that the spaniards were advancing upon them, and immediately betook themselves to their ships: a result as well entitling the elatera to a commemoration feast, as a similar good office by the land-crabs of hispaniola, which, as the spaniards tell, (and the story is confirmed by an anniversary _fiesta de los cangrejos_,) by their clattering being mistaken for the sound of spanish cavalry close upon their heels, in like manner scared away a body of english invaders from the city of st. domingo.--_walton's hispaniola_, i. . an anecdote less improbable, perhaps, and certainly more ludicrous, is related by sir james smith, of the effect of the first sight of the italian fire-flies upon some moorish ladies, ignorant of such appearances. these females had been taken prisoners at sea, and, until they could be ransomed, lived in a house in the outskirts of genoa, where they were frequently visited by the respectable inhabitants of the city; a party of whom, on going one evening, were surprised to find the house closely shut up, and their moorish friends in the greatest grief and consternation. on inquiring into the cause, they ascertained that some of the lampyris italica had found their way into the dwelling, and that the ladies within had taken it into their heads that these brilliant guests were no other than the troubled spirits of their relations; and some time elapsed before they could be divested of this idea. the common people in italy have a superstition respecting these insects somewhat similar, believing that they are of a spiritual nature, and proceed out of the graves; and hence carefully avoid them.--_tour on the continent_, d ed. iii. . the insects hitherto adverted to have been beetles, or of the order _coleoptera_. but, besides these, a genus in the order _hemiptera_, called _fulgora_, includes several species, which emit so powerful a light, as to have obtained in english the generic appellation of lantern-flies. two of the most conspicuous of this tribe are the _f. lanternaria_ and _f. candelaria_; the former a native of south america, the latter of china. both, as indeed is the case with the whole genus, have the material which diffuses their light included in a hollow subtransparent projection of the head. in _f. candelaria_ this projection is of a subcylindrical shape, recurved at the apex, above an inch in length, and the thickness of a small quill. we may easily conceive, as travellers assure us, that a tree studded with multitudes of these living sparks, some at rest and others in motion, must during the night have a superlatively splendid appearance. in _f. lanternaria_, which is an insect two or three inches long, the snout is much larger and broader, and more of an oval shape, and sheds a light, the brilliancy of which transcends that of any other luminous insect. madam merian informs us, that the first discovery she made of this property caused her no small alarm. the servants had brought her several of these insects, which by day-light exhibited no extraordinary appearance, and she inclosed them in a box till she should have an opportunity of drawing them, placing them upon a table in her lodging-room. in the middle of the night the confined insects made such a noise as to awake her, and she opened the box, the inside of which, to her great astonishment, appeared all in a blaze; and in her fright letting it fall, she was not less surprised to see each of the insects apparently on fire. she soon, however, divined the cause of this unexpected phenomenon, and re-inclosed her brilliant guests in their place of confinement. she adds, that the light of one of these fulgora was sufficiently bright to read a newspaper by. another species, _f. pyrrhorynchus_, is described by donovan, in his insects of india; of which the light, though from a smaller snout than that of _f. lanternaria_, must assume a more splendid and striking appearance, the projection being of a rich deep purple from the base to near the apex, which is of a fine transparent scarlet; and these tints will of course be imparted to the transmitted light. with regard to the immediate source of the luminous properties of these insects, mr. macartney, to whom we are indebted for the most recent investigation on the subject, has ascertained, that in the common glow-worm, and in _elater noctilucus_ and _ignitus_, the light proceeds from masses of a substance not generally differing, except in its yellow colour, from the interstitial substance _corps graisseux_, of the rest of the body, closely applied underneath those transparent parts of the insects' skin which afford the light. in the glowworm, besides the last-mentioned substance, which, when the season for giving light is passed, is absorbed, and replaced by the common interstitial substance, he observed on the inner side of the last abdominal segment two minute oval sacks, formed of an elastic spirally-wound fibre, similar to that of the trachea, containing a soft yellow substance, of a closer texture than that which lines the adjoining region, and affording a more permanent and brilliant light. this light he found to be less under the control of the insect than that from the adjoining luminous substance, which it has the power of voluntarily extinguishing, not by retracting it under a membrane, as carradori imagined, but by some inscrutable change which depends upon its will: and when the latter substance was extracted from living glowworms, it afforded no light, while the two sacks in like circumstances shone uninterruptedly for several hours. mr. macartney conceives, from the radiated structure of interstitial substance surrounding the oval yellow masses immediately under the transparent spot in the thorax of _elater noctilucus_, and the subtransparency of the adjoining crust, that the interstitial substance in this situation has also the property of shining; a supposition which, if de geer and other authors be correct in stating, that this insect has two luminous patches over its elytra, and that the incisures between the abdominal segments shine when stretched, may probably be extended to the whole of the interstitial substance of its body. with respect to the remote cause of the luminous property of insects, philosophers are considerably divided in opinion. the disciples of modern chemistry have in general, with dr. darwin, referred it to the slow combustion of some combination of phosphorus secreted from their fluids by an appropriate organization, and entering into combination with the oxygen supplied in respiration. this opinion is very plausibly built upon the ascertained existence of phosphoric acid as an animal secretion; the great resemblance between the light of phosphorus in slow combustion, and animal light; the remarkably large spiracula in glowworms; and upon the statement, that the glowworm is rendered more brilliant by the application of heat and oxygen gas, and is extinguished by cold and by hydrogen and carbonic acid gases. from these last facts, spallanzani was led to regard the luminous matter as a compound of hydrogen and carburetted hydrogen gas. carradori having found that the luminous portion of the belly of the italian glowworm, _lampyris italica_, shone in vacuo, in oil, in water, and when under other circumstances where the presence of oxygen gas was precluded,--with brugnatelli, ascribed the property in question to the imbibition of light, separated from the food or air taken in the body, and afterwards secreted in a sensible form.[ ] lastly, mr. macartney having ascertained, by experiment, that the light of a glowworm is not diminished by immersion in water, or increased by the application of heat; that the substance affording it, though poetically employed for lighting the fairies' tapers,[ ] is incapable of inflammation, if applied to the flame of a candle or red-hot iron; and when separated from the body, exhibits no sensible heat on the thermometer's being applied to it,--rejects the preceding hypothesis as unsatisfactory, but without substituting any other explanation; suggesting, however, that the facts he observed are more favourable to the supposition of light being a quality of matter, than a substance. which of these opinions is the more correct, is left for future philosophers to decide. the general use of this singular provision is not much more satisfactorily ascertained than its nature. it is conjectured that it may be a means of defence against its enemies. in different kinds of insects, however, it may probably have a different object. thus in the lantern-flies, (_fulgora_,) whose light precedes them, it may act the part that their name imports, enable them to discover their prey, and to steer themselves safely in the night. in the fire-flies, (_elater_,) if we consider the infinite numbers, that in certain climates and situations present themselves every where in the night, it may distract the attention of their enemies, or alarm them. and in the glowworm, since their light is usually more brilliant in the female, it is most probably intended to conduct the sexes to each other. thine is an unobtrusive blaze, content in lowly shades to shine; and much i wish, while yet i gaze, to make thy modest merit mine! _mrs. opie._ chap. xxviii. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _the flea--on the duration of the life of a flea--the louse._ the flea,--has two eyes and six feet, fitted for leaping; the feelers are like threads; the rostrum is inflected, setaceous, and armed with a sting; and the belly is compressed. fleas bring forth eggs, which they deposit on animals that afford them a proper food. of these eggs are hatched white worms of a shining pearl colour, which feed on the scurfy substance of the cuticle, the downy matter gathered in the piles or folds of clothes, or other similar substances. in a fortnight they come to a tolerable size, and are very lively and active; and, if at any time disturbed, they suddenly roll themselves into a kind of ball. soon after this, they come to creep, after the manner of silk-worms, with a very swift motion. when arrived at their size, they hide themselves as much as possible, and spin a silken thread out of their mouth, wherewith they form themselves a small round bag, or case, white within as paper, but without always dirty, and fouled with dust. here, after a fortnight's rest, the animalcule bursts out, transformed into a perfect flea, leaving its exuviæ in the bag. while it remains in the bag, it is milk-white till the second day before its eruption, when it becomes coloured, grows hard, and gets strength; so that, upon its first delivery, it springs nimbly away. the flea is covered all over with black, hard, and shelly scales or plates, which are curiously jointed, and folded over each other in such a manner as to comply with all the nimble motions of the creature. these scales are finely polished, and beset about the edges with short spikes, in a very beautiful and regular order. its neck is finely arched, and resembles the tail of a lobster: the head is also very extraordinary; for from the snout-part of it proceed the two fore-legs, and between these is placed the piercer, or sucker, with which it penetrates the skin to get its food. its eyes are very large and beautiful, and it has two short horns, or feelers. it has four other legs, joined all at the breast. these, when it leaps, fold short, one within another; and then, exerting their spring all at the same instant, they carry the creature to a surprising distance. the legs have several joints, are very hairy, and terminate in two long and hooked sharp claws. the piercer, or sucker, of the flea, is lodged between its fore-legs, and includes a couple of darts or lancets, which, after the piercer has made an entrance, are thrust farther into the flesh, to make the blood flow from the adjacent parts, and occasion that round red spot, with a hole in the centre of it, vulgarly called a flea-bite. this piercer, its sheath opening sidewise, and the two lancets within it, are very difficult to be seen, unless the two fore-legs, between which they are hid, be cut off close to the head; for the flea rarely puts out its piercer, except at the time of feeding, but keeps it folded inwards; and the best way of seeing it, is by cutting off first the head, and then the fore-legs, and then it is usually seen thrust out in convulsions. by keeping fleas in a glass tube corked up at both ends, but so as to admit fresh air, their several actions may be observed. they may be thus seen to lay their eggs, &c. they do not lay their eggs all at once, but by ten or twelve in a day, for several days successively, which eggs will be afterwards found to hatch successively, in the same order. the flea may easily be dissected in a drop of water; and thus the stomach and bowels, with their peristaltic motion, may be discovered very plainly, with the veins and arteries, though minute beyond all conception. this bloodthirsty insect, which fattens at the expense of the human species, prefers the more delicate skin of women, but preys neither upon epileptic persons, nor upon the dead or dying. it loves to nestle in the fur of dogs, cats, and rats. the nests of river-swallows are sometimes plentifully stored with them. fleas are apterous, walk but little, but leap to a height equal to two hundred times that of their own body. this amazing motion is performed by means of the elasticity of their feet, the articulations of which are so many springs. thus it eludes, with surprising agility, the pursuit of the person on whom it riots. mercurial ointment, brimstone, a fumigation with the leaves of pennyroyal, or fresh-gathered leaves of that plant, sewed up in a bag, and laid in the bed, are remedies pointed out as destructive of fleas. in the athenian oracle, a lady desires to know whether fleas have stings, or whether they only suck or bite, when they draw blood from the body? to which an ingenious author returns the following humorous answer: "not to trouble you, madam, with the hebrew or arabic name of a flea, or to transcribe bochart's learned dissertations on the little animal, we shall, for your satisfaction, give such a description thereof as we have yet been able to discover.-- "its skin is of a lovely deep red colour, most neatly polished, and armed with scales, which can resist any thing but fate, and your ladyship's unmerciful fingers: the neck of it is exactly like the tail of a lobster, and, by the assistance of those strong scales it is covered with, springs backwards and forwards much in the same manner, and with equal violence: it has two eyes on each side of its head, so pretty, that i would prefer them to any, madam, but yours; and which it makes use of to avoid its fate, and flee from its enemies, with as much nimbleness and success, as your sex manage those fatal weapons, lovely basilisks as you are, for the ruin of your adorers. nature has provided it six substantial legs, of great strength, and incomparable agility, jointed like a cane, covered with large hairs, and armed each of them with two claws, which appear of a horny substance, more sharp than lancets, or the finest needle you have in your needle-book. it was a long while before we could discover its mouth, which, we confess, we have not yet so exactly perceived as we could wish, the little bashful creature always holding up its two fore-feet before it, which it uses instead of a fan or mask, when it has no mind to be known; and we were forced to be guilty of an act both uncivil and cruel, without which we could never have resolved your question. we were obliged to unmask this modest one, and cut off its two fore-legs to get to the face; which being performed, though it makes our tender hearts, as well as yours, almost bleed to think of it, we immediately discovered what your ladyship desired, and found nature had given it a strong proboscis, or trunk, as a gnat or muschetto, though much thicker and stouter, with which we may very well suppose it penetrates your fair hand, feasts itself on the nectar of your blood, and then, like a little faithless fugitive of a lover, skips away, almost invisibly, nobody knows whither." we close our remarks on this well-known insect, with the following interesting particulars on the duration of the life of a flea; by borrichius; from the acts of copenhagen.--"pliny represents to us a greek philosopher, whose chief occupation, for several years together, was to measure the space skipped over by fleas. without giving in to such ridiculous researches, i can relate an anecdote, which chance discovered to me in regard to this insect. "being sent for to attend a foreign lady, who was greatly afflicted with the gout, and having staid, by her desire, to dine with her, she bade me take notice of a flea on her hand. surprised at such discourse, i looked at the hand, and saw indeed a plump and pampered flea sucking greedily, and kept fast to it by a little gold chain. the lady assured me, she had nursed and kept the little animal, at that time, full six years, with exceeding great care, having fed it twice every day with her blood; and when it had satisfied its appetite, she put it up in a little box, lined with silk. in a month's time, being recovered from her illness, she set out from copenhagen with her flea; but having returned in about a year after, i took an opportunity of waiting upon her, and, among other things, asked after her little insect. she answered me with great concern, that it died through the neglect of her waiting-woman. what i found remarkable in this story was, that the lady, being attacked by chronical pains in her limbs, had recourse in france to very powerful medicines during six weeks; and all this time the flea had not ceased to feed upon her blood, imbued with the vapours, and yet was not the worse for it." the louse.--this insect has six feet, two eyes, and a sort of sting in the mouth; the feelers are as long as the thorax; and the belly is depressed and sublobated. it is an oviparous animal. they are not peculiar to man alone, but infest other animals, as quadrupeds and birds, and even fishes and vegetables; but these are of peculiar species on each animal, according to the particular nature of each, some of which are different from those which infest the human body. nay, even insects are infested with vermin, which feed on and torment them. several kinds of beetles are subject to lice, but particularly that kind called by way of eminence the lousy beetle. the lice on this are very numerous, and will not be shook off. the earwig is often infested with lice, just at the setting on of its head: these are white and shining, like mites, but they are much smaller; they are round-backed, flat-bellied, and have long legs, particularly the foremost pair. snails of all kinds, but especially the large naked sorts, are very subject to lice; which are continually seen running about them, and devouring them. numbers of little red lice, with a very small head, and in shape resembling a tortoise, are often seen about the legs of spiders, and they never leave the animal while he lives; but if he be killed, they almost instantly forsake him. a sort of whitish lice is found on humblebees; they are also found upon ants; and fishes are not less subject to them than other animals. kircher tells us, that he found lice also on flies, and m. de la hire has given a curious account of the creature which he found on the common fly. having occasion to view a living fly with the microscope, he observed on its head, back, and shoulders, a great number of small animals crawling very nimbly about, and often climbing up the hairs which grow at the origin of the fly's legs. he with a fine needle took up one of these, and placed it before the microscope used to view the animalcules in fluids. it had eight legs, four on each side; these were not placed very distant from each other, but the four towards the head were separated by a small space from the four towards the tail. the feet were of a particular structure, being composed of several fingers, as it were, and fitted for taking fast hold of any thing, but the two nearest the head were also more remarkable in this particular than those near the tail; the extremities of the legs for a little way above the feet were dry, and void of flesh, like the legs of birds, but above this part they appeared plump and fleshy. it had two small horns upon its head, formed of several hairs arranged closely together; and there were some other clusters of hairs by the side of these horns, but they had not the same figure; and towards the origin of the hind-legs there were two other such clusters of hairs, which took their origin at the middle of the back. the whole creature was of a bright yellowish red; the legs, and all the body, except a large spot in the centre, were perfectly transparent. in size, he computed it to be about / th part of the head of the fly; and he observes, that such kind of vermin are rarely found on flies. the louse which infests the human body, makes a very curious appearance through a microscope. it has such a transparent shell or skin, that we are able to discover more of what passes within its body, than in most other living creatures. it has naturally three divisions, the head, the breast, and the tail part. in the head appear two fine black eyes, with a horn that has five joints, and is surrounded with hairs standing before each eye; and from the end of the nose, or snout, there is a pointed projecting part, which serves as a sheath or case to a piercer, or sucker, which the creature thrusts into the skin to draw out the blood and humours which are its destined food; for it has no mouth that opens in the common way. this piercer, or sucker, is judged to be seven hundred times smaller than a hair, and is contained in another case within the first, and can be drawn in or thrust out at pleasure. the breast is very beautifully marked in the middle; the skin is transparent, and full of little pits; and from the under part of it proceed six legs, each having five joints, and their skin all the way resembling shagreen, except at the ends, where it is smoother. each leg is terminated by two claws, which are hooked, and are of an unequal length and size. these it uses as we would a thumb and middle finger; and there are hairs between these claws, as well as all over the legs. on the back part of the tail there may be discovered some ring-like divisions, and a sort of marks which look like the strokes of a rod on the human skin; the belly looks like shagreen, and towards the lower end it is very clear, and full of pits: at the extremity of the tail there are two semicircular parts, all covered over with hairs. when the louse moves its legs, the motion of the muscles, which all unite in an oblong dark spot in the middle of the breast, may be distinguished perfectly; and so may the motion of the muscles of the head, when it moves its horns. we may likewise see the various ramifications of the veins and arteries, which are white, with the pulse regularly beating in the arteries. the peristaltic motion of the intestines may be distinctly seen, from the stomach down to the anus. if one of these creatures, when hungry, be placed on the back of the hand, it will thrust its sucker into the skin, and the blood which it sucks may be seen passing in a fine stream to the fore part of the head; where, falling into a roundish cavity, it passes again in a fine stream to another circular receptacle in the middle of the head; from thence it runs through a small vessel to the breast, and then to a gut which reaches to the hinder part of the body, where, in a curve, it turns again a little upward in the breast and gut; the blood is moved without intermission with great force, especially in the former, where it occasions a surprising contraction. in the upper part of the crooked ascending gut above-mentioned, the propelled blood stands still, and seems to undergo a separation, some of it becoming clear and waterish, while other black particles are pushed forward to the anus. if a louse is placed on its back, two bloody darkish spots appear; the larger in the middle of the body, the smaller towards the tail; the motions of which are followed by the pulsation of the dark bloody spot, in or over which the white bladder seems to lie. this motion of the systole and diastole is best seen when the creature begins to grow weak; and on pricking the white bladder, which seems to be the heart, it instantly dies. the lower dark spot is supposed to be the excrement. chap. xxix. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) in the vast, and the minute, we see th' unambiguous footsteps of a god, who gives its lustre to an insect's wing, and wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds. _cowper._ the aphis. this is an insect which has engaged the attention of naturalists for various reasons: their generation is equivocal, and their instinctive economy differs, in some respects, from that of most other animals. linnæus defines the generic character of the aphis thus: beak inflected, sheath of five articulations, with a single bristle; antennæ setaceous, and longer than the thorax; either four erect wings, or none; feet formed for walking; posterior part of the abdomen usually furnished with two little horns. geoffrey says, the aphides have two beaks, one of which is seated in the breast, the other in the head; this last extends to, and is laid upon, the base of the pectoral one, and serves, as that writer imagines, to convey to the head a part of that nourishment which the insect takes or sucks in by means of the pectoral beak. gmelin enumerates about seventy species, all of which, and doubtless many others, are found in different parts of europe. they infest an endless variety of plants; and it is believed that each species is particularly attached to one kind of vegetable only: hence each sort has been hitherto named after the individual species or genus of plants on which it feeds; or if that could not be ascertained, that on which it had been found; for some species are rather uncommon and little known, though others are infinitely too numerous. the aphides are sufficiently known by the indiscriminate term of plant-lice; they abound with a sweet and grateful moisture, and are therefore eagerly devoured by ants, the larvæ coccinellæ, and many other creatures, or they would become, very probably, more destructive to the whole vegetable creation than any other race of insects known. if bonnet was not the first naturalist (as is generally acknowledged) who discovered the mysterious course of generation in the aphides, or, as he calls them, pucerons, his experiments, together with those of his countryman, trembley, tended at least to confirm, in a most satisfactory manner, the almost incredible circumstances respecting it, that an aphis, or puceron, brought up in the most perfect solitude from the moment of its birth, in a few days will be found in the midst of a numerous family; and that if the experiment be again repeated on one of the individuals of this family, a second generation will multiply like its parent; and the like experiment may be many times repeated with the same effect. the history of aphides has also been very copiously treated upon by dr. richardson, in a paper printed in the st vol. of the philosophical transactions, and by the late ingenious mr. curtis, in the th vol. of the transactions of the linnæan society. the tenor of dr. richardson's remarks is briefly this: the great variety of species which occur in the insects now under consideration, may render an inquiry into their particular natures not a little perplexing; but by reducing them under their proper genus, the difficulty is considerably diminished. we may reasonably suppose all the insects comprehended under any distinct genus, to partake of one general nature; and by diligently examining any particular species, we may thence gain some insight into the nature of all the rest. with this view, dr. richardson chose out of the various sorts of aphides, the largest of those found on the rose-tree; not only as its size makes it more conspicuous, but as there are few of so long duration. this sort appears early in the spring, and continues late in autumn; while several are limited to a much shorter term, in conformity to the different trees and plants whence they draw their nourishment. if, at the beginning of february, the weather happens to be so warm as to make the buds of the rose-tree swell and appear green, small aphides are frequently to be found on them, though not larger than the young ones in summer, when first produced. it will be found, that those aphides which appear only in spring, proceed from small black oval eggs, which were deposited on the last year's shoot; though it happens that, when the insects make too early an appearance, the greater part suffer from the sharp weather that usually succeeds, by which means the rose-trees are some years freed from them. the same kind of animal is then at one time of the year viviparous, and at another oviparous. those aphides which withstand the severity of the weather, seldom come to their full growth before the month of april, at which time they usually begin to breed, after twice casting off their exuvia, or outward covering. when they first come from the parent, they are enveloped in a thin membrane, having the appearance of an oval egg; these egg-like appearances adhere by one extremity to the mother, while the young ones contained in them extend to the other, and by that means gradually draw the ruptured membrane over the head and body to the hind-feet. being thus suspended in the air, the insect soon frees itself from the membrane in which it was confined, and, after its limbs are a little strengthened, is set down on some tender shoots, and left to provide for itself. in the spring months there appear on the rose-trees but two generations of aphides, including those which proceed immediately from the last year's eggs; the warmth of the summer adds so much to their fertility, that no less than five generations succeed each other in the interval. one is produced in may, which casts off their covering; while the months of june and july each supply two more, which cast off their coverings three or four times, according to the different warmth of the season. this frequent change of their outward coat is the more extraordinary, because it is repeated more often when the insects come the soonest to their growth, which sometimes happens in ten days, when they have had plenty of warmth and nourishment. early in the month of june, some of the third generation, which were produced about the middle of may, after casting off the last covering, discover four erect wings, much longer than their bodies; and the same is observable in all the succeeding generations which are produced during the summer months, but, like all the others, without any diversity of sex: for some time before the aphides come to their full growth, it is easy to distinguish which will have wings, by a remarkable fulness of the breast, which in the others is hardly to be distinguished from the body. when the last covering is ejected, the wings, which were before folded up in a very narrow compass, are gradually extended in a surprising manner, till their dimensions are at last very considerable. the increase of these insects in the summer time is so very great, that by wounding and exhausting the tender shoots, they would frequently suppress all vegetation, had they not many enemies to restrain them. notwithstanding these insects have a numerous tribe of enemies, they are not without their friends, if those maybe considered as such, who are officious in their attendance, for the good things they expect to reap thereby. the ant and bee are of this kind, collecting the honey in which the aphides abound, but with this difference, that the ants are constant visitors, the bee only when flowers are scarce; the ants will suck in the honey while the aphides are in the act of discharging it; the bees only collect it from the leaves on which it has fallen. in the autumn, three more generations of aphides are produced, two of which generally make their appearance in the month of august, and the third before the middle of september. the two first differ in no respect from those which are found in summer, but the third differs greatly from all the rest. though all the aphides which have hitherto appeared were female, in this generation several male insects are found, but not by any means so numerous as the females. the females have, at first, the same appearance as those of the former generations, but in a few days their colour changes from a green to a yellow, which is gradually converted into an orange before they come to their full growth; they differ also, in another respect, from those which occur in summer, for all these yellow females are without wings. the male insects are, however, still more remarkable, their outward appearance readily distinguishing them from this and all other generations. when first produced, they are not of a green colour like the rest, but of a reddish brown, and have afterwards a dark line along the back; they come to their full growth in about three weeks, and then cast off their last covering, the whole insect being, after this, of a bright yellow colour, the wings only excepted, but after this change they become a deeper yellow, and, in a very few hours, of a dark brown, if we except the body, which is something lighter coloured, and has a reddish cast. where there are a number crowded together, they of course interfere with each other, in which case they will frequently deposit their eggs on other parts of the branches. it is highly probable that the aphides derive considerable advantages by living in society: the reiterated punctures of a great number of them may attract a larger quantity of nutritious juices to that part of the tree or plant where they have taken up their abode. the observations of mr. curtis, on the aphides, are chiefly intended to shew that they are the principal cause of blights in plants, and the sole cause of the honey-dew. he therefore calls this insect the aphis, or blighter; and after observing, that, in point of numbers, the individuals of the several species composing it surpass those of any other genus in the country, speaks thus, in general terms, of the whole tribe.--"these insects live entirely on vegetables. the loftiest tree is no less liable to their attacks, than the most humble plant. they prefer the young shoots on account of their tenderness, and, on this principle, often insinuate themselves into the very heart of the plant, and do irreparable mischief before they are discovered. but, for the most part, they beset the foliage, and are always found on the under side of the leaf, which they prefer, not only on account of its being the most tender, but as it affords them protection from the weather, and various injuries to which they would otherwise be exposed. sometimes the root is the object of their choice, which, from the nature of these insects, one would not, _á priori_, expect: yet i have seen the roots of lettuces thickly beset with them, and the whole crop rendered sickly and of little value; but such instances are rare. they seldom attach themselves to the bark of trees, like the aphis salicis, which being one of our largest species, and hence possessing superior strength, is enabled to penetrate a substance harder than the leaves themselves." in the quality of the excrement voided by these insects, there is something wonderfully extraordinary. were a person accidentally to take up a book, in which it is gravely asserted, that in some countries there were certain animals that voided liquid sugar, he would lay it down, regarding it as a fabulous tale, calculated to impose on the credulity of the ignorant; and yet such is literally the truth. mr. curtis collected some on a piece of writing-paper, from a brood of the aphis salicis, and found it to be as sweet as sugar; and observes, that were it not for the wasps, ants, flies, and other insects, that devour it as quickly as it is produced, it might, no doubt, be collected in considerable quantities, and, by the processes used with other saccharine juices, might be converted into the choicest sugar or sugar-candy. the sweetness of this excrementitious substance, the glossy appearance it gave the leaves it fell upon, and the swarms of insects this matter attracts, led him to imagine the honey-dew of plants was no other than this secretion, which further observation has since been fully confirmed; and not, as its name implies, a sweet substance falling from the atmosphere. on this opinion it is further remarked, that it neither falls from the atmosphere, nor issues from the plant itself, as is easily demonstrated. if it fell from the atmosphere, it would cover every thing it fell upon indiscriminately; whereas we never find it but on certain living plants and trees. we find it also on plants in stoves and greenhouses covered with glass. if it exuded from the plant, it would appear on all the leaves generally and uniformly; whereas its appearance is extremely irregular, not alike on any two leaves of the same tree or plant, some having none of it, and others being covered with it but partially. it is probable that there never exists any honey-dew but where there are aphides; though such often pass unnoticed, being hidden on the under side of the leaf: and wherever honey is observable upon a leaf, aphides will be found on the underside of the leaf or leaves immediately above it, and under no other circumstance whatever. if by accident any thing should intervene between the aphides and the leaf next beneath them, there will be no honey-dew on that leaf: and thus he conceives it is incontrovertibly proved, that aphides are the true and only source of honey-dew. of the british species of aphides, one of the largest and most remarkable is the aphis salicis, which is found on the different kinds of willows. when bruised, these insects stain the fingers with red. towards the end of september, multitudes of the full-grown insects of this species, both with and without wings, desert the willows on which they feed, and ramble over every neighbouring object in such numbers, that we can handle nothing in their vicinity without crushing some of them; while those in a younger or less advanced state, still remain in large masses upon the trees. aphis rosæ is very frequent, during the summer months, on young shoots and buds of roses; it is of a bright green colour: the males are furnished with large transparent wings. aphis vitis is most destructive to vines, as aphis ulmi is to the elm-tree. it is found that where the saccharine substance has dropped from aphides for a length of time, as from the aphis salicis in particular, it gives to the surface of the bark, foliage, &c. that sooty kind of appearance which arises from the explosion of gunpowder; it looks like, and is sometimes taken for, a kind of black mildew. in most seasons, the natural enemies of the aphis are sufficient to keep them in check, and to prevent them from doing essential injury to plants in the open air; but there are times, once perhaps in four, five, or six years, in which they are multiplied to such an excess, that the usual means of diminution fail in preventing them from doing irreparable injury to certain crops. to prevent the calamities which would infallibly result from an accumulated multiplication of the more prolific animals, it has been ordained by the author of nature, that such should be diminished by serving as food for others. on this principle, most animals of this kind have one or more natural enemies. the helpless aphis, which is the scourge of the vegetable kingdom, has to contend with many: the principal are the coccinella, the ichneumon aphidum, and the musca aphidivora. the greatest destroyer of the aphides is the coccinella, or common lady-bird. during the winter, this insect secures itself under the bark of trees, and elsewhere. when the spring expands the foliage of plants, the female deposits her eggs on them in great numbers, from whence, in a short time, proceeds the larva, a small grub, of a dark lead-colour, spotted with orange. these may be observed in summer running pretty briskly over all kinds of plants; and, if narrowly watched, they will be found to devour the aphides wherever they find them. the same may be observed of the lady-bird, in its perfect state. another most formidable enemy to the aphis, is a very minute, black, and slender ichneumon fly, which eats its way out of the aphis, leaving the dry inflated skin of the insect adhering to the leaf like a small pearl: such may always be found where aphides are in plenty. different species of aphides are infested with different ichneumons. there is scarcely a division of nature, in which the musca, or fly, is not found: of these, one division, the aphidivora, feeds entirely on aphides. of the different species of aphidivorous flies, which are numerous, having mostly bodies variegated with transverse stripes, their females may be seen hovering over plants infested with aphides, among which they deposit their eggs on the surface of the leaf. the larva, or maggot, produced from such eggs, feeds, as soon as hatched, on the younger kinds of aphis, and, as it increases in size, attacks and devours those which are larger. the larva of the hemerolicus feeds also on the aphides, and deposits its eggs on the leaves of such plants as are beset with them. the earwig is likewise an enemy to them, especially such as reside in the curled leaves of fruit-trees, and the purses formed by certain aphides on the poplars and other trees. to these may be added the smaller soft-billed birds that feed on insects. chap. xxx. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _the common house fly--the hessian fly--the may fly--the vegetable fly--the boat fly--the ephemeral flies--butterflies--metamorphoses of insects--the death-watch._ what atom-forms of insect life appear! and who can follow nature's pencil here? their wings with azure, green, and purple gloss'd, studded with colour'd eyes, with gems emboss'd; inlaid with pearl, and mark'd with various stains of lively crimson through their dusky veins. _barbauld._ the common house fly. gordart has reckoned up forty-eight varieties of the fly, without including them all in this enumeration. the multitude of these lively insects, which the first genial sunshine calls forth into life, has limits which the human eye is incapable of exploring. the female fly is easily distinguishable from the male: she is larger than the latter, fuller in the body, of a lighter colour, and, when she is nearly ready to deposit her eggs, the abdomen is so transparent, that they may be perceived lying on both sides, opposite to each other. nature has instructed her not to deposit her eggs in dry, but in damp substances, which keep them from being dried up, and at the same time afford nourishment to the maggot or worm. the latter issues from the egg generally in twenty-four hours, but, in the sun, within twelve hours after it is laid. about half an hour before, annular circles become visible in the egg, an undulatory motion succeeds, the egg opens at the end, and the worm makes its appearance. its entrance into the world is extremely tedious; for the three or four minutes taken by the worm to work its way out of the egg, are, for it, certainly so many days. it is endowed, on the other hand, with vital powers, which enable it to defy inconveniences which cost other animals their lives. nothing but turpentine, the general destroyer of insects, kills it in half an hour. on the fourteenth or fifteenth day, it begins to prepare for its transformation into a nymph, and in this form appears at first of a light yellow, and afterwards of a dark red. you would take it, in this state, for some kind of seed, rather than for the habitation of a living creature. the change of the nymph into a fly requires as much time as the preceding transformation. a thrust with the head then bursts the prison in which it is confined, and the fly, perfectly formed, sallies forth. the sun hastens its birth, which is then the business of but a moment; but in unfavourable weather, this probably painful operation often takes four or five hours. the insect is now as perfect as its parents, and not to be distinguished from them. as soon as it issues from the nymph, it flies away; and only those are unable to use their wings immediately, which have the misfortune to come out in gloomy weather. leuwenhock reckons, that every fly has eight thousand hexagons or eyes, on each of the hemispheres composing its face, and consequently sixteen thousand on both. m. von gleichen, a german naturalist, observes, that the law of retaliation is in some measure established, in regard to these animals; for if they annoy us, they are in their turn persecuted by others. small yellow insects, discovered by means of the magnifying glass, crawling among the hairs that grow on their bodies, are supposed to be destined for this purpose. the fecundity of flies is prodigious. on this head, the last-mentioned naturalist has made the following calculation:-- a fly lays four times during the summer, each time eighty eggs, which makes half of these are supposed to be females, so that each of the four broods produces forty: . first eighth, or the forty females of the first brood, also lay four times in the course of the summer, which makes , the first eighth of these, or , females, three times , the second eighth, twice , the third and fourth eighth, at least one each , . the second eighth, or the forty females of the second brood, lay three times, the produce of which is , one sixth of these, or , females, three times , the second sixth, twice , the third sixth, once , . the third eighth, or the forty females of the third brood, lay twice, and produce , one fourth of these, or , females, lay twice more , . the fourth eighth, or forty females of the fourth brood, once , half of these, or , females, at least once , --------- total produce of a single fly, in one summer , , another curious insect is, the hessian fly.--this is a very mischievous insect, which a few years ago appeared in north america, and whose depredations threatened then to destroy the crops of wheat in that country entirely. it is, in its perfect state, a small winged insect, but the mischief it does, is while in the form of a caterpillar; and the difficulty of destroying it is increased, by its being as yet unknown where it deposits its eggs, to be hatched before the first appearance of the caterpillars. these mischievous insects begin their depredations in autumn, as soon as the wheat begins to shoot up through the ground. they devour the tender leaf and stem with great voracity, and continue to do so till stopped by the frost; but no sooner is this obstacle removed by the warmth of the spring, than the fly appears again, laying its eggs now, as has been supposed, upon the stems of the wheat just beginning to spire. the caterpillars hatched from these eggs, perforate the stems of the remaining plants at the joints, and lodge themselves in the hollow within the corn, which shews no sign of disease till the ears begin to turn heavy. the stems then break, and being no longer able to perform their office in supporting and supplying the ears with nourishment, the corn perishes about the time that it goes into a milky state. these insects attack also rye, barley, and timothy-grass, though they seem to prefer wheat. the destruction occasioned by them, is described in the _american museum_, (published at philadelphia,) for feb. , in the following words:-- "it is well known that all the crops of wheat in all the land over which it has extended, have fallen before it, and that the farmers beyond it dread its approach; the prospect is, that unless means are discovered to prevent its progress, the whole continent will be overrun;--a calamity more to be dreaded, than the ravages of war." this terrible insect appeared first in long island, during the american war, and was supposed to have been brought from germany by the hessians; whence its name. from thence it proceeded inland at the rate of about fifteen or twenty miles annually; and, in , had reached two hundred miles from the place where it was first observed. at that time it continued to proceed with unabating increase; being apparently stopped neither by rivers nor mountains. in the fly state it is likewise exceedingly troublesome, by getting into houses in swarms, falling into victuals and drink, filling the windows, and flying perpetually into the candles. the may fly.--this insect is called the may fly, from its annual appearance in that month. it lies all the year, except a few days, at the bottom or sides of rivers, nearly resembling the nymph of the small libella; but when it is mature, it rises up to the surface of the water, and splits open its case; then, with great agility, up springs the new animal, having a slender body, with four black-veined, transparent, shining wings, with four black spots in the upper wings; the under wings are much smaller than the upper ones; and with three long hairs in its tail. the husk it leaves behind floats upon the water. after this creature is discharged from the water, it flies about to find a proper place to fix on, (as trees, bushes, &c.) to wait for its approaching change, which is effected in two or three days. the first hint i received of this wonderful operation, was by seeing their exuviæ hanging on a hedge. i then collected a great many, and put them into boxes; and by strictly observing them, i could tell when they were ready for this surprising change. i had the pleasure to shew my friends one, which i held in my fingers all the time it performed this great work; it was surprising to see how easily the back part of the fly split open, and produced the astonishing transformation. in the new fly, a remarkable difference is seen in their sexes, which is not so easy to be perceived in their first state, the male and female being much of a size; but afterwards the male is much the smallest, and the hairs of their tails much the longest. when the females are about to deposit their eggs, they seek the rivers, keeping constantly playing up and down upon the water. it is very plainly seen, that every time they dart down, they eject a cluster of eggs, which appears like a little bluish speck, or a small drop of milk, as they sink to the bottom of the river. thus they continue until they have spent their strength, being so weak, that they can rise no more, but fall a prey to the fish. but by much the greatest number perish on the waters, which are covered with them. this is the end of the females. the males never resort to the river, but, after a time, drop down, languish, and die, under the trees and bushes. the species of libella abounds most with females, which is very necessary, considering the many enemies they have in their short appearance; for both birds and fishes are fond of them, and, no doubt, under water they are the prey of aquatic animals. what is further surprising in this remarkable creature is, that during a life which consists only of three or four days, it eats nothing, and seems to have no apparatus for this purpose, but brings up with it, out of the water, sufficient support to enable it to shed its skin, and perform the principal ends of life with great vivacity. the vegetable fly.--this is a very curious natural production, chiefly found in the west indies. it resembles the drone, both in size and colour, more than any other british insect, excepting that it has no wings. "in the month of may, it buries itself in the earth, and begins to vegetate. by the end of july, the tree has arrived at its full growth, and resembles a coral branch; it is about three inches in height, and bears several little pods, which, dropping off, become worms, and thence flies, like the british caterpillar." such was the account originally given of this extraordinary production. but several boxes of these flies having been sent to dr. hill for examination, his report was as follows:--"there is in martinique a fungus of the clavaria kind, different in species from those hitherto known. it produces soboles from its sides; i call it therefore _clavaria sobolifera_. it grows on putrid animal bodies, as our fungus (_ex pede equino_) from the dead horse's hoof. the cicada is common in martinique, and in its nymph state, in which the old authors call it _tettigometra_, it buries itself under the dead leaves, to await its change; and, when the season is unfavourable, many perish. the seeds of the clavaria find a proper bed in these dead insects, and grow. the tettigometra is among the cicada in the british museum; the clavaria is but just now known. this is the fact, and all the fact; though the untaught inhabitants suppose a fly to vegetate, and though there is a spanish drawing of the plants growing into a trifoliate tree; and it has been figured with the creature flying with this tree upon its back."--thus does ignorance delight in the marvellous! the boat fly.--this insect, called _notonecta glauca_, is thus described by barbut. "it has a head somewhat round, of which the eyes seem to take up the greatest part. these eyes are brown, and very large, the rest of the head being yellow. in the fore-part it has a sharp trunk, that projects, and is inflected between the fore feet. on the sides are seen the antennæ, very small, yellowish, and which spring from under the head. the thorax, which is broad, short, and smooth, is yellow on the fore, and black on the back part. the escutcheon is large, of a rough black, and as it were nappy. the elytra, rather large, and crossed over each other, are a mixture of brown and yellow, not unlike the colour of rust, which makes it look cloudy. the under part of the body is brown; and at the extremity of the abdomen are to be seen a few hairs. the feet, six in number, are of a light brown, the two hindermost having on the leg and tarsus hairs that give them the shape of fins, nor are they terminated by nails. the four anterior ones are somewhat flat, and serve the animal to swim with; but at their extremity they have nails, and no hairs. this insect is seen in stagnating waters, where it swims on its back, and presents its abdomen upwards; for which reason it has been called by the greek name of _notonecta_. the hinder feet, longer than the rest, serve it as paddles. it is very nimble, and dives down when you go to take hold of it; after which, it rises again to the surface of the water. it must be cautiously handled, if one would avoid being pricked by it, for the point of its rostrum is exceedingly sharp, and intolerably painful, but it goes off in a few minutes. the larva very much resembles the perfect insect." such is the account that mr. barbut gives of this beautiful nimble little creature. to this account, however, we shall add the following:--its legs are long; when taken out of the water, it hops; it is very common in the ponds of water in hyde park, and in several other places about london. it is of a very particular form, being flattish at the belly, and rising to a ridge on the middle of the back; so that when it swims, which is almost always on the back, its body has much the resemblance of a boat in figure,--whence its vulgar name. it is eight lines long, three broad, and two and a half thick. the belly is jointed, striated, and, as barbut observes, hairy. nature has provided it with an offensive weapon resembling a sting, which it thrusts out when hurt, from a large opening at the tail. the head is large and hard; the eyes nearly of a triangular form. the nose is a long, green, hollow proboscis, ending in a hard and sharp point, which in its natural posture remains under the belly, and reaches to the middle pair of legs. the outer part of its wings are of a pale flesh-colour, with spots of a dead white; these are long, narrow, and somewhat transparent; they terminate in a roundish point, and perfectly cover the whole body. the triangular piece which stands between the top of the wings is hard, and perfectly black; the inner wings are broader and shorter than the outer ones; they are thin and perfectly transparent, and are of a pale pearl-colour. the hinder pair being greatly longer than all the rest, they serve as oars; and nature has tufted them with hair at the end for that purpose. this creature mostly lives in the water, where it preys on small insects, killing them, and sucking their juices with its proboscis, in the manner of the water scorpion and many other aquatic insects: it seizes its prey violently, and darts with incredible swiftness to a considerable distance after it. though it generally lives in the water, it sometimes, however, crawls out in good weather; and drying its wings by expanding them in the sun, takes flight, and becomes an inhabitant of the air, not to be known as the same creature, unless to those who had accurately observed it before: when tired of flying, or in danger of an enemy, it immediately plunges into the water. we are told that there are fourteen species of it, seven of which are common in europe, in waters, &c. ephemeral flies.--this species of insect is named ephemeral, because of its very short existence in the fly state. it is one of the most beautiful species of flies, and undergoes five changes. at first, the egg contains its vital principle; it comes forth a small caterpillar, which is transformed into a chrysalis, then into a nympha, and lastly, into a fly, which deposits its eggs upon the surface of water, where the sun's rays bring them to life. each egg produces a little red worm, which moves in a serpentine manner. they are found in abundance during the summer, in ponds and marshes; and as soon as cold weather sets in, the little worm makes for itself a shell or lodging, where it passes the winter; at the end of which it ceases to be a worm, and enters into its third state, that of a chrysalis. it then sleeps till spring, and gradually becomes a beautiful nympha, or a sort of mummy, something in the form of a fish. at the time of its metamorphosis, the nympha at first seems inactive and lifeless; in six days, the head appears, raising itself gradually above the surface of the water; the body next disengages itself slowly and by degrees, till at length the whole animal comes out of its shell. the new-born fly remains for some minutes motionless upon the water, then gradually revives, and feebly shakes its wings, then moves them quicker, and attempts first to walk, then to fly. as these insects are all hatched nearly at the same time, they are seen in swarms for a few hours flitting and playing upon the surface of the water; they then lay their eggs, and soon after die. thus they terminate their short life in the space of a few hours, and the same day that saw them born, witnesses their death. the butterfly. behold, ye pilgrims of this earth, behold! see all but man with unearn'd pleasure gay see her bright robes the butterfly unfold, broke from her wintry tomb in prime of may! what youthful bride can equal her array? who can with her for easy pleasure vie? from mead to mead with gentle wing to stray, from flower to flower on balmy gales to fly, is all she has to do beneath the radiant sky. _thomson._ the first thing which fixes our attention on beholding these aërial inhabitants, is, the clothing with which they are adorned. yet some of them have nothing in this respect to engage our notice, their vestment is simple and uniform; others have a few ornaments on the wings; but with some, those ornaments amount to profusion, and they are covered with them all over. this last species will occupy us for a short interval. how beautiful are the gradations of colour which decorate them! what harmony in those spots which relieve the other parts of their attire! with what delicacy has nature pencilled them! but, whatever may be my admiration when i consider this insect by the naked eye, how greatly is it augmented, when i behold this beautiful object through the medium of the microscope! would any one ever have imagined, that the wings of butterflies were furnished with feathers? nothing, however, is more true; and what we commonly call dust, is found in reality to be feathers. their structure and arrangement are adjusted to as perfect symmetry, as their colours are soft and brilliant. the parts which form the centre of these little feathers, and which immediately touch the wing, are the strongest; those, on the contrary, which compose the exterior circumference, are much more delicate, and of an extraordinary fineness. all these feathers have a quill at their base, but the superior part is more transparent than the quill from which it proceeds. if we lay hold of the wing too rudely, we destroy the most delicate part of the feathers; but if we remove all that we term dust, there remains only a thin transparent skin, where may be distinguished the little orifices in which the quill of each feather was lodged. this skin, from the nature of its texture, may be as easily discerned from the rest of the wing, as a fine gauze from the cloth on which it is fastened; it is more porous, more delicate, and seems as if embroidered by the needle; to complete its beauty, its extremity finishes by a fringe, whose minute threads succeed each other with the utmost regularity. what are our most laboured dresses, what is all their boasted ornament, in comparison of that refined tissue with which nature has invested this simple insect? our finest laces are only like coarse cloth, when brought to vie with that luxurious clothing which covers the wings of the butterfly; and our smallest thread, by their infinitely delicate fibres, swells into hempen cord. such is the wonderful difference to be observed between the works of nature and those of art, when viewed through a microscope. the former are finished to all imaginable perfection; the others, even the most beautiful of their kind, appear incomplete and coarsely wrought. how fine a piece of delicate cambric appears to us! nothing more slender than the threads, nothing more uniform than the texture: and yet in the microscope these threads resemble hempen strings, and we should rather be tempted to believe that they had been interlaced by the hand of a basket-maker, than wrought on the loom of a skilful weaver. what is most astonishing in this brilliant insect, is, that it proceeds from a worm, than which nothing has a more abject and vile appearance. behold how the butterfly displays to the sun his splendid wings, how he sports in his rays, how he rejoices in his existence, and, in respiring the vernal airs, how he flutters in the meadow from flower to flower. his rich wings present to us the magnificence of the rainbow. how beautiful is he now, who but a little while ago crept a worm in the dust, in perpetual danger of being crushed to death! who has raised him above the earth? who has given to him the faculty of inhabiting the ethereal regions? who has furnished him with his painted wings? it is god. in down of ev'ry variegated dye, shines, flutt'ring soft, the gaudy butterfly; that powder, which thy spoiling hand distains, the form of quills and painted plumes contains: not courts can more magnificence express, in all their blaze of gems and pomp of dress. _browne._ their wings, all glorious to behold, bedropt with azure, jet, and gold, wide they display; the spangled dew reflects their eyes and various hue. _gay._ we shall now briefly describe the metamorphoses of insects. and first, the butterfly: from form to form they pass in wondrous change. _virgil._ at the first exclusion from the egg, and for some months of its existence afterwards, the creature which is to become a butterfly, is a worm-like caterpillar, crawling upon sixteen short legs, greedily devouring leaves with two jaws, and seeing by means of twelve eyes, so minute, as to be nearly imperceptible without the aid of a microscope. we now view it furnished with wings capable of rapid and extensive flights; of its sixteen feet, ten have disappeared, and the remaining six are in most respects wholly unlike those to which they have succeeded; its jaws having vanished, are replaced by a curled-up proboscis, suited only for sipping liquid sweets; the form of its head is entirely changed, two long horns projecting from its upper surface; and, instead of twelve invisible eyes, you behold two, very large, and composed of at least twenty thousand convex lenses, each supposed to be a distinct and effective eye! were we to push our examination further, and, by dissection, to compare the internal conformation of the caterpillar with that of the butterfly, we should witness changes even more extraordinary. in the former we should find some thousands of muscles, which in the latter are replaced by others, of a form and structure entirely different. nearly the whole body of the caterpillar is occupied by a capacious stomach. in the butterfly, this has become converted into an almost imperceptible thread-like viscus; and the abdomen is now filled by two large packets of eggs, or other organs, not visible in the first state. in the former, two spirally-convoluted tubes were filled with a silky gum; in the latter, both tubes and silk have almost totally vanished, and changes equally great have taken place in the economy and structure of the nerves and other organs. what a surprising transformation! nor was this all. the change from one form to the other was not direct; an intermediate state, not less singular, intervened. after casting its skin, even to its very jaws, several times, and attaining its full growth, the caterpillar attached itself to a leaf by a silken girth. its body became greatly contracted; its skin once more split asunder, and disclosed an oviform mass, without exterior mouth, eyes, or limbs, and exhibiting no other symptom of life than a slight motion when touched. in this state of death-like torpor, and without tasting food, the insect existed for several months, until at length the tomb burst, and out of a case not more than an inch long, and a quarter of an inch in diameter, proceeded the butterfly, which covers a surface of nearly four inches square. the common fly.--this winged insect, whose delicate palate selects out the choicest viands, one while extending his proboscis to the margin of a drop of wine, and then gaily flying to take a more solid repast from a pear or a peach; now gambolling with his comrades in the air, now gracefully carrying his furled wings with his taper feet;--was but the other day a disgusting grub, without wings, without legs, without eyes, wallowing, well pleased, in the midst of a mass of excrement. the greycoated gnat.--this creature, whose humming salutation, while she makes her airy circles about our bed, gives terrific warning of the sanguinary operation in which she is ready to engage, was a few hours ago the inhabitant of a stagnant pool, more in shape like a fish than an insect. then to have been taken out of the water would have been speedily fatal; now it could as little exist in any other element than air. then it breathed through its tail; now through openings in its sides. its shapeless head, in that period of its existence, is now exchanged for one adorned with elegantly tufted antennæ, and furnished, instead of jaws, with an apparatus more artfully constructed than the cupping-glasses of the phlebotomist; an apparatus, which, at the same time that it strikes in the lancets, composes a tube for pumping up the flowing blood. the shardhorn beetle.--this species of beetle, whose sullen hum, as he directs his droning flight close past our ears in our evening walk, was not in his infancy an inhabitant of air, the first period of his life being spent in gloomy solitude, as a grub, under the surface of the earth. the shapeless maggot, which we scarcely fail to meet with in some one of every handful of nuts we crack, would not always have grovelled in that humble state. if our unlucky intrusion upon its vaulted dwelling had not left it to perish in the wide world, it would have continued to reside there until its full growth had been attained. then it would have gnawed itself an opening, and, having entered the earth, and passed a few months in a state of inaction, would at length have emerged an elegant beetle, furnished with a slender and very long ebony beak; two wings, and two wing-cases, ornamented with yellow bands; six feet; and in every respect unlike the worm from which it proceeded. the death-watch.--this appalling name is applied to a harmless, diminutive insect, because it emits a sound resembling the ticking of a watch, and is supposed to predict the death of some one of the family, in the house in which it is heard. thus sings the muse of the witty dean of st. patrick on this subject:-- "------------------------------a wood worm that lies in old wood, like a hare in her form: with teeth or with claws, it will bite or will scratch, and chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch; because like a watch it always cries click: then woe be to those in the house who are sick! for, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost, if the maggot cries click, when it scratches the post: but a kettle of scalding-hot water injected infallibly cures the timber affected; the omen is broken, the danger is over, the maggot will die, and the sick will recover." to add to the effect of this noise, it is said to be made only when there is a profound silence in an apartment, and every one is still. authors were formerly not agreed concerning the insect from which this sound of terror proceeded, some attributing it to a kind of woodlouse, and others to a spider; but it is now a received opinion, adopted upon satisfactory evidence, that it is produced by some little beetles belonging to the timber-boring genus, _anobium, f._ swammerdam observes, that a small beetle, which he had in his collection, having firmly fixed its fore-legs, and put its inflexed head between them, makes a continual noise in old pieces of wood, walls, and ceilings, which is sometimes so loud, that upon hearing it, people have fancied that hobgoblins, ghosts, or fairies, were wandering around them. evidently this was one of the death-watches. latreille observed _anobium striatum, f._ produce the sound in question, by a stroke of its mandibles upon the wood, which was answered by a similar noise from within it. but the species whose proceedings have been most noticed by british observers, is, _a. tessellatum, f._ when spring is far advanced, these insects are said to commence their ticking, which is only a call to each other, to which, if no answer be returned, the animal repeats it in another place. it is thus produced: raising itself upon its hind-legs, with the body somewhat inclined, it beats its head with great force and agility upon the plane of its position; and its strokes are so powerful, as to make a considerable impression if they fall upon any substance softer than wood. the general number of distinct strokes in succession, is from seven to nine or eleven; they follow each other quickly, and are repeated at uncertain intervals. in old houses, where these insects abound, they may be heard in warm weather during the whole day. the noise exactly resembles that produced by tapping moderately with the nail upon a table; and, when familiarized, the insect will answer very readily the tap of the nail. chap. xxxi. curiosities respecting insects.--(_continued._) _locusts and mosquitoes, and their uses in the creation;--from kirby, spence, and fothergill._ locusts.--if we could discover the use of every animal in the creation, we should gain a very clear insight into the grand designs of the almighty, respecting creatures inferior to ourselves, and perceive the immediate cause and necessity of their existence, and how far we have a right to interfere with their economy. that man should ever attain the whole extent of this knowledge, in this state of existence, can scarcely be hoped for; but, that he may learn much, there can be no doubt. because the utility of some animals, in a general view, is not palpably obvious, we ought not pettishly or hopelessly to give up the inquiry. some of the most numerous are apparently the most noxious, and the least useful, as the locust (_gryllus migratorius_) for example. it has never been my fortune to visit countries subject to the devastations of these insects; and the travellers who describe them, seem, either through want of inclination, or astonishment at the desolating effects produced by their incursions, unable to give those facts which an industrious and attentive naturalist, with enlarged views, might collect and apply to some useful purpose; for there can be no doubt that infinite wisdom would not have permitted these insects to be so numerous as they are, if their existence was not absolutely necessary. to look at a locust in a cabinet of insects, we should not, at first sight, deem it capable of being the source of so much evil to mankind as stands on record against it. yet, although this animal be not very tremendous for its size, nor very terrific in its appearance, it is the very same whose ravages have been the theme of naturalists and historians in all ages, and, upon a close examination, it will be found to be peculiarly fitted and furnished for the execution of its office. it is armed with two pair of very strong jaws, the upper terminating in short, and the lower in long teeth, by which it can both lacerate and grind its food; its stomach is of extraordinary capacity and powers; its hind-legs enable it to leap to a considerable distance, and its ample vans are calculated to catch the wind as sails, and so carry it sometimes over the sea; and although a single individual can effect but little evil, yet, when the entire surface of a country is covered by them, and every one makes bare the spot on which it stands, the mischief produced may be as extensive as their numbers. so well do the arabians know their power, that they make a locust say to mahomet, "we are the army of the great god; we produce ninety-nine eggs: if the hundred were completed, we should consume the whole earth, and all that is in it."--_bochart._ the earliest plague produced by the locusts, which has been recorded, appears also to have been the most direful in its immediate effects, that ever was inflicted upon any nation. it is that with which the egyptian tyrant and his people were visited for their oppression of the israelites. only conceive of a country so covered by them, that no one can see the face of the ground--a whole land darkened, and all its produce, whether herb or trees, so devoured, that not the least vestige of green is left in either.--_exod._ x. , , . but it is not necessary to enlarge upon a history, the circumstances of which are so well known. to this species of devastation, africa in general seems always to have been peculiarly subject. this may be gathered from the law in cyrenaica mentioned by pliny, by which the inhabitants were enjoined to destroy the locusts in three different states, three times in the year; first their eggs, then their young, and lastly the perfect insect.[ ] and not without reason was such a law enacted; for orosius tells us, that in the year of the world , , africa was infested by such infinite myriads of these animals, that, having devoured every green thing, after flying off to sea they were drowned, and, being cast upon the shore, they emitted a stench greater than could have been produced by the carcases of , men!--_oros. contra pag._ l. v. c. . st. augustine also mentions a plague to have arisen in that country from the same cause, which destroyed no less than , persons (_octoginta hominum millia_) in the kingdom of masanissa alone, and many more in the territories bordering upon the sea.--_less._ l. . note . from africa this plague was occasionally imported into italy and spain; and an historian quoted in mouffet relates, that in the year an infinite army of locusts, of a size unusually large, grievously ravaged part of italy; and being at last cast into the sea, from their stench arose a pestilence which carried off near a million of men and beasts. in the venetian territory also, in the year , more than , persons are said to have perished in a famine occasioned by these terrific scourges. many other instances of their devastations in europe, in france, spain, italy, germany, and other countries, are recorded by the same author. in a cloud of them was seen to enter russia in three different places, which from thence passed over into poland and lithuania, where the air was darkened by their numbers. in some places they were seen lying dead, heaped one upon another to the depth of four feet; in others they covered the surface like a black cloth; the trees bent with their weight; and the damage they did exceeded all computation.--_bingley_, iii. . at a later period, in languedoc, when the sun became hot, they took wing, and fell upon the corn, devouring both leaf and ear, and that with such expedition, that in three hours they would consume a whole field. after having eaten up the corn, they attacked the vines, the pulse, the willows, and lastly, the hemp, notwithstanding its bitterness.--_philos. trans._ . sir h. davy informs us (_elements of agricultural chemistry_, .) that the french government in issued a decree with a view to occasion the destruction of grasshoppers. even this happy island, so remarkably distinguished by its exemption from most of those scourges to which other nations are exposed, was once alarmed by the appearance of locusts. in they were observed here in considerable numbers, but providentially they soon perished without propagating. these were evidently stragglers from the vast swarms which in the preceding year did such infinite damage in wallachia, moldavia, transylvania, hungary, and poland. one of these swarms, which entered transylvania in august, was several hundred fathoms in width, (at vienna the breadth of one of them was three miles,) and extended to so great a length, as to be four hours in passing over the red tower; and such was its density, that it totally intercepted the solar light, so that when they flew low, one person could not see another at the distance of twenty paces.--_philos. trans._ xlvi. . a similar account has been given by major moor, long resident in india. he relates, that when at poonah, he was witness to an immense army of locusts which ravaged the mahratta country, and was supposed to come from arabia: this, if correct, is a strong proof of their power to pass the sea under favourable circumstances. the column they composed, extended five hundred miles; and so compact was it, when on the wing, that, like an eclipse, it completely hid the sun, so that no shadow was cast by any object; and some lofty tombs, distant from his residence not more than two hundred yards, were rendered quite invisible. this was not the _gryllus migratorius, l._ but a red species; which circumstance much increased the horror of the scene, for, clustering upon the trees after they had stripped them of their foliage, they imparted to them a sanguine hue. the peach was the last tree they touched. dr. clarke, to give some idea of the infinite numbers of these animals, compares them to a flight of snow when the flakes are carried obliquely by the wind. they covered his carriage and horses; and the tartars assert, that people are sometimes suffocated by them. the whole face of nature might have been described as covered by a living veil. they consisted of two species, _g. tartaricus_, and _migratorius, l._; the first is almost twice the size of the second, and, because it precedes it, is called by the tartars, the herald or messenger.--_travels_, i. . the account of another traveller, mr. barrow, of their ravages in the southern parts of africa, in , and , is still more striking: an area of nearly two thousand square miles might be said literally to be covered by them. when driven into the sea by a n. w. wind, they formed upon the shore, for fifty miles, a bank three or four feet high; and when the wind was s. e. the stench was so powerful, as to be smelt at the distance of a hundred and fifty miles.--_travels_, &c. . from to , the empire of morocco was terribly devastated by them; every green thing was eaten up, not even the bitter bark of the orange and pomegranate escaping. a most dreadful famine ensued: the poor were seen to wander over the country, deriving a miserable subsistence from the roots of plants; and women and children followed the camels, from whose dung they picked the undigested grains of barley, which they devoured with avidity: in consequence of this, vast numbers perished, and the roads and streets exhibited the unburied carcases of the dead. on this sad occasion, fathers sold their children, and husbands their wives.--_southey's thalaba_, i. . when they visit a country, (says mr. jackson, speaking of the same empire,) it behoves every one to lay in provision for a famine, for they stay from three to seven years. when they have devoured all other vegetables, they attack the trees, consuming first the leaves and then the bark. from mogadar to tangier, before the plague in , the face of the earth was covered by them: at that time a singular incident occurred at el arisch. the whole region from the confines of sahara was ravaged by them; but on the other side of the river el kos, not one of them was to be seen, though there was nothing to prevent their flying over it. till then, they had proceeded northward; but, upon arriving at its banks, they turned to the east, though all the country north of arisch was full of pulse, fruits, and grain, exhibiting a most striking contrast to the desolation of the adjoining district. at length they were all carried by a violent hurricane into the western ocean; the shore, as in former instances, was covered by their carcases, and a pestilence was caused by the horrid stench which they emitted: but when this evil ceased, their devastations were followed by a most abundant crop. the arabs of the desert, "whose hands are against every man," _gen._ xvi. . and who rejoice in the evil that befalls other nations, when they behold the clouds of locusts proceeding from the north, are filled with gladness, anticipating a general mortality, which they call _el khere_, (the benediction;) for, when a country is thus laid waste, they emerge from their arid deserts, and pitch their tents in the desolated plains.--_jackson's travels in morocco_, . the noise the locusts make when engaged in the work of destruction, has been compared to the sound of a flame of fire driven by the wind, and the effect of their bite to that of fire.--_bochart._ a poet of our own day has very strikingly described the noise produced by their flight and approach:-- onward they came, a dark continuous cloud of congregated myriads, numberless, the rushing of whose wings was as the sound of a broad river, headlong in its course plung'd from a mountain summit, or the roar of a wild ocean in the autumn storm, shattering its billows on a shore of rocks! _southey's thalaba_, i. . but no account of the appearance and ravages of these terrific insects, for correctness and sublimity, comes near to that of the prophet joel: "a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. a fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. the appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. like the noise of chariots[ ] on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle-array. before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness. they shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. they shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. the earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining!" the usual way in which they are destroyed, is also noticed by the prophet. "i will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, because he hath done great things!"--_joel_ ii. - , . the best method of destroying locusts, would be to recommend them as an article of food. in the crimea, they are often eaten by the inhabitants. some french emigrants, who had been directed in this manner, assured me, that when fried, they were very palatable and very wholesome. the arabs, according to hasselquist, eat them roasted, and are glad to get them. it is quite certain that there is nothing endued by nature with peculiar functions, in vain; and it is equally certain, that matter, however modified, whether in the form of animated or inanimated bodies, is continually undergoing change. the more deeply we investigate the works of creation, the more strong will be our conviction of these truths. we know that many animals, and particularly insects, have apparently no other employment, than that of clearing or purifying the surface of the earth of superfluous matter, the residuum of decayed bodies, or of reconverting it into useful forms, as i shall attempt to illustrate hereafter. now, if we survey those regions which give birth to, and support, the vast clouds of locusts alluded to, our view will be confined principally to the extensive deserts of africa and asia; the vegetation of many of which, according to the reports of travellers, is abundant and luxuriant, beyond the conception of those who have not beheld them; insomuch, that the crops of grass, and other annual vegetables, absolutely load the earth; and these, perishing upon each other, would form an impenetrable, putrid mass, if not consumed by some animals appointed for the purpose. that locusts support existence by vegetable food, is well known; but whether they have no other object than to consume the superabundant produce of the regions they frequent, and to procreate, is not so easily proved. one who has had no opportunity of witnessing their manners, from their birth to their final destruction, can scarcely be able positively to decide; but i have no doubt that an intelligent naturalist, (governed by the principles this chapter is intended, in some measure, to illustrate,) with the necessary opportunities, such as dr. shaw, in particular, had, would be able to get at facts that would indisputably prove the existence of locusts to be a blessing rather than a curse. whatever may be the direct object of their existence, locusts are of great use to many other animals, for there are some, particularly birds, that entirely prey upon them; and, if man himself refuses this food, it is rather from the prejudice, perhaps, of an absurd education, than from any improper or bad quality of the food itself.[ ] the inhabitants of several eastern nations have a relish for this diet: and it is recorded of him who cried in the wilderness, "prepare ye the way of the lord," that "his meat was locusts and wild honey."--_matthew_ iii. . after this, we cannot listen to the feeble remonstrances of any modern epicure. mosquitoes, and their uses.--the mosquito is accounted one of the most noxious and the most numerous of insects; at least of such as are esteemed noxious by the vulgar and the ignorant. in some countries, indeed, their numbers, and the effects produced by them, are wonderful. there is no instance on record more striking than the following, as related by dr. clarke:-- "no contrivance on our part could prevent millions of mosquitoes from filling the inside of our carriage, which, in spite of gloves, clothes, and handkerchiefs, rendered our bodies one entire wound. the cossacks light numerous fires, to drive them from the cattle during the night; but so insatiate is their thirst of blood, that hundreds will attack a person attempting to shelter himself even in the midst of smoke. at the same time, the noise they make in flying cannot be conceived by persons who have only been accustomed to the humming of such insects in our country."--"almost exhausted by fatigue, pain, and heat, i sought shelter in the carriage, sitting in water and mud. it was the most sultry night i ever experienced; not a breath of air was stirring; nor could i venture to open the windows, though almost suffocated, through fear of the mosquitoes. swarms, nevertheless, found their way to my hiding-place; and when i opened my mouth, it was filled with them. my head was bound in handkerchiefs; yet they forced their way into my ears and nostrils. in the midst of this torment, i succeeded in lighting a lamp over the sword-case; which was instantly extinguished by such a prodigious number of these insects, that their dead bodies actually remained heaped in a large cone over the burner for several days afterward: and i know not any mode of description which can convey a more adequate idea of their afflicting visitation, than by simply relating this fact: to the truth of which, those who travelled with me, and who are now living, bear indisputable testimony." those who have laboured under so painful a visitation, as that to which this lively account refers, may not perhaps be so ready to admit the general utility of these irritating insects, though their usefulness is more evident, and far more easily proved, than that of the locust, or indeed of most other animals of a similar nature. bred in the midst of stagnant pools, of bogs, and marshes, in regions unwholesome to man, and where the effluvia arising from animal bodies, and from rank decaying vegetable substances, are so abundant, as to form thick pestilential vapours, that would inflict almost instant destruction on the human inhabitant, and most other creatures, if not removed as quickly as they were formed;--bred in such regions, and gifted with functions and propensities directed to the proper ends, the mosquito supports its existence by consuming the noxious particles exhaled from the swamps; and the bodies of animals, as rapidly as they are generated;--thereby preventing that horrible putrefaction of the air, and consequent pestilence, which would infallibly take place, if the mosquitoes, and similar insects, were not employed to purify the atmosphere. chap. xxxii. curiosities respecting insects.--(_concluded._) _animalcules--the cheese mite--the hydra, or polypes._ the smallest creature in existence has limbs and sinews, blood, and heart, and brain, life and her proper functions to sustain, through the whole fabric, smaller than a grain! what more can our penurious reason grant to the large whale, or castled elephant;-- to those enormous terrors of the nile, the crested snake, and long-tail'd crocodile;-- than that all differ but in shape and name, each destin'd to a less or larger frame? _prior's solomon._ animalcules. the microscope discovers legions of animalcules in most liquors, as water, vinegar, beer, dew, &c. they are also found in rain, and several chalybeate waters, and in infusions of both animal and vegetable substances, as the seminal fluids of animals, pepper, oats, wheat, and other grain, tea, &c. &c. the contemplation of animalcules has rendered the term, _infinitely_ small bodies, extremely familiar to us. a mite was anciently thought the limits of littleness; but we are not now surprised, to be told of animals twenty-seven millions of times smaller than a mite. minute animals are found proportionably much stronger, more active and vivacious, than large ones. the spring of a flea in its leap, how vastly does it outskip any thing the larger animals are capable of! a mite, how vastly swifter does it run than a race-horse! m. de. l'isle has given the computation of the velocity of a little creature, scarcely visible by its smallness; which he found to run three inches in half a second: supposing now its feet to be the fifteenth part of a line, it must make five hundred steps in the space of three inches; that is, it must shift its legs five hundred times in a second, or in the ordinary pulsation of an artery. the excessive minuteness of microscopical animalcules conceals them from the human eye. one of the wonders of modern philosophy is, to have invented means for bringing objects, to us so imperceptible, under our cognizance and inspection: creatures, a thousand times too little to be able to affect our sense, should seem to have been very safe; yet we have extended our views over animals, to whom these would be mountains. in reality, most of our microscopical animalcules are of so small a magnitude, that through a lens, whose focal distance is the tenth-part of an inch, they only appear as so many points; that is, their parts cannot be distinguished, so that they appear from the vertex of that lens under an angle not exceeding a minute. if we investigate the magnitude of such an object, it will be found nearly equal to / of an inch long. supposing, therefore, these animalcules of a cubic figure, that is, of the same length, breadth, and thickness, their magnitude would be expressed by the cube of the fraction / , that is, by the number / , , , , that is, so many parts of a cubic inch, is each animalcule equal to. leuwenhoek calculates, that a thousand millions of animalcules, which are discovered in common water, are not altogether so large as a grain of sand. in the milt of a single cod-fish, there are more animals than there are upon the whole earth; for a grain of sand is bigger than four millions of them. the white matter that sticks to the teeth also abounds with animalcules of various figures, to which vinegar is fatal; and it is known, that vinegar contains animalcules in the shape of eels. in short, according to this author, there is scarcely any thing which corrupts, without producing animalcules. animalcules are said to be the cause of various disorders. the itch is known to be a disorder arising from the irritation of a species of animalcules found in the pustules of the body; when the communication of it by contact from one to another is easily conceived, as also the reason of the cure being effected by cutaneous applications. in the philosophical transactions, vol. , is a curious account of animalcules produced from an infusion of potatoes, and another of hemp-seed, by the late mr. ellis. "on the th of may, ," he says, "fahrenheit's thermometer °, i boiled a potato in the new-river water, till it was reduced to a mealy consistence: i put part of it, with an equal proportion of the boiling liquor, into a cylindrical glass vessel, that held something less than half a wine pint, and immediately covered it close with a glass cover. at the same time i sliced an unboiled potato, and, as near as i could judge, put the same quantity into a glass vessel of the same kind, with the same proportion of new-river water, not boiled; and, covering it with a glass cover, placed both vessels together. on the th of may, twenty-four hours afterwards, i examined a small drop of each by the first magnifier of wilson's microscope, whose focal distance is reckoned / th part of an inch; and, to my amazement, they were both full of animalcules, of a linear shape, very distinguishable, moving to and fro with great celerity, so that there appeared to be more particles of animal than vegetable life in each drop. this experiment i have repeatedly tried, and always found it to succeed in proportion to the heat of the circumambient air; so that even in winter, if the liquors are kept properly warm for two or three days, the experiment will succeed. i procured hemp-seed from different seedsmen, in different parts of the town; some of it i put into the new-river water, some into distilled water, and some into very hard pump-water: the result was, that in proportion to the heat of the weather, or warmth in which they were kept, there was an appearance of millions of minute animalcules in all the infusions; and, some time after, oval ones made their appearance, much larger than the first, which still continued; these wriggled to and fro in an undulatory motion, turning themselves round very quick all the time they moved forwards." the cheese-mite.--this minute creature is a favourite subject for microscopic observations. it is covered with hairs or bristles, which resemble in their structure the awns of barley, being barbed on each side with numerous sharp-pointed processes. the mite is oviparous: from the eggs proceed the young animals, resembling the parents in all respects, except in the number of legs, which at first amount only to six, the pair from the head not making their appearance till after casting their first skin. the eggs, in warm weather, hatch in about a week, and the young animal may be seen sometimes for a day together struggling to get rid of its egg-shell. the mite is a very voracious animal, feasting equally upon animal and vegetable substances. it is also extremely tenacious of life: for, upon the authority of leuwenhoek, though highly discreditable to his sense of humanity, we are assured that a mite lived eleven weeks after he had glued it to a pin, in order to make his observations. we shall close the account of the curiosities of insects with a description of the hydra, or polypes.--in natural history, this is a genus of the _vermes zoophyta_ class and order; an animal fixing itself by the base; linear, gelatinous, naked, contractile, and furnished with setaceous tentaculæ, or feelers; inhabiting fresh waters, and producing its deciduous offspring, or eggs, from the sides. there are five species, _h. gelatinosa_, minute and gelatinous, milk-white, cylindrical, with twelve tentaculæ shorter than the body: it inhabits denmark, in clusters on the under side of fuci. but on the viridis, the fusca, and the grisca, the greatest number of experiments have been made by naturalists, to ascertain their true nature and very wonderful habits. they are generally found in ditches. whoever has carefully examined these, when the sun is very powerful, will find many little transparent lumps of the appearance of jelly, the size of a pea, and flatted upon one side. the same kind of substances are likewise to be met with on the under side of the leaves of plants that grow in such places. these are the polypes in a quiescent state, and apparently inanimate. they are generally fixed by one end to some solid substance, with a large opening, which is the mouth; the other having several arms fixed round it, projecting as rays from the centre. they are slender, pellucid, and capable of contracting themselves into a very small compass, or of extending to a considerable length. the arms are capable of the same contraction and expansion as the body, and with these they lay hold of minute worms and insects, bringing them to the mouth, and swallowing them. the indigestible parts are again thrown out by the mouth. the green polype was that first discovered by m. trembley: and the first appearances of spontaneous motion were perceived in its arms, which it can contract, expand, and twist about in various directions. on the first appearance of danger, they contract to such a degree, that they seem little longer than a grain of sand, of a fine green colour, the arms disappearing entirely. soon afterwards, he found the grisca, and afterwards the fusca. the bodies of the viridis and grisca diminish almost insensibly from the anterior to the posterior extremity; but the fusca is for the most part of an equal size, for two-thirds of its length, from the anterior to the posterior extremities, from which it becomes abruptly smaller, and then continues of a regular size to the end. these three kinds have at least six, and at most twelve or thirteen arms. they can contract themselves till their bodies do not exceed one-fourth of an inch in length, and they can stop at any intermediate degree of expansion or contraction. they are of various sizes, from an inch to an inch and a half long. their arms are seldom longer than their bodies, though some have them an inch, and some even eight inches long. the thickness of their bodies decreases as they extend themselves, and _vice versâ_; and they may be made to contract themselves, either by agitating the water in which they are contained, or by touching the animals themselves. when taken out of the water, they all contract so much, that they appear only like a little lump of jelly. they can contract or expand one arm, or any number of arms, independently of the rest; and they can likewise bend their bodies or arms in all possible directions. they can also dilate or contract their bodies in various places, and sometimes appear thick set with folds, which, when carelessly viewed, appear like rings. their progressive motion is performed by that power which they have of contracting and dilating their bodies. when about to move, they bend down their heads and arms; lay hold by means of them, or some other substance to which they design to fasten themselves; then they loosen their tail, and draw it towards the head; then either fix it in that place, or stretching forward their head as before, repeat the same operation. they ascend or descend at pleasure in this manner upon aquatic plants, or upon the sides of the vessel in which they are kept; they sometimes hang by the tail from the surface of the water, or sometimes by one of their arms; and they can walk with ease upon the surface of the water. on examining the tail with a microscope, a small part of it will be found to be dry above the surface of the water, and, as it were, in a little concave space, of which the tail forms the bottom; so that it seems to be suspended on the surface of the water, on the same principle that a small pin or needle is made to swim. when a polype, therefore, means to pass from the sides of the glass to the surface of the water, it has only to put that part out of the water by which it is supported, and to give it time to dry, which it always does upon these occasions; and they attach themselves so firmly by the tail to aquatic plants, stones, &c. that they cannot be easily disengaged: they often further strengthen these attachments by means of one or two of their arms, which serve as a kind of anchors for fixing them to the adjacent substances. the fusca has the longest arms, and makes use of the most curious manoeuvres to seize its prey. they are best viewed in a glass seven or eight inches deep, when their arms commonly hang down to the bottom. when this or any other kind is hungry, it spreads its arms in a kind of circle to a considerable extent, inclosing in this, as in a net, every insect which has the misfortune to come within the circumference. while the animal is contracted by seizing its prey, the arms are observed to swell like the muscles of the human body when in action. though no appearance of eyes can be observed in the polype, they certainly have some knowledge of the approach of their prey, and shew the greatest attention to it as soon as it comes near them. it seizes a worm the moment it is touched by one of the arms, and in conveying it to the mouth, it frequently twists the arm into a spiral line like a corkscrew, by which means the insect is brought to the mouth in a much shorter time than otherwise it would be; and so soon are the insects on which the polypes feed killed by them, that m. fontana thinks they must contain the most powerful kind of poison; for the lips scarcely touch the animal, when it expires, though there cannot be any wound perceived on it when dead. the worm, when swallowed, appears sometimes single, sometimes double, according to circumstances. when full, the polype contracts itself, hangs down as in a kind of stupor, but extends again in proportion as the food is digested, and the excrementitious part is discharged. the manner in which the polypes propagate, is most perceptible in the grisca and fusca, as being considerably larger than the viridis. if we examine one of them in summer, when the animals are most active, and prepared for propagation, some small tubercles will be found proceeding from its sides, which constantly increase in bulk, until at last, in two or three days, they assume the figure of small polypes. when they first begin to shoot, the excrescence becomes pointed, assuming a conical figure and deeper colour than the rest of the body. in a short time it becomes truncated, and then cylindrical, after which the arms begin to shoot from the anterior end. the tail adheres to the body of the parent animal, but gradually grows smaller, until at last it hangs only by a point, and is then ready to be separated. when this is the case, both the mother and young ones fix themselves to the sides of the glass, and are separated from each other by a sudden jerk. the time requisite for the formation of the young ones is very different, according to the warmth of the weather, and the nature of the food eaten by the mother. sometimes they are fully formed, and ready to drop off, in twenty-four hours; in other cases, when the weather is cold, fifteen days have been requisite for bringing them to perfection. the polypes produce young ones indiscriminately from all parts of their bodies, and five or six young ones have frequently been produced at once; nay, m. trembley has observed nine or ten produced at the same time. when a polype is cut transversely, or longitudinally, into two or three parts, each part in a short time becomes a perfect animal; and so great is this prolific power, that a new animal will be produced, even from a small portion of the skin of the old one. if the young ones be mutilated while they grow upon the parent, the parts so cut off will be re-produced; and the same property belongs to the parent. a truncated portion will send forth young ones before it has acquired a new head and tail of its own, and sometimes the head of the young one supplies the place of that which should have grown out of the old one. if we slit a polype longitudinally through the head to the middle of the body, we shall have one formed with two heads; and by again slitting these in the same manner, we may form one with as many heads as we please. a still more surprising property of these animals is, that they may be grafted together. if the truncated portions of a polype be placed end to end, and gently pushed together, they will unite into a single one. the two portions are first joined together by a slender neck, which gradually fills up and disappears, the food passing from one part into the other; and thus we may form polypes, not only from different portions of the same animal, but from those of different animals. we may fix the head of one to the body of another, and the compound animal will grow, eat, and multiply, as if it had never been divided. by pushing the body of one into the mouth of another, so far that their heads may be brought into contact, and kept in that situation for some time, they will at last unite into one animal, only having double the usual number of arms. the hydra fusca may be turned inside out like a glove, at the same time that it continues to eat and live as before. the lining of the stomach now forms the outer skin, and the former epidermis constitutes the lining of the stomach. chap. xxxiii. curiosities respecting vegetables. _curiosities in the vegetable kingdom--germination of seeds--dissemination of plants--number of plants upon the earth--sensibility of plants--the sensitive plant._ your contemplation further yet pursue; the wondrous world of vegetables view! see various trees their various fruits produce, some for delightful taste, and some for use. see sprouting plants enrich the plain and wood, for physic some, and some design'd for food. see fragrant flow'rs, with different colours dy'd, on smiling meads unfold their gaudy pride. _blackmore._ curiosities in the vegetable kingdom. the difference between animals and vegetables is so great, that at first we do not perceive any resemblance between them. some animals only live in water; others on the earth, or in the air; and some are amphibious, or live equally well in water as upon land. and this is literally the case with vegetables: some of them only grow upon land, others in the water; some can scarcely bear any moisture, others live either in earth or water; and some even are found that exist in the air. there is a tree in the island of japan, which, contrary to the nature of all others, to which moisture is necessary, cannot bear the least portion. as soon as it is watered it perishes: the only way to preserve it in such a case, is to cut it off by the root, which is to be dried in the sun, and afterwards planted in a dry and sandy soil. a peculiar species of mushroom, some mosses, and other small plants, float in the air; but what is still more extraordinary, a branch of rosemary, which, as is the custom of some countries, was put in the hand of a corpse, sprouted out to the right and left so vigorously, that after a lapse of some years, the grave being opened, the face of the defunct was overshadowed with rosemary leaves. the vegetation of the truffle is still more singular: this extraordinary tubercle has neither roots, stem, leaves, flowers, nor seeds; it derives its nourishment through the pores of its bark. but it may be asked, how is it produced? why is there commonly no kind of herb in the places where this species of fungus grows? and why is the land there dry and full of crevices? these things have never been explained. no plant so much resembles animals, as that species of membranous moss called nostoch; it is an irregular substance, of a pale green colour, and somewhat transparent; it trembles upon the slightest touch, and easily breaks. it can only be seen after rain, and is then found in many places, particularly in uncultivated soils and sandy roads. it exists in all seasons, even in winter; but is never so abundant as after rain in summer. the most remarkable circumstance about it is, its speedy growth, being formed almost instantaneously: sometimes walking in the garden in summer, not a trace of it is seen, when a sudden shower of rain falling, if the same place is visited in an hour, the walks are entirely covered with it. the nostoch was long supposed to have descended from the sky; but it is now known to be a leaf, which attracts and imbibes water with great avidity. this leaf, to which no root appears to belong, is in its natural state when impregnated with water; but a strong wind or great heat soon dissipating the water, the leaf contracts, and loses its colour and transparency: hence it appears to grow so suddenly, and to be so miraculously produced by a shower of rain; for when the rain falls upon it in its dried and imperceptible state, it becomes reanimated, and appears a fresh production. we might readily enumerate a variety of plants that bear a resemblance to animals; but there are other peculiarities in vegetables, which solicit our attention. the whole atmosphere is pregnant with plants and invisible seeds, and even the largest grains are dispersed by the wind over the earth; and as soon as they are transported to the places where they may germinate, they become plants, and often so little soil is necessary for this purpose, that we can scarcely conceive whence they derive the necessary degree of nourishment. there are plants, and even trees, which take root and grow in the clefts of rocks, without any soil. vegetation is sometimes very rapid; of which we have instances in mushrooms, and the common cresses, the seed of which, if put into a wet cloth, will be fit for a salad in twenty-four hours. there are plants that exist with scarcely any perceptible vitality. we often see willows, which are not only hollowed and decayed within, but their external bark is so much injured that very little of it remains; yet from these seemingly sapless trunks, buds sprout in the spring, and they are crowned with leaves and branches. how admirable, that plants should not only imbibe nutriment by their roots, but that their leaves also should assist in this important function, by inspiring air! and an inverted tree will flourish as well as when in its proper position, for the branches will grow in the earth and become roots! the advanced age that some trees attain, is also very wonderful. some apple-trees are above a thousand years old; and if we calculate the amount of the annual produce of such a tree for the above space of time, we shall find that a single pippin might supply all europe with trees and fruit. the germination of seeds.--seeds are composed of different parts, according to the variety of species, the principal of which parts is the germ. each germ has two parts: the one simple, which becomes the root; and the other laminated, which becomes the stem of the plant. the substance of most seeds is composed of two pieces, called lobes, which contain a farinaceous matter, and serve as seminal leaves to the plants. mosses have the most simple seed, consisting only of the germ, without pellicle, and without lobes. to make seeds germinate, air, and a certain degree of heat and moisture, are necessary. the augmented heat, and the difference observable in the taste and smell, seem to denote a degree of fermentation; and the farinaceous substance becomes fitted to nourish the tender germ. it has been ascertained by experiments made with coloured fluids, that this substance imbibes a moisture, which, in conjunction with the air and heat, forms a proper nourishment till the plant has acquired strength enough to make use of the juices furnished by the root. the lobes, exhausted of their farinaceous matter, gradually dry, and fall off of themselves in a few weeks, when the plant has no further need of their assistance.--certain herbs which grow on the mountains are of a very peculiar nature: their duration being very short, it often happens that the seed has not time to ripen; and, that the species may not be lost, the bud which contains the germ is formed upon the top of the plant, puts forth leaves, falls, and takes root. when the delicate plant shoots up from the earth, it would run too great a risk, if it were immediately exposed to the air, and to the influence of the sun. its parts therefore remain folded close to each other, nearly the same as when in the seed. but as the root grows strong and branches out, it furnishes the superior vessels with an abundance of juice, by means of which all the organs are developed. at first the plant is nearly gelatinous; but it soon acquires more firmness, and continually increases in size. this short account of the germination of seeds may suffice to shew, to the inquisitive in the wonders of nature, what preparations and means nature uses to produce a single plant. when, therefore, we see a seed that we have placed in the earth sprout, we shall no longer consider it as beneath our notice, but shall rather be disposed to regard it as one of those wonders of nature which have excited the observation and attention of some of the greatest of men. go, mark the matchless workings of that power that shuts within the seed the future flower; bids these in elegance of form excel; in colour these, and those delight the smell sends nature forth, the daughter of the skies, to dance on earth, and charm all human eyes. _cowper._ dissemination of plants.--when seeds are come to maturity, their dissemination is absolutely necessary, since without it no future crop would follow. the great author of nature has wisely provided for this in various ways. the stems of many plants are long and slender, and being raised above the ground, the wind shakes them to and fro, and by this means are the ripe seeds conveyed to a distance. the seed-vessels of most plants are shut till the seeds are ripe, that so the winds may not scatter them prematurely; and when the proper season arrives, many of these open with such a degree of elasticity as to throw the seeds to a considerable distance. other seeds have a kind of wings given them, by which they are conveyed to a distance of some miles from the parent plant. these wings consist either of a down, as in most of the composite-flowered plants, or of a membrane, as in the birch, alder, ash, elm, &c. hence woods, which happen to be destroyed by fire, or any other accident, are soon restored again by new plants. some seeds are rough, or provided with a sort of hooks, by means of which they are apt to stick to animals that pass by them, and by this means are carried to the mouths of their burrows, where they meet with proper soil and manure for their growth. berries and other pericarpies are by nature allotted for aliment to animals; but it is on condition that they shall sow the seed while they eat it: this they do by dispersing the seeds as they are eating; and also after eating, by voiding many of them unhurt, and even in a better state for vegetation than they were before. thus many kinds of nuts are sown; and thus did the doves of the moluccas replant with nutmegs those islands of the east, which the sordid avarice of the dutch had destroyed: providence thereby frustrating, by feeble but certain means, the contemptible selfishness of that commercial people. in this manner the woods of northern countries are sown with junipers, by the thrushes and other birds which feed upon these heavy berries. the cross-bill lives upon fir-cones, and the hawfinch upon pine-cones; by means of which the fir and the pine, of various species, are continually planted in vast abundance. in our own country, the common rook has been observed, not only to feed on acorns, but to make holes in the ground with the bill, and hide many: probably they mean only to lay in a stock for future necessity by this process; but certain it is, that thousands of oaks are annually planted by this means. swine, also, in searching for food, turn up the earth; and moles, by throwing up hillocks, prepare the ground for seeds of various kinds. seas, lakes, and rivers, by their streams and currents, often convey seeds unhurt to distant countries. in assimilating the animal and vegetable kingdoms, linnæus denominates seeds the eggs of plants. the fecundity of plants is frequently marvellous: from a single plant or stalk of indian turkey wheat, are produced, in one summer, seeds; of elecampane, ; of sun-flower, ; of poppy, , ; of a spike of cat's-tail, , and upwards; a single fruit or seed-vessel of tobacco, contains seeds; that of white poppy, . mr. ray relates, from experiments made by himself, that tobacco seeds are equal in weight to one grain; and that the weight of the whole quantum of seeds in a single tobacco plant, is such as must, according to the above proportion, determine their number to be , . the same author estimates the annual produce of a single stalk of spleen-wort to be upwards of , , of seeds. prodigious number of plants upon the earth.--it is said, that there are about , different plants already discovered, to which new ones are daily added. by means of the microscope, some have been found where they were least expected. the different varieties of mosses and sponges have been classed among vegetables, and have presented to the observation of the naturalist, seeds and flowers before unknown. freestone is sometimes covered with brown and blackish spots; the mouldy substance which composes them adheres to various other matters, and may be considered as a little garden in vegetation. when we reflect upon the quantity of moss which covers the hardest stones, the trunks of trees, and the most barren places;--when we consider the quantity of vegetables upon the surface of the earth; the different species of flowers which delight and refresh us; the trees and bushes, add to these the aquatic plants, some of which exceed a hair in fineness;--we may be able to form some idea of the multitude of plants in the vegetable kingdom. all these species grow up, and are preserved without detriment or injury, each having that place assigned it, which is most suited to its properties. such is the wisdom displayed in their distribution over the surface of the earth, that there is no part of it wholly destitute, and no part enjoys them in too great abundance. some plants require the open field, where, unsheltered by trees, they may receive the sun's rays; others can only exist in water; some grow in the sand; others in marshes and fens, which are frequently covered with water, and some bud on the surface of the earth, whilst others unfold themselves in its bosom. the different strata which compose the soil of the earth, as sand, clay, chalk, &c. favour different vegetables; and hence it is, that in the vast garden of nature nothing is absolutely sterile; from the finest sand to the flinty rock, from the torrid to the frozen zone, each soil and climate supports plants peculiar to itself. another circumstance highly worthy of attention is: the creator has so ordered, that, among this immense variety of plants, those which are most proper for food or medicine multiply in greater abundance than those which are of less utility. herbs are much more numerous than trees and brambles; grass is in greater abundance than oaks; and cherry-trees more plentiful than apricots: had oaks been more frequent than grass, or trees than herbs and roots, it would have been impossible for animals to subsist. according to the calculation of baron von humboldt, plants are _agamous_, that is, plants which have no sexual organs, such as champignons, lichens, &c. of the remainder there are found-- in europe , in the temperate regions of asia , in equinoxial asia, and the adjacent islands , in africa , in the temperate regions of america, in both hemispheres , in equinoxial america , in new holland, and the islands of the pacific ocean , ------ total , ------ sensibility of plants.--there are certain motions observable in plants, that make it doubtful whether they are not possessed of sensibility. some plants shrink and contract their leaves upon being touched; others open and shut their flowers at certain fixed hours in the day, so regularly as to denote with precision the time of day; some assume a peculiar form during the night, folding up their leaves; and these different changes take place whether they are in the open air, or shut up in close apartments. those which live under water during the time of fecundation, raise their flowers above the surface. the motions of a marshy plant discovered some time since, in the province of carolina, are still more singular. its round leaves are furnished above, and on the sides, with a multitude of notches that are extremely irritable. when an insect happens to creep upon the superior surface of the leaves, they fold up, and inclose the insect till it dies; the leaves then open of themselves. we may daily observe regular motions in some plants in our gardens. tulips expand their petals when the weather is fine, and close them again at sun-set, or during rain. vegetables with pods, such as peas and beans, open their shells when dry, and curl themselves up like shavings of wood. wild oats, when placed upon a table, will move spontaneously, more especially if warmed in the hand. and the heliotrope, or sunflower, with various other plants, always turns towards the sun. these are incontestable facts, of the certainty of which every person may be easily convinced. from them, some conclude that we ought not to deny sensibility to be an attribute of plants; and certainly the facts which are alleged in favour of such an opinion, give it great appearance of probability. but, on the other hand, plants have no other sign of sensibility; and all that they have is entirely mechanical. we plant a shrub and destroy it, without finding any analogy between it and an animal, that we bring up and kill. we see a plant bud, blossom, and bear seed, insensibly, as the hand of a watch runs round the points of the dial. the most exact anatomy of a plant does not unfold to us any organ which has the least relation to those of animal sensibility. when we oppose these observations to those from which we might infer the sensibility of plants, we remain in uncertainty, and we cannot explain the phenomena related above. our knowledge upon this subject is very imperfect, and is confined to simple conjecture. we neither attribute sensibility to plants, nor deny it to them, with certainty. the sensitive plant.--this singular plant rises from a slender woody stalk seven or eight feet in height, armed with short recurved thorns; the leaves grow upon long footstalks, which are prickly, each sustaining two pair of wings; from the place where these are inserted, come out small branches, having three or four globular heads of pale purplish flowers coming out from the side, on short peduncles; the principal stalk has many of those heads of flowers on the upper part, for more than a foot in length; this, as also the branches, is terminated by like heads of flowers; the leaves move but slowly when touched, but the footstalks fall, when they are pressed pretty hard. it is a native of brazil, (_m. pudica_, humble plant,) having the roots composed of many hairy fibres, which mat slowly together; from these come out several woody stalks, declining towards the ground, unless supported; they are armed with short recurved spines, having winged or pinnate leaves; flowers from the axils, on short peduncles, collected in small globular heads, of a yellow colour. "naturalists (says dr. darwin) have not explained the immediate cause of the collapsing of the sensitive plant; the leaves meet and close in the night, during the sleep of the plant, or when exposed to much cold in the day-time, in the same manner as when they are affected by external violence, folding their upper surfaces together, and in part over each other like scales or tiles, so as to expose as little of the upper surface as may be to the air, but do not, indeed, collapse quite so far; for when touched in the night during their sleep, they fall still further, especially when touched on the footstalks between the stems and the leaflets, which seem to be their most sensitive or irritable part. now, as their situation after being exposed to external violence resembles their sleep, but with a greater degree of collapsion, may it not be owing to a numbness or paralysis consequent to too violent irritation, like the pantings of animals from pain or fatigue? a sensitive plant being kept in a dark room till some hours after day-break, its leaves and leaf-stalks were collapsed as in its most profound sleep, and on exposing it to the light, above twenty minutes passed before the plant was thoroughly awake, and had quite expanded itself. during this night the upper surfaces of the leaves were oppressed; this would seem to shew that the office of this surface of the leaf was to expose the fluids of the plant to the light, as well as to the air." dr. darwin has thus characterized these plants.-- weak with nice sense the chaste mimosa stands, from each rude touch withdraws her timid hands oft as light clouds o'erpass the summer glade, alarm'd, she trembles at the moving shade; and feels alive through all her tender form, the whisper'd murmurs of the gathering storm; shuts her sweet eyelids to approaching night, and hails with freshen'd charms the rising light. chap. xxxiv. curiosities respecting vegetables.--(_continued._) _the cocoa-nut tree--the bread-fruit tree--the bannian tree--fountain trees--the tallow tree--the paper tree--the calabash tree--remarkable oak--dimensions, &c. of some of the largest trees now growing in england--upas, or poison tree._ admiration, feeding at the eye, and still unsated, dwells upon the theme. _cowper._ the cocoa-nut tree. of all the gifts which providence has bestowed on the oriental world, the cocoa-nut tree most deserves our notice: in this single production of nature, what blessings are conveyed to man! it grows a stately column, from thirty to fifty feet in height, crowned by a verdant capital of waving branches, covered with long spiral leaves; under this foliage, branches of blossoms, clusters of green fruit, and others arrived at maturity, appear in mingled beauty. the trunk, though porous, furnishes beams and rafters for our habitations; and the leaves, when platted together, make an excellent thatch, common umbrellas, coarse mats for the floor, and brooms; while their finest fibres are woven into very beautiful mats for the rich. the covering of the young fruit is extremely curious, resembling a piece of thick cloth, in a conical form, close and firm as it came from the loom; it expands after the fruit has burst through its inclosure, and then appears of a coarser texture. the nuts contain a delicious milk, and a kernel sweet as the almond: this, when dried, affords abundance of oil; and when that is expressed, the remains feed cattle and poultry, and make good manure. the shell of the nut furnishes cups, ladles, and other domestic utensils, while the husk which incloses it is of the utmost importance; it is manufactured into ropes and cordage of every kind, from the smallest twine to the largest cable, which are far more durable than those of hemp. in the nicobar islands, the natives build their vessels, make the sails and cordage, supply them with provisions and necessaries, and provide a cargo of arrack, vinegar, oil, gagpree or coarse sugar, cocoa-nuts, coir, cordage, black paint, and several inferior articles, for foreign markets, entirely from this tree. many of the trees are not permitted to bear fruit; but the embryo bud, from which the blossoms and nuts would spring, is tied up, to prevent its expansion; and a small incision being then made at the end, there oozes in gentle drops a cool pleasant liquor, called trace, or toddy, the palm wine of the poets. this, when first drawn, is cooling and salutary; but when fermented and distilled, produces an intoxicating spirit. thus, a plantation of cocoa-nut trees yields the proprietor considerable profits, and generally forms part of the government revenue. the bread-fruit tree.--the systematic name of this plant is artocarpus, which is merely the english name translated into greek. there are several species; particularly _a. incisa_, and _a. integrifolia_. the genuine bread-fruit tree is the _artocarpus incisa_. in captain cook's voyage, it is observed, that the bread-fruit tree is about the size of a middling oak; its leaves are frequently a foot and a half long, oblong, deeply sinuated, like those of the fig-tree, which they resemble in consistence and colour, and in exuding a milky juice when broken. the fruit is the size and shape of a child's head, and the surface is reticulated, not much unlike a truffle; it is covered with a thin skin, and has a core about as big as the handle of a small knife; the eatable part lies between the skin and core; it is as white as snow, and of the consistence of new bread. it must be roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into three or four parts; its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread, mixed with jerusalem artichoke. the fruit not being in season all the year, there is a method of supplying this defect, by reducing it to sour paste, called _makie_; and besides this, cocoa-nuts, bananas, plantains, and a great variety of other fruits, come in aid of it. this tree not only supplies food, but also clothing, for the bark is stripped off the suckers, and formed into a kind of cloth. to procure the fruit for food costs the otaheiteans no trouble or labour, but climbing a tree. this most useful tree is distributed very extensively over the east indian continent and islands, as well as the innumerable islands of the south seas. in otaheite, however, and some others, the evident superiority of the seedless variety for food has caused the other to be neglected, and it is consequently almost worn out. we are informed by captain king, that in the sandwich islands these trees are planted, and flourish with great luxuriance on rising grounds; that they are not indeed in such abundance, but that they produce double the quantity of fruit to those growing on the rich plains of otaheite; that the trees are nearly of the same height, but that the branches begin to strike out from the trunk much lower, and with greater luxuriance; and that the climate of these islands differs very little from that of the west indian islands which lie in the same latitude. this reflection probably first suggested the idea of conveying this valuable tree to our islands in the west indies. for this purpose his majesty's ship the bounty sailed for the south seas, on the d of december, , under the command of lieutenant william bligh. but a fatal mutiny prevented the accomplishment of this benevolent design. his majesty, however, not discouraged by the unfortunate event of the voyage, and fully impressed with the importance of securing so useful an article of food as the bread-fruit to our west indian islands, determined, in the year , to employ another ship, for a second expedition on this service; and, in order to secure the success of the voyage as much as possible, it was thought proper that two vessels should proceed together on this important business. accordingly, a ship of tons, named the providence, was engaged for the purpose, and the command of her given to captain bligh; and a small tender, called the assistant, commanded by lieut. nathaniel portlock. sir joseph banks, as in the former voyage, directed the equipment of the ship for this particular purpose. two skilful gardeners were appointed to superintend the trees and plants, from their transplantation at otaheite, to their delivery at jamaica; and captain bligh set sail on the d of august, . the number of plants taken on board at otaheite, was , in pots, tubs, and cases; and of these were bread-fruit trees. when they arrived at coupang, plants were dead, but the rest were in good order. here they procured ninety-two pots of the fruits of that country. they arrived at st. helena, with fine bread-fruit trees, besides other plants. here they left some of them, with different fruits of otaheite and timor, besides mountain rice and other seeds; and hence the east indies may be supplied with them. on their arrival at st. vincent's, they had cases, containing bread-fruit trees, besides a great number of other fruits and plants, to the number of . near half this cargo was deposited here under the care of mr. alexander anderson, the superintendant of his majesty's botanic garden, for the use of the windward islands; and the remainder, intended for the leeward islands, was conveyed to jamaica, and distributed as the governor and council of jamaica were pleased to direct. the exact number of bread-fruit trees brought to jamaica, was ; out of which, five only were reserved for the botanic garden at kew. captain bligh had the satisfaction, before he quitted jamaica, of seeing the trees, which he had brought with so much success, in a most flourishing state; insomuch that no doubt remained of their growing well, and speedily producing fruit: an opinion which subsequent reports have confirmed. the bread-fruit, when perfectly ripe, is pulpy, sweetish, putrescent, and in this state is thought to be too laxative; but when green it is farinaceous, and esteemed a very wholesome food, either baked under the coals, or roasted over them. the taste is not unlike that of wheaten bread, but with some resemblance to that of jerusalem artichokes or potatoes. it was mentioned before, that a sort of cloth was made of the inner bark: to this we may add, that the wood is used in building boats and houses; the male catkins serve for tinder; the leaves for wrapping their food in, and for wiping their hands instead of towels; and the juice for making bird-lime, and as a cement for filling up the cracks of their vessels, and for holding water. three trees are supposed to yield sufficient nourishment for one person. the bannian tree.--the bannian, or indian fig-tree, is a native of several parts of the east indies, and has a woody stem, branching to a great height and vast extent. it is universally considered as one of the most beautiful of nature's productions; and, contrary to most other things in animal and vegetable nature, appears exempted from decay. every branch from the main body throws out its own roots, at first in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground, but which thicken considerably before they reach the surface, and then, striking in, they increase to large trunks, and become parent trees, shooting out new branches from the top; these in time suspend their roots, which, swelling into trunks, produce other branches, thus continuing in a progressive state as long as the earth, the common parent of them all, continues her sustenance. the hindoos are peculiarly fond of the bannian tree; they regard it as an emblem of the deity, from its long duration and overshadowing beneficence, and almost pay it divine honours. near this tree their most esteemed pagodas are generally erected; and under their shade the brahmins spend their days in religious solitude, wandering among the cool recesses and beautiful walks of this umbrageous canopy, impervious to the hottest beams of a tropical sun. a remarkably fine tree of this kind grows on an island in the river narbedda, in the province of guzerat. it is distinguished from others of the same species by the name of cubbeer bur, which was given it in honour of a famous saint. it was once much larger than it is at present, high and violent floods having carried away the banks of the island on which it grew, and with them such parts of the tree as have thus far extended its roots. what remains, is two thousand feet in circumference, measured round the principal stems; the overhanging branches, which have not yet struck down, cover a much larger space. the chief trunks of this single tree, each of which in size exceeds our english oaks or elms, amount to , the smaller stems to more than , all casting out new branches and hanging roots, to form in time parent trunks. cubbeer bur is famed through india for its amazing extent and beauty. the indian armies frequently encamp around it, and at stated periods solemn festivals are held under its branches, where thousands of votaries repair from various parts of the empire. it is even said that persons found ample room under its shade. the english gentlemen sometimes form elegant and extensive encampments, where they spend whole weeks together under this delightful pavilion, which is inhabited by green wood-pigeons, doves, and peacocks, and also a variety of feathered songsters; families of monkeys are also in every quarter playing their antic tricks; and bats, to the astonishing size of six feet, from the extremity of one wing to that of the other. this tree not only shelters, but affords sustenance to these numerous inhabitants, being covered, amidst its bright leaves, with small figs of a rich scarlet, on which they regale. fountain trees.--these are very extraordinary vegetables, growing in one of the canary islands, and likewise said to exist in some other places, which distil water from their leaves in such plenty, as to answer all the purposes of the inhabitants who live near them. of these trees we have the following account, in glasse's history of the canary islands. "there are three fountains of water in the whole island of hiero, wherein the fountain tree grows. the larger cattle are watered at those fountains, and at a place where water distils from the leaves of a tree. many writers have made mention of this famous tree, some in such a manner as to make it appear miraculous: others again deny the existence of any such tree; among whom is father feyjoo, a modern spanish author. but he, and those who agree with him in this matter, are as much mistaken as those who would make it appear to be miraculous. the author of the history of the discovery and conquest, has given us a particular account of it, which i shall here relate at large.-- "the district in which this tree stands is called tigulabe; near to which, and in the cliff or steep rocky ascent that surrounds the whole island, is a gutter or gully, which commences at the sea, and continues to the summit of the cliff, where it joins or coincides with a valley, which is terminated by the steep front of a rock. on the top of this rock grows a tree, called, in the language of the ancient inhabitants, _garse_, sacred or holy tree, which for many years has been preserved sound, entire, and fresh. its leaves constantly distil such a quantity of water as is sufficient to furnish drink to every living creature in hiero, nature having provided this remedy for the drought of the island. it is situated about a league and a half from the sea. nobody knows of what species it is, only that it is called _til_. it is distinct from other trees, and stands by itself. the circumference of the trunk is about twelve spans, the diameter four, and in height, from the ground to the top of the highest branch, forty spans: the circumference of all the branches together is feet. the branches are thick and extended, the lowest commence about the height of an ell from the ground. its fruit resembles the acorn, and tastes something like the kernel of a pine-apple, but is softer and more aromatic. the leaves of this tree resemble those of the laurel, but are larger, wider, and more curved; they come forth in a perpetual succession, so that the tree always remains green. near to it grows a thorn, which fastens on many of its branches, and interweaves with them; and at a small distance from the garse are some beech-trees, bresoes, and thorns. on the north side of the trunk are two large tanks or cisterns, of rough stone, or rather one cistern divided, each half being twenty feet square, and sixteen spans in depth. one of these contains water for the drinking of the inhabitants; and the other, that which they use for their cattle, washing, and such like purposes. "every morning, near this part of the island, a cloud or mist arises from the sea, which the south or easterly winds force against the forementioned steep cliff; so that the cloud, having no vent but by the gutter, gradually ascends it, and from thence advances slowly to the extremity of the valley, where it is stopped and checked by the front of the rock which terminates the valley; and then rests upon the thick leaves and wide spreading branches of the tree, from whence it distils in drops during the remainder of the day, until it is at length exhausted, in the same manner that we see water drip from the leaves of trees after a heavy shower of rain. "this distillation is not peculiar to the garse or til, for the bresoes, which grow near it, likewise drop water; but their leaves being but few and narrow, the quantity is so trifling, that, though the natives save some of it, yet they make little or no account of any but what distils from the til; which, together with the water of some fountains, and what is saved in the winter season, is sufficient to serve them and their flocks. a person lives on the spot near which this tree grows, to take care of it and its waters; and is allowed a house to live in, with a certain salary. he every day distributes to each family of the district, seven pots or vessels full of water, besides what he gives to the principal people of the island." whether the tree which yields water at this present time, be the same as that mentioned in the above description, i cannot determine: but it is probable there has been a succession of them; for pliny, describing the fortunate island, says, "in the mountains of ombrion, are trees resembling the plant _ferula_, from which water may be procured by pressure. what comes from the black kind is bitter, but that which the white yields is sweet and potable." trees yielding water are not peculiar to the island of hiero; for travellers inform us of one of the same kind on the island of st. thomas, in the bight or gulf of guinea. in cockburn's voyages, we find the following account of a dropping tree, near the mountains of fera paz, in america.-- "on the morning of the fourth day, we came out on a large plain, where were great numbers of fine deer; and in the middle stood a tree of unusual size, spreading its branches over a vast compass of ground. curiosity led us up to it. we had perceived, at some distance, the ground about it to be wet; at which we began to be somewhat surprised, as well knowing there had no rain fallen for nearly six months past, according to the certain course of the season in that latitude: that it was impossible to be occasioned by the fall of dew on the tree, we were convinced, by the sun's having power to exhale away all moisture of that nature a few minutes after its rising. at last, to our great amazement, as well as joy, we saw water dropping, or as it were distilling, fast from the end of every leaf of this wonderful, (nor had it been amiss if i had said miraculous) tree; at least it was so with respect to us, who had been labouring four days through extreme heat, without receiving the least moisture, and were now almost expiring for the want of it. we could not help looking on this as liquor sent from heaven, to comfort us under great extremity. we catched what we could of it in our hands, and drank very plentifully of it; and liked it so well, that we could hardly prevail with ourselves to give over. a matter of this nature could not but incite us to make the strictest observations concerning it; and accordingly we staid under the tree near three hours, and found we could not fathom its body in five times. we observed the soil where it grew to be very strong; and upon the nicest inquiry we could afterwards make, both of the natives of the country and the spanish inhabitants, we could not learn there was any such tree known throughout new spain, nor perhaps all america over: but i do not relate this as a prodigy in nature, because i am not philosopher enough to ascribe any natural cause for it; the learned may perhaps give substantial reasons in nature, for what appeared to us a great and marvellous secret, and far beyond our power to account for." the tallow tree.--this is a remarkable tree, growing in great plenty in china; so called from its producing a substance like tallow, and which serves for the same purpose: it is about the height of a cherry-tree, its leaves in form of a heart, of a deep shining red colour, and its bark very smooth. its fruit is inclosed in a kind of pod, or cover, like a chesnut, and consists of three round white grains, of the size and form of a small nut, each having its peculiar capsule, and a little stone within. this stone is encompassed with a white pulp, which has all the properties of true tallow, both as to consistence, colour, and even smell, and accordingly the chinese make their candles of it; which would doubtless be as good as those in europe, if they knew how to purify their vegetable, as well as we do our animal tallow. all the preparation they give it, is to melt it down, and mix a little oil with it, to make it softer and more pliant. it is true, the candles made of it yield a thicker smoke and a dimmer light than ours; but those defects are owing in a great measure to the wicks, which are not of cotton, but only a little rod of dry light wood, covered with the pith of a rush wound round it; which, being very porous, serves to filtrate the minute parts of the tallow, attracted by the burning stick, and by this means is kept alive. the paper tree.--the name of this tree is _aouta_. it is a mulberry-tree, found at otaheite, in the south sea, from which a cloth is manufactured, that is worn by the principal inhabitants. the bark of the trees is stripped off, and deposited to soak in running water; when it is sufficiently softened, the fibres of the inner coat are carefully separated from the rest of the bark; they are then placed in lengths of about eleven or twelve yards, one by the side of another, till they are about a foot broad; and two or three layers are put one upon another. this is done in the evening; and next morning the water is drained off, and the several fibres adhere together in one piece. it is afterwards beaten on a smooth piece of wood with instruments marked lengthways, with small grooves of different degrees of fineness; and by means of this it becomes as thin as muslin. after bleaching it in the air, to whiten it, it is fit for use. another article worthy of the reader's attention, is the adansonia, ethiopian sour gourd, monkeys' bread, or african calabash tree.--there is but one known species belonging to this genus, the _baobal_, which is perhaps the largest production of the whole vegetable kingdom. it is a native of africa. the trunk is not above twelve or fifteen feet high, but from sixty to seventy feet round. the lowest branches extend almost horizontally, and as they are about sixty feet in length, their own weight bends their extremities to the ground, and thus form an hemispherical mass of verdure of about or feet diameter. the roots extend as far as the branches: that in the middle forms a pivot, which penetrates a great way into the earth; the rest spread near the surface. the flowers are in proportion to the size of the tree, and are followed by an oblong pointed fruit, ten inches long, five or six broad, and covered with a kind of greenish down, under which is a ligneous rind, hard, and almost black, marked with rays, which divide it lengthwise into sides. it is very common in senegal, and the cape de verd islands; and is found leagues up the country, at gulam, and upon the sea-coast as far as sierra leone. the age of this tree is no less remarkable than its enormous size. mr. adanson relates, that, in a botanical excursion to the magdalen islands, he discovered some calabash-trees, from five to six feet diameter, on the bark of which were engraved, or cut to a considerable depth, a number of european names. two of these names, which he was at the trouble to repair, were dated, one in the fourteenth, the other in the fifteenth century. the inscribed trees, mentioned by this ingenious frenchman, had been seen in , almost two centuries before, by thevet, who mentions them in his relation of his voyage to terra antarctia, or australis. adanson saw them in . the virtues and uses of this tree and its fruits are various. the negroes of senegal dry the bark and leaves in the shaded air, and then reduce them to powder, which is of a pretty good green colour. this powder they preserve in bags of linen or cotton, and call it _lillo_. they use it every day, putting three or four pinches of it into a mess, whatever it happens to be, as we do pepper and salt: but their view is, not to give a relish to their food, but to preserve a perpetual and plentiful perspiration, and to attemper the too great heat of the blood; purposes to which it certainly answers, as several europeans have proved by repeated experiments; preserving themselves from the epidemic fever, which, in that country, is as fatal to them as the plague, and generally rages during the months of september and october: when the rains have suddenly ceased, the sun exhales the water left by them on the ground, and fills the air with a noxious vapour. m. adanson, in the critical season, made a light ptisan of the leaves of the baobal; which he had gathered in the august of the preceding year, and had dried in the shade; and drank constantly about a pint of it every morning, either before or after breakfast, and the same quantity of it every evening, after the heat of the sun began to abate: he also took the same quantity in the middle of the day, but this was only when he felt some symptoms of an approaching fever. by this precaution he preserved himself, during the five years he resided at senegal, from the diarrhæa and fever, which are so fatal there, and which are, however, the only diseases of the place; while other officers suffered very severely, only one of them excepted, upon whom m. adanson prevailed to use this remedy, which for its simplicity was despised by the rest. this ptisan alone prevents that heat of urine which is common in these parts, from the month of july to november, provided the person abstains from wine. the fruit is not less useful than the leaves and the bark. the pulp that envelopes the seeds has an agreeable acid taste, and is eaten for pleasure: it is also dried and powdered, and used medicinally in pestilential fevers, the dysentery, and bloody flux: the dose is a drachm, passed through a fine sieve, taken either in common water, or in an infusion of the plantain. this powder is brought into europe under the name of _terra sigillata lemnia_. the woody bark of the fruit, and the fruit itself, when spoiled, help to supply the negroes with an excellent soap, which they make by drawing a lie from the ashes, and boiling it with palm-oil that begins to be rancid. the trunks of such of these trees as are decayed, the negroes hollow out into burying places for their poets, musicians, and buffoons. persons of these characters they esteem greatly while they live, supposing them to derive their superior talents from sorcery, or a commerce with demons; but they regard their bodies with horror when dead, and will not give them burial in the usual manner, neither suffering them to be put into the ground, nor thrown into the sea or any river, because they imagine that the water would not then nourish the fish, nor the earth produce its fruits. the bodies shut up in these trunks become dry without rotting, and form a kind of mummies without the help of embalming. the baobal is very distinct from the calabash-tree of america, with which it has been confounded by father labat. the following is an account of a remarkable oak tree:-- behold the oak does young and verdant stand above the grove, all others to command; his wide-extended limbs the forest crown'd, shading the trees, as well as they the ground: young murm'ring tempests in his boughs are bred, and gathering clouds from round his lofty head; outrageous thunder, stormy winds, and rain, discharge their fury on his head in vain; earthquakes below, and lightnings from above, rend not his trunk, nor his fix'd root remove. _blackmore._ mr. gilpin, in his forest scenery, gives the following account of an aged oak:-- "close by the gate of the water-walk, at magdalen college in oxford, grew an oak, which perhaps stood there a saplin when alfred the great founded the university. this period only includes a space of nine hundred years, which is no great age for an oak. it is a difficult matter indeed to ascertain the age of a tree. the age of a castle or abbey is the object of history: even a common house is recorded by the family that built it. all these objects arrive at maturity in their youth, if i may so speak. but the tree gradually completing its growth, is not worth recording in the early part of its existence: it is then only a common tree; and afterwards, when it becomes remarkable for its age, all memory of its youth is lost. this tree, however, can almost produce historical evidence for the age assigned to it." about five hundred years after the time of alfred, william of wainfleet, dr. stukely tells us, expressly ordered this college to be founded near the great oak; (_itiner. curios._) and an oak could not, i think, be less than five hundred years of age, to merit that title, together with the honour of fixing the site of a college. when the magnificence of cardinal wolsey erected that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the whole building, this tree might probably be in the meridian of its glory; or rather, perhaps it had attained a green old age. but it must have been manifestly in its decline, at that memorable æra, when the tyranny of james gave the fellows of magdalen so noble an opportunity of withstanding bigotry and superstition. it was afterwards much injured in the time of charles ii, when the present walks were laid out: its roots were disturbed; and from that period it declined fast, and became reduced by degrees to little more than a mere trunk. the oldest members of the university can scarcely recollect it in better plight: but the faithful records of history[ ] have handed down its ancient dimensions. it once flung its boughs through a space of sixteen yards on every side from its trunk; and under its magnificent pavilion could have sheltered with ease three thousand men: though in its decayed state, it could, for many years, do little more than shelter some luckless individual, whom the driving shower had overtaken in his evening walk. in the summer of the year , this magnificent ruin fell to the ground, alarming the college with its crashing sound. it then appeared how precariously it had stood for many years. its grand taproot was decayed; and it had hold of the earth only by two or three roots, of which none was more than a couple of inches in diameter. from a part of its ruins, a chair has been made for the president of the college, which will long continue its memory. this will be a proper place for introducing the history of some of the largest trees now growing in england.--in hainault forest, near barking in essex, there is an oak which has attained the enormous bulk of thirty-six feet in circumference. this extraordinary tree has been known for ages by the name of fairlop. the tradition of the country traces it half way up the christian æra. beneath its shade, which overspreads an area of three hundred feet in circuit, an annual fair has long been held on the first friday in july, and no booth is suffered to be erected beyond the extent of its boughs. at cromwell park, near letbury in gloucestershire, the seat of lord dacre, is a huge chesnut tree, probably as remarkable for antiquity as size; having been mentioned (according to sir richard atkins) in king john's days, six centuries ago, as the wonder of the neighbourhood, and measuring at present, at the foot, fifty-seven feet in circumference. it is supposed to be at least eight hundred years old. in darley church-yard, near matlock in derbyshire, is a yew tree, thirty-three feet in girt. in the church-yard of aldworth, in berkshire, is a yew tree, the trunk of which, four feet from the ground, measures nine yards in circumference. it is of considerable height: all recollection of its age is lost. the shelton oak.--about a mile and a half from shrewsbury, where the pool road diverges from that which leads to oswestry, there stands an ancient decayed oak. there is a tradition, that owen glendwr (glynder) ascended this tree to reconnoitre; and finding that the king was in great force, and that the earl of northumberland had not joined his son hotspur, he fell back to oswestry, and immediately after the battle of shrewsbury, retreated precipitately to wales. this tree is now in a complete state of decay, and hollow, even in the larger ramifications. the following are the dimensions of the shelton oak: ft. in. girt, at bottom, close to the ground ditto, feet from ditto ditto, feet from ditto height of the tree vide gent. mag. vol. lxxxi. p. . the bowthorpe oak, situate in the park between bourne and stamford-- "on a fine eminence, of slow ascent, the landscape round stretch'd to a vast extent," --is the property of philip duncombe pauncefort, esq. the trunk is thirty-nine feet six inches in circumference. the inside of the body is hollow, and the lower part of it was formerly used as a feeding place for calves, the upper, as a pigeon-house. the late possessor, george pauncefort, esq. (in whose family it has been for many centuries,) in had it floored, with benches placed round, and a door of entrance: frequently twelve persons have dined in it with ease. "--------------crowds yearly flock to see in leafy pomp the celebrated tree; charm'd to contemplate nature's giant son, fed by the genial seasons as they run." no tradition is to be found respecting it, it having, ever since the memory of the oldest inhabitants, or their ancestors, been in the same state of decay. we conclude this chapter with an essay on the upas, or poison-tree of java; by thomas horsefield, m. d.--from the seventh volume of the transactions of the literary and philosophical society of java. the literary and scientific world has in few instances been more grossly and impudently imposed upon, than by the account of the bohan upas, published in holland about the year . the history and origin of this celebrated forgery still remains a mystery. foersch, who put his name to the publication, certainly was (according to the information i have received from credible persons, who have long resided on the island,) a surgeon in the dutch east india company's service, about the time the account of the upas appeared. it would be in some degree interesting to become acquainted with his character. i have been led to suppose that his literary abilities were as mean, as his contempt of truth was consummate. having hastily picked up some vague information concerning the upas, he carried it to europe, where his notes were arranged, doubtlessly by a different hand, in such a form as, by their plausibility and appearance of truth, to be generally credited. but though the account just mentioned, in so far as relates to the situation of the poison tree, to its effects on the surrounding country, and to the application said to have been made of the upas on criminals in different parts of the island, as well as the description of the poisonous substance itself, and its mode of collection, has been demonstrated to be an extravagant forgery,--the existence of a tree in java, from whose sap a poison is prepared, equal in fatality, when thrown into the circulation, to the strongest animal poisons hitherto known, is a fact, which it is at present my object to establish and to illustrate. the tree which produces this poison, is called antshar, and grows in the eastern extremity of the island. the antshar is one of the largest trees in the forests of java. the stem is cylindrical, perpendicular, and rises completely naked to the height of sixty, seventy, or eighty feet. near the surface of the ground it spreads obliquely, dividing into numerous broad appendages or wings, much like the _canarium commune_, and several others of our large forest trees. it is covered with a whitish bark, slightly bursting in longitudinal furrows. near the ground this bark is, in old trees, more than half an inch thick; and, upon being wounded, it yields plentifully the milky juice from which the celebrated poison is prepared. a puncture or incision being made in the tree, the juice or sap appears oozing out, of a yellowish colour, somewhat frothy; from old trees, paler; and nearly white from young ones: when exposed to the air, its surface becomes brown. the consistence very much resembles milk, only it is thicker and viscid. this sap is contained in the true bark, or cortex, which, when punctured, yields a considerable quantity, so that in a short time a cupful may be collected from a large tree. the inner bark, or liber, is of a close fibrous texture, like that of the _morus papyrifera_, and when separated from the other bark, and cleansed from the adhering particles, resembles a coarse piece of linen. it has been worked into ropes, which are very strong, and the poorer class of people employ the inner bark of younger trees, which is more easily prepared, for the purpose of making a coarse stuff, which they wear when working in the fields. but it requires much bruising, washing, and a long immersion in water, before it can be used; and even when it appears completely purified, persons wearing this dress, on being exposed to the rain, are affected with an intolerable itching, which renders their flimsy covering almost insupportable. it will appear, from the account of the manner in which the poison is prepared, that the deleterious quality exists in the gum, a small portion of which still adhering to the bark, produces, when it becomes wet, this irritating effect; and it is singular, that this property of the prepared bark is known to the javanese, in all places where the tree grows, (for instance, in various parts of the provinces of bangil and malang, and even at onarang,) while the preparation of a poison from its juice, which produces a mortal effect when introduced into the body by pointed weapons, is an exclusive art of the inhabitants of the eastern extremity of the island. one of the regents in the eastern districts informed me, that having many years ago prepared caps or bonnets from the inner bark of the antshar, which were stiffened in the usual manner with thick rice-water, and handsomely painted, for the purpose of decorating his mantries, they all decidedly refused to wear them, asserting that they would cause their hair to fall off. i first met with the antshar in the province of poegar, on my way to bangoowangee: in the province of blambangan, i visited four or five different trees, from which this description has been made, while two of them furnished the juice for the preparation of the upas. the largest of these trees had, where the oblique appendages of the stem entered the ground, a diameter of at least ten feet; and where the regularly round and straight stem began, a distance of at least ten feet from the points of the two opposite appendages at the surface of the ground, its diameter was full three feet. i have since found a very tall tree in passooroowang, near the boundary of malang, and very lately i have discovered several young trees in the forests of japara, and one tree in the vicinity of onarang. in all these places, though the inhabitants are unacquainted with the preparation and effect of the poison, they distinguish the tree by the name of antshar. from the tree i found in the province of passooroowang, i collected some juice, which was nearly equal in its operation to that of blambangan. one of the experiments to be related below, was made with the upas prepared by myself, after my return to the chief village. i had some difficulty in inducing the inhabitants to assist me in collecting the juice, as they feared a cutaneous eruption and inflammation, resembling, according to the account they gave of it, that produced by the _ingas_ of this island, the _rhus vernix_ of japan, and the _rhus radicans_ of north america; but they were only affected by a slight heat and itching of the eyes. in clearing the new grounds in the environs of bangoowangee for cultivation, it is with much difficulty the inhabitants can be made to approach the tree, as they dread the cutaneous eruption which it is known to produce when newly cut down. but except when the tree is largely wounded, or when it is felled, by which a large portion of the juice is disengaged, the effluvia of which, mixing with the atmosphere, affects the persons exposed to it with the symptoms just mentioned, the tree may be approached and ascended like the other trees in the forests. the antshar, like trees in its neighbourhood, is on all sides surrounded by shrubs and plants; in no instance have i observed the ground naked or barren in its immediate circumference. the largest tree i met with in blambangan, was so closely environed by the common trees and shrubs of the forest in which it grew, that it was with difficulty i could approach it. several vines and climbing shrubs, in complete health and vigour, adhered to it, and ascended to nearly half its height. and at the time i visited the tree and collected the juice, i was forcibly struck with the egregious misrepresentation of foersch. several young trees, spontaneously sprung from seeds that had fallen from the parent, reminded me of a line in darwin's botanic garden, "chained at his root two scion demons dwell;" while in recalling his beautiful description of the upas, my vicinity to the tree gave me reason to rejoice that it is founded on fiction. the wood of the antshar is white, light, and of a spongy appearance. chap. xxxv. curiosities respecting vegetables.--(_continued._) _curious plant near the cape of good hope--the mandrake--changeable flower--chinese method of preparing tea--antiquity of sugar--curious effects of cinchona, or peruvian bark--curious particulars of a pound weight of cotton-wool--animated stalk--animal flower._ "soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, in mingled clouds to him, whose sun exalts, whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints." curious plant near the cape of good hope. the following account of a curious plant is taken from thunberg's travels:-- "the fruit of a species of _mesembryan thermum_, (says the writer,) was sometimes brought to the tavern as a rarity, and was called _rosa de jericho_. when it is put into water, it gradually opens all its seed-vessels, and exactly resembles a sun; and when it becomes dry again, it contracts itself, and closes by degrees. this is a no less necessary than singular property, which points out the admirable institution of an all-wise creator; inasmuch as this plant, which is found in the most arid plains, keeps its seeds fast locked up in time of drought, but when the rainy season comes, and the seeds can grow, it opens its receptacles, and lets fall the seeds, in order that they may be dispersed abroad. the water in which this fruit has lain, is sometimes given to women that are near their time, and is thought to procure them an easy delivery." the mandrake.--this plant possesses a long taper root resembling the parsnip, running three or four feet into the ground; immediately from the crown of the root arises a circle of leaves, at first standing erect, but when grown to the full size, they spread open and lie upon the ground; these leaves are more than a foot in length, and about five inches broad in the middle, of a dark green colour, and a fetid scent; among these come out the flowers, each on a scape three inches in length; they are five-cornered, of an herbaceous white colour, spreading open at top like a primrose, having five hairy stamens, and a globular germ supporting an awl-shaped style, which becomes a globular soft berry, when full-grown as large as a nutmeg, of a yellowish green colour, and when ripe, full of pulp. many singular facts are related of this plant, among which we select the following: the roots have been supposed to bear a resemblance to the human form, and are figured as such in the old herbals, being distinguished into the male with a long beard, and the female with a prolix head of hair. mountebanks carry about fictitious images, shaped from roots of bryony and other plants, cut into form, or forced to grow through moulds of earthenware, as mandrake-roots. it was fabled to grow under a gallows, where the matter falling from the dead body, gave it the shape of a man; to utter a great shriek, or terrible groans, at the digging up: and it was asserted, that he who would take up a plant of mandrake, should in common prudence tie a dog to it for that purpose, for, if a man should do it himself, he would surely die soon after. to this curious vegetable the poet alludes in the following lines:-- "mark how that rooted mandrake wears his human feet, his human hands; oft as his shapely form he rears, aghast the frighted ploughman stands." the changeable flower.--"on the island of lewchew, (says mr. m'leod,) is found a remarkable production, about the size of a cherry-tree, bearing flowers, which, alternately on the same day, assume the tint of the rose or lily, as they are exposed to sunshine or the shade. the bark of this tree is of a dark green, and the flowers bear a resemblance to our common roses. some of our party, whose powers of vision were strong, (assisted by a vigorous imagination.) fancied that, by attentive watching, the change of hue, from white to red, under the influence of the solar ray, was actually perceptible to the eye: that, however, they altered their colour in the course of a few hours, was very obvious." as this is a chapter devoted to miscellaneous articles of this class, it may not be amiss to insert the chinese method of preparing tea.--tea grows on a small shrub, the leaves of which are collected twice or thrice every year. those who collect the leaves three times a year, begin at the new moon which precedes the vernal equinox, whether it falls at the end of february or the beginning of march. at that period most of the leaves are perfectly green, and hardly fully expanded: but these small and tender leaves are accounted the best of all; they are scarce, and exceedingly dear. the second crop, or the first with those who collect the leaves only twice a year, is gathered about the end of march or beginning of april. part of the leaves have then attained to maturity; and though the rest have acquired only half their size, they are both collected without any distinction. the third (or second with some) and last crop, is more abundant, and is collected about the end of april, when the leaves have attained their full growth, both of size and number. some people neglect the two first crops, and confine themselves entirely to this, the leaves of which are selected with great care, and distributed into classes, according to their size or goodness.--tea ought to be rejected as of a bad quality, when old, and withered leaves are found amongst it, which may be easily known by infusing a little of it in water, for then the leaves dilate, and return to their natural state. the leaves of the tea shrub are oblong, sharp-pointed, indented on the edges, and of a very beautiful green colour. the flower is composed of five white petals, disposed in the form of a rose, and is succeeded by a pod, of the size of a filbert, containing two or three small green seeds, which are wrinkled, and have a disagreeable taste. its root is fibrous, and spreads itself out near the surface of the ground. this shrub grows equally well in a rich, as in a poor soil. it is to be found all over china, but there are certain places where the tea is of a better quality than in others. some people give the preference to the tea of japan, but we have reason to doubt whether there is any real difference. the manner of preparing tea is very simple. when the leaves are collected, they are exposed to the steam of boiling water, in order to soften them; and they are then spread out upon metal plates, and placed over a moderate fire, where they acquire that shrivelled appearance which they have when brought to europe. in china, there are only two kinds of the tea shrub; but the chinese, by their industry, have considerably multiplied each of them. if there are, therefore, large quantities of tea in that country which are excessively dear, there is some also very common, and sold at a low rate. the chinese, however, are very fond of good tea, and take as much pains to procure it of an excellent quality, as the europeans do to procure excellent wine. _bohea tea._--the chinese name of this tea is _vou-y-tcha_, that is to say, tea of the third kind, called _vou-y_. it takes its name from a mountain in the province of fokien. there are three kinds of this tea: the first of which, called common bohea, grows at the bottom of the mountain; the second, called _cong fou_, or _camphou_, grows at the top; and the third, named _saot-chaon_, grows in the middle. these names in england are corrupted into congo, and souchong. bohea teas in general ought to be dry, and heavy in the hand: this is a sign that the leaves have been full and juicy. when infused, they ought to communicate to the water a yellow colour, inclining a little to green, which indicates that they are fresh, for old tea produces a red colour. care must be taken above all to avoid red leaves, and to choose such as are large and entire. this is also a sign of freshness; for the longer tea is kept, the more it is shaken, which breaks the leaves, and mixes them with a great deal of dust. it sometimes happens, however, that the tea-dust is owing to the manner in which it is put into the box, as the chinese tread upon it with their feet, to make the box hold a large quantity. the leaves of the cong-fou and saot-chaon ought to have a beautiful black shining tint, and to communicate to water a very bright yellow and a mild taste. the pekoe is a particular kind of tea-shrub, the leaves of which are all black on the one side, and all white on the other. as the real pekoe tea is very scarce and dear, the chinese adulterate it, by mixing with it some of the small half-grown leaves, as yet white, which grow on the top of the common bohea tea. this changes the quality of the pekoe, for these leaves being scarcely formed, can have very little sap or flavour. _green teas._--green teas do not grow in the same place as the bohea tea. they are brought from the province of nankin, and are distinguished into three sorts. the first is known under the name of _songlo tea_, but oftener under that of green toukay; the second is called _bing tea_; and the third _hayssuen tea_, or hyson. there are also some other kinds, but the greater part of them are unknown, or of little importance to foreigners. the songlo and hayssuen teas come from the same shrub; their only difference is in the manner of their being prepared. bing tea grows on a different shrub, the leaves of which are thicker and larger than those of other kinds. all teas ought to have a green leaden tint: the older they are, the leaves become more yellow, which is a very great fault. they ought also to have a burnt or scorched smell, not too strong, but agreeable; for when they have been long kept, they have a filthy smell, somewhat like that of pilchards. the french wish to find in green teas, and particularly in songlo and imperial, an odour similar to that of soap. in these several kinds of tea, there is a particular distinction to be made, as they are generally classed into one, two, or three kinds, according to the periods at which they were gathered. antiquity of sugar.--from the few remains of the grecian and roman authors which have survived the ravages of time, we can find no proof that the juice of the sugar-cane was known at a very early period. there can be no doubt, however, that in those countries where it was indigenous, its value was not long concealed. it is not improbable that it was known to the ancient jews; for there is some reason to suppose, that the hebrew word, which occurs frequently in the old testament, and which is by our translators rendered sometimes _calamus_, and sometimes _sweet-cane_, does in fact mean the sugar-cane. the sugar-cane was first made known to the western parts of the world, by the conquest of alexander the great. strabo relates, that nearchus's admiral found it in the east indies, a. c. . it is evidently alluded to in a fragment of theophrastus, preserved in photius. varro, who lived a. c. . describes it in a fragment quoted by isidorus, as a fluid pressed from reeds of a large size, which was sweeter than honey. dioscorides, about a. c. , says, "that there is a kind of honey called _saccharon_, which is found in india and arabia felix. it has the appearance of salt, and is brittle when chewed. if dissolved in water, it is beneficial to the bowels and stomach, is useful in diseases of the bladder and kidneys, and, when sprinkled on the eye, removes those substances that obscure the sight." this is the first account we have of its medicinal qualities. galen often prescribed it as a medicine. lucan relates, that an oriental nation in alliance with pompey used the juice of the cane as a common drink. pliny says it was produced in arabia and india, but that the best came from the latter country. it is also mentioned by arrian, in his _petiplus_ of the red sea, by the name of [greek: sachar] (_sachar_) as an article of commerce from india to the red sea. Ælian, tertullian, and alexander aphrodisæus, mention it as a species of _honey_ procured from canes. curious effects of cinchona, or peruvian bark.--an account has been published in the _journal de pharmacie_, for may , of some curious effects produced by peruvian bark. a french merchant, m. delpech, residing at guayra, in the caraccas, had stored up a large quantity of fresh cinchona, in apartments which were afterwards required for the reception of some travellers as guests. these apartments contained each eight or ten thousand pounds of bark; and in consequence of its fermentation, the heat was much greater here than in the other parts of the house, rendering the place somewhat disagreeable. one of the beds placed in these rooms, was occupied by a traveller, ill of a malignant fever: after the first day he found himself much better, though he had taken no medicine; in a few days he felt himself quite recovered, without any medical treatment whatsoever. this unexpected success induced m. delpech to make some other trials: several persons ill of fever, were placed successively in his magazine of cinchona, and they were all speedily cured, simply by the effluvia of the bark. it happened that a bale of coffee, and some common french brandy, were kept in the same place for some months: one of the brandy bottles happened to be uncorked, and, on examination, was found to possess a slight aromatic taste, to be more tonic, and very superior to common brandy. the coffee was also much altered; when roasted, it was more bitter than common coffee, and left in the mouth a taste similar to that of an infusion of bark. it is to be observed, that the bark which produced all these effects was fresh; and the question whether that of commerce would produce the same effects can only be answered by experiment. curious particulars of a pound weight of cotton-wool.--the wool came from the east indies to london; from london it went to manchester, where it was manufactured into yarn; from manchester it was sent to paisley, where it was woven; it was then sent to ayrshire, where it was tamboured; it came back to paisley, and was there veined; afterwards it was sent to dumbarton, where it was hand-sewed, and again brought to paisley, whence it was sent to renfrew to be bleached; and was returned to paisley, whence it went to glasgow and was finished; and from glasgow was sent per coach to london. the time taken to bring this article to market was three years, from the time it was packed in india, till the time it arrived in cloth at the merchant's warehouse in london; when it must have been conveyed miles by sea, and by land, and contributed to support no less than people, by which the value had been increased per cent.--thus, from materials of little value in their native state, do arts and manufactures administer to individual comfort and national revenue. we shall close this chapter with an account of two curious articles, not strictly vegetable, denominated the animated stalk, and the animal flower. the animated stalk.--this very remarkable animal was found by mr. ives, at cuddalore, and he mentions several kinds of it: some appearing like dry straws tied together, others like grass; some have bodies much larger than others, with the addition of two scaly imperfect wings; their neck is no bigger than a pin, but twice as long as their body; their heads are like those of a hare, and their eyes vertical and very brisk. they live upon flies, and catch these insects very dexterously with the two fore feet, which they keep doubled up in three parts, close to their head, and dart out very quick on the approach of their prey; and when they have caught it, they eat it very voraciously, holding it in the same manner as a squirrel does its food. on the outer joints of the fore feet are several very sharp hooks, for the easier catching and holding of their prey; while, with the other feet, which are four in number, they take hold of trees, or any other thing, the better to surprise whatever they lie in wait for. they drink like a horse, putting their mouths into the water. their excrements, which are very white, are almost as large as the body of the animal, and, as the natives say, dangerous to the eyes. the animal flower.--animal flower, in zoology, is a name given to several species of animals belonging to the genus of actinia of linnæus. they have likewise been distinguished by the names of _urtica marina_, or _sea-nettle_, and _sea-anemone_, from their claws or tentacles being disposed in regular circles, and tinged with a variety of bright lively colours, resembling the petals of some of our most beautiful flowers. as to one species particularly, mentioned by abbé diequemarre, in the phil. trans. for , article , the purest white, carmine, and ultramarine, are said to be scarcely sufficient to express their brilliancy. the bodies of some of them are hemispherical, of others cylindrical, and others are shaped like a fig. their substance likewise differs: some are stiff and gelatinous, others fleshy and muscular; but all of them are capable of altering their figure, when they extend their bodies and claws in search of food. they are found in many of the rocky coasts of the west india islands, and likewise on some parts of the coast of england. they have only one opening, which is the centre of the uppermost part of the animal; round this are placed rows of fleshy claws; this opening is the mouth of the animal, and is capable of great extension. the animals themselves, though exceedingly voracious, will bear long fasting. they may be preserved alive a whole year, or perhaps longer, in a vessel of sea water, without any visible food; but, when food is presented, one of them will successively devour two muscles in their shells, or even swallow a whole crab as large as a hen's egg. in a day or two the crab-shell is voided at the mouth, perfectly cleared of all the meat. the muscle-shells are likewise discharged whole, with the two shells joined together, but entirely empty, so that not the least particle of fish is to be perceived on opening them. an anemone of one species, will even swallow an individual of another species; but, after retaining it ten or twelve hours, will throw it up alive and uninjured. through this opening also, it produces its young ones alive, already furnished with little claws, which, as soon as they fix themselves, they begin to extend in search of food. in hughes's natural history of barbadoes, an account is also given of several species of animal flowers. they are described as only found in a bason in one particular cave; and of the most remarkable species mentioned by him, we have the following description:--"in the middle of the bason, there is a fixed stone or rock, which is always under water. round its sides, at different depths, seldom exceeding eighteen inches, are seen at all times of the year, issuing out of little holes, certain substances that have the appearance of fine radiated flowers, of a pale yellow or a bright straw colour, slightly tinged with green, having a circular border of thick-set petals, about the size of, and much resembling those of a single garden marigold, except that this seeming flower is narrower at the discus, or setting on of the leaves, than any flower of that kind. i have attempted to pluck one of these from the rock, to which they are always fixed, but never could effect it; for as soon as my fingers came within two or three inches of it, it would immediately contract close together its yellow border, and shrink back into the hole of the rock; but, if left undisturbed for about four minutes, it would come gradually in sight, expanding, though at first very cautiously, its seeming leaves, till at last it appeared in its former bloom. however, it would again recoil with a surprising quickness, when my hand came within a small distance of it. having tried the same experiment by attempting to touch it with my cane, and a small slender rod, the effect was the same. though i could not by any means contrive to take or pluck from the rock one of these animals entire, yet i once cut off (with a knife, which i had held for a long time out of sight, near the mouth of a hole out of which one of these animals appeared) two of these seeming leaves. these, when out of the water, retained their shape and colour, but, being composed of a membrane-like substance surprisingly thin, it soon shrivelled up and decayed." the abbé diequemarre, by many curious, though cruel experiments, related in the phil. trans. for , has shewn, that these animals possess, in a most extraordinary degree, the power of reproduction, so that scarce any thing more is necessary to produce as many sea anemones as we please, than to cut a single one into as many pieces. a sea anemone being cut in two by a section through the body, that part where the limbs and mouth are placed, ate a piece of a muscle, offered to it soon after the operation, and continued to feed and grow daily for three months after. the food sometimes passed through the animal, but was generally thrown up again, considerably changed, as in the perfect sea anemone. in about two months, two rows of limbs were perceived growing out of the part where the incision was made. on offering food to this new mouth, it was laid hold of, eaten, and, the limbs continually increasing, the animal gradually became as perfect as those which had never been cut. in some instances, however, he found that when one of these creatures was cut through, new limbs would be produced from the cut place, those at the mouth remaining as before; so that a monstrous animal was the consequence, having two mouths, and feeding at both ends. having put some of them into a pan of water, set over a slow fire, he found that they lost their life at fifty degrees of reaumur's thermometer. to avoid the imputation of cruelty in these experiments, the author argues the favourable consequences that have attended his operations on the sea anemones, which have been so fortunate as to fall into his hands: as he has not only multiplied their existence, but also renewed their youth, "which last," he adds, "is surely no small advantage." the reproductive power of the barbadoes animal flower is prodigious. many people coming to see these strange creatures, and occasioning some inconvenience to a person through whose grounds they were obliged to pass, he resolved to destroy the objects of their curiosity; and, that he might do so effectually, he caused all the holes out of which they appeared, to be carefully bored and drilled with an iron instrument, so that we cannot suppose but their bodies must have been entirely crushed to a pulp: nevertheless, they again appeared in a few weeks, from the very same places. animal flowers are found in as great beauty and variety on the coast of galloway, as any where in the west indies. they are repeatedly taken notice of in sir j. sinclair's statistical account of scotland. mr. little, minister of colvend, mentions the polypus, or sea anemone, among the productions of that coast. mr. muirhead, minister of urr, gives the following particular description of them:--"about five years ago, i discovered in the parish of colvend, the animal flower, in as great perfection and variety as it is in jamaica. the lively colours, and the various and elegant forms of the polypus on this coast, are truly equal to any thing related by natural historians, respecting the sea-flowers of any other country. to see a flower of purple, of green, blue, yellow, &c. striving to catch a worm, is really amusing." and mr. marshall, minister of brittle, has allotted a section of his statistical account of his parish, to animal flowers; wherein he says, "till of late perhaps it has not been much adverted to, that the animal flower, or water polypus, is even common along the shores of brittle, colvend, and very likely round the whole coast of the stewartry of galloway. the form of these polypi is elegant, and pleasantly diversified. some are found resembling the sunflower, some the hundred-leaved rose, but the greater number bear the likeness of the poppy. the colours differ as much as the form. sometimes the animal flower is of a deep purple, frequently of a rose colour, but mostly of a light red or fleshy hue. the most beautiful of them, that could be picked up, have often been carried from the shore of colvend, twelve or fifteen miles up into the country, where they have lived, fed on worms, and even bred for several weeks, and might have existed much longer, if they could have been supplied with sea-water." chap. xxxvi. curiosities respecting vegetables.--(_concluded._) if to this lower planet we advert, seat of our birth and nurture, proofs abound of infinite contrivance, matchless skill. whether the site or figure we regard, or distribution of the various parts perfective of the system, strokes appear too exquisite for bungling _chance_ to hit. _bally._ fungus, or mushroom. by fungus, we mean the mushroom tribe. the ancients called them _the children of the earth_, to indicate the obscurity of their origin. the moderns have likewise been at a loss in what rank to place them; some referring them to the animal, some to the vegetable, and others to the mineral kingdom. messrs. wilck and minchausen, have not scrupled to rank these bodies among animal productions; because, when fragments of them or their seeds were macerated in water, these gentlemen perceived a quantity of animalcules discharged, which they supposed capable of being changed into the same substance. it was an ancient opinion, that _beef could produce bees_; but it was reserved for messrs. wilck and minchausen, to suppose that _bees could produce beef_. the former asserts, that fungi consist of innumerable cavities, each inhabited by a polype; and he does not hesitate to ascribe the formation of them to their inhabitants, in the same way as it has been said that the coral, the lichen, and the mucor, were formed. hedwig has lately shewn how ill-founded this opinion is with respect to the lichen; and m. durande has demonstrated its falsity with regard to the corallines. "indeed, (says m. bonnet, speaking of the animality of fungi,) nothing but the rage for paradox could induce any one to publish such a fable; and i regret that posterity will be able to reproach our times with it. observation and experiment should enable us to overcome the prejudices of modern philosophy, now that those of the ancient have disappeared and are forgotten." it cannot be denied, that the mushroom is one of the most perishable of all plants, and it is therefore the most favourable for the generation of insects. considering the quickness of its growth, it must be furnished with the power of copious absorption; the extremity of its vessels must be more dilated than in other plants. its root seems, in many cases, to be merely intended for its support; for some species grow upon stones, or moveable sand, from which it is impossible they can draw much nourishment. we must therefore suppose, that it is chiefly by the stalk that they absorb. these stalks grow in a moist and tainted air, in which float multitudes of eggs, so small, that the very insects they produce are with difficulty seen by the microscope. these eggs may be compared to the particles of the byssus, , of which, as m. gleditsch says, are not equal to one-fourth of a grain. may we not suppose that a quantity of such eggs are absorbed by the vessels of the fungus, and that they remain there without any change, till the plant begins to decay? besides, the eggs may be only deposited on the surface of the plant, or they may exist in water, into which they are thrown for examination. do not we see that such eggs, dispersed through the air, are hatched in vinegar, in paste, &c. and wherever they find a convenient nidus for their development? can it be surprising, then, that the corruption of the mushroom should make the water capable of disclosing certain beings that are really foreign to both? it is not more easy to acquiesce in the opinions of those naturalists who place the fungi in the mineral kingdom, because they are found growing on porous stones, thence called _lapides fungarii_; which, however, must be covered with a little earth, and be watered with tepid water, in order to favour the growth. such mushrooms are no more the produce of the stone, than the lichen is of the rock to which it adheres, or the moss, of the tree on which it is found. we have only to observe the growth of mushrooms, to be convinced that this happens by development, and not by addition or combination of parts, as in minerals. the opinion of boccone, who attributed them to an unctuous matter performing the function of seed, and acquiring extension by apposition of similar parts; and that of morison, who conceived that they grew spontaneously out of the earth by a certain mixture of salt and sulphur, joined with oils from the dung of quadrupeds; have now no longer any adherents. fungi are produced, they live, they grow by development; they are exposed to those vicissitudes natural to the different periods of life which characterize living substances; they perish and die; they extract, from the extremity of their vessels, the juices with which they are nourished; they elaborate and assimilate them to their own substance: they are, therefore, organized and living beings, and consequently belong to the vegetable kingdom. but whether they are real plants, or only the production of plants, is still a matter in dispute with the ablest naturalists. some ancient authors have pretended to discover the seed of mushrooms; but the opinion was never generally received. petronius, when he is laughing at the ridiculous magnificence of his hero trimalcio, relates, that he had written to the indies for the seed of morelle. these productions were generally attributed to the superfluous humidity of rotten wood, or other putrid substances. the opinion took its rise from observing that they grew most copiously in rainy weather. such was the opinion of trajus, king of bauhin, and even of columna, who, talking of the _peziza_, says, that its substance was more solid and harder, because it did not originate from rotten wood, but from the pituita of the earth. it is not surprising, that, in times when the want of experiment and observation made people believe that insects could be generated by putrefaction, we should find the opinion general, that fungi owed their origin to the putrescence of bodies, or to a viscous humour analogous to putridity. malpighi could not satisfy himself as to the existence of seeds, which other botanists have pretended to discover. he only says, that these plants must have them, or that they perpetuate themselves, and shoot by fragments. micheli, among the moderns, appears to have employed himself most successfully on this subject. he imagined, that he not only saw the seeds, but even the stamina, as well as the little transparent bodies destined to favour the dissemination and fecundation of these seeds. before this author, lister thought he perceived seeds in the _fungus perosus crassus magnus_ of john bauhin: the little round bodies that are found in the pezizæ and belvellæ, at that time, passed for seeds; which did not appear at all probable to marsigli, considering that the eye, when assisted with the very best microscopes, could perceive nothing similar in much larger fungi. indeed, these bodies may be the capsules or covers of the seeds, if they are not the seeds themselves. however this may be, marsigli, observing that fungi were often without roots or branches, and that they wanted flowers and seeds, the means which nature employs for the production of perfect plants, thought himself warranted in doubting whether these beings could be ranked in the number of vegetables. the doubts of marsigli prompted him to observe the formation of fungi. their matrix he called _situs_: he imagined they grew in places where they met with an unctuous matter, composed of oil mixed with nitrous salt, which, by fermentation, produced heat and moisture, and insinuated itself between the fibres of wood; that is, he imagined them the production of a viscous and putrescent humour. lancisi, in like manner, considered fungi as owing their existence to the putrefaction of vegetables, and supposed them a disease in the plants; but he imagined "that the fibres of the trees were necessary to their production," as is the case in the formation of galls; and compared them to the warts and other excrescences of the human body. he added, that such fungous vegetable tumors must necessarily assume various forms and figures, from the fluids which distend the tubes and vessels relaxed by putrescence, from the ductility of the fibres and their direction, and from the action of the air. this opinion has been refuted by the celebrated naturalist m. de jussieu, in the memoirs of the academy of sciences for . he maintains, that the fungi have a great analogy with the lichen, which is allowed to be a vegetable; that, like the lichen, they are divested of stalks, branches, and leaves; that, like it, they grow and are nourished upon the trunks of trees, on pieces of rotten wood, and on all sorts of putrid vegetables; that they resemble the lichen too in the rapidity of their growth, and the facility with which many of them may be dried, and restored to their former figure upon being immersed in water; and lastly, that there is a great similarity in the manner in which their seeds are produced. he affirms, that only the warts and excrescences which grow on animal bodies, and the knots and other tumors that are to be found on trees, can be compared with each other; for they are composed equally of the solid and liquid substance of the plant or animal on which they grow; whereas, the matter of the fungi is not only quite distinct from that of the plants on which they are found, but often entirely similar to the substance of those that spring immediately from the earth. the organization (says m. de jussieu) which distinguishes plants and other productions of nature, is visible in the fungi, and the particular organization of each species is constant at all times, and in all places; a circumstance which could not happen, if there were not an animal reproduction of species, and consequently a multiplication and propagation by seed. this is not, he says, an imaginary supposition, for the seeds may be felt like meal upon mushrooms with gills, especially when they begin to decay; they may be seen with a magnifying glass, in those that have gills with black margins: and, lastly, says he, botanists can have no doubt that fungi are a distinct class of plants; because, by comparing the observations made in different countries, with the figures and descriptions of such as have been engraved, the same genera and the same species are every where found. notwithstanding this refutation by m. de jussieu, another naturalist, m. de necker, has lately maintained, in his _mycitologia_, that the fungi ought to be excluded from the three kingdoms of nature, and be considered as intermediate beings. he has observed, like marsigli, the matrix of the fungi; and has substituted the word _carchte_ (initium faciens) instead of _situs_; imagining that the rudiment of the fungus cannot exist beyond that point in which the development of the filaments of fibrous roots is perceived. he allows, that fungi are nourished and grow like vegetables; but he thinks that they differ very much from them in respect of their origin, structure, nutrition, and rapidity of growth. he says, that the various vessels which compose the organization of vegetables, are not to be found in the fungi, and that they seem entirely composed of cellular substance and bark; so that this simple organization is nothing more than an aggregation of vessels endowed with a common nature, that suck up the moisture in the manner of a sponge; with this difference, that the moisture is assimilated into a part of the fungus, and not merely imbibed for nutrition. lastly, that the fructification, the only essential part of a vegetable, and which distinguishes it from all other organized bodies, being wanting, fungi cannot be considered as plants. this, he thinks, is confirmed by the constant observation of those people who gather the morelle and the mushroom, and who never find them in the same spots where they had formerly grown. as the generation of fungi (says m. necker) is always performed when the parenchymatous cellular substance has changed its nature, form, and function, we must conclude that it is the degeneration of that part which produces these bodies. but if fungi were owing merely to the degeneration of plants, they would be still better entitled to constitute a new kingdom. they would then be a decomposition, not a new formation, or new bodies. besides, we cannot deny, that in those bodies which form the limit between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the organization becomes simple, as the organs destined for nutrition are multiplied; but, as the last in the class of insects belongs to the animal kingdom, fungi ought, notwithstanding the simplicity of their organization, still to belong to the vegetable kingdom. the parenchymatous, or cellular substance, which, as m. bonnet says, is universally extended, embraces the whole fibrous system, and becomes the principal instrument of growth, must naturally be more abundant in those productions; and this accounts for the rapidity of their enlargement. besides, growth, whether slow or rapid, never was employed to determine the presence or absence of the vegetable or animal character. the _draba verma_, which, in a few weeks, shoots, and puts forth its leaves, flowers, and fruit, is not less a plant than the palm. the insect that exists but for a day, is as much an animal, as the elephant that lives for centuries. as to the seeds of the fungi, it is probable that nature meant to withdraw from our eyes the dissemination of these plants, by making the seeds almost imperceptible; and it is likewise probable, that naturalists have seen nothing but their capsules. since, however, from the imperfection of our senses, we are unable to perceive these seeds, because those bodies which have been called their seeds, and the fragments or cuttings of the plants themselves, have not produced others of the same species; nature seems to have reserved for herself the care of disseminating certain plants: it is in vain, for instance, that the botanist sows the dust found in the capsules of the orchis, though every one allows it to be the seed. but, after all, what are those parts in the fungi casually observed by naturalists, and which they have taken for the parts of fructification? these are quite distinct from the other parts; and whatever may be their use, they cannot have been formed by the prolongation of the cellular substance, or of the fibres of the tree on which the fungus grows: they are, therefore, owing, like flower and fruit, to the proper organization of the plant. the plants, however, have a particular existence, independent of their putrefying nidus. the gills of certain fungi, which differ essentially from the rest of the plant in their conformation, would be sufficient to authorize this latter opinion. but can putrefaction create an organic substance? nature undoubtedly disseminates through the air, and over the surface of the earth, innumerable seeds of fungi, as well as eggs of insects. the plant and the animal are excluded, when the nidus, in which they are deposited, or the temperature, is favourable for their development. no fortuitous concourse, either of atoms or fluids, could produce bodies so exquisitely and so regularly organized. it is sufficient, to throw one's eye on the beautiful plates which schoeffer has published of them, and compare them, by the glass, with the warts and other excrescences of animals, to be convinced that they have not the same origin. the function of the cellular substance in vegetables must be greatly superior to that in animals, if it could produce any thing but deformities. the greater part of fungi exhibit a configuration much too regular, constant, and uniform, to be the effect of chance or putrefaction. as this form is preserved the same in all places where fungi have been found, it follows, that they contain in themselves the principles of reproduction. they resemble the misletoe, and other parasitic plants, which are perfectly distinct from the trees on which they grow. the fungi, therefore, are organized and living substances,--or true plants. chap. xxxvii. curiosities respecting stones. _the meteoric stone--labrador stone--asbestos--mushroom stone--the changeable stone--a wonderful diamond--a singular curiosity._ there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy. _shakspeare._ the meteoric stone. the following description of a meteoric stone, which fell in the year , is taken from a set of observations on natural history, meteorology, &c. made in the early part of the sixteenth century, by andrea da prato, of milan. these have not been published; but various copies of them exist. they have been commented upon by dr. louis rossi, in the _giomale di fisica, chemica, &c._ from whence this description is taken.--"on the th of september, , at the second hour of the night, and also at the seventh, there appeared in the air, at milan, a running fire, with such splendour, that, the day seemed to have returned; and some persons beheld the appearance of a large head, which caused great wonder and fear in the city. the same thing happened on the following night at the ninth hour. a few days after, beyond the river adela, there fell from heaven many stones, which being collected at cremasco (crema), were found to weigh eight, and even eleven pounds each. their colour was similar to that of burnt stones."--dr. bossi considers this as an authentic description of the fall of an aërolite. the labrador stone, is a curious species of feld-spar, or rhombic quartz, which exhibits all the colours of a peacock's tail. it was discovered some years ago by the moravians, who have a colony among the esquimaux, in labrador. it is found of a light or deep gray colour, but for the most part of a blackish gray. when held in the light in various positions, it discovers a diversity of colours, such as the blue of lapis lazuli, grass-green, apple-green, pea-green, and sometimes, but more seldom, a citron yellow. sometimes it has a colour between that of red copper and tornbuck-gray; at other times the colours are between gray and violet. for the most part, these colours are in spots, but sometimes in stripes on the same piece. the stones are found in pretty large angular pieces, appear foliated when broken, and the fragments are of a rhomboidal figure. we shall next introduce the asbestos.--this is a stone found in several places in europe and asia, and particularly in sweden, corsica, cornwall, and the island of anglesea in wales. it is of a silky nature, very fine, and of a grayish colour, insipid, and indissoluble in water. it may be split into threads and filaments, from one to ten inches in length. it is indestructible by fire; whence it may be employed for many useful purposes. there are some sorts whose filaments are rigid and brittle, and others more flexible. the former cannot be spun into cloth, and the latter with difficulty. in consequence of its incombustibility, it was very much valued by the ancients for wrapping up the bodies of the dead. in the year , an urn was discovered at rome, with the bones of a human body wrapped in a cloth made of flexible asbestos. the method of preparing it is as follows: the stone is laid to soak in warm water, then opened and divided by the hands, that the earthy matter may be washed out. this earth is white like chalk, and makes the water thick and milky. this being several times repeated, the filaments are afterwards collected and dried: they are commodiously spun with flax. when the cloth is woven, it is best preserved by oil from breaking. it is then put into the fire; and the flax being burnt out, the cloth remains pure and white. it might also be made into paper; and, from its incombustibility, wills, or any other thing of importance, could be written on it. the chinese make furnaces of this mineral, which are very portable. the mushroom stone, or stone capable of producing mushrooms.--in the ephemerides of the curious mention is made, of a stone, so called by dr. j. g. wolckamerus, who saw one in italy, which never ceases to produce, in a few days, mushrooms of an excellent flavour, by the most simple and easy process imaginable. "it is (says he) of the bigness of an ox's head, rough and uneven on its surface, and on which are also perceived some clefts and crevices. it is black in some parts, and in others of a lighter and grayish colour. internally it is porous, and nearly of the nature of pumice stone, but much heavier; and it contains a small piece of flint, which is so incorporated with it as to appear to have been formed at the same time the stone itself received its form. this gives room to judge, that these stones have been produced by a fat and viscid juice, which has the property of indurating whatever matter it filtrates into. the stone, when lightly covered with earth, and sprinkled with warm water, produces mushrooms of an exquisite flavour, which are usually round, sometimes oval, and whose borders, by their inflections and different curvities, represent in some measure human ears. the principal colour of these mushrooms is sometimes yellowish, and sometimes of a bright purple, but they are always diversified with spots of a deep orange colour, or reddish brown; and when these spots are recent, and still in full bloom, they produce a very agreeable effect to the sight. but what appears admirable is, that the part of the stalk which remains adhering to the stone when the mushroom has been separated from it, grows gradually hard, and petrifies in time; so that it seems that this fungus restores to the stone the nutritive juice it received from it, and that it thus contributes to its increase." john baptist porta says, that this stone is found in several parts of italy; and that it is not only to be met with at naples, taken out of mount vesuvius, but also on mount pantherico, in the principality of arellino; on mount garganus, in apulia; and on the summit of some other high mountains. as to the form of these mushrooms, their root is strong, uneven, divided according to its longitudinal direction, and composed of fibres as fine as hairs, interwoven one with another. their form, on first shooting out, resembles a small bladder, scarcely larger than the bud of a vine; and if in this state they are squeezed between the fingers, an aqueous subacid liquor issues out. when at their full growth, their pedicle is of a finger's length, larger at top than at bottom, and becomes insensibly slenderer in proportion as it is nearer the earth. these mushrooms are also formed in an umbrella shape, and variegated with an infinity of little specks, situated very near one another. they are smooth and even on the upper part, but underneath leafy, like the common mushrooms. their taste is likewise very agreeable, and the sick are not debarred from eating them when dressed in a proper manner.--some naturalists and physicians submitted these stones to chemical analysis, in order to be more competent judges of the uses they might be put to in medicine; when there first came forth, by distillation, an insipid water, and afterwards a spirituous liquor. the retort having been heated to a certain point, there arose an oil, which had nearly the smell and taste of that of guaiacum; and a very acid salt was extracted from the ashes. we must not omit the changeable stone.--there are three of these remarkable stones in the british museum; the largest of them about the size of a cherry-stone, but of an oval form. it is opaque, and coloured like a common yellow pea; it may be scratched, though not without difficulty, by a common knife, notwithstanding which, it seems to leave a mark upon glass. it does not ferment with nitrous acid. when it has lain some hours in water, it becomes transparent, and of a yellow amber colour. the change begins soon after the immersion, and at one end, in form of a little shot; but in a small one of the same kind, the transparency begins round the edges. by degrees the spot increases, until the whole stone becomes uniformly clear throughout: when out of the water it loses its transparency, first at one end, and then gradually over the remainder, until the whole has become opaque, which change happens in less than it takes to become transparent. this change is not entirely peculiar to the hydrophanes. bergman informs us, that some steatites produce the same effect; and m. magellan, that the crust of chalcedonies and agates frequently produce the same appearance. messrs. buckman and veltheim were the first who particularly inquired into the nature of this stone, and investigated its properties. their account is as follows:--"as soon as the stone is put into water, it exhales a musty smell, several air-bubbles arise, and it becomes gradually transparent. some of the stones become colourless as soon as they are thoroughly transparent; others have a more or less deep yellow colour, some acquire a beautiful ruby colour; and others gain a fine colour of mother-of-pearl, or of a bluish opal. whatever be the colour of the liquor in which the hydrophanes is immersed, it gains only its usual degree of transparency with the colour peculiar to it. when we look at it in its moist state, we perceive a luminous point, varying its situation as the position of the eye is altered." this luminous point is not, according to mr. bruckman, the immediate image of the sun, but a reflection of that image refracted in the substance of the stone itself; a phenomenon which probably gave rise to its name of oculus mundi. mr. bruckman left a piece of this stone, weighing grains, seven hours in water, the space requisite to make it perfectly transparent; and in that time he found that it had gained three grains in weight. the hydrophanes becomes much sooner transparent when put into hot water; and the same happens if it be dipped in a very dilute acid, or rather a very dilute solution of alkali. when dipped in oil of vitriol, it becomes very quickly transparent, and will continue so on account of the strong attraction of that acid for moisture, which takes as much from the atmosphere as is necessary to keep the stone transparent; but its opacity will return, if it be dipped in an alkaline liquor, and then dried. an account of a wonderful diamond, in the island of bornou.--the rajah of mathan possesses the finest and largest diamond in the world, that has hitherto been discovered. this diamond, which is said to be of the finest water, weighs carats. the celebrated pitt diamond weighs only carats. the mathan diamond is shaped like an egg, with an indented hollow near the smaller end. it was discovered at landak, about ninety years ago; and though the possession of it has occasioned numerous wars, it has been about eighty years in the possession of the mathan family. many years ago, the governor of batavia sent a mr. stuvart to ascertain the weight, quality, and value of this diamond, and to endeavour to purchase it; and in his mission, he was accompanied by the sultan of pontiana. after examining it, mr. stuvart offered , dollars for the diamond, the sum to which he was limited; and, in addition to this sum, two war-brigs, with their guns and ammunition, together with a certain number of great guns, and a quantity of powder and shot. the rajah, however, refused to deprive his family of so valuable an hereditary possession, to which the malays attach the miraculous power of curing all kinds of diseases, by means of the water in which it is dipped, and with which they imagine the fortune of the family is connected. we shall close our department of remarkable stones, with the following account of a singular curiosity.--mr. sloughton, the spanish consul at boston, in north america, has in his possession a flint pebble, obtained amongst ballast stone, thrown from a vessel at an eastern port. when broken, it presented two half heads in profile; all the outlines of feature and hair were perfectly distinct, and the heads were of a darker colour than the rest of the stone. what is most surprising is, that the one face was male and the other female; and even the putting up of the hair was appropriate to the sexes: they were situated, in the stone, face to face. chap. xxxviii. curiosities respecting mountains. _natural description of mountains--the peak in derbyshire--snowden in wales--skiddaw in cumberland._ --------sublime the uplifted mountains rise, and with their pointed heads invade the skies; while the high cliffs their craggy arms extend, distinguish states, and sever'd realms defend. _blackmore._ natural description of mountains. almost all the tops of the highest mountains are bare and pointed; which proceeds from their being continually assaulted by storms and tempests. all the earthy substances with which they might have been once covered, have for ages been washed away from their summits; and nothing is left but immense rocks, which no tempest has hitherto been able to destroy. nevertheless, time is every day making depredations, and huge fragments are seen tumbling down the precipices, either loosened from their summits by the rains and frost, or struck down by lightning. nothing can exhibit a more terrible picture than one of these enormous masses, commonly larger than a house, falling from its height, and rolling down the side of the mountain with a noise louder than thunder. dr. plot tells us of one in particular, which being loosened from its bed, rolled down the precipice, and was partly shattered into a thousand pieces. one of the largest fragments, however, still preserving its motion, travelled over the plain below, crossed a rivulet in the midst, and at last stopped on the other side of the bank! these fragments are often struck off by lightning, and sometimes undermined by rains; but the most usual manner in which they are disunited from the mountain is by frost: the rains first insinuate and find their way between the interstices of the mountain, and continue there until by the intense cold they are converted into ice, when the water swells with an irresistible force, and produces the same effect as gunpowder, splitting the most solid rocks, and thus shattering their summits. sometimes whole mountains are, by various causes, disunited from each other. in many parts of the alps, there are amazing clefts, the sides of which so exactly correspond with the opposite, that no doubt can be entertained of their having been once joined. at cajeta, in italy, a mountain was split in this manner by an earthquake; and there is a passage opened through it, that appears as if done by the industry of man. in the andes these breaches are often seen. that at thermopylæ in greece has been long famous. the mountain of the troglodytes in arabia has thus a passage through it; and that in the late duchy of savoy, which nature began, and which victor amadeus completed, is an instance of the same kind. "in june, , a part of the mountain of diableret, in the district of valais, in france, suddenly fell down, between two and three p. m. the weather being very calm and serene. this mountain, which was of a conical figure, destroyed fifty-five cottages in its fall. fifteen persons, with about one hundred beasts, were also crushed beneath its ruins, which covered an extent of ground of a league square. the dust it occasioned instantly enveloped all the neighbourhood in darkness. the heaps of rubbish were more than three hundred feet high. they stopped the current of a river that ran along the plain, which now is formed into several new and deep lakes. there appeared, through the whole of this rubbish, none of those substances that seemed to indicate that this catastrophe had been occasioned by means of subterraneous fires. most probably, the base of this rocky mountain had been decomposing through the lapse of many ages, and thus fell without any extraneous violence." in , the town of fleurs, in france, was buried beneath a rocky mountain, at the foot of which it was situated. such accidents are produced by various causes: by earthquakes; by being decayed at the bottom; or by the foundation of one part of the mountain being hollowed by waters, and, thus wanting a support, breaking from the other. thus it generally has been found in the great chasms in the alps; and it is almost always the case in those disruptions of hills, called land-slips: these are nothing more than the sliding down of a higher piece of ground, driven from its situation by subterraneous inundations, and settling upon the plain below. there is not an appearance in nature that so much astonished our ancestors as these land-slips. to behold a large upland, with its houses, corn, and cattle, at once loosened from its place, and floating as it were upon the subjacent water,--to see it quitting its ancient situation, and sailing forward like a ship,--is certainly one of the most extraordinary appearances that can be imagined, and, to a people ignorant of the powers of nature, might well be considered as a prodigy. accordingly, we find all our old historians mentioning it as an omen of approaching calamities. in this more enlightened age, however, its cause is well known; and, instead of exciting ominous apprehensions in the populace, it only gives rise to some very ridiculous law-suits among the several claimants, whose the property thus divided from its kindred soil shall be; whether the land shall belong to the original possessor, or to him upon whose grounds it has encroached and settled. in the lands of hatberg, in ireland, there stood a declivity gradually ascending for nearly half a mile. on the th of march, , the inhabitants perceived a crack on its side, like a furrow made with a plough, which they imputed to the effects of lightning, as there had been a thunder-storm the night before. however, on the evening of the same day, they were surprised to hear a hideous confused noise issuing all around from the side of the hill; and their curiosity being awakened, they resorted to the place. there, to their amazement, they found an extent of ground, of nearly five acres, all in gentle motion, and sliding down the hill upon the subjacent plain. this motion, together with the noise, continued the remaining part of the day, and the whole of the following night; the noise proceeding, probably, from the attrition of the ground beneath. the day following, this strange journey down the hill ceased; and above an acre of the meadow below was found covered with what before composed a part of the declivity. but such tremendous land-slips, when a whole mountain's side descends, happen very rarely. there are some of another kind, however, much more common; and as they are always sudden, much more dangerous. these are snow-slips, or avalanches, well known, and greatly dreaded by travellers. they are justly described in the following beautiful lines of one of our poets:-- by an hundred winters piled, where the glaciers, dark with death, hang o'er precipices wild, hang suspended by a breath. if a pulse but throb alarm, headlong down the steeps they fall; for a pulse will break the charm, bounding, bursting, burying all. it often happens, that when snow has long been accumulated on the tops and on the sides of mountains, it is borne down the precipice either by tempests, or by its own melting. at first, when loosened, the volume in motion is but small, but it gathers as it continues to roll; and by the time it has reached the habitable parts of the mountain, it is generally grown to an enormous bulk. wherever it rolls, it levels all things in its way, or buries them in unavoidable destruction. instead of rolling, it sometimes is found to slide along from the top; yet even thus, it is generally fatal. nevertheless, we had an instance a few years ago, of a small family in germany, that lived for above a fortnight under one of these snow-slips. although they were buried during the whole of that time in utter darkness, and under a bed of some hundreds of feet deep, yet they were providentially taken out alive; the weight of the snow being supported by a beam that kept up the roof, and nourishment supplied to them by the milk of a she-goat, that was buried under the same ruin. a description of the peak in derbyshire, from moritz's travels in several parts of england. having arrived in derbyshire, a distance of miles from london, the author thus describes the town of castleton, in which the peak is situated:-- "i ascended one of the highest hills, and all at once perceived a beautiful vale below me, which was traversed by rivers and brooks, and inclosed on all sides by hills. in this vale lies castleton, a small town, with low houses; so named from an old castle, whose ruins are still to be seen here. "a narrow path, which wound itself down the side of the rock, led me through the vale into the street of castleton, where i found an inn, and dined. after dinner, i made the best of my way to the cavern. "a little rivulet, which runs through the middle of the town, led me to its entrance. "i stood here a few moments, full of wonder and astonishment at the amazing height of the steep rock before me, covered on each side with ivy and other shrubs. at its summit are the decayed walls and towers of an ancient castle, which formerly stood on this rock; and at its foot the monstrous aperture, or mouth to the entrance of the cavern; where it is totally dark, even at mid-day. "as i was standing here full of admiration, i perceived at the entrance of the cavern, a man of a rude and rough appearance, who asked me if i washed to see the peak; and an echo strongly reverberated his coarse voice. "answering him in the affirmative, he next inquired if i should want to be carried to the other side of the stream; telling me at the same time what the sum would be which i must pay for it. "this man had, along with his black stringy hair, and his dirty and tattered clothes, such a singularly wild and infernal look, that he actually struck me as a real charon: his voice, and the questions he asked me, were not of a kind to remove this notion; so that far from its requiring any effort of imagination, i found it not easy to avoid believing, that at length i had actually reached avernus,--was about to cross acheron,--and to be ferried by charon! "i had no sooner agreed to his demand, than he told me, all i had to do was boldly to follow him,--and thus we entered the cavern. "in the entrance of the cavern lay the trunk of a tree that had been cut down, on which several of the boys of the town were playing. "our way seemed to be altogether on a descent, though not steep; so that the light, which came in at the mouth of the cavern near the entrance, gradually forsook it; and when we had gone forward a few steps farther, i was astonished by a sight, which, of all others, i here the least expected: i perceived to the right, in the hollow of the cavern, a whole subterranean village, where the inhabitants, on account of its being sunday, were resting from their work, and with happy and cheerful looks were sitting at the doors of their huts along with their children. "we had scarcely passed these small subterranean houses, when i perceived a number of large wheels, on which on weekdays these human moles, the inhabitants of the cavern, made ropes. "i fancied i here saw the wheel of ixion, and the incessant labour of the danaïdes. "the opening through which the light came, seemed, as we descended, every moment to become less and less, and the darkness at every step to increase, till at length only a few rays appeared, as if darting through a crevice, and just tingeing the small clouds of smoke which at dusk raised themselves to the mouth of the cavern. "this gradual increase of darkness awakens in a contemplative mind a soft melancholy. as you go down the gentle descent of the cavern, you can hardly help fancying the moment is come when you are about to bid a final farewell to the abodes of mortals. "at length the great cavern in the rock closed itself, in the same manner as heaven and earth seem to join in the horizon. we then approached a little door, where an old woman came out of one of the huts, and brought two candles, of which we each took one. "my guide now opened the door, which completely shut out the faint glimmering of daylight, which till then it was still possible to perceive, and led us to the inmost centre of this dreary temple of old chaos and night, as if till now we had only been traversing the outer coasts of their dominions. the rock was here so low that we were obliged to stoop very much for some few steps, in order to get through; but how great was my astonishment, when we had passed this narrow passage, and again stood upright, at once to perceive, as well as the feeble light of the candles would permit, the amazing length, breadth, and height of the cavern, compared to which, the monstrous opening through which we had already passed was nothing. "after we had wandered here more than an hour, as beneath a dark and dusky sky, on a level sandy soil, the rock gradually lowered itself, and we suddenly found ourselves on the edge of a broad river, which, from the glimmering of our candles amid the total darkness, suggested a variety of interesting reflections. to the side of this river a small boat was moored, with some straw in its bottom. into this vehicle my guide desired me to step, and lay myself down in it quite flat, because, as he said, towards the middle of the river the rock would almost touch the water. "when i had laid myself down as directed, he himself jumped into the water, and drew the boat after him. all around us was one still, solemn, and deadly silence; and as the boat advanced, the rock seemed to stoop, and come nearer and nearer to us, till at length it nearly touched my face; and, as i lay, i could hardly hold the candle upright. i seemed to myself to be in a coffin rather than in a boat, as i had no room to stir hand or foot till we had passed this frightful strait, and the rock rose again on the other side,--where my guide once more handed me ashore. "the cavern was now become all at once broad and high, and then suddenly it was again low and narrow. i observed on both sides, as we passed along, a prodigious number of great and small petrified plants and animals; but these we could not examine, unless we had been disposed to spend some days in the cavern. "and thus we arrived at the opposite side, at the second river or stream, which, however, was not so broad as the first, as one may see across it to the other side: over this stream my guide carried me on his shoulders, because there was here no boat to ferry us. "from thence we only went a few steps farther, when we came to a very small piece of water, which extended itself lengthways, and led us to the end of the cavern. "the path along the edge of this water was wet and slippery, and sometimes so very narrow that i could hardly set one foot before the other. "notwithstanding, i wandered with pleasure on this subterraneous shore, and was regaling myself with the interesting contemplation of all these various wonderful objects, in this land of darkness, and shadow of death,--when, all at once, something like music at a distance sounded in my ears. i instantly stopped, full of astonishment, and eagerly asked my guide what this might mean. he answered, "only have patience, and you shall soon see." but as we advanced, the sounds of harmony seemed to die away, the noise became weaker, and at length it appeared to dwindle into a gentle hissing or hum, like distant drops of falling rain. "it is not difficult to imagine how great was my wonder, when ere long i actually saw and felt a violent shower of rain falling from the rock as from a thick cloud, threatening to extinguish our candles, and leave us in entire darkness. it was this that had caused the melancholy sound which i had heard at a distance, the soft notes of which had been assisted by the distant echo. "to this shower which fell from the ceiling or roof of the cavern through the veins of the rock, the inhabitants had given the name of a mizzling rain. "we continued our march along the sides of the water, and often saw on its banks large apertures of the rock, which seemed to be new or subordinate caverns, all of which we passed without looking into. at length my guide prepared me for one of the finest sights we had yet beheld, and which was now soon to burst on our view. "we had gone but a few paces farther, when we entered what might easily be taken for a majestic temple, with lofty arches, supported by beautiful pillars, formed by the plastic hand of some ingenious artist. "this subterraneous temple, in the structure of which no human hand had borne a part, appeared to me at that moment to surpass all the most stupendous buildings i had ever seen, in point of regularity, magnificence, and beauty. "deeply impressed with awe and reverence at this grand display of the creator's works, my mind became insensibly solemnized; and i felt that it became me silently to adore the author of all, and acknowledge the hand of the divine architect." from the peak in derbyshire, we shall conduct our reader to snowden in wales; to the top of which miss elizabeth smith, a young lady of uncommon attainments, made an excursion, and published an account of her adventure, in nearly the following language. "snowden is the loftiest of the welsh mountains, being feet above the level of the sea. "we set off, about eleven at night, for the foot of snowden, and travelled eight miles through a fine mountainous country, by moon-light. before one, we arrived at a little hut where the guide lives; and after having him called up, and loaded with a basket of bread and milk, and a tin box for specimens, we began our march at a quarter past one. the clouds were gathering over the mountains, and threatening us with either darkness or rain. we however escaped both, and were only amused with every variety they could give the landscape, by hiding or obscuring the moon, and blotting out now one mountain, and now another, from our view; till about two o'clock, when the dawn began to appear, they covered the moon, and we saw her no more. we proceeded by a very easy ascent over boggy ground till half past two, when, coming suddenly to the top of the first range of hills, and meeting with a violent wind which blew from the quarter where the sun was to rise, (for we ascended the mountain on the south west,) mrs. g. s. was frightened, and seeing a very steep ascent before her, said she would sit down and wait our return. my mother said she would stay with her, and i proposed our all going back together; but my mother very kindly insisted on my proceeding. we therefore divided our provisions; the ladies returned to the hut from which they had set out, and i went on with the guide, who could not speak a word of english. we steered our course more towards the south, and toiled up several mountains, in some parts covered with loose stones, which had fallen from their broken summits, but in general overgrown with different sorts of moss, and a kind of short grass, mixed with immense quantities of the _galium pusillum_. i picked up a few other plants, but on the whole was disappointed in the botanical way, as i found very little that i had not before met with on the mountains in this neighbourhood; however, this is not the time of the year (july) for mountain curiosities. i went on as fast as i could, without stopping, except now and then for a moment to look down on the mountains under my feet, as clouds passed over them, thinking each summit i saw before me was the last, and unable to gain any information from my guide to satisfy my impatience, for i wished to be at the top before sun-rise, and pink clouds now began to appear over the steep i was climbing. i also knew that the ladies would be very impatient for my return; nor was i without anxiety on their account, as i was not sure they would find their way back to the hut. these ideas occupied my mind all the way up; and if that deceitful, but comforting lady, hope, had not continually presented to me the range of hills i was ascending as the last step in ambition's ladder, i am not sure that, with all my eagerness to get on the top, i should not have returned back. "i was debating this point very earnestly with myself, in ascending an almost perpendicular green slope, when, on a sudden, i saw at my feet an immense chasm, all in darkness, and of a depth i cannot guess, certainly not less than a hundred feet; i should suppose much more. it answers in some respects to the idea i have formed of the crater of a violent valcano, but evidently is not that, as there is no mark of fire, the rock being composed, as it is in general throughout this country, of a sort of slate. nor does the mountain appear to have been thrown down, but the pit to have sunk in; which must probably has been occasioned by subterranean waters, as there is water at the bottom of the pit, and the mountain is full of springs. you think now you are at the top, but you are mistaken. i am standing indeed at the top of the abyss, but with a high rocky peak on each side of me, and descending almost perpendicularly into the lake at the bottom. i have been taking a rough sketch of one of these peaks, with the lake in the deepest shadow; i am turning over my paper, which the wind renders very difficult, in order to draw another; i look up, and the upper part illuminated by a beautiful rose-coloured light, while the opposite part still casts a dark shade over its base, and conceals the sun from my view. if i were ready to jump into the pit with delight at first seeing it, my ecstasy now was still greater. the guide seemed quite delighted to see me so much pleased, and took care, in descending, to lead me to the edge of every precipice, which he had not done in going up. i, however, presently recollected, that i was in a great hurry to get back, and set off along the brink of the cavity for the highest peak, where i arrived at a quarter past four, and saw a view, of which it is impossible to form any idea from description. for many miles around, it was composed of tops of high mountains, of all the various forms that can be imagined: some appeared swimming in an ocean of vapour; on others, the clouds lay like a cap of snow, appearing as soft as down. they were all far below snowden, and i was enjoying the finest blue sky, and the purest air i ever breathed. the whole prospect was bounded by the sea, except to the east and south-east, and the greatest part of the lands in those parts were blotted out by clouds. the sun, however, rose so far toward the north-east, as to be still hanging over the sea. i took a sketch of a small part of the mountains, with some of the little lakes which appear at their feet,--sat down, for the first time, on a circle of stones which is built on the top of the hill,--and made great havock in the bread and milk, in which achievement the guide equalled, if not surpassed me,--and at half past four, almost frozen, i began to descend. my anxiety about my friends increased, as i came near the spot where i had left them; i made all possible haste, and found them safe in the hut, at ten minutes past six. it certainly would have been pleasanter to have had more time, and some one to enjoy the expedition with me; but i am delighted that i have been, and would not for any thing give up the recollection of the sublime scene." we shall close this chapter with an account of skiddaw.--this is a mountain of england, in cumberland, one of the most remarkable in the kingdom, being above feet in perpendicular height, from the surface of the derwent-water, which lake is far distant from the sea, and high above its level from this circumstance. skiddaw is reckoned the highest mountain in england. the prospect from its top is very extensive, and, being detached from other mountains, forms a grand object from various points of view. it is easy of access, and the sides are covered with grass. at the top, the atmosphere is uncommonly rare. it is covered with loose brown slate-stone. chap. xxxix. curiosities respecting mountains.--(_continued._) _the andes--pichinca--monte bolea--pausilipo--monte nuovo--spectre of the broken--gauts, or indian appenines--pico--written mountains--athos--sulphur mountains._ ----his proud head the airy mountain hides, among the clouds; his shoulders and his sides, a shady mantle clothes. _denham._ the andes. the andes is a great chain of mountains in south america, which, running from the most northern part of peru, to the straits of magellan, between and miles, are the longest and most remarkable in the world. the spaniards call them the _cordilleras de los andes_: they form two ridges; the lowermost of which is overspread with woods and groves, and the uppermost covered with everlasting snow. those who have been at the top, affirm that the sky is always serene and bright, the air cold and piercing, and yet so thin that they were scarce able to breathe. when they looked downwards, the country was hid by the clouds that hovered on the mountain's sides. the mountains just mentioned, which have been frequently ascended, are much inferior in height to many others in this enormous chain. the following is the account given of the mountain called pichincha, by don george juan, and don antonio de ulloa, two mathematicians, sent by the kings of france and spain, to make observations in relation to the figure of the earth. these mathematicians suffered extremely, as well from the severity of the cold, as from the impetuosity of the winds, which on these heights blow with incessant violence; difficulties the more painful, as they had been little used to such sensations. thus, in the torrid zone, nearly under the equinoctial line, where it is natural to suppose they had most to fear from the heat, their greatest pain was caused by the excessiveness of the cold. their first scheme, for shelter and lodging in these uncomfortable regions, was to pitch a field-tent for each company: but on pichinca, this could not be done, from the narrowness of the summit; they were therefore obliged to be contented with a hut so small, that the whole of the company could scarcely creep into it. nor will this appear strange, if the reader considers the bad situation and smallness of the place, it being one of the loftiest crags of a rocky mountain, fathoms above the highest desert of pichinca. such was the position of their mansion, when all the other adjacent parts soon became covered with ice and snow. the ascent up this stupendous rock, from the base, or the place where the mules could come to their habitation, was so craggy, as only to be climbed on foot; and to perform it, cost them four hours' continual labour and pain, arising not only from the violent efforts of the body, but the subtilty of the air, which was so thin, and probably overcharged with the lighter respirable gases, as to render respiration difficult. our philosophers generally kept within their hut. indeed, they were obliged to do this, on account of the intenseness of the cold, the violence of the wind, and their being continually involved in so thick a fog, that an object at six or eight paces was hardly discernible. when the mist cleared up, the clouds, by their gravity, moved nearer to the surface of the earth, and on all sides surrounded the mountains to a vast distance, forming no bad representation of the sea, with their rock, like an island, stationed in its centre. when this happened, they heard the horrid noises of the tempests, which then spent their fury on quito and the neighbouring country. they saw the lightnings issue from the clouds, and heard the thunders roll far beneath them; and whilst the lower parts were involved in tempests of thunder and rain, they enjoyed a delightful serenity, the wind was hushed, the sky became clear, and the enlivening rays of the sun moderated the severity of the cold. but their circumstances were very different, when the clouds reascended: their thickness rendered respiration difficult; the snow and hail fell continually; and the wind returned with all its violence; so that it was impossible entirely to overcome the fears of being, together with their hut, blown down the precipice, on the edge of which it was built, or of being buried by the daily accumulations of ice and snow. the wind was often so violent in these regions, that its velocity dazzled the sight, whilst their fears were increased, from the dreadful concussions of the precipice, caused by the all of enormous fragments of rocks. these crashes were the more alarming, as no other noises are heard in such solitary abodes: and during the night, their rest, which they so greatly wanted, was frequently disturbed by these sudden sounds. when the weather was fair near their hut, and the clouds gathered about some of the other mountains which they had selected for their observations, so that they could not make all the use they desired of this interval of good weather, they left their hut, to exercise themselves. sometimes they descended to a small distance; and, at other times, amused themselves with rolling large fragments of rocks down the precipice; and these frequently required the joint strength of them all, though they often saw the same effected by the mere force of the wind. but they always took care, in their excursions, not to go so far out, but that, on the least appearance of the clouds gathering about their cottage, which often happened very suddenly, they could regain their shelter. the door of their hut was fastened with thongs of leather, and on the inside not the smallest crevice was left unstopped; besides which, it was very compactly covered with straw: but, notwithstanding all their care, the wind penetrated through. the days were often little better than the nights; and all the light they enjoyed, was that of a lamp or two, which they kept continually burning. though their hut was small, and crowded with inhabitants, besides the heat of the lamps, yet the intenseness of the cold was such, that every one of them was obliged to have a chafing-dish of coals. these precautions would have rendered the rigour of the climate supportable, had not the imminent danger of perishing, by being blown down the precipice, roused them every time it snowed, to encounter the severity of the outward air, and sally out, with shovels, to force from the roof of their hut, the masses of snow which were gathering on it. nor would it, without this precaution, have been able to support the weight. they were not indeed without servants and indians, but these were so benumbed with the cold, that it was with great difficulty they could get them out of a small tent, where they kept a continual fire. so that, all our artists could obtain from them, was to take their turns in this labour; and even then they went very unwillingly about it, and consequently performed it but slowly. the reader may easily judge what our philosophers suffered from the asperities of such a climate. their feet were swelled, and so tender, that they could not even bear the heat of the fire, and walking was attended with extreme pain. their hands were covered with chilblains; their lips swelled and chopped, so that every motion in speaking drew blood; consequently they were obliged to observe strict taciturnity, and were little disposed to laugh, as, by causing an extension of the lips, it produced such wounds as were very painful for two or three days after. their common food in this inhospitable region was a little rice boiled with some flesh or fowl, procured from quito; and, instead of fluid water, their pot was filled with ice: they had the same resource with regard to what they drank; and while they were eating, every one was obliged to keep his plate over a chafing-dish of coals, to prevent his provisions from freezing. the same was done respecting the water. at first they imagined the drinking of strong liquors would diffuse a heat through the body, and consequently render it less sensible of the painful sharpness of the cold; but, to their surprise, they felt no manner of strength in such liquors, nor were they any greater preservatives against the cold than even common water. it is affirmed, that there are in the andes sixteen volcanoes, or burning mountains, which throw out fire and smoke with a terrible noise. the height of chimborazo, said to be the highest peak of the andes, has been determined by geometrical calculations to be , feet. as all or most rivers have their source in mountains, it is no wonder a great number run down the sides of the andes. some hurry along with a prodigious rapidity, while others form beautiful cascades, or run through holes in rocks, which look like bridges of a stupendous height. there is a public road through the mountains, miles in length, part of which runs from quito to cusco. monte bolea.--this is a hill or mount in the neighbourhood of verona, in the north of italy, celebrated for the uncommon abundance and remarkable variety of the organic remains which it exhibits, as well as for the striking relations these bear to minerals of volcanic origin. this spot has long attracted the attention of philosophic inquirers, and even excited the curiosity of the vulgar. various collections of its petrifactions have been made, and a considerable number of labourers are occasionally employed in digging and preparing specimens. there are many treatises purposely devoted to the description and arrangement of its fossils, to a minute examination of its geognostic relations, and to laborious disquisitions on the manner in which it must have been formed. in the neighbourhood of the mount, and over a great part of the territory of verona, there are seen undoubted products of volcanic eruptions, together with masses of petrified animal and vegetable substances. the hill itself presents a great variety and singular combination of mineral phenomena, of different origin and nature. its greater proportion is composed of an aggregation of organic remains, and seems a cemetery of shells, fishes, marine animals, birds, and quadrupeds. some of its beds consist of a range of certain species possessing a considerable similarity; while in others, animals of the most opposite habits, and inhabiting different regions of the globe, as well as different elements of nature, are strangely brought into contact, and confusedly blended in one heterogeneous mass. shell-fish of the rivers and of the sea, corals, fishes of various kinds, insects, bones of different species of birds, remains of elephants, bears, and other quadrupeds, requiring for their existence different climates, are here united in an extraordinary assemblage. connected with these, we find basaltic columns, scoriæ, lava, and other volcanic productions. these facts lead us to conclude, that this spot has witnessed wonderful revolutions, and that it has been subject, at different periods of its history, or perhaps nearly at the same time, to the dominion of two powerful elements, of which the ravages only are now visible. pausilipo,--which is the next we would speak of, is a celebrated mountain of naples, five miles from puzzoli, famous for its grotto, or rather a subterraneous passage through it, which is near a mile long, about twenty feet broad, and from thirty to forty in height. the gentry who go there to gratify their curiosity, generally drive through it with lighted torches; but the country people find their way with little difficulty, by the light which enters at each end, and by two holes pierced through the mountain from the top, near the middle of the passage. this mountain is rendered an object of still greater fame and veneration, by possessing the tomb of virgil, which is overgrown with ivy, and shadowed with the spreading boughs of an ancient laurel tree. monte nuovo,--is a mountain in the environs of naples, which blocks up the valley of averno. "this mountain (mr. swinburne tells us) arose in : after repeated quakings the earth burst asunder, and made way for a deluge of hot ashes and flames, which rising extremely high, and darkening the atmosphere, fell down again and formed a circular mound four miles in circumference, and one thousand feet high, with a large cup in the middle. the wind rising afterwards, wafted the lighter particles over the country, blasted vegetation, and killed the animals which grazed; the consequence was, that the place was deserted, till don pedro de toledo, viceroy of naples, encouraged the inhabitants by his example to return. "part of monte nuovo is cultivated, but the larger portion of its declivity is wildly overgrown with prickly broom, and rank weeds that emit a very fetid sulphureous smell. the water in the valley is shallow, its inside towards the mountain is clad with shrubs, and the little area at the bottom planted with fig and mulberry trees; a most striking specimen of the amazing vicissitudes that take place in this extraordinary country. i saw no traces of lava, or melted matter, and few stones within. near the foot of this mountain the subterraneous fires act with such immediate power, that even the sand at the bottom of the sea is heated to an intolerable degree." the next object that claims our attention is the spectre of the broken.--a curious phenomenon observed on the _broken_, one of the hartz mountains in hanover, of which the following account is given by m. haree, "on being here, says he, for the thirtieth time, and having procured information respecting the above-mentioned atmospheric phenomenon, i was at length, on the d of may, , so fortunate as to have the pleasure of seeing it for myself; and perhaps a description of it may afford satisfaction to others who visit the broken through curiosity. the sun rose about four o'clock, and the atmosphere being quite serene towards the east, his rays could pass without any obstruction over the heinrichshöhe. "in the s. w. however, towards achtermannshöe, a brisk west wind carried before it thin transparent vapours, which were not yet formed into thick heavy clouds. about a quarter past four i went towards the inn, and looked round to see whether the atmosphere would permit me to have a free prospect to the s. w.; when i observed, at a very great distance, towards achtermannshöhe, a human figure of a monstrous size. a violent gust of wind having almost carried away my hat, i clapped my hand to it, by moving my arm towards my head; and the colossal figure did the same. the pleasure which i felt on this discovery can hardly be described, for i had already walked many a weary step in the hopes of seeing this shadowy image, without being able to gratify my curiosity. i immediately made another movement by bending my body; and the colossal figure before me repeated it. i was desirous of doing the same thing once more,--but my colossus had vanished. "i remained in the same position, waiting to see whether it would return; and in a few minutes it again made its appearance on the achtermannshöhe. i paid my respects to it a second time; and my compliment was returned by a similar inclination of the body, in the figure before me. i then called the landlord of the broken, and having both put ourselves in the same position i had taken alone, we looked towards the achtermannshöhe, but saw nothing. we had not, however, stood long, before two similar colossal figures were formed over the above eminence, which, after repeating the various gesticulations of our bodies, vanished. we, however, still retained our position, keeping our eyes fixed on the same spot, and in a little while the two figures again stood before us, and were joined by a third, who had by this time added himself to our company. every movement that we made by bending our bodies, these figures imitated,--but with this difference, that the phenomenon sometimes was weak and faint, and at others strong and well defined. [illustration: the giant's causeway. a stupendous collection of natural columns of basalt, on the coast of ireland.--page .] [illustration: the spectre of the broken.--page . this wonderful and startling phenomenon is often observed in the hartz mountains in germany.] "having thus had an opportunity of discovering the whole secret of this extraordinary appearance, i can give the following information to such of my readers as may be desirous of seeing it for themselves. when the rising sun, and, according to analogy, the case will be the same when the setting sun throws his rays over the broken, upon the body of a man standing opposite to fine light clouds floating around, or hovering past him, he needs only fix his eyes stedfastly upon them, and in all probability he will see the singular spectacle of his own shadow, extending to the length of five or six hundred feet, at the distance of about two miles before him." it is said, there is, in the manchester transactions, an account of a similar phenomenon observed by dr. ferrier, on a hill in england. the gauts, or indian appenines.--these form a stupendous wall of mountains, which extends from cape comorin, the southern point of the peninsula of hindoostan, to the tapty, or surat river, at unequal distances from the sea coast; it is seldom more than sixty miles, commonly about forty, and in one part approaches within six miles. these mountains rise abruptly from the country of concan, bounding, in the form of a terrace, a vast extent of fertile and populous plains, which are so elevated as to render the air cool and pleasant. the height is supposed to be from to feet. this celebrated ridge does not terminate in a point when it approaches the tapty; but, departing in this place from its meridional course, it bends eastward in a serpentine line, parallel to the river, and is afterwards lost among the hills in the neighbourhood of burrhampour. in its course along the tapty, it forms several passes or descents towards that river, from whence it derives the name of gauts, which means a landing-place. the alternate n. e. and s. w. winds, called monsoons, occasion a rainy season only on one side, viz. on the windward side of these mountains. we would now wish to draw the attention of the reader from the indian appenines, to pico, a mountain which rears its lofty head in an island of the same name.--it is filled with dismal dark caverns, or volcanoes, which frequently emit flame, smoke, and ashes, to a great distance. at the foot of it, towards the east, is a spring of fresh water, which is generally cold, but sometimes is so heated with subterraneous fire, as to rush forth in torrents, with a kind of ebullition like boiling water; equalling that in heat, and sending forth a steam of sulphureous fetid vapours, mixed with liquefied stones, minerals, and flakes of earth, all on fire, in such quantities, and with such violence, as to form a kind of promontory, on the declivity of the coast, and at the distance of paces from the fountain, which is vulgarly called mysterious.--such is the account given by ortelius. written mountains, mountains of inscriptions, or jibbel el mokatteb.--this is a mountain, or chain of mountains, said to be in the wilderness of sinai; and the marble, of which it is composed, is reported to be inscribed to a considerable extent with innumerable characters, reaching from the ground sometimes to the height of twelve or fourteen feet. these were mentioned by a greek author in the third century; but although some of them have been copied by pococke, montague, and other late writers, some have affected to entertain doubts whether even the mountains themselves really exist. the vast number of these inscriptions, the desert place in which they are found, and the length of time requisite for executing the task, induced a notion that they are the work of the israelites during their forty years' wandering in the wilderness. others are of opinion, that they consist merely of the names of travellers, and the dates of their journeys. m. niebuhr, who visited this country in september, , made every attempt in his power, though without success, to obtain a sight of this celebrated mountain. after much vain inquiry, he was at last conducted to some rocks, upon which there were inscriptions in unknown characters. they are most numerous in a narrow pass between two mountains, named _omer-ridstein_; and, says m. niebuhr, "the pretended jibbel el mokatteb, may possibly be in its neighbourhood." some of these inscriptions were copied by our author, but he does not look upon them to be of any consequence. at length, when m. niebuhr arrived at the mountain to which the shiek had promised to conduct him, he found no inscription; but on climbing up to the top, he discovered an egyptian cemetery, the stones of which were covered with hieroglyphics. the tomb-stones were from five to seven feet long, some being erect, and others lying flat; and "the more carefully they are examined, (says he,) the more certainly do they appear to be sepulchral stones, having epitaphs inscribed on them." the translator of volney's travels ascribes these inscriptions to the pilgrims who have visited mount sinai; but they ought surely to have been written in a language which somebody could understand; yet from the copies that have been taken of them by dr. pococke and others, it does not appear that they could be explained by any person. when dr. clayton, bishop of clogher, visited this part of the world, about , he expressed the greatest desire to have the matter concerning these written mountains ascertained, and even made an offer of £ sterling to any literary person, who would undertake the journey, and endeavour to decipher the inscriptions; but no such person appeared. the next object that rises in our view is mount athos,--a mountain of chalcidia in macedonia, equally celebrated in ancient and modern times. the ancients entertained extravagant notions concerning its height. mela affirmed it to be so high as to reach above the clouds, which at that time might have been considered a bold assertion; and martianus capellinus says, that its elevation was six miles. it was a received opinion, that mount athos was above the middle region of the air, and that it never rained upon or near its summit, because the ashes left on the altars there, were always found as they had been left, dry and unscattered. the modern greeks, struck with its singular situation, and the venerable appearance of its towering ascent, erected so many churches, monasteries, hermitages, &c. upon it, that it became in a manner inhabited by a company of religious devotees; and from thence received the name of monte santo, or the holy mountain; which appellation it still retains, though many of those consecrated buildings are now fallen into ruin and decay. according to the accounts of modern travellers, this mountain advances into the archipelago, on the south of the gulf of contessa, and is joined to the continent by an isthmus about half a league in breadth. it is estimated to be thirty miles in circumference, and two in perpendicular height. it may be travelled over in about three days, and is to be seen at the great distance of ninety miles. there is a fine prospect from the top; but, like all other high mountains, the cold on its summit is excessive. it abounds with many different kinds of plants and trees, particularly the pine and fir. in the valleys grows a plant called _elegia_, whose branches serve to make pens for writing. in short, this mountain is said to be adorned with a variety of herbage and evergreens, a multitude of springs and streams, with woods extending almost to the sea shore, which happy combination of circumstances renders it one of the most agreeable places in the world. there are twenty-four large old monasteries upon it, surrounded with high walls, and inhabited by camoyers, a certain description of greek monks. through this mountain, or rather through the isthmus behind it, xerxes king of persia is said to have cut a passage for his fleet, when about to invade greece. in this arduous task he spent three whole years, and employed in it all the forces on board his fleet. he is also said, before the work begun, to have written the following ridiculous letter to the mountain: "athos, thou proud and aspiring mountain, that liftest up thy head to the very skies, i advise thee not to be so audacious, as to put rocks and stones, that cannot be cut, in the way of my workmen. if thou makest that opposition, i will cut thee entirely down, and throw thee headlong into the sea!" the directors of this enterprise are said to have been bubaris, the son of megabysus, and artacheus, the son of arbeus, both persians; but as no traces of such a great work remains, the truth of the whole relation has justly been questioned. this venerable mountain constitutes one entire chain, extending seven miles in length, and three in breadth, and is situated about seventy miles east of salonichi, the ancient thessalonica. we will now accompany sir george mackenzie to the sulphur mountains, in the island of iceland.--"having taken an early breakfast, (says he,) we set out towards the sulphur mountain, which is about three miles distant from krisuvik. at the foot of the mountain was a small bank, composed chiefly of white clay mixed with sulphur, from all parts of which steam issued. ascending it, we got upon a ridge immediately above a deep hollow, from which a profusion of vapour arose, and heard a confused noise of boiling and splashing, joined to the roaring of steam excaping from narrow crevices in the rock. this hollow, together with the whole side of the mountain opposite, as far up as we could see, was covered with sulphur and clay, chiefly of a white or yellowish colour. walking over this soft and steaming surface, we found to be very hazardous, and we were frequently very uneasy when the vapour concealed us from each other. "the day, however, being dry and warm, the surface was not so slippery as to occasion much risk of our falling. the danger of the crust of sulphur breaking, or of the clay sinking with us, was great; and we were several times in imminent peril of being scalded. mr. bright ran at one time a great hazard, and suffered considerable pain from accidentally plunging one of his legs into the hot clay. "from whatever spot the sulphur was removed, steam instantly escaped; and in many places, the sulphur was so hot that we could scarcely handle it. from the smell, we perceived that the steam was mixed with a small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. when the thermometer was sunk a few inches into the clay, it rose generally to within a few degrees of the boiling point. by stepping cautiously, and avoiding every little hole from which steam issued, we soon discovered how far we might venture. our good fortune, however, ought not to tempt any person to examine this wonderful place, without being provided with two boards, with which every part of the banks may be traversed in perfect safety. "at the bottom of this hollow, we found a caldron of boiling mud, about fifteen feet in diameter, similar to that on the top of the mountain, which we had seen the evening before; but this boiled with much more vehemence. we went within a few yards of it, the wind happening to be remarkably favourable for our viewing every part of this singular place. the mud was in constant agitation, and often thrown up to the height of six or eight feet. near this spot was an irregular space, filled with water boiling briskly. at the foot of the hill, is a hollow formed by a bank of clay and sulphur, whence steam rushed with great force and noise from among the loose fragments of rock. "further up the mountain, we met with a spring of cold water, a circumstance little expected in a place like this. ascending still higher, we came to a ridge composed entirely of sulphur and clay, joining two summits of the mountain here we found a much greater quantity of sulphur than on any other part of the surface, over which we had yet gone. it formed a smooth crust, from a quarter of an inch to several inches in thickness. the crust was beautifully crystallized, and immediately beneath it we found a quantity of loose granular sulphur, which appeared to be collecting and crystallizing, as it was sublimed along with the steam. sometimes we met with clay of different colours, white, red, and blue, under the crust; but we could not examine this place to any depth, as, the moment the crust was removed, steam issued, and proved extremely annoying. we found several pieces of wood, which were probably the remains of planks that had been formerly used in collecting the sulphur, small crystals of which partially covered them. "there appeared to be a constant sublimation of this substance; and were artificial chambers constructed for the reception and condensation of vapours, much of it might probably be collected. as it is, there is a large quantity on the surface; and, by searching, there is little doubt that great stores may be found. the inconvenience proceeding from the steam issuing on every side, and from the heat, is certainly considerable; but, by proper precautions, neither would be felt so much as to render the collection of the sulphur a matter of any great difficulty. the chief obstacle to working these mines, is their distance from a port whence the produce could be shipped. but there are so many horses in the country, whose original price is trifling, and whose maintenance during summer costs nothing, that the conveyance of sulphur to reikiavik, presents no difficulties which might not probably be surmounted. "below the ridge on the farther side of this great bed of sulphur, we saw a great deal of vapour escaping with much noise. we crossed to the opposite side of the mountain, and found the surface sufficiently firm to admit of walking cautiously upon it. we had now to make our way towards the principal spring, as it is called; and this was a task of much apparent danger, as the side of the mountain, for the extent of about half a mile, is covered with loose clay, into which our feet sunk at every step. in many places there was a thin crust, below which the clay was wet, and extremely hot. good fortune attended us; and without any serious inconvenience, we reached the object we had in view. a dense column of steam, mixed with a little water, was forcing its way impetuously through a crevice in the rock, at the head of a narrow valley, or break in the mountain. the violence with which it rushes out is so great, that the noise thus occasioned, may often be heard at the distance of several miles; and, during night, while lying in our tent at krisuvik, we more than once listened to it with mingled emotions of awe and astonishment. behind the column of vapour was a dark-coloured rock, which gave it its full effect. "it is quite beyond our power to offer such a description of this extraordinary place, as to convey adequate ideas of its wonders or its terrors. the sensations of a person, even of firm nerves, standing on a support which feebly sustains him, over an abyss, where, literally, fire and brimstone are in dreadful and incessant action,--having before his eyes tremendous proofs of what is going on beneath him,--enveloped in thick vapours,--and his ears stunned with thundering noises; must be experienced before they can be understood." chap. xl. curiosities respecting mountains.--(_continued._) "so pleas'd at first the tow'ring mounts we try, mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky; th' eternal snows appear already past, and the first clouds and mountains seem the last. but, those attain'd, we tremble to survey the growing labours of the lengthen'd way; th' increasing prospect tires our wand'ring eyes, hills peep o'er hills, and mounts on mounts arise." mont blanc, in savoy. narrative of a journey from the village of chamouni, to the summit of mont blanc, undertaken on august , ; by colonel beaufoy. _from the annals of philosophy._-- "the desire of ascending to the highest part of remarkably elevated land is so natural to every man, and the hope of repeating various experiments in the upper regions of the air is so inviting to those who wish well to the interests of science, that, being lately in switzerland, i could not resist the inclination i felt to reach the summit of mont blanc. one of the motives, however, which prompted the attempt, was much weakened by the consideration that i did not possess, and in that country could not obtain, the instruments that were requisite for many of the experiments which i was anxious to make; and the ardour of uncommon curiosity was diminished, when i learned that dr. paecard and his guide, who in the year had reached the supposed inaccessible summit of the hill, were not the only persons who had succeeded in the attempt; for that, five days before my arrival at the foot of the mountain, m. de saussure, a professor in the university of geneva, had gained the top of the ascent. "but while i was informed of the success which had attended the efforts of m. de saussure, i was told of the difficulties and dangers that accompanied the undertaking; and was often assured, with much laborious dissuasion, that, to all the usual obstacles, the lateness of the season would add the perils of those stupendous masses of snow which are often dislodged from the steeps of the mountain, together with the hazard of those frightful chasms which present immeasurable gulfs to the steps of the traveller, and the width of which was hourly increasing. m. bourrët, whose name has often been announced to the world by a variety of tracts, and by many excellent drawings, confirmed the account, and assured me that he himself had made the attempt on the next day to that on which m. de saussure descended, but was obliged, as on many former occasions, to abandon the enterprise. having, however, formed my resolution, i sent to the different cottages of the vale of chamouni, from the skirts of which the mountain takes its rise, to inquire if any of them were willing to go with me as my assistants and guides; and had soon the satisfaction to find that ten were ready to accept the proposal. i engaged them all. having announced to them my intention of setting out the next morning, i divided among them provisions for three days, together with a kettle, a chafing-dish, a quantity of charcoal, a pair of bellows, a couple of blankets, a long rope, a hatchet, and a ladder, which formed the stores that were requisite for the journey. after a night of much solicitude, lest the summit of mont blanc should be covered with clouds, in which case the guides would have refused the undertaking as impracticable, i rose at five in the morning, and saw, with great satisfaction, that the mountain was free from vapour, and that the sky was every where serene. my dress was a white flannel jacket, without any shirt beneath, and white linen trowsers, without drawers. the dress was white, that the sunbeams might be thrown off; and it was loose, that the limbs might be unconfined. besides a pole for walking, i carried with me cramp-irons for the heels of my shoes, by means of which the hold on the frozen snow is firm, and in steep ascents the poise of the body is preserved. "my guides being at length assembled, each with his allotted burden; one of them, a fellow of great bodily strength and vigour of mind, michael cachet by name, who had accompanied m. de saussure, desired to take the lead. we ranged ourselves in a line, and at seven o'clock, in the midst of the wives, and children, and friends, of my companions, and indeed of the whole village of chamouni, we began our march. the end of the first hour brought us to the glacier des boissons, at which place the rapid ascent of the mountain first begins, and from which, pursuing our course along the edge of the rocks that form the eastern side of this frozen lake, we arrived in four hours more at the second glacier, called the glacier de la coté. here, by the side of a stream of water which the melting of the snow had formed, we sat down to a short repast. "to this place the journey is neither remarkably laborious, nor exposed to danger, except that name should be given to the trifling hazard that arises from the stones and loose pieces of the broken rock, which the goats, in leaping from one projection to another, occasionally throw down. our dinner being finished, we fixed our cramp-irons to our shoes, and began to cross the glacier; but we had not proceeded far, when we discovered that the frozen snow, which lay in the ridges between the waves of ice, often concealed, with a covering of uncertain strength, the fathomless chasms which traverse this solid sea; yet the danger was soon in a great degree removed by the expedient of tying ourselves together with our long rope, which being fastened at proper distances to our waists, secured from the principal hazard such as might fall within the opening of the gulf. trusting to the same precaution, we also crossed upon our ladder, without apprehension, such of the chasms as were exposed to view; and, sometimes stopping in the middle of the ladder, looked down in safety upon an abyss which baffled the reach of vision, and from which the sound of the masses of ice that we repeatedly let fall, in no instance ascended to the ear. in some places we were obliged to cut foot-steps with our hatchet; yet, on the whole, the difficulties were far from great, for in two hours and a half we had passed the glacier. "we now, with more ease, and much more expedition, pursued our way, having only snow to cross, and in two hours arrived at a hut which had been erected in the year , by the order, and at the expense, of m. de saussure. the hut was situated on the eastern side of a rock, which had all the appearance of being rotten with age, and which in fact was in a state of such complete decay, that on my return the next evening, i saw scattered on the snow many tons of its fragments, which had fallen in my absence; but the ruin was not on the side on which the hut was built. immediately on our arrival, which was at five in the afternoon, the guides began to empty the hut of its snow, and at seven we sat down to eat; but our stomachs had little relish for food, and felt a particular distaste for wine and spirits. water, which we obtained by melting snow in a kettle, was the only palatable drink. some of the guides complained of a heavy disheartening sickness; and my swiss servant, who had accompanied me at his own request, was seized with excessive vomiting, and the pains of the severest headach. but from these complaints, which apparently arose from the extreme lightness of the air in those elevated regions, i myself and some of the guides were free, except, as before observed, that we had little appetite for food, and a strong aversion to the taste of spirituous liquors. we now prepared for rest; on which two of the guides, preferring the open air, threw themselves down at the entrance of the hut, and slept upon the rock. i too was desirous of sleep; but my thoughts were troubled with the apprehension that, although i had now completed one half of the road, the vapours might collect on the summit of the mountain, and frustrate all my hopes. or if at any time the rest i wished for came, my repose was soon disturbed by the noise of the masses of snow, which were loosened by the wind from the heights around me, and which, accumulating in bulk as they rolled, tumbled at length from the precipices into the vales below, and produced upon the ear the effect of redoubled bursts of thunder. "at two o'clock i threw aside my blankets, and went out of the hut to observe the appearance of the heavens. the stars shone with a lustre that far exceeded the brightness which they exhibit when seen from the usual level; and had so little tremor in their light, as to leave no doubt on my mind, that, if viewed from the summit of the mountain, they would have appeared as fixed points. how improved in those altitudes would be the aids which the telescope gives to vision! indeed, the clearness of the air was such as led me to think that jupiter's satellites might be distinguished by the naked eye; and had he not been in the neighbourhood of the moon, i might possibly have succeeded. he continued distinctly visible for several hours after the sun was risen, and did not wholly disappear till almost eight. "at the time i rose, my thermometer, which was on fahrenheit's scale, and which i had hung on the side of the rock without the hut, was ° below the freezing point. impatient to proceed, and having ordered a large quantity of snow to be melted, i filled a small cask with water for my own use, and at three o'clock we left the hut. our route was across the snow; but the chasms which the ice beneath had formed, though less numerous than those that we had passed on the preceding day, embarrassed our ascent. one in particular had opened so much in the few days that intervened between m. de saussure's expedition and our own, as for the time to bar the hope of any further progress; but at length, after having wandered with much anxiety along its bank, i found a place which i hoped the ladder was sufficiently long to cross. the ladder was accordingly laid down, and was seen to rest upon the opposite edge, but its bearing did not exceed an inch on either side. we now considered that, should we pass the chasm, and should its opening, which had enlarged so much in the course of a few preceding days, increase in the least degree before the time of our descent, no chance of return remained. we also considered that, if the clouds which so often envelop the hill should rise, the hope of finding, amidst the thick fog, our way back to this only place in which the gulf, even in its present state, was passable, was little less than desperate. yet, after a moment's pause, the guides consented to go with me, and we crossed the chasm. "we had not proceeded far, when thirst, which, since our arrival in the upper regions of the air, had been always troublesome, became almost intolerable. no sooner had i drank than the thirst returned, and in a few minutes my throat became perfectly dry. again i had recourse to the water, and again my throat was parched. the air itself was thirsty; its extreme of dryness had robbed my body of its moisture. the guides were equally affected: wine they would not taste, but the moment my back was turned, their mouths were equally applied to my cask of water. yet we continued to proceed till seven o'clock, when, having passed the place where m. de saussure, who was provided with a tent, had slept the second night, we sat down to breakfast. "all this time the thermometer was ° below the freezing point. we were now at the foot of mont blanc itself; for, though it is usual to apply that term to the whole assemblage of several successive mountains, yet the name properly belongs only to a small mountain of a pyramidal form, that rises from a narrow plain, which at all times is covered with snow. here the thinness of the atmosphere began to affect my head with a dull and heavy pain. i also found, to my great surprise, an acute sensation of pain, very different from that of weariness, immediately above my knees. having finished our repast, we pursued our journey, and soon arrived at a chasm which could not have existed many days, for it was not formed at the time of m. de saussure's ascent. misled by this last circumstance, (for we concluded, that as he had seen no rents whatever from the time that he passed the place where he slept the second night, none were likely to be formed,) we had left our ladder about a league behind; but as the chasm was far from wide, we passed it on the poles that we used for walking, an expedient which suggested to me that the length of our ladder might be easily increased by the addition of several poles laid parallel, and fastened to its end; and that the hazard of finding our retreat cut off from the enlargement of the chasms, might by this means be materially diminished. "at this place i had an opportunity of measuring the height of the snow which had fallen during the preceding winter, and which was distinguished by its superior whiteness from that of the former year. i found it to be five feet. the snow of each particular year appeared as a separate stratum; that which was more than a twelvemonth old, was perfect ice, while that of the last winter was fast approaching to a similar state. at length, after a difficult ascent, which lay among precipices, and during which we were often obliged to employ the hatchet in making a footing for our feet, we reached, and reposed ourselves upon, a narrow flat, which is the last of three from the foot of the small mountain, and which, according to m. de saussure, is but fathoms below the level of the summit. upon this platform i found a beautiful dead butterfly, the only appearance which, from the time i entered on the snow, i had seen of any animal. the pernicious effects of the thinness of the air were now evident on us all; a desire, of sleep, almost irresistible, came on; my spirits had left me: sometimes indifferent to the event, i wished to lie down; at others, i blamed myself for the expedition; and, though just at the summit, had thoughts of turning back, without accomplishing my purpose. of my guides, many were in a worse situation; for, exhausted by excessive vomiting, they seemed to have lost all strength, both of mind and body. "but shame at length came to our relief. i drank the last pint of water that was left, and found myself amazingly refreshed, and invigorated for renewed toil. yet the pain in my knees had increased so much, that at the end of every twenty or thirty paces i was obliged to rest till its sharpness was abated. my lungs with difficulty performed their office, and my heart was affected with violent palpitation. at last, however, but with a sort of apathy which scarcely admitted the sense of joy, we reached the summit of this mountain; when six of our guides, and with them my servant, threw themselves on their faces, and were immediately asleep. i envied them their repose, but my anxiety to obtain a good observation for the latitude subdued my wishes for indulgence. the time of my arrival was half an hour after ten, so that the hours which elapsed from our departure from chamouni, were only twenty-seven and a half, ten of which we had passed in the hut. the summit of the hill is formed of snow, which spreads into a sort of plain, which is much wider from east to west than from north to south, and in its greatest width is perhaps thirty yards. the snow is every where hard, and in many places is covered with a sheet of ice. "when the spectator begins to look around him from this elevated height, a confused impression of immensity is the first effect produced upon his mind; but the blue colour of the canopy above him, deep almost to blackness, soon arrests his attention. he next surveys the mountains, many of which, from the clearness of the air, are to his eye within a stone's throw from him; and even those of lombardy (one of which appears of an altitude but little inferior to that of mont blanc) seem to approach his neighbourhood; while those on the other side of the vale of chamouni, glittering with the sunbeams, are to the view directly below his feet, and affect his head with giddiness. on the other hand, all objects, of which the distance is great, and the level low, are hid from his eye by the blue vapour which intervenes, and through which i could not discern the lake of geneva, (at the height of , english feet, which, according to m. de saussure, was the level on which i stood,) though even the mediterranean sea must have been within the line of vision. the air was still, and the day so remarkably fine, that i could not discover in any part of the heavens the appearance of a single cloud. "as the time of the sun passing the meridian now approached, i prepared to take my observation. i had with me an admirable hadley's sextant, and an artificial horizon, and i corrected the mean refraction of the sun's rays. thus i was enabled to ascertain with accuracy, that the latitude of the summit of mont blanc is ° ' " north. "i now proceeded to such other observations as the few instruments which i had brought permitted me to make. at twelve o'clock the mercury in the thermometer stood at ° in the shade; at chamouni, at the same hour, it stood, when in the shade, at °. i tried the effect of a burning-glass on paper, and on a piece of wood, which i had brought with me for the purpose, and found (contrary, i believe, to the generally received opinion,) that its power was much greater than in the lower regions of the air. having continued two hours on the summit of the mountain, i began my descent at half an hour after twelve. i found that, short as my absence had been, many new rents were opened, and that several of those which i had passed in my ascent were considerably wider. in less than six hours we arrived at the hut in which we had slept the evening before, and should have proceeded much further down the mountain, had we not been afraid of passing the glacier de la coté at the close of the day, when the snow, from the effect of the sunbeams, was extremely rotten. our evening's repast being finished, i was soon asleep; but in a few hours i was awakened with a tormenting pain in my face and eyes. my face was one continued blister, and my eyes i was unable to open; nor was i without apprehensions of losing my sight for ever, till my guides told me, that if i had condescended to have taken their advice, of wearing, as they did, a mask of black crape, the accident would not have befallen me, but that a few days would perfectly restore the use of my eyes. after i had bathed them with warm water for half an hour, i found, to my great satisfaction, that i could open them a little; on which i determined upon an instant departure, that i might cross the glacier de la coté before the sun was sufficiently high for its beams to be strongly reflected from the snow. but, unluckily, the sun was already above the horizon; so that the pain of forcing open my eyes in the bright sunshine, in order to avoid the chasms and other hazards of my way, rendered my return more irksome than my ascent. fortunately, one of the guides, soon after i had passed the glacier, picked up in the snow a pair of green spectacles, which m. bourret had lost, and which gave me wonderful relief. "at eleven o'clock of august , after an absence of fifty-two hours, of which twenty were passed in the hut, i returned again to the village of chamouni. from the want of instruments, (the scale of the barometer i had being graduated no lower than twenty inches, which was not sufficiently extended,) the observations i made were but few, yet the effects which the air in the heights i visited produced on the human body, may not perhaps be considered as altogether uninteresting; nor will the proof i made of the power of the lens on the summit of mont blanc, if confirmed by future experiments, be regarded as of no account in the theories of light and heat. at any rate, the having determined the latitude of mont blanc may assist in some particulars the observations of such persons as shall visit it in future; and the knowledge which my journey has afforded, in addition to that which is furnished by m. de saussure, may facilitate the ascent of those who, with proper instruments, may wish to make on that elevated level, experiments in natural philosophy." chap. xli. curiosities respecting mountains.--(_concluded._) _description of vesuvius--hecla--etna._ ----------the fluid lake that works below, bitumen, sulphur, salt, and iron scum, heaves up its boiling tide. the lab'ring mount is torn with agonizing throes. at once, forth from its side disparted, blazing, pours a mighty river, burning in prone waves, that glimmer thro' the night, to yonder plain. divided there, a hundred torrent streams, each ploughing up its bed, roll dreadful on, resistless. villages, and woods, and rocks, fall flat before their sweep. the region round, where myrtle walks, and groves of golden fruit rose fair, where harvest wav'd in all its pride, and where the vineyard spread its purple store, maturing into nectar,--now despoil'd of herb, leaf, fruit, and flow'r, from end to end lies buried under fire, a glowing sea! _mallet._ volcanic mountains. vesuvius,--is a celebrated volcano of italy, six miles east of naples. this mountain has two tops; one only of which goes by the name of vesuvius, the other being now called somma; but sir william hamilton is of opinion, that the latter is what the ancients called vesuvius. the perpendicular height of vesuvius is only three thousand seven hundred feet, though the ascent from the foot to the top is three italian miles. one side of the mountain is well cultivated and fertile, producing great plenty of vines; but the south and west sides are entirely covered with cinders and ashes, while a sulphureous smoke constantly issues from the top, sometimes attended with the most violent explosions of stones, the emission of great streams of lava, and all the other attendants of a most formidable volcano. the first eruption recorded in history, took place in the year ; at which time the two cities of pompeii and herculaneum were entirely buried under the stones and ashes thrown out. incredible mischief was also done to the neighbouring country, and numbers of people lost their lives, among whom was pliny the elder. it is the opinion of the best judges, however, that this eruption was by no means the first that had ever happened: the very streets of those cities which were at that time overwhelmed, are unquestionably paved with lava. since that time thirty different eruptions have been recorded, some of which have been extremely violent. in , a mountain three miles in circumference, and a quarter of a mile in perpendicular height, was thrown up in the course of one night. in , sir william hamilton began to observe the phenomena of this mountain; and since that time the public have been favoured with more exact and authentic accounts of the various changes which have taken place in vesuvius, than were to be obtained before. the first great eruption taken notice of by this gentleman was that of , when vesuvius never ceased for ten years to send forth smoke, nor were there many months in which it did not throw out stones, scoriæ and cinders, which increasing to a certain degree, were usually followed by lava; so that from the year to there were nine eruptions, some of which were very considerable. in the month of august that year, an eruption took place, which, for its extraordinary and terrible appearance, may be reckoned among the most remarkable of any recorded concerning this or any other volcano. during the whole of july, the mountain continued in a state of fermentation. subterraneous explosions and rumbling noises were heard; quantities of smoke were thrown up with great violence, sometimes with red-hot stones, scoriæ, and ashes; and towards the end of the month, these symptoms increased to such a degree, as to exhibit, in the night, the most beautiful fireworks. on thursday the fifth of august, the volcano appeared most violently agitated: a white and sulphureous smoke issued with unceasing impetuosity from its crater, one puff seeming to impel another; so that a mass of vapour was soon accumulated, to all appearance, four times the height and size of the volcano itself. these clouds of smoke were exceedingly white, resembling an immense accumulation of bales of the whitest cotton. in the midst of this very white smoke, vast quantities of stones, scoriæ, and ashes, were thrown up to the height of two thousand feet; and a quantity of liquid lava, seemingly very heavy, was lifted up just high enough to clear the rim of the crater, and take its way down the sides of the mountain. this lava, having run violently for some hours, suddenly ceased, just before it had reached the cultivated parts of the mountain, near four miles from the spot whence it issued. the heat, all this day, was intolerable at the towns of somma and ottaiano; and was sensibly felt at palma and lauri, which are much farther off. reddish ashes fell so thick on the two former, that the air was darkened to such a degree, that objects could not be distinguished at the distance of ten feet. long filaments of a vitrified matter, like spun-glass, were mixed, and fell with these ashes; several birds in cages were suffocated; and the leaves of the trees in the neighbourhood of somma were covered with white and very corrosive salt. about twelve at night, on the seventh, the fermentation of the mountain seemed greatly to increase. our author was watching the motions of the volcano from the mole at naples, which has a full view of it. several awfully fine and picturesque effects had been observed from the reflection of the deep red fire within the crater of vesuvius, and which mounted high amongst those huge clouds on the top of it; when a summer storm, called in that country a _tropea_, came on suddenly, and blended its heavy watery clouds with the sulphureous and mineral ones, which were already, like so many other mountains, piled up on the top of the volcano. at this moment a fountain of fire was shot up to an incredible height, casting so bright a light, that the smallest objects were clearly distinguishable at any place within six miles or more of vesuvius. the black stormy clouds, passing swiftly over, and at times covering the whole or part of the bright column of fire, at other times clearing away and giving a full view of it, with the various tints produced by its reverberated light on the white clouds above, in contrast with the pale flashes of forked lightning that attended the tropea, formed such a scene as no combination of language can express. one of the king's gamekeepers, who was out in the fields near ottaiano while this storm was at its height, was surprised to find the drops of rain scald his face and hands; a phenomenon probably occasioned by the clouds having acquired a great degree of heat in passing through the above-mentioned column of fire. on the eighth, the mountain was quiet till towards six p. m. when a great smoke began to gather over its crater; and about an hour after, a rumbling subterranneous noise was heard in the neighbourhood of the volcano; the usual throws of red-hot stones and scoriæ began and increased every instant. the crater, viewed through a telescope, seemed much enlarged by the violence of the explosions on the preceding night; and the little mountain on the top was entirely gone. about nine, a most violent report was heard at portici and its neighbourhood, which shook the houses to such a degree as made the inhabitants run out into the streets. many windows were broken, and walls cracked, by the concussion of the air on this occasion, though the noise was but faintly heard at naples. in an instant, a fountain of liquid transparent fire began to rise, and, gradually increasing, arrived at last to the amazing height of ten thousand feet and upwards. puffs of smoke, as black as can possibly be imagined, rapidly succeeded one another, and, accompanying the red-hot transparent and liquid lava, interrupted its splendid brightness here and there by patches of the darkest hue. within these puffs of smoke, at the very moment of emission, a bright but pale electrical fire was observed playing briskly about in zigzag lines. the wind was south-west, and, though gentle, was sufficient to carry these puffs of smoke out of the column of fire, and a collection of them by degrees formed a black and extensive curtain behind it; in other parts of the sky it was perfectly clear, and the stars bright. a fiery fountain of such immense magnitude, on the dark ground just mentioned, made the finest contrast imaginable; and the blaze of it, reflected from the surface of the sea, which was at that time perfectly smooth, added greatly to this sublime spectacle. the lava, mixed with stones and scoriæ, having risen to the amazing height already mentioned, was partly directed by the wind towards ottaiano, and partly falling, still red-hot and liquid, upon the top of vesuvius, covered its whole cone, as well as that of the summit of somma, and the valley between them. the falling matter being nearly as inflamed and vivid as that which was continually issuing fresh from the crater, formed with it one complete body of fire, which could not be less than two miles and a half in breadth, and of the extraordinary height above mentioned, casting a heat to the distance of at least six miles round. the brushwood on the mountain of somma was soon in a blaze; and the flame of it being of a different colour, from the deep red of the matter thrown out by the volcano, and from the silvery blue of the electrical fire, still added to the contrast of this most extraordinary scene. the black cloud increasing greatly, spread over naples, and threatened the city with speedy destruction; for it was charged with electrical fire, which kept constantly darting about in bright zigzag lines. this fire, however, rarely quitted the cloud, but usually returned to the great column of fire whence it proceeded; though once or twice it was seen to fall on the top of somma, and set fire to some dry grass and bushes. fortunately, the wind carried back the cloud just as it reached the city, and had begun to occasion great alarm. the column of fire, however, still continued, and diffused such a strong light, that the most minute objects could be discerned at the distance of ten miles or more from the mountain. mr. morris informed our author, that at sorrento, which is twelve miles distant from vesuvius, he read the title page of a book by that volcanic light. all this time the miserable inhabitants of ottaiano were involved in the utmost distress and danger by the showers of stones which fell upon them, and which, had the eruption continued for a longer time, would most certainly have reduced their town to the same situation with herculaneum and pompeii. the mountain of somma, at the foot of which the town of ottaiano is situated, hides vesuvius from the view of its inhabitants; so that till the eruption became considerable, it was not visible to them. on sunday night, when the noise increased, and the fire began to appear above the mountain of somma, many of the inhabitants flew to the churches, and others were preparing to quit the town, when a sudden and violent report was heard; soon after which, they found themselves involved in a thick cloud of smoke and ashes, a horrid clashing noise was heard in the air, and presently fell a vast shower of stones and large pieces of scoriæ, some of which were of the diameter of seven or eight feet, which must have weighed more than lbs. before they were broken, as some of the fragments which sir william hamilton found in the streets still weighed upwards of lbs. when these large vitrified masses either struck against one another in the air, or fell on the ground, vivid sparks of fire proceeded from them, which communicated to every thing that was combustible. these masses were formed of the liquid lava; the exterior parts of which were become black and porous, by cooling in their fall through such a vast space; whilst the interior parts, less exposed, retained an extreme heat, and were perfectly red. in an instant, the town and country about it were on fire in many parts, for there were several straw huts in the vineyards, which had been erected for the watchmen of the grapes, all of which were burnt to the ground. a great magazine of wood in the heart of the town became one sheet of fire; and had there been much wind, the flames must have spread universally, and the inhabitants have perished in their houses; for it was impossible for them to make their escape by flight. some, who attempted it with pillows, tables, chairs, the tops of wine casks, &c. on their heads, were either knocked down by the falling masses, or soon driven to make a speedy retreat under arches, and in the cellars of their houses. many were wounded, but only two persons died of their wounds. to add to the horror of the scene, incessant volcanic lightning was darting its corruscations about the black cloud that surrounded the inhabitants, and the sulphureous smell and heat would scarcely allow them to draw their breath. in this dreadful situation they remained about twenty-five minutes, when the volcanic storm ceased all at once, and vesuvius assumed a sullen silence. sometime after the eruption had ceased, the air continued greatly impregnated with electrical matter. the duke of cottosiano told our author, that having, about half an hour after the great eruption had ceased, held a leaden bottle, armed with a pointed wire, out at his window at naples, it soon became considerably charged: but whilst the eruption was in force, its appearance was too alarming to allow any one to think of such experiments. he was informed also by the prince of monte mileto, that his son, the duke of populi, who was at monte mileto on the th of august, had been alarmed by a shower of cinders that fell there, some of which he had sent to naples, weighing two ounces; and that stones of an ounce weight had fallen upon an estate of his, ten miles farther off. monte mileto is about thirty miles from the volcano. the abbé cagliani also related, that his sister, a nun in a convent at manfredonia, had written to inquire after him, imagining that naples must have been destroyed, when they, at so great a distance, had been so much alarmed by a shower of ashes which fell on the city at eleven p. m. as to open all the churches, and go to prayers. as the great eruption began at nine, these ashes must have travelled miles in two hours. nothing could be more dismal than the appearance of ottaiano after this eruption. many of the houses were unroofed, and some lay half buried under the black scoriæ and ashes; all the windows toward the mountain were broken, and some of the houses themselves burnt; the streets were choked up with ashes, and in some narrow places it was not less than four feet deep. a few of the inhabitants, who had just returned, were employed in clearing them away, and piling them up in hillocks, to get at their ruined houses. the palace of the prince of ottaiano is situated on an eminence above the town, and nearer the mountain. the steps leading up to it were deeply covered with volcanic matter; the roof was totally destroyed, and the windows broken; but the house itself being strongly built, had not suffered much dilapidation. an incredible number of fragments of lava were thrown out during the eruption, some of which were of immense magnitude. the largest measured by sir william hamilton was feet in circumference, and seventeen in height: this was thrown at least a quarter of a mile clear of the mouth of the volcano. another, sixty-six feet in circumference, and nineteen in height, being nearly of a spherical figure, was thrown out at the same time, and fell near the former: this last had all the marks of being rounded, nay, almost polished, by continual exposure to rolling torrents, or the still rougher beat of a sea-shore. our author conjectures that it might be a spherical volcanic salt, such as that of forty-five feet in circumference mentioned by m. de st. fond, in his treatise on extinguished volcanoes. a third, of sixteen feet in height, and ninety-two in circumference, was carried much farther, and lay in the valley between vesuvius and the hermitage: it appeared, also, from the large fragments that surrounded this mass, that it had been much larger while in the air. vesuvius continued to emit smoke for a considerable time after this great eruption, so that our author was apprehensive that another would soon ensue; but from that time nothing comparable to the above has taken place. from the period of this great eruption, to , our informant kept an exact diary of the operations of vesuvius, with drawings; which shewed, by the comparative quantity of smoke emitted each time, the degree of fermentation within the volcano. the operations of these subterraneous fires, however, appear to be very capricious and uncertain: one day there will be the appearance of a violent fermentation, and the next every thing will be calmed; but whenever there has been a considerable ejection of scoriæ and cinders, it has been constantly observed, that the lava soon made its appearance, either by boiling over the crater, or forcing its way through the crevices in the conical part of the mountain. in the year , there was a very tremendous eruption, and the mischief done was very considerable: the lava covered and totally destroyed acres of rich vineyards and cultivated land, and drove the inhabitants of torre del greco from the town, a great part of the houses being either buried, or so injured as to be uninhabitable; the damage done in the vineyards by the ashes was also immense. eruptions of this volcano also took place in and ; but this article will conclude by noticing only the eruption that happened on the evening of the st of may, , when a bright flame rose from the mountain to the height of about feet, sinking and rising alternately, and affording so clear a light, that a letter might have been read at the distance of a league round the mountain. on the following morning, without any earthquake preceding, as had been customary, the volcano began to eject inflamed substances from three new mouths, pretty near to each other, and about feet from the summit. the lava took the direction of torre del greco and annunciata, approaching portici on the road leading from naples to pompeii. throughout the whole of the d of june, a noise was heard, resembling that of two armies engaged, when the discharges of artillery and musketry are very brisk. the current of lava now resembled a wall of glass in a state of fusion; sparks and flashes issuing from it from time to time with a powerful detonation. vines, trees, houses, in short, whatever objects it encountered on its way, were instantly overthrown and destroyed. in one part, where it met with the resistance of a wall, it formed a cascade of fire. in a few days, portici, resina, and torre del greco, were covered with ashes thrown out by the volcano; and on the th, the two former places were deluged with a thick black rain, consisting of a species of mud, filled with sulphureous particles. on the st of july, the ancient crater had wholly disappeared, being filled with ashes and lava, and a new one was formed in the eastern part of the mountain, about feet in depth, and having about the same width at the opening. several persons, on the above day, descended about half way down this new mouth, and remained half an hour very near the flames, admiring the spectacle presented by the liquid lava, which bubbled up at the bottom of the crater, like the fused matter in a glasshouse. this eruption continued until september, made great ravages, and was considered as one of the most terrible that occurred within the memory of the oldest inhabitants. sir william hamilton observes, that the inhabitants of naples, in general, pay so little attention to the operations of this volcano, that many of its eruptions pass unnoticed by at least two-thirds of them. it is remarkable to observe, with what readiness and _sang froid_ they inhabit the towns and villas on the brow of the mountain, and how quickly they return to spots which have suffered the most severely. the inhabitants are not much alarmed by a stream of lava, which moves slowly, from which they can always remove, and carry off their moveable property; their greatest danger consists in the clouds of burning ashes, which fly to a great distance, and the fall of which can neither be anticipated nor avoided. mount hecla.--this is a volcano of iceland, and one of those whose operations are the most powerful of any in the world. it was visited in , by dr. van troil, a swedish gentleman, together with mr. (afterwards sir joseph) banks, dr. solander, and dr. james lind, of edinburgh. on their first landing, they found a tract of land sixty or seventy miles in extent, entirely ruined by lava, which appeared to have been in the highest state of liquefaction. having undertaken a journey to the top of the mountain, they travelled from to english miles, over an uninterrupted tract of lava, and had at length the pleasure of being the first who had arrived at the summit of the mountain. hecla, according to their accounts, is situated in the south part of the island, about four miles from the sea coast; and is divided into three parts at the top, the middle point being the highest. from an exact observation with ramsden's barometer, it is feet above the level of the sea. they were obliged to quit their horses at the first opening from which the fire had burst. they describe this as a place with lofty walls and high glazed cliffs, unlike any thing which they had ever seen before. a little higher up they found a large quantity of grit and stones; and still farther, another opening, which, though not deep, descended lower than that of the highest point. here, they imagined, they plainly discerned the effects of boiling water; though not far from thence the mountain was covered with snow, excepting some spots, which difference they perceived to be occasioned by the hot vapour issuing from the crevices in the mountain. as they ascended towards the top, they found the spots become larger; and about yards below the summit, a hole about a yard and a half in diameter was observed, whence issued so hot a steam, that they could not measure the degree of heat with the thermometer. the cold began now to be very intense; fahrenheit's thermometer, which at the foot of the mountain was at fifty-four, now fell to twenty-four; the wind also became so violent, that they were sometimes obliged to lie down, for fear of being blown down the most dreadful precipices. on the very summit, they experienced at the same time a high degree of heat and of cold; for, in the air, fahrenheit's thermometer stood constantly at twenty-four, but when set on the ground, rose to ; the barometer stood at . . though they wished very much to remain here for some time, they found that they could not effect their purpose with safety; they therefore descended quickly. the mountain seems to be made up, not of lava, but of sand, grit, and ashes; which are thrown up with discoloured stones, partly melted by the fire. several sorts of pumice stones were found on it, among which was one with some sulphur. sometimes the pumice was so much burnt, that it was as light as tow. its form and colour were sometimes very fine, but at the same time so soft, that it was difficult to remove it from one place to another. the common lava was found in both large and small pieces; as well as a quantity of black jasper, burned at the extremities, and resembling trees and branches. some slate, of a strong red colour, was observed among the stones thrown out by the volcano. in one place the lava had taken the form of chimney-stacks half broken down. as they descended the mountain, they observed three openings. in one, every thing looked as red as brick; from another, the lava had flowed in a stream about fifty yards broad, and, after proceeding some length, had divided into three large branches. further on they perceived an opening, at the bottom of which was a mount in form of a sugar loaf; in throwing up of which, the fire appeared to have exhausted itself. the reason that no one before them had ever ascended to the top of this mountain, was partly owing to superstition, and partly to the steepness and difficulty of the ascent, which was in a great measure removed by an eruption in . we now proceed to describe the celebrated mount etna.-- now etna roars with dreadful ruins nigh, now hurls a bursting cloud of cinders high, involv'd in smoky whirlwinds to the sky; with loud displosion to the starry frame, shoots fiery globes and furious floods of flame; now from her bellowing caverns burst away vast piles of melted rocks in open day. her shatter'd entrails wide the mountain throws, and deep as hell her flaming centre glows. _warton._ etna is a famous volcanic or burning mountain in sicily, situated on the eastern coast, not far from catania. the height of this mountain is more than , feet above the level of the sea, and its circumference at the base is miles. over its sides are seventy-seven cities, towns, and villages, the number of the inhabitants of which is about , . from catania to the summit, the distance is thirty miles; and the traveller must pass through three distinct climates, which may be denominated the torrid, the temperate, and the frigid. accordingly, the whole mountain is divided into three distinct regions, called the fertile, the woody, and the barren. the first, or lowest region, extends through a beautiful ascent from twelve to eighteen miles. the city of catania, and several villages, are situated in this first zone, and it abounds in pastures, orchards, and various kinds of fruit trees. its great fertility is ascribed to the decomposition of lava, and of those vegetables which have been introduced by the arts of agriculture, and the exertions of human industry. the figs and fruit in general, in this part, are reckoned the finest in sicily. the lava of this region flows from a number of small mountains, which are dispersed over the immense declivity of etna. the woody region, or temperate zone, extends from eight to ten miles in a direct line, towards the top of the mountain; and comprehends a surface of about forty or forty-five square leagues. it forms a zone of the brightest green all around the mountain, which exhibits a pleasing contrast to its white and hoary summits. it is called the woody region, because it abounds with oaks, beeches, and firs. the soil is similar to that of the lower region; the air is cool and refreshing, and every breeze is loaded with a thousand perfumes, the whole ground being covered over with the richest aromatic plants. many parts of this space are the most heavenly spots upon earth; and if etna resemble hell within, it may with equal justice be said to resemble paradise without. the upper region, called the frigid zone, is marked out by a circle of snow and ice. the surface of this zone is for the most part flat and even, and the approach to it is indicated by the decline of vegetation, by uncovered rocks of lava and heaps of sand, by near views of an expanse of snow and ice, as well as of torrents of smoke issuing from the crater of the mountain, and by the difficulty and danger of advancing amidst streams of melted snow, sheets of ice, and gusts of chilling wind. the curious traveller, however, thinks himself amply recompensed, upon gaining the summit, for the peril which he has encountered. at night, the number of stars seem increased, and their light appears brighter than usual. the lustre of the milky-way is like a pure flame, that shoots across the heavens, and with the naked eye we may observe clusters of stars totally invisible in the lower regions. dr. woodward mentions the existence of volcanoes as a special favour of providence, and says, "there are scarcely any countries, that are much annoyed with earthquakes, that have not one of these fiery vents. and these are constantly all in flames whenever any earthquake happens, as they disgorge that fire, which, whilst underneath, was the cause of the disaster. indeed, (saith he,) were it not for these _diverticula_, whereby it thus gains an exit, it would rage in the bowels of the earth much more furiously, and make greater havock than it now does. so that, though those countries where there are such volcanoes are usually more or less troubled with earthquakes; yet, were these volcanoes wanting, they would be much more annoyed with them than they now are, yea, in all probability, to that degree as to render the earth, for a vast space around them, perfectly uninhabitable. in one word, so beneficial are these to the territories where they are, that there do not want instances of some which have been rescued from earthquakes by the breaking forth of a new volcano there; this continually discharging that matter, which being till then barricaded up and imprisoned in the bowels of the earth, was the occasion of very great and frequent calamities." in every case, where we cannot discern the beneficent tendency of particular phenomena in the universe, we ought to attribute this to our limited capacities, and not arraign the almighty sovereign. however dreadful and destructive subterraneous fires may appear; on proper reflection, it may be inferred that they are as necessary in promoting and sustaining the operations of this part of the universe, as the natural heat in men's bodies is to the preservation and support of their being. chap. xlii. curiosities respecting grottos, caves, &c. _grotto in south africa--grotto del cani--grotto of antiparos--grotto of guacharo--snow grotto--cave of fingal--cave near mexico--the nitre caves of missouri--okey hole--borrowdale--needle's eye._ ----------------------------sweet interchange of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains, now land, now sea, and shores with forests crown'd. _milton._ grotto in south africa. from thom's account of his journey to south africa.--"in the country of kango is the greatest natural curiosity of south africa, a grotto of unknown extent. this i visited, and spent four or five hours in it. it was generally supposed that the end of it had been discovered, but we proved it to be still unknown; though, from the information i received, we proceeded into it further than any others, and our entrance into the third newly discovered chambers, or cave, was only prevented by a descent of fourteen feet. this great and astonishing work of god is divided into various apartments, from fourteen to seventy feet in length, and eight to one hundred in breadth. by measurement, i found that we had proceeded about nine hundred feet into the cavern of a mountain, of five hundred feet in perpendicular height; the grotto is about two hundred feet above the level of the river running by the hill. "the _stalactites_, united or disunited, form a hundred figures, so that, without any effort of imagination, nature would seem here to have assumed the province of art: for her canopies, organs, pulpits, vast candles, immense pillars, heads even of men and animals, meet the astonished visitor on all sides; so that he supposes himself in a new part of the universe. eye, thought, and feeling, are equally overpowered; and, to complete this remarkable assemblage, there are various baths, or cisterns of water, as clear as crystal, divided by partitions, as if a most ingenious sculptor had wrought for some weeks in this subterraneous place of nature. ten young colonists, with two slave guides, and my servant, were with me. we had a flambeau and a number of large candles; but even these did not chase away the darkness which eclipsed the beauties of this great work of nature, which had been forming from age to age, and was first discovered in the year . it is a remarkable circumstance, that no traveller appears to have visited it, or the various sub-districts which i have described above, since that time till we entered it." the grotto del cani.--this is a little cavern near pozzuoli, four leagues from naples: the air contained in it is of a mephitical or noxious quality; it is in truth carbonic acid gas, whence also it is called bocca venenosa, the poisonous mouth. "two miles from naples, (says dr. mead,) just by the lago de agnano, is a celebrated mofeta, commonly called la grotto del cani, which is destructive of all animal life that comes within the reach of its vapours. it is a small grotto, about eight feet high, twelve long, and six broad; from the ground arises a thin, subtile, warm fume, visible enough to a discerning eye, which does not spring up in little parcels here and there, but in one continued stream, covering the whole surface of the bottom of the cave; having this remarkable difference from common vapours, that it does not, like smoke, disperse into the air, but quickly after its rise falls back again, and returns to the earth, or hovers to a certain height, above which it never rises. this fact is ascertained by the colour of the sides of the grotto, which, as high as the vapour ascends, is of a darkish green, but above this it has only the appearance of common earth. as i found no inconvenience from standing in it myself, so i believe no animal, if its head were kept above this mark, would be in the least injured. but when, as is often the case, a dog, or any other creature, is forcibly kept below it, or the animal is so small that it cannot hold its head above this noxious vapour, it presently loses all voluntary motion, falls down as dead, or in a swoon; the limbs at first become convulsed and trembling, till at last no more signs of life appear, than a very weak and almost insensible beating of the heart and arteries; which, if the animal is left a little longer, quickly ceases also, and then its fate is irrevocable; but if it be snatched out and laid in the air, it soon revives, and, if thrown into the adjacent lake, resuscitation is still more rapid." we now proceed to the famous grotto of antiparos.--this grotto takes its name from the small island in which it is situated. the following is mr. charles saunders's account of his descent into this celebrated grotto. "its entrance lies in the side of a rock, and is a spacious arch, formed of rough crags, overhung with fantastic wreaths of climbing shrubs. our party amounted to six, attended by the same number of guides, furnished with lighted torches. we presently lost every ray of daylight, but following our leaders, we entered into a low narrow passage, lined on all sides with stones, that, from the reflection of the torches, glittered like diamonds, and displayed the colours of the rainbow. at the end of this passage, our guides desired us to tie a rope about our waists, and then led us to the brink of a frightful precipice. the descent was steep, and the place dark and gloomy. the exchange of the lane of diamonds for this abyss of darkness was very unwelcome; but i had travelled far to gratify my curiosity, and i hazarded the event. the rope being held by the guides at top, i was first let down, and, after dangling a minute or two, reached the bottom with my feet. "my friends, encouraged by my example, followed; and we pursued our way under a roof of ragged rocks for thirty yards, hoping every moment to see the opening of the expected grotto; but our guides plainly told us we had far to go, and much to encounter, before we should reach it, and those who wanted courage and perseverance had better return. none of us, however, would act so cowardly a part, though the sight of another precipice, much deeper and more formidable than the first, almost shook our resolution. by the light of the torches, we could perceive that we were to plunge into a place encumbered with vast pieces of rough rugged rocks, and that we should be forced sometimes to climb over, and sometimes to creep under them; while on the other side were numerous dark caverns, like so many wells, which if one's foot should slip, would swallow us up. two of our guides went before us, and as we stood on the edge, we were terrified to see them go lower, till they appeared at a frightful depth beneath us. when they were at the bottom, they hallooed to us, and we very reluctantly followed. in the midst of the way, we came to a place where a rock that was perpendicular, and a vast cavern, on one side threatened us with destruction, whilst a wall of rugged rock seemed impassable on the other. here again we hesitated whether to proceed or not: but the guides assured us they had often gone the same way with safety, we therefore took fresh resolution, and on we went to a corner, where was placed an old, slippery, rotten ladder, which we ventured to descend. "at the bottom we perceived ourselves at the entrance of another passage, which was rather dismal, but not wholly without beauty. a wide gradual descent led us into a noble vault, with a bottom of fine, green, glossy marble, over which we were to slide on our seats; and it was with difficulty we could keep ourselves from going too fast, and tumbling over one another. the walls and arch of the roof is as smooth in most places as if chiselled by a skilful workman, and are formed of a glistering red and white granite, supported in several places with columns of a deep blood-coloured shining porphyry. here, to our terror, we lost sight of the two guides that went before us, and at the end of the passage found ourselves at the brink of another precipice, the bottom of which we reached by the help of a ladder, not much better than the former. "had not the dread of falling taken up my attention, i should have admired many of the natural ornaments of this obscure cavity. the rock to which the ladder was fixed was one mass of red marble, covered with white branches of rock crystal, and might be compared, from the hue of the rock behind, to an immense sheet of amethysts. from the foot of this ladder, we were compelled to slide, face downwards, through another shallow vault of polished green and white marble, for about twenty feet; and we then rejoined our guides, who prudently gave us some refreshment, to enable us to face the dangers we had yet to encounter. "we now advanced through a narrow slanting passage of rough coarse stone, so much resembling snakes curled round, that nothing was wanting but a hissing sound, to make us fancy that thousands of those noisome reptiles surrounded us. there was still another terrible precipice to pass; but as we heard that it was the last, we made no hesitation in descending the ladder. after this, we proceeded upon even ground for about forty yards, when we were again entreated by our guides to fasten the ropes about our waists; not for the purpose of suspending us over a height, but as a means of security against the lakes and deep waters that are numerous in this part of the cavern. at length we reached the last passage, the dismal gloom of which might furnish images for a poetical description of tartarus. the sides and roof were formed of black stone, and the way was so rugged, that we were often obliged to slide upon our backs. the angles of the rocks cut our clothes, and bruised our flesh in a miserable manner. "though i believed myself so near the object of my curiosity, i wished sincerely that i had never been allured, by the accounts of travellers, to venture into such a horrible place, when suddenly we lost sight of four out of our six guides. the want of their torches increased the melancholy gloom; and the supposition that they had fallen into some of the black pools of water that abound here, added to the apprehension for our own safety, as well as concern for their fate. the two remaining guides assured us, that their companions were safe, and that we should soon be rewarded for all that we had suffered, if we would but advance. our passage was now become very narrow, and we were obliged to crawl on all fours over rugged rocks, when, hearing a little hissing noise, in an instant we were left in utter darkness. to our inexpressible terror, the guides told us that they had accidentally dropped their torches into one of the pools; but that there was no danger in crawling forward, as we should soon overtake their fellows. i now gave myself up for lost, and expected that i must perish in this dreadful cavern. whilst i thus yielded to despair, one of the guides came to me, blindfolded me with his hand, and dragged me a few paces forward. i imagined his design was to rob and murder me; however, in the midst of my panic, he lifted me over a huge stone, and set me on my feet, withdrawing his hand from my eyes at the same time. "what words can express my transport and astonishment: instead of darkness and despair, all was splendour and magnificence. the six guides welcomed me into the grotto of antiparos. those whom we had missed, only went before to prepare the grotto for our reception, which was illuminated with fifty torches, and produced an effect no words can describe. imagine yourself in an arched cavern, yards deep, yards wide, long, and, as near as we could measure by the eye, about yards high, lined on every part with brilliant crystallized white marble, and well illuminated. the roof is a grand vaulted arch, hung all over with pendent icicles of shining white marble, some of them ten feet long, and covered with clusters of the same material, resembling festoons and garlands of flowers, glittering like precious stones. from the sides of the arch proceed fantastic forms of the same glittering spar, that fancy can easily shape into trees, entwined with flowers and climbing shrubs; and in some parts the congelations have taken the appearance of the meanders of a winding stream. the floor, though rough and uneven, is full of crystals of all colours. "it is impossible to convey any adequate idea of the splendours of this natural temple, the ornaments of which are formed of the droppings of water, that, in great length of time, become congealed into a kind of brilliant spar. "having contemplated this charming spectacle with delight, and raised our aspiration to that being, whose creative powers are displayed in the most obscure, as well as in the most visible part of his works, we returned, impressed with the conviction, that no good can be attained without difficulty and perseverance." the grotto of guacharo.--the gulf of cariacho is frequented by innumerable flocks of marine birds, of various kinds. "when the natives wish to catch any of these wild fowl, (says m. lavayse,) they go into the water, having their heads covered each with a calabash, in which they make two holes for seeing through. they thus swim towards the birds, throwing a handful of maize on the water from time to time, which becomes scattered on the surface. the ducks and other birds approach to feed on the maize, and at that moment the swimmer seizes them by the feet, pulls them under water, and wrings their necks before they can make the least movement, or, by their noise, spread an alarm among the flock. the swimmer attaches those he has caught to his girdle, and he generally takes as many as are necessary for his family." amongst the natural curiosities of this neighbourhood, is a lake full of crocodiles, and various other reptiles, one of which, if we are to believe a common tradition of the people, resembles the winged dragon of the poets. in going from carupano to guiria, our author passed through the "smiling valley" of rio corbe, watered by numerous streams, and which he calls the temple and compagna of venezuela. speaking of the celebrated grotto of guacharo, in the mountains of bergantin, m. lavayse observes, "in every country the same causes have produced similar effects on the imagination of our species. the grotto of guacharo is, in the opinion of the indians, a place of trial and expiation: souls, when separated from their bodies, go to this cavern; those men who die without reproach do not remain in it, but immediately ascend, to reside with the great manitou in the dwellings of the blessed; and such men as have committed but slight faults, of a venial nature, are kept there for a longer or shorter period, according to their crime; while those of the wicked are retained there eternally. "immediately after the death of their parents and friends, the indians proceed to the entrance of this cavern, to listen to their groans. if they think they hear their voices, they also lament, and address a prayer to the great spirit, and another to the devil, muboya; after which they drown their grief with intoxicating beverages: but, if they do not hear the voices of their friends, they express their joy by dances and festivals. in all this, there is but one circumstance that creates surprise; it is, that the indian priests have not availed themselves of such credulity to augment their revenues. many indians, though otherwise converted to christianity, have not ceased to believe, that to be in the cave of guacharo is synonymous with dying. "thus, in the majestic forests of south america, as in the ancient civilization of hindoostan; under the harsh climates of the north of europe and canada, as in the burning regions of africa; in all parts, men of every colour are distinguished from other animals by this irresistible foreboding of a future life, in which an omnipotent being recompenses the good and punishes evil doers. whatever may be the modifications, differences, or absurdities, with which imagination, ignorance, and greedy imposture, have enveloped this belief, it appears to be one of the strongest moral proofs of the identity of our species, and to be a natural consequence of reflection."--_sketches of south america._ we will now beg the attention of our readers, while we relate some particulars respecting the snow grotto.--this is an excavation made by the waters on the side of mount etna, by making their way under the layers of lava, and carrying away the bed of pozzolano below them. it occurred to the proprietor, that this place was very suitable for a magazine of snow; for in sicily, at naples, and particularly at malta, they are obliged, for want of ice, to make use of snow for cooling their wine, sherbet, and other liquors, and for making sweetmeats. this grotto was hired, or bought, by the knights of malta, who having neither ice nor snow on the burning rock which they inhabit, have hired several caverns on etna, into which, people whom they employ, collect and preserve quantities of snow, to be sent to malta when needed. this grotto has therefore been repaired within, at the expense of the order; flights of steps are cut into it, as well as two openings from above, through which they throw in the snow, and by means of which the grotto is enlightened. above the grotto they have also levelled a piece of ground of considerable extent: this they have inclosed with thick and lofty walls, so that when the winds, which at this elevation blow with great violence, carry the snow from the higher parts of the mountain, and deposit it in this inclosure, it is retained and amassed by the walls. the people then remove it into the grotto, through the two openings; and it is there laid up and preserved in such a manner as to resist the force of the summer heats, as the layers of lava, with which the grotto is arched above, prevent them from making any impression. when the season for exporting the snow comes on, it is put into large bags, into which it is pressed as closely as possible; it is then carried by men out of the grotto, and laid upon mules, which convey it to the shore, where small vessels are waiting to carry it away. but before those lumps of snow are put into bags, they are wrapped in fresh leaves; so that while they are conveyed from the grotto to the shore, the leaves may prevent the rays of the sun from making any impression upon them. the sicilians carry on a considerable trade in snow, which affords employment to some thousands of men, horses, and mules. they have magazines of it on the summits of their loftiest mountains, from which they distribute it through all their cities, towns, and houses; for every person in the island makes use of the snow. they consider the practice of cooling their liquors as absolutely necessary for the preservation of health; and in a climate, the heat of which is constantly relaxing the fibres, cooling liquors, by communicating a proper tone to the fibres of the stomach, must greatly strengthen them for the performance of their functions. in this climate a scarcity of snow is no less dreaded than a scarcity of corn, wine, or oil. we are informed by a gentleman who was at syracuse in , when there was a scarcity of snow, that the people of the town learned that a small vessel laden with that article was passing the coast: without a moment's deliberation, they ran in a body to the shore, and demanded her cargo; which when the crew refused to deliver up, the syracusans attacked and took, though with the loss of several men. the next object that claims our regard is the cave of fingal, or an-ua-vine, in the island of staffa. from faujas st. fond's travels in england, scotland, and the hebrides. "this superb and magnificent monument of a grand subterraneous combustion, the date of which has been lost in the lapse of ages, presents an appearance of order and regularity so wonderful, that it is difficult for the coldest observer, and a person the least sensible to the phenomena which relate to the convulsions of the globe, not to be singularly astonished by this prodigy, which may be considered as a kind of natural palace. "to shelter myself from all critical observation on the emotions which i experienced while contemplating the most extraordinary of any cavern known, i shall borrow the expressions of him who first described it. those who are acquainted with the character of this illustrious naturalist, sir joseph banks, will not be apt to accuse him of being liable to be hurried away by the force of a too ardent imagination; but the sensation which he felt at the view of this magnificent scene was such, that it was impossible to escape a degree of just enthusiasm. "the impatience which every body felt to see the wonders we have heard so largely described, prevented our morning's rest; every one was up and in motion before the break of day, and with the first light arrived at the south-west part of the island, the seat of the most remarkable pillars. we were no sooner arrived at this place, than we were struck with a scene of magnificence which exceeded our expectation, though formed as we thought upon the most sanguine foundations. the whole of that end of the island is supported by ranges of natural pillars, mostly above fifty feet high, standing in natural colonnades, according as the bays or points of land formed themselves, upon a firm basis of solid shapeless masses of rock. in a short time we arrived at the mouth of the cave, the most magnificent, i suppose, that has ever been described by travellers. "the mind can hardly form an idea of any thing more magnificent than such a space, supported on each side by ranges of columns, and roofed by the bottoms of those from which they have been broken, in order to form it, between the angles of which a yellow stalagmitic matter has exuded; this serves to define the angles precisely, and at the same time vary the colour with a great deal of elegance, and, to render it still more agreeable, the whole is lighted from without; so that the farthest extremity is very plainly seen from the outside, and the air within, being agitated by the flux and reflux of the tides, is perfectly dry and wholesome, entirely free from the vapours with which natural caverns in general abound." the following description of the same place by mr. troil, is also worthy of our notice:-- "how splendid (says this prelate) do the porticos of the ancients appear in our eyes, from the ostentatious magnificence of the descriptions we have received of them! and with what admiration are we seized, on seeing even the colonnades of our modern edifices! but when we behold the cave of fingal, formed by nature in the isle of staffa, it is no longer possible to make a comparison, and we are forced to acknowledge that this piece of architecture, executed by nature, far surpasses that of the louvre, that of st. peter at rome, and even what remains of palmira and pestum, and all that the genius, the taste, and the luxury of the greeks, were ever capable of inventing."--_letters on iceland._ such also was the impression made by the cave of fingal, on sir joseph banks, and on the bishop of linckoeping.-- "i have seen many ancient volcanoes, and have given descriptions of several superb basaltic causeways and delightful caverns in the midst of lavas; but i have never found any thing which comes near this, or can bear any comparison with it, either for the admirable regularity of the columns, the height of the arch, the situation, the forms, the elegance of this production of nature, or for its resemblance to the masterpieces of art, though this had no share in its construction. it is therefore not at all surprising that tradition should have made it the abode of a hero. "this amazing monument of nature is thirty-five feet wide at the entrance, fifty-six feet high, and a hundred and forty feet long. "the upright columns which compose the frontispiece, are of the most perfect regularity. their height, to the beginning of the curvature, is forty-five feet. "the arch is composed of two unequal segments of a circle, which form a sort of natural pediment. "the mass which crowns, or rather which forms the roof, is twenty feet thick in the lowest part. it consists of small prisms, more or less regular, inclining in all directions, closely united and cemented underneath, and in the joints, with a yellowish white calcareous matter, and some zeolitic infiltrations, which give this fine ceiling the appearance of mozaic work. "the sea reaches to the very extremity of the cave. it is fifteen feet deep at the mouth; and its waves, incessantly agitated, beat with great noise against the bottom and walls of the cavern, and every where break into foam. the light also penetrates through its whole length, diminishing gradually inwards, and exhibiting the most wonderful varieties of colour. "the right side of the entrance presents, on its exterior part, a vast amphitheatre, formed of different ranges of large truncated prisms, the top of which may be easily walked on. several of these prisms are jointed, that is, concave on the one side, and convex on the other; and some of them are divided by simple transverse intersections. "these prisms, consisting of a very durable and pure black basaltes, are from one to three feet in diameter. their forms are triangular, tetrapedral, pentagonal, and hexagonal; and some of them have seven or eight sides. i saw several large prisms, on the truncatures of which are distinctly traced the outlines of a number of smaller prisms; that is, these prisms are formed of a basaltes, which has a tendency to subdivide itself likewise into prisms. i had before observed the same phenomenon in the basaltic prisms of vivarais. "the cave can be entered only by proceeding along the platform on the right side, which i have mentioned above. but the way grows very narrow and difficult as it advances; for this sort of interior gallery, raised about fifteen feet above the level of the sea, is formed entirely of truncated perpendicular prisms of a greater or less height, between which considerable address is necessary to choose one's steps, the passages being so strait and so slippery, owing to the droppings from the roof, that i took the very prudent resolution, suggested by our two guides, to proceed barefooted, and take advantage of their assistance, especially in a particular place, where i had room only to plant one foot, whilst i clung with my right hand to a large prism to support myself, and held the hand of one of the guides by the other. this difficult operation took place at the darkest part of the cave; and one half of the body was at the time suspended over an abyss, where the sea dashed itself into a cloud of foam. "i was desirous of penetrating to the farthest extremity, and i accomplished my purpose, though not without considerable difficulty and danger. i more than once found my attention distracted from the observations which i was happy to have an opportunity of making, to the thought of how i should get back again. "as i drew near to the bottom of the cave, the bold balcony, on which i walked, expanded into a large sloping space, composed of thousands of broken vertical columns. the bottom was bounded by a compact range of pillars of an unequal height, and resembling the front of an organ." it is worthy of remark, that at the time when mr. troil visited the cave, the sea, by one of those uncommon chances which do not happen once in ten years, was so calm, that it permitted him to enter with a boat. "at the very bottom of the cave, (says he,) and a little above the surface of the water, there is a kind of small cave, which sends forth a very agreeable noise every time that the water rushes into it."--_letters on iceland._ "as the sea was far from being completely still when i visited it, i heard a noise of a very different nature every time that the waves, in a rapid succession, broke against its bottom. this sound resembled that which is produced by striking a large hard body with great weight and force against another hard body in a subterraneous cavity. the shock was so violent, that it was heard at some distance, and the whole cavern seemed to shake with it. being close to the place whence the sound issued, and where the water is not so deep, upon the retreat of the wave, i endeavoured to discover the cause of this terrible collision. i soon observed, that, a little below the basis which supported the organ-fronted colonnade, there was an aperture which formed the outlet of a hollow, or perhaps a small cave. it was impossible to penetrate into this cavity; but it may be presumed that the tremendous noise was occasioned by a broken rock, driven by the violent impetuosity of the surge against its sides. by the boiling motion of the water, however, in the same place, it is evident that there are several other small passages, through which it issues, after rushing into the principal aperture in a mass. it is therefore not impossible, when the sea is not sufficiently agitated to put the imprisoned rock in motion, that the air, strongly compressed by the weight of the water, which is in incessant fluctuation, should, on rushing out by the small lateral passages, produce a particularly strange sound. it might then be truly regarded as an organ created by the hand of nature; and this circumstance would fully explain why the ancient and real name of this cave, in the erse language, is, _the melodious cave_." sir joseph banks, in the description which he has given us of the cave of staffa, says, that "between the angles a yellow stalagmitic matter has exuded, which seemed to define the angles precisely." that is true; but the learned naturalist has not told us the nature of this yellowish matter. mr. troil mentions it also: he says, that the "colour of the columns is a dark gray, but that the joints are filled with a quartzose stalactites, which distinctly marks the separation of the columns, and which, by the variety of its tints, has the most agreeable effect on the eye. on breaking off several pieces of it, which it is not very easy to do, owing to the height of the vault, i found that it was nothing but a calcareous matter, coloured by the decomposition of the iron of the lava, and intermixed with a little argillaceous earth. this stalactites has also very little adhesion, and is, in general, of an earthy nature. in several of the prisms i found some globules of zeolites, but in very small quantity. i also broke off from between two prisms, which were so apart as to admit of introducing my hand, an incrustation in which the white and transparent zeolites was formed into very perfect small cubical crystals, several of which were coloured red by the ferruginous lime arising from the decomposition of the lava. but i must repeat, that zeolites is very rare in this cave, and having myself broken off all the specimens that i was able to see, i doubt whether those who may visit the place after me will find any quantity of it." dimensions of the cave of fingal.--breadth of the entrance, taken at the mouth and at the level of the sea, thirty-five feet; height, from the level of the sea to the pitch of the arch, fifty-six feet; depth of the sea, opposite to the entrance, and twelve feet distant from it, at noon of the th of september, fifteen feet; thickness of the roof, measured from the pitch of the arch without to its highest part, twenty feet; interior length of the cave from the entrance to the extremity, one hundred and forty feet; height of the tallest columns on the right side of the entrance, forty-five feet; depth of the sea in the interior part of the cave, ten feet nine inches, in some places eight feet, and towards the bottom somewhat less. cave near mexico.--a traveller of credit gives us an account, in the philosophical transactions, of a remarkable cave, some leagues to the north-west of mexico, gilded all over with a sort of leaf-gold, which had deluded many spaniards by its promising colour, but they could never reduce it into a body, either by quicksilver or fusion. this traveller went thither one morning with an indian for his guide, and found its situation was pretty high, and in a place very proper for the generation of metals. as he entered into it, the light of the candle soon discovered on all sides, but especially over his head, a glittering canopy of these mineral leaves, at which he greedily snatching, there fell down a great lump of sand, that not only put out his candle, but almost blinded him, and calling aloud to his indian, who stood at the entrance of the cave, as being afraid of spirits and hobgoblins, it occasioned such thundering and redoubled echoes, that the poor fellow, imagining he had been wrestling with some infernal ghosts, soon quitted his station, and thereby left a free passage for some rays of light to enter, and serve him for a better guide. the traveller's sight was somewhat affected by the corrosive acrimony of the mineral dust; but having relighted his candle, he proceeded in the cave, heaped together a quantity of the mineral mixed with sand, and scraped off from the surface of the earth some of the glittering leaves, none of which exceeded the breadth of a man's nail, but with the least touch were divided into many lesser spangles, and with a little rubbing they left his hand gilded all over. we must not neglect to notice the nitre caves of missouri.--"on the banks of the merrimack and the gasconade are found numerous caves, which yield an earth impregnated largely with nitre, which is procured from it by lixiviation. on the head of current's river are also found several caves from which nitre is procured, the principal of which is ashley's cave, or cave creek, about eighty miles south-west of potosi. this is one of those stupendous and extensive caverns, that cannot be viewed without exciting our wonder and astonishment, which is increased by beholding those complete works for the manufacture of nitre, situated in its interior. "the native nitrate of potash is found in beautiful white crystals, investing the fissures of the limestone rock which forms the walls of this cave; and several of those in its vicinity exhibit the same phenomenon."--_schoolcroft, on the lead mines of missouri._ okey hole.--this is a famous natural cavern of england, on the south side of mendip hills. the entrance is in the fall of those hills, which is beset all about with rocks, and there is near it a precipitate descent of twelve fathoms deep, at the bottom of which there continually issues from the rocks a considerable current of water. the naked rocks above the entrance are about thirty fathoms high, and the whole ascent of the hill above, which is very steep, is about a mile. the entrance into this vault is at first upon a level, but advancing farther, the way is rocky and uneven, sometimes ascending, and sometimes descending. the roof of this cavern, in the highest part, is about eight fathoms from the ground, but in many places it is so low, that one must stoop to get along. the breadth is not less various than the height, for in some places it is five or six fathoms wide, and in others not more than one or two. it is in length about two hundred yards. at the farthest part of the cavern there is a stream of water, large enough to drive a mill, which passes all along one side of the cavern, and at length slides down about six or eight fathoms among the rocks, and, finding its way through the clefts, falls into the valley beneath. the river within the cavern is well stored with eels, and has some trouts. in dry summers, a great number of frogs are seen all along this cavern, even to the farthest part of it; and on the roof are vast numbers of bats. from okey hole we proceed to borrowdale,--which is a most romantic valley among the derwent-water fells, in the county of cumberland. these fells or hills are some of the loftiest in england, and it is in one of them that the black lead, or wadd, is found, from which all parts of the world are supplied. the mines are opened once in seven years, and when a sufficient quantity of this valuable and singular mineral is taken out, they are carefully closed again. in travelling among these mountains, the idea that presents itself to the astonished spectator, is that of the earth having been agitated like the ocean in a storm; the hills appear like waves, one behind another, and were it not for the abrupt and sudden scarps, and the immense masses of rugged rocks, that give the idea of fixedness and stability, the fancy might be bewildered so far as to imagine they were in a state of undulation, and ready to mingle with each other. borrowdale is watered by the clearest brooks, which, precipitated from the hills, form many beautiful waterfalls, and then meet together in the dale in one large stream, and pass out of it under the name of borrowdale beck, when they spread out into an extensive lake, forming many beautiful islands; the lake is called derwent-water, or keswick lake. borrowdale is four miles from keswick, in passing from which, the traveller has the lake on his left hand, and stupendous rocky precipices on the other; with huge stones, or rugged masses of rock, which have tumbled from above, perhaps rent from the mountain by the expansion of the water in its crevices or fissures, which, congealing into ice, occasions the scattered fragments that lie in his way. as he approaches the dale, he sees the shelves, or ledges of the rocks, covered with herbage, shrubs, and trees, and villages and farms rise in his view; the larger cattle are seen feeding in the lower grounds, and the sheep in very large flocks upon the mountains. we shall close this division with an account of the needle's eye.--this name is given to a subterraneous passage on the coast of banffshire, one hundred and fifty yards long from sea to sea, but through which a man can with difficulty creep. at the north end of it is a cave, twenty feet high, thirty broad, and one hundred and fifty long, containing a space of ninety thousand cubic feet. the whole is supported by immense columns of rocks, is exceedingly grand, and has a surprisingly fine effect on the spectator, after creeping through the narrow passage. chap. xliii. curiosities respecting mines. _diamond mine in the brazils--mines of peru--volcanic eruptions of mud and salt--pitch wells--visit to a coal-pit._ through dark retreats pursue the winding ore, search nature's depths, and view her boundless store; the secret cause in tuneful numbers sing, how metals first were fram'd, and whence they spring whether the active sun, with chemic flames, through porous earth transmits its genial beams; with heat impregnating the womb of night, the offspring shines with its paternal light: or whether, urged by subterraneous flames, the earth ferments, and flows in liquid streams purg'd from their dross, the nobler parts refine, receive new forms, and with fresh beauties shine: or whether by creation first they sprung, when yet unpois'd the world's great fabric hung: metals the basis of the earth were made, the bars on which its fix'd foundations laid; all second causes they disdain to own, and from th' almighty's fiat sprung alone. _yalden._ description of a diamond mine on the river tigitonhonha, in the brazilian territory; by mr. mawe. "i could not (says the writer) resist the favourable opportunity now offered me of gratifying the curiosity which had so long occupied my mind, by visiting the diamond mines, in company with the principal officer in the administration of them, who was therefore qualified to furnish me with the amplest information. a fine horse was waiting for me at the door, and i rode up to the house of the governor, who introduced me to his amiable lady, daughters, and family, with whom i had the honour to take breakfast. several officers of the diamond establishment arrived on horseback to accompany us, their presence being required on this occasion. "having arrived at the place, i remained here five days, during which i was occupied in viewing and examining various parts of the works, of which i shall here attempt to give a general description. "the river tigitonhonha is formed by a number of streams, and is as wide as the thames at windsor, and in general from three to nine feet deep. the part now in working is a curve or elbow, from which the current is diverted into a canal cut across the tongue of land round which it winds, the river being stopped, just below the head of the canal, by an embankment formed of several thousand bags of sand. this is a work of considerable magnitude, and requires the co-operation of all the negroes to complete it; for the river being wide and not very shallow, and also occasionally subject to overflow, they have to make the embankment so strong as to resist the pressure of the water, admitting it to rise four or five feet. "the deeper parts of the channel of the river are laid dry by means of large caissons or chain-pumps, worked by a water-wheel. the mud is then carried off, and the cascalhao is dug up, and removed to a convenient place for washing. this labour was, until lately, performed by the negroes, who carried the cascalhao in gamellas on their heads; but mr. camara has formed two inclined planes, about one hundred yards in length, along which carts are drawn by a large water-wheel, divided into two parts, the ladles or buckets of which are so constructed, that the rotary motion may be altered by changing the current of water from one side to the other; this wheel, by means of a rope made of untanned hides, works two carts, one of which descends empty on one inclined plane, while the other, loaded with cascalhao, is drawn to the top of the other, where it falls into a cradle, empties itself, and descends in its turn. at a work called canjeca, formerly of great importance, about a mile up the river on the opposite side, there are three cylindrical engines for drawing the cascalhao, like those used in the mining country of derbyshire, and also railways over some uneven ground. this was the first and only machinery of consequence, which i saw in the diamond district, and there appear many obstacles to the general introduction of it. timber, when wanted of large size, has to be fetched a distance of one hundred miles, at a very heavy expense; there are few persons competent to the construction of machines, and the workmen dislike to make them, fearing that this is only part of a general plan for suspending manual labour. "the stratum of cascalhao consists of the same materials with that in the gold district. on many parts, by the edge of the river, are large conglomerate masses of rounded pebbles cemented by oxide of iron, which sometimes envelop gold and diamonds. they calculate on getting as much cascalhao in the dry season, as will occupy all their hands during the months which are more subject to rain. when carried from the bed of the river whence it is dug, it is laid in heaps, containing apparently from five to fifteen tons each. "water is conveyed from a distance, and is distributed to the various parts of the works by means of aqueducts, constructed with great ingenuity and skill. the method of washing for diamonds at this place, is as follows:--a shed is erected in the form of a parallelogram, twenty-five or thirty yards long, and about fifteen wide, consisting of upright posts, which support a roof thatched with long grass. down the middle of the area of this shed, a current of water is conveyed through a canal, covered with strong planks, on which the cascalhao is laid two or three feet thick. on the other side of the area is a flooring of planks, from four to five yards long, imbedded in clay, extending the whole length of the shed, and having a slope, from the canal, of three or four inches to a yard. this flooring is divided into about twenty compartments or troughs, each about three feet wide, by means of planks placed on their edge. the upper ends of all these troughs (here called canoes) communicate with the canal, and are so formed that water is admitted into them between two planks that are about an inch separate. through this opening the current falls about six inches into the trough, and may be directed to any part of it, or stopped, at pleasure, by means of a small quantity of clay. for instance, sometimes water is required only from one corner of the aperture, then the remaining part is stopped; sometimes it is wanted from the centre, then the extremes are stopped; and sometimes only a gentle rill is wanted, then the clay is applied accordingly. along the lower ends of the troughs a small channel is dug, to carry off the water. on the heap of cascalhao, at equal distances, are placed three high chairs, for the officers or overseers. after they are seated, the negroes enter the troughs, each provided with a rake of a peculiar form, and short handle, with which he rakes into the trough about fifty or eighty pounds weight of cascalhao. the water being then let in upon it, the cascalhao is spread abroad, and continually raked up to the head of the trough, so as to be kept in constant motion. this operation being performed for the space of a quarter of an hour, the water then begins to run clearer; having washed the earthy particles away, the gravel-like matter is raked up to the end of the trough; after the current flows away quite clear, the largest stones are thrown out, and afterwards those of inferior size, then the whole is examined with great care for diamonds. when a negro finds one, he immediately stands upright and claps his hands, then extends them, holding the gem between his fore finger and thumb; an overseer receives it from him, and deposits it in a gamella or bowl, suspended from the centre of the structure, half full of water. in this vessel all the diamonds found in the course of the day, are placed, and at the close of work are taken out, and delivered to the principal officer, who, after they have been weighed, registers the particulars in a book kept for that purpose. when a negro is so fortunate as to find a diamond of the weight of - / carats, much ceremony immediately takes place; he is crowned with a wreath of flowers, and carried in procession to the administrator, who gives him his freedom, by paying his owner for it. he also receives a present of new clothes, and is permitted to work on his own account. when a stone of eight or ten carats is found, the negro receives two new shirts, a complete new suit, with a hat, and a handsome knife. for smaller stones of trivial amount, proportionate premiums are given. during my stay at tejuco, a stone of - / carats was found: it was pleasing to see the anxious desire manifested by the officers that it might prove heavy enough to entitle the poor negro to his freedom; and when, on being delivered and weighed, it proved only a carat short of the requisite weight, all seemed to sympathize in his disappointment. "many precautions are taken to prevent the negroes from embezzling diamonds. although they work in a bent position, and consequently never know whether the overseers are watching them or not, yet it is easy for them to omit gathering any which they see, and to place them in a corner of the trough for the purpose of secreting them at leisure hours; to prevent which they are frequently changed while the operation is going on. a word of command being given by the overseers, they instantly move into each others' troughs, so that no opportunity of collusion can take place. if a negro be suspected of having swallowed a diamond, he is confined in a strong room until the fact can be ascertained. formerly, the punishment inflicted upon a negro for smuggling diamonds, was confiscation of his person to the state: but it being thought too hard for the owner to suffer for the offence of his servant, the penalty has been commuted for personal imprisonment and chastisement. this is a much lighter punishment than that which their owners, or any white man, would suffer for a similar offence. "there is no particular regulation respecting the dress of the negroes: they work in the clothes most suitable to the nature of their employment, generally in a waistcoat and a pair of drawers, and not naked, as some travellers have stated. their hours of labour are from a little before sunrise until sunset, half an hour being allowed for breakfast, and two hours at noon. while washing, they change their posture as often as they please, which is very necessary, as the work requires them to place their feet on the edges of the trough, and to stoop considerably. this posture is particularly prejudicial to young growing negroes, as it renders them in-kneed. four or five times during the day, they all rest, when snuff, of which they are very fond, is given to them. "the negroes are formed into working parties, called troops, containing each, under the direction of an administrator and inferior officers. each troop has a clergyman and a surgeon to attend it. with respect to the subsistence of the negroes, although the present governor has in some degree improved it, by allowing a daily portion of fresh beef, which was not allowed by his predecessors, yet i am sorry to observe that it is still poor and scanty; and that in other respects they are more hardly dealt with than those of any other establishment which i visited: notwithstanding this, the owners are all anxious to get their negroes into the service, doubtless from sinister motives. "the officers are liberally paid, and live in a style of considerable elegance, which a stranger would not be led to expect in so remote a place. our tables were daily covered with a profusion of excellent viands, served up on fine wedgewood ware, and the state of their household generally corresponded with this essential part of it. they were ever ready to assist me in my examination of the works, and freely gave me all the necessary information respecting them. "having detailed the process of washing for diamonds, i proceed to a general description of the situation in which they are found. the flat pieces of ground on each side the river are equally rich throughout their extent, and hence the officers are enabled to calculate the value of an unworked place, by comparison with the amount found on working with the part adjoining. these known places are left in reserve, and trial is made of more uncertain grounds. the following observation i often heard from the intendant: 'that piece of ground (speaking of an unworked flat by the side of the river) will yield me ten thousand carats of diamonds, whenever we shall be required to get them in the regular course of working, or when, on any particular occasion, an order from government arrives, demanding an extraordinary and immediate supply.' "the substances accompanying diamonds, and considered good indications of them, are bright bean-like iron ore, a slaty flint-like substance, approaching lydian stone, of fine texture, black oxide of iron in great quantities, rounded bits of blue quartz, yellow crystals, and other materials entirely different from anything known to be produced in the adjacent mountains. diamonds are by no means peculiar to the beds of rivers or deep ravines; they have been found in cavities and watercourses on the summits of the most lofty mountains. i had some conversation with the officers, respecting the matrix of the diamond, not a vestige of which could i trace. they informed me, that they often found diamonds cemented in pudding-stone, accompanied with grains of gold, but that they always broke them out, as they could not enter them in the treasury, or weigh them with matter adhering to them. i obtained a mass of pudding-stone, apparently of very recent formation, cemented by ferruginous matter enveloping many grains of gold; and likewise a few pounds weight of the cascalhao in its unwashed state. this river, and other streams in its vicinity, have been in washing many years, and have produced great quantities of diamonds, which have ever been reputed of the finest quality. they vary in size: some are so small that four or five are required to weigh one grain, consequently sixteen or twenty to the carat: there are seldom found more than two or three stones of from seventeen to twenty carats in the course of a year, and not once in two years is there found throughout the whole washings a stone of thirty carats. during the five days i was here, they were not very successful; the whole quantity found amounted only to forty, the largest of which was only four carats, and of a light green colour. "from the great quantity of debris, or worked cascalhao, in every part near the river, it is reasonable to calculate that the works have been in operation above forty years; of course there must arrive a period at which they will be exhausted, but there are grounds in the neighbourhood, particularly in the cerro de st. antonio, and in the country now inhabited by the indians, which will probably afford these gems in equal abundance." the mines of peru.--there are great numbers of very rich mines which the waters of the ocean have invaded. the disposition of the ground, which from the summit of the cordilleras goes continually shelving to the south sea, renders such events more common at peru than in other places. this has been in some instances remedied. joseph salcedo, about , discovered, near puna, the mine of laycacoto. it was so rich that they often cut the silver with a chisel. it was at last overflowed with water; but in , diego de bacua associated with others to divert the springs. the labours which this difficult undertaking required, were not finished till . the mine yields as much as it did at first. but mines still richer have been discovered; such as that of potosi, which was found in the same country where the incas worked that of parco. an indian, named hualpa, in , pursuing some deer, in order to climb certain steep rocks, had hold of a bush, the roots of which loosened from the earth, and brought to view an ingot of silver. the indian had recourse to it for his own use. the change in his fortunes was remarked by one of his countrymen, and he discovered to him the secret. the two friends could not keep their counsel and enjoy their good fortune. they quarrelled; on which the indiscreet confidant discovered the whole to his master villaroel, a spaniard. upon this the mine was worked, and a great number of others were found in its vicinity, the principal of which are in the northern part of the mountain, and their direction is from north to south. the fame of potosi soon spread abroad; and there was quickly built at the foot of the mountain a town, consisting of , indians, and , spaniards. the sterility of the soil did not prevent its being immediately peopled. corn, fruit, flocks, american stuffs, and european luxuries, arrived from every quarter. in these mines produced annually near £ , , without reckoning the silver which was not registered, and what had been carried off by fraud. from that time the produce has been so much diminished, that not above one-eighth part of the coin which was formerly struck, is now made. at all the mines of peru, the spaniards, in purifying their gold and silver, use mercury, with which they are supplied from guanca velica. the common opinion is, that this mine was discovered in . the trade of mercury was then free; it became an exclusive trade in . at this period all the mines of mercury were shut; and that of guanca velica alone was worked; the property of which the king reserved to himself. it is not found to diminish. the mine is dug in the very large mountain of potosi, sixty leagues from lima. in its profound abyss are seen streets, squares, and a chapel, where the mysteries of religion on all festivals are celebrated. millions of flambeaus are continually kept to enlighten it. the mine of guanca velica generally affects those who work in it with convulsions; and the other mines, which are not less unhealthy, are all worked by the peruvians. these unfortunate victims of an insatiable avarice are crowded all together, and plunged naked into these abysses, the greatest part of which are deep, and all excessively cold. tyranny has invented this refinement in cruelty, to render it impossible for any thing to escape its restless vigilance. if there are any wretches who long survive such barbarity, it is the use of cocoa that preserves them. we shall incorporate in this chapter, the following interesting account of volcanic eruptions of mud and salt, in the island of java; by t. s. goad, esq. of the honourable company's bengal civil service. "having received (says the writer) an extraordinary account of a natural phenomenon in the plains of grobogan, fifty pals (or miles) north-east of solo, a party, of which i was one, set off from solo on the eighth of september, , to examine it. "on approaching the village of kuhoo, we saw, between two trees in a plain, an appearance like the surf breaking over rocks, with a strong spray falling to leeward. the spot was completely surrounded by huts, for the manufacture of salt, and at a distance looked like a large village. alighting, we went to the bludugs, as the javanese call them. they are situated in the village of kuhoo, and by europeans are called by that name. we found them to be on an elevated plain of mud, about two miles in circumference, in the centre of which immense bodies of salt mud were thrown up, to the height of from ten to fifteen feet, in the form of large globes, which, bursting, emitted volumes of dense white smoke. these large globes or bubbles, of which there were two, continued throwing up, and bursting seven or eight times in a minute at times they throw up two or three tons of mud. we got to leeward of the smoke, and found it to smell like the washing of a gun-barrel. "as the globes burst, they threw the mud out from the centre with a pretty loud noise, occasioned by the falling of the mud upon that which surrounded it, and of which the plain is composed. it was difficult and dangerous to approach the large globes or bubbles, as the ground was all a quagmire, except where the surface of the mud had become hardened by the sun; upon this we approached cautiously to within fifty yards of the largest bubble, or mud pudding, as it might very properly be called, for it was of the consistency of a custard-pudding, and of very considerable diameter: here and there, where the foot accidentally rested on a spot not sufficiently hardened, it sunk, to the no small distress of the walker. "we also got close to a small globe or bubble, (the plain being full of them of different sizes,) and observed it closely for some time. it appeared to heave and swell, and when the internal air had raised it to some height, it burst, and fell down in concentric circles, in which shape it remained quiet until a sufficient quantity of air was again formed internally, to raise and burst another bubble. this continued at intervals from about one-half to two minutes. from various other parts of the quagmire round the large globes or bubbles, there were occasionally small quantities of mud shot up like rockets to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and accompanied by smoke. this was in parts where the mud was of too stiff a consistency to rise in globes or bubbles. the mud at all the places we came near was cold on the surface, but we were told it was warm beneath. the water which drains from the mud is collected by the javanese, and by being exposed in the hollows of split bamboos to the rays of the sun, deposits crystals of salt. the salt thus made is reserved exclusively for the emperor of solo. in dry weather it yields thirty _dudjins_, of one hundred _catties_ each, every month; but in wet or cloudy weather, less. "in the afternoon we rode to a place in a forest, called ramsam, to view a salt lake, a mud hillock, and various boiling, or rather bubbling, pools. the lake was about half a mile in circumference, of a dirty looking water, boiling up all over in gurgling bodies, but more particularly in the centre, which appeared like a strong spring; the water was quite cold, and tasted bitter, salt, and sour, and had an offensive smell. about thirty yards from the lake stood the mud hillock, which was about fifteen feet high from the level of the earth. the diameter of its base was about twenty-five yards, its top about eight feet, and in form an exact cone. the top is open, and the interior keeps constantly working, and heaving up mud in globular forms, like the bludugs. the hillock is entirely formed of mud which has flowed out of the top; every rise of the mud was accompanied by a rumbling noise from the bottom of the hillock, which was distinctly heard for some seconds before the bubbles burst. the outside of the hillock was quite firm. we stood on the edge of the opening and sounded it, and found it to be eleven fathoms deep. the mud was more liquid than at the bludugs, and no smoke was emitted from the lake, hillock, or pools. "close to the foot of the hillock was a small pool of the same water as the lake, which appeared exactly like a pot of water boiling violently; it was shallow, except in the centre, into which we thrust a stick twelve feet long, but found no bottom. the hole not being perpendicular, we could not sound it with a line. "about yards from the lake, were several large pools or springs, two of which were eight or ten feet in diameter. they were like the small pool, but boiled more violently, and smelt excessively. the ground around them was hot to the feet, and the air which issued from them quite hot, so that it was most probably inflammable; but we did not ascertain this. we heard the boiling at the distance of thirty yards from the pools, resembling in noise a waterfall. the pools did not overflow; of course the bubbling was occasioned by the rising of air alone. the water of one of the pools appeared to contain a mixture of earth and lime, and, from the taste, to be combined with alkali. the water of the bludugs and the lake is used medicinally by the javanese, and cattle drinking of the water are poisoned." now follows an account of pitch-wells; from dr. holland's travels in the ionian isles, &c.--"the pitch-wells of zante are a natural phenomenon, which may be regarded as among the antiquities of the isle; since they were known and described as early as the time of herodotus, and are mentioned since by pausanias, pliny, and other authors. they are situated about ten miles from the city, and near the shore of the bay, on the southern side of the island. we visited this spot, which is called chieri, a day or two after our arrival in zante. a small tract of marshy ground, stretching down to the sea, and surrounded on other sides by low eminences of limestone, or a bituminous shale, is the immediate situation of the springs; they are found in three or four different places of the morass, appearing as small pools, the sides and bottom of which are thickly lined with petroleum, in a viscid state, and, by agitation, easily raised in large flakes to the surface. the most remarkable of these pools is one of a circular form, about fifty feet in circumference, and a few feet in depth, in which the petroleum has accumulated to a considerable quantity. the water of the spring, which is doubtless the means of conveying the mineral upwards to the surface, forms a small stream from the pool, sensibly impregnated with bituminous matter, which it deposits in parts as it flows through the morass: the other pools are of similar character. the petroleum is collected generally once in the year; and the average quantity obtained from the springs is said to be about barrels; it is chiefly used for the caulking of vessels, not being found to answer equally well for cordage." we close this chapter with mrs. wakefield's account of her visit to a coal-pit.--"near the town of newcastle, in the county of northumberland, are vast beds of coal, which lie far beneath the surface of the earth: they are often found at the depth of feet. our visit to one of them was rather a droll adventure. the first ceremony was, to put on a kind of frock that covered us all over, to prevent spoiling our clothes. we were then shewn a prodigious steam-engine at work, at the mouth of the pit, in order to drain off the water; and close to it, a ventilator for purifying the air in the pit. our guides now seated us on a piece of board, slung in a rope like the seat of a swing, and hooked to an iron chain, which was let gently down the suffocating hole by the assistance of six horses. i must confess, i did not like this mode of travelling: my spirits were, however, rather cheered when i reached the solid bottom, and saw my friend at my side. he congratulated me on my safe arrival; and pointed to a huge fire, burning for the purpose of keeping the air in proper temperature. gaining courage by a nearer examination, i walked about the chambers with as much ease as if they had been the apartments of a dwelling-house. the coal is hollowed out in spaces of four yards wide, between which are left pillars of coal to support the roof, ten yards broad, and twenty deep. after exploring a dozen or two of these little apartments, our curiosity was satisfied, as there was nothing more to be seen but a repetition of the same objects to a vast extent. a number of horses live here for years together, and seem to enjoy themselves very comfortably: they are employed to draw the coal from the subterraneous passages to the bottom of the opening of the pit. the machine which raises the coal to the surface of the earth, is worked by stout horses. the coal is brought in strong baskets, made of osier; they contain each cwt. and while one ascends, the other descends. a man receives these baskets as they arrive at the top, and places them on a dray, having hooked an empty basket on, instead of the full one. before he drives the dray to a shed at a little distance, where he empties his load, the dust passes through holes prepared to receive it; while the large coals roll down the declivity in heaps, where they are loaded in waggons, and carried to wharfs on the river side, to be put on board the vessels that wait to convey them to distant parts. the waggons, very heavily laden, run without horses to the water side, along a road ingeniously formed in a sloping direction, with grooves to fit the waggon wheels, and make them go more readily. the dust, which is too small for common fires, is put into a kiln well heated, and when it is burnt, the particles unite, and run into large cakes or masses: in that state it is called coke, and this substance is used in many manufactories, where a strong heat is required. "there are also coal-mines in several other parts of england. near whitehaven, in the county of cumberland, are some that extend half a mile under the sea. the collieries employ a great number of hardy sailors, who, in their frequent coasting-voyages, are accustomed to face all the dangers of a sea-life. in time of war they contribute to man our navy; and, from their courage and skill, form a very valuable part of the crews." chap. xliv. curiosities respecting the sea. _general observations respecting the sea, or ocean--particular curiosities of the sea--on the saltness of the sea--on the tides--waves stilled by oil._ "------------------and thou, majestic main, a secret world of wonders in thyself! sound his stupendous praise, whose greater voice or bids you roar, or bids your roaring fall!" general observations respecting the sea, or ocean. the sea, or ocean, is that vast tract of water which encompasses the whole earth. what proportion the superficies of the sea bears to that of the land, is not precisely known, though it is said to be somewhat more than two-thirds. as the waters of the earth must necessarily rise to the surface thereof, it being specifically lighter than the earth, it was necessary there should be large cavities therein, as receptacles to contain them, otherwise they would have overspread all the surface of the earth, and so have rendered it utterly uninhabitable for terrestrial animals: it is well known, that the centre of the earth is the common centre of gravity, and that the nature of fluids is such, that they equally yield to equal powers; hence it follows, that where the power of attraction is every where the same at equal distances from the centre, the superficial parts of the water will every where conform themselves to this attractive power, at an equidistant situation from the centre, and, it is evident, will form the surface of a sphere, so far as they extend. the reason then that the sea seems higher than the land, results from the fallacy of vision, whereby all objects, whether on the land or sea, appear higher as they become more distant: and the reason will be plain to those who are acquainted with optics; for it is well known, that the denser any medium is, through which we behold objects, the greater is the refraction, or the more their images appear above the horizontal level; while the greater the quantity of medium through which the rays pass, the more they will be bent from their first direction: on both these accounts, the appearances of things at a great distance, both on the land and the sea, will be somewhat above the horizon, and the more so as they are the more remote. with regard to the depth or profundity of the sea, varenius affirms, that it is in some places unfathomable, in other places very various, being from fifty yards to four and a half english miles, in some places deeper, and that the depth is much less in bays than in oceans. in general, the depths of the sea bear a great analogy to the height of mountains on the land, so far as discoveries have hitherto extended. it is a general rule among sailors, and is found to hold true in many instances, that the more the shores of any place are steep and high, forming perpendicular cliffs, the deeper the sea is below; and that, on the contrary, level shores denote shallow waters. thus, the deepest part of the mediterranean is generally allowed to be under the heights of malta. and the observation of the strata of earth and other fossils, on and near the shores, may serve to form a good judgment as to the materials to be found in the bottom of the sea; for the veins of salt and bitumen doubtless run on in the same order as we see them on the shore. if we may reason from analogy, the strata of rocks, that serve as a foundation for hills and elevated places on shore, serve also, in the same continued chain, to support the immense quantity of water in the basin of the sea. the coral fisheries have given occasion to observe, that there are many, and those very large caverns or hollows in the bottom of the sea, especially where it is rocky, and that the like caverns are sometimes found in the perpendicular rocks which form the steep sides of those fisheries. these caverns are often of great depth as well as extent, and have sometimes wide mouths, and sometimes only narrow entrances, into large and spacious hollows. the bottom of the sea is covered with a variety of materials, such as could not be imagined by any but those who have examined into them, especially in deep water, where the surface only is disturbed by tides and storms; the lower part, and consequently its bed at the bottom, remaining, for ages perhaps, undisturbed. the soundings, when the plummet first touches the ground, on approaching the shores, give some idea of this. the bottom of the plummet is hollowed, and in that hollow there is placed a lump of tallow, which is the first part that touches the ground; and the soft nature of the fat receives into it some part of those substances which it meets with at the bottom: the substances thus brought up, are sometimes pure sand, sometimes a kind of sand made of the fragments of shells beaten to a sort of powder, sometimes they are composed of a like powder to the several sorts of corals, and sometimes they are composed of fragments of rocks; but besides these appearances, which are natural enough, and are what might well be expected, it brings up substances which are of the most beautiful colours. dr. donati, in an italian work, containing an essay on a natural history of the adriatic sea, has related many curious observations on this subject: having carefully examined the soil and productions of the various countries that surround the adriatic sea, and compared them with those which he took up from the bottom of the sea, he found that there was very little difference between the former and the latter. at the bottom of the water there are mountains, plains, valleys, and caverns, similar to those upon land. the soil consists of different strata, placed one upon another, and mostly parallel and correspondent to those of the rocks, islands, and neighbouring continents. they contain stones of different sorts, minerals, metals, various petrified bodies, pumice stones, and lavas formed by volcanoes. one of the objects which most excited his attention, was a crust, which he discovered under the water, composed of crustaceous and testaceous bodies, with beds of polypes of different kinds, confusedly blended with earth, sand, and gravel: the different marine bodies, which form this crust, are found at the depth of a foot or more, entirely petrified, and reduced into marble; these, he supposes, are the natural beds of the sea, and not made so by means of volcanoes and earthquakes, as some have conjectured. on this account, he imagines that the bottom of the sea is constantly rising higher and higher, with which other obvious causes of increase concur; and from this rising of the bottom of the sea, that of its level or surface naturally results; in proof of which, this writer recites a great number of facts. m. dassie has been at great pains to prove, that the sea has a general motion, independently of winds and tides, and that it is of more consequence in navigation than is generally supposed. he affirms, that this motion is from east to west; inclining towards the north, when the sun has passed the equinoctial northward, during the time he is passing through the northern signs; but the contrary way, after the sun has passed the said equinoctial southward: adding, that when this general motion is changed, the diurnal flux is changed also; whence it happens, that in several places the tides come in during one part of the year, and go out during the other, as on the coasts of norway, in the indies at goa, cochin-china, &c. where, while the sun is in the summer signs, the sea runs to the shore; and when in the winter signs, runs from it. on the most southern coasts of tonquin and china, for the six summer months, the diurnal course runs from the north with the ocean; but the sun having repassed the line toward the south, the course declines also southward. there are two principal reasons why the sea does not increase by means of rivers, &c. falling every where into it. the first is, because waters return from the sea by subterranean cavities and aqueducts, through various parts of the earth. secondly, because the quantity of vapours raised from the sea, and falling on the land, only cause a circulation, but no increase of water. it has been found, by calculation, that in a summer's day there may be raised in vapours, from the mediterranean sea, , , , tons of water, and yet this sea receiveth not, from all its nine great rivers, above , , , tons per day, which is but a third part of what is exhausted in vapours. the ascent of the sea for the formation of springs, by a subterranean circulation of its water to their sources, has been a great objection, with many, against the system which ascribes their origin to the ocean; but dr. plot has observed, that there are many ways by which the water may ascend above its own level: . by the means of subterranean heat. . by filtration. . by the unequal height of several seas. . by the distance of the centre of magnitude from the centre of gravity in the terraqueous globe; the superficies of the pacific sea being said to be further from the centre of gravity than the top of the highest hill on the adverse part of the globe. and, . by the help of storms. the sea water actually ascends above its own level, and finds its way into wells, whose bottoms lie higher than the surface of the sea at high-water mark. we shall now enter more particularly on the curiosities of the sea.--for the following observations we are principally indebted to sturm. "instead of regarding the sea as an object of terror, let us consider the wonders and the benefits which it presents to us. it must be granted that when the waves swell into mountains, and the tempest roars, its aspect is terrific; and we must be hardy indeed, not to consider it as a most formidable element in such times of awful visitation, when ships, breaking from their anchor, or driven from their course, rush before the winds that beat upon them with ungovernable fury, till, dismasted, and their rigging shivered in fragments, they sink, overwhelmed with a weight of waters, or strike some sand-bank, or shelving rock, and are at once dashed to pieces. sometimes whirlpools, or vast masses of water with a violently circular motion, whirl the unfortunate vessel that fate urges into their vortex, with irresistible force, till the helpless victim sinks an easy prey to the tremendous gulf, and the cries of the unfortunate wretches are lost in the roar of the waves: these whirlpools are occasioned by rocks in the ocean, and the meeting of numerous currents and eddies. not less dangerous are the waterspouts, that the wind raises from the sea to the clouds; they hover in the air high above the ocean, and the wind whirls them round with violence. they often burst with a great crash, and occasion much mischief; for if they fall upon a vessel, they destroy its rigging, and sometimes sink it to the bottom. "but it would be highly unjust and ungrateful, only to consider the losses occasioned by the sea, without reflecting upon the magnificent and stupendous works of god, and that goodness which even visits the unfathomable depths of the ocean. the first thing that strikes us, upon the investigation of sea water, is its saltness; a pound of the water containing about two ounces of salt. sea salt appears lighter than that we commonly use, and yet it is not attracted by the air, nor lessened by the continual influx of fresh water; the cause of this is unknown. if this peculiar quality arose from mountains of salt contained in the sea, it would be salter in some places than in others, of which we have no proof. but whatever is the occasion of this saline property of the sea, it is absolutely necessary to accomplish certain ends. it is that which preserves such a vast body of water from corruption, and renders it capable of supporting a greater weight. the colour of sea water is also deserving of attention: it is not every where alike, which perhaps arises in part from its reflecting the colour of the bottom and that of the sky. it often appears dark and black in deep abysses, white and foaming during a storm, silvery, and gilded with reflections of the most beautiful hue, when the last rays of the setting sun play upon the unruffled surface: the colour of the sea, in addition to these, varies, from numberless insects, marine plants, and the combination of the different substances which the rivers and torrents carry with them into the ocean. when it is calm, and not a breeze skims over its bosom, it sometimes glitters with the most brilliant stars; and the track of a ship cleaving the waves has often a luminous appearance, like a river of fire. "the creatures which inhabit the sea excite our surprise and admiration; we there discover a new world, and the number of beings which compose it is prodigious. aquatic animals are not so numerous in their species as the land animals; but they surpass them in size and duration. the elephant and ostrich yield in bulk to the whale, the largest fish of the ocean, its length being often from sixty to seventy feet; and no land animal can vie with it in longevity, for it lives as long as the oak. if we may rely upon certain accounts, there are creatures in the ocean, far exceeding the size of the whale; as the animal called kraken, said to exist in the northern seas, and whose circumference is half a german league. who is able to number the different species of animals which people the seas? or who can determine their form, structure, size, and properties? how infinitely great is that god who has created the sea! will be the conclusion of all who investigate the subject, and it is not without the wisest reasons that the creator has made the ocean and the seas to occupy two-thirds of the whole globe. the seas were designed not only to form great reservoirs of water, but by means of their evaporation to be the sources of rain, snow, and various meteors. what wisdom is displayed in the connection which the seas have with each other, and in their continual motion! and it is not less wonderful that the bottom of the ocean is of the same nature as the surface of the earth. there are found in the sea, rocks, caverns, plains, springs, plants, and animals; and the islands are only the summits of a long chain of mountains. when we consider that the seas form a part of the globe the least investigated, we are disposed to believe that they contain many more wonders, which neither the senses nor the understanding of man can penetrate, while all acknowledge the adorable wisdom and power of the most high. to him then, who has established the monuments of his grandeur and the sceptre of his glory in the ocean, as upon the earth, be ascribed all admiration and praise!" the following opinions of a late celebrated philosopher and divine, on the saltness of the sea, may not be unacceptable to our readers:--"there are few questions, (observes bishop watson,) respecting the natural history of our globe, which have been discussed with more attention, or decided with less satisfaction, than that concerning the primary cause of the saltness of the sea. the solution of it had perplexed the philosophers before the time of aristotle; it surpassed his own great genius; and those of his followers, who have attempted to support his arguments, have been betrayed into very ill-grounded conclusions concerning it. father kircher, after having consulted three and thirty authors upon the subject, could not help remarking, that the fluctuations of the ocean itself were scarcely more various than the opinions of men concerning the origin of its saline impregnation. the question does not seem capable of admitting an illustration from experiment; at least no experiments have hitherto been made for that purpose, and therefore we may be the less surprised at its remaining nearly as problematical in the present age, as it has been in the preceding. had there, indeed, been any observation made three or four centuries ago, ascertaining the saltness of the sea at any particular time and place; we might, by similar observations at the same place and the same season, have been able to know whether the saltness at that particular place was an increasing, decreasing, or an invariable quantity; and this kind and degree of knowledge would have served as a clue to direct us to a full investigation of this matter in general; but it is to be regretted, that no such observations have, till very lately, been made with any tolerable precision.--there are three principal opinions on this subject, which have been maintained by philosophers of modern date; some, observing that river water, almost in every part of the globe, is in a greater or less degree impregnated with sea salt, have thought that the sea has gradually acquired its present quality of salt from the long-continued influx of rivers." other philosophers, observing that large beds of fossil salt are not unfrequent in any quarter of the globe; and conceiving, with great probability, the bottom of the sea to be analogous in its formation to the surface of the earth, have undertaken to derive its saltness from the beds of rock salt, which they have supposed to be situated at its bottom; and they are further of opinion, that without such a permanent saline principle, the sea would long since have become insipid from the fresh water poured into it by an infinity of rivers. strange! that what, according to the fore-mentioned hypothesis, was thought sufficient to account for the saltness of the sea, should in this be esteemed instrumental in annihilating the saltness already supposed to exist. boyle unites, as it were, and takes the two preceding hypotheses, and imagines the saltness of the sea to be supplied, not only from rocks and other masses of salt, which at the beginning were, and in some countries may yet be found, either at the bottom of the sea, or at the sides, where the water can reach them, but also from the salt which the rivers, rains, and other waters, dissolve in their passage through divers parts of the earth, and at length carry with them into the sea. buffon, and the generality of philosophers, acquiesce in the opinion of boyle.--"after all, (says he,) it may be observed, that we are inquiring into the cause of a phenomenon, which it may be said had no secondary cause at all. it is taken for granted, in this disquisition, that the water which covered the globe in its chaotic state, was not impregnated with salt as at present, but quite fresh: now this is an opinion concerning a matter of fact, which can never be proved either way; and surely we extend our speculations very far, when we attempt to explain a phenomenon, primeval to, or coeval with, the formation of the earth." this sensible writer then states the different experiments which have been made to discover the saltness of the sea, round the shores of britain; and proposes the following simple method of ascertaining it with tolerable certainty:-- "as it is not every person who can make himself expert in the use of common means of estimating the quantity of salt contained in sea water, i will mention a method of doing it, which is so easy and simple, that every common sailor may understand and practise it; and which, at the same time, from the trials i have made of it, seems to be as exact a method as any that has yet been thought of.--take a clean towel, or any other piece of cloth; dry it well before the sun or before the fire, then weigh it accurately, and note down its weight; dip it in the sea water, and, when taken out, wring it a little till it will not drip when hung up to dry; weigh it in this wet state, then dry it in the sun or at the fire, and when it is perfectly dry, weigh it again: the excess of the weight of the wetted cloth above its original weight, is the weight of the sea water imbibed by the cloth; and the excess of the weight of the cloth after being dried, above its original weight, is the specific gravity of the salt retained by the cloth; and by comparing this weight with the weight of the sea water imbibed by the cloth, we obtain the proportion of salt contained in that species of sea water." whoever undertakes to ascertain the quantity of salt contained in sea water, either by this or any other method, would do well to observe the state of the weather preceding the time when the sea water is taken out of the sea; for the quantity of salt contained in the water near the surface, may be influenced, both by the antecedent moisture, and the antecedent heat of the atmosphere. and this leads to the consideration of a question proposed by aristotle,--why are the upper parts of the sea salter and warmer than the lower? some philosophers, admitting the fact, have followed him in attempting to explain it; whilst others have thought themselves authorized by experiment to deny the truth of the position; and those, perhaps, will argue with the greatest justness, who shall affirm that it is neither generally to be admitted, nor generally to be rejected, but that the sea in some places, and under certain circumstances, is salter and warmer at the surface, than at any considerable depth beneath it, while in many others the reverse is true. the question consists of two parts, betwixt which, though there probably is a connection, yet it is not so necessary a one as to hinder us from considering each part by itself. with regard to the use of this salt property of sea water, it is observed, that the saltness of the sea preserves its waters pure and sweet, which otherwise would corrupt, and emit a stench like a filthy lake, and consequently that none of the myriads of creatures which now live therein could exist. from thence also the sea water becomes much heavier, and therefore ships of greater size and burden are safely borne thereon. salt water also does not freeze so soon as fresh water, hence the seas are more free for navigation. we shall now make a few observations on the tides:-- say, why should the collected main itself within itself contain? why to its caverns should it sometimes cree and with delighted silence sleep on the lov'd bosom of its parent deep? why should its num'rous waters stay in comely discipline and fair array, till winds and tides exert their high commands? then prompt and ready to obey, why do the rising surges spread their op'ning ranks o'er earth's submissive head, marching through different paths to different lands? _prior._ the tides consist of two periodical motions of the waters of the sea, called the flux and reflux, or the flow and ebb. the cause of the tides is the attraction of the sun and moon, but chiefly of the latter; the waters of the immense ocean, forgetful, as it were, of their natural rest, move and roll in tides, obsequious to the strong attractive power of the moon, and weaker influence of the sun. that the tides may have their full motion, the ocean in which they are produced ought to be extended from east to west °, or a quarter of a great circle of the earth, at least; because the places where the moon raises most, and most depresses the water, are at that distance from one another. hence it appears, that it is only in the great oceans that such tides can be produced, and why, in the large pacific ocean, they exceed those in the atlantic. from this it is also obvious why the tides are not so great in the torrid zone, between africa and america, where the ocean is narrower, as in the temperate zones on either side; and from this also, we may understand why the tides are so small in islands that are very far distant from the shore. it is manifest, that, in the atlantic ocean, the water cannot rise on one shore, but by descending on the other; so that, on these shores, at an intermediate distance, it must continue at about a mean height between its elevation on the one, and descent on the other shore. as the tides pass over shoals, and run through streights into bays of the sea, their motion becomes more various, and their height depends on a great many circumstances. the tide that is produced in the western coast of europe corresponds to the theory above described: thus, it is high water on the coast of spain, portugal, and the west of ireland, about the third hour after the moon has passed the meridian; from thence it flows into the adjacent channels, as it finds the easiest passage. one current from it, for example, runs up by the south of england, and another comes in by the north of scotland: they take a considerable time to move all this way, and it is high water sooner in the places to which they first come; and the tides even begin to fall at those places, while the two currents are yet going on to others that are further in their course. as they return, they are not able to raise a tide; because the water runs faster off than it returns, till by a new tide propagated from the ocean, the return of the current is stopped, and the water begins to rise again. the tide takes twelve hours to come from the ocean to london bridge, so that, when it is high water there, a new tide is already come to its height in the ocean, and, in some intermediate place, it must be low water at the same time. in channels, therefore, and narrow seas, the progress of the tides may be, in some respects, compared to the motion of the waves of the sea. it may be observed, that when the tide runs over shoals, and flows upon flat shores, the water is raised to a greater height than in the open and deep oceans that have steep banks; because the force of its motion cannot be broken upon these level shores, till the water rises to a greater height. if a place communicates with two oceans, (or two different ways with the same ocean, one of which is a readier and easier passage than the other,) two tides may arrive at that place in different times, which, interfering with each other, may produce a greater variety of phenomena. an extraordinary instance of this kind is mentioned at bathsha, a port in the kingdom of tonquin in the east indies, of northern latitude ° '. the day in which the moon passes the equator, the water stagnates there without any motion: as the moon removes from the equator, the water begins to rise and fall once a day; and it is high water at the setting of the moon, and low water at her rising. this daily tide increases for about seven or eight days, and then decreases for as many days by the same degrees, till this motion ceases when the moon has returned to the equator. when she has passed the equator, and declines towards the south pole, the water rises and falls again, as before; but it is high water now at the rising, and low water at the setting, of the moon. we shall close this chapter with an account of the remarkable fact of waves stilled by oil.--this wonderful property, though well known to the ancients, as appears from the writings of pliny, was for many ages either quite unnoticed, or treated as fabulous by succeeding philosophers, till dr. franklin again attracted the attention of the learned to this subject; though it appears, from some anecdotes, that seafaring people have always been acquainted with it. mr. pennant, in his british zoology, vol. iv. under the article _seal_, takes notice, that when these animals are devouring a very oily fish, which they always do under water, the waves above are remarkably smooth; and by this the fishermen know where to find them. sir gilbert lawson, who served long in the army at gibraltar, assured dr. franklin, that the fishermen in that place are accustomed to pour a little oil on the sea, in order to still its motion, that they may be enabled to see the oysters lying at its bottom, which are there very large, and which they take up with a proper instrument. a similar practice is followed among fishermen in various other parts; and dr. franklin was informed by an old sea captain, that the fishermen of lisbon, when about to return into the river, if they saw too great a surf upon the bar, would empty a bottle or two of oil into the sea, which would suppress the breakers, and allow them to pass freely. the doctor having revolved in his mind all these pieces of information, became impatient to try the experiment himself. at last, having an opportunity of observing a large pond very rough with the wind, he dropped a small quantity of oil upon it. but having at first applied it on the lee side, the oil was driven back again upon the shore. he then went to the windward side, and poured on about a tea-spoonful of oil; this produced an instant calm over a space several yards square, which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it came to the lee-side; making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as glass. this experiment was often repeated in different places, and was always attended with success. chap. xlv. curiosities respecting the sea.--(_concluded._) "--------------------adoring, own the hand almighty, who its channel'd bed immeasurable sunk, and pour'd abroad, fenc'd with eternal mounds, the fluid sphere; with every wind to waft large commerce on, join pole to pole, consociate sever'd worlds, and link in bonds of intercourse and love earth's universal family." on the perfection of navigation. the following account of the present wonderful perfection of navigation, is taken from a history of voyages and discoveries made in the north; translated from the german of john reinhold foster, ll.d.-- "of all the arts and professions which have at any time attracted notice, none has ever appeared to be more astonishing and marvellous than that of navigation, in the state in which it is at present; an art which doubtless affords one of the most certain irrefragable proofs of the amazing powers of the human understanding. this cannot be made more evident, than when, taking a retrospective view of the tottering inartificial craft to which navigation owes its origin, we compare it to a noble and majestic edifice, containing men, together with their provisions, drink, furniture, wearing-apparel, and other necessaries, for many months, besides pieces of heavy ordnance; and bearing all this vast apparatus safely, and as it were on the wings of the wind, across immense seas to the most distant shores. the following example may serve for the present to delineate at full length, as it were, the idea above alluded to. but first i must premise, that a huge unwieldy log of wood, with the greatest difficulty, and in the most uncouth manner, hollowed out in the inside, and somewhat pointed at both ends, and in this way set on a river for the purpose of transporting two or three persons belonging to one and the same family, across a piece of water a few feet deep, by the assistance of a pole pushed against the ground, cannot with any propriety be considered as the image of navigation in its first and earliest stage. for it seems evident to me, that people in the beginning only took three or four trunks of trees, and fastened them together, and then, by means of this kind of raft, got across such waters as were too deep for them to ford, and across which they could not well swim, with their children, and various kinds of goods which they might wish to preserve from being wet. the canoe, however, is a specimen of the art in a more advanced state, as this kind of craft is capable of having direction given to it, and even of so capital an improvement as that of having a sail added to it. for this reason i choose this vehicle for a standard, in preference to a mere raft, to which, imperfect as it is, it is so much superior. "let us, then, compare this with a large majestic floating edifice, the result of the ingenuity and labour of many hundreds of hands, and composed of a number of well-proportioned pieces, nicely fastened together by iron nails and bolts; and rendered so tight with tow and pitch, that no water can penetrate it. now, in order to give motion and direction to this enormous machine, some astonishingly lofty pieces of timber have been fixed upright in it, and so many moveable cross pieces have been added to it, together with such a variety of pieces of strong linen cloth, for the purpose of catching the wind, and of receiving its impulse and propelling power, that the number of them amounts to upwards of thirty. for changing the direction of the yards and sails, according to particular circumstances, it has also been requisite to add a vast quantity of cordage and tackling; and nevertheless, even all this would not be sufficient for the perfect direction and government of the vessel, if there were not fastened to the hinder part of it, by means of hinges and hooks, a moveable piece of wood, very small indeed, in proportion to the whole machine, but the least inclination of which to either side is sufficient to give immediately a different direction to this enormously large mass, and that even in a storm, so that two men may direct and govern this swimming island with the same, or with greater ease, than a single man can do a boat. but if, besides, we consider, that, in a vessel like this, not a single piece is put in at random, but that every part of it has its determinate measure and proportion, and is fixed precisely in that place which is the most advantageous for it; that, throughout every part of it, there is distributed an astonishing quantity of blocks, stays, and pulleys, for the purpose of diminishing the friction, and of accelerating the motion of these parts; that even the bellying and vaulted part of the fabric, together with its sharp termination underneath, are proportioned according to the nicest calculations, and the most accurately determined rules; that the length and the thickness of the masts, the size of the booms and yards, the length, width, and strength of the sails and tackling, are all in due proportion to each other, according to certain rules founded upon the principles of motion: when we consider all this, i say, our admiration increases more and more at this great masterpiece of human power and understanding. "still, however, there are wanting a few traits to complete this description. a man in health consumes, in the space of twenty-four hours, about eight pounds of victuals and drink: consequently, lb. of provisions are required daily in such a ship. now, let us suppose a ship to be fitted out for three months only, and we shall find that she must be laden with , lb. of provisions. a large forty-two pounder weighs about lb. if made of brass, and about lb. if iron; and generally there are twenty-eight or thirty of these on board a ship of guns, the weight of which, exclusive of that of their carriages, amounts to , lb.--on the second deck, thirty twenty-four pounders, each of which weighs about lb. and therefore altogether , lb.--the weight of the twenty-six or twenty-eight twelve-pounders on the lower deck, amounts to about , lb.--that of the fourteen six-pounders on the upper deck, to about , lb.--besides which, on the round tops, there are even three-pounders and swivels. now, if to this we add, that the complete charge of a forty-two pounder weighs about lb. and that at least upwards of charges are required for each gun, we shall find this to amount nearly to the same weight as the guns themselves. in addition to this, we must reflect, that every ship must have, by way of providing against exigencies, at least a second set of sails, cables, cordage, and tacklings, which altogether amount to a considerable weight. the stores, likewise, consisting of planks, pitch, and tow; the chests belonging to the officers and sailors; the surgeon's stores, and various other articles requisite on a long voyage; as also the small arms, bayonets, swords, and pistols, are no inconsiderable load; to which we must finally add the weight of the crew, which is not very trifling: so that one of these large ships carries at least tons burden, or , , lb. and at the same time is steered and governed with as much ease as the smallest boat. now, the consideration of these circumstances alone, is sufficient to excite the most serious reflections in a contemplative mind; and yet, if such a ship sailed along the coast only, and never lost sight of the shore, as the navigators of old used to do, we might still be tempted to look upon navigation as an easy and trifling business. but the finding the straightest and shortest way over an ocean of more than sixty or eighty degrees in longitude, and thirty or forty in latitude; or across a track from to miles in extent, by day and by night, in fair weather or in foul; as well when the sky is overcast as when it is clear, and often with no other guide than the compass, and the being able to determine the true position of the ship at sea, by the height of the sun, though this latter be enveloped in clouds, or to direct its course by the moon and stars with such exactness and precision, as not to make a mistake of the value of half a degree, or thirty miles; this at least shews the progress and great perfection of an art practised by a class of people, of whose understanding many conceited and supercilious landsmen have but a mean opinion, and whose plain and simple manners they frequently take the liberty of turning into ridicule, forgetting how much they are indebted to their skill and prowess. "a violent storm of wind will make us tremble with fear, even in a strong well-built house, and in the midst of a populous city; yet we have seldom or never either seen or experienced the vast power of the enraged waves, when beat about by the winds, and dashed against each other till they seem transformed into froth and vapour, and the whole surface of the ocean presents to the eye a confused scene of immense watery mountains and bottomless precipices; and yet on such a sea as this the true seaman, provided he has but a good ship, rides with calm and unshaken courage, and thinks himself as safe in the midst of the ocean as in the best fortified castle." with gallant pomp and beauteous pride, the floating pile in harbour rode; proud of her freight, the swelling tide reluctant left the vessel's side, and rais'd it as it flow'd. the waves, with eastern breezes curl'd, had silver'd half the liquid plain; the anchors weigh'd, the sails unfurl'd, serenely mov'd the wooden world, and stretch'd along the main. chap. xlvi. curiosities respecting waterfalls, lakes, gulfs, whirlpools, &c. _the falls of niagara--lake of killarney--lake solfatara--whirlpool near suderoe--maelstrom--gulf stream--new island starting from the sea._ fountains and ponds he adds, and lakes immense, descending streams the winding borders fence; this, deep-absorb'd, the darksome cavern laves, these to the ocean roll their azure waves; there, uncontroll'd, they meet the roaring tide, and dash, for verdant banks, the hoar cliff's side. _ovid._ niagara is a river of the united states, which flows from lake erie, and runs by a north-west course into the south-west end of lake ontario, constituting part of the boundary between the united states and canada. it is thirty-four miles long, including its meanders. about twenty miles below lake erie is the great cataract, called the falls of niagara, which is justly reckoned one of the greatest natural curiosities in the world. these falls run from south-south-east to north-north-west; and the rock of the falls crosses them, not in a right line, but forms a kind of figure like a hollow semicircle, or horse-shoe. above the falls, in the middle of the river, is an island called grand isle, about nine hundred or one thousand feet long, the lower end of which is just at the perpendicular edge of the fall. on both sides of this island runs all the water that comes from the lakes of canada; viz. lakes superior, michigan, huron, and erie. before the water comes to this island, it runs but slowly, compared with its motion afterwards, when it grows the most rapid in the world, running with a surprising swiftness before it comes to the fall. it is perfectly white, and in many places is thrown high up into the air. at this island, the river divides into two channels: the perpendicular descent of the north-east channel, as measured by dr. m'causlin, is one hundred and sixty-three feet; that of the north-west, one hundred and forty-three; and the breadth of the cataract and island, above a mile. the water that runs down on the west side is more rapid, flows in greater abundance, and is whiter, than that on the east side, and seems to outfly an arrow in swiftness. at the principal fall, on looking up the river, one may see that the water is every where exceedingly steep, almost like the side of a hill; but upon looking at the fall itself, it is impossible to express the amazement it occasions. the height of it, as measured by mathematical instruments, is exactly one hundred and thirty-seven feet; and when the water is come to the bottom, it rebounds back to a very great height in the air. the noise is heard at the distance of forty-five miles. at fort niagara, when they hear the noise of the fall more loud than ordinary, they are sure that a north-east wind will follow; which is the most surprising, as the fort lies south-west from the fall. sometimes the fall makes a much greater noise than at others, and this is held for an infallible sign of approaching rain or bad weather. from the place where the water falls, there arises a great quantity of vapour, like very thick smoke, insomuch, that when viewed at a distance, one would think that the indians had set the forests on fire. these vapours rise high in the air when it is calm, but are dispersed by the wind when it blows hard. in september and october, such quantities of dead water-fowl are found every morning below the fall, on the shore, that the garrison of the fort live chiefly upon them. besides the fowls, they find several sorts of dead fish, also deer, bears, and other animals, which have tried to cross the water above the fall: the larger animals are generally found broken to pieces. just below, a little way from the great fall, the water is not rapid, but goes in circles, and whirls like a boiling pot; which however does not hinder the indians going upon it in small canoes a fishing; but a little further, and lower, the other smaller falls begin. there is an island in the middle of the river above the fall, where the indians go often to kill deer, which have tried to cross the river, and are driven upon it by the stream. on the west side of this island are some small islands or rocks of no consequence. the east side of the river is almost perpendicular, the west side more sloping. in former times, a part of the rock, at the fall which is on the west side of the island, hung over in such a manner, that the water which fell perpendicularly from it, left a vacancy below, so that people could go under between the rock and the water; but the prominent part some years ago broke off, and fell down. the breadth of the great fall, as it runs in a semicircle, is reckoned to be about feet. below the fall, in the holes of the rocks, are great plenty of eels, which the indians and french catch with their hands. every day, when the sun shines, may be seen from ten a. m. till two p. m. below the fall, a glorious rainbow, and sometimes two, one within the other. the more vapours that float, the brighter and clearer is the rainbow. when the wind carries the vapours from that place, the rainbow is gone, but appears again as soon as new vapours arise. from the fall to the landing above it, where the canoes from the lake erie put ashore, (or from the fall to the upper end of the carrying place,) is half a mile. lower than this, the canoes dare not venture. they have often found below the fall, fragments of human bodies, that have unhappily been precipitated over the fall. the french say, that they have often thrown great trees into the water above, to see them carried over this precipice with the vast body of water, which nothing can resist: these go down with surprising swiftness, but can never be seen afterwards; from whence has arisen the conjecture that there was a bottomless abyss just under the fall. but the most reasonable supposition is, that, by the powerful agency of the water, they were broken into such diminutive fragments, as to render it impossible that they should ever be recognized for the same. the rock of the fall is composed of a gray limestone. we shall next take a view of some of the most remarkable lakes; and the first we would notice, is the lake of killarney.--this is a beautiful lake of ireland, in the county of kerry, otherwise called lough lean, from its being surrounded by high mountains. it is divided into three parts, called the lower, middle, and upper lake. the northern, or lower lake, is six miles in length, and from three to four in breadth. on the side of one of the mountains is o'sullivan's cascade, which falls into the lake with a roar that strikes the timid with awe. the view of this sheet of water is uncommonly fine; it appears as if it were descending from an arch of wood, which overhangs it above seventy feet in height. the promontory of mucruss, which divides the upper from the lower lake, is quite enchanting; and a road is carried through the centre of its promontory, which unfolds all the interior beauties of the place. among the distant mountains, turk appears an object of magnificence; while mangerton's more lofty, though less interesting summit, soars above the whole. the passage to the upper lake is round the extremity of mucruss, which confines it on one side, and the approaching mountains on the other. here is a celebrated rock, called the eagle's nest, which produces wonderful echoes; the report of a single cannon is answered by a succession of peals resembling the loudest thunder, and at length dies away among the distant mountains. the upper is four miles long, and from two to three broad. it is almost surrounded by mountains, from which descend a number of beautiful cascades. the islands in this lake are numerous, and afford an amazing variety of picturesque views. the centre lake, which communicates with the upper, is small in comparison with the other two, and cannot boast of equal variety; but the shores are, in many places, indented with beautiful bays, surrounded by dark groves of trees. the east boundary is formed by the base of mangerton, down the steep side of which descends a cascade, visible for yards. this fall of water is supplied by a circular lake, near the summit of the mountain, called the devil's punch bowl; which, on account of its immense depth, and the continual overflow of water, is considered as one of the greatest curiosities in killarney. one of the most delightful prospects which this universally admired lake affords, is from a rising ground near the ruined cathedral of aghadoe. lake solfatara.--this lake is in the compagna of rome, near tivoli, anciently called albulus. it has what are called three floating islands, but they are only apparently so, being composed of bunches of sedges and bulrushes, glued together by the bitumen which swims on the lake, and the sulphur with which it is impregnated, and covered with sand and dust blown from the adjacent banks of the lake. these islands are from twelve to fifteen yards long, and the soil is strong enough to bear six persons, who, by a pole, may move to different parts of the lake. this lake has an outlet, whence its waters run, forming a whitish muddy stream, into the teverone, the ancient anio, emitting a vapour of a sulphureous smell as they flow. the ground near this rivulet, as well as on the banks of the lake, resounds with a hollow sound when a horse gallops over it. the water has also a petrifying quality, covering every substance that it passes over with a hard white stony substance. on throwing a bundle of sticks or shrubs into the lake, they will in a few days be covered with this stony crust; and this petrifying quality is even stronger in the rivulet that runs from it, than in the lake itself, and still increases till it falls into the teverone. these small white incrustations that cover the pebbles in the bottom of the lake and rivulet, being somewhat like sugar-plums, are called confections of tivoli. fish abound in the teverone above and below tivoli, till it receives the petrifying water; after which, during the remainder of its course to the tiber, there are none. our next object of curiosity is a whirlpool near suderoe.--suderoe is one of the fero isles, situated to the north of scotland. near this place there is a remarkable whirlpool, occasioned by a crater sixty-one fathoms deep in the centre, and from fifty to fifty-five on the sides. the water forms four fierce circumgyrations. the point they begin at is on the side of a large bason, where commences a range of rocks, running spirally, and terminating at the verge of the crater. this range is extremely rugged, and covered with water, from the depth of twelve to eight fathoms only. it forms four equidistant wreaths, with a channel from thirty-five to twenty fathoms deep between each. on the outside, beyond that depth, the sea suddenly sinks to eighty and ninety. on the south border of the bason is a lofty rock, called sumboe munk, noted for the multitude of birds which frequent it. on one side the water is only three or four fathoms deep, on the other fifteen. the danger at most times, especially in storms, is very great. ships are irresistibly drawn in; the rudder loses its power; and the waves beat as high as the masts; so that an escape is almost miraculous: yet at the reflux, in fine weather, the inhabitants venture for the sake of fishing. our next subject is the celebrated maelstrom.--this is a very dangerous whirlpool on the coast of norway, in the province of nordland, and district of lofoden, near the island of moskoe, whence it also has its name of moskoe-strom. of this amazing whirlpool, jonas ramus gives the following account:--"the mountain of helseggen, in lofoden, lies a league from the island of ver, and betwixt these two runs that large and dreadful stream called moskoe-strom, from the island of moskoe, which is in the middle of it; together with several circumjacent isles, as ambaaran, half a quarter of a league north, iflesen, hoeholm, kiedholm, suarven, and buckholm. moskoe lies about half a quarter of a mile south of the island of ver, and betwixt them these small islands, otterholm, flimen, sandfiesen, and stockholm. betwixt lofoden and moskoe, the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but on the side towards ver, the depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel, without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which sometimes happens even in the calmest weather: when it is flood, the stream runs up the country between lofoden and moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarce equalled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts, the noise being heard several leagues off; and the vortices, or pits, are of such an extent and depth, that if a ship comes within its attraction, it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beaten to pieces against the rocks; and when the water relaxes, the fragments thereof are thrown up again: but these intervals of tranquillity are only at the turn of the ebb and flood, in calm weather, and last but a quarter of an hour, its violence gradually returning. when the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a norway mile of it; boats, ships, and yachts, having been carried away, by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. it likewise happens frequently, that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence; and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings, in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. a bear, once attempting to swim from lofoden to moskoe, with a design of preying upon the sheep at pasture in the island, afforded the like spectacle to the people; the stream caught him, and bore him down, whilst he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore. large stocks of fir and pine trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again, broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew on them. this plainly shews the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. this stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea, it being constantly high and low water every six hours. in , early in the morning of sexagesima sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity, that on the island of moskoe, the very stones of the houses fell to the ground. when this whirlpool is agitated by a storm, its vortex will reach vessels five or six miles distant." gulf-stream.--this is a remarkable current in the ocean, which runs along the coast, at unequal distances, from cape florida to the isle of sables and the banks of newfoundland, where it turns off and runs through the western islands, thence to the coast of africa, and along that coast in a southern direction till it arrives at and supplies the place of those waters carried by the constant trade-winds from the coast of africa towards the west; thus producing a constant circulating current. this stream is about seventy-five miles from the shores of the southern states, and the distance increases as you proceed northward. the breadth of it is about forty or fifty miles, widening towards the north. its common rapidity is three miles an hour. a north-east wind narrows the stream, renders it more rapid, and drives it nearer the coast. north-west and west winds produce a contrary effect. the gulf-stream is supposed to be occasioned by the trade-winds, that are constantly driving the water to the westward, which being compressed in the gulf of mexico, finds a passage between florida and the bahama islands, and runs to the north-east along the american coast. a chart of this gulf-stream was published by dr. franklin, in , principally from the information of captain folger. this was confirmed by the ingenious experiments of dr. blagden, published in , who found that the water of the gulf-stream was from six to eleven degrees warmer than the water of the sea, through which it runs; which must have been occasioned by its being brought from a hotter climate. we close the present chapter with an account of a new island emerging from the sea.--the description is taken from the edinburgh review, no. , september, . in the neighbourhood of oonalashca, which is situated about the centre of the alentian chain, a new island, nearly twenty miles in circumference, has been formed within these twenty years. the following is the account of it, which m. lisiansky collected from eye-witnesses at cadinck:-- "in the evening, while i was alone, employed in writing the memorandums of my journal, a russian introduced himself, who had resided on the island of oonalashca, when a new island started up in its vicinity. i had heard of this phenomenon, and was therefore desirous to learn what he knew respecting it. he said, that about the middle of april, , a small island was seen where none had been seen before: that the first intimation of its appearance had been brought by some alentians to captain's harbour, who, returning from fishing, observed a great smoke issuing out of the sea: that this was the smoke of the volcano, which was then gradually rising above the surface of the sea, and which, in may, , burst forth with a blaze, that was distinctly seen from a settlement called macooshina, on the island of oonalashca, at the distance of no less than forty miles to the north-west. this new island is tolerably high, and about twenty miles in circumference. it has been remarked, that it has not increased in size since the year ; and that no alteration has taken place in its appearance, except that some of the highest points have been thrown down by violent eruptions." chap. xlvii. curiosities respecting burning springs. _naphtha springs--burning springs in kentucky--hot springs of iceland--hot springs of ouachitta--other burning springs._ "adored artificer! what skill divine, what wonders, in the wide creation shine!" naphtha springs.--dr. james mounsey, and jonas hanway, esq., have given a particular account of these springs. both gentlemen, by their travels, their residence in muscovy, and their acquaintance with several people who have been upon the spot, have had great opportunities of becoming perfectly informed of every thing relating to the subject; and whose judgment and veracity may be depended on. both their accounts agree, that on the western coast of the caspian sea, not far from the city of baku, there is a large spot of ground, where, on taking off two or three inches of the surface of the earth, and then applying a live coal, and blowing, a flame immediately issues forth, without either burning the reed or paper, provided the edges be covered with clay. this method supplies the want of candle in their houses. three or four of these will also boil water in a pot, and they dress their victuals in this way. the flame may be blown out like that of a lamp, but otherwise it continues burning; it smells somewhat sulphureous, or rather like naphtha, but very little offensive. the ground is dry and stony, and the more stony the ground, the stronger and clearer the flame. near this place they dig out brimstone, and here are also the naphtha springs. but the chief place for naphtha is swieten island, a small tract of land on the western coast of the caspian sea, and uninhabited, except at such seasons as they fetch naphtha from thence, which the persians load in their wretched embarkations, without barrels or any other vessels, so that sometimes you see the sea covered with it for leagues together. the springs boil up highest in thick and heavy weather, and the naphtha sometimes takes fire on the surface, and runs lighted or burning into the sea in great quantities, and to great distances. in clear weather, it does not bubble above two or three feet. people make cisterns near the springs, into which they convey what overflows by troughs, taking off the naphtha from the surface, under which there is a mixture of water, or some other heavier fluid. the greater part is of a dark gray colour, very unpleasant to the smell, but used in lamps by the poorer sort. there are also springs of black naphtha, which is thick, and in distillation grows not clear, but yellow; but the most valuable is the white naphtha, which is naturally clear and yellowish, and bears a great price. the russians drink it as a cordial, but it does not intoxicate: it is used externally in paralytic disorders, and is carried into india as a great rarity, where they make with it the most beautiful and lasting japan that has ever yet been known. what the indians call the everlasting fire, lies about ten english miles north-east-by-east from the city of baku, on dry rocky ground. there are several ancient temples, built with stone, supposed to have been all dedicated to fire: most of them are low arched vaults, from ten to fifteen feet high. amongst the rest, there is a temple in which the indians now worship; near the altar, about three feet high, there is a large hollow cave, from the end of which issues a flame, in colour and gentleness, not unlike a lamp that burns with spirits. the indians affirm that this flame has continued burning some thousands of years, and believe it will last to the end of the world; and that if it was resisted or suppressed in this place, it would rise in some other. by the number of temples, it is probable there were formerly a great number of worshippers of fire, as well indians as persians: they are called gouers. at present there are about twenty persons, who reside there constantly, and go almost naked. in summer it is very hot; and in winter they dwell within doors, and keep what fire they please, in the manner above described: they live upon roots and herbs for the most part, and are supposed to attend as mediators for the sins of many who are absent; and by their applications to this fire, in which the deity is supposed to be present and visible, they atone for the sins of others. a little way from the temple just now mentioned, near baku, is a low cliff of a rock, in which there is a horizontal gap, two feet from the ground, between five and six long, and about three feet broad, out of which issues a constant flame, much of the colour mentioned already, being a light blue. it rises sometimes eight feet high, but is lower in still weather. they do not perceive the rock waste in the least. this also the indians worship, and say it cannot be put out. about twenty yards on the back of this cliff is a well, and a rock twelve or fourteen fathoms deep, with exceedingly good water. we shall next introduce an account of a burning spring in kentucky.--this is a phenomenon which has for several years excited the attention of travellers, under the name of a burning spring: it exists in one of the principal forks of licking river in kentucky. it is situated about three-fourths of a mile from the banks of the river, and about eighty miles above its junction with ohio, opposite cincinnati. a spring here breaks out at the foot of a hill, forming a basin of water about six feet in diameter and two feet deep, at the bottom of which issues a stream of gas, which in volume and force is about equal to the blast forced from a common smith's bellows; but there is no cessation of its force, which is such as to create a violent ebullition in the water. being heavier than common atmospheric air, the gas, on passing up through the water, constantly occupies the surface, which is still the lower part of an indenture in the earth at that place. on presenting a taper, this gas instantly takes fire, and burns with great brilliancy. there is no absorption of it by the water, which possesses the purity of common spring water, neither is any offensive odour thrown off. this spring has been known to dry up entirely in the summer, when the air rushes out with increased force, accompanied by a hissing noise. there is nothing like smoke emitted.--_schoolcroft, on the lead mines of missouri_, p. . hot springs of iceland.--from sir g. mackenzie's travels in iceland. "the hot springs in the valley of reikholt, or reikiadal, though not the most magnificent, are not the least curious among the numerous phenomena of this sort that are found in iceland. on entering the valley, we saw numerous columns of vapour ascending from different parts of it. the first springs we visited, issued from a number of apertures in a sort of platform of rock, covered by a thin coating of calcareous incrustations. from several of the apertures the water rose with great force, and was thrown two or three feet into the air. on plunging the thermometer into such of them as we could approach with safety, we found that it stood at °. "a little further up the valley, there is a rock in the middle of the river, about ten feet high, twelve yards long, and six or eight feet in breadth: from the highest part of this rock a jet of boiling water proceeded with violence; dashing the water up to the height of several feet. near the middle, and not more than two feet from the edge of the rock, there is a hole, about two feet in diameter, full of water boiling strongly. there is a third hole near the other end of the rock, in which water also boils briskly. at the time we saw these springs, there happened to be less water in the river than usual, and a bank of gravel was left dry a little higher up than the rock. from this bank a considerable quantity of boiling water issued. "about a mile further down, at the foot of the valley, is the tungahver, an assemblage of springs the most extraordinary, perhaps, in the whole world. a rock (_waoke_ ?) rises from the bog, about twenty feet, and is about fifty yards in length, the breadth not being considerable. this seems formerly to have been a hillock, one side of which remains covered with grass, while the other has been worn away, or perhaps destroyed at the time when the hot water burst forth. along the face of the rock are arranged no fewer than sixteen springs, all of them boiling furiously, and some of them throwing the water to a considerable height. one of them, however, deserves particular notice. on approaching this place, we observed a high jet of water near one extremity of the rock. suddenly this jet disappeared, and another, thicker but not so high, rose within a very short distance of it. at first we supposed that a piece of the rock had given way, and that the water had at that moment found a more convenient passage. having left our horses, we went directly to the place where this had apparently happened; but we had scarcely reached the spot, when this new jet disappeared, and the one we had seen before was renewed. we observed that there were two irregular holes in the rock, within a yard of each other; and while from one a jet proceeded to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, the other was full of boiling water. we had scarcely made this observation, when the first jet began to subside, and the water in the other hole to rise; and as soon as the first had entirely sunk down, the other attained its greatest height, which was about five feet. in this extraordinary manner, these two jets played alternately. the smallest and highest jet continued about four minutes and a half, and the other about three minutes. we remained admiring this very remarkable phenomenon for a considerable time, during which we saw many alternations of the jets, which happened regularly at the intervals already mentioned. "i have taken the liberty to give a name to this spring, and to call it 'the alternating geyser.' "these springs have been formerly observed, though the singularity of the alternations does not seem to have been attended to as any thing remarkable. olafson and paulson mention, that the jets appear and disappear successively, in the second, third, and fourth openings. we observed no cessations in any of the springs, except in the two under consideration. "to form a theory of this regular alternation is no easy matter; and it seems to require a kind of mechanism very different from the simple apparatus usually employed by nature in ordinary intermittent or spouting springs. the prime mover in this case is evidently steam, an agent sufficiently powerful for the phenomena. the two orifices are manifestly connected; for, as the one jet sinks towards the surface, the other rises, and this in a regular and uniform manner. i observed once, that when one of the jets was sinking, and the other beginning to rise, the first rose again a little before it was quite sunk down, and then when this happened, the other ceased to make any efforts to rise, and returned to its former state, till the first again sunk, when the second rose and played as usual. this communication must be formed in such a manner, that it is never complete, but alternately interrupted, first on one side, and then on the other. to effect this without the intervention of valves, seems to be impossible; and yet it is difficult to conceive the natural formation of a set of permanent valves: so that this fountain becomes one of the greatest curiosities ever presented by nature, even though, in attempting to explain the appearances it exhibits, we take every advantage that machinery can give us. if it is occasioned by natural valves, these must be of very durable materials, in order to withstand the continual agitation and consequent attrition." we next proceed to a description of the hot springs of ouachitta, (washitaw.)--these springs, which have been known for many years, are situated on a stream called hot spring creek, which falls into the washitaw river, eight miles below. they lie fifty miles south of the arkansa river, in clark county, territory of arkansa, (lately missouri,) and six miles west of the road from cadron to mount prairie, on red river. the approach to the springs lies up the valley of the creek. on the right of the valley rises the hot mountain, with the springs issuing at its foot; on the left, the cold mountain, which is little more than a confused and mighty pile of stones. the hot mountain is about feet high, rising quite steep, and presenting occasionally ledges of rocks; it terminates above in a confused mass of broken rocks. the steep and otherwise sterile sides are covered with a luxuriant growth of vines. the valley between this and the cold mountain is about fifty yards wide. the springs issue at the foot of the hot mountain, at an elevation of about ten feet above the level of the creek; they are very numerous all along the hill-side, and the water, which runs in copious streams, is quite hot; it will scald the hand, and boil an egg hard in ten minutes. its temperature is considered that of boiling water, but dr. andrews, of red river, thinks it is not above ° fahr. there is a solitary spring, situated seventy feet higher than the others on the side of the mountain, but it is of an equal temperature, and differs in no respect from those below. a dense fog continually hangs over the springs and upon the side of the hill, which at a distance looks like a number of furnaces in blast. to this fog, condensed into water, is attributed the rank growth of the vines on the side of the mountain. very little is known of the chemical nature of the water; an analysis is said to have been made, which indicated a little carbonate of lime. an abundance of beautiful green moss grows at the edges of the springs, and the paths of their waters are marked by a brighter vegetation than occurs elsewhere. the substance of the rocks here, are, limestone, slate, and quartz.--_schoolcroft, lead mines of missouri_, p. . we shall conclude this chapter with an account of various other burning springs.--there are many burning springs in different parts of the world, particularly one in france, in the department of isere, near grenoble; another near hermanstadt, in transylvania; a third at chermay, a village near switzerland; a fourth in the canton of friburg; and a fifth not far from the city of cracow, in poland. there also is, or was, a famous spring of this kind at wigan, in lancashire, which, upon the approach of a lighted candle, would take fire and burn like spirit of wine for a whole day. but the most remarkable one in england, or at least that of which we have the minutest description, was discovered in , at brosely, in shropshire. the following account of this remarkable spring was given by the rev. mr. mason woodwardin, professor at cambridge, dated feb. th. :--"the well, for four or five feet deep, is six or seven feet wide; within that, is another less hole of like depth, dug in the clay, in the bottom whereof is placed a cylindric earthen vessel, of about four or five inches diameter at the mouth, having the bottom taken off, and the sides well fixed in the clay, which is rammed close about it. within the pot is a brown water, thick and puddly, continually forced up with a violent motion beyond that of boiling water, and a rumbling hollow noise, rising or falling by fits, five or six inches; but there was no appearance of any vapour rising, which perhaps might have been visible, had not the sun shone so bright. upon putting a candle down at the end of a stick, at about a quarter of a yard distance, it took fire, darting and flashing after a very violent manner for about half a yard high, much in the manner of spirits in a lamp, but with great agitation. it was said, that a teakettle had been made to boil in nine minutes, and that it had been left burning for forty-eight hours without any sensible diminution. it was extinguished by putting a wet mop upon it; which must be kept there for a little time, otherwise it would not go out. upon the removal of the mop, there arises a sulphureous smoke, lasting about a minute, and yet the water is very cold to the touch." in , this well totally disappeared, by the sinking of a coal-pit in its neighbourhood. the cause of the inflammable property of such waters is with great probability supposed to be their mixture with petroleum, which is one of the most inflammable substances in nature, and has the property of burning on the surface of water. chap. xlviii. curiosities respecting earthquakes. earthquakes, nature's agonizing pangs, oft shake the astonish'd isles; the solfaterre or sends forth thick, blue, suffocating steams, or shoots to temporary flames. a din, wild, thro' the mountain's quivering rocky caves, like the dread crash of tumbling planets, roars. when tremble thus the pillars of the globe, like the tall cocoa by the fierce north blown, can the poor brittle tenements of man withstand the dread convulsion? their dear homes, which shaking, tottering, crashing, bursting, fall, the boldest fly; and, on the open plain appall'd in agony, the moment wait, when, with disrupture vast, the waving earth shall whelm them in her sea-disgorging womb. nor less affrighted are the bestial kind: the bold steed quivers in each panting vein, and staggers, bath'd in deluges of sweat: the lowing herds forsake their grassy food, and send forth frighted, woful, hollow sounds: the dog, thy trusty centinel of night, deserts the post assign'd, and piteous howls. wide ocean feels-------- the mountain waves, passing their custom'd bounds, make direful loud incursions on the land, all overwhelming: sudden they retreat, with their whole troubled waters; but anon sudden return, with louder, mightier force; the black rocks whiten, the vext shores resound; and yet, more rapid, distant they retire. vast corruscations lighten all the sky with volum'd flames, while thunder's awful voice, from forth his shrine by night and horror girt, astounds the guilty, and appals the good. _grainger._ earthquakes and their causes.--from a. de humboldt's personal narrative of travels, translated by helen maria williams. "it is a very old and commonly received opinion at cumana, acapulca, and lima, that a perceptible connection exists between earthquakes, and the state of the atmosphere that precedes these phenomena. on the coast of new andalusia, the inhabitants are alarmed, when, in excessively hot weather, and after long droughts, the breeze suddenly ceases to blow, and the sky, clear and without clouds at the zenith, exhibits near the horizon, at six or eight degrees elevation, the appearance of a reddish vapour. these prognostics are however very uncertain; and when the whole of the meteorological variations, at the times when the globe has been the most agitated, are called to mind, it is found, that violent shocks take place equally in dry and in wet weather, when the coolest winds blow, or during a dead and suffocating calm. from the great number of earthquakes, which i have witnessed to the north and south of the equator; on the continent, and in the bason of the seas; on the coasts, and at toises height; it appears to me, that the oscillations are generally very independent of the previous state of the atmosphere. this opinion is embraced by a number of enlightened persons, who inhabit the spanish colonies; and whose experience extends, if not over a greater space of the globe, at least to a greater number of years than mine. on the contrary, in parts of europe where earthquakes are rare compared to america, natural philosophers are inclined to admit an intimate connection between the undulations of the ground, and certain meteors, which usually take place at the same epocha. in italy, for instance, the sirocco and earthquakes are suspected to have some connection; and at london, the frequency of falling stars, and those southern lights which have since been often observed by mr. dalton, were considered as the forerunners of those shocks which were felt from to . [illustration: effects of an earthquake.--page . the engraving represents the great earthquake of , in which the city of lisbon, in portugal, was entirely destroyed, and , persons were killed.] [illustration: sand storm or sand flood in the deserts of arabia.--page . in these terrible whirlwinds of sand, whole caravans are sometimes overwhelmed and destroyed.] "on the days when the earth is agitated by violent shocks, the regularity of the horary variations of the barometer is not disturbed under the tropics. i have verified this observation at cumana, at lima, and at riobamba; and it is so much the more worthy of fixing the attention of natural philosophers, as in st. domingo, at the town of cape françois, it is asserted that a water barometer was observed to sink two inches and a half immediately before the earthquake of . it is also related, that at the time of the destruction of oran, a druggist fled with his family, because, observing accidentally, a few minutes before the earthquake, the height of the mercury in his barometer, he perceived that the column sunk in an extraordinary manner. i know not whether we can give credit to this assertion: but as it is nearly impossible to examine the variations of the weight of the atmosphere during the shocks, we must be satisfied in observing the barometer before or after these phenomena have taken place. in the temperate zone, the aurora borealis does not always modify the variation of the needle, and the intensity of the magnetic forces: perhaps also earthquakes do not act constantly in the same manner on the air that surrounds us. "we can scarcely doubt, that the earth, when opened and agitated by shocks, occasionally sends forth gaseous exhalations through the atmosphere, in places remote from the mouths of volcanoes not extinct. at cumana, as we have already observed, flames and vapours, mixed with sulphureous acid, spring up from the most arid soil. in other parts of the same province, the earth ejects water and petroleum. at riobamba, a muddy and inflammable mass, which is called moya, issues from crevices that close again, and accumulates into elevated hills. at seven leagues from lisbon, near colares, during the terrible earthquake of the st of november, , flames, and a column of thick smoke, were seen to issue from the flanks of the rocks of alvidras, and, according to some witnesses, from the bosom of the sea. this smoke lasted several days, and it was the more abundant in proportion as the subterraneous noise, which accompanied the shocks, was louder. "elastic fluids thrown into the atmosphere may act locally on the barometer, not by their mass, which is very small compared to the mass of the atmosphere; but because, at the moment of the great explosions, an ascending current is probably formed, which diminishes the pressure of the air. i am inclined to think, that in the greater number of earthquakes, nothing escapes from the agitated earth, and that, when gaseous exhalations and vapours take place, they oftener accompany or follow, than precede, the shocks. this last circumstance explains a fact, which seems indubitable; i mean that mysterious influence, in equinoctial america, of earthquakes accompanying a change of climate, and the order of the dry and rainy seasons. if the earth generally acts on the air only at the moment of the shocks, we can conceive why it is so rare that a sensible meteorological change becomes the presage of these great revolutions of nature. "the hypothesis, according to which, in the earthquakes of cumana, elastic fluids escape from the surface of the soil, seems confirmed by the observation of the dreadful noise which is heard during the shocks at the borders of the wells in the plain of charas. water and sand are sometimes thrown out twenty feet high. similar phenomena have not escaped the observation of the ancient inhabitants of greece and asia minor, abounding with caverns, crevices, and subterraneous rivers. nature, in its uniform progress, every where suggests the same ideas of the causes of earthquakes, and the means by which man, forgetting the measure of his strength, pretends to diminish the effect of the subterraneous explosions. what a great roman naturalist has said of the utility of wells and caverns, is repeated in the new world by the most ignorant indians of quito, when they shew travellers the guaicos, or crevices of pichincha. "the subterraneous noise, so frequent during earthquakes, is generally not in the ratio of the strength of the shocks. at cumana it constantly precedes them; while at quito, and lately at caraccas, and in the west india islands, a noise like the discharge of a battery was heard a long time after the shocks had ceased. a third kind of phenomenon, the most remarkable of the whole, is the rolling of those subterraneous thunders, which last several months, without being accompanied by the least oscillating motion of the ground. "in every country subject to earthquakes, the point where (probably by a disposition of the stony strata) the effects are the most sensible, is considered as the cause and the focus of the shocks. thus, at cumana, the hill of the castle of st. antonio, and particularly the eminence on which the convent of st. francis is placed, are believed to contain an enormous quantity of sulphur, and other inflammable matter. we forget, that the rapidity with which the undulations are propagated to great distances, even across the basin of the ocean, proves that the centre of action is very remote from the surface of the globe. from this same cause, no doubt, earthquakes are not restrained to certain species of rocks, as some naturalists pretend, but all are fitted to propagate the movement. in order to keep within the limits of my own experience, i shall here cite the granites of lima and acapulco; the gneiss of caraccas; the mica-slate of the peninsula of araya; the primitive thonschiefer of tepecuacuilco, in mexico; the secondary limestones of the apennines; spain, and new andalusia; and finally, the trappean porphyries of quito and popayan. in these different places the ground is frequently agitated by the most violent shocks; but sometimes, in the same rock, the superior strata form invincible obstacles to the propagation of the motion. thus, in the mines of saxony, we have seen workmen hasten up, affrighted by oscillations which were not felt at the surface of the ground. "if, in regions the most remote from each other, primitive, secondary, and volcanic rock, share equally in the convulsive movements of the globe; we cannot but admire also, that in ground of little extent, certain classes of rocks oppose themselves to the propagation of the shocks. at cumana, for instance, before the catastrophe of , the earthquakes were felt only along the southern and calcareous coast of the gulf of cariaco, as far as the town of this name; while in the peninsula of araya, and at the village of marinaquez, the ground did not partake of the same agitation. the inhabitants of this northern coast, which is composed of mica-slate, built their huts on a motionless earth; a gulf three or four thousand fathoms in breadth separated them from a plain covered with ruins, and overturned by earthquakes. this security, founded on the experience of several ages, has vanished; and since the fourteenth of december, , new communications appear to have been opened in the interior of the globe. at present the peninsula of araya is not merely subject to the agitation of the soil of cumana; the promontory of mica-slate is become in its turn a particular centre of the movements. the earth is sometimes strongly shaken at the village of marinaquez, when on the coast of cumana the inhabitants enjoy the most perfect tranquillity. the gulf of cariaco nevertheless is only sixty or eighty fathoms deep. "it is thought, from observations made both on the continent and in the islands, that the western and southern coasts are most exposed to shocks. this observation is connected with the ideas which geologists have long formed of the position of the high chains of mountains, and the direction of their steepest declivities: the volcanic phenomena of the cordilleras and caraccas, and the frequency of the oscillations on the eastern and northern coast of terra firma, in the gulf of paria, at carupano, at cariaco, and at cumana, are proofs of the certainty of this opinion. in new andalusia, as well as in chili and peru, the shocks follow the course of the shore, and extend but little inland. this circumstance, as we shall soon find, indicates an intimate connection between the causes that produce earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. if the earth was most agitated on the coasts, because they are the lowest part of the land, why should not the oscillations be equally strong and frequent on those vast savannas or meadows, which are scarcely eight or ten toises above the level of the ocean? "the earthquakes of cumana are connected with those of the west india islands; and it has even been suspected, that they have some connection with the volcanic phenomena of the cordilleras of the andes. on the fourth of november, , the soil of the province of quito underwent such a destructive commotion, that, notwithstanding the extreme thinness of the population of that country, near forty thousand natives perished, buried under the ruins of their houses, swallowed up in the crevices, or drowned in lakes that were suddenly formed. at the same period, the inhabitants of the eastern antilles were alarmed by shocks, which continued during eight months, when the volcano of guadaloupe threw out pumice stones, ashes, and gusts of sulphureous vapours. this eruption of the twenty-seventh of september, during which very long-continued subterraneous noises were heard, was followed on the fourteenth of december by the great earthquake of cumana. another volcano of the west india islands, that of st. vincent's, has lately given a fresh instance of these extraordinary connections. this volcano had not emitted flames since , when they burst forth anew, in . the total ruin of the city of caraccas preceded this explosion thirty-five days, and violent oscillations of the ground were felt, both in the islands, and on the coasts of terra firma. "it has long been remarked, that the effects of great earthquakes extend much farther than the phenomena arising from burning volcanoes. in studying the physical revolutions of italy, and carefully examining the series of the eruptions of vesuvius and etna, we can scarcely recognize, notwithstanding the proximity of these mountains, any traces of simultaneous action. it is, on the contrary, undeniable, that at the period of the last and preceding destruction of lisbon, the sea was violently agitated even as far as the new world, for instance, at the island of barbadoes, more than twelve hundred leagues distant from the coasts of portugal. "several facts tend to prove, that the causes which produce earthquakes have a near connection with those that act in volcanic eruptions. we learnt at pasto, that the column of black and thick smoke, which in issued for several months from the volcano near this shore, disappeared at the very hour when, sixty leagues to the south, the towns of riobamba, hambato, and tacunga, were overturned by an enormous shock. when, in the interior of a burning crater, we are seated near those hillocks formed by ejections of scoria and ashes, we feel the motion of the ground several seconds before each partial eruption takes place. we observed this phenomenon at vesuvius in , while the mountain threw out scoria; we were witnesses of it in , on the brink of the immense crater of pichincha, from which nevertheless at that time clouds of sulphureous acid vapours only issued. "every thing in earthquakes seems to indicate the action of elastic fluids seeking an outlet to spread themselves in the atmosphere. often, on the coasts of the south sea, the action is almost instantaneously communicated from chili to the gulf of guayaquil, a distance of six hundred leagues; and, what is very remarkable, the shocks appear to be so much the stronger, as the country is more distant from burning volcanoes. the granitic mountains of calabria, covered with very recent breccia, the calcareous chain of the apennines, the country of pignerol, the coasts of portugal and greece, and those of peru and terra firma, afford striking proofs of this assertion. the globe, it may be said, is agitated with greater force, in proportion as the surface has a smaller number of funnels communicating with the caverns of the interior. at naples and messina, at the foot of cotopaxi and of tunguragua, earthquakes are dreaded only when vapours and flames do not issue from the crater. in the kingdom of quito, the great catastrophe of riobamba, which we have before mentioned, has led several well-informed persons to think, that this unfortunate country would be less often desolate, if the subterraneous fire would break the porphyritic dome of chimborazo; and this colossal mountain should become a burning volcano. at all times analogous facts have led to the same hypothesis. the greeks, who, like ourselves, attributed the oscillations of the ground to the action of elastic fluids, cited, in favour of their opinion, the total cessation of the shocks at the island of euboea, by the opening of a crevice in the lelantine plain." the following is an account of an earthquake of caraccas; by m. palacio faxar:-- "the ridge of mountains, which branches out from the andes near the isthmus of panama, and which, taking the direction of the eastern coast, crosses part of new granada and venezuela, seems to have been the seat of that earthquake, which, on the th march, , destroyed many populous towns of the province of caraccas. it is this branch of the cordilleras, that forms the sierra-nevada of chita, that of merida de maracaybo, and the height called la silla de caracca; and it is between these three remarkable points that the gold mines of pamplona, the mineral water of merida de maracaybo, and the copper mines of aroa, are found. between the picturesque sierra-nevada of merida de maracaybo, and la silla de caracca, where spring is perpetual, the earthquake was most strongly felt. "at the south-east of this ridge of mountains, there are plains of an immense extent, covered with different species of grasses, and watered by innumerable torrents, which falling from the mountains, and uniting in different bodies, majestically enter the orinoco. these plains were likewise convulsed for above leagues in venezuela: the towns situate immediately at the foot of the cordilliera, or in the valleys between them, suffered most severely: those seated in the plains did not suffer considerable injury, though violently shaken. for five months a continued drought had parched the earth, no rain having fallen, and in the preceding month of december, a slight shock of an earthquake had been felt at caraccas. it was on the eve of the crucifixion, when catholics assembled together in their churches, to commemorate, with public prayers and processions, the sufferings and merits of their redeemer, that this sad catastrophe had happened. the weather was fine, and the air serene, when between four and five p. m. a hollow sound like the roar of a cannon was heard, which was followed by a violent oscillatory motion from west to east, which lasted about seventeen seconds, and which stopped all the public clocks; the convulsion diminished for some moments, but was succeeded by a more violent shock than the first, for nearly twenty seconds, keeping the same direction; a calm followed, which lasted about fourteen seconds, after which, a most alarming trepidation of the earth took place for fifteen seconds: the total duration about one minute and fifteen seconds. the inhabitants of caraccas, struck with terror, unitedly and loudly implored the protection of heaven: some ran wildly through the streets; some remained immoveable with astonishment; while others, crowding into the churches, sought refuge at the foot of the altar. the crash of falling buildings, the clouds of dust which filled the air, and the anxious cries of mothers, who inquired in vain for their children lost in the tumult, increased the horrors of this sad day. to this scene of disorder succeeded the most horrible despair. dead bodies, wounded persons crying for protection, presented themselves every where to those who had escaped from the catastrophe, and who could not turn their eyes from these objects of pity and horror, without meeting with heaps of ruin, which had buried hundreds of unfortunate persons, whose lamentations uselessly pierced their hearts, for it was impossible to give relief or assistance to all. "it has been computed, that in this calamitous day, near , persons perished at venezuela. a great part of the veteran troops were of this number; and all the arms destined for the defence of their country, were buried under the ruins of the barracks. the towns of caraccas, merida de maracaybo, and laguaira, were totally destroyed; those of barquirineto, sanfelipe, and others, suffered considerably. it is to be remarked, that truxillo, which is situate between merida de maracaybo and sanfelipe, experienced very little damage. at the last place, near the mines of aroa, the first signal they had of the earthquake was an electric shock, which deprived many persons of their power of motion; and in valencia, caraccas, and the neighbouring country, the inhabitants were, for about twenty days after the earthquake, in an extraordinary state of irritability. many persons, who suffered from intermittent fevers, recovered immediately, in consequence of the effect of the earthquake. "at vallecillo, near valencia, a rivulet spouted out from a hill, which continued to flow for some hours after the earthquake, and which i visited a few days after. the river guaire, which runs through the valley of caraccas, was greatly swelled soon after the earthquake, and remained in that state for several days. the water of the bay of maracaybo withdrew considerably, and it is said that the mountain avila, which separates caraccas from laguaira, sunk several feet into the earth. "the earthquakes continued for many days, we may say, without interruption: they diminished as it were by degrees, though the last were remarkably strong. so late as the month of october in the same year, there was a violent shock. the earthquake of the th march was felt at santafé de bogotá, and even at carthagena, though it was very little felt at cumana. "in the following april, a volcano burst out in the island of st. vincent. about the time of the eruption, a noise like that occasioned by the discharge of a cannon was heard at caraccas and laguaira, which caused a general alarm, the inhabitants of each place supposing that the neighbouring town was attacked by the enemy. this roaring noise was distinctly heard where the river nula falls into the apure, which is more than leagues from caraccas. in the same year, , many strong shocks of an earthquake were felt at samaica and curaçoa. "the earthquake of the th march alarmed so deeply the inhabitants of venezuela, that they expected to see the earth open and swallow them at every convulsion; and as it happened on the anniversary of their political revolution, they supposed that event had incurred the displeasure of the almighty. the clergy, who were enemies to the revolution, as their privileges had been diminished by the new constitution of venezuela, availed themselves of the disposition of the people, and preached every where against the new republic. such was the beginning of the civil war at venezuela; a war, which has desolated those beautiful countries, and which has destroyed the tenth part of their population." the celebrated poet cowper, in the second book of his admirable poem, the task, has given us a very accurate and sublime description of the effects of earthquakes, from which the following is an extract:-- the rocks fall headlong, and the valleys rise, the rivers die into offensive pools, and, charg'd with putrid verdure, breathe a gross and mortal nuisance into all the air. what solid was, by transformation strange, grows fluid; and the fixt and rooted earth, tormented into billows, heaves and swells, or with vortiginous and hideous whirl sucks down its prey insatiable. immense the tumult and the overthrow, the pangs and agonies of human and of brute multitudes, fugitive on ev'ry side, and fugitive in vain. the sylvan scene migrates uplifted; and, with all its soil, alighting on far distant fields, finds out a new possessor, and survives the change. ocean has caught the frenzy, and, upwrought to an enormous and o'erbearing height, not by a mighty wind, but by that voice which winds and waves obey, invades the shore resistless. never such a sudden flood, upridg'd so high, and sent on such a charge, possess'd an inland scene. where now the throng that press'd the beach, and, hasty to depart, look'd to the sea for safety? they are gone, gone with the refluent wave into the deep-- a prince with half his people. it is a consolation to every good man, to consider that the world is governed by a wise and good, as well as powerful being, who gives liberty to the powers of nature to range, or restrains them, as may best suit his divine purposes; which have always the ultimate good of the whole creation in view. chap. xlix. curiosities respecting winds, hurricanes, &c. _remarkable winds in egypt--whirlwinds of egypt--tornado--harmattan-- hurricane--monsoons--velocity of the wind._ bound as they are, and circumscrib'd in place, they rend the world, resistless where they pass, and mighty marks of mischief leave behind; such is the rage of their tempestuous kind. first, eurus, to the rising morn is sent, the regions of the balmy continent, and eastern realms, where early persians run to greet the blest appearance of the sun. westward the wanton zephyr wings his flight, pleas'd with the remnant of departing light; fierce boreas, with his offspring, issues forth t' invade the frozen waggon of the north; while frowning auster seeks the southern sphere. _ovid._ remarkable winds in egypt. egypt is infested with the destructive blasts common to all warm countries which have deserts in their neighbourhood. these have been distinguished by various names, such as poisonous winds, hot winds of the desert, samiel, the wind of damascus, camseen, and simoom. in egypt they are denominated "winds of fifty days," because they most commonly prevail during the fifty days preceding and following the equinox, though, should they blow constantly during one half of that time, an universal destruction would be the consequence. of these, travellers have given various descriptions. m. volney says, that the violence of their heat may be compared to that of a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread. they always blow from the south, and are undoubtedly owing to the motion of the atmosphere over such vast tracts of hot sand, which cannot be supplied with a sufficient quantity of moisture. when they begin to blow, the sky loses its usual serenity, and assumes a dark, heavy, and alarming aspect, the sun laying aside his usual splendour, and becoming of a violet colour. this terrific appearance seems not to be occasioned by any real haze or cloud in the atmosphere at that time, but solely by the vast quantity of fine sand carried along by those winds, and which is so excessively subtile that it penetrates every where. the motion of this wind is always rapid, but its heat is not intolerable till it has continued for some time. its pernicious qualities are evidently occasioned by its excessive aridity; for it dries and shrivels up the skin, and, by affecting the lungs in a similar manner, soon produces suffocation and death. the danger is greatest to those of a plethoric habit, or who have been exhausted by fatigue; and putrefaction very soon takes place in the bodies of such as are destroyed by it. its extreme dryness is such, that water sprinkled on the floor evaporates in a few minutes; all the plants are withered and stripped of their leaves, and a fever is instantly produced in the human species by the suppression of perspiration. it usually lasts three days, but is altogether insupportable if it continue beyond that time. the danger is greatest when the wind blows in squalls, and to travellers who happen to be exposed to its fury without any shelter. the best method, in this case, is to stop the nose and mouth with a handkerchief: camels, by a natural instinct, bury their noses in the sand, and keep them there till the squall is over. the inhabitants, who have an opportunity of retiring to their houses, instantly shut themselves up in them, or go into pits made in the earth, till the destructive blast is over. the description of a blast of this kind, which overtook mr. bruce, in the desert of nubia, is still more terrible.--the sun was now obscured by them,[ ] and the transmission of his rays gave them a dreadful appearance, resembling pillars of fire. this was pronounced by the guide to be a sign of the approaching simoom, or hot wind; and he directed, that when it came, the people should fall upon their faces, and keep their mouths on the sand, to avoid drawing in this pernicious blast with their breath. on his calling out that the simoon was coming, mr. bruce turned for a moment to the quarter from whence it came, which was the south-east. it appeared like a haze or fog of a purple colour, but less bright than the purple part of the rainbow; seemingly about twenty yards in breadth, and about twelve feet high from the ground. it moved with such rapidity, that before he could turn about and fall down, he felt the vehement heat of its current upon his face; and even after it passed over, which was very quickly, the air which followed was of such a heat as to threaten suffocation. mr. bruce had unfortunately inspired some part of the pernicious blast; by which means he almost entirely lost his voice, and became subject to an asthmatic complaint, from which he did not get free for two years. the same phenomenon occurred twice over on their journey through this desert. the second time it came from the south a little to the east, but it seemed to have a shade of blue along with the purple, and its edges were less perfectly defined, resembling rather a thin smoke, and having about a yard in the middle tinged with blue and purple. the third time, it was preceded by an appearance of sandy pillars, more magnificent than any they had yet observed; the sun shining through them in such a manner as to give those which were nearest a resemblance of being spangled with stars of gold. the simoom which followed had the same blue and purple appearance as before, and was followed by a most suffocating wind for two hours, which reduced our travellers to the lowest degree of weakness and despondency. it was remarkable, that this wind always came from the south-east, while the sandy pillars, which prognosticated its approach, seemed to keep to the westward, and to occupy the vast circular space inclosed by the nile to the west of their route, going round by chaigie towards dongola. the heaps of sand left by them when they fell, or raised by the whirlwinds which carried them up, were twelve or thirteen feet high, exactly conical, tapering to a fine point, and their bases well proportioned. the following account of the whirlwinds of egypt, is from belzoni's narrative:--"a strong wind which arose this day leads me to mention some particulars of the phenomena that often happen in egypt. the first i shall notice is the whirlwinds, which occur all the year round, but especially at the time of the camseen wind, which begins in april, and lasts fifty days. hence the name of _camseen_, which in arabic signifies fifty. it generally blows from the south-west, and lasts four, five, or six days without varying, so very strong that it raises the sands to a great height, forming a general cloud, so thick that it is impossible to keep the eyes open, if not under cover. it is troublesome, even to the arabs; it forces the sand into the houses through every cranny, and fills every thing with it. the caravans cannot proceed in the deserts; the boats cannot continue their voyages; and travellers are obliged to eat sand, in spite of their teeth. the whole is like a chaos. often a quantity of sand and small stones gradually ascends to a great height, and forms a column of sixty or seventy feet in diameter, and so thick, that were it steady on one spot, it would appear a solid mass. this not only revolves within its own circumference, but runs in a circular direction over a great space of ground, sometimes maintaining itself in motion for half an hour, and wherever it falls it accumulates a small hill of sand. god help the poor traveller who is caught under it!" we shall now describe a tornado.--this is a sudden and vehement gust of wind from all points of the compass, and frequent on the coast of guinea. a tornado seems to partake much of the nature of a whirlwind, or perhaps of a water-spout, but is more violent in its effects. it commences very suddenly: several clouds being previously drawn together, a spout of wind, proceeding from them, strikes the ground, in a round spot of a few rods or perches in diameter, and proceeds thus half a mile or a mile. the proneness of its descent makes it rebound from the earth, throwing such things as are moveable before it, sideways, or in a lateral direction from it. a vapour, mist, or rain, descends with it, by which the path of it is marked with wet. the following is a description of one which happened a few years since at leicester, about fifty miles from boston, in new england: it happened in july, on a hot day, about four o'clock in the afternoon. a few clouds having gathered westward, and coming over-head, a sudden motion of their running together in a point, being observed, immediately a spout of wind struck the west end of a house, and instantly carried it away, with a negro man in it, who was afterwards found dead in its path. two men and a woman, by the breach of the floor, fell into the cellar; and one man was driven forcibly up into the chimney corner. these were preserved, though much bruised; they were wet with a vapour or mist, as were the remains of the floor, and the whole path of the spout. this wind raised boards, timbers, &c. a joist was found on one end, driven nearly three feet into the ground. the spout probably took it in its elevated state, and drove it forcibly down. the tornado moved with the celerity of a moderate wind, and declined in strength till it entirely ceased. harmattan.--this is a name given to a singular wind, which blows periodically from the interior parts of africa, towards the atlantic ocean. it prevails in december, january, and february, and is generally accompanied by a fog or haze, that conceals the sun for whole days together. extreme dryness is the characteristic of this wind: no dew falls during its continuance, which is sometimes for a fortnight or more. the whole vegetable creation is withered, and the grass becomes at once like hay. the natives take the opportunity which this wind gives them, of clearing the land, by setting fire to trees and plants in this their exhausted state. the dryness is so extreme, that household furniture is damaged, and the wainscot of the rooms flies to pieces. the human body is also affected by it, so as to cause the skin to peel off; but in other respects it is deemed salutary to the constitution, by stopping the progress of infection, and curing almost all cutaneous diseases. we now proceed to some curious particulars, under the term hurricane.--this is indeed a general name for any violent storm of wind, but is peculiarly applied to those storms which happen in the warmer climates, and which greatly exceed the most violent ones known in this country. dr. mosely, in his treatise on tropical diseases, observes, that the ruin and desolation accompanying a hurricane can scarcely be described. like fire, its resistless force consumes every thing in its track, in the most terrible and rapid manner. it is generally preceded by an awful stillness of the elements, and a closeness and mistiness in the atmosphere, which makes the sun appear red, and the stars larger. but a dreadful reverse succeeds: the sky is suddenly overcast and wild; the sea rises at once from a profound calm into mountains; the wind rages and roars like the noise of cannon; the rain descends in a deluge; a dismal obscurity envelops the earth with darkness; and the superior regions appear rent with lightning and thunder. the earth on these occasions often does, and always seems to tremble; whilst terror and consternation distract all nature: birds are carried from the woods into the ocean; and those whose element is the sea, seek for refuge on land; the frightened animals in the field assemble together, and are almost suffocated by the impetuosity of the wind in searching for shelter, which, when found, is but the prelude to destruction. the roofs of houses are carried to vast distances from their walls, which are beat to the ground, burying their inhabitants under them. large trees are torn up by the roots, and huge branches shivered off, and driven through the air in every direction with immense velocity. every tree and shrub that withstands the shock is stripped of its boughs and foliage; plants and grass are laid flat on the earth; and luxuriant spring is changed in a moment to dreary winter. this direful tragedy ended, (when it happens in a town,) the devastation is surveyed with accumulated horror: the harbour is covered with wrecks of boats and vessels; and the shore has not a vestige of its former state remaining. mounds of rubbish and rafters in one place; heaps of earth and trunks of trees in another; deep gullies from torrents of water; and the dead and dying bodies of men, women, and children, half buried, and scattered about, where streets stood but an hour before,--present the miserable survivors with the shocking conclusion of a spectacle, to be followed by famine, and, when accompanied by an earthquake, by mortal diseases. philosophers are now inclined to attribute these terrible phenomena to electricity, though the manner in which it acts in this case is by no means known. it seems probable, indeed, that not only hurricanes, but even the most gentle gales of wind, are produced by the action of the electric fluid. in the next place we shall treat of monsoons, or trade-winds. "trade-winds, observing well their stated course, to human good employ their pow'rful force; the loaded ships across the ocean fann'd by steady gales, spread commerce through the land: these you observe--but have you no desire the hidden spring of such effects t'inquire? or, when contending winds around you blow, do you ne'er wish the cause of them to know?" monsoons are those winds which blow six months constantly the same way, and the contrary way the other six months. mr. olinthus gregory observes, that "though the winds in a temperate zone of the earth are very inconstant and changeable, yet this is not the case in every part of the terrestrial globe; for in the torrid zone, and some other parts, the winds are generally very uniform and constant in their direction, as will appear from the following facts relative thereto:-- " . over the atlantic, and pacific oceans, particularly between thirty degrees of north and thirty degrees of south latitude, the trade-winds, as they are called, blow uniformly from east to west, all the year round, with a small variation in the different seasons. " . when the sun is on the equator, the trade-winds, in sailing northward, veer more and more from the east towards the north; so that about their limit they become nearly north-east; and _vice versa_ in sailing southward, they become at last nearly south-east. . when the sun is near the tropic of cancer, the trade-winds north of the equator become more nearly east than at other times, and those south of the equator more nearly south; and _vice versa_, when the sun is near the tropic of capricorn. . the trade-winds are not due east upon the equator, but about four degrees to the north of it. "to account for these facts relative to the winds, is a most curious and important, though mysterious, inquiry; having employed the pens of several very eminent philosophers: but amongst all the explanations i have seen, there is none in my opinion more agreeable to nature than one given by mr. john dalton, of manchester, in his "meteorological observations and essays." the method of reasoning applied to the subject in that work, i shall here make use of. "the inequality of heat in the different climates and places, and the earth's rotation on its axis, appears to be the principal causes of all winds, regular and irregular. it may be observed, that whenever the heat is greatest, there the air will ascend, and a supply of colder air will be received from the neighbouring parts: it will be willingly allowed, that the heat is at all times greatest in the torrid zone, and decreases gradually in proceeding northward or southward; also that the poles may at all times be considered as the centres of cold. hence it reasonably follows, that abstracting from accidental circumstances, there will be a constant ascent of air over the torrid zone, which air will afterwards fall northward and southward, whilst the colder air below is determined by a continual impulse towards the equator. "when the effects of the earth's rotation are taken into consideration, our reasoning must be as follows: the air over any part of the earth's surface, when apparently at rest, or calm, will have the same rotatory velocity as that part; but if a quantity of air in the northern hemisphere receive an impulse in the direction of the meridian, either northward or southward, its rotatory velocity will be greater in the former case, and less in the latter, than that of the air into which it moves; consequently, if it move northward, it will have a greater velocity eastward than the air, or surface of the earth over which it moves, and will therefore become a south-west wind, or a wind between the south and west; and, _vice versa_, if it move southward, it becomes a north-east wind. from similar considerations it will appear, that in the southern hemisphere the winds will be north-west and south-east respectively. "the trade-winds may therefore be explained thus: the two general masses of air proceeding from both hemispheres towards the equator, as they advance are constantly deflected more and more towards the east, by reason of the earth's rotation; that from the southern hemisphere, originally a south wind, is made to veer more and more towards the east; in like manner, that from the northern hemisphere is made to change its directions from the north towards the east: these two masses meeting near the equator, their velocities south and north destroy each other, and they proceed afterwards with their common velocity from east to west round the torrid zone, excepting the irregularities produced by the continents. the equator is not in reality the place of concourse, but the northern parallel of four degrees; because the centre of heat is thereabouts, the sun being longer on the north side of the equator, than on the south side. moreover, when the sun is near one of the tropics, the centre of heat upon the earth's surface is then nearer that tropic than usual, and therefore the winds about the tropic are more nearly east at that time, and those about the other tropic more nearly north and south. "if all the terrestrial globe were covered with water, or if the variations of the earth's surface in heat were regular and constant, so that the heat was the same in every part of the same parallel of latitude, the winds would then be very nearly regular also: but this is not the case; for we find the irregularities of heat, arising from the interspersion of land and sea, are such, that though all the parts of the atmosphere in some measure conspire to produce regular winds about the torrid zone, yet very striking irregularities are often found to take place. a remarkable instance we have in monsoons, which are winds that in the indian ocean, &c. blow for six months together one way, and the next six months the contrary way: these, with sea and land breezes, do not seem easily to be accounted for on any other principle than that of rarefaction. "perhaps some persons may be led to suppose, that the winds in the northern temperate zone should be between the north and east towards the poles, and between the south and west nearer the equator, almost as regular as the trade-winds: but when the change of seasons, the different capacities of land and water for heat, the interference and opposition of the two general currents, be considered, it might be concluded almost next to impossible that the winds in the temperate zone should exhibit any thing like regularity: however, notwithstanding this, observations sufficiently evince, that the winds therein are, for the most part, in the direction of one of the general currents; namely, somewhere between the south and west, or more commonly between the north and east; and that winds in other directions happen only as accidental varieties, chiefly in unsettled weather. [illustration: falling or shooting stars.--page . the engraving represents an extraordinary shower of these remarkable meteors, which took place at the falls of niagara. the view comprises the entire falls, with goat island in the centre.] [illustration: commencement of the south-west monsoon in india.--page .] "we may have frequently taken notice, that several winds, particularly stormy ones, are attended with a cloudy sky; to this it may be added, that we have more winds than usually occur in rather less latitudes, where the atmosphere is generally more serene: these considered, make it exceedingly probable, that the aqueous vapours which are sustained by the air, from whence come clouds and rains, may be one great cause of irregular winds. it has been determined, from very accurate experiments, that one inch of water when evaporated will fill more than inches of space: hence it appears that the water which falls in drops of rain, &c. occupied more than times the space when it floated in the atmosphere in vapours; the condensation thereof must therefore occasion vacua of such a nature, as will cause winds of different kinds and degrees, according to the deficiency which is to be supplied. "the economy of winds, an illustration of which has been here attempted, is admirably adapted to the various purposes of nature, and to the general intercourse of mankind:--if the earth had been fixed, and the sun had revolved about it, the air over the torrid zone, and particularly about the equator, would have been almost always stagnant; and in the other zones the winds would have had little variation either in direction or strength; in this case navigation would have been greatly impeded, and a communication between the two hemispheres by sea, rendered impracticable. on the present system of things, however, the irregularity of winds is of the happiest consequence, by being subservient to navigation: and a general circulation of air constantly takes place between the eastern and western hemispheres, as well as between the polar and equatorial regions; by reason of which, that diffusion and intermixture of the different aërial fluids, so necessary for the life, health, and prosperity of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, is accomplished:--such is the transcendent wisdom and providential care of the beneficent father of all!" the following interesting description of the south-west monsoon in india, is taken from elphinstone's account of cabul.--the most remarkable rainy season, is that called in india the south-west monsoon. it extends from africa to the malay peninsula, and deluges all the intermediate countries within certain lines of latitude, for four months in the year. in the south of india, this monsoon commences about the beginning of june, but it gets later as we advance towards the north. its approach is announced by vast masses of clouds that rise from the indian ocean, and advance towards the north-east, gathering and thickening as they approach the land. after some threatening days, the sky assumes a troubled appearance in the evenings, and the monsoon in general sets in during the night. it is attended with such a thunder-storm as can scarcely be imagined by those who have only seen that phenomenon in a temperate climate. it generally begins with violent blasts of wind, which are succeeded by floods of rain. for some hours, lightning is seen almost without intermission; sometimes it only illuminates the sky, and shews the clouds near the horizon; at others, it discovers the distant hills, and again leaves all in darkness; when in an instant it re-appears in vivid and successive flashes, and exhibits the nearest objects in all the brightness of day. during all this time the distant thunder never ceases to roll, and is only silenced by some nearer peal, which bursts on the ear with such a sudden and tremendous crash, as can scarcely fail to strike the most insensible heart with awe. at length the thunder ceases, and nothing is heard but the continued pouring of the rain, and the rushing of the rising streams. the next day presents a gloomy spectacle: the rain still descends in torrents, and scarcely allows a view of the blackened fields; the rivers are swollen and discoloured, and sweep down along with them the hedges, the huts, and the remains of the cultivation, which was carried on during the dry season, into their beds. this lasts for some days, after which the sky clears, and discovers the face of nature, changed as if by enchantment. before the storm, the fields were parched up, and, except in the beds of the rivers, scarce a blade of vegetation was to be seen; the clearness of the sky was not interrupted by a single cloud, but the atmosphere was loaded with dust, which was sufficient to render distant objects dim, as in a mist, and to make the sun appear dull and discoloured, till he attained a considerable elevation: a parching wind blew like a blast from a furnace, and heated wood, iron, and every other solid material, even in the shade; and immediately before the monsoon, this wind had been succeeded by still more sultry calms. but when the first violence of the storm is over, the whole earth is covered with a sudden but luxuriant verdure: the rivers are full and tranquil, the air is pure and delicious; and the sky is varied, and embellished with clouds. the effect of the change is visible on all the animal creation, and can only be imagined in europe, by supposing the depth of a dreary winter to start at once into all the freshness and brilliancy of spring. from this time the rain falls at intervals for about a month, when it comes on again with great violence, and in july the rains are at their height; during the third month, they rather diminish, but are still heavy; and in september they gradually abate, and are often entirely suspended till near the end of the month, when they depart amidst thunders and tempests, as they came. the following table, which gives some particulars respecting the velocity of the wind, was calculated by mr. john smeaton, the celebrated engineer, and is founded on a correct series of practical observations:-- miles feet per hour. per second. . . } light airs. . } . } breeze. . } . } brisk gale. . } . } fresh gale. . } . } strong gale. . } . } hard gale. . } . } storm. . } . } hurricane, tearing . } up trees, &c. we conclude this chapter with a poetical enumeration of the benefits arising from the wind:-- "of what important use to human kind, to what great ends subservient, is the wind! where'er the aërial active vapour flies, it drives the clouds, and ventilates the skies; sweeps from the earth infection's noxious train, and swells to wholesome rage the sluggish main. for should the sea unagitated stand, death, with huge strides, would desolate the land; the scorching sun, with unpropitious beam, would give to grief an everlasting theme; and baneful vapours, lurking in the veins, would fiercely burn with unabating pains. nor thus alone air purities the seas, o'er torrid climes it pours the healthful breeze: climes where the sun direct flings scorching day, feel cooling air his sultry rage allay; unceasing goodness, with unceasing skill, educing certain good from seeming ill. his guardian care extends o'er ev'ry shore, and blends his favours with what men deplore; the sable nations hence, and burning skies, see luscious fruits in varying beauty rise; spontaneous nature laugh at culture's toil, and rich luxuriance bless the grateful soil." chap. l. curiosities respecting showers, storms, &c. _surprising showers of hail--singular effects of a storm--the mirage--sand floods--showers of gossamers--winter in russia._ ye vapours, hail, and snow, praise ye th' almighty lord, and stormy winds that blow to execute his word. _watts._ then from aërial treasures downwards pours sheets of unsully'd snow in lucid show'rs; flake after flake, thro' air thick wav'ring flies 'till one vast shining waste all nature lies. then the proud hills a virgin whiteness shed, a dazzling brightness glitters from the mead; the hoary trees reflect a silver show, and groves beneath the lovely burden low. _broome._ surprising showers of hail. natural historians record various instances of surprising showers of hail, in which the hailstones were of extraordinary magnitude. mezeray, speaking of the war of lewis xii. in italy, in , relates, that there was for some time a horrible darkness, thicker than that of night; after which the clouds broke into thunder and lightning, and there fell a shower of hailstones, or rather (as he calls them) pebble-stones, which destroyed all the fish, birds, and beasts, of the country. it was attended with a strong smell of sulphur; and the stones were of a bluish colour, some of them weighing lb.--_hist. de france_, tom. ii. p. . at lisle, in flanders, in , hailstones fell of a very large size; some of which contained in the middle, a dark brown matter, which, thrown on the fire, gave a very great report.--_phil. trans._ no. . dr. halley and others relate, that in cheshire, lancashire, &c. april , , a thick black cloud, coming from carnarvonshire, disposed the vapours to congeal in such a manner, that for about the breadth of two miles, which was the limit of the cloud, in its progress for sixty miles it did inconceivable damage; not only killing all sorts of fowls and other small animals, but splitting trees, knocking down horses and men, and even ploughing up the earth, so that the hailstones buried themselves underground an inch or an inch and a half deep. the hailstones, many of which weighed five ounces, and some half a pound, being five or six inches in circumference, were of various figures; some round, others half round; some smooth, others embossed and crenated; the icy substance of them was very transparent and hard, but there was a snowy kernel in the centre. in hertfordshire, may , , after a severe storm of thunder and lightning, a shower of hail succeeded, which far exceeded the former: some persons were killed by it, their bodies beat all black and blue; vast oaks were split, and fields of rye cut down as with a scythe. the stones measured from ten to fourteen inches round. their figures were various, some oval, some flat, &c.--_phil. trans._ no. . the following account of the singular effects of a storm, was communicated to the dublin philosophical society, by the secretary:-- "mrs. close gave mr. molyneux the following account of the effects of thunder and lightning on her house at new forge, in the county of down, in ireland, on august , : she observed, that the whole day was close, hot, and sultry, with little or no wind stirring till towards the evening, when there was a small breeze, with some mizzling rain, which lasted about an hour; that as the air darkened after sunset, she saw several faint flashes of lightning, and heard some thunder-claps at a distance; that between ten and eleven o'clock, both were very violent and terrible, and so increased, and came on more frequently until a little before twelve o'clock; that one flash of lightning and clap of thunder came both at the same time, louder and more dreadful than the rest, which, as she thought, shook and inflamed the whole house; and being sensible at that instant of a violent strong sulphureous smell in her chamber, and feeling a thick gross dust falling on her hands and face as she lay in bed, she concluded that part of her house was thrown down by the thunder, or set on fire by the lightning; that, arising in this fright, she called up her family, and candles being lighted, she found her bedchamber, and the kitchen beneath it, full of smoke and dust, and the looking-glass in her chamber was broken. "the next day she found, that part of the cornice of the chimney, which stood without the gabel-end of the house where her chamber was, had been struck off; that part of the coping of the splay of the gable-end itself was broken down, and twelve or sixteen of the shingles on the adjoining roof were raised or ruffled, but none shattered or carried away; that a part of the ceiling in her chamber beneath those shingles was forced down, and part of the plaster and pinning stones of the adjoining wall was also broken off and loosened, the whole breach being sixteen or twenty inches broad; that at this place there was left on the wall a smutted scar or trace, as if blacked by the smoke of a candle, which pointed downwards towards another place on the same wall, where a like breach was made, partly behind the place of the looking-glass; that the boards on the back of a large hair-trunk, full of linen, standing beneath the looking-glass, were forced in, and splintered as if by the blow of a smith's sledge; that two-thirds of the linen within this trunk were pierced or cut through, the cut appearing of a quadrangular figure, and between two or three inches over; that one end of the trunk was forced out, as the back was driven in; that at about two feet distance from the end of the trunk, where the floor and the side-wall of the house joined, there was a breach made in the plaster, where a small chink or crevice was to be seen between the sideboard of the floor and the wall, so wide that a man could thrust his lingers down; and that just beneath this, in the kitchen, the ceiling was forced down, and some of the plaster of the wall broken off; that exactly under this there stood a large tub or vessel of wood, inclosed with a crib of brick and lime, which was broken and splintered all to pieces, and most of the brick and lime work of it scattered about the kitchen. "the looking-glass was broken with such violence, that there was not a piece of it to be found of the size of half-a-crown, and several pieces of it were sticking like hail-shot in the chamber door, which was of oak, and on the other side of the room; several of the edges and corners of some of the pieces of the broken glass were tinged of a light flame colour, as if heated in the fire; the curtains of the bed were cut in several places, supposed to be done by the pieces of the glass. several pieces of muslin and wearing linen, left on the large hair-trunk, were thrown about the room, no way singed or scorched, and yet the hair on the back of the trunk, where the breach was made, was singed; the uppermost part of the linen within the trunk was not touched, and the lowermost parcel, consisting of more than ply of linen, was pierced through, of which none was anywise smutted, except the uppermost ply of a tablecloth, that lay over all the rest; there was a yellow tinge or stain perceivable on some part of the damaged linen, and the whole smelt strongly of sulphur; the glass of two windows in the bed-chamber above, and two windows in the kitchen below, were so shattered, that there was scarcely one whole frame left, in many of them. the pewter, brass, and iron furniture in the kitchen, were thrown down, and scattered about; particularly, a large girdle, about twenty pounds weight, that hung upon an iron hook near the ceiling, was found lying on the floor. a cat was found dead next morning in the kitchen, with her legs extended in a moving posture, with no other sign of being hurt, than that the fur was singed a little about the rump. "it was further remarkable, that the wall, both above and below a little window in the same gable-end, was so shattered, that the light could be seen through the crevices in the wall, and upon a large stone on the outside of the wall; beneath this window was a mark, as if made by the stroke of a smith's, sledge, and a splinter of the stone was broken off, of some pounds weight. i was further informed, that from the time of the great thunder-clap, both the thunder and lightning diminished gradually, so that in an hour's time all was still and quiet again." we proceed to give an account of the mirage.--from belzoni's narrative. "this phenomenon is often described by travellers, who assert having been deceived by it, as at a distance it appears to them like water. this is certainly the fact, and i must confess that i have been deceived myself, even after i was aware of it. the perfect resemblance to water, and the strong desire for this element, made me conclude, in spite of all my caution not to be deceived, that it was really water i saw. it generally appears like a still lake, so unmoved by the wind, that every thing above it is to be seen most distinctly reflected, which is the principal cause of the deception. if the wind agitate any of the plants that rise above the horizon of the mirage, the motion is seen perfectly at a great distance. if the traveller stands elevated much above the mirage, the water seems less united and less deep, for, as the eyes look down upon it, there is not thickness enough in the vapour of the surface of the ground to conceal the earth from the sight; but if the traveller be on a level with the horizon of the mirage, he cannot see through it, so that it appears to him clear water. by putting my head first to the ground, and then mounting a camel, the height of which from the ground might have been ten feet at the most, i found a great difference in the appearance of the mirage. on approaching it, it becomes thinner, and appears as if agitated by the wind, like a field of ripe corn. it gradually vanishes as the traveller approaches, and at last entirely disappears when he is on the spot." we shall now introduce to the reader a curious account of sand floods; a name given to the flowing of sand so common in the deserts of arabia. mr. bruce gives the following description of some that he saw in travelling through that long and dreary desert.--"at one o'clock (says he) we alighted among some acacia trees at waadi el halboub, having gone twenty-one miles. we were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight, surely one of the most magnificent in the world. in that vast expanse of desert from west to north-west of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, at others stalking on with a majestic slowness: at intervals we thought they were coming in a few minutes to overwhelm us; and small quantities of sand did actually more than once reach us. again they would retreat so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. here the tops often separated from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in the air, and did not appear more. sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon-shot. about noon they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon us, the wind being very strong at north. eleven of them ranged alongside of us about the distance of three miles. the greatest diameter of the largest appeared to me, at that distance, as if it would measure ten feet. they retired from us with a wind at south-east, leaving an impression upon my mind to which i can give no name, though surely one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. it was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could not carry us out of this danger; and the full persuasion of this riveted me as if to the spot where i stood, and let the camels gain on me so much in my state of lameness, that it was with some difficulty i could overtake them. the same appearance of moving pillars of sand presented themselves to us this day, in form and disposition like those we had seen at waadi el halboub, only they seemed to be more in number and less in size. they came several times in a direction close upon us, that is, i believe, within less than two miles. they became, immediately after sun-rise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun: his rays shining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. our people now became desperate: the greek shrieked out, and said it was the day of judgment; ismael pronounced it to be hell; and the tucorories, that the world was on fire. i asked idris if ever he had before seen such a sight? he said he had often seen them as terrible, though never worse; but what he feared most was that extreme redness in the air, which was a sure presage of the coming of the simoom." the flowing of sand, though far from being so tremendous and hurtful as in arabia, is of very bad consequences in britain, as many valuable pieces of land have thus been entirely lost; of which we give the following instances from mr. pennant, together with a probable means of preventing them in future.--"i have more than once (says he) on the east coasts of scotland, observed the calamitous state of several extensive tracts, formerly in a most flourishing condition, at present covered with sands, unstable as those of the deserts of arabia. the parish of fyrie, in the county of aberdeen, is now reduced to two farms, and above five hundred pounds a year lost to the errol family, as appears by the oath of the factor in , made before the court of session, to ascertain the minister's salary: not a vestige is to be seen of any buildings, unless a fragment of the church. the estate of coubin, near forres, is another melancholy instance. this tract was once worth three hundred pounds a year, but at this time is overwhelmed with sand. this strange inundation was still in motion in , chiefly when a strong wind prevailed. its motion is so rapid, that i have been assured, that an apple-tree has been so covered with it one season, that only the very summit appeared. this distress was brought on about ninety years ago and was occasioned by the cutting down some trees, and pulling up the bent or star which grew on the sand-hills; which at last gave rise to the act of george ii. c. . to prohibit the destruction of this useful plant. "i beg leave to suggest to the public a possible means of putting a stop to these destructive ravages. providence has kindly formed this plant to grow only in pure sand. mankind was left to make, in after times, an application of it suitable to their wants. the sand-hills on a portion of the flintshire shores, in the parish of llanasa, are covered with it naturally, and kept firm in their place. the dutch perhaps owe the existence of part at least of their country, to the sowing of it on the _mobile solum_, their sand-banks. my humane and amiable friend, the late benjamin stillingfleet, esq. recommended the sowing of this plant on the sandy wilds of norfolk, that its matted roots might prevent the deluges of sand which that country experiences. it has been already remarked, that wheresoever this plant grows, the salutary effects are soon observed to follow. a single plant will fix the sand, and gather it into a hillock; these, by the increase of vegetation, are formed into larger, till by degrees a barrier is often made against the encroachments of the sea, and might often prove preventive of the calamity in question. i cannot, therefore, but recommend the trial to the inhabitants of many parts of north britain: the plant grows in most places near the sea, and is known to the highlanders by the name of _murah_, and to the english by that of _bent-star_." the following is a singular but authentic account of the curious phenomenon of a shower of gossamers.--from white's natural history of selborne. "on september , , being intent on field diversions, i rose before daybreak: when i came into the inclosures, i found the stubbles and clover grounds matted all over with a thick coat of cobweb, in the meshes of which a copious and heavy dew hung so plentifully, that the whole face of the country seemed, as it were, covered with two or three setting nets, drawn one over another. when the dogs attempted to hunt, their eyes were so blinded and hoodwinked, that they could not proceed, but were obliged to lie down and scrape the incumbrances from their faces with their fore feet. as the morning advanced, the sun became bright and warm, and the day turned out one of those most lovely ones, which no season but the autumn produces; cloudless, calm, serene, and worthy the south of france itself. about nine, an appearance, very unusual, began to demand our attention; a shower of cobwebs falling from very elevated regions, and continuing without any interruption till the close of day. there webs were not single filmy threads, floating in the air in all directions, but perfect flakes or rags, some near an inch broad, and five or six long. on every side, as the observer turned his eyes, might he behold a continual succession of fresh flakes falling into his sight, and twinkling like stars as they turned their sides towards the sun. neither before nor after, was any shower observed; but on this day the flakes hung on the trees and hedges so thick, that a diligent person might have gathered baskets full." this chapter closes with a description of winter in russia.--the winter, in the climate of russia, approaches very suddenly. there is something very wonderful in the instantaneous change of weather about the time of winter. on one day the warmth shall be that of spring, while on the following day the winter shall break forth in all its horrors; snow and ice are spread in the course of a few hours, and the abruptness of this instant change affects even a russian constitution. nothing can defend the shivering inhabitant, but the artificial heat of his own house; where he seals himself up during the hibernal rigours, yet even there they reach him. there is a pleasing description of these sudden winters in one of the letters of the poet metastasio, while residing at vienna. the passage is very interesting, and finely describes the instantaneous change which occurred. "within these few days the teutonic winter has unexpectedly appeared, with all his magnificent train, and without the least precursor to announce his arrival. all is covered with snow. the rivers, as well as lakes, were instantly frozen in a most solid manner; and the cold blown from the seven neighbouring hills is so subtle and penetrating, that we cannot exclude it from our warmest apartment. but notwithstanding all this unforeseen and violent change of nature, i still find much amusement here, having been more formed for arcadian tranquillity than the bustle and magnificence of courts. i am pleased with the silent concord of all existence; the roving about in search of well-known paths, fields, bushes, pastoral borders, and every known object, of which, though the fall of snow has changed the colouring, yet the design is still faithfully preserved. i reflect with sentiments of gratitude, that the friendly forest, which by its shade but lately defended me from the burning rays of the sun, now affords me materials for combating the extreme fury of the season. i laugh at winter with all its horrors, which i see without feeling, having it in our power to compose an artificial spring in our apartments at pleasure; but by an impulse of self-love, what pleases me more is, the finding out, that, compared with other seasons, winter has still its conveniences, beauties, and advantages." chap. li. curiosities respecting ice. _on the greenland, or polar ice--on the tremendous concussion of fields of ice--icebergs--magnitude of icebergs--the glaciers--shower of ice--remarkable frosts._ there winter, arm'd with terrors here unknown, sits absolute on his unshaken throne; piles up his stores amid the frozen waste, and bids the mountains he has built, stand fast; beckons the legions of his storms away from happier scenes, to make this land a prey; proclaims the soil a conquest he has won, and scorns to share it with the distant sun. _cowper._ another poet thus describes the polar regions:-- vast regions, dreary, bleak, and bare! there on an icy mountain's height, seen only by the moon's pale light, stern winter rears his giant form, his robe a mist, his voice a storm: his frown the shiv'ring nations fly, and, hid for half the year, in smoky caverns lie. _scott._ the greenland, or polar ice. the following account of the greenland, or polar ice, is abridged by the editor of this work from a paper, by w. scoresby, jun. m. w. s. published in the memoirs of the wernerian natural-history society:-- "greenland is a country where every object is strikingly singular, or highly magnificent. the atmosphere, the land, and the ocean, each exhibit remarkable or sublime appearances. "with regard to the atmosphere, several peculiarities may be noticed, viz. its darkness of colour, and density; its frequent production of crystallized snow in a wonderful perfection and variety of form and texture; and its astonishingly sudden changes from calm to storm, from fair weather to foul, and _vice versâ_. "the land is of itself a sublime object; its stupendous mountains rising by steep acclivities from the very margin of the ocean to an immense height, terminating in rigid, conical, or pyramidical summits; its surface, contrasting its native protruding dark-coloured rocks, with its burden of purest snow;--the whole viewed, under the density of a gloomy sky, forms a picture impressive and grand. "of the inanimate productions of greenland, none perhaps excites so much interest and astonishment in a stranger, as the ice, in its great abundance and variety. the stupendous masses known by the name of ice islands, floating mountains, or icebergs, common to davis' straits, and sometimes met with here, from their height, various forms, and the depth of water in which they ground, are calculated to strike the beholder with wonder: yet the fields of ice, more peculiar to greenland, are not less astonishing. their deficiency in elevation is sufficiently compensated by their amazing extent of surface. some of them have been observed near miles in length, and more than half that breadth; each consisting of a single sheet of ice, having its surface raised in general four or six feet above the level of the water, and its base depressed to the depth of nearly twenty feet beneath." the various kinds of ice described.--"the ice in general is designated by a variety of appellations, distinguishing it according to the size or number of pieces, their form of aggregation, thickness, transparency, &c. i perhaps cannot better explain the terms in common acceptation amongst the whale-fishers, than by marking the disruption of a field. the thickest and strongest field cannot resist the power of a heavy swell; indeed, such are much less capable of bending without being dissevered, than the thinner ice, which is more pliable. when a field, by the set of the current, drives to the southward, and, being deserted by the loose ice, becomes exposed to the effects of a ground swell, it presently breaks into a great many pieces, few of which will exceed forty or fifty yards in diameter. now, such a number of these pieces collected together in close contact, so that they cannot, from the top of the ship's mast, be seen over, are termed a _pack_. "when the collection of pieces can be seen across, if it assume a circular or polygonal form, the name of _patch_ is applied, and it is called a _stream_ when its shape is more of an oblong, how narrow soever it may be, provided the continuity of the pieces is preserved. "pieces of very large dimensions, but smaller than fields, are denominated _floes_: thus, a field may be compared to a pack, and a floe to a patch, as far as regards their size and external form. "small pieces which break off, and are separated from the larger masses by the effect of attrition are called _brash-ice_, and may be collected into streams or patches. "ice is said to be loose or open, when the pieces are so far separated as to allow a ship to sail freely amongst them: this has likewise been called _drift-ice_. "a _hummock_ is a protuberance raised upon any plane of ice above the common level. it is frequently produced by pressure, where one piece is squeezed upon another, often set upon its edge, and in that position cemented by the frost. hummocks are likewise formed by pieces of ice mutually crushing each other, the wreck being heaped upon one or both of them. to hummocks, the ice is indebted for its variety of fanciful shapes, and its picturesque appearance. they occur in great numbers in heavy packs, on the edges, and occasionally in the middle of, fields and floes. they often attain the height of thirty feet or upwards. "a _calf_, is a portion of ice which has been depressed by the same means as a hummock is elevated. it is kept down by some larger mass, from beneath which it shews itself on one side. i have seen a calf so deep and broad, that the ship sailed over it without touching, when it might be observed on both sides of the vessel at the same time: this, however, is attended with considerable danger, and necessity alone warrants the experiment, as calves have not unfrequently (by a ship's touching them, or disturbing the sea near them) been called from their submarine situation to the surface, and with such an accelerated velocity, as to stave the planks and timbers of the ship, and in some instances to reduce the vessel to a wreck. "any part of the upper superficies of a piece of ice, which comes to be immersed beneath the surface of the water, obtains the name of a _tongue_. "a _bight_ signifies a bay or sinuosity, on the border of any large mass or body of ice. it is supposed to be called bight, from the low word _bite_, to take in, or entrap; because, in this situation, ships are sometimes so caught by a change of wind, that the ice cannot be cleared on either tack; and in some cases, a total loss has been the consequence." on the tremendous concussions of fields of ice.--the occasional rapid motion of fields, with the strange effects produced on any opposing substance, exhibited by such immense bodies, is one of the most striking objects this country presents, and is certainly the most terrific. they not unfrequently acquire a rotary movement, whereby the circumference attains a velocity of several miles per hour. a field, thus in motion, coming in contact with another at rest, or, more especially, with a contrary direction of movement, produces a dreadful shock. the consequences of a body of more than ten thousand millions of tons in weight, meeting with resistance when in motion, may be better conceived than expressed! the weaker field is crushed with an awful noise; sometimes the destruction is mutual: pieces of huge dimensions and weight are not unfrequently piled upon the top, to the height of twenty or thirty feet, whilst doubtless a proportionate quantity is depressed beneath. the view of these stupendous effects, in safety, exhibits a picture sublimely grand; but where there is danger of being overwhelmed, terror and dismay must be the predominant feelings. the whale-fishers at all times require unremitting vigilance to secure their safety, but scarcely in any situation so much, as when navigating amidst those fields: in foggy weather, they are particularly dangerous, as their motions cannot then be distinctly observed. it may easily be imagined, that the strongest ship can no more withstand the shock of two fields, than a sheet of paper can stop a musket-ball. numbers of vessels, since the establishment of the fishery, have been thus destroyed; some have been thrown upon the ice, some have had their hulls completely torn open, and others have been buried beneath the heaped fragments of the ice. icebergs.--"the term _icebergs_ has commonly been applied to those immense bodies of ice situated on the land, 'filling the valleys between the high mountains,' and generally exhibiting a square perpendicular towards the sea. they recede backward inland to an extent never explored. martin, crantz, phipps, and others, have described those wonders of nature, and all agree as to their manner of formation, in the congelation of the sleet and rains of summer, and of the accumulated snow, partly dissolved by the summer sun, which, on its decline, freezes to a transparent ice. they are as permanent as the rocks on which they rest: for although large portions may be frequently separated, yet the annual growth replaces the loss, and probably on the whole, produces a perpetual increase. i have seen those styled the _seven icebergs_, situated in the valleys of the north-west coast of spitzbergen; their perpendicular front maybe about feet in height, the green colour, and glistening surface of which, form a pleasing variety in prospect, with the magnificence of the encompassing snow-clad mountains, which, as they recede from the eye, seem to rise 'crag above crag,' in endless perspective. [illustration: icebergs of greenland.--page .] [illustration: icebergs of spitzbergen.--page .] "large pieces may be separated from those icebergs in the summer season, when they are particularly fragile, by their ponderous overhanging masses overcoming the force of cohesion; or otherwise, by the powerful expansion of the water, filling any excavation or deep-seated cavity, when its dimensions are enlarged by freezing, thereby exerting a tremendous force, and bursting the whole asunder. "pieces thus or otherwise detached, are hurled into the sea with a dreadful crash: if they are received into deep water, they are liable to be drifted off the land, and, under the form of ice-islands, or ice-mountains, they likewise still retain their parent name of icebergs. i much question, however, if all the floating bergs seen in the seas west of old greenland, thus derive their origin, their number being so great, and their dimensions so vast." magnitude of icebergs.--"if all the floating islands of ice thus proceed from disruptions of the icebergs generated on the land, how is it that so few are met with in greenland, and those comparatively so diminutive, whilst baffin's bay affords them so plentifully, and of such amazing size? the largest i ever saw in greenland, was about yards in circumference, nearly square, of a regular flat surface, twenty feet above the level of the sea; and as it was composed of the most dense kind of ice, it must have been or feet in thickness, and in weight about , , of tons. but masses have been repeatedly seen in davis' straits, nearly two miles in length, and one-third as broad, whose rugged mountain summits were reared with various spires to the height of more than feet, whilst their base must have reached to the depth of yards beneath the surface of the sea. others, again, have been observed, possessing an even surface of five or six square miles in area, elevated thirty yards above the sea, and fairly run aground in water of or fathoms in depth; the weight of which must have been upwards of two thousand millions of tons." the glaciers.--those vast piles of eternal ice with which it has pleased the author of nature to crown the immense chasms between the summits of the alps, are objects more grand, sublime, and terrific, than any others of the phenomena of nature which remain stationary. these tremendous spires and towers, of uncertain and brittle fabric, seem to forbid the attempts of travellers to explore the depth between them, or even the rocks and rich valleys around them; but courage and perseverance have been attended with commensurate success, and we are enabled by their labours to learn previously concealed wonders, and to reason upon the causes which produced them. mr. bourrit, precentor of the cathedral church at geneva, mentions, in the relation of his journey to the glaciers of savoy, the enterprise of messrs. windham and pocock, in , who, inspired by the artless relations of the peasants, descriptive of the sublimity of their country, when they descended with honey and crystals for sale, determined to visit those frightful regions of ice which had received the appellation of _les montagnes maudites_; or the accursed mountains. the gentlemen alluded to took every precaution for securing their safety; but entertaining many well-grounded fears, naturally arising from a first attempt, they did not reach any considerable distance beyond the edge of the ice in the valley of montanvert, yet their example operated so powerfully as to induce several others to imitate them, and proceed to the boundary whence they returned: at length m. de saussure had the resolution and courage to penetrate across the ice to the very extremities of the valleys; mr. coxe followed soon after: and from their publications every possible information may be obtained, of which the nature of the subject will admit. the most astonishing phenomenon attending the glaciers, is their near approach to the usual vegetation of summer; for what can be more wonderful than to view wheat ready for the sickle, parched brown by the rays of the sun, and separated only by the intervention of a few feet, from the chilling influence of an endless bed of ice, which seems impenetrable to its rays. many systems and theories have been ingeniously suggested, to ascertain the first cause of the glaciers, their maintenance, and whether they increase or diminish in extent; of which, gruner's, improved and illustrated with actual observations by m. de saussure, is the most rational and probable, and mr. coxe implicitly adopts it. admitting that a person could be raised sufficiently above the summits of the alps of switzerland, savoy, and dauphiny, to comprehend the whole at one view, he would observe a vast chaos of mountains and valleys, with several parallel chains, the highest of which are situated in the centre, and the remainder gradually lessening as they retire from it. the central chain he would find to be surmounted by stupendous fragments of rock, towering in rude masses, which bear vast accumulations of snow and ice, where they are not decidedly perpendicular, or do not overhang their bases: on each side he would see the intervening chasms and gulfs, filled with ice, descending thence even into the verdant valleys, rich with foliage and cultivation. the inferior ranges of mountains, next the central, present the same appearance in a less degree; but in those more remote, the snow and ice are confined to the most elevated points; and others, still farther removed, are covered with grass and plants, which, in their turn, give place to such hills and valleys as are common in any part of the world. mr. coxe divides the glaciers, in the above general survey, into two classes: the first occupy the deep valleys situated in the bosom of the alps, and the second adhere to the sides and summits of the mountains. those in the valleys are far more extensive than the upper glaciers; some are several leagues in length; and that of des bois is three miles broad and fifteen long: but they do not communicate with each other, and there are few parallel to the central chain; their upper extremities are connected with inaccessible precipices, and the lower proceed, as already mentioned, quite into the vales. the depth of these astonishing accumulations of frozen fluid vary from eighty to six hundred feet, and they generally rest on an inclined plane, where, urged forward by their own enormous weight, and but weakly supported by the pointed rocks inserted in their bases, they are universally intersected by yawning chasms, of dreadful aspect to the curious investigator, who beholds fanciful representations of walls, towers, and pyramids, on every side of him; but upon reaching those parts where the glacier rests upon an horizontal plane, his progress is seldom impeded by considerable fissures, and he walks in safety over a surface nearly uniform, and not so perfectly polished as that of ponds and rivers suddenly and violently frozen. the absence of transparency, the various marks of air-bubbles, and the general roughness, so perfectly resemble the congelation of snow when half restored to fluidity, that m. de saussure was immediately led to form the following probable theory of the formation of the glaciers. snow is constantly accumulating in the recesses or depths of the mountains, during nine months of the year, by the usual fall of moisture, and the descent of vast masses, borne down by their weight, from the precipices and crags above. part of this is necessarily reduced to water by slight thaws and casual rains, and, being frozen in this state, the glacier is composed of a porous opaque ice. the upper glaciers mr. coxe subdivides into those which cover the summits, and those which extend along the sides of the alps; the former originate from the snow frequently falling and congealing into a firm body, though not becoming actual ice, which the brilliancy of the projections has induced some philosophers to suppose it to be. m. de saussure, having explored mont blanc, ascertained that the top was encrusted with ice, (which might be penetrated by a stick,) covering a mass of snow on the declivities, so chilled and dry as to be incapable of coherence. the sides of the alps support a congelation of half-dissolved snow, which is different from the pure snow of the summits, and the ice of the lower glaciers. two causes operate to produce this effect; the first is the descent of water from the higher regions, where a dissolution of snow sometimes occurs; and the second arises from the more favourable situation of these parts for reflecting the rays of the sun, and the consequent melting of the snow. from hence downwards, the ice adhering to the cavities becomes gradually more solid by the freezing of the snow-water, then nearly divested of that air which in the less dissolved portions renders the ice, formed from it, porous, opaque, and full of bubbles. an idea of the sublimity of the glaciers may be formed by reading the account of m. bourrit, who appears to have viewed and described them with all that enthusiasm which such splendid objects must have inspired.--"to come at this collected mass of ice, (des bois,) we crossed the arve, and travelling in a tolerable road, passed some villages or hamlets, whose inhabitants behaved with much politeness; they invited us to go in and rest ourselves, apologized for our reception, and offered us a taste of their honey. after amusing ourselves some time amongst them, we resumed our road, and entered a beautiful wood of lofty firs, inhabited by squirrels. the bottom is a fine sand, left there by the inundations of the arveron; it is a very agreeable walk, and exhibits some extraordinary appearances. in proportion as we advanced into this wood, we observed the objects gradually to vanish from our sight; surprised at this circumstance, we were earnest to discover the cause, and our eyes sought in vain for satisfaction, till, having passed through it, the charm ceased. judge of our astonishment, when we saw before us an enormous mass of ice, twenty times as large as the front of our cathedral of st. peter, and so constructed, that we have only to change our situation to make it resemble whatever we please. it is a magnificent palace, cased over with the purest crystal; a majestic temple, ornamented with a portico; and columns of several shapes and colours; it has the appearance of a fortress, flanked with towers and bastions to the right and left; and at the bottom is a grotto, terminating in a dome of bold construction. this fairy dwelling, this enchanted residence, or cave of fancy, is the source of the arveron, and of the gold which is found in the arve. and if we add to all this rich variety, the ringing tinkling sound of water dropping from its sides, with the glittering refraction of the solar rays, whilst tints of the most lively green, blue, yellow, or violet, have the effect of different compartments in the several divisions of the grotto, the whole is so theatrically splendid, so completely picturesque, so great and beautiful beyond imagination, that i can hardly believe the art of man has ever yet produced, or ever will produce, a building so grand in its construction, or so varied in its ornaments. desirous of surveying every side of this mass, we crossed the river about four hundred yards from its source, and, mounting upon the rocks and ice, approached the vault; but while we were attentively employed in viewing all its parts, astonished at the sportiveness of nature, we cast our eyes at one considerable member of the pile above us, which was most unaccountably supported, for it seemed to be held by almost nothing: our imprudence was too evident, and we hastened to retreat; yet scarcely had we stepped back thirty paces, before it broke off all at once with a prodigious noise, and tumbled, rolling to the very spot where we were standing just before." shower of ice.--a very uncommon kind of shower fell in the west of england, in december , whereof we have various accounts in the philos. trans.--"this rain, as soon as it touched any thing above ground, as a bough or the like, immediately settled into ice; and, by multiplying and enlarging the icicles, broke every thing down by its weight. the rain that fell on the ground immediately became frozen, without sinking into the snow at all. it made an incredible destruction of trees, beyond any thing mentioned in history. had it concluded with a gust of wind, (says a gentleman who was on the spot,) it might have been of terrible consequence. i weighed the sprig of an ash tree, of just three-quarters of a pound, the ice on which weighed sixteen pounds. some were frightened with the noise in the air, till they discerned that it was the clatter of icy boughs, dashed against each other." dr. beale remarks, that there was no considerable frost observed on the ground during the above: whence he concludes, that a frost may be very intense and dangerous on the tops of some hills and plains; while at other places it keeps at two, three, or four feet distance above the ground, rivers, lakes, &c. and may wander about very furiously in some places, and be mild in others not far off. the frost was followed by glowing heats, and a wonderful forwardness of flowers and fruits. we close this division with an account of remarkable frosts.--in the year , a frost in britain lasted five months.--in , the thames was frozen nine weeks.-- , most rivers in britain frozen six weeks.-- . severe frost in scotland for fourteen weeks.-- , the rivers in britain frozen for two months.-- , danube quite frozen over.-- , thames frozen six weeks, and booths built on it.-- , frost from oct. till feb. following.-- , frost in england for nine weeks.-- , carriages used on the adriatic.-- , most rivers in england frozen two months.-- , the thames frozen thirteen weeks.-- , frost lasted days; begun dec. .-- , thames frozen five weeks.-- , severe frost on june : the corn and fruits destroyed.-- , the thames frozen fourteen weeks.-- , frost in england from nov. till april.-- , several wooden bridges carried away by ice.-- , frost from jan. till march .-- , frost that lasted fifteen weeks.-- , from nov. till feb. , thames frozen down to gravesend.-- , frost for thirteen weeks.-- - , an extraordinary frost throughout the most parts of europe, though scarcely felt in scotland or ireland.-- , severe frost for many weeks.-- , one for nine weeks; begun dec. .-- , severe frost for many weeks.-- , severe frost in russia.-- , severe one in england.-- , the same in germany.-- , the same in england.-- , the thames frozen below london bridge; and booths erected on it.-- , the zuyder zee frozen over, and the rivers of holland passed by the french. chap. lii. curiosities respecting ruins. _ruin at siwa, in egypt--ruins of palmyra--ruins of herculaneum, and pompeii--ancient ruins of balbec--ruins of agrigentum, in sicily--ancient grandeur of carthage._ the cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve. _shakspeare._ ruin at siwa, in egypt.--a great curiosity about siwa, is a ruin, of undoubted antiquity, which, according to mr. browne, resembles exactly those of upper egypt, and was erected and adorned by the same intelligent race of men. the figures of isis and anubis are conspicuous among the sculptures; and the proportions are those of the egyptian temples, though in miniature. what remains of it, is a single apartment, built of massy stones, of the same kind as those of which the pyramids consist. the length is thirty-two feet, the height eighteen, the width fifteen. a gate at one end forms the principal entrance; and two doors open opposite to each other. the other end is quite ruinous. in the interior are three rows of emblematical figures, representing a procession; and the space between them is filled with hieroglyphic characters. it has been supposed, with some degree of probability, that siwa is the siropum of pliny, and that this building was coeval with the famous temple of jupiter ammon, and a dependency on it. ruins of palmyra.--these celebrated ruins consist of temples, palaces, and porticos, of grecian architecture; and lie scattered over an extent of several miles. they were accidentally discovered by some english travellers from aleppo, above a century ago. the most remarkable of them is the temple of the sun, of which the ruins are spread over a square of yards. it was encompassed with a stately wall, built of large square stones, and adorned with pilasters within and without, to the number of sixty-two on a side. within the court are the remains of two rows of noble marble pillars, thirty-seven feet high, with their capitals, of most exquisite workmanship. of these, only fifty-eight remain entire, but they appear to have gone round the whole court, and to have supported a double piazza. the walks opposite the castle appear to have been spacious. at each end of this line are two niches for statues, with their pedestals, borders, supporters, and canopies, carved with the utmost propriety and elegance. the space within this inclosure seems to have been an open court, in the middle of which stood the temple, encompassed with another row of pillars of a different order and much taller, being fifty feet high; but of these, sixteen only remain. the whole space contained within these pillars is fifty-nine yards in length, and near twenty-eight in breadth. the temple is thirty-three yards long, and thirteen or fourteen broad. it points north and south; and exactly in the middle of the building on the west side, is a most magnificent entry, on the remains of which are some vines and clusters of grapes, carved in the most masterly imitation of nature that can be conceived. just over the door are discerned a pair of wings, which extend its whole breadth; but the body, whether of an eagle or an angel, is destroyed. the north end of this temple is adorned with the most curious fret-work in bas-relief; and in the middle is a dome, or cupola, about ten feet diameter. north of this place is an obelisk, consisting of seven large stones, besides its capital. it is about fifty feet high, and just above the pedestal is twelve feet in circumference. about a quarter of a mile from this pillar, to the east and west, are two others, besides the fragment of a third. about paces from the middle obelisk, is a magnificent entry to a piazza, which is forty feet broad, and more than half a mile long, inclosed with two rows of marble pillars twenty-six feet high, and eight or nine in compass. of these there still remain , but there must originally have been no less than . the upper end of the piazza was closed by a row of pillars. to the left are the ruins of a stately banqueting-house, built of better marble, and finished with yet greater elegance, than the piazza. the pillars which supported it were of one entire stone. it measures twenty-two feet in length, and in compass eight feet nine inches. in the west side of the piazza are several apertures for gates into the court of the palace. each of these were adorned with four porphyry pillars, placed by couples in the front of the gate facing the palace, two on each side. two of these only remain entire. they are thirty feet long, and nine in circumference. on the east side of the piazza stands a great number of marble pillars, some perfect, but the greater part mutilated. at a little distance are the remains of a small temple, without a roof. before the entry, which looks to the south, is a piazza supported by six pillars, two on each side of the door, and one at each end. the pedestals of those in front have been filled with inscriptions, both in the greek and palmyrene languages, which are become totally illegible. among these ruins are many sepulchres. they are all square towers, four or five stories high. there is a walk across the whole building; the space on each hand is subdivided into six partitions by thick walls. the space between the partitions is wide enough to receive the largest corpse; and in these niches there are six or seven piled one upon another. many inscriptions have been found at palmyra, which have occupied much of the attention of the learned. ruins of herculaneum and pompeii,--two ancient cities of campania in italy, which were destroyed by an eruption of vesuvius, in the first year of the emperor titus, or the th of the christian æra, and lately rendered famous on account of the curious monuments of antiquity discovered in their ruins; an account of which has been published by order of the king of naples, in a work of six volumes folio. the epocha of the foundation of herculaneum is unknown. dionysius of halicarnassus conjectures that it maybe referred to sixty years before the war of troy, or about b. c.; and therefore that it lasted about years. the thickness of the heaps of lava, by which the city was overwhelmed, has been much increased by fiery streams vomited since that catastrophe, and now forms a mass twenty-four feet deep, of dark grey stone, which is easily broken in pieces. by its non-adhesion to foreign bodies, marbles and bronzes are preserved in it as in a case made to fit them, and exact moulds of the faces and limbs of statues are frequently found in this substance. the precise situation of this subterraneous city was not known till , when it was accidentally discovered by some labourers, who, in digging a well, struck upon a statue on the benches of the theatre. many others were afterwards dug out, and sent to france by the prince of elboeuf. but little progress was made in the excavations, till charles, infant of spain, ascended the neapolitan throne, by whose unwearied efforts and liberality a very considerable part of herculaneum has been explored, and such treasures of antiquity drawn out, as form the most curious museum in the world. it being too arduous a task to attempt removing the covering, the king contented himself with cutting galleries to the principal buildings, and causing the extent of one or two of them to be cleared. of these, the theatre is the most considerable. on a balustrade which divided the orchestra from the stage, was found a row of statues; and, on each side of the pulpitum, the equestrian figure of a person of the nonian family. they are now placed under porticos of the palace; and from the great rarity of equestrian statues in marble, would be very valuable objects, were the workmanship even less excellent than it is: one of them in particular is a very fine piece of sculpture. the collection of curiosities brought out of herculaneum and pompeii, consist not only of statues, busts, altars, inscriptions, and other ornamental appendages of opulence and luxury; but also comprehend an entire assortment of the domestic, musical, and chirurgical instruments used by the ancients; tripods of elegant form and exquisite execution, lamps in endless variety, vases and basons of noble dimensions, chandeliers of the most beautiful shapes, pateras and other appurtenances of sacrifice; looking-glasses of polished metal; coloured glass, so hard, clear, and well stained, as to appear like emeralds, sapphires, and other precious stones; a kitchen completely fitted up with copper pans lined with silver, cisterns for heating water, and every utensil necessary for culinary purposes; specimens of various sorts of combustibles, retaining their form, though burnt to a cinder; corn, bread, fish, oil, wine, and flour; a lady's toilet, fully furnished with combs, thimbles, rings, paint, ear-rings, and other articles. among the statues, which are numerous, a mercury and a sleeping fawn are most admired by connoisseurs. the busts fill several rooms; but very few of the originals whom they were meant to imitate are known. the floors are paved with ancient mosaic. few rare medals have been found in these ruins: the most curious is a gold medallion of augustus, struck in sicily, in the fifteenth year of his reign. the fresco paintings, which, for the sake of preservation, have been torn off the walls, and framed and glazed, are to be seen in another part of the palace. the streets of the city of pompeii are said to be daily disencumbered. mr. williams, a late traveller, informs us, that he entered by the appian way through a narrow street of small tombs, beautifully executed, with the names of the deceased, plain and legible. at the gate was a sentry-box, in which the skeleton of a soldier was found, with a lamp in his hand. the streets are lined with public buildings, the painted decorations of which are fresh and entire. there were several tradesmen's shops also discovered--such as, a baker's, an oilman's, an ironmonger's, a wine shop, with money in the till, and a surgeon's house, with chirurgical instruments; also a great theatre, a temple of justice, an amphitheatre feet long, various temples, a barrack for soldiers, (the columns of which are scribbled with their names and jests,) and stocks for prisoners, in one of which a skeleton was likewise discovered. the principal streets are about sixteen feet wide; the subordinate ones from six to ten feet. the ancient ruins of balbec.--to give a just idea of these ruins, we must suppose ourselves descending from the interior of the town. after having crossed the rubbish and huts with which it is filled, we arrive at a vacant place, which appears to have been a square; there, in front, towards the west, we perceive a grand ruin, which consists of two pavilions ornamented with pilasters, joined at their bottom angle by a wall one hundred and sixty feet in length. this front commands the open country from a terrace, on the edge of which we distinguish with difficulty the bases of twelve columns, which formerly extended from one pavilion to the other, and formed a portico. the principal gate is obstructed by heaps of stones; but, that obstacle surmounted, we enter an empty space, which is an hexagonal court of one hundred and eighty feet in diameter. this court is strewed with broken columns, mutilated capitals, and the remains of pilasters, entablatures, and cornices; around it is a row of ruined edifices, which display all the ornaments of the richest architecture. at the end of this court, opposite the west, is an outlet, which formerly was a gate, through which we perceive a still more extensive range of ruins, whose magnificence strongly excites curiosity. to have a full prospect of these, we must ascend a slope, up which were the steps to this gate; and we then arrive at the entrance of a square court, much more spacious than the former, being three hundred and fifty feet wide, and three hundred and thirty-six in length. the eye is first attracted by the end of this court, where six enormous and majestic columns render the scene astonishingly grand and picturesque. another object, not less interesting, is a second range of columns to the left, which appear to have been part of the peristyle of a temple; but before we pass thither, we cannot refuse particular attention to the edifices which inclose this court on each side. they form a sort of gallery, which contains various chambers, seven of which may be reckoned in each of the principal wings, viz. two in a semicircle, and five in an oblong square. the bottom of these apartments still retains pediments of niches and tabernacles, the supporters of which are destroyed. on the side of the court they are open, and present only five or six columns totally destroyed. the beauty of the pilasters, and the richness of the frieze of the entablature, are admirable. the singular effect which results from the mixture of the garlands, the large foliage of the capitals, and the sculpture of wild plants with which they are every where ornamented, is peculiarly pleasing. in traversing the length of the court, we find in the middle a little square esplanade, where was a pavilion, of which nothing remains but the foundation. on arriving at the foot of the six columns, we perceive all the boldness of their elevation, and the richness of their workmanship. their shafts are twenty-one feet eight inches in circumference, and fifty-eight high; so that the total height, including the entablature, is from seventy-one to seventy-two feet. the sight of this superb ruin, thus solitary and unaccompanied, at first strikes us with astonishment; but, on a more attentive examination, we discover a series of foundations, which mark an oblong square of two hundred and sixty-eight feet in length, and one hundred and forty-six wide, and which, it seems probable, was the peristyle of a grand temple, the primary purpose of the whole structure. it presented to the great court, on the east, a front of ten columns, with nineteen on each side, which, with the other six, made in all fifty-four. the ground on which it stood is an oblong square, on a level with this court, but narrower, so that there was only a terrace of twenty-seven feet wide round the colonnade; the esplanade this produces fronts the open country towards the west, by a sloping wall of about thirty feet. this descent, near the city, becomes less steep, so that the foundation of the pavilion is level with the foot of the hill; whence it is evident that the whole ground of the courts has been artificially raised. such was the former state of this edifice; but the southern side of the grand temple was afterwards blocked up to build a smaller one, the peristyle and walls of which are still remaining. this temple, situated somewhat lower than the other, presents a side of thirteen columns by eight in front, (in all thirty-four,) which are likewise of the corinthian order; their shafts are fifteen feet eight inches in circumference, and forty-four in height. the building they surround is an oblong square, the front of which, turned towards the east, is out of the line of the left wing of the great court. to reach it, we must cross trunks of columns, heaps of stone, and a ruinous wall, by which it is now hid. after surmounting these obstacles, we arrive at the gate, where we may survey the inclosure, which was once the habitation of a god; but instead of the solemn scene of a prostrate people, and sacrifices offered by a multitude of priests, the sky, which is open, from the falling in of the roof, only lets in light to shew a chaos of ruins covered with dust and weeds. the walls, formerly enriched with all the ornaments of the corinthian order, now present nothing but pediments of niches and tabernacles, of which almost all the supporters are fallen to the ground. between these niches is a range of fluted pilasters, whose capitals support a broken entablature; but what remains of it displays a rich frieze of foliage, resting on the heads of satyrs, horses, bulls, &c. over this entablature was the ancient roof, which was fifty-seven feet wide, and one hundred and ten in length. the walls which supported it are thirty-one feet high, and without a window. it is impossible to form any idea of the ornaments of this roof, except from the fragments lying on the ground; but it could not have been richer than the gallery of the peristyle: the principal remaining parts contain tablets in the form of tables, on which are represented jupiter seated on his eagle, leda caressed by the swan, diana with her bow and crescent, and several busts, which seem to be figures of emperors and empresses. ruins of agrigentum, in sicily.--the present town, girgenti, occupies the mountain on which the ancient citadel stood. at the north-east angle of the ancient limits, upon some foundations of large irregular stones, a church has been erected; a road appears hewn in the solid rock, for the convenience of votaries, who visited this temple in ancient days. it was then dedicated to ceres and her daughter proserpine, the peculiar patronesses of sicily. bishop blaise has succeeded to their honours. at the south-east corner, where the ground, rising gradually, ends in a bold eminence, which is crowned with majestic columns, are the ruins of a temple, said to have been consecrated to juno. to the west of this, stands the building commonly called the temple of concord; the stone of which, and the other buildings, is the same as that of the neighbouring mountains and cliffs, a conglutination of sea-sand and shells, full of perforations,--of a hard and durable texture, and a deep reddish brown colour. this doric temple has all its columns, entablature, pediments, and walls, entire; only part of the roof is wanting. it owes its preservation to the piety of some christians, who have covered half the nave, and converted it into a church, consecrated under the invocation of st. gregory, bishop of girgenti. in the same direction are rows of sepulchres cut in the rock. some masses of it are hewn into the shape of coffins; others are drilled full of small square holes, employed in a different mode of interment, and serving as receptacles of urns. one ponderous piece of it lies in an extraordinary position; by the failure of its foundation, or the shock of an earthquake, it has been loosened from the general quarry, and rolled down the declivity, where it now remains supine, with the cavities turned upwards. only a single column marks the confused heap of moss-grown ruins belonging to the temple of hercules. it stood on a projecting rock above a chasm in the ridge, which was cut through for a passage to the port. in the same tract, over some hills, is situated the tomb of thero. it is surrounded by aged olive-trees, which cast a wild irregular shade over the ruin. the edifice inclines to the pyramidal shape, and consists at present of a triple plinth, and a base supporting a square pedestal: upon this plain solid foundation is raised a second order, having a window in each front, and at each angle two ionic pilasters, crowned with an entablature of the doric order. its inside is divided into a vault, a ground room, and one in the ionic story, communicating with each other by means of a small internal staircase. in the plain are seen the fragments of the temple of Æsculapius: part of two columns and two pilasters, with an intermediate wall, support the end of a farm-house, and were probably the front of the cells. towards the west are the gigantic remains of the temple of jupiter olympus, minutely described by diodorus siculus. it may literally be said, that it has not one stone left upon another; and it is barely possible, with the help of much conjecture, to discover the traces of its plan and dimensions. diodorus calls it the largest temple in the whole island; but adds, that the calamities of war caused the work to be abandoned before the roof could be put on; and that the agrigentines were ever after reduced to such a state of poverty and dependence, that they never had it in their power to finish this superb monument of the taste and opulence of their ancestors. the length of this temple was greek feet, its breadth , and its height , exclusive of the foundation; the extent and solidity of its vaults and underworks, its spacious porticos and exquisite sculpture, were suited to the grandeur of the whole. the next ruin belongs to the temple of castor and pollux: vegetation has covered the lower parts of the building, and only a few fragments of columns appear between the vines. this was the point of the hill where the wall stopped on the brink of a large fishpond, spoken of by diodorus: it was cut in the solid rock thirty feet deep, and water was conveyed to it from the hills. in it was bred a great quantity of fish, for the use of public entertainments; swans, and various other kinds of wild fowl, swam along its surface, for the amusement of the citizens; and the great depth of water prevented an enemy from surprising the town on that side. it is now dry, and used as a garden. on the opposite bank are two tapering columns without their capitals, placed in a tuft of carob trees. monte toro, where hanna encamped with the carthaginian army, before the roman consuls drew him into an engagement that ruined his defensive plan, is a noble back-ground in this picturesque group of objects. the whole space, comprehended within the walls of the ancient city, abounds with traces of antiquity, foundations, brick arches, and little channels for the conveyance of water; but in no part are there any ruins that can be presumed to have belonged to places of public entertainment. this is the more extraordinary, as the agrigentines were fond of shows and dramatic performances; and the romans never dwelt in any place long, without introducing their savage games. we conclude this division of curiosities by a description of the ancient grandeur of carthage.--at the third punic war, carthage appears to have been one of the first cities in the world. it was no less than stadia, or forty-five miles, in circumference, and was joined to the continent by an isthmus, twenty-three stadia, or three miles and a furlong, in breadth. on the west side projected a long tract of land, half a stadium broad; which shooting out into the sea, separated it from a lake, or morass, and was strongly fortified on all sides by rocks and a single wall. in the middle of the city stood the citadel of byrsa, having on the top of it a temple sacred to Æsculapius, seated upon rocks, to which the ascent was by sixty steps. on the south side the city was surrounded by a triple wall, thirty cubits high; flanked all round by parapets and towers, at equal distances of feet. every tower had its foundation sunk thirty-two feet deep, and was four stories high, though the walls were but two: they were arched; and in the lower part, corresponding in depth with the foundations above-mentioned, were stalls, large enough to hold elephants, with their fodder, &c. over these were stalls and other conveniences for horses; and there was likewise room for lodging , foot and cavalry, without incommoding the inhabitants. there were two harbours, which had one common entrance, seventy feet broad, and shut up with chains. the first was appropriated to the merchants, and included in it a vast number of places of refreshment, and all kinds of accommodations for seamen. the second, as well as the island of cothon in the midst of it, was lined with large quays, in which were receptacles for sheltering ships of war. over these were magazines of all sorts of naval stores. the entrance into each of these receptacles was adorned with two marble pillars of the ionic order, so that both the harbour and island represented on each side two magnificent galleries. near this island was a temple of apollo, in which was a statue of the god, of massy gold; and the inside of the temple was lined with plates of the same metal, weighing talents. the city was twenty-three miles in circumference, and contained , inhabitants. "all that remains, (says dr. shaw,) of this once famous city, are,--the area of a spacious room upon one of the hills on which it stood, commanding the south-east shore, with several smaller ones at a little distance from it; the common sewers, which time has not in the least injured or impaired; and the cisterns, which have shared only in a small degree the general ruin of the city." chap. liii. curiosities respecting ancient buildings, temples, & other monuments of antiquity. egyptian curiosities:--_pompey's pillar--buildings, and library, of alexandria--temple of tentyra--palace of memnon--temple of osiris._ if glorious structures and immortal deeds enlarge the thought, and set our souls on fire; my tongue has been too cold in egypt's praise, the queen of nations, and the boast of times, mother of science, and the house of gods! scarce can i open wide my labouring mind, to comprehend the vast idea, big with arts and arms, so boundless is its fame. _young._ pyramids of egypt--from cabillia's researches, as recorded in belzoni's narrative.-- "the enterprise of captain cabillia was hazardous and bold, and nothing but an enthusiasm for discovery could induce a man to take such a step. the consul, with mr. briggs, mr. beechey, and myself, went to see the operations that were going on. captain cabillia's circumstances were much better than mine; but he had no superfluous wealth at command, to continue what he had begun, which required a supply beyond his means. mr. briggs was the first who generously offered to furnish money for this purpose; and, after a consultation with mr. salt, they agreed to support the work to any extent that might be required. this gentleman not only encouraged the undertaking at the pyramid, but has exerted his influence with mohammed ali, for the general advantage of the commerce of europe. "the enterprise of captain cabillia is worthy the attention of every one interested in antiquities, as he had solved a question by which the learned world has been puzzled for many centuries. the famous well, which has given rise to so much conjecture, turns out to be a communication with a lower passage, leading into an inferior chamber, discovered and opened by himself. he first descended the well to the depth of thirty-eight feet, where his progress was stopped by four large stones. three of these being removed, there was space enough for a man to pass through; but the fourth he could not stir, though he had the help of mr. kabitsch, a young man in the employment of mr. baghos, who bore a share of the expense with the captain. twenty-one feet below this place they found a grotto, seventeen feet long and four high; and seven feet below this, a platform, from which the well descended two hundred feet lower. the captain went down, and at the bottom found earth and sand; but from the hollow sound under his feet, he judged that the passage must communicate with some other apartment below. he then set some arabs at work to remove the sand; but the heat was so great, and the candles so incapable of burning, for want of oxygen, that they were compelled to desist. the captain then turned his researches to another quarter, and began to enlarge the entrance into the first passage of the pyramid. for this operation he was well rewarded; for by it he found that the passage continued downward, and having employed several men, and taken out a great deal of earth and rubbish, at last, after a long and ardent toil, he came in contact with the bottom of the well, where he found the baskets and rope which had been left there. the same day that this occurred, was that on which we had agreed to visit the pyramids, and i had the pleasure to be an eye-witness of the arduous task of captain cabillia. proceeding in his laborious researches, he found that the passage led into a chamber cut out of the rock, under the centre of the pyramid. "captain cabillia made several researches round the pyramids also, but none exceeded his toil in uncovering the temple sphinx. he found a small temple between the two paws, and a large tablet of granite on its breast. the tablet is adorned with several figures and hieroglyphics, and two representations of sphinxes are sculptured on it. before the entrance into the small temple was a lion, placed as if to guard the approach. farther on from the front of the sphinx, is a staircase of thirty-two steps, at the bottom of which is an altar, with a greek inscription, of the time of the ptolemies. at each side of the altar was a sphinx of calcareous stone, much mutilated. from the base of the temple to the summit of the head, is sixty-five feet; the legs of the sphinx are fifty-seven feet long, from the breast to the extremity of the paws, which are eight feet high. forty-five feet from the first altar, he found another, with an inscription, alluding to the emperor septimus severus; and near to the first step was a stone, with another greek inscription, alluding to antoninus. "notwithstanding his own occupation about the sphinx, captain cabillia employed other people to carry on researches. he opened some of the mausoleums which were choked up with sand, and found several small chambers, with hieroglyphics and figures, some of them pretty well executed, and in good preservation. in one of the pits he found some mummies, in their linen envelopes, and various fragments of egyptian antiquity. he also opened some of the smaller pyramids, and from the suggestion of mr. briggs to follow a certain direction, he succeeded in finding the entrance into one of them; but it appears, that it was so decayed in the interior, he could advance only a few feet. no doubt this led into some chamber or apartment, containing perhaps a sarcophagus, &c." _belzoni's own researches._--m. belzoni determined on penetrating one of the famous pyramids, and, after an immense labour, succeeded in discovering the entrance, and reached a portcullis; but here a large block of stone stared him in the face, and appeared to say, _ne plus ultra_. he persevered until the stone was removed and the passage opened, which is only four feet high, and three feet six inches wide. after thirty days' exertion, he reached the central chamber, where he found a sarcophagus. this chamber is forty-six feet three inches long, sixteen feet three inches wide, and twenty-three feet six inches high. it is cut out of the solid rock, from the floor to the roof, which is composed of large blocks of calcareous stone, meeting in the centre, and forming a roof of the same slope as the pyramid itself. the sarcophagus is eight feet long, three feet six inches wide, and two feet three inches deep in the inside. it is surrounded by large blocks of granite, apparently to prevent its removal, which could not be effected without great labour. the lid had been broken at the side, so that the sarcophagus was quite open. it is of the finest granite; but, like the other, in the first pyramid, there is not one hieroglyphic on it. on the wall, at the west end of the chamber, was an inscription in arabic, which has been thus translated by mr. salame:-- "the master mohammed ahmed, lapicide, has opened them; and the master ottoman attended this (_opening_;) and the king alij mohammed at first (_from the beginning_) to the closing up." m. belzoni refutes the general assertion, that the pyramids were built of stone brought from the east side of the nile; since stones of immense size have been cut from the very rocks around the pyramids, and there is yet stone enough to build many others if required. he is of opinion, that the pyramids were erected before writing in hieroglyphics was invented, and that they were erected as sepulchres. by the measurement which he took of the second pyramid, he found it to be as follows:-- feet. the base apotome, or central line down the front, from the top to the base perpendicular coating, from the top to the place where it ends pompey's pillar at alexandria; with an account of a surprising exploit of some british sailors. _the pillar._--this pillar is situated a quarter of a league from the southern gate. it is composed of red granite. the capital is corinthian, with palm leaves, and not indented. it is nine feet high. the shaft and upper member of the base are of one piece of ninety feet long, and nine in diameter. the base is a square of about fifteen feet on each side. this block of marble, sixty feet in circumference, rests on two layers of stone, bound together with lead; which, however, has not prevented the arabs from forcing out several of them, to search for an imaginary treasure. the whole column is one hundred and fourteen feet high. it is perfectly well polished, and only a little shivered on the eastern side. nothing can equal the majesty of this monument: seen from a distance, it overtops the town, and serves as a signal for vessels; approaching it nearer, it produces an astonishment mixed with awe. one can never be tired with admiring the beauty of the capital, the length of the shaft, and the extraordinary simplicity of the pedestal. this last has been somewhat damaged by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to possess a relic of this antiquity. learned men and travellers have made many fruitless attempts to discover, in honour of what prince it was erected. the best informed have concluded that it could not be in honour of pompey, since neither strabo nor diodorus siculus has spoken of it. the arabian abulfeda, in his description of egypt, calls it the _pillar of severus_. and history informs us, that this emperor 'visited the city of alexandria;' that he granted a senate to its inhabitants, who, until that time, under the subjection of a roman magistrate, had lived without any national council, as under the reign of the ptolemies, when the will of the prince was their only law; and that he did not terminate his benefactions here, but changed several laws in their favour. this column, therefore, mr. savoy concludes to have been erected by the inhabitants as a mark of their gratitude to severus; and in a greek inscription, now half defaced, but visible on the west side when the sun shines upon it, and which probably was legible in the time of abulfeda, he supposes the name of severus to have been preserved. he further observes, that this was not the only monument erected to him by the gratitude of the alexandrians, for there is still seen, in the ruins of antinöe, built by adrian, a magnificent pillar, the inscription of which is still remaining, dedicated to alexander severus. _the exploit of some british seamen._--one of the volutes of the column was prematurely brought down some years ago, by a prank of some english captains; which is thus related by mr. irwin. these jolly sons of neptune had been pushing about the can on board one of the ships in the harbour, until a strange freak entered into one of their brains. the eccentricity of the thought occasioned it immediately to be adopted: and its apparent impossibility was but a spur for the putting it into execution. the boat was ordered; and with proper implements for the attempt, these enterprising heroes pushed ashore, to drink a bowl of punch on the top of pompey's pillar! at the spot they arrived, and many contrivances were proposed to accomplish the desired point. but their labour was vain; and they began to despair of success, when the genius who struck out the frolic, happily suggested the means of performing it. a man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite; and the inhabitants, by this time apprised of what was going forward, flocked in crowds to be witnesses of the address and boldness of the english. the governor of alexandria was told that these seamen were about to pull down pompey's pillar. but whether he gave them credit for their respect to the roman warrior, or to the turkish government, he left them to themselves; and politely answered, that the english were too great patriots to injure the remains of pompey. he knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who were engaged in this undertaking. had the turkish empire risen in opposition, it would not at that moment have deterred them. the kite was brought, and flown directly over the pillar; so that when it fell on the other side, the string lodged upon the capital. the chief obstacle was now overcome. a two-inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawn over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. by this rope, one of the seamen ascended to the top; and in less than an hour, a kind of shroud was constructed, by which the whole company went up, and drank their punch, amidst the shouts of the astonished multitude. to the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen found it could contain no less than eight persons very conveniently. it is astonishing that no accident befel these madcaps, in a situation so elevated, that it would have turned a landman giddy in his sober senses. the only detriment which the pillar received, was the loss of the volute before-mentioned, which came down with a thundering sound, and was carried to england by one of the captains, as a present to a lady who had commissioned him to procure her a piece of it. the discovery which they made amply compensated for this mischief; as without their evidence, the world would not have known at this hour, that there was originally a statue on this pillar, one foot and ancle of which are still remaining. the statue must have been of a gigantic size, to have appeared of a man's proportion at so great a height. there are circumstances in this story which might give it an air of fiction, were it not proved beyond all doubt. besides the testimonies of many eye-witnesses, the adventurers themselves have left a token of the fact, by the initials of their names, which are very legibly painted in black just beneath the capital. buildings, and library, of alexandria.--the architect employed by alexander, in this undertaking, was the celebrated dinocrates, who had acquired so much reputation by rebuilding the temple of diana at ephesus. the city was first rendered populous by ptolemy soter, one of alexander's captains, who, after the death of the macedonian monarch, being appointed governor of egypt, soon assumed the title of king, and took up his residence at alexandria, about three hundred and four years before christ. in the thirtieth year of his reign he made his son, ptolemy philadelphus, partner with him in the empire; and by this prince the city of alexandria was much embellished. in the first year of his reign, the famous watch-tower of pharos was finished. it had been begun several years before by ptolemy soter; and, when finished, was looked upon as one of the wonders of the world. the same year, the island of pharos itself, originally seven furlongs distant from the continent, was joined to it by a causeway. this was the work of dexiphanes, who completed it at the same time that his son put the last hand to the tower. the tower was a large square structure of white marble, on the top of which, fires were kept constantly burning for the direction of sailors. the building cost talents; which, if attic, amounted to £ , ; if alexandrian, to twice that sum. the architect employed in this famous structure, fell upon the following contrivance to usurp the whole glory to himself. being ordered to engrave upon it the following inscription, "king ptolemy, to the gods the saviours, for the benefit of sailors;" instead of the king's name, he substituted his own, and then filling up the marble with mortar, wrote upon it the above-mentioned inscription. in process of time, the mortar being worn off, the following inscription appeared: "sostratus the cnidian, the son of dexiphanes, to the gods the saviours, for the benefit of sailors." this year, also, was remarkable for bringing the image of serapis from pontus to alexandria. it was set up in one of the suburbs of the city called rhacotis, where a temple was afterwards erected to his honour, suitable to the greatness of that stately metropolis, and called, from the god worshipped there, serapium. this structure, according to ammianus marcellinus, surpassed in beauty the magnificence of all others in the world, except the capitol at rome. within the verge of this temple was the famous alexandrian library. it was founded by ptolemy soter, for the use of an academy he instituted in this city; and, from continual additions by his successors, became at last the finest library in the world, containing no fewer than seven hundred thousand volumes. one method adopted in collecting books for this library, was, to seize all those which were brought into egypt by the greeks, or other foreigners. the books were transcribed in the museum by persons appointed for that purpose; the copies were then delivered to the proprietors, and the originals laid up in the library. ptolemy euergetes, having borrowed from the athenians the works of sophocles, euripides, and Æschylus, returned them only the copies, which he caused to be transcribed in as beautiful a manner as possible, presenting the athenians at the same time with talents (upwards of £ sterling) for the exchange. as the museum was at first in that quarter of the city called bruchion, near the royal palace, the library was placed there likewise; but when it came to contain four hundred thousand volumes, another library within the serapium was erected, by way of supplement to it, and on that account called the daughter of the former. in this second library, three hundred thousand volumes, in process of time, were deposited; and both libraries together contained the seven hundred thousand volumes already mentioned. in the war carried on by julius cæsar against the inhabitants of this city, the library in the bruchion, with the four hundred thousand volumes it contained, was reduced to ashes. the library in the serapium, however, still remained; and here cleopatra deposited two hundred thousand volumes of the permagean library, with which marc antony presented her. these, and others added from time to time, rendered the new library at alexandria more numerous and considerable than the former; and though it was often plundered during the revolutions and troubles of the roman empire, yet it was again and again repaired, and filled with the same number of books. temple of tentyra, in egypt.--from belzoni's narrative. "little could be seen of the temple, till we came near to it, as it is surrounded by high mounds of rubbish of the old tentyra. on our arriving before it, i was for some time at a loss to know where i should begin my examination; the numerous objects before me, all equally attractive, leaving me for a while in a state of suspense and astonishment. the enormous masses of stone employed in the edifice, are so well disposed, that the eye discovers the most just proportion every where. the majestic appearance of its construction, the variety of its ornaments, and, above all, the singularity of its preservation, had such an effect on me, that i seated myself on the ground, and, for a considerable time, was lost in admiration. it is the first egyptian temple the traveller sees on ascending the nile, and it is certainly the most magnificent. it has an advantage over most others, from the good state of preservation it is in; and i should have no scruple in saying, that it is of a much later date than any other. the superiority of the workmanship gives us sufficient reason to believe it to be of the time of the first ptolemy; and it is not improbable, that he who laid the foundation of the alexandrian library, instituted the philosophical society of the museum, and studied to render himself beloved by his people, might erect such an edifice, to convince the egyptians of his superiority of mind over the ancient kings of egypt, even in religious devotion. "this is the cabinet of the egyptian arts, the product of study for many centuries, and it was here that denon thought himself in the sanctuary of the arts and sciences. the front is adorned with a beautiful cornice, and a frieze covered with figures and hieroglyphics, over the centre of which the winged globe is predominant, and the two sides are embellished with compartments of sacrifices and offerings. the columns that form the portico are twenty-four in number, divided into four rows, including those in the front. on entering the gate, the scene changes, and requires more minute observation. the quadrangular form of the capitals first strikes the eye. at each side of the square there is a colossal head of the goddess isis, with cow's ears. there is not one of these heads but is much mutilated, particularly those on the columns in the front of the temple, facing the outside: but, notwithstanding this disadvantage, and the flatness of their form, there is a simplicity in their countenance that approaches to a smile. the shafts of the columns are covered with hieroglyphics and figures, which are in _basso relievo_, as are all the figures in the front and lateral walls. the front of the door-way, which is in a straight line with the entrance, and the sanctuary, is richly adorned with figures of smaller size than the rest of the portico. the ceiling contains the zodiac, inclosed by two long female figures, which extend from one side to the other of it. the walls are divided into several square compartments, each containing figures representing deities, and priests in the act of offering or immolating victims. on all the walls, columns, ceiling, or architraves, there is nowhere a space of two feet that is not covered with some figures of human beings, animals, plants, emblems of agriculture, or of religious ceremony. wherever the eyes turn, wherever the attention is fixed, every thing inspires respect and veneration, heightened by the solitary situation of this temple, which adds to the attraction of these splendid recesses. the inner apartments are much the same as the portico, all covered with figures in _basso relievo_. "on the top of the temple the arabs had built a village; i suppose, to be the more elevated, and exposed to the air: but it is all in ruins, as no one now lives there. from the top i descended into some apartments on the east side of the temple; there i saw the famous zodiac on the ceiling. the circular form of this zodiac led me to suppose, in some measure, that this temple was built at a later period than the rest, as nothing like it is seen any where else. in the front of the edifice there is a propylæon, not inferior to the works in the temple, and, though partly fallen, it still shews its ancient grandeur. on the left, going from the portico, there is a small temple, surrounded by columns. in the inside is a figure of isis sitting with orus in her lap; and other female figures, each with a child in her arms, are observable. the capitals of the columns are adorned with the figures of typhon. the gallery, or portico, that surrounds the temple, is filled up with rubbish, to a great height, and walls of unburnt bricks have been raised from one column to another. "farther on, in a right line with the propylæon, are the remains of an hypæthral temple, which form a square of twelve columns, connected with each other by a wall, except at the door-way, which fronts the propylæon. the eastern wall of the great temple is richly adorned with figures in _intaglio relevato_; they are perfectly finished; the female figures are about four feet high, disposed in different compartments. "behind the temple is a small egyptian building, quite detached from the large edifice; and, from its construction, i would venture to say, that it was the habitation of the priests. at some distance from the great temple are the foundations of another, not so large as the first. the propylæon is still standing, in good preservation." two objects of great curiosity are, the palace of memnon, and the temple of osiris, at abidos.--abidos, an inland town of egypt, between ptolemais and diospolis parva, towards cyrene, is famous for the palace of memnon, and the temple of osiris, and inhabited by a colony of milesians. it was the only one in the country into which the singers and dancers were forbid to enter. this city, reduced to a village under the empire of augustus, now presents to our view only an heap of ruins, without inhabitants; but to the west of these ruins is still found the celebrated tomb of ismandes. the entrance is under a portico sixty feet high, and supported by two rows of massy columns. the immoveable solidity of the edifice, the huge masses which compose it, the hieroglyphics it is loaded with, stamp it as a work of the ancient egyptians. beyond it, is a temple three hundred feet long, and one hundred and fifty-five wide. upon entering the monument, we meet with an immense hall, the roof of which is supported by twenty-eight columns, sixty feet high, and nineteen in circumference at the base. they are twelve feet distant from each other. the enormous stones that form the ceiling, perfectly joined and incrusted as it were one into the other, offer to the eye nothing but one solid platform of marble, one hundred and twenty-six feet long, and twenty-six wide. the walls are covered with hieroglyphics. here are seen a multitude of animals, birds, and human figures with pointed caps on their heads, and a piece of stuff hanging down behind, dressed in loose robes, that come down only to the waist. the sculpture, however, is clumsy; and the forms of the body, with the attitudes and proportions of the members, are ill observed. amongst these we may distinguish some women suckling their children, and men presenting offerings to them. here also we meet with the divinities of india. monsieur chevalier, formerly governor of chandernagore, who resided twenty years in that country, carefully visited this monument on his return from bengal. he remarked here the gods juggernaut, gonez, and vechnon, or wistnou, such as they are represented in the temples of indostan. a great gate opens at the bottom of the first hall, which leads to an apartment, forty-six feet long by twenty-two wide. six square pillars support the roof of it, and at the angles are the doors of four other chambers, but so choked up with rubbish that they cannot now be entered. the last hall, sixty-four feet long by twenty-four wide, has stairs which form a descent into the subterraneous apartments of this grand edifice. the arabs, in searching after treasure, have piled up heaps of earth and rubbish. in the part we are able to penetrate, sculpture and hieroglyphics are discoverable, as in the upper story. the natives say that they correspond exactly with those above ground, and that the columns are as deep in the earth, as they are lofty above ground. it would be dangerous to go far into those vaults; for the air of them is so loaded with a mephitic vapour, that a candle can scarcely be kept burning in them. six lions' heads, placed on the two sides of the temple, serve as spouts to carry off the water. one mounts to the top by a staircase of a very singular structure. it is built with stones incrusted in the wall, and projecting six feet out; so that, being supported only at one end, they appear to be suspended in the air. the walls, the roof, and the columns of this edifice, have suffered nothing from the injuries of time; and did not the hieroglyphics, by being corroded in some places, mark its antiquity, it would appear to have been newly built. the solidity is such, that unless people make a point of destroying it, the building must last a great number of ages. except the colossal figures, whose heads serve as an ornament to the capitals of the columns, and which are sculptured in _relievo_, the rest of the hieroglyphics which cover the inside are carved in stone. to the left of this great building we meet with another much smaller, at the bottom of which is a sort of altar. this was probably the sanctuary of the temple of osiris. chap. liv. curiosities respecting buildings, etc.--(_continued._) _temple of diana at ephesus--laocoon--babylon--alhambra._ temple of diana, at ephesus.--the chief ornament of ephesus was the temple of diana, built at the common charge of all the states in asia, and, for its structure, size, and furniture, accounted among the wonders of the world. this great edifice was situated at the foot of a mountain, and at the head of a marsh; which place they chose, if we believe pliny, as the least subject to earthquakes. this site doubled the charges; for they were obliged to be at a vast expense in making drains to convey the water that came down the hill into the morass and the cayster. philo byzantius tells us, that in this work they used such a quantity of stone, as almost exhausted all the quarries in the country; and these drains, or vaults, are what the present inhabitants take for a labyrinth. to secure the foundations of the conduits or sewers, which were to bear a building of such prodigious weight, they laid beds of charcoal, says pliny, well rammed, and upon them others of wood: pliny says, four hundred years were spent in building this wonderful temple, by all asia: others say, only two hundred and twenty. it was four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and two hundred in breadth, supported by one hundred and twenty-seven marble pillars, seventy feet high, of which twenty-seven were most curiously carved, and the rest polished. these pillars were the works of so many kings, and the bas-reliefs of one were done by scopas, the most famous sculptor of antiquity; the altar was almost wholly the work of praxiteles. cheiromocrates, who built the city of alexandria, and offered to form mount athos into a statue of alexandria, was the architect employed on this occasion. the temple enjoyed the privilege of an asylum, which at first extended to a furlong, was afterwards enlarged by mithridates to a bow-shot, and doubled by marc antony, so that it took in part of the city: but tiberius, to put a stop to the many abuses and disorders that attended privileges of this kind, revoked them all, and declared that no man, guilty of any wicked or dishonest action, should escape justice, though he fled to the altar itself. the priests who officiated in this temple were held in great esteem, and entrusted with the care of sacred virgins, or priestesses, but not till they were made eunuchs. they were called _estiatores_ and _essenæ_, had a particular diet, and were not allowed to go into any private house. they were maintained out of the profits accruing from the lake selinusius, and another that fell into it; which must have been very considerable, since they erected a golden statue to one artemidorus, who being sent to rome, recovered them, after they had been seized by the farmers of the public revenues. all the ionians resorted yearly to ephesus, with their wives and children, where they solemnized the festival of diana with great pomp and magnificence, making on that occasion rich offerings to the goddess, and valuable presents to her priests. the _asiarchæ_, mentioned by st. luke, (acts xix. ,) were, according to beza, priests who regulated the public sports annually performed at ephesus, in honour of diana; and were maintained with the collections during the sports, for all asia flocked to see them. the great diana of the ephesians, as she was styled by her blind adorers, was, according to pliny, a small statue of ebony, made by one canitia, though believed by the superstitious to have been sent down from heaven by jupiter. this statue was first placed in a niche, which, as we are told, the amazons caused to be made in the trunk of an elm. such was the first rise of the veneration that was paid to diana in this place. in process of time the veneration for the goddess daily increasing among the inhabitants of asia, a most stately and magnificent temple was built near the place where the elm stood, and the statue of the goddess placed in it. this was the first temple and was not quite so sumptuous as the second, though reckoned, as well as it, one of the wonders of the world. the second temple of the great diana, was remaining in the times of pliny and strabo; and is supposed to have been destroyed in the reign of constantine, pursuant to the edict of that emperor, commanding all the temples of the heathens to be demolished:--the former was burnt the same day that alexander was born, by one erostratus, who owned on the rack, that the only thing which had prompted him to destroy so excellent a work, was the desire of transmitting his name to future ages. whereupon the common council of asia made a degree, forbidding any one to name him; but this prohibition served only to make his name the more memorable, such a remarkable extravagance, or rather madness, being taken notice of by all the historians who have written of those times. alexander offered to rebuild the temple at his own expense, provided the ephesians would agree to put his name on the front; but they received his offer in such a manner as prevented the resentment of that vain prince, telling him, "it was not fit that one god should build a temple to another." the pillars, and other materials, that had been saved out of the flames, were sold, with the jewels of the ephesian women, who on that occasion willingly parted with them; and the sum thus raised served for the carrying on of the work till other contributions came in, which, in a short time, amounted to an immense treasure. this is the temple which strabo, pliny, and other roman writers, speak of. it stood between the city and the port, and was built, or rather finished, as livy tells us, in the reign of king servius. of this wonderful structure there is nothing at present remaining but some ruins, and a few broken pillars, forty feet long, and seven in diameter. another curious monument of antiquity, which demands the reader's attention, is, laocoon.--this is a celebrated monument of greek sculpture, exhibited in marble, by polydorus, athenodorus, and agesander, the three famous artists of rhodes. this relic of antiquity was found at rome, among the ruins of the palace of titus, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, under the pontificate of julius ii. and since deposited in the farnese palace. laocoon is represented with his two sons, with two hideous serpents clinging round his body, gnawing it, and injecting their poison. virgil has given us a beautiful description of the fact, _Æn._ lib. ii. - . this statue exhibits the most astonishing dignity and tranquillity of mind, in the midst of the most excruciating torments. pliny says of it, that it is, _opus omnibus picturæ et statuariæ artis præferendum_.--lib. xxxvi. c. . "the laocoon (dr. giles observes) may be regarded as the triumph of grecian sculpture; since bodily pain, the grossest and most ungovernable of all our passions, and that pain united with anguish and torture of mind, are yet expressed with such propriety and dignity, as afford lessons of fortitude superior to any taught in the schools of philosophy. the horrible shriek which virgil's laocoon emits, is a proper circumstance for poetry; but the expression of this shriek would have totally degraded the statue. it is softened, therefore, into a patient sigh, with eyes turned to heaven in search of relief. the intolerable agony of suffering nature is represented in the lower part, and particularly the extremity of the body; but the manly breast struggles against calamity. the contention is still more plainly perceived in his furrowed forehead; and his languishing paternal eye demands assistance, less for himself than for his miserable children, who look up to him for help."--_hist. of greece_, ii. . the laocoon was sent to paris by bonaparte, in . babylon.--the following account of this city, in its greatest splendour, is borrowed principally from herodotus, who had been on the spot, and is the oldest author who has treated of the subject. the city of babylon was square, being a hundred and twenty furlongs, that is, fifteen miles, or five leagues, every way; and the whole circuit of it was four hundred and eighty furlongs, or twenty leagues. the walls were built with large bricks, cemented with bitumen, a thick glutinous fluid, which rises out of the earth in the neighbouring country, and which binds stronger than mortar, and becomes harder than brick itself. these walls were eighty-seven feet thick, and three hundred and fifty high. those who mention them as only fifty cubits high, refer to their condition after darius, son of hystaspes, had commanded them to be reduced to that height, to punish a rebellion of the babylonians. the city was encompassed with a vast ditch, which was filled with water, and the sides of which were built up with brick-work. the earth which was dug out, was used in making bricks for the walls of the city; so that the depth and width of the ditch may be estimated by the extreme height and thickness of the walls. there were a hundred gates to the city, twenty-five on each of the four sides. these gates, with their posts, &c. were all of brass. between every two gates were three towers, raised ten feet above the walls, where necessary; for the city being encompassed in several places with marshes, which defended the approach to it, those parts stood in no need of towers. a street corresponded with each gate; so that there were fifty streets, which cut one another at right angles, and each of which was fifteen miles in length, and one hundred and fifty-one feet in width. four other streets, which had houses on one side, and the ramparts on the other, encompassed the whole city, and were each of them two hundred feet wide. by the streets crossing each other, the whole city was divided into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side, and two miles and a quarter in circuit. the houses of these squares were three or four stories high, and their fronts were embellished; and the inner space was filled with courts and gardens. the city was divided into two parts by the euphrates, which ran from north to south. a bridge of admirable structure, about a furlong in length, and sixty feet in width, formed the communication across the river; and at the two extremities of this bridge were two palaces on the east, and the new palace on the west side of the river. the temple of belus, which stood near the old palace, occupied one entire square. the city was situated in a vast plain, the soil of which was extremely fat and fruitful. to people this immense city, nebuchadnezzar transplanted hither an infinite number of captives, from the many nations that he subdued. it would appear, however, that the whole of it was never inhabited. the famous hanging gardens, which adorned the palace in babylon, were ranked among the wonders of the world. they contained four hundred feet square, and were composed of several large terraces; and the platform of the highest terrace was equal in height to the walls of babylon, that is, three hundred and fifty feet. the assent from terrace to terrace was by steps ten feet wide. the whole mass was supported by large vaults, built upon each other, and strengthened by a wall twenty-two feet thick. the tops of these arches were covered with stones, rushes and bitumen, and plates of lead, to prevent leakage. the depth of earth was so great, that in it the largest trees might take root. here was every thing that could please the sight; as, large trees, flowers, plants, and shrubs. upon the highest terrace was a reservoir, supplied with water from the river. the predictions of the prophets against babylon, gradually received their accomplishment. berosus relates, that cyrus, having taken this city, demolished its walls, lest the inhabitants should revolt. darius, son of hystaspes, destroyed the gates, &c. alexander the great intended to rebuild it, but was prevented by death from accomplishing his design. seleucus nicator built seleucia on the tigris, and this city insensibly deprived babylon of its inhabitants. strabo assures us, that under augustus, babylon was almost forsaken; and that it was no longer any thing more than a great desert. st. jerome relates, on the testimony of a monk who dwelt at jerusalem, that in his time, babylon and its ancient precincts were converted into a great park, in which the kings of persia were accustomed to hunt. a german traveller, named rauwolf, who in passed through the place where babylon formerly stood, speaks of its ruins as follows: "the village of elugo now stands where babylon of chaldea was formerly situated. the harbour is distant from it a quarter of a league, and people go on shore to proceed by land to the celebrated city of bagdad, which is distant a journey of a day and a half eastward, on the tigris. the soil is so dry and barren, that they cannot till it; and so naked, that i could scarcely believe, that this powerful city, once the most stately and renowned in all the world, and situated in the most fruitful country of shinar, could ever have stood in this place. my doubts, however, on this point, were removed, by the situation, and by many antiquities of great beauty, which are still to be seen, and particularly by the old bridge over the euphrates, of which some piles and arches of brick remain, so strong as to excite admiration. the whole front of the village of elugo is the hill upon which the castle stood; and the ruins of its fortifications, though demolished and uninhabited, are still visible. behind, and at a small distance beyond, was the tower of babylon, which is still to be seen, and is half a league in diameter. it is, however, so ruinous, so low, and so full of venomous creatures, which lodge in holes made by them in the rubbish, that no one dares approach nearer to it than within half a league, except during two months in winter, when these animals never leave their holes. in particular, one sort, which the inhabitants of the country call eglo, possesses a very active poison, and is larger than our lizard." we shall close this chapter with a full description of an ancient fortress called alhambra. this place was the residence of the moorish monarchs of grenada. it derives its name from the red colour of the materials with which it was originally built, _alhambra_ signifying a red house. it appears to a traveller as huge a heap of ugly buildings as can well be seen, all huddled together, seemingly without the least intention of forming one habitation out of them. the walls are entirely unornamented, consisting chiefly of gravel and pebbles, daubed over with plaster in a very coarse manner: yet this was the palace of the moorish kings of grenada, and it is indisputably the most curious place that exists in spain, perhaps in the world. in many countries may be seen excellent modern, as well as ancient architecture, both entire and in ruins; but nothing to be met with any where else, can convey an idea of this edifice, except the decorations of an opera, or the tales of the genii. passing round the corner of the emperor's palace, one is admitted at a plain unornamented door in a corner. "on my first visit, (says mr. swinburne, in his travels in spain,) i confess i was struck with amazement, as i stepped over the threshold, to find myself on a sudden transported into a species of fairy land. the first place you come to is the court called the _communa_, or _delmesucar_, that is, the common baths; an oblong square, with a deep bason of clear water in the middle; two flights of marble steps leading down to the bottom; on each side a parterre of flowers, and a row of orange trees. round the court runs a peristyle paved with marble; the arches bear upon very slight pillars, in proportions and style different from all the regular orders of architecture. the ceilings and walls are incrusted with fretwork in stucco, so minute and intricate, that the most patient draughtsman would find it difficult to follow it, unless he made himself master of the general plan. this would facilitate the operation exceedingly; for all this work is frequently and regularly repeated at certain distances, and has been executed by means of square moulds applied successively, and the parts joined together with the utmost nicety. in every division are arabic sentences of different lengths, most of them expressive of the following meanings; 'there is no conqueror but god;' or, 'obedience and honour to our lord abouabdoula.' the ceilings are gilt or painted, and time has caused no diminution in the freshness of their colours, though constantly exposed to the air. the lower part of the wall is mosaic, disposed in fantastic knots and festoons. the porches at the end are more like grotto-work than any thing else to which they can be compared. that on the right hand opens into an octagon vault, under the emperor's palace, and forms a perfect whispering gallery, meant to be a communication between the offices of both houses. opposite to the door of the communa through which you enter, is another leading into the _quarto de los leones_, or apartment of the lions, which is an oblong court, one hundred feet in length, and fifty in breadth, environed with a colonnade, seven feet broad on the sides, and ten at the end. two porticos or cabinets, about fifteen feet square, project into the court at the two extremities. the square is covered with coloured tiles; the colonnade, with white marble. the walls are covered, five feet up from the ground, with blue and yellow tiles, disposed chequerwise. above and below is a border of small escutcheons, enamelled blue and gold, with an arabic motto on a bend, signifying, "no conqueror but god." the columns that support the roof and gallery are of white marble, very slender, and fantastically adorned. they are nine feet high, including base and capital, and eight and a half inches diameter. they are very irregularly placed; sometimes singly, at others, in groups of three, but more frequently two together. the width of the horse-shoe arches above them, is four feet two inches for the large ones, and three for the smaller. the ceiling of the portico is finished in a much finer and more complicated manner than that of the communa, and the stucco laid on the walls with inimitable delicacy; in the ceiling it is so artfully frosted and handled, as to exceed belief. the capitals are of various designs, though each design is repeated several times in the circumference of the court, but not the least attention has been paid to placing them regularly, or opposite to each other. not the smallest representation of animal life can be discovered amidst the variety of foliages, grotesques, and strange ornaments. about each arch is a large square of arabesques, surrounded with a rim of characters, that are generally quotations from the koran. over the pillars is another square of delightful foliage work. higher up is a wooden rim, or kind of cornice, as much enriched with carving as the stucco that covers the part underneath. over this projects a roof of red tiles, the only thing that disfigures this beautiful square. this ugly covering is modern, put on by order of mr. wall, the late prime minister. in the centre of the court are twelve ill-made lions, muzzled, their fore parts smooth, their hind parts rough; which bear upon their backs an enormous bason, out of which a lesser rises. while the pipes were kept in good order, a great volume of water was thrown up, that, falling down into the basons, passed through the beasts, and issued out of their mouths into a large reservoir, where it communicated by channels with the _jets d'eau_ in the apartments. this fountain is of white marble, embellished with many festoons and arabic distichs, complimenting the monarch and his princess. "passing along the colonnade, and keeping on the south side, you come to a circular room, used by the men as a place for drinking coffee and forbets in. a fountain in the middle refreshed the apartment in summer. the form of this hall, the elegance of its cupola, the cheerful distribution of light from above, and the exquisite manner in which the stucco is designed, painted, and finished, exceed all powers of description. every thing in it inspires the most pleasing voluptuous ideas; yet in this sweet retreat, they say, that abouabdoula assembled the abbencarrages, and caused their heads to be struck off into the fountain. "continuing your walk round, you are next brought to a couple of rooms at the head of the court, which are supposed to have been tribunals, or audience chambers. "opposite to the _sala de los abbencarrages_, is the entrance into the _torre de las dos hermanas_, or the tower of the two sisters; so named from two very beautiful pieces of marble laid as flags in the pavement. this gate exceeds all the rest in profusion of ornaments, and in the beauty of prospect which it affords through a range of apartments, where a multitude of arches terminate in a large window open to the country. in a gleam of sunshine, the variety of tints and lights thrown upon this enfilade, are uncommonly rich. the first hall is the concert-room, where the women sat; the musicians played above in four balconies. in the middle is a _jet d'eau_. the marble pavement is equal to the finest existing, for the size of the flags and evenness of the colour. the two _sisters_ are slabs, that measure fifteen feet by seven and a half, without flaw or stain. the walls, up to a certain height, are mosaic, and above are divided into very neat compartments of stucco, all of one design, which is also followed in many of the adjacent halls and galleries. the ceiling is a fretted cove. to preserve this vaulted roof, as well as some of the other principal cupolas, the outward walls of the towers are raised ten feet above the top of the dome, and support another roof over all, by which means no damage can ever be caused by wet weather, or excessive heat and cold. "from this hall you pass round the little myrtle garden of lindarax, into an additional building made to the east end by charles v. the rooms are small and low. his favourite motto, '_plus outrè_,' appears on every beam. this leads to a tower, projecting from the line of the north wall, call el tocador, or the dressing-room of the sultana. it is a small square cabinet, in the middle of an open gallery, from which it received light by a door and three windows. the view is charming. in one corner is a large marble flag, drilled full of holes, through which the smoke of perfumes ascended from furnaces below; and here, it is presumed, the moorish queen was wont to sit, to fumigate and sweeten her person. the emperor caused this pretty room to be painted with representations of his wars, and a great variety of grotesques, which appear to be copies, or at least imitations, of those in the lobby of the vatican. "from hence you go through a long passage to the hall of ambassadors, which is magnificently decorated with innumerable varieties of mosaics, and the mottos of all the kings of grenada. this long narrow antichamber opens into the communa on the left hand, and on the right into the great audience hall in the tower of comares; a noble apartment, thirty-six feet square, thirty-six high up to the cornice, and eighteen from thence to the centre of the cupola. the walls on three sides are fifteen feet thick, on the other nine; the lower range of windows thirteen feet high. the wall is inlaid with mosaic of many colours, disposed in intricate knots, stars, and other figures. in every part, various arabic sentences are repeated. "having completed the tour of the upper apartments, which are upon a level with the offices of the new palace, you descend to the lower floor, which consisted of bedchambers and summer rooms: the back stairs and passages, that facilitated the intercourse between them, are without number. the most remarkable room below is the king's bedchamber, which communicated, by means of a gallery, with the upper story. the beds were placed in two alcoves, upon a raised pavement of blue and white tiles; but as it was repaired by philip v. who passed some time here, it cannot be said how it may have been in former times. a fountain played in the middle, to refresh the apartment in hot weather. "behind the alcoves are small doors, that conduct you to the royal baths. these consist of one small closet, with marble cisterns for washing children, two rooms for grown-up persons, and vaults for boilers and furnaces, that supplied the baths with water, and the stoves with vapour. the troughs are formed of large slabs of white marble; the walls are ornamented with party-coloured earthenware, and light is admitted by holes in the ceiling. hard by, is a whispering gallery, and a kind of gallery, said to have been made for the diversion of the women and children. one of the passages of communication is fenced off with a strong iron gate, and called the prison of the sultana; but it seems more probable that it was put up to prevent any body from climbing up into the women's quarter. "under the council-room is a long slip, called the king's study: and adjoining to it are several vaults, said to be the place of burial of the royal family. in the year , four sepulchres were opened, but, as they contained nothing but bones and ashes, were immediately closed again." this description of the alhambra, concludes by observing how admirably every thing was planned and calculated for rendering this palace the most voluptuous of all retirements: what plentiful supplies of water were brought to refresh it in the hot months of summer; what a free circulation of air was contrived, by the judicious disposition of doors and windows; what shady gardens of aromatic trees; what noble views over the beautiful hills and fertile plains! no wonder the moors regretted granada; no wonder they still offer up prayers to god every friday, for the recovery of this city, which they esteem a terrestrial paradise. chap. lv. curiosities respecting temples, etc.--(_continued._) _seraglio--museum--colossus--and obelisk._ seraglio.--this word is commonly used to express the house or palace of a prince. in this sense it is frequently used at constantinople: the houses of foreign ambassadors are called _seraglios_. but it is commonly used, by way of eminence, for the palace of the grand seignior at constantinople; where he keeps his court,--where his concubines are lodged--and where the youth are trained up for the chief posts of the empire. it is a triangle, about three italian miles round, wholly within the city, at the end of the promontory chrysoceras, now called the seraglio point. the buildings run back to the bottom of the hill, and thence are gardens that reach to the edge of the sea. it is inclosed with a very high and strong wall, upon which there are several watch-towers; and it has many gates, some of which open towards the sea-side, and the rest into the city: but the chief gate is one of the latter, which is constantly guarded by a company of capooches, or porters: and in the night it is well guarded towards the sea. the outward appearance is not elegant; the architecture being irregular, consisting of separate edifices in the form of pavilions and domes. the ladies of the seraglio are a collection of beautiful young women, chiefly sent as presents from the provinces and greek islands, and most of them the children of christian parents. the brave prince heraclicus for some years abolished the infamous tribute of children of both sexes, which georgia formerly paid every year to the porte. the number of women in the harem depends on the taste of the reigning sultan. selim had two thousand, achmet had but three hundred, and the late sultan had nearly one thousand six hundred. on their admission, they are committed to the care of the old ladies, taught sewing, embroidery, music, dancing, &c. and furnished with the richest clothes and ornaments. they all sleep in separate beds, and between every fifth there is a preceptress. their chief governess is called _katon kiaga_, or governess of the noble young ladies. there is no servant, for they are obliged to wait on one another by rotation; the last that is entered serves her who preceded her, and herself. these ladies are scarcely ever suffered to go abroad, except when the grand seignior removes from one place to another, when a troop of black eunuchs convey them to the boats, which are inclosed with lattices and linen curtains; and when they go by land they are put into close chariots, and signals are made at certain distances, to give notice that none approach the roads through which they march. the boats of the harem, which carry the grand seignior's wives, are manned with twenty-four rowers, and have white covered tilts, shut alternately by venetian blinds. among the emperor's attendants are a number of mutes, who act and converse by signs with great quickness, and some dwarfs, who are exhibited for the sultan's amusement. when he permits the women to walk in the gardens of the seraglio, all people are ordered to retire, and on every side is a guard of black eunuchs, with sabres in their hands, while others go their rounds to hinder any person from seeing them. if any one is found in the garden, even through ignorance or inadvertence, he is instantly killed, and his head brought to the feet of the grand seignior, who rewards the guard for their vigilance. sometimes the grand seignior passes into the gardens to amuse himself when the women are there, and it is then they make use of all their utmost efforts, by dancing, singing, seducing gestures, and amorous blandishments, to attract his affections. it is not permitted that the monarch should take a virgin to his bed, except during the solemn festivals, and on occasion of some extraordinary rejoicings, or the arrival of some good news. upon such occasions, if the sultan chooses a new companion to his bed, he enters into the apartment of the women, who are ranged in files by the governesses, to whom he speaks, and intimates the person he likes best. as soon as the grand seignior has chosen the girl destined to be the partner of his bed, all the others follow her to the bath, washing and perfuming her, and dressing her superbly, and thus conduct her, with singing, dancing, and rejoicing, to the bedchamber of the grand seignior; and if by a certain time she becomes pregnant, and is delivered of a boy, she is called _asaki-sultaness_, that is to say, sultaness-mother. for the first son she has the honour to be crowned, and she has the liberty of forming her court: eunuchs are also assigned for her guard, and for her particular service. no other ladies, though delivered of boys, are either crowned or maintained with such costly distinction at the first; but they have their service apart, and handsome appointments. at the death of the sultan, the mothers of the male children are shut up in the old seraglio, whence they can never come out any more, unless any of their sons ascend the throne. baron de tott informs us, that the female slave who becomes the mother of the sultan, and lives long enough to see her son mount the throne, is the only woman who at that period acquires the distinction of sultana-mother; she is till then in the interior of her prison with her son. the title _bachl-kadun_, or principal woman, is the first dignity of the grand seignior's harem; and she has a larger allowance than those who have the title of second, third, and fourth woman, which are the four free women the koran allows. it must strike every reader, that the present happy condition of females in christian countries is directly attributable to christianity; and this stamps an inestimable value on the gospel. females should consider it as the charter of their privileges. the christian religion has, by its letter or spirit, exploded customs and practices which were the immediate causes of female degradation and wretchedness. it has made marriage pure and honourable, by prohibiting polygamy, and restricting within very narrow limits the dangerous liberty of divorce; two customs which violate the plain order and design of providence in creation, which degrade woman to insignificance and slavery, and which brought on that dissoluteness and corruption of manners in most ancient and some modern nations. museum,--is a collection of rare and interesting objects, selected from the whole circle of natural history and the arts, and deposited in apartments or buildings, either by the commendable generosity of rich individuals, general governments, or monarchs, for the inspection of the learned, and the great mass of the public. the term, which means literally a study, or place of retirement, is said to have been given originally to that part of the royal palace at alexandria, appropriated for the use of learned men, and the reception of the literary works then extant. according to ancient writers, they were formed into classes or colleges, each of which had a competent sum assigned for their support; and we are further informed, that the establishment was founded by ptolemy philadelphus, who added a most extensive library. it would answer little purpose to trace the history of museums, as the earlier part of it is involved in obscurity; and as we approach our own times, they multiply beyond a possibility of noticing even the most important. within our brief limits we shall, therefore, confine ourselves to those at the vatican, florence, paris, oxford, and london. the museum of the _vatican_ might originally have been said to occupy all the apartments of the palace, which are more numerous than in any other royal residence in the world: the pictures, the books, the manuscripts, statues, bas-reliefs, and every other description of the labours of ancient artists, were select, uncommon, and valuable in the extreme, particularly the laocoon, already described, and said, by pliny, to have been made from a single mass of marble; which circumstance has since caused a doubt whether that of the vatican is really the original, as michael angelo discovered that it is composed of more than one piece. it was found, in , near the baths of titus, and, whether an original or a copy, has obtained and deserves every possible admiration.--this invaluable collection continued to increase for several centuries, and till nearly the present period. the grand dukes of _tuscany_ were for a long series of years ardent admirers of the arts, ancient and modern, and regretted no expense in obtaining the most rare and beautiful objects which vast treasures were capable of procuring; consequently their museum at florence vied with that of rome, and, in some instances, the value of particular articles exceeded any possibility of rivalship: we allude to the venus de medicis, of which keysler speaks thus, in his excellent account of that part of the continent: "i shall conclude this short criticism on the celebrated venus de medicis, with the following observation, made by some able connoisseurs, namely, that if the different parts of this famous statue be examined separately, as the head, nose, &c. and compared with the like parts of others, it would not be impossible to find similar parts equal, if not superior, to those of the venus de medicis; but if the delicacy of the shape, the attitude, and symmetry of the whole, be considered as an assemblage of beauties, it cannot be paralleled in the whole world. this beautiful statue is placed between two others of the same goddess, both which would be admired by spectators in any other place; but here all their beauties are eclipsed by those of the venus de medicis, to which they can be considered only as foils to augment the lustre of that admired statue." little is known in england of the present state of the florentine museum, but it is feared to be deplorable. we shall now turn our attention to the _museé central des arts_, formed in the louvre at _paris_, composed with the best collections on the continent, and consequently consisting of the finest specimens of human art. the method adopted for arranging the paintings here assembled is judicious, as they are classed in nations, by which means the eye is conducted gradually to the acme of the art, in the works of the italian masters. the gallery of antiquities is directly below the gallery of pictures; and, to give some idea of the nature of the general contents, we shall mention the names of the several divisions, which are: la salle de saisons,--la salle des hommes illustres,--la salle des romains,--la salle de laocoon,--la salle de l'apollon,--and la salle des muses. the laocoon, which we have noticed in our account of the vatican, here received distinguished honours, within a space railed in; and the apollo belvidere is equally honoured, in giving name to one of the halls. these exquisite works are described in a catalogue, which may be obtained in the gallery; and of the manner we shall venture to give a specimen, hoping that a similar method may be adopted, to explain the objects offered to view in our national repository. under the head 'pythian apollo,' called the apollo belvidere, the author of the catalogue observes, "this statue, the most sublime of those preserved by time, was found, near the close of the fifteenth century, twelve leagues from rome, at cape d'anzo, on the borders of the sea, in the ruins of ancient antium, a city equally celebrated for its temple of fortune, and for its pleasant mansions, erected by successive emperors, which, emulous of each other, they decorated with the most rare and excellent works of art. julius ii. when a cardinal, obtained this statue, and placed it in the palace where he resided, near the church of the holy apostles. after his elevation to the pontificate, he had it removed to the belvidere of the vatican, where it remained three centuries an object of universal admiration. a hero, conducted by victory, drew it from the vatican, and causing it to be conveyed to the banks of the seine, has fixed it here for ever." another museum established at paris after the return of order, is that of the national monuments. these were indiscriminately destroyed, or mutilated, during the first frantic emotions of the revolution; and this act contributed not a little to the general dislike it excited: at length the most enlightened part of the national convention decreed imprisonment in chains to those who should thenceforward injure or destroy the marble and bronze records of their country. le noir, a man of taste and learning, seized this opportunity of rescuing the french nation from the reproach it had incurred by destroying what was honourable to themselves; and conceived that, though late, it might still be possible to collect whole monuments in some instances, and fragments in others, sufficient to interest foreigners in favour of his country, or at least to evince to them that a change in sentiment had taken place. fortunately his plan received public encouragement, and he has, through the assistance of government, procured an astonishing number of specimens from all parts of the kingdom. mr. pinkerton observes of this collection, "it will not escape the attention of the reader of taste, that the arrangement is confused, nay, often capricious, and is capable of great improvement." and le maitre says, upon the same subject, "after several hours employed in this second view, i continue of my former opinion, that the spot (formerly a convent) in which these monuments are collected, is infinitely too small; that the garden, meant to be the tranquil site of sepulchral honours, and the calm retreat of departed grandeur, is on so limited a scale, so surrounded with adjoining houses, and altogether so ill arranged, that instead of presenting the model of "those deep solitudes ... where heav'nly pensive contemplation dwells, and ever musing melancholy reigns;" it might easily be mistaken for the working yard of a statuary, or the pleasure ground of a tasteless citizen, decked out with cupids, mercuries, and fawns." both these authors, however, agree in praising the motives and perseverance of le noir. _oxford_ has the honour of producing the first, and not the least important museum in england; which was founded in , and the building completed in , at the expense of the university. the students, the public, and the professors, are indebted to elias ashmole, esq. for an invaluable collection of interesting objects presented by him for their use, and immediately placed within it; since which period it has been called the ashmolean museum. the structure, in the corinthian order of architecture, has a magnificent portal; and the variety and value of the articles contained in it, renders a visit to the apartments highly gratifying, particularly as they are increased from time to time, as often as rare objects can be procured. the _british_ museum, in london, a repository under the immediate care of government, and itself governed by fifteen trustees, selected from the highest and most honourable offices of the state, promises to exceed every other national institution, which is not supported by the spoliation and plunder of others. however inferior it may appear to those splendid collections, which consist of the most exquisite productions of the chisel and the pencil ever accomplished by man, we have the consolation to reflect, that, had it been possible to procure them by purchase, the liberality of the british nation is such, that italy and many other countries would have long since been drained; but as the case is, each inhabitant of england may exclaim, with his characteristic integrity, as he views the vast collection which he in common with all his countrymen possesses, "these are individually our own by fair purchase or gift!" sir robert cotton may be said to have laid the foundation of the british museum, by his presenting his excellent collection of manuscripts to the public; those, and the offer of sir hans sloane's books, manuscripts, and curious articles in antiquity and natural history, for £ , , suggested the propriety of accepting the latter, and providing a place for the reception of both: from this time government proceeded rapidly in forming the plan, and at length every interior regulation for officers, trustees, &c. being made, montague house, situated in russell-street, bloomsbury, was purchased for £ , , and fitted for the reception of the articles then possessed, and to be bought at the further expense of £ , . s. d.: after which lord oxford's manuscripts were procured for £ , , to which the king added others; and since the above period, vast numbers of interesting things have been placed there,--sir william hamilton's discoveries, a vast variety of valuable medals, fossils, minerals, manuscripts, and printed books, together with several egyptian antiquities, and the late mr. townsley's marbles and bas-reliefs from italy. the latter were given to the public under the express condition that a proper place should be built for their reception, which has been complied with, and they are now exhibited, with the rest of the museum, to an admiring people. various alterations have taken place in the regulations adopted for the convenience of those who read at the museum, and the visitors, since , when it was first opened for inspection and study; and it is but justice to say, each was intended well, though till lately it was thought that too many impediments existed in the way of visiting that which was solely intended for the use of the community: at present, however, no such complaint can be made with truth, as any decently dressed persons, presenting themselves at certain hours, are admitted free of every kind of expense. admission even to the reading room, is attended with no other difficulty than necessarily follows the ascertaining whether the applicant is deserving of the indulgence, or likely to injure the interests of the institution; when there, every facility is afforded him by commodious tables, with pens and ink for writing, and a messenger in waiting to bring him any books he may think proper to select from the vast stores of literature submitted in this generous way to his use. colossus,--is a statue of vast or gigantic size. the most eminent of this kind was the colossus of rhodes, a brazen statue of apollo, one of the wonders of the world. it was the workmanship of chares, a disciple of lysippus, who spent twelve years in making it; and was at length overthrown by an earthquake, b. c. , after having stood about sixty-six years. its height was a hundred and five feet; there were few people who could encompass its thumb, which is said to have been a fathom in circumference, and its fingers were larger than most statues. it was hollow, and in its cavities were large stones, employed by the artificer to counterbalance its weight, and render it steady on its pedestal. [illustration: cocoa-nut trees.--page .] [illustration: the pyramids of egypt.--page .] on occasion of the damage which the city of rhodes sustained by the above-mentioned earthquake, the inhabitants sent ambassadors to all the princes and states of greek origin, in order to solicit assistance for repairing it; and they obtained large sums, particularly from the kings of egypt, macedon, syria, pontus, and bithynia, which amounted to a sum five times exceeding the damages which they had suffered. but instead of setting up the colossus again, for which purpose the greatest part of it was given, they pretended that the oracle of delphos had forbidden it, and converted the money to other uses. accordingly, the colossus lay neglected on the ground for the space of eight hundred and ninety-four years, at the expiration of which period, or about the year of our lord or , moawyas, the sixth caliph, or emperor of the saracens, made himself master of rhodes, and afterwards sold the statue, reduced to fragments, to a jewish merchant, who loaded nine hundred camels with the metal; so that, allowing eight hundred pounds weight for each load, the brass of the colossus, after the diminution which it had sustained by rust, and probably by theft, amounted to seven hundred and twenty thousand pounds weight. the basis that supported it was of a triangular figure: its extremities were sustained by sixty pillars of marble. there was a winding staircase to go up to the top of it; where might be discovered syria, and the ships that went to egypt, in a great looking-glass that was hung about the neck of the statue. this enormous statue was not the only one that attracted attention in the city of rhodes. pliny reckons one hundred other colossuses, not so large, which rose majestically in its different quarters. obelisk,--in architecture, is a truncated, quadrangular, and slender pyramid, raised for the purpose of ornament, and frequently charged either with inscriptions or hieroglyphics. obelisks appear to be of very great antiquity, and to have been first raised to transmit to posterity precepts of philosophy, which were cut in hieroglyphical characters: afterwards they were used to immortalize the great actions of heroes, and the memory of persons beloved and venerated for having performed eminent services to their country. the first obelisk mentioned in history was that of rameses, king of egypt, in the time of the trojan war, which was forty cubits high; phuis, another king of egypt, raised one of fifty-five cubits; and ptolemy philadelphus, another of eighty eight cubits, in memory of arsinoë. augustus erected one at rome, in the campus martius, which served to mark the hours on an horizontal dial, drawn on the pavement. they were called by the egyptian priests, the fingers of the sun, because they were made in egypt to serve also as stiles or gnomons, to mark the hours on the ground. the arabs still call them pharaoh's needles; whence the italians call them _aguglia_, and the french _aiguilles_. the famous obelisks called the devil's arrows, now reduced to three, the fourth having been taken down in the seventeenth century, stand about half a mile from the town of boroughbridge, to the south-west, in three fields, separated by a lane, nearly two hundred feet asunder, on elevated ground, sloping every way. mr. drake urges many arguments for their roman antiquity, and plainly proves them to be natural, and brought from plumpton quarries, about five miles off; or from tekly, sixteen miles off. the cross in the town, twelve feet high, is of the same kind of stone. the easternmost, or highest, is twenty-two feet and a half high, by four broad, and four and a half in girth; the second, twenty-one and a half by fifty-five and a quarter; the third, sixteen and a half by eighty-four. stukeley's measures differ. the flutings are cut in the stone, but not through: the tallest stands alone, and leans to the south. plot and stukeley affirm them to be british monuments, originally hewn square. dr. gale supposed that they were mercuries, which had lost their heads and inscriptions; but in a manuscript note in his antoninus, he acknowledges that he was misinformed, and that there was no cavity to receive a bust. on the north side of penrith, in the church-yard, are two square obelisks, of a single stone each, eleven or twelve feet high, about twelve inches diameter, and twelve by eight at the sides; the highest about eighteen inches diameter, with something like a transverse piece to each, and mortised into a round base. they are fourteen feet asunder, and between them is a grave, which is inclosed between four semicircular stones, of the unequal lengths of five, six, four and a half, and two feet high, having on the outsides rude carving, and the tops notched. this is called the giant's grave, and ascribed to sir evan cæsarius, who is said to have been as tall as one of the columns, and capable of stretching his arms from one to the other; to have destroyed robbers and wild boars in englewood forest; and to have had an hermitage, called sir hugh's parlour. a little west of these is a stone called the giant's thumb, six feet high, fourteen inches at the base, contracted to ten, which is only a rude cross. we shall conclude this chapter with a description of a remarkable obelisk, near forres, in scotland. about a mile from forres, on the left-hand side of the road, is a remarkable obelisk, said to be the most stately monument of the gothic kind in europe; and supposed to have been erected in memory of the treaty between malcolm ii. and canute the great, in . it has been the subject of many able pens; and is thus described by mr. cordiner, in a letter to mr. pennant: "in the first division, underneath the gothic ornaments, at the top are nine horses, with their riders, marching forth in order: in the next is a line of warriors on foot, brandishing their weapons, and appear to be shouting for the battle. the import of the attitudes in the third division is very dubious, their expression indefinite. the figures, which form a square in the middle of the column, are pretty complex, but distinct; four sergeants with their halberts, guarding a company, under which are placed several human heads, which have belonged to the dead bodies piled up at the left of the division: one appears in the character of executioner, severing the head from another body; behind him are three trumpeters sounding their trumpets, and before him two pair of combatants fighting with sword and target. a troop of horse next appear, put to flight by infantry, whose first lines have bows and arrows, and the three following swords and targets. in the lowermost division now visible, the horses seem to be seized by the victorious party, their riders beheaded, and the head of their chief hung in chains, or placed in a frame; the others being thrown together beside the dead bodies, under an arched cover. the greatest part of the other side of the obelisk, occupied by a sumptuous cross, is covered over with a uniform figure, elaborately raised, and interwoven with great mathematical exactness. under the cross are two august personages, with some attendants, much obliterated, but evidently in an attitude of reconciliation; and if the monument was erected in memory of the peace concluded between malcolm and canute, upon the final retreat of the danes, these large figures may represent the reconciled monarchs. on the edge, below the fretwork, are some rows of figures joined hand in hand, which may also imply the new degree of confidence and security that took place after the feuds were composed, which are characterized on the front of the pillar. but to whatever particular transaction it may allude, it can hardly be imagined, that in so early an age of the arts in scotland, as it must have been raised, so elaborate a performance would have been undertaken, but in consequence of an event of the most general importance; it is therefore surprising, that no more distinct tradition of it arrived at the æra when letters were known. the height of this monument, called king sueno's stone, above the ground, is twenty-three feet, besides twelve or fifteen feet under ground. its breadth is three feet ten inches, by one foot three inches in thickness." chap. lvi. curiosities respecting temples, etc.--(_concluded._) _inverlochy castle--magdalen's hermitage--curiosities of friburg--curiosities of augsburg--escurial--florence statues--great wall of china--floating gardens--curiosity at palermo._ inverlochy castle,--is an ancient castle near fort william, in inverness-shire. it is adorned with large towers, which, by the mode of building, seem to have been the work of the english, in the time of edward i. who laid large fines on the scotch barons, for the purpose of erecting castles. the largest of these is called cummin's tower. "the castle, (says the rev. thomas ross, in his statistical account of kilmanivaig) has survived the burgh, and now stands alone in ancient magnificence, after having seen the river lochy, that formerly filled its ditches, run in another course, and has outlived all history and tradition of its own builder and age. it is a quadrangular building, with round towers at the angles, measuring thirty yards every way within the walls. the towers and ramparts are solidly built of stone and lime, nine feet thick at the bottom, and eight feet above. the towers are not entire, nor are they all equally high. the western is the highest and largest, and does not seem to have been less than fifty feet when entire; the rampart between them, from twenty-five to thirty. ten or twelve yards without the walls the ditch begins, which surrounded the castle, from thirty to forty feet broad. the whole building covers about one thousand six hundred yards; and within the outside of the ditch are seven thousand square yards, nearly an acre and a half english. the whole building would require from five hundred to six hundred men to defend it. from the name of the western tower, it is probable this castle was occupied by the cummins in the time of edward i. and previous to that period by the thanes of lochaber; among others by the noted bancho, predecessor of the race of stuart. there is a tradition that this castle was once a royal residence, and that the famous league betwixt charles the great of france, and achaius king of scots, had been signed there on the part of the scotch monarch, a. d. ." magdalen's hermitage.--this place is situated about a league from friburg, in switzerland, and is described by mr. blainville, and also by mr. addison. they both say it is situated among woods and rocks, in the prettiest solitude imaginable. the hermit, (they say,) who was then alive, had worked out of the rock a pretty chapel, with an altar, sacristy, and steeple; also five chambers, a parlour, refectory, kitchen, cellar, and other conveniences. the funnel of his chimney, which pierces from his kitchen to the top of the rock, slanting all the way, is ninety feet high, and cost him so much toil, that he was a whole year about it, and often despaired of finishing his design. all this must appear the more surprising, when we consider the dimensions of the different parts of this hermitage, the chapel being sixty-three feet in length, thirty-six in breadth, and twenty-two in height. the sacristy, or vestry, is twenty-two feet square, and the height of the steeple seventy feet. the chamber between the chapel and the refectory, is above forty feet long; the refectory itself is twenty-one long; and the cellar is twenty-five feet long, and ten feet deep. but the hall or parlour is particularly admired, being twenty-eight paces in length, twelve in breadth, and twenty feet in height, with four openings for windows, much higher and wider than those of our best houses. at one end of this hall was the hermit's cabinet, with a small collection of books and other curiosities. to add to the pleasantness and convenience of this habitation, he had cut the side of the rock into a flat, and having covered it with good mould, had formed a pretty garden, planted with divers sorts of fruit-trees, herbs, and flowers; and by following the veins of water that dropped from several parts of the rock, he had made himself two or three fountains, which supplied his table, and watered his little garden. this hermit, whose name was jean du pre, began this laborious undertaking at the age of thirty, and said he was twenty-five years in completing it, having had no sort of assistance from any person whatsoever, except one servant. he intended to have carried on his work still farther, but was drowned in , as he was crossing a neighbouring river in a boat, with some company that came to visit him on st. anthony's day, the patron of his chapel. his place is supplied by a priest, who subsists by the generosity of strangers that come to see the hermitage, whom he generally entertains with bread and wine, and a nosegay. curiosities of friburg.--friburg is a large town of switzerland, seated on the sanen, in a most singular and picturesque situation. mr. cox, in his travels in switzerland, thus describes it: "it stands partly in a small plain, partly on bold acclivities on a ridge of rugged rocks, half encircled by the river sanen, and is so entirely concealed by the circumjacent hills, that the traveller scarcely catches the smallest glimpse, until he bursts upon a view of the whole town from the overhanging eminence. the fortifications, which consist of high stone walls and towers, inclose a circumference of about four miles; within which space the eye comprehends a singular mixture of houses, rocks, thickets, and meadows, varying instantly from wild to agreeable, from the bustle of a town to the solitude of the deepest retirement. the sanen winds in such a serpentine manner, as to form in its course, within the space of two miles, five obtuse angles, between which the intervening parts of the current are parallel to each other. on all sides the descent to the town is extremely steep; in one place the streets often pass over the roofs of the houses. many of the edifices are raised in regular gradation, like the seats of an amphitheatre; and many overhang the edge of a precipice in such a manner, that, on looking down, a weak head would be apt to turn giddy. but the most extraordinary point of view is from the pont-neuf. on the north-west a part of the town stands boldly on the sides and the piked back of an abrupt ridge; and from east to west, a semicircle of high perpendicular rocks is seen, whose base is washed and undermined by the winding sanen, and whose tops and sides are thinly scattered with shrubs and underwood. on the highest points of the rocks, and on the very edge of the precipice, appears, half hanging in the air, the gate called bourguillon: a stranger standing on the bridge would compare it to laputa, or the flying island, in gulliver's travels; and would not conceive it to be accessible, but by means of a cord and pulleys. the houses, constructed with a gray sandstone, are neat and well built; and the public edifices, particularly the cathedral, are extremely elegant." curiosities of augsburg.--in the square, near the town-house, is the fountain of augustus, which is a marble bason, surrounded with iron balustrades finely wrought: at the four corners are four brass statues as large as life, two of women, and two of men; in the middle of the bason is a pedestal, at the foot which are four sphinxes, squirting water; a little above these, are four infants holding four dolphins in their arms, which pour water out of their mouths; and over these are festoons and pine-apples of brass; upon the pedestal is the statue of augustus, as large as life. the fountain most remarkable next to this, is that of hercules, which is an hexagon bason with several brass figures, particularly hercules engaging the hydra.--another curiosity is the secret gate, which was contrived to let in persons safely in time of war: it has so many engines and divisions with gates and keys, and apartments for guards, at some distance from each other, where passengers are examined, that it is impossible for the town to be surprised this way; the gates are bolted and unbolted, opened and shut, by unseen operators, so that it looks like enchantment.--the water towers are also very curious, of which there are three, seated on a branch of the lech, which runs through the city in such a torrent, as to drive many mills, which work a number of pumps, that raise the water in large leaden pipes to the top of the towers. one of these sends water to the public fountains; and the rest, to near one thousand houses in the city. the escurial,--is a royal residence of spain, fifteen miles north-west of madrid. it is the largest and most superb structure in the kingdom, and one of the finest in europe. the word is arabic, meaning "a place full of rocks." it is built in a dry barren spot, surrounded with rugged mountains, insomuch that every thing which grows there is owing to art. this place was chosen, it is said, for the sake of the stone wherewith the fabric is built, which is got from a mountain just by, and is very durable; and the design of erecting it was to commemorate a victory which philip ii. obtained over the french (by the assistance of the english forces) at st. quintin, on st. lawrence's day, in the year . the spanish description of this structure forms a sizeable quarto volume. its founder expended upon it six millions of ducats. the apartments are decorated with an astonishing variety of paintings, sculpture, tapestry, ornaments of gold and silver, marble, jasper, gems, and other curious stones, surpassing all imagination. this building, besides its palace, contains a church, large and richly ornamented; a mausoleum; cloisters; a convent; a college; and a library, containing about thirty thousand volumes; besides large apartments for all kinds of artists and mechanics, noble walks, with extensive parks and gardens, beautified with fountains and costly ornaments. the fathers that live in the convent are two hundred, and they have an annual revenue of £ , . it was begun by philip in , five years after the battle, and completed in twenty-two years. it consists of several courts and quadrangles, which all together are disposed in the shape of a gridiron, the instrument of the martyrdom of st. lawrence; the apartment where the king resides, forming the handle. the building is a long square, of six hundred and forty by five hundred and eighty feet, and the height up to the roof is sixty feet all round, except on the garden side, where the ground is more taken away. at each angle is a square tower, two hundred feet high. the number of windows in the west front is exactly ; in the east front, . the orders are doric and ionic. there are three doors in the principal front. over the grand entrance are the arms of spain, carved in stone; and a little higher, in a niche, a statue of st. lawrence in a deacon's habit, with a gilt gridiron in his right hand, and a book in his left. directly over the door is a basso-relievo of two enormous gridirons, in stone. this vast structure, however, with its narrow high towers, small windows, and steep sloping roof, exhibits a very uncouth style of architecture; at the same time that the domes, and the immense extent of its fronts, render it a wonderfully grand object from every point of view. the church is in the centre, is large, awful, and richly ornamented. the cupola is bold and light. the high altar is composed of rich marbles, agates, and jaspers of great rarity, the produce of this kingdom. two magnificent _catafalcos_ fill up the side arcades of this sanctuary: on one, the emperor charles v. his wife, daughter, and two sisters, are represented in bronze, larger than life, kneeling; opposite are the effigies of philip ii. and of his three wives, of the same materials, and in the same devout attitude. underneath, is the burial-place of the royal family, called the pantheon: twenty-five steps lead down to this vault, over the door of which is a latin inscription, denoting, that "this place, sacred to the remains of the catholic kings, was intended by charles the emperor, resolved upon by philip ii. begun by philip iii. and completed by philip iv." the mausoleum is circular, thirty-six feet in diameter, and incrusted with fine marbles in an elegant taste. the bodies of the kings and queens lie in tombs of marble, in niches, one above the other. the plan of these sepulchres is grand, and executed with a princely magnificence; but, as a modern traveller observes, in a style rather too gay, too light, and too delicately fitted up, for the idea we are apt to form of a chapel destined for the reception of the dead. the collection of pictures dispersed about various parts of the church, sacristy, and convent, has been considered as equal, if not superior, to any gallery in europe, except that of dresden. formed out of the spoils of italy, and the wasted cabinet of that unfortunate monarch, charles i. of england, it contains some of the most capital works of the greatest painters that have flourished since the revival of the art. in the sacristy is an altar called _la santa forma_: this is a kind of tabernacle of gems, marbles, woods, and other precious materials, inlaid in gilt bronze; in which, rather than in the excellence of the workmanship, or taste of the design, consists the merit of this rock of riches. before it hangs a curtain, on which coello has represented charles ii. and all his court, in procession, coming to place this _forma_. this is esteemed one of the most curious collections of portraits in the world; for all the persons are drawn with the greatest strength of colour and truth of expression, and are said to be perfect resemblances, not only of the monarch and grandees, but even of the monks, servants, and guards. the statues, busts, and the medallions of the escurial, are neither very numerous, nor remarkable for their excellence; but the library contains a most precious collection of manuscripts, many fine drawings, and other curiosities. notwithstanding the coldness of the exposure, the late king, for the sake of hunting, used to pass several months of the year at this palace. florence statues.--in the duke of florence's garden at pratoline, is the statue of pan; sitting on a stool, with a wreathed pipe in his hand, and that of syrinx, beckoning him to play on his pipe. pan, putting away his stool, and standing up, plays on his pipe; this done, he looks on his mistress, as if he expected thanks from her, takes the stool again, and sits down with a sad countenance.--there is also the statue of a laundress at her work, turning the clothes up and down with her hand and battledore, wherewith she beats them in the water.--there is the statue of fame, loudly sounding her trumpet; an artificial toad creeping to and fro; a dragon bowing down his head to drink water, and then vomiting it up again; with divers other pieces of art, that administer wonder and light to the beholders. the great wall of china.--the principal defence of the empire against a foreign enemy is the great wall, which separates china from tartary, extending more than fifteen hundred miles in length, and of such thickness, that six horsemen may easily ride abreast upon it. it is flanked with towers, two bow-shots distant from one another: walker says, there are forty-five thousand of these towers, (a number rather incredible,) and that the wall extends two thousand miles. it is said, that a third of the able-bodied men in the empire were employed in constructing this wall. the workmen were ordered, under pain of death, to place the materials so closely, that not the least entrance might be afforded for any instrument of iron; and thus the work was constructed with such solidity, that it is still almost entire, though two thousand years have elapsed since it was constructed. [illustration: the great wall of china.--page . erected to protect the empire from the incursions of the tartar cavalry.] this extraordinary work is carried, not only through the low lands and valleys, but over hills and mountains; the height of one of which was computed by f. verbiest, at one thousand two hundred and thirty-six feet above the level of the spot where he stood. according to f. martini, it begins at the gulf of leatong, and reaches to the mountains near the city of kin, on the yellow river; between which places it meets with no interruption except to the north of the city of suen, in peche-li, where it is interrupted by a ridge of inaccessible mountains, to which it is closely united. it is likewise interrupted by the river hoang-ho; but for others of an inferior size, arches have been constructed, through which the water passes freely. mr. bell informs us, that it is carried across rivers, and over the tops of the highest hills, without the least interruption, keeping nearly along that circular range of barren rocks which incloses the country; and, after running about one thousand two hundred miles, ends in impassable mountains and sandy deserts. the foundation consists of large blocks of stone laid in mortar; but all the rest is of brick. the whole is so strong and well-built, that it scarcely needs any repairs; and in the dry climate in which it stands, may remain in the same condition for many ages. when carried over steep rocks, where no horse can pass, it is about fifteen or twenty feet high; but when running through a valley, or crossing a river, it is about thirty feet high, with square towers and embrasures at equal distances. the top is flat, and paved with cut stone; and where it rises over a rock or eminence, there is an ascent made by an easy stone stair. this wall (our author adds) was begun and completely finished in the short space of five years; and it is reported, that the labourers stood so close for many miles, that they could hand the materials from one to another. this seems the more probable, as the rugged rocks among which it is built must have prevented all use of carriages; and neither clay for making bricks, nor any kind of cement, are to be found among them. floating gardens.--abbé clavigero, in his history of mexico, says, that when the mexicans were brought under subjection to the colhuan and tapanecan nations, and confined to the miserable little islands on the lake of mexico, they had no land to cultivate, until necessity compelled them to form moveable fields and gardens, which floated on the waters of the lake. the method which they adopted to make these, and which they still practise, is extremely simple. they plat and twist together willows and roots of marsh plants, or other materials, which are light, but capable of supporting the earth firmly united. upon this foundation they lay the light bushes which float on the lake; and over all, the mud and dirt which they draw up from the bottom. their regular figure is quadrangular; their length and breadth various; but generally they are about eight perches long, and not more than three in breadth, and have less than a foot of elevation above the surface of the water. these were the first fields which the mexicans had after the foundation of mexico; there they first cultivated maize, pepper, and other plants. in time, as these fields became numerous from the industry of the people, they cultivated gardens of flowers and odoriferous plants, which they employed in the worship of their gods, and for the recreation of their nobles. at present they cultivate flowers, and every sort of garden herbs, upon them. every day at sunrise, innumerable vessels loaded with various kinds of flowers and herbs, cultivated in those gardens, arrive by the canals, at the great market-place of that capital. all plants thrive in them surprisingly; the mud of the lake affords a very fertile soil, and requires no water from the clouds. in the large gardens there is commonly a little tree, and even a little hut, to shelter the cultivator, and defend him from rain or the sun. when the _chinampa_, or owner of a garden, wishes to change his situation, to remove from a disagreeable neighbour, or to come nearer to his own family, he gets into his little vessel, and by his own strength alone, if the garden is small, he tows it after him, and conducts it wherever he pleases. that part of the lake, where these floating gardens are, is a place of high recreation, where the senses receive all possible gratification. we conclude this chapter with an account of a curious sight at palermo. among the remarkable objects in the vicinity of palermo, pointed out to strangers, they fail not to particularize a convent of capuchins, at a small distance from the town, the beautiful gardens of which serve as a public walk. you are shewn under the fabric a vault, divided into four great galleries, into which the light is admitted by windows cut out at the top of each extremity. in this vault are preserved, not in flesh, but in skin and bone, all the capuchins who have died in the convent since its foundation, as well as the bodies of several persons from the city. there are here private tombs belonging to opulent families, who, even after death, disdain to be confounded with the vulgar part of mankind. it is said, that in order to secure the preservation of the bodies, they are prepared by being gradually dried before a slow fire, so as to consume the flesh without greatly injuring the skin. when perfectly dry, they are invested with the capuchin habit, and placed upright on tablets, disposed step above step along the sides of the vault; the head, the arms, and the feet, are naked. a preservation like this is horrid. the skin, discoloured, dry, and as if it had been tanned, nay, torn in some places, is glued close to the bone. it is easy to imagine, from the different grimaces of this numerous assemblage of fleshless figures, rendered still more frightful by a long beard on the chin, what a hideous spectacle this must exhibit; and whoever has seen a capuchin alive, may form an idea of the singular effect produced by this repository of dead friars. chap. lvii. _curiosities respecting the ark of noah--the galley of hiero--and the bridge of xerxes._ the ark of noah.--that such a wonderful structure as this once existed, admits not of any doubt in the jewish, christian, and mahommedan world; yet its dimensions far exceed any vessel of modern date, even of the most extensive range, and appear to have been equally unrivalled in ancient times. there are nevertheless various difficulties which have been proposed in regard to it, among those by whom its existence has been admitted. one question is, as to the time employed by noah in building it. interpreters generally believe, that he was an hundred and twenty years in forming this vast structure; but some allow only fifty-two years; some no more than seven or eight, and others still much less. the mahommedans say, he had but two years allowed him for this work. another question sometimes agitated is, what kind of wood is meant by gopher wood? some think cedar, or box; others cypress, the pine, fir-tree, and the turpentine tree. pelletier prefers the opinion of those who hold the ark to be made of cedar: the reasons he urges for this preference are, the incorruptibilty of that wood; the great plenty thereof in asia; whence herodotus and theophrastus relate, that the kings of egypt and syria built whole fleets of it in lieu of deal: and the common tradition throughout the east imports, that the ark is preserved entire to this day on mount ararat. the dimensions of the ark, as delivered by moses, are three hundred cubits in length, fifty in breadth, and thirty in height; which, compared with the great number of things it was to contain, seem to many to have been too scanty. and hence an argument has been drawn against the authority of the relation. celsus long ago laughed at it, calling it the "absurd ark." this difficulty is solved by buteo and kircher, who, supposing the common cubit of a foot and a half, prove, geometrically, that the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged therein. the capacity of the ark will be doubled, if we admit, with cumberland, &c. that the jewish cubit was twenty-one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight inches. smellius computes the ark to have been above half an acre in area. cuneus, and others, have also calculated the capacity of the ark. dr. arbuthnot computes it to have been eighty-one thousand and sixty-two tons. father lamy says, that it was an hundred and ten feet longer than the church of st. mary at paris, and sixty-four feet narrower; to which his english translator adds, that it must have been longer than st. paul's church in london, from west to east, broader than that church is high in the inside, and about fifty-four feet in height of our measure. the vast assemblage of things contained in the ark, besides eight persons of noah's family, consisted of one pair of every species of unclean animals, with provisions for them all, during the whole year. the former appears, at first view, almost infinite, but if we come to a calculation, the number of species of animals will be found much smaller than is generally imagined; out of which, in this case, are to be excepted such animals as can live in the water; and bishop wilkins imagines, that only seventy-two of the quadruped kind needed a place in the ark. it appears to have been divided into three stories; and it is agreed on, as most probable, that the lowest story was destined for the beasts, the middle for the food, and the upper for the birds, with noah and his family; each story being subdivided into different apartments, stalls, &c. though josephus, philo, and other commentators, add a kind of fourth story, under all the rest; being, as it were, the hold of the vessel, to contain the ballast, and receive the filth and ordure of so many animals. drexelius makes three hundred apartments; father fournier, three hundred and three; the anonymous author of the questions of genesis, four hundred; buteo, temporarius, arias montanus, wilkins, lamy, and others, suppose as many partitions as there were different sorts of animals. pelletier only makes seventy-two, viz. thirty-six for the birds, and as many for the beasts: his reason is, that if we suppose a greater number, as three hundred and thirty-three, or four hundred, each of the eight persons in the ark must have had thirty-seven, forty-one, or fifty stalls to attend and cleanse daily, which he thinks impossible. but there is not much in this: to diminish the number of stalls, without a diminution of the animals, is vain; it being, perhaps, more difficult to take care of three hundred animals in seventy-two stalls, than in three hundred. buteo computes, that all the animals contained in the ark, could not be equal to five hundred horses; he even reduces the whole to the dimensions of fifty-six pair of oxen. father lamy enlarges it to sixty-four pair, or an hundred and twenty-eight oxen; so that, supposing one ox equal to two horses, if the ark had room for two hundred and fifty-six horses, there must have been room for all the animals. and the same author demonstrates, that one floor of it would suffice for five hundred horses, allowing nine square feet to a horse. of the food contained in the second story, it is observed by beauteo, from columella, that thirty or forty pounds of hay ordinarily suffices an ox for a day; and that a solid cubit of hay, as usually pressed down in our hay-ricks, weighs about forty pounds; so that a square cubit of hay is more than enough per day for an ox. now it appears, that the second story contained one hundred and fifty thousand square cubits; which, divided between two hundred and six oxen, will afford to each, more hay by two-thirds than he can eat in a year. bishop wilkins computes all the carnivorous animals equivalent, as to the bulk of their bodies, and their food, to twenty-seven wolves; and all the rest to two hundred and eighty beeves. for the former he allows the sustenance of eighteen hundred and twenty-five sheep; and for the latter, one hundred and nine thousand five hundred cubits of hay: all which will be easily contained in the two first stories, and much room to spare. as to the third story, nobody doubts of its being sufficient for the fowls, with noah, his sons, and daughters. upon the whole, the learned bishop remarks, that of the two, it appears much more difficult to assign a sufficient number and bulk of necessary things to answer the capacity of the ark, than to find room enough for the several species of animals already known to have been there. this he attributes to the imperfection of our lists of animals, especially those of the unknown parts of the earth; adding, that the most expert mathematician, at this day, could not assign the proportions of a vessel better accommodated to the purpose, than is here done; and hence finally concludes, that "the capacity of the ark, which has been made an objection against scripture, ought to be esteemed a confirmation of its divine authority: since, in those ruder ages, men, being less versed in arts and philosophy, were more obnoxious to vulgar prejudices than now; so that, had it been of human invention, it would have been contrived according to those wild apprehensions which arise from a confused and general view of things; as much too big, as it has been represented too little." the galley of hiero.--it is to hiero that syracuse was indebted for those amazing machines of war, which the syracusans made use of when besieged by the romans. the public buildings, such as palaces, temples, arsenals, &c. which were erected in syracuse, by his order, and under the direction of archimedes, were the greatest ornaments of that stately metropolis. he caused also an infinite number of ships to be built, for the exportation of corn, in which the whole riches of the island consisted. we are told of a galley built by his order, which was looked upon as one of the wonders of that age. archimedes, who was overseer of the work, spent a whole year in finishing it, hiero daily animating the workmen with his presence. this ship had twenty benches of oars, three spacious apartments, and all the conveniences of a large palace. the floors of the middle apartment were all inlaid, and represented in various colours the stories of homer's iliad. the ceilings, windows, and all other parts, were finished with wonderful art, and embellished with all kinds of ornaments. in the uppermost apartment there was a spacious gymnasium, or place of exercise, and walks, with gardens, and plants of all kinds, disposed in wonderful order. pipes, some of hardened clay, and others of lead, conveyed water all round to refresh them. but the finest of the apartments was that of venus: the floors were inlaid with agates, and other precious stones; the inside was lined with cypress-wood; and the windows were adorned with ivory, paintings, and small statues. in this apartment there was a library, a bath with three great coppers, and a bathing vessel made of one single stone, of various colours, containing two hundred and fifty quarts. it was supplied with water from a great reservoir at the head of the ship, which held a hundred thousand quarts. the vessel was adorned on all sides with fine paintings, and had eight towers of equal dimensions, two at the head, two at the stern, and four in the middle. round these towers were parapets, from whence stones might be discharged against the enemy's vessels when they approached. each tower was constantly guarded by four young men completely armed, and two archers. to the side of the vessel was fastened an engine, made by archimedes, which threw a stone of three hundred pounds weight, and an arrow eighteen feet in length, the distance of a stadium, or a hundred and twenty-five feet. though the hold of this vessel was exceedingly deep, a single man could soon clear it of water, with a machine invented for that purpose by archimedes. the story of this magnificent vessel was celebrated in poetic numbers by an athenian poet, for which he was rewarded by hiero, who understood the value of verse, with a thousand medimni, that is, six thousand bushels of wheat, which he caused to be carried to the pyræus, or port of athens. hiero afterwards made a present of this great vessel to ptolemy, (probably philadephus,) king of egypt, and sent it to alexandria. as there was at that time a great famine in egypt, good king hiero sent along with it several other ships of less burden, with three hundred thousand quarters of corn, ten thousand great earthen jars of salt fish, twenty thousand quintals of salt meat, and an immense quantity of other provisions. xerxes' bridge of boats over the hellespont.--xerxes, having resolved to attack greece, that he might omit nothing which could contribute to the success of his undertaking, entered into an alliance with the carthaginians, who were, at that time, the most powerful people of the west; whereby it was agreed, that, while the persians invaded greece, the carthaginians should fall upon the greek colonies in sicily and italy, that thereby they might be diverted from helping each other. the carthaginians appointed hamilcar their general, who not only raised what forces he could in africa, but with the money sent him by xerxes, hired a great many mercenaries in spain, gaul, and italy; so that his army consisted of three hundred thousand men, besides a proportionable number of ships for transporting his forces, and the necessary provisions. thus xerxes, agreeable to the prophecy of daniel, having, by his strength through his riches, stirred up all the nations of the then known world, against the realm of greece, that is, all the west under the command of hamilcar, and all the east under his own banners, set out from susa, to enter upon this war, in the fifth year of his reign, after having spent three years in making vast preparations throughout all the provinces of his wide-spreading empire. from susa he marched to sardis, which was the place appointed for the general rendezvous of all his land forces, while his navy advanced along the coasts of asia minor, towards the hellespont. two things xerxes commanded to be done before he came to the sea-side; one of which was, that a passage should be cut through mount athos. this mountain reaches a great way into the sea, in the form of a peninsula, and is joined to the land by an isthmus twelve furlongs over. the sea in this place is very tempestuous, and the persian fleet had formerly suffered shipwreck in doubling this promontory. to prevent the like disaster, xerxes caused this passage to be cut through the mountain, broad enough to let two galleys, with three banks of oars each, pass in front. by this means, he severed from the continent the cities of dion, olophyxus, acrothoon, thysus, and cleone. it is said, however, that xerxes undertook this enterprise only out of ostentation, and to perpetuate the memory of his name, since he might, with far less trouble, have caused his fleet to be conveyed over the isthmus, as was the practice in those days. he likewise commanded a bridge of boats to be laid over the hellespont, for the passing of his forces from asia into europe. the sea which separates sestos and abydos, where the bridge was built, is seven furlongs over. the work was carried on with great expedition by the phoenicians and egyptians, who had no sooner finished it, but a violent storm arising, broke it in pieces, and dispersed or dashed against the shore the vessels of which it was composed: which when xerxes heard, he fell into such a violent transport of anger, that he commanded three hundred stripes to be inflicted on the sea, and a pair of fetters to be thrown into it; enjoining those who were trusted with the execution of his orders, to pronounce these words:--"thou salt and bitter element, thy master has condemned thee to this punishment, for offending him without cause; and is resolved to pass over thee, in spite of thy billows, and insolent resistance." the extravagant folly and madness of this prince did not stop here, for, to crown the whole, he commanded the heads of those who had the direction of the work to be struck off. in their room he appointed more experienced architects to build two other bridges, one for the army, the other for the beasts of burden, and the baggage. when the whole work was completed, and the vessels which formed the bridges secure against the violence of the winds, and the current of the water, xerxes departed from sardis, where the army had wintered, and directed his march to abydos. when he arrived at that city, he desired to see all his forces together; and, to that end, ascending a stately edifice of white stone, which the abydenians had built, on purpose to receive him in a manner suitable to his greatness, he had a free prospect to the coast, seeing at one view both his fleet and land forces. the sea was covered with his ships, and the large plains of abydos with his troops, quite down to the shore. while he was surveying the vast extent of his power, and deeming himself the most happy of mortals, his joy was suddenly turned into grief; he burst into a flood of tears: which artabanus perceiving, asked him what had made him, in a few moments, pass from an excess of joy to so great a grief. the king replied, that, considering the shortness of human life, he could not restrain his tears; for, of all these numbers of men, not one, said he, will be alive a hundred years hence. artabanus, who neglected no opportunity of instilling into the young prince's mind sentiments of kindness towards his people, finding him touched with a sense of tenderness and humanity, endeavoured to make him sensible of the obligation that is incumbent upon princes, to alleviate the sorrows, and sweeten the bitterness, which the lives of their subjects are liable to, since it is not in their power to prolong them. in the same conversation, xerxes asked his uncle, whether, if he had not seen the vision which made him change his mind, he would still persist in the same opinion, and dissuade him from making war upon greece. artabanus sincerely owned, that he still had his fears, and was very uneasy concerning two things, the sea and the land; the sea, because there were no ports capable of receiving and sheltering such a fleet, if a storm should arise; and the land, because no country could maintain so numerous an army. the king was very sensible of the strength of his reasoning; but as it was now too late to go back, he made answer, that, in great enterprises, men ought not to enter into so nice a discussion of all the inconveniences that may attend them: that bold and daring undertakings, though subject to many evils and dangers, are preferable to inaction, however safe: that great successes are not otherwise to be obtained than by venturing boldly; and that, if his predecessors had observed such scrupulous and timorous rules of politics, the persian empire would never have attained to so high a degree of glory and grandeur. all things being now in readiness, and a day appointed for the passing over of the army, as soon as the first rays of the sun began to appear, all sorts of perfumes were burnt upon the bridge, and the way strewed with myrtle. at the same time, xerxes, pouring a libation into the sea out of a golden cup, and addressing the sun, implored the assistance of that deity, begging that he might meet with no impediment so great, as to hinder him from carrying his conquering arms to the utmost limits of europe. this done, he threw the cup into the hellespont, with a golden bowl, and a persian cimeter; and the foot and horse began to pass over that bridge which was next to the euxine, while the carriages and beasts of burden passed over the other, which was placed nearer the Ægean sea. the bridges were boarded, and covered over with earth, having rails on each side, that the horses and cattle might not be frightened at the sight of the sea. the army spent seven days and nights in passing over, though they marched day and night, without intermission, and were, by frequent blows, obliged to quicken their pace. at the same time, the fleet made to the coasts of europe. after the whole army was passed, xerxes advanced with his land forces, through the thracian chersonessus to doricus, a city at the mouth of the river hebrus, in thrace: but the fleet steered a quite different course, standing to the westward for the promontory of sarpedon, where they were commanded to attend farther orders. xerxes, having encamped in the large plains of doriscus, and judging them convenient for reviewing and numbering his troops, dispatched orders to his admirals to bring the fleet to the adjacent shore, that he might take an account both of his sea and land forces. his land army, upon the muster, was found to consist of one million seven hundred thousand foot, and fourscore thousand horse; which, together with twenty thousand men that conducted the camels, and took care of the baggage, amounted to one million eight hundred thousand men. his fleet consisted of twelve hundred and seven large ships, and three thousand galleys and transports: on board of all these vessels, there were found to be five hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and ten men. so that the whole number of sea and land forces, which xerxes led out of asia to invade greece, amounted to two millions three hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and ten men. we are told, that, on his passing the hellespont, to enter europe, an inhabitant of that country cried out: "o jupiter, why art thou come to destroy greece, in the shape of a persian, and under the name of xerxes, with all mankind following thee; whereas thy own power is sufficient to do this, without their assistance?" after he had entered europe, the nations on this side the hellespont that submitted to him, added to his land forces three hundred thousand more, and two hundred and twenty ships to his fleet, on board of which were twenty-four thousand men. so that the whole number of his forces, when he arrived at thermopylæ, was two millions six hundred and forty-one thousand six hundred and ten men, without including servants, eunuchs, women, sutlers, and other people of that sort, who were computed to equal the number of the forces: so that the whole multitude of persons that followed xerxes in this expedition, amounted to five millions two hundred and eighty-three thousand two hundred and twenty. among these millions of men, there was not one that could vie with xerxes, either in comeliness or stature, or that seemed more worthy of that great empire. but this is a poor recommendation, when unaccompanied with other qualifications of more sterling worth. accordingly, justin, after he has mentioned the number of his troops, emphatically concludes, "but this vast body wanted a head." besides the subordinate generals of each nation, who commanded the troops of their respective countries, the whole army was under the command of six persian generals: viz. mardonius, the son of gobryus: triatatæchmes, the son of artabanus; smerdones, the son of otanes (the two latter were cousins to xerxes;) masistus, the son of darius by atossa; gerges, the son of ariazus; and megabyzus, the son of the celebrated zopyrus. the ten thousand persians, who were called the immortal band, obeyed no other commander but hydarnes. the fleet was commanded by four persian admirals: and likewise the cavalry had their particular generals and commanders. chap. lviii. basaltic and rocky curiosities. _giant's causeway--stonehenge._ giant's causeway, in ireland.--the following account is taken from notes of a mineralogical excursion to the giant's causeway, by the rev. dr. grierson, as published in the annals of philosophy. "i left (says the doctor) colerain on the morning of sept. , in company with a gentleman of that place, whose obligingness, intelligence, hospitality, and kindness, afforded me a most agreeable specimen of the irish character, and proceeded to giant's causeway. the day was charming; and it is not easy for me to express the gratification i felt, as we made our way through a fine and gently varied district, at the idea of having it in my power soon to contemplate in favourable circumstances one of the most stupendous and interesting natural phenomena, that are any where to be seen. from coleraine to the causeway is eight miles in a northerly direction, and i could observe no rock on our way, but the trap formation. on crossing the river bush, at the village called bushmills, the country begins gradually to rise, and we descry, about two miles before us, a ridge of considerable height, seeming to terminate quite abruptly on the other side. what we perceive is the land side of the precipice of the giant's causeway. it seems to have been a hill of basalt, with nearly perpendicular columnar concretions, cut in two, as it were, by a vertical section, and the half of the hill next the sea carried away. on getting in front of this precipice, which you do by a pass on the west side of it, a most stupendous scene presents itself. the precipice, extending for a mile or two along the shore, is in many places quite perpendicular, and often three hundred and fifty and four hundred feet high, consisting of pure columnar basalt, some of the columns fifty feet in perpendicular height, straight and smooth, as if polished with a chisel. in other parts the columns are smaller, inclined, or bent; and a less length of them strikes the eye. from the bottom of this precipice issues, with a gentle slope of about one foot in thirty towards the sea, an immense and surprising pavement, as it were, consisting of the upper ends of the fragments of vertical columns of basalt, that have been left when the seaward half of the basaltic hill was carried off. the ends of these columns are in general fifteen or twenty inches in diameter, some of them of three sides, some four, five, six, seven, eight, or even nine. five or six sides seem to prevail most. from the bottom of the precipice to the sea at low water, along this pavement or causeway, which, from the artificial appearance it puts on, has doubtless, in a rude age, given name to the place, is a length of seven hundred and thirty feet. it has been observed to proceed into the ocean as far as can be traced by the eye in a calm and clear day. to any person who has seen both this place and staffa, the idea naturally enough suggests itself, that they are parts of the same once continuous immense bed of columnar basalt. "there are properly three pavements proceeding into the sea, distinguished by the names of the great causeway, the middle causeway, and the west causeway. these are three large gently sloping ridges of the ends of basaltic columns, with depressions between them, covered with large blocks or masses, that seem to have been from time to time detached, and rolled from the precipice. i had no opportunity of perceiving with what rocks the basalt of the giant's causeway is connected. i am told conchoidal white lime-stone meets it on both the east and west sides. there is in one place, near the east side of the great causeway, a green-stone vein, eight or ten feet wide, intersecting the basalt from north-west to south-east. "there was now pointed out to us by the guides a very rare and curious phenomenon, and which is particularly interesting, as it has been thought, by those who hold the igneous origin of basalt, to be a confirmation of their doctrine. nearly opposite to the west causeway, and within about eighty feet of the top of the cliff, is found to exist a quantity of slags and ashes, unquestionably the production of fire. on ascending to this spot, which can be easily done, i found the slags and ashes deposited in a sort of bed about four feet thick, and running horizontally along the face of the basaltic precipice twenty or thirty feet. the ashes are in general observed to lie undermost, and the slags above them. they are covered with a considerable quantity of earth and stones, which all consist of basalt, are of a large size, some of them three or four feet or more in diameter, and the ashes likewise rest on the same sort of materials. what struck me here was, that these ashes and slags are entirely unconnected with any rock or formation which seems to be _in situ_, or in its original position. they are therefore, in my opinion, distinctly artificial, and nothing more than the remains of some large and powerful fire, which had been kept burning for a long while on the top of this precipice, used either as a signal, or for some other purpose which we cannot now ascertain; and that, owing to the part of the cliff on which the ashes were lying having given way and tumbled down, they have been thus buried beneath the ruins, and there remain. "a considerable way from the repository of the ashes and slags, and to the east of the great causeway, is another curious appearance. here, in the pure basalt, seventy or eighty feet from the top of the cliff, is a horizontal bed of wood coal, eight feet thick. the coal to all appearance rests immediately on the basalt below, and the ends of perpendicular basaltic columns are seen distinctly to rest on it above. the basalt is not in the least changed by the contact of the coal, nor the coal by that of the basalt. the coal is very beautiful and distinct, and in one place is seen a coalified tree, (if i may use the word,) ten or twelve inches in diameter, running directly in below the basalt. "within sight of this spot, and about three hundred yards to the east of it, are the beautifully conspicuous basaltic pillars, forty-five feet long, and vertical, with the longest ones in the middle, and others gradually shortening towards each side, like the columns of an organ. from this appearance they have received the appropriate name of _the organ_. "at the bottom of this cliff, by examining and breaking the loose columnar pieces of the rock that have fallen down, we found many fine specimens of calcedony, zeolite, and semi-opal. these occur in cavities in the basalt. sometimes the cavity is not completely filled with the calcedony or opal; and when that is the case, the empty space is observed to be always the upper part of the cavity, while the rock is _in situ_. moreover, the surface of the calcedony or opal, next to the empty space, is always found to be flat and horizontal, which would shew that the substance must have been filtered into its situation in a fluid state, and afterwards consolidated." stonehenge,--a celebrated monument of antiquity, stands in the middle of a flat area, near the summit of a hill six miles from salisbury. it is inclosed by a circular double bank and ditch near thirty feet broad, after crossing which, we ascend thirty yards before we reach the work. the whole fabric consisted of two circles and two ovals. the outer circle is about one hundred and eight feet diameter, consisting, when entire, of sixty stones, thirty uprights, and thirty imposts, of which remain only twenty-four uprights, seventeen standing, and seven down, three and a half feet asunder; and eight imposts. eleven uprights have their five imposts on them by the grand entrance. these stones are from thirteen to twenty feet high. the lesser circle is somewhat more than eight feet from the inside of the outer one, and consisted of forty lesser stones (the highest six feet,) of which only nineteen remain, and only eleven standing: the walk between these two circles is three hundred feet in circumference. the adytum, or cell, is an oval formed of ten stones, (from sixteen to twenty-two feet high,) in pairs, with imposts, which dr. stukeley calls _trilithons_, and above thirty feet high, rising in height as they go round, and each pair separate, and not connected as the outer pair; the highest eight feet. within these are nineteen smaller single stones, of which only six are standing. three of the five trilithons at the west end fell flat westward, levelling also in their descent, a stone of the second circle that stood in the line of their precipitation, on the d of january, . at the upper end of the adytum is the altar, a large slab of blue coarse marble, twenty inches thick, sixteen feet long, and four broad; pressed down by the weight of the vast stones that have fallen upon it. the whole number of stones, uprights and altar, is exactly one hundred and forty. the stones are far from being artificial, but were most probably brought from those called the grey weathers, on marlborough downs, fifteen or sixteen miles off; and if tried with a tool, they appear of the same hardness, grain, and colour, generally reddish. the heads of oxen, deer, and other beasts, have been found on digging in and about stonehenge; and human bones in the circumjacent barrows. there are three entrances from the plain to this structure, the most considerable of which is from the north-east, and at each of them were raised, on the outside of the trench, two huge stones, with two smaller within, parallel to them. it has long been a dispute among the learned, by what nation, and for what purpose, these enormous stones were collected and arranged. the first account of this structure we meet with, is in geoffrey of monmouth, who, in the reign of king stephen, wrote the history of the britons, in latin. he tells us, that it was erected by the counsel of merlin, the british enchanter, at the command of aurelius ambrosius, the british king, in memory of four hundred and sixty britons, who were murdered by hengist the saxon. the next account is that of polydore virgil, who says that the britons erected this as a sepulchral monument of boadicea, the famous british queen. inigo jones is of opinion, that it was a roman temple, from a stone sixteen feet long, and four broad, placed in an exact position to the east, altar-fashion. mr. charlton attributed it to the danes, who where two years masters of wiltshire: a tin tablet, on which were some unknown characters, supposed to be runic, was dug up near it, in the reign of henry viii. but is lost. its common name, stonehenge, is saxon, and signifies a stone gallows, to which these stones, having transverse imposts, bear some resemblance. it is also called, in welsh, _choir gawr_, or the giant's dance. mr. grose thinks that dr. stukeley has completely proved this structure to have been a british temple, in which the druids officiated. he supposes it to have been the metropolitan temple of great britain, and translates the words _choir gawr_, the great choir, or temple. mr. bryant is of opinion, that it was erected by a colony of cuthites, probably before the time of the druids; because it was usual with them to place one vast stone upon another, for a religious memorial; and these they often placed so equally, that a breath of wind would sometimes make them vibrate. of such stones, one remains in the pile of stonehenge. the ancients distinguished stones erected with a religious view, by the name of amber; by which was signified any thing solar and divine. the grecians called them _petræ ambrosiæ_. stonehenge, according to mr. bryant, is composed of these amber stones: hence the next town is denominated ambresbury; not from a roman ambrosius, but from the _ambrosia petræ_, in whose vicinity it stood. some of these were rocking stones; and there was a wonderful monument of this sort near penzance, in cornwall, which still retains the name of main-amber, or the sacred stones. such a one is mentioned by apollonius rhodius, supposed to have been raised in the time of the argonauts, in the island of tenos, as the monument of the two-winged sons of boreas, slain by hercules; and there are others in china, and other countries. chap. lix. curiosities respecting the various customs of mankind. _curious demonstrations of friendship--singularities of different nations in eating--female beauty and ornaments--various modes of salutation--maiden--lady of the lamb--curious custom respecting catching a hare--extraordinary ancient custom._ ----------------------------customs, though they be never so ridiculous, nay, let e'm be unmanly, yet are follow'd. _shakspeare._ curious demonstrations of friendship.--the demonstrations of friendship in a rude state have a savage and gross character, which it is not a little curious to observe. the tartars pull a man by the ear to press him to drink, and they continue tormenting him till he opens his mouth; and when they have accomplished their object, they clap their hands and dance before him. no customs seem more ridiculous, than those practised by a kamtschadale, when he wishes to make another his friend. he first invites him to his hut to eat. if the invitation is accepted, the host and his guest strip themselves in a cabin, which is heated to an uncommon degree. while the guest devours the food with which they serve him, the other continually stirs the fire. the stranger must bear the excess of the heat, as well as of the repast. he discharges the food from his stomach ten times before he will yield; but at length, obliged to acknowledge himself overcome, he begins to compound matters. he purchases a moment's respite by a present of clothes or dogs; for his host threatens to heat the cabin, and to oblige him to eat till he dies. the stranger has the right of retaliation allowed to him: he treats the other in the same manner, and exacts the same presents. should his host not accept the invitation of his guest, whom he has so handsomely regaled, he would come and inhabit his cabin, till he had obtained from him the presents he had in so singular a manner given to him. for this extravagant custom a curious reason has been alleged. it is meant to put the person to a trial, where friendship is sought. the kamtschadale, who is at the expense of the fires and the repast, is desirous to know if the stranger has the strength to support pain with him, and if he is generous enough to share with him some part of his property. while the guest is employed on his meal, he continues heating the cabin to an insupportable degree, and, as a last proof of the stranger's constancy and attachment, he exacts more clothes and more dogs. the host passes through the same ceremonies in the cabin of the stranger; and he shews in his turn, with what degree of fortitude he can defend his friend.--it is thus the most singular customs would appear simple, if it were possible for the philosopher to contemplate them on the spot. as a distinguishing mark of esteem, two friendly negroes of ardra drink out of one cup at the same time. the king of loango eats in one house, and drinks in another. a kamtschadale kneels before his guest; he cuts an enormous slice from a sea-calf; he crams it entire into the mouth of his friend, furiously crying out, _tana!_ (there!) and cutting away what hangs about his lips, snatches and swallows it with avidity. singularities of different nations in eating.--the maldivian islanders eat alone. they retire into the most hidden parts of their houses; when they draw down the cloths that serve as blinds to their windows, that they may eat unobserved. this custom probably arises from the savage, in the early periods of society, concealing himself to eat, from a fear that another with as sharp an appetite, but possessing more bodily strength than himself, should come and ravish his meal from him. the powerful ideas of witchcraft, too, are widely spread among barbarians; and they are not a little fearful that some incantation may be made use of while devouring their victuals. in noticing the solitary meal of the maldivian islander, another reason may be alleged for this misanthropical repast. they never will eat with any one who is inferior to them in birth, in riches, or in dignity; and as it is a difficult matter to settle this equality, they are condemned to lead this unsociable life. on the contrary, the islanders of the philippines are remarkably sociable. whenever one of them finds himself without a companion to partake of his meal, he runs till he meets with one; and we are assured, that, however keen his appetite may be, he ventures not to satisfy it without a guest. the tables of the rich chinese shine with a beautiful varnish, and are covered with silk carpets very elegantly worked. they do not make use of plates, or knives and forks: every guest has two little ivory or ebony sticks, which he handles very adroitly. the otaheiteans, who are lovers of society, and very gentle in their manners, feed separately from each other. at the hour of repast, the members of each family divide; two brothers, two sisters, and even husband and wife, father and mother, have each their respective basket. they place themselves at the distance of two or three yards from each other; they turn their backs to their companions, and take their meal in profound silence. various are the opinions and customs of mankind with respect to female beauty and ornaments,--as will be perceived from the following prejudices of different nations. the ladies in japan gild their teeth; and those of the indies paint them red. the blackest teeth are esteemed the most beautiful in guzerat, and in some parts of america. in greenland the women colour their faces with blue and yellow; and a muscovite lady would consider her beauty incomplete, unless she were plastered over with paint, however prodigal nature may have been in her gifts. the chinese must have their feet as diminutive as those of the she-goats, and to render them thus, their youth is passed in tortures. in ancient persia, an aquiline nose was often thought worthy of the crown; and if there was any competition between two princes, the people generally went by this criterion of majesty. in some countries, the mothers break the noses of their children; and others press the head between two boards, that it may become square. the modern persians have a strong aversion to red hair: the turks, on the contrary, are warm admirers of it. the indian beauty is thickly smeared with bear's fat; while the female hottentot regrets not the absence of silks and wreaths of flowers, if she can but receive from the hand of her lover the warm entrails and reeking tripe of animals he has just slaughtered, that she may deck herself with these enviable ornaments. in china, small eyes are liked; and the girls are continually plucking their eyebrows, that they may be small and long. the turkish women dip a gold brush in the tincture of a black drug, which they pass over their eyebrows. this is too visible by day, but it looks shining by night. they also tinge their nails with a rose colour. an ornament for the nose appears to us perfectly unnecessary. the peruvians, however, think otherwise; and they hang on it a weighty ring, the thickness of which is regulated by the rank of their husbands. the custom of boring the nose, as our ladies do their ears, is very common in several nations. through the perforation are hung various materials; such as green crystal, gold, stones, a single and sometimes a great number of gold rings, which become at times rather troublesome to them. the female head-dress is carried in some countries to singular extravagance. the chinese fair carries on her head the figure of a certain bird. this bird is composed of copper or of gold, according to the quality of the person: the wings spread out, fall over the front of the head-dress, and conceal the temples; the tail, long and open, forms a beautiful tuft of feathers; the beak covers the top of the nose; the neck is fastened to the body of the artificial animal by a spring, that it may the more freely play, and tremble at the slightest motion. the extravagance of the myantses is far more ridiculous than the above. they carry on their heads a slight board, rather longer than the foot, and about six inches broad: with this they cover their hair, and seal it with wax. they cannot lie down, nor lean, without keeping the neck very straight; and the country being very woody, it is not uncommon to find them with their head-dress entangled in the trees. whenever they comb their hair, they pass an hour by the fire in melting the wax; but this combing is only performed once or twice a year. to this curious account, extracted from duhalde, we must join that of the inhabitants of the land of natal. they wear caps or bonnets, from six to ten inches high, composed of the fat of oxen. they then gradually anoint the head with a purer grease, which mixing with the hair, fastens these bonnets for their lives. the reader will be amused with the following account of the various modes of salutation.--when men, says the compiler of _l'esprit des usages et des coutumes_, salute each other in an amicable manner, it signifies little whether they move a particular part of the body, or practise a particular ceremony. in these actions there must exist different customs. every nation imagines it employs the most reasonable ones. this infinite number of ceremonies may be reduced to two kinds; to reverences or salutations, and to the touch of some part of the human body. modes of salutation have very different characters, and it is not uninteresting to examine their shades. many display a refinement of delicacy; while others are remarkable for their simplicity, or sensibility. the islanders near the philippines take the hand or foot of him they salute, and with it they gently rub their face. the laplanders apply their nose strongly against that of the persons they salute. dampier says, that at new guinea they are satisfied in placing on their heads the leaves of trees, which have ever passed for symbols of friendship and peace. other salutations are very incommodious: it requires great practice to enable a man to be polite in an island in the straits of the sound. houtman tells us, "they raised his left foot, which they passed gently over the right leg, and thence over his face." the inhabitants of the philippines bend their bodies very low, in placing their hands on their cheeks, and raising at the same time one foot in the air, with their knee bent. an ethiopian takes the robe of another, and ties it about his own waist, so that he leaves his friend half naked. this custom of undressing takes other forms: sometimes men place themselves naked before the person whom they salute, to show their humility, and that they are unworthy of a covering in his presence. this was practised before sir joseph banks, when he received the visit of two otaheitan ladies. their innocent simplicity did not appear immodest in the eyes of the _virtuoso_. sometimes they only undress partially. the japanese only take off a slipper; the people of arracan their sandals in the street, and their stockings in the house. the grandees of spain claim the right of appearing covered before the king, to shew that they are not so much subjected to him as the rest of the nation. snelgrave gives an odd representation of the embassy which the king of dahomy sent to him. the ceremonies of salutations consisted in the most ridiculous contortions. when two negro monarchs visit, they salute by snapping three times the middle finger. barbarous nations frequently imprint on their salutations their character. when the inhabitants of carmena (says athenæus) would shew a peculiar mark of esteem, they breathed a vein, and presented for the beverage of their friend the blood as it issued. the franks tore hair from their head, and presented it to the person whom they saluted. the slave cut his hair, and offered it to his master. the chinese are singularly affected in their personal civilities: they even calculate the number of their reverences. the men move their hands in an affectionate manner, while they are joined together on their breast, and bow their head a little. if two persons meet after a long separation, they both fall on their knees and bend their faces to the earth, and this they repeat two or three times. they substitute artificial ceremonies for natural actions. their expressions mean as little as their ceremonies. if a chinese is asked how he finds himself in health? he answers, "very well, thanks to your abundant felicity." if they would tell a man that he looks well, they say, "prosperity is painted on your face;" or, "your air announces your happiness." all these and many other answers are prescribed by the chinese academy of compliments. there are determined the number of bows, the expressions to be employed, the genuflections, and the inclinations to be made to the right or left hand, the salutations of the master before the chair, where the stranger is to be seated, for he salutes it most profoundly, and wipes the dust away with the skirts of his robe. the lower class of people are equally nice in these punctilios; and ambassadors pass forty days in practising them before they can appear at court. a tribunal of ceremonies has been erected, and every day very odd decrees are issued, to which the chinese most religiously submit. the marks of honour are frequently arbitrary: to be seated, with us, is a mark of repose and familiarity; to stand up, that of respect. there are countries, however, in which princes will only be addressed by persons who are seated, and it is considered as a favour to be permitted to stand in their presence. this custom prevails in despotic countries: a despot cannot suffer, without disgust, the elevated figure of his subjects; he is pleased to bend their bodies with their genius; his presence must lay those who behold him prostrate on the earth; he desires no eagerness, no attention; he would only inspire terror. we shall next give an account of the maiden.--this term is applied to an ancient english custom, or, more properly, to an instrument for beheading criminals; of the use and form of which mr. pennant gives the following account: "it seems to have been confined to the limits of the forest of hardwick, or the eighteen towns and hamlets within its precincts. the time when this custom took place is unknown; whether earl warren, lord of this forest, might have established it among the sanguinary laws then in use against the invaders of the hunting rights, or whether it might not take place after the woollen manufactures at halifax began to gain strength, is uncertain. the last is very probable, for the wild country around the town was inhabited by a lawless set, whose depredations on the cloth-tenters might soon stifle the efforts of infant industry. for the protection of trade, and for the greater terror of offenders by speedy execution, this custom seems to be established, so as at last to receive the force of law, which was 'that if a felon be taken within the liberty of the forest of hardwick, with goods stolen out, or within the said precincts, either handhaband, backberand, or confessioned, to the value of thirteen-pence-halfpenny, he shall, after three market days, or meeting days, within the town of halifax, next after such his apprehension, and being condemned, be taken to the gibbet, and there have his head cut from his body.' the offender had always a fair trial; for as soon as he was taken, he was brought to the lord's bailiff, at halifax: he was then exposed to the three markets, (which here were held thrice in a week,) placed in the stocks, with the goods stolen on his back, or, if the theft was of the cattle kind, they were placed by him; and this was done both to strike terror into others, and to produce new informations against him. "the bailiff then summoned four freeholders of each town within the forest, to form a jury. the felon and prosecutors were brought face to face; and the goods, the cow, or horse, or whatsoever was stolen, produced. if he was found guilty, he was remanded to prison, had a week's time allowed for preparation, and then was conveyed to this spot, where his head was struck off with this machine. i should have premised, that if the criminal, either on apprehension, or in the way of execution, should escape out of the limits of the forest, (part being close to the town,) the bailiff had no further power over him; but if he should be caught within the precincts at any time after, he was immediately executed on his former sentence. "this privilege was very freely used during the reign of elizabeth; the records before that time are lost. twenty-five suffered in her reign, and at least twelve from to ; after which, i believe, the privilege was no more exerted. "this machine of death is now destroyed; but i saw one of the same kind in a room under the parliament-house at edinburgh, where it was introduced by the regent morton, who took a model of it as he passed through halifax, and at length suffered by it himself. it is in form of a painter's easel, and about ten feet high: at four feet from the bottom is a cross bar, on which the felon lays his head, which is kept down by another placed above. in the inner edges of the frames are grooves; in these is placed a sharp axe, with a vast weight of lead, supported at the very summit with a peg: to that peg is fastened a cord, which the executioner cutting, the axe falls, and does the affair effectually, without suffering the unhappy criminal to undergo a repetition of strokes, as has been the case in the common method. i must add, that if the sufferer is condemned for stealing a horse or a cow, the string is tied to the beast, which, on being whipped, pulls out the peg, and becomes the executioner." this apparatus is now in possession of the scottish antiquarian society. lady of the lamb.--at kidlington, in oxfordshire, there is a custom, that on the next monday after whitsun-week, there is a fat live lamb provided, and the maids of the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, run after it; and she that with her mouth takes and holds the lamb, is declared lady of the lamb,--which being dressed by the butcher, with the skin hanging on, is carried on a long pole before the lady and her companions to the green, attended with music, and a morisco-dance of men, and another of women, where the rest of the day is spent in dancing, mirth, and merry glee. the next day the lamb is part baked, boiled, and roasted, for the lady's feast; where she sits majestically, at the upper end of the table, and her companions with her, with music and other attendants, which ends the ceremony. the following is a curious custom respecting catching a hare.--they have an ancient custom at coleshill, in the county of warwick, that if the young men of the town can catch a hare, and bring it to the parson of the parish, before ten of the clock on easter monday, the parson is bound to give them a calf's head, and an hundred of eggs for their breakfast, and a groat in money. this chapter concludes with an account of an extraordinary ancient custom.--a court, called lawless court, is held annually on kingshill, at rochford, in essex, on wednesday morning next after michaelmas-day, at cock-crowing, at which court the whole of the business is transacted in a whisper; no candle is allowed in the court, nor any pen and ink, but the proceedings are written with a piece of charcoal; and he that holds suit and service there, and does not appear, forfeits double the amount of his rent to the lord of the manor this court is mentioned by camden, who says, "the servile attendance was imposed on the tenants for conspiring at the like unseasonable time to raise a commotion." it belongs to the honour of raleigh, and is called lawless, because held at an unlawful hour, or, _quia dicta sine lege_. chap. lx. curiosities respecting the customs of mankind.--(_continued._) _marriage ceremonies of different nations--marriage custom of the japanese--bacon flitch custom at dunmow, essex--on the origin of rings in general--matrimonial ring--extraordinary marriage custom--hand-fasting._ tho' fools spurn hymen's gentle pow'rs, they who improve his golden hours, by sweet experience know, that marriage, rightly understood, gives to the tender and the good a paradise below. _cotton._ marriage ceremonies of different nations.--marriage ceremonies vary in different countries, and at different times. where the practice is to purchase a wife, whether among savages, or among luxurious people in hot climates, payment of the price completes this marriage, without any other ceremony. other ceremonies, however, are sometimes practised. in old rome, the bride was attended to the bridegroom's house, with a female slave carrying a distaff and a spindle, importing that she ought to spin for the family. among the savages of canada, and of neighbouring countries, a strap, a kettle, and a faggot, are put in the bride's cabin, as symbols of her duty, viz. to carry burdens, to dress victuals, and to provide wood. on the other hand, the bride, in token of her slavery, takes her axe, cuts wood, bundles it up, and lays it before the door of the bridegroom's hut. all the salutation she receives is, "it is time to go to rest." the inhabitants of sierra leone, on the coast of africa, have in all their towns a boarding-school, where young ladies are educated for a year, under the care of a venerable old gentleman. when their education is completed, they are carried in their best attire to a public assembly; which may be termed a matrimonial market, because there young men convene to make a choice. those who fit themselves to their fancy pay the dowry; and, over and above, reward the old superintendant for his extraordinary care in educating the bride. in the island of java, the bride, in token of subjection, washes the bridegroom's feet; and this is a capital ceremony. in russia, the bride presents to the bridegroom a bundle of rods, to be used against her when she deserves to be chastised; and at the same time she pulls off his boots. very different were the manners of peru before the spanish conquest. the bridegroom carried shoes to the bride, and put them on with his own hands; but there, purchasing wives is unknown. marriage ceremonies in lapland are directed by the same principle. it is the custom there, for a man to make presents to his children of rein-deer; and young women who have a large stock of these animals, have lovers in plenty. a young man looks for such a wife at a fair, or at a meeting for paying taxes. being solicitous, in particular, to have an eloquent pleader, he carries to the house of the young woman some of his relations. they are all admitted except the lover, who must wait till he be called in. after drinking some spirits, brought with them for the purpose, the spokesman addresses the father in humble terms, bowing the knee, as if he were introduced to a prince. he styles him the worshipful father, the high and mighty father, the best and most illustrious father, &c. the marriage ceremonies among the hottentots are of a singular nature. after all matters are adjusted among the old people, the young couple are shut up by themselves; and pass the night in struggling for superiority, which proves a very serious work, where the bride is reluctant. if she persevere to the last without yielding, the young man is discarded; but, if he prevail, which commonly happens, the marriage is completed by another ceremony, no less singular. the men and women squat on the ground in different circles, the bridegroom in the centre of one, and the bride in the centre of another, where ceremonies of a most indelicate nature take place. the ceremonies among the present greeks are no less remarkable. among other particulars, the bridegroom and bride walk three rounds; during which they are kicked and cuffed heartily. tournefort adds, that he only and his companions forbore to join in the ceremony; which was ascribed to their rusticity, and ignorance of polite manners. marriage ceremonies among the kamtschadales are extremely whimsical. a young man, after making his proposals, enters into the presence of his intended father-in-law. if he prove agreeable, he is admitted to the trial of the touch. the young woman is swaddled up in leathern thongs, and in that condition is put under the guard of some old women. watching every opportunity of a slack guard, he endeavours to uncase her, in order to touch what is always the most concealed. the bride must resist, in appearance at least; and therefore cries out for her guards, who fall with fury on the bridegroom, tear his hair, scratch his face, and act in violent opposition. the attempts of the lover sometimes prove unsuccessful for months; but the moment the touch is achieved, the bride testifies her satisfaction, by pronouncing the word _ni_, _ni_, with a soft and loving voice. the next night they associate together without any opposition. one marriage ceremony among the island negroes is singular. as soon as preliminaries are adjusted, the bridegroom, with a number of his companions, set out at night, and surround the house of the bride, as if intending to carry her off by force. she and her female attendants, pretending to make all possible resistance, cry aloud for help, but no person appears. this resembles strongly a marriage ceremony that is, or was, customary in wales. on the morning of the wedding-day, the bridegroom, accompanied with his friends on horseback, demands the bride. her friends, who are likewise on horseback, give a positive refusal; upon which a mock scuffle ensues. the bride, mounted behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off, and is pursued by the bridegroom and his friends, with loud shouts. it is not uncommon on such an occasion to see two or three hundred sturdy cambro-britons riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small amusement of the spectators. when they have fatigued themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered to overtake his bride. he leads her away in triumph, and the scene is concluded with feasting and festivity. the same marriage ceremony was usual in muscovy, lithuania, and livonia, as reported by olaus magnus. marriage custom of the japanese.--a very singular custom at the marriages of the japanese, is, that the teeth of the bride are made black by some corrosive liquid. the teeth remain black ever after, and serve to shew that a woman is married, or a widow. another circumstance is, at the birth of every child, to plant a tree in a garden or court-yard, which attains its full growth in as many years as a man requires to be mature for the duties of marriage. when he marries, the tree is cut down, and the wood is made into chests and boxes, to contain the clothes and other things which are made for the new-married couple. the japanese may marry as often as they please: marriages with sisters are prohibited, but they can marry any other relative. bacon flitch custom at dunmow, essex.--many persons who are so often jocular about a certain "flitch of bacon," with those who are supposed to be in a much happier state than themselves, are not always familiar with the origin of this institution, and with the whimsical rhyming oath to be taken with the flitch. old fuller has preserved it, in his very scarce work of the worthies; and it will probably amuse those who have more wit than reading on this occasion. the celebrated flitch of bacon of dunmow, in essex, which can only be claimed, without perjury, by a select few in the married state, was a jocular institution by the monks of a monastery, in the priory of dunmow, in essex. fuller observes, that these mortified men would be mirthful at times, as hereby may appear.-- "any person from any part of england, coming hither, and humbly kneeling on two stones at the church door (which are yet to be seen,) before the priory or convent, might demand a gammon or flitch of bacon, upon the solemn taking of the prescribed oath." the following is a copy of the register of the form and ceremony observed on a claim made more than a century ago, to this flitch of bacon, by william parsley, of much-easton, and jane, his wife. dunmow, nuper.--"at a court baron of the priorat' right worshipful sir thomas may, knight, there holden upon friday the seventh of june, in the thirteenth year of the reign of our sovereign lord william iii. by the grace of god, &c. and in the year of our lord, , before thomas wheeler, gent steward of the said manor. it is thus enrolled:-- {"elizabeth beaumont, spinster,} {henrietta beaumont, spinster, } homage. {annabella beaumont, spinster, } jurat. {jane beaumont, spinster, } {mary wheler, spinster, } "be it remembered, that at this court, in full and open court, it is found, and presented by the homage aforesaid, that william parsley, of much-easton, in the county of essex, butcher, and jane his wife, have been married for the space of three years the last past, and upward; and it is likewise found, presented, and adjudged, by the homage aforesaid, that the said william parsley, and jane his wife, by means of their quiet, peaceable, tender, and loving cohabitation, for the space of time aforesaid, (as appears by the said homage,) are fit and qualified persons to be admitted by the court to receive the ancient and accustomed oath, whereby to entitle themselves to have the bacon of dunmow delivered unto them, according to the custom of the manor. "whereupon, at this court, in full and open court, came the said william parsley, and jane his wife, in their proper persons, and humbly prayed, they might be admitted to take the oath aforesaid; whereupon the said steward, with the jury, suitors, and other officers of the court, proceeded, with the usual solemnity, to the ancient and accustomed place for the administration of the oath and receiving the gammon aforesaid, (that is to say) the two great stones lying near the church door, within the said manor; where the said william parsley, and jane his wife, kneeling down on the said two stones, and the said steward did administer unto them the above-mentioned oath in these words, or to this effect following, viz. you do swear by custom of confession. that you ne'er made nuptial transgression; nor since you were married man and wife, by household brawls, or contentious strife, or otherwise, in bed or at board, offended each other in deed or in word; or in a twelve months' time and a day, repented not in thought any way; or since the church clerk said amen, wish'd yourselves unmarried again; but continue true, and in desire as when you join'd hands in holy quire. "and immediately thereupon, the said william parsley, and jane his wife, claiming the same gammon of bacon, the court pronounced the sentence for the same, in these words, or to the effect following: since to these conditions, without any fear, of your own accord you do freely swear, a whole gammon of bacon you do receive, and bear it away with love and good leave, for this is the custom of dunmow well known;-- though the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own. "and accordingly a gammon of bacon was delivered unto the said william parsley, and jane his wife, with the usual solemnity. "examined per thomas wheeler, steward. the same day a gammon was delivered to mr. reynolds, steward to sir charles barington, of hatfield, broad oak." the origin of rings in general.--the origin of rings, their matter and uses, together with the supposed virtue of the precious stones set in them, afford a subject well deserving the notice of the curious. according to the accounts of the heathen mythology, prometheus, who in the first times had discovered a great number of secrets, having been delivered from the chains by which he was fastened to mount caucasus for stealing fire from heaven; in memory or acknowledgment of the favour he received from jupiter, made himself, of one of those chains, a ring, in whose collet he represented the figure of part of the rock where he had been detained, or rather, as pliny says, set in it a bit of the same rock, and put it on his finger. this was the first ring, and the first stone. but we otherwise learn that the use of rings is very ancient, and that the egyptians were the first inventors of them; which seems confirmed by the history of joseph, who, as we read in genesis, chap. xli. for having interpreted pharaoh's dream, received not only his liberty, but was rewarded with this prince's ring, and the superintendency of egypt. josephus, in the third book of the jewish antiquities, says, the israelites had the use of them after passing the red sea, because moses, on his return from mount sinai, found that they had forged the golden calf from their wives' rings. the same moses (which was upwards of four hundred years before the wars of troy) permitted the priests to have established the use of gold rings, enriched with precious stones. the high-priest wore upon his ephod, which was a kind of camaieu, rings, that served him as clasps; a large emerald was set, and engraved with mysterious names. the ring he wore on his finger was of estimable value and celestial virtue. had not aaron, the high priest of the hebrews, a ring on his finger, whereof the diamond, by its virtue, operated prodigious things? for it changed its vivid lustre into a dark colour, when the hebrews were to be punished by death for their sins: when they were to fall by the sword, it appeared of a blood colour; if they were innocent, it sparkled as usual. it is observable, that the ancient hebrews used rings in the time even of the war of troy. queen jezebel, to destroy nabath, as it is related in the first book of kings, made use of the ring of ahab, king of the israelites, her husband, to seal the counterfeit letters that ordered the death of that unfortunate man. did not judah, as mentioned in the thirty-eighth chapter of genesis, deceive his daughter-in-law tamar, (who had disguised herself,) by giving her his ring and bracelets as a pledge of the faith he had promised her? though homer is silent in regard to rings both in his iliad and odyssey, they were, notwithstanding, used in the time of the greeks and trojans; and it is from them that several other nations received them. the lacedemonians, as related by alexander ab alexandro, pursuant to the orders of their king lycurgus, had only iron rings, despising those of gold; probably because their king was willing thereby to retrench luxury, and discourage the use of effeminate ornaments among his subjects, as inconsistent with the manly plainness of spartan virtue. the ring was reputed, by some nations, a symbol of liberality, esteem, and friendship, particularly among the persians, none being permitted to wear any, except given to him from the king himself. this is what may also be remarked in the person of apollonius thyaneus, who, as a token of singular esteem and great liberality, received one from the great jarchas, prince of the gymnosophists, who were the ancient priests of the indies, and dwelt in forests, as our bards and druids, where they applied themselves to the study of wisdom, and to the speculation of the heavens and stars. this philosopher, by the means of that ring, learned every day the greatest secrets in nature. though the ring found by gyges, shepherd to the king of lydia, has more of fable than truth in it, it will not, however, be amiss to relate what is said concerning herodotus, cælius after plato, and cicero, in the third book of his offices. this gyges, after a great flood, passed into a very deep cavity in the earth, where having found, in the belly of a brasen horse, with a large aperture in it, a human body of enormous size, he pulled from off one of the fingers, a ring of surprising virtue; for the stone on the collet rendered him who wore it invisible, when the collet was turned towards the palm of the hand; so that the party could see, without being seen, all manner of persons and things. gyges, having made trial of its efficacy, bethought himself that it would be a means for ascending the throne of lydia, and for gaining the queen by it. he succeeded in his designs, having killed candaules, her husband. the dead body this ring belonged to was that of an ancient brahmin, who in his time was chief of all. the rings of the ancients often served for seals. alexander the great, after the defeat and death of darius, used his ring for sealing the letters he sent into asia, and his own for those he sent to europe. it was customary in rome for the bridegroom to send the bride, before marriage, a ring of iron, without either stone or collet, to denote how lasting their union ought to be, and the frugality they were to observe together; but luxury herein soon gained ground, and there was a necessity of moderating it. caius marius did not wear one of gold till his third consulship: and tiberius, as suetonius says, made some regulation in the authority of wearing rings; for besides the liberty of birth, he required a considerable revenue, both on the father and grandfather's side. in the preceding dissertation we have anticipated the matrimonial ring, therefore our further observations need be but few. swinburne says, the iron ring was adorned with an adamant; the metal hard and durable, signifying the duration and prosperity of the contract. "howbeit," he says, "it skilleth not at this day what metal the ring be of. the form of it being found, and without end, doth import that their love should circulate and flow continually. the finger on which this ring is to be worn, is the fourth finger on the left hand, next unto the little finger, because there was supposed a vein of blood to pass from thence into the heart." we shall conclude this chapter with an account of an ancient custom, called hand-fasting. this custom formerly took place at an annual fair, in the parish of eskdale-muir, in dumfriesshire, thus described by the rev. w. brown, in his statistical account of that parish: "at that fair it was the custom for the unmarried persons of both sexes, to choose companions with whom they were to live till that time next year. if they were pleased with each other at that time, then they continued together for life; if not, they separated, and were free to make another choice, as at first. the fruit of their connection, if there were any, was always attached to the disaffected person. a priest, whom they named book-i'-bosom, (because he carried in his bosom a bible, or a register of the marriages,) came from time to time to confirm the marriages." mr. brown traces this custom from the romans.--see _sir j. sinclair's statistical account_, vol. xii. p. . chap. lxi. curiosities respecting the customs of mankind.--(_continued._) _funeral ceremonies of the ancient ethiopians--funeral ceremonies of the chinese--ancient funeral ceremonies of the dajakkese--ancient modes of mourning--feasts among the ancients of various nations--feast of lanterns._ funeral ceremonies of the ancient ethiopians.--the ethiopians had very particular ceremonies in their funerals. according to ctesias, after having salted the bodies, they put them into a hollow statue of gold, which resembled the deceased, and are placed in a niche, on a pillar set up for that purpose. the remains of the richest ethiopians were thus honoured: the bodies of those of the next class were contained in silver statues; the poor were enshrined in statues of earthenware. herodotus informs us, that the nearest relations of the dead kept the body a year in their houses, and offered sacrifice and first-fruits during that time to their deceased friend; and at the end of the year, they fixed the corpse in a place set apart for the purpose near their town. the inhabitants of the country above meroè had various methods of paying respect to their deceased friends. some threw their bodies into the river, thinking that the most honourable sepulchre. others kept them in their houses in niches, thinking that their children would be stimulated to virtuous deeds by the sight of their ancestors; and that grown people, by the same objects, would retain their parents in their memories. others put their dead bodies into coffins of earthenware, and buried them near their temples. to swear with their hand laid upon a corpse, was their most sacred and inviolable oath. funeral ceremonies or the chinese.--the funeral ceremonies are considered by the chinese as the most important of any. a few moments after a person has expired, he is dressed out in his richest attire, and adorned with every badge of his dignity; after which he is placed in the coffin. the preparation of a coffin, in which his body may be inclosed after death, is one of the chief objects of attention to a chinese during his life, and great expense is often thrown away upon it; insomuch that the poor will give all they are worth, and the rich expend one thousand crowns; nay, a son will sell himself for a slave, to purchase a coffin for his father. sometimes the coffin, when purchased with all this labour and expense, will remain twenty years useless in the family; but it is considered as the most valuable piece of furniture in his possession. the manner of interment is as follows:--first, they sprinkle some lime in the bottom of the coffin; then they lay the body in it, taking care to place the head on a pillow, and to add a great deal of cotton, that it may remain steady. the body remains thus exposed seven days; but the time may be reduced to three, if any weighty reason makes it necessary; and, during this interval, all the relations and friends, who are purposely invited, come and pay their respects to the deceased, the nearest relations remaining in the house. the coffin is exposed in the hall of ceremony, which is then hung with white, but some pieces of black or violet-coloured silk are here and there interspersed, as well as some other ornaments of mourning. before the coffin is placed a table, on which stands the image of the deceased, or a carved ornament inscribed with his name; and these are always accompanied with flowers, perfumes, and lighted wax candles. in the mean time, those who enter the hall salute the deceased, as if still in life. they prostrate themselves before the table, and knock their foreheads several times against the earth; after which they place on the table some perfumes and wax candles. their salutations are returned by the eldest son, accompanied by his brothers. the latter come forth from behind a curtain, which hangs on one side of the coffin, creeping along the ground until they reach the spot where those stand whom they are going to salute; after which, they return without rising up. the women are also concealed behind the same curtain, from whence they every now and then send forth dismal cries. the funeral procession at last commences. a troop of men march in a file, carrying different figures made of pasteboard, and representing slaves, lions, tigers, horses, &c. others follow, marching in two files; some of whom carry standards, some flags, or censers filled with perfumes; while melancholy and plaintive airs are played by others, on musical instruments. these musicians immediately precede the coffin, which is covered with a canopy, in form of a dome, of violet-coloured silk: its four corners are ornamented with tufts of white silk, neatly embroidered, and covered at the top with net-work. the coffin is placed on the bottom of this machine, and is carried by sixty-four men. the eldest son, clothed in a frock of canvass, having his body bent, and leaning on a staff, follows near the coffin; and behind him his brothers and nephews, but none of them clothed in canvass. then come the relations and friends, all clad in mourning, and followed by a great number of chairs, covered with white stuff, containing the wives and female slaves of the deceased. these make great show of sorrow, by doleful, yet methodical cries. when they arrive at the burying-place, the coffin is deposited in a tomb appropriated for it, not far from which there are tables arranged in different halls, on which the assistants are entertained with great splendour. the entertainment is sometimes followed by fresh marks of homage to the corpse; but these are often changed into thanks to the eldest son, who, however, answers only by signs. but if the deceased was a grandee of the empire, a certain number of his relations do not leave the tomb for a month or two; but reside in apartments provided for them, and every day renew their marks of grief, with the children of the deceased. the magnificence of these funeral ceremonies is proportioned to the wealth or dignity of the deceased. that of one of the brothers of the emperor, was attended by sixteen thousand people, each of whom had a particular office assigned him relating to the ceremony. mourning continues in china for three years; during all which time they must abstain from flesh and wine, nor can they assist at any entertainment, or attend any public assembly. at first they are not even permitted to go abroad; and when they do so, they are carried in a chair, covered with a white cloth. sometimes the filial piety of the chinese is carried to such a length, that they preserve the bodies of their fathers in their houses for three or four years, and impose upon themselves a great number of other duties, using no other seat during the day, but a stool covered with a white serge, and no other bed but a plain mat made of reeds, which is placed near the coffin. funeral and marriage ceremonies of the dajakkese inhabitants of borneo.--the corpse is placed in a coffin, and remains in the house till the son, the father, or the nearest of blood, can procure or purchase a slave, who is beheaded at the time that the corpse is burnt, in order that he may become the slave of the deceased in the next world. the ashes of the deceased are then placed in an earthen urn, on which various figures are exhibited; and the head of the slave is dried, and prepared in a peculiar manner with camphor and drugs, and deposited near it. it is said that this practice often induces them to purchase a slave guilty of some capital crime, at five-fold his value, in order that they may be able to put him to death on such occasions. _marriage ceremonies._--nobody can be permitted to marry till he can present a human head of some other tribe to his proposed bride, in which case she is not permitted to refuse him. it is not, however, necessary that this should be obtained entirely by his own personal prowess. when a person is determined to go a head-hunting, as it is often a very dangerous service, he consults with his friends and acquaintances, who frequently accompany him, or send their slaves along with him. the head-hunter then proceeds with his party in the most cautious manner to the vicinity of the villages of another tribe, and lies in ambush till they surprise some heedless unsuspecting wretch, who is instantly decapitated. sometimes, too, they surprise a solitary fisherman in a river, or on the shore, who undergoes the same fate. when the hunter returns, the whole village is filled with joy, and old and young, men and women, hurry out to meet him, and conduct him with the sound of brasen cymbals, dancing in long lines to the house of the female he admires, whose family likewise come out to greet him with dances, provide him a seat, and give him meat and drink. he still holds the bloody head in his hand, and puts part of the food into its mouth, after which, the females of the family receive the head from him, which they hang up to the ceiling over the door. if a man's wife die, he is not permitted to make proposals of marriage to another, till he has provided another head of a different tribe, as if to revenge the death of his deceased wife. the heads procured in this manner, they preserve with great care, and sometimes consult in divination. the religious opinions connected with this practice, are by no means correctly understood. some assert, that they believe that every person whom a man kills in this world, becomes his slave in the next. the idaan, it is said, think that the entrance into paradise is over a long tree, which serves for a bridge, over which it is impossible to pass without the assistance of a slave slain in this world. the practice of stealing heads causes frequent wars among the different tribes of the idaan. many persons never can obtain a head, in which case they are generally despised by the warriors and the women. to such a height is it carried, however, that a person who had obtained eleven heads, has been seen by mr. burn; and he pointed out his son, a young lad, who had procured three. ancient modes of mourning.--amongst the ancient jews, on the death of their relations or intimate friends, mourning was expressed by weeping, tearing their clothes, smiting their breasts, or lacerating them with their nails, pulling or cutting off their hair and beards, walking softly, i. e. barefoot, lying upon the ground, fasting, or eating upon the ground. they kept themselves close shut up in their houses, covered their faces, and abstained from all work, even reading the law, and saying their usual prayers. they neither dressed themselves, nor made their beds, nor cut their nails, nor went into the bath, nor saluted any body. the time of mourning was generally seven days, less or more, according to circumstances, but thirty days were thought sufficient upon the severest occasions. the different periods of the time of mourning required different degrees of grief, and different tokens of it. the greeks, on the death of their friends, shewed their sorrow by secluding themselves from all gaiety, entertainments, games, public solemnities, wine, and music. they sat in gloomy and solitary places, stripped themselves of all external ornaments, put on a coarse black stuff by way of mourning, tore their hair, shaved their heads, rolled themselves in the dust and mire, sprinkled ashes on their heads, smote their breasts with their palms, tore their faces, and frequently cried out with a lamentable voice and drawling tone. at the funerals of soldiers, their fellow soldiers, as a testimony of their affliction, held their shields, their spears, and the rest of their armour, inverted. the tokens of private grief among the romans, were the same as those among the greeks. black or dark brown were the colours of the mourning habits worn by the men; they were also common to the women. the mourning of the emperors at first was black. in the time of augustus, the women wore white veils, and the rest of their dress was black. from the time of domitian, they wore nothing but white habits, without any ornaments of gold, jewels, or pearls. the men let their hair and beards grow, and wore no wreaths of flowers on their heads, while the days of mourning continued. the longest time of mourning was ten months: this was numa's establishment, and took in his whole year. for a widow to marry during this time, was infamous. mourning was not used for children who died under three years of age. from this age to ten, they mourned as many months as the child was years old. a remarkable victory, or other happy event, occasioned the shortening of the time of mourning. the birth of a child, or the attainment of any remarkable honour in the family, certain feasts in honour of the gods, or the consecration of a temple, had the same effect. after the defeat at cannæ, the commonwealth decreed that mourning should not be worn for more than thirty days, that the loss might be forgot as soon as possible. when public magistrates died, or persons of great note, also when any remarkable calamity happened, all public meetings were intermitted, the schools of exercise, baths, shops, temples, and all places of concourse, were shut up, and the whole city put on a face of sorrow; the senators laid aside the _laticlave_, and the consuls sat in a lower seat than ordinary. this was the custom of athens also, and was observed upon the death of socrates, when the fickle athenians became sensible of the calamity their state had suffered in the loss of that great and virtuous man. the modes of mourning differ in various countries, as well as the colours used for that end. in europe, the ordinary colour for mourning is black; in china, it is white; in turkey, blue or violet; in egypt, yellow; in ethiopia, brown. white obtained formerly in castile, on the death of their princes. herrera observes, that the last time it was used was in , at the death of prince john. each people assign their reasons for the particular colour of their mourning: white is supposed to denote purity; yellow, that death is the end of human hopes, in regard that leaves when they fall, and flowers when they fade, become yellow; brown denotes the earth, whither the dead return; black, the privation of light; blue expresses the happiness which it is hoped the deceased does enjoy; and purple or violet, sorrow on the one side, and hope on the other, as being a mixture of black and blue. feasts among the ancients of various nations.--all nations, whether savage or civilized, have regarded the pleasures of the table as the occasion of the most agreeable society. this species of enjoyment (abstracted from its susceptibility of abuse) makes but one family of all that it brings together. it levels the distinctions introduced by policy or prejudice, and disposes men to regard one another as brethren. here people feel the equality established by nature; here they forget the evils of life; extinguish their animosities, and drop their enmities. for this reason aristotle considers as a breach of the social principle, that custom of the egyptians of eating apart, and praises the convivial repasts established by minos and lycurgus. we learn from herodotus, that the ancients had neither cups nor bowls at their feasts, but that they drank out of little horns tipt with silver or gold. the greeks and romans kept a domestic, for the purpose of reading during their meals and feasts. sometimes the chief of the family himself performed the office of reader; and history informs us, that the emperor severus often read while his family ate. the time of reading was generally at supper; and guests were invited to a reading as they are now-a-days to play at cards. the greeks, in their flourishing times, did not profane, (according to their own expression) the holiness of the table, but rather adorned it with ingenious and elegant conversation: they proposed moral topics, of which plutarch has preserved a collection. heroes rarely assembled convivially, without bringing affairs of consequence into discourse, or deliberating upon those that regarded either present events or future contingencies. the scythians, while at meat, used to make the strings of their bows resound, lest their warlike virtues might be enfeebled or lost in the season of pleasure. people of rank among the rhodians, by a fundamental law of the state, were obliged to dine daily with those who had the management of affairs, in order to deliberate with them concerning such things as were necessary or useful for the country; and on this account the principal ministers of the kingdom were obliged to keep open table for all who could be of use to the state. the persians also generally deliberated on business at table, but never determined, or put their determinations in execution, except in the morning before eating. among the romans, the place where they supped was generally the vestibule, that a more retired part of the house might not encourage licentiousness and disorder. there were several laws that restricted their meals to these vestibules. when luxury reigned in rome, they had superb halls for their entertainments. lucullus had many, each of which bore the name of some deity; and this name was a mark which indicated to the servants the expense of the entertainment. the expense of a supper in lucullus's hall of apollo, amounted to fifty thousand drachmas. singers, dancers, musicians, stage-players, jesters, and buffoons, were brought into these halls to amuse the guests. plutarch informs us, that cæsar, after his triumphs, treated the roman people at twenty-two thousand tables; and by calculation it would seem, that there were at these tables upwards of two hundred thousand persons. the hall in which nero feasted, by the circular motion of its walls and ceiling, imitated the revolutions of the heavens, and represented the different seasons of the year, changing at every course, and showering down flowers and perfumes on the guests. the romans did not, as we do, use but one table at their feasts; they had generally two: the first was for the service of animal food, which was afterwards removed, and another introduced with fruits; at this last they sung, and poured out their libations. the greeks and eastern nations had the same custom, and even the jews in their solemn feasts, and at sacrifices. the romans, in the time of nero, had tables made of citron-wood brought from mauritania; they were varnished with purple and gold. dion cassius affirms, that seneca had five hundred of these, which he made use of one after another; and tertullian tells us, that cicero had but one. the romans chose the king of the feast by a throw of the dice. at the conclusion of the feast they drank out of a large cup, as often as there were letters in the names of their mistresses. feasting seems to have been the chief delight of the britons, germans, gauls, and all the other celtic nations; in which they indulged themselves to the utmost, as often as they had opportunity. "among these nations (says m. pellontier, in his _hist. celt._ lib. ii. c. . p. .) there is no public assembly, either for civil or religious purposes, duly held; no birth-day, marriage, or funeral, properly celebrated; no treaty of peace or alliance rightly cemented,--without a great feast." when the germans, says tacitus, wanted to reconcile enemies, to make alliances, to name chiefs, or to treat of war and peace, it was during the repast that they took counsel; a time in which the mind is most open to the impressions of simple truths, or most easily animated to great attempts. these artless people, during the conviviality of the feast, spoke without disguise. next day they weighed the counsels of the former evening: they deliberated at a time when they were not disposed to feign, and took their resolution when they were least liable to be deceived. it was by frequent entertainments of this kind, that the great men or chieftains gained the affections and rewarded the services of their followers; and those who made the greatest feasts were sure to be most popular, and to have the greatest retinue. these feasts, in which plenty was more regarded than elegance, lasted commonly several days, and the guests seldom retired until they had consumed all the provisions and exhausted all the liquors. athenæus describes an entertainment that was given by arcamnes, a very wealthy prince of gaul, which continued a whole year without interruption, and at which all the people of gaul, and even all strangers who passed through that country, were made welcome. at these feasts they sometimes consulted about the most important affairs of state, and formed resolutions relating to peace and war; imagining that men spoke their real sentiments with the greatest freedom, and were apt to form the boldest designs, when their spirits were exhilarated with the pleasures of the table. the conversation at these entertainments very frequently turned on the great exploits, which the guests themselves, or their ancestors, had performed in war; which sometimes occasioned quarrels, and even bloodshed. it was at a feast that the two illustrious british princes, carbar and oscar, quarrelled about their own bravery and that of their ancestors, and fell by mutual wounds.--_ossian_, vol. ii. p. , &c. as to the drink used at those feasts, particularly in britain, it seems probable, that before the introduction of agriculture into the island, mead, or honey diluted with water, was the only strong liquor known to its inhabitants, as it was to many other ancient nations in the same circumstances. this continued to be a favourite beverage among the ancient britons and their posterity, long after they had become acquainted with other liquors, (see _mead_.) after the introduction of agriculture, ale or beer became the most general drink of all the british nations who practised that art, as it had long been of all the celtic people on the continent, (see _ale_.) if the phoenicians or greeks imported any wine into britain, it was only in very small quantities; that liquor being very little known in this island before it was conquered by the romans. the drinking vessels of the gauls, britons, and other celtic nations, were for the most part made of the horns of oxen and other animals; but those of the caledonians consisted of large shells, which are still used by some of their posterity in the highlands of scotland. the dishes in which the meat was served up were either of wood or earthenware, or a kind of baskets made of osiers. these last were most used by the britons, as they very much excelled in the art of making them, both for their own use and for exportation. the guests sat in a circle upon the ground, with a little hay, grass, or the skin of some animal, under them. a low table or stool was set before each person, with the portion of meat allotted to him upon it. in this distribution, they never neglected to set the largest and best pieces before those who were most distinguished for their rank, their exploits, or their riches. every guest took the meat set before him in his hands, and, tearing it with his teeth, fed upon it in the best manner he could. if any one found difficulty in separating any part of his meat with his hands and teeth, he made use of a large knife, that lay in a particular place for the benefit of the whole company. servants, or young boys and girls, the children of the family, stood behind the guests, ready to help them to drink, or any thing they wanted. as the ancient britons greatly excelled, and very much delighted in, music, all their feasts were accompanied with the joys of song, and the music of harps. in the words of ossian, (vol. ii. p. , &c.) "whenever the feast of shells is prepared, the songs of bards arise. the voice of sprightly mirth is heard. the trembling harps of joy are strung. they sing the battles of heroes, or the heaving breasts of love." some of the poems of that illustrious british bard appear to have been composed in order to be sung by the hundred bards of fingal, at the feasts of selma, (see vol. i. p. , .) many of the songs of the bards, which were sung and played at the feasts of the ancient britons, were of a grave and solemn strain, celebrating the brave actions of the guests, or of the heroes of other times; but these were sometimes intermixed with sprightly and cheerful airs, to which the youth of both sexes danced. it has been observed by some authors, that no nation comes near the english in the magnificence of their feasts. those made at our coronations, instalments, consecrations, &c. transcend the belief of foreigners; and yet it is doubted whether those now in use are comparable to the feasts of former ages. william the conqueror, after he was peaceably settled on the throne of england, sent agents into different countries, to collect the most admired and rare dishes for his table; by which means, says john of salisbury, this island, which is naturally productive of plenty and variety of provisions, was overflowed with every thing that could inflame a luxurious appetite. the same writer tells us, that he was present at an entertainment which lasted from three p. m. to midnight, at which delicacies were served up, which had been brought from constantinople, babylon, alexandria, palestine, tripoli, syria, and phoenicia. these delicacies were doubtless very expensive. thomas becket (says his historian fitz-stephen) gave £ , equivalent to £ at present, for one dish of eels. the sumptuous entertainments which the kings of england gave to their nobles and prelates, at the festivals of christmas, easter, and whitsuntide, in which they spent a great part of their revenues, contributed very much to diffuse a taste for profuse and expensive banqueting. it was natural for a proud and wealthy baron to imitate, in his own castle, the entertainments he had seen in the palace of his prince. many of the clergy, too, both seculars and regulars, being very rich, kept excellent tables. the monks of st. swithin's, at winchester, made a formal complaint to henry ii. against their abbot, for taking away three of the dishes they used to have every day at dinner. the monks of canterbury were still more luxurious: for they had at least dishes every day, besides a dessert; and these dishes were dressed with spiceries and sauces, which excited the appetite as well as pleased the taste. great men had some kinds of provisions at their tables, that are not now to be found in britain. when henry ii. entertained his own court, the great officers of his army, with all the kings and great men of ireland, in dublin, at the feast of christmas, a. d. , the irish princes and chieftains were quite astonished at the profusion and variety of provisions which they beheld, and were with difficulty prevailed upon by henry to eat the flesh of cranes, a kind of food to which they had not been accustomed. in the remaining monuments of this period, we meet with the names of several dishes, as _dellegrout_, _maupigyrnum_, _karumpie_, &c. the composition of which is now unknown. the coronation feast of edward iii. cost £ . s. d. equivalent to about £ , of our money. at the installation of ralph, abbot of st. augustine, canterbury, a. d. , guests were entertained with a dinner, consisting of dishes, which cost £ . s. equal in value to £ in our times. "it would require a long treatise (says matthew paris) to describe the astonishing splendour, magnificence, and festivity, with which the nuptials of richard earl of cornwall, and cincia daughter of raymund earl of provence, were celebrated at london, a. d. . to give the reader some idea of it, in a few words, above , dishes were served up at the marriage dinner." the nuptials of alexander iii. of scotland, and the princess margaret of england, were solemnized at york, a. d. , with still greater pomp and profusion. "if i attempted (says m. paris) to display all the grandeur of this solemnity,--the numbers of the noble and illustrious guests,--the richness and variety of the dresses,--the sumptuousness of the feasts,--the multitudes of the minstrels, mimics, and others whose business it was to amuse and divert the company, those of my readers who were not present, would imagine that i was imposing upon their credulity. the following particular will enable them to form a judgment of the whole. the archbishop of york made the king of england a present of fat oxen; which made only one article of provision for the marriage feast, and were all consumed at that entertainment. the marriage feast of henry iv. and his queen, jane of navarre, consisted of six courses; three of flesh and fowl, and three of fish. all these courses were accompanied and adorned with _suttleties_, as they were called. these suttleties were figures in pastry, of men, women, beasts, birds, &c. placed on the table, to be admired, but not touched. each figure had a label affixed to it, containing some wise or witty saying, suited to the occasion of the feast, which was the reason they were called suttleties." the installation feast of george neville, archbishop of york, and chancellor of england, exceeded all others in splendour and expense, and in the number and quality of the guests. the reader may form some idea of this enormous feast, from the following list of provisions prepared for it. in wheat, quarters; in ale, tuns; in wine, tuns; in ypocrasse pipes, ; in oxen, ; in wild bulls, ; in muttons, ; in veals, ; in porks, ; in swans, ; in geese, ; in capons, ; in pigs, ; in plovers, ; in quails, ; in fowls called rees, ; in peacocks, ; in mallards and teals, ; in cranes, ; in kids, ; in chickens, ; in pigeons, ; in conies, ; in bitterns, ; in heronshaws, ; in pheasants, ; in partridges, ; in woodcocks, ; in curlews, ; in egritis, ; in stags, bucks, and roes, and more; in pasties of venison, cold, ; in parted dishes of jellies, ; in plain dishes of jellies, ; in cold tarts, baked, ; in cold custards, baked, ; in hot pasties of venison, ; in hot custards, ; in pikes and breams, ; in porpoises and seals, : spices, sugared delicates, and wafers, plenty. no turkeys are mentioned in this enormous bill of fare, because they were not then known in england. cranes, heronshaws, porpoises, and seals, are seldom seen at modern entertainments. one of the most expensive singularities attending the royal feasts in those days, consisted in what they called _intermeats_. these were representations of battles, sieges, &c. introduced between the courses, for the amusement of the guests. the french excelled in exhibitions of this kind. at a dinner given by charles v. of france to the emperor charles iv. a. d. , the following intermeat was exhibited: a ship, with masts, sails, and rigging, was seen first; she had for colours the arms of the city of jerusalem: godfrey of bouillon appeared upon deck, accompanied by several knights armed cap-a-pié: the ship advanced into the middle of the hall, without the machine which moved it being perceptible. then the city of jerusalem appeared, with all its towers lined with saracens. the ship approached the city; the christians landed, and began to assault, while the besieged made a good defence: several scaling-ladders were thrown down; but at length the city was taken. intermeats at ordinary banquets consisted of certain delicate dishes, introduced between the courses, and designed rather for gratifying the taste, than for satisfying hunger. at those feasts, besides ale and cider, there were great quantities of wine of various kinds. of these, a poet who wrote in the fourteenth century, gives an ample enumeration; wherein he mentions ypocrasse, malespine, algrade, garnade, and other kinds now hardly known. some of these liquors, as ypocrasse, pyment, and claret, were compounded of wine, honey, and spices, of different kinds, and in different proportions. the chapter concludes with the feast of lanterns.--in china, this is a celebrated festival, held from the thirteenth to the sixteenth day of the first month; so called from the immense number of lanterns hung out of the houses and streets; which, it is said, is no less than two hundred millions. on this day are exposed lanterns of all prices, whereof some are said to cost two thousand crowns. some of their grandees retrench somewhat every day out of the regular expenses of their table, dress, equipage, &c. to appear the more magnificent in their lanterns. they are adorned with gilding, sculpture, painting, japanning, &c. and their size is extravagant; some being from twenty-five to thirty feet diameter, representing halls and chambers. two or three such machines together would make handsome houses; so that in china they are able to eat, lodge, receive visits, hold balls, and act plays, in a lantern. to illuminate them, they light up in them an incredible number of torches or lamps, which at a distance have a beautiful effect. in these they exhibit various kinds of shows, to divert the people. besides these enormous lanterns, there is a multitude of smaller ones, each about four feet high, and one and a half broad. chap. lxii. curiosities respecting the customs of mankind.--(_continued._) _origin of the sheriff's counting hobnails--origin of the order of the garter--origin and history of the claim and allowance of the 'benefit of clergy' in criminal convictions--curious tenures--the origin of may poles and garlands--curious custom at oakham--curious practice in north holland._ origin of the sheriff's counting hobnails.--this is not an absurd custom of antiquity, such as nobody knows when it begun, or why it is continued; but it originated from the following circumstances:-- in former times, when money was very scarce, and when we had no larger coin than a penny, the reserved rents or grants of lands or tenements, especially small ones, were usually paid in something that had a reference to the nature of the thing granted, or the occupation of the grantee. the two following extracts from records in the exchequer, with the translation, will clear up the point. "walter de brun mareschallus, de stranda, redit compotum de sex femis equorum, pro habenda quadam placea in parochia st. clementis, ad fabrica quam ibidem locandam."--_mag. rot. . henry iii._ "walter mareschallus, ad crucem lapideam, redit sex ferra equorum cum clavibus, pro quadam fabrica quam de rege tenet in capite ex opposito crucis lapidea."--_memor. . edward i._ "walter le brun, mareshall, or farrier, of the strand, renders six horse-shoes, to have a certain place in the parish of st. clement's, to build a forge there."--_great rolls of the th henry iii._ "walter mareshall, or the farrier at the stone cross, renders six horse-shoes with their nails, for (or as a reserved rent) a certain forge, opposite to the stone cross, which he holds of the king in capite."--_memoranda rolls in the exchequer of the first year of king edward the first._ the first of these points out the beginning, as well as the reason, of the payment of these horse-shoes and nails; for it was to have a piece of ground to build a forge on, therefore that must be the first payment. the nineteenth year of henry the third falls in with , now five hundred and eighty-eight years ago. in process of time, this piece of ground, and buildings on it, came to the mayor and citizens of london; and they, by the sheriffs, have continued to render them into the exchequer annually to this day. the spot where the stone cross once stood had afterwards a maypole erected on it, which many now living can well remember. origin of the order of the garter.--this is variously related by historians. the common and not improbable account is, that the countess of salisbury, happening at a ball to drop her garter, the king took it up, and presented it to her in these words, "_honi soit qui mal y pense_;" i. e. evil to him that evil thinks. this accident gave rise to the order and the motto; it being the spirit of the times to mix love and war together. in the original statutes, however, there is not the least hint of allusion to such a circumstance, farther than is conveyed in the motto.--camden, fern, &c. take the order to have been instituted on occasion of the victory obtained by edward over the french, at the battle of cressy. that prince, says some historians, ordered his garter to be displayed as a signal of battle; in commemoration whereof, he made a garter the principal ornament of the order erected in memory of this signal victory, and the symbol of this indissoluble union of the knights. and they account for the motto, that king edward having laid claim to the kingdom of france, denounced shame and defiance upon him that should dare to _think amiss_ of the just enterprise he had undertaken for recovering his lawful rights to that crown; and that the bravery of those knights whom he had elected into this order was such as would enable him to maintain the quarrel against those that thought ill of it. this interpretation, however, appears to be rather forced.--a still more ancient origin of this order is given in rostel's chronicle, lib. vi. quoted by granger, in the supplement to his biographical history: viz. that it was devised by richard i. at the siege of acre, when he caused twenty-six knights, who firmly stood by him, to wear thongs of blue leather about their legs; and that it was revived and perfected in the nineteenth year of edward iii. origin and history of the claim and allowance of the 'benefit of clergy' in criminal convictions. the following learned dissertation is extracted from 'chitty's practical treatise on the criminal law.' "by far the most important circumstance intervening between conviction and judgment, is the claim and allowance of the _benefit of clergy_, in those cases where it is by law to be granted. it is of course claimed immediately before judgment at the assizes. this is one of the most singular relics of old superstition, and certainly the most important. that, by a mere form, without the shadow of existing reason to support it, the severity of the common law should be tempered, may seem strange to those who have been accustomed to regard our criminal law as a regular fabric, not only attaining great practical benefit, but built upon solid and consistent principles. the _benefit of clergy_ is, no doubt, of great practical advantage, compared to the dreadful list of offences which would otherwise be punished as capital; but it would be well worthy of an enlightened age to forsake such a subterfuge, and at once, without resorting to it, to apportion the degree of suffering to the atrocity and the danger of the crimes. "the history of this singular mode of pardon, if so it can be termed, is both curious and instructive. in the early periods of european civilization, after the final destruction of the roman empire, the church obtained an influence in the political affairs of nations, which threw a peculiar colouring over their original institutions. monarchs who were desirous of atoning for atrocious offences, or of obtaining the sanction of heaven to their projects of ambition, were easily persuaded to confer immunities on the clergy, whom they regarded as the vicegerents of god. presuming on these favours, that aspiring body soon began to claim as a right what had been originally conferred as a boon, and to found their demand to civil exemptions on a divine and indefeasible charter, derived from the text of scripture, "touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." it need exceed no surprise that they were anxious to take advantage of their dominion over the conscience, to exempt themselves from the usual consequences of crime. to the priests, impunity was a privilege of no inconsiderable value. and so successful was the pious zeal to shield those who were dedicated to religion from the consequences of any breach of temporal enactments, that in several countries they obtained complete exemption from all civil liabilities, and declared themselves responsible only to the pope and his ecclesiastical ministers. they erected themselves into an independent community, and even laid the temporal authorities under subjection. nobles were intimidated into vast pecuniary benefactions, and princes trembled at the terrors of spiritual denunciation. in england, however, this authority was always comparatively feeble. the complete exemption of the clergy from secular punishments, though often claimed, was never universally admitted: for repeated objections were made to the demand of the bishop and ordinary to have the clerks remitted to them as soon as they were indicted. at length, however, it was finally settled in the reign of henry vi. that the prisoner should first be arraigned and might then claim the _benefit of the clergy_ as an excuse for pleading, or might demand it after conviction: and the latter of these courses has been almost invariably adopted, to allow the prisoner the chance of a verdict of acquittal. "but if the privileges of the church were less dangerous in england than on the continent, they soon became more extensive. they not only embraced every order of clergymen, but were claimed for every subordinate officer of religious houses, with the numerous classes of their retainers. and so liberal was the application of these dangerous benefits, that, at length, every one who in those days of ignorance was able to read, though not even initiated in holy orders, began to demand them, such reading being deemed evidence of his clerical profession. the privileges of the clergy were recognized and confirmed by statute in the reign of edward the third. it was then enacted, that all manner of clerks, secular as well as religious, should enjoy the privileges of holy church for all treasons or felonies except those immediately affecting his majesty. to the advantage of this provision, all who could read were admitted. but as learning became more common, this extensive interpretation was found so injurious to the security of social life, that the legislature, notwithstanding the opposition of the church, were compelled to afford a partial remedy. "in the reign of henry the seventh, a distinction was drawn between persons actually in holy orders, and those who, in other respects secular, were able to read; by which the latter were only allowed the benefit of their learning once, and, on receiving it, to be branded in the left thumb with a hot iron, in order to afford evidence against them on any future occasion. the church seems to have lost ground in the succeeding reign, probably in consequence of the separation of england from the sway of the roman pontiff; for all persons, though actually in orders, were rendered liable to be branded, in the same way as the learned class of laymen. but, in the time of edward the sixth, the clergy were restored to all the rights of which they were deprived by his predecessor, except as to certain atrocious crimes, which it became necessary more uniformly to punish. at the same time, some of the more enormous evils attendant on this general impunity were done away. murder, poisoning, burglary, highway-robbery, and sacrilege, were excepted from all that privilege which was confirmed as to inferior offences. but peers of the realm, for the first offence were to be discharged, in every case, except murder and poisoning, even though unable to read. "but here we must pause, before we proceed to follow the gradual improvement of this privilege, to inquire what was originally done with an offender to whom it was allowed by those ecclesiastical authorities who claimed the right of judging him, and in what manner the power of the church in this respect was ultimately destroyed. it appears, that after a layman was burnt in the hand, a clerk discharged on reading, or a peer without either burning or penalty, he was delivered to the ordinary, to be dealt with according to the ecclesiastical canons. upon this, the clerical authorities instituted a kind of purgation, the real object of which was to make him appear innocent, who had already been shewn to be guilty, and to restore him to all those capacities of which his conviction had deprived him. to effect this, the party himself was required to make oath of his innocence, though before he might have confessed himself guilty. then twelve compurgators were called to testify their belief in the falsehood of the charges. afterwards he brought forward witnesses completely to establish that innocence, of which he had induced so weighty a presumption. finally, it was the office of the jury to acquit him; and they seldom failed in their duty. if, however, from any singular circumstance, they agreed in the justice of the conviction, the culprit was degraded, and compelled to do penance. as this seldom occurred, and the most daring perjuries were thus perpetually committed, the courts of common law were soon aroused to abridge the power of these clerical tribunals. they, therefore, sometimes delivered over the privileged of felony, when his guilt was very atrocious, without allowing him to make purgation; the effect of which proceedings was, his perpetual imprisonment, and incapacity to acquire personal or to enjoy real estate, unless released by his majesty's pardon. but the severity of this proceeding almost rendered it useless; and it became absolutely necessary for the legislature to interfere, in order to prevent the contemptible perjuries which this absurd ceremony produced under the sanction and pretence of religion. this desirable object was effected in the reign of elizabeth; and the party, after being allowed his clergy, and burnt in the hand, was to be discharged without any interference of the church to annul his conviction. "the clerical process being thus abolished, it was thought proper, at the same time, to empower the temporal judges to inflict a further punishment where they should regard it as proper. the eighteenth elizabeth, c. vii. empowered them, therefore, to direct the convict to be imprisoned for a year or any shorter period. but the law on this subject was still in many respects imperfect. females were still liable to the punishment of death, without any exemption, in all cases of simple felony; because, being never eligible to the clerical office, they were not included in any of the extensions of the _benefit of clergy_. no other proof need be adduced to shew the absurdity of the very foundations of the system. at length it was enacted that women convicted of simple larcenies under the value s. should be punished with burning in the hand and whipping, exposure in the stocks, or imprisonment for any period less than a year. and in the reign of william and mary they were admitted to all the privileges of men, in clergiable felonies, on praying the benefit of the statute; though they can only once be allowed this means of escaping. in the same reign, the punishment of burning in the hand was changed for a more visible stigma on the cheek, but was soon afterwards brought back to the original practice. "hitherto all laymen except peers, who, on their conviction, were found unable to read, were liable to suffer death for every clergiable felony. but it was at length discovered, that ignorance, instead of an aggravation, was an excuse for guilt, and that the ability to read was no extenuation of crime; and, therefore, by fifth ann, c. vi. the idle ceremony of reading was abolished, and all those who were before entitled to clergy on reading, were now to be admitted without any such form to its benefits. at the same time it was sensibly felt that the branding, which had dwindled into a mere form, and the year's imprisonment which the judges were empowered to inflict, were very inadequate punishments for many clergiable offences; and, therefore, the court were authorized to commit the offenders to the house of correction for any time not less than six months nor exceeding two years, and to double it in case of escaping. "further alterations have since been made in the penalties consequent upon clergy. the fourth geo. i. c. xi. and sixth geo. i. c. xxiii. provide, that the court, on the allowance of this benefit for any larceny whether grand or petty, or other felonious theft not excluded from the statutable indulgence, may, instead of judgment of burning in case of men, and whipping in that of females, direct the offender to be transported for seven years to america, which has been since altered to any part of his majesty's colonies. to return within the period, was, at the same time, made felony without _benefit of clergy_. and by several subsequent provisions, many wise alterations have been made respecting transportation, and the mode of treating offenders while under its sentence. "at length the burning in the hand was entirely done away, and the judges were empowered to sentence the criminal, in its room, and in addition to the former penalties, to a pecuniary fine, or, except in the case of manslaughter, to private whipping, not more than thrice to be inflicted, in the presence of three witnesses. provisions were at the same time made for the employment of this description of convicts in penitentiary houses, where a system of reformation might be adopted, and an experiment made how far punishment might become conducive to its noblest and most legitimate use--the reformation and benefit of the offender. but this regulation, though applauded by blackstone and other humane writers, after having been continued by several subsequent acts, was recently suffered to expire. it appears from these several modern regulations, that, as observed by mr. justice foster, we now consider _benefit of clergy_, or rather the benefit of the statutes, as a relaxation of the rigour of the law, a condescension to the infirmities of the human frame, exempting offending individuals in some cases from the punishment of death, and subjecting them to milder punishment; and therefore, in the case of clergiable felonies, we now profess to measure the degree of punishment by the real enormity of the offence, and not, as the ignorance and superstition of former times suggested, by a blind respect for sacred persons or sacred functions, nor by an absurd distinction between subject and subject, originally owing to impudent pretension on one hand, and to mere fanaticism on the other." curious tenures.--a farm at broadhouse, in langsett, in the parish of peniston, and county of york, pays yearly to godfrey bosville, esq. 'a snow-ball at midsummer, and a red rose at christmas.' william de albermarle holds the manor of loston, 'by the service of finding, for our lord the king, two arrows, and one loaf of oat bread, when he should hunt in the forest of eartmoor.' solomon attefield held land at repland and atterton, in the county of kent, upon condition 'that as often as our lord the king would cross the sea, the said solomon and his heirs ought to go along with him, to hold his head on the sea, if it was needful.' john compes had the manor of finchfield given him by edward iii. for the service of 'turning the spit at his coronation.' geoffrey frumbrand held sixty acres of land in wingfield, in the county of suffolk, by the service of paying yearly to our lord the king two white doves. john de roches holds the manor of winterslew, in wiltshire, by the service that when the king should abide at clarendon, he should go into the butlery of the king's palace there, and draw, out of whatever vessel be chose, as much wine as should be needful for making a pitcher of claret, which he should make at the king's expense, and that he should serve the king with a cup, and should have the vessel whence he took the wine, with all the wine then in it, together with the cup whence the king should drink the claret. the town of yarmouth is, by charter, bound to send the sheriffs of norwich a hundred herrings, which are to be baked in twenty-four pies or patties, and delivered to the lord of the manor of east carlton, who is to convey them to the king. at the coronation of james ii. the lord of the manor of heyden, in essex, claimed to hold the basin and ewer to the king by virtue of one moiety, and the towel by virtue of the other moiety of the manor, whenever the king washed before dinner; but the claim was allowed only as to the towel. the privileges of the great officers of the ancient british court, were particularly striking. each was annually presented by the king and queen with a piece of linen and woollen cloth, besides some old clothes from the royal wardrobe. the king's riding-coat was three times a year given to the master of the mews; his caps, saddles, bits, and spurs, became the perquisite of the master of the horse; and the chamberlain appropriated to himself his old clothes and bed-quilts. the third in rank, in the court of the anglo-saxon kings, was, the steward, who had a variety of perquisites, of which the following were the most remarkable:--'as much of every cask of plain ale, and as much of every cask of ale with spiceries, as he could reach with the second joint of the middle finger; and as much of every cask of mead, as he could reach with the first joint of the same finger.' our next article is on the origin of may poles and garlands.--it was a custom among the ancient britons, before they were converted to christianity, to erect may-poles, adorned with flowers, in honour of the goddess flora; and the dancing of milkmaids on the first of may before garlands, ornamented with flowers, is only a corruption of the ancient custom, in compliance with other rustic amusements. the leisure days after seed-time had been chosen by our saxon ancestors for folk-motes, or conventions of the people. it was not till after the norman conquest that the pagan festival of whitsuntide fully melted into the christian holiday of pentecost. its original name is whittentide, the time of choosing the wits or wisemen to the wittenagemotte. it was consecrated to hertha, the goddess of peace and fertility; and no quarrels might be maintained, no blood shed, during this truce of the goddess. each village, in the absence of the baron at the assembly of the nations, enjoyed a kind of saturnalia. the vassals met upon the common green around the may-poles, where they erected a village lord, or king, as he was called, who chose his queen. he wore an oaken, and she a hawthorn wreath; and together they gave laws to the rustic sports during these sweet days of freedom. the maypole, then, was the english tree of liberty. how are these times of village simplicity and merriment vanished! curious custom at oakham.--oakham is remarkable for the following curious custom. every peer of the realm, the first time he comes within the precincts, forfeits a shoe from his horse to the lord of the manor and castle, unless he agrees to redeem it with money; in which case a shoe is made according to his direction, ornamented in proportion to the sum given by way of fine, and nailed on the castle hall door. some shoes are of curious workmanship, and stamped with the names of the donors: some are made very large, and some gilt. an ancient poet says of this county, "small shire that can produce to thy proportion good, one vale of special name, one forest, and one flood." a curious practice in north holland.--to every house, of whatever quality, there is an artificial door, elevated near three feet above the level of the ground, and never opened but upon two occasions. when any part of the family marries, the bride and bridegroom enter the house by this door; and when either of the parties die, the corpse is carried out by the same door. immediately after the due ceremonies are performed in either of these cases, this door is fastened up, never to turn on its hinges again, till some new event of a similar nature demands its services. chap. lxiii. curiosities respecting the customs of mankind.--(_continued._) _shrovetide--candlemas day--origin of valentine's day--origin of plough monday--new years gifts--origin of christmas boxes--chiltern hundreds--origin of the term "john bull"--origin of the old adage, "if it rains on st. swithin's day, it will rain forty days afterwards"--curfew bell._ shrovetide,--in its original meaning, signifies the time of confessing sins to a priest. _tide_ refers to time; and _shrove_, _shrive_, or _shrift_, are derived from the saxon, and signify confession. in the earlier constitution of the church, it is ordered, "that on the week next before lent, every man should go to his shrift, and his shrift should shrive him in such a manner as the deeds which he had done required." this custom of confessing to the priest at this season, was laid aside at the reformation. fitzstephen informs us, that anciently, on shrove-tuesday, schoolboys used to bring "cocks of the game" to their masters, and entertain themselves with cock-fighting. the masters presided at the battle, and claimed the runaway cocks as their perquisite. the custom of throwing at cocks on this day is not of very ancient institution: it is gradually growing out of use; to which amendment of our manners, the ingenious pencil of hogarth probably contributed. shrove-tuesday is, in the north, called fastern's e'en, because the following day is the commencement of lent. shrove-monday is also termed collop-monday; in the north, collops and eggs being on that day a constant dish, as on the next day the papists take leave of flesh. our custom of eating pancakes on shrove-tuesday, was probably borrowed from the greek church. the russians begin their lent always eight weeks before easter; the first week they eat eggs, milk, cheese, and butter, and make great cheer with pancakes, and such other things. in the oxford almanacks, the saturday preceding this day is termed _festum overum_, egg feast. on shrove-tuesday, the people in every parish throughout england were obliged, one by one, to confess their sins to their own parish priests, in their own parish churches. and that this might be done more regularly, the great bell in every parish was rung at ten o'clock, or perhaps sooner, that it might be heard by all, and that they might attend according to the custom then in use. and though we are now protestants, yet the custom of ringing the great bell in an ancient parish church still continues, and has the name of the _pancake bell_, probably, because after the confession it was customary to dine on pancakes or fritters; and many people even now have these articles as part of their dinner on this day. this used to be a great holiday amongst apprentices; but a contempt of old customs seems gaining ground in this country, and those, or many of them above-mentioned, will probably soon be forgotten. another account of the origin of frying pancakes on shrove-tuesday, has been given. it is said that one simon eyre, a shoemaker, being chosen lord-mayor of london, made a pancake feast on shrove-tuesday for all the apprentices in london; and from that it became a custom. he ordered, that upon ringing of a bell in every parish, the apprentices should leave work, and shut up their shops for that day; which being ever since yearly observed, is called the pancake bell: he made them a large feast of puddings, pies, and pancakes, and what remained, when all had dined, was given to the poor: afterwards in that year ( ,) he built leadenhall. candlemas day.--this is the feast of the purification, which was formerly celebrated with many lights in churches. the custom of going in procession on candlemas-day with lighted candles in the hand, is said to have been derived from the romans, who went about rome with torches, and candles _brenning_ (burning) in worship of februa, the mother of mars. this was afterwards, by pope fergius, converted into the worship of our lady, and her son, the lord jesus christ. wheatley says, "the practice of using abundance of lights, both in churches and processions, continued in england till the second year of edward vi. when bishop cranmer forbade it, by order of the privy council." valentine's day.--valentine was a pope, or bishop of rome, that lived in the ninth century; who, on this day, established an annual custom of the poorer clergy drawing patrons by lots for the commenced year; and these patrons, or benefactors, were called valentines. after his death he was canonized for a saint, and his feast-day kept on the fourteenth day of february, which was thought to be his birth-day. mr. john gordon, in his memoirs and account of the popes, says, "that valentine was too good a man to be a good pope, and died forty days after his consecration, or instalment; being choked with a fish-bone." this custom, in britain, evidently appears to have been copied by the laity from the clergy, in the days of popery, and is a very ancient custom, being almost of a thousand years standing. the birds too are supposed to choose their mates, and pair, on this day; which, no doubt, is an additional reason to our youth of both sexes who are approaching to maturity, to write their verses, and with much ingenuity ply scissars, pen, and pencil, in honour of their selected or allotted lovers. plough-monday.--this day is held on the ninth of january, the monday after twelfth-day. the ploughmen, in the north country, draw a plough from door to door, and beg money for drink; from whence this took its name. plough-day had its origin when the feudal system prevailed in this country, when the lords and barons had their lands tilled by their vassals, or tenants. the christmas holidays terminated on twelfth-day, and the ploughing season for the new year commenced the first monday after; on which day, the sock-men (as this sort of ploughmen were then called) were obliged to appear with their ploughs, &c. at a place appointed there, to have them examined, whether they were in a proper condition to perform their lord's work; for ploughs were then scarce, and it was a mark of some consequence to possess one in good order. hence the appellation of plough-monday has ever since being applied to the first monday after twelfth-day. it is conjectured, that the system of begging money arose at a time when they could not plough the land on account of its being frozen, as watermen drag about a boat in severe frosts, and beg money, because they are then unable to ply on the river. new year's gifts.--nonius marcellus refers the origin of new year's gifts among the romans to titus tatius, king of the sabines, who reigned at rome conjointly with romulus, and who, having considered as a good omen a present of some branches cut in a wood consecrated to _strenua_, the goddess of strength, which he received on the first day of the new year, authorized this custom afterwards, and gave to these persons the name of _strenæ_. the romans on that day celebrated a festival in honour of janus, and paid their respects at the same time to juno; but they did not pass it in idleness, lest they should become indolent during the rest of the year. they sent presents to one another of figs, dates, honey, &c. to shew their friends that they wished them a happy and agreeable life. clients, or those who were under the protection of the great, carried presents of this kind to their patrons, adding to them a small piece of silver. under augustus, the senate, the knights, and the people, presented such gifts to him, and in his absence deposited them in the capitol. of the succeeding princes, some adopted this custom, and others abolished it; but it always continued among the people. the early christians condemned it, because it appeared to be a relic of paganism, and a species of superstition; but when it began to have no other object than that of being a mark of esteem, the church ceased to disapprove of it. christmas boxes.--on looking into history, we find that this custom derived its existence much about the time that mass was first said by a catholic priest. rome, which originally gave birth to superstition, had an incredible number of clergy to support, and, among other devices, this was invented as one, and took its name of mass from the latin word _mitto_, to send. this word _mitto_ was a kind of remembrancer, or rather dictator, which said, "send gifts, offerings, and oblations to the priests, that they may intercede with christ to save your soul by saying so many _masses_." hence it was called _christ's mass_, or, as it is now abbreviated, christmas. thus far the etymology of the word is indisputable, and every man who has attended to the minutiæ of sacred history, must know the fact to be as here related. the word _box_, is a part of the same priestcraft trade, and took its origin from the following circumstance:-- whenever a ship sailed from any of those ports where the religious profession was under the authority of rome, a certain saint was always named, unto whose protection it's safety was committed, and in that ship there was a box, and into that box every poor person put something, in order to induce the priests to pray to that saint for the safe return of the vessel; which box was locked up by the priests, who said the money should not be taken out until the vessel came back. chiltern hundreds.--frequent mention is made of members of parliament accepting the chiltern hundreds. the following is the explanation:-- the chiltern hundreds are hundreds, or divisions of counties, parcelled out by the wise alfred, and now annexed to the crown; they still retain their peculiar courts. the stewards of these courts are appointed by the chancellor of the exchequer; their salary is s. a year. as the law enacts that a member of parliament who receives a place under the crown, may not sit, unless re-elected,--accepting the stewardship of the chiltern hundreds is merely a formal manner of resigning a seat, when the member wishes to be rechosen. origin of the term "john bull."--dr. john bull was the first gresham professor of music, and organist and composer to queen elizabeth. john, like a true englishman, travelled for improvement; and having heard of a famous musician at st. omer's, he placed himself under him as a novice; but a circumstance very soon convinced the master, that he was inferior to the scholar. the musician shewed john a song, which he had composed in _forty parts_! telling him at the same time, that he defied all the world to produce a person capable of adding another part to his composition. bull desired to be left alone, and to be indulged for a short time with pen and ink. in less than three hours, he added forty parts more to the song. upon which the frenchman was so much surprised, that he swore in great ecstasy, he must be either the _devil_, or _john bull_; which has ever since been proverbial in england. origin of the old adage, "if it rains on saint swithin's day, it will rain for forty days afterwards." in the year , st. swithin, bishop of winchester, dying, was canonized by the then pope. he was singular in his desire to be buried in the open church-yard, and not in the chancel of the minister, as was customary with the bishops; which request was complied with: but the monks, on his being canonized, taking it into their heads that it was disagreeable for the saint to lie in the open church-yard, resolved to move his body into the choir, which was to have been done in solemn procession on the th of july. it rained, however, so violently on that day, and for forty days succeeding, as had hardly ever been known, which made them set aside their design, as contrary to the will of heaven; and instead of removing the body, they shewed their veneration by erecting a chapel over his grave. origin of the saying, when people speak improperly, "that's a bull."--this became a proverb from the repeated blunders of one obadiah bull, a lawyer of london, who lived in the reign of king henry vii. curfew bell.--the curfew bell (called, in the low latin of the middle ages, _ignitegium_, or _peritegium_, and in french, _couvrefew_) was a signal for all persons to extinguish their fires at a certain hour. in those ages, people made fires in their houses in a hole or pit in the centre of the floor, under an opening formed in the roof; and when the fire was burnt out, or the family went to bed, the hole was shut by a cover of wood or earth. this practice still prevails among the cottagers in some parts of scotland, and perhaps in other parts of the kingdom. in the dark ages, when all ranks of people were turbulent, a law was almost every where established, that the fire should be extinguished at a certain time in the evening; that the cover should be put over the fire-place, and that all the family should retire to rest, or at least keep within doors. the time when this ought to be done, was signified by the ringing of a bell, called therefore the curfew bell, or _ignitegium_. this was the law of william the conqueror, who first introduced the practice into england, and which was abolished by henry the first, in . the ringing of the curfew bell gave rise to the prayer bell, as it is called, which is still retained in some protestant countries. pope john the twenty-third, with a view to avert certain apprehended misfortunes which rendered his life uncomfortable, gave orders, that every person, on hearing the _ignitegium_, should repeat the _ave maria_ three times. when the appearance of a comet, and the dread of turks, alarmed all christendom, pope calixtus the third increased these periodical times of prayer, by ordering the prayer bell to be rung also at noon. chap. lxiv. curiosities respecting the customs of mankind.--(_concluded._) _romish indulgences--act of faith--baptism of bells--curious baptism--kalmuck praying machines--curious penance at calcutta._ religious customs. romish indulgences.--in the romish church, indulgences are a remission of the punishment due to sins, granted by the church, and supposed to save the sinner from purgatory. according to the romish doctrine, all the good works of the saints, over and above those which were necessary towards their own justification, are deposited, together with the infinite merits of jesus christ, in one inexhaustible treasury. the keys of this were committed to st. peter, and to his successors the popes, who may open it at pleasure, and by transferring a portion of this superabundant merit to any particular person, for a sum of money, may convey to him either the pardon of his own sins, or a release for any one in whom he is interested, from the pains of purgatory. indulgences were first invented in the eleventh century, by urban ii. as a recompense for those who went in person upon the glorious enterprise of conquering the holy land. they were afterwards granted to those who hired a soldier for that purpose; and in process of time were bestowed on such as gave money for accomplishing any pious work enjoined by the pope. this power of granting indulgences was greatly abused. pope leo x. in order to carry on the magnificent structure of st. peter's at rome, published indulgences, and plenary remission, to all who should contribute money towards it. finding the project take, he granted to albert, elector of mentz, and archbishop of magdeburg, the benefit of the indulgences of saxony and the neighbouring parts, and farmed out those of other countries to the highest bidders; who, to make the best of their bargain, procured the ablest preachers to cry up the value of the _ware_. the form of these indulgences was as follows: "may our lord jesus christ have mercy upon thee, and absolve thee by the merits of his most holy passion. and i, by his authority, that of his blessed apostles peter and paul, and of the most holy pope, granted and committed to me in these parts, do absolve thee, first from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner they have been incurred, then from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be, even for such as are reserved for the cognizance of the holy see, and as far as the keys of the holy church extend: i remit to you all punishment which you deserve in purgatory on their account; and i restore you to the holy sacraments of the church, to the unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and purity which you possessed at baptism; so that when you die, the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of delight shall be opened; and if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the point of death. in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost." the terms in which the retailers of indulgences described their benefits, and the necessity of purchasing them, are so extravagant, that they appear almost incredible. they maintain, that if any man purchase letters of indulgence, his soul may rest secure with respect to its salvation. that the souls confined in purgatory, for whose redemption indulgences are purchased, as soon as the money tinkles in the chest, instantly escape from that place of torment, and ascend into heaven: that the efficacy of indulgences is so great, that the most heinous sins, even if one should violate (which was impossible) the mother of god, would be remitted and expiated by them, and the person be freed both from punishment and guilt: that this was the unspeakable gift of god, in order to reconcile men to himself: that the cross erected by the preachers of indulgences was equally efficacious with the cross of christ. "lo! (say they) the heavens are open; if you enter not now, when will you enter? for twelve-pence you may redeem the soul of your father out of purgatory; and are you so ungrateful, that you will not rescue your parent from torment? if you had but one coat, you ought to strip yourself instantly, and sell it, in order to purchase such benefits, &c."--this monstrous abuse of indulgences contributed greatly to the reformation of religion in germany, where martin luther first began to declaim against the preachers of indulgences, and afterwards against indulgences themselves. since that period, the popes have been more sparing in the exercise of this power: however, they still carry on a great trade with them to the indies, where they are purchased at two rials apiece, and sometimes more. the pope likewise grants indulgences to persons at the point of death; that is, he grants them, by a brief, power to choose what confessor they please, who is authorized thereby to absolve them from all their sins in general. we proceed to another custom of the romish church, called the act of faith.--_auto da fé_, in the romish church, is a solemn day observed by the inquisition, for the punishment of heretics, and the absolution of the innocent persons who have been accused. it is usually contrived to fall on some grand festival, that the execution may take place with the greater pomp and solemnity. at least, it is always on a sunday. the auto da fé may be considered as the last act of the inquisitorial tragedy; it is a kind of gaol delivery, appointed as often as a sufficient number of prisoners in the inquisition are convicted of heresy, either by their own voluntary or extorted confession, or on the evidence of witnesses. the process is as follows:--in the morning they are brought into a great hall, where they are clothed in certain habits, which they are to wear in the procession, and by which they know their doom. the procession is led on by the dominican friars, who enjoy this privilege, because st. dominic, their founder, instituted the inquisition. before them is carried the standard of the holy office, in which the image of the founder is wrought in rich embroidery, holding a sword in one hand, and an olive branch in the other, with the inscription, "justice and mercy." these friars are followed by the penitents, who have narrowly escaped burning, and who over their black coats have flames painted, with their points turned downwards. next come the negative and relapsed who are intended to be burnt, and who have flames on their habits pointing upwards. after these follow such as profess doctrines contrary to the faith of rome, and who, besides flames pointing upwards, have their pictures painted on their breasts, and surrounded by dogs, serpents, and devils, all open-mouthed. each prisoner is attended by a familiar of the inquisition; and those intended to be burnt, have also on each side a jesuit, who is continually advising them to abjure. after the prisoners, follow a troop of familiars on horseback; after them, the inquisitors, and other officers, upon mules; and lastly, the inquisitor-general, upon a white horse, led by two men with black hats and green hatbands. a scaffold is erected sufficiently large for containing two or three thousand people; at one end of the scaffold are the prisoners, at the other end the inquisitors. after a sermon, consisting of encomiums on the inquisition, and of invectives against heretics, a priest ascends a desk near the scaffold, and, having received the abjuration of the penitents, recites the final sentence of those who are to be put to death, and delivers them to the secular power, at the same time earnestly beseeching _that their blood be not touched, nor their lives put in danger_!!! the prisoners being thus in the hands of the civil magistrate, are immediately loaded with chains, and carried first to the secular gaol, and thence, in an hour or two, brought before the civil judge. after inquiring in what religion they intend to die, the civil judge pronounces sentence on such as declare they die in the communion of the church of rome, that they shall be first strangled, and then burnt to ashes; on such as die in any other faith, that they be burnt alive. both are immediately carried to the place of execution, where as many stakes are set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, and about each stake is laid a quantity of dry furze. the stakes of the professed, or of such as persist in their heresy, are about four yards in height, and towards the top have a small board, on which the prisoner is seated. the negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the professed mount their stakes by a ladder; and the jesuits, after repeatedly exhorting them to be reconciled to the church, part with them, and say that they leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive their souls, and to carry them with him to the flames of hell. on hearing this, a great shout is raised by the people, who cry, 'let the dogs' beards be made!' this is performed by thrusting flaming furze, fastened to long poles, against their chins, till their faces are burned to a coal. this inhuman act is accompanied with the loudest acclamations of joy. at last, fire is set to the furze at the bottom of the stakes, over which the professed are chained so high, that the top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat upon which they sit, and they seem rather roasted than burnt. there cannot be a more lamentable spectacle: the sufferers continually cry out, while they are able, 'pity, for the love of god!' yet it is beheld by all ages, and by both sexes, with transports of joy and admiration! another curious custom in the same church, is, the baptism of bells.--"being come to veletre, the abbot took up his lodging with one of his friends, and i betook myself to an inn, near the piazza. my host asked me if i had not a mind to see the ceremony which was to be celebrated the next day at the _dome_, (so they call the cathedral churches in italy;) he told me there was a bell to be baptized, whereof a great lord was to be the godfather, and a lady of quality the godmother; and that there would be a great appearance of the nobility, who had been invited to the solemnity from all parts. i had before this seen bells baptized in france; but because i knew that the italians surpass all other nations in the magnificence of their ceremonies, and that they commonly season them with a double portion of superstition, i resolved with myself to see it baptized, and with that design i staid all the next day at veletre. i went to the church in the morning, to take a view of the preparatives that had taken up a whole week's time, which i found to be great and sumptuous indeed. the bell was placed at the lower end of the body of the church, hanging upon two gudgeons, covered with rich hangings of velvet of a violet colour, and the bell itself was accoutred with a kind of robe of the same stuff. there were two theatres built on each side of it for the musicians, and an amphitheatre for the ladies who were to be present at the ceremony. the pillars and walls of the church were richly adorned with curious sheets of silk, and pictures. near to the bell was erected an altar very neatly set forth, and on it lay a white satin robe, which was to be put upon the bell as soon as it should be baptized, with a great and choice garland of flowers: there was also upon the altar a roman ritual, a censer, and a vessel with holy water, and round about the altar rich elbow chairs for the priests who were to perform the ceremony. just over against it a throne was seen, most magnificently hung, for the godfather and godmother of the bell. "about ten o'clock the company came, and having taken their several places, the priests began their function. he who officiated was a bishop _in partibus_, whom the bishop of veletre, being at that time very sick, had deputed for this purpose, and his chair was placed upon the steps of the high altar. he struck up the first psalm, which was continued by the music. the psalms, by the way, which may be seen in the roman ritual, have as much reference to the baptizing of the moon, as to the baptizing of a bell: for the prophet david very probably had not the least notion of the baptism of bells. after the psalms were ended, the bishop began the blessing of holy water, to sanctify it in the first place, to the end that afterwards it might sanctify the bell also. this benediction is very long, and no less ridiculous; which being finished, the bishop and priests dipped spunges in it, with which they rubbed over the bell, from the top to the bottom, within and without, being in this regard certainly much better baptized than children are, upon whose heads only they pour or sprinkle it. they repeated, in the mean time, abundance of prayers, which speak of nothing else but heavenly blessings, that are to purify, sanctify, and consecrate the bell. _ut hoc tintinnabulum_ (say they) _coeleste benedictione perfundere, purificare, sanctificare, et consecrare digneris_: 'that thou wouldest be pleased to rinse, purify, sanctify, and consecrate this bell with thy heavenly benediction.' "the bell being thus washed, they dried it with clean napkins; and the bishop having taken the vial of holy oils, which are those they bless on holy thursday for the whole year following, he therewith anointed the cross of metal, which is on the top of the bell, in order to make the devils flee at the sound or ringing of it: _ut hoc audientes tintinnabulum, tremiscant et fugiant ante crucis in eo depictum vexillum_: 'that hearing this bell, they may tremble and flee before the banner of thy cross designed upon it.' he afterwards made seven other crosses with the said oil upon the outside of the bell, and four on the inside. this done, he made the godfather and godmother draw near, and demanded of them in italian, 'whether they were the persons that presented this bell to be consecrated?' who having answered that they did, he then asked them, 'whether the metal of the bell, and the workmanship of it, had been paid for to the artificers?' to which they answered, 'yea.'--they make this demand, because it had sometimes happened, that for want of proper payment, the workmen have seized and fetched away their bells the same day, or the day after they had been baptized, and have melted them down to be employed to profane uses. the third question he asked of them was, 'whether they believed all that the catholic apostolic churches believes concerning the holiness and virtue of bells?' the answer to which was affirmative also. in the last place, he demanded of them, 'what name they desired should be put upon the bell?' to which the lady replied, 'mary.' then the bishop took two great silk ribands, which had been fastened to the gudgeons of the bell, and gave each of them one in their hands, and pronounced, with a loud intelligible voice, the words of consecration, which are these,--_consecretur et sanctificetur signum istud, in nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. amen._ 'let this sign be consecrated and sanctified in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost. amen.' then turning himself to the people, he said, 'the name of this bell is mary.' he then takes the censer, and censeth it on the outside round about, and afterwards puts the censer under the bell, filling it with sacred fumes, and repeating prayers and invocations, that it might be filled with the dew of the holy spirit, that at the sound of it the enemy of all good may take his flight. "the office was carried on with a great number of psalms, which they repeated, the music all the while performing wonders; and then the bishop, to sum up the whole ceremony, arrayed the bell with the white robe of a proselyte, or convert, and with a loud voice read the gospel of 'mary and martha.' i supposed at that time that the reason of their reading this gospel was, because the bell was called mary; but i have since seen, in the roman ritual, that the same gospel is read at the consecration of all bells, whatever their names be. this is what i am astonished at, because that gospel hath no reference at all to the ceremony. the whole solemnity being thus ended, the bishop gave his benediction, and the priests received great presents from the godfather and godmother." a curious baptism, which took place at dublin, in the year .--a moor, a native of mogadore, in africa, a strict observer of the religion of mahomet, wearing always, of course, the costume of his country, resided a few months in the above city. a family, where he occasionally visited, being about to baptize their infant, solicited the stranger to stand godfather, which was immediately consented to; and on the appointed day, he appeared splendidly arrayed in his turban and robes, at the sacred font, where, with due solemnity, he answered to the accustomed interrogatives,--"all this i stedfastly believe." to add still further to the oddity of the circumstance, the father was a member of the roman catholic church, and the mother of the established one. some account of kalmuck praying machines: from travels in the caucasus and georgia.--"among the most remarkable of the sacred utensils of the temples, is the _kürdä_, a cylindrical vessel of wood or metal, either very small, or of immense size. in its centre is fixed an iron axle; but the interior of the cylinder, which is quite hollow, is filled with sacred writings, the leaves of which are all stuck one to another at the edge, throughout the whole length. this paper is rolled tightly round the axis of the cylinder till the whole space is filled up. a close cover is fixed on at each end, and the whole kürdä is very neatly finished, painted on the outside with allegorical representations, or indian prayers, and varnished. this cylinder is fastened upright in a frame by the axis; so that the latter, by means of a wheel attached to it below, may be set a-going with a string, and with a slight pull kept in a constant rotatory motion. when this cylinder is large, another, twice as small, and filled with writing, is fixed for ornament at the top of it. the inscription on such prayer-wheels commonly consists of masses for souls, psalms, and the six great general litanies, in which the most moving petitions are preferred for the welfare of all creatures. the text they sometimes repeat a hundred, or even a thousand times, attributing, from superstition, a proportionably augmented effect to this repetition, and believing that by these frequent copies, combined with their thousands of revolutions, they will prove so much the more efficacious. you frequently see, as well on the habitations of the priests, as on the whole roof of the temple, small kürdä placed close to each other, in rows, by way of ornament; and not only over the gates, but likewise in the fields, frames set up expressly for these praying-machines, which, instead of being moved by a string, are turned by the wind, by means of four sails, shaped and hollowed out like spoons. "other similar kürdä are fastened to sticks of moderate thickness; a leaden weight is then fastened to the cylinder by a string, which, when it is once set a-going, keeps it, with the help of the stick, in constant motion. such like prayer-wheels, neatly wrought, are fastened upon short sticks to a small wooden pedestal, and stand upon the altars, for the use of pious persons. while the prayer-wheel is thus turned round with one hand, the devotee takes the rosary in the other, and at the same time repeats penitential psalms. "a fourth kind of these kürdä is constructed on the same principle as those which are turned by wind, only it is somewhat smaller, and the frame is adapted to be hung up by a cord, in the chimneys of the habitations or huts of the monguls. when there is a good fire, they are likewise set in motion by the smoke and the current of air, and continue to turn round as long as the fire is kept up. "a fifth kind of kürdä is erected on a small stream of water, upon a foundation like that of a mill, over which a small house is built to protect it from the weather. by means of the wheel attached to it, and the current, the cylinder is in like manner kept in a constant circular motion. these water kürdä are commonly constructed on a large scale, and maintained at the joint expense of the inhabitants of a whole district. they have a reference to all aquatic animals, whether alive or dead, whose temporal and eternal happiness is the aim of the writings contained in them, in like manner as the object of the fire. kürdä is the salvation of the souls of all animals suffering by fire." curious account of an expiatory penance at calcutta.--about a mile from the town is a plain, where the natives annually undergo a very strange kind of penance on the th of april; some for the sins they have committed, others for those they may commit, and others in consequence of a vow made by their parents. this ceremony is performed in the following manner. thirty bamboos, each about the height of twenty feet, are erected in the plain above-mentioned. on the top of these they contrive to fix a swivel, and another bamboo of thirty feet or more crosses it, at both ends of which hangs a rope. the people pull down one end of this rope, and the devotee, placing himself under it, the brahmin pinches up a large piece of skin under both the shoulder blades, sometimes in the breasts, and thrusts a strong iron hook through each. these hooks have lines of indian grass hanging to them, which the priest makes fast to the rope at the end of the cross bamboo, and at the same time puts a sash round the body of the devotee, laying it loosely in the hollow of the hooks, lest, by the skin giving way, he should fall to the ground. the people then haul down the other end of the bamboo: by which the devotee is immediately lifted up thirty feet or more from the ground, and they run round as fast as their legs can carry them. thus the devotee is thrown out the whole length of the rope, where, as he swings, he plays a thousand antic tricks; being painted and dressed in a very particular manner, on purpose to make him look more ridiculous. some of them continue swinging half an hour, others less. the devotees undergo a preparation of four days for this ceremony. on the first and third, they abstain from all kinds of food; but eat fruit on the other two. during this time of preparation they walk about the streets in their fantastical dresses, dancing to the sound of drums and horns; and some, to express the greater ardour of devotion, run a wire of iron quite through their tongues, and sometimes through their cheeks. happy are christians in being delivered from the darkness, absurdities, and horrors of superstition, by the bright effulgence of the sun of righteousness! chap. lxv. curiosities respecting various phenomena or appearances in nature. ----------------a wand'ring fire compact of unctuous vapour, which the night condenses, and the cold environs round, kindled through agitation to a flame, (which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,) hovering, and blazing with delusive light, misleads th' amaz'd night-wanderer from his way through bogs and mire. _milton._ on the ignis fatuus. the _ignis fatuus_ is a luminous appearance, which is most frequently observed in boggy districts and near rivers, though sometimes also in dry places. by its appearance, benighted travellers are said to have been sometimes led into imminent danger, taking it for a candle at a distance; from which seemingly mischievous property it has been thought by the vulgar to be a spirit of a malignant nature, and been named accordingly, _will-with-a-wisp_, or _jack-with-a-lantern_; for the same reason that it had its latin name _ignis fatuus_. this light is frequently seen about burying-places and dunghills. some countries are also remarkable for it, as about bologna in italy, and some parts of spain and ethiopia. its forms are so uncertain and variable, that they can scarcely be described, especially as philosophical observers seldom meet with it. dr. derham, however, one night perceived one of them, and got so near that he had a very advantageous view of it. this is very difficult to be obtained; for, among other singularities of the ignis fatuus, it avoids the approach of any person, and flies from place to place as if it were animated. that which dr. derham observed, was in some boggy ground betwixt two rocky hills; and the night was dark and calm, by which means he was enabled to advance within two or three yards of it. it appeared like a complete body of light without any division, so that he was sure it could not be occasioned by insects. it kept dancing about a dead thistle, till a very slight motion of the air, occasioned, as he supposed, by his near approach to it, made it jump to another place; after which it kept flying before him as he advanced. beccari obtained information, that two of these lights appeared in the plains about bologna, the one north, the other south of that city, and were to be seen almost every dark night, especially that to the eastward, giving a light equal to an ordinary faggot. the latter appeared to a gentleman of his acquaintance, as he was travelling; moved constantly before him for about a mile, and gave a better light than a torch which was carried before him. both these appearances gave a very strong light, and were constantly in motion. sometimes they would rise, sometimes sink; but commonly they would hover about six feet from the ground; they would also frequently disappear on a sudden, and appear again in some other place. they differed also in size and figure, sometimes spreading pretty wide, and then contracting themselves; sometimes breaking into two, and then joining again. sometimes they would appear like waves, at others they would seem to drop sparks of fire: they were but little affected by the wind; and in wet or rainy weather, were frequently observed to cast a stronger light than in dry weather: they were also observed more frequently when snow lay upon the ground, than in the hottest summer; but he was assured, that there was not a dark night throughout the whole year, in which they were not to be seen. the ground east of bologna, where the largest of these was observed, is a hard chalky soil mixed with clay, which retains moisture long, but breaks and cracks in hot weather. on the mountains, where the soil is looser, the ignes fatui were less. from the best information, m. beccari found that these lights were very frequent about rivers and brooks. he concludes his narrative with the following singular account.-- "an intelligent gentleman travelling in the evening, between eight and nine o'clock, in a hilly road about ten miles south of bologna, perceived a light which shone very strongly upon some stones which lay on the banks of the rio verde. it seemed to be about two feet above the stones, and near the water. in size and figure it had the appearance of a parallelo-piped, above a foot in length, and half a foot high, the largest side being parallel to the horizon. its light was so strong, that he could plainly see by it part of a neighbouring hedge and the water of the river; only in the east corner of it the light was rather faint, and the square figure less perfect, as if it were cut off or darkened by the segment of a circle. on examining it a little nearer, he was surprised to find that it changed gradually from a bright red to a yellowish, and then to a pale colour, in proportion as he drew nearer; and when he came to the place itself it quite vanished. upon this, he stepped back, and not only saw it again, but found that the farther he went from it, the stronger and brighter it grew. when he examined the place of this luminous appearance, he could perceive no smell, nor any other mark of fire," another gentleman informed m. beccari, that he had seen the same light five or six different times in spring and autumn; and that it always appeared of the same shape, and in the very same spot. one night in particular, he observed it come out of a neighbouring field to settle in the usual place. a very remarkable account of an ignis fatuus is given by dr. shaw, in his travels to the holy land. it appeared in the valleys of mount ephraim, and attended him and his company for above an hour. sometimes it appeared globular, or like the flame of a candle, at others it spread to such a degree as to involve the whole country in a pale inoffensive light, then contracted itself, and suddenly disappeared, but in less than a minute it would appear again; sometimes, running swiftly along, it would expand itself at certain intervals over more than two or three acres of the adjacent mountains. the atmosphere from the beginning of the evening had been remarkably thick and hazy; and the dew, as they felt it on the bridles of their horses, was very clammy and unctuous. lights resembling the ignis fatuus are sometimes observed at sea, skipping about the masts and rigging of ships; and dr. shaw informs us, that he has seen these in such weather as that just mentioned, when he saw the ignis fatuus in palestine. similar appearances have been observed in various other situations; and we are told of one which appeared about the bed of a woman in milan, surrounding it, as well as her body, entirely. this light fled from the hand which approached; but was at length entirely dispersed by the motion of the air. of the same kind also, most probably, are those small luminous appearances which sometimes appear in houses, or near them, called, in scotland, _elf-candles_, and which are supposed to portend the death of some person about the house. in general these lights are harmless, though not always; for some of them have encompassed stacks of hay and corn, and set them on fire; so that they became objects of great terror to the country people. of these, it was observed, that they would avoid a drawn sword, or sharp-pointed iron instrument; and that they would be driven away by a great noise. several philosophers have endeavoured to account for these appearances, but hitherto with no great success; nor indeed does there seem to be sufficient data for solving all their phenomena. sir isaac newton calls it a vapour shining without heat; and supposes that there is the same difference between a vapour of the ignis fatuus and flame, that there is between the shining of rotten wood and burning coals. but though this seems generally to be the case, there are exceptions, as has been instanced in the vapours which set fire to the stacks of corn. dr. priestley supposes that the light is of the same nature with that produced by putrescent substances; others, that the electrical fluid is principally concerned; but none have attempted to give any particular solution of the phenomena. from the frequent appearance of the ignis fatuus in marshes, moist ground, burying-places, and dunghills, putrefaction seems to be concerned in the production of it. this process is attended with the emission of an aqueous steam, together with a quantity of fixed inflammable and alkaline air, blended together in one common vapour. it is likewise attended with some degree of heat, and there are some vapours, that of sulphur particularly, which becomes luminous with a degree of heat much less than that sufficient to set fire to combustibles. the putrid vapour, therefore, may be capable of shining with a still smaller degree of heat than that of sulphur, and consequently may become luminous by that which putrefaction alone affords. this would account for the ignis fatuus, were it only a steady luminous vapour arising from places where putrid matters are contained; but its extreme mobility, and flying from one place to another on the approach of any person, cannot be accounted for on this principle. if one quantity of the putrid vapour becomes luminous by means of heat, all the rest ought to do so likewise; so that though we may allow heat and putrefaction to be concerned, yet of necessity we must have recourse to some other agent, which can be no other than electricity. without this, it is impossible to conceive how any body of moveable vapour should not be carried away by the wind; but so far is this from being the case, that the ignes fatui described by m. beccari, were but little affected by the wind. it is, besides, proved by undoubted experiment, that electricity is always attended with some degree of heat; and this, however small, may be sufficient to give a luminous property to any vapour on which it acts strongly: not to add, that the electric fluid itself is no other than light, and may therefore by its action easily produce a luminous appearance independent of any vapour. we have a strong proof that electricity is concerned, or indeed the principal agent, in producing the ignis fatuus, from an experiment related by dr. priestley, of a flame of this kind being artificially produced. a gentleman, who had been making many electrical experiments for a whole afternoon in a small room, on going out of it, observed a flame following him at some little distance. this was doubtless a true ignis fatuus, and the circumstances necessary to produce it were then present, viz. an atmosphere impregnated with animal vapour, and likewise strongly electrified, for the quantity of perspiration emitted by a human body is by no means inconsiderable; and it, as well as the electricity, would be collected by reason of the smallness of the room. in this case, however, there seems to have been a considerable difference between the artificial ignis fatuus, and those commonly met with; for this flame followed the gentleman as he went out of the room, but the natural ones commonly fly from those who approach them. this may be accounted for, from a difference between the electricity of the atmosphere in the one room and the other; in which case the flame would naturally be attracted towards that place where the electricity was either different in quality or in quantity; but in the natural way, where all bodies may be supposed equally electrified for a great way round, a repulsion will as naturally take place. still, however, this does not seem to be always the case. in those instances where travellers have been attended by an ignis fatuus, we cannot suppose it to have been influenced by any other power than what we call attraction, and which electricity is very capable of producing. its keeping at some distance, is likewise easily accounted for; as we know that bodies possessed of different quantities of electricity may be made to attract one another for a certain space, and then repel without having ever come into contact. on this principle we may account for the light which surrounded the woman at milan, but fled from the hand of any other person. on the same principle may we account for those mischievous vapours which set fire to the hay and corn stacks, but were driven away by presenting to them a pointed iron instrument, or by making a noise. both these are known to have a great effect upon the electric matter; and by means of either, lightning may occasionally be made to fall upon, or to avoid, particular places, according to the circumstances by which the general mass happens to be effected. on the whole, therefore, it seems most probable, that the ignis fatuus is a collection of vapours of the putrescent kind, very much affected by electricity; according to the degree of which, it will either give a weak or strong light, or even set fire to certain substances. this opinion seems to be confirmed from some luminous appearances observed in privies, where the putrid vapours have been collected into balls, and exploded violently on the approach of a candle. this last effect, however, we cannot so well ascribe to the electricity, as to the ascension of the inflammable air which abounds in such places. in the appendix to dr. priestley's third volume of experiments and observations on air, mr. warltire gives an account of some very remarkable ignes fatui, which he observed on the road to bromsgrove, about five miles from birmingham. the time of observation was the th of december, , before daylight. many of these lights were playing in an adjacent field, in different directions; from some of which suddenly sprang up bright branches of light, somewhat resembling the explosion of a rocket that contained many brilliant stars, if the discharge was upwards, instead of the usual direction; and the hedge, and trees on each side of the hedge, were illuminated. this appearance continued but a few seconds, and then the jack-with-a-lantern played as before. mr. warltire was not near enough to observe if the apparent explosion was attended with any report. cronstedt gives it as his opinion, that ignes fatui, as well as falling stars, are owing to collections of inflammable air raised to a great height in the atmosphere. but, with regard to the latter, the vast height at which they move, evidently shews that they cannot be the effect of any gravitating vapour whatever; for the lightest inflammable air is one-twelfth of that of the common atmosphere: and we have no reason to believe, that at the distance of forty or fifty miles from the earth, the latter has near one-twelfth of its weight at the surface. from the account given by mr. warltire, we should be apt to conclude, that there is a strong affinity betwixt the ignes fatui and fireballs, insomuch that the one might be very easily converted into the other. electricity can assume both these appearances, as is evident in the case of points; or even when the atmosphere is violently electrified, as around the string of an electrified kite, which always will appear to be surrounded with a blue flame in the night, if the electricity be very strong. on the whole, it appears that electricity, acting upon a small quantity of atmospherical air with a certain degree of vigour, will produce an appearance resembling an ignis fatuus; with a superior force it will produce a fire-ball; and a sudden increase of electrical power might produce those sparks and apparent explosions observed by mr. warltire. this appearance has produced many superstitious fears in the ignorant and uneducated. to those who have, unfortunately, been badly educated in this respect, a friendly act would be, to endeavour with sound reasoning to convince them of their error, and dissuade them from giving heed, in future, to idle, superstitious, or inconsistent stories of any kind; advising them to furnish themselves with such knowledge, as may have a tendency to produce true pleasure and happiness through life, and which, when dying, they can reflect upon without uneasiness. "the natural offspring of prevailing superstition is infidelity. of the truth of this, the present times afford us a lamentable example. where ignorance and fear once ruled supreme, there has rash philosophy but too successfully planted presumption and atheism. 'tis the diffusion of pure and solid knowledge, which alone can preserve us from the dominion of these opposite tyrants. how should this consideration increase our zeal and stimulate our endeavours! the immediate sphere of our action may be circumscribed, but our exertions will not on that account be entirely lost. in that circumscribed sphere let us labour to root out every superstitious lying vanity, and plant pure religion and unsophisticated truth in its stead. "how charming, how enlivening to the soul, to gaze upon the dawning beams of opening light, to behold them irradiate that dismal gloom of intellectual darkness, which long overwhelmed the millions of mankind: how supremely pleasing, to view them wider and wider spreading their invigorating influence: how rapturously transporting, to contemplate the resplendent prospect of pure and perfect day! "--------------power supreme! o everlasting king! to thee we kneel, to thee we lift our voice!"-- "o spread thy benign, thy vivifying light over the dwellings of the sons of men; dispel the yet impending mists of ignorance and superstition: and, o preserve us from the dismal gulf of infidelity and atheism; let thy truth run and prevail gloriously; let pure celestial wisdom overspread the earth as the waters cover the sea!--then shall millions kneel before thee with grateful and enraptured hearts; then shall they rejoice to sing the praises of thee, their benefactor, their father, and their god: then shall this vale of tears be filled with the mansions of joy and gladness, and become a blissful foretaste of those regions, where thy saints, crowned with unfading glory and felicity, surround thy throne with never-ceasing hallelujahs!" see _naylor on vulgar superstitions_. chap. lxvi. curiosities respecting various phenomena or appearances in nature.--(_continued._) _extraordinary properties and effects of lighting--thunder rod--fire balls--terrible effects of electrified clouds--surprising effects of extreme cold--astonishing expansive force of freezing._ ----by conflicting winds together dashed, the thunder holds his black tremendous throne: from cloud to cloud the rending lightnings rage; till, in the furious elemental war dissolv'd, the whole precipitated mass unbroken floods and solid torrents pours. _thomson._ extraordinary properties and effects of lightning.--a very surprising property of lightning of the zigzag kind, especially when near, is, its seeming omnipresence. if two persons are standing in a room looking different ways, and a loud clap of thunder, accompanied with zigzag lightning, happens, they will both distinctly see the flash, not only by that indistinct illumination of the atmosphere which is occasioned by fire of any kind, but the very form of the lightning itself, and every angle it makes in its course, will be as distinctly perceptible as if both had looked directly at the cloud from whence it proceeded. if a person happened at that time to be looking on a book, or other object which he held in his hand, he would distinctly see the form of the lightning between him and the object at which he looked. this property seems peculiar to lightning, and to belong to no other kind of fire whatever. in august , a most violent storm of thunder, rain, and hail, happened at london, which did damage in the adjacent country to the amount of £ , . hailstones fell of an immense size, from two to ten inches in circumference, but the most surprising circumstance attending the hurricane was, the sudden flux and reflux of the tide in plymouth pool, exactly corresponding with the like agitation in the same place, at the time of the great earthquake at lisbon. instances have also occurred where lightning, by its own proper force, without any assistance from those less common agitations of the atmosphere or electric fluid, has thrown stones of immense weight to considerable distances; torn up trees by the roots, and broke them in pieces; shattered rocks; beat down houses, and set them on fire, &c. the following singular effect of lightning, upon a pied bullock, is recorded in the sixty-sixth volume of the philosophical transactions.-- "in the evening of sunday the th of august, , there was an appearance of a thunder storm, but we heard no report. a gentleman who was riding near the marshes not far from this town, (lewes) saw two strong flashes of lightning running along the ground of the marsh, at about nine o'clock p. m. on monday morning, when the servants of mr. roger, a farmer at swanborough, went into the marsh to fetch the oxen to their work, they found one of them, a four-year-old steer, standing up, to appearance much burnt, and so weak as to be scarcely able to walk. the animal seemed to have been struck by lightning in a very extraordinary manner. he was of a white and red colour; the white in large marks, beginning at the rump bone, and running in various directions along both sides; the belly was all white, and the whole head and horns white likewise. the lightning, with which he must have been undoubtedly struck, fell upon the rump bone, which was white, and distributed itself along the sides in such a manner as to take off all the hair from the white marks as low as the bottom of the ribs, but so as to leave a list of white hair, about half an inch broad, all round where it joined to the red, and not a single hair of the red appears to have been touched. the whole belly was unhurt, but the end of the sheath of the penis had the hair taken off; it was also taken off from the dewlap: the horns and the curled hair on the forehead were uninjured; but the hair was taken off from the sides of the face, from the flat part of the jaw-bones, and from the front of the face, in stripes. there were a few white marks on the side and neck, which were surrounded with red; and the hair was taken off from them, leaving half an inch of white adjoining to the red. the farmer anointed the ox with oil for a fortnight; the animal purged very much at first, and was greatly reduced in flesh, but afterwards recovered." in another account of this accident, the author supposes that the bullock had been lying down at the time he was struck; which shews the reason that the under parts were not touched. "the lightning, conducted by the white hair, from the top of the back down the sides, came to the ground at the place where the white hair was left entire." the author of this account says, that he inquired of mr. tooth, a farrier, whether he ever knew of a similar accident; and that he told him "the circumstance was not new to him; that he had seen many pied bullocks struck by lightning in the same manner; that the texture of the skin under the white hair was always destroyed, though looking fair at first; but after a while it became sore, throwing out a putrid matter in pustules, like the small-pox with us, which in time falls off, when the hair grows again, and the bullocks receive no farther injury;" which was the case with the bullock in question. in a subsequent letter, however, the very same author informs us, that he had inquired of mr. tooth, "whether he ever saw a stroke of lightning actually fall upon a pied bullock, so as to destroy the white hair, and shew evident marks of burning, leaving the red hair uninjured? he said he never did; nor did he recollect any one that had. he gave an account, however, of a pied horse, belonging to himself, which had been struck dead by lightning in the night time." the explosion was so violent, that mr. tooth imagined his house had been struck, and therefore immediately got up. on going into the stable, he found the horse almost dead, though it kept on its legs near half an hour before it expired. the horse was pied white on the shoulder, and greatest part of the head, viz. the forehead and nose, where the greatest force of the stroke came. "the hair was not burnt nor discoloured, only so loosened at the root, that it came off with the least touch. and this is the case, according to mr. tooth's observation, with all that he has seen or heard of, viz. the hair is never burnt, but the skin always affected. in the horse, all the blood in the veins under the white parts of the head was quite stagnated, though he could perceive it to flow in other parts as usual; and the skin, together with one side of the tongue, was parched and dried up to a greater degree than he had ever seen before." another instance is mentioned of this extraordinary effect of lightning upon a bullock, in which even the small red spots on the sides were unaffected; and in this, as well as the former, the white hair on the under part of the belly, and on the legs, was left untouched. one very singular effect of lightning is, that it has been observed to kill alternately, that is, supposing a number of people standing in a line; if the first person was killed, the second would be safe; the third would be killed, and the fourth safe; the fifth killed, &c. effects of this kind are generally produced by the most violent kind of lightning; namely, that which appears in the form of balls, which frequently divide themselves into several parts before they strike. if one of these parts of a fire-ball strike a man, another will not strike the person who stands immediately close to him; because there is always a repulsion between bodies electrified the same way. now, as these parts into which the balls break have all the same kind of electricity, it is evident that they must for that reason repel one another, and this repulsion is so strong, that a man may be interposed within the stroke of two of them, without being hurt by either. thunder rod.--dr. franklin has demonstrated the identity of thunder with the electric explosion. he availed himself of many curious discoveries which he had made of electrical laws: in particular, having observed that electricity was drawn off at a great distance, and without the least violence of action, by a sharp metallic point, he proposed to philosophers to erect a tall mast or pole on the highest part of a building, and to furnish the top of it with a fine metallic point, properly insulated, with a wire leading to an insulated apparatus for exhibiting the common electrical appearances. to the whole of this contrivance he gave the name of _thunder rod_, which it still retains. he had not a proper opportunity of doing this himself, at the time of his writing his dissertation in a letter from philadelphia to the royal society of london; but the contents were so scientific, and so interesting, that in a few weeks they were known over all europe. his directions were followed in many places. in particular, the french academicians, encouraged by the presence of their monarch, and the great satisfaction which he expressed at the repetition of dr. franklin's most instructive experiments, which discovered and made known the theory of positive and negative electricity, as it is now received, were eager to execute his orders, and make his grand experiment, which promised so fairly to bring this tremendous operation of nature, not only within the pole of science, but in the management of human power. but in the mean time, dr. franklin, impatient of delay, and perhaps incited by the honourable desire of well-deserved fame, put his own scheme in practice. his inventive mind suggested to him a method of presenting a point to a thunder cloud at a considerable distance. this was, by fixing his point on the head of a paper kite, which the wind should raise to the clouds, while the wet string that held it should serve for a conductor of the electricity. with a palpitating heart, dr. franklin, unknown to his neighbours, and accompanied only by his son, went into the fields, and sent up his messenger that was to bring him news from the heavens. he obtained only a few sparks from his apparatus that day; but returned to his house in a state of perfect satisfaction with his success. we may justly consider this as one of the greatest of philosophical discoveries, and as doing the highest honour to the inventor; for it was not a suggestion from an accidental observation, but arose from a scientific comparison of facts, and a sagacious application of the doctrine of positive and negative electricity; a doctrine wholly dr. franklin's, and the result of the most acute and discriminating observation. it was this alone, that suggested the whole; and, by explaining to his satisfaction the curious property of sharp points, gave him the courage to handle the thunderbolt of the heavens. it is now a point fully ascertained, that thunder and lightning are the electric snap and spark, as much superior to our puny imitations as we can conceive from the immense extent of the instruments in the hands of nature. if (says dr. franklin,) a conductor, one foot thick, and five feet long, will produce such snaps as agitate the whole human frame, what may we not expect from a surface of ten thousand acres of electrified clouds? how loud must be the explosion! how terrible the effects! to this wonderful discovery, dr. darwin alludes in the following lines:-- led by the phosphor light, with daring tread immortal franklin sought the fiery bed; where, nurs'd in night, incumbent tempest shrouds the seeds of thunder in circumfluent clouds, besieg'd with iron points his airy cell, and pierc'd the monster slumb'ring in his shell. fire balls,--are a kind of luminous bodies, commonly appearing at a great height above the earth, with a splendour surpassing that of the moon, and sometimes equalling her apparent size. they generally proceed in this hemisphere from north to south with vast velocity, frequently breaking into several smaller ones, sometimes vanishing with a report, and sometimes not. these luminous appearances, no doubt, constitute one branch of the ancient prodigies, or blazing stars. they sometimes resemble comets, in being attended with a train; but frequently they appear with a round well-defined disk. the first of these, of which we have any accurate account, was observed by dr. halley and others, at different places, in . from the slight observations they could take of its course among the stars, its perpendicular height was computed at about seventy miles from the surface of the earth. the height of others has also been computed, and found to be various; though in general it is supposed to be beyond the limits assigned to our atmosphere, or where it loses its refractive power. the most remarkable of these on record appeared on the th of august, , about nine o'clock in the evening. it was seen to the northward of shetland, and took a southerly direction for an immense space, being observed as far as the southern provinces of france and rome. during its course, it appears frequently to have changed its shape; sometimes appearing in the form of one ball, sometimes two or more; sometimes with a train, sometimes without one. it passed over edinburgh nearly in the zenith, and had then the appearance of a well-defined round body, extremely luminous, and of a greenish colour; the light which it diffused on the ground giving likewise a greenish cast to objects. after passing the zenith, it was attended by a train of considerable length, which, continually augmenting, at last obliterated the head entirely; so that it looked like a wedge, flying with the obtuse end foremost. the motion was not apparently swift, by reason of its great height; though in reality it must have moved with great rapidity, on account of the vast space it travelled over in a short time. in other places its appearance was very different. at greenwich, we are told, that "two bright balls, parallel to each other, led the way, the diameter of which appeared to be about two feet; these were followed by an expulsion of eight others, not elliptical, seeming gradually to fall to pieces, for the last was small. between each two balls a luminous serrated body extended, and at the last a blaze issued, which terminated in a point. minute particles dilated from the whole. the balls were tinted first by a pure bright light, then followed a delicate yellow, mixed with azure, red, green, &c. which, with a coalition of bolder tints, and a reflection from the other balls, gave the most beautiful rotundity and variation of colours, that the human eye could be charmed with. the sudden illumination of the atmosphere, and the form and singular transition of this bright luminary, contributed much to render it awful: nevertheless, the amazingly vivid appearance of the different balls, and other rich connecting parts, not very easy to delineate, gave an effect equal to the rainbow in the zenith of its glory." terrible effects of electrified clouds.--the most extraordinary instance of this kind perhaps on record, happened in the island of java, in the east indies, in august, . on the th of that month, at midnight, a bright cloud was observed covering a mountain in the district called _cheribou_, and at the same time several reports were heard like those of a gun. the people who dwelt on the upper parts of the mountain, not being able to fly fast enough, a great part of the cloud, almost three leagues in circumference, detached itself under them, and was seen at a distance, rising and falling like the waves of the sea, and emitting globes of fire so luminous, that the night became as clear as day. the effects of it were astonishing: every thing was destroyed for seven leagues round; the houses were demolished; plantations were buried in the earth; and two thousand one hundred and forty people lost their lives, besides fifteen hundred head of cattle, and a vast number of horses, goats, &c. another instance of a very destructive cloud, the electric qualities of which at present can scarcely be doubted, is related by mr. brydone, in his tour through malta. it appeared on the th of october, . "about three-quarters of an hour after midnight, there was seen, to the south-west of the city of valetta, a great black cloud, which, as it approached, changed its colour, till at last it became like a flame of fire mixed with black smoke. a dreadful noise was heard on its approach, which alarmed the whole city. it passed over the port, and came first on an english ship, which in an instant was torn in pieces, and nothing left but the hull; part of the masts, sails, and cordage, were carried to a considerable distance with the cloud. the small boats and selloques, that fell in its way, were all broken to pieces and sunk. the noise increased, and became more frightful. a sentinel, terrified at its approach, ran into his box; but both he and it were lifted up and carried into the sea, where he perished. it then traversed a considerable part of the city, and laid in ruins almost every thing that stood in its way. several houses were laid level with the ground, and it did not leave one steeple in its passage. the bells of some of them, together with the spires, were carried to a considerable distance; the roofs of the churches demolished and beat down, &c. it went off at the north-east point of the city, and, demolishing the lighthouse, is said to have mounted up into the air with a frightful noise, and passed over the sea to sicily, where it tore up some trees, and did other inconsiderable damage; but nothing material, as its fury had been spent at malta. the number of killed and wounded amounted to near two hundred; and the loss of shipping, &c. was very considerable."--the effects of thunder storms, and the vast quantity of electric matter formed in the clouds which produce these storms, are so well known, that it is superfluous to mention them. it appears, however, that even these clouds are not so highly electrified as to produce their fatal effects on those who are immersed in them. it is only the discharge of part of their electricity upon such bodies as are either not electrified at all, or not so highly electrified as the cloud, that does all the mischief. we have, however, only the following instance on record, of any persons' being immersed in the body of a thunder cloud. professor saussure, and young mr. jalabert, when travelling over one of the high alps, were caught among clouds of this kind; and, to their astonishment, found their bodies so full of electrical fire, that spontaneous flashes darted from their fingers with a crackling noise, and the same kind of sensation as when strongly electrified by art. * * * * * among the awful phenomena of nature, none have excited more terror than lightning and thunder. some of the profligate roman emperors, of whom history records that they procured themselves to be deified, confessed, by their trembling and hiding themselves, when they heard the thunder, that there was a divine power greater than their own--_coela tonantem jovem_. the greatest security against the terrors of a thunder-storm, although no certain one against its effects, is that life of piety and virtue, which is the best guardian of every earthly blessing. the good man, who knows that every event is under the direction of an overruling providence, and that this life is only a part of his existence, introductory to the blissful scenes of immortality, will behold the terrors of the storm with unshaken resolution: grateful to the supreme being, if permitted to escape from the danger; and acquiescing in the divine will, if thus to be conveyed, by an easy and instantaneous passage, to that heaven where his conversation had long been, and to that god with whom he delighted to walk. these sentiments are beautifully expressed in the following lines, written in a midnight thunder-storm, by the celebrated mrs. carter, and addressed to a lady:-- let coward guilt with pallid fear to shelt'ring caverns fly, and justly dread the vengeful fate that thunders thro' the sky: protected by that hand, whose law the threat'ning storms obey, intrepid virtue smiles secure, as in the blaze of day. in the thick cloud's tremendous gloom, the lightning's lurid glare, it views the same all-gracious pow'r, that breathes the vernal air. thro' nature's ever-varying scene, by diff'rent ways pursu'd, the one eternal end of heav'n is universal good. the same unchanging mercy rules when flaming ether glows, as when it tunes the linnet's voice, or blushes in the rose. by reason taught to scorn those fears that vulgar minds molest, let no fantastic terrors break my dear narcissa's rest. thy life may all the tend'rest care of providence defend, and delegated angels round their guardian wings extend. when thro' creation's vast expanse the last dread thunders roll, untune the concord of the spheres, and shake the rising soul; unmov'd may'st thou the final storm of jarring worlds survey, that ushers in the glad serene of everlasting day. the following lines on the same subject were written by mrs. chapone:-- in gloomy pomp, whilst awful midnight reigns, and wide o'er earth her mournful mantle spreads; whilst deep-voiced thunders threaten guilty heads, and rushing torrents drown the frighted plains; and quick-glanc'd lightnings, to my dazzled sight, betray the double horrors of the night: a solemn stillness creeps upon my soul, and all its powers in deep attention die; my heart forgets to beat; my stedfast eye catches the flying gleam; the distant roll, advancing gradual, swells upon my ear with louder peals, more dreadful as more near. awake, my soul, from thy forgetful trance! the storm calls loud, and meditation wakes: how at the sound pale superstition shakes, whilst all her train of frantic fears advance! children of darkness, hence! fly far from me! and dwell with guilt and infidelity! but come, with look compos'd and sober pace, calm contemplation, come! and hither lead devotion, that on earth disdains to tread; her inward flame illumes her glowing face, her upcast eye, and spreading wings, prepare her flight for heaven, to find her treasure there. she sees, enraptur'd through the thickest gloom, celestial beauty beam, and 'midst the howl of warring winds, sweet music charms her soul; she sees, while rifted oaks in flames consume, a father god, that o'er the storm presides, threatens to save,--and loves when most he chides. surprising effects of extreme cold.--by extreme degrees of cold, trees are burst, rocks rent, and rivers and lakes frozen several feet deep: metallic substances blister the skin like red-hot iron: the air, when drawn in by respiration, hurts the lungs, and excites a cough: even the effects of fire in a great measure seem to cease; and metals, though kept for a considerable time before a strong fire, will still freeze water when thrown upon them. when the french mathematicians wintered at tornea, in lapland, the external air, when suddenly admitted into their rooms, converted the moisture of the air into whirls of snow; their breasts seemed to be rent when they breathed it; the contact of it was intolerable to their bodies; and the spirit of wine, which had not been highly rectified, burst some of their thermometers by the congelation of the aqueous parts. extreme cold very often proves fatal to animals, in countries where the winters are very severe. thus seven thousand swedes perished at once, in attempting to pass the mountains which divide norway from sweden. it is not necessary, indeed, that the cold, in order to prove fatal to human life, should be so very intense as has been just mentioned. there is only requisite a degree somewhat below ° of fahrenheit, accompanied with snow or hail, from which shelter cannot be obtained. the snow which falls upon the clothes, or the uncovered parts of the body, then melts, and, by a continual evaporation, carries off the animal heat to such a degree, that a sufficient quantity is not left for the support of life. in such cases, the person first feels himself extremely chill and uneasy; he begins to grow listless, unwilling to walk or use exercise to keep himself warm; and at last turns drowsy, sits down to refresh himself with sleep, but wakes no more. an instance of this was seen not many years ago at terra del fuego; where dr. solander, with some others, having taken an excursion up the country, the cold was so intense, that one of their number died. the doctor himself, though he had warned his companions of the danger of sleeping in that situation, yet could not be prevented from making that dangerous experiment himself; and though he was awaked with all possible expedition, his body was so much shrunk in bulk, that his shoes fell off his feet, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he was recovered. in those parts of the world where vast masses of ice are produced, the accumulation of it, by absorbing the heat of the atmosphere, occasions an absolute sterility in the adjacent countries, as is particularly the case with the island of iceland; where the vast collections of ice floating out from the northern ocean, and stopped on that coast, are sometimes several years in thawing. indeed, where great quantities of ice are collected, it would seem to have a power like fire, of both augmenting its own intenseness and that of the adjacent bodies. astonishingly expansive force of freezing water.--although cold, in general, contracts most bodies, and heat expands them, yet there are some instances to the contrary, especially in the extreme cases or states of these qualities of bodies. thus, though iron, in common with other bodies, expands with heat; yet, when melted, it is always found to expand in cooling again. thus also, though water expands gradually as it is heated, and contracts as it cools, yet in the act of freezing it suddenly expands again, and that with an enormous force, capable of rending rocks, or bursting the very thick shells of metal, &c. a computation of the force of freezing water, has been made by the florentine academicians, from the bursting of a very strong brass globe or shell by freezing water in it; when, from the known thickness and tenacity of the metal, it was found that the expansive power of a spherule of water only one inch in diameter, was sufficient to overcome a resistance of more than twenty-seven thousand pounds, or thirteen tons and a half. such a prodigious effect of expansion, almost double that of the most powerful steam-engines, and exerted in so small a mass, seemingly by the force of cold, was thought a very material argument in favour of those who supposed that cold, like heat, is a positive substance. dr. black's discovery of latent heat, however, has afforded a very easy and natural explication of this phenomenon. he has shewn, that, in the act of congelation, water is not cooled more than it was before, but rather grows warmer: that as much heat is discharged and passes from a latent and a sensible state, as, had it been applied to water in its fluid state, would have heated it to °. in this process, the expansion is occasioned by a great number of minute bubbles suddenly produced. formerly these were supposed to be cold in the abstract, and to be so subtile, that, insinuating themselves into the substances of the fluid, they augmented its bulk, at the same time that, by impeding the motion of its particles upon each other, they changed it from a fluid to a solid. but dr. black shews, that these are only air extricated during the congelation; and to the extrication of this air he ascribes the prodigious expansive force exerted by freezing water. the only question, therefore, is, by what means this air comes to be extricated, and to take up more room than it naturally does in the fluid? to this it may be answered, that perhaps part of the heat, which is discharged from the freezing water, combines with air in its unelastic state, and, by restoring its elasticity, gives it that extraordinary force; as is seen in the case of air suddenly extricated in the explosion of gunpowder. the degree of expansion of water, in the state of ice, is by some authors computed at one tenth of its volume. oil and quicksilver shrink and contract after freezing. mr. boyle relates several experiments of vessels made of metals, very thick and strong; in which, when filled with water, closely stopped, and exposed to the cold, the water being expanded in freezing, and not finding either room or vent, burst the vessels. a strong barrel of a gun, with water in it, close stopped and frozen, was rent the whole length. huygens, to try the force with which it expands, filled a cannon with it, whose sides were an inch thick, and then closed up the mouth and vent, so that none could escape; the whole being exposed to a strong freezing air, the water froze in about twelve hours, and burst the piece in two places. hence mathematicians have computed the force of the ice upon this occasion; and they say, that such a force would equal twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and twenty pounds. major edward williams, of the royal artillery, made many experiments on the force of freezing water, at quebec, in - . he filled all sizes of bomb shells with water, then plugged the fuze-hole close up, and exposed them to the strong freezing air of the winter in that climate; sometimes driving in the iron plugs as hard as possible with a sledge hammer; and yet they were all thrown out by the sudden expansion of the water in the act of freezing, like a ball shot by gunpowder, sometimes to the distance of between four and five hundred feet, though they weighed near three pounds; and when the plugs were screwed in, or furnished with hooks or barbs to lay hold of the inside of the shell by, so that they could not possibly be forced out, in this case the shell was always split in two, though the thickness of the metal of the shell was about an inch and three-quarters. through the circular crack, round about the shells, where they burst, there stood out a thin film or sheet of ice, like a fin; and in the cases where the plugs were projected by freezing water, there suddenly issued out from the fuze-hole a bolt of ice of the same diameter, and stood over it to the height sometimes of eight inches and a half. chap. lxvii. curiosities respecting various phenomena, or appearances in nature.--(_continued._) _water spout--fata morgana--fairy rings--sheet of phosphoric fire--phosphorus._ --------every object of creation can furnish hints to contemplation. _gay._ water spout.--this extraordinary meteor is most frequently observed at sea. it generally begins by a cloud, which appears very small, and which is called, by sailors, the squall. this augments in a little time into an enormous cloud of a cylindrical form, or that of a cone on its apex, and produces a noise like the roaring of an agitated sea, sometimes accompanied with thunder and lightning, and also large quantities of rain or hail, sufficient to inundate large vessels; and to carry away in their course, (when they occur by land,) trees, houses, and every thing that opposes their impetuosity. sailors, dreading the fatal consequences of water-spouts, endeavour to dissipate them by firing a cannon into them just before they approach the ship. we shall give an account of one, as described by m. tournefort, in his voyage to the levant. [illustration: water spouts.--page . these phenomena are the great terror of sailors, who endeavour to dissipate them by firing cannon into them.] "the first of these (says this traveller) that we saw, was about a musket-shot from our ship. there we perceived the water begin to boil, and to rise about a foot above its level. the water was agitated, and whitish; and above its surface there seemed to stand a smoke, such as might be imagined to come from wet straw before it begins to blaze. it made a sort of a murmuring sound, like that of a torrent heard at a distance, mixed, at the same time, with a hissing noise, like that of a serpent: shortly after we perceived a column of this smoke rise up to the clouds, at the same time whirling about with great rapidity. it appeared to be as thick as one's finger; and the former sound still continued. when this disappeared, after lasting for about eight minutes, upon turning to the opposite quarter of the sky, we perceived another, which began in the manner of the former; presently after, a third appeared in the west; and instantly beside it, still another arose. the most distant of these three could not be above a musket-shot from the ship. they all appeared like so many heaps of wet straw set on fire, and continued to smoke, and to make the same noise as before. we soon after perceived each, with its respective canal, mounting up in the clouds; and spreading, where it touched the cloud, like the mouth of a trumpet; making a figure (to express it intelligibly) as if the tail of an animal was pulled at one end by a weight. these canals were of a whitish colour, and so tinged, as i suppose, by the water which was contained in them; for, previous to this, they were apparently empty, and of the colour of transparent glass. these canals were not straight, but bent in some parts, and far from being perpendicular, by rising in their clouds with a very inclined ascent. "but what is very remarkable, the spouts crossed each other, in the form of a st. andrew's cross. in the beginning they were all about as thick as one's finger, except at the top, where they were broader, and two of them disappeared; but shortly after, the last of the three increased considerably, and its canal, which was at first so small, soon became as thick as a man's arm, then as his leg, and at last thicker than his whole body. we saw distinctly, through this transparent body, the water, which rose up with a kind of spiral motion; and it sometimes diminished a little of its thickness, and again resumed the same, sometimes widening at top, and sometimes at the bottom, exactly resembling a gut filled with water, pressed with the fingers to make the fluid rise or fall; and i am well convinced that this alteration in the spout was caused by the wind, which pressed the cloud, and compelled it to give up its contents. after some time its bulk was so diminished as to be no thicker than a man's arm again, and thus swelling and diminishing, it at last became very small. in the end, i observed the sea which was raised about it to resume its level by degrees, and the end of the canal that touched it to become as small as if it had been tied round with a cord; and this continued till the light, striking through the cloud, took away the view. i still, however, continued to look, expecting that its parts would join again, as i had before seen in one of the others, in which the spout was more than once broken, and yet the parts again came together; but i was disappointed, for the spout appeared no more." in the philosophical transactions, (volume xxii. and xxiii.) we have descriptions of several of these phenomena: their effects, in some instances, are probably much exaggerated. one at topsham is said to have cut down an apple-tree, several inches in diameter: another, we are told, seemed to be produced by a concourse of winds, turning like a screw, the clouds dropping into it: it threw trees and branches about with a gyratory motion.--one in deeping fen, lincolnshire, was first seen moving across the land and water of the fen: it raised the dust, broke some gates, and destroyed a field of turnips: it vanished with an appearance of fire.--dr. franklin supposes that a vacuum is made by the rotatory motion of the ascending air, as when water is running through a funnel, and that the water of the sea is thus raised. but dr. young says, no such cause could do more than produce a slight rarefaction of the air, much less raise the water to the height of thirty or forty feet, or more. [illustration: the fata morgana, as observed in the harbour of messina.--page .] [illustration: the fata morgana, as observed at reggio.--page .] professor wolke describes a water-spout, which passed immediately over the ship in which he was sailing, in the gulf of finland: it appeared to be twenty-five feet in diameter, consisting of drops about the size of cherries. the sea was agitated round its base, through a space of about one hundred and thirty feet in diameter. one of the latest accounts of the phenomenon of a water-spout, is that read to the royal society in the year , from a letter written to sir joseph banks, by captain ricketts, of the royal navy. in the month of july, , captain ricketts was called on deck, on account of the rapid approach of a water-spout, among the lipari islands. it had the appearance of a viscid fluid, tapering in its descent, proceeding from the cloud to join the sea. it moved at the rate of about two miles an hour, with a loud sound of rain. it passed the stern of the ship, and wetted the afterpart of the main-sail: hence it was inferred, that water-spouts are not continuous columns of water; and subsequent observations confirmed the opinion. in november, , about twenty miles from trieste, a water-spout was seen eight miles to the south; round its lower extremity was a mist, about twelve feet high, somewhat in the form of an ionian capital, with very large volutes, the spout resting obliquely on its crown. at some distance from this spout the sea began to be agitated, and a mist rose to the height of about four feet; then a projection descended from the black cloud that was impending, and met the ascending mist about twenty feet above the sea; the last ten yards of the distance were described with very great rapidity. a cloud of a light colour appeared to ascend in this spout, something like quicksilver in a tube. the first spout then snapped at about one-third of its height, the inferior part subsiding gradually, and the superior curling upwards. several other projections from the cloud appeared, with corresponding agitations of the water below, but not always in spots vertically under them: seven spouts in all were formed; two other projections being re-absorbed. some of the spouts were not only oblique, but curved: the ascending cloud moved most rapidly in those which were vertical: they lasted from three to five minutes, and their dissipation was attended by no fall of rain. fata morgana.--this is a very remarkable aërial phenomenon, which is sometimes observed from the harbour of messina, and adjacent places, at a certain height in the atmosphere. the name, which signifies the _fairy morgana_, is derived from an opinion of the superstitious sicilians, that the whole spectacle is produced by fairies, or such like visionary invisible beings. the populace are delighted whenever it appears; and run about the streets shouting for joy, calling every body out to partake of the glorious sight. this singular meteor has been described by various authors; but the first who mentioned it with any degree of precision was father angelucci, whose account is thus quoted by mr. swinburne in his tour through sicily: "on the th of august, , as i stood at my window, i was surprised with a most wonderful delectable vision. the sea that washes the sicilian shore swelled up, and became, for ten miles in length, like a chain of dark mountains; while the waters near our calabrian coast grew quite smooth, and in an instant appeared as one clear polished mirror, reclining against the aforesaid ridge. on this glass was depicted, in _chairo scuro_, a string of several thousands of pilasters, all equal in altitude, distance, and degree of light and shade. in a moment they lost half their height, and bent into arcades, like roman aqueducts. a long cornice was next formed on the top, and above it arose castles innumerable, all perfectly alike. these soon split into towers, which were shortly after lost in colonnades, then windows, and at last ended in pines, cypresses, and other trees, even and similar. this is the fata morgana, which for twenty-six years i had thought a mere fable." to produce this pleasing deception, many circumstances must concur, which are not known to exist in any other situation. the spectator must stand with his back to the east, in some elevated place behind the city, that he may command a view of the whole bay; beyond which the mountains of messina rise like a wall, and darken the back ground of the picture. the winds must be hushed, the surface quite smoothed, the tide at its height, and the waters pressed up by currents to a great elevation in the middle of the channel. all these events coinciding, as soon as the sun surmounts the eastern hills behind reggio, and rises high enough to form an angle of forty-five degrees on the water before the city, every object existing or moving at reggio, will be repeated one thousand-fold upon this marine looking-glass, which, by its tremulous motion, is as it were cut into facets. each image will pass rapidly off in succession, as the day advances, and the stream carries down the wave on which it appeared. thus the parts of this moving picture will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. sometimes the air is at that moment so impregnated with vapours, and undisturbed by winds, as to reflect objects in a kind of aërial screen, rising about thirty feet above the level of the sea. in cloudy heavy weather, they are drawn on the surface of the water, bordered with fine prismatical colours. to the above account we shall add the following, given by m. houel, whose judgment and veracity render his authority highly respectable. "in fine summer days, when the weather is calm, there rises above the great current a vapour, which acquires a certain density, so as to form in the atmosphere horizontal prisms, whose sides are disposed in such a manner, that when they come to their proper degree of perfection, they reflect and represent successively, for some time, (like a moveable mirror,) the objects on the coast, or in the adjacent country. they exhibit by turns, the city and suburbs of messina, trees, animals, men, and mountains. they are certainly beautiful aërial moving pictures. there are sometimes two or three prisms, equally perfect; and they continue in this state eight or ten minutes. after this, some shining inequalities are observed upon the surface of the prism, which render confused to the eye, the objects which had been before so accurately delineated, and the picture vanishes. the vapour forms other combinations, and is dispersed in the air. different accounts have been given of this singular appearance; which for my part i attribute to a bitumen that issues from certain rocks at the bottom of the sea, and which is often seen to cover a part of its surface in the canal of messina. the subtile parts of this bitumen being attenuated, combined, and exhaled with the aqueous globules that are raised by the air, and formed into bodies of vapour, give to this condensed vapour more consistence; and contribute, by their smooth and polished particles, to the formation of a kind of aërial crystal, which receives the light, reflects it to the eye, and transmits to it all the luminous points which colour the objects exhibited in this phenomenon, and render them visible." fairy rings,--are circles of dark green grass frequently observed in old pastures; they have long been known under the name of fairy rings, and have generally been supposed to be occasioned, in some way or other, by electricity. dr. wollaston has, in a late volume of the transactions of the royal society, given a new and very ingenious theory, of which we shall present our readers with a brief account, premising, that mr. davy, in the course of his lectures at the royal institution, had occasion to refer to the subject, and seemed to coincide in opinion with dr. wollaston. that which first attracted his notice was the position of certain fungi, which are always found growing upon these circles, if examined in a proper season. the position of these fungi led him to imagine that the progressive increase from a central point was the probable mode of formation of the ring: hence he conjectured that the soil, which had once contributed to the support of the fungi, might be so exhausted of some peculiar pabulum necessary for their production, as to be rendered incapable of producing a second crop. the second year's crop would, if this theory be just, appear in a small ring surrounding the original centre of vegetation; and at every succeeding year the defect of nutriment on one side, would necessarily cause the new roots to extend themselves solely in the opposite direction, and would occasion the circle of fungi continually to proceed, by an annual enlargement, from the centre outwards. an appearance of luxuriance of the grass would follow as a natural consequence, as the soil of an interior circle would always be enriched, by the decayed roots of fungi of the year's growth. this theory is supported by some observations of dr. withering; and dr. wollaston says, by way of confirmation, that whenever two adjacent circles are found to interfere, they not only do not cross each other, but both circles are invariably obliterated between the points of contact: the exhaustion occasioned by each obstructs the progress of the other, and both are starved.--philosophical transactions, , part ii. though it cannot be doubted that most fairy rings, if not all of them, have considerable relation to the running of a fungus; there, nevertheless, seems reason to conclude that electricity may likewise be concerned in their production. the electrical effect may relate to fairy rings of a different kind from those occasioned by the fungus, or it may have been antecedent to the production of the vegetable. it is a familiar effect in our experiments, that the spark proceeding from a positive conductor, breaks or radiates at about one-third of its course, and strikes the receiving conductor by a central spark surrounded by other smaller ones. the concentric rings produced upon polished metallic surfaces by the strong explosion of a battery, as first observed by dr. priestley, appears to be a fact of the same kind; and the forked radiations of lightning are well known. there is related, in the philosophical journal, volume i. to, some events which happened in kensington gardens in june, , when a powerful thunder-storm passed over the western extremity of london. the explosions were very marked and distinct, and in many instances forked at the lower end, but never at the top; from which it seems proper to conclude, that the general mass of clouds, or, at least, that extremity which passed over london, was in the state called positive. five days afterwards, upon visiting kensington gardens, it was observed, that every part of that extensive piece of ground shewed marks of the agency of the lightning, chiefly by discoloration of the grass in zigzag streaks, some of which were fifty or sixty yards in length. instances of this superficial course of the lightning along the ground, before it enters the earth, are sufficiently frequent. but the circumstance applicable to our present subject is, that several trees had been struck by the lightning. two of them, which stood on the outside to the westward, had holes torn in the ground, close to the trunk; and round one of these trees was a space of six feet in diameter, in which the grass was very much scorched. another tree on the west was surrounded by a faint ring of burnt or faded grass, which seemed to be occasioned by some earlier stroke, as the vegetation had begun to shoot up again. another tree, standing on the out side to the south, was surrounded by a ring of twelve feet diameter, and eighteen inches broad. within the ring the grass was fresh; but on the surface of the ring, the grass and the ground were much burned. to the eastward of the tree, upon the ring itself, were two holes, in which the ground had the appearance of ashes. another tree, on the east side of the grove, had the half of a faint ring to the westward. and, lastly, a tree which stood in the middle was surrounded by a faint ring of twelve feet diameter, within which the grass was unhurt; and to the westward, at the distance of about three feet from the inner ring, was part of another similar ring, of nearly the same appearance; the verdure being unhurt in the interval between the rings. a sheet of phosphoric fire.--a curious instance of this occurred to monsieur peron, in his voyage from europe to the isle of france. between three and four degrees north latitude, during the obscurity of a night intensely dark, the wind blowing a hurricane, and the vessel making a rapid progress, he was struck by the sudden appearance of a vast sheet of phosphoric fire, floating before the ship, and covering a considerable space. the vessel presently made its way through this inflamed part of the sea, which enabled the observant navigator to discover that this prodigious light was occasioned entirely by an immense number of small animalcules, which swam at different depths, and appeared to assume various forms. those which were most immersed in the water, looked like great red-hot cannon balls: whilst those on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. some of them were soon caught, and found to vary in size, from three to seven inches. all the outside surface of the animal was bristled with thick oblong tubercles, shining like so many diamonds; and these seemed to be the principal seat of its wonderful phosphorescence. the inside, also, appeared furnished with a multitude of little, narrow, oblong glands, which possessed the phosphoric virtue in a high degree. when in a tranquil state, the colour of these brilliant inhabitants of the ocean is an opal yellow, mixed with green; but, on the slightest movement of those voluntary contractions exercised by the creature, or those which the observer can at pleasure excite by the least irritation, the animal seems to inflame, and it becomes instantly like a piece of red-hot iron of the most vivid brilliancy. when its phosphorescency declines, it assumes a succession of light elegant tints, that are very pleasing to the eye, such as red, aurora, orange, green, and azure blue; the last is particularly lively and pure. the organization of this animal, which is called the pyrosoma atlanticum, ranks it amongst the most singular of the zoophite tribe; whilst its extraordinary phosphoric powers render it the most beautiful that has yet been seen. it may be not amiss to conclude this chapter with an account of that very curious substance, phosphorus.--this singular production was accidentally discovered, in , by an alchymist of hamburgh, named brandt, when he was engaged in searching for the philosopher's stone. kunkel, another chemist, who had seen the new product, associated himself with one of his friends, named krafft, to purchase the secret of its preparation; but the latter deceiving his friend, made the purchase for himself, and refused to communicate it. kunkel, who at this time knew nothing further of its preparation, than that it was obtained by certain processes from urine, undertook the task, and succeeded. it is on this account that the substance long went under the name of kunkel's phosphorus. mr. boyle is also considered as one of the discoverers of phosphorus. he communicated the secret of the process for preparing it, to the royal society of london, in . it is asserted, indeed, by krafft, that he discovered the secret to mr. boyle, having, in the year , carried a small piece of it to london, to shew it to the royal family; but there is little probability that a man of such integrity as mr. boyle would claim the discovery of the process as his own, and communicate it to the royal society, if this had not been the case. mr. boyle communicated the process to godfrey hankwitz, an apothecary of london, who for many years supplied europe with phosphorus, and hence it went under the name of english phosphorus. in the year , the swedish chemists, gahn and scheele, made the important discovery, that phosphorus is contained in the bones of animals; and they improved the processes for procuring it. when phosphorus is heated to the temperature of °, it takes fire, burns with a bright flame, and gives out a great quantity of white smoke. phosphorus enters into combination with oxygen, azote, hydrogen, and carbon. phosphorus is soluble in oils, and, when thus dissolved, forms what has been called liquid phosphorus, which may be rubbed on the face and hands without injury. it dissolves too in ether; and a very beautiful experiment consists in pouring this phosphoric ether in small portions, and in a dark place, on the surface of hot water. the phosphoric matches consist of phosphorus extremely dry, minutely divided, and perhaps a little oxygenized. the simplest mode of making them, is to put a little phosphorus, dried by blotting paper, into a small phial; heat the phial, and when the phosphorus is melted, turn it round, so that the phosphorus may adhere to the sides. cork the phial closely, and it is prepared. on putting a common sulphur match into the bottle, and stirring it about, the phosphorus will adhere to the match, and will take fire when brought out into the air. chap. lxviii. curiosities respecting various phenomena, or appearances in nature.--(_continued._) _spots in the sun--diminution of the sun--parhelia, or mock suns--eclipses--halo, or corona; and similar appearances--falling or shooting star--volcanoes in the moon._ hail, sacred source of inexhausted light! prodigious instance of creating might! his distance man's imagination foils; numbers will scarce avail to count the miles. his globose body how immensely great! how fierce his burnings! how intense his heat! as swift as thought, he darts his radiance round to distant worlds, his system's utmost bound; of all the planets the directing soul, that heightens and invigorates the whole. _brown._ spots in the sun.--the following account of the spots in the sun is taken from a french paper. "the spots were seen for the first time in ; and nearly about the same time by j. fabricius, at wittenberg, by the jesuit scheiner, and by galileo. this great man watched their course with so much attention, and so well developed their phenomena, that very little has been since added to the descriptions which he gave, except more precise measures. the spots of the sun are at present viewed with astronomical telescopes, in which the great brilliancy of that luminary is mitigated, and not effaced, by the coloured glass placed between the telescope and the eye. there are in the interior of the telescope, at the focus of the object, some very fine threads stretched crosswise, and moveable parallel to each other, by means of which the distance of the spot from the nearest border of the sun's disk may be ascertained, which determines its position on the disk at the moment of observation. by following in this manner the same spot for several days, it is perceived to change its place. its size also varies much. the spots sometimes grow thinner, and disperse from one day to another: and hence it is, that, though in one month rather a large number was visible, in the following only two are to be seen. but during the whole time of their presence they pursue a regular course, of which the aspects are common to all. "when they first come in sight, they appear on the sun's border, like a slender thread. in proportion as they advance towards the middle of the disk, they appear, from day to day, to enlarge in the direction of their movement. they then decrease periodically; and if they last long enough to traverse the whole disk, they go off by the opposite side, narrowing to a single thread. these appearances are evidently such as a small body, adhering to a spherical surface, and revolving with or upon that surface, must present. the diminution of the spots, in proportion as they approximate the borders of the disk, results from this--that they then project more obliquely, and are only seen sidewise; but when in the middle of the disk, they are seen in their full extent. in fine, upon comparing the direction and rapidity of their course, it soon becomes evident, that the supposition of their adhering to the body of the sun is the only admissible one. on thus tracing the route of all those which appear, it is ascertained that they move in courses exactly parallel, describing circles which all have their centre on a common axis, passing through the centre of the sun. the size of these circles varies on different points of the disk, according to the same laws as on a sphere; and the rate of movement is modified in such a way, that all the circles are run through in equal times. this perfect concordance of revolution in spots so changeable in other respects, evidently shews that they must be attached to one and the same round body, which makes them revolve altogether with a common motion. hence it has been concluded, that the sun revolves upon itself with the general motion of these spots, that is, in twenty-five days and a half, in like manner as our earth revolves in twenty-four hours. the same calculation, applied to the spots which have been discovered on the other planets, has in like manner made us acquainted with their rotation. [illustration: parhelia, or mock sun.--page .] [illustration: the ignis fatuus, will-with-a-wisp, or jack-with-a-lantern.--page .] "as to the nature of these solar spots, it is absolutely unknown. herschel is of opinion, that luminous clouds float in the inflamed atmosphere of this luminary, as clouds of vapour float in ours. he supposes that the body of the sun is opaque and dark; and that the black spots observed there at intervals, are merely the summits of very elevated mountains, which the solar clouds permit us to see between their openings. other astronomers think that the globe of the sun is on fire, and that the spots are merely immense scoria, launched on the surface of that mass by some terrible explosions, of which our terrestrial volcanoes afford but a feeble picture. but whatever may be thought of these conjectures, it seems sufficient for us to know, that the solar spots are trifling compared with the immense mass of that body; and that the eruptions, of which they are perhaps the effect, take place at too great a distance from our earth to produce the least effect upon it. generally speaking, the physical state of our little world is incomparably more stable and steady than its moral state." diminution of the sun.--baron lindeneau, who recently published a work on the diminution of the solar mass, says, that the sun may have been imperceptibly subject to successive diminution since the science of astronomy has been cultivated. baron lindeneau supposes the sun's diameter to be , miles, , , , feet, or nearly seconds. we have not, he observes, hitherto possessed any instrument for measuring the diameter of the heavenly bodies to a second. the sun may therefore diminish , of its diameter, or , , feet, without the possibility of being perceived. supposing the sun to diminish daily two feet, it would require _three thousand_ years to render the diminution of a second of its diameter visible. account of those singular appearances, called, parhelia, or mock suns.-- as when two suns appear in th' azure sky, mounted in phoebus' chariot fierie bright: both darting forth fair beams to each man's eye; and both adorn'd with lamps of flaming light, all that behold such strange prodigious sight, not knowing nature's work, nor what to weene, are wrapt with wonder, and with rare affrighte. _spenser._ a parhelion is a meteor in form of a bright light, appearing on one side of the sun. phenomena of this kind have been mentioned both by the ancients and moderns. aristotle observes, that in general they are seen only when the sun is near the horizon, though he takes notice of two that were seen in bosphorus from morning till evening; and pliny has related the times when such phenomena were observed at rome. gassendi says, that in - he often saw one mock sun. two were observed by m. de la hire in ; and the same number by cassini in ; by mr. grey in , and by dr. halley in ; but the most celebrated phenomena of this kind were seen at rome by scheiner; by muschenbroek at utrecht; and by hevelius at ledan. by the two former, four mock suns were observed; and by the latter, seven. parhelia are apparently of the same size with the sun, though not always of the same brightness, nor even of the same shape; and when a number appear at once, there is some difference in both respects among them. externally they are tinged with colours like the rainbow; and many have a long fiery tail opposite the sun, but paler towards the extremity. parhelia are generally accompanied with coronas, some of which are tinged with rainbow colours, but others are white. (see _halo_.) they differ in number and size; but all agree in breadth, which is that of the apparent diameter of the sun. a very large white circle, parallel to the horizon, generally passes through all the parhelia; and, if it were entire, it would go through the centre of the sun. sometimes there are arcs of lesser circles concentric to this, touching those coloured circles which surround the sun. they are also tinged with colours, and contain other parhelia. other circles are said to have been obliquely situated with respect to all these. the order of the colours in these circles is the same as in the rainbow; but on the inside, with respect to the sun, they are red, as is also observed in many haloes. parhelia have been visible for one, two, three, and four hours together; and in north america, they are said to continue some days, and to be visible from sunrise to sunset. when the parhelia disappear, it sometimes rains, or snow falls in the form of oblong spiculæ, as maraldi, weidler, krafft, and others, have observed; and because the air in north america abounds with such frozen spiculæ, which are even visible to the eye, according to ellis and middleton, such particles have been thought to be the cause of all coronas and parhelia. mr. wales says, that at churchill, in hudson's bay, the rising of the sun is always preceded by two long streams of red light, one on each side, and about twenty degrees distant from him. these rise as the sun rises; and as they grow longer, they begin to bend towards each other, till they meet directly over the sun, just as he rises, forming there a parhelion, or mock sun. these two streams of light, he says, seem to have their source in two other parhelia, which rise with the true sun; and in winter, when the sun never rises above the haze or fog, which he says is constantly seen near the horizon, all these accompany him the whole day, and set with him. once or twice he saw a fourth parhelion, directly under the sun; but this is not common. these facts being constant, are very valuable, and may throw great light on the theory of these remarkable phenomena. sometimes parhelia appear in a different manner; as when three suns have been seen in the same vertical circle, well defined, and touching one another. the true sun was in the middle, and the lowest touched the horizon, and they set one after the other. this appearance was seen by maleziew, in . other appearances similar to this are recited by mr. muschenbroek. sometimes the sun has risen or set with a luminous tail projecting from him, of the same breadth with his diameter, and perpendicular to the horizon. such an appearance was seen by cassini in and ; by de la hire in ; and by mr. ellis in hudson's bay. as m. feuilée was walking on the banks of the river la plata, he saw the sun rising over the river, with a luminous tail projecting downwards, which continued till he was six degrees high. paraselæ, or mock moons, have also been seen, accompanied with tails and coloured circles, like those which accompany the parhelia. an account of several, and a particular description of a fine appearance of this kind, may be seen in muschenbroek. the following account of this phenomenon is extracted from a pamphlet, entitled, 'somewhat written by occasion of three sunnes' seene, at tregorie, in cornwall, the nd of december last; with other memorable occurrents in other places. imprinted : pages small to.' "since this strange apparition, namely, upon the th of january last, there happened in devonshire, yet not farre from the other place, being on the edge of cornwalle, another wonder, which, did as much affrighte the eares of men, as this did their eyes: for in the afternoone of that day, being the thursday after twelfth-day, there were heard in the aire unusuall cracks or claps of thunder, resembling in all points the sound of many drums together, sometimes beating charges, sometimes retreats, sometimes marches, and all other points of warre: which, after it had continued a good time, it seemed that the same thunder did most lively expresse many volleyes of small-shot, and afterwards the like volleyes of ordnance, with so great and yet so distinct noyse, that many of them who dwelt neare the sea, went toward the shore to see what it might meane, as verily supposing there had beene some sea fight neere upon that coast. these severall fearfull noyses were againe and againe renewed in the same order, till at length with an horrible and extraordinary cracke of thunder, there fell in a ground of one robert pierce, where there were divers workemen planting apple-trees, (which ground lay neere the house of one master george chidley,) a thunder-bolt, if i may so call it, being a stone of three foot and an halfe in length, of two foot and an halfe in breadth, and one foot and an halfe in thicknesse, the substance whereof was in hardnesse and colour not much unlike a flint, as appeares by many pieces thereof, which are shewed up and downe by many credible and honest gentlemen, who, with their own hands, brake them off from the maine stone. after the fall of this stone, which with the weight thereof was cleane buried in the ground above a yard deepe, the thunder ceased, and people began as much to won--at that which they now saw, as they had lately done at that, which with so much feare and amazement they had heard." observations on eclipses of the sun and moon.-- give me the ways of wand'ring stars to know, the depths of heav'n above and earth below; teach me the various labours of the moon, and whence proceed th' eclipses of the sun. _virg. georg._ ii the deprivation of the light of the sun, or some heavenly body, by the interposition of another heavenly body between our sight and it is, called an eclipse. thus, eclipses of the sun happen by the moon's intervening between it and the earth; by which means the shadow of the moon falls upon the earth, when the latitude of the moon does not prevent it, by elevating her orb above, or depressing it below the earth. on the other hand, an eclipse of the moon can only happen when the earth is interposed between the sun and it; for then, if the latitude of the moon does not prevent it, the shadow of the earth may fall on the moon, and thereby cause either a partial, or total eclipse. a total eclipse of the sun or moon, is when their whole bodies are obscured; and a partial one, is when part only of their bodies is darkened: again, a central eclipse is when it is not only total, but the eclipsed body passes through the centre of the shadow. as total solar eclipses are by no means common, we shall give an interesting description of one, by dr. stukeley, sent to his friend, the celebrated dr. edmund halley. "according to my promise, i send you what i observed of the solar eclipse, though i fear it will not be of any great use to you. i was not prepared with any instruments for measuring time or the like, and proposed to myself only to watch all the appearances that nature would present to the naked eye upon so remarkable an occasion, and which generally are overlooked, or but grossly regarded. i chose for my station a place called haradon hill, two miles eastward from amsbury, and full east from the opening of stonehenge avenue, to which it is as the point of view. before me lay the vast plain where that celebrated work stands, and i knew that the eclipse would appear directly over it; besides, i had the advantage of a very extensive prospect every way, this being the highest hill hereabouts, and nearest the middle of the shadow. full west of me, and beyond stonehenge, is a pretty copped hill, like the top of a cone, lifting itself above the horizon; this is clay-hill, near warminster, twenty miles distant, and near the central line of darkness, which must come from thence, so that i could have notice enough beforehand of its approach. abraham sturgis and stephen ewens, both of this place, and sensible men, were with me. though it was very cloudy, yet now and then we had gleams of sunshine, rather more than i could perceive at any other place around us. these two persons, looking through smoked glasses, while i was taking some bearings of the country with a circumferentor, both confidently affirmed the eclipse was begun, when, by my watch, i found it just half an hour after five; and accordingly from thence the progress of it was visible, and very often to the naked eye; the thin clouds doing the office of glasses. from the time of the sun's body being half covered, there was a very conspicuous circular iris round the sun, with perfect colours. on all sides we beheld the shepherds hurrying their flocks into fold, the darkness coming on; for they expected nothing less than a total eclipse for an hour and a quarter. "when the sun looked very sharp like a new moon, the sky was pretty clear in that spot; but soon after a thicker cloud covered it, at which time the iris vanished; the copped hill before-mentioned grew very dark, together with the horizon on both sides, that is, to the north and south, and looked blue, just as it appears at the declension of day. we had scarcely time to tell them, when salisbury steeple, six miles off southward, became very black; the copped hill was quite lost, and a most gloomy night with full career came upon us: at this instant we lost sight of the sun, whose place among the clouds was hitherto sufficiently distinguishable, but now not the least trace of it was to be found, any more than if really absent: then i saw by my watch, though with difficulty, and only by help of some light from the northern quarter, that it was six hours thirty-five minutes: just before this, the whole compass of the heavens and earth looked of a lurid complexion, properly speaking, for it was black and blue, only on the earth upon the horizon the blue prevailed; there was likewise in the heavens, among the clouds, much green interspersed, so that the whole appearance was really very dreadful, and as symptoms of sickening nature. "now i perceived we were involved in total and palpable darkness, as i may aptly call it; for though it came quickly, yet i was so intent, that i could perceive its steps, and feel it as it were drop upon us, and fall on the right shoulder (we looking westward) like a great dark mantle, or coverlet of a bed, thrown over us, or like the drawing of a curtain on that side. the horses we held in our hands were very sensible of it, and crowded close to us, startling with great surprise; and as much as i could see of the men's faces that stood by me, they had a horrible aspect. at this instant i looked around me, not without exclamations of admiration, and could discern colours in the heavens, but the earth had lost its blue, and was wholly black. for some time, among the clouds, there were visible streaks of rays, tending to the place of the sun as their centre; but immediately after, the whole appearance of earth and sky was entirely black: of all things i ever saw in my life, or can by imagination fancy, it was a sight the most tremendous. "towards the north-west, whence the eclipse came, i could not in the least find any distinction in the horizon between heaven and earth, for a good breadth of about sixty degrees, or more; nor the town of amsbury underneath us, nor scarcely the ground we trod on. i turned myself round several times during this total darkness, and remarked at a good distance from the west on both sides, that is, to the north and south, the horizon very perfectly; the earth being black, the lower parts of the heavens light; for the darkness above hung over us like a canopy, almost reaching the horizon in those parts, or as if made with skirts of a lighter colour; so that the upper edges of all the hills were as a black line, and i knew them very distinctly by their shape or profile; and northward, i saw perfectly, that the interval of light and darkness in the horizon was between martinsal-hill and st. ann's-hill; but southward it was more indefinite. i do not mean that the verge of the shadow passed between those hills, which were but twelve miles distant from us; but, so far i could distinguish the horizon; beyond it not at all. the reason of it was this; the elevation of ground i was upon gave me an opportunity of seeing the light of the heavens beyond the shadow; nevertheless, this verge of light looked of a dead yellowish, and greenish colour; it was broader to the north than south; but the southern was of a tawny colour: at this time behind us, or eastward toward london, it was dark too, where otherwise i could see the hills beyond andover; for the foremost end of the shadow was past thither; so that the whole horizon was now divided into four parts of unequal bulk, and degrees of light and dark; the part to the north-west broadest and blackest, to the south-west lightest and longest. all the change i could perceive during the totality, was, that the horizon by degrees drew into two parts, light and dark: the northern hemisphere growing still longer, lighter, and broader; and the two opposite dark parts uniting into one, and swallowing up the southern enlightened part. "as at the beginning the shade came feelingly upon our right shoulders, so now the light from the north, where it opened as it were; though i could discern no defined light or shade upon the earth that way, which i earnestly watched for, yet it was manifestly by degrees, and with oscillation, going back a little, and quickly advancing further, till at length, upon the first lucid point appearing in the heavens, where the sun was, i could distinguish pretty plainly a rim of light running alongside of us a good while together, or sweeping by at our elbows from west to east. just then, having reason to suppose the totality ended with us, i looked on my watch, and found it to be full three minutes and a half more. now the hill-tops changed their black into blue again, and i could distinguish an horizon where the centre of darkness was before: the men cried out, they saw the copped-hill again, which they had eagerly looked for; but still it continued dark to the south-east, yet i cannot say that ever the horizon that way was undistinguishable. immediately we heard the larks chirping, and singing very briskly, for joy of the restored luminary, after all things had been hushed into a most profound and universal silence. the heavens and earth now appeared exactly like morning before sunrise, of a greyish cast, but rather more blue interspersed; and the earth, so far as the verge of the hill reached, was of a dark green, or russet colour. "as soon as the sun emerged, the clouds grew thicker, and the light was very little amended for a minute or more, like a cloudy morning slowly advancing. after about the middle of the totality, and so after the emersion of the sun, we saw venus very plainly, but no other star. salisbury steeple now appeared; but the clouds never removing, we could take no account of it afterwards; but in the evening it lightened very much. i hastened home to write this letter, and the impression was so vivid upon my mind, that i am sure, i could for some days after have written the same account of it, and very precisely. after supper i made a drawing of it from my imagination, upon the same paper on which i had taken a prospect of the country before. "i must confess to you, that i was (i believe) the only person in england, that regretted not the cloudiness of the day, which added so much to the solemnity of the sight, and which incomparably exceeded, in my apprehension, that of , which i saw very perfectly from the top of boston steeple, in lincolnshire, where the air was very clear; but the night of this was more complete and dreadful: there, indeed, i saw both sides of the shadow come from a great distance, and pass beyond us to a considerable extent; but this eclipse had much more of variety and majestic terror; so that i cannot but felicitate myself upon the opportunity of seeing these two rare accidents of nature, in so different a manner. yet i should willingly have lost this pleasure, for your more valuable advantage of perfecting the noble theory of the celestial bodies, which, last time, you gave the world so nice a calculation of; and i wish the sky had now as much favoured us for an addition to your honour and great skill, which i doubt not to be as exact in this as before." we now proceed to describe the halo, or corona; and similar appearances.--an halo is a luminous circle surrounding the sun, moon, planets, or fixed stars. occasionally these circles are white, and sometimes they are coloured like the rainbow. sometimes one only is visible, and at others several concentric halos appear at the same time. mr. huygens observed red next the sun, and a pale blue outwards. sometimes they are red on the inside, and white on the outside. in france, one was observed in , the middle of which was white; after which followed a border of red, next to it was blue, then green, and the outermost circle was a bright red. in , one was seen of a pale red outwardly, then followed yellow, and then green, terminated by a white. in holland, m. muschenbroek says, fifty may be seen in the day-time, almost every year; but they are difficult to be observed, except the eye be so situated, that not the body of the sun, but only the neighbouring parts of the heavens, can be seen. mr. middleton says, that this phenomenon is very frequent in north america; for that there is generally one or two about the sun every week, and as many about the moon every month. halos round the sun are very frequent in russia. m. Æpinus says, that from the d of april, , to the th of september, he himself had observed no less than twenty-six, and that he has sometimes seen twice as many in the same space of time. similar, in some respects, to the halo, was the remarkable appearance which m. bouguer describes, as observed on the top of mount pichinca, in the cordilleras. when the sun was just rising behind them, so as to appear white, each of them saw his own shadow projected upon it, and no other. the distance was such, that all the parts of the shadow were easily distinguishable, as the arms, the legs, and the head; but what surprised them most was, that the head was adorned with a kind of glory, consisting of three or four small concentric crowns, of a very lively colour, each exhibiting all the varieties of the primary rainbow, and having the circle of red on the outside. the intervals between these circles continued equal, though the diameters of them all were constantly changing. the last of them was very faint; and at a considerable distance was another great white circle, which surrounded the whole. this phenomenon never appeared but in a cloud consisting of frozen particles, and never in drops of rain like the rainbow. when the sun was not in the horizon, only part of the white circle was visible, as m. bouquer frequently observed afterwards. similar to this curious appearance, was one seen by dr. m'fait in scotland; who observed a rainbow round his shadow in the mist, when he was upon an eminence above it. in this situation the whole country round seemed buried under a vast deluge, and nothing but the tops of distant hills appeared here and there above the flood. in those upper regions, the air, he says, is at that time very pure and agreeable. at another time he observed a double range of colours round his shadow. the colours of the outermost range were broad and very distinct, and every where about two feet distant from the shadow. then there was a darkish interval, and after that another narrower range of colours, closely surrounding the shadow, which was very much contracted. he thinks that these ranges of colours are caused by the inflection of the rays of light, the same that occasions the ring of light which surrounds the shadow of all bodies, observed by m. maraldi, and others. we next proceed to the phenomenon generally called falling or shooting star.--this is a luminous meteor, darting rapidly through the air, and resembling a star falling from the heavens. the explication of this phenomenon had puzzled all philosophers, till the modern discoveries in electricity led to the most probable account of it. signior beccari makes it pretty evident, that it is an electrical appearance, and recites the following fact in proof of his opinion. about an hour after sunset, he, and some friends that were with him, observed a falling star directing its course towards them, and apparently growing larger and larger, but it disappeared not far from them. when it vanished, it left their faces, hands, and clothes, with the earth, and all the neighbouring objects, suddenly illuminated with a diffused and lambent light, but not attended with any noise. during their surprise at this appearance, a servant informed them, that he had seen a light shine suddenly in the garden, and especially upon the streams which he was throwing to water it. all these appearances were evidently electrical; and beccari was confirmed in his conjecture, that electricity was the cause of them, by the quantity of electric matter which he had seen gradually advancing towards a kite he had elevated, which had very much the appearance of a falling star. sometimes, also, he saw a kind of glory round the kite, which followed it when it changed its place, but left some light, for a small space of time, in the place it had quitted. captain bagnold says, whilst passing through the straits of bahama, in the autumn of , he witnessed the following singular atmospheric phenomenon. "it was a fine star-light morning, about two o'clock, the atmosphere remarkably clear, with a light air from the north-east; the sky to windward, from north-north-east to south-south-east, was illuminated by a profusion of those meteors, vulgarly denominated falling stars, but of a description far more vivid than those usually seen in the higher latitudes; the head of each was an oblong ignited mass, followed by a long luminous tail, which, after three or four seconds, gradually vanished. they were formed, to all appearance, in the air, at an elevation of from thirty-five to sixty-four degrees, none being observed in the zenith, and few to commence nearer the horizon than the first-mentioned angles. at the mean of these elevations, the greatest numbers were seen darting in different directions, forming portions of a large curve, all slightly inclined to the horizon. multitudes were constantly visible at the same moment, and they succeeded each other so rapidly, that the eye of the spectator was kept in motion between the above points of the compass. in about ten minutes they became less frequent, and at length ceased altogether. "the apparent distance of this phenomenon would, by a seaman, be estimated at fifteen or twenty miles; and if it really was what i have always considered it, namely, a nocturnal shower of meteoric stones, it was perhaps fortunate for all on board, that we were not within the sphere of its action: whatever it was, never shall i forget the splendour of the spectacle."--see _humboldt's personal narrative_, volume iii. page , . we close this chapter with an account of three volcanoes in the moon; by dr. herschel. "it will be necessary to say a few words by way of introduction to the account i have to give of some appearances upon the moon. the phenomena of nature, especially those that fall under the inspection of the astronomer, are to be viewed, not only with the usual attention to facts as they occur, but with the eye of reason and experience. in this we are, however, not allowed to depart from plain appearances, though their origin and signification should be indicated by the most characterizing features. thus, when we see on the surface of the moon a great number of elevations, from half a mile to a mile and a half in height, we are strictly entitled to call them mountains; but when we attend to their particular shape, in which many of them resemble the craters of our volcanoes, and thence argue that they owe their origin to the same cause which has modelled many of these, we may be said to see by analogy, or with the eye of reason. now, in this latter case, though it may be convenient, in speaking of phenomena, to use expressions that can only be justified by reasoning upon the facts themselves, it will certainly be the safest way not to neglect a full description of them, that it may appear to others how far we have been authorized to use the mental eye. this being premised, i may safely proceed to give my observations. "april th, , h. ', sidereal time: i perceive three volcanoes in different places of the dark part of the new moon. two of them are either already nearly extinct, or otherwise in a state of going to break out; which, perhaps, may be decided next lunation. the third shews an actual eruption of fire, or luminous matter. i measured the distance of the crater from the northern limb of the moon, and found it ' ". . its light is much brighter than the nucleus of the comet which m. mechain discovered at paris the th of this month.--april th, , h. ', sidereal time: the volcano burns with greater violence than last night. i believe its diameter cannot be less than ", by comparing it with that of the georgian planet: as jupiter was near at hand, i turned the telescope to his third satellite, and estimated the diameter of the burning part of the volcano to be equal to at least twice that of the satellite. hence we may compute that the shining or burning matter must be above three miles in diameter. it is of an irregular round figure, and very sharply defined on the edges. the other two volcanoes are much farther towards the centre of the moon, and resemble large pretty faint nebulæ, that are gradually much brighter in the middle; but no well-defined luminous spot can be discerned in them. these three spots are plainly to be distinguished from the rest of the marks upon the moon; for the reflection of the sun's rays from the earth is, in its present situation, sufficiently bright, with a ten-feet reflector, to shew the moon's spots, even the darkest of them; nor did i perceive any similar phenomena last lunation, though i then viewed the same places with the same instrument. "the appearance of what i have called the actual fire, or eruption of a volcano, exactly resembled a small piece of burning charcoal, when it is covered by a very thin coat of white ashes, which frequently adhere to it after it has been some time ignited; and it had a degree of brightness about as strong as that with which such a coal would be seen to glow in faint daylight. all the adjacent parts of the volcanic mountain seemed to be faintly illuminated by the eruption, and were gradually more obscure as they lay at a greater distance from the crater. "this eruption resembled much that which i saw on the fourth of may, in the year ; an account of which, with many remarkable particulars relating to volcanic mountains in the moon, i shall take an early opportunity of communicating to the royal society. it differed, however, considerably in magnitude and brightness; for the volcano of the year , though much brighter than that which is now burning, was not near so large in the dimensions of its eruption; the former seen in the telescope resembled a star of the fourth magnitude, as it appears to the natural eye: this, on the contrary, shews a visible disk of luminous matter, very different from the sparkling brightness of star-light." chap. lxix. curiosities respecting various phenomena, or appearances in nature.--(_concluded._) _the aurora borealis._ --------------silent from the north a blaze of meteors shoots: ensweeping first the lower skies, they all at once converge high to the crown of heav'n, and all at once relapsing quick, as quickly reascend, and mix and thwart, extinguish and renew, all ether coursing in a maze of light _thomson._ the aurora borealis, sometimes called streamers, is an extraordinary meteor, or luminous appearance, shewing itself in the night time in the northern part of the heavens; and most usually in frosty weather. it is generally of a reddish colour, inclining to yellow, and sends out frequent corruscations of pale light, which seem to rise from the horizon in a pyramidical undulating form, and shoot with great velocity up to the zenith. the aurora borealis appears frequently in form of an arch, chiefly in the spring and autumn, after a dry year. the arch is partly bright, partly dark, but generally transparent: and the matter of which it consists, is also found to have no effect on rays of light which pass through it. dr. hamilton observes, that he could plainly discern the smallest speck in the pleiades through the density of those clouds which formed the aurora borealis in , without the least diminution of its splendour, or increase of twinkling. [illustration: aurora borealis.--page . this is an extraordinary appearance of the aurora borealis, observed by captain parry in his expedition to the arctic regions.] [illustration: aurora borealis.--page . this is an aspect of the aurora borealis sometimes observed in scotland. the view embraces a portion of loch leven, with the island and the castle in which the unfortunate mary queen of scots was imprisoned.] this kind of meteor, which is more uncommon as we approach towards the equator, is almost constant during the long winter, and appears with the greatest lustre in the polar regions. in the shetland isles, the "merry dancers," as the northern lights are there called, are the constant attendants of clear evenings, and afford great relief amidst the gloom of the long winter nights. they commonly appear at twilight, near the horizon, of a dun colour, approaching to yellow; they sometimes continue in that state for several hours, without any perceptible motion; and sometimes they break out into streams of stronger light, spreading into columns, and altering slowly into ten thousand different shapes, and varying their colours from all the tints of yellow, to the most obscure russet. they often cover the whole hemisphere, and then exhibit the most brilliant appearance. their motions at this time are most amazingly quick; and they astonish the spectator with the rapid changes of their form. they break out in places where none were seen before, skimming briskly among the heavens, are suddenly extinguished, and are succeeded by a uniform dusky tract. this again is brilliantly illuminated in the same manner, and as suddenly left a dark space. in some nights, they assume the appearance of large columns, on one side of the deepest yellow, and on the other, gradually changing, till it becomes undistinguished from the sky. they have generally a strong tremulous motion from one end to the other, and this continues till the whole vanishes. as for us, who see only the extremities of these northern phenomena, we can have but a faint idea of their splendour and motions. according to the state of the atmosphere, they differ in hue; and sometimes assuming the colour of blood, they make a dreadful appearance. the rustic sages who observe them, become prophetic, and terrify the spectators with alarms of war, pestilence, and famine. nor, indeed, were these superstitious presages peculiar to the northern islands: appearances of a similar nature are of ancient date; and they were distinguished by the appellations of "phasmata," "trabes," and "balides," according to their forms and colours. in old times they were either more rare, or less frequently noticed: they were supposed to portend great events, and the timid imagination formed of them aërial conflicts. in the northern latitudes of sweden and lapland, the auroræ boreales are not only singularly beautiful in their appearance, but they afford travellers, by their almost constant effulgence, a very beautiful light during the whole night. in hudson's bay the aurora borealis diffuses a variegated splendour, which is said to equal that of the full moon. in the northeastern parts of siberia, according to the description of gmelin, these northern lights are observed to "begin with single bright pillars, rising in the north, and almost at the same time in the north-east, which, gradually increasing, comprehend a large space of the heavens, rush about from place to place with incredible velocity, and, finally, almost cover the whole sky up to the zenith, and produce an appearance as if a vast tent were expanded in the heavens, glittering with gold, rubies, and sapphire. a more beautiful spectacle cannot be painted; but whoever should see such a northern light for the first time, could not behold it without terror. for, however fine the illumination may be, it is attended, as i have learned from the relation of many persons, with such a hissing, crackling, and rushing noise through the air, as if the largest fire-works were played off. to describe what they then hear, they make use of the expression, 'the raging host is passing.' the hunters, who pursue the white and blue foxes in the confines of the icy sea, are often alarmed in their course by these northern lights. their dogs are then so much frightened, that they will not move, but lie obstinately on the ground, till the noise has passed. commonly, clear and calm weather follows this kind of northern lights. this account has been confirmed by the uniform testimony of many, who have spent part of several years in these northern regions, and inhabited different countries from the yenisei to the lena; so that no doubt of its truth can remain. this seems, indeed, to be the real birth-place of the aurora borealis." a person who resided seven years at hudson's bay, confirms m. gmelin's relation of the fine appearance and brilliant colours of the northern lights, and particularly of their rushing noise, which he affirms he has frequently heard, and he compares it to the sound produced by whirling round a stick swiftly at the end of a string. a similar noise has likewise been noticed in sweden. mr. nairne also, being in northampton at the time when the northern lights were remarkably bright, is confident he heard a hissing or whizzing sound. mr. belknap, of dover, in new hampshire, north america, testifies to this fact. m. cavallo says, that the cracking noise is distinctly audible, and that he has heard it more than once. similar lights, called auroræ australes, have been long since observed towards the south pole, and their existence has been lately ascertained by mr. forster, who assures us, that in his voyage round the world with captain cook, he observed them in high southern latitudes, though attended with phenomena somewhat different from those which are seen here. on february , , in south latitude °, "a beautiful phenomenon (he says) was observed during the preceding night, which appeared again this and several following nights. it consisted of long columns of a clear white light, shooting up from the horizon to the eastward, almost to the zenith, and gradually spreading on the whole southern part of the sky. the columns were sometimes bent sideways at their upper extremities; and though in most respects similar to the northern lights (aurora borealis) of our hemisphere, yet they differed from them in being always of a whitish colour, whereas ours assume various tints, especially those of a fiery and purple hue. the sky was generally clear when they appeared, and the air sharp and cold, the thermometer standing at the freezing point." the periods of the appearance of these northern lights are very inconstant. in some years they occur very frequently, and in others they are more rare; and it has been observed, that they are more common about the time of the equinoxes than at other seasons of the year. dr. halley (see philos. trans. no. , p. ,) has collected together several observations, which form a kind of history of this phenomenon. after having particularly described the various circumstances which attended that observed by himself, and many others, in march, , and which was singularly brilliant, he proceeds with informing us, that the first account of similar phenomena recorded in the english annals, is that of the appearance noticed january , , and called, burning spears, by the author of a book entitled, "a description of meteors," by w. f. d.d.; reprinted at london, in . the next appearance of a like kind, recorded by stow, occurred on october , . in , as camden and stow inform us, an aurora borealis was seen for two successive nights, viz. on the th and th of november, with appearances similar to those observed in , and which are now commonly noticed. the same phenomenon was twice seen in brabant, in , viz. on the th of february, and the th of september; and the circumstances attending it were described by cornelius gemma, who compares them to "spears, fortified cities, and armies fighting in the air." in the year , m. masline observed these phasmata, as he calls them, at baknang, in the county of wirtemberg, in germany, no less than seven times in the space of twelve months; and again at several different times, in . on september d, , the same phenomenon was seen over all france; and it was particularly described by gassendus, in his "physics," who gave it the name of aurora borealis. another was seen all over germany, in november, , and was described by kepler. since that time, for more than eighty years, we have no account of any such phenomenon, either at home or abroad. in , mr. neve observed one of small continuance in ireland; and in the same year, a similar appearance was seen by romer, at copenhagen; and during an interval of eighteen months, in the years and , this sort of light had been seen no less than five times. hence it should seem, (says dr. halley,) that the air or earth, or both, are not at all times disposed to produce this phenomenon, though it is possible it may happen in the day-time, in bright moonshine, or in cloudy weather, and so pass unobserved. dr. halley further observes, that the aurora borealis of , which he described, was visible from the west of ireland to the confines of russia, and to the east of poland; extending at least near thirty degrees of longitude, and from about the fiftieth degree of north latitude, over almost all the north of europe; and in all places at the same time, it exhibited appearances similar to those which he observed in london. he regrets, however, that he was unable to determine its height, for want of contemporary observations at different places. father boscovich has determined the height of an aurora borealis, observed on the th of december, , by the marquis of poleni, to have been eight hundred and twenty-five miles; and mr. bergman, from a mean of thirty computations, makes the average height of the aurora borealis to be seventy-two swedish, or (supposing a swedish mile to be about six and a half english miles) four hundred and sixty-eight english miles. euler supposes the height to be several thousands of miles; and mairan also assigns to these phenomena a very elevated region, the far greater number of them being, according to him, about two hundred leagues above the surface of the earth. dr. blagden, speaking of the height of some fiery meteors, (phil. trans. vol. lxxiv. p. ,) says, "that the aurora borealis appears to occupy as high, if not a higher region, above the surface of the earth, as may be judged from the very distant countries to which it has been visible at the same time:" he adds, that "the great accumulation of electric matter seems to lie beyond the verge of our atmosphere, as estimated by the cessation of twilight." but as it is difficult to make such observations on this phenomenon as are sufficient to afford a just estimate of its altitude, they must be subject to considerable variation, and to material error. dr. blagden informs us, that instances are recorded, in which the northern lights have been seen to join, and form luminous balls, darting about with great velocity, and even leaving a train behind them like the common fire-balls. this ingenious author, however, conjecturing that distinct regions are allotted to the electrical phenomena of our atmosphere, assigns the appearance of fire-balls to that region which lies beyond the limits of our crepuscular atmosphere; and a greater elevation above the earth, to that accumulation of electricity in a lighter and less condensed form, which produces the wonderfully diversified streams and coruscations of the aurora borealis. chap. lxx. curiosities respecting galvanism. "nature, exhaustles still, has power to warm, and every change presents a novel charm." galvani, a professor of anatomy in the university of bologna, was one day making experiments on electricity. in his laboratory, near the machine, were some frogs that had been flayed; the limbs of which became convulsed every time a spark was drawn from the apparatus. galvani, surprised at this phenomenon, made it a subject of investigation, and discovered that metals, applied to the nerves and muscles of these animals, occasioned powerful and sudden contractions, when disposed in a certain manner. he gave the name of animal electricity to this order of new phenomena, from the analogy that he considered existing between these effects and those produced by electricity. the name, animal electricity, has been superseded, notwithstanding the great analogy that exists between the effects of electricity and of galvanism, in favour of the latter term; which is not only applicable to the generality of the phenomena, but likewise serves to perpetuate the memory of the discoverer. in order to give rise to galvanic effects, it is necessary to establish a communication between two points of one series of nervous and muscular organs. in this manner a circle is formed, one arch of which consists of the animal parts, rendered the subject of experiment, while the other arch is composed of exciting instruments, which generally consists of those animal parts called supporters; others, destined to establish a communication between the latter, are called conductors. to form a complete galvanic circle, take the thigh of a frog, deprived of its skin; detach the crural nerve, as far as the knee; put it on a piece of zinc; lay the muscles of the leg on a piece of silver; then finish the exciting arch, and complete the galvanic circle by establishing a communication by means of the two supporters, by iron or copper wire, pewter, or lead. the instant that the communicators touch the two supporters, a part of the animal arch formed by the two supporters will be convulsed. although this disposition of the animal parts, and of galvanic instruments, be most favourable to the development of the phenomena, yet the composition of the animal and excitatory arch may be much varied. thus contractions are obtained, by placing the two supporters under the nerve, and leaving the muscle out of the circle; which proves that nerves essentially constitute the animal arch. it is not necessary for nerves to be entire, in order to produce contractions. they take place whether the organs be tied or cut through, provided there exists a simple contiguity between the divided ends. this proves that we cannot strictly conclude what happens in muscular action, from that which takes place in galvanic phenomena; since, if a nerve be tied or divided, the muscles on which the energy is distributed lose the power of action. the cuticle is an obstacle to galvanic effects; they are always feebly manifested in parts covered by it. when it is moist, fine, and delicate, the effect is not entirely interrupted. humboldt, after having detached the cuticle from the posterior part of the neck and back, by means of two blisters, applied plates of metal to the bare cutis, and, at the moment of establishing a communication, he experienced sharp prickings, accompanied with a serosanguinous discharge. if a plate of zinc be placed under the tongue, and a flat piece of silver on its superior surface, on making them touch each other, an acerb taste will be perceived, accompanied with a slight trembling. the exciting arch may be constructed with two or three metals, or even one metal only; with alloys, amalgams, or other metallic or mineral combinations, carbonated substances, &c. it is observed, that metals, which are in general the most powerful exciters, induce contractions so much the more as they have an extent of surface. metals are all more or less excitants; and it has been noticed that zinc, gold, silver, and pewter, are of the highest rank; then copper, lead, nickel, antimony, &c. galvanic susceptibility is exhausted by too long-continued exercise, and is recruited by repose. immersion of nerves in alkohol and opiate solutions diminishes, and even destroys, this susceptibility; in the same manner, doubtless, as the immoderate use of these substances in the living man, blunts, and induces paralysis in muscular action. immersion in oxygenated muriatic acid, revests the fatigued parts, in being acted on by the stimulus. animals killed by the repeated discharge of an electric battery, acquire an increase of galvanic susceptibility; and this property subsists unchanged in animals destroyed by submersions in mercury, pure hydrogen gas, azote, and ammoniac; and finally, it is totally annihilated in animals suffocated by the vapour of charcoal. galvanic susceptibility is extinct in the muscles of animals of warm blood, in proportion as vital heat is dissipated; sometimes even when life is terminated in convulsions, contractibility cannot be put into action, although warmth be not completely gone, as though the vital property were consumed by the convulsions amidst which the animals had expired. in those of cold blood, on the contrary, it is more durable. the thighs of frogs, long after being separated from every thing, and even to the instant of incipient putrefaction, are influenced by galvanic stimuli; doubtless, because irritability, in these animals, is less intimately connected with respiration, and life more divided among the different organs, which have less occasion to act on each other for the execution of its phenomena. the galvanic chain does not produce sensible actions (that is, contractions) until the moment it is completed, by establishing a communication with the parts constituting it. during the time it is complete, that is, throughout the whole space of time that the communication remains established, every thing remains tranquil; nevertheless, galvanic influence is not suspended; in fact, excitability is evidently increased or diminished, in muscles that have been long continued in the galvanic chain, according to the difference of the reciprocal situation of the connecting metals. if silver has been applied to the nerves, and zinc to the muscles, the irritability of the latter increases in proportion to the time they have remained in the chain. by this method, the thighs of frogs have been revivified in some degree, and afterwards became sensible to stimuli that before had ceased to act on them. by distributing the metals in an inverse manner, applying zinc to the nerves, and silver to the muscles, an effect absolutely contrary is observed; and the muscles that possessed the most lively irritability when placed in the chain, seem to be rendered entirely paralytic if they remain long in this situation. this difference evidently depends on the direction of the galvanic fluid, determined towards the muscles or nerves, according to the manner in which these metals are disposed; and this is of some importance to be known for the application of galvanic means to the cure of diseases. m. volta's apparatus is as follows:--raise a pile, by placing a plate of zinc, a flat piece of wet card, and a plate of silver, successively; then a second piece of zinc, &c. until the elevation is several feet high; for the effects are greater in proportion to its height; then touch both extremities of the pile, at the same instant, with one piece of iron wire: at the moment of contact, a spark is excited from the extremities of the pile, and luminous points are often perceived at different heights, where the zinc and silver come into mutual contact. the zinc end of this pile appears to be negatively electrified; that formed by the silver, on the contrary, indicates marks of positive electricity. if we touch both extremities of the pile, after having dipped our hands into water, or, what is better, a saline solution, a commotion, followed by a disagreeable pricking in the fingers and elbow, is felt. if we place, in a tube filled with water, and hermetically closed by two corks, the extremities of two wires of the same metal, which are in contact at the other extremity, one with the summit, the other with the base of the pile; these ends, even when separated only by the space of a few lines, experience evident changes at the instant the extremities of the pile are touched: the wire in contact with that part of the pile composed of zinc, becomes covered with bullæ of hydrogen gas; that which touches the extremity formed by silver, becomes oxydated. fourcroy attributes this phenomenon to the decomposition of water by the galvanic fluid, which abandons the oxygen to the iron that touches the positive extremity of the pile; then conducts the other gas invisibly to the end of the other wire, there to be disengaged. from the numerous experiments of mr. davy, many new and important facts have been established, and galvanism has been found to be one of the most powerful agents in chemistry. by its influence, platina wire has been melted; gold, silver, copper, and most of the metals, have easily been burnt! the fixed alkalis, and many of the earths, have been made to appear as consisting of a metallic base and oxygen; compound substances, which were before extremely difficult to decompose, are now, by the aid of galvanism, easily resolved into their constituent. chap. lxxi. curiosities respecting magnetism. almighty cause! 'tis thy preserving care that keeps thy works for ever fresh and fair: hence life acknowledges its glorious cause, and matter owns its great disposer's laws; hence flow the forms and properties of things; hence rises harmony, and order springs. thy watchful providence o'er all intends; thy works obey their great creator's ends. thee, infinite! what finite can explore? imagination sinks beneath thy power. yet present to all sense that power remains, reveal'd in nature, nature's author reigns. _boyse._ the obedient steel with living instinct moves, and veers for ever to the pole it loves, so turns the faithful needle to the pole, tho' mountains rise between, and oceans roll. _darwin._ magnetism is supposed to have been first rendered useful about the end of the twelfth, or at least very early in the thirteenth, century, by john de gioja, a handicraft of naples, who noticed the peculiar attraction of metals, and iron in particular, towards certain masses of rude ore; the touch of which communicated to other substances of a ferruginous nature, especially iron or steel bars, the property of attraction: these touched bars he observed to have a peculiar and similar tendency towards one particular point; that when suspended in equilibrio, by means of threads around their centres, they invariably turned towards the same point; and that, when placed in a row, however adversely directed, they soon disposed themselves in perfectly parallel order. in this instance he improved upon the property long known to, but not comprehended or applied to use by, the ancients, who considered the loadstone simply as a rude species of iron ore, and curious only so far as it might serve to amuse. gioja being possessed of a quick understanding, and of a strong mind, was not long in further ascertaining the more sensible purposes to which the magnet might be appropriated. he accordingly fixed various magnets upon pivots, supporting their centres in such a manner as allowed the bars to traverse freely. finding that, however situated within the reach of observation and comparison, they all had the same tendency, he naturally concluded them to be governed by some attraction, which might be ultimately ascertained and acted upon. he therefore removed into various parts of italy, to satisfy himself whether or not the extraordinary impulse which agitated these bars, that had been magnetized by friction, existed only in the vicinity of naples, or was general. the result of his researches appears to be, that the influence was general, but that the magnets were rendered extremely variable, and fluctuated much, when near large masses of iron. the experiments of gioja gave birth to many others, and at length to a trial of the magnetic influence on the surface of the water. to establish this, a vessel was moored out at sea, in a direction corresponding with that of the magnet; and a boat, having a magnet equipoised on a pivot at its centre, was sent out at night in the exact line indicated thereby; which, being duly followed, carried them close to the vessel that was at anchor. thus the active power of attraction appeared to be established on both elements, and in the course of time the magnet was fixed to a card, marked with thirty-two points, whereby the mariner's compass was presented to us. the points to which the magnet always turned itself, being generally in correspondence with the meridian of the place where it acted, occasioned the extremities of the bars to be called poles. succeeding experiments proved, that the magnetic bar never retained an exactly horizontal position; but that one of its poles invariably formed an angle with any perfect level, over which it was placed: this was not so very measurable in a short bar, but in one of a yard in length was formed to give several degrees of inclination. this, which is called "the dip of the needle," (or magnet,) seems to indicate that the attracting power is placed within the earth. what that attracting power is, we cannot determine; some consider it to be a fluid, while others conjecture it to be an immense mass of loadstone, situated somewhere about the north pole. the difficulty is, however, considerably increased by the known fact of the needles of compasses not always pointing due north; but in many places varying greatly from the meridional lines respectively; and from each other at different times and places. the facility with which a meridional line may be drawn by solar observation, and especially by taking an azimuth, fortunately enables navigators to establish the variation between the true northern direction, and that indicated by the magnet attached to the card of the compass. nevertheless, we have great reason to believe, that, for want either of accurate knowledge of the prevalent variations, or from inattention thereto, many vessels, of which no tidings were ever heard, have been cast away; it being obvious, that a false indication of the northern point, in many places amounting to nearly the extent of twenty-five degrees, must produce so important an error in a vessel's course, as to subject her to destruction on those very shoals, rocks, &c. of which the navigator unhappily thinks he steers perfectly clear. to obviate such danger, as far as possible, all modern sea-charts have the variations of the compass in their several parts duly noted down; and in reckoning upon the course steered by the compass, an allowance is usually made for the difference between the apparent course by the compass, and the real course, as ascertained by celestial observation. under circumstances so completely contradictory, the principle of magnetism must remain unknown: we know not of any hypothesis which strikes conviction on our minds, or which seems to convey any adequate idea of the origin, or _modus operandi_, of this wondrous influence. all we can treat of is, the effect; also of the appearances which guide our practice, and of the manner in which the attractive power may be generated and increased. in regard to the latter point, namely, the generation and increase of the magnetic attraction, we shall endeavour to give a brief but distinct view of what relates thereto: observing, that where volcanic eruptions are frequent, and in those latitudes where the aurora borealis is distinctly seen, the needle or magnet is sensibly affected. previously to earthquakes, as well as during their action, and while the northern lights are in full display, no reliance can be placed on the compass; the card of which will appear much agitated. this has given rise to the opinion held by some, that the power is a fluid: to this, however, there appear so many objections, that we are more disposed to reject than to favour it, although under the necessity of confessing, that we are not able to offer one that may account satisfactorily for the various phenomena attendant upon magnetism. we have already stated, that every magnet has two poles; that is, one end is called the north, the other the south pole: the former being considered as capable of attraction; the other, as we shall infer from the subjoined explanations, being far more inert, if at all possessed of an attractive power. when two magnets are brought together with their north poles in contact, they will, instead of cohering, be obviously repelled to a distance corresponding with their respective powers of attraction, when applied individually to unmagnetized needles. the south poles will, in like manner, repel each other; but the north pole of one, and the south pole of the other, will, when approximated, be evidently attracted, and will cohere so as to sustain considerable weights. iron is the only metal, hitherto known, which is capable of receiving and communicating the magnetic power; but quiet, and the absence of contact, in some respects, are indispensably necessary towards its perfect retention. thus, when a bar has been impregnated, however abundantly, with the magnetic principle, if it be heated or hammered, the power of attraction will be dissipated; or if a tube filled with iron filings have their surface magnetized, by shaking the tube the magnetic influence will likewise be lost. in some respects the magnetic influence resembles caloric; for it very rapidly communicates to iron, devoid of magnetism, a certain portion of its own powers; which, however, appear to be reproduced instantaneously. as various small fires under one large vessel will thereby heat it, and cause the water it contains to boil, though neither of them individually would produce that effect; so, many weak magnets may, by being united, communicate a power equal to its own, and be made to create an accumulated power, larger than that contained by either of them individually. there is, however, a seeming contradiction to be found in some authors, who recommend that the weakest magnets should be first applied,--and those more forcible, in succession, according to the power they may possess; the reason assigned being, that the weaker magnets would else, in all probability, draw off some of the accumulated power from the new magnet. but of this there appears no danger, since experience proves that magnets rather gain than lose efficiency by contact, not only with each other, but even with common iron. in fact, the magnetic power may at any time be created by various means: the friction of two pieces of flat and polished bars of iron, will cause them for a short time to attract and to suspend light weights. soft iron is more easily influenced, but steel will retain the influence longer. lightning, electricity, and galvanism, being all of the same nature, equally render iron magnetic. it is also peculiar, that when two or more magnets are left for any time with their several north poles in contact, the whole will be thereby weakened; whereas, by leaving a piece of common iron attached to a magnet, the latter will acquire strength. it is also well known that some pieces of steel quickly receive the magnetic influence, while others require considerable labour, and after all are scarcely impregnated. the oxide of iron cannot be impregnated, and those bars that have been so, when they become partially oxydized, lose their power. hence we see the necessity of preserving the needles of compasses from rust. magnets have the power to act notwithstanding the intervention of substances in any degree porous between them and the body to be acted upon: thus, if a needle be put on a sheet of paper, and a magnet be drawn under it, the needle will follow the course of the magnet. the peculiar affinity of the loadstone for iron, is employed with great success, by those who work in precious metals, for the separation of filings, &c. of iron from the smaller particles of gold, &c. a magnet being dipped into the vessel, in which the whole are blended, will attract all ferruginous particles. to communicate the magnetic power to a needle, let it be placed horizontally; and with a magnet in each hand, let the north pole of one, and the south pole of the other, be brought obliquely in contact over the centre of the needle: draw them asunder, taking care to press firmly, and preserving the same angle or inclination to the very ends of the needles, which should be supported by two magnets, whose ends ought to correspond in polarity with those of the needle. observe to carry the magnets you press with clear away from the ends of the needle, at least a foot therefrom; repeat the friction in the same manner several times, perhaps six, eight, or ten, and the needle will be permanently magnetized; and, as we have already stated, by using other magnets in succession, the powers of the needle will be proportionably increased. but no effect will result from the friction if the bars are rusty, or, indeed, not highly polished; their angles must be perfect, and their several sides and ends completely flat. it is, perhaps, one of the most curious of the phenomena attendant on this occult property, that the centre of every magnet is devoid of attraction; yet, that when a needle is placed in a line with a magnet, and within the influence of its pole, that needle almost becomes magnetic, or rather, a conductor, possessing a certain portion of attractive power: and it is no less extraordinary, that the magnet retains its power even in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump; which seems to be a formidable objection to its being influenced by any fluid. perhaps the opinion entertained by many of our most popular lecturers on this subject, viz. that the earth itself is the great attractor, may be nearest the truth. we are the more inclined towards such an hypothesis, knowing that, at the true magnetic equator, the needle does not dip; and from the well-ascertained fact, that bars of iron, placed for a length of time exactly perpendicular, receive a strong magnetic power, their lower ends repelling the south, but attracting the north poles of magnets applied to them respectively. the direction of the dipping needle was ascertained by one robert norman, about two hundred and fifty years ago. he suspended a small magnetic needle, by means of a fine thread round its centre, so as to balance perfectly, over a large magnet: the south pole of the former was instantly attracted by the north pole of the latter. he found, that so long as the needle was held exactly centrical, at about two inches above the magnet, it remained horizontal; but so soon as withdrawn a little more towards one end than the other of the magnet, the equilibrium was destroyed, and that pole of the needle which was nearest to either pole of the magnet was instantly attracted, and pointed downwards thereto. by the magnetic equator, we mean a circle passing round the earth at right angles with the magnetic poles, which do not correspond with the geographical poles, as may be fully understood by the indications of all compasses to points differing from the latter; and as the indications of compasses vary so much both at different times and places, we may reasonably conclude, that the magnetic poles are not fixed. the variation of the dipping-needle has not, in our latitude at least, varied more than half a degree since its depressive tendency was first discovered by norman. by means of the mariner's compass, tall navies hence their doubtful way explore, and ev'ry product waft from ev'ry shore; hence meagre want expell'd, and sanguine strife, for the mild charms of cultivated life. _blacklock._ chap. lxxii. curiosities respecting the arts, &c. _early invention of several useful arts--automaton--androides-- extraordinary pieces of clockwork--heidelberg clock--strasburg clock--clepsydra--invention of watches._ what cannot art and industry perform, when science plans the progress of their toil! they smile at penury, disease, and storm; and oceans from their mighty mounds recoil. when tyrants scourge, or demagogues embroil a land, or when the rabble's headlong rage order transforms to anarchy and spoil; deep vers'd in man, the philosophic sage prepares with lenient hand their frenzy t' assuage; 'tis he alone, whose comprehensive mind, from situation, temper, soil, and clime explor'd, a nation's various pow'rs can bind, and various orders, in one form sublime of polity, that 'midst the wrecks of time, secure shall lift its head on high, nor fear th' assault of foreign or domestic crime, while public faith, and public love sincere, and industry and law maintain their sway severe. _beattie._ early invention of several useful arts.--some useful arts must be nearly coeval with the human race; for food, clothing, and habitation, even in their original simplicity, require some display of ingenuity. many arts are of such antiquity as to place the inventors beyond the reach of tradition; while several have gradually crept into existence without an inventor. the busy mind, however, accustomed to date the progress of science from some particular era, cannot rest till it finds or conjectures a beginning to every art. in all countries where the people are illiterate, the progress of arts is extremely slow. it is vouched by an old french poem, that the virtues of the loadstone were known in france before the year . the mariner's compass was exhibited at venice, a. d. , by paulus venetus, as his own invention. john goya, of amalphi, was the first, who, many years afterwards, used it in navigation, and also passed for being the inventor. though it was used in china for navigation long before it was known to the western nations, yet to this day it is not so perfect as in europe. instead of suspending it in order to make it act freely, it is placed upon a bed of sand, by which every motion of the ship disturbs its operation. hand-mills, termed _querns_, were early used for the grinding of corn; and when corn came to be raised in greater quantities, horse-mills succeeded. water-mills for grinding corn are described by vitruvius. windmills were known in greece and arabia, so early as the seventh century; and yet no mention is made of them in italy till the fourteenth. that they were not known in england in the reign of henry viii. appears from a household book of an earl of northumberland, contemporary with that king, stating an allowance for three mill horses, "two to draw in the mill, and one to carry stuff to the mill." water-mills for corn must in england have been of a late date. the ancients had mirror glasses, and employed glass to imitate crystal vases and goblets; yet they never thought of using it in windows. in the thirteenth century, the venetians were the only people who had the art of making crystal glass for mirrors. a clock that strikes the hours was unknown in europe till the end of the twelfth century. and hence the custom of employing men to proclaim the hours during night; which to this day continues in germany, flanders, and england. galileo was the first who conceived an idea that a pendulum might be useful for measuring time; and huygens was the first who put the idea in execution, by making a pendulum clock. hook, in , invented a spiral spring for a watch, though a watch was far from being a new invention. paper was made no earlier than the fourteenth century; and the invention of printing was a century later. silk manufactures were long established in greece, before silk-worms were introduced there. the manufacturers were provided with raw silk from persia; but that commerce being frequently interrupted by war, two monks, in the reign of justinian, brought eggs of the silk-worm from hindoostan, and taught their countrymen the method of managing them. the art of reading made a very slow progress. to encourage that art in england, the capital punishment for murder was remitted, if the criminal could but read, which in law language is termed _benefit of clergy_. one would imagine that the art must have made a very rapid progress when so greatly favoured: but there is a signal proof of the contrary, for so small an edition of the bible as six hundred copies, translated into english in the reign of henry viii. was not wholly sold off in three years. the people of england must have been profoundly ignorant in queen elizabeth's time, when a forged clause, added to the twentieth article of the english creed, passed unnoticed till about sixty years ago. the discoveries of the portuguese on the west coast of africa, afford a remarkable instance of the slow progress of the arts. in the beginning of the fifteenth century, they were totally ignorant of that coast beyond cape non, in degrees, north latitude. in , the celebrated prince henry of portugal fitted out a fleet for discoveries, which proceeded along the coast to cape bajadore, in degrees, but had not courage to double it: and seventy-six years elapsed before this was done by bartholomew diaz, in ! description of an automaton.--this is a machine, so constructed by means of weights, levers, springs, wheels, &c. as to move for a considerable time, as if it were endued with animal life. according to this definition, clocks, watches, and all machines of that kind, may be ranked as a species of automata. but the word is most commonly applied to such machines as are made in the form of men and other animals, at the same time that their internal machinery is so contrived, that they seem voluntarily to act like the animals they represent. archytas of tarentum, who lived a. c. , is said to have made a wooden pigeon that could fly. it is also recorded, that archimedes made similar automata; that regiomontanus made a wooden eagle, which flew forth from the city of nuremburg, met the emperor, saluted him, and returned; also that he made an iron fly, which flew out of his hand at a feast, and returned again after flying about the room. dr. hook made the model of a flying chariot, capable of supporting itself in the air. many other surprising automata have been exhibited in the present age. m. vaucanson made a duck, which could eat, drink, and imitate exactly the voice of a natural one; and what is still more surprising, the food it swallowed was evacuated in a digested state, or at least considerably altered, on the principles of solution. the wings, viscera, and bones, were so formed, as greatly to resemble those of a living duck; and the actions of eating and drinking shewed the strongest resemblance, even to muddling the water with its bill. m. de droz, of la chaux de fonds, in the province of neuchatel, has also executed some curious pieces of mechanism. one was a clock, presented to the king of spain, which had, among other curiosities, a sheep that imitated the bleating of a natural one, and a dog that watched a basket of fruit, and which barked and snarled if any one attempted to take it away; if it was actually taken, it would bark till it was restored. a son of this gentleman has also made some extraordinary pieces, particularly an oval gold snuff-box, about four inches long, three broad, and one and a half thick. it is double, having an horizontal partition, with a lid to each of its parts. one contains snuff; but in the other, as soon as the lid is opened, there rises up a very small bird, (for it is only three-quarters of an inch from the beak to the extremity of the tail,) of green-enamelled gold, sitting on a gold stand, which immediately wagging its tail and shaking its wings, and opening its bill of white-enamelled gold, pours forth a clear melodious song, capable of filling a room of twenty or thirty feet square with its melody. the same gentleman exhibited an automaton in england, of the figure of a man, as large as life. it held in its hand a metal style, under which was a card of dutch vellum. a spring was then touched, and the internal machinery being thus set a-going, the figure began to draw elegant portraits, and likenesses of the king and queen facing each other; and it was curious to observe, with what precision the figure lifted up its pencil, in the transition of it from one point of the picture to another, without making the least blunder whatever; for instance, in passing from the forehead to the eye, nose, and chin, or from the waving curls of the hair to the ear, &c. the first card being finished, the figure rested, until a second was completed, and so on through five separate cards put to it, on all of which it delineated different subjects, but five or six was the extent of its surprising powers. androides.--this is an automaton, in the figure of a man, which, by virtue of certain springs, &c. duly contrived, walks, and performs other external functions of a man. albertus magnus is recorded as having made a famous androides, which is said not only to have moved, but to have spoken. thomas aquinas is said to have been so frightened when he saw this head, that he broke it to pieces; upon which albert exclaimed, "_periit opus triginta annorum!_" artificial puppets, which, by internal springs, run upon a table, and, as they advance, move their heads, eyes, or hands, were common among the greeks, and from thence they were brought to the romans. figures, or puppets, which appear to move of themselves, were formerly employed to work miracles; but this use is now superseded, and they serve only to display ingenuity, and to answer the purposes of amusement. one of the most celebrated figures of this kind, was constructed and exhibited at paris, in ; and a particular account of it was published in the memoirs of the academy for that year. this figure represents a flute-player, which was capable of performing various pieces of music, by wind issuing from its mouth into a german flute, the holes of which it opened and shut with its fingers: it was about five and a half feet high, placed upon a square pedestal four and a half feet high, and three and a half broad. the air entered the body by three separate pipes, into which it was conveyed by nine pairs of bellows, that expanded and contracted, in regular succession, by means of an axis of steel turned by clock-work. these bellows performed their functions without any noise, which might have discovered the manner by which the air was conveyed to the machine. the three tubes, which received the air from the bellows, passed into three small reservoirs in the trunk of the figure. here they united, and, ascending towards the throat, formed the cavity of the mouth, which terminated in two small lips, adapted in some measure to perform their proper functions. within this cavity was a small moveable tongue, which by its motion, at proper intervals, admitted the air, or intercepted it in its passage to the flute. the fingers, lips, and tongue, derived their proper movements from a steel cylinder, turned by clock-work. this was divided into fifteen equal parts, which, by means of pegs, pressing upon the ends of fifteen different levers, caused the other extremities to ascend. seven of these levers directed the fingers, having wires and chains fixed to their ascending extremities, which, being attached to the fingers, made them to ascend in proportion as the other extremity was pressed down by the motion of the cylinder, and _vice versâ_; then the ascent or descent of one end of a lever produced a similar ascent or descent in the corresponding fingers, by which one of the holes of the flute was occasionally opened or stopped, as it might have been by a living performer. three of the levers served to regulate the ingress of the air, being so contrived as to open and shut, by means of valves, the three reservoirs above-mentioned, so that more or less strength might be given, and a higher or lower note produced, as occasion required. the lips were, by a similar mechanism, directed by four levers, one of which opened them, to give the air a freer passage, the other contracted them, the third drew them backward, and the fourth pushed them forward. the lips were projected upon that part of the flute which receives the air, and, by the different motions already mentioned, modified the tune in a proper manner. the remaining lever was employed in the direction of the tongue, which it easily moves so as to shut or open the mouth of the flute. the just succession of the several motions, performed by the various parts of this machine, was regulated by the following simple contrivance. the extremity of the axis of the cylinder terminated on the right side by an endless screw, consisting of twelve threads, each placed at the distance of a line and a half from the other. above this screw was fixed a piece of copper, and in it a steel pivot, which, falling in between the threads of the screw, obliged the cylinder to follow the threads; and, instead of turning directly round, it was continually pushed to one side. hence, if a lever was moved, by a peg placed on cylinder, in any one revolution, it could not be moved by the same peg in the succeeding revolution, because the peg would be moved a line and a half beyond it by the lateral motion of the cylinder. thus, by an artificial disposition of these pegs in different parts of the cylinder, the statue was made, by the successive elevation of the proper levers, to exhibit all the different motions of a flute-player, to the admiration of every one who saw it. another figure, constructed by the same artist, vaucanson, played on the shepherd's pipe, held in its left hand, and with the right beat upon a drum. the performances of vaucanson were imitated, and even exceeded, by m. de kempelin, of presburg, in hungary. the androides constructed by this gentleman in , was capable of playing at chess. it was first brought over to england in , and has often been exhibited since that period. it is thus described: the figure is as large as life, in a turkish dress, seated behind a table, with doors three and a half feet long, two deep, and two and a half high. the chair on which it sits is fixed to the table, which is made to run on four wheels. it leans its right arm on the table, and in its left hand holds a pipe; with this hand it plays after the pipe is removed. a chess-board of eighteen inches is fixed before it. the table, or rather chest, contains wheels, levers, cylinders, and other pieces of mechanism, all of which are publicly displayed. the vestments of the figure were then lifted over its head, and the body was seen full of similar wheels. there is a little door in its thigh, which is likewise opened: and with this, and the table also open, and the figure uncovered, the whole is wheeled about the room. the doors are then shut, and the automaton is ready to play; but it always takes the first move. at every motion the wheels are heard; the image moves its head, and looks over every part of the chess-board. when it checks the queen, it shakes its head twice; and thrice in giving check to the king. it likewise shakes its head when a false move is made, replaces the piece, and makes its own move, by which means the adversary loses one. m. de kempelin exhibited his automaton at petersburg, vienna, paris, and london, before thousands, many of whom were mathematicians, and chess players, and yet the secret by which he governed the motion of its arm was never discovered. he valued himself upon the construction of a mechanism, by which the arm could perform ten or twelve moves. it then needed to be wound up like a watch, after which it was capable of continuing the same number of motions. this automaton could not play unless m. de kempelin, or his assistant, was near it to direct its movements. a small square box was frequently consulted by the exhibiter during the game, and in this consisted the secret, which the inventor declared he could communicate in a moment. any person who could beat m. de kempelin at chess, was sure of conquering the automaton. extraordinary pieces of clock-work.--amongst the modern clocks, those at strasburg and lyons are very eminent for the richness and variety of their furniture, and for their motions and figures. in the former, a cock claps his wings, and proclaims the hour, and an angel opens a door, and salutes the virgin; while the holy spirit descends on her, &c. in the latter, two horsemen encounter, and beat the hour on each other; a door opens, and there appears on the theatre the virgin, with jesus christ in her arms; the magi, with their retinue, marching in order, and presenting their gifts; two trumpeters sounding all the while to proclaim the procession. these, however, are excelled by two which were lately made by english artists, and sent as a present from the east india company to the emperor of china. these clocks are in the form of chariots, in which are placed, in a fine attitude, a lady, leaning her right hand upon a part of the chariot, under which is a clock of curious workmanship, little larger than a shilling, that strikes and repeats, and goes eight days. upon her finger sits a bird finely modelled, and set with diamonds and rubies, with its wings expanded in a flying posture, and it actually flutters for a considerable time on touching a diamond button below it; the body of the bird (which contains part of the wheels that in a manner give life to it) is not the bigness of the th part of an inch. the lady holds in her left hand a gold tube not much thicker than a large pin, on the top of which is a small round box, to which a circular ornament, set with diamonds not larger than a sixpence, is fixed, which goes round nearly three hours in a constant regular motion. over the lady's head, supported by a small fluted pillar not bigger than a quill, are two umbrellas, under the largest of which a bell is fixed, at a considerable distance from the clock, and seems to have no connection with it; but from which a communication is secretly conveyed to a hammer that regularly strikes the hour, and repeats the same to the clock below. at the feet of the lady is a golden dog; before which, from the point of the chariot, are two birds fixed on spiral springs, the wings and feathers of which are set with stones of various colours, and appear as if flying away with the chariot, which, from another secret motion, is continued to run in a straight, circular, or any other direction; while a boy that lays hold of the chariot behind, seems also to push it forward. above the umbrella are flowers and ornaments of precious stones; and it terminates with a flying dragon set in the same manner. the whole is of gold, most curiously executed, and embellished with rubies and pearls. heidelberg clock.--at heidelberg, in germany, upon the town-house, was a clock with divers motions; and when the clock struck, the figure of an old man pulled off his hat, a cock crowed, and clapped his wings, soldiers fought with one another, &c.: but this curious piece of workmanship, with the castle and town, were burnt by the french, who committed at the same time the most inhuman barbarities upon the people, when they took those garrisons, in the year . strasburg clock.--at strasburg, there is a clock, of all others the most famous, invented by conradus dasipodius, in the year . before the clock stands a globe on the ground, shewing the motions of the heavenly bodies. the heavens are carried about by the first mover, in twenty-four hours; saturn, by his proper motion, is carried about in thirty years; jupiter in twelve, mars in two, the sun, mercury, and venus, in one year; and the moon in one month. in the clock itself there are two tables on the right and left hand, shewing the eclipses of the sun and moon from the year , to the year . the third table in the middle is divided into three parts. in the first part, the statue of apollo and diana shews the course of the year, and the day thereof, being carried about in one year; the second part shews the year of our lord, and the equinoctial days, the hours of each day, the minutes of each hour, easter-day, and all other feasts, and the dominical letter. the third part has the geographical description of all germany, and particularly of strasburg, with the names of the inventor, and of all the workmen. in the middle frame of the clock is an astrolabe, shewing the sign in which each planet is every day, and there are the statues of the seven planets, upon a round piece of iron, lying flat; so that every day the statue of the planet that rules the day comes forth, the rest being hid within the frames, till they come out by course at their day, as the sun upon sunday, and so for all the week. and there is also a terrestrial globe, which shews the quarter, the half hour, and the minutes. there is also the skull of a dead man, and statues of two boys, one of whom turns the hour-glass when the clock has struck, the other puts forth the rod in his hand at each stroke of the clock. moreover, there are the statues of the spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and many observations of the moon. in the upper part of the clock are four old men's statues, which strike the quarters of the hour; the statue of death comes out at each quarter to strike, but is driven back by the statue of christ, with a spear in his hand, for three-quarters; but in the fourth quarter, that of christ goes back, and that of death strikes the hour, with a bone in his hand, and then the chimes sound. on the top of the clock is an image of a cock, which twice in the day cries aloud, and claps his wings. besides, this clock is decked with many rare pictures: and being on the inside of the church, carries another frame to the outside of the wall, wherein the hours of the sun, the courses of the moon, the length of the day, and such other things, are set out with great art. clepsydra--is a water-clock, or instrument to measure time by the fall of a certain quantity of water, and is constructed on the following principles.--suppose a cylindrical vessel, whose charge of water flows out in twelve hours, were required to be divided into parts, to be discharged each hour. . as the part of time is to the whole time, twelve, so is the same time twelve to a fourth proportional hundred-and-forty-four. divide the altitude of the vessel into one hundred and forty-four equal parts: here the last will fall to the last hour; the three next above, to the last part but one; the five next, to the tenth hour; lastly, the twenty-three last to the first hour. for since the times increase in the series of the natural numbers , , , , , &c. and the altitudes, if the numeration be in a retrograde order from the twelfth hour, increase in the series of the unequal numbers , , , , , &c. the altitudes computed from the twelfth hour will be as the squares of the times , , , , , &c. therefore the squares of the whole time, one hundred and forty-four, comprehend all the parts of the altitude of the vessel to be emptied. but a third proportional to and , is the square of twelve, and consequently it is the number of equal parts in which the altitude is to be distributed, according to the series of the unequal numbers, through the equal interval of hours. there were many kinds of clepsydræ among the ancients; but they all had this in common, that the water ran generally through a narrow passage, from one vessel to another, and in the lower was a piece of cork, or light wood, which, as the vessel filled, rose up by degrees, and shewed the hour. we shall in the next place make a few remarks on the invention of watches.--the invention of spring or pocket watches belongs to the th century. it is true, we find mention made of a watch presented to charles v. in the history of that prince: but this, in all probability, was no more than a kind of clock to be set on a table, some resemblance whereof we have still remaining in the ancient pieces made before the year . there was also a story of a watch having been discovered in scotland, belonging to king robert bruce; but this we believe has turned out altogether erroneous. the glory of this very useful invention lies between dr. hooke and m. huygens; but to which of them it properly belongs, has been greatly disputed; the english ascribing it to the former, and the french, dutch, &c. to the latter. mr. derham, in his artificial clockmaker, says, roundly, that dr. hooke was the inventor; and adds, that he contrived various ways of regulation. one way was, with a loadstone; another with a tender straight spring, one end whereof played backwards and forwards with the balance, so that the balance was to the spring as the bob to a pendulum, and the spring as the rod thereof. a third method was, with two balances, of which there were divers sorts; some having a spiral spring to the balance for a regulator, and others not. but the way that prevailed, and which still continues to prevail, was, with one balance, and one spring running round the upper part of the verge; though this has a disadvantage, from which those with two springs, &c. were free, since a sudden jerk, or confused shake, will alter its vibrations, and disturb its motion. the time of these inventions was about the year ; as appears, among other evidences, from an inscription on one of the double-balance watches presented to king charles ii. viz. "rob. hooke _inven._ . t. tompion _fecit_, ." the invention presently got into reputation, both at home and abroad: and two of them were sent for by the dauphin of france. soon after this, m. huygens' watch with a spiral spring got abroad, and made a great noise in england, as if the longitude could be found by it. it is certain, however, that his invention was later than the year , when his book "_de horol. oscillat._" was published; wherein he has not one word of this, though he has of several other contrivances in the same way. one of these the lord brouncker sent for out of france, where m. huygens had got a patent for them. this watch agreed with dr. hooke's, in the application of the spring to the balance; only m. huygens' had a long spiral spring, and the pulses and beats were much slower. the balance, instead of turning quite round, as dr. hooke's, turns several rounds every vibration. mr. derham suggests, that he has reason to think m. huygens' fancy was first set to work by some intelligence he might have of dr. hooke's invention from mr. oldensworth, or some other of his correspondents in england; and this, notwithstanding mr. oldensworth's attempt to vindicate himself in the philosophical transactions, appears to be the truth. huygens invented divers other kinds of watches, some of them without any string or chain at all; which he called particularly, pendulum watches. chap. lxxiii. curiosities respecting the arts.--(_continued._) _telegraph--spectacle of a sea fight at rome--wooden eagle; and iron fly--whitehead's ship--scaliot's lock, &c.--praxiteles' venus--weaving engine--hydraulic birds--herschell's grand telescope--boverick's curiosities--bunzlau curiosities--artificial flying._ telegraph.--this is a word derived from the greek, and which is very properly given to an instrument, by means of which information may be almost instantaneously conveyed to a considerable distance. the telegraph, though it has been generally known and used by the moderns only for a few years, is by no means a modern invention. there is reason to believe, that amongst the greeks there was some sort of telegraph in use. the burning of troy was certainly known in greece very soon after it happened, and before any person had returned from thence. now that was altogether so tedious a piece of business, that conjecture never could have supplied the place of information. a greek play begins with a scene, in which a watchman descends from the top of a tower in greece, and gives the information that troy was taken. "i have been looking out these ten years (says he) to see when that would happen, and this night it is done." of the antiquity of a mode of conveying intelligence quickly to a great distance, this is certainly a proof. the chinese, when they send couriers on the great canal, or when any great man travels there, make signals by fire, from one day's journey to another, to have every thing prepared; and most of the barbarous nations used formerly to give the alarm of war by fires lighted on the hills, or rising grounds. it does not appear that the moderns had thought of such a machine as a telegraph, till the year , when the marquis of worcester, in his "century of inventions," affirmed, that he had discovered "a method by which, at a window, as far as eye can discover black from white, a man may hold discourse with his correspondent, without noise made, or notice taken, being, according to occasion given, or means afforded, _ex re nata_, and no need of provision beforehand; though much better if foreseen, and course taken by mutual consent of parties." this could be done only by means of a telegraph, which, in the next sentence, is declared to have been rendered so perfect, that by means of it the correspondence could be carried on "by night as well as by day, though as dark as pitch is black." about forty years afterwards, m. amontons proposed a new telegraph. his method was this:--let there be people placed in several stations, at such a distance from one another, that, by the help of a telescope, a man in one station may see a signal made in the next before him; he must immediately make the same signal, that it may be seen by persons in the station next after him, who are to communicate it to those in the following station, and so on. these signals may be as letters of the alphabet, or as a cipher, understood only by the two persons who are in the distant places, and not by those who make the signals. the person in the second station making the signal to the person in the third, the very moment he sees it in the first; the news may be carried to the greatest distance in as little time as is necessary to make the signals in the first station. the distance of the several stations, which must be as few as possible, is measured by the reach of a telescope. amontons tried this method in a small tract of land, before several persons of the highest rank at the court of france. it was not, however, till the french revolution, that the telegraph was applied to useful purposes. whether m. chappe, who is said to have invented the telegraph first used by the french about the end of , knew any thing of amonton's invention or not, it is impossible to say; but his telegraph was constructed on principles nearly similar. the manner of using this telegraph was as follows:--at the first station, which was on the roof of the palace of louvre, at paris, m. chappe, the inventor, received in writing from the committee of public welfare, the words to be sent to lisle, near which the french army at that time was. an upright post was erected on the louvre, at the top of which were two transverse arms, moveable in all directions by a single piece of mechanism, and with inconceivable rapidity. he invented a number of positions for these arms, which stood as signs for the letters of the alphabet; and these, for the greater celerity and simplicity, he reduced in number as much as possible. the grammarian will easily conceive that sixteen signs may amply supply all the letters of the alphabet, since some letters may be omitted, not only without detriment, but with advantage. these signs, as they were arbitrary, could be changed every week; so that the sign of b for one day, might be the sign of m the next; and it was only necessary that the persons at the extremities should know the key. the intermediate operators were only instructed generally in these sixteen signals; which were so distinct, so marked, so different the one from the other, that they were remembered with the greatest ease. the construction of the machine was such, that each signal was uniformly given in precisely the same manner at all times: it did not depend on the operator's manual skill; and the position of the arm could never, for any one signal, be a degree higher or a degree lower, its movement being regulated mechanically. m. chappe having received, at the louvre, the sentence to be conveyed, gave a known signal to the second station (which was mont martre) to prepare. at each station there was a watch-tower, where telescopes were fixed, and the person on watch gave the signal of preparation which he had received, and this communicated successively through all the line, which brought them all into a state of readiness. the person at mont martre then received, letter by letter, the sentence from the louvre, which he repeated with his own machine; and this was again repeated from the next height, with inconceivable rapidity, to the final station at lisle. various experiments were in consequence tried upon telegraphs in this country; and one was soon after set up by government, in a chain of stations from the admiralty-office to the sea-coast. it consists of six octagon boards, each of which is poised upon an axis in a frame, in such a manner that it can be either placed vertically, so as to appear with its full size to the observer at the nearest station, or it becomes invisible to him by being placed horizontally, or with only the narrow edge exposed. these six boards make thirty-six changes, by the most plain and simple mode of working; and they will make many more, if more were necessary. we submit to the reader the following account of a spectacle of a sea fight at rome.--augustus, to divert his mind from fixing on his domestic misfortunes, exhibited the most magnificent and expensive shows that had ever been seen at rome. chariot-races in the circus, representations on the stage, combats by gladiators, &c. were now become common. augustus, therefore, the better to divert both himself and the people, revived these sports, which had been for a considerable time laid aside, on account of the extraordinary charges that attended them. he caused a canal to be dug, eighteen hundred paces in length, and two hundred in breadth, conveying into it the flaminian waters, and building scaffolds quite round it, capable of holding a prodigious multitude of spectators. and indeed the concourse of people was so great, that the emperor was obliged to place guards in all quarters of the city, lest the thieves should lay hold of that opportunity to plunder the empty and abandoned houses. augustus had frequently entertained the people with fights of lions, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, &c. but now the new canal appeared all on a sudden covered with crocodiles, of which thirty-six were killed by egyptians, brought from the banks of the nile for that purpose. the multitude were highly delighted by this sight, which was quite new; but the sea-fight which ensued, afforded them still greater diversion: for, at the opposite ends of the lake, or canal, two fleets appeared, the galleys of one being built after the greek, and those of the other after the persian manner. both fleets engaged; and, as they fought in good earnest, most of the combatants being persons sentenced to death, the battle proved very bloody. a wooden eagle, and an iron fly.--petrus ramus tells us of a wooden eagle and an iron fly, made by regiomontanus, a famous mathematician at nuremberg: whereof the first flew forth out of the city, aloft in the air, met the emperor maximilian a good way off, coming towards it; and, having saluted him, returned again, waiting on him at the city gates. the second, at a feast, whereto the emperor had invited his familiar friends, flew forth from his hand, and, taking a round, returned thither again, to the great astonishment of the beholders: both which, the excellent pen of the noble du bartas has expressed in the following lines: why should i not that wooden eagle mention, a learned german's late admir'd invention, which, mounting from his fist that fram'd her, flew far to meet the german emperor? and, having met him, with her nimble train and pliant wings turning about again, follow'd him close unto the castle gate of nuremberg; whom all their shows of state, streets hung with arras, arches curious built, grey-headed senate, and youth's gallantries, grac'd not so much as only this device. he goes on, and thus describes the fly: once, as this artist, more with mirth than meat; feasted some friends whom he esteemed great, forth from his hand an iron fly flew out; which having flown a perfect round about, with weary wings returned to his master, and as judicious on his arm he plac'd her. oh! wit divine, that in the narrow womb of a small fly could find sufficient room for all those springs, wheels, counterpoise, and chains, which stood instead of life, and blood, and veins. whitehead's ship.--george whitehead, an englishman, made a ship, with all her tackling, to move itself on a table, with rowers plying the oars, a woman playing on the lute, and a little whelp crying on the deck,--says scottus, in his itinerary. scaliot's lock, &c.--in the twentieth year of queen elizabeth, mark scaliot, a blacksmith, made a lock, consisting of eleven pieces of iron, steel, and brass, all which, together with a pipe-key to it, weighed but one grain of gold: he made also a chain of gold, consisting of forty-three links, whereunto having fastened the lock and key before mentioned, he put the chain about a flea's neck, which drew them all with ease. all these together, lock and key, chain and flea, being weighed, the weight of them was but one grain and a half. praxiteles' venus.--praxiteles, who was an ingenious worker in imagery, made a statue of venus for the cnidians, so much resembling life, that a certain young man became enamoured of it to such a degree, that the excess of his love deprived him of his senses. this piece of art was so eagerly coveted by king nicomedes, that, though the cnidians owed him an immense sum of money, he offered to take the statue in full satisfaction for his debt; but was refused. the next subject is a curious weaving engine.--at dantzic in poland, there was set up a rare invention for weaving four or five webs at a time, without any human help. it was an engine that moved of itself, and would work night and day. this invention was suppressed, because it would have ruined the poor people of the town; and the artificer was secretly destroyed, as lancelotti, the italian abbot, relates from the mouth of m. muller, a pole, who had seen the device. hydraulic birds.--at tibur, in tivoli, near rome, in the gardens of hippolitus d'este, cardinal of ferrara, there are the representations of sundry birds sitting on the tops of trees, which, by hydraulic art, and secret conveyances of water through the trunks and branches of the trees, are made to sing and clap their wings; but at the sudden appearance of an owl out of a bush of the same artifice, they immediately become all mute and silent. it was the work of claudius gallus, as possivenus informs us. herschell's grand telescope.--the tube of this telescope is thirty-nine feet four inches in length, and four feet ten inches in diameter, every part being made of iron. it stands in the open air, appears to be considerably elevated, and is encircled with a complicated scaffolding, by which its steadiness is secured. the concave face of its speculum is _forty-eight inches_ of polished surface in diameter, and it weighs nearly _two thousand one hundred and eighteen pounds_! with proper eye-glasses it magnifies above _six thousand times_: it is the largest instrument, and has the greatest magnifying power, of any that has been made. by its aid, dr. herschell has been able to observe the lightning in the atmosphere of the moon, and has found out several celestial bodies, unknown to preceding astronomers. the whole was finished on august the th, , on which day the _sixth_ satellite of saturn was discovered. the observer, suspended at the end of the instrument, with his back towards the object he views, looks down the tube, and sees the image reflected from the mirror; whilst a man below turns gently round the instrument, to accord with the apparent rotatory motion of the heavens, thus preserving the image of the object on the mirror with stability. boverick's curiosities.--mr. baker, in his treatise on the microscope, says, "i myself have seen, near durham yard, in the strand, and have examined with my microscope, a chaise, (made by one mr. boverick, a watch-maker,) having four wheels, with all the proper apparatus belonging to them, turning readily on their axles, together with a man sitting in the chaise, all formed of ivory, and drawn along by a flea, without any seeming difficulty. i weighed it with the greatest care i was able; and found the chaise, man, and flea, were barely equal to a single grain. i weighed also, at the same time and place, a brass chain made by the same hand, about two inches long, containing two hundred links, with a hook at one end, and a padlock and key at the other; and found it less than the third part of a grain. i have seen (made by the same artist) a quadrille table with a drawer in it, an eating-table, a sideboard table, a looking-glass, twelve chairs, with skeleton backs, two dozen of plates, six dishes, a dozen knives, and as many forks, twelve spoons, two salts, a frame and castors, together with a gentleman, lady, and footman, all contained in a cherry-stone, and not filling much more than half of it." bunzlau curiosities.--mr. adams, in his letters on silesia, gives the following account of two ingenious mechanics he met with at bunzlau. their names were jacob, and huttig; the one was a carpenter, the other a weaver, and they were next-door neighbours to each other. "the first (says mr. adams) has made a machine, in which, by the means of certain clock-work, a number of puppets, about six inches high, are made to move upon a kind of stage, so as to represent in several successive scenes the passion of jesus christ. the first exhibits him in the garden at prayer, while the three apostles are sleeping at a distance. in the last, he is shewn dead in the sepulchre, guarded by two roman soldiers. the intervening scenes represent the treachery of judas, the examination of jesus before caiaphas, the dialogue between pilate and the jews concerning him, the denial of peter, the scourging, and the crucifixion. it is all accompanied by a mournful dirge of music; and the maker, by way of explanation, repeats the passages of scripture which relate the events he has undertaken to shew. i never saw a stronger proof of the strength of the impression of objects, which are brought immediately home to the senses. i have heard and read more than one eloquent sermon upon the passion; but i confess, none of their most laboured efforts at the pathetic ever touched my heart with one-half the force of this puppet-show. the traitor's kiss, the blow struck by the high-priest's servant, the scourging, the nailing to the cross, the sponge of vinegar, every indignity offered, and every pain inflicted, occasioned a sensation, when thus made perceptible to the eye, which i had never felt at mere description. "hultig, the weaver, with an equal, or superior mechanical genius, has applied it in a different manner, and devoted it to geographical, astronomical, and historical pursuits. in the intervals of his leisure from the common weaver's work, which affords him subsistence, he has become a very learned man. the walls of his rooms are covered with maps and drawings of his own, representing, here the course of the oder, with all the towns and villages through which it runs; there, the mountains of switzerland, and those of silesia, over both of which he has travelled in person. in one room he has two very large tables, one raised above the other: on one of them he has ranged all the towns and remarkable places of germany; and on the other, of all europe: they are placed according to their respective geographical bearings. the names of the towns are written on a small square piece of paper, and fixed in a slit on the top of a peg, which is stuck into the table. the remarkable mountains are shewn by some pyramidical black stones; and little white pyramids are stationed at all the spots which have been distinguished by any great battle, or other remarkable incident. the man himself, in explaining his work, shews abundance of learning, relative to the ancient names of places, and the former inhabitants of the countries to which he points; and amused us with anecdotes of various kinds, connected with the lands he has marked out. "thus, in shewing us the alps, he pointed to the very spot over which the french army of reserve so lately passed, and where buonaparte so fortunately escaped being taken by an austrian officer; and then he gave us a short comment of his own, upon the character and extraordinary good fortune of the first consul. in a second room he has a large machine, representing the copernican system of the universe: it is made in such a manner, that the whole firmament of fixed stars moves round our solar system once in every twenty-four hours, and thus always exhibits the stars, in the exact position, relative to our earth, in which they really stand. internally, he has stationed all the planets which belong to our system, with their several satellites, and all the comets that have been observed during the last three centuries. in a third room he has another machine, exhibiting in different parts the various phases of the moon, and those of jupiter's satellites, the apparent motion of the sun round the earth, and the real motion of the earth round the sun. "in his garret he has another work, upon which he is yet occupied, and which, being his last labour, seems to be that in which he takes the most delight. upon a very large table, similar to that in the first room, he has inlaid a number of thin plates of wood, formed so as to represent a projection of the earth under mercator's plan. all the intervals between the plates of wood designate that portion of the world which is covered with water. he has used a number of very small ropes of two colours, drawn over the surface in such a manner as to describe the tracks of all the celebrated circumnavigators of the globe. the colours of the ropes distinguish the several voyages which claim especial pre-eminence above the rest. to columbus, anson, and cook, he has shewn a special honour by three little models of ships bearing their names, which are placed upon the surface of his ocean, in some spot of their respective courses. the names of all the other voyagers, and the times at which their voyages were performed, are marked by papers fixed at the points of their departure. such is the imperfect description i can give you, from a short view of the labours of this really curious man. he must be nearly, or quite seventy years old, and has all his lifetime been of an infirm constitution. but this taste for the sciences, he told us, was hereditary in his family, and had been common to them all, from his great-grandfather down to himself. his dress and appearance were those of a common weaver: but his expressive countenance, at once full of enthusiastic fire and of amiable good-nature, was a model, upon which lavater might expatiate with exultation. the honest and ingenious weaver, on our taking leave, made us smile by exclaiming, that now, if he could but have a traveller from africa come to see his works, he could boast of having had visitors from all the four quarters of the globe." artificial flying.--the art of flying has been attempted by several persons in all ages. the leucadians, out of superstition, are reported to have had a custom of precipitating a man from a high cliff into the sea, first fixing feathers, variously expanded, round his body, in order to break his fall. friar bacon, who lived near five hundred years ago, not only affirms the art of flying possible, but assures us, that he himself knew how to make an engine, wherein a man, sitting, might be able to cenvey himself through the air, like a bird; and further adds, that there was one who had then tried it with success: but this method, which consisted of a couple of large thin hollow copper globes, exhausted of the air, and sustaining a person who sat thereon, dr. hooke shews to be impracticable. the philosophers of king charles the second's reign were mightily busied about this art. bishop wilkins was so confident of success in it, that he says, he does not question but, in future ages, it will be as usual to hear a man call for his wings, when he is going a journey, as it is now to call for his boots. the art of flying has in some measure been brought to bear in the construction and use of balloons. chap. lxxiv. curiosities respecting the arts.--(_concluded._) _burning glasses--ductility of glass--remarkable ductility and extensibility of gold--pin making--needles--shoes--the great bell of moscow._ burning glasses.--we have some extraordinary instances and surprising accounts of prodigious effects of burning-glasses. those made of reflecting mirrors are more powerful than those made with lenses, because the rays from a mirror are reflected all to one point nearly; whereas by a lens, they are refracted to different points, and are therefore not so dense or ardent. the whiter also the metal or substance is, of which the mirror is made, the stronger will be the effect. the most remarkable burning-glasses, or rather mirrors, among the ancients, were those of archimedes and proclus; by the first of which the roman ships, besieging syracuse, (according to the testimony of several writers,) and by the other, the navy of vitalian besieging byzantium, were reduced to ashes. among the moderns, the burning mirrors of greatest eminence, are those of vilette, and tschirnhausen, and the new complex one of m. de buffon. that of m. de vilette was three feet eleven inches in diameter, and its focal distance was three feet two inches. its substance is a composition of tin, copper, and tin glass. some of its effects, as found by dr. harris and dr. desaguliers, are, that a silver sixpence melted in seven seconds and a half; a king george's halfpenny melted in sixteen seconds, and ran in thirty-four seconds; tin melted in three seconds; and a diamond weighing four grains, lost seven-eighths of its weight. that of m. de buffon is a polyhedron, six feet broad, and as many high, consisting of one hundred and sixty-eight small mirrors, or flat pieces of looking-glass, each six inches square; by means of which, with the faint rays of the sun in the month of march, he set on fire boards of beechwood at one hundred and fifty feet distance. besides, his machine has the conveniency of burning downwards, or horizontally, at pleasure; each speculum being moveable, so as, by the means of three screws, to be set to a proper inclination for directing the rays towards any given point; and it turns either in its greater focus, or in any nearer interval, which our common burning-glasses cannot do, their focus being fixed and determined. m. de buffon, at another time, burnt wood at the distance of two hundred feet. he also melted tin and lead at the distance of above one hundred and twenty feet, and silver at fifty. mr. parker, of fleet-street, london, was induced, at an expense of upwards of £ , to contrive, and at length to complete, a large transparent lens, that would serve the purpose of fusing and vitrifying such substances as resist the fires of ordinary furnaces, and more especially of applying heat in vacuo, and in other circumstances in which it cannot be applied by any other means. after directing his attention for several years to this object, and performing a great variety of experiments in the prosecution of it, he at last succeeded in the construction of a lens, of flint-glass, three feet in diameter, which, when fixed in its frame, exposes a surface two feet eight inches and a half in the clear, without any other material imperfection, except a disfigurement of one of the edges by a piece of the scoria of the mould, which unfortunately found its way into its substance. this lens was double-convex, both sides of which were a portion of a sphere of eighteen feet radius. it is difficult to form an accurate estimate of the burning power of this lens; inasmuch as it is next to impossible to discover what should be deducted for the loss of power, in consequence of the impediments that the glass of which it was made must occasion, as well as the four reflections, and two more by way of diminution; but we will endeavour to appreciate it, after a full allowance for these deductions, which must necessarily result from every means of concentrating the solar rays, and must be considered as the friction of an engine, of which nature they really partake. the solar rays received on a circular surface of two feet eight inches and a half, when concentrated within the diameter of an inch, will be , times its intensity, or this number of times greater than the heat of the sun as it is experienced on the surface of the earth. we will suppose, that as the heat of the air, in ordinary summer weather, is degrees, and in sultry weather is degrees, the average of which is degrees, and that we take this as the average effect, the accumulated power of the lens, on the supposition of an uniform heat over the whole surface of the focus, will be equal to , degrees. it must be recollected, by those who have an opportunity of examining the effects of this lens, that the external part of the focal light was less intense than that part which was near the centre of it; or rather, that the effect was very much accumulated in the centre; but as it is possible that the refraction of the light and of the caloric fluid may not take place in the same angles, we think it safest to consider it as of uniform effect, and alter deducting one fourth part thereof as a compensation, there remains as the expression of its power. as the application of the second lens reduced the diameter of the focus to half an inch, the effect, without allowing for the reduction of its power, would be equal to , degrees; but deducting one-fourth for the second transmission, there remains , degrees, as the expression of its power. mr. parker further informs us, that a diamond, weighing ten grains, exposed to this lens for thirty minutes, was reduced to six grains; during which operation it opened and foliated like the leaves of a flower, which emitted whitish fumes, and when closed again, bore a polish, and retained its form. gold remained in its metallic state without apparent diminution, notwithstanding an exposure at intervals of many hours: but what is remarkable, the rest, or cupel, which was composed of bone-ash, was tinctured with a beautiful pink colour. the experiments on platina evince that the specimens were in different states of approach to a complete metallic form; several of them threw off their parts in sparks, which in most instances were metallic. copper, after three minutes' exposure, was not found to have lost in weight. what is remarkable with regard to experiments on iron, is, that the lower part, i. e. that part in contact with the charcoal, was first melted, when that part which was exposed to the focus remained unfused; an evidence of the effect of flux on this metal. several of the semi-crystalline substances, exposed to the focal heat, exhibited symptoms of fusion; such as the agate, oriental flint, cornelian, and jasper: but as the probability is, that these substances were not capable of complete vitrification, it is enough that they were rendered externally of a glassy form. garnet completely fused on black lead in seconds, lost a quarter of a grain, became darker in colour, and was attracted by the magnet. ten cut garnets taken from a bracelet began to run the one into the other in a few seconds, and at last formed into one globular garnet. the clay used by mr. wedgwood to make his pyrometric test, run in a few seconds into a white enamel. seven other kinds of clay, sent by mr. wedgwood, were all vitrified. several experiments were made on limestone, some of which were vitrified, but all of which were agglutinated; it is, however, suspected that some extraneous substance must have been intermixed. a globule produced from one of the specimens, on being put into the mouth, flew into a thousand pieces, occasioned, it is presumed, by the moisture. a subscription was proposed for raising the sum of seven hundred guineas, towards indemnifying the charges of the inventor, and retaining the very curious and useful machine above described in our own country; but from the failure or the subscription, and some other concurring circumstances, mr. parker was induced to dispose of it to capt. mackintosh, who accompanied lord macartney in the embassy to china: and it was left, much to the regret of philosophers in europe, at pekin; where it remains in the hands of persons, who most probably know neither its value nor use. ductility of glass.--we all know, that when glass is well penetrated with the heat of the fire, the workmen can figure and manage it like soft wax; but, what is most remarkable, it may be drawn, or spun out, into threads exceedingly long and fine. our ordinary spinners do not form their threads of silk, flax, or the like, with half the ease and expedition the glass-spinners do threads of this brittle matter. we have some of them used in plumes for children's heads, and divers other works, much finer than any hair, and which bend and wave, like hair, with every wind. nothing is more simple and easy than the method of making them. there are two workmen employed: the first holds one end of a piece of glass over the flame of a lamp; and when the heat has softened it, a second operator applies a glass hook to the metal thus in fusion, and, withdrawing the hook again, it brings with it a thread of glass, which still adheres to the mass; then, fitting his hook on the circumference of a wheel about two feet and a half in diameter, he turns the wheel as fast as he pleases, which, drawing out the thread, winds it on its run, till, after a certain number of revolutions, it is covered with a skein of glass-thread. the mass in fusion over the lamp diminishes insensibly, being wound out like a clue of silk upon the wheel; and the parts cooling as they recede from the flame, become more coherent to those next to them, and this by many degrees: the parts nearest the fire are always the least coherent, and, of consequence, must give way to the effort the rest make to draw them towards the wheel. the circumference of these threads is usually a flat oval, being three or four times as broad as thick: some of them seem scarcely bigger than the thread of a silkworm, and are surprisingly flexible. if the two ends of such threads are knotted together, they may be drawn and bent, till the aperture, or space in the middle of the knot, does not exceed one-fourth of a line, or one forty-eighth of an inch in diameter. hence m. reaumur maintains, that the flexibility of glass increases in proportion to the fineness of the threads; and that, probably, had we but the art of drawing threads as fine as a spider's web, we might weave stuffs and cloths of them for wear. accordingly, he made some experiments this way; and found that he could make threads fine enough, viz. as fine, in his judgment, as spider's thread, but not long enough for the purposes of any manufacture. remarkable ductility and extensibility of gold.--gold is the most ductile, as well as the most malleable, of all metals. according to cronstedt, one grain of it may be stretched out so as to cover swedish ells, equal to . english yards of silver wire; but wallerius asserts, that a grain may be stretched out in such a manner, as to cover ells of wire. at any rate, the extension is prodigious; for, according to the least of the calculations, the millionth part of a grain of gold may be made visible to the naked eye. nor is its malleability inferior to its ductility. boyle, quoted by apligny, in his treatise on colours, says, that one grain and a half of gold may be beaten into leaves of an inch square, which, if intersected by parallel lines drawn at right angles to each other, and distant only the hundredth part of an inch from each other, will produce twenty-five millions of little squares, each very easily discernible by the naked eye. mr. magellan tells us, that its surface may be extended by the hammer , times. "i am informed, (says he) by an intelligent goldbeater in england, that the finest gold leaf is that made in new skins, and must have an alloy of three grains of copper to the ounce of pure gold, or else it would be too soft to pass over the irregularities of the skins. he affirms, that books, or leaves of gold, each leaf containing . square inches, weigh less than grains. each book, therefore, of leaves, or . inches, weighs less than . grains; so that each grain of the metal will produce about square inches of gold leaf." from further calculation it appears, that the thickness of these leaves is less than the , th part of an inch; and that ounces of gold would be sufficient to gild a silver wire, equal in length to the whole circumference of the globe we inhabit! pin-making.--though pins are apparently simple, their manufacture is not a little curious and complex. when the brass wire, of which the pins are formed, is first received at the manufactory, it is generally too thick for the purpose of being cut into pins. the first operation, therefore, is that of winding it off from one wheel to another with great velocity, and causing it to pass between the two, through a circle in a piece of iron of smaller diameter. the wire being thus reduced to its proper dimensions, is straightened by drawing it between iron pins, fixed in a board in a zigzag manner, but so as to leave a straight line between them: afterwards it is cut into lengths of three or four yards, and then into smaller ones, every length being sufficient to make six pins. each end of these is ground to a point, which was performed, (where these observations were made,) by boys, who sat each with two small grinding-stones before him, turned by a wheel. taking up a handful, he applied the ends to the coarsest of the two stones, being careful at the same time to keep each piece moving round between his fingers, so that the points may not become flat: he then gives them a smoother and sharper point by applying them to the other stone, and by that means a lad of twelve or fourteen years of age, is able to point about sixteen thousand pins in an hour. when the wire is thus pointed, a pin is taken off at each end, and this is repeated till it is cut into six pieces. the next operation is, that of forming the heads, or, as they term it, head-spinning, which is done by means of a spinning-wheel, one piece of wire being thus with astonishing rapidity wound round another, and the interior one being drawn out, leaves a hollow tube between the circumvolutions: it is then cut with shears, every two circumvolutions, or turns of the wire, forming one head; these are softened by throwing them into iron pans, and placing them in a furnace till they are red hot. as soon as they are cold, they are distributed to children, who sit with hammers and anvils before them, and catching one at the extremity, they apply them immediately to the anvil and hammer, and by a motion or two of the foot, the top and the head are fixed together in much less time than it can be described, and with a dexterity only to be acquired by practice. the pin is now finished as to its form, but still it is merely brass; it is therefore thrown into a copper containing a solution of tin and the lees of wine. here it remains for some time, and, when taken out, assumes a white, though dull appearance: in order therefore to give it a polish, it is put into a tub containing a quantity of bran, which is set in motion by turning a shaft that runs through its centre, and thus, by means of friction, it becomes perfectly bright. the pin being complete, nothing remains but to separate it from the bran, which is perfectly similar to the winnowing of corn, the bran flying off, and leaving the pin behind it for immediate sale. we must not forget to present to the reader some curious particulars respecting the manufacture of needles.--needles make a very considerable article in commerce, though there is scarcely any commodity cheaper, the consumption of them being almost incredible. the sizes are from no. , the largest, to no. , the smallest. in the manufacture of needles, german and hungarian steel are of most repute. in the making of them, the first thing is, to pass the steel through a coal fire, and under a hammer, to bring it out of its square figure into a cylindrical one. this done, it is drawn through a large hole of a wire-drawing iron, and returned into the fire, and drawn through a second hole of the iron, smaller than the first; and thus successively from hole to hole, till it has acquired the degree of fineness required for that species of needles; observing, every time it is to be drawn, that it be greased over with lard, to render it more manageable. the steel, thus reduced to a fine wire, is cut in pieces of the length of the needles intended. these pieces are flatted at one end on the anvil, by force of a puncheon of well-tempered steel, and laid on a leaden block to bring out, with another puncheon, the little piece of steel remaining in the eye. the corners are then filed off the square of the heads, and a little cavity filed on each side of the flat of the head; this done, the point is formed with a file, and the whole filed over: they are then laid to heat red-hot on a long narrow iron, crooked at one end, in a charcoal fire; and when taken out thence, are thrown into a bason of cold water to harden. on this operation a good deal depends; too much heat burns them, and too little leaves them soft; the medium is learned by experience. when they are thus hardened, they are laid in an iron shovel on a fire more or less brisk in proportion to the thickness of the needles; taking care to move them from time to time. this serves to temper them, and take off their brittleness; great care here too must be taken of the degree of heat. they are then straightened one after another with the hammer, the coldness of the water used in hardening them having twisted the greatest part of them. the next process is the polishing of them. to do this, they take , or , needles, and range them in little heaps against each other, on a piece of new buckram sprinkled with emery-dust. the needles being thus disposed, emery-dust is thrown over them, which is again sprinkled with oil of olives; at last the whole is made up into a roll, well bound at both ends. this roll is then laid on a polishing table, and over it a thick plank loaded with stones, which two men work backwards and forwards a day and a half, or two days, successively; by which means the roll thus continually agitated by the weight and motion of the plank over it, the needles withinside being rubbed against each other with oil and emery, are insensibly polished. after polishing, they are taken out, and the filth washed off them with hot water and soap: they are then wiped in hot bran, a little moistened, placed with the needles in a round box suspended in the air by a cord, which is kept stirring till the bran and needles are dry. the needles thus wiped in two or three different brans, are taken out and put in wooden vessels, to have the good separated from those whose points or eyes have been broken either in polishing or wiping; the points are then all turned the same way, and smoothed with an emery-stone turned with a wheel. this operation finishes them, and there remains nothing but to make them into packets. needles were first made in england by a native of india, in , but the art was lost at his death; it was, however, recovered by christopher greening, in , who was settled, with his three children, elizabeth, john, and thomas, by dr. damar, ancestor of the present lord milton, at long crendon, in bucks, where the manufactory has been carried on from that time to the present day. curiosities respecting shoes.--among the jews, shoes were made of leather, linen, rush, or wood; those of soldiers were sometimes of brass or iron. they were tied with thongs, which passed under the soles of the feet. to put off their shoes, was an act of veneration; it was also a sign of mourning and humiliation: to bear one's shoes, or to untie the latchets of them, was considered as the meanest service, as appears in the baptist's declaration of his own inferiority to christ. among the greeks, shoes of various kinds were used. sandals were worn by women of distinction. the lacedemonians wore red shoes. the grecian shoes generally reached to the middle of the leg. the romans used two kinds of shoes: the _calceus_, which covered the whole foot, somewhat like our shoes, and was tied above with latchets or strings; and the _solea_, or slipper, which covered only the sole of the foot, and was fastened with leathern thongs. the calceus was always worn along with the _toga_, when a person went abroad: slippers were put on during a journey, and at feasts, but it was reckoned effeminate to appear in public with them. black shoes were worn by the citizens of ordinary rank, and white ones by the women. red shoes were sometimes worn by the ladies, and purple ones by the coxcombs of the other sex. red shoes were put on by the chief magistrates of rome, on days of ceremony and triumphs. the shoes of senators, patricians, and their children, had a crescent upon them, which served for a buckle; these were called _calcei lunati_. slaves wore no shoes; hence they were called _cretori_, from their dusty feet. phocion also, and cato uticensis, went without shoes. the toes of the roman shoes were turned up in the point; hence they were called _calcei rostrati_, _repandi_, &c. in the ninth and tenth centuries, the greatest princes of europe wore wooden shoes, or the upper part of leather, and the sole of wood. in the reign of william rufus, a great beau, robert, surnamed _the horned_, used shoes with long sharp points, stuffed with tow, and twisted like a ram's horn. it is said, the clergy being highly offended, declaimed against the long-pointed shoes with great vehemence. the points, however, continued to increase, till, in the reign of richard ii. they were of so enormous a length, that they were tied to knees with chains, sometimes of gold, sometimes of silver. the upper parts of these shoes, in chaucer's time, were cut in imitation of a church window. the long-pointed shoes were called _crackowes_, and continued in fashion for three centuries, in spite of the bulls of popes, the decrees of councils, and the declamations of the clergy. at length the parliament of england interposed, by an act a. d. , prohibiting the use of shoes or boots with pikes exceeding two inches in length, and prohibiting all shoemakers from making shoes or boots with longer pikes, under severe penalties. but even this was not sufficient: it was necessary to denounce the dreadful sentence of excommunication against all who wore shoes or boots with points longer than two inches. the present fashion of shoes was introduced in , but the buckle was not used till . in norway, they use shoes of a particular construction, consisting of two pieces, and without heels; in which the upper-leather sits close to the foot, the sole being joined to it by many plates or folds. the shoes or slippers of the japanese, as we are informed by professor thunberg, are made of rice-straw, woven; but sometimes, for people of distinction, of fine slips of ratan. the shoe consists of a sole, without upper-leather or hind-piece: forwards, it is crossed by a strap, of the thickness of one's finger, which is lined with linen; from the tip of the shoe to the strap, a cylindrical string is carried, which passes between the great and second toe, and keeps the shoe fast on the foot. as these shoes have no hind-piece, they make a noise, when people walk in them, like slippers. when the japanese travel, their shoes are furnished with three strings made of twisted straw, with which they are tied to the legs and feet, to prevent them from falling. some people carry one or more pairs of shoes with them on their journeys, in order to put on new when the old ones are worn out. when it rains, or the roads are very dirty, these shoes are soon wetted through; and a great number of worn-out shoes are continually seen lying on the roads, especially near the brooks, where travellers have changed their shoes after washing their feet. instead of these, in rainy or dirty weather, they wear high wooden clogs, which underneath are hollowed out in the middle, and at top have a band across, like a stirrup, and a string for the great toe; so that they can walk without soiling their feet. some of them have their straw shoes fastened to these wooden clogs. the japanese never enter their houses with their shoes on; but leave them in the entry, or place them on the bench near the door, and thus are always barefooted in their houses, so as not to dirty their neat mats. great bell of moscow. from dr. clarke's travels.--"the great bell of moscow, known to be the largest ever founded, is in a deep pit in the midst of the kremlin. the history of its fall is a fable; and as writers are accustomed to copy each other, the story continues to be propagated. the fact is, the bell remains in the place where it was originally cast. it never was suspended; the russians might as well attempt to suspend a first-rate line-of-battle ship, with all her guns and stores. a fire took place in the kremlin; the flames caught the building erected over the pit where the bell yet remains; in consequence of this, the bell became hot, and water being thrown to extinguish the fire, fell upon the bell, causing the fracture which has taken place. the bell reaches from the bottom of the cave to the roof. the entrance is by a trap-door, placed even with the surface of the earth. we found the steps very dangerous; some were wanting, and others broken. in consequence of this, i had a severe fall down the whole extent of the first flight, and a narrow escape for my life, in not having my skull fractured upon the bell. after this accident, a sentinel was placed at the trap-door, to prevent people becoming victims to their curiosity. he might have been as well employed in mending the ladders, as in waiting all day to say they were broken. the bell is truly a mountain of metal. it is said to contain a very large proportion of gold and silver. while it was in fusion, the nobles and the people cast in, as votive offerings, their plate and money: i endeavoured in vain to assay a small part: the natives regard it with superstitious veneration, and they would not allow even a grain to be filed off. at the same time, it may be said, the compound has a white shining appearance, unlike bell-metal in general; and, perhaps, its silvery aspect has strengthened, if not excited, a conjecture respecting the costliness of its constituents. "on festival days, peasants visit the bell as they would resort to a church; considering it an act of devotion, and crossing themselves as they descend and ascend the steps. the bottom of the pit is covered with water, mud, and large pieces of timber; these, added to the darkness, render it always an unpleasant and unwholesome place; in addition to the danger arising from the ladders leading to the bottom. i went frequently there, in order to ascertain the dimensions of the bell with exactness. to my great surprise, during one of those visits, half a dozen russian officers, whom i found in the pit, agreed to assist me in the admeasurement. it so nearly agreed with the account published by jonas hanway, that the difference is not worth notice. this is somewhat remarkable, considering the difficulty of exactly measuring what is partly buried in the earth, and the circumference of which is not entire. no one, i believe, has yet ascertained the size of the base; this would afford still greater dimensions than those we obtained; but it is entirely buried. about ten persons were present when i measured the part exposed to observation. we applied a strong cord close to the metal, in all parts of its periphery, and round the lower part, where it touches the ground, taking care at the same time not to stretch the cord. from the piece of the bell broken off, it was ascertained that we had thus measured within two feet of its lower extremity. the circumference obtained was sixty-seven feet four inches; allowing a diameter of twenty-two feet five inches, and one-third. we then took the perpendicular height from the top, and found it to correspond exactly with the statement made by hanway; namely, twenty-one feet four inches and a half. in the stoutest part, that in which it should have received the blow of the hammer, its thickness equalled twenty-three inches. we were able to ascertain this, by placing our hands under water, where the fracture has taken place; this is above seven feet high from the lip of the bell. the weight of this enormous mass of metal has been computed to be , cwt. which, if valued at three shillings a pound, amounts to £ , s. lying unemployed, and of no use to any one." it was founded, according to augustine, in , during the reign of alexis. (see _voyage de moscow_, page .) the russians and people of moscow maintain, that it was cast during the reign of their empress anne, probably from the female figure represented. augustine proves that it is larger than the famous bell of erford, and even than that of pekin. chap. lxxv. curiosities in history, &c. man with the iron mask.--there was a remarkable personage, so denominated, who existed as a state prisoner in france during the latter part of the seventeenth century. the circumstances of this person form an historical enigma, which has occasioned much inquiry, and many conjectures. the authenticated particulars concerning the iron mask are as follows:--a few months after the death of cardinal mazarin, there arrived at the isle of saint marguerite, in the sea of provence, a young prisoner whose appearance was peculiarly attracting: his person was above the middle size, and elegantly formed; his mien and deportment were noble, and his manners graceful; and even the sound of his voice had in it something uncommonly interesting. on the road he constantly wore a mask made with iron springs, to enable him to eat without taking it off. it was at first believed that this mask was made entirely of iron, whence he acquired the title of _the man with the iron mask_. his attendants had received orders to dispatch him, if he attempted to take off his mask or discover himself. he had been first confined at pignerol, under the care of the governor, m. de st. mars; and being sent thence to st. marguerite, he was accompanied thither by the same person, who continued to have the charge of him. he was always treated with the utmost respect: he was served constantly in plate; and the governor himself placed his dishes on the table, retiring immediately after, and locking the door behind him. he _tu-to' yoit_ (_thee'd and thou'd_) the governor; who, on the other hand, behaved to him in the most respectful manner, and never wore his hat before him, nor ever sat down in his presence without being desired. the marquis of louvoisis, who went to see him at st. marguerite, spoke to him standing, and with those marks of attention which denote high respect. during his residence there, he attempted twice, in an indirect manner, to make himself known. one day he wrote something with his knife on a plate, and threw it out of his window, to a boat that was drawn on shore near the foot of the tower. a fisherman picked it up, and carried it to the governor. m. de st. mars was alarmed at the sight; and asked the man with great anxiety, whether he could read, and whether any one else had seen the plate? the man answered, that he could not read, that he had but just found the plate, and that no one else had seen it. he was, however, confined till the governor was well assured of the truth of his assertions. another attempt to discover himself proved equally unsuccessful. a young man who lived in the isle, one day perceived something floating under the prisoner's window; and on picking it up, he discovered it to be a very fine shirt written all over. he carried it immediately to the governor; who, having looked at some parts of the writing, asked the lad, with some appearance of alarm, if he had not had the curiosity to read it? he protested repeatedly that he had not; but two days afterwards he was found dead in his bed. the _masque de fer_ remained in that isle till , when m. st. mars, being promoted to the government of the bastile, conducted his prisoner to that fortress. in his way thither, he stopt with him at his estate near palteau. the mask arrived there in a litter, surrounded by a numerous guard on horseback. m. de st. mars ate at the same table with him all the time they resided at palteau; but the latter was always placed with his back towards the windows; and the peasants, who came to pay their compliments to their master, whom curiosity kept constantly on the watch, observed that m. de st. mars always sat opposite to him, with two pistols by the side of his plate. they were waited on by one servant only, who brought in and carried out the dishes, always carefully shutting the door, both in going out and returning. the prisoner was always masked, even when he passed through the court; but the people saw his teeth and lips, and observed that his hair was grey. the governor slept in the same room with him, in a second bed, that was placed in it on that occasion. in the course of his journey, the mask was one day heard to ask his keeper, whether the king had any design on his life? "no, prince," he replied; "provided that you quietly allow yourself to be conducted, your life is perfectly secure." the stranger was accommodated as well as it was possible to be in the bastile. an apartment had been prepared for him by order of the governor before his arrival, fitted up in the most convenient style; and every thing he expressed a wish for, was instantly procured him. his table was the best that could be provided, and he was supplied with as rich clothes as he desired; but his chief taste in this last particular was for lace, and for linen remarkably fine. he was allowed the use of such books as he requested, and he spent much of his time in reading. he also amused himself with playing on the guitar. he had the liberty of going to mass; but was then strictly forbid to speak, or uncover his face: orders were even given to the soldiers to fire upon him, if he attempted either; and their pieces were always pointed towards him as he passed through the court. when he had occasion to see a surgeon or a physician, he was obliged, under pain of death, constantly to wear his mask. an old physician of the bastile, who had often attended him when he was indisposed, said, that he never saw his face, though he had frequently examined his tongue, and different parts of his body; and that he never complained of his confinement, nor let fall any hint, by which it might be guessed who he was. he often passed the night in walking up and down his room. this unfortunate prince died on the th of november, , after a short illness; and was interred next day, in the burying-place of the parish of st. paul. the expense of his funeral amounted only to forty livres. the name given him was _marchiali_; and even his age, as well as his real name, it seemed of importance to conceal, for in the register made of his funeral, it was mentioned that he was about forty years old, though he had told his apothecary, some time before his death, that he thought he must be sixty. immediately after his death, his apparel, linen clothes, mattresses, and in short, every thing that had been used by him, were burnt; the walls of his room were scraped, and the floor taken up, evidently from the apprehension that he might have found means of writing something that would have discovered who he was. nay, such was the fear of his having left a letter, or any mark which might lead to a discovery, that his plate was melted down; the glass was taken out of the window of his room, and pounded to dust; the window-frames and doors burnt; and the ceiling of the room, and the plaster of the inside of the chimney, demolished. several writers have affirmed, that the body of this unfortunate personage was buried without a head; and m. de st. foix informs us, in his _essais historiques_, that "a gentleman having bribed the sexton, had the body taken up in the night, but found a stone instead of the head." the natural inference from these extraordinary accounts, is, that the iron mask was not only a person of high birth, but that he must have been of great consequence; and that his being concealed was of the utmost importance to the king and ministry. among the various conjectures that have been formed, concerning the real name and condition of this remarkable man, none appears to have any probability except the following:--that he was a son of anne of austria, queen to louis xiii. and consequently that he was a brother of louis xiv; but whether a bastard-brother, a brother-german, or a half-brother, is a question that has given rise to three several opinions, viz. . that the queen proved with child at a time when it was evident it could not have been by her husband, who, for some months before, had never been with her in private. the supposed father of this child is said to have been the duke of buckingham, who came to france, in may, , to conduct the princess henrietta, wife of charles i. to england. the private letters and memoirs of those times speak very suspiciously of the queen and buckingham: his behaviour at amiens, whither the queen and queen-mother accompanied the princess in her way to boulogne, occasioned much whispering; and it appears, that the king, on this occasion, was extremely offended at her, and that it required all the influence and address of the queen-mother to effect a reconciliation. it is said, that this child was privately brought up in the country; that when mazarin became a favourite, he was entrusted with the care of him; and that louis xiv. having discovered the secret on the death of the cardinal, thought it necessary to confine him in the manner above related. the second, and the most probable opinion, is, that he was the twin-brother of louis xiv. born some hours after him. this opinion first appeared in a short anonymous work, published without date, or name of place, or printer. it is therein said, "louis xiv. was born at st. germains-en-laye, on the th of september, , about noon; and the illustrious prisoner, known by the appellation of the iron mask, was born the same day, while louis xiii. was at supper. the king and the cardinal, fearing that the pretensions of a twin-brother might one day be employed to renew those civil wars with which france had been so often afflicted, cautiously concealed his birth, and sent him away, to be brought up privately." this opinion was confirmed, in a work, entitled, _memoires de marechal duc de richelieu_, written by the abbé soulavie; in which it is asserted, that "the birth of the prisoner happened in the evening of the th september, , in presence of the chancellor, the bishop of meaux, the author of the ms. a midwife, named peronéte, and a sieur honorat." this circumstance greatly disturbed the king's mind; he observed, that the salic law had made no provision for such a case. by the advice of cardinal richelieu, it was therefore resolved to conceal his birth, but to preserve his life, in case, by the death of his brother, it should be necessary to avow him. a declaration was drawn up, and signed and sworn to by all present; in which every circumstance was mentioned, and several marks on his body described. this document being sealed by the chancellor with the royal seal, was delivered to the king; and all took an oath never to speak on the subject, not even in private and among themselves. the child was delivered to the care of madame peronéte, to be under the direction of cardinal richelieu, at whose death the charge devolved to cardinal mazarin. mazarin appointed the author of the ms. his governor, and entrusted to him the care of his education. but as the prisoner was extremely attached to madame peronéte, and she equally so to him, she remained with him till her death. his governor carried him to his house in burgundy, where he paid the greatest attention to his education. "as the prisoner grew up, he became impatient to discover his birth, and often importuned his governor on that subject. his curiosity had been roused, by observing that messengers from the court frequently arrived at the house; and a box, containing letters from the queen and the cardinal, having one day been inadvertently left out, he opened it, and saw enough to guess at the secret. from that time he became thoughtful and melancholy, which, (says the author,) i could not then account for. he shortly after asked me to get him a portrait of the late and present king; but i put him off, by saying, that i could not procure any that were good. he then desired me to let him go to dijon; which i have known since was with an intention of seeing a portrait of the king there, and of going secretly to st. john de las, where the court then was, on occasion of the marriage with the infanta. he was beautiful, and love helped him to accomplish his wishes. he had captivated the affections of a young housekeeper, who procured him a portrait of the king. it might have served for either of the brothers; and the discovery put him into so violent a passion, that he immediately came to me with the portrait in his hand, saying, _voila mon frere, et voila qui je suis_, shewing me at the same time a letter of the cardinal de mazarin that he had taken out of the box!" upon this discovery, his governor immediately sent an express to court, to communicate what had happened, and to desire new instructions; the consequence of which was, that the governor, and the young prince under his care, were arrested and confined. the author of this memoir concludes, "i have suffered with him in our common prison: i am now summoned to appear before my judge on high; and for the peace of my soul, i cannot but make this declaration, which may point out to him the means of freeing himself from his present ignominious situation, in case the king his brother should die without children. can an extorted oath compel me to observe secrecy on a thing so incredible, but which ought to be left on record to posterity?" the third opinion is, that he was a son of the queen by cardinal mazarin, born about a year after the death of her husband, louis xiii.; that he was brought up secretly; and that, soon after the death of the cardinal, on the th of march, , he was sent to pignerol. to this account father griffet justly objects, "that it was needless to mask a face that was unknown; and therefore this opinion does not merit discussion."--(_traite de la verité de l'histoire_, p. .) indeed, it seems totally unaccountable, that so much care should have been taken to conceal a child of the queen by the cardinal, who, whether they were privately married or not, could never have had the most distant claim to the crown of france. the conjectures advanced by other authors, that he was the duke of monmouth's, the count of vermandois', or the duke of beaufort's, &c. are still more improbable. chap. lxxvi. curiosities in history, etc.--(_continued._) gipsies.--mr. lyons, in his entertaining work of the environs of london, has given the following curious account of the queen of the gipsies, and the extraordinary people under her dominion. from the register of the parish of bockenham, in kent; extract: 'margaret finch, buried october , .'--"this remarkable person lived to the age of one hundred and nine years. she was one of the people called gipsies; and had from them the title of queen. after travelling over various parts of the kingdom, during the greater part of a century, she settled at norwood, whither her age, and the fame of her fortune-telling, attracted numerous visitors. from a habit of sitting on the ground with her chin resting on her knees, the sinews at length became so contracted, that she could not rise from that posture. after her death, they were obliged to enclose her body in a deep square box. her funeral was attended by two mourning coaches, a sermon was preached on the occasion, and a great concourse of people attended the ceremony. her portrait adorns the sign-post of a house of entertainment in norwood, called the gipsy-house. in an adjoining cottage lives an old woman, grand-daughter of queen margaret, who inherits her title. she is niece of queen bridget, who was buried at dulwich, in . her rank seems to be merely titular: i do not find that the gypsies pay her any particular deference; or that she differs in any other respect from the rest of her tribe, than that of being a householder." to the above he adds some leading facts concerning this extraordinary race of people, who are scattered over most parts of europe, asia, and america. "the gipsies, (continues he,) in most places on the continent are called _cingari_, or _zingari_: the spaniards call them _gitanos_. it is not certain when they first appeared in europe; but mention is made of them, in hungary and germany, so early as the year . within ten years afterwards, they made their appearance in france, switzerland, and italy. the date of their arrival in england is more uncertain: it is most probable, that it was not till nearly a century afterwards. in the year , they are thus spoken of in the penal statutes: 'forasmuch as before this time, divers and many outlandish people, calling themselves egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise, have come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire, and from place to place, in great companies, and used great subtilty and crafty means to deceive the people; bearing them in hand, that they, by palmistry, could tell men's and women's fortunes; and so, many times, by craft and subtilty, have deceived the people of their money; and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies, to the great hurt and deceit of the people they have come among, &c.' "it was afterwards made death to them to continue in the kingdom; and it remains on record, that thirteen were executed for a violation of this law, a few years before the restoration: nor was this cruel act repealed till about the year . "the gipsies were expelled from france in , and from spain in ; but it does not appear that they have been entirely extirpated in any country. their collective numbers, in every quarter of the globe, have been calculated at seven or eight hundred thousand. they are most numerous in asia, and in the northern parts of europe. various have been the opinions relating to their origin. that they came from egypt has been the most prevalent. this opinion (which has procured them here the name of gipsies, and in spain that of gitanos,) arose, from some of the first who arrived in europe, pretending that they came from that country; which assertion they made, perhaps, to heighten their reputation for skill in palmistry[ ] and the occult sciences. it is now, i believe, pretty generally agreed, that they came originally from hindostan; since their language so far coincides with the hindostanic, that even now, after a lapse of more than three centuries, during which they have been dispersed in various foreign countries, nearly one half of their words are precisely those of hindostan; and scarcely any variation is to be found in vocabularies procured from the gipsies in turkey, hungary, germany, and those in england. "their manners, for the most part, coincide, as well as their language, in every quarter of the world where they are found; being the same idle, wandering race of beings, and seldom professing any ostensible mode of livelihood, except that of fortune-telling. though they are no great frequenters either of mosques or churches, they generally conform to rites and ceremonies as they find them established. "upon the whole, we may certainly agree with grellman, who has written their history, by regarding them as a singular phenomenon in europe. for the space of between three or four hundred years, they have gone wandering about like pilgrims and strangers, yet neither time nor example has made in them any alteration: they remain ever, and every where, what their fathers were. africa makes them no blacker, nor does europe make them whiter." it is not the least singular feature in the history of this wandering and vagabond race, that they should have so long maintained their credit for foretelling events, when the fallacy of their predictions must have been so often experienced, and their ignorance and want of principle so well known. what reliance can be placed on the oracular decisions of a man, who has not sufficient foresight of his own affairs, to escape the hands of justice for robbing a hen-roost? the desire of prying into futurity seems to be a natural propensity in the human mind. in the ancient world, the consultation of oracles, soothsayers, and augurs, divining by the flight of birds, the entrails of the victims, or the feeding of chickens, were so many efforts of a weak endeavour to withdraw that veil, which in mercy is appointed to conceal from our view the events that are to befal us. in modern times, the impudent pretensions of astrologers, conjurers, and fortune-tellers, have deluded the credulous, even of that rank, in which men should set a more rational example. about sixty years ago, a celebrated professor of this dark science lived in london, in a place called frying-pan alley; and crowds of carriages were daily seen waiting in the neighbourhood, whilst the artful impostor was distributing different allotments to their owners, according to his arbitrary caprice, or what he thought would bring most money into his purse. the following account is taken from a liverpool weekly magazine, entitled 'the freeman,' published some years since:-- "of late years some attempts have been made to reduce the numbers, or at any rate to civilize the habits, of that vagabond and useless race, the gipsies. in pursuance of such purpose, a society of gentlemen have been making all the preliminary inquiries requisite to a proper understanding of the subject. a series of questions have been proposed to competent persons in the different counties of england and scotland; and answers have been received. the following are specimens of these replies: " . all gipsies believe that egypt was the residence of their most remote ancestors. " . they cannot form any idea of their number in england. " . the gipsies of bedfordshire, hertfordshire, some parts of buckinghamshire, cambridgeshire, and huntingdonshire, are continually making revolutions within the ranges of those counties. " . they are either ignorant of the number of gipsies in the counties through which they travel, or unwilling to disclose their knowledge. " . the most common names are smith, cooper, draper, taylor, boswell, lee, lovel, loversedge, allen, mansfield, glover, williams, carew, martin, stanley, buckley, plunkett, and corrie. " . and . the gangs in different towns have not any regular connection or organization; but those who take up their winter quarters in the same city or town, appear to have some knowledge of the different routes each horde will pursue; probably with a desire to prevent interference with each other. " . in the county of herts, it is computed there may be sixty families, having many children. whether they are quite so numerous in buckinghamshire, bedfordshire, and northamptonshire, the answers are not sufficiently definite to determine. in cambridgeshire, oxfordshire, warwickshire, wiltshire, and dorsetshire, greater numbers are calculated upon. in various counties, the attention has not been competent to the procuring data for any estimate of families or individuals. " . more than half their number follow no business: some are dealers in horses and asses: while others profess themselves to be farriers, smiths, tinkers, braziers, grinders of cutlery, basket-makers, chair-bottomers, and musicians. " . the children are brought up in the habits of their parents, particularly to music and dancing, and are of dissolute habits. " . the women mostly carry baskets with trinkets and small wares; and tell fortunes. " . they are too ignorant to have acquired accounts of genealogy, and perhaps indisposed by the irregularity of their habits. " . in most counties there are particular situations to which they are partial. there is a marsh, near newbury in berkshire, much frequented by them; and dr. clark states, that in cambridgeshire, their principal rendezvous is near the western villages. " . it cannot be ascertained whether this attachment to particular places has prevailed from their first coming into the nation. " , , and . when among strangers, they elude inquiries respecting their peculiar language, calling it gibberish. they know of no person that can write it, or of any written specimen of it. " . their habits and customs in all places are peculiar. " . those who profess any religion, represent it to be that of the country in which they reside: but their description of it seldom goes beyond repeating the lord's prayer; and only a few of them are capable of that. instances of their attending any place for worship are very rare. " . they marry for the most part by pledging to each other, without any ceremony. a few exceptions have occurred, when money was plentiful. " . they do not teach their children religion. " , and . _not one in a thousand_ can read." chap. lxxvii. curiosities in history, etc.--(_continued._) free and accepted masons.--this very ancient society is so called, either from some extraordinary knowledge of masonry, of which they are supposed to be masters, or because the first founders of the society were persons of this profession. they are now very considerable, both on account of their numbers, and the rank they hold in society, being found in every country in europe, as well as north america; and they consist principally of persons of merit and consideration. they make no small pretensions to antiquity, for they claim a standing of some thousands of years. what the design of their institution is, seems still in some measure a secret: the members are said to be admitted into the fraternity by being put in possession of a great number of secrets, called the _mason's word_, which have been religiously kept from age to age. in a treatise on masonry, published in , by william preston, master of the lodge of antiquity, the origin of masonry is traced from the creation. "ever since symmetry began, and harmony displayed her charms, (says he,) our order has had a being." by other accounts the antiquity of masonry has only been traced as far back as the building of solomon's temple. in dr. henry's history of great britain, we find the origin of the free mason society attributed to the difficulty found in former times to procure workmen to build the vast number of churches, monasteries, and other religious edifices, which either the pretended piety or the superstition of those ages prompted the people to raise. hence the masons were greatly favoured by the popes, and many indulgences were granted, to augment their numbers. in those times, it may well be supposed, that such encouragement from the supreme pastors of the church must have been productive of the most beneficial results to the fraternity; and hence the society rapidly increased. an ancient author, who was well acquainted with their history and constitution, says, "the italians, with some greek refugees, and with them french, germans, and flemings, joined into a fraternity of architects, procuring papal bulls for their encouragement; they styled themselves _free masons_, and ranged from one nation to another, as they found churches to be built: their government was regular; and where they fixed near the building in hand, they made a camp of huts. a surveyor governed in chief; while every tenth man was called a warden, and superintended the other nine." masonry had a very early introduction into britain, but never attained to any degree of importance, until the year of the christian era; when st. austin, with forty monks, among whom the sciences had been preserved, came into england. by these christianity was propagated; all the kings of the heptarchy were converted; masonry was patronized by st. austin; and the gothic style of building was introduced into england, by numerous foreigners, who resorted at this time to the kingdom. austin appeared at the head of the fraternity in founding the old cathedral of canterbury, in ; that of rochester, in ; st. paul's in london, in ; st. peter's in westminster, in : to which may be added many others. the number of masons was thus greatly increased, as well as by other buildings, such as castles, &c. throughout the kingdom. masonry found a zealous protector in alfred the great, the liberal patron of all arts and manufactures. he appropriated a seventh part of his revenue for maintaining a number of masons, whom he employed in rebuilding the cities, castles, &c. ruined by the danes. under his successor, edward, the masons continued to hold their lodges; they were patronized by ethred, husband to the king's sister, and ethelwald his brother, to whom the care of this fraternity was entrusted. the latter was a great architect, and founded the university of cambridge. the complete re-establishment of masonry in england, however, is dated from the reign of king athelstan: and the grand masons at york trace their existence from this period. the grand lodge of york, the most ancient in england, was founded in , under the patronage of edwin the king's brother, who obtained for them a charter from athelstan, and became grand-master himself. by virtue of this charter all the masons in the kingdom were convened at a general assembly in that city, where they established a grand lodge for their government; and for many centuries afterwards, no general meetings were held in any other place. hence the appellation of ancient york masons is well known both in ireland and scotland; and the general tradition is, that they originated at auldby near york, which was a seat belonging to edwin. it was the glory and boast of the brethren, in almost every country where masonry was established, to be accounted descendants of the original york masons; and from the universality of the idea that masonry was first established at york by charter, the masons of england have received tribute from the first states in europe. at present, however, this social intercourse is abolished. the duke of buccleugh, who, in , succeeded the duke of wharton as grand-master, first proposed the scheme of raising a general fund for distressed masons. the duke's motion was supported by lord paisley, colonel houghton, and a few other brethren; and the grand lodge appointed a committee to consider of the most effectual means of carrying the scheme into execution. the disposal of the charity was first vested in seven brethren; but this number being found too small, nine more were added. it was afterwards resolved, that twelve masters of contributing lodges, in rotation with the grand officers, should form the committee; and by another regulation since made, it has been determined that all past and present grand officers, with the masters of all regular lodges, which shall have contributed within twelve months to the charity, shall be members of the committee. this committee meets four times in the year, by virtue of a summons from the grand-master or his deputy. the petitions of the distressed brethren are considered at these meetings; and if the petitioner be considered as a deserving object, he is immediately relieved with five pounds. if the circumstances of the case are of a peculiar nature, his petition is referred to the next communication, where he is relieved with any sum the committee may have specified, not exceeding twenty guineas at one time. thus the distressed have always found ready relief from this general charity, which is supported by the voluntary contributions of different lodges out of their private funds, without being burdensome to any member in the society. thus has the committee of charity for free masons been established; and so liberal have the contributions been, that though the sums annually expended, for the relief of the distressed brethren, have for several years past amounted to many thousand pounds, there still remains a considerable fund. the most remarkable event which of late has taken place in the affairs of masonry, is the initiation of omitul omrah bahauder, eldest son of the nabob of the carnatic, who was received by the lodge of trinchinopoly, in the year . the news being officially transmitted to england, the grand lodge determined to send a congratulatory letter to his highness on the occasion, accompanied with an apron elegantly decorated, and a copy of the book of constitutions superbly bound. the execution of this commission was entrusted to sir john duy, advocate-general of bengal; and in the beginning of , an answer was received from his highness, acknowledging the receipt of the present, and expressing the warmest attachment and benevolence to his brethren in england. the letter was written in the persian language, and inclosed in an elegant cover of cloth of gold, and addressed to the grand-master and grand lodge of england. a proper reply was made; and a translation of his highness's letter was ordered to be copied on vellum; and, with the original, elegantly framed and glazed, and hung up in the hall at every public meeting of the society. it must be natural to inquire into the uses of the institution, and for what purpose it has been patronized by so many great and illustrious personages. the profound secrecy, however, in which every thing relating to masonry is involved, prevents us from being very particular on this head. the masons themselves say in general, that it promotes philanthropy, friendship, and morality; that in proportion as masonry has been cultivated, countries have become civilized, &c. how far this can be depended upon, the fraternity best know. another advantage, however, seems less equivocal, viz. that its signs serve as a kind of universal language; so that by means of them, people of the most distant nations may become acquainted, and enter into friendship with one another. this certainly must be accounted a very important circumstance; and considering the great numbers that have been, and daily are, admitted to the society, and their inviolable attachment to the art, we must certainly conclude, that if it contains nothing of great importance to mankind at large, it must at least be extremely agreeable, and even fascinating, to those who are once initiated. chap. lxxviii. curiosities in history, etc.--(_continued._) _peeping tom of coventry--long absent husband returned--curious historical fact--the most extraordinary fact on record._ peeping tom of coventry.--the following are the particulars of the event which, it is said, gave birth to the above appellation. the wife of leofric, earl of mercia, with her husband, founded a monastery, for an abbot and twenty-four benedictine monks, at coventry, in ; which was dedicated to the virgin mary, st. peter, and st. osburg. leofric and his lady, who both died about the latter end of the reign of edward the confessor, were buried in the church of the abbey which they had founded. the former seems to have been the first lord of coventry, and the latter its greatest benefactress, as will appear from the following extraordinary and indeed romantic tradition, which is not only firmly believed at coventry, but is recorded by many of our own historians:-- the earl had granted the convent and city many valuable privileges; but the inhabitants having offended him, he imposed on them very heavy taxes; for the great lords to whom the town belonged, under the anglo-saxons, had those privileges, which cannot be exercised at present by any but the house of commons. the people complained grievously of the severity of the taxes, and applied to godeva, the earl's lady, a woman of great piety and virtue, to intercede in their favour. she willingly complied with the request; but the earl remained inexorable! he told his lady, that were she to ride naked through the streets of the city, he would remit the tax; meaning, that no persuasion whatever should prevail with him, and thinking to silence her by the strange proposal: but she, sensibly touched by the distress of the city, generously accepted the terms. she therefore sent notice to the magistrates of the town, with the strictest orders that all doors and windows should be shut, and that no person should attempt to look out on pain of death. these precautions being taken, the lady rode through the city, covered only with her fine flowing locks. while riding in this manner through the streets, no one dared to look at her, except a poor tailor, who, as a punishment, it is said, for his violating the injunctions of the noble lady, which had been published with so pious and benevolent a design, was struck blind. this tailor has been ever since remembered by the name of peeping tom; and in memory of the event, his figure is still kept up in the window of the house, from whence, it is said, he gratified his curiosity. the lady having thus discharged her engagements, the earl performed his promise, and granted the city a charter, by which the inhabitants were exempted from all taxes. as a proof of this circumstance, in a window of trinity church are the figures of the earl and his lady, and beneath the following inscription:-- "i, luriche, for the love of thee, doe set coventre toll free." to this day, the love of godeva is annually commemorated on friday in trinity week, when a valiant fair one rides, not literally like the good countess, but in silk, closely fitted to her limbs, and of colour emulating her complexion. the figure of peeping tom, in the great street, is also new dressed on the occasion. mr. o'keefe has produced a musical entertainment on this subject, written with all the delicacy the subject would admit. the long absent husband returned: (from dr. king's anecdotes.)--"about the year , i knew," said dr. king, "one mr. howe, a sensible well-natured man, possessed of an estate of £ or £ per annum; he married a young lady of good family, in the west of england; her maiden name was mallet; she was agreeable in her person and manners, and proved a very good wife. seven or eight years after they had been married, he arose one morning very early, and told his wife he was obliged to go to the tower to transact some particular business: the same day, at noon, his wife received a note from him, in which he informed her that he was under the necessity of going to holland, and should probably be absent three weeks or a month. he was absent from her seventeen years, during which time she never heard from him or of him. the evening before he returned, while she was at supper, and with some of her friends and relations, particularly one dr. rose, a physician, who had married her sister, a billet, without any name subscribed, was delivered to her, in which the writer requested the favour of her to give him a meeting the next evening, in the birdcage-walk, in st. james's park. when she had read the billet, she tossed it to dr. rose, and laughing, said, 'you see, brother, old as i am, i have got a gallant.' rose, who perused the note with more attention, declared it to be mr. howe's hand-writing: this surprised all the company, and so much affected mrs. howe, that she fainted away; however, she soon recovered, when it was agreed that dr. rose and his wife, with the other gentlemen and ladies who were then at supper, should attend mrs. howe the next evening to the birdcage-walk: they had not been there more than five or six minutes, when mr. howe came to them, and after saluting his friends, and embracing his wife, walked home with her, and they lived together in great harmony from that time to the day of his death. but the most curious part of my tale remains to be related. "when howe left his wife, they lived in a house in jermyn-street, near st. james's church; he went no farther than a little street in westminster, where he took a room, for which he paid five or six shillings a week, and changing his name, and disguising himself by wearing a black wig, (for he was a fair man,) he remained in this habitation during the whole time of his absence! he had two children by his wife when he departed from her, who were both living at that time; but they both died young, in a few years after. however, during their lives, the second or third year after their father disappeared, mrs. howe was obliged to apply for an act of parliament, to procure a proper settlement of her husband's estate, and a provision for herself out of it, during his absence, as it was uncertain whether he was alive or dead; this act he suffered to be solicited and passed, and enjoyed the pleasure of reading the progress of it in the votes, in a little coffee-house which he frequented, near his lodging. "upon quitting his house and family in the manner i have mentioned, mrs. howe at first imagined, as she could not conceive any other cause for such an abrupt elopement, that he had contracted a large debt unknown to her, and by that means involved himself in difficulties which he could not easily surmount; and for some days she lived in continual apprehension of demands from creditors, or seizures, executions, &c. but nothing of this kind happened; on the contrary, he did not only leave his estate free and unencumbered, but he paid the bills of every tradesman with whom he had any dealings; and upon examining his papers, in due time after he was gone, proper receipts and discharges were found from all persons, whether tradesmen or others, with whom he had any manner of transactions or money concerns. mrs. howe, after the death of her children, thought proper to lessen her establishment of servants, and the expenses of her housekeeping: and therefore removed from her house in jermyn-street, to a little house in brewer-street, near golden-square. just over-against her lived one salt, a corn-chandler. about ten years after howe's abdication, he contrived to form an acquaintance with salt, and was at length in such a degree of intimacy with him, that he usually dined with salt once or twice a week. from the room in which they sat, it was not difficult to look into mrs. howe's dining-room, where she generally ate, and received her company; and salt, who believed howe to be a bachelor, frequently recommended mrs. howe as a suitable match. during the last seven years of this gentleman's absence, he went every sunday to st. james's church, and used to sit in mr. salt's seat, where he had a view of his wife, but could not be easily seen by her. after he returned home, he never would confess, even to his most intimate friends, what was the real cause of such a singular conduct: apparently there was none; but whatever there was, he was certainly ashamed to own it. "dr. rose has often said to me, that he believed his brother howe would never[ ] have returned to his wife, if the money which he took with him, which was supposed to have been £ or £ , had not been all spent: indeed, he must have been a good economist, and frugal in his manner of living, otherwise his money would scarcely have held out; for i imagine he had his whole fortune by him; i mean what he carried away with him in money and bank-bills: and he daily took out of his bag, like the spaniard in gil blas, what was sufficient for his expenses." a curious historical fact.--during the troubles in the reign of charles i. a country girl came to london, in search of a place as a servant maid; but not succeeding, she hired herself to carry out beer from a brewhouse, and was one of those called tub-women. the brewer, observing a good looking girl in this low occupation, took her into his family as a servant, and, after a short time, married her; but he died while she was yet a young woman, and left her the bulk of his fortune. the business of the brewery was dropped, and the young widow was recommended to mr. hyde, as a skilful lawyer to arrange her husband's affairs. hyde, (who was afterwards the great earl of clarendon,) finding her fortune considerable, married her. of this marriage there was no other issue than a daughter, who was afterwards the wife of james ii., and mother of mary and anne, queens of england. the following is said to be the most extraordinary fact on record.--in the appendix to the rev. john campbell's travels in south africa, is recorded one of the strangest occurrences in the moral annals of mankind. it will be recollected, that some years ago the grosvenor, east indiaman, was wrecked off the coast of caffraria, (a district divided from the country of the hottentots by the great fish river,) and that nearly the whole of the passengers and crew perished on the occasion. it was, however, discovered, that two young ladies had survived the miseries of this dreadful event, and were resident in the interior of a country uninhabited by europeans. mr. campbell does not relate this occurrence from personal evidence, but we cannot doubt the extraordinary fact. the landdrost of graaf ragrel had been deputed by the british government to pay a visit to the king of caffraria, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there were any survivors from the wreck of the grosvenor. finding there were two females, he succeeded in procuring an introduction to them. he saw them habited like caffre women; their bodies were painted after the fashion of the native inhabitants; and their manners and appearance were altogether anti-european. the landdrost, however, sought to obtain their confidence by a liberal offer of his best services to restore them to their country and friends. but they were unmoved by his solicitations. they stated that they had fallen into the hands of the natives after they had been cast ashore from the wreck; that their companions had been murdered, and that they had been compelled to give themselves in marriage; that having affectionate husbands, children, and grand-children, their attachments were bounded by their actual enjoyments. upon being repeatedly urged to depart with the landdrost, they replied, that probably at their return to england they might find themselves without connections or friends, and that their acquired habits ill fitted them to mingle with polished society; in short, that they would not quit caffraria. such, then, is the powerful influence of habit! two young ladies, highly educated, and in all probability lovely in their persons, are taught by habit to forget those scenes of gaiety they were so well calculated to ornament, and the anticipated enjoyments of high matrimonial connections; to forget their parents, their relations, the accomplished companions of their youth, and all the refinements of life! among a savage people, they acquire congenial feelings, and their vitiated nature ceases to repine: they love the untutored husbands given to them by fate; they rear their children in the stupidity of hottentot faith; they designate their wretched hovel with the sacred name of home; they expel memory from their occupations; and regret no longer mingles with their routine of barbarous pleasures. is this, in reality, a picture of the human mind, with all its boasted attributes, its delicacies, its refinements, its civilized superiority? yes! for custom is a second nature. this fact is also related by vaillant, in his travels in the interior parts of africa. he says, volume i. page , "i was told, almost six weeks prior to my visiting that coast, that an english vessel had been wrecked on these barbarous shores; that being driven on the sands, a part of the crew had fallen into the hands of the caffres, who had put them all to death, except _a few women_, whom they had _cruelly reserved_." unfortunate artificer.--there was an artificer in rome, who made vessels of glass of so tenacious a temper, that they were as little liable to be broken as those that are made of gold and silver: when therefore he had made a vial of the purer sort, and such as he thought a present worthy of cæsar alone, he was admitted into the presence of their then emperor tiberius. the gift was praised, the skilful hand of the artist applauded, and the donation of the giver accepted. the artist, that he might enhance the wonder of the spectators, and promote himself yet further in the favour of the emperor, desired the vial out of cæsar's hand, and threw it with such force against the floor, that the most solid metal would have received some damage or bruise thereby. cæsar was not only amazed, but affrighted with the act; but he, taking up the vial from the ground, (which was not broken, but only bruised together, as if the substance of the glass had put on the temperature of brass,) he drew out an instrument from his bosom, and beat it out to its former figure. this done, he imagined that he had conquered the world, as believing that he had merited an acquaintance with cæsar, and raised the admiration of all the beholders; but it fell out otherwise, for the emperor inquired if any other person besides himself was privy to the like tempering of glass? when he had told him, "no," he commanded his attendants to strike off his head, saying, "that should this artifice come once to be known, gold and silver would be of as little value as the dirt of the street." long after this, viz. in , we read, that amongst other rare presents, then sent from the sophy of persia to the king of spain, were six mirrors of malleable glass, so exquisitely tempered that they could not be broken. chap. lxxix. curiosities in history, etc.--(_concluded._) _great events from little causes--dreadful instances of the plague, in europe--fire of london--vicar of bray--curious account of the ceremonies at queen elizabeth's dinner--a blacksmith's wife become a queen--swine's concert._ great events from little causes.--the most important events sometimes take place from little and insignificant causes. . sir isaac newton's sublime genius, set a-going by the fall of an apple, never stopped till it had explained the laws of nature. . hospinian (who wrote so successfully against the popish ceremonies) was first convinced of the necessity of such a work by the talk of an ignorant country landlord, who thought that religious fraternities were as old as the creation, that adam was a monk, and that eve was a nun. . metius was led to the discovery of optic glasses, by observing some schoolboys play upon the ice, who made use of their copy-books, rolled up in the shape of tubes, to look at each other, to which they sometimes added pieces of ice at the end, to view distant objects. . luther's quarrelling with pope leo. x. and bringing himself into difficult and dangerous circumstances, perhaps led him to search, think, and judge for himself, and consult the scriptures; by which he overthrew errors, which had been received as truths for ages. . to this we may add the marriage of henry viii. with ann boleyn, which was the occasion of england's renouncing the supremacy of the pope, and of bringing about the reformation. . "an apothecary's chariot (says one) very probably produced no. . of the north briton, and its consequences the american war, the french revolution, and the dreadful events that have since taken place in europe." dreadful instances of the plague, in europe.--thucydides, lib. ii. gives an account of a dreadful plague which happened in athens about b. c. , and with which he was himself infected, while the peloponnesians under the command of archidamus wasted all her territory abroad; but of these two enemies the plague was by far the most severe. the most dreadful plague that ever raged at rome, was in the reign of titus, a. d. . the emperor left no remedy unattempted to abate the malignity of the distemper, acting during its continuance like a father to his people. the same fatal disease raged in all the provinces of the roman empire, in the reign of m. aurelius, a. d. , and was followed by a dreadful famine, earthquakes, inundations, and other calamities. about a. d. , the plague visited britain, just after the picts and scots had made a formidable invasion of the southern part of the island. it raged with uncommon fury, and swept away most of those whom the sword and famine had spared, so that the living were scarcely sufficient to bury the dead. about a. d. , the plague became almost general over europe. many authors give an account of this plague, which is said to have appeared first in the kingdom of kathay, in , and to have proceeded gradually west to constantinople and egypt. from constantinople it passed into greece, italy, france, and africa, and by degrees along the coast of the ocean into britain and ireland, and afterwards into germany, hungary, poland, denmark, and the other northern kingdoms. according to antonius, archbishop of florence, the distemper carried off , people in that city. in , the plague was brought from sardinia to naples, being introduced into the city by a transport with soldiers on board. it raged with excessive violence, carrying off, in less than six months, , of the inhabitants. in , the city of marseilles was visited with this destructive disease, brought in a ship from the levant; and in seven months, during which time it continued, it carried off not less than , people. the ravages of this disease have been dreadful wherever it has made its appearance. on the first arrival of the europeans at the island of grand canaria, it contained , fighting men; soon after which, two-thirds of these inhabitants fell a sacrifice to the plague. the destruction it has made in turkey in europe, and particularly in constantinople, must be known to every reader; and its fatal effects have been particularly heightened there by that firm belief which prevails among the people of predestination, &c. it is generally brought into european turkey from egypt; where it is very frequent, especially at grand cairo. to give even a list of all the plagues which have desolated many flourishing countries, would extend this article beyond all bounds, and minutely to describe them all is impossible. respecting the plague which raged in syria in , we refer to the abbe mariti's travels through cyprus, syria, and palestine, volume i. pages , . this plague was one of the most malignant and fatal that syria ever experienced; for it scarcely had made its appearance in any part of the body, before it carried off the patient. some particulars respecting the great fire of london.--the following is part of the inscription on the monument, which records this calamitous event. "the second day of september, , at the distance of two hundred and two feet, the height of this column, a terrible fire broke out about midnight. it consumed in its progress eighty-nine churches, the city gates, guildhall, many public structures, hospitals, schools, libraries, a vast number of stately edifices, thirteen thousand two hundred dwelling-houses, and four hundred streets. the ruins of the city were four hundred and thirty-six acres, from the tower by the thames side to the temple church, and from the north-east gate along the city wall, to holborn bridge. three days after, when this fatal fire had baffled all human counsels and endeavours, it stopped, as it were by a command from heaven, and was on every side extinguished." vicar of bray.--every one has frequently heard this reverend son of the church mentioned; probably his name may have outlived the recollection of his pious manoeuvres: he was in his principles a sixtus the fifth. the vicar of bray, in berkshire, was a papist under the reign of henry the eighth, and a protestant under edward the sixth; he was a papist again under mary, and once more became a protestant in the reign of elizabeth. when this scandal to the gown was reproached for his versatility of religious creeds, and taxed for being a turn-coat and an inconstant changeling, as fuller expresses it, he replied, "not so, neither! for if i changed my religion, i am sure i kept true to my principle; which is, to live and die the vicar of bray!" this vivacious and reverend hero has given birth to a proverb peculiar to his county, "the vicar of bray will be vicar of bray still." fuller tells us, in his facetious chronicle of his worthies, that this vicar had seen some martyrs burnt two miles off at windsor, and found this fire too hot for his tender temper. he was one of those who, though they cannot turn the wind, will turn their mills, and set them so, that wheresoever it bloweth, their grist shall certainly be ground. the following account of the ceremonies at queen elizabeth's dinner, deserves to be recorded.--a german traveller, (hentzner) talking of queen elizabeth, thus describes the solemnity of her dinner. "while she was at prayers, we saw her table set out in the following solemn manner: a gentleman entered the room, bearing a rod, and along with him another who had a table-cloth, which, after they had both kneeled three times with the utmost veneration, he spread upon the table; and, after kneeling again, they both retired. then came two others, one with the rod again, the other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread: when they had kneeled, as the others had done, and placed what was brought upon the table, they too retired with the same ceremonies performed by the first. at last came an unmarried lady, (we were told she was a countess,) and along with her a married one, bearing a lasting knife: the former, who was dressed in white silk, when she had prostrated herself three times in the most graceful manner, approached the table, and rubbed the plates with bread and salt, with as much care as if the queen had been present: when they had waited there a little while, the yeomen of the guard entered, bareheaded, clothed in scarlet, with a golden rose upon their backs, bringing in at each turn a course of twenty-four dishes, served in plate, most of it gilt; these dishes were received by a gentleman in the same order they were brought, and placed upon the table, while the lady-taster gave to each of the guards a mouthful to eat, of the particular dish he had brought, for fear of any poison. during the time that this guard, which consists of the tallest and stoutest men that could be found in all england, were bringing dinner, twelve trumpets and two kettledrums made the hall ring for half an hour together. at the end of this ceremonial, a number of unmarried ladies appeared, who, with particular solemnity, lifted the meat off the table, and conveyed it into the queen's inner and more private chamber, where, after she had chosen for herself, the rest went to the ladies of the court." a blacksmith's wife become a queen.--it is a curious circumstance, that the present queen of the sandwich islands, was formerly, or rather is at this time, the wife of a russian blacksmith. an english vessel lying off what we usually call the fox island, several years ago, one of the officers became enamoured of the fair spouse of a son of vulcan there; and, his passion being returned, he contrived to smuggle her on board the vessel, and keep her there concealed without the knowledge of his captain, till they had cleared the port. in the course of the voyage, however, the circumstance became known to the captain, who being highly enraged at such a breach of faith and discipline, kept her confined till they arrived at the sandwich islands, where she was put on shore. the forlorn ariadne, however, found a bacchus for her theseus,--a royal lover, to replace her lost lieutenant. the king of the island became enamoured of the fair russian, made her his wife, and raised her to his throne. he was no every-day king. he was a statesman and a hero, though we should call him a savage. he progressively created a respectable navy of several well-built frigates; taught his subjects to be excellent sailors; raised armies; subdued the surrounding islands; and at the close of a prosperous reign, left his possessions and his sovereignty to his queen, who now reigns as his successor. she is well obeyed by her subjects; possesses great wealth in flocks, herds, and rice-ground; and sends frequent presents to her former deserted husband, who still continues to hammer horses' shoes in a russian colony, while his faithless, but it seems not quite ungrateful spouse, stretches her sceptre over several prosperous isles. the swine's concert.--the abbot of baigne, a man of great wit, and who had the art of inventing new musical instruments, being in the service of louis xi. king of france, was ordered by that prince to get him a concert of swine's voices, thinking it impossible. the abbot was not surprised, but asked money for the performance, which was immediately delivered him; and he wrought a thing as singular as ever was seen. for out of a great number of hogs, of several ages, which he got together, and placed under a tent or pavilion covered with velvet, before which he had a table of wood painted, with a certain number of keys, he made an organical instrument; and as he played upon the said keys, he, by means of little spikes, which pricked the hogs, made them cry in such order and consonance, as highly delighted the king and all his company. chap. lxxx. curiosities of literature. _origin of the materials of writing--minute writing--titles of books--literary labour and perseverance--curious account of the scarcity of books--celebrated libraries--book of blunders--curious account of the means of intellectual improvement in london._ "of all the pleasures, noble and refin'd, which form the taste and cultivate the mind; in ev'ry realm where science darts its beam, from zembla's ice to afric's golden stream; from climes where phoebus pours his orient ray, to the fair regions of declining day: the 'feast of reason' which from reading springs, to reas'ning man the highest solace brings. 'tis books a lasting pleasure can supply, charm while we live, and teach us how to die." origin of the materials of writing.--the most ancient mode of writing was on bricks, and on tables of stone; afterwards on plates of various materials, on ivory, on the bark of trees, and on their leaves. specimens of most of these modes of writing may be seen in the british museum. no. , in the sloanian library, is a nabob's letter, on a piece of bark about two yards long, and richly ornamented with gold. no. , is a book of mexican hieroglyphics, painted on bark. in the same collection are various species, many from the malabar coast, and other parts of the east. the latter writings are chiefly on leaves. the prophecies of the sibyls were on leaves. there are several copies of bibles written on palm-leaves, still preserved in various collections in europe. the ancients, doubtless, wrote on any leaves they found adapted for the purpose. hence the leaf of a book, as well as that of a tree, is derived. in the book of job, mention is made of writing on stone, and on sheets of lead. the law of moses was written on stone. hesiod's works were written on leaden tables; lead was used for writing, and rolled up like a cylinder, as pliny states. the laws of the greeks were engraven on bronze tables. in the shepherd state, they wrote their songs with thorns and awls, on leather. the icelanders wrote on walls; and olaf, according to one of the sagas, built a large house, on the balks and spars of which he had engraven the history of his own and more ancient times; while another northern hero appears to have had nothing better than his own chair and bed, on which to perpetuate his own heroic acts. the arabs took the shoulder-bones of sheep, on which they carved remarkable events with a knife, and after tying them with a string, they hung these chronicles up in their cabinets. these early inventions led to the discovery of tablets of wood; and as cedar is incorruptible, from its bitterness, they chose this wood for cases or chests to preserve their most important writings. from this custom arises the celebrated expression of the ancients, when they meant to give the highest eulogium of an excellent work, _et cedro digna locuti_; that it was worthy to be written on cedar. these tablets were made of the trunks of trees; the use of them still exists, but in general they are made of other materials than wood. the same reason which led them to prefer the cedar to other trees, induced them to write on wax, which is incorruptible from its nature. men generally used it to write their testaments, in order the better to preserve them: thus juvenal says, _ceras implere capaces_. this thin paste of wax was also spread on tablets of wood, that it might more easily admit of erasure. they wrote with an iron bodkin, as they did on the other substances we have noticed. the _stylus_ was made sharp at one end to write with, and blunt and broad at the other, to deface and correct easily; hence the phrase _vertere stylum_, to turn the stylus, was used to express blotting out. but the romans forbade the use of this sharp instrument, from the circumstance of many persons having used them as daggers. a schoolmaster was killed by the _pugillares_, or table-book, and the styles of his own scholars. they substituted a stylus made of the bone of a bird, or other animal, so that their writings resembled engravings. when they wrote on softer materials, they employed reeds and canes, split like our pens at the points, which the orientalists still use to lay their colour or ink neater on the paper. by the word _pen_ in the translation of the bible, we are to understand an iron style. table-books of ivory are still used for memoranda, written by black-lead pencils. the romans used ivory to write the edicts of the senate on; and the expression of _libris elephantinis_, which, some authors imagine, alludes to books which for their size were called _elephantine_, others more rationally conclude, were composed of ivory, the tusk of the elephant. pumice was likewise a writing material of the ancients, which they used to smooth the roughness of the parchment, or to sharpen their reeds. in the progress of time, the art of writing consisted in painting with different kinds of ink. this novel mode of writing occasioned them to invent other materials proper to receive their writing. they now chose the thin bark of certain trees and plants; they wrote on linen, and at length, when this was found apt to become mouldy, they prepared the skins of animals. those of asses are still in use; and on those of serpents, &c. were once written the iliad and odyssey. the first place where they began to dress these skins was pergamus, in asia; whence the latin name is derived of _pergamenæ_, or parchment. these skins are, however, better known amongst the authors of the purest latin, under the name of _membrana_, so called from the membranes of animals of which they were composed. the ancients had parchments of three different colours, white, yellow, and purple. at rome, white parchment was disliked, because it was more subject to be soiled than the others, and dazzled the eye. they generally wrote letters of gold and silver on purple or violet parchment. this custom continued in the early ages of the church; and copies of the evangelists of this kind are preserved in the british museum. when the egyptians employed for writing the bark of a plant or reed, called _papyrus_,[ ] or paper-rush, it superseded all former modes, because this was the most convenient. formerly there grew great quantities of it on the sides of the nile. it is this plant which has given the name to our paper, although the latter is composed of linen or rags. after the eighth century the papyrus was superseded by parchment. the chinese make their paper with silk. the use of paper is of great antiquity; it is what the ancient latinists call _charta_, or _chartæ_. before the use of parchment and paper passed to the romans, they contrived to use the thin peel which was found on trees, between the wood of these trees and their bark. this second skin they called _liber_, whence the latin word _liber_, a book, and library and librarian, in the european languages, and the french _livre_ for book; but we of northern origin derive our book from the danish _bog_, the beech-tree, because that being the most plentiful in denmark, was used to engrave on. anciently, instead of folding this bark, this parchment, or paper, as we fold ours, they rolled it according as they wrote on it; and the latin name which they gave these rolls has passed into our language as well as the others. we say a volume or volumes, although our books are composed of pages cut and bound together. the books of the ancients on the shelves of their libraries, were rolled up on a pin, and placed erect, titled on the outside in red letters, or rubrics, and appeared like a number of small pillars on the shelves. curious information respecting small, or minute writing.--the iliad of homer in a nut-shell, which pliny says that cicero once saw, it is pretended might have been a fact, however to some it may appear impossible. Ælian notices an artist who wrote a distich in letters of gold, which he inclosed in the rind of a grain of corn. antiquity, and modern times, have recorded many penmen, whose glory consisted in writing so small a hand, that it could not be legible to the naked eye. one wrote a verse of homer on a grain of millet; and another, more indefatigably industrious in this important trifling, is said by menage to have written whole sentences which were not perceptible to the eye without the microscope: pictures and portraits, also, appeared at first to be lines and scratches thrown down at random; one of these formed the face of the dauphiness, with the most pleasing delicacy and correct resemblance. he read an italian poem in praise of this princess, containing some thousands of verses, written by an officer, in the space of a foot and a half. this species of curious idleness has not been lost in our own country: about a century ago, this minute writing was a fashionable curiosity. a drawing of the head of charles i. is in the library of st. john's college, at oxford. it is wholly composed of minute written characters, which at a small distance resemble the lines of engraving. the lines of the head and ruff, are said to contain the book of psalms, the creed, and the lord's prayer. in the british museum we find a drawing representing the portrait of queen anne, not much above the size of the hand. on this drawing appear a number of lines and scratches, which, the librarian assures the marvelling spectator, includes the entire contents of a thin folio volume, that on this occasion is carried in the hand, as if to vouch for the truth of a statement so liable to be received with hesitation. on this subject it may be worth noticing, that the learned huet asserts that he, like the rest of the world, for a long time considered as a fiction the story of that industrious writer, who is said to have inclosed the iliad in a nut-shell. but having examined the matter more closely, he thought it possible. one day, in company at the dauphin's, this learned man trifled half a hour in proving it. a piece of vellum, about ten inches in length and eight in width, pliant and firm, can be folded up and enclosed in the shell of a large walnut. it can hold in its breadth one line, which can contain verses, and in its length lines. with a crow-quill the writing can be perfect. a page of this vellum will then contain verses, and the reverse as much; the whole , verses of the iliad. and this he proved in their presence, by using a piece of paper, and with a common pen. the thing is possible to be effected; and if some occasion should happen, when paper is excessively rare, it may be useful to know, that a volume of matter may be contained in a very small space. we submit the following curious particulars respecting the titles of books.--the jewish, and many oriental authors, were fond of allegorical titles, which always shews the most puerile age of taste. the titles were usually adapted to their obscure works. it might exercise an able enigmatist to explain their allusions; for we must understand by "the heart of aaron," a commentary on several of the prophets. "the bones of joseph" is an introduction to the talmud. "the garden of nuts," and "the golden apples," are theological questions, and "the pomegranate with its flower," is a treatise of ceremonies no longer practised. jortin gives a title, which he says, of all the fantastical titles he can recollect, is one of the prettiest. a rabbin published a catalogue of rabbinical writers, and called it _labia dormientium_, from cantic. vii. . "like the best wine of my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak." it has a double meaning, of which he was not aware, for most of his rabbinical brethren talk very much like men in their sleep. almost all their works bear such titles as, bread, gold, silver, roses, eyes, &c.; in a word, any thing that meant nothing. affected title-pages were not peculiar to the orientalists; but the greeks and the romans have shewn a finer taste. they had their cornucopias, or horns of abundance; limones, or meadows; pinakidions, or tablets; pancarpes, or all sorts of fruits: titles not unhappily adapted for the miscellanists. the nine books of herodotus, and the nine epistles of Æschines, were respectively honoured by the name of a muse; and three orations of the latter, by those of the graces. the modern fanatics have had a most barbarous taste for titles. we could produce numbers from abroad, and also at home. some works have been called, "matches lighted at the divine fire," and one "the gun of penitence:" a collection of passages from the fathers, is called, "the shop of the spiritual apothecary:" we have "the bank of faith," and "the sixpennyworth of divine spirit:" one of these works bears the following elaborate one; "some fine baskets baked in the oven of charity, carefully conserved for the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation." sometimes their quaintness has some humour. one sir humphrey lind, a zealous puritan, published a work, which a jesuit answered by another, entitled, "a pair of spectacles for sir humphrey lind." the doughty knight retorted, by "a case for sir humphrey lind's spectacles." some of these obscure titles have an entertaining absurdity; as, "the three daughters of job," which is a treatise on the three virtues of patience, fortitude, and pain. "the innocent love, or the holy knight," is a description of the ardours of a saint for the virgin. "the sound of the trumpet," is a work on the day of judgment; and "a fan to drive away flies," is a theological treatise on purgatory. the title which george gascoigne, who had great merit in his day, has given to his collection, may be considered as a specimen of the titles of his times. it was printed in . he calls it "a hundred sundrie floures bounde up in one small poesie; gathered partly by translation in the fyne and outlandish gardens of euripides, ovid, petrarche, ariosto, and others; and partly by invention out of our own fruitefull orchardes in englande; yielding sundrie sweet savours of tragicall, comicall, and morall discourses, both pleasaunt and profitable to the well-swelling noses of learned readers." literary labour and perseverance.--the rev. william davy, curate of lustleigh, devon, in the year , finished a work in twenty-six volumes, of which the following is the title:-- "a system of divinity, in a course of sermons on the first institutions of religion--on the being and attributes of god--on some of the most important articles of the christian religion, in connection--and on the several virtues and vices of mankind; with occasional discourses. being a compilation of the best sentiments of the polite writers and eminent sound divines, both ancient and modern, on the same subjects, properly connected, with improvements; particularly adapted for the use of chief families, and students in divinity, for churches, and for the benefit of mankind in general." the author of the work bearing this astounding title, once attempted to publish it by subscription; in which he failed: he being poor, and unable to venture its publication, resolved to print it himself; for which purpose he procured as many worn-out types from a country printing-office as enabled him to print two pages at once; which, with the addition of a press of his own manufacture, he set to work in the year , serving every office himself, from compositor to printer's-devil; and proceeding regularly page by page, he struck off forty copies of the first three hundred pages, half of which he distributed among the reviews, the bishops, and the universities, with a view of attracting public attention; but here also he failed: when he became determined to treat a misjudging world with contempt, and accordingly continued to print off fourteen copies of each, and at the end of twelve years finished the whole six-and-twenty volumes. curious account of the scarcity of books--of the scarcity and value of books during the seventh and many subsequent centuries, the following curious account is given by mr. warton, in his history of english poetry, vol. i. "towards the close of the seventh century, (says he,) even in the papal library at rome, the number of books was so inconsiderable, that pope st. martin requested sanctamand, bishop of maestricht, if possible, to supply this defect from the remotest parts of germany. in , lupus, abbot of ferriers, in france, sent two of his monks to pope benedict iii. to beg a copy of _cicero de oratore_, and quintilian's institutes, and some other books: 'for (says the abbot) although we have part of these books, yet there is no whole or complete copy of them in all france.' albert, abbot of gemblours, who with incredible labour and immense expense had collected one hundred volumes on theological, and fifty on profane subjects, imagined he had formed a splendid library. about a. d. , charlemagne granted an unlimited right of hunting, to the abbot and monks of sithin, for making covers for their books of the skins of the deer they killed. these religious were probably more fond of hunting than reading; and, under these circumstances, did not manufacture many volumes. at the beginning of the tenth century, books were so scarce in spain, that one copy of the bible, st. jerome's epistles, and some volumes of ecclesiastical offices and martyrologies, often served several different monasteries. in an inventory of the goods of john de pontissara, bishop of winchester, in his palace of wulvesey, all the books are only _septemdecim speciem librorum de diversis scientiis_. this was in . the same prelate, in , borrows of his cathedral convent of st. swithin, at winchester, _bibliam bene glossatam_; i. e. the bible with marginal annotations, in two large folio volumes; but gives a bond for due return of the loan, drawn up with great solemnity. this bible had been bequeathed to the convent by pontissara's predecessor, bishop nicholas de ely: and in consideration of so important a bequest, _pro bona biblia dicti episcopi bene glossata_, and one hundred marks in money, the monks founded a daily mass for the soul of the donor. when a single book was bequeathed to a friend, it was seldom without many restrictions. if any person gave a book to a religious house, he believed that so valuable a donation merited eternal salvation; and he offered it on the altar with great ceremony. the most formidable anathemas were peremptorily denounced against those who should dare to alienate a book presented to the cloister, or library of a religious house. the prior and convent of rochester declare, that they will every year pronounce the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him who shall purloin or conceal a latin translation of aristotle's physics, or even obliterate the title. sometimes a book was given to a monastery, on condition that the donor should have the use of it during his life; and sometimes to a private person, on the terms that he who received it should pray for the soul of his benefactor. when a book was bought, the affair was of so much importance, that it was customary to assemble persons of consequence and character, and to make a formal record that they were present." among the royal manuscripts in the book of the sentences of peter lombard, an archdeacon of lincoln has left this entry: "this book of the sentences belongs to master robert, archdeacon of lincoln, which he bought of geoffrey the chaplain, brother of henry, vicar of northelkington, in the presence of master robert de lee, master john of lirling, richard of luda, clerk, richard the almoner, the said henry the vicar, and his clerk, and others: and the said archdeacon gave the said book to god and st. oswald, and to peter abbot of barton, and the convent of barden." the disputed property of a book often occasioned the most violent altercations. many claims appear to have been made to a manuscript of matthew paris, belonging to the last mentioned library; in which john russel, bishop of lincoln, conditionally defends or explains his right of possession; and concludes thus, a. d. , "whoever shall obliterate or destroy this writing, let him be anathema." about , roger de insula, dean of york, gave several latin bibles to the university of oxford, on the condition, that the students who perused them should deposit a cautionary pledge. the library of that university, before a. d. , consisted only of a few tracts, chained or kept in chests in the choir of st. mary's church. in , the scholars and citizens of oxford pillaged the opulent benedictine abbey of the neighbouring town of abingdon. among the books they found there, were one hundred psalters, as many grayles, forty missals, which undoubtedly belonged to the choir of the church, and twenty-two codices, on common subjects. and although the invention of paper, at the close of the eleventh century, contributed to multiply manuscripts, and consequently to facilitate knowledge, yet, even so late as the reign of henry vi. the following remarkable instance occurred of the inconveniences and impediments to study, which must have been produced by a scarcity of books. it is in the statutes of st. mary's college at oxford, founded as a seminary to oseney abbey, in : "let no scholar occupy a book in the library above one hour, or two hours at most; so that others shall not be hindered from the use of the same!" the famous library established in the university of oxford, by that munificent patron of literature, humphrey duke of gloucester, contained only six hundred volumes. about the commencement of the fourteenth century, there were only four classics in the royal library at paris. there was one copy of cicero, ovid, lucan, and boetius. the rest were chiefly books of devotion, which included but few of the fathers: many treatises of astrology, geomancy, chiromancy, and medicine, originally written in arabic, and translated into latin or french: pandects, chronicles, and romances. this collection was principally made by charles v. who began his reign in . this monarch was passionately fond of reading; and it was the fashion to send him presents of books from every part of the kingdom of france. these he ordered to be elegantly transcribed, and richly illuminated; and he placed them in a tower of the louvre, from thence called _la toure de la libraire_. the whole consisted of nine hundred volumes. they were deposited in three chambers, wainscoted with irish oak, and ceiled with cypress curiously carved. the windows were of painted glass, fenced with iron bars and copper wire. the english became masters of paris in the year ; on which event the duke of bedford, regent of france, sent the whole library, then consisting of only eight hundred and fifty-three volumes, and valued at livres, into england; where perhaps they became the groundwork of duke humphrey's library. even so late as the year , when louis xi. of france borrowed the works of the arabian physician, rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at paris, he not only deposited by way of pledge a quantity of valuable plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as a surety in a deed, by which he bound himself to return it, under a considerable forfeiture. the excessive prices of books in the middle ages afford numerous and curious proofs of the caution with which literary property was secured in those times of general ignorance. in , walter, prior of st. swithin's at winchester, a writer in latin of the lives of the bishops who were his patrons, purchased of the monks of dorchester, in oxfordshire, bede's homilies and st. austin's psalter, for twelve measures of barley, and a pall, on which was richly embroidered in silver the history of st. birinus converting a saxon king. among the royal manuscripts in the british museum, there is comestor's scholastic history in french; which, as it is recorded in a blank page at the beginning, was taken from the king of france at the battle of poictiers; and being purchased by william montague, earl of salisbury, for marcs, was ordered to be sold by the last will of his countess, elizabeth, for livres. about a. d. , a copy of john of meun's romance de la rose, was sold before the palace gate at paris for a sum equal to £ . s. d. celebrated libraries.--the first who erected a library at athens was the tyrant pisistratus. this was transported by xerxes into persia, and afterwards brought back by seleucus nicanor to athens. plutarch says, that under eumenes there was a library at pergamus which contained two hundred thousand books. that of ptolemy philadelphus, according to a. gellius, contained forty thousand, which were all burnt by cæsar's soldiers. the celebrated library of alexandria, begun by ptolemy soter, and enlarged by his successors, consisting of seven hundred thousand volumes, contained nearly all the literary treasures of the world. this was burnt by order of the caliph omar, in the seventh century, and the loss must for ever remain irreparable. on this calamity, literature can never reflect without a sigh. constantine and his successor erected a magnificent one at constantinople, which in the eighth century contained three hundred thousand volumes, and among the rest, one in which the iliad and odyssey were written in letters of gold, on the entrails of a serpent; but this library was burnt, by order of leo isaurus. the most celebrated libraries of ancient rome, were the ulpian and the palatine; and in modern rome, that of the vatican, the foundation of which was laid by pope nicholas in the year . it was afterwards diminished in the sacking of rome by the constable of bourbon, and restored by pope sixtus v. and has been considerably enriched with the ruins of that of heidelberg, plundered by count tilly in . one of the most complete libraries in europe, was that erected by cosmo de medicis; though it was afterwards exceeded by that of the french king, which was begun by francis i. augmented by cardinal richelieu, and completed by m. colbert. the emperor's library at vienna, according to lambecius, consists of eighty thousand volumes, and fifteen thousand nine hundred and forty curious medals. the bodleian library at oxford exceeds that of any university in europe, and even those of any of the sovereigns, except those of the emperors of france and germany, which are each of them older by a hundred years. it was first opened in , and has since been increased by a great number of benefactors: indeed the medicean library, that of bessarion at venice, and those just mentioned, exceed it in greek manuscripts, but it outdoes them all in oriental manuscripts; and as to printed books, the ambrosian at milan, and that of wolfenbuttle, are two of the most famous libraries on the continent, and yet both are considerably inferior to the bodleian. the cottonian library consists wholly of manuscripts, particularly of such as relate to the history and antiquities of england; which, as they are now bound, make about one thousand volumes. book of blunders.--one of the most egregious, shall we add illustrious, of all literary blunders, is that of the edition of the vulgate, by sixtus v. his holiness carefully superintended every sheet as it passed through the press; and, to the amazement of the world, the work remained without a rival--it swarmed with errata! a multitude of scraps were printed, to paste over the erroneous passages, in order to give the true text. the book makes a whimsical appearance with these pasted corrections; and the heretics exulted in the demonstration of papal infallibility! the copies were called in, and violent attempts made to suppress it; however, a few still remain for the pursuit of biblical collectors: at a late sale, the bible of sixtus v. fetched above sixty guineas--a tolerable sum for a mere book of blunders! the world was highly amused at the bull of the pope and editor prefixed to the first volume, which excommunicates all printers, &c. who in reprinting the work should make any alteration in the text! curious account of the means of intellectual improvement in london.--the following is an estimate made of the means of intellectual improvement in london. there are four hundred and seven places of public worship; four thousand and fifty seminaries for education, including two hundred and thirty-seven parish charity schools; eight societies for the express purpose of promoting good morals; twelve societies for promoting the learned, the useful, and the polite arts; one hundred and twenty-two asylums and alms-houses for the helpless and indigent, including the philanthropic society for reclaiming criminal children; thirty hospitals and dispensaries for sick and lame, and for the delivery of poor pregnant women; seven hundred friendly or benefit societies; about thirty institutions for charitable and humane purposes; about thirty institutions for teaching some thousands of poor children the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic, on the plans of mr. lancaster and dr. bell; and these several establishments, including the poor's rate, are supported at the almost incredible cost of one million per annum. chap. lxxxi. curiosities of literature.--(_continued._) _origin of the word "news"--origin of newspapers--instances of new studies in old age--literary shoemakers--imprisonment of the learned--singular customs annually observed by the company of stationers--book of sports--origin of cards--explanation of all the letters on a guinea._ origin of the word "news."--the four cardinal points of the compass, marked with the letters n. e. w. s. standing for north, east, west, and south, form the word news, which coming from all parts of the world, gave derivation to the word. origin of newspapers.--we are indebted to the italians for the idea of newspapers. the title of the _gazettas_, was perhaps derived from _gazzera_, a magpie or chatterer; or more probably from a farthing coin, peculiar to the city of venice, called _gazetta_, which was the common price of the newspapers. another learned etymologist is for deriving it from the latin gaza, which would colloquially lengthen into _gazetta_, and signify a little treasury of news. the spanish derive it indeed from the latin _gaza_; and likewise their _gazatero_, and our _gazetteer_, for a writer of the _gazette_; and, what is peculiar to themselves, _gazetista_, for a lover of the _gazette_. newspapers then took their birth in that principal land of modern politicians, italy, and under the government of that aristocratical republic, venice. the first paper was a venetian one, and only monthly: but it was the newspaper of the government only. other governments afterwards adopted the venetian name for it; and from one solitary government gazette, we see what an inundation of newspapers has burst out upon us in this country. mr. chalmers gives, in his life of ruddiman, a curious particular of these venetian gazettes. "a jealous government did not allow a printed newspaper; and the venetian gazetta continued long after the invention of printing to the close of the sixteenth century, and even to our own days, to be distributed in manuscript." in the magliabechian library at florence are thirty volumes of venetian gazettas, all in manuscript. those who first wrote newspapers, were called by the italians _menanti_; because, says vossius, they intended commonly by these loose papers to spread about defamatory reflections, and were therefore prohibited in italy by gregory xiii. in a particular bull, under the name of _menantes_, from the latin _minantes_, threatening. menage, however, derives it from the italian _menare_, which signifies, to lead at large, or spread afar. mr. chalmers discovers in england the first newspaper. it may gratify national pride, says he, to be told, that mankind are indebted to the wisdom of elizabeth and the prudence of burleigh for the first newspaper. the epoch of the spanish armada is also the epoch of a genuine newspaper. in the british museum are several newspapers which had been printed while the spanish fleet was in the english channel, during the year . it was a wise policy to prevent, during a moment of general anxiety, the danger of false reports, by publishing real information. the earliest newspaper is entitled "the english mercurie," which by authority "was imprinted at london by her highness's printer, ." these were, however, but extraordinary gazettes, not regularly published. the following are curious instances of new studies in old age.--socrates learnt to play on musical instruments in his old age; cato, at eighty, thought proper to learn greek; and plutarch, almost as late in life, latin. theophrastus began his admirable work on the characters of men, at the extreme age of ninety. he only terminated his literary labours by his death. peter ronsard, one of the fathers of french poetry, applied himself late to study. his acute genius, and ardent application, rivalled those poetic models which he admired. the great arnauld retained the vigour of his genius, and the command of his pen, to his last day; and at the age of eighty-two was still the great arnauld. sir henry spelman neglected the sciences in his youth, but cultivated them at fifty years of age, and produced good fruit. his early years were chiefly passed in farming, which greatly diverted him from his studies; but a remarkable disappointment respecting a contested estate, disgusted him with these rustic occupations, and resolving to attach himself to regular studies and literary society, he sold his farms, and became a most learned antiquary and lawyer. colbert, the famous french minister, almost at sixty returned to his latin and law studies. tellier, the chancellor of france, learnt logic, merely for an amusement, to dispute with his grandchildren. dr. johnson applied himself to the dutch language but a few years before his death. but on this head the marquis de saint anlaire may be regarded as a prodigy; at the age of seventy he began to court the muses, and they crowned him with their freshest flowers. his verses are full of fire, delicacy, and sweetness. voltaire says, that anacreon, less old, produced less charming compositions. chaucer's canterbury tales were the composition of his latest years: they were begun in his fifty-fourth year, and finished in his sixty-first: it is on these works his fame is established, at least they are those which are most adapted to attract all classes of poetical readers. the celebrated boccacio was thirty-five years of age when he began his studies in polite literature. he has, however, excelled many whose whole life has been devoted to this branch of letters. such is the privilege of genius. ludovico monaldesco, at the extraordinary age of , wrote the memoirs of his time: a singular exertion, noticed by voltaire, who himself is one of the most remarkable instances of the progress of age in new studies. koonhert began at forty to learn the latin and greek languages, of which he became a master; several students, who afterwards distinguished themselves, have commenced as late in life their literary pursuits. ogilby, the translator of homer and virgil, knew little of latin or greek, till he was past fifty; and franklin's philosophical pursuits began when he had nearly reached his fiftieth year. accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why he began the study of the law so late, answered, that indeed he began it late, but should therefore master it the sooner. dryden's complete works form the largest body of poetry from the pen of one writer in the english language; yet he gave no public testimony of poetical abilities till his twenty-seventh year. in his sixty-eighth year he proposed to translate the whole ilias; his most pleasing productions were written in his old age. michael angelo preserved his creative genius even in extreme old age; for he worked almost to his last day, and he reached his ninetieth year. he alludes, doubtless, to himself in an ingenious device, if it be of his own invention: a venerable old man is represented in a go-cart, an hour-glass upon it, with the inscription, ancora imparo! yet i am learning! literary shoemakers.--the fraternity of shoemakers have unquestionably given rise to some characters of worth and genius. the late mr. holcroft was originally a shoemaker. his dramatic pieces must rank among the best of those on the english stage. robert bloomfield wrote his poem of "the farmer's boy," while employed at this business, and dr. william carey, professor of sanscrit and bengalee at the college of fort william, calcutta, and the able and indefatigable translator of the scriptures into many of the eastern languages, was in early life a shoemaker in northamptonshire. the present mr. gifford, the translator of juvenal, and the supposed editor of the quarterly review, spent some of his early days in learning the "craft and mystery" of a shoemaker; as he tells us, in one of the most interesting pieces of auto-biography ever penned, and prefixed to his nervous and elegant version of the great roman satirist. imprisonment of the learned.--imprisonment seems not much to have disturbed the men of letters in the progress of their studies. it was in prison that boethius composed his excellent book on the consolations of philosophy. grotius wrote, in his confinement, his commentary on st. matthew. buchanan, in his dungeon of a monastery in portugal, composed his excellent paraphrases on the psalms of david. pelisson, during five years' confinement for some state affairs, pursued with ardour his studies in the greek language, in philosophy, and particularly in theology, and produced several good compositions. michael cervantes composed the best and most agreeable book in the spanish language, during his captivity in barbary. fleta, a well-known and very excellent little law production, was written by a person confined in the fleet prison for debt, but whose name has not been preserved. louis xii. when he was duke of orleans, being taken prisoner at the battle of st. aubin, was long confined in the tower of bourges, and applying himself to his studies, which he had hitherto neglected, he became, in consequence, an able and enlightened monarch. margaret, queen of henry iv. king of france, confined in the louvre, pursued very warmly the study of elegant literature, and composed a very skilful apology for the irregularities of her conduct. charles i. during his cruel confinement at holmsby, wrote that excellent book, entitled the portrait of a king, which he addressed to his son, and where the political reflections will be found not unworthy of tacitus. this work, however, has been attributed, by his enemies, to a dr. gowden, who was incapable of writing a single paragraph of it. queen elizabeth, while confined by her sister mary, wrote some very charming poems, which we do not find she ever could equal after her enlargement: and mary queen of scots, during her long imprisonment by elizabeth, produced many beautiful poetic compositions. singular custom annually observed by the company of stationers.--on the annual aquatic procession of the lord mayor of london to westminster, the barge of the company of stationers, which is usually the first in the show, proceeds to lambeth palace, where for time immemorial they have received a present of sixteen bottles of the archbishop's prime wine. this custom originated at the beginning of the last century. when archbishop tenison enjoyed the see, a very near relation of his, who happened to be master of the stationers' company, thought it a compliment to call there in full state, and in his barge: when the archbishop was informed that the number of the company within the barge was thirty-two, he thought that a pint of wine for each would not be disagreeable; and ordered, at the same time, that a sufficient quantity of new bread and old cheese, with plenty of strong ale, should be given to the watermen and attendants: and from that accidental circumstance it has grown into a settled custom. the company, in return, presents to the archbishop a copy of the several almanacks which they have the peculiar privilege of publishing. book of sports.--a book, or declaration, drawn up by bishop morton, in the reign of king james i. to encourage recreations and sports on the lord's day. it was to this effect: "that for his good people's recreation, his majesty's pleasure was, that, after the end of divine service, they should not be disturbed, letted, or discouraged, from any lawful recreations; such as dancing, either of men or women; archery for men; leaping, vaulting, or any such harmless recreations; nor having of may-games, whitsun-ales, or morrice-dances; or setting up of may-poles, or other sports therewith used, so as the same may be had in due and convenient time, without impediment or let of divine service; and that women should have leave to carry rushes to the church for the decorating of it, according to their old customs: withal prohibiting all unlawful games to be used on sundays only; as bear-bating, bull-bating, interludes, and at all times (in the meaner sort of people prohibited) bowling." two or three restraints were annexed to the declaration, which deserve notice:-- . no recusant (i. e. papist) was to have the benefit of this declaration. . nor such as were not present at the whole of divine service. . nor such as did not keep to their own parish churches, that is, puritans. this declaration was ordered to be read in all the parishes of lancashire, which abounded with papists; and wilson adds, that it was to have been read in all the churches of england, but that archbishop abbot, being at croydon, flatly forbade its being read there. in the reign of king charles i. archbishop laud put the king upon republishing this declaration, which was accordingly done. the court had their balls, masquerades, and plays, on the sunday evenings; while the youth of the country were at their morrice-dances, may-games, church and clerk ales, and all such kind of revelling. the severe pressing of this declaration made sad havock among the puritans, as it was to be read in the churches. many poor clergymen strained their consciences in submission to their superiors. some, after publishing, immediately read the fourth commandment to the people:--"remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy:" adding, "this is the law of god;" the other, "the injunction of man." some put it upon their curates; whilst great numbers absolutely refused to comply: the consequence of which was, that several clergymen were actually suspended for not reading it. origin of cards.--about the year , cards were invented, to divert charles vi. then king of france, who was fallen into a melancholy disposition. that they were not in use before, appears highly probable, st. because no cards are to be seen in any paintings, sculpture, tapestry, &c. more ancient than the preceding period, but are represented in many works of ingenuity since that age. dly. no prohibitions relative to cards, by the king's edicts, are mentioned, although, some few years before, a most severe one was published, forbidding by name, all manner of sports and pastimes, in order that the subjects might exercise themselves in shooting with bows and arrows, and be in a condition to oppose the english. now it is not to be presumed, that so luring a game as cards would have been omitted in the enumeration, had they been in use. dly. in all the ecclesiastical canons prior to the said time, there occurs no mention of cards; although, twenty years after that date, card-playing was interdicted by the clergy, by a gallican synod. about the same time is found, in the account book of the king's cofferer, the following charge:--"paid for a pack of painted leaves bought for the king's amusement, three livres." printing and stamping being then not discovered, the cards were painted, which made them so dear. thence, in the above synodical canons, they are called _gillæ pictæ_, painted little leaves. thly. about thirty years after this, came a severe edict against cards in france; and another by emanuel, duke of savoy; only permitting the ladies this pastime, _pro spinulis_, for pins and needles. of their design.--the inventor proposed, by the figures of the four suits, or colours, as the french call them, to represent the four states, or classes, of men in the kingdom. by the _cæsars_ (hearts) are meant the _gens de choeur_, choir men, or ecclesiastics; and therefore the spaniards, who certainly received the use of cards from the french, have _copas_, or chalices, instead of hearts. the nobility, or prime military part of the kingdom, are represented by the ends or points of lances or pikes; and our ignorance of the meaning or resemblance of the figure induced us to call them spades. the spaniards have _espaces_ (swords) in lieu of pikes, which is of similar import. by diamonds, are designed the order of citizens, merchants, and tradesmen, _carreaux_ (square stone tiles or the like.) the spaniards have a coin _dineros_, which answered to it; and the dutch call the french word _carreaux stieneen_, stones and diamonds, from their form. _treste_, the trefoil leaf, or clover-grass (corruptly called clubs) alludes to the husbandmen and peasants. how this suit came to be called clubs is not explained, unless, borrowing the game from the spaniards, who have _bastos_ (staves or clubs) instead of the trefoil, we gave the spanish signification to the french figure. the history of the four kings, which the french in drollery sometimes call the cards, is _david_, _alexander_, _cæsar_, and _charles_, (which names were then, and still are, on the french cards.) these respectable names represent the four celebrated monarchies of the jews, greeks, romans, and franks under charlemagne. by the queens are intended _argine_, _esther_, _judith_, and _pallas_, (names retained in french cards,) typical of birth, piety, fortitude, and wisdom, the qualifications residing in each person. argine is an anagram for _regina_, queen by descent. by the knaves were designed the servants to knights (for knave originally meant only servant; and in an old translation of the bible, st. paul is called the knave of christ) but french pages and valets, now indiscriminately used by various orders of persons, were formerly only allowed to persons of quality, esquires, (_escuiers_,) shield or armour-bearers. others fancy that the knights themselves were designed by those cards, because _hogier_ and _lahire_, two names on the french cards, were famous knights at the time cards were supposed to be invented. explanation of all the letters on a guinea.--the inscription on a guinea runs thus:--georgius iii. dei gratia, m. b. f. et h. rex, f. d. b. et l. d. s. r. i. a. t. et e. that is,--georgius tertius, dei gratia, magnæ brittanniæ, franciæ et hiberniæ rex, fidei defensor, brunswicii et lunenburgi dux, sacri romani imperii archi-thesaurarius et elector. in english,--george the third, by the grace of god, king of great britain, france, and ireland, defender of the faith, duke of brunswick and lunenburgh, arch-treasurer and elector of the holy roman empire. chap. lxxxii. curiosities of literature.--(_concluded._) _curious address to the late queen charlotte--quaint lines on queen elizabeth--curious names adopted in the civil wars--curious extracts from the will of an earl of pembroke--curious letter from pomare, king of otaheite, to the missionary society--curious love letter and answer--creeds of the jews--the unbeliever's creed--explanation of the terms "whig" and "tory."_ curious address to the late queen charlotte. "the address of the burgomaster, magistrates, and citizens of strelitz, to her royal highness the most illustrious princess sophia charlotte, duchess of mecklenburgh, princess of wenden, schrouin, and piotzburgh, and countess of schwerin, and the countries of rostock and slangard, on her leaving the territories of the said city in her way to england, as the royal bride of his most illustrious majesty george the third, king of great britain, &c. &c. aug. , . "illustrious dutchess, most gracious princess and lady; your royal highness is at present leaving that country whose happiness it has hitherto been to admire you, the model of a perfect princess; you leave it to share with the greatest monarch in europe, a throne respected through every part of the universe. the instant is at hand when your royal highness will for ever be withdrawn from our eyes: but it affects us the more sensibly, from the apprehension that the many great and brilliant objects, with which you will henceforth be connected, will efface so small a place as ours from your inestimable remembrance. yet that goodness which we have hitherto with transport admired in your royal highness, revives our spirits; it assures us, that you will ever from the throne condescend graciously to look back on our town; and continue the patroness of those whose happiness it is to be the subjects of your illustrious family. we, therefore, in full confidence, give ourselves up to that lively joy excited in us all, on the glorious union to which the divine providence has called your royal highness, and beg leave to accompany you with our most cordial wishes for your safe journey and continual welfare and prosperity. may the eternal ruler of all things, who has appointed this great event, make your royal highness the most perfect instance of felicity, the delight of that royal family into which you are now entering, the joy of britain, and the glory of the illustrious mecklenburg! may our illustrious sovereign, the beloved adolphus frederic, long, and in all earthly happiness, together with his faithful and happy subjects, rejoice in these felicities! your royal highness will graciously permit that twelve of our daughters, here present in the attire of innocence, may, as a memorial of this fortunate event, second the ardent sentiments of their fathers, and in artless words, most humbly wish you a safe and pleasant journey:-- _eleonora dorothea maria bentghoven._ hail princess! with each shining virtue bright, all pure within, without all glorious light, whose form divine, whose goodness we adore; heaven bless thy parting from the german shore! _christiana juliana elizabeth berendsden._ as consort of a mighty monarch shine, restore the honour of an ancient line; for this thy coming, britain's king invites, for this he calls to hymen's soft delights. _dorothea elizabeth tetlington._ thy soul with each divinest virtue fraught, thy wisdom perfect, both in word and thought; each british bosom shall with rapture fire, and faction sleep whilst gazing crowds admire. _sophia elizabeth gradhandlan._ when seated by thy royal consort's side, new lustre he shall gain from such a bride; her worth shall grace the sacred nuptial ties, and britain's throne in dignity shall rise. _carolina henrietta tangate._ o god! whose mercies through the world abound, whose power supports the king thy hand has crown'd, waft o'er the main the bride's transcendent charms, in safety to the bridegroom's longing arms. _dorothea gaven._ may she, with each endearing art possest, to pleasure ever soothe the monarch's breast! may all the royal virtues of her heart, to faithful subjects joy sincere impart! _anna maria elizabeth christen._ britons, rejoice, receive with loud acclaim sophia charlotte, ever dear to fame; delight of mecklenburg! she comes to shower on britain's isle new blessings every hour. _madalen elizabeth colterjahn._ thrice happy bride! who soon shall cross the main, whom to behold again we wish in vain; may happiness increasing with thee dwell, to every age may fame thy glory tell! _christiana sophia sealon._ from ganges to where mississippi flows, diffusing wealth and plenty as it goes; from senegal, still scorch'd by phoebus' beams, to where st. lawrence rolls his silver streams, proclaim britannia's bliss the world around, from pole to pole, to earth's remotest bound. _christiana elizabeth phoelen._ it's wish auspicious flavel hastes to bring, for fair charlotta and his britain's king; on britain's isle all blessing he implores, and rolls his friendly wave to albion's shores. _dorothea christiana elizabeth rexsehen._ beneath the lord's anointed may she thrive, still may his influence keep the palm alive, still may it flourish, branches still extend, afford us shelter, and from heat defend. _catharine sophia bertrowen._ nought can our brothers' ardent zeal restrain, fain would they tempt with thee the roaring main; permit them, queen, thy person to be near, that of thy safety tidings we may hear. _chorus._ yet for one favour more we must apply, but little can these barren tracts supply; permit us, since both gold and pearls you scorn, your royal brows with myrtle to adorn!" quaint lines on queen elizabeth.--queen elizabeth, who died at greenwich, was brought thence to whitehall by water, in a grand procession. on this occasion, as camden informs us, the following quaint lines were written:-- "the queen was brought by water to whitehall; at every stroke the oars did tears let fall; more clung about the barge; fish under water wept out their eyes of pearl, and swam blind after. i think the bargemen might, with easier thighs, have row'd her thither in her people's eyes; for howsoe'er, thus much my thoughts have scann'd, she had come by water, had she come by land." curious names adopted in the civil wars.--a curious style of naming individuals was exceedingly common in the time of the civil wars. it was said that the genealogy of our saviour might be learned from the names in cromwell's regiments. the muster-master used no other list than the first chapter of matthew. a jury was returned in the county of sussex of the following names: _accepted_ trevor, of horsham. _redeemed_ compton, of battle. _faint-not_ hewet, of heathfield. _make-peace_ heaton, of hare. _god-reward_ smart, of fivehurst. _stand-fast-on-high_ stringer, of crowhurst. _earth_ adams, of warbleton. _called_ lower, of warbleton. _kill-sin_ pimple, of witham. _return_ spelman, of watling. _be-faithful_ joiner, of britling. _fly-debate_ robert, of britling. _fight-the-good-fight-of-faith_ white, of emer. _more-fruit_ fowler, of east hadley. _hope-for_ bending, of east hadley. _graceful_ harding, of lewes. _weep-not_ billings, of lewes. _meek_ brewer, of okeham. a noted character in those days was a divine of the name of _praise-god barebone_. he is little known as a divine, but is celebrated for having been an active member in cromwell's parliament, and indeed for giving a name to it which is yet preserved in history. praise-god barebone had two brothers, namely, _christ-came-into-the-world-to-save barebone_, and _if-christ-had-not-died-thou-hadst-been-damned barebone_: some are said to have omitted the former part of the latter name, and to have called him only "damned barebone." the reader will be amused with the following curious extracts from the will of an earl of pembroke. "_imprimis._--for my soul; i confess i have heard very much of souls, but what they are, or whom they are, or what they are for, god knows, i know not: they tell me now of another world, where i never was, nor do i know one foot of the way thither. while the king stood, i was of his religion, made my son wear a cassock, and thought to make him a bishop, but then came the scots, and made me a presbyterian; and since cromwell entered, i have been an independent. these, i believe, are the kingdom's three estates; and if any of these can save a soul, i may claim one; therefore if my executors do find i have a soul, i give it to him who gave it me. "_item._--i give my body, for i cannot keep it, to be buried. do not lay me in the church-porch, for i was a lord, and would not be buried where colonel pride was born. "_item._--my will is, that i have no monument, for then i must have epitaphs and verses, and all my life long i have had too much of them. "_item._--i give all my deer to the earl of salisbury, who i know will preserve them, because he denied the king a buck out of one of his own parks. "_item._--i give nothing to the lord say; which legacy i give him, because i know he will bestow it on the poor. "_item._-to tom may i give five shillings: i intended him more: but whoever has seen his history of the parliament, thinks five shillings too much. "_item._--i give lieutenant general cromwell one word of mine, because hitherto he never kept his own. "_item._--i give up the ghost, _concordat cum originati_." curious letter from pomare, king of otaheite, to the missionary society. (translation.) _matavae, otaheite, jan. , ._ friends, i wish you every blessing, friends, in your residence in your country, with success in teaching this bad land, this foolish land, this wicked land, this land which is ignorant of good, this land that knoweth not the true god, this regardless land. friends, i wish you health and prosperity; may i also live, and may jehovah save us all! friends, with respect to your letter you wrote to me, i have this to say to you, that your business with me, and your wishes, i fully consent to, and shall consequently banish ore (his chief idol) and send him to racatea. friends, i do therefore believe and shall obey your word. friends, i hope you also will consent to my request, which is this; i wish you to send a great number of men, women, and children, here. friends, send also property and cloth for us, and we also will adopt english customs. friends, send also plenty of muskets and powder, for wars are frequent in our country:--should i be killed, you will have nothing in tahete; do not come here when i am dead. tahete is a regardless country; and should i die with sickness, do not come here. this also i wish, that you would send me all the curious things that you have in england: also send me every thing necessary for writing; paper, ink, and pens, in abundance; let no writing utensil be wanting. friends, i have done, and have nothing at all more to ask you for: as for your desire to instruct tahete, 'tis what i fully acquiesce in. 'tis a common thing for people not to understand at first; but your object is good, and i fully consent to it; and shall cast off all evil customs. what i say is truth, and no lie; it is the real truth. this is all i have to write. i have done. friends, write to me, that i may know what you have to say. i wish you life and every blessing. may i also live, and jehovah save us all! pomare, king of tahete, &c. &c. _for my friends, the missionary society, london._ curious love letter. madam,--most worthy of estimation! after long consideration, and much meditation, on the great reputation you possess in the nation, i have a strong inclination to become your relation. on your approbation of this declaration, i shall make preparation to remove my situation, to a more convenient station, to profess my admiration; and if such oblation is worthy of observation, and can obtain commiseration, it will be an aggrandization beyond all calculation of the joy and exultation, of your's, sans dissimulation. the answer. sir,--i perused your oration with much deliberation, and a little consternation, at the great infatuation of your imagination, to shew such veneration on so slight a foundation. but after examination and much serious contemplation, i supposed your animation was the fruit of recreation, or had sprung from ostentation, to display your education, by an odd enumeration, or rather multiplication, of words of the same termination, though of great variation in each respective signification. now without disputation, your laborious application in so tedious an occupation, deserves commemoration, and thinking imitation a sufficient gratification, i am, without hesitation, your's, mary moderation. creeds of the jews.--the following piece is transcribed from the common prayer now in use among the jews, and is entitled the thirteen creeds. it will give some idea of the theoretic branch of religion now prevailing among this singular people. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that god is the creator of all things; that he doth guide and support all creatures; that he alone has made every thing; and that he still acts, and will act, during the whole eternity. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that god is one; there is no unity like his: he alone hath been, and shall be eternally, our god. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that god is not corporeal; he cannot have any material properties; and no corporeal essence can be compared with him. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that god is the beginning and end of all things. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that god alone ought to be worshipped, and none but he ought to be adored. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, whatever hath been taught by the prophets. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that the doctrine of moses is true. he is the father and the head of all the doctors that lived before or since, or shall live after him. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that the law we have is the same as was given by moses. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that this law shall never be altered, and god will give no other. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that god knoweth all the thoughts and actions of men. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that god will reward the works of all those who perform his commandments, and punish those who transgress his laws. . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that the messiah is to come. although he tarrieth, i will wait, and expect daily his coming! . i believe, with a firm and perfect faith, the resurrection of the dead shall happen when god shall think fit. blessed, and glorified eternally, be the name of the creator! amen. the unbeliever's creed. "i believe that there is no god, but that matter is god, and god is matter, and that it is no matter whether there is any god or not. i believe, also, that the world was not made; that the world made itself; that it had no beginning; that it will last for ever, world without end. "i believe that a man is a beast, that the soul is the body, and the body is the soul; and that after death there is neither body nor soul. "i believe there is no religion; that natural religion is the only religion; and that all religion is unnatural. i believe not in moses; i believe in the first philosophy; i believe not in the evangelists; i believe in chubb, collins, toland, tindal, morgan, mandeville, woolston, hobbes, and shaftsbury; i believe in lord bolingbroke; i believe not in st. paul. "i believe not in revelation; i believe in tradition; i believe in the talmud; i believe in the alcoran; i believe not in the bible; i believe in socrates; i believe in confucius; i believe in sanchoneathon; i believe in mahomet; i believe not in christ. "lastly, i believe in all unbelief." explanation of the terms "whig" and "tory."--burnet, who was contemporary with the introduction of these terms, gives the following account of the former:-- "the south-west counties of scotland have seldom corn enough to serve them through the year; and the northern parts producing more than they need, those in the west come in the summer to buy at leith, the stores that come from the north; and from a word (whiggam) used in driving their horses, all that drove were called whiggamors, and, shorter, the whigs. now in that year, before the news came down of the duke of hamilton's defeat, the ministers animated the people to rise and march to edinburgh; and they came up, marching at the head of their parishes with an unheard-of fury, praying and preaching all the way as they came. this was called the whiggamor's inroad; and ever after, all that opposed the court came in contempt to be called whigs." dr. johnson, in his dictionary, quotes this passage; yet by placing against the term whig, the saxon word _whoeg_, synonymous to whey, or sour milk, he seems not to reject another derivation, which has been assigned to it by some writers. echard says--"great animosities were created by these petitioners and abhorrers, and they occasioned many feuds and quarrels in private conversations; and about the same time, , and from the same cause, arose the pernicious terms and distinctions of whig and tory, both exotic names, which the parties invidiously bestowed upon each other. all that adhered to the interest of the crown and lineal succession, were by the contrary branded with the title given to the irish robbers; and they, in return, gave the others the appellation of whig, or sour milk, formerly appropriated to the scotch presbyterians and rigid covenanters."--p. . tindal, in his introduction to the continuation of rapin's history, notices the distinction between the principles of the parties, but does not inquire into the etymology of the terms.--vol. i. p. . toland, in his state anatomy, considers the words as mere terms of reproach, first applied to each party by its enemies, and then adopted by each as a distinction. "the words themselves are but late nicknames, given by each party to the other in king charles the second's reign: tories in ireland, and whigs in scotland, being what we in england call highwaymen; and you, public robbers."--part i. hume, the historian, says-- "this year, , is remarkable for being the epoch of the well-known epithets whig and tory, by which, and sometimes without any material difference, this island has been so long divided. the court party reproached their antagonists with their affinity to the fanatical conventiclers, who were known by the name of whigs; and the country party found a resemblance between the courtiers and the popish banditti in ireland, who were known by the name of tories."--vol. viii. p. . these are the principal writers in which the origin of the terms is noticed. chap. lxxxiii. miscellaneous curiosities. _monster--individuation--reproduction--peruke--centaurs and lapithæ._ monster.--a birth or production of a living being, degenerating from the proper and usual disposition of parts in the species to which it belongs; as, when there are too many members, or too few; or some of them are extravagantly out of proportion, either on the side of defect or excess,--is generally denominated a monster. f. malebranche accounts for the production of monsters in the animal world in the following manner:--"the creator has established such a communication between the several parts of his creation, that we are naturally led to imitate one another, i. e. to have a disposition to do the same things, and assume the same manners, with those about which we converse; we have also certain natural dispositions, which incline us to compassion as well as imitation. of these things most men are sensible, and therefore they need not be proved. the animal spirits, then, are not only naturally carried into the respective parts of the body to perform the same actions and the same motions which we see others do, but also to receive in some manner their wounds, and take part in their sufferings. "experience tells us, that when we look attentively on any person severely beaten, or that has a large wound, ulcer, or the like, the spirits immediately flow into those parts of our bodies which answer to those we see suffer in the other; unless their course be stopped from some other principle. this flux of spirits is very sensible in persons of delicate constitutions, who frequently shudder, and find a kind of trembling in the body on these occasions; and this sympathy in bodies produces compassion in the mind. "now it must be observed, that the view of a wound, &c. affects the person who views it the more strongly and sensibly, as the person is more weak and delicate; the spirits making a stronger impression on the fibres of a delicate body, than in those of a robust one. thus, strong and vigorous men, &c. see an execution without much concern, while women, &c. are struck with pity and horror. as to children that are unborn, the fibres of their flesh being incomparably finer than those in women, the course of the animal spirits must necessarily produce much greater alterations. "these things being laid down, monsters are easily accounted for. suppose, for instance, a child to be born a fool, and also with its legs and arms broken in the same manner as those are of criminals executed; the phenomena may be accounted for thus: every stroke given to the poor man struck forcibly the imagination of the mother, and, by a kind of counter-stroke, the tender and delicate brain of the child. now, though the fibres of the woman's brain were strongly shaken by the violent flux of animal spirits on this occasion, yet they had strength and consistence enough to prevent an entire disorder; whereas the fibres of the child's brain, being unable to bear the shock of those spirits, were quite ruined, and the ravage was great enough to deprive him of reason all his lifetime. "again, the view of an execution frightening the mother, the violent course of the animal spirits was directed forcibly from the brain to all those parts of the body corresponding to the suffering parts of the criminal and the same thing must happen in the child. but as the bones were strong enough to resist the impulse of those spirits, they were not damaged; and yet the rapid course of these spirits could easily overpower and break the tender and delicate fibres of the bones of the child; the bones being the last parts of the body that are formed, and having a very slender consistence, while the child is yet in the womb." to this it may here be added, that had the mother determined the course of these spirits towards some other part of her body, by tickling or scratching herself vehemently, the child would not in all probability have had its bones broken; but the part answering that to which the motion of the spirits was determined, would have been the sufferer. hence appears the reason why women, in the time of gestation, seeing persons, &c. marked in such a manner in the face, impress the same mark on the same parts of the child; and why, upon rubbing some other part of the body when startled at the sight of any thing, or agitated with any extraordinary passion, the mark or impression is fixed on that hidden part, rather than on the face of the child. from the principles here laid down, most, if not all, of the phenomena of monsters, may be easily accounted for. various other theories have been formed by different philosophers and phisiologists. but, after all, it must be confessed that we seem as yet to be very little acquainted with nature in her numerous variations. monsters are more common and more extraordinary in the vegetable than in the animal kingdom, because the different juices are more easily deranged and confounded together. leaves are often seen, from the internal part of which other leaves spring forth; and it is not uncommon to see flowers of the ranunculus, from the middle of which issues a stalk bearing another flower. m. bonnet informs us, that in certain warm and rainy years he has frequently met with monsters of this kind in rose-trees. this observer saw a rose, from the centre of which issued a square stalk of a whitish colour, tender, and without prickles, which at its top bore two flower-buds opposite to each other, and totally destitute of a calix; a little above the buds issued a petal of a very irregular shape. upon the prickly stalk which supported the rose, a leaf was observed which had the shape of trefoil, together with a broad flat pedicle. in the memoirs of the academy of sciences, for , p. , mention is made of a rose, from the centre of the leaves of which issued a rose-branch two or three inches long, and furnished with leaves. see the same memoirs for , p. , and for , p. . in the memoirs for , a very singular instance is mentioned of a monstrosity observed by m. duhamel, in an apple-tree ingrafted with clay. at the place of the insertion there appeared a bud, which produced a stalk and some leaves; the stalk and the pedicle of the leaves were of a pulpy substance, and had the most perfect resemblance both in taste and smell to the pulp of a green apple. an extraordinary _chamæmelum_ is mentioned in the _acta helvetica_. m. bonnet, in his _recherches sur l'usage des feuilles_, mentions likewise some monstrous productions which have been found in fruits with kernels, analogous in their nature to those which occur in the flowers of the ranunculus and of the rose-tree. he has seen a pear, from the eye of which issued a tuft of thirteen or fourteen leaves, very well shaped, and many of them of the natural size. he has seen another pear which gave rise to a ligneous and knotty stalk, on which grew another pear somewhat larger than the first. the stalk had probably flourished, and the fruit had formed. the _lilium album polyanthos_, observed some years ago at breslaw, which bore on its top a bundle of flowers, consisting of one hundred and two lilies, all of the common shape, is well-known. m. regnier has mentioned some individuals monstrous with respect to the flower, in the _journal de physique et d'histoire naturelle_, for november, . he has likewise mentioned a monstrous tulip, which is seen in the gardens of some amateurs; juniper berries with horns; a balsamine with three spurs, &c. individuation,--is the unity of a thing with itself, or that whereby a thing is what it is. to begin with those species of body that are not properly organized, which have neither life nor sense, as stones, metals, &c. in these, individuation seems to consist in nothing but greater or less: take the less part of a stone away, you may still call it the same stone; take an equal part with the remains, that individuation ceases, and they are two new individuals. divide a stone, &c. as often as you please, every part of it will be a stone still, another individual stone, as much as any in the mountain or quarry out of which it was first cut, even though reduced to the minutest sand, or, if possible, a thousand times less. but when we take one step farther, and proceed a degree higher, to the vegetable kingdom, the case is far otherwise; and indeed nature seems to be still more distinct, and, as it were, careful in its individuation, the higher it rises, till at last it brings us to that great transcendental individual, the only proper uncompounded essence, the one god, blessed for ever. to return to plants: their individuation consists in that singular form, contexture, and order of their parts, whereby they are disposed for those uses to which nature has designed them, and by which they receive and maintain their beings. for example, in a tree, though you take away the branches, it grows, receives nourishment from the earth, maintains itself, and is still a tree, which the parts thereof are not when separated from the rest; for we cannot say that every part of a tree is a tree, as we can that every part of a stone is still a stone, but if this tree be cloven in two or more pieces, or felled by the roots, this contexture, or orderly respect of the parts one to another, ceases; its essence as a tree is destroyed; its individuation perishes; and it is no more a tree, but a stump, or piece of timber. let us proceed a degree higher, to merely sensible creatures, who are not so immediately depending on the earth, the common mother, as the plants, nor rooted to it as they are, but walk about, and have a kind of independent existence, and are a sort of world by themselves. and here the individuation consists in such a particular contexture of their essential parts, and their relation one toward another, as enables them to exert the operations of the sensible or animal life. thus, cut off the legs or any other parts of an animal, it is the same animal still; but cut off its head, or take away its life, and it is no longer that individual animal, but a mere carcase, and will, by degrees, resolve itself into common matter again. to ascend now to the highest rank of visible beings,--the rational. the individuation of man appears to consist in the union of a rational soul with any convenient portion of fitly organized matter. any portion of matter duly qualified, and united to the soul by such a union as we experience, is immediately individuated by it, and, together with that soul, makes a man; so that, if it were possible for one soul to be clothed over and over at different times with all the matter in the universe, it would in all those distinct shapes be the same individual man. nor can a man be supposed in this case to differ more from himself, than he does from what he really was when an infant, or just passed an embryo, when compared with what he is when of adult or decrepit age; he having, during that intermediate time, changed his portion of matter over and over; as, being fat and lean, sick and well, having been exhausted by bleeding, effluvia, perspiration, &c.; and reunited again by aliment; so that perhaps not one particle, or but very few of the first matter which he took from his parents, and brought with him into the world, is now remaining. the preceding article is naturally followed by reproduction.--reproduction is usually understood to mean the restoration of a thing before existing, and since destroyed. it is very well known that trees and plants may be raised from slips and cuttings; and some late observations have shewn, that there are some animals which have nearly the same property. the polype (see _hydra_) was the first instance we had of this kind; but we had scarcely time to wonder at the discovery m. trembley had made, when m. bonnet discovered the same property in a species of water-worm. amongst the plants which may be raised from cuttings, there are some which seem to possess this quality in so eminent a degree, that the smallest portion of them will become a complete tree again. a twig of willow, poplar, or many other trees, being planted in the earth, takes root, and becomes a tree, every piece of which will in the same manner produce other trees. the case is the same with these worms: they are cut to pieces, and these several pieces become perfect animals; and each of these may be again cut into a number of pieces, each of which will in the same manner produce an animal. it has been supposed by some, that these worms were oviparous; but, m. bonnet, on cutting one of them to pieces, having observed a slender substance, resembling a small filament, to move at the end of one of the pieces, separated it, and on examining it with glasses, found it to be a perfect worm, of the same form with its parent, which lived and grew larger in a vessel of water into which he put it. these small bodies are easily divided, and very readily complete themselves again, a day usually serving for the production of a head to the part that wants one; and, in general, the smaller and more slender the worms are, the sooner they complete themselves after this operation. when the bodies of the large worms are examined by the microscope, it is very easy to see the appearance of the young worms alive, and moving about within them; but it requires great precision and exactness to be certain of this, since the ramifications of the great artery have very much the appearance of young worms, and they are kept in a sort of continual motion by the systoles and diastoles of the several portions of the artery, which serve as so many hearts. it is very certain, that what we force in regard to these animals by our operations, is done also naturally every day in the brooks and ditches where they live. a curious observer will find in these places many of them without heads or tails, and some without either; as also, other fragments of various kinds, all of which are in the act of completing themselves; but whether accidents have reduced them to this state, or they thus purposely throw off parts of their own bodies for the production of more animals, it is not easy to determine. they are plainly liable to many accidents, by which they lose the several parts of their bodies; and they must perish very early, if they had not a power of reproducing what was lost. they are often broken into two parts, by the resistance of some hard piece of mud which they enter; and they are subject to a disease, a kind of gangrene, rotting off the several parts of their bodies, by which they must inevitably perish, were they not possessed of this surprising property. the reproduction of several parts of lobsters, crabs, &c. is one of the greatest curiosities in natural history. it seems, indeed, inconsistent with the modern philosophical system of generation, which supposes the animal to be wholly formed in the egg; that, in lieu of an organical part of an animal cut off, another should arise perfectly like it: the fact, however, is too well attested to be denied. the legs of lobsters, &c. consist each of five articulations; now, when any of the legs happen to break by any accident, as by walking, &c. which frequently occurs, the fracture is always found to be at the suture near the fourth articulation; and what they thus lose is exactly reproduced in some time afterwards; that is, a part of the leg shoots out, consisting of four articulations, the first whereof has two claws, as before; so that the loss is entirely repaired. if the leg of a lobster be broken off by design at the fourth or fifth articulation, what is thus broken off is always reproduced, even after a second or third accident. but if the fracture be made in the first, second, or third articulation, the reproduction is not so certain. and it is very surprising, that if the fracture be made at these articulations, at the end of two or three days, all the other articulations are generally found broken off to the fourth, which, it is supposed, is done by the creature itself, to make the reproduction certain. the part reproduced, is not only perfectly similar in form to that retrenched, but also, in a certain space of time, it grows equal to it. the creature is, however, frequently taken before this is accomplished. hence it is that we frequently see lobsters, which have their two large legs unequal in all proportions. peruke.--it appears that this term was originally applied to describe a fine natural head of long hair, and if this appellation had been retained, we should never have associated wigs with monsters. but whatever may have been the ancient use or meaning of the word, it has now almost become obsolete, though it was for more than a century in constant application to those artificial heads of hair, made probably at first to conceal natural or accidental baldness, but which afterwards became so ridiculously fashionable, as to be worn in preference to the most beautiful locks, absurdly shaved off the head to make room for them. ancient authors might be quoted, to prove, that the great and luxurious of that time, had recourse to this mode of concealing defects, and of decorating the head; nay, it might perhaps be proved, that the peruke of the emperor commodus was more absurdly composed than any modern peruke has ever been; and indeed it must be admitted, that a wig powdered with scrapings of gold, in addition to oils and glutinous perfumes, must have made a more wonderful appearance than our immediate ancestors ever witnessed. it was in the reign of our charles the first, that perukes were introduced throughout europe, when the moralists attacked them without mercy, as they perceived that the folly of youth even extended to the cutting off nature's locks, to be replaced by the hair of the dead, and of horses, woven into a filthy piece of canvass. admonition and ridicule were, however, of little avail, and the clergy began to be affected by the general mania. those on the continent being almost universally roman catholics, were so completely subject to their superiors, that the peruke was soon routed from their body; but as the dignified clergy of england conceive that their consequence is increased by the enormous bushes of hair upon their heads, and the judges have adopted their sentiments in this particular, it is probable many years will elapse before the shape and absurdity of two particular species of perukes are forgotten. about the close of the seventeenth century, the peruke was made to represent the natural curl of the hair, but in such profusion, that ten heads would not have furnished an equal quantity, as it flowed down the back, and hung over the shoulders halfway down the arms. by , it had become fashionable to tie one half of it on the left side into a club. between and , the bag-wig came into fashion, and the peruke was docked considerably, and sometimes plaited behind into a queue, though even till the long flowing locks maintained their influence. after those were rarely seen; and since that time persons wearing perukes have generally had substantial reasons for so doing, from baldness, and complaints in the head. at one time, indeed, when the stern virtues of brutus were much in vogue, the young men of europe wore perukes of black or dark hair, dressed from his statues. many particulars on this subject have been preserved by mr. malcolm, in his "anecdotes of the manners and customs of london," from which we learn, that a young countrywoman obtained £ for her head of hair in the year , when human hair sold at £ per ounce; and in , the grey locks of an aged woman sold for £ after her decease. wigs of peculiar excellence were sold at £ each. a petition from the master peruke-makers of london and westminster, presented to the king, in , points out the great decline of their use to have taken place at that time. in this they complain of the public wearing their own hair; and say, "that this mode, pernicious enough in itself to their trade, is rendered excessively more so by swarms of french hair-dressers already in those cities, and daily increasing." we close this chapter with an account of centaurs and lapithÆ.--under the reign of ixion, king of thessaly, a company of bulls which fed upon pelion ran mad, by which means the mountain was inaccessible. they also descended into the inhabited parts, ruining the trees and fruits, and killing the larger cattle. upon which ixion declared that he would give a great reward to any person that would destroy these bulls. riding on horseback was never practised before that time. but some young men that lived in a village at the foot of pelion, had attempted successfully to train horses fit to back, and had accustomed themselves to that exercise. these youths undertook to clear the mountain of the bulls, which they effected by pursuing them on horseback, and piercing them with their arrows as they fled; but when the bulls stopped or followed them, they retired without receiving any hurt. and from hence they were called centaurs, viz. pierce bulls. having received of ixion the recompense he promised them, they became so fierce and proud, that they committed a thousand insolences in thessaly, not sparing even ixion himself, who dwelt in the town of larissa. the inhabitants of the country were at that time called lapithæ, who one day invited the centaurs to a feast which they celebrated: but the centaurs abused their civility; for, having drunk too much, they took the lapithites' women from them, set them on their horses, and carried them away. this violence kindled a long war between the centaurs and the lapithæ: the centaurs in the night came down into the plain, and laid ambushes for their enemies, and, as soon as day appeared, retired again into the mountain, with whatever they had taken. thus, as they retired, the lapithæ saw only the hinder parts of their horses, and the men's heads; so that they seemed but as one animal, whence they believed the centaurs had become half men and half horses, and that they were clouds, because the village where they dwelt was called nophelus, which signified a cloud. chap. lxxxiv. miscellaneous curiosities.--(_continued._) _spontaneous inflammation--diseases peculiar to particular countries--injuries from swallowing the stones of fruits--extraordinary surgical operation--extraordinary cures by burning--illumination by electricity--divisibility of matter._ spontaneous inflammation.--a paper on this subject, which appeared in the repertory of arts, vol. ii. p. , induced the rev. w. tooke to publish some remarks in vol. iii. p. , of that work, from which the following is an extract, respecting the spontaneous inflammation of animal and vegetable substances. "one rüde, (says he,) an apothecary at bautzen, had prepared a pyrophorus from rye-bran and alum. not long after he had made the discovery, there broke out, in the next village of nauslitz, a great fire, which did much mischief, and was said to have been occasioned by the treating of a sick cow in the cow-house. mr. rüde knew that the countrymen were accustomed to lay an application of parched rye-bran to their cattle, for curing the thick neck; he knew also that alum and rye-bran, by a proper process, yielded a _pyrophorus_; and now, to try whether parched rye-bran alone would have the same effect, he roasted a quantity of it by the fire, till it had acquired the colour of roasted coffee. this roasted bran he wrapped up in a linen cloth; in a few minutes there arose a strong smoke, with a smell of burning. soon after, the rag grew as black as tinder, and the bran, now become hot, fell through it on the ground in little balls. mr. rüde repeated the experiment, and always with the same result. who now will doubt, that the frequency of fires in cow-houses, which in those parts are mostly wooden buildings, is occasioned by this practice, of binding roasted bran about the necks of the cattle?" montet relates, in the _memoires de l'académie de paris_, , that animal substances kindle into flame; and that he himself has been witness to the spontaneous accension of dunghills. the woollen stuff prepared at sevennes, named emperor's stuff, has kindled of itself, and burnt to a coal. it is usual for this to happen to woollen stuffs, when in hot summers they are laid in a heap, in a room but little aired. in june, , this happened at a woolcomber's in germany, where a heap of wool-combings, piled up in a close warehouse seldom aired, took fire of itself. this wool burnt from within outwards, and became quite a coal; though neither fire nor light had been used at the packing. in like manner cloth-workers have certified, that after they have bought wool that was become wet, and packed it close in their warehouse, this wool has burnt of itself. the spontaneous accension of various matters from the vegetable kingdom, as wet hay, corn, and madder, and at times wet meal and malt, is well known. hemp, flax, and hemp-oil, have also often given rise to dreadful conflagrations. in the spring of , a fire was discovered on board a frigate lying in the roads off cronstadt, which endangered the whole fleet. after the severest scrutiny, no cause of the fire was to be found; and the matter remained without explanation, but with strong surmises of some wicked incendiary.--in august, , a fire broke out at the hemp magazine at st. petersburg, by which several hundred thousand poods (about lb. english) of hemp and flax were consumed. the walls of the magazine are of brick, the floors of stone, and the rafters and covering of iron; it stands alone on an island in the neva, on which, as well as on board the ships lying in the neva, no fire is permitted.--in st. petersburg, in the same year, a fire was discovered in the vaulted shop of a furrier. in these shops, which are all vaults, neither fire nor candle is allowed, and the doors of them are all of iron. at length the probable cause was found to be, that the furrier, the evening before the fire, had got a roll of new cerecloth, and had left it in his vault, where it was found almost consumed.--in the night between the th and st of april, , a fire was seen on board the frigate maria, at anchor, with several other ships, in the roads off the island of cronstadt; the fire was, however, soon extinguished, but, by the severest examination, nothing could be extorted concerning the manner in which it had arisen. the garrison was threatened with a scrutiny that should cost them dear; and while they were in this cruel suspense, the wisdom of the sovereign gave a turn to the affair, which quieted the minds of all, by pointing out the proper method to be pursued by the commissioners of inquiry, in the following order to czernichef: "when we perceived, by the report you have delivered in of the examination into the accident that happened on board the frigate maria, that, in the cabin where the fire broke out, there were found parcels of matting, tied together with packthread, in which the soot of burnt fir-wood had been mixed with oil, for the purpose of painting the ship's bottom, it came into our mind, that, for the fire which happened last year at the hemp-warehouses, the following cause was assigned; that the fire might have proceeded from the hemp being bound up in greasy mats, or even from such mats having lain near the hemp: therefore, neglect not to guide your farther inquiries by this remark." as, upon juridical examination as well as private inquiry, it was found that, in the ship's cabin, where the smoke appeared, there lay a bundle of matting, containing russian lamp-black, prepared from fir-soot moistened with hemp-oil varnish, which was perceived to have sparks of fire in it at the time of the extinction, the russian admiralty gave orders to make various experiments, to see whether a mixture of hemp-oil varnish and the forementioned russian black, folded up in a mat and bound together, would kindle of itself. they shook lb. of fir-wood soot into a tub, and poured about lb. of hemp-oil varnish upon it; this they let stand for an hour, after which they poured off the oil. the remaining mixture they now wrapped up in a mat, and the bundle was laid close to the cabin where the midshipmen had their birth. two officers sealed both the mat and door with their own seals, and stationed a watch of four officers, to take notice of all that passed during the whole night; and as soon as any smoke should appear, immediately to give information to the commandant of the port. the experiment was made on the th of april, about eleven o'clock a. m. in presence of all the officers. early on the th, about six o'clock a. m. a smoke appeared, of which the chief commandant was immediately informed: he came with speed, and, through a small hole in the door, saw the mat smoking. he dispatched a messenger to the members of the commission; but as the smoke became stronger, and fire began to appear, he found it necessary to break the seals and open the door. no sooner was the air thus admitted, than the mat began to burn with greater force, and presently it burst into a flame. the russian admiralty, being now fully convinced of the self-enkindling property of this composition, transmitted their experiment to the imperial academy of sciences; who appointed mr. georgi, a very learned adjunct of the academy, to make farther experiments on the subject. three pounds of russian fir-black were slowly impregnated with lb. of hemp-oil varnish; and when the mixture had stood open five hours, it was bound up in linen. by this process it became clotted; but some of the black remained dry. when the bundle had lain sixteen hours in a chest, it was observed to emit a very nauseous, and rather putrid smell, not unlike that of boiling oil. some parts of it became warm, and steamed much; eighteen hours after the mixture was wrapt up, one place became brown, emitted smoke, and directly afterwards glowing fire appeared. the same thing happened in a second or third place; though other places were scarcely warm. the fire crept slowly around, and gave a thick, grey, stinking smoke. mr. georgi took the bundle out of the chest, and laid it on a stone pavement; when, on being exposed to the free air, there arose a slow burning flame, a span high, with a strong body of smoke. not long afterwards, there appeared, here and there, several chaps, or clefts, as from a little volcano, the vapour issuing from which burst into flames. on his breaking the lump, it burst into a very violent flame, full three feet high, which soon grew less, and then went out. the smoking and glowing fire lasted six hours; and the remainder continued to glow without for two hours longer. the grey earthy ashes, when cold, weighed five and a half ounces. mr. tooke concludes with a case of self-accension, noticed by mr. hagemann, an apothecary, at bremen. he prepared a boiled oil of _hyoscyamus_, or henbane, in the usual way, with common oil. the humidity of the herb was nearly evaporated, when he was called away by other affairs, and was obliged to leave the oil on the fire. the evaporation of the humidity was hereby carried so far, that the herb could easily be rubbed to powder. the oil had lost its green colour, and had become brownish. in this state it was laid on the straining cloth, and placed in the garden, behind the house, in the open air. in half an hour, on coming again to this place, he perceived a strong smoke there, though he thought the oil must have long been cooled: on closer inspection, he found that the smoke did not proceed from the oil, but from the herb on the straining cloth; at the same time the smell betrayed a concealed fire. he stirred the herb about, and blew into it with a bellows, whereupon it broke out into a bright flame. diseases peculiar to particular countries.--the inhabitants of particular places are peculiarly subject to particular diseases, owing to their manner of living, or to the air and effluvia of the earth and waters. hoffman has made some curious observations on diseases of this kind. he remarks, that swellings of the throat have always been common to the inhabitants of mountainous countries: and the old roman authors say, 'who wonders at a swelled throat in the alps?' the people of switzerland, carinthia, stiria, the hartz forest, transylvania, and the inhabitants of cronstadt, he observes, are all subject to this disease. the french are peculiarly troubled with fevers, worms, hydroceles, and sarcoceles; and all these disorders seem to be owing originally to their eating very large quantities of chestnuts. the people of britain are affected with hoarsenesses, catarrhs, coughs, dysenteries, consumptions, and the scurvy; the women with the _fluor albus_; and children with a disease scarcely known elsewhere, which we call the rickets. in different parts of italy, different diseases reign. at naples, the venereal disease is more common than in any other part of the world. at venice, people are peculiarly subject to the bleeding piles. at rome, tertian agues and lethargic distempers are most common; in tuscany, the epilepsy; and in apulia, burning fevers, pleurisies, and that sort of madness which is attributed to the bite of the tarantula, and fancied to be cured by music. in spain, apoplexies are common, as also melancholy, hypochondriacal complaints, and bleeding piles. the dutch are peculiarly subject to the scurvy, and to the stone in the kidneys. the people of denmark, norway, sweden, pomerania, and livonia, are all terribly afflicted with the scurvy: and it is remarkable, that in denmark, sweden, and norway, fevers are very common; but in iceland, lapland, and finland, there is scarcely ever such a disease met with. the russians and tartars are afflicted with ulcers, made by the cold, of the nature of what we call chilblains, but greatly worse; and in poland and lithuania, there reigns a peculiar disease, called the _plica polonica_, so terribly painful and offensive, that scarcely any thing can be thought worse. the people of hungary are very subject to the gout and rheumatism: they are also more infested with lice and fleas than any other people in the world; and they have a peculiar disease which they call _cremor_. the germans, in different parts of the empire, are subject to different reigning diseases. in westphalia, they are peculiarly troubled with peripneumonies and the itch. in silesia, franconia, austria, and other places thereabout, they are very liable to fevers of the burning kind, to bleedings at the nose, and other hæmorrhages; and to the gout, inflammations, and consumptions. in misnia they have purple fevers; and the children are peculiarly infested with worms. in greece, macedonia, and thrace, there are very few diseases; but what they have are principally burning fevers and phrenzies. anciently, the most common diseases in egypt were blindness, ulcers in the legs, consumptions, and the leprosy, called _elephantiasis_, which was peculiar to that country; as pliny observes, _egypti peculiare hoc malum elephantiasis_. at constantinople the plague always rages; and in the west indian islands, malignant fevers, and the most terrible colics. these diseases are called _endemic_. in general, it is observed, that the colder the country is, the fewer and the less violent are the diseases. schoeffer tells us, that the laplanders know no such thing as the plague, or fevers of the burning kind; nor are they subject to half the distempers we are. they are robust and strong, and live to eighty, ninety, and many of them to more than one hundred years; and at this great age they are not feeble and decrepit, but a man of ninety is able to work or travel as well as a man of sixty with us. they are subject, however, to some diseases, more than other nations. they have often distempers of the eyes, owing to their living in smoke, or being blinded by snow. pleurisies, inflammations of the lungs, and violent pains of the head, are also very frequently found among these hardy inhabitants of the north; and the small-pox rages with great violence. they have one general remedy against these and all other internal diseases; this is, the root of that sort of moss which they call _jerth_. they make a decoction of this root in the whey of rein-deer's milk, and drink very large doses of it warm, to keep up a breathing sweat; if they cannot get this, they use the stalks of angelica boiled in the same manner: but the keeping in a sweat, and drinking plentifully of diluting liquors, may go a great way in the cure. they cure pleurisies by this method in a very few days, and get so well through the small-pox with it, that very few die of the disease. injuries from swallowing the stones of fruits.--the dangers arising from swallowing the stones of plums and other fruits are very great. the philosophical transactions give an account of a woman who suffered violent pains in her bowels for thirty years, the malady returning once in a month or less. at length, a strong purge being given her, the occasion of all these complaints was discovered to be a stone of an oval figure, of about ten drams in weight, and measuring five inches in circumference. this had caused all the violent fits of pain, which she had suffered for so many years; after this, she became perfectly well. the ball extracted looked like a stone, and felt very hard, but swam in water. on cutting it through with a knife, there was found in the centre, a plum-stone, round which several coats of this hard and tough matter had gathered. another instance is given in the same papers, of a man, who, dying of an incurable colic, which had tormented him many years, and baffled the effects of medicines, was opened after death; and in his bowels was found a ball similar to that above-mentioned, but somewhat larger, being six inches in circumference, and weighing an ounce and a half. in the centre of this, as of the other, there was found the stone of a common plum, and the coats were of the same nature with those of the former. these and similar instances mentioned in the same work, sufficiently shew the folly of that common opinion, that the stones of fruits are wholesome. even cherry stones, swallowed in great quantities, have occasioned death. extraordinary surgical operation.--"the most surprising and honourable operation of surgery ever performed, was, without any contradiction, that executed by m. richerand, by taking away a part of the ribs and of the pleura. the patient was himself a medical man, and not ignorant of the danger he ran in this operation being had recourse to; but he also knew that his disorder was otherwise incurable. he was attacked with a cancer on the internal surface of the ribs and of the pleura, which continually produced enormous fungosities, that had been in vain attempted to be repressed by the actual cautery. m. richerand was obliged to lay the ribs bare, to saw away two, to detach them from the pleura, and to cut away all the cancerous part of that membrane. "as soon as he had made the opening, the air rushing into the chest, occasioned the first day great suffering, and distressing shortness of breath; the surgeon could touch and see the heart through the pericardium, which was as transparent as glass, and could assure himself of the total insensibility of both. much serous fluid flowed from the wound, as long as it remained open; but it filled up slowly by means of the adhesion of the lung with the pericardium, and the fleshy granulations that were formed in it. at length the patient got so well, that on the twenty-seventh day after the operation, he could not resist the desire of going to the medicinal school, to see the fragments of the ribs that had been taken from him; and in three or four days afterwards he returned home, and went about his ordinary business. the success of m. richerand is the more important, because it will authorize, in other cases, enterprises, which, according to received opinions, would appear impossible; and we shall be less afraid of penetrating into the interior of the chest. m. richerand even hopes, that by opening the pericardium itself, and using proper injections, we may cure a disease that has hitherto always been fatal, the dropsy of that cavity."--_thomson's annals._ extraordinary cures by burning.--the following case is recorded in the memoirs of the academy of sciences, by m. homberg. a woman, of about thirty-five, became subject to a headach, which at times was so violent, that it drove her out of her senses, making her sometimes stupid and foolish, at other times raving and furious. the seat of the pain was in the forehead, and over the eyes, which were inflamed, and looked exceedingly red and sparkling; and the most violent fits of it were attended with nausea and vomiting. in the time of the fits, she could take no food; but at all others she had a very good appetite. m. homberg had in vain attempted her cure for three years, with all kinds of medicines: only opium succeeded; and that but little, all its effect being only to take off the pain for a few hours. the redness of her eyes was always the sign of an approaching fit. one night, feeling a fit coming on, she went to lie down upon the bed; but first walked up to the glass with the candle in her hand, to see how her eyes looked: in observing this, the candle set fire to her cap; and as she was alone, her head was terribly burnt before the fire could be extinguished. m. homberg was sent for, and ordered bleeding and proper dressings: but the expected fit this night never came on; the pain of the burning wore off by degrees; and the patient found herself from that hour cured of the headach, which had never once returned in four years after; such being the time when the account was communicated. another case, not less remarkable, was communicated to m. homberg by a physician at bruges. a woman, who for several years had her legs and thighs swelled in an extraordinary manner, found some relief from rubbing them before the fire with brandy every morning and evening. one evening, the brandy she had rubbed herself with took fire, and slightly burnt her. she applied some brandy to her burn; and in the night all the water with which the afflicted parts were swelled, was entirely discharged, and the swelling did not again return. illumination by electricity.--professor meinecke, of hallchas, in gilbert's annals, , number , proposed to illuminate halls, houses, and streets, by the electric spark; and expresses his strong persuasion that one day it will afford a more perfect and less expensive light than gas-illumination, and ultimately replace it. his plan is, to arrange, what are called, in electricity, luminous tubes, glasses, &c.; i. e. insulating substances, having a series of metallic spangles at small distances from each other, along the place to be illuminated; and then, by a machine, send a current of electricity through them: sometimes also partially exhausted glasses, as the luminous receiver, conductor, &c., are used. in this way professor meinecke obtained from a two-feet plate machine, a constant light in his apartment equal to that of the moon, and even surpassing it; and by enclosing his system of sparks in tubes filled with rarified hydrogen gas, in which gas it is assumed that the electric spark is more than doubled in brilliancy, he thinks it will be easy to enlarge the plan to any extent. divisibility of matter.--we may be readily convinced of the infinite divisibility of bodies, by simply walking in a garden, and inhaling the sweet incense that rises from a thousand flowers. how inconceivably small must be the odoriferous particles of a carnation, which diffuse themselves through a whole garden, and every where strike our sense of smell! if this is not sufficient, let us consider some other objects of nature; as, for instance, one of those silk threads, the work of a poor worm. suppose this thread is three hundred and sixty feet long, it will weigh but a single grain. again, consider into how many perceptible parts a length of three hundred and sixty feet can be divided. a single inch may be divided into six hundred parts, each as thick as a hair, and consequently be perfectly visible. hence a single grain of silk can be divided into at least two millions five hundred and ninety-two thousand parts, each of which may be seen without the help of a microscope. and as every one of these parts may be again divided into several more millions of parts, till the division is carried beyond the reach of thought, it is evident that this progression may be infinite. the last particles, which are no longer divisible by human industry, must still have extension, and be consequently susceptible of division, though we are no longer able to effect it. if we examine the animal kingdom, we shall discover still further proofs of the infinite divisibility of matter. pepper has been put into a glass of water, and on looking through a microscope, a multitude of animalcules were seen in the water, a thousand million times less than a grain of sand! how inconceivably minute then must be the feet, muscles, vessels, nerves, and organs of sense, in these animals! and how small their eggs and their young ones, and the fluids which circulate in them! here the imagination loses itself, our ideas become confused, and we are incapable of giving form to such very small particles. what still more claims our attention is, that the more we magnify, by means of glasses, the productions of nature, the more perfect and beautiful do they appear: whilst with works of art it is generally quite contrary; for when these are seen through a microscope, we find them rough, coarse, and imperfect, though executed by the most able artists, and with the utmost care. thus the almighty has impressed even upon the smallest atom the stamp of his infinity. the most subtile body is as a world, in which millions of parts unite and are arranged in the most perfect order. chap. lxxxv. miscellaneous curiosities.--(_continued._) _the jew's harp--remarkable aqueducts--crichup linn--eddystone rocks--dismal swamp--curious wine cellar--mint of segovia--remarkable mills--silk mill at derby--portland vase--murdering statue--a curious pulpit._ the jew's harp.--the jew's trump, or jew's harp, as it is often called, though now a boy's instrument, is of ancient origin, for mr. pennant informs us, (tour to scotland, p. ,) that one made of gilt brass was found in norway, deposited in an urn. there appears to be an allusion, in the name, to the inhabitants of judea; and it is to be observed, that in dodsley's old plays, vol. iv. p. , quick calls the usurer, on account of his jewish avarice, "a notable jew's trump." in the plate, however, of jewish musical instruments, in calmet's dictionary, nothing of this kind occurs; so that perhaps there is a corruption here of _jeu-trompe_, a plaything, or play-tromp, as it is now only used by boys for that purpose; or it may be a corruption of jew's harp, from the circumstance of its being placed between the teeth when played. remarkable aqueducts.--aqueducts are conveyances for carrying water from one place to another; made on uneven ground, to preserve the level. aqueducts of every kind were long ago the wonders of rome; the vast quantity of them which they had; the prodigious expense employed in conducting waters over arcades from one place to another, at the distance of thirty, forty, sixty, and even one hundred miles, which were either continued or supplied by other labours, as by cutting mountains and piercing rocks: all this may well surprise us, as nothing like it is undertaken in our times; we dare not purchase conveniency at so dear a rate. appius claudius, the censor, devised and constructed the first aqueduct. his example gave the public luxury a hint to cultivate these objects; and the force of prodigious and indefatigable labour diverted the course of rivers and floods to rome. agrippa, in that year when he was edile, put the last hand to the magnificence of these works. the aqueduct of the aqua martia, had an arch of sixteen feet in diameter. the whole was composed of three different kinds of stone; one of them reddish, another brown, and a third of an earth colour. above, there appeared two canals, of which the highest was fed by the new waters of the tiverone, and the lower by what they called the claudian river. the entire edifice is seventy roman feet high. near this aqueduct, we have, in father montfaucon, the plan of another, with three canals; the highest supplied by the aqua julia, that in the middle from tepula, and the lowest from the aqua martia. the arch of the aqueduct of the aqua claudia is of hewn stone, very beautiful; that of the aqueduct of the aqua neronia is of bricks: they are each of them seventy-two roman feet in height. the canal of the aqueduct which was called aqua appia, deserves to be mentioned for a singularity which is observed in it; for it is not, like the others, plain, nor gradual in its descent, but much narrower at the lower than the higher end. the consul frontinus, who superintended the aqueducts under the emperor nerva, mentions nine of them which had each , pipes of an inch in diameter. vigerus observes, that, in the space of twenty-four hours, rome received , hogsheads of water. not to mention the aqueducts of drusus and rhiminius, that which gives the most striking idea of roman magnificence, is the aqueduct of metz, of which a great number of arcades still remain. these arcades crossed the moselle, a river which is of vast breadth at that place. the copious sources of gorze furnished water for the representation of a sea-fight. this water was collected in a reservoir; whence it was conducted by subterraneous canals formed of hewn-stone, and so spacious, that a man could walk erect in them: it traversed the moselle upon its superb and lofty arcades, which may still be seen at the distance of two leagues from metz; so nicely wrought, and so finely cemented, that except those parts in the middle which have been carried away by the ice, they have resisted, and will still resist, the severest shocks of the most violent seasons. from these arcades, other aqueducts conveyed the waters to the baths, and to the place where the naval engagement was exhibited. if we may trust colmenarus, the aqueduct of segovia may be compared with the most admired labours of antiquity. there still remain one hundred and fifty-nine arcades, wholly consisting of stones enormously large, and joined without mortar. these arcades, with what remains of the edifice, are one hundred and two feet high; they are formed in two ranges, one above another. the aqueduct flows through the city, and runs beneath the greatest number of houses, which are at the lower end. after these enormous structures, we may be believed when we speak of the aqueduct which louis xiv. caused to be built near maintenon, for carrying water from the river bucq to versailles: it is perhaps the greatest aqueduct now in the world, being fathoms in length, above in height, and containing no fewer than two hundred and forty-two arcades. crichup linn.--this is a very beautiful cascade, formed by the rivulet crichup, in berwickshire. it falls over a precipice about eighty-five or ninety feet high, and almost perpendicular. about a half a mile below this, descends a hill of red free-stone, forming a linn, or waterfall, peculiarly romantic. the linn from top to bottom is upwards of a hundred feet, and though twenty deep, it is yet so narrow at the top, that one might easily leap across it, were it not for the tremendous prospect below, and the noise of the water running its dark course, and by its deep murmuring, affrighting the imagination. "in the time of persecution, (says the rev. mr. yorstoun,) the religious flying from their persecutors found an excellent hiding-place in crichup linn; and there is a seat, cut out by nature in the rock, which, having been the retreat of a shoemaker in those times, has ever since borne the name of the sutor's seat. nothing can be more striking than the appearance of this linn from its bottom. the darkness of the place, upon which the sun never shines; the ragged rocks rising over one's head, and seeming to meet at the top, with here and there a blasted tree bursting from the crevices; the roaring of the water, together with some degree of danger to the spectator, while he surveys the striking objects--all naturally tend to work upon the imagination. hence many fabulous stories which are told, were once believed concerning this curious linn." eddystone rocks.--this is the name of some rocks in the english channel, so called from the variety of contrary currents in their vicinity. they are situated nearly s. s. w. from the middle of plymouth sound, their distance from the port is about fourteen miles, and from rame head, the nearest point of land, twelve and a half. they are almost in the line which joins the start and lizard points; and as they lie nearly in the direction of vessels coasting up and down the channel, they were very dangerous, and ships were sometimes wrecked on them, before the lighthouse was established. they are so exposed to the swells of the ocean, from all the south and west points of the compass, that the heavy seas come uncontrolled, and break on them with the utmost fury. sometimes after a storm, when the sea in general is, to all appearance, quite smooth, and its surface unruffled by the slightest breeze, the growing swell or under current, meeting the slope of the rocks, the sea beats dreadfully upon them, and even rises above the lighthouse in a magnificent manner, overtopping it, for the moment, as with a canopy of frothy wave. notwithstanding this tremendous swell, mr. henry winstanley, in , undertook to build a lighthouse on the principal rock; and he completed it . this ingenious mechanic was so confident of the stability of his structure, that he declared his wish to be in it during the most tremendous storm that could blow. unfortunately he obtained his wish, for he perished in it, during the dreadful storm which destroyed it on the th of november, . in , another lighthouse was erected of wood on this rock, but on a different construction, by mr. john rudyard. it stood till , when it was burnt. a third one, of stone, was begun by the late celebrated mr. john smeaton, on the d of april, , and finished th of august, ; and has withstood the rage of all weathers ever since. the rock which slopes towards the south-west is cut into horizontal steps; into which are dove-tailed, and united by a strong cement, portland stone, and granite: for mr. smeaton discovered, that it was impossible to make use of the former entirely, as there is a marine animal that can destroy it; and that he could not use the latter solely, as the labour of working it would have been too expensive. he therefore used the one for the internal, and the other for the external part of the structure. upon the principle of a broad base and accumulation of matter, the whole, to the height of thirty-five feet from the foundation, is a solid mass of stones engrafted into each other, and united by every kind of additional strength. the lighthouse has four rooms, one over another, and at the top a gallery and lantern. the stone floors are flat above, but concave below, and are kept from pressing against the sides of the building by a chain let into the walls. the lighthouse is nearly eighty feet high, and withstands the most violent storms, without sustaining the smallest injury. it has now stood above sixty-three years, during which time it has been often assaulted by all the fury of the elements; and, in all probability, as mr. smeaton said, nothing but an earthquake can destroy it. the wooden part of it, however, was burnt in , but renewed in . dismal swamp,--is a morass in north america, reaching from albermarle sound, in north carolina, to the neighbourhood of portsmouth, on the opposite side of the harbour to norfolk. it is supposed to contain about two hundred and fifty square miles, or one hundred and fifty thousand acres. some of the interior parts of this vast swampy plain are seldom explored, being full of danger; yet several adventurous huntsmen sometimes pursue their game within its precincts, but they cannot advance far without great risk of forfeiting their lives to their temerity. mr. janson, a late traveller, relates, that in one of these excursions he was often knee-deep, though, in other parts, the ground supported him firmly. in endeavouring to pass one of these fenny spots, he attempted to avail himself of a sort of bridge, formed of the body of a very large tree; when, to his surprise, he was suddenly immersed in dust up to his waist, the tree having become rotten, or probably eaten out by insects, though it retained its shape, and appearance of solidity. wild beasts lurk in this impenetrable recess: cattle also stray there, and often become wild: hogs are turned into it by their owners, to fatten upon the acorns that fall from the oaks. lake drummond is situated near the centre of the swamp, and is formed by the drainings of this immense bog. it is crowded with fish of various kinds, which, living unmolested, attain a prodigious size. curious wine cellar.--the monastery of arcadi, in candia, surpasses every other part of the island, though fertile in religious houses, both in the number of monks, and the endowment of the convents. it is supposed to be built on the spot where the ancient arcadia once stood. the house itself contains nearly one hundred inhabitants, while about two hundred more are dispersed over the lands belonging to the monastery, and are employed in agriculture. the cellar is by far the finest part of the building. it contains two hundred casks of wine, of which the choicest is marked with the name of the superior, and no one may touch it without his permission. this cellar receives a solemn annual benediction immediately after the vintage. the prayer recited by the superior on this occasion, is printed in the greek spiritual; it is as follows:--"lord god! who lovest mankind, look on this wine, and on those that shall drink it; bless those vessels as thou hast blessed the wells of jacob, the fishpool of siloa, and the beverage of thy holy apostles. lord, who didst condescend to be present at the marriage of cana, where thou didst manifest thy glory to thy disciples by changing water into wine, send thy holy spirit on this wine, and bless it in thy name." mint of segovia.--at the mint of segovia, in spain, there is an engine moved by water, but so artificially made, that one part of it distends an ingot of gold into the breadth and thickness requisite to make coin. "it delivereth the plate that it hath wrought unto another, that printeth the figure of the coin upon it; and from thence it is turned over to another, that cutteth it according to the print in due shape and weight. and lastly, the several pieces fall into a coffer in another room, where the officer, whose charge it is, finds treasure ready coined." remarkable mills.--at dantzic, a city of prussia, mr. morrison, an ingenious traveller of this nation, saw a mill, which, without help of hands, did saw boards, having an iron wheel, which did not only drive the saw, but also did hook in, and turn the boards unto the saw. dr. john dee mentions the like seen by him at prague; but whether the mill moved by wind or water, is set down by neither of them. silk mill at derby.--this mill, situated on the river derwent, was erected by sir t. loombe, who, at a vast expense and great hazard, brought the model from italy. it is fixed in a large house, six stories high, and consists of , wheels, with , movements, all driven by one large water-wheel, fixed on the outside of the house! it goes round three times in one minute, and each time works , yards of silk thread, so that in twenty-four hours it works , , yards of silk thread, under the management of only one regulator! it has been of such service to the silk trade, that sir thomas had the benefit of it during his life; but the parliament having allowed him £ , , as a further reward for his services, he suffered a model of it to be taken. this model now lies in the record-office at the tower, for the benefit of the public, any person being allowed to inspect it, so that there are at present several mills of the kind erected in different parts of the kingdom. portland vase.--this is a celebrated funeral vase, which was long in the possession of the baberini family; but which was some years since purchased for guineas by the duke of portland, from whom it has derived its present name. its height is about ten inches; and its diameter, where broadest, six. there are a variety of figures upon it, of most exquisite workmanship, in bas relief, in white opaque, raised on a ground of deep blue glass, which appears black, except when held against the light. it appears to have been the work of many years; and there are antiquarians who date its production several centuries before the christian era, since, as has been said, sculpture was declining in excellence in the time of alexander the great. respecting the purpose of this vase, and what the figures on it were meant to represent, there have been various conjectures. we shall, therefore, give a short account of the several figures, without noticing any of the theories or conjectures that have been made about them. in one compartment, three exquisite figures are placed on a ruined column, the capital of which is fallen, and lies at their feet among other disjointed stones: they sit under a tree, on loose piles of stone. the middle figure is a female in a reclining and dying attitude, with an inverted torch in her left hand, the elbow of which supports her as she sinks, while the right hand is raised, and thrown over her drooping head. the figure on her right hand is a man, and that on the left a woman, both supporting themselves on their arms, and apparently thinking intensely. their backs are to the dying figure, and their faces are turned towards her, but without an attempt to assist her. on another compartment of the vase is a figure coming through a portal, and going down with great timidity into a darker region, where he is received by beautiful female, who stretches forth her hand to help him: between her knees is a large and playful serpent. she sits with her feet towards an aged figure, having one foot sunk into the earth, and the other raised on a column, with his chin resting on his hand. above the female figure is a cupid preceding the first figure, and beckoning him to advance. this first figure holds a cloak or garment, which he seems anxious to bring with him, but which adheres to the side of the portal through which he has passed. in this compartment there are two trees, one of which bends over the female figure, and the other over the aged one. on the bottom of the vase, there is another figure on a larger scale than the one we have already mentioned, but not so well finished nor so elevated. this figure points with its finger to its mouth. the dress appears to be curious and cumbersome, and above there is a foliage of a tree. on the head of the figure there is a phrygian cap: it is not easy to say whether this figure be male or female. on the handles of the vase are represented two aged heads with the ears of a quadruped, and from the middle of the forehead rises a kind of tree without leaves: these figures are, in all probability, mere ornaments, and have no connection with the story represented on the vase. murdering statue.--kenith, king of scotland, had slain cruthlintus the son, and malcolmus duffus the king, and kinsman of fenella: she, to be revenged of the murderer, caused a statue to be framed with admirable art. in one of the hands of it was an apple of gold set full of precious stones, which, whosoever touched, was immediately slain with many darts, which the statue threw or shot at him. kenith, suspecting nothing, was invited to this place, and being slain in this manner, fenella escaped over into ireland. a curious pulpit.--the pulpit of the grand parochial church at brussels, a curious production of henry verbruggen, of antwerp, is placed in the middle of the nave. at the base are adam and eve, large as life, the expelling angel and death in the rear! our first parents, though closely pursued, bear upon their shoulders the terrestrial globe, the cavity of which is filled by the preacher! from the globe rises a tree, whose top extends into a canopy sustaining an angel, and truth exhibited as a female genius. above are the virgin and the infant jesus, crushing the serpent's head with a cross. the steps on either side appear as if cut from trunks of trees, and are accompanied by carvings of the ostrich, eagle, peacock, parrot, &c. chap. lxxxvi. miscellaneous curiosities.--(_continued._) _extraordinary echoes, and whispering places--natural productions resembling artificial compositions--remarkable lamps--perpetual fire--magical drum--an extraordinary cannon--curious account of old bread--substitute for spectacles--winter sleep of animals and plants._ extraordinary echoes, and whispering places.--these are places where a whisper, or other low sound, may be heard from one part to another, to a great distance. they depend on a principle, that the voice, &c. being applied to one end of an arch, easily passes by repeated reflections to the other. hence sound is conveyed from one side of a whispering gallery to the opposite one, without being perceived by those who stand in the middle. the form of a whispering-gallery is that of a segment of a sphere, or the like arched figure. all the contrivance in whispering-places is, that near the person who whispers there may be a smooth wall, arched either cylindrically or elliptically. a circular arch will do, but not so well. the most considerable whispering-places in england are, the whispering-gallery in the dome of st. paul's, london, where the ticking of a watch may be heard from side to side, and a very easy whisper be sent all round the dome. the famous whispering-place in gloucester cathedral, is no other than a gallery above the east end of the choir, leading from one side thereof to the other. it consists of five angles and six sides; the middlemost of which is a naked window, yet two whisperers hear each other at the distance of twenty-five yards. in the philosophical transactions for , there is a letter inserted from robert southwell, esq. in which he gives the following account of some extraordinary whispering-places and echoes.--"the best whispering-place in england," he observes, "i ever saw, was that at gloucester: but in italy, in the way to naples, two days from rome, i saw, in a inn, a room with a square vault, where a whisper could be easily heard at the opposite corner, but not at all in the side corner that was near to you. "i saw another, in the way from paris to lyons, in the porch of a common inn, which had a round vault: but neither of these was comparable to that of gloucester; only the difference between these last two was, that to the latter, by holding your mouth to the side of the wall, several could hear you on the other side; the voice being more diffused: but to the former, it being a square room, and you whispering in the corner, it was only audible in the opposite corner, and not to any distance from thence, as to distinction of words. and this property was common to each corner of the room. "as to echoes, there is one at brussels that answers fifteen times: but when at milan, i went two miles from thence to a nobleman's palace, to notice one still more extraordinary. the building is of some length in the front, and has two wings projecting forward; so that it wants only one side of an oblong figure. about one hundred paces before the house, there runs a small brook, and that very slowly; over which you pass from the house into the garden. we carried some pistols with us, and, firing one of them, i heard fifty-six reiterations of the noise. the first twenty were with some distinction; but then, as the noise seemed to fly away, and the answers were at a great distance, the repetition was so doubled, that you could hardly count them all, seeming as if the principal sound was saluted in its passage by reports on this and that side at the same time. some of our company reckoned above sixty reiterations, when a louder pistol was discharged." some persons tell us, that the sound of one musical instrument in this place will seem like a great number of instruments playing together in concert. this echo is of the multiple or tautological kind, returning one sound several times successively, so as to make one clap of the hands seem like many,--one _ha_, like a laughter,--or one instrument like several of the same kind, imitating each other; and by placing certain echoing bodies in such a manner, that any note played should be returned in thirds, fifths, and eighths, a musical room may be so contrived, that not only one violin played therein shall seem many of the same sort and size, but even a concert of different instruments. those echoes which return the voice but once are called single; whereof some are tonical, only repeating when modulated into some particular musical tone. others, that repeat many syllables or words, are termed polysyllabical; of which kind is the fine echo in woodstock park, which dr. plott assures us will return seventeen syllables distinctly in the day-time, and in the night twenty. barthius likewise, in his notes on statius's thebais, mentions an echo near bingeni in germany, which would repeat words seventeen times, as he himself had proved; and what is very strange in this echo, the person who speaks is scarcely heard at all, but the repetition most clearly, and always in surprising varieties, the echo seeming sometimes to approach nearer, and sometimes to retire to a greater distance. vitruvius tells us, that in several parts of greece and italy there were brazen vessels artfully ranged under the seats of the theatres, to render the sound of the actors' voices more clear, and make a kind of echo; by which means, of the prodigious number of persons present, every one might hear with ease and pleasure. knout.--this is a punishment inflicted in russia, with a kind of whip called _knout_, and made of a long strap of leather prepared for this purpose. with this whip the executioners dexterously carry a slip of skin from the neck to the bottom of the back, laid bare to the waist; and repeating their blows, in a little while rend away all the skin off the back in parallel strips. in the common knout, the criminal receives the lashes suspended on the back of one of the executioners; but in the great knout, which is generally used on the same occasions as racking on the wheel was in france, the criminal is raised into the air by means of a pulley fixed to the gallows, and a cord fastened to the two wrists, which are tied together; a piece of wood is placed between his two legs, which are also tied together; and another of a crucial form under his breast. sometimes his hands are tied behind over his back, and when he is pulled up in this position, his shoulders are dislocated. the executioners can make this punishment more or less cruel; and it is said, they are so dexterous, that when a criminal is condemned to die, they can make him expire either by one or several lashes. natural productions resembling artificial compositions.--some stones are preserved by the curious, for representing distinctly figures traced by nature alone, and without the aid of art. pliny mentions an agate, in which appeared, formed by the hand of nature, apollo amidst the nine muses, holding a harp. majolus assures us, that at venice another is seen, in which is naturally formed the perfect figure of a man. at pisa, in the church of st. john, there is a similar natural production, which represents an old hermit in a desert, seated by the side of a stream, and who holds in his hands a small bell, as st. anthony is commonly painted. in the temple of st. sophia, at constantinople, there was formerly, on a white marble, the image of st. john the baptist, covered with the skin of a camel, with this only imperfection, that nature had given but one leg.--at ravenna, in the church of st. vital, a cordelier is seen on a dusky stone. in italy, a marble was found, in which a crucifix was so elaborately finished, that there appeared the nails, the drops of blood, and the wounds, as perfectly as the most excellent painter could have performed.--at sneilberg, in germany, they found in a mine a certain rough metal, on which was seen the figure of a man, who carried a child on his back.--in provence, was found, in a mine, a quantity of natural figures of birds, trees, rats, and serpents; and in some places of the western parts of tartary, are seen on divers rocks, the figures of camels, horses, and sheep. pancirollus, in his lost antiquities, attests, that in a church at rome, a marble perfectly represented a priest celebrating mass, and raising the host. paul iii. conceiving that art had been used, scraped the marble to discover whether any painting had been employed; but nothing of the kind was discovered. there is a species of the orchis found in the mountainous parts of lincolnshire, kent, &c. nature has formed a bee, apparently feeding in the breast of the flower, with so much exactness, that it is impossible at a very small distance to distinguish the imposition. hence the plant derives its name, and is called the _bee flower_. this is elegantly expressed by langhorne, who thus notices its appearance: see on that flow'ret's velvet breast, how close the busy vagrant lies! his thin-wrought plume, his downy breast, th' ambrosial gold that swells his thighs. perhaps his fragrant load may bind his limbs; we'll set the captive free:-- i sought the living bee to find, and found the _picture_ of a bee. remarkable lamps.--cedrenus makes mention of a lamp, which, together with an image of christ, was found at edessa, in the reign of the emperor justinian. it was set over a certain gate there, and privily enclosed, as appeared by the date of it, soon after christ was crucified: it was found burning, as it had done for five hundred years before, by the soldiers of cosroes, king of persia, by whom also the oil was taken out, and cast into the fire; which occasioned such a plague, as brought death upon almost all his forces.--at the demolition of our monasteries here in england, there was found, in the supposed monument of constantius chlorus, (father to the great constantine,) a lamp, which was thought to have continued burning there ever since his burial, which was about three hundred years after christ. the ancient romans used in that manner to preserve lights in their sepulchres a long time, by the oil of gold, resolved by art into a liquid substance. perpetual fire.--in the peninsula of abeheron, in the province of schirwan, formerly belonging to persia, but now in russia, there is found a perpetual, or as it is there called, an eternal fire. it rises, and has risen from time immemorial, from an irregular orifice in the earth, of about twelve feet in depth, with a constant flame. the flame rises to the height of six or eight feet, unattended with smoke, and it yields no smell. the aperture, which is about one hundred and twenty feet in width, consists of a mass of rock, ever retaining the same solidity and the same depth. the finest turf grows about the borders, and at the distance of two toises, are two springs of water. the neighbouring inhabitants have a sort of veneration for this fire, which they accompany with religious ceremonies. magical drum.--this is an instrument of superstition, used in lapland, which is thus described by schoeffer, in his history of that country: it is made of beech, pine, or fir, split in the middle, and hollowed on the flat side where the drum is to be made. the hollow is of an oval figure, and is covered with a skin clean dressed, and painted with figures of various kinds, such as stars, suns and moons, animals and plants, and even countries, lakes, and rivers; and of later days, since the preaching of christianity among them, the acts and sufferings of our saviour and his apostles are often added among the rest. all these figures are separated by lines into three regions or clusters. there is, besides these parts of the drum, an index and a hammer. the index is a bundle of grass or iron rings, the largest of which has a hole in its middle, and the smaller ones are hung to it. the hammer, or drumstick, is made of the horn of a reindeer; and with this they beat the drum so as to make these rings move, they being laid on the top for that purpose. in the motion of these rings about the pictures figured on the drum, they fancy to themselves some prediction in regard to the things they inquire about. what they principally search into by this instrument, are three things: . what sacrifices will prove most acceptable to their gods: . what success they shall have in their occupations, as hunting, fishing, curing diseases, and the like: and . what is done in places remote from them. on these occasions they use several peculiar ceremonies, and place themselves in various odd postures as they beat the drum, which influences the rings to the one or the other side, and to come nearer to the one or the other set of figures. and when they have done this, they have a method of calculating a discovery, which they keep as a great secret, but which seems merely the business of the imagination in the diviner or magician. an extraordinary cannon.--at kubberpore-na-jeal, in india, there is a cannon two hundred and thirteen inches long, sixty-six inches round the muzzle, and eighteen inches round the calibre. it has five, and had originally six, equidistant rings, by which it was lifted up. this gun is called by the natives, jaun kushall, or the destroyer of life, and its casting and position are attributed to the doctas or divinities, though its almost obliterated persian inscriptions declare its formation by human means. but what is most extraordinary about it is, that two peepul trees have grown both cannon and carriage into themselves. fragments of the iron, a spring, one of the linches, and part of the wood-work, protrude from between the roots and bodies of these trees; but the trees alone entirely support the gun, one of the rings of which, and half of its whole length, are completely hidden between, and inside their bark and trunks. a more curious sight, or a cannon more firmly fixed, though by the mere gradual growth of two trees, cannot well be imagined. the indians assert that it was only once fired, and then sent the ball twenty-four miles!--_asiatic journal._ old bread.--bartholinus assures us, that in norway the inhabitants make bread which keeps thirty or forty years; and that they are there fonder of their old hard bread, than others are of new or soft; since the older it is, the more agreeable it grows. for their great feasts, particular care is taken to have the oldest bread; so that at the christening of a child, they have usually bread which had been baked perhaps at the christening of his grandfather! it is made by a mixture of barley and oatmeal, baked between two hollow stones. the following is said to be a substitute for spectacles.--a man, especially if accustomed to spend his time among books, would be much to be pitied, when his sight begins to fail, could he not in a great measure restore it by the aid of spectacles; but there are some men whose sight cannot be aided by the use either of convex or concave glasses. the following method, adopted by one of these to aid his sight, is certainly worthy of notice. when about sixty years of age, this man had almost entirely lost his sight, seeing nothing but a kind of thick mist, with little black specks which appeared to float in the air. he knew not any of his friends; he could not even distinguish a man from a woman; nor could he walk in the streets without being led. glasses were of no use to him; the best print, seen through the bell spectacles, seemed to him like a daubed paper. wearied with this melancholy state, he thought of the following expedient. he procured some spectacles with very large rings; and taking out the glasses, substituted in each circle a conic tube of black spanish copper. looking through the large end of the cone, he could read the smallest print placed at its other extremity. these tubes were of different lengths, and the openings at the end were also of different sizes; the smaller the aperture, the better could he distinguish the smallest letters; the larger the aperture, the more words or lines it commanded; and consequently, the less occasion was there for moving the head and the hand in reading. sometimes he used one eye, sometimes the other, alternately relieving each; for the rays of the two eyes could not unite upon the same object when thus separated by two opaque tubes. the thinner these tubes, the less troublesome are they. they must be totally blackened within, so as to prevent all shining, and they should be made to lengthen or contract, and enlarge or reduce the aperture, at pleasure. when he placed convex glasses in these tubes, the letters indeed appeared larger, but not so clear and distinct as through the empty tube; he also found the tubes more convenient when not fixed in the spectacle rings; for when they hung loosely, they could be raised or lowered with the hand, and one or both might be used, as occasion required. it is almost needless to add, that the material of the tubes is of no importance, and that they may be made of iron or tin as well as of copper, provided the insides of them be sufficiently blackened.--see _la nouvell, bigaruré_ for february, , or _monthly magazine_ for april, . winter sleep of animals and plants.--the winter sleep is a very singular property of animals and plants; and, though it occurs daily before our eyes, we are not able to explain the phenomena with which it is attended. in cold countries, many animals, on the approach of winter, retire to their subterraneous abodes, in which they bury themselves under the snow, where they remain five or six months without nourishment or motion; nay, almost without circulation of their blood, which flows only sluggishly, and in the widest vessels. their perspiration is almost imperceptible; but still they lose something by it, as they enter their winter quarters in very good condition, and are exceedingly thin when they return from them. some animals enjoy their winter sleep under the earth, and others are concealed beneath the snow; some for the same purpose creep into the holes of rocks, and others under stones, or the bark of trees. plants have their winter sleep also; for, during the period of winter, their sap flows towards the roots, and the circulation of it, which is very slow, takes place only in the widest vessels. were the expansion of the sap in winter as considerable as in summer, it would burst all the vessels, on being frozen. some observers have endeavoured to prove that this singular circumstance is merely accidental, and, indeed, no difference is found in the internal organization of those animals which have winter sleep, and those which have not. it is very remarkable, that this property belongs in general to animals of prey. as these have far stronger powers of digestion, and stronger digestive juices, it would appear that abstinence from food for several months would to them be hardly possible. the common bear, the bat, and the hedgehog, have winter sleep, but the white bear has not. as the latter is secured from the cold by his long hair, he finds nourishment in the dead whales and seals which are cast on shore by the waves. the earthworms have winter sleep; but aquatic worms very seldom. insects, as well as their larvæ, have winter sleep. butterflies may be often seen fluttering about in the warm days of spring, after having spent the whole winter in that condition. amphibious animals have winter sleep, those which live merely in the ocean excepted. few birds, on the other hand, are exposed to this state. the greater part of these, on the approach of winter, retire to a milder climate, where they can find more abundant nourishment. in iceland, the sheep have winter sleep. in that country they are suffered to range in perfect freedom. in the winter season, therefore, they may be found buried under the snow, where it would be impossible for them to remain, were they not in that condition. chap. lxxxvii. miscellaneous curiosities.--(_concluded._) _lama--nun--mahometan paradise--opinions respecting hell--london--coins of the kings of england--singular calculations respecting the national debt--moral and physical thermometer.--conclusion._ lama.--this is the sovereign pontiff, or rather god, of the asiatic tartars, inhabiting the country of barantola. the lama is not only adored by the inhabitants of the country, but also by the kings of tartary, who send him rich presents, and go in pilgrimage to pay him adoration, calling him _lama congiu_, i. e. "god, the everlasting father of heaven." he is never to be seen but in a secret place of his palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting crosslegged upon a cushion, and adorned all over with gold and precious stones; where at a distance they prostrate themselves before him, it not being lawful for any to kiss his feet. he is called the great lama, or lama of lamas; that is, "priest of priests." the orthodox opinion is, that when the grand lama seems to die either of old age or infirmity, his soul in fact only quits a crazy habitation to look for another younger or better; and it is discovered again in the body of some child, by certain tokens known only to the lamas, or priests, in which order he always appears. a particular account of the pompous ceremonies attending the inauguration of the infant lama in thibet, is given in the first volume of the asiatic researches. the emperor of china appears, on such occasions, to act a very conspicuous part, in giving testimony of his respect and zeal for the great religious father of his faith. the twenty-eighth day of the seventh moon, corresponding nearly (as their year commences with the vernal equinox) with the middle of october, is reckoned the most auspicious for the ceremony of inauguration. the procession, on these occasions, from terpaling to the teeshoo loombo, is conducted with such slow and majestic solemnity, that though the distance is only twenty miles, it takes up three days. the crowd of spectators is immense. the three next days are spent in the inauguration, in delivering the presents sent by the emperor to the lama, and in the public festivals on the occasion; during which, all who are at the capital are entertained at the public expense, and alms are distributed liberally to the poor. universal rejoicings prevail throughout thibet; banners are unfurled on all their fortresses, the peasantry fill up the day with music and festivity, and the night is cheered by general illuminations. a long period is afterwards employed in making presents and public entertainments to the newly-inducted lama, who, at the time of his accession to the _musnud_, or pontificate of teeshoo loombo, is often not three years of age. the whole ceremony, from its commencement to its consummation, lasts forty days. some particulars respecting nuns.--a nun is a woman dedicated to the severer duties of religion, secluded in a cloister from the world, and debarred by a vow from the converse of men. when a woman is to be made a nun, the habit, veil, and ring of the candidate, are carried to the altar; and she herself, accompanied by her nearest relations, is conducted to the bishop, who, after mass and an anthem (the subject of which is, "that she ought to have her lamp lighted, because the bridegroom is coming to meet her,") pronounces the benediction: then she rises up, and the bishop consecrates the new habit, sprinkling it with holy water. when the candidate has put on her religious habit, she presents herself before the bishop, and sings on her knees, _ancilla christi sum, &c._; then she receives the veil, and afterwards the ring, by which she is married to christ; and lastly, the crown of virginity. when she is crowned, an anathema is denounced against all who shall attempt to make her break her vows. in some few instances, perhaps, nunneries and monasteries may have been useful to morality and religion, as well as to literature, but, in the gross, they have been highly prejudicial; and however pious they may appear in theory, in fact they are unnatural and impious. mahometan paradise.--the paradise of the mahometans is said by them to be situated above the seven heavens, or in the seventh, and next under the throne of god; and, to express the amenity of the place, they tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or of saffron; and that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its buildings enriched with gold and silver, and the trunks of all its trees of gold, amongst which the most remarkable is the tree _luba_, or tree of happiness. they pretend that this tree stands in the palace of mahomet, though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer, loaded with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits, of surprising size, and delicious tastes, unknown to mortals. if a man desires to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented to him; or if he chooses flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, and such as he may wish for. they add that this tree will supply the blessed, not only with fruit, but with silk garments also, and beasts to ride on, adorned with rich trappings, all which will burst forth from the fruit; and that the tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years. plenty of water being one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as the principal ornament. some of these rivers are said to flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey: all of them have their sources in the root of this tree of happiness; and, as if these rivers were not sufficient, we are told that the garden of this paradise is also watered by a great number of lesser springs and fountains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, their earth of camphor, their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron. but all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and exquisite beauty of the girls of paradise, the enjoyment of whose company will constitute the principal felicity of the faithful. these (they say) are not formed of clay, as mortal women, but of pure musk, and are, as their prophet often affirms in his koran, free from all the natural defects and inconveniences incident to the sex. being also of the strictest modesty, they keep themselves secluded from public view, in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large, that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than sixteen, or, as others say, sixty miles long, and as many broad. with these the inhabitants of paradise may taste pleasures in their height; and for this purpose will be endowed with extraordinary abilities, and enjoy a perpetual youth. opinions respecting hell.--the hell of the ancient heathens was divided into two mansions: the one called elysium, on the right hand, pleasant and delightful, appointed for the souls of good men; the other called tartarus, on the left, a region of misery and torment, appointed for the wicked. the latter only was hell, in the present restrained sense of the word. the philosophers were of opinion, that the infernal regions were at an equal distance from all the parts of the earth; nevertheless, it was the opinion of some, that there were certain passages which led thither, as the river lethe near the syrtes, and the acherusian cave in epirus. at hermione, it was thought, that there was a very short way to hell; for which reason the people of that country never put the fare into the mouths of the dead to pay their passage. the jews placed hell in the centre of the earth, and believed it to be situated under waters and mountains. according to them, there are three passages leading to it: the first is in the wilderness, and by that korah, dathan, and abiram descended into hell; the second is in the sea, because jonah, who was thrown into the sea, cried to god out of the belly of hell; the third is in jerusalem, because it is said "the fire of the lord is in zion, and his furnace is in jerusalem." they likewise acknowledged seven degrees of pain in hell, because they find this place called by seven different names in scripture. in the koran of mahomet, it is said that hell has seven gates; the first for the mussulmans, the second for the christians, the third for the jews, the fourth for the sabeans, the fifth for the magians, the sixth for the pagans, and the seventh for hypocrites of all religions. among christians, there are two controverted questions in regard to hell; the one concerning the locality, the other the duration of its torments:--the locality of hell, and the reality of its fire, began first to be controverted by origen. that father, interpreting the scripture account metaphorically, makes hell to consist, not in external punishments, but in a consciousness or sense of guilt, and a remembrance of past pleasures. among the moderns, mr. whiston advanced a new hypothesis. the comets, he thinks, are so many hells, appointed in their orbits alternately to carry the damned into the confines of the sun, there to be scorched by its violent heat, and then to return with them beyond the orb of saturn, there to starve them in those cold and dismal regions. another modern author, mr. swinden, supposes the sun to be the local hell. however difficult it may be to ascertain the local place of hell, we may rest assured god will find both place and means to punish the obstinately wicked. london.--this metropolis is unparalleled, in extent and opulence, in the whole habitable globe, except, perhaps, pekin in china, jeddo in japan, and houssa in africa; which are all said to be larger. it comprehends, besides london, westminster, and southwark, no less than forty-five villages, of considerable extent, independent of a vast accession of buildings upon the open fields in the vicinity. its length is nearly eight miles, its breadth three, and its circumference twenty-six. it contains above streets, lanes, alleys, and courts, and more than different squares. its houses, warehouses, and other buildings, make , , besides churches and chapels, meeting houses for dissenters, chapels for foreigners, and synagogues for the jews, which in all make places of public worship. the number of inhabitants, during the sitting of parliament, is estimated at , , . among these are found about , common prostitutes, and no less than , thieves, coiners, and other bad persons of all descriptions. the annual depredations on the public, by this numerous body of pilferers, are estimated at the sum of £ , , sterling. in this vast city, there are, moreover, upwards of seminaries for education, institutions for promoting morality, institutions for promoting the arts, asylums for the indigent, for the sick and lame, dispensaries, charitable institutions, courts of justice, and professional men connected with the various departments of the law.--there are , vessels trading in the river thames in the course of a year; and , waggons going and returning to the metropolis in the same period, including their repeated voyages and journeys.--the amount of exports and imports to and from the thames is estimated at £ , , sterling annually, and the property floating in this vast city every year, is £ , , . these circumstances may be sufficient to convince us of the amazing extent and importance of the capital of the british empire. the numbers of bullocks, sheep, lambs, calves, hogs, and sucking pigs, purchased at the smithfield markets, and annually consumed in the metropolis, are in the following proportion: bullocks , ; sheep and lambs , ; calves , ; hogs , ; sucking pigs , . markets for hay, tuesday, thursday, and saturday. the markets for the sale of provisions are numerous, and amply supplied with every sort, generally of the most excellent kind: the bread generally fine and sound. besides animal food and bread, there are no less than , , gallons of milk [and water] annually consumed here: of vegetables and fruit, there are , acres of ground near the metropolis, cultivated wholly for vegetables; and about acres of fruit. of wheat, coals, ale, and porter, &c. the annual consumption is as follows: of wheat, , quarters; of coals , chaldrons; of ale and porter , , barrels; of spirits and compounds , , gallons; of wine , tons; of butter , , pounds; and of cheese , , pounds. fish and poultry are sometimes excessively dear, and the quantities consumed are comparatively small. coins of the kings of england.--the silver penny, which was first circulated during the heptarchy, continued to be the general coin after the kingdom had been united under one head, and extends, in a continued series, from egbert almost to the present reign. the only kings wanting are edmund ironside, richard i., and john. at first the penny weighed twenty-two and a half grains, but towards the close of the reign of edward iii. it fell to eighteen grains; in that of edward iv. to twelve. in the time of edward vi. it was reduced to eight grains; and in queen elizabeth's reign to - / grains, at which it still continues. halfpence and farthings were first struck in silver by edward i. in : the former continued to the time of the commonwealth, but the latter ceased with edward vi. the groat and half groat were introduced in the reign of edward iii., in , and continue to this day, though not in common circulation. shillings were first coined by henry vii. in ; at first they were called testoon, from the teste, tête, or head of the king, upon them; the name shilling being derived from the german _schelling_, under which name coins had been struck at hamburgh in . the crown was first coined in its present form by henry viii. the half-crown, six-pence, and three-pence, were coined by edward vi. in , queen elizabeth coined three-halfpenny, and in , three-farthing pieces; but they were discontinued in . gold was coined in england by henry iii. in ; the piece was called a gold penny, and was larger than the silver one, and the execution by no means bad for the time. the series of gold coinage, however, commences properly from edward iii. in , this monarch first struck florins, in imitation of those in italy; and it is remarkable, that though these coins, at the time they were first issued, bore only six shillings value, they were (even before the late increased value of gold) intrinsically worth nineteen shillings; so much has the value of gold increased since that time. the half and quarter florin were struck at the same time, but only the last has been found. the florin being found inconvenient, gave place to the noble, of six shillings and eight-pence value, and exactly half a mark. the latter had its name from being a limited sum in accounts; and was eight ounces in weight, two-thirds of the money pound. the noble had its name from the nobility of the metal; the gold of which it is coined being of the finest sort. sometimes it was called _rose-noble_, from both sides being impaled in an undulating circle. it continued, with the half and quarter noble, to be the only gold coin till the angels of edward iv. appeared in . these had their name from the image of michael and the dragon which they bore. the angelites, of three shillings and four-pence value, were substituted in their place. in , henry viii. added to the gold coins the crown and half-crown at their present value; the same year he gave sovereigns of twenty-two shillings, and six-pence, and ryals of eleven shillings and three-pence, angels at seven shillings and six-pence, and nobles at their old value of six shillings and eight-pence. in he caused sovereigns to be coined of the value of twenty shillings, and half sovereigns in proportion. on the union of the two crowns, james gave the sovereign the name of unite; the value continuing twenty shillings, as before. he coined also rose ryals of thirty shillings, spur ryals of fifteen shillings, angels of ten shillings, and angelites of five shillings value. under the commonwealth, the sovereign received the name of the twenty shilling piece, and continued current till the coinage of guineas. these were so called, from their being coined of gold brought from the coast of guinea, and were at first to pass but for twenty shillings, though by a universal but tacit consent, they always passed for twenty-one shillings. half-guineas, double-guineas, and five guinea pieces, were also coined during the same reign; which still continue, though the two latter are not in common circulation. quarter-guineas were coined by george i. and likewise by his late majesty; but they were found so troublesome on account of their small size, that they were stopped at the bank of england; and therefore are not to be met with in circulation at present. a few pieces of seven shillings value were likewise coined, and are known by the lion above the helmet; but none were issued. in , the guinea rose to twenty-one shillings and sixpence, and continued to increase in value till , when it was as high as thirty shillings; but after the recoinage in and , it fell by degrees, and in was at its old standard of twenty-one shillings. during the reign of george iii. vast numbers of seven shilling pieces were issued, which continued some years in general circulation. sovereigns have also been coined since his present majesty's accession, and they constitute at present the prevailing gold currency of the realm. singular calculation respecting the national debt.--the national debt, funded and unfunded, on the th of january, , was £ , , , which are equal to , , guineas, which, at dwts. grains each guinea, weigh tons, cwt. qrs. lbs. oz. drs. nearly, avoirdupois. now supposing a waggon and five horses to extend in length twenty yards, and to carry two and a half tons of the said guineas, the number of teams necessary to carry the whole would extend in length twenty-eight miles twenty-three yards. to count the debt in shillings, at the rate of thirty shillings in a minute, for ten hours a day, and six days in a week, would take , years, days, hours, and minutes, nearly. its height in guineas, supposing twenty guineas in thickness to be an inch, would be miles, yards, inches; and supposing each guinea an inch in diameter, they would extend in a right line, , miles, yards, inches. moreover, the said guineas would cover, in space, acres, roods, yards, nearly. and, lastly, in shillings, each being an inch in diameter, would cover acres, rood, and yards! [illustration: a moral and physical thermometer; or, a _scale of the progress_ of temperance and intemperance. liquors, _with their_ effects _in their usual order_. _temperance._ +---+ --|---| water } health, wealth. |---| } --|---| milk and water } serenity and composure of mind. |---| } --|---| small beer } reputation, long life, and happiness. |---| } --|---| cider and perry } cheerfulness and contentment. |---| } --|---| wine } strength, vigour, and nourishment,--when |---| } --|---| porter } taken only at meals, and in |---| } --|---| strong beer } moderate quantities. |---| |---| --|---| _intemperance._ |---| |---| } _vices._ | _diseases._ |_punishments._ |---| } | | --|---| punch } idleness; | sickness; | debt; |---| } | puking; and | |---| } | tremors of the| black eyes; --|---| toddy & crank, } peevishness;| hands in the | |---| } | morning; | rags; --|---|{grog, & brandy } quarrelling;| bloatedness; | | |{and water, } | inflamed eyes;| |---| } fighting; | red nose and | hunger; | | } | face; | --|---| flip and shrub, } lying; | sore & swelled| | | } | legs; | hospital; |---|{bitters infused } swearing; | jaundice; | | |{in spirits, } | pains in the | poor-house; --|---|{usquebaugh, } obscenity; | limbs and | | |{hysteric } | burning in the| jail; | |{water. } swindling; | palms of the | |---| } | hands & soles | whipping; | |{gin, aniseed, } perjury; | of the feet; | --|---|{brandy, rum, } | dropsy; | | |{and whiskey, } burglary; | epilepsy; | the hulks; | |{in the _morning_.} | melancholy; | |---| } | madness; | | |{ditto during } murder; | palsy; | botany bay,; --|---|{the _day_ and } | apoplexy; | | |{_night_. } | | |(.)| } suicide. | death. | gallows. \---/ ] conclusion. thus we have conducted our reader through some of the principal curiosities of nature and art, science and literature. we trust he has found both amusement and instruction. our object has been, throughout the work, to assist the reader in looking through nature up to nature's god. all second causes derive their origin, permanency, and efficacy from him alone. since, then, the lord god is himself the source and perfection of all beauty and excellency, the author of our existence, and the bountiful giver of all good gifts; we undoubtedly ought to love him with our whole hearts, and to serve him with all our powers; we ought to reverence his majesty and authority, and endeavour above all things to obtain his favour; we ought to devote ourselves entirely to his service, and make all our actions tend to the advancement of his glory. and as his mercy and goodness are unbounded, so should be our gratitude and praise. jehovah reigns: let ev'ry nation hear, and at his footstool bow with holy fear; let heav'n's high arches echo with his name. and the wide-peopled earth his praise proclaim; then send it down to hell's deep gloom resounding, thro' all her caves in dreadful murmurs sounding. he rules with wide and absolute command o'er the broad ocean and the stedfast land: jehovah reigns, unbounded and alone, and all creation hangs beneath his throne: he reigns alone; let no inferior nature usurp or share the throne of the creator. he saw the struggling beams of infant light shoot thro' the massy gloom of ancient night; his spirit hush'd the elemental strife, and brooded o'er the kindling seeds of life: seasons and months began the long procession, and measur'd o'er the year in bright succession. the joyful sun sprung up th' ethereal way, strong as a giant, as a bridegroom gay; and the pale moon diffus'd her shadowy light, superior o'er the dusky brow of night; ten thousand glittering lamps the skies adorning, num'rous as dew-drops from the womb of morning. earth's blooming face with rising flow'rs he dress'd, and spread a verdant mantle o'er her breast; then from the hollow of his hand he pours the circling waters round her winding shores, the new-born world in their cool arms embracing, and with soft murmurs still her banks caressing. at length she rose complete in finish'd pride, all fair and spotless like a virgin bride: fresh with untarnish'd lustre as she stood, her maker bless'd his work, and call'd it good; the morning stars with joyful acclamation, exulting sung, and hail'd the new creation. yet this fair world, the creature of a day, tho' built by god's right hand, must pass away; and long oblivion creep o'er mortal things, the fate of empires, and the pride of kings: eternal night shall veil their proudest story, and drop the curtain o'er all human glory. the sun himself, with weary clouds opprest, shall in his silent dark pavilion rest; his golden urn shall broke and useless lie, amidst the common ruins of the sky! the stars rush headlong in the wild commotion, and bathe their glittering foreheads in the ocean. but fix'd, o god! for ever stands thy throne, jehovah reigns, a universe alone; th' eternal fire that feeds each vital flame, collected or diffus'd, is still the same. he dwells within his own unfathom'd essence, and fills all space with his unbounded presence. but oh! our highest notes the theme debase, and silence is our least injurious praise: cease, cease your songs, the daring flight control, revere him in the stillness of the soul; with silent duty meekly bend before him, and deep within your inmost hearts--adore him. _mrs. barbauld._ appendix to the book of curiosities; containing curious experiments, and _amusing recreations_, which may be performed with ease, and at a small expense. _a person having an even number of counters in one hand, and an odd number in the other, to tell in which hand each of them is._ desire the person to multiply the number in his right hand by three, and the number in his left by two. bid him add the two products together, and tell you whether the sum be odd or even. if it be even, the even number is in the right hand; but if it be odd, the even number is in the left hand. example i. no. in right hand. no. in left hand. -- -- -- sum of the products. example ii. no. in right hand. no. in left hand. -- -- -- sum of the products. _a person having fixed on a number in his mind, to tell him what number it is._ bid him quadruple the number thought on, or multiply it by ; and having done this, desire him to add , , , or any even number you please, to the product; then let him take the half of this sum, and tell you how much it is; from which, if you take away half the number you desired him at first to add to it, there will remain the double of the number thought on. example. suppose the number thought on is the quadruple of it is added to the product is and the half of this sum taken from this leaves .-- therefore was the number thought on. _another method of discovering a number thought on._ after the person has fixed on a number, bid him double it, and add to that sum; then let him multiply the whole by , and to that product add ; desire him also to multiply this sum by , and after having deducted from the product, to tell you the remainder, from which, if you cut off the last two figures, the number that remains will be the one thought on. example. let the number thought on be then the double of this is and added to it makes this multiplied by is and added to it is and this multiplied by is from which deducting there remains ,-- which, by striking off the last two figures, gives ,--the number thought on. _to tell the number a person has fixed upon, without asking him any questions._ the person having chosen any number in his mind, from to , bid him add one to it, and triple the amount. then, if it be an even number, let him take the half of it, and triple that half; but if it be an odd number, he must add to it, and then halve it, and triple that half. in like manner let him take the half of this number, if it be even, or the half of the next greater, if it be odd; and triple that half. again, bid him take the half of this last number, if even, or of the next greater, if odd; and the half of that half in the same way; and by observing at what steps he is obliged to add in the halving, the following table will shew the number thought on: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- thus, if he be obliged to add only at the first step, or halving, either or was the number thought on; if there were a necessity to add both at the first and second steps, either or was the number thought on, &c. and which of the two numbers is the true one may always be known from the last step of the operation; for if must be added before the last half can be taken, the number is in the second column, or otherwise in the first, as will appear from the following examples: suppose the number chosen to be to which, if we add the sum is then the triple of that number is . the half of which is the triple of is . and the half of that is the triple of is . the half of that is and the half of that is from which it appears, that it was necessary to add both at the second and third steps, or halvings; and therefore, by the table, the number thought on is either or . and as the last number was obliged to be augmented by before the half could be taken, it follows also, by the above rule, that the number must be in the second column; and consequently it is . again, suppose the number thought on to be to which, if we add the sum is then the triple of that number is . the half of which is the triple of is . and the half of that is the triple of is . the half of that is and the half of that half is from which it appears, that it was necessary to add at all the steps, or halvings, , , , therefore, by the table, the number thought on is either or . and as the last number required no augmentation before its half could be taken, it follows also, by the above rule, that the number must be in the first column; and consequently it is . _a curious recreation, usually called--the blind abbess and her nuns._ a blind abbess visiting her nuns, who were twenty-four in number, and equally distributed in eight cells, built at the four corners of a square, and in the middle of each side, finds an equal number in every row, containing three cells. at a second visit, she finds the same number of persons in each row as before, though the company was increased by the accession of four men. and coming a third time, she still finds the same number of persons in each row, though the four men were then gone, and had each of them carried away a nun. _fig. ._ +-----+ | | | | | | +-----+ _fig. ._ +-----+ | | | | | | +-----+ _fig. ._ +-----+ | | | | | | +-----+ let the nuns be first placed as in fig. , three in each cell; then when the four men have got into the cells, there must be a man placed in each corner, and two nuns removed thence to each of the middle cells, as in fig. , in which case there will evidently be still nine in each row; and when the four men are gone, with the four nuns with them, each corner cell must contain four nuns, and every other cell one, as in fig. ; it being evident, that in this case also, there will still be nine in a row, as before. _any number being named, to add a figure to it, which shall make it divisible by ._ add the figures together in your mind which compose the number named; and the figure which must be added to this sum, in order to make it divisible by , is the one required. suppose, for example, the number named was ; you find that the sum of its figures is ; and that being added to this sum will make it ; which is a number exactly divisible by . you therefore desire the person who named the number , to add to it; and the result, which is , will be divisible by , as was required. this recreation may be diversified, by your specifying, before the sum is named, the particular place where the figure shall be inserted, to make the number divisible by ; for it is exactly the same thing, whether the figure be put at the end of the number, or between any two of its digits. _a person having made choice of several numbers, to tell him what number will exactly divide the sum of those which he has chosen._ provide a small bag, divided into two parts; into one of which put several tickets, numbered , , , , , , , , or any others you please, that are divisible by , and in the other part put as many different tickets marked with the number only. draw a handful of tickets from the first part, and, after shewing them to the company, put them into the bag again; and having opened it a second time, desire any one to take out as many tickets as he thinks proper. when he has done this, open privately the other part of the bag, and tell him to take out of it one ticket only. you may then pronounce, that this ticket shall contain the number by which the amount of the other numbers is divisible; for, as each of these numbers is some multiple of , their sum must evidently be divisible by that number. this recreation may also be diversified, by marking the tickets in one part of the bag with any numbers which are divisible by , and those in the other part of the bag with the number only; the properties of both and being the same; or if the numbers in one part of the bag be divisible by , the other part of the bag may contain tickets marked both with and , as every number divisible by is also divisible by . _to find the difference between any two numbers, the greater of which is unknown._ take as many 's as there are figures in the less number, and subtract the one from the other. let another person add that difference to the larger number; and then, if he take away the first figure of the amount, and add it to the remaining figures, the sum will be the difference of the two numbers, as was required. suppose, for example, that matthew, who is years of age, tells henry, who is older, that he can discover the difference of their ages. he privately deducts , his own age, from , and the difference, which is , he tells henry to add to his age, and to take away the first figure from the amount. then if this figure, so taken away, be added to the remaining ones, the sum will be the difference of their ages; as, for instance: the difference between matthew's age and , is to which henry adding his age ---- the sum will be and , taken from , gives which being increased by -- gives the difference of the two ages and, this added to matthew's age -- gives the age of henry, which is _a person striking a figure out of the sum of two given numbers, to tell him what that figure was._ such numbers must be offered as are divisible by ; such, for instance, as , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . then let a person choose any two of these numbers, and after adding them together in his mind, strike out any one of the figures he pleases, from the sum. after he has done this, desire him to tell you the sum of the remaining figures; and that number which you are obliged to add to this amount, in order to make it , or , is the one he struck out. for example, suppose he chose the numbers and , the sum of which is . then, if he strike out from this amount, the remaining figures, and , will make ; to which must be added to make . if he strike out the , the sum of the remaining figures, and , will be ; to which must be added, to make ; and so in like manner, for the . _by knowing the last figure of the product of two numbers, to tell the other figures._ if the number be multiplied by each of the numbers in the following arithmetical progression, , , , , , , . , , the products will terminate with the nine digits, in this order, , , , , , , , , ; the numbers themselves being as follows, , , , , , , , , and . let therefore a little bag be provided, consisting of two partitions, into one of which put several tickets, marked with the number ; and into the other part, as many tickets numbered , , , , , , , , and . then open that part of the bag which contains the number , and desire a person to take out one ticket only; after which, dexterously change the opening, and desire another person to take a ticket from the other part. let them now multiply their two numbers together, and tell you the last figure of the product, and you will readily determine, from the foregoing series, what the remaining figures must be. suppose, for example, the numbers taken out of the bag were , and ; then, as the product of these two numbers, which is , has for its last figure, you will readily know that it is the fourth in the series, and that the remaining figures are . _a curious recreation with a hundred numbers, usually called the magical century._ if the number be multiplied by any one of the nine digits, the two figures of the product will always be alike, as appears from the following example:-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- now, if another person and yourself have fifty counters apiece, and agree never to stake more than ten at a time, you may tell him, that if he will permit you to stake first, you will always undertake to make the even century before him. in order to this you must first stake one, and remembering the order of the above series, constantly add to what he stakes as many as will make one more than the numbers , , , &c. of which it is composed, till you come to ; after which, the other party cannot possibly make the even century himself, or prevent you from making it. if the person who is your opponent have no knowledge of numbers, you may stake any other number first, under , provided you afterwards take care to secure one of the last terms, , , , &c.: or you may even let him stake first, provided you take care afterwards to secure one of these numbers. this recreation may be performed with other numbers; but, in order to succeed, you must divide the number to be attained, by a number which is an unit greater than what you can stake each time; and the remainder will then be the number you first stake. suppose, for example, the number to be attained is , and that you are never to add more than six; then dividing by , the remainder, which is , will be the number you must stake first; and whatever the other stakes, you must add as much to it as will make it equal to , the number by which you divided; and so on. _a person in company having privately put a ring on one of his fingers, to name the person, the hand, the finger, and even the joint on which it is placed._ desire a third person to double the number of the order in which the wearer of the ring stands, and add to that number, then multiply that sum by , and to the product add . let him then add to the last number, if the ring be on the right hand, and if on the left, and multiply the whole by : to this product he must add the number of the finger, beginning with the thumb, and multiply the whole again by . desire him then to add the number of the joint; and lastly, to increase the whole by . this being done, he is to declare the amount of the whole, from which you are to subtract ; and the remainder will consist of four figures, the first of which will give the place in which the person stands, the second the hand, denoting the right, and the left hand, the third number the finger, and the fourth the joint. example. suppose the person stands the second in order, and has put the ring on the second joint of the little finger of the left hand: double the order is add -- multiply by -- add -- number for left hand -- multiply by ---- number of finger ---- multiply by ---- number of joint ---- add ---- subtract ---- hence it will appear that the first denotes the second person in order, the second the left hand, the little finger, and the second joint. _to make a deaf man hear the sound of a musical instrument._ it must be a stringed instrument, with a neck of some length, as a lute, a guitar, or the like; and before you begin to play, you must by signs direct the deaf man to take hold with his teeth of the end of the neck of the instrument; for then, if one strikes the strings with the bow one after another, the sound will enter the deaf man's mouth, and be conveyed to the organ of hearing through a hole in the palate, and thus the deaf man will hear with a great deal of pleasure the sound of the instrument, as has been several times experienced; nay, those who are not deaf may make the experiment upon themselves, by stopping their ears so as not to hear the instrument, and then holding the end of the instrument in their teeth, while another touches the strings. _when two vessels or chests are like one another, and of equal weight, being filled with different metals, to distinguish the one from the other._ this is easily resolved, if we consider that two pieces of different metals, of equal weight in air, do not weigh equally in water, because that of the greatest specific gravity takes up a lesser space in water; it being a certain truth, that any metal weighs less in water than in air, by reason of the water, the room of which it fills; for example, if the water weighs a pound, the metal will weigh in that water a pound less than in the air: this gravitation diminishes more or less, according as the specific gravity of the metal is greater than that of the water. we will suppose, then, two chests perfectly like one another, of equal weight in the air, one of which is full of gold, and the other of silver; we weigh them in water, and that which then weighs down the other must needs be the gold chest, the specific gravity of gold being greater than that of silver, which makes the gold lose less of its gravitation in water than silver. we know by experience, that gold loses in water about an eighteenth part only, whereas silver loses near a tenth part; so that if each of the two chests weighs in the air, for example, pounds, the chest that is full of gold will lose in the water ten pounds of its weight; and the chest that is full of silver will lose eighteen: that is, the chest full of gold will weigh pounds, and that of silver only . or, if you will, considering that gold is of a greater specific gravity than silver, the chest full of gold, though similar and of equal weight with the other, must needs contain a less bulk, and consequently it contains the gold. _to find the burden of a ship at sea, or in a river._ it is a certain truth, that a ship will carry a weight equal to that of a quantity of water of the same bulk with itself; subtracting from it the weight of the iron about the ship, for the wood is of much the same weight with water; and so, if it were not for the iron, a ship might sail full of water. the consequence of this is, that, however a ship be loaded, it will not totally sink, as long as the weight of its cargo is less than that of an equal bulk of water: now, to know this bulk or extent, you must measure the capacity or solidity of the ship, which we here suppose to be cubical feet, and multiply that by pounds, the weight of a cubical foot of sea-water; then you have in the product , pounds for the weight of a bulk of water equal to that of the ship; so that in this example, we may call the burden of the ship , pounds, or - / tons, reckoning a ton , pounds, that being the weight of a ton of sea-water; if the cargo of this ship exceeds - / tons, she will sink; and if her loading is just , pounds, she will swim very deep in the water upon the very point of sinking; so that she cannot sail safe and easy, unless her loading be considerably short of , pounds weight; if the loading come near to , pounds, as being, for example, just tons, she will swim at sea, but will sink when she comes into the mouth of a fresh water river; for this water being lighter than sea-water will be surmounted by the weight of the vessel, especially if that weight is greater than the weight of an equal bulk of the same water. _to measure the depth of the sea._ tie a great weight to a very long cord, or rope, and let it fall into the sea till you find it can descend no further, which will happen when the weight touches the bottom of the sea: if the quantity or bulk of water, the room of which is taken up by the weight, and the rope, weighs less than the weight and rope themselves; for if they weigh more, the weight would cease to descend, though it did not touch the bottom of the sea. thus one may be deceived in measuring the length of a rope let down into the water, in order to determine the depth of the sea; and therefore, to prevent mistakes, you had best tie to the end of the same rope another weight heavier than the former, and if this weight does not sink the rope deeper than the other did, you may rest assured that the length of the rope is the true depth of the sea; if it does sink the rope deeper, you must tie a third weight, yet heavier, and so on, till you find two weights of unequal gravitation, that run just the same length of the rope, upon which you may conclude, that the length of the wet rope is certainly the same with the depth of the sea. _method of melting steel, and causing it to liquefy._ heat a piece of steel in the fire, almost to a state of fusion, then holding it with a pair of pincers or tongs, take in the other hand a stick of brimstone, and touch the piece of steel with it: immediately after the contact, you will see the steel melt and drop like a liquid. _how to dispose two little figures, so that one shall light a candle, and the other put it out._ take two little figures of wood or clay, or any other materials you please, only taking care that there is a little hole at the mouth of each: put in the mouth of one a few grains of bruised gunpowder, and a little bit of phosphorus in the mouth of the other, taking care that these preparations are made beforehand. then take a lighted wax candle, and present it to the mouth of the figure with the gunpowder, which, taking fire, will put the candle out; then present your candle, having the snuff still hot, to the other figure; it will immediately light again by means of the phosphorus. you may propose the same effects to be produced by two figures drawn on a wall with a pencil or coal, by applying with a little starch, or water, a few grains of bruised gunpowder to the mouth of one, and a bit of phosphorus to the mouth of the other. _the camera obscura, or dark chamber._ we shall here give a short description of this optical invention; for though it is very common, it is also very pleasing: but every one knows not how to construct it. make a circular hole in the shutter of a window, from whence there is a prospect of the fields, or any other object not too near: and in this hole place a convex glass, either double or single, whose focus is at the distance of five or six feet: the distance should not be less than three feet; if it be, the images will be too small, and there will not be sufficient room for the spectators to stand conveniently; on the other hand, the focus should never be more than fifteen or twenty feet, for then the images would be obscure, and the colouring faint; the best distance is from six to twelve feet:--take care that no light enters the room but by this glass: at a distance from it, equal to that of its focus, place a pasteboard, covered with the whitest paper; this paper should have a black border, to prevent any of the side rays from disturbing the picture; let it be two feet and a half long, and eighteen or twenty inches high; bend the length of it inwards to the form of part of a circle, whose diameter is equal to double the focal distance of the glass: then fix it on a frame of the same figure, and put it on a moveable foot, that it may be easily fixed at that exact distance from the glass where the objects paint themselves to the greatest perfection: when it is thus placed, all the objects that are in the front of the window will be painted on the paper in an inverted position; this inverted position of the images may be deemed an imperfection, but it is easily remedied; for if you stand above the board on which they are received, and look down on it, they will appear in their natural position; or if you stand before it, and, placing a common mirror against your breast in an oblique direction, look down in it, you will there see the images erect, and they will receive an additional lustre from the reflection of the glass: or place two lenses in a tube that draws out: or, lastly, if you place a large concave mirror at a proper distance before the picture, it will appear before the mirror in the air, and in an erect position, with the greatest regularity, and in the most natural colours. if you place a moveable mirror without the window, by turning it more or less, you will have on the paper all the objects that are on each side of the window. there is another method of making the dark chamber, which is by a scioptric ball, that is, a ball of wood, through which a hole is made, in which hole a lens is fixed; this ball is placed in a wooden frame, in which it turns freely round: the frame is fixed to the hole in the shutter, and the ball by turning about answers, in great part, the use of the mirror on the outside of the window: if the hole in the window be no bigger than a pea, the objects will be represented without any lens. if instead of placing the mirror without the window, you place it in the room, and above the hole, (which must then be made near the top of the shutter,) you may receive the representation on a paper placed horizontally on a table; and draw at your leisure all the objects that are there painted. nothing can be more pleasing than this recreation, especially when the objects are strongly enlightened by the sun; and not only land prospects, but a sea-port, when the water is somewhat agitated, or at the setting of the sun, presents a very delightful appearance. this representation affords the most perfect model for painters, as well for the tone of colours, as that gradation of shades occasioned by the interposition of the air, which has been so justly expressed by some modern painters. it is necessary that the paper have a circular form, for otherwise, when the centre of it was in the focus of the glass, the two sides would be beyond it, and consequently the images would be confused: if the frame were contrived of a spherical figure, and the glass were in its centre, the representation would be still more accurate. if the object without be at the distance of twice the focal length of the glass, the image in the room will be of the same magnitude with the object. the lights, shades, and colours in the camera obscura, appear not only just, but, by the images being reduced to a smaller compass, much stronger than in nature; add to this, that these pictures exceed all others, by representing the motion of the several objects: thus we see the animals walk, run, or fly, the clouds float in the air, the leaves quiver, the waves roll, &c. and all in strict conformity to the laws of nature. the best situation for a dark chamber is directly north, and the best time of the day is noon. _to shew the spots in the sun's disk, by its image in the camera obscura._ put the object-glass of a ten or twelve feet telescope into the scioptric ball, and turn it about till it be directly opposite the sun: when the sun is directly opposite the hole, the lens will itself be sufficient; or by means of the mirror on the outside of the window, as in the last recreation, in the focus of the lens, and you will see a clear bright image of the sun, of about an inch diameter, in which the spots on the sun's surface will be exactly described. as this image is too bright to be seen with pleasure by the naked eye, you may view it through a lens, whose focus is six or eight inches diameter, which, at the same time that it prevents the light from being offensive, will, by magnifying both the image and the spots, make them appear to greater advantage. _to magnify small objects by means of the sun's rays let into a dark chamber._ let the rays of light that pass through the lens in the shutter be thrown on a large concave mirror, properly fixed in a frame; then take a slip, or thin plate of glass, and sticking any small object on it, hold it in the incident rays, at a little more than the focal distance from the mirror, and you will see, on the opposite wall, amidst the reflected rays, the image of that object, very large, and extremely clear and bright. this experiment never fails to give the spectator the highest satisfaction. _to cut a looking-glass, or piece of crystal, let it be ever so thick, without the help of a diamond, in the same shape as the mark of the drawing made on it with ink._ this remarkable operation unites utility with amusement; for being in the country, or in a place where there is no glazier to be had, the following means will answer the purpose without their help. take a bit of walnut-tree, about the thickness of a candle, and cut one of its ends to a point; put that end in the fire, and let it burn till it is quite red: while the stick is burning, draw on the glass or crystal, with ink, the design or outline of the form in which you mean to cut it out: then take a file, or bit of glass, and scratch a little the place where you mean to begin your section; then take the wood red-hot from the fire, and lay the point of it about the twentieth part of an inch, or thickness of a guinea, from the marked place, taking care to blow always on that point, in order to keep it red; following the drawing traced on the glass, leaving, as before, about the twentieth part of an inch interval every time that you present your piece of wood, which you must take care to blow often. after having followed exactly the outlines of your drawing, to separate the two pieces thus cut, you need only pull them up and down, and they will divide. _by the means of two plain looking-glasses, to make a face appear under different forms._ having placed one of the two glasses horizontally, raise the other to about right angles over the first; and while the two glasses continue in this posture, if you come up to the perpendicular glass, you will set your face quite deformed and imperfect; for it will appear without forehead, eyes, nose, or ears, and nothing will be seen but a mouth and a chin boldly raised: do but incline the glass ever so little from the perpendicular, and your face will appear with all its parts, excepting the eyes and the forehead; stoop a little more, and you will see two noses and four eyes; and then a little further, and you will see three noses and six eyes;--continue to incline it still a little more, and you will see nothing but two noses, two mouths, and two chins; and then a little further again, and you will see one nose and one mouth; at last incline a little further, that is, till the angle of inclination comes to be degrees, and your face will quite disappear. if you incline the two glasses, the one towards the other, you will see your face perfect and entire; and by the different inclinations, you will see the representation of your face, upright and inverted, alternately. _to know which of two different waters is the lightest, without any scales._ take a solid body, the specific gravity of which is less than that of water, deal, or fir-wood, for instance, and put it into each of the two waters, and rest assured that it will sink deeper in the lighter than in the heavier water; and so, by observing the difference of the sinking, you will know which is the lightest water, and consequently the wholesomest for drinking. _to know if a suspicious piece of money is good or bad._ if it be a piece of silver that is not very thick, as a crown, or half a crown, the goodness of which you want to try; take another piece of good silver, of equal balance with it, and tie both pieces with thread or horse hair to the scales of an exact balance, (to avoid the wetting of the scales themselves,) and dip the two pieces thus tied, in water; for then, if they are of equal goodness, that is, of equal purity, they will hang in equilibrio in the water as well as in the air: but if the piece in question is lighter in the water than the other, it is certainly false, that is, there is some other metal mixed with it, that has less specific gravity than silver, such as copper; if it is heavier than the other, it is likewise bad, as being mixed with a metal of greater specific gravity than silver, such as lead. if the piece proposed is very thick, such as that crown of gold which hiero, king of syracuse, sent to archimedes, to know if the goldsmith had put into it all the eighteen pounds of gold that he had given him for that end; take a piece of pure gold of equal weight with the crown proposed, viz. eighteen pounds; and without taking the trouble of weighing them in water, put them into a vessel full of water, one after another, and that which drives out most water, must necessarily be mixed with another metal of less specific gravity than gold, as taking up more space, though of equal weight. _to hold a glass full of water with the mouth downwards, so that the water shall not run out._ take a glass full of water, cover it with a cup that is a little hollow, inverting the cup upon the glass; hold the cup firm in this position with one hand, and the glass with the other; then with a jerk turn the glass and the cup upside down, and so the cup will stand upright, and the glass will be inverted, resting its mouth upon the interior bottom of the cup: this done, you will find that part of the water contained in the glass will run out by the void space between the bottom of the cup, and the brim of the glass; and when that space is filled, so that the water in it reaches the brim of the glass, all passage being then denied to the air, so that it cannot enter the glass, nor succeed in the room of the water, the water remaining in the glass will not fall lower, but continue suspended in the glass. if you would have a little more water descend into the cup, you must, with a pipe or otherwise, draw the water out of the cup, to give passage to the air in the glass; upon which, part of the water will fall into the glass till it has stopped up the passage of the air afresh, in which case no more will come down; or, without sucking out the water in the cup, you may incline the cup and glass so that the water in the cup shall quit one side of the brim of the glass, and so give passage to the air, which will then suffer the water in the glass to descend till the passage is stopped again. this may likewise be resolved by covering the brim of the glass that is full of water, with a leaf of strong paper, and then turn the glass as above; and without holding your hand any longer upon the paper, you will find it as it were glued for some time to the brim of the glass, and during that time the water will be kept in the glass. _the mysterious watch._ desire any person to lend you his watch, and ask if he thinks it will or will not go when it is laid on the table: if he says it will, place it over the end of a magnet, and it will presently stop; then mark with chalk, or a pencil, the precise point where you placed the watch, and, moving the position of the magnet, give the watch to another person, and desire him to make the experiment; in which he not succeeding, give it to a third person, at the same time replacing the magnet, and he will immediately perform the experiment. _to make a glass of water appear to boil and sparkle._ take a glass nearly full of water, or other liquor, and setting one hand upon the foot of it to hold it fast, turn slightly one of the fingers of your other hand upon the brim or edge of the glass, (having before privately wet your finger,) and so passing softly on, with your finger pressing a little, then the glass will begin to make a noise, the parts of the glass will sensibly appear to tremble with notable rarefaction and condensation, the water will shake, seem to boil, cast itself out of the glass, and leap out by small drops, to the great astonishment of the observers, if they are ignorant of the cause, which is only the rarefaction of the parts of the glass, occasioned by the motion and pressure of the finger. _how to make a cork fly out of a bottle._ put a little chalk or pounded marble into a phial, and pour on some water, with about a third part of sulphuric acid, and put in a cork: in a few seconds, the cork will be sent off with great violence. _to produce gas light, on a small scale._ take an ordinary tobacco pipe, and nearly fill the bowl with small coals, and stop the mouth of the bowl with any suitable luting, as pipe-clay, or the mixture of sand and common clay, or, as clay is apt to shrink, of sand and beer, and place the bowl in a fire between the bars of a grate, so that the pipe may stand nearly perpendicular. in a few minutes, if the luting be good, the gas will begin to escape from the stem of the pipe, when, if a piece of lighted paper or candle be applied, it will take fire and burn for several minutes with an intense light. when the light goes out, a residuum of useful products will be found in the bowl. _thunder powder._ take separately, three parts of good dry saltpetre, two parts of dry salt of tartar, and pound them well together in a mortar; then add thereto one part, or rather more, of flour of brimstone, and take care to pound and mix the whole perfectly together: put this composition into a bottle with a glass stopper, for use. put about two drams of this mixture in an iron spoon, over a moderate fire, but not in the flame; in a short time it will melt, and go off with an explosion like thunder or a loaded cannon. _to tell, by the dial of a watch, at what hour any person intends to rise._ let the person set the hand of the dial to any hour he pleases, and tell you what hour that is, and to the number of that hour you add, in your mind, . after this, tell him to call the hour the index stands at that which he has fixed upon; and by reckoning backwards from this number to the former, it will bring him to the hour required. example. suppose the hour at which he intends to rise be , and that he has placed the hand at . then, adding to , you bid him call the hour at which the index stands, the number on which he thought; and by reckoning back from this number to , it will bring him to , the hour required. _the following experiment shews the power of attraction._ if we take two pieces of lead, as two musket or pistol balls, and with a knife smooth two plane surfaces, and press them together, they will firmly adhere. two plates of metal made very smooth, when rubbed with oil and put together, will so firmly adhere, that it will require a great force to separate them. if two pieces of wood, or of glass, be wetted with water, and placed together, the one may be lifted up by means of the other. boys often have a piece of leather on the end of a string, which they wet and put on a stone, and thereby lift it up. if we take a small tube of glass with a narrow bore, and put it in water, the fluid will rise higher within the tube than in the vessel. the narrower the tube is, the higher the water rises. this is called capillary attraction. if we put two pieces of glass together, and place the lower edge in water, it will rise between them, as it does in the capillary tubes. this experiment may be made more pleasing, by putting a shilling or a piece of paper between the two pieces of glass at one end. the water will then rise in a curve line, called an hyperbola, higher and higher as it recedes from the shilling or piece of paper, and the pieces of glass get nearer to each other. place a balance equally poised, so that one scale may be made to touch water in a vessel; considerable weight must be put in the other scale, to make it rise up. put three or four bits of cork to float in a basin of water; they will gradually draw nearer to each other, and the more rapidly as the distance diminishes. _experiments to shew the power of repulsion._ dip a ball in oil and put it in water; a ditch will be formed all round it. pour water on oiled paper, and it will run off. sprinkle water on a dusty floor, it rolls over it in globules. sprinkle it upon a floor that has been swept, and this will not be the case, as it then comes in contact with the wood, and is diffused over it. we may observe that rain water stands in globules on the leaves of cabbages. if we blow up soap-bubbles, and let them fall on the carpet, they will not for some time burst. let them fall on the table, or any smooth surface, and they will burst instantly. if we pour as much water into a cup as it will possibly hold, we shall see the water above the level of the sides, if the edge be dry, but otherwise we shall not. lay a very fine needle, or a piece of tinfoil, on the surface of water, and it will float, until it become wet, when it sinks. lay a piece of gold on mercury, and it will float on the surface; but if depressed below the surface, it will sink to the bottom, like the needle on water. _experiments respecting the centre of gravity._ the centre of gravity is that part of a body, round which all its parts are so equally balanced, that, if it be supported, the whole body will be so too. take a book, and find, by trial, under what part the finger must be placed to keep the book from falling; that point is the centre of gravity. take a rod, or stick, and find that place about the middle of it, under which the finger being placed, it will be balanced; that is the centre of gravity. the moment the centre of gravity ceases to be supported, the whole body falls. move a piece of board to the edge of a table, and gradually farther and farther off it; the instant the centre of gravity gets beyond the edge of the table, the board falls. run the point of a knife much slanting into the same board, it may then be brought much farther over the edge of the table than it could before, as the knife, leaning the way of the table, brings the centre of gravity that way. take a bottle, with a cork in it; stick in the middle of the cork a needle, with the point, upwards; then take another cork, and with a knife make a slit in one of its ends, in which place a shilling so far as to make it fast; then take two forks, or penknives, and stick one on each side the cork, slanting a little downwards; then place the edge of the shilling on the point of the needle, and it will rest secure. it may be made to revolve, with great rapidity, on the point of the needle, without falling off. _the following experiment shews the power of steam._ put a little water in a bottle, and cork it securely, covering it with sealing wax; then put the bottle into a kettle of water, and let it boil a short time, and the steam will force out the cork. _diminution of heat by evaporation._ pour water on a piece of writing-paper, and hold it over a candle; it will boil without burning the paper. water may be boiled in an egg-shell on the fire. _experiment to ascertain the strength of spirits of wine._ it is a common practice for apothecaries, in order to ascertain if spirit of wine be sufficiently strong, to pour some into a cup upon some gunpowder, and then to set fire to it. if the spirit be sufficiently strong, after burning down to the gunpowder, it will make it go off; but if too much water has been poured in, that will not take place, as, after the spirit is consumed, there will still be water enough to keep the powder wet. _to ascertain the strength of brine._ to ascertain the strength of brine for salting meat, it is usual to put an egg in the boiling water, and gradually put in salt until the egg be made to swim. _the following experiments shew the pressure and elasticity of air._ put an empty bottle with a cork in it near the fire; the cork will be driven out. get a vessel of hot water, and put a phial into it, with the mouth downwards; the expanded air will bubble out. let the water cool, or pour cold water on the phial, of which the mouth has not been drawn above the surface of the water, and as the air is now cooled, and occupies less space, a considerable part of the bottle will be filled with water. boil a little water in a glass phial over a candle for a few minutes; then invert the mouth of the phial in water, and, as it cools, the air will contract, and water will be forced up the bottle, by the external air, to occupy the vacant space. lay a weighty book on a bladder, and blow into it with a pipe, and the book will be raised. increase the weight on the bladder very much indeed, and you may still raise it as before. a bladder filled with air may be compressed, and the moment the force is removed, it will recover its size. if thrown on the ground it will rise like a ball. take a cup, and burn a few pieces of paper in it, the heat will expand the air in it. invert the cup now in a saucer of water, and, as the enclosed air cools, it will return to its former density, and leave a vacuum, and the pressure of the external air will force a great deal of water up into the cup. if this experiment be performed with a large drinking-glass, the water may be seen to rise in the glass. the pressure of the air may be very sensibly felt, by putting the hole of a common bellows over the knee, and then attempting to raise the upper part of it. boil water in a glass phial over a candle for a few minutes, then suddenly removing it, tie a piece of wetted bladder over the mouth, making it fast with a string; the pressure of the air will stretch the bladder, if it do not burst it. get a glass vessel, as a common tumbler, if no better be at hand, and put a piece of wetted bladder over the mouth, pressing it down in the middle, and then tie it firm with a string; then lay hold of the bladder in the middle, and try to pull it straight, or level with the rest, and the pressure of the external air will not permit it. do exactly the same as before, except that the vessel must be nearly full of water. turn the vessel upside-down, and the bladder will still continue as it was placed, the pressure of the air overcoming the weight of the water. though air be capable of compression, it makes a resistance, and that very considerable. the ball of an air-gun has been burst asunder by overcharging it. if bottles are filled too much, they may be burst in attempting to cork them, from the air between the cork and the liquor being too much condensed. put a common wine-glass, with the mouth downwards, into water; and to whatever depth it may be plunged, the air will not allow much water to rise into it, as may be seen by the inside of the glass not being wet. if a bit of cork float inside of the glass, it will point out to the eye still more clearly how high the water rises. this experiment, though so very simple will illustrate the nature of the diving-bell. _experiments respecting sound._ hold a tumbler sideways, and sprinkle a little dust, or powder of any sort, on it; then strike the glass, and make it sound:--the dust keeps dancing about whilst the sound continues; stop the sound, and the dust is at rest. the sound of a watch laid upon a long table, or upon a plank of wood, will be heard much farther than it otherwise would. when a vessel on the fire begins to boil, let a communication be made between it and the ear, by means of the poker, and the sound is more distinctly heard. tie a string round the end of a poker, and then, winding one end of the string round the fore-finger of the one hand, and the other end of the string round the fore-finger of the other; put the fingers into the ears, and make the poker strike against a table, or any other object, and it will sound like the bell of a church. tie a string round the end of a poker, as before, and hold the string with your teeth; when the poker is made to strike against any object, as in the last experiment, the same kind of sound will be transmitted through the teeth. make a watch touch your teeth, and you will hear its beating more distinctly. when a pitchfork is struck, in order to pitch a tune, its end is put on the table, and a greater sound is produced. if the pitchfork, after being struck, be held to the teeth, its sound is still more distinct. having shut up both ears with cotton very closely, put your fingers on the teeth of a person who speaks to you, and you will hear his voice. _electrical experiments._ if a piece of sealing-wax be rubbed briskly against the sleeve of your coat, or any other woollen substance, for some time, and then held within an inch or less of hair, feathers, bits of paper, or other light bodies; they will be attracted, that is, they will jump up, and adhere to the wax. if a tube of glass, or small phial, be rubbed in a similar manner, it will answer much better. the bottle thus rubbed becomes electric; and when the operation is performed in a dark room, small flashes of divergent flame, ramified somewhat like trees bare of leaves, will dart into the air, from many parts of the surface of the tube, to the distance of six or eight inches, attended with a crackling noise; and sometimes sparks will fly along the tube to the rubber at more than a foot distant. cut two bits of cork into the shape and size of a common pea. with a needle, draw a thread through each of the corks, so that they may be made to hang at the ends of the threads with a knot below them. let the other ends of the threads be inserted in the notch of a small piece of wood, about a foot long, and an inch broad, and the thickness of a common match. lay the piece of wood over two wine-glasses, a few inches asunder, so that the end of it, in which the threads are, may project over the edge of the glass nearest it, and the corks may be in contact one with another. take another wine-glass, and, having rubbed it briskly with a piece of flannel, or upon the skirt or sleeve of a woollen coat, hold its mouth to within about an inch of the corks, and they will suddenly start asunder, and continue so for some time. lay a pocket-watch upon a table, and take a common tobacco-pipe, and place it on the face of the watch so that it may balance thereon; then, after rubbing a wine-glass, as described in the former experiment, bring it to within an inch of the smaller end of the tobacco-pipe, and by moving the glass gently round in an horizontal circular track, you will cause the pipe to turn round on the watch-glass, as the needle turns on its centre in a mariner's compass. _a curious experiment made by mr. symmer, on the electricity of silk stockings._ this gentleman having frequently observed, that on putting off his stockings in the evening, they made a crackling or snapping noise, and that in the dark they emitted sparks of fire, was induced to examine on what circumstances these electrical appearances depended. after a considerable number of observations, directed to this point, he found that it was the combination of white and black which produced the electricity, and that the appearances were the strongest when he wore a white and a black stocking upon the same leg. these, however, discovered no signs of electricity while they were upon the leg, though they were drawn backwards and forwards upon it several times; but the moment they were separated, they were both of them found to be highly electrified, the white positively, and the black negatively; and when they were held at a distance from each other, they appeared inflated to such a degree, that they exhibited the entire shape of the leg. when two black or two white stockings were held together, they would repel one another to a considerable distance; and when a white and black stocking were presented to each other, they would be mutually attracted, and rush together with great violence, joining as close as if they had been so many folds of silk; and in this case their electricity did not seem to have been in the least impaired by the shock of meeting, for they would be again inflated, attract, repel, and rush together, as before. when this experiment was performed with two black stockings in one hand, and two white ones in the other, it exhibited a still more curious spectacle. the repulsion of those of the same colour, and the attraction of those of different colours, threw them into an agitation, and made each of them catch at the opposite colour in a way that was very amusing. what was also very remarkable in these experiments with a white and black stocking, was, the power of electrical cohesion which they exhibited; mr. symmer having found, that when they were electrified, and allowed to come together, they frequently stuck so close to each other, that it required a weight of sixteen or seventeen ounces to separate them, and this in a direction parallel to their surfaces. when one of the stockings was turned inside-out, it required twenty ounces to separate them; and by having the black stockings new dyed, and the white ones washed, and whitened in the fumes of sulphur, and then putting them one within the other, it required three pounds three ounces to separate them. trying this experiment with stockings of a more substantial make, he found that, when the white stocking was put within the black one, so that its outside was contiguous to the inside of the other, they raised near nine pounds; and when the white stocking was turned inside-out, and put within the black one, so that their rough surfaces were contiguous, they raised fifteen pounds, which was ninety-two times the weight of the stockings. and, in all these cases, he found that pressing them together with his hands contributed much to strengthen the cohesion. when the white and black stockings were in cohesion, and another pair, more highly electrified, were separated from each other, and presented to the former, their cohesion would be dissolved, and each stocking of the second pair would catch hold of, and carry away with it, that of its opposite co-lour; but if the degree of electricity of both pairs were equal, the cohesion of the former would be weakened, but not dissolved, and all the four would cohere together in one mass. mr. symmer also observed, that white and black silk, when electrified, not only cohered with each other, but they would also adhere to bodies with broad, and even polished, surfaces, though those bodies were not electrified. this he discovered, by throwing accidentally a stocking out of his hand, which stuck to the paper-hangings of the room, and which, in another experiment of this kind, continued hanging there nearly an hour. having stuck up the black and white stockings in this manner, he came with another pair of stockings, highly electrified, and applying the white to the black, and the black to the white, he carried them off from the wall, each of them hanging to that which had been brought to it. the same experiment also held with the painted boards of the room, and likewise with the looking-glass, to the smooth surface of which, the white and black stockings appeared to adhere more tenaciously than to either of the former. _to suspend a ring by a thread that has been burnt._ the thread having been previously soaked in chamber lye, or common salt and water, tie it to a ring, not larger than wedding-ring. when you apply the flame of a candle to it, though the thread burn to ashes, it will yet sustain the ring. _chemical illuminations._ put into a middling-sized bottle, with a short wide neck, three ounces of oil or spirit of vitriol, with twelve ounces of common water, and throw into it, at different times, an ounce or two of iron filings. a violent commotion will then take place, and white vapours will arise from the mixture. if a taper be held to the mouth of the bottle, these vapours will inflame, and produce a violent explosion; which may be repeated as long as the vapours continue. _to make the appearance of a flash of lightning when any one enters a room with a lighted candle._ dissolve camphor in spirit of wine, and deposit the vessel containing the solution in a very close room, where the spirit of wine must be made to evaporate by strong and speedy boiling. if any one then enters the room with a lighted candle, the air will inflame; but the combustion will be so sudden, and of so short duration, as to occasion no danger. _the fiery fountain._ if twenty grains of phosphorus, cut very small, and mixed with forty grains of powdered zinc, be put into four drachms of water, and two drachms of concentrated sulphuric acid be added thereto, bubbles of inflamed phosphuretted hydrogen gas will quickly cover the whole surface of the fluid in succession, forming a real fountain of fire. _a lamp that will burn twelve months without replenishing._ take a stick of phosphorus, and put it into a large dry phial, not corked, and it will afford a light sufficient to discern any object in a room, when held near it. the phial should be kept in a cool place, where there is no great current of air, and it will continue its luminous appearance for more than twelve months. _the magic oracle._ get six blank cards, and write on them figures, or numbers, exactly according to the following patterns. no. i no. ii. no. iii. no. iv. no. v. no. vi. you deliver the cards to a person, and desire him to think of any number from one to sixty; he is then to look at the cards, and say in which cards the number he thought of is to be found; and you immediately tell him the number thought of. explanation. this surprising and ingenious recreation is done by means of a key number. there is a key number in every card, viz. the last but one in the second row from the top. from this explanation the reader will perceive that the key numbers are , , , , , . now whatever number is fixed on, from to , will be readily found by privately adding together the key numbers of the cards that contain the number thought on. for instance, suppose a person thinks of number ; he looks at the cards, and gives you no. , , , , , as cards which contain the number thought on: you expertly perceive that the key numbers are , , , ; which numbers added together make , the number thought on. suppose he thinks of no. , he gives you no. , , , : the key numbers are , , , ; which added, make just ; and so of all numbers from to . this recreation may be varied many ways; as, telling the age of a person, &c.; but this is left to the ingenious reader's taste and application. _cheap and easy method of constructing a voltaic pile._ mr. mitchell, in his useful little work on natural philosophy, proposes the following cheap and easy method of constructing a voltaic pile. zinc is one of the cheapest of metals, and may be easily melted, like lead. let the student cast twenty or thirty pieces, of the size of a penny-piece, which may easily be done in moulds made in clay. let him then get as many penny-pieces, and as many pieces of paper, or cloth cut in the same shape, and these he must dip in a solution of salt and water. in building the pile, let him place a piece of zinc, wet paper, (the superabundant water being squeezed out,) after which the copper; then zinc, paper, copper, &c. until the whole be finished. the sides of the pile may be supported with rods of glass, or varnished wood, fixed in the board on which it is built. the following experiment may then be performed:-- having wetted both hands, touch the lower part of the pile with one hand, and the upper part with the other, constant, little shocks of electricity will be felt until one hand be removed. if the hand be brought back, a similar repetition of shocks will be felt. put a basin of water near the pile, and put the left hand into it, holding a wire, one end of which touches the top of the battery or pile; then put the end of a silver spoon between the lip and the gum, and with the other end of the spoon touch the lower part of the pile; a strong shock is felt in the gum and in the hand. take the left hand from the water, but still keep hold of the wire, and then perform the last experiment in the same manner, and a shock will be felt in the gum only. hold a silver spoon in one hand, and touch with it the battery at the lower part, then touch the upper part with the tongue; the bitter taste will be extreme. in performing the above experiments, if, instead of the two ends of the pile, the one end and the middle of it be touched, the sensations will not be nearly so strong. if the student be desirous of having still more sensible proofs of the effect of galvanism, let him hold a wire to the top of the battery, and let him place one end of a silver spoon to the lower part, and the other end within his mouth, so as to touch the gums; a severe set of shocks will be felt. in performing this experiment, move the spoon to the roof of the mouth, and a strong sensation will be felt. let the end of the spoon be run up the nose so as to touch the cartilaginous bone; shocks like the stabs of a needle will be felt. let the end of the spoon be put under the eye-brow, close to the ball of the eye; a sensation will be felt like the burning of red-hot iron, but which ceases the instant the spoon is removed. _magnetical experiments._ the magnetic attraction will not be destroyed by interposing obstacles between the magnet and the iron. lay a small needle on a piece of paper, and put a magnet under the paper; the needle may be moved backwards and forwards. lay the needle on a piece of glass, and put the magnet under the glass; it will still attract the needle. the same effects will take place if a board be interposed between the magnet and the iron. this property of the magnet has afforded the means of some very amusing deceptions. a little figure of a man has been made to spell a person's name. the hand, in which was a piece of iron, rested on a board, under which a person, concealed from view, with a powerful magnet, contrived to carry it from letter to letter, until the word was made up. the figure of a goose or swan, with a piece of iron concealed about the head, is set to float in water. a rod, with a concealed magnet at the end, is presented to the bird, and it swims after it. the effect is still more amusing, when some food is put on the end of the rod. the figure of a fish is thrown into the water, with a small magnet concealed in its mouth. of course, if a baited hook be suspended near it, the magnet and iron, by mutual attraction, will bring the fish to the bait. put a piece of iron in one scale of a balance, and an equal weight in the other scale; bring a magnet under the scale which contains the iron, and it will draw it down. reverse this experiment, and put the magnet in the scale, and balance it; bring the iron under it, and it will draw down the magnet. suspend a magnet by a string, and bring a piece of iron near it, and it will attract. if a magnet suspended by one string, and a piece of iron suspended by another, be brought near one another, they will mutually attract each other, and be drawn to a point between. suspend a magnet nicely poised by a thread, and it will point north and south, the same end pointing invariably the same way. rub a fine needle with a magnet, and lay it gently on the surface of the water; it will point north and south. rub various needles with the magnet, and run them through small pieces of cork, and put them to swim in water; they will all point north and south, and the same end will invariably point the same way. this mode of finding the north is sometimes of the utmost service at sea, when the compass is destroyed. opposite poles attract; poles of the same name repel. take two magnets, or two needles rubbed with the magnet, and bring the north and south poles together, and they attract. bring the north poles near each other, and they repel. bring the south poles near each other, and they repel. rub a needle with a magnet, and run it through a piece of cork, and put it to float in water. hold a north pole of a magnet near its north pole, and it will keep flying away to avoid it. it may be chased from side to side of a basin. on the other hand, an opposite pole will immediately attract. rub four or five needles, and you may lift them up as in a string, the north pole of one needle adhering to the south pole of another. put a magnet under a piece of glass, and sprinkle iron-filings on it; they will arrange themselves in a manner that will be very surprising. at each pole will be a vast abundance standing erect, and there will be fewer and fewer as they recede, until there are scarcely any in the middle. if the iron-filings are sprinkled on the magnet itself, they will arrange themselves in a manner very striking. lay a needle exactly between the north and south pole, it will move towards neither. _artificial coruscations._ there is a method of producing artificial coruscations, or sparkling fiery meteors, which will be visible not only in the dark but at noon-day, and that from two liquors actually cold. fifteen grains of solid phosphorus are to be melted in about a drachm of water: when this is cold, pour upon it about two ounces of oil of vitriol; let these be shaken together, and they will at first heat, and afterwards they will throw up fiery balls in great numbers, which will adhere like so many stars to the sides of the glass, and continue burning for a considerable time; after this, if a small quantity of oil of turpentine is poured in, without shaking the phial, the mixture will of itself take fire, and burn very furiously. the vessel should be large, and open at the top. artificial coruscations may also be produced by means of oil of vitriol and iron, in the following manner:--take a glass body capable of holding three quarts; put into it three ounces of oil of vitriol and twelve ounces of water; then warming the mixture a little, throw in, at several times, two ounces or more of clean iron-filings; upon this, an ebullition and white vapours will arise; then present a lighted candle to the mouth of the vessel, and the vapour will take fire, and will afford a bright illumination, or flash like lightning. applying the candle in this manner several times, the effect will always be the same; and sometimes the fire will fill the whole body of the glass, and even circulate to the bottom of the liquor; at others, it will only reach a little way down its neck. the great caution to be used in this experiment is, in making the vapour of a proper heat; for, if too cold, few vapours will arise; and, if made too hot, they will come too fast, and only take fire in the neck of the glass, without any remarkable coruscation. _to make an egg enter a phial without breaking._ let the neck of a phial be ever so strait, an egg will go into it without breaking, if it be first steeped in very strong vinegar, for in process of time the vinegar does so soften it, that the shell will bend and extend lengthways without breaking: and when it is in, cold water thrown upon it will recover its primitive hardness, and, as cardan says, its primitive figure. _light produced by friction, even under water._ rub two pieces of fine lump sugar together in the dark; the effect is produced, but in a much greater degree, by two pieces of silex, or quartz: but that which affords the strongest light of any thing, is a white quartz[ ] from the land's end, considerable quantities of which are brought to bristol, and enter into the composition of china ware. by means of two pieces of such quartz, pretty forcibly rubbed together, you may distinguish the time of the night by a watch: but, what is more surprising, the same effect is produced equally strong by rubbing the pieces of quartz together under water. _rosin bubbles._ the following account of a simple and curious experiment is extracted from a letter written by mr. morey, of oxford, new hampshire, to dr. silliman, the editor of the american journal of science and arts. "if the end of a copper tube, or of a tobacco-pipe stem, be dipped in melted rosin, at a temperature a little above that of boiling water, taken out and held nearly in a vertical position, and blown through, bubbles will be formed of all possible sizes, from that of a hen's egg down to sizes which can hardly be discerned by the naked eye; and from their silvery lustre, and reflection of the different rays of light, they have a pleasing appearance. some that have been formed these eight months, are as perfect as when first made. they generally assume the form of a string of beads, many of them perfectly regular, and connected by a very fine fibre; but the production is never twice alike. if expanded by hydrogen gas, they would probably occupy the upper part of the room. "the formation of these bubbles is ascribed to a common cause, viz. the distention of a viscous fluid by one that is aëriform; and their permanency, to the sudden congelation of the rosin thus imprisoning the air by a thin film of solid matter, and preventing its escape." _a curious hydraulic experiment, called the magical bottle._ take a small bottle, (see plate) ab, fig. , the neck of which must be very narrow, and provide a glass vessel, cd, the height of which exceeds that of the bottle about two inches; fill the bottle, by means of a small funnel, with red wine, and place it in the vessel cd, which is to be previously filled with water. then, if the bottle be uncorked, the wine will presently come out of it, and rise in form of a small column, to the surface of the water; and at the same time the water entering the bottle, will supply the place of wine; for water being specifically heavier than wine, it will consequently subside to the lowest place, while the other naturally rises to the top. a similar effect will be produced, if the bottle be filled with water, and the vessel with wine, for the bottle being placed in the vessel, in an inverted position, the water will descend to the bottom of the vessel, and the wine will rise in the bottle. the same effect may also be produced by any other liquors, the specific gravities of which are considerably different. _another hydraulic experiment, called the miraculous vessel._ take a tin vessel of about six inches in height, and three in diameter, having a mouth of only a quarter of an inch wide, and in the bottom of the vessel make a number of small holes, of a size sufficient to admit a common sewing needle. plunge the vessel into water, with its mouth open, and when it is full, cork it, and take it out again; then, as long as the vessel remains corked, no water will come out of it; but as soon as it is uncorked, the water will immediately issue from the small holes at the bottom. it must be observed, however, that if the holes at the bottom of the vessel be more than one-sixth of an inch in diameter, or if they be too numerous, the experiment will not succeed; for, in this case, the pressure of the air against the bottom of the vessel will not be sufficient to confine the water. _a curious hydraulic experiment, called tantalus's cup._ take a glass, or any other vessel, (see plate) abcd, fig. . which has a small bent pipe, efg, open at each end, running through the middle of it; then, if water or wine be poured into the glass, it will continue in it till the tube is full up to the bend f, which should be a little lower than the upper edge of the glass; but if, after this, you continue to pour more liquor into it, it will endeavour, as usual, to rise higher in the glass, but not finding room for a farther ascent in the tube, it will descend through the part eg, and run out at the end g, as long as you continue to put it in. to those who are unacquainted with the nature of the syphon, the effect may perhaps appear something more extraordinary, if the longest branch of the tube be concealed in the handle of the cup. this is called the cup of tantalus, from its resemblance to an experiment of the same kind, by placing an upright image in the cup, and disposing the syphon in such a manner, that, as soon as the water rises to the chin of the image, it will begin to run out through the longest leg, in the same manner as from the cup above-mentioned. _a curious chemical experiment, called the tree of diana._ make an amalgam, without heat, of two drachms of leaf silver with one drachm of quicksilver. dissolve this amalgam two ounces, or a sufficient quantity, of pure nitrous acid of a moderate strength: dilute the solution in about a pound and a half of distilled water, agitate the mixture, and preserve it for use in a glass bottle with a ground stopper. when you would make your tree, put into a phial the quantity of an ounce of the above preparation, and add to it about the size of a pea of amalgam of gold or silver, as soft as butter: the vessel must then be left at rest, and soon afterwards small filaments will appear to issue out of the ball of amalgam, which quickly increase, and shoot out branches in the form of shrubs. a metallic arborisation, somewhat similar, may be produced in the following manner:--dissolve a little sugar of lead in water, and fill a phial with the solution. pass a wire through the cork, and affix to the upper part of the wire a small bit of silver, or zinc, in such a manner that it may be immersed in the solution not far from its surface. set the phial in some place where it may remain undisturbed, and in about twenty-four hours you will perceive the lead beginning to shoot round the wire: this process will continue going on slowly, till you have a beautiful metallic tree. if you have a wide-mouthed phial, or glass jar, the experiment may be pleasingly diversified, by arranging the wire in various forms. _a remarkable experiment, called prince rupert's drops._ take up a small quantity of the melted matter of glass with a tube, and let a drop of it fall into a vessel of water. this drop will have a small tail, which, being broken, the whole substance of the drop will burst, with great violence, into a fine powder, and give a little pain to the hand, but do no hurt to it. it is a remarkable circumstance in this experiment, that the bulb, or body, will bear the stroke of a hammer, without breaking; but when the tail is broken, the above-mentioned effect is produced. if the drop be cooled in the air, the same effect will not take place; and if it be ground away on a stone, nothing extraordinary appears; but if it be put into the receiver of an air-pump, and then broken, the effect will be so violent as to produce light. _how to make sympathetic inks of various kinds._ by sympathetic inks, are meant those kinds of liquors, with which if any characters be written, they will remain invisible, till some method is used to give them a colour. the first class of these inks consists of such as become visible by passing another liquor over them, or by exposing them to the vapour of that liquor. the second, of those which do not appear so long as they are kept close, but soon become visible on being exposed to the air. the third, of such as become apparent by strewing or sifting some very fine powder over them. the fourth, of those which do not become visible till they are exposed to the fire, or heated. the fifth, like the fourth, of such as appear by heat, but disappear again when the paper becomes cold, or has had a sufficient time to imbibe the moisture of the air. _sympathetic inks of the first class._--put some litharge into strong distilled vinegar, and let it stand for twenty-four hours; then strain it off, and, after it is quite settled, put it into a bottle closely corked, and preserve it for use. having done this, put into a pint bottle two ounces of quicklime, one ounce of orpiment in powder, and as much water as will rise two or three fingers' breadth above them; and when the solution is made, pour the liquid gently off, and let it stand in the sun for two or three days, observing to turn it five or six times each day. when these liquors are ready for use, any letters written by the first, being exposed to the vapours of the second, will quickly become visible; and if you would have them disappear again, you must draw a sponge, or pencil, dipt in aqua-fortis, or spirit of nitre, over them: and if, after this, you would have them appear again, stay till the paper is quite dry, and then pass the vivifying liquor, made of the solution of orpiment, over them, as before. _another ink of this class._--dissolve bismuth in the nitrous acid, and any letters written with this ink will become quite black, by being exposed to the vapour of liver of sulphur, which is of so penetrating a nature, that it will act upon the ink through a quire of paper, or even the slight partition of a room. _a sympathetic gold ink of the second class._--put as much gold into a small quantity of aqua-regia as will dissolve it, and then dilute it with two or three times as much distilled water. also dissolve, in a separate vessel, fine pewter in aqua-regia; and when it is well saturated, add to it an equal quantity of distilled water. then, if any characters be written with the solution of gold, put them in the shade till they become quite dry, and they will not appear for the first seven or eight hours, but if you dip a pencil, or small fine sponge, in the solution of pewter, and draw it lightly over the invisible characters, they will presently appear of a purple colour. the purple colour of these letters may be effaced again, by wetting them with aqua-regia, and may be produced a second time, by passing the solution of pewter over them as before. _a sympathetic ink of the second class._--dissolve fine silver in aqua-fortis, and add some distilled water to the solution, in the same manner as in the gold ink; then, whatever is written with this ink, will remain invisible for three or four months, if it be kept close from the air; but if it be exposed to the sun, it will appear in about an hour, of a gray colour, like that of a slate. _sympathetic inks of the third class_,--or such as become visible by having any fine powder strewed over them,--may be composed of the glutinous and colourless juice of any vegetable, the milk of animals, and several other substances. _sympathetic inks of the fourth class_,--are made by diluting acid of vitriol with about three times its weight of common water, or as much as will prevent it from corroding the paper. the juice of lemons, or onions, will answer the same purpose; but either of them requires more heat than the first, and will not keep so long. _a green ink of the fifth class._--take zaffre in powder, and let it remain dissolved in aqua-regia for twenty-four hours; after which pour the liquor off clear, and, adding to it as much common water, keep it in a bottle well corked. then, if any characters be written with this ink, and exposed to the fire, or strong rays of the sun, they will appear of a lively green. it is the peculiar property of this ink, that as soon as the paper becomes cold again, the letters will disappear; and this alternate appearance and disappearance may be repeated a great number of times, provided the heat be not too great. _other sympathetic inks._ a _yellow ink_ of this kind may be made, by steeping the flowers of marigolds seven or eight days in clear distilled vinegar, and then pressing them out, and keeping the liquor well corked in a bottle for use. _for a red invisible ink_,--take the pure spirit of vitriol, or that of nitre, and add to it eight or ten times as much water, according as you would have it more or less red. _for a green ink of this sort_,--dissolve salt of tartar, the clearest and driest you can procure, in a sufficient quantity of river water; _and for a violet sympathetic ink_, express the juice of lemons, and keep it in a bottle well corked. then, if any characters be written with one of these inks, they will appear in their proper colours, the paper having been dipped in the following liquor. take a sufficient quantity of the flowers of pansies, or common violets, and after adding some water to them, strain the liquor through a cloth, and keep it in a bottle for use. _a sympathetic ink which appears by being wetted with water._ mix alum with a sufficient quantity of lemon juice; then, if any letters or characters be written with this mixture, they will be invisible till they are wetted with water, which will make them appear of a grayish colour, and quite transparent. or, you may write with a strong solution of roch-alum only, and when the writing is dry, pour a small quantity of water over it, and it will appear of a white colour, like that of the paper before it was wetted. also all saline liquors, such as vitriolic, nitrous, and marine acids, diluted with water, the liquor of fixed vegetable alkalis, and even vinegar, will produce the same effect. if a little aqua-fortis be mixed with the water, the writing will dry well, and not run out of its form when the paper is wetted. _a curious recreation with sympathetic ink, called the book of fate._ make a book, consisting of seventy or eighty leaves, and in the cover at the end of it, let there be a case which opens next to the back, that it may not be perceived. at the top of each right-hand page, write any question you please; and at the beginning of the book, let there be a table of those questions, with the number of the pages in which each is to be found. then write with common ink on separate papers, each about half the size of the pages, the same questions that are in the book; and under each of them, write the answer with the ink made with the litharge of lead, or the solution of bismuth. soak a double paper in the vivifying ink, made of quicklime and orpiment, or the liver of sulphur; and just before you make the experiment, place it in the case that is in the cover of the book. having done this, deliver some of the papers on which the questions are written, to the company; and after they have chosen such as they wish to have answered, let them put them into those leaves where the same questions are contained; then shutting the book for a few minutes, the sulphureous spirit, with which the paper in the cover of the book is impregnated, will penetrate the leaves, and make the answer visible, which will be of a brown colour, and more or less deep, in proportion to the time the book has been closed. _a curious recreation, called the transcolorated writing._ write on a paper, with a violet-coloured liquor, as many letters or words as you please, and ask any person which he will choose to have the writing,--yellow, green, or red. when he has made his choice, have a sponge ready with three sides, which you can easily distinguish, and dip each of its sides in one of the three sympathetic inks; then draw the side of the sponge which corresponds to the colour the person has chosen, over the writing, once only, and it will directly change to the colour required. _an experiment with sympathetic ink, called the oracular letters._ write on several slips of paper different questions, and such as may be answered by the name of some person: for example, who is the merriest man in company?--_answer_, mr. * * *. to whom will miss * * * be married?--_answer_, to mr. * * *. these questions are to be written in the sympathetic ink of the fourth class, and exposed to the fire, and the answers written in the same ink, and left invisible. the papers are then to be folded in the form of letters, and in such a manner, that the part where the name is written shall be directly under the seal; in which case, the heat of the wax will make it visible. then, if the letter be given to the person who requires the answer, he will find it plainly written. _an experiment with sympathetic ink, called winter changed to spring._ take a print which represents winter, and trace over the trees, plants, and ground, with the green sympathetic ink; observing to make some parts deeper than others, according to their distance. when those parts are dry, paint the other objects in their natural colours; then put the print into a glazed frame, and cover the back of it with a paper, pasted over its border only. when this print is exposed to the heat of a moderate fire, or to the warm rays of the sun, all the grass and foliage will turn to a pleasing green; and if a yellow tint be given to some parts of the print, before the sympathetic ink be drawn over it, the green will be of different shades, and the scene, that a minute before represented winter, will now be changed into spring. when this print is placed in the cold, winter will appear again, and be again driven away by the warm rays of the sun; and this alternate change of seasons may be repeated as often as you please, provided the print be not made too hot. _a remarkable experiment, called the revivified rose._ take a rose that is quite faded, and throw in some common sulphur in a chafing-dish of hot coal. hold the rose over the fumes, and it will become quite white; then dip it into a basin of water, and giving it to any one, tell him to put it into his box or drawer, and after locking it, to give you the key. about five or six hours afterwards, return him the key, and when he unlocks his drawer, instead of the white rose he put into it, he will find one perfectly red. _how to write on glass by means of the rays of the sun._ dissolve chalk in aqua-fortis, to the consistence of milk, and add to it a strong solution of silver; keep this liquor in a glass decanter, well stopped, and cutting out from a paper the letters you wish to appear, paste it on the decanter, and place it in the sun, in such a manner, that its rays may pass through the spaces cut out of the paper, and fall on the surface of the liquor; then will that part of the glass through which the rays pass be turned black, while that under the paper will remain white; but particular care must be taken that the bottle be not moved during the time of the operation. _to produce different colours, by pouring a colourless liquor into a clean glass._ take a strong solution of quicksilver, made with spirit of nitre; dilute it with water, and pour it into a hot glass, rinsed in strong spirit of sea-salt, and it will instantly become coloured. or, if a solution of silver, made with spirit of nitre, considerably diluted, be poured into a glass, prepared in the manner above-mentioned, it will produce the same effect. and if you pour hot water upon new-made _crocus metallorum_, and put it into a clean glass, rinsed with any acid, it will produce an orange colour. _to produce a colour which appears and disappears by the influence of the air._ put into a decanter some volatile spirit, in which you have dissolved copper filings, and you will have a fine blue tincture; and if the bottle be stopped, the colour will soon return again; and this experiment may be repeated a considerable number of times. _to turn a colourless liquor black, by adding a white powder to it._ put a hot weak pellucid infusion of galls into a glass, and throw into it a grain of the vitriol of iron, calcined to whiteness, and considerably heated; then, as it falls to the bottom, it will make a black cloud, which will uniformly diffuse itself through the transparent liquor, and gradually turn it black. the same effect may also be produced by the addition of a little vitriol of iron calcined to a yellow colour, or by the colcothar of vitriol calcined to redness. the black liquor, produced as above, may be rendered pellucid again, by pouring the liquor hot into a glass rinsed with the pure acid of vitriol. and to make this transparent liquor black again, pour to it as much hot oil of _tartar per deliquium_ as will saturate the acid, which has attracted the metallic matter. _freezing mixture._ in the time of snow, a freezing mixture may easily be made, by mixing a little snow and common salt in a basin near the fire. if water in an iron cup or phial be put into this mixture, it will immediately be frozen; and if pounded ice and common salt be added, it will have a still more powerful effect. _experiments with the microscope._ they who possess this amusing instrument, may easily perform with it a variety of pleasing experiments; among others, the following:--leave some vinegar exposed in a saucer, for a few days, to the open air; then place a drop of it, by means of a clean pen, or a camel's hair brush, on the transparent object-plate of the microscope; and if the object-plate be properly illuminated from below, you will observe in this drop of liquor animals resembling some small eels, which are in continual motion. if you slightly bruise some pepper-corns, and infuse them in water for a few days, and then expose a drop of it to the microscope, a number of animals of a different kind will be visible. these are of an oblong shape, and, like the others, in continual motion, going backwards and forwards in all directions, turning aside when they meet each other, or when their passage is stopped by some obstacle. in other infusions, as in that of new hay, differently shaped animalcules will be found. when the drop in which they swim, and which to them is like a pond, becomes diminished by evaporation, they gradually retire towards the middle, where they accumulate, and at length perish when entirely deprived of moisture. previously to this, they appear in great distress, writhe their bodies, and endeavour to escape from that state of uneasiness which they evidently feel. it the smallest quantity or drop of sulphuric acid be put into a drop of the infusion which swarms with these insects, they immediately throw themselves on their backs, and expire; sometimes losing their skin, which bursts, and suffers small particles of air to escape. those who wish to be furnished with microscopic eels, at all seasons, may have them in common paste, such as the bookbinders commonly use. it should neither be too stiff, nor too watery. expose it to the air, and prevent its hardening or becoming mouldy on the surface, by beating it well together, when it has that tendency. after some days it will become sour; and then, if examined attentively by a microscope, multitudes of exceedingly small, long, and slender animalcules will be visible; these will grow larger, till they are of sufficient size to be seen by the naked eye. a drop or two of vinegar should now and then be poured on the paste; and sometimes, to prevent its being dry, a little vinegar and water. by this means microscopic eels may be had all the year. they must be applied to the microscope upon any flat surface, after having first put on it a very small drop of water for them to swim in. these are very entertaining objects when examined by any kind of microscope, but particularly the solar one, by which the motions of their intestines may very plainly be distinguished; and when the water is nearly dried away, and they are on the point of expiring, their mouths may be seen opening to a considerable width. if some of the dust of the puff-ball be examined with the microscope, it appears to consist of perfectly round globules, of an orange colour, the diameter of which is only about the one-fiftieth part of the thickness of a hair, so that each of this grain is but the / th part of a globule, equal in diameter to the breadth of a hair. the farina of flowers is found to be regularly or uniformly organized in each kind of plant. in the mallow, for example, each grain is an opaque ball, covered over with small points. the farina of the tulip, and of most of the liliaceous kind of flowers, bears a striking resemblance to the seeds of the cucumber: that of the poppy is like grains of barley. there are certain plants, the leaves of which seem to be pierced with a multitude of small holes. of this kind is the st. john's wort. if a fragment of this be viewed with a good microscope, the supposed holes are found to be vesicles, contained in the thickness of the leaf, and covered with an exceedingly thin membrane; and these are thought to be the receptacles which contain the essential and aromatic oil peculiar to the plant. the view exhibited by those plants which have down, such as borage, nettles, &c. is exceedingly curious. when examined by a microscope, they appear to be covered with spikes. those of borage are, for the most part, bent so as to form an elbow; and though really so close, they appear, by the microscope, to be at a considerable distance from each other. the entire appearance is very similar to that of the skin of a porcupine. there are two kinds of sand, viz. the calcareous and the vitreous: the former, examined with a microscope, resembles large irregular fragments of rock; but the latter appears like so many rough diamonds. in some instances, the particles of sand seem to be highly polished and brilliant, like an assemblage of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. charcoal is a fine object for the microscope: it is found to be full of pores, regularly arranged, and passing through its whole length. those who wish to observe the circulation of the blood, by means of the microscope, may readily obtain the desired satisfaction. an object employed chiefly for this purpose is the delicate transparent membrane which unites the toes of the frog; another object is the tail of the tadpole. if this membrane be extended, and fixed on a piece of glass illuminated below, the motion of the blood in the vessels will be distinctly visible; the appearance resembles a number of small islands, with a rapid current flowing between them. take a small tadpole, and, having wrapped its body in a piece of moist cloth, place its tail on the object-plate of the microscope, and enlighten it below, and you will see very distinctly the circulation of the blood; which in some of the vessels proceeds by a kind of undulation, and in others with a uniform motion. the former are thought to be the arteries in which the blood moves, in consequence of the alternate pulsation of the heart; the latter are said to be the veins. the circulation of the blood may be seen also in the legs and tails of shrimps. the transparent legs of small spiders, and those of bugs, will also afford the means of observing the circulation of the blood to very great advantage. the latter are said, by mr. baker, to exhibit an extraordinary vibration of the vessels, which he never saw any where else. very small fish are good objects for this purpose; but the most curious of all spectacles of this kind, is that exhibited by the mosentery of a living frog, applied in particular to the solar microscope. if you take off a small piece of the epidermis, or scarf skin, of the hand, by means of a sharp razor, and place it on the object-plate of the microscope, you will see it covered with a multitude of small scales, so exceedingly minute, that, according to leuwenhoek, a grain of sand would cover two hundred of them. these scales are arranged like those on the back of fishes, like the tiles of a house, each in part covering the other. to ascertain the form of these little scales, scrape the skin with a penknife, and put this dust into a drop of water, and it will be seen that these scales, small as they are, have, in general, five planes, and that each consists of several strata. underneath these scales are the pores of the epidermis, which, when the former are removed, may be distinctly seen, apparently like small holes, pierced with an exceedingly fine needle. in the length of an inch, twelve hundred have been counted, so that, in a surface equal to a square inch, there are fourteen thousand; and as there are one hundred and forty-four inches in a square foot, the number of pores in a square foot of surface would be more than two millions; and as the surface of the human body is reckoned at fourteen feet, the number of pores in its surface, through which there is a perpetual perspiration going on, must be more than twenty-eight millions. the hairs of animals, seen through a microscope, appear to be organized bodies: they are composed of long, slender, hollow tubes; some seem to be composed of several small hairs, covered with a common bark; others are hollow throughout. the bristles of a cat's whisker, when cut transversely, exhibit the appearance of a medullary part, which occupies the middle, like the pith in the twig of the elder-tree. a human hair, cut in the same manner, shews a variety of vessels in very regular figures. hair taken from the head, the eyebrows, the nostrils, the beard, the hand, &c. appear unlike, as well in the roots as in the hairs themselves, and vary as plants do of the same genus, but of different species. those of the hedgehog contain a kind of real marrow, which is whitish, and formed of radii meeting in a centre. a split hair appears like a stick shivered with beating. nothing can be more curious than the appearance exhibited by mouldiness, when viewed through a microscope. if looked at by the naked eye, it seems nothing but an irregular tissue of filaments; but the magnifying-glass shews it to be a forest of small plants, which derive their nourishment from the moist substance which serves them as a base. the stems of these plants may be plainly distinguished, and sometimes their buds, some shut, and some open. they have much similarity to mushrooms, the tops of which, when they come to maturity, emit an exceedingly fine dust, which is their seed. upon examining the edge of a very keen razor with a microscope, it will appear as broad as the back of a thick knife, rough, uneven, full of notches and furrows. an exceedingly small needle resembles a rough iron bar. but the sting of a bee, seen through the same instrument, exhibits every where a polish exceedingly beautiful, without the least flaw, blemish, or inequality, and ends in a point too fine to be discerned. a small piece of exceedingly fine lawn, appears, through a microscope, like a hurdle or lattice, and the threads themselves seem coarser than the yarn with which ropes are made for anchors. but a silkworm's web appears perfectly smooth and shining, and every where equal. the smallest dot that can be made with a pen, appears, when viewed by the microscope, an irregular spot, rough, jagged, and uneven. but the little specks on the wings or bodies of insects, are found to be most accurately circular. a microscope will prove the most boasted performances of art to be ill-shaped, rugged, and uneven. the finest miniature paintings appear before this instrument as mere daubings, plastered on with a trowel, entirely void of beauty, either in the drawing or the colouring. the most even and beautiful varnishes and polishings will be found to be mere roughness, full of gaps and flaws. thus sink the works of art, before the microscopic eye. but the nearer we examine the works of god, even in the least of his productions, the more sensible shall we be of his wisdom and power. apply the microscope to any, the most minute of his works, nothing is to be found but beauty and perfection. if we examine the numberless species of insects that swim, creep, or fly around us, what proportion, exactness, uniformity, and symmetry, shall we perceive in all their organs! what a profusion of colouring! azure, green, and vermilion, gold, silver, pearls, rubies, and diamonds; fringe and embroidery on their bodies, wings, heads, and every other part! how high the finishing, how inimitable the polish, we every where behold! their wings, all glorious to behold! bedeck'd with azure, jet, and gold, wide they display: the spangled dew reflects their eyes and various hue. _gay._ the most perfect works of art betray a meanness, a poverty, an inability in the workman; but the works of nature plainly prove, that "the hand which formed them was divine." _amusing experiments with the thermometer._ a thermometer is amusing in a room, to enable us to know with accuracy the real degree of heat, as our own feelings are so very deceptive. according to their state of health at the time, different persons will give a different judgment on the subject. after hot weather, a day which is not very cold, will yet feel so to us, and after cold weather we shall be ready to think a day warm, which is not so severe as the preceding. in winter, a thermometer in a sitting-room enables us to regulate its heat. too great warmth produced by a fire is injurious to health, as it relaxes the strength, and consumes the pure oxygenous air, so necessary for respiration. experiments will shew how differently the feelings of different individuals may be affected by the same degree of heat. let one person go out into the cold air in winter for a few minutes, and let another sit by a warm fire; then introduce both into a room without a fire: the person from the cold will feel it warm, and the other will feel it cold. a much more entertaining experiment will shew, that what will be cold to the one hand, will be warm to the other. pour warm water into one basin, cold water into a second, and a mixture of hot and cold water into a third; then put the one hand into the cold water, and the other into the warm, for two minutes, and after that put both hands into the lukewarm water, and to the one hand it will feel cold, and to the other hot. the barometer. _rules for judging of and predicting the state of the weather by the barometer._ the rising of the mercury presages, in general, fair weather, and its falling, foul weather, as rain, snow, high winds, and storms. when the surface of the mercury is convex, or stands higher in the middle than at the sides, it is a sign the mercury is then in a rising state; but if the surface be concave, or hollow in the middle, it is then sinking. in very hot weather, the falling of the mercury indicates thunder. in winter, the rising presages frost; and in frosty weather, if the mercury falls three or four divisions, there will be a thaw. but in a continued frost, if the mercury rises, it will certainly snow. when wet weather happens soon after the depression of the mercury, expect but little of it; on the contrary, expect but little fair weather, when it proves fair shortly after the mercury has risen. in wet weather, when the mercury rises much and high, and so continues for two or three days before the bad weather is entirely over, then a continuance of fair weather may be expected. in fair weather, when the mercury falls much and low, and thus continues for two or three days before the rain comes, then a deal of wet may be expected, and probably high winds. the unsettled motion of the mercury denotes unsettled weather. the words engraved on the scale are not so much to be attended to, as the rising and falling of the mercury; for if it stands at much rain, and then rises to changeable, it denotes fair weather, though not to continue so long as if the mercury had risen higher. if the mercury stands at fair, and falls to changeable, bad weather may be expected. in winter, spring, and autumn, the sudden falling of the mercury, and that for a large space, denotes high winds and storms; but in summer it presages heavy showers, and often thunder. it always sinks very low for great winds, though not accompanied with rain; but it falls more for wind and rain together, than for either of them alone. if, after rain, the wind change into any part of the north, with a clear and dry sky, and the mercury rise, it is a certain sign of fair weather. after very great storms of wind, when the mercury has been low, it commonly rises again very fast. in settled fair weather, except the mercury sink much, expect but little rain. in a wet season, the smallest depression must be attended to; for when the air is much inclined to showers, a little sinking in the barometer denotes more rain. and in such a season, if it rise suddenly fast and high, fair weather cannot be expected to last more than a day or two. the greatest heights of the mercury are found upon easterly and north-easterly winds; and it may often rain or snow, the wind being in these points, while the barometer is in a rising state, the effects of the wind counteracting its influence. but the mercury sinks for wind as well as rain in all other points of the compass. _new method of preserving birds._--(_from the annual register._) when i receive a bird fresh taken, (says the author,) i open the venter, from the lower part of the breast-bone down to the anus, with a pair of scissars, and extract all the contents. this cavity i immediately fill up with the following mixture, and then bring the wound together by a suture, so as to prevent the stuffing from coming out. the gullet or passage i fill, from the beak down to where the stomach lies, with the mixture finer ground, which must be forced down a little at a time, by the help of a quill or wire: the head i open near the root of the tongue, with the scissars, and, after having turned out the brains, i fill the cavity with the same mixture. the bird being thus filled, must now be hung up by the legs to dry for two days, to let the spice settle; after which it may be placed in a frame to dry, in the same attitude as we usually see it when alive. in this frame it must be held up by two threads, the one passing from the anus to the lower part of the back, and the other through the eyes: the ends of these threads are to brace the bird up to its proper attitude, fasten them to the side of the frame, and place it on a chip pill-box. it will now require no other support than a pin through each foot, fastened into the box: it must remain a month or two to dry. the eyes must be supplied by proportional glass beads, fixed in with strong gum-water. the mixture is: common salt, one pound; alum, powdered, four ounces; ground pepper, two ounces; all blended together. _to take the impression of the wings of a butterfly in all their colours._ kill it without spoiling; cut off the body close to the wings, which contrive to spread in a flying position; then take a piece of white paper, wash part of it with thick gum-water; when dry, lay it on a smooth board, with the wings on the gum-water; lay another paper over this, press both very hard, let them remain under pressure for an hour; afterwards take off the wings of the butterfly, and you will find a perfect impression of them, with all their various colours, remaining on the paper. draw, between the wings of the impression, the body of the butterfly, and colour it after life. _to take the impression of a leaf of any tree, plant, or shrub, with all its veins._ having put the intended leaf into a book for a few minutes, which will cause it to lie very flat, you must have a pair of balls, somewhat of the shape of those used by printers; have them covered with kid-skin, that being the best leather for the purpose. these balls may be made to any size. you must then procure some lamp-black, ground or mixed with drying oil, and having put a small quantity on one of the balls, spread it all over with the other till they are both black; then laying the leaf on one of them, place the other over it, and press both very hard together. when the leaf is sufficiently black, take it off the ball, and place it between a sheet of white paper. press it gently with your hand, the heat and pressure of which will cause it to receive an accurate delineation of all its veins. instead of black, any other colour may be used. verdigris makes a pleasant green; and by adding yellow ochre, or prussian blue, you may approach the original tint of the leaf, and your impression will almost equal that of nature. _curious experiments respecting colours._ the following curious and useful remarks on the different degrees of heat imbibed from the sun's rays, &c. by cloths of different colours, were extracted from "experiments and observations," by that famous american philosopher and politician, dr. b. franklin. "first, let me mention an experiment you may easily make yourself. walk but a quarter of an hour in your garden when the sun shines, with a part of your dress white, and a part black; then apply your hand to them alternately, and you will find a very great difference in their warmth. the black will be quite hot to the touch, the white still cool. "another. try to fire paper with a burning-glass. if it be white, you will not easily burn it; but if you bring the focus to a black spot, or upon letters written or printed, the paper will immediately be on fire under the letters. "thus fullers and dyers find that black cloths, of equal thickness with white ones, and hung out equally wet, dry in the sun much sooner than the white, being more readily heated by the sun's rays. it is the same before a fire; the heat of which sooner penetrates black stockings than white ones, and is apt sooner to burn a man's shins. also beer much sooner warms in a black mug set before the fire, than in a white one, or in a bright silver tankard. "my experiment was this: i took a number of little square pieces of broad cloth from a tailor's pattern-card, of various colours. there were black, deep blue, lighter blue, green, purple, red, yellow, white, and other colours, or shades of colours. i laid them all out upon the snow in a bright sunshiny morning. in a few hours, (i cannot now be exact as to the time,) the black being warmed most by the sun, was sunk so low as to be below the stroke of the sun's rays; the dark blue almost as low, the lighter blue not quite so low as the dark, the other colours less as they were lighter; and the quite white remained on the surface of the snow, not having entered it at all. "what signifies philosophy that does not apply to some use? may we not learn from hence, that black cloths are not so fit to wear in a hot sunny climate, or season, as white ones; because, in such clothes the body is more heated by the sun when we walk abroad, and are at the same time heated by the exercise, which double heat is apt to bring on putrid dangerous fevers?--that soldiers and seamen, who must march and labour in the sun, should, in the east or west indies, have a uniform of white?--that summer hats for men or women, should be white, as repelling that heat which gives head-achs to many, and to some the fatal stroke that the french call the _coup de soliel_?--that the ladies' summer hats, however, should be lined with black, as not reverberating on their faces those rays which are reflected upwards from the earth or water?--that the putting a white cap of paper or linen, within the crown of a black hat, as some do, will not keep out the heat, though it would if placed without?--that fruit-walls being blackened, may receive so much heat from the sun in the day-time, as to continue warm, in some degree, through the night, and thereby preserve the fruit from frosts, or forward its growth?--with sundry other particulars, of less or greater importance, that will occur from time to time to attentive minds?" _thirty soldiers having deserted, so to place them in a ring, that you may save any fifteen you please, and it shall seem the effect of chance._ this recreation is usually proposed thus: fifteen christians and fifteen turks being in a ship at sea, in a violent tempest, it was deemed necessary to throw half the number of persons overboard, in order to disburden the ship, and save the rest; to effect this, it was agreed to be done by lot, in such a manner, that the persons being placed in a ring, every ninth man should be cast into the sea, till one half of them were thrown overboard. now, the pilot, being a christian, was desirous of saving those of his own persuasion: how ought he therefore to dispose the crew, so that the lot might always fall upon the turks? this question may be resolved by placing the men according to the numbers annexed to the vowels in the words of the following verse:-- _po-pu-le-am jir-gam ma-ter re-gi-na fe-re-bat._ from which it appears, that you must place four of those you would save first; then five of those you would punish. after this, two of those to be saved, and one to be punished; and so on. when this is done, you must enter the ring, and beginning with the first of the four men you intend to save, count on to nine; and turn this man out to be punished; then count on, in like manner, to the next ninth man, and turn him out to be punished; and so on for the rest. it is reported that josephus, the author of the jewish history, escaped the danger of death by means of this problem; for being governor of joppa, at the time that it was taken by vespasian, he was obliged to secrete himself with thirty or forty of his soldiers in a cave, where they made a firm resolution to perish by famine rather than fall into the hands of the conqueror; but being at length driven to great distress, they would have destroyed each other for sustenance, had not josephus persuaded them to die by lot, which he so ordered, that all of them were killed except himself and another, whom he might easily destroy, or persuade to yield to the romans. _three persons having each chosen, privately, one out of three things,--to tell them which they have chosen._ let the three things, for instance, be a ring, a guinea, and a shilling, and let them be known privately to yourself by the vowels _a_, _e_, _i_, of which the first, _a_, signifies one, the second, _e_, two, and the third, _i_, three. then take counters, and give the first person , which signifies _a_, the second , which represents _e_, and the third , which stands for _i_; then, leaving the other counters upon the table, retire into another room, and bid him who has the ring take as many counters from the table as you gave him; he that has the guinea, twice as many, and he that has the shilling four times as many. this being done, consider to whom you gave one counter, to whom two, and to whom three; and as there were only twenty-four counters at first, there must necessarily remain either , , , , , or , on the table, or otherwise they must have failed in observing the directions you gave them. but if either of these numbers remain, as they ought, the question may be resolved by retaining in your memory the six following words:-- _salve certa anima semita vita quies._ as, for instance, suppose the number that remained was ; then the word belonging to it is semita; and as the vowels in the first two syllables of this word are _e_ and _i_, it shews, according to the former directions, that he to whom you gave two counters has the ring; he to whom you gave three counters, the gold; and the other person, of course, the silver, it being the second vowel which represents , and the third which represents . _how to part an eight gallon bottle of wine equally between two persons, using only two other bottles, one of five gallons, and the other of three._ this question is usually proposed in the following manner: a certain person having an eight-gallon bottle filled with excellent wine, is desirous of making a present of half of it to one of his friends; but as he has nothing to measure it out with, but two other bottles, one of which contains five gallons, and the other three, it is required to find how this may be accomplished? in order to answer the question, let the eight-gallon bottle be called a, the five-gallon bottle b, and the three-gallon bottle c; then, if the liquor be poured out of one bottle into another, according to the manner denoted in either of the two following examples, the proposed conditions will be answered. a b c a b c _a quantity of eggs being broken, to find how many there were without remembering the number._ an old woman, carrying eggs to market in a basket, met an unruly fellow, who broke them. being taken before a magistrate, he was ordered to pay for them, provided the woman could tell how many she had; but she could only remember, that in counting them into the basket by twos, by threes, by fours, by fives, and by sixes, there always remained one; but in counting them in by sevens, there were none remaining. now, in this case, how was the number to be ascertained? this is the same thing as to find a number, which being divided by , , , , and , there shall remain , but being divided by , there shall remain nothing; and the least number, which will answer the conditions of the question, is found to be , which was therefore the number of eggs the old woman had in her basket. _to find the least number of weights, that will weigh, from one pound to forty._ this problem may be resolved by the means of the geometrical progression, , , , , , &c. the property of which is such, that the last sum is twice the number of all the rest, and one more; so that the number of pounds being forty, which is also the sum of , , , , these four weights will answer the purpose required. suppose it was required, for example, to weigh eleven pounds by them: you must put into one scale the one-pound weight, and into the other the three and nine-pound weights, which, in this case, will weigh only eleven pounds, in consequence of the one-pound weight being in the other scale; and therefore, if you put any substance into the first scale, along with the one-pound weight, and it stands in equilibrio with the three and nine in the other scale, you may conclude it weighs eleven pounds. in like manner, to find a fourteen-pound weight, put into one of the scales the one, three, and nine-pound weights, and into the other that of twenty-seven pounds, and it will evidently outweigh the other three by fourteen pounds; and so on for any other weight. _to break a stick which rests upon two wine glasses, without injuring the glasses._ take a stick, (see plate,) ab. fig. , of about the size of a common broomstick, and lay its two ends, ab, which ought to be pointed, upon the edges of two glasses placed upon two tables of equal height, so that it may rest lightly on the edge of each glass. then take a kitchen poker, or a large stick, and give the other a smart blow, near the middle point _c_, and the stick ab will be broken, without in the least injuring the glasses: and even if the glasses be filled with wine, not a drop of it will be spilt, if the operation be properly performed. but on the contrary, if the stick were struck on the underside, so as to drive it up into the air, the glasses would be infallibly broken. _a number of metals being mixed together in one mass, to find the quantity of each of them._ vitruvius, in his architecture, reports, that hiero, king of sicily, having employed an artist to make a crown of pure gold, which was designed to be dedicated to the gods, suspected that the goldsmith had stolen part of the gold, and substituted silver in its place: being desirous of discovering the cheat, he proposed the question to archimedes, desiring to know if he could, by his art, discover whether any other metal were mixed with the gold. this celebrated mathematician being soon afterwards bathing himself, observed, that as he entered the bath, the water ascended, and flowed out of it; and as he came out of it, the water descended in like manner: from which he inferred, that if a mass of pure gold, silver, or any other metal, were thrown into a vessel of water, the water would ascend in proportion to the bulk of the metal. being intensely occupied with the invention, he leaped out of the bath, and ran naked through the streets, crying, "i have found it, i have found it!" the way in which he applied this circumstance to the solution of the question proposed was this: he procured two masses, the one of pure gold, and the other of pure silver, each equal in weight to the crown, and consequently of unequal magnitudes; then immersing the three bodies separately in a vessel of water, and collecting the quantity of water expelled by each, he was presently enabled to detect the fraud, it being obvious, that if the crown expelled more water than the mass of gold, it must be mixed with silver or some baser metal. suppose, for instance, in order to apply it to the question, that each of the three masses weighed eighteen pounds; and that the mass of gold displaced one pound of water, that of silver a pound and a half, and the crown one pound and a quarter only: then, since the mass of silver displaced half a pound of water more than the same weight of gold, and the crown a quarter of a pound more than the gold, it appears, from the rule of proportion, that half a pound is to eighteen pounds, as a quarter is to nine pounds; which was, therefore, the quantity of silver mixed in the crown. since the time of archimedes, several other methods have been devised for solving this problem; but the most natural and easy is, that of weighing the crown both in air and water, and observing the difference. _to make a mutual exchange of the liquor in two bottles, without using any other vessel._ take two bottles, which are as nearly equal as possible, both in neck and belly, and let one be filled with oil, and the other with water; then clap the one that is full of water dexterously upon the other, so that the two necks shall exactly fit each other; and as the water is heavier than the oil, it will naturally descend into the lower bottle, and make the oil ascend into its place. in order to invert the bottle of water without spilling the contents, place a bit of thin writing paper over the mouth of the bottle; and when you have placed the bottle in the proper position, draw out the paper quickly and steadily. _how to make a peg that will exactly fit three different holes._ let one of the holes be circular, the other square, and the third an oval; then it is evident, that any cylindrical body, of a proper size, may be made to pass through the first hole perpendicularly; and if its length be just equal to its diameter, it may be passed horizontally through the second, or square hole; also, if the breadth of the oval be made equal to the diameter of the base of the cylinder, and its longest diameter equal to the diagonal of it, the cylinder, being put in obliquely, will fill it as exactly as any of the former. _to place three sticks, or tobacco pipes, upon a table, in such a manner that they may appear to be unsupported by any thing but themselves._ take one of the sticks, or pipes, (see plate,) ab, fig. , and place it in an oblique position, with one of its ends, b, resting on the table; then put one of the other sticks, as cd, across this in such a manner that one end of it, d, may be raised, and the other touch the table at c. having done this, take the third stick e, and complete the triangle with it, making one of its ends e rest on the table, and running it under the second, cd, in such a manner that it may rest upon the first, ab; then will the three sticks, thus placed, mutually support each other; and even if a small weight be laid upon them, it will not make them fall, but strengthen, and keep them firmer in their position. _how to prevent a heavy body from falling, by adding another heavier body to it on that side towards which it inclines._ on the edge of a shelf, or table, or any other horizontal surface, lay a key, (see plate,) cd, fig. , in such a manner, that, being left to itself, it would fall to the ground; then, in order to prevent this, take a crooked stick dfg, with a weight, h, at the end of it; and having inserted one end of the stick in the open part of the key, at d, let it be so placed, that the weight h may fall perpendicularly under the edge of the table, and the body by these means will be effectually prevented from falling. the same thing may be done by hanging a weight at the end of a tobacco-pipe, a stick, or any other body; the best means of accomplishing which will be easily known by a few trials. _to make a false balance, that shall appear perfectly just when empty, or when loaded with unequal weights._ take a balance, (see plate,) dce, fig. , the scales and arms of which are of such unequal weights and lengths, that the scale a may be in proportion to the scale b, as the length of the arm ce is to the length of the arm cd; then will the two scales be exactly in equilibrio about the point c; and the same will be the case, if the two arms cd, ce, are of equal length, but of unequal thickness, provided the thickness of cd is to that of ce, as the weight of the scale b is to that of a. for example; suppose the arm cd is equal to three ounces, and the arm ce to two, and that the scale b weighs three ounces, and the scale a two; then the balance, in this case, will be exactly true when empty; and if a weight of two pounds be put into the scale a, and one of three pounds into b, they will still continue in equilibrio. but the fallacy in this, and all other cases of the same kind, may be easily detected, in shifting the weights from one scale to the other. _how to lift up a bottle with a straw, or any other slight substance._ take a straw, (see plate,) ab, fig. , which is not broken or bruised, and bend one end of it into a sharp angle abc; then if this end of the straw be put into the bottle, so that the bent part of it may rest against either of its sides, you may take the other end in your hand, and lift up the bottle by it without breaking the straw; and this will be the more easily done, according as the angular part of the straw approaches nearer to that which comes out of the bottle. _how to make a cone, or pyramid, move upon a table without springs, or any other artificial means._ take a cone, or pyramid, of paper, or any other light substance, and put a beetle, or some such small insect, privately under it; then, as the animal will naturally endeavour to free itself from its captivity, it will move the cone towards the edge of the table, and as soon as it comes there, will immediately return for fear of falling; and by moving backwards and forwards in this manner, will occasion much diversion to those who are ignorant of the cause. _to make a pen, which holds one hundred sheep, hold double the number, by only adding two hurdles more._ in the first pen, or that which holds one hundred sheep, the hurdles must be so disposed, that there shall be only one at the top and bottom, and the rest in equal numbers on each side; then it is obvious, that if one hurdle more be placed at each end, the space enclosed must necessarily be double the former, and consequently will hold twice the number of sheep. _an ingenious recreation, called the two communicative busts._ take two heads of plaster of paris, and place them on pedestals on the opposite sides of a room. then take a tin tube, of an inch in diameter, and let it pass from the ear of one head through the pedestal, and under the floor, to the mouth of the other, observing, that the end of the tube which is next the ear of one head, should be considerably larger than that which comes to the mouth of the other. the whole being so disposed that there may be no suspicion of a communication, let any person speak with a low voice into the ear of one bust, and the sound will be distinctly heard by anyone who shall place his ear to the mouth of the other; and if there be two tubes, one going to the ear, and the other to the mouth of each head, two persons may converse together, by applying their mouth and ear reciprocally to the mouth and ear of the busts, without being heard by any other persons in the room. _another recreation of the same kind, called the oracular head._ place a bust on a pedestal in the corner of a room, and let there be two tubes, one of which goes from the mouth, and the other from the ear of the bust, through the pedestal and floor, to an under apartment. then if a person be placed in the under room, by applying his ear to one of the tubes as soon as a proper signal is given, he will hear any question that is asked, and can immediately return an answer; and if wires be contrived to go from the under jaw and eyes of the bust, they may be made to move at the same time, and by these means appear to deliver the answer. it was by a contrivance of this kind, that don antonio de moreno so much astonished the celebrated knight of the woeful countenance, and his facetious squire sancho panza, by resolving certain doubts proposed by the former concerning his adventures in the cave of montesinos, and the disenchantment of my lady dulcinea. _how to make a piece of metal, or any other heavy body, swim upon the surface of water, like a cork._ the specific gravity of water is inferior to that of metals, and consequently water, absolutely speaking, cannot support a ball of iron or lead; but if this ball be flattened, and beat out to a very thin plate, it will, if put softly upon still water, be prevented from sinking, and will swim upon its surface like any light substance. in like manner, if a fine steel needle, which is perfectly dry, be placed gently upon some still water in a vessel, it will float upon the surface without sinking. but if you would have a metallic body of large dimensions to swim upon water, you must reduce it into a thin concave plate, like a kettle; in which case, as the air it contains, together with the body itself, weighs less than the same bulk of water, it cannot possibly sink; as is evident from large copper boats, or pontoons, by which whole armies have frequently passed over rivers without danger. if this concave metallic vessel be placed upon the water with its mouth downwards, it will swim as before, and the contained air will keep the bottom of it from being wet; for that the water will not rise into any hollow vessel which is immersed into it, may be made evident thus:--take a glass tumbler, and plunge it into water with its mouth downwards, and you will find, when you take it out, that the inside of the vessel is perfectly dry, so that if a live coal were put there, it would not be extinguished. _a curious experiment, to prove that two and two do not make four._ take a glass vessel with a long narrow neck, which, being filled with water, will hold exactly a quart; then put into this vessel a pint of water, and a pint of acid of vitriol, and you will presently perceive, that the mixture will not fill the vessel, as it did when a quart of water only was put into it. the acid of vitriol must be put in gradually, by little and little at a time, mixing each portion with the water before you add more, by shaking the bottle, and leaving its mouth open, otherwise the bottle will burst. the mixture in this case also possesses a considerable degree of heat, though the two ingredients of themselves are perfectly cold; and this phenomenon is not to be accounted for, by supposing that the acid of vitriol is received into the pores of the water, for then a small portion of it might be absorbed by the water, without augmenting its bulk, which is known not to be the case; but the very form of the bodies in this experiment is changed, there being, as dr. hooke, who first noticed the fact, observes, an actual penetration of dimensions. chemistry also furnishes a number of other instances, which shew that two bodies, when mixed together, possess less space than when they are separate. _an ingenious method of secret writing, by means of corresponding spaces._ take two pieces of pasteboard, or stiff paper, out of which cut a number of oblong figures, at different distances from each other, as in the following example. keep one of these pieces for yourself, and give one to your correspondent; and when you are desirous of sending him any secret intelligence, lay the pasteboard upon a sheet of paper of the same size, and in the spaces which are cut out, write what you would have him only to understand, and fill up the intermediate parts of the paper with something which makes with these words a different sense. then, when your correspondent receives this letter, by applying it to his pasteboard, he will be able to comprehend your meaning. example. +------------+ +-------+ | i shall be | much obliged to you, as reading | alone | +------------+ +-------+ +----+ engages my attention | at | present, if you will send me any +----+ +-------+ of the | eight | volumes of the spectator; i hope you will +-------+ +------+ +---------+ excuse | this | freedom, but for a winter's | evening | i +------+ +---------+ +-------+ +------+ | don't | know a better entertainment. if i | fail | to return +-------+ +------+ +----------+ it soon, never trust me for the time | to come. | +----------+ _a curious experiment, which depends on an optical illusion._ on the bottom of the vessel, (see plate,) aibd, fig. , place three pieces of money, as a half-crown, a shilling, and a sixpence; the first at e, the second at f, and the third at g. then let a person be placed with his eye at h, so that he can see no farther into the vessel than i; and tell him, that by pouring water into the vessel, you will make him see three different pieces of money, which he may observe are not poured in with the water. for this purpose, desire him to keep himself steady in the same position, and, pouring the water in gently, that the pieces of money may not be moved out of their places, when it comes up to k, the piece g will become visible to him; when it comes up to l, he will see the two pieces g and f; and when it rises to m, all the three pieces will become visible: the cause of which is owing to the refraction of the rays of light, in their passage through the water; for while the vessel is empty, the ray hi will proceed in a straight line; but in proportion as it is filled with water, the ray will be bent into the several directions ng, of, pe, and by these means the pieces are rendered visible. _a curious experiment, of nearly the same kind as the last, called optical augmentation._ take a large drinking-glass, of a conical figure, and having put a shilling into it, fill the glass about half full with water; then place a plate on the top of it, and turn it quickly over, so that the water may not get out. this being done, look through the glass, and you will now perceive a piece of money of the size of half-a-crown; and somewhat higher up, another piece of the size of a shilling. but if the glass be entirely filled with water, the large piece at the bottom only will be visible. this phenomenon is occasioned by your seeing the piece through the conical surface of the water, at the side of the glass, and through the flat surface at the top of the water, at the same time; for the conical surface dilates the rays, and makes the piece appear larger, while the flat surface only refracts them, and occasions the piece to be seen higher up in the glass, but still of its natural size. _another curious experiment, called optical subtraction._ against the wainscot of a room fix three small pieces of paper, as a, b, c, fig. , (see plate,) about a foot and a half or two feet asunder, at the height of your eye; and placing yourself directly before them, about five times the distance from them that the papers are from each other, shut one of your eyes and look at them with the other, and you will then see only two of those papers, suppose a and b; but altering the position of your eye, you will now see the third, and one of the first, suppose a; and by altering its position a second time, you will see b and c, but in neither case all three of them together. the cause of this phenomenon is, that one of the three pencils of rays, which come from these objects, falls on the optic nerve at d, whereas, to produce distinct vision, it is necessary that the rays of light fall on some part of the retina e, f, g, h. from this experiment, the use of having two eyes may be easily perceived; for he that has only one can never see three objects placed in this position; or all the parts of one object, of the same extent, without altering the situation of his eye. _an optical experiment, shewing how to produce an artificial rainbow._ in any room which has a window facing the sun, suspend a glass globe, filled with water, by a string which runs over a pulley, so that the sun's rays may fall directly upon it; then drawing the globe gradually up, when it comes to the height of about forty degrees above the horizon, you will see, by placing yourself in a proper situation, the glass tinged with a purple colour; and by drawing it gradually higher up, the other prismatic colours, blue, green, yellow, and red, will successively appear; but after this they will all vanish, till the globe is raised to about fifty degrees, when they will again be seen, but in an inverted order, the red appearing first, and the blue, or violet, last; and when the globe comes up to little more than fifty-four degrees, they will entirely vanish. these appearances serve to illustrate the phenomena of natural rainbows, of which there are generally two, the one being about eight degrees above the other, and the order of their colours inverted, as in this experiment; the red being the uppermost colour in the lower bow, and the violet in the other. _an artificial rainbow may also be produced as follows._ take some water in your mouth, and turn your back to the sun; then if it be blown forcibly out against some dark or shady place, you will see the drops formed by the beams of the sun into an apparent rainbow, which, however, soon vanishes. _a curious optical illusion, produced by means of a concave mirror._ take a glass bottle, (see plate,) abc, fig. , and fill it with water to the point b; leave the upper part, bc, empty, and cork it in the common manner; place this bottle opposite a concave mirror, and beyond its focus, so that it may appear reversed; then if you place yourself still farther from the mirror, the bottle will appear to you in the situation _a b c_. and in this apparent bottle it is remarkable, that the water, which, according to the laws of catoptrics, and all other experiments of this kind, should appear at _a b_, appears, on the contrary, at _b c_, the part _a b_ seeming to be entirely empty. and if the bottle be inverted, and placed before the mirror, as in the under part of the figure, its image will appear in its natural erect position, but the water, which is in reality at _b c_, will appear at _a b_. and if, while the bottle is inverted, it be uncorked, and the water suffered to run gently out, it will appear, that while the part bc is emptying, the part _a b_ in the image is filling; and if, when the bottle is partly empty, some drops of water fall from the bottom a, towards bc, it seems in the image as if there were formed at the bottom of the part _a b_ bubbles of air arising from _a_ to _b_, which is the part that seems full. the circumstances most remarkable in this experiment, are, first, not only to see an object where it is not, but also where its image is not; and, secondly, that of two objects, which are really in the same place, as the surface of the bottle and the water it contains, the one should be seen at one place, and the other at another; and also that the bottle should be seen in the place of its image, and the water where neither it nor its images are. it is, however, to be noted, that if any coloured liquor be put into the bottle instead of water, no such illusion will take place. there is one phenomenon more of this kind, which ought not to be omitted; for though it be common enough, it is also extremely pleasing, and easy to be performed. if you place yourself before a concave mirror, at a proper distance, your figure will appear inverted; and if you stretch out your hand towards the mirror, you will perceive another hand, which seems to meet and join it, though imperceptible to the touch. and if, instead of your hand, you make use of a drawn sword, and present it in such a manner that its point may be directed towards the focus of the rays reflected by the mirror, another sword will appear, and seem to encounter that in your hand. but it is to be observed, that to make this experiment succeed well, you must have a mirror of at least a foot in diameter, that you may see yourself in part; and if you have a mirror large enough to see your whole person, the illusion will be still more striking. _how to make a violent tempest, by means of artificial rain and hail._ make a hollow cylinder of wood, very thin at the sides, about eight or ten inches long, and two or three feet in diameter. divide its inside into five equal partitions, by means of boards of about six inches wide; and let there be a space between them and the wooden circle, of about one-sixth of an inch; observing, that the boards are to be placed obliquely to each other. this being done, put into the cylinder four or five pounds of leaden shot, of a size that will easily pass through the opening left for this purpose; then turn the cylinder on its axis, and the sound of the machine, when in motion, will represent that of rain, which will increase with the velocity of the motion; and if a larger sort of shot be used, it will produce the sound of hail. _magic square._ this, in arithmetic, is a square figure made up of numbers in arithmetical proportion, so disposed in parallel and equal ranks, that the sums of each row, taken either perpendicularly, horizontally, or diagonally, are equal: thus-- natural square. +-----------+ | | | | |---|---|---| | | | | |---|---|---| | | | | +-----------+ magic square. +-----------+ | | | | |---|---|---| | | | | |---|---|---| | | | | +-----------+ magic squares seem to have been so called, from their being used in the construction of talismans. take another instance:-- natural square. +-------------------+ | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | +-------------------+ magic square. +-------------------+ | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | +-------------------+ where every row and diagonal in the magic square, makes just the sum , being the same as the two diagonals of the natural square. it is probable that these magic squares were so called, both because of this property in them, viz. that the ranks in every direction make the same sum, which appeared extremely surprising, especially in the more ignorant ages, when mathematics passed for magic; and because also of the superstitious operations they were employed in, as, the construction of talismans, &c.; for, according to the childish philosophy of those days, which ascribed virtues to numbers, what might not be expected from numbers so seemingly wonderful? the magic square was held in great veneration among the egyptians, and the pythagoreans their disciples, who, to add more efficacy and virtue to this square, dedicated it to the then known seven planets, divers ways, and engraved it upon a plate of the metal that was esteemed in sympathy with the planet. the square, thus dedicated, was enclosed by a regular polygon, inscribed into a circle, which was divided into as many equal parts as there were units in the side of the square; with the names of the angels of the planet, and the signs of the zodiac written upon the void spaces between the polygon and the circumference of the circumscribed circle. such a talisman, or metal, they vainly imagined would, upon occasion, befriend the person who carried it about him. to saturn, they attributed the square of places, or cells, the side being , and the sum of the number in every row : to jupiter, the square of places, the side being , and the amount of each row : to mars, the square of places, the side being , and the amount of each row : to the sun, the square with places, the side being , and the sum of each row : to venus, the square of places, the side being , and the amount of each row : to mercury, the square with places, the side being , and the sum of each row : and to the moon, the square of places, the side being , and the amount of each row . finally, they attributed to imperfect matter, the square with divisions, having for its side: and to god, the square of only one cell, the side of which is also an unit, which, multiplied by itself, undergoes no change. addenda to the _curiosities respecting man_. it never was the intention of the compiler of this work to give an account of _all_ the curious and remarkable persons that have figured on this mortal stage, but only such as have not been usually incorporated in works of this kind; it has been thought advisable, however, to make the following additions to this department, with which, it is hoped, the reader will be amused and instructed. an account of that celebrated extraordinary genius, john henderson, b. a.--of this much celebrated young man, whose extraordinary acquirements attracted the notice, and even commanded the respect, of dr. johnson, several accounts have been published, and much eulogium has been pronounced. by many he has been supposed to emulate the variety and extent of knowledge possessed by the admirable crichton; and, like that eccentric character, he has left little for posterity to form a judgment of the truth of those praises which have been bestowed upon him. he was born at bellegarance, near limerick, in the kingdom of ireland, on the th of march, , of very pious and respectable parents. he received his education among the methodists; and at eight years of age he understood latin so well, as to be able to teach it at kingswood school. at twelve, he taught the greek language, in the school of trevecka, in wales, to men, several of whom were double his age. the governor of the college, at that time, was the rev. mr. fletcher, late vicar of madeley, a clergyman highly distinguished for the fervour of his piety and the liveliness of his imagination. some disagreement taking place with this gentleman and those who had the superintendence of the college, he was dismissed, together with young henderson, who soon after, at the age of twenty-four years, went to oxford, was entered of pembroke college, and, in due time, took the degree of bachelor of arts. from the time of his entrance into the college, his life passed with little variety, and no adventure. his thirst after knowledge appears to have been unabated and unobtruded; he was admired, and generally respected; and he acquired habits, some of which brought him into the notice of the world, almost as much as his talents. some of these traits of character having been depicted by one who appears to have known him well, we shall give nearly in the words of their author, who was also of pembroke college, and thus describes mr. henderson's appearance when he was first introduced to him. his clothes were made in a fashion peculiar to himself; he wore no stock nor neckcloth; his buckles were so small as not to exceed the dimensions of an ordinary knee-buckle, at a time when very large buckles were in vogue. though he was then twenty-four years of age, he wore his hair like a schoolboy of six. mr. h.'s temper was mild, placable, and humane. he professed that he was ready to serve any individual as far as lay in his power. his benevolence knew no bounds; and his liberality was so diffusive, that it submitted with difficulty to the circumscription of a narrow income. he was fond of society, and well qualified to shine in it. he was frank, open, and communicative, averse to suspicion, and untinctured with pride and moroseness. his mode of life was singular. he generally retired to rest about daybreak, and rose in the afternoon; a practice, however, that was frequently interrupted by the occasional attendance he was obliged to give to the morning service of the college chapel. he spent a great part of the day in smoking; and, except when in company, he usually read while he smoked. with regard to his moral and religious character, he was a pattern highly worthy of imitation. he shewed a constant regard to the obligations of honour and justice; and commended, both by precept and example, an attention to moral rectitude in all its ramifications. he had the courage to reprove vice and immorality wherever they appeared; and though he was sometimes treated on these occasions with contumely and insult, he bore with a moderation truly christian, so ill a return for his well-meant endeavours. he was perfectly acquainted with the religious dogmas of every different sect, and could readily detect the respective fallacies of each. his abilities and understanding were eminently conspicuous. his penetration was so great, as to have the appearance of intuition. so retentive was his memory, that he remembered whatever he heard; and this faculty of recollection, combined with a pregnancy of imagination and solidity of judgment, enabled him to acquire an amazing fund of erudition and argument, a fund ready at every call, and adequate to every emergency. his learning was deep and multifarious. he was admirably skilled in logic, ethics, metaphysics, and scholastical theology. he had studied the healing art with particular attention, and added to a sound theoretic knowledge of it, some degree of practice. his skill in this art he rendered subservient to his philanthropy; for he gratuitously attended the valetudinarian poor wherever he resided, and favoured them with medical advice, as well as pecuniary assistance. he had a competent knowledge of geometry, astronomy, and every branch of natural and experimental philosophy. he was well acquainted with the civil and canon laws, and the law of nature and nations. in classical learning and the belles lettres, he was by no means deficient. he was master of the greek and latin, as well as of several modern languages. he spoke of physiognomy as a science with all the confidence of a lavater. he pretended to a knowledge of the occult sciences of magic and astrology. whether this was or was not a mere pretence, we leave to the judgment of the enlightened reader. suffice it to remark, that his library was well stored with the magical and astrological books of the last century. his talents of conversation were so attractive, so various and multiform, that he was a companion equally acceptable to the philosopher and the man of the world, to the grave and the gay, the learned and the illiterate, the young and the old of both sexes. henderson, like many other great characters, had his little peculiarities. the following remarkable custom was frequently observed by him before he retired to repose:--he used to strip himself naked as low as the waist, and taking his station at a pump near his rooms, would completely sluice his head and the upper part of his body; after which he would pump over his shirt so as to make it perfectly wet, and putting it on in that condition, would immediately go to bed. this he jocularly termed "an excellent cold bath." the latter part of this ceremony, however, he did not practise with such frequency as the former. there is great reason to think that he materially injured a good natural constitution by the capriciousness of his conduct, and particularly by the bold and strange experiments which he was accustomed to be always making upon himself. he used to swallow large quantities of noxious drugs, and quicksilver; and what seemed very rash, such doses of opium, like the famous psalmanazar, as were apparently sufficient to send a dozen men to the grave. his external appearance was as singular as his habits of life. he would never suffer his hair to be strewed with white dust, (to use his own expression,) daubed with pomatum, or distorted by the curling-irons of the friseur. though under two-and-thirty years of age at his death, he walked, when he appeared in public, with as much apparent caution and solemnity as if he had been enfeebled by the co-operation of age and disease. his learning was truly astonishing: scarcely a book, however obscure, could be mentioned, but he could give some account of it; nor any subject started, but he could engage in the discussion of it. he had a very deep and extensive knowledge of the learned languages; the arabic and persian were familiar to him. he delighted much in parodoxes, and his intimate acquaintance with the schoolmen brought him much into the habit of disputation. at one time he was profoundly plunged in the study of the writings of the illumined jacob behmen; and he then, and afterwards, warmly vindicated the system, if system it may be called, of that wonderful man. many surprising cures, accomplished by means of his prescriptions, might be produced: one upon a very ingenious and valuable youth in the neighbourhood of taunton, deserves notice, as the patient had been in an alarming decline for the long space of four years, and seemed just verging to the _house appointed for all living_. mr. henderson attended him with the utmost assiduity and tenderness, and saw, at last, his patient in a state of perfect health. the benevolent man had then a presentiment of his own approaching change, and addressed himself to his young friend to this effect: "my young and beloved friend, your cure, in all human probability, is now certain, and you will live, but i shall die. remember, to be pious, is to be happy; to be sober, is to live long; and to practise the moral virtues, is to become great."--mr. henderson died a few months after, november , . his connections with the methodists continued till the last. the late venerable and truly great john wesley had a very great regard for him. the father of mr. henderson was for some time one of mr. wesley's itinerant preachers in ireland, from whence he came over to bristol, and soon after settled at hanham, a village about four miles from that city, where he set up a very respectable boarding-school, for the instruction of youth in classical learning. a few years previous to his death, he left off keeping school, and opened his house for the reception of insane persons. the death of his favourite and only child, made a deep and lasting impression on him; and so strongly was he affected by his loss, that he caused the corpse to be taken up again some days after the interment, to be satisfied whether he was really dead. the following is taken from the sermon that was preached by his friend, mr. agutter:--"when we consider the strength of his mind, the variety of his knowledge, and the excellencies of his soul, we may justly declare, that he was a truly great character, and an original genius. the partiality of friendship must give place to the sacredness of truth; and i do not mean to describe him as a perfect man: his friends lamented his failings, and he himself sincerely repented of them. the god of heaven does not require more of his fallen creatures; and let us remember _not to be extreme to mark all that is done amiss_, seeing we have much cause for shame and repentance. he was a meek sufferer through this world of misery; a sincere and contrite penitent for time mispent and talents misapplied; an humble believer in christ his saviour. i saw him in his last sufferings; i heard his last words; he languished under extreme weakness; he laboured under most grievous pains. he was wonderfully patient and resigned; for _he knew in whom he believed, and his hope was full of immortality_. he prayed with uncommon fervour to his good god, even to jesus christ, in whom all his hopes were placed; and "without whom," says he, "heaven would be no heaven to me." death was the wished-for messenger, whom he earnestly expected. three days before that awful event, his pulse ceased to beat, and _the sight of his eyes went from him_--the last struggle is over; _the bitterness of death is past_. there was an humble dignity and composure in that _hour of trial_, worthy the man and christian. _let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end_, or more properly, _my hereafter, be like his_." the next character we shall introduce is a contrast to the former; he being famous for comprehension of mind, this for bulk of body. daniel lambert, the fat man.--this prodigy of corpulence, or obesity, was born at leicester, march , . he became keeper of the prison in his native town. he first went to london for exhibition, in , and was visited by persons of all ranks, and was considered the then wonder of the world. after this he travelled over england, and astonished every beholder by his immense bulk. he was very polite, shrewd, and well informed. this extraordinary man died at stamford, on the st of june, . he had travelled from huntingdon to that town; and on the tuesday before his death, he sent a message to the office of the stamford newspaper, requesting, that "as the mountain could not wait upon mahomet, mahomet would go to the mountain;" or, in other words, that the printer would call upon him, and receive an order for executing some handbills, announcing mr. lambert's arrival, and his desire to see company in that town. the orders he gave upon that occasion were delivered without any presentiment that they were to be his last, and with his usual cheerfulness; he was then in bed, only fatigued from his journey, and anxious to be able to see company early in the morning. however, before nine o'clock, the day following, he was a corpse. his corpulency had been gradually increasing, until nature could no longer support it. he was in his th year; and upon being weighed within a few days, by the famous caledonian balance, in the possession of mr. king, of ipswich, was found to be stone, lbs. in weight, ( lb. to the stone,) which is stone lb. more than the great mr. bright, of essex, weighed,--or, cwt. qrs. lb. he had apartments at mr. berridge's, the waggon-and-horses, in st. martin's, on the ground floor, for he had long been incapable of walking up stairs. his coffin, in which there was great difficulty of placing him, was six feet four inches long, four feet four inches wide, and two feet four inches deep. the immense substance of his legs made it necessarily almost a square case. the celebrated sarcophagus of alexander, viewed with so much admiration at the british museum, would not contain this immense sheer hulk. the coffin, which consisted of superficial feet of elm, was built upon two axle-trees and four wheels, and upon them the remains of poor lambert were rolled into his grave, which was in the new burial ground at the back of st. martin's church. a regular descent was made by cutting away the earth slopingly, for some distance. the window and wall of the room in which he lay was taken down, to allow of his exit. edward nokes.--this was an extraordinary character, at hornchurch, in essex. he was by trade a tinker, which he followed zealously till about six weeks before his death. his apartments pourtrayed symptoms of the most abject poverty, though at his death he was found to be possessed of between five and six thousand pounds. he had a wife and several children, which he brought up in the most parsimonious manner, often feeding them on grains and offals of meat, which he purchased at reduced prices. he was no less remarkable in his person and dress; for, in order to save the expense of shaving, he would encourage the dirt to gather on his face, to hide in some measure this defect. he never suffered his shirt to be washed in water, but after wearing it till it became intolerably black, he used to wash it in urine, to save the expense of soap. his coat, which time had transformed into a jacket, would have puzzled the wisest philosopher to make out its original colour, so covered was it with shreds and patches of different colours, and those so diversified, as to resemble the trophies of the different nations of europe, and it seemed to vie with joseph's coat of many colours. the interest of his money, together with all he could heap up from his penurious mode of living, he used to deposit in a bag, which bag was covered up in a tin pot, and then conveyed to a brick kitchen, where one of the bricks was taken up, and a hole made just large enough to hold the pot; the brick was then carefully marked, and a tally kept behind the door, of the sum deposited. one day his wife discovered this hoard, and, resolving to profit by the opportunity, took from the pot one, of sixteen guineas that were then placed therein. her husband soon discovered the trick, for when he came to count his money, on finding it not to agree with the tally behind the door, which his wife did not know of, he taxed her with the theft; and to the day of his death, even on his death-bed, he never spoke to her without adding the epithet 'thief' to every expression. in his younger days, he used, at the death of any of his children, to have a deal box made to put them in; and with out undergoing the solemn requisites of a regular funeral, he would take them upon his shoulder to the place appropriated for their reception; where, once interred, he seemingly coincided with the old adage, "out of sight, out of mind," and appeared as unconcerned as if nothing had happened. a short time before his death, which he evidently hastened by the daily use of nearly a quart of spirits, he gave strict charge that his coffin should not have a nail in it; which was actually the case, the lid being fastened with hinges made of cords; there was no plate on the coffin, but barely the initials "e. n." cut out of the lid. his shroud was made of a pound of wool; the coffin was covered with a sheet instead of a pall, and was carried by six men, to each of whom he left half-a-crown: and, at his particular desire, not one who followed him to the grave wore mourning; but, on the contrary, each of the mourners seemed to try whose dress should be the most striking, even the undertaker being habited in a blue coat and scarlet waistcoat. he died without a will, and his fortune was equally divided between his wife and family. his death took place in . a sketch of the memoirs of the celebrated swindler, charles price. even-handed justice returns the ingredients of our poison'd chalice to our own lips. _shakspeare._ in the following sketch we shall detail a series of singular facts, scarcely ever before equalled in the annals of depravity. by bringing forward such particulars, we may learn the progress of iniquity, teach the rising generation to guard against its first approaches, and warn our readers against those depredations which are daily infesting society. such examples of wickedness are indeed humiliating to our nature, but they hold forth instructive lessons; in this point of view, they are well deserving of our contemplation. charles price was born about the year , in london: his father lived in monmouth-street, and carried on the trade of a salesman in old clothes; here he died in the year , of a broken heart, occasioned, it is said, by the bad conduct of his children. in early life, charles manifested those traits of duplicity for which he was afterwards so greatly distinguished. one instance shall be mentioned: he ripped off some gold lace from a suit of old clothes in his father's shop, and putting on his elder brother's coat, went to sell it to a jew. the jew, most unfortunately, came and offered it to the father for sale;--he instantly knew it, and insisted on the jew declaring whence he received it. the boys passing by, he pointed to the elder one, on account of his coat, as the person of whom he bought it; and he was directly seized, and severely flogged: his protestations of innocence were in vain--the father was inflexible; whilst charles, with an abominable relish for hypocrisy, secretly rejoiced in the castigation. his father, tired of the tricks and knaveries of his son charles, put him an apprentice to a hosier in st. james's-street. here he continued but for a short time. he robbed his father of an elegant suit of clothes, in which he dressed himself, went to his master in this disguise, purchased about ten pounds' worth of silk stockings, left his address, "benjamin bolingbroke, esq. hanover-square," and ordered them to be sent to him in an hour's time, when he would pay the person who brought them. his master did not know him; and, to complete the cheat, our hero, coming back in half an hour in his usual dress, was ordered to take the goods home, which he actually pretended to do; and thus were both master and father robbed. he was, however, afterwards found out, and discarded: henceforward, therefore, we are to regard him in society, where he, for a series of years, practised the most outrageous arts of duplicity. soon after this period he set off for holland, under the assumed name of johnson. forging a recommendation to a dutch merchant, he became his clerk,--debauched his master's daughter,--was offered her in marriage, robbed his employer, and returned to england. he conducted this business with the most consummate villany. he now contrived to become clerk in his majesty's small-beer brewhouse, near gosport. at this place he behaved himself with so much propriety, that he was on the point of forming a matrimonial connection with his master's daughter every thing, however, was soon laid aside by an accidental discovery: the jew to whom he had formerly sold the gold lace happened to live at portsmouth, by whom his character was soon disclosed, and spread abroad. thus were his hopes put to flight, and he was again thrown upon the wide world. as his wits were never long unemployed for some deceptive ends, he thought of advertising for a partner in the brewery line; and actually issued the following curious advertisement, in the year :-- "wanted,--a partner of character, probity, and extensive acquaintance, upon a plan permanent and productive,--_fifty per cent_, without risk, may be obtained. it is not necessary he should have any knowledge of the business, which the advertiser possesses in its fullest extent; but he must possess a capital of between and pounds, to purchase materials, with which, to the knowledge of the advertiser, a large fortune must be made in a very short time. "address to p. c. cardigan head, charing cross." "p. s. none but principals, and those of liberal ideas, will be treated with." to this advertisement, the famous comedian, samuel foote, esq. paid attention. eager to seize what he thought a golden opportunity, he advanced the sum of £ for a brewery: we need not add, that the sum soon disappeared, and foote was wrung with the anguish of disappointment. price, however, had the impudence to apply to him again, wishing him to unite in the baking trade: the comedian archly replied, "as you have brewed, so you may bake; but i'll be hang'd if ever you bake as you have brewed!" after this unfortunate business, mr. price turned methodist preacher, and in this character defrauded several persons of large sums of money. advertising, in order to get gentlemen _wives_, he swindled a person of the name of wigmore, of fifty guineas, for which he was indicted; but having refunded a part, effected his escape. these and other fraudulent practices were long the objects of his ambition, though they are all sure and certain roads to infamy: such was his strange propensity. with astonishing impudence, he again set up a brewery in gray's-inn-lane; and, after various frauds, he became a bankrupt in . ever fruitful in resources, he set out for germany; but in holland he got into prison for being concerned in a smuggling scheme, by which three hundred pounds were obtained. by his artful defence he escaped, and returned to his native country. here he once more engaged his attention by a sham brewery, at lambeth, where he was married. continuing, however, to practise his deceptions, he was obliged to decamp, went actually to copenhagen, and, after some time, came back to england, where he was doomed to close his days. his breweries having failed, he now proceeded to study how in other ways he might most effectually ravage society. under the pretence of charity, he obtained money, for which he was imprisoned; and having been liberated, he succeeded in various impositions as a clergyman. this eventually brought him to the king's bench prison, from whose walls he dexterously extricated himself. a lottery-office-keeper was the next subject of his attention; but decamping with a ticket of very large value, this scheme speedily came to a termination. to recount all his tricks, would form the contents of a well-sized volume. alas for human depravity! but we now arrive at that period of our hero's life, when he commenced his ravages upon the bank of england, which ended in his destruction. such a series of iniquitous devices were never before practised on mankind. in the year , under the assumed name of "brank," mr. price engaged a servant, a plain, simple, honest fellow, by whom he passed his notes without detection. he advertised for him, and their meeting was truly curious. having received a reply to the advertisement, one evening, just as it was dark, he, driving to the person's residence, sent the coachman to inquire for the man who had answered the advertisement, saying, "there was a gentleman over the way, in a coach, who wanted to speak with him." on this, the young fellow was called, and went to the coach, where he was desired to step in. there he saw an apparently old man, affecting the foreigner, seemingly very gouty, wrapped up with five or six yards of flannel about his legs, a camblet surtout buttoned over his chin, close to his mouth, a large patch over his left eye, and every part of his face so hid, that the young fellow could not see any part of it, except his nose, his right eye, and a small part of that cheek. to carry on the deception still better, mr. price thought proper to place the man on his left side, on which the patch was, so that the old gentleman could take an askance look at the young man with his right eye, and by that means discover only a small portion of his own face. he appeared, by this disguise, to be between sixty and seventy years of age; and afterwards, when the man saw him standing, not much under six feet high, owing to boots or shoes with heels very little less than three inches high. added to this deception, he was so buttoned up and straightened, as to appear perfectly lank. the writer of his life, to whom we are indebted for these particulars, then subjoins:--"it may not be ill-timed, to those who did not know him, to give the true description of his person. he was about five feet six inches high; a compact neat-made man, square shouldered, inclined to corpulency; his legs were firm and well set; but by nature his features made him look much older than he really was, which, at that time, was nearly fifty; his nose was aquiline, and his eyes small and gray; his mouth stood very much inwards, with very thin lips; his chin pointed and prominent; with a pale complexion: but what contributed as much as any thing to favour his disguise of speech was, his loss of teeth. he walked exceedingly upright, was very active and quick in his walk, and was something above what we describe a man to be, when we call him "a dapper-made man." this simple and honest fellow (samuel) mr. price employed to negociate his forged bills, principally in the purchase of lottery tickets, at the same time never fully disclosing to him his name, person, or history. indeed, the plan was devised and executed with uncommon ability. however, at last samuel was detected, having passed bills to the amount of _fourteen hundred pounds_!! but his agent eluded discovery, and retired with his booty into the shades of the deepest obscurity. the poor servant was imprisoned for nearly a twelvemonth, terrified out of his wits, being the innocent instrument of such complicated villany. mr. price, having most probably exhausted his former acquisitions, sallied forth, in the year , after new game, with the most unparalleled audacity. for this purpose, he obtained his second servant, from a register-office, a smart active boy, of the name of power: his father was a scotch presbyterian; and, to ingratiate himself with him, mr. price made great pretensions to religion, expressing a hope that his son was well acquainted with the lord's prayer, and the ten commandments. our hero began his ravages upon mr. spilsbury, of soho-square, ordering large quantities of his drops. wilmot was his present assumed name, and he introduced himself to him as possessing all the symptoms of age and infirmity. he was wrapped up in a large camblet great coat; he had a slouched hat on, the brim of which was large, and bent downward on each side of his head; a piece of red flannel covered his chin, and came up on each side of his face almost as high as his cheek-bones; he had a large bush wig on, and legs wrapped over with flannel; he had also a pair of green spectacles on his nose, with a green silk shade hanging down from his hat, but no patch on his eye. it is remarkable that mr. spilsbury knew mr. price, but not mr. wilmot; nay, so complete was the deception, that as they sat together in a coffee-house, mr. s. complained to his coffee-house acquaintance, of the notes which wilmot had imposed upon him, price crying out now and then, "lack-a-day! good god! who could conceive such knavery to exist? what, and did the bank refuse payment, sir?" staring through his spectacles with as much seeming surprise as an honest man would have done. "o yes," (said mr. s.) with some degree of acrimony, "for it was on the faith of the bank of england, that i and a great many others have taken them; and they were so inimitably well done, that the nicest judges could not distinguish them."--"good god! lack-a-day! (said price,) he must have been an ingenious villain! what a complete old scoundrel!" upon mr. watt a hosier, mr. reeves a colourman, and a great many other individuals, he practised frauds equally ingenious and successful, for in one day he negociated sixty ten-pound-notes, and changed fourteen fifty-pound notes for seven one-hundred-pound notes; indeed, so multiplied were his tricks at this period, that the mind sickens at the recital of them. in his last attempt on the bank, which ended in his detection, he assumed the name of palton, pretended he was an irish linen factor, and employed two young men to circulate his notes, whilst he still, greatly disguised, kept back in obscurity. by means of a pawnbroker, he was found out with great difficulty. on his seizure, he solemnly declared his innocence, and before the magistrate behaved with insolence. this detection took place on the th of january, : he was soon sworn to by more persons than one; and seeing no way of escape, he pretended, to his wife in particular, great penitence; but there appeared no ground for its reality. the bank was fully intent on the prosecution of him, and there was no doubt of his dying by the hands of the executioner. he, however, was found one evening hanging against the post of his door, in his apartments, tothill-fields bridewell. thus was the earth freed from as great a monster as ever disgraced society. it may appear strange to the reader that this depraved impostor could have so long escaped discovery. but it must be added, that besides the multifarious disguises of his person, he had taken care to prevent almost the possibility of detection. to use the words of the writer of his life--"had mr. price permitted a partner in his proceedings, had he employed an engraver, had he procured paper to be made for him with water-marks put into it, he must have been soon discovered; but price was without a confidant: he engraved his own plates, made his own paper, with the water-marks, and his negociator never knew him, thereby confining a secret to his own breast, which he wisely deemed not safe in the breast of another; even mrs. price had not the least knowledge or suspicion of his proceedings. having practised engraving till he had made himself sufficiently master of it, he then made his own ink, to prove his own works; having purchased implements, and manufactured the water-marks, he next set himself to counterfeit hand-writings, and succeeded so far, as even to puzzle a part of the first body of men in the world. the abilities of the unhappy ryland were exerted in his profession, and therefore the imposition was to be less wondered at; but here was a novice in the art, capable of equal ingenuity in every department of the dangerous undertaking, from the engraving down to the publication." whoever reads this narrative with attention, must feel rising within his breast a series of useful reflections. that such talents should be appropriated to such a use, must be deeply regretted; but that any individual should, throughout life, thus prey on his fellow-creatures, excites the strongest detestation. society also may learn lessons of caution and vigilance from the contemplation of the extraordinary character we have delineated. vice here appears in its most odious features, that of meditated imposition upon the honest and industrious part of the community. mark, however, its serpentine progress and its wretched termination. the eccentric stephenson.--a person of the name of stephenson, who died at kilmarnock, in scotland, in , came originally from dunlop, and was brought up as a mason, but during many of the latter years of his life he had wandered about as a beggar. his wife and himself had been separated thirty years, upon these strange conditions,--that the first who proposed an agreement should forfeit £ . this singular pair never met again. stephenson was much afflicted, during the last two years of his life, with the stone. as his disease increased, he was fully aware of his approaching dissolution; and for this event he made the following extraordinary preparation:--he sent for a baker, and ordered twelve dozen of burial cakes, and a great profusion of sugar biscuit, together with a corresponding quantity of wine and spirituous liquors. he next sent for a joiner, and ordered a coffin decently mounted, with instructions that the wood should be quite dry, and the joints firm, and impervious to the water. the grave-digger was next sent for, and asked if he thought he could find a place to put him in after he was dead. the spot fixed upon was in the church-yard of riccarton, a village about half a mile distant. he enjoined the sexton to be sure and make his grave roomy, and in a dry comfortable corner; and he would be well rewarded for his care and trouble. having made these arrangements, he ordered the old woman that attended him, to go to a certain nook, and bring out £ , to be appropriated to defray the funeral charges. he told her, at the same time, not to be grieved,--that he had not forgotten her in his will. in a few hours afterwards, in the full exercise of his mental powers, but in the most excruciating agonies, he expired. a neighbour and a professional man were immediately sent for, to examine and seal up his effects. the first thing they found was a bag, containing large silver pieces, such as crowns, half-crowns, and dollars, to a large amount: in a corner was secreted, amongst a vast quantity of musty rags, a great number of guineas and seven-shilling pieces. in his trunk was a bond for £ , and other bonds and securities to the amount of £ . by his will, £ were left to his housekeeper, and the rest of his property to be divided among his distant relations. as it required some time to give his relatives intimation of his death, and to make preparations for his funeral, he lay in state four days, during which the place resembled more an irish wake than a deserted room where the scots lock up their dead. the invitations to his funeral were most singular. persons were not asked individually, but whole families; so that, except a few relatives dressed in black, his obsequies were attended by tradesmen in their working clothes, barefooted boys and girls, and an immense crowd of tattered beggars; to the aged among whom he left six-pence, and to the younger three-pence. after the interment, this motley group retired to a large barn, fitted up for the purpose, where a scene of profusion and inebriety was exhibited almost without a parallel. whimsical character.--the rev. mr. hagamore, of catshoge, leicestershire, was a very singular character. he died the st of january, , possessed of the following effects, viz.--£ per annum, and £ in money, which, as he died intestate, fell to a ticket-porter in london. he kept one servant of each sex, whom he locked up every night. his last employment of an evening was to go round his premises, let loose his dogs, and fire his gun. he lost his life as follows: going one morning to let out his servants, the dogs fawned upon him suddenly, and threw him into a pond, where he was found dead. his servants heard his call for assistance, but being locked up, they could not lend him any. he had gowns and cassocks, pair of breeches, pair of boots, pair of shoes, wigs, yet always wore his own hair, dogs, waggons and carts, ploughs, and used none, saddles, and furniture for the menage, wheelbarrows, so many walking-sticks, that a toyman in leicester-fields offered £ for them, horses and mares, pickaxes, spades and shovels, ladders, and razors. extraordinary character.--in july, , a. m. cromwell, of hammersmith, died suddenly in tottenham-court-road: he was returning from the corn-market, when he was taken ill, and carried, in a dying state, into the house of a corn-chandler, in tottenham-court-road. the master of the shop, who knew him, was from home, and in the country. the mistress did not know him, and he was therefore treated with no more attention from her than humanity dictated. he remained in the shop, and a crowd was collected in consequence. his dress not bespeaking him a man of wealth or respectability, he was about to be removed to the parish workhouse. however, some gentlemen passing by chance, recognized him; and, knowing him to be a wealthy man, thought it right to search his person in the presence of several witnesses, when they found bank-notes to the amount of £ . a surgeon was sent for, who attended, and examined him; and declared, that, in his opinion, he had been dying during the last two hours, in consequence of the breaking of a blood-vessel, supposed to be near his heart. it is said he was worth two millions and a half. he was years old, and had been accumulating property for a great number of years, living at the most trifling expense. he frequently bought his clothes in monmouth-street, and wore them as long as they would hang together: his breeches were very greasy and ragged; his stockings usually contained many holes; in fact, he could not be distinguished by his dress from his men. in the summer season he was frequently up at three o'clock, attending to and assisting in loading the brick carts, &c. &c. his wealth did not improve or alter his conduct, manners, or mode of living. he provided plenty of food for the house, but it was in a very rough style;--fat pork, fat bacon, &c. and sometimes poultry. his hog-feeders and other men sat at table with him in their working-dress; and, if a friend happened to dine with him, his men were made company for them, and he did not deviate from his daily plan of helping them first. indian jugglers; (see pages and .)--the indian jugglers, who exhibited in london from to , performed such astonishing feats, that it would appear to require a long life, spent in incessant practice, to acquire facility in any one of them; such proficiency is so common, however, in india, that it probably excites no extraordinary interest there. the following is a description of their performances, which were witnessed by the editor of this work. the exhibition takes place upon a raised platform, on which, having performed his salaam, or eastern obeisance, the chief performer takes his seat; and behind him sits the second juggler, and an attendant boy, whose occupation is to beat together two metallic plates, somewhat resembling cymbals, which emit an unremitting sound, like the clucking of a hen. the first tricks are performed with cups and balls. these are similar in their mode to the deceptions of our own conjurers, and only remarkable for the superiority of their evolutions in the hands of this celebrated asiatic. the cups seem enchanted; the balls fly; they increase in number; they diminish; now one, now two, now none under the cup; and now the serpent, the _cobra de capella_, usurps the place of a small globule of cork, and winds its snaky folds as if from under the puny vessel. the facility with which this dexterous feat is accomplished, gives life and animation to the sable countenance of the artist, whose arm is bared to the elbow, to shew that the whole is done by sleight of hand. during his performances, the juggler keeps up an unremitting noise, striking his tongue against his teeth, like the clack of machinery, and uttering sounds, as if he were repeating, with inconceivable rapidity, the words "_crickery-tick, crickery-tick, crickery-tick, a-tow, geret-tow, crickery-tick, a-tow, geret-tow_, &c." the next feat is that of breaking a cotton thread into the consistency of scraped lint, as used by surgeons, and reproducing it continued and entire; after which he lays upon the palm of his hand a small quantity of common sand; this he rubs with the fingers of his other hand, and it changes its hue--the colourless grains become yellow; he rubs them again, they are white; again, and they are black. a series of evolutions then succeeds, with four hollow brass balls, about the size of oranges. his power over these is almost miraculous. he causes them to describe every possible circle--horizontally, perpendicularly, obliquely, transversely, round his legs, under his arms, about his head, in small and in large circumferences--with wondrous rapidity, and keeping the whole number in motion at the same time. this being the sole fruit of effort, activity, quickness of eye, and rapidity of action, no one who has not witnessed it can form an idea of its excellence. he then exhibits his astonishing power of balancing. he places on his two great toes (over which he seems to have the same command that less favoured whites enjoy over their fingers only) a couple of thin rings, of about four inches in diameter; a pair of similar rings he places on his fore fingers, and then he sets the whole into rotation, and round they all whirl, and continue describing their orbits without cessation, as if set to work by machinery, endowed with the principle of perpetual motion. throwing himself back, the performer then balances a sword upon his forehead, and with his mouth strings a number of very small beads upon a hog's bristle, which he holds between his lips. all the wheels are kept in regular movement; the sword is nicely poised; and arts and manufactures, under the emblem of bead-stringing, carried on in peacefulness: during this part of the show, the performer is compelled, from the nature of his employment, to be still and quiet. having concluded this, the juggler executes the following exploit.--upon the tip of his nose he balances a small wooden parasol, from the circumference of which about a dozen of cork tassels are pendent. with his mouth he inserts into each of these tassels a quill of about the length of twelve inches, and the thickness of that of the porcupine. the bases of these he places with his tongue between his upper lip and nose, the rings on his toes all the while performing their circuits. having succeeded in putting a quill into every tassel, he takes out the centre stick on which the parasol was originally supported from the top of his nose, and it then remains balanced on the quills. thus far the work is difficult enough; but this is nothing to its conclusion. he undermines his structure by a quill at a time, till only three remain. of these he takes one away; and the top, which resembles the roof of a pagoda, swings down, and hangs by two, the indian preserving the astonishing balance even throughout this motion, which might be deemed sufficient to disconcert any human ingenuity: but even here he does not stop; the last prop but one is removed, and on that one the erect balance of the machine rests. after a variety of other extraordinary performances, the indian places a stone of fourteen pounds weight, about the size and shape of a dutch cheese, between his feet. with an apparently slight exertion, he kicks up his heels, and the stone, performing a parabola over his head from behind, alights upon the bend of his arm, where it rests. he then tosses it to the same part of the other arm, where it rests, as if held by the hand, or caught by magic; thence he throws it to various parts of his frame, to his wrist, and the back of his neck. at this latter point it might be supposed it would be stationary, as one feels very little capacity of twisting any weighty body from the neck in a direction different from what it would take on being shaken off. but even here our juggler commands its obedience. he again tosses it to his arm; back again to his neck; and after a few gambols of this sort, he finally, by a masterly jerk, throws the stone of fourteen pounds weight round his head. the famous feat of swallowing the sword closes this wonderful exhibition; for a description of which, the reader is referred to page . john metcalf, or blind jack of knaresborough.--this extraordinary character was born in , and died in . when four years old, his parents, who were working people, put him to school, soon after which he was seized with the small-pox, by which he became totally blind, though all possible means were used to preserve his sight. recovering from the small-pox, he found that he was able to go from his father's house to the end of the street, and return, without a guide; and, in the space of three years, he could find his way to any part of the town, which gave him much satisfaction. in process of time, he began to associate with the neighbouring boys, of his own age, and went with them to take birds' nests. for his share of the eggs and young birds, he was to climb the trees, whilst his companions waited at the bottom to receive what he should throw down. after that, he could ramble into the fields alone, frequently to the distance of two or three miles; and, his father keeping horses, he in time became an able horseman, and a gallop was his favourite pace. at the age of thirteen, being taught music, he became very expert, though he had more taste for the cry of the hounds than for any instrument. a mr. woodburn, of knaresborough, master of a pack of hounds, used to take young metcalf to hunt with him; and he having a couple and a half of good ones of his own, used to go out at a night when the hares were feeding; but one of his young dogs happening to worry a couple of lambs, metcalf was obliged to discontinue this practice. at about fourteen years of age he learned to swim in the river nidd; but few of his companions liked to come near him in the water, it being his custom to seize them, send them to the bottom, and swim over them by way of diversion. having practised on the violin till he could play country dances, he attended several assemblies, and to his fondness for hunting, added that of cock-fighting; and, if at any time he heard of a better game-cock than his own, he would be sure to get him by some means or other, though at ever so great a distance. in fact, his fame began to spread to such a degree, that when any arch trick was done, inquiry was sure to be made, where blind jack was at the time. in , metcalf succeeded the fiddler at harrowgate, who died in the d year of his age; after this he bought a horse, and often ran him for small plates; and for some time, hunting by day, and fiddling by night, were his principal occupations. soon after this, as metcalf had learned to walk and ride very readily through most of the streets in york, he one evening offered himself as a guide to a gentleman who wanted to go to knaresborough that night, and absolutely performed it, the gentleman not even suspecting that he was blind till they came to their journey's end. this the gentleman was told at the sign of the granby, just as he had entered the parlour. expressing some doubt of this to the landlord's question, "do you not know that he is blind?" he exclaimed, "what do you mean by that?"--"i mean sir, that he cannot see."--"blind! gracious god!"--"yes sir, as blind as a stone." metcalf was then called in, and the gentleman's doubts were immediately dissipated. in , during the rebellion, as captain thornton undertook to raise a company at his own expense, and knowing metcalf's turn of mind, engaged him as a musician to his corps. as metcalf was then nearly six feet two inches high, and being, like his companions, dressed in blue and buff, with a large gold-laced hat, the captain was so well pleased with him, that he said he would give one hundred guineas for only one eye to be put into the head of his dark companion. during the rebellion, after _seeing_ much service, and being particularly noticed by the duke of cumberland, he was discharged, and being at liberty to choose his occupation, he attended harrowgate as before; but having, in the course of his scotch expedition, become acquainted with the various articles manufactured in that country, he provided himself with several in the cotton and worsted way, especially aberdeen stockings, for all which he found a ready sale in the extensive county of york. among a thousand articles, he never was at a loss to know what each had cost him, from a particular mode of marking. it was also customary with him to buy horses for sale in scotland, bringing back galloways in return. in this traffic he depended on feeling the animals to direct his choice. in , metcalf set up a stage waggon between york and knaresborough, being the first of the kind known on that road. this he constantly conducted himself, going twice a week in summer, and once in the winter; but at length, turning his attention to the making of roads, he disposed of his waggon, &c. his first undertaking of this kind was three miles of the new turnpike road from harrowgate to boroughbridge; and for this he was actually appointed foreman to the surveyor. he often walked from knaresborough in the morning, with four or five stone of meat on his shoulders, and joined his men by six o'clock. by the means he used, he completed the work much sooner than was expected, to the entire satisfaction of the surveyor and the trustees. during his leisure hours he studied measurement in a way of his own; and, when certain of the girth and length of any piece of timber, he was able to reduce its true contents to feet and inches, and could bring the dimensions of any building into yards or feet. in fact, he contracted for, and constructed several roads, in a manner superior to the method of making them at that time. he built various bridges in difficult situations, in a manner that astonished those that employed him, and afterwards undertook the erection of houses. one of his bridges, it was remarked, had stood thirty years, and the foundation never cost one penny in repairs. in , having been some time absent, he returned to yorkshire, and, having no engagement, he bought hay to sell again: he used to measure the stacks with his arms, and knowing the height, could readily tell what number of square yards were contained in hay, from five to one hundred pounds value; with equal facility he could calculate the solid contents of standing wood. having known the streets of york very accurately in the earlier part of his life, he determined to visit that ancient city, where he had not been for the space of thirty-two years. he found alterations for the better in spurrier-gate, blake-street, the pavement, &c. and so retentive was his memory, that, though so many years had elapsed since he had been that way before, he discovered an alteration in the hanging of two gates by a wall-side near the house of a mr. barlow. his wife died in , in her st year, leaving him four children, after years of conjugal affection and felicity. mrs. van butchell.--in , died the wife of an eccentric empiric, dr. martin van butchell; and the singular mode employed for the preservation of her body merits notice. on her death taking place, he applied to dr. hunter, to exert his skill in preventing, if possible, the changes of form usual after the cessation of life. accordingly, the doctor, assisted by the late mr. cruikshank, injected the blood-vessels with a coloured fluid, so that the minute red vessels of the cheeks and lips were filled, and exhibited their native hue; and the body in general, having all the cavities filled with antiseptic substances, remained perfectly free from corruption, or any unpleasant smell, and as if it was merely in a state of sleep. but to resemble the appearance of life, glass eyes were also inserted. the corpse was then deposited in a bed of thin paste of plaster of paris, in a box of sufficient dimensions, which subsequently crystallized, and produced a pleasing effect. a curtain covered the glass lid of the box, which could be withdrawn at pleasure; and which box being kept in the common parlour, mr. van butchell had the satisfaction of retaining his departed wife for many years, frequently displaying the beautiful corpse to his friends and visitors. a second marriage, some years afterwards, is said to have occasioned some family difference, and it was found expedient to remove the preserved body. harrison, a penurious character.--this person died in november, , in bennett-street, rathbone-place, oxford-road, london, where he had lodged years. the furniture of his room consisted of one old chair, a table, a trunk or two, an old stump bedstead, and a bed of straw; in one corner was a heap of ashes; and the cupboard, the day after his decease, contained a few potato-peelings and a stale roll. his body presented a picture of the most extreme misery and starvation, though he had no family, and had property in the funds to the amount of £ . a female friend who lived at putney, and was in the habit of calling on him when she came to town, deposed, that he would let no person but her enter his room, which he always kept padlocked inside, for fear of being robbed: he lay on his bed in the day-time, and sat up at night without any fire, always burning a lamp. a few evenings before his death, he told the female before-mentioned, that many persons wanted to finger his cash, but they should not. he then desired her to lock him in, and take the key with her, which she did; but, on going again next day, she found him lying on his bed with his clothes on, quite dead. he had made his will several months before, and left her executrix of his property, which was to be divided between herself, his nephew, and niece. he had been married, and had a daughter, who, with his wife, were both dead. he carried large sums of money sewed up in different parts of his clothes, for which reason he never pulled them off. upwards of £ was found upon him at the time of his death, on the night previous to which he sent for one oyster, half a pint of beer, and a pennyworth of figs, which he ate. for nearly four years previous to his decease, he appeared almost childish. the jury that sat upon the body, brought in their verdict,--_died by the visitation of god_. the blind clergyman.--the following very interesting account was published in the morning chronicle of jan. , . it bears all the marks of authenticity. "in my rambles (says the writer) last summer, on the borders of wales, i found myself one morning on the banks of the beautiful river wye, alone, without a servant or guide. i had to ford the river at a place where, according to the instructions given me at the nearest hamlet, if i diverged ever so little from the marks which the ripling of the current made as it passed over a ledge of rock, i should sink twice the depth of myself and horse. while i stood hesitating on the margin, viewing attentively the course of the ford, a person passed me on the canter, and the next instant i saw him plunge into the river. presuming on his acquaintance with the passage, i immediately and closely followed his steps. as soon as we had gained the opposite bank, i accosted him with thanks for the benefit of his guidance; but what was my astonishment, when, bursting into a hearty laugh, he observed, that "my confidence would have been less, had i known that i had been following a blind guide." the manner of the man, as well as the fact, attracted my curiosity. to my expressions of surprise at his venturing to cross the river alone, he answered, that he and the horse he rode had done the same every sunday morning for the last five years; but that in reality, this was not the most perilous part of his hebdomadal peregrination, as i should be convinced, if my way led over the mountain before us. my way was _ad libitum_, at pleasure; i therefore resolved to attach myself to my extraordinary companion, and soon learned in our chat, as we wound up the steep mountain's side, that he was a clergyman, and of that class which is the disgrace of our ecclesiastical establishment; i mean the country curates, who exist upon the _liberal_ stipend of thirty, twenty, and sometimes fifteen pounds a year! this gentleman, of the age of sixty, had about thirty years before been engaged in the curacy to which he was now travelling; and though at the distance of eight long welsh miles from the place of his residence, such was the respect of his sunday flock towards him, that at the commencement of his calamity, rather than part with him, they sent regularly, every sunday morning, a deputation to guide their old pastor along a road, which, besides the river we had just passed, led over a craggy mountain, on whose top innumerable and uncertain bogs were constantly forming, and which, nevertheless, by the instinct of his welsh pony, this blind man has actually crossed alone for the last five years, having so long dismissed the assistance of guides. "while our talk beguiled our road, we insensibly arrived within sight of his village church. it was seated in a deep and narrow vale. as i looked down upon it, the bright verdure of the meadows, which were here and there chequered with patches of yellow corn, the moving herds of cattle, the rich foliage of the groves of oak, hanging irregularly over its sides, the white houses of the inhabitants, which sprinkled every corner of this peaceful retreat; and above all, the inhabitants themselves, assembled in their best attire round their place of weekly worship; all this gay scene rushing at once on the view, struck my senses and imagination more forcibly than i can express. as we entered the church-yard, the respectful "how do you do?" of the young, the hearty shakes by the hand of the old, and the familiar gambols of the children, shewed how their old pastor reigned in the hearts of all. after some refreshment at the nearest house, we went to church, in which my veteran priest read the prayers, the psalms, and chapters of the day, and then preached a sermon in a manner that would have made no one advert to his defect of sight. at dinner, which it seems four of the most substantial farmers of the vale provided in turn, he related the progress of his memory. for the first year he attempted only the prayers and sermons, the best readers of the parish making it a pride to officiate for him in the psalms and chapters. he next endured the labour of getting these by heart; and at present, by continual repetition, there is not a psalm or chapter of the more than two hundred appointed for the sunday service, that he is not perfect in. he told me also, that having in his little school two sons of his own, intended for the university, he has, by hearing them continually, committed the greatest part of homer and virgil to his memory." we shall now introduce to the notice of the reader, a living character,--a child, a little girl,--the most extraordinary that ever appeared in the world. miss clara fisher.--this little lady, the youngest daughter of mr. g. f. fisher, a respectable auctioneer, of london, was born in covent-garden, on the th of july, . at a very early age, she evinced powers of intellect and genius very unusual in infants. a passionate fondness for music was a first characteristic; and while yet in the arms of a nurse, she was excited to pleasurable emotions, when tunes which she liked were played, but shewed the most determined opposition in her power, to the continuance of those to which she had conceived an aversion. this fact is recorded in the writings of anthony pasquin, in his dramatic censor, as an instance of wonderfully premature infantine endowment. the fame which miss o'neil had acquired soon after her appearance in london, induced mr. fisher to take his family to covent-garden theatre, to witness her performance of jane shore; and to the impression made that night on the mind of little clara, may be ascribed the wonderful turn for theatrical exhibition, which has ever since characterized this juvenile candidate for histrionic fame. on the same evening, after returning from the theatre, clara retired to a corner of the room, and, as she thought, unseen, went through, in dumb show, a great part of the performances she had witnessed at the theatre. these evident symptoms of dramatic genius in a child, then under four years of age, excited much surprise and pleasure amongst the family circle. a few evenings afterwards, she was persuaded to repeat this primary exhibition before some private friends, and the applause which she elicited seemed to implant in her young mind that ardent love for the stage, which thenceforward has guided all her thoughts and actions. in the autumn of , dr. d. corrie, the celebrated musician, and composer of the music of the travellers, solicited and received permission for little clara to appear in a private performance with his juvenile pupils in music. a short character was assigned to little clara to learn; and she performed it with an effect which excited the astonishment and admiration of a select and fashionable company, who had met to witness the efforts of the juvenile performers. from the success of this evening's amusement, may be dated miss clara's introduction to public notice. on the th of december following, she appeared in drury-lane theatre, in garrick's romance of lilliput; revived and altered, with songs, prologue, epilogue, and a masque, written by mr. fisher; and in which was introduced the last act of shakspeare's richard iii. in order to bring forward the little clara in the character of the crookbacked tyrant. her success in this arduous character was beyond all anticipation: for seventeen nights the house was crowded in every part, and the applause bestowed on the extraordinary infant, then only six years and a half old, was enthusiastic and incessant. the public journals published in london during the run of the piece, bear ample testimony of the high estimation in which the best critics of the day held the talents of the young actress. immediately after the close of her engagement at drury-lane, she was applied for by mr. harris, of covent-garden theatre, where she performed with equal success and approbation. on one occasion, his present majesty, then prince of wales, honoured the theatre with his presence, and was pleased cordially to join in the general plaudits of the audience. after the part of richard iii. was concluded, she appeared in her own infantine character, and delivered the following epilogue, written by her father, with a pathos and feeling which powerfully affected the auditors:-- well, sirs, what say you to our little play-- must it expire, or live another day? will you permit once more our group to try to raise your laughter, or to make you cry? my spangled robes laid by, and waving plume, in muslin frock my sex i re-assume; and though in simple dress i'm now array'd, i hope you'll not reject a little maid, who sues for favour, for herself, and those, who, like herself, are now in common clothes. and i assure you, ladies, from my heart, i like my robes much better than my part; the shining spangles are to me so dear, i'm come to ask--may i again appear? o! pray indulge me in this one request, and i will strive to please you,--and be drest! on leaving covent-garden, she was engaged by mr. elliston to perform at the birmingham theatre, as a star, for some nights; after which she appeared in bath, edinburgh, glasgow, aberdeen, york, doncaster, hull, brighton, and every theatre of consequence, in the kingdom. miss clara fisher has at this time, , been on the boards more than four years, and has already performed in about one hundred theatres. she has travelled through various parts of great britain, a distance of upwards of ten thousand miles; and she has performed in shakspeare's character of richard iii. more than two hundred and fifty times, besides other arduous parts in the various departments of the english drama. her singing and dancing are equal to her other accomplishments, and yield delight to all who witness them. bring yet but eleven years of age, she will furnish for the future historian a rare instance of precocity of intellect. she is gracefully formed, but not tall of her age; her face is oval, and full of expression; her eyes blue, large, and animated; her mouth particularly well moulded; and her hand and arm are considered by artists as uncommonly beautiful for her years. the general opinion of critics is, that she resembles in voice, and manner of acting, the late celebrated mrs. jordan. an authentic anecdote is related of our heroine, which places, in a strong point of view, her felicitous conception of character, and her extraordinary collectedness and presence of mind, under circumstances, which, in all probability, would confuse and flutter even a long-experienced actor. immediately after leaving drury-lane, she performed for mr. elliston, at birmingham. a new and elegant crown was there made for her, that she might appear to advantage in the character of richard iii. the crown was accidentally made too small, and was with difficulty kept on the head. when richard (personated by this little lady) descended from the throne, in the presence of his nobles, and was delivering one of his most impassioned speeches, the crown fell off upon the stage. contrary to the natural expectation of all, little clara took no notice of the circumstance, but concluded her speech with the same energy and commanding deportment with which it commenced; and then beckoning to catesby to approach, "catesby!" said she, pointing to the fallen diadem, and stood erect and motionless, with the haughty dignity of monarchy, until, the brief mandate understood, he lifted it, and solemnly replaced it upon her brows. thus, when a less-gifted performer would have found it difficult to save the whole scene from derision, did she sternly maintain the regal character she had assumed; and commanded the respect, surprise, and admiration of the audience. earth eaters; from humboldt's personal narrative.--"the inhabitants of umana belong to those nations of the savannas, [_indios andantes_,] who, more difficult to civilize than the nations of the forest, [_indios del monte_,] have a decided aversion to cultivate the land, and live almost exclusively on hunting and fishing. they are men of a very robust constitution; but ugly, savage, vindictive, and passionately fond of fermented liquors. they are omnivorous _animals_ in the highest degree; and therefore the other indians, who consider them as barbarians, have a common saying, 'nothing is so disgusting, that an otomac will not eat it.' while the waters of the oroonoko and its tributary streams are low, the otomacs subsist on fish and turtles; the former they kill with surprising dexterity, by shooting them with an arrow, when they appear at the surface of the water. when the rivers swell, which in south america, as well as in egypt and in nubia, is erroneously attributed to the melting of the snows, and which occurs periodically in every part of the torrid zone, fishing almost entirely ceases. it is then as difficult to procure fish in the rivers, which are become deeper, as when you are sailing on the open sea. it often fails the poor missionaries, on fast-days as well as flesh-days, though all the young indians are under the obligation of 'fishing for the convent.' at the period of these inundations, which last two or three months, the otomacs swallow a prodigious quantity of earth. we found heaps of balls in their huts, piled up in pyramids, three or four feet high. these balls were five or six inches in diameter. the earth which the otomacs eat is a very fine and unctuous clay, of a yellowish gray colour; and, being slightly baked in the fire, the hardened crust has a tint inclining to red, owing to the oxide which is mingled with it. we brought away some of this earth, which we took from the winter provision of the indians; and it is absolutely false that it is steatitic, and contains magnesia. mr. vanquelin did not discover any traces of this earth in it; but he found that it contained more silex than alumine, and three or four per cent. of lime. "the otomacs do not eat every kind of clay indifferently; they choose the alluvial beds or strata that contain the most unctuous earth, and is the smoothest to the feeling. i inquired of the missionary, whether the moistened clay were made to undergo, as father gumilla asserts, the peculiar decomposition which is indicated by a disengagement of carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen, and which is designated in every language by the term _putrefaction_; but he assured me, that the natives neither cause the clay to rot, nor do they mingle it with flour of maize, oil of turtles' eggs or fat of the crocodile. we ourselves examined, both at the oroonoko, and after our return to paris, the balls of earth which we brought away with us, and found no trace of the mixture of any organic substance, whether oily or farinaceous. the savage regards every thing as nourishing that appeases hunger; when, therefore, you inquire of an otomac on what he subsists during the two months when the river is the highest, he shews you his balls of clay. this he calls his principal food; for at this period he can seldom procure a lizard, a root of fern, or a dead fish swimming at the surface of the water. "if the indian eats earth through want during two months, and from three-quarters to five-quarters of a pound in twenty-four hours, he does not the less regale himself with it during the rest of the year. every day, in the season of drought, when fishing is most abundant, he scrapes his balls of poya, and mingles a little clay with his other aliment. what is most surprising, is, that the otomacs do not become lean by swallowing such quantities of earth; they are, on the contrary, extremely robust, and far from having the belly tense and puffed up. the missionary, fray ramon bueno, asserts, that he never remarked any alteration in the health of the natives at the period of the great risings of the oroonoko. "the following are the facts, in all their simplicity, which we were able to verify. the otomacs, during some months, eat daily three-quarters of a pound of clay slightly hardened by fire, without their health being sensibly affected by it. they moisten the earth afresh when they are going to swallow it. it has not been possible to verify hitherto with precision how much nutritious vegetable or animal matter the indians take in a week at the same time; but it is certain that they attribute the sensation of satiety which they feel to the clay, and not to the wretched aliment which they take with it occasionally. "i observed every where within the torrid zone, in a great number of individuals, children, women, and sometimes even full-grown men, an inordinate and almost irresistible desire of swallowing earth; not an alkaline or calcareous earth, to neutralize, as it is vulgarly said, acid juices, but a fat clay, unctuous, and exhaling a strong smell. it is often found necessary to tie the children's hands, or to confine them, to prevent their eating earth, when the rain ceases to fall. at the village of banco, on the bank of the river magdalena, i saw the indian women who make pottery, continually swallowing great pieces of clay." the celebrated dr. graham.--about the year , there appeared in london one of the most extraordinary empirics of modern times. his name was graham. he was a graduate of edinburgh, wrote in a bombastic style, and possessed a great fluency of elocution. he opened in pall-mall, a mansion, which he called the "temple of health." the front was ornamented with an enormous gilt sun, a statue of hygenia, and other attractive emblems; the suit of rooms, in the interior, was superbly furnished; and the walls were decorated with mirrors, so as to confer on the place an effect like that from an enchanted palace. here he delivered lectures on health, &c. at the extravagant price of two guineas per lecture; and the price, together with the novelty of his subjects, drew considerable audiences of the wealthy and dissipated. he entertained a female, of beautiful figure, whom he called the goddess of health, and it was her business to deliver a concluding discourse after the doctor himself had finished his lecture. as a further means of attraction, he hired two men of extraordinary stature, provided with enormous cocked hats, and with showy and bulky liveries, whose business it was to distribute bills from house to house through the town. graham became, therefore, an object of universal curiosity. but, as his two-guinea auditors were soon exhausted, he dropped his lectures successively to one guinea, half-a-guinea, five shillings, and (as he said, "for the benefit of all,") to half-a-crown; and, when he could no longer draw this price, he exhibited the temple itself for one shilling, to daily crowds, for several months. among his furniture was a celestial bed, as he called it, standing on glass legs, provided with the richest hangings, and possessing properties peculiar to itself. for sleeping in this bed, he demanded one hundred pounds per night; and such is the folly of wealth, that heirless persons, of high rank, were named, who acceded to his terms. he also pretended to have discovered the "elixir of life," by taking which, a person might live as long as he pleased, and he modestly demanded one thousand pounds for a supply of it; and more than one noble person was reported to have paid this enormous price to be cured of folly. having worn out his character in these various projects, he then recommended earth-bathing, and undertook to sanction it by his own practice. during one hour every day, he, therefore, admitted spectators, at first at a guinea, and then descended, as in a former instance, to a shilling, to view him and the goddess of health immersed naked in the ground to their chins; the doctor having his hair full-dressed and powdered, and the lady's head being dressed also in the best fashion of the times. when no more money was to be drained from the population of london, the doctor visited the great provincial towns, and lectured and exhibited in the same manner whenever he could obtain permission of the magistrates. in the end, the goddess of health nearly fell a victim to the practice; and the doctor retired from public notice, and died in poor circumstances a few years afterwards, in spite of his "elixir of life," at the early age of fifty-two. his brother married the celebrated mrs. macauley graham, and his sister was married to dr. arnold, of leicester, the respectable author of a very able treatise on insanity. it is generally understood, that the lady who performed the singular part of the goddess of health, was emma, afterwards wife of sir w. h. and a personal favourite of a late celebrated naval character. the admirable crichton.--mr. james crichton, according to the generality of his biographers, was born in the year ; but lord buchan fixes the time of his nativity in the month of august, . it is admitted by all, that this celebrated man was a native of scotland; but although perth has in general been considered as his birth-place, even this circumstance has been perplexed with conflicting opinions. of his ancestors, the accounts are equally diversified. some assert that his father, robert crichton, commanded the army of queen mary at the battle of langside: others state, with equal confidence, that he was lord advocate of scotland from to . his mother's name was elizabeth stewart, the only daughter of sir james stewart, of beath, a descendant of robert, duke of albany, the third son of king robert the second. relying on his pedigree, he was accustomed to boast, when he displayed his astonishing acquirements in foreign countries, of his lineal descent from the scottish kings. at what time mr. james crichton began his studies, we are not informed; neither have we any satisfactory accounts when those diversified powers of his mind, on which all europe gazed with admiration, first appeared to excite attention. the primary rudiments of his grammatical education were received at perth; after which he studied philosophy in the university of st. andrew. in that university, his tutor was the celebrated john rutherford, a professor, famous for his learning, and distinguished by four books, which he had written on aristotle's logic, and a commentary on his poetics. but it is not to this professor alone, that the honour of forming this extraordinary character is to be ascribed. manutius, who calls crichton first cousin to the king, says, that he was educated with james i. under buchanan, hepburn, and robertson, as well as under rutherford. we cannot doubt, from the favourable circumstances under which crichton entered life, that the best masters were assigned him that could be procured in every department of learning. under their tuition, and through the native vigour of his understanding, he had acquired a knowledge of ten different languages, and had run through the whole circle of the sciences, by the time he had attained the twentieth year of his age. arduous, however, as these varied pursuits may seem to common minds, they occupied a part only of crichton's attention. a portion of his time was devoted to music, in the knowledge of which he made an astonishing proficiency. he learnt to play on various instruments; and improved himself, to the highest degree, in dancing, fencing, singing, and horsemanship. having made himself master of these various acquirements, he left his native land, and, proceeding to paris, introduced himself to the literati of that city in the following manner. on his arrival, he caused six placards to be fixed on the gates of the schools, halls, and colleges, belonging to the university, and on all the pillars and posts of the houses inhabited by men most renowned for literature and science, inviting all who thought themselves well versed in any art, to meet and dispute with him in the college of navarre, on that day six weeks, by nine in the morning. in this challenge, which was according to the practice of the age, he declared himself ready to answer any question which should be proposed to him, on any art or science, in any of the twelve following languages, viz. hebrew, syriac, arabic, greek, latin, spanish, french, italian, english, dutch, flemish, and sclavonian; and this either in prose or verse, at the choice of his antagonist. bold as this challenge may appear, instead of devoting himself to the minute examination of the various articles contained in its comprehensive embrace, upon the issues of which he had risked his reputation, his time was chiefly spent in hunting, hawking, tilting, vaulting, riding, tossing the pike, handling the musket, and such military feats and athletic exercises; and, when tired with these, the interim was filled up in domestic engagements, such as balls, concerts of music, vocal and instrumental, cards, dice, and tennis, together with such diversions as frequently occupy the mind of youth. a mode of conduct, apparently so inconsistent with the character he had assumed in his placards, the students of the university were at a loss how to interpret. and so provoked were they at the insolence of this daring foreigner, that, beneath the placard which was fixed on the gate at navarre, they caused the following words to be written:--"if you would meet with this monster of perfection, to make search for him either in the tavern or the brothel is the readiest way to find him." but notwithstanding this dissipation, when the appointed day arrived, crichton appeared in the college of navarre, and engaged in a disputation, which lasted from nine in the morning until six in the evening. and so well did he acquit himself, that the president, after expatiating on the many rare and excellent endowments which god had bestowed upon him, rose from his chair, and, accompanied by four of the most eminent professors of the university, presented him with a diamond ring, and a purse full of gold, as a testimony of their high approbation. on what subjects these antagonists disputed, we have not been informed; neither is it known with certainty in what languages they addressed each other. we are only told, that the interview ended amidst the reiterated acclamations and huzzas of the spectators; and that this conquest obtained for him the appellation of "the admirable crichton." it has been added, to the preceding account, that so little was he fatigued with the dispute, that he went to the louvre, on the ensuing day, and engaging in a tilting match, an exercise then much in use, carried off the ring fifteen times successively, and broke as many lances, in the presence of some princes of the french court, and of a great many ladies, whose applauses were deemed a glorious reward, by all the heroes of chivalry. of crichton's exploits in paris, the following account has been given by mackenzie, and translated by pennant, from the testimony of an author whom they consider as an eye-witness. "there came to the college of navarre, a young man of twenty years of age, who was perfectly well seen in all the sciences, as the most learned masters of the university acknowledged. in vocal and instrumental music, none could excel him; in painting and drawing in colours, none could equal him. in military feats he was most expert; and could play with the sword so dexterously with both his hands, that no man could fight him. when he saw his enemy or antagonist, he would throw himself upon him at one jump of twenty or twenty-four feet distance. he was master of arts, and disputed with us in the schools of the college, on medicine, the civil and canon law, and theology. and, although we were above fifty in number, besides about three thousand who were present, so pointedly and learnedly he answered to all the questions which were proposed to him, that none but they who were present can believe it. he spoke latin, greek, and hebrew, and other languages, most politely. he was likewise a most excellent horseman; and, truly, if a man should live a hundred years, without eating, drinking, or sleeping, he could not attain to this man's knowledge, which struck us with a panic fear, for he knew more than human nature can well bear. he overcame four of the doctors of the church; for in learning none could contest with him; and he was thought to be antichrist." having thus obtained in paris the victory for which he contended, crichton next repaired to rome, where he affixed a placard upon all the eminent places of the city, in the following terms:--"_nos jacobus crictonus scotus, cuicunque rei propositæ ex improviso respondebimus_." in a city which abounded with scholastic learning and wit, this challenge, bearing all the marks of presumption, soon became the subject of a pasquinade. rome, it has been said, was at this time much infested with mountebanks, jugglers, and other empirics; and those who felt indignant at the placard of crichton, endeavoured to ridicule him, by classifying him with the quacks. designating him by the neuter gender, their pasquinade was to the following effect:--"and he that will see _it_, let him repair to the sign of the falcon, and _it_ shall be shewn." boccalini, who was then at rome, says, that the appearance of this paper had such an effect upon him, that, with indignant feelings, he almost immediately left the city, where he had been so grossly insulted, in being compared to the impostors who could only amuse the vulgar. mackenzie, however, asserts, that instead of being discouraged, he appeared at the time and place appointed; and, in the presence of the pope, many cardinals, bishops, and doctors of divinity, and professors of all the sciences, displayed such wonderful proofs of his universal knowledge, that he excited a degree of astonishment equal to that which had marked his career in paris. from rome, crichton proceeded to venice, in which place he appears to have been reduced to much distress; but whether this arose from any mental depression, from bodily indisposition, or from embarrassment of circumstances, is not clearly expressed. the reality of his distress he has stated in a poem, the principal design of which was, to obtain a favourable reception in the city; and more particularly so, with aldus manutius, a celebrated critic. on presenting his verses, manutius was struck with an agreeable surprise, at the comprehensiveness of thought, the display of intellect, and the brilliancy of genius, which they exhibited. and, upon conversing with the author, he was so filled with admiration on finding him intimately acquainted with almost every subject, that he introduced him to the acquaintance of the principal men of learning and note in venice. thus recommended, he contracted an intimate friendship with manutius, massa, speronius, donatus, and various others, to whom he presented several poems, in commendation of the university and city. three of these odes are still preserved. after some time he was introduced to the doge and senate, in whose presence he delivered a speech, fraught with so much beauty and eloquence, and accompanied with such gracefulness of person and manners, that he received the thanks of that illustrious body; and nothing was talked about for some time, through the city, but this _rara avis in terris_,--this prodigy in nature. in this city, also, he held various disputations, on theology, philosophy, and mathematics, with the most eminent professors, and before vast concourses of people. the talents which he displayed on these occasions, gave such publicity to his reputation, that multitudes repaired to venice from distant parts, that they might have an opportunity of seeing and hearing a man, whose abilities were considered as almost super-human. adorned with all the laurels of literature which venice could bestow, crichton next removed to padua, the university of which was, at this time, in high repute. on the day after his arrival, there was a general meeting of all the learned men which this place could boast; but on what occasion they were convened, we are not informed. the fame of crichton, however, gained him an admission into this learned assembly, whom he immediately addressed in an extemporary poem, in praise of the city, of the university, and of the company that had honoured him with their presence. having finished this introductory address to the admiration of all present, he disputed during six hours with the most celebrated professors, on various subjects of learning. it was during this debate, that he exposed the errors of aristotle and his commentators, with so much solidity, acuteness, and modesty, that the admirers of this philosopher were astonished at his acquirements, and even filled with profound admiration. before they separated, he delivered, extempore, an oration in praise of ignorance, which he conducted with so much ingenuity, managed with such exquisite skill, and expressed with so much elegance, that his hearers were almost overwhelmed with amazement. this display of his learning and talents took place on the th of march, , in the house of jacobus aloysius cornelius. as several persons of considerable rank, who were absent on the above memorable day, expressed their regret on this occasion, crichton appointed another, to meet any opponents who might be disposed to encounter him; merely to comply with their earnest solicitations, and to afford them gratification. whether this meeting ever took place, seems rather uncertain. manutius asserts, that some circumstances occurred which prevented it; but imperialis observes, from information communicated by his father, who was present on the occasion, that crichton was formidably opposed by archangelus mercenarius, a famous philosopher, but that the young foreigner was finally victorious, and obtained the plaudits of the auditors, and the approbation even of his antagonist. but this tide of popular applause was not without its corresponding eddy. mortified at being foiled by this youthful stranger, many, even among the learned, envied both his fame and merit, and did not hesitate to resort to artifices, which, they imagined, would lessen his reputation. crichton was not ignorant of these contrivances; and, conscious of his own transcendent abilities and attainments, he resolved to give all who were inclined to detract from his merit, a convincing proof of his decided superiority. he therefore caused a paper to be fixed on the gates of st. john's and st. paul's churches, in which he offered to prove, before the university, that both aristotle and his followers had fallen into almost innumerable errors; and that the latter had failed in explaining the philosophy of their master, and had erred in their application of his principles to theological subjects. he engaged, likewise, to refute the theories of several mathematical professors; offered to dispute with any one on all the sciences; and promised to answer whatever might be proposed to him, or objected against what he should advance. all this he engaged to do, either in the common logical way, or by numbers and mathematical figures; or, in case his antagonists should prefer it, in no less than one hundred sorts of verses. the men who had been secretly contriving how to undermine his reputation, beheld this challenge with strange emotions. from the presumption which it displayed, they flattered themselves with an easy conquest; but from the talents which crichton had on all former occasions manifested, and his being constantly victorious, they became intimidated, and hesitated to accept the summons they had provoked. they had, however, proceeded too far to retreat; and therefore nothing remained but for them to collect their forces, and meet him, agreeably to his proposal. manutius informs us, that the meeting took place at the time appointed; that the disputations continued for three days; and that crichton, during the whole contest, supported his credit, and maintained his propositions with so much spirit and energy, and apparently with so little fatigue, that he obtained, from an unusual concourse of people, such acclamations and praises as were scarcely ever before received by man. nor were the bodily powers, activity, and skill, of this astonishing man less conspicuous, than those energies by which his mind was distinguished. of these, also, he has given some surprising proofs in his various exploits. it happened much about this time, that a famous gladiator, who, in his travels, had foiled the most able fencers in europe, and lately killed three men who had entered the lists against him, took up his residence in mantua. the duke, under whose promised protection he had taken shelter, on finding that he had afforded an asylum to a troublesome inmate, by whom the inhabitants were much annoyed, did not hesitate to manifest his regret: but having pledged his word, which he could neither recall nor violate, no way remained to release the public from this sanctioned pest, but that of finding some person who would dare to meet him in single combat. crichton having been informed of the fact, in connection with its various circumstances, voluntarily offered his services, not only to drive the murderer from mantua, but to prevent his remaining in any part of italy. he therefore made a proposal to fight him for fifteen hundred pistoles. the duke, though anxious to be delivered from his troublesome intruder, was unwilling that the valuable life of crichton should be placed in competition with that of such a barbarous adventurer. but having been informed that he was as capable of appearing in feats of arms, as in scientific disquisitions, he gave his consent, that he should undertake to meet the combatant. affairs being arranged, and the day appointed, the whole court assembled to witness the issue of this singular conflict. in the commencement of this encounter, crichton stood wholly on the defensive; while his antagonist assailed him with such eagerness and fury, that in a short time he became exhausted. this crichton soon perceived; and availing himself of the opportunity, attacked him in return, with so much skill and resolution, that he was unable to withstand the assault. the weapons with which they fought were rapiers, then but newly brought into use; but so far had crichton made himself master of this instrument of death, that he ran his antagonist through the body three times, and saw him fall dead at his feet. the spectators, on perceiving this victory, uttered thunders of applause, making the earth resound with their united acclamations. and although many present were much skilled in the use of arms, they united in declaring, that they had never seen art grace nature, or nature second the precepts of art, in so lively a manner as the events of this day had exhibited before their eyes. crichton in the meanwhile, to prove that his generosity was equal to his skill and courage, distributed the fifteen hundred pistoles which he had won by his valour, among the widows of the three men who had lost their lives in fighting with the gladiator whom he had slain. pleased with this bloody performance, the duke of mantua is said immediately to have chosen crichton as preceptor to his son vincentio di gonzaga, who is represented as a youth of a turbulent disposition, and a dissolute life. this appointment was pleasing to the court, and highly flattering to the vanity of the victor; who, to testify his gratitude, and to contribute to their diversion, is said to have framed a comedy, in which he exposed to ridicule, the foibles, weaknesses, and defects of the several employments in which men were engaged. the composition was regarded as one of the most ingenious satires that was ever made upon mankind. in the performance of this comedy, crichton is represented as sustaining no less than fifteen characters in his own person. among the rest, he acted the divine, the philosopher, the lawyer, the mathematician, the physician, and the soldier, with such an inimitable grace, that every time he appeared on the theatre, he seemed to be a different person. but it was not long after he had sustained these various characters, in the comedy which he had composed for public entertainment, before he became the subject of a dreadful tragedy, which furnished a melancholy occasion for lamentation. it happened one night, during the time of carnival, as he was walking along the streets of mantua, playing upon his guitar, that he was attacked by six persons in masks. he immediately drew his weapon to defend himself; and soon convinced his assailants, that they had something more than an ordinary person with whom to contend. in this conflict, when they found they were unable to stand their ground, their leader, being disarmed, pulled off his mask, and begged his life, telling him that he was prince gonzaga his pupil. crichton, on making this discovery, fell upon his knees, and expressed much concern for his mistake; alleging that what he had done was only in his own defence, and that if gonzaga had any design upon his life, he was always master of it. having said this, he took his sword, and holding it by the point, presented the handle to the prince, who instantly received it, and, with a degree of barbarous meanness, that will always be associated with his name, immediately stabbed crichton to the heart. on the causes which led to this brutal action, various conjectures have been started. some have imagined, that it arose from the mortification of being foiled, disarmed, and discovered, and being obliged to beg for his life. others have supposed, that it was nothing more than the effect of a drunken frolic, in which the passions assumed the dominion over reason. and others have intimated, that it was the effect of jealousy, gonzaga being suspicious that crichton was more in favour than himself, with a lady whom he passionately loved. in one point, however, all who have recorded these transactions mutually agree, namely, that crichton lost his life in this rencontre; but whether the meeting was premeditated on the part of the prince and his associates, or purely as accidental as it was on that of crichton, we have no means of ascertaining. the time when this disastrous event took place, is said, by the generality of his biographers, to have been early in july ; but lord buchan thinks it to have happened one year earlier. the difference is still greater with regard to his age, when he was thus assassinated. the common accounts declare, that he was killed in his thirty-second year; but imperialis asserts, that he was only in his twenty-second; and in this he is confirmed by the testimony of lord buchan. his death was universally lamented, the people of mantua mourned for him three-quarters of a year, and his picture appeared in the chambers and houses of every italian. the fame of crichton, like that of an actor, was chiefly confined to those who had witnessed his achievements. he wrote little, but he performed much. the latter was soon forgotten; or so blended with fiction, that it became doubtful. he blazed like a meteor for a moment; his coruscations dazzled the eyes of the beholder; but when he vanished, the impression which he had made was no where to be found. yet, we must again repeat, he was certainly one of the most accomplished men, who, in that age, had ever appeared. to those who feel the aspirings of genius, he furnishes an example of the heights to which it can ascend. and to those who are less gifted by nature, his unsettled life, and his melancholy end, may at least teach acquiescence in the humbler gifts which providence has assigned them.--see _british nepos_, p. . in favour of crichton's moral character, we fear that little can be said. his warmest admirers have furnished us with the means of making this reflection. they have occasionally palliated dissipation; but unfortunately, while softening his vices into youthful foibles, they have recorded facts, to which posterity have given names. on the vanity, which in too many instances marked his life, and the unhappy manner in which it was terminated, no comment can be deemed necessary. in his whole history, all those, "who in the confidence of superior capacities or attainments disregard the common maxims of life, shall be reminded, that nothing will supply the want of prudence; and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible."--_johnson's life of savage._ miss margaret m'avoy.--some time in the year , an extraordinary phenomenon appeared at liverpool, in the person of miss m'avoy, a young lady about fifteen years of age, reputed to be totally blind; but whose exquisite nervous sensibility enabled her to distinguish, by the power of touch, a variety of objects, which, to all other persons, were perceptible only through the medium of vision. the circumstances connected with this case, taken in all their bearings, are such, that it may be justly doubted if any thing more extraordinary has ever occurred in the physiological history of our species. the following interesting narrative is an abridged copy of what appeared in the liverpool mercury, at the time when her astonishing powers excited a considerable degree of public attention. the article is signed by mr. egerton smith, the proprietor of the above paper, and his relation is founded on personal observations. "some time in september, , i accompanied dr. renwick, on a professional visit he paid to miss m'avoy, at her residence in st. paul's-square, on the east side. she was then between sixteen and seventeen years of age, of a pleasing and ingenuous countenance, and apparently of an amiable and artless disposition. her mother informed me, that in the preceding june, her daughter had been attacked with hydrocephalus, or water in the head, together with paralytic affection on one side, and a complication of other disorders, which i forbear to enumerate, because i am wholly ignorant of that part of the subject. according to her own statement, corroborated by that of her mother, the hydrocephalus preceded, and in their opinion produced, the blindness of gutta serena, under which she is supposed to labour, but which has been called in question, i understand, by some of the professional men who have visited her. "her mother, however, declared, that the light of the sun produced not the slightest sensible effect upon her eyes; and some of the professional gentlemen who happened to be present at one of my repeated visits, declared, that though some slight contraction of the pupil was perceptible upon the approach of a lighted candle to the eye, it was by no means such as uniformly occurs when the visual organs perform their regular functions. "at my first interview, i learned from herself, what i had indeed previously been told by others, that she had recently acquired the faculty of distinguishing not only the colours of cloth and stained glass, but that she could actually decipher the forms of words in a printed book; and, indeed, could read, if the phrase may be permitted, with tolerable facility. to put these pretensions to the test, she permitted a shawl to be passed across the eyes in double folds, in such a way that all present were convinced they could not under similar circumstances discern day from night. in this state a book was placed before her, and opened indiscriminately; when, to our extreme surprise, she began to trace the words with her finger, and to repeat them correctly. she appeared to recognize a short monosyllable by the simple contact of one finger; but in ascertaining a long word, she placed the fore-finger of her left hand on the beginning, whilst with that of her right hand she proceeded from the other extremity of the word; and when the two fingers, by having traversed over all the letters, came in contact with each other, she invariably and precisely ascertained the word. by my watch i found that she read about thirty words in half a minute; and it very naturally occurred to us, that if, notwithstanding her supposed blindness, and the double bandage over her eyes, she could still see, she would have read much more rapidly, if her motive had been to excite our astonishment. and here it may not be amiss to state, that there does not appear to be any adequate motive for practising a delusion upon the public. her situation in life is respectable; and her mother disavows any intention of ever exhibiting her daughter as a means of pecuniary remuneration. fifteen months have now elapsed since the period at which she laid claim to the extraordinary faculty which has given rise to so much curiosity, astonishment, and perplexity; during which time the reputation of so wonderful a circumstance has subjected her to the fatigue and inconvenience of daily and almost hourly visits. "according to her own statement, her powers of touch vary very materially with circumstances; when her hands are cold, she declares that the faculty is altogether lost; and that it is exhausted, also, by long and unremitting efforts; that she considers the hours of from ten till twelve, of each alternate day, the most favourable for her performance. her pulse, during the experiments, has varied from to degrees. "one circumstance, which has created much doubt and suspicion, must not be concealed; which is, that if any substance, for instance, a book or a shawl, be interposed between her eyes and the object she is investigating, she is much embarrassed, and frequently entirely baffled. she explains this by saying, that it is necessary there should be an uninterrupted communication between her finger and her breath. i leave it to others to draw their own conclusions upon this point; as my object is not to establish any theory, or give currency to any mystery, but to relate the simple facts. i am, therefore, compelled to express my conviction, that she can neither ascertain colours, nor the words of a book, in total darkness; and, as many persons very naturally will ask, why has not such a test been proposed? the reply must be, that as the young lady is not the subject of a public exhibition, and as an introduction to her is merely a matter of favour, it might not be very courteous or delicate, under such circumstances, to make any proposal which seemed to imply a suspicion that she was an impostor. "there are persons, however, who, giving her implicit credit for the reality of the extraordinary powers to which she lays claim, will contend that it is altogether unfair to propose the test of total darkness. proceeding upon their belief that she actually ascertains colour, &c. by the finger, or that the visual organ is transferred to the touch, still they say that light is essentially necessary to produce that effect upon the surface of the body felt, which enables her to distinguish one shade from another; they add, that as there is no such thing as colour in total darkness, it is perfectly ridiculous to expect that she should ascertain the various shades without the presence of that light which alone produces those shades. it is, according to their mode of considering the subject, as absurd as to expect an effect without a cause. "it has already been stated, that, with the double bandage over her eyes, she read several lines of a book indiscriminately opened; as it was possible that the letters of a printed book might leave some slight impression sensible to an exquisite touch, i took from my pocket-book an engraved french assignat, which was hot-pressed, and smooth as glass; she read the smallest lines contained in this with the same facility as the printed book. a letter received by that day's post was produced, the direction and post-mark of which she immediately and correctly deciphered. she also named the colour of the separate parts of the dresses of the persons in company, as well as various shades of stained glass which were purposely brought. "what i had seen at my first interview was so extremely astonishing, and so far surpassed any thing i had ever known or read of the powers ascribed to persons deprived of sight, that i could only account for it on the supposition that she was not blind, and that she had some secret mode of discerning an object, notwithstanding the bandage, through which i myself could not distinguish night from day, when it was applied to my own eyes. i therefore made the best apology i could for visiting her house again the same evening, having previously prepared myself with several tests, which i begged permission to submit to her examination, when the candle was withdrawn. not the slightest objection was offered to my proposal, and the candle was extinguished: her mother stationed herself before the fire, which was extremely low, and afforded so little light that i could not have read one word of moderate-sized print, if it had been brought almost in contact with the bars of the grate. i then took from my pocket a small book, the type of which was very little larger than that of an ordinary newspaper; observing at the time, that i was afraid the print was too minute; to which she replied, that her fingers were in excellent order, and that she had no doubt she could be able to make it out. "the candle, as was before observed, had been extinguished; and her mother and myself were so stationed, that had there been any light afforded by the fire, we must have completely intercepted it. miss m'avoy sat in the furthest part of the room, with her back towards the grate, in such a situation that i could barely discern even the leaves of the book which lay open before her; the title of which she proceeded to read with complete success, with the exception of one very minute word. i then presented to her a small piece of smooth writing paper, which was ruled with horizontal faint blue lines, with a pen and black ink; there were also perpendicular red lines, between which were scored black lines: all these, with their direction and order, she determined without any apparent difficulty. she also told correctly the colour of a variety of species of cloth, procured immediately before at a draper's shop. all the experiments hitherto described, as well as those which follow, were performed by miss m. with the bandage before her eyes; and as the shawl, which was usually applied to this purpose, produced considerable warmth and inconvenience, a pair of what, in the optician's shops, are called goggles, had been provided, which so completely excluded the light, that no person who tried them could discern the difference between day and night, when they were fitted to the face. as these goggles have been generally used when miss m. has exhibited her surprising talent, it is necessary that the reader should have a correct idea of them. they are intended to be worn by travellers, to guard the eyes against the wind or the dust, and consist of two glasses, sometimes green, fitted into a bandage of leather, which is passed horizontally across the face, and is tied with ribands round the back of the head. the goggles provided for miss m. instead of glasses, were fitted up with opake pasteboard, lined with paper, and not an aperture was left through which a single ray of light could penetrate. "mr. nichol, a scientific gentleman, who was delivering a course of philosophical lectures in liverpool, having heard of this extraordinary property, applied to me to obtain an introduction to miss m'avoy, and i accompanied him to her house, along with mr. james smith, printer, of liverpool. at this interview, the experiments i have already detailed were repeated with complete success, whilst the goggles were applied. one part of the performance was so truly astonishing, that i should almost hesitate to relate it, if those two gentlemen had not been present to vouch for the truth. i had furnished myself with a set of stained landscape glasses, usually termed claude lorrain glasses. they were seven in number, contained in a frame. she ascertained the precise shade of each correctly; one glass, however, appeared to embarrass her, and after considerable scrutiny, she said it was not black, nor dark blue, nor dark brown, but she thought it was a very deep crimson. we did not know whether her conjecture was correct or not, as we could not ourselves ascertain the shade. by reflected light it appeared to us to be perfectly black; nor was the flame of the fire, which was stirred for the occasion, visible through it in the faintest degree. we had abandoned all expectation of determining this point, when the sun suddenly emerged from behind the clouds; and by that test, and that alone, were we enabled to discover that she was correct, as we could just discern the solar image of a very deep crimson. it has been said, and with some plausibility, that this must have been a bold guess on her part; if not, it will puzzle our physiologists to explain how a person reputed to be blind, with an opake bandage also over her eyes, could declare the colour of a glass, which persons in full enjoyment of their eyesight, and without any such obstacles, could not discern by any other light than that of the meridian sun! at this meeting, we were informed that miss m'avoy had recently found out that this extraordinary faculty was not confined to her fingers; and that she could also distinguish the colour of an object which was brought into contact with the back of her hands. this was immediately made the subject of experiment by mr. nichol, who successively applied several objects which he had with him to that part of the hand; in placing which he used so much precaution, that i could not see them myself, although my eyes were fixed upon his hands. she was completely successful also upon this occasion." the paragraph which follows is from the liverpool advertiser:-- "as the extraordinary powers attributed to miss margaret m'avoy, of this town, have lately attracted the attention of the public in an uncommon degree, permit me to send you a fact, which has lately occurred, and which must silence the scepticism of the most incredulous:--two ladies of this town, whose habits of rigid veracity and cautious inquiry are well known, and whose names are left with the publishers, in order to satisfy any doubts which may arise, went to the house of this phenomenon, impelled by that curiosity which has now become general. fortunately, miss m'avoy's marvellous powers, which are known to be sometimes fluctuating and capricious, were that day in the highest perfection, and the following experiment was actually tried:--one of these visitors stood behind the young lady's chair, and pressed down her eyelids with both hands so closely, that it was a physical impossibility for a single ray of light to enter. i may here remark, that no method of closing the eyes, by any sort of covering that can be devised, is half so effectual as this, for obvious reasons. the other lady then took up a printed book of sermons, which was lying in the apartment, and which appeared to have just come from the bookseller's, as the leaves were not yet cut open; she opened it in a place where the leaves were united, and placed it before miss m'avoy, (her eyes still closed as above described,) who read several lines in it, without hesitation. the lady then took a written note out of her pocket, which had been received that morning, and miss m. also read that, without any other difficulty than what arose from the badness of the hand-writing. this experiment, which can be ascertained on oath, seems so decisive as to the power possessed by miss m. of reading by the touch alone, that i am not aware of any possible way in which it can be controverted." at the time when the case of this young lady came before the public, her claims to extraordinary powers were examined with the utmost scrutiny, both by those who admitted, and those who doubted her abilities. in every experiment that was made, the former were confirmed in their opinion; and the latter, while they withheld their assent, were constrained to acknowledge themselves overwhelmed with an accumulation of facts, for which they were unable to account. an old english 'squire.--the following character of the honourable william hastings, of the woodlands, in hampshire, was copied in the year , from a manuscript of anthony ashley cooper, the first earl of shaftsbury, by w. cowper, esq. then clerk of parliament. in the year , lived mr. hastings, by his quality, son, brother, and uncle, to the earls of huntingdon. he was, peradventure, an original in our age, or rather the copy of our ancient nobility in hunting, not in warlike times. he was low, very strong, and very active; of a reddish flaxen hair. his clothes always of green cloth, and never all worth, when new, five pounds. his house was perfectly of the old fashion: in the midst of a large park well stocked with deer, and near the house, rabbits to serve his kitchen; many fishponds; great store of wood and timber; a bowling-green in it, long, but narrow, full of high ridges, it being never levelled since it was ploughed; they used round sand-bowls; and it had a large banqueting-house like a stand, built in a tree. he kept all manner of sport hounds, that ran buck, fox, hare, otter, and badger; and hawks, long and short winged he had all sorts of nets for fish. he had a walk in the new forest and the manor of christ church; this last supplied him with red deer, sea and river fish; and indeed all his neighbours' lands and royalties were free to him, who bestowed all his time on these sports, but what he borrowed to caress his neighbours' wives and daughters. this made him very popular, always speaking kindly to the husband, brother, or father, who was, besides, always welcome to his house. there he would find beef, pudding, and small beer in great plenty; a house not so neatly kept as to shame him, or his dusty shoes; the great hall strewed with marrow-bones, and full of hawks' perches, hounds, spaniels, and terriers; the upper side of the hall hung with the fox-skins of this and the last year's killing, with here and there a pole-cat intermixed; and gamekeepers' and hunters' poles in great abundance. the parlour was a large long room, curiously furnished:--on a great hearth paved with bricks lay some terriers, and the choicest hounds and spaniels; usually two of the great chairs had litters of young cats in them, which were not to be disturbed, he having always three or four attending him at dinner, and a little round white stick of fourteen inches long lying by his trencher, that he might defend such meat as he had no mind to part with to them. the windows, which were very large, served for places to lay his arrows, cross-bows, stone-bows, and other such like accoutrements: the corners of the room were full of the best-chosen hunting and hawking poles. an oyster table stood at the lower end, of constant use twice a day, all the year round, for he never failed to eat oysters before dinner and supper through all seasons; with these the neighbouring town of poole supplied him. the upper part of the room had two small tables and a desk, on the one side of which was a church bible, and on the other the book of martyrs. on the tables were hawks' hoops, bells, and such like, two or three old green hats, with their crowns thrust in so as to hold ten or a dozen eggs; which were of a pheasant kind of poultry he took much care of and fed himself. tables, dice, cards, and boxes, were not wanting. in the holes of the desk were store of tobacco-pipes that had been used. on one side of this end of the room was a door of the closet, wherein stood the strong beer and the wine, which never came thence but in single glasses, that being the rule of the house exactly observed, for he never exceeded in drink, or permitted others to transgress. on the other side was a door into an old chapel, not used for devotion; the pulpit, as the safest place, was never wanting of a cold chine of beef, venison pasty, gammon of bacon, or great apple pie, with thick crust extremely baked. his table cost him not much, though it was well provided. his sports supplied all but beef and mutton, except fridays, when he had the best salt fish, as well as other fish, he could get. this was the day his neighbours of first quality most visited him. he never wanted a london pudding, and always sung it in with "my pert eyes therein a." he drank a glass or two of wine at meals; very often syrup of gillyflowers in his sack; and had always a tun glass, without feet, standing by him, holding a pint of small beer, which he often stirred with rosemary. he was good-natured, but soon angry, calling his servants bastards, and cuckoldy knaves; in one of which he often spoke truth to his own knowledge, and sometimes in both, though of the same man. he lived to be an hundred, never lost his eyesight, but always wrote and read without spectacles, and got on horseback without help. until past fourscore, he rode to the death of a stag as well as any one. joan of arc, commonly called the maid of orleans.--this celebrated heroine was the daughter of a peasant of domremi, near vaucouleurs, on the borders of lorrain, and born about the beginning of the fifteenth century. at the age of twenty-seven years, she was servant in a small inn, where she was accustomed to tend horses, and to perform other menial offices which commonly fall to the share of men-servants. about this time, king charles vii. was reduced to the most distressed condition by the english; but the siege of orleans, which was bravely defended by the garrison and inhabitants, in some measure retarded their progress. joan partook of the feelings of sympathy with the besieged, that very generally prevailed, and determined to make some effort for relieving her sovereign in his present distresses. whilst she was indulging these feelings, her enthusiasm led her to fancy that she saw visions and heard voices exhorting her to re-establish the throne of france, and to expel the foreign invaders. under the strong impulse of passion and imagined inspiration, she obtained admission to baudricourt, the governor of vaucouleurs, who after being informed of her inspiration and intentions, treated her for some time with neglect; but, in consequence of her renewed and importunate solicitations, he gave orders that she should be conducted to the french court, which then resided at chinon. it is pretended that joan, immediately on her admission, knew the king, though she had never seen his face before, and though he purposely kept himself in the crowd of courtiers, and laid aside every thing in his apparel that might seem to distinguish him; and that she offered, in the name of the supreme creator, to raise the siege of orleans, and to conduct him to rheims, to be there crowned and anointed. in order to remove his doubts of her mission, it is said, that she disclosed a secret, known only to himself, and which she must have derived from heavenly inspiration. she also demanded, as the instrument of her future victories, a particular sword which was kept in the church of st. catharine of fierbois, and which, though she had never seen it, she described by all its marks, and by the place in which it had long lain neglected. her intrepid and determined mode of address excited attention, and gained confidence; and she was referred to matrons for proofs of her virginity, and to doctors of the church for evidence of her inspiration: their report being favourable, she was sent to the parliament at poictiers; but they, considering her as insane, demanded from her a miracle. her reply was, that she would soon exhibit one at orleans. accordingly, she was at length completely armed, mounted on horseback in the presence of the multitude, and sent, amidst the loudest acclamations, to join the army destined to the relief of orleans. upon joining the army, consisting of , men, she ordered all the soldiers to confess themselves before they set out on the enterprise; she banished from the camp all women of bad fame; she displayed in her hands a consecrated banner, representing the supreme being as grasping the globe of earth, and surrounded with flower-de-luces; and after thus communicating to the soldiers a great degree of that enthusiasm by which she herself was actuated, she advanced towards orleans. the english besiegers were overawed by her orders and menaces, dictated in the name of the almighty creator; and she entered orleans arrayed in her military garb, and displaying her consecrated standard, and was received by all the inhabitants as a celestial deliverer. the convoy approached without finding any resistance on the part of the besiegers; the waggons and troops passed without interruption between the redoubts of the english; and a dead silence and astonishment reigned among those troops, formerly so elated with victory, and so fierce for the combat. joan, having thus far succeeded, ordered the garrison, at the same time encouraging them with the promise of heavenly assistance, first, to attack the english redoubts, in which measure they were successful; and then to fall upon the main body of the english in their entrenchments. in one of these latter attacks the french were repulsed, but the intrepid maid led them back to the charge, and overpowered the english. in one of these attacks, she was wounded in the neck with an arrow; but retreating behind the assailants, she pulled it out with her own hands, had the wound quickly dressed, and hastened back to head the troops, and to plant her victorious banner on the ramparts of the enemy. in consequence of these successes, attended with a loss to the english of more than men, their courage and confidence gave way to amazement and despair. the french, in order to magnify the wonder of all these prosperous events, represent the maid as not only active in combat, but as performing the office of general; directing the troops, conducting the military operations, and swaying the deliberations in all the councils of war. but whatever the policy of the french court might suggest for maintaining this opinion among the multitude, it is much more probable, that this inexperienced country girl was prompted in all her measures by the wiser commanders. having raised the siege of orleans, joan now insisted that she should proceed to the accomplishment of the second part of her promise, which was that of crowning the king at rheims. the king, accompanied by the victorious maid, marched at the head of , men towards rheims, receiving the submission of the towns through which he passed; till at length arriving near rheims, a deputation met him with the keys of the city, and he was admitted into it with transport. here the ceremony of his coronation was performed with the holy oil of clovis; and the maid stood by his side in complete armour, and displayed her sacred banner. when the ceremony was finished, she threw herself at the king's feet, embraced his knees, and with a flood of tears she congratulated him on this singular and marvellous event. charles testified his gratitude by ennobling the family of joan, giving it the name of _du lys_, probably in allusion to the lilies of her banner, and assigning to her a suitable estate in land. having accomplished both the objects which she had proposed, the maid of orleans expressed her wish to return to her former condition, and to the occupation and course of life which became her sex: but the french general dunois, urged her continuance with the army, till the english should be completely expelled, and her predictions fully accomplished. overpowered by his advice, she threw herself into the town of compeigne, which was then besieged by the duke of burgundy and the english; where, on a sally, having twice driven the enemy from their entrenchments, and finding their number increasing, she ordered a retreat; but was deserted by her friends, surrounded by the enemy, and taken prisoner by the burgundians. instead of treating joan as a prisoner of war, with the courtesy and good usage, to which, as such, she was entitled, and which civilized nations practise towards enemies on occasions of this kind, she was purchased from the captors by the regent duke of bedford, and a criminal prosecution was instituted against her on the charges of sorcery, impiety, idolatry, and magic. the clergy in his interest, and even the university of paris, concurred in the accusation. an ecclesiastical commission was held at rouen for her trial, and the maid, clothed in her former military apparel, but loaded with irons, was produced before this tribunal. her trial lasted four months; and in the course of that time, many captious interrogatories were put to her, which she answered with firmness and dignity. upon being asked, whether she would submit to the church the truth of her pretended visions, revelations, and intercourse with departed saints? she replied, that she would submit them to god, the fountain of truth: and when she was charged with being a heretic, and denying the authority of the church, she appealed to the pope; but her appeal was rejected. when she was asked, why she put her trust in her standard, which had been consecrated by magical incantations? she answered, that she put her trust in the supreme being alone, whose image was impressed upon it. when it was demanded, why she carried in her hand that standard at the unction and coronation of charles at rheims? she replied, that the person who had shared the danger was entitled to share the glory. when she was accused of going to war, she scrupled not to declare, that her sole purpose was to defeat the english, and to expel them the kingdom. in the issue, however, she was condemned for all the crimes of which she had been accused, aggravated by heresy; her revelations were declared to be inventions of the devil to delude the people; and she was sentenced to be delivered over to the secular arm. at length her resolution failed her; and through dread of the punishment to which she was sentenced, she declared that she was willing to recant; and, accordingly, she acknowledged the illusion of those revelations which the church had rejected; and she promised never more to maintain them. upon this, her sentence was mitigated; and she was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and to be fed during life on bread and water. but with this vengeance her enemies were not satisfied. in order to justify the severest measures against her, they insidiously placed in her apartment a suit of men's apparel; upon the sight of this garb, in which she had acquired so much renown, and assumed, as she once believed, by the appointment of heaven, her former ideas and passions revived, and she ventured in her solitude to put on the forbidden dress. in this apparel she was detected; it was regarded as a relapse into heresy; her recantation became void; her partial pardon was revoked; and she was to be burned in the market-place of rouen. in june, , this barbarous sentence, much more ignominious to those who inflicted it than to her who was the object of it, was executed. "this admirable heroine, to whom the more generous superstition of the ancients would have erected altars, was, on pretence of heresy and magic, delivered over alive to the flames, and expiated, by that dreadful punishment, the signal services which she had rendered to her prince and to her native country." she met her fate with resolution, and the english themselves beheld the scene with tears. the king made no effort for avenging her cause; he merely procured a revision of the process, and a restoration of her memory ten years afterwards by the pope, in an act which styled her a "martyr to her religion, her country, and her king." her countrymen, more prompt in the tribute of their respect, propagated many tales relating to her execution; and some of them would not even allow her to be dead, but professed to expect her speedy return to conduct them again to victory. of the character and conduct of this singular heroine, the most probable opinion is, that of her being an honest and deluded enthusiast, of whose fancies and passions the principal persons in the interest of charles availed themselves for deluding and rousing into exertion the passions of the people, at a crisis of peculiar importance; in which the maid of orleans was instrumental in giving a decisive turn to the contest between the french and english. the exploits of joan of arc have been celebrated both in prose and verse. of the latter, the serious poem of chapelain has been much less successful than the burlesque and licentious one of voltaire; but the injury done by it to her memory has been in some degree repaired in england, by southey's sublime and spirited poem of "joan of arc," which exhibits her in the brightest colours of virtue and heroism. pope joan.--among the numerous individuals who have figured on the great theatre of public life, few characters have ever been more distinguished than this celebrated lady, who, by a singular compound of dexterity, secrecy, and address, contrived to reach the pontificate. many doubts have, indeed, been entertained of the authenticity of the tale; but it is well known, that prior to the reformation it was sanctioned by universal belief. it is said, that about the middle of the ninth century, a woman named joan, born at mentz, and who had received an excellent education, conceiving a violent passion for a young monk named fulda, resolved to desert her family and friends, to assume the male habit, and gain admittance into the monastery. the plan succeeded; and having long indulged in their amours undisturbed and unsuspected, they eloped together, and travelled into most of the countries of europe, availing themselves of every opportunity for increasing their knowledge, by engaging the assistance of the best masters in the different cities through which they passed. on the death of her lover, joan repaired to rome, still in the dress of a man; where her address and engaging manners raising her into notice, she commenced the duties of professor, and persons of the highest rank and most considerable talents enlisted in the number of her disciples. at length, on the death of pope leo x. in , she was unanimously elected his successor to the pontifical throne. so prudently did she conduct herself, and with so much ability did she perform the duties of her station, that the people had reason to congratulate themselves on their choice. at length she confided her secret to a domestic whom she took to her bed, the consequence of which was her pregnancy, and she was taken in labour at one of the most solemn processions, delivered of a child in the street, and died on the spot. it is likewise said, that to perpetuate the memory of such an extraordinary adventure, a statue was erected on the place where it happened; that in abhorrence of the crime, the pope and clergy, in their subsequent annual processions from the vatican to the lateran, have turned off from that street; and that, to prevent a similar imposition, a custom was introduced of examining each pope previously to his consecration, in order to ascertain his sex. such are the particulars of a story that seems not to have been called in question till the time of luther, but which the best informed historians usually abandon as fictitious. "till the reformation, (says gibbon,) the tale was repeated and believed without offence, and joan's female statue long occupied her place among the popes in the cathedral of sienna. she has been annihilated by two learned protestants, blondel and bayle, but their brethren were scandalized by this equitable and generous criticism. spanheim and l'enfant attempted to save this poor engine of controversy; and even mosheim condescends to cherish some doubt and suspicion." history of the memorable sir richard whittington, three times lord mayor of london; in the years , . .-- the obscurity of the origin of this remarkable character, has given occasion to many fabulous accounts, but our readers may rely upon the following being the result of careful research, from the best authorities. whittington came to london, from shropshire, about the year , in the reign of king edward iii. and in his way he chiefly lived upon the charity of well-disposed persons. on his arrival in town, he made an application to the prior of the hospital of st. john's, clerkenwell, where he was kindly relieved; and being handy and willing, was soon put into an inferior post in the house. how long he remained here, is, i believe, no where mentioned; but to the piety of this charitable foundation he was certainly indebted for his first support in london. his next reception was in the family of mr. fitzwarren, a rich merchant, whose house was in the minories, near the tower. here he undoubtedly acted as under scullion, for his keep only. in this situation he met with many crosses and difficulties; for the servants made sport of him; and particularly the ill-natured cook, who was of a morose temper, used him very ill, and not unfrequently, with a sturdy arm, laid the ladle across his shoulders: so that, to keep in the family, he had many a sore bout to put up with; but his patience carried it off, and at last he became accustomed to her choleric disposition. this was not the only misfortune he laboured under; for lying in a place for a long time unfrequented, such abundance of rats and mice had bred there, that they were almost ready at times to dispute the possession of the place with him, and full as troublesome by night as the cook was by day, so that he knew not what to think of his condition, or how to mend it. after many disquieting thoughts, he at last comforted himself with the hopes that the cook might soon marry, or die, or quit her service; and as for the rats and mice, a cat would be an effectual remedy against them. soon after, a merchant came to dinner, and it raining exceedingly, he staid all night; whose shoes whittington having cleaned, and presented at his chamber door, he gave him a penny. this stock he improved, for going along the street of an errand, he saw a woman with a cat under her arm, and desired to know the price of it: the woman praised it for a good mouser, and told him, sixpence; but he declaring that a penny was all his stock, she let him have it. he took the cat home, and kept her in a box all day, lest the cook should kill her if she came into the kitchen, and at night he set her to work for her living. puss delivered him from one plague; but the other remained, though not for many years. it was the custom with the worthy merchant, mr. hugh fitzwarren, that god might give him a greater blessing for his endeavours, to call all his servants together when he sent out a ship, and cause every one to venture something in it, to try their fortunes. now all but whittington appeared, and brought things according to their abilities; but his young mistress being by, and supposing that poverty made him decline coming, she ordered him to be called, on which he made several excuses: however, being constrained to come, he hoped they would not jeer a poor simpleton for being in expectation of turning merchant, since all that he could lay claim to as his own, was but a poor cat, which he had bought for one penny, which he had given to him for cleaning shoes, and had much befriended him in keeping the rats and mice from him. upon this, the young lady proffered to lay something down for him, but her father told her the custom; it must be his own which must be ventured; and then ordered him to bring his cat, which he did, but with great reluctance, fancying nothing would come of it; and with tears delivered it to the master of the ship, which was called the unicorn, and had fallen down to blackwall, in order to proceed on her voyage. on their arrival in the mole of algiers, they heard that the plague was raging in the country, having been but a few years before brought from china, viz. in , at which period it was first noticed to rage in africa, from whence it soon proceeded to europe, overspreading the northern countries. this news did not deter the captain from sending to trade on shore, where, at first, they found but little encouragement, the people of the country appearing very shy to every offer. the news of the arrival of a vessel soon reached the notice of the dey, who immediately ordered the captain and officers to wait upon his highness with presents; for then, as well as now, nothing could be done without first bribing him. after this ceremony was over, trade went on pretty briskly, at the conclusion of which, his moorish majesty gave a grand entertainment, which, according to custom, was served upon carpets, interwoven with gold, silver, and purple silk. this feast was no sooner served up with the various dishes, but the scent brought together a number of rats and mice, who unmercifully fell on all that came in their way. these audacious and destructive vermin did not shew any symptoms of fear upon the approach of the company, but, on the contrary, kept to it as if they only were invited. this made the captain and his people very much wonder; who, interrogating the algerines, were informed, a very great price would be given by his highness, the dey, for a cure, and a riddance of these vermin, which were grown so numerously offensive, that not only his table, but his private apartments, and bed, were so infested, that he was forced to be constantly watched for fear of being devoured. this information put the english company immediately in mind of poor dick whittington's cat, which had done them such notable service on the passage; and wishing to serve the youth, they thought this the best time to come forward with the industrious animal. accordingly, she was brought on shore the next day, when her presence suddenly kept off most of the vermin; a few only of the boldest daring to venture forward, all of whom she dispatched with wonderful celerity. this pleased his algerine highness so much, that he immediately made very advantageous proposals to the factor of the ship for the possession of this surprising and useful animal. at first our people seemed very reluctant to part with it; but his liberality soon overcame every objection; and her purchase amounted, in various commodities, to several thousands of pounds. during the time the english remained here, her industry in destroying those noxious vermin so completely pleased the moorish chief, that, at our people's departure, he again loaded them with rich presents. the cook, who little thought how advantageous whittington's cat would prove, had kept up such a continual alarm of noise and reproach at the poor youth's unfortunate penury, that he grew weary of enduring it, and not the least expecting what followed, he resolved rather to try his fortune again in the wide world, than lead any longer such a disagreeable life. for this step he might be blamed, as, had he complained to his master, who was a kind gentleman, the difference would have been set to rights, and he, not like a jonas, cast out. with this resolution, however, he set out early on allhallows morning, resolving to go into the country, and get into a more agreeable service. as he went over finsbury moor, since called moor-fields, his mind began to fail; he hesitated, and halted several times: he grew pensive, and his resolution left him. in this solitary manner he wandered on until he reached holloway, where he sat down upon a large stone, which remains there to be seen to this day. here he began to ruminate in earnest upon his ill-luck in not pleasing the cook; and in the depth of his meditation, he suddenly heard bow bells strike out for a peal. this changed his attention; for, as he listened, on a sudden, he fancied they called him back again to his master. the more he hearkened, the more he became confirmed in this notion of his recall, conceiting the bells expressed the following distich:-- "return again, whittington, thrice lord mayor of london." this proved a happy thought for him; and it made so great an impression on his fancy, that, finding it early, and thinking he might yet get back before the family were stirring, he instantly turned upon his heel, and reaching home in less time than he went out, he got in unperceived to his usual daily drudgery. things were in this situation when the news arrived of the success of the voyage; and that night he was installed with the appellation of mr. by his master, who informed him, that his ship had just arrived at blackwall, being the richest vessel of her burden that had ever floated into an english port. his master concluded his discourse with a pious admonition to all his servants, after which they all joined in a thanksgiving to the almighty for such a prosperous voyage. the cook was among the first to change her demeanor towards whittington, calling him sir, and inviting him to such and such relishes as the kitchen afforded. when the bill of lading was presented to the merchant, the principal part was found to belong to mr. whittington, amongst which was a cabinet of rich jewels, the last present of the dey. this was the first thing brought to mr. fitzwarren's house, it being deemed too valuable to remain on board. when the servants' goods for their ventures were all brought up to be divided, mr. whittington's was too bulky to be unpacked before them; but the pearls and jewels alone were estimated at several thousand pounds. the humility of mr. whittington's mind arising from a strong sense of his duty to society in general, prevented his temper from exhilarating into arrogance, petulance, or superciliousness: though suddenly grown rich, and become equal to the first merchants in the city, pride had no share in the change of his circumstances. on the contrary, at first, he could hardly be prevailed upon to let the scullery alone; but mr. fitzwarren took much pains with him, and introduced him to the first characters in town, not omitting the court, as well as the clergy and military, who at that time were reckoned the most agreeable connections. king edward the third being then at war with the french, and preparing for the siege of rochelle, solicited all the privileged orders in the kingdom for a subsidy to carry on his expedition. the loyalty of the city of london induced them to offer a large gift in their corporate capacity. in this scheme mr. whittington joined, and paid in £ , , an astonishing sum in those days from an individual; but the military ardour of the country has always been remarkable; hence it is not wonderful that an enterprising and fortunate young man should come forward with so large a sum, when it is considered that history has almost left us in the dark as to the remuneration expected. be this as it may, history places it in the th year of the king's reign, a. d. . what contributed much at this time in favour of whittington, was the absence of the lombard merchants, who withdrew themselves from london, on account of the oppression of the king, which became excessive towards the latter end of his reign, for continual draughts to support his ambition in france. these, and the jews abroad, conducted at that time the whole financial commerce of the city of london; but mr. whittington, upon their departure, came in for a considerable share of it. we are now regularly come to the last year of king edward's reign, the fifty-second, when the lords and commons granted the king a poll-tax, at four-pence a head, for every man and woman passing the age of fourteen years, beggars excepted. the clergy at the same time granted twelve-pence for every person beneficed; and of all other religious persons, four-pence by the poll, the four orders of friars mendicants only excepted. here it is worth observing, that the king demanding of the city of london to advance him £ , upon this poll, and the mayor, adam staple, proving backward in performing the same, he was by the king turned out of that office, and sir richard whittington put into his place, to finish the year; and this is the first mention of his being knighted, and of his great importance in the city at that time, being only about ten years after his arrival there, in circumstances so widely different. according to stow, sir richard whittington was a great dealer in wool, leather, cloth, and pearls, which were universally worn at that time by the ladies. in , the first year of king richard ii. he was called by summons to the parliament that met at london, which commenced at michaelmas, and lasted till the feast of st. andrew, when it was dissolved by the mutinous conduct of the londoners, and adjourned to northampton the following year, where was passed the noted poll-tax, the collecting of which occasioned and created the rebellion of wat tyler and jack straw. in , the eighteenth of this king's reign, edmund, duke of york, the king's uncle, held a parliament at london, the king being absent in ireland; and relating to the citizens the great streights the king was reduced to in ireland, they granted him a tenth upon their personal estates; first protesting that they were not in rigour of right obliged to it, but that they did it out of affection. the mission to this parliament, we are particularly informed by sir robert cotton, from leland's papers, was managed by the uprightness and good judgment of sir richard whittington. thus he grew in riches and fame the most considerable of the citizens, greatly beloved by all, especially the poor, several hundreds of whom he publicly or secretly assisted or supplied. about this time it was that he married his master's daughter, miss fitzwarren; and at their wedding were present, among other noble characters, the lord mayor, aldermen &c. &c. according to the pretorian banner, once existing in guildhall, but since destroyed by the fire which consumed the city archives, whittington served his first mayoralty in . he was now near forty years of age, of a goodly form, and chosen into the office by his fellow citizens, whose approbation of his conduct, after his having once before filled the office, when king edward put him in, is a sound and substantial proof that he was a good, loyal, and patriotic man. sir richard's second mayoralty occurred in , in the reign of henry iv. his third and last service of mayor happened in , in henry the fifth's time, in which situation he behaved with his usual prudence. though age had now taken off much of his activity, yet he was the most vigilant magistrate of his time. soon after henry's conquest of france, sir richard entertained him and his queen at guildhall, in such grand style, that he was pleased to say, "never prince had such a subject;" and conferred upon some of the aldermen the honour of knighthood. at this entertainment, the king particularly praised the fire, which was made of choice wood, mixed with mace, cloves, and all other spices; on which sir richard said, he would endeavour to make one still more agreeable to his majesty, and immediately tore, and threw into the fire, the king's bond for , marks, due to the company of mercers; , to the chamber of london; , to the mercers, staplers, goldsmiths, haberdashers, vintners, brewers, and bakers; , marks each. "all these, (said sir richard,) with divers others sent for the payment of your soldiers in france, i have taken in and discharged, to the amount of £ , sterling. can your majesty desire to see such another sight?" the king and nobles were struck dumb with surprise at his wealth and liberality. sir richard spent the remainder of his days in honourable retirement at home, in his house in grub-street, beloved by the rich and the poor. by his wife he left two sons, some of whose posterity are still worthy citizens. he built many charitable houses, founded a church in vintry ward, and dedicated it to st. michael. here he built a handsome vault, for the sepulchre of his father and mother-in-law, and the remainder of the fitzwarren family, and where himself and wife lay afterwards. this richard whittington was (in this church) three times buried; first by his executors, under a fair monument; then in the reign of edward vi. the parson of that church, thinking some great riches (as he said) to be buried with him, caused his monument to be broken, his body to be spoiled of his leaden sheet, and again the second time to be buried; and in the reign of queen mary, the parishioners were forced to take him up to wrap him in lead, as afore, to bury him a third time, and to place his monument, or the like, over him again; which remained, and so he rested, till the great fire of london violated his resting-place again. this church of st. michael pater-noster in the vintry, the capital house, and site thereof, called whittington college, alias whittington, and one garden belonging to the same, of the yearly value of four pounds, six shillings, and eight-pence, was sold to armagill waad, clerk of the council, in the second of edward vi. for ninety-two pounds two shillings. in , he founded an alms-house and college in the vintry, which was afterwards suppressed by order of council in king edward the sixth's time: but his alms-houses on college-hill remain; these are under the direction of the mercer's company, who allow each pensioner s. d. per week. sir richard built the gate and prison of newgate as it formerly stood; gave large sums to bartholomew's hospital; founded a library in grey friars; endowed christ's hospital with a considerable sum; built guildhall chapel, and the east end of the hall. dame alice, his wife, died in the d year of her age; after which he never re-married, though he outlived her near twenty years. at last he died like the patriarch, full of age and honour, leaving a good name to posterity; and the following epitaph was cut on the upper stone of his vault, and continued perfect till destroyed by the fire of london:-- m. s. beneath this stone lies whittington, sir richard rightly nam'd; who three times lord mayor serv'd in london, in which he ne'er was blam'd. he rose from indigence to wealth, by industry and that, for lo! he scorn'd to gain by stealth, what he got by a cat. let none who reads this verse despair of providence's ways: who trust in him, he'll make his care, and prosper all their days. then sing a requiem to departed merit, and rest in peace till death demands his spirit. the travelling faquirs. the following curious circumstance in natural history is related by a gentleman of veracity, learning, and abilities, who filled a considerable post in the company's service in india.-- the travelling faquirs in this country are a kind of superstitious devotees, who pretend to great zeal in religion, but are, in fact, the most vicious and profligate wretches in the world. they wander about the country here, as the gipsies do with you; and having some little smattering of physic, music, or other arts, they introduce themselves by these means wherever they go. one of them called a few days ago at my house, who had a beautiful large snake in a basket, which he made rise up and dance about to the tune of a pipe on which he played. it happened that my out-house and farm-yard had for some time been infested with snakes, which had killed me several turkeys, geese, ducks, fowls, and even a cow and a bullock. my servants asked this man whether he could pipe these snakes out of their holes, and catch them? he answered them in the affirmative, and they carried him instantly to the place where one of the snakes had been seen. he began piping, and in a short time the snake came dancing to him: the fellow caught him by the nape of the neck, and brought him to me. as i was incredulous, i did not go to see this first operation; but as he took this beast so expeditiously, and i still suspected some trick, i desired him to go and catch another, and went with him myself to observe his motions. he began by abusing the snake, and ordering him to come out of his hole instantly, and not be angry, otherwise he would cut his throat and suck his blood. i cannot swear that the snake heard and understood this elegant invocation. he then began piping with all his might, lest the snake should be deaf; he had not piped above five minutes, when an amazing large cobra capella (the most venomous kind of serpent) popped his head out of a hole in the room. when the man saw his nose, he approached nearer to him, and piped more vehemently, till the snake was more than half out, and ready to make a dart at him; he then piped only with one hand, and advanced the other under the snake as it was raising itself to make the spring. when the snake darted at his body, he made a snatch at his tail, which he caught very dexterously, and held the creature very fast, without the least apprehension of being bit, until my servants dispatched it. i had often heard this story of snakes being charmed out of their holes by music; but never believed it, till i had this ocular demonstration of the fact. in the space of an hour the faquir caught five very venomous snakes close about my house.[ ] incubus, or nightmare. this strange affection or complaint, which is more generally known by the term _nightmare_, than by that of _incubus_, has obtained a considerable degree of notice in the world, from the singular manner in which it seizes its victims. the term incubus is derived from the latin _incubare_, signifying to _sit_ or _lie upon_, which very forcibly expresses the nature of the disease. hence, many have thought, and they even continue to think, that some incomprehensible creature, being, or agent, actually sits or lies upon them while sleeping, from which they suffer acute torment and oppression, bordering on suffocation. many also have even affirmed, that while they have been lying perfectly awake, they have perceived this nightly tormentor creeping slowly over their feet, and have watched its advances until it has taken its seat on the breast, and inflicted those severe sufferings which no language can fully describe. but we shall consider the nightmare rather as a disease, than the creature of imagination. this disorder seizes persons while sleeping, who imagine that they feel an extraordinary compression or weight about the breast and stomach, which they cannot by any effort shake off. in this agony they sigh, groan, and utter indistinct sounds; sometimes they cry out, but more frequently they attempt to speak, or to move in vain. these feelings give rise to various frightful suggestions of the imagination: the patient fancies himself to be struggling with strong men or devils, or to be in a house on fire, or in danger of being drowned in the sea or some river; and in attempting to run away from danger, or climb up a hill, he fancies he falls back as much after every step as he had advanced before. at length the sensations of oppression become intolerable, and the patient awakes; but the terror excited by the frightful ideas attending the nightmare, leaves often a palpitation of the heart, with great anxiety and languor, and sometimes a tingling of the ears, and a tremor over the whole body. it is altogether unnecessary to attempt an enumeration of the numerous hypothetical explanations which have been attempted to be given of the phenomenon of incubus, and which have been detailed by awen, bond, and other writers. the disorder has commonly been supposed to proceed from a stagnation of the blood in the sinuses of the brain, or in the vessels of the lungs, or from too great a quantity of blood being sent to the head. the horizontal posture, in time of sleep, and the pressure of the stomach upon the aorta, in a supine situation, have been thought sufficient to occasion a more than usual distention of the sinuses and other vessels of the brain; and the weight of the heart, pressing on the left auricle and large trunks of the pulmonary veins, may, it is supposed, prevent the easy return of the blood from the lungs, and thus produce an oppression and sense of weight and suffocation in the breast. but without entering into a particular examination of these opinions, which are far from being satisfactory, we may observe, with dr. whytt, that, if they were true, some degree of the nightmare ought to happen to every body that lies upon his back, especially after eating a full meal. further, if a horizontal situation could overcharge the brain with blood, so as to occasion the incubus, how comes it that people, who remain for some time in an inverted posture, do not feel this disease beginning to attack them? and why does a slighter degree of the nightmare sometimes seize people who sleep in an erect situation in a chair? a circumstance which sometimes occurs, not only after eating, but when the stomach is out of order, and troubled with wind. as the weight of the stomach, even when filled with food, can have scarcely any effect upon the motion of the blood in the aorta, so the pressure of the heart is by much too small to be able sensibly to retard the motion of that fluid in the pulmonary veins; otherwise, people exhausted by tedious diseases, who generally lie on their back, would be constantly affected with the incubus. we know that certain medicines or poisons, worms, and even corrupted bile, or other humours, by disagreeably affecting the nerves of the stomach, produce an oppression about the breast, wild imaginations, frightful dreams, raving, and insensibility; and there is no doubt that low spirits, melancholy, and disturbed sleep, often proceed from a disordered state of the stomach. it seems, therefore, more probable that the seat of nightmare is principally in that organ. it is well ascertained, that some forms of epilepsy, and of hysterical fits, originate from disorder in that viscus; and galen considered the incubus as a nocturnal or slighter epilepsy. people troubled with nervous and hypochondriac affections, and who have delicate or flatulent stomachs, are more peculiarly subject to this disorder; and it is observed, that a heavy or flatulent supper greatly aggravates the nightmare, in those who are predisposed to it. the sympathy of the stomach with the head, heart, lungs, and diaphragm, is so remarkable, that there can be no difficulty in referring the several symptoms of the incubus to a disagreeable irritation of the nerves of the stomach. the incubus is most apt to seize persons when lying on their back, because, in this position, on account of the stomach and other abdominal viscera pressing more upon the diaphragm, we cannot inspire with the same ease as when we sit up or lie on one side. further, in that situation of the body the food seems to lie heavier on the stomach, and wind in it does not separate so readily by the æsophagus and pylorus, as in an erect posture, when these orifices are higher than the other parts of the stomach. the nightmare only occurs in the time of sleep, because the strange ideas excited in the mind, in consequence of the disordered feelings of the stomach, are not then corrected by the external senses, as they are when we are awake; nor do we, by an increased respiration or other motions of the body, endeavour to shake off any beginning uneasy sensation about the stomach or breast. the incubus generally occurs in the first sleep, and seldom towards morning, because at the earlier period the stomach is more loaded with food, and that in a more crude and indigested state than in the morning. a lesser degree, amounting only to frightful dreams, is almost a constant concomitant of overloaded stomach in some habits. in fact, if the nightmare were owing to a stagnation of the blood in the lungs from the weight of the heart, or in the sinuses and other vessels of the brain, from the horizontal posture of the body, it would become greater the longer it continued, and would scarcely ever go off spontaneously. but we know that this disease, after affecting people for some time, often gradually ceases, and is succeeded by refreshing sleep: for as soon as the load of meat, or wind, or other cause disagreeably affecting the nerves of the stomach, is removed, the oppression and weight on the breast, wild imaginations, frightful dreams, &c. vanish; as all these proceed originally from the disorder of the stomach. it may be remarked, however, that, as neither flatulency, phlegm, nor crudities in the stomach, ever produce the symptoms of hypochondriasis, unless the nerves of that organ be indisposed; so neither a horizontal posture, sleep, nor heavy suppers, ever produce the nightmare, at least in any considerable degree, unless the person be already predisposed to the complaint, from the particular condition of the nerves of the stomach. but although the stomach is the part commonly affected primarily in the case of incubus; yet symptoms like those of the nightmare may sometimes arise without any fault of the stomach, when the lungs, or even the brain, are affected. thus dr. whytt observes, that asthmatic patients, whose lungs are much obstructed, are sometimes disturbed, in time of sleep, with distressing dreams, and oppressed with a sense of suffocation. startings and oppressions about the præcordia, with painful dreams, are indeed common occurrences from hydrothorax, chronic coughs, and other pulmonary obstructions; but they are not strictly analogous to the common nightmare. dr. lower mentions a patient, who, though he could sleep pretty easily with his head inclined forward; yet, in the opposite situation, he was always soon awaked with horrid dreams and tremors; the cause of which appeared, after his death, to have been a great quantity of water in the ventricles of the brain. at all events, a plethoric state of habit, by rendering the circulation through the lungs less free, may help to produce, or at least increase, the oppression of the breast in the nightmare. the cure.--as incubus, then, is only a symptom of disordered or loaded stomach, and arises out of the irritation and morbid feelings which are thus produced during sleep, the relief of the disease, generally speaking, lies within a narrow compass. temperance in eating and drinking, especially at late hours; taking, in fact, either extremely light suppers or none at all; and when the dinner is so late as to be only a supper with another name, being cautious that that also should be moderate in quantity, and easily digestible and unstimulating in its nature; drinking thin, sub-acid liquors, where these are agreeable to the constitution,--these are the principal remedies required. brisk active exercise, by which the digestive powers may be aided and the stomach strengthened, is also advisable. it were useful, too, to sleep with high pillows, and to lie on the side as much as possible, in preference to the back. if the functions of the stomach are much disordered with flatulency, heartburn, acidity, or oppression, with pain, or nausea, after taking food, the usual remedies recommended for indigestion must be resorted to. the bowels should be kept open. see whytt on nervous disorders, chap. vi. § . celebrated speech on religion. the editor of this work well recollects, many years ago, reading in a newspaper a most interesting speech on religion, delivered by a french priest; it made a great impression on his mind at the time, and he frequently regretted he had not transcribed it. he made all inquiry possible, but could not meet with the interesting article till seventeen years had elapsed, when it was published by a person who had preserved the paper in question. it is now presented to the reader as a curiosity worthy of his notice.--this speech was delivered at the bar of the french convention, and is copied from the cambridge intelligencer of march th, . a few days after the archbishop of paris and his vicars had set the example of renouncing their clerical character, a rector from a village on the banks of the rhone, followed by some of his parishioners, with an offering of gold and silver saints and chalices, rich vestments, &c. presented himself at the bar of the convention. the rector, a thin venerable-looking man, with gray hairs, was ordered to speak. "i come (said he) from the village of ----, where the only good building standing is a very fine church: my parishioners beg you will take it, to make an hospital for the sick and wounded of both parties, they being both equally our countrymen. the gold and silver, part of which we have brought to you, they entreat you will devote to the service of the state, and that you will cast the bells into cannon, to drive away its foreign invaders. for myself, i came with great pleasure to resign my letters of ordination, of induction, and every deed and title by which i have been constituted a member of your ecclesiastical polity. here are the papers; you may burn them, if you please, in the same fire with genealogical trees and patents of nobility. i desire, likewise, that you will discontinue my salary; i am still able to support myself by the labour of my hands, and i beg you to believe, that i never felt sincerer joy than i now do in making this renunciation. i have longed to see this day! i see it, and am glad." when the old man had thus far spoken, the applauses were immoderate. the rector did not seem greatly elated with these tokens of approbation: he retired back a few steps, and thus resumed his discourse:-- "before you applaud my sentiments, it is fit you should understand them; perhaps they may not entirely coincide with your own. i rejoice in this day, not because i wish to see religion degraded, but because i wish to see it exalted and purified. by dissolving its alliance with the state, you have given it dignity and independence. you have done it a piece of service; a service which its well-wishers would perhaps never have had courage to render it, but which is the only thing wanted to make it appear in its genuine beauty and lustre. nobody will now say of me, when i am performing the offices of religion, 'it is a trade; he is paid for telling the people such and such things; he is hired to keep up a useless piece of mummery.' they cannot say this, and therefore i feel myself raised in my own esteem, and shall speak to them with a confidence and a frankness, which before this i never durst venture to assume. we resign without reluctance our gold and silver images, and embroidered vestments, because we never have found that looking upon gold and silver made the heart more pure, or the affections more heavenly; we can also spare our churches, for the heart that wishes to lift itself up to god, will never be at a loss for a place to do it in: but we cannot spare religion, because, to tell you the truth, we never had so much occasion for it. i understand that you accuse us priests of having told the people a great many falsehoods. i suspect this may have been the case, but till this day we have never been allowed to inquire whether the things which we taught them were true or not. i cannot but hope, however, that the errors we have fallen into have not been very material, since the village has in general been sober and good; the peasants honest, docile, and laborious; the husbands love their wives, and the wives their husbands; they are fortunately not too rich to be compassionate, and they have constantly relieved the sick and fugitives of all parties, whenever it has lain in their way. i think, therefore, what i have taught them cannot be so much amiss. "you want to extirpate priests: but will you hinder the ignorant from applying for instruction, the unhappy for comfort and hope, the unlearned from looking up to the learned? if you do not, you will have priests, by whatever name you may order them to be called; but it is certainly not necessary they should wear a particular dress, or be appointed by state letters of ordination. my letters of ordination are my zeal, charity, and my ardent love for the children of the village: if i were more learned, i would add knowledge; but, alas! we all know very little: to a man every error is pardonable, but want of humanity. we have a public walk, with a spreading elm-tree at one end of it, and a circle of green around it, with a convenient bench. here i shall draw together the children that are playing round me: i shall point to the vines laden with fruit, to the orchard, to the herds of cattle lowing round us, to the distant hills stretching one behind another; and they will ask me, how came all these things? i shall tell them all i know; what i have heard from the wise men who have lived before me; they will be penetrated with love and adoration! they will kneel; i shall kneel with them; they will not be at my feet, but all of us at the feet of that good being, whom we shall worship together, and thus they will receive within their tender minds a religion. "the old men will come sometimes, from having deposited under the green sod one of their companions, and place themselves by my side: they will look wistfully at the turf, and anxiously inquire,--is he gone for ever? shall we soon be like him? will no morning break over the tomb? when the wicked cease from troubling, will the good cease from doing good? we will talk of these things: i will comfort them; i will tell them of the goodness of god; i will speak to them of a life to come; i will bid them hope for a state of retribution. "you have changed our holidays; you have an undoubted right, as our civil governors, so to do: it is very immaterial whether they are kept once in seven days, or once in ten; some, however, you will leave us, and when they occur, i shall tell those who choose to hear me, of the beauty and utility of virtue, and of the dignity of right conduct. there is a book out of which i have sometimes taught my people; it says we are to love those who do us hurt, and to pour oil and wine into the wounds of the stranger. in this book we read of christ jesus: some worship him as a god; others, as i am told, say it is wrong to do so; some teach that he existed before the beginning of ages; others, that he was born of joseph and mary. i cannot tell whether these controversies will ever be decided: but, in the mean time, i think we cannot do otherwise than well in imitating him--for i learn that he loved the poor, and went about doing good." addenda to vesuvius.--see page . a grand eruption of vesuvius took place on sunday night, feb. , . it continued for several days. the following is an extract from a private letter, dated naples, march , .-- "towards the evening of tuesday, february the th, as appearances promised a good night's work, we set off from naples to view the operations nearer; the road to resina was covered with people going and returning, as if a fair had been in the vicinity. when we reached the spot where strangers are on common occasions surrounded by guides, and asses, and mules, to conduct them up to the mountain, we found that no animals were to be procured, and it was with difficulty we could get a stupid old man for a _cicerone_, who rendered us no other service than carrying a torch. the ascent was thronged with people, some pushing on eagerly to the object of their curiosities, and others returning, and discussing what they had seen. far below san salvator we saw the stream of fire rolling along a wide hollow, and approaching the path by which we were going up: it was then, however, at a considerable distance, and its course was very slow. on reaching the hermitage, we refreshed ourselves as well as the crowd there assembled would permit; we then continued our journey, and approached the lava, which was chiefly formed by the eruption of january, . we found it about thirty feet wide; it was not liquid lava, but consisted of ashes, ignited stones, and old masses of volcanic ejections, swept away by the present eruption, and heated again. these lumps, rolling over each other, produced a strange clinking noise. some of them were of a very great size; and the whole stream, though descending a steep cone, moved but slowly. "beyond this principal stream, midway up the cone, was an opening, whence very large stones and other burning matters were continually thrust out. this mouth fed a scattered stream, beyond which was another narrow stream, proceeding like the principal one from the crater. they both united with the main body in the deep hollow below, and rolled on towards the road which leads from resina up to the hermitage. the multitude of the spectators standing by the sides of the burning river being seized with astonishment, we, with a great many of the more adventurous, determined to ascend the cone; we therefore passed a little to the left of the great stream, and began to scramble to the deep loose cinders and ashes which cover this part of the mountain, and render it at all times a most fatiguing climb. a little path or track formerly existed, in which the guides laid masses of lava to facilitate the mounting, but it was just in that line that the present eruption descended, and we were in consequence obliged to go up over the sand and cinders, in which we frequently stuck up to our knees, and, at every three steps, lost one on an average. after a most fatiguing toil of an hour and a half, we found ourselves, with a few others, on the edge of the grand crater: hence the _coup d'oeil_ was terrifically sublime; the flames rushed out of the mouth, and threw themselves in the air in a broad body to the elevation of at least a hundred feet, whilst many of the fiery stones flew up twice that height. sometimes the flames fell back into the mouth of the crater, and then burst out again, as though impelled by a fresh impulse, like the blast of a bellows. in their descent, some of the stones and lumps of cinder returned into the mouth, but the greater part fell outside of the flames, like the jets of a fountain. "while we were standing on the exposed side of the crater, very intent in observation, all of a sudden the volcano gave a tremendous roar. it was like the crash of a long line of artillery, and was instantly succeeded by such a discharge of stones as we had never before seen. at the same moment, the wind, which was very high, gave an irregular gust, which directed a great part of the stones towards the place where we were posted. hence our situation was for a minute or two very perilous; but there was no shelter near, and we stood still, looking at the descending shower which fell around us. we, however, happily sustained no other injury than a short alarm, and having some ashes dashed in our faces by stones which fell near us. two or three gentlemen who were ascending the cone after us, were not quite so fortunate, for many of the stones falling outside of the ridge, rolled down the side with great velocity, loosening and carrying with them lumps of cold lava, &c. some of which struck those persons on the legs with great violence, and nearly precipitated one of them headlong to the foot of the cone. "after this, we thought we had seen enough, and turned to go down. the descent is as easy as the ascent is difficult; the cinders and ashes sliding away beneath the feet, nothing further is necessary than to step out, the quicker the better, to keep one's equilibrium, and to avoid the fixed or large stones and pieces of lava. we were not more than ten minutes in reaching the point whence it had taken us an hour and a half to mount. in coming down, we were struck with the strange appearance of the torches of companies ascending and descending; they formed a pale wavering line from resina to the hermitage; and thence to the cone, they were scattered about in thick and fantastic groups. on reaching the hermitage, we found it so crowded, that we could not enter. the large flat around was covered like a crowded fair, by people of all nations, and of all ranks, from the beautiful and accomplished countess of fiquelmont, wife of the austrian ambassador, to the austrian sergeant and his wife, who had come to see the blazing mountain. numbers of people had come from towns and villages below, with bread and wine, and fruit and aqua-vitae, all of which articles seemed in very great demand. the motley scene was illuminated by the bright silvery moon, and the red towering flames at the summit of the volcano. we took some slight refreshments, and repaired homewards in the midst of as merry groups as ever returned from scenes of festivity and joy. "when we got lower down, we found that the lava had approached very near to the road, and had already seized upon a fine vineyard, which was blazing very brilliantly. after our retreat, we learned that the lava traversed the road. on wednesday, the th, the eruption was in a great measure tranquillized; still, however, crowds of people continued going up the mountain; and an austrian officer, who had come from caspua to see it, was unfortunately killed on the ridge of the cone, by a large stone striking him on the head. on thursday scarcely any thing but smoke issued from the crater, and it has continued from that time in the same peaceful state." anagrams. in "the book of curiosities," even that mechanical, yet curiously fortuitous species of wit, called the _anagram_, must not escape notice. it can scarcely be necessary to premise, that anagram, or metagram, is the dissolution of a word into its letters, as its elements; and then, by a new connection of them, making some perfect sense, applicable to the person or thing named. as there are some modern ones of this sort, exhibiting astonishing coincidences, we shall here subjoin a selection of the best:-- lo i dress, _soldiers_.--'tis ye govern, _sovereignty_.--spare him not, _misanthrope_.--great helps, _telegraphs_.--no more stars, _astronomers_.--no charm, _monarch_.--march on, _monarch_.--comical trade, _democratical_.--best in prayer, _presbyterian_.--a just master, _james stuart_.--to love ruin, _revolution_.--oh poison pitt, _th' opposition_.--honor est a nilo, _horatio nelson_.--a bear upon 't, _buonaparte_. the unhappy sir edmundburie godfry, having dared, as a magistrate, to take some legal depositions against the papists, was, by three of those fellow-subjects, green, berry, and hill, waylaid, and shockingly murdered, in , upon which was then written, i find murder'd by rogues _sir edmundburie godfry_. modern dictionary. to illustrate life at the present day, we insert the following whimsical encyclopædia of manners at the commencement of the nineteenth century! _age_ ... an infirmity nobody owns. _at home_ ... the domestic amusement of three hundred visitors in a small room, to yawn at each other. _bore_ ... every thing one dislikes; it also means any person who talks of religion. _buying_ ... ordering goods without purpose of paying. _chariot_ ... a vehicle for one's servants, the dickey being the seat for the ladies, and the coach-box for the gentleman. _charity_ ... a golden ticket to catalani, or any other favourite performer. _coachman_ ... a gentleman or accomplished nobleman. _common sense_ ... a vulgar quality. _conscience_ ... something to swear by. _day_ ... night; or, strictly speaking, from ten in the evening to six in the morning. _debt_ ... a necessary evil. _decency_ ... keeping up an appearance. _dress_ ... half naked. _duty_ ... doing as other people do. _economy_ ... obsolete. _fashion_ ... the _je ne scai quoi_ of excellence. _fortune_ ... the _summum bonum_. _friend_ ... meaning not known. _highly-accomplished_ ... reading music at sight, painting flowers for the borders of a screen, and a talent for guessing charades. _home_ ... every one's house but your own. _honour_ ... standing fire well. _hospitality_ ... obsolete. _husband_ ... a person to pay your debts. _love_ ... the meaning not known, now that the ossification of the heart has become a fashionable disease; but the word is still to be found in novels and romances. _matrimony_ ... a bargain. _modest_ ... sheepish. _morning_ ... from noon to sunset. _music_ ... execution. _new_ ... delightful. _nonsense_ ... polite conversation. _not at home_ ... sitting in your own drawing-room. _pay_ ... only applied to visits. _piety_ ... hypocrisy. _prodigality_ ... generosity. _prudence_ ... parsimony. _quiz_ ... any inoffensive person, out of your own circle. _religion_ ... occupying a seat in some genteel chapel. _spirit_ ... contempt of decorum and morality. _style_ ... splendid extravagance. _time_ ... only regarded in music. _truth_ ... meaning uncertain. _vice_ ... any fault in horses, dogs, and servants. _wicked_ ... irresistibly agreeable. _world_ ... the circle of fashionable people when in town. recipe for establishing true friendship. in pliny's natural history, we find a curious recipe for making the roman friendship, a cordial that was universally esteemed in those days, and very few families of any credit were without it. in the same place (he says) they were indebted to the greeks for this recipe, who had it in the greatest perfection. the old roman friendship was a composition of several ingredients, of which the principal were: union of hearts, (a fine flower, that grew in several parts of the empire,) sincerity, frankness, disinterestedness, pity, and tenderness, (of each an equal quantity.) these were all mixed with two rich oils, which they called perpetual kind wishes, and serenity of temper; and the whole was strongly perfumed with the desire of pleasing, which gave it a most grateful smell, and was a sure restorative in all sorts of vapours. this cordial was of so durable a nature, that no length of time could waste it: and what is very remarkable, (says our author,) it increased in weight and value the longer you kept it.--the moderns have most grossly adulterated this fine cordial; some of the ingredients indeed are not to be found, but what they impose upon you as friendship, is as follows: outward professions, (a common weed that grows every where,) instead of the flower of union; the desire of being pleased; a large quantity of self-interest, conveniency, and reservedness (many handfuls;) a little pity and tenderness. but some pretend to make it up with these two last, and the common oil of inconstancy (which, like our linseed oil, is cold-drawn every hour) serves to mix them together. most of these ingredients being of a perishable nature, it will not keep, and it shews itself to be counterfeit, by lessening continually in weight and value. footnotes: [ ] this subject will be more fully explained hereafter. [ ] besides these, amongst the internal parts are enumerated,--the lachrymal gland, which secretes the tears; the lachrymal caruncle, a small fleshy substance at the inner angle of the eye; the puncta lachrymalia, two small openings on the nasal extremity of each eye-lash; the lachrymal duct, formed by the union of the ducts leading from the puncta lachrymalia, and conveying the tears into the nose; the lachrymal sac, a dilatation of the lachrymal canal. [ ] an instrument, called the pulmometer, has been invented, which enables us to measure the capacity of the lungs, and which may communicate information to the physician, of some importance, in diseases of this organ. [ ] klopstock's death in "l'allemagne;" vol. i. p. . [ ] the places of the insertion of the muscles of the proboscis are visible on the skull; it was probably devoured, as well as the end of the tail. [ ] ft. in. measuring along the curve. the distance from the base of the root of the tusk to the point, is ft. in. [ ] on the arrival of the skin at petersburg, it was totally devoid of hair. [ ] in speaking of the wild beasts of india, pliny says, with regard to the animal in question,-- "asperrimam autem feram monocerotem, reliquo corpore equo similem, capite cervo, pedibus eliphante, cauda apro, mugitu gravi, uno cornu nigro media fronte, cubitorum duum eminente. hanc feram vivam negant capi." plin. hist. mund. lib. , cap. . the resemblance is certainly very striking. [ ] it was a female sheep, but by the sailors was constantly called jack. [ ] reaumur plausibly supposes, that it has been from observing this bee thus loaded, that the tale mentioned by aristotle and pliny, of the hive-bee's ballasting itself with a bit of stone, previous to flying home in a high wind, has arisen. [ ] m. huber observes, that fecundated females, after they have lost their wings, make themselves a subterranean cell, some singly, others in common. from which it appears that some colonies have more than one female from their first establishment. [ ] see fourcroy, _annales du muséum_, no. , p. , . some, however, still regard it as a distinct acid. [ ] see fourcroy, _annales du muséum_, no. . p. . [ ] one would think the writer of the account of ants, in mouffet, had been witness to something similar. "if they see any one idle," (says he,) "they not only drive him as spurious, without food, from the nest; but likewise, a circle of all ranks being assembled, cut off his head before the gates, that he may be a warning to their children, not to give themselves up for the future to idleness and effeminacy."--_theatr. ins._ p. . [ ] _annal. di chimica_, xiii. , mag. ii. . [ ] "and for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs, and light them at the fiery glowworm's eyes." [ ] _hist. nat._ l. xi. c. . a similar law was enacted in lemnos, by which every one was compelled to bring a certain measure of locusts annually to the magistrates. _plin._ [ ] of the symbolical locusts in the apocalypse it is said, "and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle."--_rev._ ix. . [ ] shaw says, that the _gryllus cristatus_, which is five or six times the size of the common locust, or _gryllus migratorius_, is publicly sold, both in a fresh and salted state, in the markets of some parts of the levant. _gen. zoology_, vol. vi. part. ii. p. . [ ] see dr. plot's hist. of oxf. ch. vi. sect. . [ ] the moving columns of sand. [ ] palmistry is the pretended art of telling the future events of men's lives by the lines in their hands. [ ] and yet i have seen him, after his return, addressing his wife in the language of a young bridegroom. and i have been assured, by some of his most intimate friends, that he treated her, during the rest of their lives, with the greatest kindness and affection. [ ] a specimen of the papyrus is to be seen at the british museum; it is the first known in england. it was brought by mr. bruce, and given to sir joseph banks, who presented it to the british museum. [ ] the white pebbles found on the banks of the mersey, although not a pure quartz, answer the purpose perfectly well. it is singular, that the friction is invariably accompanied by a strong sulphureous smell. [ ] that this method of charming the serpentine race was practised at a very early period of antiquity, appears from the allusion of the holy psalmist, in the th and th verses of the th psalm. transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}. the original text includes greek characters that have been replaced with transliterations in this text version. generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * vol. v.--no. .] saturday, may . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page journal of the expenses of john, king of france, in england, - way of indicating time in music minor notes:--a smart saying of baxter--latin hexameters on the bible--ancient connexion of cornwall and phoenicia--portrait of john rogers, the proto-martyr-- "brallaghan, or the deipnosophists"--stilts used by the irish queries:-- etymology of the word "devil," by richard f. littledale forged papal seal a passage in "all's well that ends well," by j. payne collier surnames, by mark antony lower minor queries:--owen, bishop of st. asaph--st. wilfrid's needle in yorkshire--governor of st. christopher in --the amber witch--coffins for general use--the surname bywater--robert forbes--gold chair found in jersey--alternation in oxford edition of the bible-- when did sir gilbert gerrard die?--market crosses-- spy wednesday--passemer's "antiquities of devonshire"-- will o' wisp--mother of richard fitzjohn--quotations wanted--sons of the conqueror: william rufus and walter tyrell--brass of lady gore minor queries answered:--smyth's mss. relating to gloucestershire--origin of terms in change-ringing-- keseph's bible--proclamations to prohibit the use of coal, as fuel, in london replies:-- addison and his hymns, by j. h. markland witchcraft: mrs. hickes and her daughter, by james crossley dodo queries, by j. m. van maanen the heavy shove ground ice, by william bates character of algernon sydney, by s. walton monument to the memory of mary queen of scots at antwerp lord king; the sclaters; dr. kellet, &c. birthplace of st. patrick replies to minor queries:--cabal--portrait of charles mordaunt, earl of peterborough--the word "oasis"-- frightened out of his seven senses--eagles' feathers-- arms of thompson--spick and span-new--junius rumours-- cuddy, the ass--the authorship of the epigram upon the letter "h"--john rogers, protomartyr, &c.--"gee-ho"-- twises--ancient timber town-halls--johnny crapaud--juba issham--optical phenomenon--bishop of london's house-- "inveni portum"--"cane decane"--fides carbonarii--the book of jasher--sites of buildings mysteriously changed--wyned--sweet willy o miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. journal of the expenses of john, king of france, in england, - . possibly some of the readers of "n. & q." may remember that king john ii. of france was taken prisoner by edward the black prince at the battle of poitiers, fought september , . if not, i would refer them to the delightful pages of old froissart, where, in the version of lord berners, they will see chronicled at length,-- "how kyng john of fraunce was taken prisoner at the batayle of poyeters; how the englyshmen wan greatly thereat, and how the prince conveyed the frenche kyng fro burdeaux into englande." i am induced to bring under the notice of your readers a curious roll, containing one year's expenditure (july , , to july , ) incurred by the french king during his captivity in england. this important document has been very recently printed in the _comptes de l'argenterie_, and edited from a ms. in the bibliothèque nationale by m. douët d'arcq for the _société de l'histoire de france_. it may perhaps be well to state, that after the battle of poitiers the heroic prince edward conducted his royal prisoner to bordeaux, where he remained till the end of april, . on the th of may following they both made their entry into london, "the frenche kynge mounted on a large whyte courser well aparelled, and the prince on a lytell blacke hobbey (_haquenée_) by hym." john was lodged at first at the savoy palace, but was removed shortly afterwards to windsor castle, at which place he was allowed to "go a huntynge and a haukynge at hys pleasure, and the lorde phylyp his son with him." the document in question refers to the years and , when the king was confined at hertford castle, at somerton castle in lincolnshire, and lastly in the tower of london. as this document, which is so intimately connected with a favourite portion of our history, has, i believe, received no notice from any english journal, and as it moreover affords many valuable illustrations of domestic manners, and of the personal character of the royal captive, i have made a few extracts from it for insertion in "n. & q.," in the { } hope that they may prove interesting to the numerous readers of that useful and entertaining work. "_pigeons._--a 'varlet anglois' presents the king with ' paire de pijons blans,' and receives in reward noble, value s. d. _a dainty dish of venison and whale._--pour le marinier qui admena par mer, à londres, venoisons et balainne pour le roy, escuz. _a present of venison from queen philippa._--un varlet de la royne d'angleterre qui asporta au roy venoison que elle li envoioit, pour don, s. d. _the baker's bill._--jehan le boulenger, qui servi de pain à londres le roy, par mois ou environ, s. d. _sugar._-- livres de sucre, à d. ob. livre= s. d. _n. b._ the grocer's bills for spiceries 'confitures et sucreries' are very numerous. _honey._--miel, galons et demi, d. le galon= s. d. _the king's breviary._--climent, clerk of the chapel, is paid d. for a 'chemise au bréviaire du roy.' _do. missal._--jassin, pour cendal à doubler la couverture du messal du roy, et pour doubler et broder ycelle avecques la soie qui y convenoit, s. d.=li, pour clos d'argent à mettre audit livre, d. _do. psalter._--jehan, le libraire de lincole [lincoln], pour petit sautier acheté pour le roy, s. d. _romances._--tassin, pour _romans de renart_ [a burlesque poem, by perrot de saint cloot or saint-cloud?] acheté par li, à lincole, pour le roy, s. d.--maistre guillaume racine, pour un _romans de loherenc garin_ [a metrical romance, by jehan de flagy] acheté par li pour le roy, et de son comandement, s. d.--li, pour autre romans du _tournoiement d'antecrist_ [a poem, by huon de méry], s.[ ] _parchment._--wile, le parcheminier de lincoln, pour une douzainne de parchemin, s. _paper and ink._-- quaiers de papier, s. d. pour encre, d. _sealing wax._--une livre de cire vermeille, d. _chess-board._--jehan perrot, qui apporta au roy, instrument appellé l'eschequier, qu'il avoit fait, le roy d'angleterre avoit donné au roy, et li envoioit par ledit jean, pour don à li fait, nobles= l. s. d. _organs._--maistre jehan, l'organier, pour appareiller les orgues du roy:--pour homme qui souffla par jours, d., &c. pour tout, s. _harp._--le roy des menestereulx, pour une harpe achetée du commandement du roy, s. d. _clock._--le roy des menestereulx, sur la façon de l'auloge (horloge) qu'il fait pour le roy, nobles, valent s. d. _leather bottles._--pour boteilles de cuir achetées à londres pour monseigneur philippe, s. d. _knives._--pour paire de coustiaux pour le roy, s. _gloves._--pour fourrer paires de gans, d. _shoes._--pour paires de solers (souliers) pour le roy, s. _carpenter's bill for windows of king's prison in the tower._--denys le lombart, de londres, charpentier, pour la façon de fenestres pour la chambre du roy en la tour de londres. c'est assavoir: pour le bois des châssis, s. d. item, pour cloux, s. d. item, pour une peau de cuir, d. item, pour livres et demie de terbentine, s. d. item, pour oile, d. item, pour aunes et demie de toile, s. d. item, pour toute la façon de dictes fenestres, s. pour tout, s. d. _saddle._--godefroy le sellier, pour une selle dorée pour le roy, estoffé de sengles et de tout le hernois, l. _minstrels._--le roy des menestreulx pour don fait à li par le roy pour quérir ses necessitez, escuz= s. d. les menestereulx du roy d'angleterre, du prince de gales et du duc de lencastre, qui firent mestier devant le roy, nobles, valent l. s. d. un menestrel qui joua d'un chien et d'un singe devant le roy qui aloit aus champs ce jour, s. d. _lions in the tower._--le garde des lions du roy d'angleterre, pour don à li fait par le roy qui ala veoir lesdiz lions, nobles= s. _visit to queen philippa._--un batelier de londres qui mena le roy et aucun de ses genz d'emprès le pont de londres jusques à westmontier, devers la royne d'angleterre, que le roy ala veoir, et y souppa; et le ramena ledit batelier. pour ce, nobles= s. _dinner with edward iii._--les bateliers qui menèrent, en barges, le roy et ses genz à westmonster, ce jour qu'il disna avec le roy d'angleterre, s. d. _a row on the river thames._--plusieurs bateliers de londres qui menèrent le roy esbatre à _ride-ride_ [redriff _alias_ rotherhithe?] et ailleurs, par le rivière de tamise, pour don fait à eulx, nobles, valent s. d. _the king's great ship._--les ouvriers de la grant nef du roy d'angleterre, que le roy ala veoir en venant d'esbatre des champs, pour don à eulx fait, s. d. _a climbing feat on dover heights._--un homme de douvre, appelé _le rampeur_, qui rampa devent le roy contremont la roche devant l'ermitage de douvre, pour don, &c., nobles= s. d. _presents._--at dover on july th, , john dined at the castle with the black prince, when an 'esquire' of the king of england brought to the king of france 'le propre gobelet à quoy ledit roy d'angleterre buvoit, que il li envoioit en don;' and the french king sent edward as a present 'le propre henap à quoy il buvoit, qui fu monseigneur st. loys.' _n.b._ this hanap was a famous drinking cup which had belonged to st. louis. _newgate prisoners._--pour aumosne faite à eulx, s. d. _pembroke palace._--un varlet qui garde l'ostel madame de pannebroc' [marie de saint pol, countess of pembroke] à londres, où le roy fist petit disper ce jour, nobles= s. d. _horse-dealing._--lite wace, marchant de chevaur, pour corsier acheté de li pour le roy, nobles= l. _cock-fighting._--jacques de la sausserie, pour coc acheté du commandement mons. philippe à faire jouster, s. d." w. m. r. e. [footnote : among the royal mss. in the british museum is guiart des moulin's translation of pet. comestor's _historia scholastica_, which was found in the tent of john at the battle of poitiers. (vide warton's _eng. poetry_, vol. i. p. .)] { } * * * * * way of indicating time in music. the following rough mixture of notes and queries may serve to excite attention to the subject. the merest beginner is aware that the letter c, with a vertical line drawn through it, denotes _common time_; in which he will take the c for the first letter of _common_. the symbols of old music are four: the circle, the semicircle, and the two with vertical lines drawn through them. after these were written or , according as the time was double or triple. and instead of a bar drawn through the circle or semicircle, a central point was sometimes inserted. all these are true facts, whether connected or unconnected, and whether any implication conveyed in any way of stating them be true or false. the c, with a line through it, certainly did not distinguish common time from triple. alsted, in his _encyclopædia_ ( ), says that it means the _beginning of the music_; without any reference to time. solomon de caus, known as having had the steam-engine claimed for him, but who certainly wrote on music in , found the circles, &c. so variously used by different writers, that he abandons all attempt at description or reconciliation. may i suggest an origin for the crossed c? in the oldest church music, it often happens that the lines are made to begin with a vertical line impaling two lozenges, with a third lozenge between them, but on one side. it is as if in the three of diamonds the middle lozenge were removed a little to the left, the upper and lower ones sliding on a vertical line until they nearly touch the removed middle one. now if this figure were imitated _currente calamo_, as in rapid writing, it would certainly become an angle crossed by a vertical line; which angle would perhaps be rounded, thus giving the crossed semicircle. has this derivation been suggested? or can any one suggest a better? but, it will be said, whence comes the full circle? it is possible that there may have happened in this case what has happened in others: namely, that a symbol invented, and firmly established, before the partial disuse of latin, may have been extended in different ways by the vernacular writers of different countries. this has happened in the case of the words _million_, _billion_, _trillion_, &c. the first, and the root of all, was established early, and while no vernacular works existed, and it has only one meaning. the others, certainly introduced at a later time, mean different things in different countries. may it not have been that the variety of usage which de caus notes, may have arisen from different writers, ignorant of each other, choosing each his own mode of deriving other symbols from the crossed semicircle, obtained as suggested by me? i am fully aware of the risk of such suggestions--but they have often led to something better. m. * * * * * minor notes. _a smart saying of baxter._--in his _aggravations of vain babbling_, speaking of gossips, baxter says: "if i had one to send to school that were sick of the talking evil--the _morbus loquendi_--i would give (as isocrates required) a double pay to the schoolmaster willingly; one part for teaching him to hold his tongue, and the other half for teaching him to speak. i should think many such men and women half cured if they were half as weary of speaking as i am of hearing them. _he that lets such twattling swallows build in his chimney may look to have his pottage savour of their dung._" b. b. _latin hexameters on the bible._--the verses given under this title by lord braybrooke, in vol. v., p. ., remind me of a similar method which i adopted, when at school, in order to impress upon my memory the names of the jewish months. the lines run thus:-- "nisan abib, iyar zif, sivan, thammuz, ab, elul; tisri, marchesvan, chisleu, thebeth, sebat, adar." the first verse commences with the first month of the ecclesiastical year, the second with the first month of the civil year. a. w. _ancient connexion of cornwall and phoenicia._--the effort to trace the ancient connexion of countries by the relics of their different customs, would be amusing if not useful. the fragment of the voyage of hamilcar the carthaginian confirms the trade of the phoenicians with cornwall for tin. the roman writers still extant confirm it. the traffic was carried on by way of gades or cadiz, the carthaginians being the carriers for the phoenicians. in andalusia to this day, middle-aged and old men are addressed _tio_, or uncle; as _tio gorgè_, "uncle george." this custom prevails in cornwall also, and only there besides. is not that a trace of the old intercourse? again, clouted cream, known only in the duchy of cornwall, which once extended as far as the river exe in devon, is only found besides in syria and near modern tyre, whence the same tin trade was carried on. these are curious coincidences. many of the old cornish words are evidently of spanish origin: as _cariad_, _caridad_, charity or benevolence; _egloz_ or _eglez_, a church; _iglesia_ or _yglezia_, and many others, which seem to bear a relation to the same intercourse. the notice respecting the word _cot_ or _cote_,--termination of proper names in a particular district in cornwall,--already mentioned in these pages, supposed to be saxon from the idea that its use was confined to one district, which i have shown to be a mistake, may be from the cornish word _icot_, "below," in place of the saxon _cote_ or _cot_, "cottage." thus, _goracot_ is probably from _gora_ or _gorra_, and _icot_, i. e. "down below." { } _trelacot_ from _tre_, "a town," and _icot_, "below." the _l_ was often prefixed for sound sake: as _lavalu_ for _avalu_, "an apple;" _quedhan lavalu_, "an apple tree;" _callacot_, from _cala_, or _calla_, "straw," and _icot_. the introduction of the vowel _a_ for _i_ might be a corruption in spelling after the sound. this is only surmise, but it has an appearance of probability. cyrus redding. _portrait of john rogers, the proto-martyr._--should you think the following minor note interesting to your correspondent kt., perhaps you will find a corner for it in your miscellany. living some time ago on the picturesque coast of dorsetshire, i had the good fortune to have for a neighbour a lady of cultivated taste and literary acquirements; among other specimens of antiquity and art to which she drew my attention, was a portrait, in oil, of john rogers; it was of the size called "kit cat," and was well painted. this portrait she held in great veneration and esteem, declaring herself to be (if my memory does not deceive me) a descendant of this champion of christianity, whose name stands on the "muster roll" of the "noble army of martyrs." in case kt. should wish to push his inquiries in this quarter, i inclose you the name and address of the lady above alluded to. m. w. b. "_brallaghan, or the deipnosophists._"--edward kenealey, esq., reprinted under the above sonorous title (london: e. churton, ) some amusing contributions of his to _fraser_ and other magazines. at pp. . and . he gives us, however, the "uxor non est ducenda" and the "uxor est ducenda" of the celebrated walter haddon; and that too without the slightest intimation that he himself was not their author. it is not, i think, fair for any man thus to shine in borrowed plumes, or at least transcribe verbatim, and without acknowledgment, from a writer so little known and old-fashioned as haddon. let me therefore give the reference, for the benefit of the curious: _d. gualteri haddoni poemata_, pp. - . londini, , to. rt. _stilts used by the irish._--we have all heard of the use of stilts by the shepherds of the landes; but i have met with _only one_ passage which speaks of their use in ireland. i have crossed rivers, both in scotland and in ireland, on stilts, when the water was not deep, and have seen them kept instead of a ferryboat, when there was no bridge, but do not think they are in common use at the present day. the passage in question is quoted in ledwich's _antiquities_, p. .: "i had almost forgotten to notice a very remarkable particular recorded by strada (strada, _belg._, . viii. p. ., borlase's reduction, .). he tells us that sir wm. pelham, who had been lord justice of ireland, led into the low countries in fourteen hundred wild irish, clad only below the navel, and mounted on _stilts_, which they used in passing rivers: they were armed with bows and arrows. having never met with this use of stilts among any other people, it seemed a matter of curiosity to notice it here." eirionnach. * * * * * queries. etymology of the word "devil." what is the etymology of the word _devil_? this may appear an unnecessary question, since we have a regular chain of etyma, [greek: diabolos,] _diabolus_, _diavolo_, _devil_. but it is the first of this chain that puzzles me. i am aware that it is considered a translation of [hebrew: sat`an], and is derived usually from [greek: diaballein], _calumniare_. but [hebrew: sat`an] means _adversarius_, consequently the rendering would not be accurate. as the word in classical writers always means a false accuser, and never a supernatural agent of evil, i doubt the correctness of the usual derivations in the case of ecclesiastical usage; and am inclined to consider it one of the oriental words, in a hellenistic dress, with which the septuagint and greek testament are replete. mr. borrow, in _lavengro_, instances as a reason for believing that divine and devilish were originally the same words, the similarity of the gypsy word _un-debel_, god, and our word _devil_. struck with this remark, on consideration of the subject, i perceived that there were several other coincidences of the same kind, as follows:--the greek [greek: daimôn] means either a good or bad spirit of superhuman power. the zend word _afrîtî_, "blessed," corresponds to the arabic _afrît_, "a rebellious angel." the latin _divus_, "a god," (and of course [greek: dios], with all its variations,) belongs to the same family as the persian _dîv_, "a wizard or demon;" while the _jin_ or _jan_ of the _arabian nights_ answer to the forms _zan_, _zêna_, _zeus_, _janus_, _djana_ or _diana_. all words denoting deified power, and employed by the inhabitants of greece and umbria. these singular resemblances may prove that fetish worship was more widely spread than is generally believed, and i think justify my doubts as to the etymology of the word in question. richard f. littledale. dublin. * * * * * forged papal seal. an old seal was discovered some years ago by accident in the ruins of an abbey in the south of ireland, of which the followings is a description. the workmanship is rude, the material a species of bronze. the impression consists of a circle of raised spots: on either side are two venerable human faces, both bearded; there is a rude cross between them. above them are the letters-- "s - p - a - s - p - e." { } these are supposed to stand for "st. paul" and "st. peter." it is said that this seal was used for the purpose of affixing an impression to an instrument which pretended to be a papal bull: in fact, that it was used for forging pope's bulls. one of the objects of such forgeries (if they really occurred) would be, to grant dispensations for marriages on account of consanguinity. some noble families in ireland had very ancient papal dispensations of this nature. it would often be convenient that extraordinary despatch should be used in obtaining a dispensation. can any of your correspondents compare the seals on those dispensations with the above, or throw any light on the practice of dispensing with the ecclesiastical law against consanguineous marriages? h. f. h. wexford. * * * * * a passage in "all's well that ends well." will mr. singer favour me with the information where the proposed emendation, referred to by him in "n. & q.," vol. v., p. ., in _all's well that ends well_, _infinite cunning_ for "insuite comming," of the folio , is to be met with? if it be in the _athenæum_ it has escaped my observation, although i have turned over the pages of that able periodical carefully to find it. i have a particular reason for wishing to trace the suggestion, if i can, to the source where it originated. owing to an accident, which it is needless to explain, the number of "n. & q." containing mr. singer's communication did not meet my eye until this morning. j. payne collier. may . . * * * * * surnames. i have to thank many of your readers who have favoured me with private letters on this subject since the printing of the prospectus of my _dictionary of surnames_ in your columns; and before troubling you with a string of queries, i would briefly refer to two or three points in the kind communications under this head in "n. & q." of may . e. h. y. will find the question, _sur_name or _sir_name, slightly touched upon in my _english surnames_ ( rd edit., vol. i. p. .), and argued at length in the _literary gazette_ for nov. , in a correspondence originating out of a notice of the first edition of my book. i think the balance of evidence is in favour of _sur_name; that is, a name superadded to the personal or baptismal appellation, which applies with equal propriety to the sobriquets given to monarchs and distinguished men, and to the hereditary designations of people of humble rank. alexander _mitchell_, your groom, is no other than alexander the great; and bill _rowse_, your errand-boy, is the namesake of the red king who fell in the new forest; the only difference being, that the plebeians inherit their second name from their ancestors, while the magnates enjoy theirs by exclusive right. i do not think, therefore, that the distinction contended for by e. h. y. is either necessary or desirable: indeed i consider _sire_name as a mere play upon a mis-spelt word. in saying this, i would by no means disparage your excellent correspondent, whose communications i always read with pleasure i might add, that the distinction of "nomen patris additum proprio," _sire_name, and "nomen supra nomen additum," surname, is by no means new. i cannot quite agree with e. s.'s suggestion as to the desirableness of omitting the names derived from christian names, this being one of the most interesting branches of my inquiry. i have already shown that from ten to thirty family names are occasionally found to proceed from _one_ baptismal appellation; and at least half a dozen of the names to which e. s. calls my attention for explanation are so derived. to the termination _-cock_, occurring in so many names, i have already given attention, and the result may be seen in _eng. surn._, vol. i. pp. . to ., both inclusive. to the surnames derived from extinct or provincial words designating employments, i am paying considerable attention; but although i am tolerably well acquainted with our mediæval writers, and their glossarists, there are many names ending in _er_ (generally having in old records the prefix _le_), which have hitherto baffled my etymological skill. w. l.'s remarks support the statements made in _eng. surn._, vol. i., p. . _et seq._, to show that family names have scarcely become hereditary, in some parts of england, even now, in the middle of the nineteenth century. without occupying your valuable space unduly, i would now submit the following queries:-- . what book gives any rational account of the origin of the scottish clans, and their distinctive or family names? i know buchanan's work, but it gives very little information of the kind desired. _any_ authentic particulars regarding scottish names will be acceptable. . what is the real meaning of _worth_, which forms the final syllable of so many surnames? i have seen no less than six explanations of it, which cannot all be correct. . are there any works (besides dictionaries) in the dutch, german, and scandinavian languages which would throw light upon the family names of this country? . what is the best compendious gazetteer or topographical dictionary of normandy extant? . is anything known of a collection of surnames made by mr. cole, the antiquary, in the last century? it is mentioned in collet's _relics of literature_, . { } . can any reader of "n. & q." explain the following surnames, which are principally to be found so early as the reign of edward i.?--alfox, colfox, astor, fricher, grix, biber, bakepuz, le chalouner, le cayser, le cacherel, trelfer, metcalfe, baird, aird, chagge, le carun, at bight. mark antony lower. lewes. * * * * * minor queries. _owen, bishop of st. asaph._--to what family belonged john owen, bishop of st. asaph, mentioned in winkle's _cathedrals_ with so much honour? his father owen owen was archdeacon of anglesea, rector of burton latymer. i cannot find either name in the printed pedigrees of the various families of owen, nor in such of the harl. mss. as i had time to examine. wanted, the bishop's arms and crest, and any reference to his pedigree. it is said by winkle that his monument is under the episcopal throne in st. asaph's cathedral. he died , and his father . ursula. _st. wilfrid's needle in yorkshire_,--"where they used to try maids, whether they were honest." (_burton._) does this stone exist? "ancient writers do not mention," says lingard, "stonehenge, abury, &c., as appendages to _places of worship_ among the celtæ," therefore may it not be that these remains of antiquity were devoted to vain superstitions of the ignorant people, if not to gloomy rites of the officiating priests of the british druids? the gigantic obelisks of single stones, called the "devil's arrows," near boroughbridge, and the assemblage of rocks called bramham crags, a few miles north-west of ripon, are considered to have been druidical. is st. wilfrid's either of these? and can farther information about this rock be afforded? b. b. _governor of st. christopher in ._--will any one be so kind as to inform me who was the governor of the island of st. christopher in the year ? i have an original, but unsigned letter, from him to the contemporary dutch governor of st. martin's, demanding reparation for an outrage of most extraordinary nature. he complains that the dutch had seized and _reduced to slavery_ the crew and passengers of an english ship during a time of peace. is anything known of this affair, or is there any means of discovering the names of the colonial governors of that age? the letter is dated sept. , , and is endorsed, "a coppie of my letter to the gov. of st. martin's." ursula. _the amber witch._--i am anxious to learn whether this be a pure fiction or a genuine document dressed up. its strongest appearance of authenticity arises from the tedious pedantry of the ancient lutheran pastor, its supposed author, which not only renders the perusal heavy, but also lets in various things unsuited to the decorum of modern manners. if a pure forgery, my inquiry extends to _the motives_ of a fabrication, tedious to both reader and writer. a. n. _coffins for general use._--in the parish church of easingwold, yorkshire, there was within the last few years an old _oaken shell_ or _coffin_, asserted to have been used by the inhabitants for the interment of their dead. after the burial, the coffin was again deposited in the church. are there any other well-authenticated instances of a similar usage? and do the words of the rubric in the order for "the burial of the dead," "when they come to the grave, while the corpse is _made ready to be laid_ into _the earth_," render it probable that such a custom was generally prevalent in the anglican church _since_ the reformation? i have met with one corroborative circumstance, in which numbers of bodies were disinterred in a piece of ground _supposed_ to have been consecrated, and not a vestige of a coffin was found. incognitus. _the surname bywater._--can any of your correspondents furnish me with particulars relating to the surname "_bywater_?" the earliest period from which i can trace it _direct_ to the present day, and then only by family tradition, is about the close of the seventeenth century, or say , about which time "---- bywater" married miss witham, and resided at towton hall, near tadcaster, yorkshire, a place celebrated as being the field of a battle fought between the york and lancaster forces on palm sunday, . stow mentions, in his _survey_, that "_john bywater_" was a sheriff of london in . perhaps some of your readers, in yorkshire or elsewhere, can throw a light on the subject, or can refer me to a book or ms. where information may be obtained? w. m. b. _robert forbes._--i should be glad if any of your correspondents could furnish me with any particulars relative to this talented and eccentric individual. he was the author of _the dominie deposed_, in the buchan dialect. on the title-page of that piece he is described as "robert forbes, a.m., schoolmaster of peterculter," near aberdeen. on application, however, to the session clerk of peterculter, that functionary states that no such person was ever schoolmaster of that parish. be this as it may, forbes was obliged to leave scotland on account of an intrigue, which he has humorously described in his _dominie deposed_. he appears to have removed to london, where he commenced the business of a hosier, in a shop on tower hill, at the sign of the "book." here he composed that { } celebrated travestie on the _speech of ajax to the grecian chiefs_, also in the buchan dialect: "the wight an' doughty captains a', upo' their doups sat down; a rangel o' the commoun fouk in bourachs a' stood roun." i think forbes states that his place of business on tower hill was "hard by the shop of robbie mill." (see chalmers' _life of ruddiman_.) forbes is supposed to have died about the year . hypadidasculus. _gold chair found in jersey._--i find in lowndes' _bibliographer's manual_ the following: "the most wonderfull and strange finding of a chayre of gold, neare the isle of iarsie, with the true discourse of the death of eight seuerall men: and other most rare accidents thereby proceeding. london, , to. pages, including not only the title-page, but a blank leaf before it, as was frequent about this time." can any one inform me where i can obtain a sight of this tract? i have searched the multivoluminous catalogue of the british museum, that of the bodleian, grenville, douce, and other collections, but in vain; and can find no trace of it anywhere. r. p. m. _alteration in oxford edition of the bible._--in the stereotype edition of the bible, in vo., printed at cambridge, for the british and foreign bible society, i find the word _judah_, chron. xxi. ., substituted for _israel_. this latter word is the reading of every copy of the authorized english version that i have been able to consult, including the mo. edition printed for the british and foreign bible society at oxford. no doubt _judah_ is the right word in this passage. the context requires it; and it is the reading of forty hebrew mss., and of all the ancient versions, except the chaldee. it is also the reading of the old english version by coverdale. but it has not been adopted by king james's translators. how has this deviation from their text crept into an edition emanating from a university press? jerome. _when did sir gilbert gerrard die?_--a warrant was issued on the st of july, , to the lord treasurer and sir john fortescue (see burghley's _diary_) "to inquire what profits had been taken for the office of the rolls _betwixt the time of the death of sir gilbert gerrard and the entry of sir thomas egerton_." now sir thomas egerton entered on the th of april, , and i have reason to believe that the office had been vacant for about a year. but i can find no notice of sir gilbert's death. he was a member of gray's inn; admitted in , barrister , ancient , reader , serjeant , attorney-general , master of the rolls ; and during the interval between the death of lord chancellor hatton (nov. , ) and the appointment of lord keeper puckering (may , ) one of the commissioners for hearing causes in chancery. james spedding. _market crosses._--have these interesting crosses occupied the attention of any one? is there any work exclusively upon them? when was the old market cross, at bury st. edmunds, taken down? is there any view of it extant, and where is it to be seen? what is the meaning of the passage from gage's valuable _history of thingoe hundred_, page .: "henry gage, &c., _married at the market cross_, in the parish of st. james, st. edmund's-bury, th february, ." was any religious edifice standing on this spot at that period? c. g. paddington. _spy wednesday._--i observed the other day, under the spanish news in _the times_ of wednesday, the th april, , the following paragraph: "it being _spy wednesday_, the bourse remained closed." can any correspondent inform me the meaning of "spy wednesday," it being a term i have never yet heard so applied? john nurse chadwick. king's lyn. passemer's "antiquities of devonshire."--in bagford's ms. collections on writing, printing, &c., in the british museum (_ayscough's cat._, no. .), at fo. ., among writers on devonshire appears the following: "id. ye antiquitates of ye same countey is collected out of ye antient bookes belonging to ye bishopprick of exeter, by one mr. george passemer, vicar of awliscombe, in ye said countey." can either of your correspondents state whether mr. passemer's work is known to be in existence? j. d. s. _will o' wisp._--notwithstanding the steam-engine may be said to have done almost as much towards destroying the gaseous exhalations of our bog-lands by the means of drainage, as it has done towards the amelioration of the stagnant moors and intellectual morasses of society, it can hardly have dispelled every _ignis fatuus_ from every quagmire, any more than it has even yet chased the ignorance from every dull head. the object of this communication is to ask for the names of a few specific localities where that noted misleader of the benighted--_will o' wisp_--still continues to manifest his presence? d. _mother of richard fitzjohn._--can any of your readers inform me who was _the mother_ of richard { } fitzjohn, lord fitzjohn, who was summoned to parliament in edward i., and died two years after in france? he was the son of john fitzjohn fitzgeoffrey, who died near guildford in , and who was the son and heir of john fitzgeoffrey, justiciary of ireland in . his mother's name is not mentioned in any authorities i have been able to consult, and i should feel particularly obliged by any one communicating to me _his mother's name_, and also his _maternal grandmother's name_, if they have ever been ascertained. tewars. _quotations wanted._--can any of your numerous correspondents oblige me with the information as to where the following may be found: "the difficult passages they shun, and hold their farthing rushlight to the sun." again, this: "and like unholy men quote scripture for the deed." again, this: the entire epigram said to have been made by porson on a fellow of his college, who habitually pronounced euphr_[)a]_tes (short) instead of euphr[=a]tes. the only words i remember--it is now near thirty years since i heard it--are "et corripuit fluxeum;" and jekyll, the celebrated wit, rendered the epigram into english, and part of it thus: "he abridged the river." h. m. _sons of the conqueror--william rufus and walter tyrell._--sir n. w. wraxall (_posthumous memoirs_, vol. i., p. .) says of the duke of dorset: "his only son perished at twenty-one in an irish foxchase: a mode of dying not the most glorious or distinguished, though two sons of william the conqueror, one of whom was a king of england, terminated their lives in a similar occupation." who are these _two_ sons? william rufus would be one of them; but who is the other? and whilst i am on this subject, i would inquire, _on what authority_ does the commonly received story of william ii.'s death by the hand of sir walter tyrrell rest? tewars. _brass of lady gore._--moody, in his _sketches of hampshire_, states that there is a brass of an _abbess_, , lady gore by name, in the church of nether wallop. but in the _oxford manual_ it is stated (introduction, p. xxxix.) that only two brasses of abbesses are known, one at elstow, beds, to elizabeth hervey, and the other at denham, bucks, to agnes jordan, abbess of syon, both _c._ . which is correct of these two authorities? unicorn. * * * * * minor queries answered. _smyth's mss. relating to gloucestershire._--in rudder's _history of gloucestershire_, title "nibley," p. ., is the following passage: "john smyth, of nibley, ancestor to the present proprietor, was very eminent for his great assiduity in collecting every kind of information respecting this county and its inhabitants. he wrote the genealogical history of the berkeley family, in three folio mss., which sir william dugdale abridged and published in his _baronage of england_. in three other folio mss. he has registered with great exactness _the names of the lords of manors in the county in the year _, _the number of men in each parish able to bear arms, with their names, age, stature, professions, armour, and weapons_. _the sums each landholder paid to subsidies granted in a certain year_ are set down in another ms. he likewise committed to writing a very particular account of the customs of the several manors in the hundred of berkeley, and _the pedigrees of their respective lords_. these and some other mss., which cost him forty years in compiling, are now ( ) in the possession of nicholas smyth, esq., the fifth from him in lineal descent." i shall feel much obliged to any of your readers who will inform me where these mss., or any of them, may now be seen. those that i particularly want to inspect are printed in italics in the above quotation. julius partrige. birmingham. [atkyns, in his _gloucestershire_, p. ., states that smythe's mss. were at the time he wrote, a.d. , in the custody of his great-grandson, sir george smith, who generously communicated them to all that desired a perusal of them. fosbrooke, however, in the preface to his _history of gloucestershire_, published in , speaks of them as being in the possession of the earl of berkeley. he says, "of the noblemen and gentlemen who honoured me with support and information, the earl of berkeley's permission to use mr. smythe's mss. in every important extent has been of essential service." fosbrooke subsequently published, in , a quarto volume of _abstracts and extracts of smythe's lives of the berkeleys_ from these manuscripts.] _origin of terms in change-ringing._--i shall be obliged by any one informing me as to the origin and derivation of the terms "plain bob," "grandsire bob," "single bob minor," "grandsire treble," "caters," "cinques," _et hoc genus omne_, so well known to campanologists. alfred gatty. [our correspondent may probably get some clue to the derivation of these terms in a work entitled _campanologia improved; or the art of ringing made easy_, third edition, mo. . we may also mention, that some notes of dedications of churches and bells in the diocese of gloucester will be found in the british museum, add. mss. . f. b.] _keseph's bible._--about the year , there was issued a thin duodecimo pamphlet by some one who took the cognomen of keseph, and who { } proposed to publish an edition of the authorised version under the title of "keseph's bible," with the substitution of the hebrew terms _alehim_, _aleh_, _al_, _adon_, _adonai_, &c. &c. for our english ones _god_, _lord_, &c. &c. can any of your readers inform me if this was ever published? and can they also favour me with the loan of the pamphlet for a month? the editor of the "chronological new testament." . trinity square, southwark. [this bible was published in , as far as chap. xix. of the second book of kings, with the following title: _the holy bible, according to the established version: with the exception of the substitution of the original hebrew names, in place of the english words, lord and god, and of a few corrections thereby rendered necessary. with notes._ london: westley and davis, to. it contains a preface of four pages, and a list of the meaning or signification of the sacred names substituted in this edition, of nine pages. a copy of it is in the british museum, the press mark h.] _proclamations to prohibit the use of coal, as fuel, in london._--dr. bachoffner, in the lecture which he is now delivering at the royal polytechnic institution, mentions the fact that three separate proclamations were issued for this purpose, and that it was at last made a capital offence; and a man was actually accused, tried, condemned, and executed for burning coal within the metropolis. now what i want to ascertain relative to the above facts, is: . the date of each; . any particulars that you or any of your correspondents may be kind enough to furnish; . the name, and station, trade, or profession of the person so executed. as dr. bachoffner has now often reiterated the above statement at the polytechnic, and as it has always been received (at least when i have been there) with acclamations of surprise, i have no doubt that the particulars will interest many of your readers. arthur c. wilson. [we have not been able to find any account of the execution for burning coal noticed by dr. bachoffner, which probably took place during the reign of edward i., when the use of coal was prohibited by proclamation at london in the year . these proclamations are noticed in prynne's _animadversions on the fourth part of sir edward coke's institutes_, p. ., where it is said, that "in the latter part of the reign of edward i., when brewers, dyers, and other artificers using great fires, began to use sea-coals instead of dry wood and charcoal, in and near the city of london, the prelates, nobles, commons, and other people of the realm, resorting thither to parliaments, and upon other occasions, with the inhabitants of the city, southwark, wapping, and east smithfield, complained thereof twice one after another to the king as a public nuisance, corrupting the air with its stink and smoke, to the great prejudice and detriment of their health. whereupon the king first prohibited the burning of sea-coal by his proclamation; which being disobeyed by many for their private lucre, the king upon their second complaint issued a commission of oyer and terminer to inquire of all such who burned sea-coals against his proclamation within the city, or parts adjoining to it, and to punish them for their first offence by great fines and ransoms; and for the second offence to demolish their furnaces, kilns wherein they burnt sea-coals, and to see his proclamation strictly observed for times to come, as the record of edw. i. informs us." on this subject our correspondent should consult edington's _treatise on the coal trade_; ralph gardiner's _england's grievance discovered in relation to the coal trade_; and anderson's _origin of commerce_.] * * * * * replies. addison and his hymns. (vol. v., p. .) any attempt to divorce addison from his hymns in the _spectator_, and to ascribe them to any other writer, is so great a wrench to the feelings of a sexagenarian like myself, that the question must at once be set at rest. in reply to j. g. f.'s inquiry, these hymns, or a portion of them, were claimed for andrew marvell by captain edward thompson, the editor of marvell's works; but a writer in kippis's edition of the _biographia britannica_ remarks: "we shall content ourselves with observing, that any man who can suppose that the ease, eloquence, and harmony of the ode, 'the spacious firmament,' &c., could flow from marvell's pen, must be very deficient in taste and judgment." this claim on captain thompson's part was to have been considered under the article "marvell," but the second edition of the _biographia_ did not, as we well know, extend beyond the letter f. but though we cannot concede these hymns to marvell, he must not be underrated. his downright honesty of character and purpose must ever excite respect. his biographer strangely introduces him to us as "a witty droll in the seventeenth century, the son of a facetious gentleman at hull." in one respect he resembled our gifted essayist; his style in prose was so captivating that we are told "from the king down to the tradesman, his _rehearsal transposed_ was read with great pleasure; he had all the men of wit on his side." to return to the hymns and the just claims of addison to the whole of them. in the _spectator_, no. ., addison says, "i have _already_ communicated to the public some pieces of divine poetry, and as they have met with a very favourable reception, _i shall from time to time publish any work of the same nature which has not yet appeared in print_, and may be acceptable to my readers." then follows the hymn "when all thy mercies," &c. coming from such a man as addison, this { } must be considered as pretty strong evidence of authorship. in the _spectator_, no. ., when introducing the hymn "the lord my pasture," &c., addison observes-- "as the poetry of the original is very exquisite, i shall present my readers with the following translation of it." with respect to this composition bishop hurd remarks, that addison's "true judgment suggested to him that what he drew from scripture was best preserved in a pure and simple expression, and the fervour of his piety made that simplicity pathetic." no doubt seems to have crossed the bishop's mind as to the authorship. sometimes addison thought fit to throw a little mystery over these hymns. in _spectator_, no. ., after alluding to psalm cvii. v. ., "they that go down to the sea," &c. (which addison says gives a description of a ship in a storm, preferable to any other that he has met with), he subjoins his "divine ode made by a _gentleman_ on the conclusion of his travels," "how are thy servants blest," &c. the verses to are said to refer to the storm which allison himself encountered on the mediterranean, after he embarked at marseilles in . the hymn "when rising from the bed of death," _spectator_, no. , "a thought in sickness," is contained in a supposed letter from a _clergyman_, viz. one of the club, "who assist me in my speculations." tickell, in his exquisite elegy, so worthy of its subject, when asking, "what new employments please the unbody'd mind?" adds, "or mixed with milder cherubim to glow, in _hymns of love, not ill essayed below_." were not the very hymns which we are speaking of in tickell's mind? addison's piety, we may well gather from his writings, was, as mr. macaulay observes, of a cheerful character. the feeling which predominates in all his devotional papers, is that of gratitude; do we not find it also strikingly developed in his hymns? we all remember the beautiful lines, "ten thousand thousand precious gifts my daily thanks employ, nor is the least a cheerful heart, that tastes those gifts with joy." let bishop ken and addison retain their divine hymns--dear as they are, and let us hope ever will be, to man, woman, and child--whilst the english language is read or spoken. how greatly is their sublimity heightened, and their beauty enhanced, when we associate with them the purity of character and the assemblage of virtues which distinguished their excellent authors! j. h. markland. * * * * * witchcraft--mrs. hickes and her daughter. (vol. v., p. .) the particulars your correspondent asks for have not been furnished; but on what authority, _to move the previous question_, does the alleged fact of such a trial and execution at huntingdon in for witchcraft, stated by mr. wills, and adopted by the _quarterly rev._, rest? mr. wills (_sir roger de coverley_, notes, p. .) mentions also the execution of two women at northampton for witchcraft just before the _spectator_ began to be published (march , - ), but gives no reference to any original source to support his statement. on the other hand, hutchinson, the first edition of whose _essay concerning witchcraft_ was published in , and the second in , who gives a chronological table of facts, informs us that the last execution in england for witchcraft was that at exeter of susan edwards, mary trembles, and temperance lloyd in (vid. _essay_, p. ., st edit.). he was too painstaking a writer to be in ignorance of cases which had occurred so recently; and he had the assistance, in collecting his materials, of the two chief justices parker and king, and chief baron bury, to whom the work is dedicated. through their means he must have been informed of what had taken place on the circuits, if any cases of witchcraft on which convictions had arisen had actually come before the judges. when it is remembered what attention was directed to the trial of jane wenham in , who, though condemned, was not executed, and on whose case a great number of pamphlets were written, it can scarcely be supposed that in four years after two persons, one only nine years old (i take the account in mackay's _popular delusions_, vol. iii.), should have been tried and executed for witchcraft without public attention being called to the circumstance. i may add that in the _historical register_ for , which notices in the domestic occurrences all trials of interest, there is no mention of such a case; and that in two london newspapers for , which i have in a complete series, though enumerating other convictions on the circuit, i have equally searched without success. as it is a matter of considerable historical interest to ascertain accurately when the last execution for witchcraft took place in england, i should be glad if any of your correspondents would refer me to the authority on which the statements of the trials circ. and in are founded. mr. wright, i observe, does not notice them, and his words are-- "the case of jane wenham is the last instance of a witch being condemned by the verdict of an english jury."--_narratives of sorcery and magic_, vol. ii. p. . jas. crossley. { } * * * * * dodo queries. (vol. i., p. .) in answer to mr. strickland's third query, i beg to inform him that among the original authors who speak of the dodo as a living bird, johan nieuhof merits a place. his work is entitled: "johan nieuhofs gedenkweerdige brasiliaense zee en lantreize, behelsende alhetgeen op dezelve is voorgevallen: beneffens een bondige beschrijving van gantsch neerlants brasil, zoo van lantschappen, steden, dieren, gewassen, als draghten, zeden en godsdienst der inwoonders; en insonderheit, een wijtloopig verhael der merkwaardigste voorvallen en geschiedenissen, die zich, geduurende zijn negenjarigh verblijf in brasil, in d'oorlogen en opstant der portugesen, tegen d'onzen, zich sedert het jaer - hebben toegedragen. doorgaens verciert met verscheide afbeeldingen, na't leven aldaer getekent. te amsterdam, voor de weduwe van jacob van meurs, op de keizersgracht, anno ." this work, although published in six languages, and several times reprinted, adorned with a hundred exquisite engravings, and portrait of the author, seems to be no longer generally known. it was dedicated to nikolaes witsen, burgomaster and councillor of amsterdam; and the licence granted to jacob van meurs, the th dec. , by the states of hollandt en westvrieslandt, is signed "johan de wit." the copy in my possession consists of two parts in folio, bound together in parchment, furnished with two indexes, which however do not mention all the volume contains, for we look in vain for the name _dodaers_, _dodo_, or _dronte_ in the indexes; and yet we find in the second part, p. ., a well-executed representation of this bird, and on the following page we read: "_dronte of dodaers._ "op het eilant mauritius inzonderheit, houdt zeker vogel van een wonderlijke gestalte, dronte, en by d'onzen dodaers genoemt. hy is van groote tusschen een vogel-struis en indische hoen; en verschilt in gestalte, en komt ten deele daer mee over-een, ten aenzien van de veeren, pluimen en staert. hy heeft een groot en wanstaltigh hooft met een vel bedekt, en verbeelt dat van een koekoek: d'oogen zijn groot en zwart: de hals krom, vet, en steekt voor uit. de bek is boven mate lang, sterk en blaeuwachtigh wit: behalve d'einden: waer van d'onderste zwartachtigh, een bovenste geelachtig zijn, en beide spits en krom. hy spert den bek leelijk en zeer wijt open, is ront en vet van lijf, dat met zachte en graeuwe pluimen, als die van den struisvogel, bedekt is. de buik en aers is dik, die byna op d'aerde hangt: waerom, en van wegen hunnen loomen gang, deez vogel dodaers by d'onzen genoemt wort. aen beide zijden zitten eenige kleine pluymige pennen, in plaetse van vleugels, uit den gelen witachtigh, en achter aen den stuit, in plaetse van de steert, vijf gekrulde penne-veeren van een zelve kleure. de beenen zijn geelachtigh en dik; maer zeer kort: doch met vier vaste en lange pooten. deze vogel is langzaem van gang en dom, en laet zich lichtelijk vangen. het vleesch, inzonderheit dat van den borst, is vet en eetbaer. hy is zoo zwaer, dat hondert menschen aen drie of vier dronten genoegh t'eeten hebben. het vleesch van d'ouden is, zoo niet gaer gekookt is, zwaer om te verteeren. het wort ook ingezouten. veelijts hebben zy een grooten en herden steen in de mage, die holachtigh en evenwel hart is." should mr. strickland wish further information concerning the work of johan nieuhof, i shall ever be happy to oblige him. j. m. van maanen. amsterdam. [from our dutch cotemporary, _de navorscher_, by whom similar replies have been received from h--g and g. p. roos.] * * * * * the heavy shove. (vol. v., p. .) like your correspondent mr. clark, i too have kept a sharp look-out for this curious piece ascribed to baxter; but having been unable to track it, i had long since come to the conclusion that its existence was apocryphal. the rev. james graves, in his _spiritual quixote_, written to ridicule moravians and methodists, notes it "as a very good book of old baxter's," among several others of questionable identity, forming the library of geoffrey wildgoose's grandmother. when we recollect the temptation offered in the quaint and uncouth titles of the old presbyterians, we can hardly wonder at their enemies improving upon them; and in this way, it appears to me, we are to account for the respectable name of baxter being popularly attached to a book which everybody talks about, but which nobody has seen. it is again mentioned by richard cooksey, in his _life of lord somers_, worcester, , and, taking its existence for granted, the author is astonished that baxter, whom he extols to the skies, "could so far condescend to the temper and debased humour of the times as to entitle one of his tracts _a shove_, &c. commenting upon this, wilson, in his _history of dissenting churches_, london, , is the next who alludes to the book in question, but merely to shift its authorship from "the famous richard baxter of kidderminster" to a more obscure individual of the same name,--described as "an elder (in ) of the particular baptist congregation worshipping in winchester house." of this person he says, "i know nothing excepting that he appears to have been a fifth monarchy man, and to have been far gone in enthusiasm." although thus doubting that the author of the _saints' rest_ wrote such a book as that described, i { } do not deny that there is a piece bearing the title in existence; but upon it the name of "_william_ bunyan" figures as the author. a copy of this was in the theological portion of the late mr. rodd's books, sold by sotheby & co. in , and bears the imprint of "london, ." this, i am inclined to think, is the only _shove_ mr. clark is likely to meet with; and although i can give no further account of it, i am disposed to consider it the spurious catchpenny of some ignorant scoffer, who, taking his _cue_ from graves, or rather from some earlier writer who has noticed it, thought it would be a good _spec._, and therefore launched into the world _his_ "_effectual shove_." j. o. * * * * * ground ice. (vol. v., p. .) your querist j. c. e. is informed that the singular phenomenon of the formation of ice in the beds of running rivers has not escaped the notice of scientific observers. m. arago has devoted a paper to its investigation in the _annuaire du bureau des longitudes_ for or , in which he specifies the rivers in which it has been observed. indeed, although from its nature it is likely to escape notice, it is probably of not infrequent occurrence. ireland, in his _picturesque views of the thames_, quoting dr. plot, speaks of the subaqueous ice of that river. colonel jackson, in the fifth volume of the _journal of the royal geographical society_, alludes to its formation in the neva, in a paper on the congelation of that river; and in the following volume of the same journal is an article by mr. weitz, especially devoted to the ground ice of the rivers of siberia. more recently, mr. eisdale has contributed the result of his researches upon the same subject to the _edinburgh new philosophical journal_, vol. xvii.; and, finally, dr. farquharson has made public his observations upon the ground-gru of the rivers don and leochal, in lincolnshire, in the _philosophical transactions_ for . there is also an article on the subject in one of the later volumes of the _penny_ or _saturday_ magazines. that bodies of running, water, the surface of which solidifies when exposed to a diminished temperature, should have a tendency to congelate in their sheltered depths, seems an anomaly which demands inquiry and explanation; and accordingly each of the above-mentioned writers has raised an hypothesis more or less probable, to account for the phenomenon. dr. farquharson would attribute it to the radiation of heat from the bottom, as dew is formed by radiation from the surface of the earth; but a consideration of the supervening obstacles to radiation--a body of moving water thickly coated with ice and even snow--destroys the plausibility of his theory. that of mr. eisdale, that the frozen _spiculæ_ of the atmosphere falling into the water become _nuclei_, around which the water at the bottom freezes, seems merely frivolous. the explanation of m. arago is more satisfactory, viz. that the lower currents of water being less rapid in motion than those intermediate, or at the surface, congelation may be expected at a lower temperature (say ° fahr.), the process of crystallisation being favoured by the pebbles, fragments of wood, and the uneven surface of the river's bed. after all, however, the phenomenon has been but imperfectly investigated under its various manifestations, and its real cause probably remains yet to be discovered. william bates. birmingham. for an explanation of this occurrence, i would refer j. c. e. to whewell's _astronomy, bridgewater treatise_. unicorn. * * * * * character of algernon sydney. (vol. v., pp. . .) your two correspondents c. e. d. (p. .) and c. (p. .) appear to have read mr. hepworth dixon's query about algernon sydney either very hastily or very carelessly. yet it seems to me plain enough. there is not one word in it about barillon or dalrymple; no inquiry about the home life of sydney. as every one knows a great part of his time was spent abroad, it is probable mr. dixon thinks that anecdotes and allusions to so conspicuous a person may occur in the cotemporary letters and memoirs of france, germany, italy, &c., and he asks for references to any such anecdotes or allusions as may have fallen in the way of readers of "n. & q." surely this is explicit. but what has dalrymple or mr. croker to say in answer to a question about sydney's way of life when abroad? that, as i take it, was the point, and a general discussion as to the character of the author of the _discourses on government_ is _à-propos_ of nothing. as the subject has been opened, and as i know of none more interesting in the whole range of english history, i cannot refrain from at least entering one protest against c.'s description of the "illustrious patriot" as a "corrupt traitor of the worst class." that mr. dixon is not single in his admiration of the character of sydney i could quote many "instances," from our late prime minister downwards. but the title "illustrious" can scarcely be denied to a man who, besides being of the best blood in england, played a leading part in the revolution, and was one of the closest thinkers and most masculine writers our language has to show. what makes a man illustrious? birth, commanding position, intellect, learning, literary genius? sydney had them all. but c. thinks { } he ought not to be called a patriot. what, do his wisdom and moderation in the civil war; his opposition to the extreme measures of cromwell; his long solitary exile; his glorious death, count for nothing? there is, however, the charge of taking money from the king of france. no doubt this is a very "curious case," and i too shall be anxious to see "what light mr. dixon may be able to throw on it." the accusation rests on the sole authority of dalrymple; and dalrymple is _not_ a man who can be taken on his mere word. he was a violent partisan. he hated the whigs, and is convicted of having suppressed the truth, when it suited his party or his passions to misrepresent. the barillon correspondence should be again examined, and, if possible, further particulars of the money payments to our party leaders obtained. s. walton. belgrave square. * * * * * monument to the memory of mary queen of scots at antwerp. (vol. v., p. .) having visited the interesting city of antwerp in the autumn of , i can answer the query of your correspondent c. e. d. from personal inspection. the monument to mary queen of scots is still in existence; and consists of a richly ornamented slab, placed at a considerable height from the pavement, against a pillar in (i think) the southern transept of the church of st. andrew. i was told on the spot that it was erected by two english ladies, but my informant was silent as to the tradition respecting the head. in the centre of the carvings which adorn the upper part of the monument, is inserted a medallion portrait of the beautiful but unfortunate queen; it is extremely well painted, and represents her in that peculiar costume so familiar to those acquainted with her accustomed style of dress. i inclose a copy of the inscription:-- "maria stuarta, scot. et gall. reg. jacob. magn. britan. reg. mater. anno , in. angl. refugii causâ descendens. cogna. elisab. ibi regnavit. perfidiâ senat. et hæret. post xix. captivit. annos. relig. ergo. cap. obtrunc. martyrium consumavit. anno d. n. . Æta. regy. ." the wood-carvings, with which this church abounds (especially those of the pulpit and its accessories), are marvellous efforts of art. m. w. b. having visited the church of st. andrew at antwerp during the autumn of last year, i am able to inform your correspondent c. e. d. (vol. v., p. .) that the monument to which he alludes still exists. the portrait of mary queen of scots is above the tablet, which was, i believe, erected to the memory of elizabeth curle; who, after the execution of her mistress, resided at antwerp, and was buried in that church. f. h. the monument dedicated to the memory of their beloved mistress by the two noble ladies of the household of mary queen of scots, lady barbara mowbray, the wife, and elizabeth curle, the sister, of gilbert curle, the queen's confidential secretary, still exists in the church of st. andrew at antwerp. the history, or rather _story_ of the decapitated head having been borne away by these ladies, and buried at the foot of the pillar on which the monument is placed, which is alluded to by your correspondent, is too apocryphal for belief. there is no reason to suppose that any _head_ of the queen was carried away by these devoted women into exile, excepting in the shape of her portrait painted on copper; which, instead of being interred _beneath_ the monument, is still to be seen placed above the dedicatory inscription. it is true that in the edition of descamps' _voyage pittoresque de la flandre_, published at _paris_ and _rouen_ in , it is stated that the monument was surmounted by "_son buste en marbre_;" but this error was corrected in the _antwerp_ edition of , where it is correctly affirmed to be "_son portrait peint_." mention is made of this crowned portrait, of a circular form, in mackie's _castles and prisons of queen mary_, and of the close resemblance it bears to another in the possession of lady cathcart; who assured mr. mackie that the two portraits were painted by order of the queen, and presented by her to _two scottish ladies_, but whose names are not mentioned. the following epitaph to the memory of these two faithful servants of the unhappy queen, has also been preserved by jacques le roy in his _théâtre sacré du brabant_, tom. ii. p. . it was copied by him from a blue marble slab placed over the entrance to the vault in which they were deposited:-- "d. o. m. _sub hoc lapide duarum feminarum vere piarum conduntur corpora_ d. barbarÆ moubray _et_ d. elisabethÆ curle _utræque scotæ, nobilissimæ mariæ reginæ à cubiculis, quarum monumentum superiori affigitur columnæ. illa vidua mortalium legi cessit_ xxxi. _julii anno ætatis_ lvii., _dum hæc semper cælebs_ xxix. _maii, ætatis_ lx. _dni_ m.dc.xx." in the inscription placed against the pillar, dedicated to the memory of queen mary, lady barbara is said to be a daughter of lord john mowbray--_barbara moubray, d. johan moubray, baronis f._ the writer of this note is desirous of obtaining some authentic information respecting these two noble scottish families, and hopes this { } communication may serve to elicit what he has long sought to trace. the armorial bearings of both families (originally affixed to the monument) have been effaced. he would be glad also to be referred to any documents tending to throw light on the obscure history of poor mary's intriguing _french_ secretary, nau; as to where he was born, his connexions and avocations in early life; how, and by what secret influence he entered into the service of the queen; and, lastly, how he came to be pardoned, and what became of him afterwards? she declared, in her last hours, that _he was the cause of her death_? nhrsl. * * * * * lord king; the sclaters; dr. kellet, etc. (vol. v., p. .) if balliolensis wishes for a more particular account of the sclater family than that which follows, i shall be happy to correspond with him upon the subject. _anthony sclater, d.d._, was vicar of leighton buzzard for fifty years, and died, aged , about . his son-- _william sclater, d.d._, fellow of king's, and vicar of pitminster in somersetshire, is the person mentioned by dr. kellet. he was an exceedingly learned man, and the author of many theological works (for a list, see _bib. bod. cat._), some of which were published after his death, _which occurred in _. there is a curious and interesting account of him in fuller's _worthies_, vol. i. p. . (see also _athenæ oxonienses_). his son-- _william sclater, also d.d. and fellow of king's_, was vicar of collumpton, devon, and prebend of exeter, and appears to have kept up by several works and sermons the reputation of the family for doctrinal theology.[ ] his son-- _francis sclater, b.d._ (fellow of c. c. c. oxon. may , , æt. ), was likewise a person of extraordinary learning and abilities, as appears from several notices, and more particularly from the inscription on a silver-gilt cup presented to c. c. c. in memory of him by his father; and from an elegant latin epitaph which was placed on the south wall of st. james's, clerkenwell.[ ] he died in , æt. , leaving a son-- _christopher sclater, m.a._, born , rector of loughton in essex, and afterwards of chingford in the same county. his eldest son-- _william sclater, d.d._, seems (from mss. still existing) to have inherited the theological talent of his ancestors, but o. s. p. richard sclater, esq., the second son of christopher, was grandfather to william lutley sclater, esq., of hoddington house, hants, the present representative of the family. by a third son, christopher sclater was grandfather to eliza sclater, wife of ---- draper, esq., and celebrated for her platonic attachment to lawrence sterne. from mss. preserved in the family, it is clear that she must have been a woman of considerable talent. i had always supposed _william sclater_, the nonjuror, and author of _an original draught_, &c., to have been a brother of _francis sclater_; but, if it be true that his work was a posthumous publication (as i learn for the first time from the note by the editor of "n. & q."), i think it most probable that it was his father (the vicar of collumpton above mentioned), who would have been about sixty years of age in , and who was certainly a man of learning and scholarship. i have no doubt that edward sclater, the pervert of putney, belonged to the same family, though i know not in how near relationship. the name of sclater, which is curious, seems to have originated in a place called slaughter (olim sclostre or sclaughtre, _temp._ king john) in gloucestershire, where a family of sclaughters flourished as lords of the manor for upwards of years. the arms of both families are: arg. a saltier az.; crest, an eagle sa. rising out of a ducal coronet. the motto of the sclater family (which they owe, no doubt to one of their learned ancestors) is a greek quotation from gal. vi. .: "[greek: ei mê en tôi staurôi]." about the commencement of the seventeenth century, another branch of the same family (whose patronymic was thomas) was settled in cambridgeshire. the last male representative of these, sir thomas sclater, bart., died without issue in (see burke's _ext. baronetages_). i should be glad of any information respecting the connexion of these two branches with each other, or of either with the parent stem in gloucestershire. i should also be glad of information respecting one will. slatyer, d.d. (whose name is sometimes, i _believe_ erroneously, spelt sclater) a very learned person, chaplain to james i., the { } author of some curious historical and genealogical works, and a celebrated hebraist in those times. he was a cotemporary of sclater of pitminster, and died at ottenden in kent about the same time; but it is doubtful whether they were relations. s. l. p. oxford and cambridge club. [footnote : this dr. sclater appears to have been at one time minister of st. james, clerkenwell, from the following work in the bodleian catalogue. "_the royal pay, and pay-master, or the indigent officer's comfort; a sermon before the military company, on rev._ ii. . by william sclater, d.d., minister of st. james, clerkenwell, to. lond. ."--ed.] [footnote : f. sclater, s. t. b. c. c. c., oxon. olim socius, eccl. anglicanæ spes, academiæ gloria, eruditorum desiderium, sanæ doctrinæ contrà omnes regnantes errores, etiam inter iniquissima tempora propugnator acerrimus. vir fuit ingenio acri ac vivido judicio sagaci candore animi egregio. quibus accessit eloquentia singularis atque doctrina omnibus numeris absoluta. ideoque sive dissererit, sive concionaretur, ab illius ore non populus magis quam clerus et literati avidè pendebant.... obit. maii. . d. a.d. . æt . deflendus quidem multum, sed magis imitandus gulielmus ss. t.p. moestissimus pater p.] the following notes are very much at the service of your correspondent balliolensis. it is true that they do not afford a precise answer to his immediate query, but they comprise particulars which may very probably lead to it, and will at least be interesting in compliance with his request for any notices respecting the family of sclater. anthony sclater was minister of leighton buzzard in bedfordshire for about fifty years, and died at the age of nearly one hundred. his son, william sclater, was born there in ; educated at eton and king's college, cambridge, b.d. and d.d., preacher at walsall, co. staffordshire; presented to the vicarage of pitminster, near taunton, co. somerset, by john coles, esq.; and to a rectory in the same county by john, afterwards lord powlett. died at pitminster, . he was the author of the following works, and of others unpublished:-- "a key to the key of scripture, or an exposition, with notes, on the epistle to the romans, &c. to, london, . dedicated to sir henry hawley, knt., and four other gentlemen." "the minister's portion, a sermon on cor. ix. , . to. oxford, . dedicated to thomas southcote, esq., of mohun's ottery in devonshire." "the sick soul's salve, a sermon on prov. xviii. . to. oxford, . dedicated to john horner, esq., and to the devout anna his wife, at melles in somerset." "the christian's strength, a sermon at oxford on philip. iv. . to. oxford, . dedicated to william hill, esq., of pitminster." "an exposition upon the first epistle to the thessalonians. to. london, . dedicated to the lord stanhope, baron of haringdon." "the question of tythes revised, &c. to. london, . dedicated to lake, bishop of bath and wells." "a briefe exposition upon the second epistle to the thessalonians. to. london, . dedicated to 'john pawlet, esq., his very honourable good patron, and elisabeth his wife, his much honoured patronesse.'" "utriusque epistolæ ad corinthios explicatio, &c. edited by his son. to. oxon. . dedicated to 'edvardo keletto, s. t. d. sancti petri apud exoniensis residentiario, nec non m. georgio goadio coll. regalis in academia cantabrig. socio, suo non ita pridem tutori dilectissimo.'" "a brief and plain commentary on the prophecy of malachy, &c. published by his son. to. london, . dedicated to mr. henry walrond of bradfield, devon." "an exposition on the fourth chapter of the romans, &c. published by his son. to. london, . dedicated to 'john bampfield of poltimore in devon, esq., a most eximious and exemplary worthy of the west.'" william sclater, son of the above, was born at pitminster; admitted member of king's college, cambridge, in ; fellow of that college; chaplain to the bishop of exeter's barony of st. stephen's in exeter, and preacher at st. martin's in that city, ; prebendary of exeter cathedral; admitted vicar of collumpton, co. devon, th feb. , on the presentation of roger mallack of exeter, esq. living there in , then styled b.d., and late fellow of king's college; d.d.; minister of st. peter's-le-poor, broad street, london, in . died before . the following were his published works: "the worthy communicant rewarded, &c.; a sermon in exeter cathedral, st april, . to. london, . dedicated to dr. peterson, dean of exeter." "papisto-mastix: or deborah's prayer against god's enemies, a sermon on judges, v. . to. london, ." "the crowne of righteousness, &c.; a funeral sermon at st. botolph's aldersgate, sept. , , for mr. abraham wheelock, b.d., &c. to. london, ." the registers of pitminster and collumpton would perhaps assist in tracing the descendants of these worthies, whose name still exists near exeter. fuller, under "bedfordshire," gives some further particulars. the works above-mentioned may almost all, i think, be found in the bodleian. j. d. s. balliolensis will find an account of "william sclater," whom he rightly supposes to have been at eton and king's, in harwood's _alumni etonensis_, p. ., under the year , eliz. he will there see that he died , in the fifty-first year of his age, and was the author of _comment on the romans and thessalonians_; _sermons at st. paul's cross_; and the _treatise on tithes_, styled _the minister's portion_. under occurs "john sclater." from a ms. account it is stated, "john sclater, b.d., , rector of holford, somerset; then of church lawford, warwick. (see _dugdale_.) query, if ejected ? if so, his farewell sermon in collection a." (see too _harwood_, p. .) under occurs "william sclater," at p. . of _harwood_, probably a mistake for . in ms. under appears "william sclater, son of w. s. of , of pitminster, somerset, where his father was v.; r. of st. steph., exon.; d.d. ; minister of st. peter le poor, broad street. (see _engl. worth._, vo., p. .) pr. of exon., sept. , . (see _walker_, ob. . see _wood_.)" edward kellet occurs in _harwood_ under , { } p. . the account of his works given there agrees with the extract from the _gentleman's magazine_. it is also stated that he was the author of a sermon entitled _a return from argier, preached at minehead, march , , on the re-admission of a relapsed christian into our church, on gal._ v. .: london, , to, and that he was a sufferer from the rebellion. in harwood he is described as rector of bagborough and crocombe, and canon of exeter. the ms. account is very short. he is there described as "r. of rowbarrow, som.; can. of exon.--see his works in _wood_." j. h. l. * * * * * birthplace of st. patrick. (vol. v., p. .). from the following extracts i send in answer to your correspondent ceyrep, there seems to be very great doubt if st. patrick ever existed in reality, but that we ought rather to place him in the same category with st. amphibalus, st. denis, &c. dr. ledwich relates that-- "in usuard's, and the _roman martyrology_, bishop patrick, of auvergne, is placed at the th day of march, and on the same day the office of the lateran canons, approved by pius v., celebrates the festival of a patrick, the apostle of ireland. the th of march is dedicated to patrick, bishop of nola. had not dr. maurice, then, the best reasons for supposing that patricus auvernensis sunk a day lower in the calendar, and made for the irish a patricius hibernensis? this seems exactly to be the case. it is very extraordinary the th and th of march should have three patricks, one of auvergne, another of ireland, and a third of nola! the antiquities of glastonbury record three patricks, one of auvergne, another archbishop of ireland, and a third an abbot. the last, according to a martyrology cited by usher, went on the mission to ireland, a.d. , but was unsuccessful: he returned and died at glastonbury. if all that is now advanced be not a fardel of monkish fictions, which it certainly is, the last patrick was the man who was beatified by the bigoted anglo-saxons, for his endeavours to bring the irish to a conformity with the romish church." dr. aikin remarks upon this-- "the author now ventures upon the bold attempt of annihilating st. patrick. it is an undoubted fact, that this saint is not mentioned in any author, or in any work of veracity, in the fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth centuries. his name is in bede's _martyrology_; but it is more than probable that that martyrology is not bede's: nor can it be conceived that bede, in his other works, should never notice the signal service rendered by patrick to the roman church, and the signal miracles wrought by him in its behalf, if he had ever heard of them; for the old venerabilis was zealously devoted to that church and its mythology." the saint certainly vanishes into "an airy nothing," if we are to credit the above authors. i have also consulted ware, a roman catholic writer, author of the _antiquitates hibernicæ_, and nowhere can i find a trace of st. patrick's birthplace, although he is frequently mentioned. in his seventh chapter he says, "sancti præcipui hibernici seculi quinti, qui euangelium in hibernia prædicærunt, fuerunt palladius, patricius," and many others. the twenty-sixth chapter entitled "monasteriologia hibernica, sive diatriba de hiberniæ coenobiis, in qua origines eorum et aliæ antiquitates aperiuntur," gives the names and titles of the founders of monasteries, as also their dates, and, in speaking of one of them, but in this case specifying no date, relates a curious circumstance as to the building of a church. it may perhaps interest your readers, and i will therefore quote the passage (p. .): "sanctus patricius construxit hoc coenobium canonicis regularibus, eique præfecit abbatem s. dunnium: ecclesiam verò adjecit (juxta jocelinum furnessensem), contra morem receptum, non ab occidente in orientem, sed à septentrione in austrum protensam." this nevertheless hangs upon the reality of a st. patrick. in another part of the same work it is said of a monastery (p. .): "s. dabeocum fundâsse ferunt seculo , vivente s. patricio. alii s. patricium fundatorem volunt." from these quotations it is clear ware treated him as a real actor in irish ecclesiastical affairs; but the two first-named authors appear to set the matter at rest. e. m. r. grantham. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _cabal_ (vol. iv., p. .).--the two quotations from _hudibras_ evidently refer to two different meanings of this word _cabal_. the first, alluding to the ancient cabala, or mysteries, or secrets, from whence _cabalistic_; the second, to its more modern, or political acceptation,--both, however, including the idea of _secrecy_ or _privity_, as opposed to a general participation of knowledge or purpose. it is the latter application of the word to which the inquiry of e. h. d. d., at p. ., vol. iv., refers: and mr. kersley's quotation from a book printed in (p. ., vol. v.), proves its usage in this sense at least seven years before burnet's derivation of the word from the initials of the five chief ministers of charles ii. i do not think that pepys could use the word _cabal_, as applicable to the "king's confidential advisers," _several_ years before burnet derived it from their initials; the ministers in question having been appointed circa . burnet's definition was published in , and pepys was appointed secretary to the admiralty in . blount, in his _glossographia_, rd edition, , says, "we use to say he is not of our _cabal_, that is, he is not received into our { } council, or is not privy to our secrets." cole, in his _english dictionary_, , defines _cabal_, "a secret council:" and bailey derives _caballer_ from _cabaleur_ (french), "a party man" and _to cabal_, from _cabaler_ (french), "to plot together privately, to make parties;" and _cabal_, from "a junto, or private council, a particular party, a set, or gang." i find among my papers a scrap relating to the derivation of the word _whig_. i do not know where i took it from; but the origin which it gives to this much-used word is new to me, and may be to some others of your readers also: "the word whig was given to the liberal party in england by the royalists in cromwell's days, from the initial letters of their motto, 'we hope in god.'" p. t. stoke newington. _portrait of charles mordaunt, earl of peterborough_ (vol. v., p. .).--there is very fine portrait of charles earl of peterborough (the famous earl) at drayton house, in northamptonshire, the ancient seat of the mordaunt family, and which is now in the possession of wm. bruce stopford, esq. j. b. a full-length portrait of the earl of peterborough, by j. b. vanloo, is in the collection of the marquis of exeter at burghley. the picture belonged to the father-in-law of the present owner, the late w. s. poyntz, esq., of midgham. j. p., jr. _the word "oasis"_ (vol. v., p. .).--i beg to inclose mr. temple an instance of the use of the above word in english poetry, it will be found in a poem entitled _hopes of matrimony_, by john holland, author of _sheffield park_, published by francis westley, , and now lies before me. "is there a manly bosom can enfold, a human heart, so withered, dead, and cold, as not to feel, or never to have felt, at genial love's approach, its ices melt? no--in the desert of the dreariest breast, some verdant spot, its presence have contest; though parch'd and bloomless, and as wild as bare, a rill of nature once meander'd there; e'en where arabia's arid waste entombs whole caravans, the green oasis blooms." o[)a]sis will be found also in lemprière's _classical dictionary_, but not in the same sense as above. m. c. r. the word oasis, about which your correspondent h. l. temple inquires, is marked in bailey's edition of facciolati's _latin dictionary_ (in the appendix) o[)a]sis, making the _a_ short. [hebrew: k] _frightened out of his seven senses_ (vol. iv., p. .).--a passage containing the words "seven senses" occurs in the poem of taliesin called _y byd mawr_, or the macrocosm, of which a translation may be found in vol. xxi. p. . of _the british magazine_. the writer of the paper in which it is quoted refers also to the _mysterium magnum_ of jacob boehmen, which teaches "how the soul of man, or his 'inward holy body,' was compounded of _the seven properties_ under the influence of the seven planets:"-- "i will adore my father, my god, my supporter, who placed, throughout my head the soul of my reason, and made for my perception _my seven faculties_, of fire, and earth, and water, and air, and mist, and flowers, and the southerly wind, _as it were seven senses of reason_ for my father to impel me: with the first i shall be animated, with the second i shall touch, with the third i shall cry out, with the fourth i shall taste, with the fifth i shall see, with the sixth i shall hear, with the seventh i shall smell; and i will maintain that _seven_ skies there are over the astrologer's head," &c. w. fraser. _eagles' feathers_ (vol. v., p. .).--the author quoted alludes to pliny, _nat. hist._ b. x. c. .: "aquilarum pennæ mixtas reliquarum alitum pennas devorant." k. the allusion concerning which _arncliffe_ inquires is explained by the following passage in _a thousand notable things of sundarie sorts, &c._, printed by john haviland, mdcxxx. "Æligus writes, that the quilles or pennes of an eagle, mixt with the quilles or pennes of other fowles or birds, doth consume or waste them with their odour, smell or aire."--p. . edward peacock, jun. bottesford moors. _arms of thompson_ (vol. v., p. .).--it may be interesting perhaps to jaytee to know that i have a book-plate with the arms described: "per pale, ardent and sable, a fess embattled between three falcons, countercharged, belled or." underneath is engraved, "william thompson, of humbleton, in yorkshire, esq., ." the crest, a sinister arm in armour, grasping a broken lance, on a torse of the colours. spes. _spick and span-new_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in dutch, _spyker_ means a warehouse, a magazine: and _spange_ (spangle) means anything shining { } and thus _spick_ and _span-new_ means, shining new from the _warehouse_. (see tooke's _div. of purley_, vol. i. p. .) this, with the guesses of wachter and ihre, may be seen by your correspondent in richardson. q. _junius rumours_ (vol. v., pp. . . .).--"n. & q." contains abundant speculation about the "vellum-bound" to which your correspondent refers (p. .). some persons, i know, consider it doubtful whether the printer did have a copy bound in vellum as junius directed, and they strengthen their doubts by, as they assert, no such copy having ever been met with. mr. cramp, on the contrary, maintains that such copies are so common that the printer must have taken the junius copy as a pattern. as mr. cramp, i observe, is become a correspondent of "n. & q.," i will take leave to direct his attention to the question asked by v. b. (vol. iii., p. .) others, again, assuming that the printer did have a copy specially bound for junius, think it doubtful whether it ever reached him. of these differences and speculations your correspondent is evidently unaware; and he therefore raises a question as if it were new, which has been under discussion for thirty years. as a set-off, however, he favours us with an entirely original anecdote, so original, that neither the anecdote nor the tea-service were ever heard of by h. s. woodfall's family. yet it must be admitted that his story has all the characteristics of authenticity--names, dates, places. i know, indeed, but one objection, viz. that mr. woodfall never was "in prison on account of the publication of these redoubtable letters." he was tried, but _acquitted_, under the somewhat celebrated verdict of "guilty of printing and publishing _only_." t. s. w. _cuddy, the ass_ (vol. v., p. .).--jamieson is sometimes very absurd; but in my edition of his _dictionary_ (edinburgh, ), i do not find the _hindoo_ root for _cuddy_ which you attribute to him. i only find: "cuddie, an ass--probably a cant term;" with a reference to the _lothian_ dialect. but if it be worth while to answer such questions, i would remind the inquirer that in northumberland, and the adjoining districts of scotland, _cuddie_ is the contraction of the very common name of _cuthbert_ (_teste_ "cuddie headrig"); and that as the ass is called in other districts "ned" and "neddy," and in others again "dick" and "dicky," so he is called in northumberland _cuddie_ by a name familiar in the locality. everywhere the male is called "jack," and the female "jenny;" are these also derived from the hindoostanee? c. _the authorship of the epigram upon the letter "h"_ (vol. v., p. .).--i observe that a controversy has lately been carried on in your columns upon the authorship of the celebrated enigma on the letter _h_. permit me, as one well acquainted with the circumstances, to corroborate the statement of e. h. y. the epigram in question was written at the deepdene, the seat of the late thomas hope, esq., by miss catharine fanshawe, in the year , as is recorded in the heading of the original ms. of it contained in a contemporary _deepdene album_ still existing. you may rely upon the authenticity of this information, which proceeds from one acquainted with the volume in question and its history. b. p. _john rogers, protomartyr, &c._--the reply to my inquiry, as to the present descendants of this celebrated divine, which appeared in "n. & q," vol. v., p. ., is scarcely sufficient for the genealogical purpose for which i required the information; but i am not the less obliged to e. d. for the attention given to my request; and i should esteem it a favour to be further informed where i could procure a complete genealogical account of the family--to what county the martyr belonged, or if other descendants survive besides those mentioned by e. d.? john rogers, gentleman, buried in the nave of st. sepulchre's church, london, , was a native of wales. i should feel grateful for any information, either in "n. & q." or directed to me. joseph knight. aylestone hall, leicestershire. "_gee-ho_" (vol. ii., p. .).--_ge_ is undoubtedly "go;" and _a-hit_ or _hayt_ (common with waggoners in notts) is "yate," "gyate," or "gate." gang your gate. q. _twises_ (vol. ii., p. .).--"fr. _estuy_; a sheath case, or box to put things in, and more particularly a case of little instruments, or sizzars, bodkin, penknife, &c., now commonly called _ettwee_."--_cotgrave._ shenstone enumerates, among the temptations to drain the purse: "the cloud-wrought canes, the gorgeous snuff-boxes, the twinkling jewels, the gold _etwee_, with all its bright inhabitants." _economy_, part ii. q. _ancient timber town-halls_ (vol. v., pp. . . .).--during a visit to sudbury in suffolk in , i was much struck with the old quaint-looking timber building used for corporate purposes, called the moot hall; i made a rude pen-and-ink sketch of the principal front. on a subsequent visit i found this building was standing, but that it had ceased to be used, a new town-hall having been erected. since then i hear that the moot hall has been pulled down and its site thrown into the market-place. if i recollect rightly, the principal window of twelve lights was unglazed. c. h. cooper. { } _johnny crapaud_ (vol. v., p. .).--when the french took the city of aras from the spaniards, under louis xiv., after a long and a most desperate siege, it was remembered that nostradamus had said: "les anciens crapauds prendront sara. the ancient toads shall sara take." this line was then applied to that event in this very roundabout manner. sara is aras backward. by the ancient toads were meant the french: as that nation formerly had for its armorial bearings three of those odious reptiles, instead of the three flowers de luce which it now bears. (seward's _anecdotes_, vol. i. p. .) nostradamus died in . c. b. _juba issham_ (vol. v., p. .).--the signature is two names. the first needs no explanation; juba, in _cato_, is the lover of marcia: the second may merely mean that the first is assumed, or false. we have such a surname as isham, but it is spelt with one _s_ only. c. b. _optical phenomenon_ (vol. v., p. .).--the circumstance mentioned by your correspondent is only one instance of a very familiar fact, that sight is rendered clearer by diminishing the quantity of rays, which might confuse one another. some for that purpose look between two fingers brought near. others nearly close their eyes, &c. c. b. _bishop of london's house_ (vol. v., p. .).--in the _wards of london_, by h. thomas, , vol. i. p. ., we are told that-- "the great fire of london having destroyed the palace of the bishop of london, which was near st. paul's cathedral, this house [peter house, which stood on the west side, about the middle of aldersgate street] was purchased for the city mansion of the prelates of the diocese, one of whom only resided there, bishop henchman, who died there, and was buried at fulham, a.d. . it was then called london house, and, being subsequently deserted, was let out into private tenements until ; when it was entirely destroyed by fire while in the occupation of mr. seddon, an upholsterer and cabinet-maker." a large brick building now covers the site, and retains the name of "london house." it is occupied by mr. h. burton, builder. in the work above quoted i find no mention of a residence of the bishops of london in bishopsgate. i therefore conclude that the one i have alluded to, is that respecting which your correspondent wishes to learn. tee bee. "_inveni portum_" (vol. v., pp. . .).--"actum ne agas" is generally a safe motto, and a particularly safe one when so learned a scholar as mr. singer has preceded. however, it may do no harm to mention, that since the query occurred in the "n. & q." i have met with two quotations of a very analogous kind. the first is given as a quotation, and may be found at the end of george sandys' _divine poems_, ,--"jam tetigi portum ---- valete." the second may be found amongst the _poems_ of walter haddon, and refers to something more ancient still: "_in obitum n. pointzi equitis,_ _ex anglico clarissimi viri th. henneagii._ per medios mundi strepitus, cæcosque tumultus, turbida transegi tempora, pointzus eques. nullus erat terror, qui pectora frangere posset, mens mea perpetuo quod quereretur, erat. _nunc teneo portum, valeant ludibria mundi_, vita perennis ave, vita caduca vale." rt. warmington. _"cane decane," &c._ (vol. v., p. ).--i cannot inform your correspondent who was the author of the punning couplet-- "cane decane, canis; sed ne cane, cane decane, de cane, de canis, cane decane, cane." but i think that he has injured the spirit of the original in his "_free_ translation." _decanus_ means a "dean," not a deacon: and the word _canis_, which is both masculine and _feminine_, was often used by the poets in a _metaphorical_ sense. it seems to me that the author was alluding to some aged _dignitary_ of his day, who had been in the habit of singing songs upon _the ladies_. i therefore submit to you my _more free_ translation: . "dean hoare! you sung, of yore, o'er and o'er, molly ashore. . now, shut the door; and of such lore sing no more, dean hoare!" bavius. these lines are cited by mr. sandys in the introduction to his _specimens of macaronic poetry_, and are there attributed to professor porson. william bates. birmingham. _fides carbonarii_ (vol. iv., pp. . .).--in reply to querist as to this saying, e. h. d. d. states that it originated in an anecdote told by dr. milner, or some other controversial writer. a coal-porter being asked what he believed, replied, "what the church believes:" and being asked what the church believed, replied, "what i believe." now i find the same meaning given by henry { } de bellingen, in his _etym. des prov. français_, printed at the hague, . his words, as quoted by leroux de lincy, are as follow: "on fait un conte qui a donné l'origine à ce proverbe. un charbonnier estant enquis par le diable de ce qu'il croyait, luy respondit: 'toujours je crois ce que l'église croit.' de là est venu que lorsqu'on a voulu marquer qu'un homme avait une foi ferme, mais sans science, on a dit: 'la foi du charbonnier.'" also, in p. j. le roux's _dictionnaire comique_, : "_la foi du charbonnier._ quand on parle d'une foi implicite, qui fait croire à un chrétien en général tout ce que l'église croit." in landais' _dictionary_, to.: "_la foi du charbonnier_, foi simple et aveugle qui ne raisonne pas." philip s. king. _the book of jasher_ (vol. v., p. .).--i have a translation of a work thus named. it was published by noah and gould, . nassau street, new york, . the publisher's preface mentions illive's work as "a miserable fabrication;" claims, as the original of his own, a book "said to have been discovered in jerusalem at its capture by titus," and preserved at venice, . it also speaks of the "owner and translator" as resident in england. i have a vague idea that i heard from new york, at the time i received my volume, that the duke of sussex had possessed a copy of the book of jasher, and that some steps had been taken towards the translation by order of his royal highness. i mention this merely to lead inquiry: i cannot trust my memory as to the verbal expression of a friend so many years ago. i have long wished the book of jasher to obtain a fair hearing, and a more critical examination than i am qualified to make; and i shall be happy to lend it to your correspondent l. l. l. in furtherance of what i think an act of justice. f. c. b. _sites of buildings mysteriously changed_ (vol. v., p. .).--perhaps w. h. k. may deem the following account of the foundation of bideford _bridge_ near enough to his purpose: "before whose erection the breadth and roughness of the river was such, as it put many in jeopardy: some were drowned, to the great grief of the inhabitants, who did therefore divers times, and in sundry places, begin to build a bridge; but no firm foundation, after often proof being found, their attempts came to no effect. at which time sir richard gornard was priest of the place, who (as the story of that town hath it) was admonished by a vision in his sleep, to set on the foundation of a bridge near a rock, which he should find rowled from the higher grounds upon the strand. this he esteemed but a dream; yet, to second the same with some art, in the morning he found a huge rock there fixed, whose greatness argued it the work of god; which not only bred admiration, but incited him to set forwards so charitable a work: who eftsoons, with sir theobald grenvile, knight, lord of the land, an especial furtherer and benefactor of that work, founded the bridge there, now to be seen, which for length, and number of arches, equalizeth, if not excelleth, all others in england," &c.--risdon's _survey of devon_, s. v. bideford. the traditions relating to st. cuthbert and the foundation of durham cathedral are too well known to find a place in "n. & q." j. sansom. _wyned_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--read _joined_ for _wyned_: "divers parcels of joined waynescott, windowes, and other implements of household," _i. e._ wainscot of joiner's work. i have no doubt this is the true reading, having once made the very same mistake myself in reading and printing an inventory of this period. spes. _sweet willy o_ (vol. v., p. ).--this song was written by garrick for the jubilee in honour of shakspere, which was held at stratford-upon-avon in , and was sung on that occasion by mrs. baddeley. it is printed in _shakespeare's garland_, ; in the _poetical works of david garrick_, ; and in the _history of stratford_, . bolton corney. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. we have received from messrs. rivington, four volumes of their new and complete edition of _the works and correspondence of the right honourable edmund burke_, and we do not know that a more valuable contribution could be made to our stores of historical and political literature, than this handsome collection of the writings of one whom sir robert peel pronounced "the most profound of the philosophic statesmen of modern times." dear to all lovers of literature as must be the memory of burke, the friend of johnson, who declared, "he was the only man whose common conversation corresponded with the fame which he had in the world," and of goldsmith, who complained that-- "he to party gave up what was meant for mankind;" and that he ... "too deep for his hearers still went on refining, and thought of convincing, while they thought of dining;"-- the present aspect of the political world compels us to look at him rather as a politician than as a man of letters. considering, therefore, not only the profoundly philosophical character of his political works, but also the elevated tone of political morality which is displayed in the writings of edmund burke--a wisdom and a morality rendered still more attractive by the unrivalled eloquence with which they are enunciated--the present handsome and cheap collection of { } those writings is alike creditable to the enterprise of the publishers, and well calculated to exercise a beneficial influence upon the political condition of the country. it would indeed be well if all who aspire to seats in the new parliament would fit themselves for such positions by a study of the writings of edmund burke. mr. willis has just issued a neat reprint of what has now become a very scarce volume, _the poetry of the anti-jacobin_, a work which may be regarded as a model of political satire. it is accompanied by occasional notes elucidating allusions now become obscure through lapse of time, and the blanks in the text have been filled up with the names of the various persons introduced or alluded to. some attempt has also been made to identify the various authors by whom the several articles were written; but we are surprised to find this so imperfectly executed, for when the editor speaks of the authorship being in many cases mere matter of conjecture, it is clear that he did not know of the very curious, and, we may add, authentic list, furnished to the third volume (p. .) of this journal by mr. hawkins of the british museum; who has also given a history of the work, and of the manner in which it was conducted, which ought to have been made use of. books received.--_legal iambics in prose, suggested by the present chancery crisis_, a quaint discourse, in which there is no small learning and humour, and to which may be applied, with some variation, gay's well-known epilogue: "our pamphlet has a moral, and no doubt you all have sense enough to find it out." _an essay upon the ghost belief of shakspeare_, by alfred roffe, is a little pamphlet well deserving perusal, in which the author--who holds that ghost belief, rightly understood, is most rational and salutary--endeavours to show that it must have had the sanction of such a thinker as shakspeare.--_rome in the nineteenth century, containing a complete account of the ruins of the ancient city, the remains of the middle ages, and the monuments of modern times_, by charlotte a. eaton. _fifth edition_, vol. i., the new issue of bohn's _illustrated library_, with its thirty-four engraved illustrations, will be found a very useful and instructive guide to the "eternal city."--_the heroides, the amours, art of love, &c., of ovid, translated_ (with the judicious exception of the more questionable passages, which are left in the original latin), forming the new volume of bohn's _classical library_. in his _standard library_ we have now the fifth and concluding volume of what has been well described as "the enthralling biographies of vasari." thus for considerably less than one pound has the english lover of art the means of possessing one of the most interesting and instructive works on the subject of his favourite study ever produced. the work deserves, and, we trust, will meet with a very wide circulation. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. boothby's sorrows sacred to the memory of penelope. cadell and davies. . chaucer's poems. vol. i. aldine edition. biblia sacra, vulg. edit., cum commentar. menochii. alost and ghent, . vol. i. barante, ducs de bourgogne. vols. i. and ii. st, nd, or rd edit. paris. ladvocat, . biographia americana, by a gentleman of philadelphia. potgieseri de conditione servorum apud germanos. vo. col. agrip. the british poets. whittingham's edition in vols., with plates. repository of patents and inventions. vol. xlv. nd series. . ---- vol. v. rd series. . nicholson's philosophical journal. vols. xiv. xv. . journal of the royal institution of great britain. no. xi. nd series. sorocold's book of devotions. works of isaac barrow, d.d., late master of trinity college, cambridge. london, . vol. i. folio. lingard's history of england. vols. vi. vii. viii. ix. xii. xiii., cloth. fabricii bibliotheca latina. ed. ernesti. leipsig, . vol. iii. the anacalypsis. by godfrey higgins. vols. to. codex diplomaticus Ævi saxonici, opera j. m. kemble. vols. i. and ii. vo. eckhel, doctrina numorum. vol. viii. brougham's men of letters. nd series, royal vo., boards. original edition. knight's pictorial shakspeare. royal vo, parts xlii. xliii. xliv. l. and li. conder's analytical view of all religions. vo. halliwell on the dialects of somersetshire. sclopetaria, or remarks on rifles, &c. gems from the british poets, vols., tyas, may be had on application to the publisher. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. replies received.--_newtonian system--portrait of earl of northumberland--solmonath--thomas fauconberge--nelson family--poems in the spectator--pardons under the great seal--cheshire cat--meaning of royde--dodo query--men of kent and kentish men--swearing on a skull--st. christopher--deferred executions--frebord--corrupted names of places--cane decane--poem on the burning of the houses of parliament--meaning of penkenol--ralph winterton--bee park--plague stones--lines on woman--ring finger--sneezing--binnacle--rhymes on places--martinique--richard baxter--nashe's terrors of the night--anthony babington--the miller's melody--irish titles of honour--epitaphs--emaciated monumental effigies--oasis--sweet woodruff--university hoods--exeter controversy._ w. b. (birmingham) _is thanked. our columns are at present too crowded to allow of our availing ourselves of his kind offer._ c. m. c. _we do not believe that there is any published life of the king of the belgians._ t. c. (boston). _caxton's_ golden legend _was printed in , and certainly not reprinted in london in . the latter date must be a misprint for the former._ j. n. o., _who inquires respecting the oft-quoted line_-- "tempora mutantur," &c. _is referred to our_ st volume, pp. . and . b. a. (trin. coll. dub.), _near sheffield, shall receive answers to his queries._ vox altera. _will our correspondent specify the communications to which he refers? there is no charge for the insertion of queries._ balliolensis. _the letter of our correspondent has been forwarded._ _neat cases for holding the numbers of_ "n. & q." _until the completion of each volume are now ready, price s. d., and may be had_ by order _of all booksellers and newsmen_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. * * * * * { } new american publications on sale by sampson low, . fleet street. * * * * * i. the history of the united states of america. by richard hildreth. vols. royal vo. "it has condensed into consecutive narrative the substance of hundreds of volumes."--_literary gazette._ ii. the pictorial field-book of the american revolution; or, illustrations by pen and pencil of the history, biography, scenery, and traditions. vol. i., royal vo. with several hundred engravings. iii. the war with mexico. by r. s. ripley, brevet-major in the u.s. army. with maps, plans of battles, &c. vols. vo. iv. forest life and forest trees: comprising winter camp life among the loggers, and wild wood adventure. by john s. springer. post vo. with woodcuts. v. glimpses of spain; or, notes of an unfinished tour. by s. t. wallis. vol. post vo. vi. sixteen months at the gold diggings. by daniel b. wood. vol. post vo. vii. a system of ancient and mediÆval geography. by charles anthon, ll.d. vol. vo. viii. the shipmaster's assistant and commercial digest: containing information necessary for merchants, owners, and masters of ships. by joseph blunt, counselor-at-law. vo., law calf. ix. benjamin franklin: an autobiography. with a narrative of his public life and services. by the rev. hastings weld. with many beautiful illustrations. vo. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * very important collection of manuscripts and autograph letters. six days' sale. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on thursday, june , and five following days, sunday excepted, a very important collection of historical manuscripts, arranged as follow, viz.: on june rd, a most interesting collection of documents relating to french history from louis xiv. to the present time, including many interesting autographs; on june th and th, an extensive and highly valuable collection of english charters and deeds from an early date, many having beautiful seals, relating to nearly every english county, anglo-norman charters, &c.: on june th, a collection of manuscripts relating chiefly to english biography and family history, curious navy papers, and many articles of interest connected with english and foreign history and literature; on june th and th, a very important and interesting collection of autograph letters, including english royal autographs of great rarity, letters of authors, artists, and other celebrities, the whole in the finest preservation. catalogues of each division may be had separately, or the whole will be sent on receipt of six postage stamps. * * * * * sixth portion of the extensive and valuable library of thomas jolley, esq., f.s.a. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on tuesday, june , and four following days, the sixth portion of the extensive, singularly curious, and valuable library of thomas jolley, esq., f.s.a., comprising the second division of works illustrative of the history, language, and literature of england, ireland, and america; scarce voyages and travels; rare english poetical and dramatic literature; early english theology; controversial tracts, &c. catalogues may be had, or will be sent on receipt of six postage stamps. * * * * * legal iambics. this day is published in vo. price s. stitched, legal iambics in prose, suggested by the present chancery crisis. by a chancery barrister. stevens & norton, law booksellers and publishers, . bell yard, lincoln's inn. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for june contains the following articles:-- . gustavus vasa. . english grammar. . christian iconography: the dove. . macaronic poetry. . wanderings of an antiquary, by thomas wright, f.s.a.: the roman town of lymne (with engravings). . monetary affairs after the revolution of . . status of the jews. . country book clubs. . architectural nomenclature, by mr. edmund sharpe. . indulgence cups at york and lynn: with correspondence of sylvanus urban, on various subjects; notes of the month. reviews of new publications, historical chronicle, and obituary, including memoirs of the grand duke of baden, lord dynevor, lord wenlock, right hon. sir henry russell, sir wm. keir grant, major-gen. reid, m.p., john george children, esq., thomas haviland burke, esq., john dalrymple, esq., rev. philip dodd, &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & son, parliament street. * * * * * mourning.--court, family, and complimentary.--the proprietor of the london general mourning warehouse begs respectfully to remind families whose bereavements compel them to adopt mourning attire, that every article of the very best description, requisite for a complete outfit of mourning, may be had at this establishment at a moment's notice. estimates for servants' mourning, affording a great saving to families, are furnished; whilst the habitual attendance of experienced assistants (including dressmakers and milliners), enables them to suggest or supply every necessary for the occasion, and suited to any grade or condition of the community. widows' and family mourning is always kept made up, and a note, descriptive of the mourning required, will insure its being sent forthwith either in town or into the country, and on the most reasonable terms. w. c. jay, - . regent street. * * * * * to coin collectors, &c.--a catalogue of coins and medals, among which are included early english and scotch silver coins, saxon pennies, choice bronze medals, roman dennarii, &c., with prices affixed, will be sent gratis and post free to any gentlemen who forwards his address to fred. lincoln (son of w. s. lincoln), cheltenham house, westminster road, london. * * * * * { } just published a new edition, corrected and improved, in one volume, royal vo. (pp. ), price s. cloth, a copious and critical latin-english lexicon, founded on the larger german-latin lexicon of dr. william freund: with additions and corrections from the lexicons of gesner, facciolati, scheller, georges, &c. by e. a. andrews, ll.d., &c. * * * * * in reviewing this lexicon, the _athenæum_ says-- "in conclusion, we are glad to have an opportunity of introducing so excellent a work to the notice of our classical and philological readers. it has all that true german _gründlichkeit_ about it which is so highly appreciated by english scholars. rarely, if ever, has so vast an amount of philological information been comprised in a single volume of this size. the knowledge which it conveys of the earlier and later latin is not to be gathered from ordinary latin dictionaries.... with regard to the manner in which it is got up, we can speak most favourably. every page bears the impress of industry and care. the type is clear, neat, and judiciously varied." the literary gazette says-- "we have examined this book with considerable attention, and have no hesitation in saying it is the best dictionary of the latin language that has appeared." the spectator says-- "an elaborate fulness and completeness, while everything is quite clear, are the characteristics of this work,--rendering it the best latin dictionary for the scholar or advanced student." the examiner says-- "dr. andrews has a claim to our gratitude for his translation, not simply on the ground of his faithful retention of the excellencies of dr. freund, but also for much correction and some additions. in the large vo. pages which form the volume before us, all the most valuable arrangements of detail have been compressed. it remains for us only to add that we never saw such a book published at such a price." *** "in consequence of a strict adherence to this rule, the present work is distinguished from every manual latin-english lexicon heretofore published, not only by the number of authorities cited, but by its full reference in every case, both to the name of the classical author, and to the particular treatise, book, section, or line of his writings, in which the passage referred to is to be found." * * * * * london: sampson low, . fleet street. oxford: j. h. parker. cambridge: macmillan & co. * * * * * photography.--j. b. hockin & co., operative chemists, . strand, manufacture all the pure chemicals used in this art; also apparatus for the glass, paper, and daguerreotype processes. achromatic lens and camera from s. instruction in the art. agents for "archer's iodized collodion and improved camera," which obviates the necessity for a dark room. electrotyping in all its branches. * * * * * now ready, the third edition, price s. cloth, or s. d. by post, a word to the wise, or hints on the current improprieties of expression in writing and speaking. by parry gwynne. "all who wish to mind their p's and q's should consult this little volume."--_gentleman's magazine._ "may be advantageously consulted by even the well educated."--_athenæum._ grant & griffith, corner of st. paul's churchyard. * * * * * catalogue de dix mille ouvrages, anciens et modernes ( - ), offerts aux bibliophiles aux prix indiqués, par a. asher & co., berlin. copies of this catalogue, comprising an extraordinary assemblage of books in theology, history, geography, languages, &c. &c., are to be had of mr. d. nutt, . strand, london; free by post for six stamps. * * * * * now ready, in mo. price s. a new edition of the poetry of the anti-jacobin, comprising the celebrated political and satirical poems, parodies, and jeux d'esprit of the right hon. g. canning, w. gifford, the right hon. j. h. frere, g. ellis, esq., marquis wellesley and other eminent literary and political characters. illustrated with notes. the difficulty of procuring copies of this celebrated work, which has never been surpassed for wit, humour, and cutting satire, together with the numerous applications continually made to the publisher for it, has induced him to issue a new and revised edition, with explanatory notes. g. willis, great piazza, covent garden. * * * * * book plates.--heraldic queries answered; family arms found, and every information afforded. drawing of arms, s. d.; painting ditto, s.; book plate crest, s.; arms, &c. from s.; crest on card plate, and one hundred cards, s.; queries answered for s. saxon, mediæval, and modern style book plates. the best authorities and ms. books of thirty-five years' practice consulted. heraldic stamps for linen or books, with reversed cyphers and crests. apply, if by letter, enclosing stamps or post-office order, to james friswell (son-in-law to j. rumley, publisher of "the crest book," "heraldic illustrations"). heraldic engraver, . brooke street, holborn. * * * * * bohn's standard library for june. butler's analogy of religion, and sermons, with analytical introductions and notes, by a member of the university of oxford. portrait. post vo. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , and . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for june. the comedies of plautus, literally translated into english prose, with copious notes, by h. t. riley, b.a. post vo. complete in vols. vol. i. s. henry g. bohn, , , and . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's scientific library for june. humboldt's personal narrative of his travels in america. vol. ii. post vo. (to be completed in vols.) s. henry g. bohn, , , and . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's illustrated library for june. rome in the nineteenth century. fifth edition, revised by the author, with a copious index, complete in vols., illustrated by fine steel engravings. vol. ii. price s. henry g. bohn, , , and . york street, covent garden. * * * * * books recently printed at the university press, oxford. * * * * * eusebii pamphili evangelicÆ demonstrationis libri decem cum versione latina donati veronensis. recensuit thomas gaisford, s.t.p. Ædis christi decanus. vols. vo. price l. s. in boards. eusebii pamphili contra hieroclem et marcellum libri. edidit thomas gaisford, s.t.p. Ædis christi decanus. vo. price s. d. in boards. scholia in sophoclis tragoedias septem ex codicibus aucta et emendata. volumen ii. edidit g. dindorfius. vo. price s. d. in boards. enchiridion theologicum anti-romanum. tracts on the points at issue between the churches of england and rome. bishop taylor's dissuasive from popery, in two parts. and his treatise on the real presence and spiritual, &c. a new edition. vo. price s. in boards. bishop burnet's history of the reign of king james the second. notes by the earl of dartmouth, speaker onslow, and dean swift. additional observations now enlarged. vo. price s. d. in boards. sold by john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london; and e. gardner, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * { } books on sale by john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * biographia britannica literaria; or biography of literary characters of great britain and ireland, arranged in chronological order. by thomas wright, m.a., f.s.a., member of the institute of france. thick vols. vo. cloth. vol. i. anglo-saxon period. vol. ii. anglo-norman period. s. each, published at s. each. published under the superintendence of the royal society of literature. guide to archÆology. an archæological index to remains of antiquity of the celtic, romano-british, and anglo-saxon periods. by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary to the society of antiquaries. vol. vo. illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upwards of objects, cloth, s. "one of the first wants of an incipient antiquary is the facility of comparison, and here it is furnished him at one glance. the plates, indeed, form the most valuable part of the book, both by their number and the judicious selection of types and examples which they contain. it is a book which we can, on this account, safely and warmly recommend to all who are interested in the antiquities of their native land."--_literary gazette._ "a book of such utility--so concise, so clear, so well condensed from such varied and voluminous sources--cannot fail to be generally acceptable."--_art union._ coins. an introduction to the study of ancient and modern coins. by j. y. akerman. fcp. vo. with numerous wood engravings, from the original coins, s. d. coins of the romans relating to britain, described and illustrated. by j. y. akerman, f.s.a. second edition, vo. greatly enlarged with plates and woodcut, s. d. cloth. wright's (thos.) essays on the literature, popular superstitions, and history of england in the middle ages. vols. post vo. cloth, s. wright's (thos.) st. patrick's purgatory; an essay on the legends of purgatory, hell, and paradise, current during the middle ages. post vo. cloth, s. lower's (m. a.) essays on english surnames. vols. post vo. third edition, greatly enlarged. cloth, s. lower's curiosities of heraldry, with illustrations from old english writers vo. numerous engravings. cloth, s. heralds' visitations. an index to all the pedigrees and arms in the heraldic visitations and other genealogical mss. in the british museum. by g. sims, of the manuscript department. vo. closely printed in double columns, cloth, s. *** an indispensable book to those engaged in genealogical or topographical pursuits, affording a ready clue to the pedigrees and arms of above , of the gentry of england, their residences, &c. (distinguishing the different families of the same name, in every county), as recorded by the heralds in their visitations, with indexes to other genealogical mss. in the british museum. it has been the work of immense labour. no public library ought to be without it. the nursery rhymes of england, collected chiefly from oral tradition. edited by j. o. halliwell. fourth edition, mo. with designs by w. b. scott. s. d. cloth. popular rhymes and nursery tales, with historical elucidations; a sequel to "the nursery rhymes of england." edited by j. o. halliwell. royal mo. s. d. holbein's dance of death, with an historical and literary introduction by an antiquary. square post vo. with engravings, being the most accurate copies ever executed of these gems of art, and a frontispiece of an ancient bedstead at aix-la-chapelle, with a dance of death carved on it, engraved by fairholt, cloth, s. "the designs are executed with a spirit and fidelity quite extraordinary. they are indeed most truthful."--_athenæum._ a delectus in anglo-saxon, intended as a first class-book in the language. by the rev. w. barnes, of st. john's college, cambridge, author of the poems and glossary in the dorset dialect. mo. cloth, s. d. "to those who wish to possess a critical knowledge of their own native english, some acquaintance with anglo-saxon is indispensable; and we have never seen an introduction better calculated than the present to supply the wants of a beginner in a short space of time. the declensions and conjugations are well stated, and illustrated by references to the greek, latin, french, and other languages. a philosophical spirit pervades every part. the delectus consists of short pieces on various subjects, with extracts from anglo-saxon history and the saxon chronicle. there is a good glossary at the end."--_athenæum, oct. , ._ guide to the anglo-saxon tongue, with lessons in verse and prose, for the use of learners. by e. j. vernon, b.a., oxon. mo. cloth, s. d. *** this will be found useful as a second class-book, or to those well versed in other languages. bosworth's (rev. dr.) compendious anglo-saxon and english dictionary. vo. closely printed in treble columns, cloth, s. "this is not a mere abridgment of the large dictionary but almost an entirely new work. in this compendious one will be found, at a very moderate price, all that is most practical and valuable in the former expensive edition, with a great accession of new words and matter."--_author's preface._ analecta anglo-saxonica. selections in prose and verse from anglo-saxon literature, with an introductory ethnological essay, and notes, critical and explanatory. by louis f. klipstein, of the university of giessen, thick vols. post vo. cloth, s. (original price s.) facts and speculations on the origin and history of playing cards. by w. a. chatto, author of "jackson's history of wood engraving," in one handsome vol. vo. illustrated with many engravings, both plain and coloured, cloth, l. s. "it is exceedingly amusing."--_atlas._ "curious, entertaining, and really learned book."--_rambler._ "indeed the entire production deserves our warmest approbation."--_literary gazette._ "a perfect fund of antiquarian research, and most interesting even to persons who never play at cards."--_tait's mag._ a dictionary of archaic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs from the reign of edward i. by james orchard halliwell, f.r.s., f.s.a., &c. vols. vo. containing upwards of , pages closely printed in double columns, cloth l. s. it contains about , words (embodying all the known scattered glossaries of the english language), forming a complete key to the reading of the works of our old poets, dramatists, theologians, and other authors, whose works abound with allusions, of which explanations are not to be found in ordinary dictionaries and books of reference. most of the principal archaisms are illustrated by examples selected from early inedited mss. and rare books, and by far the greater portion will be found to be original authorities. a little book of songs and ballads, gathered from ancient musick books, ms. and printed. by e. f. rimbault, ll.d., &c. post vo. pp. , half-bound in morocco, s. ----antique ballads, sung to crowds of old, now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold. bibliotheca madrigaliana: a bibliographical account of the music and poetical works published in england in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, under the titles of madrigals, ballets, ayres, canzonets, &c. by dr. rimbault. vo, cloth, s. consuetudines kanciÆ. a history of gavelkind, and other remarkable customs in the county of kent, by charles sandys, esq., f.s.a. (cantianus), illustrated with fac-similes, a very handsome volume, vo. cloth, s. bruce's (rev. j. c.) historical and topographical account of the roman wall from the tyne to the solway. thick vo. plates and wood-cuts, half morocco, l. s. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, may . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * vol. v.--no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page john goodwin's six booksellers' proctor nonsuited, by james crossley mr. collier's folio shakspeare: a passage in "as you like it," by samuel hickson notes on books, no. iii.--laurence humphrey, president of magdalen college, oxford, and dean of winchester, by s. w. singer scoto-gallicisms on a passage in "cymbeline," act iv. sc. ., by s. w. singer old concert bill, by dr. e. f. rimbault minor notes:--note for mr. worsaae--singular epitaph- -largesse--brogue and fetch--taibhse--derivation of "caul"--"pandecte," an entire copy of the bible queries:-- boy bishop at eton "speculum christianorum multa bona continens," w. sparrow simpson massacre of the welsh bards minor queries:--portrait of william combe--"quod non fecerunt barbari," &c.--lines on english history-- windows--angel-beast; cleek; longtriloo--royal arms in churches--"cease, rude boreas"--pictorial proverbs-- inscription on george inn, wansted--learned man referred to by rogers--mormonism and spalding's romance--carrs or calves--stoup--casper ziegler and the diaconate--inscription at persepolis--"i do not know what the truth may be"--twittens--clapper gate-- jemmy--muffs worn by gentlemen replies:-- st. patrick, by d. rock, &c. nashe's "terrors of the night" serjeant's rings the old countess of desmond a few things about richard baxter, by cuthbert bede st. botulph sir richard pole, the father of cardinal pole proclamations to prohibit the use of coal, by f. somner merryweather ralph winterton replies to minor queries:--family of bullen--wallington's journal--the amber witch--twyford--the ring finger-- brass of lady gore--gospel trees--"who from the dark and doubtful love to run"--son of the conqueror; walter tyrrel--sir gilbert gerrard--fides carbonarii--line on franklin--meaning of royd as an addition to yorkshire names--binnacle--plague stones--ramasshed--yankee doodle--"chords that vibrate," &c.--derivation of martinique--anthony babington, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. john goodwin's six booksellers' proctor nonsuited. the london booksellers of the present day (good harmless men!) are satisfied with endeavouring to put down heresies as to discounts. their predecessors, in the year , set to work in good earnest, associated to purify the faith by denouncing in an index expurgatorius, under the alarming titles of _a beacon set on fire_, and _a second beacon set on fire_, all publications of a blasphemous, heretical, or improper kind. six booksellers, viz. luke fawne, samuel gellibrand, joshua kirton, john rothwell, thomas underhill, and nathaniel webb, took the lead on the occasion; and the battle waxed hot and fierce between them and the apologists of the books condemned. amongst the latter was the famous john goodwin, whose part in the controversy mr. jackson, in his elaborate life of him, has adverted to, and has noticed his pamphlet entitled _the high presbyterian spirit_, written in answer to the _second beacon fired_. john goodwin, however, published a second pamphlet in the same controversy, neither noticed by mr. jackson, nor any one else that i am aware of, in which he finishes up his first charge upon the unfortunate booksellers, and lays on them with a vigour and determination that it does one good to see so well bestowed, scattering their arguments and quotations to the winds, and sending them back to their proper occupation of printing and publishing, instead of clipping and suppressing. the title of this very rare pamphlet, which is to be found in vol. xviii. of a collection of tracts (between and ) in ninety-six vols. to., made by president bradshaw, and containing many of his ms. notes and observations now in my possession, is as follows: "six booksellers' proctor nonsuited, wherein the gross falsifications and untruths, together with the inconsiderate and weak passages found in the apologie for the said booksellers, are briefly noted and evicted. and the said booksellers proved so unworthy both in their second beacon fired, and likewise in their epistle written in defence of it, that they are out of the protection of any christian or reasonable apologie for either. by j. g., a minister of the gospel of { } jesus christ. london printed for h. cripps and l. lloyd, , to., pages ." i might give an extract or two from this very interesting tract, but do not wish to trespass too much upon your space. perhaps, next to milton, there is no writer of the time of the commonwealth equal to john goodwin, in power and elevation of composition; and i am glad therefore to be able to add one more to the series of his pamphlets which his biographer has with so much industry and research enumerated at the close of the life. jas. crossley. * * * * * mr. collier's folio shakspeare: a passage in "as you like it." it appears to me so obvious that the degree of authority to be conceded to each particular correction or emendation in mr. collier's folio shakspeare must depend in a great measure on the general character of the proposed alterations throughout the work, that i cannot help thinking it would be desirable to reserve all controversy on such points until after the appearance of the promised volume. such a resolution i made for myself, and to it i shall religiously adhere. this much only i shall say, that, of the specimens given by mr. collier in the _athenæum_,--sufficient at once to excite interest and to gratify curiosity,--some of the corrections appear to be of that nature that no conjecture could have supplied, while all are good enough to command a deferential consideration. your correspondent a. e. b. has attempted a defence of the original reading of two passages amended in mr. collier's folio. for the reason above given i shall neither answer your correspondent, nor even say whether i think him right or wrong; but it will not be overstepping the bounds i have prescribed myself, if i take up a collateral point he has raised in reference to one of these passages. to strengthen the case for the reading of the passage in _cymbeline_, act iii. sc. ., "whose mother was her painting," he cites a passage from _as you like it_, act iii. sc. ., in which he says, "_mother_ is directly used as a sort of warranty of female beauty!" here is the passage: "who might be your mother, that you insult, exult, and all at once, over the wretched?" shakspeare was, if i am not mistaken, one of those persons to whom a _mother_ was, as some one expresses it, "the holiest thing alive." he concentrates this sentiment in the words of troilus (_troilus and cressida_, act v. sc. .): "let it not be believ'd for womanhood: think we had mothers." and again, in those of palamon (which i have no doubt are shakspeare's) in the _two noble kinsmen_, act v. sc. .: "i have been harsh to large confessors, and have hotly ask'd them if they had mothers? i had one, a woman, and women t'were they wrong'd." now it seems to me that the same feeling is implied in rosalind's reproof to phebe; and that there is no ground whatever for saying that _mother_ is used as a warranty for _female beauty_, but rather as one for feminine qualities. rosalind in effect says, "who might your mother be that you should be so unfeeling?" and, as she tells her plainly she sees no beauty in her, it is clearly to be inferred that it must have been for some other quality that her mother was to be "warranty." rosalind, in other words, might have said, "had you a mother, a woman, that you can so discredit the character of womanhood as to exult, insult and all at once, over the wretched?" it might however be contended, that rosalind's question referred to the rank, condition, or personal appearance of the mother. the latter only bears upon this question; and with regard to that it may be said, that if beauty had been transmitted to the daughter (independently of the questioner having decided _that_ it had not), the question was not needed. rosalind, in short, seeks for a better cause for phebe's pride or want of feeling than her own insufficient attractions, in the nature or quality of her mother. it will be observed that, in this view, i have conceded that _who_ may be taken with something of the signification of _what_; but the answer to the question, taken strictly, must be the name of some individual who might be known to the querist, and be in some measure a warranty for the disposition of the daughter, though for no personal beauty but her own. samuel hickson. * * * * * notes on books, no. iii.--laurence humphrey, president of magdalen college, oxford, and dean of winchester. in the year a handsome volume was printed at basle, in folio in greek, by jerome frobenius and nicholas episcopius, with the following title: "[greek: keras amaltheias, Ê Ôkeanos. tÔn exÊgÊseÔn ÔmÊrikÔn, ek tôn tou eustatheiou parekbolôn sunêrmosmenôn]--_i.e._ copiæ cornu sive oceanus enarrationum homericarum, ex eustathii in eundem commentariis concinnatarum, hadriano junio autore." to an oxford man, independent of its merit as a compendium of the prolix comment of eustathius, this volume should be especially interesting, on account of the prefatory dissertation "ad { } magdalinenses," entitled _de græcis literis et homeri lectione et imitatione_, by laurence humphrey. this worthy was sometime greek reader in the university, but went abroad on account of religion at the accession of queen mary, and did not return until happier times after her death. he seems to have been living at basle with frobenius and episcopius _in honestissimo loco_, but he could not avoid often thinking of his native land,--of newport-pagnell in bucks, where he was born,--of cambridge, where he received the rudiments of latin and greek,--but more especially of oxford, where he completed his education. his feeling panegyric of his alma mater, shows him to have been at least one of her grateful sons. the dissertation is highly creditable to him, considering the period at which it was written; and the passage in which he gives an account of the work is not devoid of interest. "for the rest we give not homer alone, but the expositor eustathius is subjoined. yet not entire but reduced into a compendium by a man of untiring labour and noble learning--hadrian junius, not unknown to you,--for he lived some time in england, dedicated his greek lexicon to our royal edward the sixth, and has since published the _annals of queen mary_, his _animadversiones_, and _centuries adagiorum_, which issued from the press of frobenius: he also effected this good work. therefore although i had rather have the whole of eustathius than the half, and to say the truth epitomies never pleased me, yet because this author is prolix, and difficult to meet with, this perfect compendium of such an estimable work (which seems to me to be the best interpreter, poetical-elucidator, greek lexicon, and onomasticon), will be useful to any one. i recommend, then, our eustathio-junian homer to you." in laurence humphrey seems to have been still at basle; for in that year he printed at the press of oporinus, in mo., a work which he dedicates to queen elizabeth, entitled _optimates, sive de nobilitate, ejusque antiqua origine, natura, officiis, disciplina, et recta christiana institutione_; at the end of which he printed the argument of philo-judæus, [greek: peri eugeneias], with a latin version. this found favour in the eyes of an english translator, and it was printed at london by thomas marshe in , mo., under the following title:-- "the nobles, or of nobilitye. the original, duties, ryght, and christian institucion thereof, in three bookes. fyrste eloquentlye written in latine by laurence humphrey, d. of divinity and presidente of magdaleine college in oxforde, lately englished. whereto, for the reader's commoditye and matters affinitye, is coupled the small treatyse of philo a jewe. by the same author out of greek latined, now also englished." antony à wood gives a list of the writings of laurence humphrey, among which is a life of bishop jewell in latin: he also speaks highly of his scholarship and proficiency in theology. after his return from abroad he became regius professor of divinity at oxford, and president of his college. in he was made dean of gloucester, and ten years afterward dean of winchester. his divinity was strongly tinctured with calvinism, but he was a zealous and able defender of the reformation. his death occurred in - . s. w. singer. * * * * * scoto-gallicisms. the following list of scottish words derived from the french language is chiefly taken from the pages of the _scottish journal_, a small weekly periodical, published at edinburgh, which came to a conclusion, after rather less than a year's existence, in the summer of . it is generally supposed that most of these words were introduced during the time of queen mary's minority, when french troops were sent to scotland; but the first appearance of some of them may unquestionably be referred to an earlier period. perhaps some of the readers of "n. & q." may be able to communicate other examples, which, however, as a reference to jamieson's _scottish dictionary_ will show, are by no means very numerous. _aschet._ a large flat plate for meat. fr. assiette, a trencher plate. _aumrie_ or _almerie_. a cupboard; also, a place in churches and monasteries where the sacred vessels and alms were deposited. (_dunbar._) fr. armoire, aumonerie. _braw_ or _bra'_. fine, handsome, gaily dressed. (_burns._) fr. brave. _bonaillie._ a parting glass with a friend going a journey. (_wallace._) fr. bon allez. _butterie bejan_ (or _bajan_). a term applied to a "freshman," or student of the first year, at the universities of st. andrews and aberdeen. fr. butor, a booby or clod; and bejaune, a novice. (lamont's _diary_, p. ., note.) _certie_, _certy--by my._ by my troth. fr. certes, certainly. _cummer_ or _kimmer_. a gossip. (_kelly._) fr. commère. _dour._ hard or obstinate. (_douglas._) fr. dur. _fasheous._ troublesome. (_baillie._) fr. facheux, facheuse. _flunkie._ a livery servant. old fr. flanchier; same signification as henchman (haunchman). (_quart. rev._, vol. lxxix. p. .) _fracaw._ noise or uproar. fr. fracas. _gardevine_ or _gurdyveen_. a large bottle, and sometimes a celleret, for holding wine. fr. garde-vin. _gardyloo._ a cry formerly raised by servants in edinburgh, when they threw dirty water, &c. from the windows after ten at night. (_smollett._) fr. garde de l'eau. _goo._ a particular taste or savour. fr. goût. { } _grange._ a granary, &c. (used also in english). fr. grange. _grosert_, _groser_, or _groset_. a gooseberry. (_burns._) fr. groseille. _gud-brither._ brother-in-law. fr. bon-frère. _haveril._ a simpleton, or april-fool. (_burns._) fr. avril. _jalouse--to._ to suspect. (_antiquary._) fr. jalouse. _jigot._ the hip-joint of lamb or mutton (used also in english). fr. gigot. _jupe._ a woman's mantle or pelisse. fr. jupe, a long coat. _kickshaws._ a made-up dish. fr. quelque chose. _multiplepoinding._ an action in scottish law, somewhat similar to the english bill of interpleader in chancery. fr. multiplie-poindre. _multure_ or _mouter_. the fee for grinding grain. (_douglas._) fr. mouture. _onding._ a heavy fall of rain or snow. fr. ondée(?). _petticoat tails._ a species of cake baked with butter, sometimes called "short-bread." (_bride of lammermoor._) fr. petits gatelles (more correctly, gateaux). _ruckle_ or _rickle_. a heap or collection. fr. recueil. _servite_ or _servet_. a table napkin. (_spalding._) fr. serviette. _verity--chair of._ a pulpit. fr. la chaire de vérité. (croker's _boswell's johnson_, p. .) _vizzie_, _vizy_, or _visie_. a scrutinising view, aim, or sight at the muzzle of a gun. (_bride of lammermoor._) fr. visée, aim. _wallees_ or _valises_. saddlebags. (_godscroft._) fr. valise, a portmanteau. e. n. * * * * * on a passage in "cymbeline," act iv. sc. . it is so usual with malone and some other commentators on shakspeare to impute the errors of the printer to the poet, that we often find the most glaring instances of false grammar, and anomalies of construction, laid to his charge, and defended as the practice of the time; and as his own practice! the following passage is an instance in point: "_gui._ why, he but sleeps; if he be gone, he'll make his grave a bed; with female fairies will his tomb be haunted, and worms will not come to thee." steevens with reason says: "this change from the second person to the third is so violent, that i cannot help imputing it to the players, transcribers, or printers." he proposed to read _him_ for _thee_. malone of course defends the absurdity. we may, however, be assured that it is not attributable to the poet. whoever reads the passage with attention will perceive that the allusion in the last line is not to fidele, but to the fairies haunting his tomb. it should be remembered that it was held that no noxious creatures would be found where fairies resort. the compositor, as in other cases, mistook the word, probably written "th[=e]," and printed "thee" for "them." your correspondent mr. halliwell having noticed my approval of the emendation of a passage in _coriolanus_, found in mr. collier's copy of the second folio, where "bosom multiplied" is happily corrected to "bissom multitude," perhaps i may be permitted to say that i cannot subscribe to his opinion, that "it is one of those alterations which no conjectural ingenuity could have suggested." to me it appears that the steps are obvious by which any intelligent reader of the poet might be led to make the correction. the word which was mistaken by the printer for "bosome" occurs in a previous scene of the play, where it is "beesome" in the folios; and a recollection of this would naturally lead to the conjectured emendation. indeed the word appears to have been not unfrequently written "beasom," as we find it in huloet's _dictionary_. the word "multitude" would suggest itself to any attentive reader of the play, from its repeated occurrence in the rd scene of act ii.: and we must always suppose the writer to have been intent upon correcting errata. the correction of "infuite comming" to "infinite cunning," in _measure for measure_, is, in my mind, an instance quite equal in "conjectural ingenuity;" and we know that we owe it to that of the late mr. sidney walker. i must candidly confess that the specimens of the corrections given by mr. collier in his first two communications to the _athenæum_ gave me the same dissatisfaction and apprehension that mr. halliwell appears to have entertained; but i do not draw the same inference that gentleman seems to do, from the occurrence of this one truly happy conjectural emendation. it is, however, sufficient to convey a favourable notion of the acuteness of the writer of the emendatory notes, and nothing more. s. w. singer * * * * * old concert bill. the following curious bill (the original of which is in my possession) of a benefit concert given by signor carbonelli, at drury lane theatre, in , will enable us to form some opinion of the musical taste prevailing in london in the first quarter of the eighteenth century: "drury lane theatre. _may ._ signor carbonelli's concert. act i. _a new concerto_ for two trumpets, composed and performed by grano and others. _a new concerto_, by albinoni, just brought over. _song_, mrs. barbier. _concerto_, composed by signor carbonelli. { } act ii. _a concerto_, with two hautbois and two flutes, composed by dieupart. _a concerto_ on the base violin, by pippo. _song_, mrs. barbier. by desire, the _eighth concerto_ of arcangelo corelli. act iii. _concerto_, by carbonelli. _solo_ on the arch-lute, by signor vebar. _song_, mrs. barbier. _new concerto_ on the little flute, composed by woodcock, and performed by baston. _solo_, signor carbonelli. _finale._ _concerto_ on two trumpets, by grano and others." i should mention, that signor carbonelli was a celebrated violin player, and a favourite pupil of corelli. he was brought over to this country by his patron, the first duke of rutland. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * minor notes. _note for mr. worsaae._--at page . of _the danes in england_, mr. w. says: "towards glasgow and edinburgh the mountains are no longer called 'fell' and 'rigg.'" the _campsie fells_, a fine range of hills within nine miles of glasgow, are an exception. these hills are never spoken of by the natives of the strath except by the name of "fells" and the singularity of the name has often been remarked to the writer of this note, especially by visitors to the valley. before being much acquainted with the deeds of the vikings (except in the _general_), he had come to the conclusion that the name _must_ be danish, from its similarity to "fjeld," with which, in connexion with "fiords," he had become familiar at a very early period. bruno. _singular epitaph._--the following epitaph occurs in braunston churchyard, northamptonshire: "to the memory of william borrows, died . "'tis true i led a single life, and nare was married in my life, for of that seck (_sic_) i nare had none: it is the lord; his will be done." cranmore. _largesse._--i heard this old word used the other day in northamptonshire, by a servant who was leaving his employer, and who called upon one of his master's tradesmen to ask him for _largisse_, as he termed it. certainly the peasants have preserved and handed down to the present time a vast number of old words, customs, and legends. it proves how much they owe to oral tuition. a. b. _brogue and fetch._--there are a certain set of words which have become naturalised in english, by those who speak it in ireland; as, _amadan_, a fool; _brogue_, a shoe (ir. _brog_); _palaver_, fine speaking, soft talk (ir. _pi-labhradh_). these are all irish words; but there are others which are not english, and yet it is hard to make them out irish. _brogue_, meaning a broad irish accent, is an instance; _fetch_ is another: "in ireland (says mr. banim) a _fetch_ is the supernatural _fac-simile_ of some individual, which comes to assure to its original [or his friend or relative] a happy longevity or immediate dissolution. if seen in the morning, the one event is predicted; if in the evening, the other." _taibhse_ (pr. _thaivshe_) is the irish word, and perhaps _fetch_ might be derived from it by a sort of metathesis. eirionnach. _derivation of "caul."_-- "guianerius, cap. ., _de Ægritud. matr._, speaks of a silly, jealous fellow, that, seeing his child new born, included in a _kell_ (meaning a _caul_), thought sure a franciscan, that used to come to his house, was the father of it, it was so like the friar's _cowl_, and thereupon threatened the friar to kill him!"--burton's _anatomy of melancholy_, part iii. sec. . by this may we judge that _caul_ and _cowl_ are cognate? _coif_ (martial.), in latin _reticulum_; whence a lady's _reticule_. b. b. _"pandecte," an entire copy of the bible._--dr. maitland, in his valuable essays on the _dark ages_, has drawn attention to this use of the word _pandecte_, but was not at the time aware that it is so employed by any writer before alcuin (p. . n. . ed. ). it will be found, however, in the following, extract from bede's _chronicon_ (in _monument. britan._, p. . a). the historian is speaking of certain presents which his abbot, ceolfrith, was carrying with him on his pilgrimage to rome, when death cut it short at langres: "qui inter alia donaria quæ adferre disposuerat, misit ecclesiæ s. petri _pandectem_ a b. hieronymo in latinum ex hebræo vel græco fonte translatum." c. h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. * * * * * queries. boy bishop at eton. in heywood's edition of the _statutes of king's college, cambridge, and eton college_ (longman, ), a ms. is quoted under the title of _consuetudinarium vetus scholæ etoniensis_ (sic), harl. mss. , p. . from a ms. in corpus christi college, cambridge. it is a sort of _fasti etonenses_, recording in somewhat quaint terms the old customs which were then traditionary in the school. in the month of november, according to this authority, "in die { } sti hugonis pontificis solebat etonæ fieri electio episcopi nihilensis, sed consuetudo obsolevit." again, in the statutes as given by mr. heywood, p. ., it is provided that on the feast of st. nicholas, but "nullatenus in festo sanctorum innocentium," the episcopus puerorum scholarium, who was to be elected from among the boys every year for the purpose, might celebrate all the divine offices except the "missæ secreta." can you, or any of your correspondents, inform me-- st. what is the date of the ms. in question, with any further particulars of its history? nd. what is "pope st. hugo's day," and whether it was in any way connected with the election of the boy bishop in other places as well as eton? rd. whether any reason can be assigned why holy innocents day, being that on which the boy bishop was usually appointed, should have been expressly excluded by the founder. l. c. b. * * * * * "¶ speculum christianorum multa bona continens." i have a small black-letter tract which bears the above title: i am desirous of learning the author's name, and that of the printer, together with the date and place of its production. it extends from signature a to g , and ends abruptly on the verso of g without any colophon. on the verso of the title page is a small woodcut representing the holy dove hovering over the virgin, who is surrounded by nine kneeling figures, all under a depressed arch, supported by two pillars whose shafts have a kind of chevron ornament worked on them, somewhat similar to the pillars of the crypt of canterbury cathedral. perhaps if i give the title-page of this curious little tract in extenso, it will be more easily identified: "¶ speculum christianorum multa bona continens. primo modo. ¶ de preceptis dei ¶ de septem vitiis captalibus ¶ de septem virtutibus his contrariis ¶ de octo tabulis: c[=u] quibusd[=a] o[=r]onib' deuotissimis ¶ de modo se prepar[=a]di ad sacram[=e]tum eucharistie ¶ de effectu sacramenti ¶ de antichristo ¶ expositio o[=r]onis d[=u]ice: cum quod[=a] bona notabili ¶ de ramis. vii. vicior[=u] capitali[=u]: et eorum remediis ¶ de contentu mundi: cum aliis notabilibus." it should be noted that this table of contents is by no means a fair representative of the subjects on which the pamphlet treats. on the verso of page e iii. is the following curious passage:-- "¶ peccata britonum et causa depositionis eorum. negligentia prelatorum | rapina potent[=u] | cupiditas indic[=u] | rabies periuriorum | inordinatus cultus vestimentorum: detestanda luxuria | omne pet[=m] publicum & notorium clamat vindict[=a] ad deum. sed precipue quattuor: merces mercenarii, pct[=m] sodomiticum, homicidium, oppressio innocenti[=u]. heu heu heu quot clamores vindicte sunt nunc ante deum." this passage is introduced without any farther connexion with the subjects under discussion, than the mere heading of the section gives it. permit me to trouble you with one more extract, before i leave my query in the hands of your readers: "¶ de duabus scalis: una dirigente ad celum: et altera ad infernum. ¶ scala ad celum ¶ scala ad infernum perseverantia bona desperatio patientia in adversis obstinentia in peccatis obedi[=e]tia in preceptis furor in adversis patientia in vita iniusticia facti c[=o]tritio et c[=o]fessi pet[=i] odi[=u] boni et dilectio pet[=i] cognito tui ignorantia caritas mal[=i]cia." on the recto of c vj. any information which some of your bibliographical correspondents may give concerning this little work, will be very acceptable. w. sparrow simpson, b.a. * * * * * massacre of the welsh bards. barrington, in his _observations upon the statutes_, raises some historic doubts whether that massacre of the welsh bards, upon which gray founded his magnificent ode, actually occurred:-- "but", he says, "a manuscript history, written by sir john wynne of gwydir, authorises the supposed tradition of a massacre of the bards; nor could the writer of that most admirable ode have made his bard so warmly express, or his reader feel, the tyranny of edward, if he had not probably raised an indignation and fire in his own breast, and by reading of other materials, which _i have not happened to meet with_." has the question of this real or pretended massacre been raised, or proved beyond doubt? as to gray requiring "materials" for his fancy, poets even of inferior genius contrive to weave a web out of airy nothings, and the liveliest description by an old cymric bard of the slaughters of the thirteenth century, will not carry conviction of the truth of the narrative in the nineteenth. h. t. h. * * * * * minor queries. _portrait of william combe._--lonsdale the portrait painter, in a letter dated january, , addressed to a friend of combe whilst living, says: "i shall be much obliged if you will have the goodness to cause my picture of the late mr. combe to be sent to me. mr. c. borrowed the picture of me to show to some friend, and kept it till his death." { } can any of the readers of "n. & q." inform me in whose possession the portrait now is, and whether any engraving of combe's portrait from that or any other picture is now to be obtained? e. t. _"quod non fecerunt barbari," &c._--who is the author of the epigram-- "quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt barbarini," which commemorates the destruction of the coliseum at rome, both by the barbarians who overran italy about the middle of the fifth century, and, at a later period, by certain popes of the family of the barberini? henry h. breen. st. lucia. _lines on english history_ (vol. iii., p. .; vol. v., p. .).--i shall be extremely obliged to mr. edward charlton to procure me, if he can, a copy of the above lines, and forward them, through mr. bell, to an english mother. [we should also be most glad to receive from any correspondent who can supply it, the _metrical and logical history_, asked for by our lamented correspondent mÆris, which commences-- "william and william, and henry and stephen, and henry the second to make the first even." ed.] _windows._--it has been said that the dates of many houses may be ascertained by a comparison of the regulations of the window-tax with the windows. the tax occasioned a marked change of style by diminishing the number of windows. then ingenuity was exerted to effect evasions by bays, bows, and double or treble windows. these again were successively met by alterations in the law. could any one be induced to let in some light upon the subject by examining the acts of parliament, and illustrating the result by reference to examples in london houses? c. t. _angel-beast; cleek; longtriloo._--can you, or any of your readers, inform me what was the nature of the game at cards called _angel-beast_, which was in vogue in the seventeenth century? also, the game of _cleek_; can it be a misprint of "check?" also, _longtriloo_; is this an abbreviation of "long three card loo?" r. b. _royal arms in churches._--what is the origin of the common practice of putting up the royal arms in churches? e. m. oxford. "_cease, rude boreas._"--can any of your correspondents tell me why the song, "cease, rude boreas," has been occasionally attributed to falconer. i remember seeing this song appended to an old edition of the _shipwreck_, with a prefatory remark stating that g. a. stevens _could_ not have written it, as the moral of the verses was of too high an order for him. occasionally the last stanza is omitted, on account of the sentiment being somewhat questionable; though it cannot be denied that the feelings there expressed are exactly those of a sailor. in a few copies another stanza of a very different tendency is inserted in its place; and at times i have seen the commencement of the third stanza altered thus: "now all you at home in safety, shelter'd from the howling storm, tasting joys by heaven vouchsaf'd ye, of our state vain notions form." i should wish to obtain some information regarding the authors of these alterations, and when they first took place. [greek: boreas]. _pictorial proverbs._--i have now lying open before me a small mo. book (binding modern) containing sixty-seven old prints (averaging in size ¾ by ¾ inch), but wanting a title-page. the subjects appear to be in the shape of pictorial proverbs; they are evidently very old, the distich before each plate is in latin, which is again written in old german. the views in each background are places generally in germany, and the names are written on the plate itself. in _one only_ plate i discover the name "m. merian, fe" (qy. matts. merian, or his daughter, of frankfort?); and in some few others the following mark, "[st]." all the plates _seem_ done by the same person. if you can enlighten me as to the authorship of them, i shall feel much obliged. h. s. s. _inscription on george inn, wansted._--will you kindly give me information respecting the origin of the following inscription, which is affixed to the side of the george inn at wansted?-- "in memory of y^e cherry pey, as cost half a guiney. y^e of july, that day we had good cheer, i hope to see it maney a year. . david jersey." w. h. b. _learned man referred to by rogers._--rogers, in his work on the thirty-nine articles, published , writes as follows:-- "a certain learned man (speaking of the religion here then professed, and writing unto the lords of our late queen's council) doth say 'he' (meaning the papist his adversary, who charged our church with discord, and disagreements about matters of religion), 'he ought' (saith he) 'if he had been able, to have brought out the public confession and articles of faith, agreed in k. edward's time; and have showed any in england, that, professing the gospel, dissenteth from the same.'" i shall be much obliged to any of the readers of "n. & q." who can inform me who was this "certain learned man." c. c. c. c. corp. chr. coll., camb. { } _mormonism and spalding's romance._--the extraordinary spread of mormonism seems to stamp it as likely to prove a kind of second mahometanism in the world's history. under these circumstances the origin of the _book of mormon_ is of course a literary curiosity. in a clever pamphlet entitled _mormonism exposed_, by john bowes (e. ward, . paternoster row, london), at pp. , . an account of the history of the book of mormon is given. mr. bowes quotes from _mormonism unveiled_, by e. d. hoare, to the effect that a mr. "john spalding" affirms that his (now deceased) brother "solomon spalding" had written "_an historical romance_ of the first settlers in america, endeavoring to show that the american indians are the descendants of jews, or the lost tribes. it gave a detailed account of their journey from jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived in america, under the command of nephi and lehi; he also mentions the lamanites." mr. j. spalding, it is said, on reading the _book of mormon_, "to his great surprise," found "nearly the same historical matter, names, &c., as they were in his brother's writings;" and further says "according to the best of my recollection and belief, it is the same as my brother solomon wrote, with the exception of the religious matter." the latter is obviously taken from the bible, with alterations and additions _ad libitum_. can any of your readers tell whether this romance of solomon spalding's was ever published; or whether it is still in existence, and accessible for reference, &c.? c. h. d. _carrs or calves._--in esdras v. . there occurs the word _carrs_. this is found in all copies of the bible to which i have access, except one edited in the last century by a mr. butley, of ch. ch. oxon, where _calves_ is read, and a note given from josephus apparently in support of it. i should be glad to know whether there is any authority in the original for this alteration. eryx. _stoup._--there is a holy-water stoup, in good preservation, on the _exterior_ of the north wall (by the nave door) of the church of houghton-le-spring, durham. what other examples are there of _exterior_ stoups? their usual situation was _within_ either the porch or the church. cuthbert bede. _casper ziegler and the diaconate._--there is a book in latin with the following title:--_casparis ziegleri de diaconis et diaconissis veteris ecclesiæ liber commentarius._ wittebergæ: sumptibus hæredum jobi wilhelmi fingelii. anno . what copies of this book are known to be extant? would a translation of the whole, or selected parts, be useful at the present time, when attention is being called to the subject? what particulars are known about the life, religion, &c. of the author? at the foot of the frontispiece are the following lines:-- "omnis in hoc vultu vasti compendia juris, cæsarii, sacri, saxonicique vides. non divæ unius tam multum crede laborem, cujus vix umbram pingere possit homo." can any one give me the meaning of the last two lines? or information as to what other authors have treated on the subject of the diaconate? w. h. _inscription at persepolis._--the following curious inscription i some years ago made a note of by copying it, but neglected to mark whence i obtained it. my extract stands thus-- _arabic inscription._ +----------+-----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------+ | dicas | scis | dicit | scit | audit | expedit | +----------+-----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------+ | facias | potes | facit | potest | facit | credit | +----------+-----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------+ | credas | audis | credit | audit | credit | fieri potest | +----------+-----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------+ | expendas | habes | expendit | habet | petit | habet | +----------+-----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------+ | judices | vides | judicat | videt | judicat | est | +----------+-----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------+ | non | quodamque | nam qui | quodcunque | sæpe | quod non | +----------+-----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------+ it is said this was found by captain barth, engraven on marble, among the ruins of persepolis, and by him translated from the arabic into latin and english. query, what does it all mean? thomas lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. "_i do not know what the truth may be._"--will some one tell me whence the lines-- "i do not know how the truth may be; i tell the tale as told to me"? w. t. m. hong kong. _twittens._--are not the narrow passages in brighton so called? and what is the meaning? a. c. _clapper gate._--steps, with a gate above, into bushy park are so called; what is the meaning? a. c. _jemmy._--when and why was sheep's head baptized with the name "jemmy?" does it apply to the entire sheep, or to the head only? i have heard of a "james's head" as a refinement of "jemmy's head," which would make it seem as though the sheep was the "jemmy." shirley hibberd. _muffs worn by gentlemen._--whilst looking over hogarth's works, i observed in two plates a { } male figure wearing a muff; in the "rake's progress," pl. ., and in the "woman swearing a child." how long, and within what limits, did this fashion flourish? w. sparrow simpson, b.a. * * * * * replies. st. patrick. (vol. v., p. .) allowing himself to be led astray by such an untruthful guide as ledwich, your correspondent e. m. r. thinks that "there seems to be very great doubt if st. patrick ever existed in reality." had e. m. r. sought for, he might have found evidences of ireland's apostle's existence beginning with the very lifetime itself of that saint. st. we have a short work from st. patrick's own pen, the _confessio_, which the best critics have allowed to be genuine: it commences thus: "ego patricius peccator," &c. nd. a very old hymn, shown by dr. o'conor to have been written c. a.d. (_prol. in rer. hib. vet. script._, p. lxxxix.), tells us that: "patricius prædicabat scotis." (_ib._, p. xciii.). rd. the irish monk adamnan, who died a.d. , that is, almost a half century before our beda, in his _life of st. columba_, says: "quidam proselytus brito homo sanctus, sancti patricii episcopi discipulus," &c. (_aa. ss. junii_, t. ii. p. .). th. in the library of c. c. college, cambridge, there is a ms. of the seventh century, containing the early irish canons: "synodus episcoporum id est patricii, auxillii, issernini" (nasmith's _cat. c. c. c. c._, p. .). th. the antiphonal, once belonging to the irish bangor, but now in the ambrosian library, milan, a ms. of the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century, and published by muratori, has a "hymnum sancti patricii magistri scotorum" (muratori, _anecd._, t. iv. p. .). th. cummian, writing about the pascal question to the abbot of hy, a.d. , says: "primum (cyclum) illum quem sanctus patricius papa noster tulit," &c. (_vet. epist. hibernicarum syl._, ed. usserio, p. .). th. in the very old litanies, once used, as it seems, by some church among the britons living in this island beyond the reach of anglo-saxon control, we find invoked st. patrick, along with ss. brindane, gildas, paterne, guinwaloc, munna, tutwal, german, and other lights of the irish, as well as our ancient british church (ed. mabillon, _vet. analect._, p. .). th. st. gertrude, abbess of nivelle, died on the th march, a.d. ; the writer of her life was her cotemporary, and he expressly mentions st. patrick (_vita s. gertrudis_, ed. mabillon. _aa. ss. o. b._, t. ii. p. .). th. our own beda _did_ insert st. patrick's name in the martyrology which he drew up (ed. smith, _bedæ hist. eccl._, p. .); and another far-famed countryman of ours, alcuin, who, in some verses which he composed for being placed "ad aram ss. patricii et aliorum scotorum," says: "patricius, cheranus, scotorum gloria gentis, atque columbanus, congallus, adomnanus atque," &c. _opp._ ed. frobenio, t. ii. p. . th. a liturgical ms. in the british museum, nero, a, ii. fo. . b., which was first printed by spelman, who calls it "codex vetustissimus" (_concil._, i. .), speaks of st. patrick as "archiepiscopus in scotiis et britanniis" (_ib._, .). th. the celebrated monastery of st. gall (an irish saint) still possesses the fragment of what was once a missal, and written in the irish character. this codex must have been older than the ninth century, for it is set down "inter libros scottice scriptos" in a catalogue of the books belonging to that library, made in the ninth century. among the saints enumerated in the canon of the mass is patrick the bishop, "intercedentibus pro nobis beatis apostolis petro et paulo et patricio æpiscopo" (see the fragment in _appendix a to cooper's report_, p. .). pyrrho has had, and is likely always to have, followers in every age and country: hardouin would not allow that virgil ever lived, but stoutly held that the _Æneid_ was "a fardel of monkish fictions" put together during the middle ages: not "the bigoted anglo-saxons" of the eighth, but dr. ledwich of the eighteenth century, denied the existence of the great st. patrick; a few weeks ago a correspondent of "n. & q." asked "is not the battle itself (of waterloo) a myth?" (vol. v., p. .); and last week, another tells us that "the saint (patrick) certainly vanishes into 'an airy nothing,' if we are to credit the above authors" (dr. ledwich and dr. aikin). who the aikin may be, or what the work of his which e. m. r. has brought forwards, i do not know; ledwich's book now lies before me, and a more prejudiced writer i have never met with. i think, however, that from the above authorities it is clearly shown that, together with all the most learned of early and modern times, we are still warranted in treating st. patrick "as a real actor in irish ecclesiastical affairs." d. rock. buckland. _sir james ware--st. patrick's birth-place_ (vol. v., p. .)--permit me to correct your correspondent e. m. r., who, by a strange mistake, calls sir james ware "a roman catholic writer." he was a zealous member of the church of ireland: e. m. r. will see a memoir of him in harris's edition of ware's _writers of ireland_. with respect to the birth-place of st. patrick, your correspondent may consult colgan's _trias thaumaturga, append. quinta ad vitas s. patricii_, { } cap. ii. p. . et seq.; also the life of st. patrick by harris in his edition of ware's _bishops of ireland_; and dr. lanigan's _ecclesiastical history of ireland_. ledwich was entirely unacquainted with the sources of irish history, and is no authority. t. trin. coll. dublin. * * * * * nashe's "terrors of the night." (vol. v., p. .) mr. eastwood's quotation from nashe's _terrors of the night_ regarding the use of ale for the sacrament in iceland, may have some light thrown upon it by the following passages from the icelandic sages and the learned editors of the _historic memorials of greenland_. we doubt if nashe was correct in saying that ale was granted for that purpose by the pope in preference to wine, on account of the "incessant frosts there;" for, in truth, the icelanders of the present day, as well as in former times, have no difficulty in protecting liquids much more congealable, such as milk, from the winter's frost. the abundance of warm springs, and the volcanic fires throughout the island, render the temperature of the inhabited districts of iceland much warmer in winter than would be supposed from its high northern latitude. the word "red emayle" no doubt means "red enamel," an apt simile enough, and well understood in the writer's days. we do not find any mention of "ale" ("öl") being ever used in iceland for the celebration of the eucharist; but a wine seems to leave been prepared from the crowberry (_empetrum nigrum_), as is shown by the following extract from bishop paul's _saga_, a nearly cotemporary history; for the _saga_ in question is believed to have been written by bishop magnus gissurson ( - ), who succeeded bishop paul in the see of skalholt:-- "in bishop paul's days came bishop john from greenland to iceland, and remained during the winter in the eastern fiords; but afterwards he journeyed late in lent (_langaföstu_, long fast time) to skalholt to meet bishop paul, and he came there on maunday thursday (skírdegi-skjærtorsdag), and these two bishops consecrated a large store of chrism, and had besides many confidential and learned conversations. bishop john taught the people to prepare wine from the crowberry (krækiberium), as he himself had been instructed by king sverrer. but it so happened that the next summer few berries grew in iceland; but a man called erick, who lived on a farm called snorrastade, near skalholt, prepared a small quantity of the wine from these berries, which succeeded well that summer."--pp. , . we confess that we are much inclined to agree with the learned eggert olafsen's doubts as to the practicability of manufacturing a wine, to suit at least our palates, from the acrid fruit of the _empetrum nigrum_. it is said that boerhaave, gives a receipt for this purpose, and we have accordingly found it in his forty-second _process of the elementa chemiæ_, but this relates to the general mode of producing wine from fruits; and olafsen (p. . vol. i.) tried it in vain with the crowberry when in iceland in . still a species of subacid drink, such as still prepared from this fruit by the icelanders, may have been dignified in olden times with the name of wine; but olafsen was certainly in error when he stated that bishop paul brought over to iceland, according to tradition, a native of the canary isles, to teach the art. the canary isles were not then (a.d. ) known to europe. about the year king sverrer forbade the importation of wine into bergen by the german traders, on account of the scenes of drunkenness and riot that ensued therefrom; and he is said to have turned his attention to the preparing of a home-made wine from the crowberry, as a substitute for the foreign liquors he had forbidden. the learned editors of the _historic memorials of greenland_, in a note on the passage above quoted in bishop paul's _saga_, remark, that this was probably the kind of wine which is traditionally said to have been used for the sacrament in iceland when the true juice of the grape could not be obtained. huidtfeldt, in his chronicle, positively states that the northmen in and sought and obtained permission from the pope to use mead, "mjod" (mulsum), and other similar liquors, in the celebration of the sacrament, in consequence of the great scarcity of wine in those countries. the editors further state that "within our own times, during the disastrous war with england, it was proposed to employ wine made from bilberries for the same purpose in iceland." the synod of roeskilde, according to pontoppidan, _annal. eccles. dan._ ii. . and iii. ., forbids the use of any liquor but pure wine in the sacrament in the following words:-- "pastores sunt admoniti ad communionem uti, non _musto_ aut aliis liquoribus illicitis, sed puro vino, juxta institutionem." lastly, in rymer's _foedera_, vol. x. p. ., there is a petition from the bishop of skalholt to the english government in , stating the depressed state of the commerce of iceland at that period, and that no _wine, beer, or indeed any liquor_ except milk and water, was to be found in the country. such was its wretched condition, that he expresses his fear, unless supplies were received from england, divine service, the celebration of the communion, and of baptism, would soon cease. from this last document it would seem that _wine_ was no longer made in iceland from the crowberry, and that the fermented juice of the { } grape was deemed absolutely necessary by the bishop of that day for the celebration of the sacrament. we are not aware of any decree or bull of the court of rome, by which any other liquor than that obtained from the grape was permitted to be used, as such would be entirely contrary to all the canons of the church, and the opinions of all her theologians. edward charlton. newcastle-on-tyne. the following quotation bears upon your correspondent j. eastwood's query:-- "gregorious episcopus, &c. [sigurdo archiepiscopo] nidrosiensi. tuæ fraternitati quærenti, an deficienti in quibusdum ecclesiis suffragancorum tuorum eucharistia propter frumenti penuriam simplex oblata undecumque confecta populo, ut sub quadam decipiatur pietatis specie, ac cervisiæ vel potus alius loco vini, cum vix aut nunquam vinum reperiatur in illis partibus, sint tradenda, taliter respondemus, quod neutrum est penitus faciendum, cum in hujus modi sacramento visibilis panis de frumento et vini de uvis debeat esse forma in verbo creatoris per sacerdotis ministerium consecrata, quod veritatem carnis et sanguinis non est dubium continere, quamquam dari possit populo panis simpliciter benedictus, prout in quibusdam partibus fieri consuevit. datum viterbii v. idus maii, pontificatus nostri anno undecimo." (a.d. .)--_diplomatarium norvegicum_, p. .: christiania, . _emayle_ is no doubt enamel, used for ice, or frozen wine. _chevela_ is answered in the query. i may add a letter from the same pope to the same archbishop on baptism in ale:-- "cum, sicut ex tua relatione didicimus, nonnunquam propter aquæ penuriam infantes terræ tuæ contingat in cervisia baptizari, tibi tenore præsentium respondemus, quod cum secundum doctrinam evangelicam oportet eos ex aqua et spiritu sancto renasci, non debent reputari rite baptizati, qui in cervisia baptizantur. datum laterani, viii. idus julii anno xv." (a.d. .)--_ibid._ p. . the curious in this matter may find the practice of baptising in other liquids than water denounced in other countries, in other bulls, and even by councils. de camera. * * * * * serjeant's rings. (vol. v., pp. . . .) i send you the mottoes adopted by serjeants and judges, taken from the term reports, being, with one exception, i believe, a perfect list from to the year , when mr. colman's list, in the th volume of "n. & q.," begins. that exception is lord c. b. richards, whose motto is not given. i have also made some additions to mr. colman's list. . g. bond _hæreditas a legibus._ . a. thomson } s. le blanc } _reverentia legum._ . lord kenyon { r. clayton { _quid leges sine moribus._ . s. heywood } j. williams[ ] } _legum servi ut liberi._ . a. palmer { _evaganti froena licentiæ._ s. shepherd _legibus emendes._ . j. vaughan { _paribus se legibus { ambæ._ j. lens } j. bayley } _libertas sub rege pio._ . sir j. scott (lord { _rege incolumi mens eldon) { omnibus una._ a. chambre { _majorum instituta tueri._ w. d. best _libertas in legibus._ r. graham { _et placitum læti componite a. onslow[ ] { foedus._ . w. m. praed { _foederis æquas dicamus { leges._ . sir e. law (lord { _positis mitescunt sæcula ellenborough) { bellis._ . j. mansfield _serus in coelum redeas._ . t. m. sutton[ ] { _hic ames dici pater { atque princeps._ . g. wood { _moribus ornes, legibus { emendes._ . w. manley } a. pell } _pro rege at lege._ w. rough } . r. h. peckwell { _traditum ab antiquis w. frere { servare._ . v. gibbs _leges juraque._ . h. dampier _consulta patrum._ j. s. copley { _studiis vigilare severis._ r. dallas _mos et lex._ . j. b. bosanquet { _antiquam exquisite { matrem._ . j. a. park { _qui leges juraque { servat._ c. abbott (ld. } _labore._ tenterden) g. s. holroyd { _componere legibus { orbem._ j. burrough _legibus emendes._ j. hullock { _auspicium melioris { ævi._ . w. firth { _ung loi, ung roi, ung { foi._ w. garrow _fas et jura._ . w. taddy _mos et lex._ { } . j. richardson _more majorum._ v. lawes } j. cross } _pro rege et lege._ t. d'oyley } . t. peake _Æquâ lege._ . r. gifford } w. alexander } _secundis laboribus._ j. littledale _justitæ tenax._ w. st. j. arabin } t. wilde (l. truro) } _regi regnoque fidelis._ s. gaselee } _bonis legibus, judiciis r. spankie } gravibus._ . t. andrews } h. storks } e. lawes } e. ludlow } _more majorum._ h. a. merewether } w. o. russell } d. f. jones } j. scriven } h. j. stephen } _lex ratione probatur._ c. c. bompas } . j. parke _justitiæ tenax._ . e. goulburn _nulla retrorsum._ n. c. tindal _quid leges sine moribus._ w. bolland _regi regnoque fidelis._ . w. e. taunton } e. h. alderson } _nec temerè nec timidè._ j. patteson } _omitted in list_, vol. v., p. . . t. n. talfourd _magna vis veritatis._ . j. v. thompson _nec ultrà nec citrà._ w. wightman _Æquam servare mentem._ . c. cresswell _leges juraque._ . f. pollock _jussa capessere._ . ld. campbell _justitiæ tenax._ j. jervis _venale nec auro._ _errata._ . n. r. clarke } j. b. byles } for metu_is_ read metu_it_. . for e. _n._ williams read e. _v._ williams; and for liber_e_ read liber_i_. j. e. [footnote : in his son, mr. justice e. v. williams, adopted the same motto.] [footnote : vol. v. p. . the motto of the onslow family, "festina lente," is erroneously given as the serjeant's motto on his rings.] [footnote : afterwards lord manners, lord chancellor of ireland.] * * * * * the old countess of desmond. (vol. v., pp. . .) in your number of "n. & q." of april rd, there are some curious and interesting remarks by the knight of kerry, respecting that wonder for length of days, the old countess of desmond, in which he gives the copy of an inscription on an ancient painting, stating that in the year , and in the th year of her age, she appeared at the court of king james, to seek relief in consequence of the house of desmond having been ruined by attainder. that this statement in the inscription is erroneous, can, i think, be proved by the following circumstances, which also seem to me to afford some light on the most obscure parts of the question. i have at this moment before me a work, which has been for many years in the library of my husband (the rev. e. a. bray, the vicar of this place), and highly prized by us both, namely, a most perfect and beautiful copy of sir walter raleigh's _history of the world_, published in . i here give the date from the engraved title-page, which is of an allegorical description: "the history of the world." "at london: printed for walter bvrre." " ." in this volume, chapter v. (of "the first booke of the first part"), page ., "of the long lives of the patriarchs, and some of _late memory_," after enumerating several celebrated persons who lived to great ages, raleigh thus speaks of the old countess:-- "i myself knew the old countess of desmond of inchiquin, in munster, who lived in the yeare , and many years since, who was married in edward iv.'s time, and held her joynture from all the earls of desmond since then; and that this is true, all noblemen and gentlemen of munster can witnesse." from this passage i think it can be shown, that the reader can draw no other inference than that the countess of desmond was dead at the time sir walter raleigh wrote it. in his heading to the chapter he speaks of some of "_late memory_;" and the words "_many years since_" evidently mean that she lived many years _after_ .[ ] we do not know at what precise period the above passage was penned; but we learn from sir walter's preface, that he composed this great and admirable work whilst a prisoner in the tower (from which he was liberated in ). in that preface he speaks with deep feeling and regret for the loss of prince henry. he says _the prince read part of the work_; and that he wrote it "for the service of that inestimable" youth. we know that henry died in november, . the passage, therefore, about the "old countess," which occurs in a very early part of the book, there can be no doubt, was written before , and the entire work published in . if, therefore (as i think no one can doubt, from the manner in which it is worded), the old lady was dead when sir walter wrote about her, it is not possible she could have visited the court of king james in . as raleigh says "i myself knew the old countess { } of desmond," and plainly declares that she was married in the time of edward iv., it is most probable that he received this account from herself at all events, when he so strongly appeals to the witness of "all the noblemen and gentlemen of munster" for the truth of his statement, it is most unlikely he would have written thus merely on common or casual report. the knight of kerry says, "there are statements in existence of being the year of her birth." this is most probably the correct date, which is perfectly consistent with raleigh's account of her marriage in the reign of edward iv. it is likely she married very young. there is every probability that raleigh was well acquainted with the "old countess" when he was in ireland, and acted so gallant a part against the rebels in that country. early in the spring of , upon the earl of ormond leaving ireland, captain raleigh (for he was then only such), with sir william morgan and another gentleman, received a commission to succeed the earl for a time in his government in _munster_ (the old lady's county), and he spent the summer there of that year. it may be further remarked, that the then earl of desmond and _sir john desmond_ are among the rebels, and that therefore the house of desmond did suffer by attainder _in the reign of elizabeth_;[ ] and more likely was it that the aged countess should sue at the court of elizabeth for relief, than twenty years after at that of jas. i. if she came to england in , sir walter raleigh might have seen her in her pilgrimage to his royal mistress in that year, as in _that year_ (the next after the defeat of the spanish armada, in which glorious service he bore a distinguished part), among other honours conferred upon him, was that of being appointed one of the gentlemen of her majesty's privy chamber. in raleigh was a prisoner in the tower; and very improbable is it that, even had she been living at that date and in england, the old countess would there have paid him a visit, to thank him for his mention of her in his _history of the world_. and, finally, had she really been alive when he wrote it, he might have referred to the lady herself, as a proof of what he said about her being true, instead of referring to "all the noblemen and gentlemen in munster." as the knight of kerry has expressed a wish to receive the opinions of your readers who take an interest in the subject, i venture to offer the foregoing remarks, in consequence of having the very valuable copy of raleigh's great work in our possession, and shall be happy if the few observations i have made may be in any respect acceptable to him or to your readers. anna eliza bray. the vicarage, tavistock, devon. [footnote : in his _history of the world_, raleigh frequently uses the word _since_ as we use the word _after_.] [footnote : see stow's _annales of england_, p. .] in a "life of old parr," _harl. misc._, vol. vii. p. ., are the following lines about the old countess, which may perhaps interest some of your readers: "sir walter raleigh, a most learned knight, doth of an irish countess (desmond) write, of sevenscore years of age; he with her spake; the lord st. albans doth more mention make, that she was married in fourth edward's reign; thrice shed her teeth, which three times came again." at the bottom of the page is a note by oldys, but it probably contains nothing new to your correspondents who have so diligently investigated this matter. he quotes however some remarks of archbishop usher on this subject, which i do not remember to have seen noticed in your pages. erica. the knight of kerry, in his very interesting letter, infers that if the old countess of desmond was only eight or nine years old at the death of edward iv., she therefore could not have been married during the reign of that monarch. was it not, however, a not uncommon custom, at that period, for royal and noble infants to be given in marriage at quite as early an age as eight or nine, whenever it suited the views, political or otherwise, of their parents or guardians? c. e. d. * * * * * a few things about richard baxter. (vol. v., p. .) your correspondent mr. bealby mentions that in his visit to kidderminster in , he was shown the house in the high street in which richard baxter is said to have resided: a few more particulars on the subject may prove interesting. it was a three storied, high gabled house, with low ceilinged rooms, lighted by long ranges of casement. the exterior of the house displayed a goodly proportion of wood-work, and appeared to be much in its original condition. no garden or extra-ground was attached to it, another street (swan street) running immediately at its back. three or four years since the house fell before the march of modern improvements, and none of its old features can now be recognised. at the time of these alterations, the house was tenanted by a shoemaker. an ascent of four or five steps led into the shop, the long low window of which, projecting somewhat over the pavement, was tiled above, and supported underneath by wooden pillars. these also served to mark the boundary allotted to the display of the handiwork of the basketmaker who plied his trade in the capacious cellar underneath the shop. of course mr. bealby, while prosecuting in kidderminster his inquiries about baxter, visited caldwall castle (close to the town), once the { } residence of sir ralph clare, baxter's sturdy opponent. in an old map of the town, the castle is represented as having eight towers; but only one of these now remains, which is attached to a modern house. the tower is octagonal, built of red sandstone, of massive proportions, and is in good preservation. it contains two rooms lighted n. and s.; a turret staircase; and a groin-roofed cellar, level with the ground, and with an exterior door. from this cellar an underground passage is said to extend to st. mary's church, about a quarter of a mile distant. sir ralph clare was buried in st. mary's, opposite to where baxter's pulpit then stood. the flat stone that covers his grave has once again been restored to the light by the removal of the cumbrous sleeping-box that concealed it,--thanks to the judicious alterations now being carried on by the present vicar; alterations very different to those "beautifyings" of , in which baxter's pulpit was sold as worthless lumber. (vide "n. & q.,", vol. v., p. .) the registers preserved in the vestry of st. mary's attest the careful neatness of baxter in his official entries. the headings of the different months are printed, and, in some cases, ornamented after the missal style. many of the burials are set down as those of "valliant souldiers," who fell in the frequent skirmishes of those troublous times. the row of elms on the south walk of the churchyard is said to have been planted in baxter's time,--perhaps by his own hand. if mr. bealby would like a copy of my etching of baxter's pulpit (referred to at p. .), and would leave his address with the publisher of "n. & q.," i should be happy to forward one to him. cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * st. botulph. (vol. v., pp. . .) as no one has hitherto answered the inquiries of a. b. touching st. botulph, i beg to forward you the following notes. the earliest mention of him will be found in the _saxon chronicle_, at the year . he is said to have then commenced the building of a minster at _ycean-ho_. the statement is repeated by florence of worcester, who writes the name of st. botulph's convent _ikanho_. its locality is thus pointed out by leland, _itinerary_, i. , . ed. hearne:-- "some hold opinion that est of lincoln were suburbs, one toward s. beges, a late [of late] a cell of s. mari abbay at york; the which place i take be _icanno_, wher was an house of monkes in s. botolphes tyme, and of this speketh bede[?]. it is scant half a mile from the minster." the same writer has informed us (viii. .) that st. botulph died in icanno ( kal. jun.), and that the monastery was soon afterwards destroyed by the scandinavian vikings. the authority on which this latter statement will be found to rest is a "life of st. botulph," written or embellished by john capgrave, and included in his _nova legenda angliæ_. i have now before me a fine copy of the work (lond. ); but very few of the events in which st. botulph is there said to have played a part belong to the sphere of history. we learn that botulphus and adulphus were two noble brothers, who in early life were sent into "old saxony" to be instructed in monastic learning. botulph there became acquainted with two sisters of an english king, named ethelmund ("regis australium anglorum"), who, at their wish, allotted to the monk a piece of barren ground, on which to build a convent ("locum quendam incultum et ab hominibus desertum ykanho vocatum.") like other marshy spots, in which the _ignis fatuus_ abounded, it was thought to be infested by malignant spirits. these were soon, however, put to flight ("edito crucis signo"), and a convent, on the model of the house in which st. botulph had been reared, was planted in the midst of their domain. it perished under edmund ( - ); but the relics of st. botulph, which had been enshrined in his own foundation, were preserved, and afterwards translated, in the time of edgar ( - ), through the efforts of st. ethelwold. the head was sent to ely, and the body equally apportioned to the royal cabinet of relics and the abbey church of thorne. the closing passage is as follows: "in libro ecclesie sancti botulphi juxta aldersgate londo[=n] habetur quæ pars corporis sancti botulphi per bone memorie regem edwardum ecclesie b. petri westmonasterii est collata. eodem etiam tempore, ut in quibusdam locis scriptum inveni, per eundem monachum, jubente episcopo ethelwoldo, translata sunt apud thornense monasterium ossa benedicti biscop, abbatis venerabilis wermuthensis, nutritoris bede presbiteri. construxit autem sanctus ethelwoldus non longe a monasterio thornensi, in loco ubi _beata virgo christi toua inclusa_ fuerat, lapideam ecclesiolam delicatissimis cameratam cancellulis et duplici area tribus dedicatam altaribus permodicis, undique usque ad eius muros vallatam arboribus diversi generis. sedem ibi heremiticam, si permisisset deus, sibi delegit." is there any other notice of this female solitary? c. h. st. catharine's hall, cambridge. [leland notices this female solitary. st. tova, or tona, was a saxon saint, to whose memory a fair chapel, called thoveham, or thona, half a mile from the abbey, was consecrated; and at this place was the oratory of the heremites. lelandi _collectanea_, vol. i. p. .; willis' _mitred abbies_, vol. i. p. .--ed.] the earliest mention found of this saint is in the _saxon chronicle_, under the year , when he began to build his minster at ycean-ho, probably boston or botulph's-town in lincolnshire. his { } life was first put into regular form by fulcard, a monk of thorney, who was made abbot of that monastery in . fulcard tells us in his preface what his materials were: "reperta sunt quædam in veteribus libris vitiose descripta, quædam ab ipso præcipuo præsuli in privilegiis ejusdem coenobii sunt breviter annotata, cætera ex relatione veterum ut ab antiquioribus sunt eis exhibita." an early ms. of this life is in the harleian collection, no. . it was printed (somewhat curtailed) by capgrave in the _legenda nova_, and seems to have furnished all that our antiquaries know about st. botulph. camden indeed refers to _bede_, iv. ., as containing some mention of him; but i can find no such passage, and i believe that botulph is nowhere mentioned in the _historia anglorum_. the remains of botulph were taken up in the days of king edgar, and his head was allotted to ely, while the rest of his bones were divided between the abbeys of thorney and westminster. the cause of his extended popularity it is difficult to discover. his fame even passed over to denmark, and an office is allotted to him in the sleswick breviary, _britannia sacra_, vol. i. p. . it has been surmised that he was a patron saint of seamen, and that his name indicates this character, _i. e._ boat-help! see allen's _history of lincoln_, vol. i. p. . his brother adulf was made bishop of trajectum, probably utrecht. your correspondents may be referred to capgrave; to leland, _collectanea_, vol. i. p. ., and vol. iii. p. .; and to ellis's _monasticon_, vol. ii. p. ., and vol. vi. p. . st. botulph's day is the th of june. c. w. g. * * * * * sir richard pole, the father of cardinal pole. (vol. v., pp. . .) without presuming to contravene the high authorities quoted by j. g. n. on the pedigree of sir richard pole, the father of the celebrated cardinal pole, i am inclined to the belief that he descended from a common ancestor with the cheshire family of "poole," as suggested by your correspondent i. j. h. h. wotton[ ] says, in his pedigree of "poole, baronets of poole" (from whom, by the way, the _poles_ of shute collaterally derived): "robert pull, _alias_ poole, _alias_ de la poole, lord of barretspoole, edw. i., by elizabeth, dau. to hugh raby, had issue _reginald_ and others. reginald had issue james, who died edw. ii., leaving robert de pull, his son and heir, who m., rich. ii., the dau. and heir of thomas de capenhurst. sir john de pull, knight, his son, lived hen. iv. and hen. v., and was father of sir john _poole_, of poole, in wirrall, living about rich. ii., who by a dau. of ---- mainwaring, of peover, had issue, . sir thomas poole, knight, lord of poole and capenhurst, hen. vi. . robert poole, who left posterity. . _sir richard poole, knight_, who had progeny; and . james, grandfather to john poole, of stratford in essex." is anything known further of the above sir richard poole, knight, or of his "progeny"? from a comparison of the dates before given with that of the time in which the father of the cardinal flourished, it seems not improbable (in the absence of direct proof to the contrary) that he removed into buckinghamshire, and was father of "geoffry pole," who married edith st. john, as shown. cardinal pole, however, was born (in ) at stoverton castle in _worcestershire_, and the fact that he was named reginald, as borne by the son of robert, the first ancestor of "poole" (as shown in the above extract), as well as by other members of the baronet family, would tend to confirm the supposition of a common ancestry. the reasons for the change in the family bearing suggested by j. g. n. seem highly probable, besides being the usual course adopted by younger sons for difference. i would here suggest another query: was sir richard, or his son henry, created lord montague? burke seems to be at variance with other testimony i have found on the matter. he says: "sir richard pole, k.g., [was] summoned to parliament in [query, ], as baron montague: he m. lady margaret plantagenet, dau. of geo. duke of clarence, and left issue four sons and one daughter, viz. henry, _second baron_ montague (whose daughters and coheirs were, katherine, wife of francis, second earl of huntingdon; and winifred, m. first to sir thomas hastings, and, secondly, to sir thomas barrington). . geffery, sir. . arthur. . reginald, the celebrated cardinal. . ursula, m. to henry lord stafford." in a list of attainders appended to the nd volume of debrett's _peerage_, the date is given as the creation, and the forfeiture of the title. wotton says (vol. i. p. .): "sir thomas barrington, high sheriff of essex and hertford, eliz." , "m. winifred d. and coheir of henry pole, _lord mountague_ (son of sir richard pole, _knight of the garter_" only), "by margaret countess of salisbury, dau. to geo. duke of clarence, brother to king edward vi." that "marvellous" historian, sir richard baker, in his _chronicle_ (ed. , pp. . . ., &c.), records, under the reign of hen. vii. (cir. ): "prince arthur, after his marriage, was sent again into wales, to keep _that country in good order_, to whom were appointed for councillors sir richard _pool_, his _kinsman_ and chief chamberlain, sir henry vernon," &c. i find no trace of the title till hen. viii. ( ): { } "all this while king henry had play'd with the french, but now he seems to be in earnest, and therefore sends over the duke of suffolk with an army, the four and twentieth of august, attended with the lord montacute and his _brother_, _sir_ arthur pool, with many other knights and gentlemen." on the knighthood of this _sir_ arthur i find, farther on,-- "on _allholland_ (query, all-hallows) day, in the chief church of roy," (the duke) "made knights, lord herbert (son of the earl of worcester), the lord powis, oliver manners, arthur pool, &c. and now-- the rd nov. ( ) henry courtney, marquess of exeter and earl of devonshire, _henry pool_, _lord montacute_, sir nicholas carew, of bedington, knight of the garter and master of the horse, and sir edward nevill, brother to the lord _aburgenny_, were sent to the tower, being accused by sir geoffry _pool_, the lord montacute's brother, of high treason. they were indicted for devising to promote and advance _one reinald_ (qy. reginald) _pool_ to the crown, and _put down_ k. henry. _this pool was a near kinsman of the king's_ (being the son of the lady margaret, countess of salisbury, daughter and heir to george, duke of clarence). he had been brought up by the king in learning, and made dean of exeter; but being _after sent_ to learn experience by travel, he grew so great a friend of the pope's that he became an enemy to king henry, and _for his enmity to the king_ was by pope julius iii. made cardinal. for this man's cause the lords aforesaid being condemned were all executed; the lord marquess, the lord montacute, and sir edward nevill, beheaded on the tower hill the ninth of january; sir nicholas carew the third of march; two priests condemned with them were hanged at tyburn: sir geoffry _pool_, though condemned also, yet had his pardon." i give this last quotation entire (hoping to be pardoned for its length), as it affords a curious insight into the eventful history of the period; for, two years later, i find it on record that-- "_reynold pool, cardinal_, brother to the lord montacute, was with divers others attainted of high treason; of whom foskeue and dingley the tenth of july were beheaded, the countess of salisbury two years after." but i forbear quoting further the account of this same cardinal's pompous "_absolution of these realms_," and "_reconciliation to the church of rome_," all which are given in "marvellous" detail by our worthy historian. i pass on to observe, in conclusion, that, from the fact (as recorded in the first of the foregoing historic extracts) that "sir richard _pool_, chamberlain" to prince arthur, was sent by him into _wales_, i gather your correspondent i. j. h. h. has been led to suppose him a _welsh knight_. that he is called a _kinsman_ of the prince is also some confirmation of the statement afforded by j. g. n., that he became so by his mother's near connexion with the countess of richmond, but his own alliance with the house of plantagenet must have taken place about the close of the fifteenth century (and i own this offers some objection to my theory of his descent); it could not have occurred in , as your correspondent states, since cardinal pole was, as i have stated, born in , and was therefore fifty-four years old at the commencement of mary's reign, viz. - , when proposals were made for his marriage with the queen; for, says sir richard, once more, in speaking, of "the marriages propounded for queen mary:" "one was cardinal pool, of a dignity not much inferior to kings, and by his mother descended from kings; _but there was an exception against him also, because four and fifty years old_ (as old a batchelor as queen mary was a maid)," &c. &c. may i be allowed to suggest another query as to the value of the aforesaid dignity of knighthood, since lord herbert and lord powis accepted it with men of plainer name and "lesser note." i should feel obliged to any of your correspondents for information on this point. h. w. s. t. southampton. [footnote : _english baronets_, vol. ii. p. . ed. .] * * * * * proclamations to prohibit the use of coal. (vol. v., p. .) i have recently, for a definite purpose, searched for facts relative to the introduction of coal into domestic use, but i have not met with the case referred to by dr. bachhoffner. so harsh a measure appears somewhat inconsistent with other facts connected with the early history of coal. for instance, a grant, dated th may, in the th of edward i. tolerates the introduction of sea-coal into london, but levies a toll of sixpence upon every ship-load passing london bridge: "de qualibet navata carbonis maris venal. sex denarios" (hearne's _liber niger scaccarii_: lond. , vo. p. .), which toll was to be applied to the maintenance of the said bridge. a few months after this, in , was issued the proclamation prohibiting its use; and on its being disregarded, was, as stated by prynne, followed by a commission of oyer and terminer in the year , a short time before the death of edward i. it is pretty evident that on the accession of edward ii. a great change occurred in the opinion of the authorities respecting the use of coal; for in the year fifty pounds (equal probably to l. of our money) were paid from the exchequer to provide wood and _coal_ for the king's coronation. (_issue roll, excheq._, edw. ii.) this sum was paid to john fairhod, thomas de hales, thomas wastel, roger le white, and john de talworth. we cannot tell the quantity of coal used on that occasion; but, in addition to the above sum we find richard del hurst of london petitioning parliament for the payment of ten { } shillings to him for sea-coal supplied at the king's coronation. (_rot. parl._, and edw. ii., vol. i. p. .) many facts might be given to show that coal was frequently used in london during the reign of edward ii.; and unless we are to infer that the king used without hesitation that which was denied to the citizens on pain of death, we cannot suppose that any such stringent measure was in force as to render the use of coal a capital offence. the period, therefore, in which the case referred to by dr. bachhoffner occurred, was most probably during the last few months of the reign of edw. i. but i am not acquainted with any record of the case, and, with mr. wilson, should feel obliged if any of your correspondents can refer me to it. but perhaps the doctor himself will kindly answer the query. f. somner merryweather. * * * * * ralph winterton. (vol. v., pp. . .) you mention that a latin distich by winterton may be found among the additional mss. in the british museum. and at p. . his publication of _hypocrates_ is referred to, with a query as to the latin verse translation. as this book (not i believe very common) is now before me, i transcribe the title: "'[greek: hippokratous tou megalou hoi aphorismoi; pezikoi te kai emmetroi.] hippocratis magni aphorismi, soluti et metrici. interprete joanne heurnio medico _ultrajectino_. _metaphrastis_, joanne frero medico-poëta et radulpho wintertono medicinæ, et poëseos græcæ studioso, _anglis_. alexandri magni apophthegma. [greek: basilikon esi, ton eu poiounta kakôs akouein.] _regale_ est, bene cùm feceris, male audire. _catabrigiæ._ _excudebant_ thomas buck et rogerus daniel, mdcxxxiii." the volume is mo., and dedicated to william [laud?], bishop of london. then follow "reverendorum s. theol. professorum censuræ," including those of thomas comber, dean of carlisle, and master of trinity college, cambridge; matthew wren, dean of windsor, and master of peterhouse, &c. the aphorisms are given each in the original greek, with a metrical version in the same language, followed by prose and metrical versions in latin. at the end of my copy is bound up, as probably it was printed to accompany the preceding, "epigrammata regiorum medicinæ professorum, cantabrigiensis atque oxoniensis, &c. in rad. wintertoni metaphrasin nuper editam, &c., quibus accedunt epigrammata therapeutica ejusdem, ad malevolorum lectorum ægritudines." cantabrigiæ, same date and printers. one of the epigrammata throws some light on the query in vol. v., p. ., as to the authorship of the _latin_ version: edward hanburie, of sidney college, says, addressing winterton,-- "gratum opus hoc medicis. tu primus carmine _græco_ metiris." the volume closes with some latin elegiac verses by winterton on the death of his brother francis, who, leaving the office of gentleman of the privy chamber to the queen, "in castra transiit. is pro patria mortuus, custrinæ, in finibus silesiæ, honorifice, et sicut militem decuit, sepultus est." this supplementary volume is partly occupied with complimentary verses by the fellows of king's, who address winterton as "medicum a suis juxta statuta designatum." among these is one copy by gulielmus _sclater_, c. r. c., "socius inceptor in artibus;" and another by johannes _sclater_, c. r. c., quondam socius, s. t. b. . i indicate these as having lately called the attention of your readers to this family. balliolensis. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _family of bullen_ (vol. v., p. .).--there is a physician of that name, who is, i believe, one of the professors in the queen's college, cork, and who may probably be able to afford your correspondent e. a. g. the information he wishes for. i have been informed that dr. bullen's father asserted that his family was descended from the boleyn family. j. e. _wallington's journal_ (vol. v., p. .).--this volume is in my possession. it contains much curious and interesting matter. j. godwin. . upper gower street. _the amber witch_ (vol. v., p. .).--in answer to a query of a. n., this book is a pure fiction. some german biblical critics pretending to decide that whole chapters, or whole books, of the bible are spurious, from internal evidence, meinhold wrote the _amber witch_ to show how little able they were to judge of internal evidence in a much simpler case. several of them fell into his trap, and then the author avowed the work to be his own. t. _twyford_ (vol. v., p. .).--there is yet, i am informed, a _double ford_ at alnmouth, a little above the town. the ancient church, called woden's church, stood at the mouth of the alne. here was found the cross with the imperfect inscription in anglo-saxon runes, now preserved at alnwick castle. i am not aware that any local tradition now connects the name of twyford with alnmouth. edward charlton. { } _the ring finger_ (vol. v., p. .).--i have met with the following passage in adam's _antiquities_ ( vo. ed., p. .), which seems to assign another origin to this custom than the one lately proposed in "n. & q.": "on this occasion" (_i. e._ the signing of the marriage contract) "there was commonly a feast: and the man gave the woman a ring (_annulus pronubus_) by way of pledge, _juvenal_, vi. ., which she put on her left hand, on the finger next the least; because it was believed a nerve reached from thence to the heart: _macrob. sat._ vii. ." eryx. _brass of lady gore_ (vol. v., p. .).--this brass still exists, and commemorates maria gore, _priorissa_, , attired simply as a widow. owing to its actual existence having been but recently known to collectors of rubbings, no mention was made of it in the _oxford manual_. for the same reason there is no notice of a very interesting brass of a bishop or abbot, date end of fourteenth century, at adderley, salop. the editor of the above work would take this opportunity of thanking mr. w. s. simpson for his corrections ("n. & q.," vol. v., p. .). the rubbing, or rather smudging, from which the inscription was copied being nearly wholly illegible, accounts for the mistakes. any further corrections will oblige the editor of the "oxford manual of brasses." gloucester. _gospel trees._--several numbers of "n. & q." have contained interesting notices of trees which are traditionally reported to indicate the standing-places of out-door preachers. to me, there is something very pleasing and picturesque--if nothing better--in these narrations; and i shall therefore be glad to find them recurring in your pages, whether their claims are of ancient or later date. every reader of the vigorous poetry of ebenezer elliott, a true member of the _genus irritabile_, will recollect miles gordon "the ranter" preacher, and how, in the poet's lines,-- "----the great unpaid! the prophet, lo! sublime he stands beneath the gospel tree, and edmund stands on shirecliffe at his side." the context, too long to quote here, is a passage descriptive of the scenery in the vicinity of sheffield in one direction, unsurpassed for graphic scope, freshness, and fidelity in the whole range of english rhyme. but the tree? hundreds of summer visitors climb the hill, and ask _that_ question; and they are pointed to an ash, which stands in a situation conspicuous enough, but which neither the rest of "the trees of the wood," if they could speak, nor the quarryman, who remembers it when a sappling can allow to be _the_ veritable "gospel tree" of the poet, though, but for _this_ memorandum in "n. & q.," it might arrive at that distinction in the course of another century. a neighbouring tree, an oak, which those matter-of-fact judges, the trigonometrical surveyors, have marked with a lofty pole, competes with the aforesaid ash for the reverence of pilgrims but its claim is equally apocryphal. if, however, when on the spot, "it is difficult," according to the old adage, "to find the tree for the wood," as i experienced a few days since, it will ever stand conspicuous enough, in the poet's page, and may even serve to divert or recall attention to "gospel trees," which have more than poetical claim to that appellation. h. "_who from the dark and doubtful love to run_" (vol. v., p. .).--i presume the lines imperfectly quoted by h. m. are to be found in the "introduction" to the _parish register_ by crabbe, and which, as the book is before me, i will transcribe: "oh! rather give me commentators plain, who with no deep researches vex the brain, who from the dark and doubtful love to run, and hold their glimmering tapers to the sun." s. s. s. _son of the conqueror; walker tyrrel_ (vol. v., p. .).--no other son of william the conqueror, except william rufus, was slain by an arrow in the new forest. a grandson, however, of the conqueror, richard, son of robert duke of normandy, met with the same fate as rufus, as stated by the cotemporary chronicler, florentius wigornensis. (edition of the historical society, vol. ii. p. .) immediately after describing the death of william rufus, he says: "nam et antea ejusdem willelmi junioris germanus, ricardus, in eadem foresta multo ante perierat, et paulo ante _suus fratruelis_, ricardus, comitis scilicet normannorum rotberti filius, dum et ipse in venatu fuisset, a suo milite sagitta percussus, interiit." probably sir n. wraxhall or his authority had read this statement hastily, and had construed _fratruelis_ brother instead of _nephew_, which is the correct sense of the word. your correspondent asks further for the authority for the death of william rufus. every historian of that day--florentius wigornensis and the saxon chronicler among others--gives the received account of his death, except suger, a norman abbot, who says that sir w. tyrrel took a solemn oath to him that he was not the slayer of the king, but that the arrow came from an unknown hand. there can, i think, be little doubt but that sir w. tyrrel's was the hand that drew the bow; whether, however, he intended to kill the king or not, is a point which it is probable, after the time that has elapsed, will never be satisfactorily determined. r. c. c. oxon. { } _sir gilbert gerrard_ (vol. v., p. .).--i beg to refer mr. spedding to erdeswick's _staffordshire_, by harwood ( ), p. ., who states that sir gilbert gerrard died in , and that he was buried in ashley churchyard in that county, under a handsome monument. probably the inscription on it will give the precise date, and some of your readers may be able to refer to it, and send the communication to "n. & q." his death must have occurred between january , , elizabeth, the date of his will as given in dugdale's _baronage_, vol. ii. p. ., and the following april; if dugdale is right in saying that it was then proved. but on referring to the _baga de secretis_, the contents of which are so excellently calendared by sir francis palgrave in the appendices to his third, fourth, and fifth reports as deputy-keeper of the public records, it appears that sir gilbert was named in a commission of oyer and terminer, on march ; that he signed a precept under it for the return of the grand jury, on april ; and that he signed another precept to the lieutenant of the tower for bringing up sir john perrott before the justices, on _june _, all in elizabeth, . (fourth report, appendix ii. pp. , .) it would seem, therefore, that dugdale has erred in the date he assigns to the probate of sir gilbert's will. a search, however, at doctors' commons will solve the difficulty. edward foss. _fides carbonarii_ (vol. iv., pp. . .; vol. v., p. .).--the collier's confession of faith did not originate with dr. milner, but is at least three hundred years old. cardinal hosius commends it highly (_de auctor. sacræ script._: opp. fol. .: antverp. ), and so does staphylus likewise (_apologia_, fol. .: colon. ). bellarmin gives another version of the narrative, which he has taken from petrus barocius (_de arte bene moriendi_, lib. ii. cap. ix. pp. - .: antverp. ). your correspondents should not have forgotten the concluding question and answer in what crakenthorp has styled "the colliar's catechisme" (_vigilius dormitans_, p. .: lond. ). the entire of the conversation may be represented thus: "what do you believe?" "i believe what the church believes." "and what does the church believe?" "the church believes what i believe." "and what do you both believe?" "the same thing." r. g. _line on franklin_ (vol. iv., p. .; vol. v., pp. . .).-- "eripuit jovi fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis." i do not exactly see the object of mr. warden's inquiry (if it indeed be one), as your correspondent r. d. h. had already traced it from cardinal polignac to manilius; but, as perhaps mr. warden means to inquire where _he_ may have read it, i beg leave to inform him that line was first published as anonymous in the _correspondence de grimm et de diderto_, april, , and was lately reproduced in the _quarterly review_ for june, , with the addition that it was from the pen of _turgot_, as the authority, i presume, of the life, art. turgot, in the _biographie universelle_. c. _meaning of royd as an addition to yorkshire names_ (vol. v., p. .).--the glossary to hulton's _coucher book of whalley abbey_ at once gives it thus: "roda, an assart, or clearing. rode land is used in this sense in modern german, in which the verb roden means to clear. the combination of the syllable rod, _rode_, or _royd_, with some other term, or with the name of an original settler, has, no doubt, given to particular localities such designations as huntroyd, ormerod, &c., &c." see also lower _on surnames_ ( rd edit. i. .), and an elaborate note in dr. whitaker's _whalley_, referred to in his account of ormerod ( rd edit. p. .). in the sense which dr. w. gives to _rode_, or _royd_, as "a participial substantive of the provincial verb _rid_, to clear or grub up," that word will be found singly, or in combination, near forests and chases from the lancashire pendle to the devonshire dartmoor. it occurs also in rodmore, rodleys, &c., in the forest district of gloucestershire over severn; and murray's _handbook_ may be referred to for wernigerode, elbingerode, &c., in the hartz forest of germany. in lancashire and yorkshire the adjunct sometimes refers to the _early proprietor_, as in monkroyd, martinrode, &c.; sometimes to the _trees ridded_, as in oakenrode, acroyd, hollinrode, holroyd, &c.; sometimes to other characteristics. instances of all kinds will be found in the _whalley coucher book_, printed by the chetham society. lancastriensis. _binnacle_ (vol. v., p. .).--this word, which signifies the case or covering of the compass, was until the last thirty years spelled and pronounced "bittacle," and is derived, i should imagine, from the french word _habitacle_, a little habitation, a hut, a covering. it is almost the only one of our nautical terms which can be traced to a french origin. c. k. _plague stones_ (vol. v., p. .).--i have not observed that any of your correspondents have noticed the stones near the romantic village of eyam, about four and a half miles e. n. e. of tideswell in derbyshire. it is well known that this village suffered most severely from the plague; and the inhabitants still revere the memory of their pastor mr. nompesson, who nobly refused to desert his flock in the hour of danger, and fell a sacrifice to his devotion. i became acquainted with these stones some years { } ago, when on tour through derbyshire, and, if i remember rightly, they are about two and a half feet high, one foot and a half in diameter, with a hollow place on the top like a dish, in which we were told the money of the "plague village" people was placed for the food, &c. that was brought to this boundary line by the people of the neighbourhood. the cavity in the stone was of course full of water. j. g. c. _ramasshed_ (vol. iii., p. .).--the fr. _ramas_ (as also _ramon_) is "_boughs_ formed into a _besom_ or broom," fr. _rameau_, from the lat. _ramus_. to _ramass_ or _ramash_ is "to put or sweep together, as with a broom." thus, hackluyt, in his preface to the reader, speaks of volumes "most untruly and unprofitablie _ramassed_ or hurled to." to _ramassh_ is also "to use a _ramas_ or a construction of ram_asses_" (in the case of syr r. guyldford) as a vehicle for conveyance. the sleds first used for carrying travellers safely down steep hills were probably composed of bough-hurdles, afterwards transformed into barrows and other more convenient carriages. q. _yankee doodle_ (vol. iv., pp. . .).--the citizens of the united states do not recognise this, but "hail, columbia," as their national air. w. t. m. hong kong. _"chords that vibrate," &c._ (vol. v., p. .).-- "chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure, thrill the deepest notes of woe." "on sensibility. to mrs. dunlop, of dunlop." burns's _poems_, ed. , vol. iv. p. . edw. hawkins. _derivation of martinique_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--mr. philip s. king's statement, that martinique was discovered on st. martin's day, is at variance with the account given by the historian of that island, who says that it was discovered on the th june, , during columbus's fourth voyage. the derivation of _martinique_ from _martin_ suggests itself so obviously, that, if the discovery had been made on the day (november ) consecrated to that saint, it is not likely that the local historian would have gone out of his way to fix upon a caribbean expression, _martinina_, as the origin of the name. henry h. breen. st. lucia. _anthony babington_ (vol. v., p. .).--w. kempe, the author of the _dutiful invective_, must not be confounded (as is frequently the case) with william kempe the celebrated actor, and the reputed author of kemp's _nine daies wonder_. the first-named kempe was probably a schoolmaster at plymouth. see the rev. a. dyce's introduction to his reprint of the _nine daies wonder_ (camden society, no. .). _the censure of a loyall subject_, which your correspondent (following herbert) attributes to kempe, is well known to have been the production of george whetstone, whose initials are at the end of the dedication. a copy may be seen in the library of lambeth palace. the execution of the "fourteen most wicked traitors" (ballard, babbington, tichbourne, &c.) formed the subject of many ballads and tracts, a few of which i am enabled to enumerate: . a proper new ballad to the tune of 'weep, weep,' by thomas deloney, beginning: "rejoice in hart, good people all, sing praise to god on hye, which hath preserved us by his power, from traitors tyranny." reprinted in mr. collier's old ballads (percy society, no. .). . "a ballad of rejoycinge for the revealinge of the quenes enemyes. licensed to edward alde, august , - ." . "a joyfull songe made by a citizen of london in the behalfe of all her majesties subjects, touching the joye for the taking of the traitors. licensed to r. jones, august , - ." . "a short discourse, expressing the substance of all the late intended treasons against the queenes majestie and estates of this realme by sundrie traytors, &c. printed by g. robinson for edward white." this tract contains an interesting ballad by t. nelson, whom mr. collier calls "the ballad-writing bookseller." see _extracts from the stationers' registers_, vol. ii. p. . a copy is preserved in the library of lambeth palace. edward f. rimbault. _seventh son_ (vol. iii. pp. . .; vol. v., p. .).--through the information of a friend i awn able to add a curious "modern instance" to my communication printed in the number of "n. & q." for may . in saltash street, plymouth, my friend copied, on the th dec. , the following inscription on a board, indicating the profession and claims of the inhabitant:-- "a. shepherd, the third seventh daughter, doctress." h. g. t. weston-super-mare. "_venit ad euphratem_" (vol. v., p. .).--the epigram referred to by your correspondent h. m. runs thus: "venit ad euphratem; rapidis perterritus undis, ut cito transivit, corripuit medium." s. q. _sneezing_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--i have often seen, but where i cannot now recollect, that the custom of saying "god bless you!" when any one { } sneezed, arose from the fact that in the great plague of athens sneezing was an unfailing proof of returning convalescence. your classical readers will remember the anecdote told in the _anabasis_ of xenophon (c. ii. sect. i.-v.). i copy from mitford, who has besides a note to the purpose: "at daybreak the troops were assembled, and chirosophus, cleanor, and xenophon successively addressed them. an accident, in itself even ridiculous, assisted not a little, through the importance attributed to it by grecian superstition, to infuse encouragement. xenophon was speaking of that favour from the gods which a righteous cause entitled them to hope for against a perjured enemy, when somebody _sneezed_. immediately the general voice addressed ejaculations to protecting jupiter, whose omen it was supposed to be. a sacrifice to the god was then proposed; a universal shout declared approbation; and the whole army, in one chorus, sang the pæan."--_history of greece_, vol. v. p. . cap. xxiii. sect. iv.: lond. , vo. we must not, however, forget that when elisha restored the shunamite's son to life-- "the child _sneezed_ seven times, and the child opened his eyes."--_ kings_, iv. . rt. _rents of assize_ (vol. v., p. .).--has not j. g. misquoted? is not the line-- "regis ad exemplar, totus componitur orbis." j. e. rochester. _fire unknown_ (vol. iv., pp. . . .).--in _an account of the native africans of sierra leone_, by t. m. winterbottom: lond. , vols., occurs the following note to vol. i. p. .:-- "it is said that the inhabitants of the marian or ladrone islands were ignorant of the use of fire before they were visited by the spaniards; but even then they were acquainted with the mode of producing intoxication by means of the wine of the cocoa-nut tree." zeus. _newtonian system_ (vol. v., p. .).--the author of the pamphlet entitled _the theology and philosophy of cicero's somnium scipionis explained_, london, , vo., was bishop horne. he wrote it before he had attained majority, and many attacks were made upon it. it is not included in the edition of his collected works in vols. vo. . bishop warburton, who cordially disliked the hutchinsonians, or, as he styled them, the english cocceians, mentions this tract in his _letters to bishop hurd_: "there is one book, and that no large one, which i would recommend to your perusal; it is called _the theology and philosophy of cicero's somn. scip. examined_. it is indeed the ne plus ultra of hutchinsonianism. in this twelve-penny pamphlet newton is proved an atheist and a blockhead. and what would you more?"--warburton's _letters to hurd_, edit. , to. p. . the anecdote as to newton, locke, and lord pembroke, p. ., was first told by whiston, whose character for accuracy does not stand high, particularly when sir i. newton, against whom he bore a grudge, is concerned. jas. crossley. _newton, cicero, and gravitation_ (vol. v., p. .).--newton is celebrated for having proved that all bodies attract one another with a force varying inversely as the square of the distance. what resemblance has this to a statement, that all bodies gravitate to the centre of the world, or, as explained by cicero, the earth? which at most only implies its rotundity. perhaps s. e. b. was joking, like hegel, when he said that newton called /a^ gravitation, and inferred that gravitation varied as /a^ . otherwise modern philosophers, as _e.g._ kepler, would have supplied much nearer approximations to newton's law. altron. _rhymes on the names of places_ (vol. v., p. .).--i remember hearing the following verse in the neighbourhood of nottingham: "eaton and taton, and bramcote o' th' hill, beggarly beeston, and lousy chilwell; waterside wilford, hey little lenton! ho fine nottingham! colwick and snenton." the villages whose names occur are all within a few miles of nottingham. the following rhyme i have also heard: "derbyshire born and derbyshire bred, strong i' th' arm and weak i' the head." r. c. c. oxon. _saint wilfrid's needle_ (vol. v., p. .), where, according to burton, "they used to try maids whether they were honest," is not, as b. b. supposes, a stone, but a narrow passage in the crypt beneath the central tower of ripon minster. this crypt is of saxon workmanship, and is probably either a part of the original church built by saint wilfrid, or "the new work," which, according to leland-- "odo, archebishop of cantewarbyri ... causid to be edified, wher the minstre now is." this passage is said to have been used as a place of ordeal through which maidens of suspected honesty were caused to pass,--a feat which none but a virgin could accomplish. k. p. d. e. _"measure for measure," act i. sc. ._ (vol. v., p. .).--i should be sorry to cast a cloud over the _satisfactory_ elucidation which a. e. b. flatters himself he has made of a passage in _measure for measure_, for, if not convincing, it is unquestionably ingenious. i am afraid, however, there is one fatal objection, of which, when pointed out, i { } doubt not your correspondent will see the force. he says, "the demonstrative pronoun _that_, refers to _the commission_ which the duke holds in his hand;" but is this the language we in england use? until the duke presented the commission,--the act indicated by the words "there is our commission,"--there cannot indeed be much doubt that he held it in his hand; and while he did so, he would as certainly have said _this_, as i speak of _this_ pen with which i write. your correspondent challenges comment in assuming that his explanation was satisfactory enough to preclude all correction. at the same time i must confess i am altogether sceptical with regard to mr. halliwell's _verb_. as, however, he has excited our curiosity, he will doubtless not object to satisfy it. mr. singer's suggestion seems to me worthy of consideration; but, after all, i feel that there is a degree of incoherency in the passage, and so unsatisfactory a connexion between the words "and let them work" and that which precedes, that i cannot help recurring to the idea that a line has been lost,--an accident of not very uncommon occurrence. samuel hickson. st. john's wood. _"stunt with false care," &c._ (vol. v., p. .).--the lines alluded to, though the first of them is incorrectly quoted, are from george cox's brilliant satire, _black gowns and red coats; or, oxford in _, respecting which some information was recently furnished by your correspondents s. f. c. (vol. v., p. .) and c. w. b. (vol. v., p. .) in reply. the work is perhaps sufficiently scarce to warrant the citation of the whole passage, which occurs at the commencement of part v.: "when philip's son, in all a monarch's pride, with tempting boons approach'd the barrel's side, full in the sun his glitt'ring trains display'd, and sought to cumber with officious aid, the cynic sneer'd, and only begg'd in spite the free enjoyment of the beams of light. such were the humble prayer, the meek request that oxford's sons might ask their tyrants best; the full out-pouring on their blinded youth of nature's sunbeams, and the light of truth, rest from the burking systems of the sect, who kill with care more fatal than neglect, who twist with force unnatural aside the straight young branches in their heaven-ward pride, _with culture spoil_ what else would flourish wild, and rock the cradle till they bruise the child." the poem in question, which is equal in talent to anything that has appeared since the days of pope, was published by ridgway in , but is now rarely to be met with, though i never heard of its being suppressed. g. t. d. _the lines on chaucer_ (vol. v., p. .).--the lines about which eliza inquires are not quoted by her quite correctly. they are by mr. w. j. fox, and may be found in the little volume entitled _hymns and anthems_ (published by chas. fox, ), used at the unitarian chapel in south place, finsbury. no. cxxiii. begins thus: "britain's first poet, famous old chaucer, swan-like in dying, sang his last song, when at his heart-strings death's hand was strong," &c. jaydee. _will o' the wisp_ (vol. v., p. .).--will o' the wisp still lives by the banks of trent; but alas! his reign is almost over. fifty years ago he might be seen nightly dancing over bog and brake; but since the process of warping has been discovered, which has made valuable property of what was before a morass, nearly the whole of the commons between gainsborough and the humber have been brought into cultivation, and the drainage consequent thereon has nearly banished poor will. any person wishing to make his acquaintance would probably succeed, if he were to pass a night next november on brumby or scotton common. k. p. d. e. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. a late eminent scholar was in the habit of advising his friends, when in doubt which of two books to buy: "if one of them is a dictionary, always buy the dictionary:"--and the noble library which he bequeathed to the public shows that he himself always acted upon this principle. what he said of dictionaries generally, will apply with particular force to the very admirable _dictionary of science, literature, and art; comprising the history, description, and scientific principles of every branch of human knowledge, with the derivation and definition of all the terms in general use_, edited by professor brande and dr. cauvin, with the assistance of many eminent literary and scientific gentlemen, of which the second edition is now before us. our impression on opening it was, that notes & queries would find its occupation gone: and, although it is obvious that such cannot be the case, we feel sure that if all querists upon ordinary subjects would turn to this excellent compendium of general information before transmitting to us many such inquiries as we now receive, they would at once be put in possession of the information of which they are in search; and we should be spared a very considerable amount of labour. the object which the proprietors proposed to themselves in the one closely printed volume of which the { } book consists, has been to supply the place of those large encyclopædias and dictionaries of modern times which are either too voluminous or too special for ready reference and general use; and to produce, in a form which should admit of its being carried about, a work which, without entering into long details of theories, &c., should exhibit an _abstract of the principles of every branch of knowledge, and a definition and explanation of the various terms in science, literature, and art_, which occur in reading or conversation, with that facility of reference and precision of statement which ought to be the distinguishing features of a useful dictionary. thanks to the knowledge and good judgment of the editors and their assistants, this object has been so successfully accomplished, that brande's _dictionary of science, literature, and art_, may be pronounced as at once a valuable substitute for a small library, and an indispensable accompaniment and key to a large one. the new volume (the sixth), which has just been issued, of messrs. rivington's handsome edition of _the works and correspondence of the right honourable edmund burke_, is one of peculiar interest, inasmuch as in addition to his tracts on the laws against popery in ireland, and his reports of the house of commons on the affairs of the east india company, and the charges against warren hastings, it contains his hints for an essay on the drama, and the essay towards an abridgment of the english history in three books. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. a narrative of the proceedings in the douglas cause. london, griffin, vo. . clare's poems. fcap. vo. last edition. poetic wreath. vo. newman. mallet's elvira. magna charta; a sermon at the funeral of lady farewell, by george newton. london, . boothby's sorrows sacred to the memory of penelope. cadell and davies. . chaucer's poems. vol. i. aldine edition. biblia sacra, vulg. edit., cum commentar. menochii. alost and ghent, . vol i. barante, ducs de bourgogne. vols. i. and ii. st, nd, or rd edit. paris. ladvocat. . biographia americana, by a gentleman of philadelphia. potgieseri de conditione servorum apud germanos. vo. col. agrip. the british poets. whittingham's edition in vols., with plates. repository of patents and inventions. vol. xlv. nd series. . ------------------------ vol. v. rd series. . nicholson's philosophical journal. vols. xiv. xv. . journal of the royal institution of great britain. no. xi. nd series. works of isaac barrow, d.d., late master of trinity college, cambridge. london, . vol. i. folio. lingard's history of england. vols. vi. vii. viii. ix. xii. xiii., cloth. fabricii bibliotheca latina. ed. ernesti. leipsig, . vol. iii. the anacalypsis. by godfrey higgins. vols. to. codex diplomaticus Ævi saxonici, opera j. m. kemble. vols. i. and ii. vo. eckhel, doctrina numorum. vol. viii. brougham's men of letters. nd series, royal vo., boards. original edition. knight's pictorial shakspeare. royal vo. parts xlii. xliii. xliv. l. and li. conder's analytical view of all religions. vo. halliwell on the dialects of somersetshire. sclopetaria, or remarks on rifles, &c. the comedies of shadwell may be had on application to the publisher of "n. & q." *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. replies received.--_the amber witch--the moon and her influences--gilbert de clare--edmund bohun--mr. miller of craigentinny--passage in "measure for measure"--fides carbonarii--oasis--lord bacon a poet--burials in woollen--gabriel hounds--ben jonson's adopted sons--market crosses--large families--the death watch--baxter's shove--tortoise-shell tom cats--tregonwell frampton--john roger the protomartyr--epigram on the euphrates--titles of the queen of england--gospel of the distaffs--the number seven--after me the deluge--restiff--seven senses--mummy wheat--lines on woman--st. wilfrid's needle--will o' the wisp--cross neytz--surnames--curse of scotland--lines on crawford of kilbirnie--the empress josephine--stunt with false care--lines on burning of the houses of parliament--hoax on sir walter scott--amyciæ--reason and understanding--shakspeare's seal--st. patrick--mistletoe--nacar--the oak and the ash--toady or toadeater--sun dial motto--frebord--rhymes on places--addison and maxwell--king arthur--rabbit as a symbol--st. christopher and the doree--smyth's mss.--term milesian--spanish vessels wrecked on coast of ireland._ _we are this week obliged by want of space to omit many interesting articles, notes, and replies to correspondents._ w. k. 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"the unparalleled course of public improvements is here recorded year by year in separate articles or statistical tables; and the series forms a complete chronicle of the proceedings of both houses of parliament, from the year to the present time." the vols. may be had separately, price s. c. knight, fleet street. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxi. advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the th, and bills for insertion by the th instant. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june , . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * vol. v.--no. .] saturday, june . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page autobiography of william oldys, by charles bridger on cosin's "history of popish transubstantiation," edited by the rev. j. s. brewer ancient guildhalls in england the seventh son of a seventh son, by henry edwards robert drury folk lore:--gabriel hounds--weather prophecy--origin of moles--mistletoe minor notes:--byron's "siege of corinth"--goldsmith's "poetical dictionary"--corrupted names queries:-- mr. halliwell's annotated shakspeare folio restive reason and understanding according to coleridge, by c. mansfield ingleby minor queries:--banning or bayning family--ladies styled baronets--st. christopher and the doree--custom of women wearing masks in the theatre--brass of abbot kirton; matrices--lines on chaucer--the nacar--cilgerran castle--use of slings by the early britons--"squire vernon's fox chase"--the death watch--genealogical queries--ben jonson's adopted sons--kyrle's tankard at balliol--irish language in the west indies--"battle of neville's cross"--sir walter raleigh's ring--"narne; or, pearle of prayer"--sir george howard--"love me, love my dog"--mummy wheat--a photographic query--"stunt with false care"--winchester college--old royal irish academy house, grafton street--quotations wanted--shakspeare's seal--the long-lived countess of desmond minor queries answered:--temple church and lincoln's inn chapel--edmund bohun--"nimrod" replies:-- the three estates of the realm, by william fraser burials in woollen, by john booker and j. b. colman braem's ms. "memoires touchant le commerce" general pardons, by john gough nichols the dodo, by a. d. bartlett whipping of princes by proxy replies to minor queries:--penkenol--johnny crapaud--sir john darnall--bastides--compositions under the protectorate--hoax on sir walter scott--statute of limitations abroad--lines on crawfurd of kilbirnie-- swearing on a skull--rhymes on places--the silent woman--serpent with a human head--poem on the burning of the houses of parliament--large families--frebord-- milton's (?) epitaph--can bishops vacate their sees?-- sleekstone, meaning of--poems in the spectator--line on franklin--st. christopher--lines on woman--burial-- portrait of thomas percy, earl of northumberland miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. autobiography of william oldys. previous to receiving the appointment of norroy king at arms, oldys wrote a short account of his own life, which is now in my possession; and as it contains some interesting particulars of his connexion with the earl of oxford, in the formation of the magnificent collection of manuscripts now in the british museum, i have forwarded a copy of it, which you are at liberty to make use of, if suited to the pages of "n. & q." "after my unfortunate adventures in the south sea, my long and expensive law-suits for the recovery of my right, and five years' retirement to a nobleman's in the country, with whom i had been intimate in my youth, i became, in less than two years after my return to london, first known to the earl of oxford in the year ; when he invited me to show him my collections of mss. historical and political, which had been the earl of clarendon's; my collections of royal letters, and other papers of state; together with a very large collection of english heads in sculpture, which alone had taken me up some years to collect, at the expense of at least threescore pounds. all these, with the catalogues i drew up of them, at his lordship's request, i parted with to him for forty pounds, and the frequent intimations he gave me of a more substantial recompense hereafter, which intimations induced me to continue my historical researches, as what would render me most acceptable to him. therefore i left off writing in the _universal spectator_, in which i had then published about twenty papers, and was proffered the sole supply thereof; which would have returned me fifty-two guineas per annum. "further, when his lordship understood that my printed books consisted chiefly of personal history, he desired catalogues of them also: which i drew out, and he had several large parcels of the most scarce and curious amongst them, in the two years following; for which, though i never received more than five guineas, not the fourth part of their value, yet his friendly deportment towards me increased my attachment and zeal to oblige him. this friendship he further exerted, in the { } assistance he afforded me out of his own library, and procured of his friends, towards completing my _life of sir walter raleigh_; and his opinion of the further encouragement i therein deserved may appear in the letters he honoured me with upon that occasion. but as to money, the five guineas more he gave me upon my presenting him with the _life_, and the _history of the world_ annexed to it, in , was all that i ever received from him in five years. in the latter end of the year i published my _british librarian_; and when his lordship understood how unproportionate the advantages it produced were to the time and labour bestowed upon it, he said he would find me employment better worth my while. also, when he heard that i was making interest with sir robert walpole, through the means of commissioner hill, to present him with an abstract of some ancient deeds i had relating to his ancestors, and which i have still, his lordship induced me to decline that application, saying, though he could not do as grand things as sir robert, he would do that which might be as agreeable to me, if i would disengage myself from all other persons and pursuits. i had then also had, for several years, some dependence upon a nobleman, who might have served me in the government, and had, upon certain motives, settled an annuity upon me of twenty pounds a year. this i resigned to the said nobleman for an incompetent consideration, and signed a general release to him, in may, , that i might be wholly independent, and absolutely at my lord oxford's command. i was likewise then under an engagement with the undertakers of the _supplement to bayle's dictionary_. i refused to digest the materials i then had for this work under an hundred pounds a year, till it was finished; but complied to take forty shillings a sheet for what i should write, at such intervals as my business would permit: for this clause i was obliged to insert, in the articles then executed between them and myself, in march the year aforesaid whereby i reserved myself free for his lordship's service. and though i proposed, their said offer would be more profitable to me than my own, yet my lord's employment of me, from that time, grew so constant, that i never finished above three or four lives for that work, to the time of his death. all these advantages did i thus relinquish, and all other dependence, to serve his lordship. and now was i employed at auctions, sales, and in writing at home, in transcribing my own collections or others for his lordship, till the latter part of the year ; for which services i received of him about pounds. in november the same year i first entered his library of manuscripts, whereunto i came daily, sorted and methodised his vast collection of letters, to be bound in many volumes; made abstracts of them, and tables to each volume; besides working at home, mornings and evenings, for the said library. then, indeed, his lordship, considering what beneficial prospects and possessions i had given up, to serve him, and what communications i voluntarily made to his library almost every day, by purchases which i never charged, and presents out of whatever was most worthy of publication among my own collections, of which he also chose what he pleased, whenever he came to my chambers, which i have since greatly wanted, i did thenceforward receive of him two hundred pounds a-year, for the short remainder of his life. notwithstanding this allowance, he would often declare in company before me, and in the hearing of those now alive, that he wished i had been some years sooner known to him than i was; because i should have saved him many hundred pounds. "the sum of this case is, that for the profit of about l. i devoted the best part of ten years' service to, and in his lordship's library; impoverished my own stores to enrich the same; disabled myself in my studies, and the advantages they might have produced from the publick; deserted the pursuits which might have obtained me a permanent accommodation and procured the prejudice and misconceit of his lordship's surviving relations. but the profits i received were certainly too inconsiderable to raise any envy or ill will; tho' they might probably be conceived much greater than they were. no, it was what his lordship made me more happy in, than his money, which has been the cause of my greatest unhappiness with them; his favour, his friendly reception and treatment of me; his many visits at my chambers; his many invitations by letters, and otherwise, to dine with him, and pass whole evenings with him; for no other end, but such intelligence and communications, as might answer the inquiries wherein he wanted to be satisfied, in relation to matters of literature, all for the benefit of his library. had i declined those invitations, i must, with great ingratitude, have created his displeasure; and my acceptance of them has displeased others. some survivors would surely, in respect to the memory of such a noble and honourable person, not totally disregard what he had so distinguished; but think a man worthy of being recommended to some provision, whom he, after a very deliberate experience, had seen reason so decently to provide for. i look upon most places of attendance at court to be an idle, loytering, empty course of life; in which a man is obliged to dress expensively, keep frothy, vain, or vicious company, and to have the salary more backwardly paid than in other places. therefore i should prefer some office in the revenue, rather than to be upon the civil list. "any clerkship, that must double a man down to a desk for a set of hours, morning and afternoon, he should be inured to from his youth, to be { } anything dextrous or easy in; but one, who has been the greatest part of his life master of his own time and thoughts, has his head pre-occupied; at least is commonly fitter for the direction than the execution of business; unless it be such in which his head will concur with his hand. besides, not to mention other incongruities, how would it fit a man, growing in years, to be company for a pack of young clerks? or, how could he hope to be continued, of such honourable persons, as should recommend him even to that situation, but might with the same trouble to something more convenient for him? "i have been assured by persons of experience, that an handsome post is not only sooner procured as having less candidates, but a man's pretension is more regarded. whereas, in business of ordinary or mean account, his merits and abilities are thought proportionable, and therefore his pretension or request is less regarded. besides, places that are something considerable, are generally less slavish and engrossing of a man's time; which, god knows, i desire not to be better employed than mine is, and may be by myself; only, a part of it more profitably: and yet, the convenience of such leisure, with the credit attending such a place, i should more value than the profit. "there is a common advice, that a man should not put in for everything, because it implys too high thoughts of his own sufficiency, as if he thought himself fit for everything: which is the character of an arrogant and conceited coxcomb. this offering of one's self, without latitude or limitation, is indeed one extreme; but the other is, to nail one's self down to some one individual place, like a dainty guest, that can taste but of one dish, and so wait for the vacancy; wherein he is led, by his own election, first to go barefoot (perhaps to his grave) in waiting for a dead man's shoes; and when he is dead, then he shall probably see another wear them. so that any vacancy which will accommodate the candidate with a competency suitable to his condition and qualifications; or, at least, equal to what he has appeared in, and decently enjoyed, cannot, 'tis presumed, be thought unreasonable. "two or three hundred a year may be thought a very liberal allowance from a single person; in places of the government 'tis thought no burden, because the publick contributions are settled for the payment: there is no new charge or salary created, and they have stood the test of various changes or revolutions in the administrations. if i were to be restored to a place of two hundred a year now, it would not be by one fourth part of the advantage to me that it might have been five years since: for i should look upon myself in conscience obliged to sequester so much, even though i should live long enough to enjoy such a place ten years, to re-imburse such friends as have assisted me in all that time, but can no longer now. so that this one act of accommodation would indeed save more persons than one from ruin." if it is not already known that oldys obtained the appointment of norroy through the intercession of sir peter thompson, to whom the above autobiographic sketch was addressed, i think i can confidently assert such was the fact. i am collecting materials for biographical notices of the king's heralds and pursuivants-at-arms. will you permit me, through the medium of "n. & q.," to make known to your correspondents that i have such a work in hand; and that i should be obliged for any unpublished particulars, either relative to oldys, or any other members of the college of arms. charles bridger. * * * * * on cosin's "history of popish transubstantiation," edited by the rev. j. s. brewer. as every work of value, and likely to live, should be made as correct as possible, i beg insertion in "n. & q." of some remarks on a note in mr. brewer's very satisfactory edition of so important a volume as that of cosin on the papal doctrine of transubstantiation. the note occurs in p. ., and is as follows:-- "++ _index expurg. hispan. d. gasp. quirogæ card. et inquisit. generalis in fine._ "there is a copy of one edition of this index in the british museum, but i cannot find the passage to which bp. cosin refers. the other index to which he refers is not to be found in the british museum, bishop tenison's library, or sion college." the disappointment of mr. brewer may not improbably be ascribed to the unfortunate fact, that in the _english_ translation of cosin's book, which is given by mr. brewer in the forecited extract, after the word _fine_ are omitted the words _lit. o._, which are found in the _latin_ original. this additional direction would have led to the passage which the editor was desirous of verifying. for, in the first edition of the _index_ referred to, that of , the particular index at the end, under o, gives the fol. , (_falso _), where the passage is found exactly as extant in the latin of cosin. the particular _expurgatory index_ under view was printed in and . in the first of the two, _that_ printed at saumur, the passage is found fol. . _verso_. i dare say it is so in the other entitled _duo testes, &c._, but that is of no moment. bp. cosin does not, as the note expresses, refer to any "other index." the british museum is comparatively scanty in this class of books, but they are all to be found in the bodleian library. { } at p. . the _discurs [us] modest [us] de jesuit._ referred to, and occupying several pages of discussion in the "n. & q." in the early volumes, is certainly the latin version of _a sparing discoverie of our english jesuits_, to., franc. , pp. , and to be found in the _catalogue of the british museum_, under "jesu _societas_." eupator. * * * * * ancient guildhalls in england. if a history of the ancient guildhalls of england could be compiled, it would form an interesting volume; as the ancient fabrics wherein our forefathers met to transact their civic affairs may almost be said to have symbolised the _status_ of the municipalities in which they stood at various epochs of their history. our old english boroughs cannot boast the possession of halls equal to the _hotels de ville_ of belgium or france, or the _rath-häusen_ of germany. we cannot show in this country edifices equal to the hotel de ville of brussels, or aix-la-chapelle, or rouen, in point of architectural extent or beauty; or of ratisbon, or other german towns, in point of venerable and antique interest. but we have buildings yet standing among us which, if less imposing in their exteriors, are nevertheless associated with historic memories of no common order, and secondary in this respect to none of the grander town-halls of ancient flanders. the guildhall of leicester cannot boast of any outside show. it is plain to meanness in this respect; it is on one side a mere barn in appearance; yet it has its claim on the attention of the antiquary. the first distinct mention of a guildhall in leicester is in a small charter, executed in the mayoralty of peter rogerson. from this it appears that in william ordriz, the son of stephen, conveyed to the mayor and burgesses a building which became the guildhall. the deed is endorsed _charta de la gild salle_. it contained three bays of buildings, was twenty yards in length, and about eight yards from front to back. it had solars, cellars, and dungeons. there was _then_ an older fabric, known as the guildhall, which was conveyed to a private townsman in the year . the hall, of which the corporation became the possessors in , remained in use until the reign of elizabeth, and even at intervals until the date of the commonwealth, being sometimes called the old moot hall, and at others the "old shop." anterior to the reformation two religious guilds had halls, known as st. george's and corpus christi halls. when these fraternities were dissolved, the buildings remained; one near the east of st. martin's church, the other near its western extremity. the first of these fell into entire disuse and decay; while the latter, corpus christi hall, gradually superseded as a civic edifice the old moot hall. i have found in the hall books of the borough of leicester entries as early as the th of henry viii., in which the hall of corpus christi guild is referred to as the occasional place of meeting of the municipal body. a deed, bearing date the th of elizabeth, states that the queen had conveyed the hall to cecily pickerell of norwich, widow, who reconveyed it to the recorder of leicester, braham, evidently as the representative of the mayor and burgesses, not then formally incorporated. meanwhile, the old hall seems to have served as a lock-up or gaol, and was finally sold in to a maltster, who would undoubtedly convert the roomy old structure into a malt-house. the corpus christi hall would appear to have been enlarged when it was fairly in the hands of the civic authorities, not only in the reign of elizabeth (about the year ), but in that of charles i. many particulars about the building will be found in the _handbook of leicester_. the guildhall of leicester is _within_ one of the most picturesque old structures of the country, and is well described by your correspondent kt. as you enter, its rude rafters rise directly from the ground on either hand, and embrace over the head of the visitor, forming pointed arches. as you advance along the floor the beams widen, and the tudor timbering and architectural detail are clearly discernible; two staples still remaining on one of the braces, which tradition says sustained the scenery of the players in the time when theatrical performers were allowed to act there, and when even shakspeare figured in the histrionic group. having reached the western end you find yourself in front of the bench on which the mayor and magistrates sit to dispense justice, the ancient gilded frame for the mace (now tenantless) surmounting the chief magistrate's chair. the rich old mantelpiece of the mayor's parlour, and the fragments of painted glass in its windows, enhance and complete the antiquarian attractions of this relic of edwardian and elizabethan architecture. jaytee. * * * * * the seventh son of a seventh son. amongst the oddities which cross our path, i recollect one which, at the time it occurred, caused no small surprise to the young, of which i then was one. i think it must be about forty-six years ago, a man travelled about hampshire professing to cure the blind, sick, and lame; and although he did not belong to the medical order, yet numerous cures were attributed to him, and he had quite a collection of crutches and walking-sticks, left by his patients, who, it was said, no longer required his { } or their aid. i well know that he was looked upon by the common sort of people with wonder, and almost awe. the notion prevalent amongst them was, that, being the seventh son of a seventh son, he was endowed by nature with extraordinary healing powers. after a few months his fame, such as it was, evaporated, and i have not heard of him since, nor have i read of any pretender acting like him since then. can any of your readers enlighten my darkness on the above, or on any other seventh of a seventh? and is there any account or tradition of a similar impostor in any other county of england? also, if ancient or modern history records any such wonderful attributes in reference to a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter? the above was written before i saw mr. cooper's allusion to the subject, in vol. iii., p. . i hope to be favoured with that gentleman's further notice of the seventh son of a seventh son. i should esteem it a favour if some one of your numerous and learned readers would inform me if that word denoting seven, which is in such frequent use in the old and new testaments, is susceptible of being rendered "several," "many," or some other indefinite quantity? seven appears also to be a favourite number in modern days. i subjoin a few of the many instances of its popular adoption:-- seven ages. seven champions. seven churches. seven days in a week. seven days' notice. seven dials. sevenfold. seven hills. seven months' child. seven penitential psalms. seven senses. seven-shilling piece. seven sisters. seven sleepers. seven sons. seventh son of the seventh son. seven stars. seven stages of life. seven times. seven times seven years a jubilee. seven wise men. a jury of seven matrons. seven wonders of the world. seven years' apprenticeship. seven years, a change. seven years' transportation. seven years' income-tax, sevenpence in the pound yearly; and these last are two of the seven abominations. henry edwards. . gifford street, kingsland road. [the number _seven_ has been a subject of particular speculation with some old writers, and every department of nature, science, literature, and art has been ransacked for the purpose of discovering septenary combinations. in the year there was printed at leipsic a work entitled _heptalogium virgilii salzburgensis_, in honour of the number seven. it consists of seven parts, each consisting of seven divisions. but the most curious work on the subject of numbers is the following, the contents of which, as might be expected, are quite worthy of the title: _the secrets of numbers according to theological, arithmetical, geometrical, and harmonical computation; drawn, for the better part, out of those ancients, as well as neoteriques. pleasing to read, profitable to understande, opening themselves to the capacities of both learned and unlearned; being no other than a key to lead men to any doctrinal knowledge whatsoever._ by william ingpen, gent. london, . in chap. ix. the author has given many notable opinions from learned men, to prove the excellency of the number _seven_:--"first, it neither begets nor is begotten, according to the saying of philo. some numbers, indeed, within the compass of ten, beget, but are not begotten; and that is the unarie. others are begotten, but beget not; as the octonarie. only the septenarie, having a prerogative above them all, neither begetteth, nor is begotten. this is its first divinity or perfection. secondly, this is an harmonical number, and the well and fountain of that fair and lovely _digramma_, because it includeth within itself all manner of harmony. thirdly, it is a theological number, consisting of perfection. (see _cruden_.) fourthly, because of its compositure: for it is compounded of one and six; two and five; three and four. now, every one of these being excellent of themselves (as hath been remonstrated), how can this number be but far more excellent, consisting of them all, and participating, as it were, of all their excellent virtues."--ed.] * * * * * robert drury. the credit attachable to _madagascar: or robert drury's journal during fifteen years' captivity on that island_, has always appeared to me a subject worth a note in your pages; but more particularly since the recent publication of burton's _narratives from the criminal trials of scotland_. in this latter work the author gives us an interesting account of the trial of captain green and his associates, in edinburgh, for the murder of one captain drummond (a very memorable case, as it bore upon the union of the kingdoms, at the time under discussion); and in course of his inquiries mr. burton has brought forth drury's _journal_ to prove the existence of the said captain drury for many years subsequent to green's execution for his murder! it becomes, therefore, a serious question to ascertain whether drury was a real or a fictitious character, and his book what it pretends to be, or the speculation of some clever writer, envious of the fame and profit derived by defoe from the publication of a similar work. i would not take the subject out of such good hands as those of mr. crossley, who has evidently something to offer us thereon; but would merely observe, by way of interesting your readers generally in the matter, that drury, by the old octavo of , now before me, did not flinch from inquiry, as he announces the book for sale "by the author, at old tom's coffee house in birchin lane," where, he says, "i am every day to be spoken with, and where i shall be ready to gratify any gentleman with a further account of any thing herein contained; { } to stand the strictest examination, or to confirm those things which to some may seem doubtful." "old tom's" is still a right good chop-house in the locality named; and it would be interesting to know if there is any contemporaneous note existing of an evening with robert drury there. but for the misfortune of living a century and a quarter too late, i should doubtless often have found myself in the same box with the mysterious man, with his piles of books, and his maps of madagascar, invitingly displayed for the examination of the curious, and the satisfaction of the sceptical. j. o. * * * * * folk lore. _gabriel hounds._--seeing that mr. yarrell, the distinguished ornithologist, is a contributor to "n. & q.," may i ask that gentleman, or any other correspondent, what is the species of bird whose peculiar yelping cry during its nocturnal migrations, has given rise to the superstition of the "gabriel hounds," so common in some rural districts? d. _weather prophecy._--can any of your correspondents inform me as to the truth or falsehood of a proverb i have heard, namely, that the dryness or wetness of a summer may be prognosticated by observing whether the oak or the ash tree comes first into leaf? i cannot recollect which denoted which; but i should much like to know whether there is such a proverb, and whether there is any truth in it. g. e. g. oxford. _origin of moles._--meeting with an octogenarian molecatcher a few weeks since, in the neighbourhood of bridgwater, the old man volunteered the following account of the origin of moles, or _wants_ as they are sometimes called in somerset. "it was a proud woman, sir, too proud to live on the face of the earth, and so god turned her into a mole, and made her live _under_ the earth; and that was the _first mole_." my informant was evidently much confirmed in his belief, by the fact of "moles having (as he said) hands and feet like christians." w. a. j. _mistletoe._--the mistletoe grows upon the _poplar tree_, near the railway station at taunton, and likewise at white-lackington near ilminster. i have not seen any upon the oak. w. a. j. * * * * * minor notes. _byron's "siege of corinth."_--in the late dr. moir's _lectures on the poetical literature of the last half century_, in commenting on byron's _siege of corinth_ he mentions "the glorious moonlight scene in which francesca and alp part for the last time, _the one to die of a broken heart_, the other to perish in his apostasy." from this he evidently considers that in this celebrated scene it is the still living form of francesca that visits her lover; but though lord byron has, according to his frequent practice, left this unexplained, the whole passage seems to me to show that his intention was, that the visit should be considered as a supernatural one. space will not allow of my bringing forward the proofs of this, but it can be easily verified by any one who reads the passage in question attentively. a singular mistake occurs in p. . of the work above quoted. could any one have supposed that a poet, and a writer on poetical literature, should be ignorant of the best known poetical name of the last century? yet mr. moir talks of "_william_" pope. he might as well have talked of "_alexander_" shakspeare. j. s. warden. _goldsmith's "poetical dictionary."_--it has not been noticed by any of goldsmith's biographers that, in addition to _the art of poetry_, in vols. mo., , published by newbery, and _the beauties of the english poets_, in vols. mo., , published by griffin, he also edited for newbery an useful work entitled _a poetical dictionary, or the beauties of the english poets alphabetically displayed_, in vols., , mo. the preface is evidently written by goldsmith, and with his usual elegance and spirit, and the selection which follows is one of the best which has ever yet been made. it certainly deserves more notice than it seems hitherto to have received; and were it only that it contains goldsmith's favourite passages, and may possibly have been a preparation and incentive to the composition of the _traveller_ and the _deserted village_, it ought not to be forgotten in the list of his compilations. in examining it i have frequently been struck by the appearance of lines and passages, and sometimes epithets, which were evidently in goldsmith's mind when he wrote his two beautiful poems. some, but not all, have been quoted as parallel passages by his editors. james crossley. _corrupted names._--in vol. i., pp. . and ., are some notes on the ordinary corruptions of christian names. one came once in my way which, as the name corrupted is not by any means an ordinary one, may not have occurred to many of your readers. i was called on to baptize a child by the name _nucky_: fortunately it is my practice to ascertain the sponsor's intention in the vestry, before proceeding to the font; and i was able, with much difficulty, to make out that the name meant was _ursula_, of which _nucky_ was their ordinary corruption. passing from names of _persons_ to those of _places_, i would add two corruptions to those named in your current volume: wiveliscombe, pronounced willscombe; { } minehead, minyard--both in somerset; and kenilworth, sometimes called killingworth, in warwickshire. balliolensis. * * * * * queries. mr. halliwell's annotated shakspeare folio. "this volume contains several hundred very curious and important corrections, amongst which i may mention an entirely new reading of the difficult passage at the commencement of _measure for measure_, which carries conviction with it; and shows, what might have been reasonably expected, that _that to_ is a misprint for _a verb_."--mr. halliwell in _notes & queries_, p. . in common, doubtless, with many other of your readers, i am curious to know what this _verb_ can be, which, while _carrying conviction with it_, is yet so mysteriously withheld from publication. in a small pamphlet, published a month or two since by mr. halliwell, in opposition to _mr. collier's_ folio, he lays down at p. . "a canon in philology;" from which he deduces the following as one of the "_circumstances under which no manuscript emendation of so late a date as will be admissible_." "it will not be admissible in any case where good sense can be satisfactorily made of the passage as it stands in the original, even although the correction may appear to give greater force or harmony to the passage." now, in the case referred to from _measure for measure_, i had previously ("n. & q." vol. v., p. .) shown to mr. halliwell that "_good sense can be satisfactorily made of the passage as it stands in the original_;" and therefore i feel the greater curiosity to know what _this verb_ can be which carries conviction to him _even in the face of his own canon_? a. e. b. leeds. * * * * * restive. can the editor, or any of the readers of "n. & q." account for the very prevalent misuse of the word _restive_ or _restiff_? of course, everybody knows that the affix _ive_ or _iff_ does not imply "privation," but the opposite; and that therefore _restive_ means--as we find it defined in our dictionaries--"unwilling to stir," "inclined or determined to rest," &c.; but yet the most common use of the word now would require it to mean "unwilling to rest," "rest_less_," "unquiet," &c. as the word is most frequently employed in newspaper paragraphs, in describing accidents arising from the _restiveness_, or much more frequently _restlessness_, of horses, we can easily account for the misuse of the word in such cases: as the free use of the whip, which is sure to follow the restiveness of a horse or ass, is almost as surely followed by a sudden restlessness, at least when the nobler animal is under chastisement; what ends in restlessness and running away has thus got confounded with what it only has become, in some cases; while in others nothing is more common than to find the sudden shying and starting off of a horse, which has been anything but _restive_, described as such by some forgetfulness of the meaning of the word. were the misuse of the word confined to such cases, however, it might not be worthy of notice in "n. & q.", but i think it will be found to extend further: for instance, in _the eclipse of faith_ (recently published), although evidently written by a scholar, and one who weighs the meaning of words, i find the following passage: "'but,' said fellowes, rather warmly, for he felt rather _restive_ at this part of harrington's discourse," &c. here the word is evidently employed (instead of _restless_[ ]) figuratively for _impatient_; although i am not aware that a "bumptious" person might defend the word actually used, in the sense that the listener _refused to go along further_ with the speaker. still i think _restlessness_ was the idea intended to be conveyed in the above passage, and that "impatient" would have been the better word, considering that it follows "he _felt_." j. r. brompton. [footnote : or instead of "fidgetty," as one would likely have expressed it in familiar conversation.] * * * * * reason and understanding according to coleridge. there is a remarkable discrepancy in the statements of coleridge respecting reason and understanding. ( .) _friend_, vol. i. pp. - . (pickering.)-- "that many animals possess a share of understanding perfectly distinguishable from mere instinct we all allow. few persons have a favourite dog, without making instances of its intelligence an occasional topic of conversation. they call for our admiration of the individual animal, and not with exclusive reference to the wisdom in nature, as in the case of [greek: storgê], or maternal instinct: or of the hexangular cells of the bees.... we hear little or nothing of the instincts of the 'half-reasoning elephant,' and as little of the understanding of caterpillars and butterflies." _aids to reflection_, vol. i. pp - . (pickering.) here, after quoting two instances from hüber about bees and ants, he says,-- "now i assert that the faculty in the acts here narrated does not differ _in kind_ from understanding." does coleridge mean to tell us that bees and ants have the same faculty (understanding) as dogs and elephants? { } ( .) _friend_, vol. i. pp. - .-- "for a moment's steady self-reflection will show us that, in the simple determination 'black is not white,' or 'that two straight lines cannot include a space,' all the powers are implied that distinguish man from animals; first, the power of reflection; second, of comparison; third, and therefore suspension of the mind; fourth, therefore of a controlling will, and the power of acting from notions, instead of mere images exciting appetites; from motives, and not from mere dark instinct." and after relating a story about a dog who appeared to have employed the disjunctive syllogism (in relation to which see cottle's _reminiscences_, vol. i. pp. - .), coleridge remarks,-- "so awful and almost miraculous does the simple act of concluding 'take three from four, and there remains one,' appear to us, when attributed to one of the most sagacious of all brute animals." _aids to reflection_, vol. i. p. .-- "understanding is the faculty of reflection, reason of contemplation." and p. .--"the understanding, then, considered exclusively as an organ of human intelligence, is the faculty by which we reflect and generalise.... the whole process [of the understanding] may be reduced to three acts, all depending on, and supposing a previous impression on, the senses: first, the appropriation of our attention; second (and in order to the continuance of the first), abstraction, or the voluntary withholding of the attention; and, third, generalisation; and these are the proper functions of the understanding." _aids to reflection_, vol. i. p. . _note_.-- "so far, and no further, could the understanding carry us; and so far as this, 'the faculty judging according to sense' conducts many of the inferior animals, if not in the same, yet in instances analogous and fully equivalent." does coleridge, then, mean us to understand him as saying, that many of the brutes can reflect, abstract, and generalise? ( .) _friend_, vol. i. p. .-- "reason! best and holiest gift of god, and bond of union with the giver; the high title by which the majesty of man claims precedence above all other living creatures--mysterious faculty, the mother of conscience, of language...." _aids to reflection_, vol. i. pp. - .--coleridge here gives his reasons for considering language a property of the understanding; and, in p. ., adds,-- "it is, however, by no means equally clear to me that the dog may not possess an _analogon_ of words which i have elsewhere shown to be the proper objects of the 'faculty judging according to sense.'" does coleridge mean that the inferior animals may have language? who, of your many able correspondents, will assist me in unravelling this complicated tissue? c. mansfield ingleby. * * * * * minor queries. _banning or bayning family._--i am desirous of knowing if there was a family of the name of _banning_ or _bayning_ seated in ireland at the close of the sixteenth century; and whether there was any other branch in england excepting that in essex. k. _ladies styled baronets._--an ancestor of mine, sir anthony chester, bart., of chichley hall, bucks, in his will, dated nov. , , and proved in the prerogative court of canterbury, dec. , [ sadler], desires "to be buried in the north part of chichley church, in the same vault with dame elizabeth chester, baronet, his first wife." are there any other instances of ladies of the same rank being styled baronet about this time? i may mention that this lady chester was daughter to sir henry boteler, of hatfield woodhall, herts, and sister to john lord boteler, of bramfeld. tewars. _st. christopher and the doree._--brand, in his _popular antiquities_, vol. iii. p. ., says that the fish called the doree is traditionally said to have derived the spots on its sides frown the fact of st. christopher, in wading through the arm of the sea, having caught a fish of this description _en passant_, and having left as an eternal memorial of the fact an impression on its sides to be transmitted to all posterity. can any of your readers inform me from what source brand derived this idea? e. a. h. l. _custom of women wearing masks in the theatre._--when did this custom originate? it was not common before the civil wars, nor in fashion till some time after the restoration. masked ladies are often mentioned in the prologues and epilogues to the plays of dryden, lee, otway, &c. the custom probably originated in france. a dispute which ended in a duel (concerning a mrs. fawkes) caused the entire prohibition of women's wearing masks in the playhouse. this was about the th of queen anne. edward f. rimbault. _brass of abbot kirton; matrices._--when was the brass of abbot kirton, in westminster abbey, removed? have there been any brasses taken away (of which the _matrices_ have been also removed); and if so, in whose possession are they at the present time? unicorn. _lines on chaucer._-- "swan-like, in dying famous old chaucer sang his last song." who is the author of the above lines? eliza. _the nacar._--what species of shell-fish is the _nacar_, said to be found in some of the islands of the mediterranean, and off the east coast of { } spain. is it not the same fish from which what is called mother-of-pearl is taken? has not some part of it, the beard or otherwise, been spun and wove? is the _nacar_ the true name, or only local; and, if so, what is the scientific appellation? cyrus redding. _cilgerran castle._--i shall be much obliged to any correspondent of "n. & q." who will direct me to any charters or other early records relating to this castle of kilgarran, or cilgerran, which is situated near cardigan. llewellyn. _use of slings by the early britons._--in the course of the very interesting operations at present in progress on weston hill, there have been frequently found in the hut-pits small accumulations of shore-pebbles, of the size most convenient for slings, for which it is supposed they were intended. any information on this topic will be received with many thanks. it is worth noting that to this day the boys of the obscure village of priddy, on the mendips, are notorious for the skill with which they can hit a bird on the wing with a stone thrown by the hand. henry g. tomkins. weston super mare. "_squire vernon's fox chase._"--can any of your correspondents refer me to a copy of the ballad called "squire vernon's fox chase?" i am anxious to meet with an original copy, and also to know if it has been reprinted in any modern collection. r. s. _the death watch._--has there appeared in any of your former numbers a note upon the popular, but now exploded "death watch?" in earlier life, an instance of it occurred in my presence, which did at the time, and does even now, "puzzle the sense." the noise (like the ticking of a watch) was so painfully distinct, that i endeavoured twice to discover the source of it, but in vain. i made a note of it at the time, but the narrative (although perfectly correct) reads so much like the speculation of a sick brain, that i hesitate to send it. if you would put this query (however briefly), i should much like to see it discussed in your interesting pages. m. w. b. _genealogical queries._--i beg to trouble you with the following queries:-- on what day of the year did elizabeth bayning, created countess of sheppy for life, die? and where was she buried? where was buried anne palmer, alias fitzroy, countess of sussex? she died th may, . the earl was buried at chevening. was sir john mason, who died treasurer of the chamber, &c., st april, , chancellor of _the duchy of lancaster_? he is so designated in one of the harl. mss. he was twice chancellor of _oxford_. g. steinman steinman. _ben jonson's adopted sons._--they are said to be twelve in number. alexander brome was one; bishop morley another. can any of your correspondents give the names of the other ten? by doing so, it will oblige an inquirer. _kyrle's tankard at balliol._--a very beautiful silver tankard, bearing the following inscription, with the arms of the donor engraved in the centre of the body of the cup; the first two words above, the others beneath the arms, was presented to balliol college, oxford, by that celebrated and excellent man, john kyrle, esq., better known by his world-wide appellation, "the man of ross." it will be perceived from the inscription that he was a gentleman commoner of that society: "poculum charitatis. ex dono johannis kyrle, de rosse, in agro herefordiens, et hujus collegii socio commensalis." it weighed upwards of five pounds, and the cover was lifted up by his crest, a hedgehog. it is said to have been always produced at table when a native of herefordshire favoured the society with his company. can any of your correspondents favour me with the following particulars:--is the tankard still in existence, and has it been ever engraved? if so, in what work? is there any record in the college books to show in what year, and upon what occasion, it was presented? j. b. whitborne. _irish language in the west indies._--the atrocities which oliver cromwell committed in ireland are fresh in the memory of the poorest irishman, and his memory held in the deepest execration: every ruined fortress that we pass is ascribed to the great castle-killer, and the peasant's bitterest malediction is, "_mallachd crumwell ort_" (the curse of cromwell on you). the particular atrocity of oliver's that we have to do with at present is thus stated by dodd, vol. iii. p. .: "at drogheda all were put to the sword together with the inhabitants, women and children, only about thirty persons escaping, who, with several hundreds of the irish nation, were shipped off to serve as slaves in the island of barbadoes, as i have frequently heard the account from captain edw. molyneux, one of that number, who died at st. germains, whither he followed the unfortunate king james ii." the following note occurs in a paper on the irish language, read by mr. scurry before the royal irish academy, oct. : "it is now ascertained that the irish language is spoken in the interior of many of the west india islands, in some of which it may be said to be almost vernacular. this curious fact is satisfactorily explained by documents in the possession of my respected friend james hardiman, esq., author of the _history of galway_. after the reduction of ireland by cromwell and his { } myrmidons, the thousands who were 'shipped to the caribbees,' so these islands were then called, 'and sold as slaves,' carried with them their language. _that_ they preserved, and there it remains to this day." will some of your correspondents acquainted with the west indies inform me if the irish language be still spoken there, or if it be degenerated and merged into the _talkee-talkee_, or negro jargon? eirionnach. "_battle of neville's cross._"--can any of your correspondents inform me the name of the author of the "battle of neville's cross," a prize poem, published about thirty or forty years ago? g. _sir walter raleigh's ring._--can any of your correspondents inform me what has become of the ring sir walter raleigh wore at his execution, and in whose possession it now is, as i have reason to believe it is still in existence as a heir-loom? bosquecillo. "_narne; or, pearle of prayer._"--i should feel obliged to any of your correspondents if they could give me any information of the following work, which i am unable myself to trace in any catalogue or bibliographical work:-- "narne (by william p. of dysart), pearle of prayer most pretious and powerful, &c. mo. dedicated to charles first (dated from dysart the th may, ), and afterward to the right virtuous and worshipfull patrons of this famous citie of edinburgh, david aikenhead most worthie lord provost, &c., and to the whole counsell, &c., of edinburgh, &c. (dated from dysart the last of may, ), pp. (concluding with a part of a page of 'faults escaped' on the recto of last leaf.) edinburgh, printed by john wreittoun, ." j. b. rondeau. _sir george howard._--sir n. w. wraxall (_historical memoirs_, vol. iv. p. .) says of field-marshal sir george howard-- "his legitimate descent from, or alliance by consanguinity with, the dukes of norfolk, notwithstanding the apparent evidence of his name, was i believe not established on incontestable grounds." now it is well known that the effingham branch of the house of howard, to which sir george howard is reputed to belong, is a genuine one: so wraxall must be understood as casting a slight on the legitimacy of sir george. are there traces of any scandals confirming this suspicion? tewars. "_love me, love my dog._"--whence comes this proverb? it is quoted by st. bernard: "dicitur certe vulgari quodam proverbio: qui me amat, amat et canem meum."--_in festo s. michaelis, sermo primus_, sect. iii. p. . vol. i. parisiis, , fol. rt. warmington. _mummy wheat._--in january, , a near relative of mine, related by marriage to mr. martin tupper, gave my father some grains of wheat, which he had the authority of sir g. wilkinson, direct or indirect, to believe to have been taken out of a mummy case, and to be in fact ancient egyptian wheat, perhaps a couple of thousand years old at least. these were planted in a flower-pot, took root, grew, and had attained the height of many inches, when a cow got into the place where the pot was and ate the plants down. from the roots sprouted again a second crop of stems and leaves, and a similar catastrophe befell the second growth, frustrating the hopes of several anxious young amateur agriculturists, so that we never saw more than the leaves of this crop. in making the inquiries necessary to certify myself that these facts are true, i met with a lady who had seen a small quantity of wheat plants, the produce alleged of mummy wheat, and who spoke of it as a beautiful looking plant, with several stems from each root, and several ears on each stem. i could not ascertain whether this was the fruit of mummy wheat in the first or in the second generation. there was no question that it was sprung from grains taken out of a mummy. i believe that in the case of which i speak as having occurred within the range of my own acquaintance, the wheat was some of the same that mr. m. f. tupper possessed. perez. _a photographic query._--is it probable that the number of stones and marbles which, without the aid of art, represent human and other figures, may have been natural photographs from the reflection of objects in a strong glare of sunlight? some of those mentioned by d'israeli in the _curiosities of literature_ are so singular, that if this interpretation be not admitted, we must suspect them to be factitious. one particular example will serve as an illustration: "pancirollus, in his _lost antiquities_, attests that in a church at rome, a marble perfectly represented a priest celebrating mass and raising the host. paul iii. conceiving that art had been used, scraped the marble to discover whether any painting had been employed: but nothing of the kind was discovered." its classification amongst _lost antiquities_ seems to imply that the operation destroyed it, which proves that the figures were only on the surface; an argument in favour of its being a natural photograph. any powerful die would have penetrated the pores of the stone for some considerable distance. r. f. littledale. dublin. "_stunt with false care._"--where are the following lines, quoted by charles villiers in one of his corn-law speeches, to be found? "stunt with false care what else would flourish wild, and rock the cradle till they bruise the child." j. n. o. { } _winchester college._--who wrote the account of winchester college in ackermann's _history of the public schools_? mackenzie walcott, m.a. _old royal irish academy house, grafton street._--this interesting building is now some two months abandoned, and bills on the windows announcing it "to be let, or the interest in the lease to be sold," i wish to ask through "n. & q." if any person intends to make a drawing or other memoranda of the house, ere it undergoes a thorough alteration, as it certainly will, if taken for commercial purposes. i am not aware of any sketch of the house, except one in the fourth volume of the _dublin penny journal_, p. .; but i do not think that this, or its accompanying description, are well suited to the character of the institution. r. h. dublin. _quotations wanted._-- "chords that vibrate sweetest pleasures thrill the deepest notes of woe." "like a fair lily on a river floating, she floats upon the river of his thoughts." captain cuttle. _shakspeare's seal._--some years ago, when in warwickshire, a wax impression of a seal was given to me by a gentleman as that of william shakspeare. the gentleman had no means of verifying its authenticity, beyond the bare but positive assurances of the person from whom he had received it, an inhabitant of stratford. the appearance of the seal is not against the hypothesis of its genuineness. it is circular: the device is the well-known ornament called the _true lover's knot_, cut somewhat rudely in intaglio, apparently in steel; a favourite ornament in tudor architecture from the time of anne boleyn downwards. can any of the readers of "n. & q." encourage me to believe in the genuineness of this relic? sydney smirke. _the long-lived countess of desmond._--an acknowledgment is due to the knight of kerry for his recent interesting communication respecting the portraits of this remarkable old lady: and, at the same time, the knight may be requested to cause the portrait in the possession of mr. herbert, m.p., to be inspected; for it is respectfully suggested that the date on that picture is , and not . this first date will correspond more closely with the age usually ascribed to the aged countess. it is said that an engraving of the portrait in the knight of kerry's possession stated that she was "born in ." can any of your correspondents refer to this engraving, and say whether there is such an inscription on it, and if any authority is given for that date? h. f. h. * * * * * minor queries answered. _temple church and lincoln's inn chapel._--why is it, and whence results the practice of putting ladies on one side of the church and chapel, or in a separate place by themselves, in these societies? are the lawyers so attractive that the devotions of the fair sex would be interrupted? l. i. [the lawyers no doubt are lovers of hoar antiquity and primitive customs. "let the doorkeepers attend upon the entrance of the men; and the deaconesses upon the entrance of the women." (_apost. const._, lib. ii. can. lvii.; see also lib. vii. can. xxvi.) in the first book of king edward, a.d. , the following rubric occurs: "as many as shall be partakers of the holy communion shall tarry still in the quire; the men on the one side, and the women on the other side."--see wheatly on the _common prayer_, chap. vi. sect. .] _edmund bohun._--in bright's catalogue appears, "no. . _historical collections_, - . vols. folio; formed by edmund bohun." has this collection been dispersed? or where is it now? bohun refers to it repeatedly in his private diary, which i am printing. s. w. rix. beccles. [from the article "bohun" in rose's _biographical dictionary_ it appears that these _historical collections_ have been used in the following work: "_the great historical, geographical, and poetical dictionary_, lond. , folio, wherein are inserted the last five years' historical and geographical collections, which the said edm. bohun, esq., designed for his own geographical dictionary, and never extant till in this work."] "_nimrod._"--will some of your correspondents be good enough to tell me who is the author of a very remarkable book entitled _nimrod: a discourse upon certain passages of history and fable_, london: priestley, , vols.; and can any one inform me for what purpose or with what intention the book was written? i believe it was suppressed soon after its publication. i have only met with two other copies, besides my own. h. g. [we believe that this work, for some reason or other, was suppressed, but not till after about one hundred copies had been circulated. it is attributed to the hon. algernon herbert, author of _cyclops christianus; antiquity of stonehenge_.] * * * * * replies. the three estates of the realm. (vol. iv., pp. . . .; vol. v., p. .) the quotations i have produced on the question, which are _the three estates of the realm_? appear { } to canon. ebor. "quite to support his own positions." i must therefore again ask leave to defend the view which i advanced in vol. iv., p. ., and will endeavour, whether it be a right or wrong one, to express my arguments in support of it so definitely and distinctly as not again to leave room for any misapprehension of them. to adopt canon. ebor.'s threefold division:-- . _the three estates of the realm are the nobility, the clergy in convocation, and the commons._ in this order they are ranked in the collect i quoted, and in which they are described as "assembled in parliament;" i. e. _en plein parlement_. the following extract plainly bears out my view: "and that this doctrine (viz. that the clergy are an _extrinsic part_ of parliament, or an _estate of the realm_) was still good, and the language much the same, as low as the restoration of charles ii., the _office_ then anew set out for the th of november shews, where mention is made of 'the nobility, clergy, and commons of this realm, then assembled in parliament:' for to say that by 'the clergy of this realm,' my lords the bishops only are intended, were so absurd a gloss, that even dr. wake's pen would, i believe, be ashamed of it. and if they were then rightly said to be 'assembled in parliament,' they may as rightly be said to be so assembled still: and if 'assembled in parliament,' why not 'a member of parliament?' to those intents and purposes, i mean, for which they are assembled in it."--atterbury's _rights, powers, and privileges of convocation_, nd edit., p. . the same order is observed in sir edward coke's speech on garnet's trial:-- "for the persons offended, they were these:--the king ... the queen ... the noble prince; ... then the whole royal issue. the council, _the nobility_, _the clergy_; nay, our whole religion itself," &c. and if canon. ebor. wishes for a more decisive authority on the matter, he will find it in _an act for granting royal aid unto the king's majesty_, passed in . . _the convocations of the clergy_ are _a part of the parliament._ this fact, and its importance, has been generally overlooked or disregarded by writers on convocation. they have almost uniformly, while endeavouring to substantiate its synodical authority and purely ecclesiastical influence, omitted to point out its position as a part of our parliamentary constitution: the result has been a degree of vagueness and uncertainty on the subject. the clearest and most distinct way of demonstrating this proposition, that the convocation is a part of parliament, will be, after noting that in our early historians _convocatio_ and _parliamentum_ are synonymous, first, to bring forward evidences that it was often regarded as being so somewhat late in our history, that is, just before its sessions were suppressed; and, in the next place, to produce facts, documents, and extracts which display this parliamentary character in the earlier stages of its existence. to begin, then, with burnet, whose statements must be taken with allowance, as those of a hot anti-convocational partisan, as he had indeed good reasons for being:-- "when the bill (act of comprehension) was sent down to the house of commons, it was let lie on the table; and, instead of proceeding in it, they made an address to the king for summoning a convocation of the clergy, _to attend, according to custom, on the session of parliament_. the party against the government ... were much offended with the bill of comprehension, as containing matters relating to the church, _in which the representative body of the clergy had not been so much as advised with_."--burnet's _history of his own times_, book v. in his account of the convocation of , the facts which he details are important. after saying that "the clergy fancied they had _a right to be a part of the parliament_," he continues:-- "the things the convocation pretended to were, first, that they had a right to sit whenever the parliament sate; so that they could not be prorogued, but when the two houses were prorogued. next they advanced that they had no need of a licence to enter upon debates and to prepare matters, though it was confessed that the practice for a hundred years was against them; but they thought the convocation lay under no further restraint than that the parliament was under; and as they could pass no act without the royal assent, so they confessed that they could not enact or publish a canon without the king's licence. _antiently the clergy granted their own subsidies apart_, but, ever since the reformation, the grant of the convocation was not thought good till it was ratified in parliament.... _in the writ that the bishops had, summoning them to parliament, the clause, known by the first word of it,_ 'præmunientes,' _was still continued. at first, by virtue of it, the inferior clergy were required to come to parliament, and to consent to the aids there given_: but after the archbishops had the provincial writ for a convocation of the province, the other was no more executed, _though it was still kept in the writ_, and there did not appear the least shadow of any use that had been made of it, for some hundreds of years; _yet now some bishops were prevailed on to execute this writ, and to summon the clergy by virtue of it_."--book vi. with this last extract from burnet, let the following from lathbury be compared:-- "this clause, it appears, was inserted in the bishops' writ in the twenty-third year of edward i. when assembled by this writ, the clergy constituted a state convocation, not the provincial synod. when the clause was inserted, there was a danger of invasion from france; and it is clear that the clergy were not assembled by this clause as an ecclesiastical council, but to assist the king in his necessities. this is evident from the words '_hujus modi periculis et excogitatis malitiis obviandum_.' the clause was, however, continued in the writ after the cause for its insertion had ceased to exist: _but whenever they were summoned by virtue of this writ, they constituted a part of the { } parliament_. the clause, with a slight variation, _is still retained_ in the writ by which the bishops are summoned to parliament."--lathbury's _history of the convocation of the church of england_, p. . it will be obvious, then, and plain to the reader of the above passage, that when the clergy were summoned by this clause _præmunientes_, in the writ directed to the archbishops, they were summoned _to be a part of parliament_; but the king's writ was that which made convocation what it was--which made it a legal, constitutional, parliamentary assembly, with definite power and authority--instead of a simple synodical meeting of the clergy, whose influence would be solely moral or ecclesiastical. convocation, from the time of edward i., that is, from its first beginning, has been a part of parliament, being "an assembly of ecclesiastics for civil purposes, called to parliament by the king's writ" to the archbishops; and before the time of henry viii. it voted subsidies to the king independently of the houses of lords and commons. of this clause _præmunientes_, canon. ebor. has taken no notice whatever, although in the extract from collier it was expressly stated that the proctors of the clergy were "summoned to parliament" and "sent up to parliament" by it, and, when assembled in the lower house of convocation, they were esteemed _the spiritual commons_ of the realm, and a constituent part of "the great council of the nation assembled in parliament." but as mere assertions, or even uncorroborated deductions, are but of little value without facts, i must establish this much by producing authorities. the design of edward i. for reducing the clergy to be a part of the third estate, by means of this præmunitory clause, is sufficiently known, as is also the fact that the clergy were unwilling to give up their own synods; and though, in obedience to the king's summons, they came to parliament from both provinces, yet shortly after they met by themselves, and constituted a body which was at once synodical and parliamentary. "now, then, though the _præmunientes_ was obeyed nationally, yet the clergy that met with the parliament acted provincially, _i. e._ the clergy of that province where the parliament was held acted as a synod convened by their metropolitan, and the clergy of the other province sent their deputies to the lay assembly to consult for them; but taxed themselves, and did all manner of ecclesiastical business, at home in their own province. _and this was pitched upon as a means of complying with the canons of the church, which required frequent provincial councils, and yet paying their attendance in parliament; the archbishop's mandate summoned them to the one, and the præmunitory clause to the other_, and both were obeyed."--_atterbury on convocation_, p. . the same view is taken by kennet in his _ecclesiastical synods and parliamentary convocations in the church of england_. here, then, is the origin of convocation, strictly so called, viz. the clergy withdrawing themselves from the commons into a separate chamber for purposes of debate, and for transacting their own business independently, but yet not ceasing thereby at all to be a part of that parliament, to their being summoned to which they owed the opportunity of meeting in their provincial synod, which was _congregatio tempore parliamenti_. we hear of the clerical proctors being occasionally present in the house of commons in the earlier part of our history; and we may reasonably infer that they would not have been so present unless they had _a right_ to have been there. if they had that right, then they were a part of parliament. they certainly had that right by the clause _præmunientes_ so often referred to, "according to antient usage;" but they waived the exercise of it, on finding it more advantageous to deliberate by themselves. at a later period they wished to resume their right, and therefore petitioned "to be admitted to sit in parliament with _the house of commons_, according to antient usage," of which commons they had of usage considered themselves the _spiritual_ part. an instance in point we shall find in a petition of parliament to henry iv.:-- "supplient humblement _les communes_ de vostre roialme, sibien _espirituelz_ come _temporelz_."--_rot. parl._ & henry iv. n. . and again, in a proclamation of the henry viii.:-- "the nobles and _commons_ both _spirituall_ and temporall, _assembled in our court of parliament_, have, upon good, lawful, and virtuous grounds," &c. and "direction to justices of peace," by the same king:-- "henry r. "trusty and right well-beloved,--we grete you well ... and also by the deliberate advice, consultation, consent, and agreement, _as well of the_ bishops _and clergie_ as by the nobles and commons temporal of this our realme _assembled in our high courte of parliament_, and by authoritie of the same, the abuses of the bishop of rome, ... but also the same our nobles and _commons_ bothe of _the clergie_ and temporaltie, by another several acte," &c.--weever's _fun. mon._, p. ., quoted by atterbury. for multitudinous examples of the convocation clergy, "prælati et clerus," being spoken of as not only of the parliament, but present _in_ it, i must refer canon. ebor. to atterbury's work, pp. , , . and it is certain that, before the commons can be proved to have been summoned to parliament at all, the inferior clergy sat there. in the parliament of henry iii. held at westminster, , there sat "the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, templars, hospitallers, earls, barons, { } _rectors of churches_, and they that held of the king in chief" (_mat. paris_, p. .), in which the order of precedence is worth observing. one more argument of canon. ebor.'s has to be met. he says (vol. iv., p. .), "the convocation of the clergy never met either the sovereign or the parliament." the following quotations will destroy this position:-- "though sometimes the king himself has vouchsafed to appear and sit in convocation, when it was called for some extraordinary cause; as in arundel's register _henry iv. is remembered to have done_ (in conv. habitâ jul. , causâ uniones)."--_atterbury_, p. . also: "'until the reign of henry vii., there is a doubt whether the convocation of the clergy, then in separate existence from the parliament since edward i., had transacted purely ecclesiastical business not connected with the government, or where the king was not present in person. (henry iv., _wilkins_, p. .) in the reign of henry viii., _who also sat in convocation_, no church provincial synod was held, and the house of lords met and adjourned on the days on which convocation transacted business in consideration to the bishops, who were barons of parliament, and also members of the upper house of convocation. (_wake._)'"--_diocesan synods_, by rev. w. pound, m.a. . _the clergy were not, and are not, represented in parliament by the spiritual lords._ the bishops are called to the house of lords as barons; just in the same manner as the abbots and priors were formerly summoned, _not as representing any body of men_, but as holding _in capite_ of the king. the prelates have sat in the house of lords since william i., not as peers or nobles by blood, nor as representatives, but by virtue of this tenure. they certainly were not considered as _representatives_ before the reformation; and that the same opinions respecting them prevailed still later, will appear from the decision of the house of commons in mary, that a clerk could not be chosen into that house, "because he was _represented_ already in another house;" and again, from a speech in the commons by mr. solicitor st. john on the "act to take away bishops' votes in parliament:" " . because they have no such inherent right and liberty of being there as the lords temporal and peers of the realm have; _for they are not there representative of any body else; no, not of the clergy_; for if so, then the clergy were twice represented by them, viz. the lords' house and in the convocation; for their writ of election is to send two clerks _ad consentiendum_, &c. besides, none are there representative of others, but those that have their suffrages from others; _and therefore only the clerks in convocation do represent them_. * * * * * " . if they were representative of the clergy, as a third estate and degree, no act of parliament could be good if they did wholly disassent; and yet they have disassented, and the law good and in force, as in the act for establishing the book of common prayer in queen elizabeth's time. they did disassent from the confirming of that law, which could not have been good if _they_ had been a third estate, and disassented."--rapin's _history of england_, book xx. and in the same parliament lord falkland-- "had heard many of the clergy protest, that they could not acknowledge _that they were represented by the bishops_. however, we might presume that, if they could make that appear, _that they were a third estate_, the house of peers, amongst whom they sat, and yet had their votes, would reject it."--clarendon's _history of the rebellion_, book iii. that the clergy in convocation make statements to the house of peers through the bishops, only proves that the latter were a medium of communication between the two; as does also, that on march th, , "the president informed the convocation that the lord chancellor had desired _the bishops_ to thank them _in the name of the peers_." canon. ebor. admits that the bishops do _not_ represent the clergy, except by a fiction; the canons declare _that convocation does represent_ them. his position therefore falls at once to the ground. i have set down the arguments necessary for maintaining my first position against canon. ebor., whether they be good or bad, with sufficient positiveness and distinctness to prevent their being again mistaken. i would close the subject with the words of atterbury: "if i should affirm that the convocation attended the parliament as _one of the three states of the realm_, i should say no more than the rolls have in express terms said before me; where the king is mentioned as calling _tres status regni_ ad palatium suum westm., viz. _prælatos et clerum_, nobiles et magnates, necnon communitates dicti _regni_."--_rot. parl._ henry v. n. . william fraser, b.c.l. * * * * * burials in woollen. (vol. v., p. .) your correspondent the rev. e. s. taylor is referred to car. ii. c. ., and ejusdem c. ., for an answer to his inquiry respecting burials in woollen. the former act is entitled, "an acte for the lessening the importation of linnen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufactures of the kingdome." it prescribes that the curate of every parish shall keep a register, to be provided at the charge of the parish, wherein to enter all burials, and affidavits of persons being buried in woollen; the affidavit to be taken by any justice of peace, mayor, or such like chief officer in the parish where the body was interred: and if there be no officer, then by any { } curate within the county where the corpse was buried (except him in whose parish the corpse was buried), who must administer the oath and set his hand gratis. no affidavit to be necessary for a person dying of the plague. it imposes a fine of l. for every infringement; one half to go to the informer, and the other half to the poor of the parish. i have not been able to ascertain when this act was repealed, but imagine it to have been of but short continuance. is there no mistake in the date of the affidavit quoted by mr. taylor? is a _lapsus_ for ? the first entry in the book provided for such purposes in this parish bears date august, , and there is no entry later than , which appears also to be the limit of the act's observance in the adjacent parish of radcliffe. there, the entries immediately follow the record of the burial itself in the registers, and not in a separate book, as with us. under the year occurs the following memorandum in the parish registers of radcliffe: "an orphan of ralph mather's, of radcliffe, was buried y^e th day of april, and sertefied to be wounde uppe in woollen onely, under the hand of m^r william hulme." in the churchwardens' accounts of this parish (prestwich) for the year is found the following item of receipt: "received a fine of james crompton ffor buringe his son and not bringinge in an affidavitt according to the acte for burying in woollin, . . ." john booker. prestwich, manchester. the act of parliament imposing a penalty upon burials, where any material but wool was made use of was car. ii. stat. . c. ., afterwards repealed by the geo. iii. c. . i am able to adduce an instance of the act being enforced, in the following extract from the churchwardens' book of the parish of eye for the year - : "rec. for mi^s grace thrower beeinge buried in linnen ." j. b. colman. eye. * * * * * braems' ms. "memoires touchant le commerce." (vol. v., p. .) in the hope of satisfying the curiosity of j. m., i will communicate the information concerning daniel braams which i find in my family papers. according to a genealogical tree in my possession, confirmed and delivered th september, , by the kings-at-arms and heralds of brabant[ ], daniel braems descended from an illustrious family of brabant, a younger branch of the vilains, of the house of the burgraves, or viscounts of ghent. during the spanish religious persecutions, about , his ancestors emigrated from flanders, and settled at dover. his father was daniel braams[ ], keeper of the regalia of charles i., and in high favour at court. on cromwell's coming to power he fled, and soon after died, leaving an only son in childhood, by his widow, mary, daughter of the well-known navigator jacob le maire. mary, with her youthful son daniel, settled in holland, where she had many relatives, and contracted a second marriage with andreas schnellingwouw. she soon after went to the east indies with her husband, who had been appointed secretary to the _schepenen_ at batavia. thus, daniel braams went very early to the indies, where he passed a great part of his life. he became general accomptant of the east india company at batavia, and for his services received a gold chain and a medal. in the family papers in his own hand now before me, he writes: "the th november, a^o , i set sail with my family from batavia, in the ship kastricum, to return to europe, after i had been thirty-four years and a half in india. the st march, , we arrived at the cape of good hope; and on the th april proceeded thence, with thirteen ships. when we had reached the ... degree of north latitude, having ireland to the east, it pleased the most high to call my dear and virtuous wife to his eternal rest, on the th of july, a^o . the dead body was, by my orders, enclosed in a coffin and placed behind the ship. at amsterdam she was buried in the vault of my grandfather in the n. capel." daniel braams was twice married in batavia; first, with clara reijers, and secondly, with a daughter of anthonio paviloen, councillor extraordinary of india. besides several children who died young, he left the following, all born in the east indies:--by his first marriage: . maria, b. ; d. ; m. philip david uchelen, governor of banda and ternate. . abigail, b. ; d. ; m. cornelis heinsius, _landschrijver_ of the land of cuyk. . clara sara, b. ; d. ; m. at amsterdam jan van der burgh. by his second marriage: . johannes jacobus, b. ; d. . his godfather was cornelis speelman, governor of india; he m. maria uijlenbroek, and died s. p. j. f. l. c. amersfoort. p.s.--mr. j. f. l. coenen would feel happy if, { } through the medium of the "n. & q." and the navorscher, he could learn in whose possession the ms. now is, and whether the owner would be inclined to dispose of it for a moderate price. [footnote : this document is quoted by kok in his _vaderl. woordenboek_, vol. viii. p. .; and by scheltema, _geschied. en letterk. mengelwerk_, vol. iii. p. .] [footnote : an excellent family portrait of him, painted by a. vandyk, is now in the possession of mevr. de douairière coenen, van 's gravesloot, at utrecht.] * * * * * general pardons. (vol. v., p. .) in reference to the pardon to john trenchard, esq., here communicated in answer to me, i request permission, in the first place, to present my acknowledgments to mr. e. s. taylor for his courtesy; and, in the next, to explain the motive of my inquiry. i was about to print a very long document of this nature, which was issued on the nd jan., car. ii. ( - ), in favour of colonel richard beke, who had married a cousin of the protector cromwell. it appeared to me probable that some general pardon had been already printed, and i wished either to avoid the needless repetition should the pardon to colonel beke prove to be in the ordinary form, or, at least, to make a comparison between that and other records of the same class. i could not, however, ascertain that any general pardon had been printed, nor have i hitherto heard of any. the pardon to colonel beke has been printed for _the topographer and genealogist_, but is not yet published. it occupies nearly seven large octavo pages, and consequently is much longer than that granted to mr. trenchard: speaking freely, it is between three and four times as long. it is evidently formed on a different and more ample precedent; but perhaps the main difference consists in its having relation to the tenure of landed property, and not merely to the simple pardon of offences conferred in the grant made to trenchard, though, from the enumeration introduced in it of all imaginable offences and crimes, political and moral, it is certainly more quaint and extraordinary. i much regret that the pardon to trenchard has not been presented _in extenso_ to the readers of "n. & q.;" for the contractions and very irregular punctuation will render it almost unintelligible to those who are not conversant with other documents of the kind. the following words are actually misprinted. in line . "he" for l're (literæ); line . "nuncupabatur" (one word); col. . line . "jud'camenta" for indictamenta, and "condempnac'onas" for condempnationes; line . and again line . "fforisfutur" for forisfactiones; line . "n're" for nostri; line . "existim't" for existunt; line . "p'lite^r" for placitetur; line . "mea parte" for in ea parte; last line, "p'rato" for privato. it is also necessary to correct the error into which mr. taylor has fallen in supposing that this pardon was granted on the th of december, . the date it bears, "decimo septimo die decembris anno regni nostri tertio," refers to a year earlier, viz., the th of december, . the revolution occurred in the _fourth_ year of the reign of james ii. "mr. trenchard of the middle temple" was clearly the same who was afterwards sir john, and secretary of state to king william. see the biographical notice of him appended to the pedigree of trenchard in hutchins's _history of dorsetshire_, in which work two portraits of him are given. he had been engaged in monmouth's rebellion; and it is said that he was at dinner with mr. william speke at ilminster, when the news arrived of monmouth's defeat at sedgmoor. speke was shortly after hung before his own door; whilst at the same time, having secreted himself, trenchard had the good fortune to be embarking for the continent. the other john trenchard mentioned by mr. taylor as occurring among the regicides, was great-uncle to sir john, who was only forty-six at his death in . john gough nichols. macaulay may be right about the great seal notwithstanding trenchard's pardon. it is just possible such documents may have been kept ready "cut and dried" for filling up. charles i. began to reign march , . i know of a pardon dated feb. th in the first year of his reign, with the great seal of _james i._ appended. surely it did not take eleven months to cut a new great seal, which seems the likeliest way of accounting for the use of the old one. p. p. * * * * * the dodo. (vol. v., pp. . .) i beg to inclose the copy of a letter received by me in reply to my inquiry respecting the specimen of a _dodo_ said to be at the house of _sir john trevelyan, bart., nettlecombe park, somersetshire_, a notice of which appeared in "n. & q." published on the th ultimo. i shall feel much obliged if you will have the kindness to publish the same as an answer to mr. winn's query. a. d. bartlett. "sir, "i wish i could confirm the truth of the information given to mr. winn, which i think it is scarcely necessary for me to say is _entirely incorrect_: and how such a report could have originated it is difficult to understand; unless by supposing that a member of the family when at nettlecombe, in their childhood, had seen a stuffed specimen of the large _bustard_; and that this, in the course of years, had been magnified in their imaginative and indistinct recollection into a _dodo_. i admired much your restoration of the dodo at the great exhibition; which, judging from the old pictures and known remains of the bird, gives, i think, a very good idea of what it was. i do not know of { } any other remains of the _dodo_ than those enumerated by mr. strickland; and had there been any at nettlecombe, they would long ago have been known to naturalists. "i remain, sir, "yours faithfully, "w. c. trevelyan. to mr. a. d. bartlett, . college street, camden town." * * * * * whipping of princes by proxy. (vol. v., p. .) your correspondent who makes inquiry about whipping-boys of princes, i would refer to a very scarce old play from which i give an extract, and in which the whipping-boy was _knighted_, _when you see mee you know mee_, as it was played by the high and mighty prince of wales his servants, by samuel rowley, london, : "_prince_ (ed. vi.). why, how now, browne; what's the matter? _browne._ your grace loyters, and will not plye your booke, and your tutors have whipt me for it. _prince._ alas, poore ned! i am sorrie for it. i'll take the more paines, and entreate my tutors for thee; yet, in troth, the lectures they read me last night out of virgil and ovid i am perfect in, onely i confesse i am behind in my greeke authors. _will_ (summers). and for that speech they have declined it uppon his breech," &c.--pages - . he will also find the subject noticed by sir walter scott, _fortunes of nigel_, ch. vi. p. . vol. xxvi. of waverley novels, edinburgh, , vo.; and also by burnet in _the history of his own time_. the latter, in speaking of elizabeth, countess of dysart, whom he describes as an _intrigante_, and who afterwards became duchess of lauderdale, says her father, _william murray_, had been page and _whipping-boy_ to charles i. we hear nothing of such office being held by any one in the household of prince henry, the elder brother of charles i.; nor, if we can believe cornwallis and others, can we suppose that "incomparable and heroique" prince infringed the rules of discipline, in any respect, to justify any castigation. it does not appear that it was the practice to have such a _substitute_ in france; for louis xiv., who was cotemporary with our charles i., on one occasion, when he was sensible of his want of education, exclaimed, "est-ce qu'il n'y avait point de verges dans mon royaume, pour me forcer à étudier?" and mr. prince (_parallel history_, nd edition in vols. vo., london, - , at p. . vol. iii.) states, that george iii., when dr. markham inquired "how his majesty would wish to have the princes treated?"--"like the sons of any private english gentleman," was the sensible reply; "if they deserve it, let them be flogged: do as you used to do at westminster." this is very like the characteristic and judicious language of the honest monarch. [phi]. richmond. mr. lawrence has overlooked king edward's most celebrated whipping-boy, barnaby fitzpatrick (as to whom see fuller, _church history_, ed. , ii. .; strype's _ecclesiastical memorials_, ii. . . . .; burnet, _history of the reformation_, ed. , .; tytler's _edward vi. and queen mary_, ii. .). i confess i do not recollect having before heard either of brown or mungo murray, and hope mr. lawrence will give particulars respecting them. it seems very clear that henry vi. was chastised _personally_; see a record cited (from rymer, x. .) in _history of england and france under the house of lancaster_, p. . c. h. cooper. cambridge. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _penkenol_ (vol. v., p. .).--head of a family or tribe, from the celtic: see _penkenedl_, welsh; _ceanncinnidh_, or _cineal_, gaelic; of which _ken-kenal_ is a lowland corruption. the inference drawn from the three crescents (borne as a difference) almost explains the meaning of the word. aubrey was a welshman. de cameron. _penken_o_l_ was probably written in error for _pencen_edl, the head of a sept or family. pennant so uses the word in his _whiteford and hollywell_, p. . the welsh pronunciation of _dl_ as _thl_ will point to an obvious greek analogy, which davies's _dictionary_ carries to an earlier source. lancastriensis. _johnny crapaud_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--i cannot but think that the solution of mr. philip s. king's query about "johnny crapaud" will be found in the circumstance that three frogs are the old arms of france, and i would refer him if he needs it, to the rev. e. b. elliott's _horæ apocalypticæ_, where the reasons for believing that such were the arms of france are fully given and illustrated by a plate, vol. iv. p. . ed. . i may add that, for what reason i don't know, but perhaps mr. metivier does, the natives of jersey are called _crapauds_ by guernsey men, who in return are honoured by the title of _ânes_, asses. perez. _sir john darnall_ (vol. v., p. .).--sir john darnall, serjeant-at-law , knighted , died sept. , , and was buried at petersham, leaving by margaret, daughter of sir thomas jenner, two daughters and coheirs: _mary_ the elder married in robert orde, esq., lord chief baron of scotland; and _anne_ the younger married in henry muilman of london, esq., { } whose only daughter and heir married john julius angerstein, esq. the above sir john darnall was the only surviving son of sir john darnall of the inner temple, king's sergeant-at-law , knighted at kensington june , , died in essex street , and was buried in the chancel vault of st. clement's danes, co. middlesex (see the _english post_, monday, dec. , ). he was son of ralph darnall, of loughton's hope, co. hereford, and his will was proved in the prerogative court of canterbury in jan. . the arms assumed by sir john darnall, who died , were--gules on a pale argent, a lion rampant azure impaling gules a boar passant. g. _bastides_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--dumas, in his _pictures of travel in the south of france_, says, that louis xiv. while at marseilles, observing the charming houses which surrounded the town, with their white walls, red tops, and green blinds, inquired by what name they were called in the language of the country: "they call them _bastides_," replied fostea de piles. "good!" says the king; "i will have a bastide." he built a fort to check the marseillaise. again, tarver, in his _dictionary_, has: "bastide, a small country house (this word is used in the south of france, in provence especially.)" did louis intend a pun between _bastide_ and _bastille_? e. h. b. demerary. _compositions under the protectorate_ (vol. v., p. .).--such is the name of a heading to one of your recent notes; and such is the formula of the very common error that dring's _list_, and the lists of his re-editors, represent the fines levied by cromwell when he decimated the incomes (not the estates) of the royalists, in consequence of penruddock's rising. dring's _list_ has reference to the compositions during the years - , when the fines were based on a totally different calculation. the error has arisen from dring's catalogue having been published in , the year after penruddock's affair. i have compared a great number of the compositions as they are stated in the lord's journals, , _et seq._, with dring's account; and though there are discrepancies, their average resemblance is sufficient to show that they refer to one and the same affair. indeed, any one acquainted with the actors in those events will see in a moment that dring's _list_ contains many who had repented of and acknowledged their "delinquency." j. waylen. _hoax on sir walter scott_ (vol. v., p. .).--the reperusal of mr. drury's hoax upon sir walter reminds me of another, which having escaped the industry of, or been intentionally overlooked by mr. lockhart, may be appropriately noticed in your pages, as pleasantly showing that even "anselmo's" black-letter sagacity might be deceived; and that, with the simple credulity of his own monkbarns, he could mistake the "bit bourock of the mason-callants" for a roman pretorium. i allude to a small stitchlet, or brochure, of five pages, entitled "the raid of featherstonehaugh: a border ballad." it was really written by sir walter's early friend, mr. robert surtees of mainsforth, author of the _history of durham_, some of whose other impositions upon the poet were printed in the _border minstrelsy_, or inserted in notes to his _metrical romances_. of this poem in particular, sir walter entertained so high an opinion, that he has incorporated a verse from it into _marmion_, and given it entire in a note as a genuine relic of antiquity; gravely commenting upon it in the most elaborate manner, and pointing out its exemplifications of the then state of society. it will be found in _marmion_, canto i., verse .: "the whiles a northern harper rude." william bates. birmingham. _statute of limitations abroad_ (vol. iv., p. .).--in this colony, which is governed by the old dutch law, the time at which prescription prevails is one-third of a century, but some dutch authorities hold that thirty years is sufficient in personal actions. in holland there were various charters respecting prescription, such as those of alkmaar of , medemblik of , waterland of , and others; these were cases of possession with the knowledge of the authorities. in holland immovable property was acquired by prescription, without the knowledge of the authorities, in the third of a century. in zealand it was twenty years. by the law of the feudal court, the period was a third of a century for any property; and in the territory of voorn, from times of old, and classed among the laws of the year , peaceable possession of any immovable property for thirty years was held good; but there was an exception in favour of minors and absentees. e. h. b. demerary. _lines on crawfurd of kilbirnie_ (vol. v., p. .).--these lines are evidently merely an adaptation of the well-known epigram on austria: "bella gerant alii--tu felix austria nube, nam quæ mars aliis dat tibi regna venus." s. l. p. _swearing on a skull_ (vol. v., p. .).--in the "historical memoirs of the clan mcgregor," prefixed to the _life of rob roy_, by k. macleay, m.d., glasgow, , is the following story:--on the arrival of anne of denmark in scotland, { } immediately after her marriage to james vi., the king ordered lord drummond of perth, who was "principal forester of glenartney," to provide venison for a feast. his deputy, drummond of drummondernoch, found in the forest some trespassers of clan donald of glenco, whose ears he cropped and let them go. the macdonalds, however, returned with others of their clan, killed drummond, and cut off his head. the atrocious acts of barbarism which followed need not be told here. they ultimately took the head with them, and proceeded to balquhidder, among their friends the mcgregors, whose conduct is best described in the words of the king's proclamation against their clan, which, after denouncing the "manifest reifs, and stouths" committed by them, and the murder of drummond, proceeds thus: "likeas after ye murther committed, ye authors yrof cutted aff ye said umqll jo. drummond's head, and carried the same to the laird of mcgregor, who, and his haill surname of mcgregors, purposely conveined upon the next sunday yrafter, at the kirk of buchquhidder; qr they caused ye said umqll john's head be pnted to them, and yr avowing ye sd murder, laid yr hands upon the pow, and in ethnic and barbarous manner, swear to defend ye authors of ye sd murder." henry g. tomkins. weston super mare. _rhymes on places_ (vol. v., pp. . . .).--roger gale, in a letter dated august , , states that he saw the following lines in a window at belford (between newcastle and berwick): "cain, in disgrace with heaven, retired to nod, a place, undoubtedly, as far from god as cain could wish; which makes some think he went as far as scotland, ere he pitch'd his tent; and there a city built of ancient fame, which he, from eden, edinburgh did name." _reliquiæ galeanæ_, * charles mathews, in a letter directed to his son at mold n. w., dated th november [ ], says: "lord deerhurst, who franked this letter, laughed at the idea of your being condemned to be at mold, and told me an impromptu of sheridan's, upon being compelled to spend a day or two there: "'were i to curse the man i hate from youth till i grow old, oh might he be condemn'd by fate to waste his days in mold!'" _memoirs of charles mathews_, v. . c. h. cooper. cambridge. _the silent woman_ (vol. v., p. .).--a very similar sign to this is one called "the honest lawyer," who is represented in exactly the same position as "the silent woman." the interpretation seems tolerably obvious in both cases, such a state being one in which the lady could not be otherwise than silent, nor the gentleman than honest. s. l. p. oxford and cambridge club. _serpent with a human head_ (vol. iv., pp. . .).--perhaps the most ancient representations of this figure are to be found in those papyri of the ancient egyptians, called the ritual, or prayers of the dead, in which are depicted the progress or peregrination of the soul through the regions of the nether world, or hades, to a future state of existence. fac-similes of the ritual have been published in rosellini's _monumenti dell' egitto_, dr. lepsius's _todten-buch_, the plates of lord belmore's _collection of hieroglyphic monuments_, and in the great french work entitled _description de l'egypte_. a similar form occurs also in several of the woodcuts inserted in the _prose_ version, (printed at paris by antoine verard in ) of guillaume de guileville's poem entitled _le pélerinaige de l'ame_, a monastic legend of the fourteenth century, evidently founded on the old egyptian belief. at the end of the pilgrimage represented in the egyptian papyri, the soul is conducted by her guardian angel into the great hall of judgment, where the deeds done in the body are placed in the balance in the presence of osiris, the judge of the assize, who passes sentence. a representation of the same scene became a favourite decoration in mediæval christian churches, of which many vestiges have been discovered of late years in this country; with this difference, that in these fresco-paintings st. michael was substituted, as judge of the tribunal, for osiris. in the woodcuts above mentioned, published by verard, _the woman-headed serpent_ pursues the soul, like an accusing spirit, into the hall of judgment, seats herself even in one of the scales of the balance to counterpoise the good deeds placed in the opposite scale by the soul, telling her at the same time that her name is sinderesis, or the worm _of conscience_. thus, by a circuitous route, we arrive at the signification of the original egyptian symbol. nhrsl. _poem on the burning of the houses of parliament_ (vol. v., p. .).--as this doggerel is written on the same plan as our old friend "this is the house that jack built," it will be sufficient to give the last paragraph, which of course embraces the whole. i copy from a newspaper cutting, but from what newspaper i am ignorant. it is printed consecutively (as i send it), and not with reference to the metre. "this is the peer, who in town being resident, signed the report for the absent lord president, and said that the history, was cleared of its mystery, by whitbread the waiter, adding his _negatur_, to that of john riddle, who laugh'd and said 'fiddle!' when told mr. cooper of drury lane, had been down to dudley and back again, and had heard the same day, a bagman say, that the house was a-blazing, a thing quite { } amazing, even to john snell, who knew very well, by the smoke and the heat, that was broiling his feet, through his great thick boots in the black rod's seat, that dick reynolds was right, that the fires were too bright, heaped up to such an unconscionable height, in spite of the fright, they gave poor mistress wright, when she sent to josh. cross, so full of his sauce, both to her and to weobly, who'd heard so feebly, the directions of phipps, when he told him the chips, might be burnt in the flues, yet never sent the news, as he ought to milne, who'd have burnt in a kiln, these confounded old sticks, and not heated the bricks, nor set fire to the house that josh. burnt." cranmore. _large families_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--in a ms. commonplace-book of the year _et seq._, i find two notes which may be added to your curious collection of large families. "in the church of abberconway is a stone with this inscription: 'here lyeth the body of nich^{las} hooker, who was the one and fortieth child of his father by alice his only wife, and the father of seven and twenty children by one wife. he died the ^{th} of march, .'" the other entry is as follows:-- "the following well-attested fact is copied from brand's _history of newcastle_:-- "'a weaver in scotland had by one wife (a scotch-woman) sixty-two children, all living till they were baptized; of whom four daughters only lived to be women, and forty six sons attained to man's estate.'" anon. the following instance of a large family by one woman is gravely related by master richard verstegan, in his _restitution of decayed intelligence in antiquities_, p. . edit. ; and which, it must be confessed, is enough to frighten any day labourer "out of his seven senses:"-- "there died in the city of paris in the year of our lord , a woman named yoland baillie, at the age of eighty-eight years, and in the eighth year of her widowhood, who there lieth buried in the churchyard of st. innocents; by whose epitaph it appeareth, that there were two hundred, fourscore and fifteen children issued from herself, _while herself yet lived_!" j. y. _frebord_ (vol. v., p. .).--your correspondent p. m. m. desires information on this matter. he may be glad to know that, in the adjoining manor from whence i write, the claim is sixteen feet and a half from the set of the hedge; and this claim has been ever allowed, and is still enforced. it is supposed to depend on a right of free-warren which the manor in question possesses under a grant of henry iii. is there any reason to believe that there is any connexion between _frebord_ and free-warren? i have heard it explained as reserved for the use of the lord for the purpose of preserving the game. spes. _milton's (?) epitaph_ (vol. v., p. .).--your correspondent is possibly not acquainted with the rev. charles wordsworth's very beautiful epitaph on his first wife. it is in the college chapel at winchester, and is remarkably similar in idea to the one he gives. the words are: i nimiùm dilecta! vocat deus: i bona nostræ pars animæ: moerens altera disce sequi." both authors are doubtless indebted to horace's-- "ah! te meæ si partem animæ rapit maturior vis," &c. s. l. p. oxford and cambridge club. _can bishops vacate their sees?_ (vol. iv., p. .)--as an instance of bishops vacating their sees i find in the account of twysden's _hist. anglicanæ scrip. decem_, that, speaking of the epistle of simeon archbishop of york, it says, _inter alia_, "the names after thurstan, who resigned a.d. , must have been added," &c. e. h. b. demerary. _sleekstone, meaning of_ (vol. iii., p. .; vol. iv., p. .; vol. v., p. .).--i can confirm what r. c. h. says respecting this word, having had one in my possession. it was of glass, of the same shape as described by r. c. h., and was used for giving a gloss to silk stockings. it is called here (demerary) a _sleeking stone_. e. h. b. demerary. _poems in the spectator_ (vol. v., p. .).--the three poems mentioned are unquestionably by addison. captain thompson, in the preface to his edition of andrew marvell's works in three vols. to., , states that he found them in a manuscript collection of marvell's poems; but the fact no doubt was, that the manuscript he refers to was a miscellaneous collection by different writers, and not by marvell exclusively (see preface, p. xiv.) thus, "william and margaret," mallet's ballad, was found in the same manuscript, and is likewise ascribed by capt. thompson to marvell, and with as little reason. hartley coleridge observes (_biog. borealis_, p. .) with respect to the three poems alluded to: "as to their being marvell's, it is just as probable that they are chaucer's. they present neither his language, his versification, nor his cast of thought." while on the subject of marvell, let me express a hope that we may soon have a new and better edition of his works than the cumbrous but incorrect and incomplete edition published by thompson. his admirable prose works deserve editing with care, and amongst them should be included the tract omitted in his works, but worthy of him in every respect, _remarks upon a late disingenuous discourse writ by one t. d. under the pretence de causa dei_, , vo.; and which has now become exceedingly rare. jas. crossley. { } _line on franklin_ (vol. iv., .; vol. v., p. .).--i have read, but do not remember where, that this line was _immediately_ taken from one in the _anti-lucretius_ of cardinal polignac: "eripuitque jovi fulmen, phoeboque sagittas." but it is obvious that the cardinal must have, in turn, borrowed from manilius. j. s. warden. _st. christopher_ (vol. v., p. .).--e. a. h. l., who asks "if there are any representations of st. christopher in painted glass; and if so, where?" is informed that there is a picture of the saint in a green vestment, painted on glass, in the window of the side chapel of king's chapel, which is used as a vestry by the conduct. the picture is on the internal, not the external window of the side chapel, in the western corner, upper compartment, about a foot in height. f. h. l. _lines on woman_ (vol. v., p. .).--the uxorious lines your correspondent j. t. is in search of, were written by _bird_. they are copied from his "poetical memoirs" in carey's _beauties of the modern poets_, p. ., london, . from thence i extract them, and, by so doing, entitle myself to the good graces of the lady readers of "n. & q." "oh, woman, woman! thou art formed to bless the heart of restless man; to chase his care, and charm existence by thy loveliness; bright as the sunbeam, as the morning fair, if but thy foot fall on a wilderness, flowers spring, and shed their roseate blossoms there, shrouding the thorns that in thy pathway rise, and scattering o'er it hues of paradise. "thy voice of love is music to the ear, soothing, and soft, and gentle as the stream that strays 'mid summer flowers; thy glittering tear is mutely eloquent; thy smile a beam of life ineffable, so sweet, so dear, it wakes the heart from sorrow's darkest dream, shedding a hallowed lustre o'er our fate, and when it beams, we are not desolate. "no, no! when woman smiles, we feel a charm thrown bright around us, binding us to earth; her tender accents, breathing forth the balm; of pure affection, give to transport birth; there life's wide sea is billowless and calm. oh! lovely woman! thy consummate worth is far above thy frailty--far above all earthly praise--thou art the light of love!" rt. warmington. _burial_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--mr. gatty says that a clergyman is inhibited from reading the burial service in unconsecrated ground. is this so? irregular as the practice would be, have not other irregularities equally glaring--baptisms, for instance--too often taken place in drawing-rooms? it might not be uninteresting, to have instances given of spots, not consecrated, which have been chosen for burial; as the individuals who selected them have possibly been marked by some peculiarities of character worthy of observation. baskerville, the celebrated printer, directed that he should be buried under a windmill near his garden; this direction proceeded, alas! from disbelief in revelation. a few years previously (viz. in ) mr. hull, a bencher of the inner temple, was buried underneath leith hill tower, in surrey, which he had erected on that beautiful and commanding spot, shortly before his death. in the _gentleman's magazine_ of last month, we have a curious inscription on a monument, which once existed in a field or garden near twickenham. mrs. joan whitrow, to whom it was raised, though said to be "favoured with uncommon gifts," appears to have been very crazy. was not mrs. van butchell, to whom mr. gatty refers, to be seen some years ago in her glass case in the college of surgeons? j. h. m. _portrait of thomas percy, earl of northumberland_ (vol. v., p. .).--there is a portrait of this nobleman in petworth house, sussex, representing him kneeling on a cushion before a low stand, on which is placed a missal, his hands joined as in prayer. written on the canvas itself is the following, in capital letters: "esperance--en--dieu ma comphort." again is written: "thomas, th earl of northumberland, Ætatis--suæ-- , an^o dom. , et die dec^o juni." this is copied word for word from the picture. p. w. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. every attempt, undertaken in a reverential spirit, to facilitate the labours of the inquirer after scripture truth, deserves especial favour at the hands of those who may have the opportunity of directing public attention to such endeavours. _the emphatic new testament, according to the authorized version, compared with the various readings of the vatican manuscripts. the four gospels. edited, with an introductory essay on greek emphasis_, by john taylor; which is an attempt to represent to the english reader certain peculiarities in the greek text, is a work of this class, and therefore, without entering into any minute detail of the manner in which mr. taylor carries out his endeavour, we will let him speak for himself on the subject of its results. "if any one were known," says mr. taylor "to be in possession of a copy of the greek testament so marked by its inspired writers as they would wish to have it read; and if the system of notation, when applied to the english translation, were found to be { } equally efficacious in conferring distinction on the corresponding words in that language, should we not deem it a great treasure, and be eager to obtain a _marked copy_, esteeming it next to hearing the words in the tone adopted by our lord and his apostles? yet something of this kind is offered to our notice in the present work; without altering the expression, it often makes the meaning clearer; it adds certainty to many readings, which before could only be founded on conjecture; and it may altogether be considered as a kind of running commentary of no less authority than the original text." we have received the first part of mr. akerman's _remains of pagan saxondom_, which contains engravings of some beautiful _personal ornaments from a barrow near devizes_; _of a gold buckle found at ickworth, suffolk_; and of the curious _glass vase found at reculver_, now preserved in the canterbury museum. the price of the part, half-a-crown to subscribers, is apparently a high one; but it must be remembered that all the objects are represented of their natural size, so that the plates become in some measure a substitute for the antiquities themselves. the society of antiquaries having, on the ballot taken on thursday week, adopted the proposal to return to the old rate of subscription, we can only hope that all parties--those who so strenuously and honestly advocated the measure, and those who as strenuously and as honestly opposed it--will now meet on the common principle by which both were actuated, a desire to promote the well-being of the society, and co-operate in bringing forward those judicious reforms, without which the present step would only be delusion. we are very glad to find, from the recently published report of the commissioners appointed to inquire and report concerning the ancient laws and institutes of ireland, that lord eglintoun, the present lord lieutenant of ireland, has recommended to the treasury the immediate publication of the brehon laws. in a very interesting letter from dr. jacob grimm, which is appended to the commissioners' report, he well describes the benefits which will result from this measure of justice to the literature of ireland. "to the historians and philologists of europe," observes dr. grimm, "a valuable and important monument of irish antiquity remains as yet shut up. it is only suitable to the dignity of the irish and british nation to effect the publication of the brehon laws, as has been already accomplished in the case of the laws of wales." after this mention of irish antiquities, we may remind such of our readers as may be desirous of promoting the very praiseworthy objects of _the kilkenny archæological society_, that they may still be supplied with complete copies of its transactions upon payment of the four years' subscription; and we scarcely know how they could better employ twenty shillings. books received.--_sketches in canada, and rambles among the red men_, by mrs. jameson, which forms two parts of longman's _traveller's library_, is a reprint, with the omission of all that was of a merely transient or merely personal nature, or that has become obsolete in politics or criticism, of this accomplished writer's _winter studies and summer rambles in canada_. this graphic work will supply pleasant reading for a railway journey, and not be hastily thrown aside when the journey and its perusal are completed.--_the valiant little tailor, and other stories_; forming the second part of the very satisfactory translation of grimm's _household stories_, which addey and co. are publishing, with admirable illustrations by wehnert, for the especial delight and gratification of all "good little masters and mistresses." * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. poetic wreath. vo. newman. mallet's elvira. scott's marmion. ---- lady of the lake. ---- lay of the last minstrel. the original to. editions in boards. whittingham. magna charta; a sermon at the funeral of lady farewell, by george newton. london, . boothby's sorrows sacred to the memory of penelope. cadell and davies. . chaucer's poems. vol. i. aldine edition. biblia sacra, vulg. edit., cum commentar. menochii. alost and ghent, . vol. i. barante, ducs de bourgogne. vols. i. and ii. st, nd, or rd edit. paris. ladvocat, . biographia americana, by a gentleman of philadelphia. potgieseri de conditione servorum apud germanos. vo. col. agrip. the british poets. whittingham's edition in vols., with plates. repository of patents and inventions. vol. xlv. nd series. . ------------------------------ vol. v. rd series. . nicholson's philosophical journal. vols. xiv. xv. . journal of the royal institution of great britain. no. xi. nd series. sorocold's book of devotions. works of isaac barrow, d.d., late master of trinity college, cambridge. london, . vol. i. folio. lingard's history of england. vols. vi. vii. viii. ix. xii. xiii., cloth. fabricii bibliotheca latina. ed. ernesti. leipsig, . vol. iii. the anacalypsis. by godfrey higgins. vols. to. codex diplomaticus Ævi saxonici, opera j. m. kemble. vols. i. and ii. vo. eckhel, doctrina numorum. vol. viii. brougham's men of letters. nd series, royal vo., boards. original edition. knight's pictorial shakspeare. royal vo. parts xlii. xliii. xliv. l. and li. conder's analytical view of all religions. vo. halliwell on the dialects of somersetshire. sclopetaria, or remarks on rifles, &c. gems from the british poets, vols., tyas, may be had on application to the publisher. *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. replies received.--_st. botulph--poem on burning of the houses of parliament--passage from crabb--sir john trenchard--bullen family--serjeants' rings-- the word "devil"--the heavy shove--etymology of "mushroom"--the ring finger--the amber witch--descendants of john rogers--st. patrick--spanish vessels wrecked on the irish coast--sons of the conqueror--hog's norton--"cane decane"--dutch manufactories of porcelain--proclamations respecting use of coal--royal "we"--carling sunday._ a subscriber from the commencement _is thanked for his very excellent suggestion on the subject of our index_. _we have to apologise to many subscribers for not replying to communications; but even editors may sometimes have more than they can do._ * * * * * { } plain sermons addressed to a country congregation. by the late rev. edward blencowe, curate of teversal, and formerly fellow of oriel college, oxford. vols. foolscap vo. cloth, s. d. each. sold separately. "the numerous possessors of mr. blencowe's former plain but excellent volumes will be glad to receive the third series of his 'plain sermons addressed to a country congregation,' similar in character and texture to the two series which have preceded it."--_guardian._ "their style is simple; the sentences are not artfully constructed; and there is an utter absence of all attempt at rhetoric. the language is plain saxon language, from which 'the men on the wall' can easily gather what it most concerns them to know. "again, the range of thought is not high and difficult, but level and easy for the wayfaring man to follow. it is quite evident that the author's mind was able and cultivated, yet, as a teacher to men of low estate, he makes no display of eloquence or argument. "in the statements of christian doctrine, the reality of mr. blencowe's mind is very striking. there is a strength and a warmth, and a life, in his mention of the great truths of the gospel, which show that he spoke from the heart, and that, like the apostle of old, he could say,--'i believe, and therefore have i spoken.' "his affectionateness too is no less conspicuous; this is shown in the gentle, earnest, kind-hearted tone of every sermon in the book. there is no scolding, no asperity of language, no irritation of manner about them. at the same time there is no over-strained tenderness, nor affectation of endearment; but there is a considerate, serious concern about the peculiar sins and temptations of the people committed to his charge, and a hearty desire and determined effort for their salvation."--_theologian._ thirty sermons. by the rev. alfred gatty, m.a., vicar of ecclesfield. vols. mo. cloth, s. each. "sermons of a high and solid character, and the production of a good churchman. they are earnest and affectionate, and follow out the church's doctrine."--_theologian._ "of all the sermons i have ever seen, they are by far the best adapted to such congregations as i have had to preach to, at any rate, in my opinion; and as a further proof of their adaptation to the people's wants--and indeed the best proof that could be given--i have been requested by some of my parishioners to lend them sermons which were almost verbatim et literatim transcripts of yours. that you may judge of the extent to which i have been indebted to you, i may mention that out of about seventy sermons which i preached at w----, five or six were paley's, and fifteen or sixteen yours. for my own credit's sake i must add, that all the rest were entirely my own."--_extracted from the letter of a stranger to the author._ sermons on the doctrines and the means of grace, and on the seven words from the cross. by george trevor, m.a., canon of york. mo. cloth, s. "a volume of excellent, sound sermons, admirably suited to answer the end for which they were preached and are published, the promotion of practical piety. an additional interest attaches to them on account of recent circumstances connected with the writer's name, as they more than sufficiently attest his fitness for pulpit ministrations in the english church. they are well calculated also for family reading."--_john bull._ "there is much, certainly, in these sermons, to attract and reward attention. the subject precludes novelty in their essence, nor does there seem much attempt at originality in their method and style of treatment. but the sermons are manly and earnest in their resolution to look the truth in the face, and to enforce it against a prejudiced resistance, of which the writer evidently knows but too much; and they show, moreover, a true conception of the tone by which that resistance is to be met.... the more valuable part, after all, of mr. trevor's present volume is, the set of sermons on 'the seven words,' because they are practical, and are raised by their solemn theme high above the limits of controversy, which, necessary as it is, is yet the earthly part of theology."--_scottish episcopal journal._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * specimens of tile pavements. drawn from existing authorities by henry shaw, f.s.a. although some few examples of the original designs, and many separate patterns taken from the scattered remains of these most interesting pavements, are figured in divers architectural and archæological publications; it is presumed, that if a series of specimens of the many varieties of general arrangement to be found in those still existing, together with a selection of the particular tiles of each period, the most remarkable for the elegance and beauty of the foliage and other devices impressed upon them, were classed chronologically, and brought within the compass of a single volume, it would prove highly valuable as a work of reference; not only to architects, but to to all who are engaged in furnishing designs for any kind of material where symmetrical arrangements or tasteful diaperings are required. the present work is intended to supply such a desideratum. it will be completed in ten monthly parts. each part to contain five plates, royal to. printed in colours. price s. a preface and description of the various pavements will be given with the last number. no. i. was published on the st of may, . * * * * * works by mr. shaw. dresses and decorations of the middle ages. in vols. coloured, imperial vo. price l. s.; or on imperial to. the plates more highly finished and heightened with gold, price l. illuminated ornaments. from the sixth to the seventeenth century. selected from manuscripts and early printed books, carefully coloured from the originals, with descriptions by sir frederick madden, k.h. in vol. to. l. s.; or on large paper, highly finished with opaque colours, and heightened with gold, imperial to. l. s. alphabets, numerals, and devices of the middle ages. containing plates, on imperial vo. price l. s.; or on imperial to. price l. s. specimens of ancient furniture. drawn from existing authorities, with descriptions by sir samuel r. meyrick, k.h. in vol. containing plates, medium to. plain, l. s.; with numerous coloured plates, l. s.; or on imperial to. the whole of the plates coloured, price l. s. specimens of ornamental metal work. with plates, to. price l. s. specimens of the details of elizabethan architecture. in vol. to. containing plates, price l. s.; or imperial to. india paper, l. s. the encyclopÆdia of ornament. in vol. medium to. price l. s.; or on imperial to. coloured plates, price l. a booke of sundry draughtes, principally serving for glaziers: and not impertinent for plasterers and gardeners, besides sundry other professions. by walter gidde. a new edition, with additions. vol. vo. containing plates, s. the decorative arts of the middle ages. in vol. imperial vo. price l. s.; in imperial to. price l. s.; or with the whole of the plates and woodcuts highly coloured and the initial letters carefully illuminated, price l. s. london: william pickering. * * * * * preparing for publication, in numbers at s. each (to subscribers s. d.), remains of pagan saxondom, principally from tumuli in england. drawn from the originals. described and illustrated by john yonge akerman, fellow and secretary of the society of antiquaries of london. the engravings or lithographs will, if possible, in every case be of the actual size of the objects represented. the first number will appear as soon as the names of two hundred subscribers have been received. subscribers are requested to forward their names to the care of mr. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * now ready, two new volumes (price s. cloth) of the judges of england and the courts at westminster. by edward foss, f.s.a. volume three, - . volume four, - . lately published, price s. cloth, volume one, - . volume two, - . "a book which is essentially sound and truthful, and must therefore take its stand in the permanent literature of our country."--_gent. mag._ london: longman & co. * * * * * the primÆval antiquities of england illustrated by those of denmark. the primÆval antiquities of denmark. by j. j. a. worsaae, member of the royal society of antiquaries of copenhagen. translated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in england, by william j. thoms, f.s.a. secretary of the camden society. with numerous woodcuts. vo. s. d. "the best antiquarian handbook we have ever met with--so clear is its arrangement, and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well-executed engravings.... it is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquaries."--_morning herald._ "a book of remarkable interest and ability.... mr. worsaae's book is in all ways a valuable addition to our literature.... mr. thoms has executed the translation in flowing and idiomatic english, and has appended many curious and interesting notes and observations of his own."--_guardian._ "the work, which we desire to commend to the attention of our readers, is signally interesting to the british antiquary. highly interesting and important work."--_archæological journal._ see also the _gentleman's magazine_ for february . oxford: john henry parker, and . strand, london. * * * * * second edition, mo., cloth s., with illustrations. the bell, its origin, history, and uses. by the rev. alfred gatty, vicar of ecclesfield. "a new and revised edition of a very varied, learned, and amusing essay on the subject of bells."--_spectator._ george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * now ready, vo. cloth, pp. , price s. d., handsomely printed on fine paper at the dublin university press, the unripe windfalls in prose and verse of james henry, m.d. contents: miscellaneous poems; criticism on the style of lord byron, in a letter to the editor of "notes and queries;" specimen of virgilian commentaries, specimen of a new metrical translation of the eneis. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * { } cigars of the choicest importations at greatly reduced prices for cash. the first class brands. "ptarga," "flor cabana," &c., s. per pound. british cigars from s. d. per pound. lord byron's, s. d., very fine flavour. genuine latakia, s. d. per pound, delicious aroma. every description of eastern and american tobaccos. meerschaum pipes, cigar cases, stems, porte monnaies, &c. &c. of the finest qualities, considerably under the trade prices. j. f. varley & co., importers. the havannah stores, . oxford street, opposite the princess's theatre. * * * * * the valiant little tailor, and other tales, with twenty-four illustrations, forming the second part of "grimm's household stories," is now ready, price one shilling. this complete edition of the stories of the brothers grimm will be comprised in eight parts, and embellished with two hundred illustrations by edward h. wehnert. addey & co., . old bond street, london. * * * * * provident life office, . regent street. city branch: . royal exchange buildings. established . policy holders' capital, , , l. annual income, , l.--bonuses declared, , l. claims paid since the establishment of the office, , , l. _president._ the right honourable earl grey. _directors._ the rev. james sherman, _chairman._ h. blencowe churchill, esq., _deputy-chairman._ henry b. alexander, esq. george dacre, esq. william judd, esq. sir richard d. king, bart. the hon. arthur kinnaird thomas maugham, esq. william ostler, esq. apsley pellatt, esq. george round, esq. frederick squire, esq. william henry stone, esq. capt. william john williams. j. a. beaumont, esq. _managing director._ _physician_--john maclean, m.d. f.s.s., . upper montague street, montague square. nineteen-twentieths of the profits are divided among the insured. examples of the extinction of premiums by the surrender of bonuses. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | bonuses added date | sum | | subsequently, to be of | insured. | original premium. | further increased policy. | | | annually. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | £ |£ extinguished| £ | | ditto | | | ditto | ----------------------------------------------------------------- examples of bonuses added to other policies. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | total with additions, policy | date. | sum | bonuses | to be further no. | | insured. | added. | increased. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | £ | £ | £ | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained upon application to the agents of the office, in all the principal towns of the united kingdom, at the city branch, and at the head office, no. . regent street. * * * * * photography.--j. b. hockin & co., operative chemists, . strand, manufacture all the pure chemicals used in this art; also apparatus for the glass, paper, and daguerreotype processes. achromatic lens and camera from s. instruction in the art. agents for "archer's iodized collodion and improved camera," which obviates the necessity for a dark room. electrotyping in all its branches. chemical cabinets for experimental and analytical purposes. apparatus for gold assaying, and instruction therein. * * * * * details of gothic architecture from existing examples, by j. k. colling, architect, no. xix. contents. doorway, cottingham church, yorkshire. windows, berkswell church. coupled windows, kenilworth church. side windows, winchelsea church, sussex. gable crosses and parapet in winchelsea church. title and contents to the first volume. london: david bogue, fleet street, and george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society, . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. edgeworth bicknell, esq. william cabell, esq. t. somers cocks, jun. esq. m.p. g. henry drew, esq. william evans, esq. william freeman, esq. f. fuller, esq. j. henry goodhart, esq. t. grissell, esq. james hunt, esq. j. arscott lethbridge, esq. e. lucas, esq. james lys seager, esq. j. basley white, esq. joseph carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq. _consulting counsel._--sir wm. p. wood, m.p. _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed on the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * the charm: a magazine for boys and girls. part ii. published this day, price sixpence, contains: a quarrel and its consequences. by harriet myrtle. the richmonds' tour through europe. by alfred elwes. black dick the fiddler. part . one of life's charms. a skater chased by wolves. a visit to the antelopes. by frederic graham. water and its elements. by j. h. pepper. sedge island. part . by r. reinick. the fellow lodgers. part i. with fourteen illustrations by celebrated artists. addey & co., . old bond street, london. * * * * * mourning.--court, family, and complimentary.--the proprietor of the london general mourning warehouse begs respectfully to remind families whose bereavements compel them to adopt mourning attire, that every article of the very best description, requisite for a complete outfit of mourning, may be had at this establishment at a moment's notice. estimates for servants' mourning, affording a great saving to families, are furnished; whilst the habitual attendance of experienced assistants (including dressmakers and milliners), enables them to suggest or supply every necessary for the occasion, and suited to any grade or condition of the community. widows' and family mourning is always kept made up, and a note, descriptive of the mourning required, will insure its being sent forthwith, either in town or into the country, and on the most reasonable terms. w. c. jay, - . regent street. * * * * * now ready, royal to., half bound, plates, l. s. d., coloured l. s., antiquarian gleanings in the north of england; being examples of antique furniture, plate, church decorations, objects of historical interest, &c. drawn and etched by william b. scott, government school of design, newcastle, containing--antiquities in jarrow church--swords of cromwell, lambert, fairfax, &c.--norman wall paintings--antiquities in york minster--rosary of mary queen of scots--antiquities at hexham--stained glass, &c. in wetheral church--figures of the apostles in carlisle cathedral--drinking vessels, carvings, &c. parts and may be had to complete sets: price together, s. plain, s. coloured. london: george bell, . fleet street. * * * * * architectural publication society. new and important work, the dictionary of architecture, to be completed in three years. only a sufficient number of copies will be printed to supply members. annual subscription one guinea, due in advance from the st of may, entitles each member to a copy of the portion issued during the year.--thomas l. donaldson, esq., treasurer, bolton gardens, russell square. wyatt papworth, hon. sec. from whom copies of the annual report describing this work may be obtained. a, great marlborough street. * * * * * . old bond street. art-manufactures and valuable illustrated books. messrs. addey & co. (late cundall & addey) respectfully invite attention to their collection of statuettes and groups in parian and statuary porcelain, which now comprises all the finest specimens of these beautiful manufactures. in their stock of books will be found every illustrated and illuminated work of merit, and all the best juvenile publications. catalogues may be obtained on application. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, june . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, february . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page mary stuart's chair, by cuthbert bede, b.a. inedited letter of warren hastings mediæval emblems of the passion, by norris deck bookselling in calcutta folk lore:--subterranean bells--old weather proverb-- primrosen--harvest home song inedited poem on chaucer minor notes:--"le balafré"--macpherson's "ossian"--epitaph from tichfield--"a horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!"--weight of american revolutionary officers--the patronymic "mac"--erroneous forms of speech--hexameters from udimore register--dr. johnson--borrowed thoughts--suggested reprints queries:-- rigby correspondence heraldic queries on a passage in acts xv. ., by j. sansom minor queries:--belatucadrus--surname of allan--arms of owen glendower--tenent and tenet--"i hear a lion," &c.--"the exercist day" at leicester--ecclus. xlvi. .--etymology of burrow--alexander adamson-- psalmanazar--coleridge's "christabel"--beaten to a mummy--hanover rats--pallant--curious fact in natural philosophy--drying up of the red sea--joan d'arc--diary of thomas earl, &c. minor queries with answers:--game of the whetstone-- meals--haughmond abbey, salop--"as flies to wanton boys"--quotation wanted--thomas stanley, bishop of man replies:-- old satchels statue of st. peter lord clarendon and the tubwoman discovery of planets, by henry walter story of genoveva ancient dutch allegorical picture, by dr. j. h. todd the "percy anecdotes," by john timbs lady nevill's music-book: mode of reading the ancient virginal music, by dr. e. f. rimbault scarfs worn by clergymen, by rev. john jebb unanswered queries regarding shakspeare, by j. payne collier the passamezzo galliard, by dr. e. f. rimbault photographic notes and queries:--the albumen process-- queries on mr. weld taylor's process--difficulties in the wax-paper process--mr. archer's services to photography--mr. weld taylor's iodizing process-- sir j. newton's process replies to minor queries:--a race for canterbury-- "the birch: a poem"--curtseys and bows--deodorising peat--jacobite toasts--consecrators of english bishops--chatham's language, &c. miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. mary stuart's chair. on the south side of the chancel of conington church, hunts., stands a handsome, massive, and elaborately-carved oaken chair, which has been traditionally known as the very seat from which the unfortunate mary stuart rose to submit her neck to the executioner. the chair was probably brought from fotheringay, and placed in conington church as a sacred relic, by sir robt. cotton, who built conington castle partly with the materials of fotheringay, and who (according to gough, in his additions to camden's _britannia_, vol. ii., "iceni," ed. ) "brought from there _the whole room_ where mary queen of scots was beheaded." by this, perhaps, is meant, the deeply-recessed arcade that now forms the two _exterior_ sides of the ground-floor of conington castle; which arcade, doubtless, was on the _interior_ walls of fotheringay, the windows being above it: the principal window being supposed to be that which now forms the staircase window of the talbot inn, oundle. modern windows have been placed within the eleven divisions of the arcade at conington castle. in speaking of conington church, gough says (see _additions to camden_) that "lord coleraine saw a chair of an abbot of peterborough in this church, ," which must have been the chair now under notice. the nature of its decorations shows it to have been a chair used for religious purposes; and the six principal figures that adorn it, are made to face at right angles with the chair; so that when it was placed on the south side of the altar, the faces of the figures would be turned towards the east. a full description of the chair may not be without its interest to the readers of "n. & q.," since (as far as i am aware) it has never yet received more than a passing notice from the historian; and if it indeed be a relic of mary stuart--as there seems good reason to believe--it deserves more attention (in these days of minute detail) than it has hitherto obtained. the top of the chair is battlemented, and flanked by the two side-pieces which terminate in pediments supporting figures. both figures are seated on { } low chairs of a massive ecclesiastical character. the right-hand figure (which is headless) holds an open volume, and is apparelled in chasuble and alb. the left-hand figure is seated on a more highly-decorated seat, wears a crown, and is bearded; is vested in chasuble, alb, and dalmatic; and, though the hands are deficient, evidently did not, like the other figure, bear an open volume. both figures face to the east. the upper part of the back of the chair is filled in with a pointed arch, cusped, and highly ornamented; the arcs being divided into smaller cusps, which terminate (as do the larger) with leaves and trefoils carved with great richness. in the spandrels of the cusps are birds with outspread wings, bearing labels. those on the left appear to be eagles; those on the right have long bills, and may be intended for pelicans. the large right-hand spandrel of the arch contains a figure of the virgin mary, crowned as "the queen of heaven," clad in long flowing drapery, with her hands upraised, apparently in benediction, and her hair loose and streaming. near to her is her emblem, the pot of lilies; the pot being much decorated, the lilies five in number. it stands upon a label, whose folds fill up the rest of the spandrel. the left-hand large spandrel contains the figure of an angel feathered to the elbow and knee, his wings outspread, and a label proceeding from one hand. the arms of the chair are divided into two parts. the first part terminates in a graceful curve, supporting a figure: the second part is continued with a curve, carried on into the wings of a figure kneeling upon one knee: the intervals are filled up with open gothic work. the four figures on the arms are all angels, whose wings are made to rest upon, or join into, the curved form of the chair-arm. they all face to the east, and are clad in loose drapery; the folds of which (as in the cases of the other figures) are carved with great minuteness, and disposed with much knowledge of artistic effect. the upper left-hand figure holds a trumpet; that on the right a stringed instrument, which neither resembles the grecian, roman, jewish, or egyptian lyre, but has precisely the same form as the modern "banjo" of the negroes. of the two angels on the lower divisions of the arm, the one on the right bears a legend, and the one on the left appears to have done the same, but the arms have been broken off. these legends may have been illuminated with texts of scripture, &c. the sides of the chair are recessed, and filled in with a species of gothic tracery that is apparently of later date than the rest. the front of the chair is panelled, and the foot is decorated with quatrefoils in high relief. during the sleep of indifferentism which fell upon the church towards the close of the past century, all interest attaching to the chair seems to have been forgotten; and, after a lapse of years, it was discovered by the late mr. heathcote, of conington castle, in a room of the belfry of the church, where it had been thrust aside with other things as useless lumber, and daubed with the whitewash and paint of the generations of workmen who had cleansed their brushes on its broad surface. mr. heathcote, with a praiseworthy regard for a relic of so much interest, resolved to replace the chair in the position it had formerly occupied in the chancel of the church: but before this could be done, it was necessary to repair the ill usage which the chair had received, and to restore it, as much as possible, to its original condition. it was accordingly confided to trustworthy and skilful hands; the old ornamental portions were replaced, and the chair was in every way restored strictly in accordance with its original design. it is now in a good state of repair, and will probably remain for many ages a mute memorial of that tragic scene in which it once played its part. and, could we imagine the dryad that watched over its forest-birth had filled its oaken frame with speech and feeling: or that a greater power had put a voice into its shape, and caused the beam out of its timber to cry out against the cruel death-scene in the banquet-hall of fotheringay, we might almost suppose it to have denounced the english queen in the words of the prophet habakkuk (ii. , .): "thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. for the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." and, so long as that chair remains in the church of conington, and the stones of the banquet-hall of fotheringay form a portion of its castle, so long shall that cry go up to heaven, and tell the hapless doom of mary stuart! cuthbert bede, b.a. * * * * * inedited letter of warren hastings. the subjoined letter, believed to be unpublished, is so characteristic of the energy and decision of the great governor-general of india, that i think it worth recording in your publication. it appears to be written and signed by him immediately after, as when it came into my possession the bright sand then in use was adherent more or less to the whole document. sir philip francis and the other signature are in a different ink, and were so awkwardly in their place, that it would indicate that those signatures were previously obtained. h. w. d. "_to capt. robinson, commander of the morning star._ (_secret department._) "sir, "you are hereby commanded to proceed down the river with this tide, to seize all the french { } pilot vessels and pilots which you may be able to find, and bring them up to calcutta. "a pilot will be sent on board you by the master attendant, who will furnish you with orders to him to point to you such pilot vessels as may be in the service of the french nation. "in the execution of this service the utmost secrecy is to be observed. we are, sir, your most obedient servants, warren hastings. p. francis. edw. wheeler. fort william, th july, ." * * * * * mediÆval emblems of the passion. the venerable priory church of great malvern contains a series of these emblems, among which are some i have never before met with; and as they may be interesting to some of your readers, i have made a note of them. they have evidently been moved from some other part of the church to their present position in st. anne's chapel, and as a few of the more usual emblems are wanting, the series has probably been more complete than it is now. the date of the glass is the latter half of the fifteenth century, and consists of a series of demi-angels, each bearing a shield, upon which these emblems are depicted. on the first are two heads, representing judas kissing his master, the head of the saviour being surrounded by the usual cruciform nimbus. . the reed, here drawn as a bulrush with flag leaves, crossed by a mace. . the lantern. . christ blindfolded; represented symbolically as having a thin muslin bandage over his eyes, which are seen through it and depicted wide open, as if not at all affected by it. . two hands issuing from the dexter side of the shield, as if in the act of buffeting; from the sinister side issues one hand pulling a beard or lock of hair. . the spear of longinus, with drops of blood and water trickling from it, crossed by the reed and the sponge. . the cock that warned st. peter. . the crown of thorns. . the cross. . the falchion of st. peter crossed by another mace. . the seamless vest. . the hammer between _two_ nails only. . the purse of judas overflowing with money, represented as a merchant's gypciere. . the ladder. . two scourges or flagelli crossing each other. . the sacred monogram, i.h.c. . the five wounds. . st. veronica, with the napkin outspread impressed with the sacred head. . an impudent repulsive head in the act of spitting. . the lower portion of the pillar entwined with the cord. to this note i wish to add a query. have any of your correspondents ever met with, in similar representations, the instruments i have described as maces in shields . and .? the first has a round termination, with three triangular-shaped spikes issuing from it, one at the end, and one on each side of the ball; the second has a pointed oval, or egg-shaped end, and is quite studded with spikes, not triangular, but straight like the teeth of a woolcomb; they evidently refer to the "weapons" mentioned in st. john xviii. ., and i am not aware of the existence of any similar types. i may also state that those mentioned on shields . . . and . are by no means usual. while on this subject i will add a list of the other emblems i have met with not included in this series, and shall be glad to receive from any of your readers any additions to it. the ear of malchus; the two swords which they showed the lord when he said "it is enough;" the three dice; the pincers; the thirty pieces of silver; the pitcher of water which our saviour used when he washed his disciples' feet; the towel, generally represented hanging from a ring, with which he wiped them; the fire at which st. peter warmed himself, and the three spice-boxes for embalming. i shall also be glad to hear if the representation of _two_ nails only instead of the usual number of _three_, occurs in any other instance. norris deck. great malvern. * * * * * bookselling in calcutta. looking over your queries this morning, my attention was drawn to that now in course of elucidation in your pages--the origin of the phrase "sending a man to coventry." i am not about to offer any explanation thereof, but simply to chronicle in your columns, more for the amusement than the edification of your readers, a _reminiscence_ of an eccentric application of a passage in shakspeare bearing upon this popular dislike to coventry. any of your readers who may have visited the capital of british india will recollect the native _kitaub-wallahs_, or booksellers, who drive a good trade in the streets of calcutta by thrusting their second-hand literature into the _palanquins_ of the passers, and their pertinacity and success in fixing _master_ with a bargain. for the information of the untravelled, i may further remark that these _flying bibliopoles_ draw their supplies from { } the daily auctions arising out of the migratory habits or the mortality to which the residents in that city are subject; and it would somewhat astonish our _sothebys_ and _putticks_ to see the extent of these sales of literary property, and derange their _tympanums_ to hear the clamorous competition among the aforesaid half-naked dealers for lots not catalogued with their bibliographical precision. the books thus purchased, i may further observe, are subject to the overhaul of the better-informed of the tribe before they make their appearance in the streets; when deficiencies are made good, bindings vamped, and lettering attempted: finally, they are placed in the hands of the hawkers, when the following peculiarities are detectable:--where a title or last leaf may have been wanting, these _calcutta editions_ occasionally display a _prophane_ book with a _sacred_ title; or a _pious treatise_, for the sake of the word "finis," made complete by affixing the last leaf of _tristram shandy_ or the _devil on two sticks_! less intelligent jobbers will open their book, and, finding the first word "preface," clap it incontinently in gilt letters on the back! i leave the imagination of the reader to fill up the _cross-readings_ which would likely result from such practices, and revert to my anecdote, which i had almost lost sight of. some twenty years ago, then, the dingy tribes were startled, and the auctioneer gratified by the appearance of a new face in the _bidders' box_--a brisk little european, who contested every lot, aiming, apparently, at a monopoly in the second-hand book trade. shortly thereafter, this individual, having located himself in a commanding position, came forth in the daily papers as a candidate for public favour; and, in allusion to the reformation he contemplated, and his sovereign contempt for his black brethren, headed his address, to the no small amusement of the lieges, in the _falstoffian_ vein: "... no eyes hath seen such _scarecrows_. i'll not march thro' coventry with them, that's flat!" this joke was no doubt thrown away upon his hindoo and mussulman rivals, but, alas for the reformer! he little knew the cold indifference of the anglo-indian about such matters, and, as might have been expected, he failed in establishing himself in business, and ultimately fell a victim to the climate. of the previous history of this one, among ten thousand, who have left their bones in the land of cholera, i know nothing beyond the fact that he was a son of thomas holcroft, a dramatist of repute in his day. j. o. * * * * * folk lore. _subterranean bells_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the tower and nave of tunstall church, norfolk, are in ruins; the chancel alone being used for divine service. the village tradition says, that this calamity was caused by fire; and that the parson and churchwardens quarreled for the possession of the bells which were uninjured. during their altercation, the arch-fiend walked off with the subjects of dispute; but being pursued, and overtaken by the parson--who began to exorcise in latin--he made a way through the earth to his appointed dwelling-place, taking them with him. the spot where this took place is now a boggy pool of water, called hell hole; and an adjoining clump of alder-trees is called hell carr. in summer time, a succession of bubbles--doubtless caused by marsh gas--keep constantly appearing on the surface. those who believe in the tradition, find in this circumstance a strong confirmation. for, as it is the entrance to the bottomless pit, the bells must be descending still; and the bubbles would necessarily be caused by bells sinking in water. in the adjoining village of halvergate, on the largest bell, is the following inscription: "sit cunctis annis, nobis _avita joh[=s]_." i suppose this must be "audita johannes," but the inscription certainly is _avita_. on the second bell: "intercede pia pro nobis virgo maria." on the third bell, founder's name, and date ,--a solitary instance, i imagine, of an addition made to a peal of bells during the puritan triumph of the great rebellion. e. g. r. fisherty brow, near kirkby lonsdale, supplies such an instance as j. j. s. inquires after. there is a sort of natural hollow scooped out there, where a church, parson, and all the people, were swallowed up ages since; and any one who doubts it, may put his ear to the ground on a sunday morning and hear the bells ring! p. p. _old weather proverb._--the old monkish latin rhyme is very plainly verified this year: "se sol splendescat, mariâ purificante, major erit glacies post festum, quam fuit ante." february nd was a most brilliant day here, where i live, not twenty miles from london: the ground is now covered with snow, and the frost very sharp. "after candlemas day the frost will be more, if the sun then shines bright, than it has been before." "after candlemas day frost will follow more keen, if the sun then shines bright, than before it has been." c-- s. t. p. w---- rectory, feb. . { } _primrosen._--the early appearance of primroses this year induces me to trouble you with some east-anglian folk lore concerning them, premising that here the word still forms its plural in _en_. at cockfield, suffolk, there are none, nor, it is said, do they thrive when planted; though they are numerous in all the surrounding villages, which do not apparently differ from cockfield in soil. the village legend says that here, too, they once were plentiful, but when cockfield was depopulated by the plague, they also caught the infection and died, nor have they flourished since that time. in east norfolk some old women are still found who believe that if a less number of primrosen than thirteen be brought into a house on the first occasion of bringing any in, so many eggs only will each hen or goose hatch that season. when recently admitted into deacon's orders, my gravity was sorely tried by being called on to settle a quarrel between two old women, arising from one of them having given one primrose to her neighbour's child, for the purpose of making her hens hatch but one chicken out of each set of eggs. and it was seriously maintained that the charm had been successful. since then i have heard that it only has an influence over geese. perhaps this may account in some measure for the belief. in early seasons, persons are induced to carry in specimens of the first spring flowers that they find. in such seasons, too, fowls lay early, and perhaps do not sufficiently protect their eggs. the ungenial weather which too frequently succeeds spoils the eggs, and the effect is attributed to the "primrosen" of course; the cases where a few flowers are brought in, and the fowls have numerous broods, remain unnoticed. e. g. r. _harvest home song, sung in some parts of surrey._-- "we have plough'd, we have sow'd, we have reap'd, we have mow'd; ne'er a load overthrow'd-- harvest home!" r. w. f. bath. * * * * * inedited poem on chaucer. i lately bought a black-letter chaucer ( ), in which i find ms. notes by two or three writers. one is in rather a crabbed handwriting, and dates from . i must own to being unable to decipher this gentleman's notes to my satisfaction; but the writing of another is clear and distinct. there are a few emendations on the "rime of sire thopas," and the following "eulogium chaucerj." i do not know whether it has appeared anywhere in print before; and as my reading in the british poets is too limited for me to say anything about its author, i should be glad if you or any one of your correspondents would inform me who the lines are by:-- _eulogium chaucerj._ geffrye chaucer, the worthiest flower of english poetrie in all the bower. so as w^{th} hym we maye compare w^{th} italy for poet rare. dant, nor boccace, nor petracqu fyne, but chaucer he w^{th} them may syng. w^{th} woords so fitt and sense so deepe, his matters all he can so riepe, the muses nyne, i thynck their teats to his sweete lypps did sweetly reatch. as plato, in his cradle nest, is saied of bees to haue bene blest. so as, by nature, noe man can, w^{th}out rare guyst, prove such a man. the rare euents that haue bene sence, o how they call for his defence! though many one hath done his parte, yett he alone had toucht the harte. sith he then is so peereles fownd, for hym lett bee the laurell crowne, and all the birds of pleasaunt laye, therein lett them both syng and playe, as itt weare ioygnyng all there noats, w^{th} his sweet music and records. o that, as nowe he sounds w^{th} penn, his lyvely voice myght sownd agayne. but natures debt we must pay all, and soe he hath, and soe we shall. though for his other parts of grace chaucer will live and shewe his face. t. a. s. * * * * * minor notes. "_le balafré._"--i was surprised to see that miss strickland, in the three volumes published of the _lives of the queens of scotland_, always ascribes this well-known sobriquet to francis, second duke of guise, instead of his son henry, third duke. this is a mistake which i should have thought the merest tyro in history could not have committed about persons of so much note, and affords another instance of what messrs. macaulay and alison had already exemplified, that writers of the most profound research will often err as to matters which lie, as it were, on the very surface. j. s. warden. _macpherson's "ossian."_--it would appear as if macpherson had picked up his information about british history in the pages of a kindred spirit, geoffrey of monmouth, for certainly he could have found in no other writer that caracalla and carausius were cotemporaries. j. s. warden. { } _epitaph from tichfield._--the curious epitaph which i inclose was copied, as closely as possible, from a monument in tichfield church, hants. you may perhaps think it worthy of a place in "n. & q." "the hvsband, speakinge trewly of his wife, read his losse in hir death, hir praise in life. heare lucie quinsie bromfield buried lies, with neighbours sad deepe weepinge, hartes, sighes, eyes. children eleaven, tenne livinge me she brought. more kind, trewe, chaste was noane, in deed, word, thought. howse, children, state, by hir was ruld, bred, thrives. one of the best of maides, of women, wives, now gone to god, her heart sent long before; in fasting, prayer, faith, hope, and alms' deedes stoare. if anie faulte, she loved me too much. ah, pardon that, for ther are too fewe such! then, reader, if thou not hard-hearted bee, praise god for hir, but sighe and praie for mee. here by hir dead, i dead desire to lie, till, rais'd to life, wee meet no more to die. ." rubi. _"a horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" richard iii., act v. sc. ._--in the edition of the _walewein_ published by professor jonckbloet, leyden, , is found, vol. ii. p. ., a remarkable parallel passage to the world-famed line of shakspeare, the verses - of the _lancelot_, a romance of the middle ages: "addic wapine ende een pard, in gaeft niet om een conincrike." "had i weapons and a horse, i would not give them for a kingdom." _from the navorscher._ j. m. _weight of american revolutionary officers._--on the th of august, , the american officers at west point were weighed, with the following result: lbs. gen. washington gen. lincoln gen. knox gen. huntingdon gen. greaton col. swift col. michael jackson col. henry jackson lt.-col. huntingdon lieut.-col. cobb lt.-col. humphreys only three of the eleven weighed less than two hundred pounds,--a result which does not confirm the abbé raynal's theory of the deterioration of mankind in america. uneda. philadelphia. _the patronymic "mac."_--the _inverness courier_ of gives a list of genuine celtic surnames beginning with _mac_, amounting to no less than . kirkwallensis. _erroneous forms of speech._--should you consider the following as worth a place in your publication, they are at your service. . the much used word _te_e_total_ is wrong: it ought to be written _te_a_total_. it implies the use of _tea_, instead of intoxicating liquors: that was its original meaning. let us return to the proper spelling. better late than never. . the expression, lately become very common, "_up_ to the present time," and so forth, is wrong. it ought to be "_down_ to the present time." the stream of time, like all other streams, is always descending. in tracing a thing backwards, from the present time, it is quite right to use the word _up_. . the words _down_ and _up_ are much misapplied by the inhabitants of the provinces in another sense, not knowing, or forgetting that, _par excellence_, london is considered the highest locality: _from_ every place, how high soever its position, it is "_up_ to london," and _to_ every such place, it is "_down_ from london." in london itself, st. paul's cathedral is considered as the highest or central point; and in every street radiating from that point, it is _up_ when going towards it, and _down_ when going from it. in going from st. paul's to the poultry we go _down cheapside_. . the inhabitants of provincial towns and cities are much in the habit of saying such a person is not "in town" to-day. that is wrong: they ought to say "in _the_ town." the word _town_ is, _par excellence_, applicable to london alone. robert smart. sunderland. _hexameters from udimore register._--the following hexameters are copied from the fly-leaf of a register-book which dates back to . they were written by a vicar in elizabeth's reign. the burden of the lament is, that the tithes, now worth about l. a-year, had been sold by a "sordid unprophetick priest" for l. per annum, and that consequently all his successors found themselves "vicars without tithes." the register-book is in the church of udimore, near rye, in sussex: "udimer infelix! nimis est cui presbyter unus; presbyter infelix! cui non satis udimer una; impropriator habet clero quæ propria durus, atque alter proprios clerus peregrinus et hospes; ex decimis decimis fruitur vir lege sacerdos alter evangelio reliquis prohibente potitur eheu! quam pingui macer est mihi passer in arvo idem est exitium fidei fideique ministro ita queritur step. parr, vic." j. mn. _dr. johnson._--the parchment containing the grant of the freedom of the city of aberdeen to the "literary colossus," in , once the property of { } mrs. piozzi, was sold in manchester in august, , to an eminent bookseller in bond street. kirkwallensis. _borrowed thoughts._--we often hear the man who, from his more advanced position, looks with contempt on the wisdom of past ages, likened to the child mounted on his father's shoulder, and boasting that he is the taller of the two. this no new idea. it is probably derived immediately from mr. macaulay, who in his _essay on sir james mackintosh_ says: "the men to whom we owe it that we have a house of commons are sneered at because they did not suffer the debates of the house to be published. the authors of the toleration act are treated as bigots, because they did not go the whole length of catholic emancipation. just so we have heard a baby, mounted on the shoulders of its father, cry out, '_how much taller i am than papa!_'" but it may be traced farther; for hear what butler says (_hudibras_, ii. .): "for as our modern wits behold, _mounted a pick-back on the old_, much farther off, much further he, rais'd on his aged beast, could see." erica. warwick. _suggested reprints._--acting on the suggestion of j. m., i make a note of the following: "joshua sprigge's _anglia rediviva_, london, , gives a florid but authentic and sufficient account of this new-model army in all its features and operations by which england had come alive again. a little sparing in dates, but correct when they are given. none of the old books are better worth reprinting."--carlyle's _letters and speeches of cromwell_. i would remark, also, that there are very few collections of maxims so good and profitable to the present time as francis quarles' _enchiridion_, london, , mo. a reprint would be very useful. there is an article thereon in the _retrospective review_, vol. v. p. . k. p. d. e. * * * * * queries. rigby correspondence. in looking over old family papers, i find a bundle of letters, sixty-seven in number, some of them very interesting, written to my grandfather by richard rigby, commencing in the year , and ending . this richard rigby, it appears, held the then sinecure office of master of the rolls in ireland, but resided altogether in england, and held office under several administrations as paymaster of the forces. his letters from to are all dated from the pay office. he is the mr. rigby whose _awkward integrity_ is alluded to by philo-junius in his letter of nd june, , and who is ironically styled "modest" by atticus in letter of th november, . my object is to endeavour to ascertain from some of your correspondents whether there is any representative of mr. rigby who possibly might have in his possession the counterpart of the correspondence above alluded to, which to irishmen could not fail to be of interest, and probably of historic value. the writer was a member of the irish house of commons, and, it appears, was in the habit of giving very graphic details of irish politics in general, and of the proceedings of the house of commons in particular. under date of th december, , mr. rigby thanks him "for your constant accounts of what passes in your parliaments. if it was not for the intelligence i give the ministers from you and the rest of my friends, they would know no more of what is doing in the irish parliament than in the turkish divan. for (neither) the lord lieutenant nor his secretary ever write a line to the secretary of state." again, nd december, : "i am much obliged to you for your constant intelligence, and so are greater persons than myself, for i happened to be with lord rochford to-day when his letters arrived from his excellency, and he had sent no despatches of a later date than the th, so that his majesty and his ministers would have known nothing of a report having been made by that committee, but for my information. lord r. sent your letters with my leave to the king. they will do no discredit to the writer, especially when compared to that _blotting_ paper wrote by his excellency." in another letter he talks of the reports of speeches made by his correspondent being far better than those of any _note-taker_; so that if they are forthcoming, i have no doubt they would be of interest and value to the historian of ireland of that time. k. k. * * * * * heraldic queries. can any of your correspondents furnish me with the names to the following coats of arms? some are entire, others are lost, from the glass having been cut to fit the divisions. these remnants form part of the chapel and hall windows of the old bishop's palace (now the deanery) at worcester. i. quarterly and . barry of , azure and or, on a chief of st; pallets between gyrons of nd; over all an inescutcheon erm. quarterly and . quarterly and a chevron between roses or cinquefoils; and , a chevron between martlets. (colours obliterated.) ii. sable, church bells or, impaling a shield, per fess invecked (this last cut off). iii. a saltire voided between cross crosslets. { } iv. quarterly and . arg. a chevron between foxes' heads erased gu. quarterly . arg. on a bend sa., dolphins or. quarterly . party per pale pily sa. and arg. impaling sa., a bordure arg. over all a crescent for difference, and shield surrounded with following names, "edmundus fox secundus filius charoli fox, ." (query, who were these people?) v. imperial crown over poppy head. (query, whose emblem or badge?) vi. a bull's head sa., guttée, horned, and langued, or. (query, whose crest or badge?) vii. a chevron between roundles, having for crest lion's paws holding a roundle. viii. sa. a chevron between lions' faces or, crescent for difference, having for crest a griffin. ix. or talbot's heads proper. x. quarterly . sa. lion rampant, or. quarterly . paly of ---- gu. and arg. (cut off.) quarterly . arg. a muscle ----. (colour gone.) quarterly . (cut off.) xi. ---- on a chevron between lions' heads; roses (colours gone), with crest. a man's head and shoulders robed with eastern crown on head. xii. or six fleurs-de-lis sable, . . and ., with motto "argrete constante." xiii. arg. on a chevron sa., mullets of st between lions' heads erased of nd. xiv. sa. a chevron arg. between porpoises or, impaling lion rampant. (colour gone.) xv. quarterly sa. and arg., a cross moline quarterly, erm. and ----. (colour gone.) the names to these coats of arms might enable one to trace whence the original bits came; it might be possible that the old windows of the cathedral (said to have been destroyed) served for filling up the borders of the old palace windows. w. h. p. * * * * * on a passage in acts xv. . dr. burton (_greek test._, oxford, ), in a note on the words [greek: hoi presbuteroi kai hoi adelphoi] (acts xv. .), says: "most mss. read [greek: hoi presbuteroi adelphoi]." i should feel much obliged to any of your readers who could kindly direct me to some particular manuscripts, to which dr. burton may possibly have alluded when he wrote the above note; or who could refer me to _any greek mss. of authority_, in which the [greek: kai] is not found. i have been enabled to consult the _codex laudianus_, a ms. of the seventh century; also the _ms. canon_, of the early part of the tenth century; and the _codex ebner._, of the twelfth century. in neither of these is the [greek: kai] missing. nor am i aware of any greek bible or new testament printed without the [greek: kai]; nor indeed of any translation without the conjunction (though there may be some such) in latin, or in any other language, with the single exception of the vulgate after st. jerome, and its several versions. the bibles of sixtus v. and clement viii., agreeing in this particular, read alike, "apostoli et seniores fratres." on the other hand, vutablus, in his new translation, reads, "apostoli et presbyteri _et_ fratres;" which is likewise the reading of the _interp. syriac._, as given in the _biblia regia_; also of beza, as given in the edition of the bible, _oliva roberti stephani_, ; whilst in the _novum testamentum e græco archetypo latino sermone redditum, theodoro beza interprete_, ed. hanov. , the reading is, "apostoli, et seniores, et fratres;" which is also the reading in _bibl. sacr. ex sebastiani castellionis interpretatione_, ed. francofurti, . to which may be added the _biblia gallica_, ; the _bibl. belg._, ed. leydæ, ; and luther's german bible,--all which retain the _and_. i have also consulted a more important version, namely, the ancient italic, which also reads, "apostoli, et seniores, _et_ fratres;" but which (in pet. sabatier's edition, par. ) has appended to the verse the following note: "v. .--_ms. cantabr._ scripserunt epistolam per manus suas continentem hæc, apostoli, et presbyteri fratres, hiis qui sunt per antiochiam, et syriam, et ciliciam, qui sunt ex gentibus fratribus, salutem.--_græc. textui laud._ consonat [versio _italica_], nisi quòd habet [greek: kata tên antiocheian, kai surian, kai kilikian], pro antiochiæ, et syriæ, et ciliciæ. _mss. quidam_, pro [greek: cheiros] manum, legunt [greek: cheirôn], cum vulg.; _aliique plures tollunt_ [greek: kai] _post seniores_. irenæus, l. iii. c. . p. . a. legit: apostoli, et presbyteri fratres, his qui sunt in antiochia, et syria, et cilicia, fratribus ex gentibus salutem. s. pacian., _paræn. ad poenit._, p. . h.: apostoli, et presbyteri fratres, his qui sunt antiochiæ, et syriæ, et ciliciæ, fratribus qui sunt ex gentibus salutem. vigil. taps. l. xii. _de trin._, p. . c.: apostoli, et presb. fratres, iis, qui antiochiæ, et syr., et cilic. fratribus qui sunt ex gentibus salutem." this note certainly goes far to corroborate (if indeed it was not the chief authority for) dr. burton's assertion; but it does little to satisfy my curiosity on a point, which i conceive to be of considerable interest, and of no slight importance, at the present time. the cambridge ms. appears to be in latin only; as is also the passage referred to in irenæus, whose original greek is lost. so that, after all, there is some ground to suspect that there in fact exists _no greek manuscript whatsoever_ without the [greek: kai]. i will add another note, which i find at the passage in irenæus (_contr. hær._, lib. iii. cap. . p. ., ed. par. ): "sic cum irenæo habent codd. cantabrig. et alexand. et vulgatus interpres. _at in editis græcis_: [greek: presbuteroi kai hoi adelphoi]." j. sansom. oxford. { } * * * * * minor queries. _belatucadrus._--in the _poetical history_, by the french jesuit, p. galtruchius, th edition, , the sixteenth and closing chapter of the first book of this history of the heathen gods is devoted to those worshipped in england, and the last of whom mention is made is belatucadrus, being introduced and summarily disposed of as follows: "in time the idols did increase, and we find in ancient writers, some who have been transported hither by the eastern people, as the god (abellio vocabatur in gallia) belenus, or belatucadrus. the latter, to my knowledge, hath been adored in the north part of england; for lately, since the learned camden hath mentioned him, there was a piece of his statue found in westmoreland, near brougham, a castle belonging to that bountiful and venerable lady, anne dorset, countess dowager of pembrook and montgomery, &c.; and in the bottom this inscription is to be seen: 'sancto deo belatvcadro,' which idol was doubtless made by the romans, for it was their custom to adore the gods of the country which they did conquer." my object is to ascertain, if possible, if this portion of statue has been preserved? has any subsequent discovery been made in the same locality respecting, or any additional light thrown upon, the one of which mention is herein made? kappa. _surname of allan._--perhaps mr. lower, or some other etymological reader of "n. & q.," may kindly assist me in my endeavours to find out the correct meaning and origin of this surname, variously spelt _allen_, _allan_, _allin_, _alleyne_, &c.? my theory on the subject, from various researches, is that it is a word of celtic or gaelic etymon, _aluinn_, in that language, signifying "delightful or pleasant." and again, several islet-rocks romantically situated in the firth of clyde, scotland, are called to this day _allans_. i should much like, however, to have the opinions of older and more experienced etymologists than i can pretend to be; for few subjects present so interesting a field for different theories as that regarding the origin of family names does. as i am naturally interested in my own surname, i should also like to obtain a sketch of the different british families of note bearing the surname and arms of _allen_ or _allan_, and references to those works which give their history and lineage. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _arms of owen glendower._--could any of your correspondents inform me of the blazoning of the arms of owen glendower, which, according to the copy of his private seal, furnished by meyrick to the editor of the _poems of lewis glyn cottie_, are, quarterly, four lions rampant; supporters, a dragon (gules?) and a lion? b. b. woodward. _tenent and tenet._--when did the use of tene_n_t (for opinion, dogma, &c.) give place to tenet? surely both forms should be retained, and used according to circumstances. it is correct to speak of a tenet of john _wesley_. when attributing the same doctrine to _wesleyans_, it becomes their tene_n_t. y. b. n. j. _"i hear a lion," &c._--can any of your correspondents favour me with the origin of the following _jeu d'esprit_, reputed to have been addressed to the speaker in the house of commons?-- "i hear a lion in the lobby roar! say, mr. speaker, shall we shut the door and keep him _out_? or shall we let him _in_, and see if we can get him _out_ again?" to ascertain by whom, and upon what occasion, the above lines were uttered, would considerably gratify sagitta. _"the exercist day" at leicester._--in the chamberlain's accounts for this borough for the year - , i find the following entry: "_item._ the vj^{th} of novemb^r [ ], _being the exercist daye_, given to the preacher and mynist^{rs} at the exercistz, one pottell of clarett s. d. wyne and one quarte of sacke ij iiij there are also charges "for wyne drunk at the _exercist dinners_, on the viij^{th} of jan^y, the fyfthe of marche, and the ix^{th} of april," . were these meetings held for the purpose of _exorcising_ the evil spirits and witches, the belief in which had at that time greatly increased in england, through the recent accession of "the modern solomon" to the throne? and, if so, was the practice a general one, or were they merely for religious _exercises_? a few years afterwards nine unfortunate women were tried at our assizes for witchcraft, and were convicted and executed! leicestriensis. _ecclus._ xlvi. .--why does the church order this verse to be omitted in the reading of the lessons? is it because the passage assumes the fact that samuel himself appeared to saul--a statement open to discussion? boeoticus. edgmond, salop. _etymology of burrow._--in the north of gloucestershire i have met with the word _burrow_ (i do not answer for the orthography), meaning sheltered, secure from wind, &c. the side of a thick coppice was spoken of as "a very _burrow_ place for cattle." can any of your correspondents give the etymology of the word, or other instances of its use? balliolensis. _alexander adamson._--i should be glad to know who alexander adamson was (the tutor who accompanied wm. and patrick ruthven, the son of { } the earl of gowrie, in their flight into england in august ), and what became of him? there was a wm. ruthven, of scotland, married at chitterton, northumberland, to esther, daughter of robert adamson, vicar of that parish in . was he any relation to the gowrie family? e. h. a. _psalmanazar._--the great literary abilities of psalmanazar, and indeed all the known circumstances of his life and history, excite some curiosity as to his real name. can any of your readers inform me of this? st. johns. _coleridge's christabel._--in the original edition of this poem, the following lines are to be found at the beginning of part ii.: "let it rain, however fast, rest from rain will come at last; and the blaze that strongest flashes, links at last, and ends in ashes! but sorrow from the human heart, and mists of care, will they depart?" now these lines, and a great many more which i cannot remember, as i have not the original edition, are to be found in an old volume of _blackwood's magazine_, in a review upon the poem. the poem, as published in the edition of coleridge's _poems_ edited by d. and s. coleridge (moxon, ), does not contain these lines, and no notice is taken of the fact by the editors. either coleridge did or did not cancel the lines mentioned; if he did, can any of your readers inform me in which of his works this fact is mentioned? if he did not, then one of the most beautiful poems in the english language has been edited in a manner that no one, i trust, will imitate. s. y. _beaten to a mummy._--whence comes this expression? it is used to signify, beaten so that form and feature are no longer distinguishable; whereas the immediate object of a mummy seems to be the preservation of the form and features of the deceased. is not the phrase a corruption of beaten to a mammock, to a piece, to a scrap, to a fragment? and yet, in marryatt's _pottery_ (murray, , p. .) is the following passage: "diodorus siculus (book v. ch. i.), in speaking of the usages of the inhabitants of the balearic isles, states that these people were in the habit of beating with clubs the bodies of the dead, which, thus rendered flexible, were deposited in vessels of earthenware." the gloucestershire peasants frequently use the word mammock, which they pronounce "mommock." robert snow. . chesterfield street, may fair. _hanover rats._--it is said that the native rat was extirpated from this country by the invading colonists from hanover. what are the facts of this case, and where may the best account of this extermination of the natives be found? it is worth inquiring also, whether the aboriginal rat is now to be met with in any part of great britain. i should think that rat-catchers and farming folks could throw light on this interesting point of the british fauna. shirley hibberd. _pallant._--in the town of chichester there are four streets, north, south, east, and west, to which the name of "pallant" is attached. this particular spot, which is close to the high street, is always called the pallant. can any of your readers inform me of the origin and meaning of this word? i have never met with any inhabitant of chichester who could solve this difficulty. a cantab. _curious fact in natural philosophy._--the _exeter alfred_ of has in one of its numbers the following: "cut a couple of cards each into a circle of about two inches in diameter; perforate one of these at the centre, and fix it on the top of a tube, say a common quill. make the other card ever so little concave, and place it over the first, the orifice of the tube being that directly under, and almost in contact with the concave card. try to blow off the upper card, you will find it impossible. we understand that the cause that counteracts the effect at first expected of this singular phenomenon, has lately puzzled all the members of the royal society. a medal and a hundred guineas are said to be the reward of the successful discoverer. could any of the correspondents of "n. & q." give any additional information on this rather curious point? elginensis. _drying up of the red sea._--will some of your correspondents kindly assist me, by a reference to a passage in one of our modern historians, alluding to the extraordinary drying up of the red sea on one occasion? i thought i had read it in rollin, as a quotation from baronius, but cannot now find it in either one or the other. w. stillman. birmingham. _joan d'arc._--did joan d'arc (the maid of orleans) bear any heraldic insignia; and if so, what? is the family from which she sprung now represented; and if they bear arms, what are they? is there any family of this name (d'arc), and if so, where? and what are the arms belonging to it, if there are any? bend. _diary of thomas earl._--strype (_annals_, vols. i. & ii.) sometimes refers to a ms. no. . in the collection of moore, bishop of ely, which he describes as a diary (vol. i. pp. . .) kept { } by thomas earl, who was made parson of st. mildred's, bread street, at the beginning of queen elizabeth's reign, and "seems to have been a diligent noter of matters of remark concerning religion in his time" (vol. ii. p. .). in the _catal. libr. mss. angl._, part ii. p. ., it is described-- "short notes of matters relating to the church by way of annals, written by some that favoured puritanism, from the year to ." bishop moore left his library to the university of cambridge. is this ms. in their possession, and is it a piece of historic value? q. q. "_jenny's bawbee._"--i would be glad if any of the readers of "n. & q." would inform me where the old scottish song, "jenny's bawbee," is to be found? it begins, "your plack and my plack, and jenny's bawbee, we'll put it i' the pint stoup, an' birl't a' three." j. mn. _lord north._--in forster's _life of goldsmith_, the following remark occurs respecting lord north, george iii.'s premier: "north was the son of the princess dowager's intimate friend lord guildford, and scandal had not hesitated to find a reason for the extraordinary resemblance he presented to the king in his clumsy figure, homely face, thick lips, light complexion and hair, bushy eyebrows, and protruding large grey eyes." will some one of your readers favour me with an explanation of the meaning of this insinuation? is it really intended to say that "scandal" reported lord north to be the son of an illustrious lady of the royal family? it is clear lord north strikingly resembled george iii.; did the latter "favour" his father or his mother in physiognomy? did george iii. represent the guelphs or the saxe-gotha family? observer. _ephippiarius._--what is the meaning of the word "ephippiarius," occurring as the description of a person in a latin diploma of the seventeenth century? does it signify saddler, or, as has been suggested to me, esquire? v. _nixon._--can any of your readers inform me if there was a painter of this name living at brighton in or about the year , what pictures he painted, &c., and when he died? john garland. dorchester. _tuebeuf._--where is it? a royal charter to the town of doncaster, given by the hand of master eustacius, dean of salisbury, deputy-chancellor, and witnessed by an archbishop of canterbury and others, is dated at tuebeuf, nd may, richard i. ( ). in miller's _history of doncaster_ (appendix, deed no. .), the name is printed "tuke or toke," but on a reference to the original document it appears as above. j. e. j. _tooth of sir i. newton._-- "a tooth of sir isaac newton was sold in for l.: a nobleman bought it, and had it set in a ring." the above has gone the round of the papers without comment, contradiction, or illustration. lest it should become matter of history, i wish to ask whether it is a new story or an old one; and whether it is a simple lie, or has any foundation in fact? h. b. c. u. u. c. _thomas ceeley._--who was thomas ceeley, who defended lyme regis so gallantly with the famous blake, the former being governor? his exploits have been recorded in the _history of lyme regis_, &c. probably we must look to plymouth for his residence. mr. christopher ceeley was with sir francis drake in his third voyage into the west indies in - . the "elizabeth drake," of sixty tons and thirty men, under sir francis drake, when acting against the armada, was commanded by _thomas sealye_, another way of spelling ceeley. there were ceeleys, sealeys, &c., in devonshire and somersetshire. g. r. l. _marigmerii--melinglerii--berefellarii._--in pirri's _sicilia sacra_ (grævius, _antiqu. sicil._, ii. .) four officers of the inferior clergy, called _marigmerii_, are enumerated among the members of the cathedral of montereale: and, in the same work (iii. .), two officers in the cathedral of cifalu called _melinglerii_. can either or both of these words be misprints, or corruptions of some word answering to the french _marguillier_, which in parish churches means a churchwarden, in collegiate churches a keeper of the relics? and what is the derivation of _marguillier_? in dugd. _monast._, edit. , vi. ., seven of the inferior clergy of the collegiate church of beverley are called by what is said to be an ancient name, _berefellarii_. what does this word mean? can it be a blunder, in the original document, for _beneficiatii_? john jebb. peterstow rectory, ross. "_judæus odor._"-- "abluitur judæus odor baptismate divo, et nova progenies reddita surgit aquis." i have seen the above lines attributed to vigilantius, but have not been able to verify the quotation. can any of your readers tell me where they are to be found? i suspect they are not of so great antiquity, as sir thomas browne (_vulgar errors_, book iv. chap. .), though he investigates { } and denies the "judæus odor," does not notice the opinion that it is removed by baptism. h. _lord lyon king-at-arms, scotland._--where is there an account of the origin of this office, and of the different possessors of it? scotland does not, i believe, possess any corresponding work to noble's _history of the college of arms_, and i know of no history which contains the above-desired information collectively. to trace the succession of the lord lyon kings-at-arms would be interesting, as many celebrated, and even illustrious, individuals held that high office in scotland. poets as well as warriors might be mentioned amongst the number. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _louisa lady gordon of gordonstoun, n. b._--this lady, who was the only child of dr. john gordon, dean of salisbury in england, and lord of glenluce in scotland, married, , sir robert gordon, son of the earl of sutherland (better known as the historian of that earldom), who was created a baronet in , and died in . their lineal male descendants became extinct in , in the person of their great-great-grandson, sir william, the sixth baronet. what i desire to ascertain is, who was lady gordon's father, this dean of salisbury; his marriage, death, &c., and more especially how he was _lord of glenluce_? perhaps some of your antiquarian subscribers may be able to assist me in these inquiries. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _contested elections._--what book gives an accurate account of all the contested elections since the restoration, and prior to the reform bill? i have one or two wretched compilations; but it seems no dod existed before the _flood_. x. y. z. * * * * * minor queries with answers. _game of the whetstone._--in lambarde's _perambulation of kent_ (page ., ed. ), the author, remarking on ealred's assertion that king edward the confessor saw at mass the seven sleepers at ephesus turn on one side after having slept seventy years together on the other, says: "which seeing it was within five years of so many as epimenides slept, ealred (in my phansie) is worthie to have the second game at the whetstone." in the margin the note to this is-- "i loue lye or game for the whetstone." halliwell, in his _dictionary_, says that in old authors frequent allusions occur to the custom of decorating notorious liars with whetstones; but i would thank any of your readers for a fuller account of "y^e game for y^e whetstone." what is known of lambarde, or lambert, as gervase markham calls him? was his _topographicall dictionarie_ (mentioned, as prepared for the press, in the _perambulation_) ever published, and what other works by him exist? e. g. r. [the extracts from our early writers given by brand and nares furnish some clue to the origin and character of the game of the whetstone; when the social and convivial combatants sharpened their wits to see who could gain the satirical prize of the silver whetstone by telling the greatest lie. in lupton's _too good to be true_, p. ., is the following passage, somewhat illustrative of the game: "_siuqila._ merry and pleasant lyes we take rather for a sport than a sin. lying with us is so loved and allowed, that there are many tymes _gamings_ and _prises_ therefore purposely, to encourage one to outlye another. "_omen._ and what shall he gaine that gets the victorie in lying? "_siuqila._ he shall have _a silver whetstone_ for his labour." william lambarde was born october , . he was the eldest son of john lambarde, alderman of london. in he resided at west combe, near blackheath, a manor he then possessed. he purposed publishing a general account of great britain, of which his _perambulation of kent_ was but the specimen; and he was only deterred by learning that camden was engaged on a similar task. his materials were published from the original manuscript in , under the title of _dictionarium angliæ topographicum et historicum_, to which is prefixed a portrait of the author, engraved by vertue. his first work was _archaionomia, sive de priscis anglorum legibus libri_, , to. he also wrote _eirenarcha_; or, the office of the justices of the peace, and duties of constables: _archeion_, a discourse upon the high courts of justice. in he was appointed by queen elizabeth keeper of the records in the tower; and in the following year he presented her majesty with an account of them, under the title _pandecta rotulorum_. he died at his residence at west combe, august , , and was buried in the church of st. alphege, greenwich, where a monument was erected to his memory. in after days this mortuary memorial was removed to the church of sevenoaks, in which parish the family now possesses a seat. lambarde was the first churchman after the reformation who founded a hospital. it was called "the college of the poor of queen elizabeth at greenwich, kent," and was opened in .] _meals._--on the n.w. coast of norfolk are certain sandbanks so called. brancaster meals, blakeney meals, and wells meals are among those most dreaded by the mariner. in bailey's _dictionary_ occurs, "_meales, malls._ the shelves or banks of sand on the sea-coasts of norway." can norway be a misprint for norfolk? it occurs norway in ten or twelve editions of bailey which i have examined. i can find no mention of "meals" or "malls" in any map of norway, { } except the whirlpool, the maelström, be connected with it. in norfolk _ea_, _ee_ are frequently changed for _oa_, _oo_. thus "sheaf" and "reek" are in norfolk "shoaf" and "roke;" and "smeath," a table land, is evidently from "smooth." can this change of vowels have taken place in this word, and "meals" signify "moles," from the shelf of sand projecting like a mole? or can any correspondent suggest a better etymology? e. g. r. [the quotation given above is omitted in the folio edition of bailey, ; but is correctly given in phillips's _new world of words_:--"meales, or males, the shelves or banks of sand on the sea-coasts of _norfolk_: whence ingom-meals, the name of a sandy shore in lincolnshire." the word _meales_, or _malls_, is however obviously connected with the icelandic _möl_, which helmboe, in his recently-published work, _det norske sprogs_, &c., defines "coarse sand; a sandy or stony place."] _haughmond abbey, salop._--i should feel obliged for any particulars of the history, or a reference to any work that contains a full account, of these fine ruins. hulbert does not give by any means a detailed notice in his _history of salop_. salopian. [some account of this abbey, with two engraved views of it, will be found in the _beauties of england and wales_, vol. xiii. part i. pp. - . consult also dugdale's _monasticon_, vol. vi. p. .] "_as flies to wanton boys._"--can you inform me from what writer is the following quotation (in mary wolstoncraft's _travels in sweden_)?-- "as flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport." j. p. [shakspeare's _king lear_, act iv. sc. .] _quotation wanted._--who is the author of the following lines?-- "three poets in three distant ages born, greece, italy, and england did adorn: the first in loftiness of thought surpassed, the next in majesty; in both the last. the force of nature could no further go; to make a third, she joined the former two." of course it is obvious who were the three poets, the greatest the world has produced. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. [these lines are by dryden, and are frequently prefixed to _paradise lost_. they are little more than a translation of a distich by salvaggi:-- "græcia mæonidem, jactet sibi roma maronem: anglia miltonum jactat utrique parem."] _thomas stanley, bishop of man._--i feel much obliged by your prompt answer to the query about this prelate (vol. vi., p. .); but some additional information appears necessary. if bishop stanley was appointed to this see in , who was the possessor of it subsequently to the death of _bishop huan hesketh_, or _blackleach_, in , a period of thirty-two years? bishop stanley's consecration does not appear in cranmer's _register_, which throws some doubt on the year as having been that of his appointment to the episcopate. a. s. a. [huan hesketh, or blackleach, was consecrated in , and died in . the see was vacant twenty years. the next bishop was william stanley, who was consecrated march , .] * * * * * replies. old satchels. (vol. vi., pp. . .) your correspondent sigma having called attention in your pages to that respectable character old satchels, i should be sorry to see him dismissed with the dry bibliographical note of t. g. s. if any proof were wanting of captain walter scot's claim to more respectable notice, we have it in the fact of his book having reached a third edition: and, with your permission, i will take the liberty of supplying a few "jottings," furnished and suggested on turning over the reprint of . the whole title, or titles, of this curious production runs thus: "a true history of several honorable families of the right honorable name of scot in the shires of roxburgh and selkirk, and others adjacent. gathered out of ancient chronicles, histories, and traditions of our fathers, by captain walter scot, an old soldier and no scholler, and one that can write nane, but just the letters of his name. to., pp. . end of first part. edinburgh: printed by the heirs of and. anderson, printer to his most sacred majesty's city and college, , and reprinted by balfour and smellie, ." "satchel's post'ral, humbly presented to his noble and worthy friends of the names of scot and elliot, and others. part ii., to., pp. . edinburgh as above, and ." lockhart, in his _life of scott_, has told us with what enthusiasm sir walter welcomed a copy of the first edition of this "true history," procured for him by constable; and its rarity is accounted for by the author himself, when he says,-- "therefore begone, my book, stretch forth thy wings and fly amongst the nobles and gentility: thou'rt not to sell to scavingers and clowns, but giv'n to worthy persons of renown. _the number's few i've printed_ in regard my charges have been great, and i hope reward; _i caus'd not print many above twelve score,_ _and the printers are engag'd that they shall print no more_."--_post'ral_, p. . { } sigma inquires why "this ancestor of sir walter's was called old satchels?" hear the poet himself upon this point: "since the water of ail scots they are all chang'd and gone, except brave whitslade and hardin; and satchels his estate is gone, except his poor designation; which never no man shall possess, except a scot designed satchels."--_post'ral_, p. . as a further sample of this old soldier's poetry, take his dedication "to the truely worthy, honorable, and right worshipful sir francis scot of thirlston, knight baronet, wishes earth's honor and heaven's happiness:" "this book, good sir, the issue of my brain, though far unworthy of your worthy view, in hope ye gently will it intertain, yet i in duty offer it to you; although the method and the phrase be plain, not art, like writ, as to the style is due, and truth, i know, your favor will obtain: the many favors i have had from you hath forc'd me thus to show my thankful mind; and of all faults i know no vice so bad and hateful as ungratefully inclined. a thankful heart is all a poor man's wealth, which, with this book, i give your worthy self. i humbly crave your worthiness excuse this boldness of my poor unlearned muse, that hath presumed so high a pitch to fly in praise of virtue and gentility. i know this task's most fit for learned men, for homer, ovid, or for virgil's pen; these lines i have presum'd to dite; it's known to your honor i could never write. "your honor's most obed. servant, "walter scot of satchels." satchels' chronicle deals largely in warlike matters. the captain, indeed, seems to have a contempt for all not of his own honorable profession; consequently the book is full of the deeds, both foreign and domestic, of the "bold buccleugh," and the clans scott and elliott. instigated, no doubt, by the example of john barbour and henry the minstrel, the author aimed at doing for the scotts what his prototypes so worthily achieved, respectively, for robert bruce and william wallace. as mentioned by t. g. s., there was another reprint of this curious book, that of hawick, by caw, . i know not to whom we owe either. looking, however, to the names of the printers and period of publication, i should say that the earliest of these _may_ have been one of the publications of that friend to the literature of his country, sir david dalrymple; and as we know that sir walter scott made his first appearance as a poet in the _poetical museum_, printed at hawick, by caw, in , may he not, with his strong and early predilection for the honour of the clan scott, and his special affection for this "true history" of his namesake, have prompted the worthy mr. caw to the enterprise? any edition of the book is of rare occurrence; and it has often surprised me that captain walter scot should have been overlooked, when the bannatyne, maitland, and abbotsford clubs were so nobly employed in resuscitating the old literature of scotland. j. o. * * * * * statue of st. peter. (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., pp. . .) b. h. c. asks for the authority on which is based the statement, that this statue was undoubtedly cast for a st. peter, and cast in the time of st. leo the great ( - ). as the subject involves three questions, i will answer each separately. . was this statue cast for a st. peter, or is it an ancient statue that had been found in the tiber; or the ancient statue of jupiter capitolinus? that it must have been cast for a st. peter will be readily allowed, after a careful examination, by any one at all accustomed to compare pagan and christian statues. the left hand holding the keys and the right hand raised in benediction, are unmistakeable evidences of the personage represented. . what authority is there for believing it to have been cast in the pontificate of st. leo? the authority is, first, a constant and very ancient tradition to that effect; secondly, a tradition that this same statue belonged to the ancient church of st. peter's; and, thirdly, the almost unanimous belief in this tradition amongst the antiquaries and archæologists--local and at a distance, deceased and living. this tradition is mentioned by most writers on the basilica of st. peter's: "a destra evoi, in somma venerazione tenata, una statua in bronzo dell' apostolo s. pietro, _simulacro formato, secondo la pia tradizione, a tempi di s. leone i._ detto il grande," &c.--_melchiorri_, p. ., ed. . "on the right hand is a statue, held in very great veneration, of bronze, of the apostle st. peter: a figure cast, according to the pious tradition, in the time of st. leo i., named the great." tradition also asserts, that the statue belonged to the old church of st. peter's: "the seated bronze statue of st. peter, _which belonged to the ancient church_, is said to have been cast in the time of leo the great."--_rome, ancient and modern_, by j. donovan, d.d., vol. i. p. . there may now be seen, in what was part of old st. peter's, and is now called the "grotte vecchie," where the old flooring still remains--the old base of the bronze figure of st. peter. it is { } kept in the aisle to the left, as you enter the grotte vecchie; and was the pedestal of the statue till it was removed from the crypt by paul v., as melchiorri informs us. the old base was left _in situ_, and a new one made, which is the chair of white marble, with the whole surface wrought in arabesque bas-relief, upon a pedestal of light coloured alabaster, with a central tablet of granite, called "granito verde." . was this statue cast from the metal of the capitoline jove? melchiorri almost favours the opinion that it was; but the evidence of martial, already quoted, seems fatal to this supposition. it occurs to me that the idea of this statue being a jupiter converted, either by melting down or partial alteration, may have arisen from confounding this statue with another statue of st. peter, now kept in the crypt of the church under the dome, and in the chapel of the madonna della bocciata or del portico. this is also a seated statue of st. peter, and stood in the atrium of the ancient basilica. _it seems to have been a pagan figure converted_:-- "there is reason to believe that this statue of st. peter had been originally erected to some gentile; and that the head, arms, and hands were changed in order to metamorphose it into a st. peter. in the old church it was usual to vest it pontifically on the feast of st. peter, as is now the case with the bronze statue above. the isaurian iconoclast threatened st. gregory ii. with the demolition of this statue: but the impotent menace cost him the duchy of rome, and placed the temporal power in the hands of the popes."--_rome, ancient and modern_, vol. i. p. . possibly enough, the fact of this figure of st. peter having been converted, may have led to the idea that it was the other and better known statue. it may be well to add, that in st. peter's there are _forty metal statues_, in addition to one hundred and five in marble, one hundred and sixty-one in travertine, and ninety in stucco. ceyrep. * * * * * lord clarendon and the tubwoman. (vol. vii., p. .) the newspaper paragraph in question is quoted, in a ms. note in my possession, from the _salisbury journal_ of august , . from what source it was derived does not appear: the whole story is, however, fabulous. edward hyde, first earl of clarendon, was twice married. his first wife was the daughter of sir george ayliffe, of foxley, in the county of wilts. he married her in , when he was only twenty years old, and she died of the small-pox six months afterwards, before any child was born. in he married frances, daughter of sir thomas and lady ailesbury, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. anne, the eldest daughter, became, as is well known, the wife of the duke of york, and the mother of queen mary and queen anne. sir thomas ailesbury, the father of lord clarendon's second wife, was a person of some distinction, both social and intellectual; of his wife, lady ailesbury, pepys mentions in his _diary_, november , , that the duke of york is in mourning for his wife's grandmother, "which (he however adds) is thought a piece of fondness." in the collection of pictures at the grove, the seat of the present earl of clarendon, there are portraits by vandyke of sir thomas and lady ailesbury, and also a portrait, by an unknown artist, of frances, the second wife of the lord chancellor clarendon. (see lady theresa lewis's _lives of the friends of lord chancellor clarendon_, vol. iii. pp. , . .) mr. hyde's two marriages are fully described by himself in his _life_, vol. i. pp. . , ed. vo. . the story of the tubwoman, the grandmother of queens, seems to have been a legend invented for the purpose of exhibiting a contrast between the exalted rank of the descendants and the plebeian origin of the ancestor. historical fiction and popular fancy delight in such contrasts. the story of _date obolum belisario_, and pope's account of the death of the second duke of buckingham, are more celebrated, but not more veracious, than the story of the marriage of lord chancellor clarendon with the tubwoman. l. * * * * * discovery of planets. (vol. vii., p. .) leonora says, "supposing that the recently-discovered planets obey the same laws as the larger ones, they must be at all times apparently moving within the zodiac;" and she asks for an explanation of the fact of their not having been discovered before. ancient astronomers having observed that the moon, and the planets visible to them, were never seen at more than a small angular distance north or south from the plane of the earth's orbit, they drew two circles parallel to the ecliptic, at the distance which experience had shown them to be sufficient for comprehending the apparent places of those heavenly bodies at all times; and to the intervening space they gave the name of _zodiac_. but there is no law of matter, or, in other words, it is no necessary consequence of gravitation or planetary action, which confines the planets' orbits within the zodiac. the fact can only be ascribed to the will of him who first projected them into their intended paths; though that will had doubtless some wise and calculated end in view. it was further observed, in the last century, that the increasing distance of each successive planet { } from the sun would follow an uniform rule, if there were not one wanting between mars and jupiter, to fill up the series. this put astronomers upon the search, and led to the discovery, in , of four small planets, all at nearly the requisite distance, but moving in paths inclined to the ecliptic at such large angles as carry them beyond the zodiac, though they necessarily move across it. from hence it was inferred that they were portions of a planet originally harmonising, in size, position, and orbitual path, with the rest of our system, but burst into fragments by an internal explosion, at some time prior to man's recorded observations of the heavenly bodies. this supposition gains strength from the continued discovery of more and still smaller fragments, each still moving as a planet at nearly the same distance from the sun; and each seeming to proclaim that there was a world, probably larger than our earth, amongst whose inhabitants sin entered, as amongst us; but for whom mercy was not in like manner procured. as to the discoverer of a previously unknown planet, your inquirer should be told, that more is necessary than its merely coming within the field of an observer's telescope, even if it attracts his notice. some years before , the year in which herschel discovered the planet which should perpetuate his name, lalande had noted down an observation of a star, of a certain magnitude, in a position where afterwards no such star could be found, but where calculations since made, from the known orbit of that planet, prove that it must then have been. by failing to continue his observation of it, till it should have changed its place amongst the fixed stars, lalande lost the discovery. and though herschel's much more powerful telescope enabled him to perceive, on a first inspection, that it had a defined disc, more observations were required to enable him to say that it could not be a comet shorn of his beams: whilst, as to the last discovered planets, i think we have been told that their apparent size is but that of a star of the ninth order, in decreasing magnitude; and no part of the heavens has been so accurately mapped as to give an observer reason to conclude, from catching sight of one of these planetary fragments, that he has detected an obscure wanderer not usually seen in that locality. but if its appearance leads his practised eye to suspect that it shines with but borrowed light, and that induces him to continue his nightly watch, he receives his reward, if it be so, and announces the existence of another planet. henry walter. * * * * * story of genoveva. (vol. vii., p. .) the story of genoveva is a popular german legend, and is given in no. of the _volksbücher_, published at leipzig, . genoveva was a daughter of the duke of brabant, and wife of count siegfried, of treves. when charles martel was attacked by the saracens, siegfried went to his assistance, leaving his wife to the care of his steward golo. golo fell in love with genoveva, and being rejected, resolved to destroy her. to do so, he got up a charge against her of incontinency with the cook, and put both in confinement. on siegfried's return, golo convinced him, by the help of a witch and false witnesses, that his wife was guilty, and that the child to which she had given birth in prison was born eleven months after her husband's departure. siegfried ordered golo to bring the criminals to justice. he, fearing exposure, had the cook poisoned in gaol, and commissioned two of his servants to take the countess and her boy into a wood and kill them; but, moved by her tears, they left the intended victims, and deceived their master. genoveva took shelter in a cavern, and lived upon roots; but her milk failing, the child was about to die. she prayed fervently, and a beautiful doe, tame as a domestic cow, came and suckled the child, and returned daily for that purpose for seven years. the passage illustrated in silurian's picture is as follows: "als die weinende mutter dies gefleht hatte, sihe, da kam eine hirschkuh zu ihr, welche sich als ein zahmes vieh anstellte, und freundlich um sie herstrich; gleichsam, als wollte sie sagen: gott habe sie dahin gesendet, dass sie das kindlein ernähren sollte. die betrübte mutter erstaunte, und erkannte alsbald die vorsehung gottes, legte das kind an die zitzen des wildes, und liess es so lange saugen, bis es wieder kraft bekam. durch diese himmlische wohlthat wurde die liebe genoveva so sehr erfreut, dass sie mit vielen süssen thränen den gütigen gott dank sagte, und ihn demüthig um fortsetzung solcher gnädigen hilfe anflehte."--p. . the story ends happily. siegfried discovers that his wife is innocent, takes her back, and punishes golo: but for these matters i refer those who are curious to the book, which is well worth reading. genoveva died april , , and the doe pined to death at her grave. h. b. c. u. u. club. silurian will find a very beautiful illustration of his engraving by felsing, after steinbrück, in the little poem entitled _genoveva_, published by moxon. v. _genoveva of brabant_, a tale of old times, translated from the german of christopher schmid, published by burns or masters, price s. d. illustrated, will give silurian the information required; as also will _genoveva_, a poem by the rev. r. c. trench, london, , moxon. + oakhurst. { } * * * * * ancient dutch allegorical picture. (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., pp. . .) my query respecting this picture has been answered in the _navorscher_ by a learned gentleman who writes under the signature of constanter, in that publication. the editor of the _navorscher_ has communicated to me the name of this gentleman, and also the following translation of his remarks on my query, and has also kindly permitted me to make what use of the latter i think fit. i therefore transmit them to you, that you may, if you think the subject of sufficient interest, insert them in your pages. jas. h. todd. trinity college, dublin. * * * * * did not the whole arrangement of the picture give me reason to suppose that it must be a kind of symbolical point (figuurlÿk punt), such as the rhetoricians were wont to show during their solemn processions--the character also of the additional verses, and especially the description of the paintings against the wall of the room, which is represented on the piece, would corroborate this meaning. these pictures, with the arms mentioned as making part of them, point directly at _haarlem_ as the town whence the painting must have had its origin; for who is not acquainted, albeit only through the title of the _opregte haarlemsche courant_[ ], with, "the sword proper, on a red field, between four stars, surmounted by a cross, or?" now, in the seventeenth century there existed at haarlem _three_ societies of rhetoricians. one, the oude kamer[ ], erected in , had chosen for its motto, _trou moet blÿcken_; and for its symbol, the _pelican_ or _speelkoornen_; whilst her shield was emblazoned as follows,--in the middle our saviour crucified, and, behind the cross, Æneas bearing his father. to this _kamer_ the painting alludes, of which dr. james h. todd says, "that nearest the fire-place is oval, representing the crucifixion. there is a white scroll across the picture, containing words which i cannot make out." had the sentence not been obliterated, the querist would have read, _trou moet blÿcken_. the second allegory, with illegible subscription, cannot be anything but the ensign of the so-called _jonge kamer_ at haarlem, _de wÿngaertrancken_, with the symbol, _liefde boven al_ (love above all). i presume this on account of the framework of the painting, ornamented on each side with bunches of red grapes (vine-branches) dependent from below. these bunches have been figured in the identical way on a scutcheon of the same _kamer_, which is still preserved in the council-hall of _beverwÿk_: there also we see, to the right, a female statue representing _faith_; and, on the upper part, in the middle, another with a burning heart in her hand, and two (not three) children at her side, representing _charity_, who thus has been placed _above all_ the rest, conformably to the motto of the society. but, in lieu of the third child, stands immediately under her on the beverwÿk blazon another woman, _rhetorica_; and to the left, instead of the man with the hawk (?), another female representing _hope_, and completing, in this manner, the christian trilogy ( cor. xiii. .). besides, in the middle compartment, not john baptist but our lord is seen, standing as victor over hell, in which satan is conspicuous. however, notwithstanding these deviations, i think the resemblance too striking not to consider the painting on the wall as the ensign of the _jonge kamer_. the third or last picture, representing the _marriage of christ with the church_, is the well-known blazon of the third _rederÿkerkamer_ at haarlem, surnamed _de flaamsche_ (the flemish), which bore the _witte angieren_ (white _stock-flowers_, not lilies), with the motto, _in liefd getrouw_. this shield too is still preserved in the town-hall at beverwÿk. thus, the three haarlem societies of rhetoricians are represented by their shields in the room designed; nay, if i am not mistaken, the painter has given us a delineation of their meeting-place. this appears: . by the statue in the niche, _rhetorica_. . by the two cup-boards, one of which contains the prizes, carried by the _kamers_ at various entries and processions; to wit, silver and gold cups, flagons, and dishes: whilst in the other, its books are deposited. . by the table under the window, well to be distinguished from that around which the guests are seated, and used by the rhetoricians as a movable stage, on which to rehearse their plays (whence willems and mone derive the name of _tafelspel_ [table-play]). . by the broad roller under the pictures, that occupies the space, where otherwise was commonly hung the _keur_ (statutes) of the _kamer_. this last inscription, connected with what is to be read over the fire-place, fully explains the meaning of the whole picture. the lines censure the disputes regarding the dogmata of religion, because every body thinks _his_ conviction the best one; many controversies being carried on "wanneer het volck is vol" (whilst people are full), by incompetent and illiberal critics, and these contentions alienating their hearts from _charity_, the chief commandment of christ. in a word, the painting is the faithful representation of what the haarlem rhetorician, dirk volkerts coornhert, professed { } and advocated in his writings. still the piece belongs to a later period, perhaps between the years and , when the disputes with remonstrants, socinians, and _kooledsjanten_ (_collegianten_, collegians, sectarians of the van der kodde's) had reached their highest point. it is known that the rhetoricians frequently meddled with these contending parties, to the great displeasure of the synods, which more than once contrived to elicit severe measures from the magistrates against them. how far the haarlem societies made themselves justly liable to such interferences, i have not been able to discover; but it might be ascertained by means of one or other of their works published about that time, as, _der wit-angieren eerenkrans: ghesproten nyt de flaemsche natie, ter eeren der slaghet van rederÿcke tot haerlem_, , to, or the _refereinen en liedekens van't hemelert_, . the verses, excepting the last but one, which is sorely maimed, are easily to be explained. whether the figures be portraits, i cannot decide without ocular inspection of the painting. constanter. amsterdam. [footnote : the first number of the still existing _sincere haarlem courant_ (i give you a literal translation of the title) must have appeared before may , , on which day its _nineteenth_ number was printed. see the _navorscher_, vol. ii. pp. . . .--j. h. v. l.] [footnote : see ampzing, _kronyk von haarlem_, p. .; and a. van den willigen's monograph in witsen geysbeek's _apollineum_, vol. iii. p. .--constanter.] this reply was written before the publication of your last notices ("n. & q.," vol. vii., pp. . and .). the verses you mentioned in the last-named part are, in english, "here one must guess to wash glasses and to p--s in them would not be fit." i entirely agree with the poet. could you not acquaint me with the length, breadth, and height of the picture, and with the painter's name? * * * * * the "percy anecdotes." (vol. vii., p. .) i have much pleasure in replying to the inquiries of uneda. the _percy anecdotes_, published in forty-four parts, in as many months, commencing in , were compiled by "sholto and reuben percy, brothers of the benedictine monastery of mont benger." so said the title-pages, but the names and the locality were _supposé_. reuben percy was mr. thomas byerley, who died in : he was the brother of sir john byerley, and the first editor of the _mirror_, commenced by john limbird in . sholto percy was mr. joseph clinton robertson, who died in : he was the projector of the _mechanics' magazine_, which he edited from its commencement to his death. the name of the collection of anecdotes was not taken from the popularity of the _percy reliques_, but from the percy coffee-house in rathbone place, where byerley and robertson were accustomed to meet to talk over their joint work. the idea was, however, claimed by my clever master and friend, sir richard phillips, who stoutly maintained that it originated in a suggestion made by him to dr. tilloch and mr. mayne, to cut the anecdotes from the many years' files of the _star_ newspaper, of which dr. tilloch was then editor, and mr. byerley assistant editor; and to the latter overhearing the suggestion, sir richard contested, might the _percy anecdotes_ be traced. i have not the means of ascertaining whether sir richard's claim is correct; and i should be equally sorry to reflect upon his statement as upon that of mr. byerley, my predecessor in the editorship of the _mirror_. the _percy anecdotes_ were among the best compilations of their day: their publisher, mr. thomas boys, of ludgate hill, realised a large sum by the work; and no inconsiderable portion of their success must be referred to mr. boys's excellent taste in their production: the portrait illustrations, mostly engraved by fry, were admirable. john timbs. * * * * * lady nevill's music-book: mode of reading the ancient virginal music. (vol. vii., p. .) the index to _lady nevill's music-book_, printed by your correspondent l. b. l., was made known to the public in , in the third volume of dr. burney's _history of music_. in addition to the information given in "n. & q.," the doctor adds: "besides the great number of bird's compositions for keyed instruments, which are preserved in the _virginal book_ of queen elizabeth (now in the fitzwilliam museum), another manuscript collection of his pieces still subsists, under the title of _lady nevil's music-book_. it is a thick quarto, very splendidly bound and gilt, with the family arms beautifully emblazoned and illuminated on the first page, and the initials h. n. at the lowest left-hand corner."--p. . the ms. in question was the property of dr. burney, at whose sale, in , it was purchased for l. s. by mr. thomas jones, of nottingham place. at the sale of the latter, about ten years afterwards, it was bought by triphook, the bookseller, and by him sold to lord abergavenny. i remember seeing the book when in triphook's possession, since which time i had lost sight of it, until the notice by l. b. l. in your pages. mr. thomas jones was a well-known musical antiquary, and possessed many rare treasures in this department. one of the most important was the _original_ ms. of _lady nevill's music-book_, in the handwriting of william byrd the composer. this valuable relic is now in my library. john baldwine, the person who made the splendid copy for the use of lady nevill, was a singular character. i have some materials for his biography which may one day see the light. he was a poet in his own time, and wrote a metrical { } account of famous musicians. the latter part, which i extract from the ms. now before me, relates to the composer of _lady nevill's music-book_: "an englishe man, by name _william birde_, for his skill, which i shoulde have sett first, for so it was my will, whose greate skill and knowledge dothe excell all at this tyme, and far to strange countries abroade his skill doth shyne. famous men be abroade, and skilful in the arte, i do confesse the same, and will not from it starte, but in europp is none like to our english man, which doth so farre exceede, as trulie i it scan, as ye cannot finde out his equale in all thinges, threwghe out the worlde so wide, and so his fame now ringes. with fingers and with penne he hathe not now his peere; for in this worlde so wide is none can him come neere: the rarest man he is in musick's worthy arte that now on earthe doth live, i speak it from my harte, or heere to fore hath been, or after him shall come, none such i feare shall rise that may be calde his sonne. o famous man! of skill and judgemente great profounde, let heaven and earthe ringe out thy worthye praise to sounde; nay, lett thy skill it selfe thy worthye fame recorde to all posteritie thy due desert afforde; and let them all which heere of thy greate skill then saie, fare well, fare well, thou prince of musicke, now and aye; fare well, i say, fare well, fare well, and here i ende, fare well, melodious _birde_; fare well, sweet musick's frende. all these things do i speak not for rewarde or bribe, nor yet to flatter him, or sett him upp in pride; not for affection, or ought might move there too, but even the truth reporte, and that make known to you. so heere i end: fare well, committinge all to god, who kepe us in his grace, and shilde us from his rodd." as regards the ancient notation of _lady nevill's music-book_, i will now say a few words. in the most ancient music for keyed instruments, such as the organ, virginals, harpsichord, spinet, &c., a staff consisting of _eleven_ lines was used, that is, five lines for the treble, and five lines for the bass, and a _centre_ line, being the note c. this was improved upon by dividing the staff into two sixes, and repeating the c line twice over, viz. in the _lower_ part of the treble staff, and in _upper_ part of the bass staff. as music progressed, and performers required more scope for the movement of the hands, the staff of twelve lines was rent asunder, and the middle c line excluded altogether. it then became the custom to print the five upper lines and the five lower lines much more widely apart, as is now done in modern music. but it ought not to be forgotten that there is only one line really between them; that is to say, there are only three notes between the two sets of five lines, viz. the note _below_ the upper five, the note _above_ the lower five, and the note on that middle line, and that note is middle c, or, more properly, _tenor_ c. a knowledge of this important fact would much facilitate the student in learning to read in the tenor cleff. in decyphering the old _virginal_ music, all we have to do is to leave out the _lower_ line of the upper staff, and the _higher_ one of the lower staff. it then reads like our modern music. edward f. rimbault. * * * * * scarfs worn by clergymen. (vol. vii., p. .) the statement made in the _quarterly review_ for june, , p. ., referred to in "n. & q.," is very inadequate. the scarf now worn by many clergymen represents two ornaments very different, though now generally confounded, viz. the broad and the narrow scarf. i can well remember, in my boyhood, hearing mention made of the distinction between the _broad_ and _narrow_ scarf, then customarily observed by many; and this at a time when the _res vestiaria_, and matters connected with the ritual, had not become objects of public attention. the broad scarf was the distinction (of what standing i cannot pretend to say) used by chaplains of the king, and of privileged persons, by doctors in divinity, and by the capitular members of collegiate churches. it was worn with the surplice and gown; and, by doctors in divinity only, with the scarlet academical robe. the narrow scarf has been immemorially used by clergymen, whether priests or deacons, in many large towns, and by the clergy in some cathedrals, and not unfrequently by country clergymen. by custom, those who serve, or have served, the office of junior dean in trinity college, dublin, wear a scarf. in fact, it represents the stole, or that ornament (under whatever various names it was known) which, all through christendom, had been a badge of the three orders of bishop, priest, and deacon. in the church of england, however, none of those variations in its mode of arrangement, which elsewhere discriminates these three orders, have been retained. is there any proof that it has not been used ever since the reformation? and may not its very frequent disuse within memory { } be attributable to that well-known slovenliness in ritual matters which was but too characteristic of the last century? john jebb. peterstow rectory, ross. * * * * * unanswered queries regarding shakspeare. domestic anxieties having unavoidably detained me in this place during the last three or four months, i am necessarily without nearly all my books. my corrected folio, , is one of the very few exceptions; and as i have not the no. of "n. & q." to which a. e. b. refers, i am unable to reply to his question, simply because i do not remember it. to whomsoever these initials belong, he is a man of so much acuteness and learning, that, although i may deem his conjectures rather subtle and ingenious than solid and expedient, i consider him entitled to all the information in my power. i do not, of course, feel bound to notice all anonymous speculators (literary or pecuniary); but if a. e. b. will be good enough to take the trouble to repeat his interrogatory, i promise him to answer it at once. my recent volume was put together with some rapidity, and under many disadvantages: not a few of the later sheets were corrected, and several of them written, two hundred miles from home. such was the case with the note on the suggestion i hastily attributed to mr. cornish, on the faith of his letter in "n. & q." i did not advert to the circumstance that warburton had proposed the same emendation; and it may turn out that a few other notes by me are in the same predicament. the authority i usually consulted as to the conjectures of previous editors was the _variorum shakspeare_, in twenty-one volumes vo. i need hardly add that i was acquainted with the fact that mr. singer had published an edition of shakspeare; but, like some others, it was not before me when i wrote my recent volume, nor when i printed the eight volumes to which that is a supplement. even the british museum does not contain all the impressions of the works of our great dramatist; but i resorted, more or less, to twenty or thirty of them in the progress of my undertaking. mr. singer's edition, no doubt, deserves more than the praise he has given to it: on the other hand, i am thoroughly sensible of the imperfectness of my own labours, however anxious i was to avoid mistakes; and when i prepare a new impression, i will not fail duly to acknowledge the obligations of shakspeare to mr. singer. one of my notes on a celebrated passage in _timon of athens_ will have shown that there was no reluctance on my part to give mr. singer full credit for a very happy emendation. i hope and believe that he does not participate in the anger some have expressed, because i have been merely the medium of making known other emendations at least equally felicitous. j. payne collier. torquay. * * * * * the passamezzo galliard. (vol. vi., p. .) the passage quoted by _mr. forbes_ from richard ligon's _history of barbadoes_, in illustration of a scene in the nd part of _king henry iv._, was pointed out by sir john hawkins in his _history of music_ (vol. iii. p. ., note). for "passame sares galiard," as it stands in ligon, we should read "passamezzo galliard." sir john hawkins derives _passamezzo_ from _passer_, to walk, and _mezzo_, the middle or half. the term is variously corrupted by the english poets and dramatists,--_passy-measure_, _passa-measure_, _passing-measure_, &c. douce, in his valuable _illustrations of shakspeare_ (edit. , p. .), has the following passage on the subject: "florio, in his _italian dictionary_, , has _passamezzo_, a _passameasure_ in dancing, a cinque pace; and although the english word is corrupt, the other contributes a part, at least, of the figure of this dance, which is said to have consisted in making several steps round the ball-room, and then _crossing it in the middle_. brantôme calls it 'le _pazzameno_ d'italie,' and it appears to have been more particularly used by the venetians. it was much in vogue with us during shakspeare's time, as well as the _pavan_; and both were imported either from france, spain, or italy. in a book of instructions for the lute, translated from the french by j. alford, , to., there are two _passameze_ tunes printed in letters according to the lute notation." the _passamezzo_ was sometimes sung as well as danced. morley, in his _introduction to practicall musicke_, , has an interesting passage bearing on the point, which has been overlooked by modern writers: "there is likewise a kind of songs (which i had almost forgotten) called _justinianas_, and are all written in the _bergamasca_ language. a wanton and rude kinde of musicke it is, and like enough to carrie the name of some notable curtisan of the citie of _bergama_; for no man will deny that _justiniana_ is the name of a woman. there be also manie other kinds of songs which the italians make; as _pastorellas_ and _passamesos_, with a dittie, and such like, which it would be both tedious and superfluous to dilate unto you in words; therefore i will leave to speak any more of them, and begin to declare unto you those kinds which they make without ditties." mr. forbes asks, "is the tune of the _galliard_ known?" i know at least a hundred different galliard tunes. they are distinguished by appellations which seem to indicate their being the { } favourites of particular persons, as in these instances:--"the king of denmark's galliard," "the earl of essex's galliard," "sir john souch his galliard," "sir henry noell his galliard," &c.--see douland's _lachrymæ, or seaven tears_, . the _galliard_ is a lively air in triple time: brossard intimates that it is the same with the _romanesca_, a favourite dance with the italians. it is graphically described in burton's _anatomy of melancholy_: "let them take their pleasures, young men and maides flourishing in their age, fair and lovely to behold, well attired, and of comely carriage, dauncing a _greek galliarde_, and, as their dance required, kept their time, now turning, now tracing, now apart, now altogether, now a curtesie, then a caper, &c., that it was a pleasant sight." christopher sympson, in his _compendium of practical musick_ (ed. , p. .), says: "a _pavan_ doth commonly consist of three strains, each strain to be play'd twice over.... next in course after a _pavan_ follows a _galliard_, consisting sometimes of two, and sometimes of three strains." specimens of the _passamezzo pavan_ and _galliard_ may be found in queen elizabeth's _virginal book_, in the fitzwilliam museum, cambridge. one is dated . others may be found in the public library, cambridge (ms. marked "d. d. , .") also in two rare printed books,--robinson's _school of musick_, fol. ; and _neder-landtsche gedenck-clanck_, haerlem, . the latter work contains the "passamezzo d'anvers." edward f. rimbault. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _the albumen process._--in answer to mr. lawrence's queries regarding the albumen process (in vol. vii., p. .), i think i can supply him with the information he requires. the albumen should be placed in a cup, or some wide-mouthed vessel, and, after carefully removing from its surface every trace of air-bubbles, it is to be poured carefully on the plate, and after being flooded over the surface of it, the plate being tilted on one side, the greater portion of the albumen may be run off into the cup again. the plate must not be held sideways, however, for more than an instant; and it must be brought as soon as possible into the _horizontal_ position, _face downwards_, between the points of the wire support, as used by messrs. ross and thompson; and being held by the cord attached to the wire support, it must be given a slow rotary motion. the rate at which to cause it to rotate must be a matter of experience, but must be such as to keep the surface of albumen even, and neither to let it settle in the centre, nor to leave that and pass completely to the edges; neither must too much of it be allowed to flow off, as then the coating will not be thick enough. the best plan is to fix on the wire support at the corner of the plate, and then pour on the albumen, and then no time need be lost between pouring off and giving the rotary motion. the albumen will keep some time in a bottle; but as soon as it begins to get curdy and opalescent, it begins to lose in sensitiveness. the plate, if well prepared, will remain sensitive and in good order for two days at least, and being kept in a dry and cool place is a great assistance to its preservation. the addition of about five drops of saturated solution of bromide of potassium to every ounce of previously-iodized albumen causes great depth and brilliancy in the negative. the same sensitive bath answers over and over again, as with collodion. the time of exposure cannot be specified, as that varies almost indefinitely from ten minutes to an hour and a half. in regard to obtaining a greater sensitiveness, the addition of starch size in the place of the water to the albumen appears to increase it, and certainly gives great improvement in depth of the blacks. a very good way of beating up the albumen is as follows:--take a round stick, and having cut several slits in it, from the bottom half-way up it, insert into these several pieces of quill, so that they may project on each side of the stick to the length of about half an inch or a little more, and tie up the bottom of the stick with some string wound round it to keep the quills in place. take then the albumen, iodized as directed by thornthwaite or any other successful manipulator, and place it in a tall cylindrical glass vessel; and taking the whisk as above prepared between the palms of the hands, roll it backwards and forwards, keeping the part armed with the quills immersed in the albumen. this is the most effective method i know, and much less tiring than the old method with the common whisk. in answer to another querist, i have only to reply that the black tints in the french positives are due to the presence of starch, used as a size for the paper. i have lately succeeded in producing several very beautiful and brilliant effects of this kind by passing the paper--french or english, it does not much matter which--first over a size of starch, and next (after being dried) over a combination of albumen and thin starch size, composed of equal parts of each, to which, according to the process of m. le gray, may be added one-fifth of a saturated solution of chloride of ammonium. this is only an improvement in the process as described by m. le gray, and the rest of the process will be found in his own book, or in thornthwaite's guide. f. m. l. torquay. _queries on mr. weld taylor's process._--i hope mr. weld taylor will not withhold (from those { } who would most thankfully acknowledge the favour) an amended description of his paper process, embracing replies to the following queries: . how strong should the cyanide solution be that is to be added "drop by drop;" and how much of it is likely to redissolve the precipitate formed by the first mixture? . should the paper be brushed with, floated on, or immersed in the solution? if either of the latter, for how long a time; and what then? . how is the bath of nitrate of silver prepared, and the mode of applying it to the paper? . how much sulphuric acid is added to a given quantity of water, in which the paper is placed after removal from the exciting bath; and is it immersed or floated? . is the paper, when removed from the water, to be partially dried with blotting-paper, and used in its damp state? or will it keep, and how long? . what is the probable time of exposure in the camera? . how is the picture developed? and, finally, how fixed? john james. _difficulties in the wax-paper process._--can any of your photographic correspondents give me some hints regarding the following difficulties, which i (in common with many other amateurs) have met with in working according to le gray's wax-paper process? the proportions i used were exactly those published by le gray, and the paper and other materials were of the description he recommends; but nearly every picture, on being placed in the gallic acid, was spoiled, by the appearance of numerous small black spots, all well defined on one and the same side, but comparatively undefined on the other. these may possibly have been owing to iron in the paper, and may therefore, perhaps, be obviated by following the method of mr. crookes. but i am anxious to learn if others have experienced these spots in their pictures, and to what they attribute them, as well as how they can best be prevented. my second difficulty was in the want of intensity in the pictures, which completely prevented my obtaining even a tolerable impression from them. i tried many different times of exposure, and even after working long with le gray's slightly-different proportions, but always without success. the margin of the pictures, however, which had been exposed to the daylight, always became of the _most intense black_, after the picture had been developed. but my third difficulty was the most annoying of all, because the constant source of failure, though in itself apparently the most easily obviated. it was the difficulty of keeping the dishes which contained the solution _clean_; the effect of this want of cleanliness being the _marbling_ of the pictures whenever placed in the gallic acid and aceto-nitrate of silver. this is a difficulty i never before encountered, during half a dozen years' practice of photography (during which i used to be as successful as most of my brother amateurs); and though i tried every plan i could think of to insure cleanliness, such as washing the dishes with warm water, nitric and muriatic acids, &c., and afterwards wiping them thoroughly with clean cloths, still the mixture of gallic acid and aceto-nitrate of silver, for developing the picture, brought out some marblings or blotches on the dish, which were invariably communicated to the picture, even though it was only floated on the surface of the solution, and prevented, with the greatest care, from touching the bottom of the dish. should the dishes be kept in the dark constantly? have any of your correspondents tried le gray's plan of filtering the nitrate of silver through animal charcoal; or do they find any occasion to filter at all? with me, the animal charcoal seemed to increase the sensibility greatly. g. h. _mr. archer's services to photography._--in vol. vii., p. ., mr. horne seems very indignant at the idea that mr. archer taught him to take pictures, and says mr. archer's published account will not succeed. now i know that mr. archer and myself did take pictures by his process as published. i also assert that neither mr. horne nor mr. fry made any collodion pictures before mr. archer published his account in _the chemist_, and, with the ordinary camera, that process must be the one now to give any chance of success, for without washing the plate the collodion will not keep five or six hours without staining. but as that process was not sufficiently quick, mr. archer proposed to take the pictures in the bath itself; and i have one which i took in that way on the th of may, . mr. horne, i think ungenerously, wishes to detract from mr. archer's merit, and to exalt himself and mr. fry at mr. archer's expense. i have a letter of mr. fry's, dated march , , in which he says, "i with much pleasure accord to mr. archer the credit he is fairly entitled to, of being the sole inventor of the collodion process." and another letter, wherein he says he "never sanctioned the insertion in any work of any article connected with the collodion process." i also know that mr. archer prepared collodion for messrs. horne; that messrs. horne advertised it as prepared by mr. archer; and that they were glad, when the thing was new, to avail themselves of mr. archer's assistance. w. brown. ewell. _mr. weld taylor's iodizing process._--the process i generally adopt in iodizing paper by the { } ammonio-nitrate of silver, i have found to be the most certain of all, and i here give a formula for the benefit of your readers. they will find it admirably adapted for any objects in the shade, or any not lit by the sun's rays; it also has an excellent quality, of not darkening by exposure in the camera, as most other papers do. i have taken negatives with it all the winter, even at christmas. it is rather slow, but certain; and as your readers try it and improve it, i hope they will communicate the results. it rests alone on the superior sensitive property the nitrate of silver possesses after being redissolved in ammonia, which every photographer must have experienced. and it has, i believe, in prospect, the dispensing with the crystals of nitrate of silver, and simply at last employing silver leaves, which will save a great expense to the operator. the first solution is, to the proportion of a wine-bottleful of water add three grains of pure tannin, well dissolved in filtered water. upon this float every sheet of paper, taking care of bubbles when they are to be hung up to dry. do a great number; they will be ready for the ultimate process. make now a solution of nitrate of silver, twenty-six grains to the ounce: if three ounces are to be made, dissolve the nitrate in half an ounce of distilled water, and add liq. ammo. fortissimus till the precipitate is redissolved. then fill up with two and a half ounces of distilled water. this is the formula of mr. alfred taylor. with this solution pass over every sheet with a brush: it cannot be floated, as exposure to the air precipitates the silver. the iodizing solution is,-- iodide of potassium grs. fluoride of potassium grs. cyanide of potassium grs. muriate of soda grs. to a full half-pint of distilled water. the success of the operation depends upon this point, that the latter solution must be laid over the first, _before the first has entirely dried_, or at that point when all appearance of wet is absorbed. three sheets of paper may be washed over at a time; and as the corner where the solution runs to is apt to remain wet longer than the rest of the paper, the drip may be assisted off with a bit of blotting-paper. also, _before_ the second solution is dry, it is to be floated on water; but the same conditions must be strictly observed. when it has floated a short time, "it does not require so long a time as the acid process." it is, while wet, floated again upon a weak solution of free iodine for about half a minute; it may then be dried, and is ready for the sensitive solution. this last must be acid, and any of the approved formulæ will suit it; but the solution, whatever it is, must be allowed to dry before placing between the white glasses, nor on any account ought it to be touched with blotting-paper. the image is to be brought out with gallic acid and acetic acid, laid over with a brush, and requires no heat. it is of a very red colour generally, but that does not impair its effectiveness in taking the positive impression. weld taylor. . conduit street west, bayswater. _sir w. newton's process._--will sir w. newton be kind enough, through the mediums of "n. & q.," to give the _rationale_ of the _action_ of the _common soda_ and _powdered allum_ mentioned in his process published in vol. vii., p. . and why the _soda_ is used for _negatives_ and the _allum_ for _positives_, both being produced on _iodized paper_? should these chemicals _destroy_ the power of the _hyposulphite of soda_, i imagine the fading of _positives_ will no longer be a matter of uneasiness; and i am sure all amateurs will be greatly indebted to him. w. adrian delferier. . sloane square. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _a race for canterbury_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in a copy of the tract before me ( to., ) is a plate prefixed to the title, containing a view of lambeth palace with four bishops, each in a wherry, striving hard to reach the coveted god: sherlock, herring, mawson, and gibson, designated in the poem as _codex_. the contention for the see of canterbury, on the death of archbishop potter, was the subject of several squibs and satirical prints. i have two other plates, each representing three bishops in wherries; one with three stanzas under it, commencing: "pope gregory's table was spread with a net, till he the fish into his power could get; pope e--nd to l--eth rows in a wherry, for the a--b--p's p--ce of c----." in which gibson and the two sherlocks are alluded to. the other, a broadside, headed by a woodcut with _three_ wherries, entitled "first oars to l--m--th, or who strives for preferment?" with fourteen stanzas below the cut; the first runs thus: "at l--m--th dwells, as fame reports, a p--i--st of spotless fame; some annual thousands swell his worth, and spread abroad his name." in the twelfth, the initials h--d--y appear: "h--d--y, with headstrong zeal inspired, vows he'll complete the work, whilst g--b--n tugs and boils in vain, t' o'ertake the furious y--r--k." which would lead one to infer that hoadley was a competitor with herring and gibson. j. f. kennington. { } "_the birch: a poem_" (vol. vii., p. .).--the poem entitled "the birch," which you have printed at length in a recent number, has long been familiar to me, though i believe it has never before been printed; and was written by the late _rev. thomas wilson, b.d., head master of the free grammar school of clitheroe, lancashire_. he was author of _an archæological dictionary, or classical antiquities of the jews, greeks, and romans_, dedicated to dr. johnson; which was highly esteemed, and passed through two editions: the first in , the second, "with considerable additions," in . mr. wilson was a most amiable man, of great learning, taste, and humour; and universally respected and beloved by all his scholars, by all his townsmen, and by all the first families throughout the north of lancashire. during his time, the school of clitheroe was in the highest repute; and the annual return of the speech-day was the great local festival of the year--the occasion of general conviviality and good neighbourhood among the gentry of the district. on these occasions mr. wilson generally wrote a copy of verses, to be recited by some of the scholars: and i have no doubt that the statement in your correspondent's copy ought to be "_recited_ by a boy of thirteen," for it was certainly _written_ by mr. wilson, the head master. j. t. a. _curtseys and bows_ (vol. vii., p. .).--e. s. will find his query partly, if not altogether answered in a former note on salutations and salutes (vol. v., p. .). as to the date of the word _curtsey_ (a contraction for _courtesy_), it is at least as early as shakspeare. rosalind concludes the epilogue to _as you like it_ by making her _curt'sy_. it occurs also in a dozen other places. c. _deodorising peat_ (vol. vi., p. .).--a. a. d. inquires if this is found to be a failure: to this i can answer safely, that it is _not_. as to the second part of his query, i would say, _if_ he means (as i am sure he does) the "peat charcoal," he should apply to jasper w. rogers, esq., c. e., seville place, dublin, who is the patentee, and who will, i am sure, give him every information. before doing so, i would, however, suggest an application to professor davy, royal dublin society, who has strongly maintained that _finely_ pulverised peat is fully equal to the peat charcoal as a deodorising agent. he has published a small pamphlet on the subject: to the best of my recollection it may be had through messrs. hodges and smith, dublin. enivri. _jacobite toasts_ (vol. vii., p. .).--what is here called "lord duff's toast" formed some of the toasts current among the jacobites about the period of the rebellion of . lord mahon alludes to the deep bumpers which were drunk by the country gentlemen to the health of the young prince, and probably by the country ladies also, "who were proud to sing ditties to his praise." lord mar died in , consequently the fourth toast, "keep lord mar," could not be drunk in . the following list, given to me by a lancashire gentleman some years ago, varies a little from your correspondent's, and may be acceptable both to him and to others of your readers. as lord mar and the duke of ormond, who died in , are both omitted in this list of toasts, it may have been used subsequently to the other. a. b. c. a blessed change. d. e. f. d-- every foreigner. g. h. j. get home jemmy. k. l. m. keep loyal ministers. n. o. p. no oppressive parliaments. q. r. s. quickly return, stuart; and quell rebellious subjects. t. u. w. tuck up whelps (guelfs). x. y. z. exert your zeal. your correspondents, myself among the number, in the case of shenstone (vol. vi., pp. . .), ought well to consider the narrow limits which can be afforded weekly in your pages, and not desire to insert in them what may be easily found elsewhere. bishop pursglove's epitaph, which fills an entire column at p. ., has been given, . in the _gentleman's magazine_ for december , p. .; . in lysons's _derbyshire_; and . in the beautiful volume of monumental brasses published by the cambridge camden society, where it is accompanied by a most interesting memoir. when some of your correspondents look with anxiety for the appearance of a note and query of three lines, and do not find it, this occupation of space is rather unreasonable, as well as needless. j. h. m. _consecrators of english bishops_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i believe that the following is, as far as it goes, a correct answer to the query of a. s. a. the bishops assisting the primate were: feb. , , lincoln and llandaff; april , , london, bangor, worcester; may , , london, lincoln, lichfield, rochester, hereford, and bishop coleridge late of barbadoes; july , , london, lichfield, calcutta. the consecration of december , , like all those before mentioned, took place in the archbishop's private chapel in lambeth palace. s. r. maitland. _chatham's language_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i suppose you will receive many answers to h. g. d.'s question, as to the authorship of the lines quoted by lord lansdowne; but "what is everybody's business is nobody's;" and, therefore, i venture to say that, with a slight difference, they are from cowper's _task_, b. ii. . i think { } the whole passage ought to be embalmed in your pages amongst the other memorials of wolfe: "time was when it was praise and boast enough in every clime, and travel where we might, that we were born her children: _praise enough_ to fill the ambition of a private man, _that chatham's language was his mother tongue,_ _and wolfe's great name compatriot with his own_. farewell those honours, and, farewell with them the hope of such hereafter. they have fallen each in his field of glory: one in arms, and one in council. wolfe upon the lap of smiling victory, that moment won, and chatham, heart-sick of his country's shame. they made us many soldiers. chatham still consulting england's happiness at home, secured it by an unforgiving frown, if any wrong'd her. wolfe, where'er he fought, put so much of his heart into his act, that his example had a magnet's force, and all were swift to follow whom all lov'd." southey adds, in note: "cowper wrote from his own recollection here. in one of his letters, he says: 'nothing could express my rapture when wolfe made the conquest of quebec.'" c. w. b. _shakspeare readings: "love's labour's lost," act v. sc. ._ (vol. vi., pp. . .).-- "that sport best pleases which the least knows how: where zeal strives to content, and the contents _dies_ in the _zeal_ of that which it presents." the difficulty, as mr. knightly says, is in the word _dies_, which is unintelligible; for the meaning is obviously the reverse of _dies_, namely, that the _contents_, that is, "the satisfaction of the audience, arises from accepting the well-meant zeal of the poor performers." this sense will be produced by the smallest possible typographical correction--_l_ for _d_. "the contents _lies_ (i.e. exists) in the zeal," &c. this at least is intelligible, which no other reading seems to be; and i need not point out that there are no two letters so easily confounded, either in ms. or type, as _l_ and _d_. most editions now read _die_, to agree with the plural _contents_; that question however, does not affect my emendation, which seems to me very like some of the best in mr. collier's folio. c. _inscriptions in books_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the following lines are often written in bibles, and other works of a devotional nature: "this is giles wilkinson his book. god give him grace therein to look: nor yet to look, but understand, that learning's better than house and land: for when both house and land are spent, then learning is most excellent." i find that the following formula is much used among the poor in country villages: "john stiles is my name, england is my nation, ---- is my dwelling-place, but christ is my salvation. and when i'm dead and in the grave, and all my bones are rotten; this when you see, remember me, though i am long forgotten." another i am acquainted with is of as menacing a description as some of the last quoted by balliolensis. it is, however, so common as hardly to be worth the notice of "n. & q.": "gideon snooks, ejus liber. si quis furetur; per collum pendetur, similis huic pauperi animali." here follows a figure of an unfortunate individual suspended "in malam crucem." f. m. m. the note of balliolensis has reminded me of garrick's book-plate, which i found in a book purchased by me some years ago. the name david garrick, in capital letters, is surrounded by some fancy scroll-work, above which is a small bust of shakspeare; below, and on the sides, a mask, and various musical instruments; and beneath the whole, the following sentence from menage: "la première chose qu'on doit faire quand on a emprunté un livre, c'est de le lire afin de pouvoir le rendre plûtôt.--_menagiana_, vol. iv. the following admonition to book-stealers is probably not unknown to balliolensis: "quisquis in hunc librum furtivos verterit ungues, [pi] sibi pro merito littera græca manet." s. d. _anagrams_ (vol. iv., p. .).--the following royal anagrams are worth adding to your list. it is said that charles i., on looking at a portrait of himself the day before his execution, made this anagram on the carolus rex inscribed on it, _cras ero lux_. again, henry iv. of france is said to have made the anagram _je charme tout_, on the famous and beautiful marie touchet. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _dipping for bite of mad dog, &c._ (vol. vi., p. .).--when i was a boy, probably therefore about thirty-five years ago, a mad dog appeared in brightwell, near wallingford, which bit several other animals and some human beings. i well remember seeing some pigs which became perfectly mad in consequence of being so bitten. a horse, too, showed symptoms of madness, and was immediately destroyed. all i can say of the _persons_ { } bitten is, that they were sent (i think to the number of six or seven) down to southampton to be dipped, and that none of them was ever attacked with hydrophobia. i have often, formerly, spoken to one of the persons on the subject, a carpenter, named eggleton. i quite agree with all you have said on the propriety of appending real names. dropping, therefore, my cognomen of corylus, i subscribe myself wm. hazel. portsmouth. "_solid men of boston_" (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent will find the whole of this song, which is one of captain morris's, in the _asylum for fugitive pieces_, published by debrett, , mo., vol. ii. p. . it is entitled "billy pitt and the farmer," and begins-- "sit down, neighbours all, and i'll tell a merry story, about a british farmer and billy pitt the tory. i had it piping hot from ebenezer barber, who sail'd right from england, and lies in boston harbour." it describes, very amusingly, an incident which was reported to have occurred to pitt and dundas, on their return from a convivial meeting at "daddy jenky's," and was for a long time a very popular song. james crossley. i have seen a song, with the music, directed against the prince of wales, charles fox, and their party. it began,-- "come, listen neighbours all, and i'll tell you a story, about a disappointed whig who wants to be a tory. i had it from his bosom-friend, who very soon is going to botany for seven years, for something he's been doing." it ended,-- "solid men of brighton, look to your houses; solid men of brighton, take care of your spouses; solid men of brighton, go to bed at sun-down, and do not lose your money to the blacklegs of london." which is the earlier version i do not know. h. b. c. _degree of b.c.l._ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--in answer to j. f.'s question, the examination is quite, and the amount of standing (viz. seven years) required for taking a b.c.l in the university of oxford is almost, identical with those necessary for an m.a. degree. a knowledge of the civil law never comes into requisition. there was a proposal, some short time ago, for a statute requiring an examination in the institutes, &c., heineccius, and other treatises on the civil law, before proceeding to that degree, but it was never passed. the civilian's fees are rather more than the artist's. for information on some other minute particulars of difference, i refer j. f. to the _oxford calendar_. the cambridge ll.b. is really examined in the civil, though not in the canon law, and is considered to obtain his degree with greater facility than by going through arts. with respect to the privileges of the degree at oxford, the b.c.l. is not a member of convocation, and has therefore no vote for the university; but yet he takes precedence of m.a.'s, both by university and court etiquette. the degrees in law and divinity used to confer the same privileges as a chaplaincy with respect to holding pluralities; and they also give those who take them the right of wearing a scarf. this will be an answer to c-- j. t. p. (vol. vii., p. .), unless he has confounded the priest's _stole_ with the chaplain's _scarf_. the civilian has also a distinguishing gown and hood; but as to the right to a place among the members of the bar, i am unable, though a b.c.l. myself, to give any assistance in the way of information; but the silk gown of a queen's counsel is the same as a civilian's gown. w. fraser. tor-mohun. _"lay" and "lie"_ (vol. vi., p. .).--i have somewhere read the following parliamentary anecdote:--a certain honourable member, in the course of a speech, said, "the paper which _lays_ on the table," but was immediately corrected by another honourable member, who said, "the honourable member should say _lie_, hens _lay_." in the course of the evening, the second honourable member was on his legs, and at the end of his speech said, "with these observations i shall _set_ down;" but the first retorted on him with the correction "the honourable member should say _sit_, hens _set_." shirley hibberd. "_banbury cakes and zeal_" (vol. vii., p. .).--the following passage from _drunken barnaby's journey through england_ will show that banbury was famous for _zeal_: "to banbury came i, o profane one! there i saw a puritane one hanging of his cat on monday for killing of a mouse on sunday." what the present estimation in which banbury cakes are held may be i cannot tell; but i can assure you that at the close of the last century, when i was a schoolboy, they were deservedly in very high repute, at least among us youngsters. h. "_hob and nob_" (vol. vii., p. .).--in addition to your observations on this expression, allow me to record the use of the term under circumstances which some others of your sexagenarian readers may with myself be able to call to mind. i well remember, when a boy at home from school, that { } my old uncle, who piqued himself on the correctness of his style in manners, dress, and conversation, and whose portrait, in the ample sleeves, capacious waistcoat, and formal head-dress of the last century, looks down on me as i now write, being in company when wine was on the table, and each person had supplied their glasses, would occasionally, as a mark of respect or affection to any individual sitting near him, in a gentle tone of solicitation mention the name of the party, and ask "hob and nob?" on the immediate compliance, which nothing short of hostility or ill manners could refuse or avoid, the parties held out their glasses till they touched one the other, health being at the same time invoked. but at this point always ensued a little polite rivalry as to which of the parties should hold the glass rather below that of the other as they came in contact. if a lady were the challenged on the occasion, she would with simpering diffidence allow of the superiority indicated by her glass being uppermost, overwhelmed with my uncle's expressions of regard; if a gentleman, each party got over the formality on as near a level as possible, amidst murmurs and protestations of humble service and great esteem. j. d. s. _a gentleman executed for flogging a slave to death_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. j. v. l. gebhard, son of the rev. mr. gebhard, was tried at cape town, on saturday, st september, , at the instance of the landrost of stellenbosch, _ratione officio_ prosecutor, before a full court, for the murder of a slave, by excessive and unlawful punishment. he was found guilty, and sentenced to death. the sentence was carried into effect on th november, amid an immense concourse of spectators. inveruriensis. _mr. henry smith's sermons preached by a romanist_ (vol. iii., p. .).-- "as soon as he (_i. e._ obadiah walker) declared himself a roman catholic, he provided him and his party of jesuits for their priests; concerning the first of whom (i think he went by the name of mr. edwards) there is this remarkable story, that having had mass said for some time in a [greek: uperôon], or garret, he afterwards procured a mandate from king james to seize of the lower half of the side of the quadrangle next adjoining to the college chapel, by which he deprived us of two low rooms, their studies, and their bed-chambers; and after all the partitions were removed, it was some way or other consecrated, as we suppose, to divine services; for they had mass there every day, and sermons, at least in the afternoons, on the lord's days: and it happening that the jesuit preaching upon cor. ix. ., 'so run that you may obtain,' many protestants were hearkening at the outside of the windows, one of them discovering that it was one of mr. henry smith's sermons, which he had at home by him, went and fetched the book, and read at the outside of the window what the jesuit was preaching within. but this report raised such a noise in the town, that this priest was speedily dismissed, and another brought in his room."--smith's _annals of university college_, p. . e. h. a. _london queries_ (vol. vii., p. .).--an authentic account of one of the earliest, if not the most early toll ever collected in england, is to be found in the th tome of rymer's _foedera_, fo. . it was in the year that king edward iii. granted his commission to the master of the hospital of st. gyles (in the fields), without the city of london, and to john of holbourn, to lay a toll on all sorts of carriage, for two years to come, passing through the highway (via regia) leading from the said hospital to the bar of the old temple of london (_i. e._ the holborn bar, near to which stood the old house of the knights templars); also through another highway called perpoole (now gray's inn lane); which roads were, by frequent passage of carts, waynes, and horses, to and from london, become so miry and deep as to be almost impassable; as also the highway called charing. these tolls were as follow: . for every cart or wayne, laden with wool, leather, wine, honey, wax, oyl, pitch, tar, fish, iron, brass, copper, or other metals, corn, &c., for sale, to the value of twenty shillings d. . for every horse-load of merchandise ¼ . for every horse used in carrying corn, or other provisions, per week ½ . for every load of hay ¼ . for carts used to carry charcoal, bark, &c., per week . for every horse, ox, or cow . for every score of hogs or sheep ½ . and for all other merchandise of s. value ½ but ecclesiastical persons, of both sexes, were to be exempt from this toll. about this time there was a considerable market or staple held at westminster; and in the same king, by an order in council, laid a tax of d. on every sack (serplarium) of wool, and for every three hundred of woolfels; d. on every last of leather; d. on every fodder of lead; d. on every tun of wine; and ½d. on every twenty shillings value of all other goods carried either by land or water to the staple of westminster, in order for repairing the highway leading from the gate of london called temple bar to the gate of the abbey at westminster.--see _foedera_, vol. v. p. . from this record we learn that the gate called temple bar, as a western boundary of the city of london, is of great antiquity as a gate. i hope some of your readers skilled in architecture may answer the other queries of your correspondent. broctuna. bury, lancashire. { } * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. messrs. longman have just published, in two thick and closely printed volumes, _a new gazetteer or topographical dictionary of the british islands and narrow seas, &c._, by james a. sharp. when we tell our readers that in these two volumes are recorded the name, position, history, &c. of every city, town, village, hamlet, &c. which appears in the censuses of , , ; or in the works of carlisle, pott, gorton, lewis, fullarton, chambers, hall, and other general writers; and, indeed, that among the sixty thousand articles of which these volumes consist, will be found particulars not only of all the natural objects of the country--as rivers, lakes, mountains, hills, passes, waterfalls, bays, ports, headlands, islands, shoals--but also of every locality or object of historical interest or antiquarian character: as roman stations and camps, roman and british ways, saxon towns, druid stones, cromlechs, round towers, danish raths, picts' houses, castles, abbeys, &c., not to mention railway, police, and coast-guard stations, hunting "fixtures," &c., they will at once perceive what a vast amount of useful, indeed of most valuable, information, the persevering industry of mr. sharp has enabled him to bring together. that a work consisting of so large a mass of facts and figures should contain some errors, is more than probable; but having tested it by referring to localities with which we are personally acquainted, we are enabled to say that it has stood that test in a manner to make us feel assured that it is a book to be fully relied upon, and one, therefore, which we have no doubt will eventually take its place in every well-appointed library. books received.--_tangible typography, or how the blind read_, by e. c. johnson, is a little volume detailing various modes of printing books for the blind, and well calculated to awaken an interest in the benevolent objects of the society for printing and distributing books for the use of the blind.--_the ghost of junius, &c._, by francis ayerst. this endeavour to identity junius with lieut.-general sir robert rich, on the strength of a letter written by that officer to viscount barrington, years after the celebrated _letters of junius_ had appeared, is the largest theory based on the smallest fact with which we are acquainted.--mr. bohn has just issued in his _standard library_ the fourth volume of his edition of _the prose works of john milton; containing the first book of a treatise on christian doctrine, compiled from the holy scripture alone, translated from the original_ by the lord bishop of winchester. the present edition has had the advantage of a thorough revision.--mr. bohn has also enriched his _scientific library_ by the publication of _the physical and metaphysical works of lord bacon, including his dignity and advancement of learning, and his novum organon, or precepts for the interpretation of nature_, edited by joseph devey, who has availed himself of the best translations, and enriched the _novum organon_ with the remarks of the two playfairs, sir john herschel, and the german and french editors.--_matthew paris' english history, from the year to ; translated from the latin_ by dr. giles, _volume the second_, is the new issue of bohn's _antiquarian library_; while, in his _classical library_, he has published a volume which will be, we doubt not, welcome to many: _the idylls of theocritus, bion, and moschus, and the war songs of tyrtæus, literally translated into english prose_, by rev. j. banks; _with metrical versions_, by j. m. chapman.--_the churchman's magazine, a monthly review of church progress and general literature._ judging from the january and february numbers which are now before us, we can have no doubt that this magazine for churchmen will please those to whom it is addressed. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. original edition. vol. i. the book of adam. prideaux's connection of the old and new testament. vol. i. . the christian magazine. vol. for . pro matrimonio principis cum defunctÆ uxoris sorore contracto responsum juris collegii jurisconsultorum in academia rintelensi (circa ). monner jurisconsult., de matrimonio. brÜckner, de matrimonio. bedell's irish old testament, irish type, to., . [a copy of o'domhnuill's "irish _new_ testament," irish type, to., st edition, (_being rare_), is offered in exchange.] percy society publications. nos. xciii. and xciv. southey's works. vol. x. longmans. . scott's continuation of milner's church history. vols. ii. and iii., or ii. only. the dragon of wantley, by h. carey. gammer gurton's story books, edited by ambrose merton. parts (original edition). hayward's british museum. vols. mo. . theobald's shakspeare restored. to. . illustrated commentary on the old and new testaments. vol. i. . knight. peter simple. illustrated edition. saunders and otley. vols. ii. and iii. historical memoirs of queens of england, by hannah lawrance. vol. ii. ingram's saxon chronicle. to. london, . newman's ferns. large edition. enigmatical entertainer. nos. i. and ii. and . sherwood & co. northumbrian mirror. new series. , &c. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have this week the pleasure of presenting our readers with an additional eight pages. we do this from a desire that those who do not participate in the interest which so many of them take in our endeavours to popularise photography, should from time to time receive compensation for the space occupied by our_ photographic correspondence. e. h. h. _caxton's press is certainly not in westminster abbey: we may add, certainly not in existence._ tee bee. _the quotation is from pope's_ moral essays, _epist. iv._: "to rest the cushion and soft dean invite, who never mentions hell to ears polite." s. jennings-g. _we have a note for this correspondent. where shall it be sent?_ h. e. p. t. (woolwich). _what numbers are wanted?_ earldom of oxford. m. d., _whose communication on this subject appears in our_ no. for feb. ., p. ., _writes to us that he has been misinformed, inasmuch as two of the sisters of alfred, the last earl of oxford and mortimer, have sons_. { } f. k. (clonea) _is requested to state the subjects of the two queries to which he refers_. j. m. (bath). _the note has been forwarded._ shaw: spinney: hurst. h. e. p. t. _will find, on reference to richardson's dictionary, that_ shaw _is from the a.-s._ scua, _a shadow_; _and_ hurst _from the a.-s._ hurst, _a wood_. spinney _is probably from the latin_ spinetum, _a place where thorny bushes grow_. j. g. (dorchester)'_s query on the lisle family shall appear next week_. f. b. _the term_ benedict, _applied to a married man, is doubtless derived from shakspeare's_ "_benedict, the married man_." tyro. _the fault must be in your chemicals, or in your manipulation. try again, with chemicals procured from a different source._ e. b. s. _dr. diamond's result, and mode of arriving at it, will be given in his forthcoming_ photographic notes. _erratum._--p. ., lord duff's toast, read "q. r. s. quickly _restore_ stewart," instead of "_resolve_." our sixth volume, _strongly bound in cloth, with very copious index, is now ready, price_ s. d. _a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas for the six volumes, may now be had; for which early application is desirable_. * * * * * march st will be ready, part i., price s. (to be continued in shilling monthly parts,) a plain commentary on the four holy gospels, intended chiefly for devotional reading. this commentary will be particularly adapted to the wants of the middle and poorer classes, and will be issued in shilling monthly parts. at the same time it is so arranged that any chapter can be obtained separately, in the form of a tract, and thus used for distribution. john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * now ready, in fcp. vo., handsomely bound in cloth, gilt, with woodcut borders and illustrations, price s. d. the pilgrim's progress by john bunyan. a new edition, edited by the rev. j. m. neale, m.a., for the use of children of the church of england. john henry parker, oxford and london. * * * * * just printed at the university press, oxford. dr. chandler's critical history of the life of david. new edition in vol. vo. cloth, s. d. bulstrode whitelock's memorials of the english affairs from the beginning of the reign of charles i. to the restoration of charles ii. new edition in vols. vo. cloth, s. john henry parker, oxford, and . strand, london; and gardner, . paternoster row. * * * * * writers of fiction, poems, dramas, pamphlets, sermons, etc. now ready, how to print and when to publish. practical advice to authors, inexperienced writers, and possessors of manuscripts, on the efficient publication of books intended for general circulation or private distribution. sent post free to orders enclosing six stamps, addressed to messrs. saunders & otley, publisher, conduit street. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * in volumes for the pocket, price five shillings each. just published, in fcp. vo., vol. v. of bowdler's family shakspeare. in which nothing is _added_ to the original text; but those words and expressions are _omitted_ which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family. a new edition, to be completed in six monthly volumes, price s. each. london: longman, brown, green, & longmans. * * * * * wonderful discovery.--portraits, views, &c., taken on glass by the suns rays. by this new process any person can produce in a few seconds, at a trifling expense, truly life-like portraits of their friends, landscapes, views, buildings, &c. no knowledge of drawing required to produce these wondrous works of art and beauty. printed instructions, containing full particulars for practising this fascinating art with ease and certainty, forwarded on receipt of fifteen postage stamps. address, wm. lane, photographer, no. . market street, brighton. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | j. h. goodhart, esq. w. cabell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * to members of learned societies, authors, &c. ashbee & dangerfield, lithographers, draughtsmen, and printers, . board court, long acre. a. & d. respectfully beg to announce that they devote particular attention to the execution of ancient and modern fac-similes, comprising autograph letters, deeds, charters, title-pages, engravings, woodcuts, &c., which they produce from any description of copies with the utmost accuracy, and without the slightest injury to the originals. among the many purposes to which the art of lithography is most successfully applied, may be specified,--archÆological drawings, architecture, landscapes, marine views, portraits from life or copies, illuminated mss., monumental brasses, decorations, stained glass windows, maps, plans, diagrams, and every variety of illustrations requisite for scientific and artistic publications. photographic drawings lithographed with the greatest care and exactness. lithographic offices, . broad court, long acre, london. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- ---------+----------+--------------------+---------- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * { } proposals for repair and improvement of st. mary's church, vincent square, westminster. _incumbent._ rev. a. borradaile. _churchwardens._ mr. g. pearse and mr. g. pink. st. mary's church, vincent square, westminster, was erected in the year , and contains , sittings, of which are free. the pecuniary resources which were at the disposal of those by whose efforts this spacious church was built were only adequate to provide what was absolutely requisite for the performance of divine service. there was, however, much cause for thankfulness that so large and commodious a church was raised in so poor a district as st. mary's; and a hope was then entertained that the day would soon come when what was necessarily left incomplete might be accomplished. fifteen years have passed away since the church was consecrated; and the time appears now to have arrived when an effort should be made to supply what is wanting, and to render the interior more convenient, to paint, cleanse, and colour it; and to impart to it that religious decency and comeliness which befits the house of god. an additional reason for this endeavour is supplied by recent events. churches have arisen in the neighbourhood of st. mary's, erected by the munificence of pious founders, which are adorned with architectural beauty, and are among the best specimens of ecclesiastical fabrics that the present age has produced. st. mary's suffers from the contrast: its deficiencies have become more manifest; and the need of such an effort as has been mentioned is now felt more strongly. while, however, the exigencies of the case have increased, the means of satisfying them have become less. some of the less indigent portions of st. mary's district have been detached from it, and have been annexed to the other districts formed for more recent churches. thus the resources of st. mary's have been diminished; and circumstances of a local character render it undesirable, in the opinion of legal advisers, to press for the levying of a rate for the improvement of the church. perhaps, however, the strength of the present appeal may eventually be found to lie in these difficulties, when they are more generally known. a committee, therefore, has been formed, consisting of the churchwardens of the district, and other inhabitants, and of some personal friends of the incumbent, the rev. a. borradaile, whose zeal and energy in discharging the duties of the pastoral office in st. mary's district for more than ten years, through many and great difficulties, have been greatly blessed to his flock, and command the respect and sympathy of those who have witnessed his persevering exertions, and have seen the fruit of his labours. the committee are now engaged in an endeavour to raise funds for the reparation and improvement of the interior of st. mary's church; and they trust that many may be found to approve and encourage the design. an estimate has been prepared of the requisite expenditure by mr. h. a. hunt, of . parliament street, which amounts to five hundred and fifty pounds. this sum, it is anticipated, will suffice to provide for lowering and refixing the whole of the free seats, and to make them more commodious for the use of the poor; to improve the seats generally throughout the church; to alter and improve the position and character of the pulpit and reading desk; to paint, grain, and varnish the whole of the seats; and to give an appropriate appearance to the chancel of the church. *** subscriptions are received for "st. mary's vincent square fund," at messrs. hallett & co., little george street, westminster, or at . warwick terrace, belgrave road; or by the churchwardens of st. mary's; or w. j. thoms, esq., . holywell street, millbank, treasurer; or by rev. dr. wordsworth, cloisters, westminster, secretary. * * * * * subscriptions. £ s. d. dean and chapter of westminster rev. dr. woodsworth henry a. hunt, esq. rev. f. secretan henry stone smith, esq. miss j. f. smith f. giffard, esq. w. whateley, esq., q.c. james hallett, esq. william j. thoms, esq. the hon. the vice-chancellor wood messrs. hallett, robinson, & co. venerable archdeacon bentinck mrs. bentinck the lord bishop of gloucester and bristol joshua watson, esq. henry hoare, esq. rev. w. tennant the lord bishop of london reginald cocks, esq. rev. george france mrs. joyner by rev. w. jephson mrs. blayney miss colquhoun rev. r. valentine anonymous mr. richardson w. scott, esq. g. vacher, esq. w. spottiswoode, esq. george a. spottiswoode, esq. j. h. markland, esq. a. hemsley, esq. robert arntz, esq. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons., foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of hunt, le gray, brébisson, &c. &c., may be obtained of william bolton, manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists of prices to be had on application. . holborn bars. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * { } incorporated according to act of parliament. athenÆum institute for authors and men of science, . sackville street, london. _vice-presidents._ the most hon. the marquis of bristol, &c. the right hon. the lord justice knight bruce, &c. the right hon. benjamin disraeli, m.p., &c. lieut.-general lord frederick fitzclarence, g.c.h., &c. the right hon. viscount goderich, m.p., &c. the right hon. lord viscount monck, m.p. sir george thomas staunton, bart., d.c.l, f.r.s., m.p., &c. _honorary directors._ the hon. j. master owen byng. william coningham, esq. william ewart, esq., m.p. charles kemble, esq. edward miall, esq., m.p. benjamin oliveira, esq., m.p. apsley pellatt, esq., m.p. henry pownall, esq. wm. scholefield, esq., m.p. the hon. c. pelham villiers, m.p. james wyld, esq. _treasurer._ sir john dean paul, bart. _trustees._ thomas j. arnold, esq. herbert ingram, esq. f.g.p. nelson, esq., f.l.s. _auditors._ alexander richmond, esq. william smalley, esq. _business directors._ _chairman._--lieut.-general palby, c.b. _deputy-chairman._--j. stirling coyne, esq. bayle bernard, esq. shirley brooks, esq. w. downing bruce, esq. j. b. buckstone, esq. thornton hunt, esq. g. h. lewes, esq. cyrus redding, esq. angus b. reach, esq. _managing director._ f. g. tomlins, esq. _secretary._ wm. dalton, esq. _solicitor._ g. e. dennes, esq., f.l.s. _consulting actuary._ r. thompson jopling, esq., f.s.s. _bankers._ messrs. strahan, paul, paul, and bates. . strand. _agent._ mr. c. mitchell, newspaper press directory office, red lion court, fleet street. constitution. the athenæum institute is legally incorporated as a mutual benefit society, and the rank and public status of its vice-presidents, honorary directors, trustee, and treasurer, and the well-known character of its business directors, present a security to authors, journalists, and all connected with literature, that it is based on sound principles, and will be conducted with fidelity and honour. it consists of two classes of supporters. _non-participating or honorary subscribers_, who, it is hoped, may include the royal family and great officers of the state, on account of the political and moral influences of authors; noblemen and men of fortune who have manifested a marked predilection for literature; authors of fortune and others sympathising with, and interested in the labours of literary men. _participating subscribers_, consisting of professional authors, and that large mass of writers who produce the current literature of the age in works of science, imagination, education, and the periodical and newspaper press of the empire. the constitution of the society is such that the general body of its members hold the directing power. the board of business directors is elected by it, and their powers and duties, as well as those of the officers, are clearly defined by the laws and rules of the institute, which are in strict conformity with the elaborate requirements of the friendly societies' act ( th and th victoria, chap. .). the qualification of membership is authorship in some shape, but a large and liberal will be the most just interpretation of the term. as close a definition as can be given perhaps is, that it intends to include all who use the pen with an intellectual aim, women as well as men. the printed forms (which can be had on application) will show more minutely what is required to constitute membership. revenue. the distinguishing feature of the institute is its applying the principle of life assurance in all its transactions. the _subscriptions_ of the _honorary subscribers_ are applied to an assurance of the life of the donors. for instance,--the right honourable benjamin disraeli, esq., sends a donation of twenty-five pounds, which is immediately invested on an assurance on his life, and will ultimately produce to the institute an endowment of l. or to take another instance,--the right hon. lord viscount goderich subscribes two guineas per year, which is invested in like manner on an assurance on his life, and will ultimately endow the institute with l. and thus the honorary subscriptions, instead of being spent as soon as received, are made to form a capital fund, which will be ultimately available, as the lives fall in, to the provident members and participating subscribers. the application of the subscriptions of the honorary members to assuring their lives, has these advantages:--it tends to create a large capital fund--it enables the honorary subscribers to see that the undertaking is successful, before their money is expended--it transforms such subscriptions from being an alms-giving for personal purposes, into an endowment for the general benefit of literature--it is not like most alms subscriptions to go in casual relief, but to produce a permanent result; such as the foundation of a hall and chambers, and ultimately the complete organisation of literature as a recognised profession; to endow permanent annuities, and otherwise aid literature by succouring authors. by this arrangement a very strong inducement is given to the working literary men to subscribe to this institute and society beyond all others: as they will not only have all the benefits and profits arising from their own subscriptions, but participate in the capital fund, which, there can be no doubt, will be augmented by donations, legacies, and endowments. there is also the special advantage peculiar to such an institution, of nominating a wife or child to receive immediately the amount assured at decease irrespective of all other claims. _the subscriptions of the participating class_ are as follows:-- one guinea must be subscribed by every member, which goes towards the expenses of the institute and the support of the philanthropic fund. for this he is entitled to be a candidate for assistance from the philanthropic fund; has a vote at all the general meetings of the institute; and will be entitled to certain benefits from the education and protective branches of the institute when they are brought into operation. every guinea subscribed annually _beyond_ the first guinea above mentioned, produces the subscriber an assurance on his life, according to the tables specially calculated by the consulting actuary of the institute, and which are in compliance with the act of parliament regulating such matters. the policies are issued by the institute under the friendly societies' act, and which are legally guaranteed by the athenæum life assurance society, which, also appealing more particularly to literary and scientific men, has made an arrangement that is liberal and advantageous to the athenæum institute. by this arrangement every provident member is equally safe, whether the members of the institute be few or many. one subscriber is thus rendered as secure as a thousand. annual subscribers of two guineas or more are entitled to become directors: and in awarding relief, regard will always be had to the amount subscribed. it will be perceived by these arrangements, that every member of the athenæum institute has the full value returned to him of _every_ guinea subscribed _beyond_ the first, in a policy on his life; and that he also has a participation in the capital fund formed by the subscriptions, donations, and endowments of the honorary subscribers; a privilege which it is probable will add from fifty to a hundred per cent. to his individual contributions. the friendly societies' act, under which the institute is registered, will not permit a member to make an assurance beyond l., the institute is therefore limited to this amount: but the athenæum life assurance society, which so liberally assists the institute, will insure to any amount, and in any mode. it is desirable that the members of the institute should assure up to the l. allowed by the act, and the tables will shew the annual amount required, according to the age of the subscriber. the power of nominating a wife or child, irrespective of all other claimants, is also a great inducement to assure in the institute to the utmost amount, namely, l. it is contemplated, as the institute progresses, to add protective and educational branches. the union of numbers has established the various commercial and philanthropic institutions of the empire, and it is earnest urged that authors and journalists should take advantage of their numbers. nothing can be accomplished without numbers--with them everything. the appeal now made is universal in its application to literary workers, and it is hoped it will be responded to so as to neutralise all cliquism, whether arising from literary sectarianism, or the antagonism of political sentiments. f. g. tomlins, manager, . sackville street, london. *** members are admitted by the directors (who meet monthly) according to forms which will be transmitted on application. post office orders to be made payable to the managing director at charing cross money order office. the rules of the institute, as legally drawn up by high professional authority, and as certified by the registrar, can be had, price s. d., or s. by post, pre-paid. prospectuses (with tables calculated especially for this society) may be had, gratis, at the office, . sackville street, or of mr. charles mitchell, agent to the institute, newspaper press directory office, . red lion court, fleet street, london. * * * * * { } albemarle street, march, . mr. murray's list of new works. i. discoveries in the ruins of nineveh and babylon: with travels in armenia, kurdistan and the desert: being the result of a second expedition to assyria. by austin h. layard, m.p. with nearly plates and woodcuts. one volume. vo. s. (on tuesday.) ii. the nineveh monuments (second series): consisting of sculptures, bas-reliefs, vases, and bronzes, chiefly from the palace of sennacherib. plates. folio (shortly.) iii. a treatise on military bridges, and the passage of rivers in military operations. by gen. sir howard douglas, bart. third edition, enlarged. plates. vo. (next week.) iv. two visits to the tea countries of china, and the british tea plantations in the himalaya, with narrative of adventures, and description of the culture of the tea plant, &c. by robert fortune. third edition. woodcuts. vols. post vo. s. (on tuesday.) v. the story of joan of arc. by lord mahon. fcap. vo. s. (murray's "railway reading.") vi. crime: its amount, causes, and remedies. by frederic hill, late inspector of prisons. vo. s. vii. my home in tasmania, during a residence of nine years. by mrs. charles meredith, author of "notes and sketches of new south wales." woodcuts. vols. post vo. s. viii. lives of the earls of essex, in the reigns of elizabeth, james i., and charles i. including many unpublished letters and documents. by hon. capt. devereux, r.n. vols. vo. s. ix. the fall of jerusalem. by rev. h. m. milman, dean of st. paul's. fcap. vo. s. (murray's "railway reading.") x. lives of lords falkland, capel, and hertford, the friends and contemporaries of lord chancellor clarendon. by lady theresa lewis. vols. vo. s. xi. history of the roman state. by luigi farini. translated by the right hon. w. e. gladstone, m.p. vol. iii. vo. s. xii. a church dictionary. by rev. dr. hook, vicar of leeds. sixth edition, enlarged. vo. s. xiii. the peril of portsmouth; or, french fleets and english forts. by james ferguson, esq. third edition, with additions. with two plans. vo. s. xiv. rational arithmetic. for schools and young persons. by mrs. g. r. porter. mo. s. d. xv. travels and researches in asia minor, and lycia. by sir charles fellows. new edition. post vo. s. xvi. the river, mountains, and sea coast of yorkshire. by john phillips, f.r.s. plates. vo. s. xvii. history of england, from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles, - . by lord mahon. third edition, revised. vols. i. and ii. post vo. s. each. (published alternate months, and to be completed in seven vols.) xviii. a naval and military technical dictionary of the french language. by lieut-col. burn, r.a. crown vo. s. xix. handbook of familiar quotations. from english authors. fcap. vo. s. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * just published, pp. , plates , price s. a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, with descriptions of all the species, and abstracts of the systems of ehrenberg, dujardin, kützing, siebold, &c. by andrew pritchard, esq., m.r.i. also, price s., a general history of animalcules, with engravings. also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on microscopes. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * the first number of the monthly journal of the photographic society will be published on march . all communications to be sent to the council, at no. . trafalgar square, charing cross. members are requested to send their addresses, that the journal may be forwarded to them; and those who have not paid their first subscriptions should do so immediately. the ordinary general meetings will be held at the society of arts, john street, adelphi, the first thursday in each month, during the session, at o'clock, precisely. the next meeting on thursday, rd march. advertisements for the first number of the journal cannot be inserted unless sent to the publishers before o'clock on monday, the th february. taylor & francis, red lion court, fleet street. * * * * * thomas baker's catalogue of cheap and valuable second-hand books, including the entire theological library of a clergyman deceased, may be had gratis on application. . goswell street, london. * * * * * catalogue of elzevir and other classics; books from pugin's library; and miscellaneous, curious, and cheap english and foreign books. also a catalogue of cheap engravings (no. . for march) will be sent gratis and postage free, town or country, on application to w. s. lincoln, cheltenham house, westminster road, london. * * * * * just published.--a catalogue of valuable books from the libraries of the late king louis-philippe, from the palais-royal and the chateau de neuilly, of the earl of mountnorris (lord valentia the traveller), including some rare early manuscript voyages, h. salt's original drawings, etc., and others lately bought by thomas kerslake, bookseller, no. . park street, bristol, will be franked to any gentleman's address accompanied by four stamps for postage. * * * * * maitland on the prophecies of antichrist. in vo., price s. d. (by post s.), the second edition, enlarged, of an attempt to elucidate the prophecies concerning antichrist: with remarks on some works of j. h. frere, esq. by the rev. s. r. maitland, d.d., f.r.s., & f.s.a., sometime librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, and keeper of the mss. at lambeth. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place. * * * * * new volume of arnold's school classics.--cicero. just published, price s. d. selections from cicero. part iv.: de finibus malorum et bonorum: (on the supreme good.) with a preface, and english notes, partly from madvig and others, by the rev. james beaven, d.d., late professor of theology in king's college, toronto. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had (in the same series), selections from cicero, with english notes, viz.; part i. orations: the fourth against verres; the orations against catiline; and that for the poet archias. s. part ii. epistles: arranged in the order of time; with accounts of the consuls, events of each year, &c. s. part iii. tusculan disputations (entire). s. d. "the notes abound in critical and philological remarks of great value. they are copious without being redundant, clearly expressed, and always to the point. all allusions and technical expressions are fully explained. a master's hand is discernible in the translations occasionally given of particular portions that present any difficulty."--athenæum. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, february . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page cowper and tobacco smoking, by william bates, &c. "shakspeare in the shades:" a ballad, by dr. e. f. rimbault swedish words current in england, by charles watkins sir david lindsay's viridarium, by sir w. c. trevelyan minor notes:--unlucky days--the pancake bell--quoits--the family of townerawe--"history of formosa"--notes on newspapers queries:-- wild plants and their names popular sayings, by m. aislabie denham minor queries:--hermit queries--derivation of "cobb"-- play-bills--sir edward grymes, bart.--smollett's "strap"--the iron mask--bland family--thomas watson, bishop of st. david's, - , &c.--crescent--"quod fuit esse"--"coming home to men's business"--thomas gibbes of fenton--"the whipping toms" at leicester-- the trial of our lord--olney--album--the lisle family-- wards of the crown--tate, an artist--philip d'auvergne-- somersetshire ballad--lady high sheriff--major-general lambert--hoyle, meaning of; and hoyle family--robert dodsley--mary queen of scots--heuristisch: evristic minor queries with answers:--"eugenia," by hayes and carr--claret--"strike, but hear me"--fever at croydon-- "gesmas et desmas"--satirical medal replies:-- the gookins of ireland "stabat quocunque jeceris," by dr. william bell "pic-nics" "coninger" or "coningry" names and numbers of british regiments, by arthur hamilton vicars-apostolic in england smock marriages: scotch law of marriage photographic notes and queries:--mr. weld taylor's process--animal charcoal in photography--sir w. newton on use of common soda and alum--difficulties in photographic practice replies to minor queries:--the countess of pembroke's letter--ethnology of england--drake the artist-- sparse--genoveva of brabant--god's marks--segantiorum portus--rubrical query--rosa mystica--portrait of charles i.--"time and i"--the word "party"--"mater ait natæ," &c.--gospel place--passage in thomson--"words are given to man to conceal his thoughts"--folger family miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. cowper and tobacco smoking. the following genial and characteristic letter from the poet, having escaped the research of the rev. t. s. grimshaw, may be thought worthy of transference from the scarce and ephemeral _brochure_ in which it has, as far as i am aware, alone appeared, to your more permanent and attainable repertory. the little work alluded to is entitled _convivialia et saltatoria, or a few thoughts upon feasting and dancing_, a poem in two parts, &c., by g. orchestikos: london, printed for the author, , pp. . at page will be found "nicotiana: a poetical epistle in praise of tobacco; intended as a refutation of the ill-founded remarks of william cowper, esq. respecting this plant, in his elegant poem on conversation. by phil. nicot. "the man i pity who abhors the fume of fine _virginia_ floating in his room; for, truly may tobacco be defined, a plant preserving health and peace of mind. ." next follows the poem, dedicated "to the tobacconists in general of england and its colonies," and consisting of some lines, concluding with the following: "now by way of a postscript, for i cannot conclude without _once more_ entreating, that you'll be so good as to favour me with an epistle, and soon, which in _my_ estimation will be such a boon that i'll _carefully_ keep it; and dying, take care to enjoin like respect from my son or my heir; and lest he should forget its great value to ask, shall say, it was wrote by the hand, that first wrote out the task: no more i need mention, its worth will appear, and be kept as a relic i _justly_ hold dear." next comes the poet's kindly response: "dear sir, "it is not in my power to send you an epistle that will entitle itself to any of the _honours_ which you are so good as to promise to one from me. my time is not my own, but is partly engaged in attendance on a dear friend, who has long been in a very helpless state, { } and partly to the performance of what i owe to the public, a new edition of my homer, and also of the poetical works of milton. "with these labours in hand, together with the common avocations incident to everybody, it is hardly possible that i should have opportunities for writing letters. in fact, i am in debt to most of my friends, and to many of them have been long in debt, whose claims upon me are founded in friendship of long standing. to this cause you will be so good as to ascribe it, that i have not sooner thanked you for your humorous and pleasant contest with me on the subject of tobacco; a contest in which i have not, at present, leisure to exercise myself, otherwise i am hardy enough to flatter myself, that i could take off the force of some of your arguments. "should you execute your design of publishing what you have favoured me with a sight of, i heartily wish success to your muse militant, and that your reward may be--many a pleasant pipe supplied by the profits of your labours. "being in haste, i can add no more, except that i am, with respect, and a due sense of the honour you do me, your obliged, &c., william cowper. weston-underwood, oct. , ." i hope that the above will be interesting to your nicotian readers, and not trespass too far upon your valuable space. william bates. birmingham. _snuff and tobacco._--it is perhaps not generally known that the custom of taking snuff is of irish origin. in a "natural history of tobacco," in the _harleian misc._, i. ., we are told that-- "the virginians were observed to have pipes of clay before ever the english came there; and from those barbarians we europeans have borrowed our mode and fashion of smoking.... _the irishmen do most commonly powder their tobacco, and snuff it up their nostrils_, which some of our englishmen do, who often chew and swallow it." that the clay pipe was the original smoking apparatus in england, is evident from the following lines in skelton's _eleanor rummin_. after lamenting the knavery of that age compared with king harry's time, he continues: "nor did that time know, to puff and to blow, in a peece of white clay, as you do at this day, with fier and coale, and a leafe in a hole," &c. these lines are from an edition of , printed in the _harl. misc._, i. . skelton died in , and according to the generally received accounts, tobacco was not introduced into this country till , or thereabouts; so the lines cannot be skelton's. they are part of an introduction to the tale of _eleanor rummin_. is the author known? erica. warwick. * * * * * "shakspeare in the shades:" a ballad. the ballad, entitled "shakspeare's bedside," inserted in your pages (vol. vii., p. .), was printed (probably for the first time) in a collection of poems called _the muse's mirrour_, vols. vo., printed for robert baldwin, . it occurs at p. . of the first volume; and at p. . of the same volume i find another shakspearian ballad, which, as the book is rare, i transcribe for the benefit of your readers. the work in question contains a number of clever effusions by the poets and wits of the last half of the eighteenth century. the anonymous compiler thus commences his preface: "the editor and collector of the following poems does not conceive it necessary to make any apology for what he has done; but arrogates to himself the right of some attention for the collecting of such pieces as would have died upon their births, although the productions of the best poets and men of genius _for the last twenty years_." "shakspeare in the shades. "as shakspeare rang'd over the regions below, with the muses attending his side, the first of his critics he met with was rowe, tho' to keep out of sight he had try'd. 'how comes it, friend nicholas,' said the old bard, (while nic was preparing a speech), 'my ruins so coarsely by you were repair'd, who grace to the graces could teach?' 'had the time you employ'd when _the biter_[ ] you wrote, so hiss'd by the critical throng, been spent upon mending the holes in my coat, it had not been ragged so long.' rowe blush'd, and made way for diminutive pope, whom shakspeare address'd with a frown, and said--'some apology sure i may hope from you and your friend in the gown.' 'had the murderous knife which my plays has destroy'd, by lopping full many a scene, to make you a lover like him, been employ'd, how flat cibber's letter had been.' pope sneak'd off confounded; and hanmer drew near, whose softness a savage might melt; so shakspeare said only, 'sir thomas, i fear, with gloves on, my beauties you felt.' { } supported by caxton, wynkin upheld, text tibbald crept forward to sight. 'is this,' quoth the poet, 'the thing that rebell'd, and dar'd even pope to the fight? 'to kennel, good tib, for a time will arrive, when all in their senses shall know, that half of your consequence, tib, you derive from the lash of so envied a foe. 'eight hundred old plays thou declar'st thou hast read[ ]; how could'st thou the public so cozen? yet the traces i see (spite of what thou hast said) of not many more than a dozen. 'if all thou hast dug, how could farmer, my tib, or stevens, find gold in the mine? thy trade of attorney sure taught thee to fib, and truth was no client of thine. 'and yet, to appease me for all thou hast done, and show thou art truly my friend, go watch, and to me with intelligence run, when johnson and capell descend. 'for johnson, with all his mistakes, i must love; ev'n love from the injured he gains; but capell a comrade for dulness will prove, and him thou may'st take for thy pains.'" edward f. rimbault. [footnote : _the biter; an attempt at comedy_, by rowe, which was received with that contempt which it well deserved.] [footnote : theobald, in the preface to his first edition of shakspeare, asserts that, exclusive of the works of beaumont and fletcher, and ben jonson, he had read above eight hundred plays, to ascertain the uncommon and obsolete phrases in his author. the reader who can discover the fruits of this boasted industry in his notes may safely believe him; and those who cannot may surely claim the liberty, like myself, to doubt somewhat of his veracity. this assertion, however, theobald had sufficient modesty to omit in the preface to his second edition, together with all the criticisms on greek authors, which i am assured he had collected from such papers of mr. wycherley as had been entrusted to his care for very different purposes. it is much to be questioned whether there are five hundred old plays extant, by the most accurate perusal of which the works of shakspeare could receive advantage; i mean of dramas prior, cotemporary, or within half a century before and after his own.] * * * * * swedish words current in england. in the summer of i mentioned to my friend professor retzius at stockholm, certain scandinavian words in use at whitby, with which he was much pleased, they not being akin to the german. i have since been mostly in the south of europe, but have not lost sight of these words; and last spring i wrote out in switzerland upwards of five hundred swedish words, which greatly resemble the english, lowland scots, &c., but i doubt many of them have the same root with the german correspondents. i now beg you kindly to offer to the notice of our anglo-saxon and icelandic scholars, as well as the estimable northern _savans_ at copenhagen and elsewhere, the following words in use at whitby, and i believe throughout cleveland and cumberland, where the local accent and manner of speaking is the same. "_agg orm_, swedish (viper), _agg worm_, whitby (pron. w[=o]rrum).--_bloa bær_ (bilbery), blue berry.--_by_ (village), as a termination to names of towns, occurs, perhaps, more frequently in this district than in others; there are some places in cleveland called lund and upsal.--_bæck_ (brook), beck.--_djevul_ (devil), pronounced exactly in the swedish manner at whitby.--_doalig_ (poorly), dowly.--_eldon_ (tinder-box), applied to faggots.--_fors_ (waterfall), spelt force and foss in yorkshire books.--_ful_ (ugly), pron. fool, usually associated with bigness in cleveland.--_foane_ (silly), pron. fond at whitby.--_giller_ (snare), guilder.--_gæpen_ (handful), gowpen.--_harr_ (grayling), carrling in ryedale.--_kætt_ (flesh), kett, applied to coarse meat.--_lek_ (play), at whitby, to lake.--_leta_ (to seek), to late at whitby.--_lie_ (scythe), pron. lye.--_lingon_ (red bilberry), called a ling berry.--_ljung_ (ling).--_lopp_ (a flea).--_næbb_ (beak), neb.--_skaft_ (handle), skaft.--_skær_ (rock), whitby skar.--_smitta_ (to infect), to smit.--_strandgata_ (creek), at whitby ghaut.--_stæd_ (anvil), steady.--_sæf_ (a rush), siv.--_tjarn_ (pool), tarn.--_oenska_ (to wish for), we say to set one an onska, _i.e._ longing or wishing." will any one inform me which of the above are anglo-saxon words? i may add that there are many french words in the swedish for aught i know, some of them norman. as we find german words in the italian, we may expect to find scandinavian in the french. charles watkins. * * * * * sir david lindsay's viridarium. in lord lindsay's very interesting _lives of the lindsays_, vol. i. p. ., after the description of the very curious "viridarium or garden" of sir david lindsay at edzell, and of the various sculptures and ornaments with which its wall is decorated, the author says: "to show how insecure was enjoyment in that dawn of refinement, the centre of every star along the wall forms an embrasure for the extrusion, if needed, of arrow, harquebuss, or pistol." some years before the book was published, i had visited this very interesting spot, and examined these sculptures, and other ornaments, amongst which the _pierced stars_ puzzled me much: however, after a lengthened and very careful investigation, finding that, being at too great a height from the ground, and, moreover, that as the holes in the centre of the stars do not pass through the wall, but merely into small cavities in it, they could not have been used as embrasures, or have served for warlike purposes; and that, as there were no channels or pipes that could have { } conducted water to them, they could not have been connected with fountains or water-works; i came to the conclusion that the planner of the garden, or at least of its walls, must have been an ardent lover of birds, and that these holes were for providing access for his beloved feathered friends (they would only admit the passage of _small_ birds) to the secure resting-places which the hollow stones afforded; for whose use other niches and recesses seem also to have been planned (though some of the latter were probably intended to hold bee-hives) with a philornithic indifference for the security of the fruit tempting their attacks from all sides, but quite in character with the portrait of sir david, as depicted by his noble biographer. w. c. trevelyan. athenæum. * * * * * minor notes. _unlucky days._--the subjoined lines on certain days of the several months, i copied some years ago from a ms. on the fly-leaf of an old spanish breviary, then in the possession of an irish priest. though neither their grammar nor prosody are first-rate, yet they may be worthy of preservation as a curiosity. i may add that they appear to have been written by a trinitarian brother of redemption, in the early part of the sixteenth century. "_january._ prima dies mensis, et septima truncat in ensis. _february._ quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia sortem. _march._ primus mandentem, disrumpit quarta bibentem. _april._ denus et undenus est mortis vulnere plenus. _may._ tertius occidet et septimus ora relidet. _june._ denus pallescit quin-denus foedera nescit. _july._ ter-decimus mactat, julii denus labefactat. _august._ prima necat fortem prosternit secunda cohortem. _september._ tertia septembris, et denus fert mala membris. _october._ tertius et denus est sicut mors alienus. _november._ scorpius est quintus, et tertius e nece cinctus. _december._ septimus exanguis, virosus denus et anguis." w. pinkerton. ham. _the pancake bell._--at the huntingdonshire village from which i now write, the _little_ bell of the church is annually rung for ten minutes on shrove tuesday, at eleven o'clock in the morning: this is called "the pancake bell." cuthbert bede, b.a. _quoits._--the vulgar pronunciation of the irons used in this game is _quaits_. from the following passage in a letter from sir thomas browne to ashmole, it is probable that the word was formerly thus spelt: "count rosenberg played at _quaits_, with silver _quaits_ made by projection as before." uneda. philadelphia. _the family of townerawe._--one great advantage of "n. & q." is not only that inquiries may be made and information obtained by those who are engaged in any research, but also that such persons as happen to possess information on a particular subject may make it known before it is sought or asked for. i therefore beg to inform any person that may be interested in the family of _townerawe_, that there is in the library of trinity college, dublin, a latin ms. bible, which belonged to "raufe townerawe," who on the th of june, , was married to anne hartgrane, at reavesbye, in lincolnshire, and that at the end of this bible are recorded the births, deaths and marriages of his children and other members of his family, from the date above mentioned to . james h. todd. trin. coll. dublin. "_history of formosa._"--the writer of the fictitious _history of formosa_, inquired about at vol. vii., p. ., was george psalmanazar, himself a fiction, almost. and this reference to wiseman's lectures reminds me that your correspondent rt. (vol. vii., p. .), who discovered the metrical version of that passage of st. bernard in fulke greville's poem, was (to say the least) _anticipated_ by the cardinal, in the magnificent peroration to the last of those _lectures upon science and revealed religion_. b. b. woodward. _notes on newspapers._--the following may be worth a place among your notes. i copied it from the _evening mail_ (a tri-weekly issue from _the times_ office), but unfortunately omitted to take the date, and the only authority i can offer is _evening mail_, no. , . p. . col. . (leader): "_the times_ has its share of antiquities. our office stands upon the foundations of blackfriars, where for centuries plantagenets, yorkists, lancastrians, and tudors, held court. we have reason to believe that just about where we sit was heard that famous cause for annulling the marriage of catherine, which led to the english reformation. under these foundations others still older are now open to view. first we have under us the norman wall of the city, before it was extended westward to give more room to blackfriars, and under that presents itself the unmistakeable material and composition of the old roman wall." tee bee. { } * * * * * queries. wild plants and their names. in looking over some memoranda, i find the following queries entered; and, as it is more than probable that some of the readers of "n. & q." who take an interest in our wild flowers, and love the simple, homely names which were given them by our fathers, will easily solve them, i send them for insertion: . _capsella_, _bursa pastoris_, "shepherd's purse." why was this plant called "st. james's wort;" french, "fleur de st. jacques?" was it used in medicine? its old name, "poor man's parmacetic," would imply that it was. . _veronica chamædrys_, "eye-bright," "paul's betony," and "fluellin." what was the origin of these two names? . _primula veris_, "cowslip," "palsy wort;" french, "herbe de la paralysie." is this plant used in any of our village pharmacopoeias as a remedy for palsy; and if so, how? i may also add another query on this plant, and which i trust some _fair_ reader will answer; and that is, how is the ointment prepared from the leaves (?), which is used to remove tan and freckles from the sunburnt? . _viburnum opulus_, "guelder rose." was this plant originally a native of the low countries? i am inclined to think that its distribution was of a very wide range. . _neottia spiralis_, "ladies' tresses," "sweet cods," "sweet cullins," and "stander grass." what is the origin of these names? . _ribes nigrum_, "black currant," "gazel" (kent). meaning? . _stellaria holostea_, "stitchwort," "all-bones." meaning? the plant is very fragile. . _orobus tuberosus_, "bitter vetch," "cormeille" (highlands of scotland), and "knapperts" (scotland generally). have these terms any signification? . _sinapis arvensis_, "wild mustard," "charlock," "garlock," "chadlock," and "runsh." derivation and meaning? . _saxifraga umbrosa_, "london pride," "saxifrage," "st. patrick's cabbage." is there a legend in connexion with this name; and in what county is this saxifrage so called? . _geum urbanum_, "yellow avens," "herb bennet," "star of the north," "blessed herb." these names would appear to point to some virtues supposed to be attached to this herb. what are they? . _linum catharticum_, "purge flax," "mill mountain"? . _sedum acre_, "biting stone-crop," "jack of the buttery," "pricket," "bird's bread"? . _gnaphalium germanicum_, "common cudweed," "wicked herb" (_herba impia_), "live-long," and "chaff-weed." . _euphorbia helioscopia_, "sun spurge," "churn-staff"? juice milky, but acrid. . _euphorbia cyparissius_, "cypress spurge," "welcome to our house"? . _chrysanthemum segetum_, "wild marigold," "goules," "goulans" (query remains of its old name gold?), "st. john's bloom," "ruddes"? . _spergula arvensis_, "spurrey yarr" (scotch)? . _chenapodium bonus henricus_, "mercury goose-foot," "good king henry"? to all the latter the same query will apply, what is the origin of the name? it is probable but few of the above names will be now found; or, if found, it will be only in those districts where the march of intellect (?) has not banished all traces of household surgery, home legends, and, i may almost add, home feelings. much that is interesting to the antiquary and the naturalist is now fast fading out of the land. the very existence of the cheap literature of the day will rapidly root out all traces of traditionary lore; and strong, _steady_ efforts should be made to rescue as much as possible of it from oblivion. it is with this view i send these queries; and in case they are deemed worthy of insertion, i purpose to follow them up by a second list of queries, as to the medical virtues of our wild plants. in the mean time i may add, that any notes on them, whether as charms or cures, would be most desirable. enivri. tredagh. * * * * * popular sayings. i would feel obliged, mr. editor, if you or any of your north of england readers would favour me direct, or otherwise through the medium of "n. & q.," with the origin and meaning of the following popular local sayings, peculiar to the north countrie. likewise permit me to observe, that if any of them can favour me, through either of the above channels, with a few more of the "dark sayings of antiquity," either in the form of plain prose or rude rustic rhymes, peculiar to any or all of the five northern counties, to wit, york, durham, northumberland, cumberland, and westmoreland, they would not only be conferring an obligation upon myself, but likewise upon every one of your numerous readers who take pleasure in the fast-fading traditional relics of our ancestors. . as crafty as a kendal fox. . like the parson of saddleworth, who could read in no book but his own. . doncaster daggers. . the woful town o' wetherby. . as sure as a louse in pomfret. (pontefract.) . like the mayor of hartlepool, you cannot do that. (co. durham.) { } . looks as _vild_ (worthless) as a pair of yorkshire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop. . hearts _is_ trumps at eskett hall. (near felton, northumberland.) . silly good-natured, like a hexham goose. . there are no rats at hatfield, nor sparrows at lindham. (co. ebor.) . a dent for a galloway, a hind for an ass. (ibid.) m. aislabie denham. piersebridge, darlington, durham. * * * * * minor queries. _hermit queries._-- . some years ago a hermitage existed in certain grounds at chelsea, the proprietor of which frequently advertised for a hermit, and, i believe, never got one. who was the proprietor of the said hermitage; and did he ever succeed in getting his toy tenanted? . in gilbert white's poem, _invitation to selborne_, the following lines occur: "or where the hermit hangs the straw-clad cell, emerging gently from the leafy dell, by fancy plann'd," &c. &c. the only edition of the "letters" which i possess, is that by sir william jardine and mr. jesse, which affords a note on the passage, to the effect that the hermitage referred to was used by a young gentleman, who appeared occasionally "in the character of a hermit." what was the name of the eccentric, and what is known of his hermit life? is the hermitage still in existence? . where is to be found the best account of anchorites, real and fictitious? shirley hibberd. _derivation of "cobb."_--what is the derivation of the word _cobb_? there is but one harbour of that name in england, that of lyme regis: there was once another at swanage. this was also styled, some three centuries ago, the "cobb or conners." query: what is the derivation of the family name "cobham?" g. r. l. _play-bills._--will any of your correspondents inform me in what year play-bills were first introduced; and at what period the _year_ was added to the day of the month and week, which only is attached to the early bills? j. n. g. g. _sir edward grymes, bart._--a correspondent in a recent number of the _naval and military gazette_, asks who was sir edward grymes, bart., whose appointment appeared in the _war office gazette_ of december , , as surgeon's mate to the garrison at minorca, when the baronetcy came into the family, when he died, and whether a gentleman of the same rank has ever, before or since that period, served in a similar situation in the english army? i have transferred these queries to the columns of "n. & q.," supposing that they might be answered by some of its correspondents. w. w. malta. _smollett's strap._--in "n. & q.," vol. iii., p. ., is an extract from the _examiner_, march , , relating to hugh hewson, who is there mentioned as being "no less a personage than the identical hugh strap." mr. faulkner, in his _history of chelsea_, vol. i. p. ., states that mr. w. lewis, of lombard street, chelsea, was the original of this character. he established himself in chelsea by smollett's advice, and died there about . faulkner states that he resided with his widow for seven years, and thus having opportunities of being acquainted with the facts, i am inclined to give his account the preference. now that these different accounts are brought forward, some reader of "n. & q." may be enabled with certainty to fix who was the identical. h. g. d. _the iron mask._--mr. james cornish (vol. v., p. .) says, that "after half a century's active exertions, the iron mask was unveiled," and this sanguine person gives it also as his opinion that the author of _junius's letters_ will "eventually be unearthed." the last event may perhaps happen; but what authority has he for asserting that the mysterious secret of the "masque de fer" has ever been satisfactorily explained? numerous, learned, and ingenious, as many of the hypotheses on the subject have been for upwards of a century, i have always imagined that an impenetrable veil of secrecy still continued to cover this wonderful historical mystery. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _bland family._--in the carey pedigree in the _ducatus leodiensis_, it is stated that sir philip carey of hunslet, near leeds (brother of the first visct. falkland), married elizabeth, daughter and heiress of _rich. bland of carleton_ (about a.d. ). can any of your numerous readers inform me _who_ this mr. bland was, _whom_ he married, and _which_ carleton is meant? i have searched the yorkshire visitations at the museum, and consulted nich. carlisle's _history of the bland family_, with no result. possibly mr. hunter, who is so deeply versed in yorkshire matters, might throw some light on the subject. g. e. adams. oxford and cambridge club. _thomas watson, bishop of st. david's, - , &c._--no notice of the period or place of his death has yet appeared, nor of the age of _bishop turner of calcutta_, - , as also that of _bishop gobat_. regarding, the latter prelate, as he is styled d.d. in the ecclesiastical almanacks and { } directories, i am anxious to learn whether that degree was conferred upon him by any english university on his consecration in ? a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _crescent._--the article under this head in the _encyclopædia metropolitana_, asserts that the crescent was first adopted by the ottomans as a symbol after the taking of constantinople in . if so, the device must have been unknown to the saracens at the time of the crusades. can any of your readers inform me whether this statement is correct? ficulnus. "_quod fuit esse._"--i should be glad to know the sense of the following epitaph, copied at lavenham church, norfolk, many years since; it has long lain in my note-book, waiting for such a publication as "n. & q.," through which to inquire its meaning: "john weles, ob. . quod fuit esse, quod est quod non fuit esse, quod esse, esse quod non esse, quod est, non est, erit, esse." a. b. r. belmont. "_coming home to men's business._"--where does the phrase "coming home to men's business and bosoms" first occur? i find it said of bacon's essays in _baconiana_, st edit. ? j. p. birmingham. _thomas gibbes of fenton._--can any of your genealogical readers tell me what other issue (if any) there was of the marriage of thomas gibbes of fenton, in the parish of dartington, in the county of devon, and anne, daughter of sir william courtenay of powderham, besides their son william gibbes, who died in london a.d. ? also whether john gibbes of fenton, father of the above-named thomas gibbes, who married the heiress of william may or mey, had any other issue? henry h. gibbs. frognal, hampstead. _"the whipping toms" at leicester._--a singular annual custom, under the above designation, formerly prevailed in this town, from time immemorial, on shrove tuesday. it is unnecessary to take up your valuable space with a detailed account of it, as it is fully described in throsby's _history of leicester_, p. ., and in hone's _year-book_, p. . my object is to inquire if any custom at all analogous to it is known to have existed elsewhere, and, if so, what is the supposed origin of it? nothing whatever is known of the origin of the custom in this town, beyond a vague popular tradition that it was instituted (like several other curious customs) by john of gaunt, during his lengthened residence in the castle within what was then termed "the new-works" of which (now called "the newarke") the gathering was held. however venerable from its antiquity, it was, like too many of the sports of the middle ages, a custom "more honoured in the breach than the observance," and, as such, was put down in the year by a local act of parliament; not, however, without a serious affray between the police and the people. leicestriensis. _the trial of our lord._--i have lately seen an old picture of the trial of our lord before pilate, who sits in the midst of the jewish sanhedrim, each member of which has a scroll over his head, giving his name and the sentence he is said to have uttered on that occasion. i have been told there is a large coarse engraving of this picture sometimes to be found in cottages, but i have not been able to procure one. the names and sentiments are of course fictitious; is anything known of their origin? p. p. _olney._--can any correspondent state what is the signification of this name? the ancient spelling is _olnei_ or _olney_, not _oulney_, as it has sometimes been spelled of late years. the difficulty is not as to the termination _ey_, but as to the first syllable. the parish church, which stands at the southern extremity of the town, on the banks of the ouse, is entirely (modern alterations excepted) of the fourteenth century. there is not a trace of any earlier work. tradition says that the church was formerly at the other, or northern end of the town, where there is a place which is, as i am informed, described in the deeds of some of the adjoining premises as the old churchyard, though it has been desecrated time out of mind. closely adjacent is a clear spring, still called "christenwell," and also the trunk of a very ancient elm. human bones are stated to have been occasionally dug up within the enclosure. there is a vague tradition that the town as well as the church has been removed southward, _i. e._ nearer the river. readers of "n. & q." who can supply any information respecting the removal of the church and town, or any other particulars (in addition to those contained in dr. lipscomb's _history of bucks_) concerning the parish of olney, including the hamlet and manor of warrington, and the now district parish of weston-underwood, will greatly oblige w. p. storer. olney, bucks. _album._--what was the origin, and where do we find the earliest notice of the kind of friendly { } memorial book so well known among us as an _album_? was it not first used by the learned men of germany as a repository for the complimentary tributes of their foreign visitors? is there any mention of it in any english author earlier than izaak walton, who tells us that sir henry wotton, when ambassador at venice, wrote in the _album_ of christopher flecamore a latin sentence to the effect that "an ambassador is an honest man, sent to lie abroad for the good of his country?" where is the earliest _specimen_ of an english _album_, according to the modern form and use of the scrapbook so called? d. _the lisle family._--can any of the readers of "n. & q." give me some fuller information than is to be found in lyttleton's _history of england_, or refer me to any authorities for such, concerning the family and connexions of the following personages? there was a lady lisle, who, temp. jac. ii., was tried at winchester by the notorious judge jeffries, and afterwards executed, for harbouring two rebels after the battle of sedgemoor. i believe she was beheaded as a favour, instead of being burnt. she was the widow of one of the judges who consented to the death of that ill-fated monarch charles i. i observe the barony of lisle has been extinct, or in abeyance, on four or five different occasions; was either about this time? the present peerage appears to have been created circa . are these descendants of that family? i possess portraits of lord and lady lisle (size six feet by four), and much wish to learn the above, together with any other particulars relating to the family. john garland. dorchester. _wards of the crown._--i find the origin of this ancient prerogative of royalty thus quaintly explained at p. . of king's _vale royall of england_, . hugh lupus, first norman earl of chester, and nephew of the conqueror, at his death in , left his son "richard, then an infant of seven years of age, entituled then to his earldome of chester, and _married_ to matilda, daughter to stephen, earl of blois. and this matilda was niece to king henry i., by reason whereof the said king took into his tuition and custody the said young earl; from whence, they say, this of a custome grew to be a law, that young heirs in their nonage became pupils, or _wards_, unto the king. a very tender care had this king over this princely child, and brought him up in the company of his own children, with whom he sent him into normandy, and with them there provided the most princely and best education for them." their after-history is well known. having duly arrived at man's estate, these promising young princes and their companion, richard, the royal ward, were sent for from normandy by the affectionate king, whence, taking ship at harfleur, they set sail for england; but, through some mismanagement, the vessel striking upon a rock, the entire company perished except one butcher, who, by the help of a mast, swam safe to land. this tragedy happened about december , . i believe this to be the first instance recorded in english history of a ward to the king, but shall be happy to receive correction from any better-informed correspondent of "n. & q." t. hughes. chester. _tate, an artist._--a friend of mine has a very fine family portrait, very much admired by judges, and generally ascribed to reynolds, whose style it greatly resembles. but i believe it has with some confidence been stated to be the work of a pupil of sir joshua's, named tate. the picture is about seventy years old. would you, or any of your readers, kindly inform me whether an artist of that name lived at that time, and whether he was a pupil of sir joshua reynolds? a. w. kilburn. _philip d'auvergne._-- "on the th of march, , the king of great britain granted to captain philip d'auvergne, r. n., his licence to accept the succession to the said duchy (bouillon), in case of the death of the hereditary prince, only son of the reigning duke, without issue male, pursuant to a declaration of his serene highness, dated june th, , at the desire, and with the express and formal consent of the nation." i find this in brooke's _gazetteer_, under the heading of "bouillon." can any of your correspondents give a further account of captain d'auvergne? i suppose the troubles consequent upon the french revolution would prevent his accession to the duchy, even if he survived the hereditary prince? e. h. a. _somersetshire ballad._--i have a note of the following verse of an old ballad. where can i find the remaining verses? "go ask the vicar of taunton deane, and he'll tell you the banns were askit, and a good fat ceapun he had for his peains, and he's carrit it whoom in his baskit." s. a. s. _lady high sheriff._--can any of your herefordshire readers inform me who the lady was who served the office of high sheriff for that county, somewhere about the years or ? her husband had been appointed, but dying shortly afterwards, his widow took his place, and attended the judges with the javelin-men, dressed in deep mourning. if any one could give me any { } information about this lady, i should be much obliged: i should be glad to know whether there is another instance of a lady high sheriff on record? w. m. _major-general lambert_, the first president of cromwell's council, after the restoration was exiled to guernsey, where he remained for thirty years a prisoner. noble, in his _house of cromwell_, vol. i. p. ., says, mrs. lambert has been supposed to have been partial to the protector; "that her name was _fra._, an elegant and accomplished woman. she had a daughter, married to a welsh judge, whom she survived, and died in january, - ." any of your correspondents who may be able, will oblige by informing me who mrs. lambert was, when she and the general died, and to whom the daughter was married. noble evidently had not been able to ascertain who the accomplished woman was. g. _hoyle, meaning of; and hoyle family._--what is the english to the celtic word hoyle; and was there any family of the name of hoyle previous to the year ? if so, can you give me any history of them, or say where same may be found? also, what is the arms, crest, and motto of that family? f. k. _robert dodsley._--in all the biographies, this amiable and worthy man is said to have been born at mansfield in nottinghamshire. does he anywhere state this himself? if not, what is the evidence in favour of such statement? not the parish register of mansfield certainly. i have often thought that a life of dodsley _in extenso_ might be made an interesting vehicle for illustrating the progress of an individual from the humble rank of a livery servant to the influential position of a first-class london bookseller in the augustan age of english literature; including, of course, all the reflex influences of the society of that period. there is plenty of matter; and i think a well-known correspondent of "n. & q." and _gent's mag._, whose initials are p. c., would know where to find and how to use it. n. d. _mary queen of scots._--in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. xcix. part ii. p. ., it is stated that the late earl of buchan (who died in april, ) "in some letters warmly embraced the cause of mary queen of scots against dr. robertson;" but we are not informed whether they were ever printed, or where they are to be found. as i have always felt a strong conviction of the injustice done this unfortunate woman, i shall be gratified by any communication stating where these letters can be met with. f. r. a. _heuristisch--evristic._--the word _heuristisch_ occurs four times in the _kritik der reinen vernunft_, pp. . . . ., ed. leipzig, . i cannot find it in any german dictionary. mr. haywood (ed. ) translates it _evristic_, which i cannot find in any english dictionary. i conjecture that it may be [greek: heuriskô] germanised, and that it will bear the translation _tentative_. will some one, better versed than myself in the language of german metaphysics, tell me whether i am right, and, if not, set me so? h. b. c. u. u. club. minor queries with answers. _"eugenia," by hayes and carr._--can any of your readers give me any account of the following play, as to where the scene of it is laid, &c.? _eugenia_, a tragedy, by samuel hayes and robert carr, vo. . this play, which appears to have never been acted, was written by the rev. samuel hayes, author of several of the seatonian prize poems, and who was at one time usher in westminster school. robert carr, who assisted him in writing it, appears to have been one of the westminster scholars about , but i am unable to give any further account of him. a. z. glasgow. [the scene, as stated at the commencement of the play, was laid in and near the mercian camp, on the confines of wales, except the first act, and beginning of the third, which lies in the british camp, distant from the mercian eight miles. the _dramatis personæ_ were:--_britons_: cadwallyne, king of the britons; ormanus, a noble captive; albanact, eliud, edgar, officers; eugenia, althira, captives. _mercians_: penda, king of mercia; ethelred, his son; osmond, nephew to the king; offa, egbert, edwin, officers. british and mercian officers, prisoners, guards, and other attendants.] _claret._--how, or from whence, have we adopted the word _claret_, as applied to the wines of the bordeaux district, and which seems to be utterly unknown in other parts of europe? vinos. [dr. pegge, in his _anonymiana_, cent. iii. sect. ., says, "there is a place of the name of _claret_ in the duke de rohan's _mémoires_, lib. iv., from whence i conceive the french wine takes its name." it is stated in the _mémoires_ as being five miles from montpellier.] "_strike, but hear me._"--on what occasion, and by whom, were these words first used? i have not been able to trace them. abhba. [these words occur in a conversation between eurybiades and themistocles, and will be found in plutarch's _life of themistocles_, cap. xi.] _fever at croydon._--in camden's _britannia_ before me, with date on (written) title-page , { } londini, georgii bishop, joannes norton, p. ., under county svthrey, and against the marginal "croidon," it is thus stated: "as for that sudden swelling water or bourne, which the common people reports to breake foorth heere out of the ground, presaging, i wote not how, either dearth of corne or the pestilence, may seeme not worthy once the naming, and yet the euentes sometime ensuing hath procured it credit." i have heard it stated, without reference to the above, that the aforesaid stream had risen during the last few months, and, if such be the case, the fever that has been so prevalent in the town seems to bear out the above statement. can any of your correspondents inform me whether the above fact is mentioned in any other account of the place, and if so, where? r. w. h. [it appears that our early ballad writers do not give a very favourable account of the locality of croydon. listen to patrick hannay, gent., in :-- "it seems of starved sterilitie the seat, where barren downs do it environ round; whose parched tops in summer are not wet, and only are with snow in winter crown'd, only with bareness they do still abound; or if on some of them we roughness find, it's tawny heath, badge of the barren rinde. "in midst of these stands croydon cloath'd in black, in a low bottom sink of all these hills; and is receipt of all the dirty wracke, which from their tops still in abundance trills, the unpav'd lanes with muddy mire it fills if one shower fall; or, if that blessing stay, you may well smell, but never see your way."] "_gesmas et desmas._"--what is the meaning of two terms, _gesmas_ and _desmas_, in the following couplet, which i transcribe from ms. entries in an old and rare volume lately bought, of date , and the handwriting would seem coeval with the printing of the book? the lines evidently relate to the crucifixion of our lord between the thieves; but i have never seen any appellations given to these last, and cannot fix a meaning for the terms with any certainty: they may have reference to the penitence of one, and the hardened state of the other still "tied and bound in the chain of his sins," but i know not to what language to refer them: "disparibus meritis pendit tria corpora lignis _gesmas_ et _desmas_, medius divina potestas." a. b. r. [our correspondent is right in supposing that gesmas and desmas are the names traditionally assigned to the two malefactors, and which occur in the old mysteries, &c. _desmas_ is that of the penitent thief. these names are, we believe, mentioned in the pseudo-gospel of nicodemus; and some particulars of the legend, we believe, but we cannot just now ascertain, are preserved in molan. _de pictur. sacris_, . iv. c. .] _satirical medal._-- . i shall be glad to obtain some information respecting a curious medal in my possession, bearing-- obv. "ecclesia perversa tenet faciem diaboli, ." a face in profile, crowned with the tiara: turned round, the same face becomes that of the devil. rev. "sapientes stulti aliquando." a head with a cardinal's cap, which reversed becomes a face surmounted with a fool's cap and bells. the medal is of silver, nearly the size of a crown piece; and from the form of the letters is, i suppose, about two hundred years old. john i. dredge. [this curious medal, which is figured in rigollot's _monnaies des fous_ (pl. iv. fig. .), and the reverse of which has been engraved by tilliot (_fête des foux_) as the seal of the _mère folle_ of dijon, is a satirical medal issued by the protestants. their opponents retorted, or provoked its issue, by one which riggolot has also figured (fig. .): which has on one side the head of calvin, crowned with the tiara, &c. (which, when turned, becomes that of the devil), and the words "_joan. calvinus heresiarch. pessimus_;" and on the reverse a cardinal's head, which is turned into a fool's head, with the motto "_et stulti, aliquando sapite_."--psalm xciii.] * * * * * replies. the gookins of ireland. (vol. i., pp. . . .; vol. ii., p. .; vol. iv., p. .) upon an examination of the ancient records which are preserved in the exchequer record office, at the four courts, dublin, it will be found that in the year sir vincent gookin acquired, by purchase from david earl of barrymore, the lands of cargane in the county of cork; and from mr. william fitz john o'hea, in the year , the lands of ballymacwilliam and cruary, in the same county; and that he died on the th of feb. [ ];--that captain robert gookin, in recompence for his services as a soldier and adventurer, obtained an assignment from the protector of an estate in the same county, consisting of upwards of five thousand acres, which he afterwards surrendered to charles ii.; and that thereupon the king granted it to roger earl of orrery;--that vincent gookin died on the th of march, , and that his son robert, and dorothy clayton, were his executors;--that in the year the collectors of quit rent made a demand upon thomas gookin, one of sir vincent's sons, for the { } rent of the lands which his father had purchased from mr. o'hea, and that, upon proof being made to the court of exchequer by mr. john burrowes, one of sir vincent's executors, that the estate was a "protestant interest," or, in other words, that as the family had been of the protestant religion, and not implicated in the rebellion of , the lands were therefore not liable to the payment of quit rent, they were accordingly put out of charge. it appears also by the records which are deposited in the same office, that thomas gookin, gentleman, was indicted at the sessions held at bandon in the year , "for that he, with several others, riotously and unlawfully did assemble and associatt themselves together at lislee, on the th of december, , and in and uppon david barry and charles carthy, gentlemen, did make a cruell assaulte and affray, and did beate, wound, and falsely imprison them, under colour of a warrant from henry bathurst, esq., made and interlined by the said thomas gookin;" and that elizabeth gookin, of lislee, spinster, was one of his sureties. this elizabeth was probably descended from a charles gookin, who claimed the lands of lislee in the time of the protector. by the records in the same department, it appears that in and previous to the year a suit was pending in the court of exchequer with respect to the lands of courtmacsherry; and by the receiver's account, which bears the autograph of robert gookin, it is shown that a payment was made to mrs. dorothy gookin for maintenance, and that there was an arrear due to lady mary erwin, "at ye time of captain gookin's death, which happened in september, :" and in the same office there is deposited a deed, dated the th of october, , which relates to the lands of clouncagh, in the same county of cork, whereto john allin, an alderman of the city of cork, and elizabeth gookin, otherwise towgood, his wife, and robert gookin, esq., eldest son and devisee of robert gookin deceased, are parties. i have been informed that a lengthened account of sir vincent gookin is to be found in lord stafford's state letters; that much information may be gathered from the privy council papers _tempore_ cromwell, which are deposited in dublin castle, with respect to captain robert gookin; and that in the year daniel gookin was one of the undertakers in the county of longford, and that his estate of five hundred acres afterwards passed to an ancestor of the late popular novelist miss edgeworth. j. f. f. dublin. [footnote : amongst the inquisitions of the county of cork which are preserved in the rolls office of chancery, there is one which relates to vincent gookin, and was taken at mallow, on the th of august, ; and is probably an inquisition _post mortem_.] * * * * * "stabit quocunque jeceris." (vol. vii., p. .) this little query may perhaps come under the category you mention in the address of your opening number for the year, although it might be a sufficient reply merely to say that it was the legend round the common manx halfpenny, encircling the three legs of man on its reverse; but when we consider these three conjoined limbs in their awkward and impossible position, the propriety of the legend may be doubted, and its presence attributable only to the numismatic necessity of accompanying the figure with its motto. the following epigram has been composed by some manxman thoroughly convinced of the propriety of the application: "reader! thou'st seen a falling cat, light always on his feet so pat; a shuttlecock will still descend, meeting the ground with nether end; the persevering manksman thus, a shuttlecock or pauvre puss; however through the world he's tost-- however disappointed, crost-- reverses, losses, fortune's frown, no chance or change can keep him down. upset him any way you will, upon his _legs_ you'll find him still. for ever active, brisk, and spunky, _stabit jeceris quocunque_." where, however, we perceive in the last line the rhyme has destroyed the metre of the latin poet, if the words be really a classical quotation, which i should wish to form into a query for some of your readers. but the emblem, as the famous _triquetra_, is one of the most ancient and celebrated of antiquity. it figures on the oldest coins of metapontum; and subsequently on many of those of sicily, particularly on those of palermo and syracuse, as _island_ cities; for to islands, from one use of its name in the greek word [greek: chÊlÊ], as a jutting promontory, a break-water, or a jetty, was it more especially appropriated. hence it is even now borne in the neapolitan blazon for sicily: as britain, if she followed the continental examples, would be entitled to quarter it in her full imperial escutcheon, not only for man, but for malta; by which latter it was early taken as the device. but under this distinctive name as _chele_, it only figured the potency which all pointed or angular forms and substances possessed insensitively or in a triple degree. to understand this, we should consider the force that all pointed or sharp instruments possess: the awl, the wedge, the adze, are well known for their assistance to the mechanic; and the transference of the idea to non-physical aid was so easy, and so consonant to the human mind, that, when we speak of the acuteness of an intellect, the point of an epigram, the keen edge of a sarcasm, we are scarcely conscious that we indulge at all in the maze of metaphor. nor was the adaptation of the figure less suitable to the purposes of superstition, by which it { } was seized on, both for the purpose of driving away the evil one or forcing him to appear: all edged tools, or angular forms, gave complete mastery over him. therefore, the best method of obtaining sight of the otherwise invisible spirits of the air, is by putting the head beneath the legs, the human fork or angle--the true greek _chele_--as it is also used by saxo-grammaticus in a dialogue between bearco and ruta, to see odin riding on the whirlwind: "_bearco._ at nunc ille ubi sit qui vulgo dicitur othin armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello; dic mihi ruta, precor, usquam si conspicis illum? _ruta._ adde oculum proprius et _nostras prospice chelas_, ante sacraturus victrici lumina signo, si vis presentem tuto cognoscere martem. _bearco._ sic potero horrendum frigæ spectare maritum," &c. so boys in the north put their heads between their legs to see the devil looking over lincoln: and i am indebted to a mention of my _shakspeare's puck and his folk-lore_ in the _maidstone journal_ for the proof that this belief still exists in ireland from an anecdote told by curran, who, in the absence of a währwolf on which to try its efficacy, would prove it on a large mastiff by walking backwards to it in this posture, "while the animal made such a grip at the poor barrister's hinder region, that curran was unable to _sit_ with any gratification to himself for some weeks afterwards." permit me to refer such readers as are curious to know more on this subject, to the above work, p. . but if you still can find room for a continental proof of the efficacy of a pair of shears as very powerful _chele_, not only for driving away satan, but altogether banishing him from earth, allow me to adduce from a most excellent collection of tales, traditions of the bavarian territories (_sagenbuch der baierischen lande_), just published by herr a. schöppner, under the auspices of the ex-king, the following tale, no. , "die scharfe scheere" (the sharp scissors): "outside the parish church of münnerstadt, you see a gravestone with a pair of shears sculptured on it. he who rests under it was a pious tailor, who was often disturbed by the devil in his devotions. the latter appeared to him frequently, and whispered him to throw plenty of cabbage into his hell (a technical german term for its receptacle, i know not if usual amongst the english gentle craft), and otherwise played him many insidious pranks. our tired schneider complained of the evil to a pious hermit, who advised him, the next time the prince of darkness made his appearance, to take the shears and _cut off his tail_. the tailor resolved to follow his advice; and, on the next visitation, he lopped the tail clean from his body. the devil halloed out murder! went off, and ever afterwards left the tailor in peace. but the shears remained a long time as an heirloom in the family, and their form was sculptured on his tombstone in remembrance. since then, the devil walks through münnerstadt without a posterial adornment, and therefore not now recognisable; which is the reason that many people assert that there is no longer any devil." well might herrick, in his _hesperides_, inculcate: "hang up _hooks and shears_ to scare hence the hag that rides the mare." william bell, phil. doc. . gower place. * * * * * "pic-nics." (vol. iv., p. .; vol. vi., pp. . &c.) will you accept a french elucidation of the etymon of this word, which has sorely puzzled your correspondents? what saith the _encyclopédie des gens du monde_, tom. xix. ( ): "pique nique.--expression empruntée de l'anglais, où elle est formée de _pick_, choisir, et _nick_, instant précis, et signifie choix judicieux où tout se rencontre bien. on se sert aussi en français de cette locution pour désigner un repas où chacun paie son écot, ou bien auquel chacun contribue en fournissant un des plats." the word is in ménage (_dictionnaire étymologique_, folio, ): "piquenique.--nous disons _faire un repas à pique-nique_, pour dire faire un repas où chacun paye son écot: ce que les flamans disent, _parte bétal, chacun sa part_. ce mot n'est pas ancien dans notre langue; et il est inconnu dans la plupart de nos provinces." _picnics_ were known and practised in the reign of james i. an amusing description of one is given in a letter from sir philip mainwaring, dated nov. , . the knight is writing to lord arundel from newmarket: "the prince his birth-day hathe beene solemnised heare by those few marquises and lords which found themselves heare, and to supplie the want of the lords, knights and squires were admitted to a consultation, wherein it was resolved that such a number should meete at gamiges, and bring every man his dish of meate. it was left to their own choyces what to bring: some strove to be substantiall, some curios, and some extravagant. sir george goring's invention bore away the bell; and that was foure huge brawny piggs, pipeing hott, bitted and harnised with ropes of sarsiges, all tyde to a monstrous bag-pudding." and on the th of the same month, mr. chamberlain wrote to sir dudley carleton: "we hear nothing from newmarket, but that they devise all the means they can to make themselves merry; as of late there was a feast appointed at a farmhouse not far off, whither every man should bring his dish. the king brought a great chine of beef, the marquis of hamilton four pigs incircled with sausages, the earl of southampton two turkies, another six partridges, and one a whole tray full of buttered eggs; { } and so all passed off very pleasantly."--nichols's _progresses of james i._, vol. iii. pp. . . w. m. r. e. [mr. arthur wilson has written to us that this word is swedish, and to be found in widegren's _swedish and english dictionary_. we may add that it is also in delens, but we do not believe it to be of swedish origin. we believe it will eventually be traced to a french source.--ed.] * * * * * "coninger" or "coningry." (vol. vii., p. .) the latin word for a rabbit is _cuniculus_, as is shown in the following couplet of martial: "gaudet in effossis habitare cuniculus antris: monstravit tacitas hostibus ille vias."--xiii. . the rabbit appears to have been originally peculiar to spain, southern france, and the adjoining islands. strabo (iii. . § .) says that it is found nearly over the whole of spain, and in the balearic islands; and that it reaches as far as massilia. polybius (xii. .) likewise states it to be a native of corsica. it was unknown to the greeks, and is not mentioned by aristotle in his works on natural history (see camus, _notes sur l'histoire des animaux d'aristote_, p. .); nor does it ever occur in the Æsopian fables, although the hare is frequently introduced. hence it had no native greek name; and polybius borrows the latin word, calling it [greek: kuniklos] (compare _athen._, ix. p. .). strabo uses the periphrasis of "burrowing hares," [greek: geôruchoi lagideis]. Ælian, again, employs the latin name, which he considers to be of iberian origin (_de nat. anim._, xiii. .). if this be true, the sense of _subterranean passage_, which _cuniculus_ also bears, is secondary, and not primary (compare plin. _nat. hist._, viii. .). the language of varro _de re rust._ (iii. .) likewise shows that the rabbit was in his time peculiar to spain, and had not been introduced into italy. the meaning of the hebrew word _saphan_, which is translated _cony_ in the authorised version of the old testament (lev. xi. .; deut. xiv. .; ps. civ. .; prov. xxx. .), has been fully investigated by biblical critics and naturalists. (see bochart's _hierozoicon_, vol. ii. pp. - ., ed. rosenmüller; winer, _bibl. real-wörterbuch_, in springhase; _penny cyclopædia_, in hyrax.) it is certainly _not_ the rabbit, which is not a native of syria and palestine: but whether this ruminant quadruped, which lives in the rocks, is the jerboa, or a species of hyrax, or some other small edible animal of a like description, is difficult to determine. from the manner in which strabo speaks of spain and the balearic islands being infested by large numbers of rabbits, it would appear (as legrand d'aussy remarks, _vie privée des français_, tom. ii. p. .) that the ancients did not eat its flesh. the rabbit is now so abundant in parts of the south of france, that, according to the same author, a sportsman in the islands near arles who did not kill a hundred, would be dissatisfied with his day's sport. a provençal gentleman, who in went out to kill rabbits with some of his vassals, and three dogs, brought home in the evening not less than six hundred. from the latin _cuniculus_ have been formed, according to the proper analogy, the italian _coniglio_, the spanish _conéjo_, and the french _conil_, sometimes modified into _conin_ (see diez, _roman. gramm._, vol. ii. p. .). from the old french _conin_ was borrowed the english _coning_ or _conig_, afterwards shortened into _cony_: and from this word have been formed _conigar_ and _coningry_ or _conigry_, for rabbit-warren (see halliwell's _dict._, in conig). _conillus_, for a rabbit-warren, occurs in ducange; _conejár_ is the spanish term. the germans, like the english, had no native name for the rabbit; an animal not indigenous in their country. hence they borrowed the french name _conin_, which they altered into _kanin_; and have since formed the diminutive _kaninchen_. in suabian, the form used is _küniglein_. see adelung in v. the dutch word is _konÿn_. the rabbit was probably introduced into england from france. query: when did that introduction take place? also, when did the later term "rabbit" supersede the old name _cony_? and what is the etymology of _rabbit_? the french _lapin_, which has supplanted the old word _conin_, is said to be formed from _lepinus_, an adjective of _lepus_. l. your solution of the etymology of this word, as coming from _coney_-borough, is no doubt correct: but i apprehend the last syllable has a more specific derivation. on the opposite sides of the lough of belfast, there are two localities in which this old english word is preserved. this district was, as you are aware, colonised by english settlers about a.d., when large grants were made to sir arthur chichester, ancestor of the present marquis of donegal. at carrickfergus, on the north side of the bay, there is a spot called the _connyberry_, which is a corruption of "coneyborough;" but on the opposite side, at holyward, there is a populous rabbit-warren, known as the "kinnegar;" which i take to be the _conynger_ or _coningeria_ about which your correspondent asks. j. emerson tennent. * * * * * names and numbers of british regiments. (vol. vii., p. .) z.'s _third_ application relative to the names and numbers of regiments has roused me into activity, { } and i now forward you the required information, viz.: query . what was the origin of giving british regiments the name of certain officers, instead of numbering them as at present? regiments were numbered, but it was generally customary to designate them by the name of their colonel previous to . . if in honour of an officer commanding the corps, was the name changed when that officer died or removed to another regiment, or what was the rule? the name of the regiment changed by death or removal of the colonel. . when did the present mode of numbering regiments begin, and by whom was it introduced? st july, , by royal warrant of george ii., when the number of the regiment was directed to be embroidered on its standard; even after the numbering became general, the names of colonels were for some time retained. . what was the rule or principle laid down in giving any regiment a certain number? was it according to the length of time it had been embodied? in a board of officers assembled to decide the relative rank of regiments, and the regiments formed in england were placed by seniority of raising, but those from scotland or ireland on their being placed upon the english establishment. . what is the guide now in identifying a named with a numbered regiment; for example, at the battle of culloden in , wolfe's, barrett's, and howard's foot were engaged. now, what is the rule for ascertaining the numbers of these and other old regiments in the british army at the present day? the army list with colonels of that date. in wolfe's was the th foot, barrett's the th foot, and howard's the rd foot. there were two howards of the same date ( ), green and the buff howards, known by their facings. arthur hamilton. p.s.--i shall be happy to give further information and more details if required, and inclose my card to the editor. * * * * * vicars-apostolic in england. (vol. vi., pp. . . .) i send the following as some answer to the inquiries made by your correspondent a. s. a. for the more ample account of bishop ellis, i am indebted to an article in the _rambler_, vol. vii. p. ., entitled "collections illustrating the history of the english benedictine congregation." richard smith, appointed bishop of chalcis, feb. , , and vicar-apostolic of england; he withdrew to france four years afterwards, and died in paris in , aged eighty-eight, in a house belonging to the english convent upon the fossé st. victor. he was probably buried in the convent chapel, where a monument to his memory was erected. see the rev. joseph berington's _memoirs of panzani_, p. . john leyburn, consecrated bishop of adrumetum, and appointed vicar-apostolic of england, : on the country being divided into four vicariats in , he was appointed to the london, or southern district. on the breaking out of the revolution in the same year, he was committed to the tower; but his peaceable and inoffensive conduct soon caused him to be discharged, and he was suffered to remain unmolested until his death, which occurred in . he was greatly beloved and respected by his flock. bonaventure giffard, of the ancient roman catholic family of the giffards of chillington, staffordshire, appointed vicar-apostolic of the midland district, . like bishop leyburn, on the breaking out of the revolution, he was committed to the tower, but was soon released, and on the condition of always making the place of his abode known to the government, he passed the remainder of his days unmolested. on the death of bishop leyburn in , he was removed to the london, or southern district, where he died march , , aged ninety. there is a good portrait of bishop giffard at the roman catholic college of old hall green in hertfordshire. philip ellis, third son of rev. john ellis, rector of waddesden, bucks, by his wife susanna welbore, whilst a pupil in westminster school, was called to the catholic faith, and to the grace of religion, in st. gregory's convent, douay, where he made his profession, th november, , æt. eighteen. after duly qualifying himself for the ministry, he was sent to labour in the english vineyard. his great abilities recommended him to the notice of king james ii., who appointed him one of his chaplains and preachers; and when innocent xi., on th january, , signified his wish that his majesty would nominate three fit subjects to fill the newly constituted vicariats, midland, northern, and western (for dr. john leyburn, bishop of adrumetum, during the last three years had governed the whole of england), father ellis, then thirty-six years of age, was selected for the western vicariat, and was consecrated bishop on sunday, th may, , at st. james's, where the king had established a convent of fourteen benedictine monks, by the title of aureliopolis. in the second week of july, the new prelate confirmed a considerable number of youths, some of them recent converts, in the new chapel of the savoy. (_ellis correspondence_, vol. ii. p. .) in his letter (ibid. p. .) to his brother john, dated from st. james's, th august, , he describes the uneasiness of the court at the preparations making in holland by the prince of { } orange. we doubt if this vicar-apostolic attempted to visit his diocese; for, on the breaking out of the revolution at london in the ensuing november, he was apprehended and committed to newgate (macaulay's _history_, vol. ii. p. .), yet he was soon restored to liberty. foreseeing but faint hope of serving the cause of religion in such turbulent times, he left england for the court of his exiled sovereign at st. germains, and, after staying some time, obtained permission to visit the eternal city. in pope innocent xii. made him an assistant prelate; and on the feast of st. louis, six years later, he sung the high mass at rome, in the french church, before many cardinals, invited and received by the cardinal de bouillon. the prince of monacho, ambassador of france, being then incognito, assisted in a tribune. resigning his western vicariat, he was promoted by pope clement xi. to the vacant see of segni, in the campagna di roma. there he originated a seminary, over which he watched with parental zeal and solicitude. in november , he held a synod in the choir of his cathedral; about seventy of his clergy attended, all of whom he entertained with generous hospitality. in addition to his many meritorious works, he substantially repaired and embellished his palace, and to his cathedral he left a splendid mitre and some costly vestments; but the bulk of his property he bequeathed to his seminary. a dropsy of the chest carried him off on the th november, , æt. seventy-four, and his remains were interred in the centre of the seminary church. seven sermons of this prelate, preached before james ii. at windsor and st. james's, were printed. a beautiful portrait of the bishop, engraved by meyer, is prefixed to the _ellis correspondence_, published by the late lord dover, in two volumes vo., . james smith was consecrated bishop of calliopolis, and appointed vicar-apostolic of the northern district, : he died may , . the following vicars-apostolic were nominated after the above four till the year . _midland district._--george witham, of the ancient roman catholic family of the withams of cliffe, in the north riding of yorkshire, was educated at douay college, consecrated bishop of marcopolis, and appointed vicar-apostolic of the midland district in . he was removed to the northern district in , and died in , at cliffe hall, the seat of his family. _western district._--matthew pritchard, a franciscan friar, bishop of myrinen: i have not been able to ascertain the date either of his consecration or death; the latter took place at perthyre, monmouthshire.[ ] _northern district._--thomas williams, a dominican friar, bishop of tiberiopolis, died at huddlestone, yorkshire, april , . j. f. w. [footnote : i have since learned bishop pritchard was consecrated in .] the reply of e. h. a. to my query about these vicars-apostolic is rather unsatisfactory. i admit his correction of _chalcedon_ for _chalcis_, but wish that he had been more explicit in his notices of both those vicars-apostolic appointed in - , as well as of those since nominated. when did _smith_ and _ellis_ die? and what was the see in italy to which the latter was nominated? who were the _consecrators_ of giffard, ellis, and smith? bishop leyburn was, i think, one, and is said to have been "assisted by two _irish_ prelates." who were they? e. h. a. also refers, as his authority, to a tract by the rev. l. darwall, in _christian's miscellany_: but he does not give the date of that publication, nor did i ever hear of it. surely some ecclesiastical reader of "n. & q." will answer some, at least, of these inquiries of mine. i know many of your subscribers can do so if they choose. i am desirous of possessing the names and dates of consecration and death of every roman catholic vicar-apostolic appointed for england since , and also of those for scotland, if possible. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. * * * * * smock marriages.--scotch law of marriage. (vol. vii., p. .) to a certain extent, the information mr. f. h. brett got from his scotch friend is correct. an idea does exist in some parts of scotland, that children born out of wedlock must be "under the apron string" at the solemnisation of the marriage of their parents, before they can be legitimated _per subsequens matrimonium_. how this notion originated, i do not pretend to say; but it is easy to speculate as to its origin. but mr. brett's friend showed a blessed ignorance of the laws of his native country, if he ever said that "in the scotch law of marriage there is a clause providing that all 'under the apron string,' at the time of the marriage, shall be considered legitimate." the scotch law of marriage is not statutory, and, consequently, it has no clauses. i have often felt sore at the ignorance displayed, even in well-informed circles in england, as to the real principles of the scotch law of marriage; and i am encouraged by the comprehensive terms of mr. brett's query, to hope that you will permit me to say a word or two which may serve to dissipate some of the delusions that prevail as to both the constitution of a scotch marriage, and its effects. in scotland, as in every country whose system of jurisprudence is based on the civil law, { } marriage is dealt with as _a purely civil contract_; and its constitution may be established by the same proof as would establish any ordinary civil contract, viz. by writing, by the testimony of witnesses, or by the judicial confession of the parties. it is true, that, in deference to the natural feeling that the blessing of god should be invoked upon the constitution of a relation so important and so solemn, and from other considerations of public policy and morality, the law has prescribed that a "regular marriage" can be performed only by a clergyman, after due proclamation of the banns; and that it punishes an "irregular" constitution of the contract by fines and other penalties. but it never loses sight of the principle, that the contract is purely civil; and irregularity in point of _form_, though punishable, does not vitiate the contract, which is binding and valid if its _substance_ be proved, in the same way as any other contract may be proved. such a contract is binding, if entered into in accordance with the _lex loci contractus_, although that law should differ from the law of the domicile of the parties. the sole privilege of the smith of gretna green consisted in his smithy being the nearest place to the english border, at which witnesses to the constitution of the contract could be obtained. now-a-days, i suppose, a runaway couple, unable to hire a special train, would take the express; and i would advise them to take their tickets to ecclefechan--the first scotch station at which the express stops--and to confer on the station-master and porter there the dignity of high priests of hymen: for they, or any other two witnesses you meet in scotland, can help you to tie the knot as firmly as the gretna smith. after what i have said, i need hardly add that these functionaries had no warrant for their certificate that their marriages were performed "according to the forms of the church of scotland." to those who look upon marriage as a purely civil contract, the mock ceremony at gretna is a marriage; to those who look upon it as a sacrament, or who think that a religious ceremony affects its constitution in the slightest degree, a gretna green marriage is, in plain words, neither more nor less than a _legalised concubinage_; and, surely, i need not say, that the spouses in such a marriage, though, _quoad omnem civilem effectum_, on the same footing with persons regularly married _in facie ecclesiæ_, are not--in scotland, at least--allowed to obtrude themselves into respectable society. so much for the constitution of the contract of marriage under the law of scotland. as for its effects, in so far as involved in mr. brett's query, no such provision exists, or ever did exist, in the scotch law of marriage, as that children, to be legitimatised _per subsequens matrimonium_, must be under their mother's apron strings. in its effects, as well as in its constitution, the contract of marriage in scotland is ruled by the principles of the civil law; and _all_ the children of the spouses, born before marriage, are legitimated _per subsequens matrimonium_, whether, at the time the ceremony is performed, they be "under the apron strings" or not. the old theory was, that marriage being a consensual contract, the constitution of the rights and obligations arising from it drew back to the date of the consent; which, in the case of parties who had previously had connexion, was presumed in law to be the date of the connexion. this theory has of late been somewhat impaired by the decision of the court of session, in the case of kerr _v._ martin. see dunlop bell and murray's _reports of cases decided in the court of session_, vol. ii. p. . the soundness of that decision is still matter of controversy in the profession; but i may refer mr. brett to it as containing a full and able discussion of the whole principles on which the scotch law of marriage is founded. an advocate. i remember that my brother, when curate of a parish in lincolnshire between and , married a woman enveloped only in a sheet. he was of course startled at the slenderness of her apparel; but as all the requisitions of the law had been complied with, he did not feel himself at liberty to refuse. he contented himself, therefore, with addressing the numerous congregation on the behaviour he expected from them at a religious ordinance, and all went off well. the reason for the bride so presenting herself, was of course the popular opinion, that her new husband would not be liable for her debts. anon. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _mr. weld taylor's process._--as i presume the object of publishing photographic notes, &c., is to aid those who are _not proficients_ in the processes indicated, mr. weld taylor must not take umbrage at his first communication being misunderstood, whether unavoidably or wilfully, as i am sure the former must have been the case with all novices in the photographic art at least; however, i had no intention whatever of offering any annoyance to mr. taylor in my remarks, which were intended solely with a view to produce an effect which has partially been successful, that of exciting a more definite explanation of his meaning. that mr. weld taylor may "enlighten" me is not only possible, but very probable, and i can only say i shall be much obliged to him for so doing. with reference to his process for iodizing canson's paper, i presume his meaning to be as follows, viz.: mix half an ounce of a _forty-grain_ solution of _nitrate of silver_ with an equal quantity { } of a _fifty-grain_ solution of _iodide of potassium_, by which a precipitate of iodide of silver will be formed, the supernatant fluid containing the excess of iodide of potassium and the nitrate of potash formed by the decomposition. _add_ drop by drop a solution of the cyanide of potassium, until the iodide of silver is redissolved, and the liquid becomes limpid, and then _four ounces_ more of distilled water, making up five ounces altogether. the paper should then be washed over with the above and _dried_, after which it may be floated on water slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid for a few minutes, and after being again dried, either wholly, or else partially with blotting-paper, may be rendered sensitive with a weak solution of nitrate of silver. here are two or three points admitting doubt: first, would it not be better to wash away the nitrate of potash and free iodide of potash first, and then dissolve the iodide of silver in solution of cyanide of potassium? secondly, would not a slight soaking in plain water after the acidulated bath be of advantage? thirdly, is it better to dry the paper again before rendering it sensitive? and fourthly, what strength of nitrate of silver solution should be used to render it sensitive; and ought it to have any acetic or gallic acid, or both? george shadbolt. _animal charcoal in photography._--perhaps you or one of your photographic correspondents would inform me whether the animal charcoal, recommended for the aceto-nitrate of silver solution, should be used as a filter, or simply allowed to remain in the bottom of the bottle? a. b. c. oxford. _sir w. newton on use of common soda and alum._--in reply to w. adrian delferier, who is desirous of knowing the "_rationale_ of the _action_ of the _common soda_ and powdered alum, &c.," my motive for using _common soda_ to cleanse the _negatives_ is, that it not only removes the hyposulphite of soda more readily, but any impurities which may be in the paper, as well as the _whole_ of the _size_, such being absolutely necessary for the after _waxing_ process; which, when done, the negative should appear nearly as transparent as glass. the reason why i prefer _alum_ for the positives is, that while it has the effect of removing the hyposulphite of soda and other impurities in the paper, it does not act upon the _size_, which in this instance it is desirous to retain. i have been induced to make a series of experiments, with a view to prevent the _fading_ of the _positives_, or, indeed, that any portion should be, as it were, _eaten away in parts_; and since i have adopted the foregoing, in no one instance has any change taken place whatever. w. j. newton. . argyle street. _difficulties in photographic practice._--having met with some of the difficulties that your correspondent g. h. mentions in his communication (vol. vii., p. .), i beg to offer a few hints which i think will be of service to those who are trying the waxed-paper process. with regard to the spots, it is not easy to know whether they are produced by particles of iron in the paper, or by the oxide of silver. le gray says: "if spots should form, produced by the oxide of silver, they may be removed by pouring over the negative some acetic acid, and passing a brush lightly over it." the second difficulty, want of depth of tone or intensity in the negative, may have been caused by too short an exposure in the camera, or not having used the proper proportion of developing solution. try the following: oz. dist. water. grains gallic acid. when this solution has been filtered, add to it ½ drachm of the aceto-nitr. of silver solution, and drachm of acetic acid. i have generally put a little camphor in the gallic acid solution, as recommended by laborde. it prevents the decomposition of the gallic acid, and renders the image clearer and free from spots. a piece about the size of a pea for four or five ounces of solution. as to the third difficulty, i believe nothing but replacing the porcelain dishes by glass ones will prevent the dirty marbled appearance in the bottom of the dishes made of porcelain; they are generally rough and uneven on the surface, and there are often what is called "kiln-cracks" in the angular parts. two months ago i bought two glass dishes; although they are more than double the price of porcelain, i expect the annoyance of dirty dishes is prevented. the glass ones are made quite round at the sides and ends, and of course will be easily cleaned. i am informed they are made in france, but they could be had of english manufacture. the animal charcoal in the sensitive solution must be shaken up in the aceto-nitrate solution; and when it has become quite clear, the solution before using must be filtered into the dish. r. elliott. penslur iron works. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _the countess of pembroke's letter_ (vol. i., pp. . . .; vol. vii., p. .).--none of your correspondents seem to be aware that the paper in the _world_ (no. xiv. april , ), in which this questioned letter first appeared, was written by horace walpole, and was afterwards reproduced by him in his _royal and noble authors_. these facts may help to guide inquirers, { } but they seem to me not to testify much for the authenticity of the piece. this, among many publications in the _world_, would certainly prove nothing; but walpole's venturing to reproduce it in an acknowledged work to which he attached considerable importance, is no doubt of some weight. c. _ethnology of england_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reference to that portion of the query by ethnologicus which asks "whether it is yet clearly settled that there are types of the heads of ancient britons, saxons, danes, and other races, to be referred to as standards or examples of the respective crania of those people?" i beg to say that beneath the chancel of the church of st. leonard, hythe, there is a crypt containing a vast number of skulls and other human bones, which, according to jeake, the historian of the cinque ports, are-- "supposed by some to be gathered at the shore after a great sea-fight and slaughter of the french and english on that coast; whose carcases, or their bones, after the consumption of the flesh, might be cast up there, and so gathered and reserved for memorandum." speaking of these relics, walker, in his _physiology_, says: "these skulls at hythe are not of one race, either saxon or british, but of several; two forms of skull, very distinct from each other, predominate: one, a long narrow skull, greatly resembling the celtic of the present day; the other, a short broad skull, greatly resembling the gothic.... another kind of skulls, fewer in number, are evidently roman skulls." robert wright. _drake the artist_ (vol. vi., p. .).--searching a series of catalogues of the society of artists of great britain, from to , i find that mr. drake at york, f.s.a. (fellow of that society), in exhibited at their new room, near exeter change in the strand,-- no. . "a family in little." is this to be interpreted by hamlet's sarcasm upon the sycophants of his uncle's court, who paid "forty, fifty, nay, one hundred ducats, for his portrait _in little_?" small full-lengths were in vogue at the period, but our yorkist has a delicate diminutive of his own. again, in , we have three works of drake-- . "view of a gentleman's seat in yorkshire, with two gentlemen going out a-hawking." . "sacarissa with amoret and musidora." from thomson's _seasons_, to. edition, . . "a winter piece." and in : . "a madonna and child." mr drake, f.s.a., york. there is _no_ trace of him at the royal academy. thus we have him in portraiture, in landscape, in sacred history, and in the poetical imaginative. this is beyond what g. reckons upon; and now, having contributed thus much, i hope some of your readers may assist in carrying the inquiry further. j. h. a. _sparse_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .), said to be an americanism.--i have in my possession an edition, printed in , of the _whole book of psalms, collected into english metre_, by thomas sternhold, john hopkins, and others. in the paraphrase of psalm xliv. v. . is the following: "thou madest us fly before our foes, and so were overtrod. our enemies rob'd and spoyl'd our goods when we were _sparst_ abroad." the word here used in was evidently no american one; and yet it is singular that neither bailey ( ), johnson ( ), or barclay ( ), have the word in their dictionaries; but knowles ( ) and blackie's _imperial_ ( ) both mentioned it; and have _sparse_, _sparsed_, _sparsedly_, and _sparsing_, all meaning "dispersed" or "scattered." john algor. eldon street, sheffield. _genoveva of brabant_ (vol. vii., p. .).--there is a ballad on her legend in an obscure volume of verses published by masters, , fantastically entitled _echoes from old cornwall_. coriolanus. n.b. these _echoes_ do not appear to have resounded far or wide. _god's marks_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in the register-book of st. margaret's, westminster, occurs this entry, under the year : "junii vij^o die. item, elizabeth helhe, of the ague with godd's marks." shakspeare adopts the saying, "they have the plague ... for the lord's tokens on you do i see." _love's labour's lost_, act v. sc. . quoted in _memorials of westminster_, ch. iv. p. . they were the first spots which showed that the infection had been caught. m. w. _segantiorum portus_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i know not what prestoniensis means by ptolemy's _history of britain_, but there can be little doubt as to the whereabouts of what is called, in the _palatine ms._, _segantiorum portus_, or _setantiorum portus_ in berthius's great edition of ptolemy's _geography_, ch. iii., tit. albion, tab. . it is curious that the place _immediately_ preceding in ptolemy's _catalogue_ that inquired about, affords, in the vast multitude enumerated in that work, the closest approach to identity between the ancient and modern names, viz. [greek: morikambê eischusis], { } morecambe Æstuarium, still called, _totidem literis_ and _idem sonans_, _morecambe bay_, in which ulverston is the chief town, so that of this point there can be no doubt. then comes _setantiorum portus_, of which montanus, bertius, and subsequent geographers give _winandermere_ as the modern name, meaning of course the mouth of the river through which lake windermere discharges itself into morecambe bay. but i doubt this, for there is no town of windermere, nor indeed any other, that ptolemy could have called a harbour (_portus_), till we come to lancaster, which i therefore incline to believe was the _portus setantiorum_. after this _portus_ comes _belisama Æstuarium_, by which all interpreters understand the mouth of the ribble, which is probably the point that interests prestoniensis, as preston stands on that river. the conjecture that lancaster was the _portus setantiorum_ is corroborated by the latitudes and longitudes given by ptolemy, which, though not to be absolutely relied on, are not to be disregarded, and which give to the three places, _morecambe Æstuarium_, _setantiorum portus_, and _belisama Æstuarium_, nearly the relative positions in which we find ulverston, lancaster, and the ribble. c. _rubrical query_ (vol. vi., p. .).--quÆstor inquires the meaning of the words "if occasion lie" in the rubric immediately before the offertory in the communion service. i am under the impression that "if occasion lie" here simply means, _in case there is necessity to do so_; and for the origin of this parenthetical clause i would refer to the rubric of (keeling, _lit. br._, edit. of , p. .), which provides: "that in cathedral churches, or places where there is daily communion, it shall be sufficient to read this exhortation once in a month, and in parish churches on the week days it may be left unsaid." showing clearly the mode in which the exhortation was intended to be used. the real difficulty, however, is not noticed by your querist, which is, as to when "public warning of the communion" is to be given. one rubric says that this notice is to be given "immediately after the nicene creed;" another prescribes that when this warning is to be given, it shall be done "immediately after sermon." on this point see sharpe on _rubrics_, p. .; and wheatly on _common prayer_, chap. vi. sect. viii. § . enivri. _rosa mystica_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i do not remember to have ever heard of such an institution; but _rosa mystica_ is one of the many appellatives of the virgin mary in the roman catholic "litanies of the virgin." c. _portrait of charles i._ (vol. vii., p. .).--it may be confidently asserted that vandyke never painted in enamel; the enamels referred to were at best only "after vandyke." nothing more frequent, in both earlier and present times, than the copying large oil portraits in enamel. c. "_time and i_" (vol. vii., p. .).--i cannot answer mr. blackiston's query fully, but he will find, i think, in the miscellaneous correspondence usually printed in pope's and swift's works, the following anecdote, that some one having quoted to robert, lord oxford, the adage, "time and i 'gainst any two," his lordship replied, impromptu, "chance and i 'gainst time and you." c. _the word "party"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i can furnish a more ancient example of the use of this word than the one given by your correspondent. in an old ms. "booke of recepts," in my possession, of the year - , there occurs the following singular prescription: "_the powder of buggs._--take the buggs and wash them well in white wine, and putt them in a new earthen pott, and set them in an oven till they be dry enough for powder; then beat them, and sift them, and give ye party as much as will lye upon a groate every morning in honey." can any one inform me for what disease this nauseous remedy was prescribed, and whether it be now excluded from the pharmacopoeia? perhaps this oleaginous insect was formerly exhibited in those cases for which cod liver oil is now so extensively used. g. your correspondent e. d. might have gone much farther back for an example of the use of the word _party_ for a particular person. in the _tempest_, act iii. sc. ., we have: "_cal._ i say by sorcery he got this isle. from me he got it. if thy greatness will revenge it on him--for, i know, thou dar'st; but this thing dare not. _ste._ that's most certain. _cal._ thou shalt be lord of it, and i'll serve thee. _ste._ how now shall this be compass'd? canst thou bring me to _the party_." erica. warwick. _"mater ait natæ," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--in reply to your correspondent who asks where the following lines "mater ait natæ," &c. are to be found, i refer him to the following note in greswell's _account of runcorn_, p. .: "leland, in his _itinerary_, mentions an old woman, a native of over in cheshire, who lived in the family of downes of shrigley, and died at the age of years. zuingerus reports of a noble lady of worms, in the { } archbishopric of mentz, who lived to see the sixth generation, that she might thus address her daughter: '( ) mater ( ) natæ die ( ) natæ filia ( ) natam ut moneat ( ) natæ plangere ( ) filiolam.' that is, 'the mother says to her daughter: daughter, bid thy daughter, to tell her daughter, that her daughter's daughter is crying.'" anon. warrington. i have in my possession a scrap-book, compiled by one edward king in the year , which consists of extracts from newspapers of that date; and while perusing your last number, meeting with w. w.'s (malta) query, i immediately recollected having noticed the quotation some short time ago. turning to the volume i find the following extract: "sarum, april .--we hear from limington in hants that one mrs. mitchel was lately brought to bed there of a daughter, whose great-great-grandmother is still living, and has already seen her fifth generation, and all daughters. so that she may say the same that the distich doth, made on one of the dalburgh's family of basil: 'mater ait natæ die natæ filia natam ut moneat natæ plangere filiolam.' 'rise up, daughter, and go to thy daughter, for her daughter's daughter hath a daughter.' she is about years of age, is in perfect health, has all her senses clear, and hopes to see five generations more." tye. norwood, surrey. _gospel place_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in my parish there are two such places, both on the border of the parish: one is called "the gospel oak," the other "the gospel bush." the traditional explanation of these names is this:--that at no very ancient date, when the custom of perambulating the parish was annually observed, portions of the gospel were read at these and other places,--_stations_, as they were anciently called. john jebb. peterstow rectory, ross. _passage in thomson_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_steaming_, as your intelligent correspondent c. says, is clearly the true reading. the word is so printed in the to. edition of the _seasons_, (was not this the first collected edition of that poem?), and in every other to which i have referred. it does not, however, occur in the to. copy in the twenty-eighth, but in the thirty-first line. the four lines, fifteenth to eighteenth, originally given in the "hymn," but afterwards wisely omitted by the poet, follow the words "in autumn unconfined:"-- "thrown from thy lap profuse o'er nature falls the lucid shower of beamy fruits, and in a radiant stream into the stores of sterile winter pours." the _steaming_ property of the earth is well described by dr. carpenter, in his _vegetable physiology_, p. .: "if a glass vessel be placed with its mouth downwards, on the surface of a meadow or grass plot, during a sunny afternoon in summer, it will speedily be rendered dim in the interior by the watery vapour which will rise into it; and this will soon accumulate to such a degree as to run down in drops. any person walking in a meadow on which the sun is shining powerfully, where the grass has not long previously been refreshed by rain, may observe a tremulous motion in distant objects, occasioned by the rising of the watery vapour; exactly resembling that which takes place along the sea-shore, when the sun shines strongly on pebbles that have been left in a moistened state by the retiring tide."--dr. carpenter's _vegetable physiology_, p. . sect. . "the atmosphere is made up of several steams, or minute particles of several sorts rising from the earth and the waters."--locke's _elements of natural philosophy_. j. h. m. "_words are given to man to conceal his thoughts_" (vol. vii., p. .).--the hexameter line, [greek: hos ch' heteron], &c., is one put by homer into the mouth of achilles (_iliad_, ix. .), when he is expressing his indignant hatred of liars. rt. warmington. _folger family_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--will it assist the inquiry to say that there was a family of foulgers at norwich? the only son was a curate at leiston, in suffolk, in . b. b. woodward. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. the remarkable collection of northern irish antiquities and historical relics, exhibited at belfast on the occasion of the british association meeting in that city, has led to the publication of _the ulster journal of archæology_, which is to be conducted by gentlemen of the province, and principally devoted to the elucidation of the antiquities and ancient history of ulster. ulster, it will be remembered, is historically remarkable as being the last part of ireland which held out against the english sway, and which therefore retained its ancient customs until a comparatively recent period. ulster was also the battle-field of the ancient native irish chieftains and the scandinavian vikings. the antiquaries of ulster have therefore done wisely, while the tangled web of northern irish history can yet be { } unravelled by existing aids--while the men who are now the depositories of family and local history are yet among them--to commence this journal; and in the tact and good management displayed in the selection of the materials of their opening number, they have not only done wisely, but done well also. may they go on and prosper! at a moment when all eyes are looking anxiously for the new volume of nineveh discoveries, we have received a work of kindred character and of very high value. it is entitled _lares and penates, or cilicia and its governors; being a short historical account of that province from the earliest times to the present day, together with a description of some household gods of the ancient cilicians, broken up by them on their conversion to christianity, first discovered and brought to this country by the author_, w. b. barker, edited by w. f. ainsworth; and the interest which this title naturally excites is fully maintained upon a perusal of the work. although, by readers who care little for its archæological features, the work will be read with the highest satisfaction, it is one which will afford to the antiquary information of the greatest importance; while to many, the announcement that the remarkable monuments of the ancient cilicians, so happily discovered by mr. barker, were discovered by him in the city dignified by the birth of the great apostle of the gentiles,--and that the mutilation of these works of art, once the objects of religious regard, was probably the consequence of the missionary visit of paul and silas to tarsus,--will probably be the strongest recommendation which this work could receive. we have received three catalogues which call for such mention as should direct to them the attention of our bibliographical friends. one is of the splendid library of mr. dawson turner, which will occupy messrs. sotheby and wilkinson for thirteen days in its disposal. the next, _bibliotheca americana_, is of a most remarkable collection of american books on sale by mr. russell smith. the third is of an extensive collection of theological works on sale by mr. straker. the last two are made more valuable by the addition of useful indices. books received.--_a manual of photography_, by robert hunt, _third edition enlarged_. it is sufficient to say that professor hunt's volume is at once the most elaborate, as his acquirements will ensure its being one of the most scientific works extant upon this now popular subject.--_memoirs of a maître d'armes, or eighteen months at st. petersburgh, by_ a. dumas; _translated by_ the marquis of ormonde, is one of the most amusing and graphic among the many amusing and graphic volumes which have already appeared in the _traveller's library_.--_cyclopædia bibliographica._ part vi. mr. darling's useful cyclopædia maintains its character.--_the fall of jerusalem_, by the rev. dr. milman. this endeavour to direct the public mind, through the medium of this dramatic poem, to the striking and incontestable evidence of the full completion of prophecy in the fall of jerusalem, is a valuable addition to murray's _railway reading_.--we must here acknowledge the receipt of two other volumes of poetry: _beauty, a poem_, by the author of _silent love_, an admirer and not unsuccessful imitator of pope; and _love in the moon_, by patrick scott, a work in which scientific observation is combined with great poetic feeling and considerable power.--_the pilgrim's progress of john bunyan, for the use of children in the english church, edited by the rev. j. m. neale_. the object with which this beautiful edition has been prepared is so plainly stated, that we need only wish the book as wide a circulation as it deserves.--_the family shakspeare_, &c., by thomas bowdler. the fourth volume of this reprint of mr. bowdler's carefully revised edition of shakspeare, contains the three parts of henry vi., richard iii., henry viii., and timon of athens. * * * * * books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vol. i., and parts i. and ii. of vol. ii. curtis's botanical magazine. st and nd series collected. todd's cyclopÆdia of anatomy and physiology. complete, or any portion. gladstone's (w. e.) two letters to the earl of aberdeen on the state prosecutions of the neapolitan government. st edition. vo. swift's works. dublin: g. faulkner. vols. vo. . vol. i. pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. original edition. vol i. the book of adam. prideaux's connection of the old and new testament. vol. i. . the christian magazine. vol. for . pro matrimonio principis cum defunctÆ uxoris sorore contracto responsum juris collegii jurisconsultorum in academia rintelensi (circa ). monner jurisconsult., de matrimonio. brÜckner, de matrimonio. bedell's irish old testament, irish type, to., . [a copy of o'domhnuill's "irish _new_ testament," irish type, to., st edition, (_being rare_), is offered in exchange.] percy society publications. nos. xciii. and xciv. southey's works. vol. x. longmans. . scott's continuation of milner's church history. vols. ii. and iii., or ii. only. the dragon of wantley, by h. carey. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _we have to request the indulgence of several correspondents for not replying to them this week._ s. g. w. gibraltar _is a corruption of_ jebel-tarik, _or the_ hill of tarik; _a name derived from the moorish conqueror who landed there april , . for the origin of its ancient name_, calpe, _we must refer_ s. g. w. _to smith's_ dictionary of greek and roman geography, _where the various presumed etymologies are discussed_. "percy anecdotes." _mr. timbs has requested us to correct a slight error in his communication on this subject_ (antè, _p. ._). _the_ percy anecdotes _were completed in_ forty _parts, and not_ forty-four, _as there stated_. broctuna. _could the article proposed be divided into two papers?_ mr. crookes. _where can we address a letter on a photographic subject to this correspondent?_ our sixth volume, _strongly bound in cloth, with very copious index, is now ready, price s. d. a few complete sets of_ "notes and queries," vols. i. _to_ vi., _price three guineas for the six volumes, may now be had; for which early application is desirable_. "notes and queries" _is published at noon on friday, so that the country booksellers may receive copies in that night's parcel, and deliver them to their subscribers on the saturday_. { } * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' reports_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it is furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." catalogues sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, borders, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * elgin marbles.--arundel society, established , for promoting the knowledge of art. casts from mr. cheverton's reductions of the theseus and ilissus in the elgin collection, may be had by application at messrs. colnaghi's, . pall mall east, price l. s. (to members s. d.) each. electro-bronze copies of the theseus may be had at messrs. elkington's, . regent street, price l. s. (to members l. s.) mr. cheverton obtained a prize medal for the theseus at the great exhibition, . annual subscription to the society l. s., entitling members to all engravings and books published. payable at coutts' bank, or . pall mall east. g. aubrey bezzi, hon. sec. * * * * * ten thousand volumes of most rare, curious, valuable, and splendid books, and books of prints, ancient richly illuminated manuscripts upon vellum, etc.--j. lilly, in announcing his removal from pall mall to his former residence, . king street, covent garden, begs to intimate that he is preparing a catalogue of a very choice and valuable collection of books, the whole recently purchased at the sale of the libraries of the late earl of mountnorris, formerly viscount valentia, at arley castle, staffordshire; hugh thomas, esq., of beaumaris; rev. herbert c. marsh; the very eminent architect, a. w. pugin, esq.; h. p. borrell, esq., of smyrna, and various other sources. the whole in fine condition, in appropriate and elegant bindings. this catalogue, with the succeeding ones for this year, will be forwarded to any gentleman enclosing twelve postage stamps. joseph lilly, . king street, covent garden, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | j. h. goodhart, esq. w. cabell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * { } new archÆological and historical publications. akerman's remains of pagan saxondom. to. with coloured plates. parts i. to iii. s. d. each. numismatic chronicle, and journal of the numismatic society (quarterly). no. . s. d. bowman's reliquiÆ antiquiÆ eboracenses. remains of antiquity relating to the county of york. to. plates. nos. to . s. d. each. the ulster journal of archÆology. to. part i. (quarterly.) s. per year. caulfield's episcopal and capitular seals of the irish cathedral churches. vo. part i. cashel and emly. plates, s. d. dunkin's archÆological mine. comprising the history of the county of kent. vo. parts i. to iii. d. each. hunter's (rev. joseph) historical and critical tracts. post vo. nos. to . s. d. each. suggestions on the ancient britons. vo. part i. s. d. publications of the antiquarian etching club for . to. plates. s. annually. retrospective review. comprising copious critical analyses of old books. vo. nos. and . (quarterly.) s. d. each. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * bohn's standard library for march. neander's church history. vol. viii. with index. post vo. s. d. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's classical library for march. cicero's academics, de finibus, and tusculan questions, translated by c. d. yonge, b.a. with introductory sketch of the philosophers and systems referred to by cicero. post vo. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * bohn's antiquarian library for march. the annals of roger de hoveden. comprising the history of england and of other countries of europe from a.d. to a.d. . translated from the latin, with notes and illustrations, by henry t. riley, esq., b.a., barrister-at-law. in two volumes. vol. i.--a.d. to a.d. . post vo. s. henry g. bohn, , , & . york street, covent garden. * * * * * now ready, with richly coloured plates, to., s., saxon obsequies, illustrated by ornaments and weapons discovered in a cemetery near little wilbraham, cambridgeshire, in . by hon. r. c. neville. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * to antiquaries, etc.--to be disposed of, a copy of that rare and curious work, entitled "cocker's arithmetic," the seven-and-twentieth edition. london, printed for eben. tracy, at the three bibles on london bridge, . please to address, l. m., post office, bexhill. * * * * * just published, a second and much enlarged edition, in one handsome volume, vo., illustrated with plates and woodcuts, half-bound in morocco, l. s.; a few copies on large paper, l. s. the roman wall. an historical, topographical, and descriptive account of the barrier of the lower isthmus, extending from the tyne to the solway. deduced from numerous personal surveys. by the rev. john collingwood bruce, m.a., f.s.a., one of the council of the society of antiquaries of newcastle-on-tyne. also, by the same author, to., price s. d. hadrian, the builder of the roman wall. a paper read before the society of antiquaries of newcastle-on-tyne, th august, , in reply to "the roman wall. an attempt to substantiate the claims of severus to the authorship of the roman wall. by robert bell." john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * the gentleman's magazine for march contains the following articles:-- . the masters of the roman world. . the gulistan, or rose garden, of sadi. . the dead, as described by homer. . mr. joseph ames and dr. samuel johnson. . the devereux earls of essex. . fra dolcino and his times. . memorials of john home, the author of "douglas." . dr. cunningham at florence, siena, and rome in . correspondence:-- . the ancient records of ireland. . richard of cirencester. . suffragan bishops. . cefn-y-castell and the last battle of caractacus. . english etymology: cheer. . the society of gregorians. . escape of james ii. from the boyne. with notes of the month; reviews of new publications; historical chronicle, and obituary; including memoirs of the earl of stair, earl beauchamp, viscount melbourne, right hon. david boyle, right hon. john nicholl, peter borthwick, esq., henry fynes clinton, esq., rev. dr. rice, rev. p. l. fraser, dr. pereira, wm. chadwick, esq., &c. &c. price s. d. nichols & son, . parliament street. * * * * * the principal portion of the very important library of dawson turner, esq., extending over thirteen days' sale. messrs. s. leigh sotheby & john wilkinson, auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will sell by auction, at their house, . wellington street, strand, on monday, march , and five following days, and on thursday, march , and six following days (sunday excepted), at precisely each day, the principal part of the library of dawson turner, esq., m.a., f.r.s., f.s.a., f.l.s., &c., removed from yarmouth; comprising a magnificent assemblage of books on the fine arts, including very many of the splendid galleries and picturesque works published during the last and present centuries. the collection is also rich in english topography and history, and comprises many valuable and rare books in general literature, foreign and english. some very interesting and beautifully illuminated missals and other books of prayers; also some fine books printed upon vellum. there is one remarkable feature in this important and well-known collection to which it is desirous to call particular attention, namely, that a very great portion of the works are enriched with autograph letters of their respective and eminent authors, and are in very many instances illustrated with additional engravings of much rarity, thereby adding considerable interest to the copies, and rendering them in many instances quite unique. the first division to be viewed on friday and saturday, march and ; the second division to be viewed on tuesday and wednesday, march and . catalogues are now ready, two shillings and sixpence each; forwarded, post free, on receipt of three shillings. * * * * * just published, demy mo., in cloth boards, and gilt lettered, price s. d., vol. i. with engraved frontispiece, and illustrated with wood engravings, shakspeare's puck, and his folkslore, illustrated from the superstitions of all nations, but more especially from the earliest religion and rites of northern europe and the wends. by william bell, phil. dr., honorary member of the historic society for lancashire and cheshire, and corresponding member of the society of antiquaries for normandy, at caen. to whom application to be made at no. . gower place, euston square, and sent free to all parts of the kingdom for post-office order for s. opinions of the press. "he (dr. b.) has caught his tone and treatment from the ingenious and industrious scholars of that part of the continent. there is no speculation too refined, no analogy too subtle and remote, for the employment of their time and talents; and in much that dr. bell advances on the same system to establish the intimate connexion between the northern mythology and some of the popular superstitions of these islands, we concur.... at times, when we were most disposed to ridicule his positions, his learning stepped forward to his aid; and if it did not secure for him all our patience, at all events it commanded much of our respect."--_athenæum, oct. ._ "dr. bell, whose long residence in germany, and intimate acquaintance with the popular literature of that country, entitles him to speak with great authority upon all questions relating to the mythology of the teutonic race, has just published a little volume, which will be read with interest by all who, to use the words of mr. keightly, 'have a taste for the light kind of philosophy' to be found in this subject.... dr. bell has displayed in the work before us an amount of original investigation so much beyond what is generally found among recent writers upon folk-lore, that he can well afford to have this slight omission pointed out."--_notes and queries. oct. ._ "it is not too much to assert, that all that can be said, or has been discovered about 'the little animal' (puck), is gathered together in dr. bell's most amusing and instructive volume, which not only elucidates the mystery which hangs about it, but enters largely into all illustrations of the folk-lore and the superstitions of all nations, but especially of the earliest religious rites of northern europe and the wends. it has always been a marvel how shakspeare could have possessed the information which he made available in his plays. dr. bell proves that he must have possessed far greater facilities than we are aware of. the work, besides possessing these features, enters into further antiquarian researches of a learned character: and is one which cannot fail to be highly appreciated wherever it makes its way into circulation."--_bell's weekly messenger, feb. , ._ _copy of a note, dated royal crescent, cheltenham, aug. , ._ "accept my best thanks for the first vol. of your 'puck.' it is a most interesting work, and i am astonished at the vast quantity of matter you have brought together on the subject: i say this on just hastily running it over. i must read it carefully. heartily wishing you success in this volume, and the early appearance of the second, i am, &c., "j. b--s--th, ll.d., f.s.a." _from lewes, dated sept. , ._ "through the kindness of our friend, c. r. s--th, i am favoured with a loan of your very curious and interesting book--m. a. l----r." * * * * * valuable books, kentish topography, manuscripts, &c. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, on wednesday, march , and five following days, sunday excepted, a large collection of interesting and useful books in most departments of literature, including the works of standard historians, poets, theologians, greek and latin classics, &c., numerous works connected with the history of the county of kent, large collections of kentish deeds and documents, &c. catalogues will be sent on application (if in the country on receipt of six stamps). * * * * * { } national illustrated library. volume xxv. for march. the odyssey of homer, with flaxman's illustrations, &c. vol. edited by the rev. theodore alois buckley, m.a. cr. vo. cloth, s. d.; mor. extra, s. d. vols. xxiii. and xxiv. the iliad of homer. translated into english verse by alexander pope. a new edition, with notes, illustrations, and introduction, by the rev. theodore alois buckley m.a., chaplain of christ church, oxford; editor of translations of homer, Æschylus, sophocles, euripides, &c.: author of great cities of the ancient world, history of the council of trent, &c. vols. crown vo. cloth, s.; in mor. extra, for school prizes, vols. s.; or vols. in one, s. d.; ditto calf, marbled edges, s. *** this edition of homer's iliad contains the classical compositions of flaxman, beautifully drawn by t. d. scott, esq., and engraved in the most careful manner by j. l. williams, esq. "the most notable new edition is pope's homer, with flaxman's designs, and a variety of other illustrations; explanatory notes, with 'parallel passages,' by the editor, mr. buckley; and an introduction, which gives a judicious estimate of pope, and enters sensibly into the question of whether there ever was such a man as homer."--_spectator._ * * * * * the illustrated family novelist. march volume. marie louise; or, the opposite neighbours. translated from the swedish of emilie carlen. illustrated with eight fine engravings. crown vo. cloth, s. d.; mor. elegant, s. d. * * * * * the universal library of the best works of the best authors. . scott's lady of the lake, and lay of the last minstrel. s. . izaak walton's lives of donne, wotton, herbert, hooker, and sanderson. s. . anson's voyage round the world. s. . goldsmith's vicar of wakefield, and saintine's picciola. s. . alison's essay on taste. s. . sterne's tristram shandy. ( pages.) s. d. . fables of la fontaine. translated from the french by e. wright. s. . sedgwick's home, paul and virginia, the indian cottage, and the exiles of siberia. with three engravings. ( pages.) s. . uncle tom's cabin. new edition; with portrait, and memoir of mrs. harriet beecher stowe; a digest of the slave laws of the southern states of america; and statistics of american slavery since the declaration of independence. ( pages.) s. d. . kæmpfers japan. (march number.) s. * * * * * illustrated london library. volume iv. lares and penates; or, cilicia and its governors. being a short historical account of that province, from the earliest times to the present day. together with a description of some household gods of the ancient cilicians, broken up by them on their conversion to christianity, and first discovered and brought to this country by the author, william burckhard barker, m.r.a.s., many years resident at tarsus in an official capacity. edited by william francis ainsworth, f.r.g.s., f.g.s. demy vo. cloth, s.; calf, marbled edges, s. d.; mor. elegant, s. "but paul said, i am a man which am a jew of tarsus, a city in cilicia, a citizen of no mean city."--acts xxi. . "it is a work of much research, evincing an extensive knowledge of the topography of that portion of asia minor to which it refers.... the illustrations are unusually numerous and well executed; and there is also a map of cilicia compiled from the most authentic sources."--_morning advertiser._ "a more complete and authentic assortment of these curious objects (household gods) it were difficult to bring together."--_globe._ * * * * * illustrated educational works, recently published. the first six books of euclid. with numerous exercises. printed on a new plan, with accurately executed diagrams. demy vo. cloth. s. the illustrated practical geometry. edited by robert scott burn, editor of the illustrated london drawing book. demy vo. cloth. s. first lessons in arithmetic, on a new plan. by hugo reid, esq., late principal of the people's college, nottingham, and author of numerous educational works. demy vo. cloth. s. mechanics and mechanism. by robert scott burn. with about illustrations. demy vo. cloth. s. webster's dictionary of the english language. royal vo. cloth. s. ingram, cooke & co.'s illustrated catalogue, new and enlarged edition, is now ready, and may be had gratis, on application; or by post, on receipt of six postage stamps. london: ingram, cooke & co., . strand; and sold by all booksellers. * * * * * just published, pp. , plates , price s. a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, with descriptions of all the species, and abstracts of the systems of ehrenberg, dujardin, kützing, siebold, &c. by andrew pritchard, esq., m.r.i. also, price s., a general history of animalcules, with engravings. also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on microscopes. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * new books. minucii felicis octavius. the octavius of minucius felix; with an introduction, analysis, and english notes, by the rev. h. a. holden, m.a., fellow of trinity college. edited for the syndics of the cambridge university press. post vo. s. d. a full and exact collation of about twenty greek manuscripts of the holy gospels (hitherto unexamined) deposited in the british museum, the archiepiscopal library at lambeth, &c. with a critical introduction by the rev. f. h. scrivener, m.a., head master of falmouth school. vo s. cÆsar morgan on the trinity of plato, and of philo judæus, and of the effects which an attachment to their writings had upon the principles and reasonings of the fathers of the christian church. edited for the syndics of the cambridge university press, by h. a. holden, m.a., fellow of trinity college. post vo. s. the holy city; jerusalem described, by george williams, b.d., fellow of kings college, cambridge. second edition, with additions; and a plan of jerusalem, from the ordnance survey. vols. vo, l. s. the plan separately, with a memoir, s.; mounted on rollers, s. history of the holy sepulchre, by professor willis, m.a., f.r.s. with original illustrations. reprinted from williams's "holy city." vo. s. outlines of ecclesiastical history, before the reformation. by the rev. w. h. hoare, m.a., late fellow of st. john's college, cambridge. uniformly with "outlines of sacred history." s. d. gospel narrative, according to the authorised text: with a continuous exposition and notes. by john forster, m.a., her majesty's chaplain of the savoy. fourth edition, revised. royal vo. s. churchman's theological dictionary. by robert eden, m.a., examining chaplain to the bishop of norwich. second edition. s. manual of christian antiquities; an account of the constitution, ministers, worship, discipline, and customs of the early church; with a complete analysis of the works of the antinicene fathers. by the rev. joseph e. riddle, m.a. second edition. vo. s. manual of antiquities of the christian church; translated and adapted to the use of the english church, from the german of guericke, by a. j. w. morrison, b.a., head master of grammar school, truro. s. d. the statutes relating to the ecclesiastical and eleemosynary institutions of england, ireland, india, and the colonies; with the decisions thereon. by a. j. stephens, m.a., f.r.s., barrister-at-law. vols. vo. l. s. bds., or l. s. d. in law calf. london: john w. parker & son, west strand. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page inedited letters of general green and of washington, by edward foss on a passage in the "domestic architecture of england:" surnames, by joseph burtt samuel taylor coleridge folk lore:--the ancient custom of well-flowering--devil's marks in swine--festival of baal lord monboddo, by w. l. nichols st. valentine minor notes:--his excellency david hartley--the life and correspondence of s. t. coleridge--an old riddle--the word "rather"--in jesum cruci affixum queries:-- corbet peerage, by lord monson the duke of wellington a maréchal de france, by henry h. breen minor queries:--prophecy in hoveden--a skating problem-- "rap and read for"--"the wee brown hen"--deprived bishops of scotland, --passage in carlyle--madagascar poetry--ink--hamilton queries--derivation of windfall--do the sun's rays put out the fire?--denmark and slavery-- spontaneous combustion--bucks, most ancient and honourable society of--lines quoted by charles lamb-- descendants of dr. bill--"the rebellious prayer"-- ravenshaw and his works minor queries with answers:--yolante de dreux--bishop francis turner--raleigh's history replies:-- epitaphs, by george s. masters, edw. hawkins, &c. throwing old shoes for luck, by w. pinkerton, &c. owen glyndwr [owen ap griffith vychan, lord of glyndwrdwy] coleridge's christabel: "christobell, a gothic tale" photographics notes and queries:--economical way of iodizing paper--queries on sir w. newton's process-- suggestion to photographers replies to minor queries:--portrait of pope--conundrum-- herbé's "costume français"--curious fact in natural philosophy--"haud cum jesu itis, qui itis cum jesuitis" --tradescant family--arms of joan d'arc--judæus odor-- philip d'auvergne--dr. parr's a. e. a. o.--jewish lineaments--sotadic verses--bells at funerals--collar of ss.--dr. marshall--shelton oak--"god and the world"--dreng--meals--richardson or murphy miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. inedited letters of general green and of washington. the letters of great men are always interesting, more particularly when they are connected with important historical facts. i presume, therefore, that those i subjoin from general washington and general green will not be unwelcome to your readers. they were among the papers of an officer, long deceased, who at the time was aide-de-camp to sir guy carlton, the commander-in-chief of our army in america; and were, i presume, intercepted before they reached their respective destinations. "_general green to general washington._ "head quarters on ashley river, may st, . "sir, "i had the honor of informing your excellency, in a letter of the th instant, that a dangerous spirit of discontent had been discovered in the army, and of the measures i took to suppress it. i am happy to inform you that this spirit seems entirely to have subsided, as the persons who fomented it are removed at a distance from the troops: and, as we have now a prospect of some cloathing, and more comfortable supplies, i hope it will no more appear. "your excellency has been informed of the late important and interesting changes in the face of affairs.--the arrival of sir guy carlton, and the change of ministers and measures, will open a new field of hopes for this country. how far we may be benefited by it, a little time will determine; but it will inevitably be attended with one bad consequence, as it will relax our preparation for a continuance of the war, which, to me, appears extremely probable. general leslie has made overtures, and a proposition for a suspension of hostilities; i do myself the honor to inclose you copies of his letter, and my answer on the subject, from which you will see the ground on which it stands. i wait most anxiously for advices from congress or your excellency, by which my conduct in the business must be ultimately directed. i suppose this measure has been adopted { } by sir guy carlton, and proposed to your excellency; but, as i am entirely at a loss to know on what conditions, and what purposes it has to answer, i can form no conclusive opinion on its propriety. "i am sanguine that the operations against jamaica will go on, notwithstanding the late misfortune, which seems to be rather a splendid than useful victory to the enemy. and as count de guichen, who has arrived with a considerable squadron, and taken the command of the combined fleets in the west indies, is still much superior to the british, we have good reason to hope the enterprise may succeed. "inclosed, i transmit your excellency the report of brigadier-general wayne of a considerable skirmish in georgia, wherein lieut.-col. brown, with four or five hundred men, were defeated. the plan was judicious, and executed in a manner that does great honor both to the general and the troops. it will have very happy consequences in impressing the indians with an idea of our superior power, and in the destruction of their cavalry. "the enemy continue their camp, entrenched at the quarter house, in a strong position. their patroles of horse, and ours, frequently go over the same ground. captain armstrong of the legion, and captain gill of the fourth regiment, with about forty dragoons of lieut.-colonel laurens's command, fell in with a troop of their horse two days ago, and took an officer, eight men, and ten horses, without suffering any other in injury than two men wounded. "with the highest esteem and regard, i have the honor to [be] your excellency's most obedient humble servant, nath. green. his excellency, general washington." "_general washington to governor livingston._ "head quarters, newburgh, july rd, . "sir, "from the inclosed information of captain stevens, there is reason to apprehend the business of driving cattle to the enemy is carrying on with great art and assiduity; it would be a happy circumstance if the villains concerned in it could be detected. i have therefore to propose to your excellency, that you will be pleased to take such precautions as you shall judge best calculated to learn whether any such cattle are passing in droves, or smaller parcels (for they may be divided on the road), to the enemy. "if your excellency should hear of them before they turn off towards new york, i think it would be advisable to employ some trusty man or men to dog and follow them privately, until the fact is ascertained; otherwise, it is to be feared, no positive proof of the intention of the people engaged in this infamous trade can be obtained. "i sincerely wish every practicable plan may be attempted for seizing the cattle, apprehending and bringing to condign punishment the men; as this would tend essentially to frustrate the insidious schemes of our enemies, as well as deter their other agents from similar practices. "i have the honor to be, with perfect respect, your excellency's most obedient servant, go. washington. "p.s.--i am honor'd with your excellency's letter of the th june. "his excellency gov. livingston." edward foss. * * * * * on a passage in the "domestic architecture of england."--surnames. in this work, to the justly high character of which i need scarcely refer, the "general remarks" relating to the periods under consideration are full of information of the most interesting kind, as they often contain illustrations of manners and customs not to be met with elsewhere. in a portion of the "remarks" illustrative of the thirteenth century, showing the difficulty and insecurity of travelling at that time (pp. - .), there is, however, an incorrect rendering of an extract from an original document; and this error seriously affects the "illustration" afforded by it. as i am in some degree personally involved in the matter, having supplied the material in its original shape, i may perhaps be permitted fully to explain and correct the passage. my only regret is, that i had not the opportunity of calling my friend's attention to the subject before the sheets were finally struck off. the extract is from an account of the chamberlain of chester, - edw. i., showing how the sum of l. was transmitted from chester to london. after referring to the convoy for the treasure: "it was not sufficient, however," says the late mr. turner, "that the money should be protected; in the absence of hostels, except in towns, it was necessary to secure the guards from hunger. _therefore they were accompanied by two cooks_, who provided 'a safe lodging' daily for the money; and, as a matter of course, _provided for the culinary necessities of its conductors_." it will be seen that upon the word rendered "cooks" depends the whole value of this passage, { } as evidence of the road-side necessities of the period. that word, however, does not bear such a construction; although, at first sight, nothing would be more natural than to render it so. it is written in the original "cok'," contracted; and to those conversant with mediæval latin, it is known to express "cokinus--coquinus," _gallicè_ "coquin:" a word derived from "coquus," and _not_ that word itself. it occurs commonly enough in the royal wardrobe accounts, and means simply "a messenger."[ ] for those who have not the opportunity of referring to original documents, there is a very good account of the persons so designated supplied by the _liber quotidianus contrarotulatoris garderobæ, anno edw. i._, edited by john topham, esq., in , from the original in the library of the society of antiquaries. it is referred to in the note to the post office report as containing the words cokinus, nuncius, and garcio, used apparently in one sense. at p. . is an account of payments under the heading "titulus de expens' nuncior' et cok' regis edwardi," &c., and in the glossary this explanation of the word is given: "cokinus, coquinus.--'homo vilissimus nec nisi infimis conquinæ ministeriis natus,' says ducange. charpentier adds _beggar_. here it means the lowest kind of messengers or errand-boys, like _sculls_ or _scullions_ in colleges." but this is too low an estimate of the class. having disposed of this passage, i wish now to draw the attention of your readers who have taken part or interest in the late discussion in your pages upon certain surnames, to the bearing which this extract, and others expressive of the individuals there referred to, has upon that numerous series of names ending in "cock;" about which so many, and, for these regenerate days, some singular suggestions have been made. the discussion was, i believe, commenced in the _gentleman's magazine_ for may, ; and, in the number for the same month in the following year, j. g. n. suggested that many of those names might be referred to forms of "coc, koc, le coq, which occur in records as abbreviations of coquus, cocus--cook." how cavalierly the suggestions thus afforded by mr. urban's pages were treated by mr. lower, your readers will see who refer to the pages of that gentleman's work upon _english surnames_, indicated in the author's last communication to you ("n. &. q.," vol. v., p. .). but their faith in the improvement "n. & q." has so greatly contributed to effect in such matters, will not however let them be deterred by the terms there used from pursuing the subject. it will be seen that my present contribution will modify the view taken by j. g. n., but also, to a considerable extent, support it. i am not aware that any attempt has been made to show how early these names were used. i can refer to several instances of the names "wilcoc" or "willecok," and "badecok," two complete examples of the kind, in the documents of the reign of edward i. those of your readers who are members of the camden society have now before them a copy of a document in which the first of those names occurs several times. i refer to the small household roll of john of brabant while at the english court, which is printed in the last volume of the camden society's _miscellany_. no one doubts that by far the greater part of the names in question were originally corrupted forms of christian names, with a suffix. mr. lower has done good service in showing thus much. and any one who refers to the list in the royal wardrobe account of edw. i., and especially those who can also consult other similar manuscripts, will admit that it would be quite possible that any christian name might have been so used; so numerous must have been the class of persons called "cokini." i will not further trespass upon your space with specimens of names so manufactured, as they can be formed with ease upon the first name "wilcoc" from "wille le cok,"--the contracting mark being dropped. the final letter "k" is of importance, as distinguishing the derivative from the parent word "coquus;" from what period, and _why_, is doubtful. that there is but little early documentary evidence of the names in their complete state, might be attributed to the inferior class of the individuals so designated. mr. lower's sole explanation of the terminal in question is, that it is a diminutive like "kin;" and in justice to that view, i must not pass over the evidence afforded by the brabant roll of a case where the two names seem to be interchanged. one of prince john's pages is named on the roll "hankin" (p. . line .); while, on the wardrobe account three years previous, where the servants are specified by name, "hancock" is there, who is most likely the same person. it will also be seen, that whereas in the wardrobe account the armourer's name is "giles," and the barber's "walter" (see notes to the brabant roll), the foreign scribe of the account dubs them "gilkin" { } and "woterkin." in following up his argument upon this subject, mr. lower speaks of a person being called "little wilcock," as an instance of complete tautology: if, however, it is meant by this (as it seems to be), that a diminutive name was only applied to a diminutive in person, or only expressed such a one, i am sure he will find very many differ from him, as affection or familiarity was at least as likely to have originated its use. thus, peter de gaveston would surely not be deprived of his knightly fame because he was called by prince edward "perot" (pierrote _a_ pierre). thus also came "amyot" from amy, "launcelot" from laurence, "gillot" from giles. and "kin" has as much right to be so considered. but there being already these two diminutives in ordinary use as to names of persons, there surely was no occasion to apply to the same purpose a syllable which (with a mark of contraction) certainly had a direct meaning, and expressed a vocation; and which has very rarely been otherwise used in a diminutive sense. my object is not so much to advocate any particular solution as regards these names, as to submit evidence bearing upon the subject, with such explanations as have occurred to me. joseph burtt. [footnote : in the _report from the select committee_ (of the house of commons) _on the post office_ in , sir f. palgrave makes the following note on the word _cokinus_, which occurs in some documents supplied to the committee, and printed in their appendix: "the word _cokinus_, in the wardrobe accounts of the latter half of the thirteenth century, is used to signify a 'messenger;' but in what the cokinus differed from the nuncius and the garcio--the other terms employed in their accounts to signify the bearers of letters or messages--does not appear."] * * * * * samuel taylor coleridge. the habit of this celebrated author, to annotate in the margins of books which he was reading, must be well known to many of the subscribers of "n. & q." i have in my possession a curious little volume of notes, &c. in mr. coleridge's handwriting, of course very highly prized, from which extracts were made in vol. i. pp. - ., &c. of coleridge's _literary remains_, collected and edited by his nephew, h. n. coleridge, esq., vols., : pickering. but, in addition to this volume, i have a few with s. t. coleridge's pencillings in the margins. the following is selected from dr. parr's celebrated _spital sermon_, and is appended to one of his (dr. parr's) notes, wherein he says: "upon the various effects of superstition, where it has spread widely and thriven long, we can reason from facts. but in the original frame of the human mind, and in the operation of all those usual causes which regulate our conduct or affect our happiness, there seems to be a most active, constant, and invincible principle of _resistance_ to the approachments of atheism. 'all nature cries aloud' against them, 'through all her works,' not in speculation only, but in practice." mr. coleridge's annotation upon the foregoing opinion of the learned doctor is as follows; and i select it as a specimen of coleridge's astonishing recollection of any opinions he had formerly promulgated, which might have called any laxity of principle, religious, moral, or political, into doubt, and of his extreme anxiety to refute or explain them: "i never had even a doubt in _my being_ concerning the supreme mind; but understand too sufficiently the difficulty of any intellectual demonstrations of his existence, and see too plainly how inevitably the principles of many pious men (locke, priestley, hartley, even archbishop king) would lead to atheism by fair production of consequences, not to feel in perfect charity with all good men, atheist or theist; and, let me add, though i now seem to feel firm ground of _reason_ under my belief in god, not gratefully to attribute my uniform past _theism_ more to general feeling than to depth of understanding. within this purpose i hope that, without offence, i may declare my conviction, that in the french revolution atheism was an effect, not a cause; that the same wicked men, under other circumstances and fashions, would have done the same things as anabaptists within munster, or as inquisitors among the south american indians; and that atheism from conviction, and as a ruling motive and impulse (in which case only can it be fairly compared with superstition), is a quiescent state and _per se_ harmless to all but the atheist himself. rather is it that overwhelming preference of experimental philosophy, which, by smothering over more delicate perceptions, and debilitating often to impotence the faculty of going into ourselves, leads to atheism as a conscious creed, and in its extreme is atheism in its essence. this rather is, i should deem, the more perilous, and a plainer and better object for philosophical attack. o! bring back _jack the giant killer_ and the _arabian nights_ to our children, and plato and his followers to new men, and let us have chemistry as we have watchmakers or surgeons (i select purposely honourable and useful callings), as a _division_ of human labour, as worthy profession for a few, not as a glittering master-feature of the education of men, women, and children.--s. t. c." j. m. g. worcester. * * * * * folk lore. _the ancient custom of well-flowering._--at tissington, near ashbourne, derbyshire, annually, on ascension day, a beautiful ceremony called the "well-flowering" takes place; and in it psalms used by the church of england are partially employed. it is a popular recognition of the value of those "perpetual fountains which gush out from below the dry wolds and limestone hills, bearing life and beauty on their course,--objects," remarks professor phillips in his admirable work on _the rivers, mountains, and sea coasts of yorkshire_ (recently published), "on which rustic love and admiration may tastefully bestow the emblematic flowers and grateful songs, which constituted a pleasing form of popular worship in the earlier ages of the world." perhaps some correspondents of "n. & q." may be enabled to mention other { } villages besides tissington in which this innocent and pleasing custom is still observed. i am aware that there are many places, especially in the north of england, in which a rustic celebration takes place annually at wells sacred from olden time; but is not the "well-flowering" a distinct custom? wm. sidney gibson. newcastle. _devil's marks in swine._--"we don't kill a pig every day," but we did a short time since; and after its hairs were scraped off, our attention was directed to six small rings, about the size of a pea, and in colour as if burnt or branded, on the inside of each fore leg, and disposed curvilinearly. our labourer informed us with great gravity, and evidently believed it, that these marks were caused by the pressure of the devil's fingers, when he entered the herd of swine which immediately ran violently into the sea.--see mark v. - .; luke viii. , . tee bee. _festival of baal._--the late lady baird, of ferntower, in perthshire, told me that, every year at "beltane" (or the st of may), a number of men and women assembled at an ancient druidical circle of stones on her property, near crieff. they light a fire in the centre; each person puts a bit of oatcake into a shepherd's bonnet; they all sit down and draw blindfold a piece of cake from the bonnet. one piece has been previously blackened, and whoever gets that piece has to jump through the fire in the centre of the circle and to pay a forfeit. this is, in fact, a part of the ancient worship of baal, and the person on whom the lot fell was formerly burnt as a sacrifice; now, the passing through the fire represents that, and the payment of the forfeit redeems the victim. it is curious that staunch presbyterians, as the people of that part of perthshire now are, should unknowingly keep up the observance of a great heathen festival. l. m. m. r. * * * * * lord monboddo. in my copy of _the origin and progress of language_, i have recorded a little [greek: anekdoton] of the author, which is now probably known to nobody but myself, and which you may perhaps think worth preservation. it was related to me some fifteen years ago, by a learned physician of this city, now deceased, who had it from dr. james gregory himself. it appears that lord monboddo, in spite of failing health and very advanced age, felt a wish to pay one more visit to the english metropolis, in the literary circles of which he was fond of mingling. that he had actually set out upon this formidable journey, was known to dr. gregory, who, being a few hours afterwards at a short distance from edinburgh, was a little surprised to meet his venerable friend returning homewards. he was on horseback, equipped in his usual travelling costume,--cocked hat, scarlet _roquelaure_, and jack-boots, but looking extremely ill and depressed in spirits. "what, so soon returned?" was dr. gregory's exclamation. "yes," said the old man, "i feel myself quite unequal to the journey, and was just thinking of a passage in horace, and adapting it to my own case." "what, 'solve senescentem?'" said the doctor. "no," replied his lordship, "it is one not quite so hackneyed." he then repeated, with much emotion, the following lines from the second satire of the second book: "seu recreare volet tenuatum corpus; ubique accedent anni, et tractari mollius ætas imbecilla volet." this was the last time dr. gregory saw him out of doors, and he died not long after. w. l. nichols. bath. * * * * * st. valentine. the subjoined cutting from an american newspaper (_wooster democrat_, feb. ) will show the persistent vitality of popular follies, and at the same time serve to exhibit the _peculiar_ literature of transatlantic advertisements: "the great increase in marriages throughout wayne co. during the past year, is said to be occasioned by the superior excellence of the v a l e n t i n e s sold by george howard. indeed so complete was his success in this line, that cupid has again commissioned him as the 'great high priest' of love, courtship, and marriage, and has supplied george with the most complete and perfect assortment of 'love's armor' ever before offered to the citizens of wayne county. during the past year the 'blind god' has centred his thoughts on producing something in the line far surpassing anything he has heretofore issued. and it is with 'feelinks' of the greatest joy that he is able to announce that he has succeeded. 'howard has got them. "to those susceptible persons whose hearts were captured during the past year, george refers, and advises others to call on them, and find them on their way rejoicing, shouting praises to the name of howard. the 'blessings' descend unto even the third and fourth generations, and it is probable that the business will go on increasing year upon year, until howard's valentines will be a 'household word' throughout the land. the children on the house-top will call to the passers-by, shouting howard's valentines! while the cry is echoed from the ground, and swelling over hill and vale reverberates the country through. { } "remember that the only regularly authorised dispenser of cupid's goods is george howard, "two doors east of the american house, wooster, o. "[pointing hand] orders by mail promptly attended to. prices range from six cents to five dollars." * * * * * "valentines!! "a large and splendid assortment of valentines, together with all the necessary fixings, for sale wholesale and retail, at the new column building. "j. h. baumgardner & co. "wooster, feb. , ." * * * * * "valentines.--behold st. valentine's day is coming, and all are seeking for messages to be dispatched under cover of this saint, to friend or foe. they are provided, of all kinds, styles, and varieties, ready for use. the turtle dove kind, with its coo! coo! the sensibly sentimental, the cutting, and severe, and in short everything that can be required. just call on george howard or j. h. baumgardner & co., and you can be suited to a t." s. r. p. * * * * * minor notes. _his excellency david hartley._--in the _gentleman's magazine_ of january last (which i have only lately seen), there is inserted at page . a letter signed by "benjamin franklin and john jay," and addressed to his excellency david hartley, announcing the arrival in europe of the ratification, by the congress of the united states, of the definitive treaty of peace between great britain and the united states, and stating that they were ready to exchange the ratification with mr. hartley. in a note prefixed to this letter, the editor of the review states that mr. hartley "then held some other diplomatic appointment from the united states." now this is a mistake. mr. hartley was the british plenipotentiary who signed that treaty at paris in september, , with the american plenipotentiaries, and held no diplomatic appointment from the united states. he was therefore the proper person to exchange the ratifications with the american plenipotentiaries. the treaty is printed at full length in chalmers' _collection of treaties_, together with mr. hartley's _full power_ as the british plenipotentiary. j. b. _the life and correspondence of s. t. coleridge._--it is much to be regretted that no proper life of the "noticeable man" has yet appeared. there is no lack of "reminiscences," and "recollections," and "conversations," conveying, distorted views of his life and character, and exaggerated statements of his faults and failings; but his life has yet to be written. and now would be the time, whilst some of his friends and cotemporaries are still living, to do justice to his memory. scott, southey, wordsworth, have had their lives copiously illustrated, and even little tommy moore is (_cosa stupenda_) to have _ten volumes_ devoted to his life, whilst coleridge, the myriad-minded, still waits for a biographer. and who would be so suitable as derwent coleridge to perform the office! j. m. b. _an old riddle._--i lately found the following mysterious verse upon a scrap of paper. it is of the time of henry viii.: "vj is come, v is goone, wyth thris tene beware al men vij wyth vij shall mete wyth viij^th and viij^th manye a thousande shall wepe ad parabulam hanc if i shulde seye what it is i shuld have no thanke for he that ne rekketh where that he steppeth he may lightly wade to depe." j. bt. _the word "rather."_--the word _rather_ is, as far as i know (if i am wrong, perhaps some of your correspondents will correct me) a solitary instance in our language of a comparative regularly formed from a positive which is now obsolete. in the _cant. tales_, v. ., we find the positive form: "what aileth you so _rathe_ for to arise;" where _rathe_ means "early, soon." the earliest use of the comparative degree which i can find, is in a piece of anglo-norman poetry preserved in hickes's _thesaurus_, and given in ellis's _specimens_, vol. i. p. .: "the chrystal turneth into glass in state that it _rather_ was." here we have the adverbial form; but in chaucer's _troilus and creseide_, iii. ., we find the adjectival form: "but now to purpose of my _rather_ speech," where, according to the principle laid down by dr. latham, in his _english language_, p. ., nd edit., we should, i suppose, pronounce it _rayther_. this word has sustained various modifications of meaning, but they are in general easily deducible from the original signification: _e.g._ the phrase "i had _rather_" is easily explained, as far as the word _rather_ is concerned; for that which we do more quickly, we do preferably. but in such expressions as "i am _rather_ tired," equivalent to "i am a little tired," the explanation is not so obvious. in this case _rather_ seems to mean "in greater degree than otherwise." now, in such sentences as "i am glad you are come, _the rather_ that i have work for you to do," _rather_ seems to require the signification "in a greater degree;" and may we not therefore explain the case in question as an elliptical expression for "rather than not?" if { } so, is it not a solitary instance of such a construction in our language? perhaps some of your correspondents can inform me, at what period this use of the word was introduced; for it is doubtless a modern innovation. erica. warwick. _in jesum cruci affixum._-- "affixus ligno, _salvator_, crimina mundi abstersit, patiens jussa cruenta necis; aspicite ut languore decus, turpescere membra, intimus ut sese prodat in ore dolor; auditus saxis, intellectusque ferarum sensibus, inventos spiritus æger abit. splendida per tenebras, subito simulacra coruscant, ardentesque micant per freta longa faces; pro servis dominus moritur, pro sontibus insons, pro ægroto medicus, pro grege pastor obit, pro populo nex mactatur, pro milite ductor, proque opere ipse opifex, proque homine ipse deus: quid servus, sons, ægrotus, quid grex, populusque, quid miles, quid opus, quidve homo solvat? _amet_." the present holy season has brought to my recollection the above beautiful lines, which were shown up some fifty years ago, for long copy, by a schoolfellow at blundell's school, tiverton, and copied into my scrap-book. i think they are from the _poemata_ of joannes audoenus, but am not sure of it; of this, however, i am sure, they cannot be better made known to the world than by your excellent publication. william collyns. harlow. * * * * * queries. corbet peerage. sarah, widow of sir vincent corbet, bart., was created ( rd october, ) viscountess corbet, of linchlade, co. bucks, for her natural life; and in the patent the preamble runs,--that his majesty charles ii., "having taken into his royal consideration the great worth and merits of the trusty and well-beloved sarah lady corbet, together with the faithful services of the late sir vincent corbet, grants," &c. this evidently explains but little of the real reason both of the grant and its limitation. lady corbet had, besides four daughters, two sons then living: both in turns succeeded to the baronetcy. if the peerage were a reward for the services of the late sir vincent (those services, indeed, consisting in his having been completely routed by sir will brereton at nantwich, and afterwards with six troops of horse taken by surprise at drayton, followed eventually by fine and sequestration),--if, i say, for these services, nineteen years after the restoration, and certainly three after sir vincent's own death, the peerage were bestowed on his widow, then why was it limited for her life? why was the unusual course taken of actually excluding the succession of the issue, who naturally should have been the recipients of the honour? we may conclude, therefore, the motive was personal favour, "the great worth and merits" of lady corbet in fact, as the patent first asserts; but then the query arises what these were. tradition says lady corbet was a beauty and a _favourite_ (the term may be understood) at a profligate court, and the peerage was the reward; but i cannot discover that this is more than tradition, and have never found any corroborative authority even among the many scandalous histories of the time, and i am most desirous to know if any such evidence can be given. it may be as well to add that in lady corbet was _sixty-six_ years of age; but we may presume she still had attractions (unless these were only her rank) from the fact that two months later she remarried sir charles lee of billesley. monson. gatton park. * * * * * the duke of wellington a marÉchal de france. the _revue britannique_, in its number for november, , under the head of "nouvelles des sciences," gives an account of the duke of wellington's funeral, and enumerates the titles of the illustrious deceased, as proclaimed on the occasion by garter king-at-arms. the writer marks in italics those of _duc de brunoy en france_, _maréchal de france_, and _chevalier du saint-esprit_, and then appends these remarks: "que le titre de duc de brunoy ait été donné réellement par louis xviii. à lord wellington, c'est croyable. le roi pouvait créer ce duché en sa faveur, sans blesser aucune susceptibilité militaire. mais que ce prince politique ait pu nommer maréchal de france un général étranger, auquel il préférait donner le cordon du saint-esprit, plutôt que la simple croix de la légion-d'honneur, qu'on cherche en vain dans la liste des ordres dont lord wellington fut décoré, c'est plus difficile à croire, à moins que cette nomination n'ait eu lieu avec des reserves et des conditions de secret, qui auraient fort peu satisfait celui qu'on supposait, sans doute, ambitieux d'un pareil honneur, puisque on le lui offrait. le nombre des maréchaux fut limité et non augmenté sous la restoration. louis xviii. crea une maréchale, il est vrai;--si lord wellington fut nommé maréchal, ce titre, restreint à une qualification honorifique, comme celle de la veuve de moreau, ne put jamais lui conférer aucun rang dans l'armée française. je somme ici le roi d'armes jarretière de vouloir bien produire le diplôme du noble duc." no man ever stood less in need of foreign orders than the duke of wellington; and no man ever { } had so many of them conferred upon him. as he was the last to assume a title that did not belong to him, so he would have been the first to repudiate any such pretension, if put forward by others on his behalf. allow me therefore to ask, would it be inconsistent with what is due to the memory of the great duke, or with our sense of national honour, to undertake the task of clearing up the doubts thus thrown out respecting his claim to the title of maréchal de france? i believe these doubts have been repeated in other french journals, and that no reply has yet been made to them by the english press. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * minor queries. _prophecy in hoveden._--i should be extremely obliged if any one of your numerous readers would give me the following information. in the account given by hoveden (p. . of the frankfort edition of sir h. savile's _scriptores post bedam_) of the proceedings during the stay of richard i. at messina, that author says: "then was fulfilled the prophecy which was found written in ancient characters on tablets of stone, near a vill of the king of england, which is called 'here,' and which king henry gave to william fitz-stephen. here the said william built a new house on a pinnacle, on which he placed the figure of a stag, which is supposed to have been done that the said prophecy might be fulfilled, which was to the following effect: 'whan thu seches in here hert yreret. than sulen engles in three be ydeled. that han sal into yrland altolate waie, that other into puille mid prude bi seue, the thridde into airhahen herd alle wreken drechegen.'" this is evidently full of typographical errors, and may be more correctly set forth in the english edition of , which i have not at hand. i therefore wish for information on these points: . what is the correct version of this prophecy, and where may it be found? . what place is meant by "here?" i need hardly say that i have no difficulty as to the first two lines: "when you see a hart reared (erected) in here, then shall england be divided into three parts." j. h. v. _a skating problem._--the motto of your paper is, "when found, make a note of it." here then is one for you. in several of my skating excursions i have observed, and noted it to others, that ice of just sufficient strength to bear any one in skates standing upon it, will instantly break if tried by the same person without having skates on. i don't know if any of your readers have made the same discovery: if so, can they explain the cause? if, on the contrary, any are incredulous enough to doubt the fact, i would recommend them to test the truth of my statement by a personal trial, before they pass a hasty judgment of the subject. a skater. "_rap and rend for._"--in dryden's prologue to _the disappointment, or the mother in fashion_, we find these lines: "our women batten well on their good nature all they can rap and rend for the dear creature." "all they can rap and run for" is the more frequent colloquial version of this quaint phrase. in chaucer's "chanones yeman's tale" it stands thus: "but wasten all that ye may rape and renne." and to this last word tyrwhit, in his glossary, gives "rend?" with a mark of interrogation, as doubtful of the meaning. johnson gives it "rap and rend," and quotes a line of hudibras: "all they could rap and rend and pilfer:" and adds, "more properly, _rap and ran_; [ræpan] sax., to bind, and _rana_, icelandic, to plunder." the question is, are we to accept this phrase in the sense it is commonly used, _to seize and plunder_; or have later and better philologists mended the version? the context in chaucer does not seem to warrant the interpretation given by tyrwhit. the narrator is warning his hearers against the rogueries of alchemy: "if that your eyen cannot seen aright, loketh that youre mind lacke not his sight. for tho' ye loke never so brode and stare, ye shul not win a mite on that chaffare, but wasten all that ye may rape and renne. withdraw the fire, lest it to faste brenne; medleth no more with that art, i mene; for if ye don, your thrift is gon ful clene." m. "_the wee brown hen._"--can any of your correspondents oblige me with a copy of the old jacobin song, the "wee brown hen?" it begins thus: "i had a wee brown hen, and she had a wee brown tap, and she gaed out in the mornin' for to fill her crap. the violets were her coverin', and everything was her care, and every day she laid twa eggs, and sundays she laid mair. och! they micht hae letten her be, for every day she laid twa eggs, and sundays she laid three." the words are very old, and conveyed a certain religious and political allusion. i know the tune { } of it, and i shall take it as a favour to be furnished with a correct version of the songs. fras. crossley. _deprived bishops of scotland, ._--neither bishop keith, with all his industry (in his _hist. catal. of the scottish bishops_), nor subsequent ecclesiastical writers on the same subject, appear to have been able to mention the period of the deaths of nearly all those prelates deprived of their sees in . the researches of late years may, perhaps, have been more successful, and in that hope i now venture to inquire when and where the lives of the following scottish bishops came to a close-- . david lindsay, bishop of edinburgh. . alex. lindsay, bishop of dunkeld. . adam ballenden, bishop of aberdeen. . john guthrie, bishop of moray. . james fairly, bishop of argyle. . neil campbell, bishop of the isles. . john abernethy, bishop of caithness. . geo. graham, bishop of orkney; and . robert baron, bishop elect of orkney, . the archbishops of st. andrew and glasgow, and bishops of brechin, dunblane, ross, and galloway, are slightly noticed, though even in these few there are discrepancies, both as to year and place of demise, which might be corrected. the later ecclesiastical records of scotland are also exceedingly scanty; for mr. perceval, with all his acumen and research (in his _apology for the doctrine of apostolical succession_, nd edit., appendix, pp. - .), acknowledges with regret his inability to give more particulars of the consecrations in scotland between and , for the column with names of consecrators is without dates of consecrations during that period, and is, with very few exceptions, a blank. in continuation of this topic, may i inquire when and where the two following bishops, deprived in , died?-- . john hamilton, bishop of dunkeld and . archibald graham, bishop of the isles. the notices given by bishop keith, of the other deprived scottish bishops, are also exceedingly brief and meagre; nor has mr. lawson (_hist. scot. epis. ch._) added much. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _passage in carlyle._--carlyle (_french revolution_, vol. i.), in his description of the horrors attendant on the death-bed of louis xv., mentions the ghosts of the men "who sank shamefully on so many battle-fields from rossbach to quebec, that thy harlot might take revenge for an epigram." who was the harlot, and what the epigram? ficulnus. _madagascar poetry._--can any of the readers of "n. & q." throw any light upon the origin of the following lines? i found them among family papers, written about the year , where they are described as the "invocation of madagascrian spirit;" by which, i imagine, we are to infer that they are a translation of some native lay from the island of madagascar: "spirit that art flown away, listen to our artless lay. teach us, spirit, to do well; teach us, spirit, to excel. stoop, o spirit! and be kind, teaching those you left behind: listen to our artless lay, spirit that art flown away." c. s. _ink._--from the following lines by whitehead, which i find in my note-book, i am induced to ask who was the inventor of ink? "hard, that his name it should not save, who first pour'd forth the sable flood." philip s. king. _hamilton queries_ (vol. vi., p. .).--lord brayboooke says, in writing of lord spencer hamilton, that he "was a younger son of james, third duke of hamilton." i find, on referring to a peerage, date about (i cannot quote it more particularly, as it has no title-page), that the third inheritor of the dukedom of hamilton was anne, daughter of the first and niece of the second duke of hamilton; and that she married william, earl of selkirk, eldest son of the marquis of douglas. the date would better accord with lord spencer's being a son of james, _fifth_ duke of hamilton. was it not so? _sir william hamilton._--who was the first wife of sir w. hamilton, the celebrated ambassador, and when did he marry her? who was the second, who has attained such notoriety in connexion with nelson's name; and when and where were they married? was single-speech hamilton a member of the ducal family of hamilton? if so, his lineage from that house? tee bee. _derivation of windfall._--arvine, in his _cyclopædia_, gives the following plausible reason for the origin of this term, now in such common use. query, is he correct? "some of the nobility of england, by the tenure of their estates, were forbidden felling any trees in the forests upon them, the timber being reserved for the use of the royal navy. such trees as fell without cutting, were the property of the occupant. a tornado was therefore a perfect god-send, in every sense of the word, to those who had occupancy of extensive forests; and the _windfall_ was sometimes of very great value." w. w. malta. _do the sun's rays put out the fire?_--there is a current and notorious idea, that the admission of the sun-light into a room puts the fire out; and, { } after making every deduction for an apparent effect in this matter, i confess i am disposed to think that the notion is not an erroneous one. can any of your correspondents account for it on philosophical principles, or disprove it experimentally? c. w. b. _denmark and slavery._--dr. madden, in _a twelve months' residence in the west indies_, , says, in allusion to a remark of mr. brydges, to the effect that england was the last european power to enter into the slave trade, and the first to abandon it, "this is inaccurate: to the honour of denmark be it spoken, the slave trade was abolished by her five years before england performed that act of tardy justice to humanity" (vol. ii. p. .). the object of the present communication is neither to question nor disparage the merit here claimed for denmark, in reference to "the slave _trade_:" it concerns the abolition of _slavery_ itself by that power. i shall therefore be obliged to any reader of "n. & q." who will inform me when freedom was granted to the negroes in the danish island of st. thomas, in the same manner as to those of the british west indian colonies in ? and also in what work i can find any detailed account of such act of manumission? l. l. _spontaneous combustion._--is there such a thing as spontaneous combustion? h. a. b. _bucks, most ancient and honourable society of._--a candid inquiry into the principles and practices of this society, with its history, rules, and songs, was published in . it appeared that there were at that time thirteen lodges of the society in london, and a few in other places. do any lodges of this society still exist? did they issue any medals? do they, or did they, wear any badges? who wore them, officers only, or all members? how many varieties were there, and of what sizes? the book i have, and two varieties of what i suppose may have been worn as badges. edw. hawkins. _lines quoted by charles lamb._--there are some lines quoted by charles lamb in one of the _essays of elia_: i am very anxious to know whose they are: "bind me, ye woodbines, in your twines, curl me about, ye gadding vines, and oh! so close your circles lace that i may never leave this place. but, lest your fetters prove too weak, ere i their silken bondage break, do you, oh briars! chain me too, and courteous brambles nail me through!" l. m. m. r. _descendants of dr. bill._--are there any records extant of the family or descendants of dr. bill, whose name is first on the list of those who drew up the prayer-book, tempus edward vi.? he was also lord almoner to queen elizabeth. dr. bill's only daughter and heiress, mary bill, was married to sir francis samwell: had she any family, and did they assume the name of bill? did a branch of the family settle in staffordshire, and where? a. r. m. "_the rebellious prayer._"--can any of your readers inform me whether some stanzas entitled "the rebellious prayer" have ever yet appeared in print, and, if so, in what collection of poems they are to be met with? the opening lines are as follows: "it was a darken'd chamber, where was heard the whisper'd voice, hush'd step, and stifled sounds which herald the deep quietness of death," &c. they describe the anxious watchings of a wife at the sick couch of her husband. in her agony she prays that his life may be spared, at whatever cost: her prayer is granted, and her husband is restored, but bereft of reason. j. a. _ravenshaw and his works._--can any of your readers give me information, or refer me to any works, of john ravenshaw, who was ejected from holme-chapel[ ] under the act of uniformity? he is described by calamy as having been a good scholar, and possessing a taste for poetry. b. [footnote : or church-holm, in cheshire.] * * * * * minor queries with answers. _yolante de dreux_ (vol. vi., pp. . .)--j. y. has given this queen's second marriage, but not the date or the names of her issue. i am aware that her husband arthur ii. (not i.) was duke of bretagne, - , and that her only son john iii., born , succeeded; but the names and marriages of her five daughters still remain unnoticed, as also any notices of her father the _count of dreux_, or of her mother. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. [the names of the five daughters of this lady and their alliances are as follow:-- . johanna, born , married to robert of flanders, lord of cassel. . beatrix, born , married guido x., baron of laval, in , died . . alisa, born , married, , burchard vi., count of vendosme, died . . bianca, died an infant. . mary, born , became a nun, and died . the father of yolante de dreux was robert iv., count of dreux, braine, montfort, and l'amaury, and died november , . her mother was beatrix, daughter and heiress of john count of montfort, l'amaury, and lord of rochefort, married in . this is given on the authority of anderson's _royal genealogies_, table , p. .] { } _bishop francis turner._--he left a manuscript life of nicholas ferrar of little gidding, which formed the basis of dr. peckard's _life of ferrar_, reprinted in wordsworth's _ecclesiastical biography_. where can this manuscript be found? are there any literary remains of the bishop to be met with anywhere? j. j. j. [we believe all that is known of bishop turner's ms. life of nicholas ferrar is, that it was in the custody of the editor of _the christian magazine_ in . foster the essayist (_lectures_, vol. ii. p. . edit. ) says, "a long and well-written account of ferrar was drawn up by a dr. turner, bishop of ely, and left by him in manuscript. it remained in the hands of the persons to whom his papers descended, till it was communicated to the conductors of a miscellany called _the christian magazine_, in a volume of which for the year , this curious memoir was lately pointed out to me." gough, in his _british topography_, vol. ii. p. .*, furnishes a few other particulars:--"the papers of bishop turner, in the year , appear to have been in the hands of dr. dodd, who printed some of them in _the christian magazine_ for that year. in particular the _life of mr. nicholas ferrar_ was abridged, and published at p. . in the introduction the editor says, 'as the _life_ is rather too long for our pamphlet, even divided, we have taken the liberty to abridge some particulars in the bishop's account, and now and then to alter a phrase or two in his language, which through length of time is in some places rather become obsolete.' from this passage it will appear that it was published in the worst manner it could be." our correspondent will find much curious matter respecting the biographies of nicholas ferrar in our second volume, pp. . . . . among the addit. mss. (no. ., f. .) in the british museum, is a letter of bishop turner's addressed to mr. reading, and read at the trial of lord preston, .] _raleigh's history._--what is the story of raleigh's burning the second volume of his history? recnac. [the story is this:--a few days previously to his death, raleigh sent for walter burre, who printed his history; and asking him how the work had sold, received for answer, "so slowly that it had undone him." upon which sir walter brought from his desk a continuation of the work to his own time, and, throwing it into the fire, said to burre, "the second volume shall undo no more; this ungrateful world is unworthy of it." (winstanley's _english worthies_, p. .) there is, however, no satisfactory authority for the truth of this anecdote; and it has been rejected by arthur cayley, and his other biographers.] * * * * * replies. epitaphs. (vol. vii., p. .) the following is a _real_ epitaph. it was written by dr. greenwood on his wife, who died in childbed, and it is in all probability still to be seen, where it was originally set up, in solyhull churchyard, warwickshire. the most amusing point in it is, that the author seriously intended the lines to rhyme. there is wonderful merit in the couplet where he celebrates her courage and magnanimity in preferring him to a lord or judge: "which heroic action, join'd to all the rest, made her to be esteem'd the phoenix of her sex!" "go, cruel death, thou hast cut down the fairest greenwood in all this kingdom! her virtues and her good qualities were such that surely she deserved a lord or judge: but her piety and great humility made her prefer me, a doctor in divinity; which heroic action, join'd to all the rest, made her to be esteem'd the phoenix of her sex: and like that bird a young she did create, to comfort those her loss had made disconsolate. my grief for her was so sore that i can only utter two lines more. for this and all other good woman's sake, never let blisters be applied to a lying-in woman's back." the advice contained in the last couplet is sound. f. d. pershore. your correspondent erica gives us some quotations and epitaphs, in which the metaphor of an inn is applied both to life and death. i find the former of these ideas embodied in the following distich, copied from a tombstone at llangollen in north wales, a village much frequented not only by tourists, but by holiday-makers from all the surrounding districts; for whose especial benefit i conceive the epitaph to have been written: "our life is but a summer's day, some only breakfast, and away; others to dinner stay, and are full fed; the oldest man but sups, and goes to bed. large his account, who lingers out the day: who goes the soonest, has the least to pay." george s. masters. welsh hampton, salop. "_the bathos can no further go_" (vol. vii., p. .).-- inscription copied, nov. , , from a tombstone to a fisherman in bathford churchyard. "he drags no more, his nets reclin'd, and all his tackle left behind, his anchors cast within the veil, no storms tempestious him assail. in peace he rest--_an_ jesus plain reader _i_ here lies--an honest man, a husband--father--friend--compeer-- to all--who knew him--truely dear. search the great globe!--how few, alas! are worthy now to--take his place." b. h. ." some rural wag had substituted with his pencil { } three words for the last three, which certainly rhymed better with alas! e. d. allow me to send you one of much merit, founded upon the same metaphor as those inserted at the page above quoted: "life's like an inn where travellers stay; some only breakfast, and away: others to dinner stay, and are full fed; the oldest man but sups, and goes to bed. hard is his lot who lingers out the day; who goes the soonest has the least to pay." edw. hawkins. * * * * * throwing old shoes for luck. (vol. ii., p. .; vol. v., p. .; vol. vii., p. .) some light may perhaps be thrown on this mysterious custom by the following quotation from the _réfutation des opinions de jean wier_, by bodin, the celebrated french jurisconsult, and author of the _demonomanie des sorciers_ (paris, ), to the quarto edition of which the _réfutation_ is generally found attached. it may be necessary to observe, for the benefit of those unacquainted with demoniacal lore, that wier, though a pupil of cornelius agrippa, and what would be now-a-days termed exceedingly superstitious, was far in advance of his age, and the first to assert that some, at least, of the many persons who were then burned for sorcery were merely hypochondriacs and lunatics,--fitter subjects for the care of the physician than the brand of the executioner. this _heterodox_ opinion brought upon him a crowd of antagonistic replies, and amongst them the _réfutation_ of bodin. during a cursory examination of wier's voluminous demonological works (_de lamiis liber_; _item de commentatiis jejuniis_; _de præstigiis demonum, et incantationibus ac veneficiis_: basil, ), i have not met with the passage underneath referred to by bodin; but, no doubt, if time permitted, a closer search would discover it: "il se mocque aussi d'une sorciere, à qui sathan commanda de garder bien ses vieux souliers, pour un preservatif, et contre-charme contre les autre sorciers. je dy que ce conseil de sathan a double sens, les souliers signifient les pechez, comme estas tousiours trainnez par les ordures. et quand dieu dist à moyse et à josué, oste tes souliers, ce lieu est pur, et sainct: il entendoit, comme dict philon hebrieu, qu'il faut bien nettoyer son ame de peches, pour contempler et louer dieu. mais pour converser avec sathan, il faut estre souillé, et plongé en perpetuelle impietez et mechancetez: alors sathan assistera à ses bons serviteurs. et quand aux sens literal, nous avons dict que sathan fait ce qu'il peut, pour destourner les hommes de la fiance de dieu aux creatures, qui est la vraye definition de l'idolatrie, que les theologiens ont baillie: tellement que qui croira, que ses vieux souliers, ou les bilets, et autres babioles qu'il porte, le peut garder de mal, il est perpetuelle idolatrie." w. pinkerton. ham. it will, i fear, be difficult to discover a satisfactory answer to lord braybrooke's questions on these two points. they cannot certainly be traceable to a pagan origin, for cupid is always pourtrayed barefooted; and there is not, i believe, a single statue to be found of a sandaled venus. i can certainly direct his lordship to one author, a christian author, st. gregory of tours, who refers to a curious practice, and seemingly one well recognised, of lovers presenting _shoes_, as they now do _bouquets_, to the objects of their affection: "cumqu, ut ætate huic convenit, amori se puellari præstaret affabiblem, et cum poculis frequentibus etiam _calceamenta_ deferret."--gregor. turon. _ex vitis patrum_, vol. ii. p. .: see also same page, note . w. b. maccabe. allow me to inform lord braybrooke that the custom of throwing a shoe, taken from the left foot, after persons for good luck, has been practised in norfolk from time immemorial, not only at weddings, but on all occasions where good luck is required. some forty years ago a cattle dealer desired his wife to "trull her left shoe arter him," when he started for norwich to buy a lottery-ticket. as he drove off on his errand, he looked round to see if she performed the charm, and consequently he received the shoe in his face, with such force as to black his eyes. he went and bought his ticket, which turned up a prize of l.; and his son has assured me that his father always attributed his luck to the extra dose of shoe which he got. e. g. r. the custom of throwing an old shoe after a person departing from home, as a mode of wishing him good luck and prosperity in his undertaking, is not confined to scotland and the northern counties, nor to weddings. it prevails more or less, i believe, throughout the kingdom. i have seen it in cheshire, and frequently in towns upon the sea-coast. i once received one upon my shoulder, at swansea, which was intended for a young sailor leaving his home to embark upon a trading voyage. edw. hawkins. * * * * * owen glyndwr [owen ap griffith vychan, lord of glyndwrdwy]. (vol. vii., p. .) the arms referred to by mr. woodward are those on the great seal and privy seal of "the irregular and wild glendower," as prince of wales, { } attached to two documents deposited in the hotel soubise, at paris, in the cartons i. . and i. ., relating, it is supposed, to the furnishing of troops to the welsh prince by charles vi., king of france. casts of these seals were taken by the indefatigable mr. doubleday, to whom the seal department of the british museum, over which he presides, is so much indebted; and impressions were exhibited by sir henry ellis at a meeting of the society of antiquaries, on the th of december, . engravings of them, accompanied by the following notice, were communicated by sir henry to the _archæologia_, and will be found in that publication, vol. xxv. plate lxx. fig. , . page ., and ibid. pp. , .: "the great seal has an obverse and reverse. on the obverse owen is represented, with a bifid beard, very similar to rich. ii., seated under a canopy of gothic tracery: the half body of a wolf forming the arms of his chair on each side: the background is ornamented with a mantle semée of lions, held up by angels. at his feet are two lions. a sceptre is in his right hand, but he has no crown. the inscription: 'owenus ... princeps wallie.' on the reverse of the great seal owen is represented on horseback, in armour; in his right hand, which is extended, he holds a sword, and with his left his shield, charged with, quarterly, four lions rampant; a drapery, probably a _kerchief de plesaunce_, or handkerchief won at a tournament, pendant from his right wrist. lions rampant also appear upon the mantle of the horse. on his helmet, as well as on his horse's head, is the welsh dragon [passant]. the area of the seal is diapered with roses. the inscription on this side seems to fill the gap upon the obverse 'owenus dei gratia ... wallie.' "the privy seal represents the four lions rampant towards the spectator's left, on a shield, surmounted by an open coronet [crown]: the dragon[ ] of wales, as a supporter, on the dexter side; on the sinister, a lion. the inscription seems to have been '_sigillum oweni_ principis wallie.' no impression of this seal is probably now to be found either in wales or england. its workmanship shows that owen glyndwr possessed a taste for art beyond the types of the seals of his predecessors." the dragon is a favourite figure with cambrian bards; and, not to multiply instances, the following lines may be cited from the poem of the "hirlas horn," by owen cyfeilioc, prince of powys wenwynwyn,-- "mathraval's[ ] lord, the poet and the prince," father of gwenwynwyn, prince of powys wenwynwyn (the gwenwen of sir walter scott's _betrothed_):-- "a dytwc i rufut waywrutelyn gwin a gwydyr goleu yn ei gylchyn dragon arwystli arwystyl tervyn dragon owein hael o hil kynvyn[ ] dragon iw dechren ac niw dychryn cat cyvlavan argrat cymyw erlyn." _myvyrian archaiology of wales_: london, , vo., vol. i. p. . "and bear to grufydd, the crimson-lanced foe, wine with pellucid glass around it; the dragon of arwstli, safeguard of the borders, the dragon of owen, the generous of the race of cynvyn, a dragon from his beginning, and never scared by a conflict of triumphant slaughter, or afflicting chase." gray, whose "bard" indicates the inspiration with which he had seized the poetry and traditions of the cymri, thus refers to the red dragon as the cognizance of the welsh monarchs, in his _triumphs of owen_ [ap griffith, prince of north wales]: "dauntless, on his native sands, the _dragon_, son of mona, stands; in glittering arms and glory dress'd high he rears his _ruby_ crest." the dragon and lion have been attributed to the welsh monarchs, as insignia, from an early period, and the former is ascribed, traditionally, to the great cadwallader. in the _archæologia_, vol. xx. p. . plate xxix. p. ., are descriptions of engravings of the impressions of two seals appendant to charters of edward, son of edward iv., and arthur, son of henry vii., as princes of wales, the obverse of each bearing three lions in pale passant, reguardant, having their tails between their legs, reflected upon their backs, upon a shield { } surmounted by a cap of maintenance: prince edward's shield has on each side a lion as a supporter, holding single feathers, with the motto "ich dien." on prince arthur's seal, the feathers are supported by _dragons_. thomas william king, rouge dragon, in a letter to sir samuel meyrick, dated th september, , published in the _archæologia_, vol. xxix. p. ., appendix, regards the lions on these shields as to the ensigns attributed at the period of the seals to certain welsh princes, and the dragon as the badge of cadwallader. in a ms. (for reference to which i am indebted to the courtesy of sir frederick madden), which was recently sold at sotheby's, containing translations by johannes boerius, presented to henry, prince of wales, son of henry vii., about , there is a beautiful illumination containing the arms of that prince: quarterly france and england, with the red dragon as the dexter, and the greyhound of the house of york as the sinister, supporter. "the red fierye drag[=o] beeten up[=o] white and greene sarcenet" was the charge of a standard offered by henry vii. at st. paul's, on his entry into london after his victory at bosworth field; and this standard was represented on the corner of his tomb, held by an angel (willement's _regal heraldry_, to., london, , p. .). the red dragon rampant was assumed as a supporter by henry vii. in indication of his welsh descent, and was borne as a supporter, either on the dexter or sinister side of the shield, by all the other english monarchs of the house of tudor, with the exception of queen mary, who substituted for it an eagle: and among the badges attributed to our present sovereign is, in respect of wales, "a dragon passant, wings elevated gu., upon a mount vert." it may be assumed, with little doubt, that the colour of the dragon borne by owen glyndwr was _rouge_; and although the colour of the other supporter of his shield, the lion, is not susceptible of such positive inference, it may be conjectured to have been _sable_, the colour of the lion, the principal charge on his hereditary shield. to mr. woodward's immediate query as to the blazon--colour of the field and charges--of the arms on these seals, i can afford no direct answer, never having met with any trace of these arms in the extensive collections of welsh mss. to which i have had access. these ensigns may have been adopted by owen as arms of _dominion_ (as those of ireland by the english sovereigns) on his assumption of the principality of wales, a suggestion countenanced, if not established, by four lions quarterly ("quarterly gules and or, four lions rampant, counterchanged") being assigned to griffith ap llewelyn (killed april, hen. iii., , in attempting to escape from the tower), eldest son of llewelyn ap iorwerth, prince of wales (dead st november, hen. iii., ), father of the ill-fated and gallant llewelyn ap griffith, last sovereign of wales, slain at builth, december , ed. i., . further confirmation is, perhaps, afforded to this suggestion by owen having, it is understood, vindicated his assumption of the cambrian throne as heir of the three sovereign dynasties of north wales, south wales, and powys respectively,--of the last, as male representative, through the lords of bromfield, of madoc ap meredith, the last monarch of that principality; and of the two former as their heir-general, in respect of his mother, elenor, sister of owen (ap thomas ap llewelyn), lord, with his paternal uncle, owen ap llewelyn ap owen, of the comot [hundred] of iscoed, september , , representative paternally of the sovereigns of south wales, and, by female descent, of those of north wales[ ], through griffith ap llewelyn above named. the hereditary arms of owen's paternal line, the lords of glyndwrdwy, are those of his ancestor, griffith maelor ap madoc, of dinas bran, lord of bromfield, yale, chirk, glyndwrdwy, &c., who died a.d. , viz. "paly of eight argent and gules, over all a lion rampant sable," thus differenced, apparently, from "the black lion of powys" (argent a lion rampant sable), the royal ensigns of his father, madoc ap meredith, last sovereign prince of powys, who died at winchester in . i am unable to refer to any seal of the lords of glyndwrdwy, or of the lords of bromfield, bearing the family arms of their line; but they are thus given invariably by the cambrian heralds, and, so far, are susceptible of proof by the most authentic ms. authorities of the principality. it is, however, remarkable, that the heraldic visitations of wales of lewis dwnn, appointed in deputy-herald for all wales, by robert cook clarenceux, and william flower norroy king-at arms, published in by the welsh mss. society, contain no pedigree of the house of glyndwrdwy. of the descendants, if any, of owen glyndwr himself, beyond his children, i am not aware that there is any authentic pedigree, or other satisfactory proof; and there seems to be presumptive evidence that in henry vi., --a period so recent as nineteen years from the last date, th february, henry v., , on which owen is ascertained to have been alive (rymer's _foedera_, ix. p. .),--his issue was limited to a daughter and heir, { } alice, wife of sir john scudamore, knt., described in a petition of john, earl of somerset, to whom owen's domains, on his attainder, had been granted by his brother, henry iv., as "un john skydmore, chivaler, et alice sa femme, pretendantz la dite alice etre file _et heir_ au dit owyn (glyndwr)."--_rot. parl. hen. vi._ i have not found evidence to show that there were any children of alice's marriage with scudamore; and, assuming the failure of her issue, and also the extinction of owen's other offspring, the representation of the three dynasties-- ". . . . . . . the long line of our old royalty"-- reverted to that of his only brother, tudor ap griffith vychan, a witness, as "tudor de glyndore," in the scrope and grosvenor controversy, rd september, , and then twenty-four years and upwards, who is stated to have been killed under owen's banner at the battle of mynydd pwll-melyn, near grosmont, monmouthshire, fought th march, . tudor's daughter and heir, lowry [lady] of gwyddelwern in edeirnion, "una baron. de edurnyon," became the wife of griffith ap einion of corsygedol, living and ; and from this marriage descend the eminent merionethshire house of corsygedol (represented by the co-heirs of the late sir thomas mostyn, bart., of mostyn and corsygedol; namely, his nephew, the honorable edward mostyn lloyd mostyn, of mostyn and corsygedol, m.p., lord lieutenant of merionethshire, and sir thomas's sister, anna maria, lady vaughan, mother of sir robert williames vaughan, bart., of nannau) and its derivative branches, the yales of plas-yn-yale, co. denbigh, and the rogers-wynns of bryntangor in the same county; the former represented by the lloyds of plymog, and the latter by the hughes's of gwerclas in edeirnion, lords of kymmer-yn-edeirnion, co. merioneth, and barons of edeirnion. these families, co-representatives of the three cambrian dynasties, all quarter, with the arms of south wales and north wales, the ensigns i have referred to as the hereditary bearings of the lords of glyndwrdwy. independently of the adoption of these ensigns in the welsh mss. in the british museum, college of heralds, and other depositories, it may be mentioned that they are quartered in an ancient shield of the vaughans of corsygedol, suspended in the hall of corsygedol,--one of the finest and most picturesque mansions in the principality,--and that they appear in the splendid emblazoned genealogy of the house of gwerclas, compiled in by robert vaughan, esq., of hengwrt, the camden and dugdale united of wales.[ ] the arms in question are ascribed to the line of bromfield and glyndwrdwy, and, as quarterings to the families just named, by mr. burke's well-known _armory_, the first and, indeed, only work, in conjunction with the welsh genealogies in that gentleman's _peerage and baronetage_, and _landed gentry_, affording satisfactory, or any approach to systematic and complete, treatment of cambrian heraldry and family history. mr. charles knight also, highly and justly estimated, no less for a refined appreciation of our historic archæology, than for careful research, adopts these arms as the escutcheon of owen in the beautiful artistic designs which adorn and illustrate the first part of the drama of _king henry iv._, in his pictorial edition of shakspeare. (_histories_, vol. i. p. .) the shield of the lords of glyndwrdwy, as marshalled by welsh heralds, displays quarterly the arms assigned to their direct paternal ancestors, as successively adopted previous to the period when armorial bearings became hereditary. thus marshalled, the paternal arms of owen glyndwr are as follows: st and th, "paly of eight, argent and gules, over all a lion rampant sable," for griffith maelor, lord of bromfield, son of madoc ap meredith, prince of powys-fadog; nd, "argent, a lion rampant sable" ("the black lion of powys") for madoc, prince of powys-fadog, son of meredith, prince of powys, son of bleddyn, king of powys; rd, "or, a lion rampant gules," for bleddyn ap cyfnfyn, king of powys.[ ] none { } of these ensigns is referable to a period anterior to that within which armorial bearings are attributed to the anglo-norman monarchs. the lion rampant is common to all branches of the line of powys; but the bearing peculiar to its last monarch, madoc ap meredith, "the _black_ lion of powys," without a difference, has been transmitted exclusively to the hughes's, baronial lords of kymmer-yn-edeirnion, and the other descendants of owen brogyntyn, lord of edeirnion, younger son of madoc; of whom, with the exception of the family just named, it is presumed there is no existing male branch. the same arms were borne by iorwerth goch, lord of mochnant, also a younger son of madoc; but they are now only borne subordinately in the second quarter by that chief's descendant, sir john roger kynaston of hardwick, bart., and by the other branches of the kynastons; the first quarter having been yielded to the arms of (touchet) lord audley, assumed by sir roger kynaston of hordley, knt., after the battle of blore in , at which lord audley is said to have fallen by the hand of sir roger. as already stated, griffith maelor, madoc's eldest son, bore the black lion differenced, as did also the twin sons of the latter, viz. cynric efell, lord of eglwys egle, ancestor of the distinguished line of davies of gwysaney in flintshire, whose ensigns were "gules, on a bend, argent, a lion passant sable;" and einion efell, progenitor of the edwards's of ness strange, and of other north wallian families, who bore "party per fess, sable and argent, a lion rampant counterchanged." the ancestor of the vaughans of nannau, barts.,--cadwgan (designated by camden "the renowned briton"), younger son of blyddyn, king of powys, sometime associated in the sovereignty with his elder brother meredith, exhibited, it is stated, on his banner an azure lion on a golden ground; ensigns transmitted to the early lords of nannau and their descendants, with the exception--probably the only one--of the vaughans of wengraig and hengwrt, represented paternally by the vaughans of nannau and hengwrt, baronets, who, transferring these arms to the second quarter, bear in the first, "quarterly, or and gules, four lions rampant counterchanged." the wenwynwyn branch of the dynasty of powys continued, or at a later period resumed, the red lion rampant on a gold ground, ascribed to blyddyn ap cynfyn; and it is not a little interesting, that recently a beautiful silver seal, in perfect preservation, of hawys gadarn, heiress of that princely line, who by the gift of edward ii. became the wife of john de cherlton, was found near oswestry, representing her standing, holding two shields: the one in her right hand charged with her own arms, the lion rampant; that in the left with those of cherlton, two lions passant. the legend around the seal is "s'hawisie dne de keveoloc." the original seal is now in the museum of chester, and was exhibited, i believe, by the honorary curator, the rev. william massie, at a recent meeting of the society of antiquaries. of this venerable relic i possess an impression in wax; and of the great and privy seals of owen glyndwr, beautiful casts in sulphur; and i shall have pleasure in leaving them with the editor of "n. & q." for the inspection of mr. woodward, should that gentleman desire it. john ap william ap john. inner temple. march , . [footnote : this supporter, and the crest, as also the supporter which i shall mention presently, attached to the respective shields of arthur prince of wales, and of henry prince of wales, sons of henry vii., is in fact a wyvern, having, like the dragon, a tail resembling that of a snake, but differing from the dragon in the omission of the two hind legs. the supporter in respect of wales, afterwards alluded to as assumed by the english monarchs of the house of tudor, was a dragon strictly.] [footnote : mathraval, in the vale of meifod, in montgomeryshire, the palace of the sovereigns of powys, erected by rhodri mawr, king of wales: "where warnway [vwrnwy] rolls its waters underneath ancient mathraval's venerable walls, cyveilioc's princely and paternal seat." southey's _madoc_. [footnote : cynfyn, father of bleddyn, king of powys, by his consort angharad, queen of powys, derived from mervyn, king of powys, third son of rhodri mawr (the great), king of all wales, progenitor of the three dynasties of north wales, south wales, and powys: "... chi fu di noi e de' nostri avi illustri il ceppo vechio." [footnote : "his [owen glyndwr's] father's name was gryffyd vychan: his mother's, elena, of royal blood, and from whom he afterwards claimed the throne of wales. she was eldest daughter of thomas ap llewelyn ap owen, by his wife elinor goch, or elinor the red, daughter and heiress to catherine, one of the daughters of llewelyn, last prince of wales, and wife to philip ap ivor of iscoed."--_a tour in wales_ [by pennant]: lond. to. , p. .] [footnote : of this celebrated antiquary, the author of _british antiquities revived_, and other valuable antiquarian works, the friend of archbishop ussher, selden, sir simon d'ewes, sir john vaughan, &c., it is observed in the _cambrian register_, "in genealogy he was so skilled, and his knowledge on that subject derived from such genuine sources, that hengwrt became the heralds' college of the principality, and no pedigree was current until it had obtained his sanction." his mss. and library, formerly at hengwrt, have been transferred to rûg in edeirnion, the present seat of his descendant, sir robert vaughan of nannau; and it may be confidently stated, that in variety, extent, rarity, and value, they surpass any existing collection, public or private, of documents relating to the principality. many of them are unique, and indispensable for the elucidation of cambrian literature and antiquities; and their possessor, by entrusting, to some gentleman competent to the task, the privilege of preparing a catalogue _raisonnée_ of them, would confer a public benefit which could not be too highly appreciated. to the noble collections of gloddaeth, corsygedol, and mostyn, now united at mostyn, as also to that of wynnstay, the same observation might be extended.] [footnote : the golden lion on a red field may have been displayed on the standard of bleddyn ap cynfyn, but, from analogy to the arms assigned to the english monarchs of a corresponding period, it can, as armorial bearings, be only regarded, it is apprehended, as attributive. of the armorial bearings of the english monarchs of the house of normandy, if any were used by them, we are left totally without contemporary evidences. the arms of william the conqueror, which have been for ages attributed to him and the two succeeding monarchs, are taken from the cornice of queen elizabeth's monument, in the north aisle of henry vii.'s chapel at westminster. the arms assigned to stephen are adopted on the authority of nicholas upton, in his treatise _de militari officio_, b. iv. p. ., printed in . for those of henry ii., there is no earlier authority than the cornice of queen elizabeth's monument, and it is on the second seal used by richard i. after his return from captivity, that, for the first time, we find his shield distinctly adorned with the three lions passant guardant in pale, as they have been borne by subsequent english monarchs. (willement's _regal heraldry_.)] * * * * * coleridge's christabel--"christobell, a gothic tale." (vol. vii., p. .). your correspondent s. y. ought not to have charged the editors of coleridge's _poems_ with negligence, until he had shown that the lines he quotes were inserted in the original edition of _christabel_. they have not the musical flow of coleridge's versification, but rather the dash and vivacity of scott. at all events, they are not to be found in the second edition of _christabel_ ( ), nor in any subsequent edition. indeed, i do not think that coleridge made any alteration in the poem since its composition in and . i referred to two reviews of coleridge's _poems_ published in blackwood in and ; but found no trace of s. y.'s lines. "an old volume of blackwood" is rather a vague mode of reference. it is somewhat curious that, previous to the publication of _christabel_, there appeared a _conclusion_ to that splendid fragment. it was entitled "christobell, a gothic tale," and was published in the _european magazine_ for april, . it is dated "march, ," and signed "v.;" and was reprinted in _fraser's magazine_ for january, . it is stated to be "written as a sequel to a beautiful legend of a fair lady and her father, deceived by a witch in { } the guise of a noble knight's daughter." it commences thus: "whence comes the wavering light which falls on langdale's lonely chapel-walls? the noble mother of christobell lies in that lone and drear chapelle." the writer of the review in blackwood (dec. ) of mr. tupper's lame and impotent conclusion to _christabel_, remarks that-- "mr. tupper does not seem to know that _christabel_ was continued many years ago, in a style that perplexed the public, and pleased even coleridge. the ingenious writer meant it for a mere _jeu d'esprit_." query: who was this "ingenious writer?" while on the subject of _christabel_, i may note a parallelism in reference to a line in part i.: "her face, oh call it fair, not pale!" "e smarrisce il bel _volto in un colore,_ _che non è pallidezza, ma candore_." _tasso_, _g. lib._ c. ii. st. . j. m. b. s. y. is "severe _over_ much" and _under_ informed, in his strictures on the editors of coleridge's _works_ ( ), when he blames them for not giving coleridge the credit of lines which _did not belong to him_. the lines which s. y. quotes, and a "great many more,"--in fact, a "third part of _christabel_,"--were sent to _blackwood's magazine_ in , by the late dr. william maginn, as a first fruits of those _imitations_ and _parodies_ for which he afterwards became so famous. the success of his imitation of coleridge's style is proved by the indignation of your correspondent. it is no small honour to the memory and talents of the gifted but erratic maginn, that the want of his lines should be deemed a defect or omission in "one of the most beautiful poems in the english language." but in future, before he condemns editors for carelessness, s. y. should be sure that he himself is correct. a. b. r. belmont. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _economical way of iodizing paper._--the extravagant price of the salt called iodide of potassium has led me to experiments as to whether paper could not be iodized in another form; and having been successful, i offer the process to the readers of "n. & q." having verified it three times, i can safely say that it is quite as effectual as using the above salt. the first solution to be made, is a saturated solution of iodine. put about sixty grains of iodine (the quantity is not of importance) into an ounce bottle, and add proof spirits of wine; set it near the fire "on the hob;" and when it is nearly boiling, agitate, and it will soon become a concentrated essence: take now a bottle of clear glass, called a quart bottle, and put in it about two ounces of what is called carbonate of potash (nothing more than purified pearlash); fill up with water to within an inch of the neck, and agitate; when it is dissolved, add any of the other approved sensitives, in discretionable doses, such as fluoride or bromide of potassa, ammoniac salt, or common salt--it may have about sixty grains of the latter; and when all are dissolved, add the iodine. this is added by degrees, and shaken; and when it is a pale yellow, it may be considered to be ready for iodizing: from some experiments, i am led to believe that a greater quantity of iodine may, if necessary, be added, only the colour should not be dark. and should the operator reach this point, a few drops of solution of cyanide of potassium may be added, until the pale colour returns. bromine water i believe may be added, but that i have not used hitherto, and therefore cannot answer for its effects. the paper then having its usual wash of nitrate of silver, is then floated on the solution about one minute, and the accustomed process gone through as described by most photographers. it is only disposed to require a pretty strong solution of silver, say thirty grains to the ounce of water. this i attribute to the potash being in a little more caustic condition than when recrystallised with iodine. and the only difference in the above formula between the two states is, that the iodine in the medical preparation is incorporated by means of iron filings with the water, which i only interpret into being a cheaper method; which makes its high price the more scandalous, and i hope this method will save photographers from the imposition: the price of a quart of iodide of potassium would be about six shillings, by the above about ten-pence. and i can safely say, it is quite as effectual: theoretically, it appears to be better, because iodine is exceedingly difficult to preserve after being dissolved and recrystallised. and much of it is lost in the preparing iodized paper: as, for instance, the usual way generally requires floating on free iodine at the last; and with the formula here given, after using once, some small quantity of tincture of iodine should be added before putting away, as the silver laid upon the surface of the paper absorbs more of the iodine than the potash. therefore, a very pale yellow may be its usual test for efficiency, and the equivalent will be maintained. n.b.--potash varying much in its alkaline property, some samples will remain colourless with addition of iodine; in which case the judgment must guide as to the quantity of iodine. it should not exceed the ounce of tincture: about two drachms may be added after using it for paper. weld taylor. . conduit street west. { } _queries on sir w. newton's process._--the process of sir w. newton is nearly similar to one i have successfully used for some years, and i can recommend it as effective and simple. a difficulty i have lately found, has been with my iodized paper, which, when freshly used, is well enough; but if kept a month or two, will only allow of the paper being prepared to take views just before using. i should much like to know how this occurs. if sir w. newton would answer the following queries, he would add to the obligations that many others besides myself are under to him: . what paper does he use for positives, and what for negatives? . is it not better to dissolve the silver and iodide of potassium in three ounces of water each instead of one (see "n. & q.," vol. vii., pp. . .)? . is spring water fit for washing the iodized paper; if it contains either sulphate or bicarbonate of lime or muriate of soda? . how long ought the iodized paper to keep good? . how long should the negative paper (on a moderately warm day) keep after being made sensitive, before exposing to the action of light; and how soon after that should it be developed? john stewart. brighton. _suggestion to photographers._--the rev. charles forster, in his _one primeval language_ (p. .), speaks of the desirableness of obtaining copies of two great inscriptions in the djebel mokatteb,--one in forty-one, the other in sixty-seven lines, supposed to have been written by the israelites during their exode. in the words, however, of the comte d'antraigues, which he quotes in p. : "il faudroit six mois d'un travail opiniâtre, pour dessiner la totalité de ces caractères." is not this a temptation to some of your photographic friends, who may be turning their steps to the east during the ensuing season, to possess themselves of a treasure which by the application of their art they might acquire almost in as many minutes? verbum sat. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _portrait of pope_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i cannot at this movement reply to mr. j. knight's query, but perhaps can correct an error in it. there was no _white_ of derby; but edward[ ] _wright_ of that city, was an artist of high repute. and i have in my possession a portrait of pope done by him. on the back of this portrait is the following inscription: "edward wright, the painter of this picture, was an intimate friend of mr. richardson, and obtained leave from him to copy the portrait of mr. pope; which mr. r. was then painting, and had nearly finished. when the outline was sketched out by e. wright, he happened to meet mr. pope at dinner, and on mentioning to him how he was employed, mr. pope said: 'why should you take a copy, when the original is at your service? i will come and sit to you.' he did so, and this picture was finished from mr. pope himself. this account i had from the late william wright, esq., my honoured uncle, who had the picture from the painter himself. at mr. wright's death, it came to his widow, who gave it to my brother[ ]; at whose decease, it came to me. "william falconer, m.d., f.r.s. "bath, march , ." the size of the picture is two feet five inches and a quarter by two feet one-eighth of an inch. it is a profile. it has never been engraved, and is in good condition. r. w. f. bath. [footnote : [_joseph_ was the christian name of the celebrated painter usually styled wright of derby.--ed.]] [footnote : thomas falconer, esq., of chester.] _conundrum_ (vol. vi., p. .).--though i cannot answer the query of rufus, as to the manner in which the species of conundrum communicated by him may be designated, i beg to inclose an answer to it, thinking you might perhaps deem it worthy of insertion: cold, sinful, sorrowful, this _earth_, and all who seek in it their rest; but though such mother gives us birth, let us not call ourselves unblest. though weak and earthly be our frame, within it dwells a nobler part; a holy, heavenly, living flame pervades and purifies the _heart_. to loving, glowing hearts in joy, shall not our _hearths_ and homes abound? may not glad praise our lips employ, and, though on earth, half heaven be found? e. h. g. _herbé's "costumes français"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in answer to the query by pictor, mr. philip darell begs to state, that in the library at calehill there is a copy of m. herbé's book. it is the last edition (paris, ), and purports to be "augmentée d'un examen critique et des _preuves positives_," &c. it begins by owning to certain errors in the former edition; in consequence of which m. herbé had travelled through all france to obtain the means of correcting them in various localities. p. d. calehill, kent. { } _curious fact in natural philosophy_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in young's _natural philosophy_ it is said, that if the cup of a barometer is placed in a vessel somewhat larger than the cup, so contrived that the tube of the barometer may fit air-tight in the top of the vessel, and if two holes are made in the vessel on opposite sides, a current of air driven in at one hole will cause the mercury to fall. is not the case of the cards analogous to this? and might not the cause be, that the current of air carries away with it some of that contained between the cards, and so that the air is sufficiently rarefied to cause a pressure upwards greater than that caused by the current downwards, and the effect of gravity? might not the sudden fall of the barometer before storms be from a cause similar in some degree to this? a. b. c. oxford. "_haud cum jesu itis, qui itis cum jesuitis._"--in "n. & q." for feb. , , a correspondent, l. h. j. t., asks for some clue to the above. last march a friend of mine purchased in paris, at a book-stall on the quai d'orsay, a manuscript book, very beautifully written, and in the old binding of the time, which appears to be the transcript of a printed volume. its title is _le jésuit sécularisé_. a cologne: chez jacques milebram. . it is a dialogue between "dorval, abbé et docteur en th^e, et maimbourg, jésuit sécularisé;" and at the end (p. .) is a long latin ballad, entitled "canticum jesuiticum," filling eight small vo. pages, the opening stanza of which is "opulentas civitates ubi sunt commoditates semper quærunt isti patres." and the conclusion of the whole is, in effect, the line of which your correspondent speaks: "vita namque christiana abhorret ab hâc doctrinâ tanquam fictâ et insanâ. _ergo_ vos qui cum jesu itis, non ite cum jesuitis." i should be glad to be certified by any of your correspondents of the actual existence of the printed volume, which probably was sought for and destroyed by the authorities on account of its pestilent contents. c. h. h. westdean, sussex. _tradescant family_ (vol. iii., p. .).--in further illustration of this subject, and for the information of your correspondents who have taken an interest in the restoration of the tomb in lambeth churchyard, i beg through you to say that i have found the will of the grandsire, "john tradescant, of south lambeth, co. surrey, gardener:" it is dated january , , and proved may , , so that the period of his death may be fairly placed in that year, as suggested by mr. pinkerton's extracts from the churchwardens' accounts (vol. iii., p. .); and the defect in the parish register for some months following july, , will account for no entry being found of his actual burial. the younger tradescant was his only child, and at the date of the will he had two grandchildren, john and frances tradescant. his son was the residuary legatee, with a proviso, that if he should desire to part with or sell his cabinet, he should first offer the same to _the prince_. his brother-in-law, alexander norman, and mr. william ward, were the executors, and proved the will. as mr. pinkerton stated that he was on the trace of new and curious matter respecting the tradescants, he may find it useful to know that john tradescant the elder held the lease of some property at woodham water in essex, and two houses in long acre and covent garden. g. _arms of joan d'arc_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i believe i can answer the inquiry of bend. the family of joan d'arc was ennobled by charles vii. in december, , with a grant of the following magnificent armorial coat, viz. azure, between two fleurs-de-lys, or, a sword in pale, point upwards (the hilt or the blade argent), in chief, on the sword's point, an open crown, _fleur-de-lysé_, or. in consequence of the proud distinction thus granted, of bearing for their arms the fleur-de-lys of france, the family assumed the name of _du lys_ d'arc, which their descendants continued to bear, until (as was supposed) the line became extinct in the last century, in the person of coulombe du lys, prior of coutras, who died in ; but the fact is, that the family still exists in this country in the descendants of a count du lys, who settled in hampshire as a refugee at the revocation of the edict of nantes (he having embraced the protestant religion). his eldest male descendant, and (as i believe) the representative of the ancient and noble family of du lys d'arc, derived from a brother of the maid of orleans, is a most worthy friend and neighbour of mine, the rev. j. t. lys, fellow of exeter college, whose ancestors, since the period of their settlement in england, thought proper to drop the foreign title, and to curtail their name to its present form. w. sneyd. denton. _judæus odor_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the lines are to be found in the _london magazine_, may, , p. .: "even the notion, which is not yet entirely extinct among the vulgar (though sir t. browne satisfactorily refuted it by abundant arguments deduced from reason { } and experience)--the notion that they have a peculiar and disagreeable _smell_, is, perhaps, older than he imagined. venantius, a bishop of poictiers, in the sixth century, who holds a place in every _corpus poetarum_, says: 'abluitur judæus odor baptismate divo, et nova progenies reddita surgit aquis. vincens ambrosios suavi spiramine rores, vertice perfuso, chrismatis efflat odor.' venant. _poemat._, lib. . xx. "'cosa maravigliosa,' says an italian author, 'che ricevuto il santo battesimo, non puzzano più.'" i believe the reference "lib. . xx." is inaccurate. at least i have not succeeded in finding the lines. that may be an excusable mistake: not so the citing "an italian author," instead of giving his name, or saying that the writer had forgotten it. the power of baptism over the _judæus odor_ is spoken of familiarly in the _epistolæ obscurorum virorum_: "nuper quando unus dixit mihi quod non credit, quod pfefferkorn adhuc est bonus christianus: quia dixit quod vidit eum ante unum annum, et adhuc foetebat sicut alius judæus, et tamen dicunt communiter, quod quando judæi baptizantur, non amplius foetent; ergo credit quod pfefferkorn habet adhuc nequam post aures. et quando theologi credunt quod est optimus christianus, tunc erit iterum judæus, et fides non est ei danda, quia omnes homines habent malam suspicionem de judæis baptizatis. . . . sed respondeo vobis ad illam objectum: vos dicitis quod pfefferkorn foetet. posito casu, quod est verum, sicut non credo, neque unquam intellexi, dico quod est alia causa hujus foetoris. quia johannes pfefferkorn, quando fuit judæus, fuit macellarius, et macellarii communiter etiam foetent: tunc omnes qui audierunt, dixerunt quod est bona ratio."--ed. münch: leipzig, , p. . a modern instance of belief in the "odor" is in, but cannot decently be quoted from, _the stage, a poem_, by john brown, p .: london, . h. b. c. u. u. club. _philip d'auvergne_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this cadet of a jersey family, whose capture, when a lieutenant in our royal navy, led to his being in paris as a prisoner on parole, and thereby eventually to his adoption by the last prince of bouillon, was a person of too much notoriety to make it necessary to tell the tale of his various fortunes in your columns; of his imprisonment in the bastile, and subsequently for a short period in the temple; his residence at mont orgueil castle in jersey, for the purpose of managing communications with royalists or other agents, on the opposite french coast; or the dates of his successive commissions in the navy, in which he got upon the list of rear-admirals in , and was a vice-admiral of the blue in . i have not access at present to any list of the _lives of public characters_, but think i can recollect that there was an account given of him in that publication; and there can be no doubt but that any necrology, of the date of his death, would contain details at some length. i suspect there is mistake in brooke's _gazetteer_, as quoted by e. h. a., for i feel rather confident that the reigning duke had no son living when he made over the succession to one whom he did not know to be a relation, though bearing the family name. as, however, this adopted representative of the dukes de bouillon has been mentioned, it may be a fit occasion to ask if any of your jersey readers can tell what became, at his death, of a beautifully preserved and illuminated french translation of the scriptures, which he showed to your correspondent in , as having been the gift of the black prince's captive, king john of france, to the duc de berri, his son, from whom it had passed into the possession of the ducs de bouillon. his highness (for the concession of this style was still a result of his dukedom) said, that he had lent this bible for a while to the british antiquarian society, which had engraved some costumes and figures from the vignettes which adorned the initials of chapters. h. w. _dr. parr's a. e. a. o._ (vol. vii., p. .).--the learned doctor indulged in boundless exultation at the unavailing efforts of mankind to give significancy to the above cabalistical combination of vowels. the combination was formed in the following, manner:--s[a]muel p[a]rr engaged his friend h[e]nry h[o]mer to assist him in correcting the press; and so he took the "a. e." of their christian names, and the "a. o." of their surnames, to form a puzzle which, like many other puzzles, is scarcely worth solution. oedipus. _jewish lineaments_ (vol. vi., p. .).--is this query put in reference to the individual or the race? in either case the lineaments would wear out. in the first, intermarriage would soon destroy them, as i have an instance in my own family, wherein the person, though only three removes from true jewish blood, retains only the faintest trace of jewish ancestry. in the second instance, the cause of the change is more subtle. the jew, as long as he adheres to judaism, mingles with hebrew people, adopts their manners, shares their pursuits, and imbibes their tone of thought. just as the character is reflected in the countenance, so will he maintain his jewish looks; but as soon as he adopts christian views, and mingles with christian people, he will lose those peculiarities of countenance, the preservation of which depended on his former career. we see examples of this in those franks who have resided { } for a long time in the east, adopting the dress and customs of the people they have mingled with. such persons acquire an eastern tone of countenance, and many have been mistaken by their friends for veritable turks or arabs, the countenance having acquired the expression of the people with whom they have mingled most freely. the same fact is illustrated in the countenances of aged couples, especially in country places. frequently these, though widely distinct in appearance when first married, grow at last exactly like each other, and in old age are sometimes scarcely to be distinguished by the features. if not quite to the purpose, these instances illustrate the correspondence of the life and the looks, which is the philosophy of the query on jewish lineaments. shirley hibberd. _sotadic verses_ (vol. vi., pp. . . .).--there is an english example of this kind of line, attributed, i think, to taylor the water poet: "lewd did i live & evil i did dwel." to make this perfect, however, "and" must not be written at full length, and "dwell" must be content with half its usual amount of liquid. it is difficult to make _sense_ of any of the latin sotadics quoted in "n. & q.," except that beginning "signa te," &c. even the clue given by the mention of the legend in p. . does not enable one to find a meaning in "roma tibi," &c. can any of your readers tell me whence comes the following sotadic elegiac poem, and construe it for me? "salta, tu levis es; summus se si velut atlas, (omina ne sinimus,) suminis es animo. sin, oro, caret arcanâ cratera coronis unam arcas, animes semina sacra manu. angere regnato, mutatum, o tangere regna, sana tero, tauris si ruat oret anas: milo subi rivis, summus si viribus olim, muta sedes; animal lamina sede satum. tangeret, i videas, illisae divite regnat; aut atros ubinam manibus orta tua! o tu casurus, rem non mersurus acuto telo, sis-ne, tenet? non tenet ensis, olet." harry leroy temple. _bells at funerals_ (vol. ii., p. .).--the following extract will doubtless be interesting to mr. gatty, if it has hitherto escaped his notice: "june ( ).--the visitors ordered that the bellman of the university should not go about in such manner as was heretofore used at the funeral of any member of the university. this was purposely to prevent the solemnity that was to be performed at the funeral of dr. radcliffe, principal of b. n. c., lately dead. for it must be known that it hath been the custom, time out of mind, that when head of house, doctor, or master of considerable degree was to be buried, the university bellman was to put on the gown and the formalities of the person defunct, and with his bell go into every college and hall, and there make open proclamation, after two rings with his bell, that forasmuch as god had been pleased to take out of the world such a person, he was to give notice to all persons of the university, that on such a day, and at such an hour, he was solemnly to be buried, &c. but the visitors did not only forbid this, but _the bellman's going before the corpse, from the house or college, to the church or chapel_."--a. wood, quoted in _oxoniana_, vol. iv. p. . e. h. a. _collar of ss._ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--there is, in the church of fanfield, yorkshire, among other tombs and effigies of the marmions, the original lords of the place, a magnificent tomb of alabaster, on which are the recumbent figures of a knight and his lady, in excellent preservation. these are probably effigies of robert marmion and his wife lota, second daughter of herbert de st. quintin, who died in the latter part of the fourteenth, or early in the fifteenth century. the armour of the knight is of this period, and he is furnished with the ss. collar of lancaster, which is developed in a remarkably fine manner. his juppon is furnished with the vaire, the bearing of the marmion, whilst the chevronels of st. quintin are evident on the mantle of the lady. over the tomb is placed a herse of iron, furnished with stands for holding lighted candles or torches. wm. procter. york. _dr. marshall_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i beg to inform u. i. s. that the king's chaplain and dean of gloucester in was not _anthony_, but _thomas_ marshall, d.d., rector of lincoln college, oxford, a great benefactor to his college and the university, and highly distinguished for his knowledge of the oriental and teutonic languages. e. h. a. _shelton oak_ (vol. vii., p. .).--shelton oak is a remarkable fine tree, and is still standing. it is apparently in a healthy state. the grounds and mansion (i believe) are in the possession of two maiden ladies, who allow visitors free access to this interesting object. in summer time its owners and their friends frequently tea within its venerable trunk. the acorns are dealt out to those who may wish them at a trifling sum, and the money devoted towards the building of a church in the neighbouring locality. it is to be hoped that no innovation or local improvement will ever necessitate its removal. h. m. bealby. north brixton. "_god and the world_" (vol. vii., p. .).--fulke greville, lord brooke, was the author of the lines quoted by w. h., but he has not given them correctly. they may be found in the lxvi. { } and lxvii. stanzas of his _treatie of warres_, and are as follows: lxvi. "god and the world they worship still together, draw not their lawes to him, but his to theirs, untrue to both, so prosperous in neither, amid their own desires still raising fears: unwise, as all distracted powers be, strangers to god, fooles in humanitie. lxvii. "too good for great things, and too great for good, their princes serve their priest, yet that priest is growne king, even by the arts of flesh and blood," &c. _workes_, p. .: london, , vo. as for the last line of the quotation: "while still 'i dare not' waits upon 'i would,'" it smacks very strongly of _macbeth_ (act i. sc. .), and "the poor cat i'th adage:" "catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas." rt. warmington. _dreng_ (vol. vii., p. .).--_dreng_ is still the danish term for a servant or a boy: their present station in society could perhaps be only found by a correspondence with copenhagen; and would then possibly give as little elucidation of their former social position as an explanation of our modern villain would throw any light upon the villani of _domesday book_. william bell. . gower place. _meals_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in celtic, the word _meall_ means any rising ground of a round form, such as a low hillock; and the name of _mealls_ may have been given to sand-banks from having a resemblance to small hills at low water. fras. crossley. along the sea-margin of the tongue of land between the rivers mersey and dee, the sand has been thrown up in domes. two little hamlets built among those sand-hills are called north and south meols. j. m. n. liverpool. _richardson or murphy_ (vol. vii., p. .).--i possess a copy of _literary relics of the late joseph richardson, esq., formerly of st. john's college, cambridge, &c._, to.: london, . prefixed, is a line engraving by w. j. newton, from a painting by m. a. shee, esq., r.a. this is a subscriber's copy, and belonged as such to one of my nearest relatives. the inscription at the bottom of the plate is the same as that mentioned by your correspondent; and i cannot but think the portrait is really that of j. richardson. the book was published by ridgway, no. . piccadilly. c. i. r. * * * * * miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. memoirs of the rose, by mr. john holland. vol. mo. london, . psyche and other poems, by mrs. mary tighe. portrait. vo. . gmelin's handbook of chemistry. inorganic part. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., x., xxvii., xxviii., unbound. the history of shenstone, by the rev. h. saunders. to. london. . lubbock's elementary treatise on the tides. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vol. i., and parts i. and ii. of vol. ii. curtis's botanical magazine. st and nd series collected. todd's cyclopÆdia of anatomy and physiology. complete, or any portion. gladstone's (w. e.) two letters to the earl of aberdeen on the state prosecutions of the neapolitan government. st edition. vo. swift's works. dublin: g. faulkner. vols. vo. . vol. i. pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. original edition. vol. i. the book of adam. the christian magazine. vol. for . pro matrimonio principis cum defunctÆ uxoris sorore contracto responsum juris collegii jurisconsultorum in academia rintelensi (circa ). monner jurisconsult., de matrimonio. brÜckner, de matrimonio. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _the length of several of the communications in our present number compels us to postpone this week our_ notes on books, _&c._ s. (sunderland). _we must refer our correspondent who inquires respecting eating_ carlings (_or grey peas_) _upon_ care _or_ carle _sunday, and the connexion between that name and_ char freytag, _the german name for good friday, to brand's_ popular antiquities, vol. i. pp. - . (_ed. bohn._) r. elliott, esq. _we have a letter for this photographic correspondent. where shall we direct it?_ r. j. s., _who inquires as to richard brandon having been the executioner of charles i., is referred to sir h. ellis's_ letters illustrative of english history ( nd series, vol. iii. pp. , .); _and to_ "n. & q.," vol. ii., pp. . . .; vol. v., p. .; vol. vi., p. . w. m. r. e. _how can we address a letter to this correspondent?_ david brown. _the lines_ "for he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day," _so generally supposed to be butler's, are really from mennis' and smith's_ musarum deliciæ. _for much curious illustration of them, see our_ st vol., pp. . ., _&c._ a. h. _the words which cæsar addressed to brutus were, "tu quoque, brute."_ inquisitor. _stow tell us that_ bevis marks _is a corruption of_ burie's marks,--_a great house belonging to the abbots of bury having formerly stood there_. j. l. s. _will find an article on the speech of the clown, in_ twelfth night, _to toby belch and sir andrew ague-cheek: "did you never see the picture of we three?" in our_ th vol., p. ., _&c._ c. v. _the journal in question is sold to those who are not members of the society._ w. d. b. _we do not think that the majority of our readers would be pleased to see our columns occupied with the proposed discussion respecting_ the american sea serpent. rev. j. l. sisson's photographic notes _in our next. we accept with thanks the polite offer made by our correspondent in his postscript._ cokely. _the fine reticulated lines in question are caused by the hypo-soda not being thoroughly washed off._ { } * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver)--j.b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j.b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers. , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of le gray, hunt, brébisson, and other writers, may be obtained, wholesale and retail, of william bolton, (formerly dymond & co.), manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists may be had on application. improved apparatus for iodizing paper in vacuo, according to mr. stewart's instructions. . holborn bars. * * * * * photography--the ammonio-iodide of silver in collodion, prepared by messrs. delatouche & co., operative chemists, . oxford street, is now generally used by photographers, and cannot be surpassed in the beautiful results it produces. specimens may be seen on application. messrs. delatouche & co. supply apparatus with the most recent improvements, pure chemicals, english and foreign papers, and every article connected with photography on paper or glass. instruction given in the art. see hennah's new work on the collodion process, giving the most practical directions yet published, price s., or free by post s. d. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | j. h. goodhart, esq. w. cabell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * the quarterly review, no. clxxxiv.--advertisements for the forthcoming number must be forwarded to the publisher by the th, and bills for insertion by the th instant. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * vo., price s. some account of domestic architecture in england, from the conquest to the end of the thirteenth century, with numerous illustrations of existing remains from original drawings. by t. hudson turner. "what horace walpole attempted, and what sir charles lock eastlake has done for oil-painting--elucidated its history and traced its progress in england by means of the records of expenses and mandates of the successive sovereigns of the realm--mr. hudson turner has now achieved for domestic architecture in this country during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries."--_architect._ "the book of which the title is given above is one of the very few attempts that have been made in this country to treat this interesting subject in anything more than a superficial manner. "mr. turner exhibits much learning and research, and he has consequently laid before the reader much interesting information. it is a book that was wanted, and that affords us some relief from the mass of works on ecclesiastical architecture with which of late years we have been deluged. "the work is well illustrated throughout with wood-engravings of the more interesting remains, and will prove a valuable addition to the antiquary's library."--_literary gazette._ "it is as a text-book on the social comforts and condition of the squires and gentry of england during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that the leading value of mr. turner's present publication will be found to consist. "turner's handsomely-printed volume is profusely illustrated with careful woodcuts of all important existing remains, made from drawings by mr. blore and mr. twopeny."--_athenæum._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * for sale. the illustrated clarendon, formerly in the duke of buckingham's library at stowe. this splendid copy of clarendon's history of the rebellion is in three volumes folio, largest paper, old red morocco with gilt edges, and contains upwards of engraved portraits of historical persons, many of great rarity, and by eminent masters. the added portraits all neatly inlaid, and the whole forming a rare and highly interesting collection. price l. apply by letter addressed to g., care of mr. bell, publisher, fleet street. * * * * * kerr & strang, perfumers and wig-makers, . leadenhall street, london, respectfully inform the nobility and public that they have invented and brought to the greatest perfection the following leading articles, besides numerous others:--their ventilating natural curl; ladies and gentlemen's perukes, either crops or full dress, with partings and crown so natural as to defy detection, and with or without their improved metallic springs; ventilating fronts, bandeaux, border, nattes, bands à la reine, &c.; also their instantaneous liquid hair dye, the only dye that really answers for all colours, and never fades nor acquires that unnatural red or purple tint common to all other dyes; it is permanent, free of any smell, and perfectly harmless. any lady or gentleman, sceptical of its effects in dyeing any shade of colour, can have it applied, free of any charge, at kerr & strang's, . leadenhall street. sold in cases at s. d., s., and s. samples, s. d., sent to all parts on receipt of post-office order or stamps. * * * * * { } the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the camden society is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the civil, ecclesiastical, or literary history of the united kingdom; and it accomplishes that object by the publication of historical documents, letters, ancient poems, and whatever else lies within the compass of its designs, in the most convenient forms, and at the least possible expense consistent with the production of useful volumes. the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due in advance on the first day of may in every year, and is received by messrs. nichols, . parliament street, or by the several local secretaries. members may compound for their future annual subscriptions, by the payment of l. over and above the subscription for the current year. the compositions received have been funded in the three per cent, consols to an amount exceeding l. no books are delivered to a member until his subscription for the current year has been paid. new members are admitted at the meetings of the council held on the first wednesday in every month. * * * * * the publications for the past year ( - ) were: . privy purse expenses of charles ii. and james ii. edited by j. y. akerman, esq., sec. s.a. . the chronicle of the grey friars of london. edited from a ms. in the cottonian library by j. gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. . promptorium: an english and latin dictionary of words in use during the fifteenth century, compiled chiefly from the promptorium parvulorum. by albert way, esq., m.a., f.s.a. vol. ii. (m to r.) (in the press.) the following works are at press, and will be issued from time to time, as soon as ready: books for - . . the second volume of the camden miscellany, containing, . expenses of john of brabant, - ; . household accounts of princess elizabeth, - ; . requeste and suite of a true-hearted englishman, by w. cholmeley, ; . discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell, - ; . trelawny papers; . autobiography of dr. william taswell.--now ready for delivery to all members not in arrear of their subscription. . the verney papers. a selection from the correspondence of the verney family during the reign of charles i. to the year . from the originals in the possession of sir harry verney, bart. to be edited by john bruce, esq., trea. s.a. (will be ready immediately.) . the correspondence of lady brilliana harley, during the civil wars. to be edited by the rev. t. t. lewis, m.a. (will be ready immediately.) roll of the household expenses of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, in the years , , with illustrations from other and coeval documents. to be edited by the rev. john webb, m.a., f.s.a. regulÆ inclusarum: the ancren rewle. a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the thirteenth century, addressed to a society of anchorites, being a translation from the latin work of simon de ghent, bishop of salisbury. to be edited from mss. in the cottonian library, british museum, with an introduction, glossarial notes, &c., by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. the domesday of st. paul's: a description of the manors belonging to the church of st. paul's in london in the year . by the ven. archdeacon hale. romance of jean and blonde of oxford, by philippe de reims, an anglo-norman poet of the latter end of the twelfth century. edited, from the unique ms. in the royal library at paris, by m. le roux de lincy, editor of the roman de brut. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or to messrs. nichols. william j. thoms, secretary. . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * lord mahon's history of england. now ready, vol. ii. (to be completed in seven vols.), post vo., s. a history of england, from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles, - . by lord mahon. third and revised edition. (a volume to be published every two months.) john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the devereux earls of essex. now ready, with portraits, vols, vo., s. lives of the earls of essex, in the reigns of elizabeth, james i., and charles i., - . founded upon many unpublished private letters and documents. by capt. the hon. walter bourchier devereux, r.n. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * just published, pp. , plates , price s. a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, with descriptions of all the species, and abstracts of the systems of ehrenberg, dujardin, kützing, siebold, &c. by andrew pritchard, esq., m.r.i. also, price s., a general history of animalcules, with engravings. also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on microscopes. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, march , contains articles on acrophyllum venosum, by mr. barnes aphelandra cristata asparagus, to salt books noticed calendar, horticultural ----, agricultural carrots, culture of white belgian, by mr. smith cattle disease cherries, select coffee-leaf tea coppice wood, value of deodar, the, by mr. kemp drainage, land dyes, lichen, by dr. lindsay farming, welsh, by the rev. t. williams farm buildings, &c. flowers, new florist fruit trees, stocks for ----, to protect on walls, by mr. bundy guano, adulteration of holland house gardens hollyhocks, select, by mr. downie indian pink, introduction of into europe irrigation and liquid manure, by mr. mechi ivy, as food for sheep level, new, by mr. daniels lichens, dyeing properties of, by dr. lindsay mcglashan's tree lifter (with engravings) manure, poultry, by mr. tollet ----, liquid, by mr. mechi mice, to kill, by mr. bennett mexican oaks and their silkworms mustard seed, price of onions, preparation of ground for, by mr. symons peat, carbonised, by mr. towers railway slopes, planting of societies, proceedings of the botanical of edinburgh, national floricultural, and agricultural of england tea, coffee-leaf trade memoranda tree lifter, mcglashan's (with engravings) trout, introduction of to new zealand, by mr. gurney tubing, gutta percha, by mr. key walls, to protect trees on, by mr. bundy walls, glazed weeds and sulphuric acid wheat, lois weedon system of growing the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * autographs.--just published, post vo., s., or post free for stamps, a catalogue of autograph letters, portraits, &c. topography.--in the press, will be ready in a few days, price d., or post free for stamps. a catalogue of books, prints, mss., &c., on county and family history, heraldry, &c. miscellaneous catalogues of book autographs. parts xxxvi. to xxxix. gratis, or post free for stamps. london: john gray bell, bedford street, covent garden. * * * * * wanted, for the ladies' institute, . regent street, quadrant, ladies of taste for fancy work,--by paying s. will be received as members, and taught the new style of velvet wool work, which is acquired in a few easy lessons. each lady will be guaranteed constant employment and ready cash payment for her work. apply personally to mrs. thoughey. n.b. ladies taught by letter at any distance from london. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page napoleon a poet, by henry h. breen smith's "dictionary of antiquities" and "dictionary of biography and mythology," by p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. st. columba's cross minor notes:--the "ball at brussels," june, : historical parallel of april, --drawing an inference--edmund spenser--the mint, southwark queries:-- the spectre horsemen of southerfell minor queries:--passage in bacon--lamech killing cain--lord chief justice popham--"her face was like the milky way," &c.--nelson rings--books wanted--mr. cromlin--dr. fletcher and lady baker--jeremy taylor and christopher lord hatton--"pylades and corinna"-- the left hand: its etymology--the parthenon replies:-- mediæval or middle ages consecrators of english bishops "grindle" mummies of ecclesiastics, by william bates vicars-apostolic in england banbury zeal, &c. dr. south _versus_ goldsmith, talleyrand, &c., by henry h. breen irish rhymes, by henry h. breen and cuthbert bede, b.a. count gondomar door-head inscriptions photographic notes and queries:--photographic gun-cotton--sealing-wax for baths--developing chamber--the black tints on photographic positives replies to minor queries:--contested elections--suicide at marseilles--acts xv. .--serpent's tongue--croxton or crostin--robert dodsley--lord goring--chaplains to noblemen--the duke of wellington maréchal de france--lord north--mediæval parchment--"i hear a lion," &c.--fercett--old satchells--curtseys and bows--the rev. joshua marsden--sidney as a christian name--the whetstone--surname of allen--belatucadrus-- pot-guns--graves family--portrait painters--plum pudding--muffs worn by gentlemen--the burial service by heart--burrow--"coming home to men's business"-- heuristic--"cob" and "conners"--lady high sheriff-- death of nelson--editions of the prayer-book prior to --passage in juvenal--tennyson--capital punishment miscellaneous:-- books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. napoleon a poet. in a work entitled _littérature française contemporaine_, vol. ii. p. ., there is a notice of the bonaparte family, in their connexion with literature, in which it is stated that napoleon, at the age of thirteen, wrote the following fable:-- "_le chien, le lapin, et le chasseur._ césar, chien d'arrêt renommé, mais trop enflé de son mérite, tenait arrêté dans son gîte un malheureux lapin de peur inanimé. --rends-toi, lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonnerre, qui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois: je suis césar, connu par ses exploits, et dont le nom remplit toute la terre. a ce grand nom, jeannot lapin, recommandant à dieu son âme pénitente, demande, d'une voix tremblante: --très sérénissime mâtin, si je me rends, quel sera mon destin? --tu mourras.--je mourrai! dit la bête innocente. et si je fuis?--ton trépas est certain. --quoi? dit l'animal qui se nourrit de thym; des deux côtés je dois perdre la vie! que votre auguste seigneurie veuille me pardonner, puisqu'il faut mourir, si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir. il dit, et fuit en héros de garenne. caton l'aurait blâmé: je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort: car le chasseur le voit à peine, qu'il l'ajuste, le tire--et le chien tombe mort. que dirait de ceci notre bon la fontaine? aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera: j'approuve fort cette méthode-là." the writer of the notice (m. quérard) says this "fable" was composed by napoleon in ; and he thus explains the circumstances under which he obtained a knowledge of it: "cette fable a été imprimée dans un ouvrage dont nous ne pouvons donner le titre, parce que nous n'avons que le seul feuillet qui la contient. nous ne savons aux soin de quel éditeur on doit de nous l'avoir fait connaître. nous lisons au recto du feuillet en question, que, 'sans lui (l'éditeur), cette fable serait encore { } perdue peut-être parmi les accidens ignorés de cette contrée rocailleuse (de la corse).' cet apologue n'étant que peu ou point connu, nous croyons faire plaisir en le reproduisant." my own conviction is, that the greatest "fable" of all is the ascription to napoleon, at the age of thirteen, of a poem which would do no discredit to an older and more practised hand. in his maturer years he wrote the _mémoire sur la culture du mûrier_, the _lettre à m. matteo buttafuoco_, the _souper de beaucaire_, and the _discours_ upon a subject proposed by abbé regnal to the academy of lyons; and these productions are confessedly "au-dessous du médiocre." with what show of reason, then, can we accept him as the author of a poetical effusion which, considering the age at which it is alleged to have been written, would throw into the shade the vaunted precocity of such professed poets as cowley, pope, chatterton, and louis racine? but whatever may be the origin of this fable, the assigning of it to napoleon is in itself a singular circumstance. the dog césar, who holds the rabbit a prisoner in his "gîte," and who summons him to surrender; and the unfortunate rabbit who prefers making his escape, "en héros de garenne," are so obviously applicable to the personal history of napoleon, that it is impossible to conceive how the french (except on the score of their infatuation in everything that relates to that great man) could represent him as the author of such a satire upon himself. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * smith's "dictionary of antiquities" and "dictionary of biography and mythology." as one of the objects of your publication professes to be (vol. i., p. .) the correction of errors in _standard works_, i beg leave to forward you a few instances of _errata_ in the references, &c. occurring in _the dictionary of antiquities_ ( nd edit.) and _dictionary of biography and mythology_ of dr. smith. _dictionary of antiquities._ page . a, abolla (bis), _for_ "juv. iv. .," _read_ "juv. iii. ." page . b, astronomia, _for_ "ov. trist. i. . .," _read_ "i. . ." page . b, astronomia, _for_ " th nov.," _read_ " th octob." page . b, calendarium, _for_ "liv. xi. .," _read_ "ix. ." page . a, fenus, _for_ " per cent.," _read_ " ½." page . b, justitium, _for_ "har. resp. .," _read_ " ." page . a, lampadephoria, _for_ "herod. viii. .," _read_ "viii. ." page . b, interdictum, _for_ "give full satisfaction," _read_ "get," &c. page . b, neocori, _for_ "plat. vi. .," _read_ "plat. legg. vi. ." page . b, olla, _for_ "[greek: puristatês]," _read_ "[greek: puristatês]." page . b, perioeci, _for_ "thucyd. viii. .," _read_ "viii. ." page . a, synoikia, _for_ "thucyd. iii. .," _read_ "ii. ." index. page ., _for_ "[greek: phroos]," _read_ "[greek: phoros]." page ., _for_ "[greek: phrmoos]," _read_ "[greek: phormos]." page ., augurale, _for_ " ., a." _read_ " . a." page ., transvectio, _for_ " . a," _read_ " . a." _dictionary of biography and mythology._ vol. i. page . a, bacis, _for_ "pax .," _read_ " ." page . a, bacis, _for_ "av. .," _read_ " ." page . a, charmides, _for_ "acad. quæst. iv. .," _read_ "ii. ." vol. ii. page . b, gallio, _for_ "acts viii. .," _read_ "xviii. ." page . a, horatius, _for_ "sat. i. . .," _read_ "i. . ." page . b, horatius, _for_ "epist. xi. . .," _read_ "ii. . ." page . b, hortalus, _for_ "aug. .," _read_ "tib. ." page . b, lityerses, _for_ "athen. .," _read_ " ." page . a, marcellus, _for_ " . b.," _read_ " . b." page . a, mus, _for_ "ii. .," _read_ "de fin. ii. ." page . a, nobilior, _for_ "de orat. iii. .," _read_ "ii. ." vol. iii. page . b, pelagius, _for_ " .," _read_ " ." page . a, potitia gens, _for_ "liv. ix. .," _read_ " ." n.b.--a, b, refer respectively to the first and second columns in the pages. p. j. f. gantillon, b.a. * * * * * st. columba's cross. in sir john perrot, lord-deputy of ireland, writes to sir francis walsingham, the secretary of state: "for a token i have sent you holie columkill's crosse, a god of great veneration with surleboy { } (mcdonnell) and all ulster; for so great was his grace, as happy he thought himself that could gett a kisse of the said crosse. i send him unto you, that when you have made some sacrifice to him, according to the disposition you beare to idolatrie, you maie if you please bestowe him upon my good lady walsingham, or my lady sidney, to weare as a jewell of weight and bignesse, and not of price and goodness, upon some solempne feaste or triumphe daie at the courte." walsingham's daughter was married to the celebrated sir philip sidney; and afterwards to robert devereux, earl of essex; and, thirdly, to richard de burgh, earl of clanricard, when she embraced the roman catholic religion, that of her last husband, and may perhaps have regarded st. columba's cross with more veneration than did the rugged old perrot. it may be possible to trace out this ancient relique to its present repository, if it be still in existence. h. * * * * * minor notes. _the "ball at brussels," june, ._--_historical parallel of april, ._-- "the archduke received the english ambassador (edward seymour, earl of hertford) with all honour and state; but whilest _they were feasting and merry at brusselles_, prince maurice had an enterprize upon antwerp, so that spinola, velasco, van de bergh, busquoy, with many commanders, were forced to packe away speedily for the defence of the country."--grimeston's _history of the netherlands_, , p. . w. m. r. e. _drawing an inference._--the following is an amusing instance of false inference, drawn through ignorance of the original. william rae wilson is the innocent offender, in his _travels in egypt and the holy land_ (london, longmans, , nd edition). the author remarks (p. .): "this i am inclined to believe was not the track which was taken by the apostle paul, when he went up to jerusalem from the coast, as he appears to have travelled in some _conveyance moved on wheels_; for it is so far from being in any degree possible to draw one along, that, on the contrary, a great exertion is necessary for travellers to get forward their mules." on referring to his authority for such an unapostolic mode of locomotion, we find (acts xxi. .) these words: "and after those days we took up our _carriages_, and went up to jerusalem." "[greek: meta de tas hêmeras tautas aposkeuasamenoi anebainomen eis hierousalêm.]" the word "carriages" conveyed to the mind of our traveller the idea of a "conveyance moved on wheels;" whereas our translators intended the term to signify _anything carried_. professor scholefield, in his _hints for an improved translation of the new testament_, renders the passage, "we put up our baggage." in fact, _carriage_, _luggage_, and _baggage_ may be termed synonymes; for carriage = that which _is_ carried; luggage = that which _is_ lugged; and baggage = that which _is_ bagged. the word "carriage" is used in this sense, judges xviii. ., and again sam. xvii. . r. price. _edmund spenser._--the subjoined paragraph from _the times_ newspaper, the readers of "n. & q." may perhaps wish to find in a less voluminous journal, but by biographers of spenser more likely to be consulted. "_edmund spenser._--the literary world will be glad to learn that the locality of the illustrious author of _the faëry queen_ has been ascertained. mr. f. f. spenser, of halifax, in making some researches into the ancient residence of his own family, has been fortunate in identifying it with that of the great elizabethan bard, and, we are informed, is about to lay the particulars before the public. the little rural village of hurstwood, near burnley, in lancashire, is the honoured locality; and in the romantic alpine scenery of that neighbourhood it is probable spenser took refuge when he was driven by academical disappointments 'to his relations in the north of england.' the family of that great poet appear to have resided at hurstwood about four hundred years, that is, from the early part of the reign of edward ii. to the year ."--_the times_, wednesday, june , . w. p. _the mint, southwark._--in the year , an act was passed to relieve all those debtors under l., who had taken sanctuary there from their creditors. the following curious account of the exodus of these unfortunates, is given in the _weekly journal_ of saturday, july , : "on tuesday last some thousands of the minters went out of the land of bondage, _alias_ the mint, to be cleared at the quarter sessions at guildford, according to the late act of parliament. the road was covered with them, insomuch that they looked like one of the jewish tribes going out of egypt: the cavalcade consisting of caravans, carts, and waggons, besides numbers on horses, asses, and on foot. the drawer of the two fighting-cocks was seen to lead an ass loaded with geneva, to support the spirits of the ladies upon the journey. 'tis said, that several heathen bailiffs lay in ambuscade in ditches upon the road, to surprise some of them, if possible, on their march, if they should straggle from the main body; but they proceeded with so much order and discipline, that they did not lose a man upon this expedition." e. g. b. { } * * * * * queries. the spectre horsemen of southerfell. on this mountain, which i believe is in the barony of greystoke, cumberland, a remarkable phenomenon is said to have been witnessed more than a century ago, circumstances of which appear to have been these:--in one daniel stricket, then servant to john wren, of wilton hill, a shepherd, was sitting one evening after supper (the month is not mentioned) at the door with his master, when they saw a man with a dog pursuing some horses on southerfell-side, a place so steep that a horse can scarcely travel on it at all; and they seemed to run at an amazing pace, and to disappear at the low end of the fell. master and man resolved to go next morning to the steep side of the mountain, on which they expected to find that the horses had lost their shoes from the rate at which they galloped, and the man his life. they went, but to their surprise they found no vestige of horses having passed that way. they said nothing about their vision for some time, fearing the ridicule of their neighbours, and this they did not fail to receive when they at length ventured to relate their story. on the rd june (the eve of st. john's day) in the following year ( ), stricket, who was then servant to a mr. lancaster of blakehills, the next house to wilton hill, was walking a little above the house in the evening, about half-past seven, when on looking towards southerfell he saw a troop of men on horseback, riding on the mountain side in pretty close ranks, and at the speed of a brisk walk. he looked earnestly at this appearance for some time before he ventured to acquaint any one with what he saw, remembering the ridicule he had brought on himself by relating his former vision. at length satisfied of its reality, he went into the house and told his master he had something curious to show him. the master said he supposed stricket wanted him to look at a bonfire (it being the custom for the shepherds on the eve of st. john to vie with each other for the largest bonfire); however, they went out together, and before stricket spoke of or pointed to the phenomenon, mr. lancaster himself observed it, and when they found they both saw alike, they summoned the rest of the family, who all came, and all saw the visionary horsemen. there were many troops, and they seemed to come from the lower part of the fell, becoming first visible at a place called knott; they then moved in regular order in a curvilinear path along the side of the fell, until they came opposite to blakehills, when they went over the mountain and disappeared. the last, or last but one, in every troop, galloped to the front, and then took the swift walking pace of the rest. the spectators saw all alike these changes in relative position, and at the same time, as they found on questioning each other when any change took place. the phenomenon was also seen by every person at every cottage within a mile; and from the time that stricket first observed it, the appearance lasted two hours and a half, viz. from half-past seven until night prevented any further view. blakehills lay only half a mile from the place of this extraordinary appearance. such are the circumstances as related in clarke's _survey of the lakes_ (fol. ), and he professes to give this account in the words of mr. lancaster, by whom it was related to him, and on whose testimony he fully relied; and he subjoins a declaration of its truth signed by the eye-witnesses, william lancaster and daniel stricket (who then lived under skiddaw, and followed the business of an auctioneer), dated st july, . mr. clarke remarks that the country abounds in fables of apparitions, but that they are never said to have been seen by more than one or two persons at a time, and then only for moment; and remembering that speed mentions some similar appearance to have preceded a civil war, he hazards the supposition that the vision might prefigure the tumults of the rebellion of the following year. my query is, whether any subsequent appearance of the same kind is recorded to have been observed on this haunted mountain, and whether any attempt to account for it on principles of optical science, as applied to a supposed state of the atmosphere, has ever been published? one is reminded of the apparition said to have been witnessed above vallambrosa early in the fourteenth century. rogers, after mentioning in the canto on "florence and pisa," in his _italy_, that petrarch, when an infant of seven months old (a.d. ), narrowly escaped drowning in a flood of the arno, on the way from florence to ancisa, whither his mother was retiring with him, says: "a most extraordinary deluge, accompanied by signs and prodigies, happened a few years afterwards. 'on that night,' says giovanni villani (xi. .), 'a hermit, being at prayer in his hermitage above vallambrosa, heard a furious trampling as of many horses; and crossing himself and hurrying to the wicket, saw a multitude of infernal horsemen, all black and terrible, riding by at full speed. when, in the name of god, he demanded their purpose, one replied, we are going, if it be his pleasure, to drown the city of florence for its wickedness. this account,' he adds, 'was given me by the abbot of vallambrosa, who had questioned the holy man himself.'" this vision, however, without doubting the holy man's veracity, may, i presume, be considered wholly subjective. w. s. g. newcastle-on-tyne. { } * * * * * minor queries. _passage in bacon._--what is the meaning of this saying of bacon "poetry doth raise and erect the mind by submitting the shows of things to the desires of the mind?" recnac. _lamech killing cain._--in the church of st. neot, cornwall, are some very interesting ancient painted windows, representing various legendary and scriptural subjects. in one of them, descriptive of antediluvial history, is a painting of lamech shooting cain with a bow and arrow. are any of your readers acquainted with a similar subject? is there any tradition to this effect? and does it throw any light on that difficult passage, gen. iv. , .? "and lamech said unto his wives, adah and zillah, hear my voice: ye wives of lamech, hearken unto my speech: for i have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. "if cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly lamech seventy and sevenfold." j. w. m. hordley ellesmere. _lord chief justice popham._--c. gonville says (vol. vii., p. .) that raleigh gilbert "emigrated with lord chief justice popham in " to plymouth in virginia. as this is a fact in the history of that learned judge with which i am unacquainted, i shall be obliged to your correspondent to favour me with some particulars. according to anthony wood he died on june , , and was buried at wellington in somersetshire; and sir edward coke ( _reports_, p. .) notices the last judgment he pronounced in the previous easter term. edward foss. _"her face was like the milky way," &c._--where is the subjoined quotation taken from, and what is the context? i cannot be quite certain as to its verbal accuracy. "her face was like the milky way i' the sky, a meeting of gentle lights without a name." via lactea. _nelson rings._--i am in possession of a ring, which in place of a stone has a metal basso-relievo representation of nelson (half-bust). the inscription inside the ring is as follows: "a gift to t. moon from g. l. stoppleburg ." the late mr. thomas moon was an eminent merchant of leeds, yorkshire, and the writer has always understood that the ring referred to is one of three or half-a-dozen, which were made subsequently to nelson's death, the metal (blackish in appearance) forming the basso-relievo set in them, being in reality portions of the ball which gave the late lamented and immortal admiral his fatal wound at trafalgar. can any of your readers furnish me with the means of authenticating this supposition? likewise i should be glad to know if other similar rings are at present in existence, and by whom owned. r. nichols. pelsall, staffordshire. _books wanted._-- _life of thomas bonnell, mayor of norwich_, published by curl. samuel hayne, _abstract of the statutes relating to aliens trading_, .[ ] lalley's _churches and chapels in london_. can any of your readers tell me where i shall find these books? i do not see them in the british museum. j. s. b. [footnote : [hayne's _abstract_, edit. , will be found in the british museum. see the new catalogue _s. v._, press-mark . b.--ed.]] _mr. cromlin._--in smith's _history of waterford_ ( ) are noticed "the thanks of the house of commons given to mr. cromlin, a french gentleman naturalised in the kingdom, then actually sitting in the house," and the present to him of , l. for establishing a linen manufactory at waterford. where shall i find the particulars of this grant recorded? j. s. b. _dr. fletcher and lady baker._--dr. fletcher, bishop of london, married a handsome widow, the lady baker, sister of george gifford the pensioner, at which marriage queen elizabeth being much displeased, the bishop is said to have died "discontentedly by immoderate taking of tobacco." (_athenæ._) who was the lady baker's first husband? who was george gifford? was she a roman catholic previous to her second marriage? w. s. _jeremy taylor and christopher lord hatton._--bishop jeremy taylor, in his dedication of the _great exemplar_ to christopher lord hatton, entreats his lordship to "account him in the number of his relatives." was jeremy taylor in any way connected with lord hatton by marriage? his first wife was a mrs. joanna bridges of mandinam, in the parish of languedor, co. carmarthen, and supposed to be a natural daughter of charles i., to whom she bore a striking resemblance. do any of your readers know of any relationship between this lady and lord hatton, or any other circumstance likely to account for the passage above mentioned? clarence hopper. "_pylades and corinna._"--can anybody tell who was the author? could it be de foe? p. r. { } _the left hand; its etymology._--i have read with much pleasure trench's _study of words_. the following passage occurs at p. : "the 'left' hand, as distinguished from the right, is the hand which we 'leave,' inasmuch as for twenty times we use the right hand, we do not once employ _it_; and it obtains its name from being 'left' unused so often." now i should certainly be sorry to appear "ut lethargicus hic, cum fit pugil, et medicum urget." i am not the person to aim a word at mr. trench's eye. although i am boeotian enough to ask, i am not too far boeotian to feel no shame in asking, whether it is quite impossible that "left" should be corruption of _lævus_, [greek: laios]. we have, at all events, adopted _dexter_, the "right" hand, and the rest of its family. boeoticus. edgmond, salop. _the parthenon._--m. de chateaubriand says that the greek, theodore zygomalas, who wrote in , is the first among modern writers to have made known the existence of the temple of minerva or parthenon, which was believed to have been totally destroyed. the _messager des sciences et des arts de la belgique_, vol. iv. p. ., corrects chateaubriand, and says that ciriaco d'ancona had, in the year , described this celebrated monument, together with other ancient buildings of athens. i am desirous of verifying this statement, and for this purpose beg the assistance of some of your learned correspondents, who may probably be able to inform me what is the title and date of the work of ciriaco in which this description of the parthenon occurs. w. m. r. e. * * * * * replies. mediÆval or middle ages. (vol. v., p. .) the question there put by l. t. is still constantly asked, and the answer given by a reference to mr. dowling's work may perhaps be unsatisfactory to many, as not sufficiently defining the period at which the middle ages may be said to terminate. by some of the best historical writers, the commencement and termination are variously stated. in a work recently published by george t. manning, entitled _outlines of the history of the middle ages_, with heads of analysis, &c., the querist seems answered with more precision. mr. manning divides general history into _three_ great divisions--ancient history, that of the middle ages, and modern history; the first division extending from the creation to about four hundred years after the birth of christ; the second from a.d. to the close of the fifteenth century of the christian era; the third embracing those ages which have elapsed since the close of mediæval times. the middle age portions he divides into _five_ great periods, denoted by the vast changes which took place in the course of that history, viz.: a.d. to a.d. , _first period_. a.d. to a.d. , _second period_. a.d. to a.d. , _third period_. a.d. to a.d. , _fourth period_. a.d. to a.d. , _fifth period_. the doubling of the cape of good hope being the last important event, which he places in . this is nearly the same view as taken by m. lamé fleury, who commences with the fall of the western empire in , and closes with the conquest of granada by the spaniards in : thinking that memorable event, which terminated in a degree the struggle of the western against the eastern empire, a better limit ("une limite plus rigoureusement exacte") than the taking of constantinople by mahomet ii. in , the date when this historical period is generally terminated by most writers. appended to this little volume is a list of remarkable dates and events, as also of battles and treaties during the middle ages. g. * * * * * consecrators of english bishops. (vol. vii., pp. . .) . ashurst turner gilbert, bishop of chichester, was consecrated feb. , , by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishops of lincoln and llandaff. . edward field, bishop of newfoundland, april , , by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishops of london, bangor, and worcester. . thomas turton, bishop of ely; . john medley, bishop of fredericton; . james chapman, bishop of columbo; may , , by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishops of london, rochester, lincoln, hereford, lichfield, and bishop coleridge. . samuel gobat, bishop of the united church of england and ireland in jerusalem, july , , by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishops of london, calcutta, and lichfield. . george smith, bishop of victoria; . david anderson, bishop of rupert's land; may , , in canterbury cathedral, by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishops of london, winchester, and oxford. . francis fulford, bishop of montreal, july , , by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishops of oxford, salisbury, chichester, norwich, and toronto. { } . john harding, bishop of bombay, aug. , , by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishop of london and bishop carr. . hibbert binney, bishop of nova scotia, march , , by the archbishop of canterbury, assisted by the bishops of london, chichester, and oxford. . john lonsdale, bishop of lichfield, was consecrated in the chapel of lambeth palace. i believe a. s. a. will find all his queries answered in the above list; but as he may wish to know the names as well as the titles of the consecrating bishops, i subjoin a list of them. in the consecration of the first six bishops in the list, the archbishop of canterbury was dr. william howley; in all the others he was dr. john bird sumner. the bishop of lincoln, wherever mentioned, was dr. john kaye. the bishop of llandaff was dr. e. coplestone; the bishop of london was dr. c. j. blomfield; the bishop of bangor, dr. christopher bethell; the bishop of worcester, dr. h. pepys; the bishop of rochester, dr. george murray; the bishop of hereford, dr. thomas musgrave; the bishop of lichfield, dr. john lonsdale; the bishop of calcutta, dr. daniel wilson; the bishop of winchester, dr. c. r. sumner; the bishop of oxford, dr. samuel wilberforce; the bishop of salisbury, dr. edward denison; the bishop of chichester, dr. a. t. gilbert; the bishop of norwich, dr. samuel hinds; the bishop of toronto, dr. john strachan. tyro. dublin. * * * * * "grindle." (vol. vii., p. .) the question of c. g. supplies a new instance of an ancient and heroic word still surviving in a local name. the only other places in england that i have as yet heard of are, _grindleton_ in the west riding of yorkshire, and a _gryndall_ in the east riding. the authority for this latter is mr. williams' translation of leo's _anglo-saxon names_, p. ., note . in old england, the name was probably not uncommon: it occurs in a description of landmarks in kemble's _codex dipl._, vol. ii. p. .: "on _grendles_ mere." there is a peculiar interest attaching to this word; or, i might say, it is invested with a peculiar horror, as being the name of the malicious fiend, the man-enemy whom beowulf subdues in our eldest national epic: "w[=æ]s se grimma gæst grendel háten, m[=æ]re mearc-stapa, se þe móras heóld, fen and fæsten--fífel-cynnes eard won-sæli wer...." _beowulf_, l. . _seqq._--ed. kemble. so he is introduced in the poem, when, in the dead of night, he comes to the hall where the warriors are asleep, ravining for the human prey. the following is something like the meaning of the lines:-- "grendel hight the grisly guest, dread master he of waste and moor, the fen his fastness--_fiends among_, bliss-bereft...." this awful being was no doubt in the mind of those who originated the name _grendles mere_, before quoted from kemble. the name is applied to a locality quite in keeping with the ancient mythological character of _grendel_, who held the moor and the fen. most strikingly does the same sentiment appear in the name of that strange and wildering valley of the bernese oberland, in switzerland:--i mean the valley of grindelwald, with its two awful glaciers. but when we come to consider the etymology of the name, we are led to an object which seems inadequate, and incapable of acting as the vehicle for these deep and natural sentiments of the inhuman and the horrible. _grendel_ means, originally, no more than a _bar_ or _rod_, or a palisade or lattice-work made of such bars or rods. also a bar or bolt for fastening a door, or for closing a harbour. middle-aged people at zurich recollect when the old "grindel" was still standing at the mouth of their river. this was a tremendous bar, by which the water-approach to their town could be closed against an enemy; who might otherwise pass from the lake of zurich down the river limmat, into the heart of the town of zurich. it was in germany that this word lived longest as a common substantive. there is no known instance of it in anglo-saxon, other than in proper names, and of these i know no more than are already enumerated above; whereas, in the middle high german, it is by no means uncommon. it occurs in a mystery on the resurrection preserved in this dialect, and edited by ettmüller, (_dat spil fan der upstandinge_). i cannot now find the line, but it is used there for "the gates of hell." cf. also ziemann's _mittelhochdeutsches wörterbuch_, voc. grindel. grimm, in his _mythology_, establishes a connexion between _grendel_ and _loki_, the northern half-deity half-demon, the origin of evil. he was always believed to have cunningly guided the shaft of flöder the blind, who, in loving sport, shot his brother balder the gay, the beloved of gods and men. so entered sorrow into the hitherto unclouded asaland. grimm draws attention to the circumstance that loki is apparently connected with the widespread root which appears in english in the forms _lock_ and _latch_. here is a very striking analogy, { } and it is supported by an instance from the present german: _höllriegel_ = vectis infernalis, brand of hell, is still recognised as = _teufel_; or for an old witch = devil's dam. and even in latin documents we find the same idea represented. thus, in a charter of king edgar (_cod. dipl._, no. .), which begins with a recital of the fall of man, and the need of escaping the consequent misery, we have the following: "quamobrem ego eadgar, totius britanniæ gubernator et rector, ut hujus miseriæ _repagulum_ quam protoplastus inretitus promeruit ... evadere queam, quandam ruris particulam ... largitus sum," &c. &c. as to the application of this name to localities, it seems to represent the same sentiment as the prefix of giant, grim, or devil: and this sentiment would be that of the grand or awful in nature, and mysterious or unaccountable in artificial works. i think we may then safely conclude, that all dikes, ditches, camps, cromlechs, &c., which have such titles attached to them, date from an age previous to the saxons being in england. for example, if we did not know from other sources the high antiquity of wayland smith's cave in berkshire, we might argue that it was at least pre-saxon; from the fact that the saxons called it by the name of their vulcan, and therefore that it appeared to them so mysterious as to be _dignus vindice nodus_. if your correspondent c. g., or any of your readers, can, either from their reading or from local knowledge, add any further illustrations or examples of this ancient heathen word, i, for one, shall receive them gratefully. i. e. oxford. * * * * * mummies of ecclesiastics. (vol. vi., pp. . . . .) although i have myself seen the natural mummies preserved at kreuzberg on the rhine, i can say nothing more with regard to them, than vouch for the accuracy of the accounts transmitted by your various correspondents under this head. your querist a. a. however may, if curious on this subject, be referred with advantage to mr. t. j. pettigrew's interesting _history of egyptian mummies_. in chap. xvii. of this work, many instances are adduced of the preservation of bodies from putrefaction by the desiccating properties of the natural air of the place in which they are contained. he says: "in dry, and particularly calcareous vaults, bodies may be preserved for a great length of time. in toulouse, bodies are to be seen quite perfect, although buried two centuries ago. in the vaults of st. michael's church, dublin, the same effect is produced; and mr. madden says he there saw the body of henry shears, who was hanged in , in a state of preservation equal to that of any egyptian mummy." garcilasso de la veya, and more recent historians, may be referred to for accounts of the mummy-pits of peru, the dry air of which country is an effectual preventive of the process of putrefaction. one of the most curious spectacles, however, of this nature is to be found in the catacombs of palermo, where the traveller finds himself in the midst of some thousands of unburied bodies, which, suspended mostly by the neck, have become so distorted in form and feature in the process of desiccation, as to provoke an irrepressible smile in the midst of more solemn and befitting contemplations. (sonnini's _travels_, vol. i. p. .; smyth's _memoirs of sicily and its islands_, p. .) similar properties are also attributed to the air of the western islands of scotland. "to return to our purpose," says p. camerarius (_the living librarie_, translated by molle, folio, london, , p. .),-- "that which abraham ortelius reporteth after gyrald de cambren is wonderfull, that the bodies of men rot not after their decease, in the isles of arran; and that therefore they bee not buried, but left in the open ayr, where putrefaction doth them no manner of hurt; whereby the families (not without amazement) doe know their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and a long race of their predecessors. peter martyr, a milannois, saith the same of some west indians of comagra. these bee his words: 'the spaniards being entered the lodgings of this cacick, found a chamber fulle of dead bodies, hanging by ropes of cotton, and asking what superstition that was, they received this answer, that those were the fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers of the cacick of comagra. the indians say that they keep such relikes preciously, and that the ceremonie is one of the points of their religion. according to his qualities while he lived, his bodie, being dead, is richly decked with jewels and precious stones.'" many other instances might be adduced, but you will now think that at least enough has been said on this subject. william bates. birmingham. * * * * * vicars-apostolic in england. (vol. vi., pp. . . .; vol. vii., pp. . .) your correspondent a. s. a. seems very anxious to possess a complete list of the vicars-apostolic of england. with their names, and the date of their consecration and death, collected from various sources, i am able to supply him. the last survivor of the roman catholic bishops consecrated in england prior to the reign of elizabeth was dr. thomas watson, appointed bishop of lincoln in by queen mary, and deprived (on the accession of elizabeth) in . { } upon his death, in , the catholic clergy in england were left without a head, and the pope some time after appointed an _arch-priest_, to superintend them, and the following persons filled the office: _consecrated._ _died._ . rev. george blackwell. -- rev. george birkhead . . rev. george harrison . on the death of the latter the episcopate was revived by the pope in england, and one bishop was consecrated as head of the english catholics. _consecrated._ _died._ . dr. william bishop . . dr. richard smith . . dr. john leyburn, with whom, in , dr. giffard was associated; but almost immediately after this england was divided into four districts, and the order of succession in each was as follows: _london or southern district._ _consecrated._ _died._ . bishop leyburn . . bishop giffard (translated from the midland district, ) . . bishop petre . . bishop challoner . . bishop honourable james talbot . . bishop douglas . . bishop poynter . . bishop bramston . . bishop gradwell . . bishop griffiths . _midland or central district._ . bishop giffard (translated to london, ). . bishop witham (translated to the northern district, ). . bishop stonor . . bishop hornihold . . bishop honourable t. talbot . . bishop berington . . bishop stapleton . . bishop milner . . bishop walsh (translated to london, ). . bishop wiseman (coadjutor). _western district._ . bishop ellis . . bishop prichard . . bishop york . . bishop walmesley . . bishop sharrock . . bishop collingridge . . bishop baines . _northern district._ . bishop james smith . . bishop witham . . bishop williams . . bishop dicconson . . bishop honourable, f. petre . . bishop maire (coadjutor to bishop petre) . . bishop walton . . bishop gibson . . bishop william gibson (brother to the preceding bishop) . . bishop thomas smith . . bishop penswick . . bishop briggs, removed to the new district of yorkshire in , and became roman catholic bishop of beverley in . in , england and wales were divided among eight vicars-apostolic, and from that time until the year the following was the arrangement: _london._ _consecrated._ _died._ . bishop griffiths . . bishop walsh . . bishop wiseman, at first coadjutor to bishop walsh here, as he had been in the central district. elevated to the archiepiscopate, . _central._ . bishop walsh, removed to london in . . bishop ullathorne; became roman catholic bishop of birmingham, . _western._ . bishop baines . . bishop beggs . . bishop ullathorne; removed to the central district, . . bishop hendren, became roman catholic bishop of clifton, . _northern._ . bishop briggs; removed in to the new district of yorkshire. . bishop riddell . . bishop hogarth; became roman catholic bishop of hexham, . _eastern._ . bishop wareing; became roman catholic bishop of northampton, . _yorkshire._ . bishop briggs, from the northern district; became roman catholic bishop of beverley, . _lancashire._ . bishop g. brown; became roman catholic bishop of liverpool, . . bishop sharples (coadjutor) . _wales._ . bishop t. j. browne; became roman catholic bishop of newport, . in came another change, and one archbishop and twelve bishops were appointed to rule { } over the roman catholic church in england and wales: _archbishop of westminster._ _consecrated._ . cardinal nicholas wiseman. _bishop of hexham._ . william hogarth. _bishop of beverley._ . john briggs. _bishop of liverpool._ . george brown. _bishop of birmingham._ . william ullathorne. _bishop of northampton._ . william wareing. _bishop of newport and menevia._ . thomas joseph browne. _bishop of nottingham._ . joseph william hendren (from clifton); resigned his bishoprick, . _bishop of clifton._ . joseph william hendren (removed in to nottingham.) . thomas burgess. _bishop of salford._ . william turner. _bishop of plymouth._ . george errington. _bishop of shrewsbury._ . james brown. _bishop of southwark._ . thomas grant. the foregoing i believe to be, in the main, a correct account of the roman catholic episcopate in england and wales from the accession of elizabeth down to the present year. j. r. w. bristol. * * * * * banbury zeal, etc. (vol. vii., p. .) i have no doubt that the particular instance of _zeal in the cause of the church_ at banbury, which addison had in mind when he wrote no. . of the _tatler_, published sept. , , was a grand demonstration made by its inhabitants in favour of dr. sacheverell, whose trial had terminated in his acquittal on march of that year. and my opinion is strengthened by the introduction almost immediately afterwards of a passage on the party use of the terms high church and low church. on june , , the high church champion made a triumphal entry into banbury, which is ridiculed in a pamphlet called _the banb..y apes, or the monkeys chattering to the magpye; in a letter to a friend in london_. on the back of the title is large woodcut, representing the procession which accompanied the doctor; among the personages of which the mayor of banbury (as a wolf), and the aldermen (as apes), are conspicuous figures. dr. sacheverell himself appears on horseback, followed by a crowd of persons bearing crosses and rosaries, or strewing branches. the accompanying letter-press describes this procession as being closed by twenty-four tinkers beating on their kettles, and a "vast mob, hollowing, hooping, and playing the devil." there is another tract on the same subject, which is extremely scarce, entitled-- "an appeal from the city to the country for the preservation of her majesty's person, liberty, property, and the protestant religion, &c. occasionally written upon the late impudent affronts offer'd to her majesty's royal crown and dignity by the people of banbury and warwick: lond. vo. ." to your correspondent h.'s (p. .) quotation from braithwait's "drunken barnaby" may be added this extract from an earlier poem by the same writer, called "a strappado for the divell:" "but now for bradford i must haste away: bradford, if i should rightly set it forth, stile it i might _banberry_ of the north; and well this title with the town agrees, famous for twanging _ale_, _zeal_, _cakes_, and _cheese_." a few words on "banbury _cakes_," and i have done. the earliest mention of them i am aware of (next to that in camden's _britannia_, published by philemon holland in , and already referred to), is by ben jonson, in his _bartholomew fair_, written ; where he introduces "zeal-of-the-land busy" as "a banbury man," who "was a _baker_--but he does dream now, and see visions: he has given over his trade, out of a scruple he took, that, in spiced conscience, _those cakes he made_ were served to bridales, maypoles, morrisses, and such profane feasts and meetings." i do not know whether the sale of banbury cakes flourished in the last century; but i find recorded in beesley's _hist. of banbury_ (published ) that mr. samuel beesley sold in no fewer than , twopenny cakes; and in , the sale had increased by at least a fourth. in aug. , , were sold weekly; being shipped to america, india, and even australia. i fancy their celebrity in early days can hardly parallel this, but i do not vouch for the statistics. j. r. m., m.a. { } * * * * * dr. south versus goldsmith, talleyrand, etc. (vol. vi., p. .) this remarkable saying, like most good things of that kind, has been repeated by so many distinguished writers, that it is impossible to trace it to any one in particular, in the precise form in which it is now popularly received. i shall quote, in succession, all those who appear to have expressed it in words of the same, or a nearly similar, import, and then leave your readers to judge for themselves. i cannot help thinking that the first place should be assigned to jeremy taylor, as he must have had the sentiment clearly in view in the following sentence: "there is in mankind an universal contract implied in all their intercourses; and _words being instituted to declare the mind, and for no other end_, he that hears me speak hath a right in justice to be done him, that, as far as i can, what i speak be true; for else he by words does not know your mind, and then as good and better not speak at all." next we have david lloyd, who in his _state worthies_ thus remarks of sir roger ascham: "none is more able for, yet none is more averse to, that circumlocution and contrivance wherewith some men shadow their main drift and purpose. _speech was made to open man to man, and not to hide him_; to promote commerce, and not betray it." dr. south, lloyd's cotemporary, but who survived him more than twenty years, expresses the sentiment in nearly the same words: "in short, this seems to be the true inward judgment of all our politick sages, that _speech was given to the ordinary sort of men, whereby to communicate their mind, but to wise men whereby to conceal it_." the next writer in whom this thought occurs is butler, the author of _hudibras_. in one of his prose essays on the "modern politician," he says: "he (the modern politician) believes a man's words and his meanings should never agree together: for he that says what he thinks lays himself open to be expounded by the most ignorant; and _he who does not make his words rather serve to conceal than discover the sense of his heart_, deserves to have it pulled out, like a traitor's, and shown publicly to the rabble." young has the thought in the following couplet on the duplicity of courts: "when nature's end of language is declin'd, and men talk only to _conceal their mind_." from young it passed to voltaire, who in the dialogue entitled "le chapon et la poularde," makes the former say of the treachery of men: "ils n'emploient les paroles que pour _déguiser leurs pensées_." goldsmith, about the same time, in his paper in _the bee_, produces it in the well-known words: "men who know the world hold that the true use of speech is not so much to _express_ our wants, as to _conceal_ them." then comes talleyrand, who is reported to have said: "la parole n'a été donnée à l'homme que pour _déguiser sa pensée_." the latest writer who adopts this remark without acknowledgment is, i believe, lord holland. in his _life of lope de vega_ he says of certain spanish writers, promoters of the _cultismo_ style: "these authors do not avail themselves of the invention of letters for the purpose of _conveying, but of concealing, their ideas_." from these passages (some of which have already appeared in vol. i., p. ) it will be seen that the germ of the thought occurs in jeremy taylor; that lloyd and south improved upon it; that butler, young and goldsmith repeated it; that voltaire translated it into french; that talleyrand echoed voltaire's words; and that it has now become so familiar an expression, that any one may quote it, as lord holland has done, without being at the trouble of giving his authority. if, from the search for the author, we turn to consider the saying itself, we shall find that its practical application extends not merely to every species of equivocation, mental reservation, and even falsehood; but comprises certain forms of speech, which are intended to convey the _contrary_ of what they express. to this class of words the french have given the designation of _contre-vérité_; and, to my surprise, i find that they include therein the expression _amende honorable_. upon this point the _grammaire des grammaires_, by girault duvivier, has these remarks: "la contre-vérité a beaucoup de rapport avec l'ironie. amende honorable, par exemple, est une contre-vérité, une vérité prise dans un sens opposé à celui de son énonciation; car, au lieu d'être honorable, elle est infamante, déshonorante." i have some doubts as to whether this meaning of _amende honorable_ be in accordance with our english notion of its import; and i shall be thankful to any of your readers who will help me to a solution. i always understood that the term _honorable_, in this expression, was to be taken in its literal sense, namely, that the person who made an open avowal of his fault, or tendered an apology for it, was acting, _in that respect_, in strict conformity with the rules of honour. it is possible that, at first, the _amende honorable_ may have been designed as a "peine infamante;" but its modern acceptation would seem to admit of a more liberal construction. { } there are other expressions, framed upon this "lucus a non lucendo" principle, which may fairly be classed among _contre-vérités_. the french say that a thing is _à propos de bottes_, when it is altogether inappropriate. we all use the formula of "your most obedient, humble servant," even when we intend anything but humility or obedience. henry h. breen. st. lucia. * * * * * irish rhymes. (vol. vi., pp. . . .) mr. cuthbert bede (vol. vi., p. .) says "he thinks a. b. r. would have to search a long time, before he found, in the pages of pope, such brogue-inspired rhymes as _rake well_ and _sequel_, _starve it_ and _deserve it_, _charge ye_ and _clergy_, and others quoted by him at p. ." among the latter, i presume he chiefly relies on the rhymes _satire_ and _hater_, _creature_ and _nature_. of all these i am able to adduce parallel instances both from dryden and pope. and first, as to _rake well_ and _sequel_. mr. bede is, of course, aware that these are double rhymes; that _quel_ and _well_ are good english rhymes; and that the brogue betrays itself only in the first syllable of each, _rake_ and _se_. it is, in fact, the same sort of rhyme as _break_ and _weak_, which is of such frequent occurrence both in dryden and pope. here is an example from each: "or if they should, their interest soon would _break_, and with such odious aid make david _weak_." _absalom and achitophel._ "men in their loose, unguarded hours they _take_; not that themselves are wise, but others _weak_." _essay on man._ the next "brogue-inspired rhyme" is _starve it_ and _deserve it_. here, as in the former instance, the last syllables rhyme correctly, and the objection is confined to _starve_ and _deserve_. let us see what dryden says to this: "wrong conscience, or no conscience, may _deserve_ to thrive, but ours alone is privileged to _starve_." _hind and panther._ and pope: "but still the great have kindness in _reserve_: he help'd to bury whom he help'd to _starve_." _prologue to the satires._ of this species of rhyme i have noted _three other_ instances in dryden, and _two_ in pope. as regards the rhyme _charge ye_ and _clergy_, no instance, in the same words, occurs in dryden or pope. they did not write much in that sort of doggerel. but the brogue, even here, is nothing more than the confounding of the sounds of _a_ and _e_, which is so beautifully exemplified in the following couplet in dryden: "for yet no george, to our _discerning_, has writ without a ten years' warning." _epistle to sir g. etheredge._ next, we have the rhyme _satire_ and _hater_. the following in dryden is quite as bad, if not worse: "spiteful he is not, though he wrote a _satire_, for still there goes some thinking to _ill-nature_." _absalom and achitophel._ of this rhyme _satire_ and _nature_, i can adduce two other instances from dryden. in the same category we must place _nature_ and _creature_, _nature_ and _feature_. here is an example from dryden; and i can bring forward two others: "a proof that chance alone makes every _creature_ a very killigrew without good _nature_." _essay upon satire._ and here is one from pope: "'tis a virgin hard of _feature_, old and void of all good _nature_." _answer to "what is prudery?"_ can mr. bede produce anything to match the following sample of the _crater_, to be found in our most polished english poet? "alas! if i am such a _creature_, to grow the worse for growing _greater_!" _dialogue between pope and craggs._ it will be seen, from the foregoing quotations, that the rhymes described as irish were, a century and a half ago, common to both countries,--a fact which mr. bede was probably not sufficiently aware of when he introduced the subject in "n. & q." for obvious reasons, the use of such rhymes, at the present day, would be open to the imputation of "irishism;" but it was not so in the days of swift. henry h. breen. st. lucia. in a former number i drew attention to that peculiar fondness for "irish rhymes" which is more evident in swift than in any other poet; and another correspondent afterwards gave examples to show that "our premier poet, pope," sometimes tripped in the same hibernian manner. in looking over an old volume of the _new monthly magazine_, during the time of its being edited by the poet campbell, i have stumbled upon a passage which is so _apropos_ to the subject referred to, that i cannot resist quoting it; and independent of its bearing on our irish rhyming discussion, the passage has sufficient interest to excuse my making a note of it. it occurs in one of a series of papers called "the family journal," supposed to have been written by the immediate descendants of the "will honeycomb" of the _spectator_. a { } dinner-party is assembled at mr. pope's, when the conversation takes this turn: "mr. walscott asked if he (dryden) was an englishman or an irishman, for he never could find out. 'you would find out,' answered mr. pope, 'if you heard him talk, for he cannot get rid of the habit of saying _a_ for e. he would be an englishman with all his heart, if he could; but he is an irishman, that is certain, and with all his heart too in one sense, for he is the truest patriot that country ever saw.... you must not talk to him about irish rhymes,' added mr. pope, 'any more than you must talk to me about the _gods_ and _abodes_ in my homer, which he quarrels with me for. the truth is, we all write irish rhymes, and the dean contrives to be more exact that way than most of us.' 'what!' said mr. walscott, 'does he carry his irish accent into his writings, and yet think to conceal himself?' mr. pope read to us an odd kind of latin-english effusion of the dean's, which made us shake with laughter. it was about a consultation of physicians. the words, though latin in themselves, make english when put together; and the hibernianism of the spelling is very plain. i remember a taste of it. a doctor begins by inquiring, "'is his honor sic? præ lætus felis pulse. it do es beat veris loto _de_.' "here _de_ spells _day_. an englishman would have used the word _da_. "'no,' says the second doctor; 'no, notis as qui cassi e ver feltu metri it,' &c. "_metri_ for _may try_. "mr. pope told us that there were two bad rhymes in the _rape of the lock_, and in the space of eight lines: "'the doubtful beam long nods from side to side; at length the wits mount up, the hairs subside. but this bold lord, with manly strength endued, she with one finger and a thumb subdued.' "_mr. walscott._ 'these would be very good french rhymes.' "_mr. pope._ 'yes, the french make a merit of necessity, and force their poverty upon us for riches. but it is bad in english. however, it is too late to alter what i wrote. i now care less about them, notwithstanding the doctor. when i was a young man, i was for the free _disinvolte_ way of dryden, as in the _essay on criticism_; but the town preferred the style of my pastorals, and somehow or other i agreed with them. i then became very cautious, and wonder how those lines in the _lock_ escaped me. but i have come to this conclusion, that when a man has established his reputation for being able to do a thing, he may take liberties. weakness is one thing, and the carelessness of power another.'"--_new monthly magazine_, vol. xiii. ( ), pp. , . with regard to the french rhyme, i see, in a note to _odes and other poems_, by henry neele, , that he apologises for rhyming _multitude_ with _solitude_, by saying: "it is of that kind which is very common in french, but i fear hardly justified by english practice. still, 'la rime est une esclave, et ne doit qu'obéir.'" i would append to this note a query. where in swift's works is the "latin-english effusion of the dean's" to be met with?[ ] or is it composed for him by the writer of the article? i only know of two such effusions really written by swift; the _love song_, "apud in is almi des ire," &c., and the _epigram on dic_: "dic, heris agro at an da quarto finale fora ringat ure nos an da stringat ure tale." i should also like to know the author of the clever series of papers from which i have quoted. cuthbert bede, b.a. [footnote : [see "consultation upon a lord that was dying," in swift's _works_, ed. scott, vol. xiii. p. .--ed.]] * * * * * count gondomar. (vol. v., p. .) your correspondent w. stanley simmonds will find a lengthy account of this notable spanish don--diego sarmiento de acuña, conde de gondomar--in the _nobiliario genealogico de los reyes y titulos de españa_ of lopez de haro, folio, madrid, , vol. i. pp. - . in this notice he chiefly figures, strange to say, as a military character! at the ripe age of _seventeen_ this "famous captain" is said to have chastised the insolence of that bold "english pirate, francisco draques," who in had had the temerity to land somewhere near bayona, his sole object being of course plunder. don diego guarded well his territory of tuy when the same formidable "dragon," in the year , made his appearance before coruña; and again in , when the english armada visited ill-fated cadiz. being a person of "great parts," the count was despatched to england as ambassador in , and during the five years that he resided in this country, "the king and his nobility showered upon him favours and honours innumerable." he once told james that the flour of england (meaning the gentry) was very fine, but the bran (meaning the common people) was very coarse; "_la harina de inglatierra es muy delgada y fina, pero el afrecho es muy grossero_,"--for gondomar, like the learned isaac casaubon, had been subject to the grossest insults from the london rabble. we next find ranked among his praiseworthy deeds the following atrocious one: "hizo cortar la cabeça al general ingles wbaltero rale (sir walter raleigh) por aver intentado descubrimiento en las indias occidentales de castilla a su partida." another meritorious action is added: "a su instancia perdonó la magestad de aquel rey (james i.) a sesenta sacerdotes que estavan presos condenados por causa de la religion, y a otros mucho catolicos, passandolos todos consigo a flandes." { } the title of count gondomar was conferred upon him by philip iii. in , but the date of his death is still a desideratum. many anecdotes concerning him are to be seen scattered in howel's _treatise of ambassadors_. w. m. r. e. * * * * * door-head inscriptions. (vol. vi., p. .) b. b. woodward (urged, probably, by r. rawlinson's question in vol. vi., p. .) sends you the following inscription, "sit mihi nec glis servus, nec hospes hirudo," copied from over the entrance to an old hostel in the town of wymondham, norfolk. he says he quotes from memory. vol. vii., p. ., you give an english translation of the inscription: "from servant lazy as dormouse, or leeching guest, god keep my house;" but suggest that "hirudo" should be "hiru_n_do," and produce some apt classical quotations supposing it may be so, requesting mr. woodward to look again at the original inscription. in a recent number (vol. vii., p. .) mr. woodward appears to have done this, and sends you the inscriptions correctly (as i beg to vouch, having often read and copied it, and living within four miles of the spot), thus: "nec mihi glis servus, nec hospes hirudo." permit me to add to this corroboration, that i should venture a different translation of the word "hospes" from your correspondent's, and render the notice thus: "good attendance and cheap charges:" taking "hospes" not as guest but host, and the literal words, "my servant is not a dormouse, nor (i) the host a leech." ainsworth gives authority for "hospes" meaning host as well as guest, and quotes ovid's _metamorphoses_ in support of it. john p. boileau. ketteringham park, wymondham, norfolk. with due respect to your correspondent a. b. r., the word "hospes" most probably means host, not guest. "sit mihi nec servus glis, nec hospes hirudo." in blomfield's _norfolk_ (but i cannot now lay my finger on the passage) the line is given as an inscription on the lintel of a door of an ancient hostelry, carved in oak. if so, the line may be rendered-- "no maid like dormouse on me wait, nor leech-like host be here my fate." but, on the supposition that _guest_ is the proper meaning, "hirudo" might be taken in the sense of a greedy guest, although this would not be complimentary to the older hospitality. and even in the sense of gossiping, "hirudo" would not be so inappropriate an imitation of the "recitator acerbus" at the conclusion of the _ars poetica_: "nec missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo." e. l. b. ruthin. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _photographic gun-cotton._--the "doctors differ" not a little in their prescriptions for preparing the best gun-cotton for photographic use. how shall the photographer decide between them? dr. diamond ("n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .) says (i quote briefly), "_pour upon_ grains of cotton an ounce and a half of nitric acid, previously mixed with one ounce of strong sulphuric acid. knead it with glass rods _during five minutes_," &c. mr. hunt, quoting, (apparently with approbation) from mr. archer, says (p. ., rd edit.), "take one ounce by measure of nitric acid, mixed with one ounce by measure of ordinary sulphuric acid, and _add to them_ eighty grains of cotton; well stir," &c., "_for not more than_ fifteen seconds," &c. "it will be seen that the cotton is not exposed to the action of the mixed acids in this last mode longer than is necessary to saturate the cotton; should the action be continued further, the solubility of the cotton is entirely lost." not only is the order of manipulation different (a point probably not material), but the time between "five minutes" and "fifteen seconds" must exercise a most important influence on the result. who is right? cokely. _sealing-wax for baths._--i notice in your answers to correspondents (no. ., p. .), that you inform h. henderson that glass may be cemented for baths with sealing-wax. may i recommend to h. henderson the use of gutta percha, instead of glass, for that purpose? sheet gutta percha is now very cheap, and the baths are most easily made. i have had one of my own making in constant use since last july, having never emptied it but twice, to filter the nitrate of silver solution. it is not liable to breakage. the joinings are much less liable to leakage. and when it is necessary to heat slightly the silver solution (as it has been during the late cold weather), i have adopted the following simple plan: heat moderately a stout piece of plate glass; plunge it into the bath; repeat the operation according to the size of bath. it is very useful to make a gutta percha cap to cover over the bath when not in use; it protects it from dust and evaporation, and saves the continual loss of materials arising from pouring the solution backwards and forwards. for home-work i have reduced { } the whole operation to a very simple system. my bath, hypo-soda, developing fluid (of which, as it keeps so long, i make ten ounces at a time), are always ready in a small closet in my study. these i arrange on my study-table: a gutta percha tray, a brass levelling-stand upon it, a jug of soft water, and half-a-dozen small plates to place my pictures on, after treating them with the hypo-solution (for, to save time, i do not finish washing them until i have done all the pictures i require). all these things i can prepare and arrange in less than ten minutes, and can as easily return them to their places afterwards. with regard to mr. mabley's process, described in "n. & q.," no. ., p. ., as i am but a beginner myself, and have much to learn, i should be sorry to condemn it; but i should fear that his pictures would not exhibit sufficient contrast in the tints. nor do i see the advantage the pictures would possess, if they did, over positives taken by our process. we amateurs in the country labour at present under great disadvantages, some of which i think the photographic society will remove. i am myself quite unable to form an idea what the collodion pictures done by first-rate photographers are like. all the positives done by amateurs in this part of the world, and developed by pyrogallic acid, which i have seen, present a dirty brown hue, by no means pleasing or artistic; and i have seen but very few, either developed by pyrogallic acid or protosulphate of iron, free from blemishes. i think if we were to act upon the suggestion made in "n. & q." some time back, and send the editor a specimen of our performances, it would be a slight return for his endeavours in our behalf; and he would, i doubt not, honestly tell us whether our pictures were tolerable or not. i, for one, shall be very happy to do so. j. l. sisson. edingthorpe rectory. _developing chamber._--i think mr. sisson will find some difficulty in applying his very excellent idea of a sheet india rubber lighting medium to his portable laboratory, as the vapour of the ether will act upon it and render it sticky and useless after one or two usings. allow me to suggest what i am in the habit of using, viz. a double layer of yellow glazed calico, stuck together with a little common drying oil, and allowed to dry for a few days: this causes a perfect exclusion of the actinic rays, and is very durable. f. maxwell lyte. falkland, torquay. _the black tints on photographic positives._--a correspondent having inquired how these were obtained, and another replying that it was caused by starch, i beg to offer a process to your readers as to how they may obtain those carbonic tints; though i must premise that the process requires some skill, and is not always successful, though always sure to make them black: but on occasions of failure the lights sink, and the brilliancy of the picture is lost. that it is not starch in the french process, unless that vehicle contains some preparation, i am tolerably certain; the chloride of barium will often produce black images, though very uncertain; and the black process as given by le gray is uncertain also. for myself, i generally prefer the colour given by ammoniac salt; it is artistical and sufficient for any purpose. the present process, which i use myself when i require a black colour, with its imperfections, i offer to the photographic readers of "n. & q.," and here it is. take a two-ounce vial, and have some powdered litharge of lead, by some called gold or scale litharge; pound it fine in a wedgewood mortar, and put in the vial about one scruple; pour on it about half an ounce of beaufoy's acetic acid, but do not replace the cork or stopper, as the gas evolved is very active, and will burst the vial, placing the operator's eyes in jeopardy; agitate and allow it to stand some hours to settle, or leave it till next day, when it will be better for the purpose: then decant the clear part and throw the fæces away, return the solution into the bottle, and fill up with distilled water. the positive paper being now prepared with the ammonio-nitrate of silver, and placed as usual in the sun, the artist must remove it when a tolerably distinct image is visible, but not altogether up: this is _one_ of the niceties of the process; if it is too much done the blacks will be too black, and if not enough they will be feeble and want richness; it is when a visible image of the whole is developed: at this point put the positive into cold water; this will remove a great deal of the silver that has not been acted upon by the light: let it soak three or four minutes; take it out and blot off the water, laying a clean piece of paper below. now pour a small quantity of the solution of lead on one end, and with a glass rod pass it carefully over every part; blot it off, and giving the paper a little time to dry partially, pass over a solution of newly made gallic acid; the shadows will rapidly become perfectly blank, and the picture will come up. but _another_ nicety in the process is the point at which it must be plunged into hyposulphite of soda solution; if plunged in too soon the black will be mingled with the sepia tints, and if too late the whole tint will be too black. i offer it, however, because i know its capabilities of improvement, and the intensity of the black is sometimes beautiful: it is better suited for architectural subjects, where there is but little sky, as it will lay a faint tint over it; but if a sky is attempted, it must be kept under by a brush with a little hyposulphite of soda solution, touching it { } carefully. the time it will take in becoming black will not exceed one minute; but as the eyesight is the guide, the moment the tints have changed from red to black is the proper time to arrest its further progress: the combination thus obtained will not change, nor, i believe, become faint by time; but i repeat it may be much improved, and if any abler hand, or one with better means at his disposal, will take the trouble to examine its capabilities, i shall be very thankful for his notes on the subject. n.b. the solution of lead must contain acid; and if by keeping it does not change litmus-paper, acid must be added till it does. weld taylor. . conduit street west. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _contested elections_ (vol. vii., p. .).--there is a very fair history of the boroughs of great britain, by edwards, in vols. vo., printed by debrett in . j. b. x. y. z. is informed that a compilation on the subject to which his query relates was published a few years since in leeds by henry stooks smith. speaking from recollection, it appears to be a work of some research; but i cannot say how far it is to be relied on. it may, perhaps, be one of the unfortunate works which have already fallen under his censure. j. b. prestwich. _suicide at marseilles_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in montaigne's _essays_ i find,-- "in former times there was kept, in our city of marseilles, a poison prepared out of hemlock, at the public charge, for those who had a mind to hasten their end, having first, before the six hundred, which were their senate, given an account of the reasons and motives of their design; and it was not otherwise lawful than by leave from the magistrate, and upon just occasion, to do violence to themselves. the same law was also in use in other places."--book ii. chap. iii., at end. this, however, is not the original authority required by your correspondent. in the earlier part of the same chapter, "plutarch, _on the virtuous deeds of women_," is referred to as the authority for the statement which montaigne makes of "the milesian virgins, that by an insane compact hanged themselves, one after another, until the magistrate took order in it, enacting, that the bodies of such as should be found so hanged should be drawn by the same halter, stark naked, through the city." j. p. birmingham. _acts_, xv. . (vol. vii., p. .).--from the notes to tischendorf's _greek testament_, it appears that [greek: kai hoi] is omitted by griesbach ed. ii. anno , as well as by lachman, on the authority of the four most ancient greek mss. distinguished as a, b, c, and d, confirmed by the versio armenica, and so quoted by athanasius, irenæus, pacian, and vigilius. the ms. a is referred by tischendorf to the latter half of the fifth century, and is the alexandrian ms. in the british museum. b is the vatican codex of about the middle of the fourth century. c the codex ephraemi syri rescriptus at paris, and is of the first half of the fifth century; and d is beza's ms. at cambridge, of about the middle of the sixth century. mr. sansom may find a very interesting letter upon this subject from dr. tregelles to dr. charles wordsworth, the present bishop of st. andrew's, which was published _very recently_ in the _scottish ecclesiastical journal_, and in which that learned critic defends the omission of the [greek: kai hoi]. i regret that i cannot furnish him with the number of that journal, but it was not more than three or four back. i hope that mr. sansom will inform your readers of the ultimate result of his inquiries on this interesting subject. p. h. _serpent's tongue_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the _lingua serpentina_ of old mss., and the fossil now commonly termed a shark's-tooth. in former days, few pilgrims returned from the east without bringing at least one of those curious stones. being principally found in malta, it was said they were the tongues of the vipers, which once infested that island, and which st. paul had turned into stone. considered to be antidotes, and possessed of talismanic qualities, they were set in cups, dishes, knife-handles, and other requisites for the table. w. pinkerton. ham. _croxton or crostin of lancashire_ (vol. vii., p. .).--a full account of the parish of croston (not crostin), which was formerly very extensive, but is now divided into the six parishes of croston, chorley, hesketh, hoole, rumford, and tarleton, may be found in baines's _lancashire_, vol. iii. pp. . to . there does not appear to have been a family of croston of any note, though the name is common in the county. in burke's _heraldic dictionary_, i find three families named croxton; the principal one being of croxton in cheshire, since temp. hen. iii. their arms are--sable, a lion rampant arg. debruised by a bend componée or and gu. broctuna. bury, lancashire. _robert dodsley_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in the _biographia dramatica_ it is stated that "this author was born _near_ mansfield, in nottinghamshire, _as it is supposed_;" and this supposition was, { } not improbably, founded on the following lines, which occur in one of his poems, as mansfield is situated in the forest of sherwood: "o native sherwood! happy were thy bard, might these, his rural notes, to future time, boast of tall groves, that nodding o'er thy plain, rose to their tuneful melody." tyro. dublin. _lord goring_ (vol. ii., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .).--in the order-books of the council of state, i find that william killegrew was, on the st oct., , appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of colonel goringh, _vice_ thomas hollis, deceased; and that, on the th march, , he was named colonel of the same regiment, vice colonel goringh, resigned. that the last-mentioned colonel is _george_ goringh we learn from the war-budget (staat van oorlog) of , where the salaries of colonel george goringh iij^c£ william killegre, lieutenant-colonel lxxx£ are charged on the province of holland. it nowhere appears from official reports that lord goring held a higher military rank than that of colonel in the netherlands army. that he left england previous to is proved not only by the above, but also by his presence, as colonel in the service of spain, at the siege of breda in . if he afterwards served in the spanish army as lieutenant-general, what could have induced him at a later period to accept the rank of colonel in the army of the states? --t. in the _irish compendium, or rudiments of honour_, vol. iii. pp. , ., nd ed.: london, , we read that lord richard boyle, born in , married as second wife "catharine, only daughter to sir jeffry fenton; by her had five sons and seven daughters, of which the lady lettice was married to _george lord goring_."--v. d. n. _from the navorscher._ _chaplains to noblemen_ (vol. vii., p. .).--there is, in the faculty office in doctors' commons, an entry kept of the appointments of chaplains when brought to be registered. under what authority the entry is made does not seem very clear. the register does not extend beyond the year , though there may be amongst the records of the office in st. paul's some earlier notices of similar appointments. g. _the duke of wellington maréchal de france_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the duke of wellington is indebted to the writer in the _revue britannique_ for his dukedom and bâton of france, and not to garter king-at-arms. no such titles were attributed to his grace or proclaimed by garter, as a reference to the official accounts in the _london gazette_ will show. the order of st. esprit was the only french honour ascribed to him; that order he received and frequently wore, the insignia of which were displayed, with his numerous other foreign honours, at the lying-in-state. such being the case, garter will not perhaps be expected to produce the diploma for either the title of _duc de brunoy_ or the rank of _maréchal de france_. c. g. y. _lord north_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. forster has, it seems, blundered a piece of old scandal into an insinuation at once absurd and treasonable. the scandal was _not_ of lord guilford and the princess dowager, but of frederick prince of wales and lady guilford. on this i will say no more than that the supposed resemblance between king george iii. and lord north is very inaccurately described by mr. forster in almost every point except the _fair complexion_. the king's figure was not clumsy--quite the reverse, nor his face homely, nor his lips thick, nor his eyebrows bushy, nor his eyes protruding like lord north's; but there was certainly something of a general look which might be called resemblance, and there was above all (which is not alluded to) the curious coincidence of the _failure of sight_ in the latter years of both. lord north was the only son of lord guilford's _first_ marriage: i know not whether the children of the _second_ bed inherited defective sight; if they did, it would remove one of the strongest grounds of the old suspicion. c. _mediæval parchment_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the method of preparing parchment for illumination will be found in the _birch and sloane mss._, under "painting and drawing," &c., where are a number of curious ms. instructions on the subject, written chiefly in the sixteenth century, in english, french, and italian. sir frederic madden, in the introduction to _illuminated ornaments_, fol. , and mr. ottley, in _archæologia_, vol. xxiv. art. ., have both written very minutely on the subject of illuminating, but their observations are too long for quotation. e. g. b. i remember reading in an old french work the process used in illuminating parchments, and remember that the gilding was laid upon garlic juice; it might very possibly be diluted with proof spirits of wine; at all events, no parchments can bear water at whatever time they may have been prepared: the process of making them wear out with water would turn them into leather. the work i allude to was brought out, i recollect, under the auspices of the french academy. w. t. { } _"i hear a lion," &c._ (vol. vii., p. .).--these lines (corrupted by your correspondent sagitta into _five_) are two couplets in bramstone's lively poem of the _art of politics_. they are a versification of a shrewd question put by colonel titus in the debate on the celebrated bill for _excluding_ james duke of york. c. the _art of politics_, by the rev. mr. bramston, contains the following lines, which will, i apprehend, give your correspondent the required information: "with art and modesty your part maintain; and talk like col'nel titus, not like lane. the trading knight with rants his speech begins, sun, moon, and stars, and dragons, saints, and kings: but titus said, with his uncommon sense, when the exclusion-bill was in suspense, i hear a lion in the lobby roar; say, mr. speaker, shall we shut the door and keep him there, or shall we let him in to try if we can turn him out again?" mr. bramston's poem is in the first volume of dodsley's _collection_. perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to refer to a cotemporary account of colonel titus's speech on the exclusion bill. c. h. cooper. cambridge. _fercett_ (vol. vi., p. .).--the term _fercett_ is probably intended as the _designation_ of some collection in ms. of family evidences and pedigrees. it was usual among our ancestors thus to inscribe such collections either with the name of the collector, or that of the particular family to whom the book related. thus the curious ms. in the library of the city of london, called _dunthorne_, and containing ancient municipal records, is so called from its collector, whose name was dunthorne. instances of such titles are to be found in the collections of gervase holles in the _lansdowne mss._, where one of such books is referred to as _trusbutt_. e. g. b. _old satchells_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent j. o. seems not to be aware that another and a fourth edition of _old satchells' true history_ ("with copious additions, notes, and emendations," under the editorial superintendence of william turnbull, esq., f.s.a.) is in course of preparation 'neath the fostering care of mr. john gray bell, the _pro amore_ publisher of so many historical and antiquarian tracts of interest. mr. bell has already given to the world a _pedigree of the ancient family of scott of stokoe_, edited, with notes, by william robson scott, ph. d., of st. leonard's, exeter, from the original work compiled by his grandfather, dr. william scott, of stamfordham, northumberland, then ( ) representative of the family. the latter gentleman left behind him a large and valuable collection of mss. relative to the family, which, as i learn from the prospectus, will be called into requisition in the forthcoming reprint of the _old souldier of satchell_. possibly the publishers of the second and third editions may have been assisted in their labours by the learned doctor in question, whose already quoted _pedigree of the scotts of stokoe_ was issued only a few years prior to the appearance of the hawick edition of , not , as accidentally misprinted in j. o.'s interesting communication. t. hughes. chester. _curtseys and bows_ (vol. vii., p. ).--in the interlude of _the trial of treasure_, by purfoote, (page . of reprint), inclination says to gredy-gutte: "ise teach you to speake, i hold you a pounde! curchy, lob, curchy downe to the grounde. _gre._ che can make curchy well enowe. _inc._ lower, old knave, or yle make ye to bowe!" for _rationale_ of bows and curtseys, see "n. & q.," vol. v., p. ., though i fancy the _bob_ curtseys are the ones referred to. thos. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. _the rev. joshua marsden_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this gentleman was born at warrington in the year . in the year he offered himself, and was accepted by the wesleyan methodist conference, as a missionary to british north america, where he laboured for several years. he removed thence to bermuda. in he returned to england with a constitution greatly impaired, but continued to occupy regular stations under the direction of the conference until , when, worn out by affliction, he became a supernumerary, and resided in london, where he occasionally preached as his health permitted. he died august , , aged sixty. john i. dredge. a memoir and portrait of the rev. joshua marsden will be found in the _imperial magazine_, july, . he was at that period a preacher among the wesleyan methodists, having been for many years previously a missionary in connexion with that people. he was an amiable, ingenious, and worthy man, and although not a powerful, a pleasing poet. among other things, he published _amusements of a mission_, _forest musings_, and _the evangelical minstrel_. j. h. _sidney as a christian name_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent r. d. b., of baltimore, is informed that the name of sidney is extremely common in north wales as a christian name of either sex, but more particularly of the female. there seems to be no tradition connected with its use. in this part of the principality, the name { } has generally been assumed more from its euphonistic character than from any family connexion. e. l. b. ruthin. _the whetstone_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in your no. . of "n. & q.," e. g. r. alludes to the _game of the whetstone_. the following quotation, as bearing on that subject, may not be uninteresting to your readers: "in the fourth year of this king's (edward vi.) reign, in the month of september, one grig, a poulterer of surrey (taken among the people for a prophet, in curing of divers diseases by words and prayers, and saying he would take no money), was, by command of the earl of warwick, and others of the council, set on a scaffold in the town of croidon, in surrey, with a paper on his breast, wherein was written his deceitful and hypocritical dealings: and after that, on the eighth of september, set on a pillory in southwark, being then our lady fair there kept; and the mayor of london, with his brethren the aldermen, riding through the fair, the said grig asked them and all the citizens forgiveness. "'of the like counterfeit physicians,' saith stow, 'i have noted, in the summary of my _chronicles_ (anno ), to be set on horseback, his face to the horse-tail, the same tail in his hand as a bridle, a collar of jordans about his neck, a _whetstone_ on his breast; and so led through the city of london, with ringing of basons, and banished.' "whereunto i had added (with the forementioned author) as followeth:--such deceivers, no doubt, are many who, being never trained up in reading or practice of physicke and chirurgery, do boast to doe great cures, especially upon women; as to make them straight that before were crooked, corbed, or cramped in any part of their bodies, &c. but the contrary is true; for some have received gold, when they have better deserved the whetstone."--goodall's _royal college of physicians_: london, , p. . j. s. s. bath. _surname of allen_ (vol. vii., p. .).--perhaps a. s. a. may find the following words in celtic of use to him in his researches as to the origin of the name of allan:--_adlann_, pronounced _all[=a]nn_, means a spearman or lancer; _aluin_, a white hind or fawn (query, do any of the name bear a hind as a crest?); _allin_, a rocky islet; _alain_, fair, bright, fair-haired, &c. fras. crossley. _belatucadrus_ (vol. vii., p. .).--papers concerning the god belatucadrus are to be found in the _archæologia_, vol. i. p. ., vol. iii. p. ., vol. x. p. . i take these references from mr. akerman's useful archæological index. c. w. g. _pot-guns_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--in the parish of halvergate, a train of seventeen pot-guns is kept at the blacksmith's shop. mr. woodward is correct in stating that they are "short cylinders set perpendicularly in a frame, flat-candlestickwise;" but each pot-gun at halvergate is set in a separate block of wood, and not several in a frame together. by touching the touchholes of each pot-gun successively with a bar of red-hot iron, and with the aid of two double-barrel guns, a royal salute is fired at every wedding or festive occasion in halvergate. e. g. r. _graves family_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent james graves will find a tolerable pedigree of the graves family, commencing in the time of edward iv., in the first volume of dr. nash's _worcestershire_; and, in the notes thereto, many interesting particulars of various learned members of the family. independent of the three portraits mentioned by your correspondent, of which i possess fine proof impressions, i have also one in mezzotinto of morgan graves, esq., of mickleton, county of gloucester, and lord of the manor of poden, in the co. of worcester. j. b. whitborne. _portrait painters_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the name of the derby artist was _wright_, not _white_. i have seen several portraits by him of great excellence. the time of his death i do not recollect, but i think the greater part of his works were executed in the latter part of the last century. have not some of them been exhibited in pall mall? i have not the means at hand of ascertaining the fact, but i think he painted the "blacksmith's forge," which was so admirably mezzotinted by earlom. e. h. _plum pudding_ (vol. vi., p. .).--southey, in his _omniana_, vol. i. p. ., quotes the following receipt for english plum puddling, as given by the chevalier d'arvieux, who in made a voyage in an english forty-gun ship: "leur pudding était détestable. c'est un composé de biscuit pilé, ou de farine, de lard, de raisins de corinthe, de sel, et de poivre, dont on fait une pâte, qu'on enveloppe dans une serviette, et que l'on fait cuire dans le pot avec du bouillon de la viande; on la tire de la serviette, et on la met dans un plat, et on rappe dessus du vieux fromage, qui lui donne une odeur insupportable. sans ce fromage la chose en elle-même n'est pas absolument mauvaise." cheese is now eaten with apple puddings and pies; but is there any nook in england where they still grate it over plum pudding? i have heard the joke of forgetting the pudding-cloth, told against lord macartney during his embassy in china. your correspondent will find plum porridge and plum puddings mentioned together at page . vol. ii. of knight's _old england_. thos. lawrence. ashby-de-la-zouch. { } _muffs worn by gentlemen_ (vol. vi., _passim_.).--the _tatler_, no. ., describing a meeting with his neighbour the upholsterer, says: "i saw he was reduced to extreme poverty by certain shabby superfluities in his dress; for notwithstanding that it was a very sultry day for the time of year, he wore a loose great coat and a _muff_, with a long campaign wig out of curl," &c. erica. _the burial service by heart_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in the life of the rev. griffith jones, the celebrated founder of the welsh circulating charity schools, is this note: "living amongst dissenters who disliked forms of prayer, he committed to memory the whole of the baptismal and burial services; and, as his delivery was very energetic, his friends frequently heard dissenters admire his addresses, which they praised as being extempore effusions unshackled by the prayer book!" e. d. _burrow_ (vol. vii., p. .).--balliolensis says that in north gloucestershire "the side of a thick coppice is spoken of as a very _burrow_ place for cattle." he understands this to mean "sheltered, secure from wind;" and he asks to what etymology this sense can be attributed. i suspect the anglo-saxon _bearo_, a grove or copse, is the word here preserved. as a wood forms a fence against the wind, and is habitually so used and regarded by the agricultural population, the association of ideas is suitable enough in this interpretation. _bearo_, first signifying the grove itself, might easily come to mark the shelter which the grove afforded. but there is also a compound of this word preserved in the ancient charters, in which the fitness of a place as a pasture for swine is the prominent notion. kemble, _cod. dipl._, no. .: "hæc sunt pascua porcorum, quæ nostrâ linguâ saxonicâ _denbera_ nominamus." in the same sense the compound with the word _weald_ (= a great forest) is found: weald-_bero_. the wood was considered by our forefathers as propitious to their swine, not only for its shelter, but also for the masts it supplied; and this may have further helped to associate _bearo_ with the comforts of cattle. orielensis. "_coming home to men's business_" (vol. vii., p. .).--it is hardly requisite to state to the readers of "n. & q.," that many editions of bacon's memorable, beautiful, and didactic _essays_ appeared in the distinguished author's lifetime, obviously having experienced (proved by prefatory epistles of different dates) the repeated revision and emendations of the writer. the _essays_ were clearly favourites with him, as well as with the then reading public. they were first published in , preceded by a letter addressed "to m. anthony bacon, his deare brother." the _ninth_ edition was issued the year before his death, which took place april , . in that edition is added a dedication "to the right honorable my very good lo. the duke of buckingham, his grace lo. high admirall of england;" signed, "fr. st. alban:" previous signatures being "fran. bacon" ( ); "fr. bacon" ( ); "fra. bacon" (no date). in this dedication to the duke of buckingham first appeared the passage inquired about: "i doe now (he tells the duke) publish my _essayes_; which, of all my other workes, haue beene most current: for that, as it seems, they _come home to men's businesse and bosomes_."--how accurate, yet modest, an appreciation of his labours! a hermit at hampstead. my copy of lord bacon's _essays_ is a mo.: london, . and in the epistle dedicatory, the author himself tells the duke of buckingham as follows: "i do now publish my _essays_; which, of all my other works, have been most current: for that, as it seems, they _come home to men's business and bosomes_." this will carry j. p. eleven years further back, at all events. rt. _heuristic_ (vol. vii., p. .), as an english scholar would write it, or _hevristisch_, as it would be written by a german, is a word not to be found in the sixth edition of kant's _critik_ (leipzig, ), nor in his _prolegomena_ (riga, ).[ ] your correspondent's copy appears to have been tampered with. the title _kritik_ should be spelt with the initial _c_, and _reinen_ should not have a capital letter: the germans being very careful to prefix capitals to all substantives, but never to adjectives. the above-mentioned edition of the _critik_ was sent to me from hamburg soon after its publication. it was printed by fröbels at rudolstadt in ; and is unblemished by a single _erratum_, so far as i have been able to detect one. allow me to suggest to h. b. c. to collate the pages in his edition with the sixth of ; the seventh of ; and, if possible, with one published in kant's lifetime prior to ; and he will probably find, that the very favourite word of kant, _empirisch_, has been altered in a few instances to _hevristich_. mr. haywood is evidently inaccurate in writing _evristic_, which is wrong in greek as well as in german and english. instead of giving the pages of his copy, your correspondent will more oblige by stating the divisions under which this exceptional word occurs, in the running title at the top of each page of his copy; together with two or three lines of the context, which i can compare with my own copy. i { } have not here the facility of resort to a british museum, or to german booksellers. should your correspondent find any difficulty in effecting collation of his edition with others, i shall be willing to part with my copy _for a short time_ for his use; or, if he will oblige me with his copy, i will collate it with mine, and return it within the week with the various readings of the cited passages. t. j. buckton. lichfield. [footnote : the former is the _synthetic_, the latter the _analytic_ exposition of his system of mental philosophy.] _"cob" and "conners"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--these words are celtic. _cob_ means a mouth, a harbour, an entrance. _conners_ appears to be a compound word, from _cuan_, a bay or harbour, and _mar_ or _mara_, the sea; pronounced "cuan wara," then shortened into _conner_. conna-mara, in the west of ireland, properly spelled _cuan na mara_, means "bays of the sea." fras. crossley. _lady high sheriff_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent w. m. is informed that in duncumb's _herefordshire_ there is no mention made of the fact, that a lady executed the office of high sheriff of the county. the high sheriffs for the years -- inclusive were richard gorges, william nourse, price clutton, and charles hoskyns, bart. the lady alluded to would be the widow of one of these. h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. anne clifford, countess of dorset, pembroke, and montgomery, exercised the office of hereditary sheriff of westmoreland, and, at the assizes at appleby, sat with the judges on the bench (temp. car. i.) vide blackstone's _comment_., and pocock's _memorials of the tufton family_, p. . ( .) i may add that ladies have also been included in the commission of the peace. the lady bartlet was made a justice of the peace by queen mary in gloucestershire (harl. mss); margaret, countess of richmond, mother of henry vii., was made a justice of peace; and a lady in sussex, of the name of rowse, did usually sit on the bench at the assizes and sessions amongst other justices _cincta gladio_ (_op. cit._). w. s. northiam. _death of nelson_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the "beautiful picture which hangs in a bad light in the hall of greenwich hospital" was not painted by west, but by arthur william devis, a very talented artist, but somewhat careless in financial matters. he was a pupil of zoffeny, was in india for some years, where he practised portrait-painting with considerable success. the well-known print of the "marquis cornwallis receiving the sons of tippoo saib as hostages," was from a picture painted by him. the "death of nelson" at greenwich was a commission from the house of boydell, cheapside; and a large print was afterwards published by them from it. devis met the vessel on its return to england, and on its way homeward painted, very carefully, the portraits of the persons represented in his picture, and also a very exact view of the cockpit in which the hero died. the picture has great merit, and deserves to be better placed. t. w. t. _editions of the prayer-book prior to _ (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .).--as a small instalment towards completing this desirable object, i send you the following: . humphrey powell. folio. (emmanuel coll.) . jugge and cawood. to. . grafton. vo. (white knight's, .) . jugge and cawood. to. . w. seres. vo. (christ church, oxford.) . cawood. to. (white knight's, .) . widow of r. jugge. folio. . barker. folio. (sir m. sykes, part iii., .) . barker. folio. (st. john's coll., oxford.) . barker. to. (in my possession.) . edinburgh. mo. . bill. folio. (bindley, part i., .) edward f. rimbault. _passage in juvenal_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the delphin edition of juvenal, in a note on sat. x. v. ., says: "sunt qui legunt, nullum numen _abest_." it would be very easy, in carelessly copying a ms., to substitute either word for the other. when mr. j. s. warden has ascertained which is the true reading, he may fairly call the other an "alteration." r. y. th--b. _tennyson_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the first query of h. j. j. having been already answered (p. .), in reply to his _second_ inquiry, i beg to inform him that he will find the custom referred to in the passage of the "princess," of which he desires to know the meaning, fully explained in the _gentleman's magazine_ for october , p. . w. l. n. _capital punishment_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent s. y. may find the date of the last instance of capital punishment for exercising the roman catholic religion in bishop challoner's very interesting _memoirs of missionary priests_: keating, . every reader of fox's _book of martyrs_ should, in fairness, consult the above work. there is another earlier work, _théâtre des cruautés des hérectiques de nostre temps_, anvers, ; but it is unfortunately very scarce. w. l. n. * * * * * { } miscellaneous. books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. a description of the royal gardens at richmond in surry. in a letter to a society of gentlemen. pp. . vo. with a plan and eight plates. no date, circa annum ? memoirs of the rose, by mr. john holland. vol. mo. london, . psyche and other poems, by mrs. mary tighe. portrait. vo. . gmelin's handbook of chemistry. inorganic part. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., x., xxvii., xxviii., unbound. the history of shenstone, by the rev. h. saunders. to. london, . lubbock's elementary treatise on the tides. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vol. i., and parts i. and ii. of vol. ii. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries," . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. _in consequence of our having to publish the present number on thursday instead of friday, we have been compelled to omit several highly interesting articles, our_ notes on books, _&c._ a. x. _nineveh is said to have been destroyed by fire, when taken by the medes and babylonians. the date of this is fixed by clinton, in his_ fasti hell., vol. i. p. ., _at_ b.c. _layard_ (nineveh, vol. ii. p. .) _also adopts this date_. b. n. c. _the words "à secretis," in the passage quoted, signify that the party alluded to was a member of the privy council._ j. g. b., _who asks if_ monkey _is not derived from_ homunculus, _is referred to skinner, who derives it from_ monikin, _or_ manikin, _i. e._ homunculus. h. h. b. (st. lucia). _the wishes of our correspondent shall be attended to._ t. massey (manchester) _is referred to richardson's_ dictionary, _s. v._ with, within, without, _for a solution of his query_. nisi prius _are the first words on certain legal records, where an issue is appointed to be tried by a jury from the county,_ unless before _the day appointed (nisi prius) the judges shall have come to the county in question. the judges of assize, by virtue of their commission of_ nisi prius, _try the causes thus appointed_. e., _who asks the origin of "mind your p's and q's," is referred to our_ rd vol., pp. . . . . balliolensis. _we are flattered by the suggestion of our correspondent, but we must leave the agitation which he suggests to abler hands._ photographic notes. _in consequence of the number of_ replies to minor queries _waiting for insertion, we have been compelled to postpone the_ rev. mr. sisson_'s description of a new_ head-rest, _and_ sir w. newton_'s explanation of his_ process. a. s. k. (worthing) _is informed that it is quite useless to extract the size from the paper of positive pictures, to ensure their permanence. if the hyposulphite of soda is entirely freed from them, they will bear any exposure to atmospheric influence without change. although in all works on photography it is recommended that the size should be extracted from negatives before waxing them, it is a process we have entirely dispensed with: if the iron is used sufficiently hot, the wax will perfectly permeate the entire texture of the paper. our correspondent is referred to our back numbers for an account of the mode of taking a positive picture on glass from a glass negative._ r. s. c. (solihull) _shall receive a private communication on the subject of the construction of his glass house for photographic purposes. there are points in it which are not generally attended to, and upon which the want of success of many operators has no doubt depended._ tyro (march th). _the second sample of collodion which you have used is_ over-_iodized. it is quite requisite that it should be known that the sensitive properties of collodion are not increased by adding too much of the iodizing solution. if the collodion is good, the film is semi-transparent, of a bluish opal-like appearance. if the iodine is in excess, it becomes more opaque and creamy after immersion in the bath, and of a deep orange when looked through; whereas it should appear of a pale amber colour._ tyro (march th). _the reticulated appearance you complain of is from using your collodion too thick, and not giving the glass the rotatory rocking motion which you should do when you drain off the excess into the bottle. prepare two pieces of glass with collodion: in one simply drain off the excess of collodion, and in the other use the motion which has been before described, and you will perceive the difference in the evenness of the two films._ h. henderson (glasgow). _we consider glass baths are much superior to gutta percha in every respect. many of the unpleasant markings in collodion pictures may have their origin in the gutta percha. this is frequently adulterated, and the nitrate acts upon the extraneous substances which are added to the gutta percha, either for adulteration, to give it firmness, or an agreeable colour. a glass bath is readily made, but the minute details of the mode we cannot enter into. our correspondent is referred to our numerous advertising friends, as the readiest way to supply his present want in this respect. "jefferies' marine glue" can be procured at all times, the cost being about sixpence per pound. one part of marine glue, and two of best red sealing-wax, form a beautiful cement for glass baths. the marine glue, when used alone, becomes detached from the glass by the nitrate solution; and, without a substance to temper it, the sealing-wax is too brittle._ x. (manchester). _when the blue spots occur of which our correspondent complains, it is because there is at the time of operating very feeble actinic action in the light. if he were to rub one of these pictures when dry, he would find it almost entirely removable from the glass. the occasional want of brilliancy in all probability depends on the same cause. proto-nitrate of iron, when prepared with the nitrate of baryta of commerce, instead of pure nitrate of baryta, will often have the same effect._ * * * * * now ready, in one volume, price s., some account of domestic architecture in england during the fourteenth century, with notices of foreign examples, and numerous illustrations of existing remains from original drawings, by the editor of the "glossary of architecture." also, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by the late mr. hudson turner. uniform, price s. oxford & london: john henry parker. * * * * * books from dawson turner's library. catalogues gratis and post free (ready on monday).--w. s. lincoln's ninety-first catalogue (for april) will entirely consist of books purchased at the sale of the valuable and important library of dawson turner, esq., f.r.s., of yarmouth. a copy will be sent gratis and post free, town or country, to any gentleman who forwards his address to cheltenham house, westminster road, london. * * * * * vols. vo. price l. s. a glossary of terms used in grecian, roman, italian, and gothic architecture. the fifth edition enlarged, exemplified by woodcuts. "in the preparation of this the fifth edition of the glossary of architecture, no pains have been spared to render it worthy of the continued patronage which the work has received from its first publication. "the text has been considerably augmented, as well by the additions of many new articles, as by the enlargement of the old ones, and the number of illustrations has been increased from eleven hundred to seventeen hundred. "several additional foreign examples are given, for the purpose of comparison with english work, of the same periods. "in the present edition, considerably more attention has been given to the subject of mediæval carpentry, the number of illustrations of 'open timber roofs' has been much increased, and most of the carpenter's terms in use at the period have been introduced with authorities."--_preface to the fifth edition._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * foolscap vo., s. d. the calendar of the anglican church; illustrated with brief accounts of the saints who have churches dedicated in their names, or whose images are most frequently met with in england; also the early christian and mediæval symbols, and an index of emblems. "it is perhaps hardly necessary to observe, that this work is of an archæological, and not a theological character. the editor has not considered it his business to examine into the truth or falsehood of the legends of which he narrates the substance; he gives them merely as legends, and, in general, so much of them only as is necessary to explain why particular emblems were used with a particular saint, or why churches in a given locality are named after this or that saint."--_preface._ "the latter part of the book, on the early christian and mediæval symbols, and on ecclesiastical emblems, is of great historical and architectural value. a copious index of emblems is added, as well as a general index to the volume with its numerous illustrations. the work is an important contribution to english archæology, especially in the department of ecclesiastical iconography."--_literary gazette._ john henry parker, oxford; and . strand, london. * * * * * { } photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * to members of learned societies, authors, &c. ashbee & dangerfield, lithographers, draughtsmen, and printers, . broad court, long acre. a. & d. respectfully beg to announce that they devote particular attention to the execution of ancient and modern facsimiles, comprising autograph letters, deeds, charters, title-pages, engravings, woodcuts, &c., which they produce from any description of copies with the utmost accuracy, and without the slightest injury to the originals. among the many purposes to which the art of lithography is most successfully applied, may be specified,--archÆological drawings, architecture, landscapes, marine views, portraits from life or copies, illuminated mss., monumental brasses, decorations, stained glass windows, maps, plans, diagrams, and every variety of illustrations requisite for scientific and artistic publications. photographic drawings lithographed with the greatest care and exactness. lithographic offices, . broad court, long acre, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | j. h. goodhart, esq. w. cabell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * islington, highbury, etc. alfred allchin begs to inform photographers, that he can supply them with pure chemicals for photographic purposes. . coles terrace, richmond road, barnsbury park. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. camera for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. to photographers.--pure chemicals, with every requisite for the practice of photography, according to the instructions of le gray, hunt, brébisson, and other writers, may be obtained wholesale and retail, of william bolton, (formerly dymond & co.), manufacturer of pure chemicals for photographic and other purposes. lists may be had on application. improved apparatus for iodizing paper in vacuo, according to mr. stewart's instructions. . holborn bars. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition. no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- ---------+----------+--------------------+---------- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * { } the camden society, for the publication of early historical and literary remains. the camden society is instituted to perpetuate, and render accessible, whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the civil, ecclesiastical, or literary history of the united kingdom; and it accomplishes that object by the publication of historical documents, letters, ancient poems, and whatever else lies within the compass of its designs, in the most convenient forms, and at the least possible expense consistent with the production of useful volumes. the subscription to the society is l. per annum, which becomes due in advance on the first day of may in every year, and is received by messrs. nichols, . parliament street, or by the several local secretaries. members may compound for their future annual subscriptions, by the payment of l. over and above the subscription for the current year. the compositions received have been funded in the three per cent. consols to an amount exceeding l. no books are delivered to a member until his subscription for the current year has been paid. new members are admitted at the meetings of the council held on the first wednesday in every month. the publications for the past year ( - ) were: . privy purse expenses of charles ii. and james ii. edited by j. y. akerman, esq., sec. s.a. . the chronicle of the grey friars of london. edited from a ms. in the cottonian library by j. gough nichols, esq., f.s.a. . promptorium: an english and latin dictionary of words in use during the fifteenth century, compiled chiefly from the promptorium parvulorum. by albert way, esq., m.a., f.s.a. vol. ii. (m to r.) (in the press.) books for - . . the second volume of the camden miscellany, containing, . expenses of john of brabant, - ; . household accounts of princess elizabeth, - ; . requeste and suite of a true-hearted englishman, by w. cholmeley, ; . discovery of the jesuits' college at clerkenwell, - ; . trelawny papers; . autobiography of dr. william taswell.--now ready for delivery to all members not in arrear of their subscription. . the verney papers. a selection from the correspondence of the verney family during the reign of charles i. to the year . from the originals in the possession of sir harry verney, bart. to be edited by john bruce, esq., trea. s.a. (will be ready immediately.) . the correspondence of lady brilliana harley, during the civil wars. to be edited by the rev. t. t. lewis, m.a. (will be ready immediately.) the following works are at press, and will be issued from time to time, as soon as ready: roll of the household expenses of richard swinfield, bishop of hereford, in the years , , with illustrations from other and coeval documents. to be edited by the rev. john webb, m.a., f.s.a. regulÆ inclusarum: the ancren rewle. a treatise on the rules and duties of monastic life, in the anglo-saxon dialect of the thirteenth century, addressed to a society of anchorites, being a translation from the latin work of simon de ghent, bishop of salisbury. to be edited from mss. in the cottonian library, british museum, with an introduction, glossarial notes, &c., by the rev. james morton, b.d., prebendary of lincoln. the domesday of st. paul's: a description of the manors belonging to the church of st. paul's in london in the year . by the ven. archdeacon hale. romance of jean and blonde of oxford, by philippe de reims, an anglo-norman poet of the latter end of the twelfth century. edited, from the unique ms. in the royal library at paris, by m. le roux de lincy, editor of the roman de brut. communications from gentlemen desirous of becoming members may be addressed to the secretary, or to messrs. nichols. william j. thoms, secretary. . parliament street, westminster. * * * * * works of the camden society, and order of their publication. . restoration of king edward iv. . kyng johan, by bishop bale. . deposition of richard ii. . plumpton correspondence. . anecdotes and traditions. . political songs. . hayward's annals of elizabeth. . ecclesiastical documents. . norden's description of essex. . warkworth's chronicle. . kemp's nine daies wonder. . the egerton papers. . chronica jocelini de brakelonda. . irish narratives, and . . rishanger's chronicle. . poems of walter mapes. . travels of nicander nucius. . three metrical romances. . diary of dr. john dee. . apology for the lollards. . rutland papers. . diary of bishop cartwright. . letters of eminent literary men. . proceedings against dame alice kyteler. . promptorium parvulorum: tom. i. . suppression of the monasteries. . leycester correspondence. . french chronicle of london. . polydore vergil. . the thornton romances. . verney's notes of the long parliament. . autobiography of sir john bramston. . correspondence of james duke of perth. . liber de antiquis legibus. . the chronicle of calais. . polydore vergil's history, vol. i. . italian relation of england. . church of middleham. . the camden miscellany, vol. i. . life of ld. grey of wilton. . diary of walter yonge, esq. . diary of henry machyn. . visitation of huntingdonshire. . obituary of rich. smyth. . twysden on the government of england. . letters of elizabeth and james vi. . chronicon petroburgense. . queen jane and queen mary. . bury wills and inventories. . mapes de nugis curialium. . pilgrimage of sir r. guylford. * * * * * wordsworth's ecclesiastical biography--fourth, improved, and cheaper edition in vols. vo. (with five portraits), price l. s. ecclesiastical biography; or, lives of eminent men connected with the history of religion in england; from the commencement of the reformation to the revolution. selected, and illustrated with notes, by christopher wordsworth, d.d., late master of trinity college, cambridge. *** this edition contains many additional historical and biographical notes. rivingtons, st. paul's church yard, and waterloo place; of whom may be had, by the same editor (uniformly printed), christian institutes; a series of discourses and tracts, selected, arranged systematically, and illustrated with notes. second edition. in vols. vo. l. s. * * * * * just published, in vo., price one shilling, a third letter to the rev. s. r. maitland, d.d., formerly librarian to the late archbishop of canterbury, on the genuineness of the writings ascribed to cyprian, bishop of carthage. by edward john shepherd, m.a., rector of luddesdown; author of "history of the church of rome to the end of the episcopate of damasus." *** the first letter on the same subject, price s., and the second, price s., may still be had. london: longman, brown, green & longmans. * * * * * new and thoroughly revised edition of sir david brewster's treatise on optics, corrected to . just published, in fcp. vo., with vignette title and numerous woodcuts, price s. d. cloth. a treatise on optics. by sir david brewster, k.h., d.c.l., v.p.r.s. edin., associate of the national institute of france, honorary member of the imperial academy of st. petersburg, and of the royal academy of sciences of berlin, vienna, stockholm, copenhagen, göttingen, &c. a new edition, revised throughout. london: longman, brown, green & longmans. * * * * * just published, pp. , plates , price s. a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, with descriptions of all the species, and abstracts of the systems of ehrenberg, dujardin, kützing, siebold, &c. by andrew pritchard, esq., m.r.i. also, price s., a general history of animalcules, with engravings. also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on microscopes. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) { } notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * no. .] saturday, march . [price fourpence. stamped edition d. * * * * * contents. notes:-- page marlowe's "lust's dominion" dover castle: a note to hasted dean swift: autographs in books, by george daniel shakspeare elucidations, by thomas keightley imprecatory epitaphs, by dr. e. charlton derivation of "lad" and "lass" minor notes:--iona--inscriptions in parochial registers-- lieutenant--"prigging tooth" or "pugging tooth"-- london--note from the cathedral at seville--riddles for the post office queries:-- national portraits: portrait of the duke of gloucester, son of charles i., by albert way boston queries, by pishey thompson welborne family descendants of sir humphrey gilbert, by c. gonville minor queries:--english bishops deprived by queen elizabeth, --john williams of southwark, esq.-- "a screw"--tanner's mss.--the westminster assembly of divines--the witch countess of morton--mary, daughter of king james i. of scotland--hibernicis hibernior-- the cucking-stool, when last used--grafts and the parent tree--conway family--salt--geological query--wandering jew--frescheville family--the wednesday club--oratories--arms of de turneham-- poisons--open seats or pews in churches--burial of unclaimed corpse minor queries with answers:--sir john powell--"reynard the fox"--campvere, privileges of--bishops inglis and stanser of nova scotia replies:-- monument to barbara mowbray and elizabeth curle at antwerp rigby correspondence marigmerii--melinglerii--berefellarii photographic notes and queries:--replies to photographic questions--developing paper pictures with pyrogallic acid--photography in the open air; improved camera-- new effect in collodion pictures--powdered alum: how does it act? replies to minor queries:--chatterton--princes' whipping-boys--"grub street journal"--"pinch of snuff"--race for canterbury--chichester pallant--scarfs worn by clergymen--alicia lady lisle--major-general lambert--mistletoe--the sizain--venda--meaning of "assassin"--dimidium scientiæ--epigrams--use of tobacco before the discovery of america--oldham, bishop of exeter--tortoiseshell tom cat--irish rhymes--consecrated rings--brasses since --derivation of lowbell--the negative given to the demand of the clergy at merton--nugget--blackguard miscellaneous:-- notes on books, &c. books and odd volumes wanted notices to correspondents advertisements * * * * * notes. marlowe's "lust's dominion." the rev. mr. dyce omits the play of _lust's dominion, or the lascivious queen_, from the excellent, and (in all other respects) complete edition of marlowe's _works_ which he has lately published, considering it to have been "distinctly shown by mr. collier" that it could not have been the work of that poet. i must say, however, that the argument for its rejection does not appear to me by any means conclusive. it runs thus: in the first act is presented the death of a certain king philip of spain; and this king philip must be philip ii., because in a tract printed in the _somers' collection_, giving an account of the "last words" of that monarch, are found passages which are plainly copied in the play. now, philip ii. did not die till , and the tract was not published till , whereas marlowe's death took place in . _ergo_, marlowe could not have written _lust's dominion_. but we know that it was the constant custom of managers to cause acting plays to be altered and added to from time to time: the curious _diary of manager henslowe_ is full of entries of the payment of sums of twenty shillings or so, to the authors whom he kept, for "adycyons" to the works of others. and surely it is no forced hypothesis to suppose that some literary cobbler employed to touch up marlowe's work, finding a king philip in it, should have thought to improve and give it an air of historic truth, by introducing the circumstances furnished by the pamphlet into the death-scene. apart from these particulars, the king is neither philip i. nor philip ii., but a mere king philip of spain in general, quite superior to historical considerations. the positive evidence in support of marlowe's authorship is tolerably strong, though not absolutely conclusive. the earliest extant edition of the play bears his name at full length on the title-page. it is true that the date of that edition is , sixty-six years after his death: still the publisher must have had _some_ reasonable ground for attributing the work to him; and in all cases comparatively little value ought to be attached to negative, when opposed by positive evidence. we { } need look no farther than this very edition of marlowe for an illustration of the possibility such a combination of circumstances as i have supposed. in the earliest known edition of the play of _dr. faustus_ is found an allusion to a certain dr. lopez, who did not attain notoriety (by being hanged) till after marlowe's death; but mr. dyce very justly only infers from this that the particular passage is an interpolation. according to the reasoning applied to _lust's dominion_, faustus also should have been expelled summarily, upon this objection: and yet, in the case of that play, we know that such a conclusion from such premises would have been erroneous. i am unwilling to lay much stress on the internal evidence to be drawn from the language and conduct of the play itself, because i am aware how little reliance can be placed on reasoning drawn from such observations; but no one, i think, will deny that there are many passages which at least _might_ have been written by marlowe: and, on the whole, i submit that it would have been more satisfactory if mr. dyce had included it in this edition. he has changed his practice since he printed among middleton's works (and rightly) the play of the _honest whore_, a play generally--i believe, universally--attributed to dekker alone, on the authority of one single entry in henslowe's _diary_, where the names of the two poets are incidentally coupled together as joint authors of the piece! i should mention, that i take the dates and book-lore from mr. dyce himself. b. r. i. * * * * * dover castle: a note to hasted. lambard, camden, and kilburne all speak of an accumulation of stores in dover castle, on the origin of which various traditions and opinions existed in their days. "the castell of douer (sayth lidgate and rosse) was firste builded by julius cæsar the romane emperour, in memorie of whome, they of the castell kept, till this day, certeine vessels of olde wine and salte, whiche they affirme to be the remayne of suche prouision as he brought into it, as touching the whiche (if they be natural and not sophisticate), i suppose them more likely to have beene of that store whiche hubert de burghe layde in there."--_lambard._ "in this castle likewise antiently was to be seen a tower (called cæsar's tower), afterwards the king's lodgings (excellent for workmanship and very high),--a spacious hall (called king arthur's hall) with a faire gallery, or entry,--_great pipes and cashes (bound with iron hoopes), wherein was liquor (supposed to be wine) which by long lying became as thick as treackle_, and would _cleave like bird-lime_;--_salt congealed together as hard as stone_, cross bowes, long bowes, and arrowes to the same (_to which was fastened brass instead of feathers_); and the same were of such bigness as not fit to be used by any men of this or late ages."--_kilburne._ "camden relates that he was shown these arrows, which he thinks were such as the romans used to shoot out of their engines, which were like to large crossbows. these last might, though not cæsar's, belong to the romans of a later time; and the former might, perhaps, be part of the provisions and stores which king henry viii. laid in here, at a time when he passed from hence over sea to france; but for many years past it has not been known what is become of any of these things."--_hasted._ the following extract from an inventory furnished by william de clynton, earl of huntyngdon, lord warden, on handing over the castle to bartholomew de burghersh, his successor, dated "die sabati in vigilia sancti thome apostoli, anno regni regis edwardi tercei a conquestu anglie decimo septimo" (_i. e._ september , ), will supply a satisfactory elucidation of what these stores were: "item in magna turri; _quinque dolea et j pipam mellis_; unde de j doleo deficiunt viij pollices; et de alio deficiunt iij pollices; et de alio deficiunt xvj pollices; et de alio xv pollices; et de quinto xj pollices; et de pipa deficiunt xx pollices. item, j molendinum manuale et _ij molas pro eodem_. "item, in domo armorum iij springaldas magnas cum toto atilo[ ] præter cordas. item, quinque minores springaldas sine cordis; et iij parvas springaldas[ ] modici valoris; l arcus de tempore regis avi; clvj arcus de tempore regis nunc; cxxvj arbalistas, de quibus xxxiij arbaliste de cornu ad duos pedes, et ix de cornu ad unum pedem, et iij magne arbaliste ad turnum.[ ] item, xliij baudrys; vij^{xx} et ix garbas sagittarum; lviij sagittas large barbatas; xxv haubergons debiles et putrefactos; xxij basenettos debiles de veteri tour; xj galeas de ferro, de quibus vj cum visers; xx capellas de ferro; xxij basenettos coopertos de coreo, de veteri factura, debiles et putrefactos; xxv paria cirotecarum de platis nullius valoris; xij capellas de nervis de pampilon depictas; xxx haketons[ ] et gambesons[ ] nullius valoris; ix picos; ij trubulos; j cenovectorium[ ] cum j rota ferro ligata; j cuva; iij instrumenta pro arbalistis tendendis; cxviij lanceas, quarum xviij sine capitibus; j cas cum sagittis saracenorum; ciij targettos, quorum xxiiij nullius valoris; j veterem cistam cum capitibus quarellorum et sagittarum debilem; ij barellos; vj bukettos cum quarellis debilibus non pennatis; j cistam cum quantitate capitum { } quarellorum et quadam quantitate de cawetrappis in j doleo. item _m^l vj^c et xxviij garroks_[ ] de majori forma. item, iiij^{xx} garroks de eadem forma, sine capitibus. item, m^l vj^c & xxiij garroks, de minori forma." query, what were the "capellæ de nervis de pampilon depictæ?" ducange cites the word, but does not explain it. l. b. l. [footnote : toto atilo; quasi "attelage."] [footnote : springaldus; "veterum profecto fuit balistæ genus, et, recentis militiæ, tormentum est pulverarium, non ita ponderosum ut majoribus bombardis æquari possit, nec ea levitate ut gestari manibus valeat."--_ducange._] [footnote : arbaliste ad turnum; arbalists that traversed.] [footnote : haukets; "sagum militare."--_ducange._] [footnote : gambeson; "vestimenti genus quod de coactili ad mensuram et tutelam pectoris humani conficitur, de mollibus lanis, ut, hoc inducta primum, lorica vel clibanus, aut his similia, fragilitatem corporis, ponderis asperitate non læderent."--_ducange._] [footnote : cenovectorium; "a mudcart."--_ducange._] [footnote : "conjicio _garrotos_ esse spingardarum tela, quibus pennæ æreæ aptabantur utpote grandioribus; _carrellis_ vero pennæ plumatiles tantum." (see ducange, sub voce _garrotus_.)] * * * * * dean swift: autographs in books. the biographer and the critic, down to the pamphleteer and the lecturer, have united in painting st. patrick's immortal dean in the blackest colours. to their (for the most part) unmerited scandal and reproach thus heaped upon his memory (as little in accordance with truth as with christian charity), let me, mr. editor, oppose the following brief but emphatic testimony on the bright (and i firmly believe the _right_) side of the question, of the virtuous, the accomplished addison: "to dr. jonathan swift, the most agreeable companion, the truest friend, and the greatest genius of his age, this book is presented by his most humble servant the authour." the above inscription, in the autograph of addison, is on the fly-leaf of his _remarks on several parts of italy, &c._, vo. , the possession of which i hold very dear. permit me to add _another_ beautiful example of friendship between two generous rivals in a glorious art. "my dear hoppner, "in return for your elegant volume, let me request you will accept this little work, as a testimony of ardent esteem and friendship. "while the two books remain they will prove, that in a time of much professional jealousy, there were _two painters_, at least, who could be emulous, without being envious; who could contend without enmity, and associate without suspicion. "that this cordiality may long subsist between us, is the sincere desire of, dear hoppner, yours ever faithfully, martin archer shee. cavendish square, december , ." this letter is written on the fly-leaf of _rhymes on art, or the remonstrance of a painter_, nd edit. , also in my library. need i offer an apology for introducing a _third_ inscription? "to my perfect friend, mr. francis crane, i erect this altar of friendship, and leave it as the eternall witnesse of my love. ben jonson." this is in the beautiful autograph of rare ben, on the fly-leaf of _sejanus his fall_, to. , large paper and _unique_, and bound in the original vellum. it also contains the autograph of francis mundy, brother of the dramatist anthony mundy, to whom it once belonged. it is now mine. george daniel. canonbury. * * * * * shakspeare elucidations. in _all's well that ends well_ (act ii. sc. .) the king, when dismissing the young french noblemen who are going to the wars of italy, says to them: "let higher italy-- those 'bated that inherit but the fall of the last monarchy--see, that you come not to woo honour, but to wed it." mr. collier calls this an "obscure passage," and offers no explanation of it, merely giving a note of coleridge's, who, after hanmer, proposes to read _bastards_ for _'bated_, saying of the passage itself: "as it stands, i can make little or nothing of it. why should the king except the then most illustrious states, which, as being republics, were the more truly inheritors of the roman grandeur?" johnson, and the other preceding editors, seem to have taken a similar view of the passage. i trust it will not be regarded as presumption when i say, that to me the place offers no difficulty whatever. in the first place, _'bate_ is not, as coleridge takes it, to except, but to overcome, put an end to (from _abattre_); as when we say, "abate a nuisance." in the next, we are to recollect that the citizens of the italian republics were divided into two parties,--the guelf, or papal, and the ghibelline, or imperial; and that the french always sided with the former. florence, therefore, was guelf at that time, and siena of course was ghibelline. the meaning of the king therefore is: by defeating the ghibelline sienese, let italy see, &c. as a frenchman, he naturally affects a contempt for the german empire, and represents it as possessing (the meaning of _inherit_ at the time) only the limited and tottering dominion which the empire of the west had at the time of its fall. by "higher italy," by the way, i would understand not upper italy, but tuscany, as more remote from france; for when the war is ended, the french envoy says: "what will count rousillon do then? will he travel _higher_, or return again into france?"--act iv. sc. . the meaning is plainly: will he go farther on? to naples, for example. i must take this opportunity of retracting what i have said about-- "o thou dissembling cub, what wilt thou be when time has sow'd a grizzle on thy case?" _twelfth night_, act. v. sc. . { } mr. singer (vol. vi., p. .) by directing attention to the circumstance of _cub_ being a young fox, has proved, at least to me, that _case_ is the proper word,--a proof, among many, of the hazard of tampering with the text when not palpably wrong. _cub_ is the young fox, and _fox_, _vixen_, _cub_ are like _dog_, _bitch_, _whelp_,--_ram_, _ewe_, _lamb_, &c. the word is peculiar to the english language, nothing at all resembling it being to be found in the anglo-saxon, or any of the kindred dialects. holland, in his _plutarch_ (quoted by richardson), when telling the story of the spartan boy, says "a little _cub_, or young fox;" and then uses only _cub_. it was by analogy that the word was used of the young of bears, lions, and whales: and if shakspeare in one place (_merchant of venice_, act ii. sc. .) says "_cubs_ of the she-bear," he elsewhere (_titus andronicus_, act iv. sc. .) has "bear-_whelps_." i further very much doubt if _cub_ was used of boys in our poet's time. the earliest employment of it that i have seen is in congreve, who uses "unlicked cubs," evidently alluding to young bears: and that is the sense in which _cub_ is still used,--a sense that would not in any case apply to viola. thos. keightley. * * * * * imprecatory epitaphs. there is a class of epitaphs, or, we should rather say, there are certain instances of monumental indecorum which have not as yet been noticed by the many contributors on these subjects to your pages. i refer to those inscriptions embodying threats, or expressing resentful feelings against the murderers, or supposed murderers, of the deceased individual. of such epitaphs we have fortunately but few examples in great britain; but in norway, among the runic monuments of an early and rude age, they are by no means uncommon. near the door of the church of knaresdale, in northumberland, is the following on a tombstone: "in memory of robert baxter, of farhouse, who died oct. , , aged . "all you that please these lines to read, it will cause a tender heart to bleed. i murdered was upon the fell, and by the man i knew full well; by bread and butter, which he'd laid, i, being harmless, was betray'd. _i hope he will rewarded be_ that laid the poison there for me." robert baxter is still remembered by persons yet living, and the general belief in the country is, that he was poisoned by a neighbour with whom he had had a violent quarrel. baxter was well known to be a man of voracious appetite; and it seems that, one morning on going out to the fell (or hill), he found a piece of bread and butter wrapped in white paper. this he incautiously devoured, and died a few hours after in great agony. the suspected individual was, it is said, alive in . we know not how much of the old norse blood ran in the veins of robert baxter's friend, who composed this epitaph; but this summer, among a people of avowedly scandinavian descent, i copied the following from a large and handsome tomb in the burying-ground of the famous cross kirk, in northmavine parish, in shetland: "m.s. donald robertson, born st of january, ; died th of june, , aged years. he was a peaceable quiet man, and to all appearance a sincere christian. his death was very much regretted, which was caused by the stupidity of laurence tulloch, of clotherten, who sold him nitre instead of epsom salts, by which he was killed in the space of three hours after taking a dose of it." among the norwegian and swedish runic inscriptions figured by gösannson and sjöborg, we meet with two or three breathing a still more revengeful spirit, but one eminently in accordance with the rude character of the age to which they belong (a.d. ad ). an epitaph on a stone figured by sjöborg runs as follows: "rodvisl and rodalf they caused this stone to be raised after their three sons, and after [to] rodfos. him the blackmen slew in foreign lands. god help the soul of rodfos: _god destroy them that killed him._" another stone figured by gösannson has engraved on it the same revengeful aspiration. we all remember the shakspearian inscription, "cursed be he that moves my bones;" but if finn magnussen's interpretation be correct, there is an epitaph in runic characters at greniadarstad church, in iceland, which concludes thus: "if you willingly remove this monument, may you sink into the ground." it would be curious to collect examples of these menaces on tombstones, and i hope that other contributors will help to rescue any that exist in this or in other countries from oblivion. edward charlton, m.d. newcastle-upon-tyne. * * * * * derivation of "lad" and "lass." the derivation of the word _lad_ has not yet been given, so far as i am aware; and the word _lass_ is in the same predicament. _lad_ is undoubtedly of old usage in england, and in its archaic sense it has reference, not to age, as now, but to service or dependence; being applied, not to signify a youth or a boy, but a servant or inferior. { } in pinkerton's _poems from the maitland mss._ is one, purporting to be the composition of thomas of ercildoune, which begins thus: "when a man is made a kyng of a capped man." after this line follow others of the same bearing, until we come to these: "when rycht aut wronge astente togedere, when laddes weddeth lovedies," &c. the prophet is not, in these words, inveighing against ill-assorted alliances between young men and old women; but is alluding to a general _bouleversement_ of society, when _mésalliances_ of noble women to ignoble men will take place. this sense of the word gives us, i think, some help towards tracing its derivation, and i have no doubt that its real parent is the anglo-saxon _hlafæta_,--a word to be found in one instance only, in a corner of Æthelbyrt's _domas_: "gif man ceorles _hlafætan_ of-slæth vi scyllingum gebete." by the same softening of sound which made _lord_ and _lady_ out of _hlaford_ and _hlæfdige_, _hlafæta_ became _lad_, and _hlafætstre_ became _lass_. as the lord supplied to his dependents the bread which they ate, so each thus derived from the loaf the appellation of their mutual relation, in the plain phraseology of our ancestors. dr. leo, in his interesting commentary on the _rectitudines singularum personarum_ (edit. halle, , p. .), says: "ganz analog dem verhältnisse von _ealdore_ und _gingra_ ist das verhältniss von _hlaford_ (brodherrn), _hlæfdige_ (brodherrin), und _hlafæta_ (brodeszer). _hlaford_ ist am ende zum standestitel (lord) geworden; ursprünglich bezeichnet es jeden gebieter; die kinder, die leibeignen, die abhängigen freien leute, alles was zum hausstande und zum gefolge eines mannes gehört, werden als dessen _hlafætan_ bezeichnet." perhaps some of your readers may favour myself and others by giving the derivation of _boy_ and _girl_. h. c. c. * * * * * minor notes. _iona._--the ancient name of this celebrated island was _i_ (an island), or _i-columbkille_ (the island of columba of the churches). in all the ancient tombstones still existing in the island, it is called nothing but _hy_; and i have no doubt that its modern name of _iona_ is a corruption, arising from mistaking _u_ for _n_. in the very ancient copy of adamnan's _life of st. columbkille_, formerly belonging to the monastery of reichenau (_augia dives_), and now preserved in the town library of schaffhausen, which i had an opportunity of examining very carefully last summer, the name is written everywhere, beyond the possibility of doubt, _ioua_, which was evidently an attempt to give a power of latinised declension to the ancient celtic _i_. it was pronounced _i-wa_ (_i.e._ _ee-wa_). who first made the blunder of changing the _u_ into _n_? j. h. todd. trin. coll. dublin. _inscriptions in parochial registers._--very quaint and pithy mottoes are sometimes prefixed to parochial registers. i know not whether any communications on this subject are to be found in your pages. the following are examples, and may perhaps elicit from your readers additional information. cherry-hinton, cambridgeshire: "hic puer ætatem, hic vir sponsalia noscat, hic decessorum funera quisque sciat." ruyton of the eleven towns, salop: "no flatt'ry here, where to be born and die, of rich and poor is all the history: enough, if virtue fill'd the space between, prov'd, by the ends of being, to have been." george s. master. welsh-hampton, salop. _lieutenant._--the vulgar pronunciation of this word, _leftenant_, probably arose from the old practice of confounding _u_ and _v_. it is spelt _leivtenant_ in the colonial records of new york. the changes may have been _lievtenant_, _levtenant_, _leftenant_. uneda. philadelphia. _"prigging tooth" or "pugging tooth."_--mr. collier, in his new book on shakspeare, containing early manuscript corrections of the folio of , says at page ., in enumerating those of the _winter's tale_, that the emendator substitutes (act iv. sc. .) "prigging tooth" for the "pugging tooth" of the old copies. now this, i believe, has been the generally received interpretation, but it is quite wrong. _prigging_, that is stealing, tooth, would be nonsense; _pugging_ is the correct word, and is most expressive. antolycus means his molar--his grinding tooth is set on edge. a pugging-mill (sometimes abbreviated and called pug-mill) is a machine for crushing and tempering lime, consisting of two heavy rollers or wheels in a circular trough; the wheels are hung loose upon the ends of a bar of iron or axle-tree, which is fastened by the centre either to the top or bottom of an upright spindle, moved by a horse or other power, as the case may be, thus causing the wheels in their circuit to revolve from their friction upon the trough, and so to bruise the nuts of lime, which together with the sand and water are fed by a labourer, who removes the mortar when made. the machine is of course variously constructed for the kind of work it has to do: there is a pugging-mill used in the making of bricks that is fitted with projecting knives to cut and knead the clay. { } emendator has doubtless restored the sense to many puzzling passages in shakspeare, but he certainly is mistaken here in reading _prigging_ for _pugging_. h. b. j. carlisle. _london._--is the following, which was copied october , , from a ms. pasted on spitalfields church at that time, worth preserving in the pages of "n. & q."? could any of your numerous correspondents furnish me with the author's name? "london. "houses, churches, mixt together; streets cramm'd full in ev'ry weather; prisons, palaces, contiguous; sinners sad and saints religious; gaudy things enough to tempt ye; outsides showy, insides empty; baubles, beasts, mechanics, arts, coaches, wheelbarrows, and carts; warrants, bailiffs, bills unpaid, lords of laundresses afraid; rogues that nightly prowl and shoot men; hangmen, aldermen, and footmen; lawyers, poets, priests, physicians, noble, simple, all conditions; worth beneath a threadbare cover, villainy bedaubed all over; women, black, fair, red, and gray, women that can play and pay; handsome, ugly, witty, still, some that will not, some that will; many a beau without a shilling, many a widow not unwilling, many a bargain, if you strike it,-- this is london, if you like it." h. e. p. t. woolwich. _note from the cathedral at seville._-- "el exc^{mo} s^r d^r don nicolas wiseman, obispo coadjutor de birmingham, y rector del collegio de oscott, por decreto de de enero de , concedió dias de indulgentia per cada padre-nuestro, ó credo á nuestri señor jesu cristo, ó un ave-maria á su santissima madre, ó un padre-nuestro en honor del santo patriarcha s^r s^o domingo, cujas imagenes se veneran en esta capilla, como por cualquier palabra afetuosa ó jaculatoria con devotion." s. k. n. _riddles for the post office._--the following ludicrous direction to a letter was copied verbatim from the original and interesting document: "too dad tomas hat the ole oke otchut i o bary pade sur plees to let ole feather have this sefe." the letter found the gentleman at "the old oak orchard, tenbury." i saw another letter, where the writer, after a severe struggle to express "scotland," succeeded at length to his satisfaction, and wrote it thus, "stockling." a third letter was sent by a woman to a son who had settled in tennessee, which the old lady had thus expressed with all phonetic simplicity, " s c." cuthbert bede. * * * * * queries. national portraits.--portrait of the duke of gloucester, son of charles i. a cotemporary portrait of this prince, fourth son of charles i., was in existence. he was represented with a fountain by him, probably in early age. he died, at the age of twenty, in . where is this painting now to be found, or is any engraving from it known? granger describes an engraved portrait by vaughan, representing the infant prince seated on a cushion; and a rare portrait of him by lovell. it would be very desirable to compile a descriptive catalogue of painted portraits, those especially preserved in the less accessible private collections in england. such a manual, especially if illustrated with outline sketches or photographs, in order to render it available at a moderate cost, would be most useful, and supply, in some degree, the deficiency of any extensive public collection of national portraits, such as has been commenced in france, at the palace of versailles. albert way. reigate. [recognising as we do most fully the value of the idea thrown out by mr. way, that it would be desirable to compile a descriptive catalogue of painted portraits, as the best substitute which we can have for an extensive public collection of such memorials of our great and good, we shall always be glad to record in the columns of "n. & q." any notices of such pictures as may, from time to time, be forwarded to us for that purpose. the suggestion that photography might be usefully employed in multiplying copies of such portraits, coming as it does from one whose skill as an artist rivals his learning as an antiquary, is the highest testimony which could be given to the value of an art which we have endeavoured to promote, from our conviction that its utility to the antiquary, the historian, and the man of letters, can scarcely be over-rated.] * * * * * boston queries. i annex a prospectus of a second edition of my _collections for a history of the borough of boston and the hundred of skirbeck, in the county of lincoln_, which i am now employed upon in preparing for the press. as there may, and most probably will, arise many points upon which i may require assistance, i shall from time to time address (with your leave) inquiries for insertion in your { } useful miscellany, asking your readers for any information they may be in possession of. at present i should be glad to be informed of the locality of estoving hall, the seat of a branch of the holland family, of whom a long account is given by blomefield, in his _history of norfolk_, and which, he says, was nine miles from bourn, in lincolnshire, but respecting which i can learn nothing from gentlemen in that neighbourhood. drayton, so often alluded to by stukeley, and referred to by blomefield in connexion with the holland family, is also of very uncertain locality. can any of your readers assist me upon these points, either through your journal, or addressed to me at stoke newington? i am also in want of information respecting the kyme family, so as to connect the kymes of boston, and its neighbourhood, with the elder branch of that family, the kymes of kyme, which merged into the umfraville family, by the marriage of the heiress of the kymes with one of the umfravilles. the account of "the buylding of boston steeple," by h. t. h., at p. . of your present volume, is incorrect in many respects. that which i have seen and adopted is as follows. it is said to have been accepted as correct by dr. stukeley. i find it at the foot of a folio print, published in , representing-- "the west prospect of boston steeple and church. the foundation whereof on y^e monday after palm sunday, an^o. , in y^e ^d year of edward y^e ii., was begun by many miners, and continued till midsumer foll^g, when they was deeper than y^e haven by foot, where they found a bed of stone upon a spring of sand, and that upon a bed of clay whose thickness could not be known. upon the monday next after the feast of st. john bapt^t. was laid the st stone, by dame margery tilney, upon w^{ch} she laid £ . sterl^g. sir john truesdale, then parson of boston, gave £ . more, and rich^d. stevenson, a merch^t. of boston, gave also £ ., wh^{ch} was all y^e gifts given at that time." pishey thompson. stoke newington. * * * * * welborne family. in burke's _extinct peerage_ it is stated that john de lacy, first earl of lincoln, died a.d. , leaving one son and two daughters. the latter were removed, in the twenty-seventh year of hen. iii., to windsor, there to be educated with the daughters of the king. one of these sisters, lady maud de lacy, married richard de clare, earl of gloucester; but i can find no mention of either the name or marriage of the other. am i correct in identifying her with "dorothy, daughter of the earl of lincoln," who married sir john welborne (see _harl. mss._ . - .)? the dates in the welborne pedigree perfectly correspond with this assumption. another question relative to this family is of greater interest, and i should feel sincerely obliged by any answer to it. simon de montfort, earl of leicester, married eleanora, daughter of king john, and had by her five children. the fourth son is called richard in burke's _royal families_, vol. i. p. xxiii.; and the report is added, that "he remained in england in privacy under the name of wellsburn." in the _extinct peerage_, the name of the same son is almaric, of whom it says: "when conveying his sister from france, to be married to leoline, prince of wales, he was taken prisoner with her at sea, and suffered a long imprisonment. he was at last, however, restored to liberty, and his posterity are said to have flourished in england under the name of wellsburne." is it not to be presumed that the above sir john welborne (living, as he must have done, in the latter half of the thirteenth century, and allying himself with the great family especially protected by henry iii., uncle of the de montforts) was himself the son of richard or almaric de montfort, and founder of that family of wellesburne, said to have "flourished in england"? the de montforts no doubt abandoned their patronymic in consequence of the attainder of simon, earl of leicester, and adopted that of wellesburne from the manor of that name, co. warwick, in the possession of henry de montfort temp. ric. i. the only known branch of the welborns terminated (after ten descents from sir john) in coheiresses, one of whom married in , and brought the representation into a family which counts among its members your correspondent ursula. * * * * * descendants of sir humphrey gilbert. in a work published not many years ago, entitled _antigua and the antiguans_, by mrs. flannigan, there is the following passage: "the hon. nathaniel gilbert, speaker of the house of assembly in the island of antigua, and one of the chief proprietors in that island, derived his descent from a family of considerable distinction in the west of england, where one of its members, sir humphrey gilbert, associating himself with his kinsman, sir walter raleigh, became one of the most eminent circumnavigators of the reign of queen elizabeth." dying, he left a son, raleigh gilbert, who along with others obtained from king james i. a large grant of land, in what was then called plymouth, but which now forms part of the colony of virginia. to this place he emigrated with lord chief justice popham in . afterwards he succeeded to an estate in devonshire on the death of his elder brother, sir john gilbert, president of the virginian company. can any of your correspondents kindly inform me from what source i can complete the line of { } descent, by filling up the interval of three or four generations between the above raleigh gilbert and the hon. nathaniel gilbert mentioned by mrs. flannigan? the present sir george colebrook and sir william abdy are connected, more or less remotely, with the last-mentioned mr. gilbert. the english branch of the family is now established at tredrea in cornwall. (see _burke_.) any information whatever upon this subject would be exceedingly valuable to the inquirer. c. gonville. * * * * * minor queries. _english bishops deprived by queen elizabeth, ._--mr. dredge's list (vol. vi., p. .) was very acceptable and interesting; but he has left unanswered several points regarding these bishops. . _bishop scot's_ death is given as at louvain, but not the period when it occurred. . _bishop bayne_ is merely said to have "died at islington in ," month unnoticed. . _bishop goldwell_ is "said to have died shortly afterwards ( ) at rome," while i gave my authority as to his being still alive in the year (vol. vi., p. .). . _bishop pate_ is said to have also "died at louvain," but no date is mentioned. . _bishop pole_ "died in ." is neither the place nor month known? in conclusion, with regard to the "english bishops deprived, ," only the years of the deaths of _bishops frampton_ and _white_ are stated. i trust mr. dredge, if he sees this, will forgive my being so minute and particular in my inquiries on the above points, and kindly recollect that i am far away from all public libraries and sources of information. for the replies he has so readily afforded, i am very grateful indeed. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _john williams of southwark, esq._ (elder brother of morgan williams, who married a daughter of walter cromwell of putney, from whom descended oliver cromwell: jones's _brecknockshire_, vol. ii. p. .).--will you, or either of your readers, oblige me with some account of the male descendants of such john williams; or of john williams ("heir to the paternal estate" of such morgan williams: waring's _recollections of iolo morganwg_, p. .) and his male descendants, or any references to such account? glywysig. "_a screw._"--why should a broken-down horse be called "a screw?" is it because he has "a screw loose," or because a force equivalent to the screw-propeller must be applied to make him go? this was discussed at a hunting dinner the other evening, and the guests could arrive at no satisfactory conclusion: neither could they agree as to the definite meaning that should be assigned to "screw," and what description of horse came under that very condemnatory designation. perhaps "n. & q." can assist them to a proper meaning. cuthbert bede, b.a. _tanner's mss._--in a collection of mss. relative to eton college, in birch and sloane collection, british museum, mention is made of _tanner's mss._, which, at the time these mss. on eton were collected ( ), were in the picture gallery at oxford. are these the mss. inquired for by your correspondent in vol. vi., p. .? e. g. b. _the westminster assembly of divines._--on the cover of _a collection of confessions of faith, &c., of the church of scotland_, in my possession, is the following memorandum: "the minutes of the westminster assembly are yet reserved in private hands."--calamy's abridgment of _baxter's life_, p. . in dr. williams's library, redcross street, there is part of a journal; but neal, in his _history of the puritans_ (preface), tells us-- "the records of this assembly were burnt in the fire of london." strype, preface to _lightfoot's remains_, says: "a journal of the various debates among the learned men in the westminster assembly, was diligently kept by dr. lightfoot." and strype tells us he had seen it. i shall be much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me where this journal, or any other, of the proceedings of the assembly can be procured? joseph stansbury. _the witch countess of morton._--can any one give me any information about a countess of morton who was called "the witch?" her picture is at dalmahoy. l. m. m. r. _mary, daughter of king james i. of scotland._--this princess is stated to have been married to the count de boucquan, son of the lord of campoere in zealand, and she had at least one son, born : any information as to her husband's family, her own death, &c. is requested; for all notitia of our royal princesses are interesting. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. _hibernicis hibernior._--whence, and what the proper form of this proverbial expression? w. t. m. hong kong. _the cucking-stool, when last used._--can any of the correspondents of "n. & q." inform me of the latest period at which this instrument of punishment for scolds is recorded to have been used { } in england? the most recent instance mentioned by brand was at kingston-upon-thames, in . in leicester, however (and probably elsewhere), the practice continued to a much later period, as appears by the following entry in our municipal accounts for the year - : "paid mr. elliott for a cuckstool by order of hall, l." i have been informed by an octogenarian inhabitant of this town, that he recollects, when a boy, seeing the cucking-stool placed, as a mark of disgrace, against the residence of a notorious scold; and the fact of this use of it here at so comparatively recent a period has been confirmed by another aged person, so that this practice probably obtained for some years after the punishment by immersion, or exposure upon the cucking-stool, had fallen into desuetude. did a similar use of the instrument prevail in other places about the same period? i may mention that an ancient cucking-stool is still preserved in our town-hall. leicestriensis. _grafts and the parent tree._--is there any ground for a belief that is said to prevail among horticulturists, that the graft perishes when the parent tree decays? j. p. birmingham. _conway family._--is it true that sir william konias (founder of the conway family) was lord high constable of england under william the conqueror? the welsh pedigrees in the british museum assert as much, and that he married isabel, daughter of baldwin, earl of blois; but it does not appear that there was a count of blois of that name. ursula. _salt._--dugdale, in his _antiquities of warwickshire_, p. ., speaking of the town of leamington, says: "all that is further observable touching this place is, that nigh to the east end of the church there is a spring of salt water (not above a stone's throw from the river leame), _whereof the inhabitants make much use for seasoning of meat_." was salt a scarce article in the midland counties in those days? when and where was the first salt-mine established in england? erica. _geological query._--can any of your geological readers inform me what is the _imagined_ reason that there is no increase of temperature in scandinavia (as there is everywhere else) in descending into mines? m--a l. _wandering jew._--i am anxious to learn the authority on which this celebrated myth rests. i am aware of the passage in john's gospel (xxi. , , .), but i cannot think that there is no other foundation for such an extraordinary belief. perhaps on the continent some legend may exist. my object in inquiring is to discover whether eugène sue's _wandering jew_ is purely a fictitious character, or whether he had any, and, if any, what authority or tradition on which to found it. tee bee. _frescheville family._--in what work may be found the tradition, that the heir of the family of the house of frescheville never dies in his bed? f. k. _the wednesday club._--can any of the readers of "n. & q." refer me to any notice of this club, which existed about a century back in the city of london? charles reed. paternoster row. _oratories._--in a parish in the county of essex there is a pretty little brick chapel, or "oratory," as it is called there, with a priest's house attached at the west end, of about the thirteenth century; the length of both chapel and house being thirty feet, and the width fifteen. there is also a field called "priest's close," which was probably the endowment. can any of your correspondents inform me if there are many such places of worship in england, and, if so, to mention some, and where any accounts of them may be found? it is quite clear that this oratory had no connexion with the parish church, being a mile distant, and seems more likely to have been erected and endowed for the purpose of having mass celebrated there for the repose of the founder's soul? m. f. d. _arms of de turneham._--can any of your readers inform me what were the armorial bearings of sir stephen de turneham, who in the year was employed by richard i. to escort his queen berengaria from acre to naples? the writer would also be glad to obtain any particulars of the family and history of this brave knight, who seems to have possessed the entire confidence of his sovereign, the redoubtable "coeur de lion." probably he belonged to the same family as michael de turneham, the owner of estates at brockley, near deptford, and at begeham (the modern bayham), on the borders of sussex, in the reign of henry ii., whose nephew, sir robert de turneham, appears to have been distinguished in the crusade under richard i. might not _stephen_ and _robert_ be brothers? did they leave descendants? and, if so, when did the family become extinct? was it this robert de turneham whose wife was joanna fossard, who, about the year , founded the priory of grosmont, near whitby, in yorkshire? { } john thornholme, of gowthorpe, near york, to whom arms were granted sept. , , was probably not of the same family? these arms are--on a shield argent, three thorn-trees vert. crest: on a mount vert, a tower argent. motto: "probitas verus honos." any particulars as to the early and subsequent history of this last-named family would also be valuable. [theta]. _poisons._--what are supposed to have been the _poisons_ used for bouquets, gloves, &c., in the time of catherine de medici, and her friend rené? h. a. b. _open seats or pews in churches._--mr. barr (_anglican church architecture_: oxford, parker, ) gives measurements, as by experience, found most convenient for many parts of this description of church fitting; but he gives not the length of each sitting, or, in other words, the space, measured along the length of the bench, that should be allowed for each person. neither does he give the height nor the breadth of the flat board to rest the elbows on when kneeling, or to place the books upon, which he proposes to substitute for the common sloping bookboard. neither does he appear to have paid any attention to the disposal of the hats with which every male worshipper must, i fear, continue to be encumbered, and which i like not to see impaled on the poppy-heads, nor plied on the font, nor to feel against my knees when i sit down, nor against my feet when i kneel. if any of your correspondents could name a church in the open seats of which these things have been attended to, and well done, i should be much disposed to go and study it as a model for imitation; and if satisfied with it, i should want little persuasion for commencing the destruction of my old manor pew, and the fixing of open seats on its site. regedonum. _burial of unclaimed corpse._--in the parish of markshall, near norwich, is a piece of land now belonging to the adjoining village of keswick. tradition states that it was once a part of markshall heath; but, at the enclosure, the parishioners of keswick claimed and obtained it, because some years before they had interred the body of a murdered man found there; the expenses of whose funeral the rate-payers of markshall had inhumanly refused to defray. i think i have somewhere read a similar statement respecting a portion of battersea fields. can either of these cases be authenticated; or is there any law or custom which would assign a portion of a common to a parish which paid for the burial of a corpse found on it? e. g. r. minor queries with answers. _sir john powell_--the judge who tried the seven bishops. where was he buried? _i.e._ where is his epitaph (which is given in heber's _life of jeremy taylor_) to be seen? a. c. r. [he was buried on september , , in the chancel of the church of langharne, in carmarthenshire, where there is a tablet to his memory, with a latin inscription, recording that he was a pupil of jeremy taylor. the judge had a residence in the parish.] "_reynard the fox._"--there was a book printed in entitled _the secret memoirs of robert dudley, earl of leicester, prime minister and favorite of queen elizabeth, written during his life, and now published from an old manuscript never printed_; by dr. drake: printed by samuel briscoe, . in his preface he alludes to the _history of reynard the fox_: "there is an old english book, written about the time that these memoirs seem to have been, which now passes through the hands of old women and children only, and is taken for a pleasant and delightful tale, but is by wise heads thought to be an enigmatical history of the earl of leicester and his family, and which he that compares with these memoirs, will not take to be an idle conjecture, there are so many passages so easily illustrable, by comparing it with these memoirs. the book i mean is the _history of reynard the fox_, in which the author, not daring to write his history plainly, probably for fear of his power, has shadowed his exploits under the feigned adventures and intrigues of brutes, in which not only the violence and rapaciousness, but especially the craft and dissimulation, of the earl of leicester is excellently set forth." i shall feel much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me of the earliest english edition of _reynard the fox_, and whether others besides dr. drake have taken the same view of the history. w. d. haggard. bank of england. [the earliest edition of _reynard the fox_ is that printed by caxton in . caxton's translation was again printed by pynson, and afterwards by thomas gualtier in . caxton's edition is of extreme rarity; but there is a reprint of it by the _percy society_ in : with an introductory sketch of the literary history of this popular romance, in which our correspondent will find a notice of the principal editions of it which have appeared in the various languages into which it has been translated.] _campvere, privileges of._--may i ask the kind assistance of any of your readers on the following subject? sir w. davidson, who was political agent or envoy in holland under king charles ii., is stated to have been "resident for h.m. kingdom of scotland, and conservator of the scots privileges of _campvere_ in the low countries," &c.; { } and under his portrait, engraved by hagens, he is described, among other titles, as being "conservitor and resident for his majestie's most ancient kingdome of scotland in the seventein provinces." what were these privileges, and whence was the term _campvere_ derived? i have seen mention made of a mercantile house at calais, in the sixteenth century, who had their "campfyer schypp, hyr saylls hallfe blewyw hallfe yewllow:" but this, i think, must refer to the trade in camphor, in the purification of which the venetians, and afterwards the dutch, exclusively were occupied. j. d. s. [campvere is another name given by the english to veere, or ter veere, a fortified town of the province of brabant, and the kingdom of the netherlands. it was formerly the staple-town for the trade between scotland and holland; but its privileges, and much of its commerce, have been removed to rotterdam.] _bishops inglis and stanser of nova scotia._--in addition to the very interesting notice of the former given in vol. vi., p. ., i beg to ask where and when he was born? whether an englishman or american? no reply has yet been given regarding _bishop stanser's_ death, or resignation of see. a. s. a. wuzzeerabad. [as sabine has included bishop inglis among the _american loyalists_, it would appear that he was a native of the united states. his article commences, "charles inglis, of new york;" but it does not state that he was a native of that city. bishop stanser resigned his see through indisposition in the year , and died at hampton, jan. , . see "n. & q.," vol. vi., p. .] * * * * * replies. monument to barbara mowbray and elizabeth curle at antwerp. (vol. v., pp. . . &c.) i adopt the above heading in preference to that which your correspondents c. e. d., m. w. b., f. h., and nhrsl have, i think improperly, selected. the monument, which is to be seen in the church of st. andrew at antwerp, is said by them to have been erected by the two ladies barbara mowbray and elizabeth curle to the memory of their beloved mistress the queen of scots; but it will be found to have been rather erected to the memory of those two ladies by hippolytus curle, the son of the former, and nephew of the latter, in or subsequent to the year . the notice of it in my murray's _handbook_ of is brief but accurate: "against a pillar, facing the right transept, is a portrait of mary queen of scots, attached to a monument erected to the memory of two english ladies named curle, who served her as ladies in waiting. one of them received her last embrace previous to her execution." i beg to refer your correspondents to a memoir by mons. c. p. serrure, which appeared in tom. iii. of the _messager des sciences et des arts de la belgique_, , pp. - ., and was afterwards published at ghent in a separate form, under the title of _notice sur le mausolée de barbe moubray et elizabeth curle, dames d'honneur de la reine marie stuart, qui se voit dans l'eglise paroissiale de saint andré, à anvers_, with an engraving of the monument. as the inscription conveys some biographical particulars of the ladies whose virtues it commemorates, and as this information is asked for by nhrsl, i have copied it: premising, however, that m. serrure takes credit to himself for being the first to give it in a correct shape. it is as follows: "deo opt. max. sacr. nobiliss. dvar. e britannia matronar. monvmentvm viator spectas: quæ ad regis cathol: tvtel. orthodo. religion. cavsa a patria profvgæ. hic in spe resurrect. qviescvnt. in primis barbaræ. movbrayd. iohan. movbray baronis f. qvæ sereniss. mariæ stvartæ reginæ scot. a cvbicvlis nvptvi data gvilberto cvrle, qui ann. amplivs. xx. a. secretis reg. fverat vnaq sine qverela ann. xxiiii. vixervnt, liberosq. octo svstvler. sex cælo transcriptis filii dvo svperstites, in stvdiis liberaliter edvcati. iacobvs socie. iesv sese madriti aggregavit, in hisp. hippolytvs natv minor in gallo. belg. societ. iesv prov. adscribi christi militiæ volvit. hic moestvs cvm lacrymis optimæ parenti. p. c. quæ prid. kalend. avgvst. an^o. d. [m.dcxvi]. æt lvii. vitam cadvcam cvm æterna commvtavit. item elizab. cvrlæ amitæ ex eadem nob. curleor. stirpe mariæ qvoq. reginæ a cvbicvlis, octo aunis vinc[=v]lr. fidæ sociæ, cvi moriens vltimvm tvlit svavivm. perpetvo cælibi, moribvsq. castiss. ac pientissimæ hippolytvs cvrle fratris eivs f. hoc monvm. grati animi pietatisq. ergo lib. mer. posvit. hæc vltimvm vitæ diem clavsit, an^o. dni . Ætat. lx^{mo}. die maij. reqviescant in pace. amen." the inscription under the queen's portrait is correctly given by m. w. b.; except that, in the sixth line, the word "invidia" occurs after "hæret," and the "et" is omitted. touching this same portrait, and the selfish, silly, sight-loving englishman, m. serrure writeth as follows: "les anglais, si avides de tout voir quand ils sont en pays étranger, et si curieux de tout ce qui appartient à leur histoire, ne manquent jamais d'aller visiter l'Église de st. andré. leur admiration pour ce monument, sans doute plus intéressant sous le rapport du souvenir qui s'y rattache, que sous celui de l'art, va si loin, que plus d'une fois on a prétendu, non-seulement { } que le portrait est un de ceux qui retrace le plus fidèlement les traits de la malheureuse marie stuart, mais qu'on a été jusqu'à l'attribuer au pinceau de van dyck. aussi bon nombre d'amateurs d'outre-mer l'ont-ils fait copier dans les derniers temps." w. m. r. e. * * * * * rigby correspondence. (vol. vii., p. .) i am a little surprised at the slight knowledge k. k. seems to have of mr. rigby--nor do i quite understand his statement: he says he possesses sixty-seven letters of mr. rigby to his _own grandfather_, and that his object is to discover, what he calls, the _counterpart of the correspondence_: and then he talks of this _counter-correspondent_, as if he knew no more of him than that he was an m. p., and "seems" to have done so and so. now this counter-correspondent must have been his grandfather: and it would surely have simplified the inquiry if he had stated at once the name of his grandfather, whose letters he is anxious to recover. mr. rigby was one of the busiest politicians of the busy times in which he lived. he did not, as k. k. supposes, reside _altogether_ in england. he was chief secretary to the duke of bedford when lord lieutenant of ireland, from to ; in which period he obtained the lucrative sinecure of master of the rolls in ireland, which he enjoyed for upwards of twenty years; during which he was a prominent figure in english and irish politics, and was long the leader of the bedford party in the english house of commons. his correspondence would be likely to be, with any one he confided in, important; and with any body, very amusing: for, though a deep politician, he was of a gay, frank, jovial, and gossiping disposition. it was he who, when some questions were carried against him in the irish parliament, and that some of his english friends wrote to ask him whether he would not resign on such an affront, concealed his political feelings under the jolly _bon-vivant_ style of answering: "what care i about their affronts! there is nothing in the world i like half so well as woodcock-shooting and claret-drinking, and _here_ i have both in perfection: why should i resign?" he died in ; and was succeeded in his estate at mirtley, in essex, by _lieut.-col. hale rigby_ (who, i think, but am not sure, assumed the name of rigby for the estate), and who had an only daughter who married the late lord rivers; and whose son is now, i presume, the representative of mr. rigby--the owner of mirtley--and probably, if they be in existence, the possessor of the "counter-correspondence" that k. k. inquires after. i have been thus particular in answering, as far as i can, k. k.'s _query_, because i believe that any confidential correspondence of mr. rigby must be very interesting, and i am glad to suggest where k. k. may look for the "counterpart;" but, whether they be obtained or not, i am inclined to believe that mr. rigby's own letters would be worth publication, if, as i have already hinted, his correspondent was really in either his private or political confidence. c. a considerable number of this gentleman's letters were addressed to his friend and patron, john, fourth duke of bedford, and are among the mss. at woburn abbey. a selection of the most interesting are printed in the _bedford correspondence_, three vols. vo. w. a. richard rigby, esq., of mirtley hall, in essex, was paymaster-general of the land forces from to , when he was succeeded by edmund burke. horace wm. beckford, the third baron rivers, married, in feb. , frances, the only daughter of lieut.-colonel frances hale rigby, esq., of _mirtley hall_.[ ] it is therefore probable, that the correspondence and papers referred to by k. k. may be in the possession of the present lord rivers. j. b. [footnote : see burke.] * * * * * marigmerii--melinglerii--berefellarii. (vol. vii., p. .) p. c. s. s. has ascertained that all the barbarous terms mediævally applied to certain classes of the inferior clergy, and referred to by mr. jebb (_antè_, p. .), are explained in the _glossarium_ of ducange. they are identical in meaning and derivation, though slightly differing in point of spelling, with "marigmerii" and "melinglerii" (cited by mr. jebb), "marellarii," "meragalarii," and "malingrerii," and are all to be found in the learned work to which reference is now made. of the last of these words, pirri himself (who is quoted by mr. jebb) gives the explanation, which is equally applicable to them all. he says (in _archiepisc. messan._, sub an. ): "_malingrerium_, olim dictum qui hodie _sacrista_ est." ducange also thus explains the cognate word _marrellarius_: "Ædituus, custos ædis sacræ, vulgo _marguillier_," &c. mr. jebb is therefore undoubtedly right in identifying the signification of these terms with that of the french "marguillier," the latin phrase for which is _matricularius_, so called because those officers were selected from the paupers who were admitted into the _matricula_, or _hospice_ adjoining the church or convent: "ex matriculariis pauperibus quidam seligebantur ad viliora ecclesiarum adjacentium munia, _v.g._ qui { } campanas pulsarent, ecclesiarum custodiæ invigilarent [_church-wardens_ in the true sense of the word], eas scoparent ac mundarent. atque inde matriculariorum (nostris _marguillier_) in ecclesiis parochialibus origo." of another singular word, _berefellarii_, and of the adoption of _personæ_ instead of it, the history is very amusing, though, perhaps, scarcely fit for the pages of "n. & q." it would seem that these inferior servitors of the church were not very cleanly in their person or habits. the english populace, by a not very delicate pun on their name, were wont to call them _bewrayed fellows_, the meaning of which it is not necessary farther to explain. in a letter of thomas, archbishop of york (preserved in dugdale's _monasticon_, tom. iii. p. ii. p. .), the good prelate says: "scilicet præcentoris, cancellarii, et sacristæ, ac septem personarum qui olim _berefellarii_ fuerunt nuncupati.... sed quia eorum turpe nomen _berefellariorum_, patens risui remanebat, dictos septem de cætero non _berefellarios_ sed _personas_ volumus nuncupari." the glossarist adds, with some _naïveté_: "cur autem ita obscæna hujusmodi iis indita appellatio, dicant angli ipsi!" p. c. s. s. mr. jebb, in his query respecting the _exoticæ voces_ "marigmerii" and "melinglerii," seems to be right in his conjecture that they are both of them corruptions of some word answering to the french _marguillier_, a churchwarden. the word in question is probably _meragularius_. it appears to be a term but rarely used, and to occur but once in martene, _de antiq. eccl. ritibus_, tom. i. p. ., venice, , in the conclusion of his extract "de ordinario ms. ecclesiæ cabilonensis;" where the officer in question performs the duty of the vestararius: "diaconus et subdiaconus inter se plicant vestimenta sua, meragularius præstat auxilium sacerdoti." though elsewhere martene explains the term by "Ædituus, custos ædis." with regard to the latter word, the meaning of which mr. jebb inquires, _berefellarii_, i may suggest that he will find, on reading somewhat further in the archbishop's _statuta_ for beverley, a further account of these same _berefellarii_; which almost precludes the likelihood of a blunder in the original document, or at least of _beneficiarii_ being the correct word. for the archbishop, having occasion to mention them again, gives the origin of their institution: "quos quidem berefellarios recolendæ memoriæ dom. johannes de thoresby dudum eborum archiepiscopus ad honorem dictæ ecclesiæ beverlaci, et majorem decentiam ministrantium in eadem provincia ordinabat." he then proceeds: "sed quia eorum turpe nomen berefellariorum, patens risui remanebat, dictos septem de cætero non berefellarios sed personas volumus nuncupari." and accordingly we find them called hereafter in this document by the very indefinite appellation, _septem personæ_. the word _berefellarii_ seems obviously to be of anglo-saxon origin; as well from the extract i have given above, as from the absence of the term in works on the continental rituals, as martene for instance. and i would suggest, in default of a better derivation, that the word may have been latinised from the anglo-saxon _bere fellan_ or _sellan_. the office would then be that of almoner, and the _berefellarii_ would be the "persons" who doled out victuals to the poor; literally, _barley-givers_. such an original would make the term liable to the objection to which the archbishop alluded; and the office does not altogether disagree with what was stated as the object of its institution, viz.: "ad honorem ecclesiæ beverlaci, et majorem decentiam ministrantium in eadem." h. c. k. ---- rectory, hereford. * * * * * photographic notes and queries. _replies to photographic questions._--sir william newton is right respecting the active properties of sulphuric acid; it should therefore not be stronger than merely tasting of the acid; but it has appeared to me to possess a superior effect in setting the alkalies free. i believe muriatic acid would have precisely the same effect, or beaufoy's acetic acid, though it would be rather expensive. starch would be invaluable both for positives or negatives, if it could be laid on perfectly even; but if pinned up to dry it all runs to one corner, and if laid flat it runs into ridges. perhaps some artist may be able to favour us with the best mode of treating starch; its non-solubility in cold water makes it an invaluable agent in photography. the above includes a reply to mr. j. james' first query: to his second, the solution may be either brushed or floated, but all solutions require even greater care than doing a water-colour drawing, to lay them perfectly flat. the remaining questions depend for answer simply on the experience of the operator: the formula given was simply for iodizing paper; the bringing out, exposure in the camera, &c., have been so clearly described lately by dr. diamond, it would be useless to give further directions at present. g. h. should dispense with the aceto-nitrate and gallic acid, and bring up with gallic acid and glacial acetic acid only. this makes no dirt whatever, and is quite as effective. the marbling { } he alludes to proceeds from the sensitive solution not being sufficiently dry when put into the camera. even if prepared paper is blotted off, which i think a very bad plan, it should have some time allowed it to dry; also the faintness of the image depends either upon not giving time enough, or the aperture he uses for his lens is much too large; or again, he has not found the true chemical focus,--it varies in single meniscus lenses sometimes as much as three-eighths of an inch nearer the eye than the visual:--all these are causes of indistinct images, and require patience to rectify them. i beg leave to subscribe entirely to mr. w. brown's remarks on the subject of mr. archer and collodion. i have one of mr. horne's handbills, circulated with the first samples of collodion, headed "archer's prepared collodion" in , and had some of the earliest in the market. that mr. archer should fail in trying his own preparation goes for nothing at all, because, at the best of times, and with the most skilful, failures are often numerous and mortifying, in photography above all other arts; therefore, unless some more correct data are given, the merit rests entirely on mr. archer. weld taylor. bayswater. _developing paper pictures with pyrogallic acid_ (vol. vii., p. .).--your correspondent r. j. f. asks if any of your photographic correspondents have developed their paper negatives with pyrogallic acid. i have long been in the habit of doing so by the following process. of mr. archer's developing solution, viz., pyrogallic acid grs. acetic acid drachm. distilled water oz. take twenty grs. (minims): add an equal quantity of distilled water, and five drops (minims) of acetic acid. i pour the mixture upon a glass plate, and put the sensitive surface of any picture upon it; moving, it up and down by one corner, to prevent the paper being stained, and to observe the development of the picture; which, when sufficiently come out, i blot and wash immediately, and fix with hyposulphite of soda or bromide of potassium. thomas wyatt. manchester. _photography in the open air; improved camera._--in your number , p. ., there is a note of mine in reference to the use to which thin sheet india rubber might be applied. i there alluded to the difficulties attending a single "portable camera," in which all the coating, developing, &c. of your plates is to be done; and for those gentlemen who have the means of carrying about with them a second box, i have devised a modification of archer's camera, which i think, will prove very useful. it is one which i am about to make for myself. this second box is one in which, when travelling, i can pack my camera, frames, glasses, and chemicals. having arranged your camera, you proceed to arrange the second box, or "laboratory." this laboratory has three short legs, which screw, or fasten by any simple contrivance, to it, so that it may stand a sufficient height from the ground to allow the bath, which fits in like the one in archer's camera, to hang beneath it, and also that when working you may do so with ease. it is lighted by either yellow glass or india rubber. there are sleeves of india rubber for your arms, and the holes in the sides of the box traverse nearly the whole of the sides, for the purpose of moving your hands freely from one end of the box to the other; there is also an opening for the head. the bottom of the box is divided: about two-thirds of it, and the nearest to you, has a gutta percha tray, with the four sides, three inches high, fitting it quite tight; and in one corner a tube a few inches long, also of gutta percha, fixed to it, and passing through the bottom of the box, to allow the refuse washings to run off. in the middle of this tray a developing stand of gutta percha is fixed to the bottom, on which to lay the glass plates. the other one-third of the bottom of the laboratory is fitted thus:--there is a slit across the box, immediately before the wall of the tray, for the nitrate of silver bath to slip in. immediately beyond the edge of the bath is a small fillet of wood running across the box parallel with the bath, and so placed that if the bottom of the dark frame to contain the glass plate is rested against it, and the top of the frame rested against the end of the laboratory, the frame will slope at about an angle of forty-five degrees. let there be a button, or similar contrivance, on the underside of the lid of the box, that the lid of the dark frame may be fastened to it when open. bottles of collodion, developing fluid, hypo-soda, or solution of salt, &c., may be arranged in various convenient ways within reach. the proceeding then is very easy. place the bath-frame and bottles in their places; rear the glass plate in the frame; shut the laboratory lid; place your hands in the sleeves and your head in the hood; fix the door of dark frame to the top; coat the plate; place it in the bath with collodion side from you (it will then be in convenient position when you draw it out of bath to place at once in the frame); fasten the frame door; open the box lid; remove to camera; after taking picture, return frame to its place in camera; bring the plate to developing stand; develop; pour solution of salt over; remove from box; finish outside with hyposulphite of soda. i have been thus explicit to render the matter as plain and intelligible as possible without aid of diagrams. but i shall be happy to give any { } one any further information, either privately, or through "n. & q." it seems to me that by this contrivance you simplify the process as much as is almost possible; you keep separate the different processes, and run little or no risk of mixing your chemicals, a misfortune which would spoil several hours' work, as well as entail a considerable loss of materials. the box would be no expensive article; any one possessing a little mechanical skill could construct it for himself, and its use as a packing-case for your apparatus would repay the cost. i have for some time been using a developing fluid, which appears to have some desirable qualifications for it is simple, inexpensive, and keeps good, as far as i have tried it, for a very long period. i have worked with it when it has been made ten weeks; it slightly changes colour, but it throws down no deposit, and does not ever stain the film; when first made, it is colourless as water. dr. diamond has kindly undertaken to test its value, and if he pronounces it worthy of being made known, the readers of "n. & q." shall shortly have the benefit of it. j. l. sisson. edingthorpe rectory, norfolk. _new effect in collodion pictures._--in the course of some experiments i have been following in reference to a photographic subject, a method by which a new effect in pictures on glass may be obtained has occurred to me. such productions, when treated as positives, are of course white pictures upon a black ground; and although for beauty of detail they are superior to those belonging to any other process, there is a certain harshness and want of artistic effect: to remedy this, i turned my attention towards obtaining a dark picture upon a light ground, as is the case when glass photographs are printed from; in this i have succeeded, and as the modification affords a pleasing variation, it may be acceptable to the tastes of some of your readers. the principle i proceed upon is to copy, by means of the camera, from a previously-taken picture in a negative state. suppose, for instance, our subject is an out-door view: i take a collodion picture--which would answer for a positive if backed with black: this, viewed by transmitted light, is of course negative,--an effect which may be produced by placing a piece of white paper behind it from this _white_-backed plate: i take another collodion picture, which, being reversed in light and shade, is negative by reflected light; but viewed as a transparency is _positive_, and of course retains that character when backed with white paint, paper, or other substance lighter in colour than the parts formed by the reduced silver. instead of the first picture being formed by the glass, any of the paper processes may be adopted which will afford negative pictures. copies of prints may be beautifully produced on this principle by obtaining the first or negative by the ordinary process of printing. as these pictures are to form a contrast with a white ground, they should be as brown in tint as possible; nitric acid, or other whitening agents, being avoided in the developing solutions for both negative and positive. by this process the detail and contrasts can be kept far better than by the operation of printing: for it is exceedingly difficult to obtain a picture which will convey to the prepared surface an amount of light corresponding to the natural lights and shades, and the trouble of making collodion copies is far less than printing. there is certainly the drawback of having the copies upon glass: i think, however, that some white flexible substance may be found, upon which the collodion, albumen, &c., may be spread; but if they be intended for framing, of course they are better on glass. the general effect is that of a sepia drawing. the picture first taken and used as a negative, may be preserved as a positive by removing the white back, and treating it in the usual manner. permit me to observe, that much confusion arises from the _manner_ in which the terms positive and negative are often used; a negative glass picture is frequently spoken of as a definite, distinct thing; this is not the case, for all photographic pictures upon glass are both negative and positive, accordingly as they are seen upon a back of lighter or darker shade than the reduced silver--by transmitted or reflected light. a picture intended to be printed from is no more a negative than another, its positive character being merely obscured by longer exposure in the camera. when first removed from the developing solution, glass pictures are negative, because they are seen upon the iodide of silver, which is a light ground. this is a thing of course well known to many of your readers, but beginners are, i know, often puzzled by it. wm. tudor mabley. manchester. _powdered alum--how does it act?_--sir w. newton has again kindly informed me of _his motive_ for using the powdered alum, which in "n. & q." (vol. vii., p. .) he asserts readily removes the hyposulphite of soda. what is the _rationale_ of the chemical action upon the hyposulphite of soda? w. adrian delferier. . sloane square. * * * * * replies to minor queries. _chatterton_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. m. g. informs n. b. that he is possessed of the whole of the late mr. hazlewood's collection of volumes, tracts, and cuttings from periodicals, published during the period when the rowleian and chattertonian { } controversy engrossed so much of public criticism and dispute. he has likewise various other articles relating to chatterton, both in print and manuscript, collected during many years that he was resident at and connected with bristol, which then naturally interested him in the subject. but what would be of far greater use to n. b. in ascertaining who was the author of the rowleian poems, is an essay in manuscript, recently furnished to j. m. g. by a gentleman now resident in bristol, whose ancestors were acquainted with chatterton's family, and who has in this document shown, not only great archæological research, but has thrown much new light upon various disputed points both relative to chatterton's relations and friends, which go far to settle the opinion, that the venerable rowley, and not the boy chatterton, was the writer of the poems. j. m. g. is afraid that this subject is one, the revival of which would fail to interest the public mind, or he might be induced to publish the essay, to which he has reason to believe that its author would give his consent; and should j. m. g. again raise the controversy by sending to "n. & q." any detached parts, he is apprehensive that the subjects of them would not meet with the attention they formerly would have done. j. m. g. worcester. _princes' whipping-boys_ (vol. v., pp. . .).--in your publication are notices respecting two whipping-boys, edward browne and william murray, who both endured punishment for the offences of english princes. i, however, think it not improbable such infliction was perpetrated in other kingdoms, and perhaps in spain, for the improvement of philip iii. or some such worthy scion of royalty. le sage, who was a most incomparable observer of men and manners, has, in his admirable novel of _gil blas_, introduced, with purely natural humour, and in his style so _naïf_, an instance of such mode of correction. in livre ième, chap. i., there is the history of don raphaël, who at twelve years of age was selected by the marquis de leganez to be the companion of his son of the same age, who "ne paraissait pas né pour les sciences," and scarcely knew a letter of his alphabet. the story goes on with describing various endeavours of his masters to induce him to apply to his studies, but without success: till at last the _précepteur_ thought of the expedient to give _le fouet_ to young raphaël whenever the little leganez deserved it; and this he did without mercy, till raphaël determined to elope from the roof of the marquis de leganez: and in some degree to revenge himself for all the injustice he had suffered, took with him all the _argent comptant_ of the précepteur, amounting to one hundred and fifty ducats. in concluding, i may observe that there is a very neat edition of _gil blas_ lately published in paris, with _illustrated vignettes_ by _gigoux_, one of which represents the précepteur operating upon the unfortunate raphaël: "... horribili sectêre flagello."--_hor._ and young leganez looking on seemingly unconcerned! [theta]. richmond. "_grub street journal_" (vol. vii., p. .).--some particulars relating to this work are given in drake's _essays on the rambler, &c._, vol. i. p. . f. r. a. "_pinch of snuff_" (vol. vi., p. ).--i have been informed by a gentleman conversant in literary matters, that the author or compiler of this little volume was benson earle hill, formerly an officer in the artillery, but at the time of his death (circa - ) a performer or prompter at one of the theatres in the strand. i may here mention another humorous little work, closely allied to the above, and entitled _a paper of tobacco; treating of the rise, progress, pleasures and advantages of smoking: with anecdotes of distinguished smokers, mems. on pipes and tobacco-boxes: and a tritical essay on snuff. by joseph fume_. nd ed., with additions. lond. chapman and hall, . mo. it contains six spirited and characteristic etchings by "phiz," besides several woodcuts; and is a very amusing book, well worthy of being enlarged, for which there are ample materials both in prose and rhyme. f. r. a. _race for canterbury_ (vol. vii., p. .).--j. f. infers that hoadley was a competitor with herring and gibson for the archiepiscopal throne after the death of bishop potter, because he is mentioned in some lines under the woodcut broadside in his possession. he may also find him alluded to in the last lines of the other print in his possession: "then may he win the prize who none will oppress, and the palace at lambeth be _benjamin's_ mess." benjamin being benjamin hoadley. i have two other prints upon this subject, besides the three mentioned by j. f. in one which has the title "for lambeth," the bishop in the most distant boat has dropt his oars, sits with his arms across, looks very sulky, and exclaims, "damn my scull." the other is entitled "haw'y haw'y l--b-th haw'y." three bishops, as in the others, are rowing towards lambeth: a fourth, approaching in an opposite direction, is rowing "against tide." in the foreground are two groups. in one, two noblemen are addressing three competing bishops: "let honour be the reward of virtue, and not interest." one bishop says: "i give it up till { } next." another holds a paper, inscribed " , l. for it." in the other group, two noblemen are promising to different bishops. another bishop is fighting his way through boatmen; and two persons are running forward as candidates for an archdeaconry or dean of arches. underneath are two lines: "sculls, sculls to lambeth! see how hard they pull 'em! but sure the temple's nearer much than fulham." _temple_ alluding to sherlock, _fulham_ to gibson. underneath this print, some one, perhaps horace walpole, mistaking the date and the subject, has written: "the man whose place they thought to take is still alive, and still _a wake_." there is still another print entitled "lambeth," where three bishops are rowing from lambeth, with the word "disappointed" under them. a fourth is rowed towards lambeth by a waterman, who exclaims "your're all bob'd!" edw. hawkins. _chichester pallant_ (vol. vii., p. .).--chichester, i need not say, is of roman foundation, and has several marks of its roman origin; the little stream that runs through it is called the _lavant_, evidently from _lavando_. the _pallant_, the chief quarter of the town, and, of old, a _separate jurisdiction_, was called "palatinus sive palenta." "palantia, palatinatus," says ducange, "jurisdictio ejus qui habet jus lites decidendi supremo jure." the _pallant_ of chichester is not to be confounded with the bishop's _palace_. it is in a different district, and was, no doubt, from roman times, a separate _palatine_ jurisdiction. c. _scarfs worn by clergymen_ (vol. vii., pp. . .).--as mr. jebb has intervened voluntarily in this question, not merely as an inquirer or reasoner, but as an _evidence_ to _facts_, i hope i may be allowed to ask him his authority for the distinction "between broad and narrow scarfs." after this assertion as to the _fact_, he adds his own personal authority of having "in his boyhood _heard mention_ made of that distinction." as i do not know his age, i would beg to ask _when_ and _where_ he heard that _mention_; and to make my inquiry more clear, i would ask whether he has any (and what) authority for the _fact_ of the distinction beyond having "in his boyhood _heard mention_ of it?" we must get at the facts before we can reason on them. c. _alicia lady lisle_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the lady referred to was alice, or alicia, daughter and coheir of sir white beconsawe: she was beheaded at winchester, . the jury by whom she was tried had, it is stated, thrice acquitted her; but the judge, that disgrace to human nature, jefferies, insisted upon a conviction. her husband was john lisle the regicide, a severe republican, and one of the protector's lords. an account of the family will be found in _curious memoirs of the protectorate house of cromwell_, vol. i. p. . the family of the present lord lisle, whose family name is _lysaght_, and elevated to the peerage of ireland in , has nothing to do with that of the republican court. respecting the old baronies of lisle, full accounts will be found in the admirable report of the claim to that barony by sir harris nicolas, one of the counsel for the claimant, sir john shelley sidney: vo. lond. . g. _major-general lambert_ (vol. vii., p. .).--major-general lambert appears, from a meagre memoir of him given in the _history of malham in yorkshire_, by thomas hursley: vo. , to have descended from a very ancient family in that county. according to the register of kirkby malhamdale, he was born at calton hall, in that parish, th of september, , and lost his father at the age of thirteen. on the th of september, , he married frances, daughter of his neighbour sir william lister, of thornton, in craven, then in her seventeenth year, and said to have been a most elegant and accomplished lady. nothing seems to be known as to the precise time or place of the death of lambert or his wife, beyond the tradition of his having been imprisoned in cornet castle, in the island of guernsey, after the restoration, and that he remained in confinement thirty years. his marriage is confirmed in the account of lord ribblesdale's family in collins' _peerage_, vol. viii. edition brydges. john lambert, son and heir of the major-general, married barbara, daughter of thomas lister, of arnoldsbigging, and had by her three sons, who all died v. p., and one daughter, who was the wife of sir john middleton, of belsay castle, in northumberland, and became the heir-general of her family. pepys speaks of lady lambert in . perhaps these very imperfect notices may elicit further information,--on which account only can they be worthy of a place in "n. & q." braybrooke. _mistletoe_ (vol. iii., pp. . .).--in addition to the trees, on which the mistletoe grows, mentioned by "the late learned mr. ray" in the quotation cited by dr. wilbraham falconer, i subjoin others named in jesse's _country life_, some of which i have had opportunities of verifying viz., horse-chestnut; maple (_acer opalus_, _a. rubrum_, _a. campestre_); poplar (_populus alba_, _p. nigra_, _p. fastigiata_); acacia, laburnum, pear; large-leaved sallow (_salix caprea_); locust tree (_robinia pseudo-acacia_); larch, scotch fir, spruce fir; service tree (_pyrus domestica_); hornbeam { } (_carpinus ostrya_); _loranthus europæus_ (itself a parasite); olive, vine, walnut, plum, common laurel, medlar, grey poplar. the localities and authorities are stated. in answer to your correspondent ache, i may add, that the opinion of recent botanists is contrary to sir thomas browne's notion with reference to the propagation of the seed; for it is known that the seeds, in germinating, send their radicles into the plant to which they are attached; and grow afterwards as true parasites, selecting certain chemical ingredients in preference to others. the mistletoe has never been known to grow in ireland; but its frequency in various parts of the world--in france, italy, greece, and parts of asia--has been remarked by travellers. its use seems to be to provide food for birds during those rare seasons of scarcity, when a very sparing supply of other fruits and seeds can be procured. robert cooke. scarborough. _the sizain_ (vol. vi., p. .; vol. vii., p. .).--i know not whether any one of the sizains you have published may be the original, from which all the others must be considered as imitations or parodies; but they bring to my mind an english example, which i met with many years ago in some book of miscellanies. i do not recollect whether the book in question attributed it to any particular author; who, i presume, must have been some staunch adherent for protestant ascendancy in the early part of the last century: "our three great enemies remember, the pope, the devil, and the pretender. all wicked, damnable, and evil, the pope, the pretender, and the devil. i wish them all hung on one rope, the devil, the pretender, and the pope." since writing the foregoing, the following has been dictated to me from recollection; which may be referred to about the period of george iii.'s last illness: "you should send, if aught should ail ye, for willis, heberden, or baillie. all exceeding skilful men, baillie, willis, heberden. uncertain which most sure to kill is, baillie, heberden, or willis." m. h. _venda_ (vol. vii., p. .).--this word, in portuguese, signifies a place where wine and meat are sold by retail in a tavern. it also appears to answer to the spanish _venta_, a road-side inn; something between the french and english inn, and the eastern caravansaries. in the places which c. e. f. mentions, _venda_ in portugal is like osteria in italy, of which plenty will be seen on the plains of the campagna at rome. t. k. _meaning of "assassin"_ (vol. vii., p. .).--we owe this word to the crusaders, no doubt; but muhammed will find a very interesting account of the word in the rev. c. trench's admirable little work _on the study of words_. see also gibbon's _decline and fall_, chap. lxiv.; to which, if i remember rightly, mr. trench also refers. r. j. s. if muhammed would take the trouble of looking into the translation of von hammer's _geschichte der assassinen_, or, a more common book, _the secret societies of the middle ages_, he would find that there _was_ "a nation of the assassins;" and that his idea of the derivation of the name, which was first indicated by de sacy, is the received one. t. k. _dimidium scientiæ_ (vol. vii., p. .).--mr. b. b. woodward will find lord bacon's sententia, "prudens interrogatio quasi dimidium scientiæ," in his _de augmentis scientiarum_, lib. v. cap. iii., "partitio inventivæ argumentorum in promptuariam et topicam." bibliothecar. chetham. _epigrams_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the true version of the epigram on dr. toe, which i heard or read about fifty years ago, is as follows: "'twixt footman john and doctor toe, a rivalship befel, which should become the fav'rite beau, and bear away the belle. "the footman won the lady's heart; and who can wonder? no man: the whole prevail'd against the part,-- 'twas _foot_-man versus _toe_-man." perhaps the "john" ought to be "thomas;" for i find, on the same page of my common-place book, the following: "dear lady, think it no reproach, it show'd a generous mind, to take poor thomas in the coach, who rode _before behind_. "dear lady, think it no reproach, it show'd you lov'd the more, to take poor thomas in the coach, who rode _behind before_." scrapiana. _use of tobacco before the discovery of america_ (vol. iv., p. .).--sandys, in the year , mentions the use of tobacco as a custom recently introduced, at constantinople, by the english. (see _modern traveller_.) meyen, however, in his _outlines of the geography of plants_, as translated for the ray society, says: "the consumption of tobacco in the chinese empire is of immense extent, and the practice seems to be of great antiquity; for on very old sculptures i have observed the very same tobacco pipes which are still used. { } _besides, we now know the plant which furnishes the chinese tobacco: it is even said to grow wild in the east indies. it is certain that the tobacco plant of eastern asia is quite different from the american species._" this is the opinion of a botanist at once distinguished for extensiveness of research and accuracy of detail; although mr. j. crawford, in a paper read before the statistical society, on the th of november, , seems to incline to a contrary notion. it is, however, necessary to remark that his facts tend rather to elucidate the statistics of the plant than its natural character, so that meyen's opinion must, i think, stand good until it be disproved. seleucus. _oldham, bishop of exeter_ (vol. vii., p. .).--perhaps it may help j. d. in his difficulty touching the difference between the coat of arms borne by oldham, bishop of exeter, and that borne by the oldham family at _hatherleigh_, to be informed of what i believe he will find, upon inquiry, to be the fact, viz. that _laing_ was the original name of the present family of oldham at hatherleigh; and that, consequently, the arms of laing may possibly still be borne by them. * * oxford. bishop hugh oldham, b.c.l., was one of the family of oldenham, of oldenham, co. lancaster, which gave for arms, sable, between three owls arg., a chevron or: in chief, of the third, three roses, gules. richard oldham, bishop of sodor, was abbot of chester in . hugh was born in goulburn street, oldham, and educated at exeter college, oxford, and at queen's college, cambridge: he was rector of st. mildred's, bread street, sept. , ; swineshead, february , ; wareboys, march , ; shitlington, august , ; vicar of cheshunt, july , ; overton, april , ; canon of st. stephen's, westminster, ; prebendary of south aulton in sarum, september, ; of newington in st. paul's, march , ; of south cave in york, august , ; archdeacon of exeter, february , ; chaplain to margaret, countess of richmond, and master of st. john's, lichfield, ; and st. leonard's hospital, bedford, january , . he was the founder of manchester high school, and was consecrated between december and january , . he was a great benefactor to corpus christi college in oxford; and the intimate friend of bishop smyth, co-founder of brasenose college, with whom he had been brought up in the household of thomas, earl of derby. he died june , , and was buried in st. saviour's chapel in exeter cathedral. these notes are taken from a ms. history of the english episcopate, which it is my hope to give to the public. mackenzie walcott, m.a. _tortoiseshell tom cat._--i am pretty certain that i once saw in "n. & q." an inquiry whether there ever was a well-authenticated instance of a tortoiseshell tom cat. the inclosed advertisement, which i have cut from _the times_ of the th january, , will perhaps give some of your readers an opportunity of testing the fact: "to be sold, a real tortoiseshell tom cat. this natural rarity is fifteen months old and eight lbs. weight. apply to john sayer, mr. bennison's, bookseller, market-drayton, salop." l. l. l. [the inquiry will be found in our th vol., p. .] _irish rhymes_ (vol. vi., and vol. vii., p. .).--cuthbert bede, in his notice of the irish rhymes in swift's poetry, quoted one couplet in which _put_ rhymes to _cut_. is this pronunciation of the word _put_ an irishism? a late distinguished divine, who, although he occupied an irish see, was certainly no irishman, and who was remarkably particular and, i believe, correct in his diction, always pronounced this word in this manner (as indeed every other word with the same termination is pronounced: as _rut_, _cut_, _shut_, _nut_, _but_, &c.). the bishop to whom i allude pronounced the word thus, long before he ever had any communication with ireland: and it is strange that, although i have been in ireland myself, i never heard _put_ pronounced so as to rhyme with _cut_ by any native of that island. rubi. the following extract is a note by lord mahon, in vol. i. p. . of his edition of lord chesterfield's _letters to his son_ (bentley, ). i cannot see how the quotation from boswell bears upon either _accent_ or _cadence_; it appears to relate entirely to different modes of pronunciation: "it may be observed, however, that the questions of what are 'false accents and cadences' in our language appear to have been far less settled in lord chesterfield's time than at present. dr. johnson says: 'when i published the plan for my dictionary, lord chesterfield told me that the word _great_ should be pronounced so as to rhyme with _state_; and sir william yonge sent me word, that it should be pronounced so as to rhyme to _seat_, and that none but an irishman would pronounce it _grait_. now, here were two men of the highest rank,--the one the best speaker in the house of lords, the other the best speaker in the house of commons--differing entirely."--boswell's _life_, notes of march , . c. forbes. temple. _consecrated rings_ (vol. vii., p. .).--the inquiry opened by sir w. c. t. is shown to be one of much interest by the able communication of your correspondent ceyrep. i trust he will excuse me in expressing strong doubts as to { } havering, the chapel in essex, being so called from "having the ring." nothing is more dangerous to any etymological solution than the being guided by the sound of words, rather than by the probable derivation of the name of the place or thing signified. i am aware that camden says havering is called so for the above-stated reason; and other compilers of topography have followed what i venture to suggest is an error. _habban_, in anglo-saxon, means to have; and _ring_ is ring--this is not to be denied; but in the general (and let me add excellent) rules for the investigation of names of places affixed to the late dr. ingram's _translation of the saxon chronicle_, i find _aver_ is from aver, br., the mouth of a river, ford, or lake; and _ing_, it is well known, is a frequent termination for the names of places--its import in anglo-saxon being a meadow. how far "the meadow near the source of the river, or stream" applies to the site of _havering_, i will leave to those more competent than myself to decide, but offer the suggestion to the consideration of ceyrep and others. c. i. r. _brasses since _ (vol. vi., pp. . .).--in connexion with the subject of late brasses, a rubbing which i took from one in masham church, yorkshire, may not be unworthy of a note. it runs thus: "christopher kay, buried october the d, anno dom. . [mrs. jane nichollson, bu. june the th, .] c onfined . in . a . bed . of . dust h ere . doth . a . body . lye r aised . again . it . will . i . trvst i nto . the . heavens . high s in . not . bvt . have . a . care t o . make . yovr . calling . svre o mit . those . things . which . trivial . are p rise . that . we . will . indure h ange . not . your . mind . on . secular . things e ach . one . doth . fade . apace r iches . the . chief . of . we . hath . wings. [a . matron . grave . is . here . interr'd whose . soul . in . heaven . is . preferr'd aftwher . grandson . lost . his . breath she . soon . svrrender'd . vnto . death.] k eeping . no . certaine . place a dict . your . selues . unto . his . conuersation y our . purchase . heaven . for . your . habitation." this, it will be seen, is an acrostic: the lines between brackets are insertions. wm. procter. york. _derivation of lowbell_ (vol. vii., p. .).--in my younger days i frequently had occasion to draw out (from old established precedent) the form of an appointment, by the lord, of a gamekeeper for a manor, in which the latter was authorised and required to seize and destroy all and all manner of gins, snares, springs, &c., including a dozen or more technical words, one of which was "lowbells." the manors in question were in dorsetshire and somersetshire, but i doubt not but that the same form was adopted in other counties in various parts of england. being strongly impressed with the familiarity of the word on reading h. t. w.'s note, i was induced to refer to johnson's _dictionary_, where i find my own notion fully borne out as follows: "lowbell.--a kind of fowling in the night, in which the birds are wakened by a bell and lured by a flame." at this moment i have only the abridged edition ( rd edition, ) to refer to, and that does not give any reference or authority for the definition in question. i would observe, however, that i believe "loke" is either a saxon or scandinavian word, signifying a flame or firebrand, which, coupled with "bell," fully bears out the definition, and i think sufficiently accounts for the term "lowbelling" in h. t. w.'s note, as the offender might have been greeted with bells and firebrands in lieu of the "tin pots and kettles," or by way of addition to them. may not this also serve to explain what is considered as a puzzling term in beaumont and fletcher? lowell being nothing more nor less than a snare, may not "peace, gentle lowbell," mean "peace, gentle ensnarer?" m. h. _the negative given to the demand of the clergy at merton_ (vol. vii., p. .).--warburton agrees with bishop hurd on this subject, for he observes as follows, in one of his letters (the th), that-- "at a parliament under henry iii., 'rogaverunt omnes episcopi ut consentirent quod nati ante matrimonium essent legitimi, et omnes comites et barones una voce responderunt quod nolunt leges angliæ mutari.' this famous answer has been quoted a thousand and a thousand times, and yet nobody seems to have understood the management. the bishops, as partizans of the pope, were for subjecting england to the imperial and papal laws, and therefore began with a circumstance most to the taste of the barons. the barons smelt the contrivance; and rejected a proposition most agreeable to them, for fear of the consequences, the introduction of the imperial laws, whose very genius and essence was arbitrary despotic power. their answer shows it: 'nolumus leges angliæ mutari:' they had nothing to object to the reform, but they were afraid for the constitution." c. i. r. _nugget_ (vol. vi., pp. . .; vol. vii., p. .).--t. k. arrogantly sets aside the etymology of w. s.; and, in lieu of the persian _nugud_ of the latter, would have us believe that _nugget_ is nothing more than a yankee corruption of _an ingot_. i { } hold with w. s. notwithstanding, and so will all who have had any dealings with the _bengalees_: the term _nuggut pisa_ being with them a common one for "hard cash;" and as the hindostanee language is largely indebted to the persian, the derivation of w. s. is no doubt correct. to account for its occurrence in australia, it is only necessary to say that that country has been for some years past a _sanatarium_ for the debilitated _qui hye's_, many of whom have settled there; and becoming interested in the "diggings," have given the significant term of _nuggut_ to what has in reality turned out _hard cash_, both to them and to certain lucky gentlemen in this city--holders of the script of the "great _nuggut_ vein" of australia. j. o. _blackguard_ (vol. vii., p. .).--it may, in some degree, support the first portion of the argument so interestingly stated by sir j. emerson tennent respecting the derivation of this term, to record that, in my youth, when at school at the new academy in edinburgh, some five or six-and-twenty years ago, i used frequently to be engaged, with my schoolfellows, in regular pitched battles, technically called by us _bickers_, with the town boys, consisting chiefly of butchers' and bakers' boys, whom we were accustomed to designate as _the blackguards_, without, i am sure, ever attaching to that word the more opprobrious meaning which it now generally bears; but only indicating by it those of a lower rank in life than ourselves, _the gentlemen_. may i venture to add, that whilst the former portion of sir j. e. tennent's note seems to me to be fully satisfactory in proof that the term _blackguard_ is originally derived from the ancient appellation of menials employed in the lowest and most dirty offices of a great household, and that it is thus purely english,--the last two paragraphs, on the other hand, appear to advocate an unnecessary and far-fetched derivation of the word from the french, and which, i humbly conceive, the true sense of the alleged roots, _blague_, _blaguer_, _blagueur_, by no means justifies; it being impossible to admit that these are, in any sort, "corresponding terms" with _blackguard_. g. w. r. gordon. stockholm. * * * * * miscellaneous. notes on books, etc. long and anxiously has the reading public been looking for mr. layard's account of his further discoveries in nineveh and babylon. that account has at length appeared in one large octavo volume, under the title of _discoveries in the ruins of nineveh and babylon, with travels in armenia, kurdistan, and the desert, being the result of a second expedition undertaken for the trustees of the british museum, by_ austen h. layard, m.p., and is enriched with maps, plans, and woodcut illustrations, to the extent of some hundreds. and on examining it we find that the vast amount of new light which mr. layard's discoveries in the wide and hitherto untilled field of assyrian antiquities had already thrown on sacred history, is increased to a great extent by those further researches, of which the details are now given to the public. with his ready powers of observation, and his talent for graphic description, mr. layard's book, as a mere volume of travels over a country of such interest, would well repay perusal: but when we find in addition, as we do in every page and line, fresh and startling illustration of the truth of holy writ--when we have put before us such pictures of what nineveh and babylon must have been, and find, as we do, men distinguished in every branch of learning lending their assistance to turn mr. layard's discoveries to the best account, we feel we cannot be too loud in our praises of mr. layard's zeal, energy, and judgment, or too grateful to mr. murray for giving us at once the results which those qualities have enabled mr. layard to gain for us, in so cheap, complete, yet fully embellished a form. the blockade of mainz was not a bad day for the already world-renowned story of _reynard the fox_, since that led göthe to dress the old fable up again in his musical hexameters, and so give it new popularity. from göthe's version a very able and spirited english paraphrase is now in the course of publication. we say paraphrase, because the author of _reynard the fox, after the german version of göthe, with illustrations by_ j. wolf, takes as his motto the very significant but appropriate description which göthe gave of his own work, "zwischen uebersetzung und umarbeitung schwebend." however, the version is a very pleasant one, and the illustrations are characteristic and in good taste. an _antiquarian photographic club_, for the exchange among its members of photographs of objects of antiquarian interest, on the principle of the _antiquarian etching club_, is in the course of formation. books received.--_the family shakspeare, in which nothing is added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read in a family, by_ t. bowdler, vol. v., containing troilus and cressida, coriolanus, julius cæsar, antony and cleopatra, and cymbeline.--the new volume of bohn's _standard library_ contains the eighth and concluding volume of the _history of the christian church_, as published by neander. the publisher holds out a prospect of a translation of the posthumous volume compiled from neander's papers by dr. schneider, and with it of a general index to the whole work.--_the physical and metaphysical works of lord bacon, including his dignity and advancement of learning, in nine books, and his novum organum, or precepts for the interpretation of nature_, by joseph devey, m.a., forms the new volume of bohn's _scientific library_. * * * * * { } books and odd volumes wanted to purchase. gmelin's handbook of chemistry. inorganic part. archÆologia. vols. iii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., x., xxvii., xxviii., unbound. the history of shenstone, by the rev. h. saunders. to. london, . lubbock's elementary treatise on the tides. transactions of the microscopical society of london. vol. i., and parts i. and ii. of vol. ii. curtis's botanical magazine. st and nd series collected. todd's cyclopÆdia of anatomy and physiology. complete, or any portion. gladstone's (w. e.) two letters to the earl of aberdeen on the state prosecutions of the neapolitan government. st edition. vo. swift's works. dublin: g. faulkner. vols. vo. . vol. i. pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. original edition. vol. i. the book of adam. the christian magazine. vol. for . pro matrimonio principis cum defunctÆ uxoris sorore contracto responsum juris collegii jurisconsultorum in academia rintelensi (circa ). monner jurisconsult., de matrimonio. brÜckner, de matrimonio. *** _correspondents sending lists of books wanted are requested to send their names._ *** letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to mr. bell, publisher of "notes and queries." . fleet street. * * * * * notices to correspondents. [omega]. [phi]. _the volume referred to is the well-known reprint of the first edition of shakspeare._ tyro. _how can we address a letter to this correspondent?_ a. c. w. _the_ yolk _of an egg is the_ yelk, _or yellow of the egg. in beaumont and fletcher's_ wife for a month _it is so written_: "like to poach'd eggs, that had the _yelk_ suck'd out." _see richardson's_ dictionary, s. v. jarltzberg. _the name_ radical _is only an abbreviated form of_ radical reformer, _which was the title originally assumed by the political party now known as_ radicals. c. e. b. (m.d.) dublin. _the query shall be immediately inserted, if forwarded. the former does not appear to have been received._ recnac. _douce_ (illustrations of shakspeare, vol. i. p. .), _speaking of the passage_ "sans teeth, sans eyes," _&c., shows that the word_ sans, _introduced into our language as early as the time of chaucer, has sometimes received on the stage a french pronunciation, which in the time of shakspeare it certainly had not_. h. henderson (glasgow). _glass may be cemented for photographic baths, &c. with sealing-wax. we think our correspondent would find dr. diamond's collodion process far simpler than that which he is following._ replies to photographic querists _next week_. mr. weld taylor's cheap method of iodizing paper _in our next number_. gookins of ireland, and bitton, gloucestershire (vol. vi., p. .).--will j. f. f. allow me the favour of his address, to enable me to transmit to him some papers relating to the gookins? he will much oblige h. t. ellacombe.--clyst st. george, devon. * * * * * collection of antiquities, books, &c., of the late ed. price, esq., f.s.a. puttick and simpson, auctioneers of literary property, will sell by auction, at their great room, . piccadilly, during the present month, the interesting collection of antiquities of the late ed. price, esq., f.s.a., including many valuable specimens of roman, saxon, and other pottery, coins, ancient and mediæval metal work, and other interesting objects, many of which have been engraved in the various archæological and pictorial journals, and have been the subject of frequent reference in "notes and queries." catalogues will be sent on application. * * * * * mr. gladstone's election. just published in vo., price s. a statement of facts connected with the election of the right hon. w. e. gladstone as member for the university of oxford in , and with his re-elections in and , by sir stafford h. northcote, bart., a member of mr. gladstone's committee. oxford and london: j. h. parker. * * * * * in fcp. vo. price s. d. ecclesiÆ anglicanÆ religio, disciplina, ritusque sacri: cosini episcopi dunelmensis opusculum. accedunt argumenta quædam breviora de fide catholicâ ac reformatione anglicanâ. in appendice, ecclesiæ anglicanæ catechismus. edidit fredricus meyrick, m.a., coll. s. s. trinitat. apud oxon. socius. oxonii, apud j. h. parker. * * * * * just published, with etchings, price s. an urgent plea for the revival of true principles of architecture in the public buildings of the university of oxford. by george edmund street, f.s.a., diocesan architect for the diocese of oxford. oxford and london: j. h. parker. * * * * * a literary curiosity, sent free by post on receipt of three postage stamps. a fac-simile of a very remarkably curious, interesting, and droll newspaper of charles ii.'s period. j. h. fennell, . warwick court, holborn, london. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post, s. d. directions for obtaining positive and negative pictures, by the collodion process, and for printing the proofs in various colours upon paper, by t. hennah. the ammonio-iodide of silver in collodion, for taking portraits or views on glass, cannot be surpassed in quickness or delicacy of detail. chemicals of absolute purity especially prepared for this art. every description of apparatus with the most recent improvements. instruction given in the art. delatouche & co., . oxford street. * * * * * to members of learned societies, authors, &c. ashbee & dangerfield, lithographers, draughtsmen, and printers, . broad court, long acre. a. & d. respectfully beg to announce that they devote particular attention to the execution of ancient and modern facsimiles, comprising autograph letters, deeds, charters, title-pages, engravings, woodcuts, &c., which they produce from any description of copies with the utmost accuracy, and without the slightest injury to the originals. among the many purposes to which the art of lithography is most successfully applied, may be specified,--archÆological drawings, architecture, landscapes, marine views, portraits from life or copies, illuminated mss., monumental brasses, decorations, stained glass windows, maps, plans, diagrams, and every variety of illustrations requisite for scientific and artistic publications. photographic drawings lithographed with the greatest care and exactness. lithographic offices, . broad court, long acre, london. * * * * * to book buyers.--all readers, collectors, librarians, and persons fond of literature or literary information, should not delay sending for a catalogue (gratis) published nearly every month, of purchases of books, old and new, at extraordinary low prices, and in good condition, in every department. english and foreign, to thomas cole, . great turnstile, lincoln's-inn-fields, london. * * * * * just published, no. i. price d., or stamped d., of the journal of the photographic society. contents. introductory remarks.--inaugural meeting of the society.--proceedings at the first ordinary meeting.--papers read: . sir william j. newton upon photography in an artistic view; . mr. r. fenton on the objects of the photographic society; . dr. j. percy on the waxed-paper process.--review and correspondence. no. ii. will be published on the last day of this month. taylor & francis, red lion court, fleet street. * * * * * bennett's model watch, as shown at the great exhibition, no. . class x., in gold and silver cases, in five qualities, and adapted to all climates, may now be had at the manufactory, . cheapside. superior gold london-made patent levers, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. first-rate geneva levers, in gold cases, , , and guineas. ditto, in silver cases, , , and guineas. superior lever, with chronometer balance, gold, , , and guineas. bennett's pocket chronometer, gold, guineas; silver, guineas. every watch skilfully examined, timed, and its performance guaranteed. barometers, l., l., and l. thermometers from s. each. bennett, watch, clock, and instrument maker to the royal observatory, the board of ordnance, the admiralty, and the queen, . cheapside. * * * * * { } ross's photographic portrait and landscape lenses.--these lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. _great exhibition jurors' reports_, p. . "mr. ross prepares lenses for portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. the spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils." "mr. ross has exhibited the best camera in the exhibition. it if furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. there is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." catalogues sent upon application. a. ross, . featherstone buildings, high holborn. * * * * * to photographers.--mr. philip delamotte begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing calotypes in large or small quantities, either from paper or glass negatives. gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of mr. delamotte's printing at his own residence, . chepstow place, bayswater, or at mr. george bell's, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--xylo-iodide of silver, prepared solely by r. w. thomas, has now obtained an european fame; it supersedes the use of all other preparations of collodion. witness the subjoined testimonial. " . regent street "dear sir,--in answer to your inquiry of this morning, i have no hesitation in saying that your preparation of collodion is incomparably better and more sensitive than all the advertised collodio-iodides, which, for my professional purposes, are quite useless when compared to yours. "i remain, dear sir, "yours faithfully, "n. henneman. aug. . . to mr. r.w. thomas." mr. r. w. thomas begs most earnestly to caution photographers against purchasing impure chemicals, which are now too frequently sold at very low prices. it is to this cause nearly always that their labours are unattended with success. chemicals of absolute purity, especially prepared for this art, may be obtained from r. w. thomas, chemist and professor of photography, . pall mall. n.b.--the name of mr. t.'s preparation, xylo-iodide of silver, is made use of by unprincipled persons. to prevent imposition each bottle is stamped with a red label bearing the maker's signature. * * * * * photographic pictures.--a selection of the above beautiful productions may be seen at bland & long's, . fleet street, where may also be procured apparatus of every description, and pure chemicals for the practice of photography in all its branches. calotype, daguerreotype, and glass pictures for the stereoscope. bland & long, opticians, philosophical and photographical instrument makers, and operative chemists, . fleet street. * * * * * photography.--horne & co.'s iodized collodion, for obtaining instantaneous views, and portraits in from three to thirty seconds, according to light. portraits obtained by the above, for delicacy of detail rival the choicest daguerreotypes, specimens of which may be seen at their establishment. also every description of apparatus, chemicals, &c. &c. used in this beautiful art.-- . and . newgate street. * * * * * photography.--collodion (iodized with the ammonio-iodide of silver).--j. b. hockin & co., chemists, . strand, were the first in england who published the application of this agent (see _athenæum_, aug. th). their collodion (price d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the iodizing compound mixed as required. j. b. hockin & co. manufacture pure chemicals and all apparatus with the latest improvements adapted for all the photographic and daguerreotype processes. cameras for developing in the open country. glass baths adapted to any camera. lenses from the best makers. waxed and iodized papers, &c. * * * * * just published, price s., free by post s. d., the waxed-paper photographic process of gustave le gray's new edition. translated from the french. sole agents in the united kingdom for voightlander & son's celebrated lenses for portraits and views. general depôt for turner's, whatman's, canson frères', la croix, and other talbotype papers. pure photographic chemicals. instructions and specimens in every branch of the art. george knight & sons, foster lane, london. * * * * * photographic paper.--negative and positive papers of whatman's, turner's, sanford's, and canson frères' make. waxed-paper for le gray's process. iodized and sensitive paper for every kind of photography. sold by john sanford, photographic stationer, aldine chambers, . paternoster row, london. * * * * * western life assurance and annuity society. . parliament street, london. founded a.d. . _directors._ h. e. bicknell, esq. | j. h. goodhart, esq. w. cabell, esq. | t. grissell, esq. t. s. cocks, jun. esq., m.p. | j. hunt, esq. g. h. drew, esq. | j. a. lethbridge, esq. w. evans, esq. | e. lucas, esq. w. freeman, esq. | j. lys seager, esq. f. fuller, esq. | j. b. white, esq. | j. carter wood, esq. _trustees._ w. whateley, esq., q.c.; l. c. humfrey, esq., q.c.; george drew, esq., _physician._--william rich. basham, m.d. _bankers._--messrs. cocks, biddulph, and co., charing cross. valuable privilege. policies effected in this office do not become void through temporary difficulty in paying a premium, as permission is given upon application to suspend the payment at interest, according to the conditions detailed in the prospectus. specimens of rates of premium for assuring l., with a share in three-fourths of the profits:-- age £ s. d. | age £ s. d. | | | arthur scratchley, m.a., f.r.a.s., actuary. now ready, price s. d., second edition, with material additions, industrial investment and emigration: being a treatise on benefit building societies, and on the general principles of land investment, exemplified in the cases of freehold land societies, building companies, &c. with a mathematical appendix on compound interest and life assurance. by arthur scratchley, m.a., actuary to the western life assurance society, . parliament street, london. * * * * * established . medical, invalid, and general life office, . pall mall. during the last ten years, this society has issued more than _four thousand one hundred and fifty policies_-- covering assurances to the extent of _one million six hundred and eighty-seven thousand pounds, and upwards_-- yielding annual premiums amounting to _seventy-three thousand pounds_. this society is the only one possessing tables for the assurance of diseased lives. healthy lives assured at home and abroad at lower rates than at most other offices. a bonus of per cent. on the premiums paid was added to the policies at last division of profits. next division in --in which all policies effected before th june, , will participate. agents wanted for vacant places. prospectuses, forms of proposal, and every other information, may be obtained of the secretary at the chief office, or on application to any of the society's agents in the country. f. g. p. neison, actuary. c. douglas singer, secretary. * * * * * united kingdom life assurance company: established by act of parliament in .-- . waterloo place, pall mall, london. honorary presidents. earl of courtown earl leven and melville earl of norbury earl of stair viscount falkland lord elphinstone lord belhaven and stenton wm. campbell, esq., of tillichewan london board. _chairman._--charles graham, esq. _deputy-chairman._--charles downes, esq. h. blair avarne, esq. e. lennox boyd, esq., f.s.a., _resident_. c. berwick curtis, esq. william fairlie, esq. d. q. henriques, esq. j. g. henriques, esq. f. c. maitland, esq. william railton, esq. f. h. thomson, esq. thomas thorby, esq. medical officers. _physician._--arthur h. hassall, esq., m.d., . bennett street, st. james's. _surgeon._--f. h. tomson, esq., . berners street. the bonus added to policies from march, , to december , , is as follows:-- ---------+----------+--------------------+---------- sum | time | sum added to | sum assured. | assured. | policy | payable | +--------------------+ at death. | | in . in . | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- £ | | £ s.d.| £ s.d.| £ s.d. | years | | | * | years | - - | | | year | - - | | ---------+----------+---------+----------+---------- * example.--at the commencement of the year , a person aged thirty took out a policy for l., the annual payment for which is l. s. d.; in he had paid in premiums l. s. d.; but the profits being ¼ per cent. per annum on the sum insured (which is l. s. per annum for each l.) he had l. s. added to the policy, almost as much as the premiums paid. the premiums, nevertheless, are on the most moderate scale, and only one-half need be paid for the first five years, when the insurance is for life. every information will be afforded on application to the resident director. * * * * * { } hawkinson's seatonian prize poems. third edition, fcap., cloth, price s. poems. by thomas edwards hawkinson, m.a., late of corpus christi college, cambridge. london: t. hatchard, . piccadilly. * * * * * just published, twelfth edition, price s. proverbial philosophy. by martin f. tupper, of christ church, oxford. london: t. hatchard, . piccadilly. * * * * * venn's life. just published, seventh edition, fcap., price s. the life and a selection from the letters of the late rev. henry venn, m.a., author of "the complete duty of man," &c. edited by the rev. henry venn, b.d., prebendary of st. paul's. london: t. hatchard, . piccadilly. * * * * * to all who have farms or gardens. the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette, (the horticultural part edited by prof. lindley) of saturday, march , contains articles on beet, sugar, by mr. deane birds, predatory books, noticed calendar, horticultural ---- remarks on cattle, chest diseases in cedar and deodar, by mr. glendinning chemistry, agricultural, by johnstone, rev. coffee planting crops, theory of rotation of, by mr. russell deodar and cedar of lebanon ---- in morayshire, by mr. grigor drainage, by mr. mitchell farming, steam ---- tullian ---- careless forest, delamere, by mr. lipscomb fruits, changing names of fuchsia, culture of, by mr. mayle fungi, indian (with engraving) horticultural society's garden noticed hovea celsi hyacinths in glasses irrigation, italian, by capt. smith land, to fork, by mr. mechi law, cost of prosecutions mangold wurzel crop on a wheat stubble, expenses per acre, by mr. mechi plants, spring treatment of bedding, by mr. lucas ploughs and ploughing rothamsted and kilwhiss experiments, by mr. russell societies, proceedings of the horticultural--agricultural, of england steam power sugar beet, by mr. deane temperature of january, tubs, slate ustilago vittata (with engraving) weather statistics wheat, lois weedon system of growing, by mr. goodiff * * * * * the gardeners' chronicle and agricultural gazette contains, in addition to the above, the covent garden, mark lane, smithfield, and liverpool prices, with returns from the potato, hop, hay, coal, timber, bark, wool, and seed markets, and a _complete newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week_. order of any newsvender. office for advertisements, . upper wellington street, covent garden, london. * * * * * old london. "fac-simile" etchings of a set of drawings, showing the fortifications, round london, as directed to be done by the parliament in . no. s. d. . plan of the fortifications . a redoubt with two flanks, near st. giles' pound; a small fort at east end of tyburn road; a large fort, with four half-bulwarks, across the tyburn road . a small bulwark at oliver's mount, against tyburn brook . a large fort, with four bulwarks, on the reading road, beyond tyburn brook; a small redoubt and battery on the hill from st. james's park . a court of guard in chelsea road . a battery and breastwork in tothill fields . a quadrant fort, with four high breastworks, at foxhall . a fort, with four half-bulwarks, in st. george's fields . a large fort, with four bulwarks, at the end of blackman street . a redoubt, with four flanks, at the end of kent street . a bulwark and a half on the hill at the end of gravel lane (the view up the river showing london bridge, is very interesting) . a hornwork, near the church, at whitechapel street . a redoubt, with two flanks, at brick lane . a redoubt, at the hackney corner of shoreditch; a redoubt, at the corner of the road to edmonton, at shoreditch . a battery and breastwork, on the road to islington . a battery and breastwork, at the end of st. john street . a view of london from the north, showing the fortifications from whitechapel to tothill fields, also the old walls and gates of london, from the tower hill to ludgate. size inches by . (a marvellous view) . a battery at gray's inn lane . two batteries at southampton house . portrait of the author, captain john eyre, of col. cromwell's own regiment subscribers are requested to send their name to mr. peter thompson, . osnaburgh place, trinity church, regent's park (where the original drawings can be seen). the prints to be paid for on delivery. * * * * * new archÆological and historical publications. akerman's remains of pagan saxondom. to. with coloured plates. parts i. to iii. s. d. each. numismatic chronicle and journal of the numismatic society (quarterly). no. . s. d. bowman's reliquiÆ antiquiÆ eboracenses. remains of antiquity relating to the county of york to. plates. nos. to . s. d. each. the ulster journal of archÆology. to. part i. (quarterly.) s. per year. caulfield's episcopal and capitular seals of the irish cathedral churches. vo. part i. cashel and emly. plates, s. d. dunkin's archÆological mine. comprising the history of the county of kent. vo. parts i. to iii. d. each. hunter's (rev. joseph) historical and critical tracts. post vo. nos. to . s. d. each. suggestions on the ancient britons. vo. part i. s. d. publications of the antiquarian etching club for . to. plates. s. annually. retrospective review. comprising copious critical analyses of old books. vo. nos. and . (quarterly.) s. d. each. john russell smith, . soho square, london. * * * * * lord mahon's history of england. now ready, vol. ii. (to be completed in seven vols.), post vo., s. a history of england, from the peace of utrecht to the peace of versailles, - . by lord mahon. third and revised edition. (a volume to be published every two months.) john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * the devereux earls of essex. now ready, with portraits, vols. vo., s. lives of the earls of essex, in the reigns of elizabeth, james i., and charles i., - . founded upon many unpublished private letters and documents. by capt. the hon. walter bourchier devereux, r.n. john murray, albemarle street. * * * * * just published, pp. , plates , price s. a history of infusorial animalcules, living and fossil, with descriptions of all the species, and abstracts of the systems of ehrenberg, dujardin, kützing, siebold, &c. by andrew pritchard, esq., m.r.i. also, price s., a general history of animalcules, with engravings. also, price s. d., micrographia, or practical essays on microscopes. london: whittaker & co., ave maria lane. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. new street square, at no. new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher at no. . fleet street aforesaid.--saturday, march . . generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * index to the seventh volume. * * * * * a. [alpha]. on house-marks, . ---- eulenspiegel, . . a. (a. s.) on the origin of allen, . ---- bishops deprived by queen elizabeth, ; in scotland, , . ---- cardinal erskine, . ---- consecrators of english bishops, . ---- constables of france, . ---- gordon (lady) of gordonstoun, . ---- inglis and stanser (bishops), . ---- lyon king-at-arms, . ---- mary, daughter of james i., . ---- masque de fer, . ---- pursglove, suffragan of hull, . ---- routh, r. c. bishop of ossory, . ---- stanley (thomas), bishop of man, . ---- st. munoki's day, . ---- stewarts of holland, . ---- vicars-apostolic in england, . ---- watson (thomas), bishop of st. david's, . ---- wauchope, abp. of armagh, . ---- yolante de dreux, . abbati on roger pell, . abhba on archbishop king, . ---- donnybrook fair, . ---- dr. geo. miller, . ---- funeral custom, . ---- peter beaver, . ---- sir t. f. buxton, . ---- "strike, but hear me," . a. (b. m.) on fleshier of otley, . abrahall, eborale, or ebrall family, . acts xv. ., a passage in, . . acworth (g. b.) on parish registers, . ---- raffaelle's sposalizio, . "adam bell clym of the clough," . adams (g. e.) on the bland family, . adamson (alex.) noticed, . adamsoniana, . adamsons of perth, . a. (d. s.) on rosa mystica, . adsum on termination "-itis," . adulph (st.) noticed, . . advertising literature, curiosities of, . advocate on marriage in scotland, . a. (e. h.) on adamsoniana, . ---- adamsons of perth, . ---- alexander adamson, . ---- bells at funerals, . ---- bouillon bible, . ---- bourbon family, . ---- displeasure singularly shown, . ---- dr. marshall, . ---- dutens, anecdote of, . ---- frampton (bp.), . ---- ken (bp.), work attributed to him, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- philip d'auvergne, . ---- st. alban's day, . ---- scarfs worn by clergymen, . ---- smith's sermons, . a. (f. r.) on grub street journal, . ---- mary queen of scots, . ---- "pinch of snuff," . age, the feelings of, . . . agricola de monte on palindromical lines, . agrippa on alliterative pasquinade, . a. (h.) on bishop hesketh, . ---- inscription in rufford church, . aitch on the georgiad, . a. (j.) on the "rebellious prayer," . a. (j.) jun. on weather rules, . ajax on belgian ecclesiastical antiquities, . ---- ceylon map, . ---- flemish and dutch painters, . a. (j. h.) on drake the artist, . ---- hardening steel bars, . ---- turner's views, . a. (j. m.) on inscription on penny of geo. iii., . "a joabi alloquio," &c., its author, . . a. (j. s.) on belfry towers, . ---- early winters, . ---- longevity, . ---- pictures of spanish armada, . a. (j. t.) on "the birch," a poem, . ---- clerical portrait, . ake and ache, how pronounced, . alban (st.), the day of his festival, . album, origin of, . . aldiborontophoskophornio, . . aldrorandus on harley family, . algor (john) on sparse, its meaning, . [greek: halieus] on george miller, d.d., . ---- "letter to a convocation man," . ---- "pugna porcorum," . alison's europe, noticed, . allen, origin of this surname, . . . allen (r. j.) on wellington's first speech, . "all my eye," origin of, . alpha on coins of europe, . ---- drimtaidhvrickhillichattan, . alphabetical arrangement, . alphage on the meaning of tuck, . amanuensis on priests' surplices, . amateur on hogarth's works, . american fisheries, . ---- officers, their weight, . americanisms so called, . . . amicus on passage in schiller, . amusive, its proper meaning, . a. (n.) on lady anne gray, . anagrams, . . . andrews (alex.) on grub street journal, . ---- remuneration of authors, . andries de græff, . . annuellarius, . . . anon. on canker or brier rose, . ---- centenarian trading vessel, . ---- curfew bell, . ---- gloves at fairs, . ---- "mater ait natæ," . ---- marriage in scotland, . ---- monastic kitchener's account, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- randle wilbraham, . ---- rathe, . ---- ring of charles i., . ---- roger outlawe, . ---- turner's view of lambeth palace, . ---- weather rules, . ---- wednesday, a litany-day, . anonymous works: boy of heaven, . ---- country parson's advice, . ---- essay for a new translation of the bible, . . ---- history of formosa, . ---- impartial inquiry on faith, . ---- letters on prejudice, . . ---- letter to a convocation man, . . ---- life of queen anne, . ---- mémoires d'un homme d'etat, . ---- n. (s.) antidote against english sectaries, . ---- penardo and laissa, . . ---- percy anecdotes, . . ---- pinch of snuff, . ---- pompey the little, . ---- pugna porcorum, . . ---- pylades and corinna, . . ---- race for canterbury or lambeth, . . . . ---- temple of truth, . . ---- wanderings of memory, . anthony (john) on pic-nic, . antiquaries, society of, suggested alterations, . anywhen, its future use suggested, . . april the first, custom on, . arago on the weather, . . aram (eugene), his comparative lexicon, . aram on a quotation, . a. (r. b.) on lister family, . archer (f. scott) on originator of collodion process, . argot, its etymology, . aristotle's checks, . . armistead (c. j.) on church catechism, . arms in bristol cathedral, . . arms in dugdale's warwickshire, . arms in painted glass, . [greek: arnion], as used in the apocalypse, . arnold (gen. benedict), noticed, . arrowsmith (w. r.), notes on misunderstood words, . . . . . . arterus on shakspeare correspondence, . arundelian marbles, theobald's letter on, . ascension-day kept as a holiday, . assassin, its correct meaning, . . astragalus, the broken, its early use, . astronomical query, . . . atticus, the letters of, . augustin (st.) and baxter, . authors, remuneration of, . autobiographical sketch, . autographs in books, . . a. (w.) on leicestershire custom, . ---- martha blount, . ---- rigby correspondence, . a. (w. g.) on orkney islands in pawn, . a. (y.) on yankee, . ayloff (captain) noticed, . . . b. b. on burial-place of spinosa, . ---- ravenshaw and his works, . b. (a.) on quotations wanted, . ---- ss. adulph and botulph, . baal festival, . b. a. oxon. on parvise, . babington (c.c.) on general pardon, . bacon (lord), a saying quoted, . ---- advancement of learning, quotations in, . . ---- essays, notes on, . . . ---- hint from, to our correspondents, . b. (a. e.) on aristotle's checks, . ---- king lear, act iv., . ---- parallel passage in shakspeare, . ---- shakspeare's hamlet, . ---- shakspeare's henry viii., . ---- shakspearian unanswered queries, . ---- st. mathias' day, . b. (a. f.) on john pierrepont, . ---- smith family, . bailey (geo.) on fuseli's painting, . ball at brussels, historical parallel, . ballard (e. g.) on british museum mss., . ---- bowyer bible, . ---- curious marriages, . ---- hogarth's pictures, . ---- hollis (gervase), his manuscripts, . ---- seal of william d'albini, . ---- trussell's manuscripts, . balliolensis on "the birch," a poem, . ---- bottle department, . ---- burrow, its etymology, . ---- charade attributed to sheridan, . ---- commencement of the year, . ---- coninger, . ---- epigrams, . ---- epitaph at mickleton, . ---- inscriptions in books, . ---- "mala malæ malo," &c, . ---- parr's dedications, . ---- pompey the little, . ---- reprint of hearne's works, . ---- robert weston, . ---- sonnet by j. blanco white, . banbury cakes and zeal, . . . . bandalore and tommy moore, . bankruptcy records, . baptism: can a man baptize himself? . ---- children crying at, . baptismal custom connected with festivals, . barnes (w.) on the meaning of fleshed, . ---- pitt of pimperne, . barton (catherine) noticed, . batemanne (william) noticed, . bates (wm.) on catcalls, . ---- christian names, . ---- cowper and tobacco smoking, . ---- muffs worn by gentlemen, . ---- mummies of ecclesiastics, . ---- robert heron, . ---- selling a wife, . ---- "will" and "shall," . bather (arthur h.) on quotations wanted, . battier (a. h.) on compass flower, . battle bridge, roman inscription found there, . b. (b. e.) on burke's marriage, . b. c. l. degree, how obtained, . . . b. (c. w.) on chatham's language, . ---- "elementa sex," &c., . ---- petition formula, . ---- sun's rays putting out the fire, . b. (d.) on murray, titular bishop of dunbar, . beads for counting prayers, . bealby (h. m.) on shelton oak, . "beaten to a mummy," origin of the expression, . beaver (peter), noticed, . b. (e. d.) on de burgh family, . bede (cuthbert) on amusive, . ---- blackguard, . ---- curiosities of advertising literature, . ---- easter-day sun, . ---- high spirits a presage of evil, . ---- irish rhymes, . ---- mary stuart's chair, . ---- pancake bell, . ---- perspective view of twelve postage stamps, . ---- poetical epithets of the nightingale, . ---- riddles for the post-office, . ---- screw, a broken-down horse, . ---- stars and flowers, . ---- "steaming," in thomson, . bee (tee) on devil's marks on swine, . ---- hamilton queries, . ---- notes on newspapers, . ---- wandering jews, . beech-trees struck by lightning, . bees and the sphynx atropos, . b. (e. g.) on fercett, . ---- mediæval parchment, . ---- mint in southwark, . ---- tanner's mss., . ---- white roses, . b. (e. l.) on door-head inscriptions, . ---- sidney as a christian name, . belatucadrus, his statue, . . belfry towers, separate from the church, . . . . . belgium, ecclesiastical antiquities of, . bell (dr. wm.) on the word dreng, . ---- "stabit quocunque jeceris," . ---- yankee, its origin and meaning, . bell (geo. wm.) on bp. patrick's parable, . bell inscriptions, . . bells and storms, . . bells at funerals, . ---- of the convent of santa theresa, . ---- subterranean, . . . . . . beltane in devonshire, . b. (e. m.) on latin-latiner, . bend on family of joan d'arc, . benson (c.) on rhymes upon places, . bentivoglio's description of england, . bentley's examination, . bequest, a whimsical one, . berefellarii, its meaning, . berkeley (bishop), his portrait, . bernard (st.) _versus_ fulke greville, . "beware the cat," . b. (f. c.) on grindle, . ---- irish convocation, . ---- lamech killing cain, . ---- shakspeare, reprint of , . b. (f. s.) on sir w. hamilton, . b. (f. t. j.) on cupid crying, . b. (g.) on turner's exhibitions, . b. (h.) on corvizer, . ---- willow pattern, . b. (h. a.) on banbury cakes, . ---- poisons used for bouquets, . ---- dr. timothy bright, . ---- epigram from belgium, . ---- schonbornerus, . ---- spontaneous combustion, . b. (h. b.) on paper positive, . b. (h. f.) on the word canker, . bibles, complete lists of, . bibliothec. chetham. on quotation from bacon, . bill (dr.), his descendants, . bingham (c. w.) on crowe's latin poem, . birch, a poem, . bird, a fabulous one noticed by fuller, . bishop of st. john in ellis's letters, . bishops deprived by queen elizabeth, . . . ---- irish, as english suffragans, . ---- lawn sleeves, . ---- the consecrators of the later english, . . . ---- vacating their sees, . b. (j.) on blow-shoppes, . ---- christian names, . ---- contested elections, . ---- daubuz, . ---- david hartley, . ---- detached belfry towers, . ---- mordaunt family, . ---- oldham, bishop of exeter, . ---- "qui facit per alium," &c., . ---- rigby correspondence, . ---- tub-woman, . b. (j. c.) on the sign of the cross in the greek church, . b. (j. m.) on the butler and his man william, . ---- chaucer, . . ---- coleridge's christabel, . ---- coleridge's life, . ---- detached belfry towers, . ---- devonianisms, . ---- edmund spenser, . ---- english and american booksellers, . ---- folk-lore, . ---- latin-latiner, . ---- lines on tipperary, . ---- odd mistake, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- passage in coleridge, . b. (j. s.) on books wanted, . ---- cromlin's grant, . b. (j. w.) on shoreditch cross, . blackguard, origin of the term, . . . blackiston (r.) on epigrams, . ---- lines in a snuff-box, . bland family noticed, . bloomfleld (robert), his cottage, . blor (dr. a.) on photography applied to catalogues, . blount (martha), her portrait, . . blow-shoppes, what? . b. (n.) on chatterton, . . ---- "plurima, pauca, nihil," . bobart (h. t.) on jacob bobart and his dragon, . bobart (jacob) and his dragon, . . bodley (sir josias) noticed, . . boeoticus on ecclus. xlvi. ., why omitted? . ---- hall's meditations, . ---- left hand, its etymology, . boerhaave, a passage in, . bognie's carriage, its meaning, . boleyn (anne), the axe which beheaded her, . . bonnell (thomas) noticed, . . booker (john) on exercise day, . ---- weather rules, . book-plates, foreign, . books, autographs in, . ---- inscriptions in, see _inscriptions_. books, notices of new-- akerman's remains of pagan saxondom, . architectural societies, . ayerst's ghost of junius, . bowdler's family shakspeare, . . . bruce's letters and papers of the verney family, . byron's poems, . chester archæological journal, . camden society, new works, . churchman's magazine, . collier's notes and emendations of shakspeare, . . . cranborne's (viscount) history of france, . darling's cyclopædia, . . english bible chronologically arranged, . english forests and forest trees, . forster's road-book for tourists, . gatty's vicar and his duties, . gibbing's records of roman inquisition, . henry of huntingdon, . holloway's month in norway, . hoveden's annals, . hughes's vale royal of england, . johnson's tangible typography, . journal of sacred literature, . lares and penates, . latham's ethnology of the british islands, . layard's nineveh and babylon, . mahon's (lord) history of england, . . . men of the time, . murray's railway readings, . museum of classical antiquities, . national miscellany, . pauli's life of alfred, . price's norway and its scenery, . pulleyn's etymological compendium, . reynard the fox, . . scott's thomas à becket, . shakspeare repository, . sharp's gazetteer, . singer's text of shakspeare vindicated, . smith's dictionary of greek and roman geography, . snelling's art of photography, . surtees society, their new works, . temple bar, the city golgotha, . traveller's library, . trench on lessons in proverbs, . turner's domestic architecture, . ulster journal of archæology, . . wellington, his character, &c., . wilson's sacra privata, . young's night thoughts, . books wanted, . . ---- worthy to be reprinted, . . . booksellers, english and american, . bookselling in calcutta, . ---- in glasgow in , . bookworm on st. dominic, . boom, its meaning, . booth family, . booty's case, . borderer on "plurima, pauca, nihil," . boston queries, . boswell (james), letter to garrick, . bottle department of the beer trade, . bottom, its signification, . botulph (st.), his life, . . bouillon bible, . . bourbons, origin of the family, . bowyer bible, . boyer's great theatre of honour, . boyle (dean), his pedigree, . boyle lectures, . braemar on rev. j. marsden, . brasses on the continent, . ---- since , . braybrooke (lord) on hamilton queries, . ---- latin poems in connexion with waterloo, . ---- major-general lambert, . ---- old shoe-throwing at weddings, . ---- pepys's morena, . "brazen head," a serial, . b. (r. d.) on sidney, a female name, . breen (henry h.) on bonaparte and napoleon, . ---- canada, its derivation, . ---- dutensiana, . ---- dutch reducing the english to slavery, . ---- ennui, . ---- eustache de saint pierre, . ---- irish rhymes, . ---- judicial oaths, . ---- literary frauds of modern times, . ---- milton in prose, . ---- miss e. st. leger, a mason, . ---- molasses, its etymology, . ---- more queries, . ---- napoleon a poet, . ---- napoleon dynasty, . ---- pic-nic, . ---- rococo, its use in st. lucia, . ---- rowley's poems, . ---- slave whipped to death, . ---- south _versus_ goldsmith. &c., . ---- straw bail, . ---- true blue, . ---- "very like a whale," . ---- wellington (duke of), a maréchal de france, . brett (f. h.) on smock marriages, . brick on town plough, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- rhymes on places, . bride's seat in church, . bridget (st.), officium birgittinum anglice, . bright (dr. timothy) noticed, . british museum, scarce mss. in the library, . broad arrow, . broctuna on croxton or crostin, . ---- lady catherine grey, . ---- london queries, . ---- lord coke's charge to the jury, . ---- orkney islands in pawn, . ---- subterranean bells, . ---- wake family, . ---- worth, its original meaning, . brown's tragedy, "polidus," . brown (w.) on mr. archer's services to photography, . ---- originator of collodion process, . browne (sir g.), his descendants, . . bruce (john) on god's marks, . ---- proclamations, their utility, . bruce (king robert), his arms, . . . brutoniensis on straw bail, . brydone the tourist, his birthplace, . . b. (s. s.) jun., on photographic lens, . b. (t.) on magnetic intensity, . bt. (j.) on "pais," its correct translation, . ---- riddle circa henry viii., . b. (t. n.) on chantry chapels, . bucks, ancient society of, . buckton (t. j.) on alison's europe, . ---- croker's johnson, quotations in, . ---- enough, . ---- heuristic, . ---- khond fable, . ---- legend of lamech, . ---- passage in st. james, . ---- sign of the cross in greek church, . ---- syriac scriptures, . budget, its derivation, . bullinger's sermons, . bunyan's expression, "to lie at the catch," . buonaparte, origin of the name, . burial of unclaimed corpse, . . . burial service said by heart, . . . buriensis on richard candishe, m.p., . burke (edmund), his marriage, . ---- passage in, . burke (walter) noticed, . burnet (bishop), his character, . burrow, its etymology, . . burton (j.) on martha blount, . ---- richardson or murphy's portrait, . burtt (joseph) on proclamation of henry viii., . ---- surnames, . butler and his man william, . butler (bishop), inquiries respecting, . . buxton (sir thomas fowell) noticed, . bury (dr. arthur) noticed, . . byron (lord), immoral work by him, . c. c. on cardinal's hat, . ---- caryl or caryll, . ---- chichester pallant, . ---- cibber's lives of the poets, . ---- countess of pembroke's letter, . ---- curtseys and bows, . ---- hogarth's pictures, . ---- "i hear a lion," &c., . ---- les veus du hairon, . ---- lord north, . ---- manx penny, . ---- pope's inedited poem, . ---- rigby correspondence, . ---- rosa mystica, . ---- scarfs worn by clergymen, . . ---- segantiorum portus, . ---- shakspeare readings, . ---- "steaming," as used by thomson, . ---- "time and i," . ---- young's housekeeper, . c., _winton_, on staining deal, . c. (a.) on autographs in books, . ---- arms of hobey of bisham, . ---- beginning life again, . ---- feelings of age, . ---- tangiers, english army in , . ---- thirteen an unlucky number, . ---- tombstones _antè_ , . . c. (a. b.) on charcoal in photography, . ---- curious fact in natural philosophy, . cadenham oak, . c. (a. h.) on alphabetical arrangement, . c. (a. j.) on brydone the tourist, . cambrensis on belfry towers, . ---- loggerheads, . camden society anniversary, . campbell's hymn on the nativity, . campbell's imitations, . ---- pleasures of hope, . campkin (henry) on eulenspiegel, . campvere, privileges of, . . . canada, its derivation, . . . candishe (richard) noticed, . canker on brier rose, . . cann family, . canongate marriages, . . cantab on meaning of pallant, . canute's reproof to his courtiers, . cape on carrier pigeons, . ---- "hurrah!" and other war-cries, . ---- illuminations in cities, . ---- kissing hands at court, . ---- satin, its derivation, . ---- turkey cocks, . capital punishment, mitigation of, . . capuchin friars, &c., . cardinal's hat, . . cardinal spider, . caret on sir john fleming, . ---- norwich bishops, . carians, their want of heraldic devices, . carlyle's french revolution, passage in, . carpets at rome, . carr (sir george), his pedigree, . . . carrier pigeons, . carte (alex.) on arms on king robert bruce's coffin, . carte (arthur r.) on nicholas thane, . ---- wake family, . caryl or caryll (mr.), . catcalls noticed, . catechism, church, its authorship, . . . . cats--are white cats deaf? . caul, a child's, bequeathed, . causidicus on lawyers' bags, . c. (b.) on race for canterbury, . c. (b. h.) on church catechism, . . ---- cross and crucifix, . ---- dates on tombstones, . ---- ennui, its meaning, . ---- enough, . ---- hill, the learned tailor, . ---- hutter's polyglott, . ---- "inter cuncta micans," . ---- "its," its early use, . ---- luther's portrait, . ---- martin drunk, . ---- mormon etymologies, . ---- papers preserved from damp, . ---- "pugna porcorum," . ---- purlieu, . ---- quotation from conrad dieteric, . ---- seneca and st. paul, . ---- statue of st. peter, . ---- subterranean bells, . ---- syriac scriptures, . c. (b. n.) on epigrams, . ceeley (thomas) noticed, . cene's essay for a new translation of the bible, . . centenarian trading vessel, . ceridwen on bells, . ---- on cocket and cler-mantyn, . ---- golden bees, . ---- legend of llangefelach tower, . ---- passage in orosius, . ---- savoy church, custom at, . ---- wild plants and their names, . cestriensis on a family caul, . ceylon, best map of, . . ceyrep on the origin of albums, . ---- consecrated rings for epilepsy, . ---- gesmas and desmas, . ---- sign of the cross in greek church, . ---- heraldic queries, . ---- marriage ring, . ---- peter's statue at rome, . . ---- wood of the cross, . c. (g.) on le gray and collodion process, . c. (g. a.) on arms of ensake and cradock, . c. (g. c.) on origin of the rosary, . c. (g. j.) on detached belfry towers, . c. (h.) on detached belfry towers, . ---- the whetstone, . chaffers (w.), jun., on goldsmiths' year-marks, . chaloner (edmund) noticed, . . chantry chapels, . chapel plaster, a public-house in wilts, . . chapel sunday, . chaplains to noblemen, . . . chapman (john), his sounding name, . chappell (wm.) on lady nevell's music-book, . charade attributed to sheridan, . . charlecote on thomas shakspeare, . . charles i., miniature ring of, . . charlton (edward) on imprecatory epitaphs, . chatterton, his death, . . . . chaucer's connexion with the temple, . ---- inedited poem on, . ---- knowledge of italian, . . ---- prophetic view of crystal palace, . . c. (h. b.) on emblems, . ---- genoveva, . ---- hallett and dr. saxby, . ---- heuristisch, . ---- "judæus odor," . ---- mitigation of capital punishment, . . ---- mrs. mackey's poems, . ---- palissy and cardinal wiseman, . ---- "solid men of boston," . ---- tooth of sir i. newton, . c. (h. c.) on lad and lass, . chess problem, . chess-men found in the isle of lewis, . cheverells on autobiographical sketch, . ---- font inscriptions, . ---- lamech killing cain, . ---- oaken tombs and effigies, . ---- parochial libraries, . . ---- parvise, . ---- queen bee, . ---- "time and i," . chichester pallant, . . . child-mother, . chipchase of chipchase, . christian names, . . . christophoros on anecdote in franklin, . churchwardens, qualifications of, . cibber's lives of the poets, . . . . c. (j.) on inscriptions in books, . c. (j. n.) on detached belfry towers, . ---- lady-day proverb, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- spanish armada, picture of, . c. (j. r.) on bishop butler, . c. (j. s.) on lowbell, . ---- ship's painter, . clarendon (lord) and the tub-woman, . . . claret, its derivation, . . . . clarke's essay on mathematical learning, . clericus (d.) on bell inscriptions, . ---- schomberg's epitaph, . ---- "seductor sueco," . cliff (lord) noticed, . . clifton (thomas) of normanton, . cliviger on edmund spenser, . cobb, its derivation, . . cobb's (mrs.) diary, . cock, names ending in, . cockayne (dr. wm.) noticed, . cody (patrick) on fairies in new ross, . coenaculum of lionardo da vinci, . . coins in foundations, . ---- of europe, . coke, its pronunciation, . coke (lord), his speech and charge, . . cokely on collodion, . ---- fact in natural philosophy, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- photographic gun cotton, . ---- soiled fingers, . ---- stereoscopic pictures, . coket and cler-mantyn explained, . coleman (e. h.) on plum-pudding, . coleridge (s. t.), his annotations in books, . ---- his life suggested, . . ---- a prophet, . ---- christabel, assumed omission, . . ---- passage in, . . collar of ss., . . colles (w. h.) on croxton or crostin, . collier (j. payne) on adam bell, clym of the clough, . ---- queries as to his notes and emendations to shakspeare, . ---- shakspeare, unanswered queries, . collis (thomas) on parochial libraries, . collyns (wm.) on "in jesum cruci affixum," . colman (j. b.) on whimsical bequest, . columba (st.) his cross, . comedians (english) in the netherlands, . . . "coming home to men's business," its origin, . . compass flower, . confirmation superstition, . consecrated roses, &c., . . . consort (mons.) noticed, . constables of france, . constant reader on hobnail counting, . conundrum answered, . convocation, alliterative pasquinade on, . ---- in ireland, . . ---- "letter to a member of parliament," . conway family, . conyngers, its etymology, . . . . cooke (robert) on mistletoe, . cooper (c. h.) on bramston's poem, . ---- ferdinand mendez pinto, . ---- gloves at fairs, . ---- lode, a river, . ---- monk and cambridge university, . ---- nose of wax, . ---- "other-some" and "unneath," . ---- salt-peter man, . ---- sheriffs of huntingdonshire, . ---- sir edwin sadler, . ---- worth, its meaning, . cooper (thompson) on ballad of the battle of the boyne, . ---- inscription on penny of geo. iii., . ---- tuck, its meaning, . ---- verney papers, &c., . corbet peerage, . coriolanus on genoveva of brabant, . corney (bolton) on wotton and milton, . cornish (james) on archbishop leighton and pope, . ---- iron mask, . ---- shakspeare's bed-side, . coronation, a flower, . correspondent on inigo jones, . corser (thomas) on english books of emblems, . corvizer explained, . corylus on beech-trees struck by lightning, . ---- passage in tennyson, . cossack, its meaning, . cotton (h.) on prayer-books prior to , . . cotton (w. h.) on furmety or frumenty, . "country parson's advice to his parishioners," its author, . country practitioner on a test for lens, . county history societies, their formation, . coverdale (bishop), his exhumation, . covert family, . . cowgill on thomas bonnell, . ---- capital punishments, . ---- khond fable, . cowper and tobacco smoking, . cowper or cooper, . cowper (b. h.) on [greek: arnion], . ---- raising the wind, . ---- "world without end," . "craftsman's apology," . cramp (wm.) on letters of atticus, . cranmer and calvin, . . crassus' saying, . creeper in the samoan isles, . cremona violins, . cremonas, list of the earliest, . . creole, its etymology, . . crescent, its origin, . . c. (r. h.) on kelway family, . ---- the lisle family, . criticisms, coincident, . cromlin (mr.), his grant, . cromwell's seal, . crookes (wm.) on after-dilutions, . ---- wax-paper process, . croxton of lancashire noticed, . . crowe's monody, . . croydon, its unhealthiness, . . ---- burn at, . crosby (james) on drengage and berewich, . cross and pile, . . . . ---- and the crucifix, . ---- given by richard i. to the patriarch of antioch, . ---- in mexico and alexandria, . . ---- its sign, as used in the greek church, . . ---- the wood of the, . . . . crossley (francis) on allen, as a surname, . ---- cob and conners, . ---- coninger, . ---- lamech killing cain, . ---- meaning of meals, . ---- meaning of rather, . ---- "the wee brown hen," . crossley (james) on captain ayloff, . ---- craftsman's apology, . ---- door-head inscriptions, . ---- east india trade, tract on, . ---- grub street journal, . ---- howell's letters, . ---- huet's navigations of solomon, . ---- lines quoted by charles lamb, . ---- oliver st. john, . ---- peter sterry and jeremiah white, . ---- pope, his corrections adopted from the dunces, . ---- prospectus to cibber's lives, . ---- psalmanazar, . . ---- pylades and corinna, . . ---- "quod fuit esse," . ---- richard midgley, . ---- "solid men of boston," . ---- south against sherlock, . ---- wanderings of memory, . ---- wednesday club, . ---- white roses, . c. (t.) on railway signals, . c. (t. g.) on lancashire fairy tale, . cucking-stool, when last used, . cullingford (w. h.) on staining deal, . cunningham (peter) on cremona violins, . ---- scotchmen in poland, . cupid crying, . curfew noticed, . . curiosus on the five alls, . cursitor barons of the exchequer, . curtis (j. lewelyn) on clergy in the seventeenth century, . ---- major-general lambert, . ---- robin hood, . ---- straw bail, . curtsey, why ladies curtsey? . . . c. (w.) on irish rhymes, . ---- shakspeare's twelfth night, . c. (w. g.) on longhi's portraits of guidiccioni, . c. (w. h.) on cross of mary queen of scots, . cyclades, round towers of the, . d. d. on the origin of albums, . ---- francius and de wilde, . ---- nursery tale, . ---- ryming and cuculling, . ---- sheriffs of huntingdonshire, &c., . ---- song, "sing ivy," . ---- thomson's will, . d. (a. a.) on [greek: arnion], . ---- confirmation superstition, . ---- freund's latin lexicon, andrew's edition, . ---- "life is like a game of tables," . ---- nunting table, . ---- quotations, . ---- tennyson's locksley hall, . d'albini (william), his seal, . . d'alton (john) on colonel thomas walcot, . ---- robin hood, . ---- wellesley pedigree, . daniel (g.) on aldiborontophoscophornio, . ---- "all my eye," &c., . ---- autographs in books, . ---- bloomfield the poet, . ---- cowper or cooper, . ---- "goe, soule, the bodies guest," . ---- tickell's elegy on addison, . daniel (samuel) noticed, . . d'arc (joan), her heraldic insignia, . . darien, isthmus of, . daubuz (charles) noticed, . daubuz family noticed, . daugh, or davach, its meaning, . d'auvergne (philip) noticed, . . davey (joseph) on the "royal escape," . david on the iliad in a nutshell, . davies (j. a.) on wednesday club, . davys or davies (sir john), notices of, . days, unlucky, . d. (c.) on cranmer and calvin, . d. (e.) on adamson's england's defence, . ---- arms at bristol, . ---- americanisms, . ---- burial service by heart, . ---- epitaph in bathford churchyard, . ---- herbert family, . ---- party, as applied to an absent person, . ---- penardo and laissa, . ---- samuel daniel, . deal, how to stain, . . . de burgh family, . de camera on john, brother-german to david ii., . ---- smith, young, and scrymgeour mss., . ---- touching for the king's evil, . deck (j.) on salt-peter man, . deck (norris) on inscriptions in churches, . ---- mediæval emblems of the passion, . ---- parochial libraries, . delamotte (philip h.) on camera for travellers, . delferier (w. a.) on powdered alum, . ---- sir wm. newton's process, . de mareville (honoré) on claret, . ---- inscriptions in books, . ---- "nine tailors make a man," . denham (m. a.) on popular sayings, . denmark and slavery, . dennistoun (james) on gibbon's library, . derby municipal seal, . . derrick, its meaning, . . de thurnham, arms of, . . devil, how to dispose of him, . devil's marks in swine, . devizes, origin of the name, . devonianisms, . . d. (f.) on epitaphs, . d. (g.) on david garrick, . d. (h. g.) on franklin's portrait, . ---- gloucester ballads, . ---- lord nelson and walter burke, . ---- smollett's strap, . ---- wolfe's death, . d. (h. w.) on originator of collodion process, . ---- warren hastings' inedited letters, . diamond (dr. h. w.) on collodion pictures, . ---- processes upon paper, . dibdin's bibliomania, key to, . . digby (sir kenelm) and the sun-flower, . . digges' england's defence, its republication, . dimidiation, . . "discourse of reason," the phrase, . . displeasure singularly shown, . d. (j.) on bristol arms, . ---- oldham, bishop of exeter, . d. (j. w.) on longevity, . d. (m.) on "discourse of reason," . ---- "to lie at the catch," . d. (m. f.) on oratories or chapels, . d. (n.) on robert dodsley, . dodo, a christian and surname, . . . dodsley (robert) noticed, . . doe (john) on dogberry's losses, . domini-cann on cann family, . dominic (st.), his predecessors, . donkey, the medicinal use of its hairs, . donnybrook fair, . door-head inscriptions, . . . d. (o. t.) on formation of woman, . dover castle, its ancient stores, . . d. (p.) on herbé's costumes français, . drake the artist, . draufield on eggs sold after sunset, . dredge (john i.) on bishops deprived by elizabeth, . ---- on bride's seat in church, . ---- essay for a new translation of the bible, . ---- joshua marsden, . ---- pursglove, suffragan of hull, . ---- satirical medal, . ---- westminster assembly of divines, . drengage and berewich, their derivation, . . . drills presaging death, . . drimtaidhvrickhillichattan, . d. (r. p.) on sir john thompson, . drummer's letter, . drury (robert), his madagascar, . d. (s.) on inscription in books, . ---- ribston pippin, . d. (s. d.) on portrait of pope, . duane (wm.) on baptist vincent lavall, . dubourg (g.) on cremonas, . duff (lord), his toast, . . dunkin (a.) on early edition of solinus, . dutch allegorical picture, . . . dutch east india company, . dutch, their alleged reduction of english subjects to slavery, . dutens' correspondence interceptée, . . . e. e. on campvere, privileges of, . ---- epitaph on a sexton, . ---- gentlemen pensioners, . ---- prices of tea, . ---- schomberg's epitaph by swift, . eagles supporting lecterns, . earl (thomas), his diary, . easter-day sun, . east india trade, author of a tract on, . eastwood (j.) on tombstone at ecclesfield, . eaton (t. d.) on filtering collodion, . ---- originator of collodion process, . ebor on silver ornament, . ecclesia anglicana, its use, . . . ecclesiastics, wives of, . ecclus. xlvi. ., why not read in the lessons? . edina on huet's navigations of solomon, . edward iii. and the siege of calais, . edward of lancaster, autograph of, . edward the confessor's ring, . edwards (h.) on shoreditch cross and painted window, . effigy on "elementa sex," &c., . eggs, unlucky to sell after sunset, . eirionnach on a work on the macrocosm, . ---- phantom bells and lost churches, . ---- "populus vult decipi," . e. (j.) on grindle, illustrations of its meaning, . ---- remarkable signs, . e. (k.) on pic-nic, . e. (k. p. d.) on marriage custom, . ---- suggested reprints, . elder tree, superstition respecting, . . . . elections, list of contested, . . electrical phenomena, . electric clock, . elginensis on a fact in natural history, . ---- robertson's index of charters, . elizabeth (queen), her alleged bastardy, . ---- chaplain at woodstock, . ---- love of pearls, . ellacombe (h. t.) on bells _versus_ storms, . ---- door-head inscriptions, . ---- font inscriptions, . ---- golden legend, . ---- grindle, . ---- "navita erythræum," &c, , . ---- palindromical lines, . ---- party, as applied to one person, . ---- roger outlawe, . ---- townley manuscripts, . ---- witchcraft, . elliott (r.) on photographic practice, . elsevier on dutch east india company, . ---- english comedians in the netherlands, . elsno on arago's weather observations, . ---- foucault's experiment, . ---- search for manuscripts, . ---- suicide at marseilles, . e. (m.) on early tombstones, . e. (m. c.) on purlieu, . emaciated figures, . "emblemata horatiana," . emblems, english books on, . . . emouf, letter by him, . engine-à-verge, . engraving, historical, . enivri on bullinger's sermons, . ---- deodorising peat, . ---- rubrical query, . ---- st. mary's church, beverley, . ---- wild plants and their names, . ennui defined, . . enough, its pronunciation, . . . ensake and cradock arms, . ephippiarius, its meaning, . epigrams:--hans-sur-lesse, in belgium, . ---- how d.d. swaggers--m.d. rolls! . . ---- say what is abstract, what concrete? . ---- sir walter scott's? . . ---- 'twixt footman sam and doctor toe, . . . . epitaphs, bathford churchyard, . ---- bobbity john, . ---- chesham churchyard, . ---- dr. greenwood's on his wife, . ---- imprecatory, . . ---- kinver, staffordshire, . ---- llangollen in north wales, . ---- mickleton, . ---- "quod fuit esse, quod est," &c., . . . ---- schomberg's, by swift, . ---- a sexton, . ---- st. helen's, london, . ---- tichfield church, . ---- tynemouth churchyard, . erica on banbury cakes and zeal, . ---- borrowed thoughts, . ---- epigram attributed to scott, . ---- epitaphs, . ---- muffs worn by gentlemen, . ---- party, its early use, . ---- salt mines, . ---- snuff and tobacco, . ---- the word rather, . ericas on christian names, . erskine (cardinal) noticed, . ethnologicus on ethnology of england, . ethnology of england, . . etymological traces of our ancestors, . . . etymologies, on uncertain, . eugenia, by hayes and carr, . eulenspiegel (till) translations, . . . . euphormio, or barclay's controversy, . eustache de saint pierre, . . eva, princess of leinster, . evans (l.) on scotch ballad, . ewart (wm.) on crassus' saying, . ---- pope and buchanan, . e. (w. m. r.) on ball at brussels, . ---- ciriaco's account of the parthenon, . ---- count gondomar, . ---- monument at antwerp, . ---- pic-nics, . ---- pilgrimages to the holy land, . exercist day, . . ezzelin, picture of, . . f. fable of a dwarf and giant, . fairies in new ross, . family, a large, . "family journal," its author, . . faust, passage in part i., . . fawcett (dr.) and a case of reprieve, . f. (c. e.) on lyte's mode of printing, . ---- venda, . "fercett," its meaning, . fermour (richard) and nicholas thane, . ficulnus on the crescent, . ---- passage in carlyle, . fidus interpres on "amentium haud amantium," . fifeshire pronunciation, . fire and plague of london predicted, . . "five alls," explained, . f. (j.) on degree of b. c. l., . ---- race for canterbury, . f. (j. f.) on gookins of ireland, . ---- grogog of a castle, . fleming (sir john), his arms, . . fleshed, meaning of, . fleshier of otley, his arms, . fletcher (bishop) and lady baker, . fogie, old, on the term, . . . folger family noticed, . . folkestone, its etymology, . folk lore, . . . . . . . . . . . . ---- african, . ---- devonshire, . . ---- derbyshire, . ---- lancashire, . ---- leicestershire, . "folowed," its meaning, . font inscriptions, . . . foot-guards' uniforms temp. ch. ii., . forbes (c.) on blackguard, . ---- the drummer's letter, . ---- etymological traces of our ancestors, . ---- forts at michnee and pylos, . ---- galliard, . ---- gulliver's travels, . ---- irish rhymes, . ---- passage in faust, . ---- straw bail, . ---- "wandering willie's tale," . ---- wolfe's portrait, . forts at michnee and pylos, . foss (edward) on chaplains to noblemen, . ---- chief-justice popham, . ---- chief-justice thomas wood, . ---- cursitor barons of the exchequer, . ---- judge smith, . ---- letter of emouf, . ---- letters of gen. green and washington, . ---- sir gilbert gerard, . ---- tuebeuf in france, . foucault's experiment, . . fox hunter on fox of whittlebury forest . fox of whittlebury forest, . f. (r.) jun. on fuseli's painting, . frampton (bp.), his unpublished life, . francis (h. d.) on portable tents, . francis i., a letter by him, . francius (peter) noticed, . franklin's portrait, . franklyn (sir john), his household book, . fraser (w.) on anagrams, . ---- the use of "anywhen," . ---- bentley's examination, . ---- bishop of oxford in , . ---- bishops' lawn sleeves, . ---- degree of b. c. l., . ---- dimidiation, . ---- ecclesia anglicana, . . ---- göthe's faust, passage in, . . ---- lamech's war-song, . ---- letter to a convocation man, . ---- locke, quotation from, . ---- man baptizing himself, . ---- odd mistake, . ---- pascal, a saying of his, . ---- shower's letter to a convocation man, . . ---- st. ives, its derivation, . ---- spontaneous combustion, . ---- swift's lines on woolston, . ---- tom track's ghost, . ---- wood of the cross, . french prayer-book, the earliest, . frere (george e.) on mangel wurzel, . frescheville family, . freund's latin lexicon, andrew's edition, . fritz on the vinegar plant, . f. (r. j.) on developing paper pictures, . f. (r. w.) on harvest-home song, . ---- pope's portrait, . f. (t.) on portraits at brickwall house, . ---- neal's manuscripts, . funeral custom, . furmety, or frumenty, explained, . furvus on lady high sheriff, . ---- etymology of nugget, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- superstition respecting teeth, . ---- "words given to man," &c., . furze in scandinavia, . fuss, its etymology, . . f. (w. h.) on picts' houses and argils, . ---- stone pillar worship, . g. g. on alicia lady lisle, . ---- chaplains to noblemen, . ---- consecrated roses, &c., . ---- major-general lambert, . ---- mediæval or middle ages, . ---- "short red, god red," . ---- the word party, . ---- tradescant family, . ---- vincent family, . gaffer or gammer, . galliards, . . gantillon (p. j. f.) on errata in smith's dictionaries, . ---- euphormio, . ---- notes on bacon's essays, . . . ---- pugna porcorum, . ---- sidney as a christian name, . ---- sir edwin sadler, . ---- tennyson query, . ---- version of a proverb, . garland (john) on lisle family, . ---- nixon, a painter, . garrick's funeral epigram, . ---- letter against mr. steevens, . gatty (alfred) on passage in burke, . g. (c.) on the meaning of grindle, . ---- haberdon or habyrdon, . g. (c. s.) on mr. justice newton, . g. (c. w.) on st. adulph, . ---- beads for counting prayers, . ---- belatucadrus, . ---- bell inscription, . ---- st. botulph, . ---- derby municipal seal, . ---- haveringemere, . ---- quotation from coleridge, . ---- tree of the thousand images, . g. (d.) on junius's letters to wilkes, . g. (e. c.) on marriage in high life, . ---- thomas gage, . g. (e. h.) on a conundrum, . genealogical society of new england, . general, the greatest, . geneva lake, . . genoveva, an engraving by felsing, . . . geological query, . george iii., prayer for his recovery, . georgiad, a poem, . gerard (sir gilbert) noticed, . . german academies, . gesmas et desmas explained, . . . g. (f. f.) on inscriptions in books, . gibbes (thomas) of fenton, his descendants, . gibbings (robert) on "populus vult decipi," . gibbon's library, . . . gibbs (henry h.) on detached belfry towers, . ---- gibbes of fenton, . gibson (j. westby) on superstitious sayings, . gibson (w. sidney) on cross of richard i., . ---- drengage, . ---- meteoric stone of the thracian chersonesus, . ---- spectre horsemen of southerfeld, . ---- well-flowering in derbyshire, . gilbert (sir humphrey), his descendants, . g. (j.) on annuellarius, . ---- grafts on the parent tree, . ---- lord coke's charge, . ---- maudlin, its derivation, . ---- nelson's death, . ---- niagara, its meaning, . g. (j. c.) on derrick and ship's painter, . g. (j. e.) on chantry chapels, . ---- old fable, . g. (j. m.) on chatterton, . . ---- coleridge's annotations in books, . ---- greatest general, . ---- leigh peerage and stoneley estates, . ---- shakspeare songs and rimes, . g. (j. n. g.) on london queries, . ---- origin of play-bills, . g. (j. w. g.) on hobson's choice, . glendower (owen), his arms, . . globe and cross as a symbol, . gloucester ballads, . gloucester (duke of), son of charles i., his portrait, . . gloves at fairs, . . . . glywysig on humphry smith, . ---- williams of geneva, . ---- williams (john) of southwark, . g. (o.) on r. s. townshend, . gobat (s.), bishop of jerusalem, . "god's marks," its meaning, . . . "goe, soule, the bodies guest," ms. of, . . göthe's faust, passage in, . . ---- reply to nicolai, . golden bees in heraldry, . . goldsmiths' year-marks, . . gole (russell) on bells and storms, . ---- inscriptions in books, . gondomar (count) noticed, . gonville (c.) on sir h. gilbert's descendants, . gookins of ireland, . goose-footed queen, . gordon (g. w. r.) on the derivation of blackguard, . gordon (louisa lady) of gordonstoun, . goring (lord) noticed, . . "gospel place" in worcestershire, . . gotch, its etymology, . g. (r.) on "a diasii salve," . ---- loselerius villerius, . ---- st. paul's epistle to seneca, . grafts and the parent tree, . . . . graves (rev. james) on detached belfry towers, . ---- golden bees, . ---- graves of mickleton, . ---- hoveden's annals, . ---- mistletoe in ireland, ---- shearman family, . ---- sir dennis pack, . graves of mickleton, . . gray (lady anne) noticed, . . green (gen.), inedited letter, . gregorian tones, . gregory on stamping current coinage, . gresford on jeffreys family, . grey (lady katherine), her marriage, . grimm (jacob) on the english language, . grindle, its meaning, . . . . grindstone oak, . grogog of a castle, . grub street journal, its conductors, . . . . grymes (sir edward) noticed, . gryphea incurva, or devil's thumb, . gulielmus on carr pedigree, . gulliver's travels, note on, . guthryisms, . g. (w. h.) on the litten or litton, . ---- khond fable, . ---- roger outlawe, . ---- satirical poem, . h. h. on banbury cakes and zeal, . ---- irish peerages, . ---- "judæus odor," . ---- marvel (andrew), was he poisoned? . ---- smollett's ode to independence, . ---- st. columba's cross, . haberdon or habyrdon, its meaning, . h. (a. f.) on letters u, v, w, . haggard (w. d.) on hogarth's pictures, . . ---- reynard the fox, . hall (bishop), an old copy of his meditations, . hall-close, silverstone, . hallett and dr. saxby, their quarrel, . . hamilton (arthur) on british regiments, . hamilton queries, . . hammond (h. a.) on ascension-day, . hanover rat, inquiry respecting, . . harbottle (cecil) on collier's notes and emendations, . hardwick (c.) on westminster assembly, . hardy (wm.) on the queen's descent from john of gaunt, . harley family, . harris (rev. wm.) noticed, . harrison (j. b.) on race for canterbury, . hartcliffe (dr. john) noticed, . hartley (david), his official post, . hastings (warren), inedited letter of, . haughmond abbey, salop, . haulf-naked, a manor in sussex, . . haveringemere, . hawarden (humphrey) noticed, . hawkins (edward) on ancient society of bucks, . ---- epitaphs, . ---- gloves at fairs, . ---- race for canterbury, . ---- seal of wm. d'albini, . ---- throwing old shoes for luck, . haywood (f.) on hevristic, . hazel (wm.) on dipping for hydrophobia, . h. (c.) on eva, princess of leinster, . ---- "quod fuit esse," . h. (c. h.) on "haud cum jesu itis," . h. (e.) on portrait painters, . hearne's works, a reprint suggested, . hele (henry h.) on an iodizing difficulty, . hendry (warden s.) on st. john's church, shoreditch, . heraldic queries, . . . . herbé's costumes français, . . herbert family, . hermit at hampstead on bacon's essays, . hermit queries, . heron (robert) noticed, . hesketh (bishop) noticed, . hesledon (w. s.) on volcanic influence on the weather, . hessey (dr. james) on gresham professors, . hexameters from udimore register, . heuristisch--evristic, its etymology, . . . . h. (f.) on the word budget, . h. (g.) on county history societies, . ---- wax-paper process, . ---- winchester and huntingdon, . h. (g. t.) on inscriptions on a dagger-case, . h. (h.) on curiosities of railway literature, . ---- optical query, . h. (h. t.) on coins in foundations, . hibberd (shirley) on arago on the weather, . ---- astronomical query, . ---- hanover rat, . ---- hermit queries, . ---- jewish lineaments, . ---- "lay" and "lie," . ---- sham epitaphs and quotations, . ---- spontaneous combustion, . ---- white cats being deaf, . hibernicis hibernior, . . high spirits a presage of evil, . . hill (robert), the learned tailor, . h. (j.) on joshua marsden, . ---- young, the poet, . h. (j. a.) on enough, . h. (j. g.) on pyrogallic acid, . h. (j. j.) on christian names, . h. (m.) on derivation of lowbell, . ---- the sizain, . hob and nob, their meaning, . . hobble de hoy, . hobey of bisham, his arms, . . hobnail-counting at the exchequer, . hobson's choice, . hogarth's pictures, . . . . ---- portrait of himself and wife, . holles family, . hollis (gervase), his manuscripts, . holne curate on beltane in devonshire, . holyrood palace, the royal garden at, . homer's iliad in a nutshell, . hone's history of parody, . honeycombe (will.) on an inedited poem, . hooping-cough, cures for, . . hopper (clarence) on the dodo, . ---- jeremy taylor and lord hatton, . horne (f.) on collodion process, . hornoway on ancient chessmen, . hour-glass in pulpits, . house-marks, . hoveden's annals, errata in, . . ---- prophecy in, . howard (c. h.) on the broken astragalus, . ---- hob and nob, . howlett the engraver, . hoyle, its meaning, and family name, . h. (p.) on acts xv. ., . h. (r.) on charter of waterford, . h. (r. w.) on fever at croydon, . h. (s.) on jacob grimm on the english language, . h. (t. b.) on numerous progeny, . ---- the temple of truth, its author, . h. (t. h.) on anna lightfoot, . hudson (b.) on howlett the engraver, . huet's navigations of solomon, . . hughes (t.) on sir g. browne, . ---- detached belfry towers, . ---- devonianisms, . ---- edmund chaloner, . ---- gloves at fairs, . ---- humbug, . ---- humphrey hawarden, . ---- loggerheads, . ---- longevity, . ---- old satchells, . ---- portico inscription, . ---- red hair a reproach, . ---- sir john fleming, . ---- sir john vanbrugh, . ---- wards of the crown, . humbug, when first used, . . hurrah! and other war-cries, . . hutter's polyglott noticed, . h. v. l. on flemish and dutch schools of painting, . h. (w.) on "god and the world," . h. (w. c.) on gesmas and desmas, . ---- "plurima, pauca, nihil," . hyde (mrs.), _alias_ the tub-woman, . . . hydrophobia, alleged cure for, . ---- dipping for, . hyena, an ingredient in love potions, . i. i. (a.) on longevity, . i. (b. r.) on marlowe's lust's dominion, . ---- polka, its antiquity, . ---- quotation from suckling, . i. (g. h.) on burial of unclaimed corpse, . ignoramus on shakspeare and blackstone, . illuminations in cities, their origin, . immoral works, their preservation, . indagator on archbishop magee and lord holland, . inference, instance of a false one, . ingleby (c. mansfield) on anagrams, . ---- coincident criticisms, . ---- coleridge a prophet, . ---- collier's notes and emendations, . . ---- grafts and the parent tree, . ---- heraldic query, . ---- llandudno, on the great orme's head, . ---- "my mind to me a kingdom is," . ---- optical phenomenon, . ---- passage in king henry viii., . ---- passage in macbeth, . ---- soul and the magnetic needle, . ---- south _v._ goldsmith, talleyrand, &c., . inglis (bishop) noticed, . "in jesum cruci affixum," . ink, its inventor, . inquirens on ferdinand mendez pinto, . inscriptions: bell, . . ---- books, . . . . . ---- churches, . . ---- dagger-case, . . ---- door-head, . . . ---- fonts, . . . ---- penny of george iii., . . . ---- roman sepulchral, . ---- tombstones before , . . . inveruriensis on flogging a slave, . iona, a corruption of ioua, . irish characters on the stage, . ---- dramatists, . ---- peerages, . ---- rhymes, . . . . ---- superstitious customs, . iron mask still unexplained, . . isping geil, . italian english, . -itis, termination, its derivation, . . "its," its early use, . . . ives (st.) noticed, . j. j. on photography and the microscope, . jack and gill, . jack, its familiar use, . . jackson (e. s.) on life of queen anne, . jackson (j. e.) on chapel plaster, . jackson (john) on jack, . james (f.) on americanisms, . ---- lowbell, . ---- feelings of age, . james (john) on weld taylor's process, . james's (st.) market-house, . ----, passage in, . . jaydee on book-plates, . ---- canada, &c., . ---- pic-nic, its etymology, . ---- pork pisee, and wheale, . ---- sir kenelm digby, . ---- termination "-itis," . j. (c.) on pierrepont, . jebb (john) on clergymen's scarfs, . . ---- gospel place, . ---- marigmerii--melinglerii--berefellarii, . jeffreys (judge), notices of, . jennings family, . . . jennings-g. (s.) on daubuz family, . ---- folger family, . ---- electrical phenomena, . ---- jennings family, . . jeroboam of claret, . jesuit on booth family, . jewish lineaments, . j. (f. w.) on "bis dat, qui cito dat," . ---- longevity, . ---- value of manuscripts, . j. (g.) on loak hen, . j. (h. b.) on prigging tooth, . j. (h. j.) on "ma ninette," &c., . ---- tennyson queries, . j. (j. e.) on the locality of tuebeuf, . j. (j. j.) on bishop turner's mss., . ---- bishop ken, . . ---- bishop st. john, . job, his declaration of the resurrection, . jock of arden, . jockey, its derivation, . john ap william ap john, esq., on owen glyndwr, . john, brother-german to david ii., . john (king), his sacrilege punished, . john of gaunt, descent of the queen from, . . john of jerusalem, order of, . john's (st.) church, shoreditch, . john's (st.) on wellington and marshal ney, . ---- psalmanazar, . johnson (dr. samuel), parchment of his freedom of aberdeen, . johnson (goddard) on capt. ayloff, . ---- cross and pile, . johnson (robert), his pedigree, . johnsoniana, . jones (edwin) on job xlii. ., . jones (inigo), list of his buildings, . jones (t. w.) on sir gilbert gerard, . jonson (ben), his adopted sons, . j. (o. w.) on french prayer-book, . j. (t.) on irish customs, . junius's letters to wilkes, . juvenal, sat. x. ver. ., . . . juxon (bp.) and walton's polyglott, . ---- account of vendible books, . j. (w.) on nose of wax, . j. (y. b. n.) on "impartial inquiry on faith," its author, . ---- tenent and tenet, . k. kappa on belatucadrus, . keightley (thomas) on ake and ache, . ---- coincident legends, . ---- gaffer or gammer, &c., . ---- "its," early use of, . ---- mythe _versus_ myth, . ---- old fogie, . ---- spring, &c., . ---- shakspeare criticisms, . ---- shakspeare emendations, . . ---- love's labour's lost, . kelly (lewis) on norris's antidote, . kelly (wm.) on general monk and cambridge university, . kelway family, . . ken (bishop), queries respecting, . . ---- work attributed to him, . kenneth (f.) on leamhuil, . kentish fire, origin of the term, . ---- local names, dray, . kersley (t. h.) on lawyers' bags, . ---- "time and i," . ---- whipping-post, . kettilby (dr. samuel) noticed, . k. (f.) on frescheville family, . ---- hoyles family, . k. (h. c.) on feelings of age, . ---- blanco white's sonnet, . ---- cement for glass baths, . ---- christian names, . ---- claret, its meaning, . ---- coke, its pronunciation, . ---- cremonas, . ---- epitaph "quod fuit esse," . ---- grafts and the parent tree, . ---- lady high sheriff, . ---- meaning of "folowed," . ---- melinglerii--berefellarii, . ---- parvise, . ---- passage in st. james, . ---- photography and the microscope, . ---- setantiorum portus, . ---- ss. collar, . khond fable, . . king (abp.), monumental engraving, . king (lord) and sclater, . king (philip s.) on eustache de saint pierre, . ---- ink, its inventor, . king (richard john) on scotchmen in poland, . king (wm. w.) on continental brasses, . king's evil, touching for, . kirkwallensis on ancient tombstone, . ---- daugh, its meaning, . ---- dr. johnson, . ---- lord reay's country, . ---- norwegian antiquities, . ---- orkneys in pawn, . ---- patronymic mac, . ---- scottish clergy in the seventeenth century, . kissing hands at court, . k. (j.) on bankruptcy records, . ---- burial service said by heart, . ---- countess of pembroke's letter, . ---- franklyn household book, . ---- irish convocation, . ---- lepel's regiment, . ---- new england genealogical society, . ---- overseers of wills, . k. (j. c.) on dutch east india company, . k. (k.) on rigby correspondence, . klemming (g. e.) on königl. schwedischer in teutschland geführter krieg, . ---- st. bridget's office, . knight (j.) on portrait painters, . "kola's mild blue eye," its meaning, . königl. schwedischer in teutschland geführter krieg, . k. (t.) on the meaning of assassin, . ---- nugget, its etymology, . ---- venda, its meaning, . l. l. on bacon's advancement of learning, . ---- coninger or coningry, . ---- lord clarendon and the tub-woman, . ---- nursery rhymes, . ---- ovid's fasti, passage in, . ---- pearl, its etymology, . . l. (a.) on child-mother, . la bruyère (jean de), his family, . . . lad and lass, their derivation, . lady-day in harvest, . laicus on prayer for george iii., . lamb (charles), lines quoted by him, . . lambarde (wm.) noticed, . lambert (major-general), his lady, . . . . lamech killing cain, . . . . lammens (john) on claret, . lammin (w. h.) on rev. wm. harris, . lancastriensis on edmund spenser, . ---- the whippiad, . landlords in lonsdale, . larking (lambert b.) on note for london topographers, . latimer's brothers-in-law, . latin--latiner, . . lavall (baptist vincent) noticed, . lavant, origin of the term, . . lavater's diary of a self-observer, . lawrence (thomas) on the albumen process, . ---- argot and slang, . ---- axe that beheaded anne boleyn, . ---- curtseys and bows, . ---- form of prayer for prisoners, . ---- goose-footed queen, . ---- nicknames, . ---- plum-pudding receipt, . ---- revolutionary calendar, . ---- skull-caps _versus_ skull-cups, . ---- wandering jew, . lawson (john) and his mathematical mss., . lawyers' bags, their colour, . . . "lay" and "lie," anecdote of, . l. (b.) on derby municipal seal, . l. (d. c.) on erasmus smith, . leachman (j.) on sisson's developing fluid, . leader, its etymology, . leamhuil abbey, . leapor's unhappy father, its scene, . "le balafré," ascribed to henry, duke of guise, . lechmere (baron), his portrait, . left hand, its etymology, . legend of change, . legends, coincident, . legitimation, . leicestriensis on exercist day, . ---- gen. monk and cambridge university, . ---- searson's poems, . ---- whipping toms at leicester, . leigh peerage and stoneley estates, . leighton (abp.) and pope, . lenthall (f. k.) on mr. justice newton, . leonora on astronomical query, . l. (e. p.) on robert johnson, . lepel's regiment, . "les veus du hairon," a romance, . "letter to a convocation man," . . . ley (c.) on miniature ring of charles i., . l. (f. m.) on the albumen process, . l. (g. r.) on thomas ceeley, . ---- cobb, its derivation, . library of the corporation of london, . lieutenant, its pronunciation, . lightfoot (anna) noticed, . lindis, its meaning, . lindsay (sir david), his viridarium, . lisle family noticed, . . . lister family, . literary frauds in modern times, . . litten or litton, its meaning, . l. (j.) on privileges of campvere, . ---- meaning of lindis, . ---- old fogie, . l. (j. h.) on burial of unclaimed corpse, . l. (l.) on denmark and slavery, . llandudno on the great orme's head, . llangefelach tower, legend of, . l. (l. b.) on de thurnham family, . ---- dover castle, its ancient stores, . ---- lady nevell's music-book, . l. (l. l.) on grindstone oak, . ---- newspapers, . ---- tortoiseshell tom cat, . l. (m.) on nuns of the hotel dieu, . l. (m--a) on francis i., . ---- geological query, . ---- passage in wordsworth, . l. (n. c.) on shaw's staffordshire mss., . loak hen, its meaning, . localities in anglo-saxon charters, . locke, quotation in, . ---- writings, were they ever burnt? . lode, a river, . loggerheads, . . london, lines on, . ---- plan of its present extent, . ---- queries, . . ---- topographers, a note for, . longevity, aged , . . . longhi's portraits of guidiccioni, . lowbell, its derivation, . . . . . lower (mark antony) on allen as a surname, . ---- mac, as a patronymic, . l. (r.) on norman song, . l. (t. h.) on wood of the cross, . luneburg table, . luther's portrait, . l. (w. h.) on popular sayings, . ---- welborne family, . l. (w. n.) on collier's notes and emendations, . l. (y.) on sir josias bodley, . "lying by the walls," origin of the phrase, . lyon (lord) king-at-arms, . lyte (f. maxwell) on developing chamber, . ---- improvements in positives, . ---- sir w. newton's process, . ---- taylor's iodizing process, . lyte's light of brittaine, . m. m. on burn at croydon, . ---- erroneous forms of speech, . ---- rap and rend for, . ---- rathe, . ---- weather rules, . [mu]. on key to dibdin's bibliomania, . mabley (w. t.) on collodion pictures, . mac, the patronymic, . . m. (a. c.) on broad arrow, . ---- canada, &c., . ---- creole, its derivation, . ---- pearl, its etymology, . ---- shob, a kentish word, . macaulay's young levite, . mac cabe (w. b.) on old shoes thrown for luck, . macculloch (edgar) on major-general lambert, . mackenzie (k. r. h.) on lost manuscripts, . mackey (mary), her poems, . macpherson's ossian, its source, . macrocosm, a work on the, . madagascar poetry, . madden (sir f.) on autograph of edward of lancaster, . magee (abp.) and lord holland, . magistrates wearing hats in court, . magnetic intensity, . magnum of port, . maids' petition, . maitland (dr. s. r.) on consecrators of english bishops, . ---- psalmanazar, . malta, the burial-place of hannibal, . mangel wurzel, how pronounced, . . mantelkinder, . manuscripts, difference in value, . ----, search for, . . m. (a. r.) on descendants of dr. bill, . maria on forms of judicial oaths, . ---- meaning of mufti, . mariconda on bibliography, . marigmerii or melinglerii, . . markby (thomas) on bacon's advancement, . markland (j. h.) on bishop butler, . marlborough, its opposition to county magistracy, . marlowe's lust's dominion, . marriage, the scotch law of, . . marriages, curious, . marriages en chemise, . . marsden (rev. joshua) noticed, . . marshall (dr. thomas) noticed, . . martin drunk, a ballad, . . martin (f. o.) on gloves at fairs, . ---- overseers of wills, . ---- vincent family, . martin (john) on mrs. cobb's diary, . marvell (andrew), was he poisoned? . mary, daughter of james i. of scotland, . mary, queen of scots, her chair, . ---- defended by earl of buchan, . ---- gold cross, . master family in kent, . master (g. s.) on epitaph at llangollen, . ---- inscriptions in books, . ---- inscriptions in parochial registers, . ---- master family, . ---- sign of the "two chances," . mathias' (st.) day in leap year, . . maudlin, its derivation, . m. (c. r.) on chaplain to princess elizabeth, . ---- font inscriptions, . ---- john pictones, . m.d. (an) on the earldom of oxford, . meals, or malls, its meaning, . . medal, a satirical one, . mediæval or middle ages, . megatherium americanum, . meigham, the london printer, . merk lands and ures, . merritt (l.) on difficulties in photography, . meteoric stone of the thracian chersonesus, . methusalem, anecdote of, . metrical psalms and hymns, . m. (f.) on collodion negative, . m. (f.), _a maltese_, on mediæval parchment, . m. (f. m.) on inscriptions in books, . m. (g. r.) on ecclesia anglicana, . . middleton (f. m.) on taking paint off old oak, . midgley (richard) noticed, . . miland (john) on novel-writers, . miles (j. a.) on test for lenses, . miller (dr. geo.) his donnelan lectures, . milton and sir henry wotton, . . . milton in prose, by madame dubocage, . milton's widow, her family, . mint, southwark, . mistletoe, . . . ---- in ireland, . m. (j.) on chaucer's knowledge of italian . ---- clifton of normanton, . ---- english comedians in germany, . ---- fabricius, bibliotheca, . ---- heuristisch, . ---- mémoires d'un homme d'etat, . ---- prospero, the island of, . ---- reprints desirable, . ---- shakspeare's richard iii., . ---- the whippiad, . m. (j. c.) on witchcraft in , . m. (j. f.) on hurrah! . m. (j. h.) on ferdinand mendez pinto, . ---- gibbon's library, . ---- jacobite toasts, . ---- passage in coleridge, . ---- passage in thomson, . m. (j. r.) on banbury zeal, . m. (j. w.) on subterranean bells, . ---- lamech killing cain, . m. (l. a.) on carpets at rome, . ---- "jack and gill," &c., , ---- vanes, . m. (m. f.) on photographic tent, . mn. (j.) on epitaphs, . ---- hexameters from udimore register, . ---- jenny's bawbee, . modstena, monument at, . . molasses, its etymology, . monastic kitchener's account, . monboddo (lord) noticed, . monk (gen.) and cambridge university, . . . monson (lord) on corbet peerage, . monte (agricola de) on nostradamus on the gold diggings, . moon divination, . moore (thomas), his first! . mordaunt family, genealogies of, . more (sir thomas), queries respecting, . morgan (octavius) on goldsmiths' year-marks, . mormon etymologies, . ---- publications, . morton (countess of), the witch, . mothers, early christian, . mowbray and curle, their monument, . m. p. temp. edward iii., . m. (s. r.) on westminster assembly, . muffs worn by gentlemen, . . mufti, its derivation, . muhammed on meaning of assassin, . ---- cossack, . mummies in germany, . ---- of ecclesiastics, . munford (george) on locke's writings, . ---- pambotanologia, . munoki (st.), festival, . munro (john) noticed, . murdoch (j. b.) on hone's history of parody, . murner's visit to england, . murray, titular bishop of dunbar, . m. (v.) on family of milton's widow, . m. (w.) on lady high sheriff, . m. (w. h.) on a scottish brocard, . m. (w. t.) on campbell's imitations, . ---- hibernicis hibernior, . ---- macaulay's young levite, . ---- praise from sir hubert stanley, . ---- "perhaps it was right to dissemble your love," . ---- shakspeare's word "delighted," . ---- "will" and "shall," . m. (y. s.) on sir george carr, . ---- cromwell's seal, . ---- dean boyle, . ---- lord cliff, . ---- mistletoe, . ---- westminster parishes, . mythe _versus_ myth, . . n. n. (a.) on mons. consort, . ---- geneva lake, . napoleon a poet, . ---- origin of the name, . napoleon iii., emperor, . natural philosophy, curious fact in, . . . navorscher, queries from, . n. (d.) on uniforms of foot-guards, . neal's manuscripts, . nelson (lord), his death, . . ---- his rings, . ---- and wellington, . nevell (lady), contents of her music-book, . . . newbury on sir g. browne, bart, . newspapers, notes on, . ---- the oldest, . newton (mr. justice) noticed, . . newton (sir isaac), his tooth sold, . newton (w. j.) on sir w. newton's process, . . . . newx, its derivation, . n. (h. y. w.) on india rubber, . niagara, definition of, . . nichols (p.) on nelson rings, . nichols (w. l.) on bishop burnet, . ---- chapel plaster, . ---- cibber's lives of the poets, . ---- lavant at chichester, . ---- lord monboddo, . nicknames, their origin, . nightingale, poetical epithets of, . nixon, a painter, . n. (j. m.) on the meaning of meals, . n. (k.) on garrick's funeral epigram, . ---- st. nicholas' church, brighton, . n. (n.) on inscriptions in books, . noake (j.) on sounding name, . north (lord), his legitimacy, . . northern castle, a play, . northumberland house, the lion of, . norwegian antiquities, . norwich bishops, a list, . nose of wax, explained, . . no skater on skating problem, . nostradamus on the gold diggings, . nota on uncertain etymologies, . nottingham petitions, . novels, their originator, and list of, . n. (r. s.) on lowbell, . ---- nugget, . n. (s. k.) on note from seville cathedral, . n. (t. w.) on drills presaging death, . ---- newx, its derivation, . nugée (geo.) on country parson's advice, . nugget, its meaning, . . . . nuneham regis, discovery at, . . nuns of the hotel dieu, . nunting table, its meaning, . nursery rhymes, . ---- tale, . n. (v. d.) on lord goring, . n. (w. l.) on capital punishment, . ---- etymological traces of our ancestors, . ---- passage in wordsworth, . ---- tennyson query, . o. [omega]. on quotations wanted, . oak at shelton, . . oaken tombs, . . oaths, forms of judicial, . . observer on landlords in lonsdale, . ---- lord north, . odd mistakes, . . oedipus on dr. parr's combination of vowels, . o. (j.) on bookselling in calcutta, . ---- books of emblems, . ---- canongate marriages, . ---- faithful teate, . ---- hanover rat, . ---- howell's letters, . ---- lord coke's speech and charge, . ---- nugget, its etymology, . ---- old satchels, . ---- penardo and laissa, . ---- shakspearian book, . ---- somersetshire ballad, . ---- sweet singers, . o. (j. p.) on lady-day in harvest, . ---- mistletoe, . ---- skull-caps _versus_ skull-cups, . oldham (hugh), bishop of exeter, his pedigree, . . . . oliver st. john, . ol. mem. ju. on dodo in ceylon, . olney, its meaning, . o. (o. o.) on catherine barton, . ---- york mint, . optical phenomenon, . ---- query, . . oratories, places of worship, . ord (j. p.) on general monk, . orielensis on burrow, . orkneys in pawn, . . . ormon (john) on passage in orosius, . ornament, an old silver armorial, . orosius, on a passage in, . . . orte's maps, edition of , . orthography, english, its changes, . o. (t. b.) on indian chess problem, . other-some, its early use, . . [greek: ouden] on names of plants--spade, . outlawe (roger) noticed, . . . overseers of wills, their duties, . . "over the left," origin of, . ovid, on a passage in fasti, . oxford b. c. l. on chaucer's prophetic view, . ---- clergymen's scarfs, . ---- irish bishops as english suffragans, . oxford earldom, . oxfordshire legend on stone, . oxoniensis on new moon divination, . ---- parvise, . ---- wedding divination, . p. p. (a.) on plan of london, . p. (a. a.) on developing collodion process, . pack (gen. sir dennis) noticed, . paint, how taken off old oak, . painters of the flemish and dutch schools, . . pak-rae on wray family, . palindromical lines, . . . palissy and cardinal wiseman, . pallant, at chichester, . . . pambotanologia described, . pancake bell, . papers preserved from damp, . parallel passages, . . . parchment, mediæval, . . pardon, the general, a tract, . parishes, names first given to, . parish kettle, . ---- registers, right of search, . parker society monogram, . parliamentary chaplains, their sermons, . . parochial libraries, . . . . . . . . ---- registers, inscriptions in, . parr's (dr.) dedications, . . parthenon described by ciriaco, . party, its modern use, . . . parvise, its meaning, . . parvus homo on magistrates wearing hats in court, . pascal, a saying of, . passion, mediæval emblems of, . pater on early christian mothers, . patrick (bp.), his parable of a pilgrim, . paul (st.) his epistles to seneca, . . p. (c. h.) on the word jack, . p. (c-- j. t.) on scarf worn by clergymen, . ---- sun's rays putting out fires, . ---- weather proverb, . p. (c. k.) on table moving, . p. (d.) on dimidiation in impalements, . ---- family of kelway, . ---- parvise, . p. (d. w. s.) on robert wauchope, . peacock (edw.) on the cross in mexico, . peacock (edw., jun.) on scotter register, . ---- witchcraft sermons at huntingdon, . pearl, its etymology, . . . peat, deodorising, . pele (robert), abbot of furness, . pembroke (countess of), her letter to sir j. wilkinson, . pennecuik (alex.), his lost ms., . pensioners, gentlemen, . pepys's diary: battle of st. gothard, . ---- morena, . . percuriosus on jennings family, . percy anecdotes, their authorship, . . peter (st.), his statue at rome, . . . petition formula, ellipsis in, . pettigrew (t. j.) on satirical playing-cards, . pews in churches, their construction, . p. (g. h.) on collodion process, . [phi]. on cross and pile, . . ---- portrait of duke of gloucester, . ---- princes' whipping-boys, . ---- wet season in , . [phi]. ( ) on stereoscopic queries, . [phi]. ([omega].) on clergy employed in lay-offices, . phillips family, . phillips (j.) on hogarth's portraits, . philobiblion on anagrams, . ---- inscriptions in books, . ---- irish characters on the stage, . . ---- waterloo, an ancient battle-ground, . philophotog. on black tints, . photo on collodion portraits, . phonography, hart's work on, . photography, albumen process, . . ---- amber varnish, . ---- animal charcoal in photography, . ---- antiquarian photographic club, . . ---- archer (mr.), his services to photography, . ---- black tints of french photographers, . . ---- calotype negatives, . ---- camera for out-door operations, . . . . . ---- catalogues of books, . ---- collodion pictures, . . . ---- collodion process, . . . . . . . . . . . . ---- delamotte and cundall's photographic institution, . ---- developing chamber, . ---- developing fluid, . ---- diamond (dr.), his services to photography acknowledged, . ---- difficulties in photography, . ---- glass baths, . . ---- gun cotton, . ---- gutta percha baths, . ---- head-rests, . ---- hydrosulphite of soda, . ---- india-rubber substituted for yellow glass, . ---- iodized paper, . . , . . . ---- iodizing difficulty, . ---- le gray and the collodion process, . . ---- lens, test for, . . . . ---- lyte's mode of printing, . ---- microscopic pictures, . . ---- newton's process, . . . . . . . ---- pollock's directions for obtaining positives, . ---- portraits of criminals, . ---- positives, . . ---- processes upon paper, . . ---- pyrogallic acid, . . . ---- sealing-wax for baths, . ---- sensitive paper, . ---- sisson's new developing fluid, . ---- soiling of the fingers, . ---- society, . ---- society of arts, their exhibition, . ---- solutions, . . . ---- stereoscopic pictures, . . . . ---- sulphuric acid, . ---- talc for collodion pictures, . ---- taylor's iodizing process, . , . . . ---- tent, . . . ---- wax-paper process, . . . ---- wilkinson's mode of levelling cameras, . pic-nic, its etymology, . . . . pictones (john), tutor to queen elizabeth, . pictor on herbé's costumes français, . picts' houses and argils, . pierrepont (john) noticed, . . pilgrimages to the holy land, . . pim (jonathan) on marriage ring, . pinkerton (w.) on french sizain, . ---- painter--derrick, . ---- robert drury, . ---- serpent's tongue, . ---- throwing old shoes for luck, . ---- unlucky days, . pinto (ferdinand mendez), a liar of the first magnitude, . pitt of pimperne, his works, . p. (j.) on grafts and the parent tree, . ---- lion at northumberland house, . ---- phrase "coming home to men's business," . ---- quotation from shakspeare, . ---- suicide at marseilles, . p. (j.) jun. on emaciated figures, . ---- font inscriptions, . p. (j. r.) on historical proverb, . planets, origin of their names, . plants, discovery of, . . ----, names of wild, . . plaster, chapel, . play-bills, when introduced, . plough, the town, . . plum-pudding at paignton fair, . ---- receipt for making, . p. (m. t.) on holles family, . p. (o.) on inscriptions in books, . poem, an early satirical, . poems, inedited, . poisons used for bouquets, &c., . polka, its antiquity, . pollock (h.) on positive photographs, . pope (alex.) and the marquis maffei, . ---- his corrections from the dunces, . ---- and buchanan, . ---- inedited poem by, . . popham (lord chief justice) noticed, . . pork-pisee, its meaning, . port (justice) noticed, . portrait, a clerical one, . portrait painters at bath and derby, . . . . portraits at brickwall house, . ----, national, a catalogue suggested, . postage stamps, perspective view of twelve, . posts of conveyance, notices of, . potguns, . . powell (sir john), . . p. (p.) on picture of our lord's trial, . ---- subterranean bells, . p. (r.) on "lying by the walls," . ---- welsh legend of the redbreast, . pratt (dean) noticed, . prayer-book, editions prior to , . . . prester john, . prestoniensis on chapel sunday, . ---- segantiorum portus, . price (r.) on drawing an inference, . prigging tooth, or pugging tooth, . primrosen in east anglia, . princes' whipping-boys, . printers' grammars, . prisoners, form of prayer for, . . p. (r. l.) on order of st. john of jerusalem, . proclamation of henry viii. against religious books, . ----, their value as historical evidences, . proctor (wm.) on brasses since , . ---- collar of ss., . prospero, the island of, . proverbs:--as poor as job's turkey, . ---- catching a tartar, . ---- god tempers the wind, . ---- nine tailors make a man, . . ---- qui facit per alium, facit per se, . . . ---- to lie at the catch, , ---- to talk like a dutch uncle, . ---- very like a whale, . ---- weather, . ---- when our lord falls in our lady's lap, . ---- winter thunder and summer flood, . ---- you change norman for a worse horse, . psalmanazar, his history, . . . . . p. (s. r.) on raven superstition, . ---- valentines in america, . pt. (a.) on roman catholic registers, . pumphrey (wm.) on stereoscopic pictures, . purlieu, its etymology, . . pursglove, suffragan bishop of hull, . . p. (w.) on the "boy of heaven," . ---- johnsoniana, . ---- key to dibdin's bibliomania, . ---- spenser's birth-place, . ---- talc for collodion pictures, . p. (w. h.) on heraldic queries, . p. (w. m.) on passage in thomson, . pylades and corinna, . . q. q. (f. s.) on shakspeare's twelfth night, . q. (q.) on diary of thomas earl, . ---- etymology of jockey, . quærens on arms in painted glass, . quæro on govett family, . querist on family of abrahall, . quoits or quaits, . quotations: remarks on, . ---- a diasii salve, . . ---- amentium haud amantium, . ---- a world without a sun, . ---- as flies to wanton boys, . ---- bis dat, qui cito dat, . ---- by prudence guided, . ---- dimidium scientiæ, prudens quæstio, . . ---- elementa sex me proferent, . . ---- for god will be your king to-day, . . ---- god and the world we worship, . . . ---- haud cum jesu itis, . ---- her face was like the milky way, . . ---- i hear a lion in the lobby roar, . . ---- inter cuncta micans, . ---- i saw a man, . ---- it requireth great cunning, &c., . . . ---- judæus odor, . . ---- life is like a game of tables, . . ---- mala malæ malo mala pertulit omnia in orbem, . ---- ma ninette a quatorze ans, . ---- mater ait natæ, &c., . . ---- motto of hyperion, . ---- my mind to me a kingdom is, . ---- navita erythræum pavidus, &c., . . ---- ne'er to these chambers, . . ---- perhaps it was right to dissemble your love, . ---- plurima, pauca, nihil, . . ---- populus vult decipi, . . ---- quem deus vult perdere, . ---- roma amor è retro perlecto nomine, . ---- seductor sueco, . ---- see where the startled wild fowl, . ---- sic transit gloria mundi, . ---- solid men of boston, . . ---- then comes the reckoning, . ---- three poets in three distant ages born, . ---- whene'er i ask'd for blessings, . ---- words given to man to conceal his thoughts, . . ---- world without end, . . q. (w.) on jock of arden, . r. r. on "goe, soule, the bodies guest," . ---- tide tables, . r. (a.) on the meaning of tuck, . r. (a. b.), _banbury_, on traitors' ford, . r. (a. b.) on the coenaculum of lionardo da vinci, . ---- coleridge's works, . ---- door-head inscriptions, . ---- ellis walker, . ---- gesmas et desmas, . ---- irish rhymes, &c., . ---- lady anne gray, . ---- letters on prejudice, . ---- "quod fuit esse," . ---- tom moore's first! . r. (a. c.) on sir john powell, . raffaelle's sposalizio, . railway literature curiosities, . ---- signals, . rainfall in , . "raising the wind" explained, . raleigh's history, fate of vol. ii., . "rap and rend for," meaning of the phrase, . rather, its old meaning, . . . . raven superstition, . ravenshaw and his works, . rawlinson (robert) on rainfall in , . r. (c.) on custom on april the first, . r. (c. i.) on consecrated rings, . ---- fuss, its etymology, . ---- negative to the demand of the merton clergy, . ---- richardson or murphy, . ---- swedish words used in england, . r. (c. t.) on imprecatory epitaphs, . reaping machines, . reay, "lord reay's country," . rebellion of ' , a letter on, . "rebellious prayer," . recnac on passage in bacon, . red hair a reproach, . red sea, drying up of, . reed (charles) on haulf-naked manor, . ---- wednesday club, . reformer's elm, . r. (e. g.) on burn at croydon, . ---- burial of unclaimed corpse, . ---- dover castle, . ---- drills presaging death, . ---- erroneous forms of speech, . ---- game of whetstone, . ---- gloves at fairs, . . ---- gotch, its etymology, . ---- hibernis ipsis hiberniores, . ---- meals, its meaning, . ---- other-some and unneath, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- potguns, . ---- primrosen, . ---- shoes thrown for luck, . ---- subterranean bells, . regatta, the first in england, . regedonum on open pews, . regiments, names and numbers of british, . . reginensis on grub street journal, . registers of romanists in berks and oxon, . regnac on vol. ii. of raleigh's history, . relton (f. b.) on epitaph in chesham churchyard, . ---- font inscriptions, . reprints suggested, . . revolutionary calendar, . reynard the fox, the earliest edition, . r. (f. r.) on richard midgley, . ---- thomas watson, . r. (g.) on gospel place, . r. (h. c.) on enough, . ---- göthe's reply to nicolai, . rhymes in dryden, . ---- upon places, . . . . . . ribston pippin, . . . richardson or murphy, a portrait? . . riddle circa henry viii., . riddles, an oedipus wanted, . riddles for the post-office, . rigby correspondence, . . . riley (h. t.) on bohn's edition of hoveden, . ---- old booty's case, . rimbault (dr. e. f.) on arundelian marbles, . ---- bentivoglio's description of england, . ---- cibber's lives of the poets, . ---- gregorian tones, . ---- jacob bobart, &c., . ---- jenny's bawbee, . ---- judge jeffreys, . ---- lady nevell's music-book, . ---- martin drunk, . ---- passamezzo galliard, . ---- pennecuik's lost ms., . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- samuel daniel, . ---- shakspeare in the shades, a ballad, . ring, a gold signet, . ---- the marriage, its antiquity, . . rings, cramp, notices of, . . rivett (john), the loyal brazier, . rix (joseph) on legend of lamech, . ---- sermons by parliamentary chaplains, . r. (j. c.) on hogarth's pictures, . ---- irish office for prisoners, . ---- khond fable, . ---- lavater's diary, . r. (j. j.) on bandalore, . r. (j. w. s.) on arms in dugdale's warwickshire, . ---- haulf-naked manor, . ---- m.p. temp. edward iii., . r. (l. m. m.) on baal festival, . ---- garden at holyrood palace, . ---- lines quoted by charles lamb, . ---- the witch countess of morton, . ---- white roses, . roberts (george) on wages in , . robertson's index of charters, . robin hood, inquiries respecting, . ---- robes and fees in his day, . robin redbreast, welsh legend of, . roche (james), his death, . rococo, its use at st. lucia, . rolls (lyndon) on pictures by hogarth, . roman sepulchral inscriptions, . romanists in england, their punishment, . . . rooke (w.), an inedited letter by, . rosa mystica, notices of, . . rosa on daughters of st. mark, . ---- kentish fire, . rosary, its derivation, . roses, white, emblem of the pretender, . . . rosicrucians, works respecting them, . rotation of the earth, . . round towers of the cyclades, . routh (david), r. c. bishop of ossory, . rowley's poems, . royal assent to bills of parliament, . "royal escape," an old ship, . r. (p.), authorship of pylades and corinna, . r. (s.) on hallett and dr. saxby, . ---- roman inscription found at battle bridge, . r--son (m.) on brydone the tourist, . rt. on bacon's essays, . ---- baptismal custom, . ---- burial service said by heart, . ---- children crying at baptism, . ---- lines on fulke greville, . ---- st. bernard _versus_ fulke greville, . ---- "sic transit gloria mundi," . ---- "words given to conceal man's thoughts," . ---- wotton's letter to milton, . . rubi on bishops vacating their sees, . ---- elder tree, . ---- epitaph from tichfield, . ---- irish rhymes, . ---- riddles, . rubrical query, . rye (w. b.) on the shepherd of banbury, . ---- the word "its," . ryming and cuculling, their meaning, . r. (w.) on a countess of southampton, . ---- rooke's inedited letter, . ---- "wanderings of memory," . r. (w. b.) on gen. benedict arnold, . ---- quotation, . r. (z. e.) on "beware the cat," . ---- "bis dat qui cito dat," . ---- church catechism, . ---- judge smith, . ---- lord king and sclater, . ---- norfolk rhymes, . ---- talleyrand's maxim, . s. s. on etymology of folkestone, . sadler (sir edwin) noticed, . . saffron, when brought into england, . sagitta on "i hear a lion in the lobby roar," . salopian on canute's reproof to his courtiers, . ---- haughmond abbey, . ---- proud salopians, . salopians, proud, . salt-mine, the first in england, . salt-peter-man, . . . . sansom (j.) on acts xv. ., . ---- detached belfry towers, . ---- ecclesiastics' wives, . ---- king john's sacrilege, . ---- la bruyère, . ---- metrical psalms and hymns, . ---- story of ezzelin, . santa claus, the original legend, . satchels (old) noticed, . . satin, origin of the word, . satirical playing cards, . ---- prints, pope, . savoy church, custom at, . s. (a. w.) on hour-glass in pulpits, . ---- turner's picture of eltham palace, . sawyer (n.) on high spirits, . sayings, popular local, . s. (b. j.) on passage in hamlet, . s. (c.) on madagascar poetry, . scanderbeg's sword, . . . scarfs worn by clergymen, . . . . . s. (c. b. n. c. j.) on regatta, . schiller, passage in, . schomberg's epitaph by swift, . . schonbornerus, its author, . scotchmen and poland, . . scott (john) on carians using heraldry, . scott, nelson's secretary, . scott (w. h.) on statues on coins, . scotter register, co. lincoln, . scottish bishop deprived, , . ---- clergy, their literary attainments, . scotus on collier's notes and emendations, . ---- canongate marriages, . ---- smock marriages, . scrapiana on epigram on dr. toe, . screw, why applied to a broken-down horse, . scrutator on dogberry's losses or leases, . s. (d.) on lady high sheriff, . s. (e.) on camera for out-door operations, . ---- curtseys and bows, . ---- grindle, . ---- test for lenses, . sealing-wax on fingers, . searson (john), his poems, . segantiorum portus, its locality, . . . seivad on sir john davys, . seleucus on belfry towers, . ---- creeper in the samoan isles, . ---- early use of tobacco, . ---- furze of scandinavia, . senex on seal of william d'albini, . ---- shakspeare's monument, . serpent's tongue, . . seville cathedral, note from, . s. (f.) on sir john powell, . ---- west, kipling, and millbourne, . ---- "will" and "shall," . s. (f. f.) on optical query, . s. (f. r.) on aldiborontophoskophornio, . s. (f. w.) on song in praise of marquis of granby, . s. (g. h.) on grant of slaves, . shadbolt (george) on collodion process, . . ---- stereoscopic pictures, . ---- washing collodion pictures, . ---- weld taylor's process, . . shakspeare: a ballad, "shakspeare in the shades," . ---- bed-side, or the doctors enumerated, . ---- collier's notes and emendations, . ---- correspondence, . . . . . ---- criticism, . ---- delighted, as used by him, . ---- dogberry's losses or leases, . . ---- drawings, . ---- elucidations, . ---- emendations, . ---- first folio copies, . ---- judge alluded to by shakspeare, . ---- monument, . ---- "no had" and "no hath not," . ---- parallel passages, . ---- queries unanswered, . . ---- readings, . . ---- reprint of the first folio, . ---- songs and rimes, . . ---- passages in-- all's well that ends well, . antony and cleopatra, . coriolanus, . hamlet, . . king henry viii., . . . . . king john, . love's labour's lost, . . . macbeth, . . measure for measure, . much ado about nothing, . . richard iii., . taming of the shrew, . troilus and cressida, . twelfth night, . . two gentlemen of verona, . winter's tale, . . . shakspeare (thomas) noticed, . shakspearian book, . sham epitaphs and quotations, . shaw (r. j.) on bishop pursglove, . shaw's staffordshire mss., . shearman family, . . shearman (j. f.) on shearman family, . "shepherd of banbury's weather rules," . sheriff, a lady high, . . . . ---- of worcestershire in , . sheriffs of huntingdonshire and cambridgeshire, . s. (h. g.) on phillips family, . ship's painter, its derivation, . . shoo, or shub, a kentish word, . shoe thrown at weddings, . . . shoreditch cross and painted window, . . "short red, god red," . s. (h. s.) on campbell's hymn on the nativity, . sidney as a christian name, . . . sigma on borrowed thoughts, . ---- "nine tailors make a man," . signs, remarkable tavern, . simpson (w. sparrow) on african folk lore, . ---- on boyle lectures, . ---- mormon publications, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- prayer-books _antè_ , . singer (s. w.) on "any-when" and "seldom-when," . ---- shakspeare's use of "no had" and "no hath not," . ---- passage in king henry viii., . . . singleton (s.) on a passage in macbeth, . silurian on genoveva, . sisson (j. l.) on improved camera, . ---- gutta percha baths, . ---- head-rests in photography, . ---- new developing-fluid, . ---- photographic notes, . . ---- sealing-wax for bottles, . sizain, examples of, . . . s. (j.) on faithfull teate, . ---- geneva lake, . ---- inscription on a dagger, . ---- waterloo, . s. (j. d.) on arms, battle-axe, . ---- consecrated roses, &c., . ---- hob and nob, . ---- la bruyère, . ---- privileges of campvere, . ---- sir josiah bodley, . s. (j. j.) on luneburg table, . ---- subterranean bells, . s. (j. m.) on collodion film on copper plates, . ---- st. paul's epistle to seneca, . s. (j. s.) on charade attributed to sheridan, . ---- the whetstone, . skater on a skating problem, . skating problem, . . skull-caps _versus_ skull-cups, . slang expressions, . slang, its etymology, . . slaves, execution for whipping, . . . ---- grant of, to monks of dunfermline, . s. (m. a.) on jacobite ballad, . smart (robert) on erroneous forms of speech, . smirke (e.) on coenaculum of lionardo da vinci, . ---- marriages in chemise, . ---- st. augustin and baxter, . smirke (sydney) on bees and the sphynx atropos, . smith, confessor of katherine, . . smith (erasmus) noticed, . smith (gilbert n.) on creole, . ---- wolves nursing children, . smith (henry), his sermons preached by a romanist, . smith (humphry), his works, . smith (judge), . . . smith (w. j. b.) on canker rose, . smith, young, and scrymgeour mss., . smith's dictionary of antiquities, and dictionary of biography and mythology, list of errata, . smock marriages, . . . smollett's strap, who was he? . sneyd (w.) on arms of joan d'arc, . ---- pilgrimages to the holy land, . snow (robert) on "beaten to a mummy," . snuff-box, lines on a, . . . s. (n. w.) on coninger, . ---- wyle cop, . solinus, early edition of, . songs and ballads-- battle of the boyne, . gloucester, . harvest home, . jenny's bawbee, . . martin said to his man, . norman, . praise of the marquis of granby, . sing ivy, sing ivy, . somersetshire ballad, . . the wee brown hen, . 'twas on the morn of sweet may-day, . to the lords of convention, &c., . sops-in-wine, a flower, . sotadic verses, . soul and the magnetic needle, simile of, . south (dr.), his latin tract against sherlock, . ---- _versus_ goldsmith, talleyrand, &c., . . southampton, a countess of, . spade, its present and original meaning, . spanish armada, old pictures of, . . ---- physicians, their costume, . sparse, its meaning, . . s. (p. c. s) on dodo, . ---- elizabeth (queen), her alleged bastardy, . ---- literary frauds of modern times, . ---- melinglerii--berefellarii, . ---- sir j. covert, . ---- sir kenelm digby, . ---- waterloo, . spectre horsemen of southerfell, . speech, erroneous forms of, . . spencer (j. b.) on edmund spenser, . spenser (edmund), his birth-place, . . . spes on traitors' ford, . sphynx (sophronia) on a charade, . spinosa's burial-place, . spiritual persons in lay offices, . spontaneous combustion, . . . . . spring, &c., . s. (q.) on epitaph, "quod fuit esse," . s. (r. j.) on meaning of assassin, . s. (s. a.) on hyena in love potions, . ---- loselerius villerius, &c., . ---- somersetshire ballad, . ---- witchcraft in somersetshire, . ss. (j.) on americanisms, . ---- discovery at nuneham regis, . ---- sich house, . s. (s. s.) on andries de græff, . ---- enough, . ---- guthryisms, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- passage in st. james, . ---- wood of the cross, . s. (s. s.) on parish kettle, . s. (t.) on annuellarius, . ---- nottingham petitions, . s. (t. a.) on chaucer's inedited poems, . stamping on current coinage, . stanley, "praise from sir hubert stanley," . stanley (thomas), bishop of man, . stansbury (joseph) on westminster assembly of divines, . statues represented on coins, . st. bees on oaken tombs, . st. leger (hon. miss), a mason, . st. mark, daughters of the republic of, . st. mary's church, beverley, . st. nicholas' church, brighton, . s. (t. c.) on lady high sheriff, . ---- pope and the marquis maffei, . steaming, as used by thomson, . steel bars, how hardened, . steevens (george) noticed, . stephens (geo.) on god's marks, . ---- metal types in , . sternberg (t.) on captain ayloff, . ---- fabulous bird, . ---- predictions of the fire and plague of london, . . ---- selling a wife, . ---- on suicide, the last buried at a cross-road, . sterry (peter) and jeremiah white, . stewart (john) on sir william newton's process, . stewarts of holland, . s. (t. g.) on eulenspiegel, . stillman (w.) on drying up the red sea, . stone-pillar worship, . storer (w. p.) on myles coverdale, . ---- signification of olney, . strath clyde on prester john, . straw bail, its origin, . . . . "strike, but hear me," origin of the phrase, . st. (w.) on carr pedigree, . ---- judge smith, . subscriber on scott, nelson's secretary, . ---- tennyson query, . ---- three per cent. consols, . suicide encouraged in marseilles, . . . suicide, the last buried at a cross road, . s. (u. j.) on dr. anthony marshall, . ---- heraldic query, . sun's rays putting out the fire, . . . superstitious sayings, seven score of, . surgeon (a foreign) on passage in boerhaave, . ---- the megatherium americanum, . surnames, . surplices of priests, . s. (w.) on dr. fletcher and lady baker, . ---- lady high sheriff, . swedish words current in england, . . sweet singers, . swift (dean), his autograph, . ---- his epitaph on schomberg, . ---- lines on woolston, . s. (w.), _sheffield_, on daubuz, . ---- mistletoe, . ---- quotation, "by prudence guided," . ---- steevens's will, . ---- wake family, . syriac scriptures, . . t. table-moving, noticed by bacon, . taffy on judge jeffreys, . talleyrand's maxim, . tangiers, english army in , . tanner mss. in the british museum, . taret, an insect, . t. (a. s.) on author of the snow flake, . tate, an artist, . taylor (e. s.) on drills presaging death, . ---- etymological traces of our ancestors, . ---- eugene aram's comparative lexicon, . ---- historical engraving, . ---- names first given to parishes, . ---- roman sepulchral inscriptions, . ---- rosicrucians, works on, . ---- slang expressions, . ---- valentine's day, . taylor (jeremy) related to lord hatton, . taylor (weld) on black tints, . ---- "emblemata horatiana," . ---- iodizing paper, . . . . . ---- photographic portraits of criminals, . ---- replies to photographic questions, . ---- test for a good lens, . t. (b. b. f. f. t.) on qualifications of churchwardens, . t. (c.) on symbol of globe and cross, . t. (c. m.) on the reformer's elm, . tea, its prices in , . teate (dr. faithfull) noticed, . . teeth, superstition respecting, . templar on lawyers' bags, . temple bar, its history, . temple (h. l.) on parallel passages, . ---- passage in locksley hall, . ---- "populus vult decipi," . ---- rhymes: dryden, . ---- sotadic verses, . temple of truth, its author, . . tenent and tenet, . tennent (sir j. emerson) on blackguard, . ---- ceylon map, . ---- coninger, . ---- dodo, . ---- etymology of pearl, . tennyson, on a passage in, . . . ---- queries in, . . . . t. (h.) on rhymes upon places, . ---- winter thunder, . [theta]. on arms of de turneham, . ---- coleridge's life and correspondence, . ---- isping geil, . th--b. (r. y.) on passage in juvenal, . theobald's letter on arundelian marbles, . t. (h. e. p.) lines on london, . "the two chances," a sign in shropshire, . thiriold (charles) on mythe _ver._ myth, . thirteen an unlucky number, . thompson (pishey) on boston queries, . thompson (sir john), his armorial bearings, . thoms (wm. j.) on consecrated roses, . ---- eulenspiegel or howleglas, . thomson (e.) on a passage in orosius, . thomson (james), his will, . ---- seasons; the word "steaming," . . . . thoughts borrowed, . . three per cent. consols, . thrupp (j.) on forms of judicial oaths, . ---- throwing old shoes, . tide tables, . timbs (john) on the percy anecdotes, . "time and i," . . . . tipperary, lines on, . t. (j. h.) on discovery at nuneham regis, . t. (m. j.) on ring of edward the confessor, . tobacco and snuff, remarks on, . tobacco, its use before the discovery of america, . todd (dr. j. h.) on the bp. berkeley's portrait, . ---- dutch allegorical picture, . . . ---- iona, or ioua, . ---- roger outlawe, . ---- townerawe family, . tolls in london, origin of, . . tombstone at the quay of aberdeen, . tom track's ghost, . tortoiseshell tom cat, . . touchstone defined, . . townerawe family noticed, . town-halls, ancient timber, . townley manuscripts, . townshend (r. s.), common-place book, . t. (p.) on st. james's market-house, . ---- shakspearian drawings, . tradescant family, . traitors' ford, . . traja-nova on lyte's light of brittaine, . tree of the thousand images, . trees, their age, . . trevelyan (sir w. c.) on dutensiana, . ---- kentish local names, . ---- king robert bruce's coffin-plate, . ---- lindsay's viridarium, . ---- monument at modstena, . . ---- palindromical lines, . ---- phonography, . ---- spontaneous combustion, . trial of our lord, a picture, . true blue, . trussell's winchester antiquities, . t--t. (j.) on bishop hugh oldham, . t. (t. w.) on death of nelson, . tub-woman, _alias_ mrs. hyde, . tuck, its meaning, . . . tucker (s. i.) on boyer's great theatre, . tuebeuf, its locality, . . turkey-cocks, why so called, . turner (bp. francis), his mss., . turner (j. m. w.), his view of lambeth palace, . . . . t. (w.) on mediæval parchment, . ---- the cardinal spider, . ---- glass baths, . ---- saffron when brought to england, . t. (w. w.) on anonymous works, . ---- crescent, . ---- spontaneous combustion, . t. (w. w. e.) on ballad of the battle of the boyne, . ---- touchstone, its derivation, . tye on "mater ait natæ," &c., . types, movable metal, in , . tyro on bishops deprived by elizabeth, . ---- bishops watson and gobat, . ---- chaucer, . ---- consecrators of english bishops, . ---- dr. wallis's anonymous pamphlet, . ---- ellis walker, . ---- letter to a convocation man, . ---- parker society monogram, . ---- pursglove, suffragan of hull, . ---- robert dodsley, . ---- robert wauchope, archbishop of armagh, . ---- taret, an insect, . ---- tennyson, . u. uneda on "as poor as job's turkey," . ---- english orthography, . ---- humbug, its earliest use, . ---- lieutenant, its pronunciation, . ---- maid's petition, . ---- nelson and wellington, . ---- percy anecdotes, . ---- quoits, its pronunciation, . ---- sealing-wax, . ---- "solid men of boston," . ---- weight of american officers, . unneath, its early use, . . upcott (wm.), his letters on the reprint of the first folio shakspeare, . ursula on la bruyère, . ---- conway family, . ---- james chaloner, . ---- welbourne family, . u. v. w., their ancient pronunciation, . v. v. on ephippiarius, . ---- genoveva, . vanbrugh (sir john), his birthplace, . vandyke on sir kenelm digby, . vanes, early notice of, . valentine (st.), popular in america, . valentine's day, . venda, origin of the word, . verbum sat on suggestions to photographers, . verney papers, . via lactea on a quotation, . vicars-apostolic in england, . . . villerius (loselerius) noticed, . . vincent family, . . . vincent (r.) on epigram by sir w. scott, . vinegar plant, . vinos on the word claret, . v. (j. h.) on prophecy in hoveden, . vogel on the meaning of boom, . v. (w. d.) on english comedians in the netherlands, . ---- lord goring, . w. w. (a.) on conyngers, . ---- tate, an artist, . wadstena, monument at, . . w. (a. f.) on pope's inedited poem, . w. (a. f. a.) on the brazen head, . w. (a. g.) on chipchase of chipchase, . wages in the west in , . wake family noticed, . . wake (h. t.) on hall-close, silverstone, . walcot (col. thomas), his sons, . . walcott (mackenzie) on annueller, . ---- burial service said by heart, . ---- degree of b. c. l., . ---- westminster parishes, . walker (ellis) noticed, . . wallis (dr. john), his anonymous pamphlet, . walmer castle, old fortification there, . walter (hen.) on cranmer and calvin, . ---- discovery of plants, . ---- legend of lamech, . walter (j.) on turner's view of lambeth, . wandering jew, the myth, . . "wandering willie's tale," . ward's lives of the gresham professors, . warde (r. c.) on sermons by parliamentary chaplains, . warden (j. s.) on campbell's pleasures of hope, . ---- clarendon and the tub-woman, . ---- descendants of john of gaunt, . ---- le balafré, . ---- macpherson's ossian, . ---- pepys's diary, . ---- pepys's morena, . ---- quotation from juvenal, . ---- quotations, . wards of the crown, . washington and major andré, . washington (gen.) inedited letter, . waterford charter, . waterloo, latin poems on, . . ---- an ancient battle ground, . . watkins (charles) on swedish words current in england, . watson (t.), bishop of st. david's, . . wauchope (abp.) noticed, . . . way (albert) on national portraits, . waylen (j.) on origin of devizes, . ---- marlborough corporation, . waymor (c.) on walmer castle, . w. (c.) on washing collodion process, . w. (c. t.) on isthmus of darien, . ---- alleged cure for hydrophobia, . weather rules, . . . . weather, volcanic influence on, . wedding divination, . wednesday club, . . . wednesday, why a litany-day, . welborne family, . . wellesley pedigree, . well-flowering, . wellington (duke of) a maréchal de france, . . ---- his first speech, . welsh genealogical queries, . west, kipling, and millbourne, . west (philip) on axe which beheaded anne boleyn, . westmacott (a. f.) on martha blount, . westminster assembly, its proceedings, . . ---- parishes, . . weston (robert) noticed, . wet season in , . w. (g. b.) on lines on landseer's print, . w. (h.) on philip d'auvergne, . w. (h. d.) on early reaping machines, . wheale, its meaning, . whetstone, the game of, . . . whippiad, . . . whipping-post, . whipping toms at leicester, . whitborne (j. b.) on cures for hooping-cough, . ---- gold signet ring, . ---- graves family, . ---- portrait of baron lechmere, . ---- town-halls, . white (a. holt) on cross and pile, . ---- gibbon's library, . white (j. blanco), sonnet by, . . w. (h. t.) on derivation of lowbell, . w. (i.) on immoral works, . wife being sold, . . wilbraham (randle), his diploma, . wilde (g. j. de) on the author of the family journal, . wilkinson (henry) on levelling cameras, . wilkinson (t. t.) on clarke's essay on mathematics, . ---- lawson's mathematical mss., . will and shall, their distinction, . . williams (b.) on anglo-saxon localities, . williams (john) of southwark, his descendants, . williams (wm.) on epitaph in st. helen's, . williams (wm.) of geneva, . wills (a. w.) on the sun's rays, . ---- spontaneous combustion, . wilson (a. c.) on collodion pictures, . wilson (c.) on vincent family, . wilson (dan.) on mr. john munro, . winchester and huntingdon, their population, . windfall, its derivation, . winebibber on jeroboam of claret, . winters, on early, . winthrop (wm.) on american fisheries, . ---- bacon's hint to our correspondents, . ---- bells _versus_ storms, . ---- cadenham oak, . ---- catching a tartar, . ---- charles i.'s statue, . ---- curfew, . ---- execution for whipping a slave, . ---- fuss, its etymology, . ---- "god tempers the wind," . ---- inscriptions in books, . ---- juxon (bishop) and walton's polyglott, . ---- "mater ait natæ," . ---- malta, the burial-place of hannibal, . ---- mummies in germany, . ---- order of st. john of jerusalem, . ---- orte's maps of , . ---- round towers of the cyclades, . ---- serpents' tongues, . ---- sir edward grymes, . ---- "to talk like a dutch uncle," . ---- trees, their age, . ---- windfall, its derivation, . ---- "your most obedient servant," . witchcraft, . . ---- in somersetshire, . ---- sermons at huntingdon, . w. (j. f.) on vicars-apostolic, . w. (j. k. r.) on jenny's bawbee, . ---- tickell's elegy on addison, . w. (j. r.) on royal assent to bills, . ---- vicars-apostolic in england, . . w. (l. s.) on a modern plan of london, . w. (m.) on god's marks, . wmson (s.) on ben jonson's adopted sons, . ---- lord duff's toast, . ---- satirical prints, . ---- "then comes the reckoning," &c., . wolfe (general), his death from a deserter, . . ---- portrait, . wolves nursing children, . woman, her formation, . wood (thos.), chief-justice, noticed, . . woodward (b. b.) on cene's essay for a new translation, . ---- "dimidium scientiæ," &c., . ---- door-head inscription, . ---- eagles supporting lecterns, . ---- folger family, . ---- history of formosa, . ---- owen glendower's arms, . ---- pot-guns, . words misunderstood, . . . . . . wordsworth, passage in, . . worth, its meaning, . . wotton (sir h.) and milton, . . . w. (r.) on orkneys in pawn, . wray family, notices of, . wright (r.) on canada, its derivation, . ---- pronunciation of enough, . ---- ethnology of england, . ---- niagara, . ---- other-some and unneath, . ---- santa claus, . ---- smock marriage in new york, . wyatt (thomas) on developing paper, . wyle cop explained, . x. x. on chaplains to noblemen, . x. (a. r.) on fifeshire pronunciation, . ---- italian-english, . x. (d.) on legend of change, . x. (l. e.) on turner's view of lambeth palace, . y. y. on sheriff of worcestershire, . yankee, its origin and meaning, . . yarrum (p. j.) on st mathias' day, . yates (j. b.) on books of emblems, . y. (c. g.) on duke of wellington, . year, commencement of the ecclesiastical, . y. (e. h.) on welsh genealogical queries, . yeowell (j.) on juxon's account of vendible books, . y. (j.) on inscriptions in churches, . ---- smock marriages, . ---- the northern castle, . y. (j. st j.) on lawyers' bags, . yolante de dreux, . york mint, its officer, . young (dr.) his ms. sermons, . . "your most obedient servant," its origin, . y. (s.) on coleridge's christabel, . ---- punishment of romanists, . y. (x.) on bookselling in glasgow in , . z. z. on british regiments, . ---- costume of english physicians, . z. (a.) on brown's polidus, . ---- eugenia, by hayes and carr, . ---- leapor's unhappy father, . zeus on etymology of fuss, . ---- lamech killing cain, . ---- palindromical lines, . ---- parallel passages, . ---- rhymes upon places, . ---- scanderbeg's sword, . . ---- sizain on the pope, &c., . ---- slang, its etymology, . ---- suicide at marseilles, . ---- tortoiseshell tom cat, . ---- wandering jew, . z. (x. y.) on bishop butler, . ---- contested elections, . ---- rebellion of ' , a letter on, . end of the seventh volume. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid. generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * index to the eighth volume. * * * * * [for classified articles, see anonymous works, notices of new books, epigrams, epitaphs, folk lore, inscriptions, photography, proverbs, quotations, shakspeare, and songs and ballads. articles with an asterisk (*) prefixed denote _unanswered_ queries at the date of publication.] * * * * * a. a. on birthplace of edward i., . a. (a.) on encore, . aa (a. j. van der) on portrait of andries de graeff, . * abbé, french, status of one, . abhba on archbishop king, . ---- judicial families, . abigail, a lady's maid, . . . abraham and isaac, mythological notices of, . abredonensis on battle of cruden, . ---- dictum de kenilworth, . ---- picts' houses in aberdeenshire, . ---- scottish national records, . ---- sir thomas de longueville, . ---- statute of kilkenny, . ---- temple lands in scotland, . ---- volcanoes in scotland, . ---- willingham boy, . a. (c.) on a "wilderness of monkeys," . acharis, its meaning, . . acworth (g. b.) on poetical tavern signs, . ---- school libraries, . adamson (john) on the cid, . adamson's lusitania illustrata, . . adamsoniana, . . admiralty office, shield and arms, . * "adrian turn'd the bull," its meaning, . * advent hymn, why omitted in common prayer, . advertisement, curious poetical one, . advertisements and prospectuses, their utility, . a. (e. h.) on adamsoniana, . ---- adamson's lusitania illustrata, . ---- "alterius orbis papa," . ---- books chained in churches, ---- burnet, wharton, and smith, . ---- church towers detached, . ---- delaval's poems, . ---- denison family, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- portuguese folk lore, . Æschylus, potter's translation, . a. (f. s.) on louis le hutin, . ---- minuteness of detail on paper, . age, the feelings of, . agmond, on etymology of contango, . a. (i. t.) on henry i.'s tomb, . * aix ruochim, or romans ioner, . a. (j.) on copyright law, . a. (j. p.) on "celsior exsurgens pluviis," . a. (j. s.) on czar, or tsar, . ---- inscription on a tomb in finland, . ---- religion of the russians, . ---- seven oaks and nine elms, . ---- sneezing, . aldress, an instance of its use, . alethes on worm in books, . alfred (king), the locality of his battles, , . * ---- pedigree to the time of, . [greek: halieus] on bulstrode whitlock, . ---- cawdray's treasurie of similies, . ---- donatus redivivus, . ---- gale of rent, . ---- keate family, . ---- mitre and the crown, . ---- murder of monaldeschi, . ---- passage in whiston, . ---- preparation for martyrdom, . aliquis on epigram on rome, . ---- fire-irons, their antiquity, . allan (peter) of sunderland, . . . allcroft (j. d.) on hour-glass in pulpits, . ---- watch-paper inscriptions, . alledius on rousseau and boileau, . ---- "when we survey yon circling orbs," . allen (h. l.) on female parish clerks, . allen (r. j.) on will of peter the great, . ---- wood of the cross, . all hallow eve, custom on, . "all my eye," its early use, . alma mater, its origin, . alms at the eucharist, superstition respecting, . alms-basket described, . alpha on the mother of william the conqueror, . [greek: alpha] on descendants of milton, . * alsop (george) noticed, . altars, portable, . . a. (m.) on honorary degrees, . ---- newton memorial, . amateur on multiplying photographs, . amateur photographer on precision in photographic processes, . amcotts' pedigree, . . american names, . americus on "vox populi vox dei," . amicus (veritatis) on quadrille, . * "amor nummi," the author, . ampers _and_ (&), its derivation, . . . . . . anathema, maran-atha, . anderson (dr. james), notices of, . . anderson (james), his historical essay, . andré (major) noticed, . . . . . * andrew's (st.) priory church, barnwell, . andrews (alex.) on anna lightfoot, . ---- irish rhymes, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . angel-beast, a game, . * animal prefixes, . anne (queen), her motto, . . . anon on camera obscura, early notices of, . ---- dodo bardolf, . ---- door-head inscriptions, . ---- epitaph on tuckett's wife, . ---- inscriptions in books, . . ---- manliness, its meaning, . ---- "peg" or "nail" for an argument, . ---- sir john vanbrugh, . ---- "virgin wife and widowed maid," . ---- "when the maggot bites," . anonymous names and real signatures, . . . anonymous works:-- andré, a tragedy, . * blockheads, . * british empire, present state of, . * convent, an elegy, . days of my youth, . delights for ladies, . de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis, . devil on two sticks in england, . * donatus redivivus, . doveton, a novel, . . elijah's mantle, . . * fast sermon in , . * history of jesus christ, . indians, a tragedy, . * jerningham, a novel, . . les lettres juives, . * lessons for lent, &c., . liturgy of the ancients, . man with iron mask, . match for a widow, . * mitre and the crown, . * national prejudice opposed to interest, . pætus and arria, . . * poems published at manchester, . preparation for martyrdom, . * professional poems by a professional gentleman, . rock of ages, . * watch, an ode, . whole duty of man, . anstruther (mr.) on the authorship of jerningham and doveton, . antecedents, its use as a plural, . anti-barbarus on latin termination -anus, . antipodes, what day at our antipodes? . . . antiquaries, society of, changes proposed, . antiquary on sir arthur aston, . -anus, quantity of the latin termination, . . applauding, national methods of, . a. (p. t.) on park the antiquary, . * aquinas (thomas) lines by, . arademaravasadeloovaradooyou, its meaning, . aram (eugene), his comparative lexicon, . archæological institute, annual meeting, . aristotle's checks, , . a. (r. j.) on naming infants in scotland, . armorial bearings, modern practice of assuming, . arms, battle-axe, . arms of ladies borne in a lozenge, . . . , . arnim (bettina), her german-english, . * arrow-mark found in north devon, . arrowsmith (w. r.) on misunderstood words, . arterus on shakspeare's seven ages, . arthur (king) in the form of a raven, . arun on letters respecting hougomont, . ---- shakspeare on the winds, . * ash-trees attractive to lightning, . astolpho on slang expression, . aston (j. w.) on a mistletoe query, . aston (sir arthur) noticed, . . . . astrology in america, . ath chliath on chimney-piece emblem, . * athenæus, fragments in, versions of, . attwood (wm.), his book burnt, . audley (lord), his attendants at poictiers, . . audoënus (johannes) _alias_ john owen, . augusta on orange blossom, . authors' aliases and initials, . ---- remuneration of, . autobiographical sketch, . autumnal tints, . awkward, its etymology, . . . b. b. on the small city companies, . ---- "corporations have no souls," &c., . ---- digest of shakspearian readings, . ---- green pots at the temple, . b. (a.) on launching query, . bacon (lord) and shakspeare, . bacon's essays, notes on, . . . . . ---- sentences taken from, . bacon or beechen, . bad, its etymology, . b. (a. e.) on attainment of majority, . . . ---- day at our antipodes, . ---- shakspeare readings, . . ---- shakspeare suggestions, . b. (a. f.) on "hip, hip, hurrah!" . ---- pierrepont and his descendants, . ---- quotations, . bagot (c. e.) on capt. cook and the sandwich islands, . bagshawe (e. l.) on an old saying, . b. (a. h.) on splitting paper, . bailey's annuities, spurious edition, . balch (t.) on martha blount, . balderdash, its meaning and etymology, . bale mss. referred to by tanner, . ballard (e. g.) on bond, a poet, . ---- calves' head club, . ---- "good old cause," . ---- hour-glass in pulpits, . ---- house-marks, . ---- inscription in peterborough cathedral, . ballina castle, co. mayo, . . balliolensis on abigail, . ---- joannes audoënus, . ---- books burned by the common hangman, . ---- bottled beer, . ---- bulstrode's portrait, . ---- death on the fingers, . ---- epitaph in torrington churchyard, . ---- epitaphium lucretiæ, . ---- eve, its etymology, . ---- hour glass in pulpits, . ---- lawyers' bags, . ---- muscipula, . ---- napoleon, anecdote of, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- "quid facies, facies veneris," &c., . ---- rev. josiah pullen, . ---- sheridan, latin translation from, . ---- sir philip warwick, . ---- sir walter raleigh, . ---- tenet or tenent, . ---- thomas aquinas, lines by, . * ball (lord) of bagshot, . balmoral, natural history of, . . baretti, his portrait by reynolds, . . * bargain cup, . barnacles in the thames, . . . barrett (eaton stannard), his lines on woman, . . . barry (c. clifton) on animal prefixes, . ---- fauntleroy, . ---- midland county minstrelsy, . barton (mrs. c.) and lord halifax, . . . . basil (_oscimum basilicum_), a plant, . basilica, a digest of laws, . baskerville the printer, his burial-place, . . . bates (wm.) on gibbon's library, . ---- rosicrucians, . ---- soul and magnetic needle, . ---- "when the maggot bites," . bath, knights of, their escutcheons in st. peter's, westminster, . bathensis on jamieson the piper, . * bave (anthony), his manuscripts, . b. (b. e) on burke's marriage, . b. (c.) on font at islip, . b. (c. w.) on epitaph from stalbridge, . ---- huc's travels, . ---- "like one who wakes," &c., . ---- potenger's unpublished letter, . ---- right of redeeming property, . b. (d. e.) on john campbell of jamaica, . b. (e.) on manual of handwriting, . bealby (h. m.), notes on newspapers, . * beauty of buttermere noticed, . beccles, its parochial library, . bede (cuthbert) on books chained in churches, . . ---- "boom" as used by the poets, . ---- brasenose, oxford, . ---- burial in an erect posture, . ---- burial on north side of churches, . ---- centenarian couple, . ---- children called imps, . ---- curfew, where rung, . ---- dial inscriptions, . ---- epitaphs, . . ---- funeral custom, . ---- hour-glasses in pulpits, . ---- innocents' day, custom on, . ---- inscriptions on bells, . ---- marriage service, . ---- nightingale, character of its song, . ---- oaken tomb at durham, : at brancepath church, . ---- "peccavi!" i have scinde, . ---- peter allan, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . ---- st. thomas's day, custom on, . ---- stoups, exterior, . ---- testimonials to donkies, . ---- "up, guards, and at 'em!" . ---- weather predictions, . bee park--bee hall, . bees, names for their migrations, . . bee (tee) on arms of the see of york, . ---- bee park--bee hall, . ---- governor brookes, . ---- governor dameram, . ---- lines on the order of the garter, . ---- william the conqueror's surname, . * "begging the question," origin of the phrase, . beginner on baths for collodion process, . behmen (jacob), his works, . . belfry towers, detached, . . . belike, its meaning and derivation, . . bell (robert), lines on woman, . bell, the passing, . bellenden (miss), maid of honour, . belle sauvage, . . * bellmen, the city, their origin, . bells at berwick-upon-tweed, . . bells for the dead, on ringing, . . . . . bells, phantom and death, . b. (e. m.) on trench on proverbs, . berefellarii, its meaning, . . berosus on stipendiary curates, . b. (f.) on bishop kennett's diary, . ---- brothers of the same name, . b. (f. c.) on s. a. mackey, of norwich, . b. (f. f.) on arms of geneva, . b. (g. b.) on keate family, . b. (g. m.) on curious advertisement, . ---- lines in franklin's handwriting, . b. (h.) on children called imps, . ---- revolving toy, . bible names, how pronounced, . . . bibliothec. chetham. on the word cash, . ---- battle of villers en couché, . ---- burial in unconsecrated ground, . ---- darling's cyclopædia, . ---- mottoes of german emperors, . ---- odour from the rainbow, . ---- sheriffs of glamorganshire, . ---- stars and flowers, . ---- superstition of cornish miners, . ---- tin, its early use, . b. (i. h.) on laird of brodie, . billyng (william), noticed, . bingham (richard) on passage in bingham's antiquities, . * bingham's antiquities, passage in, . binometrical verses, . . . bishop's cannings church, hand in, . . bishops deprived by elisabeth, . ---- suffragans, in ireland, . b. (j.) on battle of villers en couché, . ---- chadderton of nuthurst, . ---- falstaff's character, . ---- german heraldry, . ---- herbert's memoirs of charles i., . ---- sir isaac newton and voltaire, . ---- wooden tombs and effigies, . b. (j. c.) on longfellow's reaper and the flowers, . ---- the angels' whisper, a song, . b. (j. m.) on danish and swedish ballads, . ---- queries in the doctor, . ---- poema del cid, . ---- "state," in hamlet, act i. sc. ., . b. (k.) on divining-rod, . black as a mourning colour, . . * blackamore, the fable of washing the, . blackburn (hugh) on photographic engraving, . blackguard and blagueur, . * blackwood's magazine, a passage in, . blake (william) noticed, . . blakiston (r.) on "all my eye," . ---- "pinece with a stink," . blink (geo.) on shakspearian emendations, . b.l.m., its meaning, . blood (wm.) on idol worship, . ---- patrick's purgatory, . blotting-paper, when first used, . . blount (martha) noticed, . blount (thomas), inscription on his monument, . . * blue-bell--blue anchor, . blue (true), who was he? . blythe (dr. samuel), his arms, . . b. (m. g.) on hotchpot, . b. (n.) on chair moving, . ---- encyclopædias, . ---- translation of ps. cxxvii. , . b. (n. t.) on pollocks's process, . boardman, on an early new testament, . boase (geo.) on encaustic tiles from caen, . bobart (h. t.) on jacob bobart, . bobart (jacob) noticed, . . . bockett (julia r.) on gravestone inscription, . ---- richard geering, . ---- snail-eating, . boerhaave, passage in, . bogie and the farmer, a mythological tale, . * böhme (anton wilhelm) noticed, . boleyn (queen anne), state prisoner, . bond, a poet, . bond (e. a.) on wright of durham, . * books, old, . booker (john) on books chained in churches, . ---- parallel passages, . ---- passage in burial service, . book inscriptions. see _inscriptions_. * book reviews, their origin, . books burned by the common hangman, . . . books chained in churches, . . . . . . books, notices of new:-- ancren riwle; or rules of monastic life, . antiquary, a serial, . anzeige für kunde des deutschen vorzeit, . apuleius, metamorphoses, . aristophanes' comedies, . . attic philosopher in paris, . bacon's advancement, by t. markby, . bacon's essays, by t. markby, . bankes's corfe castle, . barlow's works on cheshire, . blaine on the laws of artistic copyright, . bristol archæological institute, . carpenter's physiology of total abstinence, . chaucer's canterbury tales, . cooper's glossary of provincialisms, . cooper's sketch of linton, . corner on borough english, . cowper (b. h.), his history of millwall, . cowper's life and works, by southey, . croker's history of the guillotine, . cyclopædia bibliographica, . . . . . de la motte's practice of photography, . de quincy's confessions of an opium eater, . english bible: part ii, . eyton's antiquities of shropshire, . foster's lectures, . french's pedigrees of nelson and wellington, . gibbon's decline and fall (bohn), . gray's elegy, illustrated, . hardwick's history of the church, . humphrey's coin collector's manual, . hunter's reply to rev. mr. dyce, . ingleby's essay on the stereoscope, . . irish quarterly review, . johnson's botany of the eastern borders, . justin, cornelius nepos, and eutropius, translated, . kitto's journal of sacred literature, . . lardner's handbook of natural philosophy, . lepsius's letters from egypt, &c., . letter to a convocation man, . macdonald's botanist's word-book, . madden's life of savonarola, . mahon's (lord) history of england, . . . matthew of westminster's history, . . miller's fly-leaves, . national miscellany, vol. i., . ordericus vitalis' ecclesiastical history, . owen's translation of aristotle, . phippen's practical experiments, . promptorium parvulorum, . ranke's history of servia, . remains of pagan saxondom, . shakspeare repository, . simpson's collection of epitaphs, . simpson's mormonism, . sims's handbook to british museum library, . . somersetshire archæological society's proceedings, . smith's dictionary of greek and roman geography, . . smith on the origin and connexion of the gospels, . smith's theory of moral sentiments, . stevens' catalogue of his library, . thomson's archaic mode of expressing numbers, . traveller's library, . . urquhart's progress of russia, . welsh sketches, . willich's popular tables, . . zeitschrift für deutsche mythologie und sittenkunde, . books suggested for reprints, . boom, as used by the poets, . . booth (capt.) of stockport, . . booty's case, . borderer on anonymous ballad, . boston notion, largest american paper, . boswell's johnson, on the word _stellas_, . . bottled beer, . b. (ii.) on "amentium haud amantium," . ---- "sincere," . b. (p.) on george alsop, . * bradshaw (president) and milton, . brasenose, oxford, origin of the name, . braybrooke (lord) on paint taken off of old oak, . ---- pepys's grammar, . ---- poems in connexion with waterloo, . * brazen head, a periodical, . brechin (bishop of) on pagoda, . * brecost, its meaning, . breen (henry h.) on adamsoniana, . ---- antecedents, as a plural, . ---- charles i.'s portrait, . ---- christian names, . ---- convent, an elegy, . ---- creole, explained, . ---- "crowns have their compass," . ---- dramatic representations by the hourglass, . ---- drummer's letter, . ---- foreign english, . ---- "good old cause," . ---- "from the sublime to the ridiculous," . ---- heraldic colour pertaining to ireland, . ---- huet's navigations of solomon, . ---- malachy (st.) on the popes, . ---- mistranslations, curious, . ---- montmartre, its derivation, . ---- napoleon's spelling, . ---- paradise lost, . ---- quarles and pascal, . ---- table-turning, . brehon laws noticed, . brent (j.) on "hip, hip, hurrah!" . brett (peter), parish clerk and author, . b. (r. h.) on autumnal tints, . ---- land of green ginger, hull, . ---- pennycomequick, near plymouth, . brickwall house, portraits at, . bridges, superstition respecting, . brigantia on caves at settle, . bristoliensis on old books, . ---- chatterton, . ---- cromwell's portrait, . ---- curious posthumous occurrence, . ---- hogarth's pictures, . britain, its derivation, . . . . . british museum, handbook to the library, . broctuna on henry, earl of wotton, . ---- heraldic notes, . ---- ladies' arms borne in a lozenge, . . ---- seals of great yarmouth, . * broderie anglaise, . brooks (rev. joshua) noticed, . * brooks (governor) noticed, . brooks (t. w. d.) on inscription at aylesbury, . brothers of the same christian name, . . brough (dean), his "crown of glory," . brown (c.) on the myrtle bee, . brown (j. w.) on books chained in churches, . brown (t. r.), his etymological dictionary, . * browne (francis), did he marry? . browne, sir george, noticed, . . . browne's tragedy of polidus, . bruce (john) on archbishop curwen's letter to archbishop parker, . ---- archbishop parker's correspondence, . ---- cromwell's portrait, . ---- verney note decyphered, . b. (r. w.) on fox-hunting, . ---- pictorial pun, . ---- robin hood's festival, . * bryan (sir francis), his pedigree, . b. (s.) on lyte's new process, . ---- sisson's developing solution, . b. (t.) on sangaree, . b--t (j.) on blotting-paper, . ---- dog latin, . buckle, its meaning, . . buckton (t. j.) on barnacles, . ---- council of trent, . ---- druses, . ---- harmony of the four gospels, . ---- hebrew names, how pronounced, . ---- jews in china, . ---- land of green ginger, . . ---- manifesto of the emperor nicholas, . . ---- peter lombard's knowledge of greek, . ---- psalm cxxvii. ., . ---- "quem deus vult perdere," . ---- shakspearian parallels, . ---- sneezing an omen and deity, . ---- sophocles, passage in, . ---- thucydides on the greek factions, . ---- tsar, or czar, . bull, oblation of a white, . bullaces explained, . . . bulstrode's portrait, . . bunyan's emblems, . burial in an erect posture, . . . . . ---- in unconsecrated ground, . . . . . ---- on north side of churches, . ---- service, passage in, . . buriensis on church towers detached, . ---- daughters taking their mothers' names, . ---- dr. butler of st. edmund's bury, . ---- parish register mottoes, . ---- punning devices, . burke's marriage, . . burke's mighty boar of the forest, . burleigh (lord) and the dissenters, . burnet (bp), h. wharton, and smith, . burn (j. s.) on inscription at north stoneham, . ---- book burnt by the hangman, . ---- parish clerks' company, . ---- saltpetre-man, . bursary explained, . burton (henry), his works, . * burton (john), his descendants, . burton (robert), author of anatomy of melancholy, his death, . butler (mr.) of st. edmund's bury, . . * butler's lives of the saints, various editions, . button's (sir thomas) voyage, . . b. (v.) on junius facts being authenticated, . b--w (f.) on derivation of unkid, . ---- "never ending, still beginning," . ---- passage in virgil, . ---- quotation from pope, . ---- tyndale's new testament, . -by, as a termination, . * byron (lord) noticed, . ---- childe harold, passage in, . * bysshe (edward) noticed, . c. c. on abigail, . ---- cash and mob, . ---- christian names, . ---- encore, . ---- "hip, hip, hurrah!" . ---- honorary degrees, . ---- island, its derivation, . ---- kissing hands, . ---- lord north, . ---- napoleon's spelling, . ---- pennycomequick, . ---- "sat cito si sat bene," . ---- "up, guards, and at them!" . ---- vandyke in america, . c. ( ) on rev. joshua brooks, . c. (a.) on pedigree to the time of alfred, . ---- tangier queries, . c. (a. b.) on cob-wall, . ---- curious posthumous occurrence, . ---- designed false english rhymes, . ---- first and last, . ---- "for man proposes, but god disposes," . caen, encaustic tiles from, . . cæsar (sir julius), his letter to sir w. more, . * caldecott's translation of the new testament, . * caley's ecclesiastical survey, . calves' head club, its doings, . . calvin's correspondence, . cambridge graduates, . . cambro-briton on the coronet of llewelyn ap griffith, . "came," its early use, . . camera lucida, . . . * campbell (john) of jamaica, . campvere, privileges of, . . * canning on the treaty of , . * cannon-ball, singular discovery of one, . cantab. on pedigree indices, . cantab. (a.) on nelly o'brien and kitty fisher, . cantab (emmanuel) on passage in bacon, . cantabrigiensis on honorary d. c. l.'s, . * canterbury, ancient privileges of the see, . canute's point, southampton, . capital punishment, mitigation of, . . captain on adm. sir t. tyddeman, . caret on camera lucida, . carey (patrick), . carlist calembourg, . carnatic on "begging the question," . carr (sir george) noticed, . . carter (r. w.) on yorkshire tradition, . * cary (dr. robert) noticed, . cash, is it an english word? . . . . * castles of scotland, how maintained, . * castle thorpe, bucks, . c. (a. t.) on sir geo. downing, . cateaton street, its derivation, . cato (isaiah) on monumental brasses abroad, . cats, are white ones deaf? . caucasus on the spelling of d'israeli, . cause: "the good old cause," . . cavaliers' common prayer book, . caves at settle, in yorkshire, . . cawdrey's treasure of similes, . . cawdrey (zachary) noticed, . c. (b. h.), a chapter on rings, . ---- ballad of sir hugh, . ---- baskerville's burial, . ---- black as a mourning colour, . ---- books chained in churches, . ---- chronograms, . ---- de quincey's account of hatfield, . ---- engin-à-verge, . ---- examples of the word its, . ---- hackney church tower, . ---- "haul over the coals," . ---- letter x on brewers' casks, . ---- magnet symbolical of venus, . ---- mammon, an idol, . ---- monk and till, . ---- passage in job, . ---- pepys and east london topography, . ---- "salus populi suprema lex," . ---- st. paul and seneca, . ---- scrape, its meaning, . ---- sheer hulk, . ---- tsar, its etymology, . ---- weather rhymes, . c. (e.) on hupfeld, . ---- peter allan, . ---- scale of vowel sounds, . cecil (lord), his memorials, . . celt, its derivation, . . celtic etymology, . . celtic words, collection of, wanted, . celtic and latin languages, their connexion, . . . centenarian couple, . ceridwen on shakspeare controversy, . ---- yellow bottles for chemicals, . cestriensis on book inscriptions, . ---- geo. wood of chester, . ---- minshull's cheshire collections, . ---- wilbraham's cheshire collections, . ceyrep on door-head inscriptions, . . ---- oaths, . ---- raffaelle's sposalizio, . ---- rings worn by ecclesiastics, . c. (f.) on boswell's johnson, . c. (f. g.) on symbol of sow, &c., . c. (g. a.) on major andré, . ---- dr. butler and st. edmund's bury, . ---- pronunciation of coke and cowper, . c. (g. m. e.) on execution for murdering a slave, . c. (h.) on splitting paper, . * chadderton of nuthurst, . chaffers (w.) on voiding-knife, . chair-moving, . chandler, bishop of durham, accused of simony, . . chanting of jurors, . chapman (mr.), one of the binders of the harleian mss., , charity-schools, origin of, . . charlecott on shakspeare portrait, . charles i., his portrait, . . chartham on sir arthur aston, . chasles (philarète) on berefellarii, . ---- blagueur and blackguard, . ---- comminatory inscriptions in books, . ---- italian-english, german-english, &c. . * chatham (lord) on fox and newcastle ministry, . chatterton and the rowley poems, . c. (h. b.) on booty's case, . ---- capital punishment, . ---- historical impossibilities, . ---- old jokes, . ---- passage in whiston, . ---- tieck's comoedia divina, . c. (h. c.) on arms: battle-axe, . ---- osborn filius herfast, . ---- richard geering, . ---- sir arthur aston, . ---- sir g. browne, . chemistry, its derivation, . * chester (sir wm.) noticed, . * chester (thomas), bishop of elphin, . chesterfield (earl of): see _wotton_, henry, earl of. cheverells on burial in erect posture, . ---- hurrah! &c., . ---- ornament in crosthwaite church, . chicheley (abp.), date of his birth, . . "chip in porridge" explained, . "chip of the old block" on the heveninghams, . choice of hercules, . choirochorographia, . . christian names, . christian year, note on its motto, . * ---- on a passage in, . christmas in pennsylvania, . ---- tree, . christ's cross, . chronicles of the kings of israel, . chronograms, . . . ---- in sicily, . church, high and low, . churches of england and rome, which committed schism? . . * church temporalities before constantine, . churchwardens, origin of, . * cicero quoted in an unknown work, . cid, a poem, . . city companies, the smaller ones, . civis on edward bysshe, . c. (j. g.) on poetical tavern signs, . c. (j. m.) on anna lightfoot, . clare, legends of the county, . . . . . clarence, origin of the dukedom, . clarendon (lord) and the tubwoman, . clark (alex.) noticed, . . claymore, the original weapon, . . cleek, a game, . clem, as meaning starve, . clement (st.), his apple-feast, . * clergyman (english) in spain, . . * clerical duel, . clericus (a.) on administration of the eucharist, . clericus (d.) on queen anne's motto, . ---- arms of de sissonne, . ---- head-dress temp. charles i., . ---- laodicean council, canon xxxv., . ---- lines on sir francis drake, . ---- ravilliac, . clericus rusticus on cash and mob, . ---- namby-pamby, . ---- tailors' cabbage, . ---- topsy-turvy, . clerk (a.) on photographs by artificial lights, . clifford (roger, fifth lord) noticed, . . clipper, its meaning, . . close (antony) on canonisation in the greek church, . cloth, decomposed, discovered at york, . clouds, classification of, . clunk, origin of the word, . . c. (m. a. w.) on french prayer book, . c. (m. e.) on raining cats and dogs--helter skelter, . cob and conners, . cob-wall, . . cobb (francis), his diary, . cocker's arithmetic, later editions, . coffins, their shape, . . coin, its etymology, . coke (sir robert), his ancestors, . coke and cowper, their pronunciation, . . colchester corporation records, extracts from, . coleridge's christabel, . . ---- unpublished mss., . collar, a gold one found in staffordshire, . collar of ss., . college (stephen), . * college exhibitions, work on, . collier (j. payne) on passage in "the taming of the shrew," . ---- monovolume shakspeare, . collis (thomas) on the churches of england and rome, . collyns (w.) on house-marks, . ---- hon. miss e. st. leger, . ---- old lines newly revived, . ---- pronunciation of bible names, . comet superstitions in , . * confirmation, prejudice against, in adults, . conger, its etymology, . conner or connah's quay, . consecrated roses, . . constanter on movable metal types, . constantinople--istamboul, . constant reader on bishop ferrar, . ---- muller's processes, . ---- "solamen miseris," &c., . * contango, its derivation, . convocation and the propagation society, . convocation in the reign of george ii., . cook (capt.), did he discover the sandwich islands? . . * cookworthy (william) noticed, . cooper (c. h.) on blotting-paper, . ---- "delusion, a mockery and a snare," . ---- dream testimony, . ---- sir thomas elyot, . ---- strut-stowers and yeathers, . ---- "tub to a whale," . cooper (r. jermyn) on "we've parted for the longest time," . cooper (samuel), the painter, . cooper (wm. durrant) on longevity in cleveland, . cooper's chronicle, . * copyright law and the british museum, . corner (g. r.) on reynolds' portrait of baretti, . corney (bolton) on capt. john davies, . ---- milton and malatesti, . ---- robert drury, . ---- sims's handbook to the library of the british museum, . ---- vida on chess, - . cornish (james) on hamlet and george steevens, . ---- "mary, weep no more for me," . ---- pennycomequick, . cornish miners, superstition of, . . * "corporations have no souls," &c., . corpse, curious occurrence respecting, . . corser (thos.) on parochial libraries, . coryate's crudities quoted, . * cotterell (sir charles), his death, . cotton (archd.) on roman catholic bible society, . * cottons of fowey, . county rhymes, . court house in painswick, . . cousins, marriage of, . . cowgill on talleyrand's maxim, . ---- the termination -by, . cowper and pope, . cramp (w.) on origin of book reviews, . cranmer's correspondences, . . cranston on milton's familiar correspondence, . crashaw (richard), epigram by, . crassus' saying, . craton the philosopher, . . creed (g.) on judas iscariot's descendants, . ---- tom thumb's castle at gonerby, . creed, the superstitious use of, . creole, its meaning, . crescent, origin of the standard, . . . c. (r. h.) on craton the philosopher, . ---- passages in shakspeare, . ---- prie-dieu: ancient furniture, . * crieff compensation, . * crispin and crispianus, story of, . crito on city bellmen, . * cromwell's descendants, . ---- portrait, . . . cross, its anticipatory use, . . . cross of calvary composed of four kinds of wood, . * crosses on stoles, . crossley (francis) on celtic etymologies, . ---- humbug, its signification, . ---- letter "h" in humble, . ---- longevity, . ---- pronunciation of humble, . ---- yew-trees in churchyards, . crosthwaite church, ornament in, . . . * crow--"to pluck a crow with one," . crow-bar, its derivation, . * cruden, the battle of, . cruickstown castle noticed, . c. (r. w.) on cottons of fowey, . c. (s. g.) on derbyshire folk lore, . ---- gabriel poyntz, . ---- gold collar found in staffordshire, . ---- illustrium poetarum flores, . ---- lemon-juice as a medicine, . ---- pronunciation of humble, . ---- sincere, simple, singular, . ---- sir william hankford, . ---- tin, early notices of, . c. (t.) on family of hoby, . ctus (j.) on lofcopp or lufcopp, . cucumber time, . cumming (j. g.) on st. patrick and maune, . ---- yew-trees in churchyards, . * curates, stipendiary, . curfew, places where still rung, . . . curtis (j. lewelyn) on liveries worn by gentlemen, . * curwen (archbishop), his letter to archbishop parker, . cusack (capt. george), the pirate, . custom of y^e englishe, . c. (w.) on "i put a spoke in his wheel," . ---- laird of brodie, . ---- manners of the irish, . ---- white bell heather transplanted, . czar or tsar, its derivation, . . . d. d. on crieff compensation, . ---- new universal magazine, . d. (a. a.) on passage in the christian year, . ---- font, its position, . ---- praying to the west, . ---- taylor's holy living, . ---- wilson's sacra privata, . dale (j. h. van) on flemish refugees, . d'alton (john) on ballina castle, . * dameran (governor) noticed, . dance of death, its republication, . * daniel (john) noticed, . danish and swedish, . danish names in england, . darling's cyclopædia, its utility, . daughter pronounced dafter, . . * daughters taking their mothers' names, . * daventry, duel at, . david's mother, . davies (f. r.) on legends of the county clare, . . . . . davis (captain john), . . dawson (benj.) on "an" before _u_ long, . ---- letter "h" in humble, . days, unlucky, . [hebrew: d]. ([hebrew: b].) on x on brewers' casks, . d. (c.) on foot-guards' uniform, . d. (c. d.) on new brunswick folk lore, . d.c.l.'s, honorary, . . . d. (e.) on bunyan's emblems, . ---- cobb's diary, . ---- effigies with folded hands, . ---- faithful teate, . d. (e. a.) on samuel wilson, . death on the fingers, . de bure (j. j.), sale of his library, . deceitfulness of love, an inedited poem, . deck (norris) on eugene aram's lexicon, . ---- cambridgeshire folk lore, . ---- font, its position, . ---- heraldic notes, . ---- nightingale's song, . ---- pure, its meaning, . ---- richard, king of the romans, his arms, . ---- wooden tombs and effigies, . dedication crosses, . dee, legendary allusions to its divinity, . degrees, honorary, . . . d. (e. h. d.) on ampers and, . ---- lines "could we with ink," &c., . delaval (miss), her poems, . * delft manufacture, . delta (h.) on "mirrour to all who follow the wars," . de mareville (honoré) on oaths, . demayne (charles) on work on the human figure, . denham (m. a.) on henry, third earl of northumberland, . ---- no sparrows at lindham, . ---- vault at richmond, yorkshire, . * denison family, . dent (mr.) of winterton, his burial, . denton (william) on bishop thomas wilson, .; extract in his sacra privata, . ---- cardinal fleury and bp. wilson, . ---- dr. richard sherlock, . de quincey's account of hatfield, . de sissonne of normandy, his arms, . . . devereux (john) of wexford, . devereux (walter) on theobald le botiller, . devlin (j. davies) on crispin and crispianus, . devonianisms, . . . devoniensis on "well's a fret," . d. (f.) on point of etiquette, . d. (g.) on hartman's account of waterloo, . d. (h. w.) on stereoscopic angles, . dial inscriptions, . diamond (dr. h. w.) on collodion process, . ---- calotype process, . . ---- printing on albumenised paper, . ---- simplicity of the calotype process, . dick, or duke shore, limehouse, . dictionaries and encyclopædias, . . * dictionary of english phrases, . dictum de kenilworth, . dimidiation by impalement, . * dimmeson (capt. jan) noticed, . diodati (charles) noticed, . . * dionysia in boeotia, . dionysios on "amor nummi," . dionysius on henry burton, . discovery of the inquisition, . . diseases, non-recurring, . * d'israeli, how spelt, . dissimulate, its earliest use, . divining-rod, . . . . . d. (j.) on donnybrook fair, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . d. (m.) on foreign medical education, . ---- photographic copies of mss., . d. (n.) on emblems of the precious stones, . d--n (w.) on gloves at fairs, . ---- ken: the crown of glory, . * "doctor," queries in the, . dodd (dr. wm.) a dramatist, . * doddridge (dr.), love poem by him, . dodo, or doun bardolf, . dog-latin, . . dog, an old, the phrase, . dog taught french, . dog-whipping day in hull, . dollop, its etymology, . * domesday-book abbreviations, . dominic (st.) noticed, . done pedigree, . donkies, testimonials to, . donnybrook fair, . don quixote, spurious continuation of, . dotinchem, in holland, . . doubter on longevity, . downing (sir george) noticed, . * doxology in tusser, . d. (q.) on emblematical works, . ---- shakspeare and the bible, . dragoon on the forlorn hope, . * drainage, artificial, . drake (dr.), his historia anglo-scotica, . . drake (sir francis), his ship, . ---- lines on, . draught, or draft of air, . dream testimony, . dredge (john i.) on cawdray's treasurie of similies, . dress, recent works on, . drofsniag on gloves at fairs, . drummer's letter, . drury (robert) noticed, . . druses, . d. (s.) on translation of ps. cxxvii. ., . d. (t.) on hackney-coach proclamation, . du barry (countess) noticed, . ducking-stool, . dumfries, the siller gun of, . dunkin (a. j.) on henry iv.'s leprosy, . ---- lines from sir walter scott, . ---- our lady of rounceval, . duport's lines on izaak walton, . dutch, high and low, . . . duval (c. a.) on duval family, . duval family, . . d. (w. b.) on books chained in churches, . ---- hour-glasses, . ---- motto on wylcotes' brass, . e. e. on privileges of campvere, . ---- english clergyman in spain, . ---- laurie on currency, &c., . ---- marlborough at blenheim, . "earth upon earth," &c., . . eastwood (j.) on acharis or achatis, . ---- books chained in churches, . eaton (t. d.) on positives on glass, . ebff (j.) on county rhymes, . ecclesiastical censure in the middle ages, . e. (c. i.) on the translation of ps. cxxvii. ., . eclipse in , . * eclipses of the sun, list of, . e. (c. p.) on quotations in bacon's essays, . ---- "populus vult decipi," . edict of nantes, its revocation, . edifices of ancient and modern times, . editors, offer to intending, . edmeston (james) on belle sauvage, . edward ii., where was he killed? . . edward v., his birth-place, . . effigies and wooden tombs, . . . . * ---- with folded hands, . e. (h.) on shirt collars, . eirionnach on catholic floral dictionaries, . ---- cornish miners, their superstition, . ---- "homo unius libri," . ---- longevity, . ---- phantom bells, . ---- pigs said to see the wind, . ---- rosicrucians, . ---- serpents, notes on, . ---- women and tortoises, . e. (j.) on major andré, . e. (j. h.) on richard oswald, . elections, contested, . * electric telegraph, its discoverer, . * elizabeth (queen) and her _true_ looking-glass, . ---- and the michaelmas goose, . ellacombe (h. t.) on bell-ringing for the dead, . ---- coffins, their shape, . ---- colonel hyde seymour, . ---- door-head inscriptions, . . ---- female parish clerk, . ---- mr. justice newton, . ---- roger outlawe, . elliot (mr.), binder of the harleian mss., . elliott (r.) on stewart's pantograph, . elliott (r. w.) on beauty of buttermere, . ---- books chained in churches, . ---- burial in erect posture, . ---- burial in unconsecrated places, . ---- chicheley, archbishop of canterbury, . ---- history of york, . ---- holy trinity church, hull, . ---- lamb's unpublished essay, . ---- land of green ginger, . . ---- ornament in crosthwaite church, . . ---- ringing bells for the dead, . ellison (r.) on female parish clerk, . elly (little), a mythological tale, . elsevir on portraits at brickwall house, . elyot (sir thomas) noticed, . . e. (m.) on colour of ink in writings, . ---- dr. doddridge, . ---- contested elections, . ---- jeremy taylor and lord hatton, . ---- lachlan macleane, . ---- longevity, . . ---- lord north, . ---- major andré, . ---- national methods of applauding, . ---- portrait of lee, . ---- red hair, . ---- "the rebellious prayer," . * emblem on a chimney-piece, . emblems of the precious stones, . emblems, works on, . e. (m. m.) on keiser glomer, . ---- tieck's comoedia divina, . encaustic tiles from caen, . . encore, when first used, . . encyclopædicus on dictionaries and encyclopædias, . enfield palace, . . engin-à-verge explained, . . engraving, historical, . ennui, its modern use, . . enough, its pronunciation, . epaulettes, their origin, . epigrams, . . greek, . kemble, willet, and forbes, . * macadam, . epitaphs:-- alvechurch, worcestershire, . american, . appleby, leicestershire, . cofton hacket, . crayford, . editor, . enigmatical, at christchurch in hampshire, . epitaphium lucretiæ, . ireland, . leicestershire, . llangerrig, montgomeryshire, . matilda, empress, . ombersley churchyard, . pewsey, wiltshire, . politian at florence, . robin of doncaster, its original, . stalbridge, dorsetshire, . st. andrew's church, worcester, . thomas blount, . thomas tipper, . torrington churchyard, devon, . tuckett's wife, . wingfield church, suffolk, . wood ditton, . wordsworth's on mrs. vernon, . [greek: hêraldikos] on gresebrook in yorkshire, . erica on "amentium haud amantium," . ---- bees, . ---- burial of ben jonson, . ---- oaths, . ---- warwickshire folk lore, . erin on cromwell's descendants, . este on books chained in churches, . ---- day at our antipodes, . ---- lines "earth says to earth," &c., . ---- passage in tempest, . ---- shakspeare, with a digest, . etiquette, a point of, . . etonensis on school libraries, . etymo on cateaton street, . eucharist, how administered, . euclid on british mathematicians, . * euripides, passages from, . evans (john) on medal of mary queen of scots, . eve, etymology of the name, . evelyn (john), inscription on his tomb, . e. (w.) on burial in unconsecrated ground, . ---- slow-worm superstition, . ---- receipt or recipe, . ewart (wm.) on harris's ms. sermons, . ---- lord chatham, . ---- napoleon's bees, . e. (w. f.) on dr. diamond's collodion process, . eye, the primary idea attached to it, . . f. f. on mallet's second wife, . ---- passages from euripides, . ---- passage in virgil, . ---- "short red, god red," &c., . faber on "hauling over the coals," . fairies, propitiating the, . fairlie (robert) noticed, . falahill, the house of, . falconer (thos.) on case referred to in hamlet, . farrer (rev. james), his bequest of books, . fatal mistake, by jos. hayns, . fauconberge family, . * fauntleroy, inquiry respecting, . faussett museum, . . f. (c. e.) on albumenised paper, . . ---- glass chambers for photography, . ---- new process of positive proofs, . f. (c. h.) on matthew lewis, . fecialis on turnbull's continuation of robertson, . fenton on the forlorn hope, . * fenton (r.), translation of athenæus, . ferguson (james f.), epitaph in ireland, . ---- unlucky days, . ferguson (j. f.) on captain geo. cusack, . * ferns wanted, . ferrand (d.) noticed, . . ferrar (bishop), . . f. (g. f.) on old fogie, . fiat justitia on paley's plagiarisms, . ficulnus on ballad of bonnie dundee, . fierce, a peculiar use of the word, . . figg (wm.) on second growth of grass, . * fire-irons, their antiquity, . first and last, their different meanings, . * fisher (kitty) noticed, . fisher (p. h.) on the court-house, painswick, . ---- epitaphs unpublished, . ---- inscription near cirencester, . ---- school libraries, . fitch (joshua g.) on mottoes of german emperors, . fitzherbert (anthony) noticed, . . . fitzsimons (r.) on virgil, quoted by dr. johnson, . f. (j.) on john frewen, . f. (j. w.) on "delighted" in shakspeare, . * flemish refugees, . fleury (cardinal), his regard for the manx, . * floral directories, catholic, . florin and the royal arms, . fogies, old, . . . . . folk lore, . . . . . . - . cambridgeshire, . . cheshire, . clare, . cornish, . derbyshire, . devonshire, . . hampshire, . lincolnshire (north), . manx, . new brunswick, . northamptonshire, . . nottinghamshire, . pennsylvanian, . . portuguese, . staffordshire, . warwickshire, . . worcestershire, . yorkshire, . font at islip, . font, its position, . . foot-guards, their uniform, . forbes (c.) on boswell's johnson, . ---- green eyes, . ---- plea for the horse, . ---- "putting your foot into it," . foreign-english, specimens of, . forlorn hope, its origin, . . . forms of prayer, occasional, . forrell, its derivation, . fortification, greek and roman, . . foss (edward) on collar of ss., . ---- green pots at the temple, . ---- judges styled reverend, . ---- littlecott, sir john popham, . ---- mr. justice newton, . ---- sir william hankford, . * fossil trees between cairo and suez, . fox (charles) and gibbon, . foxes and firebrands, reprint suggested, . ---- noticed, . * fox-hunting, its origin, . fox (major-gen. charles) on baretti's portrait, . franklin (dr.), lines in his handwriting, . . ---- portrait by west, . * fraser (gen.) noticed, . fraser (w.) on etymology of balderdash, . ---- burke's mighty boar of the forest, . ---- books burned by the common hangman, . ---- canterbury see, its ancient privileges, . ---- chanting of jurors, . ---- cob-wall, . ---- confirmation, prejudice against, . ---- convocation and propagation society, . ---- convocation temp. george ii, . ---- devonshire charm for the thrush, . ---- elijah's mantle, its author, . ---- fierce, its peculiar use, . ---- french abbés, . ---- general fraser, . ---- "homo unius libri," . ---- irish suffragan bishops, . ---- jewish custom, . ---- judges styled reverend, . ---- love charm from a foal's forehead, . ---- mary queen of scots' medal, . ---- patriarchs of the west, . ---- singing psalms and politics, . ---- speaker of the commons in , . ---- "stars the flowers of heaven," . ---- terræ filius, its origin, . ---- "to speak in lutestring," . freher (dionysius andreas) noticed, . * french abbés, their status, . french (g. j.) on tiles from caen, . french, teaching a dog, . french verse, . frere (geo. e.) on greek epigram, . ---- stage-coaches, . frewen (john) noticed, . . froissart's accuracy, . . f. (r. w.) on second growth of grass, . f. (t.) on gen. sir c. napier, . ---- major andré, . ---- scotch newspapers, . fuenvicouil [fingal] and the giant, . funeral custom, . furvus on nottinghamshire customs, . ---- saltpetre maker, . f. (w. h.) on picts' houses, . f. (w. m.) on collodion pictures, . ---- cyanuret of potassium, . ---- dr. parr's letter on milton, . ---- lining of cameras, . ---- multiplying photographs, . ---- trial of lenses, . g. g. on dr. james anderson, . ---- consecrated roses, . ---- earl of oxford, . ---- german heraldry, . ---- helmets, . ---- lady percy, . ---- pedigree indices, . ---- queen anne's motto, . ---- quotation in bishop watson, . ---- tradescant's marriage, . ---- turnbull's continuation of robertson, . gage (thomas), author of the new survey of the west indies, . gale of rent, its meaning, . . galilei (galileo), sonetto by, . ganske on la blanche des réaus lignages, . gantillon (p. j. f.) on "amentium haud amantium," . ---- burial in unconsecrated ground, . ---- burke's marriage, . ---- edinburgh review, reference, . ---- fenton's translation of athenæus, . ---- fragments in athenæus, . ---- hodgson's atys of catullus, . ---- jacob bobart, . ---- "johnson's turgid style," . ---- misquotations, . ---- "old dog," use of the phrase, . ---- presbyterian titles, . ---- quotation from byron, . ---- "rathe" in the sense of "early," . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- topsy-turvy, . * gardiner (bp.), de verâ obedientâ, . gardiner (h.) on the word mob, . ---- nightingale's song, . gardiner (w.) on the forsaken nymph, . gardner (j. d.) on "up, guards, and at them!" . garland (john) on nash the architect, . garlichithe on milton's widow, . . ---- on sir john vanbrugh, . * garrick street. may fair, . garter, lines on the institution of the order, . . . gascoigne (c. j.), his tomb, . . gatty (alfred) on bells at berwick-upon-tweed, . ---- mitigation of capital punishment, . gaunt (john of), his descendants, . . g. (c. p.) on la fleur des saintes, . g. (c. s.) on oaths, . g. (c. w.) on daughter pronounced dafter, . ---- serpent with a human head, . g. (e. a.) on martyn the regicide, . g. (e. c.) on muffs worn by gentlemen, . gedge (sydney) on nightingale's song, . geering (richard), his arms and pedigree, . . genealogy, catalogue of privately-printed books on, . geneva arms, . * genitive and plural, analogy between, . gentry, return of, temp. henry vi., . . geometrical curiosity, . george iii. reviewing the th light dragoons, . ---- a mark of his dislike of the prince of wales, . german, or christmas tree, . german emperors, mottoes of, . . ---- heraldry, . . * ---- phrase, . getsrn on bibliography, . ---- cleaning old oak, . ---- edifices of ancient and modern date, . ---- shoulder knots and epaulettes, . g. (f. j.) on an indian word, . g. (h. t.) on analogy between genitive and plural, . ---- "came," its early use, . ---- tenets, or tenents, . gibbings (robert) on riddle in aulus gellius, . gibbon (edward), his library, . . ---- his letters quoted, . ----, lines on his promotion to the board of trade, . gibson (wm. sidney) on petrarch's laura, . ---- the state prison in the tower, . gilbert family, . gilbert (james) on the gilbert family, . ginger, its cultivation in england, . g. (j.) on marriage of cousins, . g. (j. m.) on books chained in churches, . ---- historical engraving, . g. (k.) on bp. patrick, . glaius on cambridge graduates, . ---- return of gentry temp. henry vi., . ---- the rothwell family, . glossarial queries, . glover's handwriting, . gloves at fairs, . . . g. (m. l.) on female parish clerk, . g. (m. r.) on father matthew's chickens, . göthe's author-remuneration, . goldsmith's haunch of venison, . gole (russell) on attainment of majority, . ---- female parish clerk, . ---- hand in bishop's cannings church, . ---- marriage custom at knutsford, . ---- mitred abbot in wroughton church, . g. (o. l. r.) on ballina castle, . ---- bishop grehan, . ---- hodgkins's tree, warwick, . ---- mcdowall family, . ---- siller gun of dumfries, . ---- vault at richmond, yorkshire, . gordon (g. j. r.) on dotinchem, . gorran (nicholas de) noticed, . gough (henry) on arms of richard, king of the romans, . ---- burial in an erect posture, . ---- effigies in wood, . ---- hand in bishop's cannings church, . ---- heraldic query, . ---- stafford knot, . gout, abp. lancaster's cure for the, . g. (r.) on bp. gardener, "de verâ obedientiâ," . ---- lord cecil's memorials, . ---- laodicean council, . ---- "pinece with a stink," . ---- portable altars, . grab, its derivation, . graeff (andries de), his portrait, . grafton (third duke of) noticed, . grammar in relation to logic, . . grammont's mémoires, notes on, . . ---- his marriage, . granville family, their arms, . grass, its second growth, . . graves (j.) on bohn's edition of hoveden, . ---- manners of the irish, . ---- pedigree of sir francis bryan, . ---- real signatures, . gravestone falsified at stratford, . gray, "the ploughman homeward plods," . grayan (a.) on sights and exhibitions temp. james i., . gray's inn, list of students, . . * greek church, canonisation in, . ---- epigram, . ---- inscription on a font, . . green (dr. j. h.) and coleridge, . green eyes, . . greenlaw (charles p.), his efforts in obtaining steam for india, . * green's secret plot, . * grehan (bishop) noticed, . gresebrook in yorkshire, . griffin on dr. misaubin, . griffith (h. t.) on books chained in churches, . ---- "clamour your tongues," . ---- detached belfry towers, . ---- hewit, sir william, . ---- "inter cuncta micans," &c., . groaning-board, . ---- elm plank in dublin, . gulielmus on webb and walker families, . gurney's short-hand, . gw. on hayns' fatal mistake, . ---- pætus and arria, . ---- professional poems, . g. (w. h.) on duport's lines to izaak walton, . g. (w. s.) on inscription near chalcedon, . ---- istamboul: constantinople, . ---- oblation of a white bull, . ---- rome and the number six, . h. h. on day at the antipodes, . ---- duval family, . ---- flaxman's Æschylus, . ---- general wall, . ---- lane, its meaning, . ---- lessons for lent, the author, . ---- manners of the irish, . ---- white cats being deaf, . h, the letter, in humble, . . . . . h. (a.) on sir c. wren and the young carver, . hackney-coach proclamation, . haden (f. seymour) on historical account of libraries, . hale (philip) on fragments of mss., . halifax (lord) and mrs. catherine barton, . . . halliwell (j. o.) on coincident suggestions on the text of shakspeare, . ---- digest of shakspearian readings, . hampden (john), his death, . . * hampton court pictures, . * handel's dettingen te deum, . * handwriting, a manual of, . hankford (sir william) noticed, . . h. (a. o.) on aix ruochim, . ---- the ship william and ann, . harbottle (cecil) on the winter's tale, . hardwick (c.) on harmony of the four gospels, . ---- la fleur des saints, . hardy (william) on john of gaunt's descendants, . harington (e. c.) on cawdray's treasurie of similies, . harleian library, its binders, . harmony of the four gospels, the earliest, . . . * harrington, william, fifth lord, . harris (rev. j.), his ms. sermons, . harrowgate, entertainment at, . harry (james spence) on high and low dutch, . * hartman's account of waterloo, . harvest, a distich on the late, . harwood (dr.), his death, . * haschish, or indian hemp, . hatfield (john) executed for forgery, . hatfield (martha), . haulf-naked, manor of, . . h. (a. w.) on the meaning of acharis, . ---- domesday-book abbreviations, . hawkins (edw.) on meaning of clem, . ---- school libraries, . hazel (w.) on bells at berwick-upon-tweed, . ---- parish clerks and politics, . ---- quantity of words, . ---- topsy-turvy, . hazelwood on palace at enfield, . h. (c.) on life of savigny, . h. de h. (t.) on dimidiation by impalement, . ---- french jeux d'esprit, . ---- "magna est veritas," &c., . ---- parvise, . ---- unneath, . h. (e.) on barrels regiment, . ---- letter "h" in humble, . ---- northamptonshire folk lore, . ---- school libraries, . ---- snail-eating, . ---- whitaker's ingenious earl, . head-dress temp. charles i., . healing, the office for, . hebrew names, their pronunciation, . . h. (e. c.) on high dutch and low dutch, . ---- pronunciation of hebrew names, . ---- pronunciation of humble, . ---- "to come," . h. (e. l.) on erroneous forms of speech, . hele (henry h.) on cleaning old oak, . ---- pennycomequick, . hellas, the early inhabitants of, . helmets in armorial bearings, . . helter-skelter, its etymology, . . hemans (felicia), inedited lyric by, . . . henderson (hugh) on nitrate of silver, . henri on webb of monckton farleigh, . henri van laun on "hierosolyma est perdita," . ---- influence of politics on fashion, . ---- mammet, its derivation, . ---- regium donum, . henry i., king of england, . . ---- his tomb, . . * henry iv. cured of leprosy, . henry viii., his letters to the grand masters of malta, . . henry viii., inedited letter from, . * henry, third earl of northumberland, . h. (e. p.) on okey the regicide, . ---- "too wise to err," &c., . "hep! hep! hurrah!" . . . * heraldic colour pertaining to ireland, . * heraldic queries, . . . . . . . . heraldicus on an heraldic query, . herbert (sir anthony), chief justice, . . . herbert's memoirs of charles i., . hermit at hampstead on gray's ploughman, . ---- lord william russell, . ---- nixon the prophet, . ---- tsar, its derivation, . herschel (j. f. w.) on new photographic process, . * hertstone, its meaning, . hesleden (w. s.) on amcotts' pedigree, . ---- burial in unconsecrated places, . ---- newstead abbey, . * heveninghams of suffolk and norfolk, . hewet (sir wm.), notices of, . . . h. (f.) on arms of the see of york, . h. (h. h.) on poetical tavern signs, . hibberd (shirley) on peter allan, . hickson (samuel) on death of falstaff, . . ---- passage from king lear, . "hierosolyma est perdita," . . . high commission court, . highgate, ladies' charity school at, . . hilary (st.), his emblem, . hilgar (professor), his treatise on shakspeare, . hincks (dr. e.) and the assyrian language, . hincks (edw.) on early use of tin, &c., . "hip! hip! hurrah!" . . . historicus on jews in china, . histories of literature, . . history, the impossibilities of, . . h. (j.) on ammonio-nitrate of silver, . ---- epitaph at wood ditton, . ---- "earth upon earth," &c., . h. (j. a.) on the divining-rod, . hobbes (thomas), his portrait, . . . hoby family noticed, . . hodges (james), his book noticed, . * hodgkins's tree, warwick, . hodgson (rev. f.), his translation of the atys of catullus, . hogarth's pictures, . . hollar (wenceslaus), engraver, . . holwell (john zephaniah) noticed, . holy trinity church, hull, . homer's iliad, an ancient copy of, . "homo unius libri," . . honiton fires, . hood (robin), his festival, . horse--"give him a roll," . horsley (bp.) on calvinism, . hotchpot, its legal derivation, . * hougomont, letters respecting, . * hour-glass, dramatic representations by the, . ---- in pulpits, . . . . . . house-marks, . . . . hoveden, bohn's edition of, . . . howard (frank) on ampers and, . ---- bullaces and gennitings, . ---- "up, guards, and at them!" . h. (r.) on the morrow of a festival, . h. (s.) on isthmus of panama, . h. (t. b. b.) on oaken tombs, &c., . h. (t. k.) on land of green ginger, . ---- murder of monaldeschi, . huc's travels, . huet's navigations of solomon, . hugger-mugger, its origin, . . . huggins and muggins, . . . hugh (sir), his ballad, . hughes (t.) on bishops deprived by elizabeth, . ---- captain booth of stockport, . ---- chronograms, . ---- devonshire cures for the thrush, . ---- early english historical ms., . ---- leman family, . ---- limerick, dublin, and cork, . ---- milton's widow, her family, . . . ---- oldham, bishop of exeter, . ---- parchment deeds, soiled, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- sir john vanbrugh, . hull, plans of, . . humbug, its etymology, . . . . . * humming ale, its meaning, . * hungarians in paules, . * hupfeld's work von der natur, . hurrah! and other war-cries, . . . . . . . . . hutin (louis le) explained, . h. (w.) on lady percy, wife of hotspur, . * hyde, its measurement, . * hymmalayas, a query from the, . i. i. (a.) on henry earl of wotton, . icon on shakspeare suggestion, . . idol worship, . i. (e. l.) on jacobite garters, . ignoramus on yew-trees in churchyards, . illustrated london news, its large circulation, . illustrium poetarum flores, a new edition suggested, . ilmonasteriensis on histories of literature, . imp, used for progeny, . . impossibilities of our forefathers, . ina on derivation of wellesley, . india, on telegraphic despatches from, . infants nameless in scotland until christened, . ingleby (c. mansfield) on ampers and, . . ---- behmen's books of emblems, . ---- binometrical verses, . ---- coleridge's unpublished mss., . ---- collier's mono-volume shakspeare, . ---- eclipses of the sun, . ---- edward ii., where was he killed? . ---- ennui, . ---- geometrical curiosity, . ---- grammar in relation to logic, . ---- jackson's emendations of shakspeare, . ---- milton's lycidas, . ---- moon superstitions, . ---- number nine, . ---- passage in the tempest, . ---- perfect tense, . ---- proverb, definition of one, . ---- pure, as a provincialism, . ---- quotations wanted, . . ---- reversible names and words, . ---- sincere, its derivation, . . ---- soul and the magnetic needle, . ---- word for the "old corrector," . ingraham (e. d.) on gibbon's library, . * injustice, its origin, . ink in writings, its colour, . innocents' day, custom on, . inns of courts, matriculations at, . . inquæritor on english refugees at ypenstein, . inquirendo on electric telegraph, . inquirer on pope's elegy on an unfortunate lady, . inscriptions-- at aylesbury, . in books, . . . . . belfry at fenstanton, hunts, . bells, . . burford church, . * chalcedon, . dial, . door-head, . . . . font, . . earl bathurst's park, . . greek one on a font, . monumental, . . . . northill churchyard, . * north stoneham, southampton, . * tomb in finland, . watch-paper, . . . inverness on books for reprints, . "ireland a bastinadoed elephant," . . irish, manners of the, . . . * ---- merchants landing at cambridge, . ---- rhymes, . . iseldunensis on german book inscription, . ---- "sad are the rose leaves," &c., . island, its derivation, . . . . . isle of dogs, early notice of, . islip font, . israel ben isaac on gentile names of jews, . italian-english--german-english, &c., . . "its," instances of its early use, . . . j. j. on admission to lincoln's inn, &c., . ---- compton park, pictures of the withered hand, . ---- rents of assize, &c., . ---- theodore paleologus, . ---- walpole (sir robert), his medal, . jack and gill, early use of, . jackson (e. s.) on inscription of theodore paleologus, . ---- love charm from a foal's forehead, . ---- "till" and "until," their etymology, . * jacobite garters, . jahn's jahrbuch, . . james (f.) on watch-paper inscriptions, . james i., folk lore in his reign, . james (john) on ringing bells at death, . jan on tent for collodion, . jardine (d.) on rapping no novelty, . jarltzberg on "antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi," . ---- high church and low church, . ---- living one's life over again, . ---- party similes of the seventeenth century, . ---- pictorial common prayer books, . ---- "the good old cause," . jaytee on captain booth, . j. (b.) on dotinchem, . ---- ravailliac, . ---- school libraries, . j. (c.) on ancient fortifications, . ---- mayors and sheriffs, . jebb (john) on berefellarii, . ---- translation of psalm cxxvii. ., . jeffcock (j. t.) on derivation of sincere, . jeroboam of claret, . jesuit on father traves, . jeu d'esprit, a french one, . jewish custom, . jews in china, . . jews, their gentile names, . . j. (f. w.) on anathema, maran-atha, . ---- aquæ in vinum conversæ, . ---- burial in erect posture, . ---- change of meaning in proverbial expressions, . ---- life, . ---- lines on woman, . ---- passage in king lear, . ---- st. luke and juvenal, . ---- "sat cito, si sat bene," . j. (g. h.) on the word humbug, . j. (h.) on autobiographical sketch, . ---- dr. whitaker's ingenious earl, . j. (j. e.) on wooden tombs, . j. (j. h.) on greek and roman fortification, . ---- hellas, names of its early inhabitants, . j. (j. w.) on lord halifax and mrs. c. barton, . j. (m. h.) on porter family, . job, passage in, . john of gaunt, his descendants, . . ---- noses of his descendants, . * john (st.) and his partridge, . john (st.) of jerusalem, order of, . . . johnson (andrew) noticed, . johnson (goddard) on the crescent, . johnston (t. b.) on camera lucida, . ---- stereoscopic angles, . jokes, old, . jones (t. w.) on pronunciation of coke, . ---- done pedigree, . jonson (ben), his burial posture, . j. (p.) on milton at eyford house, gloster, . j. (t.) on burton's descendants, . ---- enigmatical epitaph, . ---- hampden's death, . ---- lord audley's attendants at poictiers, . j. (t. s.) on "that swinney," . . judas iscariot, his descendants, . . judges styled reverend, . . . . judicial families, . * juger, the measurement of the roman, . julius iii., advice supposed to have been given to him, . * junius, his vellum-bound copies, . junius's letters, was thomas lord lyttelton their author? . j. (y. b. n.) on david's mother, . ---- gale of rent, . ---- "getting into a scrape," . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- politian's epitaph, . ---- windsor military knights, . k. * kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira, its translation, . . karleolensis on waugh, bishop of carlisle, . keate family, . . keble (john) on bishop wilson's works, . keightley (thos.) on alcides' shoes, . ---- "contents dies," . ---- "delighted," . ---- french verse, . ---- "its," early use of, . ---- measure for measure, on three passages in, . ---- mythe _versus_ myth, . ---- old fogies, . ---- proverbial expressions, their changes, . ---- pepys's grammar, . * keiser glomer, a danish play, . kelly (wm.) on hour glasses, . ---- leicestershire epitaphs, . ---- liveries worn by gentlemen, . ---- lockwood, the court jester, . ---- monumental brass at wanlip, . ---- superstition against the king entering leicester, . kelway (j.) on dog latin, . ---- lutestring explained, . ---- virgil, eclogue viii. . . ---- "when orpheus went down," . * kemble, willet, and forbes, epigram on, . ken (bp.), his midnight hynm, . ---- work attributed to him, . kenne of kenne, . kennett (bishop), his ms. diary, . * kentish town assembly house, . kersley (t. h.) on the curfew, . ---- stone pulpits, . ---- tavern signs, . ket the tanner, . key (henry cooper) on ferns wanted, . keys (j. w. n.) on children called imps, . ---- devonianisms, . ---- fogie, . k. (f.) on hugger-mugger, . k. (g.) on dictionary of english phrases, . ---- "spoke in the wheel," . k. (g. h.) on taming of the shrew, . k. (h. c.) on arms of york see, . ---- awkward, its etymology, . ---- belike, its etymology, . ---- charles i.'s portrait, . ---- "clamour your tongues," . . ---- clipper, its meaning, . ---- "delighted," in shakspeare, . ---- elyot (sir thomas), . ---- engin-à-verge, . ---- eye, its primary idea, . ---- grammar in relation to logic, . ---- heraldic queries, . ---- island, its derivation, . . . ---- jack and gill, . ---- jeroboam of claret, . ---- love charm from a foal's forehead, . ---- measure for measure, three passages in, . ---- oak, how cleaned, . ---- pennycomequick, . ---- pistol, early notice of, . ---- polarised light, . ---- rosicrucians, . ---- "run-awayes," in romeo and juliet, . ---- wedding divination, . ---- wild plants, and their names, . ---- wingfield (sir anthony) noticed, . kicker-eating in yorkshire, . kilkenny, the statute of, . king (abp.) noticed, . king (thomas w.) on inscription in dugdale's volumes, . ---- judges styled reverend, . . ---- oaken tombs, &c., . ---- pseudo-names _ver._ real signatures, . ---- yew-trees in churchyards, . kirk (mary), maid of honour, - . kissing hands, . k. (j.) on scotchmen in poland, . * knights, creation of several, . knights of the bath, their escutcheons, . knockers, or cornish miners, . krauwinckel (hans), his counter, . k. (t.) on derivation of island, . ---- mulciber, . ---- tsar or czar, . l. l. on ampers and, . ---- bacon's essays, . . . ---- book inscriptions, . ---- lord clarendon and the tubwoman, . ---- namby-pamby and other similar words, . ---- proverbs quoted by suetonius, . ---- richard oswald, . ---- "salus populi suprema lex," . ---- six gates of troy, . ---- thucydides on the greek factions, . . l. . on nicholas de gorran, . ---- stoven church, . * la branche des réaus lignages, . lack-a-daisy explained, . lad and lass, derivation of, . ladies' arms borne in a lozenge, . . . "la fête des chaudrons," a fête, . . la fleur des saintes, . . laird of brodie, . . * lamb (charles), his unpublished essay, . lamech, . lammens (john) on nine as a multiple, . lamont (c. d.) on coin, its etymology, . ---- conger, its etymology, . ---- lizard, its etymology, . lancaster (abp.), his cure for the gout, . land of green ginger in hull, . . . . . . * lane, its derivation, . * lanesborough (geo., first viscount), . langdon (augustus) on dionysius in boeotia, . lanquet's chronicle, . laodicean council, canon xxxv., . . * lapwing and the vine, . larking (l. b.) on morlee and lovel, . lathbury (thomas) on editions of prayer-book, . ---- occasional forms of prayer, . * launching query, . laurie on currency, &c., . la vrillière (duke de) noticed, . law and usage, . law (william), his mystical works, . . lawyers' bags, . . . leachman (j.) on aceto-nitrate of silver, . ---- ammonio-nitrate of silver, . ---- sisson's developing solution, . . le botiller (theobald) noticed, . . lee, inventor of the stocking-frame, his portrait, . * leeming family, . leeper (alex.) on church towers detached, . leger (the hon. miss e. st.), . * legitimation in scotland, . leguleian on birthplace of edward v., . ---- the system of law, . ---- henry scobell, . ---- philadelphian delights, . * leicester (earl of), his portrait, . * leicester, superstition against the king entering, . leman family, . . lemon juice, its medicinal properties, . lenthall (f. kyffin) on gen. monk's birthplace, . . ---- mr. justice newton, . lepel's regiment, . leresche (j. h.) on hurrah! and war-cries, . ---- judas iscariot, his descendants, . lewis (matthew) noticed, . . l. (g.) on church in suffolk, . libraries, a critical and historical account of, . lich-gate, its derivation, . life, on living over again, . . lightfoot (anna) noticed, . . ligurian sage in gifford's mæviad, . lincoln's inn, list of students, . . lines, old, newly revived, . linton (w. j.) on ket the tanner, . lisle family, . * littlecott: sir john popham, . * little silver in devonshire, . liveries worn by gentlemen, . . * lizard, its etymology, . l. (j.) on old fogies, . ---- stone pillar worship, . l. (j. g.) on epitaph in appleby churchyard, . l. (j. h.) on duel at daventry, . ---- impossibilities of history, . ---- lich-gate, . ---- privileges of campvere, . ---- symon patrick, bishop of ely, . l. (k.) on early edition of the prayer-book, . * llewelyn ap griffith, his coronet, . lloyd (g.) on "delights for ladies," its author, . ---- "veni, vidi, vici," . lloyd, quiz on the name, . l. (m.) on hurrah! &c., . l. (ma.) on alma mater, . ---- charles diodati, . ln. on arms of sir richard de loges, . * lockwood, the court jester, . * lofcopp, lufcopp, its meaning, . * loges (sir richard de), his arms, . lomax (t. g.) on liturgy of the ancients, . * lombard (peter), his knowledge of greek, . london labour and the london poor, . longevity, . . . . . . . . . longfellow's poetical works, their redundancies, . ---- reaper and the flowers, . long (g. rogers) on snail localities, . longtriloo, a game, . * longueville (sir thomas de), . love charm from a foal's forehead, . . . lovell or loisell, engraver, . lovett of astwell, . . low-bell explained, . lozenge, ladies' arms borne in, . . . . . l. (r. w.) on leman family, . l. (t.) on gallo-nitrate of silver, . l. (t. h.), books chained in libraries, . l. (t. p.) on bradshaw and milton, . ---- general wolfe at nantwich, . ---- milton's widow, . ---- sir robert coke, . luke (st.) and juvenal, similarity of idea in, . . lutestring, "to speak in lutestring," . . luther no iconoclast, . . l. v. h. on books chained in churches, . l. (w. a.) on gilbert white's portrait, . lyte (f. maxwell) on new process, . ---- treatment of positives, . * lyttelton (thomas lord), was he junius? . m. m. on aspirate _h_, . ---- binometrical verse, . ---- celtic and latin, languages, . ---- chronograms and anagrams, . ---- divining-rod, . ---- law and usage, . ---- manichæan games, . ---- mrs. catherine barton, . ---- names reversible, . ---- newton and somers, . ---- pilgrim's progress, part iii., . ---- proverb, "vaut mieux," &c., . ---- shakspeare, first folio, . ---- straw-paper, . ---- watch-paper inscription, . m. ( ) on haulf-naked manor, . ---- passage in sophocles, . ---- "well's a fret," . . [mu]. on barnacles, . ---- binders of the harleian library, . ---- divining-rod, . ---- greek inscription on a font, . ---- waugh, bishop of carlisle, . m. (a. c.) on red hair, . ---- little silver, . ---- napoleon's thunder-storm, . ---- oaken tombs, . ---- praying to the west, . * macadam, epigram on, . macculloch (edgar) on cornish folk lore, . ---- devonianisms, . maces, spiked, in abbey church, great malvern, . macgillivray (professor), . . mackenzie (kenneth r. h.) on zend grammar, . mackey (sampson arnold) noticed, . . macleane (lachlan), notice of, . macray (john) on advertisements and prospectuses, . ---- arms of de sissonne, . ---- d. ferrand, . ---- fête des chaudrons, . ---- jahn's jahrbuch, . ---- manuscripts dispersed, . ---- professor hilger's treatise, . ---- professor macgillivray, . ---- revocation of the edict of nantes, . ---- st. paul's epistles to seneca, . ---- scotch newspapers, . ---- table-turning, . mactavish (duncan) on celtic and latin languages, . madden (sir f.) on bale's mss. referred to by tanner, . ---- was thomas lord lyttelton "junius"? . magnet symbolical of love, . maitland (dr. s. r.) on clerical duel, . majority, the attainment of, . . . . . malachy (st.), prophecy on the popes, . malatesti and milton, . . * mallet's second wife, . malta, knights of, letters to the grand masters, . . ---- english, irish, and scotch knights, . mammet, its derivation, . . mammon, an idol god, . . manichæan games, . manliness, its meaning, . . mansel (h. l.) on battle of villers en couché, . * manuscript fragments, . * manuscript, the earliest historical, . manuscripts, dispersion of parts of, . marcarnes, the family of, . . mardel, or mardle, its derivation, . . margoliouth (moses) on "could we with ink," &c., . . ---- hebrew testament, . ---- psalm cxxvii. ., . ---- query from the hymmalayas, . * margoliouth's hebrew testament, . markland (j. h.) on bishop ken, . marlborough at blenheim, . marriage custom at knutsford, . marriage service, the fee and the ring, . . . marriott (t. s.) on stereoscopic angles, . "marry, come up!" explained, . marsh (j. f.) on milton's widow, . ---- vellum cleaning, . martin (john) on caley's ecclesiastical survey, . ---- on definition of a proverb, . [greek: martus pistos] on pætus and arria, . * martyn the regicide noticed, . * martyr of collet well, . * mary of lorraine, painting of, . mary queen of scots, medal and relic of, . . ---- wordsworth's lament of, . * mason (lady), her third husband, . mathematicians, british, their lives, . matrimonial custom at wellow, . mat o' the mint on florin and royal arms, . matter-of-fact on photographs in natural colours, . * matthew's (father) chickens, . matthews (wm.) on electric telegraphs, . mauilies, manillas, . mayer (joseph), his museum at liverpool, . mayors and sheriffs, their precedence, . . m. (c. m.) on camera lucida, . m. (c. r.) on the derivation of celt, . mccree (wm.) on portrait of hobbes, . * mcdowall family, . m. (e.) on curfew at sandwich, . ---- "qui facit per alium facit per se," . ---- "salus populi suprema lex," . medical education, foreign, . . . medicus on foreign medical education, . ---- sneezing, . megatherium americanum, . . m. (e. j.) on "green eyes," . memnon (prince), his sister, . merritt (t. l.) on new developing mixture, . ---- stereoscopic angles, . . metaouo on seven whisperers, . mewburn (f.) on chandler, bishop of durham, . m. (f.) on captain jan dimmeson, . ---- court-house, painswick, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . ---- strut-stowers and yeathers, . m. (f.), _malta_, on collodion negatives, . m. (f. t.) on history of york, . m. (g.) on "adrian turn'd the bull," . m. (g. r.) on lines from the christian year, . ---- marcarnes family, . m. (h.) on fossil trees between cairo and suez, . ---- glover's handwriting, . ---- indian proper name, . ---- king lear, . ---- member of parliament electing himself, . michaelmas goose, inquiry respecting, . middleton (f. m.) on cambridgeshire folk lore, . ---- hampshire folk lore, . ---- passage in tennyson, . militaris on military music temp. charles i., . * military music, . milton's allegro, passage in, . milton and malatesti, . . milton at eyford-house, gloster, . milton's descendants, . . * ---- latin familiar correspondence, . ---- lycidas, . * ---- paradise lost, . ---- widow, her family, . . . . . . . . * mineral acids, . * minshull (randall) and his cheshire collections, . ----, father of milton's widow, . . . . . . . minstrelsy, midland county, . * mirrour to all who follow the wars, . misapplication of terms, . * misaubin (dr.) noticed, . misquotations, recent, . . * mistletoe query, . mistranslations, curious, . mitred abbot in wroughton church, wilts, . . m. (j.) on harmony of the four gospels, . ---- h. neale, editor of shakspeare, . ---- library of st. paul's school, . ---- turkish and russian grammars, . ---- wellesley, its derivation, . m. (j. f.) on choirochorographia, . ---- christ's cross, . ---- high commission court, . ---- inscription near cirencester, . ---- milton's descendants, . . ---- pistol, its early use, . ---- shakspeare, critical digest of, . m. (j. h.) on baskerville the printer, . ---- lord ball of bagshot, . ---- st. werenfrid and butler's lives, . m. (j. r.) on epigram by sir walter scott, . m. (j. t.) on jane scrimshaw, . mck. (j. d.) on foreign medical education, . m. (k. n.) on albumenised paper, . m. (l. a.) on tusser's doxology, . m. (m.) on legitimation in scotland, . m. (_navorscher_) on hendericus du booys, . mn. (j.) on "short red, god red," . mob, is it an english word? . . . . modena (duke of) noticed, . . mona, its derivation, . monaldeschi, his murder, . . monk (general), his birth-place, . . monk, its etymology, . . * montague (lord), his household book, . * montmartre, its etymology, . * monumental brass at wanlip, . ---- abroad, . moon superstitions, . . . * moore (francis) his parentage, . morgan (octavius) on delft manufacture, . morgan (professor a. de) on attainment of majority, . . ---- spurious edition of baily's annuities, . ---- lord halifax and catherine barton, . ---- thomas wright of durham, . morlee and lovel, . morrow of a feast, . mosaffur on a palindrome, . moses, the royal donkey, . mottos of german emperors, . . mousehunt, a small animal, . . m. (p.) on "firm was their faith," &c., . m. (r.) on curious posthumous occurrence, . m. (s.) on soke mills, . mt. (j.) on browne's tragedy of polidus, . ---- robert fairlie, . ---- humbug explained, . ---- jerningham and doveton, . m. (t. o.) on queries from the navorscher, . muffs worn by gentlemen, . . . muggers noticed, . . muirson (patrick) on two passages in shakspeare, . mulciber, inquired after, . . . mulder (s. j.) on dutch pottery, . murdoch (j. b.) on margaret patten, . muscipula, translated by dr. hoadly, . . m. (w. l.) lord wm. russell's burial-place, . m. (w. m.) on adamson's lusitania, . m. (w. t.) on "a saint in crape," . ---- "as good as a play," . ---- "chip in porridge," . ---- clarence title, . ---- feeling of life, . ---- ligurian sage, . ---- "pay the piper," . ---- "pity is akin to love," . ---- "priam's six-gated city," . ---- quotation from horace, . ---- rhymes on places, . ---- storms at the death of great men, . ---- tennyson's memoriam, . myrtle bee noticed, . . . m. (y. s.) on female parish clerk, . ---- harrington, william, fifth lord, . ---- noses of descendants of john of gaunt, . ---- parish clerks' company, . ---- pedigree indices, . ---- richard geering, . ---- sir george carr, . ---- theobald le botiller, . ---- tottenham, its derivation, . ---- urban vigors, . mythe _versus_ myth, . n. n. on limerick, dublin, and cork, . ---- school libraries, . n. (a.) on mineral acids, . ---- names of plants, . n. (a. j.) on house-marks, . namby-pamby, and other words of the same form, . . . names in bible and prayer book, how pronounced, . . . names reversible, . . . naphtali on anonymous poet, . napier (sir charles) and the conquest of scinde, . . . * naples and the campagna felice, . * napoleon, anecdote of, . napoleon's bees, . ---- spelling, . . ---- thunderstorm, . * nash the artist, . n. (d.) on lewis and sewell families, . . n. (d. y.) on the porter family, . nedlam on snail-eating, . * neele (h.), editor of shakspeare, . nemo on death of falstaff, . newans (thomas), a prophet, . newburiensis on francis browne, . ---- sir george brown, . . ---- poetical tavern signs, . ---- worm in books, . newington on milton's widow, . newman (w.) on "the devil on two sticks," . newspapers in scotland, the earlier, . newspapers, notes on, . newstead abbey, . new testament, an early edition, . . newton (mr. justice) noticed, . . * newton (sir isaac) and flamsteed, . * ---- and his half-niece, . * ---- and somers, . * ---- his memorial, . ---- on railway travelling, . . * new universal magazine, inquiry respecting, . new year's eve and new year's day, custom on, . n. (g.) on books burned by the hangman, . ---- hour-glass in pulpits, . ---- lines on the institution of the garter, . ---- medal of mary queen of scots, . ---- old fogie, . n. (g. e. t. s. r.) on chronograms in sicily, . ---- gentile names of the jews, . ---- st. clement's apple-feast, . n. (h.) on anticipatory use of the cross, and ringing of bells for the dead, . nicholas (emperor), his manifesto, . nicholas (st.), his performances on christmas eve, . nightingale and thorn, . nightingale's song, . . . nimmo (thos.) on an inedited letter of henry viii., . nine as a multiple, . . nixon the prophet, . . * noel family, . no judge on piccalyly, . * nonjurors, sources for their history, . norfolk (margaret, duchess of), her arms, . norman of winster, . . north (lord), a woodcut of, . . . nostradamus, edition of , . novus on advice given to julius iii., . noxid on cement of glass-baths, . n. (s.) on earl of oxford, and the creation of peers, . ---- helmets over shields, . nugget, not an americanism, . . nuneham regis, discovery at, . nursery rhymes, . . * nursrow, origin of the word, . [n (old english)]. ([w (old english)].), epigram on mcadam, . n. (w.) on aristotle's checks, . n. (w. l.) on ms. of spenser's fairy queen, . o. oak, how to clean old, . . oak, veneration for the, . . oaken tombs, &c., . . * oasis, how accented, . oaths as taken by the english and welsh, . . . oaths of pregnant women, . obnoxious, its different meanings, . * o'brien (nelly) noticed, . observer on lord north, . o. (d. n.) on passage in blackwood, . offertory alms, superstition respecting, . o. (j.) on alexander clark, . ---- books burned by the hangman, . ---- impossibilities of our forefathers, . ---- parish clerks and politics, . ---- patrick carey, . ---- peter brett, . ---- robert drury, . ---- temple lands in scotland, . ---- thomas newans, a prophet, . ---- william blake, . . * okey the regicide, . oldenshaw (c.) on song by dr. lisle, . old grumbleum on punning devices, . oldham, bishop of exeter, . oliver on rathband family, . omega on pues or pews, . omicron on humbug, its derivation, . ---- osborne family, . ---- osborn filius herfasti, . ---- wellington's first victory, . o. (p. a.) on post-office about , . * orange blossom, . o. (r. a. s.) on st. george family pictures, . orton (job), the publican, his burial, . osborn family, . . osborn filius herfasti, . . osmotherly in yorkshire, tradition of, . o'sullivan (wm.) on gurney's short-hand, . oswald (richard) noticed, . . outlawe (roger) noticed, . * owen (dr. charles) noticed, . owen (hugh) on yellow bottles for chemicals, . oxford commemoration squib, , . oxford (earl of), and the creation of peers, . . oxoniensis on "amentium haud amantium," . ---- nightingale's song, . ---- pure, its singular use, . p. packington (lady), supposed author of the whole duty of man, . paget (arthur) on lisle family, . ---- milton's widow, . ---- synge family, . ---- teaching a dog french, . paget family, . . . . . pagoda, . . paint, how taken off of old oak, . . palæologus (theodore), his inscription, . . * pale, its meaning, . paley's plagiarism, . palindromes, . panama, the isthmus of, . paper, how split, . . parallel passages, . . . . . * parchment deeds, on cleansing soiled, . pardon churchyard, . parish clerk, a female, . . parish clerks and politics, . . . ---- clerks' company, . . ---- registers, lines prefixed to, . * park, the antiquary, . * parker (abp.), his correspondence, . * parliament, a member of, electing himself, . parochial libraries, . . . . . . parr (dr.), his letter on milton, . party, its earliest use, . party names in the seventeenth century, . party-similes of the seventeenth century, . parvise explained, . pascal, a saying of his, . pater-noster, the white, . * patriarchs of the western church, . patrick (bp. simon) noticed, . . * patrick (st.), or maune and man, . patrick's purgatory, . . patten (margaret), her picture, . * "pay the piper," its origin, . p. (c. j.) on fishermen's custom at wardhouse, . peacock (edw.) on ecclesiastical censure, . ---- francis moore, . ---- hour-glass in pulpits, . . ---- north lincolnshire folk lore, . ---- sir william hewet, . ---- weather rules, . peasantry, popular stories of the english, . "peccavi! i have scinde," . . pedigree indices, . . * pedigree to the time of alfred, . "peg" or "nail," for an argument, . * pelasgi, a sorrowful race, . pembrokiensis on tomb of henry i., . pennycomequick, its derivation, . . . . pepys (samuel) and east london topography, . ---- his grammar, . . * ---- his queries, . percy (lady), wife of hotspur, . . . * perfect tense, its rationale, . perseverant, its early use, . persius flaccus (aulus), his birth-place, . personage, a mysterious one, . . perthensis on alexander clark, . ---- aliases and initials of authors, . peterborough cathedral, inscription in, . . * peter the great, his will, . petheram (john) on sir thomas button's voyages, . * petrarch's laura, . p. (francis) on heraldic query, . p. (g.) on the meaning of trash, . p. (h.) on crosses on stoles, . ---- french prayer books, . ---- love charm from a foal's forehead, . [phi]. on ampers and, . ---- yew-trees in churchyards, . [phi]. ( ) on stereoscopic angles, . [hebrew: pe]. on chronicles of kings of israel, . ---- non-recurring diseases, . ph. on oaths of pregnant women, . ---- pagoda, . [phi]. [phi]. on standard of weights and measures, . phantom bells, . pharaoh's ring, . . philadelphia directories, . philadelphia, the early delights of, . philharmonicus on weber's cecilia, . philip iii. of spain, his death, . philo-handel on handel's dettingen te deum, . philo-pho. on ammonio-nitrate of silver, . [phi]. ([omega].) on book inscriptions, . [greek: phôtographos] on dr. diamond's calotype process, . photography:-- aceto-nitrate of silver, . albumenised paper, . . . . albumenised process, . ammonio-nitrate, is it dangerous? . . . . baths for collodion process, . calotype process, . . . camera obscura, . cameras, their lining, . cement for glass baths, . clouds in photographs, . . . collodion negatives, . collodion pictures, . collodion process, . . . cyanuret of potassium, . developing mixture, . dr. diamond's collodion process, . . ---- lecture on the calotype process, . engraving, . gallo-nitrate of silver, . glass chambers, . iodizing paper, . ingleby's essay on the stereoscope, . . lenses, . . lyte's three new processes, . . ---- treatment of positives, . manuscripts copied, . . minuteness of detail on paper, . muller's process, . . . . multiplication of photographs, . . negative paper, . photographic exhibition, . photographs by artificial light, . photographs in natural colours, . pollock's process, . positives, . . . . precision in photographic processes, . protonitrate of iron, . printing on albumenised paper, . pumphrey's process for black tints, . restoration of old collodion, . sisson's developing solution, . . . . . stereoscopic angles, . . . . . . . . . . . stewart's new photographic process, . ---- pantograph, . tent for collodion, . yellow bottles for chemicals, . . * phrases, dictionary of english, . piccadilly, a collar, . piccalyly, its origin, . . pictor on epitaph in wingfield church, . picts' houses in aberdeenshire, . . . pierrepont (john), his descendants, . pigs said to see the wind, . pilgrim's progress, part iii., . pimlico on "tub to a whale," . pinkerton (w.) on cambridge and ireland, . ---- fishermen's custom at wardhouse, . ---- land of green ginger, . ---- megatherium americanum, . ---- mysterious personage, . ---- nightingale epithets, . ---- "pinece with a stink," . ---- poem attributed to shelley, . pistol (fire-arms), its earliest use, . . p. (j.) on marriage of cousins, . p. (j.) jun. on lord audley's attendants, . p. (j. r.) on arrow-mark, . ---- daughter pronounced dafter, . planets, the discovery of, . plantin bibles in , . plants, wild, and their names, . . . plat (sir hugh) noticed, . players, an interpolation of the, . plum, origin of the word, . . ply on lens for negatives, . poema del cid, with glossary and notes, . . * poems and songs in ms., . polarised light, . . politian, his epitaph at florence, . * politics, their influence on fashion, . * poll tax in , . polonius on ireland a bastinadoed elephant, . pope and cowper, . * pope's elegy on an unfortunate lady, . popes, st. malachy's prophecies on, . * popham (sir john) and littlecott, . porcpisee or porpoise, . porridge, the book of common prayer, so called, . porter family, . . . porter (liquor), early use of the word, . * post-office about , . ---- riddles for, . potenger's unpublished letter, . pots used by members of the temple, . . . pottery, dutch, . * poyntz (gabriel), his arms, . p. (p.) on books chained in churches, . ---- ladies' arms borne in a lozenge, . . ---- point of etiquette, . ---- slow-worm superstition, . p. (p. p.) on consecrated roses, . prayer book, french translation, . . prayer books, early editions, . ---- pictorial editions, . ---- prior to , . prayer, occasional forms of, . * presbyterian titles, . pretenders, their births and deaths, . price (r.) on latin riddle in aulus gellius, . ---- proverbial expressions, . prideaux (j.) on wm. cookworthy, . prie dieu, ancient furniture, . . printers' grammars, &c., . proclamations, collection of, . * property, the right of redeeming, . prophet--thomas newans, . proverbial expressions, change of meaning in, . . proverbs, definition of one, . . . ---- pictorial, . ---- quoted by suetonius, . ---- weather, . * ---- wedding, . ---- _miscellaneous_:-- as good as a play, . dover court; all speakers and no hearers, . hauling over the coals, . . . put a spoke in his wheel, . . . . putting your foot into it, . . * raining cats and dogs, . * the full moon brings fine weather, . * vaut mieux avoir affaire, &c., . tread on a worm and it will turn, . . when the maggot bites, . . . . psalm cxxvii. ., translation of, . . . p. (s. c.) on high and low dutch, . p. (t.) on staffordshire knot, . pues or pews, its correct spelling, . pugillus on andrew johnson, . pullen (rev. josiah) noticed, . pulpits of stone, . pulteney (sir john de) noticed, . pumphrey (wm.) on procuring black tints, . pun, a pictorial one, . punning devices, . . * ---- divine, . pure, a peculiar use of the word, . . . p. ( w.) on "a mockery, a delusion, and a snare," . ---- willingham boy, . p. (w. h.) on church temporalities, . ---- humming ale, . ---- major andré, . q. q. on ashman's park, . ---- etymology of awk, . ---- etymology of bad, . ---- belike, its etymology, . ---- enough, its pronunciation, . ---- lad and lass, their etymology, . ---- lowbell, its etymology, . ---- "mob" and "cash," . ---- macbeth, a passage in, . ---- naples and the campagna felice, . ---- perseverant, . ---- porc-pisee, its etymology, . ---- portrait of sir a. wingfield, . ---- quarrel, its etymology, . ---- scheltrum, its orthography, . ---- spur, its meaning, . ---- "spoke in his wheel," . ---- tenet, or tenent, . ---- unkid, its meaning, . ---- voiding knife, . ---- windfalls, . * quadrille, its derivation, . quæsitor on "the whole duty of man," . quarles and pascal, . quarrel, its derivation, . quarter, as sparing life, its origin, . . * queen at chess, . questor on "the apple of the eye," . ---- discovery of planets, . ---- epitaph at crayford, . quotations:-- alterius orbis papa, . amentium haud amantium, . . . a mockery, a delusion, and a snare, . . antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi, . . aquæ in vinum conversæ, . a saint in crape, . . * celsior exsurgens pluviis, &c., . * chew the bitter cud of disappointment, . could we with ink the ocean fill, . . . . . . crowns have their compass, . * cutting off the little heads of light, . earth says to earth, &c., . . firm was their faith, the ancient bands, . from the sublime to the ridiculous, . homo unius libri, . . horace, de arte poetica, . * in copy of the pugna porcorum, . in necessariis unitas, . . inter cuncta micans, . johnson's turgid style, . . * latin quotations, . . . * like one who wakes from pleasant sleep, . limerick, dublin, and cork, . . magna est veritas et prævalebit, . man proposes, but god disposes, . . mater ait natæ, &c., . never ending, still beginning, . . now the fierce bear, &c., . . oh for a voice of that wild horn, . pinece with a stink, . . . pity is akin to love, . * plus occidit gula, . populus vult decipi, &c., . . quem deus vult perdere, . qui facit per alium, . . quid facies, facies veneris, &c., . * sad are the rose leaves, . sat cito si sat bene, . . scire ubi aliquid invenire posses, &c., . * solamen miseris, &c., . * suaviter in modo, fortiter in re, . * to know ourselves diseased, . * too wise to err, too good to be unkind, . * trail through the leaden sky, . up, guards, and at 'em! . . . . veni, vidi, vici, . virgin wife and widowed maid, . . * we've parted for the longest time, . * what does not fade? . * when we survey yon circling orbs, . wilderness of monkeys, . r. r. on baskerville's burial, . ---- gloves at fairs, . r. (a. b.) on barnacles, . ---- coleridge's christabel, . ---- lines on the institution of the garter, . ---- lines typifying tyranny, . radcliffe (j. n.) on huggins and muggins, . ---- moon superstitions, . raffaelle's sposalizio, . . railway travelling foretold, . . rainbow, odour from the, . raleigh (sir walter) called "our english milo," . * ---- his descendants, . ---- his supposed scepticism, . rapping no novelty, . . * rathbane family, . rathe, or early, . ravilliac noticed, . . rawlinson (robert) on falsified gravestone at stratford, . ---- meteorology of shakspeare, . ---- shakspeare emendations, . r. (c.) on history of the nonjurors, . r. (c. i.) on "could we with ink," &c., . ---- "fag," or after-math, . ---- garrick street, may fair, . ---- la fête des chaudrons, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . r. (c. t.) on "amentium haud amantium," . reader on norman of winster, . ---- sir arthur aston, . r. (e. b.) on mousehunt, . "rebellious prayer," a poem, . * receipt or recipe, . rector on marriage service, . red hair, . . reed (charles) on haulf-naked manor, . ---- palindromes, . ---- shoe thrown for luck, . reformed faith temp. hen. viii., . r. (e. g.) on artificial drainage, . ---- "could we with ink," &c., . ---- longevity, . ---- mardle, . ---- northamptonshire folk lore, . ---- rowans, or rawins, . ---- strut-stowers, . regium donum, its origin, . r. (e. m.) on mackey's mythological astronomy, . rents of assize, &c., . reynolds' nephew, . . reynolds' portrait of baretti, . reynolds (sir joshua), his baptism, . r. (f.) on female parish clerk, . r. (g. h.) on "could we with ink," &c., . r. (g. m.) on charles fox and gibbon, . r. (h. p. w.) on sir ralph winwood, . rhymes, designed false english, . . rhymes on places, . . . richard i., notices of, . richard, king of the romans, his arms, . . . richard's guide through france, . richardson (john) on dog-whipping day in hull, . ---- land of green ginger, . richmond in yorkshire, vault at, . . richmond (margaret, countess of), her arms, . riddle in aulus gellius, . . ridley (t. d.) on muggers, . ---- pelasgi, . ---- quotation from walter scott, . riggs (romulus), an american name, . riley (h. t.) on abigail, . ---- angel-beast--cleek--longtriloo, . ---- bacon or beechen, . ---- burial in unconsecrated ground, . ---- dissimulate, its early use, . ---- dover court, . ---- hans krauwinckel, . ---- humbug, its etymology, . ---- "marry come up!" . ---- mugger, . ---- pictorial proverbs, . ---- porter (liquor), early use of the word, . ---- rub-a-dub, . ---- shakspeare's tempest, passage in, . ---- sir heister ryley, . ---- snail-eating, . rimbault (dr. e. f.) on abp. chicheley, . ---- discovery of the inquisition, . ---- groaning-board, . ---- jacob bobart, . ---- palace at enfield, . ---- sir john vanbrugh, . ---- "when orpheus went down," . ring finger, . . ring money, called manillas, . * rings formerly worn by ecclesiastics, . rings, a chapter on, . rix (s. w.) on cromwell's portrait, . ---- hour-glass in pulpits, . . ---- parochial libraries, . r. (j.) on les lettres juives, . ---- nursery rhymes, . r. (j. c.) on christian names, . ---- calvin's correspondence, . ---- order of john of jerusalem, . ---- ring finger, . r. (j. s.) on origin of rundlestone, . r. (l. d.) on passage in boerhaave, . r. (l. m. m.) on german phrase, . ---- mysterious personage, . ---- pretenders' births and deaths, . ---- praying to the west, . r. (m. w.) on sir anthony fitzherbert, . r. (n.) on the nursrow, . roberts (chris.) on dr. robert cary, . ---- harmony of the four gospels, . robin hood's festival, . robson (w.) on aldress, . ---- crescent, its origin as a standard, . ---- interpolation of the players, . ---- spanish play-bill, . * roden's colt, . rogers (dr. john), his works, . roman catholic bible society, . roman remains at durham, . * romanists confined in ely, . rome and the number six, . ---- epigrams on, . * rondall (rev. w.) noticed, . rose (samuel), his letter on pope and cowper, . rosicrucians, . . * rothwell family, . * rounceval, our lady of, . * royalty dining in public, two paintings of, . r. (r. i.) on rapping no novelty, . r. (r. j.) on divining-rod, . r. (s.) on dr. john taylor, . ---- passage in milton, . ---- selling a wife, . rub-a-dub, its early use, . * rubens's ms. on painting, . rubi on book inscriptions, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . ---- weather proverbs, . rubrical query, . ruby on ladies' arms borne in a lozenge, . * rudd (bp. anthony), his monument, . rufus on waugh, bishop of carlisle, . rulers of the world in , . * rundlestone, origin of the term, . russell (lord wm.), his burial-place, . . russian grammars, . russians, their religion, . r. (w.) on authors' remuneration, . ---- burning for witchcraft, . r. (w. b.) on kentish town assembly house, . * ryley (sir heister), his visions, . s. s. on eclipse in , . [sigma]. on clouds in photographs, . saint florentin (m. l. p.), _alias_ duke de la vrillière, . salmon (w. r. d.) on mousehunt, . ---- myrtle bee, . . ---- stage-coaches, . salopian on monumental inscription, . * salter (sir ambrose nicholas) noticed, . saltpeter maker, . . "salus populi suprema lex," its origin, . . . s. (a. m.) on hurrah! . sams (mr.), his egyptian antiquities, . sandwich islands discovered by cook, . . sangaree, its derivation, . sansom (j.) on bohn's hoveden, . ---- arms of the see of york, . ---- craton the philosopher, . ---- hurrah! . ---- osborn filius herfasti, . ---- reynolds's nephew, ; his baptism, . ---- sir william hankford, . sarah anna on broderie anglaise, . * savigny, life of, . * saying, an old, "merry be the first," . sackville (lord george) noticed, . sc. on raffaelle's sposalizio, . ---- selling a wife, . * scale of vowel sounds, . scheltrum, its derivation, . school libraries, . . . . . * scobell (henry), compiler of collection of acts, . scotchmen in poland, . scott (francis john) on celtic and latin languages, . ---- claymore, . ---- fierce, a provincialism, . ---- marcarnes, . ---- muffs worn by military men, . ---- singular discovery of a cannon-ball, . ---- sneezing, . scott (john) on ladies' arms borne in a lozenge, . scott (sir walter), unpublished epigram by, . scottish national records, . ---- newspapers, early, . . scrape, "getting into a scrape," origin of, . . . scribe (john) on greek and roman fortifications, . * scrimshaw (jane) noticed, . scrymzeour on scottish castles, . s. (d.) on battle of villers en couché, . searson's poems, . sea-serpent noticed, . seleucus on adamsoniana, . ---- slow-worm superstition, . ---- snail-eating, . ---- snail-gardens, . semi-tone on passage of cicero, . "semper eadem," origin of the royal motto, . . . serpent with a human head, . serpents, notes on, . serviens on anonymous works, . ---- major andré, . . * seven oaks and nine elms, . sewell and lewis families, . . . * seymour (col. hyde) noticed, . seymour (jane), her royal descent, . . s. (g. l.) on history of jesus christ, . ---- lepel's regiment, . ---- sewell family, . s. (g. s.) on creation of knights, . ---- lady mason's third husband, . shadbolt (geo.) on albumenised paper, . . ---- clouds, how introduced, . ---- multiplication of photographs, . ---- stereoscopic angles, . . . shakspeare:-- bacon (lord) and shakspeare, . ben jonson's criticisms, . . coincident suggestions on the text, . collier's monovolume, . . delighted, . . digest of various readings, . . . . emendations, . . falstaff, his death, . , . * first folio, reprint of, . jackson's emendations, . meteorology of shakspeare, . parallels, . portrait, . . priam's six-gated city, . . professor hilgers' treatise, . readings, . . remonstrance respecting the shakspearian discussions, . skull, . winds, north and south, . passage in all's well that ends well, . as you like it, . hamlet, . . . henry iv. (second part), . , . . . king john, . . . king lear, . . love's labour's lost, . macbeth, . measure for measure, . . . . richard ii., . romeo and juliet, . . . . taming of the shrew, . . , . . tempest, . , . . . . troilus and cressida, . two gentlemen of verona, . winter's tale, . . . . shaw (r. j.) on names of wild plants, . shaw's (mrs.) tombstone, . sheer ale explained, . sheer hulk, its meaning, . . shelley (percy bysshe), poem by him, . . shepherd's kalendar quoted, . sheridan (r. b.), translation of a song by him, . sheriffs of glamorganshire, . . sherlock (dr. richard) noticed, . ship "william and ann," . shirtcollars, . shoemakers, a recitation for oct. th, . shoes, throwing old ones for luck, . "short red, god red," . . * shoulder knots, their origin, . s. (h. s.) on "could we with ink," &c., . sights and exhibitions temp. james i., . sigma on cawdray's treasurie of similies, . siller gun of dumfries, . silo, a spanish granary, . simpson (w. sparrow) on battle of villers en couché, . ---- bell inscriptions, . . ---- books chained in churches, . . . ---- hour-glasses in pulpits, . ---- prayer books prior to , . sims's hand-book to the library of the british museum, . . . sincere, its derivation, . . . . singer (s. w.) on hobbes and hollar, . ---- its, early use of, . ---- milton and malatesti, . ---- milton's widow, . ---- passage in romeo and juliet, . singleton (s.) on gravestone inscription, . sisson (j. lawson) on bell inscriptions, . ---- derivation of mardel, . ---- muller's processes, . ---- sisson's developing solution, . . s. (j.) on book inscriptions, . s. (j. h.) on cawdray's treasure of similes, . s. (j. l.) on the arms of de sissonne, . ---- hour-glass stand, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . s. (j. p.) on westhumble chapel, . skyring (g. w.) on bullaces, . ---- divining-rod, . ---- local rhymes, kent, . ---- moon superstitions, . ---- "spoke in the wheel," . slang expression, "just the cheese," . * slaves, collections for poor, . ---- execution for whipping, . s. (l. d.) on quotation from canning, . sleednot (j.) on "qui facit per alium," . sloane-evans (w. sloane) on bible and prayer book proper names, . ---- edmund spenser and hans sloane, . ---- marriage of cousins, . ---- urban vigors, . slow-worm superstition, . . . . smith (a.) on inscription near cirencester, . smith (t. c.) on battle of villers en couché, . smith (w. j. bernhard) on the claymore, . ---- ducking stool, . ---- megatherium in british museum, . ---- nightingale and thorn, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . ---- spiked maces in great malvern church, . snail-eating, . . . ---- gardens, . . . . * snayers (p.), his picture the battle of forty, . sneezing, an omen and a deity, . ---- popular ideas respecting, . . sneyd (w.) on margery trussell's arms, . ---- poems published at manchester, . snow (b.) on d. ferrand, . s. (n. w.) on buckle, . ---- crow-bar, . ---- first and last, . ---- mauilies, manillas, . ---- sir john vanbrugh, . ---- stone-pillar worship, . ---- "to grab," . s. (n. w.) on cob and conners, . ---- devonianisms, . soke mills, . . songs and ballads:-- barrels regiment, . bonnie dundee, . danish and swedish, . guardian angels, now protect me, . * jamieson the piper, . mary, weep no more for me, . . the angels' whisper, . they shot him on the nine-stane rig, . . to the lords of convention, . when orpheus went down, . . . . sophocles, passage in, . . . sotadic verses, . soul and magnetic needle, . . * southwark pudding wonder, . souvaroff's dispatch, . spanish play-bill, . sparrows at lindham, . s. (p. c. s.) on death of edward ii., . ---- hungarians in paules, . ---- ms. poems and songs, . speaker of the house of commons in , . speech, erroneous forms of, . * spendthrift, inquiry respecting, . * spenser (edmund) and sir hans sloane, . * ---- fairy queen, the missing books, . speriend on barnacles in the thames, . ---- blotting-paper, . ---- duke of gloucester, . ---- german heraldry, . spes on abp. lancaster's cure for the gout, . ---- wooden tombs and effigies, . spiller (john) on protonitrate of iron, . spinster on wedding proverb, . spoor (wm.) on canute's point, southampton, . spur, explained, . s. (q. m.) on martyr of collet well, . s. (s. a.) on caldecott's translation of new testament, . ---- calves' head club, . s. s. (j.) on pharaoh's ring, . ---- picts' houses, . s. (s. s.) on college guide, . ---- passage in bishop horsley, . s. (s. w.) on "pinece with a stink," . s. (s. z. z.) on bacon's essays, . ---- cranmer's correspondence, . ---- crassus' saying, . ---- editors, offer to intending, . ---- lamech, . ---- latin quotations wanted, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- rubrical query, . ---- satirical medal, . ---- sotades, . ---- "widowed wife," . staffordshire knot, . . stage-coaches, their speed, . . * st. andrew's priory, barnwell, . stanhope (charles earl), his versatility of talent, . . stanhope (henry lord) noticed, . . (see _wotton_.) stansbury (joseph) on washington anecdotes, . stars the flowers of heaven, . . statfold on chancellor steele, . * steele (lord chancellor), pedigree of, . steinman (g. s.), notes on grammont, . ---- return of gentry temp. henry vi., . ---- sir arthur aston, . stephens (edward) noticed, . sternberg (v. t.) on carlist calembourg, . ---- dr. dodd a dramatist, . ---- haschisch or indian hemp, . ---- italian-english, . ---- spurious don quixote, . ---- stories of english peasantry, . ---- tom, mythic and material, . sterne and the drummer's letter, . s. (t. g.) on anderson's royal genealogies, . ---- histories of literature, . ---- temple lands in scotland, . * st. george family pictures, . stillingfleet (bishop), his library, . stillwell (john p.) on bees, . ---- "hauling over the coals," . stone pillar worship, . . stoner (w. p.) on hour-glass in pulpits, . ---- mulciber, . * storms at the death of great men, . stornoway on house of falahill, . stoups, exterior, . stoven church, the original, . st. paul's epistle to seneca, . . straw paper, . strickland (agnes), her lives of the queens of england noticed, . . . strong (augustus) on derivation of silo, . strut-stowers, . . subscriber on the albumenised process, . ---- mayors and sheriffs, . ---- "peccavi! i have scinde," . ---- shakspeare's skull, . suffolk, norman church in, . surgeon (a foreign) on göthe's author remuneration, . surrey archæological society, its formation, . suum cuique on "elijah's mantle," . s. (w.) on collections for poor slaves, . ---- hampden's death, . ---- quotation from melancthon, . swan-marks, . . swift (dean), his rhymes, . swinney--"that swinney," in junius, . . . s. (w. r. d.) on boom, . * symbol of sow, &c., . synge family, . . system of law proposed by the long parliament, . t. t. on oasis, its accentuation, . ---- "plus occidit gula," &c., . table-turning, . . . . . taffy on soke mill, . tale, as used by milton, explained, . talleyrand's maxim, . * tangier queries, . tavern signs, poetical, . . . . . taylor (a.) on greek inscription on a font, taylor (dr. john) of norwich, . taylor (e. s.) on ennui, . ---- samuel williams, . ---- seals of great yarmouth, . taylor (jeremy) and lord hatton, . * ---- holy living, edition , . taylor (weld) on dance of death, . ---- detail on negative paper, . ---- lord halifax and catherine barton, . ---- lyric by felicia hemans, . ---- muller's process, . ---- richard's guide through france, . ---- rubens' ms. on painting, . ---- school libraries, . . . t. (c. m.) on snail-gardens, . * tea-marks, classification of, . teate (dr. faithfull) noticed, . teecee on noel family, . teeth, common notions respecting, . * telegraph, electric, . templars' green jugs, . . . temple (harry leroy) on green eyes, . ---- parallel passages, . ---- small words and low words, . temple lands in scotland, . . . temple, lists of students, . . tenet or tenent. (see _tenent_.) tenent or tenet, their meaning, . . . . tennent (sir j. emerson) on barnacles, . ---- hurrah! . ---- tenet for tenent, . ---- "tub to the whale," . ---- "when the maggot bites," . tennyson's memoriam, passage in, . . * terræ filius, origin of, . t. (e. s. t.) on "antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi," . ---- "salus populi," &c., . tewars on amcotts' pedigree, . ---- two brothers of the same christian name, . ---- hurrah! . ---- knights of the bath, . ---- longevity, . ---- lovett of astwell, . . ---- oxford commemoration squib, . ---- poll-tax in , . ---- return of gentry temp. henry vi., . ---- sheriffs of glamorganshire, . ---- sir william chester, . ---- thomas chester, bishop of elphin, . t. (f.) on kenne of kenne, . t. (g.) on derivation of unkid, . t. (g. m.) on "service is no inheritance," . [theta] on "now the fierce bear," &c., . ---- parochial libraries, . theta on lord bacon and shakspeare, . thiernah ogieh, ossian's visit to, . thomas (j. w.) on "an" before _u_ long, . ---- anticipatory use of the cross, . ---- cash and mob, . ---- crescent, . ---- "could we with ink," &c., . ---- gloves at fairs, . ---- "man proposes, but god disposes," . ---- "mary, weep no more for me," . ---- misapplication of terms, . ---- misquotation, . ---- propitiating the fairies, . ---- "to know ourselves diseased," . thomas' (st.) day, custom on, . thompson (pishey) on glossarial queries, . ---- romanists confined in ely, . ---- southwark pudding wonder, . thornton abbey, account of, . thrupp (john) on irish landing at cambridge, . thrush, devonshire charm for the, . . thucydides on the greek factions, . . . tieck (ludwig) quoted, . ---- comoedia divina, . . tighe (mrs.), author of psyche, . . "till," and "until," their etymology, . . timbs (john) on snail-eating, . times newspaper, its influential power, . tin, its early use, . . . . . tipper (thomas), his epitaph, . t. (j.) on passage in whiston, . t. (j. a.) on table-moving, . t. (j. g.) on passage in burial service, . ---- quarter, as sparing life, . ---- rock of ages, . ---- table-turning, . ---- trosachs, derivation of, . t. (j. h.) on derivation of forrell, . t. (j. w.) on "ancient hallowed dee", . ---- b. l. m., its meaning, . ---- "getting into a scrape," . ---- prince memnon's sister, . ---- "suaviter in modo, fortiter in re," . tobacco, smoking and drinking of, . tom, mythic and material, . * tom thumb's house at gonerby, . topsy-turvy, its derivation, . . . tortoises and women, . * tottenham, its derivation, . tower on slow-worm superstition, . tower, the state prison in the, . t. (q.) on definition of a proverb, . tradescant (john), his marriage certificate, . trash explained, . traves (father) noticed, . traylli (sir walter), his monument, . t. (r. e.) on quotation from pascal, . * trent council, notices of, . trevelyan (w. c.) on basilica, . ---- decomposed cloth at york, . ---- hobbes's portrait, . ---- roman remains, . ---- snail localities, . ---- wardhouse, where was it? . trevor (geo. a.) on passage in burial service, . trojan horse, noticed, . trosachs, derivation of, . true blue noticed, . trussell (margery), her arms, . t. (r. v.) on oaths, . t. (s.) on fires at honiton, . t. (t. c.) on murder of monaldeschi, . t. (t. h.) on derivation of chemistry, . "tub to a whale," origin of the phrase, . . . * tucker (st. george), lines attributed to him, . turkish grammars, . * turnbull's continuation of robertson, . * tusser's doxology, . t. (v.) on earl of leicester's portrait, . t. (w.) on clouds in photographs, . ---- tea-marks, . * tyddeman (adm. sir thomas), . types, movable metal, . tyro on cocker's arithmetic, . u. univocalic verses, . unkid, its derivation, . . . unneath, its meaning, . v. * van bassen noticed, . vanbrugh (sir john) noticed, . . . . . vandyke in america, . . variety is pleasing, . vault at richmond, yorkshire, . . v. (c.) on lady percy, wife of hotspur, . ---- philip iii. of spain, his death, . * vellum cleaning, . verney note decyphered, . vernon (lady), maid of honour, . veronica on queen elizabeth's true looking-glass, . victor on thornton abbey, . * vida on chess, . vigors (rev. urban) noticed, . . villers en couché, battle of, . . . . virgil, passage quoted by dr. johnson, . . . . vix on mrs. tighe, . voiding knife, . . volcanoes and mountains of gold in scotland, . voltaire on railway travelling, . . "vox populi vox dei," . w. [w (old english)] on blue bell--blue anchor, . ---- clipper, as applied to vessels, . ---- ireland a bastinadoed elephant, . ---- nugget not an americanism, . ---- table-turning, . w. on leeming family, . ---- norman of winster, . ---- natural history of balmoral, . w. (a.) on passage in wordsworth, . w. (a. f. a.) on the brazen head, . wake (h. thomas) on castle thorpe, . ---- inscriptions on monuments, . walcott (mackenzie) on birthplace of edward i., . ---- books chained in churches, . ---- school libraries, . * wall (general) noticed, . wallace (sir wm.), state prisoner, . * wallis's sermons on the trinity, . walpole (horace) on grammont's marriage, . walpole (sir robert), his medal, . . walter (henry) on cranmer and calvin, . ---- froissart's accuracy, . ---- translation of ps. cxxvii. ., . walton (christopher), his collection of mystic authors, . walton (izaak), duport's lines on, . ward (j.) on mackey's theory of the earth, . warde (r. c.) on anthony bave's mss., . ---- bargain-cup, . ---- "custom of ye englishe," . ---- distich on the late harvest, . ---- fable of washing the blackamore, . ---- inscriptions in books, . ---- john frewen, . ---- lanquet's chronicle, . ---- lovell, sculptor, . ---- mrs. shaw's tombstone, . ---- "our english milo," . ---- party, its earliest mention, . ---- plantin bibles in , . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- polarised light, . ---- roden's colt, . ---- tavern signs, . ---- "trail through the leaden sky," . ---- variety is pleasing, . ---- weather superstitions, . ---- yew-tree in churchyards, . ---- zincali dictionary, . warden (j. s.) on captain cook's discovery of the sandwich islands, . ---- coleridge's christabel, . ---- creole, its meaning, . ---- goldsmith's haunch of venison, . ---- hoveden, riley's translation, errors in, . ---- letter "h" in humble, . ---- literary parallels, . ---- man with the iron mask, . ---- nightingale's song, . ---- reformed faith, . ---- sheer hulk, . ---- sir isaac newton, . ---- sir walter raleigh, . ---- st. dominic, . wardhouse, fishermen's custom there, . . . warmistre (miss), maid of honour, - . * warville, brissot de, derivation of, . warwick (eden) on anticipatory use of the cross, . . ---- gloves at fairs, . ---- nursery rhymes, . ---- swan marks, . * warwick (sir philip) noticed, . * washington (gen.), anecdotes wanted, . watch-paper inscriptions, . . waterloo, poems in connexion with, . watson (bp.), quotation by him, . watts (w. t.) on an inscription in a belfry, . waugh, bishop of carlisle, his family arms, . . . way (albert) on caen tiles, . ---- lord montague's household book, . w. (b. b.) on sir john daniel and sir a. n. salter, . w. (c. m.) on apparition of the white lady, . w. (c. s.) on ash-trees attracting lightning, . ---- burton's death, . ---- the queen at chess, . w. (e.) on marriage service, . weather proverbs, . . ---- rhymes, . ---- rules, . . ---- superstitions, . * webb and walker families, . * webb of monckton farleigh, . webb (susannah), her burial and disinterment, . weber's cecilia, . wedding divination, . * weights and measures, standard in different countries, . weir (arch.) on st. luke and juvenal, . wellesley, derivation of, . . . wellington, the duke's first victory, . ---- curious coincidence respecting, . "well's a fret," its meaning, . . . wentworth (sir philip) noticed, . . werenfrid (st.) and butler's lives, . west, praying to the, . . . . westbury court, inscription over the door, . * westhumble chapel, . weston, "going to old weston," . weston (edward), secretary to lord harrington, . . weston (valentine) on "that swinney," . w. (f. b.) on raffaelle's sposalizio, . w. (g.) on derivation of britain, . . ---- patrick's purgatory, . ---- praying to the west, . ---- tin, its early use, . . ---- veneration for the oak, . . w. (g. h.) on a title wanted, . w. (h.) on "giving quarter," . ---- kicker-eating, . ---- luther no iconoclast, . ---- "when the maggot bites," . wharton (dr. henry) noticed, . wheale, its meaning, . whisperers, the seven, . whiston, a passage in, . . . whitborne (t. b.) on churchwardens, . ---- hoby family, . ---- lapwing and the vine, . ---- mrs. tighe, author of psyche, . ---- stillingfleet's library, . ---- thomas blount, . . ---- warwickshire custom, . whitchurch, parochial library at, . white (a. holt) on gilbert white of selborne, . ---- nugget, a thick bullock, . ---- yew-trees in churchyards, . white (blanco), sonnet by, . white (gilbert), his portrait, . . white (john), folk lore in his "way to the true church," . * white bell heather transplanted, . * white lady, apparition of the, . whitelocke (lieut.-gen.) noticed, . . whithamstede (john), abbot of st. albans, . whitmarsh (f.) on the templars' jugs, . wife, on selling one, . . wilbraham's cheshire collections, . . wilde (g. j. de) on caves at settle, . ---- curious epitaph, . ---- true blue, . wilde (w. r.) on the forlorn hope, . ---- groaning elm-plank in dublin, . wilkinson (h.) on stereoscopic angles, . * william the conqueror, his mother, . * ---- his surname, . * williams' (rev. robert) dictionary of the cornish language, . williams (samuel) the artist, . willingham boy, . . willison (charles) on tavern signs, . wills on advent hymn, . wilson (arthur c.) on london labour and the london poor, . wilson (bishop), his sacra privata, . ---- and cardinal fleury, . * ---- notices wanted, . * ---- quotation from his sacra privata, . * wilson (samuel) noticed, . windfall, its meaning, . winds, their action, . windsor military knights, . wingfield church, suffolk, monuments in, . wingfield (sir anthony), his portrait, . . . winthrop (wm.) on ambages, . ---- american epitaph, . ---- bells rung for the dead, . ---- black as a mourning colour, . ---- comet superstitions in , . ---- epitaph on an editor, . ---- "full moon brings fine weather," . ---- house-marks, . ---- injustice, its origin, . ---- longevity, . . ---- maltese knights, . . . ---- "mater ait natæ," &c., . ---- punning divine, . ---- "putting your foot into it," . ---- reversible names, . ---- rulers of the world in , . ---- spendthrift, a publication, . ---- "to pluck a crow with one," . ---- weather rules, . ---- wolfe's army, the last survivor, . winwood (sir ralph), notices of, . . wishaw (jas.) on colchester records, . ---- matriculations at inns of court, . witchcraft, burning for, . * withered hand, picture at compton park, . w. (j. k. b.) on barthram's dirge, . ---- blanco white, . ---- hogarth's picture, . w. (j. r.) on the porter family, . wmson (s.) on byron's childe harold, . wodderspoon (john) on wingfield's portrait, . wolfe (gen.) at nantwich, . ---- last survivor of his army, . wolsey (cardinal), his arms, . . woman, lines on, . . . women and tortoises, . women, their rights in the united states, . * wood (george) of chester, . wooden tombs and effigies, . . . . words, misunderstood, . ---- small and low, . wordsworth, on a passage in, . worm in books, . . worsaae (j. j. a.) on names of places, . wotton (henry earl of) noticed, . . . wren (sir christopher) and the young carver, . wright (robert) on shape of coffins, . wright (thomas) of durham, . . wt. (t.) on arms of see of york, . wurm, in modern german, . w. (w.) _northamptonshire_, on "going to old weston," . ---- longfellow's poetical works, . w. (w. s.) on meaning of wheale, . wylcotes (sir john), motto on his brass, . x. x. on binometrical verse, . xxx on brewers' casks, . . y. yarmouth, great, seals of the borough, . . y. (d.) on english clergyman in spain, . yeathers or yadders, . . yeowell (j.) on various editions of butler's lives, . ---- hemans' (felicia) inedited lyric, . ---- jacob böhme, or behmen, . ---- mr. pepys his queries, . ---- pope and cowper, . ---- shield and arms at the admiralty, . ---- wellington (the late duke of), curious coincidence, . ---- wilbraham's cheshire collections, . yew-tree in churchyards, . . . york, the history of, its author, . . york see, its ancient arms, . . . . * ypenstein, english refugees at, . z. z. ( ) on harmony of the four gospels, . z. ( ) on harmony of the four gospels, . z. (a.) on dr. harwood, . ---- green's secret plot, . ---- reynolds' nephew, . zend grammar, . zeus on german tree, . zincali, dictionary of, . z. (z. z.) on motto, "semper eadem," . end of the eighth volume. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid. generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries) notes and queries: a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc. "when found, make a note of."--captain cuttle. * * * * * index to the ninth volume. * * * * * [for classified articles, see anonymous works, notices of new books, epigrams, epitaphs, folk lore, inscriptions, photography, proverbs, quotations, shakspeare, and songs and ballads. articles with an asterisk (*) prefixed denote _unanswered_ queries at the date of publication.] * * * * * subjects. a. abbott families, . . . aberbrothock, or arbroath, . abigail, a lady's maid, . abscond, its primary meaning, . aches rhyming with artches, . . . acrostic in ash church, kent, . ---- on johannes glanvill, . addison and watts, . . Ætna, journey to the crater of, . ague, charm for the, . [greek: aiôn], its derivation, . alderley, the old clock at, . alfred (king), pedigree to his time, . . . * alibenistic order of freemasons, . alison (sir archibald) in error, . almanacs, books of, . altar, reverence to, . alva (duke of) noticed, . . ambiguity in public writing, . ambry, its meaning, . american languages, ancient, . ---- poems imputed to english authors, . amontillado sherry, . . . ampers and, its meaning, . anachronisms, . anagram on charles stuart, . "ancren riwle," mss. of, . andré (major) noticed, . . * andrews (bishop), puns in his sermons, . annandale (the last marquis), . * anne of geierstein, noticed, . anne (queen), her motto, . . anonymous works:-- * adventures in the moon, . * athenian sport, . * austria as it is, . bruce, robert i., his acts and life, . christabel, the third part, . cobler of aggawam, . * cow doctor, . * ded. pavli, . * es tu scolaris, . * gentleman's calling, . * historical reminiscences of o'byrnes, o'tooles, and other irish chieftains, . * innocents, a drama, . les lettres juives, . letter to a member of parliament, by w. w., . liber passionis domini nostri jesu christi, . * life of lamenther, . * lights, shadows, and reflections of whigs and tories, . lounger's common-place book, . . * lydia, or conversion, . lyra apostolica, . . marriage in high life, . merciful judgment of high church, . . * negro's complaint, . * new holland, account of an expedition to, . obsolete statutes: a letter to a member of parliament, . * original poems, by c. r., . * outlines of the history of theology, . pinch of snuff . * posthumous parodies, . rodondo, or the state jugglers, . salmon's lives of english bishops, . * shipwrecked lovers, . * soomarokoff's demetrius, its translator, . trevelyan, . turks in europe, . * village lawyer, . whitelocke's memorials, . whole duty of man, . wilkins (peter), . ansareys on mount lebanon, . antipodes, what day at our? . antiquarian documents, . antiquaries, society of, annual meeting, . their collection of portraits, . apocryphal works, . apparition of the white lady, . * apparition which preceded the fire of london, . arabian nights' entertainments, omission in, . arabian tales and their sources, . archaic words, . arch-priest of exeter, . . . . aristotle on living law, . . . armorial queries, . . * arms, french or flemish, . arms, royal, in churches, . * army lists for seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, . * army, scarlet regimentals of, . artesian wells, . . . arthuriana, . * arundel (richard fitz-alan, ninth earl), . * ascension-day custom, . * ascham (roger), his letters, . asgill on translation to heaven, . ashmans, pictures at, . ashton (ralph) the commander, . . aska or asca, . asteroids, or recently discovered planets, . . * atchievement in yorkshire, . athens, a violet-crowned city, . . * atherstone family, . atonement, its theological use, . . atterbury (bishop), his portrait, . . augustine on clairvoyance, . authors and publishers, hint to, . authors, remuneration of, . authors' trustee society, . awkward, its etymology, . awkward, or awart, a provincialism, . b. back, bristol localities, . bacon (lord) and bishop andrews, . * bacon (lord) and sir simon d'ewes, . baker (thomas), letter to humphry wanley, . balaam box, . bale (john), bishop of ossory, . . * bale (john), his work on libraries, . ballina castle, mayo, . barbour (john), scottish metrical historian, . barmecides' feast, . barrels regiment, . . . barrett (eaton stannard), poem on woman, . barristers' gowns, . * bart (jean), his descent on newcastle, . barton (mrs. c.) and lord halifax, . bateman (christopher), bookseller, . bathurst (dr.), bishop of norwich, . battel at the universities, . * battles, description of, wanted, . baxter (richard) on apparitions, . . ----, inscription on his pulpit, . b. c. y. characters, . beattie (dr.) on the english liturgy, . bee, the wandering, . bees, legends respecting, . ---- on bartering for, . belgium ecclesiastical antiquities, . bell inscriptions, . . bell at rouen, . . bell literature, . . bell, why tolled on leaving church, . . . belle sauvage, its derivation, . . bellman at newgate, . * berkhampstead records, . * bersethrigumnue, its meaning, . bible, an illustrated one of , . . bible, breeches, an imperfect one, . bible society of the roman catholics, . . bibles, errata in, . ---- reprints of early, . bickford (wm.), letter to rev. mr. amory, . bigot, its derivation, . binding of old books, how polished, . bingham's antiquities, queries in, . . * bingham (sir john) noticed, . * birds, marvellous combat of, . birm-bank, its derivation, . bishops' kennel of hounds, . . ---- tombs, . * black cap of the judges, . blackguard, its original meaning, . . . blase (st.), his festival at norwich, . * blechenden family, . blessington (countess of), her letter to sir wm. drummond, . b. l. m., italian subscription, explained, . bloater or herring, explained, . bloet (robert) noticed, . . blue bell and blue anchor, sign, . blue bells of scotland, . . * board of trade in seventeenth century, . * bohemia (queen of) and a foreign order, . böhme (jacob), . bolle (sir john) of thorpe hall, . books burnt by the hangman, . . . books in parts not completed, . . books, notices of new:-- ackerman's remains of pagan saxondom, . ada's thoughts, or the poetry of youth, . addison's works, by bishop hurd, . . . arundel society publications, . autograph miscellany, . banfield's statistical companion, . beauties of byron, . bell's edition of the british poets, . . bray's peep at the pixies, . bristol, curiosities of, . brook's russians of the south, . condé's arabs in spain, . conversations on geography, . croker's correspondence with lord john russell, . custine (m. de) upon russia, . d'arblay's diary and letters, . . . . darling's cyclopædia bibliographica, . . . . . . dod's peerage for , . dryden's works, by r. bell, . . durriew's present state of morocco, . essays from the times, . eyton's antiquities of shropshire, . foster's elements of jurisprudence, . gibbon's rome (bohn's), . . gibbon's rome (murray's), . . giffard's deeds of naval daring, . göthe's novels and tales, . goldsmith's works, by peter cunningham, . . . . harley (lady brilliana), her letters, . hunt's manual of photography, . journal of classical and sacred philology, . journal of sacred literature, . . keightley's mythology of ancient greece, . lanman's adventures in north america, . lardner's museum of science and art, . lloyd on the shield of achilles, . locke's works, . lower's contributions to literature, . lushington's points of war, . macaulay's critical and historical essays, . . . . macaulay's speeches on parliamentary reform, . maccabe's catholic history of england, . mantell's geological excursions, . marley's life of girolamo cardano, . munch's scandinavian history, . museum of science and art, . netherclift's autograph miscellany, . pepys's diary and correspondence, . petit's architectural studies in france, . pryce's memorials of the canynges, . pulman's book of the axe, . retrospective review, . . reumont's carafas of maddaloni, . roll of the household expenses of richard de swinfield, . st. george's visitation of northumberland, . scott's poet's children, . smee on the eye, . smith (sydney), his writings, . smith's dictionary of greek and roman geography, . southey's works and correspondence of cowper, . . stratford shakspeare, by c. knight, . strickland's lives of the queens, . . . . . tieck's midsummer night, . timbs's curiosities of london, . trollope's illustrations of ancient art, . ure's dictionary of arts, &c., . waagen's treasures of art in great britain, . waddington on john penry the martyr, . wiffen's tasso's jerusalem, . zeitschrift für deutsche mythologie und sittenkunde, . books, on mutilating, . ---- varnish for old, . booty's case, . bosvill (ralph) of bradbourn, kent, . botanic names, their derivation, . bothy system, . . . botiller (theobald le), . bourbons, the fusion of the, . . bowly (devreux), horologist, . . * boyle family, . * braddock (gen.) noticed, . . bradford (john) the martyr, his writings, . . * bragge (dr.) noticed, . braithwait (richard), . branks, or gossips' bridles, . . . brass in all saints, newcastle-upon-tyne, . brasses, monumental, on their destruction, . . breeches bible, an imperfect one, . * brerewood (edward), his portrait, . bribery, the first instance, . * brighton old church, hand in chancel, . brill near old st. pancras church, . * bristol compliment, . * britons, works on the early, . brooks (rev. joshua) noticed, . broom at the mast-head, . brothers of the same christian name, . . brown (robert) the separatist, . . brown (sir adam and sir ambrose), . browne (francis) noticed, . browne (sir t.) and bishop ken, . bruce, robert i., his acts and life, . brydone the tourist, his birth-place, . . . . . buckle, its meaning, . * bunn's old england and new england, . bunyan (john), his manuscripts, . . ---- descendants, . buonaparte's abdication, . . burial in erect posture, . . . burial service tradition, . . burke (edmund), his domestic letters, . . burnet (bishop), his character, . noticed, . burton family, . . burton's anatomy of melancholy, . . * butler (colonel) noticed, . butler's lives of the saints, various editions, . * button cap, his legend, . "-by," as a termination, . . byron and rochefoucauld, . . byron's childe harold, . byron, the fifth lord, noticed, . . c. cabbages, when introduced into england, . . calchanti, its meaning, . . . caldecott's translation of the new testament, . calves'-head club, . . cambridge mathematical questions, . . . cambridge supernatural phenomena society, . camden society annual meeting, . ---- memorial on the prerogative office, . came, its early use, . . campbell (thomas) quoted, . canaletto's views round london, . . . canne's bible of , . cant, origin of the word, . canterbury see, its privileges, . canting arms, . . caps at cambridge, . . captain, latinized, . "captivate," its original meaning, . carausius, his supposed coin, . . carcases, productions of different, . caricature: a canterbury tale, . . * carlos (sir wm.), his arms and motto, . carlos or careless (william), monumental inscription, . carol of the kings, . carronade, its derivation, . . cash, its derivation, . cassie, a corruption of causeway, . . cassiterides, origin of the name, . . cassock of the clergy, . . . cattle, disease among, . cawley the regicide, . . celt, its derivation, . celtic and latin languages, . . . . celtic etymology, . . . * celtic in devon, . cephas, a binder, and not a rock, . . centum sign, . * chadderton of nuthurst, . * chair, or char, a provincialism, . chamisso's poem quoted, . chapel sunday, . charles i. at little woolford, . * charles i., his commission at oxford, . ---- his officers, . . charles ii., his letters to the grand masters of malta, . . . charles (prince), his attendants in spain, . . charming in hampshire, . charteris (col.) noticed, . chattel property in ireland, . chauncy, or chancy, noticed, . . chess, antiquity of the game, . children by one mother, . . children crying at their birth, . "children in the wood," the scene of, . * chintz gowns, . chisels, stone, . * "chopping the tree" at oxford, . christ-cross row, . . christ's or cris-cross row, . christian names doubled, . . . * christmas ballad, . chronograms, . . church porch, right of refuge in, . . church towers detached, . church usages, ancient, . . . churches in domesday book, . churches in the city of london, a plea for, . churchill's grave, . . . churching custom in hampshire, . cicero quoted, . ciss, cissle, &c., . . clairvoyance noticed by st. augustine, . clare legends, . . . clarence dukedom, . . . clarendon (lord) and the tubwoman, . clarke (dr. e. d.), his charts of the black sea, . . classic authors and the jews, . . . * clendon (john) noticed, . clito, its meaning, . * clock, an ancient one, . clubs, origin of, . . clunk, its meaning, . cobb family, . . cock-and-bull story, . coincidences, . cold-harbour, . cole (j. w.), his edition of othello, . coleridge's christabel, . . ---- unpublished mss., . . . coleshill, ancient custom at, . * collis (thomas) noticed, . * columbarium in a church tower, . commin (faithful), . . "commons of ireland before the union," . . conduitt and sir isaac newton, . conjunctions joining propositions, . . consilium novem delectorum cardinalium, &c., . . . . * consolato del mare, . * constable of masham, . convocation and the propagation society, . * convocation, perpetual curates not represented in, . * convocation, the position of suffragan bishops in, . cook (capt.), his pedigree, . copernicus, inscription on his tomb, . . * corbet, a scottish family, . cornwalls of london, . . coronation custom, . ---- stone, . . coroner's inquests, . corporation enactments, . . . "corporations have no souls," &c., . . corpulence a crime, . cotterell (sir charles) noticed, . . cottoner (ralph), grand master at malta, . * courtney family, . * cowperiana, . * crabb of telsford, . * crabbe (rev. geo.), his manuscripts, . crampette, in heraldry, . cranmer's bible, . . ---- martyrdom, . . . crecy, the irish at the battle of, . crenellate, licences to, . . * crewkerne (henry) of exeter, . cromwell (bridget), her children by fleetwood, . cromwell (oliver), his carriages, . . cromwellian documents in lambeth palace, . cromwellian gloves, . cross, its anticipatory use, . culet explained, . * cunninghame (mr. p.) noticed, . curiosities of literature, some recent ones, . . . d. dannocks, its derivation, . * dante in latin, . * darcy of platten, . dartmouth (first lord), his monument, . darwin on steam, . . * dates of published works, . daughters taking their mothers' names, . . david's mother, . d'aye (robert), cromwell's descendant, . dead, society for burning the, . death-warnings in ancient families, . . . . de beauvoir pedigree, . . defoe (daniel) on apparitions, . . * degrees in arts at edinburgh, . * de gurney pedigree, . * de la fond, inscription on his engraving, . de lauragnois (duc), a marvellous story of his wife, . dennis and pope, . * denny (honoria, daughter of lord), . dereham manor alienated, . * de rous family, . despatches, sententious, . devil tavern club, . * dilamgabendi, its meaning, . * dinteville family, . diseases, non-recurring, . divining rod, . divinity professorships, . dixon of beeston, . . * dixon's yorkshire dales, . dobbs, francis, a prophet, . dobney's bowling-green, . . docwra (sir thomas), grand prior, . dog latin, . dog-whippers in churches, . . dog-whipping in hull, . dogs in monumental brasses, . . . d. o. m. explained, . . domestic architecture, . ---- chapels, . * dominus, the title, . dorset, a beverage, . . dosa (george and luke), . dragons' blood, . drainage by machinery, . * dramatic and poetical works, . dress of the ancient scottish females, . . druidism, materials for a history of, . drummond (sir wm.), the countess of blessington's letter to him, . dryden (john) on shakspeare, . dryden and luke milbourne, . dublin maps, . . ducking-stool, . * dumfries, lithographed view of, . duncon (dr. eleazar), his death, . . . dutch east india company, . dutch, high and low, . duval family, . e. * eastern church, the episcopal insignia of, . eastern question, . echo poetry, a dialogue, . . eclipse in the year , . . . eden pedigree and arms, . eden (robert), prebendary of winchester, . . * egger moths, . electric telegraph, its inventor, . ---- at police stations, . . eliminate, its original signification, . elizabeth (queen) and the earl of essex, . elstob (elizabeth), her burial-place, . . elstob family, . embost, in hunting, . enareans, . . . encore, . encyclopædia of indexes, . . enfield church, . engravings, early german, . . epigrams:-- falsely ascribed to herbert, . four lawyers, . garrick's funeral, . greek, . handel and bononcini, . . how d.d. swaggers, m.d. rolls, . pope's on dennis, . epitaphs:-- chambers, a dancing-master, . churchill the poet, . epitaphium lucretiæ, . garter king at arms, . henbury, in gloucestershire, . howleglass, . kelly (patrick), . kingston-seymour, in somersetshire, . lavenham church, . morwenstow churchyard, . "myself," . . pisa, . politian's, . prior's on himself, . shoreditch churchyard, . tellingham church, essex, . whittlebury churchyard, . eternal life, . etiquette, origin of the word, . euler's analytical treasures, . exposition by cornelius à lapide, . eyre (capt. john), his drawings, . . f. fairfax (lord), inquiries respecting, . . . . families, large, . . * farrant's anthem, "lord, for thy tender mercies' sake," . * farre (captain), noticed, . * farrington's views, . fata morgana, . faussett collection of antiquities, . . * fawell arms and crest, . felbrigge (sir g.), inscription on his brass, . * female aide-major, . female parish clerks, . . ferdinand charles iii., duke of parma, . field's bible of , . fifteenths, or fystens, . fire-arms, antiquity of, . * fitzgerald (edward), . fitzherbert (sir anthony), not chief justice, . * flasks for wine-bottles, . fleet prison officers, . . fleurs-de-lys, three, . . . . floral directories, catholic, . florins and the royal arms, . folk lore, . . . . . devonshire, . hampshire, . herefordshire, . somersetshire, . newspaper, . . . . * foreign orders, . forensic jocularities, . forlorn hope, explained, . . forms of prayer, occasional, . * "forms of public meetings," . forster (dr.), and his floral works, . fountains in foreign parts, . fox-hunting, . * fox (sir stephen) noticed, . foxes and firebrands, . francklyn household book, . . * frankincense in churches, . fraser (general), . . * freemasonry, on the eligibility of deaf and dumb persons, . * freemasons, the alibenistic order of, . freher (dionysius andreas), . french refugees in spitalfields, . french season and weather rhymes, . . * fresick and freswick, . friends, their longevity, . * froissart, passage on the black prince, . funeral customs, . . ---- in middle ages, . fynnon vair, or the well of our lady, . g. gage (gen. thomas) noticed, . gale of rent, . garble, its present corruption, . . . garlands, broadsheets, &c., . * garlic sunday, its origin, . garrick's funeral epigram, . gay (john), his acis and galatea, . gazette de londres, . geering (richard), . * genesis iv. ., . geneva arms, . . geometrical curiosity, . george (chevalier de st.), his medal, . . . george iii. baptized, married, and crowned by one prelate, . george iv. and duke of york, . . . gerard (charles) temp. charles ii., . german tree, . . gerson (john), supposed author of de imitatione, . . gibbon (edward) and his father, . gispen, a leathern pot, . * glass quarries, initials in, . * glencairn (earl of) noticed, . * glossaries, provincial, in ms., . "gloucester," wrecked, . glutton and echo, dialogue between, . * gnats, battle of the, . "god's acre," . goldsmith (oliver), translation from, . goloshes, origin of the name, . . gosling family, . gossip, or sponsor, examples of its use, . gossiping history, . government patronage, its abolition, . governor-general of india, his official style, . gower (john) the poet, his marriage licence, . grafts and the parent tree, . grammar in relation to logic, . . . grammar school of st. mary de crypt, its master in , . grammars for public schools, . . . . grammont's memoirs, . . . . granby (marquis of), popular sign, . . . * graves of the anglo-saxons, . greek denounced by the monks, . . green eyes, . . * green stockings, . greenock fair, custom at, . . gresebrook, in yorkshire, . grey (henry), duke of suffolk, his head, . * grey (lady jane), her burial-place, . * griesbach arms, . griffin's fidessa, and shakspeare's passionate pilgrim, . * grose (francis) the antiquary, . gutta percha made soluble, . . * guye, or gye, of the temple, . h. haas (mr.) the sand-painter, . haddon hall, the heiress of, . halcyon days, its derivation, . hale (sir matthew), his descendants, . . halifax (lord) and mrs. c. barton, . * hall (rev. robert), temp. james ii., . hallsal, its salubrity, . hamilton (comte antoine) noticed, . . . hampton court pictures, . . handbells at funerals, . handel, hymn attributed to, . . handwriting, works on, . hanging, has execution by hanging been survived? . . . hardman's account of waterloo, . . . * harington (lady), her pedigree, . harington (lord) noticed, . * harrison the regicide, . hatherleigh moor, devon, . * haviland family, . * hay-bread recipe, . hayes (dr. philip) noticed, . haynau (gen.), his corpse, . * hayware (richard) noticed, . hebrew music, . henry of huntingdon's letter to walter, . henry i., his arm the yard measure, . henry iv. of france, his title to the crown, . henry viii., his letters to the grand masters of malta, . heraldic anomaly, . . . heraldic queries, . . . . heraldic scotch grievance, . . heralds, a puzzle for them, . heralds' college, . its first members, . herbert (george), epigram ascribed to him, . ---- church porch, . . ---- helga, . ---- on hope, . hervie (christopher) noticed, . hiel the bethelite, . highland regiment, . hint by a blacksmith of tideswell, . "hip, hip, hurrah!" . history, impossibilities of, . . . hobbes (thomas), his behemoth, . . hoby family, their portraits, &c., . . hodgson's (rev. f.) translation of the atys of catullus, . . hoglandia, . hogmanay, its derivation, . * holland, its derivation, . holy-loaf money, . . . * holy thursday rain-water, . holy trinity church, minories, . hooker (richard), queries in, . * hooper (bishop) on the vestment controversy, . * hopson (admiral) noticed, . hour-glass stands, . . . . "hovd maet of laet," its translation, . . hoveden, mistranslation in, . howleglass's epitaph, . huc's travels, . huntbach manuscripts, . * hunters of polmood, their pedigree, . hydropathy, . . hydrophobia, cure for, . i. iceland, communications with, . imp, used for progeny, . . imprints, remarkable, . indexes, or tables of contents, encyclopædia of, . infant school, inscription for one, . inglis (bishop) of nova scotia, . ingulph's chronicle, an error in, . * initiative, when first used, . * ink, fading, . inman or ingman family, . . inn signs, . . . . inscriptions on bells, . . book, . buildings, . . carlos, or careless (william), . curious one, . door-head, . homersfield, in suffolk, . . lindsey court-house, . . . llangollen, north wales, . pulpit, . . st. stephen's, ipswich, . insects in the human stomach, . irish law in the eighteenth century, . . ---- legislation, . ---- records, . "isle of beauty," by t. h. bayly, . isolated, its modern use, . j. jacobite club, . ---- garters, . jacob's stone, . james ii., his army list, . . . * jewish names from animals, . jews and egyptians, . job xix. . literally translated, . . john (king) in lancashire, . . john of gaunt, his descendants, . . john of jerusalem, order of, . . . . . . * john of jerusalem, proceedings of the hospital, . * johnson (dr.) and the mad bull, . jonson (ben), epigram "inviting a friend to supper," . * judges practising at the bar, . judicial rank hereditary, . juniper as a cant phrase, . junius, bohn's reprint of woodfall's edition, . ---- the vellum-bound, . justice, russian, . k. kalydor, italian, . keate family, . * keats (john), his poems, . * kemerton church, its dedication, . * kemp (richard) noticed, . kempis (thomas à), de imitatione, . . ken (bishop) and sir thomas browne, . . kennington common, . . * kieten (nicholas) the giant, . * killigrew family, . king's prerogative, . kirkpatrick's mss. of norwich, . . * kitchen (anthony), his arms, . knight's quarterly magazine, contributors to, . . knight's numismatic collections, . knightlow cross in warwickshire, . "knobstick," as used by trades' unions, . kutchin-kutchu, . * kynoch families, . l. ladylift, a clump of trees, . * lamb (charles), his birthplace, . largesse, a provincialism, . . la rochefoucauld, . launch of the "prince royal" in , . laurie on finance, . * lavidian, a fish, . law (edward), lines on his being made chief justice, . lawless court, rochford, essex, . lawyers' bags, . . lawyers, epigram on four, . * leapor (mary), tragedy by, . le compère mathieu, . * leeming hall, near liverpool, . legal customs, . . legend, its use defended, . * leger (col. st.) noticed, . legh (sir urian) of adlington, . leicester as ranger of snowdon, . . leicester (robert dudley, eleventh earl of), . . . leighton (abp.), his burial-place, . * lemying (christopher) of burneston, . leslie (charles) and dr. middleton, . . lessius (leonard), his hygiasticon, . letters, irish, anglo-saxon, &c., . . letters of eminent literary men, . . lewis family, . * lewis (jenkin), his memoirs of the duke of gloucester, its editor, . "liber passionis domini nostri jesu christi," . lichfield bower, or wappenschau, . life and death, . . . life-belts, . life, on living over again, . lightfoot (anna), . lignites, what? . . lincoln episcopal registers, extracts from, . lindsey court-house, inscription on, . . . * linnæan medal, . * lipyeatt family, . literary curiosities, . literature (english), its components, . * liveries, red and scarlet, . * locke (john), his pedigree, . lode, its meaning, . lodge (edmund) the herald, . logan or rocking stones, . london churches, a plea for, . * london corporation, custom of, . * london corporation, query for, . ---- fortifications, . . . longfellow families, . . . ---- hyperion, . . ---- originality, . ---- reaper and the flowers, . long parliament, lists of its members, . lovelace (richard), his lucasta, . * lowle family, . * lowth of sawtrey, . lucifer, palace of, . * ludwell (thomas) noticed, . "luke's iron crown," . * lunsford (sir thomas) noticed, . luther (martin), his bust, . lyon (william), bishop of cork, . "lyra apostolica," its authors and motto, . . lyra's commentary, . . lysons' manuscripts, . m. m. a. and a. m. degree, . . macaulay (t. b.) in error, . * macgregor (helen) noticed, . machyn (henry) noticed, . * mackerel, blind, . mackey (samson arnold), . . macklin and pope, . madden's reflections and resolutions, . * maid of orleans, . mairdil or mardle, . . * maisterson's lords' descents, . majority, the attainment of, . . maltese knights, . . . . . . mammet, its derivation, . . man in the moon, . mantel-piece, its origin, . . . * manuscript catena, . maps, dates of, . . market crosses, . marmortinto, or sand-painting, . . marriage agreement, a curious one, . ---- ceremony in the fourteenth century, . . marston and erasmus, . * martyrs feeling pain, . . * mary queen of scots at auchincas, . mathew, a cornish family, . . . mattaire (michael), letter to earl of oxford, . matthew of westminster, bohn's edition, . mawkin, a scarecrow, . . . * may-day custom, . * maydenburi, . mayor of london a privy councillor, . . mazarin (duchess of), her monument, . medal of queen anne, . * medicine, eastern practice of, . meols, name of a parish, . . * mereworth castle, kent, . mermaid tavern club, . merryweather's tempest prognosticator, . middleton's tragi-comedy, the "witch," its music, . milbourne (luke) and dryden, . miller (james) noticed, . "milton blind," a poem, . milton's correspondence, . ---- widow, . . minshull (richard) noticed, . . mirabeau, talleyrand, and fouché, their memoirs, . miser, its original and present meaning, . . mob, its derivation, . monaldeschi, . money, its value in the seventeenth century, . . monicke (dr.), his notes and queries on the ormulum, . monster found at maidstone, . monteith bowl, . . monumental brasses in london, . * monumental figures, cross-legged, on the continent, . moon superstitions, . * moral philosophy, writers on, . * morant (rev. philip), his lineage, . morant (sir john), his pedigree, . . more (sir thomas) and equity suitors, . morrice (sir wm.), his papers, . morwenna, lines on the minster of, . . . mother russel's post, . motto on an old damask, . mount mill and london fortifications, . . . . mousehunt described, . . . . . muffins and crumpets, origin of, . . muffs worn by gentlemen, . * mummy chests, . * mustard, proclamation for making, . myddleton (sir hugh), his burial-place, . myrtle bee, . . n. * nails, the master of the, at chatham, . namby-pamby, . names assumed, . ---- long, . ---- reversible, . . napoleon's spelling, . narbrough (sir john) noticed, . nash (beau), lines on visiting his palace, . nattochiis, its meaning, . . . * naval atrocities, . "ned o' the todding," . . nelson (lord), inedited letters of, . . . ---- his death, . "-ness," as a termination, . newman (professor) on the celtic language, . newspaper folk lore, . . . . newspaper (foreign) leaders, . . newton and milton, . new zealander and westminster bridge, . . . niagara, its pronunciation, . nicholas, emperor, anagram on, . nicholas (st.) cole abbey, . nichols's collectanea, errata in, . * niebuhr's "ingenious man," . nightingale and thorn, . * noctes ambrosianæ, . nonjurors' motto, . * norman towers in london, . north-west passage, . * norton, origin of this local name, . nowell (dean), his first wife, . nugent (earl), his poems, . nugget, its meaning, . o. oaths, . . . objective and subjective, . o'brien of thosmond, . . * "obtains," its conventional meaning, . odd fellows, origin of the union, . . * odevaere's history of an ancient clock, . odoherty (morgan), . offices, the sale of, in the seventeenth century, . ogborne's history of essex, mss. of, . * ogden (john), noticed, . oglander (sir wm.), his chapel, . * "old dominion," or virginia, . olympic plain, &c., . . orange blossoms, . . orchat, or orchard, . * order of st. david of wales, . "ordericus vitalis," bohn's edition, . ordinary, a provincialism, . oriel, as applied to a window, . * orme, aide-de-camp to general braddock, . ormulum, edited by dr. white, . orrery (earl of), his letter to dr. thomas birch, . osmotherley in yorkshire, . * otterburn, battle of, . oufle (m.), his history, . ought and aught, . oxford commemoration squib, . oxford jeu d'esprit, . "oxoniana," a desirable reprint, . p. page, its derivation, . . painting, the english school of, . paintings of our saviour, . . palæologi, the last of, . . paleario (aonio), "of the benefit of the death of christ," . paley's plagiarisms, . palindrome verses, . pamphlet, curious old one, . pandras, its derivation, . paper water-marks, false dates on, . . . papyrus, specimen wanted, . . parallel ideas from poets, . . parallel passages, . parliament, a member electing himself, . parma (ferdinand charles iii., duke of), . . parochial libraries, . ---- registers, . party-similes of the seventeenth century, . paschal eggs, . passion of our lord dramatised, . . patriarchs of the western church, . paul's (st.) school library, . pax pennies of william the conqueror, . * peckham--"all holiday at peckham," its origin, . peckwater quadrangle, . pedigrees forged, . . pelham (sir john), his monument, . pepys's letters on christ's hospital, . perspective, . . . * petley (elias) noticed, . pettifogger explained, . philip's (st.), bristol, priory, . photography:-- albumenized paper, . . albumenized process, . . box sawdust for collodion, . calotype on the sea-shore, . calotype process, . . . . . cameras, . cameras, light in, . . cautions, . céroléine process, . . . chlorides and silver, their proportions, . collodion, . . . . . . . collodion negatives, . collodion plates, . cotton made soluble, . . crookes (mr.) on restoring old collodion, . crystal palace photographs, . cyanide of potassium, . . experiences in photography, . . . ferricyanide of potassium, . glass rod, how to be used, . gun cotton, . history of photographic discovery, . . hockin's short sketch for the tyro, . hunt's specimens, . . his letter, . hydrosulphite of soda baths, . iodized paper, . iodized solution, . . . . light in cameras, . . lyte on collodion, . . lyte's new instantaneous process, . mansell (dr.), his operations, . . . manuscripts copied, . mounting photographs, . . negatives multiplied, . . . nitrate of silver adulterated, . test for, . photographic excursions, . photographic litigation, . photographic queries, . . . photographic society's exhibition, . . . positives mounted on cardboard, . printing positives, . rembrandt, photographic copies of, . sensitive collodion, . silver, its recovery, . slides for the magic lantern, . splitting paper for photographic purposes, . spots on collodion pictures, . stereoscopic note, . tent for collodion purposes, . talbot's patents, . . . townsend's wax-paper process, . turner's paper, . towgood's paper, . wax negatives, . waxed-paper pictures, . . . . pickard family, . . picts' houses, . * picture queries, . [greek: pistis], unde deriv., . . * "plain dealer," original edition, . planets, recently discovered, . plantagenets, their demoniacal descent, . . * plants and flowers, . plants of the months symbolised, . * plaster casts, . * pliny's dentistry, . plowden (edmund), his portrait, . . * plowden (sir edmund) noticed, . * plumley (mr.), dramatist, . plymouth calendar, . poets laureate, notices of, . pocklington (dr. john) noticed, . political predictions, . polygamy, . . . pope (alex.) quoted, . pope and dennis, . . pope and macklin, . popiana, . . portionists at merton college, . portrait painters of the last century, . postage system of the romans, . . postmasters at merton college, . prayer, occasional forms of, . precedence, . . precious stones, emblematical meanings of, . . . . * prelate noticed by gibbon, . prerogative office, its exclusive constitution, . pretenders, their births and deaths, . . . pricket, its meaning, . primers of the reign of elizabeth, . "prince royal" launched, . * prints of london before the fire, . * prints, on repairing old, . prior's epitaph on himself, . * pronunciation of foreign names, . property, right of redeeming, . prophesying before death, . * prospect house, clerkenwell, . prospectuses of works, . prototype, its misuse, . proverbs and phrases:-- all holiday at peckham, . as snug as a bug in a rug, . as dead as a herring, . bath: "go to bath," . . begging the question, . . . chip in porridge, . corruptio optimi est, . cui bono, . . cutting off with a shilling, . deus ex machinâ, . feather in your cap, . . fig: "a fig for you!" . flea in his ear, . good wine needs no bush, . hypocrisy the homage, &c., . i put a spoke in his wheel, . . jump for joy, . kick the bucket, . obs and sols, . paid down upon the nail, . . service is no inheritance, . . spoke in his wheel, . . * to pass the pikes, . * turk: "a regular turk," . proverbs, unregistered, . . * proxies for absent sponsors, . psalm cxxvii. ., its translation, . psalm, the great alphabetic, . . . psalms for the chief musician, . . * psychology, when first used, . publican's invitation, . publishers, a hint to, . pulpits, stone, . punctuation, errors in, . pure, its peculiar use, . * "purlet de mir. nat.," . put, its pronunciation in ireland, . q. quacks, . quakers' calendar, . quakers executed at boston, . . queenborough borough debts, . quotations--in cowper, . . a fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind, . . all scotia's weary days of civil strife, . all went merry as a marriage bell, . bachelors of every station, . . . * condendaque lexica mandat damnatis, . convince a man against his will, . corporations have no souls, . could we with ink, &c., . . . days of my youth, . de male quæsitis gaudet, &c., . extinctus amabitur idem, . . firm was their faith, &c., . . for he that fights and runs away, . forgive, blest shade, . * he no longer shall dwell, . hic locus odit, amat, . homo unius libri, . * had i met thee in thy beauty, . * ill habits gather by unseen degrees, . man proposes, but god disposes, . . . marriage is such a rabble rout, . off with his head! so much for buckingham, . of whose omniscient and all-spreading love, . . one new year's day, . . one while i think, . . perturbabantur constantinopolitani, . . * poeta nascitur, non fit, . quid facies, facies veneris, &c., . . quid levius calamo? . . rex erat elizabeth, sed erat regina jacobus, . sat cito, si sat bene, . * sir john once said a good thing, . * sometimes, indeed, an acre's breadth half green, . * the clanging trumpet sounds to arms, . the knights are dust, . . the spire whose silent finger points to heaven, . . . * then what remains, but well our parts to chuse, . vita crucem, et vivas, &c., . wise men labour, good men grieve, . . r. rain, sign of, . * raphael's pictures, symbolism in, . rapping no novelty, . . . rat, black, . rathlin island, in ireland, . * rebellion of , trial of the prisoners, . records, irish, . red cow sign, . . regiment, th, or the prince of wales's own, . registers, parochial, . reprints suggested, . repton (humphry), landscape-painter, . * restall, its meaning, . reversible names, . * review, designation of works under, . rhymes, french season and weather, . . ---- irish, . rich (lieut.-colonel) noticed, . richard, abbot of st. victor, . richard i. noticed, . richard iii., his burial-place, . richard, king of the romans, his arms, . richard plantagenet, earl of cambridge, . . ridings and chaffings, . . * ridley (bp.), his reply to bp. hooper, . ---- university, . rigby correspondence, . * rileys of forest hill, . robinson (lady elizabeth) noticed, . . roche (james) of cork, . rocking-stones, . roland the brave, . . roman roads in england, . . romanists conforming to the english church, . romford jury, . rosehill (lord), who was he? . . rous (william) the scottish psalmist, . ---- his will, . * rowe (owen) the regicide, . rowley, old, . . . * rubens query, . ruffins, a fish, . rush (dr. benjamin) noticed, . . russell, or du rozel, the house of, . russia (emperor of) and the order of the garter, . russia and turkey, . . russian emperors, . . ---- manifesto, . ---- maps, . russians, their religion, . * rutabaga, its etymology, . s. * sacheverell (dr.), his residence in the temple, . sack, its qualities, . . st. asaph, ruin near, . saladin, as described by scott, . . * sale of offices in seventeenth century, . * saltcellar, its derivation, . salutations, . salutes, royal, . sanctius (rodericus) noticed, . * sandfords of thorpe salvine, . sangarede, its meaning, . * sanxon (s.), the fee of, . satin, its derivation, . savage and dennis, . * sawbridge and knight's numismatic collections, . saw-dust recipe, . . "sawles warde," suggested to be printed, . * scarlet regimentals of the army, . schindler (valentine) noticed, . school libraries, . scotch heraldic grievance, . . . * scott (rev. dr.), inquiry respecting, . scott (sir walter) and sir w. napier, . ---- quoting himself, . . scottish airs, original words of, . screw propeller, . . * scroope family, . seamen's tickets, . secker (abp.) and george iii., . selah, its meaning, . selleridge, . "semper eadem," origin of the motto, . sepulchral monuments, . . . * sermon, a short one attributed to swift, . seven sisters legend, . sewell family, . sexes, their separation in church, . . sexton office in one family, . . seymour (elizabeth), daughter of sir edward, . . shakspeare, on his descent from a landed proprietor, . . . ---- digest on critical readings, . ---- othello annotated, . . ---- passionate pilgrim and griffin's fidessa, . ---- portrait, . ---- rime which he made at the mytre, . ---- stratford shakspeare, . sharers at theatres, . * sheffield, earl of mulgrave, letter by him, . shelley's prometheus unbound, . . sheridan (richard brinsley), his patrimony, . ---- translation of a song in his duenna, . * sheriff of somersetshire in , . * shippen family, . shropshire ballad, . shrove-tuesday customs, . . . . . * [greek: sikera], . silo, its derivation, . simmels, a viennese loaf, . * simmons (b.) noticed, . * skin-flint, its derivation, . skipwith (sir henry) noticed, . slavery in england, . . slaves, names of, . slow-worm superstition, . smith (col. michael), his family, . . smith families, . . smith (ferdinando) of halesowen, . smith (john), hydropathist, . . smoke-farthings, . snake escapes from a man's mouth, . . sneezing, . . snub, antiquity of the word, . * snush, or snish, . soldier's discipline, . sollerets, armour for the feet, . songs and ballads: barrels regiment, . . . blue bells of scotland, . . christmas ballad, . fair rosamond, . . horam coram dago, . . i could not love thee, dear, so much, . . malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, . one new year's day, . shropshire ballad, . syddale's execution, . three cats sat by the fireside, . . . truth, an apology for speaking the, . songs of degrees, . . . sophocles, passage in, . sotades, notice of, . sounds heard at great distances, . south's (dr.) sermons, queries on, . . ---- verses upon westminster school, . souvaroff's despatch, . sovereigns dining in public, . "spanish lady's love," its hero, . . spellings (false) from sound, . spence (w. s.), his factitious pedigrees, . . spencer (edward) of rendlesham, his marriage, . * [greek: sphidê], its meaning, . * spinning-machine of the ancients, . staël (madame de) noticed, . . standing at the lord's prayer, . . . * star and garter, kirkstall, . star of bethlehem, . starvation, an americanism, . . * stationers' company and almanac, . * stock-horn, . * stoke and upton, . * stokes (general), his parentage, . stone-pillar worship, . storms, ominous, . stornello, . stound, as used by spenser, . stradling (john), epigrammatist, . strawberry-hill gem, . * suffragan bishops in convocation, . sunday, its commencement and end, . . surrey archæological society, . . swedish words current in england, . swift (dean) and trinity college, . . ---- an unpublished letter of, . * syddale (thos.), ballad on his execution, . t. table-turning, . . . . . . tailless cats in the isle of man, . . . . . talfourd (mr. justice), notices of, . . ---- on lamb's elia, . * "tarbox for that," its meaning, . tavern signs, poetical, . . taylor (dr. john) noticed, . teddy the tiler, . te deum in the russian church, . . teeth superstition, . * temperature of cathedrals, . temple (dame hester), her descendants, . tender, a curious one, . tenure of lands, . . . teonge (henry), his diary quoted, . terms, misapplication of, . . . * texts preliminary in church service, . thackeray's anachronisms, . "that," a grammatical puzzle, . theodore de la guard, . thom's irish almanac, . thornton abbey, . "three crowns and sugar-loaf" sign, . . three maids tradition, . three pigeons inns, . . . thumb-biting, . * thurstan (abp.), his burial-place, . * tilly, of the westminster courts, . tin, its early use, . . tippet, its derivation, . . tobacco-pipes, their history, . . tom-cat, tortoiseshell, . tonson (mons.), its author, . tooke (horne) on the meaning of libel, . . tooth, on burning one with salt, . ---- the golden, . trafalgar battle, . * tremesin (dompe peter) noticed, . trench on proverbs, . trinity, the secunde person of, . . triolet explained, . trogloditæ, interment of, . trojan horse, . * truth, an apology for speaking the, . truthteller newspaper, . "try _and_ get," a vulgarism, . . turkey and france, . ---- and russia, . turkish language, . . * turlehydes, sea-fish, . u. uhland, the german poet, . universities, foreign, . * university college, oxford, custom at, . usher (sir william) noticed, . v. vagrancy, order for its suppression, . vallancey's green book, . vandyke in america, . vandyking, its meaning, . . * vane (lord), his collection of pictures, . "vanitatem observare," . . . varnish for old books, . vault interments, . vellum-cleaning, . vends, or wends, . ventilation, an encyclopædia of, . . "verbatim et literatim," . . * vere (arthur de) noticed, . * verelst the painter, . veronica, its derivation, . verses, satirical, on the french revolution, . vessel of paper, its meaning, . villers-en-couché, battle of, . * villiers (geo.), duke of buckingham, scandalous letter written to, . vossioner, its meaning, . . w. waestart, a provincialism, . . wafers, their antiquity, . . * wagers, celebrated, . * wallace (albany) noticed, . * wallace (sir j.) and mr. browne, . walpole and macaulay, . . . walters (lucy), . walton (joshua), clerk, . walton, the son of honest izaak, . wandering bee, . wanley (humphry), baker's letter to, . wappenschau, or lichfield bower, . ward (dr. john), letter to bishop cary, . ward (rev. nathaniel), . wardrobe house, or the tower royal, . warner (william) the poet, . warple-way, its meaning, . . . warville, its derivation, . . . . warwick (henry beauchamp, earl of), . * warwickshire badge, . water-marks on paper, false dates on, . . watson (bishop), passage in, . ---- his map of europe, . * watson (charles) noticed, . waugh family, . . waugh of cumberland, family arms, . . weather-rules, . weather, social effects of the late severe, . weckerlin (george rudolph), german poet, . weekly pacquet from rome, . . wellesley, or wesley, . wellington, the late duke of, . welsh consonants, . . wentworth (sir philip), . * wesley and wellington, their relationship, . weyland wood in norfolk, . wheelbarrows, the inventor of, . whichcote (dr.) and dorothy jordan, . . whipping school-boys, latin treatise on, . whipping a lady, . white (blanco), sonnet by, . . * white (john) of philadelphia, . white (samuel), his commentary, . whitefield and kennington common, . whitelocke (general), . . . whitlocke's memorials, . whitewashing in churches, . . whittington's stone on highgate hill, . . widderington family, . . wight, the isle of, its king, . wilbraham cheshire mss., . wildman (daniel) noticed, . . * willesdon in middlesex, families at, . william iii., works on his life and times, . williams (griffith), bishop of ossory, . willow-bark in ague, . . wills, depository required for, . wilson (john), doctor of music, . wingfield (sir anthony), . wither (george), poet, . witherington (ralph) family, . . * wolfe (major-general), his mss., . woman, lines on, . wood (anthony à), his birthplace, . wood (geo.) of chester, . wooden tombs and effigies, . . . . word-minting, . . . worm in books, . wotton (henry earl of), . wotton (sir henry) on the character of a happy life, . wren (christopher) and the young carver, . wurm, its meaning in german, . . wylcotes' brass, . wyseman (sir robert), his judicial opinion, . y. yard measure taken from the arm of henry i., . yarke, its meaning, . year , . yew-tree at crowhurst, its age, . york (cardinal) noticed, . z. zeuxis and parrhasius, . names of contributors. a. a. on ciss, cissle, &c., . ---- photographic manuscripts, . a. ( .) on cassie, . ---- dates of maps, . abbott (j. t.) on abbott families, . . ---- grammars for public schools, . a. (b. h.) on classic authors and the jews, . abhba on an account of an expedition to new holland, . ---- asgill on translation to heaven, . ---- bibles, errata in, . ---- bribery, its first instance, . ---- coleshill, custom at, . ---- commons of ireland, . ---- corporation enactments, . ---- darcy of platten, . ---- divinity professorships, . ---- equity suitors, good times for, . ---- errors of mr. macaulay and sir a. alison, . ---- irish law in the eighteenth century, . ---- irish legislation, . ---- lyon (wm.), bishop of cork, . ---- madden's reflections and resolutions, . ---- mutilating books, . ---- occasional forms of prayer, . ---- "paid down upon the nail," . ---- parochial registers, . ---- print of dublin volunteers, . ---- rathlin island, . ---- ridley's university, . ---- separation of sexes in churches, . ---- swift's antipathy to trinity college, . ---- thom's irish almanack, . ---- turks in europe, &c., . ---- vessel of paper, . ---- wafers, their antiquity, . a. (c. b.) on liber passionis domini nostri jesu christi, . adams (g. e.) on abbott families, . adams (s.) on burial service tradition, . admirer on proclamation for making mustard, . ---- sacheverell's and lamb's residences, . advocatus on burial service tradition, . a. (e. h.) on anticipatory use of the cross, . ---- atterbury's lines on guiscard, . ---- burton family, . ---- curious tender, . ---- dr. eleazar duncon, . ---- eden (robert), . ---- fusion of the bourbons, . ---- king of the isle of wight, . ---- lodge the herald, . ---- marvellous story, . ---- salmon's lives of english bishops, . ---- standing at the lord's prayer, . a. (f. s.) on nattochiis and calchanti, . agares on colonel butler, . a. (j . s.) on russian te deum, . ---- sententious despatches, . a. (l.) on green stockings, . alford (b. h.) on dogs in monumental brasses, . [greek: halieus] on atonement, . ---- chauncy, or chancy, . ---- crawley (rev. john), . ---- david's mother, . ---- defoe's quotation from baxter, . ---- dudley (robert), earl of leicester, . ---- faithful commin, . ---- hawker's echoes from old cornwall, . ---- "hovd maet of laet," . ---- merciful judgments of high church, . ---- perspective, . ---- postal system of the romans, . ---- sack, . ---- sir charles cotterell, . ---- work on ants, . allcock (trevet) on major andré, . ---- mackey (s. a.), . allcroft (j. d.) on numbers, . ---- stoke and upton, . alpha on abolition of government patronage, . ---- authors and publishers, . ---- english diplomacy _v._ russian, . ---- leading articles of foreign newspapers, . . ---- olympic plain, &c., . ---- oxoniana, . ---- wheelbarrows, . alphege on inn signs, &c., . a. (m.) on custom at university college, . ---- eyre (capt.), his drawings, . ---- pictures at hampton court, . ---- shakspeare's othello, . ---- walpole and macaulay, . amateur on a caution to photographers, . ---- coloured photographs, . ---- proportions of chlorides and silver, . anat. on brown the separatist, . ---- lady harington, . andréef (dmitri) on souvaroff's despatch, . andrews (alex.) on remuneration of authors, . ---- irish law in the eighteenth century, . a. (n. j.) on fox (sir stephen), . ---- repairing old prints, . ---- warville, . . annandale on the last marquis of annandale, . ---- degrees in arts, . ---- mary queen of scots at auchincas, . anon. on Ætna, . ---- andré (major), . ---- anonymous poet, . ---- assuming names, . ---- bohn's ordericus vitalis, . ---- custom at preston in lancashire, . ---- dinteville family, . ---- druidism, its history, . ---- holy thursday rain-water, . ---- on king john, . ---- laurie on finance, . ---- longevity, . ---- newton and milton, . ---- "service is no inheritance," . ---- screw-propeller, . ---- society for burning the dead, . ---- soldier's discipline, . ---- virgilian inscription, . ---- walpole and macaulay, . ---- wentworth (sir philip), . antiquary on warwickshire badge, . aquarius on fountains, . a. (r.) on impe, a progeny, . ---- madame de staël, . ---- wooden effigies, . ardelio on postal system of the romans, . ---- prints of london before the fire, . ---- whitelocke (gen.), . arterus on corporation enactments, . arthur on the highland regiments, . a. (s.) on college battel, . ---- courtney family, . ---- inn signs, . ashton (b.) on the introduction of chess into britain, . aske (philip) on latin dante, . atkinson (n. c.) on arch-priest in the anglican church, . a. (w.) on hale's descendants, . ---- st. paul's school library, . ayre (john) on paleario's suppressed work, . azure on royal arms in churches, . b. b. on mathew, a cornish family, . . ---- palæologus, . ---- sheridan's duenna, song translated, . ---- smith of nevis and st. kitt's, . b. (a.) on elizabeth seymour, . ---- o'brien of thosmond, . . ---- talbot's patents, . ---- three fleurs-de-lis, . ---- wandering bee, . b. (a. e.) on attainment of majority, . b. (a. f.) on de la fond engraving, . ---- pepys's original letters, . baker (thomas) on rebellion of , . ---- taylor (dr. john), . balch (thos.) on fairfax (lord), . ---- harrison the regicide, . ---- hayware (richard), . ---- ludwell: lunsford: kemp, . ---- names of slaves, . ---- shippen family--john white, . ---- skipwith (sir henry), . ---- vandyke in america, . ---- wolfe (major-general), . balivus on ancient church usages, . ---- view of dumfries, . balliolensis on distances at which sounds have been heard, . ---- epitaph on sir henry st. george, . ---- hatherleigh moor, devon, . ---- logan, or rocking-stones, . ---- niagara, . ---- plymouth calendar, . barnard (r. cary) on forlorn hope, . ---- isolated, . barry (c. clifton) on fading ink, . ---- lamenther, . ---- medicine practice in the east, . ---- wagers, celebrated, . bass (e. g.) on inedited letter of lord nelson, . bates (wm.) on "cui bono," . ---- emblematic meanings of precious stones, . ---- execution survived, . ---- le compère mathieu, . ---- "pinch of snuff," . ---- precious stones, . b. (b.) on general whitelocke, . b. (c.) on quotation in byron, . b. (c. w.) on cornelius à lapide's _moral_ exposition, . ---- grammar for public schools, . ---- hobbes' behemoth, . ---- rogers's poem, "a wish," . ---- talfourd (judge), his letter, . b. (e.) on gutta percha made soluble, . beal (wm.) on etymology of pettifogger, . bealby (h. m.) on mr. justice talfourd, . ---- whitefield and kennington common, . bede (cuthbert) on anachronisms, . ---- ague charm, . ---- bothy, . ---- hour-glass stand, . ---- inscriptions on bells, . ---- inscriptions on old pulpits, . ---- literary curiosities, . ---- parallel passages, . ---- sexton office in one family, . bee (tee) on errata in nichols's collectanea, . ---- heraldic anomaly, . ---- rowe the regicide, . ---- whittington's stone on highgate-hill, . bell (j.) on shakspeare's inheritance, . betula on latin treatise on whipping, . b. (f. c.) on roland the brave, . b. (f. r.) on origin of clubs, . b. (g. m.) on dr. johnson, . b. (h.) on echo poetry, . ---- ridings and chaffings, . b. (h. f.) on mantel-piece, . ---- saltcellar, a corruption, . ---- warple-way, . bibliothecar. chetham. on bradford's writings, . ---- cassiterides, . ---- celtic and latin languages, . ---- consilium delectorum cardinalium, . . ---- "de male quæsitis," &c., . ---- vault interments, &c., . billington (g. h.) on tavern signs, . bingham (c. w.) on greek denounced by the monks, . ---- sneezing, . bingham (richard) on literary queries, . b. (j.) on ancient tenure of lands, . ---- chadderton of nuthurst, . ---- "cant," its origin, . ---- sandford of thorpe salvine, . b. (j. b.) on numismatic collections, . b. (j. c.) on gen. fraser, . b. (j. h.) on atonement, . ---- brass in all saints, newcastle-upon-tyne, . ---- coincidences, . ---- coronation custom, . ---- herbert's church porch, . ---- holy-loaf money, . ---- wooden tombs and effigies, . b. (j. m.) on arm of edward i., . ---- coleridge's christabel, . ---- fair rosamond, . ---- juniper letter, . b. (j. o.) on brougham and horne tooke, . ---- false spellings from sound, . ---- leslie and dr. middleton, . ---- petley (elias), . b. (j. r.) on lewis's memoirs of the duke of gloucester, . b. (m. a.) on atherstone family, . b. (n.) on table-turning, . bobart (h. t.) on crabbe manuscripts, . bockett (julia r.) on anecdote of george iv., . ---- "bachelors of every station," . ---- clock at alderley, . ---- female dress, . ---- hale (sir matthew), his descendants, . ---- "three cats sat," &c., . boole (g.) on conjunctions joining propositions, . borderer on sir walter scott's quotations, . bowmer (c.) on yew-tree at crowhurst, . b. (p.) on books on bells, . braybrooke (lord) on hoby family, . ---- old rowley, . breen (henry h.) on "corporations have no souls," &c., . ---- english school of painting, . ---- "les lettres juives," . ---- "malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre," . ---- napoleon's spelling, . ---- obs and sols, . ---- political predictions, . ---- prior's epitaph on himself, . ---- prophets: francis dobbs, . ---- reversible names, . ---- warville, . brent (fras.) on acrostic in ash church, . ---- tavern signs, . brent (j.) on churchill's grave, . b. (r. h.) on epitaphs, . bridger (charles) on edward spencer's marriage, . bristoliensis on "paid down upon the nail," . briton (a.) on burial of richard iii., . brockie (william) on jean bart's descent on newcastle, . broctuna on geneva arms, . ---- henry, earl of wotton, . brookthorpe on mediæval furniture, . ---- "good wine needs no bush," . ---- stone pulpits, . brown (charles) on myrtle-bee, . brown (j. w.) on monumental brasses in london, . ---- norman towers in london, . browning (oscar) on the emperor of russia and the garter, . bruce (john) on order for suppressing vagrancy, . b. (r. w.) on "all holiday at peckham," . bryce (j. p.) on bruce, robert i., . b. (s.) on manx cats, . buckton (t. j.) on the alphabetic psalm, . ---- artesian wells, . ---- begging the question, . ---- celtic language, . ---- cephas, a binder, and not a rock, . ---- eternal life, . ---- lichfield bower or wappenschau, . ---- money, its value in the seventeenth century, . ---- polygamy, . ---- psalms for the chief musician, . ---- russian "justice," . ---- russian te deum, . ---- songs of degrees, . ---- "[greek: sphidê]," its meaning, . ---- standing at the lord's prayer, . ---- star of bethlehem, . ---- talfourd (mr. justice), . ---- ventilation, . b. (w. s.) on b. l. m., . c. c. on fusion in france, . ---- george iv., anecdote of, . ---- king james's irish army list, . ---- lord mayor not a privy councillor, . ---- nelson's inedited letter, . ---- roman roads in england, . ---- screw propeller, . ---- swift (dean), his suspension, . ---- warville (brissot de), . c. de d. on blackguard, . ---- double christian names, . ---- goloshes, . c. (a.) on hand in brighton church, . c. (a. b.) on genesis iv. ., . camelodunensis on three fleurs-de-lys, . cantab on buonaparte's abdication, . ---- "violet-crowned" athens, . cantianus on lovelace's lucasta, . ---- old mereworth castle, . carnatic on "cui bono," . carruthers (r.) on popiana, . causidicus on lawyers' bags, . c. (b. h.) on aristotle, . ---- charles i. at little woolford, . ---- cephas, a binder, and not a rock, . ---- cicero quoted, . ---- classic authors and the jews, . ---- epitaphs, . ---- goloshes, . ---- greek denounced by the monks, . ---- page, its derivation, . ---- passion of our lord dramatised, . ---- psalms in the syriac version, . ---- stationers' company and almanac, . ---- table-turning, . . ---- termination "-by," . . ---- whole duty of man, its author, . ---- "wise men labour," . c. (e.) on willow-bark in ague, . celcrena on "to try _and_ get," . ---- verelst the painter, . cervus on burial in erect posture, . ---- custom of the london corporation, . ---- standing at the lord's prayer, . cestriensis on lord bacon, . ---- geo. villiers, duke of buckingham, . ceyrep on door-head inscription, . ---- pretenders, their births and deaths, . ---- weather rhymes, . c. (f.) on cornwalls of london, . c. (g. a.) on factitious pedigrees, . ---- gravestone inscriptions, . chadwick (john nurse) on j. farrington, r. a., . charlecote on inheritance, . chateau (j. h.) on "cutting off with a shilling," . ---- "fig for you," . c. (h. b.) on aches, . ---- american poems imputed to english authors, . ---- barrel's regiment, . ---- cranmer's martyrdom, . . ---- demoniacal descent of the plantagenets, . ---- german coloured engravings, . ---- gossiping history, . ---- hardman's account of waterloo, . ---- impossibilities of history, . . ---- leslie and dr. middleton, . ---- mackey's theory of the earth, . ---- madame de staël, . c. (h. c.) on hoby family, . ---- hodgson's translation of the atys of catullus, . ---- keate family, . ---- three fleurs-de-lys, . cheverells on "abscond," . ---- right of refuge in church porch, . cid on armorial queries, . ---- canting arms, . ---- fawell arms and crest, . ---- griesbach arms, . ---- smiths and robinsons, . ---- three crowns and sugar-loaf, . c. (j.) on bishop atterbury, . ---- lavidian, a fish, . ---- saw-dust recipe, . c. (j. t.) on merryweather's tempest prognosticator, . clarus on ambiguity in writing, . clazey (james o.) on tent for collodion purposes, . clericus on captain latinized, . clericus (d.) on burton family, . clericus rusticus on nuggets, . c. (l. s.) on illustrated bible, . c. (m. j.) on general whitelocke, . c. (n.) on recovery of silver, . cokely on splitting photographic paper, . cole (henrietta m.) on may-day custom, . coleman (f.) on "ded. pavli," . collis (thomas) on t. collis and j. clendon, . collyns (w.) on lines on edward law, . comes stabuli on constable of masham, . conder (alfred) on quakers executed at boston, . constant reader on london fortifications, . cook (j.) on collodion, . cooper (c. h.) on books burnt by the common hangman, . . ---- caps at cambridge, . ---- hobbes' behemoth, . cooper (thompson) on irish letters, . ---- three pigeons inn, . cooper (wm. durrant) on rev. john waugh, . corbie on corbet family, . corner (g. r.) on robert brown, . corney (bolton) on conduitt and newton, . ---- dryden on shakspeare, . ---- encyclopædia of ventilation, . ---- strawberry-hill gem, . cowley (h. c.) on spots on collodion pictures, . cpl. on bell at rouen, . ---- binding of old books, . ---- greek denounced by the monks, . ---- survival of execution, . ---- theodore de la guard, . ---- word-minting, . c. (r.) on marriage ceremony in fourteenth century, . c. (r. e.) on lowth of sawtrey: and robert eden, . c. (r. e. g.) on leicester as ranger of snowdon, . crookes (wm.) on restoring old collodion, . crosfield (thos.) on russian emperors, . crossley (francis) on button cap, . ---- cassiteros, its etymology, . ---- celtic etymology, . ---- silo, its etymology, . crossley (james) on epigram on handel and bononcini, . c. (r. w.) on bell inscription, . c. (s. g.) on coronation stone, . ---- herefordshire folk lore, . ---- inheritance, . ---- oaths, . ---- sexton office in one family, . c. (t.) on quotation from hudibras, &c., . c. (t. q.) on "myself," . ctus (i.) on ancient tenure of lands, . cunningham (peter) on the black-guard, . currey (g.) on admiral hopson, . c. (w.) on amontillado sherry, . ---- longevity in the society of friends, . cymro on consonants in welsh, . d. d. on dates of published works, . ---- "plain dealer," . ---- quakers' calendar, . dale (s. pelham) on ferricyanide of potassium, . d'alton (john) on james i.'s irish army list, . . darling (james) on encyclopædia bibliographica, . daveney (henry) on belgium ecclesiastical antiquities, . davies (f. r.) on clare legends, . . . ---- cure for hydrophobia, . dawson (j.) on s. a. mackey, . d. (b.) on sack, . d. (c. h.) on the "commons of ireland," . d. (d.) on dr. eleazar duncon, . d. (e.) on anna lightfoot, . ---- chamisso, . ---- cornwall family, . ---- heraldic query, . ---- john of gaunt, . ---- monaldeschi, . ---- quakers executed in north america, . ---- walton (josh.), . ---- walton (mr. canon), . ---- whipping a lady, . deck (norris) on parallel ideas from poets, . d. (e. h. d.) on hoby family, . de la pryme (c.) on copernicus' inscription, . ---- "perturbabantur," . ---- "poscimus in vitâ," &c., . de mareville (honoré) on blue bells of scotland, . ---- clarence dukedom, . ---- gentile names of the jews, . ---- gosling family, . ---- holy-loaf money, . ---- "la langue pandras," . ---- right of redeeming property, . ---- slow-worm superstition, . ---- te deum in the russian service, . ---- thumb-biting, . ---- tortoiseshell tom-cat, . denton (wm.) on double christian names, . ---- lord brougham and horne tooke, . ---- whitelocke (gen.), . devoniensis on three fleurs-de-lys, . d. (f.) on major andré, . d. (g.) on herbert's poem on hope, . ---- saw-dust recipe, . ---- whapple or wapple-way, . d. (h. w.) on the alibenistic order of freemasons, . ---- monster found at maidstone, . ---- paper water-mark dates, . diamond (dr. h. w.) on calotype process, . ---- double iodide solution, . ---- mounting positives, . ---- sensitive collodion, . dixon (r. w.) on dixon of beeston, . d. (j.) on barmecides feast, . ---- wallace, the dramatist, . d. (j. w. s.) on freemasonry, . d. (l. c.) on arms of geneva, . d. (m.) on burton's anatomy, . ---- lyra apostolica, . ---- unfinished works, . d'o. (c. b.) on longfellow's reaper, . ---- paley's plagiarisms, . ---- wurm, in german, . dobson (wm.) on churches in domesday book, . d. (q.) on voisonier, . d. (r. w.) on dixon's yorkshire dales, . ---- d. o. m., . d. (s.) on pedigrees to the time of alfred, . ---- on pictures from lord vane's collection, . duane (william) on sheridan's patrimony, . dunkin (a. j.) on ancient tenure of lands, . durandus on portrait painters, . duthus on glass rod, . d. (w. b.) on detached church towers, . dymond (geo.) on longfellow, . ---- turkey and france, . e. e. (a.) on pope, . eastwood (j.) on "go to bath," . ---- "perturbabantur," . ed. on turner's paper, . edwards (h.) on short sermon, . e. (f. e.) on blackguard boy, . ---- quotations, . e. (f. s. b.) on sepulchral monuments, . e. (h.) on anglo-saxon graves, . ---- city commission, . eirionnach on legends respecting bees, . ---- carronade, . ---- catholic floral directories, . ---- children crying at their birth, . ---- christ-cross row, . ---- "homo unius libri," . ---- inscriptions on bells, . ---- life, . ---- life and death, . ---- man in the moon, . ---- productions of different carcases, . ---- roche (john) of cork, . elcock (b. s.) on pedigree to time of alfred, . ellacombe (h. t.) on arch-priest in the diocese of exeter, . ---- bell at rouen, . ---- bell literature, . ---- inscriptions on bells, . ---- ecclesiastical usages, . ---- rous the scottish psalmist, . ellfyn ap gwyddno on eden pedigrees, . ---- leicester as ranger of snowdon, . ---- st. nicholas cole abbey, . elliot (r. w.) on dog-whipping day in hull, . ellis (sir henry) on letters of eminent literary men, . . ellum on clarke's charts of the black sea, . erica on "corporations have no souls," . eryx on german tree, . escutcheon on heralds' college, . evans (lewis) on city commission, . e. (w. p.) on halcyon days, . ---- st. blaise at norwich, . ---- teddy the tiler, . experto crede on gutta percha, . f. f. on ansareys in mount lebanon, . fairfax kinsman on lord fairfax, . falstaff on sack, . farrer (j. w.) on bellman at newgate, . ---- burial in erect posture, . ---- duke of wellington, . ---- epigram on four lawyers, . ---- "spires, whose silent finger," &c., . f. (c.) on capt. farre, . f. (c. e.) on albumenized process, . . ---- calotype process, . ---- hyposulphite of soda baths, . ---- printing positives, . f. (e.) on letters of irish, anglo-saxon, &c., . ferguson (j. f.) on chattel property in ireland, . ---- duval family, . ---- irish records, . ---- nugent's (earl) poems, . ---- oaths, . . ---- rigby correspondence, . ---- "to jump for joy," . ferrey (benj.) on perspective, . f. (h. b.) on roland the brave, . fisher (p. h.) on grammars for public schools, . fitch (j. g.) on sneezing, . fitzroy (lord john) on copernicus, . f. (j. f.) on french refugees, . f. (m. r.) on george iii., . fogie (old) on muffins and crumpets, . forbes (c.) on byron and rochefoucauld, . ---- classic authors and the jews, . ---- "quid facies, facies veneris," . ---- watson's map of europe, . forbes (edward) on manx cats, . foss (edward) on edward bloet, . ---- clubs, their origin, . ---- legal customs, . fox (george) on abp. thurstan's burial-place, . fraser (archibald) on mousehunt, . fraser (malcolm) on the bristol backs, . fraser (w.) on "aches" a dissyllable, . ---- arch-priest at exeter, . . ---- bishop atterbury's portrait, . ---- books burnt by the hangman, . ---- convocation and the propagation society, . ---- dominus, at cambridge and oxford, . ---- herbert (sir anthony), . ---- orange blossoms, . ---- perpetual curates in convocation, . ---- proverbs unregistered, . ---- suffragan bishops in convocation, . ---- symbolism in raphael's pictures, . frere (geo. e.) on garrick's funeral epigram, . ---- rubric in the holy communion, . frideswide on purlet de mir. nat., . furvus on bunyan's descendants, . f. (w. d.) on acrostic on john glanvill, . f. (w. m.) on the pax pennies, . g. g. on canting arms, . ---- clarence dukedom, . ---- francis browne, . ---- leeming hall, . ---- prospectuses, . ---- quotations from horace, . ---- scotch grievance, . ---- "semper eadem," motto, . [gamma]. on criminals restored to life, . g. (a.) on letter of the countess of blessington, . gantillon (p. j. f.) on ballad on thos. syddale, . ---- calves' head club, . ---- cambridge mathematical questions, . ---- cromwellian gloves, . ---- greek epigram, . ---- quotations wanted, . ---- tavern signs, . gardner (j. d.) on the conventional term miser, . gatty (alfred) on "a feather in your cap," . ---- amontillado sherry, . ---- heiress of haddon hall, . ---- martyrs feeling pain, . ---- polygamy, . ---- shrove tuesday, . g. (c.) on coin of carausius, . g. (c. m.) on christmas ballad, . george of munster on the legend of the seven sisters, . g. (f.) on monumental brasses, . ---- sir g. felbrigge's brass, . g. (f. j.) on judges' black cap, . g. (h.) on arms of richard, king of the romans, . ---- lord fairfax, . . ---- whittington's stone, . g. (h. t.) on forlorn hope, . ---- miser, . ---- nightingale and thorn, . ---- starvation, . ---- thornton abbey, . gill (thomas) on osmotherley, in yorkshire, . ---- widdrington family, . gillott (mordan) on longfellow's hyperion, . g. (j.) on heraldic bearings, . ---- plowden's portrait, . g. (j. m.) on griffin's fidessa, . g. (j. r.) on book inscriptions, . ---- broom at mast-head, . ---- inscription at llangollen, . ---- songs of degrees, . g. (j. w. g.) on prospect house, clerkenwell, . ---- tremesin's portrait, . g. (l.) on general whitelocke, . glan tywi (gwilym) on consonants in welsh, . gloucestrensis on the use of pure, . glywysydd on the red cow sign, . godwin (e. w.) on de gurney pedigree, . ---- st. philip's, bristol, . goedes de grüter (professor) on high and low dutch, . goldencross on clarence dukedom, . gole (russell) on attainment of majority, . ---- inheritance, . ---- lawless court, rochford, . gondola on canaletto's views round london, . gordon (g. j. r.) on bell inscriptions, . gough (h.) on books burnt by the hangman, . ---- hunting bishops, . g. (r.) on bingham's antiquities, . ---- consilium delectorum cardinalium, . grantham on calotype negatives, . graves (james) on john bale, bishop of ossory, . ---- de rous family, . ---- dutch east india company, . ---- griffith (wm.), bishop of ossory, . graves (j. t.) on books burnt by the hangman, . ---- table-turning in early times, . green (e. dyer) on bell inscriptions, . green (joseph henry) on coleridge's unpublished mss., . grimalkin on nursery rhyme, . g. (r. h.) on consolato del mare, . ---- "vanitatem observare," . . g. (s. c.) on the origin of etiquette, . g. (s. e.) on foreign orders, . gunner (w. h.) on gower's marriage licence, . ---- queries on south's sermons, . gwillim on the blechenden family, . h. h. on caricature; a canterbury tale, . ---- german engravings, . ---- "i could not love thee," &c., . ---- medal of chevalier st. george, . ---- motto on old damask, . ---- sheriff of somersetshire in , . h. of morwenstow on carol for the kings, . ---- legend of the hive, . ---- lines on life and death, . ---- sunday, its commencement and ending, . halle (dr. h. f.) on botanic names, . halliwell (j. o.) on critical readings in shakspeare, . ---- shakspeare a landed proprietor, . hammack (j. t.) on longfellow, . h. (a. o.) on mistranslation in hoveden, . hardwick (c.) on consilium delectorum cardinalium, . harris (john wm.) on the asteroids, &c., . harry (james spence) on battle of villers-en-couché, . ---- general whitelocke, . hart (percy m.) on female parish clerks, . hartley (leonard l.) on poets-laureate, . hartley (l.) on lord mayor a privy councillor, . harvardiensis on anonymous works, . hassan on the turkish language, . hawker (r. s.) on "firm was their faith," . hawkins (edward) on scotch grievance, . hawkins (john) an ominous storms, . hayes (geo.) on pliny's dentistry, . hayman (samuel) on corporation enactment, . ---- passage in sophocles, . ---- roland the brave, . ---- wurm, in modern german, . hazel (w.) on ancient church usages, . ---- mousehunt, . ---- myrtle-bee, . ---- "putting a spoke in his wheel," . h. (c.) on board of trade, . ---- brown (sir adam and sir ambrose), . ---- cabbages, . . ---- dublin maps, . ---- sale of offices in seventeenth century, . ---- sheffield, earl of mulgrave's letter, . ---- value of money in the seventeenth century, . ---- voisonier, . h . (c.) on demoniacal descent of the plantagenets, . ---- wapple, or whapple-way, . h . (c.) on longfellow, . h. (d.) on fresick and freswick, . h. (e.) on barrel's regiment, . ---- dr. bragge, . ---- "had i met thee in thy beauty," . ---- knight's quarterly magazine, . h. (e. c.) on celtic etymology, . . hele (henry) on albumenized paper, . ---- dr. mansell's process, . ---- mounting of photographs, . hesleden (william s.) on the fifth lord byron, . hewett (j. w.) on columbarium in a church tower, . ---- ancient usages of the church, . . h. (f.) on burke's domestic correspondence, . h. (f. c.) on butler's lives of the saints, . ---- catholic bible society, . ---- "could we with ink," &c., . ---- dogs in monumental brasses, . ---- hour-glasses and pulpit inscription, . ---- inn signs, . ---- kirkpatrick's norwich mss., . ---- marmortinto, or sand-painting, . ---- mawkin, . ---- "ned o' the todding," . ---- progress of the war, . ---- roman catholic patriarchs, . ---- shelley's prometheus unbound, . ---- three crowns and a sugar-loaf, . h. (h.) on talbot's patents, . hibberd (shirley) on gutta percha, . ---- tailless cats in the isle of man, . ---- willow-bark in ague, . higgins (wm.) on female parish clerk, . h. (j.) on cranmer's martyrdom, . h. (j. a.) on "what is truth?" . ---- word-minting, . hoare (g. t.) on perspective, . . hockin (j. b.) on cyanide of potassium, . hodges (geo.) on branks, or gossips' bridles, . hooper (richard) on plea for the city churches, . ---- reprints of early bibles, . ---- [greek: sikera], . hospes on gresebrok, in yorkshire, . howlett (w. e.) on right of refuge in church porch, . h. (p. a.) on "perturbabantur," . h. (r.) on papyrus, specimen wanted, . ---- vallancey's green book, . h. (t. b. b.) on tavern signs, . hufreer on hunter of polmood, . hughes (t.) on edward brerewood, . ---- brothers of the same christian name, . ---- cobb family, . ---- double christian names, . ---- inman family, . ---- milton's widow, . ---- parochial libraries, . ---- wood of chester, . hunt (robert) on photographic studies, . husenbeth (dr. f. c.) on lyra's commentary, . ---- "vanitatem observare," . hutchinson (p. o.) on bell inscriptions, . h. (w.) on anecdotes of george iv., . h. (w. d.) on hour-glass in pulpits, . ---- master of the nails, . h. (w. w.) on henry iv. of france, . hypatia on translation from goldsmith, . i. i. (b. r.) on culet, . i. (e. w.) on longfellow, . ignoramus on an imperfect bible, . indian subscriber on coronation stone, . ingleby (c. mansfield) on begging the question, . ---- cambridge apparition society, . ---- cambridge mathematical questions, . ---- coleridge's christabel, . ---- coleridge's unpublished mss., . . ---- designation of works under review, . ---- eliminate, its correct meaning, . ---- grammar in relation to logic, . ---- "initiative" and "psychology," . ---- job xix. ., . ---- newspaper folk lore, . ---- perspective, . ---- proverbs, unregistered, . inquest on humphry repton, . inquirer on benjamin rush, . investigator on ruin near st. asaph, . ---- chintz gowns, . ---- irish law in the eighteenth century, . ---- varnish for old books, . iota on cambridge mathematical questions, . ith. on b. simmons, . j. j. on florins and the royal arms, . ---- garlands, broadsheets, &c., . ---- kynoch as a surname, . jacob (eustace w.) on battle of the gnats, . ---- folk lore, . ---- hampshire folk lore, . ---- nelson's inedited letter, . james on a female aide-major, . james (john) on apparition of the white lady, . ---- domestic chapels, . ---- female parish clerk, . jarltzberg on party similes of the seventeenth century, . jaydee on blackguard, . jaytee on ralph ashton, . . j. (c.) on granby sign, . ---- john locke, . jessop (augustus) on honoria, daughter of lord denny, . j. (e. w.) on hay-bread recipe, . ---- hydropathy, . ---- salutations, . ---- tolling bell on leaving church, . j. (g.) on tailless cats, . j. (h.) on survival of execution, . ---- willow-bark in ague, . j. (j. c.) on the passion of our lord dramatised, . j. (j. w.) on parallel passages, . j. (l.) on waestart, . john o' the ford on an anagram, . ---- death-warnings in ancient families, . ---- heraldic anomaly, . ---- morant family, . ---- publican's invitation, . ---- termination "-by," . ---- three fleurs-de-lys, . johnson (goddard) on cris-cross row, . ---- inscriptions on bells, . ---- right of refuge in church porch, . j. (p.) on "luke's iron crown," . j. (t.) on caldecott's new testament, . juverna on brothers of the same christian name, . ---- elstob family, . ---- recent curiosities of literature, . . j. (w.) on the salubrity of hallsal, . k. k. on charta hen. ii., . ---- licences to crenellate, . ---- whitewashing in churches, . k. (c. f.) on hospital of john of jerusalem, . kelly (wm.) on criminals restored to life, . ---- inn signs, . ---- whitewashing in churches, . k. (g. h.) on derivation of silo, . k. (j.) on berkhampstead records, . ---- fleet prison officers, . ---- francklyn household book, . ---- guye, or gye, of the temple, . ---- tilly of the westminster courts, . ---- willesdon in middlesex, . k. (j. m.) on manuscript catena, . k. (l. p.) on authors' trustee society, . knight (j.) on cobb family, . l. l. on aristotle on living law, . ---- cowper, quotations in, . ---- garble, . ---- inscription on lindsey court-house, . . ---- mawkin, . ---- page, its etymology, . ---- paper water-marks, . ---- [greek: pistis], its derivation, . ---- polygamy, . ---- postage system of the romans, . ---- vandyking, . ---- "vanitatem observare," . [lambda]. on scarlet regimentals, . l. ( .) on darwin on steam, . l. (a.) on wurm, in modern german, . laicus on sangarede, . lammin (w. h.) on grammont's memoirs, . . . lamont (c. d.) on carronade, its derivation, . ---- greenock fair, . ---- mantel-piece, . ---- scottish female dress, . lancastriensis on alva's portrait, . ---- sir matthew hale's descendants, . lane (harley) on waxed-paper pictures, . lathbury (thomas) on primers temp. queen elizabeth, . lawrie (james) on benjamin rush, . l. (c.) on mr. plumley, . l. (c. p.) on lemying of burneston, . l. (d.) on society for burning the dead, . leachman (j.) on deepening collodion negatives, . ---- double iodide solution, . ---- nitrate of silver, . leachman (francis j.) on classic authors and the jews, . l. (e. h. m.) on the cassock, . leyton on mother of thirty children, . l. (g. r.) on celtic in devon, . ---- dorset, a beverage, . l. (h.) on hoglandia, . ---- retainers of seven shares and a half, . l. (j.) on life and death, . l. (j. h.) on bp. andrews' sermons, . ---- politian's epitaph, . l. (l. b.) on wafers, . ---- "wise men labour," &c., . llewelyn (j. d.) on photographic experience, . l. (l. l.) on inscriptions on buildings, . l. (ma.) on lines on woman, . loccan on heraldic query, . locke (j.) on russia and turkey, . ---- wallace (sir j.) and mr. browne, . lodbrok on earl of glencairn, . londoner on newspaper folk lore, . l. (r.) on standing at the lord's prayer, . l. (t. p.) on lysons' mss., . ---- maisterson's lords' descents, . luccus on rutabaga, . lux in camera on photographic cautions, . lyte (f. maxwell) on collodion, . ---- new instantaneous process, . m. m. on starvation, . [mu]. on arms and motto of col. william carlos, . m. ( ) on charade on whitelocke, . ---- christopher wren and the young carver, . ---- newspaper folk lore, . ---- non-recurring diseases, . m. a. (_baliol_) on somersetshire folk lore, . m. (a. c.) on aska or asca, . ---- enareans, . ---- "feather in your cap," . macculloch (edgar) on de beauvoir pedigree, . ---- french season rhymes, . ---- hand-bells at funerals, . ---- mantel-piece, . ---- meals, meols, . ---- separation of sexes in churches, . ---- weather rules, . mackenzie (kenneth r. h.) on ancient american languages, . macray (john) on brydone the tourist, . . ---- cunningham (mr. p.), . ---- electric telegraph, . ---- fata morgana, . ---- la rochefoucauld, . ---- occasional forms of prayer, . ---- olympic plain, . ---- russell, or du rozel, the house of, . ---- russia, turkey, and the black sea, . ---- turkey and russia, . ---- table-turning, . ---- wotton (sir henry), his "character of a happy life," . madden (sir frederick) on the "ancren riwle," . maitland (dr. s. r.) on bunyan's mss., . ---- rapping no novelty, . mcallister (w. g.) on pedigree of capt. cook, . mansel (h. l.) on conjunctions joining propositions, . ---- gravelly wax negatives, . mansell (m. l.) on the calotype on the sea-shore, . mansell (t. l.) on double iodide solution, . ---- photographic experience, . margoliouth (moses) on cephas, a binder, and not a rock, . ---- job xix. ., . ---- psalm cxxvii. ., its translation, . mariconda on a hint to publishers, . ---- reprints suggested, . markland (j. h.) on addison's hymns, . ---- sir thomas browne and bishop ken, . marsh (j. f.) on grammars for public schools, . ---- milton's widow, . martin (h.) on the aboriginal britons, . ---- bohn's reprint of woodfall's junius, . martin (john) on dramatic and poetical works, . ---- historical reminiscences of o'byrnes, &c., . ---- outlines of the history of theology, . matthews (wm.) on john bale, bishop of ossory, . ---- fire-irons, antiquity of, . ---- longfellow's originality, . ---- terminations "-by," and "-ness," . mayor (j. e. b.) on ascham's letters, . ---- epigram ascribed to herbert, . ---- st. augustine on clairvoyance, . m. (b.) on three pigeons inn, . m. (c. r.) on cissle, its meaning, . ---- stone pulpits, . ---- whitewashing in churches, . mcc. on "that," a grammatical puzzle, . mcnab (kennedy) on branks, . ---- mawkin, . ---- mirabeau, talleyrand, and fouché, . ---- odd fellows, . m. (e.) on "corruptio optimi," &c., . ---- fairfax (lord), . ---- proxies for absent sponsors, . m. (e. j.) on "man proposes," &c., . melville (n. l.) on starvation, . metcalfe (t.) on vellum-bound junius, . mewburn (f.) on the king's prerogative, . ---- provincial glossaries in ms., . m. (f. r.) on quotation from wordsworth, . m. (g. r.) on hour-glass stand, . m. (h.) on richard fitz-alan, . m. (h. h.) on general stokes, . ---- philip morant, . ---- sir john morant, . middleton (f. m.) on the bothy system, . ---- fox-hunting, . ---- mousehunt, . ---- roland the brave, . ---- selah, . mills (james) on per centum sign, . m. (j.) on books not completed, . ---- church service, preliminary texts, . ---- death-warnings in ancient families, . ---- english literature, . ---- english liturgy, . ---- huc's travels, . ---- notes and queries on the ormulum, . ---- new zealander and westminster bridge, . ---- precious stones, . ---- scott (sir w.) and sir w. napier, . ---- table-turning, . ---- talfourd (justice) and dr. beattie, . ---- uhland, the german poet, . m. (j. f.) on an edition of othello, . m. (j. h.) on tolling bell on leaving church, . mck. (j.) on eclipse in the year , . ---- member of parliament electing himself, . ---- vellum-cleaning, . ---- wooden tombs, . m. (l.) on m. oufle's history, . m. (l. b.) on funeral customs, . m-n (j.) on consonants in welsh, . monson (lord) on brydone, . ---- factitious pedigrees, . morgan (octavius) on an ancient clock, . morgan (professor a. de) on "book of almanacs," . ---- geometrical curiosity, . morris (f. o.) on braddock and orme, . mountjoy on egger moths, . m. (p. m.) on quacks, . m. (s.) on addison and watts, . m. (s. r.) on cranmer's bible, . m. (s. s.) on "forgive, blest shade," . mummery (john) on haas, the sand-painter, . m. (w. h.) on lord fairfax, . m. (w. m.) on hervie (christopher), . ---- "one while i think," &c., . m. (w. p.) on col. st. leger, . m. (w. t.) on bell inscription, . ---- cassie, . ---- hogmanay, . ---- judges practising at the bar, . ---- preliminary texts in church service, . ---- satin, its derivation, . ---- tippet, its derivation, . m. (y. s.) on army lists of seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, . ---- bishop bathurst, . ---- bosvill (ralph) of bradbourn, . ---- boyle family, . ---- buckle, . ---- crewkerne (henry) of exeter, . ---- geering (richard), . ---- fitzgerald (edward), . ---- golden tooth, . ---- grafts on the parent tree, . ---- harrington (lord), . ---- heraldic puzzle, . ---- heralds' college, . ---- irish rhymes, . ---- john of gaunt's descendants, . ---- long parliament, . ---- "obtains," its conventional use, . ---- "put," its pronunciation, . ---- temple (dame hester), . ---- theobald le botiller, . ---- usher (sir william), . ---- wellesley or wesley, . n. n. on the belle sauvage, . ---- origin of the name of norton, . narro on tenth regiment of light dragoons, . n. (d.) on french london gazette, . neglectus on inscription on lindsey court-house, . newburiensis on quotation, . ---- shrove tuesday custom, . ---- tolling bell on leaving church, . . n. (g.) on blackguard boy, . ---- nelson and trafalgar, . ---- starvation, . n. (g. e. t. s. r.) on bell inscriptions, . ---- stone pulpits, . nimmo (thomas) on disease among cattle, . n. (l. m.) on an edition of othello, . notary on dog-whippers, . ---- north-west passage, , nourse (wm. e. e.) on communications with iceland, . novice on governor-general of india, . novus on archaic words, . ---- consilium delectorum cardinalium, . n. (s.) on "cow doctor," its author, . ---- "innocents," a drama, . ---- scroope family, . ---- soomarokoff's "demetrius," its translator, . n. (t. l.) on "oriel," . n. (t. s.) on devereux bowly, . ---- longfellow, . [n]. ([w].) on ordinary, . n. (w. m.) on d. o. m., . o. o. on photographic query, . oakden on john ogden, . o'coffey (thos.) on consonants in welsh, . odd fish on blind mackerel, . offor (george) on john bunyan, . . ---- canne's bible, . ---- field's bible, . o. (geo.) on licences to crenellate, . o. (j.) on books burnt by the hangman, . ---- curious old pamphlet, . ---- dryden and milbourne, . ---- lord rosehill, . ---- obsolete statutes, . ---- remarkable imprints, . ---- "rodondo, or the state jugglers," . o. (j. b.) on oxford jeu d'esprit, . o. (j. p.) on secunde personne of the trinitie, . oldbuck on marriage agreement, . ---- queen anne's medal, . o. (n.) on domestic letters of edmund burke, . o. (r.) on irish law in the eighteenth century, . orde (j. p.) on "horam coram dago," . osmanli on turkish language, . oxoniensis on longfellow families, . ---- teeth superstition, . p. p. on monteith, . ---- "perturbabantur constantinopolitani," . paget (arthur) on cobb family, . ---- picture queries, . paling (e. p.) on significant hint, . ---- tailless cats, . ---- tavern signs, . parker (j. h.) on domestic architecture, . patonce on amontillado wine, . ---- atchievement in yorkshire, . ---- bell inscriptions, . ---- fifteenths or fystens, . ---- killigrew family, . ---- red cow--cromwell's carriages, . ---- seymour (elizabeth), . ---- young pretender, . pattison (s. r.) on arthuriana, . ---- stone chisels, . p. (c. f.) on tolling bell on leaving church, . p. (c. h.) on [greek: aiôn], its derivation, . p. (c. k.) on epitaph in tillingham church, . p. (c-- s. t.) on cotterell (sir charles), . ---- epitaphium lucretiæ, . ---- hour-glass stand, . peacock (edward) on calves'-head club, . ---- dog-whipping custom, . ---- lyra's commentary, . ---- newspaper folk lore, . ---- palæologi, the last of, . pemberton (oliver) on criminals restored to life, . penn on french or flemish arms, . ---- "old dominion," . p. (e. o.) on charles ii.'s attendants in spain, . perthensis on richard of st. victor, . p. (h.) on aristotle, . ---- costume of the clergy not enarean, . ---- inheritance, . ---- moral philosophy, works on, . ---- nattochiis and calchanti, . ---- oaths, . ---- passion of our lord dramatised, . ---- tenure of lands, . ---- thomas à kempis, . . [phi]. on the derivation of [greek: pistis], . [phi]. ( ) on sovereigns dining in public, . [greek: philomathês] on spinning-machine of the ancients, . phipps (edmund) on canaletto's views, . . pinkerton (w.) on emblems of precious stones, . p. (j.) on "ingenious man," in niebuhr, . ---- paintings of our saviour, . ---- "poeta nascitur, non fit," . p. (j. h.) on the launch of the prince royal, . p. (j. r.) on the antiquity of "snub," . p. (j. t.) on funeral customs, . p. (m.) on the irish at the battle of crecy, . potter (t. r.) on bersethrigumnue, . ---- de beauvoir pedigree, . ---- lady jane grey, . ---- ridings and chaffings, . powell (john h.) on map of dublin, . p. (p.) on albumenized paper, . ---- ancient church usages, . ---- imp, its singular use, . ---- jacobite garters, . ---- monteith, . ---- papyrus, . ---- pickard family, . ---- reversible masculine names, . ---- tailless cats, . p. (p. p.) on robert hall, temp. james ii., . ---- plowden's portrait, . p. (r.) on dorset, a beverage, . prestoniensis on armorial supporters, . ---- "a regular turk," . ---- chapel sunday, . ---- holland, . ---- king john, . ---- knobsticks, . ---- meols, a parish, . ---- roman roads in england, . ---- slavery in england, . ---- wesley and wellington families, . probert (c. k.) on light in cameras, . [psi]. on [greek: pistis], unde deriv., . p. (s. l.) on ferdinand charles iii., . pumphrey (w.) on the céroléine process, . q. q. on the early use of "came," . ---- lord brougham and horne tooke, . ---- starvation, an americanism, . q. (s. p.) on shropshire ballad, . ---- shrove tuesday custom, . r. r. (a. b.) on bible of , . ---- caricature: a canterbury tale, . ---- epitaph in lavenham church, . ---- "es tu scolaris," . rawlinson (robert) on the social effects of severe weather, . r. (c.) on criminals restored to life, . r. (c. t.) on cawley the regicide, . reader on a photographic query, . ---- prize for best collodion, . reading on "hovd maet of laet," . reed (james) on jacobite club, . r. (e. g.) on a. m. and m. a., . ---- chair, or char, . ---- mousehunt, . ---- starvation, . regent m. a. on caps at cambridge, . relton (f. b.) on the eastern question, . respondens on privileges of canterbury see, . r. (f. r.) on dorset, a beverage, . ---- quotation, "firm was their faith," . r. (g.), _york_, on initials in glass quarries, . ---- three crowns and sugar-loaf, . r. (g. d.) on rev. joshua brooks, . r. (g. w.) on cranmer's martyrdom, . riley (henry t.) on athenian sport, . ---- barristers' gowns, . ---- flasks for wine bottles, . ---- froxhalmi, &c., . ---- ingulph's chronicle, correction, . ---- snush, when obsolete, . ---- "tarbox for that," its meaning, . ---- tobacco-pipes, . rimbault (dr. e. f.) on burton's anatomy of melancholy, . ---- canaletto's views in london, . ---- "could we with ink," &c., . ---- dobney's bowling-green, . ---- dudley, earl of leicester, . ---- handel, hymn attributed to him, . ---- hero of the "spanish lady's love," . ---- "hip, hip, hurrah!" . ---- middleton's "witch," its music, . ---- passion of our lord dramatised, . ---- prince charles's attendants in spain, . ---- pulpit hour glasses, . ---- shakspeare's portrait, . ---- shakspeare's rime at the mytre, . ---- tavern signs, . ---- walters (lucy), duke of monmouth's mother, . r. (i. r.) on children by one mother, . ---- cock-and-bull story, . ---- kemerton church, its dedication, . ---- largesse, a provincialism, . ---- lode, its meaning, . ---- maid of orleans, . ---- market crosses, . ---- miller (james), . ---- palace of lucifer, . ---- reverence to the altar, . ---- warner the poet, . ---- white (samuel), . rix (s. w.) on sir anthony wingfield, . r. (j. c.) on booty's case, . ---- "horam coram dago," . ---- prophesying before death, . ---- "sat cito, si sat bene," . ---- tavern signs, . r. (j. c. h.) on foreign universities, . r. (j. j.) on stone pulpits, . r. (j. m.) on rileys of forest hill, . r. (l.) on whitelocke's memorials, . r. (l. m. m.) on hiel the bethelite, . ---- knightlow cross, . ---- scottish airs, . r. (l. n) on branks, . r. (m. h.) on dogs in monumental brasses, . ---- door-head inscription, . ---- paintings of our saviour, . ---- whitelocke (gen.), . r. née f. (h.) on brydone the tourist, . ---- coronation stone, . robert (prior) of salop on restall, . robson (w.) on duchess of mazarin's monument, . ross (c.) on the definition of garble, . r. (r.) on "go to bath," . ---- roland the brave, . r. (r. i.) on derivation of celt, . r. (t.) on "cui bono," . ---- "deus ex machinâ," . ruby on weather rules, . ruding on heraldic query, . rumbold (w. e. w.) on red and scarlet liveries, . rusticus on ashes of lignites, . . r. (w. b.) on dog-whippers, . r. (w. d.) on lord rosehill, . ---- seamen's tickets, . s. s. on awkward, awart, . ---- catholic bible society, . ---- fleet prison, . ---- royal salutes, . [sigma]. on arthur de vere, . ---- "horam coram dago," . ---- largesse, . ---- prelate fond of quoting procopius, . s. (a.) on right of refuge in church porch, . ---- robert dudley, earl of leicester, . ---- ruffin, a fish, . sage (e. j.) on romford jury, . st. aubyn (j. p.) on enfield church, . st. clair (haughmond) on a bristol compliment, . ---- devonshire superstitions, . salmon (robert s.) on execution survived, . sands (h. c.) on photographic litigation, . sansom (j.) on antiquarian documents, . ---- arch-priest at haccombe, . ---- robert bloet, . ---- dr. eleazar duncon, . ---- daughters taking their mothers' names, . ---- marriage in the fourteenth century, . ---- passage in bishop watson, . ---- "perturbabantur," . ---- sonnet of blanco white, . saxa on "firm was their faith," . s. (c.) on the forlorn hope, . s. (c. f.) on ascension-day custom, . ---- farrant's anthem, . scott (francis john) on celtic and latin languages, . scott (jas. j.) on death-warnings, . ---- echo poetry, . scott (thos.) on photographic slides, . scott (w. h.) on coin of carausius, . ---- curious inscription, . scribe (john) on "gentleman's calling," . ---- russian emperors, . ---- tavern signs, . s. (d. w.) on namby-pamby, . ---- "quid facies," &c., . s. (e. g. f.) on edward gibbon, . seleucus on consonants in welsh, . ---- goloshes, and kutchin-kutchu, . ---- herbert's helga, . ---- longfellow's hyperion, . ---- mounting photographs, . serviens on gen. braddock, . ---- campbell (thomas), . ---- gage (gen. thomas), . s. (g. j.) on london fortifications, . ---- ogborne's history of essex, . s. (g. l.) on hardman's account of waterloo, . . ---- long names, . ---- marquis of granby, . shadbolt (geo.) on cameras, . ---- cyanide of potassium, . ---- improvement in collodion, . ---- mounting positives on cardboard, . ---- multiplying negatives, . ---- soluble cotton, . ---- towgood's paper, . s. (h. e.) on maydenburi, . s. (h. f.) on bale's work on libraries, . ---- marston and erasmus, . shirley (ev. ph.) on factitious pedigrees, . sigma on byron and rochefoucauld, . ---- canne's bible, . ---- life and death, . ---- plants and flowers, . sigma ( .), on grammar-school at st. mary de crypt, . ---- "original poems," by c. r., . ---- "shipwrecked lovers," . ---- "the village lawyer," . silex on the céroléine process, . simpson (w. sparrow) on burial in erect posture, . ---- chronograms from the banks of the rhine, . ---- churchill's grave, . ---- dogs in monumental brasses, . ---- god's acre, . ---- hour-glass stand, . ---- kennington common, . ---- licences to crenellate, . ---- occasional forms of prayer, . ---- stone pulpits, . singer (s. w.) on dr. whichcote and dorothy jordan, . ---- blanco white's sonnet, . singleton (s.) on herbert's church porch, . sisson (j. lawson) on mairdil or mardle, . ---- stereoscopic note, . s. (j.) on new zealander and westminster bridge, . s. (j. d.) on derivation of mammet, . ---- three fleurs-de-lys, . s. (j. j.) on a rubens query, . s. (j. l.) on bell inscription, . ---- dannocks, . ---- mawkin, a provincialism, . ---- photographic query, . s. (j. l.), sen., on star and garter, kirkstall, . ---- waestart, a provincialism, . s. (j. p.) on an expression in a homily, . ---- shrove tuesday custom, . skyring (g. william) on "one new year's day," . ---- ridings and chaffings, . s. (m--a.) on green eyes, . smith (alfred) on luther's bust, . smith (j. gordon) on stock-horn, . smith (j. h. k.), jun., on smiths and robinsons, . smith (w. j. bernhard) on clay tobacco-pipes, . ---- nonjurors' motto, . ---- wilbraham cheshire mss., . s. (m. j.) on spielberg, . s. (m. n.) on multiplying negatives, . smokejack on nursery rhyme, . smythe (wm.) on warple-way, . sneyd (walter) on wafers, . snob on precedence, . s. (n. w.) on hydropathy, . ---- "spoke in his wheel," . s. (o.) on the young pretender, . s. (p. c. s.) on commissions by charles i. at oxford, . ---- "service is no inheritance," . ---- tippet, its derivation, . ---- vandyking, . squeers on misapplication of terms, . . s. (r. j.) on the commencement and ending of sunday, . s. (s.) on aches, . [greek: s. s.] on combat of birds, . ---- execution survived, . ---- grose the antiquary, . ss. (j.) on mousehunt, . . ---- whitelocke (gen.), . s. (s. s.) on tolling bell on leaving church, . s. (s. z. z.) on "children in the wood," . ---- east dereham manor, . ---- epigram on dennis, . ---- hero of "the spanish lady's love," . steinmetz (andrew) on a collodion difficulty, . stephens (henry) on artesian wells, . ---- blue bells of scotland, . ---- clunk, its meaning, . ---- draining by machinery, . ---- mairdil, . ---- negro's complaint, . ---- picts' houses, . ---- standing at the lord's prayer, . stillwell (john p.) on cranmer's martyrdom, . ---- day at our antipodes, . ---- francklyn's household-book, . ---- longfellow, . ---- perspective, . storer (w. p.) on blackguard, . ---- books burnt by the hangman, . ---- cowperiana, . ---- hymn attributed to handel, . ---- longfellow, . ---- mount mill, . ---- oxford commemoration squib, . ---- st. john's gate, arms on, . ---- tolling bell on leaving church, . strange (philip) on anagram on emperor nicholas, . streether (s. f.) on sir edmund plowden, &c., . stylites on artesian wells, . ---- polygamy, . subscriber on bridget cromwell, . ---- inman, or ingman family, . ---- waugh of cumberland, . suecas on swedish words in england, . suum cuique on precedence, . s. (w.) on apocryphal works, . ---- tolling bell on leaving church, . s. (w. h.) on lounger's common-place book, . s. (w. r. d.) on "chip in porridge," . ---- lewis and sewell families, . ---- warville, . s. (y.) on dean nowell's first wife, . t. t. on temperature of cathedrals, . taylor (g.) on manx cats, . ---- pudding-bell, . ---- quotation, . ---- three pigeons inn, . ---- "to pass the pikes," . t. (c.) on bloaters and herrings, . ---- sepulchral monuments, . . . t. (d. f.) on arms of anthony kitchen, . ---- haviland, . t. (e. a.) on athens, "the violet-crowned," . temple (harry leroy) on parallel passages, . ---- popiana, . tennyson (g.) on mousehunt, . t. (e. s. t.) on garble, . t. (g.) on "days of my youth," . ---- gay's acis and galatea, . ---- poetical tavern signs, . t. (g. w.) on new zealander and westminster-bridge, . t. (h. g.) on quotations, . thinks i to myself on battles, . ---- electric telegraph, . ---- encyclopædia of indexes, . ---- life-belts, . ---- pronunciation of foreign names, . thomas (j. w.) on arabian tales and their sources, . ---- "could we with ink," &c., . ---- derivation of mammet: came, . ---- gerson (j.) and de imitatione, . ---- misapplication of terms, . thornbury (g. w.) on inn signs, . thornton (l. m.) on bayly's "isle of beauty," . ---- beau nash's palace, . thrupp (john) on nattochiis and calchanti, ---- new zealander and westminster-bridge, . timon on nicholas kieten, . t. (j. g.) on postmaster at merton college, . t. (j. w.) on "the spire whose silent finger," . t. (n. l.) on charade on whitelocke, . ---- gossip, . ---- "go to bath," . ---- largesse, . ---- mummy-chests, . ---- "old rowley," . ---- orchard, . ---- peckwater quadrangle, . ---- sack, . ---- sir walter scott and his quotations, . ---- "verbatim et literatim," . tomkins (h. g.) on longfellow, . tonna (l. h. j.) on "verbatim et literatim," . townsend (a.) on bradford's writings, . ---- bp. hooper's argument on the vestment controversy, . traveller on brydone the tourist, . ---- dilamgabendi, . trevelyan (w. c.) on bothy, . ---- field's bible, . t. (r. v.) on garble, . ---- ridings and chaffings, . t. (t. a.) on derivation of "bigot," . ---- children by one mother, . ---- forensic jocularities, . ---- "hic locus odit, amat," . ---- kirkpatrick's norwich mss., . ---- palindrome verses, . ---- stone pillar worship, . ---- stornello verses, . ---- "three cats sat," &c., . t. (t. e.) on richard plantagenet, earl of cambridge, . t. (t. h.) on celtic and latin languages, . t. (w.) on "ned o' the todding," . t. (w. j.) on simmels, . t. (w. t.) on ancient tenure of lands, . t. (w. w. e.) on blue bell and blue anchor, . ---- cash, its derivation, . tyro on lyra apostolica, . u. [upsilon]. on ought and aught, . u. (h.) on soluble cotton, . umbra on criminals restored to life, . uneda on ampers and, . ---- birm-bank, its derivation, . ---- "captivate," its old meaning, . ---- darwin on steam, . ---- devreux bowly, . ---- dog latin, . ---- ducking-stool, . ---- encore, . ---- epigrams, . ---- fairfax (lord), . ---- fraser (general), . ---- gale of rent, . ---- green eyes, . ---- inglis (bishop) of nova scotia, . ---- life and death, . ---- "marriage in high life," . ---- "milton blind," a poem, . ---- milton's correspondence, . ---- "mob," its derivation, . ---- "off with his head!" . ---- queen anne's motto, . ---- selleridge, . ---- tailless cats, . ---- "to try _and_ get," . ---- "trevelyan," . ---- wilkins (peter), his adventures, . ursus on huntbach mss., . u. (u.) on garlic sunday, . ---- turlehydes, . v. viator on warple-way, . vokaros on clarence dukedom, . v. (p.) on ferdinand charles iii., . w. w. on the order of st. david, . ---- objective and subjective, . ---- standing at the lord's prayer, . [w] on lawyers' bags, . w. (a. c.) on "hypocrisy is the homage," &c., . wake (h. t.) on epitaph at whittlebury, . walcott (mackenzie) on atonement, . ---- bishops' tombs, . ---- burial in erect posture, . ---- coincidences between sir t. browne and bp. ken, . ---- grammars for public schools, . ---- hale (sir matthew), his descendants, . ---- hooker quoted, . ---- inn signs, . ---- muffins and crumpets, . ---- muffs worn by gentlemen, . ---- newspaper folk-lore, . ---- new zealander and westminster-bridge, . ---- stone pulpits, . ---- three fleurs-de-lys, . . ---- tolling bell on leaving church, . ---- waugh of cumberland, . ---- word-minting, . walrond (j. w.) on double iodide of silver and potassium, . walter (henry) on the asteroids, . warden (j. s.) on abigail, . ---- arabian nights, . ---- awkward, its etymology, . ---- ballina castle, mayo, . ---- "begging the question," . ---- bingham (sir john), . ---- black prince, . ---- byron, the fifth lord, . ---- byron's childe harold, . ---- christabel, the third part, . ---- clarendon and the tub-woman, . ---- divining-rod, . ---- double christian names, . ---- eclipse of , . ---- grammont's memoirs, . ---- helen macgregor, . ---- henry of huntingdon's letter to walter, . ---- jews and egyptians, . ---- judicial rank hereditary, . ---- maps, their dates, . ---- matthew of westminster (bohn's edit.), . ---- moon superstitions, . ---- naval atrocities, . ---- orange blossoms, . ---- otterburn battle, . ---- personal descriptions, . ---- punctuation, errors in, . ---- richard i., . ---- richard plantagenet, earl of cambridge, . ---- roman catholic patriarchs, . ---- shelley's prometheus unbound, . waugh (geo.) on the waugh family, . way (albert) on leighton's burial-place, . w. (c. f.) on dog-whippers and frankincense, . w. (c. f. a.) on odd fellows, . webb (geo. bish) on pedigree to the time of alfred, . weir (arch.) on "corporations have no souls," . ---- zeuxis and parrhasius, . w. (e. s. s.) on ferdinand charles iii., . ---- medal of chevalier st. george, . west indian on col. m. smith's family, . west sussex on "myself," . w. (g.) on russian religion, . w. (h.) on conjunctions joining propositions, . ---- table-turning, . wharton (j. m.) on granby sign, . whitborne (j. b.) on william carlos's inscription, . ---- elizabeth elstob, . ---- sign of rain, . ---- vossioner, its meaning, . ---- wooden tombs and effigies, . whitworth (chas.) on box saw-dust for collodion, . wiccamicus on "perturbabantur," . wilkinson (c.) and sons on buonaparte's abdication, . wilkinson (t. t.) on cambridge mathematical questions, . williams (f. j.) on scotch grievance, . willo on saw-dust recipe, . winthrop (wm.), _malta_, on fairfax barony, . ---- german song on truth, . ---- haynau (gen.), his corpse, . ---- longevity, . ---- order of st. john of jerusalem, . . . . . . ---- parallel passages, . ---- rapping no novelty, . ---- royal letters to grand masters of malta, . . . . ---- saladin, the great sultan, . ---- year , . w. (j.) on derivation of skin-flint, . w. (j. k. r.) on epitaphs, . ---- "one new year's day," . w. (j. m.) on saw-dust recipe, . w. (j. o.) on sir hugh myddelton, . w. (j. r.) on lounger's common-place book, . wmson (s.) on lines attributed to hudibras, . ---- "marriage a rabble rout," . ---- noctes ambrosianæ, . w. (m. t.) on churchill's grave, . ---- cranmer's bibles, . ---- knight's quarterly, contributors to, . woodman (e. f.) on books burnt by the hangman, . ---- "hovd maet of laet," . ---- linnæan medal, . woodward (b. b.) on "consilium novem delectorum cardinalium," &c., . . ---- kirkpatrick's norwich mss., . wreford (j. r.) on ferdinand charles iii., . w. (t. i.) on holy-loaf money, . w. (t. t.) on queen elizabeth and the ring, . ---- sunday, its commencement and end, . w. (w. f.) on iodized paper, . w. (w. s.) on daughters taking their mothers' names, . x. x. on reversible names, . [greek: xanthos] on dr. whichcote and dorothy jordan, . ---- keats's poems, . x. (s.) on lord halifax and mrs. c. barton, . x. (w.) on widderington family, . y. y. (b. r. a.) on inscription on lindsey court-house, . ---- lyra apostolica, . ---- mount mill, . yeowell (james) on bell mottoes, . y. (h.) on b. c. y., . y. (j.) on bishop burnet's character, . ---- chauncy, or chancy, . ---- cross-legged figures, . ---- electric telegraph in , . ---- whitelocke (gen.), . y. (k.) on tailless cats, . y. (z.) on forms of public meetings, . z. z. on extracts from registers of lincoln see, . z. (a.) on leapor's tragedy, . ---- lydia, or conversion, . ---- watson (charles), . zachary (m.) on hervie's synagogue, . zeus on belle sauvage, . ---- criminals restored to life, . ---- german tree, . ---- goloshes, . ---- inn signs, . ---- mantel-piece, . ---- muffins and crumpets, . ---- sotades, . z. (x. y.) on dr. john pocklington, . ---- roland the brave, . end of the ninth volume. * * * * * printed by thomas clark shaw, of no. . stonefield street, in the parish of st. mary, islington, at no. . new street square, in the parish of st. bride, in the city of london; and published by george bell, of no. . fleet street, in the parish of st. dunstan in the west, in the city of london, publisher, at no. . fleet street aforesaid. ten thousand wonderful things comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations enriched with _hundreds of authentic illustrations_ edited by edmund fillingham king, m.a. london george routledge and sons, limited broadway, ludgate hill manchester and new york standard works of reference. _uniform with this volume._ lempriÈre's classical dictionary. walker's rhyming dictionary. mackay's thousand and one gems of english poetry. d'israeli's curiosities of literature. bartlett's familiar quotations. cruden's concordance to the bible. the family doctor. preface. a book of wonders requires but a brief introduction. our title-page tells its own tale and forms the best exposition of the contents of the volume. everything that is marvellous carries with it much that is instructive, and, in this sense, "ten thousand wonderful things," may be made useful for the highest educational purposes. events which happen in the regular course have no claim to a place in any work that professes to be a register of what is uncommon; and were we to select such wonders only as are capable of familiar demonstration, we should destroy their right to be deemed wondrous, and, at the same time, defeat the very object which we profess to have in view. a marvel once explained away ceases to be a marvel. for this reason, while rejecting everything that is obviously fictitious and untrue, we have not hesitated to insert many incidents which appear at first sight to be wholly incredible. in the present work, interesting scenes from nature, curiosities of art, costume and customs of a bygone period rather predominate; but we have devoted many of its pages to descriptions of remarkable occurrences, beautiful landscapes, stupendous water-falls, and sublime sea-pieces. it is true that some of our illustrations may not be beautiful according to the sense in which the word is generally used; but they are all the more curious and characteristic, as well as truthful, on that account; for whatever is lost of beauty, is gained by accuracy. what is odd or quaint, strange or startling, rarely possesses much claim to the picturesque and refined. scrape the rust off an antique coin, and, while you make it look more shining, you invariably render it worthless in the eyes of a collector. to polish up a fact which derives its value either from the strangeness of its nature, or from the quaintness of its narration, is like the obliterating process of scrubbing up a painting by one of the old masters. it looks all the cleaner for the operation, but, the chances are, it is spoilt as a work of art. we trust it is needless to say that we have closed our pages against everything that can be considered objectionable in its tendency; and, while every statement in this volume has been culled with conscientious care from authentic, although not generally accessible, sources, we have scrupulously rejected every line that could give offence, and endeavoured, in accordance with what we profess in our title-page, to amuse by the eccentric, to startle by the unexpected, and to astonish by the marvellous. index to engravings page abyssinian arms, ---- ladies, ---- ornaments of, ---- lady tattooed, altar-piece of san miniato, amulet worn by egyptian females, amulet brotche, ancient method of keeping a washing account, ---- nut-crackers, ---- snuff-boxes, anglo-saxons, sepulchral barrow of the, apteryx, the, or wingless bird, arch, a beautiful, in cannistown church, ---- of trajan at beneventum, architecture for earthquakes, armlet, an ancient, armour, ancient, curious piece of, ash, the shrew, aztec children, the, bagpipes, bandoliers, banners and standards, ancient, , bastille, storming of the, beau brummell (a), of the seventeenth century, bective abbey, bedesmen in the time of henry vii, bellows, a primitive pair of, bell shrine, an ancient, ---- of saint mura, bible used by charles i. on the scaffold, billy in the salt box, blackfriars, paris garden at, blind granny, ---- jack, boat, a burmese, book-shaped watch, bracelet, a magician's, brama, the hindoo deity, brank, the, brass medal of our saviour, britannia tubular bridge, brooch, ancient scandinavian, bricks of babylon, bridge over the thames, the first, ---- a chinese, ---- cromwell's, at glengariff, buckinger, matthew, buckler of the fifteenth century, with pistol inserted, bunyan's (john) tomb, burmese priest preaching, bust, an ancient etrurian, camden cup, the, candlestick, a remarkable, in fayence, ---- of mary, queen of scots, carfax conduit, carriage, a turkish, cascade des pelerines, catacombs at rome, cave, port coon, ---- the tiger, at cuttack, chair brought over to america by the pilgrim fathers, ---- dagobert's, ancient, ---- henry viii.'s, ---- the duchess of lauderdale's, chapter-house, a, in the time of henry vii., charlemagne, crown of, chieftain, ancient scottish, chinese method of fishing, ---- punishment of the kang, or wooden collar, christmas, proclaiming the non-observance of, cistern of majolica ware, coffee pot, in stoneware, a curious, coin, the first, with britannia on it, collars, ancient stone, column at cussi, comb, a curious indian, coral reefs, corpse bearer during the plague, costumes, ancient, , , , , , , , , ---- german, of the th century, costume, foreign, in , ---- of a german noble, couteau-de-chasse, cradle of moss, ---- henry v., crosby, sir john, helmet of, cross of cong, ---- muiredach, cucking stool, cupid of the hindoos, the, curfew bell, the, curious figures on a small shrine, dagger of raoul de courcy, ---- an ancient, dagobert, ancient chair of, dancing natives of new south wales, darney (jenny), a harmless eccentric of the year , dervishes dancing, dial and fountain in leadenhall street, dinner party in the th century, ---- table, an egyptian, diogenes in a pithos--not tub, dog-wheel, the old, drinking cup, a curiously shaped, ---- early german, ---- vessel, a decorative, ---- glass, ancient, dropping well of knaresborough, druid's seat, the, duck-billed platypus, or ornithorynchus paradoxus, dyak with heads, skull house, and house of sea dyaks, , ---- war boat in borneo, dyaks of borneo, war dance of the, east india house, the first, eddystone lighthouse, egyptian toys in the british museum, embroidered glove, presented by mary, queen of scotland, to an attendant on the morning of her execution, extraordinary cataract, ---- situation for a tree, ---- tree, fashionable disfigurement of the time of charles i., fawkes hall, old manor house of, fete of the federation of the national guards of france, , figg (james), the champion prize-fighter of , fish, shooting, fisherman, bulgarian, floating city of bankok, font at kilcarn, the, french assignats, fac-simile of the forms in which they were issued to the public, fullerton's (colonel) device for passing a mountain torrent, funereal jar, garden, egyptian, garrick's cup, gate, the, on old london bridge, gauntlet of henry, prince of wales, giant tree, glaive, a, grace knives, graves of the stone period, great wall of china, grey man's path, the, gun, a celebrated, guy, thomas, portrait of, hackney coachman of the time of charles ii., hackney coach, the earliest, head-breaker, a, ---- ornament, antique, heart of lord edward bruce and case, , helmet, an early english, helmet of sir john crosby, henry v., cradle of, ---- vii., bedesmen in the time of, ---- viii., chair of, ---- i. (king) dream of, ---- viii.'s walking stick, hindoo adoration of the sÁlagrÁm, holy-water sprinkler, hoops, ladies', in , hudson, jeffery, the dwarf of the court of charles i., implements used in buddhist temples, incense chariot, an ancient, instruments of torture:--the executioner's axe; the block on which lords balmerino and lovat were beheaded; the scavenger's daughter; spanish bilboes; massive iron collar for the neck; thumb screw. brand for marking felons: impression of brand; punishment for drunkards, formerly in use at newcastle-on-tyne; the whirligig, a military method of punishment; pillory, stocks, and whipping-post formerly on london bridge, , irrigation, turkish machine for, james i., curious jewel which belonged to, ---- ii., and the church of donore, jewel presented by mary, queen of scots, to earl huntley, johnson's (dr. samuel), residence in inner temple lane, ---- old staircase in, joy (william), the english sampson, king's stone, the, knight's costume of the th century, lamps, ancient roman, locomotive, the first, ---- the present, and train, lord of misrule, louis xii., ivory sceptre of, louis xvi., execution of, luther's (martin) tankard, lynch's castle, galway, magician's mirror, ---- bracelet, may-poles, mail, ancient suit of, mary, queen of scots', candlestick, medmenham abbey, military hats in the olden time, mill at lissoy, mirror, a magician's, monsoons, monstrous head-dress of , monuments, wayside, ---- rock cut, of asia minor, morayshire floods, mosque of omar, ---- st. sophia, mummers, or ancient waits, mummy cases, musical instrument, hindoo, ---- ---- a curious burmese, , ---- ---- egyptian, naora, the, nebuchadnezzar, mask of, necklace, ancient jet, nell gwynne's looking-glass, newton church, doorway of, newton's (sir isaac) observatory, ---- house, st. martin's street, norman caps, north american indian war despatch, old london bridge, gate on the, ---- ---- signs, ornaments abyssinian female, ---- antique head, ---- female, of the iron period, ---- egyptian female, ---- personal, of egyptians, ---- of female dress in the times of the ancient britons, pagoda, the great shoemadoo, pailoos, chinese, papyrus roll, from a specimen in the british museum, ---- syrian, with and without flowers, paris garden at blackfriars, pass of keim-an-eigh, penn's (william) silver tea service, pennsylvania journal, fac-simile of the heading of the last number, , pest house during the plague in tothill fields, peter the great, house of, at zaandam, ploughing, ancient mode of, poison cup, the, pont du gard, the great aqueduct of, pope's chair, popular amusements in , porcelain figures, pottery in china, the art of, powerscourt fall, phenomenon at, preaching friar, pre-adamite bone caverns, priests of sikkim, prince rupert, head quarters of, during the siege of liverpool, in , pulpit of john knox at st. andrew's, punishment, ancient instrument of, pyramids of egypt, queen elizabeth's state coach, ---- ---- side saddle of, raffaelle, tomb of, raleigh's (sir walter) ancient residence at blackwall, revolver, a, of the fifteenth century, ring, formerly the property of charles i., rings, calcinated, ---- sardonyx, with cameo head of queen elizabeth, ---- a toad stone, rock of cashel, the, ruins of clonmacnois, sack-pot, old english, saint george, tomb of, saint george's hall, gibraltar, salagram, hindoo adoration of the, sardonyx ring, with cameo head of queen elizabeth, sceptre, ivory, of louis xii., school, a chinese, scriptural antiquities:--drum, or timbrel; drum in use in the east; harp; lutes; inscribed stone; sandals; distaff; roman farthing; stonemoney-wrights; hand mill; eastern wine and water bottles, selkirk (alexander) and the dancing goats, sepulchral vase, , shakespeare's jug, shield, ancient danish, shrine of st. sebald at nuremberg, silver locket in memory of the execution of charles i., snake charmer, south stack lighthouse, spanish dagger of the sixteenth century, spider, the trap-door, ---- nest of the, st. winifred's well, stamp, medicine, antique roman, standards, egyptian, ---- assyrian, , steam boat, fac-simile of the first, sticks, old walking, sword breaker, ancient, ---- an executioner's, ---- curious antique, ---- the hawthornden, ---- the seton, summers' magnet, or loadstone, templar's banner, called beauseant, temple at simonbong, interior view of, thrashing corn, ancient method of, tilbury fort, water-gate of, toilet boxes, egyptian, tomb, ancient greek, interior view of, ---- a chinese, ---- of raffaelle, tomb of cÆcilia metella, tope, the sanchi, torture chamber at nuremberg, tower of the thundering winds, trajan, arch of, at beneventum, treaty stone at limerick, tripod, an ancient, tumbrel, the, tunisian turner, a, tyrian purple, the shell fish from which it is obtained, umbrella, anglo-saxon, vases, ancient, ---- greek, ---- roman, in black ware, ---- a sepulchral, of ancient egypt, vases teutonic, hut-shaped, vauxhall, vessel, a curiously shaped, vesuvius, crater of, in , vishnu, the god, volcano of jorullo, mexico, war chariot of egypt, watch, antique, ---- presented by louis xii. of france to charles i. of england, ---- presented by mary of scotland to mary skaton, water carrier of the olden time, weapon, an ancient, ---- a poison, weaver bird, social nest of, wigs of various periods, index. page abbey buildings, the arrangement of, abraham and sarah, abyssinian ladies, dress of the, abyssinian lady, tattooed, advertisement, an american, advertisements, curious, , , , ---- in the last century, ---- of a dying-speech book, ---- new style of, ---- a pudding as an, ---- of a fleet parson, a false find, a female sampson, a fine old soldier, a floating city, a funeral appropriately conducted, aged persons, instances of many dying, ages of celebrated men, a great marvel seen in scotland, a happy family, a harmless eccentric, albertus magnus, receipts from, ale too strong, alexandria, pharos at, algerine invasion of ireland, a last chance, all humbugs, a lucky find, a man in a vault eleven days, ---- carries his house on his head, ---- selling his own body, ---- aged one hundred years, a monster, ambassador, french, entry into london, ---- why held by the arms, amphitheatres, amulets worn by egyptian females, ---- brotche, amusements in the th century, ---- in , popular, an apparent singularity accounted for, an eccentric tourist, ancients, credulity of the, anglo-saxons, sepulchral barrow of, animals, food of, ---- communication between, animation, suspended, anne boleyn, execution of, antimony, antipathies, ---- unaccountable, antiquities, egyptian, apollo, oracles of, in france, arabian horses, arabs, horses of the, archbishop, an, washing feet, arch, a beautiful, a remarkable old man, armlet, ancient, armour, ancient, curious piece of, arms, abyssinian, artists, duration of life amongst, a sea above the sky, ash, the shrew, ass, the, assiduity and perseverance, attar of roses, origin of, attar of roses, a woman takes the lighted match, ---- defends a post singly, authors, some learned, amusements of, a unique library, aztec children, babes of bethlehem, the, bagpipes, irish, ballot, origin of the, bandoliers, bank, a mattrass for a, banner, the templars', called beauseant, banquets of the ancients, bara, a machine used in sicily, barbers, barometer, incident connected with, bartholomew fair in , handbill of, bastille of paris, storming of the, bazaar, a turkish, bear, a shaved, beard, care of the, beau brummell (a) of the th century, bective abbey, bedesmen in the time of henry vii., bedford missal, the, bee, the queen, bees, obedient to training, beggars, severe enactment against, ---- selected as models by painters, bell, the great, of burmah, ---- of rouen, bells, ---- of the ancients, ---- of st. mura, bell-shrine, an ancient, bellows, primitive pair of, bible, , , ---- bunyan's, ---- summary of the, ---- used by charles i. on the scaffold, billy in the salt-box, birds, the ear of, not to be deceived, blind jack, ---- granny, ---- workman, boat, burmese, bobart, jacob, boiling to death, bolton abbey, origin of, bombardier beetle, the, bones, adaptation of to age, book-shaped watch, boots an object of honour, boydell, alderman, brama, the hindoo deity, bramins, philosophy of the, brank, the, brass medal, of our saviour, breakfasting hut in , bribery, bricks of babylon, the, bridge, old london, the gate of, ---- chinese, ---- suspension, at freybourg, britannia tubular bridge, british islands, size of the, brooch, ancient scandinavian, bruce, lord edward, case containing the heart of, brunswick, house of, anecdote of the, buckinger, matthew, buddist temples, instruments used in, bumper, bunyan's, john, tomb, burial places of distinguished men, burmah, elephant god of, bust, etrurian, an ancient, byng, admiral, execution of, cader idris, cagots, the, calculation, interesting, cambridge clods, camden cup, camel, as a scape-goat, cameleon, the eye of the, candles in the church, cannon, ancient, raised from the sea, ---- at the siege of constantinople, ---- first iron, canute, the discovery of the body of, cardinals, colour of the hat for, cards, games with, in the th century, carfax conduit, carronades, carrara, francis, cruelty of, carriage, turkish, cascade des pelerines, cat, instinct in a, catacombs at rome, cataract, extraordinary, cat-clock, a, cats, white, ---- with knotted tails, caves, the hawthornden, chaffinch contest, chalice, iona, the golden, changes of fortune, chaplain, instructions to a, chapter-house in henry viith's time, charing cross, autobiography of, charity instead of pomp, ---- rewarded by a mendicant, charlemagne, clock presented to, charles i., anecdote relative to, ---- ii., privy purse, expenses of, cherry tree, chess, in india, how it originated, chieftain, ancient scottish, chilcott, the giant, child, test of courage in a, children of aged parents, china, origin of the great wall of, chinese dainties, ---- ivory balls, ---- method of fishing, ---- punishment of the kang, ---- ladies, small feet of, ---- mirrors, ---- school, ---- therapeutics, chocolate, early use of, christmas customs, bygone, , christening, novel mode of celebrating a, chronology of remarkable events, church of donore, james ii. and the, cigars, extraordinary fashion in, circumstance, a curious, ---- extraordinary, cistern of majolica ware, clock at hernhuth, watchmen imitating, ---- wonderful, clocks, early, clonmacnois, ruins of, coachmen of the time of charles ii., cock fighting at schools, coffee, coffee and tea, coffee-house in london, the first, ---- attractions in , coin, the first, with britannia on it, coinage, variations in the, coincidences, some curious, collars, stone, ancient, column at cussi, comb, curious indian, conecte, thomas, confectionary art in , conjuring, public taste for in , conway church, inscription in, coral reefs, coronations, prices for seats at, ---- expenses at, corpulent man, corpulence, cure for, cost of articles in the th century, costume, ancient female, , costumes, , , , , , , couteau-de-chasse, ancient, cranmer's (archbishop) dietary, credulity, extraordinary instance of, cricket-matches, extraordinary, criminal, a rich and cruel, criminals, old custom relating to, cromwell's bridge at glengariff, cross of cong, the, ---- ---- muiredach, ---- ordeal of the, crown of charlemagne, cucking-stool, the, cupid, the, of the hindoos, curious feats, , ---- law, ---- manuscript, curiously-shaped vessel, curiously-shaped drinking cups, curiosities, strange, custom, means of attracting, customs, singular local, daffeys' elixir, dagger, an ancient, dagobert, ancient chair of, dance, curious provincial in france, dances, fashionable of the last century, dancing rooms, dead, fashions for the, dead bodies, preservation of, , , death, boiling to, ---- lunar influence in, ---- pressing to, decorative drinking vessel, della robbia ware, demons, bribing the, dervishes, dancing, desolation, scene of, destitute cats, asylum for, dial and fountain in leadenhall street, dilemma, dinner, an egyptian, ---- in china, ---- party in the th century, diogenes in a pithos, not tub, disorders cured by fright, dispute and appropriate decision, dog (a) extinguishing a fire, ---- combination of instinct and force, ---- a sensible, refusing to bait a cat, ---- persevering, ---- friendship, ---- a piscatorial, ---- sensible, ---- in japan, ---- figures of on ancient tombs, dog-wheel, the old, dole in consequence of a dream, doles, down among the dead men, dress, forty years ago, dress in london, , , , ---- fastidiousness at an old age, ---- of the ancient britons, drinking bouts in persia, drinks, intoxicating, antiquity of, dropping wells, druids' seat, drunkenness, the offspring of, duns in the mahratta country, dyaks of borneo, ears, character indicated by, earthenware, english, earthquake panic, ---- swallowed up by an, ---- at lisbon, ---- nottingham, in , earthquakes, , east india house, the first, eating for a wager, eccentric englishman, an, eccentrics, a couple of, echo, extraordinary, eddystone lighthouse, edicts against fiddlers, eel, large, egypt, ---- pyramids of, egyptian toys in the british museum, elephant detects a robber, an, elephants frightened at pigs, energy, a triumph of, england before the romans, englishman, a fat, epitaph, an inculpatory, etna, mount, great eruption of, ---- changes of, europa, ruins of, exchequer-bills, origin of, execution, in , extraordinary tree, extravagance at elections, ---- oriental, eyam, the desolation of, fallacy of the virtues of a seventh son, false accusers, punishing, farmers, illustrious, fashionable disfigurement, fayence, the, of henry ii. of france, feasts, anglo-saxon, federation, fête of the, female intrepidity, extraordinary, ferrers, earl, execution of, figg, champion, finger rings, porcelain, fire at burwell, cambridgeshire, fire-arms in the tower of london, fire-engines, when first made, fish, shooting, ---- high price of, in london, ---- extraordinary ponds and, ---- tame, ---- wonderful, fishermen, bulgarian, fleet marriages, about , floods, the morayshire, flying coach, fog of , the great, font at kilcarn, the, food of the ancients, foot-racing in , foreigners in london in , fortune, change of, fox killed by a swan, francis i., funeral oration of, franklin's celebrated letter to strahan, frederick the great at table, french dress, ---- assignats, the origin, friars, preaching, frost fairs, ---- extraordinary, funeral, an eccentric, ---- jar, ---- obsequies, strange, game preserves at chantilly, gamblers, chinese, playing for fingers, gambling, legalised, ---- extraordinary, gaming, a national taste for, gander, an old, garden, an egyptian, ---- at kenilworth, when in its prime, ---- love of, ---- sacred, ---- the hanging, of babylon, garrick's cup, gauntlet of henry, prince of wales, george ii., proclamation for, georgians as topers, giant tree, gibraltar, siege of, gigantic bones, glaives, glove money, gloves, anne boleyn's, ---- origin of "pin money", grace knives, graham island, graves of the stone period, greek vases, gretna green marriages, grey man's path, the, grinning for a wager, groaning boards, groat, a castle for a, grotto, remarkable, and story connected with it, guillotine, decapitation by the, gun, celebrated, gunpowder, making a candlestick of, hackney coach, the earliest, hair, ancient, quantity and colour of the, ---- price of human, ---- remarkable preservation of, ---- transplantation of, ---- turned grey by fright, ---- two of the fathers, on false, hamster rat, the, handbills, distributing, ---- from peckham fair, in , hanging a mayor, "happy dispatch" in japan, the, head breaker, a., head-dress, monstrous, ---- ornament, antique, hejirs, the, helmet, early english, ---- of sir john crosby, henry i., dream of, ---- ii., stripped when dead, ---- v., cradle of, ---- the viiith's chair, ---- viii., curious extracts from the household book of lady mary, daughter of, highlander, a remarkable, highwaymen in , hindoo computation, ---- rites, cruelty of, historical anecdote, holy water sprinkler, homer in a nutshell, hooking a boy instead of a fish, hoops, in , horse, a, getting himself shod, horse-race, indenture of a, horses of the arabs, horses, different sorts of, in the th century, ---- feeding one another, ---- vicious, novel way of curing, hot cross buns, house, novel way of designating a, ---- of hens' feathers, household rules of the th century, how distant ages are connected, hudson, jeffery, the dwarf of the court of charles i., "humbug," origin of the term, hume, david, on his own death, hundred families' lock, hunting party, a regal, husband, novel way of purchasing a, hydra, extraordinary reproductive power of the, ice, ground, ignorance and fear, impostor, an, impudence or candour? which is it? incense chariot, an ancient, incremation, instance of, indian jugglers, european balancing, inhumanity, extraordinary instances of, innkeeper's bill in , insects, wonderful formation of the eye in, insect life, minuteness of, instinct of animals, insurance agent, canvass of an, interesting and fanciful relique, inventors, the perils of, irrigation, turkish machine for, "it's much the same now", james ii. and the church of donore, james ii., spent by the corporation of coventry at the entertainment of, in his progress through coventry, javanese, superstition of the, jenny's whim, jewel, a curious, which belonged to james i., jews, wealth of the, johnson, dr., a visit to the residence of, joy, william, the english sampson, judas iscariot, legends of, judges attending public balls, ---- salaries, jugglers in japan, ---- of modern egypt, kildare, death of the earl of, killed by eating mutton and pudding, king edward i., household expenses of, ---- fine for insulting a, ---- of kippen, the, ---- john and pope innocent, king-maker, warwick the, king's bed, ceremonial for making the, ---- cock crower, the, ---- dishes with the cook's name, ---- stone, the, at kingston, kitchen, spacious, knight's costume of the th century, knives and forks, knox, john, the pulpit of, at st. andrews, lady, origin of the word, lagmi, and the use made of it, lambeth wells, the apollo gardens, lamps, roman, land, change in the value of, landslip at colebroke, shropshire, lantern, curious, lauderdale, the duchess of, law of the mozcas, law and order in the streets of london, laws, a hundred years ago, severity of, leadenhall street, old dial and fountain in, legend, a superstitious, legends among savage nations, length of life without bodily exercise, lepers, treatment of, in england, leprosy, lazars, and lazar houses, letter, extraordinary, lettsom's (dr.) reasons, lewson, the eccentric lady, life, an eventful, ---- in death, lighting the streets, bequests for, lightning, calmuc's opinion of, living, style of, among the nobility of the th century, ---- in the th century, lizards, swallowing, loaf sugar, locomotives, the first, locusts, london localities in the th century, london water carrier in olden time, ---- in , state of, london resorts a hundred years ago, longevity, long meg and her daughters, lord mayor's feast in , lotteries, louis xvi., execution of, luther's (martin) tankard, luxury in , lynch's castle, galway, mackarel, price of, madness, sudden recovery from, madyn, the capital of persia, magnificence of, when invaded by the saracens a.d. , magic rain stone, magician's mirror and bracelet, magnet, the summers' or loadstone, magnificence of former times, magpie stoning a toad, mahomet, personal appearance of, mail, ancient suit of, malady, extraordinary, mandrin, the smuggler, manners, ancient, of the italian, man without hands, manufacture, one of the effects of, marat, funeral of, marriage custom, curious, ---- lottery, ---- vow, mary, queen of scots, her first letter to english, mary queen of scots, her candlestick, maternal affection in a dumb woman, may-pole in the strand, ---- fate of the last, in the strand, may-poles, mecca, the black stone at, medmenham abbey, memento-mori watch, mental affection, a curious, merman, a, mexican tennis, michaelmas-day, origin of eating goose on, military hats in olden time, mill at lissoy, miraculous escape, misers, two, missal, the bedford, mob wisdom, monasteries, libraries of destroyed, monkeys demanding their dead, monkish prayers, monks, gluttony of the, ---- and friars, monsey (dr.) bequeaths his own body, monsoons, monument, rock-cut, of asia minor, monuments, wayside, mosque of omar, mother mapp, the bone setter, mountains, height of, mouth, character of the, m.p.'s and mayors, privateers, mulgrave, origin of the house of, mullet and turbot, with the romans, mummy cases, murderess, a young but cruel, music, effect of, on a pigeon, ---- of the hindoos, ---- ---- ---- sea, musical instrument, a curious, musical instruments, burmese, ---- ---- egyptian, names, strange custom about, naora, the, narrow escape, nature, wonderful provision of, nebuchadnezzar, gold mask of, necklace, ancient jet, negro, bill of sale for a, in , nell gwynne's looking-glass, never sleeping in a bed, newspapers, vacillating, new south wales, dances of the natives of, newton, a visit to the observatory of, new zealand, the wingless bird of, norman caps, north american indian war dispatch, nose, effect of a new, nostrums, nun, the first english, nut crackers, ancient, oaks, extraordinary, , , , ---- remarkable, old age, dying of, at seventeen years, old books, old london signs, opera, the first, opium, best position for smoking, oræfa mountain, in ireland, ornaments, personal antique, , , , orthography in the sixteenth century, pagoda, the great shoëmadoo, pailoos, chinese, panama, isthmus of, passage through, paper, papyrus, the, parental authority, too much, paris garden at blackfriars, parlour dogs, passport, a traveller's, pastimes, popular, pâtés de foies gras, peacocks, pear-tree, great, pearls, british, ---- fondness of the romans for, pedestrian feat, wonderful, peg tankards, penn, tea service which belonged to, penny post, origin of the, pennsylvania journal, perfumes, persecution, ---- in the reign of queen mary, perseverance rewarded by fortune, persia, drinking bouts in, personal charms disclaimed, peru, condor in, peruvian bark, pest-house, during the plague, in tothill fields, pestilence, the black, peter the great at zaandam, physic, a friend to, physick for the poor, choice receipts for, pigeon catching near naples, pig, roast, advertisement of, in , pike, an old, pilgrim fathers, chair belonging to, pillory for eating flesh in lent, plague in england, the, ---- corpse bearers during the, plantagenets, yellow hair in the time, plate, use of, in the time of henry viii., platypus, the duck-billed, playbill, curious, ---- in the time of william iii., ploughing and threshing, ancient, poets, english, fates of the families of, pogonias vocal fish, poison cup, the, poisoning the monarch, police, london, disgraceful state of, pont du gard, great aqueduct of, pope's chair, porcelain, anecdote in, port coon cave, poet haste one hundred years ago, "postman," the, paragraph from, in , pottery in china, art of, powerscourt fall, phenomenon at the, prayers, unusual locality for saying, praying by machinery, ---- by wheel and axle, pre-adamite bone caverns, precocious children, presence of mind--escape from a tiger, priests in burmah, knavery of the, ---- of sikkim, prince of wales, origin of the crest of the, prince rupert, at everton, prolific author, proteus anguinus, the, psalm, value of a long, pterodactylus, the, pulpit, refreshments for the, punishing by wholesale, punishment, ancient instrument of, ---- russian, ---- and torture, ancient instruments of, , puritan zeal, purple, tyrian, quackery in the olden time, queen elizabeth, banquets of, ---- ---- dresses of, ---- ---- old verses on, ---- ---- saddle of, ---- ---- state coach of, ---- ----'s laws, raffaelle, tomb of, raffle, a, in , raleigh, sir walter, residence of, ranelagh, ranz des vaches, rats, destructive force of, ravilliac, execution of, receipts, quaint, red sea, luminous appearance of the, regiments, the modern names of, reichstadt, the duke de, relics, ---- a group of, ---- rescued, remarkable events and inventions, revenge, new mode of, rheumatism, strange cure for the, rhinoceros, first in europe, richardson, the showman, ringing the changes, rings, calcinated, rites, hindoo, cruelty of, roads in , rock of cashel, romans in britain, dress of native females at that period, rouen, the great bell of, royal touch, the, royal giants, specimens of, ---- prisoner, expenses of, sack pot, old english, sacro catino, the, sadler's wells, saint george, tomb of, saint lawrence, sálagrám, hindoo adoration of the, sand columns in africa, sandwiches, origin of the, sardonyx ring, with cameo head of queen elizabeth, in the possession of rev. lord thynne, scape goat, camel as a, sceptre, ivory, of louis xii., school, chinese, school expenses in the olden time, science and perseverance, triumphs of, scottish wild cattle, scriptural antiquities, sea, phosphorescence of the, sea serpent, immense, sea-urchin, wonderful construction of, second sight, seeing two generations, self-nourishment, selkirk and the dancing goats, sepulchral vase from peru, sermons, anecdotes in, serpent, anecdote of a, seven, the number, sèvres porcelain, prices of, sex, change of, "sforza," origin of the title, shakspeare's jug, sham prophets, sharks, the queen's, sheba, the queen of, sheep killer, hunting a, shell fish, in , price of, shetland, the noss in, shield, ancient danish, shilling, cutting a wife off with a, shocking depravity, shoes, long-toed, origin of, shrine, curious figures on a, shrine of st. sebald at nuremberg, simoom, the, skin, human, a drum made of, slave advertisements, slave trade, iniquities of the, slaves, recent prices of, sleep, protracted, ---- state of the mind during, sleeper, an extraordinary, smoking, attachment to, snake charmers, snakes, power of fascination in, snow storm, memorable, snuff boxes, ancient, snuff, time wasted in taking, something like a feast, somnambulism, sound, phenomena of, southcottian delusion, a phase of the, south-stack lighthouse, spain, wealth of, under the moors, spider, bite of the tarantula, spiders fond of music, spirit drinker, an aged, spontaneous combustion, sports of the lower classes, sportsman, a royal, springs, intermittent, stage coach in , stag-hunt in the th century, stags like cattle, driving, stamps, antique roman, , standards, ancient banner and, , state coach in , statue, metal, the largest in the world, steam boat, facsimile of the first, stevens's specific, st. george's cavern, st. james's square, st. paul's, old, st. paul and the viper, st. winifred's well, sticks, old walking, stirrups, stomach brush, stoneware, strasburg, curious custom at, strength, feats of, in , street cries of modern egypt, stuff ball at lincoln, origin of the, sultan, city of the, sun and moon, worship of the, superstition in , ---- curious, ---- death caused by, ---- in france, ---- vitality of, sweating sickness, sweets, artificial, sword, curious antique, ---- executioner's, ---- the hawthornden, ---- the seton, ---- fish and whales, sword-breaker, an ancient, taking a man to pieces, tapestry, the bayeux, tar and feather, notices to, taxation, universality of, tea, tea-drinkers, the first, puzzled, teapot, the, temple of pou-tou, the, ---- at simonbong, temples of brambanam, terrier, anecdote of a, thames, frost fair on the, ---- the first bridge over the, thanksgiving day in , theatre, roman, at orange, theatres in the time of shakespeare, the first hermits--why so called, the ruling passion, , theodora de verdion, thief caught in his own trap, the, ---- singular discovery of a, thugs, the, tiger cave at cuttack, tilbury fort, time, division of, in persia, tobacco, origin of the use of, toilet, absurdities of the, ---- boxes, egyptian, tomb, chinese, ---- of cæcilia metella, ---- of darius, tomb of the emperor maximilian at inspruck, "too late," quoth boice, tope, the sanchi, topers, georgians as, toping in the last century, torture, ---- chamber at nuremberg, tower of the thundering winds, trajan, arch of, at beneventum, trance, a, ---- at will, trap-door spider, travelling, common, ---- in olden times, , ---- in the united states, treaty-stone at limerick, tree, extraordinary situation for a, trees, age of, ---- that grow shirts, tripod, ancient, trivial circumstances, a great result from, tumbrel, the, tunisians, ingenuity of the, turban, the, in arabia, turkish mode of reparation, twin-worm, extraordinary formation of the, types, the invention of, umbrella, anglo-saxon, upas tree, useful and the beautiful, vampire, the blood-sucking, varnish-tree of the japanese, vases, ancient, ---- greek, ---- greek, prices of, ---- roman, in black ware, ---- sepulchral, of greek pottery, ---- sepulchral, of ancient egypt, ---- teutonic, hut-shaped, vauxhall, venetians, the, vengeance, novel mode of taking, ventriloquist, a female, vesuvius, crater of, in , vinegar on the skin, effect of, vishnu, incarnations of, volcanic eruption in japan, volcano of jurullo, formation of the, volition, suspended, voltaire, english letter of, vow, singular hindoo, wagers, curious, walking-sticks, old, wall, governor, execution of, wallace, the hero of scotland, war boat, a dyak, in borneo, ---- dance of the dyaks of borneo, ---- chariot of ancient egypt, warwick, the king-maker, washing account, method of keeping, washington, watch, an antique, ---- presented by louis xiii. to charles i. of england, watches, the first in england, water for old london, supply of, ---- preservative power of coal-pit, ---- supply of, for london, in olden times, ---- snakes, battle of, "we hae been", weapon, ancient, ---- a poison, weaver-bird, the sociable, wedding, a, a hundred years ago, weight, reducing, whipping prisoners, whitehall, ceiling of, whitsuntide, at durham cathedral, why a man measures more in the morning than in the evening, wife, diving for a, wigs, , will, eccentric, william the conqueror, courtship of, willow, weeping, introduction of the, wind mills, the first, witch-testing, at newcastle, in , wolves in england, woman, the hairy, of burmah, woman's cleverness, women of england, the, ---- in former times, wonderful escape, , wren's (sir christopher) cost of churches, ---- ---- ---- report, writing materials, writings, terra cotta, yorkshire tike, the, yorkshire in the last century, ten thousand wonderful things. punishments in provincial towns in the olden time. the instruments most in vogue with our ancestors were three--the cucking-stool, the brank, and the tumbrel. the cucking-stool was used by the pond in many village greens about one hundred years ago or little more, and then deemed the best corrective of a scolding woman. [illustration: the cucking-stool.] by the sea, the quay offered a convenient spot. the barbican, at plymouth, was a locality, doubtless terrible to offenders, however careless of committing their wordy nuisance of scolding. two pounds were paid for a cucking-stool at leicester in . since that it has been placed at the door of a notorious scold as a warning. upon admission to the house of correction at liverpool, a woman had to undergo the severity of the cucking-stool till a little before the year , when mr. james neild wrote to dr. lettsom. the pump in the men's court was the whipping-post for females, which discipline continued, though not weekly. _kingston-upon-thames._ _s._ _d._ , the making of the cucking-stool iron work for the same timber for the same three brasses for the same, and three wheels ----------- £ at marlborough, in , a man had _d._ for his help at the cucking of joan neal. _gravesend._ , the porters for ducking of goodwife campion two porters for laying up the ducking-stool [illustration: the brank.] the brank, for taming shrews, was preferred to the cucking-stool in some counties, and was used there for the same purpose. the brank was in favour in the northern counties, and in worcestershire, though there were, notwithstanding, some of the other instruments of punishment used, called in that county gum-stools. the brank was put over the head, and was fastened with a padlock. there are entries at worcester about mending the "scould's bridle and cords for the same." the cucking-stool not only endangered the health of the party, but also gave the tongue liberty 'twixt every dip. the brank was put over the head, and was fastened with a padlock. [illustration: the tumbrel.] the tumbrel was a low-rolling cart or carriage (in law latin, _tumberella_) which was used as a punishment of disgrace and infamy. millers, when they stole corn, were chastised by the tumbrel. persons were sometimes fastened with an iron chain to a tumbrel, and conveyed bareheaded with din and cry through the principal streets of towns. _court of hustings book, ._ (_lyme._) "the jury present that the tumbrel be repaired and maintained from time to time, according to the statute." in , mr. mayor was to provide a tumbrel before all saints day, under a penalty of _s._ ancient method of keeping a washing account. shakerley marmion, in his "antiquary," says:-- "i must rev'rence and prefer the precedent times before these, which consum'd their wits in experiments; and 'twas a virtuous emulation amongst them, that nothing which, might profit posterity should perish." [illustration: [++] washing tablet.] without a full adherence to this dictum, we would nevertheless admit that we are indebted to the past for the germ of many of our most important discoveries. the ancient washing tablet, although of humble pretensions to notice, is yet a proof of the simple and effective means frequently adopted in olden times for the economy of time and materials. a reference to the engraving obviates a lengthened explanation. it will there be seen that if the mistress of a family has fifteen _pillow-covers, or so many collars, or so many bands_, to be mentioned in the washing account, she can turn the circular dial, by means of the button or handle, to the number corresponding with the rough mark at the bottom of the dial, above which is written _sheets_, _table-cloths_, &c. this simple and ingenious contrivance, obviates the necessity of keeping a book. the original "washing board," from which the engraving is taken, was of a larger size, and showed the numbers very distinctly. similar dials may be made of either ivory or metal. the hair. the quality and colour of the hair was a subject of speculative theory for the ancients. lank hair was considered indicative of pusillanimity and cowardice; yet the head of napoleon was guiltless of a curl! frizzly hair was thought an indication of coarseness and clumsiness. the hair most in esteem, was that terminating in ringlets. dares, the historian, states that achilles and ajax telamon had curling locks; such also was the hair of timon, the athenian. as to the emperor augustus, nature had favoured him with such redundant locks, that no hair-dresser in rome could produce the like. auburn or light brown hair was thought the most distinguished, as portending intelligence, industry, a peaceful disposition, as well as great susceptibility to the tender passion. castor and pollux had brown hair; so also had menelaus. black hair does not appear to have been esteemed by the romans; but red was an object of aversion. ages before the time of judas, red hair was thought a mark of reprobation, both in the case of typhon, who deprived his brother of the sceptre of egypt, and nebuchadnezzar who acquired it in expiation of his atrocities. even the donkey tribe suffered from this ill-omened visitation, according to the proverb of "wicked as a red ass." asses of that colour were held in such detestation among the copths, that every year they sacrificed one by hurling it from a high wall. the first coffee house in london. coffee is a native of arabia, supposed by some to have been the chief ingredient of the old lacedemonian broth. the use of this berry was not known in england till the year , at which time mr. d. edwards, a turkey merchant, on his return from smyrna to london, brought with him one pasquet rossee, a greek of ragusa, who was used to prepare this liquor for his master every morning, who, by the way, never wanted company. the merchant, therefore, in order to get rid of a crowd of visitants, ordered his greek to open a coffee-house, which he did in st. michael's alley, in cornhill. this was the first coffee-house opened in london. eating for a wager. the handbill, of which the subjoined is a literal copy, was circulated by the keeper of the public-house at which the gluttony was to happen, as an attraction for all the neighbourhood to witness:-- "_bromley in kent_, july , .--a strange eating worthy is to perform a tryal of skill on st. james's day, which is the day of our _fair_ for a wager of five guineas,--viz.: he is to eat four pounds of bacon, a bushel of french beans, with two pounds of butter, a quartern loaf, and to drink a gallon of strong beer!" fox killed by a swan. at peusey, a swan sitting on her eggs, on one side of the river, observed a fox swimming towards her from the opposite side; rightly judging she could best grapple with the fox in her own element, she plunged into the water, and after beating him off for some time with her wings, at length succeeded in drowning him. highwaymen in . on wednesday, the th january, , about four o'clock in the afternoon, as anthony todd, esq., secretary to the post-office, was going in his carriage to his house at walthamstow to dinner, and another gentleman with him, he was stopt within a small distance of his house by two highwaymen, one of whom held a pistol to the coachman's breast, whilst the other, with a handkerchief over his face, robbed mr. todd and the gentleman of their gold watches and what money they had about them. as soon as mr. todd got home all his men-servants were mounted on horses, and pursued the highwaymen; they got intelligence of their passing lee-bridge, and rode on to shoreditch; but could not learn anything farther of them. the same evening a gentleman going along aldermanbury, near the church, was accosted by a man with an enquiry as to the time; on which the gentleman pulled out his gold watch. the man immediately said, "i must have that watch and your money, sir, so don't make a noise." the gentleman seeing nobody near, he delivered his gold watch and four guineas, with some silver. the thief said he was in distress, and hoped the gentleman would not take away his life if ever he had the opportunity. sunday, the th january, , about twelve o'clock, a man was, by force, dragged up the yard of the french-horn inn, high holborn, by some person or persons unknown, and robbed of his watch, four guineas, and some silver; when they broke his arm and otherwise cruelly treated him. he was found by a coachman, who took him to the hospital. an archbishop washing the feet of the poor. in the _gentleman's magazine_, we find the following observance:--_thursday, april , _.--being maunday-thursday, there was distributed at the banquetting-house, whitehall, to forty-eight poor men, and forty-eight poor women (the king's age ) boiled beef and shoulders of mutton, and small bowls of ale, which is called dinner; after that, large wooden platters of fish and loaves, viz., undress'd, one large old ling, and one large dry'd cod; twelve red herrings, and nineteen white herrings, and four half quartern loaves; each person had one platter of this provision: after which was distributed to them shoes, stockings, linnen and woolen cloath, and leathern bags, with one penny, two penny, three penny, and four penny pieces of silver, and shillings: to each about £ in value. his grace the lord archbishop of york, lord high almoner, performed the annual ceremony of washing the feet of a certain number of poor in the royal chapel, whitehall, which was formerly done by the kings themselves, in imitation of our saviour's pattern of humility, &c. james ii. was the last king who performed this in person. his doing so was thus recorded in the _chapel royal register_.--"on maunday thursday april our gracious king james y{e} {d} wash'd wip'd and kiss'd the feet of poor men w{th} wonderful humility. and all the service of the church of england usuall on that occasion was performed, his maty being psent all the time." a lucky find. _sunday, april ._--a few days ago, sir simon stuart, of hartley, in hampshire, looking over some old writings, found on the back of one of them a memorandum noting that , broad pieces were buried in a certain spot in an adjoyning field. whereupon he took a servant, and after digging a little in the place, found the treasure in a pot, hid there in the time of the late civil wars, by his grandfather, sir nicholas stuart.--_gentleman's magazine_, . hoops in . [illustration: [++] ladies hoops in .] the monstrous appearance of the ladies' hoops, when viewed behind, may be seen from the following cut, copied from one of rigaud's views. the exceedingly small cap, at this time fashionable, and the close up-turned hair beneath it, give an extraordinary meanness to the head, particularly when the liberality of gown and petticoat is taken into consideration: the lady to the left wears a black hood with an ample fringed cape, which envelopes her shoulders, and reposes on the summit of the hoop. the gentleman wears a small wig and bag; the skirts of his coat are turned back, and were sometimes of a colour different from the rest of the stuff of which it was made, as were the cuffs and lappels. siege of gibraltar. gibraltar had been taken by a combined english and dutch fleet in , and was confirmed as a british possession, in , by the peace of utrecht; but in it was assailed by the united forces of france and spain, and the siege continued till the nd of february, . the chief attack was made on the th september, . on the part of the besiegers, besides stupendous batteries on the land side, mounting two hundred pieces of ordnance, there was an army of , men, under the command of the duc de crillon. in the bay lay the combined fleets of france and spain, comprising forty-seven sail of the line, beside ten battering ships of powerful construction, that cost upwards of £ , each. from these the heaviest shells rebounded, but ultimately two of them were set on fire by red-hot shot, and the others were destroyed to prevent them from falling into the hands of the british commander. the rest of the fleet also suffered considerably; but the defenders escaped with very little loss. in this engagement , rounds were fired by the garrison, more than half of which consisted of red-hot balls. during this memorable siege, which lasted upwards of three years, the entire expenditure of the garrison exceeded , rounds,-- , barrels of powder being used. the expenditure of the enemy, enormous as this quantity is, must have been much greater; for they frequently fired, from their land-batteries, , rounds in the short space of twenty-four hours. terrific indeed must have been the spectacle as the immense fortress poured forth its tremendous volleys, and the squadron and land-batteries replied with a powerful cannonade. but all this waste of human life and of property was useless on the part of the assailants; for the place was successfully held, and gibraltar still remains one of the principal strongholds of british power in europe. [illustration: saint george's hall, gibraltar.] during the progress of the siege, the fortifications were considerably strengthened, and numerous galleries were excavated in the solid rock, having port-holes at which heavy guns were mounted, which, keeping up an incessant fire, proved very efficacious in destroying the enemy's encampments on the land side. communicating with the upper tier of these galleries are two grand excavations, known as lord cornwallis's and st. george's halls. the latter, which is capable of holding several hundred men, has numerous pieces of ordnance pointed in various directions, ready to deal destruction on an approaching enemy. keeping whitsuntide at durham cathedral. the following curious account of the consumption of provisions in the cathedral of durham, during whitsun week, in , together with the prices of the articles, is taken from the rolls of the cellarer, at present in the treasury at durham:--six hundred salt herrings, s.; four hundred white herrings, s. d.; thirty salted salmon, s. d.; twelve fresh salmon, s. d.; fourteen ling, fifty-five "kelengs;" four turbot, s. d.; two horse loads of white fish, and a "congr," s. d.; "playc," "sparlings," and eels, and fresh water fish, s. d.; nine carcases of oxen, salted, so bought, s.; one carcase and a quarter, fresh, s. - / d.; a quarter of an oxe, fresh, bought in the town, s. d.; seven carcases and a half of swine, in salt, s. - / d.; six carcases, fresh, s. d.; fourteen calves, s. d.; three kids, and twenty-six sucking porkers, s. - / d.; seventy-one geese with their feed, s. d.; fourteen capons, fifty-nine chickens, and five dozen pidgeons, s. d.; five stones of hog's lard, s. d.; four stones of cheese, butter, and milk, s. d.; a pottle of vinegar, and a pottle of honey, - / d.; fourteen pounds of figs and raisins, sixteen pounds of almonds, and eight pounds of rice, s. d.; pepper, saffron, cinnamon, and other spices, s. d.; one thousand three hundred eggs, s. d.--sum total, £ s. similar consumptions took place during the week of the feast of st. cuthbert, and other feasts, among the monks of durham, for a long period of years. curious law. the following curious law was enacted during the reign of richard i. for the government of those going by sea to the holy land:--"he who kills a man on shipboard, shall be bound to the dead body and thrown into the sea; if the man is killed on shore, the slayer shall be bound to the dead body and buried with it. he who shall draw his knife to strike another, or who shall have drawn blood from him, to lose his hand; if he shall have only struck with the palm of his hand without drawing blood, he shall be thrice ducked in the sea." decapitation by the guillotine. a gentleman of intelligence and literary attainments, makes, in an account of his travels on the continent, the following most singular remarks on an execution he witnessed, in which the culprit was beheaded by the guillotine:--"it appears," says he, "to be the best of all possible modes of inflicting the punishment of death; combining the greatest impression on the spectator, with the least possible suffering to the victim. it is so rapid, that i should doubt whether there were any suffering; but from the expression of the countenance, when the executioner held up the head, i am inclined to believe that sense and consciousness may remain for a few seconds after the head is off. the eyes seemed to retain speculation for a moment or two, and there was a look in the ghastly stare with which they stared upon the crowd, which implied that the head was aware of its ignominious situation." alderman boydell. it was the regular custom of mr. alderman boydell, who was a very early riser, at five o'clock, to go immediately to the pump in ironmonger lane. there, after placing his wig upon the ball at the top of it, he used to sluice his head with its water. this well-known and highly respected character, who has done more for the british artist than all the print-publishers put together, was also one of the last men who wore a three-cornered hat. feats of strength in . april .--the following notice was given to the public:--"for the benefit of thomas topham, the strong man, from islington, whose performances have been looked upon by the royal society and several persons of distinction, to be the most surprising as well as curious of any thing ever performed in england; on which account, as other entertainments are more frequently met with than that he proposes, he humbly hopes gentlemen and ladies, &c., will honour him with their presence at the nag's head, in gateshead, on monday the d of this instant, at four o'clock, where he intends to perform several feats of strength, viz.:--he bends an iron poker three inches in circumference, over his arm, and one of two inches and a quarter round his neck; he breaks a rope that will bear two thousand weight, and with his fingers rolls up a pewter dish of seven pounds hard metal; he lays the back part of his head on one chair, and his heels on another, and suffering four men to stand on his body, he moves them up and down at pleasure; he lifts a table six feet in length, by his teeth, with a half hundred weight hanging at the further end of it; and, lastly, to oblige the publick, he will lift a butt full of water." "each person to pay one shilling." this "strong man" fell a victim to jealousy, as is proved by the following:--"august th, , died, mr. thomas topham, known by the name of the strong man, master of a publick house in shoreditch, london. in a fit of jealousy, he stabbed his wife, then cut his own throat and stabbed himself, after which he lived two days." elephants frightened at pigs. "then on a tyme there were many grete clerkes and rad of kyng alysaunder how on a tyme as he sholde have a batayle with ye kynge of inde. and this kynge of inde broughte with hym many olyphauntes berynge castelles of tree on theyr backes as the kynde of the is to haue armed knyghtes in ye castell for the batayle, them ne knewe alysaunder the kynge, of the olyphauntes that they drad no thynge more than the jarrynge of swyne, wherefore he made to gader to gyder all ye swyne that myghte be goten, and caused them to be dryuen as ny the olyphauntes as they myghte well here the jarrynge of the swyne, and thenne they made a pygge to crye, and whan the swyne herde the pygges a none they made a great jarrynge, and as soone as the olyphauntes herde that, they began to fle eche one, and keste downe the castelles and slewe the knyghtes that were in them, and by this meane alysaunder had ye vyctory."--_liber festivalis, printed by w. caxton in_ . a visit to the observatory of sir isaac newton. the memory of a great and good man is imperishable. a thousand years may pass away, but the fame that has survived the wreck of time remains unsullied, and is even brighter with age. "the actions of the just smell sweet, and blossom in the dust." in an age of progress like our own we have frequently to regret the destruction (sometimes necessary) of places associated with the genius of the past; but in the case of sir isaac newton we have several relics existing, none of which, perhaps, are more interesting than the house in which he resided, still standing in st. martin's street, on the south side of leicester square. the engravings of the interior and exterior of this building have been made from drawings made on the spot. the house was long occupied as an hotel for foreigners, and was kept by a m. pagliano. in it was devoted to the purposes of education. the observatory, which is at the top, and where sir isaac newton made his astronomical researches, was left in a dilapidated condition until , when two gentlemen, belonging to a committee of the school, had it repaired at their own expense, and wrote a brief memoir of the philosopher, which was placed in the observatory, with a portrait of him. [illustration: interior of sir isaac newton's observatory.] [illustration: house of sir isaac newton, st. martin's street, leicester square.] in this house sir isaac newton resided for many years; and it was here, according to his biographer, that he dispensed, under the superintendence of his beautiful niece, an elegant hospitality. our sketch gives a good idea of the appearance of the exterior of the house at the present day; the front, it will be seen, has been well plastered, which, although clean and pleasant-looking to some eyes, seems to us to destroy the character of the building. the old doorway, with a projecting top, has also been removed. the interior of the house is in excellent repair, and has undergone very little change. the cornices, panelling, and the spacious staircase, are not altered since the days of newton. the rooms are very large. tradition states it was in the back drawing-room that the manuscript of his work, the "new theory of light and colours," was destroyed by fire, caused by a favourite little dog in sir isaac's absence. the name of this canine incendiary was diamond. the manner in which the accident occurred is thus related:--the animal was wantoning about the philosopher's study, when it knocked down a candle, and set fire to a heap of manuscript calculations upon which he had been employed for years. the loss was irretrievable; but sir isaac only exclaimed with simplicity, "ah, diamond, diamond, you little know what mischief you have been doing!" passing upstairs, and looking slightly at the various rooms, which are all well panelled, but which do not require particular notice, we reached the little observatory shown in the engraving. there, in the room in which sir isaac has quietly studied, and in which he may have held conferences with the most distinguished of his contemporaries, we found two shoemakers busily at work, with whom we had some pleasant conversation. our artist has represented the interior of the observatory, with its laborious occupants, worthy sons of st. crispin. shoemakers are well known to be a thoughtful class of men, although sometimes they unfortunately do not make the best use of their knowledge. brand, the historian and author of the excellent book on "popular antiquities," was at one time a shoemaker; so was bloomfield, the poet, who, when working at the "last" in bell alley, near the bank, strung together the charming recollection of his plough-boy life. we could give a long list of shoemakers who have been eminent for talents. we have not the exact date at which newton came to reside here, but certainly he was living in this house, at intervals, after , when he was appointed warder of the mint, of which establishment he rose to be master in the course of three years. the emoluments of this office amounted to £ a-year, which enabled him to live in ease and dignity. in he was chosen president of the royal society--an honourable post, to which he was annually elected until the time of his death. poisoning the monarch. an idea of the popular notions about poisoning in the middle of the seventeenth century, may be formed from the following extract from an old tract, published in , with the title of "papa patris, or the pope in his colours":--"anno dom: ; one edward squire, sometimes a scrivener at grenewich, afterwards a deputy purveyor for the queene's stable, in sir francis drake's last voyage was taken prisoner and carried into spaine, and being set at liberty, one walpole, a jesuite, grew acquainted with him, and got him into the inquisition, whence he returned a resolved papist, he persuaded squire to undertake to poyson the pummell of the queene (elizabeth's) saddle, and, to make him constant, made squire receive the sacrament upon it; he then gave him the poyson, showing that he should take it in a double bladder, and should prick the bladder full of hoales in the upper part, when he should use it (carrying it within a thick glove for the safety of his hand) should after turne it downward, pressing the bladder upon the pummell of the queene's saddle. this squire confest. squire is now in spaine, and for his safer dispatch into england it was devised that two spanish prisoners taken at cales should be exchanged for squire and one rawles, that it might not be thought that squire came over but as a redeemed captive. the munday sennight after squire returned into england, he, understanding the horses were preparing for the queene's riding abroad, laid his hand, and crushed the poyson upon the pummell of the queene's saddle, saying, 'god save the queene,' the queene rode abroad, and as it should seem laid not her hand upon the place, or els received no hurt (through god's goodnesse) by touching it. walpole, counting the thing as done, imparted it to some principall fugitives there, but being disappointed of his hope, supposing squire to have been false, to be revenged on him sent one hither (who should pretend to have stolne from thence) with letters, wherein the plot of squires was contained; this letter was pretended to be stolne out of one of their studies. squire, being apprehended, confessed all without any rigor, but after denied that he put it in execution, although he acknowledged he consented to it in the plot, at length he confessed the putting it in execution also." grinning for a wager. _june , ._--on whit-tuesday was celebrated at hendon, in middlesex, a burlesque imitation of the olympic games. one prize was a gold-laced hat, to be grinned for by six candidates, who were placed on a platform, with horses' collars to exhibit through. over their heads was printed in capitals,-- detur tetriori; or the ugliest grinner shall be the winner. each party grinned five minutes _solus_, and then all united in a grand _chorus_ of distortion. this prize was carried by a porter to a _vinegar_ merchant, though he was accused by his competitors of foul play, for rinsing his mouth with _verjuice_. the whole was concluded by a hog, with has tail shaved and soaped, being let loose among nine peasants; any one of which that could seize him by the _queue_, and throw him across his shoulders, was to have him for a reward. this occasioned much sport: the animal, after running some miles, so tired his hunters that they gave up the chase in despair. a prodigious concourse of people attended, among whom were the tripoline ambassador, and several other persons of distinction. bite of the tarantula spider. a neapolitan soldier who had been bitten by a tarantula, though apparently cured, suffered from an annual attack of delirium, after which he used to sink into a state of profound melancholy; his face becoming livid, his sight obscure, his power of breathing checked, accompanied by sighs and heavings. sometimes he fell senseless, and devoid of pulsation; ejecting blood from his nose and mouth, and apparently dying. recourse was had to the influence of music; and the patient began to revive at the sound, his hands marking the measure, and the feet being similarly affected. suddenly rising and laying hold of a bystander, he began to dance with the greatest agility during an uninterrupted course of four-and-twenty hours. his strength was supported by administering to him wine, milk, and fresh eggs. if he appeared to relapse, the music was repeated, on which he resumed his dancing. this unfortunate being used to fall prostrate if the music accidentally stopped, and imagine that the tarantula had again stung him. after a few years he died, in one of these annual attacks of delirium. bygone christmas customs. ------------"now, too, is heard the hapless cripple, tuning through the streets his _carol_ new; and oft, amid the gloom of midnight hours, prevail th' accustom'd sounds of wakeful _waits_, whose harmony (composed of hautboy, organ, violin, and flute, and various other instruments of mirth), is meant to celebrate the coming time." [illustration: the mummers, or ancient waits.] the manner in which this period of the year has been observed has often varied. the observances of the day first became to be pretty general in the catholic church about the year . by some of our ancestors it was viewed in the double light of a religious and joyful season of festivities. the midnight preceding christmas-day every person went to mass, and on christmas-day three different masses were sung with much solemnity. others celebrated it with great parade, splendour, and conviviality. business was superseded by merriment and hospitality; the most careworn countenance brightened on the occasion. the nobles and the barons encouraged and participated in the various sports: the industrious labourer's cot, and the residence of proud royalty, equally resounded with tumultuous joy. from christmas-day to twelfth-day there was a continued run of entertainments. not only did our ancestors make great rejoicings on, but before and after christmas-day. by a law in the time of alfred, the "twelve days after the nativity of our saviour were made festivals;"[ ] and it likewise appears from bishop holt, that the whole of the days were dedicated to feasting. [ ] thus we have the origin of twelfth-day. our ancestors' various amusements were conducted by a sort of master of the ceremonies, called the "lord of misrule," whose duty it was to keep order during the celebration of the different sports and pastimes. the universities, the lord mayor and sheriffs, and all noblemen and gentlemen, had their "lords of misrule." these "lords" were first preached against at cambridge by the puritans, in the reign of james i., as unbecoming the gravity of the university. [illustration: the lord of misrule.] the custom of serving boars' heads at christmas bears an ancient date, and much ceremony and parade has been occasionally attached to it. henry ii. "served his son (upon the young prince's coronation) at the table as server, bringing up the _boar's head_ with trumpets before it." the custom of strolling from street to street with musical instruments and singing seems to have originated from a very ancient practice which prevailed, of certain minstrels who were attached to the king's court and other great persons, who paraded the streets, and sounded the hour--thus acting as a sort of watchmen. some slight remains of these still exist, but they no longer partake of the authoritative claim as they originally did, as the "lord mayor's music," &c. it may not, perhaps, be generally known, that even at the present day "waits" are regularly sworn before the "court of burgesses" at westminster, and act under the authority of a warrant, signed by the clerk, and sealed with the arms of the city and liberty; in addition to which, they were bound to provide themselves with a silver badge, also bearing the arms of westminster. in the north they have their _yule log_, or _yuletide log_, which is a huge log burning in the chimney corner, whilst the yule cakes are baked on a "girdle," (a kind of frying-pan) over the fire; little lads and maidens assemble nightly at some neighbouring friends to hear the goblin story, and join in "fortune-telling," or some game. there is a part of an old song which runs thus: "now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke. and _christmas logs_ are burning; their ovens they with baked meate choke, and all their spits are turning." among the plants usual to christmas are the rosemary, the holly, and the mistletoe. gay says: "when _rosemary_ and _bays_, the poet's crown, are bawled in frequent cries through all the town, then judge the festival of christmas near-- christmas, the joyous period of the year. now with bright _holly_ all your temples strow, with _laurel_ green and sacred _mistletoe_." a merman. "the wind being easterly, we had thirty fathoms of water, when at ten o'clock in the morning a sea monster like a man appeared near our ship, first on the larboard, where the master was, whose name is william lomone, who took a grappling iron to pull him up; but our captain, named oliver morin, hindered him, being afraid that the monster would drag him away into the sea. the said lomone struck him on the back, to make him turn about, that he might view him the better. the monster, being struck, showed his face, having his two hands closed as if he had expressed some anger. afterwards he went round the ship: when he was at the stern, he took hold of the helm with both hands, and we were obliged to make it fast lest he should damage it. from thence he proceeded to the starboard, swimming still as men do. when he came to the forepart of the ship, he viewed for some time the figure that was in our prow, which represented a beautiful woman, and then he rose out of the water as if he had been willing to catch that figure. all this happened in the sight of the whole crew. afterwards he came again to the larboard, where they presented to him a cod-fish hanging down with a rope; he handled it without spoiling it, and then removed the length of a cable and came again to the stern, where he took hold of the helm a second time. at that very moment, captain morin got a harping-iron ready, and took it himself to strike him with it; but the cordage being entangled, he missed his aim, and the harping-iron touched only the monster, who turned about, showing his face, as he had done before. afterwards he came again to the fore part, and viewed again the figure in our prow. the mate called for the harping-iron; but he was frightened, fancying that this monster was one la commune, who had killed himself in the ship the year before, and had been thrown into the sea in the same passage. he was contented to push his back with the harping-iron, and then the monster showed his face, as he had done at other times. afterwards he came along the board, so that one might have given him the hand. he had the boldness to take a rope held up by john mazier and john deffiete, who being willing to pluck it out of his hands, drew him to our board; but he fell into the water and then removed at the distance of a gun's shot. he came again immediately near our board, and rising out of the water to the navel, we observed that his breast was as large as that of a woman of the best plight. he turned upon his back and appeared to be a male. afterwards he swam again round the ship, and then went away, and we have never seen him since. i believe that from ten o'clock till twelve that this monster was along our board; if the crew had not been frighted, he might have been taken many times with the hand, being only two feet distant. that monster is about eight feet long, his skin is brown and tawny, without any scales, all his motions are like those of men, the eyes of a proportionable size, a little mouth, a large and flat nose, very white teeth, black hair, the chin covered with a mossy beard, a sort of whiskers under the nose, the ears like those of men, fins between the fingers of his hands and feet like those of ducks. in a word, he is a well-shaped man. which is certified to be true by captain oliver morin, and john martin, pilot, and by the whole crew, consisting of two and thirty men."--_an article from brest, in the memoirs of trevoux._--this monster was mentioned in the gazette of amsterdam, october , , where it is said it was seen in the ocean in august, same year. a shaved bear. at bristol i saw a shaved monkey shown for a fairy; and a shaved bear, in a check waistcoat and trousers, sitting in a great chair as an ethiopian savage. this was the most cruel fraud i ever saw. the unnatural position of the beast, and the damnable brutality of the woman-keeper who sat upon his knee, put her arm round his neck, called him husband and sweet-heart, and kissed him, made it the most disgusting spectacle i ever witnessed! cottle was with me.--_southey._ the origin of wigs. as for the origin of wigs, the honour of the invention is attributed to the luxurious sapygians in southern italy. the louvain theologians, who published a french version of the bible, affected, however, to discover the first mention of perukes in a passage in the fourth chapter of isaiah. the vulgate has these words: "decalvabit dominus verticem filiarum sion, et dominus crinem earum nudabit." this, the louvain gentlemen translated into french as follows: "le seigneur déchèvelera les têtes des filles de sion, et le seigneur découvrira leurs perruques;" which, done into english, implies that "the lord will pluck the hair from the heads of the daughters of sion, and will expose their periwigs." dress in . [illustration: [++] maccaronies.] the year introduced a new style for gentlemen, imported by a number of young men of fashion who had travelled into italy, and formed an association called the maccaroni club, in contradistinction to the beef-steak club of london. hence these new-fashioned dandies were styled maccaronies, a name that was afterwards applied to ladies of the same genus. the accompanying cut delineates the peculiarities of both. the hair of the gentleman was dressed in an enormous toupee, with very large curls at the sides; while behind it was gathered and tied up into an enormous club, or knot, that rested on the back of the neck like a porter's knot; upon this an exceedingly small hat was worn, which was sometimes lifted from the head with the cane, generally very long, and decorated with extremely large silk tassels; a full white handkerchief was tied in a large bow round the neck; frills from the shirt-front projected from the top of the waistcoat, which was much shortened, reaching very little below the waist, and being without the flap-covered pockets. the coat was also short, reaching only to the hips, fitting closely, having a small turn-over collar as now worn; it was edged with lace or braid, or decorated with frog-buttons, tassels, or embroidery; the breeches were tight, of spotted or striped silk, with enormous bunches of strings at the knee. a watch was carried in each pocket, from which hung bunches of chains and seals: silk stockings and small shoes with little diamond buckles completed the gentleman's dress. the ladies decorated their heads much like the gentlemen, with a most enormous heap of hair, which was frequently surmounted by plumes of large feathers and bunches of flowers, until the head seemed to overbalance the body. the gown was open in front; hoops were discarded except in full-dress; and the gown gradually spread outward from the waist, and trailed upon the ground behind, shewing the rich laced petticoat ornamented with flowers and needlework; the sleeves widened to the elbow, where a succession of ruffles and lappets, each wider than the other, hung down below the hips. christmas observances put down by the puritans. during the commonwealth, when puritanical feelings held iron sway over the rulers of the land, and rode rampant in high places, many strong attempts were made to put down what they were pleased to term superstitious festivals, and amongst these was that of christmas day. so determined was the puritan party to sweep away all vestiges of evil creeds and evil deeds, that they were resolved to make one grand attempt upon the time-honoured season of christmas. the holly and the mistletoe-bough were to be cut up root and branch, as plants of the evil one. cakes and ale were held to be impious libations to superstition; and the roundheads would have none of it. [illustration: proclaiming the non-observance of christmas.] accordingly, we learn that, in the year , the cromwell party ordered throughout the principal towns and cities of the country, by the mouth of the common crier, that christmas day should no longer be observed--it being a superstitious and hurtful custom; and that in place thereof, and the more effectually to work a change, markets should be held on the th day of december. this was attacking the people, especially the country folks, in their most sensitive part. it was hardly to be expected that they would quietly submit to such a bereavement; nor did they, as the still-existing "news-letters" of those days amply testify. the manner of watchmen intimating the clock at herrenhuth in germany. viii. past eight o'clock! o, herrenhuth, do thou ponder; eight souls in noah's ark were living yonder. ix. 'tis nine o'clock! ye brethren, hear it striking; keep hearts and houses clean, to our saviour's liking. x. now, brethren, hear, the clock is ten and passing; none rest but such as wait for christ embracing. xi. eleven is past! still at this hour eleven, the lord is calling us from earth to heaven. xii. ye brethren, hear, the midnight clock is humming; at midnight, our great bridegroom will be coming. i. past one o'clock; the day breaks out of darkness: great morning-star appear, and break our hardness! ii. 'tis two! on jesus wait this silent season, ye two so near related, will and reason. iii. the clock is three! the blessed three doth merit the best of praise, from body, soul, and spirit. iv. 'tis four o'clock, when three make supplication, the lord will be the fourth on that occasion. v. five is the clock! five virgins were discarded, when five with wedding garments were rewarded. vi. the clock is six, and i go off my station; now, brethren, _watch yourselves for your salvation_. a dog extinguishing a fire. on the evening of the st february, , the shop of mr. coxon, chandler, at the folly, sandgate, in newcastle, was left in charge of his daughter, about nine years of age, and a large mastiff, which is generally kept there as a safeguard since an attempt was made to rob the shop. the child had on a straw bonnet lined with silk, which took fire from coming too near the candle. she endeavoured to pull it off, but being tied, she could not effect her purpose, and in her terror shrieked out, on which the mastiff instantly sprang to her assistance, and with mouth and paws completely smothered out the flame by pressing the bonnet together. the lining of the bonnet and the child's hair only were burnt. cambridge clods. about sixty years since, two characters, equally singular in their way, resided at cambridge: paris, a well-known bookseller, and jackson, a bookbinder, and principal bass-singer at trinity college chapel in that university; these two gentlemen, who were both remarkably corpulent, were such small consumers in the article of bread, that their abstemiousness in that particular was generally noticed; but, to make amends, they gave way to the greatest excess and indulgence of their appetites in meat, poultry, and fish, of almost every description. so one day, having taken an excursion, in walking a few miles from home, they were overtaken by hunger, and, on entering a public-house, the only provision they could procure was a clod of beef, weighing near fourteen pounds, which had been a day or two in salt; and this these two moderate bread consumers contrived to manage between them broiled, assisted by a due proportion of buttered potatoes and pickles. the landlord of the house, having some knowledge of his guests, the story got into circulation, and the two worthies were ever after denominated the cambridge clods! witch-testing at newcastle in . march .--mention occurs of a petition in the common council books of newcastle, of this date, and signed, no doubt, by the inhabitants, concerning witches, the purport of which appears, from what followed, to have been to cause all such persons as were suspected of that crime to be apprehended and brought to trial. in consequence of this, the magistrates sent two of their sergeants, viz.--thomas shevill and cuthbert nicholson, into scotland, to agree with a scotchman, who pretended knowledge to find out witches, by pricking them with pins, to come to newcastle, where he should try such who should be brought to him, and to have twenty shillings a piece, for all he should condemn as witches, and free passage thither and back again. when the sergeants had brought the said witch-finder on horseback to town, the magistrates sent their bellman through the town, ringing his bell and crying, all people that would bring in any complaint against any woman for a witch, they should be sent for, and tried by the person appointed. thirty women were brought into the town-hall, and stripped, and then openly had pins thrust into their bodies, and most of them were found guilty. the said reputed witch-finder acquainted lieutenant-colonel paul hobson, deputy-governor of newcastle, that he knew women whether they were witches or no by their looks; and when the said person was searching of a personable and good-like woman, the said colonel replied, and said, surely this woman is none, and need not be tried, but the scotchman said she was, and, therefore, he would try her; and presently, in the sight of all the people, laid her body naked to the waist, with her cloathes over her head, by which fright and shame all her blood contracted into one part of her body, and then he ran a pin into her thigh, and then suddenly let her cloathes fall, and then demanded whether she had nothing of his in her body, but did not bleed! but she being amazed, replied little; then he put his hands up her cloathes and pulled out the pin, and set her aside as a guilty person, and child of the devil, and fell to try others, whom he made guilty. lieutenant-colonel hobson, perceiving the alteration of the aforesaid woman, by her blood settling in her right parts, caused that woman to be brought again, and her cloathes pulled up to her thigh, and required the scot to run the pin into the same place, and then it gushed out of blood, and the said scot cleared her, and said she was not a child of the devil. the witch-finder set aside twenty-seven out of the thirty suspected persons, and in consequence, fourteen witches and one wizard, belonging to newcastle, were executed on the town moor. alexander selkirk and the dancing goats. the adventures of alexander selkirk, an english sailor, who, more than one hundred and fifty years since, was left alone on the island of juan fernandez are very wonderful. this extraordinary man sought to beguile his solitude by rearing kids, and he would often sing to them, and dance with his motley group around him. his clothes having worn out, he dressed himself in garments made from the skins of such as run wild about the island; these he sewed together with thongs of the same material. his only needle was a long slender nail; and when his knife was no longer available, he made an admirable substitute from an iron hoop that was cast ashore. [illustration: [++] alexander selkirk.] upon the wonderful sojourn of this man, defoe founded his exquisite tale of "robinson crusoe," a narrative more extensively read and better known than perhaps any other ever written. jacob bobart. a curious anecdote of jacob bobart, keeper of the physic garden at oxford, occurs in one of grey's notes to _hudibras_--"he made a dead rat resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which, distended the skin on each side till it resembled wings. he let it dry as hard as possible. the learned immediately pronounced it a dragon; and one of them sent an accurate description of it to dr. magliabecchi, librarian to the grand duke of tuscany; several fine copies of verses were wrote on so rare a subject; but at last mr. bobart owned the cheat. however, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of the art; and, as such, deposited in the museum." blind jack. [illustration: [++] blind jack.] the streets of london, in the reigns of queen anne and georges i. and ii., were infested with all sorts of paupers, vagabonds, impostors, and common adventurers; and many, who otherwise might be considered real objects of charity, by their disgusting manners and general appearance in public places, rather merited the interference of the parish beadles, and the discipline of bridewell, than the countenance and encouragement of such persons as mostly congregated around common street exhibitions. one-eyed granny and blind jack were particular nuisances to the neighbourhoods in which the first practised her mad-drunk gambols, and the latter his beastly manner of performing on the flageolet. john keiling, alias _blind jack_, having the misfortune to lose his sight, thought of a strange method to insure himself a livelihood. he was constitutionally a hale, robust fellow, without any complaint, saving blindness, and having learnt to play a little on the flageolet, he conceived a notion that, by performing on that instrument in a different way to that generally practised, he should render himself more noticed by the public, and be able to levy larger contributions on their pockets. the manner of _blind jack's_ playing the flageolet was by obtruding the mouthpiece of the instrument up one of his nostrils, and, by long custom, he could produce as much wind as most others with their lips into the pipe; but the continued contortion and gesticulation of his muscles and countenance rendered him an object of derision and disgust, as much as that of charity and commiseration. the yorkshire tike. ah iz i truth a country youth, neean us'd teea lunnon fashions; yet vartue guides, an' still presides, ower all mah steps an' passions. neea coortly leear, bud all sincere, neea bribe shall ivver blinnd me, if thoo can like a yorkshire tike, a rooague thoo'll nivver finnd me. thof envy's tung, seea slimlee hung, wad lee aboot oor country, neea men o' t' eearth booast greter wurth, or mare extend ther boounty. oor northern breeze wi' uz agrees, an' does for wark weel fit uz; i' public cares, an' all affairs, wi' honour we acquit uz. seea gret a moind is ne'er confiand, tu onny shire or nation; they geean meeast praise weea weel displays a leearned iddicasion. whahl rancour rolls i' lahtle souls, by shallo views dissarning, they're nobbut wise 'at awlus prize gud manners, sense, and leearnin. two of the fathers on false hair. tertullian says, "if you will not fling away your false hair, as hateful to heaven, cannot i make it hateful to yourselves, by reminding you that the false hair you wear may have come not only from a criminal, but from a very dirty head; perhaps from the head of one already damned?" this was a very hard hit indeed; but it was not nearly so clever a stroke at wigs as that dealt by clemens of alexandria. the latter informed the astounded wig-wearers, when they knelt at church to receive the blessing, that they must be good enough to recollect that the benediction remained on the wig, and did not pass through to the wearer! this was a stumbling-block to the people; many of whom, however, retained the peruke, and took their chance as to the percolating through it of the benediction. food of animals. linnæus states the cow to eat plants, and to refuse ; the goat eats , and declines ; the sheep takes , and rejects ; the horse likes , and avoids ; but the hog, more nice in its provision than any of the former, eats but plants, and rejects . slave advertisements. the following announcements are curious, as showing the merchandise light in which the negro was regarded in america while yet a colony of great britain:-- _francis lewis, has for sale_, a choice parcel of muscovado and powder sugars, in hogsheads, tierces, and barrels; ravens, duck, and a negro woman and negro boy.--the coach-house and stables, with or without the garden spot, formerly the property of joseph murray, esq; in the broad way, to be let separately or together:--inquire of said francis lewis. _new york gazette_, apr. , . * * * * * this day run away from _john m' comb_, junier, an indian woman, about years of age, pitted in the face, of a middle stature and indifferent fatt, having on her a drugat, wastcoat, and kersey petticoat, of a light collour. if any person or persons, shall bring the said girle to her said master, shall be rewarded for their trouble to their content. _american weekly mercury_, may , . * * * * * a female negro child (of an extraordinary good breed) to be given away; inquire of edes and gill. _boston gazette_, feb. , . * * * * * _to be sold, for want of employ._ a likely negro fellow, about years of age, he is an extraordinary good cook, and understands setting or tending a table very well, likewise all kind of house work, such as washing, scouring, scrubbing, &c. also a negro wench his wife, about years old, born in this city, and understands all sorts of house work. for farther particulars inquire of the printer. _new york gazette_, mar. , . preservative power of coal-pit water. the following is extracted from the register of st. andrew's, in newcastle:--"april th, , wear buried, james archer and his son stephen, who, in the moneth of may, , were drowned in a coal-pit in the galla-flat, by the breaking in of water from an old waste. the bodys were found intire, after they had lyen in the water years and months." the queen bee. reaumur relates the following anecdote of which he was a witness:--a queen bee, and some of her attendants, were apparently drowned in a brook. he took them out of the water, and found that neither the queen bee, nor her attendants were quite dead. reaumur exposed them to a gentle heat, by which they were revived. the plebeian bees recovered first. the moment they saw signs of animation in their queen, they approached her, and bestowed upon her all the care in their power, licking and rubbing her; and when the queen had acquired sufficient force to move, they hummed aloud, as if in triumph! dream of king henry i. a singular dream, which happened to this monarch when passing over to normandy in , has been depicted in a manuscript of florence of worcester, in corpus christi college, oxford. the rapacity and oppressive taxation of his government, and the reflection forced on him by his own unpopular measures, may have originated the vision. he imagined himself to have been visited by the representatives of the three most important grades of society--the husbandmen, the knights, and the clergy--who gathered round his bed, and so fearfully menaced him, that he awoke in great alarm, and, seizing his sword, loudly called for his attendants. the drawings that accompany this narrative, and represent each of these visions, appear to have been executed shortly afterwards, and are valuable illustrations of the general costume of the period. one of them is introduced in this place. [illustration: [++] king henry i. dreaming.] the king is here seen sleeping; behind him stand three husbandmen, one carrying a scythe, another a pitchfork, and the third a shovel. they are each dressed in simple tunics, without girdles, with plain close-fitting sleeves; the central one has a mantle fastened by a plain brooch, leaving the right arm free. the beards of two of these figures are as ample as those of their lords, this being an article of fashionable indulgence within their means. the one with the scythe wears a hat not unlike the felt hat still worn by his descendants in the same grade: the scroll in his left hand is merely placed there to contain the words he is supposed to utter to the king. sepulchral barrow of the anglo-saxons. the engraving on the next page is copied from a plate in douglas's _neniæ_ and represents one of the most ancient of the kentish barrows opened by him in the chatham lines, sept. ; and it will enable the reader at once to understand the structure of these early graves, and the interesting nature of their contents. the outer circle marks the extent of the mound covering the body, and which varied considerably in elevation, sometimes being but a few inches or a couple of feet from the level of the ground, at others of a gigantic structure. in the centre of the mound, and at the depth of a few feet from the surface, an oblong rectangular grave is cut, the space between that and the outer circle being filled in with chalk, broken into small bits, and deposited carefully and firmly around and over the grave. the grave contained the body of a male adult, tall and well-proportioned, holding in his right hand a spear, the shaft of which was of wood, and had perished, leaving only the iron head, inches in length, and at the bottom a flat iron stud (_a_), having, a small pin in the centre, which would appear to have been driven into the bottom of the spear-handle; an iron knife lay by the right side, with remains of the original handle of wood. adhering to its under side were very discernible impressions of coarse linen cloth, showing that the warrior was buried in full costume. an iron sword is on the left side, thirty-five and a quarter inches in its entire length, from the point to the bottom of the handle, which is all in one piece, the wood-work which covered the handle having perished; the blade thirty inches in length and two in breadth, flat, double-edged, and sharp-pointed, a great portion of wood covering the blade, which indicates that it was buried with a scabbard, the external covering being of leather, the internal of wood. a leathern strap passed round the waist, from which hung the knife and sword, and which was secured by the brass buckle (_b_), which was found near the last bone of the vertebræ, or close to the os sacrum. between the thigh-bones lay the iron umbo of a shield, which had been fastened by studs of iron, four of which were found near it, the face and reverse of one being represented at (_c_.) a thin plate of iron (_d_), four and a half inches in length, lay exactly under the centre of the umbo, having two rivets at the end, between which and the umbo were the remnants of the original wooden (and perhaps hide-bound) shield; the rivets of the umbo having apparently passed through the wood to this plate as its bracer or stay. in a recess at the feet was placed a vase of red earth, slightly ornamented round the neck with concentric circles and zigzag lines. [illustration: [++] anglo-saxon sepulchral barrow.] an old gander. willoughby states in his work on ornithology, that a friend of his possessed a gander eighty years of age; which in the end became so ferocious that they were forced to kill it, in consequence of the havock it committed in the barn-yard. he also talks of a swan three centuries old; and several celebrated parrots are said to have attained from one hundred to one hundred and fifty years. extraordinary sleeper. m. brady, physician to prince charles of lorraine, gives the following particulars of an extraordinary sleeper:-- "a woman, named elizabeth alton, of a healthful strong constitution, who had been servant to the curate of st. guilain, near the town of mons, about the beginning of the year , when she was about thirty-six years of age grew extremely restless and melancholy. in the month of august, in the same year, she fell into a sleep which held four days, notwithstanding all possible endeavours to awake her. at length she awoke naturally, but became more restless and uneasy than before; for six or seven days, however, she resumed her usual employments, until she fell asleep again, which continued eighteen hours. from that time to the year , which is fifteen years, she fell asleep daily about three o'clock in the morning, without waking until about eight or nine at night. in indeed her sleep returned to the natural periods for four months, and, in , a tertian ague prevented her sleeping for three weeks. on february , , m. brady, with a surgeon, went to see her. about five o'clock in the evening, they found her pulse extremely regular; on taking hold of her arm it was so rigid, that it was not bent without much trouble. they then attempted to lift up her head, but her neck and back were as stiff as her arms. he hallooed in her ear as loud as his voice could reach; he thrust a needle into her flesh up to the bone; he put a piece of rag to her nose flaming with spirits of wine, and let it burn some time, yet all without being able to disturb her in the least. at length, in about six hours and a half, her limbs began to relax; in eight hours she turned herself in the bed, and then suddenly raised herself up, sat down by the fire, ate heartily, and began to spin. at other times, they whipped her till the blood came; they rubbed her back with honey, and then exposed it to the stings of bees; they thrust nails under her finger-nails; and it seems these triers of experiments consulted more the gratifying their own curiosity than the recovery of the unhappy object of the malady." a fat englishman. keysler, in his travels, speaks of a corpulent englishman, who in passing through savoy, was obliged to make use of twelve chairmen. he is said to have weighed five hundred and fifty pounds, or thirty-nine stone four pounds. a happy family. a gentleman travelling through mecklenburg, some years since, witnessed a singular association of incongruous animals. after dinner, the landlord of the inn placed on the floor a large dish of soup, and gave a loud whistle. immediately there came into the room a mastiff, an angora cat, an old raven, and a remarkably large rat, with a bell about its neck. they all four went to the dish, and, without disturbing each other, fed together; after which the dog, cat, and rat, lay before the fire, while the raven hopped about the room. the landlord, after accounting for the familiarity of these animals, informed his guest that the rat was the most useful of the four; for the noise he made had completely freed his house from the rats and mice with which it was before infested. ancient fire-arms in the tower of london armory. we have just now before us a drawing of an old piece of ordnance, formed of bars of iron, strongly hooped with the same material, which forms a striking contrast with the finely-wrought cannons which may be seen in store at woolwich arsenal, and elsewhere, at the present day. the exact date and manner of the introduction of cannon is a matter which has caused much dispute. the earliest mention of the use of cannon on shipboard is in rymer's "foedera." it is an order to henry somer, keeper of the private wardrobe in the tower, to deliver to mr. goveney, treasurer to queen philippa, queen of sweeden, denmark, and norway, (who was then sent by her uncle, henry the fourth, to her husband, in the ship called the queen's hall,) the following military stores: guns, petras pro gunnes, tumpers, torches, mallet, fire-pans, pavys, bows, sheaves of arrows. after the old cannon composed of bars of iron, hooped together, had been some time in use, hand-cannon, a simple tube fixed on a straight stake, was used in warfare, charged with gunpowder and an iron bullet. this was made with trunnions and casabel precisely like the large cannon. in course of time, the touch-hole was improved, and the barrel cast in brass. this, fixed to a rod, had much the appearance of a large sky-rocket. what is now called the stock was originally called the frame of the gun. various improvements were from time to time made in the hand-gun, amongst which was a pan fixed for containing the touch-powder. in rainy weather, this became a receptacle for water; to obviate which, a small piece of brass made to turn on a pin was placed as a cover. this done, there was a difficulty in preserving the aim in consequence of the liability of the eye to be diverted from the sight by the motion of the right hand when conveying the lighted match to the priming. this was, to a certain extent, prevented by a piece of brass being fixed to the breech and perforated. the improved plan for holding the lighted match for firing the hand-guns is shown in the engraving of the buckler and pistol; it consists of a thin piece of metal something in shape of an s reversed, the upper part slit to hold the match, the lower pushed up by the hand when entended to ignite the powder. after the invention of the hand-cannon, its use became general in a very short space of time in most parts of the civilized world. philip de comines, in his account of the battle of morat, in , says he encountered in the confederate army , _arquebusiers_. the arquebusiers in hans burgmain's plates of the "triumph of maximilian the first," have suspended from their necks large powder flasks or horns, a bullet bag on the right hip, and a sword on the left, while they carry the matchlock in their hands. henry the eighth's walking-stick, as the yeomen of guard at the tower call it, is a short spiked mace, in the head of which are three short guns or pistols, which may be fired at very primitive touch-holes by a match. the revolver has four barrels, and although clumsy in construction, is not very different in principles from those recently introduced. [illustration: . henry the eighth's walking-stick. . a revolver of the fifteenth century. . buckler, with pistol inserted.] the use of the pistol inserted inside the buckler is obvious as the latter affords protection to the person while using the former. wigs. [illustration: [++] wigs.] in the maccaronies, as the exquisites of that time were called, wore wigs similar to , , , with a large toupee, noticed as early as , in the play of the _modern husband_: "i meet with nothing but a parcel of _toupet_ coxcombs, who plaster up their brains upon their periwigs," alluding to the pometum with which they were covered. those worn by the ladies in are given as , showing the rows of curls at the sides. the pig-tails were worn hanging down the back, or tied up in a knot behind, as in . about the hair which formed it was allowed to stream in a long lock down the back, as in , and soon afterwards was turned up in a knot behind. towards the end of the century, the wig, as a general and indispensable article of attire to young and old, went out of fashion. a false find. at falmouth, some years ago, the sexton found coal in digging a grave; he concluded it must be a mine, and ran with the news and the specimen to the clergyman. the surgeon explained that they had stolen a french prisoner who died, and filled his coffin with coal that the bearers might not discover its emptiness. bells. as far back as the anglo-saxon times, before the conclusion of the seventh century, bells had been in use in the churches of this country, particularly in the monastic societies of northumbria; and were, therefore, in use from the first erection of parish churches among us. those of france and england appear to have been furnished with several bells. in the time of clothaire ii., king of france, and in the year , the army of that king was frightened from the siege of the city of sens, by ringing the bells of st. stephen's church. they were sometimes composed of iron in france; and in england, as formerly at rome, they were frequently made of brass. and as early as the ninth century many were cast of a large size and deep note. weever, in his work on funeral monuments, says--"in the little sanctuary at westminster, king edward iii., erected a clochier, and placed therein three bells, for the use of st. stephen's chapel. about the biggest of them were cast in the metal these words:-- "king edward made mee thirty thousand weight and three; take me down and wey mee, and more you shall find mee." "but these bells being taken down in the reign of henry viii., one wrote underneath with a coal:-- "but henry the eight, will bait me of my weight." this last distich alludes to a fact mentioned by stow, in his survey of london--ward of farringdon within to wit--that near to st. paul's school stood a clochier, in which were four bells, called _jesus' bells_, the greatest in all england, against which sir miles partridge staked an hundred pounds, and won them of henry viii., at a cast of dice. matthew paris observes, that anciently the use of bells was prohibited in time of mourning. mabillon adds, that it was an old practice to ring the bells for persons about to expire, to advertise the people to pray for them--whence our passing-bell. the passing-bell, indeed, was anciently for two purposes--one to bespeak the prayers of all good christians for a soul just departing; the other to drive away the evil spirits who were supposed to stand at the bed's foot. this dislike of spirits to bells is mentioned in the golden legend, by wynkyn de worde. "it is said, evill spirytes that ben in the regyon of thayre, doubte moche when they here the belles rongen; and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen when it thondreth, and when grete tempeste and outrages of wether happen; to the ende that the fiends and wycked spirytes shold be abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of tempeste." another author observes, that the custom of ringing bells at the approach of thunder is of some antiquity; but that the design was not so much to shake the air, and so dissipate the thunder, as to call the people to church, to pray that the parish might be preserved from the terrible effect of lightning. warner, in his history of hampshire, enumerates the virtues of a bell, by translating the lines from the "helpe to discourse:-- "men's death's i tell by doleful knell; lightning and thunder i break asunder. on sabbath all to church i call; the sleepy head i raise from bed; the winds so fierce i doe disperse; men's cruel rage i doe assuage." [illustration: the curfew bell.] four of the bells of the ancient abbey of hexham were dedicated or baptised; and although the old bells no longer exist, the legends upon the whole six have been preserved, and a free translation given by mr. wright, is as follows:-- . even at our earliest sound, the light of god is spread around. . at the echo of my voice, ocean, earth and air, rejoice. . blend thy mellow tones with mine, silver voice of catherine! . till time on ruin's lap shall nod. john shall sound the praise of god. . with john in heavenly harmony, andrew, pour thy melody. . be mine to chant jehovah's fame, while maria is my name. these epigraphs or legends on bells, are not uncommon. the rev. w. c. lukis, in his notices on church bells, read at the wilts archæological meeting, gave the following instances:-- at aldbourne, on the first bell, we read, "the gift of jos. pizzie and wm. gwynn. "music and ringing we like so well, and for that reason we gave this bell." on the fourth bell is,-- "humphry symsin gave xx pound to buy this bell, and the parish gave xx more to make this ring go well." a not uncommon epigraph is,-- "come when i call to serve god all." at chilton foliatt, on the tenor, is,-- "into the church the living i call, and to the grave i summon all. attend the instruction which i give, that so you may for ever live." at devizes, st. mary, on the first bell, is,-- "i am the first, altho' but small. i will be heard above you all." and on the second bell is,-- "i am the second in this ring, therefore next to thee i will sing." which, at broadchalk, is thus varied:-- "i in this place am second bell, i'll surely do my part as well." on the third bell at coln is,-- "robert forman collected the money for casting this bell of well-disposed people, as i do you tell." at bath abbey, on the tenth bell, is,-- "all you of bath that hear me sound, thank lady hopton's hundred pound." on the fifth bell at amesbury is,-- "be strong in faith, praise god well, frances countess hertford's bell." and, on the tenor,-- "altho' it be unto my loss, i hope you will consider my cost." at stowe, northamptonshire, and at st. mary the virgin, oxford, we find,-- "be it known to all that doth me see, that newcombe, of leicester, made me." at st. michael's, coventry, on the fourth bell, is,-- "i ring at six to let men know when to and from their work to go." on the seventh bell is,-- "i ring to sermon with a lusty bome, that all may come and none can stay at home." on the eighth bell is-- "i am and have been called the common bell to ring, when fire breaks out to tell." at st. peter's-le-bailey, oxford, four bells were sold towards finishing the tower, and in a large bell was put up, with this inscription:-- "with seven more i hope soon to be for ages joined in harmony." but this very reasonable wish has not yet been realized; whereas at st. lawrence's, reading, when two bells were added to form a peal of ten, on the second we find-- "by adding two our notes we'll raise, and sound the good subscribers' praise." the occasion of the erection of the westminster clock-tower, is said to have been as follows:--a certain poor man, in an action for debt, being fined the sum of s. d., radulphus ingham, chief justice of the king's bench, commiserating his case, caused the court roll to be erased, and the fine reduced to s. d., which being soon after discovered, ingham was amerced in a pecuniary mulct of eight hundred marks, which was employed in erecting the said bell-tower, in which was placed a bell and a clock, which, striking hourly, was to remind the judges in the hall of the offence of their brother. this bell was originally called edward; "but," says a writer in the "antiquarian repertory," "when the reformation caused st. edward and his hours to be but little regarded; as other bells were frequently called tom, as fancied to pronounce that name when stricken--that at lincoln, for instance, and that at oxford--this also followed the fashion, of which, to what i remember of it before it was hung up, i may add another proof from a catch made by the late mr. eccles, which begins-- "'hark, harry, 'tis late--'tis time to be gone, for westminster tom, by my faith, strikes one." hawkins, in his "history of music," says,--"the practice of ringing bells in change, or regular peals, is said to be peculiar to england: whence britain has been termed the _ringing island_. the custom seems to have commenced in the time of the saxons, and was common before the conquest. the ringing of bells, although a recreation chiefly of the lower sort, is, in itself, not incurious. the tolling of a bell is nothing more than the producing of a sound by a stroke of the clapper against the side of the bell, the bell itself being in a pendant position, and at rest. in ringing, the bell, by means of a wheel and a rope, is elevated to a perpendicular; in its motion, the clapper strikes forcibly on one side, and in its return downwards, on the other side of the bell, producing at each stroke a sound." there are still in london several societies of ringers. there was one called the college youths (bell-ringers, like post-boys, never seem to acquire old age). of this it is said sir matthew hale, lord chief justice of the king's bench, was, in his youthful days, a member; and in the life of that upright judge, by burnet, some facts are mentioned which favour this relation. in england the practice of ringing has been reduced to a science, and peals have been composed which bear the names of their inventors; some of the most celebrated of these were composed about fifty years ago by one patrick. this man was a maker of barometers. in the year , one abraham rudhall, of the city of gloucester, brought the art of bell-founding to great perfection. his descendants in succession have continued the business of casting bells; and by a list published by them at lady day, , the family, in peals and odd bells, had cast to the amount of , . the peals of st. dunstan's in the east, st. bride's, london, and st. martin's-in-the-fields, are among the number. the following "articles of ringing" are upon the walls of the belfry in the pleasant village of dunster, in somersetshire. they are dated :-- " . you that in ringing take delight, be pleased to draw near; these articles you must observe, if you mean to ring here. " . and first, if any overturn a bell, as that he may, he forthwith for that only fault in beer shall sixpence pay. " . if any one shall curse or swear when come within the door, he then shall forfeit for that fault as mentioned before. " . if any one shall wear his hat when he is ringing here, he straightway then shall sixpence pay in cyder or in beer. " . if any one these articles refuseth to obey, let him have nine strokes of the rope, and so depart away." bill of sale for a negro in . "know all men by these presents, that i, elizabeth treat, of boston, in the county of suffolk, widow, in consideration of the sum of £ s. d. to me in hand, paid before the ensealing hereof by samuel breck, of boston aforesaid, merchant, the receipt whereof i do hereby acknowledge, have granted, bargained, and sold, and by these presents do fully and absolutely grant, bargain, and sell unto the said samuel breck, my negro man named harry, aged about forty years, with his apparel, to have and to hold the said negro man harry, with his apparel, unto the said samuel breck, his executors, administrators, and assigns, to his and their only proper use, benefit, and behoof for ever; and i, the said elizabeth treat, for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, do covenant, that at the time of ensealing, and until the delivery hereof, i am the true and lawful owner of the said negro man, and that he is free from all former sales, charges, and incumbrances whatsoever, and that i will warrant and defend the said negro man unto the said samuel breck, his heirs, and assigns for ever, against the lawful claims and demands of all persons whomsoever. "witness my hand and seal, this tenth day of october, anno domini, one thousand seven hundred and seventy, in the tenth year of his majesty's reign. "signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of us. "thomas melville. "mary white. "elizabeth treat." the aztec children. [illustration: the aztec children, as exhibited in england.] among the animated curiosities which are occasionally exposed to the gaze of the wonder-loving public, we may prominently notice the aztec children--two singular lilliputians who were recently exhibited throughout the kingdom. maximo and bartolo (for by these names the two aztec children have been baptized) are by some medical men supposed to be of the respective ages of twenty-two and sixteen. professor owen, stated them to be ten or twelve, and seven or nine in . the height of the boy (the elder is about three feet, and the girl does not reach quite two feet six inches). their limbs, though slender, are proportionate and well formed, and the general development of their figures is remarkably graceful. the cranium is peculiar, being narrower than that of any other races of beings known to the world; and though the face is somewhat prominent, the features are regular and the countenances agreeable, and, after a short acquaintance, highly interesting. each has a beautiful head of jet black hair, which flows gracefully in curls. they are lively and intelligent, showing considerable aptitude for mental training, and have already learned to give utterance to several expressions which can be readily understood by visitors. since the arrival of these prodigies from the united states, they have been the objects of curious ethnological speculations. dr. latham does not consider them as a new species of the _genus homo_. professor owen regards them as instances of impeded development, and dr. conolly was struck with their resemblance to idiots. notices to tar and feather. the original handbills of the committee for tarring and feathering subjoined, are of singular interest, as they were the earliest emanations of the spirit that led to england's losing her american colonies, and the consequent rise of the united states:-- _to the delaware pilots._ the regard we have for your characters, and our desire to promote your future peace and safety, are the occasion of this third address to you. in our second letter we acquainted you, that the tea ship was a three decker; we are now informed by good authority, she is not a three decker, but an _old black ship_, _without a head_, or _any ornaments_. the _captain_ is a _short fat_ fellow, and a little _obstinate_ withal.--so much the worse for him.--for, so sure as he _rides rusty_, we shall heave him keel out, and see that his bottom be well fired, scrubb'd and paid.--his upper-works too, will have an overhawling--and as it is said, he has a good deal of _quick work_ about him, we will take particular care that such part of him undergoes a thorough rummaging. we have a still _worse account of his owner_;--for it is said, the ship polly was bought by him on purpose, to make a penny of us: and that _he_ and captain _ayres_ were well advised, of the risque they would run, in thus daring to insult and abuse us. _captain ayres_ was here in the time of the stamp-act, and ought to have known our people better, than to have expected we would be so mean as to suffer his _rotten_ tea to be funnel'd down our throats, with the _parliament's duty_ mixed with it. we know him well, and have calculated to a gill and a feather, how much it will require to fit him for an _american exhibition_. and we hope, not one of your body will behave so ill, as to oblige us to clap him in the cart along side of the _captain_. we must repeat, that the ship polly is an _old black ship_, of about two hundred and fifty tons burthen, _without a head_, and _without ornaments_,--and, that captain ayres is a _thick chunky fellow_.--as such, take care to avoid them. your old friends, the committee for tarring and feathering. _philadelphia, december , ._ _to capt. ayres, of the ship polly, on a voyage from london to philadelphia._ sir, we are informed that you have, imprudently, taken charge of a quantity of tea; which has been sent out by the _india_ company, _under the auspices of the ministry_, as a trial of _american_ virtue and resolution. now, as your cargo, on your arrival here, will most assuredly bring you into hot water; and as you are perhaps a stranger _to these parts_, we have concluded to advise you of the present situation of affairs in _philadelphia_--that, taking time by the forelock, you may stop short in your dangerous errand--secure your ship against the rafts of combustible matter which may be set on fire, and turned loose against her: and more than all this, that you may preserve your own person, from the pitch and feathers that are prepared for you. in the first place, we must tell you, that the _pennsylvanians_ are, _to a man_, passionately fond of freedom; the birthright of _americans_; and at all events are determined to enjoy it. that they sincerely believe, no power on the face of the earth has a right to tax them without their consent. that in their opinion, the tea in your custody is designed by the ministry to enforce such a tax, which they will undoubtedly oppose; and in so doing, give you every possible obstruction. we are nominated to a very disagreeable, but necessary service.--to our care are committed all offenders against the rights of _america_; and hapless is he, whose evil destiny has doomed him to suffer at our hands. you are sent out on a diabolical service; and if you are so foolish and obstinate as to compleat your voyage; by bringing your ship to anchor in this port; you may run such a gauntlet, as will induce you, in your last moments, most heartily to curse those who have made you the dupe of their avarice and ambition. what think you captain, of a halter around your neck--ten gallons of liquid tar decanted on your pate--with the feathers of a dozen wild geese laid over that to enliven your appearance? only think seriously of this--and fly to the place from whence you came--fly without hesitation--without the formality of a protest--and above all, captain _ayres_ let us advise you to fly without the wild geese feathers. your friends _to serve_ the committee _as before subscribed_. _philadelphia, nov. , ._ b. franklin's celebrated letter to strahan. as a sequel to the foregoing notices, we give dr. franklin's celebrated letter, written in the actual heat of the first outbreak. philadelphia, july , . mr. strahan,--you are a member of parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. you have begun to burn our towns, and murder our people. look upon your hands! they are stained with the blood of your relations! you and i were long friends; you are now my enemy, and i am, yours, b. franklin. henry ii. stript when dead. . immediately upon his death, those that were about him applied their market so busilie in catching and filching awaie things that laie readie for them, that the king's corps laie naked a long time, till a child covered the nether parts of his body with a short cloke, and then it seemed that his surname was fulfilled that he had from his childhood, which was shortmantell, being so called, because he was the first who brought short clokes out of anjou into england. transplantation of hair. the signor dottore domenico nardo addressed a letter to the academy of padua, in , on the subject of the growth of hair after death, and even after its separation from the body. the latter property had been previously observed by krafft. the signor nardo recounts the results of experiments made on his own person in the transplantation of hair, and relates, that by transplanting quickly a hair, with its root, from a pore of his head, into a pore of his chest, easily to be accomplished by widening the pore somewhat with the point of a needle, introducing the root with nicety, and exciting within the pore itself, by friction, a slight degree of inflammation, the hair takes root, continues to vegetate, and grows; in due season changes colour, becomes white, and falls. ancient cannon raised from the sea. a fisherman of calais some time since, drew up a cannon, of very ancient form, from the bottom of the sea, by means of his nets. m. de rheims has since removed the rust from it, and on taking off the breech was much surprised to find the piece still charged. specimens of the powder have been taken, from which, of course, all the saltpetre has disappeared after a submersion of three centuries. the ball was of lead, and was not oxidized to a depth greater than that of a line. coffee-house attractions in . the great attraction of don saltero's coffee-house was its collection of rarities, a catalogue of which was published as a guide to the visitors. it comprehends almost every description of curiosity, natural and artificial. "tigers' tusks; the pope's candle; the skeleton of a guinea-pig; a fly-cap monkey; a piece of the true cross; the four evangelists' heads cut on a cherry-stone; the king of morocco's tobacco-pipe; mary queen of scot's pincushion; queen elizabeth's prayer-book; a pair of nun's stockings; job's ears, which grew on a tree; a frog in a tobacco-stopper;" and five hundred more odd relics! the don had a rival, as appears by "a catalogue of the rarities to be seen at adams's, at the royal swan, in kingsland road, leading from shoreditch church, ." mr. adams exhibited, for the entertainment of the curious, "miss jenny cameron's shoes; adam's eldest daughter's hat; the heart of the famous bess adams, that was hanged at tyburn with lawyer carr, january , - ; sir walter raleigh's tobacco-pipe; vicar of bray's clogs; engine to shell green pease with; teeth that grew in a fish's belly; black jack's ribs; the very comb that abraham combed his son isaac and jacob's head with; wat tyler's spurs; rope that cured captain lowry of the head-ach, ear-ach, tooth-ach and belly-ach; adam's key of the fore and back door of the garden of eden, &c., &c." these are only a few out of five hundred others equally marvellous. a woman takes the lighted match from a bomb. during the siege of gibraltar, in , the count d'artois came to st. roch, to visit the place and works. while his highness was inspecting the lines, in company with the duke de crillon, they both alighted with their suite, and all lay flat upon the ground, to avoid the effects of a bomb that fell near a part of the barracks where a frenchwoman had a canteen. this woman, who had two children in her arms at the time, rushed forth with them, and having seated herself, with the utmost _sang-froid_, on the bomb-shell, she put out the match, thus extricating from danger all that were around her, many of whom witnessed this courageous and devoted act. his highness rewarded this intrepid female by bestowing on her a pension of three francs a day, and engaged to promote her husband after the siege; while the duke de crillon, imitating the generous example of the prince, ensured to her likewise a daily payment of five francs. the summers magnet, or loadstone. [illustration: [++] summers magnet.] among the great naval officers of elizabeth's reign must be ranked sir george summers, the discoverer of the bermudas, often called the summers islands from that circumstance. here is a representation given of what the descendants of sir george summers call the "summers magnet, or loadstone." it is in the possession of peter franklin bellamy, esq., surgeon, second son of dr. bellamy, of plymouth. the tradition in the family is that the admiral before going to sea used to touch his needle with it. the stone is dark-coloured, the precise geological formation doubtful. this curious stone, with armature of iron, was probably an ancient talisman. swallowing lizards. bertholin, the learned swedish doctor, relates strange anecdotes of lizards, toads, and frogs; stating that a woman, thirty years of age, being thirsty, drank plentifully of water at a pond. at the end of a few months, she experienced singular movements in her stomach, as if something were crawling up and down; and alarmed by the sensation, consulted a medical man, who prescribed a dose of orvietan in a decoction of fumitory. shortly afterwards, the irritation of the stomach increasing, she vomited three toads and two young lizards, after which, she became more at ease. in the spring following, however, her irritation of the stomach was renewed; and aloes and bezoar being administered, she vomited three female frogs, followed the next day by their numerous progeny. in the month of january following, she vomited five more living frogs, and in the course of seven years ejected as many as eighty. dr. bertholin protests that he heard them croak in her stomach! immense sea serpent. a species of sea-serpent was thrown on shore near bombay in . it was about forty feet long, and must have weighed many tons. a violent gale of wind threw it high above the reach of ordinary tides, in which situation it took nine months to rot; during which process travellers were obliged to change the direction of the road for nearly a quarter of a mile, to avoid the offensive effluvia. it rotted so completely that not a vestige of bone remained. the royal touch. for many ages one of the regal prerogatives in this country was to touch for the cure of _regius morbus_, or scrofula; a disease too well known to need any description. at different periods hundreds of persons assembled from all parts of the country annually to receive the royal interposition. lists of the afflicted were published, to afford a criterion for determining as to its success; and from edward the confessor to the reign of queen anne, its efficacy appears to have obtained a ready and general belief. the ceremony was announced by public proclamations; one of which we copy from "the newes," of the th of may, . "his sacred majesty" (charles ii.) "having declared it to be his royal will and purpose to continue the healing of his people for the evil during the month of may, and then to give over until michaelmas next, i am commanded to give notice thereof, that the people may not come up to town in the interim, and lose their labour." an extract from the "mercurius politicus" affords additional information. "saturday," says that paper, "being appointed by his majesty to touch such as were troubled with the evil, a great company of poor afflicted creatures were met together, many brought in chairs and flaskets, and being appointed by his majesty to repair to the banqueting-house, his majesty sat in a chair of state, where he stroked all that were brought unto him, and then put about each of their necks a white ribbon, with an angel of gold on it. in this manner his majesty stroked above six hundred; and such was his princely patience and tenderness to the poor afflicted creatures, that, though it took up a very long time, his majesty, who is never weary of well-doing, was pleased to make inquiry whether there were any more who had not yet been touched. after prayers were ended, the duke of buckingham brought a towel, and the earl of pembroke a basin and ewer, who, after they had made obeisance to his majesty, kneeled down, till his majesty had washed." this sovereign is said to have touched nearly one hundred thousand patients. with queen anne the practice was discontinued. but so late as the th of february, , little more than two years before her death, the following proclamation appeared in the "gazette":--"it being her majesty's royal intention to touch for the evil on wednesday, the th of march next, and so to continue weekly during lent, it is her majesty's command that tickets be delivered the day before at the office in whitehall; and that all persons shall bring a certificate signed by the minister and churchwardens of their respective parishes, that they have never received the royal touch." dr. johnson, when an infant, was brought, with others, for this purpose; "and when questioned upon the subject, confessed he had a faint recollection of an old lady with something black about her head." a religious service, of which dr. heylin, prebendary of westminster, in his "examen historicum," has given us the particulars, accompanied the ceremony; which, as a document of pious interest, we transcribe:--"the first gospel is the same as that on the ascension-day, mark xvi. , to the end. at the touching of every infirm person these words are repeated: 'they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover.' the second gospel begins with the first of st. john, and ends a these words: (john i. :) 'full of grace and truth.' at the putting the angel about their necks were repeated, 'that light was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' "'lord, have mercy upon us.' "'christ have mercy upon us.' "'lord have mercy upon us. our father, &c.' "'_minister._--o lord, save thy servants:' "'_response._--which put their trust in thee.' "'_m._--send unto them help from above:' "'_r._--and ever more defend them.' "'_m._--help us, o god, our saviour!' "'_r._--and for the glory of thy name sake deliver us: be merciful unto us, sinners, for thy name sake!' "'_m._--o lord, hear our prayer:' "'_r._--and let our cry come unto thee.' "'_the collect._--almighty god, the eternal health of all such as put their trust in thee, hear us, we beseech thee, on the behalf of these thy servants, for whom we call for thy merciful help; that they receiving health, may give thanks unto thee in thy holy church, through jesus christ our lord! amen.' "'the peace of god,' &c." peg tankards. the pegging, or marking the drinking cups, was introduced by st. dunstan, to check the intemperate habits of the times, by preventing one man from taking a larger draught than his companions. but the device proved the means of increasing the evil it was intended to remedy; for, refining upon dunstan's plan, the most abstemious were required to drink precisely to a peg or pin, whether they could soberly take such a quantity of liquor or not. to the use of such cups may be traced the origin of many of our popular phrases. when a person is much elated, we still say, "he is in a merry pin;" and, "he is a peg too low," when he is not in good spirits. on the same principle we talk of "taking a man down a peg," when we would check forwardness. norman caps. there is nothing more amusing to the traveller on the continent, than to observe the extraordinary variety of those head-appendages, many of them heirlooms for generations in some families, all more or less prized according to the richness of materials employed upon them, and the peculiarity of shape. there is no article of dress more important to the _normande_, whatever may be her means, than the cap which so jauntily and triumphantly asserts the dignity of the wearer. the wives of fermières who can afford such luxuries as expensive lace and trimmings, spend a little income in the decoration of their caps. many cost upwards of three thousand francs for the materials and manufacture; and these, as we have before observed, are handed from mother to daughter through successive years, and are highly prized. [illustration: [++] norman caps.] in the primitive villages of normandy, on some holidays, it is a pleasing sight to see the dense army of caps, with flaps fanning the air, and following the gesticulatory movements of their talkative and volatile owners. when the weather is doubtful, the cap-wearers take care to be provided with a red umbrella of a clumsy construction, remarkably heavy, and somewhat similar, perhaps, to the original with which jonas hanway braved the jeers of a london populace in first introducing it. north american indian war despatch. the following is a _facsimile_ of a gazette of a tribe of north american indians, who assisted the french forces in canada, during the war between france and england:-- [illustration: [++] gazette of north american indians.] _explanation of the gazette, giving an account of one of their expeditions. the following divisions explain those on the plate, as referred to by the numbers_:-- . each of these figures represents the number ten. they all signify, that times , or american indians, took up the hatchet, or declared war, in favour of the french, which is represented by the hatchet placed over the arms of france. . they departed from montreal--represented by the bird just taking wing from the top of a mountain. the moon and the buck show the time to have been in the first quarter of the buck-moon, answering to july. . they went by water--signified by the canoe. the number of huts, such as they raise to pass the night in, shows they were days on their passage. . then they came on shore, and travelled seven days by land--represented by the foot and the seven huts. . when they arrived near the habitations of their enemies, at sunrise--shown by the sun being to the eastward of them, beginning, as they think, its daily course, there they lay in wait three days--represented by the hand pointing, and the three huts. . after which, they surprised their enemies, in number times , or . the man asleep shows how they surprised them, and the hole in the top of the building is supposed to signify that they broke into some of their habitations in that manner. . they killed with the club eleven of their enemies, and took five prisoners. the former represented by the club and the eleven heads, the latter by the figures on the little pedestals. . they lost nine of their own men in the action--represented by the nine heads within the bow, which is the emblem of honour among the americans, but had none taken prisoners--a circumstance they lay great weight on, shown by all the pedestals being empty. . the heads of the arrows, pointing opposite ways, represent the battle. . the heads of the arrows all pointing the same way, signify the flight of the enemy. receipts from albertus magnus. _if thou wylt make a carbuckle stone, or a thyng shyning in the nyght._--take verye many of the lyttle beastes shyninge by nyghte, and put them beaten smale in a bottel of glasse, and close it, and burye it in hoate horses doung, and let it tarye xv dayes, afterwarde thou shalte destyll water of them peralembicum, which thou shalt put in a vessel of christal or glasse. it giueth so great clearnesse, that euery man may reade and write in a darke place where it is. some men make this water of the gall of a snale, the gal of a wesel, the gall of a feret, and of a water dogge: they burie them in doung and destyll water out of them. _if thou wylt see that other men can not see._--take the gall of a male cat, and the fat of a hen all whyte, and mixe them together, and anoint thy eyes, and thou shalt see it that others cannot see. if the hart, eye, or brayne of a lapwyng or blacke plover be hanged vpon a mans necke it is profitable agaynste forgetfulnesse, and sharpeth mans vnderstanding.--"_albertus magnus._" _black letter: very old._ advertisement of roast pig in . "on tuesday next, being shrove tuesday, there will be a fine _hog barbyqu'd_ whole, at the house of peter brett, at the rising sun, in islington road, with other diversions.--_note._ it is the house where the ox was roasted whole at christmas last." a hog barbecu'd is a west indian term, and means a hog roasted whole, stuffed with spice, and basted with madeira wine. oldfield, an eminent glutton of former days, gormandised away a fortune of fifteen hundred pounds a-year. pope thus alludes to him,-- "oldfield, with more than harpy throat endu'd, cries, 'send me, o, gods, a whole hog _barbecu'd!_'" dying of old age at seventeen years. march th, , died, in glamorganshire, of mere old age and a gradual decay of nature, at seventeen years and two months, hopkins hopkins, the little welchman lately shown in london. he never weighed more than seventeen pounds, but for three years past no more than twelve. the parents have still six children left, all of whom no way differ from other children, except one girl of twelve years of age, who weighs only eighteen pounds, and bears upon her most of the marks of old age, and in all respects resembles her brother when at that age. "we hae been." in ayrshire there is a tradition, that the family motto of de bruce--"we have been," originated from a lady named fullarton, married to a cadet of the family of cassilis. they had been gained to favour england during the chivalrous achievements of wallace, and still continued zealous partisans of edward. before bruce avowed his purpose to emancipate his country, he came, disguised as a palmer, to acquaint himself how far he could rely on aid from the people. a storm compelled him, and a few faithful adherents, to take shelter on the coast of ayrshire. extreme darkness, and the turbulence of the billows, deprived them of all knowledge where they landed; and as, in those unhappy times, the appearance of a few strangers would create alarm, the chiefs dispersed in different directions. bruce chanced to go into the house of mr. kennedy, where the servants treated him with great reverence. the lady had gone to bed, and the prince wished they would not disturb her, but permit him to sit by the fire till day; however, one damsel had given her immediate notice of the visitor. he was ushered into her presence. she eyed him with scrutinizing earnestness. "we hae been--we hae been fause," said she, in the scottish dialect, "but a royal ee takes me back to haly loyalty. i seid ye, mes royal de bruce, i ken ye weel. we hae been baith untrue to scotland, but rest ye safe: and albiet a' that's gane, meg fullarton wad dee in your cause." origin of the penny post. the penny-post was devised in , by one mr. david murray, an upholder in paternoster row. it soon became an object of attention to government; but so low were its profits that one dockwra, who succeeded murray, had a pension of only £ a year given him in lieu of it. this occurred in . a raffle in . may . the following copy of an advertisement, in the _newcastle courant_ of this date, may be considered curious:--"on friday in the race week, being the th of may, at the assembly house, in westgate, will be raffled for, fine fans, the highest three guineas, the worst s., at half a crown per ticket. note: the lowest throw is to have the second best fan, value £ , the other according to the height of the numbers which shall be thrown. there will be an assembly after for those who raffle." a visit to the residence of dr. johnson, in inner temple lane, london. in one of the dreary, old-fashioned houses leading from the arched entrance to the temple, which almost every passenger through temple bar must have remarked, whether he is a stranger, or a resident in the metropolis, dr. johnson, who occupies one of the most distinguished positions in the literature of our country, resided for several years. [illustration: dr. johnson's residence in inner temple lane.] it was in this place that dr. johnson became acquainted with his future biographer, boswell, who thus describes their first meeting:-- "a few days afterwards i called on davies, and asked him if he thought i might take the liberty of waiting on mr. johnson at his chambers in the temple. he said i certainly might, and that mr. johnson would take it as a compliment. his chambers were on the first floor of no. , inner temple lane, and i entered them with an impression given me by the rev. dr. blair, of edinburgh, who described his having found the giant in his den. he received me very courteously; but it must be confessed, that his apartment, and furniture, and morning dress, were sufficiently uncouth. his brown suit of clothes looked very rusty; he had on a little, old, shrivelled, unpowdered wig, which was too small for his head; his shirt neck and knees of his breeches were loose, his black worsted stockings ill drawn up, and he had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way of slippers;--but all these slovenly particulars were forgotten the moment he began to talk." the "den" in which the "giant" lived, the staircase leading to it, and indeed the whole appearance of the locality, has recently undergone demolition, and its interesting features knocked down to the highest bidder, to be, let us hope, preserved in some museum or other place of safety. [illustration: old staircase in the residence of dr. johnson.] dr. johnson resided at various times in holborn, the strand, and other places, and died, as it is well known, in no. , bolt court, fleet street, in . his remains were placed in a grave under the statue of shakspere, in westminster abbey, and near the resting-place of his friend and companion, david garrick. origin of the stuff ball at lincoln. during the want of employment in the manufactories in , mrs. chaplain, of blankney, in lincolnshire, formed a patriotic institution for the encouragement of the local trade of the district. a ball was given at lincoln for the benefit of the stuff manufactory, at which ladies were admitted gratis, on their appearance in a stuff gown and petticoat, spun, wove, and finished within the county, and producing a ticket signed by the weaver and dyer at louth, one of which tickets was delivered with every twelve yards of stuff. the gentlemen were required to appear without silk or cotton in their dress, stockings excepted. the impulse thus given to trade, was of the most signal service in relieving distress, and at the same time promoting habits of industry. stevens's specific. in the reign of charles ii., dr. jonathan goddard obtained , _l._ for disclosing his secret for making a medicine, called "_guttæ anglicanæ_." and in , the parliament of england voted , _l._ to mrs. stevens for a solvent for stone. the celebrated david hartley was very instrumental in procuring this grant to joanna stevens. he obtained also a private subscription to the amount of £ , , published one hundred and fifty-five _successful_ cases, and, by way of climax to the whole, after eating _two hundred pounds weight_ of soap! david himself died of the stone. an impostor. from the testament of jerome sharp, printed in :--"i entered," says the narrator, "with one of my friends, and found a man resembling an ourang-outang crouched upon a stool in the manner of a tailor. his complexion announced a distant climate, and his keeper stated that he found him in the island of molucca. his body was bare to the hips, having a chain round the waist, seven or eight feet long, which was fastened to a pillar, and permitted him to circulate out of the reach of the spectators. his looks and gesticulations were frightful. his jaws never ceased snapping, except when sending forth discordant cries, which were said to be indicative of hunger. he swallowed flints when thrown to him, but preferred raw meat, which he rushed behind his pillar to devour. he groaned fearfully during his repast, and continued groaning until fully satiated. when unable to procure more meat, he would swallow stones with frightful avidity; which, upon examination of those which he accidentally dropped, proved to be partly dissolved by the acrid quality of his saliva. in jumping about, the undigested stones were heard rattling in his stomach." the men of science quickly set to work to account for these feats, so completely at variance with the laws of nature. before they had hit upon a theory, the pretended molucca savage was discovered to be a peasant from the neighbourhood of besançon, who chose to turn to account his natural deformities. when staining his face for the purpose, in the dread of hurting his eyes, he left the eyelids unstained, which completely puzzled the naturalists. by a clever sleight of hand, the raw meat was left behind the pillar, and cooked meat substituted in its place. some asserted his passion for eating behind the pillar to be a proof of his savage origin; most polite persons, and more especially kings, being addicted to feeding in public. the stones swallowed by the pretended savage were taken from a vessel left purposely in the room full of them; small round stones, encrusted with plaster, which afterwards gave them the appearance of having been masticated in the mouth. before the discovery of all this, the impostor had contrived to reap a plentiful harvest. peruvian bark. in , the emperor kanghi (then in the thirty-second year of his reign, and fortieth of his age) had a malignant fever, which resisted the remedies given by his physicians; the emperor recollected that tchang-tchin, (father gerbillon), and pe-tsin, (father bouret) two jesuit missionaries, had extolled to him a remedy for intermittents, brought from europe, and to which they had given the name of chin-yo (two chinese words, which signify "_divine remedies_;") and he proposed to try it, but the physicians opposed it. the emperor, however, without their knowledge took it, and with good effect. sometime afterwards, he experienced afresh several fits of an intermittent, which, though slight, made him uneasy; this led him to proclaim through the city, that any person possessed of a specific for this sort of fever, should apply without delay at the palace, where patients might also apply to get cured. some of the great officers of his household were charged to receive such remedies as might be offered, and to administer them to the patients. the europeans, tchang-tching, (gerbillon) hang-jo, (father de fontenay, jesuit) and pe-tsin, (bouret) presented themselves among others, with a certain quantity of quinquina, offered it to the grandees, and instructed them in the manner of using it. the next day it was tried on several patients, who were kept in sight, and were cured by it. the officers, or grandees who had been appointed to superintend the experiment, gave an account to the emperor of the astonishing effect of the remedy, and the monarch decided instantly on trying it himself, provided the hereditary prince gave his consent. the prince, however, not only refused, but was angry with the grandees for having spoken so favourably of a remedy, of which only one successful trial had been made; at last, after much persuasion, the prince reluctantly grants his consent, and the emperor takes the bark without hesitation, and permanently recovers. a house is given by the emperor to the europeans, who had made known the remedy, and through the means of pe-tsin (father bouret) presents were conveyed to the king of france, accompanied with the information, that the europeans (that is, the french jesuits) were in high favour.--_histoire generale de la chine, &c._ tome xi. p. , to. paris, . white cats. in a number of "loudon gardener's magazine," it is stated that white cats with blue eyes are always deaf, of which extraordinary fact there is the following confirmation in the "magazine of natural history," no. , likewise conducted by mr. loudon:--some years ago, a white cat of the persian kind (probably not a thorough-bred one), procured from lord dudley's at hindley, was kept in a family as a favourite. the animal was a female, quite white, and perfectly deaf. she produced, at various times, many litters of kittens, of which, generally, some were quite white, others more or less mottled, tabby, &c. but the extraordinary circumstance is, that of the offspring produced at one and the same birth, such as, like the mother, were entirely white, were, like her, invariably deaf; while those that had the least speck of colour on their fur, as invariably possessed the usual faculty of hearing. a woman defends a fort singly. lord kames in his "sketches of the history of man," relates an extraordinary instance of presence of mind united with courage. some iroquois in the year , attacked the fort de verchères, in canada, which belonged to the french, and had approached silently, hoping to scale the palisade, when some musket-shot forced them to retire: on their advancing a second time they were again repulsed, in wonder and amazement that they could perceive no person, excepting a woman who was seen everywhere. this was madame de verchères, who conducted herself with as much resolution and courage as if supported by a numerous garrison. the idea of storming a place wholly undefended, except by women, occasioned the iroquois to attack the fortress repeatedly, but, after two days' siege, they found it necessary to retire, lest they should be intercepted in their retreat. two years afterwards, a party of the same nation so unexpectedly made their appearance before the same fort, that a girl of fourteen, the daughter of the proprietor, had but just time to shut the gate. with this young woman there was no person whatever except one soldier, but not at all intimidated by her situation, she showed herself sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, frequently changing her dress, in order to give some appearance of a garrison, and always fired opportunely. in short, the faint-hearted iroquois once more departed without success. thus the presence of mind of this young girl was the means of saving the fort. indenture of a horse-race betwixt the earls of morton and abercorn and the lord boyde. as indicating the state of the english language amongst the nobility of scotland in , the following is curious:-- "_ane indentour of ane horse-raise betuix my lords mortoun, abercorne, and boyde._--the erle of mortoun obleissis himselff to produce george rutherfuirdis barb naig: the erle of abercorne obleissis him to produce his gray naig: my lord boyd obleissis him to produce his bay horse; upone the conditions following. thay ar to run the first thursday november nixtocum, thrie mett myleis of cowper raise in fyff. the waidger to be for euery horse ten dowbill anegellis. the foirmest horse to win the hail thretty. ilk rydare to be aucht scottis stanewecht. and the pairtie not comperaud, or refuisand to consigne the waidger, sall undergo the foirfaltour of this sowme, and that money foirfaltit salbe additt to the staik to be tane away be the wynner. forder, we declair it to be lesum to ony gentilman to produce ane horse and the lyk waidger, and thay salbe welcum. subscrybith with all our handis, at hammiltoune the fyfteine day off august . morton, abercorne, boyde." early use of chocolate. an advertisement in "the public adviser," from tuesday, june th, to tuesday, june d, , informs us that "in bishopsgate-street, in queen's-head-alley, at a frenchman's house, is an excellent west india drink, called _chocolate_, to be sold, where you may have it ready at any time, and also unmade, at reasonable rates." matthew buckinger. [illustration: [++] matthew buckinger.] of all the imperfect beings brought into the world, few can challenge, for mental and acquired endowments, any thing like a comparison to vie with this truly extraordinary little man. matthew buckinger was a native of nuremberg, in germany, where he was born, june , , without hands, feet, legs, or thighs; in short, he was little more than the trunk of a man, saving two excrescences growing from the shoulder-blades, more resembling fins of a fish than arms of a man. he was the last of nine children, by one father and mother, viz. eight sons and one daughter; after arriving at the age of maturity, from the singularity of his case, and the extraordinary abilities he possessed, he attracted the notice and attention of all persons, of whatever rank in life, to whom he was occasionally introduced. it does not appear, by any account extant, that his parents exhibited him at any time for the purposes of emolument, but that the whole of his time must have been employed in study and practice, to attain the wonderful perfection he arrived at in drawing, and his performance on various musical instruments; he played the flute, bagpipe, dulcimer, and trumpet, not in the manner of general amateurs, but in the style of a finished master. he likewise possessed great mechanical powers, and conceived the design of constructing machines to play on all sorts of musical instruments. if nature played the niggard in one respect with him she amply repaid the deficiency by endowments that those blessed with perfect limbs could seldom achieve. he greatly distinguished himself by beautiful writing, drawing coats of arms, sketches of portraits, history, landscapes, &c., most of which were executed in indian ink, with a pen, emulating in perfection the finest and most finished engraving. he was well skilled in most games of chance, nor could the most experienced gamester or juggler obtain the least advantage at any tricks, or game, with cards or dice. he used to perform before company, to whom he was exhibited, various tricks with cups and balls, corn, and living birds; and could play at skittles and ninepins with great dexterity; shave himself with perfect ease, and do many other things equally surprising in a person so deficient, and mutilated by nature. his writings and sketches of figures, landscapes, &c., were by no means uncommon, though curious; it being customary, with most persons who went to see him, to purchase something or other of his performance; and as he was always employed in writing or drawing, he carried on a very successful trade, which, together with the money he obtained by exhibiting himself, enabled him to support himself and family in a very genteel manner. the late mr. herbert, of cheshunt, in hertfordshire, editor of "ames's history of printing," had many curious specimens of buckinger's writing and drawing, the most extraordinary of which was his own portrait, exquisitely done on vellum, in which he most ingeniously contrived to insert, in the flowing curls of the wig, the th, st, th, th, th, and the th psalms, together with the lord's prayer, most beautifully and fairly written. mr. isaac herbert, son of the former, while carrying on the business of a bookseller in pall-mall, caused this portrait to be engraved, for which he paid mr. harding fifty guineas. buckinger was married four times, and had eleven children, viz., one by his first wife, three by his second, six by his third, and one by his last. one of his wives was in the habit of treating him extremely ill, frequently beating and other ways insulting him, which, for a long time, he very patiently put up with; but once his anger was so much aroused, that he sprung upon her like a fury, got her down, and buffeted her with his stumps within an inch of her life; nor would he suffer her to arise until she promised amendment in future, which it seems she prudently adopted, through fear of another thrashing. mr. buckinger was but twenty-nine inches in height, and died in . wonderful provision of nature. the insects that frequent the waters, require predaceous animals to keep them within due limits, as well as those that inhabit the earth; and the water-spider (_argyroneta aquatica_) is one of the most remarkable upon whom that office is devolved. to this end, her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the bosom of that element. she usually selects still waters for this purpose. her house is an oval cocoon, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants. in this cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey, and even appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening. it is most commonly, yet not always, under water; but its inhabitant has filled it for her respiration, which enables her to live in it. she conveys the air to it in the following manner: she usually swims on her back, when her abdomen is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears like a globe of quicksilver. with this she enters her cocoon, and displacing an equal mass of water, again ascends for a second lading, till she has sufficiently filled her house with it, so as to expel all water. how these little animals can envelope their abdomen with an air-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells, is still one of nature's mysteries that has not been explained. it is a wonderful provision, which enables an animal that breathes the atmospheric air, to fill her house with it under water, and by some secret art to clothe her body with air, as with a garment, which she can put off when it answers her purpose. this is a kind of attraction and repulsion that mocks all inquiries. stomach brush. one of the court physicians, in the reign of charles ii., invented an instrument to cleanse the stomach, and wrote a pamphlet on it; and ridiculous as a chylopoietic-scrubbing-brush may appear, it afterwards got a place among surgical instruments, and is described as the _excutor ventriculi_, or cleanser of the stomach; but the moderns not having _stomach_ for it, have transferred it to the wine merchant, who more appropriately applies it to the scouring the interior of bottles. heister gives a minute description of it, and very gravely enters on the mode and manner of using it: the patient is to drink a draught of warm water, or spirit of wine, that the mucus and foulness of the stomach may be washed off thereby: then, the brush being moistened in some convenient liquor, is to be introduced into the oesophagus, and slowly protruded into the stomach, by twisting round its wire handle. when arrived in the stomach, it is to be drawn up and down, and through the oesophagus, like the sucker in a syringe, till it be at last wholly extracted. some recommend plentiful drinking in the operation, to be continued till no more foulness is discharged. but though this contrivance is greatly extolled, and said to prolong life to a great age, especially if practiced once a week, month, or fortnight; yet, there are very few (probably, because tried by very few) instances of its happy effects. popular amusements in . in _merrie england of the olden time_, we find the following copy of a handbill announcing performances:-- by a company of english, french, and germans, at phillips's new wells, near the london spa, clerkenwell, th august, . [illustration: [++] rope dancing.] this evening, and during the summer season, will be performed several new exercises of rope-dancing, tumbling, vaulting, equilibres, ladder-dancing, and balancing, by madame kerman, sampson rogetzi, monsieur german, and monsieur dominique; with a new grand dance, called apollo and daphne, by mr. phillips, mrs. lebrune, and others; singing by mrs. phillips and mrs. jackson; likewise the extraordinary performance of herr von eeckenberg, who imitates the lark, thrush, blackbird, goldfinch, canary-bird, flageolet, and german flute; a sailor's dance by mr. phillips; and monsieur dominique flies through a hogshead, and forces both heads out. to which will be added the harlot's progress. harlequin by mr. phillips; miss kitty by mrs. phillips. also, an exact representation of the late glorious victory gained over the french by the english at the battle of dettingen, with the taking of the white household standard by the scots greys, and blowing up the bridge, and destroying and drowning most part of the french army. to begin every evening at five o'clock. every one will be admitted for a pint of wine, as usual. dancing rooms. dancing rooms were much frequented a century or so ago in london, which was then pretty well supplied with this means of recreation. we find that there were rare dancing doings at the original dancing room in the year at the _field_-end of king-street, bloomsbury, hickford's great room, panton-street, haymarket, mitre tavern, charing-cross, barber's hall, richmond assembly, lambeth wells, duke's long room, paternoster row, large assembly room at the two green lamps, near exeter change, (at the particular desire of jubilee dickey!) the large room next door to the hand and slippers, long-lane, west smithfield, lambeth wells, where a _penny wedding_, in the _scotch_ manner, was celebrated for the benefit of a young couple, old queen's head, in cock-lane, lambeth, and at mr. bell's, at the sign of the ship, in the strand, where, in , a _scotch_ wedding was kept. the bride "to be dressed without any linen; all in ribbons, and green flowers, with scotch masks. there will be three bagpipes; a band of scotch music, &c. &c. to begin precisely at two o'clock. admission, two shillings and sixpence." origin of the use of tobacco. "maister john nicot, counsellor to the kyng, beeyng embassadour for the kyng in portugall, in the yeres of our lorde, , , , wente one daye to see the prysons of the kyng of portugall, and a gentleman beeyng the keeper of the saide prisons presented hym this hearbe, as a strange plant brought from florida; the same maister nicot, hauyng caused the saide hearbe to be set in his garden, where it grewe and multiplied marveillously, was vpon a tyme aduertised, by one of his pages, that a young man, a kinne to that page, made a saye of that hearbe bruised, both the herbe and the joice together upon an ulcer whiche he had vpon his cheeke nere vnto his nose, coming of a _noli me tangere_ whiche bega to take roote already at the gristles of the nose, wherewith he founde hym self marveillously eased. therefore the said maister nicot caused the sicke yong man to be brought before hym, causing the said herbe to be continued to the sore eight or tenne daies, this saide _noli me tangere_, was vtterly extinguished and healed: and he had sent it, while this cure was a working to a certaine physition of the kyng of portugall of the moste fame, for to see the further workyng and effect of the said _nicotiane_, and sending for the same yong man at the end of tenne daies, the said phisition seeyng the uisage of the said sicke yong man certified, that the saide _noli me tangere_ was utterly extinguished, as in deede he never felt it since. within a while after, one of the cookes of the said embassadour hauyng almost cut off his thombe, with a great choppyng knife, the steward of the house of the saide gentleman ranne to the saide _nicotiane_, and dresssed him there with fyve or sixe times, and so in the ende thereof he was healed: from that time forwarde this hearbe began to bee famous throughout all _lisborne_, where the court of the kyng of portugall was at that presente, and the vertue of this saide hearbe was preached, and the people beganne to name it the ambassadour's hearbe! wherefore there came certaine daies after, a gentleman of the country, father to one of the pages of the ambassadour, who was troubled with an vlcer in his legge, hauyng had the same two yeres, and demaunded of the saide ambassadour for his hearbe, and vsing the same in suche order as is before written, at the ende of tenne or twelve daies he was healed. from that time fourth the fame of that hearbe encreased in such sorte, that manye came from all places to have that same herbe. emong all others there was a woman that had her face covered with a ringworme rooted, as though she had a visour on her face, to whom the saide l: ambassadour caused the herbe to be given her, and told how she should vse it, and at the ende of eight or tenne daies, this woman was thoroughleye healed, she came and shewed herself to the ambassadour, shewing him of her healyng. after there came a captain to presente his sonne, sick of the kinges euill to the saide l: ambassadour, for to send him into france, vnto whom there was saye made of the saide hearbe, whiche in fewe daies did beginne to shewe greate signes of healing, and finally was altogether healed of the kinges euill. the l: ambassadour seeing so great effectes proceeding of this hearbe, and hauing heard say that the lady montigny that was, dyed at saint germans, of an vlcer bredde in her breast, that did turn to a _noli me tangere_, for which there could never be remedey bee founde, and likewise that the countesse of ruffe, had sought for all the famous phisitions of that realme, for to heale her face, unto whom they could give no remedy, he thought it good to communicate the same into fraunce, and did send it to kyng fraunces the seconde; and to the queen mother, and to many other lords of the courte with the maner of governyng the same: and how to applie it vnto the said diseases, even as he had found it by experience; and chiefly to the lorde of jarnac governour of rogell, with whom the saide lorde ambassadour had great amitie for the service of the kyng. the whiche lorde of jarnac, told one daye at the queenes table, that he had caused the saide _nicotiane_ to be distilled, and caused the water to be dronke, mingled with water _euphrasie_, otherwise called eyebright, to one that was shorte breathed, and was therewith healed."--_joyfvll news ovt of the newe found worlde, &c._, .--_black letter._ ancient instruments of punishment and torture in the tower of london. there are few things among the valuable collection of antiquities preserved in the tower of london, which excite so much interest as the grim-looking objects forming the group figured in the accompanying engraving. with the executioner's axe, that long list of unfortunates who have met their fate within the walls of the tower, or on tower hill, since the time of henry viii., have been beheaded. among them may be enumerated queen anne boleyn, whom henry first presented to his people as their queen while standing with her on the tower stairs, after she had been conveyed thither from greenwich with every possible pomp. crowds of gilded barges, with gay banners waving at their sterns, then lined the stream. the noblest of the land were in the young queen's train or were waiting to receive her. loud rounds of cannon, and soft, merry strains, announced her arrival; and the burly king stepped forward to kiss her in the sight of the assembled multitude. on the same day, three short years afterwards, she was led forth to execution within the tower walls. the good sir thomas more and the chivalrous earl of surrey, lady jane grey and her young husband, the gallant raleigh, and a host of others, also perished by that sad symbol of the executioner's office. the block is said to be of less ancient date, but is known to have been used at the execution of three scotch lords--the unfortunate adherents of the pretender--a little more than a century ago. on the top part of the block, there are three distinct cuts, two of them very deep and parallel, and the other at an angle and less effective. the horrible instrument of torture called the "scavenger's daughter," was, in the "good old days," used as a means of extorting confession. the head of the culprit was passed through the circular hole at the top, and the arms through those below. the whole of this part of the machine opens in somewhat the same manner as a pair of tongs, the upper part being fixed round the neck and arms, and the semicircular irons placed on the legs. the body was then bent, and a strong iron bar was passed through the irons connected with the head and arms, and those in which the legs were placed. "the culprit would then," as one of the "beefeaters" who attends on visitors makes a point of observing, "be doubled up into very small compass, and made exceedingly uncomfortable." the bilboes need little explanation, being only a strong rod of iron, with a nob at one end, on which are two moveable hoops, for the purpose of holding the legs; these being fixed, and a heavy iron padlock put on the proper part--the wearer was said to be in a _bilboe_. instruments of this description were much used on board of ship for the purpose of securing prisoners of war. the iron collar is a persuader of a formidable description, for it weighs upwards of lbs., and is so made that it can be fixed on the neck and then locked. such a necklace would, we think, be sufficiently inconvenient; but it is rendered still more uncomfortable by sundry prickles of iron knowingly placed. the thumb-screw, also preserved in the tower, is a characteristic example of a species of torture at one time much resorted to. the engraved example has been constructed so as to press both thumbs; nevertheless, it is a convenient little instrument, which might be easily carried about in the pocket. we have met with varieties of the thumb-screw in several collections--some for the accommodation of one thumb only. in the museum of the royal antiquarian society of scotland there are some thumb-screws which are said to have been used upon the covenanters. [illustration: . the executioner's axe. . the block on which lords balmerino, lovat, &c., were beheaded. . the scavenger's daughter. . spanish bilboes. . massive iron collar for the neck. . thumb-screw.] times have changed for the better since the "scavenger's daughter," and the other matters represented, were amongst the mildest of the methods used for the purposes of punishment and intimidation. the stocks, the public whipping-posts, boilings, and burnings in smithfield and elsewhere, the exhibition of dead men's heads over gateways, the boot, the rack, the pillory, the practice of making men eat their own books in cheapside, drawing on hurdles to the place of execution, and then hanging, drawing, and quartering, chopping off hands and ears, and other revolting punishments, have gone out of use, and it is gratifying to know that we are all the better for it. a beau brummell of the th century. [illustration: [++] picture of an english anticke.] this very curious representation of a first-rate exquisite is copied from a very rare broadside, printed in , and styled _the picture of an english anticke, with a list of his ridiculous habits and apish gestures_. the engraving is a well-executed copperplate, and the description beneath is a brief recapitulation of his costume: from which we learn that he wears a tall hat, with a bunch of riband on one side, and a feather on the other; his face spotted with patches; two love-locks, one on each side of his head, which hang upon his bosom, and are tied at the ends with silk riband in bows. his beard on the upper lip encompassing his mouth; his band or collar edged with lace, and tied with band-strings, secured by a ring; a tight vest, partly open and short in the skirts, between which and his breeches his shirt protruded. his cloak was carried over his arm. his breeches were ornamented by "many dozen of points at the knees, and above them, on either side, were two great bunches of riband of several colours." his legs were incased in "boot-hose tops, tied about the middle of the calf, as long as a pair of shirt-sleeves, double at the ends like a ruff-band; the tops of his boots very large, fringed with lace, and turned down as low as his spurres, which gingled like the bells of a morrice-dancer as he walked;" the "feet of his boots were two inches too long." in his right hand he carried a stick, which he "played with" as he "straddled" along the streets "singing." praying for revenge. in north wales, when a person supposes himself highly injured, it is not uncommon for him to go to some church dedicated to a celebrated saint, as llan elian in anglesea, and clynog in carnarvonshire, and there to offer his enemy. he kneels down on his bare knees in the church, and offering a piece of money to the saint, calls down curses and misfortunes upon the offender and his family for generations to come; in the most firm belief that the imprecations will be fulfilled. sometimes they repair to a sacred well instead of a church. a female sampson: from a handbill. september th, , was shown at bartholomew fair, "the strongest woman in europe, the celebrated french female hercules, madame gobert, who will lift with her teeth a table five feet long and three feet wide, with several persons seated upon it; also carry thirty-six weights, fifty-six pounds each, equal to , lbs., and will disengage herself from them without any assistance; will carry a barrel containing bottles; also an anvil lbs. weight, on which they will forge with four hammers at the time she supports it on her stomach; she will also lift with her hair the same anvil, swing it from the ground, and suspend it in that position to the astonishment of every beholder; will take up a chair by the hind stave with her teeth, and throw it over her head, ten feet from her body. her travelling caravan, (weighing two tons,) on its road from harwich to leominster, owing to the neglect of the driver, and badness of the road, sunk in the mud, nearly up to the box of the wheels; the two horses being unable to extricate it she descended, and, with apparent ease, disengaged the caravan from its situation, without any assistance whatever." trees that grow shirts. "we saw on the slope of the cerra dnida," says m. humboldt, "shirt trees, fifty feet high. the indians cut off cylindrical pieces two feet in diameter, from which they peel the red and fibrous bark, without making any longitudinal incision. this bark affords them a sort of garment which resembles a sack of a very coarse texture, and without a seam. the upper opening serves for the head, and two lateral holes are cut to admit the arms. the natives wear these shirts of marina in the rainy season; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of cotton which are so common in new grenada, at quito, and in peru. as in this climate the riches and beneficence of nature are regarded as the primary causes of the indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries do not fail to say in showing the shirts of marina, 'in the forests of oroonoko, garments are found ready made upon the trees.'" a female ventriloquist. a female ventriloquist, named barbara jacobi, narrowly escaped being burnt at the stake in , at haarlem, where she was an inmate of the public hospital. the curious daily resorted thither to hear her hold & dialogue with an imaginary personage with whom she conversed as if concealed behind the curtains of her bed. this individual, whom she called joachim, and to whom she addressed a thousand ludicrous questions, which he answered in the same familiar strain, was for some time supposed to be a confederate. but when the bystanders attempted to search for him behind the curtains, his voice instantly reproached them with their curiosity from the opposite corner of the room. as barbara jacobi had contrived to make herself familiar with all the gossip of the city of haarlem, the revelations of the pretended familiar were such as to cause considerable embarrassment to those who beset her with impertinent questions. calmuc opinion of lightning. the calmucs hold the lightning to be the fire spit out of the mouth of a dragon, ridden and scourged by evil dæmons, and the thunder they make to be his roarings. the heading of the expiring pennsylvania journal. journalism has had its trials and difficulties in england as well as in america; but we do not remember to have ever seen a more quaint last number, than the subjoined _facsimile_ exhibits:-- [illustration: the times are dreadful dismal, doleful dolorous, and dollar-less. an emblem of the effect of the stamp of the fatal stamp adieu adieu to the liberty of the press thursday, october . numb. the pennsylvania journal; and weekly advertiser. expiring: in hopes of a resurrection to life again. i am sorry to be obliged to acquaint my readers, that as the stamp-act, is fear'd to be obligatory upon us after the _first of november_ ensuing, (the _fatal to-morrow_) the publisher of this paper unable to bear the burthen, has thought it expedient to stop awhile, in order to deliberate, whether any methods can be found to elude the chains forged for us, and escape the insupportable slavery; which it is hoped, from the last representations now made against the act, may be effected. mean while, i must earnestly request every individual of my subscribers, many of whom have been long behind hand, that they would immediately discharge their respective arrers, that i may be able, not only to support myself during the interval, but be better prepared to proceed again with this paper, whenever an opening for that purpose appears, which i hope will be soon. william bradford.] nostrums. unsuccessful gamesters used formerly to make a knot in their linen, of late years they have contented themselves with changing their chair as a remedy against ill-luck. as a security against cowardice, it was once only necessary to wear a pin plucked from the winding sheet of a corpse. to insure a prosperous accouchement to your wife, you had but to tie her girdle to a bell and ring it three times. to get rid of warts, you were to fold up in a rag as many peas as you had warts, and throw them upon the high road; when the unlucky person who picked them up became your substitute. in the present day, to cure a toothache, you go to your dentist. in the olden time you would have solicited alms in honour of st. lawrence, and been relieved without cost or pain. precocious children. baillet mentions one hundred and sixty-three children endowed with extraordinary talents, among whom few arrived at an advanced age. the two sons of quintilian, so vaunted by their father, did not reach their tenth year. hermogenes, who, at the age of fifteen, taught rhetoric to marcus aurelius, who triumphed over the most celebrated rhetoricians of greece, did not die, but at twenty-four, lost his faculties, and forgot all he had previously acquired. pica di mirandola died at thirty-two; johannes secundus at twenty-five; having at the age of fifteen composed admirable greek and latin verses, and become profoundly versed in jurisprudence and letters. pascal, whose genius developed itself at ten years old, did not attain the third of a century. in , a child was born at lubeck, named henri heinekem, whose precocity was miraculous. at ten months of age, he spoke distinctly; at twelve, learnt the pentateuch by rote, and at fourteen months, was perfectly acquainted with the old and new testaments. at two years of age, he was as familiar with ancient history as the most erudite authors of antiquity. sanson and danville only could compete with him in geographical knowledge; cicero would have thought him an "alter ego," on hearing him converse in latin; and in modern languages he was equally proficient. this wonderful child was unfortunately carried off in his fourth year. according to a popular proverb--"the sword wore out the sheath." effect of music on a pigeon. bingley gives a singular anecdote of the effect of music on a pigeon, as related by john lockman, in some reflections concerning operas, prefixed to his musical drama of rosalinda. he was staying at a friend's house, whose daughter was a fine performer on the harpsichord, and observed a pigeon, which, whenever the young lady played the song of "speri-si," in handel's opera of admetus (and this only), would descend from an adjacent dove-house to the room-window where she sat, and listen to it apparently with the most pleasing emotions; and when the song was finished it always returned immediately to the dove-house. power of fascination in snakes. some animals are held in universal dread by others, and not the least terrible is the effect produced by the rattle-snake. mr. pennant says, that this snake will frequently lie at the bottom of a tree, on which a squirrel is seated. he fixes his eyes on the animal, and from that moment it cannot escape: it begins a doleful outcry, which is so well known that a passer by, on hearing it, immediately knows that a snake is present. the squirrel runs up the tree a little way, comes down again, then goes up and afterwards comes still lower. the snake continues at the bottom of the tree, with his eyes fixed on the squirrel, and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a person accidentally approaching may make a considerable noise, without so much as the snake's turning about. the squirrel comes lower, and at last leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is already distended for its reception. le vaillant confirms this fascinating terror, by a scene he witnessed. he saw on the branch of a tree a species of shrike trembling as if in convulsions, and at the distance of nearly four feet, on another branch, a large species of snake, that was lying with outstretched neck and fiery eyes, gazing steadily at the poor animal. the agony of the bird was so great that it was deprived of the power of moving away, and when one of the party killed the snake, it was found dead upon the spot--and that entirely from fear--for, on examination, it appeared not to have received the slightest wound. the same traveller adds, that a short time afterwards he observed a small mouse in similar agonizing convulsions, about two yards from a snake, whose eyes were intently fixed upon it; and on frightening away the reptile, and taking up the mouse, it expired in his hand. second sight. about the year , the marvellous history of a portuguese woman set the whole world of science into confusion, as will be found by referring to the "mercure de france." this female was said to possess the gift of discovering treasures. without any other aid than the keen penetration of her eyes, she was able to distinguish the different strata of earth, and pronounce unerringly upon the utmost distances at a single glance. her eye penetrated through every substance, even the human body; and she could discern the mechanism, and circulation of all animal fluids, and detect latent diseases; although less skilful than the animal magnetisers, she did not affect to point out infallible remedies. ladies could learn from her the sex of their forthcoming progeny. the king of portugal, greatly at a loss for water in his newly built palace, consulted her; and after a glance at the spot, she pointed out an abundant spring, upon which his majesty rewarded her with a pension, the order of christ, and a patent of nobility. in the exercise of her miraculous powers, certain preliminaries were indispensable. she was obliged to observe a rigid fast; indigestion, or the most trifling derangement of the stomach, suspending the marvellous powers of her visual organs. the men of science of the day were of course confounded by such prodigies. but instead of questioning the woman, they consulted the works of their predecessors; not forgetting the inevitable aristotle. by dint of much research, they found a letter from huygens asserting that there was a prisoner of war at antwerp, who could see through stuffs of the thickest texture provided they were not red. the wonderful man was cited in confirmation of the wonderful woman, and _vice versâ_. character indicated by the ears. according to aristotle, large ears are indicative of imbecility; while small ones announce madness. ears which are flat, point out the rustic and brutal man. those of the fairest promise, are firm and of middling size. happy the man who boasts of square ears; a sure indication of sublimity of soul and purity of life. such, according to suetonius, were the ears of the emperor augustus. groaning boards. groaning boards were the wonder in london in . an elm plank was exhibited to the king, which, being touched by a hot iron, invariably produced a sound resembling deep groans. at the bowman tavern, in drury lane, the mantel-piece did the same so well that it was supposed to be part of the same elm-tree; and the dresser at the queen's arm tavern, st. martin le grand, was found to possess the same quality. strange times when such things were deemed wonderful; even to meriting exhibition before the monarch. ancient ploughing and threshing. the ancient plough was light, the draught comparatively easy; but then the very lightness required that the ploughman should lean upon it with his whole weight, or else it would glide over the soil without making a single furrow. "unless," said pliny, "the ploughman stoop forward, to press down the plough, as well as to conduct it, truly it will turn aside." [illustration: ancient mode of ploughing.] oxen were anciently employed in threshing corn, and the same custom is still retained in egypt and the east. this operation is effected by trampling upon the sheaves, and by dragging a clumsy machine, furnished with three rollers that turn on their axles. a wooden chair is attached to the machine, and on this a driver seats himself, urging his oxen backwards and forwards among the sheaves, which have previously been thrown into a heap of about eight feet wide and two in height. the grain thus beaten out, is collected in an open place, and shaken against the wind by an attendant, with a small shovel, or, as it is termed, a winnowing fan, which disperses the chaff and leaves the grain uninjured:-- "thus, with autumnal harvests covered o'er, and thick bestrewn, lies ceres' sacred floor; while round and round, with never-wearied pain, the trampling steers beat out th' unnumber'd grain." homer. horace further tells us, that the threshing floor was mostly a smooth space, surrounded with mud walls, having a barn or garner on one side; occasionally an open field, outside the walls, was selected for this purpose, yet uniformly before the town or city gates. such was the void place wherein the king of israel, and jehoshaphat, king of judah, sat each of them on his throne, clothed in his robes, at the entering in of the gate of samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. in the marginal reading we are informed, that this void space was no other than a threshing floor; and truly the area was well adapted for such an assemblage, being equally suited to accommodate the two kings and their attendants, and to separate them from the populace. [illustration: oxen threshing corn.] eastern ploughshares were of a lighter make than ours, and those who notice the shortness and substance of ancient weapons, among such as are preserved in museums, will understand how readily they might be applied to agricultural uses. frost fairs. in - , the thames was completely frozen over below london-bridge. booths were erected on the ice; and puppet-shows, wild beasts, bear-baiting, turnabouts, pigs and sheep roasted, exhibited the various amusements of bartholomew fair multiplied and improved. from putney-bridge down to redriff was one continued scene of jollity during this seven weeks' saturnalia. the last frost fair was celebrated in the year . the frost commenced on th december, , and continued to the th february, . there was a grand walk, or mall, from blackfriars-bridge to london-bridge, that was appropriately named _the city road_, and lined on each side with booths of all descriptions. several printing-presses were erected, and at one of these an orange-coloured standard was hoisted, with "_orange boven_" printed in large characters. there were e o and rouge et noir tables, tee-totums, and skittles; concerts of rough music, viz. salt-boxes and rolling-pins, gridirons and tongs, horns, and marrow-bones and cleavers. the carousing booths were filled with merry parties, some dancing to the sound of the fiddle, others sitting round blazing fires smoking and drinking. a printer's devil bawled out to the spectators, "now is your time, ladies and gentlemen,--now is your time to support the freedom of the press! can the press enjoy greater liberty? here you find it working in the middle of the thames!" magic rain stone. the indian magi, who are to invoke yo he wah, and mediate with the supreme holy fire that he may give seasonable rains, have a transparent stone of supposed great power in assisting to bring down the rain, when it is put in a basin of water, by a reputed divine virtue, impressed on one of the like sort, in time of old, which communicates it circularly. this stone would suffer a great decay, they assert, were it even seen by their own laity; but if by foreigners, it would be utterly despoiled of its divine communicative power. the bombardier beetle. the bombardier beetle (_carabus crepitans_) when touched produces a noise resembling the discharge of a musket in miniature, during which a blue smoke may be seen to proceed from its extremity. rolander says that it can give twenty discharges successively. a bladder placed near its posterior extremity, is the arsenal that contains its store. this is its chief defence against its enemies; and the vapour or liquid that proceeds from it is of so pungent a nature, that if it happens to be discharged into the eyes, it makes them smart as though brandy had been thrown into them. the principal enemy of the bombardier is another insect of the same tribe, but three or four times its size. when pursued and fatigued it has recourse to this stratagem; it lies down in the path of its enemy, who advances with open mouth to seize it; but on the discharge of the artillery, this suddenly draws back, and remains for a while confused, during which the bombardier conceals itself in some neighbouring crevice, but if not lucky enough to find one, the other returns to the attack, takes the insect by the head, and bears it off. the pillory for eating flesh in lent. even in this kingdom, so late as the reformation, eating flesh in lent was rewarded with the pillory. an instance of this occurs in the "patriot king," the particulars of which, quoted in "clavis calendaria," are somewhat amusing. thomas freburn's wife, of paternoster-row, london, having expressed a particular inclination for pig, one was procured, ready for the spit; but the butter-woman who provided it, squeamish as to the propriety of what she had done, carried a foot of it to the dean of canterbury. the dean was at dinner, and one of his guests was freburn's landlord, and garter king at arms, who sent to know if any of his family were ill, that he ate flesh in lent. 'all well,' quoth freburn, (perhaps too much of a dissenter for the times,) 'only my wife longs for pig.' his landlord sends for the bishop of london's apparitor, and orders him to take freburn and his pig before stocksly, the bishop, who sent them both to judge cholmley; but he not being at home, they were again brought back to the bishop, who committed them to the compter. next day, being saturday, freburn was carried before the lord mayor, who sentenced him to stand in the pillory on the monday following, with one half of the pig on one shoulder, and the other half on the other. through cromwell's intercession, the poor man at last gained his liberty by a bond of twenty pounds for his appearance. the mischief-making pig was, by the order of the bishop, buried in finsbury-field, by the hand of his lordship's apparitor; but freburn was turned out of his house, and could not get another in four years. hence we may infer his ruin. huge cannon at the siege of constantinople. in , several kinds of artillery are mentioned, cannons, bombards, vulgaires, coulverins. the vulgaires were ordinary artillery. in the year , james ii. of scotland was killed by the accidental bursting of a cannon. the artillery of the turks, in the year , surpassed whatever had yet appeared in the world. a stupendous piece of ordnance was made by them; its bore was twelve palms, and the stone bullet weighed about lbs.; it was brought with great difficulty before constantinople, and was flanked by two almost of equal magnitude: fourteen batteries were brought to bear against the place, mounting guns; the great cannon could not be loaded and fired more than seven times in one day. mines were adopted by the turks, and counter-mines by the christians. at this siege, which was in , ancient and modern artillery were both used. cannons, intermingled with machines for casting stones and darts, and the battering-ram was directed against the walls. the fate of constantinople could no longer be averted: the diminutive garrison was exhausted by a double attack; the fortifications were dismantled on all sides by the ottoman cannon; a spirit of discord impaired the christian strength. after a siege of fifty-three days, constantinople, which had defied the power of chosroes, the chagan, and the caliphs, was subdued by the arms of mahomet ii. a man in a vault eleven days. _st. benedict fink._--" , april , was buried mr thomas sharrow, cloth-worker, late churchwarden of this parish, killed by an accidental fall into a vault, in london wall, amen corner, by paternoster row, and was supposed had lain there eleven days and nights before any one could tell where he was, _let all that read this take heed of drink._"--truly, a quaint warning! blind granny. [illustration: [++] blind granny.] this miserable, wretched, drunken object, who was blind of one eye, used to annoy the passengers in the streets of london, while sober, with licking her blind eye with her tongue, which was of a most enormous length, and thickness; indeed, it was of such a prodigious size, that her mouth could not contain it, and she could never close her lips, or to use a common expression, keep her tongue within her teeth. this wonderful feat of washing her eye with her tongue was exhibited with a view of obtaining money from such as crowded around her, and no sooner had she obtained sufficient means, but she hastened to the first convenient liquor-shop, to indulge her propensity in copious libations, and when properly inspired, would rush into the streets with all the gestures of a frantic maniac, and roll and dance about, until she became a little sobered, which was sometimes accelerated by the salutary application of a pail of water, gratuitously bestowed upon her by persons whose doorway she had taken possession of, as shelter from the persecuting tormentings of boys and girls who generally followed her. ancient female costume. [illustration: [++] costume of a female of the higher classes.] a good specimen of the costume of a female of the higher classes is here given, from an effigy of a lady of the ryther family, in ryther church, yorkshire, engraved in hollis's _monumental effigies_. she wears a wimple, covering the neck and encircling the head, the hair of which is gathered in plaits at the sides, and covered with a kerchief, which falls upon the shoulders, and is secured by a fillet passing over the forehead. the sleeves of the gown hang midway from the elbow and the wrist, and display the tight sleeve with its rows of buttons beneath. the mantle is fastened by a band of ribbon, secured by ornamental studs. the lower part of the dress consists of the wide gown, lying in folds, and completely concealing the feet, which have been omitted, in order to display the upper part of this interesting effigy to greater advantage. chilcott, the giant. . died at trenaw, in cornwall, a person known by the appellation of giant chilcott. he measured at the breast six feet nine inches, and weighed four hundred and sixty pounds. one of his stockings held six gallons of wheat. dr. lettsom's reasons for dismissing a servant. the doctor was in the practice of carrying the produce of his fees carelessly in his coat-pocket. his footman being aware of this, used to make free with a guinea occasionally, while it hung up in the passage. the doctor, having repeatedly missed his gold, was suspicious of the footman, and took an opportunity of watching him. he succeeded in the detection, and, without even noticing it to the other servants, called him into his study, and coolly said to him, "john, art in want of money?" "no;" replied john. "oh! then, why didst thou make so free with my pocket? and since thou didst not want money, and hast told me a lie, i must part with thee. now, say what situation thou wouldst like abroad, and i will obtain it for thee; for i cannot keep thee; i cannot recommend thee; therefore thou must go." suffice it to say, the doctor procured john a situation, and he went abroad. handbill from peckham fair in . our ancestors just years ago had but limited opportunities for gratifying a taste for natural history if we may judge from the supply of animals deemed sufficient to attract attention in :-- "_geo. i. r._ "to the lovers of living curiosities. to be seen during the time of _peckham fair_, a grand collection of living wild beasts and birds, lately arrived from the remotest parts of the world. " . the _pellican_ that suckles her young with her heart's blood, from egypt. " . the noble _vultur cock_, brought from _archangell_, having the finest tallons of any bird that seeks his prey; the fore part of his head is covered with hair, the second part resembles the wool of a black; below that is a white ring, having a ruff, that he cloaks his head with at night. " . an _eagle of the sun_, that takes the loftiest flight of any bird that flies. there is no bird but this that can fly to the face of the sun with a naked eye. " . a curious beast, bred from a _lioness_, like a foreign _wild cat_. " . the _he-panther_, from turkey, allowed by the curious to be one of the greatest rarities ever seen in _england_, on which are thousands of spots, and not two of a likeness. " & . the two fierce and surprising _hyænas_, male and female, from the river _gambia_. these creatures imitate the human voice, and so decoy the negroes out of their huts and plantations to devour them. they have a mane like a horse, and two joints in their hinder leg more than any other creature. it is remarkable that all other beasts are to be tamed, but _hyænas_ they are not. " . an _ethiopian toho savage_, having all the actions of the human species, which (when at its full growth) will be upwards of five feet high. "also several other surprising creatures of different sorts. to be seen from in the morning till at night, till they are sold. also, all manner of curiosities of different sorts, are bought and sold at the above place by john bennett." somnambulism. some years ago a hampshire baronet was nearly driven to distraction by the fact that, every night, he went to bed in a shirt, and every morning awoke naked, without the smallest trace of the missing garment being discovered. hundreds of shirts disappeared in this manner; and as there was no fire in his room, it was impossible to account for the mystery. the servants believed their master to be mad; and even he began to fancy himself bewitched. in this conjuncture, he implored an intimate friend to sleep in the room with him; and ascertain by what manner of mysterious midnight visitant his garment was so strangely removed. the friend, accordingly, took up his station in the haunted chamber; and lo! as the clock struck one, the unfortunate baronet, who had previously given audible intimation of being fast asleep, rose from his bed, rekindled with a match the candle which had been extinguished, deliberately opened the door, and quitted the room. his astonished friend followed: saw him open in succession a variety of doors, pass along several passages, traverse an open court, and eventually reach the stable-yard; where he divested himself of his shirt, and disposed of it in an old dung-heap, into which he thrust it by means of a pitchfork. having finished this extraordinary operation, without taking the smallest heed of his friend who stood looking on, and plainly saw that he was walking in his sleep, he returned to the house, carefully reclosed the doors, re-extinguished the light, and returned to bed; where the following morning he awoke as usual, stripped of his shirt! the astonished eye-witness of this extraordinary scene, instead of apprising the sleep-walker of what had occurred, insisted that the following night, a companion should sit up with him; choosing to have additional testimony to the truth of the statement he was about to make; and the same singular events were renewed, without the slightest change or deviation. the two witnesses, accordingly, divulged all they had seen to the baronet; who, though at first incredulous, became of course convinced, when, on proceeding to the stable-yard, several dozens of shirts were discovered; though it was surmised that as many more had been previously removed by one of the helpers, who probably looked upon the hoard as stolen goods concealed by some thief. killed by eating mutton and pudding. _teddington._--"james parsons, who had often eat a shoulder of mutton or a peck of hasty pudding, at a time, which caused his death, buried march , - , aged ." coral reefs. coral reefs are produced by innumerable small zoophytes, properly called _coral-insects_. the coral insect consists of a little oblong bag of jelly closed at one end, but having the other extremity open, and surrounded by tentacles or feelers, usually six or eight in number, set like the rays of a star. multitudes of these diminutive animals unite to form a common stony skeleton called _coral_, or _madrepore_, in the minute openings of which they live, protruding their mouths and tentacles when under water; but suddenly drawing them into their holes when danger approaches. these animals cannot exist at a greater depth in the sea than about ten fathoms, and as the coral islands often rise with great steepness from a sea more than three hundred fathoms deep, it would seem that a great alteration must have taken place in the depth of the ocean since the time when these little architects commenced their labours. throughout the whole range of the polynesian and australasian islands, there is scarcely a league of sea unoccupied by a coral reef, or a coral island; the former springing up to the surface of the water, perpendicularly from the fathomless bottom, "deeper than did ever plummet sound;" and the latter in various stages, from the low and naked rock, with the water rippling over it, to an uninterrupted forest of tall trees. "every one," says mr. darwin, "must be struck with astonishment when he first beholds one of these vast rings of coral rock, often many leagues in diameter, here and there surmounted by a low verdant island with dazzling white shores, bathed on the outside by the foaming breakers of the ocean, and on the inside surrounding a calm expanse of water, which, from reflection, is of a bright but pale green colour. the naturalist will feel this astonishment more deeply after having examined the soft and almost gelatinous bodies of these apparently insignificant creatures; and when he knows that the solid reef increases only on the outer edge, which, day and night, is lashed by the breakers of an ocean never at rest." [illustration: [++] coral reefs.] coral being beautiful in form and colour, is sought after for purposes of ornament; and its fishery or gathering gives employment to many persons in the red sea, the persian gulf, the mediterranean, and other places. in the straits of messina, the rocks which yield coral are from about to feet below the surface of the water. the coral here grows to about the height or length of twelve inches, and requires eight or ten years to come to perfection. in the general mode of fishing for coral, the instrument used consists of two heavy beams of wood, secured together at right angles, and loaded with stones to sink them. military hats in olden time. [illustration: no. , charles i. no. , william iii. no. , nivernois. no. , kevenhuller. no. , ramilies. no. , wellington.] why a man measures more in the morning than in the evening, &c. there is an odd phenomenon attending the human body, as singular as common: that a person is shorter standing than lying; and shorter in the evening when he goes to bed, than in the morning when he rises. this remark was first made in england, and afterwards confirmed at paris, by m. morand, a member of the royal academy of sciences in france, and by the abbot fontana likewise. the last-mentioned person found, from a year's experience, that ordinarily in the night he gained five or six lines, and lost nearly as much in the day. the cause of which effect, so ancient, so common, but so lately perceived, proceeds from the different state or condition of the intervertebral annular cartilages. the vertebræ, or joints of the spine, are kept separate, though joined by particular cartilages, every one of which has a spring. these yield on all sides, without any inflexion on the spine, to the weight of the head and upper extremities; but this is done by very small and imperceptible degrees, and most of all when the upper parts of the body are loaded with any exterior weight. so that a man is really taller after lying some time, than after walking, or carrying a burthen a great while. for this reason it is that, in the day and evening, while one is sitting or standing, the superior parts of the body that weigh or press upon the inferior, press those elastic annular cartilages, the bony jointed work is contracted, the superior parts of the body descend towards the inferior, and proportionably as one approaches the other, the height of the stature diminishes. hence it was, that a fellow enlisting for a soldier, by being measured over-night, was found deficient in height, and therefore refused; but by accident being gauged again the next morning, and coming up to the stature, he was admitted. on the contrary, in the night-time, when the body is laid a-bed, as it is in an horizontal situation, or nearly so, the superior parts do not weigh, or but very little, upon the inferior; the spring of the cartilages is unbent, the vertebræ are removed from one another, the long jointed work of the spine is dilated, and the body thereby prolonged; so that a person finds himself about half an inch, or more, higher in stature in the morning than when going to bed. this is the most natural and simple reason that can be given, for the different heights of the same person at different times. a sensible dog refusing to bait a cat. a dustman of the name of samuel butcher, residing at mile-end, who kept a large dog, having taken it into his head to divert himself and others, a few days ago, by the cruel sport of cat baiting, which the dog refusing to perform to the satisfaction of his master, was beat by him in a most brutal manner, when the animal at length, in retaliation, flew at his unmerciful keeper, and inflicted very severe wounds about his face, limbs, and body, in some instances tearing large mouthfuls of his flesh quite clean out, and at one time clung so fast to the man, that before he disengaged from him the animal's throat was obliged to be cut. the man was promptly conveyed to the london hospital, and there died of the injuries he received. a horse getting himself shod. a horse having been turned into a field by its owner, mr. joseph lane, of fascombe, in the parish of ashelworth, was missed therefrom the next morning, and the usual inquiries set afoot, as to what could have become of him. he had, it seems, been shod (all fours) a few days before, and _as usual_ got pinched in a foot. feeling, no doubt, a lively sense of proper shoeing, and desirous of relieving the cause of pain, he contrived to unhang the gate of his pasture with his mouth, and make the best of his way to the smithy, a distance of a mile and a half from fascombe, waiting respectfully at the door until the bungling _artist_ got up. the smith relates that he found him there at opening his shed; that the horse advanced to the forge and held up his ailing foot; and that he himself, upon examination, discovered the injury, took off the shoe, and replaced it more carefully, which having done, the sagacious creature set off at a merry pace homewards. soon after, mr. lane's servants passed by the forge in quest of the animal, and upon inquiry, received for answer--"oh, he has been here and got shod, and is gone home again." man without hands. the following account is extracted from a letter sent to the rev. mr. wesley by a person named walton, dated bristol, october , :-- "i went with a friend to visit this man, who highly entertained us at breakfast, by putting his half-naked foot upon the table as he sat, and carrying his tea and toast between his great and second toe to his mouth, with as much facility as if his foot had been a hand, and his toes fingers. i put half a sheet of paper upon the floor, with a pen and ink-horn: he threw off his shoes as he sat, took the ink-horn in the toes of his left foot, and held the pen in those of his right. he then wrote three lines, as well as most ordinary writers, and as swiftly. he writes out all his own bills, and other accounts. he then showed how he shaves himself with a razor in his toes, and how he combs his own hair. he can dress and undress himself, except buttoning his clothes. he feeds himself, and can bring both his meat or his broth to his mouth, by holding the fork or spoon in his toes. he cleans his own shoes; can clean the knives, light the fire, and do almost every other domestic business as well as any other man. he can make his hen-coops. he is a farmer by occupation; he can milk his own cows with his toes, and cut his own hay, bind it up in bundles, and carry it about the field for his cattle. last winter he had eight heifers constantly to fodder. the last summer he made all his own hay-ricks. he can do all the business of the hay-field (except mowing), as fast and as well, with only his feet, as others can with rakes and forks. he goes to the field and catches his horse; he saddles and bridles him with his feet and toes. if he has a sheep among his flock that ails anything, he can separate it from the rest, drive it into a corner, and catch it when nobody else can. he then examines it, and applies a remedy to it. he is so strong in his teeth, that he can lift ten pecks of beans with them. he can throw a great sledge-hammer as far with his feet as other men can with their hands. in a word, he can nearly do as much without, as others can with, their arms. he began the world with a hen and chicken; with the profit of these he purchased an ewe; the sale of these procured him a ragged colt (as he expressed it) and then a better; after this he raised a few sheep, and now occupies a small farm." the thief caught in his own trap. a man having, some years since, stolen a sheep at mitcham, in surrey, tied its hind legs together, and put them over his forehead to carry it away, but in getting over a gate the sheep, it is thought, struggled, and, by a sudden spring, slipped its feet down to his throat; for they were found in that posture, the sheep hanging on one side of this gate and the man dead on the other. costume of the ladies in the time of the plantagenets. the ladies' costume may be seen to advantage in the annexed engraving from the sloane mss., no. . a wimple or gorget is wrapped round the neck, and is fastened by pins at the sides of the face, which are covered above the ears; a gown of capacious size, unconfined at the waist and loose in the sleeves, trails far behind in the dirt. the under-garment, which is darker, has sleeves that fit closely; and it appears to be turned over, and pinned up round the bottom. the unnecessary amount of stuff that was used in ladies' robes rendered them obnoxious to the satirists of that period. [illustration: [++] proud woman who wore a white dress.] in mr. wright's collection of latin stories, published by the percy society, there is one of the fourteenth century, which is so curious an instance of monkish satire, and is so apt an illustration of the cut before us, that i cannot resist presenting it to my readers. it runs thus:-- "_of a proud woman._--i have heard of a proud woman who wore a white dress with a long train, which, trailing behind her, raised a dust as far as the altar and the crucifix. but, as she left the church, and lifted up her train on account of the dirt, a certain holy man saw a devil laughing; and having adjured him to tell why he laughed, the devil said, "a companion of mine was just now sitting on the train of that woman, using it as if it were his chariot, but when she lifted her train up, my companion was shaken off into the dirt: and that is why i was laughing." corpulent man. nottingham, . november .--death of mr. henry bucknall, confectioner, chandlers-lane, aged forty-nine. he was excessively corpulent, weighing more than twenty-five stone, and died very suddenly, immediately after eating a hearty breakfast. in lord howe's memorable engagement, on the st of june, , he had served as a marine on board the brunswick. his interment, at st. mary's new burial-ground, on the th, drew together a large concourse of spectators. the coffin was of enormous size, and nearly equalled the body in weight. it was made of excellent oak, was feet inches in length, and feet inches across the breast; the bottom was - / inches thick, the sides - / , and the lid . the whole, including the body, considerably exceeded five hundred-weight. taking a man to pieces and setting him up again. "don john, of austria," says staveley, "governor of the netherlands for philip the d of spain, dying at his camp at buge (bouges, a mile from namur), was carried from thence to the great church at havre, where his funeral was solemnised, and a monument to posterity erected for him there by alexander farnese, the prince of parma. afterwards his body was taken to pieces, and the bones, packed in mails, were privately carried into spain, where being set together with small wires, the body was rejointed again, which being filled or stuffed with cotton, and richly habited, don john was presented to the king entire, leaning on his commander's staff. afterwards the corpse being carried to the church of st. laurence, at the escurial, was there buried near his father, charles v., with a fitting monument for him." ornaments of female dress in the times of the ancient britons. [illustration: [++] necklace of beads.] fig. is a necklace of beads, each bead being cut so as to represent a group of several, and give the effect of many small round beads to what are in reality long and narrow ones. fig. is a necklace of simpler construction, consisting of a row of rudely-shaped beads, its centre being remarkable for containing a rude attempt at representing a human face, the only thing of the kind hoare discovered of so ancient a date in britain. fig. is another necklace, consisting of a series of curious little shells, like the hirlas horn used by the britons, which are perforated lengthways, and thus strung together. fig. is a pin of iron, supposed to have been used as a fastening for a mantle; it is ornamented with two movable rings. fig. is a small gold ornament, checkered like a chessboard, and suspended from a chain of beautiful workmanship, which, in taste and execution, bears a striking similarity to our modern curb-chains. fig. is an ear-ring, a bead suspended from a twisted wire of gold. fig. is a brass ornament, and fig. a similar one of gold: such ornaments are usually found upon the breasts of the exhumed skeletons of our barrows, and were probably fastened on their clothes as ornaments. their cruciform character might lead to a doubt of their high antiquity, if we were not aware of the fact, that the symbol of the cross was worn, as an amulet or ornament, ages before the christian era. large eel. lately, near malden, an eel was taken, measuring _five feet six inches in length, seventeen in girth_, and weighing _ pounds_, the largest of the species ever caught, or described in natural history. persevering dog. a boast being made of the obedience of a newfoundland dog in fetching and carrying, the master put a marked shilling under a large square stone by the road side, and, having ridden on three miles, ordered the dog to go back and fetch it. the dog set off, but did not return the whole day. he had gone to the place, and being unable to turn the stone, sat howling by it. two horsemen came by and saw his distress, and one of them alighting removed the stone, and finding the shilling, put it in his pocket, not supposing that the dog could possibly be looking for that. the dog followed the horses for upwards of twenty miles, stayed in the room where they supped, got into the bed-room, got the breeches in which the fatal shilling had been put, made his escape with them, and dragged them through mud and mire, hedge and ditch, to his master's house. cure for corpulence. a few years ago, a man of about forty years of age, hired himself as a labourer, in one of the most considerable ale-breweries in the city: at this time he was a personable man; stout, active, and not fatter than a moderate-sized man in high health should be. his chief occupation was to superintend the working of the new beer, and occasionally to set up at night to watch the sweet-wort, an employment not requiring either activity or labour; of course, at these times, he had an opportunity of tasting the liquor, of which, it appears, he always availed himself; besides this, he had constant access to the new beer. thus leading a quiet inactive life, he began to increase in bulk, and continued to enlarge, until, in a very short time, he became of such an unwieldy size, as to be unable to move about, and was too big to pass up the brewhouse staircase; if by any accident he fell down, he was unable to get up again without help. the integuments of his face hung down to the shoulders and breast: the fat was not confined to any particular part, but diffused over the whole of his body, arms, legs, &c., making his appearance such as to attract the attention of all who saw him. he left this service to go into the country, being a burthen to himself, and totally useless to his employers. about two years afterwards he called upon his old masters in very different shape to that above described, being reduced in size nearly half, and weighing little more than ten stone. the account that he gave of himself was, that as soon as he had quitted the brewhouse he went into bedfordshire, where having soon spent the money he had earned, and being unable to work, he was brought into such a state of poverty, as to be scarcely able to obtain the sustenance of life, often being a whole day without food; that he drank very little, and that was generally water. by this mode of living he began to diminish in size, so as to be able to walk about with tolerable ease. he then engaged himself to a farmer, with whom he stayed a considerable time, and in the latter part of his service he was able to go through very hard labour, being sometimes in the field ploughing and following various agricultural concerns, for a whole day, with no other food than a small pittance of bread and cheese. this was the history he gave of the means by which this extraordinary change was brought about. he added, his health had never been so good as it then was. worship of the sun and moon. the sun was first worshipped, probably, as a bright manifestation of god, but soon began to be regarded as the deity himself. the moon, in the absence of the sun, and next in splendour, would succeed it in superstitious attention. and so we find the romans, as well as the saxons, dedicating the first and second days of the week respectively to these "great lights." formerly, festivals were held on the appearance of a new moon; and in some parts of england it is still customary to bless it, and in scotland at the same time to drop a courtesy. and in times not long past, the influence of the moon was considered to be so great as to regulate the growth of air, and the effect of medicine, and to cause steeples and other elevated buildings to bend from their upright positions. a sea above the sky. this belief is curiously illustrated by two legendary stories preserved by gervase of tilbury. "one sunday," he says, "the people of a village in england were coming out of church on a thick cloudy day, when they saw the anchor of a ship hooked to one of the tombstones; the cable, which was tightly stretched, hanging down from the air. the people were astonished, and while they were consulting about it, suddenly they saw the rope move as though some one laboured to pull up the anchor. the anchor, however, still held fast by the stone, and a great noise was suddenly heard in the air, like the shouting of sailors. presently a sailor was seen sliding down the cable for the purpose of unfixing the anchor; and when he had just loosened it, the villagers seized hold of him, and while in their hands he quickly died, just as though he had been drowned. about an hour after, the sailors above, hearing no more of their comrade, cut the cable and sailed away. in memory of this extraordinary event, the people of the village made the hinges of the church doors out of the iron of the anchor, and 'there they are still to be seen.'--at another time, a merchant of bristol set sail with his cargo for ireland. some time after this, while his family were at supper, a knife suddenly fell in through the window on the table. when the husband returned, he saw the knife, declared it to be his own, and said that on such a day, at such an hour, while sailing in an unknown part of the sea, he dropped the knife overboard, and the day and hour were known to be exactly the time when it fell through the window. these accidents, gervase thinks, are a clear proof of there being a sea above hanging over us."--_st. patrick's purgatory. by thos. wright._ . the papyrus. paper as we now have it, that is to say, paper made of the pulp of fibrous materials, pressed into thin sheets, dried, and, when intended for writing or printing purposes, sized, is of comparatively modern introduction to europe and western asia; although the chinese appear to have formed paper out of silk pulp, mixed with the inner pith of the bamboo, as early at least as a.d.:--not from time immemorial, as some authors have stated, because the circumstance is well attested, that in the time of confucius, the chinese wrote with a style on the inner bark of trees. [illustration: papyrus roll, from a specimen in the british museum.] before the invention of paper, the surfaces employed for writing upon were numerous. surfaces of lead or other metal; tables covered with wax, skins of animals,--(parchment in fact)--all were used; but no one of these was ever so extensively employed as the egyptian papyrus, whenever the latter material could be obtained. so soon, however, as the saracens in the seventh century conquered egypt, the exportation of papyrus was at an end; and writing surfaces became so scarce in europe that many ancient documents of great value were erased in order to render them adapted for being written on once more. thus perished many treasures of antiquity. as the saracens closed the avenue of supply for the ancient papyrus, so they compensated to europe for this deprivation by discovering the manufacture of ordinary paper--at least paper made in the ordinary modern fashion,--though the material was cotton, not linen. this discovery was made some time anterior to the year a.d., for at that period a manufactory of paper existed at samarcand. in the eighth century the saracens conquered spain, and introduced into the peninsula, amongst other arts, that of the manufacture of paper, which art was a long time finding its way into other parts of europe,--in italy not until the eleventh or twelfth century. the vast amount of papyrus which must have been employed in italy, may be inferred from the number of rolls or _scapi_ of this substance discovered in herculaneum and pompeii; also from a perusal of many existing documents bearing directly or indirectly on this branch of commerce. even so late as the commencement of the sixth century, cassiodorus congratulated the world on the abolition, by king theodoric, of the high duty on papyrus from egypt; and he spoke in high flown terms of the great utility of the material. the latest papyrus roll known is of the twelfth century, containing a brief of pope paschal ii., in favour of the archiepiscopal see of ravenna. [illustration: syrian papyrus without flowers.] [illustration: syrian papyrus with flowers.] the various species of papyrus plants belong to the natural order "cyperaceæ," or sedges, of botanists; a main characteristic of which is a certain triangularity of stem. the method of constructing a writing surface from these stems was as follows:--the available portion being cut off (it was seldom more than twelve inches in length), and split, or, more properly speaking, unfolded into thin sheets, which were glued together transversely in such a manner that the original length of the papyrus stem became the breadth of the future sheet; the length of which might be increased at the pleasure of the operator. frequently the manufactured scrolls were more than thirty feet long. as different methods prevail in the manufacture of our ordinary paper, so in like manner there were different processes of fashioning the papyrus into shape. the rudest manufacture appears to have been that of egypt, and the best papyrus sheets appear to have been made in rome during the augustine Æra. the preceding sketch represents a papyrus roll, copied from a specimen in the egyptian room of the british museum. considering the numerous pieces entering into the composition of the roll, of which our illustration represents a portion, the lines of juncture are remarkably well concealed, only a sort of grain being visible. the surface, moreover, is smoothed, and its colour very much like that of india paper. the hieroglyphics are coloured as is usual, red is the predominant tint, and the colours are no less well demarcated and separate than they would have been on glazed paper. our preceding wood-cuts represent the sicilian or syrian papyrus, hitherto termed _cyperus papyrus_, in two states of development--one with flowers, the other without. in order that inflorescence may take place, the plant requires to be well supplied with water. execution in . _friday, march _--was executed at northampton, william alcock, for the murder of his wife. he never own'd the fact, nor was at all concerned at his approaching death; refusing the prayers and assistance of any persons. in the morning he drank more than was sufficient, yet sent and paid for a pint of wine, which being deny'd him, he would not enter the cart before he had his money return'd. on his way to the gallows he sung part of an old song of "robin hood," with the chorus, "derry, derry, down," &c., and swore, kick'd, and spurn'd at every person that laid hold of the cart; and before he was turn'd off, took off his shoes, to avoid a well known proverb; and being told by a person in the cart with him, it was more proper for him to read, or hear somebody read to him, than so vilely to swear and sing, he struck the book out of the person's hands, and went on damning the spectators and calling for wine. whilst psalms and prayers were performing at the tree he did little but talk to one or other, desiring some to remember him, others to drink to his good journey, and to the last moment declared the injustice of his case. dog friendship. at bishops stortford there were two dogs, which belonged to nobody, and lived upon the quay of the river or canal there. they took the greatest delight in rat hunting, and when the maltsters went about at night to see that all was safe, these dogs invariably followed them. their mode of proceeding was very ingenious. as soon as the door of the malt-house was unlocked, one rushed in and coursed round the warehouse, not chasing any rat which might start, but pursuing its way among the malt. the other stood at the door and snapped at the rats as they endeavoured to escape. the one standing at the door was known to kill six rats, all of which had rushed to the door at the same time. the next room they came to, they would change posts; the one which hunted before, now standing at the door and seizing the prey. by this means the dogs killed in the malting-houses of one maltster alone, upwards of , rats in the course of one year. one of them on one occasion killed sixty-seven in less than five minutes. they seemed to pursue the sport simply for their amusement. all humbugs. just as a strolling actor at newcastle had advertised his benefit, a remarkable stranger, no less than the _prince annamaboo_, arrived, and placarded the town that he granted audiences at a shilling a-head. the stroller, without delay, waited on the proprietor of the _prince_, and for a good round sum prevailed on him to command his serene highness to exhibit his august person on his benefit night. the bills of the day announced that between the acts of the comedy _prince annamaboo_ would give a lively representation of the _scalping operation_, sound the _indian war-whoop_ in all its melodious tones, practice the tomahawk exercise, and dine _à la cannibal_. an intelligent mob were collected to witness these interesting exploits. at the conclusion of the third act, his _highness_ marched forward flourishing his tomahawk, and shouting, "_ha, ha!--ho, ho!_" next entered a man with his face blacked, and a piece of bladder fastened to his head with gum; the _prince_, with an enormous carving-knife, began the scalping part of the entertainment, which he performed in a truly _imperial_ style, holding up the piece of bladder as a token of triumph. next came the war-whoop, an unearthly combination of discordant sounds; and lastly, the banquet, consisting of raw beef-steaks, which he rolled up into rouleaus, and devoured with right royal avidity. having finished his delicate repast, he wielded his tomahawk in an exulting manner, bellowed "_ha, ha!--ho, ho!_" and made his exit. the _bénéficiaire_ strolling through the market-place the following-day, spied the most puissant _prince annamaboo_ selling penknives, scissors, and quills, in the character of a jew pedlar. "what!" said the astonished _lord townley_, "my _prince_, is it you? are you not a pretty circumcised little scoundrel to impose upon us in this manner?" moses turned round, and with an arch look, replied, "_princh_ be d--d! i _vash_ no princh; i _vash_ acting like you. your troop _vash_ lords and ladies last night; and to-night dey vil be kings, _prinches_, and emperor! i _vash humpugs_, you _vash humpugs_, all _vash humpugs_!" reducing weight. a gentleman, of great respectability in the mercantile world, who weighed thirty-two stone nine pounds, put himself upon a strict diet of _four ounces of animal food_, _six ounces_ of bread, and _two pounds of liquid_, in twenty-four hours. in one week he lost thirty pounds weight, and in six months he was diminished the astonishing quantity of one hundred and thirty-four pounds. his health and spirits were much improved, and considering his remaining size of twenty-three stone, he was very active. anecdote of a serpent. lord monboddo relates the following singular anecdote of a serpent:--"i am well informed of a tame serpent in the east indies, which belonged to the late dr. vigot, once kept by him in the suburbs of madras. this serpent was taken by the french, when they invested madras, and was carried to pondicherry in a close carriage. but from thence, he found his way back again to his old quarters, though madras was above one hundred miles distant from pondicherry." england before the romans. [illustration [++] shoes of raw cow-hide.] before the roman invasion, the dress of its chieftains consisted of a close coat or covering for the body, called by dio a tunic, and described as checkered with various colours in divisions. it was open before, and had long close sleeves to the wrist. below were loose pantaloons, called by the irish _brigis_, and by the romans _brages_ and _bracæ_; whence the modern term "breeches." over their shoulders was thrown the mantle or cloak, called by the romans _sagum_, and derived from the celtic word _saic_, which signified a skin or hide, and which was the original cloak of the country. diodorus tells us that it was of one uniform colour, generally either blue or black, the predominating tint in the checkered trousers and tunic being red. on their heads they wore a conical cap, which derived its name from the "cab," or hut of the briton, which was of similar form. on their feet were shoes made of raw cow-hide, that had the hair turned outward, and which reached to the ankles. shoes so constructed were worn within the last few years in ireland; and we engrave two from specimens in the royal irish academy. one is of cow-hide, and drawn together by a string over the foot; and the other has a leather thong, which is fastened beneath the heel inside, and, passing over the instep, draws the shoe like a purse over the foot. it is of untanned leather. romans in britain--dress of native females at that period. [illustration: [++] female roman shoes.] the british _gwn_, from whence comes the modern "gown," descended to the middle of the thigh, the sleeves barely reaching to the elbows: it was sometimes confined by a girdle. beneath this a longer dress reached to the ancles. the hair was trimmed after the roman fashion; and upon the feet, when covered, were sometimes worn shoes of a costly character, of which we know the romans themselves to have been fond. an extremely beautiful pair was discovered upon opening a roman burial-place at southfleet in kent, in . they were placed in a stone sarcophagus, between two large glass urns or vases, each containing a considerable quantity of burnt bones. they were of superb and expensive workmanship, being made of fine purple leather, reticulated in the form of hexagons all over, and each hexagonal division worked with gold, in an elaborate and beautiful manner. [illustration: the catacombs. rome.] amid the ruins of stately temples, and numerous remains of the "eternal city," there are no objects which have such great and general interest as the subterranean churches, dwellings, and places of sepulchre of the early christians, which perforate, by a network of excavations, the neighbourhood of rome. the great increase in the extent and magnificence of rome during the times of the republic, led to the formation of quarries in the surrounding parts. the peculiar nature of the soil has caused the excavations to be made in a manner similar to that used in the working of coal, iron, stone, lime, &c. the useful material has, in fact, been cleared away, leaving long ranges of dark caves and passages. after the stone had been removed from these underground quarries, it was, for many centuries, customary to work out the sand for the purpose of making cement. vitruvius has stated that the sand obtained from the esquiline pits was preferable to any other. ultimately the quarries and sandpits extended to a distance of upwards of fifteen miles on one side of rome. parts of this large range of excavations were from time to time used as burial-grounds by such of the romans as could not afford the cost of burning the bodies of their dead relations. and, in addition, the esquiline hills became infested by banditti, and was from these various causes rendered almost impassable. in these excavations, it is said, that not only persons, but cattle, contrived to support existence; and although it was well known that large numbers were lodged in these dismal dwellings, their intricacy and numberless entrances rendered them a comparatively secure retreat. it is related that attempts were made to cover the galleries with earth, in order to destroy those who were concealed within. [illustration: [++] inscription in the catacombs.] in course of time the catacombs became, with the exception of one or two, neglected and filled up with rubbish, and remained for a period of upwards of one thousand years untouched and almost unknown. in the sixteenth century the whole range of the catacombs were reopened, and numerous inscriptions and other matters connected with the struggles and hardships of the early christians brought to light. the annexed brief memorial will show the general style of the lettering. obsolete modes of punishment. ante page , we gave representations of some ancient instruments of punishment and torture, all more or less terrible in their character, the use of which, for many a long year, has been happily abandoned. as a companion to this group, we have engraved a few of the instruments of punishment by which criminals of a vulgar character were sought to be reformed. the first of these is the felon's brand, the mark of which rendered a man infamous for life. figure , p. represents the instrument itself. figure , the mark branded in, which latter has been engraved the exact size. the device, which is deeply cut into the metal, is a gallows, such as was used before the invention of the drop and the wheel for execution and torture. the stocks and whipping-post, although long since removed from london bridge, may be met with in retired country places. we have noticed some characteristic examples in the forest of dean, gloucestershire, where some of the may-poles, day-wheels, and other curious relics, may still be seen.[ ] in some instances the stocks and whipping-posts were richly carved, and clamped with iron work of an ornamental character. we remember seeing the stocks used within the last thirty years, once at newcastle-on-tyne, and once at gateshead, the adjoining town. the culprit in the one instance was an elector, who, in the excess of zeal and beer, during an old-fashioned contested election, rushed into one of the churches during the sunday's service, and shouted out, "bell (one of the candidates) for ever." he was speedily taken hold of, and placed for several hours in the stocks in the churchyard; and, as the stimulating effect of the strong drink passed away, he looked a deplorable object, decked as he was with numerous cockades, the "favours" of the candidate, whose cause he so indiscreetly supported. [ ] a good specimen was demolished at tottenham not long ago. the punishment of the barrel we should think to have been adapted for drunkards who could preserve a perpendicular position. in the histories of london, it is mentioned that bakers and other dealers caught giving false weight, or in any other ways cheating the poor, were exhibited occasionally in this manner; but more frequently they were placed in the parish dung-cart, and slowly drawn through the streets of the district. the whirligig, a circular cage which could be moved swiftly round on a pivot, was, in bygone days, in use for offenders in the english army. there was another instrument used for the same purpose called the horse, which was made in rude resemblance of the animal whose name it bore. the body was composed of planks of wood, which formed a sharp angle along the back. on this the soldier was seated, and his legs fastened below to several heavy muskets. this is said to have been a very severe and dangerous punishment. in addition to the above, and flogging, imprisonment, &c., there were three ancient methods of punishment in the english army--viz., beheading, hanging, and drowning. the latter of these, according to grose, was in use only in the reign of richard i. this author observes that, some centuries ago, capital punishment was rare in our army, the men having generally property, which was confiscated in case of ill conduct. he, however, refers to some terrible means which were resorted to for the purpose of preserving discipline. hanging was chiefly confined to spies; who were taken to a tree in sight of the camp, and yet sufficiently distant, and there hung up. in many instances, when a corps or a considerable body of men were guilty of crime, for which the established punishment was death, to prevent too great a weakening of the army, the delinquents, grose says, "were decimated, that is, only every tenth man was taken. a number of billets, equal to that of the body to be decimated, were put into a helmet, every tenth billet being marked with the letter d, or some other character signifying death; the helmet was then shaken, in order to mix them, and the soldiers, filing off singly from the right, passed by the commanding officers, before whom, on a table, stood the helmet; as they passed, each drew a billet and presented it to an officer placed to receive them. if the billet had the fatal mark; the soldier was seized and marched into the rear." this wholesale method of capital punishment must have been a solemn affair. at times, it was customary to punish the man at the right hand of companies; without giving them the chance of the billet--on the principal that these were the most influential persons, and must, from their companionship with the others, have been acquainted with and have possessed the means of checking or giving information, which would prevent dangerous offences. [illustration: . brand for marking felons. . impression of brand. . punishment for drunkards, formerly in use at newcastle-on-tyne. . the whirligig, a military method of punishment. . pillory, stocks, and whipping post, formerly on london bridge.] the regulations of the english army during the time of henry viii., and previous reigns, may be met with in "grose's military antiquities." origin of the term "humbug." this, now, common expression, is a corruption of the word hamburgh, and originated in the following manner:--during a period when war prevailed on the continent, so many false reports and lying bulletins were fabricated at hamburgh, that at length, when any one would signify his disbelief of a statement, he would say, "you had that from hamburgh;" and thus, "that is hamburgh," or humbug, became a common expression of incredulity. marriage lottery. it has often been said figuratively that marriage is a lottery; but we do not recollect to have met with a practical illustration of the truth of the simile, before the following, which is a free translation of an advertisement in the louisiana gazette:--"a young man of good figure and disposition, unable, though desirous to procure a wife, without the preliminary trouble of amassing a fortune, proposes the following expedient to attain the object of his wishes. he offers himself as the prize of a lottery to all widows and virgins under . the number of tickets to be , at dollars each. but one number to be drawn from the wheel, the fortunate proprietor of which is to be entitled to himself and the , dollars." chinese dainties. the common people of the country seem to fare hardly and sparingly enough, but one of our envoys praises much of the good cheer he found at the tables of the great men. they had pork, fish, and poultry, prepared in a great variety of ways, and very nice confectionery in abundance. the feasts, moreover, were served up in a very neat and cleanly manner. but there was one dainty which much offended their nostrils, and nearly turned their stomachs when it was named to them. it was not stewed dog or fricaséed pup. no; it consisted of three bowls of _hatched eggs_! when the englishmen expressed some surprise at the appearance of this portion of the repast, one of the native attendants observed that hatched eggs formed a delicacy beyond the reach of the poor--a delicacy adapted only for persons of distinction! on inquiry, it was found that they cost in the market some thirty per cent. more than fresh eggs. it seems that they always form a distinguished part of every great entertainment, and that it is the practice, when invitations are sent out, to set the hens to hatch. the feast takes place about the tenth or twelfth day from the issuing the invitations,--the eggs being then considered as ripe, and exactly in the state most agreeable and pleasant to the palate of a chinese epicure. receipts from albertus magnus. "bubo a shrick owle, is a byrd wel inough knowen, which is called magis of the chaldes, and hysopus of the greekes. there bee maruaylous vertues of this fowle, for if the hart and ryght foote of it be put upon a man sleeping, hee shall saye anone to thee whatsoever thou shalt aske of him. and thys hath beene prooued of late tyme of our brethren. and if any man put thys onder his arme hole, no dog wyll barke at hym, but keepe silence. and yf these thynges aforesayde ioyned together with a wyng of it be hanged up to a tree, byrdes wyl gather together to that tree." "when thou wylt that thy wyfe or wenche shewe to thee all that shee hath done, take the hart of a doove, and the heade of a frog, and drye them both, and braie them vnto poulder, and lay them vpon the brest of her sleeping, and shee shall shew to thee all that shee hath done, but when shee shall wake, wipe it awaye from her brest, that it bee not lifted vp." "take an adders skyn, and auri pigmentum, and greeke pitch of reuponticum, and the waxe of newe bees, and the fat or greace of an asse, and breake them all, and put them all in a dull seething pot full of water, and make it to seeth at a slowe fire, and after let it waxe cold, and make a taper, and euery man that shall see light of it shall seeme headlesse."--_the secreetes of nature, set foorth by albertus magnus in latine, newlye translated into english._ imprinted at london by me wyllyam copland. no date. _black letter_, very old. the magpie stoning a toad. there is a story told of a tame magpie, which was seen busily employed in a garden, gathering pebbles, and with much solemnity, and a studied air, dropping them in a hole, about eighteen inches deep, made to receive a post. after dropping each stone, it cried, currack! triumphantly, and set off for another. on examining the spot a poor toad was found in the hole, which the magpie was stoning for his amusement. adaptation of bones to age in the human frame. growth produces in the species a somewhat remarkable change in the mechanical qualities of the bones. this important part of our organism consists of three constituents--fibre, cartilage, and the earthy matter already mentioned called _phosphate of lime_. from the fibre they derive their toughness; from the cartilage their elasticity; and from the lime their hardness and firmness. nothing can be more admirable in the economy of our body than the manner in which the proportion of these constituents adapts itself to the habitudes of age. the helpless infant, exposed by a thousand incidents to external shocks, has bones, the chief constituents of which being gristly and cartilaginous, are yielding and elastic, and incur little danger of fracture. those of the youth, whose augmented weight and increased activity demand greater strength, have a larger proportion of the calcareous and fibrous elements, but still enough of the cartilaginous to confer upon the solid framework of his body the greatest firmness, toughness, and elasticity. as age advances, prudence and tranquil habits increasing, as well as the weight which the bones have to sustain, the proportion of the calcareous constituent increases, giving the requisite hardness and strength, but diminishing the toughness and elasticity. while the bones thus change their mechanical qualities as age advances, they diminish in number, the frame consequently having fewer joints and less flexibility. the bones of a child, whose habits require greater bodily pliability, are more numerous than those of an adult, several of the articulations becoming ossified between infancy and maturity. in like manner, the bones at maturity are more numerous than in advanced age, the same progressive ossification of the joints being continued. it has been ascertained by anatomists that, on attaining the adult state, the number of bones constituting the framework of the human body is ; of which belong to the trunk, to the head, to the arms, and to the legs. tower of the thundering winds. [illustration: [++] tower of the thundering winds.] the great wall is certainly a wonderful monument of ancient times; but it is almost the only one that we read of in china, except a famous temple, or tower, partly in ruins, which stands on an eminence in the neighbourhood of hang-chow-foo. it is called the "tower of the thundering winds," and is supposed to have been built about , years ago. dr. monsey bequeaths his own body. this eccentric person died at the great age of , and was for half a century, physician to chelsea hospital. he left his body for dissection, and a few days before he died, wrote to mr. cruikshanks, the anatomist, begging him to know, whether it would suit his convenience to do it, as he felt he could not live many hours, and mr. forster, his surgeon, was then out of town. he died as he predicted, and his wishes with respect to his body, were strictly attended to. tea. a folio sheet of the time of charles ii. entitled "an exact description of the growth, quality, and virtues of the leaf tea, by thomas garway, in exchange alley, near the royal exchange, in london, tobacconist, and seller and retailer of tea and coffee," informs us that "in england it hath been sold in the leaf for six pounds, and sometimes for ten pounds the pound weight; and in respect of its former scarceness and dearness, it hath been only used as a regalia in high treatments, and entertainments, and presents made thereof to princes and grandees till the year . the said thomas garway did purchase a quantity thereof, and first publikely sold the said tea in leaf and drink, made according to the direction of the most knowing merchants and travellers in those eastern countries: and upon knowledge and experience of the said garway's continued care and industry, in obtaining the best tea, and making drink thereof, very many noblemen, physicians, merchants, and gentlemen of quality, have ever since sent to him for the said leaf, and daily resort to his house, in exchange alley, to drink the drink thereof." it's much the same now. the following lines, from the _gentleman's magazine_ of , will give us some idea of what fashionable life was at that period:-- _the town lady's answer to_,--"_what tho' i am a country lass_." what tho' i am a london dame, and lofty looks i bear, a? i carry, sure, as good a name, as those who russet wear, a. what tho' my cloaths are rich brocades? my skin it is more white, a than any of the country maids that in the fields delight, a. what tho' i to assemblies go, and at the opera's shine, a? it is a thing all girls must do, that will be ladies fine, a: and while i hear faustina sing, before the king and queen, a by eyes they are upon the wing, to see, if i am seen, a. my peko and imperial tea are brought me in the morn, a. at noon champaign and rich tokay my table do adorn, a. the evening then does me invite to play at dear quadrille, a: and sure in this there's more delight, than in a purling rill, a. then since my fortune does allow me to live as i please, a; i'll never milk my father's cow nor press his coming cheese, a. but take my swing both night and day, i'm sure it is no sin, a: and as for what the grave ones say, i value not a pin, a. barbers. the barber's pole, one of the popular relics of merrie england, is still to be seen in some of the old streets of london and in country towns, painted with its red, blue, and yellow stripes, and surmounted with a gilt acorn. the lute and violin were formerly among the furniture of a barber's shop. he who waited to be trimmed, if of a musical turn, played to the company. the barber himself was a nimble-tongued, pleasant-witted fellow. william rowley, the dramatist, in "a search for money, ," thus describes him:--"as wee were but asking the question, steps me from over the way (over-listning us) a news-searcher, viz. a _barber_: hee, hoping to attaine some discourse for his next patient, left his baner of basons swinging in the ayre, and closely eave-drops our conference. the saucie treble-tongu'd knave would insert somewhat of his knowledge (treble-tongu'd i call him, and thus i prove't: hee has a reasonable mother-tonger, his barber-surgions tongue; and a tongue betweene two of his fingers, and from thence proceeds his wit, and 'tis a snapping wit too). well, sir, hee (before hee was askt the question,) told us that the wandring knight (monsier l'argent) sure was not farre off; for on saterday-night hee was faine to watch till morning to trim some of his followers, and its morning they went away from him betimes. hee swore hee never clos'd his eyes till hee came to church, and then hee slept all sermon-time; (but certainly hee is not farre afore, and at yonder taverne showing us the bush) i doe imagine hee has tane a chamber." in ancient times the _barber_ and the _tailor_, as news-mongers, divided the crown. the barber not only erected his _pole_ as a sign, but hung his _basins_ upon it by way of ornament. bees obedient to training. though it is customary in many rural districts of england, when bees are swarming, to make a clanging noise with metal implements, under the impression--an erroneous one we believe--that it will induce the swarm to settle, it is not generally supposed that bees are susceptible of being trained to obey in many respects the orders of their teacher. such, however, is the fact, and an instance of it occurs in the following advertisement, which we have copied from an old newspaper. we give it as we find it, but it is not very clear what locality is meant by "their _proper_ places":-- "at the jubilee gardens, dobney's, . daniel wildman rides, standing upright, one foot on the saddle, and the other on the horse's neck, with a curious mask of bees on his face. he also rides, standing upright on the saddle, with the bridle in his mouth, and, by firing a pistol, makes one part of the bees march over a table, and the other part swarm in the air, and return to their proper places again." a man selling his own body. anatomists and surgeons have frequently incurred the odium of being precipitate in their post mortem examinations. it has been charged upon the illustrious vessalius, and, in more modern times, on mons. de lassone, and others; nay, credulity has gone so far, as to suppose, that subjects have occasionally been kept till wanted; nor is such a notion altogether extravant, when we find an article of this kind offered to joshua brookes, the anatomical lecturer, in the following terms:-- "mr. brooke, i have taken it into consideration to send this poor man to you, being greatly in distress, hopeing you will find sum employment for him in silling the dead carcases; and if you can find him no employment, the berer of this wishes to sill himself to you, as he is weary of this life. and i remain your humble servant, "john davis." the first locomotives. [illustration: the first locomotive.] it is little more than thirty years ago, when, on the river tyne, a large fleet of peculiarly-formed vessels was to be seen daily employed in the carriage of coals to the ships from the "staiths," which projected into the river from the various colliery tramways. at that period, there was only one very small and ill-constructed steam-packet for the conveyance of passengers between newcastle and shields, and against which so much prejudice existed, that the majority of persons preferred the covered wherries, which, for some centuries before, had been in use; yet so slow and uncertain was this means of transit between the two towns, that persons in a hurry often found it advisable to walk the intervening distance, which is about eight miles. [illustration: the present locomotive and train.] the collieries situated away from the river had tramways of wood let into the ordinary roads, in such a manner as to form wheel-tracks for carriages. these, drawn by horses, were the only means thought of for bringing the coals to the river bank. some of these tramways were nearly as old as the times of queen elizabeth or james i., when the increase of london and other causes began to overcome the prejudice against the use of "sea-coal." many of the tramways passed amid green and shadowy woods and other pleasant places, and we have often thought when wandering through them, of the difficulties that beset travellers at that time. even at a more recent date, in , day coaches were considered dangerous, and it was suggested that the multitude of them in london should be limited, and not more than one be allowed to each shire, to go once a week backwards and forwards, and to perform the whole journey with the same horses they set out with, and not to travel more than thirty miles a day in summer, and twenty-five in winter. the arguments advanced in favour of these proposals were, that coaches and caravans were mischievous to the public, destructive to trade, and prejudicial to the land--because, firstly, they destroyed the breed of good horses, and made men careless of horsemanship; secondly, they hindered the breed of watermen, who were the nursery of seamen; thirdly, they lessened the revenue. in , the road from petworth to london (less than miles) was so bad that the duke of somerset was obliged to rest a night on the road. in march, or , mr. pennant, the historian, travelled by the _stage_, then no despicable vehicle for country gentlemen, and in the first day, with "much labour," got from chester to whitechurch--twenty miles; and, after a "wondrous effort," reached london before the commencement of the sixth night. without entering into an account of the rapid improvement of the english roads soon after the time of pennant, we may mention that, at about the date , the colliery tramways underwent considerable improvement, by plating the wooden rails in many parts with iron: stone-ways were tried in some instances, but were not found successful; and in course of time the old tramways were covered with cast-iron rails laid on the old foundations. inclined planes, with fixed steam-engines, also came into use; and at the same time the idea of a locomotive engine was attracting attention in various directions. in a machine was used on a tramway near merthyr tydvil, and soon after this the "iron horse," shown in the engraving, was placed upon the wagon way of the wylam colliery, from wylam to newburn, on the tyne, near newcastle, and greatly astonished all who saw it drawing along, at the rate of three miles and a half per hour, from fifteen to twenty wagons of coals, making all the while a horrible and snorting noise, difficult to describe, and sending forth at the same time fire and dense clouds of black smoke. george stephenson was then beginning to make way, and had provided several improved locomotives for heaton colliery. in - , patents for improvements in locomotives were taken out by george stephenson, in connexion with messrs. dodd and losh; and in the projection of the liverpool and manchester railway afforded a further opportunity for their development. the opposition to the use of steam-engines on this line of railway seems singular enough at the present day; still it was very great. the use of horses was, however, found to be too expensive, and george stephenson having stated that he could work a locomotive with safety at a rate of from six to eight miles an hour ("i knew," said he, "that if i told them more than that, they would look upon me as more fit for a lunatic house than to give evidence in the house of commons"), a reward of _l._ was offered for the best locomotive engine. a trial took place in october, --_only twenty-seven years ago!_--of the steam locomotive engines which were offered in competition. of these, one was withdrawn at the commencement of the experiment. the "novelty," by braithwait and ericsson, met with an accident; and the "sanspareil," by hackworth, attained a velocity of fifteen miles an hour, with a gross load of nineteen tons, but at length gave way, owing to an accident; the remaining engine, constructed by robert stephenson and mr. booth, succeeded in performing more than was stipulated. the contrast between the date mentioned at the commencement of our article and the present time is remarkable: the old and clumsy fleet has vanished from the tyne; a railway carries passengers from newcastle to shields in a few minutes; numerous steam vessels sail upon the river, some of large size; which travel to various and distant ports. on the colliery railway hundreds of locomotives are at work, and hundreds of thousands of miles of iron rails spread over a wide extent of the civilized world; and, in addition to other wonders, the electric telegraph will, ere long, outrival the power of puck, the fairy, and "put a girdle round the world in (less than) forty minutes." sir william wallace the hero of scotland. .--this year was marked by the capture of sir william wallace. it appears that the king of england had anxiously sought to discover his retreat, and that, tempted by the prospects of the rewards his baseness might earn for him, ralph de haliburton, one of the prisoners taken a short time previously at sterling, had proffered his services for that purpose. upon being seized, he was conveyed to the castle of dumbarton, and thence to england. he was brought to london, "with great numbers of men and women," says stow, "wondering upon him. he was lodged in the house of william delect, a citizen of london, in fenchurch-street. on the morrow, being the eve of st. bartholomew, he was brought on horseback to westminster, john segrave and geoffrey, knights, the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of london, and many others, both on horseback and on foot, accompanying him; and in the great hall at westminster, he being placed on the south bench, crowned with laurel--for that he had said in times past that he ought to bear a crown in that hall, as it was commonly reported--and being appeached for a traitor by sir peter malorie, the king's justice, he answered, that he was never traitor to the king of england, but for other things whereof he was accused, he confessed them." these circumstantial and minute details, inartificially as they are put together, and homely or trivial as some of them may be thought, are yet full of interest for all who would call up a living picture of the scene. wallace was put to death as a traitor, on the rd of august, , at the usual place of execution--the elms in west smithfield. he was dragged thither at the tails of horses, and there hanged on a high gallows, after which, while he yet breathed, his bowels were taken out and burnt before his face. the barbarous butchery was then completed by the head being struck off, and the body being divided into quarters. the head was afterwards placed on a pole on london-bridge; the right arm was sent to be set up at newcastle, the left arm to berwick, the right foot and limb to perth, and the left to aberdeen. an elephant detects a robber. an officer in the bengal army had a very fine and favourite elephant, which was supplied daily in his presence with a certain allowance of food, but being compelled to absent himself on a journey, the keeper of the beast diminished the ration of food, and the animal became daily thinner and weaker. when its master returned, the elephant exhibited the greatest signs of pleasure; the feeding time came, and the keeper laid before it the former full allowance of food, which it divided into two parts, consuming one immediately, and leaving the other untouched. the officer, knowing the sagacity of his favourite, saw immediately the fraud that had been practiced, and made the man confess his crime. may-poles. [illustration: [++] village may-pole.] the may-pole, decked with garlands, round which the rustics used to dance in this month, yet stands in a few of our villages through the whole circle of the year. a may-pole formerly stood in the strand, upon the site of the church by somerset house, but was taken down in . the village may-pole we engrave still remains by the ruins of st. briavel castle, forest of dean, gloucestershire, and forms an object of considerable interest to the visitor. several in the village could remember the may-day dancers, and the removal and setting up of the may-pole. no notice whatever of this old english festival has, however, been taken for some years. the may-pole is about sixty feet high; about half-way up is the rod to which it was usual to fasten the garlands and ribbons. let us observe, that in many parts of dean forest, those who love to trace the remains of old manners and customs will find ample employment. the people are civil and hospitable; their manner of address reminds us of the wording of the plays of shakspere's times; and in most houses, if a stranger calls, cider and bread are offered, as in the olden time. the old dog wheel. [illustration: [++] old dog wheel.] about a century and a half ago, the long-backed "turnspit" dog, and the curious apparatus here shown, yclept the "old dog wheel," were to be found in most farm houses; simple machinery has, however, now been substituted for the wheel which the dog was made to turn round, like the imprisoned squirrels and white mice of the present day; and not only the dog wheels, but also the long-backed "turnspit" dog have almost disappeared. that which we engrave, however, still exists, and may be seen by the curious, at the castle of st. briavel, which stands on the borders of the forest of dean, in gloucestershire. abraham and sarah. the talmudists relate that abraham, in travelling to egypt, brought with him a chest. at the custom-house the officers exacted the duties. abraham would have readily paid them, but desired they would not open the chest. they first insisted on the duties for clothes, which abraham consented to pay; but then they thought by his ready acquiescence that it might be gold. abraham consents to pay for gold. they now suspect it might be silk. abraham was willing to pay for silk, or more costly pearls--in short, he consented to pay as if the chest contained the most valuable of things. it was then they resolved to open and examine the chest; and, behold, as soon as the chest was opened, that great lustre of human beauty broke out which made such a noise in the land of egypt--it was sarah herself! the jealous abraham, to conceal her beauty, had locked her up in this chest. ages of celebrated men. hippocrates, the greatest physician the world has ever seen, died at the age of one hundred and nine, in the island of cos, his native country. galen, the most illustrious of his successors, reached the age of one hundred and four. the three sages of greece, solon, thales, and pittacus, lived for a century. the gay democritus outlived them by two years. zeno wanted only two years of a century when he died. diogenes ten years more; and plato died at the age of ninety-four, when the eagle of jupiter is said to have borne his soul to heaven. xenophon, the illustrious warrior and historian, lived ninety years. polemon and epicharmus ninety-seven; lycurgus eighty-five; sophocles more than a hundred. gorgias entered his hundred and eighth year; and asclepiades, the physician, lived a century and a half. juvenal lived a hundred years; pacuvius and varro but one year less. carneades died at ninety; galileo at sixty-eight; cassini at ninety-eight; and newton at eighty-five. in the last century, fontenelle expired in his ninety-ninth year; buffon in his eighty-first; voltaire in his eighty-fourth. in the present century, prince talleyrand, goethe, rogers, and niemcewicz are remarkable instances. the cardinal du belloy lived nearly a century; and marshal moncey lately terminated a glorious career at eighty-five. effect of a new nose. van helmont tells a story, of a person who applied to taliacotius to have his nose restored. this person, having a dread of an incision being made in his own arm, for the purpose of removing enough skin therefrom for a nose, got a labourer, who, for a remuneration, suffered the skin for the nose to be taken from his arm. about thirteen months after, the adscitious nose suddenly became cold, and, after a few days, dropped off, in a state of putrefaction. the cause of this unexpected occurrence having been investigated, it was discovered that, at the same moment in which the nose grew cold, the labourer at bologna expired. french dress. sigebert was buried in st. medrad's church, at soissons, where his statue is still seen in long clothes, with the mantle, which the romans called _chlamys_. this was the dress of colvil's children, whether as more noble and majestic, or that they looked on the title of augustus as hereditary in their family. however it be, long clothes were, for several ages, the dress of persons of distinction, with a border of sable, ermine, or miniver. under charles v. it was emblazoned with all the pieces of the coat of arms. at that time, neither ruffs, collars, nor bands were known, being introduced by henry ii. 'till this time the neck of the french king was always quite bare, except charles the _wise_, who is everywhere represented with an ermin collar. the short dress anciently worn in the country and the camp, came to be the general fashion under louis xi. but was laid aside under louis xii. francis i. revived it, with the improvement of flashes. the favourite dress of henry ii. and his children was a tight, close doublet, with trunk hose, and a cloak scarce reaching the waist. the dress of french ladies, it may be supposed, had likewise its revolutions. they seem for nine hundred years, not to have been much taken up with ornament. nothing could require less time or nicety than their head-dress, and the disposition of their hair. every part of their linen was quite plain, but at the same time extremely fine. laces were long unknown. their gowns, on the right side of which was embroidered their husband's coat of arms, and on the left that of their own family, were so close as to shew all the delicacy of their shape, and came up so high as to cover their whole breast, up to their neck. the habit of widows was very much like that of the nuns. it was not until charles vi. that they began to expose their shoulders. the gallantry of charles the vii.'s court brought in the use of bracelets, necklaces, and ear-rings. queen anne de bretagne despised those trinkets; and catherine de medicis made it her whole business to invent new. a last chance. john jones and jn. davis, condemn'd for robberries on the highway, were executed at tyburn. davis feign'd himself sick, and desir'd he might not be ty'd in the cart: but when he came to the tree, while the hangman was fastening the other's halter, he jumpt out of the cart, and ran over two fields; but being knock'd down by a countryman, was convey'd back and hang'd without any more ceremony. jones confessed he had been confederate in several robberies with gordon, lately executed.--_gentleman's magazine ._ a convict running away over two fields at tyburn, and then being caught by a countryman! how strange this seems, when we look at the streets and squares which now cover the locality, and when the only countrymen now seen there are those who come up from the rural districts! yellow hair in the time of the plantagenets. yellow hair was at this time esteemed a beauty, and saffron was used by the ladies to dye it of a colour esteemed "odious" by modern ladies. elizabeth also made yellow hair fashionable, as hers was of the same tint. in the romance of _king alisaunder_, we are told of queen olympias:-- "hire yellow hair was fair atyred with riche strings of gold wyred, and wryen hire abouten all to hire gentil myddel small." the city of the sultan. [illustration: the mosque of st. sophia.] the mosques of constantinople are the most wonderful objects of that renowned city. more than are picturesquely distributed in conspicuous parts, and form a most attractive feature to the eye of the traveller. the city itself is built upon seven gentle hills, which is the main cause not only of its grandeur of appearance, but also of its salubrity and comparative cleanliness. there are fourteen chief or imperial mosques, all lofty, and magnificent in their general dimensions, and built from base to dome, of enduring materials, chiefly of white marble, slightly tinged with grey. some of these have two, some four, and one (that of sultan achmet) has even six of those light, thin, lofty, arrowy, and most graceful towers called minarets. the mosque of santa sophia was once a christian cathedral, and is rich in historical recollections. this mosque ranks as one of the grandest edifices. the ridge of the first hill on which the city stands, setting out from the north eastern part, is covered by the serai or palace of the sultan, behind which, a little on the reverse of the hill, the dome of santa sophia shows itself. the colleges and hospitals, which are generally attached to or near the great mosques, offer no striking architectural features; but some of the detached chapels or sepulchres (_turbés_), where sultans, viziers, and other great personages repose, are handsome. gold mask from the banks of the euphrates. [illustration: mask of nebuchadnezzar.] this interesting relic of remote antiquity is at present preserved in the museum of the east india company. it was found by colonel rawlinson while engaged in prosecuting the discoveries commenced by layard and botta, at nineveh and babylon; and is supposed to have belonged to king nebuchadnezzar. in exhuming from the mounds of these long-lost rival cities, the instructive remains of this once gigantic power, the colonel discovered, in a perfect state of preservation, what is well believed to be the mummy of nebuchadnezzar. the face of the rebellious monarch of babylon, covered by one of those gold masks usually found in assyrian tombs, is described as very handsome--the forehead high and commanding, the features marked and regular. the mask is of thin gold, and independent of its having once belonged to the great monarch, has immense value as a relic of an ancient and celebrated people. the arab tribes encamping about wurka and other great mounds search in the loose gravel with their spears for coffins. gold and silver ornaments, which have been buried in these graves for centuries, are worn by the arab women of the present day; and many a rare object recovered from them is sold and melted by the goldsmiths of the east. the arabs mention the discovery, by some fortunate shepherd, of royal tombs, in which were crowns and sceptres of solid gold. frost fair on the thames. "i went crosse the thames," says evelyn, january , - , "on the ice, which now became so thick as to bear not only streetes of boothes, in which they roasted meate, and had divers shops of wares, quite acrosse as in a towne, but coaches, carts, and horses passed over. so i went from westminster stayres to lambeth, and din'd with the archbishop. i walked over the ice (after dinner) from lambeth stayres to the horseferry. "the thames (jan{y} ) was filled with people and tents, selling all sorts of wares as in a citty. the frost (jan{y} ) continuing more and more severe, the thames before london was still planned with boothes in formal streetes, all sorts of trades and shops furnished and full of commodities, even to a printing-presse, where the people and ladyes took a fancy to have their names printed on the thames. this humour took so universally, that 'twas estimated the printer gained £ a-day, for printing a line only, at sixpence a day, besides what he got by ballads, &c. coaches plied from westminster to the temple, and from several other staires to and fro, as in the streetes, sleds, sliding with skeates, a bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet playes and interludes, cookes, tipling, and other lewd places, so that it seem'd to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water." "it began to thaw (feb. ), but froze againe. my coach crossed from lambeth to the horseferry at millbank, westminster. the booths were almost all taken down; but there was first a map, or landskip, cut in copper, representing all the manner of the camp, and the several actions, sports, and pastimes thereon, in memory of so signal a frost." the character of the mouth. we give the following extract from a very old work; not only because it contains several shrewd observations, but also because it is a good specimen of the spelling and diction which prevailed in the sixteenth century, at which period there is internal evidence that the book was written, though it bears no date on the title page:-- "the mouth greate and wyde betokeneth wrath, boldnes and warre. and such men are commonly glottons. a wyde mouth withoute meesure, as thought it were cutte and stretched out, sygnifieth ravening inhumanitie, wickednes, a warlyke hart and cruell, like unto beastes of the sea. such men are greate talkers, boasters, babblers, enuious, lyars, and full of follye. the mouthe that hathe but a lyttle closynge and a lyttle openynge, sygnyfyeth a fearful man, quyet, and yet unfaithfull. the mouthe that is verye apparent and rounde with thycknes of lyppes, sygnyfyeth vnclenlynes, follye, and cruelltye. the mouth whyche hath a quantitie in his sytuation with a lyttle shutting, and smylynge eyes wyth the reste of the face, sygnyfyeth a carnall man, a lover of daunces, and a greate lyar. when the mouthe turneth in speakinge it is a sygne that it is infected with some catarre or murre as is manyfest ynough. the long chynne declareth the man to be very lyttle subiecte to anger, and of a good complexion: and yet he is somewhat a babbler and a boaster of hymselfe. they that have a lyttle chinne, are much to be avoyded and taken heede of, for besydes all vices with the whyche they are fylled they are full of impietye and wyckednes and are spyes, lyke unto serpents. if the ende of the chynne be round it is a sygne of feminine maners and also it is a sygne of a woman. but the chynne of a man muste be almoste square."--"_the most excellent, profitable, and pleasant booke of the famous doctour and expert astrologien arcandam or aleandrin._" * * *. _now ready turned out of french into our vulgare tonge, by will. warde. black letter. no date._ printed by j. rowbothum. execution of earl ferrers for murder, . lord ferrers was hung for the deliberate and cruel murder of his steward, mr. johnson, and his execution at tyburn furnishes a curious instance of the exhibition of egregious vanity in a man who was just about to meet an ignominious death, and of misplaced pride in his family who could actually decorate the scaffold with the emblems of respectful mourning. his lordship was dressed in his wedding-clothes, which were of light colour, and embroidered in silver. he set out from the tower at nine o'clock, amidst crowds of spectators. first went a large body of constables, preceded by one of the high constables; next came a party of grenadiers and a party of foot; then the sheriff, in a chariot and six, the horses dressed with ribbons; and next, lord ferrers, in a landau and six, escorted by parties of horse and foot. the other sheriff's carriage followed, succeeded by a mourning-coach and six, conveying some of the malefactor's friends; and lastly, a hearse and six, provided for the purpose of taking the corpse from the place of execution to surgeons' hall. the procession was two hours and three-quarters on its way. lord ferrers conversed very freely during the passage. he said, "the apparatus of death, and the passing through such crowds of people, are ten times worse than death itself; but i suppose they never saw a lord hanged, and perhaps they will never see another." he said to the sheriff. "i have written to the king, begging that i might suffer where my ancestor, the earl of essex, the favourite of elizabeth, suffered, and was in great hopes of obtaining that favour, as i have the honour of being allied to his majesty, and of quartering part of the royal arms. i think it hard that i must die at the place appointed for the execution of common felons." the scaffold was hung with black by the undertaker, at the expense of lord ferrers' family. his lordship was pinioned with a black sash, and was unwilling to have his hands tied, or his face covered, but was persuaded to both. on the silken rope being put round his neck, he turned pale, but recovered instantly. within seven minutes after leaving the landau, the signal was given for striking the stage, and in four minutes he was quite dead. the corpse was subjected to dissection. strange funeral obsequies. the following, taken from an old magazine, is a singular manifestation of eccentricity in a person who, from the books he selected to be buried with him, was evidently a man of an educated and refined mind:-- died, may , , mr. john underwood, of whittlesea, in cambridgeshire. at his burial, when the service was over, an arch was turn'd over the coffin, in which was placed a small piece of white marble, with this inscription, "_non omnis moriar_, ." then the six gentlemen who follow'd him to the grave sung the last stanza of the th ode of the d book of horace. no bell was toll'd, no one invited but the six gentlemen, and no relation follow'd his corpse; the coffin was painted green, and he laid in it with all his cloaths on; under his head was placed sanadon's "horace," at his feet bentley's "milton;" in his right hand a small greek testament, with this inscription in gold letters, "eimientôbaus [greek: ei mi en tô bausa], j. u," in his left hand a little edition of "horace" with this inscription, "_musis amicus_, j. u.;" and bentley's "horace" under his back. after the ceremony was over they went back to his house, where his sister had provided a cold supper; the cloth being taken away the gentlemen sung the st ode of the st book of "horace," drank a chearful glass, and went home about eight. he left about , _l._ to his sister, on condition of her observing this his will, order'd her to give each of the gentlemen ten guineas, and desir'd they would not come in black cloaths. the will ends thus, "which done i would have them take a chearful glass, and think no more of john underwood." quick travelling in old times. saturday, the seventeenth day of july, , bernard calvert, of andover, about three o'clock in the morning, tooke horse at st. george's church in southwarke, and came to dover about seaven of the clocke the same morning, where a barge, with eight oares, formerly sent from london thither, attended his suddaine coming: he instantly tooke barge, and went to callice, and in the same barge returned to dover, about three of the clocke the same day, where, as well there as in diverse other places, he had layed sundry swift horses, besides guides: he rode back from thence to st. george's church in southwarke the same evening, a little after eight o'clock, fresh and lusty.--_stow's annals._ eddystone lighthouse. [illustration: the eddystone lighthouse.] as the arts and sciences improved, so did the construction of lighthouses, until one of the greatest accomplishments of engineering skill, ever attempted upon such works, was exhibited in the construction of the eddystone lighthouse, which is, indeed, much more entitled than the pharos of alexandria to be considered one of the wonders of the world. the rock on which this tower is built is placed about twelve miles south-west of plymouth, and consists of a series of submarine cliffs, stretching from the west side (which is so precipitous that the largest ship can ride close beside them) in an easterly direction, for nearly half a mile. at the distance of about a quarter of a mile more is another rock, so that a more dangerous marine locality can hardly be imagined. both these rocks had proved the cause of many fatal shipwrecks, and it was at last resolved to make an attempt to obviate the danger. in the year , a gentleman of essex, named winstanley, who had a turn for architecture and mechanics, was engaged to erect a lighthouse upon the eddystone rock, and in four years he completed it. it did not, however, stand long, for while some repairs were in progress under his direction in , on the th november, a violent hurricane came on which blew the lighthouse down, and mr. winstanley and all his workmen perished--nothing remaining of the edifice but a few stones and a piece of iron chain. in the spring of an act of parliament was obtained for rebuilding the lighthouse, and a gentleman named rudyerd, a silk mercer, was the engineer engaged. he placed five courses of heavy stones upon the rock and then erected a superstructure of wood. the lighthouse on the bell rock, off the coast of fife, and the one placed at the entrance of the mersey on the black rock, are similarly constructed, so that there seemed to be good reason for adopting the principle. mr. smeaton thought that the work was done in a masterly and effective manner; but in the edifice was destroyed by fire, and he was next retained as the engineer for this important building. the result of his labours has justly been considered worthy of the admiration of the world, for it is distinguished alike for its strength, durability, and beauty of form. the base of the tower is about twenty-six feet nine inches in diameter, and the masonry is so formed as to be a part of the solid rock, to the height of thirteen feet above the surface, where the diameter is diminished to nineteen feet and a half. the tower then rises in a gradually diminishing curve to the height of eighty-five feet, including the lantern, which is twenty-four feet high. the upper extremity is finished by a cornice, a balustrade being placed around the base of the lantern for use as well as ornament. the tower is furnished with a door and windows, and the whole edifice outside bears the graceful outline of the trunk of a mighty tree, combining lightness with elegance and strength. mr. smeaton commenced his labours in , and completed the building in four years. before commencing operations he took accurate drawings of the exterior of the rock, and the stones, which were brought from the striking and romantic district of dartmoor, were all formed to fit into its crevices, and so prepared as to be dovetailed together, and strung by oaken plugs. when put into their places, and then firmly cemented, the whole seemed to form, and does indeed constitute, a part of the solid rock. sweating sickness. the sweating sickness first visited england anno dom. , and repeated its visitations , , , , and last of all, . this epidemic disease raged with such peculiar violence in england, and had so quick a crisis, that it was distinguished by the name of _ephemera britannica_. this singular fever seems to have been of the most simple, though of the most acute kind, and notwithstanding princes and nobles were its chief victims, the physicians of the day never agreed upon the method of treating it. the splendid french embassy, which arrived in england in , found the court-festivities damped by a visitation of that strange and terrific malady. "this pestilence, first brought into the island by the foreign mercenaries who composed the army of the earl of richmond, afterwards henry vii., now made its appearance for the fourth and last time in our annals. it seized principally, it is said, on males, on such as were in the prime of their age, and rather on the higher than the lower classes: within the space of twenty-four hours, the fate of the sufferer was decided for life or death. its ravages were prodigious; two princes died of it; and the general consternation was augmented, by a superstitious idea which went forth, that englishmen alone were the destined victims of this mysterious minister of fate, which tracked their steps, with a malice and sagacity of an evil spirit, into every distant country of the earth whither they might have wandered, whilst it left unassailed all foreigners in their own." an american advertisement. the following is an early specimen of that system of poetical advertising which in recent times has become so common. it is always interesting to note the origin of customs with which we subsequently become familiar:-- _notice to the public, and especially to emigrants, who wish to settle on lands._--the subscriber offers for sale, several thousand acres of land, situated in well settled front townships, in lots to suit purchasers. particulars about location, may be known by application. for quality of soil, and so forth, buyers to see, on nag must go forth. this much i'll tell ye plainly, of big trees ye'll see mainly. 'bout butter nut and beach, a whole week i could preach; but what the plague's the use of that? the lands are nigh, low, round, and flat. there's rocks and stumps, no doubt enough, and bogs and swamps, just _quantum-suff_ to breed the finest of musquitoes; as in the sea are bred bonitos, no lack of fever or of ague; and many other things to plague you. in short, they're just like other people's, sans houses, pigsties, barns, or steeples what most it imports you to know, 's the terms on which i'll let 'em go. so now i offer to the buyer, a credit to his own desire, for butter, bacon, bread, and cheese, lean bullocks, calves, or ducks and geese, corn, _tates_, flour, barley, rye, or any thing but _punkin-pie_. in three, four years, _aye, five or six_, if that won't do, why let _him_ fix. but when once fix'd, if payment's slack, as sure as fate, i'll take 'em back. thomas dalton. kingston brewery, (canada,) nov. , . magnificence of former times. _account how the earl of worcester lived at ragland castle in monmouthshire, before the civil wars, which began in ._ at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the castle gates were shut, and the tables laid; two in the dining-room; three in the hall; one in mrs. watson's apartment, where the chaplains are, (sir toby mathews being the first;) and two in the housekeeper's room for the lady's women. the earl came into the dining-room attended by his gentlemen. as soon as he was seated, sir ralph blackstone, steward of the house, retired. the comptroller, mr. holland, attended with his staff, as did the sewer, mr. blackburne; the daily waiters, mr. clough, mr. selby, and mr. scudamore; with many gentlemen's sons, from two to seven hundred pounds a year, bred up in the castle; my lady's gentleman usher, mr. harcourt; my lord's gentlemen of the chamber, mr. morgan and mr. fox. at the first table sat the noble family, and such of the nobility as came. at the second table, in the dining-room, sat knights and honourable gentlemen, attended by footmen. in the hall, at the first table sat sir ralph blackstone, steward; the comptroller, mr. holland; the secretary; the master of the horse, mr. delewar; the master of the fish ponds, mr. andrews; my lord herbert's preceptor, mr. adams; with such gentlemen as came there under the degree of a knight, attended by footmen, and plentifully served with wine. at the second table in the hall, (served from my lord's table, and with other hot meats,) sat the sewer, with the gentlemen waiters and pages, to the number of twenty-four. at the third table in the hall, sat the clerk of the kitchen, with the yeomen officers of the house, two grooms of the chamber, &c. other officers of the household were, chief auditor, mr. smith; clerk of the accounts, mr. george wharton; purveyor of the castle, mr. salsbury; ushers of the hall, mr. moyle and mr. croke; closet keeper, gentleman of the chapel, mr. davies; keeper of the records; master of the wardrobe; master of the armoury; master groom of the stable for the war horses; master of the hounds; master falconer; porter and his man. two butchers; two keepers of the home park; two keepers of the red deer park. footmen, grooms, and other menial servants, to the number of . some of the footmen were brewers and bakers. out officers.--steward of ragland, william jones, esq.; the governor of chepstow castle, sir nicholas kemys, bart.; housekeeper of worcester house, in london, james redman, esq. thirteen bailiffs. two counsel for the bailiffs to have recourse to. solicitor, mr. john smith. sadler's wells. "t. g., doctor in physic," published, in , a pamphlet upon this place, in which he says:--"the water of this well, before the reformation, was very much famed for several extraordinary cures performed thereby, and was thereupon accounted sacred, and called holywell. the priests belonging to the priory of clerkenwell using to attend there, made the people believe that the virtue of the water proceeded from the efficacy of their prayers; but at the reformation the well was stopped, upon the supposition that the frequenting of it was altogether superstitious; and so by degrees it grew out of remembrance, and was wholly lost until then found out; when a gentleman named sadler, who had lately built a new music-house there, and being surveyor of the highways, had employed men to dig gravel in his garden, in the midst whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an arch of stone." after the decease of sadler, francis forcer, a musician of some eminence in his profession, became proprietor of the well and music-room; he was succeeded by his son, who first exhibited there the diversions of rope-dancing and tumbling, which were then performed in the garden. the rural vicinity of the "wells," long made it a favourite retreat of the pleasure-seeking citizens. [illustration: champion figg.] james figg, a native of thame, in oxfordshire, was a man of remarkable athletic strength and agility, and signalized himself greatly over any of his country competitors in the art of cudgel-playing, single-stick, and other gymnastic exercises. having acquired a considerable knowledge of the broadsword, he came to london, and set up as master in that science, undertaking to teach the nobility and gentry of his day the noble art of self defence; and championed himself against all comers. he took a waste piece of ground, the corner of wells and castle-streets, oxford-road, and erected a wooden edifice, which, in imitation of the romans, he denominated an amphitheatre; and established here a regular academy, to train pupils in the practice of cudgeling, broadsword, &c. &c., as well to use it, on fixed occasions, for the exhibition of prizefighting. he had many followers, and we find him commemorated and praised by most of the wits of his time. "the tattler," "guardian," and "craftsman," have equally contributed to preserve his memory, as have several writers. bramstone, in his "man of taste" tells us:-- "in figg the prize-fighter by day delight, and sup with colley cibber every night." another writer notices him in the following lines:-- "to figg and broughton he commits his breast, to steel it to the fashionable test." sutton, the pipe-maker of gravesend, was his rival, and dared the mighty figg to the combat. twice they fought, with alternate advantage; but, at the third trial, a considerable time elapsed before victory decided for either party; at length the palm of victory was obtained by figg. in short, neither ned sutton, tom buck, nor bob stokes, could resist, or stand against his skill and valour. he was never defeated but once, and then by sutton, in one of their previous combats, and that was generally supposed to have been in consequence of an illness he had on him at the time he fought. when faber engraved his portrait from a painting by ellys, he was at a loss what he should insert, as an appropriate motto, and consulting with a friend what he should put, was answered, "_a figg for the irish._" this was immediately adopted, and the print had a rapid sale. figg died in . william flander a noted scholar of his, fought at the amphitheatre, in , with christopher clarkson, from lancashire, who was called the old soldier. the fashion of attending prizefighting matches had attained its highest zenith in figg's time, and it was looked upon as a very great proof of self-denial in an amateur if he failed a meeting on those occasions. from figg's theatre he will not miss a night, though cocks, and bulls, and irish women, fight. figg left a widow and several children; so recently as a daughter-in-law of his was living, and resided in charles-street, westminster, where she kept a house, and supported herself very decently by letting lodgings, aided by a very small income. dress in . the wardrobe of a country gentleman is thus given from a will, dated , in the prerogative court of canterbury, in brayley and britton's _graphic illustrator_--"i give unto my brother mr. william sheney my best black gown, garded and faced with velvet, and my velvet cap; also i will unto my brother thomas marcal my new shepe colored gowne, garded with velvet and faced with cony; also i give unto my son tyble my shorte gown, faced with wolf (skin), and laid with billements lace; also i give unto my brother cowper my other shorte gowne, faced with foxe; also i give unto thomas walker my night gown, faced with cony, with one lace also, and my ready (ruddy) colored hose; also i give unto my man thomas swaine my doublet of canvas that forde made me, and my new gaskyns that forde made me; also i give unto john wyldinge a cassock of shepes colour, edged with ponts skins; also i give unto john woodzyle my doublet of fruite canvas, and my hose with fryze bryches; also i give unto strowde my frize jerkin with silke buttons; also i give symonde bisshoppe, the smyth, my other frize jerkyn, with stone buttons; also i give to adam ashame my hose with the frendge (fringe), and lined with crane-coloured silk; which gifts i will to be delivered, immediately after my decease." origin of the crest of the prince of wales. the loss of the french at the battle of creçy was immense. there fell , knights; , esquires; , commissioned officers; , rank and file; dukes of lorraine and bourbon; earls of flanders, blois, harcourt, vaudemont, and aumale; the king of bohemia; the king of majorca. the english lost one esquire, three knights, and less than one hundred rank and file. here did they first use field artillery; and on this battle-field did the young prince of wales adopt the ostrich plumes and motto of the slain king of bohemia, who, being blind, desired to be led at a gallop between two knights into the thick of the fight, and thus met death. those feathers and the two words "ich dien," "i serve," are to this day the heraldic bearings of the prince of wales, whom god preserve! so much for creçy or cressy! singular discovery of a thief in . on february , as a servant in the employ of j. l. king, esq., of stogumber, was entering a field, his attention was attracted by a magpie, which appeared to have escaped from a neighbouring house. the bird spoke so uncommonly plain that the man was induced to follow it. "_cheese for marget, cheese for marget_," was its continual cry, as it hopped forward, till it stopped behind a hay-stack, and began to eat. on inspection, a number of hams, a quantity of cheese, &c., were discovered, which had been stolen, a short time previously, from mr. bowering, of williton. the plunder was deposited in sacks, on one of which was marked the name of a person residing in the neighbourhood, which led to the apprehension of four fellows, who have been committed to wilton gaol. effect of vinegar on the skin. by the use of vinegar the spanish general vitellis, made his skin hang about him like a pelisse; but of the wonderful dilatability of the skin, no instance equals the spaniard who showed himself to van-horn, silvius, piso, and other learned men at amsterdam. taking up with his left hand the skin of his right shoulder, he would bring the same up to his mouth: again he would draw the skin of his chin down to his breast like a beard, and presently put it upwards to the top of his head, hiding both his eyes therewith; after which, the same would return orderly and equally to its proper place. advertisement of a dying speech book in . newgate literature was more popular in the last century than it is now. the following is an advertisement in the _gentleman's magazine_ of the above date:-- "a general history of executions for the year, . containing the lives, actions, dying speeches, confessions and behaviour, of sixty malefactors executed at tyburn, and elsewhere; particularly three unfortunate young gentlemen, viz., mr. goodburn, a cambridge scholar, mr. johnston, and mr. porter, son to the late lord mayor of dublin: and of several notorious highwaymen, foot-pads, street-robbers, and housebreakers, as dalton, everet, doyle, newcomb, &c., and of the five young highwaymen taken at windsor, said to have formed a design to rob the queen there. to which is added, the trial of william gordon at chelmsford for a robbery on the highway; an account of the incendiaries at bristol, and the apprehending john power, for sending threatening letters, and firing mr. packer's house; also the life of col. ch--s. together with an alphabetical list of all the persons indicted or tried at the old bailey, the year past. with the judgment of the court respectively passed upon each, referring to the pages in the session books for the trials at large. printed for r. newton at st. john's gate, and sold by the booksellers price bound _s._ _d._" advertisement of a fleet parson. in the last century, when marriages were allowed to be transacted--we cannot say solemnized--in the fleet prison, and the adjacent taverns, the profligate wretches who disgraced their sacred profession by taking part in such iniquities, were obliged to bid against one another for custom--here is one of their advertisements:-- g. r. at the true chapel at the old red hand and mitre, three doors from fleet lane and next door to the white swan; marriages are performed by authority by the reverend mr. symson educated at the university of cambridge, and late chaplain to the earl of rothes. n.b. without imposition. the ass. in all countries, this sure-footed and faithful animal is adopted as an emblem of stupidity, from the patience with which it submits to punishment and endures privation. a pair of ass's ears is inflicted upon a child in reproof of his duncehood; and through life we hear every blockhead of our acquaintance called an ass. whereas the ass is a beast of great intelligence; and we often owe our safety to its sure and unerring foot beside the perilous precipice, where the steps of the man of science would have faltered. the fathers of the church, and the disciples of the sorbonne, persuaded of the universal influence of the christian faith, believed the dark cross on the back of the ass to date only from the day on which our saviour made his entry into jerusalem. the ass of the desert was an animal of great price. pliny mentions that the senator arius paid for one the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces. naturalists have frequently remarked the extraordinary dimensions of an ass's heart, which is thought an indication of courage; and it is the custom of the peasantry of some countries to make their children wear a piece of ass's skin about their person. the ass's skin is peculiarly valuable, both for the manufacture of writing-tablets and drums; which may be the reason why a dead ass is so rarely seen. it is too valuable to be left on the highway. in many places, the ass serves as a barometer. if he roll in the dust, fine weather may be expected; but if he erect his ears, rain is certain. why should not these animals experience the same atmospheric influences as man? are we not light-hearted in the sunshine, and depressed in a heavy atmosphere? choice receipts from "physick for the poor. london, ." _to make any one that sleepeth answer to whatsoever thou ask._--take the heart of an oul, and his right legg, and put them upon the breast of one that sleepeth, and they shall reveal whatsoever thou ask them. _to know any man or woman's minde when they are asleep._--take the hart of a dove, and the legg of a frog, dry it well, and beat them to powder in a morter, put this up in a linnen cloth, with three or four round pibble stones, as big as wallnuts, then lay this upon the parties pit of their stomach, and they shall tell you all things that they have done, if there is anything remarkable that troubles them. _to make the nose bleed._--take the leaves of yerrow, put it up in thy nose; this will make the nose bleed immediately. _to make a tooth drop out._--mizaldus saith that if you make a powder of earth-worms and put it in the hollow of a rotten tooth, it will immediately drop out. how strange must have been the education and intelligence of the period, when people could write, publish, and practice such incredible trash! shocking depravity. the following account, from an old magazine, affords a strange and lamentable instance of a wretch just about to die, being only intent with his latest breath to defame his own mother:-- mary lynn, condemn'd last assizes for the county of norfolk, was burnt to ashes at a stake, for being concern'd in the murder of her mistress; and smith, the principal, was hang'd for the same fact. she deny'd her being guilty, and said smith could clear her if he would. she behaved with decency, and died penitent. smith was drunk at the gallows; and seem'd to have but little sense either of his crime or punishment; however, desired all masters to pay their servants' wages on saturday night, that they might have money to spend, and not run in debt. said, "my mother always told me i should die in my shoes, but i will make her a liar;" so threw them off. personal charms disclaimed. if any human being was free from personal vanity, it must have been the second duchess d'orleans, charlotte elizabeth of bavaria. in one of her letters (dated th august, ), she says, "i must certainly be monstrously ugly. i never had a good feature. my eyes are small, my nose short and thick, my lips broad and thin. these are not materials to form a beautiful face. then i have flabby, lank cheeks, and long features, which suit ill with my low stature. my waist and my legs are equally clumsy. undoubtedly i must appear to be an odious little wretch; and had i not a tolerable good character, no creature could endure me. i am sure a person must be a conjuror to judge me by my eyes that i have a grain of wit." cader idris. on the very summit of cader idris there is an excavation in the solid rock, resembling a couch; and it is said that whoever should rest a night in that seat, will be found in the morning either dead, raving mad, or endued with supernatural genius. old london signs. some notion of the houses and shops of old london may be gathered by a visit to bell yard, near temple bar; great winchester street, near the bank; the wooden houses near cripplegate church; and a few other districts which were spared by the great fire of . in bell yard, for instance, the national feeling for improvement has from time to time effected changes; the lattices of diamond-shaped lead-work, carved pendants, and the projecting signs of the various tradesmen, have disappeared, and here and there sheets of plate glass have been used, to give a somewhat modern appearance to the places of business. still the projecting and massive wood-work of the shops, and the peculiar picturesque appearance of the houses, cannot be altogether disguised; and if any of our readers, who may be curious in such matters, will walk up bailey's court, on the west side of bell yard, he will there see a group of wooden buildings exactly like the great mass which was cleared by the fire. in some of the pictures of london of about this time, the shops of the various tradesmen were chiefly unglazed, and above the door of each was suspended the silver swans; the golden swans; the chained swans; the golden heads; mitres; bells--black, red, white, and blue; rising and setting suns; moons of different phases; men in the moon; sceptres; crowns, and many other devices, which, even at that time, were necessary to distinguish one shop from another. the chequers; st. george and the dragon; royal oaks; king's heads; and double signs, such as the horseshoe and magpie; bell and crown; bell and horns, and such like, were more particularly set apart for the use of the various hostelries. everyone, however, who had a london shop of any kind or consequence, had his sign. many of them were well carved in wood, and ornamented with emblazonry and gilding. no doubt if it were possible to find at the present time the same picturesque architectural displays as were to be met with in london in queen elizabeth's days, our artistic friends would be able to pick up many a nice subject for their pencils, but in those days there were plenty of drawbacks; the pavement was bad, the drainage was worse, and from the eaves of the houses and pents of the shops, streams of water ran down in wet weather upon the wayfarers, and, by lodging in the thoroughfares, made the london streets something in the same state as those of agar town and some other neglected parts of the metropolis. we must not forget that in the days to which we allude there were no flagged footpaths, and that the only distinction from the horse and cart roads, and that for the foot passengers, was a separation by wooden posts, which, in genteel places, were made supports for chains. people, however, got tired of this bad state of things, and measures were taken to put a stop to the streams of water from the roofs, &c. after the great fire, an enactment was made for an alteration in the spouts, &c.; all barbers poles, and projecting signs, and other projections were to be done away with, and other changes made for the better. up to the reign of queen anne, we find, by reference to views of cheapside and the neighbourhood of the monument, that the projecting signs were still in use; and that even at that recent date, many of the london shops in the important neighbourhoods above mentioned were without glazing, and looked much like some of the greengrocers' sheds in use now in bermondsey and some other places. severe measures seem to have been at length taken against the projecting signs, and most of them disappeared, and then it became a most difficult matter either to address letters, or find a man's shop. in dr. johnson's day, he and other persons gave the address "over against" a particular sign, or so many doors from such a sign. in consequence of this uncertainty, many houses in london, which from their association with eminent men would possess much interest now, cannot be pointed out; and it was a wonderful benefit to the metropolis when the plan of numbering the houses in each street was hit upon. but for this, considering that the population has doubled in the last fifty years, it is difficult to know how the genius of rowland hill would have worked his plan of london post-office delivery, or business could be carried on with any kind of comfort. the booksellers and publishers seem to have been the last, with the exception of the tavern-keepers, to give up the old signs. after the great fire, some of the ancient signs which were cut in stone, and which had escaped the conflagration, were got out of the ruins, and afterwards placed in the front of the plain, yet solid, brick buildings which were erected after that event. some of these--the "chained bear," the "collared swan," the "moon and seven stars," and "sun," in cheapside, and some others which we now engrave--are still preserved. the carved wooden sign of the "man in the moon," in wych street, strand, is a rare example; and the "horse-shoe and magpie," in fetter lane, is one of the last of the suspended signs to be now found in the city. [illustration: [++] painted signs of london taverns.] amongst the painted signs of london taverns worth notice, is one in oxford-street (nearly opposite rathbone-place), said to have been painted by hogarth. the subject is "a man loaded with mischief." he has a stout woman on his shoulders, together with a monkey, magpie, etc. the male figure shown in this street picture seems to bear up pretty well under his burden. narrow escape.--calm reliance on providence. in the year , francis pelusius, of sixty-three years old, digging a well forty foot deep in the hill of st. sebastian, the earth above him fell in upon him to thirty-five foot depth; he was somewhat sensible before of what was coming, and opposed a plank, which by chance he had with him, against the ruins, himself lying under it; by this means he was protected from the huge weight of earth, and retained some room and breath to himself, by which he lived seven days and nights without food or sleep, without any pain or sorrow, being full of hope, which he placed in god only. ever and anon he called for help, as being yet safe, but was heard by none, though he could hear the motion, noise and words of those that were above him, and could count the hours as the clock went. after the seventh day, he being all this while given for dead, they brought a bier for his corpse, and when a good part of the well was digged up, on a sudden they heard the voice of one crying from the bottom. at first they were afraid, as if it had been the voice of a subterranean spirit; the voice continuing, they had some hope of his life, and hastened to dig to him, till at last, after they had given him a glass of wine, they drew him up living and well, his strength so entire that to lift him out he would not suffer himself to be bound, nor would use any help of another. yea, he was of so sound understanding, that, jesting, he drew out his purse and gave them money, saying _he had been with such good hosts, that for seven days it had not cost him a farthing_. ceiling of whitehall. the celebrated painting on the roof of the banqueting house, has been restored, re-painted, and refreshed, not fewer than three times. in the reign of james ii., , parrey walton, a painter of still life, and the keeper of the king's pictures, was appointed to re-touch this grand work of art, which had then (as appears by the privy council book) been painted only sixty years. walton was paid £ for its complete restoration, which sum was considered by sir christopher wren, "as very modest and reasonable." it was restored a second time by the celebrated cipriani; and for a third time by a painter named rigaud. bunyan's bible. john bunyan's bible (printed by bill and barker) bound in morocco, and which had been his companion during his twelve years' unjustifiable confinement in bedford gaol, where he wrote his "pilgrim's progress," was purchased at the sale of the library of the rev. s. palmer, of hackney, march, , for the late samuel whitbread, esq., for the sum of £ . this bible, and the "book of martyrs," are said to have constituted the whole library of bunyan during his imprisonment. specimens of royal grants. in , king john grants to w. de camville a licence to destroy game in any of the royal forests, which proves the origin of the game laws. . henry iii. gave _l._ to baldwyn, emperor of constantinople. . king edward iii. forgives to the mayor and citizens of london the indignation and rancour of mind that he had conceived against them. . the king grants to adam thorp, the trimmer of his beard, certain lands at eye, near westminster. the scrupulous attention which edward iii. paid to that ornament of his face, may be seen in his bronze effigy in westminster abbey, which was taken from a mask after his death. . the king settles on joan of navarre, his queen, , _l._ per annum. . henry v. grants to joan warin, his nurse, an annuity of _l._ during life. . the jewels which had belonged to king henry v., and were valued at so large a sum as , _l._, were delivered to sir henry fitz hugh, and his other executors, for the payment of his personal debts. . the "pysane," or great collar of gold and rubies, was pawned by the king to his uncle, cardinal beaufort, who is supposed, at the time of his death, to have amassed more wealth than any subject in england. coffee and tea. the bill for attendance at the dorchester assizes in of mr. john bragge, the town-clerk of lyme, presents this novelty--the article _coffee_ is charged d. this may have been drunk at a coffee-house. coffee was introduced from turkey in . an advertisement in the "mercurius politicus," sept. , , instructs how "that excellent and by all physitians approved _china_ drink, called by the chineans tcha, by other nations, _tay_ alias _tee_, is sold at the sultana's head coffee-house, in sweeting's-rents, by the exchange, _london_.--" there was a "cophee-house" in st. michael's-alley, cornhill, about . tea, coffee, and chocolate were placed under the excise. there was no tax upon these commodities when imported, but when made into drink, as tea was, at d. a gallon, and sold at these houses. remarkable preservation of human hair since the norman period. in a coffin was discovered in the abbey church of romsey, which had originally contained the body of a female of the above early time. the bones had entirely decayed, but the hair, with its characteristic indestructibility, was found entire, and appeared as if the skull had only recently been removed from it, retaining its form entire, and having plaited tails eighteen inches in length. it is still preserved in a glass case, lying upon the same block of oak which has been its pillow for centuries. public taste for conjuring in . one of the amusements of was the juggling exhibition of a fire-eater, whose name was de hightrehight, a native of the valley of annivi in the alps. this tremendous person ate burning coals, chewed flaming brimstone and _swallowed_ it, licked a red-hot poker, placed a red-hot heater on his tongue, kindled coals on his tongue, suffered them to be blown, and broiled meat on them, ate melted pitch, brimstone, bees-wax, sealing-wax, and rosin, with a spoon; and, to complete the business, he performed all these impossibilities five times _per diem_, at the duke of marlborough's head, in fleet-street, for the trifling receipts of s. d., s. d., and s. master hightrehight had the honour of exhibiting before lewis xiv., the emperor of germany, the king of sicily, the doge of venice, and an infinite number of princes and nobles--and the prince of wales, who had nearly lost this inconceivable pleasure by the envious interposition of the inquisition at bologna and in piedmont, which holy office seemed inclined to try _their mode of burning_ on his _body_, leaving to him the care of resisting the flames and rendering them harmless; but he was preserved from the unwelcome ordeal by the interference of the dutchess royal regent of savoy and the marquis bentivoglia. the triumphs of science and perseverance. distance seems not to have entered into the calculations of the engineers who built those monuments of human skill--carriage-roads over the alps. they were after a certain grade, and they obtained it, though by contortions and serpentine windings that seem almost endless. thus the simplon averages nowhere more than one inch elevation to a foot, and, indeed, not quite that. thirty thousand men were employed on this road six years. there are six hundred and eleven bridges in less than forty miles, ten galleries, and twenty houses of refuge, while the average width of the road is over twenty-five feet. the splugen presents almost as striking features as the simplon. from these facts, some idea may be gathered of the stupendous work it must be to carry a carriage-road over the alps. christmas pie. the following appeared in the _newcastle chronicle_, th january, :-- "monday last was brought from howick to berwick, to be shipped for london, for sir henry grey, bart., a pie, the contents whereof are as follows:-- bushels of flour, lbs. of butter, geese, turkeys, rabbits, wild ducks, woodcocks, snipes, partridges, neats' tongues, curlews, blackbirds, and pigeons: it is supposed a very great curiosity, was made by mrs. dorothy patterson, housekeeper at howick. it was near nine feet in circumference at bottom, weighs about twelve stones, will take two men to present it at table; it is neatly fitted with a case, and four small wheels to facilitate its use to every guest that inclines to partake of its contents at table." the upas, (poison) tree. we give here an instance of the extravagancies of ancient travellers, this tissue of falsehoods being taken from "foersch's description of java:"-- the _bohon upas_ is situated in the island of java about twenty-seven leagues from batavia, fourteen from soulis charta, the seat of the emperor, and between eighteen and twenty leagues from tinkjoe, the present residence of the sultan of java. it is surrounded on all sides by a circle of high hills and mountains; and the country round it, to the distance of ten or twelve miles from the tree, is entirely barren. not a tree, nor a shrub, nor even the least plant or grass is to be seen. i have made the tour all around this dangerous spot, at about eighteen miles distant from the centre, and i found the aspect of the country on all sides equally dreary. the easiest ascent of the hills is from that part where the old ecclesiastick dwells. from his house the criminals are sent for the poison, into which the points of all warlike instruments are dipped. it is of high value, and produces a considerable revenue to the emperor. the poison which is procured from this tree is a gum that issues out between the bark and the tree itself, like the _camphor_. malefactors, who for their crimes are sentenced to die, are the only persons who fetch the poison; and this is the only chance they have of saving their lives. after sentence is pronounced upon them by the judge, they are asked in court, whether they will die by the hands of the executioner, or whether they will go to the upas-tree for a box of poison? they commonly prefer the latter proposal, as there is not only some chance of preserving their lives, but also a certainty, in case of their safe return, that a provision will be made for them in future by the emperor. they are also permitted to ask a favour from the emperor, which is generally of a trifling nature, and commonly granted. they are then provided with a silver or tortoise-shell box, in which they are to put the poisonous gum, and are properly instructed how to proceed while they are upon their dangerous expedition. they are always told to attend to the direction of the wind, as they are to go towards the tree before the wind; so that the effluvia from the tree is always blown from them. they go to the house of the old ecclesiastick who prepares them by prayers and admonitions for their future fate; he puts them on a long leathern cap with two glasses before their eyes, which comes down as far as their breast; and also provides them with a pair of leather gloves. they are conducted by the priest, and their friends, and relations, about two miles on their journey. the old ecclesiastick assured me that in upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above seven hundred criminals in the manner described, and that scarcely two out of twenty have returned. all the malayans consider this tree as an holy instrument of the great prophet to punish the sins of mankind, and, therefore, to die of the poison of the upas is generally considered among them as an honourable death. this, however, is certain, that from fifteen to eighteen miles round this tree, not only no human creature can exist, but no animal of _any kind_ has ever been discovered, there are no fish in the waters, and when any birds fly so near this tree that the effluvia reaches them, they drop down dead. death caused by superstition. in hamburg, in , a singular accident occasioned the death of a young couple. the lady going to the church of the augustin friars, knelt down near a mausoleum, ornamented with divers figures in marble, among which was that of death, armed with a scythe, a small piece of the scythe being loose, fell on the hood of the lady's mantelet. on her return home, she mentioned the circumstance as a matter of indifference to her husband, who, being a credulous and superstitious man, cried out in a terrible panic, that it was a presage of the death of his dear wife. the same day he was seized with a violent fever, took to his bed, and died. the disconsolate lady was so affected at the loss, that she was taken ill, and soon followed him. they were both interred in the same grave; and their inheritance, which was very considerable, fell to some very distant relations. st. paul and the viper.--the church at malta. not far from the old city of valetta, in the island of malta, there is a small church dedicated to st. paul, and just by the church, a miraculous statue of the saint with a viper on his hand; supposed to be placed on the very spot on which he was received after his shipwreck on this island, and where he shook the viper off his hand into the fire, without being hurt by it. at which time the maltese assure us, the saint cursed all the venomous animals of the island, and banished them for ever; just as st. patrick treated those of his favourite isle. whether this be the cause of it or not, we shall leave to divines to determine, though if it had, st. luke would probably have mentioned it in the acts of the apostles; but the fact is certain, that there are no venomous animals in malta. the first hermits--why so-called. hermits, or _eremites_, (from the greek [greek: _erêmos_], a desert place,) were men who retired to desert places to avoid persecution; they lodged in caves and cells:-- "where from the mountain's grassy side, their guiltless feast they bring; a scrip with herbs and fruit supply'd, and water from the spring." the first hermit was paul, of thebes, in egypt, who lived about the year ; the second, was st. anthony, also of egypt, who died in , at the age of . st. james's square. the author of _a tour through the island of great britain_ (daniel defoe), second edition, , gives us the following particulars of this aristocratic locality:--"the alterations lately made in st. james's square are entitled to our particular notice. it used to be in a very ruinous condition, considering the noble houses in it, which are inhabited by the first quality. but now it is finely paved all over with heading-stone; a curious oval bason full of water, surrounded with iron rails on a dwarf wall, is placed in the middle, mostly feet deep and diameter. in the centre is a pedestal about fifteen feet square, designed for a statue of king william iii. the iron rails are octagonal, and at each angle without the rails, is a stone pillar about feet high, and a lamp on the top. the gravel walk within the rails is about feet broad from each angle to the margin of the basin. it was done at the expense of the inhabitants by virtue of an act of parliament. the house that once belonged to the duke of ormond, and since to the duke of chandos, is pulled down and makes three noble ones, besides fine stables and coach-houses behind, and two or three more good houses in the street leading to st. james's church. this noble square wants nothing but to have the lower part of it, near pall mall, built of a piece with the rest, and the designed statue to be erected in the middle of the basin. "his royal highness the prince of wales has taken the duke of norfolk's house, and another adjoining to it, which are now (october, ), actually repairing for his town residence; carlton house being too small for that purpose." the morayshire floods. [illustration: [++] the morayshire floods.] in the month of august, , the province of moray and adjoining districts were visited by a tremendous flood. its ravages were most destructive along the course of those rivers which have their source in the cairngorm mountains. the waters of the findhorn and the spey, and their tributaries, rose to an unexampled height. in some parts of their course these streams rose fifty feet above their natural level. many houses were laid desolate, much agricultural produce was destroyed, and several lives were lost. the woodcut in our text represents the situation of a boatman called sandy smith, and his family, in the plains of forres. "they were huddled together," says the eloquent historian of the floods, "on a spot of ground a few feet square, some forty or fifty yards below their inundated dwelling. sandy was sometimes standing and sometimes sitting on a small cask, and, as the beholders fancied, watching with intense anxiety the progress of the flood, and trembling for every large tree that it brought sweeping past them. his wife, covered with a blanket, sat shivering on a bit of a log, one child in her lap, and a girl of about seventeen, and a boy of about twelve years of age, leaning against her side. a bottle and a glass on the ground, near the man, gave the spectators, as it had doubtless given him, some degree of comfort. about a score of sheep were standing around, or wading or swimming in the shallows. three cows and a small horse, picking at a broken rick of straw that seemed to be half-afloat, were also grouped with the family." the account of the rescue of the sufferers is given with a powerful dramatic effect, but we cannot afford space for the quotation. the courageous adventurers who manned the boat for this dangerous enterprise, after being carried over a cataract, which overwhelmed their boat, caught hold of a floating hay-cock, to which they clung till it stuck among some young alder-trees. each of them then grasping a bough, they supported themselves for two hours among the weak and brittle branches. they afterwards recovered the boat under circumstances almost miraculous, and finally succeeded in rescuing sandy and his family from their perilous situation. treatment and condition of women in former times. from the subversion of the roman empire, to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, women spent most of their time alone, almost entire strangers to the joys of social life; they seldom went abroad, but to be spectators of such public diversions and amusements as the fashions of the times countenanced. francis i. was the first who introduced women on public days to court; before his time nothing was to be seen at any of the courts of europe, but grey-bearded politicians, plotting the destruction of the rights and liberties of mankind, and warriors clad in complete armour, ready to put their plots in execution. in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries elegance had scarcely any existence, and even cleanliness was hardly considered as laudable. the use of linen was not known; and the most delicate of the fair sex wore woollen shifts. in paris they had meat only three times a week; and one hundred livres, (about five pounds sterling,) was a large portion for a young lady. the better sort of citizens used splinters of wood and rags dipped in oil, instead of candles, which, in those days, were a rarity hardly to be met with. wine was only to be had at the shops of the apothecaries, where it was sold as a cordial; and to ride in a two-wheeled cart, along the dirty rugged streets, was reckoned a grandeur of so enviable a nature, that philip the fair prohibited the wives of citizens from enjoying it. in the time of henry viii. of england, the peers of the realm carried their wives behind them on horseback, when they went to london; and in the same manner took them back to their country seats with hoods of waxed linen over their heads, and wrapped in mantles of cloth to secure them from the cold. homer in a nutshell. huet, bishop of avranches, thus writes in his autobiography:--"when his highness the dauphin was one day confined to his bed by a slight illness, and we who stood round were endeavouring to entertain him by pleasant conversation, mention was by chance made of the person who boasted that he had written homer's iliad in characters so minute, that the whole could be enclosed in a walnut shell. this appearing incredible to many of the company, i contended not only that it might be done, but that i could do it. as they expressed their astonishment at this assertion, that i might not be suspected of idle boasting, i immediately put it to the proof. i therefore took the fourth part of a common leaf of paper, and on its narrower side wrote a single line in so small a character that it contained twenty verses of the iliad: of such lines each page of the paper could easily admit , therefore the page would contain homeric verses: and as the leaf so divided would give eight pages it would afford room for above , verses, whereas the whole number in the iliad does not exceed , . thus by my single line i demonstrated my proposition." autobiography of charing cross and cheapside cross. the following interesting "autobiographies" of the old london crosses, are extracted from henry peacham's _dialogue between the crosse in cheap and charing cross, confronting each other, as fearing their fall in these uncertaine times_, four leaves, to. . "_charing cross._--i am made all of white marble (which is not perceived of euery one) and so cemented with mortar made of the purest lime, callis sand, whites of eggs and the strongest wort, that i defie all hatchets and hammers whatsoever. in king henry the eighth's daies i was begged, and should have been degraded for that i had:--then in edward the sixe, when somerset-house was building, i was in danger; after that, in the reign of queen elizabeth, one of her footmen had like to have run away with me; but the greatest danger of all i was in, when i quak'd for fear, was in the time of king james, for i was eight times begged:--part of me was bespoken to make a kitchen chimney for a chiefe constable in shoreditch; an inn-keeper in holborn had bargained for as much of me as would make two troughes, one to stand under a pumpe to water his guests' horses, and the other to give his swine their meate in; the rest of my poore carcase should have been carried i know not whither to the repaire of a decayed stone bridge (as i was told) on the top of harrow-hill. our royall forefather and founder, king edward the first you know, built our sister crosses, lincolne, granthame, woburne, northampton, stonie-stratford, dunstable, saint albanes, and ourselves here in london, in the st yeare of his raigne, in the yeare ." "_cheapside cross._--after this most valiant and excellent king had built me in forme, answerable in beauty and proportion to the rest, i fell to decay, at which time one john hatherley, maior of london, having first obtained a licence of king henry the sixt, anno , i was repaired in a beautiful manner. john fisher, a mercer, after that gave markes to my new erecting or building, which was finished anno , and after in the second yeare of henry the eighth, i was gilded over against the coming in of charles the fift emperor, and newly then gilded against the coronation of king edward the sixt, and gilded againe anno , against the coronation of king philip. lord, how often have i been presented by juries of the quest for incombrance of the street, and hindring of cartes and carriages, yet i have kept my standing; i shall never forget how upon the st of june, anno , my lower statues were in the night with ropes pulled and rent down, as in the resurrection of christ--the image of the virgin mary, edward the confessor, and the rest. then arose many divisions and new sects formerly unheard of, as martin marprelate, _alias_ penrie, browne, and sundry others, as the chronicle will inform you. my crosse should have been taken quite away, and a _piramis_ errected in the place, but queen elizabeth (that queen of blessed memory) commanded some of her privie councell, in her majesties name, to write unto sir nicholas mosely, then maior, to have me againe repaired with a crosse; yet for all this i stood bare for a yeare or two after: her highness being very angry, sent expresse word she would not endure their contempt, but expressly commanded forthwith the crosse should be set up, and sent a strict command to sir william rider, lord maior, and bade him to respect my antiquity; for that is the ancient ensigne of christianity, &c. this letter was dated december , anno . last of all i was marvellously beautified and adorned against the comming in of king james, and fenced about with sharp pointed barres of iron, against the rude and villainous hands of such as upon condition as they might have the pulling me down, would be bound to rifle all cheapside." it is scarcely necessary to say that both crosses have long since disappeared, and their sites become uncertain, although the name of charing cross still distinguishes an important london district. something like a feast. leland mentions a feast given by the archbishop of york, at his installation, in the reign of edward iv. the following is a specimen:-- quarters of wheat, tuns of ale, tuns of wine, , sheep, oxen, calves, swine, , geese, , capons, , pigs, swans, peacocks, , hot venison pasties, , cold, , custards hot and cold. such entertainments are a picture of manners. egyptian toys in the british museum. the truth of the old proverb, that "there is nothing new under the sun," will be recognised on an examination of the interesting group which forms the subject of our engraving. here are dolls of different shapes, some of them for good children, and some, perhaps, for bad; foot-balls, covered with leather, &c., the stitches in parts still firmly adhering; models of fishes and fruit; and round pellets, which the "small boys" of the present day would call "marbles." these toys have been played with by little egyptians who have been dead and buried three or four thousand years. many of the toys that hold places in the english and other markets are, so far as fashion is concerned, of considerable antiquity, having been made, without any alteration in pattern, by certain families for several generations. in the mountainous districts of the savoy and switzerland, large numbers, both of children and grown persons, are constantly employed in the manufacture of noah's-arks, milkmaids &c. some of the animals carved in wood, and sold here for small prices, show considerable skill in the imitation of the forms of nature, and could only be produced at their present cost, owing to the cheapness of living in those districts, and to the systematic division of labour. [illustration: [++] egyptian toys.] near the birthplace of prince albert is a very large manufactory of military toys, such as drums, trumpets, helmets, &c.; and in parts of holland-- "----the children take pleasure in making what the children of england take pleasure in breaking." the pyramids of egypt. the pyramids of egypt, especially the two largest of the pyramids of jizeh, are the most stupendous masses of building, in stone, that human labour has ever been known to accomplish. the egyptian pyramids, of which, large and small, and in different states of preservation, the number is very considerable, are all situated on the west side of the nile, and they extend, in an irregular line, and in groups, at some distance from each other, from the neighbourhood of jizeh, in ° n. lat. as far south as ° n. lat., a length of between and miles. all the pyramids have square bases, and their sides face the cardinal points. [illustration: [++] pyramids of jizeh.] the pyramids of jizeh are nearly opposite to cairo. they stand on a plateau or terrace of limestone, which is a projection from the libyan mountain-chain. the surface of the terrace is barren and irregular, and is covered with sand and small fragments of rock; its height, measured from the base of the great pyramids, is feet above the nile in its low state, taken at an average of the years to . the north-east angle of the great pyramid is yards from the canal which runs between the terrace and the nile, and about five miles from the nile itself. herodotus was informed by the priests of memphis that the great pyramid was built by cheops, king of egypt, about b. c., or about years before herodotus visited egypt. he says that , men were employed twenty years in building it, and that the body of cheops was placed in a room beneath the bottom of the pyramid, surrounded by a vault to which the waters of the nile were conveyed through a subterranean tunnel. a chamber under the centre of the pyramid has indeed been discovered, but it does not appear to be the tomb of cheops. it is about feet above the low-water level of the nile. the second pyramid was built, herodotus says, by cephren, or cephrenes, the brother and successor of cheops; and the third by mycerinus, the son of cheops. test of courage in a child. in the education of their children, the anglo-saxons only sought to render them dauntless and apt for the two most important occupations of their future lives--war and the chase. it was a usual trial of a child's courage, to place him on the sloping roof of a building, and if, without screaming or terror he held fast, he was styled a stout herce, or brave boy.--_howel._ execution of ravilliac, who assassinated henry the fourth of france. the scene is thus described in a volume published in :-- "this francis ravilliac was born in angoulesme, by profession a lawyer, who, after the committing of that horrid fact, being seized and put upon the rack, may ; the th he had sentence of death passed on him, and was executed accordingly in the manner following. he was brought out of prison in his shirt, with a torch of two pound weight lighted in one hand, and the knife wherewith he murdered the king chained to the other; he was then set upright in a dung-cart, wherein he was carried to the greve or place of execution, where a strong scaffold was built; at his coming upon the scaffold he crossed himself, a sign that he dyed a papist; then he was bound to an engine of wood made like st. andrew's cross; which done, his hand with the knife chained to it was put into a furnace, then flaming with fire and brimstone, wherein it was in a most terrible manner consumed, at which he cast forth horrible cries yet would he not confess any thing; after which the executioner having made pincers red hot in the same furnace, they did pinch the brawn of his arms and thighs, the calves of his legs, with other fleshy parts of his body, then they poured into the wounds scalding oil, rosin, pitch, and brimstone melted together; but to make the last act of his tragedy equal in torments to the rest, they caused four strong horses to be brought to tear his body in pieces, where being ready to suffer his last torment, he was again questioned, but would not reveal any thing, and so died without calling upon god, or speaking one word concerning heaven: his flesh and joints were so strongly knit together, that these four horses could not in a long time dismember him, but one of them fainting, a gentleman who was present, mounted upon a mighty strong horse, alighted, and tyed him to one of the wretch's limbs, yet for all this they were constrained to cut the flesh under his arms and thighs with a sharp razor, whereby his body was the easier torn in pieces; which done, the fury of the people was so great, that they pulled his dismembered carcass out of the executioner's hands, which they dragged up and down the dirt, and, cutting off the flesh with their knives, the bones which remained were brought to the place of execution, and there burnt, the ashes were cast in the wind, being judged unworthy of the earth's burial; by the same sentence all his goods were forfeited to the king. it was also ordained that the house where he had been born should be beaten down, a recompence being given the owner thereof, and never any house to be built again upon that ground; that within fifteen days after the publication of the sentence, by sound of trumpet in the town of angoulesme, his father and mother should depart the realm, never to return again; if they did, to be hanged up presently: his brethren, sisters, and other kindred were forbidden to carry the name of ravilliac, but to take some other, and the substitute of the king's attorney-general had charge to see the execution of the sentence at his peril." knives and forks. "in all ancient pictures of eating, &c. knives are seen in the hands of the guests, but _no forks_."--_turner's saxons._ "here i will mention a thing," says coryat in his 'crudities,' "that might have been spoken of before in the discourse of the first italian toun. i obserued a custome in all those italian cities and townes through which i passed, that is not vsed in any other country that i saw in my traules, neither doe i think that any other nation of christendome doth vse it, but only italy. the italians, and also most strangers that are commorant in italy, doe alwaies at their meales vse a _little forke_ when they cut their meate. for while with their knife, which they hold in one hand, they cut their meate out of the dish, they fasten their forke, which they hold in their other hand, upon the same dish, so that whatsoever he be that sitting in the company of others at meate, should vnaduisedly touch the dish of meate with his fingers from which all at the table doe cut, he will give occasion of offence unto the company, as hauing transgressed the laws of good manners, in so much that for his error he shall be at the least broue-beaten, if not reprehended in words. this form of feeding, i vnderstand, is generally vsed in all places of italy, their forkes being for the most part made of yron or steele, and some of siluer; but those are used only by gentlemen. the reason of this their curiosity is, because the italian cannot by any means indure to have his dish touched with fingers, seeing all men's fingers are not alike clean. hereupon i myself thought good to imitate the italian fashion by this forked cutting of meate, not only while i was in italy, but also in germany, and oftentimes in england, since i came home: being once quipped for that frequent vsing of my forke, by a certain gentleman, a familiar friend of mine, one mr. laurence whitaker, who in his merry humour doubted not to call me at table _furcifer_, only for vsing a forke at feeding, but for no other cause."--_coryat's crudities_, . even when heylin published his cosmography, ( ,) forks were still a novelty. see his third book, where having spoken of the ivory sticks used by the chinese, he adds, "the use of silver forks, which is by some of our spruce gallants taken up _of late_, came from thence into italy, and from thence into england."--_antiquarian repertory._ chinese punishment of the kang or wooden collar. the chinese are very quiet and orderly; and no wonder, because they are afraid of the great bamboo stick. [illustration: [++] kang or wooden collar.] the mandarins (or rulers of towns) often sentence offenders to lie upon the ground, and to have thirty strokes of the bamboo. but the wooden collar is worse than the bamboo stick. it is a great piece of wood with a hole for a man to put his head through. the men in wooden collars are brought out of their prisons every morning and chained to a wall, where everybody passing by can see them. they cannot feed themselves in their wooden collars, because they cannot bring their hands to their mouths; but sometimes a son may be seen feeding his father, as he stands chained to the wall. there are men also whose business it is to feed the prisoners. for great crimes men are strangled or beheaded. cascade des pelerines. [illustration: [++] cascade des pelerines.] there is a waterfall in chamouni which no traveller should omit going to see, called the cascade des pelerines. it is one of the most curious and beautiful scenes in switzerland. a torrent issues from the glacier des pelerines, high up the mountain, above the glacier du bossons, and descends, by a succession of leaps, in a deep gorge, from precipice to precipice, almost in one continual cataract; but it is all the while merely gathering force, and preparing for its last magnificent deep plunge and recoil of beauty. springing in one round condensed column out of the gorge, over a perpendicular cliff, it strikes, at its fall, with its whole body of water, into a sort of vertical rock basin, which one would suppose its prodigious velocity and weight would split into a thousand pieces; but the whole cataract, thus arrested, at once suddenly rebounds in a parabolic arch, at least sixty feet into the air; and then, having made this splendid airy curvature, falls with great noise and beauty into the natural channel below. it is beyond measure beautiful. it is like the fall of divine grace into chosen hearts, that send it forth again for the world's refreshment, in something like such a shower and spray of loveliness, to go winding its life-giving course afterwards, as still waters in green pastures. the force of the recoil from the plunge of so large a body of water, at such a height, is so great, that large stones, thrown into the stream above the fall, may be heard amidst the din striking into the basin, and then are instantly seen careering in the arch of flashing waters. the same is the case with bushes and pieces of wood, which the boys are always active in throwing in, for the curiosity of visitors, who stand below, and see each object invariably carried aloft with the cataract, in its rebounding atmospheric gambols. when the sun is in the right position, the rainbows play about the fall like the glancing of supernatural wings, as if angels were taking a shower-bath. if you have "the head and the legs of a chamois," you may climb entirely above this magnificent scene, and look out over the cliff right down into the point where the cataract shoots like the lightning, to be again shot back in ten thousand branching jets of diamonds. interesting incident connected with the barometer. in navigation, the barometer has become an important element of guidance, and a most interesting incident is recounted by capt. basil hall, indicative of its value in the open sea. while cruising off the coast of south america, in the medusa frigate, one day, when within the tropics, the commander of a brig in company was dining with him. after dinner, the conversation turned on the natural phenomena of the region, when captain hall's attention was accidentally directed to the barometer in the state-room where they were seated, and to his surprise he observed it to evince violent and frequent alteration. his experience told him to expect bad weather, and he mentioned it to his friend. his companion, however, only laughed, for the day was splendid in the extreme, the sun was shining with its utmost brilliance, and not a cloud specked the deep blue sky above. but captain hall was too uneasy to be satisfied with bare appearances. he hurried his friend to his ship, and gave immediate directions for shortening the top hamper of the frigate as speedily as possible. his lieutenants and the men looked at him in mute surprise, and one or two of the former ventured to suggest the inutility of the proceeding. the captain, however, persevered. the sails were furled; the topmasts were struck; in short, everything that could oppose the wind was made as snug as possible. his friend, on the contrary, stood in under every sail. the wisdom of captain hall's proceedings was, however, speedily evident; just, indeed, as he was beginning to doubt the accuracy of his instrument. for hardly had the necessary preparations been made, and while his eye was ranging over the vessel to see if his instructions had been obeyed, a dark hazy hue was seen to rise in the horizon, a leaden tint rapidly overspread the sullen waves, and one of the most tremendous hurricanes burst upon the vessels that ever seaman encountered on his ocean home. the sails of the brig were immediately torn to ribbons, her masts went by the board, and she was left a complete wreck on the tempestuous surf which raged around her, while the frigate was driven wildly along at a furious rate, and had to scud under bare poles across the wide pacific, full three thousand miles, before it could be said that she was in safety from the blast. archbishop cranmer's dietary. in this curious document, quoted by warton (hist. of poet, iii., , edit. ) an archbishop is allowed to have two swans or two capons in a dish, a bishop one; an archbishop six blackbirds at once, a bishop five, a dean four, an archdeacon two. if a dean has four dishes in his first course, he is not afterwards to have custards or fritters. an archbishop may have six snipes, an archdeacon two. rabbits, larks, pheasants, and partridges, are allowed in these proportions. a canon residentiary is to have a swan only on a sunday; a rector of sixteen marks, only three blackbirds in a week. the king's cock crower. a singular custom, of matchless absurdity, formerly existed in the english court. during lent, an ancient officer of the crown, styled the king's cock crower, crowed the hour each night within the precincts of the palace. on the ash wednesday, after the accession of the house of hanover, as the prince of wales (afterwards george ii) sat down to supper, this officer abruptly entered the apartment, and in a sound resembling the shrill pipe of a cock, crowed past ten o'clock! the astonished prince, at first conceiving it to be a premeditated insult, rose to resent the affront, but upon the nature of the ceremony being explained to him, he was satisfied. since that period, this silly custom has been discontinued. chinese delicacies. the chinese eat, indiscriminately, almost every living creature which comes in their way; dogs, cats, hawks, owls, eagles and storks, are regular marketable commodities: in default of which a dish of rats, field-mice, or snakes, is not objected to. cockroaches, and other insects and reptiles are used for food or for medicine. their taste for dogs' flesh is quite a passion. young pups--plump, succulent, and tender--fetch good prices at the market-stalls, where a supply is always to be found. a dish of puppies, prepared by a skilful cook, is esteemed as a dish fit for the gods. at every grand banquet it makes its appearance as a hash or stew. a young englishman attached to our canton factory, dining one day with a wealthy hong merchant, was determined to satisfy his curiosity in chinese gastronomy by tasting all or most of the numerous dishes which were successively handed round. one dish pleased him so well that he ate nearly all that was put before him. on returning homewards some of his companions asked him how he liked the dinner, and how such and such dishes; and then began to imitate the whining and barking of half a dozen puppies. the poor young man then understood, for the first time, that he had been eating dog, and was very angry, and very sick at the stomach. other europeans, however, have been known to declare that they succeeded in conquering a prejudice, and that a six weeks old pup, properly fattened upon rice, and dressed _à la chinoise_, was really a _bonne bouche_. a great marvel seen in scotland. the following strange and almost incredible account is given by lindsay, of pitscottie:--"about this time (the beginning of the sixteenth century) there was a great marvel seen in scotland. a bairn was born, reckoned to be a man-child, but from the waist up was two fair persons, with all members pertayning to two bodies; to wit, two heads, well-eyed, well-eared, and well-handed. the two bodies, the one's back was fast to the other's, but from the waist down they were but one personage; and it could not be known by the ingene of men from which of the bodies the legs, &c., proceeded. notwithstanding the king's majesty caused great care and diligence on the up-bringing of both bodies; caused nourish them, and learn them to sing and play on instruments of music. who within short time became very ingenious and cunning in the art of music, whereby they could play and sing two parts, the one the treble, and the other the tenor, which was very dulce and melodious to hear; the common people (who treated them also) wondered that they could speak diverse and sundry languages, that is to say, latin, french, italian, spanish, dutch, english, and irish. their two bodies long continued to the age of twenty-eight years, and the one continued long before the other, which was dolorous and heavy to the other; for which, when many required of the other to be merry, he answered, "how can i be merry which have my true marrow as a dead carrion about my back, which was wont to sing and play with me: when i was sad he would give me comfort, and i would do the like to him. but now i have nothing but dolour of the having so heavy a burthen, dead, cold, and unsavoury, on my back, which taketh all earthly pleasure from me in this present life; therefore i pray to god allmighty to deliver me out of this present life, that we may be laid and dissolved in the earth, wherefrom we came, &c." buchanan, who relates the same strange tale, avers that he received it from "many honest and credible persons, who saw the prodigy with their own eyes." he adds that the two bodies discovered different tastes and appetites; that they would frequently disagree and quarrel, and sometimes would consult each other, and concert measures for the good of both; that when any hurt was done to the lower parts, each upper body felt pain; but that when the injury was above the junction, then one body only was affected. this monster, he writes, lived twenty-eight years, but died wretchedly; one part expiring some days before the other, which, half-putrified, pined away by degrees. the king of kippen. the following anecdote is valuable, inasmuch as it gives us an idea of the manners which a king of scotland could practice without offence to his subjects:-- king james v. was a very sociable, _debonnaire_ prince. residing at stirling in buchanan of arnpryor's time, carriers were very frequently passing along the common road with necessaries for the use of the king's family. one of these being near arnpryor's house, and he having some extraordinary occasion, ordered him to leave his load at his house and he would pay him for it; which the carrier refused to do, telling him he was the king's carrier, and his load was for his majesty's use. to which arnpryor seemed to have small regard, compelling the carrier, in the end, to leave his load; telling him, if king james was king of scotland, he was king of kippen, so that it was reasonable he should share with his neighbour king in some of these loads so frequently carried that road. the carrier representing this usage, and telling the story as arnpryor spoke it, to some of the king's servants, it came at length to his majesty's ears, who, shortly thereafter, with a few attendants, came to visit his neighbour king, who was, in the meantime, at dinner. king james having sent a servant to demand access, was denied the same by a tall fellow with a battle-axe, who stood porter at the gate, telling him there could be no access till dinner was over. this answer not satisfying the king, he sent to demand access a second time; upon which he was desired by the porter to desist, otherwise he would find cause to repent his rudeness. his majesty finding this method would not do, desired the porter to tell his master that the good man of ballangeich desired to speak with the king of kippen. the porter telling arnpryor so much, he, in all humble manner, came and received the king, and having entertained him with much sumptuousness and jollity, became so agreeable to king james, that he allowed him to take so much of any provision he found carrying that road as he had occasion for; and, seeing he made the first visit, desired arnpryor in a few days to return him a second at stirling, which he performed, and continued in very much favour with the king, always thereafter being termed king of kippen while he lived. an eccentric tourist. sir hildebrand jacob, of yewhall, in oxfordshire, died at malvern in . he succeeded his grandfather, sir john, , his father, hildebrand, having died in . he was a very extraordinary character. as a general scholar, he was exceeded by few; in his knowledge of the hebrew language he scarcely had an equal. in the earlier part of his life, one custom which he constantly followed was very remarkable. as soon as the roads became pretty good, and the fine weather began to set in, his man was ordered to pack-up a few things in a portmanteau, and with these his master and himself set off, without knowing whither they were going. when it drew towards evening, they enquired at the first village they saw, whether the great man in it was a lover of books, and had a fine library. if the answer was in the negative, they went on farther; if in the affirmative, sir hildebrand sent his compliments, that he was come to see him; and there he used to stay till time or curiosity induced him to move elsewhere. in this manner sir hildebrand had, very early, passed through the greatest part of england, without scarcely ever sleeping at an inn, unless where the town or village did not afford one person in it civilized enough to be glad to see a gentleman and a scholar. hanging a mayor. on the right of the road leading towards caergwrle, and about a mile from mold, is an old structure, which presents a singular specimen of the style of domestic architecture during the ages of lawless violence in which it was erected: it consists of an ancient square tower of three stories, and appears to have been designed as a place of fortified habitation. during the wars between the houses of york and lancaster, it was inhabited by reinallt ab gruffydd ab bleddyn, who was constantly engaged in feuds with the citizens of chester. in , a considerable number of the latter came to mold fair, and a fray arising between the hostile parties, great slaughter ensued on both sides; but reinallt, who obtained the victory, took the mayor of chester prisoner, and conveyed him to his mansion, where he hung him on the staple in his great hall. to avenge this affront, a party of two hundred men was despatched from chester to seize reinallt, who, retiring from his house into the adjoining woods, permitted a few of them to enter the building, when, rushing from his concealment, he blocked up the door, and, setting fire to the house, destroyed them in the flames; he then attacked the remainder, whom he pursued with great slaughter; and such as escaped the sword were drowned in attempting to regain their homes. the staple on which the mayor was hung still remains fixed on the ceiling of the lower apartment. maternal affection in a dumb woman. mary, countess of orkney, was both deaf and dumb; she was married in the year , by signs. shortly after the birth of her first child, the nurse, with considerable astonishment, saw the mother cautiously approach the cradle in which the infant was sleeping, evidently full of some deep design. the countess, having perfectly assured herself that the child really slept, raised an immense stone which she had concealed under her shawl, and, to the horror of the nurse, (who was an irishwoman, and like all persons of the lower orders in her country, and indeed in most countries, was fully impressed with an idea of the peculiar cunning and malignity of "dumbies,") lifted it with an apparent intent to fling it down vehemently. before the nurse could interpose, the countess had flung the stone,--not, however, as the servant had apprehended, at the child, but on the floor, where, of course, it made a great noise. the child immediately awoke, and cried. the countess, who had looked with maternal eagerness to the result of her experiment, fell on her knees in a transport of joy. she had discovered that her child possessed the sense which was wanting in herself. she exhibited on many other occasions similar proofs of intelligence, but none so interesting. the perils of inventors. the dangers which inventors have frequently to encounter are very great. among many instances we may mention the following:-- mr. day perished in a diving bell, or diving boat of his own construction, at plymouth, in june, , in which he was to have continued for a wager, twelve hours, one hundred feet deep in water, and probably, perished from his not possessing all the hydrostatic knowledge that was necessary. mr. spalding was professionally ingenious in the art of constructing and managing the diving bell, he had practised the business many years with success. he went down, accompanied by one of his young men, twice to view the wreck of the imperial east indiaman, at kish bank, in ireland; on descending the third time, in june, , they remained about an hour under water, and had two barrels of air sent down to them, but on the signals from below not being repeated, after a certain time, they were drawn up by their assistants, and both found dead in the bell. bribery. the triumphant exposure and punishments of corrupt bribe-takers on a grand scale belongs to the close of the seventeenth century. in sir john trevor, the speaker of the house of commons, was compelled to put the question himself that he should be expelled. a bill for securing the right application to poor orphans of freemen of london of funds belonging to them could not be carried without purchasing the support of influential members and of the speaker himself, at a bribe for the latter of , guineas! sir thomas cook, the governor of the east india company, paid £ , in one year for bribes to members of the house, of which sir basil firebrace took for his share £ , . corruption was universal, therefore deemed venial. legalised gambling. the following statement shows the extent to which lotteries encouraged a spirit of gambling among the people, and we may hence appreciate the soundness of the policy which dictated their suppression:-- the _post boy_ of december , says:--"we are informed that the parliamentary lottery will be fixed in this manner:-- , tickets will be delivered out at _l._ each ticket, making in all the sum of , , _l._ sterling; the principal whereof is to be sunk, the parliament allowing nine per cent. interest for the whole during the term of years, which interest is to be divided as follows: , tickets will be prizes from , _l._ to _l._ per annum during the said years; all the other tickets will be blanks, so that there will be of these to one prize, but then each blank ticket will be entitled to fourteen shillings a year for the term of years, which is better than an annuity for life at ten per cent. over and above the chance of getting a prize." such was the eagerness of the publick in subscribing to the above profitable scheme, that mercers'-hall was literally crowded, and the clerks were found incompetent to receive the influx of names. , _l._ was subscribed january ; and on the th of february, the sum of , , _l._ was completed. one of the effects of manufactures. how greatly does the introduction of a manufacturing establishment into a town where none previously existed, alter its whole character and condition! it is said that the burgh of lanark was, till very recent times, so poor that the single butcher of the town, who also exercised the calling of a weaver, in order to fill up his spare time, would never venture upon the speculation of killing a sheep till every part of the animal was ordered beforehand. when he felt disposed to engage in such an enterprise, he usually prevailed upon the minister, the provost, and the town-council, to take shares; but when no person came forward to bespeak the fourth quarter, the sheep received a respite till better times should cast up. the bellman or _skellyman_, as he is there called, used often to go through the streets of lanark with advertisements such as are embodied in the following popular rhyme:-- "bell-ell-ell! there's a fat sheep to kill! a leg for the provost, another for the priest, the bailies and deacons, they'll tak the neist; and if the fourth leg we connot sell, the sheep it maun leeve and gae back to the hill!" pÂtÉs de foies gras. strasbourg is the great market for _pâtés de foies gras_, made, as it is known, of the livers of geese. these poor creatures are shut up in coops, so narrow they cannot turn round in them, and then stuffed twice a day with indian corn, to enlarge their livers, which have been known to swell till they reached the enormous weight of two pounds and a half. garlick, steeped in water, is given them, to increase their appetites. this invention is worthy of the french nation, where cooks are great as nobles. inscription in conway church. here lyeth the body of nicholas hookes, of conway, gentleman, (who was the forty-first child of his father, wm. hookes, esq., by alice, his wife,) the father of twenty-seven children, who died the th day of march, . dropping-wells. if you journey through yorkshire, be sure to stop opposite the ruins of knaresborough castle, because, on the south-west bank of the river nidd, you will observe the petrifying spring of knaresborough,--the celebrated dropping-well--where the peasants and the needy crowd to make their humble fortunes by afterwards retailing small sprigs of trees, such as the elder or ash, or pieces of the elegant geranium, the wild angelica, or the lovely violet, turned into "obdurate stone." [illustration: [++] the petrifying spring of knaresborough.] every spring does not possess the petrifying properties of that of knaresborough; but there are, doubtless, many dropping-wells distributed over the earth's crust; and some of these are well known to possess the property of petrifying various objects submitted to the action of their waters. for example: we have seen birds' nests, with the eggs, and delicate sprigs of moss surrounding them, and even the fibres of wool turned into stone, aye, and delicate flowers. whence is this extraordinary power? from the soil over which the waters flow! the limpid streams absorb the silicious particles, and deposit them in the intimate structure of the materials submitted to the action of the waters; and thus we find the materials of which the earth's crust is composed, always undergoing a change. twenty gallons are poured forth every minute from the top of the knaresborough cliff, and the beauty of the scene can only be appreciated by those who have stood upon the margin of those "stony waters" and beheld the crystal fluid descend from above with metallic fall. chinese ivory balls. nothing can afford a greater proof of the patience and perseverance, as well as of the taste of a chinese handicraftsman, than one of these elegant baubles, each ball being exquisitely carved, and no two alike in pattern. each of the balls rolls freely within that which encloses it, and is visible through apertures; so that however many there be, the beauties of each can be examined, and the number of the whole counted. much time is spent upon the carving of these toys, for the cleverest artist will employ a whole month in the execution of each separate ball; consequently the labour of two years is not unfrequently bestowed on the production of a single toy, which is formed out of a solid globe of ivory, and has no junction in any part. the outside of this globe is first carved in some very open pattern, and is then carefully cut with a sharp, fine instrument, through the openings, till a complete coating is detached from the solid part inside, as the peel of an orange might be loosened with a scoop from the fruit, without being taken off. one hollow ball is thus formed, with a solid one inside of it. the surface of the inner ball is then carved through the interstices of the outer one, and when finished, is subjected to the same operation as the first; and thus a second hollow ball is produced, still with a solid one of smaller dimensions inside. this process is repeated again and again, the difficulties increasing as the work proceeds, till at length only a small ball, of the size of a marble, is left in the centre, which is also ornamented with figures cut upon it, and then the ingenious but useless bauble is complete. this process is said to be performed under water. credulity of the ancients. the credulity of even the learned men in the early ages may be judged of by the following facts:-- marcus varro writeth, that there was a town in spain undermined with rabbits; another likewise in thessaly by moles or molewharps. in africa the people were compelled by locusts to leave their habitations; and out of gyaros, an island, one of the cyclades, the islanders were forced by rats and mice to fly away; moreover in italy the city of amyclæ was destroyed by serpents. in ethiopia there is a great country lies waste and desert, by reason it was formerly dispeopled by scorpions; and if it be true that theophrastus reporteth, the treriens were chased away by certain worms called scolopendres. annius writes, that an ancient city situate near the volscian lake, and called contenebra, was in times past overthrown by pismires, and that the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day, the camp of ants. in media, saith diodorus siculus, there was such an infinite number of sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast into the ground, so that men were constrained to depart from their old habitations, and remove to other places. clock presented to charlemagne. the french historians describe a clock sent to charlemagne in the year , by the famous eastern caliph, haroun al raschid, which was evidently furnished with some kind of wheelwork, although the moving power appears to have been produced by the fall of water. this clock was a rather wonderful affair, and excited a great deal of attention at the french court. in the dial of it were twelve small doors forming the divisions for the hours, each door opened at the hour marked by the index, and let out small brass balls, which, falling on a bell, struck the hours--a great novelty at that time. the doors continued open until the hour of twelve, when twelve figures representing knights on horseback came out and paraded round the dial plate. remarkable events, inventions, &c. memnon, the egyptian, invents the letters, in the year , _before_ christ. the alexandrian library, consisting of , valuable books, burnt by accident, b. c. . silk first brought from india, : the manufactory of it introduced into europe by some monks, : first worn by the clergy in england, in . glass invented in england by benalt, a monk, a. c. . the university of cambridge founded a. c. . paper made of cotton rags was in use, ; that of linen rags in : the manufactory introduced into england, at dartford, . musical notes invented, . justices of the peace first appointed in england in . doomsday-book began to be compiled by order of william, from a survey of all the estates in england (and finished in ), . glass windows began to be used in private houses in england in . surnames now began to be used, first among the nobility, in . the houses of london and other cities in england, france, and germany, still thatched with straw in . tallow candles so great a luxury, that splinters of wood were used for lights, . wine sold by apothecaries as a cordial, . gunpowder and guns first invented by swartz, a monk of cologn, ; edward rd had four pieces of cannon, which contributed to gain him the battle of cressy, ; bombs and mortars were invented in the same year. cards invented in france for the king's amusement in . windsor castle built by edward rd, . guildhall, london, built . about , laurentius, of haarlem, invented the art of printing, which he practised with separate wooden types. guttenburg afterwards invented cut metal types: but the art was carried to perfection by peter schoeffer, who invented the mode of casting the types in matrices. frederick corsellis began to print at oxford, in , with wooden types; but it was william caxton who introduced into england the art of printing with fusile types, in . shillings first coined in england, . silk stockings first worn by the french king, ; first worn in england by queen elizabeth in . tobacco first brought from virginia into england, . watches first brought into england from germany, in . regular posts established from london to scotland, ireland, &c., . the plague rages in london, and carries off , persons, . the great fire of london began, september nd, and continued three days, in which were destroyed , houses, and streets, . tea first used in england, . the habeas corpus act passed, . william penn, a quaker, receives a charter for planting pennsylvania, . bank of england established by king william . the first public lottery was drawn same year. the first british parliament, . the cathedral church of st. paul, london, rebuilt by sir christopher wren, in years, at one million expense, by a duty on coals, . westminster bridge, consisting of arches, begun , finished in , at the expense of , _l._, defrayed by parliament. commodore anson returns from his voyage round the world, . the british museum erected at montagu house, . englishmen are confined in the black-hole at calcutta, in the east indies, by order of the nabob, and found dead next morning, . legends among savage nations. it is curious to note how savages endeavour to account for the prodigies of nature. in the island of samoa, one of the sandwich group, there is the following legend. mafuie is their god of earthquakes, who was deemed to possess great power, but has, according to the samoans, lost much of it. the way in which they say this occurred is as follows:--one talago, who possessed a charm capable of causing the earth to divide, coming to a well-known spot, cried, "rock, divide! i am talago; come to work!" the earth separating at his command, he went down to cultivate his taro patch. his son, whose name was tiitii, became acquainted with the charm, and watching his father, saw him descend, and the earth close after him. at the same spot, tiitii said, "rock, divide! i am talago; come to work!" the rock did not open, but on repeating the words and stamping his foot violently, the earth separated, and he descended. being a young man, he made a great noise and bustle, notwithstanding the advice of his father to be quiet, lest mafuie would hear him. the son then asked, "who is mafuie, that i should be afraid of him?" observing smoke at a distance, he inquired the cause of it. talago said, "it is mafuie heating his oven." tiitii determined to go and see, notwithstanding all the persuasions of his father, and met mafuie, who inquired who he was, "are you a planter of taro, a builder, or a twister of ropes?" "i am a twister of ropes," said tiitii; "give me your arm, and i shall show you." so, taking the arm of mafuie, he twisted it off in a moment. such a practical illustration of his powers soon made mafuie cry out, "na fia ola, na fia ola!"--i desire to live, i desire to live! tiitii then took pity upon him, and let him go. the natives, on feeling an earthquake, exclaim, "thanks that mafuie has but one arm! if he had two, he would shake the earth to pieces." origin of the word lady. it was the custom at the time of the plantagenets, and previously, for ladies of distinction and wealth regularly to distribute money or food to the poor. the title of _lady_, is derived from the anglo-saxon, and literally signifies _giver of bread_. the purse, with similar meaning, was named as a receptacle for _alms_, and not as an invention for the preservation of money. anecdotes in sermons. the fashion which once prevailed of introducing historical anecdotes into addresses from the pulpit, is illustrated by the following extract from a sermon by the martyr bishop ridley:-- cambyses was a great emperor, such another as our master is; he had many lord-deputies, lord-presidents, and lieutenants under him. it is a great while ago since i read the history. it chanced he had under him, in one of his dominions, a briber, a gift-taker, a gratifier of rich men; he followed gifts as fast as he that followed the pudding, a hand-maker in his office, to make his son a great man; as the old saying is, "happy is the child whose father goeth to the devil." the cry of the poor widow came to the emperor's ear, and caused him to flay the judge quick, and laid his skin in his chair of judgment, that all judges that should give judgment afterward should sit in the same skin. surely it was a goodly sign, a goodly monument, the sign of the judge's skin: i pray god we may once see the sign of the skin in england. state of london in . the state of the police regulations in the metropolis at the above date, is exhibited in the following extract from an old magazine:-- "at one o'clock this morning (oct. , ), the hon. captain brudenel was stopped in his chair, just as it entered berkeley-square, from the hay-hill, by two fellows with pistols, who demanded his money; he gave them five-sixpences, telling them he had no more, which having taken, they immediately made off. the captain then put his purse and watch under the cushion, got out, drew his sword, and being followed by one of the chairmen with his pole, and the watchman, pursued them up the hill, where the hon. captain west, who was walking, having joined them, one of the fellows having got off, they followed the other into albemarle-mews, where finding himself closely beset, he drew a pistol, and presented it, upon which the captain made a lunge at him, and ran him through the body. the fellow at the same time fired his pistol, which, the captain being still stooping, went over his head and shot the watchman through the lungs; at the instant the pistol was discharged, while the fellow's arm was extended, the chairman struck it with his pole and broke it; he was then seized and carried with the watchman to the round-house in dover-street, where mr. bromfield and mr. gataker, two eminent surgeons, came; but the captain would not suffer the villain to be dressed, till he discovered who he and his confederates were; when he acknowledged they were both grenadiers in lord howe's company. the poor watchman died in half an hour after he was shot; and the soldier was so disabled by his wound that he was carried in a chair to justice fielding, who sent him to new prison, where he died." from a handbill of bartholomew fair in . the following extract is worth notice, inasmuch as it shows that in the matter of amusement, the tastes of the lower orders of the present day are not much improved since the last century:-- "you will see a wonderful girl of ten years of age, who walks backwards up the sloping rope driving a wheelbarrow behind her; also you will see the great italian master, who not only passes all that has yet been seen upon the low rope, but he dances without a pole upon the head of a mast as high as the booth will permit, and afterwards stands upon his head on the same. you will be also entertained with the merry conceits of an italian scaramouch, who dances on the rope with two children and a dog in a wheelbarrow, and a duck on his head." passage through the isthmus of panama suggested three hundred tears ago. _ancient globe._--in the town library (_stadt bibliothek_) of nuremberg is preserved an interesting globe made by john schoner, professor of mathematics in the gymnasium there, a.d. . it is very remarkable that the passage through the isthmus of panama, so much sought after in later times, is, on this old globe, carefully delineated. height of mountains. the perpendicular height of snowdon is, by late admeasurements, , yards above the level of the sea. this makes it, according to pennant, yards higher than cader idris. some state whernside, in yorkshire to be the highest mountain in south britain, and more than , feet. helvellyn is , feet, ben lomond , . mont blanc rises , feet; the american chimborazo is , feet, the highest ground ever trodden by man; and the mountains of thibet above , feet, the highest at present known. introduction of the weeping willow into england. the _salix babylonica_, that is the willow of babylon, or our english weeping willow, is a native of the levant, the coast of persia, and other places in the east. the manner of its introduction into england is curious; the account is as follows: pope, the celebrated poet, having received a present of turkey figs, observed a twig of the basket, in which they were packed, putting out a shoot. the twig he planted in his garden: it soon became a fine tree, and from this stock, all our weeping willows have descended. this species of willow is generally planted by a still pool, to which it is a beautiful appropriate ornament; and when in misty weather, drops of water are seen distilling from the extremities of its branches, nothing can be more descriptive than the title it has obtained of _the weeping willow_. fine for insulting a king. the use of gold and silver was not unknown to the welsh in , when their laws were collected. the man who dared to insult the king of aberfraw, was to pay (besides certain cows and a silver rod) a cup, which would hold as much wine as his majesty could swallow at a draught; its cover was to be as broad as the king's face; and the whole as thick as a goose's egg, or a ploughman's thumb-nail. carronades. this species of great gun, so much used on board of ships, is generally accounted a modern invention, taking its name from the carron foundry where they were made. in the patent office, however, will be found a notice dated september, , to the following effect: "that his majesty was pleased to grant to henry brown, esquire, a patent for the sole use and benefit of his new invention of making cannon and great guns, both in iron and brass, which will be much shorter and lighter, and with less powder will carry farther than those of equal bore now in use, and which, it is said, will save great expense to the public." extravagance at elections. on the death of sir james lowther, his son william stood for the shire of cumberland, and entertained , gentlemen freeholders at a dinner, at which were consumed gallons of wine, , gallons of ale, and , bottles of punch. sir james appears to have been eccentric in some of his habits, for after his decease £ , in bank notes were discovered in a closet, and £ , in the sleeve of an old coat. martin luther's tankard. this interesting relic of the great reformer is of ivory, very richly carved, and mounted in silver gilt. there are six medallions on its surface, which consist, however, of a repetition of two subjects. the upper one represents the agony in the garden, and the saviour praying that the cup might pass from him; the base represents the lord's supper, the centre dish being the incarnation of the bread. this tankard, now in the possession of lord londesborough, was formerly in the collection of elkington of birmingham, who had some copies of it made. on the lid, in old characters, is the following inscription--"c. m. l., mdxxiiii." this drinking vessel, which, independent of its artistic merit, was no doubt highly valued as a mere household possession, brings to mind many recollections of the life of him who raised himself from a very lowly position to one of great power and usefulness. [illustration: [++] martin luther's tankard.] martin luther, who was the son of john lotter or lauther (which name our reformer afterwards changed to luther) and margaret lindenen, was born in the little town of islebern, in saxony, on november th, . his father was a miner. luther died in , and princes, earls, nobles, and students without number, attended the funeral of the miner's son in the church of islebern. on this occasion, melancthon delivered the funeral oration. hot cross buns. how strange the following reads from an old journal! and how odd the state of things to give rise to such an intimation! . _wednesday, th march._ royal bun house, chelsea, good friday. _no cross buns._ mrs. hand respectfully informs her friends, and the public, that in consequence of the great concourse of people which assembled before her house at a very early hour, on the morning of good friday; by which her neighbours (with whom she has always lived in friendship and repute,) have been much alarmed and annoyed; it having also been intimated, that to encourage or countenance a tumultuous assembly at this particular period, might be attended with consequences more serious than have hitherto been apprehended; desirous, therefore, of testifying her regard and obedience to those laws by which she is happily protected, she is determined, though much to her loss, not to sell _cross buns_ on that day, to any person whatever; but chelsea buns as usual. mrs. hand would be wanting in gratitude to a generous public, who, for more than fifty years past, have so warmly patronized and encouraged her shop, to omit so favourable an opportunity of offering her sincere acknowledgments for their favours; at the same time, to assure them she will, to the utmost of her power, endeavour to merit a continuance of them. locusts. the locusts are remarkable for the hieroglyphic that they bear upon the forehead. their colour is green throughout the whole body, excepting a little yellow rim that surrounds their head, and which is lost at the eyes. this insect has two upper wings, pretty solid. they are green, like the rest of the body, except that there is in each a little white spot. the locust keeps them extended like great sails of a ship going before the wind. it has besides two other wings underneath the former, and which resemble a light transparent stuff pretty much like a cobweb, and which it makes use of in the manner of smack sails, that are along a vessel. but when the locust reposes herself, she does like a vessel that lies at anchor; for she keeps the second sails furled under the others. queen elizabeth's laws. the following extract from a very old book is truly curious:-- "queene elizabeth, in the xiiii and xviii yeres of hir gracious rayne, two actes were made for ydle vagrante and maisterlesse persons, that vsed to loyter, and would not worke, should for the first offence haue a hole burned through the gristle of one of his eares of an ynch compasse. and for the second offence committed therein, to be hanged. if these and such lyke lawes were executed iustlye, treulye, and severelye (as they ought to be,) without any respect of persons, favour, or friendshippe, this dung and filth of ydlenesse woulde easily be reiected and cast oute of thys commonwealth, there woulde not be so many loytering ydle persons, so many ruffians, blasphemers, swinge-buckelers, so many drunkards, tossepottes, dauncers, fydlers, and minstrels, dice-players, and maskers, fencers, theeves, enterlude-players, cut-purses, cosiners, maisterlesse seruantes, jugglers, roges, sturdye beggars, counterfaite egyptians, &c., as there are, nor yet so manye plagues to bee amongst vs as there are, if these dunghilles and filthe in commonweales were remooued, looked into, and cleane caste oute, by the industrie, payne, and trauell of those that are sette in authoritie, and haue gouernment."--"_a treatise against dicing, dauncing, vaine playes or enterluds._" _black letter; no date._ the invention of types. the honour of the invention of movable types has been disputed by two cities, haarlem and mentz. the claims of haarlem rest chiefly upon a statement of hadrien junius, who gave it upon the testimony of cornelius, alleged to be a servant of lawrence coster, for whom the invention is claimed. the claims of mentz, which appear to be more conclusive, are in favour of peter schæffer, the assistant and son-in-law of john faust, better known as dr. faustus. the first edition of the _speculum humanæ salvationis_ was printed by coster at haarlem, about the year , and is one of the earliest productions of the press of which the printer is known. the celebrated bible, commonly known as the mentz bible, without date, is the first important specimen of printing with moveable metal types. this was executed by gutenberg and faust, or fust, as it is sometimes spelt, between the years and . the secret of the method then becoming known, presses were speedily established in all parts of europe, so that before the year there were printing-offices in upwards of different places in austria, bavaria, bohemia, calabria, the cremonese, denmark, england, flanders, france, franconia, frioul, geneva, genoa, germany, holland, hungary, italy, lombardy, mecklenburg, moravia, naples, the palatinate, piedmont, poland, portugal, rome, sardinia, upper and lower saxony, sicily, silesia, spain, suabia, switzerland, thessalonica, turkey, tuscany, the tyrol, venice, verona, westphalia, wurtemberg, &c. this vast and rapid extension of the art, combined with the skill which the earlier printers displayed in it, seems to be totally incompatible with the date assigned to the invention, and it is more than probable, that the art having been long practised in private under continued attempts at secrecy, it at length broke into publicity after it had already attained a considerable degree of perfection. the proteus anguinus. it has been satisfactorily proved that the polypus cannot see its prey, but is only aware of its presence by the actual agitation of the water, from its remaining altogether passive when a thin piece of glass is interposed between them. there are many monads, which, without possessing any trace of an eye, are yet susceptible of light. an equally extraordinary phenomenon presents itself in the proteus anguinus. this singular animal is found in the subterranean lakes of the interminable stalactital caverns in the limestone range of the carniolan alps, where the author saw it. in appearance it is between a fish and a lizard; it is of a flesh-colour, and its respiratory organs, which are connected with lungs, so as to enable it to breathe above or below the water, form a red crest round the throat, like a cock's comb. it has no eyes, but small points in the place of them, and light is so obnoxious to it, that it uses every effort to exclude it, by thrusting its head under stones. it is reported also to exist in sicily, but is known nowhere else. bumper. [illustration: [++] a bumper.] the jolly toper is so fond of the thing we call a _bumper_, that he troubles not himself about the name, and so long as the liquor is but fine and clear, cares not a farthing in how deep an obscurity the etymology is involved. the sober antiquarian, on the contrary, being prone to etymology, contemplates the sparkling contents of a full glass with much less delight than he does the meaning, the occasion, and the original of the name. the common opinion is, that the _bumper_ took its name from the _grace-cup_; our roman catholic ancestors, say they, after their meals, always drinking the pope's health in this form, _au bon pere_. but there are great objections to this; the pope was not the _bon pere_, but the _saint pere_; amongst the elder inhabitants of this kingdom, the attribute of sanctity being in a manner appropriated to the pope of rome, and his see. again, the grace-cup, which went round of course, after every repast, did not imply anything extraordinary, or a full glass. drinking-glasses were not in use at the time here supposed, for the grace-cup was a large vessel, proportioned to the number of the society, which went round the table, the guests drinking out of one cup, one after another. coffee. from a number of the "_public advertiser_," of may to may , , we have 'in bartholomew-lane, on the back side of the old exchange, the drink called _coffee_ is advertised as to be sold _in the morning_, and at _three of the clock_ in the afternoon.' quaint receipts. the following receipts are taken from a work entitled, "_new curiosities_ in _art_ and _nature_, or a _collection_ of the most valuable _secrets_ in all _arts_ and _sciences_. composed and experimented by sieur lemery, apothecary to the french king. london: john king, little britain. ." _to make one wake or sleep._--you must cut off dexterously the head of a toad alive, and at once, and let it dry, in observing that one eye be shut, and the other open; that which is found open makes one wake, and that shut causes sleep, by carrying it about one. _preservative against the plague._--take three or four great toads, seven or eight spiders, and as many scorpions, put them into a pot well stopp'd, and let them lye some time; then add virgin-wax, make a good fire till all become a liquor, then mingle them all with a spatula, and make an ointment, and put it into a silver box well stopp'd, the which carry about you, being well assured that while you carry it about you, you will never be infected with the plague. we give the above as indicating the delusions which prevailed with respect to certain nostrums as late as the year . execution of governor wall in . as the following account, by a gentleman who witnessed the scene, avoids all disgusting details, we give it as containing a description of some of the circumstances which attended the execution, at the commencement of the present century, of a criminal of the higher class. the wretched man was hung for murder and barbarity: his victims were the men he had under his charge as governor of the island of goree:-- "as we crossed the press-yard, a cock crew; and the solitary clanking of a restless chain was dreadfully horrible. "the prisoner entered. he was death's counterfeit, tall, shrivelled, and pale; and his soul shot so piercingly through the port-holes of his head that the first glance of him nearly petrified me. i said in my heart, putting my pencil in my pocket, god forbid that i should disturb thy last moments! his hands were clasped, and he was truly penitent. after the yeoman had requested him to stand up, 'he pinioned him,' as the newgate phrase is, and tied the cord with so little feeling that the governor, who had not given the wretch the accustomed fee, observed 'you have tied me very tight;' upon which dr. ford, the chaplain, ordered him to slacken the cord, which he did, but not without muttering, 'thank you, sir,' said the governor to the doctor: 'it is of little moment.' he then observed to the attendant, who had brought in an immense iron shovel-full of coals to throw on the fire, 'ay, in one hour that will be a blazing fire,' then turning to the doctor, questioned him: 'do tell me, sir: i am informed i shall go down with great force; is it so?' after the construction and action of the machine had been explained, the doctor questioned the governor as to what kind of men he had at goree:--'sir,' he answered, 'they sent me the very riff-raff.' the poor soul then joined the doctor in prayer; and never did i witness more contrition at any condemned sermon than he then evinced. "the sheriff arrived, attended by his officers, to receive the prisoner from the keeper. a new hat was then partly flattened on his head, for owing to its being too small in the crown, it stood many inches too high behind. as we were crossing the press yard, the dreadful execrations of some of the felons so shook his frame that he observed, the clock had struck; and quickening his pace, he soon arrived at the room where the sheriff was to give a receipt for his body, according to the usual custom. owing, however, to some informality in the wording of this receipt, he was not brought out as soon as the multitude expected; and it was this delay which occasioned a partial exultation from those who betted as to a reprieve, and not from any pleasure in seeing him executed. "after the execution, as soon as i was permitted to leave the prison, i found the yeoman selling the rope with which the malefactor had been suspended, at a shilling an inch; and no sooner had i entered newgate-street, than a lath of a fellow, passed threescore years and ten, who had just arrived from the purlieus of black boy alley, woe-begone as _romeo's_ apothecary, exclaimed, 'here is the identical rope at sixpence an inch.'" stage-coach in . _ayscough's nottingham courant_ of this date, contained the following advertisement:--the flying machines on steel springs set off from the swan with two necks inn, lad-lane, london, and from the angel inn in sheffield, every monday and thursday morning at five o'clock, and lies the first night from london at the angel inn in northampton, the second at the blackmoor's head inn, nottingham, and the third at sheffield. each passenger to pay _l._ _s._, and to be allowed fourteen pounds of luggage. performed (if god permit) by john hanforth and samuel glanville. blind workman. a young man, in greenock, of the name of kid, who was blind from his infancy, finished the model of a sixty-four gun ship, of about five feet keel, planked from the keel, with carriages for the guns, and every necessary material and apparelling of a ship of that rate, without any assistance whatever, or other instrument than a small knife and hammer. sports of the lower classes in . the following handbill is curious, on account of the light it sheds on what was considered attractive to the million a hundred years ago:-- "_according to law. september , ._ on wednesday next, the th inst., will be run for by _asses_ (!!) in _tothill fields_, a purse of gold, not exceeding the value of fifty pounds. the first will be entitled to the gold; the second to two pads; the third to thirteen pence half-penny; the last to a halter fit for the neck of any ass in europe. each ass must be subject to the following articles:-- "no person will be allowed to run but _taylors_ and _chimney-sweepers_; the former to have a cabbage-leaf fixed in his hat, the latter a plumage of white feathers; the one to use nothing but his yard-wand, and the other a brush. "no jockey-tricks will be allowed upon any consideration. "no one to strike an ass but the rider, lest he thereby cause a retrograde motion, under a penalty of being ducked three times in the river. "no ass will be allowed to start above thirty years old, or under ten months, nor any that has won above the value of fifty pounds. "no ass to run that has been six months in training, particularly above stairs, lest the same accident happen to it that did to one nigh a town ten miles from london, and that for reasons well known to that place. "each ass to pay sixpence entrance, three farthings of which are to be given to the old clerk of the race, for his due care and attendance. "every ass to carry weight for inches, if thought proper." then follow a variety of sports, with "an ordinary of _proper victuals_, particularly for the riders, if desired." "_run, lads, run! there's rare sport in tothill fields!_" state coach at the prorogation of parliament in . never was a greater assemblage of persons collected together than on this occasion: in the park and in parliament-street there were at least , people. by the repair of the state coach, which has undergone several material alterations since the damage it received at the opening of the last session, the king is now secluded from the sight. hitherto, the upper pannels of it had always been of glass, so that the multitude could see the king in all directions, through the front, through the sides, as well as through the windows in the doors: it has been newly glazed, and the whole of the carriage is lined with sheet copper, musket proof; between the crimson lining of the carriage is a wadding of fine wool, coated with buffalo skin, the nature of which is so close that no bullets can penetrate it. historical anecdote. on the dollars, stivers, &c., coined at the town of dordrecht in holland, is the figure of a milk-maid sitting under her cow, which figure is also exhibited in relievo on the water-gate of the place. the occasion was as follows: in the noble struggle of the united provinces for their liberties, the spaniards detached a body of forces from the main army, with the view of surprising dordrecht. certain milkmaids, belonging to a rich farmer in the vicinity of the town, perceived as they were going to milk, some soldiers concealed under the hedges. they had the presence of mind to pursue their occupation without any symptoms of alarm. on their return home they informed their master of what they had seen, who gave information to the burgomaster, and the sluices were let loose, by which great numbers of the spaniards were drowned, and the expedition defeated. the states ordered the farmer a handsome revenue for the loss he sustained by the overflowing of his lands, rewarded the women, and perpetuated the event in the manner described. tomb of john bunyan. "who has not read the "pilgrim's progress," "that wonderful book," writes mr. macaulay, "which, while it obtains admiration from the most fastidious critics, is loved by those who are too simple to admire it?" we can remember our own delight on reading, for the first time, the precious volume. this was in the days of our childhood, when we were deeply imbued with the fairy lore which at that time was so plentifully supplied, and so eagerly devoured. john bunyan was buried in bunhill fields burying-ground, city-road; and the tablet on his tomb, which the engraving very correctly represents is as follows:--"mr. john bunyan, author of the 'pilgrim's progress,' ob. aust. , æt. ." formerly there were also the following lines:-- "the pilgrim's progress now is finished. and death has laid him in his earthly bed." [illustration: [++] tomb of john bunyan.] bunhill fields burying-ground was opened as a suburban cemetery in , in the time of the great plague, and was a favourite burying-place with the dissenters. here are buried daniel defoe; dr. isaac watts; joseph ritson the antiquary; dr. thomas goodwin, the chaplain who attended cromwell's death-bed; george fox, the founder of the quakers; the mother of john wesley; lieut.-general fleetwood, son-in-law of oliver cromwell; thomas stothard, r.a., and other eminent men. spiders fond of music. spiders hear with great acuteness, and it is affirmed that they are attracted by music. disjonval relates the instance of a spider which used to place itself on the ceiling of a room over the spot where a lady played the harp, and which followed her if she removed to another part; and he also says that the celebrated violinist berthome, when a boy, saw a spider habitually approach him as soon as he began to play, and which eventually became so familiar that it would fix itself on his desk, and on his arm. bettina noticed the same effect with a guitar, on a spider which accidentally crossed over it as she was playing. breakfasting hut in . this quaint announcement, in a handbill of the time, shows how cheaply those who lived a century or so past could enjoy suburban pleasures in merrie islington:-- "this is to give notice to all ladies and gentlemen, at spencer's original breakfasting-hut, between sir hugh middleton's head and st. john street road, by the new river side, fronting sadler's wells, may be had every morning, except sundays, fine tea, sugar, bread, butter, and milk, at fourpence per head; coffee at threepence a dish. and in the afternoon, tea, sugar, and milk, at threepence per head, with good attendance. coaches may come up to the farthest garden-door next to the bridge in st. john street road, near sadler's wells back gate.--_note._ ladies, &c., are desired to take notice that there is another person set up in opposition to me, the next door, which is a brick-house, and faces the little gate by the sir hugh middleton's, and therefore mistaken for mine; but mine is the _little boarded place_ by the river side, and my backdoor faces the same as usual; for i am not dead, i am not gone, nor liquors do i sell; but, as at first, i still go on, ladies, to use you well. no passage to my hut i have, the river runs before; therefore your care i humbly crave, pray don't mistake my door. "yours to serve, s. spencer." spontaneous combustion. in leroux's journal de medicine, is an account of a very fat woman, twenty-eight years of age, who was found on fire in her chamber, where nothing else was burning. the neighbours heard a noise of something like frying, and when the body was removed it left a layer of black grease. the doctor conceives that the combustion began in the internal parts, and that the clothes were burnt secondarily. mother mapp the bone-setter. she was the daughter of a man named wallis, a bone-setter at hindon, in wiltshire, and sister to the celebrated "polly peachem," who married the duke of bolton. upon some _family quarrel_, sally wallis left her professional parent, and wandered up and down the country in a miserable manner, calling herself "crazy sally," and pursuing, in her perambulations, a course that fairly justified the title. arriving at last at epsom, she succeeded in humbugging the worthy bumkins of that place, so decidedly, that a subscription was set on foot to keep her among them; but her fame extending to the metropolis, the dupes of london, a numerous class then as well as now, thought it no trouble to go ten miles to see the conjuror, till at length, she was pleased to bless the afflicted of london with her presence, and once a week drove to the grecian coffee-house, in a coach and six with out-riders! and all the appearance of nobility. it was in one of these journeys, passing through kent-street, in the borough, that being taken for a certain woman of quality from the electorate in germany, a great mob followed and bestowed on her many bitter reproaches, till madame, perceiving some mistake, looked out of the window, and accosted them in this gentle manner, "confound you, don't you know me? i am mrs. mapp, the _bone-setter_!" upon which, they instantly changed their revilings into loud huzzas. two certificates of gretna-green marriages at different dates. "this is to sartfay all persons that my be consernid, that a b from the parish of c in the county of d and e f from the parish of g and in the county of h and both comes before me and declayred themseless both to be single persons, and now mayried by the form of the kirk of scotland, and agreible to the church of england, and givine ondre my hand, this {th} day of march ." "kingdom of scotland "county of dumfries "parish of gretna "these are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that john n.... from the parish of chatham in the county of kent, and rosa h.... from the parish of st. maries in the county of nottingham, being both here now present and having declared to me that they are single persons, but have now been married conformable to the laws of the church of england, and agreeable to the kirk of scotland. as witness our hands at springfield this th day of october . "witness "witness me. jane rae david lang. john ainslie." john n.... rosa h...." the women of england. the women here are generally more handsome than in other places, sufficiently endowed with natural beauties, without the addition of adulterate sophistications. in an absolute woman, say the italians, are required the parts of a dutch woman, from the girdle downwards; of a french woman, from the girdle to the shoulders: over which must be placed an english face. as their beauties, so also their prerogatives are greater than any nation; neither so servilely submissive as the french, nor so jealously guarded as the italians; but keeping so true a decorum, that as england is termed the pergatorie of servants, and the hell of horses, so is it acknowledged the _paradise_ of _women_. and it is a common by-word amongst the italians, that _if there were a bridge built across the narrow seas, all the women in europe would run into england_. for here they have the upper hand in the streets, the upper place at the table, the thirds of their husband's estates, and their equal share of all lands; privileges with which other women are not acquainted. they were in high esteem in former times amongst foreign nations, for the modestie and gravitie of their conversation; but of late so much addicted to the light garb of the french, that they have lost much of their ancient honour and reputation amongst knowing and more sober men of foreign countries who before admired them.--_peter heylin's cosmographie_, . prices for seats at coronations. on consulting stowe, speed, and other antiquaries, it appears that the price of a good place at the coronation of william the conqueror was a _blank_; and probably the same at that of his son william rufus. at that of henry i. it was a _crocard_, and at king stephen's and henry the second's a _pillard_. at king richard's and king john's, it was a _fuskin_; and rose at henry the third's to a _dodkin_. in the reign of edward i. the coins began to be more intelligible; and we find that for seeing his coronation a q was given, or the half of a _ferling_, or farthing, which was, as now, the fourth part of a _sterling_, or penny. at the coronation of edward ii. it was a farthing; and at that of edward iii. a halfpenny, which was very generally given. in the reign of richard ii. it was a penny, and continued the same at that of henry iv. but at that of henry v. it was two pennies, or half of a _grossus_, or groat; and the same at that of henry vi. and of edward iv.; nor do we find it raised at the coronation of richard iii. or that of henry vii. at that of henry viii. it was the whole _grossus_, or groat, nor was the price altered at those of edward vi. and queen mary; but at queen elizabeth's it was a _teston_, _tester_, or sixpence. at those of james i. and charles i. a shilling was given; which sum was advanced to half a crown at the coronations of charles and james ii. at king william's and queen anne's, it was a crown; and at george the first's the show was seen by many at the same price. at the coronation of george ii. some gave half a guinea; but at that of george iii. and queen charlotte, anno , curiosity seems to have risen to an amazing height. on this occasion the price given for single seats were almost incredible; in some houses ten guineas, and in ordinary houses five guineas. great and universal anxiety prevailed to see this grand spectacle, from the reflection how improbable it was that many who were there could ever have an opportunity of witnessing the like again. as an instance of this extreme anxiety, it is confidently related, that a gentleman was prevailed on to take a room for his lady, at the price of one hundred and forty guineas; but the appointment of the solemnity of the coronation falling unluckily at the exact time when she expected to be delivered, she actually further prevailed on her husband to let a skilful man-midwife, nurse, &c., attend her, and to hire another room, lest the hurry of the day should bring on her labour, when it might be impossible for her to be removed without endangering her life. ancient house at blackwall--said to be the residence of sir walter raleigh. the house shown in the engraving is interesting from two causes; first, that it was the house in which sir walter raleigh smoked his first pipe of tobacco in england, and secondly, that it is one of the few relics remaining of those picturesque old houses of the days of queen bess. the house is built of strongly framed timber, which, in recent years, has been plastered over; and the carved heads that ornament the gables, and which are good both in design and execution, show that this house is at least years old. [illustration: [++] ancient house at blackwall.] at the present time a tavern has been built between this house and the river. formerly, however, there was, no doubt, a trimmed garden and terrace towards the thames, from which the inhabitants may have watched the progress of queen elizabeth from the tower to her palace at greenwich. it is singular to notice the fashion of these old houses, arising from the value of space within walled towns; each floor projects over the other, so that the upper apartments have more room than the lower. while, in an artistic point of view, we cannot help regretting the disappearance of the venerable and quaint gables, for sanitary and other reasons we must be content with the change. ambassadors--why held by the arms at the ottoman court. a dervise addressed bajazet, emperor of the turks, , for alms, and while the charitable sultan searched for his money, the treacherous beggar wounded him with a dagger, and was instantly slain by the royal attendants. this incident is rendered memorable by its having occasioned the ungracious restraint under which even the ambassadors of christian powers were subject to in former times when they received an audience from the ottoman emperor. they were held by the arms by two attendants, when they approached the throne, nor were their arms loosed till they had quitted the presence. travelling in . the nobility and gentry were accustomed to make their long journeys in ponderous family-carriages, drawn by four horses. these vehicles would be laden at the top with an array of trunks and boxes, while perhaps six or seven persons, with a lapdog, would be stowed within. the danger of famine on the road was averted by a travelling larder of baskets of various condiments; the risk of thirst would be provided against by bottles of usquebaugh, black cherry-brandy, cinnamon-water, sack, port, or strong beer: while the convoy would be protected by a basket-hilted sword, an old blunderbuss, and a bag of bullets and a great horn of gunpowder. old st. paul's. in the old cathedral was a tower of stone, in height from the ground feet, on which was a spire of wood, covered with lead, feet high. in the tower was a celebrated peal of bells; and somewhat above the stone-work was a "faire dial," from which there was order taken in the eighteenth year of edward iii. that the rich chasing and gilding should be always kept in good preservation. on this dial was the figure of an angel pointing to the hours of both day and night--a device more appropriate than most of the clock-hands in present use. from this lofty steeple, which formed such an important feature of old london, the chimes rung merrily on saints' days and holidays; and at times the choristers mounted up aloft and chaunted forth their orisons at dawn and sunset--a custom still observed at durham cathedral. before the fire of london, the spire of st. paul's was more than once destroyed or damaged by fire and lightning. on candlemas eve, , about two o'clock in the afternoon, the lightning fired the steeple. the citizens came forth and succeeded in overcoming the fire; it, however, broke forth again at night, and but little of the spire was saved. in the year , in the month of june, there fell a prodigious quantity of rain, attended with thunder and lightning. st. paul's steeple was struck within a yard of the top. at first, a little fire appeared, resembling the light of a torch, and in eight minutes the weather-cock fell; and the wind rising high, the fire within an hour afterwards destroyed the steeple down to the very battlements, and then, in consequence of the mass of burning timber that fell from the spire, burnt so violently that the iron-work and the bells melted and fell upon the stairs in the church; the east and west roofs catching fire communicated with the north and south, and destroyed them all. much damage was also done to other parts. the spire was again reared, and the damaged bells properly replaced. in addition to the bells in the tower of old st. paul's there was a common bell, the property of the city, hung in a suitable building, closely adjoining to the cathedral, which was rung that the inhabitants might assemble at wardmotes and other important occasions. another fire damaged the ancient church, and then the great fire of , swept steeples, bells, churches, and all before it. the bedford missal. in january, , when the bedford missal was on sale, with the rest of the duchess of portland's collection, king george iii. sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the purchaser. the bookseller ventured to submit to his majesty, that the article in question, as one highly curious, was likely to fetch a high price. "how high?" exclaimed the king. "probably two hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "two hundred guineas for a missal!" exclaimed the queen, who was present, and lifted up her hands with astonishment. "well, well," said his majesty, "i'll have it still; but since the queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a missal, i'll go no further." the biddings for the royal library did actually stop at that point; and mr. edwards carried off the prize by adding three pounds more. the same missal was afterwards sold at mr. edwards's sale, in , and purchased by the duke of marlborough, for £ s. formation of the volcano of jorullo. the mexican volcanoes of orizaba, popocatepetl, jorullo, and colima appear to be connected with each other, being placed in the direction of a line running transverse to the former, and passing east and west from sea to sea. as was first observed by humboldt, these mountains are all situated between north latitude ° ' and ° '. in an exact line of direction with the other volcanoes, and over the same transverse fissure, jorullo was suddenly elevated on the th of september, . the circumstances attending the production of this volcano are so remarkable, that we shall here notice them in some detail. [illustration: volcano of jorullo, mexico.] an extensive plain, called the malpays, was covered by rich fields of cotton, sugar-cane, and indigo, irrigated by streams, and bounded by basaltic mountains, the nearest active volcano being at the distance of eighty miles. this district, situated at an elevation of about feet above the level of the sea, was celebrated for its beauty and extreme fertility. in june, , alarming subterranean sounds were heard, and these were accompanied, by frequent earthquakes, which were succeeded by others for several weeks, to the great consternation of the neighbouring inhabitants. in september tranquillity appeared to be re-established, when, in the night of the th, the subterranean noise was again heard, and part of the plain of malpays, from three to four miles in diameter, rose up like a mass of viscid fluid, in the shape of a bladder or dome, to a height of nearly feet; flames issued forth, fragments of red-hot stones were thrown to prodigious heights, and, through a thick cloud of ashes, illumined by volcanic fire, the softened surface of the earth was seen to swell up like an agitated sea. a huge cone, above feet high, with five smaller conical mounds, suddenly appeared, and thousands of lesser cones (called by the natives _hornitos_, or ovens,) issued forth from the upraised plain. these consisted of clay intermingled with decomposed basalt, each cone being a _fumarolle_, or gaseous vent, from which issued thick vapour. the central cone of jorullo is still burning, and on one side has thrown up an immense quantity of scoriaceous and basaltic lavas, containing fragments of primitive rocks. two streams, of the temperature of ° of fahrenheit, have since burst through the argillaceous vault of the hornitos, and now flow into the neighbouring plains. for many years after the first eruption, the plains of jorullo were uninhabitable from the intense heat that prevailed. crater of vesuvius in . [illustration: [++] crater of vesuvius.] the crater stromboli, which has been in activity since the most ancient times, presents at present the same appearances as those which were described by spallanzani, in . it is constantly filled with lava in a state of fusion, which alternately rises and falls in the cavity. having ascended to ten or twelve yards below the summit of the walls, this boiling fluid is covered with large bubbles, which burst with noise, letting enormous quantities of gas escape from them, and projecting on all sides scoriaceous matter. after these explosions, it again subsides, but only to rise again and produce like effects--these alternations being repeated regularly at intervals of some minutes. in craters where the lava is less fluid than in that of stromboli, new cones are sometimes formed in the midst of the crater, which first rise in the form of a dome, and then burst out so as to form a small active volcano in the middle of the crater of the great one. this phenomenon is often presented within the crater of vesuvius, and was more particularly witnessed in . loaf sugar. in a sugar-loaf was presented to mr. waldron, of bovey house, which weighed lbs., at s. d. per lb. ( s. d.) the late lord rolle married the last of that branch of the waldron family. the house remains about ten miles west of lyme. the sugar-loaf was charged at a high rate, considering the greater value of money in queen mary's reign. this article began to be highly prized. the sugar-cane, which had been grown from the year in sicily, had been imported into madeira a.d. . about the year the art of refining sugar, before called "blanch powdre," was discovered by a venetian; before which the juice, when selected instead of honey for sweetening, was used as it came from the cane. only twenty-seven years from this date, in , it was imported from st. lucar in spain by bristol merchants. let not the present of the mayor of lyme be considered as a cheap article produced in abundance in the islands of the west indies. the sugar-cane was not imported thither into barbadoes from the brazils till the year . how surprising the result of official inquiries in the year into the consumption of sugar! it amounted to , , cwts., or lbs. each individual of the united kingdom. suspension bridges at freybourg. there are two suspension bridges in freybourg; one remarkable for its great length, the other for its extreme beauty. the latter connects the top of two mountains, swinging over a frightful gulf that makes one dizzy to look down into. there are no buttresses or masonwork in sight at a little distance; shafts are sunk in the solid rock of the mountains, down which the wires that sustain it are dropped. there it stretches, a mere black line, nearly three hundred feet in the heavens, from summit to summit. it looks like a spider's web flung across a chasm; its delicate tracery showing clear and distinct against the sky. while you are looking at the fairy creation suspended in mid-heaven, almost expecting the next breeze will waft it away, you see a heavy waggon driven on it; you shrink back with horror at the rashness that could trust so frail a structure at that dizzy height; but the air-hung cobweb sustains the pressure, and the vehicle passes in safety. indeed, weight steadies it; while the wind, as it sweeps down the gulf, makes it swing under you. the large suspension bridge is supported on four cables of iron wire, each one composed of one thousand and fifty-six wires. as the menai bridge of wales is often said to be longer than this, i give the dimensions of both as i find them in mr. murray:--freybourg: length, nine hundred and five feet; height, one hundred and seventy-four feet; breadth, twenty eight feet. menai: length, five hundred and eighty feet; height, one hundred and thirty feet; breadth, twenty-five feet. a span of nine hundred and five feet, without any intermediate pier, seems impossible at first, and one needs the testimony of his own eyes before he can fully believe it. wonderful clock. towards the end of the last century, a clock was constructed by a genevan mechanic named droz, capable of performing a variety of surprising movements, which were effected by the figures of a negro, a shepherd, and a dog. when the clock struck, the shepherd played six tunes on his flute, and the dog approached and fawned upon him. this clock was exhibited to the king of spain, who was highly delighted with the ingenuity of the artist. the king, at the request of droz, took an apple from the shepherd's basket, when the dog started up and barked so loud that the king's dog, which was in the same room, began to bark also. we are moreover informed that the negro, on being asked what hour it was, answered the question in french, so that he could be understood by those present. mandrin the smuggler, . mandrin was the son of a peasant in dauphiny who dealt in cattle. his first employment was buying and selling horses, by which he subsisted several years. but having on some occasion committed a murder, he was obliged to fly from justice, and in his absence was condemned by the parliament of grenoble to be broken on the wheel. being now a fugitive, and destitute of employment, he learned to counterfeit money, and by this fraud made considerable gain, till, being discovered, the officers of the mint at lyons issued a warrant for apprehending him, and he was again obliged to quit the country. while he was wandering about from place to place, and hiding himself in caves and woods, he became acquainted with a gang of smugglers, and associating with them was, after some time, made their captain. as this gang was very numerous, he was less cautious of being seen, and having at length lost his sense of fear by habitual danger, he frequently entered towns and cities, raised contributions on the king's officers by force, and spread the same terror among others that others had brought upon him. but in proportion as he became more formidable he was, in fact, less secure; for the government found it necessary to detach after him such a force as he could not resist, and the farmers-general offered , livres reward for taking him. after many times attacking his party in a running fight, in which several were cut off, mandrin, with eight of his men, took shelter in a castle on the frontiers of savoy. they were closely pursued by several detachments, under the command of colonel de molière, who entered the king of sardinia's territory after him, without having first obtained leave. molière was immediately opposed by a great number of peasants: whether they were instigated by mandrin, or whether they were jealous of their privilege, is not known; but all his expostulations being fruitless, and being determined not to relinquish his prey, for whom he hoped to receive so considerable a reward, he forced his way against them, killing twelve and wounding many others. mandrin waited the issue of this contest in his castle, where he was soon besieged by men, who attacked the place with great vigour. mandrin and his partisans defended themselves like men who had nothing to fear in a battle equal to being taken alive; and after several of them were killed, and the castle gates burst open, they retreated, fighting from chamber to chamber, and from story to story, till, reaching the garret, and being able to proceed no further, they were at last overpowered by numbers, having killed twenty of their adversaries, and spent all their ammunition. mandrin, with those that survived of his little party, were carried prisoners to valence in dauphiny. * * * mandrin was examined every day from the th of may to the th, in order to discover his accomplices. in the mean time several of his associates were put to the torture to discover what they knew of him, and were afterwards broken on the wheel, that death might give a sanction to their testimony. he himself was subjected to torture, but without eliciting anything further than he had previously revealed. throughout he steadfastly refused to betray his comrades, and conducted himself with much dignity and heroism. on the day of his execution he received absolution from father gasperini, a jesuit, who had administered to him the consolations of religion during his confinement. before he was led out of the prison, his shoes and stockings were taken from him; but, though barefooted, he walked along with great firmness and a good grace. when he came to the cathedral to perform the _amende honorable_, he asked forgiveness of the monks and priests for his want of respect to their order, and was then conducted to the scaffold. he mounted with great composure, and addressed himself in a short and pathetic exhortation to the spectators, especially the young persons of both sexes; he then sat down on the nave of the wheel, and loosened the buttons of his shirt-sleeves himself. then he entreated pardon of the custom-house officers, whom he had so often and so grossly injured; and turning to the penitents who surrounded the scaffold--with his confessor and two other eminent persons of his order--he earnestly recommended himself as the object of their prayer, and immediately delivered himself up to the executioner. he received eight blows on his arms and legs, and one on his stomach, and was intended to have been left to expire of the wounds; but as the executioner was going down from the scaffold, an order came to strangle him; the bishop and all the considerable persons at valence having interceded for this mitigation of his punishment. mandrin was twenty-nine years of age, about five feet five inches high, well made, had a long visage, blue eyes, and sandy chesnut hair; he had something rough in his countenance, and a strong robust port; he was perpetually smoking tobacco, with which he drank plentifully of any liquor that was at hand, and ate till the last with a good appetite. sudden recovery from madness. the following extraordinary account is taken from the _gentleman's magazine_ of :--"about six years since, a seafaring person was taken into the asylum for maniacs at york; during the space of five years and six months he never expressed any desire for sustenance, and was fed in the manner of an infant. the servants undressed him at night, and dressed him in the morning; he never spoke, and remained with his body bent all day, and was regarded by all about him as an animal nearly converted into a vegetable. about the middle of may, , he suddenly astonished the people round him with saying, 'good morrow to you all.' he then thanked the servants for the care they had taken of him, and appeared perfectly sane. a few days after, he wrote a letter to his wife, in which he expressed himself with great propriety. on the th of may following he was allowed to leave the hospital, and return to his family; and has now the command of a ship in the baltic trade, and is in full enjoyment of perfect health, both in mind and body. this very singular case is attested by dr. hunter, f.e.s., of york, in a letter to dr. percival, of manchester, and by the servants now at the asylum in york." summary of the bible. the following table is published, as containing accurate particulars of the english version of the bible:-- _in the old testament._| _in the new testament._| _total._ books, | books, | books, chapters, | chapters, | chapters, , verses, , | verses, , | verses, , words, , | words, , | words, , letters, , , | letters, , | letters, , , the middle chapter and the shortest in the bible is the hundred and seventeenth psalm; the middle verse is the eighth of the hundred and eighteenth psalm. the twenty-first verse of the seventh chapter of ezra, in the english version, has all the letters of the alphabet in it. the nineteenth chapter of the second book of kings and the thirty-seventh chapter of isaiah are alike. the leprosy.--lazars.--lazar-houses. that loathsome disorder, leprosy, was introduced into england in the reign of henry i., and was supposed to have been brought out of egypt, or perhaps the east, by means of the crusaders. to add to the horror, it was contagious, which enhanced the charity of a provision for such miserables, who were not only naturally shunned, but even chased by royal edict, from the society of their fellow-creatures. lepers, or lazars, were sick persons removed out of monasteries to cells or hospitals, always built out of cities and towns. their usual maintainence was, from liberty allowed them to go upon every market-day, to the market, where with a dish, called a _clap_ dish, they would beg corn. their sickness and loathsome appearance giving great disgust, many withheld their charity, upon which account they were afterwards restrained from begging at large, but permitted to send the proctor of the hospital, who came with his box one day in every month to the churches, and other religious houses, at time of service; and there received the voluntary charity of the congregations. this custom is said to be the origin of the present practice of collecting briefs. the leprosy was much more common formerly, in this part of the globe, than at present. it is said, that there were in europe fifteen thousand hospitals founded for them. perhaps near half the hospitals that were in england were built for lepers. lepers were so numerous in the twelfth century, that by a decree of the lateran council under pope alexander iii., a.d. , they were empowered to erect churches for themselves, and to have their own ministers to officiate in them. this shows at once how infectious and offensive their distemper was. and on this account, "in england where a man was a leper, and was dwelling in a town, and would come into the churches, or among his neighbours when they were assembled, to talk to them to their annoyance or disturbance, a writ lay de leproso amovendo."--what follows is remarkable. the writ is for those lepers "who appear to the sight of all men, they are lepers, by their voice and their sores, the putrefaction of their flesh, and by the smell of them." and so late as the reign of edward vi. multitudes of lepers seem to have been in england; for in edw. . c. . in which directions are given for carrying the poor to the places where they were born, &c. we read the following clause: "provided always, that all _leprous_ and poor _bed-red_ creatures may, at their liberty, remain and continue in such houses appointed for lepers, or bed-red people, as they now be in." to .--the leprosy was at this period, and long after, a cruel epidemic in our country, possibly brought by the crusaders from the holy land, and spread here by filth and bad diet. it was supposed to be infectious, and was shunned as the plague; so that, had it not been for these pious institutions, multitudes must have perished under this loathsome disorder. among other wild fancies of the age, it was imagined that the persons afflicted with leprosy, a disease at that time ( , edward ii.) very common, probably from bad diet, had conspired with the saracens to poison all springs and fountains; and men being glad of any pretence to get rid of those who were a burthen to them, many of those unhappy people were burnt alive on the chimerical imputation. every one of the lazar-houses had a person, called a _fore-goer_, who used to beg daily for them. the condor in peru. dr. pickering, of the united states antarctic expedition of , being in the vicinity of the andes, attempted the ascent of one of the summits; by noon he had reached a high elevation, and looking up, he espied a huge condor soaring down the valley. he stopped to observe the majestic bird as it sailed slowly along. to his surprise it took a turn around him, then a second and a third, the last time drawing so near that he began to apprehend that it meditated an attack. he describes himself as being in the worst possible condition for a fight, his strength being exhausted by climbing, and his right hand having been lamed for some days from a hurt. the nature of the ground, too, was anything but favourable for defence; but there was nothing left but to prepare for a fight, and with this intent he took a seat and drew his knife. at the instant, as if intimidated by the sight of the weapon, the bird whirled off in another direction. dr. pickering confessed, however humiliating the acknowledgment, that he was at the time very well satisfied with the condor's determination to let him alone. cost of sir christopher wren's churches. the following is an account of what the undermentioned churches cost building, the designs for which were furnished by sir christopher wren:-- £ s. d. st. paul's , - / allhallows the great , ---- bread-street , ---- lombard-street , st. alban's, wood-street , st. anne and agnes , st. andrew's, wardrobe , ---- holborn , st. antholin's , - / st. austin's , st. benet, grailchurch , - / ---- paul's wharf , ---- fink , st. bride's , st. bartholomew's , christ church , st. clement, eastcheap , - / ---- danes , - / st. dionis back church , st. edmund the king , st. george, botolph-lane , st. james, garlick-hill , ---- westminster , st. lawrence, jewry , st. michael, basinghall , ---- royal , st. michael, queenhithe , ---- wood-street , ---- crooked-lane , ---- cornhill , st. martin, ludgate , st. matthew, friday-str , st. margaret pattens , ---- lothbury , st. mary, abchurch , - / ---- magdalen , - / ---- somerset , - / ---- at hill , ---- aldermanbury , ---- le bow , ---- le steeple , - / st. magnus, lond. bridge , st. mildred, bread-street , - / ---- poultry , - / st. nicholas cole abbey , st. olav, jewry , st. peter's, cornhill , st. swithin, canon-street , st. stephen, wallbrook , ---- coleman-str , st. vedast, foster-lane , early clocks. the first clock which appeared in europe, was probably that which eginhard (the secretary of charlemagne), describes as sent to his royal master by abdalla, king of persia. "a horologe of brass, wonderfully constructed, for the course of the twelve hours, answered to the hourglass, with as many little brazen balls, which drop down on a sort of bells underneath, and sounded each other."--the venetians had clocks in , and sent a specimen of them that year to constantinople. singular specimen of orthography in the sixteenth century. the following letter was written by the duchess of norfolk to cromwell, earl of essex. it exhibits a curious instance of the monstrous anomalies of our orthography in the infancy of our literature, when a spelling book was yet a precious thing:-- "my ffary gode lord,--her i sand you in tokyn hoff the neweyer, a glasse hoff setyl set in sellfer gyld, i pra you tak hit in wort. an hy wer babel het showlde be bater. i woll hit war wort a m crone." thus _translated_:-- "my very good lord,--here i send you, in token of the new year, a glass of setyll set in silver gilt; i pray you take it in worth. an i were able it should be better. i would it were worth a thousand crown." death of the earl of kildare. in , died the most powerful baron and active soldier of his age, fitzgerald, earl of kildare. he had been, during thirty years, at different times, chief governor of ireland, and was too potent to be set aside, otherwise his strong attachment to the house of york would probably have been his ruin. the untameable spirit of the earl sometimes involved him in trouble, from which he was extricated by a lucky bluntness; as when once, when charged before henry viii. with setting fire to the cathedral of cashel, "i own it," said the earl, "but i never would have done it had i not believed that the archbishop was in it." the king laughed, and pardoned the ludicrous culprit. the bishop of meath was his bitterest foe. he accused him to henry of divers misdeeds, and closed his accusation with "thus, my liege, you see that all ireland cannot rule the earl." "then," said the perverse monarch, "the earl shall rule all ireland," and instantly made him lord-deputy. the english loved the earl because he was brave and generous, and because his good humour equalled his valour. once, when he was in a furious paroxysm, a domestic who knew his temper, whispered in his ear, "my lord, yonder fellow has betted me a fine horse, that i dare not take a hair from your lordship's beard; i pray, my lord, win me that wager." the earl's features relaxed, and he said to the petitioner, "take the hair, then, but if thou exceedest thy demand, my fist shall meet thy head." the britannia tubular bridge. this is one of the most remarkable structures in the world, the design of the celebrated architect, sir r. stephenson. this bridge is on the line of the chester and holyhead railway, crossing the menai straits, within sight of telford's chain suspension bridge. it is made of cast iron of a tubular form, in the tube of which the railway passes. four of these span the strait, and are supported by piles of masonry; that on the anglesea side is feet inches high, and from the front to the end of the wing walls is feet. these wing walls terminate in pedestals, on which repose colossal lions of egyptian character. the anglesea pier is feet high, feet wide, and feet long. in the middle of the strait is the britannia rock, from which the bridge derives its name; on this the britannia pier is raised. it is equi-distant from the anglesea and carnarvon piers, being feet in the clear from each, and sustains the four ends of the four long tubes, which span the distance from shore to shore. there are two pairs of short and two of long tubes, the lengths of these pairs being feet and respectively. the egyptian lions are feet inches long, feet inches high, feet wide, and weigh tons. two thousand cubic feet of stone were required for each lion. the total quantity of stone in the bridge is , , cubic feet. the weight of malleable iron in the tubes is , tons; of cast iron, , tons. the whole length of the entire bridge, measuring from the extreme front of the wing walls, is , feet, and its greatest elevation at britannia pier, feet above low-water-mark. the total cost of the structure is £ , . this wonderful structure was begun april , , and completed july , ; opened for traffic oct. , . [illustration: [++] the britannia tubular bridge.] daffey's elixir. in the _postboy_, jan. , - , is the following curious advertisement:--"daffey's famous _elixir salutis_ by catherine daffey, daughter of mr. thomas daffy, late rector of redmile, in the valley of belvoir, who imparted it to his kinsman, mr. anthony daffy, who published the same to the benefit of the community and his own great advantage. the original receipt is now in my possession, left to me by my father. my own brother, mr. daniel daffy, apothecary in nottingham, made the elixir from the said receipt, and sold it there during his life. those who know it, will believe what i declare; and those who do not, may be convinced that i am no counterfeit, by the colour, taste, smell, and operation of my elixir. to be had at the hand and pen, maiden-lane, covent garden." jenny's whim. "this was a tea garden, situated, after passing over a wooden bridge on the left, previous to entering the long avenue, the coach way to where ranelagh once stood. this place was much frequented, from its novelty, being an inducement to allure the curious, by its amusing deceptions, particularly on their first appearance there. here was a large garden, in different parts of which were recesses; and if treading on a spring, taking you by surprise, up started different figures, some ugly enough to frighten you--a harlequin, a mother shipton, or some terrific animal. in a large piece of water, facing the tea alcoves, large fish or mermaids, were showing themselves above the surface. this queer spectacle was first kept by a famous mechanist, who had been employed at one of the winter theatres, there being then two."--angelo's _pic nic or table talk_, p. . horace walpole, more than once alludes to this place of entertainment in his letters; and in a to. satirical tract appeared entitled _jenny's whim; or a sure guide to the nobility, gentry, and other eminent persons, in this metropolis_. anecdote relative to the masked executioner of charles i. it is universally known, that, at the execution of king charles i., a man in a vizor performed the office of executioner. this circumstance has given rise to a variety of conjectures and accounts. in the gentleman's magazine for november, , and january, , are accounts of one william walker, who is said to be the executioner. in the same magazine for june, , it is supposed to be a richard brandon, of whom a long account is copied from an exeter newspaper. but william lilly, in his "history of his life and times," has the following remarkable passage:--"many have curiously inquired who it was that cut off his [the king's] head: i have no permission to speak of such things: only thus much i say, he that did it is as valiant and resolute a man as lives, and one of a competent fortune." to clear up this passage, we shall present our readers with lilly's examination (as related by himself) before the first parliament of king charles ii. in june, . "at my first appearance, many of the young members affronted me highly, and demanded several scurrilous questions. mr. weston held a paper before his mouth; bade me answer nobody but mr. prinn; i obeyed his command, and saved myself much trouble thereby, and when mr. prinn put any difficult or doubtful query unto me, mr. weston prompted me with a fit question. at last, after almost one hour's tugging, i desired to be fully heard what i could say as to the person that cut charles i.'s head off. liberty being given me to speak, i related what follows, viz.:-- "that the next sunday but one after charles i. was beheaded, robert spavin, secretary to lieutenant-general cromwell at that time, invited himself to dine with me, and brought anthony pearson, and several others, along with him to dinner. that their principal discourse all dinner-time was only who it was that beheaded the king; one said it was the common hangman; another, hugh peters; others were also nominated; but none concluded. robert spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took me by the hand, and carried me to the south window: saith he. 'these are all mistaken; they have not named the man that did the fact; it was lieutenant-colonel joice. i was in the room when he fitted himself for the work, stood behind him when he did it; when done, went in with him again. there is no man knows this but my master, viz., cromwell, commissary ireton, and myself.'--'doth mr. rushworth know it?' saith i.--'no, he doth not know it,' saith spavin. the same thing spavin since has often related to me when we were alone." whipping prisoners. mr. ellesdon, mayor of lyme, in , paid for-- _s._ _d._ four yards of canvas to make a coat to whip the rogues in making the same whipping of three of the ship boys for stealing of mr. hassard's salmon fish in the cobb (n.b.--salmon was plentiful in the west at this epoch.) the charge of fourpence made for whipping a boy continued for many years the same. the whipping of a woman who was a stranger was little more costly; but the inflicting such a punishment upon a townswoman was remunerated at a higher rate, as may well be supposed, from a consideration of several circumstances. to take a violent, noisy woman from her chamber, tie madam to the tumbrel and whip her round the town, was an undertaking that demanded assistance and protection to the official or hireling that wielded the thong. in the town accompt book are found such entries as those which are given in illustration:-- _s._ _d._ . for whipping william wynter's boy " agnes abbott twice . paid two soldiers to attend the whipping of a woman paid to whipping four women the iniquities of the slave trade. we may form some idea of the temptations which the trade in human beings held out, even to people who held an honourable position in the world, from the fact that the captain of a frigate, within a few years before the slave trade was abolished, was known to purchase slaves in the west india market, have them entered as able seamen, and compel the artificers to teach them a trade; so that when the ship returned each was sold at a high rate as a valuable piece of property. the worst, however, has to be told. upon sailing from portsmouth, some of the best men were sent away upon duty in a ship's boat, in order that they might be returned "run," by which they lost pay and clothes, but made room for the negroes lately kidnapped, who were entered, though they did no work for the ship, as able seamen! we have all heard of a naval officer who had his pocket picked at a westminster election, and who openly professed his vow, which he rigidly performed, of flogging every londoner that joined his ship for this act. this, it is said, was no idle vow! discovery of the body of canute the great. in june , some workmen who were repairing winchester cathedral discovered a monument, wherein was contained the body of king canute. it was remarkably fresh, had a wreath round the head, and several other ornaments of gold and silver bands. on his finger was a ring, in which was set a large and remarkably fine stone; and in one of his hands a silver penny. _archæologia_, vol. iii. the penny found in the hand is a singular instance of a continuance of the pagan custom of always providing the dead with money to pay charon. m.p.'s and mayors privateers. william morfote, who represented winchelsea in parliament in , was a privateer with a hundred men under him. he found it necessary to obtain the king's pardon in , by the advice of parliament, there being a legal difficulty about his having broken prison at dover castle. two merchants of sherborne in dorsetshire were robbed of their cargo, worth £ , a.d. , by robert de battyle. this transaction did not lose him the good opinion of his townsmen, who chose him mayor of winchelsea a few years later. algerine invasion of ireland. the algerines landed in ireland in , killed persons, and carried off about into slavery. one vessel captured by them was worth £ , . they made purchases of stores and provisions they wanted in the western parts of ireland by baltimore, and in carried off captives from that town. they landed their poor captives at rochelle, and marched them in chains to marseilles. twenty-six children are said to have been carried off at one time from cornwall. in , lord wentworth, appointed lord deputy of ireland, named noted pirate vessels off the coast of ireland and their captures. persons in their wills used to leave sums of money for redeeming well-known captives from bondage in algiers and other places. william joy, the english sampson. [illustration: [++] william joy.] william joy was a native of kent, and born may , , at st. lawrence, a small village one mile from ramsgate, in the isle of thanet. when very young, he distinguished himself among his juvenile companions and playmates, by his amazing superiority in strength, over any antagonist that dare to come in competition with his power, whether in play or earnest when about twenty-four years of age, he first began to exhibit in public his astonishing feats, in a display of personal prowess inferior to none but the hebrew champion recorded in holy writ. among many other of this man's extraordinary performances may be recorded:-- . a strong horse, urged by the whip to escape his powerful rein, is restrained and kept from escape solely by the check of his pull, aided by a strong rope, and this without any stay or support whatever. . seated upon a stool, with his legs horizontally elevated, solely by muscular power, he jumps clearly from his seat. . to prove the agility and flexibility of his joints, he places a glass of wine on the sole of his foot, and, in an erect posture, without the least bending of his head or body, raises the glass to his mouth, and drinks the contents, turning his foot with both hands, to accommodate his draught. . aided by a strong leather girdle, or belt, and supporting himself by pressing his arms on a railing, he lifts from the ground a stone of the enormous weight of , lbs. . a rope fastened to a wall, which had borne , lbs. weight, without giving way, is broke asunder by his amazing strength. the celebrity of this man attracted the curiosity of king william iii., before whom he exhibited at kensington palace; likewise before george, prince of denmark, and his royal consort, the princess, afterwards queen anne, and their son william, duke of gloucester, called the hope of england. he also went through a regular course of performances at the duke's theatre, in dorset-gardens, salisbury-square, which was attended by the first nobility and gentry in the kingdom. price of shell-fish in . a bill for shell-fish enables us to ascertain the prices paid in charles ii.'s reign for these delicacies. mr. walter tucker, mayor of lyme, dorset, paid for the judges, for-- lobsters £ crabs scallops oysters oranges ------- £ distributing hand-bills. the month of july afforded a singular _popular explosion_, contrived in the following strange manner:--a brown paper parcel, which had been placed unobserved near the side-bar of the court of king's-bench, westminster-hall, blew up during the solemn proceedings of the courts of justice assembled, and scattered a number of printed bills, giving notice, that on the last day of term five acts of parliament would be publicly burnt in the hall, between the hours of twelve and one, at the royal exchange, and at st. margaret's hill, which were the gin act, the smuggling act, the mortmain act, the westminster bridge act, and the act for borrowing , _l._ on the sinking fund. one of the bills was immediately carried to the grand jury then sitting, who found it an infamous libel, and recommended the offering of a reward to discover the author. ranz des vaches. the "ranz des vaches," which is commonly supposed to be a single air, stands in switzerland for a class of melodies, the literal meaning of which is cow-rows. the german word is _kureihen_--rows of cows. it derives its origin from the manner the cows march home along the alpine paths at milking time. the shepherd goes before, keeping every straggler in its place by the tones of his horn, while the whole herd wind along in indian file, obedient to the call. from its association it always creates home-sickness in a swiss mountaineer, when he hears it in a foreign land. it is said, these melodies are prohibited in the swiss regiments attached to the french army, because it produces so many desertions. one of the "ranz des vaches" brings back to his imagination his alpine cottage--the green pasturage--the bleating of his mountain goats--the voices of the milkmaids, and all the sweetness and innocence of a pastoral life; till his heart turns with a sad yearning to the haunts of his childhood, and the spot of his early dreams and early happiness. the swiss retain their old fondness for rifle-shooting, and there is annually a grand rifle match at some of the large towns, made up of the best marksmen in all switzerland. there are also yearly contests in wrestling, called _zwing feste_, the most distinguished wrestlers at which are from unterwalden, appenzel, and berne. monsoons. these are periodical winds which blow over the indian ocean, between africa and hindustan for nearly six months from the north-east, and during an equal period from the south-west. the region of the monsoons lies a little to the north of the northern border of the trade-winds, and they blow with the greatest force and with most regularity between the eastern coast of africa and hindustan. when the sun is in the southern hemisphere a north-east wind, and when it is in the northern hemisphere, a south-west wind blows over this sea. the north-east monsoon blows from november to march. it extends one or two degrees south of the equator. it becomes regular near the coasts of africa sooner than in the middle of the sea, and near the equator sooner than in the vicinity of the coasts of arabia. this wind brings rain on the eastern coasts of africa. the south-west monsoon does not extend south of the equator, but usually begins a short distance north of it. it blows from the latter end of april to the middle of october. along the coast of africa, it appears at the end of march; but along the coast of malabar, not before the middle of april; it ceases, however, sooner in the former than in the latter region. the rainy season on the west coast of hindustan commences with the first approach of the south-west monsoon. the monsoons prevail also on the seas between australia and china. [illustration: [++] mpnsoons.] the effect of the struggle which precedes the change in the direction of the wind in this part of the world is thus described in "forbes's oriental memoirs." the author was encamped with the english troops: "the shades of evening approached as we reached the ground, and just as the encampment was completed, the atmosphere grew suddenly dark, the heat became oppressive, and an unusual stillness presaged the immediate setting-in of the monsoon. the whole appearance of external nature resembled those solemn preludes to earthquakes and hurricanes in the west indies, from which the east in general is providentially free. we were allowed very little time for conjecture. in a few minutes the heavy clouds burst over us. i had witnessed seventeen monsoons in india, but this surpassed them all in its awful appearance and dreadful effects. encamped in a low situation on the borders of a lake formed to collect the surrounding water, we found ourselves in a few hours in a liquid plain; tent-pins giving way in a loose soil--the tents fell down--and left the whole army exposed to the contending elements. it requires a lively imagination to conceive the situation of a hundred thousand human beings of every description, with more than two hundred thousand elephants, camels, horses, and oxen, suddenly overwhelmed by this dreadful storm in a strange country, without any knowledge of high or low ground, the whole being covered by an immense lake, and surrounded by thick darkness, which rendered it impossible for us to distinguish a single object except such as the vivid glare of the lightning occasionally displayed in horrible forms. no language can adequately describe the wreck of a large encampment thus instantaneously destroyed, and covered with water, amid the cries of old men and helpless women, terrified by the piercing shrieks of their expiring children, unable to afford them relief. during this dreadful night more than two hundred persons and three thousand cattle perished miserably, and the morning dawn exhibited a shocking spectacle!" unusual locality for saying prayers. francis atkins was porter at the palace gate, at salisbury, from the time of bishop burnet to the period of his death in , at the age of years. it was his office every night to wind up the clock, which he was capable of performing regularly till within a year of his decease, though on the summit of the palace. in ascending the lofty flight of stairs, he usually made a halt at a particular place and said his evening prayers. he lived a regular and temperate life, and took a great deal of exercise; he walked well, and carried his frame upright and well balanced to the last. billy in the salt box. political caricatures are generally well worth preserving, they familiarize us with the features and peculiarities of celebrated men, and they tell us what was the popular feeling of the day. we regret that in general they are too large for our pages, but now and then we meet with a small one which we are glad to present to our readers. [illustration: [++] billy in the salt box.] mr. pitt's budget of was not allowed to pass without severe remarks, and a heavily increased duty on salt excited general dissatisfaction. people said that the grand contriver of taxes had visited every corner of the house above stairs, and that he had now descended into the kitchen; and the annexed caricature, by gilray, which was published at this period, represents the premier alarming the poor cook by popping his head out of the salt-box, with the unexpected salutation--"how do you do, cookey?" the person thus apostrophised cries out in consternation, "curse the fellow, how he has frightened me!--i think, on my heart, he is getting in everywhere!--who the deuce would have thought of finding him in the salt-box?" dangerous feat. an extraordinary instance of the rash feats which men with cool heads and courageous hearts will sometimes perform, was witnessed at nottingham on january , .--the vane at the top of st. peter's spire, which was placed there in , and measured thirty-three inches in length, having become insecure, the parish officers agreed with mr. robert wooton, of kegworth, to take it down and reinstate it. this venturous man, henceforth known as "_the steeple climber_," commenced his undertaking by placing a ladder against the steeple, and securing it to the wall with tenters: he then mounted that with another on his shoulder, which he fastened above it in like manner; and so on till he reached the top. to prevent himself falling, he was girded round with belts, which he connected with the ladders by means of hooks. in this manner he replaced the vane and cock, and rebuilt four yards of the steeple. the celerity with which the man placed the ladders was remarkable. he began to affix the first at eleven in the morning, and brought the vane down in triumph by two in the afternoon. the bells were then set a-ringing, the congregation of people became very great, and wooton re-ascended the spire, to exhibit his daring. he extended himself on its summit, only thirteen inches in diameter, and spread out his arms and legs. he afterwards balanced himself on the uppermost stave of the top ladder, and for a quarter of an hour capered about in every imaginable posture, the admiring crowd beneath expecting momentarily to witness his descent in a manner much less agreeable than precipitate. subsequently, when his undertaking was accomplished, to excite admiration and obtain money, he again balanced himself on the apex of the spire, beat a drum, and drank a bottle of ale, in the sight of thousands of people, on a market-day; but the reprobation of the man's temerity so far preponderated over public approval, as in a considerable degree to diminish his expected reward. post-haste one hundred years ago. glasgow is now within one minute of london; in the last century it was scarcely within a fortnight of it. it is a positive fact that when the post arrived there a hundred years ago, the firing of a gun announced its coming in. the members of the clubs who heard it tumbled out of bed, and rushed down to the club-room, where a tankard of hot herb ale, or a beverage which was a mixture of rum and sugar, was ready for them before breakfast. how forcibly do these things bring before us the size of glasgow at that time, and the habits of its citizens. execution of admiral byng. the horrid details of the execution of criminals are wholly unfitted for our pages, but admiral byng was not a criminal; his life was sacrificed to party spirit and party interests, and an account of his murder--for such it really was--is therefore highly interesting, as it enables us to see the dauntless manner in which a brave man can meet a dreadful fate, which he knew to be wholly undeserved. the execution took place on board the "st. george," man-of-war in portsmouth harbour, on the th of march, . the admiral, accompanied by a clergyman who attended him during his confinement, and two gentlemen, his relations, walked out of the great cabin to the quarterdeck, where he suffered, on the larboard side, a few minutes before twelve o'clock. he was dressed in a light grey coat, white waistcoat, and white stockings, and a large white wig, and had in each hand a white handkerchief. he threw his hat on the deck, kneeled on a cushion, tied one handkerchief over his eyes, and dropped the other as a signal, on which a volley from six marines was fired, five of whose bullets went through him, and he was in an instant no more. the sixth went over his head. from his coming out of his cabin could not be two minutes till he fell motionless on his left side. he died with great resolution and composure, not showing the least sign of timidity. the _ramillies_, the ship the admiral had in the mediterranean, was riding at her moorings in the harbour, and about half an hour before he suffered, she broke her mooring chain, and only held by her bridle, which is looked on as a wonderful incident by people who do not consider the high wind at that time. extraordinary tree. [illustration: [++] banyan tree.] the samoan group of islands in the south sea lies between the latitudes of ° ' and ° ' s, and the longitudes of ° and ° w. in some of these islands there is a most remarkable tree which well deserves a place in our roll of extraordinary productions. it is a species of banyan (_ficus religiosa_), and is called by the natives ohwa. our sketch gives a good idea of some of these trees. the pendant branches of many of them take root in the ground to the number of thousands, forming stems from an inch to two feet in diameter, uniting in the main trunk more than eighty feet above the ground, and supporting a vast system of horizontal branches, spreading like an umbrella over the tops of the other trees. the plague in england. the register of ramsay, in huntingdonshire, mentions people who died there of the plague, in or about february , and that it was introduced into the place by a gentleman, who first caught the infection by wearing a coat, the cloth of which came from london: the tailor who made the coat, with all his family, died, as did no less than the number above mentioned. but the ravages made by the plague in _london_, about , are well known: it was brought over from holland, in some levant goods, about the close of the year : its progress was arrested, in a great degree, by a hard frost which set in in the winter; but as the spring of advanced, its virulence advanced. infected houses were shut up and red crosses painted on the doors, with this inscription, "lord have mercy upon us." persons going to market took the meat off the hooks themselves, for their _own_ security, and for the _butcher's_, dropped their money into pans of vinegar; for it was supposed that even their provisions were tainted with the infection. in the months of august and september the greatest mortality occurred; for the deaths of one week have been estimated at , ! it may be supposed, that no great accuracy existed in the registers, to afford a correct estimate; for, in the parish of stepney, it is said they lost, within the year, sextons, grave-diggers and their assistants; and, as the disorder advanced, the churchyards were incapable of holding more bodies, and large pits were therefore dug in several parts, to which the dead were brought by cartloads, collected by the ringing of a bell and the mournful cry of "bring out your dead." add to this, that these carts worked in the night, and no exact account was kept, as the clerks and sextons were averse to a duty exposing them to such dangerous consequences, and often carried off before such accounts as they had taken were delivered in. all the shops were shut up, grass grew in the most public streets, until about december , when the plague abated, and the citizens who had left their abodes for the country, crowded back again to their residences. the computation is, that this horrible disease carried off , persons in london: it is singular, that the only parish quite exempt from infection was st. john the evangelist, in watling street. landslip at colebrook, shropshire. a most remarkable circumstance happened there in the morning of the th of may, , about four o'clock. near , yards from the river severn stood a house, where a family dwelt; the man got up about three o'clock, heard a rumbling noise, and felt the ground shake under him, on which he called up his family. they perceived the ground begin to move, but knew not which way to run; however, they providentially and wonderfully escaped, by taking an immediate flight, for just as they got to an adjacent wood, the ground they had left separated from that on which they stood. they first observed a small crack in the ground about four or five inches wide, and a field that was sown with oats to heave up and roll about like waves of water; the trees moved as if blown with wind, but the air was calm and serene; the severn (in which at that time was a considerable flood) was agitated very much, and the current seemed to run upwards. they perceived a great crack run very quick up the ground from the river. immediately about thirty acres of land, with the hedges and trees standing (except a few that were overturned), moved with great force and swiftness towards the severn, attended with great and uncommon noise, compared to a large flock of sheep running swiftly. that part of the land next the river was a small wood, less than two acres, in which grew twenty large oaks; a few of them were thrown down, and as many more were undermined and overturned; some left leaning, the rest upright, as if never disturbed. the wood was pushed with such velocity into the channel of the severn (which at that time was remarkably deep), that it forced the waters up in columns a considerable height, like mighty fountains, and drove the bed of the river before it on the opposite shore, many feet above the surface of the water, where it lodged, as did one side of the wood; the current being instantly stopped, occasioned a great inundation above, and so sudden a fall below, that many fish were left on dry land, and several barges were heeled over, and when the stream came down were sunk, but none were damaged above. the river soon took its course over a large meadow that was opposite the small wood, and in three days wore a navigable channel through the meadow. a turnpike road was moved more than thirty yards from its former situation, and to all appearance rendered for ever impassable. a barn was carried about the same distance, and left as a heap of rubbish in a large chasm; the house received but little damage. a hedge that was joined to the garden was removed about fifty yards. a great part of the land was in confused heaps, full of cracks, from four inches to more than a yard wide. several very long and deep chasms were formed in the upper part of the land, from about fourteen to upwards of thirty yards wide, in which were many pyramids of earth standing, with the green turf remaining on the tops of some of them. hollows were raised into mounts, and mounts reduced into hollows. less than a quarter of an hour completed this dreadful scene. curious custom at strasbourg. at strasbourg they show a large french horn, whose history is as follows:--about years ago, the jews formed a conspiracy to betray the city, and with this identical horn they intended to give the enemy notice when to attack. the plot, however, was discovered; many of the jews were burnt alive, the rest were plundered of their money and effects, and banished the town; and this horn is sounded twice every night from the battlements of the steeple in gratitude for the deliverance. the jews deny the fact of this story, except the murdering and pillaging their countrymen. they say the whole story is fabricated to furnish a pretext for these robberies and murders, and assert that the steeple of strasbourg, as has been said of the monument of london,-- "like a tall bully lifts the head and lies." down among the dead men. the following is an extraordinary instance of the recklessness of sailors when in the pursuit of what they call pleasure. in the year , a mr. constable, of woolwich, passing through the churchyard there at midnight, heard people singing jovially. at first he thought they were in the church, but the doors were locked, and it was all silent there:--on looking about he found some drunken sailors who had got into a large family vault, and were regaling with bread, cheese, tobacco, and strong beer. they belonged to the robust, man of war, and having resolved to spend a jolly night on shore, had kept it up in a neighbouring alehouse till the landlord turned them out, and then they came here to finish their evening. they had opened some of the coffins in their dare-devil drunkenness and crammed the mouth of one of the bodies with bread, and cheese, and beer. constable, with much difficulty, prevailed on them to return to the ship. in their way one fell down in the mud, and was suffocated, as much from drunkenness as the real danger. the comrades took him on their shoulders, and carried him back to sleep in company with the honest gentlemen with whom he had passed the evening. chair brought over to america in the mayflower by the pilgrim fathers. [illustration: [++] john carver's chair.] how frequently do we obtain, from the ordinary articles of domestic life which they were accustomed to use, a correct idea of the habits and tastes of whole communities which have long since passed away. a striking instance of this is the chair, of which the above is a correct sketch. it belonged to john carver, who was one of the band of single-hearted men who constituted the pilgrim fathers, and who after first setting out from holland, eventually sailed from plymouth in england, in august, . they landed in cape cod harbour, new england, on the th of november following. carver, was one of the chief spirits of the band, and the chair which we have sketched was one of his best articles of furniture, which he took with him in the mayflower. he was elected the first governor of the community, and died in the year following his election. how forcibly does it show the simplicity of taste, and the freedom from pomp and vanity which characterised the devoted and fearless men who left their native shores, and sought "freedom to worship god" in a land to them unknown, that they should have selected as their first governor, an individual, the best chair in whose house was the homely article which we have here depicted. a harmless eccentric. [illustration: [++] jenny darney, a harmless eccentric.] the annexed cut represents a singular character who was well known about the year in the southern part of the county of cumberland. her appearance is thus described by a correspondent of the gentleman's magazine of that date:--"though i have seen her at various times, and frequently conversed with her, for these years, i have never been able to learn any particulars respecting her family, friends, or name. the country people know her by the appellation of jenny darney, from the manner, i presume, in which she used to mend her clothes. her present garb is entirely of her own manufacture. she collects the small parcels of wool which lie about the fields in sheep farms, spins it on a rock and spindle of her own making; and as she cannot find any other method of making the yarn into cloth, she knits it on wooden needles, and by that means procures a warm comfortable dress. in the lifetime of the late charles lutwidge, esq., of holm rook, she took possession of an old cottage, or rather cow-house, on his estate, in which she has ever since been suffered to continue. her intellects seem at certain times greatly deranged, but her actions are harmless, and her language inoffensive. on that score she is caressed by all the villagers, who supply her with eatables, &c., for money she utterly refuses. she seems a person in her lucid intervals, of much shrewdness, and her understanding is above the common level. this has also been improved by a tolerable education. her appearance has been much the same for these years, so that she must now be nearly years of age; but of this, as well as her family and name, she is always silent. she seems to have chosen out the spot where she now lives, to pass the remainder of her days unknown to her friends, and in a great measure from a distaste of a wicked world, to 'prepare herself,' as she often in her quiet hours says, 'for a better.'" the ruling passion. a remarkable instance of the irresistible strength of the ruling passion was to be seen a few years ago in a londoner, who had kept are retail spirit-shop, and retired into the adjoining county when he had made a fortune, to enjoy himself. this man used to amuse himself by having one puncheon filled with water, and measuring it off by pints into another. there was also another retired cit who used every day to angle in his round wash-hand-basin sized fish-pond for gold-fish. one fish he knew, because it had once lost its eye in being caught--and he used to say "confound that fellow, this is the fifth, sixth, &c., time that i have caught him this season." it used to provoke him. interesting report written by sir christopher wren. in the history of public buildings and monuments, it is always curious to note the original plans of those who designed them, and to mark the different proposals and suggestions which were taken into consideration. on this account our readers will no doubt be gratified by perusing the following report of sir christopher wren, on the ornament which it would, in his opinion, be most desirable to place on summit of the monument, on fish street-hill. the report was drawn up for the use of the committee of city lands:-- "in pursuance of an order of the comittee for city landes, i doe heerwith offer the several designes which some monthes since i showed his m{tie}. for his approbation; who was then pleased to thinke a large ball of metall, gilt, would be most agreeable, in regard it would give an ornament to the town at a very great distance; not that his m{tie}. disliked a statue; and if any proposall of this sort be more acceptable to the city, i shall most readily represent the same to his m{tie}. "i cannot but comend a large statue, as carrying much dignitie with it, and that w{ch} would be more valewable in the eyes of forreiners and strangers. it hath been proposed to cast such a one in brasse, of foot high for £ , . i hope (if it be allowed) wee may find those who will cast a figure for that mony of foot high, w{ch} will suit the greatnesse of the pillar, & is (as i take it) the largest at this day extant, and this would undoubtedly be the noblest finishing that can be found answerable to soe goodly a worke in all men's judgements. "a ball of copper, foot diameter, cast in severall peeces with the flames and gilt, may well be don with the iron worke and fixing for lb., and this will be most acceptable of any thing inferior to a statue, by reason of the good appearance at distance, and because one may goe up into it, & upon occasion use it for fireworkes. "a phoenix was at first thought of, & is the ornament in the wooden modell of the pilar w{ch} i caused to be made before it was begun; but upon second thoughtes i rejected it, because it will be costly, not easily understood at that highth, and worse understood at a distance, and lastly dangerous, by reason of the sayle, the spread winges will carry in the winds. "the belcony must be made of substantial well forged worke, there being noe need at that distance of filed worke, and i suppose (for i cannot exactly guesse the weight) it may be well performed and fixed according to a good designe for fourscore & ten poundes, including painting, all w{ch} is humbly submitted to your consideration. "july , . "chr. wren." change of sex. connected with the plumage of birds is an extraordinary problem which has baffled all research, and towards the solution of which not the slightest approach has been made. among certain of the gallinaceous birds, and it has been observed in no other family, the females occasionally assume the male plumage. among pheasants in a wild state, the hen thus metamorphosed, assumes with the livery a disposition to war with her own race, but in confinement she is spurned and buffeted by the rest. from what took place in a hen pheasant in the possession of a lady, a friend of the late sir joseph banks, it would seem probable that this change arises from some alteration in the temperament at a late period of the animal's life. this lady had paid particular attention to the breeding of pheasants. one of the hens, after having produced several broods, moulted, and the succeeding feathers were exactly those of a cock. this animal never afterwards laid an egg. the pea-hen, has sometimes been known to take the plumage of the cock bird. lady tynte had a favourite pea-hen, which at eight several times produced chicks. having moulted when about eleven years old, the lady and her family were astonished by her displaying the feathers peculiar to the other sex, and appearing like a pied peacock. in this process the tail, which was like that of the cock, first appeared. in the following year she moulted again, and produced similar feathers. in third year she did the same, and then had also spurs resembling those of the cock. the bird never bred after this change of her plumage. tilbury fort. the chief fame of tilbury rests on the formation of the camp here, in the reign of queen elizabeth, to defend london against the spanish invasion. although it is unnecessary to recount the well-known circumstances which led to the formation of the tilbury camp, it may not be out of place to give the famous speech of queen elizabeth on the occasion of her visit:-- "my loving people,--we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we trust ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of treachery; but assure you i do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. let tyrants fear. i have always so behaved myself that under god i have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects; and therefore i am come among you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all--to lay down for my god, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood even in the dust. i know that i have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but i have the heart of a king, and a king of england too; and i think foul scorn that parma or spain, or any prince of europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms to which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, i will myself take up arms--i myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your victories in the field." the most full description of elizabeth's reception at tilbury is printed in a sort of doggrel poem, headed, "elizabetha triumphans, briefly, truly, and effectually set forth, declared, and handled by james aske." the poem mentions, that when about , well-appointed men had arrived at tilbury, orders were sent to the various shires to cause the troops in each to remain until further notice; and so great was the desire to meet the enemy, that one thousand men of dorsetshire offered £ to be allowed to march to the camp at tilbury. the alarm of the spanish invasion was, however, not the last to threaten the londoners, and direct attention to tilbury. on the th of june, , ruyter, the dutch admiral, sailed out of the texel with fifty ships, and came to the mouth of the thames, from whence he detached vice-admiral van ghent, with seventeen of his lightest ships and some fire-ships. van ghent in the same month sailed up the medway, made himself master of the fort of sheerness, and, after burning a magazine of stores to the value of £ , , blew up the fortifications. this action alarmed the city of london; so that to prevent similar mischief, several ships were sunk, and a large chain put across the narrowest part of the medway. but by means of an easterly wind and a strong tide, the dutch ships broke through the chain, and sailed between the sunk vessels. they burnt three ships, and carried away with them the hull of the "royal charles," besides burning and damaging several others. after this they advanced as far as upnor castle, and burnt the "royal oak," the "loyal london," and the "great james." fearing that the whole dutch fleet would sail to london bridge, the citizens caused thirteen ships to be sunk at woolwich, and four at blackwall, and platforms furnished with artillery to defend them were raised in several places. the consternation was very great, and the complaints were no less so. it was openly said the king, out of avarice, had kept the money so generously given to him to continue the war, and left his ships and subjects exposed to the insults of the enemy. after this exploit, ruyter sailed to portsmouth, with a design to burn the ships in that harbour; but finding them secured, he sailed to the west, and took some ships in torbay. he then sailed eastward, beat the english force before harwich, and chased a squadron of nineteen men-of-war, commanded by sir edward spragg, who was obliged to retire into the thames. in a word, he kept the coasts of england in a continual alarm all july, till he received news of the conclusion of peace. [illustration: water-gate of tilbury fort.] this daring attack was no doubt the cause of tilbury fort being made to assume its present form. it is now a regular fortification, and may be justly looked upon as the key to the city of london. the plan of the building was laid out by sir martin beckman, chief engineer to charles ii., who also designed the works at sheerness. the foundation is laid upon piles driven down, two on end of each other, till they were assured they were below the channel of the river, and that the piles, which were pointed with iron, entered into the solid chalk rock. on the land side, the works are complete; the bastions are faced with brick. there is a double ditch, or moat, the innermost of which is feet broad, with a good counterscarp, and a covered way marked out with ravelins and tenailles. there are some small brick redoubts; the chief strength, however, of this part of the fort consists in being able to lay the whole level under water, and, by that means, make it impossible for an enemy to carry on approaches that way. on the river side is a very strong curtain, with the picturesque water-gate shown in our engraving in the middle. before this curtain is a platform, in the place of a counterscarp, on which are planted cannon of large size. these completely command the river, and would no doubt cripple the ships of an enemy attempting to pass in this direction. a few years ago there were placed on the platform cannon, carrying from to pounds each, besides smaller ones planted between them. the bastions and curtains are also planted with guns. the circular tower shown in the engraving was in existence in the time of queen elizabeth, and was called the block-house. ringing the changes. it is curious to note the number of changes which may be rung on different peals. the changes on seven bells are , ; on twelve , , , which it would take ninety-one years to ring at the rate of two strokes in a second. the changes on fourteen bells could not be rung through at the same rate in less than , years: and upon four-and-twenty, they would require more than , billions of years. disgraceful state of the london police in . that notorious burglar, jack sheppard, finished his disgraceful career at tyburn in the year , and we notice the event, not with the view of detailing the disgusting particulars of an execution, but because the outrages which were allowed to take place after the dreadful scene was over, exhibit in a striking light the miserable police regulations which existed at that period, and the manner in which the mob were allowed to have it nearly all their own way. the sheriff's officers, aware of the person they had to contend with, thought it prudent to secure his hands on the morning of execution. this innovation produced the most violent resistance on sheppard's part; and the operation was performed by force. they then proceeded to search him, and had reason to applaud their vigilance, for he had contrived to conceal a penknife in some part of his dress. the ceremony of his departure from our world passed without disorder; but, the instant the time expired for the suspension of the body, an undertaker, who had followed by his friends' desire with a hearse and attendants, would have conveyed it to st. sepulchre's churchyard for interment; but the mob, conceiving that surgeons had employed this unfortunate man, proceeded to demolish the vehicle, and attack the sable dependants, who escaped with difficulty. they then seized the body, and, in the brutal manner common to those wretches, beat it from each to the other till it was covered with bruises and dirt, and till they reached long-acre, where they deposited the miserable remains at a public-house called the barley-mow. after it had rested there a few hours the populace entered into an enquiry why they had contributed their assistance in bringing sheppard to long-acre; when they discovered they were duped by a bailiff, who was actually employed by the surgeons; and that they had taken the corpse from a person really intending to bury it. the elucidation of their error exasperated them almost to phrensy, and a riot immediately commenced, which threatened the most serious consequences, the inhabitants applied to the police, and several magistrates attending, they were immediately convinced the civil power was insufficient to resist the torrent of malice ready to burst forth in acts of violence. they therefore sent to the prince of wales and the savoy, requesting detachments of the guards; who arriving, the ringleaders were secured, the body was given to a person, a friend of sheppard, and the mob dispersed to attend it to the grave at st. martin's in the fields, where it was deposited in an elm coffin, at ten o'clock the same night, under a guard of soldiers, and with the ceremonies of the church. a triumph of energy. after the accession of tippoo saib to the throne of mysore in , the english made overtures for a termination of the war which had been commenced by his father; but flushed by the possession of a large army, a well-filled treasury, a passion for war, and an inordinate sense of his own importance, tippoo refused all terms of pacification, and left the english no alternative but to battle against him as they could. lord macartney, who was at that time the governor of madras, on becoming acquainted with the determination of tippoo, resolved to prosecute hostilities with the greatest vigour, and having placed col. fullerton at the head of his force, he provided him with an army, collected from various parts, of , good troops, and afforded that excellent officer all available assistance in carrying the war into tippoo's territory. fullerton laid his plans with considerable skill; he encouraged the natives to bring and sell provisions to him on his march, effectually checked devastation and plundering, scrupulously respected the religious opinions of the hindus, consolidated and improved the mode of march, and availed himself of the subtle cunning and nimble feet of the natives to establish a remarkably complete courier-system, whereby he could receive and communicate intelligence with a rapidity never before attained by any european officer in india. he had to choose between two systems of strategy--either to march through the mysore territory, and frustrate tippoo in his siege of mangalore; or boldly to attack seringapatam, in order to compel tippoo to leave mangalore as a means of defending his own capital. the colonel decided on the adoption of the latter course, as promising more fruitful results. being at daraporam, miles south of seringapatam, fullerton resolved to divert the route, and take a circuit nearer the western coast, where the capture of the strong fort of palagatcherry would afford him a valuable intermediate depôt, commanding one of the chief roads from the malabar to the coromandel coasts. on the th of october he started. after capturing a few small forts, he ascended to high ground, where dense forests, deep ravines, and tortuous water courses embarrassed every yard of his progress: to fill up the ravines before he could drag his artillery over them, to throw trees across them where the depth was too great for filling up, to clear gaps through forests with the axe, to contend against tremendous rains--were only part of the difficulties he had to meet; but he met them like a skilful commander, reached palagatcherry on the th of november, and captured the fort on the th, obtaining with it a welcome supply of money, grain, guns, powder, shot, and military stores. when the difficulties which colonel fullerton had to encounter, and the triumphant manner in which he overcame them, are taken into consideration, it will be readily admitted, we think, that his enterprise is well deserving of being recorded as a striking example of what may be accomplished by a union of professional skill and invincible energy. our engraving represents one of the devices which colonel fullerton employed for the purpose of enabling his forces to pass over a mountain torrent. [illustration: [++] bridge over mountain torrent.] storming of the bastille at paris. [illustration: [++] the bastille.] the great revolution in france, at the close of the last century, was full of wonderful events, many of which might be appropriately recorded in our pages. one of the most striking among them was the storming and capture of the bastille, a vast state-prison which was begun to be built in by charles v., and finished by his successor in . the demolition of this fortress was the first triumph of the armed populace of paris, and it rendered the progress of the revolution irresistible. as the day closed in on the evening of monday, the th of july, , a reckless multitude of rioters, after seizing , muskets and several pieces of artillery at the hotel des invalides, rushed in wild excitement to the bastille, rendered hateful to the people by the political imprisonment of many hapless men in past times, although less frequently applied to similar purposes under the milder rule of louis xvi. an armed mob of at least , men, aided by troops who joined them in whole regiments at a time, had not long to contend against the old fortress. the governor, de launay, made such a defence as a brave officer might at such a juncture; but his few troops were bewildered and wavering; he received orders from the hotel de ville which he knew not whether to obey or resist, but no instructions from the court or the ministers; and the military aid to the mob became stronger than any force he could bring to bear against them. the chains of three drawbridges were broken by hatchets; straw, wood, oil, and turpentine were brought and kindled, to burn down the gates; and after many volleys from the mob had been answered by a few from the fortress, de launay, seeing no hope of succour, resolved to blow up the place rather than yield. in this he was prevented by the swiss guards, who formed a part of the small garrison, and who, after a parley with the insurgents, opened the gates, and surrendered. the bastille was taken. the ruffians, heeding nothing but their own furious passions, disregarded the honourable rules of capitulation; they beheaded de launay in a clumsy and barbarous manner, and putting his head on a spike, carried it through the streets shouting, laughing, and singing; they were prevented only by an accidental interruption from burning alive a young lady whom they found in one of the court-yards; they hung or maltreated many of the swiss and invalid soldiers; and they fearfully hacked the bodies of three or four officers in the endeavour to decapitate them. the prisoners within, only seven in number, were liberated, and treated with a drunken revel; while the châtelet and other prisons became scenes of renewed disorders. the sketch which we give above, of the attack on the bastille, is taken from a medallion by andrieu. duration of life among artists. in gould's dictionary of artists, published in , the names, with the ages, of , persons are given; which furnish the following remarkable facts as to the longevity of this class of men. died under years old, ; years and under , ; years and under , ; years and under , ; years and under , ; above , . the mean age at death of the whole number being years; from which it would appear that the pursuit of the fine arts has a tranquilizing effect upon the spirits, and a tendency to moral refinement in the habits and manners of its professors extremely favourable to the prolongation of life. change in the value of land. at brighton, within the present century, a spot of ground was offered to a hair-dresser in fee, upon condition of shaving the possessor for life. the terms were declined, and the land soon became of immense value. unaccountable antipathies. the following are a few of the more striking manifestations of that unaccountable feeling of antipathy to certain objects, to which so many persons are subject, and with instances of which--in a modified form perhaps--most people are acquainted with:-- erasmus, though a native of rotterdam, had such an aversion to fish, that the smell of it threw him into a fever. ambrose paré mentions a gentleman, who never could see an eel without fainting. there is an account of another gentleman, who would fall into convulsions at the sight of a carp. a lady, a native of france, always fainted on seeing boiled lobsters. other persons from the same country experienced the same inconvenience from the smell of roses, though they were particularly partial to the odour of jonquils or tuberoses. joseph scaliger and peter abono never could drink milk. cardan was particularly disgusted at the sight of eggs. uladislaus, king of poland, could not bear to see apples. if an apple was shown to chesne, secretary to francis i., he bled at the nose. a gentleman, in the court of the emperor ferdinand, would bleed at the nose on hearing the mewing of a cat, however great the distance might be from him. henry iii. of france could never sit in a room with a cat. the duke of schomberg had the same aversion. m. de lancre gives an account of a very sensible man, who was so terrified at seeing a hedgehog, that for two years he imagined his bowels were gnawed by such an animal. the same author was intimate with a very brave officer, who was so terrified at the sight of a mouse, that he never dared to look at one unless he had his sword in his hand. m. vangheim, a great huntsman in hanover, would faint, or, if he had sufficient time, would run away at the sight of a roasted pig. john rol, a gentleman in alcantara, would swoon on hearing the word _lana_, wool, pronounced, although his cloak was woollen. the philosophical boyle could not conquer a strong aversion to the sound of water running through a pipe. la mothe le vayer could not endure the sound of musical instruments, though he experienced a lively pleasure whenever it thundered. the author of the turkish spy tells us that he would rather encounter a lion in the deserts of arabia, provided he had but a sword in his hand, than feel a spider crawling on him in the dark. he observes, that there is no reason to be given for these secret dislikes. he humorously attributes them to the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul; and as regarded himself, he supposed he had been a fly, before he came into his body, and that having been frequently persecuted with spiders, he still retained the dread of his old enemy. london resorts a hundred years ago. in addition to the regular theatres, there were many places of amusement, such as the vauxhall and ranelagh gardens, the site of the latter being now occupied by the houses that hem in chelsea college; the rotunda, famous for its music, its gardens, and its piece of water; bell-size house and gardens on the hampstead road, where tea, coffee, and other refreshments could be had, together with music, from seven in the morning,--with the advantage of having the road to london patrolled during the season by twelve "lusty fellows," and of being able to ride to hampstead by coach for sixpence a-head; perrot's inimitable grotto, which could be seen by calling for a pot of beer; jenny's whim, at the end of chelsea bridge, where "the royal diversion of duck-hunting" could be enjoyed, "together with a decanter of _dorchester_" for sixpence; cuper's gardens, in lambeth, nearly opposite somerset house, through which the waterloo road was ruthlessly driven; the marble hall, at vauxhall, where an excellent breakfast was offered for one shilling; sadler's wells, celebrated both for its aquatic and its wire-dancing attractions; the floating coffee-house, on the river thames, the folly house at blackwall, marybone gardens, the white conduit house, and a multitude of others, to enumerate which would be tedious and unprofitable. on sunday, we are told, the "snobocracy," amused themselves by thrusting their heads into the pillory at georgia, by being sworn at highgate, or rolling down flamstead hill in greenwich park. some regaled their wives and families with buns at chelsea and paddington; others indulged in copious draughts of cyder at the castle in the pleasant village of islington; while the undomestic cit, in claret-coloured coat and white satin vest, sipped his beer and smoked his pipe at mile end, or at the "adam and eve" in pancras, or "mother red cap's" at camden. queen elizabeth's state coach. [illustration: [++] queen elizabeth's state coach.] the accompanying engraving is taken from a very old print representing the state procession of queen elizabeth on her way to open parliament on nd april, . this was the first occasion on which a state coach had ever been used by a sovereign of england, and it was the only vehicle in the procession; the lord keeper, and the lords spiritual and temporal, all attending on horseback. it was drawn by two palfreys, which were decked with trappings of crimson velvet; and, according to an old authority, the name of the driver was william boonen, a dutchman, who thus became the first state coachman. the origin of eating goose on michaelmas day. queen elizabeth, on her way to tilbury fort on the th of september, , dined at the ancient seat of sir neville umfreville, near that place; and as british bess had much rather dine off a high-seasoned and substantial dish than a simple fricassee or ragout, the knight thought proper to provide a brace of fine geese, to suit the palate of his royal guest. after the queen had dined heartily, she asked for a half-pint bumper of burgundy, and drank "destruction to the spanish armada." she had but that moment returned the glass to the knight who had done the honours of the table, when the news came (as if the queen had been possessed with the spirit of prophecy) that the spanish fleet had been destroyed by a storm. she immediately took another bumper, in order to digest the goose and good news; and was so much pleased with the event, that she every year after, on that day, had the above excellent dish served up. the court made it a custom, and the people the same, ever since. pre-adamite bone caverns. among the wonders of the world, the bone caves of the pre-adamite period deserve a prominent place. it is to this period that the extensive remains of mammiferæ found in the strata of the pampas of buenos ayres, and in the caverns which are scattered in such vast numbers over the continents of europe and america, and even in australia, are to be ascribed. we regret that we can find room for a description of only one of these caverns, but it is a most extensive one, and among the first which attracted attention. it is situated at baylenreuth, in franconia, and the engraving which we here give represents a section of it. [illustration: [++] pre-adamite bone cavern.] the entrance of this cave, about seven feet in height, is placed on the face of a perpendicular rock, and leads to a series of chambers from fifteen to twenty feet in height, and several hundred feet in extent, in a deep chasm. the cavern is perfectly dark, and the icicles and pillars of stalactite reflected by the torches present a highly picturesque effect. the floor is literally paved with bones and fossil teeth, and the pillars and corbels of stalactite also contain osseous remains. cuvier showed that three-fourths of the remains in this and like caverns were those of bears, the remainder consisting of bones of hyenas, tigers, wolves, foxes, gluttons, weasels, and other carnivora. how distant ages are connected by individuals. mr. robert chambers, in a curious and interesting chapter in the "edinburgh journal," entitled "distant ages connected by individuals," states, in , "there is living, in the vicinity of aberdeen, a gentleman who can boast personal acquaintance with an individual who had seen and conversed with another who actually had been present at the battle of flodden field!" marvellous as this may appear, it is not the less true. the gentleman to whom allusion is made was personally acquainted with the celebrated peter garden, of auchterless, who died in , at the reputed age of , although there is reason to believe that he was several years older. peter, in his young days, was servant to garden, of troup, whom he accompanied on a journey through the north of england, where he saw and conversed with the famous henry jenkins, who died , at the age of . jenkins was born in , and was of course twelve years old at the period of the battle of flodden field; and, on that memorable occasion, bore arrows to an english nobleman whom he served in the capacity of page. "when we think of such things," adds mr. chambers, "the ordinary laws of nature seem to have undergone some partial relaxation; and the dust of ancient times almost becomes living flesh before our eyes." the earthquake at lisbon. on the st of november, , a few minutes before a.m. the inhabitants of lisbon were alarmed by several violent vibrations of the ground which then rose and fell several times with such force that hundreds of houses came toppling into the streets, crushing thousands of people. at the same time the air grew pitchy dark from the clouds of dust that rose from the crumbling edifices. many persons ran down to the river side, in the hope of escaping to the shipping; but the water suddenly rose some yards perpendicularly, and swept away everything before it. the quay, with nearly human beings standing on it, all at once disappeared. large ships, which were lying high and dry, floated off, and were dashed against each other or carried down the river. in every direction the surface of the water was overspread with boats, timber, casks, household furniture and corpses. the scene on dry land was yet more horrifying. churches, government buildings, and private houses, were all involved in the same ruin. many thousands of trembling fugitives had collected in the great square, when it was discovered that flames were spreading in every quarter. taking advantage of the universal panic and confusion, a band of miscreants had fired the city. nothing could be done to stay the progress of the flames, and for eight days they raged unchecked. whatever the earthquake had spared fell a prey to this new calamity. "it is not to be expressed by human tongue," writes an eye-witness, "how dreadful and how awful it was to enter the city after the fire was abated; and looking upwards, one was struck with horror in beholding dead bodies, by six or seven in a heap, crushed to death, half buried and half burnt; and if one went through the broad places or squares, nothing was to be met with but people bewailing their misfortunes, wringing their hands, and crying, 'the world is at an end.' if you go out of the city, you behold nothing but barracks, or tents made with canvass or ship's sails, where the poor inhabitants lye." another eye-witness is still more graphic. "the terror of the people was beyond description: nobody wept,--it was beyond tears;--they ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment--beating their faces and breasts--crying '_misericordia_, the world's at an end;' mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with crucifixed images. unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people, were buried in one common ruin. * * * the prospect of the city was deplorable. as you passed along the streets you saw shops of goods with the shopkeepers buried with them, some alive crying out from under the ruins, others half buried, others with broken limbs, in vain begging for help; they were passed by crowds without the least notice or sense of humanity. the people lay that night in the fields, which equalled, if possible, the horrors of the day; the city all in flames; and if you happened to forget yourself with sleep, you were awakened by the tremblings of the earth and the howlings of the people. yet the moon shone, and the stars, with unusual brightness. long wished-for day at last appeared, and the sun rose with great splendour on the desolated city. in the morning, some of the boldest, whose houses were not burnt, ventured home for clothes, the want of which they had severely felt in the night, and a blanket was now become of more value than a suit of silk." strange cure for rheumatism. bridget behan, of castle-waller, in the county of wicklow, ireland, retained the use of all her powers of body and mind to the close of her long life, years, in . about six years preceding her death she fell down stairs, and broke one of her thighs. contrary to all expectation, she not only recovered from the effects of the accident, but actually, from thence, walked stronger on this leg, which, previously to the accident, had been a little failing, than she had done for many years before. another remarkable circumstance relating to this fracture was, that she became perfectly cured of a chronic rheumatism of long standing, and from which on particular occasions she had suffered a good deal of affliction. a short while before her death she cut a new tooth. silver tea service which belonged to william penn. [illustration: [++] silver tea service.] articles of ordinary use, however small may be their intrinsic value, which have once been the property of men who have been good and great--how rare the conjunction!--are always invested with a peculiar interest. they often afford a clue to the tastes of those who once possessed them. on this account we have great pleasure in laying before our readers a representation of the silver tea-service which belonged to the celebrated william penn, the founder and legislator of pennsylvania, whom montesquieu denominates the modern lycurgus. he was the son of admiral penn, was born at london in , and was educated at christchurch, oxford. at college he imbibed the principles of quakerism, and having endeavoured to disseminate them by preaching in public, he was thrice thrown into prison. it was during his first imprisonment that he wrote "_no cross, no crown_." in march, - , he obtained from charles ii. the grant of that territory which now bears the name of pennsylvania. in he embarked for his new colony; and in the following year he founded philadelphia. he returned to england in , and died in july, . he was a philosopher, a legislator, an author, the friend of man, and, above all, a pious christian. in addition to the reasons above given, the sketch of the tea-service is an object of curiosity, as showing the state of silversmith's work in england, at the close of the seventeenth century, for articles of domestic use. curious figures on a small shrine. [illustration: [++] soldiers watching the body of our lord.] the figures here given are copied from a curious little bronze, strongly gilt, which was engraved in the "gentleman's magazine" for , accompanied with a description, by a. j. kempe, esq., the author of the letterpress to "stothard's monumental effigies," whose intimate knowledge in these matters enables him to well authenticate dates; and he considers this relic may safely be attributed to the early part of the twelfth century; it was discovered in the temple church, and had originally formed a portion of a pyx, or small shrine, in which the consecrated host was kept. our engraving is more than half the size of the original, which represents the soldiers watching the body of our lord, who was, in mystical form, supposed to be enshrined in the pyx. they wear scull-caps of the phrygian form, with the nasal like those in the bayeux tapestry; and the mailles or rings of the hauberk appear, as in the armour there, sewn down, perhaps, on a sort of gambeson, but not interlaced. they bear kite-shaped shields, raised to an obtuse angle in the centre, and having large projecting bosses: the third of these figures is represented beside the cut in profile, which will enable the reader more clearly to detect its peculiarities. on two of these shields are some approaches to armorial bearings; the first is marked with four narrow bendlets; the second is fretted, the frets being repeated in front of his helmet, or _chapelle de fer_: all the helmets have the nasal. a long tunic, bordered, and in one instance ornamented with cross-lines, or chequered, appears beneath the tunic. the sword is very broad, and the spear carried by the first figure, obtuse in the head,--a mark of its antiquity. the shoes are admirable illustrations of that passage of geoffry of malmesbury, where, representing the luxury of costume in which the english indulged at the time when henry i. began his reign, he says: "then was there flowing hair, and extravagant dress; and then was invented the fashion of shoes with curved points: then the model for young men was to rival women in delicacy of person, to mimic their gait, to walk with loose gesture, half-naked." the curvature of the points of the shoes in the little relic before us, in conformity with the custom censured by malmesbury, is quite remarkable. one turns up, another down; one to the left, another to the right; and scarcely any two in the same direction. the queen's sharks. the harbour of trincomalee swarms with gigantic sharks, and strange to relate, they are all under british protection; and if any one is found molesting or injuring them, the fine is £ , or an imprisonment! how this ridiculous custom originated, it is hard to say; but we are told, that in the early days of british conquest in the east, sailors were apt to desert, and seek refuge in the then inaccessible wilds of the interior; and of later years, when civilisation has unbarred the gates of cingalese commerce to all nations of the world, the soldiers of the regiment stationed at trincomalee, discontented with their lot in life, were wont to escape from the thraldom of the service, by swimming off to american and other foreign vessels, preferring chance, under a strange flag, to a hard certainty under their own. thus the queen's sharks are duly protected as a sort of water-police for the prevention of desertion both from the army and navy. old verses on queen elizabeth. the following quaint and curious verses are taken from a very old volume, entitled _a crowne garland of goulden roses, gathered out of england's royall garden, &c., &c. by richard johnson_. a short and sweet sonnet made by one of the maides of honor upon the deathe of queene elizabeth, which she sowed upon a sampler in red silke. _to a new tune, or "phillida flouts me."_ gone is elizabeth, whom we have lov'd so deare; she our kind mistres was full foure and forty yeare. england she govern'd well, not to be blamed; flanders she govern'd well and ireland tamed. france she befrended, spaine she hath foiled, papists rejected, and the pope spoyled. to princes powerfull, to the world vertuous, to her foes mercifull, to her subjects gracious. her soule is in heaven, the world keeps her glory, subjects her good deeds, and so ends my story. ranelagh. ranelagh, of which no traces now remain, was situated on part of chelsea hospital garden, between church row and the river, to the east of the hospital. it takes its name from a house erected in , by viscount ranelagh. this house, in which the viscount had resided from the period of its being built, was sold in to an eminent builder named timbrell for £ , , who advertised it for sale in the following year, as a freehold with garden, kitchen garden, and offices, and a smaller house and garden with fruit trees, coach-houses, &c., &c. these were the first vicissitudes of ranelagh, preparatory to its conversion into a place of public amusement. walpole, in one of his entertaining letters to mann, april nd, , thus speaks of the gardens, which were then unfinished:-- "i have been breakfasting this morning at ranelagh garden; they have built an immense ampitheatre, with balconies full of little alehouses; it is in rivalry to vauxhall, and cost above twelve thousand pounds. the building is not finished, but they got great sums by people going to see it and breakfasting in the house: there were yesterday no less than three hundred and eighty persons, at eighteen-pence a piece." again, under the date may th, , he writes to his friend as follows:-- "two nights ago, ranelagh gardens were opened at chelsea; the prince, princess, duke, much nobility, and much mob besides were there. there is a vast ampitheatre, finely gilt, painted, and illuminated; into which everybody that loves eating, drinking, staring, or crowding, is admitted for twelve pence. the building and disposition of the gardens cost sixteen thousand pounds. twice a week there are to be ridottos at guinea tickets, for which you are to have a supper and music. i was there last night, but did not find the joy of it. vauxhall is a little better, for the garden is pleasanter, and one goes by water." "the only defect in the elegance and beauty of the ampitheatre at ranelagh," says the _london chronicle_ for august, , "is an improper and inconvenient orchestra, which, breaking into the area of that superb room about twenty feet farther than it ought to do, destroys the symmetry of the whole, and diffuses the sound of music with such irregular rapidity, that the harmonious articulations escape the nicest ear when placed in the most commodious attitude; it also hurts the eye upon your first entry. "to remedy these defects, a plan has been drawn by messrs. wale and gwin, for adding a new orchestra, which being furnished with a well-proportioned curvature over it, will contract into narrower bounds the modulations of the voice, and render every note more distinctly audible. it will, by its form, operate upon the musical sounds, in the same manner as concave glasses affect the rays of light, by collecting them into a focus. the front of this orchestra being planned so as to range parallel to the balustrade, the whole area also will be disencumbered of every obstruction that might incommode the audience in their circular walk. there is likewise provision made in this plan for a stage capable of containing or performers, to officiate as chorus-singers, or otherwise assist in giving additional solemnity on any extraordinary occasion." "at ranelagh house, on the th of may, ," says the _gentleman's magazine_, "were performed (in the new orchestra) the much admired catches and glees, selected from the curious collection of the catch club; being the first of the kind publickly exhibited in this or any other kingdom. the entertainments consisted of the favourite catches and glees, composed by the most eminent masters of the last and present age, by a considerable number of the best vocal and instrumental performers. the choral and instrumental parts were added, to give the the catches and glees their proper effect in so large an amphitheatre; being composed for that purpose by dr. arne." the rotunda, or amphitheatre, was feet in diameter, with an orchestra in the centre, and tiers of boxes all round. the chief amusement was promenading (as it was called) round and round the circular area below, and taking refreshments in the boxes while the orchestra and vocalists executed different pieces of music. it was a kind of 'vauxhall under cover,' warmed with coal fires. the rotunda is said to have been projected by lacy, the patentee of drury lane theatre. "the _coup d'oeil_," dr. johnson declared, "was the finest thing he had ever seen." the last great event in the history of ranelagh was the installation ball of the knights of the bath, in , shortly after which the place was pulled down. the first east india house. [illustration: [++] the first east india house.] the tradition is, that the east india company, incorporated december st, , first transacted their business in the great room of the nag's head inn, opposite st. botolph's church, bishopsgate street. the maps of london, soon after the great fire of , place the india house on a part of its present site in leadenhall street. here originally stood the mansion of alderman kerton, built in the reign of edward vi., rebuilt on the accession of elizabeth, and enlarged by its next purchaser, sir w. craven, lord mayor in . here was born the great lord craven, who, in , leased his house and a tenement in lime street to the company at £ a year. a scarce dutch etching, in the british museum, of which the annexed engraving is a correct copy, shows this house to have been half timbered, its lofty gable surmounted with two dolphins and a figure of a mariner, or, as some say, of the first governor; beneath are mecrhant ships at sea, the royal arms, and those of the company. this grotesque structure was taken down in , and upon its site was erected the old east india house, portions of which yet remain; although the present stone front, feet long, and a great part of the house, were built in and , and subsequently enlarged by cockerell, r.a., and wilkins, r.a. advertisements in the last century. the following strange advertisements have been culled at random from magazines and newspapers _circa_ . they give us a good idea of the manners and tastes of that period:-- "whereas a tall young gentleman above the common size, dress'd in a yellow-grounded flowered velvet (supposed to be a foreigner), with a solitair round his neck and a glass in his hand, was narrowly observed and much approved of by a certain young lady at the last ridotto. this is to acquaint the said young gentleman, if his heart is entirely disengaged, that if he will apply to a. b. at garaway's coffee house in exchange alley, he may be directed to have an interview with the said young lady, which may prove greatly to his advantage. strict secresy on the gentleman's side will be depended on." "a lady who had on a pink-coloured capuchin, edged with ermine, a black patch near her right eye, sat in a front seat in the next side box but one to the stage on wednesday night at drury lane playhouse; if that lady is single and willing to treat on terms of honour and generosity of a married state, it would be deemed a favour to receive a line directed to c. d., at clifford's inn old coffee house, how she may be address'd, being a serious affair." "to be seen this week, in a large commodious room at the george inn, in fenchurch-street, near aldgate, the porcupine man and his son, which has given such great satisfaction to all that ever saw them: their solid quills being not to be numbered nor credited till seen; but give universal satisfaction to all that ever saw them; the youth being allowed by all to be of a beautiful and fine complexion, and great numbers resort daily to see them." "a bullfinch, that pipes 'britons rouse up your great magnanimity,' at command, also talks, is to be sold at the cane shop facing new broad street, moorfields; likewise to be sold, two starlings that whistle and talk extremely plain. "great variety of fine long walking canes." theodora de verdion. this singular woman was born in , at leipsic, in germany, and died at her lodgings, in upper charles-street, hatton garden, london, . she was the only daughter of an architect of the name of grahn, who erected several edifices in the city of berlin, particularly the church of st. peter's. she wrote an excellent hand, and had learned the mathematics, the french, italian, and english languages, and possessed a complete knowledge of her native tongue. upon her arrival in england she commenced teaching of the german language, under the name of dr. john de verdion. in her exterior, she was extremely grotesque, wearing a bag wig, a large cocked hat, three or four folio books under one arm, and an umbrella under the other, her pockets completely filled with small volumes, and a stick in her right hand. she had a good knowledge of english books; many persons entertained her for her advice relative to purchasing them. she obtained a comfortable subsistence from teaching and translating foreign languages, and by selling books chiefly in foreign literature. she taught the duke of portland the german language, and was always welcomed to his house, the prussian ambassador to our court received from her a knowledge of the english language; and several distinguished noblemen she frequently visited to instruct them in the french tongue; she also taught edward gibbon, the celebrated roman historian, the german language, previous to his visiting that country. this extraordinary female has never been known to have appeared in any other but the male dress, since her arrival in england, where she remained upwards of thirty years; and upon occasions she would attend court, decked in very superb attire; and was well remembered about the streets of london; and particularly frequent in attending book auctions, and would buy to a large amount, sometimes a coachload. here her singular figure generally made her the jest of the company. her general purchase at these sales was odd volumes, which she used to carry to other booksellers, and endeavour to sell, or exchange for other books. she was also a considerable collector of medals and foreign coins of gold and silver; but none of these were found after her decease. she frequented the furnival's inn coffee-house, in holborn, dining there almost every day; she would have the first of every thing in season, and was as strenuous for a large quantity, as she was dainty in the quality of what she chose for her table. at times, it is well-known, she could dispense with three pounds of solid meat; and we are very sorry to say, she was much inclined to the dreadful sin of drunkenness. her death was occasioned by falling down stairs, and she was, after much affliction, at length compelled to make herself known to a german physician, who prescribed for her, when the disorder she had, turned to a dropsy, defied all cure, and finished the life of so remarkable a female. driving stags like cattle. buried at disley, cheshire, june nd, , mr. joseph watson, in the th year of his age. he was born at moseley common, in the parish of leigh, in the county of lancaster; and married his wife from etchells, near manchester, in the said county. they were an happy couple years. she died in the th year of her age. he was park-keeper to the late peter leigh, esq., of lime, and his father used to drive and show red deer to most of the nobility and gentry in that part of the kingdom, to the general satisfaction of all who ever saw them; for he could have driven and commanded them at his pleasure, as if they had been common horned-cattle. in the reign of queen anne, squire leigh was at macclesfield, in cheshire, in company with a number of gentlemen, amongst whom was sir roger mason, who was then one of the members for the said county; they being merry and free, squire leigh said his keeper should drive brace of stags to the forest of windsor, a present to the queen. sir roger opposed it with a wager of guineas, saying that neither his keeper, nor any other person, could drive brace of red deer from lime park to windsor forest on any account. so squire leigh accepted the wager from sir roger, and immediately sent a messenger to lime for his keeper, who directly came to his master, who told him he must immediately prepare himself to drive brace of stags to windsor forest, for a wager of guineas. he gave the squire, his master, this answer, that he would, at his command, drive him brace of stags to windsor forest, or to any part of the kingdom by his worship's direction, or he would lose his life and fortune. he undertook, and accomplished this most astonishing performance, which is not to be equalled in the annals of the most ancient history. he was a man of low stature, not bulky, of a fresh complexion, pleasant countenance, and he believed he had drank a gallon of malt liquor a day, one day with another, for above sixty years of his time. eccentric will. the following will, as an exhibition of strange eccentricity, is not inappropriate to our pages. mr. tuke, of wath, near rotherham, who died in , bequeathed one penny to every child that attended his funeral (there came from to ); s. to every poor woman in wath; s. d. to the ringers to ring one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike off while they were putting him into the grave. to seven of the oldest navigators, one guinea for puddling him up in his grave. to his natural daughter, £ s. per annum. to his old and faithful servant, joseph pitt, £ per annum. to an old woman who had for eleven years tucked him up in bed, £ s. only. forty dozen penny loaves to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o'clock on christmas day for ever. two handsome brass chandeliers for the church, and £ for a set of new chimes. extraordinary frost. as an instance of great rarity in england of the severity of a frost, it is worth notice, that in january, , the rain froze as it fell, and in london the umbrellas were so stiffened that they could not be closed. birds had their feathers frozen so that they could not fly, and many were picked up as they lay helpless on the ground. ancient snuff-boxes. these ancient snuff-boxes furnish proof of the love of our ancestors for the titillating powder. an admiring writer of the last century, reflecting on the curious and precious caskets in which snuff was then imprisoned, asks-- "what strange and wondrous virtue must there be, and secret charm, o snuff! concealed in thee, that bounteous nature and inventive art, bedecking thee thus all their powers exert." [illustration: [++] ancient snuff boxes.] but every age, since snuff was in use, appears to have cherished great regard for the beauty and costliness of its snuff boxes, and even at the present time, the snuff box is the recognised vehicle of the highest honour a corporation can bestow. those here represented are not so much boxes as bottles. they are richly and elaborately ornamented with sporting subjects, and no doubt once belonged to some famous personage. judging of their very antique form and figures, we are inclined to think they must have been in use earlier than it is generally supposed that snuff was introduced into this country. seeing the first and the last of two generations. frances barton, of horsley, derbyshire, died , aged . she followed the profession of a midwife during the long period of eighty years. her husband had been sexton of the parish seventy years; so that this aged pair frequently remarked, that _she_ had twice brought into the world, and _he_ had twice buried, the whole parish. her faculties, her memory in particular, were remarkably good, so that she was enabled well to remember the revolution in , and being present at a merry making on that glorious occasion. the earliest hackney-coach. [illustration: [++] the earliest hackney-coach.] the above is a correct representation of one of the earliest forms in which coaches for hire were first made. they were called hackney, not, as is erroneously supposed, from their being first used to carry the citizens of london to their villas in the suburb of hackney, but from the word "hack," which signifies to offer any article for sale or hire. hackney coaches were first established in , and the event is thus mentioned in one of _strafford's letters_, dated april in that year:-- "one captain bailey hath erected some four _hackney-coaches_, put his men in livery, and appointed them to stand, at the may-pole in the strand, giving them instructions at what rates to carry men into several parts of the town, where all day they may be had. other hackney-men seeing this way, they flock to the same place, and perform their journeys at the same rate. so that sometimes there is twenty of them together, which disperse up and down; that they and others are to be had everywhere, as watermen are to be had by the water-side. * * * everybody is much pleased with it." a unique library. a singular library existed in , at warsenstein, near cassel; the books composing it, or rather the substitutes for them, being made of wood, and every one of them is a specimen of some different tree. the back is formed of its bark, and the sides are constructed of polished pieces of the same stock. when put together, the whole forms a box; and inside of it are stored the fruit, seed, and leaves, together with the moss which grows on the trunk, and the insects which feed upon the tree; every volume corresponds in size, and the collection altogether has an excellent effect. dress forty years ago. caricature, even by its very exaggeration, often gives us a better idea of many things than the most exact sketches could do. this is more especially the case with respect to dress, a proof of which is here given by the three caricatures which we now lay before our readers. they are copied from plates published at the period to which they refer, and how completely do they convey to us a notion of the fashions of the day! [illustration: [++] caricature of dress.] with the peace of commenced a new era in english history; and within the few years immediately preceding and following it, english society went through a remarkably rapid change; a change, as far as we can see, of a decidedly favourable kind. the social condition of public sentiment and public morals, literature, and science, were all improved. as the violent internal agitation of the country during the regency increased the number of political caricatures and satirical writings, so the succession of fashions, varying in extravagance, which characterised the same period, produced a greater number of caricatures on dress and on fashionable manners than had been seen at any previous period. during the first twelve or fifteen years of the present century, the general character of the costume appears not to have undergone any great change. the two figures here given represent the mode in . a few years later the fashionable costume furnished an extraordinary contrast with that just represented. the waist was again shortened, as well as the frock and petticoat, and, instead of concealment, it seemed to be the aim of the ladies to exhibit to view as much of the body as possible. the fops of and received the name of dandies, the ladies that of dandizettes. the accompanying cut is from a rather broadly caricatured print of a dandizette of the year . it must be considered only as a type of the general character of the foppish costume of the period; for in no time was there ever such a variety of forms in the dresses of both sexes as at the period alluded to. we give with the same reservation, a figure of a dandy, from a caricature of the same year. the number of caricatures on the dandies and dandizettes, and on their fopperies and follies, during the years , , and , was perfectly astonishing. [illustration: dandizette.] [illustration: dandy.] fashionable disfigurement. [illustration: [++] patching of the face.] the extent to which people may be led to disfigure themselves by a blind compliance with the fashion of the day, was never more strikingly displayed than in the custom of dotting the face with black patches of different patterns. it might easily be supposed that the annexed sketch is a caricature, but such is not the case; it is a correct likeness of a lady of the time of charles the first, with her face in full dress. patching was much admired during the reign of that sovereign, and for several succeeding years. some authors think that the fashion came originally from arabia. no sooner was it brought to england and france, than it became an absolute _fureur_. in the former country, old and young, the maiden of sixteen and the grey-haired grandmama, covered their faces with these black spots, shaped like suns, moons, stars, hearts, crosses, and lozenges; and some even, as in the instance before us, carried the mode to the extravagant extent of shaping the patches to represent a carriage and horses. a remarkable old man. mr. ingleby, of battle abbey, sussex, died , aged . he had been for upwards of ninety-five years a domestic in the family of lady webster. the following narrative of this remarkable man is by a gentleman who visited him in the autumn of :-- "to my great surprise," he says, "i found mr. ingleby in a situation very far removed from the luxuries of life, or the place which might be deemed necessary for his years. he was in an antique outbuilding, near the castle gate, where his table was spread under an arched roof; nearly the whole of the building being filled with billet-wood, and scarcely affording room for the oaken bench on which this wonder of longevity was reclining by the fire. his dress was a full-bottomed wig, and a chocolate-coloured suit of clothes with yellow buttons. his air and demeanour was pensive and solemn; though there was nothing in his look which impressed the mind with the idea of a person more than fourscore years old, except a slight falling of the under jaw, which bespoke a more advanced age. we were introduced by a matron, who served as a sort of interpreter between us--mr. ingleby's deafness not permitting any regular conversation. when the nurse explained our errand, he replied, in a very distinct but hollow voice, 'i am much obliged to the gentlemen for the favour they do me; but i am not well, and unable to converse with them.' he then turned his face to the higher part of the bench on which he reclined, and was silent. in each of his withered hands he held a short, rude, beechen walking stick, about three feet high, by the help of which he was accustomed not only to walk about the extensive premises in which he passed the most part of his life, but also to take his little rambles about the town; and once (for, occasionally, the old gentleman was irascible,) he set out on a pedestrian excursion to hastings, _to inquire for another situation in service_, because his patroness desired him to be more attentive to personal neatness. it is but justice to the lady alluded to, to add, that the uncouth abode in which mr. ingleby dwelt was the only one in which he could be persuaded to reside, and which long familiarity had rendered dear to him. the choice appeared very extraordinary; but such persons, in their conduct, are seldom governed by the fixed and settled rules by which human life is ordinarily regulated." curious manuscript. a very curious manuscript was presented to the antiquarian society of yorkshire in . it contains sundry rules to be observed by the household of henry the th, and enjoins the following singular particulars:--"none of his highness's attendants to _steal_ any locks, or keys, tables, forms, cupboards, or other furniture, out of noblemen's, or gentlemen's, houses where he goes to visit. no herald, minstrel, falconer, or other, to bring to the court any boy or _rascal_; nor to keeps lads or rascals in court to do their business for them. master cooks not to employ such scullions as shall go about _naked, or lie all night on the ground_ before the kitchen fire. dinner to be at _ten_, and supper at _four_. the knight marshal to take care that all such unthrifty and common women as follow the court be banished. the proper officers are, between six and seven o'clock every morning, to make the fire in and _straw_ his highness's privy chamber. officers of his highness's privy chamber to keep secret every thing said or done, leaving hearkening or inquiring where the king is or goes, be it early or late, without grudging, mumbling, or talking of the king's past time, late or early going to bed, or any other matter. coal only allowed to the king's, queen's, and lady mary's chambers. the queen's maids of honour to have a chet loaf, a manchet, a _gallon of ale_, and a chine of beef, for their _breakfasts_. among the fishes for the table is a porpoise, and if it is too big for a _horse-load_, a further allowance is made for it to the purveyor." the manuscript ends with several proclamations. one is "to take up and punish strong and mighty beggars, rascals, and vagabonds, who hang about the court." wonderful escape. in , a barge was going along the new cut from paddington with casks of spirits and barrels of gunpowder. it is supposed that one of the crew bored a hole in a powder-barrel by mistake, meaning to steal spirits; the gimlet set fire to the powder, and eleven other barrels were driven to the distance of yards; but only the single barrel exploded. david hume on his own death. the letter which we here lay before our readers was addressed by david hume to the countess de boufflers, and is supposed to be the last that was ever written by that great historian, as he died only five days afterwards, august th. with what calmness did that illustrious philosopher contemplate the rapid approach of his own death! the letter was torn at the places where the words are printed in italics: "edinburgh, th of august, . "tho' i am certainly within a few weeks, dear madam, and perhaps within a few days, of my own death, i could not forbear being struck with the death of the prince of conti, so great a loss in every particular. my reflection carried me immediately to your situation in this melancholy incident. what a difference to you in your whole plan of life! pray, write me some particulars; but in such terms that you need not care, in _event_ of decease, into whose hands your letter may fall. "_my_ distemper is a diarrhoea, or disorder in my bowels, which has _been_ gradually undermining me these two years; but within these six months has been visibly hastening me to my end. i see death approach gradually without any anxiety or regret. i salute you with great affection and regard for the last time. "david hume." scriptural antiquities. [illustration: a. drum, or timbrel, of baked potter's clay.--aa. drum in use in the east.--b. harp.--c. lutes.--d. inscribed stone.--e. sandals.] the rude musical instruments here represented, have been collected by modern travellers, and are but little changed from the ancient forms. the drum or timbrel marked a, is made of thin baked clay, something in the shape of a bottle, with parchment stretched over the wider part. on being struck with the finger, this instrument makes a remarkably loud sound. these relics are lodged in the london scriptural museum, and are all ticketed with the texts they serve to illustrate. this arrangement is very judicious, and gives a great additional interest to the sacred objects while under inspection. [illustration: . distaff.-- . roman farthing.-- . stone money weights.-- . hand mill. . eastern wine and water bottles.] the distaff was the instrument which wrought the materials for the robes of the egyptian kings, and for the "little coat" which hannah made for samuel; by it, too, were wrought the cloths, and other fabrics used in solomon's temple. by reference to the above engraving, it will be seen that nothing can be more simple than this ancient instrument, which is a sort of wooden skewer, round which the flax is wrapped; it is then spun on the ground in the same manner as a boy's top, and the thread wrought off, and wound upon a reel shown in the foreground of the picture. "querns," or stone hand-mills of various sizes, similar to that represented in our engraving, have been repeatedly found in connection with roman, saxon, and other ancient remains in this country. they are still to be met with in constant use over the greater part of india, in africa, and also those districts of the east which are more particularly associated with holy writ. it may be worth while to mention that this description of mill is an improvement upon the method of simply crushing the corn laid on a flat stone with another held in the hand. the "quern" is a hard stone roughly rounded, and partly hollowed, into which another stone, which has a handle, is loosely fitted. the corn required to be ground is placed in the hollow receptacle, and the inner stone is moved rapidly round, and, in course of time, by immense labour, the wheat &c. is ground into flour. the scripture prophecies mention that of two women grinding at the mill, one shall be left, and the other taken--the two-handled mill will explain the meaning of this passage. chronological table of remarkable events. the following curious table is extracted _literatim_ from arthur hopton's _concordancie of years_, :-- .--a blazing star on palm sunday, nere the sun. .--the yard (measure) made by henry i. .--the moone seemed turned into bloud. .--men wore haire like women. .--paris in france, and london in englande, paued, and thatching in both left, because all luberick was spoiled thereby with fire. .--robin hood and little john lived. this yeare london obtained to be gouerned by sheriffes and maiors. .--by reason of a frost from january to march wheate was sold for a marke the quarter, which before was at pence. _anno regni_ . john. .--london bridge builded with stone; and this yeare the citizens of london had a grant to choose them a maior. .--the citizens of london had libertie to hunt a certain distance about the citie, and to passe toll-free through england. .--thunder lasted fifteen daies; beginning the morrow after st. martin's day. .--four sunnes appeared, beside the true sunne, of a red colour. .--the jews of norwich stole a boy and circumcised him, minding to have crucified him at easter. .--the king farmed queene-hiue for fifty pounds per annum, to the citizens. .--great tempests upon the sea, and fearful; and this year the king (henry iii.) granted, that wheretofore the citizens of london were to present the maior before the king, wheresoeuer he were, that now barons of the exchequer should serue. .--the jewes corrupting england with vsury, had first a badge giuen them to weare, that they might be knowne, and after were banished to the number of , persons. .--this yeare the king of france burned all his leporous and pocky people, as well men as women: for that he supposed they had poysoned the waters, which caused his leprosie. about this time, also, the jews had a purpose to poyson all the christians, by poysoning all their springs. .--men and beasts perished in diuers places with thunder and lightning, and fiends were seene speake unto men as they trauelled. .--the first bailiffes, in shrewsbury. .--the making of gunnes found; and rebels in kent and essex, who entred london, beheaded all lawyers, and burnt houses and all bookes of law. .--picked shooes, tyed to their knees with siluer chaines were vsed. and women with long gownes rode in side-saddles, like the queene, that brought side-saddles first to england; for before they rode astrid. .--pride exceeding in monstrous apparrell. .--guildhall in london begun. .--a decree for lantherne and candle-light in london. .--rain from the st of aprill to hollontide. .--st. john's college in cambridge being an ancient hostell, was conuerted to a college by the executors of the countesse of richmond and derby, and mother of henry vii., in this yeare, as her will was. .--the new service book in english. .--the first use of coaches in england. .--the cawsies about london taken down. .--britaines bursse builded. hix hall builded. aldgate builded new. sutton's hospitall founded. moore fields new railed and planted with trees. westminster palace paued. cock-fighting at schools. many years ago the scholars at our large schools had regular cock-fights, which would appear to have been an affair of the school, recognised by the masters, and the charges for which were defrayed by them, to be afterwards paid by the parents, just as some innocent excursions and festivities are managed now a days. the credit of the school was, without doubt, often involved in the proper issue of the fight. sir james mackintosh, when at school at fortrose in - , had this entry in his account, in which books were charged s. d.:-- to cocks'-fight dues for years, s. d. each, s. associated are three months' fees at the dancing-school, minuet, country-dances, and hornpipe, &c. cock-fighting up to the end of the last century was a very general amusement, and an occasion for gambling. it entered into the occupations of the old and young. travellers agreed with coachmen that they were to wait a night if there was a cock-fight in any town through which they passed. a battle between two cocks had five guineas staked upon it. fifty guineas, about the year , depended upon the main or odd battle. this made the decision of a "long main," at cock-fighting an important matter. the church bells at times announced the winning of a "long main." matches were sometimes so arranged as to last the week. when country gentlemen had sat long at table, and the conversation had turned upon the relative merits of their several birds, a cock-fight often resulted, as the birds in question were brought for the purpose into the dining-room. common travelling. [illustration: [++] common travelling dress.] we have here the common travelling dress in use at the commencement of the th century, _tempus_ henry i. and stephen. the original is intended for the saviour meeting the two disciples on the road to emmaus. the saviour wears an under tunic, and his mantle, fastened by a narrow band across the chest, is held up by the right hand. the figures of the disciples are, however, the most curious, the central one particularly so, as he would seem to wear a dress expressly invented for travelling: his large round hat, with its wide brim, seems to be the original of the pilgrim's hat so well known in later times, and which formed so distinguishing a mark in their costume. his short green tunic, well adapted for journeying, is protected by a capacious mantle of skin, provided with a "capa" or cowl, to draw over the head, and which was frequently used instead of a hat. he wears white breeches ornamented with red cross-stripes; they end at the ankle, where they are secured by a band or garter, the foot being covered by close shoes. his companion wears the common cap so frequently met with, and he has his face ornamented to profusion by moustaches and beard, each lock of which appears to be most carefully separated and arranged in the nicest order. he has an under-tunic of white, and an upper one of red, and a white mantle bordered with gold; he also wears the same kind of breeches, reaching to the ankle, but he has no shoes, which frequently appears to have been the case when persons were on a journey. fashionable dances of the last century. the style of dancing which was fashionable at the latter part of the last century, may be seen from the following advertisement from a dancing-master, which we have copied from a newspaper of the year :-- "at duke's long room, in paternoster row, grown gentlemen or ladies are taught a minuet, or the method of country dances, with the modern method of footing; and that in the genteelest, and most expeditious, and private manner. and for the greater expedition of such gentlemen, as chuse to dance in company, there's a complete set of gentlemen assembled every monday and wednesday evening for the said purpose. gentlemen or ladies may be waited on at their own houses by favouring me with a line directed as above. likewise to be had at my house, as above, a book of instructions for the figuring part of country dances, with the figure of the minuet annex'd thereon, drawn out in characters, and laid down in such a manner, that at once casting your eye on it, you see the figure directly form'd as it is to be done; so that a person, even that had never learnt, might, by the help of this book, soon make himself master of the figuring part. such as reside in the country, i doubt not, would find it of immediate service, as they have not always an opportunity of having recourse to a dancing master. price s. d. n. dukes, dancing master." preaching friars. [illustration: [++] preaching friar.] in the romance of "st. graal," executed in the fourteenth century, we have this representation of one of these preaching friars in his rude portable pulpit. from the contrast afforded by their mendicancy, and enthusiasm in teaching, to the pride and riches of the higher clergy, and their constant mixing with the people, they became excessively popular. the preacher in the cut has a crowded and attentive audience (though one lady seems inclined to nap); the costume of the entire body, who are all seated, after a primitive fashion, on the bare ground, is worthy of note, and may be received as a fair picture of the commonalty of england about the year . the eccentric lady lewson. mrs. jane lewson, widow, of no. , coldbath square, london, died , aged . mrs. lewson, from the very eccentric style of her dress, was almost universally recognised as _lady_ lewson. she was born in essex street, strand, in the year , during the reign of william and mary; and was married at an early age to a wealthy gentleman then living in the house in which she died. she became a widow at the early age of , having only one child, a daughter, living at the time. mrs. lewson being left by her husband in affluent circumstances, though she had many suitors, preferred to remain in a state of widowhood. when her daughter married, being left alone, she became very fond of retirement, and rarely went out or permitted the visits of any person. for the last thirty years of her life she had kept no servant, except one old female, who died in ; she was succeeded by the old woman's granddaughter, who was married about ; and she was followed in the situation by an old man, who attended the different houses in the square to go on errands, clean shoes, &c. mrs. lewson took this man into her house, and he acted as her steward, butler, cook, and housemaid; and with the exception of two old lap-dogs and a cat, he was her only companion. the house she occupied was elegantly furnished, but after the old style; the beds were kept constantly made, although they had not been slept in for about fifty years. her apartment was only occasionally swept out, but never washed; the windows were so encrusted with dirt that they hardly admitted a ray of light to pass through them. she had used to tell her acquaintances that if the rooms were wetted, it might be the occasion of her taking cold; and as to cleaning the windows, she observed that many accidents happened through that ridiculous practice; the glass might be broke, and the person wounded, when the expense of repairing the one, and curing the other, would both fall upon her. a large garden at the rear of the house was the only thing connected with her establishment to which she really paid attention. this was always kept in good order; and here, when the weather permitted, she enjoyed the air, or sometimes sat and read by way of pastime; or else chatted on times past with any of the few remaining acquaintances whose visits she permitted. she seldom visited any person except mr. jones, a grocer at the corner of the square, with whom she dealt. she was so partial to the fashions prevailing in her youthful days, that she never changed the manner of her dress from that worn by ladies in the reign of george the first. she always wore powder with a large _toupée_ made of horsehair on her head, nearly half a foot high, over which her front hair was turned up; a cap over it, which knotted under the chin, and three or four curls hanging down her neck. she generally wore silk gowns, the train long with a deep flounce all round, a very long narrow waist, very tightly laced up to her neck, round which was a ruff or frill. the sleeves of her gown, to which four or five large ruffles were attached, came below the elbow; a large straw bonnet, quite flat, high-heeled shoes, a full-made black silk cloak trimmed round with lace, and a gold-headed cane, completed her every-day costume for the last eighty years of her life, and in which habiliments she occasionally walked round the square, when she was uniformly spoken of by all spectators as _lady lewson_. she never practised ablutions of any kind, or hardly in any degree, because, as she alleged, those persons who washed themselves were always taking cold, or laying the foundation of some dreadful disorder. her method was to besmear her face and neck all over with hog's lard, because that was soft and lubricating; and then, because she required a little colour in her cheeks to set off her person to advantage, she had used to paint them with rose-pink. her manner of living was so methodical, that she would not take her tea out of any other than a favourite cup. she was equally particular with respect to her knives, forks, plates, &c. at breakfast she arranged, in a particular manner, the paraphernalia of her table: at dinner she always observed a particular rule as to the placing of the two or three empty chairs, by which the table was surrounded, but herself always sat in one favourite chair. she constantly enjoyed an excellent state of health; assisted at all times in regulating the affairs of her household; and never, until a little previous to her decease, had an hour's illness. she entertained the greatest aversion to medicine; and, what is remarkable, cut two new teeth at the age of , and was never troubled with the toothache. towards the close of her life her sight failed her. she lived in five reigns, and was believed to be the most faithful living chronicler of the age. a few days previous to her decease, an old lady who was her neighbour died suddenly, which had such an effect upon her that she frequently said her time was also come, and she should soon follow. she enjoyed the use of all her faculties till that period, when she became weak and took to her bed; but steadily refused all medical aid. her conduct to a few relations was extremely capricious; and she would never see any of them; and it was not until a few hours before her dissolution that any relaxation in her temper was manifested. she was interred in bunhill fields burying-ground. when fire engines were first made. the phoenix was the first fire-office established, in . there were used, in towns, squirts or syringes, for extinguishing fire, which did not exceed two or three feet in length. these yielded to the fire engine, with leathern pipes, which was patented in . water-tight, seamless hose was made in bethnal green in . about this date-- £ s. d. a fire engine and pipe for lyme cost a square pipe, feet long leather fire-buckets a fire engine was considered an appropriate present for an aspirant to a borough. at lewes, in , t. pelham, esq., gave one, and having been chosen representative in , he presented a second. extraordinary cataract. [illustration: [++] cataract in pulo penang.] in the island of pulo penang, in the straits of malacca, there is a cataract which is surpassed by very few in the four quarters of the earth. it is rarely visited, and, therefore, has been but seldom described; but those who have been fortunate enough to witness it all agree in the opinion that it forms one of the wonders of the world. the stream which supplies it is of considerable volume, and after traversing a long tract of comparatively level country, is suddenly precipitated almost without a break into a ravine nearly two hundred feet below the summit of the fall. the annexed engraving gives an excellent representation of the scene. the stream descends with a mighty roar, and rushes on with a lightning speed. if you take the trouble of bringing a small looking-glass in your pocket, and come here about an hour before noon, you will be able to produce some very beautiful artificial rainbows. but, whatever you do, never attempt to clamber to the top of the rocks; for though, doubtless, the scenery is very sublime up there, the pathway is slippery and dangerous in the extreme; and the guides can tell how two hapless youths, officers belonging to a regiment stationed here some twenty years ago, clambered up that hill, and how they shouted with triumph on reaching yon summit, and waved their handkerchiefs bravely; but they can also tell the gloomy and disastrous end of all this; how the wild screams echoed far and wide, as both slipped and fell headlong into the surging torrent, and the sun shone brightly upon the bright red uniforms as they were hurried over the precipice, and dashed from rock to rock; and, whilst yet the horror-stricken spectators gazed with speechless agony and terror, the bodies of the poor young men were borne away and hid by the blood-stained waters from human recovery. dances of the natives in new south wales. [illustration: [++] festival dance.] the manners and customs of the uncivilized are always legitimate objects of wonder and curiosity to the civilized. it is on this account that we give the above sketch of one of the festival dances of the natives of australia. these dances are not only the usual close of their combats, but are frequent in time of peace. they appear almost necessary to stir up their blood; and under the excitement they produce, the whole nature of the people seems to be changed. to a spectator the effect of one of these exhibitions almost equals that of a tragic melo-drama. a suitable place for the performance is selected in the neighbourhood of their huts. here a fire is built by the women and boys, while such of the men as are to take a share in the exhibition, usually about twenty in number, disappear to arrange their persons. when these preparations are completed, and the fire burns brightly, the performers are seen advancing in the guise of as many skeletons. this effect is produced by means of pipe clay, with which they paint broad white lines on their arms and legs, and on the head, while others of less breadth are drawn across the body, to correspond to the ribs. the music consists in beating time on their shields, and singing, and to it the movements of the dancers conform. it must not be supposed that this exhibition is a dance in our sense of the word. it consists of violent and odd movements of the arms, legs, and body, contortions and violent muscular actions, amounting almost to frenzy. the performers appear more like a child's pasteboard supple-jack than anything human in their movements. this action continues for a time, and then the skeletons, for so they appear to be, since they truly resemble them, suddenly seem to vanish and reappear. the disappearance is effected by merely turning round, for the figures are painted only in front, and their dusky forms are lost by mingling with the dark background. the trees, illuminated by the fire, are brought out with some of the figures in bold relief, while others were indistinct and ghost-like. all concurs to give an air of wildness to the strange scene. as the dance proceeds, the excitement increases, and those who a short time before appear only half alive, become full of animation, and finally are obliged to stop from exhaustion. a pudding as an advertisement. the following fact is interesting, inasmuch as it gives us an insight into the popular tastes of the period, and the power of mob-law:-- in , james austin, inventor of the persian ink powder, invited his customers to a feast. there was a pudding promised, which was to be boiled fourteen days, instead of seven hours, and for which he allowed a chaldron of coals. it weighed pounds. the copper for boiling it was erected at the red lion in southwark park, where crowds went to see it; and when boiled, it was to be conveyed to the swan tavern, fish street hill, to the tune of "what lumps of pudding my mother gave me." the place was changed to the restoration gardens in st. george's fields, in consequence of the numerous company expected, and the pudding set out in procession with banners, streamers, drums, &c., but the mob chased it on the way and carried all off. the desolation of eyam. the ancient custom of hanging a garland of white roses, made of writing paper, and a pair of white gloves over the pew of the unmarried villagers who die in the flower of their age, prevailed up to the year in the village of eyam, and in most other villages and little towns in the peak of derbyshire. in the year , the plague was conveyed to this unfortunate village, which for a time had been chiefly confined to london. the infection, it appears, was carried in a box of woollen clothes; the tailor, to whom they were directed was, together with his family, the immediate victims of this fatal importation; and a few days sufficed to confirm the fact, that the entire hamlet was deeply infected. a general panic ensued, the worthy and truly christian rector, the rev. william mompesson, at this eventful and awful crisis, summoned the parish, and after energetically stating the case, and declaring his decided intention of remaining at his post, induced his hearers to adopt the measures he was about to propose, if not for their own preservation, at least for the more important cause, the preservation of the surrounding country. eyam, from this moment, like a besieged city, was cut off from the living world, and to the zeal and fidelity of this ever-to-be-respected minister was confided the present, as well as eternal welfare of those who were about to prove to posterity, that devotion to their country, as well as to their god, was combined in the truly christian creed taught them by this reverend man. but alas! it was the will of the almighty that the ranks of this devoted flock should be rapidly thinned, though mr. and mrs. mompesson had been hitherto spared; but in august, the latter was carried off by the fatal disease, in the th year of her age; her monument may still be seen at no great distance from the chancel door. a number of grave-stones, bearing date , in the churchyard, show that for a time, at least, the dead had been deposited there in the usual manner. soon after the death of mrs. mompesson, the disorder began to abate, and in about two months might be said to have entirely ceased. the pious and amiable rector was graciously preserved. curious play bill. the following remarkable theatrical announcement is worth preservation, inasmuch as it forms a curious effusion of vanity and poverty, in the shape of an appeal to the taste and feelings of the inhabitants of a town in sussex:-- (_copy._) at the old theatre in east grinstead, on saturday, may th, , will be represented (by particular desire, and for the benefit of mrs. p.) the deep and affecting tragedy of theodosius, or the force of love, with magnificent scenes, dresses, &c. varanes, by mr. p., who will strive, as far as possible, to support the character of this fiery persian prince, in which he was so much admired and applauded at hastings, arundel, petworth, midworth, lewes, &c. theodosius, by a young gentleman from the university of oxford, who never appeared on any stage. athenais, by mrs. p. though her present condition will not permit her to wait on gentlemen and ladies out of the town with tickets, she hopes, as on former occasions, for their liberality and support. nothing in italy can exceed the altar, in the first scene of the play. nevertheless, should any of the nobility or gentry wish to see it ornamented with flowers, the bearer will bring away as many as they choose to favour him with. as the coronation of athenais, to be introduced in the fifth act, contains a number of personages, more than sufficient to fill all the dressing rooms, &c., it is hoped no gentlemen and ladies will be offended at being refused admission behind the scenes. n.b. the great yard dog, that made so much noise on thursday night, during the last act of king richard the third, will be sent to a neighbour's over the way; and on account of the prodigious demand for places, part of the stable will be laid into the boxes on one side, and the granary be open for the same purpose on the other. _vivat rex._ the ear of birds not to be deceived. the sense of hearing in birds is singularly acute, and their instinct leads them instantly to detect the slightest variation in the song of those of their own kind. the following is a laughable instance of this:-- a bird-catcher, wishing to increase his stock of bullfinches, took out his caged bird and his limed twigs, and placed them in such a situation of hedge and bush as he judged favourable to his success. it so happened that his own bird was one of education, such as is usually termed a piping bullfinch. in the first instance a few accidentally thrown out natural notes, or calls, had attracted three or four of his kindred feather, which had now taken their station not far distant from the cage. there they stood in doubt and curiosity, and presently moving inch by inch, and hop by hop towards him and the fatal twigs, they again became stationary and attentive. it was in this eager and suspended moment that the piping bullfinch set up the old country-dance of "nancy dawson." away flew every astounded bullfinch as fast as wings could move, in such alarm and confusion as bullfinches could feel and they only can venture to describe. flying coach. if the _exeter flying stage_ arrived from london at dorchester in two days, and at exeter at the end of the third day, about , the speed must have been considered surprising. those who made use of such a conveyance were doubtless looked upon as presumptuous, neck-or-nothing mortals. there was a "devizes chaise" from london at this time which took a route through reading, newbury, and marlborough. there is a good house at morcomb lake, east of charmouth, now no longer in the road, owing to this having been diverted. this was a road-side inn, where the judges slept. the fly coach from london to exeter _slept_ there the fifth night from town. the coach proceeded the next morning to axminster, where _it_ breakfasted, and there a woman barber _shaved the coach_. an aged spirit drinker. daniel bull m'carthy, of the county of kerry, ireland, died , aged . at the age of eighty-four he married a fifth wife, a girl little more than fourteen years of age, by whom he had twenty children--one every subsequent year of his life. it was remarked that he was scarcely ever seen to expectorate; nor did any extent of cold ever seem to affect him. for the last seventy years of his life, when in company, he drank plentifully of rum and brandy, which he always took neat; and, if in compliance with solicitations he took wine or punch, always drank an equal sized glass of rum or brandy, which he designated _a wedge_. the temperature of his body was generally so hot that he could bear but little clothing, either by day or night upon his person. giant tree. [illustration: [++] giant tree in pulo penang.] there are few trees in the world like the giant tree in the island of pulo penang, of which the annexed engraving is a correct representation. it is one of the various kinds of palm, and some idea may be formed of its height from the fact that it is twice as tall, and quite as straight, as the mainmast of a line-of-battle ship; there are no branches, no twigs anywhere to be seen, save just at the very summit, and here they bend over gracefully, something like what one would imagine a large-sized palm-tree to be if gazed at through lord rosse's telescope. it is a only specimen of its kind to be met with in the whole island. punishing false accusers. wisdom may sometimes be learned at a quarter sessions, and it would be advantageous if we occasionally took a hint from our ancestors. the magistrates at sessions in charles the first's reign could and did address themselves to questions arising between parties moving in humble life, very important to them, and who could now-a-day in vain seek redress in the same quarter. a modern bridget might continue to charge men with a breach of promise of marriage without legal measures being available against her. this was not so in . her case was considered, and her injurious conduct and mode of life were duly estimated, with what result we shall learn from the following entry in the minute book of a quarter sessions in devonshire of that date:--"forasmuch as it hath appeared unto this court that bridget howsley of langton, spinster, liveth idly and lewdly at home, not betaking herself to any honest course of life, and hath lately falsely and scandalously accused one [left blank in the original] of honiton, in devon, challenging a promise of marriage from him, which tended much to his disgrace, and that she is a continual brawler and sower of strife and debate between her neighbours, inhabitants of langton aforesaid, this court doth therefore think fit and order that the said bridget howsley be forthwith committed to the house of correction, there to be set on work and remain for the space of six whole months, and from thenceforth until she shall find very good sureties for her appearance at the next sessions, after the said six months shall be expired, or until she shall procure a master that will take her into service." a phase of the southcottian delusion. one of the most remarkable cases on record of combined knavery, credulity, and superstition, is the belief which so extensively prevailed about fifty years ago in the mission and doctrines of joanna southcott, and of which, strange to say, some traces remain even to the present day. is it not astonishing that so recently as the year , august rd, the following paragraph--which we believe gives a correct statement of the facts--should have appeared in the _courier_ newspaper? "joanna southcott has lately given out that she expects in a few weeks to become the mother of the true messiah. she is nearly seventy years of age. a cradle of most expensive and magnificent materials has been bespoken by a lady of fortune for the accouchement, and has been for some days exhibited at the warehouse of an eminent cabinet maker in aldersgate-street. hundreds of genteel persons of both sexes have been to see this cradle, in which her followers believe the true messiah is to be rocked. the following has been given us as a correct description: 'a child's crib, three feet six inches, by two feet, of satin wood, with brass trellis, side and foot board; turned feet, carved and gilt, on castors; a swing cot, inside caned, to swing on centre; at each end gilt mouldings, top and bottom for gold letters; a canopy cover, with blue silk; carved and gilt under it, a gold ball, and dove, and olive branch; green stars at each corner, gilt; blue silk furniture; an embroidered celestial crown, with hebrew characters, gold letters; a lambs'-wool mattress, with white fustian down bed, down pillow, and two superfine blankets.'" household expenses of king edward the first. edward the first kept three christmasses at rhuddlan castle, in flintshire; and it is a fact not generally known, that his queen eleanor, exclusively of the young prince edward, born at caernarvon, was delivered of a princess there in . this shows that his entire household must have been transferred into wales, at the time his policy was directed to complete the annexation of the principality of wales to that of england. in an ancient record in the tower of london, dated - , and translated by samuel lysons, esq., is a curious roll of edward's expenses when at rhuddlan. it consists of four sheets, containing the particulars, under proper heads, of the sums of money paid for the maintenance of his household. the sum of the expenses in this roll is £ , s., which sum, with the expenses of the other roll of the queen's household is £ , s. - / d. the roll is very curious, but too long to be inserted here. we append the following as a specimen of the various items it contains:-- paid on the day of the queen's churching in oblations to mass £ the queen's gift to divers minstrels attending her churching the queen's gift to a female spy a certain female spy, to purchase her a house as a spy for the brethren at the hospital at rhuddlan for a certain player as a gift for the celebration of mass for the soul of william de bajor for the messenger carrying letters to the king at london, to be sent to the court of rome, for his expenses paid sundry bailiffs at the castle for the carriage of casks of wine from the water to the castle for a cart bringing lances and cross bows from ruthlan to hope for the carriage of £ , from the king's wardrobe to the queen's wardrobe for turves, to place about the queen's stew pond in the castle carriage of figs and raisins to aberconway paid wages for , archers at twopence, with captains at fourpence, with constables of cavalry at d. a day paid the same for , archers, &c. &c. garrick's cup. [illustration [++] garrick's cup.] this celebrated shakspearean relic was presented to david garrick, by the mayor and corporation of stratford-upon-avon, in september, , at the jubilee which he instituted in honour of his favourite bard. it measures about inches in height. the tree from which it is carved was planted by shakspeare's own hand, in the year , and after having stood years, was, in an evil hour, and when at its full growth and remarkably large, cut down, and cleft to pieces for fire-wood, by order of the rev. francis gastrell, to whom it had become an object of dislike, from its subjecting him to the frequent importunities of travellers. fortunately, the greater part of it fell into the possession of mr. thomas sharp, a watchmaker of stratford, who, "out of sincere veneration" for the memory of its immortal planter, and well knowing the value the world set upon it, converted the fragments to uses widely differing from that to which they had been so sacrilegiously condemned. garrick held this cup in his hand at the jubilee, while he sung the beautiful and well-known air, which he had composed for the occasion, beginning "behold this fair goblet, 'twas carved from the tree, which, o my sweet shakspeare, was planted by thee; as a relic i kiss it, and bow at the shrine, what comes from thy hand must be ever divine! all shall yield to the mulberry tree, bend to thee, blest mulberry; matchless was he who planted thee, and thou like him immortal be!" quick work. mr. john coxetter, of greenham mills, newbury, had two south down sheep shorn at his factory exactly at five o'clock in the morning, from the wool of which, after passing its various processes, a complete damson coloured coat was made, and worn by sir john throckmorton, at a quarter past six in the evening, being two and three-quarter hours within the time allotted, for a wager of , guineas. the sheep were roasted whole, and a sumptuous dinner given by mr. coxetter. origin of the great wall of china. [illustration [++] great wall of china.] as has been invariably the case in the early history of all the leading nations of the earth, great confusion and civil discord existed in the empire of china in its first stages. it was divided into petty princedoms, each prince striving to outwit the other, and all anxiously aiming at the supreme power of the land, till the emperor chi-hoang-ti, who came to the throne about three hundred years before the christian era, conquered the whole of the jealous petty princes, and united their states into one vast empire. but no sooner had he achieved this, than the tartars began to be troublesome, and, hoping effectually to exclude their invasions, this emperor caused to be constructed the often-read-of great wall of china, a stupendous work of masonry, extending from the sea to the western province of shensee and carried over a tract of fifteen hundred miles, comprising high mountains, deep valleys, and broad rivers, the wall being supported over the latter by gigantic arches. fortified towers were erected at every hundred yards, and its summit admitted of six horsemen riding abreast. this sovereign is said to be the founder of the hau dynasty. the wall proved an insignificant barrier to the huns or tartars, who harassed the princes of the hau dynasty, and were a very scourge to the farmers of the frontier provinces. about the year , the hau dynasty gave way to the tsin, which latter was founded by a lineal descendant, through many generations, of the builder of the great wall. in the sketch which we have given, our chief object has been to show the extraordinary inflexibility of the chinese in carrying their wall strictly along their frontier line, in spite of the stupendous obstacles which, intervened in the shape of mountains and valleys. privy purse expenses of charles ii. malone, the well known editor of shakespeare, possessed a curious volume--an account of the privy expenses of charles ii, kept by baptist may. a few extracts from this ms., taken from malone's transcripts, are here offered:-- £ s. d. my lord st. alban's bill , lady castlemaine's debts , sir r. viner, for plate for grinding cocoa-nuts paid lady c., play money for a band of music to the footman that beat teague to mr. pears, for the charges of a body dissected before the king lady c., play money to the morrice dancers at ely lady c., play money mr. knight for bleeding the king for a receipt of chocolate mr. price, for milking the asses to one that showed tumblers' tricks for weighing the king paid hall for dancing on the rope the queen's allowance , paid lord lauderdale for ballads to a bone-setter attending the duchess of monmouth paid terry for waiting on the king swimming for , ribbons for the healing mrs. blague, the king's valentine nell gwyn lost by the king at play on twelfth-night paid what was borrowed for the countess of castlemaine , colour of the hat for cardinals. innocent iv. first made the hat the symbol or cognizance of the cardinals, enjoining them to wear a _red_ hat at the ceremonies and processions, _in token of their being ready_ to spill their blood for jesus christ. severity of the laws a hundred years ago. two lads were hanged for stealing a purse containing two shillings and a brass counter. of ten criminals convicted at one sessions, four were hanged and six transported. very often half a dozen were sentenced to death at a single sessions. on the th march, , eight malefactors were hanged together at tyburn. it was recorded as a matter of surprise, that, "only six convicts received sentence of death at gloucester assizes." one of these was a woman named anne ockley, who was executed on the following day, on the charge of murdering an illegitimate child. to the last she denied her guilt, except in not having called in medical advice for her infant after a bad fall. she took the sacrament, and begged for more time to prepare herself for the change; this favour being denied, she remained praying for two hours on the drop before she would give the signal. marking the king's dishes with the cook's names. king george ii. was accustomed every other year to visit his german dominions, with the greater part of the officers of his household, and especially those belonging to the kitchen. once on his passage at sea, his first cook was so ill with the sea-sickness, that he could not hold up his head to dress his majesty's dinner; this being told to the king, he was exceedingly sorry for it, as he was famous for making a rhenish soup, which his majesty was very fond of; he therefore ordered inquiry to be made among the assistant-cooks, if any of them could make the above soup. one named weston (father of tom weston, the player) undertook it, and so pleased the king, that he declared it was full as good as that made by the first cook. soon after the king's return to england, the first cook died; when the king was informed of it, he said, that his steward of the household always appointed his cooks, but that he would now name one for himself, and therefore asking if one weston was still in the kitchen, and being answered that he was, "that man," said he, "shall be my first cook, for he makes most excellent rhenish soup." this favour begot envy among all the servants, so that, when any dish was found fault with, they used to say it was weston's dressing: the king took notice of this, and said to the servants, it was very extraordinary that every dish he disliked should happen to be weston's; "in future," said he, "let every dish be marked with the name of the cook that makes it." by this means the king detected their arts, and from that time weston's dishes pleased him most. this custom was kept up till late in the reign of george iii. parlous days. bloodletting, considered during the last century to be necessary for every one in health or not, at spring and fall, was an operation performed by the country surgeons on the labourers on a sunday morning, at a charge of d. each. bleeding in bed by a barber was, in the reign of charles ii., sometimes charged, for a lady, so high as s., and for a gentleman, s. and s. d. the operator perhaps barboured the patient at an additional charge. barbouring by the year was charged s. superstition had marked certain days in each month as dangerous for bloodletting, which were called _parlous_ days. in july, the st, th, th, th, th, and th were of the above kind. as the whole population had recourse to bloodletting twice a year, bleeders or barbers were in constant demand. a funeral appropriately conducted. during the year , the minister of a parish in kent was interred at the age of years; the gentleman who preached his funeral sermon was ; he who read the service ; the clerk of the parish was the same age; the sexton was ; in addition to which list of aged persons, there were several present from the adjacent parishes years old each, and upwards. ancient nut-crackers. [illustration [++] ancient nut-crackers.] the two quaint instruments pictured in our engraving, of about the time of charles i. or ii., are made of hard wood rather rudely carved; and look as if in their time they had seen good service. the grotesque heads, with the mouth, affording the means of cracking the nuts, are examples of the fitness of design for a particular purpose, which characterize many of the objects in domestic use in the middle ages, and up to the reign of queen anne, after which ornamental art for household uses seems almost to have been disused. even in the time of george iii., our chairs, tables, side-boards, &c., were made heavy, very ugly, and without any attempt at appropriate pattern. nell gwynne's looking-glass. [illustration [++] nell gwynne's looking-glass.] this glass is in the possession of sir page dicks, of port hall. it bears the likeness of nell gwynne and king charles, which are modelled in wax; and also the supporters, or crest, which nell assumed, namely, the lion and the leopard. the whole is curiously worked in coloured glass beads, and the figures, with the dresses, made to project in very high relief; indeed, they are merely attached to the groundwork. in the upper compartment is charles in his state dress; and the bottom one, that of nell gwynne, in her court dress--the pattern of which is very tasteful. on the right is charles in his hunting dress. the beads have retained their colours, which are very appropriate to the subject, and must have been a work of considerable time and patience; but whether done by nell or not, there is no record. a remarkable highlander. in august, , john macdonald expired in his son's house, in the lawnmarket, edinburgh, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven years. he was born in glen tinisdale, in the isle of skye, and, like the other natives of that quarter, was bred to rural labour. early one morning in his youth, when looking after his black cattle, he was surprised by the sight of two ladies, as he thought, winding slowly round a hill, and approaching the spot where he stood. when they came up, they inquired for a well or stream, where a drink of water could be obtained. he conducted them to the "virgin well," an excellent spring, which was held in great reverence on account of its being the scene of some superstitious and legendary tales. when they had quenched their thirst, one of the ladies rewarded macdonald with a shilling, the first silver coin of which he was possessed. at their own request he escorted them to a gentleman's house at some distance, and there, to his great surprise and satisfaction, he learned that the two "ladies" were flora macdonald and prince charles stewart. this was the proudest incident in macdonald's patriarchal life; and, when surrounded by his celtic brethren, he used to dilate on all the relative circumstances with a sort of hereditary enthusiasm, and more than the common garrulity of age. he afterwards turned joiner, and bore a conspicuous part in the building of the first protestant church which was erected in the island of north uist. he came to edinburgh twenty-three years before his death, and continued to work at his trade till he was ninety-seven years of age. macdonald was a temperate, regular-living man, and never paid a sixpence to a surgeon for himself, nor had an hour's sickness in the whole course of his life. he used to dance regularly on new-year's day, along with some highland friends, to the bagpipe. on new-year's day, , he danced a reel with the father, the son, the grandson, and great-grandson, and was in more than his usual spirits. his hearing was nothing impaired, and till within three weeks of his demise he could have threaded the finest needle with facility, without glasses. cats with knotted tails. we extract the following paragraph from the narrative of a voyager in the indian ocean, because it contains an account of a rarity in natural history with which few, we believe, are acquainted. "the steward is again pillowed on his beloved salt fish, and our only companion is a malacca cat, who has also an attachment for the steward's pillow. puss is a tame little creature, and comes rubbing herself mildly against our shoes, looking up in our faces, and mewing her thoughts. doubtless she is surprised that you have been so long looking at her without noticing the peculiarity in her tail, which so much distinguishes her from the rest of the feline race in other quarters of the globe. take her up in your lap, and see for yourself. did you ever observe such a singular knot--so regular, too, in its formation? some cruel monster must have tied it in a knot whilst puss was yet a kitten, and she has outlived both the pain and inconvenience. but here comes a kitten, all full of gambols and fun, and we find that her tail is in precisely the same condition. so, then, this is a remarkable feature amongst the whole race of malayan cats, but for which, no one we meet with, is able to give us a satisfactory explanation." curious feats. in , the following extraordinary exhibition was performed in the presence of queen mary, in her passage through london to westminster.--it is thus described by holinshed, in his "chronicle," printed :--"when shee didd come to sainte paule's churchyarde, maister haywood sat in a pageant under a vine, and made to her an oration in latine; and then there was one peter, a man of holland, who didd stand upon the weathercocke of st. paule's steeple, holdyng a streamer in his handes of five yardes long, and waving thereof. hee sometimes stood on one foot and shock the other, and then hee kneeled on his knees to the verie grate marvel of al the people. hee hadd made two scaffolds under him--one above the cross, having torches and streamers sett upon it, and another over the ball of the cross, likewise sett with streamers and torches which could not burne, the wind was so greate." our chronicler further informs us, that "peter didd have xvi pounds xiii shillings and iii pence given to him by the citie of london for his costes and pains, and for all his stuffe." impudence or candour, which is it? the following advertisement appeared in the _st. james's chronicle_ of . "wanted immediately, fifteen hundred, or two thousand pounds, by a person not worth a groat; who, having neither houses, land, annuities, or public funds, can offer no other security than that of simple bond, bearing simple interest, and engaging the repayment of the sum borrowed in five, six, or seven years, as may be agreed on by the parties. whoever this may suit, (for it is hoped it will suit somebody), by directing a line for a. z. in rochester, shall be immediately replied to, or waited on, as may appear necessary." the south stack lighthouse. [illustration [++] south stack lighthouse.] though not so celebrated as the eddystone, the south stack lighthouse is unquestionably one of the marvels of science, and as such may be appropriately described in our pages. it is erected on the summit of an isolated rock, three or four miles westward from holyhead, and separated from the main land by a chasm ninety feet in width. this splendid structure was raised in the year . the elevation of the summit of the rock on which it is erected is feet above the level of the sea at high-water mark; the height of the tower, from the base to the gallery, is sixty feet; and the lantern is twelve feet high from the gallery; making the total elevation of the light feet above high-water mark. the light is produced by twenty-one brilliant lamps, with powerful reflectors, placed on a revolving triangular frame, displaying a full-faced light every two minutes, which, in clear weather, is distinctly visible at a distance of ten leagues. latterly there has been an addition of three red lights placed at the rock, which are more distinctly visible in foggy weather than the lighthouse lights. the rough sea caused by the strong tides about the head rendered the communication by boat very precarious. in order to obviate the danger, a passage was contrived by means of two ropes thrown across the gulf, along which the individual was drawn in a box or cradle, by the assistance of pulleys affixed at each end. this plan was superseded by a bridge of ropes, which was used some years after, though always considered unsafe, on account of the constant wear of the ropes. in , a modern suspension chain-bridge was thrown over the sound, the span of which is feet, the chains being firmly bolted in the rock on each side, and carried over two massive stone pillars erected for the purpose. the chain supports a platform of timber five feet wide, and seventy feet above high-water mark. the bridge is attained by descending the holyhead mountain in a zigzag direction by a flight of steps. brass medal of our saviour. in , the late rev. h. rowlands, author of _mona antiqua_, while superintending the removal of some stones, near aberfraw, wales, for the purpose of making an antiquarian research, found a beautiful brass medal of our saviour, in a fine state of preservation, which he forwarded to his friend and countryman, the rev. e. llwyd, author of the _archeologiæ britannica_, and at that time keeper of the ashmolean library at oxford. this medal, of which an engraving is subjoined, has on one side the figure of a head exactly answering the description given by publius lentulus of our saviour, in a letter sent by him to the emperor tiberius and the senate of rome. on the reverse side, it has the following legend or inscription, written in hebrew characters, "this is jesus christ, the mediator or reconciler;" or "jesus, the great messias, or man mediator." and being found among the ruins of the chief druids resident in anglesea, it is not improbable that the curious relic belonged to some christian connected with brân the blessed, who was one of caractacus's hostages at rome from a.d. to , at which time the apostle paul was preaching the gospel of christ at rome. in two years afterwards, a.d. , the roman general suetonius extirpated all the druids in the island. the following is a translation of the letter alluded to, a very antique copy of which is in the possession of the family of kellie, afterwards lord kellie, now represented by the earl of mar, a very ancient scotch family--taken from the original at rome:-- "there hath appeared in these our days, a man of great virtue, named jesus christ, who is yet living among us, and of the gentiles is accepted as a prophet, but his disciples call him 'the son of god.' he raiseth the dead, and cures all manner of diseases; a man of stature somewhat tall and comely, with very reverend countenance, such as the beholders both love and fear; his hair the colour of chesnut, full ripe, plain to his ears, whence downwards it is more orient, curling, and waving about his shoulders. in the midst of his head is a seam or a partition of his hair after the manner of the nazarites; his forehead plain and very delicate; his face without a spot or wrinkle, beautified with the most lovely red; his nose and mouth so formed that nothing can be reprehended; his beard thickish, in colour like his hair, not very long but forked; his look, innocent and mature; his eyes, grey, clear, and quick. in reproving, he is terrible; in admonishing, courteous and fair spoken; pleasant in conversation, mixed with gravity. it cannot be remarked that any one saw him laugh, but many have seen him weep. in proportion of body, most excellent; his hands and arms most delicate to behold. in speaking, very temperate, modest, and wise. a man, for his singular beauty, surpassing the children of men!" [illustration [++] brass medal of our saviour.] the representation of this sacred person which is in the bodleian library, somewhat resembles that of the print of this medal, when compared together. it was taken from a likeness engraved in agate, and sent as a present from the sultan for the release of his brother, who was taken prisoner. there is a well-executed drawing of this at the mostyn library, much worse for age. monstrous head-dress. [illustration [++] head-dress of .] at no period in the history of the world was anything more absurd in head-dress worn than that here depicted, which was in vogue with the fashionables of . the body of this erection was formed of tow, over which the hair was turned, and false hair added in great curls, bobs, and ties, powdered to profusion; then hung all over with vulgarly-large rows of pearls, or glass beads, fit only to decorate a chandelier; flowers as obtrusive were stuck about this heap of finery, which was surmounted by broad silken bands and great ostrich-feathers, until the head-dress of a lady added three feet to her stature, and the male sex, to use the words of the _spectator_, "became suddenly dwarfed beside her." to effect this, much time and trouble was wasted, and great personal annoyance was suffered. heads, when properly dressed, "kept for three weeks," as the barbers quietly phrased it; that they would not really "keep" longer may be seen by the many recipes they give for the destruction of insects which bred in the flour and pomatum so liberally bestowed upon them. the description of "opening a lady's head," after a three weeks' dressing, given in the magazines of this period, it would be imagined, would have taught the ladies common sense; but fashion could reconcile even the disgust that must have been felt by all. price of human hair. long flaxen hair was bought from the head at s. the ounce, and any other fine hair at s. or s. the ounce in . within the present century the heads of hair of whole families in devonshire were let out by the year at so much rent per poll. an exeter perriwig maker went round periodically, cut the locks, and oiled the numskull of each thus left in stubble. interesting and fanciful relique. [illustration [++] enamelled jewel.] the enamelled jewel, of which we give an engraving, was presented by mary, queen of scots, to george gordon, fourth earl of huntley. the precise period at which the gift was made is not now known, though the time was not improbably during the residence of the queen in france, when the order of st. michael was conferred on the duke of chatelherault, the earl of huntley, and several other scottish nobles, about . the lock of mary's hair which is attached to the small ivory skull, is of a light auburn, inclining to a gold-colour; and if allowance be made for some fading in the course of years, and for the hair of the queen having generally become darker as she advanced in life, the accuracy of melvil will be confirmed, when, in speaking of her after her return to scotland, he says, "her hair was light auburn; elizabeth's more red than yellow." in this particular little reliance can be placed upon the portraits of queen mary; since it is well known, that in the latter part of her life, it was a fashionable practice to wear false hair of various hues, though in some of her pictures the colour of the locks is nearly similar to the hue of that represented in the present. the skull, from which it issues is connected by a twisted skein of silk with the figure of a cupid shooting an arrow, standing on a heart enamelled red, transfixed with a dart. on one side the heart is a setting for a precious stone, now vacant; and, on the other, in white letters, the words "willingly wounded." from the point of the heart is a pendant, containing on one side a small ruby, and having the other enamelled blue with an ornament in white. our engraving represents one side of the jewel, of the exact size of the original. fastidiousness in dress at an old age. jonn benbow, of northwood, in the parish of prees, salop, died , aged . his occupation was that of a maker of clocks and watches. his steadiness of hand, clearness of intellect, and complete command of all his faculties, were such that, till within a very few years of his decease, he was enabled to execute the most intricate and delicate manipulations connected with his business. he lived in three centuries; and, at the time of his decease, had a son, a grandson, and several great-grandchildren, living in the house with him. he was remarkable for industry, sobriety, early rising, and soon retiring to rest, and was universally respected for his integrity and ingenuity. his favourite beverage was "small beer" brewed of molasses. to the very close of his life he was remarkable for his extreme attention to his dress and everything relating to his personal appearance, as will be seen by the following anecdote. about three years before his death, his tailor brought him home a new coat; on examining which he discovered that the man, either through not being provided with the necessary material or inadvertence, had substituted a cloth collar for a velvet one, which he was accustomed to have added to his garment. mortified at this circumstance, and learning that the tailor had not velvet of the necessary quality by him, he took up his walking-stick and straitway went off to whitchurch, a distance of seven miles, to purchase the materials proper to make a new collar, and, to the astonishment of all his family, returned home in a few hours. superstition of the javanese. nowhere has superstition a greater power over the human mind than among the inhabitants of java. when the proper chord is touched, there is scarcely anything too gross for the belief of these islanders. mr. crawfurd relates that some years since, it was almost accidentally discovered, that the skull of a buffalo was superstitiously conveyed from one part of the island to another. the point insisted upon was, never to let it rest, but to keep it in constant progressive motion. it was carried in a basket, and no sooner was one person relieved from the load than it was taken up by another; for the understanding was, that some dreadful imprecation was denounced against the man who should let it rest. in this manner, the scull was hurried from one province to another, and after a circulation of many hundred miles, at length reached the town of samarang, the dutch governor of which seized it and threw it into the sea, and thus the spell was broken. the javanese expressed no resentment, and nothing further was heard of this unaccountable transaction. none could tell how or where it originated. the same writer relates a still more extraordinary instance of infatuation. during the occupation of java by the english, in the month of may , it was unexpectedly discovered, that, in a remote but populous part of the island, a road, leading to the top of the mountain of sumbeng, one of the highest in java, had been constructed. an enquiry being set on foot, it was discovered that the delusion which gave rise to the work had its origin in the province of banyunas, in the territories of the susunan, and that the infection had spread to the territory of the sultan, and thence extended to that of the europeans. on examination a road was found constructed twenty feet broad, and from fifty to sixty miles long, and it was wonderfully smooth and well made. one point which appears to have been considered necessary, was, that this road should not cross rivers, and in consequence it wound in a thousand ways. another point as peremptorily insisted on was, that its straight course should not be interrupted by any private rights; and in consequence trees and houses were overturned to make way for it. the population of whole districts, occasionally to the amount of five or six thousand labourers, were employed on the road, and, among a people disinclined to active exertion the laborious work was nearly completed in two months--such was the effect of the temporary enthusiasm with which they were inspired. it was found in the sequel that the whole work was set in motion by an old woman, who dreamt, or pretended to have dreamt, that a divine personage was about to descend from heaven on the mountain in question. piety suggested the propriety of constructing a road to facilitate his descent; and it was rumoured that divine vengeance would pursue the sacrilegious person who refused to join in the meritorious labour. these reports quickly wrought on the fears and ignorance of the people, and they heartily joined in the enterprise. the old woman distributed slips of palm-leaves to the labourers, with magic letters written upon them, which were charms to secure them against sickness and accidents. when this strange affair was discovered by the native authorities, orders were issued to desist from the work, and the inhabitants returned without a murmur to their wonted occupations. size of the british islands. the exact size of our own country is a legitimate object of curiosity. we believe the following will be found strictly accurate:-- the area of england is estimated at , , acres. " wales , , " " scotland , , " " s. isles adjacent to the coast , , " " w. isles , " " orkneys , " " shetlands , " case containing the heart of lord edward bruce. lord edward bruce was eldest son of sir edward, baron of kinloss, so created by james i. in , to whom the king gave the dissolved abbey of kinloss, in ayrshire, after he had been instrumental in his succession to the crown of england; whither accompanying the king, he was made master of the rolls in , died in , and was buried in the rolls chapel. his son, the lord edward, killed in duel by sir edward sackville in , was succeeded by his brother, who was created earl of elgin in , and an english baron in . sir edward sackville, by whose hand the lord edward bruce fell, was younger brother to richard sackville, earl of dorset, on whose death he succeeded to the title. he was lord president of the council, a joint lord keeper, and filled several other distinguished offices under charles i., to whom he adhered, by whose side he fought at the battle of edge-hill, and whose death he took so much to heart, that he never afterwards stirred out of his house in salisbury-court, but died there on the th of july, . [illustration [++] case containing the heart of lord edward bruce.] between these noblemen there arose a quarrel, which terminated in their duel; and all that is, or probably can be known respecting it, is contained in the following correspondence, preserved in a manuscript in queen's college library, oxford. _a monsieur, monsieur sackvile._ "i that am in france, hear how much you attribute to yourself in this time, that i have given the world leave to ring your praises; and for me, the truest almanack, to tell you how much i suffer. if you call to memory, when as i gave you my hand last, i told you i reserved the heart for a truer reconcilliation. now be that noble gentleman, my love once spoke, and come and do him right that could recite the tryals you owe your birth and country, were i not confident your honour gives you the same courage to do me right, that it did to do me wrong. be master of your own weapons and time; the place wheresoever, i will wait on you. by doing this, you shall shorten revenge, and clear the idle opinion the world hath of both our worths. "ed. bruce." _a monsieur, monsieur baron de kinloss._ "as it shall be always far from me to seek a quarrel, so will i always be ready to meet with any that is desirous to make tryal of my valour, by so fair a course as you require. a witness whereof yourself shall be, who, within a month, shall receive a strict account of time, place and weapon, where you shall find me ready disposed to give honourable satisfaction, by him that shall conduct you thither. in the mean time, be as secret of the appointment, as it seems you are desirous of it. "e. sackvile." _a monsieur, monsieur baron de kinloss._ "i am at tergose, a town in zeland, to give what satisfaction your sword can render you, accompanied with a worthy gentleman for my second, in degree a knight. and, for your coming, i will not limit you a peremptory day, but desire you to make a definite and speedy repair, for your own honour, and fear of prevention; at which time you shall find me there. _tergose, th of august, ._ "e. sackvile." _a monsieur, monsieur sackvile._ "i have received your letter by your man, and acknowledge you have dealt nobly with me; and now i come, with all possible haste, to meet you. "e. bruce." the combat was fierce, and fatal to lord bruce. it has always been presumed that the duel was fought under the walls of antwerp; but the combatants disembarked at bergen-op-zoom, and fought near that town, and not antwerp. [illustration [++] silver case shaped like a heart.] in consequence of a tradition, that the heart of lord edward bruce had been sent from holland, and interred in the vault or burying-ground adjoining the old abbey church of culross, in perthshire, sir robert preston directed a search in that place in , with the following result:--two flat stones, without inscription, about four feet in length and two in breadth, were discovered about two feet below the level of the pavement, and partly under an old projection in the wall of the old building. these stones were strongly clasped together with iron; and when separated, a silver case, or box, of foreign workmanship, shaped like a heart, was found in a hollow or excavated place between them. its lid was engraved with the arms and name "lord edward bruse;" it had hinges and clasps; and when opened, was found to contain a heart, carefully embalmed, in a brownish coloured liquid. after drawings had been taken of it, as represented in the present engravings, it was carefully replaced in its former situation. there was a small leaden box between the stones in another excavation; the contents of which, whatever they were originally, appeared reduced to dust. some time after this discovery, sir robert preston caused a delineation of the silver case, according to the exact dimensions, with an inscription recording its exhumation and re-deposit, to be engraved on a brass plate, and placed upon the projection of the wall where the heart was found. it is a remarkable fact, that the cause of the quarrel between lord bruce and sir edward sackville has remained wholly undetected, notwithstanding successive investigations at different periods. lord clarendon, in his "history of the rebellion," records the combat as an occurrence of magnitude, from its sanguinary character and the eminence of the parties engaged in it. he does not say any thing respecting the occasion of the feud, although lord bruce's challenge seems to intimate that it was a matter of public notoriety. the exact day of the duel is not known, but it was certainly in , and most probably in august from the date of one of the above letters. extraordinary female intrepidity. early on the th of january, , the turnpike-house, about four miles from basingstoke, on this side of overton, was attacked, with intent to enter, by two men, who had taken off some tiles at the back part of the premises (the roof being very low) to effect their purpose. these villains knew, it would appear, that a lone woman, mrs. whitehouse, received the tolls at this gate, and that her husband attended a gate as far distant as colebrook. mrs. whitehouse, however, very fortunately possessed three loaded pistols, one of which she fired--then a second, and a third, without effect. these determined ruffians (notwithstanding being thrice fired at) were, it appears, resolved not to depart without accomplishing the projected robbery. mrs. whitehouse's little boy, only years of age, in the mean time had re-loaded a brace of pistols, one of which mrs. whitehouse fired, and wounded one of the desperadoes full in the face--he fell, and the blood flowed profusely; yet, strange to relate, the accomplice had hardihood enough to drag away the wounded robber! on observing this, mrs. whitehouse fired the fifth pistol at them, but missed them. the fellow who received the contents of the fourth pistol being supposed to have been killed, and some persons residing at a considerable distance from the spot having heard of the circumstance, assembled, and made diligent search at daybreak to discover the body of the deceased; but, although the blood could be traced some distance from the house, the body could not be found; nor were those concerned in the attack ever found out. the successful resistance, however, deserves to be recorded. gigantic bones. whenever any bones of unusual magnitude were discovered, it was invariably the custom to ascribe them to some giant. this was always so up to recent years, and no wonder it was intensely the case at the early period of . about that period, when the brook or rivulet from which the town of corbridge, in the north of england, derives its name, had been worn away by some impetuous land-flood, a skeleton, supposed to be that of a man of extraordinary and prodigious size, was discovered. the length of the thigh bone was nearly six feet, and the skull, teeth, and other parts proportionably monstrous, so that the length of the whole body was computed at twenty-one feet. it is conjectured, by the more enlightened men of modern times, that these strange bones belonged to some large animal that had been sacrificed by the romans at the altar dedicated to hercules, which was found here some years ago. notwithstanding that the superstition of our forefathers has lost nearly all its credit and influence, a singularly large bone found here is now exhibited in the keswick museum as the rib of the giant cor. new style of advertisement. the following editorial announcement is taken from the philadelphia _weekly mercury_, of november , , because it forms a complete novelty in its way, and also affords us an insight into the degree of communication which existed at that period between the large towns and the provinces in america. it is, moreover, a curious jumble of information, strangely mixing up the starting of the stage coach with the news of the day:-- on _monday_ next the northern post sets out from _new-york_, in order to perform his stage but once a fortnight, during the winter quarter; the southern post changes also, which will cause this paper to come out on _tuesdays_ during that time. the colds which have infested the northern colonies have also been troublesome here, few families having escaped the same, several have been carry'd off by the cold, among whom was _david brintnall_, in the th year of his age; he was the first man that had a brick house in the city of _philadelphia_, and was much esteem'd for his just and upright dealing. there goes a report here, that the lord _baltimore_ and his lady are arrived in _maryland_, but the southern post being not yet come in, the said report wants confirmation. making a candlestick of gunpowder. a marvellous escape from destruction is related in the ms. life of alderman barnes.--"one of his brother-in-law's (alderman hutchinson's) apprentices, stepping up into the back-lofts to fetch somewhat he wanted, in his heedlessness and haste, stops his candle into a barrel of gunpowder whose head was struck off, to serve instead of a candlestick. but the man reflecting what he had done, was struck with affrightment, his heart failed him, nor durst he stay any longer, but running down stairs, leaves the candle burning in the gunpowder cask, and with horror, trembling, and despair, tells the family what indiscretion he had committed; they were all immediately as their wits' end, and well they might, for the lofts were three stories high, very large, and stowed full with whatever is combustible, as brandy, oil, pitch, tar, rosin, flax, alum, hops, and many barrels of gunpowder. had the candle fallen to one side, or had the least spark fallen from the snuff into the cask, the whole town had been shaken, and the whole of the house immediately blown up and in a blaze; but one of the labourers, a stout fellow, ran forthwith into the loft, and joining both his hands together, drew the candle softly up between his middlemost fingers, so that if any snuff had dropped, it must have fallen into the hollow of the man's hand, and by this means was newcastle saved from being laid in ashes." this must have happened about the year . the camden cup. the subjoined engraving represents the silver-gilt standing cup and cover bequeathed by the celebrated historian, william camden, clarenceux king at arms, to the worshipful company of painter stainers'. camden's will is recorded in the prerogative court of canterbury (in the register designated iii swann , probate granted november , ), and it has been printed by hearne in his _collection of curious discourses_, ox. . after directing the sum of eight pounds to be given "to the poore of that place (chislehurst) when it shall please god to call me to his mercie," camden continues--"i bequeath to sir foulke greville, lord brooke, chancellor of the exchequer, who preferred me gratis to my office, a peece of plate of ten pounds; item, to the company of painter-stainers of london, to buy them a peece of plate in memoriall of mee, sixteene pounds;" the inscription upon which is directed to be--"_guil. camdenus clarenceux, filius sampsonis, pictoris londinensis, dono dedit_." [illustration [++] the camden cup.] this stately and richly-decorated cup and cover is used on corporation festivals, in memory of the illustrious donor. in height, it is altogether twenty-three inches and a quarter, the cover only being eight inches and three-quarters; and the cup, independent of the stand, five inches and a-half, its greatest diameter being five inches and a-half. the inscription encircles the upper rim of the cup; and directly under it is an engraved escutcheon of camden's arms; _or_, a fess engrailed, between six cross crosslets fitchée, _sable_. the cover presents an object of much elegance, a richly ornamented open pyramid, based on the heads of birds, the breasts bending gracefully with cartouche ornaments: the pinnacle of the pyramid surmounted by a female figure, the right hand resting on a shield, charged with the same arms as shown on the side of the cup. the birds' heads have apparently a reference to the phoenix heads in the second and third quarters of the armorial ensigns, and to the crest of the company of paper-stainers. richardson, the showman. this eccentric individual, who died in , left behind him upwards of £ , . he was born in the workhouse of marlow, bucks, but ran away from that place in order to seek his fortune in london. after various vicissitudes, he became the landlord of the harlequin public-house, in drury-lane, where he saved some money, which he embarked in fitting up a portable theatre, and was known for forty years as the "prince of showmen," and used frequently to boast that edmund kean and several other eminent actors were brought out by him. his property, after various legacies to the itinerant company which had attended him for many years, descended to two nephews and a niece, and he desired by his will to be buried in marlow churchyard, in the same grave as his favourite "spotted boy," a lad who, some years before, was exhibited by him, and attracted great notice in consequence of the extraordinary manners in which he was marked on various parts of his body. some years since the scenery, dresses, and decorations of richardson's theatre were exposed for auction by mr. george robins, and £ , were bid for them. they were bought in; the "old man," as he was technically denominated, considering them to be worth at least £ , . preservation of dead bodies. there is an arched vault, or burying-ground, under the church of kilsyth, in scotland, which was the burying-place of the family of kilsyth, until the estate was forfeited, and the title became extinct in the year ; since which it has never been used for that purpose, except once. the last earl fled with his family to flanders, and, according to tradition, was smothered to death about the year , along with his lady and an infant child, and a number of other unfortunate scottish exiles, by the falling in of the roof of a house in which they were assembled. what became of the body of the earl is not known, but the bodies of lady kilsyth and her infant were emboweled and embalmed, and soon afterwards sent over to scotland. they were landed, and lay at leith for some time in a cellar, whence they were afterwards carried to kilsyth, and buried in great pomp in the vault above mentioned. in the spring of , some rude regardless young men, having paid a visit to this ancient cemetery, tore open the coffin of lady kilsyth and her infant. with astonishment and consternation, they saw the bodies of lady kilsyth and her child as perfect as in the hour they were entombed. for some weeks this circumstance was kept secret, but at last it began to be whispered in several companies, and soon excited great and general curiosity. "on the th of june," says the minister of the parish of kilsyth, in a letter to j. garnet, m.d., "when i was from home, great crowds assembled, and would not be denied admission. at all hours of the night, as well as the day, they afterwards persisted in gratifying their curiosity. i saw the body of lady kilsyth soon after the coffin was opened; it was quite entire. every feature and every limb was as full, nay, the very shroud was as clear and fresh, and the colours of the ribbons as bright, as the day they were lodged in the tomb. what rendered this scene more striking and truly interesting was, that the body of her son and only child, the natural heir of the title and estates of kilsyth, lay at her knee. his features were as composed as if he had been only asleep. his colour was as fresh, and his flesh as plump and full, as in the perfect glow of health; the smile of infancy and innocence sat on his lips. his shroud was not only entire, but perfectly clean, without a particle of dust upon it. he seems to have been only a few months old. the body of lady kilsyth was equally well preserved; and at a little distance, from the feeble light of a taper, it would not have been easy to distinguish whether she was dead or alive. the features, nay the very expression of her countenance, were marked and distinct; and it was only in a certain light that you could distinguish anything like the ghastly and agonizing traits of a violent death. not a single fold of her shroud was decomposed nor a single member impaired. "let the candid reader survey this sketch; let him recal to mind the tragic tale it unfolds; and say, if he can, that it does not arrest the attention and interest the heart. for my own part, it excited in my memory a thousand melancholy reflections; and i could not but regret that such rudeness had been offered to the ashes (remains) of the dead, as to expose them thus to the public view. "the body seemed to have been preserved in some liquid, nearly of the colour and appearance of brandy. the whole coffin seemed to have been full of it, and all its contents saturated with it. the body had assumed somewhat the same tinge, but this only served to give it a fresher look. it had none of the ghastly livid hue of death, but rather a copper complexion. it would, i believe, have been difficult for a chemist to ascertain the nature of this liquid; though perfectly transparent; it had lost all its pungent qualities, its taste being quite vapid. "the head reclined on a pillow, and, as the covering decayed, it was found to contain a collection of strong-scented herbs. balm, sage, and mint were easily distinguished; and it was the opinion of many, that the body was filled with the same. although the bodies were thus entire at first, i confess i expected to see them crumble into dust; especially as they were exposed to the open air, and the pure aromatic fluid had evaporated; and it seems surprising that they did not. for several weeks they underwent no visible change, and had they not been sullied with dust and drops of grease from the candles held over them, i am confident they might have remained as entire as ever; for even a few months ago (many months after), the bodies were as firm and compact as at first, and though pressed with the finger did not yield to the touch, but seemed to retain the elasticity of the living body. even the shroud, through torn by the rude hands of the regardless multitude, is still strong and free from rot. "perhaps the most singular phenomenon is, that the bodies seem not to have undergone the smallest decomposition or disorganization. several medical gentlemen have made a small incision into the arm of the infant; the substance of the body was quite firm, and every part in its original state." to the above remarkable instance we may add the following:--the tomb of edward the first, who died on the th july, , was opened on the nd of january, , and after the lapse of years, the body was found not decayed; the flesh on the face was a little wasted, but not putrid. the body of canute the dane, who got possession of england in the year , was found very fresh in the year , by the workmen repairing winchester cathedral. in the year , the body of william the conqueror was found as entire as when first buried, in the abbey church of st. stephen, at caen; and the body of matilda, his wife, was found entire in , in the abbey church of the holy trinity in the same city. no device of art, however, for the preservation of the remains of the dead, appears equal to the simple process of plunging them over head and ears in peat-moss. in a manuscript by one abraham grey, who lived about the middle of the th century, now in the possession of his representative, mr. goodbehere grey, of old mills, near aberdeen, it is stated, that in , three roman soldiers in the dress of their country, fully equipped with warlike instruments, were dug out of a moss of great extent, called kazey moss. when found, after a lapse of probably about fifteen hundred years, they "were quite fresh and plump." perfumes. so perfect were the egyptians in the manufacture of perfumes, that some of their ancient ointment, preserved in an alabaster vase in the museum at alnwick, still retains a very powerful odour, though it must be between , and , years old. french assignats--their origin. extraordinary devices for raising money are legitimate subjects for our pages. of these devices, the french assignats are not the least remarkable. they originated thus--in the year , at the commencement of the great revolution in france, talleyrand proposed in the national assembly a confiscation of all church property to the service of the state. the abbé maury opposed this project with great vehemence, but being supported by mirabeau, it received the sanction of the assembly by an immense majority on the nd of november. the salaries fixed for the priesthood were small, and, moreover, were not sufficiently guaranteed; whence originated much misery to all classes of priests, from the archbishops down to the humble cures; and as monastic institutions were treated in the same way, monks and nuns were suddenly placed in precarious circumstances regarding the means of subsistence. here, however, an unexpected difficulty sprang up; the national assembly were willing to sell church property, but buyers were wanting; conscience, prudence, and poverty combined to lessen the number of those willing to purchase; and thus the urgent claims of the treasury could not be satisfied. applications for loans were not responded to; taxes had been extinguished; voluntary donations had dwindled almost to nothing; and , , of livres were necessary for the vast claims of the year . the municipalities of paris and other cities sought to ameliorate the state of affairs by subscribing for a certain amount of church property, endeavouring to find private purchasers for it, and paying the receipts into the national exchequer. this, however, being but a very partial cure for the enormity of the evils, the national assembly fell upon the expedient of creating state-paper or bank-notes, to have a forced currency throughout the kingdom. such was the birth of the memorable assignats. four hundred millions of this paper were put in circulation; and a decree was passed that church property to that amount should be held answerable for the assignats. our sketch represents several of the different forms in which the assignats were issued to the public. [illustration [++] french assignats.] execution of louis xvi. the judicial murder of louis xvi. was the climax of the revolution in france. the convention voted his death at three o'clock on the morning of the th january, , and he was taken to execution in twenty-six hours afterwards. [illustration [++] execution of louis xvi.] the guillotine was erected in the middle of the place louis xv., a large open square, having the champs elysées on one side, and the gardens of the tuileries on the other. the place bristled with artillery, and every street and avenue leading to it was crowded with troops and armed multitudes, who had cannon with them charged with grape-shot; while the carriage was surrounded by picked men, who had orders to despatch the king with their carbines in case of any rescue being attempted. at about half-past ten, the king, who had been engaged in prayer during the ride, arrived at the spot; he descended from the coach, and his confessor followed him. three executioners approached to remove his upper garments, but he put them back, and performed that simple office for himself. he resisted somewhat the indignity of having his hands tied, and only yielded on the entreaty of his confessor; and had also to yield on the subject of cutting off his back hair. he ascended the steps that led to the platform with a firm bearing, still followed by m. edgeworth. when on the top, he made a sudden movement towards the edge of the scaffold, and exclaimed with a loud and firm voice: "frenchmen, i die innocent; it is from the scaffold, and when about to appear before my god, that i tell you so. i pardon my enemies; i pray that france"----here santerre, on horseback, raised his right hand, and cried: "drums! executioners, do your duty!" several drummers immediately began by their noise to drown the sound of the king's voice: and six executioners brought him to the centre of the scaffold. he exclaimed again: "i die innocent; i ever desired the good of my people;" but his voice could be heard only by the executioners and the priest. he then knelt down, in order to place his head in the appointed spot; the confessor, bending over him said: "son of st. louis, ascend to heaven!" the spring of the machine was touched, the heavy axe descended in its grooves, and the once royal head was severed from the body. samson, the chief executioner, took up the bleeding head by the hair, and walked three times round the scaffold, holding it up at arm's-length to show it to the people. the troops and the spectators shouted: "vive la république!" put their hats and caps upon their bayonets and pikes, and waved them in the air, with prolonged and re-echoing cries of "vive la république!" "vive la nation!" "vive la liberte!" many of the savage men standing near the scaffold dipped their pike-heads into the king's blood, and others their handkerchiefs--not as a sacred memento, but as a symbol of the downfall of all kings; they even paraded these gore-stained objects before the windows of the temple, that perchance the queen and her children might see them. the headless trunk of louis was put into a large wicker-basket, placed in the coach, and carried to the cemetery of la madeleine; where, without coffin or shroud, it was thrown into a deep pit, partly filled up with quicklime. on that same morning, one benoit leduc, a tailor, who had on some occasions worked for louis, presented a petition to the convention, praying to be allowed, at his own expense, to bury the body of the king by the side of his father, louis xv., and under the monument raised to that prince by the city of sens; but the convention rejected his petition, and ordered the executive council to see that louis was buried like other criminals. a man aged one hundred years claiming a bottle of wine. john bull, of london, stock-broker, died , aged years. when at the age of about , and in the employ of messrs. spurling, stock-brokers, he left by mistake in the office of the accountant of the bank of england, a large number of bank notes. on discovering his loss, after diligently searching for the missing parcel, he went back to the accountant's office, partly to acquaint mr. smee with the circumstance, and partly as a last hope that he might there find the missing treasure. to his great joy he found the parcel safe in the accountant's possession, whom he earnestly implored to keep the secret, lest his employers should think his faculties were failing. mr. smee of course gave him the required assurance, and goodnaturedly added, that when mr. bull should attain the age of years, he would treat him to the finest bottle of wine in his cellar. some time before his becoming a centenarian, he was pensioned off by his employer, and mr. smee had, in all probability, quite forgotten the affair; when, true to the engagement, the venerable, but still active old clerk, made his appearance at the bank on the important day, and claimed the promised bottle of wine. the claim was promptly allowed; and the last birthday of the aged official was one of the happiest among his friends of the long list of such events which had been its precursor. after continuing vigorous and active, and almost free from indisposition up to this time, he, along with many other aged persons, fell a victim to that fatal influenza which prevailed so extensively throughout the country, and more especially in london and its suburbs, during the autumn of and the winter of . charity rewarded by a rich and liberal mendicant. within the present century, a beggar in moorfields used daily to have a penny given him by a merchant on his way to the exchange. the penny was withheld, and the appearance of the merchant manifested his embarrassment and distress. the beggar at length spoke to him, offered him a loan of £ , and another of the same sum if it were required. it re-established his affairs. hackney coachman of the time of charles ii. the print from which the engraving on next page is taken, is one of a set published by overton, at the sign of the "white horse" without newgate; and its similarity to the figures given by francis barlow in his _Æsop's fables_, and particularly in a most curious sheet-print etched by that artist, exhibiting charles the second, the duke of york, &c., viewing the races on dorset ferry, near windsor, in , sufficiently proves this hackney coachman to have been of the reign of that monarch. the early hackney coachman did not sit upon the box as the present drivers do, but upon the horse, like a postillion; his whip is short for that purpose; his boots, which have large open broad tops, must have been much in his way, and exposed to the weight of the rain. his coat was not according to the fashion of the present drivers as to the numerous capes, which certainly are most rational appendages, as the shoulders never get wet; the front of the coat has not the advantage of the present folding one, as it is single breasted. his hat was pretty broad, and so far he was screened from the weather. another convincing proof that he rode as a postillion is, that his boots are spurred. in that truly curious print representing the very interesting palace of nonsuch, engraved by hoefnagle, in the reign of queen elizabeth, the coachman who drives the royal carriage in which the queen is seated, is placed on a low seat behind the horses, and has a long whip to command those he guides. how soon, after charles the second's time, the hackney coachmen rode on a box we have not been able to learn, but in all the prints of king william's time the coachmen are represented upon the box, though by no means so high as at present; nor was it the fashion at the time of queen anne to be so elevated as to deprive the persons in the carriage of the pleasure of looking over their shoulders. in , the number of hackney coaches in london was confined to , in to , in to , in to , in to , in to , in to , , and in to , . in imitation of our hackney coaches, nicholas sauvage introduced the fiacres at paris, in the year . the hammer-cloth is an ornamental covering of the coach-box. mr. s. pegge says, "the coachman formerly used to carry a hammer, pincers, a few nails, &c., in a leather pouch hanging to his box, and this cloth was devised for the hiding of them from public view." [illustration [++] hackney coachman.] it is said that the sum of £ , , arising from the duty on hackney coaches, was applied to part of the expense in rebuilding temple bar. a london water-carrier in olden times. the conduits of london and its environs, which were established at an early period, supplied the metropolis with water until sir hugh middleton brought the new river from amwell to london, and then the conduits gradually fell into disuse, as the new river water was by degrees laid on in pipes to the principal buildings in the city, and, in the course of time, let into private houses. when the conduits afforded a supply, the inhabitants either carried their vessels, or sent their servants for the water as they wanted it; but we may suppose that at an early period there were a number of men who for a fixed sum carried the water to the adjoining houses. the figure of a water-carrier in the following engraving, is copied from one of a curious and rare set of cries and callings of london, published by overton, at the "white horse" without newgate. the figure retains the dress of henry the eighth's time; his cap is similar to that usually worn by sir thomas more, and also to that given in the portrait of albert durer, engraved by francis stock. it appears by this print, that the tankard was borne upon the shoulder, and, to keep the carrier dry, two towels were fastened over him, one to fall before him, the other to cover his back. his pouch, in which we are to conclude he carried his money, has been thus noticed in a very curious and rare tract, entitled, _green's ghost, with the merry conceits of doctor pinch-backe_, published : "to have some store of crownes in his purse, coacht in a faire trunke flop, like a boulting hutch." [illustration [++] water-carrier.] expenses of a royal prisoner two hundred years ago. the following curious document is a return, by the parliamentary committee of revenue, of the expenses of charles the first and his retinue, during a residence of twenty days, at holdenby, in northamptonshire, in the year , commencing february the th and ending march the th inclusive. sir christopher hatton had built a splendid mansion at holdenby in the time of queen elizabeth, and to it king charles was conveyed a prisoner by the parliamentary commissioners, after he had been given up to them by the scottish army:-- his majestie's diet of xxviij dishes at xxxl. per diem £ the lords' diet of xx days for the clarke of the green cloth, kitchen, and spicery, a messe of vij dishes dyetts for the household and chamber officers, and the guard board wages for common houshold servants, pott and scourers, and turnbroaches badges of court and riding wages for linnen for his majestie's table, the lords and other diets for wheat, wood, and cole for all sorts of spicery store, wax-lights, torches, and tallow-lights for pewter, brasse, and other necessaries incident to all officers and carriages woman's cleverness. it is a singular fact that on one occasion the lives of thousands, probably, of the irish protestants, were saved by a clever device, which the unaided wit and presence of mind of a woman enabled her to plan and execute. at the latter end of queen mary's reign, a commission was signed for the purpose of punishing the heretics in that kingdom, and dr. cole, dean of st. paul's, was honoured with this _humane_ appointment, to execute which, he set off with great alacrity. on his arrival at chester, he sent for the mayor to sup with him, and in the course of conversation related his business; then going to his cloak-bag, he took out the box containing the commission, and having shewn it, with great joy exclaimed, 'this will lash the heretics of ireland.' mrs. edmonds, the landlady, overheard this discourse, and having several relations in ireland, who were protestants as well as herself, resolved to put a trick upon the doctor; and while he went to attend the magistrate to the door, took the commission out of the box, and in its room placed a pack of cards, with the knave of clubs uppermost. the zealous doctor, suspecting nothing of the matter, put up his box, took shipping, and, arriving safe in dublin, went immediately to the viceroy. a council was called; and, after a speech, the doctor delivered his box, which being opened by the secretary, the first thing that presented itself was the knave of clubs. this sight surprised the viceroy and the council, but much more the doctor, who assured them that he had received a commission from the queen, but what was come of it, he could not tell. 'well, well,' replied the viceroy, 'you must go back for another, and we will shuffle the cards in the mean time.' the doctor accordingly hastened across the channel; but at holyhead he received the intelligence of the queen's death, and the accession of elizabeth, who settled on mrs. edmonds a pension of forty pounds a year, for saving her protestant subjects in ireland. dress in the provinces in . in the days when mail-coaches had not begun to run, and when railroads and telegraphs had not entered into the imagination of man, the style of dress in the provinces was often very different to what it was in london, and on this account the following paragraph is deserving of record. we have taken it from a copy of the _nottingham journal_, of september , , where it is headed "ladies undress."--"the ladies' fashionable undress, commonly called a _dishabille_, to pay visits in the morning, also for walking in the country, on account of its being neat, light, and short, consists of a jacket, the front part of which is made like a sultana; the back part is cut out in four pieces; the middle part is not wider at the bottom than about half an inch; the sides in proportion very narrow. the materials most in vogue are, white muslins with a coloured printed border chintz pattern, printed on purpose, in borders about an inch deep. the silks, which are chiefly lutestrings, are mostly trimmed with gauze. the gauze is tuckered upon the bottom of the jacket, and edged with different-coloured fringes. the petticoat is drawn up in a festoon, and tied with a true lover's knot, two tassels hanging down from each festoon. a short gauze apron, striped or figured, cut in three scollops at the bottom, and trimmed round, with a broad trimming closely plaited; the middle of the apron has three scollops reversed. the cuffs are puckered in the shape of a double pine, one in the front of the arm, the other behind, but the front rather lower. to complete this dress for summer walking, the most elegant and delicate ladies carry a long japanned walking-cane, with an ivory hook head, and on the middle of the cane is fastened a silk umbrella, or what the french call 'a parasol,' which defends them from the sun and slight showers of rain. it opens by a spring, and it is pushed up towards the head of the cane, when expanded for use. hats, with the feathers spread, chiefly made of chip, covered with fancy gauze puckered, variegated artificial flowers, bell tassels, and other decorations, are worn large." a group of relics. the dagger of raoul de courcy, of which a representation is included in the cut over leaf, is an interesting relic, and its authenticity can be relied upon. raoul de courcy, according to the old french chroniclers was a famous knight, the lord of a noble castle, built upon a mountain that overlooks the valée d'or, and the descendant of that haughty noble who took for his motto: "neither king, nor prince, nor duke, nor earl am i, but i am the lord of courcy"--in other words, greater than them all. he fell in love with the wife of his neighbour, the lord of fayel, and the beautiful gabrielle loved him in return. one night he went as usual to meet her in a tower of the château of fayel, but found himself face to face with her lord and master. raoul escaped, and gabrielle was ever after closely guarded. still they found the opportunity for numerous interviews, at which they interchanged their vows of love. at length, raoul, like a true knight, set out to fight beneath the banner of the cross, for the possession of the holy sepulchre. ere he went, at a stolen meeting, he bade the fair gabrielle adieu, giving to her "a silken love-knot, with locks of his own hair worked in with the threads of silk." she gave him a costly ring, which she had always worn, and which he swore to wear till his last breath. what tears were shed--what kisses were exchanged at this last meeting!--for the holy land was very far from france in the middle ages. on his arrival in syria, ralph de courcy became known as the "knight of great deeds," for it seems he could only conquer his love by acts of daring valour. after braving every danger, he was at length wounded in the side by an arrow, at the siege of acre. the king of england took him in his arms with respect, and gave him the kiss of hope, but the arrow was a poisoned one, raoul felt that he had little time to live. he stretched out his arms towards france, exclaiming, "france, france! gabrielle, gabrielle!" he resolved to return home, but he was hardly on board the ship that was to waft him there, ere he summoned his squire, and begged of him after he was dead, to carry his heart to france, and to give it the lady fayel, with all the armlets, diamonds, and other jewels which he possessed, as pledges of love and remembrance. the heart was embalmed, and the squire sought to deliver his precious legacy. he disguised himself in a mean dress, but unluckily met with the lord of fayel, and, not knowing him, applied to him for information as to how admittance into the château could be gained. the lord of fayel at once attacked and disarmed the poor squire, who was wounded in the side with a hunting-hanger. the precious packet was soon torn open, and the heart discovered. the lord of fayel hastened home, and, giving it to his cook, desired that it might be dressed with such a sauce as would make it very palatable. raoul's heart was served up at table, and the fair gabrielle partook of it. when she had finished eating, the lord of fayel said--"lady, was the meat you eat good?" she replied, that the meat was good. "that is the reason i had it cooked," said the castellan; "for know that this same meat, which you found so good, was the heart of raoul de courcy." "lord of fayel," said gabrielle, "the vengeance you have taken corresponds with the meanness of your soul; you have made me eat his heart, but it is the last meat i shall ever eat. after such noble food i will never partake of any other." she fainted, and only recovered her consciousness a few minutes before death. such is the history of raoul de courcy and the lady gabrielle, as told in the language of the old chroniclers. [illustration: . dagger of raoul de courcy. . embroidered glove, presented by mary queen of scotland, on the morning of her execution, to one of her attendants. . spanish dagger of the sixteenth century. . ring, with inscription, "behold the end," formerly the property of charles i. . silver locket, in memory of the execution of charles i.] the glove shown in the engraving is said to have been presented by the unfortunate queen mary, on the morning of her execution, to a lady of the denny family. the embroidery is of tasteful design, and may be useful as a contrast with many of the patterns for needlework at present in fashion. moreover, the sight of this memorial brings to recollection a few particulars in connection with this somewhat important part of both male and female costume. the ancient persians wore gloves, and the romans, towards the decline of the empire, began to use them. in england they seemed to have been introduced at a very early period. in the anglo-saxon literature we meet with _glof_, a covering for the hand, and in the illuminated mss. of that period the hands of bishops and other dignitaries are shown encased in gloves which, in many instances, were ornamented with costly rings; while on the tombs of kings and queens, &c., the hands are shown almost invariably covered. it is related of the patron saint of brussels, who lived in the sixth century, that she was famous for only two miracles: one consisted in lighting a candle by means of her prayers, after it had been extinguished; the other happened in this way--the fair saint being in a church barefooted, a person near, with respectful gallantry, took off his gloves and attempted to place them under her feet. this comfort she declined; and, kicking the gloves away, they became suspended at some height in the church for the space of an hour. on opening the tomb of edward the first, some years ago, in westminster abbey, the antiquaries assembled on that occasion were surprised to find no traces of gloves. it has been suggested that in this instance linen or silk gloves had been used at the burial of the king, but which are supposed to have perished with age. the practice of throwing down a glove as a challenge, is mentioned by matthew paris as far back as ; and a glove was worn in the hat or cap as a mistress's favour, as the memorial of a friend, and as a mark to be challenged by an enemy. at a time when the borders were in a state of incessant strife, barnard gilpin, who has been so justly called "the apostle of the north," wandered unharmed amid the confusion. on one occasion, entering a church (we believe that of rothbury, northumberland,) he observed a glove suspended in a conspicuous place, and was informed that it had been hung up as a challenge by some horse-trooper of the district. mr. gilpin requested the sexton to remove it; who answered, "not i sir, i dare not do it." then gilpin called for a long staff, took down the glove, and put it in his bosom, and in the course of his sermon, said, "i hear that there is one among you who has even in this sacred place hung up a glove in defiance;" and then producing it in the midst of the congregation, he challenged them to compete with him in acts of christian charity. gloves, in former times, were common amongst other gifts offered to friends at the new year; and they were received without offence by the ministers of justice. it is related that sir thomas more, as lord chancellor, decreed in favour of mrs. crooker against the earl of arundel. on the following new-year's day, in token of her gratitude, she presented sir thomas with a pair of gloves containing forty angels. "it would be against good manners," said the chancellor, "to forsake the ladies' new-year's gift, and i accept the gloves; the lining you may bestow otherwise." the custom of the presentation by the sheriff of a pair of white gloves to the judge on the occasion of a maiden assize is still in vogue; and, judging from the reports in the newspapers, such presents appear to be of frequent occurrence. "gloves, as sweet as damask roses," were highly prized by queen elizabeth, and, in her day, formed such an important item of a lady's expenses, that a sum was generally allowed for "glove money." the old fashioned gloves have now a considerable value amongst the curious. at the sale of the earl of arran's goods in , the gloves given by henry viii. to sir anthony denny, sold for _l._ s.; those given by james i. to edward denny, sold for _l._ s.; and the mitten given by queen elizabeth to sir edward denny's lady, for _l._ s. some of the english towns which formerly were famous for the manufacture of gloves, still keep up their character. amongst these woodstock, yeovil, leominster, ludlow, and worcester may be mentioned. the spanish dagger formerly belonged to a governor of castile, in the sixteenth century, as is shown by the perforated fetter-lock on the blade; and although the initials are engraven there also, we have not been able to discover any particulars of the original owner. the workmanship and style of the dagger are of great beauty. the little ring with the inscription "behold the end," was once the property of charles i., and was presented by him to bishop juxon on the morning of his execution. the silver lockets, on which are the emblems of death, were extensively manufactured and sold after the execution of charles i. they generally bore the date of the king's death. the hamster rat. there are various kinds of rats, and one of these is the hamster, of the genus cricetus of cuvier. though rare in europe to the west of the rhine, it is widely spread from that river to the danube on the south-west, and north-easterly through a vast extent of country into siberia. we notice it in our pages on account of its extraordinary habits. its life appears to be divided between eating and fighting. it seems to have no other passion than that of rage, which induces it to attack every animal that comes in its way, without in the least attending to the superior strength of its enemy. ignorant of the art of saving itself by flight, rather than yield, it will allow itself to be beaten to pieces with a stick. if it seizes a man's hand, it must be killed before it will quit its hold. the magnitude of the horse terrifies it as little as the address of the dog, which last is fond of hunting it. when the hamster perceives a dog at a distance, it begins by emptying its cheek-pouches if they happen to be filled with grain; it then blows them up so prodigiously, that the size of the head and neck greatly exceed that of the rest of the body. it raises itself on its hind legs, and thus darts upon the enemy. if it catches hold, it never quits it but with the loss of its life; but the dog generally seizes it from behind, and strangles it. this ferocious disposition prevents the hamster from being at peace with any animal whatever. it even makes war against its own species. when two hamsters meet, they never fail to attack each other, and the stronger always devours the weaker. a combat between a male and a female commonly lasts longer than between two males. they begin by pursuing and biting each other, then each of them retires aside, as if to take breath. after a short interval, they renew the combat, and continue to fight till one of them falls. the vanquished uniformly serves for a repast to the conqueror. knavery of the priests in burmah. [illustration: burmese priest preaching.] the manner in which an uncivilized people will calmly submit to be duped by the extortionate rascality of their priests, is strongly exhibited in the kingdom of burmah. the people who are there held in the highest estimation are the priests. any one who pleases may be a priest. the priests pretend to be poor, and go out begging every morning with their empty dishes in their hands; but they get them well filled, and then return to their handsome houses, all shining with gold, in which they live together in plenty and in pride. they are expected to dress in rags, to show that they are poor; but not liking rags, they cut up cloth in little pieces, and sew the pieces together to make their yellow robes; and this they call wearing rags. they pretend to be so modest, that they do not like to show their faces, and so hide them with a fan, even when they preach; for they do preach in their way, that is, they tell foolish stories about buddha. the name they give him is guadama, while the chinese call him fo. they have five hundred and fifty stories written in their books about him; for they say he was once a bird, a fly, an elephant, and all manner of creatures, and was so good whatever he was, that at last he was born the son of a king. is it not marvellous that a whole people should, for generation after generation, not only submit to be thus scandalously cheated, but should also hold those who cheat them in the highest esteem? a curious fact, indeed, in the history of mankind. miraculous escape. one of the most singular circumstances occurred a few years ago that ever came within our observation. mr. charlton, surgeon, of wylam, near newcastle-on-tyne, having at a late hour been called upon in haste to give his attendance at ovingham, borrowed a spirited horse of a friend, that he might proceed with the least possible delay. he had not gone above half a mile when he perceived his horse stumble, and he immediately threw himself from the saddle. it was fortunate he did so, for the next instant his horse had fallen down a precipice of near seventy feet; and, incredible as it may seem, the animal sustained no injury, but immediately dashed into the tyne, and swam to the opposite side. search was made after him, and hearing his master's voice, he was heard to neigh even across the water in token of recognition, and was ultimately restored without speck or blemish. a national taste for gaming. it is a remarkable fact that a taste for gaming appears in some cases to pervade a whole people, and to become one of the chief national characteristics. no where is this more manifest than among the inhabitants of the asiatic islands. games of hazard are the favourites of these islanders. some of them they have learned of the chinese, the most debauched of gamesters, and others of the portuguese. the only game of hazard, of native origin, among the javanese consists in guessing the number of a certain kind of beans which the players hold in their hands. but of all the species of gaming that to which the indian islanders are most fondly addicted is betting on the issue of the combats of pugnacious animals, and particularly the cock. the breed in highest estimation is the produce of celebes. the people of java fight their cocks without spurs; but the malays and natives of celebes with an artificial spur, in the shape of a small scythe, which, notwithstanding its barbarous appearance, is in reality less destructive than the contrivance employed among ourselves. quail fighting also is extremely common in java. the most famous breed of this bird is found in the island of lombok; and it is a singular fact, that the female is used in these bitter but bloodless combats, the male being comparatively small and timid. neither do the javanese hesitate to bet considerable sums on a battle between two crickets, which are excited to the conflict by the titillation of a blade of grass judiciously applied to their noses. they will likewise risk their money on the strength and hardness of a nut, called _kamiri_; and much skill, patience and dexterity, are exercised in the selection and the strife. at other times two paper kites decide the fortune of the parties; the object of each in this contest being to cut the string of his adversary. on a favourable day fifty or sixty kites, raised for this purpose, may sometimes be seen hovering over a javanese city. a friend to physic. mr. samuel jessup, who died at heckington, lincolnshire, in , was an opulent grazier and of pill-taking memory. he lived in a very eccentric way, as a bachelor, without known relatives, and at his decease was possessed of a good fortune, notwithstanding a most inordinate craving for physic, by which he was distinguished for the last thirty years of his life, as appeared on a trial for the amount of an apothecary's bill, at the assizes at lincoln, a short time before mr. jessup's death, wherein he was defendant. the evidence on the trial affords the following materials for the epitaph of the deceased, which will not be transcended by the memorabilia of the life of any man. in twenty-one years (from to ) the deceased took , pills (supplied by a most highly respectable apothecary and worthy person of the name of wright, who resided at bottesford), which is at the rate of , pills a year, or pills each day; but as the patient begun with a more moderate appetite, and increased it as he proceeded, in the last five years preceding , he took the pills at the rate of a-day, and in the year , he swallowed not less than , . notwithstanding this, and the addition of , bottles of mixture, and juleps and electuaries, extending altogether to fifty-five closely written columns of an apothecary's bill, the deceased lived to attain the advanced age of sixty-five years. an inculpatory epitaph. the following epitaph at west allington, devon, is deserving a place in our record of curiosities, inasmuch as it appears to be a successful attempt in making a monumental stone, both a memorial of the deceased, and also a means of reproving the parson of the parish:-- "here lyeth the body of daniel jeffery the son of michael jeffery and joan his wife he was buried y{e} day of september and in y{e} {th} year of his age. this youth when in his sickness lay did for the minister send + that he would come and with him pray + but he would not ate{nd} but when this young man buried was the minister did him admit + he should be caried into church + that he might money geet by this you see what man will dwo + to geet money if he can + who did refuse to come pray + by the foresaid young man." hunting a sheep killer. it has been remarked, that when once a dog acquires wild habits, and takes to killing sheep, he does far more mischief than a wild beast, since to the cunning of the tamed animal he adds the ferocity of the untamed. a remarkable case of this sort is mentioned in the following paragraph, which we have copied from the _newcastle courant_ of the year . it is also curious to note the account of the chase, and of the joy which the whole country-side seems to have manifested at the slaughter of the animal.--september --a few days ago a dog of a most destructive nature infested the fells of caldbeck, carrock, and high pike, about sixteen miles south of carlisle. little doubt remains of its being the same dog which has been so injurious to the farmers in the northern parts of northumberland, as no less than sixty sheep or upwards have fallen victims to its ferocity. it was thought proper to lose no time in attempting to destroy it, and tuesday last was fixed upon. sir h. fletcher, bart., of clea hall, offered his pack of hounds, and several other dogs with about fifty horsemen set out from hesket new-market. several persons with firearms were stationed at different parts. the dog was descried upon an eminence of carrock-fell, and on sight of the pursuers set off by way of hesket new-market, stocklewath, and barwick-field, then returned by cowclose, castle sowerby, and attempted to gain the fells again, when mr. sewell, farmer at wedlock, lying in ambush at mossdale, fired, and succeeded in shooting him. he appears to be of the newfoundland breed, of a common size, wire-haired, and extremely lean. during the chase he frequently turned upon the dogs which were headmost, and so wounded several as obliged them to give up the pursuit. the joy manifested on this occasion was uncommon, insomuch that on the day following about thirty persons sat down to a dinner provided at mr. tomlinson's, hesket new-market. upon the most moderate computation, excluding the various windings, the chase could not be less than thirty miles, and occupied no less than six hours. longevity. henry jenkins, of ellerton-upon-swale, yorkshire, died , aged . he remembered the battle of flodden field, fought between the english and the scotch, september , , when he was about twelve years old. he was then sent to northallerton with a cartload of arrows, but an older boy was employed to convey them to the army. at ellerton there was also living, at the same time, four or five other old men, reputed to be of the age of one hundred years and thereabouts, and they all testified that jenkins was an elderly man when first they knew him. jenkins was once butler to lord conyers; he perfectly remembered the abbot of fountain's dale before the dissolution of the monasteries. in the last century of his life he was a fisherman, and often swam in the river after he was a hundred years old. in the king's remembrancer office in the exchequer, there is a record of a deposition in a cause, taken april, , at kettlewell, yorkshire, where henry jenkins, of ellerton-upon-swale, labourer, aged years, was produced, and made deposition as a witness. he was buried at bolton, yorkshire. in , a monument, with a suitable inscription, was erected to perpetuate his memory. the pulpit of john knox at st. andrew's. john knox, the great precursor of the protestant reformation, having been driven from edinburgh by the threats of his opponents, reluctantly withdrew to st. andrew's, in the county of fife, where he continued with undiminished boldness to denounce the enemies of the reformed faith. it was in that place that he had first discoursed against the degeneracy of the church of rome, and there he occupied the pulpit represented in the accompanying engraving; and the following curious and characteristic anecdote connected with his preaching in it, is related in the manuscript diary of james melville, then a student at the college of st. andrew's, and subsequently minister of anstruther. "of all the benefits i haid that year ( ) was the coming of that maist notable profet and apostle of our nation, mr. jhone knox, to st. andrew's: who, be the faction of the queen occupying the castell and town of edinburgh, was compellit to remove therefra, with a number of the best, and chusit to come to st. andrew's. i heard him teache there the prophecies of daniel that simmer, and the winter following; i haid my pen and my little buike, and tuk away sic things as i could comprehend. in the opening up of his text he was moderat the space of an half houre; but when he onterit to application, he made me so to _grew_ (thrill) and tremble, that i could not hold a pen to wryt. he was very weak. i saw him every day of his life go _hulie and fear_ (hoolie and fairly--slowly and warily) with a furring of marticks, (martins) about his neck, a staffe in the ane hand, and gud godlie richard ballanden, his servand, haldin up the uther _oxier_ (arm-pit), from the abbey to the parish-kirk; and be the said richart and another servant lifted up to the pulpit, whar he _behovit_ (was obliged) to lean at his first entry: bot er he had done with his sermone he was sa active and vigourous, that he was lyk to _ding the pulpit in blads_ (beat it into shivers) and flie out of it." [illustration [++] pulpit of john knox at st. andrew's.] the interesting relique commemorated in this curious extract, is of that stately style of carving which was introduced towards the close of the sixteenth century in protestant preaching-places; and continued, though of a more heavy character, throughout the whole of the succeeding century. a scroll-bracket remaining on the preacher's left hand, and some broken pieces at the top of the back, appear to indicate that it was once more extended, and had probably a canopy or sounding-board. the bible used by king charles the first on the scaffold. [illustration [++] bible used by charles the first on the scaffold.] there is so much external evidence of the genuineness of this very beautiful and interesting relique, that no doubt can exist as to its perfect authenticity, though the circumstance of the king having a bible with him on the scaffold, and of presenting it to dr. juxon, is not mentioned in any contemporaneous account of his death. the only notice of such a volume, as a dying gift, appears to be that recorded by sir thomas herbert, in his narrative, which forms a part of the _memoirs of the last two years of the reign of that unparalleled prince of ever-blessed memory, king charles i._ london, , vo, p. , in the following passage:--"the king thereupon gave him his hand to kiss: having the day before been graciously pleased under his royal hand, to give him a certificate that the said mr. herbert was not imposed upon him, but by his majesty made choice of to attend him in his bed-chamber, and had served him with faithfulness and loyal affection. his majesty also delivered him his bible, in the margin whereof he had with his own hand, written many annotations and quotations, and charged him to give it to the prince so soon as he returned." that this might be the book represented in our engraving, is rendered extremely probable, by admitting that the king would be naturally anxious, that his son should possess that very copy of the scriptures which had been provided for himself when he was prince of wales. it will be observed that the cover of the volume is decorated with the badge of the principality within the garter, surmounted by a royal coronet in silver gilt, inclosed by an embroidered border; the initials c. p. apparently improperly altered to an r., and the badges of the rose and thistle, upon a ground of blue velvet: and the book was therefore bound between the death of prince henry in , and the accession of king charles to the throne in , when such a coronet would be no longer used by him. if the bible here represented were that referred to by herbert, the circumstance of bishop juxon becoming the possessor of it might be accounted for, by supposing that it was placed in his hands to be transmitted to charles ii. with the george of the order of the garter belonging to the late king, well known to have been given to that prelate upon the scaffold, january th, - . lambeth wells, the apollo gardens, and finch's grotto. among the numerous public places of amusement which arose upon the success of vauxhall gardens, which were first opened about , was one in lambeth walk, known as lambeth wells. this place was first opened on account of its mineral waters, which were sold at a penny per quart. the music commenced at seven o'clock in the morning, and the price of admission was three pence. a monthly concert under the direction of mr. starling goodwin, organist of st. saviour's church southwark, was afterwards held here, and erasmus king, who had been coachman to the celebrated dr. desaguliers, read lectures and exhibited experiments in natural philosophy, the price of admission being raised to sixpence. this place was open before , and existed as late as , when "a penny wedding after the scotch fashion, for the benefit of a young couple," was advertised to be kept there. lambeth wells at length becoming a public nuisance, the premises were shut up, and ultimately let as a methodist meeting-house. the music gallery was used as a pulpit; but the preacher being greatly disturbed in his enthusiastic harangues, he was obliged to quit, when the premises were converted to various purposes, except the dwelling, which is now known by the sign of the fountain public-house. on the site of messrs. maudslay's factory, in the westminster road, formerly stood the apollo gardens. this place of amusement was opened in , by an ingenious musician named clagget, who published, in , a small quarto pamphlet, entitled "musical phenomena: an organ made without pipes, strings, bells, or glasses; the only instrument in the world that will never require to be re-tuned. a cromatic trumpet, capable of producing just intervals, and regular melodies in all keys, without undergoing any change whatever. a french horn answering the above description of the trumpet." the apollo gardens had one spacious room elegantly fitted up, and decorated in taste suitably to its intention. the gardens consisted of a number of elegant pavilions or alcoves, well adapted for the accommodation of different companies; they were ornamented chiefly with a succession of paintings, relating to romantic histories, particularly the different adventures of don quixote. it had a fine orchestra erected in the centre of the gardens. the place being ultimately converted into a receptacle for loose and dissolute characters, the magistracy very properly suppressed it about the year . in gravel lane, southwark, was finch's grotto, a public garden and place of amusement, so named from william finch, the proprietor. the grotto was opened to the public in upon the plan of vauxhall gardens. an orchestra and a band of musicians, added to the rural character of the place, and drew a numerous body of visitors. very little is known about the grotto, but it is supposed to have been closed early in the present century. the duck-billed platypus, or, ornithorynchus paradoxus. [illustration [++] duck-billed platypus.] of the genus _ornithorynchus_ only one species--the _paradoxus_--has yet been discovered in the whole world, and it is, therefore, one of the great curiosities of animal life. it appears to be a union of a quadruped and a bird, and is only to be found in new holland, where it inhabits the reeds by the side of rivers. our engraving represents it very accurately. it is about twenty inches long, having a flattened body, somewhat like the otter, and is clothed with a dark soft fur. the elongated nose very much resembles the beak of a duck, like which these animals feed upon water insects, shell-fish, and aquatic plants. the feet are five-toed and webbed, and in the fore-feet this membrane extends beyond the nails: the male is armed with a spur on each hind leg. this curious animal, in which a duck's beak is united to the body of a quadruped, rolls itself up like a hedgehog, when it sleeps in its burrows on the banks of the streams whence its food is derived. origin of bolton abbey. about midway up the vale of bolton, amidst the gloomy recesses of the woods, the wharfe, which is otherwise a wide and shallow river, is suddenly contracted by two huge rocks, which approach each other so nearly, that the country folk, or rather the villagers, call it the _strid_, because adventurous people stride or leap from one rock to the other. in ancient days, the whole of this valley belonged to baron romillie, whose eldest son having died, left a younger brother, of the name of egremont, sole heir of the domains and inheritance of this family. one day, however, when this young man, familiarly called the "boy of egremont," was returning from hunting with the hounds in the _leash_, he, as he had done many times before, was going to leap the _strid_, when, just as he had attempted it, the hounds held back, and precipitated him headlong into the deep and awful chasm, which the impetuous fall of water (thus produced by the sudden contraction of the river) had worn in the base of the two rude rocks, and he was never seen afterwards. the baron, being now left childless, built the abbey, and endowed it with the domains of bolton. length of life without bodily exercise. the rev. william davies, rector of staunton-upon-wye, and vicar of all saints, hereford, died , aged . the life of this gentleman displays one of the most extraordinary instances of departure from all those rules of temperance and exercise, which so much influence the lives of the mass of mankind, that is, probably to be found in the whole records of longevity. during the last thirty-five years of his life, he never used any other exercise than that of just slipping his feet, one before the other, from room to room; and they never after that time were raised, but to go down or up stairs, a task, however, to which he seldom subjected himself. his breakfast was hearty; consisting of hot _rolls well buttered_, with a plentiful supply of tea or coffee. his dinner was substantial, and frequently consisted of a variety of dishes. at supper he generally eat hot roast meat, and always drank wine, though never to excess. though nearly blind for a number of years, he was always cheerful in his manners, and entertaining in his conversation, and was much beloved by all who knew him. he had neither gout, stone, paralysis, rheumatism, nor any of those disagreeable infirmities which mostly attend old age; but died peaceably in the full possession of all his faculties, mental and corporeal, save his eyesight. like most long livers he was very short of stature. extraordinary fashion in cigars. a taste for tobacco in some form or other seems to extend over the whole inhabitable globe. in this respect it matters not whether nations are civilized or uncivilized; and however completely they may differ from each other in everything else, they all agree in a fondness for "the weed." in the mode, however, of indulging in the luxury, there is the greatest diversity, and no where is this more strikingly manifested than in the philippine islands. "it is not till evening that the inhabitants of the higher class begin to stir; till that time they are occupied in eating, sleeping, and smoking tobacco, which is no where more general than on the island of luzon; for children, before they can walk, begin to smoke segars. the women carry their fondness for it to a greater height than the men; for, not content with the usual small segars, they have others made for them, which are a foot long and proportionably thick. these are here called the women's segars, and it is a most ludicrous sight to see elegant ladies taking their evening walk, with these burning brands in their mouths." how widely does the fashion in luzon differ from the fashion at paris! novel way of purchasing a husband. the following paragraph, which we have copied from a magazine of , not only gives us a curious instance of female determination in the pursuit of a husband, but tells us of the price which human hair was worth at the period when ladies wore such monstrous head-dresses of false curls. "an oxfordshire lass was lately courted by a young man of that country, who was not willing to marry her unless her friends could advance _l._ for her portion; which they being incapable of doing, the lass came to london to try her fortune, where she met with a good chapman in the strand, who made a purchase of her hair (which was delicately long and light), and gave her _sixty pounds_ for it, being ounces at _l. an ounce_; with which money she joyfully returned into the country, and bought her a husband." gloves.--origin of "pin money." gloves were very common as new year's gifts. for many hundreds of years after their introduction into england in the th century, they were worn only by the most opulent classes of society, and hence constituted a valuable present. they are often named in old records. exchange of gloves was at one period a mode of investiture into possession of property, as amongst the ancient jews was that of a shoe or sandal; and "glove-money" is to this day presented by high sheriffs to the officers of their courts, upon occasion of a maiden assize, or one in which no cause is tried. pins, which at the commencement of the sixteenth century displaced the wooden skewers previously in use, became a present of similar consequence; and at their first introduction were considered of so much importance in female dress, that "pin-money" grew into the denomination of dower, which, by the caution of parents, or justice of a consort, was settled upon a lady at her marriage. habits and habitations of the dyaks of borneo. it is impossible to appreciate properly the courage, determination, and skill which have been displayed by the gallant sir james brooke, unless we make ourselves acquainted with the character and habits of the extraordinary race of men over whom he triumphed. the dyaks are a savage people who inhabit borneo. they lived there before the malays came, and they have been obliged to submit to them. they are savages indeed. they are darker than the malays; yet they are not black; their skin is only the colour of copper. their hair is cut short in front, but streams down their backs; their large mouths show a quantity of black teeth, made black by chewing the betel-nut. they wear but very little clothing, but they adorn their ears and arms, and legs, with numbers of brass rings. their looks are wild and fierce, but not cunning like the looks of the malays. they are not mahomedans; they have hardly any religion at all. they believe there are some gods, but they know hardly anything about them, and they do not want to know. they neither make images to the gods, nor say prayers to them. they live like the beasts, thinking only of this life; yet they are more unhappy than beasts, for they imagine there are evil spirits among the woods and hills, watching to do them harm. it is often hard to persuade them to go to the top of a mountain, where they say evil spirits dwell. such a people would be more ready to listen to a missionary than those who have idols, and temples, and priests, and sacred books. [illustration: dyak with heads.] [illustration: head of a dyak.] their wickedness is very great. it is their chief delight to get the heads of their enemies. there are a great many different tribes of dyaks, and each tribe tries to cut off the heads of other tribes. the dyaks who live by the sea are the most cruel; they go out into the boats to rob and bring home, not _slaves_, but heads!! and how do they treat a head when they get it? they take out the brains, and then they dry it in the smoke, with the flesh and hair still on; then they put a string through it, and fasten it to their waists. the evening that they have got some new heads, the warriors dance with delight,--their heads dangling by their sides;--and they turn round in the dance, and gaze upon their heads,--and shout,--and yell with triumph! at night they still keep the heads near them; and in the day they play with them, as children with their dolls, talking to them, putting food in their mouths, and the betel-nut between their ghastly lips. after wearing the heads many days, they hang them up to the ceilings of their rooms. no english lord thinks so much of his pictures, as the dyaks do of their heads. they think these heads are the finest ornaments of their houses. the man who has _most_ heads, is considered the _greatest_ man. a man who has _no heads_ is despised! if he wishes to be respected, he must get a head as soon as he can. sometimes a man, in order to get a head, will go out to look for a poor fisherman, who has done him no harm, and will come back with his head. when the dyaks fight against their enemies, they try to get, not only the heads of men, but also the heads of women and children. how dreadful it must be to see a poor baby's head hanging from the ceiling! there was a dyak who lost all his property by fire, but he cared not for losing anything, so much as for losing his precious heads; nothing could console him for his loss; some of them he had cut off himself, and others had been cut off by his father, and left to him! [illustration: house of sea dyaks.] [illustration: skull house.] people who are so bent on killing, as these dyaks are, must have many enemies. the dyaks are always in fear of being attacked by their enemies. they are afraid of living in lonely cottages; they think it a better plan for a great many to live together, that they may be able to defend themselves, if surprised in the night. four hundred dyaks will live together in one house. the house is very large. to make it more safe, it is built upon very high posts, and there are ladders to get up by. the posts are sometimes forty feet high; so that when you are in the house, you find yourself as high as the tall trees. there is one very large room, where all the men and women sit, and talk, and do their work in the day. the women pound the rice, and weave the mats, while the men make weapons of war, and the little children play about. there is always much noise and confusion in this room. there are a great many doors along one side of the long room; and each of these doors leads into a small room where a family lives! the parents, the babies, and the girls sleep there, while the boys of the family sleep in the large room, that has just been described. the hill dyaks do not live in houses quite so large. yet several families inhabit the same house. in the midst of their villages, there is always one house where the boys sleep. in this house all the heads of the village are kept. the house is round, and built on posts, and the entrance is underneath, through the floor. as this is the best house in the village, travellers are always brought to this house to sleep. think how dreadful it must be, when you wake in the night to see thirty or forty horrible heads, dangling from the ceiling! the wind, too, which comes in through little doors in the roof, blows the heads about; so that they knock against each other, and seem almost as if they were still alive. this is the dead-house. such are the men whom the rajah brooke subdued! scottish wild cattle. the wild white cattle, a few of which are still to be found in chatelherault park, belonging to the duke of hamilton, in lanarkshire, are great objects of curiosity, inasmuch as they are identical with the primitive source of all our domestic cattle. the following description of their habits is abridged from an article by the rev. w. patrick, in the quarterly journal of agriculture:-- "i am inclined to believe that the hamilton breed of cattle is the oldest in scotland, or perhaps in britain. although lord tankerville has said they have 'no wild habits,' i am convinced, from personal observation, that this is one of their peculiar features. in browsing their extensive pasture, they always keep close together, never scattering or straggling over it, a peculiarity which does not belong to the kyloe, or any other breed, from the wildest or most inhospitable regions of the highlands. the white cows are also remarkable for their systematic manner of feeding. at different periods of the year their tactics are different, but by those acquainted with their habits they are always found about the same part of the forest at the same hour of the day. in the height of summer, they always bivouac for the night towards the northern extremity of the forest; from this point they start in the morning, and browse to the southern extremity, and return at sunset to their old rendezvous; and during these perambulations they always feed _en masse_. "the bulls are seldom ill-natured, but when they are so they display a disposition more than ordinarily savage, cunning, pertinacious, and revengeful. a poor bird-catcher, when exercising his vocation among the 'old oaks,' as the park is familiarly called, chanced to be attacked by a savage bull. by great exertion he gained a tree before his assailant made up to him. here he had occasion to observe the habits of the animal. it did not roar or bellow, but merely grunted, the whole body quivered with passion and savage rage, and he frequently attacked the tree with his head and hoofs. finding all to no purpose, he left off the vain attempt, began to browse, and removed to some distance from the tree. the bird-catcher tried to descend, but this watchful cerberus was again instantly at his post, and it was not till after six hours' imprisonment, and various bouts at 'bo-peep' as above, that the unfortunate man was relieved by some shepherds with their dogs. a writer's apprentice, who had been at the village of quarter on business, and who returned by the 'oaks' as a 'near-hand cut,' was also attacked by one of these savage brutes, near the northern extremity of the forest. he was fortunate, however, in getting up a tree, but was watched by the bull, and kept there during the whole of the night, and till near two o'clock the next day. "these animals are never taken and killed like other cattle, but are always shot in the field. i once went to see a bull and some cows destroyed in this manner--not by any means for the sake of the sight, but to observe the manner and habits of the animal under peculiar circumstances. when the shooters approached, they, as usual, scampered off in a body, then stood still, tossed their heads on high, and seemed to snuff the wind; the manoeuvre was often repeated, till they got so hard pressed (and seemingly having a sort of half-idea of the tragedy which was to be performed), that they at length ran furiously in a mass, always preferring the sides of the fence and sheltered situations, and dexterously taking advantage of any inequality in the ground, or other circumstances, to conceal themselves from the assailing foe. in their flight, the bulls, or stronger of the flock, always took the lead! a smoke ascended from them which could be seen at a great distance; and they were often so close together, like sheep, that a carpet would have covered them. the cows which had young, on the first 'tug of war,' all retreated to the thickets where their calves were concealed; from prudential motives, they are never, if possible, molested. these and other wild habits i can testify to be inherent in the race, and are well known to all who have an opportunity of acquainting themselves with them." bells of the ancients. bells were known in the earliest ages of which we have any certain account. but the bells of the ancients were very small in comparison with those of modern times, since, according to polydore virgil, the invention of such as are hung in the towers, or steeples of christian churches, did not occur till the latter end of the fourth, or beginning of the fifth century; when they were introduced by paulinus, bishop of nola. the jews certainly employed bells, since they are spoken of in scriptures; and the mention of them by thucydides, diodorus siculus, suidas, aristophanes, and other ancient writers, proves that they were used in greece; while plautus, ovid, tibullus, statius, and a variety of latin authors, speak of bells as in use among the romans. but these bells of the ancients were all made for the hand; or were of a size to be affixed to other musical instruments, like those which were occasionally appended to the drum. whether, when detached from other instruments, they were used on other occasions, or only in particular ceremonies, or as signals, is not known; nor have we any clue by which to guess whether they were tuned in concordance with any scale, or whether they were unisons to each other, or not formed to any particular pitch, but merely used as sonorous auxiliaries to other instruments, without any regard to their agreement of tone, either with one another, or with the instruments they accompanied. earthquake at nottingham in . earthquakes are providentially occurrences of great rarity in england. the one which took place on the th of march, , was one of the most dangerous that has ever been experienced in this kingdom. it extended over a vast area of country, and in some localities its effects were felt very severely. as a proof of this, we have copied the following paragraph from a nottingham paper of the day:-- nottingham, in common with a great part of the north midland district, experienced a smart shock of an earthquake. it was felt at half-past twelve p.m., and as divine service, it being sunday, was not over at the churches, great alarm was expressed by the congregations. at st. peter's and st. nicholas's, the consternation was so great, that service had to be suspended for a few seconds, and one lady was borne out in a state of insensibility. the pillars supporting st. mary's tower shook very visibly, but, fortunately, the attention of the crowded congregation was so engrossed by the eloquence of the sheriff's chaplain, and the presence of the judge and his retinue, that the alarm was but slight, or the rush and loss of life might have been great. in various parts of the town and neighbourhood, glasses were shaken off of shelves, articles of domestic use displaced, window-casements thrown open, and other indications manifest of the influence of the subterranean movement. singular state of preservation of a dead body. according to a statement in holinshed, in , while digging for a foundation for the church of st. mary-at-hill, in london, the body of alice hackney was discovered. it had been buried years, and yet the skin was whole, and the joint pliable. it was kept above ground four days without annoyance, and then re-interred. asylum for destitute cats. of all the curious charitable institutions in the world, the most curious probably is the cat asylum at aleppo, which is attached to one of the mosques there, and was founded by a misanthropic old turk, who being possessed of large granaries, was much annoyed by rats and mice, to rid himself of which he employed a legion of cats, who so effectually rendered him service, that in return he left them a sum in the turkish funds, with strict injunctions that all destitute and sickly cats should be provided for, till such time as they took themselves off again. in , when a famine was ravaging in all north syria--when scores of poor people were dropping down in the streets from sheer exhaustion and want, and dying there by dozens per diem before the eyes of their well-to-do fellow creatures, men might daily be encountered carrying away sack loads of cats to be fed up and feasted on the proceeds of the last will and testament of that vagabond old turk, whilst fellow creatures were permitted to perish. tomb of saint george. the tomb of saint george, england's patron-saint, is situated in the bay of kesrouan, between the nahr-et-kelb and batroun, surrounded by luxuriant gardens and groups of romantic-looking villages and convents. the arabs venerate st. george, whom they style mar djurios, and point to a small ruined chapel (as in our engraving), originally dedicated to him to commemorate his victory over the dragon, which, they say, took place near to the spot. the tradition is, that the dragon was about to devour the king of beyrout's daughter, when st. george slew him, and thus saved the lady fair; and the credulous natives point to a kind of well, upwards of sixty feet deep, where they stoutly affirm that the dragon used to come out to feed upon his victims. [illustration [++] tomb of saint george.] all this is very curious, inasmuch as it gives an arabian interest to the career of the patron saint of england, whose portrait, in the act of slaying the dragon, constitutes the reverse of most english coin, and is regarded as the embodiment of english valour. beggars selected as models by painters. michael angelo buonarotti often drew from beggars; and report says, that in the early part of his life, when he had not the means of paying them in money, he would make an additional sketch, and, presenting it to the party, desire him to take it to some particular person, who would purchase it. fuseli, in his life of michael angelo, says that "a beggar rose from his hand the patriarch of poverty." the same artist, in one of his lectures, delivered at the royal academy, also observes, that "michael angelo ennobled his beggars into patriarchs and prophets, in the ceiling of the sistine chapel." annibal caracci frequently drew subjects in low life. his _cries of bologna_, etched by giuseppe maria mitelli: pub. , in folio, are evidently from real characters. it will also be recollected, that some of the finest productions of murillo, jan miel, and drogsloot, are beggars. callot's twenty-four beggars are evidently from nature; and among rembrandt's etchings are to be found twenty-three plates of this description. sir joshua reynolds frequently painted from beggars, and from these people have originated some of his finest pictures, particularly his "mercury as a pickpocket," and "cupid as a link-boy." his count ugolino was painted from a paviour, soon after he had left st. george's hospital, from a severe fever. mr. west painted the portrait of a beggar, on the day when he became a hundred years old; and considered him as a pensioner for several years afterwards. the same person was used also as a model, by copley, opie, &c. who can forget the lovely countenance of gainsborough's "shepherd's boy," that has once seen earlom's excellent engraving from it? he was a lad, well known as a beggar to those who walked st. james's-street seventy years ago. the model for the celebrated picture of the "woodman," by the same artist, died in the borough, at the venerable age of . mr. nollekens, in , when modelling the bust of dr. johnson, who then wore a wig, called in a beggar to sit for the hair. the same artist was not equally fortunate in the locks of another great character; for on his application to a beggar for the like purpose, the fellow declined to sit, with an observation that three half-crowns were not sufficient for the trouble. supply of water for old london. leaden pipes conveyed spring water to london city from tyburn in ; and in the first great conduit of lead was begun there. in henry vi. granted to john hatherley, mayor, license to take up fother of lead. the pipes from highbury brought in the water in . we may learn how much was thought of this useful work by the fact that the lord mayor, aldermen, and many worshipful persons used to ride and view the conduit heads at tyburn; and after dinner there, somewhat different from recent sportsmen, they hunted a fox. the water-works at london bridge were established in . in , two-fifteenths were granted by the common council for defraying the expense of bringing water from hackney to aldgate to a conduit. but peter morris did not bring his supply of water to the highest parts of london till the year , and sir hugh middleton's far-famed new river was only rendered available in , that is, a space of sixty-eight years after the introduction of a stream of pure water into the western parts of the town of lyme in dorset. combination of instinct and force of habit in a dog. a dog which had been accustomed to go with his master regularly for some time to penkridge church, still continued to go there by himself every sunday for a whole year, while the edifice was under repair, and divine service was not held. whenever he could, he would get into the family pew and there pass the proper time. his instinct enabled him to perceive the occasion, and to measure the regular time, but it could carry him no further. a remarkable exemplification of the difference between instinct and reason. yorkshire in the last century. anecdotes which are apparently trifling in themselves, are often of importance, as exhibiting in a striking light the dialect and social condition of the people, and the period they refer to. an instance of this is the following, which has been recorded as the bellman's cry at ripon, on the occasion of a great frost and fall of snow, about :-- "i is to gie notidge, that joanie pickersgill yeats yewn to neit, to moarn at moarn, an to moarn at neit, an nea langer, as lang as storm hods, 'cause he can git na mare eldin." _the translation._ i am to give notice, that john pickersgill heats his oven to-night, to-morrow morning, and to-morrow at night, and no longer as long as the storm lasts, because he can get no more fuel. instance of many aged persons dying about the same date. the following is taken from a copy of nile's "weekly register," published at baltimore, in the month of january, . it is the list of deaths which had been notified to the paper within one week, and we give it, as a singular instance of the decease of so many persons above one hundred years old being announced in the same paragraph. "in franklin co. pennsylvania, elizabeth campbell, aged --several of her relatives had reached .--at troy, n. y., ann fowler, .--at tyngsboro', n. y., abigail hadlock, .--at somers, n. y., michael makeel, .--at rutland, oswego, n. y., mrs. buroy, .--at brunswick, maine, gen. james w. ryan, --his wife is yet living, aged ; they were married together years before his death.--at georgetown, col. yarrow, a moor, (supposed) !--at the city of new york, a woman, a native of st. domingo, . at sargus, mass., mrs. edwards, .--in edgecomb county, n. c., william spicer, aged about .--in boston, william homer, ." corpse bearers during the plague. of all the calamities with which a great city is infested, there can be none so truly awful as that of a plague, when the street doors of the houses that were visited with the dreadful pest were padlocked up, and only accessible to the surgeons and medical men, whose melancholy duty frequently exposed them even to death itself; and when the fronts of the houses were pasted over with large bills exhibiting red crosses, to denote that in such houses the pestilence was raging, and requesting the solitary passenger, to pray that the lord might have mercy upon those who were confined within. of these bills there are many extant in the libraries of the curious, some of which have borders engraved on wood printed in black, displaying figures of skeletons, bones, and coffins they also contain various recipes for the cure of the distemper. the lady arundel, and other persons of distinction, published their methods for making what was then called plague-water, and which are to be found in many of the rare books on cookery of the time; but happily for london, it has not been visited by this affliction since , a circumstance owing probably to the great fire in the succeeding year, which consumed so many old and deplorable buildings, then standing in narrow streets and places so confined, that it was hardly possible to know where any pest would stop. [illustration [++] corpse bearer.] every one who inspects agas's plan of london, engraved in the reign of elizabeth, as well as those published subsequently to the rebuilding of the city after the fire, must acknowledge the great improvements as to the houses, the widening of the streets, and the free admission of fresh air. it is to be hoped, and indeed we may conclude from the very great and daily improvements on that most excellent plan of widening streets, that this great city will never again witness such visitations. when the plague was at its height, perhaps nothing could have been more silently or solemnly conducted than the removal of the dead to the various pits round london, that were opened for their reception; and it was the business of corpse bearers, such as the one exhibited in the preceding engraving, to give directions to the carmen, who went through the city with bells, which they rang, at the same time crying "bring out your dead." this melancholy description may be closed, by observing that many parts of london, particularly those leading to the courts of westminster, were so little trodden down, that the grass grew in the middle of the streets. a memento-mori watch. the curious relic, of which we herewith give an engraving, was presented by mary, queen of scots, to her maid of honour, mary seaton, of the house of wintoun, one of the four celebrated maries, who were maids of honour to her majesty. "yestreen the queen had four maries, the night she'll hae but three; there was marie seaton, and marie beaton, and marie carmichael and me." [illustration [++] memento-mori watch.] the watch is of silver, in the form of a skull. on the forehead of the skull is the figure of death, with his scythe and sand-glass; he stands between a palace on the one hand, and a cottage on the other, with his toes applied equally to the door of each, and around this is the legend from horace "_pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres_." on the opposite, or posterior part of the skull, is a representation of time, devouring all things. he also has a scythe, and near him is the serpent with its tail in its mouth, being an emblem of eternity; this is surrounded by another legend from horace, "_tempus edax rerum tuque invidiosa vetustas_." the upper part of the skull is divided into two compartments: on one is represented our first parents in the garden of eden, attended by some of the animals, with the motto, "_peccando perditionem miseriam æternam posteris meruere_." the opposite compartment is filled with the subject of the salvation of lost man by the crucifixion of our saviour, who is represented as suffering between the two thieves, whilst the mary's are in adoration below; the motto to this is "_sic justitiæ satisfecit, mortem superavit salutem comparavit_." running below these compartments on both sides, there is an open work of about an inch in width, to permit the sound to come more freely out when the watch strikes. this is formed of emblems belonging to the crucifixion, scourges of various kinds, swords, the flagon and cup of the eucharist, the cross, pincers, lantern used in the garden, spears of different kinds, and one with the sponge on its point, thongs, ladder, the coat without seam, and the dice that were thrown for it, the hammer and nails, and the crown of thorns. under all these is the motto, "_scala cæli ad gloriam via_." the watch is opened by reversing the skull, and placing the upper part of it in the hollow of the hand, and then lifting the under jaw which rises on a hinge. inside, on the plate, which thus may be called the lid, is a representation of the holy family in the stable, with the infant jesus laid in the manger, and angels ministering to him; in the upper part an angel is seen descending with a scroll on which is written, "_gloria excelsis deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonæ volu----_" in the distance are the shepherds with their flocks, and one of the men is in the act of performing on a cornemuse. the works of the watch occupy the position of the brains in the skull itself, the dial plate being on a flat where the roof of the mouth and the parts behind it under the base of the brain, are to be found in the real subject. the dial plate is of silver, and it is fixed within a golden circle richly carved in a scroll pattern. the hours are marked in large roman letters, and within them is the figure of saturn devouring his children, with this relative legend round the outer rim of the flat, "_sicut meis sic et omnibus idem_." lifting up the body of the works on the hinges by which they are attached, they are found to be wonderfully entire. there is no date, but the maker's name, with the place of manufacture, "moyse, blois," are distinctly engraven. blois was the place where it is believed watches were first made, and this suggests the probability of the opinion that the watch was expressly ordered by queen mary at blois, when she went there with her husband, the dauphin, previous to his death. the watch appears to have been originally constructed with catgut, instead of the chain which it now has, which must have been a more modern addition. it is now in perfect order, and performs wonderfully well, though it requires to be wound up within twenty-six hours to keep it going with tolerable accuracy. a large silver bell, of very musical sound, fills the entire hollow of the skull, and receives the works within it when the watch is shut; a small hammer set in motion by a separate escapement, strikes the hours on it. this very curious relic must have been intended to occupy a stationary place on a _prie-dieu_, or small altar in a private oratory, for its weight is much too great to have admitted of its having been carried in any way attached to the person. a monster. it is almost incredible that such a monster, as the one we are about to describe should have been allowed to continue his wicked career for some years, in a civilized country like france, little more than a hundred years ago, but the following paragraph is copied from a paris journal of that period-- , january the th--and there is every reason to believe that it is strictly correct. "what was his fate we do not know, but can hardly doubt.--the marquis de plumartin, whose execrable crimes are known over all france, has at last been taken in his castle, by men of the king's own regiment of foot, and carried to poitiers, loaded with irons. the king is going to appoint a commission to try him. this monster turned away his wife some years ago, and became the terror of poitou. neither woman nor man durst appear in the neighbourhood. having one day lost a cause in one of the king's courts, he caused the usher and his man, who came to intimate the sentence to him, to be burnt alive. some days after, having drawn six of his creditors into his castle, where he had shut himself up with several of his crew, he ordered some of his people to drag them into a pond, tied to the tails of horses, and afterwards fastened them to a stake near a great fire, where three expired, and the other three died a few days after. thirty of the marshalsea guards, who were sent to apprehend him, having beset his castle, he barricaded the doors and fired on them from the garret window, killing the commanding officer and five others. after which he left the kingdom, but absurdly imagining that his crimes were forgot, he lately returned." perseverance rewarded by fortune. we have copied the following paragraph from the pages of a local historian, because it gives us a striking instance of what perseverance and good fortune will accomplish, in raising a man to comparative distinction from the humblest walks of life. august , --sir john duck, bart., departed this life, being wednesday at night, and was buried upon the monday after, being the st of august. the wealthiest burgess on the civic annals of durham. of sir john's birth, parentage, and education, the two first have hitherto remained veiled in impenetrable obscurity; as to the third, he was bred a butcher under john heslop, in defiance of the trade and mystery of butchers, in whose books a record still exists, warning john heslop that he forbear to sett john ducke on worke in the trade of a butcher. john duck however grew rich, married the daughter of his benefactor, and was created a baronet by james ii. he built a splendid mansion in silver-street, where a panel still exists recording his happy rise to fortune. the baronet, then humble duck, cast out by the butchers, stands near a bridge in an attitude of despondency; in the air is seen a raven bearing in his bill a piece of silver, which according to tradition fell at the feet of the lucky john, and was naturally calculated to make a strong impression on his mind. he bought a calf, which calf became a cow, and which cow being sold enabled john to make further purchases in cattle, and from such slender beginnings, to realise a splendid fortune. on the right of the picture is a view of his mansion in silver-street, and he seems to point at another, which is presumed to be the hospital he endowed at lumley. he died without issue, and was buried at st. margaret's, where his wife, pia---- prudens---- felix, lies buried beside him. on duck the butchers shut the door; but heslop's daughter johnny wed: in mortgage rich, in offspring poor, nor son nor daughter crown'd his bed. travelling in the united states exactly one hundred years ago. the american advertisement, of which we here give a literal copy, is deserving of preservation on account of the quaintness of the inn-signs, the peculiarity of the spelling and diction, the "shifting" of the passengers which it announces, and the general idea it gives us of the way in which travelling was performed in america at the time when it was issued. philadelphia stage-waggon, and new-york stage boat performs their stages twice a week. john butler, with his waggon, sets out on mondays from his house, at the sign of the death of the fox, in strawberry ally, and drives the same day to trenton ferry, when francis holman meets him, and proceeds on tuesday to brunswick, and the passengers and goods being shifted into the waggon of isaac fitzrandolph, he takes them to the new blazing-star to jacob fitzrandolph's the same day, where rubin fitzrandolph, with a boat well suted, will receive them, and take them to new-york that night. john butler returning to philadelphia on tuesday with the passengers and goods delivered to him by francis holman, will again set out for trenton ferry on thursday, and francis holman, &c. will carry his passengers and goods, with the same expedition as above to new-york. _weekly mercury._ march , . fÊte of the federation. paris . [illustration [++] fête of the federation.] the leading events of the great revolution in france, may be fairly classed with the marvellous, and among our "ten thousand wonderful things" there will be found few more wonderful than the civic festival of the general federation of the national guards of france, which took place on the th of july, , and of which the above is a correct representation, taken from a view by duplessis bertaux. the proceedings of that memorable day had in them a mixture of religious celebration apparently singular among a people who had lately so much trampled on religion; but as this celebration was more pagan than christian in its character, the singularity becomes less marked. on the preceding evening, a _hiérodrame_ was performed at the cathedral of nôtre dame--a kind of sacred drama, made up by m. désaugiers of scraps from the bible mixed with other matter, and set to music; it professed to tell the story of the taking of the bastille, and to typify the sadness, trouble, confusion, joy, and alarm of the parisians. then succeeded a _te deum_, chanted in presence of some of the principal federal and municipal bodies. early in the morning of the th, amid dense clouds and heavy rain, the national guards from all the eighty-three departments of france, together with deputations from the state army and navy, began to assemble, and speedily formed an immense line from the porte st. antoine to the porte st. martin; whence they marched, with bands playing and colours flying, to the champ de mars, regaled and cheered by the parisians on the route. on reaching the great square of the tuileries, the procession was headed by the municipality of paris and the members of the national assembly, and followed by a body of gray-headed veterans. the procession traversed the seine by one of the bridges, greeted by salvos of artillery drawn up on the quays, and entered the champ de mars under a triumphal arch almost hidden by flags and patriotic inscriptions. one o'clock had arrived before the various bodies forming the procession had taken their destined places in the enclosed parallelogram, surrounded by nearly , spectators on the raised terraces, most of whom were by this time drenched by the continuous rain. in the centre of the area was a lofty altar, half pagan, half catholic in its adornments; and around this altar the provincial national guards danced and sang in very excited fashion. the royal family appeared at three o'clock. in an immense gallery near the altar, the national assembly were seated, with the king and the president on two chairs of state exactly equal in height and richness, and the queen and the rest of the court seated behind--a significant interpretation of the decree just announced. at the instant of the king taking his seat, the air was rent with cries of _vive le roi! vive la nation!_ the banners were unfurled; , musicians burst forth with jubilant strains; cannon poured out continuous volleys; talleyrand, as bishop of autun, assisted by sixty chaplains of the paris national guards, performed mass at the altar; and the banners were blessed by sprinkling with holy-water. then lafayette, dismounting from his white charger, received from the hands of the king a written form of oath; he swore to this oath at the altar, and with his raised arm gave a signal for the countless host to do likewise--every one raising his right hand, and saying _je le jure!_ the king took the oath prescribed to him; and the queen held up the dauphin in her arms, as if to denote that he also, poor child, had sworn to defend the national liberties. at five o'clock the royal family retired, and the crowd began to leave the champ de mars. twenty-five thousand federates or provincial deputies went to a royal château about a mile distant, where a dinner had been prepared for them by order of the municipality of paris, with lafayette as chairman of the banquet. at night all paris was illuminated; and for three or four days the feastings, reviews, and celebrations were numerous, including a grand dance on the site of the demolished bastille. on the th, lafayette reviewed the provincial or federate national guards, and on the th they were reviewed by the king. paris was intoxicated for an entire week, each man displaying at once his delight and his vanity. a man carries his house on his head. simeon ellerton, of craike, durham, died , aged . this man, in his day, was a noted pedestrian, and before the establishment of regular "posts," was frequently employed in walking commissions, from the northern counties to london and other places, which he executed with singular fidelity and despatch. he lived in a neat stone cottage of his own erecting; and what is remarkable, he had literally carried his house on his head; it being his constant practice to bring back with him from every journey which he undertook, some suitable stone, or other material for his purpose, and which, not unfrequently, he carried or miles on his head. ignorance and fear. in the year , whiston predicted that the comet would appear on wednesday, th october, at five minutes after five in the morning, and that the world would be destroyed by fire on the friday following. his reputation was high, and the comet appeared. a number of persons got into boats and barges on the thames, thinking the water the safest place. south sea and india stock fell. a captain of a dutch ship threw all his powder into the river, that the ship might not be endangered. at noon, after the comet had appeared, it is said that more than one hundred clergymen were ferried over to lambeth, to request that proper prayers might be prepared, there being none in the church service. people believed that the day of judgment was at hand, and acted some on this belief, more as if some temporary evil was to be expected. there was a prodigious run on the bank, and sir gilbert heathcote, at that time the head director, issued orders to all the fire offices in london, requiring them to keep a good look out, and have a particular eye upon the bank of england. arabian horses. it is a singular circumstance, that it is to the arabian that england is indebted for her improved, and now unrivalled, breed of horses for the turf, the field, and the road. the arabian horses are divided into two great branches; the kadischi whose descent is unknown, and the kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has been kept for years. these last are reserved for riding solely, they are highly esteemed and consequently very dear. they are said to derive their origin from king solomon's studs. however this may be they are fit to bear the greatest fatigues, and can pass whole days without food. they are also said to show uncommon courage against an enemy. it is even asserted, that when a horse of this race finds himself wounded and unable to bear his rider much longer, he retires from the fray, and conveys him to a place of security. if the rider falls upon the ground, his horse remains beside him, and neighs till assistance is brought. the kochlani are neither large nor handsome but amazingly swift. the whole race is divided into several families, each of which has its proper name. some of these have a higher reputation than others on account of their more ancient and uncontaminated nobility. we may not believe, perhaps, all that is told us of the arabian. it has been remarked that there are, on the deserts which his horse traverses, no milestones to mark the distance, or watch to calculate the time; and the bedouin is naturally given to exaggeration, and most of all when relating the prowess of the animal which he loves as dearly as his children; yet it cannot be denied that at the introduction of the arabian into the european stables, there was no other horse comparable to him. head-quarters of prince rupert at everton, during the siege of liverpool, in . prince rupert, assisted by the earl of derby, having taken bolton by storm, and refreshed his army there for some days, advanced on liverpool, where the parliament had a strong garrison under the command of colonel more, of bank-hall; and finding on his approach to the town, the high ground near it favourable to his design, compared it to a crow's nest, probably imagining it would be taken with as little difficulty; but the resistance he met with, induced him to declare it was more like an eagle's nest, or a den of lions. [illustration [++] head-quarters of prince rupert.] the siege began about the nd of june, and the view exhibits his head-quarters from that time till the reduction of the place. his main camp was established round the beacon, about a mile from the town, and his officers were placed in the adjoining villages, from whence a detachment marched every day, being relieved every twenty-four hours, to open trenches and erect batteries. from these advances prince rupert frequently attacked the besieged and their works in the way of storm, but was constantly repulsed with great slaughter of his men. at length, colonel more, finding the town must of necessity surrender, and desirous of ingratiating himself with the prince, for the preservation of his house and effects at bank hall, gave such orders for his soldiers to retire, that the works on the enemy's side were abandoned, and the royalists entered the town at three o'clock in the morning of june , putting to the sword all they met with, till they arrived at the high cross, which then stood on the site where the exchange now stands. here the soldiers of the castle, drawn up in line, beat a parley, and demanded quarter, which, on their submitting as prisoners of war, and surrendering the castle to the prince, was granted. the soldiers were then sent to the tower, st. nicholas's church, and other places of security; but the parliament-army, soon after the siege, repossessed themselves of the castle, and appointed col. birch, as governor. fire at burwell, cambridgeshire. . some strollers brought down a puppet-show, which was exhibited in a large thatched barn. just as the show was about to begin, an idle fellow attempted to thrust himself in without paying, which the people of the show preventing, a quarrel ensued. after some altercation, the fellow went away, and the door being made fast, all was quiet; but the same man, to gain admittance privately, got over a heap of hay and straw, which stood near to the barn, and accidentally set it on fire. the spectators of the show, alarmed by the flames, which had communicated to the barn, rushed to the door; but it happened unfortunately that it opened inwards, and the crowd pressing violently against the door, there could be no escape. thus the whole company, consisting of more than persons, were kept confined till the roof fell in, and covered them with fire and smoke: six only escaped with life; the rest, among whom were several young ladies of fortune, were reduced to one undistinguishable heap of mangled bodies, totally disfigured. the friends of the dead, not knowing which were the remains they sought, caused a large hole to be dug in the churchyard, and all the bodies were promiscuously interred together, and a tablet erected in the church to perpetuate this most melancholy event. an apparent singularity accounted for. it is generally well known that birds are very active agents in the extension of vegetation, and that fruit and flowers are, to a great extent, rendered prolific by the insects which visit their blossoms; but few people are aware of the means through which fish are formed in lakes and ponds, which are not connected with other waters. here, also, an insect is the principal agent. the large water-beetle, which is in the habit of feeding upon the spawn of fish, occasionally in the evening climbs up the stems of rushes, &c. out of the water, sufficiently high to enable it to take wing; in these circumstances it has been caught, and, putting it into water, has been found to give out the spawn with which it had gorged itself previous to taking flight, both in a digested and undigested state; so that, on trial, it has been found that it produced fish of various kinds. european balancing equal to the indian jugglers. the astonishing dexterity of the indian jugglers is known to all, but many years ago a spaniard named cadenas made himself equal, if not superior to them. he may be truly said to be superior to them, inasmuch as several of his feats have never been attempted by them. don cadenas extended himself flat on his back on a large table. he then elevated his legs until they were at right angles with his body; he was assisted in keeping this position by a sort of pyramidal cushion, which was placed under him, a little below the lower end of his back. his feet and ankles were covered with boots, on which were many small castanets and little bells. the tranca, which is a round piece of wood, about feet long and five inches in diameter, handsomely painted, was then laid horizontally on the soles of his feet, his legs being perpendicular. having exactly balanced the tranca, he alternately struck his feet against it, the castanets, &c., keeping time with the music. in proportion to the strength with which he struck the tranca, with one foot or both feet, was the height to which he elevated it, always catching it, in its descent, with great accuracy, on the soles of his feet. sometimes by bending his knees and then striking out with his limbs, he threw the tranca several feet into the air, catching it, in its descent, on his feet, with as much neatness and more certainty than the indian jugglers used to catch the brass balls in their hands. he concluded the performance with the tranca, by exactly balancing it on the sole of his left foot, and then by repeated strokes of his right foot set it rapidly in motion like a horizontal fly-wheel. mob-wisdom. a singular instance of a mob cheating themselves by their own headlong impetuosity, is to be found in the life of woodward, the comedian. on one occasion, when he was in dublin, and lodged opposite the parliament house, a mob who were making the members swear to oppose an unpopular bill, called out to his family to throw them a bible out of the window. mr. w. was frightened, for they had no such book in the house, but he threw out a volume of shakespere, telling the mob they were welcome to it. they gave him three cheers, swore the members upon this book, and afterwards returned it without discovering its contents. communication between animals. the means by which animals contrive to communicate their ideas to each other is a phenomenon which has never been satisfactorily explained. the two following instances of it are very curious. a gentleman who was in the habit of occasionally visiting london from a distant county performed the journey on horseback, accompanied by a favourite little terrier dog, which he left at an inn at some distance from london till his return. on one occasion on calling for his dog the landlady told him that it was lost; it had had a quarrel with the great house dog, and had been so worried and bit that it was thought he would never recover, but at the end of a few days he crawled out of the yard, and no one saw him for almost a week, when he returned with another dog bigger than his enemy, on whom they both fell and nearly destroyed him. this dog had actually travelled to its own home at whitmore in staffordshire, had coaxed away the great dog in question, which followed him to st. alban's to assist in resenting the injury of his friend. the following story is related of a little spaniel which had been found lame by a surgeon at leeds. he carried the poor animal home, bandaged up his leg, and after two or three days turned him out. the dog returned to the surgeon's house every morning till his leg was perfectly well. at the end of several months, the spaniel again presented himself in company with another dog, which had also been lamed; and he intimated, as well as piteous and intelligent looks could intimate, that he desired the same assistance to be rendered to his friend as had been bestowed upon himself. the combination of ideas in this case, growing out of the recollection of his own injury, and referring that to the cure which had been performed; the compassion he had for his friend to whom he communicated the occurrence, and induced to seek relief under his guidance, together with the appeal to the humane surgeon, is as extraordinary a piece of sagacity as can be found in all the annals of animals. strange custom about names. the following anecdote forcibly illustrates the absurd custom which prevailed many years ago in america, of giving children names, made up of scripture sentences. we record the anecdote as being descriptive of a curious local custom. about the beginning of the present century a new england sea captain having some business at a public office, which required him to sign his name, was rather tedious in performing the operation, which did not escape the observation of the officer, who was a little impatient at the delay, and curious withal to see what sort of a name it could be that required so long a time to spread it upon paper. perhaps the captain had a long string of titles to grace it, such as honorable, esquire, colonel of militia, selectman of the town of ----, &c., which he chose to make an ostentatious parade of; or perhaps it was his whim to subscribe the place of his nativity and that of his residence, together with his age, height, and complexion. he was mistaken; for the captain had subscribed nothing but simply his name, which, when he had done, the officer, after some trouble in decyphering, found to read thus:--through-much-tribulation-we-enter-into-the-kingdom-of-heaven clapp. "will you please to tell me, captain clapp," said he, with as demure a face as his violent inclination to indulge in a hearty laugh would allow him to put on, "what might your mother have called you in your infancy, to save herself the trouble of repeating a sermon whenever she had occasion to name her darling?" "why, sir," replied captain clapp, with laughable simplicity, "when i was little they used to call me tribby, for shortness." dress in london during the last century. the seven illustrations which accompany this article represent the progress of dress in london from to . they speak for themselves, and tell their own tale far better than any description in words could tell it for them. the scale in society to which the persons depicted in the engravings belong, is what may be called the upper middle class, and we thus obtain a more correct idea of the general style of dress, than we should have done had we confined our observations solely to the higher ranks. [illustration: dress - .] [illustration: dress .] [illustration: dress, --common life.] [illustration: dress, .] [illustration: dress, .] [illustration: dress circa , .] [illustration: dress, .] it is, however, very curious to notice the value placed upon dress during the period indicated; and how frequently its loss is recorded. thus we find it mentioned that lady anderson, whose house was robbed at a fire in red lion square in , lost a gown of orange damask, lined with, striped silk. the family of george heneage, esq., at the same time, and by the same casualty, lost "_a head_, with very fine looped lace of very great value, a flanders' laced hood, a pair of double ruffles and tuckers, two laced aprons, one edged with point lace, and a large black scarf embroidered with gold." at the same period the ladies wore holland petticoats, embroidered in figures with different coloured silks and gold, with broad orrice at the bottom. in diamond stomachers adorned the ladies; they were composed of that valuable stone set in silver, and sewed in a variety of figures upon black silk. the men imported the champaign wig from france. they were made very full, curled, and eighteen inches in length to the point, with drop locks. in the _post boy_, of november , , there were advertised as stolen, "a black silk petticoat, with red and white calico border, cherry-coloured stays, trimmed with blue and silver, a red and dove-coloured damask gown, flowered with large trees; a yellow satin apron, trimmed with white persian, and muslin head-clothes, with crow-foot edging; a black silk furbelowed scarf, and a spotted hood." black and beaver hats for ladies were advertised in , faced with coloured silks, and trimmed with gold and silver lace. a man of fashion in wore the full flowing curled wig, which fell in ringlets half-way down his arms and back, a laced coat, straight, formal, with buttons to the very bottom, and several on the pockets and sleeves; his shoes were square at the toes, had diminutive buckles, a monstrous flap on the instep, and high heels, a belt secured the coat and supported the sword. perukes were a highly important article of dress in . fans were much used, ladies seldom appeared without this useful ornament in their hands. the hoop underwent many important changes; sometimes it projected at the sides only, or, like its ancestor, the fardingale, it spread itself all round in imposing majesty. high-heeled shoes maintained their place. in tight sleeves with full ruffles, small pointed waists, enclosed in whalebone, loose gowns, called sacques, and cloaks with hoods, named cardinals, were _la grande monde_. among the gentlemen's costumes, the most striking was the _ramilies_ tail, which was a plaited tail to the wig, with an immense bow at the top and one at the bottom. claret coloured clothes were considered as handsome; and light blue with silver button-holes, and silver garters to the knees, was very fashionable between and . the change to wearing the natural hair instead of wigs took place about . from that date the female dress altered by degrees: the cap was enlarged to an enormous size, and the bonnet swelled in proportion. hoops were entirely discontinued. hats and bonnets of straw, chip, and beaver, became well proportioned, and velvet pelisses, shawls and silk spencers were contrived to improve rather than injure the form. the male dress also insensibly changed from formality to ease, and thus, by degrees, the fashion became what our illustrations represent it to have been in . attar of roses. lieutenant colonel polier gives a full history of extracting this essential oil, in vol i. p. , of the _asiatic researches_. the roses grow, cultivated near lucknow, in fields of eleven acres each. the oil is procured by distillation; the petals of the flowers only are used; and in that country no more than a quantity of about two drachms can be procured from an hundred-weight of rose leaves, and even that in a favourable season, and by the process being performed with the utmost care. the oil is by accident of different colours; of a bright yellow, of a reddish hue, and a fine emerald. it is to the mother of mebrul nessa begum, afterwards called nourjehan begum, or, _light of the world_, that the fair sex is indebted for this discovery. on this occasion the emperor of hindostan rewarded the inventress with a string of valuable pearls. nourjehan begum was the favourite wife of jehangir, and her game the fiercest of india. in a hunting party she killed four tigers with a matchlock, from her elephant, and her spouse was so delighted at her skill, that he made her a present of a pair of emerald bracelets, valued at a lack of rupees, and bestowed in charity a thousand mohurs. fleet marriages about . many of the early fleet weddings were _really_ performed at the chapel of the fleet; but as the practice extended, it was found more convenient to have other places within the rules of the fleet, (added to which the warden was compelled by act of parliament not to suffer them,) and thereupon many of the fleet parsons and tavern-keepers in the neighbourhood fitted up a room in their respective lodgings or houses as a chapel. the parsons took the fees, allowing a portion to the plyers, &c., and the tavern-keepers, besides sharing in the fees, derived a profit from the sale of liquors which the wedding party drank. in some instances the tavern-keepers kept a parson on their establishment at a weekly salary of twenty shillings; while others, upon a wedding-party arriving, sent for any clergyman they might please to employ, and divided the fee with him. most of the taverns near the fleet kept their own registers, in which (as well as in their own books,) the parsons entered the weddings. effects of the great earthquake at lisbon. the earthquake happened on november the st, , and its sphere of action embraced many cities and states. st. ubes was totally destroyed. at cadiz the sea broke down the outer wall, flooded the town, and drowned some hundreds of persons. the cathedral of seville was seriously damaged, several houses overthrown, and many persons injured. the shock was felt, indeed, throughout the whole of spain, except in catalonia, and also in germany. in many parts of great britain the water in lakes and ponds was violently upheaved, and ebbed and flowed over the banks. a solemn fast was consequently commanded to be observed on the th of february next ensuing, in the hope to avert, by prayer and penitence, a similar calamity from this country. a ship at sea, leagues to the westward of lisbon, had her cabin windows shattered to fragments, and many vessels in deep water quivered as if they had struck against a rock. in morocco the effects of the shock were most disastrous. in mequinez two-thirds of the houses were destroyed, and above in fez. a caravan of persons going along the coast from sallee to morocco were overwhelmed by the sea, and a still more numerous caravan was swept away by the sudden rise of the inland rivers. in france and holland earthquakes were repeatedly felt during the entire month of november, and occasionally even in december. snake-charmers. in the east indies, the pambatees, or snake-charmers, come from the mountains called the ghauts. they make a trade of catching serpents, training them and exhibiting them for money. these reptiles are commonly the _cobra-di-capello_, the hooded or spectacle serpent, and of other similar species. a pambatee will sometimes carry eight or more of them in a low round basket, in which the serpents lie coiled round one another. as soon as the lid is removed from the basket, the serpent creeps out of it. the master plays on an instrument somewhat resembling the bagpipe, and the snakes are taught to mark the cadence by the motion of their heads, till at length they fall asleep. in order to rouse them, the pambatee suspends his music and shakes a ring round his arm to which a piece of red cloth is fastened. the irritated serpent darts at the ring; but as the master has taken care to extract the pouch containing the poison, and to file his teeth, he can do no harm. [illustration [++] snake-charmer.] the musical instrument just mentioned is called _magootee_. it is composed of a hollow calebash, to one end of which is fitted a mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. to the other extremity is adapted a tube perforated with several holes, which are successively stopped by the fingers, like those of the flute, while the player blows into the mouthpiece. in the middle of the instrument is a small mirror, on which the serpents fix their eyes while dancing. the above engraving will convey a correct idea of the pambatee and his instrument. wonderful escape. in , at winster, in derbyshire, a show being exhibited at a public-house, some gunpowder being scattered on the floor of an upper chamber, took fire, and communicated to the remainder of a barrel, by which the whole upper part of the house was blown up; about sixty persons were below, and not one hurt. fac-simile of the first steam boat. [illustration [++] first steam boat.] the triumph of steam navigation is one of the wonders of science; and, traversed in all directions as the navigable waters of the earth now are, by vessels propelled by steam, it is not a little curious to look at the first rude effort, and to examine the attempt which has been followed by such extraordinary success. the world stands indebted, not for the discovery, but for the successful application of steam power to navigation, to robert fulton, who was born in pennsylvania in , being the son of a poor irish labourer who had emigrated to america. he came to london in , and subsequently, in the character of an inventor and projector, proceeded to paris, where, however, he did not meet with much success or encouragement. it is evident, from the following letter to a friend, that while residing in the french capital, that his attention was even then turned to the subject of propelling vessels by mechanical power:-- paris, the th of september, . to mr. fulner skipwith. sir,--the expence of a patent in france is livers for three years, ditto for ten years, and ditto for fifteen years; there can be no difficulty in obtaining a patent for the mode of propelling a boat which you have shewn me; but if the author of the model wishes to be assured of the mirits of his invention before he goes to the expence of a patent, i advise him to make the model of a boat, in which he can place a clock spring which will give about eight revolutions; he can then combine the movements so as to try oars, paddles, and the leaves which he proposes; if he finds that the leaves drive the boat a greater distance in the same time than either oars or paddles, they consequently are a better application of power. about eight years ago the earl of stanhope tried an experiment on similar leaves in greenland dock, london, but without success. i have also tried experiments on similar leaves, wheels, oars, paddles, and flyars similar to those of a smoak jack, and found oars to be the best. the velocity with which a boat moves, is in proportion as the sum of the surfaces of the oars, paddles, leaves, or other machine is to the bow of the boat presented to the water, and in proportion to the power with which such machinery is put in motion; hence, if the sum of the surfaces of the oars is equal to the sum of the surfaces of the leaves, and they pass through similar curves in the same time, the effect must be the same; but oars have this advantage, they return through air to make a second stroke, and hence create very little resistance; whereas the leaves return through water, and add considerably to the resistance, which resistance is increased as the velocity of the boat is augmented: no kind of machinery can create power; all that can be done is to apply the manuel or other power to the best advantage. if the author of the model is fond of mechanics, he will be much amused, and not lose his time, by trying the experiments in the manner i propose, and this perhaps is the most prudent measure, before a patent is taken. i am, sir, with much respect, yours, robt. fulton. in the following year, , he appears to have made an experiment in france of propelling a vessel by mechanism, and though it failed in consequence of the timbers of the boat being too weak, it served to convince him so completely of ultimate success, that he immediately gave instructions to watt and boulton to prepare a suitable steam engine for him, and send it to new york. having returned to that city in , he set about building a boat, and having received the engines he had ordered, he successfully started the first steam-boat in the world on her trial trip to albany from new york in august, . her name was the "_clermont_," and the above engraving is a correct representation of her. she was in length feet, in depth , and in breadth . severe enactment against beggars. at the commencement of the reign of edward vi., a most severe and extraordinary statute was made for the punishment of vagabonds and relief of poor persons. it does not appear who were the contrivers of this instrument, the preamble and general spirit of which were more in accordance with the tyrannical and arbitrary measures of the preceding reign, than with the mild and merciful character of the infant sovereign, who is well known to have taken a very active part in the affairs of government. it repeals all the former statutes on this subject, and enacts, that if any beggar or other person, not being lame or impotent, and after loitering or idly wandering for the space of three days or more, shall not offer himself to labour, or being engaged in any person's service, shall run away or leave his work, it shall be lawful for the master to carry him before a justice of peace, who, on proof of the offence, shall cause the party to be marked with a hot iron with the letter v on the breast, and adjudge him to be his master's slave for the space of two years, who shall feed him "on bread and water, or at his discretion, on refuse of meat, and cause the said slave to work by beating, chaining, or otherwise in such work or labour (how vile soever it be) as he shall put him unto." if the slave should run away or absent himself for a fortnight without leave, the master may pursue and punish him by chaining or beating, and have his action of damage against any one who shall harbour or detain him. on proof before the justice of the slave's escape, he is to be sentenced to be marked on the forehead or ball of the cheek with a hot iron with the letter s, and adjudged to be his master's slave for ever; and for the second offence of running away, he is to be regarded as a felon and suffer death. the children of beggars to be taken from them, and, with other vagrant children, to be apprenticed by the magistrate to whoever will take them; and if such children so apprenticed run away, they are to be retaken, and become slaves till the age of twenty in females, and twenty-four in males, with punishment by chains, &c., and power to the master to let, sell, or bequeath them, as goods and chattels, for the term aforesaid. if any slave should maim or wound the master, in resisting correction, or conspire to wound or murder him, or burn his house or other property, he is to suffer death as a felon, unless the master will consent to retain him as a slave for ever; and if any parent, nurse, or bearer about of children, so become slaves, shall steal, or entice them away from the master, such person shall be liable to become a slave to the said master for ever, and the party so stolen or enticed away restored. if any vagrant be brought to a place, where he shall state himself to have been born, and it shall be manifest that he was not so born there, for such lie he shall be marked in the face with an s, and become a slave to the inhabitants or corporation of the city for ever. any master of a slave may put a ring of iron about his neck, arm, or leg, for safe custody, and any person taking or helping to take off such ring, without consent of the master, shall forfeit the sum of ten pounds. this diabolical statute, after remaining for two years, was repealed, on the ground that, from its extreme severity, it had not been enforced. judges in their robes attending public balls. that the ideas of good taste and propriety which now prevail are greatly in advance of those which our ancestors entertained, is strikingly manifested by the fact, that the dreadful scenes which followed the last business of a county assize did not prevent a festive beginning of the same. on the commission day at each county town was held an assize ball. the judges attended in black silk gowns with band and two-curl bob-wig. they did not dance, but usually played at whist. what would be thought now-a-days of judges who went to a public ball room on commission day, and played at whist in their robes? st. winifred's well. the most copious spring in great britain is st. winifred's well, near the town of holywell, in flintshire. the well is an oblong square, about twelve feet by seven. the water passes into a small square court through an arch; it has never been known to freeze, and scarcely ever varies in quantity either in drought or after the greatest rains. the water thrown up is not less than eighty-four hogsheads every minute. [illustration: st. winifred's well.] this sacred well is the object of many pilgrimages, even in the present day, and several modern miracles are related of the influence of its waters. pope martin v. especially enjoined such pilgrimages, and the monks of basingwerk were furnished with pardons and indulgences to sell to the devotees. james the nd visited the well in , and leopold, king of the belgians, in . apart from all superstitious notions, its waters doubtless possess many curative properties. over the well, queen margaret, the mother of henry vii., erected a beautiful chapel, whose elegantly fretted roof, and graceful columns and arches, are generally admired as examples of good architecture. our engraving is a correct representation of the interior. instance of assiduity and perseverance. the rev. wm. davy, a devonshire curate, in the year , begun a most desperate undertaking, viz., that of printing himself twenty-six volumes of sermons, which he actually did, working off page by page, for fourteen copies; and continuing this almost hopeless task for twelve years, in the midst of poverty! such wonderful perseverance almost amounts to a ruling passion. phenomenon at the powerscourt fall. [illustration [++] powerscourt fall.] the powerscourt fall, of which the annexed is an engraving, is formed by the river dargle, and is situated in the county of wicklow. when the river is full, it presents a very grand appearance. the stream precipitates itself over a nearly perpendicular cliff, feet in height, and falls into a natural basin or reservoir, encircled by rocky masses of considerable magnitude, whilst the whole scene is backed by mountains. this fall exhibits rather a singular phenomenon, in the different degrees of velocity with which the water descends in different parts of the cascade. thus, on one side, the water may be observed to pour down with considerable velocity; while, on the other side, the fall, in the upper part, presents the appearance of a continued stream of frothy foam, gliding slowly down the face of the cliff, though the lower part moves with greater velocity. this circumstance is, however, readily accounted for; being, in fact, mainly attributable to the comparatively small body of water which forms the cascade. the water, on the one side, that which descends with the greater velocity (and this forms by far the larger portion of the cascade) meets with no interruption in its descent, but falls, almost from the top, to the bottom in an unbroken sheet. on the other side, however, the cliff in the upper part deviates from the perpendicular, and the consequence is, that, owing to the slope or inclination of the rock over which it flows, the progress of the water is checked in that particular part, though lower down, where the cliff is again perpendicular, it regains its velocity. if the body of water in this cascade were greater, this phenomenon would not occur. how chess originated in india. by the unanimous consent of all nations, chess holds the first place among social amusements. the history of this game has exercised many able pens. according to sir william jones, it is decidedly of hindoo invention. "if," says he, in a learned memoir on this subject inserted in the second volume of the _asiatic researches_, "evidence were required to prove this fact, we may be satisfied with the testimony of the persians, who, though as much inclined as other nations to appropriate the ingenious inventions of a foreign people, unanimously agree that the game was imported from the west of india in the sixth century of our era. it seems to have been immemorially known in hindoostan by the name of _cheturanga_, the four _angas_, or members of an army, which are _elephants_, _horses_, _chariots_, and _foot-soldiers_; and in this sense, the word is frequently used by epic poets in their description of real armies. by a natural corruption of the pure sanscrit word, it was changed by the old persians into _chetrang_; but the arabs, who soon after took possession of their country, had neither the initial nor the final letter of that word in their alphabet, and consequently altered it farther into _shetranj_, which presently found its way into the modern persian, and at length into the dialects of india, where the true derivation of the name is known only to the learned. thus has a very significant word in the sacred language of the brahmins been transformed by successive changes into _axedrez_, _scacchi_, _echecs_, chess, and by a whimsical concurrence of circumstances given birth to the english word _check_, and even a name to the _exchequer_ of great britain." of the origin of this game various accounts are given. some hindoo legends relate, that it was invented by the wife of ravanen, king of lanca, or ceylon, to amuse her husband with an image of war, when rama, in the second age of the world, was besieging his capital. the high degree of civilization which the court of ravanen had attained at so remote a period is worthy of notice. an ancient hindoo painting represents his capital regularly fortified with embattled towers. he there defended himself with equal skill and valour, whence he and his subjects were denominated magicians and giants. ravanen seems to have been the archimedes of lanca; and his science must have appeared supernatural to the invader, rama, and his wild horde of mountaineers, who were termed in derision satyrs or apes, whence the fable of the divine hanooman. according to another account, the occasion of this invention was as follows:--behub, a young and dissolute indian prince, oppressed his people in the most cruel manner. nassir, a brahmin, deeply afflicted by his excesses, and the lamentations of his subjects, undertook to recal the tyrant to reason. with this view he invented a game, in which the king, impotent by himself, is protected only by his subjects, even of the lowest class, and frequently ruined by the loss of a single individual. the fame of this extraordinary invention reached the throne, and the king summoned the brahmin to teach him the game, as a new amusement. the virtuous brahmin availed himself of this opportunity to instil into the mind of the young tyrant the principles of good government, and to awaken him to a sense of his duties. struck by the truths which he inculcated, the prince conceived an esteem for the inventor of the new game, and assured him of his willingness to confer a liberal remuneration, if he would mention his own terms. nassir demanded as many grains of wheat as would arise from allowing one for the first square, two for the second, four for the third, and so on, doubling for each square of the sixty-four on the chessboard. the king, piqued at the apparently trivial value of the demand, desired him somewhat angrily to ask a gift more worthy of a monarch to bestow. when, however, nassir adhered to his first request, he ordered the required quantity of corn to be delivered to him. on calculating its amount, the superintendents of the public granaries, to their utter astonishment, found the demand to be so enormous, that not behub's kingdom only, but even all hindoostan would have been inadequate to the discharge of it. the king now admired the brahmin still more for the ingenuity of his request than for the invention, appointed him his prime-minister, and his kingdom was thenceforward prosperous and happy. the claim of the hindoos to the invention of chess has been disputed in favour of the chinese; but as they admit that they were unacquainted with the game till years before christ, and the hindoos unquestionably played it long before that time, the pretensions of the latter must naturally fall to the ground. disorders cured by fright. fabritius makes mention of a gentleman, with whom he was familiar, who, being unjustly suspected, was tortured upon the rack, and, when released, found himself quite cured of the gout, which was, _before_ this violent remedy, rather troublesome. again, we have instances of disorders being cured by fright. we find, in the journal de henri iv., that, "on friday, june the th, , as henry iv. of france, and his queen, were crossing the water in the ferry-boat of neuilly, the duke of vendome being with them, they were all three in great danger of being drowned, especially the queen, who was obliged to drink a great deal more than was agreeable to her; and had not one of her footmen, and a gentleman called la chatagnieraie, who caught hold of her hair, desperately thrown themselves into the water to pull her out, she would have inevitably lost her life. this accident cured the king of a violent toothache; and, after having escaped the danger, he diverted himself with it, saying he had never met with so good a remedy for that disorder before, and that they had ate too much salt meat at dinner, therefore they had a mind to make them drink after it." the wingless bird of new zealand. one of the chief wonders of the world of ornithology is the apteryx, a bird which is found only in new zealand, and even there, is rapidly becoming extinct. it is a creature so strange, that no imagination could have fancied a bird without wings or tail, with robust legs, and with claws which are suited for digging, and are actually used in forming excavations, in which this singular bird lays its eggs, and hatches its young. if the apteryx were to become extinct, and all that remained of it, after the lapse of one or two centuries, for the scrutiny of the naturalist were a foot in one museum, and a head in another, with a few conflicting figures of its external form, the real nature and affinities of this most remarkable species would be involved in as much obscurity and doubt, and become the subject of as many conflicting opinions among the ornithologists of that period, as are those of the dodo in the present day. the apteryx is not larger than a full-grown fowl, and has only a rudimentary wing, so covered with the body feathers as to be quite concealed; the terminating slender claw may, however, be discerned on examination. [illustration: the wingless bird.] the bill is long and slightly curved, having the nostrils at the extremity; its feathers, the sides of which are uniform in structure, do not exceed four and a-half inches in length, and are much prized as material for mantles or cloaks by the chiefs. it is a nocturnal bird, using its long bill in search of worms, upon which it principally feeds; it kicks with great power, and burrows at the root of the rata, at the base of which tree is also found the extraordinary sphæria robertsia, a species of vegetating caterpillar. retaining the form of the caterpillar, the fungus pervades the whole body, and shoots up a small stem above the surface of the ground, the body of the caterpillar being below the earth in an erect position. the apteryx frequently leans with its bill upon the earth--one of its chief characteristics--and thus, when viewed from a distance, appears to be standing on three legs. by the natives of new zealand, these birds are called kiwis, from the cry they utter, and they are frequently caught by a cunning imitator of their tone, who, when they approach, dazzles and frightens them with a light previously concealed, and throwing his blanket over them thus secures them. a floating city. [illustration: floating city of bankok.] one of the most wonderful cities in the world is bankok. it is the capital of siam, and is situated on--or rather in--the great river meinam. our engraving represents a portion of this unique metropolis, and we find the following graphic account of it in a volume of recent travels--"the capital of siam! did you ever witness such a sight in your life? on either side of the wide, majestic stream, moored in regular streets and alleys, and extending as far as the eye can reach, are upwards of seventy thousand neat little wooden houses, each house floating on a compact raft of bamboos; and the whole intermediate space of the river presents to our astonished gaze one dense mass of ships, junks, and boats, of every conceivable shape, colour, and size. as we glide along amongst these, we occasionally encounter a stray floating house, broken loose from its moorings, and hurrying down the stream with the tide, amidst the uproar and shouts of the inhabitants and all the spectators. we also observe that all the front row of houses are neatly painted shops, in which various tempting commodities are exposed for sale; behind these again, at equal distances, rise the lofty and elegant porcelain towers of the various watts and temples. on our right-hand side, far away as we can see, are three stately pillars, erected to the memory of three defunct kings, celebrated for some acts of valour and justice; and a little beyond these, looming like a line-of-battle ship amongst a lot of cockle-shells, rises the straggling and not very elegant palace of the king, where his siamese majesty, with ever so many wives and children, resides. right ahead, where the city terminates, and the river, making a curve, flows behind the palace, is a neat-looking-fort, surmounted with a tope of mango-trees, over which peep the roofs of one or two houses, and a tall flag-staff, from which floats the royal pendant and jack of siam--a flag of red groundwork, with a white elephant worked into the centre. that is the fort and palace of the prince chou fau, now king of siam, and one of the most extraordinary and intellectual men in the east. of him, however, we shall see and hear more, after we have bundled our traps on shore, and taken a little rest. now, be careful how you step out of the boat into the balcony of the floating house, for it will recede to the force of your effort to mount, and if not aware of this, you lose your balance and fall into the river. now we are safely transhipped, for we cannot as yet say landed; but we now form an item, though a very small one, of the vast population of the city of bangkok. we take a brief survey of our present apartments, and find everything, though inconveniently small, cleanly and in other respects comfortable. first, we have a little balcony which overhangs the river, and is about twenty yards long by one and a half broad. then we have an excellent sitting-room, which serves us for parlour, dining-room, and all; then we have a little side room for books and writing; and behind these, extending the length of the other two, a bed-room. of course we must bring or make our own furniture; for, though those houses inhabited by the chinese are pretty well off on this score, the siamese have seldom anything besides their bedding materials, a few pots and pans to cook with, a few jars of stores and fishing-net or two. every house has a canoe attached to it, and no nation detests walking so much as the siamese; at the same time they are all expert swimmers, and both men and women begin to acquire this very necessary art at a very early age. without it a man runs momentary risk of being drowned, as, when a canoe upsets, none of the passers-by ever think it necessary to lend any aid, supposing them fully adequate to the task of saving their own lives. canoes are hourly being upset, owing to the vast concourse of vessels and boats plying to and fro; and, owing to this negligence or carelessness in rendering assistance, a mr. benham, an american missionary, lost his life some twelve years ago, having upset his own canoe when it was just getting dusk, and though surrounded by hundreds of boats, not one deemed it necessary to stop and pick the poor man up." bequests for lighting the streets. there cannot be a greater contrast than between the present and the ancient mode of lighting the streets of london. what a picture do the two following bequests present to us of the state of things a hundred years ago! john wardall, by will, dated th august, , gave to the grocers' company a tenement called the white bear, in walbrook, to the intent that they should yearly, within thirty days after michaelmas, pay to the churchwardens of st. botolph, billingsgate, £ , to provide a good and sufficient iron and glass lantern, with a candle, for the direction of passengers to go with more security to and from the water-side, all night long, to be fixed at the north-east corner of the parish church of st. botolph, from the feast-day of st. bartholomew to lady-day; out of which sum £ was to be paid to the sexton for taking care of the lantern. this annuity is now applied to the support of a lamp in the place prescribed, which is lighted with gas. john cooke, by will, dated th september, , gave to the churchwardens, &c., of st. michael's, crooked lane, £ , to be laid out to the most profit and advantage, for various uses, and amongst them, for the maintenance of a lantern and candle, to be eight in the pound at least, to be kept and hanged out at the corner of st. michael's lane, next thames street, from michaelmas to lady-day, between the hours of nine and ten o'clock at night, until the hours of four or five in the morning, for affording light to passengers going through thames street, or st. michael's lane. extraordinary instance of credulity. to the honour of the lords of the creation, there are _some_ husbands who so grieve at the death of their partners, that they will not part with them when actually dead; and even go so far as to wish, and try hard, for their resurrection; witness sir john pryse, of newtown, montgomeryshire, who married three wives, and kept the first two who died, in his room, one on each side of his bed; his third lady, however, declined the honour of his hand till her defunct rivals were committed to their proper place. sir john was a gentleman of strange singularities. during the season of miracles worked by bridget bostock, of cheshire, who healed all diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting spittle, multitudes resorted to her from all parts, and kept her salivary glands in full employ. sir john, with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this wonderful woman to make him a visit at newtown hall, in order to restore to him his third and favourite wife (above mentioned), now dead. his letter will best tell the foundation on which he built his strange hope, and very uncommon request:-- _purport of sir j. pryse's letter to mrs. bridget bostock, ._ madam,--having received information, by repeated advices, both public and private, that you have, of late, performed many wonderful cures, even where the best physicians have failed, and that the means used appeared to be very inadequate to the effects produced, i cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary and highly-favoured person; and why may not the same most merciful god, who enables you to restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and strength to the lame, also enable you to raise the dead to life? now, having lately lost a wife, whom i most tenderly loved; my children an excellent step-mother, and our acquaintances a very dear and valuable friend, you will lay us all under the highest obligations; and i earnestly entreat you, for god almighty's sake, that you will put up your petitions to the throne of grace, on our behalf, that the deceased may be restored to us, and the late dame eleanor pryse be raised from the dead. if your personal attendance appears to you to be necessary, i will send my coach and six, with proper servants, to wait on you hither, whenever you please to appoint. recompense of any kind, that you could propose, would be made with the utmost gratitude; but i wish the bare mention of it is not offensive to both god and you. i am, madam, your obedient, &c. john pryse. (_pennant's wales_, vol. , p. .) high price of fish in london. it is on record that on january , , there being only four cod-fish in billingsgate, a fishmonger gave fourteen guineas for them, and salmon soon after was sold at a guinea a pound! the great aqueduct of pont du gard. [illustration [++] acqueduct of pont du gard.] the remains of roman aqueducts, of great extent and massiveness, occur in various parts of europe, over which the roman dominion once extended. among these, the most celebrated are the pont du gard, near nismes, in the department du gard, in the south of france; the aqueduct over the moselle, near metz; and the aqueduct of segovia, in old castile. the pont du gard (of which we here give an engraving) was designed to convey the waters of the fountain of aure to the town of nismes, the ancient nemausus. this aqueduct crosses the beautiful valley, and the stream of the river gardon, uniting two steep hills, by which the valley is bounded at this place. it consists of two tiers of large arches, the lower of which are eighty feet in span, and a third tier of small arches, which support the trunk of the aqueduct. the channel for the water is above four feet wide, and five deep, and is lined with cement three inches thick, and covered with a thin coating of red clay. the whole work, with the exception of the above-mentioned channel for the water, is built without mortar or any other cement; and its elevation above the bed of the river gardon, is not less than a hundred and fifty feet. the extremities of this splendid structure are in a dilapidated condition, but the remainder is in a very good state of preservation. extraordinary situation for a tree. [illustration [++] tree in abbey of muckross.] the lower and middle lakes at killarney are separated by a peninsula, upon which stands the ruin of the abbey of muckross, which was founded in , and re-edified in . the ruin, which consists of parts of the convent and church, is not remarkable either for extent, or for beauty of workmanship, but its preservation, seclusion, beauty of situation, and accompanying venerable trees, render it one of the most interesting abbey remains in ireland. the entire length of the church is about feet, its breadth . the cloister, which consists of twenty-two arches, ten of them semicircular, and twelve pointed, is the best preserved portion of the abbey. in the centre grows a magnificent yew-tree, as represented in our engraving, which covers as a roof the whole area; its circumference is thirteen feet, and its height in proportion. it is more than probable that the tree is coeval with the abbey, and that it was planted by the hands of the monks who first inhabited the building. it is believed by the common people that any person daring to pluck a branch, or in any way attempting to injure this tree, will not be alive on that day twelvemonth. praying by machinery. mr. moorcroft informs us, in his "journey to lake manasawara, in undés, a province in little thibet," that the inhabitants used the following most extraordinary way of saying their prayers:--it is done by motion, which may be effected by the powers of steam, wind, or water. a large hollow cylinder, like a drum, is erected, within which is inclosed all the written prayers the people choose to offer, and then it is set going, by being whirled round its own axis; thus saving the trouble of repeating them. mr. turner, whose travels in thibet are before the public, corroborates the account of these whirligigs. they are common, also, among the monguls, the calmucs, and the kalkas; so that the engineers for these pious wheels must have a tolerably extensive trade, as this national mode of worship is naturally liable to wear out. but even this mode is innocence itself, compared with that of a set of savages, who _pray people to death_; for lisiansky, in his voyage round the world, gives us an account of an extra-religious sect, in the sandwich islands, who arrogate to themselves the power of praying people to death. whosoever incurs their displeasure, receives notice that the homicide-litany is about to begin; and such are the effects of imagination, that the very notice is frequently sufficient, with these weak people, to produce the effect, or to drive them to acts of suicide. toping in the last century. at a somersetshire hunt dinner, seventy years since, thirteen toasts used to be drunk in strong beer; then every one did as he liked. some members of the hunt occasionally drank a glass of wine at the wind up, who were not themselves previously wound up. in country towns, after a dinner at one o'clock p.m., friends used to meet to discuss the local news over their glasses of strong beer, the merits of which furnished a daily theme. at bampton one knot of gentlemen took four times the duration of the trojan war, and even then failed to settle which of the party brewed the best beer. a fine old soldier. jeremiah atkins, of the scar, near bromyard, herefordshire, died in , aged . he had been a soldier through all the earlier periods of his manhood, and had seen much service; was present at the taking of martinico, and at the havannah; and, on one occasion, being taken prisoner by the indians of north america, was very near being scalped, as he was only rescued at the moment they were about to perform the operation. he was likewise at the taking of crown point, in america, and in the battle of fontenoy with the duke of cumberland, whom he also accompanied in his resistance to the advance of the scotch rebels, being in several of the skirmishes and battles fought on that occasion. he afterwards went again to america, and took part in the storming of quebec, when wolfe was killed. the last battle in which he was engaged was that of tournay, in flanders. this extraordinary man retained the full use of all his natural faculties, save hearing, to the very close of his life. popular fallacy of the virtues of a seventh son. it is believed that a seventh son can cure diseases, but that a seventh son of a seventh son, and no female child born between, can cure the king's evil. such a favoured individual is really looked on with veneration. an artist visiting axminster in , noticing the indulgence granted to one urchin in preference to others, and seeing something particular in this child, addressed his mother as follows:--"this little man appears to be a favourite: i presume he is your little benjamin." "he's a seventh son, sir," said the mother. affecting an air of surprise, i expressed myself at the instant as being one very anxious to know what a _seventh_ son could do? the mother, a very civil woman, told me that "she did think, to cure all diseases, should be the seventh son of a seventh son; but _many folk do come to touch my son_." in april, , a respectable looking woman was engaged in collecting a penny from each of thirty young women, unmarried; the money to be laid out in purchasing a silver ring, to cure her son of epileptic fits. the money was to be freely given, without any consideration, or else the charm would have been destroyed. the young women gave their pence, because it would have been a _pity_ for the lad to continue afflicted _if_ the charm would cure him. self-nourishment. that animals may sometimes be kept alive for a long time solely on nourishment supplied from their own bodies, is evident from the fact that after a great fall of earth on one occasion from the cliff at dover, which buried a whole family, a hog was found alive five months and nine days after it had thus been buried! it weighed about seven score when the accident happened, and had wasted to about thirty pounds, but was likely to do well. chinese method of fishing. there is nothing more extraordinary in the history of the different nations of the world than the ingenuity of the chinese. they are the most handy people on the face of the earth, and the lower orders are just as clever as the higher. a proof of this may be seen at a fishing village which is contiguous to the town of victoria, in hong kong. it remains in much the same state as that in which it existed prior to the british occupation of the island. old worn-out boats, and torn mat-sails, bamboos and dried rushes,--these are the principal materials employed in the construction of their domiciles. the fishing boats are most ingeniously built. each of these has a long projecting bamboo, which is rigged out from the stem in the form of a bowsprit, only working on a pivot. from the extremity of this outrigger, a strong rope communicates with a balance-board, that exactly poises the bamboo outrigger, when the net is immersed in water, and the fisherman has only to walk up and down this plank to raise the net and let it drop again in the water. but opposite to the island, and on many of the little insular rocks which constitute the "ten thousand isles," of which the emperor of china, amongst his vast pretensions to titles, lays claim to be lord, fishing is conducted on a larger scale, though worked upon the same principles. huge poles are driven into the ground where the water is comparatively shallow, and leading ropes, which pass over a block-wheel inserted in the tops of these poles, communicate at one end with large circular nets, (constructed somewhat in the shape of a funnel, the upper rim being attached to floats, whilst from the centre are pendant weights,) the other end being fastened on shore to a balance plank, which the weight of one man suffices to work. [illustration: chinese method of fishing.] mosque of omar. the opposite engraving represents the great mosque at jerusalem. it is built on the exact site of solomon's temple, and takes its name from its original founder, the caliph omar. it is a turkish edifice, and is devoted to the worship of mahomet. titus having taken jerusalem in the second year of vespasian's reign, not one stone was left upon another of that temple where christ had done such glorious things, and the destruction of which he had predicted. when the caliph omar took jerusalem, in a.d., it appears that the site of the temple, with the exception of a very small part, had been abandoned by the christians. said-eben-batrick, an arabian historian, relates that the caliph applied to the patriarch sophronius, and enquired of him what would be the most proper place at jerusalem for building a mosque. sophronius conducted him to the ruins of solomon's temple. omar, delighted with the opportunity of erecting a mosque on so celebrated a spot, caused the ground to be cleared, and the earth to be removed from a large rock, where god is said to have conversed with jacob. from that rock the new mosque took its name of gameat-el-sakhra, and became almost as sacred an object to the mussulmans, as the mosques of mecca and medina. the caliph el-oulid contributed still more to the embellishment of el-sakhra, and covered it with a dome of copper, gilt, taken from a church at balbeck. in the sequel, the crusaders converted the temple of mahomet into a sanctuary of christ; but when saladin re-took jerusalem, he restored this edifice to its original use. [illustration: great mosque at jerusalem.] the form is an octagon, either side being seventy feet in width; it is entered by four spacious doors, the walls are white below, intermingled with blue, adorned with pilasters, but above, it is faced with glazed tiles of various colours. the interior is described as paved with grey marble, the plain walls are covered with the same material in white. it contains many noble columns, in two tiers. the dome is painted, and gilt in arabesque, whence depend antique vessels of gold and silver; immediately beneath it stands a mass of limestone, reported to have fallen from heaven when the spirit of prophecy commenced. on this sat the destroying angel, during the slaughter caused by david's numbering the people. from this mahomet ascended to heaven. within the storied walls, moreover, are the scales for weighing the souls of men, the shield of mahomet, and other relics, besides the entrance to the infernal regions; seventy thousand angels ever guard the precious stone. entrance to this hallowed edifice has been gained only by two or three europeans; indeed, the turks will not allow infidels to approach the sacred enclosure around it, which measures about sixteen hundred feet in length, by one thousand in width, and is adorned with fountains, orange, cypress, and other trees. the mosque itself is esteemed the finest piece of saracenic architecture in existence, far surpassing st. sophia in beauty. its view, combined with the distinguished monuments in the city of the sultan, in egypt, greece, and italy, strongly induces a belief in the accuracy of an able article in the _quarterly review_, in which the origin of the five predominant styles of architecture throughout the world, viz., the byzantine, chinese, egyptian, grecian, and gothic are assigned respectively to the convex and concave curves, to the oblique, horizontal, and perpendicular lines. a couple of eccentrics. mr. day, the eccentric founder of fairlop fair, had a housekeeper, who had lived with him for thirty years, and was equally eccentric. she had two very strong attachments; one to her wedding-ring and garments, and the other to tea. when she died, mr. day would not permit her ring to be taken off; he said, "if that was attempted, she would come to life again;" and directed that she should be buried in her wedding-suit, and a pound of tea in each hand; and these directions were literally obeyed. the universality of taxation. the following extract, from the _edinburgh review_, is not inappropriate to our pages, inasmuch as it is both a rare specimen of effective composition, and also serves to show us what the state of taxation was in england even within the last forty years.--taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed upon the feet--taxes upon every thing which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste--taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion--taxes on everything on earth, and the waters under the earth--on every thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at home--taxes on the raw material--taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man--taxes on the sauce which pamper's man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health--on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal--on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice--on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribands of the bride at bed or board, _couchant_ or _levant_, we must pay;--the schoolboy whips his taxed top--the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed road:--and the dying englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent., into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid twenty-two per cent.--makes his will on an eight-pound stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary, who has paid a license of an hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. his whole property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per cent. besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed markle; and he is then gathered to his fathers--to be taxed no more. sham prophets. william hackett, a fanatic of the sixteenth century, after a very ill life, turned prophet, and signified the desolation of england. he prophesied at york and at lincoln; where, for his boldness, he was whipped publicly, and condemned to be banished. he had an extraordinary fluency of speech, and much assurance in his prayers; for he said, that if all england should pray for rain, and he should pray to the contrary, it should not rain. hackett had two brother-prophets joined with him, edward coppinger, named the prophet of mercy, and henry arthington, the prophet of judgment. coppinger, the merciful prophet, declared that hackett was the sole monarch of europe; and at length they proclaimed him, july , . on the th of the same month, however, the monarch of the whole earth, who had also personated divinity, was hanged and quartered. coppinger famished himself in prison, and arthington was pardoned. fitz simon relates, that in a quarrel hackett had at oundle, "he threw down his adversary, and bit off his nose; and, instead of returning it to the surgeon, who pretended to set it on again, while the wound was fresh, ate it." hackett, on the scaffold, made a blasphemous prayer, which is recorded by fitz simon and camden, too horrid to be repeated. he hated queen elizabeth, and tried to deprive her of her crown; he confessed to the judges that he had stabbed the effigies of this princess to the heart, with an iron pin; and a little before he was hanged, being an accomplished swearer, he cursed her with all manner of imprecations. hooking a boy instead of a fish. about five and thirty years ago, as mr. george moor was fishing in the river tyne at pipewellgate, gateshead, he espied something in the water which seemed like a drowned dog, but the day being clear, and the sun shining, he thought he perceived a face, upon which he threw his line to it (which had but three hairs at the hook) and hooked a coat, by which he found it was a boy, but the hook loosing hold, he again cast his line and struck him in the temple and drew him to the shore, and in less than quarter of an hour he revived. children of aged parents. margaret krasiowna, of the village of koninia, poland, died , aged . the following extraordinary circumstances are stated, by eaton, as connected with the life of this woman:--"at the age of ninety-four she married her third husband, gaspard raycolt, of the village of ciwouszin, then aged one hundred and five. during the fourteen years they lived together she brought him two boys and a girl; and, what is very remarkable, these three children, from their very birth, bore evident marks of the old age of their parents--their hair being grey, and a vacuity appearing in their gums, like that which is occasioned by the loss of teeth, though they never had any. they had not strength enough, even as they grew up, to chew solid food, but lived on bread and vegetables, they were of a proper size for their age, but their backs were bent, their complexions sallow, with all the other external symptoms of decrepitude. though most of these particulars," he adds, "may appear fabulous, they are certified by the parish registers. the village of ciwouszin is in the district of stenzick, in the palatinate of sendonier. gaspard raycolt, the father, died soon after, aged ." sepulchral vase from peru. [illustration [++] sepulchral vase of peru.] the vessel of which the annexed is an engraving, was taken from the tomb of one of the ancient inhabitants of peru; the subjects of the incas, or princes who ruled over that country before it was conquered by the spaniards. vases of this sort were probably placed in the sepulchres of the peruvians to contain the ashes of the dead, or offerings to their disembodied spirits;--usages which are familiar to us through the frequent allusions to them which we meet with in the works of the poets of ancient rome, and the discovery of urns and lachrymatories in roman tombs which have been in our own and other cemeteries. the specimen which we have engraved is quadruple, but forms one vessel. first iron cannon. the first cannon was cast in sussex in . in after years bonds were taken in £ , from the owners of the charcoal furnaces, that none should be sold till a license for the sale or issue of the ordnance had been procured. fears were entertained that the enemy would purchase them. prolific author. no one need despair, after the following instance, of shining in quantity, if not in quality:--"hans sacks was a nuremberg shoemaker, born there in ; he was instructed, by the master-singers of those days, in the praiseworthy art of poetry; he, therefore, continued to make verses and shoes, and plays and pumps, boots and books, until the seventy-seventh year of his age; when he took an inventory of his poetical stock in trade, and found, according to his narrative, that his works filled thirty folio volumes, all written with his own hand; and consisted of four thousand two hundred mastership songs, two hundred and eight comedies, tragedies, and farces (some of which were extended to seven acts), one thousand seven hundred fables, tales, and miscellaneous poems, and seventy-three devotional, military, and love songs; making a sum total of six thousand and forty-eight pieces, great and small." out of these, we are informed, he culled as many as filled three massy folios, which were published in the year - ; and, another edition being called for, he increased this three volumes folio abridgement of his works, in the second, from his other works. none but lope de vega exceeded him in quantity of rhyme-making. the art of pottery in china. [illustration: . . .] the chinese traditions carry back the practice of the potter's art to a very remote epoch. father entrecolles, a french missionary, resided in china at the beginning of the last century, and his letters published in paris, in , supply some curious and interesting information on this subject. writing in , he says that at that time ancient porcelain was very highly prized, and bore large prices. articles were extant which were reputed to have belonged to the emperors yao and chun, two of the most ancient mentioned in the chinese annals. yao reigned in and chun in before christ. other authorities place the reign of chun in before christ. it appears from the researches of m. stanislaus julian that, from the time of the emperor hoang-ti, who reigned to before christ, there had always existed a public officer bearing the title of the intendant of pottery, and that it was under the reign of hoang-ti that the potter's art was invented by kouen-ou. it is also certain that porcelain, or fine pottery, was common in china in the time of the emperors han, b.c. in digging the foundations of the palaces, erected by the dynasties of han and thang, from b.c. to a.d. great quantities of ancient vases were found which were of a pure whiteness, but exhibited little beauty of form or fabrication. it was only under the dynasty of song, that is to say, from to a.d., that chinese porcelain began to attain a high degree of perfection. further evidence of the antiquity of the potter's art in china, as well as of the existence of intercommunication between that country and egypt, is supplied by the discoveries of rossellina, wilkinson, and others, who found numerous vases of chinese fabrication, and bearing chinese inscriptions, in the tombs at thebes. professor rossellini found a small vase of chinese porcelain with a painting of a flower on one side, and on the other chinese characters not differing much from those used at the present day. the tomb was of the time of the pharaohs, a little later than the eighteenth dynasty. this vase, with its chinese inscription, is represented in fig. , from an exact cast made by mr. francis davis. another of the chinese vases, found in the theban tombs, is represented in fig. . this is preserved in the museum of the louvre. the shape of the vase is that of a flat-sided flask. a side view is given in fig. . these flasks are very small. the engravings represent them of their proper dimensions. mr. wilkinson thinks it probable that they were brought to egypt from india, the egyptians having had commercial relations with that country at a very remote epoch, and that they came not as pieces of porcelain, but as vessels containing some articles of importation. strong attachment to smoking. the following is a curious case of extreme fondness for smoking in a very poor and very old man. in the year , there died in dartford workhouse, aged , one john gibson. he had been an inmate of the house for ten years, and till within two months of his death used daily to perambulate the town. his faculties were entire to the last. he was so much attached to smoking, that he requested his pipe, together with his walking-stick, might be placed in his coffin, which request was complied with. extraordinary letter. the following strange and curious epistle, we are assured, was sent to a surgeon of eminence by a malefactor who had been sentenced to death. it has a degree of character and quaintness about it which is rarely found in the letters of convicts. whether or not the surgeon complied with his request we do not know. "sir,--being informed that you are the only surgeon in this county, in the habit of dissecting dead bodies--being very poor, i am desirous of passing what remains to me of life, with as much comfort as my unhappy condition admits of. in all probability i shall be executed in the course of a month; having no friend to intercede for me, nor even to afford me a morsel of bread, to keep body and soul together till the fatal moment arrives, i beg you will favour me with a visit; i am desirous of disposing of my body, which is healthy and sound, for a moderate sum of money. it shall be delivered to you on demand, being persuaded that on the day of general resurrection, i shall as readily find it in your laboratory, as if it were deposited in a tomb. your speedy answer will much oblige your obedient servant, james brown." a mattress for a bank. in the month of april, , mrs. motley, broker, bedford-street, north shields, purchased an old mattress for s. from a shipowner, who was going to reside with his daughter; in arranging some papers a few days ago, he found a document in the hand-writing of his deceased wife, not intended for his perusal, but that of her son by a former husband, in which it was stated that property to a considerable amount was deposited in the said mattress. his daughter in consequence waited on mrs. motley, and offered her a few shillings to return it. mrs. m. naturally supposed that this seeming generosity was not without a cause, but having sold it to a mrs. hill for s., for a small consideration she regained possession of the prize, but on entering her house the original proprietor and a constable were ready to receive her, and without ceremony cut open the mattress, when a purse, said to contain gs., two gloves filled with current silver coin, several valuable rings, trinkets, silver spoons, &c., were discovered. mrs. hill had considerably reduced the mattress to fit a small bedstead without finding the hidden treasure. architecture for earthquakes. sumatra is one of the largest islands in the indian archipelago, and the houses of the inhabitants are deserving of notice, inasmuch as they furnish a correct and curious specimen of the style of building, which the frequent occurrence of earthquakes renders the safest in the countries where such visitations are common. the frames of the houses are of wood, the under-plates resting on pillars six or eight feet high, which have a sort of capital, but no base, and are wider at top than at bottom. the people appear to have no idea of architecture as a science, though much ingenuity is often shown in working up their materials. the general appearance of their houses is accurately represented in the annexed plate. for the floorings they lay whole bamboos, four or five inches in diameter, close to each other, and fasten them at the ends to the timbers. across these are laid laths of split bamboo, about an inch wide and of the length of the room, which are tied down with filaments of the rattan, and over these are usually spread mats of different kinds. this sort of flooring has an elasticity alarming to strangers when they first tread on it. the sides of the houses are generally closed in with bamboo, opened and rendered flat by notching or splitting the circular joints on the outside, chipping away the corresponding divisions within, and laying it to dry in the sun pressed down with weights. this is sometimes nailed to the upright timbers or bamboos, but in the country parts it is more commonly interwoven or matted in breadths of six inches, and a piece or sheet formed at once of the size required. in some places they use for the same purpose the inner bark procured from some particular trees. when they prepare to take it, the outer bark is first torn or cut away; the inner is then marked out with a proper tool to the requisite size, usually three cubits by one; it is afterwards beaten for some time with a heavy stick to loosen it from the stem, and being peeled off, laid in the sun to dry, care being taken to prevent its warping. the bark used in building has nearly the texture and hardness of wood; but the pliable and delicate bark of which clothing is made is procured from a bastard species of the bread-fruit. [illustration [++] sumatran house.] the most general mode of covering houses is with the leaf of a kind of palm called _nipah_. these, before they are laid on, are formed into sheets about five feet long, and as deep as the length of the leaf will admit, which is doubled at one end over a slip or lath of bamboo. they are then disposed on the roof so that one sheet shall lap over the other, and are tied to the bamboos which serve for rafters. the noss in shetland. off bressay is the most remarkable of the rock phenomena of shetland, the noss, a small high island, with a flat summit, girt on all sides by perpendicular walls of rock. it is only feet in length, and broad, and rises abruptly from the sea to the height of feet. the communication with the coast of bressay is maintained by strong ropes stretched across, along which a cradle or wooden chair is run, in which the passenger is seated. it is of a size sufficient for conveying across a man and a sheep at a time. the purpose of this strange contrivance is to give the tenant the benefit of putting a few sheep upon the holm, the top of which is level, and affords good pasture. the animals are transported in the cradle, one at a time, a shepherd holding them upon his knees in crossing. [illustration: cradle of noss.] the temptation of getting access to the numberless eggs and young of the sea-fowl which whiten the surface of the holm, joined to the promised reward of a cow, induced a hardy and adventurous fowler, about two centuries ago, to scale the cliff of the holm, and establish a connexion by ropes with the neighbouring main island. having driven two stakes into the rock and fastened his ropes, the desperate man was entreated to avail himself of the communication thus established in returning across the gulf. but this he refused to do, and in attempting to descend the way he had climbed, he fell, and perished by his foolhardiness. swallowed up by an earthquake and thrown out again. a tombstone in the island of jamaica has the following inscription:-- "here lieth the body of lewis galdy, esq., who died on the nd of september, , aged . he was born at montpellier, in france, which place he left for his religion, and settled on this island, where, in the great earthquake, , he was swallowed up, and by the wonderful providence of god, by a second shock was thrown out into the sea, where he continued swimming until he was taken up by a boat, and thus miraculously preserved. he afterwards lived in great reputation, and died universally lamented." customs of the border between england and scotland. in the courts held by the lords wardens of the marches, a jury was established: the english lord chose six out of scotland, and the scotch six out of england. the defendant, upon the trials, was acquitted upon his own oath; these oaths are singular: we transcribe them.-- . juror's oath. you shall clean no bills worthy to be fouled: you shall foul no bills worthy to be cleaned; but shall do that which appeareth with truth, for the maintenance of truth, and suppressing of attempts. so help you god.-- . plaintiff's oath. you shall leile (little) price make, and truth say, what your goods were worth at the time of their taking, to have been bought and sold in the market, taken all at one time, and that you know no other recovery but this. so help you god.-- . defendant's oath. you shall swear, by heaven above you, hell beneath you, by your part in paradise, by all that god made in six days and seven nights, and by god himself, you are whart and sackless, of art, part, way, witting, ridd, kenning, having, or reciting, of any of the goods and chattles named in this bill. so help you god. these oaths and proceedings arose from the frequent incursions of both scotch and english, on both sides the wall, to where they had no right. turkish mode of reparation. on april th, , at constantinople, the turks were removing the standard of mahomet, making a grand procession through the city; all christians, upon this occasion, were forbid to appear in the streets or at their windows. but the wife and daughter of the imperial minister, being excited by curiosity, placed themselves at a secret window to observe the procession; which was no sooner discovered by the turks, than they attacked the ambassador's house, and endeavoured to force an entrance. but the servants of the minister opposing them, well-armed, a dreadful fray ensued, in which no less than one hundred persons lost their lives, and the ambassador's lady was very severely treated. some of the rioters dragged her down into the court-yard, and made preparations to strangle her; when a party of janissaries, who were despatched to her assistance by an aga in the neighbourhood, happily came and preserved her. upon complaint being made of this outrage, by her husband, to the grand vizier, that minister expressed great sorrow for the insult that had been offered, and assured him he should have all the reparation it was possible to procure. a few hours after the vizier sent the imperial minister a rich present of jewels for his lady, _and a bag, which was found to contain the heads of the three principal rioters_. hair turned grey by fright. there is an interesting anecdote of a boy, in one of the rudest parts of the county of clare, in ireland, who, in order to destroy some eaglets, lodged in a hole one hundred feet from the summit of a rock, which rose four hundred feet perpendicular from the sea, caused himself to be suspended by a rope, with a scimitar in his hand for his defence, should he meet with an attack from the old ones; which precaution was found necessary; for no sooner had his companions lowered him to the nest, than one of the old eagles made at him with great fury, at which he struck, but, unfortunately missing his aim, nearly cut through the rope that supported him. describing his horrible situation to his comrades, they cautiously and safely drew him up; when it was found that his hair, which a quarter of an hour before was a dark auburn, was changed to grey. memorable snow-storm. the following characteristic account is taken _literatim_ from the parish register of the village of youlgrave in derbyshire:--"this year - jan. began the greatest snow which ever fell uppon the earth, within man's memorye. it cover'd the earth five quarters deep uppon the playne. and for heapes or drifts of snow, they were very deep, so that passengers, both horse and foot, passed over yates hedges and walles. it fell at ten severall tymes, and the last was the greatest, to the greate admiration and fear of all the land, for it came from the foure p{ts} of the world, so that all c'ntryes were full, yea, the south p'te as well as these mountaynes. it continued by daily encreasing until the {th} day of march, (without the sight of any earth, eyther uppon hilles or valleys) uppon w{ch} daye, being the lordes day, it began to decrease; and so by little and little consumed and wasted away, till the eight and twentyth day of may, for then all the heapes or drifts of snow were consumed, except one uppon kinder-scout, w{ch} lay till witson week." roads in . a squire from the neighbourhood of glastonbury, journeying to sarum in his carriage, about , took care that his footman was provided with a good axe to lop off any branches of trees that might obstruct the progress of the vehicle. wonderful pedestrian feat. captain cochrane, who set out from st. petersburg in may, , to walk through the interior of russia to the east of asia, with a view of ascertaining the fact of a north-east cape, travelled at the rate of _forty-three miles a day for one hundred and twenty-three successive days_. he afterwards walked upwards of four hundred miles without meeting a human being. wherever he went he seems to have accommodated himself to the habits of the people, however rude and disgusting. with the kalmucks, he ate horse-flesh, elks, and wolves; and with the tchutski he found as little difficulty in pasturing upon bears, rein-deer, and _raw frozen fish_, the latter of which he considered a great delicacy. book-shaped watch. [illustration [++] book-shaped watch.] the unique curiosity, of which the annexed is an accurate representation, was one of the choicest rarities of the bernal collection, and is, therefore, highly appropriate to our pages. it once belonged to, and was made for, bogislaus xiv., duke of pomerania, in the time of gustavus adolphus. on the dial-side there is an engraved inscription of the duke and his titles, with the date , and the engraving of his armorial bearings; on the back of the case there are engraved two male portraits, buildings, &c.; the dial-plate is of silver, chased in relief; the insides are chased with birds and foliage. this watch has apparently two separate movements, and a large bell; at the back, over the bell, the metal is ornamentally pierced in a circle, with a dragon and other devices, and the sides are pierced and engraved in scrolls. it bears the maker's name, "dionistus hessichti." the ruling passion. mr. henry stribling, farmer, who died at goodleigh, near barnstaple, august st, , in the eightieth year of his age, was one of the greatest fox-hunters in devonshire, and had collected such a number of foxes pads, all of which he had himself cut off when in at the death, that they entirely covered his stable door and door-posts. at his own particular request, a pad was placed in each of his hands in his coffin, and he was attended to the grave by the huntsmen and whippers-in of the packs with which he had hunted. edicts against fiddlers. an idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular amusements were prohibited when the puritans had the ascendancy, from the fact that in - oliver cromwell prohibited all persons called fiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling, or making music in any inn, alehouse, or tavern, &c. if they proffered themselves or offered to make music, they were to be adjudged to be rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy vagabonds, and were to be proceeded against as such. scene of desolation. [illustration [++] pass of keim-an-eigh.] the pass of keim-an-eigh is one of the numerous wonders of nature. it is situated on the road from macroom to bantry, in the county of cork, and winds through a deep and narrow rocky defile, about two english miles in length. its name means, in irish, "the path of the deer." perhaps, in no part of the kingdom, is there to be found a place so utterly desolate and gloomy. a mountain has been divided by some convulsion of nature, and the narrow pass is overhung on either side, as seen in our engraving, by perpendicular cliffs clothed in wild ivy and underwood, with, occasionally, a stunted yew-tree or arbutus growing among them. at every step advance seems impossible--some huge rock jutting out into the path, or sweeping round it, seeming to conduct only to some barrier still more insurmountable; while from all sides rush down the "wild fountains," and forming for themselves a rugged channel, make their way onward, the first tributary to the gentle and fruitful lee. nowhere has nature assumed a more apalling aspect, or manifested a more stern resolve to dwell in her own loneliness and grandeur, undisturbed by any living thing; for even the birds seem to shun a solitude so awful, and the hum of bee or chirp of grasshopper is never heard within its precincts. the first english nun. face, widow of edwin, king of northumberland, is said to have been the first english nun; and the first nunnery in england appears to have been at barking, in essex, which was founded by erkenwald, bishop of london, wherein he placed a number of benedictine or black nuns. the most rigid nuns are those of st. clara, of the order of st. francis, both of which individuals were born and lived in the same town: the nuns are called poor clares, and both they and the monks wear grey clothes. abbesses had formerly seats in parliament. in one, held in , says spelman, they sat and deliberated, and several of them subscribed the decrees made in it. they sat, says ingulphus, in a parliament held in . in the reigns of henry iii. and edward i. four of them were summoned to a national council, viz. those of shaftesbury, barking, winchester, and wilton. presence of mind--escape from a tiger. in , a party of british naval and military officers were dining in a jungle at some distance from madras, when a ferocious tiger rushed in among them, seized a young midshipman, and flung him across his back. in the first emotion of terror, the other officers had all snatched up their arms, and retired some paces from their assailant, who stood lashing his sides with his tail, as if doubtful whether he should seize more prey, or retire with that which he had already secured. they knew that it is usual with the tiger, before he seizes his prey, to deprive it of life, by a pat on the head, which generally breaks the skull; but this is not his invariable practice. the little midshipman lay motionless on the back of his enemy; but yet the officers, who were uncertain whether he had received the mortal pat or not, were afraid to fire, lest they should kill him together with the tiger. while in this state of suspense, they perceived the hand of the youth gently move over the side of the animal, and conceiving the motion to result from the convulsive throbs of death, they were about to fire, when, to their utter astonishment, the tiger dropped stone dead; and their young friend sprung from the carcass, waving in triumph a bloody dirk drawn from the heart, for which he had been feeling with the utmost coolness and circumspection, when the motion of his hand had been taken for a dying spasm. cost of articles in the fourteenth century. the following article is taken from martin's _history of thetford_. it is copied from an original record in that borough, when john le forester was mayor, in the tenth year of edward the third, a.d. . it is so far curious, as it exhibits an authentic account of the value of many articles at that time; being a bill, inserted in the town book, of the expenses attending the sending two light-horsemen from thetford to the army, which was to march against the scots that year. £ s. d. to two men chosen to go into the army against scotland for cloth, and to the tailor for making it into two _gowns_ for two pair of gloves, and a stick or staff for two horses - / for shoeing these horses for two pair of boots for the light-horsemen paid to a lad for going with the mayor to lenn (lynn), to take care of the horses (the distance between thetford and lynn is miles) to a boy for a letter at lenn (viz., carrying it thither) expenses for the horses of two light-horsemen for four days before they departed law and order in the streets of london in . what an extraordinary state of things does the following extract from the _weekly register_ of december th, , disclose! the stages and hackney-coaches actually made open war upon private carriages. "the drivers," says the paragraph, "are commissioned by their masters to annoy, sink, and destroy all the single and double horse-chaises they can conveniently meet with, or overtake in their way, without regard to the lives or limbs of the persons who travel in them. what havoc these industrious sons of blood and wounds have made within twenty miles of london in the compass of a summer's season, is best known by the articles of accidents in the newspapers: the miserable shrieks of women and children not being sufficient to deter the villains from doing what they call their duty to their masters; for besides their daily or weekly wages, they have an extraordinary stated allowance for every chaise they can reverse, ditch, or bring by the road, as the term or phrase is." verily, we who live in the present day have reason to rejoice that in _some_ things there is a decided improvement upon "the good old times." never sleeping in a bed. christopher pivett, of the city of york, died , aged . he was a carver and gilder by trade; but during the early part of his life served in the army, and was in the retinue of the duke of cumberland, under whose command he took part in the battle of fontenoy, as he did at the battle of dettingen under the earl of stair; he was likewise at the siege of carlisle, and the great fight of culloden. his house, after he had settled at york, being accidentally burnt down, he formed the singular resolution of never again sleeping in a bed, lest he should be burned to death whilst asleep, or not have time sufficient, should such a misfortune again befall him, to remove his property; and this resolution he rigidly acted upon during the last forty years of his life. his practice was to repose upon the floor, or on two chairs, or sitting in a chair, but always with his clothes on. during the whole of this period he lived entirely alone, cooked his own victuals, and seldom admitted any one into his habitation: nor would he ever disclose to any the place of his birth, or to whom he was related. he had many singularities, but possessed, politically as well as socially, a laudable spirit of independence, which he boldly manifested on several trying occasions. among other uncommon articles which composed the furniture of his dwelling, was a human skull, which he left strict injunctions should be interred with him. amulet brotche. the subjoined engraving represents an ancient gaelic brotche, which was made in the reign of queen elizabeth, and once belonged to a highland chief, maclean of lochbuy in the isle of mull, being formed of silver found on his estate. it is of circular form, scolloped, and surrounded by small upright obelisks, each set with a pearl at top; in the centre is a round crystalline ball, considered a magical gem; the top may be taken off, showing a hollow, originally for reliques. on the reverse side of the brotche are engraved the names of the three kings of cologne, with the word _consummation_. it was probably a consecrated brotche, and worn not only for the purpose of fastening the dress, but as an amulet. [illustration [++] gaelic brotche.] the golynos oak. this wonderful tree grew on the estate from which it takes its name, about four miles from newport, monmouth. it was purchased by thomas harrison, esq., in the year , for guineas, and was felled and converted by him the same year. five men were twenty days stripping and cutting it down; and a pair of sawyers were employed days in its conversion. the expense of stripping, felling, and sawing was £ . the trunk of the tree was - / feet in diameter, and no saw could be found long enough to cut it down; two saws were therefore brazed together. the rings in its butt being reckoned, it was discovered that this tree had been improving upwards of years! and, as many of its lateral branches were dead, and some broken off, it is presumed it must have stood a century after it had attained maturity. when standing it overspread square yards of ground, and produced , feet of timber. when all its parts were brought to market they produced nearly £ . [illustration [++] golynos oak.] carfax conduit. [illustration [++] carfax conduit.] in the grounds at nuneham courtenay, near oxford, belonging to mr. harcourt, on one of the slopes that ascend directly from the river thames, stands the ancient and far-famed carfax conduit, which formerly stood as a kind of central point to the four principal streets of oxford. certain alterations requiring its removal, it was, with the most perfect propriety, presented to the earl harcourt. it was built in , by otho nicholson--a liberal and enterprising gentleman--in order to supply the city with pure water, brought from a hill above north hinksey; and although the conduit is removed, the pipes still remain, and afford a partial supply that will be superseded by the new city waterworks. it is a square, decorated in accordance with the taste of the time--mermaids holding combs and mirrors, and dragons, antelopes, unicorns, being scattered about, while the empress maude is introduced riding an ox over a ford, in allusion to the name of the city. the letters o. n., the initials of the founder, are conspicuous; while above the centres of the four arches are the cardinal virtues--justice, temperance, fortitude, and prudence. carfax is from a bishop of that name, who presided over the diocese of tours in france, and died in the year . he was canonized, and is the tutelar saint of carfax, or st. martin's church, in the city of oxford. destruction of libraries in the time of henry viii., at the dissolution of the monasteries. it is a circumstance well known, to every one at all conversant in english history, that the suppression of the lesser monasteries by that rapacious monarch henry the eighth took place in . bishop fisher, when the abolition was first proposed in the convocation, strenuously opposed it, and told his brethren that this was fairly shewing the king how he might come at the great monasteries. "and so my lords," continued he, "if you grant the king these smaller monasteries, you do but make him a handle whereby he may cut down all the cedars within your lebanon." fisher's fears were borne out by the subsequent act of henry, who, after quelling a civil commotion occasioned by the suppression of the lesser monasteries, immediately abolished the remainder, and in the whole suppressed six hundred and forty-five monasteries, of which twenty-eight had abbots who enjoyed seats in parliament. ninety colleges were demolished; two thousand three hundred and seventy-four charities and free chapels, and one hundred and ten hospitals. the havoc that was made among the libraries cannot be better described than in the words of bayle, bishop of ossory, in the preface to leland's "new year's gift to king henry the eighth." "a greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstychouse mansyons (monesteries) reserved of those librarye bookes, some to serve theyr jokes, some to scoure thyr candlestyckes, and some to rubbe theyr bootes. some they solde to the grossers and sope-sellers, and some they sent over see to the book bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes whole shyppes full to the wonderynge of foren nacyons: yea ye universytes of thys realme are not alle clere in this detestable fact, but cursed is that bellye whych seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye gaynes, and so depelye shameth hys natural conterye. i knowe a merchant manne whyche shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte ye contentes of two noble lybraryes for forty shyllinges pryce: a shame it is to be spoken: thys stuffe hath he occupyed in the stede of grey paper by the space of more than these ten yeares and yet he hath store ynoughe for as manye yeares to come. a prodygyouse example is thys to be abhorred of all men whych love thyr nacyon as they shoulde do. the monkes kept them undre dust, ye ydle headed prestes regarded them not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused them, and ye covetouse merchantes have solde them awaye into foren nacyons for moneye." curious mental affection. singular faculties have been developed during somnambulism in the mental condition. thus a case is related of a woman in the edinburgh infirmary who, during her paroxysm, not only mimicked the manner of the attendant physicians, but repeated correctly some of their prescriptions in latin. dr. dyce, of aberdeen, describes the case of a girl, in which this affection began with fits of somnolency, which came upon her suddenly during the day, and from which she could at first be roused by shaking or by being taken into the open air. during these attacks she was in the habit of talking of things that seemed to pass before her like a dream, and was not at the time sensible of anything that was said to her. on one occasion she repeated the entire of the baptismal service, and concluded with an extempore prayer. in her subsequent paroxysms she began to understand what was said to her, and to answer with a considerable degree of consistency, though these replies were in a certain measure influenced by her hallucination. she also became capable of following her usual employment during her paroxysm. at one time she would lay out the table for breakfast, and repeatedly dress herself and the children, her eyes remaining shut the whole time. the remarkable circumstance was now discovered, that, during the paroxysm, she had a distinct recollection of what had taken place in former attacks, though she had not the slightest recollection of it during the intervals. she was taken to church during the paroxysm, and attended the service with apparent devotion, and at one time was so affected by the sermon that she actually shed tears; yet in the interval she had no recollection whatever of the circumstance, but in the following paroxysm she gave a most distinct account of it, and actually repeated the passage of the sermon that had so much affected her. this sort of somnambulism, relating distinctly to two periods, has been called, perhaps erroneously, a _state of double consciousness_. this girl described the paroxysm as coming on with a dimness of sight and a noise in the head. during the attack, her eyelids were generally half shut, and frequently resembled those of a person labouring under amaurosis, the pupil dilated and insensible. her looks were dull and vacant, and she often mistook the person who was speaking to her. the paroxysms usually lasted an hour, but she often could be roused from them. she then yawned and stretched herself like a person awakening from sleep, and instantly recognised those about her. at one time, dr. dyce affirms, she read distinctly a portion of a book presented to her, and she would frequently sing pieces of music more correctly and with better taste than when awake. decorative drinking vessel. [illustration [++] german decorative vessel.] the above represents a german decorative drinking vessel of the early part of the seventeenth century. it is a stork bearing in its beak an infant; in accordance with the old german nursery tale that the king of the storks is the bringer and protector of babies. it is of silver, chased all over; the eyes are formed of rubies; and one wing takes off that liquid may be placed in the body, and imbibed through the neck, by a hole in the crown of the bird. it was probably a quaint fancy for some german noble nursery. examples of ancient vases. the vases which are grouped in the annexed engraving are highly deserving of a place in our collection of curiosities, inasmuch as they are truly unique and beautiful specimens of the degree of perfection to which the art of glass-making had been carried at the period when rome was mistress of the world. they all belong to that period, and in elegance of form and skill of workmanship they equal--we had almost said, surpass, the most artistic productions of the present day. [illustration [++] ancient vases.] figure is that celebrated vase which for more than two centuries was the principal ornament of the barberini palace at rome. it was thence generally known as the "barberini vase;" but having been purchased by sir w. hamilton, and then sold by him to the duchess of portland, it was at her death munificently presented by her son, the duke of portland, to the british museum, where it has ever since remained as one of its choicest gems, and is now known as the "portland cinerary vase." it was found about the middle of the sixteenth century, enclosed in a marble sarcophagus, within a sepulchral chamber under the monte del grane, two miles and a half from rome, on the road to frascati. the tomb is believed to have been that of the emperor alexander severus, and his mother mammæa. the vase is made of purple glass, ornamented with white opaque figures in bas-relief. the execution of the design is most admirable. in the first place, the artist must have had the aptitude to blow in purple glass a beautiful form of vase, with handles attached: and, even thus far, this is considered in our day a masterpiece of skill at our best glass-houses. secondly, with the oxide of tin forming an opaque white glass, the artist managed to cover the whole of the purple vase with this white opaque glass, to at least the thickness of a quarter of an inch. the artist then, in the manner of cutting a cameo on the onyx stone, cut the opaque glass away, leaving the white figures and allegory embossed upon the purple. the figures in relief are in two groups: in the former of these, a female is represented in a recumbent posture, with a cupid hovering above her head, and a serpent in her lap; a young man on one side supporting her stretched out arm, and on the other a bearded personage of more mature age, attentively regarding her. the latter group, on the opposite side of the vase, consists of a female reclining on a pile of tablets, with her right hand placed on her head, and holding in her hand a lighted torch with the flame downwards--a young man being seated on a pile on one side of her, and a female, holding a rod or staff in the right hand, sitting on the other. the subject of the bas-relief has created much difference of opinion, but it is generally supposed to have reference to the birth of severus. a few years ago this vase was broken by a madman, but it has since been repaired in a most artistic manner. figure is the "alexandrian vase," of the museo borbonico, naples. figure is the "pompeii vase," also of the museo borbonico. it was discovered in a sepulchre of pompeii in , and is of the same character in the colours and quality of the glass as the portland vase, but of a more recent date. it is probably the production of greek artists working in rome. figure is the "aldjo vase," which was found in at pompeii, in the house of the fauna. the ground of the vase is of a deep sapphire blue, on which, in opaque white glass, the ornaments are cut. it was found broken. part is in the possession of mr. auldjo; the other in the british museum. the shape of this vase is elegant, the handle and lip of exquisite form, and the taste and execution of the ornamental work in the purest style. minuteness of insect life. as the telescope enables the eye of man to penetrate into far-distant space, and reveals to him myriads of suns and systems which otherwise would have remained for ever hidden from his natural sight, so the microscope opens up a world of life everywhere around us, but altogether unsuspected, astounding us as much by the inappreciable minuteness of its discoveries, as the former by the stupendous magnitude and remoteness of the objects. if we go to any ditch or pool which the summer sun has covered with a mantle of stagnant greenness, and lift from it a minute drop of water, such as would adhere to the head of a pin, we shall find it, under a high magnifying power, swarming with living beings, moving about with great rapidity, and approaching or avoiding each other with evident perception and will. "vain would it be," observes professor jones, "to attempt by words to give anything like a definite notion of the minuteness of some of these multitudinous races. let me ask the reader to divide an inch into , parts, and appreciate mentally the value of each division: having done so, and not till then, shall we have a standard sufficiently minute to enable us to measure the microscopic beings upon the consideration of which we are now entering. neither is it easy to give the student of nature, who has not accurately investigated the subject for himself, adequate conceptions relative to the numbers in which the _infusoria_ sometimes crowd the waters they frequent; but let him take his microscope, and the means of making a rough estimate, at least, are easily at his disposal. he will soon perceive that the animalcule-inhabitants of a drop of putrid water, possessing, as many of them do, dimensions not larger than the , th part of a line, swim so closely together, that the intervals separating them are not greater than their own bodies. the matter, therefore, becomes a question for arithmetic to solve, and we will pause to make the calculation. "the _monas termo_, for example--a creature that might be pardonably regarded as an embodiment of the mathematical point, almost literally without either length, or breadth, or thickness--has been calculated to measure about the , th part of an inch in its transverse diameter; and in water taken from the surface of many putrid infusions, they are crowded as closely as we have stated above. we may therefore safely say, that, swimming at ordinary distances apart, , of them would be contained in a linear space one inch in length, and consequently a cubic inch of such water will thus contain more living and active organized beings than there are human inhabitants upon the whole surface! however astounding such a fact may seem when first enunciated, none is more easily demonstrated with the assistance of a good microscope." the term _infusoria_ has been by some naturalists applied to these diminutive animals, because they are invariably found in the infusions of vegetable or animal substances. they can thus be obtained at all times, by simply steeping a little hay, or chaff, or leaves or stems of any plant, in a vessel of water, and placing the infusion in the sun for a week or ten days. legends of judas iscariot. it was believed in pier della valle's time, that the descendants of judas iscariot still existed at corfu, though the persons who suffered this imputation stoutly denied the truth of the genealogy. when the ceremony of washing the feet is performed in the greek church at smyrna, the bishop represents christ, and the twelve apostles are acted by as many priests. he who personates judas must be paid for it, and such is the feeling of the people, that whoever accepts this odious part, commonly retains the name of judas for life (hasselquist, p. ). judas serves in brazil for a guy faux to be carried about by the boys, and made the subject of an auto-da-fe. the spanish sailors hang him at the yard arm. it is not long since a spaniard lost his life at portsmouth, during the performance of this ceremony, by jumping overboard after the figure. the armenians, who believe hell and limbo to be the same place, say that judas, after having betrayed our lord, resolved to hang himself, because he knew christ was to go to limbo, and deliver all the souls which he found there, and therefore he thought to get there in time. but the devil was cunninger than he, and knowing his intent, held him over limbo till the lord had passed through, and then let him fall plum into hell. (thevenot.) queen elizabeth's side-saddle. in a retired part of the county of essex, at a short distance from the road, in a secluded and lovely spot, stands the picturesque residence called horeham hall. the mansion is in the parish of thaxted, and is about two miles south-west of the church. it was once in the possession of the important family of the de wauton's; it afterwards belonged to sir john cutts, and eventually it became the property of sir w. smijth, of hill hall, in whose family it has remained up to the present time. of the learned sir thomas smijth, the secretary to king edward vi. and queen elizabeth, there is still preserved an ancient portrait on panel, which is let into a circle over the carved fire-place of one of the parlours. it is remarkable as being one of the very few portraits painted by titian. [illustration [++] queen elizabeth's side saddle.] another interesting relic is represented in the annexed cut. it is preserved in the great hall, and is the side-saddle of queen elizabeth; the pommel is of wrought metal, and has been gilt; the ornament upon it is in the then fashionable style of the renaissance; the seat of velvet is now in a very ruinous condition; but it is carefully kept beneath a glass case, as a memento of the queen's visits to this place. when princess, elizabeth retired to horeham as a place of refuge during the reign of her sister mary; the loveliness of the situation and its distance from the metropolis rendered it a seclusion befitting the quietude of one anxious to remain unnoticed in troublous times. a room on the first floor in the square tower is shown as that in which queen elizabeth resided. she found the retirement of horeham so agreeable, that often after she had succeeded to the throne she took a pleasure in re-visiting the place. the winfarthing oak, in norfolk. a writer in the "gardener's magazine" gives the following account of this remarkable tree:--"of its age i regret to be unable to give any correct data. it is said to have been called the 'old oak' at the time of william the conqueror, but upon what authority i could never learn. nevertheless, the thing is not impossible, if the speculations of certain writers on the age of trees be at all correct. mr. south, in one of his letters to the bath society (vol. x.) calculates that an oak tree forty-seven feet in circumference cannot be less than fifteen hundred years old; and mr. marsham calculated the bentley oak, from its girting thirty-four feet, to be of the same age. now, an inscription on a brass plate affixed to the winfarthing oak gives us the following as its dimensions:--'this oak, in circumference, at the extremities of the roots, is seventy feet; in the middle, forty feet, .' now, i see no reason, if the size of the rind is to be any criterion of age, why the winfarthing should not, at least, equal the bentley oak; and if so, it would be upwards of seven hundred years old at the conquest; an age which might very well justify its then title of the 'old oak.' it is now a mere shell, a mighty ruin, bleached to a snowy white; but it is magnificent in its decay. the only mark of vitality it exhibits is on the south side, where a narrow strip of bark sends forth a few branches, which even now occasionally produce acorns. it is said to be very much altered of late; but i own i did not think so when i saw it about a month ago (may ); and my acquaintance with the veteran is of more than forty years' standing: an important portion of _my_ life, but a mere span of its own." curious piece of ancient armour. [illustration [++] bascinet.] the above engraving represents a helmet, of the time of richard ii., which was termed by ancient armourers a bascinet. this extremely rare specimen was obtained from her von hulshoff, at his castle, near munster, in westphalia. the visor lifts upward on a hinge, and its position may be further regulated by the screw which slips in the groove above it. the row of holes on the lower edge of the bascinet was made to secure the _camail_, or tippet of chain-mail which covered the neck of the wearer. extraordinary echo. beneath the suspension-bridge across the menai strait in wales, close to one of the main piers, is a remarkably fine echo. the sound of a blow on the pier with a hammer, is returned in succession from each of the cross beams which support the roadway, and from the opposite pier, at a distance of feet; and in addition to this, the sound is many times repeated between the water and the roadway. the effect is a series of sounds, which may be thus described:--the first return is sharp and strong from the roadway overhead, the rattling which succeeds dies rapidly away; but the single repercussion from the opposite pier is very strong, and is succeeded by a faint palpitation, repeating the sound at the rate of twenty-eight times in five seconds, and which, therefore, corresponds to a distance of feet, or very nearly the double interval from the roadway to the water. thus it appears, that in the repercussion between the water and the roadway, that from the latter only affects the ear, the line drawn from the auditor to the water being too oblique for the sound to diverge sufficiently in that direction. another peculiarity deserves especial notice,--viz., that the echo from the opposite pier is best heard when the auditor stands precisely opposite to the middle of the breadth of the pier, and strikes just on that point. as it deviates to one or the other side, the return is proportionably fainter, and is scarcely heard by him when his station is a little beyond the extreme edge of the pier, though another person stationed on the same side of the water, at an equal distance from the central point, so as to have the pier between them, hears it well. jugglers of modern egypt. performers of sleight-of-hand tricks, who are called _hhowa'h_ (in the singular, _hha'wee_) are numerous in cairo. they generally perform in public places, collecting a ring of spectators around them; from some of whom they receive small voluntary contributions during and after their performances. they are most frequently seen on the occasions of public festivals; but often also at other times. by indecent jests and actions, they attract as much applause as they do by other means. the hha'wee performs a great variety of tricks, the most usual of which we will here mention. he generally has two boys to assist him. from a large leather bag, he takes out four or five snakes, of a largish size. one of these he places on the ground, and makes it erect its head and part of its body; another he puts round the head of one of the boys, like a turban, and two more over the boy's neck. he takes these off, opens the boy's mouth, apparently passes the bolt of a kind of padlock through his cheek, and locks it. then, in appearance, he forces an iron spike into the boy's throat; the spike being really pushed up into a wooden handle. he also performs another trick of the same kind as this. placing the boy on the ground, he puts the edge of a knife upon his nose, and knocks the blade until half its width seems to have entered. the tricks which he performs alone are more amusing. he draws a great quantity of various-coloured silk from his mouth, and winds it on his arm; puts cotton in his mouth, and blows out fire; takes out of his mouth a great number of round pieces of tin, like dollars; and, in appearance, blows an earthen pipe-bowl from his nose. in most of his tricks he occasionally blows through a large shell (called the hha'wee's zoomma'rah), producing sounds like those of a horn. most of his sleight-of-hand performances are nearly similar to those of exhibitors of the same class in our own and other countries. taking a silver finger-ring from one of the bystanders, he puts it in a little box, blows his shell, and says, "'efree't change it!" he then opens the box, and shows, in it, a different ring: shuts the box again; opens it, and shows the first ring: shuts it a third time: opens it, and shows a melted lump of silver, which he declares to be the ring melted, and offers to the owner. the latter insists upon having his ring in its original state. the hha'wee then asks for five or ten fud'dahs to recast it; and having obtained this, opens the box again (after having closed it, and blown his shell), and takes out of it the perfect ring. he next takes a larger covered box; puts one of his boy's skull-caps in it, blows his shell, opens the box, and out comes a rabbit: the cap seems to be gone. he puts the rabbit in again; covers the box; uncovers it, and out run two little chickens. these he puts in again, blows his shell, uncovers the box, and shows it full of fatee'rehs (or pancakes), and koona'feh (which resembles vermicelli): he tells his boys to eat its contents; but they refuse to do it without honey. he then takes a small jug, turns it upside-down, to show that it is empty; blows his shell, and hands round the jug full of honey. the boys, having eaten, ask for water to wash their hands. the hha'wee takes the same jug, and hands it filled with water, in the same manner. he takes the box again, and asks for the cap; blows his shell, uncovers the box, and pours out from it, into the boy's lap (the lower part of his shirt held up), four or five small snakes. the boy, in apparent fright, throws them down, and demands the cap. the hha'wee puts the snakes back into the box; blows his shell, uncovers the box, and takes out the cap. another of his common tricks is to put a number of slips of white paper into a tinned copper vessel (the tisht of a seller of sherbet), and to take them out dyed of various colours. he pours water into the same vessel; puts in a piece of linen; then gives to the spectators, to drink, the contents of the vessel, changed to sherbet of sugar. sometimes he apparently cuts in two a muslin shawl, or burns it in the middle, and then restores it whole. often he strips himself of all his clothes, excepting his drawers; tells two persons to bind him, hands and feet, and put him in a sack. this done, he asks for a piaster; and some one tells him that he shall have it if he will put out his hand and take it. he puts out his hand free; draws it back, and is then taken out of the sack, bound as at first. he is put in again, and comes out unbound, handing to the spectators a small tray, upon which are four or five little plates filled with various eatables; and, if the performance be at night, several small lighted candles placed round. the spectators eat the food. origin of attar of roses. "in the histoire generale de l'empire du mogol, (_t._ , _p_, ,) compiled by catrou the jesuit, from manouchi's papers, this perfume is said to have been discovered by accident. nur-jahan, the favorite wife of the mogul jahan-ghur, among her other luxuries, had a small canal of rose water. as she was a walking with the mogul upon its banks, they perceived a thin film upon the water,--it was an essential oil made by the heat of the sun. they were delighted with its exquisite odour, and means were immediately taken for preparing by art a substance like that which had been thus fortuitously produced." a magician's mirror and bracelet. a strange blending of pure science and gross superstition is remarkably illustrated in the history of the celebrated dr. dee. born in london in , john dee raised himself at an early age to a great reputation for his learning, in the mathematical sciences especially, in the most celebrated universities in his own country and of the continent. he is said to have imbibed a taste for the occult sciences while a student at louvain, but there was evidently in his temper much of an enthusiastic and visionary turn, which must have given him a taste for such mysterious pursuits, without the necessity of an external impulse. one of the oldest and most generally credited of magical operations, was that of bringing spirits or visions into a glass or mirror, a practice which has continued to exist in the east even to the present day, and which prevailed to a very considerable extent in all parts of western europe during the sixteenth century. the process was not a direct one, for the magician did not himself see the vision in the mirror, but he had to depend upon an intermediate agent, a sort of familiar, who in england was known by the name of a _skyrer_, and whose business it was to look into the mirror and describe what he saw. dr. dee's principal skyrer was one edward kelly, and during his connexion with him, dee kept an exact diary of all his visions, a portion of which was printed in a folio volume by merio casaubon in . in this journal more than one magical mirror is evidently mentioned, and that which we here engrave is believed to have been of the number. it is now in the collection of lord londesborough. [illustration [++] magician's mirror.] it is a polished oval slab of black stone, of what kind we have not been able to ascertain, but evidently of a description which was not then common in western europe, and dr. dee, who died in , may have considered it as extremely precious, and as only to be obtained by some extraordinary means. it was one of the ornaments of the museum of horace walpole at strawberry hill; and walpole has attached to it a statement of its history in his own hand-writing, from which we learn that it was "long" in the possession of the mordaunts, earls of peterborough, in whose catalogue it was described as "the black stone into which dr. dee used to call his spirits." it passed from that collection to lady elizabeth germaine, from whom it went to john campbell, duke of argyll, whose son, lord frederick campbell, presented it to horace walpole. this interesting relic was bought at the strawberry hill sale for the late mr. pigott; and at the more recent sale of that gentleman's collection, it passed into the hands of lord londesborough. its history and authenticity appear, therefore, to be very well made out. the family of the mordaunts held a prominent place in english history during the whole of the seventeenth century, and it is hardly probable that they would have received an object like this without having good reason for believing that its history was authentic. it is believed that butler alluded to this identical stone in his well-known lines:-- "kelly did all his feats upon the devil's looking-glass or stone, when, playing with him at bo-peep, he solv'd all problems ne'er so deep." _hudibras._ part ii. canto . [illustration [++] magician's bracelet.] the regular fitting out of the magician at this period was a complicated process. he required his implements of various kinds, and, in addition to these, various robes, made especially for the occasion, with girdles and head-pieces, and magical rings and bracelets. a very curious example of the last-mentioned article of the magician's accoutrements, is represented in the preceding cut, about one-third the size of the original. it was purchased by lord londesborough in , and had formerly been in the possession of charles mainwaring, esq., of coleby, near lincoln. it is of silver, the letters of the inscription round the bracelet being engraved and filled with niello. this inscription may be distinctly read as follows:-- + iona + ihoat + lona + heloi + yssaray + || + mephenolpheton + agla + achedion + yana + bachionodonavali m[*] ilior + || bachionodonavali m[**] ach + some explanation of this mysterious inscription might, no doubt, be obtained by a diligent comparison of some of the numerous works on magic compiled in the age of dr. dee, and in the seventeenth century. the bracelet has had four pendants on it, of which three still remain, with the silver setting of the fourth. one of the pendants which remain is a brownish pebble, secured by three flat bands of silver; another is an oval cage of strong silver wire, containing a nut of some kind and some other vegetable substance; the third has on one side a circular convex pebble set in silver, and on the back three smaller pebbles. lunar influence in death. many modern physicians have stated the opinions of the ancients as regards lunar influence in diseases, but none have pushed their inquiries with such indefatigable zeal as the late dr. moseley; he affirms that almost all people in extreme age die at the new or at full moon, and this he endeavours to prove by the following records:-- thomas parr died at the age of , two days after the full moon. henry jenkins died at the age of , the day of the new moon. elizabeth steward, , the day of the new moon. william leland, , the day after the new moon. john effingham, , two days after full moon. elizabeth hilton, , two days after the full moon. john constant, , two days after the new moon. the doctor then proceeds to show, by the deaths of various illustrious persons, that a similar rule holds good with the generality of mankind: chaucer, th october, , the day of the first quarter. copernicus, th may, , day of the last quarter. luther, th february, , three days after the full. henry viii., th january, , the day of the first quarter. calvin, th may, , two days after the full. cornaro, th april, , day of the first quarter. queen elizabeth, th march, , day of the last quarter. shakspeare, rd april, , day after the full. camden, nd november, , day before the new moon. bacon, th april, , one day after last quarter. vandyke, th april, , two days after full moon. cardinal richelieu, th december, , three days before full moon. doctor harvey, th june, , a few hours before the new moon. oliver cromwell, rd september, , two days after full moon. milton, th november, , two days before the new moon. sydenham, th december, , two days before the full moon. locke, th november, , two days before the full moon. queen anne, st august, , two days after the full moon. louis xiv., st september, , a few hours before the full moon. marlborough, th june, , two days before the full moon. newton, th march, , two days before the new moon. george i., th june, , three days after new moon. george ii., th october, , one day after full moon. sterne, th september, , two days after new moon. whitfield, th september, , a few hours before the new moon. swedenburg, th march, , the day of the full moon. linnæus, th january, , two days before the full moon. the earl of chatham, th may, , the day of the full moon. rousseau, nd july, , the day after the first quarter. garrick, th january, , three days after the new moon. dr. johnson, th december, , two days after the new moon. dr. franklin, th april, , three days after the new moon. sir joshua reynolds, rd february, , the day after the new moon. lord guildford, th august, , three days after the full moon. dr. warren, rd june, , a day before the new moon. burke, th july, , at the instant of the full moon. macklin, th july, , two days after full moon. wilkes, th december, , the day of the first quarter. washington, th december, , three days after full moon. sir w. hamilton, th april, , a few hours before the full moon. the doctor winds up this extract from the bills of mortality by the following appropriate remark: "here we see the moon, as she shines on all alike, so she makes no distinction of persons in her influence: "----æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, regumque turres." gluttony of the monks. king john, pointing to a fat deer said, "see how plump he is, and yet he has never heard mass!" john might have alluded to the gluttony of the monks, which was notorious in his days; for giraldus cambrensis says, that from the monks of st. swithin's, winchester, henry ii. received a formal complaint against the abbot for depriving his priests of three out of thirteen dishes at every meal. the monks of canterbury exceeded those of st. swithin; they had seventeen dishes every day, and each of these cooked with spices and the most savoury and rich sauces. ancient bell-shrine. the annexed engraving represents one of the most valuable and curious ecclesiastical relics of the early christian period that has ever been discovered. it consists of a bronze bell-shrine and bell, found about the year , on the demolition of the ruined wall at torrebhlaurn farm, in the parish of kilmichael-glassrie, argyleshire, and now one of the most valued treasures in the museum of the scottish antiquaries. [illustration [++] bronze bell-shrine and bell.] that it must have been deposited in the wall where it was found, for the purpose of concealment at a period of danger and alarm, seems abundantly obvious; but of the occasion of this concealment no tradition has been preserved. within the beautiful case is a rude iron bell, so greatly corroded that its original form can only be imperfectly traced; yet this, and not the shrine, was obviously the chief object of veneration, and may, indeed, be assumed, with much probability, to be some centuries older than the ornamental case in which it is preserved. whether it shall be thought to have been an ancient reliquary or a mass-bell, or whatever else may be conjectured of its nature and use, it may fairly be presumed to have remained in the neglected spot in which it was found since the subversion of the roman catholic worship in the sixteenth century, when the favoured objects of external adoration and reverence, under the former superstition, came to be regarded with impatient contempt and abhorrence. it is deserving of attention that the figure of our crucified saviour in invested with a regal crown, and not with a crown of thorns, as is usually the case. the brass chain or collar, of rude workmanship, about three feet six inches long, now attached to the case, and the extremities of which are connected with a small cross of the same metal, was discovered at the same time, not far from the case. egyptian garden. the diagram which accompanies this article is an egyptian sketch of an egyptian garden; and it is expressly curious, both as an example of the pictorial art of the period, and as giving us an idea of the pleasure-gardens of egypt in its most flourishing days. [illustration [++] egyptian garden.] the garden here represented stood beside a canal of the nile, with an avenue of trees between it and the bank, on which side was the entrance. it was surrounded by an embattled wall, through which a noble gateway gave access to the garden. the central space was occupied by the vineyard, surrounded by its own wall, in which the vines were trained on trellises supported by slender pillars. at the further end of the vineyard was a building of three storeys, the windows from which opened over the luxurious foliage and purple clusters, regaling the senses both of sight and smell. four large tanks of water kept the vegetation well supplied with nutritive moisture; and, with the smooth and verdant turf which borders them, the water-fowl that sported over the surface, and the lotus-flowers that sprang from their clear depths, added a new beauty to the scene. near the tanks stood summer-houses, overlooking beds of various flowers, and sheltered from the sun by surrounding trees. two enclosed spaces between the tanks, being filled with trees, were probably devoted to some species of particular rarity, or remarkable for the excellence of their fruit. rows of date trees and theban palms, alternating with other trees, bordered the whole garden, and environed the vineyard wall. the very numerous allusions to gardens in the sacred scriptures show that the hebrews inherited the same taste as the egyptians. in these allusions we find the same characteristics that are so observable in those depicted on the monuments; such as the absolute necessity of water, the custom of having pools in them, the advantage of a situation by the side of a river, the practice of enclosing them from intrusion, and appropriation of enclosures to particular productions. with the early egyptians the love of flowers seems to have been almost a passion; they appear to have been in constant request in offerings to the gods, and as ornaments of the person, as decorations of furniture; as graceful additions to several entertainments, they occur at every turn. flowers were painted on walls, furniture, dresses, chairs, boxes, boats, and, in short, on whatever was wished to be ornamental. wreaths and chaplets were likewise in common use among the egyptians, and artificial flowers were not uncommon. state of the mind during sleep. the following is an instance of phantasms being produced by our associations with bodily sensations, and tends to show how alive our faculties continue during sleep to the highest impressions:-- the subject of this observation was an officer in the expedition to louisburg in , who had this peculiarity in so remarkable a degree, that his companions in the transport were in the constant habit of amusing themselves at his expense. they could produce in him any kind of dream by whispering in his ear, especially if this was done by a friend with whose voice he had become familiar. one time they conducted him through the whole progress of a trial, which ended in a duel; and when the parties were supposed to have met, a pistol was put into his hand, which he fired, and was awakened by the report. on another occasion they found him asleep on the top of a locker in the cabin, when they made him believe he had fallen overboard, and exhorted him to save himself by swimming. they then told him that a shark was pursuing him, and entreated him to dive for his life. he instantly did so, and with so much force as to throw himself from the locker upon the cabin floor, by which he was much bruised, and awakened of course. after the landing of the army at louisburg, his friends found him one day asleep in his tent, and evidently annoyed by the cannonading. they then made him believe that he was engaged, when he expressed great fear, and showed an evident disposition to run away. against this they remonstrated, but at the same increased his fears by imitating the groans of the wounded and the dying; and when he asked, as he often did, who was hit, they named his particular friends. at last they told him that the man next himself in his company had fallen, when he instantly sprung from his bed, rushed out of the tent, and was only roused from his danger and his dream by falling over the tent-ropes. a remarkable thing in this case was, that after these experiments he had no distinct recollection of his dreams, but only a confused feeling of oppression or fatigue, and used to tell his friends that he was sure they had been playing some trick upon him. it has been observed that we seldom feel courageous or daring in our dreams, and generally avoid danger when menaced by a foe, or exposed to any probable peril. music of the sea. the mysterious music that is heard in the bay at west pascagoula, is described by those who have listened to it as being singularly beautiful. "it has, for a long time," says mrs. child, an american authoress, "been one of the greatest wonders of the south-west. multitudes have heard it, rising, as it were, from the water, like the drone of a bagpipe, then floating away, away, away, in the distance, soft, plaintive, and fairy-like, as if Æolian harps sounded with richer melody through the liquid element; but none have been able to account for the beautiful phenomenon. there are several legends touching these mysterious sounds; but in these days few things are allowed to remain mysterious." these strange sounds, which thus assume the beauty and the harmony of regular music, are stated to proceed from the cat-fish. a correspondent of the _baltimore republican_ thus explains the phenomenon:--"during several of my voyages on the spanish main, in the neighbourhood of paraguay and san juan de nicaragua, from the nature of the coast, we were compelled to anchor at a considerable distance from the shore; and every evening, from dark to late night, our ears were delighted with Æolian music, that could be heard beneath the counter of our schooner. at first i thought it was the sea-breeze sweeping through the strings of my violin (the bridge of which i had inadvertently left standing); but after examination i found it was not so. i then placed my ear on the rail of the vessel, when i was continually charmed with the most heavenly strains that ever fell upon my ear. they did not sound as close to us, but were sweet, mellow, and aerial, like the soft breathings of a thousand lutes, touched by fingers of the deep sea nymphs, at an immense distance. although i have considerable "music in my soul," one night i became tired, and determined to fish. my luck, in half-an-hour, was astonishing. i had half filled my bucket with the finest white cat-fish i ever saw; and it being late, and the cook asleep, and the moon shining, i filled my bucket with water, and took fish and all into my cabin for the night. i had not yet fallen asleep, when the same sweet notes fell upon my ear; and, getting up, what was my surprise to find my cat-fish discoursing sweet sounds to the sides of my bucket! i examined them closely, and discovered that there was attached to each lower lip an excrescence, divided by soft wiry fibres. by the pressure of the upper lip thereon, and by the exhalation and discharge of breath, a vibration was created, similar to that produced by the breath on the tongue of the jews' harp." the rock of cashel. any work which professed to be a record of what is rare and curious, would surely be incomplete if it did not contain an account of the celebrated rock of cashel; for the venerable buildings which crown its summit are, from their number, variety, preservation, and site, decidedly the most interesting ruins in the emerald isle, and, to use the words of sir walter scott, "such as ireland may be proud of." cashel, which is distant about one hundred miles from dublin, appears to be a place of high antiquity, and was long the residence of the kings of munster; but as its early history is involved in much obscurity, it is uncertain at what period it became a diocesan site. it is stated that previous to the year the buildings on the rock were occupied as a royal residence, and that in that year the hitherto royal seat was dedicated solely to ecclesiastical uses. [illustration [++] rock of cashel.] the buildings consist of a round tower, cormack's chapel, cathedral, castle and monastery; the latter is a few yards detached, and the least remarkable of the number; all the former are closely connected. the round tower, the date and uses of which are in common with those of all other similar structures involved in much obscurity, raises its tall and yet scarce dilapidated head far above its younger and more decaying companions. it is fifty-six feet in circumference, and ninety feet in height. cormack's chapel, which, with the exception of the round tower, is the most ancient structure of the group, was built by cormack m'carthy, king of munster, in . it is roofed with stone, and in its capitals, arches, and other features and details, the norman style is distinctly marked. the numerous ornaments, grotesque heads, and other curious sculptures, which adorn the arches, columns, and pilasters, are all in uniformity of style. the building altogether is a perfect gem, and the architectural antiquary and the artist will find in it a most valuable addition to their studies. the cathedral is a noble remnant of what is usually termed the pointed gothic, and contains many interesting relics. the rock, which is here presented as it appears from the plain below, has the buildings we have just mentioned on its very summit; it rises abruptly from a widely extended fertile country, to a considerable height above the town, and from many parts at a distance it forms a very striking object. on the top of the rock, and around the ruins, an area of about three acres has been enclosed, which is open to the public. instance of incremation. last night ( th september, ), say the chronicles of the day, the will of mrs. pratt, a widow lady, who lately died at her house in george street, hanover square, was punctually fulfilled, by the burning of her body to ashes in her grave, in the new burying-ground adjoining to tyburn turnpike. the hawthornden sword. the great antiquity of the scottish claymore is proved by its being figured in the sculptures both of iona and oronsay, with considerable variety of details. in some the blade is highly ornamented, and the handle varies in form, but all present the same characteristic, having the guards bent back towards the blade. a curious variety of this peculiar form is seen in a fine large two-handed sword preserved at hawthornden, the celebrated castle of the drummonds, where the scottish poet entertained ben johnson during his visit to scotland in . it is traditionally affirmed to have been the weapon of robert bruce, though little importance can be attached to a reputation which it shares with one-half the large two-handed swords still preserved. our engraving is a correct representation of it. [illustration [++] hawthornden sword.] the handle appears to be made from the tusk of the narwhal, and it has four reverse guards, as shown in the cut. the object aimed at by this form of guard, doubtless, was to prevent the antagonist's sword glancing off, and inflicting a wound ere he recovered his weapon, and, in the last example especially, it seems peculiarly well adapted for the purpose. instinct in a cat. the following anecdote almost places the cat on a level with the dog:--"a physician of lyons was requested to inquire into a murder that had been committed on a woman of that city. in consequence of this request he went to the habitation of the deceased, where he found her extended lifeless on the floor, weltering in her blood. a large white cat was mounted on the cornice of a cupboard, at the far end of the apartment, where he seemed to have taken refuge. he sat motionless, with his eyes fixed on the corpse, and his attitude and looks expressing horror and affright. the following morning he was found in the same station and attitude, and when the room was filled with officers of justice, neither the clattering of the soldiers' arms, nor the loud conversation of the company, could in the least degree divert his attention. as soon, however, as the suspected persons were brought in, his eyes glared with increased fury, his hair bristled, he darted into the middle of the apartment, where he stopped for a moment to gaze at them, and then precipitately retreated under the bed. the countenances of the assassins were disconcerted, and they were now, for the first time, abandoned by their atrocious audacity." a trance. mrs. godfrey, sister to the duke of marlborough, had nearly been buried alive; the physicians all declaring that the breath of life was irrecoverably gone. her husband, colonel godfrey, had, however, the pleasure to see her revive, seven days after (that day week, and same hour), and what is more, she never knew till the day of her death the length of her trance, or sleep. the number seven. the number is composed of the first two perfect numbers, equal and unequal, and ; for the number , consisting of repeated unity, which is no number, is not perfect, it comprehends the primary numerical triangle or trine, and square or quartile conjunction, considered by the favourers of planetary influence as of the most benign aspect. in six days creation was completed, and the th was consecrated to rest. on the th day of the th month, a holy observance was ordained to the children of israel, who feasted days, and remained days in tents; the th year was directed to be a sabbath of rest for all things; and at the end of times years commenced the grand jubilee. every th year the land lay fallow; every th year there was a general release from all debts, and all bondmen were set free. from this law may have originated the custom of our binding young men to years' apprenticeship, and punishing incorrigible offenders by transportation for , twice , and three times , years. every years the law was to be read to the people. jacob served years for the possession of rachael; and also other . noah had days' warning of the flood, and was commanded to take the fowls of the air in by , and the clean beasts by . the ark touched ground on the th month; and in days the dove was sent out, and again in days after. the years of plenty, and years of famine were foretold in pharaoh's dream by fat and lean beasts, and the full and blasted ears of corn. nebuchadnezzar was years a beast; and the fiery furnace was times hotter to receive shadrach, &c. a man defiled was, by the mosaic law, unclean days; the young of both animals was to remain with the dam days, and at the end of the th was to be taken away. by the old law, man was commanded to forgive his offending brother times; but the meekness of the revealed law extended his humility to times : if cain shall be avenged times, truly lamech times . in the destruction of jericho, priests bore trumpets days; on the th they surrounded the wall times; after the th, the walls fell. balaam prepared years for a sacrifice; and of saul's sons were hanged to stay a famine. laban pursued jacob days' journey. job's friends sat days and nights, and offered bullocks and rams, as an atonement for their wickedness. in the th year of his reign, king ahazuerus feasted days, and on the th deputed his chamberlains to find a queen, who was allowed maidens to attend her. miriam was cleansed of her leprosy by being shut up days. solomon was years in building the temple, at the dedication of which he feasted days; in the temple were lamps; days were appointed for an atonement upon the altar, and the priest's son was ordained to wear his father's garments days. the children of israel eat unleavened bread days. abraham gave ewe-lambs to abimelech, as a memorial for a well. joseph mourned days for jacob. naaman was cleansed of his leprosy by bathing times in jordan. the rabbins say that god employed the power of this number to perfect the greatness of samuel, his name answering the value of the letters in the hebrew word, which signifies ; whence hannah his mother, in her thanksgiving, says, the barren hath brought forth . in scripture are enumerated resurrections: the widow's son, by elias; the shunamite's son, by elisha; the soldier who touched the bones of the prophet; the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue; the widow's son of nain; lazarus, and our lord. the apostles chose deacons. enoch, who was translated, was the th from adam; and jesus christ was the th in a direct line. our lord spoke times on the cross, on which he was hours; he appeared times; and after times days sent the holy ghost. in the lord's prayer are petitions, contained in times words, omitting those of mere grammatical connexion; within this number are concealed all the mysteries of apocalypse revealed to the churches of asia. there appeared seven golden candlesticks and stars in the hand of him that was in the midst; lambs before the spirits of god; the book with seals; the lamb with horns and eyes; angels with trumpets; kings; thunders; , men slain. the dragon with heads and crowns; and the beast with heads; angels bearing plagues, and vials of wrath. the vision of daniel was of weeks and the elders of israel were . there were also heavens, planets (query), stars, wise men, champions of christendom, notes in music, primary colours, deadly sins, and sacraments in the catholic church. the th son was considered as endowed with pre-eminent wisdom; and the th son of a th son is still thought to possess the power of healing diseases spontaneously. perfection is likened to gold times purified in the fire; and we yet say you frightened me out of my senses. the opposite sides of a dice make , whence the players at hazard make the main. hippocrates says the septenary number, by its occult virtues, tends to the accomplishment of all things, to be the dispense of life, and fountain of all its changes; and, like shakespeare, he divided the life of man into ages; for as the moon changes her phases every seven days, this number influences all sublunary beings. the teeth spring out on the th month, and are shed and renewed in the th year, when infancy is changed into childhood; at twice years puberty begins; at three times the faculties are developed, and manhood commences, and we are become legally competent to all civil acts; at four times man is in full possession of all his strength; at five times he is fit for the business of the world; at six times he becomes grave and wise, or never: at times he is in his apogee, and from that time decays; at eight times he is in his first climacterick; at nine times , or , he is in his last or grand climacterick, or year of danger; and ten times , or three score and ten, has, by the royal prophet, been pronounced the natural period of human life. superstitious legend. we are told that when st. helena, of pious memory, had discovered the true cross of christ, she permitted various fragments to be taken from it, which were encased, some in gold, and some in gems, and conveyed to europe, leaving the principal or main part of the wood in the charge of the bishop of jerusalem, who exhibited it annually at easter, until chosroes, king of persia, plundered jerusalem in the reign of the emperor phocas, and took away this holy relic. before this fatal event we are taught to believe, by rigordus, an historian of the thirteenth century, that the mouths of christians used to be supplied with , or in some instances, no doubt according to their faith, with teeth; but that _after_ the cross was stolen by the infidels no mortal has ever been allowed more than ! orÆfa mountain in iceland. this mountain, which is the loftiest in iceland, has been rendered celebrated by an eruption which took place about a century ago. nothing can be more striking than the account given of this calamity by the aged minister of the parish. he was in the midst of his service on the sabbath, when the agitation of the earth gave warning that some alarming event was to follow. rushing from the church, he saw a peak of the neighbouring mountain alternately heaved up and sinking; till at last, the stone, of which this portion of the mountain was composed, ran down in a melted state into the plain, like melted metal from a crucible, filling it to such a height, that no more of the mountain, which formerly towered to such a height, remains, than about the size of a bird; volumes of water being in the meantime thrown forth in a deluge from the crater, and sweeping away whatever they encountered in their course. the oræfa then broke forth, hurling large masses of ice to a great distance; fire burst out in every direction from its side; the sky was darkened by the smoke and ashes, so that the day could hardly be distinguished from the night. this scene of horror continued for more than three days, during which the whole region was converted into utter desolation. the seton sword. [illustration [++] seton sword.] the two-handed sword, which was introduced later than the claymore, though still so familiar to us, is perhaps the most interesting, in an archaeological point of view, of all the military relics pertaining to the medieval period. the huge, ponderous, and unwieldy weapon, seems the fittest emblem that could be devised, of the rude baron of the thirteenth century, who lived by "the good old rule" of physical force, and whose hardy virtues, not unsuited to an illiterate age--are strangely mistaken for a chivalry such as later ages have not seen. calmly reasoning from this characteristic heirloom, we detect in it the evidence of just such hardy, skilless, overbearing power, as history informs us was the character of the medieval baron, before the rise of the burgher class readjusted the social balance by the preponderance of rival interests. the weapon figured here is a remarkably fine and unusually large specimen of the old scottish two-handed sword, now in the possession of george seton, esq., representative of the setons of cariston. it measures forty-nine inches in the blade, five feet nine inches in entire length, and weighs seven and a half pounds. but the chief interest of this old relic arises from the well-authenticated family traditions which associate it with the memory of its first knightly owner, sir christopher seton of that ilk, from whom some of the oldest scions of the scottish peerage have been proud to trace their descent. he was married to christian, sister of king robert the bruce, whom he bravely defended at the battle of methven. he was shortly after taken prisoner by edward i., and basely hanged as a traitor. style of living in the sixteenth century. the most perfect notion of the living and domestic arrangements of the old english nobility and gentry will be found in the entries of what were called the household books of the times. one of the most celebrated of these records is the _northumberland household book_, being the regulations of the establishment of the fifth earl of northumberland, at his castles of wrenill and lekinfield, in yorkshire, begun in . no baron's family was on a nobler or more splendid footing. it consisted of one hundred and sixty-six persons, masters and servants; fifty-seven strangers were reckoned upon every day; on the whole two hundred and twenty-three. during winter they fed mostly on salt meat and salt fish; and with that view there was a provision of one hundred and sixty gallons of mustard per year; so that there cannot be any thing more erroneous than the magnificent ideas formed of "the roast beef of _old_ england." on flesh days, (that is, when meat was not forbidden by the catholic religion), through the year, breakfast for my lord and lady was a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, half a chine of mutton, or a chine of beef boiled. on meagre days (or when meat was forbidden), a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, a dish of butter, a piece of salt fish, or a dish of buttered eggs. during lent, a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, two pieces of salt fish, six baconed herrings, four white herrings, or a dish of sprats. there was as little variety in other meals, except on festival days; and this way of living was, at the time, high luxury. there were but two cooks to dress victuals for two hundred persons; and fowls, pigeons, plovers, and partridges were prohibited as delicacies, except at my lord's table. the table-cloth was washed about once a month; no sheets were used; and only forty shillings were allowed for washing throughout the year. the family rose at six in the morning, dined at ten, and supped at four in the afternoon; and the castle gates were shut at nine. mass was said in the chapel at six o'clock, that all the servants might rise early. the earl passed the year at three country seats, but he had furniture only for one: he carried every thing along with him, beds, tables, chairs, kitchen utensils; and seventeen carts and one waggon conveyed the whole: one cart sufficed for all his kitchen utensils, cooks' beds, &c. there were in the establishment eleven priests, besides seventeen persons, chanters, musicians, &c., belonging to the chapel. no mention is made of plate, but only of the hiring of pewter vessels. wine was allowed in abundance for the lord's table, but the beer for the hall was poor indeed, only a quarter of malt being allowed for two hogsheads. the servants seem all to have bought their own clothes from their wages. every thing in the household was done by order, with the pomp of proclamation; and laughable as it may now seem, an order was issued for the right making of mustard, beginning "it seemeth good to us and our council." anecdote of a terrier. a terrier, known to professor owen, was taught to play at hide and seek with his master, who summoned him, by saying "let us have a game;" upon which the dog immediately hid his eyes between his paws, in the most honourable manner, and when the gentleman had placed a sixpence, or a piece of cake in a most improbable place, he started up and invariably found it. his powers were equalled by what was called a fox-terrier, named fop, who would hide his eyes, and suffer those at play with him to conceal themselves before he looked up. if his play-fellow hid himself behind a window-curtain, fop would, for a certain time, carefully pass that curtain, and look behind all the others, behind doors, etc., and when he thought he had looked long enough, seize the concealing curtain and drag it aside in triumph. the drollest thing, however, was to see him take his turn of hiding; he would get under a chair, and fancy that he was not seen; of course, those at play with him pretended not to see him, and it was most amusing to witness his agitation as they passed. when he was ill he had been cured by some homoeopathic globules, and ever after, if anything were the matter with him, he would stand near the medicine box, and hold his mouth open. cutting a wife off with a shilling. in the year , died at lambeth, j---- g----e, esq. in his will was found the following remarkable clause:--"whereas, it was my misfortune to be made very uneasy by elizabeth g----, my wife, for many years, from our marriage, by her turbulent behaviour; for she was not content with despising my admonitions, but she contrived every method to make me unhappy; she was so perverse in her nature, that she would not be reclaimed, but seemed only to be born to be a plague to me; the strength of sampson, the knowledge of homer, the prudence of augustus, the cunning of pyrrhus, the patience of job, the subtlety of hannibal, and the watchfulness of hermogenes, could not have been sufficient to subdue her; for no skill or force in the world would make her good; and, as we have lived several years separate, and apart from each other eight years, and she having perverted her son to leave and totally abandon me; therefore i give her one shilling only." wealth of the jews. about the year , the jews offered lord godolphin, minister of queen anne, to pay £ , , (and they would have made it a million,) if the government would allow them to purchase the town of brentford, with leave of settling there entirely, with full privileges of trade, &c. lord godolphin did not comply with the request, and a curious reason is assigned by dean lockier, because it would provoke two of the most powerful bodies in the nation, the clergy and the merchants. the jews had better success with oliver cromwell: they offered him £ , to have a synagogue in london. he took the money, and they had their temple. gambling extraordinary. the following instance of frantic or drunken gambling appeared in the _times_ of april , :-- "on wednesday evening an extraordinary investigation took place at bow street. croker, the officer, was passing the hampstead road; he observed at a short distance before him two men on a wall, and directly after saw the tallest of them, a stout man about six feet high, hanging by his neck from a lamp-post, attached to the wall, being that instant tied up and turned off by the short man. this unexpected and extraordinary sight astonished the officer; he made up to the spot with all speed, and just after he arrived there, the tall man who had been hanged, fell to the ground, the handkerchief with which he had been suspended having given way. croker produced his staff, said he was an officer, and demanded to know of the other man the cause of such conduct; in the mean time the man who had been hanged recovered, got up, and on croker interfering, gave him a violent blow on the nose, which nearly knocked him backward. the short man was endeavouring to make off; however, the officer procured assistance, and both were brought to the office, when the account they gave was, that they worked on canals. they had been together on wednesday afternoon, tossed up for money, and afterwards for their clothes, the tall man who was hanged won the other's jacket, trowsers and shoes; they then tossed up which should hang the other, and the short one won the toss. they got upon the wall, the one to submit, and the other to hang him on the lamp-iron. they both agreed in this statement. the tall one who had been hanged said, if he won the toss, he would have hanged the other. he said, he then felt the effects on his neck at the time he was hanging, and his eyes was so much swelled that he saw double. the magistrates expressed their horror and disgust, and ordered the man who had been hanged to find bail for the violent and unjustifiable assault upon the officer, and the short one for hanging the other. not having bail, they were committed to bridewell for trial." old books. the pentateuch and the history of job are the most ancient books in the world; and in profane literature the works of homer and hesiod. the first book known to have been written in our own vernacular was "the confessions of richard, earl of cambridge," _temp._ ; and the earliest english ballad is supposed to be the "cuckoo song," which commences in the following style:-- "sumer is icumen in lhudé sing cuccu, groweth sed, and bloweth med, and springth ye wedé nu: singe cuccu." fossil reptile; the pterodactylus. the pterodactylus was a flying animal. it had the wings of a bat, and the structure of a reptile; jaws with sharp teeth, and claws with long hooked nails. the power which it had of flying was not by means of its ribs, nor by wings without fingers, as in birds, but by wings supported by one very elongated toe, the others being short and furnished with claws. the remains of this animal were brought under examination by m. collini, director of the museum of the elector palatine at manheim. there was at first some discussion as to the actual character of the animal. m. blumenbach supposed it to be a bird, and m. de soemmering classed it among the bats. m. cuvier, however, maintained that it was a reptile, and showed that all its bones, from the teeth to the claws, possessed the characters which distinguish that class of animals. but still it differed from all other reptiles in possessing the capability of flying. it is probable that it could at pleasure fold up its wings in the same manner as birds, and might suspend itself on branches of trees by its fore toes, though it possessed the power of sitting upright on its hind feet. this is the most anomalous of all the fossil reptiles. tiger cave at cuttack. the geographical distribution of the rock-cut caves of the buddhists in india is somewhat singular, more than nine-tenths of those now known being found within the limits of the bengal presidency. the remainder consist of two groups, those of behar and cuttack, neither of which are important in extent, in bengal; one only, that of mahavellipore, in madras; and two or three not very important groups which have been traced in afghanistan and the punjaub. one of the most remarkable of these caves is that at cuttack, which is called the tiger cave--being in fact a large mass of rock, carved into a form intended to represent the head of that animal, whose extended jaws form the verandah leading into a small apartment excavated in the interior of the skull: our engraving is a correct representation of it. [illustration [++] tiger cave at cuttack.] generally speaking, these single cells have a porch of two pillars to protect the doorway, which leads into a small room, or ft. square, constituting the whole cave. buildings on precisely the same plan are still very common in india, except that now, instead of being the abode of a hermit, the cell is occupied by an image of some god or other, and is surmounted by a low dome, or pyramidal spire, converting it into a temple of some pretensions. the lower part, however, of these small temples is very similar to the rock-cut hermitages of which we are speaking. the jews in england. william the conqueror permitted great numbers of jews to come over from rouen, and to settle in england in the last year of his reign. their number soon increased, and they spread themselves throughout most of the cities and capital towns in england where they built synagogues. there were fifteen hundred at york about the year . at bury, in suffolk, is a very complete remain of a jewish synagogue of stone in the norman style, large and magnificent. hence it was that many of the learned english ecclesiastics of those times became acquainted with their books and their language. in the reign of william rufus, the jews were remarkably numerous at oxford, and had acquired considerable property; and some of their rabbis were permitted to open a school in the university, where they instructed not only their own people, but many christian students in hebrew literature, about the year . within years after their admission or establishment by the conqueror, they were banished from the kingdom. this circumstance was highly favourable to the circulation of their learning in england. the suddenness of their dismission obliged them for present subsistence, and other reasons, to sell their moveable goods of all kinds, among which were large quantities of all rabbinical books. the monks in various parts availed themselves of the distribution of these treasures. at huntingdon and stamford there was a prodigious sale of their effects, containing immense stores of hebrew manuscripts, which were immediately purchased by gregory of huntingdon, prior of the abbey of ramsey. gregory speedily became an adept in the hebrew, by means of these valuable acquisitions, which he bequeathed to his monastery about the year . other members of the same convent, in consequence of these advantages, are said to have been equal proficients in the same language, soon after the death of prior gregory, among whom were robert dodford, librarian of ramsey, and laurence holbech, who compiled a hebrew lexicon. at oxford a great number of their books fell into the hands of roger bacon, or were bought by his brethren the franciscan friars of that university. game preserves at chantilly. the establishment at chantilly, which formerly belonged to the great family of condé, included miles of park, and miles of forest. the horses, when the family were at that place, were above . the dogs, to couple: the servants, above . the stables the finest and best in europe. we shall now present to the sporting and un-sporting reader, for both will lift up their eyes, a list of game killed, year by year, through a series of thirty-two years--beginning with the year , ending with the year :-- _list of the game._ , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , now let us give (of birds and beasts) their bill of mortality; that is the numbers, in detail, of each specific description, registered as below, and detailed to have been killed at chantilly, in the above-mentioned series of years. hares, , ; rabbits, , ; partridges, , ; red ditto, , ; pheasants, , ; quails, , ; rattles (the male quail), ; woodcocks, , ; snipes, , ; ducks, , ; wood-piquers, ; lapwings, ; becfique (small birds like our wheatear), ; curlews, ; oyes d'egypte, ; oyes sauvage, ; bustards, ; larks, ; tudells, ; fox, ; crapeaux, ; thrushes, , ; guynard, ; stags, , ; hinds, , ; facons, ; does, , ; young does, ; roebucks, , ; young ditto, ; wild boars, , ; marcassins (young boars), . a magnificent list of animal slaughter, carefully and systematically recorded as achievements. british pearls. the river conway, in north wales, was of considerable importance, even before the roman invasion, for the pearl mussel (the _mya margaritifera_ of linnæus) and suetonius acknowledged that one of his inducements for undertaking the subjugation of wales was the pearl fishery carried forward in that river. according to pliny, the mussels, called by the natives _kregindilin_, were sought for with avidity by the romans, and the pearls found within them were highly valued; in proof of which it is asserted that julius cæsar dedicated a breastplate set with british pearls to venus genetrix, and placed it in her temple at rome. a fine specimen from the conway is said to have been presented to catherine, consort of charles ii., by sir richard wynne, of gwydir; and it is further said that it has since contributed to adorn the regal crown of england. lady newborough possessed a good collection of the conway pearls, which she purchased of those who were fortunate enough to find them, as there is no regular fishery at present. the late sir robert vaughan had obtained a sufficient number to appear at court with a button and loop to his hat, formed of these beautiful productions, about the year . funeral oration of francis the first. pierre duchatel, in a funeral oration on the death of francis i., published , took upon himself to affirm, that the soul of the king had gone _direct to paradise_. this passing over of purgatory gave offence to the doctors of the sorbonne, who sent a deputation to warn him of his error. the prelate being absent, one of his friends received them, and, in reply, gaily said--"be not uneasy, gentlemen, every one knows that the late king, my master, never stopped long in any one place, however agreeable. supposing, then, that he went to purgatory, be assured that his stay would be very short." this pleasantry disarmed the severity of the doctors, and the affair went no farther. graves of the stone period. stone chambers, which once formed places of interment, are frequently discovered within large barrows of earth raised by the hands of man. they are to be referred to the period of the danish invasion, which is generally termed among antiquaries the "stone period," because the use of metals was then in a great measure unknown; and while a few are to be found in great britain, there are many more of them in denmark. these tombs, which are covered with earth, have most probably contained the remains of the powerful and the rich. they are almost all provided with long entrances, which lead from the exterior of the mound of earth to the east or south side of the chambers. the entrances, like the chambers, are formed of large stones, smooth on the side which is turned inwards, on which very large roof-stones are placed. the chambers, and even the entrances, which are from sixteen to twenty feet in length, are filled with trodden earth and pebbles, the object of which, doubtless, was to protect the repose of the dead in their graves, and the contents which are found in them consist of unburnt human skeletons (which were occasionally placed on a pavement of flat or round stones), together with implements and weapons, and tools of flint or bone, ornaments, pieces of amber, and urns of clay. in some cases smaller chambers have been discovered, annexed to one side of the passage which leads to the larger chamber, and one of these smaller chambers we have engraved as a specimen of the sort of tombs we are now describing. [illustration [++] stone chamber in a barrow.] the above sketch represents a chamber which was discovered in a barrow, situated near paradis, in the parish of the vale, in the island of guernsey. on digging into the mound, a large flat stone was soon discovered; this formed the top, or cap-stone, of the tomb, and on removing it, the upper part of two human skulls were exposed to view. one was facing the north, the other the south, but both disposed in a line from east to west. the chamber was filled up with earth mixed with limpet-shells, and as it was gradually removed, while the examination was proceeding downwards into the interior, the bones of the extremities became exposed to view, and were seen to greater advantage. they were less decomposed than those of the upper part; and the teeth and jaws, which were well preserved, denoted that they were the skeletons of adults, and not of old men. the reason why the skeletons were found in this extraordinary position it is impossible to determine. probably the persons who were thus interred were prisoners, slaves, or other subordinates, who were slain--perhaps buried alive--on occasion of the funeral of some great or renowned personage, who was placed in the larger chamber at the end of the passage; and this view of the case is considerably strengthened by the fact that the total absence of arms, weapons, or vases, in the smaller chamber, denotes that the quality of the persons within it was of less dignity or estimation. war chariot of ancient egypt. this chariot, which is mentioned in various parts of scripture, and more especially in the description of the pursuit of the israelites by pharaoh, and of his overthrow in the red sea, was a very light structure, consisting of a wooden framework strengthened and adorned with metal, and leather binding, answering to the descriptions which homer has given of those engaged in the trojan war. [illustration [++] war chariot.] the sides were partly, and the back wholly open; and it was so low that a man could easily step into it from behind; for there was no seat, the rider always standing in war or hunting, though when wearied he might occasionally sit on the sides, or squat, in eastern fashion, on his heels. the body of the car was not hung on the axle _in equilibrio_, but considerably forward, so that the weight was thrown more upon the horses. its lightness, however, would prevent this from being very fatiguing to them, and this mode of placing it had the advantage of rendering the motion more easy to the driver. to contribute further to this end, the bottom or floor consisted of a network of interlaced thongs, the elasticity of which in some measure answered the purpose of modern springs. the egyptian chariots were invariably drawn by two horses abreast, which were richly caparisoned; it is, perhaps, to the extreme elegance and magnificence of their trappings, no less than to their own beauty, that allusion is made in the song of songs ( - ), where the royal bridegroom addresses his spouse thus: "i have compared thee, o my love, to a company of horses in pharaoh's chariots." the chariot of egypt ordinarily carried two persons, one of whom acted as the warrior, the other as the charioteer. occasionally we find three persons in a chariot, as when two princes of the blood, each bearing the royal sceptre, or flabellum, accompanying the king in a state procession, requiring a charioteer to manage the reins. peacocks. india, says mr. pennant, gave us peacocks, and we are assured by knox, in his "history of ceylon," that they are still found in the wild state, in vast flocks, in that island and in java. so beautiful a bird could not be permitted to be a stranger in the more distant parts; for so early as the days of solomon ( kings, x. ) we find among the articles imported in his tarshish navies, apes and peacocks. a monarch so conversant in all branches of natural history, would certainly not neglect furnishing his officers with instructions for collecting every curiosity in the country to which they made voyages, which gave him a knowledge that distinguished him from all the princes of his time. Ælian relates that they were brought into greece from some barbarous country, and that they were held in such high estimation that a male and female were valued at athens at , _drachmæ_, or £ s. d. their next step might be to samos, where they were preserved about the temple of juno, being the birds sacred to that goddess; and gellius, in his "_noctes atticæ_" commends the excellency of the samian peacocks. it is, therefore probable that they were brought there originally for the purposes of superstition, and afterwards cultivated for the uses of luxury. we are also told, when alexander was in india, he found vast numbers of wild ones on the banks of the hyarotis, and was so struck with their beauty as to appoint a severe punishment on any person that killed them. peacocks' crests, in ancient times, were among the ornaments of the kings of england. ernald de aclent (acland) paid a fine to king john in a hundred and forty palfries, with sackbuts, _lorains_, gilt spurs, and peacocks' crests, such as would be for his credit.--some of our regiments of cavalry bear on their helmets, at present, the figure of a peacock. roman theatre at orange. one of the most striking roman provincial theatres is that of orange, in the south of france. perhaps it owes its existence, or at all events its splendour, to the substratum of grecian colonists that preceded the romans in that country. its auditorium is ft. in diameter, but much ruined, in consequence of the princes of orange having used this part as a bastion in some fortification they were constructing. the stage is tolerably preserved. it shows well the increased extent and complication of arrangements required for the theatrical representations of the age in which it was constructed, being a considerable advance towards the more modern idea of a play, as distinguished from the stately semi-religious spectacle in which the greeks delighted. the noblest part of the building is the great wall at the back, an immense mass of masonry, ft. in extent, and ft. in height, without a single opening above the basement, and no ornament except a range of blank arches, about midway between the basement and the top, and a few projecting corbels to receive the footings of the masts that supported the velarium. nowhere does the architecture of the romans shine so much as when their gigantic buildings are left to tell their own tale by the imposing grandeur of their masses. whenever ornament is attempted, their bad taste comes out. the size of their edifices, and the solidity of their construction, were only surpassed by the egyptians, and not always by them; and when, as here, their mass stands unadorned in all its native grandeur, criticism is disarmed, and the spectator stands awe-struck at its majesty, and turns away convinced that truly "there were giants in those days." this is not, it is true, the most intellectual way of obtaining architectural effect, but it is the easiest and the most certain to secure the desired result. a piscatorial dog. mr. jukes, in his "excursions in and about newfoundland," speaks of a dog which appeared to be of the pure breed, and which he thought to be more intelligent than the mixed race. this animal caught his own fish, for which purpose he sat on a projecting rock, beneath a fish stage, on which the fish were laid to dry, watching the water, the depth being from six to eight feet, and the bottom quite white with fish-bones. on throwing a piece of cod-fish into the water, three or four heavy, clumsy-looking fish, called in newfoundland _sculpins_, would swim to catch it. the instant one turned his broadside towards him, he darted down, and seldom came up without the fish in his mouth. he regularly carried them as he caught them to a place a few yards off, where he deposited them, sometimes making a pile of fifty or sixty in the day. as he never attempted to eat them, he appeared to fish for his amusement. phenomena of sound. in the gardens of les rochas, once the well-known residence of madame de sevigné, is a remarkable echo, which illustrates finely the conducting and reverberating powers of a flat surface. the château des rochas is situated not far from the interesting and ancient town of vitre. a broad gravel walk on a dead flat conducts through the garden to the house. in the centre of this, on a particular spot, the listener is placed at the distance of about ten or twelve yards from another person, who, similarly placed, addresses him in a low and, in the common acceptation of the term, inaudible whisper, when, "lo! what myriads rise!" for immediately, from thousands and tens of thousands of invisible tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as if every pebble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is repeated with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small shot passing through the air. on removing from this spot, however trifling the distance, the intensity of the repetition is sensibly diminished, and within a few feet ceases to be heard. under the idea that the ground was hollow beneath, the soil has been dug up to a considerable depth; but without discovering any clue to the solution of the mystery. antique watch. [illustration [++] antique silver watch shaped like a duck.] the above engraving represents a fancy silver watch of the time of queen elizabeth. it is shaped like a duck; the feathers chased. the lower part opens, and the dial plate, which is also of silver, is encircled with a gilt ornamental design of floriated scrolls and angels' heads. the wheels work on small rubies. it has no maker's name. it is preserved in the original case of thin brass, covered with black leather, and ornamented with silver studs, as represented in the woodcut below. it forms one of the curiosities in the museum of lord londesborough. [illustration [++] watch in original case.] horses feeding one another. m. de bossanelle, captain of cavalry in the regiment of beauvilliers, relates in his "military observations," printed in paris, , "that, in the year , an old horse of his company, that was very fine and full of mettle, had his teeth all on a sudden so worn down, that he could not chew his hay and corn; and that he was fed for two months, and would still have been so had he been kept, by two horses on each side of him, that ate in the same manger. these two horses drew hay from the rack, which they chewed, and afterwards threw before the old horse; that they did the same with the oats, which they ground very small, and also put before him. this (adds he) was observed and witnessed by a whole company of cavalry, officers and men." cross of muiredach. [illustration [++] cross of muiredach.] from the rude pillar-stone marked with the symbol of our faith, enclosed within a circle, the emblem of eternity, the finely-proportioned and elaborately-sculptured crosses of a later period are derived. in the latter, the circle, instead of being simply cut on the face of the stone, is represented by a ring, binding, as it were, the shaft, arms, and upper portion of the cross together. there are two beautiful specimens of this style of cross at monasterboice, near drogheda, about thirty-five miles from dublin. the smaller, more beautiful, and more perfect of these we here engrave. the figures and ornaments with which its various sides are enriched appear to have been executed with an unusual degree of artistic skill. it is now almost as perfect as it was when, nearly nine centuries ago, the artist, we may suppose, pronounced his work finished, and chiefs and abbots, bards, shanachies, warriors, and ecclesiastics, and, perhaps, many a rival sculptor, crowded round this very spot full of wonder and admiration for what they must have considered a truly glorious, and, perhaps, unequalled work. an inscription in irish upon the lower part of the shaft, desires "a prayer for muiredach, by whom was made this cross," and there is reason for assigning it to an abbot of that name who died in the year . its total height is exactly fifteen feet, and it is six in breadth at the arms. the shaft, which at the base measures in breadth two feet six inches, and in thickness one foot nine inches, diminishes slightly in its ascent, and is divided upon its various sides by twisted bands into compartments, each of which contains either sculptured figures, or tracery of very intricate design, or animals, probably symbolical. chinese therapeutics. in the treatment of disease, the chinese, so fond of classification, divide the medicinal substances they employ into heating, cooling, refreshing, and temperate: their _materia medica_ is contained in the work called the _pen-tsaocang-mou_ in fifty-two large volumes, with an atlas of plates; most of our medicines are known to them and prescribed; the mineral waters, with which their country abounds, are also much resorted to; and their emperor, kang-hi, has given an accurate account of several thermal springs. fire is a great agent, and the _moxa_ recommended in almost every aliment, while acupuncture is in general use both in china and japan; bathing and _champooing_ are also frequently recommended, and bloodletting is seldom resorted to. china has also her animal magnetisers, practising the _cong fou_, a mysterious manipulation taught by the bonzes, in which the adepts produce violent convulsions. the chinese divide their prescriptions into seven categories: . the great prescription. . the little prescription. . the slow prescription. . the prompt prescription. . the odd prescription. . the even prescription. . the double prescription. each of these receipts being applied to particular cases, and the ingredients that compose them being weighed with the most scrupulous accuracy. medicine was taught in the imperial colleges of pekin; but in every district, a physician, who had studied six years, is appointed to instruct the candidate for the profession, who was afterwards allowed to practise, without any further studies or examination; and it is said, that, in general, the physician only receives his fee when the patient is cured. this assertion, however, is very doubtful, as the country abounds in quacks, who, under such restrictions as to remuneration, would scarcely earn a livelihood. another singular, but economical practice prevails amongst them--a physician never pays a second visit to a patient unless he is sent for. whatever may be the merits of chinese practitioners both in medicine and surgery, or their mode of receiving remuneration, it appears that they are as much subject to animadversion as in other countries:--a missionary having observed to a chinese, that their medical men had constantly recourse to fire in the shape of moxa, red-hot iron, and burning needles; he replied, "alas! you europeans are carved with steel, while we are martyrized with hot iron; and i fear that in neither country will the fashion subside, since the operators do not feel the anguish they inflict, and are equally paid to torment us or to cure us!" mary queen of scots to sir francis knollys, from bolton, sept. st, : her first letter in english. (ms. cotton. calig. c. i. fol. b. _orig._) mester knoleis, y heuv har (i have heard) sum neus from scotland; y send zou the double off them y vreit (wrote) to the quin (queen) my gud sister, and pres (pray) zou to du the lyk, conforme to that y spak zesternicht vnto zou, and sut hesti ansur y refer all to zour discretion, and wil lipne beter in zour gud delin (dealing) for mi, (me) nor y kan persuad zou, nemli in this langasg (language) excus my ivil vreitin (writing) for y neuver vsed it afor, and am hestit (hasted). ze schal si my bel (bill) vhuilk (which) is opne, it is sed seterday my unfrinds wil be vth (with) zou, y sey nething bot trests weil, and ze send oni to zour wiff ze mey asur schu (she) wald a bin weilcom to apur (poor) strenger hua (who) nocht bien (not being) aquentet vth her, wil nocht bi ouuer bald (bold) to vreit bot for the aquentans betuix ous (us: _i_. _e_. herself and sir francis knolles). y wil send zou letle tokne (token) to rember (remember) zou off the gud hop y heuu (have) in zou guef (gif--if) ze fend (find) a mit (meet) mesager y wald wish ze bestouded (bestowed) it reder (rather) apon her non (than) ani vder; thus effter my commendations y prey god heuu zou in his kipin. "zour asured gud frind. "marie r. "excus my ivel vreitin thes furst tym." philosophy of the bramins. the order of creation, which is described in the institutes of menu (c. , pp. - ), is remarkable. "first emerges the subtle ether, to which philosophers ascribe the quality of conveying sound: from ether, effecting a transmutation in form, springs the pure and potent air, a vehicle of all scents; and air is held endued with the quality of touch: then from air, operating a change, rises light, or fire, making objects visible, dispelling gloom, spreading bright rays; and it is declared to have the quality of figure: but from light, a change being effected, comes water, with the quality of taste: and from water is deposited earth, with the quality of smell; such were they created in the beginning." this passage bears at least as strong a resemblance to the chemical philosophy of our days, as certain parts of the hindoo fables bear to the mysteries of the christian religion. but it is more difficult to account for the philosophy, (if, indeed, it be any thing more than mere theory,) than to explain how the distorted traces of christianity found their way into the fables of hindostan. foreigners in london in . "we learn from the bishop of london's certificate, that, in december, , there were then in london and its immediate vicinity, or places which are now included in the word 'london,' dutchmen; frenchmen; italians; venetians; spaniards; portuguese; grecians; blackamores; dane; and but scots! making a total of foreigners." changes of fortune. in , sir stephen forster was lord mayor of london. he had been long in prison and penury, on account of his inordinate profuseness. it chanced that a most fantastical widow, who knew not how to get rid of her immense wealth, saw him begging at the gate; she admired his fine person, learnt his history, paid his debts, and married him; asking of him only this one favour, that he would lavish away her fortune as fast as he could. forster, probably from perverseness, became a sober husband and a prudent manager, and only expended large sums in adding a chapel and other advantageous appendages to ludgate, where he had suffered so many hardships. roman vases in black ware. the principal subjects represented on vases of ancient roman pottery of black ware are hunting scenes--such as dogs chasing stags, deer, hares,--also, dolphins, ivy wreaths, and engrailed lines; and engine-turned patterns. in a few instances men with spears are represented, but in a rude and debased style of art. the principal form is the cup of a jar shape, sometimes with deep oval flutings, as on one found at castor; but dishes, cups, plates, and mortars are not found in this ware. [illustration [++] roman vase in black ware.] some of the vases of this ware have ornaments, and sometimes letters painted on them in white slip upon their black ground, as represented in our engraving. they are generally of a small size, and of the nature of bottles or cups, with inscriptions, such as ave, hail! vivas, may you live! imple, fill; bibe, drink; vinvm, wine; viva, life; vive bibe mvltis; showing that they were used for purposes purely convivial. such are the vases found at etaples, near boulogne, the ancient gessoriacum, and at mesnil. some rarer and finer specimens from bredene, in the department of lis, have a moulding round the foot. great quantities are found in england, holland, belgium, and france. it is found on the right bank of the rhine. a variety of this ware has been lately found at a spot called crockhill, in the new forest, together with the kilns in which it was made, and a heap of potter's sherds, or pieces spoilt in the baking. the paste was made of the blue clay of the neighbourhood, covered with an alkaline glaze of a maroon colour, perhaps the result of imperfect baking; for the pieces when submitted again to the action of the fire, decrepitated and split. they were so much vitrified as to resemble modern stone ware, yet as all of them have proofs of having been rejected by the potters, it is probable that this was not the proper colour of the ware. almost all were of the pinched up fluted shape, and had no bas-reliefs, having been ornamented with patterns laid on in white colour. the kilns are supposed to be of the third century of our era, and the ware was in local use, for some of it was found at bittern. french bible. there was a french bible, printed at paris in , by anthony bonnemere, wherein is related "that the ashes of the golden calf which moses caused to be burnt, and mixed with the water that was drank by the israelites, stuck to the beards of such as has had fallen down before it; by which they appeared with gilt beards, as a peculiar mark to distinguish those which had worshipped the calf." this idle story is actually interwoven with the nd chapter of exodus. and bonnemere says, in his preface, this french bible was printed in , at the request of his most christian majesty charles viii.; and declares further that the french translator "has added nothing but the genuine truths, according to the express terms of the latin bible; nor omitted anything but what was improper to be translated!" so that we are to look upon this fiction of the gilded beards as matter of fact; and another of the same stamp, inserted in the chapter above mentioned, viz., that, "upon aaron's refusing to make gods for the israelites, they spat upon him with so much fury and violence that they quite suffocated him." sardonyx ring with cameo head of queen elizabeth, in the possession of rev. lord thynne. [illustration [++] sardonyx ring.] this is said to be the identical ring given by queen elizabeth to essex, and so fatally retained by lady nottingham. it has descended from lady frances devereux, essex's daughter, in unbroken succession from mother and daughter to the present possessor. the ring is gold, the sides engraved, and the inside of blue enamel; the execution of the head of elizabeth is of a high order, and whether this be _the_ ring or not, it is valuable as a work of art. curious wagers. there have been travelling wagers, and none of the least singular of such was that of mr. whalley, an irish gentleman (and who we believe edited ben johnson's works), who, for a very considerable wager (twenty thousand pounds, it was said,) set out on monday the nd of september, , to walk to constantinople and back again in one year. this wager, however whimsical, is not without a precedent. some years ago a baronet of good fortune (sir henry liddel) laid a considerable wager that he would go to lapland, bring home two females of that country, and two rein-deer, in a given time. he performed the journey, and effected his purpose in every respect. the lapland women lived with him about a year, but desiring to go back to their own country, the baronet furnished them with means and money. confectionery art in . the following is extracted from a work on cookery, by robert may, published in . it is entitled the "_accomplisht cook, &c., &c._ "triumphs and trophies in cookery, to be used in festival times, as twelfth day, &c.:--make the likeness of a ship in pasteboard with flags and streamers, the guns belonging to it of kickses, bind them about with pack-thread and cover them with paste proportionable to the fashion of a cannon with carriages; lay them in places convenient, as you see them in ships of war, with such holes and trains of powder that they may all take fire. place your ships firm in a great charger; then make a salt round about it, and stick therein egg-shells full of sweet water; you may by a great pin take out all the meat out of the egg by blowing, and then fill it with rose-water. then in another charger have the proportion of a stag made of coarse paste, with a broad arrow in the side of him, and his body filled up with claret wine. in another charger at the end of the stag have the proportion of a castle with battlements, percullices, gates, and drawbridges, made of pasteboard, the guns of kickses, and covered with coarse paste as the former; place it at a distance from the ship to fire at each other. the stag being placed betwixt them, with egg-shells full of sweet water (as before) placed in salt. at each side of the charger wherein is the stag, place a pie made of coarse paste, in one of which let there be some live frogs, in the other live birds; make these pies of coarse paste, filled with bran, and yellowed over saffron, or yolks of eggs: gild them over in spots, as also the stag, the ship and castle; bake them, and place them with gilt bay leaves on the turrets and tunnels of the castle and pies; being baked make a hole in the bottom of your pies, take out the bran, put in your frogs and birds, and close up the holes with the same coarse paste; then cut the lids neatly up to be taken off by the tunnels. being all placed in order upon the table, before you fire the trains of powder, order it so that some of the ladies may be persuaded to pluck the arrow out of the stag; then will the claret wine follow, as blood running out of a wound. this being done with admiration to the beholders, after some short pause, fire the train of the castle, that the pieces all of one side may go off; then fire the trains of one side of the ship as in a battle; next turn the chargers, and by degrees fire the trains of each other side, as before. this done, to sweeten the stink of the powder, the ladies take the egg-shells full of sweet waters, and throw them at each other, all dangers being seemed over, and by this time you may suppose they will desire to see what is in the pies; when lifting first the lid off one pie, out skip some frogs, which makes the ladies to skip and shriek; next after the other pie, whence comes out the birds; who by a natural instinct flying at the light, will put out the candles; so that what with the flying birds and skipping frogs, the one above, the other beneath, will cause much delight and pleasure to the whole company: at length the candles are lighted and a banquet brought in, the music sounds, and every one with much delight and content rehearses their actions in the former passages. these were formerly the delights of the nobility, before good house-keeping had left england, and the sword really acted that which was only counterfeited in such honest and laudable exercises as these." suspended animation. david beck, the celebrated portrait painter, and pupil of vandyke, travelling through germany, was suddenly taken ill, and to all appearance died, and was laid out as a corpse. his servants, sitting round the bed, grieved heartily for the loss of so good a master; and, as grief is thirsty, drank as heartily at the same time. one of them, becoming more fuddled than the rest, then addressed his companions thus: "our master when alive was fond of his glass, let us now, out of gratitude, then give him one now he is dead." assent was given, the head of the dead painter was raised up, and some wine poured down or spilt about, the fragrance or spirit of which caused beck to open his eyes; upon which the servant, who, being drunk, half forgetting his master was dead, forced down the remainder of the glass. the painter gradually revived, and thus escaped a living interment. funeral of marat. the funeral of marat was celebrated at paris, july th, , with the greatest pomp and solemnity. all the sections joined the procession. an immense crowd of people attended it. four women bore the bathing machine in which marat was standing when he was assassinated; his shirt, stained with blood, was carried by a fury, in the shape of a woman, at the top of a pike. after this followed a wooden bedstead, on which the corpse of marat was carried by citizens. his head was uncovered, and the gash he had received could be easily distinguished. the procession was paraded through several streets, and was saluted on its march by several discharges of artillery. execution of anne boleyn. in houssaie's "memoirs," vol. i. p. , a little circumstance is recorded concerning the decapitation of the unfortunate anne boleyn, which illustrates an observation of hume. our historian notices that her executioner was a frenchman of calais, who was supposed to have uncommon skill; it is probable that the following incident might have been preserved by tradition in france, from the account of the executioner himself. anne boleyn being on the scaffold, would not consent to have her eyes covered with a bandage, saying that she had no fear of death. all that the divine who assisted at her execution could obtain from her was, that she would shut her eyes. but as she was opening them at every moment, the executioner could not bear their tender and mild glances. fearful of missing his aim, he was obliged to invent an expedient to behead the queen. he drew off his shoes, and approached her silently; while he was at her left hand, another person advanced at her right, who made a great noise in walking, so that this circumstance drawing the attention of anne, she turned, her face from the executioner, who was enabled by this artifice to strike the fatal blow without being disarmed by that pride of affecting resignation which shone in the eyes of the lovely anne boleyn. mexican tennis. the mexicans had one singular law in their play with the ball. in the walls of the court where they played certain stones, like mill-stones were fixed, with a hole in the middle, just large enough to let the ball pass through; and whoever drove it through, which required great skill, and was, of course, rarely effected, won the cloaks of the lookers-on. they, therefore, took to their heels to save their cloaks, and others pursued to catch them, which was a new source of amusement. curiously-shaped vessel. [illustration [++] vessel in the shape of a lion.] there is a singular class of northern relics, of the christian period, of which analogous types have been found in scotland, which well deserve our attention. the relics of which we speak consist of a curious variety of vessels, presumed to have been designed for holding liquors, but invariably made in the form of some animal or monstrous hybrid. the annexed figure represents one of these, in the collection of charles kirkpatrick sharp, esq., and found by him among a hoard of long-forgotten family heirlooms, in a vault of his paternal mansion of hoddam castle, dumfriesshire. of its previous history nothing is known. it is made of bronze. the principal figure is a lion, without a tail, measuring fourteen inches in length, and nearly fourteen inches in greatest height. on the back is perched a nondescript animal, half greyhound, half fish, apparently intended for a handle to the whole, while from the breast projects a stag's head with large antlers. this has a perforation in the back of the neck, as if for the insertion of a stop-cock, and it appears probable was designed for running off the liquid contained within the singular vessel to which it is attached. a small square lid on the top of the lion's head, opening with a hinge, supplies the requisite aperture for whatever liquor it was designed to hold. a similar relic, possessed by sir john maxwell, bart., was dug up a few years since on the pollock estate; and another, in the collection of the late e. w. a. drummond hay, esq., was also in the form of a lion. a sensible dog. professor owen was walking with a friend, the master of the dog, by the side of a river, near its mouth, on the coast of cornwall, and picked up a small piece of seaweed. it was covered with minute animals, and mr. owen observed to his companion, throwing the weed into the water,--"if this small piece afforded so many treasures, how microscopically rich the whole plant would be! i should much like to have one!" the gentleman walked on; but hearing a splashing in the water, turned round and saw it violently agitated. "it is lion!" both exclaimed. "what can he be about? he was walking quietly enough by our side a minute ago." at one moment they saw his tail above the water, then his head raised for a breath of air, then the surrounding element shook again, and at last he came ashore, panting from his exertions, and laid a whole plant of the identical weed at mr. owen's feet. after this proof of intelligence, it will not be wondered at, that when lion was joyfully expecting to accompany his master and his guest on an excursion, and was told to go and take care of and comfort mrs. owen, who was ill, that he should immediately return to the drawing-room, and lay himself by her side, which he never left during the absence of his owner; his countenance alone betraying his disappointment, and that only for a few minutes. the crown of charlemagne. as the emblem of sovereignty which once adorned the brows of one of earth's mightiest men, and as a unique specimen of the state at which the goldsmith's art had arrived as early as the ninth century, we here present our readers with an engraving of the crown of charlemagne. [illustration [++] crown of charlemagne.] this great man was the eldest son of pepin the short, and grandson of charles martel, and was born at the castle of ingelheim, near metz, in the year . his father dying in he succeeded to the crown in conjunction with his brother carloman, whose death in left him sole monarch of the franks. by his alliances, negociations, and principally by his numerous and glorious wars, he so enlarged his dominions, that at length they extended from the ebro to the mouth of the elbe, from the atlantic to the mountains of bohemia and the saal, and from the british channel to the volturno. in the year he was crowned at rome, as emperor of the west, by pope leo iii., and died of a pleurisy in , at aix-la-chapelle, in the cathedral of which city he was buried with extraordinary magnificence. equally illustrious in the cabinet and in the field, a wise legislator, and a great warrior, the patron of men of letters, and the restorer of learning, charlemagne has united in his favour the suffrages of statesmen and soldiers, and of ecclesiastics, lawyers, and men of letters, who have all vied with one another in bestowing the homage of their praise on the celebrated founder of the western empire. the crown of this illustrious man, of which our engraving is a correct representation, is now preserved at vienna in the imperial treasury. it is composed of eight plates of gold, four large and four small, connected by hinges. the large ones, studded with precious stones, form the front, the back, and the intermediate points of the crown; the small ones, placed alternately with these, are ornamented with enamels representing solomon, david, king hezekiah seated on his throne, and christ seated between two flaming seraphim, such as the greeks usually represent them. the costume of the figures resembles that of the emperors of the lower empire, and although the inscriptions which accompany the figures are in latin, the whole bears the impress of greek workmanship. the ground of the figures is formed by the metal itself, which has been hollowed out to receive the enamel; but all the details of the design are traced out with fine fillets of gold. the flesh-tints are in rose-coloured enamel; the colours employed in the draperies and accessories are deep and light blue, red, and white. the crown has unquestionably been retouched at various periods, but yet there is nothing to invalidate the tradition which assigns the more ancient portions to the time of charlemagne. the enamels must belong to the same early period. spent by the corporation of coventry at the entertainment of king james ii. in his progress through coventry, . (mr. richard haywood, treasurer.) £ s. d. gave a gold cup mr. septimus butt, mayor, for sweetmeats meat wine homage fee king's cook city cook steward fielding, for making a speech to his majesty for linen spoiled, borrowed of mrs. smith, spon-street the aldermen that went to worcester to invite him several companies for waiting on the king alderman webster, for meat alderman bradney for corn his majesty's clerk of the market the king's trumpeters richard howcott, for carrying the city streamer the city bailiff's bill for fish, fowl, and wine ------------- £ travelling expenses in the thirteenth century. of travelling expenses in the thirteenth century, a roll is in existence, and is too interesting to be passed over. it contains a steward's accompts of the daily expenses of a person of rank in the reign of edward i, on a journey from oxford to canterbury, and during his sojourn in london, about the year ; while the record throws much light upon the mode of our ancestors' living, at a period concerning which we have very few similar memorials. one day's expenses are as follow: "in bread, sixpence. two gallons of wine, a gift of hospitality from the rector of berton. item in bread, sixpence. two gallons of wine, a gift of hospitality from the rector of mistern. beer, sixpence. herrings, threepence. stockfish, fourpence. porpoise and fish, fourpence. perch and roach, seven-pence. large eels, seven-pence. vegetables, threepence farthing. figs and raisins, twopence. fuel, five-pence. a bed for two nights, twopence. hay for seven horses, seven-pence. a bushel of oats, twenty-pence. apples, a halfpenny. sum, six shillings and eight-pence halfpenny." the most expensive day in the roll is on a sunday, "in expenses of my lord at westminster, when he held a breakfast there for knights, clerks, and squires. bread, two shillings. beer, twelve-pence. wine, three shillings and eight-pence. half a salmon, for the standard, with the chine, three shillings and eight-pence. a fresh conger eel, three shillings. three fat pikes, five fat eels, and twenty-seven fat roaches, twelve shillings and fourpence. half a hundred lamprorns, twelve-pence. oysters, threepence. vegetables, twopence. the hire of a boy to prepare the breakfast, one penny. fare to westminster, one penny. a basket, one penny farthing. on the same day at the inn: bread, five-pence farthing. beer from the store. two gallons of beer for the boys, twopence. fish from the store. candles, a halfpenny. fuel, a halfpenny. hay bought, five-pence three farthings. straw, sixpence. two bushels of oats, eight-pence. two pair of shoes for my lord, twelve-pence. sum, thirty shillings and threepence farthing." duns in the mahratta country. the mahratta mode of recovering debts is curious. when the creditor cannot get his money, and begins to see the debt as rather desperate, he sits _dhurna_ upon his debtor; that is, he squats down at the door of the tent, and becomes, in a certain mysterious degree, the master of it. no one goes in or out without his approbation. he neither eats himself, nor suffers his debtor to eat; and this famishing contest is carried on till the debt is paid, or till the creditor begins to _feel_ that want of food is a greater punishment than the want of money. this curious mode of enforcing a demand is in universal practice among the mahrattas; scindiah himself, the chieftain, not being exempt from it. the man who sits the _dhurna_, goes to the house, or tent, of him whom he wishes to bring to terms, and remains there till the affair is settled; during which time, the one under restraint is confined to his apartment, and not suffered to communicate with any persons but those whom the other may approve of. the laws by which the _dhurna_ is regulated are as well defined and understood as those of any other custom whatever. when it is meant to be very strict, the claimant carries a number of his followers, who surround the tent, sometimes even the bed of his adversary, and deprive him altogether of food; in which case, however, etiquette prescribes the same abstinence to himself: the strongest stomach, of course, carries the day. a custom of this kind was once so prevalent in the province and city of benares, that brahmins were _trained_ to remain a long time without food. they were then sent to the door of some rich individual, where they made a vow to remain without eating, till they should obtain a certain sum of money. to preserve the life of a brahmin is so absolutely a duty, that the money was generally paid; but never till a good struggle had taken place, to ascertain whether the man was staunch or not; for money is the life and soul of all hindoos. vauxhall. [illustration [++] vauxhall.] the trees seen above the houses at the foot of the surrey side of westminster bridge are those of vauxhall gardens, the site of which will soon be covered with buildings. these grounds were once the glory of english pleasure-gardens, frequented by the highest in the land from the gay days of charles ii. to those of "the regency," and were celebrated in musical history for talent of the highest kind here introduced. in the old orchestra, whose towering summit may be seen from the thames, the greatest musical celebrities have sung. handel, dr. arne, and hook superintended its concerts; and hogarth decorated its walls with paintings. it obtained its name from a very old mansion that once stood near it. this old manor-house of fawkes hall, as it existed in the reign of charles i., is shown in our engraving; at that time it was described as a "fair dwelling-house, strongly built, of three stories high, and a pier staircase breaking out from it nineteen feet square." this staircase occupied one of the towers, in accordance with the ancient plan, and the house was a curious specimen of the old timber houses of the gentry in the sixteenth century. it appears to have obtained its name from foukes de breut, who married the heiress of the manor, the countess of albemarle, sister to baldwin, archbishop of canterbury; and it was granted by the name of the manor of foukeshall, by edward iii. to his favourite hugh le despenser. in the records of the duchy of cornwall prove the premises known as vauxhall gardens to have been the leasehold property of jane vaux, widow of john vaux, citizen and vintner of london, and a benefactor to the parish of lambeth. it has always remained, with the manor of kennington, as the property of the crown, and belongs to the prince of wales as part of his duchy of cornwall. vauxhall gardens closed for ever on july th, , with an _al fresco fête_. egyptian toilet boxes. [illustration [++] egyptian toilet boxes.] the ladies of ancient egypt were very fond of having their apartments set off with a profusion of knick-knacks, and among other articles of that sort, they usually had several different kinds of toilet-boxes on their dressing-tables. the above engraving represents a group of them. they have been found in considerable numbers among the ruins of the palaces, and they form interesting objects among the egyptian curiosities in many of our museums. they were made of wood, or of ivory, often inlaid, and always elaborately carved. sometimes they partook of the nature of spoons, the containing part being shallow, at the end of a long solid handle; the handle was carved into the most fanciful forms--a grotesque human figure, a woman, a fox, or a fish--and the spoon part was generally covered with a lid, which turned on a pivot. in one of those in the engraving, the spoon takes the form of a fish, the cover being carved to resemble its scales, while another, also in the form of a fish, has two cavities, the one covered, the other permanently open. sometimes the body of a goose formed the box, either trussed for the table, or in the posture of life, and other forms were devised from the fancy of the artist. some of these shallow boxes are supposed to have been used for holding small quantities of ointments and cosmetics upon the toilet-table. spacious kitchen. one of the most spacious kitchens in england is that of raby castle, the magnificent seat of the duke of cleveland. it is a square of thirty feet, having three chimneys, one for the grate, a second for stoves, and the third, (now stopped up,) for the great cauldron. the roof is arched, with a small cupola in the centre: it has likewise five windows, from each of which steps descend, but only in one instance to the floor; and a gallery runs round the whole interior of the building. the ancient oven is said to have allowed a tall person to stand upright in it, its diameter being fifteen feet. it has since been converted into a wine cellar, the sides being divided into ten parts, and each holding a hogshead of wine in bottles. vast as is this kitchen, it must have been but suitable to the hospitality of former ages: for, in one of the apartments of raby castle, seven hundred knights are stated to have been entertained at one time. the hawthornden caves. in almost every country on the earth there are natural or artificial caves, which have supplied hiding-places, retreats for anchorites, and even permanent native dwellings. such caves abound in scotland, and especially along the coast, but in general their interest arises rather from the associations of popular traditions, than from any intrinsic peculiarity of character pertaining to them. few such retreats are more remarkable, either for constructive art, or historic associations, than the well-known caves beneath the old tower of hawthornden, near edinburgh. they have been hewn, with great labour and ingenuity, in the rocky cliff which overhangs the river esk. no tradition preserves the history or date of their execution, but concealment was evidently the chief design of the excavators. the original entrance is most ingeniously made in the shaft of a very deep draw-well, sunk in the court-yard of the castle, and from its manifest utility as the ordinary and indispensable appendage of the fortress, it most effectually conceals its adaptation as a means of ingress and communication with the rock chambers beneath. these are of various forms and sizes, and one in particular is pierced with a series of square recesses, somewhat resembling the columbaria of a roman tomb, but assigned by popular tradition as the library of its later owner, drummond, the scottish poet. whatever was the purpose for which these were thus laboriously cut, the example is not singular. a large cave in roxburghshire, hewn out in the lofty cliff which overhangs the teviot, has in its sides similar recesses, and from their supposed resemblance to the interior of a pigeon-house, the cavern has received the name of the _doo-cave_. authentic notices of the hawthornden caves occur so early as the reign of david ii., when a daring band of scottish adventurers made good their head-quarters there, while edward held the newly-fortified castle of edinburgh, and the whole surrounding district. in the glen of the little river ale, which falls into the teviot at ancrum, extensive groups of caves occur, all indicating, more or less, artificial adaptation as human dwellings; and in many other districts similar evidences may be seen of temporary or permanent habitation, at some remote period, in these rude recesses. along the coast of arran there are several caves of various dimensions, one of which, at drumandruin, or drumidoon, is noted in the older traditions of the island as the lodging of fin m'coul, the fingal of ossian, during his residence in arran. though low in the roof, it is sufficiently capacious for a hundred men to sit or lie in it. in this, as in other examples, we find evidences of artificial operations, proving its connexion with races long posterior to those with whose works we have chiefly to do in this section of archaeological inquiry. in the further end a large detached column of rock has a two-handed sword engraved on it, surmounted by a deer, and on the southern side of the cave a lunar figure is cut, similar in character to those frequently found on the sculptured pillars and crosses which abound in scotland. it is now more frequently styled the king's cave, and described as the retreat of robert the bruce, while he lurked as a fugitive in the western isles; but, like many other traditions of the bruce, this seems to be of very recent origin. other caves in the same island are also of large dimensions, and variously associated with popular traditions, as, indeed, is generally the case where subterranean retreats of any considerable extent occur. some are the supposed dwellings of old mythic chiefs, whose names still live in the traditional songs of the gael. others are the retreats which the primitive confessors of scotland excavated or enlarged for their oratories or cells. of the latter class are the caves of st. molio, on the little island of lamlash, or the holy isle, on the east coast of arran; of st. columba and st. cormac, on the argyleshire coast; of st. ninian, in wigtonshire; of st. serf, at dysart, on the fifeshire coast; and the celebrated "ocean cave of st. rule, in saint andrew's bay." this last oratory consists of two chambers hewn out of the sandstone cliffs of that exposed coast. the inner apartment is a plain cell, entered from the supposed oratory of the greek saint. the latter is nearly circular, measuring about ten feet in diameter, and has a stone altar hewn in the solid rock on its eastern side. monkish prayers. the monks used to pray heartily, or rather say their prayers no less than seven times in the twenty-four hours. we will give their names:-- st.--nocturnal, at cock-crowing, or two o'clock in the morning. nd.--matins, at six o'clock in the morning. rd.--tierce, at nine o'clock in the morning. th.--sext, at twelve o'clock at noon. th.--none, at three o'clock in the afternoon. th.--vespers, at six o'clock in the afternoon. th.--compline, soon after seven. quarles has a neat epigram on the subject:-- for all our prayers th' almighty does regard the judgment of the _balance_, not the _yard_; he loves not words, but matter; 'tis his pleasure to buy his wares by _weight_, and not by _measure_. the trap-door spider. [illustration: trap-door spider.] there are few insects of such extraordinary habits as the trap-door spider, and the following account of it by professor jones is so interesting, that we are glad to extract it from his excellent work on insect architecture:-- in the ionian islands, and also in the west indies [as well as in the south of france, and in corsica], there are found certain spiders (_cteniza_) commonly known as trap-door spiders, which make a cylindrical nest in the earth, and cover the entrance with a door of their own construction, framed of alternate layers of silk and earth, and fastened to the opening by a hinge of stout silk. these spiders also line their nests throughout with numerous layers of silken web to the thickness of stout cartridge paper, and finish it with the greatest care. this beautiful lining is yet further strengthened in particular parts, where the nest is likely to be exposed to danger. but the greatest amount of skill and care is bestowed upon the trap-door and its silken hinge. the door is about the eighth of an inch thick, rough on the outside, not much unlike an oyster-shell, which it also resembles in being thick and strong near the hinge, but thinner towards the circumference. the breadth of this hinge is various, but sometimes it is very considerable, as shown in the figure accompanying. it also possesses great elastic force, so that, on being opened, it closes again of itself. this is principally accomplished by a fold or doubling of the web, at each end of the hinge, which permits the door to be opened nearly to a right angle with the aperture, but no further, unless violence be used. the underside of the door is perfectly smooth and firm, being shaped so as to fit accurately, and yet to offer no resistance when pushed open by the insect. [illustration: section of nest.] [illustration: nest of trap-door spider.] [illustration: trap-door opening by a lever.] as might be expected, there are varieties in the shape and size of these nests. some specimens found in the island of zante had the silken layers of the lid extended into a sort of handle, or lever, just above the hinge, on pressing which, in ever so slight a degree, the trap-door opened. from this it would appear, that the entrance to such a nest could be effected as easily by the enemies of the spider as by the spider itself; this, however, is not the case; for repeated observation has shown that the spider keeps guard at the entrance, and actually holds the door with her fore-feet and palpi, while the hind-feet are extended down the side of the nest, and the mandibles are thrust into the opposite side near the door. by this means the insects gets such power as to resist with considerable force the opening of the door. if it be asked how this is known, we are able to refer to the experiments of careful observers, who extracted a number of nests from the ground, and opening them at the lower end, looked up, and saw the spider so occupied. a section view of the nest will show that the curved form of the cover, and the shape of the side walls, must favour this method of keeping the door shut. in some cases, small hollows were formed round the interior edge of the lid, into which the spider thrust its feet when keeping guard. it is a curious fact, that when several of these spiders enclosed in their nests were kept as a matter of curiosity in a box of earth, and the doors frequently opened to examine their proceedings, one or two of them, as if wearied at these repeated interruptions, effectually closed their doors by weaving a piece of silken tapestry, which was spread over the interior of the opening, and rounded like the inside of a thimble. this was so strongly attached to the door and to the side walls, that no opening could be made without destroying the nest. prices of greek vases. in the ancient times of rome the vases of greek pottery bore a high value, and sold for enormous sums to connoisseurs, which has also been the case in modern times. cleopatra spent daily, on the fragrant or flowery ware of rhossus, a syrian town, six minæ. of the actual prices paid for painted vases, no positive mention occurs in classical authorities, yet it is most probable that vases of the best class, the products of eminent painters, obtained considerable prices. among the greeks, works of merit were at all times handsomely remunerated, and it is probable that vases of excellence shared the general favour shown to the fine arts. for works of inferior merit only small sums were paid, as will be seen by referring to the chapter on inscriptions, which were incised on their feet, and which mentioned their contemporary value. in modern times little is known about the prices paid for these works of art till quite a recent period, when their fragile remains have realised considerable sums. in this country the collections of mr. townley, sir w. hamilton, lord elgin, and mr. payne knight, all contained painted vases. a sum of £ was paid in consideration of the athenian vases in lord elgin's collection, which is by no means large when the extraordinary nature of these vases is considered, as they are the finest in the world of the old primitive vases of athens. £ , were paid for the vases of the hamilton collection, one of the most remarkable of the time, and consisting of many beautiful specimens from southern italy. the great discoveries of the prince of canino, in , and the subsequent sale of numerous vases, gave them, however, a definite market value, to which the sale of the collection of baron durand, which consisted almost entirely of vases, affords some clue. his collection sold in for , francs, or about £ , . the most valuable specimen in the collection was the vase representing the death of croesus, which was purchased for the louvre at the price of , francs, or £ . the vase with the subject of arcesilaus brought , francs. another magnificent vase, now in the louvre, having the subject of the youthful hercules strangling the serpents, was only secured for france after reaching the price of , francs, or £ : another, with the subject of hercules, dejanira, and hyllus, was purchased for the sum of , francs, or £ . a _crater_, with the subject of acamas and demophoon bringing back Æthra, was obtained by m. magnoncourt for , francs, or £ . a bacchic amphora, of the maker execias, of the archaic style, was bought by the british museum for , francs, or £ in round numbers. enough has, however, been said to show the high price attained by the most remarkable of these works of art. the inferior vases of course realised much smaller sums, varying from a few francs to a few pounds; but high prices continued to be obtained, and the sale by the prince of canino in , of some of his finest vases, contributed to enrich the museums of europe, although, as many of the vases were bought in, it does not afford a good criterion as to price. an _oenochoe_, with apollo and the muses, and a _hydria_, with the same subject, were bought for , francs, or £ each. a _cylix_, with a love scene, and another with priam redeeming hector's corpse, brought , francs, or £ . an amphora with the subject of dionysius, and a cup with that of hercules, sold for , francs, or £ each. another brought , francs, or £ . a vase with the subject of theseus seizing helen, another with the arming of paris, and a third with peleus and thetis, sold for , francs, or £ . nor can the value of the finest specimens of the art be considered to have deteriorated since. the late mr. steuart was offered , francs for a large _crater_, found in southern italy, ornamented with the subject of cadmus and the dragon; , francs, or £ , were paid by the british museum for a fine _crater_ ornamented with the exploits of achilles: , francs, or £ , for an amphora of apulian style, with the subject of pelops and oenomaus at the altar of the olympian zeus. for another vase, with the subject of musæus, , francs, or £ were paid, and , francs, or £ , for the athenian prize vase, the celebrated vas burgonianum, exhumed by mr. burgon. at mr. beckford's sale, the late duke of hamilton gave £ for a small vase, with the subject of the indian bacchus. the passion for possessing fine vases has outstripped these prices at naples; , ducats, or £ , was given for the vase with gilded figures discovered at cumæ. still more incredible, half a century back, , ducats, £ , , was paid to vivenzio for the vase in the museo borbonico representing the last night of troy; , ducats, or £ , , for the one with a dionysiac feast; and , ducats, or £ , for the vase with the grand battle of the amazons, published by shultz. but such sums will not be hereafter realised, not that taste is less, but that fine vases are more common. no sepulchre has been spared when detected, and no vase neglected when discovered; and vases have been exhumed with more activity than the most of precious relics. old walking sticks. it would seem that at the present time the fashion of carrying walking-sticks has to a considerable extent "gone out." so great is the bustle in our city thoroughfares, that the use of a staff, except by those who are lame, is seldom adopted by business people. professional men still affect the custom, however; and your city man, although he may repudiate the use of a walking-stick in town, straps a good sapling to his portmanteau whenever he has a chance of getting amongst the woods and green fields. about a century and a-half ago everybody carried a cane. dr. johnson, oliver goldsmith, and a host of others, considered a good stick as necessary as a coat; and a collection of these staves would, if they could be had at the present day, be valuable, not only as relics, but also as an indication of the characters of the owners, perhaps. in former times, a golden-mounted stick or staff was commonly used by both the male and female heads of families. queen elizabeth carried one of these towards the end of her life. they were then more frequently used, however, as a sign of authority than for any other purpose. the staff was a weapon long before flint-headed arrows and such-like instruments were invented. sheriffs, and others high in authority, have wands or staffs borne before them on important occasions; the bishops' pastoral staff is as old as episcopal authority. in former times the running footmen, who, in a body of half-a-dozen, on each side of a carriage ran to alarm robbers and to assist the lumbering vehicle out of the ruts, were well armed with stout staves. at the present time they are still carried by the plush family, although the use of them is not so clear. in the royal state processions, the footmen with their staves walk as in former days, and we should be sorry were these little bits of ceremony dispensed with, inasmuch as they bring to recollection a former condition of things, which makes us feel comfortable by comparison. the monstrous sticks shown in the engraving are drawn from specimens which have been preserved by dealers in london, and put as a sort of sign at the doors of umbrella and walking-stick dealers. these were, however, a century ago, common enough, and might have been seen by the hundred together, borne by tall footmen behind ladies dressed in the old hooped dresses which we are trying now to imitate. at that time there was also a taste for various kinds of monsters, in china, wood, and other materials. monkeys and pug-dogs were made pets of, and the sticks of the footmen fashioned into such ugly forms as no modern bogey ever dreamed of. these clubs, sticks, maces, or whatever they may be called, were about six feet high, and were in parts painted and gilt. the centre one is an elm-sapling, and the natural bumps have been taken advantage of by the artist to model a sort of moorish head, with ornamental covering; lower down, the knobs are fashioned into terrible heads, in which are mounted glass eyes of various and impossible colours. [illustration [++] old walking sticks.] no doubt before long these staffs, which might be necessary for the protection of the ladies from the "mohawks" of the time, will have disappeared, and people will look with curiosity at hogarth's representation of them. perhaps good specimens of such objects, which have passed out of use, would be worthy of a place in our national museum. one of the old-fashioned tinder-boxes would be a curiosity there now. although but a few years have passed since the introduction of lucifer matches, it is no easy matter to get one of those old-fashioned machines. the sanchi tope. under the name of topes are included the most important class of buddhist architecture in india. they consist of detached pillars, towers, and tumuli, all of a sacred or monumental character. the word is a corruption of the sanscrit _sthupa_, meaning a mound, heap, or cairn. by far the finest as well as the most perfect tope in india is that of sanchi, the principal one of those opened near bilsah, in central india. it is uncertain whether it ever contained relics or not, as it had been dug into in by sir herbert maddock, since which time it has remained a ruin, and may have been plundered by the natives. at any rate it must have been a spot of peculiar sanctity, judging both from its own magnificence, and from the number of subordinate topes grouped around it. in fact there are a greater number of these monuments on this spot, within a space not exceeding miles, than there are, so far at least as we now know, in the whole of india from the sutlej to cape comorin. [illustration [++] sanchi tope.] the general appearance of the sanchi tope will be understood from the annexed view of it. the principal building consists of a dome somewhat less than a hemisphere, feet in diameter, and feet in height, with a platform on the top feet across, which originally formed the basis of the _tee_ or capital, which was the invariable finish of these monuments. the dome rests on a sloping base, feet in height by in diameter, having an offset on its summit about feet wide. this, if we may judge from the representations of topes on the sculptures, must have been surrounded by a balustrade, and was ascended by a broad double ramp on one side. it was probably used for processions encircling the monument, which seem to have been among the most common buddhist ceremonials. the centre of this great mound is quite solid, being composed of bricks laid in mud; but the exterior is faced with dressed stones. over these was laid a coating of cement nearly inches in thickness, which was, no doubt, originally adorned either with painting or ornaments in relief. the fence by which this tope is surrounded is extremely curious. it consists of stone posts ft. in. high, and little more than ft. apart. these are surmounted by a plain architrave, ft. in. deep, slightly rounded at the top. so far this enclosure resembles the outer circle at stonehenge; but between every two uprights three horizontal cross-pieces of stone are inserted of an elliptical form, of the same depth as the top piece, but only in. thick in the thickest part. this is the only _built_ example yet discovered of an architectural ornament which is found _carved_ in every cave, and, indeed, in almost every ancient buddhist building known in india. the upright posts or pillars of this enclosure bear inscriptions indicating that they were all given by different individuals. but neither these nor any other inscriptions found in the whole tope, nor in the smaller topes surrounding it (though there are as many as inscriptions in all), contain any known name, or any clue to their age. still more curious, however, than even the stone railing are the four gateways. one of these is shown in our view. it consists of two square pillars, covered with sculptures, with bold elephant capitals, rising to a height of ft. in.; above this are three lintels, slightly curved upwards in the centre, and ending in ionic scrolls; they are supported by continuations of the columns, and three uprights inserted in the spaces between the lintels. they are covered with elaborate sculptures, and surmounted by emblems. the total height is ft. in. one gateway has fallen, and if removed to this country would raise the character of indian sculpture, as nothing comparable to it has yet been transported from that part of the world to europe. burial places of distinguished men. chaucer was buried in the cloisters of westminster abbey, _without_ the building, but removed to the south aisle in ; spenser lies near him. beaumont, drayton, cowley, denham, dryden, howe, addison, prior, congreve, gray, johnson, sheridan, and campbell, all lie within westminster abbey. shakspeare, as every one knows, was buried in the chancel of the church at stratford, where there is a monument to his memory. chapman and shirley are buried at st. giles'-in-the-fields; marlow, in the churchyard of st. paul's, deptford; fletcher and massinger, in the churchyard of st. saviour's, southwark; dr. donne, in old st. paul's; edward waller, in beaconsfield churchyard; milton, in the churchyard of st. giles', cripplegate; butler, in the churchyard of st. paul's, covent garden; otway, no one knows where; garth, in the churchyard at harrow; pope, in the church at twickenham; swift, in st. patrick's, dublin; savage, in the churchyard of st. peter's, dublin; parnell, at chester, where he died on his way to dublin; dr. young, at welwyn, in hertfordshire, of which place he was the rector; thomson, in the churchyard at richmond, in surrey; collins, in st. andrew's church, at chichester; gray, in the churchyard at stoke-pogis, where he conceived his "elegy;" goldsmith, in the churchyard of the temple church; falconer, at sea, with "all ocean for his grave;" churchill, in the churchyard of st. martin's, dover; cowper, in the church at dereham; chatterton, in a churchyard belonging to the parish of st. andrew's, holborn; burns, in st. michael's churchyard, dumfries; byron, in the church of hucknall, near newstead; crabbe, at trowbridge; coleridge, in the church at highgate; sir walter scott, in dryburgh abbey; southey, in crosthwaite church, near keswick. a regal hunting party. the following is an account of the destruction of game in bohemia, by a hunting party of which the emperor francis made one, in . there were twenty-three persons in the party, three of whom were ladies; the princess charlotte of lorraine was one of them. the chase lasted eighteen days, and during that time they killed , head of game, and wild deer; of which were stags, roebucks, foxes, , hares, , partridges, , pheasants, larks, quails, other birds. the emperor fired , shots, and the princess charlotte , ; in all, there were , shots fired. antipathies. certain antipathies appear to depend upon a peculiarity of the senses. the horror inspired by the odour of certain flowers may be referred to this cause. amatus lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted when he beheld a rose, and never quitted his cell when that flower was blooming. scaliger mentions one of his relations who experienced a similar horror when seeing a lily. in these instances it is not the agreeableness or the offensive nature of the aroma that inspires the repugnance; and montaigne remarked on this subject, that there were men who dreaded an apple more than a musket-ball. zimmerman tells us of a lady who could not endure the feeling of silk and satin, and shuddered when touching the velvety skin of a peach. boyle records the case of a man who felt a natural abhorrence to honey. without his knowledge, some honey was introduced in a plaster applied to his foot, and the accidents that resulted compelled his attendants to withdraw it. a young man was known to faint whenever he heard the servant sweeping. hippocrates mentions one nicanor who swooned whenever he heard a flute: our shakspeare has alluded to the effects of the bagpipe. julia daughter of frederick, king of naples, could not taste meat without serious accidents. boyle fainted when he heard the splashing of water; scaliger turned pale at the sight of water-cresses; erasmus experienced febrile symptoms when smelling fish; the duke d'epernon swooned on beholding a leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect. tycho brahe fainted at the sight of a fox, henry the third of france at that of a cat, and marshal d'albert at a pig. the horror that whole families entertain of cheese is generally known. many individuals cannot digest, or even retain certain substances, such as rice, wine, various fruits, and vegetables. a young but cruel murderess. on the d of july, , was executed at lisbon, pursuant to her sentence, louisa de jesus, for the murder of the thirty-three infants, that were at different times committed to her care by the directors of the foundling hospital at coimbra; for which (as appears by the sentence published) she had no other inducement but six hundred reals in money, a coverda of baize, and a cradle, that she received with each of them. she was but twenty-two years of age when executed. going to execution, she was pinched with hot irons, and at the gallows her hands were struck off; she was then strangled, and her body burnt. bective abbey. bective abbey, the ruins of which form the subject of the annexed engraving differs in its general arrangement from every other monastic structure in the kingdom. it was, in fact, a monastic castle, and, previous to the use of artillery, must have been regarded as a place of great strength. it is for this reason that we select it as one of our "wonderful things." [illustration [++] bective abbey.] the ruins are in the immediate neighbourhood of trim, and about thirty miles from dublin. the ruins combine a union of ecclesiastical with military and domestic architecture in a remarkable degree. their chief feature is a strong battlemented tower, the lower compartment of which is vaulted, placed at the south-west corner of the quadrangular space occupied by the various buildings, and in the centre of which the cloisters remain in excellent preservation. the cloister arches are late in the first pointed style, and are cinque-foiled. the featherings are mostly plain, but several are ornamented with flowers or leaves, and upon one a hawk-like bird is sculptured. a fillet is worked upon each of the clustered shafts, by which the openings are divided, and also upon their capitals. the bases, which are circular, rest upon square plinths, the angles of which are ornamented with a leaf, as it were, growing out of the base of the moulding. of the church there are scarcely any remains. as the northern wall of the cloister is pierced with several windows, which have now the appearance of splaying externally, it is extremely probable that it also served as the south wall of the church, no other portion of which can at present be identified. those buildings which were for the most part devoted to domestic purposes are for the most part situated upon the east side of the quadrangle. their architectural details are of a character later than those of the tower and of the other portions, but additions and alterations have evidently been made. novel mode of celebration. upon the occasion of the christening of the st child of mr. wright, of widaker, near whitehaven, by the same woman, in the year , the company came from parishes, and the entertainment consisted of pieces of beef, legs of mutton and lamb, gallons of brandy, three times gallons of strong ale, three times fowls, roasted and boiled, pies, &c. antique head ornament. [illustration [++] bronze head ornament.] the annexed engraving represents an exceedingly beautiful bronze relic, apparently of the class of head rings, in the collection of the society of antiquaries of scotland, which was discovered in the year , about seven feet below the surface, when digging for a well, at the east end of the village of stitchel, in the county of roxburgh. it bears a resemblance in some respects to relics of the same class in the christiansborg palace, yet nothing exactly similar to it has yet been found among scandinavian relics; while some of its ornamental details closely correspond to those which characterize the british horse furniture and other native relics of this period. one of its most remarkable peculiarities is, that it opens and shuts by means of a hinge, being clasped when closed by a pin which passes through a double catch at a line intersecting the ornament; and so perfect is it that it can still be opened and secured with ease. it is probable that this also should rank among the ornaments of the head, though it differs in some important respects from any other object of the same class. the oval which it forms is not only too small to encircle the head, but it will be observed from the engraving that its greatest length is from side to side, the internal measurements being five and nine-tenth inches by five and one-tenth inches. relics. at the commencement of the seventeenth century there was a crucifix belonging to the augustine friars at burgos in spain, which produced a revenue of nearly seven thousand crowns per annum. it was found upon the sea, not far from the coast, with a scroll of parchment appended to it, descriptive of the various virtues it possessed. the image was provided with a false beard and a chesnut periwig, which its holy guardians declared were natural, and they also assured all pious visitors that on every friday it sweated blood and water into a silver basin. in the garden of this convent grew a species of wheat, the grain of which was peculiarly large, and which its possessors averred was brought by adam out of paradise. of this wheat they made small cakes called pançillos, kneaded with the aforesaid blood and water, and sold them to the credulous multitude for a quartillo a piece. these cakes were an infallible remedy for all disorders, and over those who carried them the devil had no power. they sold also blue ribands of the exact length of the crucifix, for about a shilling each, with this inscription in silver letters, "la madi del santo crucifisco de burgos." these ribands were a sovereign cure for the headache. long meg and her daughters. as there is something remarkable or out of the way in this family of heavy stone, we present it to the reader. this venerable druidical monument, which is by the country-people called long meg and her daughters, stands near little salkeld, in the county of cumberland. it consists of massy stones, of different sorts and sizes, ranged in a circle of nearly paces diameter; some of these stones are granite, some blue and grey limestone, and others flint; many of them are ten feet high, and fifteen or sixteen feet in circumference: these are called long meg's daughters. on the southern side of this circle, about seventeen or eighteen paces out of the line, stands the stone called long meg, which is of that kind of red stone found about penrith. it is so placed, that each of its angles faces one of the cardinal points of the compass; it measures upwards of eighteen feet in height, and fifteen feet in girth; its figure is nearly that of a square prism; it weighs about sixteen tons and a half. in the part of the circle the most contiguous, four large stones are placed in a square form, as if they had been intended to support an altar; and towards the east, west, and north, two large stones stand a greater distance from each other than any of the rest, seemingly to form the entrances into a circle. it is remarkable that no stone-quarry is to be found hereabouts. the appearance of this circle is much hurt by a stone wall built across it, that cuts off a considerable segment, which stands in the road. the same ridiculous story is told of these stones, as of those at stonehenge, _i. e._, that it is impossible to count them, and that many persons who have made the trial, could never find them amount twice to the same number. it is added, that this was a holy place, and that long meg and her daughters were a company of witches transformed into stones, on the prayers of some saint, for venturing to prophane it; but when, and by whom, the story does not say. thus has tradition obscurely, and clogged with fable, handed down the destination of this spot, accompanied with some of that veneration in which it was once undoubtedly held, though not sufficiently to protect its remains from the depredations of avarice; the inclosure and cultivation of the ground bidding fair to destroy them. these stones are mentioned by camden, who was either misinformed as to, or mis-reckoned their number; unless, which seems improbable, some have been taken away. "at little salkeld, (says he,) there is a circle of stones seventy-seven in number, each ten feet high; and before these, at the entrance, is a single one by itself, fifteen feet high. this the common people call long meg, and the rest her daughters; and within the circle, are two heaps of stones, under which they say there are dead bodies buried; and, indeed, it is probable enough that this has been a monument erected in memory of some victory." the history of the british druidical antiquities having been thoroughly investigated, since camden's time, these circles are now universally agreed to have been temples and places of judgment, and not sepulchral monuments. indeed his editor has, in some measure, rectified his mistake, by the following addition: "but, as to the heaps in the middle, they are no part of the monument, but have been gathered off the ploughed lands adjoining; and (as in many other parts of the county) thrown up here in a waste corner of the field; and as to the occasion of it, both this, and the rolrick stones in oxfordshire, are supposed by many, to have been monuments erected at the solemn investiture of some danish kings, and of the same kind as the kingstolen in denmark, and moresteen in sweden; concerning which, several large discourses have been written." curious particulars relative to dress at the commencement of the fifteenth century. cloth of gold, satin, and velvet, enriched by the florid decorations of the needle, were insufficient to satisfy the pride of nobles; robes formed of these costly materials were frequently ornamented with embroidery of goldsmiths' work, thickly set with precious stones; and the most absurd and fantastic habits were continually adopted, in the restless desire to appear in new inventions. john of ghent is represented in a habit divided straight down the middle, one side white, the other half dark blue; and his son, henry iv., on his return from exile, rode in procession through london in a jacket of cloth-of-gold, "after the german fashion." the dukes and earls who attended his coronation wore three bars of ermine on the left arm, a quarter of a yard long, "or thereabouts;" the barons had but two: and over the monarch's head was borne a canopy of blue silk, supported by silver staves, with four gold bells, "that rang at the corners." "early in the reign of richard ii. began," says stowe, "the detestable use of piked shoes, tied to the knees with chains of silver gilt; also women used high attire on their heads with piked horns and long training gowns. the commons also were besotted in excesse of apparel; in wide surcoates reaching to their loines; some in a garment reaching to their heels, close before and sprowting out at the sides, so that on the backe they make men seeme women, and this they call by a ridiculous name--_gowne_. their hoodes are little, and tied under the chin." eccentric funeral. mr. john oliver, an eccentric miller of highdown hill, in sussex, died, aged eighty-three, the th of may, . his remains were interred near his mill, in a tomb he had caused to be erected there for that purpose, near thirty years ago; the ground having been previously consecrated. his coffin, which he had for many years kept under his bed, was painted white; and the body was borne by eight men clothed in the same colour. a girl about twelve years old read the burial service, and afterwards, on the tomb, delivered a sermon on the occasion, from micah , , , before at least two thousand auditors, whom curiosity had led to see this extraordinary funeral. egyptian standards. the engraving which we here lay before our friends, represents a group of egyptian standards, as they were used in the army in the time of pharaoh. [illustration [++] egyptian standards.] each regiment and company had its own peculiar banner or standard, which were therefore very numerous, and various in their devices. a beast, bird, or reptile, a sacred boat, a royal name in a cartouche, or a symbolic combination of emblems, were the most common forms. as they appear to have been objects of superstitious veneration that were selected for this purpose, they must have contributed greatly to the enthusiasm so highly valued in battle; and instances are common in all history of desponding courage revived, and prodigies of valour performed, on behalf of those objects which were so identified with national and personal honour. allusions to standards, banners, and ensigns are frequent in the holy scriptures. the four divisions in which the tribes of israel marched through the wilderness had each its governing standard, and tradition has assigned to these ensigns the respective forms of the symbolic cherubim seen in the vision of ezekiel and john--that of judah being a lion, that of reuben a man, that of ephraim an ox, and that of dan an eagle. the post of standard-bearer was at all times of the greatest importance, and none but officers of approved valour were ever chosen for such a service; hence jehovah, describing the ruin and discomfiture which he was about to bring on the haughty king of assyria, says, "and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth." the shrew ash. [illustration [++] shrew ash.] at that end of richmond park where a gate leads to mortlake, and near a cottage in which resides one of the most estimable gentlemen of the age--professor owen--there still lives and flourishes a tree that has been famous for many ages: it is the shrew ash, and the above is a correct engraving of it. it stands on rising ground, only a few yards beyond the pond which almost skirts the professor's lawn. white, in his natural history of selborne, describes a shrew-ash as an ash whose twigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of cattle, will immediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running of a shrew-mouse over the part affected; for it is supposed that a shrew-mouse is of so baleful and deleterious a nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. against this evil, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. a shrew-ash was made potent thus:--into the body of a tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt with several quaint incantations, long since forgotten. the shrew-ash in richmond park is, therefore, amongst the few legacies of the kind bequeathed to their country by the wisdom of our ancestors. our readers will perceive that across the hollow of the tree near the top there is a little bar of wood. the legend runs that were this bar removed every night, it would be replaced in the same spot every morning. the superstition is, that if a child afflicted with what the people in the neighbourhood call "decline," or whooping-cough, or any infantine disease, is passed nine times up the hollow of that tree, and over the bar, while the sun is rising, it will recover. if the charm fails to produce the desired effect, the old women believe that the sun was too far up, or not up enough. if the child recovers, of course, the fame of the tree is whispered about. there is a sort of shrew-mother to every shrew-ash, who acts as guide and teacher to any young mother who has an afflicted child and believes in the charm. the ash in richmond park is still used, and still firmly believed in. a drum made of human skin. john zisca, general of the insurgents who took up arms in the year against the emperor sigismund, to revenge the deaths of john huss, and jerome of prague, who had been cruelly burnt to death for their religious tenets, defeated the emperor in several pitched battles. he gave orders that, after his death, they should _make a drum of his skin_; which was most religiously obeyed, and those very remains of the enthusiastic zisca proved, for many years, fatal to the emperor, who, with difficulty, in the space of sixteen years, recovered bohemia, though assisted by the forces of germany, and the terror of crusades. the insurgents were , in number, and well disciplined. earthquake in jamaica. the earthquake of jamaica, in , is one of the most dreadful that history has to record. it was attended with a hollow rumbling noise like that of thunder, and in less than a minute all the houses on one side of the principal street in the town of port royal sank into a fearful gulf forty fathoms deep, and water came roaring up where the houses had been. on the other side of the street the ground rose up and down like the waves of the sea, raising the houses and throwing them into heaps as it subsided. in another part of the town the street cracked along all its length, and the houses appeared suddenly twice as far apart as they were before. in many places the earth opened and closed again, so that several hundred of these openings were to be seen at the same time; and as the wretched inhabitants ran out of their tottering dwellings, the earth opened under their feet, and in some cases swallowed them up entirely; while in others, the earth suddenly closing, caught them by the middle, and thus crushed them to death. in some cases these fearful openings spouted up cataracts of water, which were attended by a most noisome stench. it is not possible for any place to exhibit a scene of greater desolation than the whole island presented at this period. the thundering bellowing of the distant mountains, the dusky gloom of the sky, and the crash of the falling buildings gave unspeakable horror to the scene. such of the inhabitants as were saved sought shelter on board the ships in the harbour, and remained there for more than two months, the shocks continuing with more or less violence every day. when, at length, the inhabitants were enabled to return, they found the whole face of the country changed. very few of the houses which had not been swallowed up were left standing, and what had been cultivated plantations were converted into large pools of water. the greater part of the rivers had been choked up by the falling in of detached masses of the mountains, and spreading over the valleys, they had changed what was once fertile soil into morasses, which could only be drained by cutting new channels for the rivers; while the mountains themselves had changed their shapes so completely, that it was conjectured that they had formed the chief seat of the earthquake. curious extracts from the household book of lady mary, daughter of the king, in various years, from the th to the th of henry viii. royal mss. brit. mus. "item, geven to george mountejoye drawing my layde's grace to his valentine, xl{s}. "item, geven amongs the yeomen of the king's guard bringing a leke to my lady's grace on saynt david's day, xv{s}. "item, geven to heywood playeng an enterlude with his children before my lady's grace, xl{s}. "item, payed for a yerde and a halfe of damaske for jane the fole, vij{s}. "item, for shaving of jane fooles hedde, iiij{d}. "payed for a frountlet lost in a wager to my lady margaret, iiij{li}. "item, payed for a brekefast lost at bolling by my lady mary's grace, x{s}." giving doles. a bishop of durham, in the reign of edward iii, had every week eight quarters of wheat made into bread for the poor, besides his alms-dishes, fragments from his table, and money given away by him in journeys. the bishop of ely, in , fed daily at his gates two hundred poor persons, and the lord cromwell fed the same number. edward, earl of derby, fed upwards of sixty aged poor, besides all comers, thrice a week, and furnished, on good friday, two thousand seven hundred people with meat, drink, and money. robert winchelsey, archbishop of canterbury, gave, besides the daily fragments of his house, on fridays and sundays, to every beggar that came to his door, a loaf of bread of a farthing value; in time of dearth he thus gave away five thousand loaves, and this charity is said to have cost his lordship five hundred pounds a year. over and above this he gave on every festival day one hundred and fifty pence to as many poor persons, and he used to send daily meat, drink, and bread unto such as by age and sickness were not able to fetch alms from his gate; he also sent money, meat, apparel, &c., to such as he thought wanted the same, and were ashamed to beg; and, above all, this princely prelate was wont to take compassion upon such as were by misfortune decayed, and had fallen from wealth to poor estate. such acts deserve to be written in letters of gold. female ornament of the iron period. [illustration [++] beaded torc.] one of the most beautiful neck ornaments of the teutonic or iron period ever found in scotland is a beaded torc, discovered by a labourer while cutting turf in lochar moss, dumfriesshire, about two miles to the north of cumlongan castle; and exhibited by mr. thomas gray, of liverpool, at the york meeting of the archæological institute. we here annex an engraving of it. the beads, which measure rather more than an inch in diameter, are boldly ribbed and grooved longitudinally. between every two ribbed beads there is a small flat one formed like the wheel of a pulley, or the vertebral bone of a fish. the portion which must have passed round the nape of the neck is flat and smooth on the inner edge, but chased on the upper side in an elegant incised pattern corresponding to the ornamentation already described as characteristic of this period, and bearing some resemblance to that on the beautiful bronze diadem found at stitchel in roxburghshire, figured on a subsequent page. the beads are disconnected, having apparently been strung upon a metal wire, as was the case in another example found in the neighbourhood of worcester. a waved ornament, chased along the outer edge of the solid piece, seems to have been designed in imitation of a cord; the last tradition, as it were, of the string with which the older necklace of shale or jet was secured. altogether this example of the class of neck ornaments, to which mr. birch has assigned the appropriate name of beaded torcs, furnishes an exceedingly interesting illustration of the development of imitative design, in contradistinction to the more simple and archaic funicular torc, which, though continued in use down to a later period, pertains to the epoch of primitive art. curious lantern. in , it is related that sir john harrington, of bath, sent to james vi king of scotland, at christmas, for a new year's gift, a dark lantern. the top was a crown of pure gold, serving also to cover a perfume pan; within it was a shield of silver, embossed, to reflect the light; on one side of which were the sun, moon, and planets, and on the other side, the story of the birth and passion of christ, as it was engraved by david ii king of scotland, who was a prisoner at nottingham. on this present, the following passage was inscribed in latin--"lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." ancient scandinavian brooch. [illustration [++] shell-shaped brooch.] the characteristic and beautiful ornament, usually designated the shell-shaped brooch, and equally familiar to danish and british antiquaries, belongs to the scoto-scandinavian period. in scotland many beautiful examples have been found, several of which are preserved in the museum of scottish antiquaries. from these we select the one represented in the annexed engraving, as surpassing in beauty of design and intricacy of ornament any other example of which we are aware. it consists, as usual, of a convex plate of metal, with an ornamental border, surmounted by another convex plate of greater depth, highly ornamented with embossed and perforated designs, the effect of which appears to have been further heightened by the lower plate being gilded so as to show through the open work. in this example the gilding still remains tolerably perfect. on the under side are the projecting plates, still retaining a fragment of the corroded iron pin, where it has turned on a hinge, and at the opposite end the bronze catch into which it clasped. the under side of the brooch appears to have been lined with coarse linen, the texture of which is still clearly defined of the coating of verd antique with which it is now covered. but its peculiar features consist of an elevated central ornament resembling a crown, and four intricately-chased projections terminating in horses' heads. it was found in september, , along with another brooch of the same kind, lying beside a skeleton, under a flat stone, very near the surface, above the ruins of a pictish house or burgh, in caithness. it measures nearly four and a half inches in length, by three inches in breadth, and two and two-fifth inches in height to the top of the crown. like many others of the same type, it appears to have been jewelled. in several examples of these brooches which we have compared, the lower convex plates so nearly resemble each other, as to suggest the probability of their having been cast in the same mould, while the upper plates entirely differ. street cries of modern egypt. the cries of the street hawkers in egypt at the present day are very singular, and well deserve a place in our repertory of curiosities. the seller of _tir'mis_ (or lupins) often cries "aid! o imba'bee! aid!" this is understood in two senses: as an invocation for aid to the sheykh el-imba'bee, a celebrated moos'lim saint, buried at the imba'beh, on the west bank of the nile, opposite cairo; in the neighbourhood of which village the best tir'mis is grown; and also as implying that it is through the aid of the saint above mentioned that the tir'mis of imba'beh is so excellent. the seller of this vegetable also cries, "the tir'mis of imba'beh surpasses the almond!" another cry of the seller of tir'mis is, "o how sweet are the little children of the river!" this last cry, which is seldom heard but in the country towns and villages of egypt, alludes to the manner in which the tir'mis is prepared for food. to deprive it of its natural bitterness, it is soaked, for two or three days, in a vessel full of water; then boiled, and, after this, sewed up in a basket of palm-leaves (called _furd_), and thrown into the nile, where it is left to soak again, two or three days; after which, it is dried, and eaten cold, with a little salt. the seller of sour limes cries, "god make them light [or easy of sale]! o limes!" the toasted pips of a kind of melon called '_abdalla'wee_, and of the water-melon, are often announced by the cry of "o consoler of the embarrassed! o pips!" though more commonly, by the simple cry of "roasted pips!" a curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat (hhala'wee), composed of treacle fried with some other ingredients, is, "for a nail! o sweetmeat!" he is said to be half a thief: children and servants often steal implements of iron, &c., from the house in which they live, and give them to him in exchange for his sweetmeat. the hawker of oranges cries, "honey! o oranges! honey!" and similar cries are used by the sellers of other fruits and vegetables; so that it is sometimes impossible to guess what the person announces for sale; as, when we hear the cry of "sycamore-figs! o grapes!" excepting by the rule that what is for sale is the least excellent of the fruits, &c., mentioned; as sycamore-figs are not so good as grapes. a very singular cry is used by the seller of roses: "the rose was a thorn: from the sweat of the prophet it opened [its flowers]." this alludes to a miracle related of the prophet. the fragrant flowers of the hhen'na-tree (or egyptian privet) are carried about for sale, and the seller cries, "odours of paradise! o flowers of the hhen'na!" a kind of cotton cloth, made by machinery which is put in motion by a bull, is announced by the cry of "the work of the bull! o maidens!" the black pestilence. the black pestilence of the fourteenth century caused the most terrific ravages in england. it has been supposed to have borne some resemblance to the cholera, but that is not the case; it derived its name from the dark, livid colour of the spots and boils that broke out upon the patient's body. like the cholera, the fatal disease appeared to have followed a regular route in its destructive progress; but it did not, like the cholera, advance westward, although, like that fearful visitation, it appears to have originated in asia. the black pestilence descended along the caucasus to the shores of the mediterranean, and, instead of entering europe through russia, first appeared over the south, and, after devastating the rest of europe, penetrated into that country. it followed the caravans, which came from china across central asia, until it reached the shores of the black sea; thence it was conveyed by ships to constantinople, the centre of commercial intercourse between asia, europe, and africa. in it reached sicily and some of the maritime cities of italy and marseilles. during the following year it spread over the northern part of italy, france, germany, and england. the northern kingdoms of europe were invaded by it in , and finally russia in --four years after it had appeared in constantinople. the following estimate of deaths was considered far below the actual number of victims:-- florence lost , inhabitants venice " , " marseilles " in one month , " paris " " , " avignon " " , " strasburg " " , " basle " " , " erfurth " " , " london " " , " norwich " " , " hecker states that this pestilence was preceded by great commotion in the interior of the globe. about , several earthquakes and volcanic eruptions did considerable injury in upper asia, while in the same year, greece, italy, france, and germany suffered under similar disasters. the harvests were swept away by inundations, and clouds of locusts destroyed all that floods had spared, while dense masses of offensive insects strewed the land. as in the recent invasion of cholera, the populace attributed this scourge to poison and to the jews, and these hapless beings were persecuted and destroyed wherever they could be found. in mayence, after vainly attempting to defend themselves, they shut themselves up in their quarters, where , of them burnt to death. the only asylum found by them was lithuania, where casimir afforded them protection; and it is, perhaps, owing to this circumstance that so many jewish families are still to be found in poland. the duchess of lauderdale. few mansions are more pleasantly situated than ham house, the dwelling of the tollemaches, earls of dysart. it stands on the south bank of the thames, distant about twelve miles from london, and immediately opposite to the pretty village of twickenham. it was erected early in the seventeenth century; the date still stands on the door of the principal entrance. its builder was sir thomas vavasour, and it subsequently came into the possession of katherine, daughter of the earl of dysart, who married first sir lionel tollemache, and for her second husband earl, afterwards duke, of lauderdale. the duchess of lauderdale was one of the "busiest" women of the busy age in which she lived. burnet insinuates that, during the life time of her first husband, "she had been in a correspondence with lord lauderdale that had given occasion for censure." she succeeded in persuading him that he was indebted for his escape after "worcester fight" to "her intrigues with cromwell. she was a woman," continues the historian, "of great beauty, but of far greater parts. she had a wonderful quickness of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in conversation. she had studied, not only divinity and history, but mathematics and philosophy. she was violent in everything she set about,--a violent friend, but a much more violent enemy. she had a restless ambition, lived at a vast expense, and was ravenously covetous, and would have stuck at nothing by which she might compass her ends." upon the accession of her husband to political power after the restoration, "all applications were made to her. she took upon her to determine everything; she sold all places; and was wanting in no method that could bring her money, which she lavished out in a most profuse vanity." this duchess of lauderdale--famous during the reigns of four monarchs--the first and second james, and the first and second charles, and through the protectorship of cromwell--refurnished the house at ham, where she continued to reside until her death at a very advanced age. among other untouched relics of gone-by days, is a small ante-chamber, where, it is said, she not only condescended to receive the second charles, but, if tradition is to be credited, where she "cajoled" oliver cromwell. there still remains the chair in which she used to sit, her small walking cane, and a variety of objects she was wont to value and cherish as memorials of her active life, and the successful issue of a hundred political intrigues. [illustration [++] chair of the duchess of lauderdale.] modern egyptian musical instruments. [illustration: sa'ga't ( ), ta'r ( ), and dar'abook'keh ( ).] the durwee'shes, who constitute a sort of religious mendicant order in egypt, often make use of, in their processions and in begging, a little tubl, or kettle-drum, called _ba'z_; six or seven inches in diameter; which is held in the left hand, by a little projection in the centre of the back, and beaten by the right hand, with a short leather strap, or a stick. they also use cymbals, which are called _ka's_, on similar occasions. the ba'z is used by the moosahh'hhir, to attract attention to his cry in the nights of rum'ada'n. castanets of brass, called _sa'ga't_ are used by the public female and male dancers. each dancer has two pairs of these instruments. they are attached, each by a loop of string, to the thumb and second finger, and have a more pleasing sound than castanets of wood or ivory. there are two instruments which are generally found in the hharee'm of a person of moderate wealth, and which the women often use for their diversion. one of these is a tambourine, called _ta'r_, of which we insert an engraving. it is eleven inches in diameter. the hoop is overlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, and white bone, or ivory, both without and within, and has ten circular plates of brass attached to it, each two pairs having a wire passing through their centres. the ta'r is held by the left or right hand, and beaten with the fingers of that hand and by the other hand. the fingers of the hand which holds the instrument, striking only near the hoop, produce higher sounds than the other hand, which strikes in the centre. a tambourine of a larger and more simple kind than that here described, without the metal plates, is often used by the lower orders. the other instrument alluded to in the commencement of this paragraph is a kind of drum, called _dar'abook'keh_. the best kind is made of wood, covered with mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell, &c. one of this description is here represented with the ta'r. it is fifteen inches in length, covered with a piece of fishes' skin at the larger extremity, and open at the smaller. it is placed under the left arm; generally suspended by a string that passes over the left shoulder; and is beaten with both hands. remarkable oaks. the oaks most remarkable for their horizontal expansion, are, according to loudon, the following:--"the three-shire oak, near worksop, was so situated, that it covered part of the three counties of york, nottingham, and derby, and dripped over seven hundred and seventy-seven square yards. an oak between newnham courtney and clifton shaded a circumference of five hundred and sixty yards of ground, under which two thousand four hundred and twenty men might have commodiously taken shelter. the immense spread oak in worksop park, near the white gate, gave an extent, between the ends of its opposite branches, of an hundred and eighty feet. it dripped over an area of nearly three thousand square yards, which is above half an acre, and would have afforded shelter to a regiment of nearly a thousand horse. the oakley oak, now growing on an estate of the duke of bedford, has a head of an hundred and ten feet in diameter. the oak called _robur britannicum_, in the park, at rycote, is said to have been extensive enough to cover five thousand men; and at ellerslie, in renfrewshire, the native village of the hero wallace, there is still standing 'the old oak tree,' among the branches of which, it is said, that he and three hundred of his men hid themselves from the english." curious advertisement. a few years ago the following actually appeared in one of the london papers: certainly a most economical speculation for the use of soul and body:-- "wanted, for a family who have bad health, a sober, steady person, in the capacity of doctor, surgeon, apothecary, and man-midwife. he must occasionally act as butler, and dress hair and wigs. he will be required sometimes to read prayers, and to preach a sermon every sunday. a good salary will be given." changes of mount etna. signor maria gemmellario has given, from a meteorological journal kept at catania, a very interesting view of the successive changes of mount etna, at a period in which it was in the phase of moderate activity; and no description could convey so accurate a conception of the ever-changing phenomena. on the th of february, , there was a sensible earthquake. etna smoked ninety-seven days, but there was no eruption nor any thunder. on the rd of july, , there was an earthquake. etna smoked forty-seven days, and emitted flame twenty-eight days. there was an eruption in june, but no thunder. there were earthquakes on the th of may and th of october, . the mountain smoked forty-seven days, flamed seven, and detonated twenty-eight: little thunder. on the th of february and th of november, , there were earthquakes. etna smoked fifty-nine days: little thunder. in august, september, and december, , earthquakes were frequent. etna smoked twelve days, flamed one hundred and two, and often detonated. thunder storms were frequent. from january to may, and during september and december, , there were thirty-seven earthquakes. the most sensible shock was on the th of march, when the mountain ejected lava on the western side. this eruption lasted thirteen days, and part of the bosco di castiglione was injured. the mountain smoked one hundred and fifty-two days, flamed three, and detonated eleven. little thunder. on the th and th of february, , there were four earthquakes. on the th of october, etna was in a state of eruption on the eastern side, and the lava flowed into the valle del bue. there were about twenty thunder storms. , no earthquakes, but the mountain continued until the th of april to eject lava from the east. at this time the mount st. simon was formed. no thunder. earthquake on the rd and th of march, . the mountain smoked twenty-eight days. on the th of june, and on the th of august, st. simon smoked. there were twenty-one thunder storms. on the rd of november, , there was an earthquake, preceded by a discharge of sand from that part of the mountain called zoccolaro. there were twelve thunder storms. on the th of september, , there was an earthquake. the mountain smoked forty-two days, and there were eleven thunder storms. on the th, th, and th of january the lightning was tremendous. , no earthquakes. on the th of august a part of the interior side of the crater fell in. ten thunder storms. there was an earthquake on the th of october, . the mountain smoked twenty-two days. there were eight thunder storms. during there were twenty-five earthquakes. the most violent was in the neighbourhood of catania, on the th of february. the mountain smoked twenty-four days. no thunder. charity instead of pomp. according to the "annual register" for august, , there were expended at the funeral of farmer keld, of whitby, in that year, one hundred and ten dozen of penny loaves, eight large hams, eight legs of veal, twenty stone of beef (fourteen pounds to the stone), sixteen stone of mutton, fifteen stone of cheshire cheese, and thirty ankers of ale, besides what was distributed to about one thousand poor people, who had sixpence each in money given them. the bedford missal. one of the most celebrated books in the annals of bibliography, is the richly illuminated missal, executed for john, duke of bedford, regent of france, under henry vi.; by him it was presented to that king, in . this rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a-half wide, and two and a-half thick; contains fifty-nine large miniatures, which nearly occupy the whole page, and above a thousand small ones, in circles of about an inch and a-half diameter, displayed in brilliant borders of golden foliage, with variegated flowers, etc.; at the bottom of every page are two lines in blue and gold letters, which explain the subject of each miniature. this relic, after passing through various hands, descended to the duchess of portland, whose valuable collection was sold by auction, in . among its many attractions was the bedford missal. a knowledge of the sale coming to the ears of george iii., he sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the purchaser. the bookseller ventured to submit to his majesty the probable high price it would fetch. "how high?" exclaimed the king. "probably, two hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "two hundred guineas for a missal!" exclaimed the queen, who was present, and lifted her hands up with astonishment. "well, well," said his majesty, "i'll have it still; but since the queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a missal, i'll go no further." the biddings for the royal library did actually stop at that point; a celebrated collector, mr. edwards, became the purchaser by adding three pounds more. the same missal was afterwards sold at mr. edwards' sale, in , and purchased by the duke of marlborough, for the enormous sum of £ l s. sterling. calicinated rings. [illustration [++] calicinated ring.] there is a particular class of antique gold ornaments, belonging to the bronze period, which is deserving of especial attention, from the circumstance that the british isles is the only locality in which it has yet been discovered. these ornaments consist of a solid cylindrical gold bar, beat into a semicircle or segmental arc, most frequently tapering from the centre, and terminated at both ends with hollow cups, resembling the mouth of a trumpet, or the expanded calix of a flower. a remarkable example of these curious native relics is engraved in the "archæological journal." the cups are formed merely by hollows in the slightly dilated ends; but it is further interesting from being decorated with the style of incised ornaments of most frequent occurrence on the primitive british pottery. it was dug up at brahalish, near bantry, county cork, and weighs oz. dwts. grs. in contrast to this, another is engraved in the same journal, found near the entrance lodge at swinton park, yorkshire, scarcely two feet below the surface. in this beautiful specimen the terminal cups are so unusually large, that the solid bar of gold dwindles into a mere connecting-link between them. the annexed figure of a very fine example found by a labourer while cutting peats in the parish of cromdale, inverness-shire, somewhat resembles that of swinton park in the size of its cups. it is from a drawing by the late sir thomas dick lauder, and represents it about one-half the size of the original. similar relics of more ordinary proportions have been brought to light, at different times, in various scottish districts. extraordinary cricket matches. every day in summer wagers are made at lord's cricket ground, upon matches there to be played; but there have been more extraordinary matches elsewhere relative to this exercising game; for a cricket match was played on blackheath, in the year , between eleven greenwich pensioners who had lost each an arm, and eleven others who had lost each a leg. the former won with ease. and again, on the th of august, , a cricket match was played by eleven greenwich pensioners with one leg, against eleven with one arm, for one thousand guineas, at the new cricket ground, montpelier gardens, walworth. at nine o'clock the men arrived in three greenwich stages; about twelve the wickets were pitched, and they commenced. those with but one leg had the first innings, and got runs; those with but one arm got but runs during their innings. the one-leg commenced their second innings, and six were bowled out after they had got runs; so that they left off one hundred and eleven more than those with one arm. next morning the match was played out; and the men with one leg beat the one-arms by one hundred and three runs. after the match was finished the eleven one-legged men ran a sweep-stakes of one hundred yards distance for twenty guineas, and the three first had prizes. mummy cases. [illustration [++] mummy cases.] the annexed engraving represents a set of egyptian mummy cases, several of which were used for the interment of one body, the smaller one being enclosed within the larger. on the death of a king in egypt, "three score and ten days" was the period that intervened from his departure to the termination of the embalming operations; the earlier and more important of which, exclusive of the soaking in natron, occupied forty days. the coffin, or wooden case, in which the embalmed body of joseph was preserved, till at the exodus it was carried from egypt, was, doubtless, of such a form and appearance as those with which we are familiar at our museums. an account of some specimens of these, and of the internal shells which were considered requisite for persons of rank, will be read with interest. before the better kind of mummies were put into their wooden cases, they were placed in a shell in the following manner:--nine thick layers of hempen or linen cloth were well gummed together, so as to make a strong flexible kind of board, something like a piece of papier mâché. this was formed into the shape of the swathed mummy, which was inserted in it by means of a longitudinal aperture on the under side, reaching from the feet to the head. the two sides of this long aperture were then drawn together by a coarse kind of stitching, done with a large needle and thin hempen cord. the inside of this hempen case was covered with a thin coating of plaster, and the outside was also covered with a similar sort of plaster, on which were painted rude figures of beetles, ibides, &c., &c., apparently with ochrous earths tempered with water; they could be easily rubbed off with the finger, except where they were fixed by an outer coating of gum. on the upper part of this case a human face was represented, and for the purpose of giving additional strength and firmness to that part of the hempen covering, a considerable quantity of earth and plaster was stuck on the inside, so that it would be more easy to mould the material on the outside, while still flexible, into a resemblance of the human form. the face was covered with a strong varnish, to keep the colour fixed. the outer case was generally made of the egyptian fig-sycamore wood, and the parts of it were fastened together with wooden pegs. this wood was used by the egyptians for a variety of purposes, as we find even common domestic utensils made of it. the pegs of the sycamore cases were not always of the sycamore wood, which, when cut thin, would hardly be so suitable as some more closely-grained wood; the pegs, therefore, of the inner cases were of a different wood, generally of cedar. bodies embalmed in the highest style of fashion, had, in addition to the inner coffin which we have described, an outer wooden box, such as herodotus mentions, with a human face, male or female, painted on it. some of these cases were plain, and others highly ornamented with figures of sacred animals, or with paintings representing mythological subjects. the wooden case which contained the body was sometimes cut out of one piece of wood, and the inside was made smooth, and fit for the reception of the painted figures, by laying on it a thin coat of fine plaster. this plaster was also used as a lining for the wooden cases which were not made of a single piece. there was often a second wooden case, still more highly ornamented and covered with paintings secured by a strong varnish. these paintings were intended to embody the ideas of the egyptians as to the state of death, the judgment or trial which preceded the admission into the regions below, and other matters connected with the ritual of the dead and the process of embalming. the upper part of each of the wooden cases was made to represent a human figure, and the sex was clearly denoted by the character of the head-dress, and the presence or absence of the beard. both the head-dress and the ornaments about the neck, as far as the bosom, were exactly of the same character as those which we see on the sculptures and paintings. the brief remark of herodotus, that the friends put the swathed mummy "into a wooden figure made to resemble the human form," is amply borne out. instinct of animals. gall and various observers of animals have fully ascertained that the attention of dogs is awakened by our conversation. he brought one of these intelligent creatures with him from vienna to paris, which perfectly understood french and german, of which he satisfied himself by repeating before it whole sentences in both languages. a recent anecdote has been related of an old ship-dog, that leaped overboard and swam to shore on hearing the captain exclaim, "poor old neptune! i fear we shall have to drown him!" and such was the horror which that threat inspired, that he never afterwards would approach the captain or any of the ship's company, to whom he had previously been fondly attached. it must, however, be observed that in the brute creation, as in ours (sometimes more brutal species), peculiar attributes, that do not belong to the race, distinguish individuals gifted with what in man we might call a superior intellect, but which in these animals shows a superiority of what we term instinct. spurzheim relates an instance of a cow belonging to mr. dupont de nemours, which, amongst the whole kindred herd, was the only one that could open the gate leading to their pastures; and her anxious comrades, when arriving at the wished-for spot, invariably lowed for their conductor. it is also related of a hound, who, unable to obtain a seat near the fire without the risk of quarrelling with the dozing occupants that crowded the hearth, was wont to run out into the court-yard barking an alarm that brought away his rivals in comfort, when he quietly re-entered the parlour, and selected an eligible stretching-place. this animal displayed as much ingenuity as the traveller who, according to the well-known story, ordered oysters for his horse for the purpose of clearing the fireside. bell of st. mura. [illustration [++] bell of st. mura.] this curious relic, engraved over leaf, two-thirds the size of the original, is remarkable as a work of art, as well as a genuine relic of the most venerable antiquity; it was formerly regarded with superstitious reverence in ireland, and any liquid drunk from it was believed to have peculiar properties in alleviating human suffering; hence, the peasant women of the district in which it was long preserved, particularly used it in cases of child-birth, and a serious disturbance was excited on a former attempt to sell it by its owner. its legendary history relates that it descended from the sky ringing loudly; but as it approached the concourse of people who had assembled at the miraculous warning, the tongue detached itself and returned towards the skies; hence it was concluded that the bell was never to be profaned by sounding on earth, but was to be kept for purposes more holy and beneficent. this is said to have happened on the spot where once stood the famous abbey of fahan, near innishowen (county donegal), founded in the seventh century by st. mura, or muranus, during the reign of abodh slaine. for centuries this abbey was noted as the depository of various valuable objects, which were held in especial veneration by the people. amongst these were several curious manuscripts written by st. mura, his crozier, and this bell; which ultimately came into the possession of a poor peasant residing at innishowen, who parted with it to mr. brown, of beaumaris, at whose sale in it was purchased by lord londesborough. the material of the bell is bronze, and its form quadrangular, resembling other ancient irish bells, and leading to the conclusion that it is the genuine work of the seventh century. the extreme feeling of veneration shown towards it in various ages is proved by the ornament with which it is encased. by the accidental removal of one portion of the outer casing, a series of earlier enrichments were discovered beneath, which were most probably placed there in the ninth century. the portion disclosed (the lower right hand corner) consists of a tracery of runic knots wrought in brass, and firmly attached to the bell by a thin plate of gold;--whether the remainder of these early decorations, now concealed, be similar, cannot be determined without removing the outer plates. these exterior ornaments consist of a series of detached silver plates of various sizes diversely embossed in the style known to have prevailed in the eleventh century. the centre is adorned with a large crystal, and smaller gems have once been set in other vacant sockets around it, only one of amber remaining. the two large spaces in front of the arched top were also most probably filled with precious stones, as the gold setting still remains entire. the best workmanship has been devoted to these decorations; the hook for suspending the bell is of brass, and has been covered with early bronze ornament which has been filled in with niello, the intervening space being occupied by silver plates ornamented like the rest of the later decorations which cover its surface. from the absence of any traces of rivets on the back or sides of the bell, the decoration it has received may have been restricted to the casing of the handle and the enrichment of the front of this venerated relic. curiously-shaped drinking cup. drinking cups of a fantastic shape were very much in vogue in the sixteenth century. sometimes they assumed the shape of birds, sometimes of animals. in general it is the head that takes off, and serves as a lid or cover; but sometimes the orifice is in another part of the body, as, for example, on the back. the specimen now before us is from lord londesborough's collection. [illustration [++] drinking cup in the shape of a stag.] the stag is of silver, gilt all over; the collar set with a garnet. silver bands encircle this curious figure, to which are appended many small silver escutcheons engraved with the arms and names of distinguished officers of the court of saxe gotha, the latest being "her von maagenheim, camer juncker und regierung assessor in gotha, d. augusti, a{o} ." it has probably been a prize for shooting, successively won by those persons whose arms decorate it. banquets to queen elizabeth. few english sovereigns were so well acquainted with their dominions as was queen elizabeth: she may be said to have visited every corner of her empire, and in these royal journeys or "progresses," as they are called, her loyal subjects strove to outvie each other in the splendour of their receptions. nothing could surpass the magnificence of the entertainments thus planned for the queen's gratification, either as respects the splendour of show, or the costliness of the more substantial banquet. these occasions are too numerous to mention; and we can only notice one of the queen's visits to the palace at greenwich, as described by a german, who travelled in england in . it was sunday, and after attending service in the chapel, the queen prepared for dinner. a gentleman entered the room bearing a rod, and with him another bearing a table-cloth, which, after they had both kneeled three times, he spread upon the table, and after kneeling again, they both retired: then came two others, one with the rod again, the other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread, which, after kneeling, they also placed on the table: then came an unmarried and a married lady, bearing a tasting-knife, and having stooped three times gracefully, they rubbed the table with bread and salt. then came the yeomen of the guard, bringing in, at each time, a course of dishes, served in plate, most of it gilt; these dishes were received by a gentleman, and placed upon the table, while the lady-taster gave to each guard a mouthful to eat of the particular dish he had brought, for fear of any poison. during the time that this guard (which consisted of the tallest and stoutest men that could be found in all england, being carefully selected for this service) were bringing dinner, twelve trumpets and two kettle-drums made the hall ring for half an hour together. after this a number of unmarried ladies appeared, who lifted the meat from the table, and conveyed it to the queen's inner and more private chamber, where, after she had chosen for herself, the rest was sent to the ladies of the court. the queen dined and supped alone, with very few attendants. the great fog of . it prevailed over the adjoining continent, and produced much fear that the end of all things was at hand. it appeared first at copenhagen on the th of may, reached dijon on the th june, and was perceived in italy on the th. it was noticed at spydberg, in norway, on the nd, and at stockholm two days later; the following day it reached moscow. on the rd it was felt on the st. gothard, and at buda. by the close of that month it entered syria; and on the th of july, reached the altai mountains. before its appearance at these places the condition of the atmosphere was not similar; for in this country it followed continued rains; in denmark it succeeded fine weather of some continuance; and in other places it was preceded by high winds. the sun at noon looked rusty-red, reminding one of the lines of milton. the heat was intense during its continuance, and the atmosphere was highly electric. lightnings were awfully vivid and destructive. in england many deaths arose from this cause, and a great amount of property was lost. in germany public edifices were thrown down or consumed by it; and in hungary one of the chief northern towns was destroyed by fires, caused by the electric fluid, which struck it in nine different places. in france there were hailstones and violent winds. in silesia there were great inundations. the dry fogs of - were accompanied by influenza; at st. petersburgh , persons were immediately attacked by it, after the thermometer had suddenly risen degrees. calabria and sicily were convulsed by earthquakes; in iceland a volcano was active, and about the same time one sprung out of the sea off norway. the co-existence of dry fogs with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions had been previously observed--_e.g._, in the years , , ; and since then, in and . a somewhat similar fog overspread london before the cholera of , and the influenza of . hecker ("epidemics of the middle ages") has collected notices of various phenomena of this kind, which have preceded the great continental plagues, and have often been characterised by offensive odours. monkeys demanding their dead. mr. forbes tells a story of a female monkey (the semnopithecus entellus) who was shot by a friend of his, and carried to his tent. forty or fifty of her tribe advanced with menacing gestures, but stood still when the gentleman presented his gun at them. one, however, who appeared to be the chief of the tribe, came forward, chattering and threatening in a furious manner. nothing short of firing at him seemed likely to drive him away; but at length he approached the tent door with every sign of grief and supplication, as if he were begging for the body. it was given to him, he took it in his arms, carried it away, with actions expressive of affection, to his companions, and with them disappeared. it was not to be wondered at that the sportsman vowed never to shoot another monkey. bara. mr. howel, in his descriptive travels through sicily, gives a particular account of the magnificent manner in which the festival of the assumption of the virgin is kept by the sicilians under the title of bara, which, although expressive of the machine he describes, is also, it appears, generally applied as a name of the feast itself. an immense machine of about feet high is constructed, designing to represent heaven; and in the midst is placed a young female personating the virgin, with an image of jesus on her right hand; round the virgin little children turn vertically, representing so many seraphim, and below them more children turn horizontally, as cherubim; lower down in the machine a sun turns vertically, with a child at the extremity of each of the four principal radii of his circle, who ascend and descend with his rotation, yet always in an erect posture; and still lower, reaching within about feet of the ground, are placed boys, who turn horizontally without intermission around the principal figure, designing thereby to exhibit the apostles, who were collected from all corners of the earth, to be present at the decease of the virgin, and witness her miraculous assumption. this huge machine is drawn about the principal streets by sturdy monks; and it is regarded as a particular favour to any family to admit their children in this divine exhibition. cradle of henry v. most of our readers have probably seen, in the illustrated newspapers of the day, sketches of the magnificently artistic cradles which have been made for the children of our good queen, or for the prince imperial of france. it will be not a little curious to contrast with those elaborately beautiful articles the cradle of a prince of wales in the fourteenth century. we here give a sketch of it. [illustration [++] cradle of henry v.] it was made for the use of henry prince of wales, afterwards king henry v, generally called henry of monmouth, because he was born in the castle there in the year . he was the son of henry iv of bolingbroke, by his first wife mary de bohun. he was educated at queen's college, oxford, under the superintendence of his half uncle, the great cardinal henry beaufort. on the accession of his father to the throne, he was created prince of wales, and, at the early age of sixteen, was present at the battle of shrewsbury, where he was badly wounded in the face. after having greatly distinguished himself in the war against owen glendour, he spent some years idleness and dissipation, but on his coming to the throne, by the death of his father, april , , he threw off his former habits and associates, chose his ministers from among those of tried integrity and wisdom in his father's cause, and seemed everywhere intent on justice, on victory over himself, and on the good of his subjects. after a short but glorious reign of ten years, in which the victory of agincourt was the principal event, he expired at the bois de vincennes, near paris, on the last day of august, , in the thirty-fourth year of his age. he was engaged at the time in a war with the dauphin of france. his heart was warm as his head was cool, and his courage equal to his wisdom, which emboldened him to encounter the greatest dangers, and surmount the greatest difficulties his virtues were not inferior to his abilities, being a dutiful son, a fond parent, an affectionate brother, a steady and generous friend, and an indulgent master. in a word, henry v., though not without his failings, merits the character of an amiable and accomplished man, and a great and good king. such was the sovereign, for whose infant years the plain, but still not tasteless, cradle was made, which we have here engraved, as it is preserved in the castle of monmouth, his birthplace. the font at kilcarn. the venerable old church at kilcarn, near navan, in the county of meath, contains a font of great rarity, and we have selected it as a fitting object for our work, inasmuch as it is a striking instance of the union of the beautiful with the curious. [illustration [++] font at kilcarn.] placed upon its shaft, as represented in the cut, it measures in height about three feet six inches; the basin is two feet ten inches in diameter, and thirteen inches deep. the heads of the niches, twelve in number, with which its sides are carved, are enriched with foliage of a graceful but uniform character, and the miniature buttresses which separate the niches are decorated with crockets, the bases resting upon heads, grotesque animals, or human figures, carved as brackets. the figures within the niches are executed with a wonderful degree of care, the drapery being represented with each minute crease or fold well expressed. they are evidently intended to represent christ, the virgin mary, and the twelve apostles. all the figures are seated. our saviour, crowned as a king, and holding in his hand the globe and cross, is in the act of blessing the virgin, who also is crowned, the "queen of heaven." the figures of most of the apostles can easily be identified: saint peter by his key; saint andrew by his cross of peculiar shape; and so on. they are represented barefooted, and each holds a book in one hand. the blood-sucking vampire. captain stedman, who travelled in guiana, from to , published an account of his adventures, and for several years afterwards it was the fashion to doubt the truth of his statements. in fact, it was a general feeling, up to a much later period than the above, that travellers were not to be believed. as our knowledge, however, has increased, and the works of god have been made more manifest, the reputation of many a calumniated traveller has been restored, and, among others, that of captain stedman. we shall, therefore, unhesitatingly quote his account of the bite of the vampire:--"on waking, about four o'clock this morning, in my hammock, i was extremely alarmed at finding myself weltering in congealed blood, and without feeling any pain whatever. having started up and run to the surgeon, with a firebrand in one hand, and all over besmeared with gore, the mystery was found to be, that i had been bitten by the vampire or spectre of guiana, which is also called the flying dog of new spain. this is no other than a bat of monstrous size, that sucks the blood from men and cattle, sometimes even till they die; knowing, by instinct, that the person they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, while the creature continues fanning with his enormous wings, which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small indeed, that the head, of a pin could scarcely be received into the wound, which is consequently not painful; yet, through this orifice he contrives to suck the blood until he is obliged to disgorge. he then begins again, and thus continues mucking and disgorging till he is scarcely able to fly, and the sufferer has often been known to sleep from time into eternity. cattle they generally bite in the ear, but always in those places where the blood flows spontaneously. having applied tobacco-ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from myself and my hammock, i observed several small heaps of congealed blood all around the place where i had lain upon the ground; upon examining which, the surgeon judged that i had lost at least twelve or fourteen ounces during the night. having measured this creature (one of the bats), i found it to be, between the tips of the wings, thirty-two inches and a-half; the colour was a dark brown, nearly black, but lighter underneath." luxury in . the luxury of the present times does not equal, in one article at least, that of the sixteenth century. sir nicholas throckmorton, the queen's ambassador at paris, in a letter to sir thomas chaloner, the ambassador at madrid, in june, , says, "i pray you good my lord ambassador sende me two paire of parfumed gloves, parfumed with orrange flowers and jacemin, th'one for my wives hand, the other for mine owne; and wherin soever i can pleasure you with any thing in this countrey, you shall have it in recompence thereof, or els so moche money as they shall coste you; provided alwaies that they be of the best choise, wherein your judgment is inferior to none." singular phenomenon--phosphorescence of the sea. the sea has sometimes a luminous appearance, a phenomenon that has been observed by all sailors, who consider it the forerunner of windy weather. it is said to occur most frequently in the summer and autumn months, and varies so much in its character, as to induce a doubt whether it can always be attributed to the same cause. sometimes the luminous appearance is seen over the whole surface of the water, and the vessel seems as though floating upon an ocean of light. at other times, the phosphorescence is only seen immediately around the ship. a portion of water taken from the sea does not necessarily retain its luminous appearance, but its brilliance will generally continue as long as the water is kept in a state of agitation. some naturalists imagine the phosphorescence of the sea to arise from the diffusion of an immense number of animalculæ through the medium, and others attribute it to electricity. dr. buchanan has given an account of a very remarkable appearance of the sea, observed by him during a voyage from johanna to bombay. about eight o'clock in the evening of the st of july, , the sea had a milk-white colour, and upon it were floating a multitude of luminous bodies greatly resembling that combination of stars known as the milky way, the brightest of them representing the larger stars of a constellation. the whiteness, he says, was such as to prevent those on board from seeing either the break or swell of the sea, although, from the motion of the ship and the noise, they knew them to be violent, and the light was sufficiently intense to illuminate the ropes and rigging. this singular phenomenon continued till daylight appeared. several buckets of water were drawn, and in them were found a great number of luminous bodies, from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half in length, and these were seen to move about as worms in the water. there might be, he said to dr. buchanan, four hundred of these animals in a gallon of water. a similar appearance had been observed before in the same sea by several of the officers, and the gunner had seen it off java head, in a voyage to china. marriage vow. the matrimonial ceremony, like many others, has undergone some variation in the progress of time. upwards of three centuries ago, the husband, on taking his wife, as now, by the right hand, thus addressed her:--"i. n. _undersygne_ the n. for my wedded wyfe, for better, for worse, for richer, for porer, yn sickness, and in helthe, tyl dethe us departe, (not "do part," as we have erroneously rendered it, the ancient meaning of "departe," even in wickliffe's time, being "separate") as holy churche hath ordeyned, and thereto i plygth the my trowthe." the wife replies in the same form, with an additional clause, "to be buxom to the, tyl dethe us departe." so it appears in the first edition of the "missals for the use of the famous and celebrated church of hereford, ," fol. in what is called the "salisbury missal," the lady pronounced a more general obedience: "to be bonere and buxom in bedde and at the borde." love of gardens. louis xviii., on his restoration to france, made, in the park in versailles, the _facsimile_ of the garden at hartwell; and there was no more amiable trait in the life of that accomplished prince. napoleon used to say that he should know his father's garden in corsica blindfolded, by the smell of the earth! and the hanging-gardens of babylon are said to have been raised by the median queen of nebuchadnezzar on the flat and naked plains of her adopted country, to remind her of the hills and woods of her childhood. we need not speak of the plane-trees of plato--shakspeare's mulberry-tree--pope's willow--byron's elm? why describe cicero at his tusculum--evelyn at wotton--pitt at ham common--walpole at houghton--grenville at dropmere? why dwell on bacon's "little tufts of thyme," or fox's geraniums? there is a spirit in the garden as well as in the wood, and the "lilies of the field" supply food for the imagination as well as materials for sermons. ancient danish shield. [illustration [++] ancient danish shield.] in asia, from whence the greater number, probably all, of the european nations have migrated, numerous implements and weapons of copper have been discovered in a particular class of graves; nay, in some of the old and long-abandoned mines in that country workmen's tools have been discovered, made of copper, and of very remote antiquity. we see, moreover, how at a later period attempts were made to harden copper, and to make it better suited for cutting implements by a slight intermixture, and principally of tin. hence arose that mixed metal to which the name of "bronze" has been given. of this metal, then, the northmen of "the bronze period" formed their armour, and among numerous other articles, three shields have been discovered which are made wholly of bronze; and we here give a sketch of the smallest of them, which is about nineteen inches in diameter, the other two being twenty-four. these shields are formed of somewhat thin plates of bronze, the edge being turned over a thick wire metal to prevent the sword penetrating too deeply. the handle is formed of a cross-bar, placed at the reverse side of the centre boss, which is hollowed out for the purpose of admitting the hand. sacred gardens. the origin of sacred gardens among the heathen nations may be traced up to the garden of eden. the gardens of the hesperides, of adonis, of flora, were famous among the greeks and romans. "the garden of flora," says mr. spence (polymetis, p. ), "i take to have been the paradise in the roman mythology. the traditions and traces of paradise among the ancients must be expected to have grown fainter and fainter in every transfusion from one people to another. the romans probably derived their notions of it from the greeks, among whom this idea seems to have been shadowed out under the stories of the gardens of alcinous. in africa they had the gardens of the hesperides, and in the east those of adonis, or the _horti adonis_, as pliny calls them. the term _horti adonides_ was used by the ancients to signify gardens of pleasure, which answers to the very name of paradise, or the garden of eden, as _horti adonis_ does to the garden of the lord." ancient chair of dagobert. [illustration [++] chair of dagobert.] the chair which we here engrave claims to be regarded as a great curiosity, on two separate grounds: it is the work of an artist who was afterwards canonized, and it was used by napoleon i. on a most important occasion. towards the close of the sixth century the artists of france were highly successful in goldsmith's work, and limoges appears to have been the principal centre of this industry. it was at this time that abbon flourished--a goldsmith and mint-master, with whom was placed the young eloy, who rose from a simple artizan to be the most remarkable man of his century, and whose virtues were rewarded by canonization. the apprentice soon excelled his master, and his fame caused him to be summoned to the throne of clotaire ii., for whom he made two thrones of gold, enriched with precious stones, from a model made by the king himself, who had not been able to find workmen sufficiently skilful to execute it. the talents and probity of st. eloy also gained him the affection of dagobert i., who entrusted him with many important works, and among them, with the construction of the throne, or chair of state which is the subject of this article. it is made of bronze, carved and gilded, and is a beautiful specimen of workmanship. the occupant of the chair would sit upon a cloth of gold suspended from the two side bars. for a long time it was preserved in the sacristy of the royal church of st. denis, at paris; but it was subsequently removed to the great library, where it now is. it was upon this chair that napoleon i., in august, , distributed the crosses of the legion of honour to the soldiers of the army assembled at boulogne for the invasion of england. napoleon caused the chair to be brought from paris for the express purpose. st george's cavern. near the town of moldavia, on the danube, is shown the cavern where st. george slew the dragon, from which, at certain periods, issue myriads of small flies, which tradition reports to proceed from the carcass of the dragon. they respect neither man nor beast, and are so destructive that oxen and horses have been killed by them. they are called the golubacz's fly. it is thought when the danube rises, as it does in the early part of the summer, the caverns are flooded, and the water remaining in them, and becoming putrid, produces this noxious fly. but this supposition appears to be worthless, because, some years ago, the natives closed up the caverns, and still they were annoyed with the flies. they nearly resemble mosquitoes. in summer they appear in such swarms as to look like a volume of smoke; and they sometimes cover a space of six or seven miles. covered with these insects, horses not unfrequently gallop about until death puts an end to their sufferings. shepherds anoint their hands with a decoction of wormwood, and keep large fires burning to protect themselves from them. upon any material change in the weather the whole swarm is destroyed thereby. english letter by voltaire. the subjoined letter is copied literally from the autograph of voltaire, formerly in the possession of the rev. mr. sim, the editor of mickle's poems:-- "sir, "j wish you good health, a quick sale of y{r} burgundy, much latin, and greeke to one of y{r} children, much law, much of cooke, and littleton, to the other. quiet and joy to mistress brinsden, money to all. when you'll drink y{r} burgundy with m{r} furneze pray tell him j'll never forget his favours. but dear john be so kind as to let me know how does my lady bollingbroke. as to my lord j left him so well j dont doubt he is so still. but j am very uneasie about my lady. if she might have as much health as she has spirit and witt, sure she would be the strongest body in england. pray dear s{r} write me something of her, of my lord, and of you. direct y{r} letter by the penny post at m{r} cavalier, belitery square by the r. exchange. j am sincerely and heartily y{r} most humble most obedient rambling friend "voltaire. "to "john brinsden, esq. "durham's yard "by charing cross." the golden chalice of iona. a chalice, as used in sacred ceremonies, is figured on various early scottish ecclesiastical seals, as well as on sepulchral slabs and other medieval sculptures. but an original scottish chalice, a relic of the venerable abbey of st. columba, presented, till a very few years since, an older example of the sacred vessels of the altar than is indicated in any existing memorial of the medieval church. the later history of this venerable relic is replete with interest. it was of fine gold, of a very simple form, and ornamented in a style that gave evidence of its belonging to a very early period. it was transferred from the possession of sir lauchlan maclean to the glengarry family, in the time of Æneas, afterwards created by charles ii. lord macdonell and arross, under the circumstances narrated in the following letter from a cousin of the celebrated marshal macdonald, duke of tarentum, and communicated by a clergyman (rev. Æneas m'donell dawson), who obtained it from the family of the gentleman to whom it was originally addressed:-- "the following anecdote i heard from the late bishop, john chisholm, and from mr. john m'eachan, uncle to the duke of tarentum, who died at my house at irin moidart, aged upwards of one hundred years:-- "maclean of duart, expecting an invasion of his lands in mull, by his powerful neighbour the earl of argyll, applied to glengarry for assistance. Æneas of glengarry marched at the head of five hundred men to ardtornish, nearly opposite to duart castle, and crossing with a few of his officers to arrange the passage of the men across the sound of mull, maclean, rejoicing at the arrival of such a friend, offered some choice wine in a golden chalice, part of the plunder of iona. glengarry was struck with horror, and said, folding his handkerchief about the chalice, 'maclean, i came here to defend you against mortal enemies, but since, by sacrilege and profanation, you have made god your enemy, no human means can serve you.' glengarry returned to his men, and maclean sent the chalice and some other pieces of plate belonging to the service of the altar, with a deputation of his friends, to persuade him to join him; but he marched home. his example was followed by several other chiefs, and poor maclean was left to compete, single-handed, with his powerful enemy." such was the last historical incident connected with the golden chalice of iona, perhaps, without exception, the most interesting ecclesiastical relic which scotland possessed. unfortunately its later history only finds a parallel in that of the celebrated danish golden horns. it was preserved in the charter-chest of glengarry, until it was presented by the late chief to bishop ronald m'donald, on whose demise it came into the possession of his successor, dr. scott, bishop of glasgow. only a few years since the sacristy of st. mary's roman catholic church in that city, where it was preserved was broken into, and before the police could obtain a clue to the depredators, the golden relic of iona was no longer a chalice. thus perished, by the hands of a common felon, a memorial of the spot consecrated by the labours of some of the earliest christian missionaries to the pagan caledonians, and which had probably survived the vicissitudes of upwards of ten centuries. in reply to inquiries made as to the existence of any drawing of the chalice, or even the possibility of a trustworthy sketch being executed from memory, a gentleman in glasgow writes:--"i have no means of getting even a sketch from which to make a drawing. were i a good hand myself, i could easily furnish one, having often examined it. it was a chalice that no one could look on without being convinced of its very great antiquity. the workmanship was rude, the ornamental drawings or engravings even more hard than medieval ones in their outlines, and the cup bore marks of the original hammering which had beaten it into shape." new mode of revenge. monkeys in india are more or less objects of superstitious reverence, and are, consequently, seldom or ever destroyed. in some places they are even fed, encouraged, and allowed to live on the roofs of the houses. if a man wish to revenge himself for any injury committed upon him, he has only to sprinkle some rice or corn upon the top of his enemy's house, or granary, just before the rains set in, and the monkeys will assemble upon it, eat all they can find outside, and then pull off the tiles to get at that which falls through the crevices. this, of course, gives access to the torrents which fall in such countries, and house, furniture, and stores are all ruined. curious superstition. the ring of which we here give a sketch has been selected by us as a subject for engraving and comment, because it embodies a curious superstition which was very prevalent in england in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. [illustration [++] fifteenth century ring.] the setting is of silver, and the jewel which it carries is called a toadstone. this stone was popularly believed to be formed in the heads of very old toads, and it was eagerly coveted by sovereigns, and by all persons in high office, because it was supposed to have the power of indicating to the person who wore it the proximity of poison, by perspiring and changing colour. fenton, who wrote in , says--"there is to be found in the heads of old and great toads a stone they call borax or stelon;" and he adds--"they, being used as rings, give forewarning against venom." their composition is not actually known; by some they are thought to be a stone--by others, a shell; but of whatever they may be formed, there is to be seen in them, as may be noticed in the engraving, a figure resembling that of a toad, but whether produced accidentally or by artificial means is not known, though, according to albertus magnus, the stone always bore the figure on its surface, at the time it was taken out of the toad's head. lupton, in his " notable things," says--"a toadstone, called crepaudina, touching any part envenomed, hurt, or stung with rat, spider, wasp, or any other venomous beast, ceases the pain or swelling thereof." the well known lines in shakespeare are doubtless in allusion to the virtue which lupton says it possesses:-- "sweet are the uses of adversity; which like a toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head." ben jonson also in the _fox_, has,-- "were you enamoured on his copper rings, his saffron jewel, with the loadstone in't?" and lyly, in his _euphues_-- "the foule toad hath a faire stone in his head." the ring we have engraved is a work of the fifteenth century; it forms one of the many rare curiosities of the londesborough collection, and is considered to be a very perfect specimen. ancient armlet. in may, , some workmen were employed at everdale, near preston, in carrying earth to replace the soil which had been washed away from behind a wall formerly built to protect the banks of the river ribble. in digging for this purpose, they discovered, at a distance of about forty yards from the banks, a great number of articles, consisting of ingots of silver, a few ornaments, some silver armlets, and a large quantity of coins. an attentive examination of all these, and especially of the coins, leads to the conclusion that this mass of treasure was deposited about the year , and the articles must be considered such as were worn at the time of king alfred, or perhaps somewhat earlier. [illustration [++] ancient armlet.] the armlets, which were all of silver, vary in breadth from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a quarter, and perhaps more. they are generally ornamented, and almost all the ornaments are produced by punching with tools of various forms. the patterns are numerous, but the forms of the punches are very few, the variations being produced by combining the forms of more punches than one, or by placing the same or differently-formed punches at a greater or less distance from each other, or by varying their direction. in the specimen which we have here engraved the punch has had a small square end, and the ornament is formed by a series of blows in transverse or oblique lines. patterns of the period and localities to which these ornaments belong are scarcely ever found finished by casting or chasing. it would appear, also that the use of solder to unite the various parts of objects was either little known or little practised; for the ends of these ornaments are tied together, and, upon other occasions where union is necessary, rivets are employed. chinese mirrors. there is a puzzling property in many of the chinese mirrors which deserves particular notice, and we may give it, together with the solution furnished by sir david brewster:--"the mirror has a knob in the centre of the back, by which it can be held, and on the rest of the back are stamped in relief certain circles with a kind of grecian border. its polished surface has that degree of convexity which gives an image of the face half its natural size; and its remarkable property is, that, when you reflect the rays of the sun from the polished surface, the image of the ornamental border and circles stamped upon the back, is seen distinctly reflected on the wall," or on a sheet of paper. the metal of which the mirror is made appears to be what is called chinese silver, a composition of tin and copper, like the metal for the specula of reflecting telescopes. the metal is very sonorous. the mirror has a rim (at the back) of about - th or - th of an inch broad, and the inner part, upon which the figures are stamped, is considerably thinner. "like all other conjurors (says sir david brewster), the artist has contrived to make the observer deceive himself. the stamped figures on the back are used for this purpose. the spectrum in the luminous area _is not an image of the figures on the back_. the figures are a copy of the picture which the artist has _drawn on the face of the mirror_, and so concealed by polishing, that it is invisible in ordinary lights, and can be brought out only in the sun's rays. let it be required, for example, to produce the dragon as exhibited by one of the chinese mirrors. when the surface of the mirror is ready for polishing, the figure of the dragon may be delineated upon it in extremely shallow lines, or it may be eaten out by an acid much diluted, so as to remove the smallest possible portion of the metal. the surface must then be highly polished, not upon pitch, like glass and specula, because this would polish away the figure, but upon cloth, in the way that lenses are sometimes polished. in this way the sunk part of the shallow lines will be as highly polished as the rest, and the figure will only be visible in very strong lights, by reflecting the sun's rays from the metallic surface." the cadenham oak. amongst the many remarkable trees in the new forest in hampshire, is one called the cadenham oak, which buds every year in the depth of winter. gilpin says, "having often heard of this oak, i took a ride to see it on the th of december, . it was pointed out to me among several other oaks, surrounded by a little forest stream, winding round a knoll on which they stood. it is a tall straight plant, of no great age, and apparently vigorous, except that its top has been injured, from which several branches issue in the form of pollard shoots. it was entirely bare of leaves, as far as i could discern, when i saw it, and undistinguishable from the other oaks in its neighbourhood, except that its bark seemed rather smoother, occasioned, i apprehended, only by frequent climbing. having had the account of its early budding confirmed on the spot, i engaged one michael lawrence, who kept the white hart, a small alehouse in the neighbourhood, to send me some of the leaves to vicar's hill, as soon as they should appear. the man, who had not the least doubt about the matter, kept his word, and sent me several twigs on the morning of the th of january, , a few hours after they had been gathered. the leaves were fairly expanded, and about an inch in length. from some of the buds two leaves had unsheathed themselves, but in general only one. one of its progeny, which grew in the gardens at bulstrode, had its flower buds perfectly formed so early as the st of december, . "this early spring, however, of the cadenham oak, is of very short duration. the buds, after unfolding themselves, make no further progress, but immediately shrink from the season and die. the tree continues torpid, like other deciduous trees, during the remainder of the winter, and vegetates again in the spring, at the usual season. i have seen it in full leaf in the middle of the summer, when it appeared, both in its form and foliage, exactly like other oaks." dean wren, speaking of this tree, says, "king james could not be induced to believe the [greek: to toi] (_reason_) of this, till bishop andrewes, in whose diocese the tree grew, caused one of his own chaplaines, a man of known integritye, to give a true information of itt, which he did; for upon the eve of the nativitye he gathered about a hundred slips, with the leaves newly opened, which he stuck in claye in the bottom of long white boxes, and soe sent them post to the courte, where they deservedly raised not only admiration, but stopt the mouth of infidelitye and contradiction for ever. of this i was both an eye-witness, and did distribute many of them to the great persons of both sexes in court and others, ecclesiastical persons. but in these last troublesome times a divelish fellow (of herostratus humour) having hewen itt round at the roote, made his last stroke on his own legg, whereof he died, together with the old wondrous tree; which now sproutes up againe, and may renew his oakye age againe, iff some such envious chance doe not hinder or prevent itt; from which the example of the former villaine may perchance deterr the attempt. this i thought to testifie to all future times, and therefore subscribe with the same hand through which those little oakye slips past." school expenses in the olden time. of the expenses incurred for schoolboys at eton early in the reign of elizabeth, we find some curious particulars in a manuscript of the time: the boys were sons of sir william cavendish, of chatsworth, and the entries are worth notice, as showing the manners of those days. among the items, a breast of roast mutton is charged ten-pence; a small chicken, fourpence; a week's board, five shillings each; besides the wood burned in their chamber; to an old woman for sweeping and cleaning the chamber, twopence; mending a shoe, one penny; three candles, nine-pence; a book, esop's fables, fourpence; two pair of shoes, sixteen-pence; two bunches of wax lights, one penny; the sum total of the payments, including board paid to the bursars of eton college, living expenses for the two boys and their man, clothes, books, washing, &c., amounts to twelve pounds twelve shillings and seven-pence. the expense of a scholar at the university in was but five pounds annually, affording as much accommodation as would cost sixty pounds, though the accommodation would be far short of that now customary at eton. an eventful life. it is much to be feared that on the field of battle and naval actions many individuals, apparently dead, are buried or thrown overboard. the history of françois de civille, a french captain, who was missing at the siege of rouen, is rather curious. at the storming of the town he was supposed to have been killed, and was thrown, with other bodies, in the ditch, where he remained from eleven in the morning to half-past six in the evening; when his servant, observing some latent heat, carried the body into the house. for five days and five nights his master did not exhibit the slightest sign of life, although the body gradually recovered its warmth. at the expiration of this time, the town was carried by assault, and the servants of an officer belonging to the besiegers, having found the supposed corpse of civille, threw it out of the window, with no other covering than his shirt. fortunately for the captain, he had fallen upon a dunghill, where he remained senseless for three days longer, when his body was taken up by his relatives for sepulture, and ultimately brought to life. what was still more strange, civille, like macduff, had "been from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd," having been brought into the world by a cæsarean operation, which his mother did not survive; and after his last wonderful escape he used to sign his name with the addition of "three times born, three times buried, and three times risen from the dead by the grace of god." first bridge over the thames. [illustration [++] first bridge over the thames.] the humble village bridge which we here engrave is well deserving of a place in our pages as being the first of that grand series of bridges whose last member is london-bridge. what a contrast between the first bridge over the thames and the last! thames head, where the river rises, is in the county of gloucester, but so near to its southern border, that the stream, after meandering a mile or two, enters wiltshire, near the village of kemble. on leaving this village, and proceeding on the main road towards the rustic hamlet of ewen, the traveller passes over the bridge which forms the subject of our woodcut. it has no parapet, and is level with the road, the water running through three narrow arches. such is the first bridge over the mighty thames. the venetians. the venetians were the first people in italy who had printed books. they originated a gazette in the year , and the example was followed at oxford in , and at vienna in . they also undertook the discovery of america, and the passage to india by the cape of good hope. medmenham abbey. on descending the river thames, from henley, after passing culham court and hambledon lock, the adjacent country become exceedingly beautiful, varied by alternate mills, islands, meadows, and hills, with every now and then ornamental forest trees hanging over the stream, and giving pleasant shade to the current on its downward flow. the wood of medmenham soon comes in sight; the ruined abbey is seen among the trees, and close beside it is a pretty ferry, with the pleasant wayside inn of mrs. bitmead--a domicile well known to artists, her frequent guests, one of whom, who has since become famous, painted a sign-board which hangs over the door, and is of so good a quality that it might grace the exhibition of the royal academy. the abbey has been pictured a hundred times, and is a capital subject seen from any point of view; the river runs close beside it; there is a hill adjacent--dane's hill; dark woods and green meadows are at hand; gay boats and traffic barges are continually passing; the ferry is always picturesque, and the artist is constantly supplied on the spot with themes for pictures; especially he has before him the venerable ruin--"venerable," at least, as far as the eye is concerned. time has touched it leniently; some of its best "bits" are as they were a century ago, except that the lichens have given to them that rich clothing of grey and gold which the painter ever loves, and added to it, here and there, a green drapery of ivy. [illustration [++] manor of medmenham.] the manor of medmenham was, in the reign of king stephen, given by its lord, walter de bolebec, to the abbey of cistercian monks he had founded at woburn in bedfordshire; and in the monks placed some of their society here, on this pleasant bank of the thames. here arose a small monastery, being rather--as the writers of the order express themselves--"a daughter than a cell to woburn." in it was annexed to bisham. at the dissolution, according to returns made by the commissioners, "the clear value of this religious house was _l._ s.; it had two monks designing to go to houses of religion; servants, none; woods, none; debts, none; its bells worth _l._ s. d.; the value of its moveable goods _l._ s. d.; and the house wholly in ruin." it must have undergone considerable repair early in the sixteenth century, and probably very little of the original structure now exists, although relics of antiquity may be traced in many of its remains. that portion which fronts the thames is kept in proper repair, and a large room is used for the convenience of pleasure parties. the property belongs to the scots of danesfield, a mansion that crowns a neighbouring hill. medmenham derives notoriety from events of more recent date than the occupation of its monks, without goods and without debt. here, about the middle of the last century, was established, a society of men of wit and fashion, who assumed the title of the monks of st. francis, and wore the habit of the franciscan order. although it is said that the statements contained in a now forgotten but once popular novel--"chrysal; or the adventures of a guinea,"--were exaggerated, the character which the assumed monks bore in the open world was sufficiently notorious to justify the worst suspicions of their acts in this comparative solitude. their principal members were sir francis dashwood (afterwards lord le despencer), the earl of sandwich, john wilks, bubb doddington, churchill, and paul whitehead, the poet. the motto--"fay ce que voudras," indicative of the principle on which the society was founded--still remains over the doorway of the abbey house. tradition yet preserves some anecdotes illustrative of the habits of the "order," and there can be little doubt that this now lonely and quiet spot was the scene of orgies that were infamous. persecution. grotius, an historian celebrated for moderation and caution, has computed that in the several persecutions promoted by charles v., no less than a hundred thousand persons perished by the hands of the executioner. in the netherlands alone, from the time that his edict against the reformers was promulgated, he states that there had been fifty thousand persons hanged, beheaded, buried alive, or burned, on account of their religion. indeed, during the reign of philip the second, the duke of alva boasted that in the space of nine years he had destroyed, in the low countries, , persons by the hands of the executioner alone. at the massacre of paris, on the feast of st. bartholomew, king charles the ninth of france assisted in person, and boasted that he had sacrificed in one night , of his subjects; for that massacre the pope had "te deum" sung in the chapel of the vatican and issued a bull for a jubilee to be celebrated throughout france on the th december, , in commemoration of what he termed the _happy success of the king against his heretic subjects_, and concluded by writing with his own hand a letter to charles the ninth, exhorting him to pursue this salutary and blessed enterprise. in the short reign of queen mary, there were in this realm burned at the stake one archbishop, four bishops, twenty-one ministers, and nearly three hundred persons of all classes, of whom fifty-five were women, and four were children, one of whom sprang from its mother's womb while she was consuming, and was flung into the flames by the spectators. in the same spirit of papal bigotry occasioned in ireland the butchery of , protestants, under circumstances of aggravated atrocity which a christian will shudder to peruse. lewis xiv., the most christian king and eldest son of the church, starved a million huguenots at home, and sent another million grazing in foreign countries. innkeeper's bill in . the following innkeeper's bill was sent in to the duke de nivernois, who supped and breakfasted at an inn in canterbury, in ; and considering the value of money at that time, must be deemed extremely moderate:-- £ s. d. tea, coffee, and chocolate supper for self and servant bread and beer fruit wine and punch wax candles and charcoal broken glass and china lodging tea, coffee, and chocolate chaise and horse, for next stage there were only twelve persons in the whole company. spontaneous combustion. joseph battaglia, a surgeon of ponte bosio, relates the following case: don. g. maria bertholi, a priest of mount valerius, went to the fair of filetto, and afterwards visited a relation in fenilo, where he intended to pass the night. before retiring to rest, he was left reading his breviary; when, shortly afterwards, the family were alarmed by his loud cries and a strange noise in his chamber. on opening the door, he was lying prostrate on the floor, and surrounded by flickering flames. battaglia was immediately sent for, and on his arrival the unfortunate man was found in a most deplorable state. the integuments of the arms and the back were either consumed or detached in hanging flaps. the sufferer was sufficiently sensible to give an account of himself. he said that he felt, all of a sudden, as if his arm had received a violent blow from a club, and at the same time he saw scintillations of fire rising from his shirt-sleeves, which were consumed without having burned the wrists; a handkerchief, which he had tied round his shoulders, between the shirt and the skin, was intact. his drawers were also sound; but, strange to say, his silk skull-cap was burnt while his hair bore no marks of combustion. the unfortunate man only survived the event four days. the circumstances which attended this case would seem to warrant the conclusion that the electric fluid was the chief agent in the combustion. shooting fish. [illustration: horned chætodon.] our shores have produced a few specimens of a richly-coloured fish called ray's sea bream (_brama rayi_), interesting because it represents a family, almost confined to the tropical seas, of very singular forms and habits. the family is named _chætodontidæ_, from the principal genus in it. they are very high perpendicularly, but thin and flattened sidewise; the mouth in some projects into a sort of snout, the fins are frequently much elevated, and send off long filaments. they are generally adorned with highly-contrasted colours, which run in perpendicular bands. they are often called scaly-finned fishes, because the dorsal and anal are clothed, at least in part, with scales, so as not to be distinguished from the body. the tubular snout of some, as of a little species which we here represent, is applied to an extraordinary use, that of shooting flies! the fish approaches under a fly which it has discovered, resting on a leaf or twig, a few feet above the water, taking care not to alarm it by too sudden a motion; then, projecting the tip of its beak from the surface, it shoots a single drop at the insect with so clever an aim, as very rarely to miss it, when it falls into the water and is devoured. being common in the indian seas, it is often kept by the chinese in vases, as we keep golden-fish, for the amusement of witnessing this feat. a fly is fastened at some distance, at which the fish shoots, but, disappointed of course, and wondering that its prey does not fall, it goes on to repeat the discharge for many times in succession, without seeming to take in a fresh stock of ammunition, and scarcely ever missing the mark, though at a distance of three or four feet. extraordinary earthquakes. around the papandayang, one of the loftiest mountains in java, no less than forty villages were reposing in peace. but in august , a remarkable luminous cloud enveloping its top aroused them from their security. but it was too late; for at once the mountain began to sink into the earth, and soon it had disappeared, with the forty villages and most of the inhabitants, over a space fifteen miles long and six broad. still more extraordinary, the most remarkable on record was an eruption in sumbawa, one of the molucca islands, in . it began on the fifth day of april, and did not cease till july. the explosions were heard in one direction nine hundred and seventy miles, and in another seven hundred and twenty miles. so heavy was the fall of ashes at the distance of forty miles that houses were crushed and destroyed. the floating cinders in the ocean, hundreds of miles distant, were two feet thick, and vessels were forced through with difficulty. the darkness in java, three hundred miles distant, was deeper than the blackest night; and, finally, out of the twelve thousand inhabitants of the island, only twenty-six survived the catastrophe. beautiful arch. one of the rarities of architecture is the beautiful arch in the choir of cannistown church, not far from bective, near trim, in ireland. down to the very latest period of gothic architecture, the original plan of a simple nave, or nave and chancel, was followed, and the chief or only difference observable in churches of very late date, from those of the sixth and seventh centuries, consists in the form of the arch-heads, the position of the doorway, the style of the masonry, which is usually much better in the more ancient examples, and the use of bell-turrets, the cloigeteach, or detached round tower, having answered this purpose during the earlier ages. a beautiful and highly characteristic example of an early pointed church is that at cannistown. as usual, it consists of a nave and chancel, and there are the remains of a bell-turret upon the west gable, the usual position. the choir arch is represented in the annexed cut. [illustration [++] arch in the choir of cannistown church.] there are numerous examples of churches of this style scattered over ireland, but they are usually plain, and the choir arch is generally the plainest feature in the building. as example, we can refer our readers to the churches of kilbarrack, dalkey, kinsale, and rathmichael, all in the immediate neighbourhood of dublin. thomas conecte. there was a carmelite friar, thomas conecte, who, previous to his being burnt as a heretic at rome, in , excited the admiration of all flanders by his vehement sermons against the luxury of the women. his satire was chiefly levelled against their head-dresses, which rose to so enormous a height, that the most exalted head-dresses of a late day were but dwarfs to them. juvenal des ursins, who lived at that period, declares that, notwithstanding the troubles of the times, the maidens and married ladies rose to prodigious excess in their attire, and wore hair of a surprising height and breadth, having on each side two ears of so unaccountable a size, that it was impossible for them to pass through a door. their dresses were the hennins of flanders, which the worthy carmelite was so inveterate against. he made them dress themselves in a more modest manner. but, alas no sooner had friar thomas left the country than the head-dresses shot up to a greater height than ever. they had only bowed their heads like bullrushes during the storm. poor thomas attacked the infallible church itself, and they, in default of better arguments, burnt him. curious coincidences. on the st of april, , lewis xvi. was married. st of june, , fifteen hundred people were trampled to death at the _fête_. st of january, , _fête_ for the birth of the dauphin. st of june, , the flight to varennes. st of september, , the abolition of royalty. st of january, , the unfortunate monarch's decapitation. amphitheatres. the deficiency of theatres erected by the romans is far more than compensated by the number and splendour of their amphitheatres, which, with their baths, may be considered as the true types of roman art. it seems almost certain that they derived this class of public buildings from the etruscans. at sutri there is a very noble one cut out of the tufa rock, which was no doubt used by that people for festal representations long before rome attempted anything of the kind. it is uncertain whether gladiatorial fights or combats of wild beasts formed any part of the amusements of the arena in those days, though boxing, wrestling, and contests of that description certainly did; but whether the etruscans actually proceeded to the shedding of blood and slaughter is more than doubtful. even in the remotest parts of britain, in germany, and gaul, wherever we find a roman settlement, we find the traces of their amphitheatres. their soldiery, it seems, could not exist without the enjoyment of seeing men engage in doubtful and mortal combats--either killing one another, or torn to pieces by wild beasts. it is not to be wondered at that a people who delighted so much in the bloody scenes of the arena should feel but very little pleasure in the mimic sorrows and tame humour of the stage. it fitted them, it is true, to be a nation of conquerors, and gave them the empire of the world, but it brought with it feelings singularly inimical to all the softer arts, and was perhaps the great cause of their debasement. as might be expected, the largest and most splendid of these buildings is that which adorns the capital; and of all the ruins which rome contains, none have excited such universal admiration as the flavian amphitheatre. poets, painters, rhapsodists, have exhausted all the resources of their arts in the attempt to convey to others the overpowering impression this building produces on their own minds. with the single exception, perhaps, of the hall at karnac, no ruin has met with such universal admiration as this. its association with the ancient mistress of the world, its destruction, and the half-prophetic destiny ascribed to it, all contribute to this. still it must be confessed that "the gladiator's bloody circus stands a noble wreck in ruinous perfection," and worthy of all or nearly all the admiration of which it has been the object. its interior is almost wholly devoid of ornament, or anything that can be called architecture--a vast inverted pyramid. the exterior does not possess one detail which is not open to criticism, and indeed to positive blame. notwithstanding all this, its mass, its form, and its associations, all combine to produce an effect against which the critic struggles in vain. the length of the building, measured along its greatest diameter, is ft., its breadth , or nearly in the ratio of to , which may be taken as the general proportion of these buildings, the variations from it being slight, and apparently either mistakes in setting out the work in ancient times, or in measuring it in modern days, rather than an intentional deviation. the height of the lower stories is ft.; the total height as it now stands, ft. the arena itself measures ft. in length by in breadth, and it is calculated that the building would contain , spectators; , or , would be much nearer the truth, at least according to the data by which space is calculated in our theatres and public places. hundred families' lock. a common chinese talisman is the "hundred families' lock," to procure which a father goes round among his friends, and, having obtained from a hundred different parties a few of the copper coins of the country, he himself adds the balance, to purchase an ornament or appendage fashioned like a lock, which he hangs on his child's neck, for the purpose of locking him figuratively to life, and making the hundred persons concerned in his attaining old age. the duke de reichstadt. at the imperial palace of schönbrun, about five english miles from vienna, is shown the window fractured by the bullet of the enthusiastic student who shot at napoleon while he was reviewing the imperial guard, and also the apartment he occupied when he made this his head-quarters, instead of entering the city. an additional interest is imparted to the place, by the circumstance of the duke de reichstadt having, when taken ill, chosen the identical chamber and spot in which his father napoleon had slept, to close his mortal career: and by a singular coincidence, the remains of the young prince were subjected to a post-mortem examination upon the same table at which the emperor had held his councils. in imitation of the military hardihood of his sire, the young duke was in the habit of exposing himself to all weathers, and keeping guard during successive nights, a practice which often called forth from his surgeon, dr. malfati, the expressive words, '_rappelez vous, mon prince, que vouz avez un coeur de fer dans un corp de verre_.' mary queen of scots' candlestick. almost every article, however trifling its intrinsic value, and however homely its appearance, which once belonged to a celebrated individual, is always regarded as an object of interest, and we have, therefore, no hesitation in presenting our readers with the annexed engraving of one of a pair of candlesticks which were once the property of the unfortunate mary, queen of scots. [illustration [++] mary queen of scots' candlestick.] they are made of brass, each of them of eleven and a-half inches in height. they are of french manufacture; the sunk parts are filled up with an inlay of blue, green, and white enamel, very similar to that done at limoge. these extremely elegant and curious articles are the property of lord holland, and are preserved at holland house, kensington. holland house is associated "with the costly magnificence of rich, with the loves of ormond, the councils of cromwell, and the death of addison." it has been for nearly two centuries and a-half the favourite resort of wits and beauties, of painters and poets, of scholars, philosophers, and statesmen. in the lifetime of the late lord holland, it was the meeting-place of "the whig party;" and his liberal hospitality made it "the resort, not only of the most interesting persons composing english society--literary, philosophical, and political, but also to all belonging to those classes who ever visited this country from abroad." extraordinary instances of inhumanity. in , in the wars of edward iii. with france, fordun relates that a frenchman purchased from the scots several english prisoners, and that he beheaded them to avenge the death of his father. this sentimental cruelty can perhaps be paralleled by that of coccinas, who, at the massacre of paris, bought many huguenots, that he might torture them to death for his private satisfaction. philip galeas visconti, duke of milan, was a man of a nature so timid, that thunder threw him into agonies; yet was he so inhuman, that he could _enjoy the shrieks of a female stretched upon a rack_. wenceslaus, the german emperor, say mezeray, voltaire, and others, _roasted his cook alive_, for dressing his dinner amiss; and never had so intimate a friend in prague as the common executioner; and even _him_ he put to death at last, for not taking him at his word, when he once had bid him cut his head off, and actually knelt down to receive the stroke. ancient roman lamps. the earliest lamps fabricated by the potters of ancient rome have an open circular body, with a curved projecting rim to prevent the oil from spilling, and occur both in terra-cotta, and also in the black glazed ware found in the sepulchres of nola. many have a projecting hollow pipe in the centre, in order to fix them to a stick on the top of a candelabrum. these lamps have no handles. they may have been placed in the sacella or lararia, and were turned on the potter's wheel. the shoe-shaped is the most usual, with a round body, a projecting spout or nozzle having a hole for the wick, and a small annular handle, which is more or less raised. [illustration [++] ancient roman lamp.] a singular variety of lamp, well adapted for a table, was fitted into a kind of small altar, the sides of which were ornamented with reliefs. several however, from their unusual shape, maybe considered as fancy ware, the upper part, or the whole lamp, being moulded into the resemblance of some object. such are lamps in the british museum in the shape of a female head surmounted by a flower, or of the head of a negro or nubian with open jaws, through which the wick was inserted. most of these lamps appear to have been made between the age of augustus and that of constantine. the style, of course best at the earlier period of the empire, degenerates under the later emperors, such as philip and maximus, and becomes at last byzantine and bad. most lamps had only one wick, but the light they afforded must have been feeble, and consequently some have two wicks, the nozzle for which project beyond the body of the lamp. in the same manner were fabricated lamps of three, five, and seven wicks. if more were required the nozzles did not project far beyond the body of the lamp, which was then moulded in a shape adapted for the purpose, and especially the favourite one of a galley. sometimes a conglomeration of small lamps was manufactured in a row, or in a serrated shape, which enabled the purchaser to obtain what light he required; still the amount of illumination must have been feeble. as many as twenty wicks have been found in some lamps. the greater number average from three to four inches long, and one inch high; the walls are about one-eighth of an inch thick, and the circular handles not more than one inch in diameter. some of the larger lamps, however, are about nine inches or a foot long, with handles eight or nine inches high. an eccentric englishman. mr. henry hastings, a most singular character, and genuine sportsman lived in the time of james and charles i. mr. hastings was second son to the earl of huntingdon; and inherited a good estate in dorsetshire from his mother. he was one of the keepers of new forest, hampshire; and resided in the lodge there during a part of every summer season. but his principal residence was at woodlands, in dorsetshire, where he had a capital mansion. one of his nearest neighbours, was the lord chancellor cooper, first earl of shaftesbury. two men could not be more opposite in their disposition and pursuits. they had little communication therefore; and their occasional meetings were rendered more disagreeable to both from their opposite sentiments in politics. lord shaftesbury, who was the younger man, was the survivor; and the following account of mr. hastings is said to have been the production of his pen. "mr. hastings was low of stature, but very strong, and very active; of a ruddy complexion, with flaxen hair. his clothes were always of green cloth. his house was of the old fashion; in the midst of a large park, well stocked with deer, rabbits, and fish-ponds. he had a long narrow bowling-green in it; and used to play with round sand-bowls. here, too, he had a banqueting-room built, like a stand in a large tree. he kept all sorts of hounds, that ran buck, fox, hare, otter, and badger; and had hawks of all kinds, both long and short-winged. his great hall was commonly strewed with marrow-bones; and full of hawk-perches, hounds, spaniels, and terriers. the upper end of it was hung with fox-skins of this and the last year's killing. here and there a pole-cat was intermixed; and hunter's poles in great abundance. the parlour was a large room, completely furnished in the same style. on a broad hearth, paved with bricks, lay some of the choicest terriers, hounds, and spaniels. one or two of the great chairs had litters of cats in them, which were not to be disturbed. of these, three or four always attended him at dinner; and a little white wand lay by his trencher, to defend it, if they were too troublesome. in the windows, which were very large, lay his arrows, cross-bows, and other accoutrements. the corners of the room were filled with his best hunting and hawking poles. his oyster-table stood at the lower end of the room, which was in constant use twice a day, all the year round; for he never failed to eat oysters both at dinner and supper; with which the neighbouring town of poole supplied him. at the upper end of the room stood a small table with a double desk; one side of which held a church bible; the other, the book of martyrs. on different tables of the room lay hawks' hoods; bells, old hats with their crowns thrust in, full of pheasants' eggs, tables, dice, cards, and a store of tobacco pipes. at one end of this room was a door, which opened into a closet, where stood bottles of strong beer and wine, which never came out but in single glasses, which was the rule of the house; for he never exceeded himself, nor permitted others to exceed. answering to this closet was a door into an old chapel, which had been long disused for devotion; but, in the pulpit, as the safest place, was always to be found a cold chine of beef, a venison pasty, a gammon of bacon, or a great apple-pie with thick crust, well baked. his table cost him not much, though it was good to eat at. his sports supplied all but beef and mutton, except on fridays, when he had the best of fish. he never wanted a london pudding; and he always sang it in with, "_my part lies therein-a._" he drank a glass or two of wine at meals; put syrup of gilly-flowers into his sack; and had always a tun-glass of small-beer standing by him, which he often stirred about with rosemary. he lived to be an hundred; and never lost his eyesight, nor used spectacles. he got on horseback without help; and rode to the death of the stag, till he was past fourscore." perfumed banquets of the ancients. a very remarkable peculiarity in the banquets of the ancients was, their not confining the resources of the table to the gratification of one sense alone. having exhausted their invention in the confection of stimulants for the palate, they broke new ground, and called in another sense to their aid; and by the delicate application of odours and richly-distilled perfumes, these refined voluptuaries aroused the fainting appetite, and added a more exquisite and ethereal enjoyment to the grosser pleasures of the board. the gratification of the sense of smelling (a sense held by us in very undeserved neglect, probably on account of its delicacy) was a subject of no little importance to the romans. however this may be, it is certain that the romans considered flowers as forming a very essential article in their festal preparations; and it is the opinion of bassius, that at their desserts the number of flowers far exceeded that of fruits. when nero supped in his golden house, a mingled shower of flowers and odorous essences fell upon him; and one of heliogabalus' recreations was to smother his courtiers with flowers, of whom it may be said, they "died of a rose in aromatic pain." nor was it entirely as an object of luxury that the ancients made use of flowers; they were considered to possess sanative and medicinal qualities. according to pliny, athenæus, and plutarch, certain herbs and flowers were of sovereign power to prevent the approaches of ebriety, or, as bassius less clearly expresses it, clarify the functions of the brain. chinese bridges. of chinese bridges, some have been very much exaggerated in the accounts by du halde and the missionaries, as it appears from the later reports concerning the bridge at foo-chow-foo, visited during the unsuccessful commercial voyage of the ship "amherst," in , and since the war become familiar to our countrymen. this same bridge, which proved a very poor structure after all, had been extolled by the jesuits as something quite extraordinary. a bridge of ninety-one arches, being in fact a very long causeway, was passed by lord macartney between soo-chow and hang-chow, and near the lake called tae-hoo. the highest arch, however, was supposed to be between twenty and thirty feet in height, and the whole length of the causeway half a mile. it was thrown across an arm of the lake, on the eastern side of the canal. the late sir george staunton observed a bridge between peking and tartary, built across a river which was subject to being swelled by mountain floods. this was erected upon caissons of wattles filled with stones. it appeared to have been built with expedition, and at small cost, where the most solid bridge would be endangered by inundations. the caissons were fixed by large perpendicular spars, and over the whole were laid planks, hurdles, and gravel. it was only in keâng-nan that solid bridges were observed to be thrown over the canal, being constructed of coarse grey marble, or of a reddish granite. some of the arches were semicircular, others the transverse section of an ellipse, and others again approached the shape of a horseshoe, or greek [greek: capital omega], the space being widest at top. in the ornamental bridges that adorn gardens and pleasure-grounds, the arch is often of height sufficient to admit a boat under sail, and the bridge is ascended by steps. [illustration [++] chinese bridge.] all the stones of a chinese arch are commonly wedge-shaped, their sides forming radii which converge towards the centre of the curve. it is observable that, according to the opinion of captain parish, who surveyed and made plans of the great wall, no masonry could be superior to it. the arched and vaulted work was considered by him as exceedingly well turned. the chinese, therefore, must have understood the construction and properties of the arch long before the greeks and romans, whose original and most ancient edifices consisted of columns, connected by straight architraves, of bulk sufficient to support the incumbent pressure of solid masonry. sociable weaver-bird. there are some birds whose social instinct impels them to live in company, and to unite their powers in the construction of a common edifice: in this respect resembling the beaver among quadrupeds, and the bee among insects. among these we may mention the ani (_crotophaga ani_) of the west indies; the pensile grosbeak (_loxia pensilis_) of west africa; and the bottle-nested sparrow of india: but more remarkable than any of these is the sociable grosbeak (_loxia socialis_) of south africa, whose habits are described by le vaillant. "figure to yourself," says this enterprising traveller, "a huge, irregular, sloping roof, with all the eaves completely covered with nests, crowded close together, and you will have a tolerably correct idea of these singular edifices." the birds commence this structure by forming the immense canopy of a mass of grass, so compact and firmly basketed together as to be impenetrable to the rain. this sometimes surrounds a large tree, giving it, but for the upper branches, somewhat the form of a mushroom. beneath the eaves of this canopy the nests are formed; the upper surface is not used for this purpose, but as it is sloping, with a projecting rim, it serves to let the rain-water run off, and preserves each little dwelling from the wet. le vaillant procured one of these great shelters, and cut it in pieces with a hatchet: the chief portion consisted of boshman's grass, so compact as to be impenetrable by rain. each nest is three or four inches in diameter, which is sufficient for the bird; but, as they are all close together around the eaves, they appear to the eye to form but one building, and, in fact, are distinguishable from each other only by a little external aperture, which serves as an entrance to the nest. this large nest contained inhabited cells. [illustration: nest of sociable weaver bird.] wolves in england. king edward the first commissioned peter corbet to destroy the wolves in the counties of gloucester, worcester, hereford, salop, and stafford; and ordered john gifford to hunt them in all the forests of england. the forest of chiltern was infested by wolves and wild bulls in the time of edward the confessor. william the conqueror granted the lordship of riddesdale, in northumberland, to robert de umfraville, on condition of defending that part of the country against enemies and wolves. king john gave a premium of ten shillings for catching two wolves. in the reign of king henry the third vitalis de engaine held the manors of laxton and pitchley, in the county of northampton, by the service of hunting the wolf, whenever the king should command him. in the reign of edward the first, it was found by inquisition that john de engaine held the manor of great gidding, in the county of huntingdon, by the service of hunting the hare, fox, wild cat, and wolf, within the counties of huntingdon, northampton, buckingham, oxford, and rutland. in the reign of edward the third, thomas de engaine held certain manors by the service of finding, at his own proper cost, certain dogs for the destruction of wolves, foxes, martins, and wild cats in the counties of northampton, rutland, oxford, essex, and buckingham. temples of brambanam. in the island of java, and not far from the ruins of boro buddor, are situated the buddhist temples of brambanam; certainly one of the most extraordinary groups of buildings of its class, and very unlike anything we now find in india; though there can scarcely be a doubt but that the whole is derived from an indian original now lost. the great temple is a square building above ft. square, and ft. high, terminating upwards in an octagonal straight-lined pyramid. on each face of this is a smaller temple of similar design joined to the great one by corridors; the whole five thus constituting a cruciform building. it is raised upon a richly ornamented square base. one of the smaller temples serves as an entrance-porch. the building itself is very curiously and richly ornamented with sculpture; but the most remarkable feature of the whole group is the multitude of smaller temples which surround the central one, in number. immediately beyond the square terrace which supports the central temple stand of these, forming a square of on each side, counting the angular ones both ways. beyond these, at a distance of ft., is the second square, in number; between this and the next row is a wide space of above ft., in which only temples are situated, two in the centre of the north and south faces, and one on each of the others. the two outer rows of temples are situated close to one another, back to back, and are in number, each face of the square they form being about ft. all these temples are similar to one another, about ft. square at the base, and ft. high, all richly carved and ornamented, and in every one is a small square cell, in which was originally placed a cross-legged figure, probably of one of the jaina saints, though the drawings which have been hitherto published do not enable us to determine whom they represent--the persons who made them not being aware of the distinction between buddhist and jaina images. the date given to these monuments by the natives is about the th or th century, at which time the jains were making great progress at guzerat and the western parts of india; and if the traditions are to be relied upon, which bring the hindu colonists of java from that quarter, it is almost certain that they would have brought that religion with them. if the age, however, that is assigned to them be correct, they are specimens of an earlier date and form than anything we now find in india, and less removed from the old buddhist type than anything that now remains there. graham island. the most recent instance of subaqueous eruption, with which we are acquainted is that which produced hotham or graham island, in the year . this island was thrown up in the mediterranean, between the south-west coast of sicily and the african coast, in latitude ° ' " north, and longitude ° ' " east. the eruption seems to have been first observed by john corrao, the captain of a sicilian vessel, who passing near to the spot on the th of july, observed an immense column of water ejected from the sea to the height of sixty feet, and about eight hundred yards in circumference. on the th of july, corrao again passed the same spot, and he found that a small island had been formed, twelve feet high, with a crater in the centre, from which immense columns of vapour and masses of volcanic matter were ejected. the island was afterwards visited by several scientific gentlemen, and is said to have been two hundred feet high, and three miles in circumference, on the th of august. but from this time the island decreased in size; for being composed of loose scoriæ and pumice, it was rapidly acted upon by the water; and on the rd of september, when carefully measured by captain wodehouse, was only three-fifths of a mile in circumference, and one hundred and seven feet high. at the end of october the island had entirely disappeared, except one small point composed of sand and scoriæ. captain swinburne examined the spot in the beginning of the year , and found an extensive shoal to occupy the place where the island had once been. in there was a dangerous reef, of an oval form, three-fifths of a mile in circumference. a royal sportsman. when the king of naples (the greatest sportsman in europe) was in germany, about the year , it was said in the german papers, that in the different times he had been shooting in austria, bohemia, and moravia, he had killed bears, , wild boars, , stags, wolves, foxes, , pheasants, , rabbits, , hares, , she-goats, , roebucks, and , partridges. life in death. the wife of the consul of cologne, retchmuth, apparently died of the plague, in ; a ring of great value, with which she was buried, tempted the cupidity of the grave-digger, and was the cause of many future years of happiness. at night the purloiner marched to his plunder, and she revived. she lived to be the mother of three children, and, when deceased in reality, was re-buried in the same church, where a monument was erected, reciting the particulars above stated in german verse. a woman of poictiers, being buried with four rings, tempted the resurrection-man, who _awoke_ the woman in the attempt, as he was rather rude in his mode of possessing them. she called out; he, being frightened, fled. the lady walked home, recovered, and had many children afterwards. rock-cut monuments of asia minor. the engraving below represents an example of rock-cut monuments which are found at doganlu, in asia minor. they are placed on the rocky side of a narrow valley, and unconnected apparently with any great city or centre of population. generally they are called tombs, but there are no chambers nor anything about them to indicate a funereal purpose, and the inscriptions which accompany them are not on the monuments themselves, nor do they refer to such a purpose. altogether, they are certainly among the most mysterious remains of antiquity, and, beyond a certain similarity to the rock-cut tombs around persepolis, it is not easy to point out any monuments that afford even a remote analogy to guide us in our conjectures. they are of a style of art clearly indicating a wooden origin, and consist of a square frontispiece, either carved into certain geometric shapes, or prepared apparently for painting; at each side is a flat pilaster, and above a pediment terminating in two scrolls. some, apparently the more modern, have pillars of a rude doric order, and all indeed are much more curious than beautiful. when more of the same class are discovered, they may help us to some historic data: all that we can now say of them is, that, judging from their inscriptions and the traditions in herodotus, they seem to belong to some indo-germanic race from thessaly, or thereabouts, who had crossed the hellespont and settled in their neighbourhood; and their date is possibly as far back as , and most probably before b.c. [illustration [++] rock-cut monument.] arch of trajan at beneventum. triumphal arches were among the most peculiar forms of art which the romans borrowed from those around them, and used with that strange mixture of splendour and bad taste which characterises all their works. [illustration [++] arch of trajan at beneventum.] these were in the first instance no doubt borrowed from the etruscans, as was also the ceremony of the triumph with which they were ultimately associated. at first they seem rather to have been used as festal entrances to the great public roads, whose construction was considered as one of the most important benefits a ruler could confer on his country. there was one erected at rimini in honour of an important restoration of the flaminian way by augustus; another at susa in piedmont, to commemorate a similar act of the same emperor. trajan built one on the pier at ancona, when he restored that harbour, and another at beneventum, when he repaired the via appia, represented in the woodcut here given. it is one of the best preserved as well as most graceful of its class in italy. the arch of the sergii at pola in istria seems also to have been erected for a like purpose. that of hadrian at athens, and another built by him at antinoë in egypt, were monuments merely commemorative of the benefits which he had conferred on those cities by the architectural works he had erected within their walls. by far the most important application of these gateways, in rome at least, was to commemorate a triumph which may have passed along the road over which the arch was erected beforehand, for the triumphal procession to pass through, of which it would remain a memorial. judges' salaries. in the reign of henry iii. the king's justices enjoyed a salary of ten marks per annum, which, in the twenty-third year of that king, was augmented to twenty pounds, and soon after to more. under henry iv. the chief justices of the king's bench and common pleas had forty pounds, and one of the judges of common pleas had fifty-five marks. in , the salary of thomas littleton, judge of the king's bench, amounted to £ s. d. modern money; besides about £ s. for his fur-gown, robes, &c. extraordinary oak. gilpin, in his "forest scenery," says, "close by the gate of the water-walk at magdalen college, in oxford, grew an oak, which perhaps stood there a sapling when alfred the great founded the university. this period only includes a space of nine hundred years, which is no great age for an oak. it is a difficult matter indeed to ascertain the age of a tree. the age of a castle or abbey is the object of history; even a common house is recorded by the families that built it. all these objects arrive at maturity in their youth, if i may so speak. but the tree, gradually completing its growth, is not worth recording in the early part of its existence. it is then only a common tree; and afterwards, when it becomes remarkable for its age, all memory of its youth is lost. this tree, however, can almost produce historical evidence for the age assigned to it. about five hundred years after the time of alfred, william of wainfleet, dr. stukely tells us, expressly ordered his college to be founded near the great oak; and an oak could not, i think, be less than five hundred years of age to merit that title, together with the honour of fixing the site of a college. when the magnificence of cardinal wolsey erected that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the whole building, this tree might probably be in the meridian of its glory, or rather, perhaps, it had attained a green old age. but it must have been manifestly in its decline at that memorable era when the tyranny of james gave the fellows of magdalen so noble an opportunity of withstanding bigotry and superstition. it was afterwards much injured in charles the second's time, when the present walks were laid out. its roots were disturbed, and from that period it declined fast, and became reduced by degrees to little more than a mere trunk. the oldest members of the university can scarcely recollect it in better plight. but the faithful records of history have handed down its ancient dimensions. through a space of sixteen yards on every side from its trunk, it once flung its boughs, and under its magnificent pavilion could have sheltered with ease three thousand men, though in its decayed state it could for many years do little more than shelter some luckless individual whom the driving shower had overtaken in his evening walk. in the summer of , this magnificent ruin fell to the ground, alarming the college with its rushing sound. it then appeared how precariously it had stood for many years. its grand tap-root was decayed, and it had hold of the earth only by two or three roots, of which none was more than a couple of inches in diameter. from a part of its ruins a chair has been made for the president of the college, which will long continue its memory." eccentric advertisement. the following strange advertisement is copied from the harleian mss.: "_in nova fert animus_. these are to give notice, (for the benefit of the public,) that there is newly arrived from his travels, a gentleman, who, after above forty years' study, hath, by a wonderful blessing on his endeavours, discovered, as well the nature as the infallible cure of several strange diseases, which (though as yet not known to the world) he will plainly demonstrate to any ingenious artist, to be the greatest causes of the most common distempers incident to the body of man. the names of which take as follow: the strong fives the marthambles the moon-pall the hockogrocle. "now, though the names, natures, symptoms, and several cures of these diseases, are altogether unknown to our greatest physicians, and the particular knowledge of them would (if concealed) be a vast advantage to the aforesaid person; yet, he well knowing that his country's good is to be preferred to his private interest, doth hereby promise all sorts of people, a faithful cure of all or any of the diseases aforesaid, at as reasonable rates as our modern doctors have for that of any common distemper. "he is spoken with at the ordinary hours of business, at the three compasses, in maiden-lane." modern egyptian female ornaments. [illustration [++] ckoo'r.] among the many ornaments which the women of egypt in modern times are so fond of wearing, none is more curious or more generally worn than the _ckoo'r_. it is a round convex ornament, commonly about five inches in diameter, of which there are two kinds. the first that we shall describe, and which is the only kind worn by ladies, or by the wives of tradesmen of moderate property, is the _ckoor's alma's_, or diamond ckoor's. this is composed of diamonds set generally in gold; and is open work, representing roses, leaves, &c. the diamonds are commonly of a very poor and shallow kind; and the gold of this and all other diamond ornaments worn in egypt is much alloyed with copper. the value of a moderately handsome diamond ckoor's is about a hundred and twenty-five, or a hundred and fifty pounds sterling. it is very seldom made of silver; and i think that those of gold, when attached to the deep red turboo'sh, have a richer effect, though not in accordance with our general taste. the wives even of petty tradesmen sometimes wear the diamond ckoor's: they are extremely fond of diamonds, and generally endeavour to get some, however bad. the ckoor's, being of considerable weight, is at first painful to wear; and women who are in the habit of wearing it complain of headache when they take it off: hence they retain it day and night; but some have an inferior one for the bed. some ladies have one for ordinary wearing, another for particular occasions, a little larger and handsomer; and a third merely to wear in bed. the other kind of ckoor's, _ckoor's dah'ab_ (or, of gold), is a convex plate of very thin embossed gold, and almost always a false emerald (a piece of green glass), not cut with facets, set in the centre. neither the emerald nor the ruby are here cut with facets: if so cut, they would generally be considered false. the simple gold ckoor's is lined with a thick coat of wax, which is covered with a piece of paper. it is worn by many women who cannot afford to purchase diamonds; and even by some servants. antique roman medicine stamp. [illustration [++] roman medicine stamp.] by far the most remarkable of the recently discovered remains of the roman occupants of scotland is a medicine stamp, acquired by the society of antiquaries of scotland, along with a very valuable collection of antiquities, bequeathed to them by e. w. a. drummond hay, esq., formerly one of the secretaries of the society. from his notes it appears that it was found in the immediate vicinity of trenent church, east lothian, in a quantity of _débris_, broken tiles, and brick-dust, which may not improbably have once formed the residence and laboratory of lucius vallatinus, the roman oculist, whose name this curious relic supplies. it consists of a small cube of pale green stone, two and three-fifth inches in length, and engraved on two sides as in the annexed woodcut; the letters being reversed for the purpose of stamping the unguents or other medicaments retailed by its original possessor. the inscriptions admit of being extended thus on the one side: l. vallatini evodes ad cicatrices et aspritudines, which may be rendered--the evodes of lucius vallatinus for cicatrices and granulations. the reverse, though in part somewhat more obscure, reads: l. vallatini a pal{o} cr{o}codes ad diatheses--the crocodes, or preparation of saffron, of l. vallatinus, of the palatine school, (?) for affections of the eyes. both the euodes and the crocodes are prescriptions given by galen, and occur on other medicine stamps. several examples have been found in england, and many in france and germany, supplying the names of their owners and the terms of their preparations. many of the latter indicate their chief use for diseases of the eye, and hence they have most commonly received the name of roman oculists' stamps. no example, however, except the one figured here, has ever occurred in scotland; and amid legionary inscriptions, military votive altars, and sepulchral tablets, it is peculiarly interesting to stumble on this intelligent memento, restoring to us the name of the old roman physician who ministered to the colonists of the lothians the skill, and perchance also the charlatanry, of the healing art. candles in the church. in the formulæ of marculphus, edited by jerome bignon, he tells us, with respect to lights, that the use of them was of great antiquity in the church; that the primitive christians made use of them in the assemblies which they held before day out of necessity; and that afterwards they were retained even in daylight, as tokens of joy, and in honour of the deity. lactantius says, speaking of the absurdities of the wax lights in romish churches, "they light up candles to god, as if he lived in the dark; and do they not deserve to pass for madmen who offer lamps and candles to the author and giver of light?" it is really astounding to our ideas that wax candles as long as serjeants' pikes should be held as necessary in the worship of god. that it is so held, and that by a large class of christians, every one must allow, for they may have occular demonstration of the singular fact. the show is however extremely imposing. thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds of wax lights were burned every year, for nine hundred masses said in the castle of wittemburgh! philip melancthon speaks of a jesuit who said that "he would not extinguish one taper, though it were to convert all the huguenots" (protestants). a rich and cruel criminal. john ward, esq. of hackney, member of parliament, being prosecuted by the duchess of buckingham, and convicted of forgery, was first expelled from the house, and then stood on the pillory on the th of march, . he was suspected of joining in a conveyance with sir john blount, to secrete £ , of that director's estate, forfeited to the south sea company by act of parliament. the company recovered the £ , against ward; but he set up prior conveyances of his real estate to his brother and son, and concealed all his personal, which was computed to be £ , . these conveyances being also set aside by a bill in chancery, ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life, by not giving in his effects till the last day, which was that of his examination. during his confinement, his amusement was to give poison to dogs and cats, and see them expire by slower or quicker torments. to sum up the _worth_ of this man, at the several eras of his life; at his standing in the pillory, he was worth above £ , ; at his commitment to prison, he was worth £ , . food of the ancients. the diversity of substances which we find in the catalogue of articles of food is as great as the variety with which the art or the science of cookery prepares them. the notions of the ancients on this most important subject are worthy of remark. their taste regarding meat was various. beef they considered the most substantial food: hence it constituted the chief nourishment of their athletæ. camels' and dromedaries' flesh was much esteemed, their heels most especially. donkey-flesh was in high repute: mæcenas, according to pliny, delighted in it; and the wild ass, brought from africa, was compared to venison. in more modern times we find chancellor dupret having asses fattened for his table. the hog and the wild boar appear to have been held in great estimation; and a hog was called "animal propter convivia natum;" but the classical portion of the sow was somewhat singular--"vulvâ nil dulcius amplâ." their mode of killing swine was as refined in barbarity as in epicurism. plutarch tells us that the gravid sow was actually trampled to death, to form a delicious mass fit for the gods. at other times, pigs were slaughtered with red-hot spits, that the blood might not be lost. stuffing a pig with assafoetida and various small animals, was a luxury called "porcus trojanus;" alluding, no doubt, to the warriors who were concealed in the trojan horse. young bears, dogs, and foxes, (the latter more esteemed when fed upon grapes,) were also much admired by the romans; who were also so fond of various birds, that some consular families assumed the names of those they most esteemed. catius tells us how to drown fowls in falernian wine, to render them more luscious and tender. pheasants were brought over from colchis, and deemed at one time such a rarity, that one of the ptolemies bitterly lamented his never having tasted any. peacocks were carefully reared in the island of samos, and sold at such a high price, that varro informs us they fetched yearly upwards of £ , of our money. the earliest english bible. the first translation of any part of the holy scriptures into english that was committed to the press was the new testament, translated from the greek, by william tyndale, with the assistance of john foye and william roye, and printed first in , in octavo. tyndale published afterwards, in , a translation of the five books of moses, and of jonah, in , in octavo. an english translation of the psalter, done from the latin of martin bucer, was also published at strasburgh in , by francis foye, in octavo. and the same book, together with jeremiah and the song of moses, were likewise published in , in duodecimo, by george joye, sometime fellow of peter-house in cambridge. the first time the whole bible appeared in english was in the year , in folio. the translator and publisher was miles coverdale, afterwards bishop of exeter, who revised tyndale's version, compared it with the original, and supplied what had been left untranslated by tyndale. it was printed at zurich, and dedicated to king henry the eighth. this was the bible, which by cromwell's injunction of september, , was ordered to be laid in churches. great eruption of mount etna. one of the most remarkable eruptions of this mountain was that which occurred in the year , which was so violent that fifteen towns and villages were destroyed, and the stream was so deep that the lava flowed over the walls of catania, sixty feet in height, and destroyed a part of the city. but the most singular circumstance connected with this eruption was the formation of a number of extensive fissures, which appeared as though filled with intumescent rock. at the very commencement of the volcanic excitement, one was formed in the plain of st. lio, twelve miles in length and six feet broad, which ejected a vivid flame, and shortly after five others were opened. the town of nicolosi, situated twenty miles from the summit of etna, was destroyed by earthquake; and near the place where it stood two gulfs were formed, from which so large a quantity of sand and scoriæ was thrown, that a cone, called mount rossi, four hundred and fifty feet high, was produced in about three months. amulets worn by modern egyptian females. [illustration [++] amulet.] one of the most remarkable traits in modern egyptian superstition is the belief in written charms. the composition of most of these amulets is founded upon magic, and occasionally employs the pen of almost every village schoolmaster in egypt. a person of this description, however, seldom pursues the study of magic further than to acquire the formulæ of a few charms, commonly consisting, for the greater part, of certain passages of the koran, and names of god, together with those of spirits, genii, prophets, or eminent saints, intermixed with combinations of numerals, and with diagrams, all of which are supposed to have great secret virtues. the amulet thus composed, or _hhega'b_, as it is called, is covered with waxed cloth, to preserve it from accidental pollution, and enclosed in a case of thin embossed gold or silver, which is attached to a silk string, or a chain, hung on the right side, above the girdle, the string or chain being passed over the left shoulder. sometimes these cases bear arabic inscriptions, such as "ma´sha-lla´h" ("god's will") and "ya´cha´dee el-hhaga´t" ("o decreer of the things that are needful!") we here insert an engraving of three hhega'bs of gold, attached to a string, to be worn together. the central one is a thin, flat case, containing a folded paper: it is about a third of an inch thick; the others are cylindrical cases, with hemispherical ends, and contain scrolls: each has a row of burck along the bottom. hhega´bs such as these, or of a triangular form, are worn by many children, as well as women; and those of the latter form are attached to a child's head-dress. personal ornaments of the ancient egyptians. the passion of the egyptians for decorative jewellery was indeed excessive. men as well as women delighted thus to adorn themselves; and the desire was not confined to the higher ranks, for though the subordinate classes could not afford the sparkling gems and precious metals which glowed upon the persons of their superiors, their vanity was gratified by humbler imitations, of bronze, glass, and porcelain. "costly and elegant ornaments," observes professor rosselini, "abounded in proportion as clothing in general was simple and scarce among the egyptians. girdles, necklaces, armlets, ear-rings, and amulets of various kinds suspended from the neck, are found represented in the painting, and in fact still exist on the mummies. figures of noble youths are found entirely devoid of clothing, but richly ornamented with necklaces and other jewels." an immense number of these "jewels of silver and jewels of gold" have been found in the tombs, and on the persons of mummies, and are deposited in profusion in every museum. the accompanying engravings will give an idea of the style and form of some of them. [illustration [++] personal ornaments.] the ear-rings generally worn by the ladies were large, round, single hoops (as _a_) from - / inches to - / inches in diameter; and frequently of a still greater size; or made of six rings soldered together (as _b_); sometimes an asp, whose body was of gold, set with precious stones, was worn by persons of rank as a fashionable caprice. figures _c_, _d_, of gold bear the heads of fanciful animals; _e_, also of gold, is remarkable for its singularity of form, and for the delicacy of its workmanship; and _f_ for its carrying two pearls and being double in its construction. [illustration [++] ear-rings.] bracelets, armlets, and anklets were worn by men as well as by women; they were usually of gold, frequently set with precious stones, or inlaid with enamel. the one marked _a_ in the annexed cut is now in the leyden museum: it is of gold, inches in diameter, and - / inches in height, and is interesting, because it belonged to the pharaoh whom we conclude to have been the patron and friend of joseph, thothmes iii., whose name it bears. the armlet _b_ is of gold, and represents a snake; the other, _c_, is of bronze. rings were worn in profusion, gold being the material chiefly selected. some resemble watch seals of the present day--sometimes the stone having four flat sides, all engraved, turned on a pivot, like some seals seen at present. one of this character, which sir j. g. wilkinson estimates to contain _l._ worth of gold, is represented at _d_ in the above engraving. it consists of a massive ring of gold, bearing an oblong plinth of the same metal, an inch in length, and more than half an inch in its greatest width. on one side is engraved the hieroglyphic name of storus, the successor of amunoph iii.; the three others contain respectively a scorpion, a crocodile, and a lion. great pear tree. the most remarkable pear tree in england stands on the glebe of the parish of holme lacy, in herefordshire. when the branches of this tree, in its original state, became long and heavy, their extremities drooped till they reached the ground. they then took root; each branch became a new tree, and in its turn produced others in the same way. eventually it extended itself until it covered more than an acre of ground, and would probably have reached much further if it had been suffered to do so. it is stated in the church register, that "the great natural curiosity, the great pear tree upon the glebe, adjoining to the vicarage-house, produced this year ( ) fourteen hogsheads of perry, each hogshead containing one hundred gallons." though now much reduced in size, it is still healthy and vigorous, and generally produces from two to five hogsheads. the liquor is not of a good quality, being very strong and heating. an idea of the superior size of this tree, when in its prime, over others of the same kind, may be formed from the fact, that in the same county, an acre of ground is usually planted with thirty trees, which, in a good soil, produce annually, when full grown, twenty gallons of perry each. so large a quantity as a hogshead from one tree is very unusual. the sorts principally used for perry are such as have an austere juice. law of the mozcas. a very remarkable law prevailed among the mozcas, one of the tribes of the nuevo reyno de granada. there, as among more advanced nations, the king could do no wrong; but the subordinate chiefs could. these chiefs were men, the people reasoned, like themselves; they could not be punished by their vassals, for there would be a natural unfitness in that; the king, it seems, was not expected to interfere, except in cases of state offences; the power of punishment, therefore, was vested in their wives; and a power it was, says piedrahita, which they exercised famously whenever it fell to them to be judges of their poor husbands. the conqueror quesada calling one morning upon the chief of a place called suesca, found him under the hands of his nine wives, who were tying him, and having done so, proceeded, in spite of quesada's intercession, to flog him one after the other. his offence was, that some spaniards the night before had lodged in his house, and he had partaken too freely of their spanish wine. drunkenness was one of the sins which fell under the cognizance of his wives: they carried him to bed that he might sleep himself sober, and then awoke him in the morning to receive the rigour of the law. largest metal statue in the world. arona is an island on the lago maggiore, and has a strong castle. upon an eminence is a statue of bronze to st. charles borromeo, from whom the hill is called, monte di s. carlo. the statue was erected by the pope in , in memory of the saint, who was archbishop of milan. the pedestal of the statue is thirty-six feet high. it is the largest metal statue in existence; and the height of the statue itself is seventy-two feet, making a total of feet. fifteen persons may get into the saint's head, which will also accommodate four persons and a table on which they can dine. the cost is said to have been one million one hundred milanaise livres. the oak of mamre. in one remarkable instance the jews, the christians, and the pagan arabs united in religious feelings. this was in their reverence for the oak of mamre, where the angels appeared to abraham: for abraham's sake the jews held the place holy; the arabs for the angels'; the christians, because, in their ignorance of their scriptures, they affirmed that the son of god had accompanied those angels to destroy sodom and gomorrah. an annual fair was held there, and every man sacrificed after the manner of his country; nor was the meeting ever disgraced by any act of intemperance or indecency. nothing had been done to injure the venerable antiquity of the place. there was nothing but the well which abraham had dug, and the buildings which he had inhabited, beside the oak. these remains were destroyed by order of constantine, in abhorrence of the _impious_ toleration exhibited there! a church was built upon the spot, and mamre, so interesting to the poet, the philosopher, and the pious man, became a mere den of superstition. strange advertisement. the following appeared in the _evening post_, may rd, :-- "i, elizabeth, duchess dowager of hamilton, acknowledge i have for several months been ill in my health, but never speechless, as certain penny authors have printed; and so, to confute these said authors and their intelligence, it is thought by my most intimate friends, _it is the very last thing that will happen to me_. i am so good an englishwoman, that i would not have my countrymen imposed upon by purchasing false authors; therefore, have ordered this to be printed that they may know what papers to buy and believe, that are not to be bribed by those who may have private ends for false reports. the copy of this is left in the hands of mr. berington, to be shown to any body who has a curiosity to see it signed with my own hand. "e. hamilton." intermittent springs. one of the most remarkable of these is at bolder-born in westphalia. after flowing for twenty-four hours, it entirely ceases for the space of six hours. it then returns with a loud noise, in a stream sufficiently powerful to turn three mills very near its source. another spring of the same nature occurs at bihar in hungary, which issues many times a day, from the foot of a mountain, in such a quantity as in a few minutes to fill the channel of a considerable stream. the lay well near torbay, ebbs and flows sixteen times in an hour: and in giggleswick well in yorkshire, the water sometimes rises and falls in ten or fifteen minutes. st. anthony's well, on arthur's seat, near edinburgh, has a similar movement, but on a smaller scale. in savoy, near the lake of bourget, is another spring of this kind, but it differs from those which have been already mentioned in being very uncertain in its intervals. curious jewel which belonged to james i. in former times it was a common practice with princes and nobles to have elaborate articles of jewellery constructed in such forms as had a religious and emblematical signification. an inventory of the dukes of burgundy, made in , speaks of a _fleur-de-lys_ which opened, and contained inside a picture of the crucifixion. in , the duke of berri had "a fair apple," which opened, and contained within on one side the figure of christ, and on the other that of the virgin. among the jewels of the dukes of burgundy in there were two pears of gold, enamelled, each containing an image of our lady. we find similar entries in the other different inventories of the dukes of burgundy: an apple of silver, enamelled, containing in the inside a picture of st. catherine, in ; a pine-apple of gold, which contained figures of the birth of christ, and of the three kings, in ; and, in the same year, two apples of gold, one containing, on the opposite halves, our lady and st. paul, the other, st. peter and st. paul--the latter suspended by three small chains. these kinds of devices continued in fashion till a much later period, and a very curious example, from the collection of lord londesborough, which appears to have belonged to king james i., is here engraved. [illustration [++] small skull.] [illustration [++] apple.] the whole is of silver, and the leaves appear to have been painted green. on opening it we find in the inside the small skull here represented above the apple. the top of the skull opens like a lid, and inside are two small paintings, representing the creation and the resurrection, with the inscription, "_post mortem, vita eternitas_." the external inscription is not gallant. to give the apple externally a more natural appearance, there are marks of two bites on the side opposite that here represented, showing a large and small set of teeth. strange curiosities. in the anatomy hall of leyden is a drinking cup of the skull of a moor, killed in the beleaguring of haerlem. also a cup made of a double brain pan. we observe also that no. is the skin of a woman, and no. the skin of a woman, prepared like leather; no. the skin of a malacca woman, above years old, presented by richard snolk, who probably had her flayed. the cross of cong. the cross, of which the following is a correct representation, possesses eminent claims to a place among our curiosities, since it constitutes the gem of the museum of the royal irish academy. [illustration [++] cross of kong.] this cross was made at roscommon, by native irishmen, about the year , in the reign of turlogh o'connor, father of roderick, the last monarch of ireland, and contains what was supposed to be a piece of the true cross, as inscriptions in irish, and latin in the irish character, upon two of its sides record. the engraving affords a correct idea of the original, as the extremely minute and elaborate ornaments with which it is completely covered, and a portion of which is worked in pure gold, could not possibly be expressed on so reduced a scale. the ornaments generally consist of tracery and grotesque animals fancifully combined, and similar in character to the decorations found upon crosses of stone of about the same period. a large crystal, through which a portion of the wood which the cross was formed to enshrine is visible, is set in the centre. foot-racing in . a remarkable foot-race was run about the year , which is thus described in the manuscript journal of a lady who was one of the spectators:--"i drove through the forest of windsor to see a race run by two footmen, an english and a scotch, the former a taller bigger man than the other. the ground measured and cut even in a round was about four miles; they were to run it round so often as to make up twenty-two miles, which was the distance between charing cross and windsor cross, that is, five times quite round, and so far as to make up the odd miles and measure. they ran a round in twenty-five minutes. i saw them run the first three rounds and half another in an hour and seventeen minutes, and they finished it in two hours and a half. the englishman gained the start the second round, and kept it at the same distance the five rounds, and then the scotchman came up to him and got before him to the post. the englishman fell down within a few yards of the post. many hundred pounds were won and lost about it. they ran both very neatly, but my judgment gave it to the scotchman, because he seemed to save himself to the last push." the cherry tree. the cherry tree was introduced into great britain before a.d. . the earliest mention of the fruit being exposed to sale by hawkers in london is in henry the fifth's reign, . new sorts were introduced from flanders, by richard haines, henry the eighth's fruiterer, and being planted in kent were called "flanders," or "kentish cherries," of which gerard ( ) says, "they have a better juice, but watery, cold, and moist." philips says, "there is an account of a cherry-orchard of thirty-two acres in kent, which, in the year , produced fruit that sold in those early days, for , _l._; which seems an enormous sum, as at that period good land is stated to have let at one shilling per acre." evelyn tells us, that in his time ( ) an acre planted with cherries, one hundred miles from london, had been let at _l._ during the commonwealth ( ), the manor and mansion of henrietta maria, queen of charles i., at wimbledon, in surrey, were surveyed previously to being sold, and it appears that there were upwards of two hundred cherry trees in the gardens. since that time the cherry tree has found universal admission into shrubberies, gardens, and orchards. instructions to a chaplain. the following, and we believe they are unique, are sir john wynne of gwedir's instructions to his chaplain, the rev. john pryce. "first, you shall have the chamber i showed you in my gate, private to yourself, with lock and key, and all necessaries. in the morning, i expect you should rise, and say prayers in my hall, to my household below, before they go to work, and when they come in at night, that you call before you all the workmen, specially the youth, and take account of them of their belief, and of what sir meredith taught them. i beg you to continue for the most part in the lower house: you are to have onlye what is done there, that you may inform me of any disorder there. there is a bayliff of husbandry and a porter, who will be commanded by you. the morning after you be up, and have said prayers, as afore, i would you to bestow in study on any commendable exercise of your body. before dinner you are to come up and attend grace or prayers, if there be any publicke; and to sit up if there be not greater strangers above the chyldren, who you are to teach in your own chamber. when the table from half downwards is taken up, then you are to rise and to walk in the alleys near at hand until grace time, and to come in then for that purpose. after dinner, if i be busy, you may go to bowles, shuffel bord, or any other honest, decent recreation, until i go abroad. if you see me void of business, and go to ride abroad, you shall command a gelding to be made ready by the grooms of the stable, and to go with me. if i go to bowles or shuffel bord, i shall lyke of your company, if the place be not made up with strangers. i would have you to go every sunday in the year to some church hereabouts, to preache, giving warnynge to the parish, to bring the yowths at after noon to the church to be catechysed; in which poynt is my greatest care that you should be paynfull and dylygent. avoyd the alehouse, to sytte and keepe drunkard's company ther, being the greatest discredit your function can have." two misers. in the year died, at a village near reading, john jackson, aged ninety-three, and james jackson, aged eighty-seven. these two brothers were old bachelors, and afforded a striking instance of the insufficiency of wealth to create happiness. though these old men had been blest with great riches ever since they were twenty years of age, they absolutely denied themselves the common necessaries of life; and lived in the village for fifty years past as poor men, and often accepted of charity from rich persons who resided near them. they never suffered any woman or man to come into their apartment (which was only one shabby room), and were both taken ill, and languishing a short time, they expired on the same day, within one hour of each other. it is computed, by the writings left behind them, that they died worth £ , . anecdote of the house of brunswick. the following anecdote relating to the august house of brunswick is taken from the "annual register" of :--"the late duchess of blakenburgh, great grandmother to the hereditary prince, who died some years since in a very advanced age, had the singular happiness to reckon amongst her posterity, sixty-two princes and princesses; (fifty-three of whom she saw at one time alive;) and amongst them three emperors, two empresses, two kings, and two queens; a circumstance that, probably, no sovereign house but that of brunswick ever produced anything like it." amusements of some learned authors. tycho brahe polished glass for spectacles, and made mathematical instruments. d'andilly delighted, like our evelyn, in forest-trees; balzac, with the manufacturing of crayons; pieresc, with his medals and antiques; the abbé de marolles, with engravings; rohault's greatest recreation was in seeing different mechanics at their labour; arnauld read the most trashy novels for relaxation; as did our warburton, the late lords loughborough and camden; montaigne fondled his cat; cardinal richelieu, in jumping and leaping. grumm informs us that the chevalier de boufflers would crow like a cock, and bray like an ass; in both of which he excelled, not metaphorically but literally. early german drinking cup. [illustration: [++] early german drinking cup.] the above, taken from the londesborough collection, is a good example of the german drinking cups of fanciful shape, which were so much in fashion in that country in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. the specimen before us is of silver, and dated . the mill and scroll ornament on the cup are gilt. it was held in the hand to be filled, and could not be set down until emptied; the drinker, blowing through the tube into the mill, set the sails in motion, and reversed the cup on the table. the king's stone. [illustration: [++] the king's stone.] kingston-on-thames is among the oldest of english towns; and is said to have been "the metropolis of the anglo-saxon kings:" certainly it was a famous place when the romans found and conquered the britons in this locality: there are indeed arguments for believing that the "ford" which cæsar crossed was here, and not at walton; and indications of barrows, fosses, and ramparts of roman origin, are to be found in many places in the neighbourhood. it is more than probable that a bridge was constructed by the romans here, and that a fortress was erected for its protection. the saxons followed in due course, and here they had many contests with their enemies the danes; but a.d. , egbert convened at kingston an assembly of ecclesiastics and nobles in council, and here, undoubtedly, many of the saxon kings were crowned: "the townish men," says leland, "have certen knowledge that a few kinges were crounid afore the conqueste." its first charter was from king john, and many succeeding sovereigns accorded to it various grants and immunities. during the war between charles i. and the parliament, kingston was the scene of several "fights," being always on the side of the king. the town is now populous and flourishing, although without manufactures of any kind. since the establishment of a railway, villa residences have largely increased in the neighbourhood; and the two suburbs, surbiton and norbiton, are pretty and densely-crowded villages of good houses. the church has suffered much from mutilation and restoration; it is a spacious structure, and was erected about the middle of the fourteenth century, on the site of an earlier edifice. amongst the monuments is a fine brass, to a civilian and his wife, of the year . of existing antiquities there are but few: county historians, however, point out the sites of the ancient saxon palace, "the castle," the jews' quarter, and the roman town, tamesa; and the game of "foot-ball," it is said, is still practised by the inhabitants on shrove tuesday, in commemoration of the feats of their ancestors, by whom the head of a king-assassin was "kicked" about the town. but perhaps the most interesting object now to be found in kingston is "the king's stone." it had long remained neglected, though not unknown, among disregarded heaps of _débris_ in "the new court-yard," when it occurred to some zealous and intelligent antiquaries that so venerable a relic of remote ages was entitled to some show of respect. it was consequently removed from its degraded position, planted in the centre of the town, and enclosed by a "suitable" iron railing. it is now, therefore, duly and properly honoured, as may be seen by the preceding engraving. trance at will. colonel townsend possessed the remarkable faculty of throwing himself into a trance at pleasure. the heart ceased apparently to throb at his bidding, respiration seemed at an end, his whole frame assumed the icy chill and rigidity of death; while his face became colourless and shrunk, and his eye fixed, glazed, and ghastly. his mind itself ceased to manifest itself, for during the trance it was as utterly devoid of consciousness as his body of animation. in this state he would remain for hours, when these singular phenomena wore away, and he returned to his usual condition. medical annals furnish no parallel to this extraordinary case. considered whether in a physiological or metaphysical point of view, it is equally astonishing and inexplicable. destructive force of rats. the amount of destructive force possessed by rats cannot be better exemplified than in the report given to the french government, relating to the removal of the horse slaughter-houses, situated at montfaucon, to a greater distance from paris; one great objection being the disastrous consequences which might accrue to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, if these voracious creatures were suddenly deprived of their usual sustenance. it is well known that the mischief which they occasion is not confined to what they eat; but they undermine houses, burrow through dams, destroy drains, and commit incalculable havoc in every place and in everything. the report states, that the carcases of horses killed one day, and amounting to thirty-five, would be found the next morning with the bones picked clean. a person of the name of dusaussois, belonging to the establishment, made this experiment. a part of his yard was enclosed by solid walls, at the foot of which, several holes were made for the entrance and exit of the rats. into this enclosure he put the bodies of three horses, and in the middle of the night he stopped up all the holes as quietly as he could; he then summoned several of his workmen, and each, armed with a torch and a stick, entered the yard, and carefully closed the door. they then commenced a general massacre; in doing which, it was not necessary to take aim, for wherever the blow fell it was sure to knock over a rat, none being allowed to escape by climbing over the walls. this experiment was repeated at intervals of a few days, and at the end of a month, , rats had been destroyed. in one night they killed , ; and yet this cannot give an entirely adequate idea of their number, for the yard in question did not cover more than a twentieth part of the space allotted to killing horses. the rats in this place have made burrows for themselves, like catacombs; and so great is their number, that they have not found room close by the slaughter-houses. they have gone farther; and the paths to and from their dwellings may be traced across the neighbouring fields. ordeal of the cross. when a person accused of any crime had declared his innocence upon oath, and appealed to the cross for its judgment in his favour, he was brought into the church before the altar. the priest previously prepared two sticks exactly like one another, upon one of which was carved a figure of the cross. they were both wrapped up, with great care and many ceremonies, in a quantity of fine wool, and laid upon the altar, or on the relics of the saints. a solemn prayer was then offered up to god, that he would be pleased to discover, by the judgment of his holy cross, whether the accused person were innocent or guilty. a priest then approached the altar, and took up one of the sticks, and the assistants unswathed it reverently. if it was marked with the cross, the accused person was innocent; if unmarked, he was guilty. it would be unjust to assert, that the judgments just delivered were in all cases erroneous; and it would be absurd to believe that they were left altogether to chance. many true judgments were doubtless given, and, in all probability, most conscientiously; for we cannot but believe that the priests endeavoured beforehand to convince themselves by strict inquiry and a strict examination of the circumstances, whether the appellant were innocent or guilty, and that they took up the crossed or uncrossed stick accordingly. although, to all other observers, the sticks, as enfolded in the wool, might appear exactly similar, those who enwrapped them could, without any difficulty, distinguish the one from the other. king john and pope innocent. when cardinal langton was made archbishop of canterbury, by the intrigues of the pope, whose creature he was, in despite of king john, to appease the latter, his holiness presented him with four gold rings, set with precious stones, and enhanced the value of the gift (mark that, jewellers!) by informing him of the many mysteries implied in it. he begged of him (john) to consider seriously the _form_ of the rings, their _number_, their _matter_, and their _colour_. their _form_, he said, being round, shadowed out eternity, which had neither beginning nor end, and he ought thence to learn the duty of aspiring from earthly objects to heavenly, from things temporal to things eternal. the _numbers_ four, being a square, denoted steadiness of mind, not to be subverted either by prosperity or adversity, fixed for ever in the basis of the four cardinal virtues. _gold_, which is the matter, being the most precious of metals, signified wisdom, which is the most precious of all accomplishments, and justly preferred by solomon to riches, power, and all exterior attainments. the blue _colour_ of the sapphire represented faith; the verdure of the emerald hope; the richness of the ruby charity; and the splendour of the topaz good works. druid's seat. [illustration: [++] druid's judgment seat.] the singular pile of stones which we have sketched here is popularly called the "druid's judgment seat," and stands near the village of killiney, not far from drogheda, near the martello tower. it was formerly enclosed within a circle of great stones and a ditch. the former has been destroyed, and the latter so altered that little of its ancient character remains. the "seat" is composed of large, rough, granite blocks, and if really of the period to which tradition refers it, an unusual degree of care must have been exercised for its preservation. the following are its measurements: breadth, at the base, eleven feet and a half; depth of the seat, one foot nine inches; extreme height, seven feet. boots an object of honour. among the chinese no relics are more valuable than the _boots_ which have been worn by an upright magistrate. in davis's interesting description of the empire of china, we are informed, that whenever a judge of unusual integrity resigns his situation, the people all congregate to do him honour. if he leaves the city where he has presided, the crowd accompany him from his residence to the gates, where his boots are drawn off with great ceremony, to be preserved in the hall of justice. their place is immediately supplied by a new pair, which, in their turn, are drawn off to make room for others before he has worn them five minutes, it being considered sufficient to consecrate them that he should have merely drawn them on. saint lawrence. in the south aisle of the church at tuxford, beneath a flowery arch is a very rude relief of st. lawrence placed on the gridiron. by him is a fellow with a pair of bellows, blowing the fire, and the executioner going to turn him. the zealous fox, in his "martyrology," has this very thought, and makes the martyr say, in the midst of his sufferings, "this side is now roasted; turn me, o tyrant dear." paris garden at blackfriars. [illustration: [++] paris garden.] the blackfriar's road now passes over the site of paris garden where, in the sixteenth century, bear and bull-baiting rejoiced the citizens, the gala days being usually sundays. our cut is copied from the rare woodcut map in the time of henry viii., in the library at guildhall, and exhibits in the foreground the kennels for the dogs, and the tanks in which they were washed. a graphic description of the place has been left by paul hentzner, a german, who visited it in . he says it was "built in the form of a theatre, for the baiting of bulls and bears: they are fastened behind, and then worried by great english bull-dogs; but not without great risk to the dogs, from the horns of the one and the teeth of the other; and it sometimes happens they are killed upon the spot: fresh ones are immediately supplied in the place of those that are wounded or tired. to this entertainment there often follows that of whipping a blinded bear, which is performed by five or six men, standing circularly with whips, which they exercise upon him without any mercy, as he cannot escape from them because of his chain. he defends himself with all his force and skill, throwing down all who come within his reach, and are not active enough to get out of it, and tearing the whips out of their hands, and breaking them. at these spectacles, and everywhere else, the english are constantly smoking tobacco. fruits, such as apples, pears, and nuts, according to the season, are carried about to be sold, as well as ale and wine." canvass of an insurance agent. the manchester agent of an insurance company, gives the following curious results of a personal canvass at , houses, in seventy streets in the district of hulme and charlton, chiefly rentals from £ to £ per annum. the inquiry showed that there were insured; persons too old; who never heard of life assurances, and who were anxious to have it explained to them; who had heard of it, but did not understand it; who were disinclined to assure; favourable, if their surplus incomes were not otherwise invested; persons who had it under consideration, with a view to assure, as soon as their arrangements were completed, and who appointed times for the agent to call again; refused the circulars, or to allow an explanation; doors not answered; houses empty; had sufficient property not to require it; favourable, but afraid of litigation; preferred the saving's bank; used abusive language; would trust their families to provide for themselves; and had been rejected by an office, although he never was unwell, and was consequently afraid to try again, although very anxious. terra-cotta writings. the assyrians, unlike any other nation of antiquity, employed pottery for the same objects, and to the same extent as papyrus was used in egypt. thus bulletins recording the king's victories, and even the annals of his reign, were published on terra-cotta cylinders, shaped like a rolling-pin, and usually hollow, and on hollow hexagonal prisms. these are of a remarkably fine material, sometimes unpolished or unglazed, and at others covered with a vitreous siliceous glaze, or white coating. on the cylinders the inscriptions are engraved lengthwise; on the prisms they are in compartments on each face. each wedge is about one-eighth of an inch long, and the complicity with which the characters (a cuneiform writing-hand) are arranged is wonderful, and renders them extremely difficult for a tyro to read. those hitherto published or known, contain the annals of the reign of sennacherib, and the précis of the reign of another king. there are the shergat cylinder, containing the history of tiglath pileser; a cylinder of sargon; sennacherib's cylinders; esarhaddon's cylinder. sales of land and other title-deeds were also incised on pieces of this polished terra-cotta, and, in order to prevent any enlargement of the document, a cylinder was run round the edges, leaving its impression in relief; or if the names of witnesses were affixed, each impressed his oval seal on the wet terra-cotta, which was then carefully baked in the kiln. the celebrated cylinders of carnelian, chalcedony, and other substances, were in fact the official or private seals by which the integrity of these documents was attested. these title-deeds are portable documents of four or five inches square, convex on each side, and occasionally also at the edges. their colour varies, being a bright polished brown, a pale yellow, and a very dark tint, almost black. the paste of which they are made is remarkably fine and compact. the manner in which the characters were impressed on the terra-cotta barrels and cylinders is not known; those on the bricks used for building were apparently stamped from a mould, but those on the deeds and books were separately incised, perhaps with a prismatic stick, or rod, or, as others have conjectured, with the edge of a square rod of metal. in some instances, where this substance was used for taking accounts, it seems just possible that the moist clay, rolled up like paste, may have been unrolled and incised with rods. the characters are often so beautifully and delicately made, that it must have required a finely constructed tool to produce them. some small fragments of a fine reddish-grey terra-cotta which have been found among the ruins, appear to contain calculations or inventories, whilst others are perhaps syllabaries or vocabularies, to guide the assyrian readers of these difficult inscriptions. a large chamber, or library, of these archives, comprising histories, deeds, almanacks, and spelling-books, was found in the palace of sennacherib at kouyunjik. it is supposed that altogether about , of these clay tablets or ancient books of the assyrians, containing the literature of the country, have been discovered. some of the finer specimens are covered with a pale straw-covered engobe, over which has been thrown a glaze. some horoscopes have been already found on stone, and careful examination has now detected the records of some astronomer royal of babylon or nineveh inscribed on a brick. thus, while the paper and parchment learning of the byzantine and alexandrian schools has almost disappeared after a few centuries, the granite pages of egypt, and the clay leaves of assyria, have escaped the ravages of time and the fury of barbarism. in egypt some receipts and letters have been discovered written on fragments of tile, and on the fine porcelain of the chinese are often found extracts of biographical works, snatches of poetry, and even whole poems; but the idea of issuing journals, title-deeds, inventories, histories, prayers, and poems, not from the press, but from the kiln, is startling in the nineteenth century. wonderful formation of the eye in insects. the perfection which is bestowed on the organs of sense in insects, especially when we consider their minuteness, is calculated to fill us with adoring admiration of the skill of "the great workmaster." take an example from the _eyes_, which are of several kinds, evidently designed for distinct modes of vision, of which we, who have but one sort of eyes, can form no adequate notion. the bee and many other insects have on the crown of the head a number, usually three, of simple glassy eyes, set like "bull's-eyes" in a ship's deck; and besides these a great compound eye on each side, consisting of a multitude of lenses aggregated together upon the same optic nerve. the microscope reveals to us that the compound eye of an ant contains fifty lenses; that of a fly, four thousand; that of a dragon-fly, twelve thousand; that of a butterfly, seventeen thousand; and that of a species of _mordella_ (a kind of beetle), the amazing number of twenty-five thousand. every one of these regular, polished, and many-sided lenses; is the external surface of a distinct eye, furnished with its own iris and pupil, and a perfect nervous apparatus. it will thus be seen that each hexagonal facet forms a transparent horny lens, immediately behind which is a layer of pigment diminishing to a point in the centre, where it forms a pupil; that behind this a long six-sided prism, answering to the crystalline and vitreous humours in the human eye, extends, diminishing to its lower extremity, where it rests upon the retina, or network expansion of the optic nerve. some of the minuter details of this exquisite organisation are still matters of conflicting opinion; but these we omit, as our purpose is rather to convey to our readers a general idea of the structure of this complex organ of vision. "this also cometh forth from the lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." first coin with britannia on it. [illustration: [++] roman coins.] in process of clearing away the foundations of old london bridge many antiquities were discovered; it had been the great highway over the thames from the roman era, and numerous relics were obtained, varying in date from that period to our own. we here engrave such specimens of roman coins that were found as belong to the britannic series. the large central coin is one struck by hadrian, and remarkable for the figure of britannia, the first time impersonated as an armed female seated on a rock. it is the prototype of the more modern britannia, reintroduced by charles ii., and which still appears on our copper money. the smaller coins are such as were struck, during the reign of constantine the great, in the city of london, and are marked with the letters p. lon., for "pecunia londinensis," money of london. extraordinary formation of the twin-worm. an extraordinary creature was discovered by dr. nordman, infesting the gills of one of our commonest river fishes--_cyprinus brama_--and to which he gave the appropriate appellation of the twin-worm (_diplozoon paradoxum_). it is not more than one-fourth of an inch in length, but consists of two bodies, precisely resembling each other, united by a central band, exactly in the manner of the siamese youths, whose exhibition excited so much attention in england and america a few years ago. we might have supposed that, like the human monstrosity in question, the twin-worm was formed by the accidental union of two individuals, if abundant observation had not proved that this is the common mode of life belonging to the species. each portion of the animal is complete in all its organs and economy; possessing its own sets of suckers, its own mouth, its own digestive canal, with its tree-like ramifications, its own perfect generative system, and its own elaborate series of vascular canals,--every organ or set of organs in the one-half finding its exact counterpart in the other. it scarcely detracts from the marvellous character assumed by this "twin-worm," that, according to recent observations, the two halves have already enjoyed a phase of existence as distinct individuals. the organic union, or "fusion" of two such individuals, is necessary to the development of the generative system, which, up to that event, is wanting in each constituent half. mill at lissoy. [illustration: [++] mill at lissoy.] the above picturesque sketch represents the "busy mill" at lissoy, better known as "sweet auburn--loveliest village of the plain"--the scene of goldsmith's beautiful poem of the "deserted village." lissoy, about six miles from athlone, stands on the summit of a hill at the base of which is the mill that forms the subject of our sketch. the wheel is still turned by the water of a small rivulet, converted, now and then, by rains, into a sufficient stream. the mill is a mere country cottage, used for grinding the corn of the neighbouring peasantry, and retains many tokens of age. parts of the machinery are, no doubt, above a century old, and are probably the very same that left their impress on the poet's memory. a castle built for a groat. the castle of monkstown, near cork, is reported by popular tradition to have been built in , at the cost of only a groat. to explain the enigma, the following story is told:--anastatia goold, who had become the wife of john archdeken, determined, while her husband was abroad, serving in the army of philip of spain, to give him evidence of her thrift on his return, by surprising him with a noble residence which he might call his own. her plan was to supply the workmen with provisions and other articles they required, for which she charged the ordinary price; but, as she had made her purchases wholesale, upon balancing her accounts, it appeared that the retail profit had paid all the expenses of the structure except fourpence! the archdekens were an anglo-irish family, who "degenerating" became "hibernices quam hiberniores"--more irish than the irish themselves--and assumed the name of mac odo, or cody. they "forfeited," in , having followed the fortunes of james ii. battle of water-snakes. the following story is narrated by mr. st. john, in his "letters of an american farmer." after describing the size and strength of some hemp-plants, around which a wild vine had formed natural arbours, he thus proceeds:--"as i was one day sitting, solitary and pensive, in this primitive arbour, my attention was engaged by a strange sort of rustling noise at some paces distance. i looked all around without distinguishing anything, until i climbed up one of my great hemp-stalks; when, to my astonishment, i beheld two snakes of a considerable length, the one pursuing the other with great celerity through a hemp-stubble field. the aggressor was of the black kind, six feet long; the fugitive was a water snake, nearly of equal dimensions. they soon met, and in the fury of their first encounter, appeared in an instant firmly twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the ground, they mutually tried, with open jaws, to lacerate each other. what a fell aspect did they present! their heads were compressed to a very small size; their eyes flashed fire; but, after this conflict had lasted about five minutes, the second found means to disengage itself from the first, and hurried towards the ditch. its antagonist instantly assumed a new posture, and, half-creeping, half-erect, with a majestic mien, overtook and attacked the other again, which placed itself in a similar attitude, and prepared to resist. the scene was uncommon and beautiful; for, thus opposed, they fought with their jaws, biting each other with the utmost rage; but, notwithstanding this appearance of mutual courage and fury, the water snake still seemed desirous of retreating towards the ditch, its natural element. this was no sooner perceived by the keen-eyed black one, than, twisting its tail twice round a stalk of hemp, and seizing its adversary by the throat, not by means of its jaws, but by twisting its own neck twice round that of the water snake, he pulled it back from the ditch. to prevent a defeat, the latter took hold likewise of a stalk on the bank, and, by the acquisition of that point of resistance, became a match for his fierce antagonist. strange was this to behold; two great snakes strongly adhering to the ground, mutually fastened together by means of the writhings which lashed them to each other, and stretched at their full length; they pulled, but pulled in vain; and in the moments of greatest exertion, that part of their bodies which was entwined seemed extremely small, while the rest appeared inflated, and now and then convulsed with strong undulations rapidly following each other. their eyes appeared on fire, and ready to start out of their heads. at one time the conflict seemed decided; the water snake bent itself into great folds, and by that operation rendered the other more than commonly outstretched; the next minute the new struggles of the black one gained an unexpected superiority; it acquired two great folds likewise, which necessarily extended the body of its adversary in proportion as it had contracted its own. these efforts were alternate; victory seemed doubtful, inclining sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other, until at last the stalk to which the black snake was fastened suddenly gave way, and, in consequence of this accident, they both plunged into the ditch. the water did not extinguish their vindictive rage, for by their agitations i could still trace, though i could not distinguish, their attacks. they soon reappeared on the surface, twisted together, as in their first onset; but the black snake seemed to retain its wonted superiority, for its head was exactly fixed above that of the other, which it incessantly pressed down under the water, until its opponent was stifled, and sank. the victor no sooner perceived its enemy incapable of further resistance, than, abandoning it to the current, it returned to the shore and disappeared." fates of the families of english poets. it is impossible to contemplate the early death of byron's only child without reflecting sadly on the fates of other females of our greatest poets. shakspeare and milton, each died without a son, but both left daughters, and both names are now extinct. shakspeare's was soon so. addison had an only child--a daughter, a girl of some five or six years at her father's death. she died, unmarried, at the age of eighty or more. farquhar left two girls, dependant on the friendship of his friend wilkes, the actor, who stood nobly by them while he lived. they had a small pension from the government, and having long outlived their father, and seen his reputation unalterably established, both died unmarried. the son and daughter of coleridge both died childless. the two sons of sir walter scott died without children--one of two daughters died unmarried, and the scotts of abbotsford and waverley are now represented by the children of a daughter. how little could scott foresee the sudden failure of male issue? the poet of the "fairie queen" lost a child when very young by fire, when the rebels burned his house in ireland. some of the poets had sons and no daughters. thus we read of chaucer's son,--of dryden's sons,--of the sons of burns,--of allan ramsey's son,--of dr. young's son,--of campbell's son,--of moore's son,--and of shelley's son. ben johnson survived all his children. some, and those amongst the greatest, died unmarried--butler, cowley, congreve, otway, prior, pope, gay, thompson, cowper, akenside, shenstone, collins, gray, goldsmith, and rogers, who lately died. some were unfortunate in their sons in a sadder way than death could make them. lady lovelace has left three children--two sons and a daughter. her mother is still alive to see, perhaps, with a softened spirit, the shade of the father beside the early grave of his only child. ada's looks, in her later years--years of suffering, borne with gentle and womanly fortitude--have been happily caught by mr. henry phillips, whose father's pencil has preserved to us the best likeness of ada's father. jeffery hudson, the dwarf of the court of charles i. the celebrated dwarf of whom we here give a sketch, was born at oakham in rutlandshire in , and about the age of seven or eight, being then but eighteen inches high, was retained in the service of the duke of buckingham, who resided at burleigh-on-the-hill. soon after the marriage of charles i., the king and queen being entertained at burleigh, little jeffery was served up at table in a cold pie, and presented by the duchess to the queen, who kept him as her dwarf. from seven years of age till thirty he shot up to three feet nine inches, and there fixed. jeffery became a considerable part of the entertainment of the court. sir william davenant wrote a poem on a battle between jeffery and a turkey cock, and in was published a very small book, called a "new year's gift," presented at court by the lady parvula to the lord minimus (commonly called little jeffery) her majesty's servant, &c. &c., written by microphilas, with a little print of jeffery prefixed. before this period jeffery was employed on a negotiation of great importance; he was sent to france to fetch a midwife for the queen; and on his return with this gentlewoman and her majesty's dancing-master, and many rich presents to the queen from her mother, mary de medicis, he was taken by the dunkirkers. this was in . besides the presents he was bringing for the queen, he lost to the value of £ , that he had received in france on his own account from the queen-mother and ladies of that court. [illustration: [++] jeffery hudson.] jeffery thus made of consequence, grew to think himself really so. he had borne with little temper the teasing of the courtiers and domestics, and had many squabbles with the king's gigantic porter. at last, being provoked by mr. crofts, a young gentleman of family, a challenge ensued; and mr. crofts coming to the rendezvous armed only with a squirt, the little creature was so enraged that a real duel ensued; and the appointment being on horseback, with pistols, to put them more on a level, jeffery, with the first fire, shot his antagonist dead on the spot. this happened in france, whither he had attended his royal mistress in the troubles. he was again taken prisoner by a turkish rover, and sold into barbary. he probably did not long remain in slavery; for at the beginning of the civil war, he was made a captain in the royal army, and in attended the queen to france, where he remained till the restoration. at last, upon suspicion of his being privy to the popish plot, he was taken up in and confined in the gate-house, westminster, where he ended his life in the sixty-third year of his age. church at newton, ireland. [illustration: [++] doorway of the church at newton, ireland.] the ancient doorway, of which, on account of its singular beauty, we give a sketch, belongs to the church which was built by the first of the montgomeries at newtown in ireland. though the church is a fine and beautiful example of architecture, no attempt whatever has been made to preserve it from sinking into ruin. the montgomeries, ancient lords of this district, were the descendants of that montgomery who accidentally killed henry ii., of france, at a tournament. some years after the sad event, which was confessedly a mischance, he was taken by catherine of medicis, put to the torture and beheaded; with the additional penalty of having his children degraded to villeinnage; on his way to execution, he pronounced this noble and memorable sentence, in reference to the punishment inflicted on his children, "if they have not the virtue to raise themselves again, i consent to their degradation." interesting calculation. some years ago, an eminent zoologist gave the following table as his estimate of the probable number of existing species of animals, deduced from facts and principles then known. later discoveries tend to increase rather than to diminish the estimate. quadrupeds , birds , reptiles , fishes , insects , worms , radiata , polypes, &c. , testacea , naked testacea making an aggregate of , species. vitality of superstition. in the "annual register" for , an instance of the belief in witchcraft is related, which shows how superstition lingers. a dispute arose in the little village of glen, in leicestershire, between two old women, each of whom vehemently accused the other of witchcraft. the quarrel at last ran so high that a challenge ensued, and they both agreed to be tried by the ordeal of swimming. they accordingly stripped to their shifts--procured some men, who tied their thumbs and great toes together, cross-wise, and then, with a cart-rope about their middle, suffered themselves to be thrown into a pool of water. one of them sank immediately, but the other continued struggling a short time upon the surface of the water, which the mob deeming an infallible sign of her guilt, pulled her out, and insisted that she should immediately impeach all her accomplices in the craft. she accordingly told them that, in the neighbouring village of burton, there were several old women "as much witches as she was." happily for her, this negative information was deemed sufficient, and a student in astrology, or "white-witch," coming up at the time, the mob, by his direction, proceeded forthwith to burton in search of all the delinquents. after a little consultation on their arrival, they went to the old woman's house on whom they had fixed the strongest suspicion. the poor old creature on their approach locked the outer door, and from the window of an upstairs room asked what they wanted. they informed her that she was charged with being guilty of witchcraft, and that they were come to duck her; remonstrating with her at the same time upon the necessity of submission to the ordeal, that, if she were innocent, all the world might know it. upon her persisting in a positive refusal to come down, they broke open the door and carried her out by force, to a deep gravel-pit full of water. they tied her thumbs and toes together and threw her into the water, where they kept her for several minutes, drawing her out and in two or three times by the rope round her middle. not being able to satisfy themselves whether she were a witch or no, they at last let her go or more properly speaking, they left her on the bank to walk home by herself, if she ever recovered. next day they tried the same experiment upon another woman, and afterwards upon a third; but fortunately, neither of the victims lost her life from this brutality. many of the ringleaders in the outrage were apprehended during the week, and tried before the justices at quarter-sessions. two of them were sentenced to stand in the pillory and to be imprisoned for a month; and as many as twenty more were fined in small sums for the assault, and bound over to keep the peace for a twelvemonth. small feet of the chinese ladies. the compression of ladies' feet to less than half their natural size is not to be regarded as a mark, or as a consequence, of the inferiority of the sex; it is merely a mark of gentility. various accounts are given of the origin of this custom. one is, that an emperor was jealous of his wife, and to prevent her from gadding abroad, put her feet in iron stocks. another is, that a certain empress, tan-ke (b.c. ), was born with club-feet, and that she caused the emperor to issue an edict, adopting her foot as the model of beauty, and requiring the compressing of female infants' feet so as to conform to the imperial standard. while a third account is, that the emperor le-yuh (a.d. ) was amusing himself one day in his palace, when the thought occurred to him that he might improve the appearance of the feet of a favourite concubine. he caused her feet to be so bent as to raise the instep into an arch, to resemble the new moon. the figure was much admired by the courtiers, who soon began to introduce it into their families. it is said that another emperor, two hundred years later, placed a stamp of the lotus-flower (water-lily) on the sole of the small shoe of his favorite concubine, so that at every step she took she left on the ground the print of the flower; hence girls with small feet are complimented at the present day as "the golden lilies." the operation of bandaging and compressing the feet is very painful; children cry very much under it. mortification of the feet has been known to result from the cruel practice. custom, however, imposes it as a necessary attraction in a woman. an old gentleman at canton, being asked the reason why he had bandaged his daughter's feet, replied, that if she had large feet she could not make a good marriage. wonderful construction of the sea-urchin. professor forbes informs us that in a moderate-sized urchin there are sixty-two rows of pores in each of the ten avenues, and as there are three pairs of pores in each row, the total number of pores is , ; but as each sucker occupies a pair of pores, the number of suckers is , . he says, also, that there are above three hundred plates of one kind, and nearly as many of another, all dovetailing together with the greatest nicety and regularity, bearing on their surfaces above , spines, each spine perfect in itself, and of a complicated structure, and having a free movement in its socket. "truly," he adds, "the skill of the great architect of nature is not less displayed in the construction of a sea-urchin than in the building up of a world!" ivory sceptre of louis xii. [illustration: [++] ivory sceptre.] the above engraving represents an ivory sceptre, or main de justice, which was made at the early part of the sixteenth century for louis xii., king of france. the three parts , , , screw together and form the sceptre. fig. is the hand on the top of the sceptre, given on a larger scale, showing the ring set with a small pearl, worn on the third finger. fig. is the inscription on the sceptre; it is engraved in relievo upon three of the convex decorations, and commences on the lowest one. tomb of cÆcilia metella. [illustration: [++] tomb of cæcilia metella.] of the tombs of consular rome nothing remains except perhaps the sarcophagus of scipio; and it is only on the eve of the empire that we meet with the well-known one of cæcilia metella, the wife of crassus, which is not only the best specimen of a roman tomb now remaining to us, but the oldest building of the imperial city of which we have an authentic date. it consists of a bold square basement about ft. square, which was originally ornamented in some manner not now intelligible. from this rose a circular tower about ft. in diameter, of very bold masonry, surmounted by a brace of ox-skulls with wreaths joining them, and a well-profiled cornice: or courses of masonry above this seem to have belonged to the original work; and above this, almost certainly, in the original design rose a conical roof, which has perished. the tower having been used as a fortress in the middle ages, battlements have been added to supply the place of the roof, and it has been otherwise disfigured, so as to detract much from its beauty as now seen. still we have no tomb of the same importance so perfect, nor one which enables us to connect the roman tombs so nearly with the etruscan. the only addition in this instance is that of the square basement or podium, though even this was not unknown at a much earlier period, as for instance in the tomb of aruns. the exaggerated height of the circular base is also remarkable. here it rises to be a tower instead of a mere circular base of stones for the earthen cone of the original sepulchre. the stone roof which probably surmounted the tower was a mere reproduction of the original earthen cone. pogonias. these vocal fish differ from the umbrinas in having their jaws tagged laterally with many, in place of carrying but one barbel at the symphysis. schoeff reports of them that they will assemble round the keel of a vessel at anchor, and serenade the crew; and mr. john white, lieutenant in the navy of the united states, in his voyage to the seas of china, relates to the same purpose, that being at the mouth of the river of cambodia, the ship's company were "astonished by some extraordinary sounds which were heard around the bottom of the vessel. they resembled," he says, "a mixture of the bass of the organ, the sound of bells, the guttural cries of a large frog, and the tones which imagination might attribute to an enormous harp; one might have said the vessel trembled with it. the noises increased, and finally formed a universal chorus over the entire length of the vessel and the two sides. in proportion as we went up the river the sounds diminished, and finally ceased altogether." as the interpreter told captain white, the ship had been followed by a "troop of fish of an oval and flattened form," they were most probably pogonias. humboldt met with a similar adventure in the south sea, but without suspecting its cause. "on february th, , at seven p.m., the whole crew was astounded by a very extraordinary noise, resembling drums beaten in the air; we at first attributed it to the breakers; speedily it was heard all over the vessel, especially towards the poop, and was like the noise which escapes from fluid in a state of ebullition; we began to fear there might be some leak in the bottom. it was heard synchronously in all parts of the vessel, but finally, about nine p.m., ceased altogether." how these fish manage to _purr_ in the deep, and by means of what organ they communicate the sound to the external air, is wholly unknown. some suppose it to proceed from the swim-bladder; but if that be the drum, what is the drumstick that beats upon it? and cushioned as it is in an obese envelope and without issue, the swim-bladder cannot be a bagpipe or wind instrument. curious advertisement. the following appeared in the public papers of january th, :--"whereas frances, wife of the right honourable the lord viscount vane, has, for some months past, absented herself from her husband, and the rest of her friends:--i do hereby promise to any person or persons who shall discover where the said lady vane is concealed, to me, or to francis hawes, esq. her father, so that either of us may come to the speech of her, the sum of £ , as a reward, to be paid by me on demand at my lodgings in piccadilly. i do also promise the name of the person, who shall make such discovery, shall be concealed, if desired. any person concealing or lodging her after this advertisement, will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour; or, if her ladyship will return to me, she may depend upon being kindly received. she is about twenty-two years of age, tall, well-shaped, has light-brown hair, is fair-complexioned, and has her upper teeth placed in an irregular manner. she had on, when she absented, a red damask french sacque, and was attended by a french woman, who speaks very bad english. "vane." the eye of the chameleon. a most extraordinary aspect is communicated to chameleons by the structure and movements of their eyes. in the first place, the head is enormous, and, being three-sided, with projecting points and angles, makes a sufficiently uncouth visage; but the eyes which illuminate this notable head-piece must, indeed, to borrow for the nonce the phraseology of barnum, "be seen to be appreciated." there is on each side an immense eye-ball, full and prominent, but covered with the common shagreened skin of the head, except at the very entre, where there is a minute aperture, corresponding to the pupil. these great punctured eye-balls roll about hither and thither, but with no symmetry. you cannot tell whether the creature is looking at you or not; he seems to be taking what may be called a general view of things--looking at nothing in particular, or rather, to save time, looking at several things at once. perhaps both eyes are gazing upwards at your face; a leaf quivers behind his head, and in a moment _one eye_ turns round towards the object, while the other retains its upward gaze: presently a fly appears; one eye rapidly and interestedly follows all its movements, while the other leisurely glances hither and thither, or remains steady. accustomed as we are to see in almost all animals the two eyes move in unison, this want of sympathy produces an effect most singular and ludicrous. diving for a wife. in many of the greek islands, the diving for sponge forms a considerable part of the occupation of the inhabitants, as it has done from the most remote antiquity. hasselquist says:--"himia is a little, and almost unknown island directly opposite rhodes. it is worth notice, on account of the singular method the greeks, inhabitants of the island, have to get their living. in the bottom of the sea the common sponge is found in abundance, and more than in any other place in the mediterranean. the inhabitants make it a trade to fish up this sponge, by which they get a living far from contemptible, as their goods are always wanted by the turks, who use an incredible number of sponges at their bathings and washings. a girl in this island is not permitted by her relations to marry before she has brought up a certain quantity of sponges, and before she can give proof of her agility by taking them from a certain depth." in other islands the same custom prevails, but with reversed application, as in nicarus, where the father of a marriageable daughter bestows her on the best diver among her suitors,--"he that can stay longest in the water, and gather the most sponges, marries the maid." knight's costume of the thirteenth century. the engraving represents a knight's costume of the year , taken from the library of mss. at paris. it is that of a count hohenschwangen, of the family of welf, and depicts the wearer in a long sleeveless, dark blue surcoat, with his armorial device; a white swan on a red field with a light red border. under his coat he wears a _cap-a-pié_ suit of mail. the helmet is original, very like the greek, with the furred mantle as we see it in the seal of richard king of england, of the date of . this helmet does not appear to be a tilting helmet, which usually rests upon the shoulders; but this kind of helmet would be fastened, like the vizor with the mailed hood, by an iron throat-brace, and a leather thong. upon the covered helmet he wears the swan as a crest. the sword-hilt is of gold, the sheath black, the girdle white, the furred mantle is red, lined with white. [illustration: [++] knight's costume of .] chivalry began in europe about a.d. . from the twelfth to the fifteenth century it had considerable influence in refining the manners of most of the nations of europe. the knight swore to accomplish the duties of his profession as the champion of god and the ladies. he devoted himself to speak the truth, to maintain the right, to protect the distressed, to practise courtesy, to fulfil obligations, and to vindicate in every perilous adventure his honour and character. chivalry, which owed its origin to the feudal system, expired with it. the origin of the title of knight, as a military honour, is said to be derived from the siege of troy, but this solely depends on a passage or two in homer, and the point is disputed by several learned commentators. curious circumstance. button, in his life, tells us of one of his ancestors, a trooper, who, seeing a young girl at the river-side, lading water into her pail, cast a large stone with design to splash her; but not being versed in directing a stone so well as a bullet, he missed the water, and broke her head; he ran off. twelve years afterwards, he settled at derby, courted a young woman, and married her. in the course of their conversations he proved to be the very man who had cast the stone, and she the girl with the broken head. funereal jar. the term "funereal" has been erroneously applied to all pottery found in tombs, even where the utensils have no relation to funereal purposes, but were probably in common use. there have been found, however, in corsica vessels of earthenware, which may strictly be called "funereal." though the precise period of the fabrication of the funereal vessels found in corsica is not ascertained, they must be considered of very ancient date. these vessels, when found entire, at first appear completely closed up, and no trace of joining can be discovered. but it has been ascertained that they are composed of two equal parts, the end of one fitting exactly into the other, and so well closed that the body, or at least the bones which they contain, appear to have been placed within them before they were baked upon the kiln. diodorus siculus, in speaking of the usages of the balearic isles, states that these people were in the habit of beating, with clubs, the bodies of the dead which, when thus rendered flexible, were deposited in vessels of earthenware. this practice of the corsicans coincides singularly with that of the coroados indians, who inhabit a village on the paraïba river, near campos, in the brazils. they use large earthen vessels, called _camucis_, as funereal urns. the bodies of their chiefs, reduced to mummies, are placed in them in a bent posture, decked with their ornaments and arms, and are then deposited at the foot of the large trees of the forest. [illustration: [++] funereal jar.] the cut which we here give speaks for itself. it represents the funereal jar containing the chief as described; the animal at his feet appears to be a panther or tiger cat. writing materials. the materials used for writing on have varied in different ages and nations. among the egyptians slices of limestone, leather, linen, and papyrus, especially the last, were universally employed. the greeks used bronze and stone for public monuments, wax for memorandums and papyrus for the ordinary transactions of life. the kings of pergamus adopted parchment, and the other nations of the ancient world chiefly depended on a supply of the paper of egypt. but the assyrians and babylonians employed for their public archives, their astronomical computations, their religious dedications, their historical annals, and even for title-deeds and bills of exchange, tablets, cylinders, and hexagonal prisms of terra-cotta. two of these cylinders, still extant, contain the history of the campaign of sennacherib against the kingdom of judah; and two others, exhumed from the birs nimroud, give a detailed account of the dedication of the great temple by nebuchadnezzar to the seven planets. to this indestructible material, and to the happy idea of employing it in this manner, the present age is indebted for a detailed history of the assyrian monarchy; whilst the decades of livy, the plays of menander and the lays of anacreon, confided to a more perishable material, have either wholly or partly disappeared amidst the wreck of empires. curious dispute and appropriate decision. fuller, in his 'holy state,' p. , gives a very _apposite_ story; a poor man in paris, being very hungry, went into a cook shop, and staid there so long, (for the master was dishing-up meat,) that his appetite being lessened by the steam, he proposed to go without his meal; the cook insisted upon payment all the same. at length, the altercation was agreed to be referred to the first person that passed the door; that person happened to be a notorious idiot. having heard the complaint, he decreed that the poor man's money should be placed between two empty dishes, and that the cook should be recompensed with the jingling of his cash, as the other was with the fumes of the meat; and this little anecdote is literally matter of fact. the tea-pot. no specimen of the ceramic art possesses greater variety of form than the tea-pot. on none has the ingenuity of the potter been more fully exercised, and it is worthy of remark, that the first successful production of böttcher in hard porcelain was a tea-pot. the so-called elizabethan tea-pots must be of a later date, for tea was not known in england until the time of charles ii; but it is interesting to trace the gradual increase in the size of the tea-pot, from the diminutive productions of the elers, in the time of queen anne and george i., when tea was sold in apothecaries' shops, to the capacious vessel which supplied dr. johnson with "the cup that cheers but not inebriates." mr. croker, in his edition of boswell's life, mentions a tea-pot that belonged to dr. johnson which held two quarts; but this sinks into insignificance compared with the superior magnitude of that in the possession of mrs. marryat, of wimbledon, who purchased it at the sale of mrs. piozzi's effects at streatham. this tea-pot, which was the one generally used by dr. johnson, holds more than three quarts. it is of old oriental porcelain, painted and gilded, and from its capacity was well suited to the taste of one "whose tea-kettle had no time to cool, who with tea solaced the midnight hour, and with tea welcomed the morn." george iv. had a large assemblage of tea-pots, piled in pyramids, in the pavilion at brighton. mrs. elizabeth carter was also a collector of tea-pots, each of which possessed some traditionary interest, independently of its intrinsic merit; but the most diligent collector of tea-pots was the late mrs. hawes. she bequeathed no less than three hundred specimens to her daughter, mrs. donkin, who has arranged them in a room appropriated for the purpose. among them are several formerly belonging to queen charlotte. many are of the old japan; one with two divisions, and two spouts for holding both black and green tea; and another of a curious device, with a small aperture at the bottom to admit the water, there being no opening at the top, atmospheric pressure preventing the water from running out. this singular chinese toy has been copied in the rockingham ware. protracted sleep. one of the most extraordinary instances of excessive sleep is that of the lady at nismes, published in , in the "memoirs of the royal academy of sciences at berlin." her attacks of sleep took place periodically, at sunrise and about noon. the first continued till within a short time of the accession of the second, and the second continued till between seven and eight in the evening--when she awoke, and continued so till the next sunrise. the most extraordinary fact connected with this case is, that the first attack commenced always at daybreak, whatever might be the season of the year, and the other always immediately after twelve o'clock. during the brief interval of wakefulness which ensued shortly before noon, she took a little broth, which she had only time to do when the second attack returned upon her, and kept her asleep till the evening. her sleep was remarkably profound, and had all the character of complete insensibility, with the exception of a feeble respiration, and a weak but regular movement of the pulse. the most singular fact connected with her remains to be mentioned. when the disorder had lasted six months, and then ceased, the patient had an interval of perfect health for the same length of time. when it lasted one year, the subsequent interval was of equal duration. the affection at last wore gradually away; and she lived, entirely free of it, for many years after. she died in the eighty-first year of her age, of dropsy, a complaint which had no connexion with her preceding disorder. ancient suit of mail. the two figures depicted on next page represent henry of metz receiving the oriflamme from the hands of st. denis, derived from a painted window in the church of nôtre dame de chartres. the oriflamme was a red banner attached to a staff, and cut in the manner shown in our engraving. henry of metz was marshal of france, and is here represented in a complete suit of mail, his hood being thrown back upon his shoulders. this suit is perfect, even to the extremities; and it is to be remarked that the defence for the hands is divided in the manner of a common glove. over the mail is worn a loose surcoat, on which is emblazoned the cross, traversed by a red baton--the type of his high office. [illustration: [++] ancient suit of mail.] the poison cup. [illustration: [++] the poison cup.] in the time of james i. poison was too frequently resorted to, especially on the continent, as a means of getting rid of individuals who had rendered themselves obnoxious to certain parties who were prosecuting their own private ends; and so extensively did this infamous practice prevail that there was a class of persons who were known to have studied the art of secret poisoning, and whose services could be engaged for a high reward. in order to counteract the operations of the poisoners, various devices were employed, and among them was the art which the pretended magicians of those days professed to have discovered, of making a kind of glass which would fly in pieces if poison was poured into any vessel that was formed of it. the cut at the head of our article represents a tankard of this sort, in which the glass is mounted in silver gilt arabesque and silver filagree. it was believed that the large crystal which is seen standing out at the centre of the lid would become discoloured at the approach of poison. the tankard is a work of the sixteenth century, and was presented to clare hall, cambridge--where it is still preserved--by dr. william butler, an eminent physician in the time of james i. porcelain finger-rings. the porcelain finger-rings of ancient egypt are extremely beautiful; the band of the ring being seldom above one-eighth of an inch in thickness. some have a plate on which, in bas-relief, is the god _set_, or _baal_, full face, or playing on the tambourine, as the inventor of music; others have their plates in the shape of the right symbolical eye, the emblem of the sun; of a fish, of the perch species; or of a scarabæus, which is said to have been worn by the military order. some few represent flowers. those which have elliptical plates with hieroglyphical inscriptions, bear the names of amen-ra, and of other gods and monarchs, as amenophis iii., amenophis iv., and amenanchut, of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. one of these rings has a little bugle on each side, as if it had been strung on the beaded work of a mummy, instead of being placed on the finger. blue is the prevalent colour, but a few white and yellow rings, and some even ornamented with red and purple colours are found. it is not credible that these rings, of a substance finer and more fragile than glass, were worn during life. neither is it likely that they were worn by the poorer classes, for the use of the king's name on sepulchral objects seems to have been restricted to functionaries of state. some larger rings of porcelain of about an inch diameter, seven-eighths of an inch broad, and one-sixteenth of an inch thick, made in open work, represent the constantly repeated lotus flowers, and the god ra, or the sun, seated, and floating through the heaven in his boat. common as these objects were in egypt, where they were employed as substitutes for the hard and precious stones, to the greeks, etruscans, and italian greeks they were articles of luxury, just as the porcelain of china was to europeans some centuries ago. the etruscans set these bugles, beads, and amulets in settings of their exquisite gold filigree work, intermixed with gold beads and precious stones. strung as pendants they hung round the necks of the fair ones of etruria. in one of the tombs already alluded to at the polledrara, near vulci, in italy, was found a heap of annular and curious egyptian bugles, which had apparently formed a covering to some bronze objects, but the strings having given way, the beads had dropped to pieces. these, as well as the former, had been obtained from some of the egyptian markets, like that at naucratis: or from the phoenician merchants, in the same manner as the flasks. one of the most remarkable of these personal ornaments is a bracelet, composed of small fish strung together and secured by a clasp. pigeon catching near naples. between la cava and naples, about half a mile from the town, are certain bluebeard-looking towers, several centuries old, erected for the purpose of snaring wood-pigeons; with which view the gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who are generally expert and practised slingers, assemble and man the towers in may. a long line of nets, some quarter of a mile in circuit, held up in a slanting position by men concealed in stone sentry-boxes placed here and there along the _enceinte_, is spread in front. as the pigeons are seen advancing (the time of their approach is generally looked for at early dawn, when they are making for the woods), the nearest slingers commence projecting a succession of white stones in the direction of the nets. these the birds no sooner behold, then attracted, or alarmed (for the motive does not certainly appear), they swoop down upon them, and when sufficiently near to fall within reach of the nets, the persons holding let go, rush from their ambush, and secure the covey. thousands of wood-pigeons are thus, we have been told by a proprietor, annually taken, and transmitted for presents to distant friends; as we used to send out game, before the sale of it was legalised. thus birds, as well as fish, and fish as well as man, often get entangled and caught in their headlong pursuit of a pleasure that still eludes them. frame requisite to support the dress. james i., and his subjects who wished to clothe themselves loyally, wore stupendous breeches. of course the "honourable gentleman" of the house of commons were necessarily followers of the fashion. but it led to inconveniences in the course of their senatorial duties. it was an old mode revived; and at an earlier day, when these nether garments were ample enough to have covered the lower man of boanerges, the comfort of the popular representative was thus cared for:--"over the seats in the parliament-house, there were certain holes, some two inches square, in the walls, in which were placed posts to uphold a scaffold round about the house within, for them to sit upon who used the wearing of great breeches stuffed with hair like wool-sacks, which fashion being left the eighth year of elizabeth, the scaffolds were taken down, and never since put up." so says strutt; but doubtless the comforts of the members were not less cared for when the old fashion again prevailed. prices of sÈvres porcelain. as one of the curiosities of luxury and taste it is worth while to note the high prices for which some portions of the very choice collection of sèvres porcelain at stowe were sold:--a small coffee cup, which weighed scarcely three ounces, realised guineas; and another, similar, but somewhat inferior, sold for guineas. a chocolate cup and saucer, bleu de roi, with beautiful miniatures of two ladies of the court of louis xv., and four paintings of cupids, though slightly injured during the view, realised guineas. the prices obtained for most of the cups and saucers were from to guineas. a beautiful specimen of a bleu de roi cup, saucer and cover, jewelled in festoons, cameos, and imitation of pearls, sold for £ s.; and another, somewhat inferior, for guineas. a salver, mounted in a table with ormolu ornaments, sold for guineas; the companion piece for £ . henry the eighth's chair. in the earlier half of the sixteenth century a large proportion of the furniture used in this country, as well as of the earthenware and other household implements during the greater part of that century, was imported from flanders and the netherlands. hence, in the absence of engravings at home, we are led to look at the works of the flemish and german artists for illustrations of domestic manners at this period. the seats of that day were termed joint (or joined) stools and chairs. a rather fine example of a chair of this work, which was, as was often the case, three-cornered, is preserved in the ashmolean museum, at oxford, where it is reported to have been the chair of henry viii. we here annex a sketch of it. [illustration: [++] henry the eighth's chair.] mullet and turbot with the romans. the romans were enthusiastic for the mullet. it was for them _the_ fish, _par excellence_. it was sometimes served up six pounds in weight, and such a fish was worth £ sterling. it was cooked on the table, for the benefit and pleasure of the guests. in a glass vessel filled with brine made from water, the blood of the mackerel, and salt, the live mullet, stripped of all its scales, was enclosed; and as its fine pink colour passed through its dying gradations, until paleness and death ensued, the _convives_ looked on admiringly, and lauded the spectacle. the turbot was next in estimation, but as, occasionally, offending slaves were flung into the turbot preserves for the fish to feed upon, some gastronomists have affected to be horror-stricken at the idea of eating a _turbot a la romaine_; quite forgetting that so many of our sea-fish, in their domain, feed largely on the human bodies which accident, or what men call by that name, casts into the deep. "too late," quoth boice. the history of the ancient castle of maynooth is one of much interest; abounding in incidents akin to romance. in the reign of henry the eighth, during the rebellion of "silken thomas," one of the bravest and most heroic of the geraldines, it was taken by treachery. in the absence of its lord, the governorship was entrusted to "christopher parese," his foster-brother. this "white-livered traitor resolved to purchase his own security with his lord's ruin;" and therefore sent a letter to the lord-deputy, signifying that he would betray the castle, on conditions; "and here the devil betrayed the betrayer, for in making terms for his purse's profit, he forgot to include his person's safety." the lord-deputy readily accepted his offer, and, accordingly, the garrison having gained some success in a sally, and being encouraged by the governor in a deep joyous carouse, the ward of the tower was neglected--the traitorous signal given, and the english scaled the walls. they obtained possession of the strong-hold, and put the garrison to the sword--"all except two singing men, who, prostrating themselves before the deputy, warbled a sweet sonnet called _dulcis amica_, and their melody saved their lives." parese, expecting some great reward, with impudent familiarity presented himself before the deputy, who addressed him as follows:--"master parese, thou hast certainly saved our lord the king much charge, and many of his subjects' lives, but that i may better know to advise his highness how to reward thee, i would ascertain what the lord thomas fitzgerald hath done for thee?" parese, highly elevated at this discourse, recounted, even to the most minute circumstance, all the favours that the geraldine, even from his youth up, had conferred on him, to which the deputy replied, "and how, parese, couldst thou find it in thy heart to betray the castle of so kind a lord? here, mr. treasurer, pay down the money that he has covenanted for; and here, also, executioner, without delay, as soon as the money is counted out, cut off his head!" "oh," quoth parese, "had i known this, your lordship should not have had the castle so easily." whereupon mr. boice, a secret friend of the fitzgerald, a bystander, cried out "auntraugh," _i. e._ "too late," which occasioned a proverbial saying, long afterwards used in ireland--"too late, quoth boice." the castle is said by archdall to have been erected by john, the sixth earl of kildare, early in the fifteenth century; but in that case it must have been preceded by some other defensive structure; for it is certain that the kildare branch of the geraldines resided at maynooth at a much earlier period. the first earl of kildare, john fitz thomas, was created by patent, dated th may, . suppressed bibles. .--an english bible, in folio, printed at paris, unfinished. .--dutch bible by jacob van leisvelt. the sixth and best edition given by leisvelt, and famous as being the cause of this printer being beheaded. .--french bible by rene benoist, paris, , folio, vols. completed. .--swedish bible, printed at lubeck, in to., very defective. .--a german bible, printed at helmstedt, in part only, to. .--a french bible, by marolles, in folio, containing only the books of genesis, exodus, and the first twenty-three chapters of leviticus. extraordinary reproductive power of the hydra. one of the fresh-water polypes, from its power of perpetual reproduction, has received the name of _hydra_, by which it is known among naturalists: as if it realised the ancient monster of fabulous story, whose heads sprouted anew as fast as they were cut off by hercules. most curious monstrosities were produced by the experiments of philosophers on these animals, especially by partial separations. if a polype be slit from the summit to the middle, one will be formed having two heads, each of which will capture and swallow food. if these again be slit half-a-dozen times, as many heads will be formed surmounting the same body. if now all these be cut off, as many new ones will spring up in their place, while each of the severed heads becomes a new polype, capable of being, in its turn, varied and multiplied _ad infinitum_;--so that in every respect our little reality exceeds its fabulous namesake. the polypes may be grafted together. if cut-off pieces be placed in contact, and pushed together with a gentle force, they will unite and form a single one. the head of one may be thus planted on the trunk of another. another method of uniting them, perhaps still more wonderful, is by introducing one within the other; the operator forced the body of the one into the mouth of the other, pushing it down so that the heads were brought together. after forcibly keeping it for some time in this state, the two individuals at length united, and a polype was formed, distinguishable only by having twice the usual number of tentacles. there is one species which can actually be turned inside out like a glove, and yet perform all the functions of life as before, though that which was the coat of the stomach is now the skin of the body and _vice versâ_. if it should chance that a polype so turned had young in the act of budding, these are, of course, now within the stomach. if they have arrived at a certain degree of maturity, they extend themselves towards the mouth of the parent, that they may thus escape when separated. but those which are less advanced turn themselves spontaneously inside out, and thus place themselves again on the exterior of the parent. a multitude of other variations, combinations, and monstrosities, have been, as it were, created by the ingenuity of philosophers; but these are sufficient to give a notion of the extraordinary nature of these animals; and to account for the wonder with which they were regarded. egypt. egypt was the land visited by abraham in search of food, when there was a famine in his own country;--the land to which joseph was carried as a slave, and which he governed as prime minister. from egypt, moses led the israelites through the waters of the red sea. here jeremiah wrote his lamentations. here solon, pythagoras, plato, and many other greek philosophers, came to study. here alexander the great came as conqueror; and here the infant saviour was brought by his parents to avoid the persecution of herod. egyptian hieroglyphics, in which the characters are taken from visible objects, are the earliest form of writing; and the hebrew and greek alphabets were both borrowed from them. egypt taught the world the use of paper--made from its rush, the papyrus. in egypt was made the first public library, and first college of learned men, namely, the alexandrian museum. there euclid wrote his elements of geometry, and theocritus his poems, and lucian his dialogues. the beauty of cleopatra, the last egyptian queen, held julius cæsar, and then marc antony, captive. in egypt were built the first monasteries; the christian fathers, origen and athanasius, lived there. the arien and athanasian controversy began there. the buildings which now remain are the oldest buildings in the world, and the largest in the world. on the banks of its great river may be seen the oldest arch, and the oldest column. up this noble river sailed herodotus, the most entertaining of travellers, and strabo, the most judicious. indeed, as the country is little more than the narrow strip that is watered by the nile's overflow, from the river may be seen almost all its great cities and temples. abyssinian ladies. the women of abyssinia are dressed quite as decently as any women in the world, without having a particle of the trouble of the ladies of more civilised nations. there is a distinguishing costume for young girls, and for those who, from being married or otherwise, are no longer considered as such. the dress of the former is indeed rather slight, though far more picturesque than that of the latter. in one part of the country (about shiré) the girls merely wear a piece of cotton stuff wrapped round the waist and hanging down almost to the knee, and another (or the end of the former, if it be long enough) thrown over the left shoulder, so as to leave the right arm and breast exposed. in other parts of tigrè, a black goat-skin, ornamented with cowries, is often substituted for this latter. an ordinary woman wears a large loose shirt down to the feet, with sleeves made tight towards the wrist. this, with a "quarry" similar to those of the men, but worn rather differently, and a parasol when out of doors, is a complete suit. a fine lady, however, as in our engraving, has a splendid "mergeff quarry," and her shirt is made probably of calico from manchester, instead of the country fabric, and richly embroidered in silk of divers colours and various patterns round the neck, down the front, and on the cuffs. she will also, of course, own a mule; and then may choose to wear (alas, that it should be so, even in abyssinia!) the inexpressibles. these are made of calico, and rather loose, but getting gradually tighter at the ankle, where they are embroidered like the shirt. [illustration: [++] abyssinian ladies.] the fair sex all over the world are fond of ornaments. in abyssinia they wear a profusion of silver, in the shape of chains, bracelets, &c., or, to be more explicit, a well-dressed lady will hang three or four sets of amulets about her neck, as well as her blue cord, and a large flat silver case (purporting to contain a talisman, but more often some scented cotton) ornamented with a lot of silver bells hanging to the bottom edge of it, and the whole suspended by four chains of the same metal. three pairs of massive silver and gilt bracelets are on her wrists, and a similar number of "bangles" on her ankles; while over her insteps and to her heels are a quantity of little silver ornaments, strung like beads on a silk cord. her fingers (even the upper joints) are covered with plain rings, often alternately of silver and silver-gilt, and a silver hair-pin, something similar to those now worn by english ladies, completes her decoration. women of the poorer class, and ladies on ordinary occasions, wear ivory or wooden pins neatly carved in various patterns, and stained red with henna-leaves. the abyssinian ladies, like those of most eastern nations, stain their hands and feet with henna, and darken their eyelids with antimony. [illustration: , . hair-pins made of hard wood, and stained with henna. . ditto, of silver and fil-et-grain work. (about one-half usual size.)] treatment of lepers in england. according to the tenor of various old civil codes and local enactments, when a person became affected with leprosy, he was looked upon as legally and politically dead, and lost the privileges belonging to his right of citizenship. by the laws of england, lepers were classed with idiots, madmen, outlaws, &c., as incapable of being heirs. but it was not by the eye of the law alone that the affected was looked upon as defunct, for the church also took the same view, and performed the solemn ceremonials of the burial of the dead over him, on the day on which he was separated from his fellow creatures, and confined to a lazar house. the various forms and ceremonies which were gone through on this occasion are described by french authors; but it is highly probable that the same observances were common in our own country. a priest, robed with surplice and stole, went with the cross to the house of the doomed leper. the minister of the church began the necessary ceremonies, by exhorting him to suffer, with a patient and penitent spirit, the incurable plague with which god had stricken him. he then sprinkled the unfortunate leper with holy water, and afterwards conducted him to the church, the usual burial services being sung during their march thither. in the church, the ordinary habiliments of the leper were removed; he was clothed in a funeral pall, and, while placed before the altar, between _trestles_, the libera was sung, and the mass for the dead celebrated over him. after this service he was again sprinkled with holy water, and led from the church to the house or hospital destined for his future abode. a pair of clappers, a barrel, a stick, cowl, and dress, &c., were given him. before leaving the leper, the priest solemnly interdicted him from appearing in public without his leper's garb,--from entering inns, churches, mills, and bakehouses,--from touching children, or giving them ought he had touched,--from washing his hands, or any thing pertaining to him, in the common fountains and streams,--from touching, in the markets, the goods he wished to buy, with any thing except his stick,--from eating and drinking with any others than lepers,--and he specially forbade him from walking in narrow paths, or from answering those who spoke to him in roads and streets, unless in a whisper, that they might not be annoyed with his pestilent breath, and with the infectious odour that exhaled from his body,--and last of all, before taking his departure, and leaving the leper for ever to the seclusion of the lazar house, the official of the church terminated the ceremony of his separation from his living fellow-creatures, by throwing upon the body of the poor outcast a shovelful of earth, in imitation of the closure of the grave. according to the then customary usage, leper hospitals were always provided with a cemetery for the reception of the bodies of those who had died of the malady. luminous appearance of the red sea. all who have frequented the red sea, have observed the luminous appearance or phosphorescence of its waters. "it was beautiful," says a picturesque writer, who sailed from mocha to cosseir, "to look down into this brightly transparent sea, and mark the coral, here in large masses of honeycomb-rock, there in light branches of a pale red hue, and the beds of green seaweed, and the golden sand, and the shells, and the fish sporting round the vessel, and making colours of a beauty to the eye which is not their own. twice or thrice we ran on after dark for an hour or two; and though we were all familiar with the sparkling of the sea round the boat at night, never have i seen it in other waters so superlatively splendid. a rope dipped in it and drawn forth came up as a string of gems; but with a life, and light, and motion, the diamond does not know." those sea-lights have been explained by a diversity of causes; but the singular brilliancy of the red sea seems owing to fish spawn and animalculæ, a conjecture which receives some corroboration from the circumstance that travellers who mention it visited the gulf during the spawning period--that is, between the latter end of december and the end of february. the coral-banks are less numerous in the southern parts. it deserves notice, that dr. shaw and mr. bruce have stated--what could only be true, so far as their own experience went--that they observed no species of weed or flag; and the latter proposes to translate yam zuph "the sea of coral"--a name as appropriate as that of edom. recent prices of slaves. prices of course vary at constantinople according to the vigilance of russian cruisers, and the incorruptibility of russian agents at trebizond, samsoon, and sinope. the following is the average price in circassia:-- a man of years of age, £ " " to £ " " " " " " " " " a woman of years of age, £ to £ " " " " " " " to " " " " " " " " " " " " " tattooed abyssinian lady. [illustration: [++] tattooed abyssinian lady.] the annexed cut is a sketch of an abyssinian lady, tattooed in the height of the fashion. the following extract from that interesting work "parkyns's abyssinia" gives a good account of the custom as it prevails in the larger cities there, and of the manner in which the operation is performed. "the men seldom tattoo more than one ornament on the upper part of the arm, near the shoulder, while the women cover nearly the whole of their bodies with stars, lines, and crosses, often rather tastefully arranged. i may well say nearly the whole of their persons, for they mark the neck, shoulders, breasts, and arms, down to the fingers, which are enriched with lines to imitate rings, nearly to the nails. the feet, ankles, and calves of the legs, are similarly adorned, and even the gums are by some pricked entirely blue, while others have them striped alternately blue and the natural pink. to see some of their designs, one would give them credit for some skill in the handling of their pencil; but, in fact, their system of drawing the pattern is purely mechanical. i had one arm adorned; a rather blind old woman was the artist; her implements consisted of a little pot of some sort of blacking, made, she told me, of charred herbs; a large home-made iron pin, about one-fourth of an inch at the end of which was ground fine; a bit or two of hollow cane, and a piece of straw; the two last-named items were her substitutes for pencils. her circles were made by dipping the end of a piece of a cane of the required size into the blacking, and making its impression on the skin; while an end of the straw, bent to the proper length, and likewise blackened, marked all the lines, squares, diamonds, &c., which were to be of equal length. her design being thus completed, she worked away on it with her pin, which she dug in as far as the thin part would enter, keeping the supply of blacking sufficient, and going over the same ground repeatedly to ensure regularity and unity in the lines. with some persons, the first effect of this tattooing is to produce a considerable amount of fever, from the irritation caused by the punctures; especially so with the ladies, from the extent of surface thus rendered sore. to allay this irritation, they are generally obliged to remain for a few days in a case of vegetable matter, which is plastered all over them in the form of a sort of green poultice. a scab forms over the tattooing, which should not be picked off, but allowed to fall off of itself. when this disappears, the operation is complete, and the marks are indelible; nay more, the abyssinians declare that they may be traced on the person's bones even after death has bared them of their fleshy covering." bulgarian fishermen. the following interesting account of the bulgarian fishermen on the shores of the black sea is taken from the translation of a narrative of a boat excursion made in by m. xavier hommaire, along part of the northern coast of the black sea:-- [illustration: [++] bulgarian fishermen.] "the fishermen are, almost without exception, bulgarians--a population at once maritime and agricultural, very closely resembling, in race and costume, the bretons of france--and they enjoy a monopoly of all the fisheries in the bosphorus and the adjacent parts of the black sea. their elegant barks appeared on stated days and hours, shooting along with extraordinary rapidity through the waters of the gulf of buyuk déreh, which appears to be their head-quarters, and sustaining the test of comparison even with the famous caiques of constantinople. the most important object of their fishery is a delicious kind of small thunny, called palamede. they are bulgarians, also, who own the singular fisheries which form such admirable subjects for the artist's sketch-book. they are found throughout the bosphorus, from bechiktusch and scutari to the lighthouses of europe and asia. they might be called dog-kennels, but rickety and worm-eaten with antiquity, and are suspended by means of cords, pegs, and tatters to the top of an indescribable framework of props. there on high, petrified in motionless and uninterrupted silence, in company with some old pots of mignionette (where will not the love of flowers find a home!), a man, with the appearance of a wild beast or savage, leans over the sea, at the bottom of which he watches the passage of its smallest inhabitants, and the capricious variations of the current. at a certain distance is arranged, in the form of a square, a system of nets, which, at the least signal from the watcher, fall on the entire shoal of fish. a contrivance yet more primitive than these airy cells, if not so picturesque, was that of simple posts, which we encountered some time before in the channel of the bosphorus, rising about fifteen feet above the surface of the water. half-way up is perched, crouching (one cannot see how), something having the human form, and which is found to be a bulgarian. for a long time i watched them without being able to make them out, either pole or its tenant; and often have i seen them in the morning, and observed them again in the evening, not having undergone the least change of posture. "on returning to our encampment, the commandant of the fort, to whom we paid a visit, gave us a very different report of the fishermen of the morning, whom he described as an assemblage of all the vagabonds of the neighbourhood. convinced even that the fact of their having fallen in with us must have inspired them with the project of coming to prowl by night round our camp, he wished us to accept some of the men in his garrison as a guard." horses of the arabs. arabs make intimate friends of their horses, and so docile are these creatures that they are ridden without a bit, and never struck or spurred. they share their owner's diet, and are as well cared for as a child. they divide their horses, however, into two kinds: the one they call kadischi, that is, horses of an unknown birth; the other, they call kochlani, that is, horses whose genealogy is known for thousands of years. they are direct descendants, so they say, of the stud of solomon. the pedigree of an arabian horse is hung round his neck soon after his birth, which is always properly witnessed and attested. the following is the pedigree of a horse purchased by a french officer in arabia:--"in the name of god, the merciful and compassionate, and of saed mahomed, agent of the high god, and of the companions of mahommed, and of jerusalem. praised be the lord, the omnipotent creator. this is a high-bred horse, and its colt's tooth is here in a bag about his neck, with his pedigree, and of undoubted authority, such as no infidel can refuse to believe. he is the son of rabbamy, out of the dam labadah, and equal in power to his sire of the tribe of zazhalah; he is finely moulded, and made for running like an ostrich. in the honours of relationship, he reckons zuluah, sire of mahat, sire of kallac, and the unique alket sire of manasseh, sire of alsheh, father of the race down to the famous horse, the sire of lahalala; and to him be ever abundance of green meat, and corn, and water of life, as a reward from the tribe of zazhalah; and may a thousand branches shade his carcass from the hyæna of the tomb, from the howling wolf of the desert; and let the tribe of zazhalah present him with a festival within an enclosure of walls; and let thousands assemble at the rising of the sun in troops hastily, where the tribe holds up under a canopy of celestial signs within the walls, the saddle with the name and family of the possessor. then let them strike the bands with a loud noise incessantly, and pray to god for immunity for the tribe of zoab, the inspired tribe." dilemma. protagoras, an athenian rhetorician, had agreed to instruct evalthus in rhetoric, on condition that the latter should pay him a certain sum of money if he gained his first cause. evalthus when instructed in all the precepts of the art, refused to pay protagoras, who consequently brought him before the areopagus, and said to the judges--"any verdict that you may give is in my favour: if it is on my side, it carries the condemnation of evalthus; if against me, he must pay me, because he gains his first cause." "i confess," replied evalthus, "that the verdict will be pronounced either for or against me; in either case i shall be equally acquitted: if the judges pronounce in my favour, you are condemned; if they pronounce for you, according to our agreement, i owe you nothing, for i lose my first cause." the judges being unable to reconcile the pleaders, ordered them to reappear before the court a hundred years afterwards. oriental extravagance. mr. forbes has given a curious picture of the kind of magnificence affected by asuf ul dowlah, who succeeded his father on the throne of oude. this nabob was fond of lavishing his treasures on gardens, palaces, horses, elephants, european guns, lustres, and mirrors. he expended annually about £ , in english manufactures. he had more than one hundred gardens, twenty palaces, one thousand two hundred elephants, three thousand fine saddle horses, one thousand five hundred double-barrel guns, seventeen hundred superb lustres, thirty thousand shades of various forms and colours; seven hundred large mirrors, girandoles and clocks. some of the latter were very curious, richly set with jewels, having figures in continual movement, and playing tunes every hour; two of these clocks only, cost him thirty thousand pounds. without taste or judgment, he was extremely solicitous to possess all that was elegant and rare; he had instruments and machines of every art and science, but he knew none; and his museum was so ridiculously arranged that a wooden cuckoo-clock was placed close to a superb timepiece which cost the price of a diadem; and a valuable landscape of claude lorraine suspended near a board painted with ducks and drakes. he sometimes gave a dinner to ten or twelve persons, sitting at their ease in a carriage drawn by elephants. his jewels amounted to about eight millions sterling. amidst this precious treasure, he might be seen for several hours every day handling them as a child does his toys. ancient scottish chieftain. [illustration: [++] scottish costume.] annexed is a scottish costume of the eighth or ninth century, after a drawing on parchment, extracted from an old book, which, according to the characters on the back, appears to have been written in gaelic or erse. according to the assertion of the possessor, this caledonian document was brought to germany in the year , during the devastating reformation in scotland, when all cloisters and religious endowments were destroyed, and a perfect victory obtained over the episcopacy, so that many persons took refuge with their treasures, on the continent, where the scottish monks possessed many religious houses; some being at nuremberg. our figure represents a highland chief, whose dress is picturesque and extremely beautiful. the scottish tunic or blouse, checkered or striped in light and dark green, with violet intermixed, and bordered with violet stripes, is covered with a steel breastplate, accompanied by a back-piece, judging from the iron brassarts--positively a bequest of the romans, by whom the scots were once subjugated; this, indeed, is also attested by the offensive weapon the javelin; the sword, however, must be excepted, for it is national and like that of the present time. the strong shield may also have descended from the romans, as well as the helmet, which is decorated with an eagle's wing; these, together with the hunting-horn, give to the figure a very imposing appearance. the national plaid is wanting, this was borne by attendants or squires. we are involuntarily reminded of the heroes of fingal and ossian, and we might almost think that this figure belonged to the time of the scottish king, kenneth the second, grandson of king achaias, and the sister of the pictish king, hang. greek vases. vases of various shapes have been found in the sepulchres of greece, such as the _oenochoe_, or jug; the _askos_, or wine-skin; the _phiale omphalotos_, or saucer having a boss in the centre; _rhyta_, or jugs, imitated from the _keras_, or horn, as well as some moulded in the shape of the human bust. vases of this class, however, occur more frequently in italy than in greece. some are of remarkable shape. one in the durand collection has its interior receded, and in the centre a medallion of the gorgon's head; at the edge is the head of a dog or fox, and to it is attached a long handle terminating in the head of an animal. similar handles are often found. another vase from sicily, also in the same collection, with a conical cover, is ornamented externally with moulded subjects of wreaths, heads of medusa, &c., painted and gilded. [illustration: [++] greek vase.] many of the vases intended for ornamental purposes are covered with a white coating, and painted with colours of the same kind as those used on the figures before described, but with few and simple ornaments, plain bands, mæanders, chequered bands and wreaths. a vase found at melos affords a curious example. we here annex a sketch of it. it consists of a number of small vases united together and arranged in a double circle round a central stand. this kind of vase is supposed to be the _kernos_, used in the mystic ceremonies to hold small quantities of viands. by some persons, however, it is thought to have been intended for eggs or flowers. it is covered with a white coating of clay, and the zigzag stripes are of a maroon colour. such vases might have been used for flower-pots, and have formed small temporary gardens like those of adonis, or have been employed as lamps. queen elizabeth's dresses. the list of the queen's wardrobe, in , shows us that she had then only robes, kirtles, gowns (round, loose, and french), foreparts, petticoats, and fans, not to mention cloaks, save guards, doublets, and lap mantles. her gowns were of the richest materials--purple, gold tissue, crimson satin, cloth of gold, cloth of silver, white velvet, munsy cloth, tawney satin, horse-flesh coloured satin, isabella coloured satin dove coloured velvet, lady blush satin, drake coloured satin, and [...] coloured satin. the cloaks are of perfumed leather, black taffety; the petticoats of blue satin; the jupes of orange coloured satin; the doublets of straw coloured satin; the mantles of white blush, striped with red swan's down. the most characteristic dresses are the following:-- a frock of cloth of silver, checquered with red silk, like bird's eyes, with demi sleeves, a cut of crimson velvet twisted on with silver, lined with crimson velvet. a mantle of white lawn, cut and turned in, embroidered all over with works of silver, like pomegranates, roses, honeysuckles, and acorns. one french kirtle of white satin, cut all over, embroidered with loops, flowers, and clouds of venice gold, silver, and silk. one round kirtle of white satin, embroidered all over with the work like flames, peascods, and pillars, with a border likewise embroidered with roses. the stomacher (fore part) of white satin, embroidered very fair with borders of the sun, moon, and other signs and planets of venice gold, silver, and silk of sundry colours, with a border of beasts beneath, likewise embroidered. other gowns we find adorned with bees, spiders, flies, worms, trunks of trees, pansies, oak leaves, and mulberries; so that "bess" must have looked like an illustrated edition of _Æsop's fables_. in one case she shines in rainbows, clouds, flames of fire, and suns; in another, with fountains and trees, snakes, and grasshoppers; the buttons themselves, in one instance, assume the shape of butterflies, in another of birds of paradise. the fans were of white and coloured feathers, with gold handles set with precious stones, or of crystal and heliotrope; one of them contained a looking-glass, another leicester's badge of the bear and ragged staff. her swords had gilt handles and blood-stone studs; her poniards were gold and ivory, ornamented with tassels of blue silk; her slippers of cloth of silver, and of orange-coloured velvet, embroidered with seed pearls; her parasol was of crimson velvet damask, striped with venetian gold and silver lace, the handle mother-of-pearl. her jewels were both numerous and curious: the head ornaments resembling a white lion with a fly on his side, a golden fern-branch with a lizard, ladybird, and a snail upon it, an irish dart of gold set with diamonds, a golden rose with a fly and spider upon it, a golden frog set with jewels, a golden daisy, and emerald buttons, gown studs of rubies and pearls, and a chain of golden scallop shells, with chains of agate and jet. a sumptuous magnificence was the characteristic of the costume of this reign. when elizabeth visited the earl of hertford, at elvetham, that nobleman met her with , followers, with black and yellow feathers in their hats, and most of them wearing gold chains. when she visited suffolk, bachelors in white velvet, with as many burghers in black velvet coats and gold chains, and serving-men received on horseback. for the french ambassador's amusement, in , men-at-arms, clad in velvet, with chains of gold, mustered in arms in greenwich park; and on another occasion there was a tournament on midsummer (sunday) night at the palace of westminster, between ten knights in white, led by the earl of essex, and ten knights in blue, led by the earl of rutland. care of the beard. the mahometans are very superstitious touching the beard. they bury the hairs which come off in combing it, and break them first, because they believe that angels have charge of every hair, and that they gain them their dismissal by breaking it. selim i. was the first sultan who shaved his beard, contrary to the law of the koran. "i do it," said he apologetically to the scandalized and orthodox mufti, "to prevent my vizier leading me by it." he cared less for it than some of our ancestors, two centuries ago, did for their own. they used to wear pasteboard covers over them in the night, lest they should turn upon them and rumple them in their sleep! the famous raskolniki schismatics had a similar superstition to the mahometan one mentioned above. they considered the divine image in man to reside in the beard. dole in consequence of a dream. at newark-upon-trent, a curious custom, founded upon the preservation of alderman clay and his family by a dream has prevailed since the days of cromwell. on th march every year, penny-loaves are given away to every one who chooses to appear at the town hall and apply for them, in commemoration of the alderman's deliverance, during the siege of newark by the parliamentary forces. this gentleman, by will, dated th december, , gave to the mayor and aldermen, one hundred pounds, the interest of which was to be given to the vicar yearly, on condition of his preaching an annual sermon. another hundred pounds were also appropriated for the behoof of the poor, in the way above-mentioned. the origin of this bequest is singular. during the bombardment of newark by oliver cromwell's forces, the alderman dreamed three nights successively that his house had taken fire, which produced such a vivid impression upon his mind, that he and his family left it, and in a few days the circumstances of his vision actually took place, by the house being burned down by the besiegers. glove money. gloves were popular new-year's gifts, or sometimes "glove-money" in place of them; occasionally, these gloves carried gold pieces in them. when sir thomas more was chancellor, he decided a case in favour of mrs. croaker against lord arundel; the former, on the following new-year's day, gratefully presented the judge with a pair of gloves with forty angels in them. "it would be against good manners," said the chancellor, "to forsake a gentlewoman's new-year's gift, and i accept the gloves. the _lining_ you will elsewhere bestow." glaives. the glaive was derived from the celtic custom of placing a sword with a hollow handle at the end of a pole, called by the natives of wales "llavnawr"--_the blade weapon_, and takes its name from the cleddyv, or gleddyv, of the welsh. in an abstract of the grants of the st of richard iii., among the harleian mss., no. , is a warrant to nicholas spicer, authorising him to impress smiths for making , welsh glaives; and s. d. are charged for glaives, with their staves, made at abergavenny and llanllolved. in the romaunt of guy, earl of warwick, by walter of exeter, written in the time of edward ii., also in the harleian library of the british museum, they are called gleves; thus-- "grant coupes de gleves trenchant les escurs ne lur vailut gans." "such powerful strokes from cutting gleves, that the shields were not worth a glove." [illustration: [++] glaive.] they were also in frequent use on the continent, and the "chronicle of flanders" mentions an instance of the cavalry having armed themselves with glaives, which they ornamented with pennoncels. the specimen which we have here engraved is one which was made for the doge of venice, during the time that the emperor charles v. had the command there, in compliment to whom the centre ornament is the austrian eagle. upon this the arms of the succeeding doge, francisco veneri, who held the office from to , have been deeply incised, no doubt to commemorate the expulsion of the germans. the pole, at the top of which the weapon was fixed, is omitted in our engraving. cruelty of francis carrara. francis carrara, the last lord of padua, was famous for his cruelties. they shew (at venice) a little box for a toilette, in which are six little guns, which are so ordered with springs, and adjusted in such a manner, that upon the opening of the trunk, the guns fired and killed the lady to whom carrara sent it for a present. they show also with this, some little pocket cross-bows and arrows of steel, with which he took pleasure to kill those he met, so secretly, that they could hardly either perceive the blow, or him that gave it. irish pipes. the accompanying figures represent the irish bagpipes in their primitive and improved forms. we have here the earliest pipes, originally the same as the scotch, as appears from a drawing made in the sixteenth century, and given in mr. bunting's work; but they now differ, in having the mouthpiece supplied by the bellows a, which, being filled by the motion of the piper's arm, to which it is fastened, fills the bag b; whence, by the pressure of the other arm, the wind is is conveyed into the chanter c, which is played on with the fingers, much like a common pipe. by means of a tube, the wind is conveyed into drones _a_, _a_, _a_, which, tuned at octaves to each other, produce a kind of cronan, or bass, to the chanter. the second cut represents the improved, or union pipes, the drones of which, tuned at thirds and fifths by the regulator, have keys attached to them, which not only produce the most delightful accords, but enable the player to perform parts of tunes, and sometimes whole tunes, without using the chanter at all. both drones and chanter can be rendered quiescent by means of stops. [illustration: common bagpipes.] [illustration: union pipes.] the pipers were at one period the "great originals" of ireland. the race is gradually departing, or at least "sobering" down into the ranks of ordinary mortals; but there was a time when the pipers stood out very prominently upon any canvas that pictured irish life. anecdotes of their eccentricities might be recorded that would fill volumes. for many years past their power has been on the wane; temperance committed sad havoc on their prospects; and at length the introduction of "brass bands" effectually destroyed the small balance that remained to them of hope. novel way of curing vicious horses. burckhardt tells us of a strange mode of curing a vicious horse. he has seen, he says, vicious horses in egypt cured of the habit of biting by presenting to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton just taken from the fire. the pain which the horse feels in biting through the hot meat causes it to abandon the practice. ground ice. every one who has watched the freezing of a lake or pond, or any other collection of still water, must be well aware that the ice begins to form on the surface in thin plates or layers, which on the continuance of the frost gradually become thicker and more solid, until the water is affected in a downward direction, and becomes, perhaps, a solid mass of ice. this is universally the case in stagnant water, but it has been repeatedly proved that in rapid and rugged streams the process of freezing is often very different. in direct opposition, as it would seem, to the laws of the propagation of heat, the ice in running water frequently begins to form at the bottom of the stream instead of the top; and this fact, while it is received with doubt by some, even among the scientific, is frequently attested by those whose business leads them to observe the phenomenon connected with rivers. millers, fishermen, and watermen find that the masses of ice with which many rivers are crowded in the winter season rise from the bottom or bed of the stream. they say that they have seen them come up to the surface, and have also borne them up with their hooks. the under part of these masses of ice they have found covered with mud or encrusted with gravel, thus bearing plain marks of the ground on which the ice had rested. the testimony of people of this class in our country agrees with that of a similar class in germany, where there is a peculiar term made use of to designate floating ice, i. e. _grundeis_ (ground-ice). a striking example of the formation of ground-ice is mentioned by the commander steenk, of pillau. on the th of february, , during a strong south-east wind, and a temperature a little exceeding ° fahr., a long iron chain, to which the buoys of the fair-way are fastened, and which had been lost sight of at schappeiswrack in a depth of from fifteen to eighteen feet, suddenly made its appearance at the surface of the water and swam there; it was, however, completely encrusted with ice to the thickness of several feet. stones, also, of from three to six pounds' weight, rose to the surface; they were surrounded with a thick coat of ice. a cable, also, three and a half inches thick, and about thirty fathoms long, which had been lost the preceding summer in a depth of thirty feet, again made its appearance by swimming to the surface; but it was enveloped in ice to the thickness of two feet. on the same day it was necessary to _warp_ the ship into harbour in face of an east wind; the anchor used for that purpose, after it had rested an hour at the bottom, became so encrusted with ice, that it required not more than half the usual power to heave it up. m. hugi, president of the society of natural history at soleure, observed, in february, , a multitude of large icy tables on the river aar. these were continually rising from the bottom, over a surface of four hundred and fifty square feet, and the phenomenon lasted for a couple of hours. two years afterwards he witnessed a similar occurrence. on the th of february, , at sunrise, and after a sudden fall in the temperature, the river began to exhibit numerous pieces of floating ice, although there was no sign of freezing on the surface, either along the banks, or in shady places where the water was calm. therefore it could not be said that the floating masses were detached from the banks. nor could they have proceeded from any large sheet of ice farther up the river, because, higher up, the river exhibited hardly any ice. besides, flakes of ice commenced soon to rise up above the bridge; towards mid-day, islands of ice were seen forming in the centre of the river; and by the next day these were twenty-three in number, the largest being upwards of two hundred feet in diameter. they were surrounded with open water, resisting a current which flowed at the rate of nearly two hundred feet in a minute, and extending over a space of one-eighth of a league. m. hugi visited them in a small boat. he landed, examined them in every direction, and discovered that there was a layer of compact ice on their surface a few inches in thickness, resting on a mass having the shape of an inverted cone, of a vertical height of twelve or thirteen feet, and fixed to the bed of the river. these cones consisted of half-melted ice, gelatinous, and much like the spawn of a frog. it was softer at the bottom than at the top, and was easily pierced in all directions with poles. exposed to the open air, the substance of the cones became quickly granulated, like the ice that is formed at the bottom of rivers. in the same year the pebbles in a creek of shallow water, near a very rapid current of the rhine, were observed to be covered with a sort of transparent mass, an inch or two in thickness, and which, on examination, was found to consist of icy spicula, crossing each other in every direction. large masses of spongy ice were also seen in the bed of the stream, at a depth of between six or seven feet. the watermen's poles entered these with ease, and often bore them to the surface. this kind of ice forms most quickly in rivers whose bed is impeded with stones and other foreign bodies. hindoo computation. the hindoos call the whole of their four ages a _divine age_; a thousand divine ages form a _calpa_, or one of brahma's days, who, during that period, successively invested fourteen _menus_, or holy spirits, with the sovereignty of the earth. the _menu_ transmits his empire to his posterity for seventy-one divine ages, and this period is called _manawantara_, and as fourteen _manawantara_ make but nine hundred and ninety-four divine ages, there remain six, which are the twilight of brahma's day. thirty of these days form his month; twelve of these months one of his years; and one hundred of these years the duration of his existence. the hindoos assert that fifty of these years have already elapsed, so that we are in the first day of the first month of the fifty-first year of brama's age, and in the twenty-eighth divine age of the seventh _manawantara_. the first three human ages of this age, and five thousand years of the fourth are past. the hindoos therefore calculate that it is , , , , years since the birth of brahma, or the beginning of the world. chinese tomb. like all people of tartar origin, one of the most remarkable characteristics of the chinese is their reverence for the dead, or, as it is usually called, their ancestral worship. in consequence of this, their tombs are not only objects of care, but have frequently more ornament bestowed upon them than graces the dwellings of the living. [illustration: [++] chinese tomb.] their tombs are of different kinds; but the most common arrangement is that of a horseshoe-shaped platform, cut out of the side of a hill, as represented in our engraving. it consequently has a high back, in which is the entrance to the tomb, and slopes off to nothing at the entrance to the horseshoe, where the wall generally terminates with two lions or dragons, or some fantastic ornament common to chinese architecture. when the tomb is situated, as is generally the case, on a hillside, this arrangement is not only appropriate, but elegant. when the same thing is imitated on a plain, it is singular, misplaced, and unintelligible. many of the tombs are built of granite, finely polished, and carved with a profusion of labour that makes us regret that the people who can do such things should have so great a predilection for ephemeral wooden structures, when capable of employing the most durable materials with such facility. abyssinian arms. [illustration: [++] abyssinian arms.] the above engraving represents a group of abyssinian arms. the sword, spear, and shield are essentially the weapons of the abyssinians, firearms being only of comparatively recent introduction, and not generally used. the shields are round, and nearly a yard in diameter; they are very neatly made of buffalo's hide, and of the form most calculated to throw off a lance-point; namely, falling back gradually from the boss or centre (which protrudes) to the edges. at the centre, in the inside, is fixed a solid leather handle, by which the shield is held in the hand when fighting, or through which the arm is passed to the elbow, for convenience of carrying on a journey. the edge is perforated with a number of holes, through which leather loops are passed, and by these it is hung up in the houses. the face of the shield is often ornamented in various ways, according to the wealth or fancy of the owner. some have simply a narrow strip of lion's skin on each side of the boss, but crossing each other above and below it, the lower ends being allowed to hang at some length; others have a large broad strip of the mane down the centre of the shield, and hanging several inches below it. this is, of course, usually made of two or three pieces stitched together, as it would be difficult to get a single piece of sufficient length and beauty of fur. others to this add a lion's paw or tail, fastened on the left side of the mane, and often highly adorned with silver. the beautiful long black and white fur of a sort of monkey, called "goréza," occasionally supplies the place of that of the nobler yet scarcely so beautiful animal. a shield almost completely covered with plates and bosses of silver, is usually the mark of the chief of some district. those similarly plated in brass were likewise formerly used only by chiefs, though now they are carried by every soldier who can afford to buy them. the plated shield is called "tebbora." those in brass are not much approved of, as they usually cover a bad skin; for a man possessed of a good handsome shield would never think of thus hiding its intrinsic beauties. in former times a beautiful crooked knife was used in tigrè, the sheath and handle of which were profusely enriched with silver and gilt. these, however, are never worn now, the long "shotel" in tigrè, and the european-shaped sword among the amhàra and most of the soldiers, have entirely superseded them. the "shotel" is an awkward-looking weapon. some, if straight, would be nearly four feet long: they are two-edged, and curved to a semicircle, like a reaper's sickle. they are principally used to strike the point downwards over the guard of an adversary, and for this the long curved shape is admirably adapted. it is, however, a very clumsy weapon to manage. the sheath is of red morocco leather, its point being often ornamented with a hollow silver ball, called "lomita," as large as a small apple. many of the swords used are made in europe, and are such as would be carried by the light cavalry, though lighter than ours. being, however, cheap, showy articles, they are apt to break, and therefore the abyssinians are getting tired of them, preferring those made of soft iron in their own country. these they make also with the faible considerably broader than the forte, to give force to the blow. of course, they bend on the least stress; but, in defence of this failing, their owners say that, if a sword breaks, who is to mend it?--while, if it bends, you have only to sit on it, and it gets straight again. the handles of both this and the "shotel" are made of the horn of the rhinoceros. they are cut out of the horn at great loss of material, and hence they fetch a good price. it should be remembered that the heart of the horn is black, outside of which there is a coating, not quite an inch thick, of a semi-transparent white colour. to make a sword-handle, a piece of horn of the requisite length is first sawn off. this is then re-sawn longitudinally into three pieces, of which the inner one only is eligible for handles. this piece is about an inch and a half thick, four or five inches broad at the broader extremity, and three at the narrower. as it lies sawn flat before us we can distinctly see the black stripe in the centre, with the white on each side. next, a nearly semicircular piece is cut out at each side, leaving only four points of the white as four corners, and the grasp black. the handle is then finished, bored for the shank of the blade, and polished. the shank is usually clinched over a half-dollar beaten convex; a _fil-et-grain_ boss, called "timbora," is, however, sometimes substituted. a sword-hilt thus made is obviously a very clumsy one to handle, as the points are parallel to the edge, and those farthest from the blade are longest. georgians as topers. it is as unsurpassable topers, as well as for their military qualities, which have always been acknowledged, that the georgians have acquired notoriety. at their frequent drinking parties it is said they will pass several days and nights, almost without intermission, in quaffing the productions of the vineyards of kakheti, a district in the mountains east of tiflis. this wine is by no means of bad quality; it is of a deep red colour, so deep that one fancies it has been tinged with some dye to produce so intense a hue. they are said to consume incredible quantities of wine on these occasions, and in a fashion that would put to shame the drinking triumphs of ireland, recorded by sir jonah barrington, in days of old, when intoxication was the standard of spirit. the drinking vessel is a cow's horn, of considerable length, and the point of honour is to drain it at a draught. the brethren and convivial rivals of the georgians in the neighbouring provinces of imeretia and mingrelia, instead of a horn, use a delicately-hollowed globe of walnut tree, with a long narrow tube at the orifice. it holds fully a pint, and like its companion, the horn, the contents are consumed at a single gulp. how these globes are hollowed is as great a marvel as the construction of the ingenious chinese puzzle of ball within ball. stag-hunt in the sixteenth century. the following vivid picture of a stag-hunt is taken from the page of an old author, and refers to the days of the unfortunate mary queen of scots:--"in the year , the earl of athol, a prince of the blood royal, had, with much trouble and vast expense, a hunting-match for the entertainment of our most illustrious and gracious queen. our people called this a royal hunting. i was then a young man, and present on that occasion. two thousand highlanders, or wild scotch, as you call them, were employed to drive to the hunting-ground all the deer from the woods and hills of athol, badenoch, marr, murray, and the counties about. as these highlanders use a light dress, and are very swift of foot, they went up and down so nimbly, that in less than two months' time, they brought together two thousand red deer, besides roes and fallow deer. the queen, the great men, and a number of others, were in a glen when these deer were brought before them. believe me, the whole body moved forward in something like battle order. the sight delighted the queen very much; but she soon had cause for fear. upon the earl--(who had been accustomed from his early days to such sights)--addressing her thus:--'do you observe that stag who is foremost of the herd? there is danger from that stag; for if either fear or rage should force him from the ridge of that hill, let every one look to himself, for none of us will be out of the way of harm; for the rest will follow this one, and having thrown us under foot, they will open a passage to this hill behind us.' what happened a moment after confirmed this opinion; for the queen ordered one of the best dogs to be let loose on one of the deer: this the dog pursues; the leading stag was frighted; he flies by the same way he had come there; the rest rush after him, and break out where the thickest body of highlanders are; they had nothing for it but to throw themselves flat on the heath, and allow the deer to pass over them. it was told the queen that several of the highlanders had been wounded, and that two or three had been killed outright; and the whole body had got off, had not the highlanders, by their skill in hunting, fallen upon a stratagem to cut off the rear from the main body. it was of those that had been separated that the queen's dogs and those of the nobility made slaughter. there were killed that day three hundred and sixty deer, besides some roes." time wasted in taking snuff. a vast quantity of valuable time is wasted by the votaries of tobacco, especially by the smokers; and that the devotees of snuff are not greatly behind in this respect, will be shown by the following singular calculation of lord stanhope:-- "every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker," says his lordship, "at a moderate computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes. every pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the nose and other incidental circumstances, consumes one minute and a half. one minute and a half out of every ten, allowing sixteen hours to a snuff-taking day, amounts to two hours and twenty-four minutes out of every natural day, or one day out of ten. one day out of every ten, amounts to thirty-six days and a half in a year. hence, if we suppose the practice to be persisted in forty years, two entire years of the snuff-taker's life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, and two more to blowing it. the expense of snuff, snuff-boxes, and handkerchiefs, will be the subject of a second essay, in which it will appear that this luxury encroaches as much on the income of the snuff-taker as it does on his time; and that by proper application of the time and money thus lost to the public, a fund might be constituted for the discharge of the national debt." value of a long psalm. formerly a psalm was allowed to be sung at the gallows by the culprit, in case of a reprieve. it is reported of one of the chaplains to the famous montrose, that being condemned in scotland to die, for attending his master in some of his glorious exploits, and being upon the ladder, ordered to set out a psalm, he expecting a reprieve, named the th psalm (with which the officer attending the execution complied, the scotch presbyterians being great psalm-singers): and it was well for him he did so, for they had sung it half through before the reprieve came: any other psalm would have hanged him. ancient incense chariot. [illustration: [++] ancient incense chariot.] the implement which we have engraved was found in a tomb at cervetri in etruria, and unquestionably belongs to a very remote date of the archaic period. it was used in the ritual services of the ancients, and seems to have been destined for burning incense. the perfume was, no doubt, placed in the concave part, and the fact of the whole being mounted upon four wheels proves that it was intended to be moved about, which, in religious services, may have been a great convenience. the borders are adorned by a row of flower-shaped ornaments, the graceful forms of which will be appreciated in the side-view we have given of it. it must be confessed, indeed, that this monument, which is marked by the stamp of an antiquity so exceedingly remote, displays within the limits of its archaic character much elegance, conveying the idea of a highly refined taste, suitable to a person of dignified position, as the priest or king may be supposed to have been, to whom the article belonged. too much parental authority. all the world over, the current of natural affection flows strongly downwards to posterity. love for children, in most nations, seems to be stronger than the love for parents. but in china, the current of natural affection is thrown back towards parents with undue strength. the love of posterity is in danger of being checked and weakened by their excessive veneration for parents. the father has absolute power, even the power of life and death, over his children. a few years ago, a chinese father said to his wife, "what shall we do with our young son? he is undutiful and rebellious, and will bring disgrace on our family name; let us put him to death." accordingly, having tied a cord round the boy's neck, the father pulled one end of it, and the mother the other, and thus they strangled their son. the magistrates took no notice of the occurrence. a wealthy chinese gentleman at ningpo shut up one of his orphan grandchildren and starved her to death. he could not be troubled rearing her up. another man at the same place, having commanded two of his sons one day to follow him, entered a boat, and rowed out to the middle of the stream. he then deliberately tied a stone to the neck of one of his sons, and threw him into the river. the other lad was compelled to assist his father in the cruel proceeding. these facts are well known to the missionaries at that place. they heard the cries of the poor girl, and rescued her sister from a similar fate, and they saw the youth drowned by his father. but the authorities never thought of interfering. popular pastimes. the popular pastimes of the time of james the first are enumerated in the following lines, in a little work entitled "the letting of humour's blood in the head-vaine; with a new morisco daunced by seven satyres upon the bottome of diogenes' tubbe:" vo, lond. . "man, i dare challenge thee to throw the sledge, to jump or leape over ditch or hedge, to wrastle, play at stooleball, or to runne: to pitch the barre, or to shoote off a gunne: to play at loggets, nine holes, or ten pinnes: to try it out at foot-ball by the shinnes: at ticktacke, irish noddie, maw, and ruffe, at hot-cockles, leap-frog, or blindman-buffe; to drinke halfe-pots, or deale at the whole can: to play at base, or pen-and-ynkhorne sir juan; to daunce the morris, play at barley-breake, at all exploytes a man can thinke or speake; at shove-groate, venter-poynt, or crosse & pile, at beshrow him that's last at yonder style; at leaping o'er a midsommer-bon-fier, or at the drawing dun out of the myer: at any of those, or all these presently, wagge but your finger, i am for you, i!" vacillating newspapers. the newspapers of paris, submitted to the censorship of the press, in , announced in the following terms, bonaparte's departure from the isle of elba, his march across france, and his entry into the french capital:-- th march--the cannibal has escaped from his den. th--the corsican ogre has just landed at cape juan. th--the tiger has arrived at gap. th--the monster has passed the night at grenoble. th--the tyrant has crossed lyons. th--the usurper is directing his course towards dijon, but the brave and loyal burgundians have risen in a body, and they surround him on all sides. th--bonaparte is sixty leagues from the capital; he has had skill enough to escape from the hands of his pursuers. th--bonaparte advances rapidly, but he will never enter paris. th--to-morrow, napoleon will be under our ramparts. st--the emperor is at fontainebleau. nd--his imperial and royal majesty last evening made his entrance into his palace of the tuileries, amidst the joyous acclamations of an adoring and faithful people. pressing to death, and praying and fasting. in a number of oliver cromwell's newspaper, "the perfect account of the daily intelligence," dated april th, , we find this horrid instance of torture:-- "mond. april th.--this session, at the old bailey, were four men pressed to death that were all in one robbery, and, out of obstinacy and contempt of the court, stood mute and refused to plead; from whence we may perceive the exceeding great hardness some men are grown unto, who do not only swerve from instructions, exhortations, and goodnesse, but become so lewd and insolent that they render themselves the proper subjects for whom severe laws were first invented and enacted." the very next paragraph in the paper is to the following effect:-- "those of the congregate churches, and many other godly people in london and parts adjacent, have appointed friday, the th instant, as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, for a blessing upon the armies at land, the fleet at sea, and negociations abroad." the first watches in england. in watches began to come from germany, and the watchmaker soon became a trader of importance. the watches were often of immense size, and hung in a rich case from the neck, and by fops wound up with great gravity and ceremony in paul's or at the ordinary dinner. catgut mainsprings must have been slightly affected by changes of weather, and sometimes a little out of time in wet novembers; but, sessa, let the world live! an early specimen of the watch that we have seen engraved was, however, not larger than a walnut, richly chased, and enclosed in a pear-shaped case. it had no minute hand, but was of beautiful workmanship. country people, like touchstone, sometimes carried pocket dials, in the shape of brass rings, with a slide and aperture, to be regulated to the season. extraordinary circumstance. jesse, in his interesting "gleanings in natural history," gives the following remarkable instance of an extraneous substance being found imbedded in the solid timber of an ash:--"a person on whose accuracy and veracity i can place every reliance, informed me that hearing from some of his brother workmen, that in sawing up the butt of a large ash-tree, they had found a bird's nest in the middle of it; he immediately went to the spot, and found an ash cut in two longitudinally on the saw-pit, and the bird's nest nearly in the centre of the tree. the nest was about two-thirds of a hollow globe, and composed of moss, hair, and feathers, all seemingly in a fresh state. there were three eggs in it, nearly white and somewhat speckled. on examining the tree most minutely with several other workmen, no mark or protuberance was found to indicate the least injury. the bark was perfectly smooth and the tree quite sound." in endeavouring to account for this curious fact, we can only suppose that some accidental hole was made in the tree before it arrived at any great size, in which a bird had built its nest, and forsaken it after she had laid three eggs. as the tree grew larger, the bark would grow over the hole, and in process of time the nest would become embedded in the tree. port coon cave. [illustration: [++] port coon cave.] the above is a sketch of a cave which well deserves a place among our collection of wonders. it is called port coon cave, and is in the line of rocks near the giants' causeway. it may be visited either by sea or by land. boats may row into it to the distance of a hundred yards or more, but the swell is sometimes dangerous; and although the land entrance to the cave is slippery, and a fair proportion of climbing is necessary to achieve the object, still the magnificence of the excavation, its length, and the formation of the interior, would repay greater exertion; the stones of which the roof and sides are composed, and which are of a rounded form, and embedded, as it were, in a basaltic paste, are formed of concentric spheres resembling the coats of an onion; the innermost recess has been compared to the side aisle of a gothic cathedral; the walls are most painfully slimy to the touch; the discharge of a loaded gun reverberates amid the rolling of the billows, so as to thunder a most awful effect; and the notes of a bugle, we are told, produced delicious echoes. anecdote in porcelain. [illustration: [++] count brühl's tailor and his wife.] the finest specimens of dresden porcelain were undoubtedly made previously to the seven years' war, when no expense was spared, and when any price might be obtained. count brühl, the profligate minister of augustus iii., whose splendid palace and terrace is the great ornament of dresden, was importuned by his tailor to be allowed to see the manufactory, admission to which was strictly prohibited. at length he consented, and the tailor upon his entrance was presented with the two last new pieces made, which were--one a grotesque figure, a portrait of himself mounted upon a he-goat, with the shears, and all his other implements of trade; and the other, his wife upon a she-goat, with a baby in swaddling clothes. the poor tailor was so annoyed with these caricatures, that he turned back without desiring to see more. these pieces, known as count brühl's tailor and his wife, are now much sought after, from their historical interest. they were made in , by kändler. anglo-saxon feasts. it is a mark of anglo-saxon delicacy, that table-cloths were features at anglo-saxon feasts; but, as the long ends were used in place of napkins, the delicacy would be of a somewhat dirty hue, if the cloth were made to serve at a second feast. there was a rude sort of display upon the board; but the order of service was of a quality that would strike the "jeameses" of the age of victoria with inexpressible disgust. the meat was never "dished," and "covers" were as yet unknown. the attendants brought the viands into the dining-hall on the spits, knelt to each guest, presented the spit to his consideration; and, the guest having helped himself, the attendant went through the same ceremony with the next guest. hard drinking followed upon these same ceremonies; and even the monasteries were not exempt from the sins of gluttony and drunkenness. notwithstanding these bad habits, the anglo-saxons were a cleanly people; the warm bath was in general use. water, for hands and feet, was brought to every stranger on entering a house wherein he was about to tarry and feed; and, it is said that one of the severest penances of the church was the temporary denial of the bath, and of cutting the hair and nails. household rules in the sixteenth century. from sir j. harrington's (the translator of ariosto) rules for servants, we obtain a very clear conception of the internal government of a country gentleman's house in . a servant who is absent from prayers to be fined. for uttering an oath, d.; and the same sum for leaving a door open. a fine of d., from lady day to michaelmas, for all who are in bed after six, or out after ten. the same fine, from michaelmas to lady day, for all who are in bed after seven, or out after nine. a fine of d. for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned after eight. a fine of d. for any man detected teaching the children obscene words. a fine of d. for any man waiting without a trencher, or who is absent at a meal. for any one breaking any of the butler's glass, d. a fine of d. for any one who has not laid the table for dinner by half-past ten, or the supper by six. a fine of d. for any one absent a day without leave. for any man striking another, a fine of d. for any follower visiting the cook, d. a fine of d. for any man appearing in a foul shirt, broken hose, untied shoes, or torn doublet. a fine of d, for any stranger's room left for four hours after he be dressed. a fine of d. if the hall be not cleansed by eight in winter and seven in summer. the porter to be fined d. if the court-gate be not shut during meals. a fine of d. if the stairs be not cleaned every friday after dinner. all these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly payment of the men's wages. if these laws were observed, the domestic discipline must have been almost military in it. the queen of sheba. belkis, according to the arabs, was the famous queen of sheba or saba, who visited, and afterwards married, solomon, in the twenty-first year of her reign. tabari has introduced her story with such gorgeous embellishments as to resemble a fairy tale rather than episode in serious narrative. she is said to have been subdued by the jewish monarch, who discovered her retreat among the mountains, between hejaz and yemen by means of a lapwing, which he had despatched in search of water during his progress through arabia. this princess is called nicolaa by some writers. the abyssinians claim the same distinction for one of their queens; and have preserved the names of a dynasty alleged to have been descended from her union with solomon. superstition in france. in france, superstition at this day is even more prevalent than it is in england. garinet, in his history of magic and sorcery in that country, cites upwards of twenty instances which occurred between the years and . in the latter year no less than three tribunals were occupied with trials originating in this humiliating belief: we shall cite only one of them. julian desbourdes, aged fifty-three, a mason, and inhabitant of the village of thilouze, near bourdeaux, was taken suddenly ill, in the month of january . as he did not know how to account for his malady, he suspected at last that he was bewitched. he communicated this suspicion to his son-in-law bridier, and they both went to consult a sort of idiot, named boudouin, who passed for a conjuror or _white-witch_. this man told them that desbourdes was certainly bewitched, and offered to accompany them to the house of an old man named renard, who, he said, was undoubtedly the criminal. on the night of the rd of january all three proceeded stealthily to the dwelling of renard, and accused him of afflicting persons with diseases by the aid of the devil. desbourdes fell on his knees and earnestly entreated to be restored to his former health, promising that he would take no measures against him for the evil he had done. the old man denied in the strongest terms that he was a wizard; and when desbourdes still pressed him to remove the spell from him, he said he knew nothing about the spell, and refused to remove it. the idiot boudouin, the _white-witch_, now interfered, and told his companions that no relief for the malady could ever be procured until the old man confessed his guilt. to force him to confession they lighted some sticks of sulphur which they had brought with them for the purpose, and placed them under the old man's nose. in a few moments he fell down suffocated and apparently lifeless. they were all greatly alarmed; and thinking that they had killed the man, they carried him out and threw him into a neighbouring pond, hoping to make it appear that he had fallen in accidentally. the pond, however, was not very deep, and the coolness of the water reviving the old man, he opened his eyes and sat up. desbourdes and bridier, who were still waiting on the bank, were now more alarmed than before, lest he should recover and inform against them. they therefore waded into the pond, seized their victim by the hair of the head, beat him severely, and then held him under water till he was drowned. they were all three apprehended on the charge of murder a few days afterwards. desbourdes and bridier were found guilty of aggravated manslaughter only, and sentenced to be burnt on the back, and to work in the galleys for life. the _white-witch_ boudouin was acquitted on the ground of insanity. helmet of sir john crosby. [illustration: [++] helmet of sir john crosby.] we here present our readers with a sketch of the helmet of sir john crosby, as it originally appeared when suspended over his tomb in st. helen's church, bishopsgate. he was an eminent merchant of london; but is represented upon his tomb in a full suit of armour. he died in . the extreme height of the crown of the helmet resembles that on the tomb of the earl of warwick, in the beauchamp chapel at warwick; and was intended to support the crest of the wearer, the holes for affixing it being still visible. earthquake panic. a panic terror of the end of the world seized the good people of leeds and its neighbourhood in the year . it arose from the following circumstances. a hen, in a village close by, laid eggs, on which were inscribed the words, "_christ is coming_." great numbers visited the spot, and examined these wondrous eggs, convinced that the day of judgment was near at hand. like sailors in a storm, expecting every instant to go to the bottom, the believers suddenly became religious, prayed violently, and flattered themselves that they repented them of their evil courses. but a plain tale soon put them down, and quenched their religion entirely. some gentlemen, hearing of the matter, went one fine morning and caught the poor hen in the act of laying one of her miraculous eggs. they soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced up again, into the bird's body. at this explanation, those who had prayed, now laughed, and the world wagged as merrily as of yore. old english sack-pot. [illustration: [++] sack-pot.] sack was such a national beverage of the jolly old england of the seventeenth century, that we are sure our readers will thank us for giving them an idea of the vessel in which it was commonly used. the bottle here engraved, and inscribed "sack," was found in old tabley hall, cheshire, and is a veritable specimen of the sort of vessel from which the topers of the "good old times" poured into their cups the drink with which they so loved to warm their heart-strings. it is of a dull-white, with blue letters, and it is in the possession of the hon. robert curzon, jun., author of the interesting work on the monasteries of the levant. two old english bottles of similar character, one lettered sack, the other claret, dated , were sold at strawberry hill. age of trees. mr. twining was engaged, in the year , in measuring and inspecting a large lot of hemlock timber cut from the north-eastern slope of east rock, new haven (america), and destined for the foundation of a wharf. while thus employed he took particular notice of the successive layers, each of which constitutes a year's growth of the tree, and which in that kind of wood are very distinct. these layers were of various breadths, and plainly showed that in some seasons the trees made a much greater advance than in others, some of the layers being five or six times broader than others. every tree had thus preserved a _record of the seasons_ for the period of its growth, whether thirty years or two hundred--and what was worthy of notice, _every tree told the same story_. thus, by beginning at the outer layer of two trees, the one young the other old, and counting back twenty years, if the young tree indicated, by a full layer, a _growing season_ for that kind of timber, the other tree indicated the same. "i had then before me," (says this intelligent observer) "two or three hundred _meteorological tables_, all of them as unerring as nature; and by selecting one tree from the oldest, and sawing out a thin section from its trunk, i might have preserved one of the number to be referred to afterwards. it might have been smoothed on the one side by the plane, so as to exhibit its record to the eye with all the neatness and distinctness of a drawing. on the opposite side might have been minuted in indelible writing the locality of the tree, the kind of timber, the year and month when cut, the soil where it grew, the side and point which faced the north, and every other circumstance which can possibly be supposed ever to have the most remote relation to the value of the table in hand. the lover of science will not be backward to incur such trouble, for he knows how often, in the progress of human knowledge, an observation or an experiment has lost its value by the disregard of some circumstance connected with it, which at the time was not thought worthy of notice. lastly, there might be attached to the same section a written meteorological table compiled from the observations of some scientific person, if such observations had been made in the vicinity. this being done, why, in the eye of science, might not this _natural_, _unerring_, _graphical_ record of seasons past deserve as careful preservation as a curious mineral, or a new form of crystals?" the camel as a scape-goat. a very singular account of the use to which a camel is sometimes put, is given by the traveller bruce. he tells us that he saw one employed to appease a quarrel between two parties, something in the same way as the scape-goat was used in the religious services of the jewish people. the camel being brought out was accused by both parties of all the injuries, real or supposed, which belonged to each. all the mischief that had been done, they accused this camel of doing. they upbraided it with being the cause of all the trouble that had separated friends, called it by every opprobious epithet, and finally killed it, and declared themselves reconciled over its body. suspended volition. a young lady, an attendant of the princess ----, after having been confined to her bed for a great length of time with a violent nervous disorder, was at last, to all appearance, deprived of life. her lips were quite pale, her face resembled the countenance of a dead person, and the body grew cold. she was removed from the room in which she lay, was put in a coffin, and the day of her funeral fixed on. the day arrived, and, according to the custom of the country, funeral songs and hymns were sung before the door. just as the people were about to nail on the lid of the coffin, a kind of perspiration was observed to appear on the surface of her body. it grew greater every moment, and at last a kind of convulsive motion was observed in the hands and feet of the corpse. a few minutes after, during which time fresh signs of returning life appeared, she at once opened her eyes and uttered a most pitiable shriek. physicians were quickly procured, and in the course of a few days she was considerably restored. the description which she gave of her situation is extremely remarkable, and forms a curious and authentic addition to psychology. she said it seemed to her, as if in a dream, that she was really dead; yet she was perfectly conscious of all that happened around her in this dreadful state. she distinctly heard her friends speaking, and lamenting her death, at the side of her coffin. she felt them pull on the dead-clothes, and lay her in them. this feeling produced a mental anxiety which is indescribable. she tried to cry, but her soul was without power, and could not act on her body. she had the contradictory feeling as if she were in her body, and yet not in it, at one and the same time. it was equally impossible for her to stretch out her arm or to open her eyes, or to cry, although she continually endeavoured to do so. the internal anguish of her mind was, however, at its utmost height when the lid of the coffin was about to be nailed on. the thought that she was to be buried alive was the one that gave activity to her soul, and caused it to operate on her corporeal frame. fashions for the dead. the following advertisement appeared in a glasgow paper about the middle of the last century. "james hodge, who lives in the first close above the cross, on the west side of the street, glasgow, continues to sell burying crapes ready made; and his wife's niece, who lives with him, dresses dead corpses at as cheap a rate as was formerly done by her aunt, having been educated by her, and perfected at edinburgh, from whence she is lately arrived, and has all the newest and best fashions." common use of plate in the time of henry viii. a writer in the early part of the sixteenth century tells us that in his time, in the reign of henry the eighth, the luxury of the table had descended even to citizens, and that there were few whose tables were not daily provided with spoons, cups, and a salt-cellar of silver. those of a higher sphere affected a greater profusion of plate; but the quantity accumulated by cardinal wolsey, though the precious metals are now so copious, still continues to excite our surprise. at hampton court, where he feasted the french ambassadors and their splendid retinue in , two cupboards, extending across the banquet chambers, were piled to the top with plate and illuminated; yet, without encroaching on these ostentatious repositories, a profuse service remained for the table. two hundred and eighty beds were provided for the guests; every chamber had a bason and ewer of silver, beside other utensils. diogenes in a pithos, not tub. a pithos is a description of earthen vessel or jar, distinguished from the amphora by its large mouth, and comparatively flattened base. its shape was more that of a gourd, or pot; its size large enough to have rendered it applicable to the purposes of a cistern, or water butt. such, indeed, appear in some instances to have been its dimensions, that it has long been a matter of dispute amongst the learned whether, if diogenes dwelt in a tub at all (a point by no means settled), his humble habitation were of wood or earthenware. brougniart adopts the latter opinion, and has illustrated it by a partial copy from a print in winckelmann. in the original, the philosopher is shown holding his well-known chat with alexander the great, at the gate of the metroum, or temple of the mother of the gods at athens; but his tub has there the addition of a dog lying on the outside, above his master's head, evidently on the watch to defend him, if necessary, against any attack from the royal warrior. winckelmann's engraving, which we here present, is taken from a bas-relief discovered in the villa albani; in which the cynic's tub is clearly of earthenware, having a large fracture on one side, which has been repaired with some other material dovetailed across the crack. this, winckelmann concludes to have been lead (commesso col piombo), simply, however, upon the authority of the following lines in juvenal:-- "si fregeris, altera fiet cras domus, aut eadem plumbo commissa manebit." _sat._ xiv . [illustration: [++] diogenes in a pithos.] be all this, however, as it may, the controversy is not without its value in connexion with the ceramic productions of the period. if the "dolia" and "[greek: pithaknê]." of the ancients had not been of sufficient capacity, however kennel-like, to have served as a dwelling, or shelter, for the philosopher, the tale would hardly have existed. nor does it seem probable that juvenal, in allusion to the story, would have used the term _testâ_ (testâ cum vidit in illâ magnum habitatorem), or have dwelt upon their fragility, or have said that they would not burn (dolia nudi non ardent cynici), if vessels of the sort had not been commonly of earthenware. these vessels, both ancient and modern, have a thickness and strength which enables them to be rolled on a ladder to and from the top of the kiln, where they are baked, without injury. chinese school. [illustration: [++] native chinese school.] the annexed engraving is a curiosity both in itself and in what it represents. it is taken from a sketch by a native chinese artist, and depicts the internal arrangements of a native chinese school. the extraordinary nature of the chinese language renders it impossible for a schoolmaster to instruct more than a very few scholars at a time, since the meaning of the words actually depends on their correct intonation. every vocable in the language is capable of being pronounced in six different tones of voice, and of conveying six meanings, totally different from each other, according to the tone given to it. pronounced in one tone, it conveys one meaning, and is represented by one written character; pronounced in another tone, it conveys an entirely distinct meaning, and is represented in writing by another character altogether different. the correct and distinct enunciation of these tones is the chief difficulty in learning to speak the language. these tones are stereotyped and fixed, and must be learned, as part of the word, at the same time that its form and signification are mastered. moreover, they are all arranged upon system, like the notes in a gamut, and when thoroughly mastered, the theory of the tones is really beautiful. if a wrong tone, then, is given to a word in reading or in conversation, it grates upon a chinese ear like a false note in playing the fiddle. further, if the voice be not correctly modulated, and the words correctly intoned, not only is a jarring note pronounced, but actually a wrong word is uttered, and a different meaning conveyed from what was intended. a missionary to the chinese, therefore, should be possessed of a musical ear. without this, the acquisition of the spoken language will be attended by very arduous labour; and, perhaps, after years of toil, he will find that he still frequently fails in correctly conveying his meaning. london localities in the sixteenth century. at ludgate was a gaol, where the prisoners clamoured for alms at the barred grate; and it was here that sir thomas wyatt had been repulsed. the city wall that joined this gate to its other fellow gates ran from the tower through the minories to aldgate, houndsditch, and bishopsgate, through cripplegate to aldersgate, and so past christ's hospital by newgate and ludgate to the thames. pimlico was a country place where citizens used to repair to eat "pudding pies" on a sunday, as they did to islington or hogsden to take tobacco and drink new milk; as islington was famous for its dairy, where sir walter raleigh is said to have lived in an old house still standing, so holloway was famous for its cheese cakes; and it is these peculiarities that, after all, confer immortality upon a place. chelsea was the mere village of chelsea, known from sir thomas more's house, where henry viii. had walked with his arm round that great statesman's doomed neck; as holborn was then a country road leading to the pleasant village of st. giles, and trending on to the way that led to oxford and to fatal tyburn, so called from its burn or brook, then well known to patient city anglers. the triple tree or gallows stood at the corner of the present edgware road. the same oxford street led also, if you turned up one side of the hampstead road, to the tottenham court, which stood there alone far in the country, and primrose hill was an untrodden hillock, surrounded by wide paths and ditches between this court and hampstead. a cheerful little stream, known by the pleasant name of the fleet, rose near hampstead hill, and joined by the old bourne and recruited by sparkling clerken well, emptied itself in the thames. though even then merely a sewer, it was open, and had four bridges of its own, while the thames had but one; and these were known as holborn bridge, fleet-lane bridge, fleet bridge, and bridewell bridge. spitalfields was a grassy open space, with artillery grounds and a pulpit and cross, where fairs were held and sermons preached. there were also tothill fields, and finsbury fields, and moor fields, just outside the city walls, laid out in walks, and planted, as far as hoxton. round these squares there were windmills and everything equally rural. as for piccadilly, it was everywhere known as a road to reading, and by many herbalists, as harbouring the small wild foxglove in its dry ditches. outside temple bar, before the wooden gatehouse was built, lay the strand, the road leading from the city to the houses of court. this river bank was the chosen residence of the nobility, whose gardens stretched to the edge of the then undefiled river. the sky then was pure and bright, for our ancestors burnt wood fires, and the water was gay with thousands of boats. each house had its terrace, its water stairs, and garden. the street houses were so scattered that the river could be seen between them, and there were three water courses there traversed by bridges, besides two churches and a maypole. here stood york house, where bacon was born, and durham place, where raleigh lived, with his study in a turret overlooking the river; there also were arundel house and essex house, where great men pined and plotted. at whitehall stood wolsey's palace, enlarged by henry viii., and elizabeth's favourite residence when not at nonsuch in surrey, windsor, greenwich, or richmond. the tilt-yard stood where the horse guards now stands. st. james's palace, also built by henry viii., where the queen's melancholy-bigot sister had died, was seldom inhabited by the court; but the park was even then existing. as for the old palace of richard iii. (baynard's castle), that had been let to the earl of pembroke, and the same king's dwelling of crosby hall had fallen into the hands of an alderman. warwick the king-maker. on the right-hand side of newgate-street are various streets and courts leading into paternoster-row. of these, warwick and ivy lanes, panyer-alley, and lovel's-court, merit the attention of the lover of literary and historical antiquities. warwick-lane, now the abode of butchers and tallow-chandlers, took its name from the inn or house of the celebrated warwick, the king-maker. stow mentions his coming to london in the famous convention of , with men, all in red jackets, embroidered, with ragged staves, before and behind, and was lodged in warwick-lane; "in whose house there was often six oxen eaten at a breakfast, and every taverne was full of his meate, for hee that had any acquaintance in that house, might have there so much of sodden and roaste meate, as he could pricke and carry upon a long dagger." the memory of the earl was long preserved by a small stone statue, placed in the side front of a tobacconist's, at the corner of this lane; and there is a public-house which has the earl's head for its sign. thanksgiving day in . the following is an extract from the "post boy" of the above date:-- "thursday, december , . thursday being appointed for the day of thanksgiving, the same was ushered in with ringing of bells; the king went to the chapel royal, where, &c., and at night we had bonfires and illuminations. the fine fireworks in st. james's square were lighted after this manner:--about twelve o'clock, the foot guards lined the avenues; the rockets and all things being fixed on the rails the day before: a little after six, the king, attended by his guards, came to the earl of romney's house, from whence soon after a signal was given, by firing a rocket, for the fireworks to go off, which were immediately lighted; the performance was extraordinary fine, and much applauded; the same continued somewhat better than half an hour, and there were divers sorts of fireworks; some had the king's name, others the arms of england; in a word, they were very curious. there was a man and a woman unfortunately killed, and divers others hurt by the falling down of sticks. about half an hour after, his majesty went to st. james's there being a fine ball." the grey man's path. [illustration: [++] the grey man's path.] the annexed sketch depicts a scene in the coast rocks at fairhead, near ballycastle in ireland. fhir leith, or "the grey man's path," (a fissure in the precipice,) viewed either from land or sea, is never to be forgotten: it seems as though some supernatural power, determined to hew for itself a pathway through the wonderful formations that tower along the coast--so that it might visit or summon the spirits of the deep, without treading a road made by mortal hands--had willed the fearful chasm that divides the rocky promontory in two. the singular passage, in its narrow part, is barred across by the fragment of a pillar, hurled, as it were, over the fissure, and supported on both sides at a considerable elevation. if you descend, you perceive the passage widens, and becomes more important; its dark sides assume greater height, and a more wild and sombre magnificence; and at last they extend upwards, above feet, through which the tourist arrives at the massive _débris_ which crowd the base of the mighty promontory, where the northern ocean rolls his threatening billows. from the cragsmen and boatmen of this wild coast you hear no tales of faery, no hints of the gentle legends and superstitions collected in the south, or in the inland districts of the north; not that they are a whit less superstitious, but their superstition is, as the superstition of the sea kings, of a bold and peculiar character; their ghosts come from out the deep, before or after the rising of the moon, and climb, or rather stalk up the rocks, and, seated upon those mysterious pillars, converse together; so that, in the fisherman's huts, they say, "it thunders." even mermaids are deemed too trifling in their habits and manners for this stupendous scenery, where spirits of the gigantic world congregate, and where the "grey man" of the north sea stalks forth, silently and alone, up his appropriate path, to witness some mighty convulsion of nature. ancient jet necklace. [illustration: [++] ancient jet necklace.] various interesting ornaments, belonging to the archaic, or bronze period in scotland, are preserved in the museum of scottish antiquaries, and one set in particular, found enclosed in an urn within a rude stone cist, on the demolition of a tumulus near the old house of assynt, rossshire, in , we here engrave. they include a necklace of irregular oval jet beads, which appear to have been strung together like a common modern string of beads, and are sufficiently rude to correspond with the works of a very primitive era. the other ornaments which are represented here about one-fourth the size of the original, are curiously studded with gold spots, arranged in patterns similar to those with which the rude pottery of the british tumuli are most frequently decorated, and the whole are perforated with holes passing obliquely from the back through the edge, evidently designed for attaching them to each other by means of threads. jugglers in japan. the perfection of jugglery in japan entitles it to be ranked amongst the fine arts. an eye-witness thus describes the performance of a japanese juggler. "here are some of his feats:--no. . he took an ordinary boy's top, spun it in the air, caught it on his hand, and then placed it (still spinning) upon the edge of a sword, near the hilt. then he dropped the sword point a little, and the top moved slowly towards it. arrived at the very end, the hilt was lowered in turn, and the top brought back. as usual, the sword was dangerously sharp. no. was also performed with the top. he spun it in the air, and then threw the end of the string back towards it with such accuracy that it was caught up and wound itself all ready for a second cast. by the time it had done this it had reached his hand, and was ready for another spin. no. was still performed with the top. there was an upright pole, upon the top of which was perched a little house, with a very large front door. the top was spun, made to climb the pole, knock open the said front door, and disappear. as well as i remember, the hand end of the string was fastened near the door, so that this was almost a repetition of the self-winding feat. but feat no. was something even more astonishing than all this. he took two paper butterflies, armed himself with the usual paper fan, threw them into the air, and, fanning gently, kept them flying about him as if they had been alive. 'he can make them alight wherever you wish! try him!' remarked the kami (prince), through the interpreter. mr. h---- requested that one might alight upon each ear of the juggler. no sooner expressed than complied with. gentle undulations of the fan waved them slowly to the required points, and there left them comfortably seated. now, whether this command over pieces of paper was obtained simply by currents of air, or by the power of a concealed magnet, mr. h---- could not tell or ascertain. one thing, however, was certain, the power was there." may-fair play bill in the time of william iii. william rex. may-fair. miller's, or the loyal association booth, at the upper end of brook-field market, near hyde park corner. during the time of may-fair, will be presented an excellent droll, called king william's happy deliverance and glorious triumph over his enemies, or the consultation of the pope, devil, french king, and the grand turk, with the whole form of the siege of namur, and the humours of a renegade french man and brandy jean, with the conceits of scaramouch and harlequin, together with the best singing and dancing that was ever seen in a fair, also a dialogue song. vivat rex. bells. bells were formerly a prolific source of superstition. there is a valley in nottinghamshire, where a village is said to have been swallowed up by an earthquake, and it was the custom on christmas day morning for the people to assemble in this valley and listen to the fancied ringing of the church bells underground. at abbot's morton there is a tradition that the silver bells belonging to the abbot are buried in the site of his old residence there. at ledbury, a legend relates that st. katharine had a revelation that she was to travel about, and not rest at any place, till she heard the bells ringing of their own accord. this was done by the ledbury bells on her approaching that town. when the church at inkberrow was rebuilt on a new site in ancient days, it was believed that the fairies took umbrage at the change, as they were supposed to be averse to bells; they accordingly endeavoured to obstruct the building, but, as they did not succeed, the following lamentation was occasionally heard by the startled rustics: "neither sleep, neither lie, for inkbro's ting-tangs hang so nigh." many years ago the twelve parish churches in jersey each possessed a beautiful and valuable peal of bells; but during a long civil war, the states determined on selling these bells to defray the heavy expenses of their army. the bells were accordingly collected, and sent to france for that purpose; but, on the passage, the ship foundered, and everything was lost, to show the wrath of heaven at the sacrilege. since then, before a storm, these bells ring up from the deep; and, to this day, the fishermen of st. ouen's bay always go to the edge of the water before embarking, to listen if they can hear "the bells upon the wind;" and, if those warning notes are heard, nothing will induce them to leave the shore; if all is quiet they fearlessly set sail. as a gentleman, who has versified the legend, says: "'tis an omen of death to the mariner, who wearily fights with the sea; for the foaming surge is his winding sheet, and his funeral knell are we: his funeral knell our passing bells beat, and his winding sheet the sea." bribing the demons. the rich inhabitants of the celestial empire, it is almost needless to say, make an exorbitant display at funerals. they invite as many relations and friends as they can, in order to muster an imposing procession, and the mourning dresses worn by the whole party are at the cost of the family of the deceased, who are also bound to provide them for several days together with splendid repasts. a great number of musicians are hired for the occasion, and also of _weepers_, for though most people in china are pretty well skilled in the art of shedding tears, there exist mourners by profession, who have carried it to still greater perfection, and are absolutely inimitable at sobs and groans. they follow the coffin in long white robes, hempen girdles, and dishevelled hair; and their lamentations are accompanied by the beating of gongs, by the sharp and discordant sounds of rude instruments of music, and the discharge of fireworks. the sudden explosion and the smell of the powder are supposed to be efficacious in frightening away the demons, and hindering them from seizing on the soul of the defunct, which never fails to follow the coffin; and as these malevolent spirits have also the reputation of being extremely covetous and fond of money, people endeavour to get on their weak side. they let fall, for this purpose, all along the road, sapecks and bank-notes, that the wind carries away in all directions; and as the demons in china are by no means so cunning as the men, they are taken in by this device, and fall into the trap with charming simplicity, though, the supposed bank-notes are in fact only bits of white paper. whilst they are engaged in pursuing these deceitful appearances of riches, the soul of the defunct proceeds quietly and comfortably after its coffin without any danger of its being stopped by the way. holy-water sprinkler. to sprinkle the holy water was, in ancient times, the cant phrase for fetching blood, which will account for the appellation of a certain class of weapons, as there is no resemblance whatever between them and the aspergillum used by roman catholics. the specimen we have here sketched is a demi holy-water-sprinkler--to speak in the language of the time--"with gonnes at the ende." this awkward weapon, prior, in point of date, to the invention of the matchlock, and, therefore, not later than the time of edward iv., was made to hang at the saddle-bow instead of a mace. the iron cap at the end is furnished with a spear-like blade, and opens on an hinge, or is held in its place by a hook. it contains four short barrels, each of which is fired by a match, and its touch-hole is protected by a sliding piece of wood. [illustration: [++] holy water sprinkler.] in using this weapon the intention was first to fire at the enemy with the "gonnes at the ende," and then to club him on coming to close quarters. to effect all this, however, in a satisfactory manner, much time must have been lost, and many accidents, no doubt, were liable to happen to the person who used such a weapon as this, which was almost as dangerous to the man who possessed it, as to the enemy against whom he directed it. the lid at the top must first have been opened, and not only so, but must have been kept open all the time the weapon was used as a gun, and then, previously to closing with the foe, it must have been necessary to secure it, lest, in brandishing the instrument as a club, the open lid should strike against the head of the man who wielded it. no wonder that this dangerous compound of club and gun soon went out of fashion, and survived its invention only a very few years. first tea-drinkers puzzled. the first brewers of tea were often sorely perplexed with the preparation of the new mystery. "mrs. hutchinson's great grandmother was one of a party who sat down to the first pound of tea that ever came into penrith. it was sent as a present, and without directions how to use it. they boiled the whole at once in a bottle, and sat down to eat the leaves with butter and salt, and they wondered how any person could like such a diet." column at cussi. [illustration: [++] column at cussi.] the great object of the erection of pillars of victory was to serve as vehicles for sculpture; though, as we now see them, or as they are caricatured at paris and elsewhere, they are little more than instances of immense labour bestowed to very little purpose. in the original use of these pillars, they were placed in small courts surrounded by open porticos, whence the spectator could at two, or perhaps at three different levels examine the sculpture at his leisure at a convenient distance, while the absurdity of a pillar supporting nothing was not apparent, from its not being seen from the outside. a good specimen of this class is that at cussi, near beaune, in france. it is represented in the annexed cut. it probably belongs to the time of aurelian, and no doubt was first erected within a court; but it is not known either by whom it was erected, or what victory it was designed to celebrate. still that it is a pillar of victory is certain, and its resemblance to pillars raised with the same object in india is quite striking. the arrangement of the base, serving as a pedestal for eight statues, is not only elegant, but appropriate. the ornament which covers the shaft takes off from the idea of its being a mere pillar, and, at the same time, is so subdued as not to break the outline or interfere with constructive propriety. the capital of the corinthian order is found in the neighbourhood, used as the mouth of a well. in its original position it no doubt had a hole through it, which being enlarged suggested its application to its present comparatively ignoble purpose, the hole being no doubt intended either to receive or support the statue or emblem that originally crowned the monument, but of that no trace now remains. style of living among the nobility of the fifteenth century. the ordinary meals were now increased to four a day--breakfast at seven in the morning, dinner at ten, supper at four in the afternoon, and "liveries," which were taken in bed, between eight and nine at night. these latter, as well as the breakfast, were of no light or unsubstantial character, consisting of good beef and mutton (or salt fish in lent), with beer and wine in the morning; and of a loaf or two, with a few quarts of mulled wine and beer, at nights. at dinner the huge oaken table, extending the whole length of the great hall, was profusely covered with joints of fresh and salt meat, followed by courses of fowl, fish, and curious made-dishes. the lord took his seat on the dais or raised floor at the head; his friends and retainers were ranged above or below the salt, according to their rank. as forks were not yet in use, the fingers were actively employed, whilst wine and beer in wooden or pewter goblets were handed round by the attendants. over head the favourite hawks stood upon their perches, and below the hounds reposed upon the pavement. the dinner generally lasted for three hours, and all pauses were filled up by the minstrels, jesters, or jugglers, or by the recitation of some romance of chivalry. at the end of each course they sometimes introduced a dish called _subtlety_, composed of curious figure in jellies or confectionery, with a riddling label attached for the exercise of social wit. the monasteries were especially noted for their good dinners, and the secular clergy, not to be outdone in their hospitality invented _glutton-masses_ in honour of the virgin. these were held five times a year in the open churches, whither the people brought food and liquor, and vied with each other in this religious gormandizing. the general diet of the common people continued, however, to be coarse and poor, and severe famines not unfrequently occurred. origin of the title "sforza." james sforza, the father of francis the first duke, was the founder of the house of sforza, which gave six dukes to milan, and was allied with almost every sovereign in europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. he was born in , at catignuola, near faenza; his father, according to tradition, was a day labourer, and to others, a shoemaker, but probably wrought as both. perceiving some soldiers pass, he was struck with the desire of bearing arms. "i will go," said he to himself, "and dart my hatchet against that tree, and if it stick fast in the wood i will immediately become a soldier." the hatchet stuck fast, and because, says the abbot of choisi, he threw the axe with all his force, he assumed the supposed fortunate name of sforza, as his real name was giacomuzzo, or james attendulo. may-pole in the strand. during the austere reign of the puritans, when theatres were closed, and every sort of popular amusement was considered sinful, the may-poles fell into disrepute, and were pulled down in various parts of london. among the rest, the famous may-pole in the strand came to the ground. with the restoration of the monarchy, the people saw the restoration of their ancient sports; and on the very first may-day after the return of charles ii., the may-pole in the strand was set up again, amid great popular rejoicing. the following account of the ceremony is taken from a rare tract of the times, entitled "the citie's loyaltie displayed. london, to., ," and quoted in the first volume of hone's "every-day book," page :-- "let me declare to you the manner in general," says the loyal author, "of that stately cedar erected in the strand, feet high, commonly called the may-pole, upon the cost of the parishioners there adjacent, and the gracious consent of his sacred majesty, with the illustrious prince the duke of york. this tree was a most choice and remarkable piece, 'twas made below bridge, and brought in two parts up to scotland yard, near the king's palace, and from thence it was conveyed, april th, to the strand, to be erected. it was brought with a streamer flourishing before it, drums beating all the way, and other sort of music. it was supposed to be so long that landsmen, as carpenters, could not possibly raise it. prince james, the duke of york, lord high admiral of england, therefore commanded twelve seamen to come and officiate the business; whereupon they came, and brought their cables, pulleys, and other tackling, with six great anchors. after these were brought three crowns, borne by three men bareheaded, and a streamer displaying all the way before them, drums beating, and other music playing, numerous multitudes of people thronging the streets, with great shouts and acclamations all day long. "the may-pole then being joined together, and hooped about with bands of iron, the crown and vane, with the king's arms, richly gilded, was placed on the head of it: a large top, like a balcony, was about the middle of it. this being done, the trumpets did sound, and in four hours' space it was advanced upright; after which being established fast in the ground, again great shouts and acclamations did the people give, that rang throughout all the strand. after that came a morris-dance, finely decked with purple scarfs, in their half shirts, with a tabor and pipe, the ancient music, and danced round about the may-pole, and after that danced the rounds of their liberty. upon the top of this famous standard is likewise set up a royal purple streamer, about the middle of it are placed four crowns more, with the king's arms likewise. there is also a garland set upon it, of various colours, of delicate rich favours, under which are to be placed three great lanthorns, to remain for three honours, that is, one for prince james, duke of york, lord high admiral of england; the other for the vice-admiral; the third for the rear-admiral. these are to give light on dark nights, and to continue so as long as the pole stands, which will be a perpetual honour for seamen. it is placed as near hand as they could guess in the very same pit where the former stood, but far more glorious, higher, and bigger, than ever any one that stood before it; and the seamen themselves do confess that it could not be built higher, and there is not such an one in europe besides, which doth highly please his majesty and the illustrious prince, duke of york. little children did much rejoice, and ancient people did clap their hands, saying that golden days began to appear. i question not but it will ring like melodious music throughout every county in england when they read this story exactly penned. let this story satisfy for the glories of london, that other loyal subjects may read what we here do see." costume of a german noble. the annexed cut represents the dress of a young noble of the year , from the extremely interesting genealogical history of the baronial family of haller von halleostein. the figure is that of franz haller von halleostein, who died unmarried in the above year. he wore an open jerkin of a greenish colour, and very finely plaited chemisette. the jerkin has a white silk trimming with a black border throughout, and is held together by fine white silk ribbons, beneath which appears the white shirt. the sword-couple and sheath, are black, hilt and mountings are of the colour of steel. the stockings are vermilion, and on the right leg is a white and yellow stripe. the shoes are black, turned with white. the hair is long, and over it is worn a neat cap with lappets and a golden agraffe and love-knot, to support the hair. [illustration: [++] dress of a young noble in .] at the period of this costume very great attention was bestowed by the german nobility to their dress. the sums they expended on it were enormous, and in many instances families were reduced to ruin by the extravagant decorations of their person. jewellery, furs, silks, and laces, all of which were far more expensive and difficult to be obtained than they are now, were used in reckless profusion, and one nobleman vied with another in the magnificence, novelty, and expensiveness of their attire. the illustrated books of that period abound in sketches of the most beautiful costumes, and are a fund of interest to those who are curious in such matters. absurdities of the toilet. the ladies of japan are said to gild their teeth, and those of the indies to paint them red, while in guzerat the test of beauty is to render them sable. in greenland, the women used to colour their faces with blue and yellow. the chinese must torture their feet into the smallest possible dimensions--a proof positive of their contracted understandings. the ancient peruvians, and some other indian tribes, used to flatten their heads: and among other nations, the mothers, in a similar way, maltreat the noses of their offspring. an egyptian dinner. the complicated, and, at first sight, somewhat incomprehensible sketch which we here lay before our readers, was taken from an interior wall of a palace in egypt. it is, of course, by egyptian artists, and the subject of it is no other than an egyptian dinner-table set out and adorned for a banquet. [illustration: [++] egyptian dinner-table.] at a dinner in ancient egypt, small and low circular tables were used, standing on a single pillar, with a dilated base; sometimes one of these was apportioned to every guest, the viands being brought round by the servants successively, from a larger pillar-table which had been brought in readily set out by two men. the accompanying engraving shows a table thus laid out, requiring, however, a little allowance for the lack of perspective. round and oblong cakes of bread flattened and pricked in patterns, a goose, a leg of a kid or antelope, baskets of figs and other fruit, are crowned by a huge bunch of the lotus-lily. under the table are bottles of wine placed on stands in a series, and crowned with a lotus-garland, upon which is thrown a long withe of what seems from the tendrils a vine, loaded with clusters of grapes, as well as thickly set with foliage. elephant-god of burmah. a white elephant is a great rarity, and whenever one is caught, the burmese treat it as a god and pay worship to it. captain yule thus describes the white elephant of , and his palace at amarapoora, the capital of burmah:-- "in the area which stretches before the hall of audience are several detached buildings. a little to the north is the "palace," or state apartment, of the lord white elephant, with his highness's humbler every-day residence in rear. to the south are sheds for the vulgar herd of the same species, and brick godowns in which the state carriages and golden litters (the latter massive and gorgeous in great variety of design) are stowed away. temporary buildings, used as barracks and gunsheds, run along the wall. the present white elephant has occupied his post for at least fifty years. i have no doubt he is the same as padre san-germano mentions as having been caught in , to the great joy of the king, who had just lost the preceding incumbent, a female, which died after a year's captivity. he is a very large elephant, close upon ten feet high, with as noble a head and pair of tusks as i have ever seen. but he is long-bodied and lanky, and not otherwise well made as an elephant. he is sickly and out of condition, and is, in fact, distempered during five months of the year, from april to august. his eye, the iris of which is yellow with a reddish outer annulus, and a small clear black pupil, has an uneasy glare, and his keepers evidently mistrust his temper. we were always warned against going near his head. the annulus round the iris of the eye is pointed out as resembling a circle of the nine gems. his colour is almost uniform all over; nearly the ground-tint of the mottled or freckled part of the trunk and ears of common elephants, perhaps a little darker. he also has pale freckles in the same parts. on the whole, he is well entitled to his appellation of white. his royal paraphernalia, which are set out when visitors are expected, are sufficiently splendid. among them was a driving-hook about three feet long, the stem of which was a mass of small pearls, girt at frequent intervals with bands of rubies, and the hook and handle of crystal tipped with gold. his headstall was of fine red cloth, plentifully studded with fine rubies, and near the extremity having some valuable diamonds. to fit over the two bumps of the forehead were circles of the nine gems, which are supposed to be charms against evil influences. when caparisoned he also wore on the forehead, like other burmese dignitaries, including the king himself, a golden plate inscribed with his titles, and a gold crescent set with circles of large gems between the eyes. large silver tassels hung in front of his ears, and he was harnessed with bands of gold and crimson set with large bosses of pure gold. he is a regular "estate of the realm," having a woon or minister of his own, four gold umbrellas, the white umbrellas which are peculiar to royalty, with a suite of attendants said to be thirty in number. the burmese who attended us removed their shoes before entering his 'palace.' the elephant has an appanage or territory assigned to him 'to eat,' like any other dignitary of the empire. i do not know where his estate is at present, but in burney's time it was the rich cotton district of taroup myo." superstition in . in april, , a poor woman, residing in a village about three miles from pershore, acting upon the advice of her neighbours, brought her child, who was suffering from whooping cough, to that town, for the purpose of finding out a married couple answering to the names of joseph and mary, and soliciting their interference on behalf of her afflicted child, as she had been informed that if two married persons having those names could but be induced to lay their hands on her child's head, the whooping cough would be immediately cured. after scouring the town for a considerable time in search of "joseph and his fair lady," they were at length discovered in the persons of a respectable tradesman and his wife residing in bridge street, to whom the poor silly woman made known her foolish request, which at first excited a smile from the good woman of the house, but was quickly followed, not by "the laying on of hands," but by good advice, such as mothers only know how to give in these matters. the poor mother then thankfully departed a wiser woman. praying by wheel and axle. the japanese, like the inhabitants of thibet, are not content with devout prayers, pilgrimages, prostrations, offerings to the gods in order to secure blessings here and hereafter; they also pray by machine, by _wheel and axle_. there is a square post, nearly eight feet in length, and near the centre, at a convenient height to be reached by the hand, is fixed vertically a wheel, which moves readily on an axle passed through the post. two small rings are strung upon each of three spokes of the wheel. every person who twists this instrument in passing is supposed to obtain credit in heaven for one or more prayers inscribed on the post, the number being graduated according to the vigour of the performer's devotion, and the number of revolutions effected. the jingle of the small iron rings is believed to secure the attention of the deity to the invocation of the devout, and the greater the noise, the more certain of its being listened to. some of the inscriptions on this post are worth remembering:--"the great round mirror of knowledge says, 'wise men and fools are embarked in the same boat;' whether prospered or afflicted, both are rowing over the deep lake; the gay sails lightly hang to catch the autumnal breeze; then away they straight enter the lustrous clouds, and become partakers of heaven's knowledge." "he whose prescience detects knowledge says:--'as the floating grass is blown by the gentle breeze, or the glancing ripples of autumn disappear when the sun goes down, or as the ship returns home to her old shore, so is life: it is a smoke, a morning tide.'" "others are more to the point--as to the machine--'buddha himself earnestly desires to hear the name of this person (who is buried), and wishes he may go to life.'" novel way of designating a house. in the "new view of london," published in , it is mentioned as a remarkable circumstance attaching to the history of prescott street, near the strand, that instead of signs, the houses were distinguished by numbers, as the stair-cases in the inns of court, and chancery. the following advertisement, taken from newspapers a century and a half old, is interesting at this distance of time, as it shows the shifts to which advertisers were reduced, to point out their houses to their customers:-- "doctor james tilborgh, a german doctor, states that he liveth at present over against the new exchange, in bedford street, at the sign of the 'peacock,' where you shall see at night two candles burning within one of the chambers before the balcony; and a lanthorn with a candle in it upon the balcony: where he may be spoke with all alone, from in the morning till at night." dyak war-boat in borneo. the malay war-boat, or _prahu_, is built of timber at the lower part; the upper is of bamboo, rattan, and kedgang (the dried leaf of the nepa palm). outside the bends, about a foot from the water line, runs a strong gallery, in which the rowers sit cross-legged. at the after-part of the boat is a cabin for the chief who commands, and the whole of the vessel is surmounted by a strong flat roof, upon which they fight, their principal weapons being the kris and spear, both of which, to be used with effect, require elbow-room. [illustration: [++] dyak war-boat.] the dyak war-boat, as represented in the annexed sketch, is a long-built canoe, more substantially constructed than the prahu of the malays, and sufficiently capacious to hold from seventy to eighty men. this also has a roof to fight from. they are generally painted, and the stern ornamented with feathers. both descriptions of war-boats are remarkably swift, notwithstanding such apparent top-weight. war-dance of the dyaks of borneo. almost every savage nation has its peculiar war-dance, and the different steps, movements, and cries, in each depict different stages in the supposed fight. an account of the various kinds of dances would form an interesting work, and as a contribution to it we here call attention to the following description of a war-dance which was practised for the entertainment of the officers of the semarang, on the occasion of their visiting a dyak chief. it is taken from captain marryat's "borneo:"-- [illustration: [++] dyak war-dance.] "a space was cleared in the centre, and two of the oldest warriors stepped into it. they were dressed in turbans, long loose jackets, sashes round their waists descending to their feet, and small bells were attached to their ankles. they commenced by first shaking hands with the rajah, and then with all the europeans present, thereby giving us to understand, as was explained to us, that the dance was to be considered only as a spectacle, and not to be taken in its literal sense, as preparatory to an attack upon us, a view of the case in which we fully coincided with them. "this ceremony being over, they rushed into the centre, and gave a most unearthly scream; then poising themselves on one foot, they described a circle with the other, at the same time extending their arms like the wings of a bird, and then meeting their hands, clapping them and keeping time with the music. after a little while the music became louder, and suddenly our ears were pierced with the whole of the natives present joining in the hideous war-cry. then the motions and screams of the dancers became more violent, and every thing was worked up to a state of excitement, by which even we were influenced. suddenly, a very unpleasant odour pervaded the room, already too warm, from the numbers it contained. involuntarily we held our noses, wondering what might be the cause, when we perceived that one of the warriors had stepped into the centre, and suspended round the shoulders of each dancer a human head in a wide-meshed basket of rattan. these heads had been taken in the late sakarron business, and were therefore but a fortnight old. they were encased in a wide network of rattan, and were ornamented with beads. their stench was intolerable, although, as we discovered upon after examination, when they were suspended against the wall, they had been partially baked and were quite black. the teeth and hair were quite perfect, the features somewhat shrunk, and they were altogether very fair specimens of pickled heads; but our worthy friends required a lesson from the new zealanders in the art of preserving. the appearance of the heads was the signal for the music to play louder, for the war-cry of the natives to be more energetic, and for the screams of the dancers to be more piercing. their motions now became more rapid, and the excitement in proportion. their eyes glistened with unwonted brightness. the perspiration dropped down their faces, and thus did yelling, dancing, gongs, and tom-toms become more rapid and more violent every minute, till the dancing warriors were ready to drop. a farewell yell, with emphasis, was given by the surrounding warriors; immediately the music ceased, the dancers disappeared, and the tumultuous excitement and noise was succeeded by a dead silence. such was the excitement communicated, that when it was all over we ourselves for some time remained panting to recover our breath. again we lighted our cheroots, and smoked for a while the pipe of peace." wonderful fish. the greek church of baloukli contains an extraordinary instance of the credulity of superstition. some wonderful fish are there preserved, which are thus described by mr. curzon in his admirable book on the "monasteries of the levant:"-- "the unfortunate emperor constantine paleologus rode out of the city alone to reconnoitre the outposts of the turkish army, which was encamped in the immediate vicinity. in passing through a wood he found an old man seated by the side of a spring, cooking some fish on a gridiron for his dinner; the emperor dismounted from his white horse, and entered into conversation with the other; the old man looked up at the stranger in silence, when the emperor inquired whether he had heard anything of the movement of the turkish forces: 'yes,' said he, 'they have this moment entered the city of constantinople.' 'i would believe what you say,' replied the emperor, 'if the fish which you are broiling would jump off the gridiron into the spring.' this, to his amazement, the fish immediately did, and, on his turning round, the figure of the old man had disappeared. the emperor mounted his horse and rode towards the gate of silivria, where he was encountered by a band of the enemy, and slain, after a brave resistance, by the hand of an arab or a negro. "the broiled fishes still swim about in the water of the spring, the sides of which have been lined with white marble, in which are certain recesses in which they can retire when they do not wish to receive company. the only way of turning the attention of these holy fish to the respectful presence of their adorers is accomplished by throwing something glittering into the water, such as a handful of gold or silver coin: gold is the best; copper produces no effect; he that sees one fish is lucky, he that sees two or three goes home a happy man; but the custom of throwing coins into the spring has become, from its constant practice, very troublesome to the good monks, who kindly depute one of their community to rake out the money six or seven times a day with a scraper at the end of a long pole. the emperor of russia has sent presents to the shrine of baloukli, so called from the turkish word balouk, a fish. some wicked heretics have said that these fishes are common perch: either they or the monks must be mistaken; but of whatever kind they are, they are looked upon with reverence by the greeks, and have been continually held in the highest honour from the time of the siege of constantinople to the present day." curious marriage custom. at petzé, in the department of finisterre, in france, the following singular marriage custom still prevails:--"on an appointed day, the _paysannes_, or female pretenders to the holy state of matrimony, assemble on the bridge of the village, and, seating themselves upon the parapet, there patiently await the arrival of the intended bridegrooms. all the neighbouring cantons contribute their belles to ornament this renowned bridge. there may be seen the peasant of _saint poliare_, her ruddy countenance surrounded by her large muslin sleeves, which rise up and form a kind of framework to her full face; by her may be seated the heavy _touloisienne_, in her cloth _caline_, or gown; the peasant of _la léonarde_, in a swiss boddice, bordered with different coloured worsted braid, and a scarlet petticoat, may next appear, presenting a gaudy contrast to her neighbour from _saint thegonnec_, in her nun-like costume. on one side extends _la coulie de penhoat_, bordered with willows, honeysuckles, and the wild hop; on the other, the sea, confined here like a lake, between numerous jets of land covered with heath and sweet broom; and below the bridge, the thatched town, poor and joyous as the beggar of _carnouailles_. the bay is here so calm, that the whole of this gay scene is reflected in its still waters; and a few scenes of rural festivity present a more animated or diverting picture. "the arrival of the young men, with their parents, is the signal for silence among the candidates for a husband. the gentlemen advance, and gravely parade up and down the bridge, looking first on this side, and then on that, until the face of some one of the lasses strike their fancy. the fortunate lady receives intimation of her success by the advance of the cavalier, who, presenting his hand, assists her in descending from her seat, making at the same time a tender speech; compliments are exchanged, the young man offers fruit to his intended bride, who remains motionless before him, playing with her apron strings. in the mean while the parents of the parties approach each other, talk over the matter of their children's marriage, and if both parties are agreeable they shake hands, and this act of friendly gratulation is considered a ratification of the treaty between them, and the marriage is shortly afterwards celebrated." foreign costume in . [illustration: [++] count eberhard the elder.] the nobleman portrayed here is count eberhard the elder, first duke of wurtemberg, in a festival habit at stuttgardt, in the year , on the occasion of his receiving the order of the golden fleece, the first which austria instituted for herself (king maximilian inherited it from burgundy) and which he received together with king henry viii. of england. his costume is taken from an old illumination which, in the year , was copied for king william of wurtemberg, and which is now preserved in his private library at stuttgardt. this exemplifies the quilled doublet, made of a kind of damasked black velvet, which appears to have been worn over the defensive armour improved by king maximilian. upon the black surcoat appear the orders of the golden fleece and the holy sepulchre. according to contemporary statues and monuments, georg von ekingen and heinrich von wællwerth, officers of the court of eberhard, wore this kind of doublet. the former, according to a portrait, of a red colour; the latter authority is in the wællwerth chapel, in the cloister of lorch near schw. gmuend. peter the great at zaandam. we learn from authentic records that peter the great, czar of russia, entered himself, in the year , on the list of ship's carpenters at the admiralty office of amsterdam, in holland. this is true; but before peter so enrolled himself, he had made an attempt to fix his abode, for the purpose of study, at saardam, or zaandam, a little town situated on the river zaan, about half an hour's voyage, by steam, from the populous and wealthy city of amsterdam. zaandam, though then, as now, one of the most primitive, original little towns in europe, had for some time held important commercial intercourse with russia; and peter had long seen the advantage to be derived from studying at its head-quarters the art which he felt sure would elevate his country in an extraordinary way. he therefore opened a private correspondence with some trusty friends in holland, and set forth, with his hand of intelligent companions, early in the summer of ; in the autumn of the same year he disembarked at zaandam, and, alone and unattended, sought an humble lodging from a man of the name of gerrit kist, who had formerly been a blacksmith in russia, and who, as may well be imagined, was astonished at the "imperial apparition;" indeed he could not believe that peter really wished to hire so humble an abode. but the czar persevered, and obtained permission to occupy the back part of kist's premises, consisting of a room and a little shed adjoining, kist being bound to secresy as to the rank of his lodger: peter's rent amounted to seven florins (about eleven shillings) a week. [illustration: [++] the maisonnette of peter the great.] the _maisonnette_, or hut, of peter the great now stands alone, and has been encased in a strong wooden frame in order to preserve it. it is in much the same state as when occupied by the czar. the chief apartment is entered by the door you see open, the projecting roof covers the room probably occupied by peter's servant, and on the left of the larger room is the recess or cupboard in which peter slept. formerly the rear of this abode was crowded with inferior buildings; it is now an airy space, with trees waving over the wooden tenement, and a garden full of sweet-scented flowers embalms the atmosphere around it. a civil old dutchwoman is the guardian of the property, which is kept up with some taste, and exquisite attention to cleanliness. the _maisonnette_ has but one door. in zaandam the old dutch custom of closing one entrance to the house, except on state occasions, is still kept up; the purpose of the other, the _porte mortuaire_, or _mortuary portal_, is sufficiently explained by its name. after peter's departure, his dwelling passed from hand to hand, and would have fallen into oblivion had not paul the first of russia accompanied joseph the second of austria and the king of sweden to zaandam, on purpose to visit the czar's old abode. after this it became a sort of fashion to make pilgrimages to the once imperial residence; and it acquired a still greater celebrity when the emperor alexander visited it in , and made a great stir in the waters of the zaan with a fleet of three hundred yachts and innumerable barges, gaily decked with flying pennons. in , william the first of holland purchased the property, and gave it to his daughter-in-law, the princess of orange and a royal russian by birth: it is to her care the building owes its present state of preservation. her royal highness appointed a waterloo invalid as first guardian of the place. bonaparte brought josephine here in . poor josephine had no idea of old associations; she jumped from the sublime to the ridiculous at once on entering the "mean habitation," and startled the then proprietor by a burst of untimely laughter. many royal and illustrious names may be read on the walls of the principal chamber, and in the book in which the traveller is requested to write his name. verses and pictures challenge, somewhat impertinently, the attention of the wayfarer; but as we sat down in the triangular arm-chairs, and turned from the dark recess in which peter slept, to the ingle-nook of the deep chimney, and from the ingle to the dark recess again, we could realize nothing but peter in his working dress of the labours of the day. there he was in the heat of an autumnal evening still at work, with books and slates, and instruments connected with navigation, before him on the rude deal table, and he plodding on, as diligently as a common mechanic, in pursuit of that knowledge by which nations are made great. supply of water for london in olden times. in the private houses of the metropolis were only supplied with fresh water twice a-week. mr. cunningham, in his "handbook of london," informs us that the old sources of supply were the wells, or fleet river, wallbrook and langbourne waters, clement's, clerk's, and holy well, tyburn, and the river lea. tyburn first supplied the city in the year , the thames not being pressed into the service of the city conduits till , when it supplied the conduit at dowgate. there were people who stole water from the pipes then, as there are who steal gas now. "this yere" ( ), writes an old chronicler of london, quoted by mr. cunningham, "a wax charndler in flete-stre had bi craft perced a pipe of the condite withynne the ground, and so conveied the water into his celar; wherefore he was judged to ride through the citee with a condite upon his hedde." the first engine which conveyed water into private houses, by leaden pipes, was erected at london-bridge in . the pipes were laid over the steeple of st. magnus; and the engineer was maurice, a dutchman. bulmer, an englishman, erected a second engine at broken wharf. previous to , the strand and covent garden, though so near to the river, were only supplied by water-tankards, which were carried by those who sold the water, or by the apprentice, if there were one in the house, whose duty it was to fill the house-tankard at the conduit, or in the river. in the middle of the seventeenth century, ford erected water-works on the thames, in front of somerset house; but the queen of charles ii.--like the princess borghese, who pulled down a church next to her palace, because the incense turned her sick, and organ made her head ache--ordered the works to be demolished, because they obstructed a clear view on the river. the inhabitants of the district depended upon their tankards and water-carriers, until the reign of william iii., when the york-buildings waterworks were erected. the frequently-occurring name of conduit-street, or conduit-court, indicates the whereabout of many of the old sources whence our forefathers drew their scanty supplies. drinking bouts in persia. in their drinking parties the persians are reported, among even the highest classes, to exceed all bounds of discretion. half a dozen boon companions meet at night. the floor is covered with a variety of stimulating dishes to provoke drinking, for which no provocation whatever is required; among these are pickles of every possible variety, and salted prawns or cray-fish from the persian gulf--a food which ought to be an abomination to a true sheeah. singers and dancing-boys enliven the scene. a persian despises a wine-glass; a tumbler is his measure. he has an aversion to "heeltaps," and he drains his glass to the dregs, with his left hand under his chin to catch the drops of wine, lest he should be detected next morning in respectable society by the marks on his dress. they begin with pleasant conversation, scandal, and gossip; then they become personal, quarrelsome, abusive, and indecent, after the unimaginable persian fashion. as the orgies advance, as the mirth waxes fast and furious, all restraint is thrown aside. they strip themselves stark naked, dance, and play all sorts of antics and childish tricks. one dips his head and face into a bowl of curds, and dances a solo to the admiring topers; while another places a large deeg, or cooking-pot, on his head, and display his graces and attitudes on the light fantastic toe, or rather heel. german costumes of the sixteenth century. the costume-sketch which we give on next page, is taken from an original drawing, having the following superscription:-- "varium et mutabile semper foemina faec suo quem amat scripsit. georgius wolfgang von kaltenthal. ." [illustration: [++] german costumes of the sixteenth century.] the group represents the above-named young knight, with his youthful wife, taking a ride. she wears a blue silken dress, with a boddice of gold brocade, trimmed with fur, and a rose-coloured silk scarf; the head-dress is quite plain, the hair being fastened with a golden dagger set in jewels. the knight's dress consists of a light green doublet, with dark green stripes; slashed hose, edged with white; yellowish leather surcoat without sleeves, riding boots of untanned leather, and grey felt hat with red and white plume, dagger, and sword. the accoutrements of the horse are simply black, with some metal ornaments. the young lady is the beautiful leonora caimingen, who was at that time a great favourite of the court at wurtemberg. in travelling thus (which was at that time the only mode), females of the higher rank only were accustomed to make use of masks, or veils, for the preservation of their complexions, that custom being generally unusual. the ancestral castle of the knights of kaltenthal was situated between stuttgardt and boeblingen, on the summit of a rock overhanging the valley of hesslach. it exists no longer. ancient tripod. [illustration: [++] ancient tripod.] tripods are, next to vases, the most ancient furniture in the world; the imagination of the ancients invested them with fanciful forms, and we meet with designs which, although very simple, show already the power exercised by the re-productive faculties of the mind upon the objects surrounding these ancient nations. representations of the kind were, however, exceedingly rare till the last forty years, and it must be considered an especial piece of good fortune that the excavations made in several parts of etruria, have afforded more than one example of this description. the specimen engraved was found in the gailassi regulini tomb of cervetri, in etruria, and in it we see a large vessel placed on the tripod, from the edge of which five lions' heads start forth with hideous expression. these monsters lend to the whole that fanciful aspect distinguishing objects of the archaic period. when we imagine to ourselves this kettle boiling, and these cruel animals wreathed and enveloped in smoke, we can understand how the fancy of superstitious worshippers, who were wont to make use of these implements in their religious ceremonies, may have found in them an allusion to the spirits of the victims whose remains were exposed to the destructive fire glowing underneath. to us, at least, this representation may illustrate the terrific but grand passage of homer, where the bodies of the slaughtered sun bulls become once more instinct with life, demanding vengeance with fearful cries: odyssey, book xii, verse . "the skins began to creep, and the flesh around the spits bellowed, the roasted as well as the raw. and thus grew the voice of the oxen." the careful construction of the three-legged mechanism which lends a firm support to this fire-stand, has been restored according to the indication of some fragments found on the spot. it presents a graceful aspect, and forms, in some respects, a remarkable contrast to the heavy character of the vessel occupying so lofty a position, as the proportions of the legs are exceedingly slender, and the feet themselves, instead of being broad and shapeless, are all composed of a great many fine articulations. fondness of the romans for pearls. of all the articles of luxury and ostentation known to the romans, pearls seem to have been the most esteemed. they were worn on all parts of the dress, and such was the diversity of their size, purity, and value, that they were found to suit all classes, from those of moderate to those of the most colossal fortune. the famous pearl ear-rings of cleopatra are said to have been worth about £ , , and julius cæsar is said to have presented servilia, the mother of brutus, with a pearl for which he had paid above £ , ; and though no reasonable doubt can be ascertained in regard to the extreme exaggeration of these and similar statements, the fact that the largest and finest pearls brought immense prices is beyond all question. it has been said that the wish to become master of the pearls with which it was supposed to abound, was one of the motives which induced julius cæsar to invade britain. but, though a good many were met with in various parts of the country, they were of little or no value, being small and ill-coloured. after pearls and diamonds, the emerald held the highest place in the estimation of the romans. the black stone at mecca. near the entrance of the kaaba at mecca, at the north-eastern corner, is the famous black stone, called by the moslems _hajra el assouad_, or heavenly stone. it forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, and is inserted four or five feet above the ground. the shape is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter. its colour is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black; and it is surrounded by a border of nearly the same colour, resembling a cement of pitch and gravel, and from two to three inches in breadth. both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, swelling to a considerable breadth below, where it is studded with nails of the same metal. the surface is undulated, and seems composed of about a dozen smaller stones, of different sizes and shapes, but perfectly smooth, and well joined with a small quantity of cement. it looks as if the whole had been dashed into many pieces by a severe concussion, and then re-united--an appearance that may perhaps be explained by the various disasters to which it has been exposed. during the fire that occurred in the time of yezzid i. (a.d. ), the violent heat split it into three pieces; and when the fragments were replaced, it was necessary to surround them with a rim of silver, which is said to have been renewed by haroun el raschid. it was in two pieces when the karmathians carried it away, having been broken by a blow from a soldier during the plunder of mecca. hakem, a mad sultan of egypt, in the th century, endeavoured, while on the pilgrimage, to destroy it with an iron club which he had concealed under his clothes; but was prevented and slain by the populace. since that accident it remained unmolested until , when it was found one morning besmeared with dirt, so that every one who kissed it returned with a sullied face. though suspicion fell on certain persians, the authors of this sacrilegious joke were never discovered. as for the quality of the stone, it does not seem to be accurately determined. burckhardt says it appeared to him like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and yellowish substance. ali bey calls it a fragment of volcanic basalt, sprinkled with small-pointed coloured crystals, and varied with red feldspar upon a dark black ground like coal, except one of its protuberances, which is a little reddish. the millions of kisses and touches impressed by the faithful have worn the surface uneven, and to a considerable depth. this miraculous block all orthodox mussulmans believe to have been originally a transparent hyacinth, brought from heaven to abraham by the angel gabriel; but its substance, as well as its colour, have long been changed by coming in contact with the impurities of the human race. paragraph from the "postman" in . "yesterday being the day of thanksgiving appointed by the states-general for the peace, his excellency, the dutch ambassador, made a very noble bonfire before his house in st. james's square, consisting of about pitch barrels placed perpendicularly on seven scaffolds, during which the trumpets sounded, and two hogsheads of wine were kept continually running amongst the common people." lord mayor's feast in . pepys gives a curious account of a lord mayor's dinner in . it was served in the guildhall, at one o'clock in the day. a bill of fare was placed with every salt-cellar, and at the end of each table was a list of the persons proper there to be seated. here is a mixture of abundance and barbarism. "many were the tables, but none in the hall, but the mayor's and the lords' of the privy council, _that had napkins or knives_, which was very strange. i sat at the merchant-stranger's table, where ten good dishes to a mess, with plenty of wine of all sorts; but it was very unpleasing that we had no napkins, nor change of trenchers, and drank out of earthen pitchers and wooden dishes. the dinner, it seems, is made by the mayor and two sheriffs for the time being, and the whole is reckoned to come to £ or £ at most." pepys took his spoon and fork with him, as was the custom of those days with guests invited to great entertainments. "forks" came in with tom coryat, in the reign of james i.; but they were not "familiar" till after the restoration. the "laying of napkins," as it was called, was a profession of itself. pepys mentions, the _day before_ one of his dinner-parties, that he went home, and "there found one laying of my napkins against to-morrow, in figures of all sorts, which is mighty pretty, and, it seems, is his trade, and he gets much money by it." the cupid of the hindoos. among the hindoo deities _camdeo_, or manmadin differs but little from the cupid of the ancients. he is also called _ununga_, or, without body; and is the son of vishnu and lacshmi. besides his bow and arrows, he carries a banner, on which is delineated a fish: his bow is a sugar-cane; the cord is formed of bees; the arrows are of all sorts of flowers; one only is headed, but the point is covered with a honeycomb--an allegory equally just and ingenious, and which so correctly expresses the pleasures and the pangs produced at one and the same time by the wounds of love. manmadin is represented, as in the annexed plate, riding on a parrot. [illustration: [++] manmadin riding on a parrot.] one day, when vishnu, to deceive sheeva, had assumed the figure of a beautiful young female, manmadin discharged an arrow, which pierced the heart of the formidable deity, and inflamed it with love of the nymph. the latter fled, and at the moment when sheeva had overtaken her, vishnu resumed his proper form. sheeva, enraged at the trick played upon him, with one flash of his eyes burned and consumed the imprudent manmadin, who hence received the name of _ununga_. he was restored to life by a shower of nectar, which the gods in pity poured upon him: but he remained without body and is the only indian deity who is accounted incorporeal. camdeo is particularly worshipped by females desirous of obtaining faithful lovers and good husbands. old dial and fountain in leadenhall-street. [illustration: [++] old dial and fountain.] the above sketch is taken from an old work on astronomy and geography by joseph moxon, and printed by him, and sold "at his shop on _cornhill_, at the signe of _atlas_, ." we cannot do better than give moxon's own words with reference to the dial:--"to make a dyal upon a solid ball or globe, that shall show the hour of the day without a gnomon. the equinoctial of this globe, or (which is all one) the middle line must be divided into equal parts, and marked with , , , , &c., and then beginning again with , , , &c. to . then if you elevate one of the poles so many degrees above an horizontal line as the pole of the world is elevated above the horizon in your habitation, and place one of the twelves directly to behold the north, and the other to behold the south, when the sun shines on it, the globe will be divided into two halfs, the one enlightened with the sunshine, and the other shadowed; and where the enlightened half is parted from the shadowed half, there you will find in the equinoctial the hour of the day, and that on two places on the ball, because the equinoctial is cut in two opposite points by the light of the sun. a dyal of this sort was made by mr. john leak and set up on a composite columne at leadenhall corner, in london, in the majoralty of sir john dethick, knight. the figure whereof i have inserted because it is a pretty peece of ingenuity, and may, perhaps, stand some lover of the art in stead either for imitation or help of invention." magnificence of madyn, the capital of persia, when invaded by the saracens, a.d. . the invaders could not express their mingled sensations of surprise and delight, while surveying in this splendid capital the miracles of architecture and art, the gilded palaces, the strong and stately porticoes, the abundance of victuals in the most exquisite variety and profusion, which feasted their senses, and courted their observation on every side. every street added to their astonishment, every chamber revealed a new treasure; and the greedy spoilers were enriched beyond the measure of their hopes or their knowledge. to a people emerging from barbarism, the various wonders which rose before them in all directions, like the effect of magic, must have been a striking spectacle. we may therefore believe them when they affirm, what is not improbable, that the different articles of merchandise--the rich and beautiful pieces of manufacture which fell a prey on this occasion--were in such incalculable abundance, that the thirtieth part of their estimate was more than the imagination could embrace. the gold and silver, the various wardrobes and precious furniture, surpassed, says abul-feda, the calculation of fancy or numbers; and the historian elmacin ventured to compute these untold and almost infinite stores at the value of , , , pieces of gold. one article in this prodigious booty, before which all others seemed to recede in comparison, was the superb and celebrated carpet of silk and gold cloth, sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth, which decorated one of the apartments of the palace. it was wrought into a paradise or garden, with jewels of the most curious and costly species; the ruby, the emerald, the sapphire, the beryl, topaz, and pearl, being arranged with such consummate skill, as to represent, in beautiful mosaic, trees, fruits, and flowers, rivulets and fountains; roses and shrubs of every description seemed to combine their fragrance and their foliage to charm the sense of the beholders. this piece of exquisite luxury and illusion, to which the persians gave the name of _baharistan_ or the mansion of perpetual spring, was an invention employed by their monarchs as an artificial substitute for that loveliest of seasons. during the gloom of winter they were accustomed to regale the nobles of their court on this magnificent embroidery, where art had supplied the absence of nature, and wherein the guests might trace a brilliant imitation of her faded beauties in the variegated colours of the jewelled and pictured floor. in the hope that the eyes of the caliph might he delighted with this superb display of wealth and workmanship, saad persuaded the soldiers to relinquish their claims. it was therefore added to the fifth of the spoil, which was conveyed to medina on the backs of camels. but omar, with that rigid impartiality from which he never deviated, ordered the gaudy trophy to be cut up into small pieces, and distributed among the chief members of the mohammedan commonwealth. such was the intrinsic value of the materials, that the share of ali alone, not larger than the palm of a man's hand, was afterwards sold for , drachms (£ s. d.), or, according to others, for as many dinars (£ , ). out of this vast store the caliph granted pensions to every member of his court in regular gradation, from the individuals of the prophet's family to the lowest of his companions, varying from £ to £ s. per annum. the military part of the booty was divided into , shares, and every horseman had , dinars (£ , ); hence, if the army consisted of , cavalry, their united shares would amount to the incredible sum of £ , , sterling. courtship of william the conqueror. the following extract from the life of the wife of the conqueror, is exceedingly curious, as characteristic of the manners of a semi-civilized age and nation:--"after some years' delay, william appears to have become desperate; and, if we may trust to the evidence of the 'chronicle of ingerbe,' in the year way-laid matilda in the streets of bruges, as she was returning from mass, seized her, rolled her in the dirt, spoiled her rich array, and, not content with these outrages, struck her repeatedly, and rode off at full speed. this teutonic method of courtship, according to our author, brought the affair to a crisis; for matilda, either convinced of the strength of william's passion, by the violence of his behaviour, or afraid of encountering a second beating, consented to become his wife. how he ever presumed to enter her presence again, after such a series of enormities, the chronicler sayeth not, and we are at a loss to imagine." brama, the hindoo deity. _brama_, _birmah_, or _brouma_, is one of the three persons of the indian trinity, or rather the supreme being under the attribute of _creator_. brama, the progenitor of all rational beings, sprung from a golden egg, sparkling like a thousand suns, which was hatched by the motion imparted to the waters by the supreme being. brama separated the heavens from the earth, and placed amid the subtle ether the eight points of the universe and the receptacle of the waters. he had five heads before vairevert, one of sheeva's sons, cut off one of them. he is delineated floating on a leaf of the lotus, a plant revered in india. the bramins relate, that the fifteen worlds which compose the universe were each produced by a part of brama's body. at the moment of our birth he imprints in our heads, in characters which cannot be effaced, all that we shall do, and all that is to happen to us in life. it is not in our power, nor in that of brama himself, to prevent what is written from being fulfilled. [illustration: [++] brama.] brama, according to the vulgar mythology, takes but little notice of human affairs. identified with the sun, he is adored by the bramins in the _gayatri_, the most sacred passage of the _vedas_ (or sacred books), which is itself ranked among the gods, and to which offerings are made. one of the most important attributes of brama is that of father of legislators; for it was his ten sons who diffused laws and the sciences over the world. he is considered as the original author of the _vedas_, which are said to have issued from his four mouths; though it was not till a later period, that is, about fourteen hundred years before christ, that they were collected and arranged by vyasa, the philosopher and poet. the laws which bear the name of menu, the son of brama, and the works of the other _richeys_, or holy persons, were also re-copied, or perhaps collected from tradition, long after the period when they are said to have been published by the sons of brama. brama, the father of the legislators of india, has a considerable resemblance to the jupiter of the greek poets, the father of minos, whose celebrated laws were published in the very same century that vyasa collected the _vedas_. jupiter was worshipped as the sun, by the name of _anxur_ or _axur_, and brama is identified with that luminary. the most common form in which brama is represented, is that of a man with four heads and four hands; and it is remarkable that the lacedæmonians gave four heads to their jupiter. lastly, the title of father of gods and men is equally applicable to brama and to jupiter. brama is delineated, as in the engraving, holding in one hand a ring, the emblem of immortality; in another, fire, to represent force; and with the other two writing on _olles_, or palm-leaves, the emblem of legislative power. james ii. and the church of donore. [illustration: [++] church of donore.] the annexed engraving represents a celebrated locality. it is the ruin of the little church on the hill at donore, in the county of meath, the spot where james ii. was stationed when he beheld the overthrow of his army and the ruin of his cause at the battle of the boyne, tuesday, july st, . the boyne is a very beautiful and picturesque river; it winds through the fertile valleys of meath, and from its richly-wooded banks the hills rise gradually; there are no lofty mountains in the immediate neighbourhood. the depth, in nearly all parts, is considerable, and the current, consequently, not rapid; its width, near the field of battle, varies little, and is seldom less than fifty or sixty yards. james had the choice of ground, and it was judiciously selected. on the south side of the river, in the county of meath, his army was posted with considerable skill: on the right was drogheda; in front were the fords of the boyne, deep and dangerous, and difficult to pass at all times; the banks were rugged, lined by a morass, defended by some breastworks, with "huts and hedges convenient for infantry;" and behind them was an acclivity stretching along the whole of "the field." james fixed his own tent upon the summit of a hill close to the little church of donore, now a ruin; it commanded an extensive view of the adjacent country, and the opposite or south side of the river--the whole range, indeed, from drogheda to oldbridge village--and looked directly down upon the valley, in which the battle was to be fought, and the fords of the boyne, where there could be no doubt the troops of william would attempt a passage. from this spot, james beheld his prospering rival mingling in the thick of the _mêlée_, giving and taking blows; watched every turn of fortune, as it veered towards or against him; saw his enemies pushing their way in triumph, and his brave allies falling before the swords of foreigners--a safe and inglorious spectator of a battle upon the issue of which his throne depended. the preceeding night he had spent at carntown castle, from whence he had marched, not as the leader, but as the overseer, of the irish army; having previously given unequivocal indications of his prospects, his hopes, and his designs, by despatching a commissioner to waterford, "to prepare a ship for conveying him to france, in case of any misfortune." hanging gardens of babylon. when babylon the great was in the zenith of her glory, adjoining the grand palace, and within the general enclosure, the hanging gardens were constructed by the king to gratify his wife amytis, who being a native of media (she was the daughter of astyages, the king of media), desired to have some imitation of her native hills and forests. "within the walls was raised a lofty mound, where flowers and aromatic shrubs adorn'd the pensile garden. for nebassar's queen, fatigued with babylonia's level plains, sigh'd for her median home, where nature's hand had scooped the vale, and clothed the mountain's side with many a verdant wood: nor long she pined till that uxorious monarch called on art to rival nature's sweet variety. forthwith two hundred thousand slaves uprear'd this hill--egregious work; rich fruits o'erhang the sloping vales, and odorous shrubs entwine their undulating branches." these gardens, as far as we learn from ancient accounts, contained a square of above feet on each side, and were carried up in the manner of several large terraces, one above the other, till the height equalled that of the walls of the city. the ascent from terrace to terrace was by stairs ten feet wide. the whole pile was sustained by vast arches, raised on other arches one above another, and was defended and condensed by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of twenty-two feet in thickness. on the top of the arches were first laid large flat stones, sixteen feet long and four broad; over these was a layer of weeds mixed and cemented with a large quantity of bitumen, on which were two rows of bricks closely cemented together with the same material. the whole was covered with thick sheets of lead, on which lay the mould of the garden. and all this floorage was so contrived as to keep the moisture of the mould from running away through the arches. the earth laid thereon was so deep that large trees might take root in it: and with such the terraces were covered, as well as with the [...] plants and flowers proper to adorn an eastern pleasure-garden. the trees planted there are represented to have been of various kinds. here grew the larch, that, curving, flings its arms like a falling wave; and by it was seen the grey livery of the aspen; the mournful solemnity of the cypress and stately grandeur of the cedar intermingled with the elegant mimosa; besides the light and airy foliage of the silk-tasselled acacia, with its vast clusters of beauteous lilac flowers streaming in the wind and glittering in the sun; the umbrageous foliage of the chesnut, and ever-varying verdure of the poplar; the birch, with its feathered branches light as a lady's plumes--all combined with the freshness of the running stream, over which the willow waved its tresses.-- "and the jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose, the sweetest flower for scent that blows; and all rare blossoms from every clime grew in that garden in perfect prime." all these varied delights of nature were ranged in rows on the side of the ascent as well as on the top, so that at a distance it appeared to be an immense pyramid covered with wood. the situation of this extraordinary effort of human skill, aided by human wealth and perseverance, adjoining the river euphrates, we must suppose that in the upper terrace was an hydraulic engine, or kind of pump, by which the water was forced up out of the river, and from thence the whole gardens were watered, and a supply of the pure element furnished to the fountains and reservoirs for cooling the air. in the spaces between the several arches, on which the whole structure rested, were large and magnificent apartments, very lightsome, and commanding the most beautiful prospects that even the glowing conceptions of an eastern imagination could dream to exist. the great bell of burmah. at a temple in the environs of amarapoora, the capital of burmah, there is an enormous bell, which is thus described by captain yule:--"north of the temple, on a low circular terrace, stands the biggest bell in burmah--the biggest in the world, probably, russia apart. it is slung on a triple beam of great size, cased and hooped with metal; this beam resting on two piers of brickwork, enclosing massive frames of teak. the bell does not swing free. the supports were so much shaken by the earthquake, that it was found necessary to put props under the bell, consisting of blocks of wood carved into grotesque figures. of course no tone can now be got out of it. but at any time it must have required a battering-ram to elicit its music. small ingots of silver (and some say pieces of gold) may still be traced, unmelted, in the mass, and from the inside one sees the curious way in which the makers tried to strengthen the parts which suspend it by dropping into the upper part of the mould iron chains, round which the metal was run. the burmese report the bell to contain , viss of metal (about tons). its principal dimensions are as follow:--external diameter at the lip, feet inches; external diameter feet inches above the lip, feet; interior height, feet inches; exterior ditto, feet; interior diameter at top, feet inches. the thickness of metal varies from six inches to twelve, and the actual weight of the bell is, by a rough calculation, about eighty tons, or one-eleventh of the popular estimate. according to mr. howard malcolm, whose authority was probably colonel burney, the weight is stated in the royal chronicle at , viss, or about ninety tons. this statement is probably, therefore, genuine, and the popular fable merely a multiplication of it by ten." this monster burmese bell is, therefore, fourteen times as heavy as the great bell of st. paul's, but only one-third of that given by the empress anne to the cathedral of moscow. bandoliers. [illustration: [++] bandoliers.] we here engrave a set of bandoliers, a species of weapon much in vogue about the close of the sixteenth century. the specimen before us consists of nine tin cases covered with leather, with caps to them, each containing a charge of powder, and suspended by rings from a cord made to pass through other rings. the caps are retained in their places by being contrived so as to slip up and down their own cords. two flaps of leather, on each side, are intended to protect the bandoliers from rain, and attached to one of these may be perceived a circular bullet-purse, made to draw with little strings. this specimen was buckled round the waist by means of a strap; others were worn round the body and over the shoulder. the noise they made, agitated by the wind, but more especially the danger of all taking fire from the match-cord, occasioned their disuse, as sir james turner tells us, about the year . tomb of darius. among the most remarkable tombs of the ancients, may be noticed the sepulchre carved out of the living rock, by order of darius, the warrior and conqueror king of persia, for the reception of his own remains; and which is existing to this day at persepolis, after a duration of twenty-three centuries. the portico is supported by four columns twenty feet in height, and in the centre is the form of a doorway, seemingly the entrance to the interior, but it is solid; the entablature is of chaste design. above the portico there is what may be termed an ark, supported by two rows of figures, about the size of life, bearing it on their uplifted hands, and at each angle a griffin--an ornament which is very frequent at persepolis. on this stage stands the king, with a bent bow in his hand, worshipping the sun, whose image is seen above the altar that stands before him, while above his head hovers his ferouher, or disembodied spirit. this is the good genius that in persian and ninevite sculpture accompanies the king when performing any important act. on each side the ark are nine niches, each containing a statue in bas-relief. no other portion of the tomb was intended to be seen, excepting the sculptured front; and we must, therefore, conclude that the entrance was kept secret, and that the avenues were by subterranean passages, so constructed that none but the privileged could find their way. we are told by theophrastus, that darius was buried in a coffer of egyptian alabaster; and also that the early persians buried their dead entire, preserving their bodies with honey or wax. the gate on old london bridge. [illustration: [++] gate on old london bridge.] in the reign of queen elizabeth, a strongly embattled gate protected the entrance from southwark to old london bridge, and it was usually garnished with traitors' heads in "rich abundance," as may be seen in the accompanying cut, which is copied from visscher's view, in . the bridge was at that period covered with houses, a narrow road passing through arcades beneath them, and they abutted on props over the river on either side. the bridge was proudly spoken of by our ancestors. thus, in the translation of ortelius, published by j. shaw, in , he says of the thames:--"it is beautified with statelye pallaces, built on the side thereof; moreover, a sumptuous bridge sustayned on nineteen arches, with excellent and beauteous housen built thereon." camden, in his great work, the "britannica," says, "it may worthily carry away the prize from all the bridges in europe," being "furnished on both sides with passing faire houses, joining one to another in the manner of a street." extraordinary ponds and fish. the ponds in the department of ain in france are in number. the industry and ingenuity of man have converted the marshes into fertile plains and productive ponds, by constructing dykes from one hill to the other, for the plateaux are covered with small hills. when the proprietor of one of these ponds wishes to cultivate it, he draws off the water into the dyke attached to it. wheat, barley, and oats are then sown, and the seed thus fertilised by the slime produces a crop double that produced by the land in the vicinity. after the harvest is collected, the water is permitted to return to its former bed, and carp, tench, and roach are then thrown into it. some of these ponds will support , of carp, and pounds of little tench and roach. in the course of two years these carp, which weighed only one ounce and a-half, will have attained the size of two pounds and a half. the fishing begins in april, and is continued until november. the increase of the fish is as one to five. the ceremonial of making the king's bed. the following account of the old ceremony of making the king's bed in the time of henry the eighth, was sent to the society of antiquaries, in , by mr. j. c. brooke, of the heralds' college, f.s.a. &c. in a letter to the president, he says,-- "it is extracted from an original manuscript, elegantly written, beautifully illuminated, and richly bound, which was some time in the library of henry, duke of norfolk, earl marshal of england, to whom it came by descent from thomas, the great duke of norfolk, beheaded in the reign of queen elizabeth; who married mary, daughter and coheir of henry fitz-alan, earl of arundel, lord chamberlain to king henry the eighth. it contains the whole duty of the lord chamberlain, and of the officers in his department; is the original copy kept for the information of that earl; and had been compiled by order of, and approved by, the king himself in council." "_the oolde ordre of makynge the kynges bedd not to used nor done, but as hys grace woll comaund and apoynte from tyme to tyme herafter._ "_furste_, a groome or a page to take a torche, and to goo to the warderobe of the kynges bedd, and bryng theym of the warderobe with the kynges stuff unto the chambr for makyng of the same bedde. where as aught to be a gentylman-usher, iiii yomen of the chambr for to make the same bedde. the groome to stande at the bedds feete with his torch. they of the warderobe openyng the kinges stuff of hys bedde upon a fayre sheete, bytwen the sayde groome and the bedds fote, iii yeomen, or two at the leste, in every syde of the bedde; the gentylman-usher and parte commaundyng theym what they shall doo. a yoman with a dagger to searche the strawe of the kynges bedde that there be none untreuth therein. and this yoman to caste up the bedde of downe upon that, and oon of theym to tomble over yt for the serche thereof. then they to bete and tufle the sayde bedde, and to laye oon then the bolster without touchyng of the bedd where as it aught to lye. then they of the warderobe to delyver theym a fustyan takyng the saye therof. all theys yomen to laye theyr hands theroon at oones, that they touch not the bedd, tyll yt be layed as it sholde be by the comaundement of the ussher. and so the furste sheet in lyke wyse, and then to trusse in both sheete and fustyan rownde about the bedde of downe. the warderoper to delyver the second sheete unto two yomen, they to crosse it over theyr arme, and to stryke the bedde as the ussher shall more playnly shewe unto theym. then every yoman layeing hande upon the sheete, to laye the same sheete upon the bedde. and so the other fustyan upon or ii with such covervnge as shall content the kynge. thus doon, the ii yomen next to the bedde to laye down agene the overmore fustyan, the yomen of the warderobe delyverynge theym a pane sheete, the sayde yoman therewythall to cover the sayde bedde. and so then to laye down the overmost sheete from the beddes heed. and then the sayd ii yomen to lay all the overmost clothes of a quarter of the bedde. then the warderoper to delyver unto them such pyllowes as shall please the kynge. the sayd yoman to laye theym upon the bolster and the heed sheete with whych the sayde yoman shall cover the sayde pyllowes. and so to trusse the endes of the sayde sheete under every ende of the bolster. and then the sayd warderoper to delyver unto them ii lyttle small pyllowes, werwythall the squyres for the bodye or gentylman-ussher shall give the saye to the warderoper, and to the yoman whych have layde on hande upon the sayd bedde. and then the sayd ii yomen to lay upon the sayde bedde toward the bolster as yt was bifore. they makyng a crosse and kissynge yt where there handes were. then ii yomen next to the feete to make the feers as the ussher shall teche theym. and so then every of them sticke up the aungel about the bedde, and to lette down the corteyns of the sayd bedde, or sparver. "item, a squyer for the bodye or gentylman-ussher aught to sett the kynges sword at hys beddes heed. "item, a squyer for the bodye aught to charge a secret groome or page, to have the kepynge of the sayde bedde with a lyght unto the time the kynge be disposed to goo to yt. "item, a groome or page aught to take a torche, whyle the bedde ys yn makyng, to feche a loof of brede, a pott wyth ale, a pott wyth wine, for them that maketh the bedde, and every man. "item, the gentylman-ussher aught to forbede that no manner of man do sett eny dysshe upon the kynge's bedde, for fere of hurtying of the kynge's ryche counterpoynt that lyeth therupon. and that the sayd ussher take goode heede, that noo man wipe or rubbe their handes uppon none arras of the kynges, wherby they myght bee hurted, in the chambr where the kynge ys specially, and in all other." origin of sandwiches. to the memory of "lord sandwich" belongs the name of that edible. being, during his administration (as was very usual with him), at a gambling-house, he had, in the fascination of play, for more than five and twenty hours forgotten fatigue and hunger, when suddenly, feeling disposed to break his fast, though still riveted to the table, he called to bid some one bring anything that was to be had to eat, which happened to prove a slice of beef, and two pieces of bread. placing them together for the sake of expedition, he devoured them with the greatest relish. the most ecstatic encomiums published his discovery, and giving it his name, bequeathed it as a memento to his country, as one of the most important acts of his administration. the treaty-stone at limerick. the city of limerick is very famous in history. before it, in , ireton "sate down;" there he continued to "sit" for six months; and underneath its walls the fierce republican died of plague. greater celebrity, and higher honour, were, however, obtained by limerick in . early in august, william summoned it to surrender; the french general, boileau, who commanded the garrison--"rather for the king of france than the king of england"--returned for answer, that "he was surprised at the summons, and thought the best way to gain the good opinion of the prince of orange was to defend the place for his master king james." the siege was at once commenced. the flower of the irish army were within its walls, or in its immediate neighbourhood; the counties of clare and galway were open to them, from which to draw supplies; and a french fleet rode triumphantly in the shannon. the garrison, however, were little disposed to act in concert: the jealousy of the commanders of the french and irish had spread to their troops; and they cherished feelings of contempt or hatred towards each other, that argued ill for their success in opposing the steady and disciplined forces of william. [illustration: [++] treaty-stone at limerick.] yet the irish succeeded; the siege was raised on the th of august. but, in the autumn of , it endured a second, which occupied about six months; when the garrison, wearied of a struggle from which they could derive nothing but glory, on the rd of september, a cessation of hostilities took place; an amicable intercourse was opened between the two armies; and articles of capitulation were, after a few brief delays, agreed upon. the "violated treaty" was signed on the rd of october, ; it consisted of two parts, civil and military. it is said to have been signed by the several contracting parties on a large stone, near to thomond bridge, on the county of clare side of the river. the stone remains in the position it occupied at the period, and is an object of curiosity to strangers, as well as of interest to the citizens of limerick. we, therefore, thought it desirable to procure a drawing of the relic, which retains its name of "the treaty stone." the templars' banner called beauseant. when constantine the great was on the eve of a battle with maxentius, we are told that a luminous standard appeared to him in the sky with a cross upon it, and this inscription:--"_in hoc signo vinces_--by this sign you shall conquer;" and that this sign so encouraged constantine and his soldiers that they gained the next day a great victory. when waldemar ii. of denmark was engaged in a great battle with the livonians in the year , it is said that a sacred banner fell from heaven into the midst of his army, and so revived the courage of his troops, that they gained a complete victory over the livonians; and in memory of the event, waldemar instituted an order of knighthood, called "st. danebrog," or the strength of the danes, and which is still the principal order of knighthood in denmark. now, taking these legends for as much as they are worth, and no more; what do they prove? not that this miraculous standard and cross came to the assistance of constantine; not that this miraculous banner came to the aid of waldemar; but they prove that such was the paramount importance attached to the sacred banner among the forces, that wherever it was present, it was a great means of inspiriting the men with increased confidence and courage, and so contributed to the victory. [illustration: [++] beauseant.] the great importance attached to the banner in the middle ages is not to be wondered at, when we consider that it was a kind of connecting link between the military and the clergy; it was a religious symbol applied to a military purpose, and this was the feeling which animated the crusaders and the templars in their great struggle against the enemies of christianity. the contest then was between the crescent and the cross--between christ and mahomet. the knights templars had a very remarkable banner, being simply divided into black and white, the white portion symbolising peace to their friends, the black portion evil to their enemies, and their dreaded war cry, "beauseant." sword-fish _v._ whales. so boundless is the sword-fish's rage and fury against whales in particular, that many observers imagine his sallies against rocks and timber to originate in an error of judgment, that all these lunges are intended to punish leviathan, and are only misdirected in consequence of the imperfect vision which prevents this scomber, like many of his family, from accurately distinguishing forms. whenever a supposed whale is descried, our savage _sabreur_ rushes forward to intercept his progress, and suddenly flashing before his victim, either alone or in conjunction with some other unfriendly fish, instantly proceeds to the attack. relations of such sea-fights, attested by credible eye-witnesses, are not uncommon; we content ourselves with the citation of one of unimpeachable accuracy. captain crow, cited by mr. yarrell, relates that in a voyage to memel, on a calm night, just off the hebrides, all hands were called up to witness a strange combat between some thrashers (carcharias vulpes) and a sword-fish leagued together against a whale; as soon as the back of the ill-starred monster was seen rising a little above the water, the thrashers sprang several yards into the air, and struck him with their descending tails, the reiterated percussions of which sounded, we are told, like a distant volley of musketry. the sword-fish meanwhile attacked the whale from below, getting close under his belly, and with such energy and effect that there could be little doubt of the issue of a fray, which the necessity of prosecuting their voyage prevented the crew from watching to its close. the sword-fish is not less remarkable for strength than pugnacity, the depôt of its great physical powers being, as in most scombers, in the tail. wealth of spain under the moors. the moors, whose conquest and expulsion were attended with such atrocities, and such triumphs to the catholic church, were by far the most industrious and skilful part of the spanish population, and their loss was a blow to the greatness and prosperity of that kingdom from which it has never recovered. the literary activity and commercial enterprise of the arabs, which the wise policy of their caliphs encouraged, contributed both to enrich and adorn their adopted country. cordova, the seat of the ommiades, was scarcely inferior, in point of wealth and magnitude, to its proud rival on the banks of the tigris. a space of twenty-four miles in length, and six in breadth, along the banks of the guadalquiver, was occupied with palaces, streets, gardens, and public edifices; and for ten miles the citizens could travel by the light of lamps along an uninterrupted extent of buildings. in the reign of almansor it could boast of , houses, , shops, baths, , mosques, from the minarets of which a population of , were daily summoned to prayers. the seraglio of the caliph, his wives, concubines, and black eunuchs, amounted to , persons; and he was attended to the field by a guard of , horsemen, whose belts and scimitars were studded with gold. granada was equally celebrated for its luxury and its learning. the royal demesnes extended to the distance of twenty miles, the revenues of which were set apart to maintain the fortifications of the city. of the duty on grain, the king's exchequer received about £ , yearly, an immense sum at that time, when wheat sold at the rate of sixpence a bushel. the consumption of , inhabitants kept water-mills constantly at work in the suburbs. the population of this small kingdom under the moors is said to have amounted to , , , which is now diminished perhaps to one-fifth of that number. its temples and palaces have shared the same decay. the alhambra stands solitary, dismantled, and neglected. the interior remains of the palace are in tolerable preservation, and present a melancholy picture of the romantic magnificence of its former kings. seville, which had continued nearly years the seat of a petty kingdom, enjoyed considerable reputation as a place of wealth and commerce. the population in was computed at , persons, which, in the sixteenth century, had decreased one-third. it was one of the principal marts for olives in the moorish dominions; and so extensive was the trade in this article alone that the _axarafe_, or plantations round the suburbs, employed farm-houses and olive-presses to the amount of , , being more than is now to be found in the whole province of andalusia. the first opera. the first composer who tried his hand at setting an opera to music was francisco bamirino, an italian artist; and the piece to which he lent the charm of a melodious accompaniment, was the "conversion of st. paul," which was brought out at rome in . ruins of europa. lady sheil, in her "life in persia," thus describes some wonderful ruins which she saw about thirty miles from tehran:-- "from near verameen a most remarkable antiquity still survives the lapse of twenty centuries, that is, if what we hear be true. it consists of an immense rampart, twenty or thirty feet in height, and of proportional thickness, including a space of about half a mile in length and nearly the same in breadth. it is in the form of a square; the rampart is continuous, and at short intervals is strengthened by bastions of prodigious size. the whole is constructed of unbaked bricks of large dimensions, and is in a state of extraordinary preservation. the traces of a ditch of great size, though nearly filled up, are evident in front of the rampart. no buildings are found inside, where nothing is visible excepting a few mounds,--not a single habitation or human being. the solitude of this striking vestige of antiquity adds to its solemnity. it stood alone; elboorz, distant only a few miles, gazing down on its hoary walls, with demawend, in its garments of snow, to complete the scene. from no place have i had a finer view of this grand mountain, which seemed to lie exactly to the north. i am informed that these magnificent ruins represent europa, a city built by seleucus, which, if true, would make it upwards of two thousand years old. on seeing the perfect state of the ruins, and the materials of which they are composed, one feels no hesitation in crediting so venerable an antiquity. seleucus chose the spot well. the district of verameen is renowned for its fertility, though not at this period for the salubrity of its climate. the surrounding country is covered with earthen mounds, denoting former edifices, which, if explored, might reveal objects worthy of the erudition and intellect of even sir henry rawlinson." celebrated gun. [illustration: [++] gun of charles ix. of france.] the gun, of which the annexed is a sketch, is one of the many curiosities of the londesborough museum. it once formed part of the collection of prince potemkin, and was originally the property of charles ix. of france; it is traditionally reported to have been the gun he used in firing on his huguenot subjects, from one of the windows of the louvre, during the massacre of st. bartholomew. the barrel is richly chased in high relief, with a stag-hunt amid foliage. the stock is inlaid with ivory, sculptured into a series of hunting scenes, knights on horseback. the dreadful massacre of saint bartholomew commenced at paris on the night of the festival of that saint, august th, . above persons of rank, and , of inferior condition, perished in paris alone, besides those slaughtered in the provinces. the king, who had been persuaded that the destruction of the huguenots to the last man was necessary to the safety of his throne, beheld the slaughter from a window, and being carried away by the example of those whose murderous doings he witnessed, ordered some long arquebusses to be brought, and on their being loaded, and handed to him one after another, he for some time continued to fire on the unfortunate fugitives as they passed, crying at the same time with a loud voice, "kill, kill." he afterwards went and inspected the bodies of the slain, and expressed his satisfaction at the effective manner in which his orders had been executed. tomb of raffaelle. the great painter raffaelle died at rome, april th , at the early age of thirty-seven. he was buried in the pantheon, in a chapel which was afterwards called raffaelle's chapel. for more than a century and a half his tomb had only a plain epitaph, but carlo maratti desired to place a more striking memorial of raffaelle's resting-place than the simple inscription, and accordingly, in the year , a marble bust of the painter, executed by paolo nardini, was placed in one of the oval niches on each side of the chapel. the epitaph to maria bibiena (raffaelle's betrothed) was removed to make way for maratti's new inscription; and it was currently believed that the skull of raffaelle was removed; at least such was the history given of a skull shown as the painter's, religiously preserved by the academy of st. luke, and descanted on by phrenologists as indicative of all the qualities which "the divine painter" possessed. but scepticism played its part; doubts of the truth of this story led to doubts of vasari's statement respecting the exact locality of raffaelle's tomb. matters were brought to a final issue by the discovery of a document proving this skull to be that of don desiderio de adjutorio, founder of the society called the virtuosi, in . thereupon, this society demanded the head of its founder from the academy of st. luke; but they would neither abandon that, nor the illusion that they possessed the veritable skull of the great artist. arguments ran high, and it was at length determined to settle the question by an examination of the spot, which took place on the th of september , in the presence of the academies of st. luke and of archæology, the commission of the fine arts (including overback and others), the members of the virtuosi, the governor of rome (monsignor grimaldi), and the cardinal zurla, the representative of the pope. [illustration: [++] tomb of raffaelle.] the result will be best given in the words of an eye-witness, signor nibby (one of the commission of antiquities and fine arts), who thus described the whole to m. quatremere de quincy, the biographer of raffaelle:--"the operations were conducted on such a principle of exact method as to be chargeable with over nicety. after various ineffectual attempts in other directions, we at length began to dig under the altar of the virgin itself, and taking as a guide the indications furnished by vasari, we at length came to some masonry of the length of a man's body. the labourers raised the stone with the utmost care, and having dug within for about a foot and a half, came to a void space. you can hardly conceive the enthusiasm of us all, when, by a final effort, the workmen exhibited to our view the remains of a coffin, with an entire skeleton in it, lying thus as originally placed, and thinly covered with damp dust. we saw at once quite clearly that the tomb had never been opened, and it thus became manifest that the skull possessed by the academy of st. luke was not that of raffaelle. our first care was, by gentle degrees, to remove from the body the dust which covered it, and which we religiously collected, with the purpose of placing it in a new sarcophagus. amongst it we found, in tolerable preservation, pieces of the coffin, which was made of deal, fragments of a painting which had ornamented the lid, several bits of tiber clay, formations from the water of the river, which had penetrated into the coffin by infiltration, an iron stelletta, a sort of spur, with which raffaelle had been decorated by leo x, several _fibulæ_, and a number of metal _anelli_, portions of his dress." these small rings had fastened the shroud; several were retained by the sculptor fibris, who also took casts of the head and hand, and camuccini took views of the tomb and its precious contents; from one of these our cut is copied. on the following day the body was further examined by professional men: the skeleton was found to measure five feet seven inches, the narrowness of the coffin indicated a slender and delicate frame. this accords with the contemporary accounts, which say he was of a refined and delicate constitution; his frame was all spirit; his physical strength so limited that it was a wonder he existed so long as he did. the investigation completed, the body was exhibited to the public from the th to the th, and then was again placed in a new coffin of lead, and that in a marble sarcophagus presented by the pope, and taken from the antiquities in the museum of the vatican. a solemn mass was then announced for the evening of the th of october. the pantheon was then illuminated, as for a funeral; the sarcophagus, with its contents, was placed in exactly the same spot whence the remains had been taken. the presidents of the various academies were present, with the cavalier fabris at their head. each bore a brick, which he inserted in the brickwork with which the sepulchre was walled in. and so the painter awaits "the resurrection of the just," and the fellowship of saints and angels, of which his inspired pencil has given us the highest realisation on earth. antimony. the origin of the use of _anti-moine_, or antimony, is a remarkable circumstance. basil valentin, superior of a college of religionists, having observed that this mineral fattened the pigs, imagined that it would produce the same effect on the holy brotherhood. but the case was seriously different; the unfortunate fathers, who greedily made use of it, died in a short time, and this is the origin of its name, according to the pure french word. in spite of this unfortunate beginning, paracelsus resolved to bring this mineral into practice; and by mixing it with other preparations make it useful. the faculty at paris were on this occasion divided into two parties, the one maintaining that antimony was a poison; the other affirmed that it was an excellent remedy. the dispute became more general, and the parliament and the college of the sorbonne interfered in the matter; but sometime afterwards people began to judge rightly concerning this excellent mineral; and its wonderful and salutary effects have occasioned the faculty to place it among their best medicines. personal appearance of mahomet. for the personal appearance and private life of mahomet, we must rely on the arabian writers, who dwell with fond and proud satisfaction on the graces and intellectual gifts with which nature had endowed him. he was of a middle stature, of a clear, fair skin, and ruddy complexion. his head and features, though large, were well proportioned; he had a prominent forehead, large dark-brown eyes, an aquiline nose, and a thick bushy beard. his mouth, though rather wide, was handsomely formed, and adorned with teeth white as pearls, the upper row not closely set, but in regular order--which appeared when he smiled, and gave an agreeable expression to his countenance. he had a quick ear, and a fine sonorous voice. his dark eyebrows approached each other without meeting. his hair fell partly in ringlets about his temples, and partly hung down between his shoulders. to prevent whiteness, the supposed effect of satanic influence, he stained it, as the arabs often do still, of a shining reddish colour. his frame was muscular and compact--robust rather than corpulent. when he walked, he carried a staff, in imitation of the other prophets, and had a singular affectation of being thought to resemble abraham. the assertion of the greeks and christians, that he was subject to epilepsy, must be ascribed to ignorance or malice. stirrups. from every information we have been able to collect, we believe that the appendage of stirrups were not added to saddles before the sixth century. it is said, that previous to the introduction of stirrups, the young and agile used to mount their horses by vaulting upon them, which many did in an expert and graceful manner; of course, practice was essential to this perfection. that this should be afforded, wooden horses were placed in the campus martius, where this exercise was performed of mounting or dismounting on either side; first, without, and next with arms. cavalry had also occasionally a strap of leather, or a metallic projection affixed to their spears, in or upon which the foot being placed, the ascent became more practicable. respecting the period of this invention, montfaucon has presumed that the invention must have been subsequent to the use of saddles; however, opposed to this opinion, an ingenious argument has been offered, that it is possible they might have been anterior to that invention; because, it is said, they might have been appended to a girth round the body of the horse. both hippocrates and galen speak of a disease to which the feet and ancles were subject, from long riding, occasioned by suspension of the feet without a resting-place. suetonius, the roman, informs us that germanicus, the father of caligula, was wont to ride after dinner, to strengthen his ancles, by the action of riding affording the blood freer circulation in the part. the great shoemadoo pagoda. [illustration: [++] great shoemadoo pagoda.] the buddhist temple of which we here give an engraving is the great shoëmadoo pagoda at pegu. among other things it is interesting as being one of the earliest attempts at that class of decoration, which consists in having at the base of the building a double range of small pagodas, a mode of ornamentation that subsequently became typical in hindu architecture; their temples and spires being covered, and indeed composed of innumerable models of themselves, clustered together so as to make up a whole. the building stands on two terraces, the lower one about ft. high, and ft. square: the upper one, ft. in height, is ft. square; from the centre of it rises the pagoda, the diameter of whose base is ft. the small pagodas are ft. high, and or in number; while the great pagoda itself rises to the height of ft. above its terrace, or ft. above the country, thus reaching a height nearly equal to st. paul's cathedral; while the side of the upper terrace is only ft. less than that of the great pyramid. tradition ascribes its commencement to two merchants, who raised it to the height of cubits at an age slightly subsequent to that of buddha himself. successive kings of pegu added to this from time to time, till at last it assumed its present form, most probably about three or four centuries ago. pest house during the plague in tothill fields. [illustration: [++] pest house in tothill fields.] tothill fields, a locality between pimlico and the thames, was anciently the manor of tothill, belonging to john maunsel, chancellor, who in , entertained here henry iii. and his court at a vast feast in tents and pavilions. here were decided wagers of battle and appeals by combat. necromancy, sorcery and witchcraft were punished here; and "royal solemnities and goodly jousts were held here." in culpeper's time the fields were famous for parsley. in a battery and breastwork were erected here. here also were built the "five houses," or "seven chimneys," as pest-houses for victims of the plague. one of these pest-houses is given in the above engraving, taken from an old print. in the plague time of , the dead were buried "in the open tuttle fields." in queen anne's reign here was william well's head garden on the site of vincent-square. the train bands were drawn out here in . in the last century the fields were a noted duel-ground, and here, in , sir cholmeley deering, m.p., was killed by the first shot of mr. richard thornhill, who was tried for murder and acquitted, but found guilty of manslaughter and burnt in the hand. the thugs. the following account of these horribly extraordinary men is taken from dr. hooker's himalayan journals; writing at mirzapore, he says:--"here i had the pleasure of meeting lieutenant ward, one of the suppressors of thuggee (_thuggee_, in hindostan, signifies a deceiver; fraud, not open force, being employed). this gentlemen kindly showed me the approvers, or king's evidence of his establishment, belonging to those three classes of human scourges, the thug, dakoit, and poisoner. of these the first was the thug, a mild-looking man, who had been born and bred to the profession: he had committed many murders, saw no harm in them, and felt neither shame nor remorse. his organs of observation and destructiveness were large, and the cerebellum small. he explained to me how the gang waylay the unwary traveller, enter into conversation with him, and have him suddenly seized, when the superior throws his own girdle round the victim's neck and strangles him, pressing the knuckles against the spine. taking off his own girdle, he passed it round my arm, and showed me the turn as coolly as a sailor once taught me the hangman's knot. the thug is of any caste, and from any part of india. the profession have particular stations, which they generally select for murder, throwing the body of their victim into a well. "their origin is uncertain, but supposed to be very ancient, soon after the mahommedan conquest. they now claim a divine original, and are supposed to have supernatural powers, and to be the emissaries of the divinity, like the wolf, the tiger, and the bear. it is only lately that they have swarmed so prodigiously--seven original gangs having migrated from delhi to the gangetic provinces about years ago, from whence all the rest have sprung. many belong to the most amiable, intelligent, and respectable classes of the lower and even middle ranks: they love their profession, regard murder as sport, and are never haunted with dreams, nor troubled with pangs of conscience during hours of solitude, or in the last moments of life. the victim is an acceptable sacrifice to the goddess davee, who by some classes is supposed to eat the lifeless body, and thus save her votaries the necessity of concealing it. "they are extremely superstitious, always consulting omens, such as the direction in which a hare or a jackal crosses the road; and even far more trivial circumstances will determine the fate of a dozen of people, and perhaps of an immense treasure. all worship the pickaxe, which is symbolical of their profession, and an oath sworn on it binds closer than on the koran. the consecration of this weapon is a most elaborate ceremony, and takes place only under certain trees. the thugs rise through various grades: the lowest are scouts; the second, sextors; the third, are holders of the victim's hands; the highest, stranglers. "though all agree in never practising cruelty, or robbing previous to murder--never allowing any but infants to escape (and these are trained to thuggee), and never leaving a trace of such goods as may be identified--there are several variations in their mode of conducting operations: some tribes spare certain castes, others none; murder of woman is against all rules; but the practice crept into certain gangs, and this it is which led to their discountenance by the goddess davee, and the consequent downfall of the system. davee, they say, allowed the british to punish them, because a certain gang had murdered the mothers to obtain their daughters to be sold to prostitution. "major sleeman has constructed a map demonstrating the number of 'bails,' or regular stations for committing murder, in the kingdom of oude alone, which is miles long by broad, and in which are , which are regarded by the thug with as much satisfaction and interest as a game preserve is in england; nor are these 'bails' less numerous than in other parts of india. of twenty assassins who were examined, one frankly confessed to having been engaged in murders, and the least guilty of the number in . sometimes persons collected into one gang, and their profits have often been immense, the murder of six persons on one occasion yielding , rupees, upwards of £ , ." english earthenware and shakspeare's jug. much uncertainty exists regarding the period when the manufacture of fine earthenware was first introduced into england. among the documents in the foedera, occur various lists of articles, ordered to be purchased in england for several foreign potentates, and permitted to be exported for their use without paying the custom duties. one of these lists, dated in , enumerates many objects as then shipped for the use of the king of portugal and the countess of holland, among which are "six silver cups, each of the weight of six marks (or four pounds), a large quantity of woollen stuffs, and plates, dishes, saucers, and other vessels of _electrum_." as these articles were, no doubt, the produce of the country, it would appear that utensils for domestic use were then made of metal, and not of pottery; and it was not till some time afterwards that the latter was introduced by the dutch, whose manufactory at delft probably existed as early as the fifteenth century, and who sent large quantities of their ware to england. the skill and excellence of the english artizans consisted in the manufacture of silver and other metals. of this, instances are recorded in the correspondence of la mothe fénelon, the french ambassador at the court of queen elizabeth; and in the travels of hentzner, who visited england in . both describe in glowing colours the silver plate which adorned the buffets, as well as the magnificent furniture and decorations of the palaces of that sumptuous queen. still elizabeth, who so highly prided herself upon the state and splendour of her establishment, and who was in constant intercourse with the court of france and the low countries, was not likely to have remained altogether satisfied without possessing, among the manufactures of her own kingdom, something similar to the fine fayence then in use in every foreign court. though it is probable that delft ware procured from holland was first used, it may reasonably be presumed that the ware called by her name was afterwards manufactured, under her immediate patronage, for the use of the court and the nobility; and although there is no record of the fact, it is supposed that stratford-le-bow was the site of the manufactory. [illustration: [++] shakspeare's jug.] shakspeare's jug, of which we here give an engraving, which has been carefully preserved by the descendants of the immortal bard since the year , is, perhaps, the most remarkable example of the elizabethan pottery now existing. the shape partakes very much of the form of the old german or dutch ewer, without, however, the usual top or cover; the one now attached to the jug being a modern addition of silver, with a medallion bust of the poet in the centre, beautifully executed and inscribed "wm. shakspeare, at the age of forty." it is about ten inches high, and sixteen inches round at the largest part, and is divided lengthwise into eight compartments, having each a mythological subject in high relief. all of these, although executed in the quaint style of the period, possess considerable merit. some of them, indeed, manifest much masterly grouping of both human figures and animals; and such is the admirable state of preservation of this very interesting old english relic, that as correct a judgment may be formed of its workmanship, as in the days of its first possessor; at all events, as regards the degree of perfection to which english pottery had attained in the elizabethan age; an inspection of this jug will justify the presumption, that her court was not less tastefully provided in that respect than those of the continent, notwithstanding the obscurity in which the precise locality and extent of the manufactory is unfortunately involved. price of mackarel. the price of mackarel, in may, , in the billingsgate market, was as follows:--forty guineas for every hundred of the first cargo, which made the fish come to seven shillings apiece! the next supplies were also exorbitant, though much less so than the first, fetching thirteen pounds per hundred, or two shillings apiece. the very next year the former deficiencies were more than made up, for it appears that during the season , mackarel were hawked about the streets of dover, at sixty for a shilling, or five for a penny; whilst they so blockaded the brighton coast that on one night it became impossible to land the multitudes taken, and at last both fish and nets went to the bottom together. pope's chair. [illustration: [++] alexander pope's chair.] in one of the rooms at that stately and picturesque baronial hall, audley end, the seat of lord braybrooke, there is preserved the interesting relic which forms the subject of the annexed engraving. its history is thus told on a brass plate inserted in the back--"this chair, once the property of alexander pope, was given as a keep-sake to the nurse who attended him in his illness; from her descendants it was obtained by the rev. thomas ashley, curate of the parish of binfield, and kindly presented by him to lord braybrooke, in , nearly a century after the poet's decease." it is apparently of flemish workmanship, and of rather singular design; in the centre medallion is a figure of venus holding a dart in her right hand, and a burning heart in her left. the narrow back and wide-circling arms give a peculiarly quaint appearance to this curious relic of one of our greatest poets. first wind-mills. mabillon mentions a diploma of the year , in which a convent in france is allowed to erect water and windmills, _molendina ad ventum_. bartolomeo verde proposed to the venetians in , to build a wind-mill. when his plan had been examined, he had a piece of ground assigned him, which he was to retain if his undertaking succeeded within a specified time. in , the city of spires caused a wind-mill to be erected, and sent to the netherlands for a person acquainted with the method of grinding by it. a wind-mill was also constructed at frankfort, in ; but it does not appear to have been ascertained whether there were any there before. about the twelfth century, in the pontificate of gregory, when both wind and water-mills became more general, a dispute arose whether mills were titheable or not. the dispute existed for some time between the persons possessed of mills and the clergy; when neither would yield. at length, upon the matter being referred to the pope and sacred college, the question was (as might have been expected when interested persons were made the arbitrators) determined in favour of the claims of the church. the "happy dispatch" in japan. the _hari-kari_, or "happy dispatch," consists in ripping open their own bowels with two cuts in the form of a cross--after the artistic dissector's fashion. officials resort to it under the fear of the punishment which they may expect; for it is a leading principle that it is more honourable to die by one's own hand than by another's. princes and the high classes receive permission to rip themselves up as a special favour, when under sentence of death: their entire family must die with the guilty. sometimes, by favour, the nearest relative of the condemned is permitted to perform the function of executioner in his own house. such a death is considered less dishonourable than by the public executioners, aided by the servants of those who keep disreputable houses. but the japanese, for the most part, always ask permission to rip themselves; and they set about it with astonishing ease, and not without evident ostentation. the criminal who obtains this favour assembles all his family and his friends, puts on his richest apparel, makes an eloquent speech on his situation, and then, with a most contented look, he bares his belly, and in the form of a cross rips open the viscera. the most odious crimes are effaced by such a death. the criminal thenceforward ranks as a brave in the memory of men. his family contracts no stain, and his property is not confiscated. it is curious that the romans and the japanese should hit upon crucifixion as a mode of punishment. these coincidences often startle us in reviewing the manners and customs of men. vainly we strive to conjecture how such a mode of punishment could have suggested itself to the mind of man. the _in terrorem_ object scarcely accounts for it. constantine abolished it amongst the romans, in honour of him who was pleased to make that mode of dying honourable in the estimation of men. the hari-kari, or happy dispatch, is still more incomprehensible. we shudder at the bare idea of it. to commit suicide by hanging, by drowning, by poison, by firearms, by a train in rapid motion--all these modes are reasonable in their madness; but to rip open our bowels!--and with _two_ cuts! we are totally at a loss to imagine how such a mode of self-murder could have been adopted; we cannot but wonder at the strength of nerve which enables it to be accomplished: but we feel no doubt of the everlasting force of national custom--especially amongst the orientals--in the continuance of this practice. montesquieu said, "if the punishments of the orientals horrify humanity, the reason is, that the despot who ordains them feels that he is above all laws. it is not so in republics, wherein the laws are always mild, because he who makes them is himself a subject." this fine sentiment, thoroughly french, is evidently contradicted by the institutions of japan, where the emperor himself, the despot, is a subject: besides, montesquieu would have altered his antithesis had he lived to see the horrors of the reign of terror in the glorious french republic. puritan zeal. the following is a copy of the order issued by government for the destruction of glasgow cathedral:--"to our traist friendis,--traist friendis, after most hearty commendacion, we pray you fail not to pass incontinent to the kirk, (of glasgow, or elsewhere, as it might be) and tak down the hail images thereof, and bring furth to the kirk-zyard, and burn them openly. and sicklyke cast down the altaris, and purge the kirk of all kynd of monuments of idolatrye. and this ze fail not to do, as ze will do us singular emplesure; and so commitis you to protection of god. (signed) ar. argyle. james stewart. ruthven. _from edinburgh the xii. of aug. ._ "fail not, but ze tak guid heyd that neither the dasks, windows, nor duris, be ony ways hurt or broken, uthe glassin wark, or iron wark." frederick the great at table. the table of the great frederic of prussia was regulated by himself. there were always from nine to a dozen dishes, and these were brought in one at a time. the king carved the solitary dish, and helped the company. one singular circumstance connected with this table was, that each dish was cooked by a different cook, who had a kitchen to himself! there was much consequent expense, with little magnificence. frederic ate and drank, too, like a boon companion. his last work, before retiring to bed, was to receive from the chief cook the bill of fare for the next day; the price of each dish, and of its separate ingredients, was marked in the margin. the monarch looked it cautiously through, generally made out an improved edition, cursed all cooks as common thieves, and then flung down the money for the next day's expenses. artificial sweets. professor playfair, in an able lecture delivered in the great exhibition, and since published, has raised a curtain, which displays a rather repulsive scene. he says, the perfume of flowers frequently consists of oils and ethers, which the chemist can compound artificially in his laboratory. singularly enough these are generally derived from substances of an intensely disgusting odour. a peculiarly fetid oil, termed the "fusel" oil, is formed in making brandy. this fusel oil distilled with sulphuric acid and acetate of potass, gives the oil of pears (?). the oil of apples is made from the same fusel, by distillation with the same acid and chromate of potass. the oil of pineapples is obtained from the product of the action of putrid cheese on sugar! or by making a soap with butter. the artificial oil of bitter almonds is now largely employed in perfuming soap confectionary; extracted by nitric acid and the fetid oil of gas tar. many a fair forehead is damped with _eau de mille fleurs_ without the knowledge that its essential ingredient is derived from the drainage of cow-houses! teutonic hut-shaped vases. [illustration: [++] teutonic hut-shaped vases.] some remarkable sepulchral urns, of which we give a sketch, resembling those of the early inhabitants of alba longa, in italy, have been found in germany, and are distinctly teutonic. they occur in the sepulchres of the period when bronze weapons were used, and before the predominance of roman art. one found at mount chemnitz, in thuringen, had a cylindrical body and conical top, imitating a roof. in this was a square orifice, representing the door or window, by which the ashes of the dead were introduced, and the whole then secured by a small door fastened with a metal pin. a second vase was found at roenne; a third in the island of bornholm. a similar urn exhumed at parchim had a shorter body, taller roof, and door at the side. still more remarkable was another found at aschersleben, which has its cover modelled in shape of a tall conical thatched roof, and the door with its ring still remaining. another, with a taller body and flatter roof, with a door at the side, was found at klus, near halberstadt. the larger vases were used to hold the ashes of the dead, and are sometimes protected by a cover, or stone, or placed in another vase of coarser fabric. the others are the household vessels, which were offered to the dead filled with different viands. some of the smaller vases appear to have been toys. extraordinary popular superstitions have prevailed amongst the german peasantry as to the origin and nature of these vases, which in some districts are considered to be the work of the elves,--in others, to grow spontaneously from the ground like mushrooms--or to be endued with remarkable properties for the preservation of milk and other articles of food. weights to sink nets, balls, discs, and little rods of terra-cotta, are also found in the graves. lynch's castle, galway. [illustration: [++] lynch's castle.] the house in the town of galway, still known as "lynch's castle," although the most perfect example now remaining, was at one period by no means a solitary instance of the decorated habitations of the galway merchants. the name of lynch, as either provost, portreve, sovereign, or mayor of galway, occurs no fewer than ninety-four times between the years and ; after that year it does not appear once. the house here pictured was the residence of the family for many generations. it had, however, several branches, whose habitations are frequently pointed out by their armorial bearings, or their crest, a lynx, over the gateway. one of its members is famous in history as the irish junius brutus. the mere fact is sufficiently wonderful without the aid of invention; but it has, as may be supposed, supplied materials to a host of romancers. the story is briefly this:-- james lynch fitzstephen was mayor or warden of galway in ; he traded largely with spain, and sent his son on a voyage thither to purchase and bring back a cargo of wine. young lynch, however, spent the money entrusted to him, and obtained credit from the spaniard, whose nephew accompanied the youth back to ireland to be paid the debt and establish further intercourse. the ship proceeded on her homeward voyage, and as she drew near the irish shore, young lynch conceived the idea of concealing his crime by committing another. having seduced, or frightened, the crew into becoming participators, the youth was seized and thrown overboard. the father and friends of lynch received the voyager with joy; and the murderer in a short time became himself a prosperous merchant. security had lulled every sense of danger, and he proposed for a very beautiful girl, the daughter of a wealthy neighbour, in marriage. the proposal was accepted; but previous to the appointed day, one of the seamen became suddenly ill, and in a fit of remorse summoned old lynch to the dying-bed, and communicated to him a full relation of the villany of his only and beloved son. young lynch was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to execution--the father being his judge. the wretched prisoner, however, had many friends among the people, and his relatives resolved with them that he should not die a shameful death. they determined upon his rescue. we copy the last act of the tragedy from "hardiman's history of galway." "day had scarcely broken when the signal of preparation was heard among the guards without. the father rose, and assisted the executioner to remove the fetters which bound his unfortunate son. then unlocking the door, he placed him between the priest and himself, leaning upon an arm of each. in this manner they ascended a flight of steps lined with soldiers, and were passing on to gain the street, when a new trial assailed the magistrate for which he appears not to have been unprepared. his wretched wife, whose name was blake, failing in her personal exertions to save the life of her son, had gone in distraction to the heads of her own family, and prevailed on them, for the honour of their house, to rescue him from ignominy. they flew to arms, and a prodigious concourse soon assembled to support them, whose outcries for mercy to the culprit would have shaken any nerves less firm than those of the mayor of galway. he exhorted them to yield submission to the laws of their country; but finding all his efforts fruitless to accomplish the ends of justice at the accustomed place, and by the usual hands, he, by a desperate victory over parental feeling, resolved himself to perform the sacrifice which he had vowed to pay on its altar. still retaining a hold of his unfortunate son, he mounted with him by a winding stair within the building, that led to an arched window overlooking the street, which he saw filled with the populace. here he secured the end of the rope--which had been previously fixed round the neck of his son--to an iron staple, which projected from the wall, and after taking from him a last embrace, he launched him into eternity. the intrepid magistrate expected instant death from the fury of the populace; but the people seemed so much overawed or confounded by the magnanimous act, that they retired slowly and peaceably to their several dwellings. the innocent cause of this sad tragedy is said to have died soon after of grief, and the unhappy father of walter lynch to have secluded himself during the remainder of his life from all society except that of his mourning family. his house still exists in lombard street, galway, which is yet known by the name of 'dead man's lane;' and over the front doorway are to be seen a skull and cross-bones executed in black marble, with the motto, 'remember deathe--vaniti of vaniti, and all is but vaniti.'" the house in which the tragedy is said to have occurred was taken down only so recently as ; but the tablet which contains the "skull and cross-bones" bears the date --upwards of a century after the alleged date of the occurrence. washington. it is something singular, that washington drew his _last_ breath, in the _last_ hour, of the _last_ day, of the _last_ week, of the _last_ month, of the _last_ year, of the _last_ century. he died on saturday night, twelve o'clock, december st, . ancient banners and standards. banners have been in use from the earliest ages. xenophon gives us the persian standard as a golden eagle, mounted on a pole or spear. we find banners very early in use among the nations of europe. in this country the introduction of banners was clearly of a religious origin. venerable bede says, that when st. augustin and his companions came to preach christianity in britain in the latter part of the sixth century, and having converted ethelbert, the bretwalda of the anglo-saxons (his queen bertha had already embraced the christian faith) the monk and his followers entered canterbury in procession, chanting, "we beseech thee o lord, of thy mercy, let thy wrath and anger be turned away from this city, and from thy holy place, for we have sinned. hallelujah." and they carried in their hands little banners on which were depicted crosses. the missionaries were allowed to settle in the isle of thanet, and canterbury became the first christian church. the raven has been regarded from very early ages as an emblem of god's providence, no doubt from the record in holy writ of its being employed to feed elijah the prophet, in his seclusion by the brook cherith; and it was the well-known ensign of the danes, at the time of their dominion in this country. in the year , a great battle was fought at burford, in oxfordshire, and the golden dragon, the standard of wessex, was victorious over ethelbald, the king of mercia. the banners of several of the saxon kings were held in great veneration, especially those of edmund the martyr, and of edward the confessor. the latter king displayed as an ensign a cross flory between five martlets gold, on a blue field, and which may still be seen on a very ancient shield in the south aisle of westminster abbey. when william the norman set out to invade england he had his own ensign, the two lions of normandy, depicted on the sails of his ships; but on the vessel in which he himself sailed, besides some choice relics, he had a banner at the mast-head with a cross upon it, consecrated by the pope, to give sanctity to the expedition. indeed it has been the practice in every age for the pope to give consecrated banners wherever he wished success to any enterprise, numerous instances of which might be cited in very recent times. and in our own army down to the present day, whenever any regiment receives new banners (or colours, as the modern term is), the regiment is drawn out in parade, the colours are then blessed by the prayers of several clergymen of the church of england, and afterwards presented to the regiment by the fair hand of a lady of rank. [illustration: [++] banner.] cæsar has recorded a fine example of patriotism, to the credit of one of his own officers, when he attempted to land his roman forces on our shores, and meeting with a warmer reception than they anticipated from the britons, considerable hesitation arose among his troops; but the standard-bearer of the tenth legion, with the roman eagle in his hand, invoking the gods, plunged into the waves, and called on his comrades to follow him, and do their duty to their general and to the republic; and so the whole army made good their landing. [illustration: [++] cæsar's banner.] we have in the nineveh sculptures some highly interesting specimens of the ancient assyrian standards, consisting principally of two varieties, which are here given. the principal archer appears to be drawing his bow, while the standard-bearer elevates the standard in front of the chariot. ancient manners of the italians. about the year , the food of the italians was very moderate, or, rather scanty. the common people had meat only three days a week. their dinner consisted of pot-herbs, boiled with meat; their supper, the cold meat left from dinner. the husband and wife eat out of the same dish; and they had but one or two cups in the house. they had no candles made of wax or tallow; but, a torch, held by one of the children, or a servant, gave them light at supper. the men, whose chief pride was in their arms and horses, wore caps made with iron scales, and cloaks of leather, without any other covering. the women wore jackets of stuff, with gowns of linen, and their head-dresses were very simple. those who possessed a very small sum of money, were thought rich; and the homely dress of the women required only small marriage portions. the nobles were proud of living in towers; and thence the cities were filled with those fortified dwellings. amusements of the lower orders in the fifteenth century. the most popular amusements of the lower orders were wrestling, bowling, quoit and ninepin playing, and games at ball. in wrestling the cornwall and devonshire men excelled, and a ram, or sometimes a cock, was the prize of the victor. bowling alleys were commonly attached to the houses of the wealthy, and to places of public resort. among the games at ball we find tennis, trap-ball, bat and ball, and the balloon-ball, in which a large ball filled with air was struck from one side to the other by two players with their hands and wrists guarded by bandages. archery was now on the decline, owing to the introduction of firearms; nor could all the legislative enactments of the day revive its constant use. the quarter-staff was also a favourite weapon of sportive fence, which was a staff about five or six feet long, grasped in the middle with one hand, while the other slid up and down as it was required to strike or to ward a blow. the citizens of london enjoyed themselves in winter by skating on the thames, (the old shankbones of sheep having now been superseded by regular skates, probably introduced from the netherlands,) and in summer with sailing and rowing. dice and cards, prisoner's base, blind man's buff, battledoor and shuttlecock, bull-baiting, and cock-fighting, a rude species of mumming, the dancing of fools at christmas, and other games, completed the gratifications of the populace. novel mode of taking vengeance. the chinese have a book entitled _si-yuen_, that is to say, "the washing of the pit," a work on medical jurisprudence, very celebrated all over the empire, and which should be in the hands of all chinese magistrates. it is impossible to read the si-yuen without being convinced that the number of attempts against life in this country is very considerable, and especially that suicide is very common. the extreme readiness with which the chinese are induced to kill themselves, is almost inconceivable; some mere trifle, a word almost, is sufficient to cause them to hang themselves, or throw themselves to the bottom of a well; the two favourite modes of suicide. in other countries, if a man wishes to wreak his vengeance on an enemy, he tries to kill him; in china, on the contrary, he kills himself. this anomaly depends upon various causes, of which these are the principal:--in the first place, chinese law throws the responsibility of a suicide on those who may be supposed to be the cause or occasion of it. it follows, therefore, that if you wish to be revenged on an enemy, you have only to kill yourself to be sure of getting him into horrible trouble; for he falls immediately into the hands of _justice_, and will certainly be tortured and ruined, if not deprived of life. the family of the suicide also usually obtains, in these cases, considerable damages; so that it is by no means a rare case for an unfortunate man to commit suicide in the house of a rich one, from a morbid idea of family affection. in killing his enemy, on the contrary, the murderer exposes his own relatives and friends to injury, disgraces them, reduces them to poverty, and deprives himself of funeral honours, a great point for a chinese, and concerning which he is extremely anxious. it is to be remarked also, that public opinion, so far from disapproving of suicide, honours and glorifies it. the conduct of a man who destroys his own life, to avenge himself on an enemy whom he has no other way of reaching, is regarded as heroic and magnanimous. persecution in the reign of queen mary. the total number of persons who perished in the flames for their religion during this reign has been variously reckoned at and , amongst whom were bishops, divines, gentlemen, artificers, husbandmen, servants, and labourers, wives, widows, unmarried women, boys, and infants, of which last one was whipped to death by the savage bonner, and the other, springing out of its mother's womb, at the stake, was mercilessly thrown back into the fire. the number of those that died in prison was also very great. yet england may be considered as comparatively free from persecution during this period, for all over the continent the victims of bigotry were reckoned, not by hundreds, but by thousands, and in the netherlands alone , persons are said to have lost their lives in the religious wars of the spaniards. wayside monuments. the sketch on next page represents a curious custom which still prevails in the neighbourhood of cong, near oughterard in ireland. it is well described in the following account of their tour by mr. and mrs. s. c. hall:--"on the way to joyce's country we saw heaps of piled-up stones on either side of the road; these heaps continuing for above a mile, after their commencement a short distance from the western entrance to the town. the artist may convey a better notion of their peculiar character than any written description can do. we left our car to examine them minutely; and learned they were monuments to the memory of "deceased" persons, "erected" by their surviving friends. upon death occurring, the primitive tumulus is built,--if that may be called building which consists in placing a few large stones upon a spot previously unoccupied. each relative of the dead adds to the heap; and in time it becomes a "mountain" of tolerable size. each family knows its own particular monument; and a member of, or a descendant from it, prays and leaves his offering only at that especial one. the custom has endured for many generations: some of the heaps bore tokens of great age; and one was pointed out to us of which there were records, in the transferred memories of the people, for at least years. the bodies are in no instance buried here--it is not consecrated earth; the monuments are merely memorials, and no doubt originated at a period when a roman catholic was, according to the provisions of a law equally foolish and cruel, interred, without form or ceremony, in church ground--the ground that had been the property of their ancestors. none of these stone cairns have any masonwork, and they are generally of the rudest forms, or rather without any form, the stones having been carelessly cast one upon another. upon one of them only could we discover any inscription--this one is introduced into the print; it is built with far more than the usual care; it contained an inscription; "pray for y{e} soule of john joyce, & mary joyce, his wife, died ;" some of them, however, seem to have been constructed with greater care than others, and many of them were topped with a small wooden cross. we estimated that there were at least of these primitive monuments--of all shapes and sizes--along the road. in each of them we observed a small hollow, which the peasants call a "window;" most of these were full of pebbles, and upon inquiry we learned that when one of the race to whom the deceased belonged kneels by the side of this record to his memory and offers up a prayer for the repose of his soul, it is customary to fling a little stone into this "cupboard;" the belief being that gradually as it fills, so, gradually, the soul is relieved from punishment in purgatory; when completely full the soul has entered paradise. we have prolonged our description of this singular and interesting scene, because it seems to have been altogether overlooked by travellers, and because we believe that nothing like it is to be met with in any other part of ireland; although similar objects are to be found in several other places about connemara, none of them, however, are so extensive as this which adjoins cong." [illustration: [++] primitive monuments.] hindoo adoration of the sÁlagrÁm. [illustration: [++] hindoo adoration of the sálagrám.] among the many forms which vishnu is believed by his hindoo worshippers to have assumed is that of the sálagrám--an ammonite-stone, found in the river gandaká and other streams flowing from the himalayas. the reason for the worship of this is stated in one of the sacred books. "vishnu created the nine planets to preside over the fates of men. sani (saturn) proposed commencing his reign by taking brahma under his influence for twelve years. the matter was referred to vishnu, who being equally averse to be placed under the inauspicious influence of this planet, requested him to call the next day. the next day saturn could nowhere discover vishnu, but perceived that he had united himself to the mountain gandaká; he entered the mountain in the form of a worm called vajrakita (the thunderbolt worm). he continued to afflict the mountain-formed vishnu for twelve years, when vishnu assumed his proper shape, and commanded that the stones of this mountain should be worshipped, and become proper representatives of himself; adding that each should have twenty marks in it, similar to those on his body, and that its name should be sálagrám." the sálagrám is usually placed under a tulasi-tree, which is planted on the top of a pillar in the vicinity of a temple of vishnu, or near a house. tulasi, a female, desired to become vishnu's wife, but was metamorphosed by lakshmi into a tree, a small shrub, called therefore _tulasi_, or holy basil (ocymum sanctum). vishnu, however, promised to assume the form of a sálagrám, and always continue with her. the vaishnaya priests, therefore, keep one leaf of the shrub under and another over the sálagrám, and thus pay their adorations to the stone and the tree. in the evening a lamp is placed near it. in the month of may it is watered from a pot suspended over it, as appears in the engraving, which represents a person engaged in the worship at this singular shrine. tomb of the emperor maximilian at inspruck. this majestic tomb is placed in the centre of the middle aisle of the church, upon a platform approached by steps of red marble. the sides of the tomb are divided into twenty-four compartments, of the finest carrara marble, on which are represented, in bas-relief, the most interesting events of the emperor's warlike and prosperous career. the workmanship of the tablets is exquisite; and, taken in connexion with the lofty deeds they record, they form the most princely decorations ever seen. each of the tablets contributing to this splendid lithobiography is in size feet inches by foot inches; and every object contained therein is in the most perfect proportion, while the exquisite finish of the heads and draperies requires a magnifying glass to do it justice. the tomb is surmounted by a colossal figure in bronze of the emperor, kneeling in the act of prayer; and around it are four allegorical figures, of smaller size, also in bronze. but, marvellous as is the elaborate beauty of this work, it is far from being the most remarkable feature of this imperial mausoleum. ranged in two long lines, as if to guard it, stand twenty-eight colossal statues in bronze, of whom twenty are kings and princes, alliances of the house of hapsburg, and eight their stately dames. anything more impressive than the appearance of these tall dark guardians of the tomb, some clad in regal robes, some cased in armour, and all seeming animated by the mighty power of the artist, it would be difficult to imagine. in the death-like stillness of the church, the visitor who, for the first time, contemplates this tomb and its gloomy guard, is struck by a feeling of awe, approaching to terror. the statues, with life-like individuality of attitude and expression--each solemn, mournful, dignified, and graceful; and all seeming to dilate before the eye into enormous dimensions, and, as if framed to scare intruders, endowed by a power more than mortal, to keep watch and ward round the mighty dead. they appear like an eternal procession of mourners, who, while earth endures, will cease not to gaze on, mourn over, and protect the relics of him who was the glory of their noble, long since fallen race. the fayence of henry ii. of france. the earliest known fabric of this earthenware is that mysterious and unique manufacture of the "renaissance," the fine fayence of henry ii. the manufacture of this ware, which was at once carried to a high degree of perfection, seems to have been suddenly and unaccountably lost, without leaving any record of where or by whom it was produced. by many it is supposed to be of florentine manufacture, and to have been sent by some of the relations of catherine de medicis as a present to henry ii.; but it differs too essentially from italian majolica, both in the paste of which it is composed, and in the style in which it is decorated, to warrant such a conjecture. italy does not possess in her museums a single specimen of this ware, and of the thirty-seven pieces extant, twenty-seven have been traced as coming from touraine and la vendée. many antiquaries, therefore, infer that the manufacture was at thouars, in touraine, although the fayence may have been the work of an italian artist. but if the place of its manufacture is unknown, the pieces extant clearly attest the period of its fabrication. the salamander, and other insignia of francis i., are met with on the earlier specimens of this pottery; but upon the majority of pieces, upon those more pure in design and more beautiful in execution than the preceding, we find the arms of henry ii., with his device, the three crescents, or his initial h, interlaced with the two d's of the duchesse de valentinois. indeed, so constantly do her emblems appear upon the pieces, that the ware, though usually designated as "faïence de henri ii.," is sometimes styled "faïence de diane de poitiers." even her widow's colours, black and white, are the two which are employed in some of the finest pieces. they were the fashionable colours of the court, henry wore no others during his life, and was attired in them in the fatal tournament in which he fell. her _impresa_, the crescent of diana, is conspicuous on his palaces, and he even caused it to be engraved upon his coins. from these circumstances we must, therefore, conclude that the manufacture of this ware began at the end of the reign of francis i., was continued under that of henry ii., and, as we find upon it the emblems of these two princes only, we may naturally infer that it is of french origin. the paste of which this fayence is composed is equally distinct from majolica and palissy ware. the two latter are both soft, whereas this, on the contrary, is hard. it is a true pipeclay, very fine, and very white, so as not to require, like the italian fayence, to be concealed by a thick enamel, and the ornaments with which it is enriched are simply covered with a thin, transparent, yellowish varnish. the style of decoration in this ware is unique. patterns or arabesques, are engraved on the paste, and the indentures filled with coloured pastes, so as to present an uniform, smooth surface, of the finest inlaying, or resembling, rather, a model of cellini's silver work, chiselled and worked in niello. hence it is sometimes styled "faïence a niellure." these patterns are sometimes disposed in zones of yellow ochre, with borders of dark brown, sometimes of a pink, green, violet, black, or blue; but the dark yellow ochre is the predominant colour. [illustration: [++] fayence candlestick.] the collection of the late m. préaux was the richest in the world in the most beautiful examples of fayence; it was disposed of by auction about twelve years ago, in consequence of the death of the proprietor, and the choicest specimen in it was the candlestick, of which we give a figure, and which was purchased by sir anthony de rothschild for about £ , duty included. the surface is exquisitely enriched with arabesque patterns, either in black upon a white ground, or in white upon a black. the form is monumental, and in the finest style; three figures of genii support escutcheons, bearing the arms of france, and the double d. these genii stand upon masks, which are united by garlands enamelled in green. the top of the candlestick terminates in the form of a vase, and bears inscribed the fleurs-de-lys and the monogram of our saviour. this piece, for delicacy of detail and beauty of execution, is unequalled by any specimen known of this exquisite fayence. sir anthony de rothschild also purchased at m. préaux's sale a small cup, decorated in the same style, with the descents interlaced, for which he gave francs. he, therefore, now is fortunate in having the finest collection known of this ware, as, in addition to the specimens already mentioned, he possesses two exquisite ewers of the henry ii. fayence. one he purchased at the sale of the comte de monville for francs; the other, with a curious handle of elaborate workmanship, he bought for nineteen guineas at strawberry hill, where he also purchased a tripod salt-cellar, supported with scroll ornaments for £ . refreshments for the pulpit. in the books of darlington parish church, the following items appear, showing that, in the olden time, provision was made for comforting the inner man: "six quarts of sack to the minister who preached when he had no minister to assist, s. for a quart of sack bestowed on jillett, when he preached, s. d. for a pint of brandy when mr. george bill preached here, s. d. for a stranger who preached, a dozen of ale. when the dean of durham preached here, spent in a treat in the house, s. d." this would hardly be considered orthodox at the present day. bedesmen in the time of henry vii. [illustration: [++] bedesmen.] most of the monasteries in former times had hospitals of poor men and women attached to them; generally either within the precincts or near adjoining. thus, at st. edmund's bury, there was st. john's hospital, or god's house, without the south gate, and st. nicholas' hospital without the east gate, and st. peter's hospital without the risby gate, and st. saviour's hospital without the north gate,--all founded by abbots of st. edmund's. at reading there was the hospital of st. mary magdalene for twelve leprous persons and chaplains, and the hospital of st. lawrence for twenty-six poor people, and for the entertainment of strangers and pilgrims, both founded by abbots of reading. one at the gate of fountains' abbey for poor persons and travellers; one at glastonbury, under the care of the almoner, for poor and infirm persons. thirteen was a favourite number for the inmates of a hospital. from the initial letter of a deed in the british museum (harl. ), by which king henry vii. founded a fraternity of thirteen poor men in westminster abbey, who were to be under the governance of the monks, we take the accompanying illustration, which represents the abbot and monks before the king, with a group of the king's bedesmen, each of whom has the royal badge, a rose surmounted by a crown, on the shoulder of his habit. chinese gamblers playing for fingers. the following strange account is taken from hue's "chinese empire:-- "the chinese are industrious and economical, but their cupidity, their immoderate love of lucre, and their decided taste for stockjobbing and speculation, easily tempts them to gambling, when they are not engaged in traffic. they seek eagerly for strong excitements, and when once they have got into the habit of gambling they seldom or never recover from it. they cast aside every obligation of station, duty, and family, to live only for cards and dice; and this fatal passion gains such an empire over them, that they proceed even to the most revolting extremities. when they have lost all their money they will play for their houses, their land, and their wives even, whose destiny often depends on a cast of the dice. nay, the chinese gambler does not stop here, for he will stake the very clothes he has on for one game more, and this horrible custom gives rise to scenes that would not be credible, did we not know that the passions always tend to make men cruel and inhuman. "in the northern provinces, especially in the environs of the great wall, you may sometimes meet, during the most intense cold of winter, men running about in a state of complete nudity, having been driven pitilessly from the gaming-houses when they had lost their all. they rush about in all directions like madmen to try and save themselves from being frozen, or crouch down against the chimneys, which in those countries are carried along the walls of the houses, on a level with the ground. they turn first one side towards the warmth, then the other, while their gambling companions, far from trying to help them, look on with ferocious and malignant hilarity. the horrible spectacle seldom lasts long, for the cold soon seizes the unfortunate creatures, and they fall down and die. the gamblers then return to their table, and begin to play again with the most perfect composure. such facts as these will appear fabulous to many persons, but having resided several years in the north of china, we can testify to their perfect authenticity. "these excesses seem surprising enough, but the truth is, that chinese gamblers have invented still more extraordinary methods of satisfying their passion, which is really carried to absolute madness. those who have nothing more to lose will collect round a table and actually play for _their fingers_, which they will cut off reciprocally with frightful stoicism. we had thought to pass over these revolting particulars, for we do not like to put the confidence of our readers to too great a trial. we have a strong objection to relating things that, although we know them to be strictly true, have an improbable appearance. but these facts concerning chinese gamblers were known, and commented upon, by the arab travellers in the ninth century. here is a passage on the subject from the 'chain of chronicles,' from which we have already quoted more than once:-- "'amongst men of a volatile and boastful character, those who belong to the lower classes, and who have no money, will sometimes play for the fingers of their hands. during the game, they keep by them a vase containing nut, or sesame oil, for olive oil is not known in this country. a fire is kept burning under it, and between the two players is placed a small but very sharp hatchet. the one who wins then takes the hand of the loser, places it on a stone and cuts off one of his fingers with the hatchet; the piece falls, and the vanquished party immediately dips his hand into the hot oil, which cauterises the wound. this operation does not prevent the players from beginning again. some will take a match, dip it in oil, place it on their arms, and set fire to it; the match burns, and you can smell the odour of the consuming flesh, but the man goes on with his game, and exhibits no sign of pain.'" entry of the french ambassador into london, in . the following is an extract from the "flying post," of may , :-- "yesterday, (monday, may ,) in the afternoon, count tallard, the french ambassador, made his public entry. the earl marshal's men came first, then followed the earl of macclesfield's footmen, after them twenty of the ambassador's footmen, in red liveries with gold lace; then came two of the ambassador's gentlemen and six pages on horseback; next came two heralds before his majesty's coach, in which his excellency the ambassador, the earl of macclesfield, and some others of quality: after them came three of his royal highness the prince of denmark's coaches, and next, three of the ambassador's coaches, the first of them very rich, and drawn by eight horses; then followed his grace the duke of norfolk's coach, with about forty-seven more, drawn by six horses each. there was a splendid entertainment prepared for his excellency at ossulston house, in st. james's square." expenses at coronations. the quantity of provisions consumed at the feasts given by some of our early kings, was extraordinarily great. for that of king edward i. february th, , the different sheriffs were ordered to furnish butcher meat at windsor, in the following proportions:-- oxen. swine. sheep. fowls. sheriff of gloucester, , " bucks and bedford , " oxford , " kent , " surrey and sussex , " warwick and leicester , " somerset and dorset , " essex , ---- ---- ---- ------ total, twelve counties , in the year , king edward ii. issued an order to the seneschal of gascony, and constable of bordeaux, to provide a thousand pipes of good wine, and send them to london, to be used at the approaching coronation. the purchase and freight were to be paid by a company of florentine merchants, who farmed the revenues of gascony. the coronation oath was first taken by ethelred ii., a.d. ; that now used in . it was amended in . the first coronation sermon was preached in . the following statement of the prices given for seats, to obtain a view of passing objects during the coronations of former times, may, perhaps, prove interesting:-- the price of a good place at the coronation of william the conqueror, was a _blank_; at that of his son, william rufus, the same. at henry i's., it was a _crocard_; at stephen's and henry ii.'s, it was a _pollard_. at richard's, and king john's, it was a _fuskin_. it rose at the d. henry's, to a _dodkin_. in the reign of edward, the coin begins to be more intelligible; and we find that, for a seat, to view his coronation, a _q_ was given, or the half of a ferling, or farthing, the fourth part of a sterling, or penny. at the d. edward's, it was a farthing; and at his son's, edward iii. a halfpenny. at richard ii.'s it was a penny, and continued the same to that of henry iv. inclusive. at the th henry's, it was _two pennies_; and similar prices were paid at the coronations of henry vi., edward iv., edward v., richard iii., and henry vii. at that of henry viii. it was a _grossus_, or groat; and the same was paid at that of edward vi. and queen mary's. at queen elizabeth's, it rose to _a testoon_, or _tester_. at those of james i. and charles i. _a shilling_ was given; which was advanced to _half-a-crown_, at those of charles ii. and james ii. at king william's and queen anne's it was _a crown_, and the same at that of george i. at george ii.'s _half-a-guinea_, and, afterwards, at george iii.'s _a guinea_ was the common charge. but, at that of george iv, as high as _forty guineas_ were given for a single seat. curious antique sword. the engraving which accompanies this article is a sketch of the upper part of an antique danish sword, which was found, together with several other weapons, by the labourers who were engaged in the construction of the railway from dublin to cashel. [illustration: [++] antique danish sword.] the discovery of the weapons was made at a locality called island bridge, and many of them were fortunately secured for the museum of the royal irish academy, where they may now be seen. the swords are long and straight, formed for cutting as well as thrusting, and terminate in points formed by rounding off the edge towards the back of the blade. the hilts are very remarkable in form, and in one or two instances, like the example we have engraved, are highly ornamented. the mountings are generally of a kind of brass, but several richly plated with silver were found, and it is said that one of them had a hilt of solid gold. the spears are long and slender, and similar in form to the lance-heads used in some of the cavalry corps. all these weapons, with one exception, are composed of a soft kind of iron. many of the swords were found doubled up, a circumstance for which it is difficult to assign a reason, as they had evidently been purposely bent. the sword we have represented in our engraving, is remarkable for the unusual degree of ornament which appears upon its hilt, and also for its material, steel. dinner in china. it is certain that a real chinese dinner would be a very odd thing in the eyes of a stranger, especially if he were one of those who think, as some people do, that there is only one way of living. to begin dinner with the dessert, and end it with the soup; to drink the wine smoking hot, out of little china cups, and have your food brought to you ready cut up into small pieces, and to be presented with a couple of sticks, instead of a knife and fork, to eat it with; to have, instead of napkins, a provision of little bits of silk paper by the side of your plate, which, as you use, the attendants carry off; to leave your place between the courses, to smoke or amuse yourself; and to raise your chop-sticks to your forehead, and then place them horizontally upon your cup, to signify that you have finished your dinner;--all these things would doubtless seem very odd, and create the curiosity of europeans. the chinese, on the other hand, can never get over their surprise at our way of dining. they ask how we can like to drink cold fluids, and what can have put it into our heads to make use of a trident to carry food to our mouths, at the risk of pricking our lips or poking our eyes out. they think it very droll to see nuts put on the table in their shell, and ask why our servants cannot take the trouble to peel the fruit, and take the bones out of the meat. they are themselves certainly not very difficult in the nature of their food, and like such things as fried silkworms and preserved larvæ, but they cannot understand the predilection of our epicures for _high_ game, nor for cheese that appears to belong to the class of animated beings. cistern of majolica ware. [illustration: [++] cistern of majolica ware.] we have engraved the annexed, as it affords at once both a beautiful specimen of the potter's art, and also an example of the taste and luxury of the present day in articles of expensive ornament. it is a cistern made of majolica, or the enamelled pottery of italy, the most beautiful specimens of which were made in the sixteenth century. the one before us came to england from the collection of the borghese palace; and at the great sale at stowe, the seat of the duke of buckingham, was disposed of by auction for sixty-four guineas, and this although it was much broken. theatres in the time of shakspeare. in blackfriars was a theatre, the memory of which with the one or the other shore of the river at bankside, enjoys the honour of having been used for the first representations of many of shakspeare's plays, and where the bard himself performed in them. the whole district becomes classic, from the remembrance. the following interesting description of the theatres in london at that time, and which applies to the blackfriars' theatre as we well as the rest, is taken from a short memoir of shakspeare, by the rev. alexader dyce, prefixed to the aldine edition of shakspeare's poems: "nearly all these buildings, it is probable, were constructed of wood. those which, for some undiscovered reason, were termed private theatres, were entirely roofed in from the weather, while the public theatres were open to the sky, except over the stage and galleries. on the outside of each was exhibited a sign indicative of its name; and on the roof, during the time of performance, was hoisted a flag. the interior arrangements resemble those of the present day. there were tiers of galleries or _scaffolds_; beneath these the boxes or _rooms_, intended for persons of the higher class, and which at the private theatres were secured with locks, the keys being given to the individuals who engaged them; and there was the centre area, (separated, it seems, from the stage by pales), at the private theatres, termed the _pit_, and furnished with seats; but at the public theatres, called the _yard_, and affording no such accommodation. cressets, or large open lanterns, served to illuminate the body of the house; and two ample branches, of a form similar to those now hung in churches, gave light to the stage. the band of musicians, which was far from numerous, sat, it is supposed, in an upper balcony, over what is now called the stage box: the instruments chiefly used were trumpets, cornets, hautboys, lutes, recorders, viols, and organs. the amusements of the audience previous to the commencement of the play, were reading, playing at cards, smoking tobacco, drinking ale, and eating nuts and apples. even during the performance it was customary for wits, critics, and young gallants, who were desirous of attracting attention, to station themselves on the stage, either lying on the rushes or seated on hired stools, while their pages furnished them with pipes and tobacco. at the third sounding, or flourish of trumpets, the exhibition began. the curtain, which concealed the stage from the audience, was then drawn, opening in the middle, and running upon iron rods. other curtains, called _traverses_, were used as a substitute for scenes. at the back of the stage was a balcony, the platform of which was raised about eight or nine feet from the ground; it served as a window, gallery, or upper chamber. from it a portion of the dialogue was sometimes spoken, and in front of it curtains were suspended to conceal, if necessary, those who occupied it, from the audience. the internal roof of the stage, either painted blue or adorned with drapery of that colour, was termed the _heavens_. the stage was generally strewed with rushes, but on extraordinary occasions was matted. there is reason to believe that, when tragedies were performed, it was hung with black. moveable painted scenery there was assuredly none. a board, containing the name of the place of action in large letters, was displayed in some conspicuous situation. occasionally, when some change of scene was necessary, the audience was required to suppose that the performers, who had not quitted the boards, had retired to a different spot. a bed thrust forth showed that the stage was a bed-chamber; and a table, with pen and ink, indicated that it was a counting-house. rude contrivances were employed to imitate towers, walls of towns, hell-mouths, tombs, trees, dragons, &c. trap-doors had been early in use; but to make a celestial personage ascend to the roof of the stage was more than the machinists of the theatre could always accomplish. the price of admission appears to have varied according to the rank and estimation of the theatres. a shilling was charged for a place in the best boxes; the entrance-money to the pit and galleries was the same--sixpence, twopence, and a penny. the performance commenced at three in the afternoon." old custom relating to criminals. the custom of offering doomed criminals a last earthly draught of refreshment is undoubtedly one of considerable antiquity. the right of offering wine to criminals, on their passage to the scaffold, was often a privilege granted to religious communities. in paris, the privilege was held by the convent of filles-dieu, the nuns of which kept wine prepared for those who were condemned to suffer on the gibbet of montfaucon. the gloomy procession halted before the gate of the monastery, the criminal descended from the cart, and the nuns, headed by the lady abbess, received him on the steps with as much, perhaps more, heartfelt ceremony than if he had been a king. the poor wretch was led to a crucifix near the church door, the feet whereof he humbly kissed. he then received, from the hands of the superior, three pieces of bread (to remind him of the trinity), and _one_ glass of wine (emblem of unity). the procession then resumed its dread way to the scaffold. ale too strong. a memorial signed by nineteen inhabitants of bayton, in worcestershire, was sent to the sessions in the year , setting forth "that john kempster and john byrd do not sell their ale according to the law, but doe sell a pynte for a penny, and doe make ytt soe extraordynarye strong that itt draweth dyvers ydle p'sons into the said alehouses, by reason whereof sondrye assaults, affrayes, blodshedds, and other misdeameanors, are there daylie comytted by idle and dronken companie which doe thither resort and there contineue in their dronckenes three days and three nights together, and also divers men's sonnes and servants do often resort and contineue drinking in the said houses day and night, whereupon divers disorders and abuses are offered to the inhabitants of bayton aforesaid, as in pulling down styles, in carrying away of yertes, in throwing men's waynes, plowes, and such like things, into pooles, wells, and other bye places, and in putting their yokes for their oxen into lakes and myery places, &c." a nice picture of young england in the seventeenth century. a chapter-house in the time of henry vii. in abbey-churches of the olden time the chapter-house was always on the east side of the court. in establishments of secular canons it seems to have been always multisided, with a central pillar to support its groining, and a lofty, conical, lead-covered roof. in these instances it is placed in the open space eastward of the cloister, and is usually approached by a passage from the east side of the cloister court. in the houses of all the other orders the chapter-house is rectangular, even where the church is a cathedral. usually, then, the chapter-house is a rectangular building on the east side of the cloister, and frequently its longest apsis is east and west--at durham it has an eastern apsis. it was a large and handsome room, with a good deal of architectural ornament; often the western end of it is divided off as a vestibule or ante-room; and generally it is so large as to be divided into two or three aisles by rows of pillars. internally, rows of stalls or benches were arranged round the walls for the convent; there was a higher seat at the east end for the abbot or prior, and a desk in the middle from which certain things were read. every day after the service called tierce, the convent walked in procession from the choir to the chapter-house, and took their proper places. when the abbot had taken his place, the monks descended one step and bowed; he returned their salutation, and all took their seats. a sentence of the rule of the order was read by one of the novices from the desk, and the abbot, or in his absence, the prior, delivered an explanatory or hortatory sermon upon it; then, from another portion of the book was read the names of brethren, and benefactors, and persons who had been received into fraternity, whose decease had happened on that day of the year; and the convent prayed a _requiescat in pace_ for their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed this life. then members of the convent who had been guilty of slight breaches of discipline confessed them, kneeling upon a low stool in the middle, and on a bow from the abbot, intimating his remission of the breach, they resumed their seats. if any had a complaint to make against any brother, it was here made and adjudged. convent business was also transacted. the woodcut gives an example of the kind. henry vii. had made grants to westminster abbey, on condition that the convent performed certain religious services on his behalf; and in order that the services should not fall into disuse, he directed that yearly, at a certain period, the chief justice, or the king's attorney, or the recorder of london, should attend in chapter, and the abstract of the grant and agreement between the king and the convent should be read. the grant which was thus to be read still exists in the british museum; it is written in a volume superbly bound, with the royal seals attached in silver cases; it is from the illuminated letter at the head of one of the deeds that our woodcut is taken. it rudely represents the chapter-house, with the chief-justice and a group of lawyers on one side, the abbot and convent on the other, and a monk reading the grant from the desk in the midst. [illustration: [++] chapter-house in the time of henry vii.] anne boleyn's gloves. anne boleyn was marvellously dainty about her gloves. she had a nail which turned up at the side, and it was the delight of queen catharine to make her play at cards, without her gloves, in order that the deformity might disgust king hal. the good queen bess was extravagant, fastidious, and capricious in the extreme, about her gloves. she used to display them to advantage in playing the virginal, and gloves at that time were expensive articles. della robbia ware. luca della robbia, born in , was an eminent sculptor in marble and bronze, and worked both at florence and at rimini. having abandoned his original employment for that of modelling in terra cotta, he succeeded, after many experiments, in making a white enamel, with which he coated his works, and thus rendered them durable. vasari writes of him, "che faceva l'opere di terra quasi eterne." his chief productions are madonnas, scripture subjects, figures, and architectural ornaments: they are by far the finest works ever executed in pottery. he adorned the italian churches with tiles, as well as with altar-pieces, in terra cotta enamelled; and he is the founder of a school which produced works not much inferior to his own. the "petit château de madrid," in the bois de boulogne, near paris, received the appellation of "château de fayence," from having been ornamented with enamelled tiles, the work of an italian artist, named girolamo della robbia, a grand nephew of luca, whom francis i. brought from italy. this château is now wholly destroyed. the tiles seem to have been introduced into portions of the architectural composition, rather as accessory ornaments than as a "lining" or revêtement of the walls. analogous ornaments, the work of luca de maiano, , were to be seen in the old gate, whitehall, and at hampton court. [illustration: [++] della robbia ware.] luca della robbia sometimes, though rarely, used a coloured instead of white enamel in his compositions. the above cut represents the altar-piece of san miniato, near florence, by him. the ground is blue, the figures white, the fruits, &c., gold colour, and the garlands green. volcanic eruption in japan. the peninsula of wountsendake, and the greater part of kewsew, bristle with volcanic mountains, some extinct, others still acting as safety-valves to the incomprehensible excitements of mother earth; but of all the manifestations of her internal throes and torment, and their consequent desolation inflicted on the habitations of her children, that of was the most terrible for ages before. "on the eighteenth day of the first month of that year," says the _annals of japan_, "the summit of the mountain was seen to crumble suddenly, and a thick smoke rose in the air. on the sixth of the following month there was an eruption in a spur on the eastern slope of the mountain. on the second of the third month an earthquake shook the whole island. at simabara, the nearest town to the mountain, all the houses were thrown down, amidst a general terror and consternation, the shocks following each other with frightful rapidity. wountsendake incessantly sent forth a hail-storm of stones, showers of ashes, and streams of lava, which devastated the country for many leagues round. at length, on the first day of the fourth month, there was a new commotion, which increased in intensity from moment to moment. "simabara was now a vast heap of ruins. enormous blocks of rock, tumbling from the top of the mountain, crushed and ground to atoms all beneath them. thunder rolled overhead, and dreadful sounds rumbled beneath the feet at one and the same time. all of a sudden, after an interval of calm, when men thought the scourge had passed over, the northern spur of wountsendake, the moikenyamma, burst forth with a tremendous detonation. a vast portion of that mountain was blown into the air. colossal masses fell into the sea. a stream of boiling water rushed forth foaming from the cracks of this new volcano, and sped to the ocean, which at the same time advanced and flooded the land." then was seen a sight never seen before, intensifying the terror of the innumerable witnesses of that terrible day, which might well seem a day of judgment come. from the conflict of the boiling waters of the volcano with the cold waters of the tempestuous ocean, suddenly mingled, there arose waterspouts which ravaged the land in their devouring gyrations. the disasters caused by this accumulation of catastrophes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, waterspouts, inundations, united together, exceed belief. not a single house of simabara and its environs was spared: only the citadel remained, whose cyclopean walls were formed of gigantic blocks of stone. the convulsions of nature on that day so changed the coast-line, that the most experienced mariners could not recognise its once familiar shape and bendings. fifty-three thousand persons perished on that fatal day. origin of the house of mulgrave. the first diving bell was nothing but a very large kettle, suspended by ropes, with the mouth downwards, and planks to sit on fixed in the middle of its concavity. the greeks at toledo, in , made an experiment before the emperor charles v. with it, when they descended with a lighted candle to a considerable depth. in william phipps, the son of a blacksmith, formed a project for unloading a rich spanish ship, sunk at hispaniola; charles ii. gave him a ship, with every necessary for the undertaking; but being unsuccessful, phipps returned in great poverty. he then endeavoured to procure another vessel, but failing, he got a subscription, to which the duke of albemarle contributed. in , phipps set sail in a ship of tons, having previously engaged to divide the profits according to the twenty shares of which the subscription consisted. at first all his labours proved fruitless, but at length, when he seemed almost to despair, he was fortunate enough to bring up so much treasure that he returned to england with £ , sterling. of this sum he got about £ , , and the duke of albemarle £ , . phipps was knighted by the king, and laid the foundation of the present house of mulgrave. shrine of st. sebald at nuremburg. the city of nuremberg--the birthplace of albert durer--is enriched with many works of high art. the most remarkable is the bronze shrine of st. sebald, the work of peter vischer and his five sons, which still stands in all its beauty in the elegant church dedicated to the saint. the sketch on next page is a correct representation of it. [illustration: [++] shrine of st. sebald.] the shrine encloses, amid the most florid gothic architecture, the oaken chest encased with silver plates, containing the body of the venerated saint: this rests on an altar decorated with basso-relievos, depicting his miracles. the architectural portion of this exquisite shrine partakes of the characteristics of the _rennaissance_ forms engrafted on the mediæval, by the influence of italian art. indeed, the latter school is visible as the leading agent throughout the entire composition. the figures of the twelve apostles and others placed around it, scarcely seem to belong to german art; they are quite worthy of the best _transalpine_ master. the grandeur, breadth, and repose of these wonderful statues, cannot be excelled. vischer seems to have completely freed his mind from the conventionalities of his native schools: we have here none of the constrained, "crumpled draperies," the home studies for face and form so strikingly present in nearly all the works of art of this era, but noble figures of the men elevated above the earthly standard by companionship with the saviour, exhibiting their high destiny by a noble bearing, worthy of the solemn and glorious duties they were devoted to fulfil. we gaze on these figures as we do on the works of giotto and fra angelico, until we feel human nature may lose nearly all of its debasements before the "mortal coil" is "shuffled off," and that mental goodness may shine through and glorify its earthly tabernacle, and give an assurance in time present of the superiorities of an hereafter. dead, indeed, must be the soul that can gaze on such works unmoved, appealing, as they do, to our noblest aspirations, and vindicating humanity from its fallen position, by asserting its innate, latent glories. here we feel the truth of the scriptural phrase--"in his own image made he them." the memory of peter vischer is deservedly honoured by his townsmen. the street in which his house is situated, like that in which durer's stands, has lost its original name, and is now only known as peter vischer's strasse; but these two artists are the only ones thus distinguished. vischer was born in , and died in . he was employed by the warden of st. sebald's, and magistrate of nuremberg, sebald schreyer, to construct this work in honour of his patron saint; he began it in , and finished it in . thirteen years of labour were thus devoted to its completion, for which he received seven hundred and seventy florins. "according to this tradition, vischer was miserably paid for this great work of labour and art; and he has himself recorded, in an inscription upon the monument, that 'he completed it for the praise of god almighty alone, and the honour of st. sebald, prince of heaven, by the aid of pious persons, paid by their voluntary contributions.'" the elaboration of the entire work is marvellous; it abounds with fanciful figures, seventy-two in number, disposed among the ornaments, or acting as supporters to the general composition. syrens hold candelabra at the angles; and the centre has an air of singular lightness and grace. it is supported at the base by huge snails. at the western end there is a small bronze statue of vischer; he holds his chisel in his hand, and in his workman's dress, with capacious leather apron, stands unaffectedly forth as a true, honest labourer, appealing only to such sympathies as are justly due to one who laboured so lovingly and so well. a great result from trivial circumstances. that magnificent institution of active benevolence, guy's hospital, is one among a numerous list of instances where trifling events have produced most disproportionate consequences. [illustration: [++] thomas guy.] thomas guy, of whom the above is a sketch, taken from an old print, was the son of thomas guy an anabaptist, lighterman and coal-dealer, in horsleydown, southwark. he was put apprentice in to a bookseller in the porch of mercer's chapel, and set up trade with a stock of about two hundred pounds, in the house that forms the angle between cornhill and lombard-street. the english bibles being at that time very badly printed, mr. guy engaged with others in a scheme for printing them in holland and importing them; but this being put a stop to, he contracted with the university of oxford for their privilege of printing them, and carried on a great bible trade for many years to considerable advantage. he thus began to accumulate money, and his gains rested in his hands, for being a single man, and very penurious, his expenses were very trifling. his custom was to dine on his shop counter, with no other table-cloth than an old newspaper; he was also as little nice in regard to his dress. the bulk of his fortune, however, was acquired by the less reputable purchase of seamen's tickets during queen anne's wars, and by the south sea stock in the memorable year . in proof of what we said at the outset, it is a fact that the public are indebted to a most trifling incident for the greatest part of his immense fortunes being applied to charitable uses. guy had a maid-servant whom he agreed to marry; and preparatory to his nuptials he had ordered the pavement before his door to be mended as far as a particular stone which he marked. the maid, while her master was out, innocently looking on the paviours at work, saw a broken place they had not repaired, and mentioned it to them; but they told her that mr. guy had desired them not to go so far. "well," says she, "do you mend it; tell him i bade you, and i know he will not be angry." it happened, however, that the poor girl presumed too much on her influence over her wary lover, with whom the charge of a few shillings extraordinary turned the scale against her, for guy, enraged to find his orders exceeded, renounced the matrimonial scheme, and built hospitals in his old age. in he built and furnished three wards on the north side of the outer court of st. thomas's hospital, and gave one hundred pounds to it annually for eleven years preceding the erection of his own hospital. sometime before his death he erected the stately gate with the large houses on each side, at the expense of about three thousand pounds. he was seventy-six years of age when he formed the design of building the hospital near st. thomas's, which bears his name. the charge of erecting this vast pile amounted to £ , , besides £ , which he left to endow it, and he just lived to see it roofed in. he erected and endowed an almshouse and library at tamworth, the place of his mother's nativity, and which he represented in parliament. it contains fourteen poor men and women, and the fund provides also for the apprenticing of poor children. he also bequeathed four hundred pounds a-year to christ's hospital. mr. guy died december th, in the eighty-first year of his age, and his will bears date september th, in the same year. pharos at alexandria. to render the harbour safe of approach at all times, ptolemy soter, who, on the death of alexander, obtained the government of egypt, determined on erecting a lighthouse on the eastern extremity of the isle of pharos, the celebrity of which has given the same name to all other lighthouses. this "pharos" was in height feet, and could be seen at a distance of miles. it was built of several stories, decreasing in dimension towards the top, where fires were lighted in a species of lantern. the ground-floor and the two next above it were hexagonal; the fourth was a square with a round tower at each angle; the fifth floor was circular, continued to the top, to which a winding staircase conducted. in the upper galleries some mirrors were arranged in such a manner as to show the ships and objects at sea for some considerable distance. on the top a fire was constantly kept, to direct sailors into the bay, which was dangerous and difficult of access. the whole of this masterpiece of art was exquisitely wrought in stone, and adorned with columns, balustrades, and ornaments, worked in the finest marble. to protect the structure from the ocean storms, it was surrounded entirely by a sea wall. ancient writers say the building of this tower cost talents, which is equivalent to £ , , if attic talents; but if alexandrian, double that sum. the building was not completed during the reign of the first ptolemy, but was finished in the reign of his son ptolemy philadelphus, who put this inscription upon it:-- "king ptolemy, to the gods the saviours, for the benefit of sailors." sostratus the architect, wishing to claim all the glory of the building, engraved his own name on the solid marble, and afterwards coated it with cement. thus, when time had decayed the mortar ptolemy's name disappeared, and the following inscription became visible:-- "sostratus the cnidian, to the gods the saviours, for the benefit of sailors." of this remarkable tower not a vestige remains, and history gives us no further information than we have here: of its gradual decay or of its violent destruction we have no record; but that such a structure as described stood there, there can be not a shadow of doubt, from the fact that all buildings for like purposes among the greeks and romans derive their designation from this. sepulchral vases of ancient egypt. [illustration: [++] sepulchral vase.] in ancient egypt terra-cotta pottery was extensively made use of for vases or jars to hold the entrails of the dead. in order to preserve the body effectually, it was necessary to remove the softer portions, such as the thoracic and abdominal viscera, and these were embalmed separately. in some instances they were returned into the stomach, with wax models of four deities, commonly called the four genii of the ament or hades. it was, however, usual in the embalmment of the wealthier classes to soak them carefully in the requisite preparations, tie them up in neat cylindrical packets, and deposit them in vases having the shape of the four genii. the bodies of these deities, which were usually represented as mummied, formed the bodies of the vases, and were cylindrical below and rounded above. the mouths of the jars were sometimes countersunk to receive the lower part of the covers which fitted into them like a plug. the jar of the first genius, whose name was _am-set_, "the devourer of filth," held the stomach and large intestines, and was formed at the top like a human head. this genius typified, or presided over the southern quarter of the compass. he was the son of osiris or of phtha socharis osiris, the pygmean god of memphis. the second vase of the series was in the shape of the genius hapi, the "concealed." its cover was shaped like the head of a cynocephalus, and it held the smaller viscera. this genius presided over the north, and was also the son of osiris. the third vase was that of the genius trautmutf, "the adorer of his mother." we here annex an engraving of it. it had a cover in shape of the head of a jackal, and held the lungs and heart. this genius presided over the east, and was brother of the preceding. the last was that of the genius kebhsnuf, the refresher of his brethren. it had a cover shaped like the head of a sparrow-hawk, and held the liver and gall-bladder. this genius presided over the west, and was also brother of the preceding. three vases of a set, in the british museum, have all human-shaped heads, and are provided with handles at the sides of the bodies. specimens of a very unusual kind are also to be found in the same collection, having the whole body formed without a cover, in the shape of a dome above, and surmounted by a rudely modelled figure of a jackal, couchant upon a gateway, formed of a detached piece. the entrails were introduced by the rectangular orifice in the upper part. in some other instances the covers appear to have been secured by cords passing through them to the body of the vase. when secured, the vases were placed in a wooden box, which was laid on a sledge and carried to the sepulchre, where they were often taken out and placed, two on each side of the coffin. it was only the poorer classes that used pottery for these purposes. the viscera of high officers of state were embalmed in jars of fine white limestone, and the still more valuable oriental alabasters or arragonite, obtained from the quarries of tel el amarna, or the ancient alabastron. the sacro catino. the celebrated "sacro catino," part of the spoil taken by the genoese at the storming of cesarea, which was believed to be cut from a single emerald, and had, according to tradition, been presented by the queen of sheba to solomon, was for ages the pride and glory of genoa, and an object of the greatest devotional reverence at the yearly exhibitions, which were attended with great pomp and ceremony. such was the opinion of its intrinsic value, that on many occasions the republic borrowed half a million of ducats upon the security of this precious relic. when the french armies, during the first revolution, plundered italy of its treasures, it was sent with other spoils to paris. upon examination, it was, instead of emerald, proved to be composed of glass, similar to that found in the egyptian tombs, of which country it was, no doubt, the manufacture. at the restoration the sacro catino was returned in a broken state, and now lies shorn of all its honours, a mere broken glass vessel, in the sacristy of the church of san lorenzo. dinner party in the seventeenth century. [illustration: [++] dinner party in the seventeenth century.] the cut which we here present to our readers is taken from the english edition of the janua linguarum of comenius, and represents the forms of dining in england under the protectorate. it will be best described by the text which accompanies it in the book, and in which each particular object is mentioned. "when a feast is made ready," we are told, "the table is covered with a carpet and a table-cloth by the waiters, who, besides, lay the trenchers, spoons, knives, with little forks, table napkins, bread, with a salt-cellar messes are brought in platters, a pie in a plate. the guests being brought in by the host, wash their hands out of a laver or ewer, over a hand-basin, or bowl, and wipe them with a hand towel: they then sit at the table on chairs. the carver breaketh up the good cheer, and divideth it. sauces are set amongst roste-meat in sawsers. the butler filleth strong wine out of a cruse, or wine-pot, or flagon, into cups or glasses, which stand on a cupboard, and he reacheth them to the master of the feast, who drinketh to his guests." it will be observed here that one salt-cellar is here placed in the middle of the table. this was the usual custom; and, as one long table had been substituted for the several tables formerly standing in the hall, the salt-cellar was considered to divide the table into distinct parts, guests of more distinction being placed above the salt, while the places below the salt were assigned to inferiors and dependents. this usage is often alluded to in the old dramatists. thus, in ben jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, "he never drinks _below the salt_, _i. e._ he never exchanges civilities with those who sit at the lower end of the table." and in a contemporary writer, it is described as a mark of presumption in an inferior member of the household "to sit above the salt." sand-columns in africa. of this remarkable phenomenon, we extract the following interesting account from the rev. n. davis's "evenings in my tent";-- "the heat, during the last day or two, has been intense. the thermometer in my tent, during day and night, has been almost stationary at degrees. my men have done, and still do, everything in their power to keep the tent cool, by erecting a high palm-branch fence around it, and by a constant immersion of the ground, but all this to very little effect. the wind, during this day, has been as hot as the flames issuing from a furnace; and the clouds of sand it raised, and carried along in its furious march, have been immense. in the distance could be seen numbers of sand columns; but these did not retain their form any considerable length of time. a contrary blast brought them in collision with each other; and these, blending their contents, raised a complete and dense barrier between us and the country beyond. i am no lover of danger; but, i must confess, i had an inward desire to see this phenomenon--one of the horrors of the desert--in greater perfection. i believe bruce witnessed one of the most stupendous exhibitions of sand columns or sand spouts, caused by circular or whirl-winds, on record. in his journey through the desert of senaar, his attention was attracted to a number of prodigious pillars of sand, at different distances, moving at times with great celerity, at others, stalking on with majestic slowness: at intervals, he thought they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm him and his companions. again they would retreat, so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. there the tops often separated, from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in the air, and appeared no more. sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon-shot. about noon, they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon them, the wind being very strong at north. eleven of these awful visitors ranged alongside of them, at about the distance of three miles. the greatest diameter of the largest appeared to him, at that distance, as if it would measure ten feet. they retired from them, with a wind at south-east, leaving an impression upon the mind of our intrepid traveller to which he could give no name, though he candidly admits that one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. he declares it was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no use to carry them out of this danger,--and the full persuasion of this riveted him to the spot where he stood. next day they were gratified by a similar display of moving pillars, in form and disposition like those already described, only they seemed to be more in number, and less in size. they came several times in a direction close upon them; that is, according to mr. bruce's computation, within two miles. they became, immediately after sunrise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun, his rays, shining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. at another time they were terrified by an army of these sand pillars, whose march was constantly south, a number of which seemed once to be coming directly upon them, and, though they were little nearer than two miles, a considerable quantity of sand fell around them. on the st of november, about eight in the morning, he had a view of the desert to the westward as before, and saw the sands had already begun to rise in immense twisted pillars, which darkened the heavens, and moved over the desert with more magnificence than ever. the sun shining through the pillars, which were thicker, and contained more sand apparently than any of the preceding ones, seemed to give those nearest them an appearance as if spotted with stars of gold. a little before twelve, the wind at north ceased, and a considerable quantity of fine sand rained upon them for an hour afterwards." antiquity of intoxicating drinks. it is a common belief that wine was the only inebriating liquor known to antiquity, but this is a mistake. tacitus mentions the use of ale or beer as common among the germans of his time. by the egyptians, likewise, whose country was ill adapted to the cultivation of the grape, it was employed as a substitute for wine. ale was common in the middle ages, and mr. park states that very good beer is made, by the usual process of brewing and malting, in the interior of africa. the favourite drink of our saxon ancestors was ale or mead. those worshippers of odin were so notoriously addicted to drunkenness, that it was regarded as honourable rather than otherwise; and the man who could withstand the greatest quantity was looked upon with admiration and respect: whence the drunken songs of the scandinavian scalds: whence the glories of valhalla, the fancied happiness of whose inhabitants consisted of quaffing draughts from the skulls of their enemies slain in battle. even ardent spirit, which is generally supposed to be a modern discovery, probably existed from a very early period. it is said to have been first made by the arabians in the middle ages, and in all likelihood may lay claim to a still remoter origin. the spirituous liquor called arrack has been manufactured in the island of java, as well as in the continent of hindostan, from time immemorial. brandy was made in sicily at the commencement of the fourteenth century. as to wine, it was so common in ancient times as to have a tutelar god appropriated to it; bacchus and his companion silenus are as household words in the mouths of all, and constituted most important features of the heathen mythology. we have all heard of the falernian and campanian wines, and of the wines of cyprus and shiraz. indeed, there is reason to believe that the ancients were in no respect inferior to the moderns in the excellence of the vinous liquors, whatever they may have been in the variety. wine was so common in the eastern nations that mahomet, foreseeing the baleful effects of its propagation, forbade it to his followers, who, to compensate themselves, had recourse to opium. the gothic or dark ages seem to have been those in which it was the least common; in proof of this it may be mentioned that, so late as , it was vended as a cordial by the english apothecaries. at the present day it is little drunk, except by the upper classes, in those countries which do not naturally furnish the grape. in those that do, it is so cheap as to come within the reach of even the lowest. ruins of clonmacnois. [illustration: [++] ruins of clonmacnois.] a few miles south of athlone are the famous ruins of clonmacnois, the school where, according to dr. o'connor, "the nobility of connaught had their children educated, and which was therefore called cluan-mac-nois, 'the secluded recess of the sons of nobles.'" it was also, in ancient times, a renowned cemetery of the irish kings; and for many centuries it has continued a favourite burial-place, the popular belief enduring to this day, that all persons interred here pass immediately from earth to heaven. the abbey is said to have been founded by st. kieran about the middle of the sixth century, and soon became "amazingly enriched," so that, writes mr. archdall, "its landed property was so great, and the number of cells and monasteries subjected to it so numerous, that almost half of ireland was said to be within the bounds of clonmacnois." the ruins retain marks of exceeding splendour. in the immediate vicinity there are two "round towers." the above engraving represents one of the many richly-carved stone crosses that are scattered in all directions among the ruins. the bricks of babylon. [illustration: [++] brick of babylon.] besides sun-dried bricks, remains of kiln-baked or burnt bricks are found in all the principal ruins of ancient babylonia, and were used for the purpose of revetting or casing the walls. like the sun-dried bricks they are made of clay mixed with grass and straw, which have, of course, disappeared in the baking, leaving, however, traces of the stalks or stems in the clay. generally they are slack-burnt, of a pale red colour, with a slight glaze or polish. the finest sort, according to mr. rich, are white, approaching more or less to a yellowish cast, like our stourbridge, or fire-brick; the coarsest are red, like our ordinary brick. some have a blackish cast, and are very hard. the finest are those which come from the ruins of the akerkuf. the general measurement of the kiln-dried bricks, at the birs nimrúd, is ft. in. square, and in. thick. some are submultiples, or half of these dimensions. a few are of different shapes for particular purposes, such as rounding corners. those at the akerkuf measured a trifle less, or - / in. square, and - / in. thick, and are placed at the base of the monument. the bricks of al hymer, on the eastern bank, measure in. long, - / in. broad, - / in. thick, and are of fine fabric. there are bricks of two dimensions at this ruin of the birs nimrúd; those on the northern brow, a little way down it, measure in. square, and - / in. thick; they are of a pale red colour, and used for revetting the monument. lower down to the east of this, they are - / in. broad, and - / in. long. similar bricks were found at the mujellibe, and in one place was an entire wall of them feet thick. the whole plain here is covered with masses of brick work, and on one of the mounds the bricks are so red, that it looks one bright gleaming mass. the bricks from the mujellibe or kasr are described as very hard, and of a pale yellow colour; and this edifice presents a remarkable appearance of freshness. we have seen only one fragment of a brick from niffer; it is of a white, or rather yellowish white colour, and sandy, gritty texture. this spot, it will be remembered, is supposed to be the site of old babylon. all these bricks are made by the same process as those of assyria, namely, stamped out of a wooden or terra-cotta mould, and are also impressed with several lines of cuneiform character. this impression is always sunk below the superficies, rectangular, and often placed obliquely on the brick, with that disregard to mechanical symmetry which is so usual on works of ancient art. the stamp is generally about inches long, by inches wide, and the number of lines varies from three to seven: an arrangement quite different from that observed on the bricks of assyria, and rather resembling that adopted by the brick-makers of egypt. the engraving on previous page is of a brick stamped with the name of nebuchadnezzar, which is now in the possession of the royal society of literature. the inscriptions sometimes commence with the figure of a lion, a bull, or what may be intended for an altar. these read, according to sir h. rawlinson,-- [of] nebuchadnezzar, the king of babylon, founder of beth digla, or saggalu, and of beth tzida son of nebopalasar [i am]. a turkish bazaar. a turkish bazaar is one of the most wonderful sights in the world, and well deserves a place in our record of curiosities. we cannot do better than quote the description which mr. albert smith gives of one of these extraordinary places in his "month at constantinople:"-- "smyrna had, in some measure, prepared me for the general appearance of an oriental bazaar; but the vast extent of these markets at constantinople created a still more vivid impression. to say that the covered rows of shops must altogether be miles in length--that vista after vista opens upon the gaze of the astonished stranger, lined with the costliest productions of the world, each collected in its proper district--that one may walk for an hour, without going over the same ground twice, amidst diamonds, gold, and ivory; cashmere shawls, and chinese silks; glittering arms, costly perfumes, embroidered slippers, and mirrors; rare brocades, ermines, morocco leathers, persian nick-nacks; amber mouthpieces, and jewelled pipes--that looking along the shortest avenue, every known tint and colour meets the eye at once, in the wares and costumes, and that the noise, the motion, the novelty of this strange spectacle is at first perfectly bewildering--all this, possibly, gives the reader the notion of some kind of splendid mart, fitted to supply the wants of the glittering personages who figure in the arabian nights' entertainments; yet it can convey but a poor idea of the real interest which such a place calls forth, or the most extraordinary assemblage of treasures displayed there, amidst so much apparent shabbiness. no spot in the world--neither the parisian boulevards, nor our own regent-street--can boast of such an accumulation of valuable wares from afar, as the great bazaar at constantinople. hundreds and thousands of miles of rocky road and sandy desert have been traversed by the moaning camels who have carried those silks and precious stones from persia, with the caravan. from the wild regions of the mysterious central africa, that ivory, so cunningly worked, in the next row, has been brought--the coal-black people only know how--until the nile floated it down to lower egypt. then those soft cashmere shawls have made a long and treacherous journey to trebizond, whence the fleet barks of the cold and stormy euxine at last brought them up the fairy bosphorus to the very water's edge of the city. from the remote active america; from sturdy england; from cadiz, marseilles, and all along the glowing shores of the mediterranean, safely carried over the dark and leaping sea, by brave iron monsters that have fought the winds with their scalding breath, these wares have come, to tempt the purchasers, in the pleasant, calm, subdued light of the bazaars of stamboul." varnish-tree of the japanese. the _urusi_ or varnish-tree, of which they make so extensive a use, is a noble tree when grown to its full size. on incision it yields a rich, milky, glutinous juice, out of which the japanese make the celebrated varnish, known by the name of _japan_. with this varnish they cover and coat all their household furniture, all their dishes and plates, and all their drinking-vessels, whether made of wood or of paper. the use of plate, or porcelain, or glass appears to be very limited, and is probably interdicted by some rule of nationality or religion: from the emperor down to the meanest peasant, all make use of the light varnished or japanned cups and dishes, the inner substance of which is wood or paper, or what we term papier-maché. another tree, called _forasi_, renders a varnish of an inferior quality. torture-chamber at nuremberg. nuremberg, being a "free city," was governed by its own appointed magistrates, having independent courts of law. the executive council of state consisted of eight members, chosen from the thirty patrician families, who, by the privilege granted to them from the thirteenth century, ruled the city entirely. in process of time these privileges assumed the form of a civic tyranny, which was felt to be intolerable by the people, and occasionally opposed by them. the fierce religious wars of the sixteenth century assisted in destroying the monopoly of power still more; yet now that it is gone for ever, it has left fearful traces of its irresponsible strength. all who sigh for "the good old times," should not moralise over the fallen greatness of the city, and its almost deserted but noble town-hall; but descend below the building into the dark vaults and corridors which form its basement; the terrible substructure upon which the glorious municipal palace of a free imperial self-ruled city was based in the middle ages, into whose secrets none dared pry, and where friends, hope, life itself, were lost to those who dared revolt against the rulers. there is no romance-writer who has imagined more horrors than we have evidences were perpetrated under the name of justice in these frightful vaults, unknown to the busy citizens around them, within a few feet of the streets down which a gay wedding procession might pass, while a true patriot was torn in every limb, and racked to death by the refined cruelty of his fellow-men. the heart sickens in these vaults, and an instinctive desire to quit them takes possession of the mind, while remaining merely as a curious spectator within them. the narrow steps leading to them are reached through a decorated doorway, and the passage below receives light through a series of gratings. you shortly reach the labyrinthine ways, totally excluded from external light and air, and enter, one after another, confined dungeons, little more than six feet square, cased with oak to deaden sounds, and to increase the difficulty of attempted escape. to make these narrow places even more horrible, strong wooden stocks are in some, and day and night prisoners were secured in total darkness, in an atmosphere which seems even now too oppressive to bear. in close proximity to these dungeons is a strong stone room, about twelve feet wide each way, into which you descend by three steps. it is the torture-chamber, which we here engrave. [illustration: [++] torture-chamber at nuremberg.] the massive bars before you are all that remain of the perpendicular rack, upon which unfortunates were hung with weights attached to their ankles. two such of stone, weighing each fifty pounds, were kept here some years back, as well as many other implements of torture since removed or sold for old iron. the raised stone bench around the room was for the use of the executioner and attendants. the vaulted roof condensed the voice of the tortured man, and an aperture on one side gave it freedom to ascend into a room above, where the judicial listeners waited for the faltering words which succeeded the agonising screams of their victim. sepulchral vases of greek pottery. the number of these vases deposited in the great public museums of europe is very large, and from calculations derived from catalogues, or from observations made on the spot, may be stated in round numbers as follows:--the museo borbonico, at naples, contains about , ; the gregorian museum in the vatican, about , ; florence has about ; and at turin there are . on the side of the alps, the imperial museum of vienna possesses about ; berlin has , ; munich about , ; dresden, ; carlsruhe, ; the louvre, at paris, about , ; while more may be found in the bibliothèque imperiale. the british museum has about , vases of all kinds. besides the public collections, several choice and valuable specimens of ancient art belong to individuals. the most important of these private collections are those of the duc de luynes, the duc de blacas, the count de pourtales-gorgier, the jatta collection, that belonging to m. st. angela at naples, and a fine and choice one belonging to the marquis campana at rome. in england, the collections of mr. hope, of mr. jekyll, of the marquis of northampton, and of mr. hertz, contain several interesting examples. in addition to these, several thousand more vases are in the hands of the principal dealers, as s. barone, of naples; and the heirs of s. basseggio, capranesi and messrs. sotheby, in london. the total number of vases in public and private collections probably amounts to , of all kinds. [illustration: [++] sepulchral vases.] all these were discovered in the sepulchres of the ancients, but the circumstances under which they were found differ according to locality. in greece, the graves are generally small, being designed for single corpses, which accounts for the comparatively small size of the vases discovered in that country. at athens, the earlier graves are sunk deepest in the soil, and those at corinth, especially such as contain the early corinthian vases, are found by boring to a depth of several feet beneath the surface. the early tombs of cività vecchia and cære, or cervetri, in italy, are tunnelled in the earth; and those at vulci and in the etruscan territory, from which the finest and largest vases have been extracted, are chambers hewn in the rocks. in southern italy, especially in campania, they are large chambers, about - / palms under the surface. the engraving on previous page will convey an idea of the manner in which the vases are arranged round the bodies of the dead in the tombs of veii, nola, and cumæ. the tomb there represented is constructed of large blocks of stone, arranged in squared masses, called the etruscan style of wall, in contradistinction to the cyclopean. the walls are painted with subjects, the body is laid upon the stone floor, and the larger vases, such as the _oxybapha_ and _craters_ are placed round it. the jugs are hung upon nails round the walls. games with cards in the sixteenth century. cards were used by every one. the game of gleek was played by three persons. the dealer dealt twelve cards and left eight on the table for stock, seven were bought, and the ace turned up for the dealer; if it was tiddy (four of trumps) such player gave four to the dealer. the ace was called tib, the knave tim, the fifth towser, and the sixth tumbler. the players then begin bidding for the stock in hopes of bettering their game, the buyer taking in seven cards and putting out seven. if tib was turned up, it counted fifteen to the dealer. the players then picked for ruff, the one having most of a suit winning it--unless any one had four aces, which always carried it. the first then said, "i'll vie the ruff;" the next, "i'll see it:" the third, "i'll see it, and revie it;" the first again, "i'll see your revie;" and the middle, "i'll not meddle with it." they then showed their cards, and he that had most of a suit won six of him that held out longest, and forty of him who said he could see it, and then refused to meddle with it. ombre, basset, whist, costly colours, and five cards, were, we believe, of later introduction. of our period, are ruff, bone, ace, pult. the great game in the west of england was post and pair, as all fours was in kent, and five cards in ireland. in post and pair, the ace of trumps was the best card; at post the best cards were one and two, but a pair of court cards one. the daring of the game consisted in the vye, or the adventuring upon the goodness of your hand to intimidate your antagonist. rescued relics. the following is a list--translated from the original in the chartulary of the university of glasgow; of the relics which were carried away from glasgow cathedral, by the archbishop, before the work of demolition began, in :-- the image of christ in gold, and those of the twelve apostles in silver, with the whole vestments belonging to the church. a silver cross, gilt in the upper part, and adorned with precious stones in the lower part, with a small portion of the cross of our saviour! another silver cross, adorned with precious stones, with several other portions of the cross of christ! a silver casket, gilt, containing the hair of the blessed virgin! a square silver coffer, containing several of the scourges of st. kentigern, and st. thomas of canterbury, and a portion of the hair garment worn by the former saint!! another silver casket, gilt, containing part of the skin of bartholomew, the apostle!! a silver casket containing a bone of st. ninian! a silver casket, containing part of the girdle of the virgin mary!! a crystal case, containing a bone of some saint and of st. magdalene!! a small vial of crystal, containing the milk of the blessed virgin, and part of the manger of christ!!! a small phial of a saffron colour, containing the fluid which formerly flowed from the tomb of st. mungo! a phial, containing several of the bones of st. eugene, and of st. blaze! a phial, containing a part of the tomb of st. catherine the virgin! a small hide, with a portion of the cloak of st. martin! a precious hide, with portions of the bodies of st. kentigern and st. thomas of canterbury!! some other hides, with bones of saints and other relics! a wooden chest, containing many small relics! two linen bags, with the bones of st. kentigern, st. thanew, and other deceased saints!! paper. with respect to the paper now in use, dr. blair says, the first paper-mill (in england, we suppose) was erected at dartford, in the year , by a german of the name of speillman; from which period we may, perhaps, date its manufacture in this country. it appears, however, that it was known in the east much earlier; it being observed that most of the ancient manuscripts in arabic and other oriental languages, were written upon cotton paper, and it is thought the saracens first introduced it into spain. anderson, in his "history of commerce," says that, till the year , there was scarcely any paper made in england but the coarse brown sort. paper was previously imported from france, genoa, and holland. however, the improvement of this article in england, in consequence of the french war, produced a saving to the country of £ , annually, which had been paid to france for paper alone. lotteries. if the antiquity of a practice could justify its existence, lotteries might claim peculiar reverence. the romans, we are told, used to enliven their saturnalia with them, by distributing tickets, all of which gained some prize. augustus instituted lotteries, that consisted, however, of things of little value. nero also established lotteries, for the people, in which , tickets were daily distributed, and several of those who were favoured by fortune got rich by them. the first lottery of which we find any record in our annals, was in the year , which, according to stow, consisted of , lots, at s. each. the prizes were plated; and the profits were to be applied to the purpose of repairing the havens of the kingdom. this lottery was drawn at the west door of st. paul's cathedral; and began on the th july, , and continued incessantly, day and night, till the th may following. the tickets were three years in being disposed of. in the year , king james granted a lottery to promote the plantation of english colonies in virginia, which was also drawn at st. paul's. temple at simonbong. [illustration: [++] lepcha temple at simonbong.] the above is a correct representation of the great lepcha temple at simonbong, in sikkim, a district of india near thibet. we take the following account of it from the journal of dr. hooker, who visited it in :--"simonbong is one of the smallest and poorest goompas, or temples, in sikkim, being built of wood only. it consists of one large room, raised on a stone foundation, with small sliding shutter windows, and roofed with shingles of wood; opposite the door a wooden altar was placed, rudely chequered with black, white, and red; to the right and left were shelves, with a few tibetan books, wrapped in silk; a model of symbonath temple in nepal, a praying-cylinder, and some implements for common purposes, bags of juniper, english wine-bottles and glasses, with tufts of _abies webbina_, rhododendron flowers, and peacock's feathers, besides various trifles, clay ornaments and offerings, and little hindoo idols. on the altar were ranged seven little brass cups, full of water; a large conch-shell, carved with the sacred lotus; a brass jug from lhassa, of beautiful design, and a human thigh-bone, hollow, and perforated through both condyles. "facing the altar was a bench and a chair, and on one side a huge tambourine, with two curved iron drumsticks. the bench was covered with bells, handsomely carved with idols, and censers with juniper-ashes; and on it lay the _dorge_, or double-headed thunderbolt. of all these articles, the human thigh-bone is by much the most curious; it is very often that of a lama, and is valuable in proportion to its length. as, however, the sikkim lamas are burned, these relics are generally procured from tibet, where the corpses are cut in pieces and thrown to the kites, or thrown into the water." implements used in buddhist temples. [illustration: [++] implements used in buddhist temples.] the above sketch places before us the implements generally used in the buddhist temples of india:--a praying cylinder in stand, another to be carried in the hand, cymbals, bell, brass cup, three trumpets (one of them made of a human thigh-bone), conch, and dorje, or double-headed thunderbolt, which the lama, or high-priest, holds in his hand during service. the praying cylinder is made to revolve by means of an axle and string, and a projecting piece of iron strikes a little bell at each revolution. within such cylinders are deposited written prayers, and whoever pulls the string properly is considered to have said his prayers as often as the bell rings. the worshippers, on entering the temple, walk up to the altar, and, before or after having deposited their gifts, they lift both hands to the forehead, fall on their knees, and touch the ground three times with head and hands. they then advance to the head lama, _kotow_ similarly to him, and he blesses them, laying both hands on their heads, and repeating a short formula. sometimes the dorje is used in blessing, as the cross is in europe, and when a number of people request a benediction, the lama pronounces it from the door of the temple with outstretched arms, the people all being prostrate, with their foreheads touching the ground. proclamation for the person of george ii. on the young pretender landing in scotland, government issued a proclamation, offering a reward of £ , for his head, alive or dead. in opposition to this, the following curious paper was issued by the prince and his council, which, mr. beloe says, "is so rare, that i never heard of any other than that which accident lately deposited in the british museum." "charles, prince of wales, &c. regent of the kingdoms of scotland, france, and ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, whereas, we have seen a certain scandalous and malicious paper, published in the style and form of a proclamation, bearing date the st instant, wherein, under pretence of bringing us to justice, like our royal ancestor, king charles i. of blessed memory, there is a reward of £ , sterling promised to those who shall deliver us into the hands of our enemies, we could not but be moved with a just indignation at so insolent an attempt; and though, from our nature and principles, we abhor and detest a practice so unusual among christian princes, we cannot but, out of just regard to the dignity of our person, promise a like reward of £ , sterling to him, or those, who shall seize and secure till our further orders, the person of the elector of hanover, whether landed, or attempting to land, in any part of his majesty's dominions. should any fatal accident happen from hence, let the blame be entirely at the door of those who first set the infamous example. "charles, p. r. "given at our camp, at kinlockeill, august , . "by his highness's command. "john murray." dogs in japan. dogs or common curs they have, and in superfluous numbers. these dogs are as much the pest of the towns of japan as they are of constantinople and the other foul cities and towns of the ottoman empire. this vast increase of the canine species, and the encouragement and immunity accorded to it, arose (according to the popular account) out of a curious superstition and an extravagant imperial decree. an emperor who reigned at the close of the eighteenth century chanced to be born under the sign of the dog, the dog being one of the twelve celestial signs of the japanese zodiac. for this reason the emperor had as great an esteem for dogs as the roman emperor augustus is reported to have entertained for rams. when he ascended the throne, he willed and ordained that dogs should be held as sacred animals; and, from that time, more puppies saw the light, and were permitted to live in japan than in any other country on the face of the earth, turkey, perhaps, excepted. these dogs have no masters, but lie and prowl about the streets, to the exceeding great annoyance of passengers, especially if they happen to be foreign travellers, or christians in christian dresses. if they come round you in packs, barking, snarling, and showing their teeth; nay, even if they fall upon you and bite you, you must on no account take the law into your own hands, and beat them off or shoot them. to kill one of them is a capital crime, whatever mischief the brute may have done you. in every town there are guardians of the dogs, and to these officers notice must be given in case of any canine misdemeanour, these guardians alone being empowered to punish the dogs. every street must keep a certain number of these animals, or at least provide them with victuals; huts, or dog-hospitals, stand in all parts of the town, and to these the animals, in case of sickness, must be carefully conveyed by the inhabitants. the dogs that die must be brought up to the tops of mountains and hills, the usual burying-places of men and women, and there be very decently interred. old kæmpfer says:--"the natives tell a pleasant tale on this head. a japanese, as he was carrying the carcase of a dead dog to the top of a steep mountain, grew impatient, grumbled, and cursed the emperor's birthday and whimsical command. his companion bid him hold his tongue and be quiet, and, instead of swearing, return thanks to the gods that the emperor was not born under the sign of the horse, for, in that case, the load would be heavier." lagmi, and the use made of it. mohammed, we are told, prohibited the use of wine, owing to a drunken quarrel among the chiefs of his army, which produced great disorder and confusion in his affairs, and almost caused the prophet's death in one of his daring military engagements. he, therefore, addressed his followers in these words: "the devil desires to sow dissensions among you, through wine and games of chance, to divert you from remembering god, and praying to him. abandon wine and games of chance. be obedient to god and the prophet, his apostle, and take heed unto yourselves." but the prophet, who could so minutely delineate the furniture of heaven, and the instruments of torture of hell--who could describe the mysterious occurrences before the creation was formed into its present shape, and predict stupendous events to happen in thousands of years to come--could not forsee that man would stupify himself by any other beverages besides "wine." the believers in the koran at tozar, a city near the great desert, in africa, certainly abstain from wine, and thus obey the prophet's precept, but then they indulge freely in _lagmi_, or the juice of the palm-tree, which, when fermented, is as pernicious in its effect, when taken in excess, as the wine possibly can be. this juice is easily obtained, and more easily still prepared. an incision is made in the tree, just beneath the branches, and a jar so fastened that it receives every drop of liquid flowing out. during a night they procure from a tree "in a producing condition" (in which it is not always) from a quart to three pints of _lagmi_. when drunk immediately it tastes like _genuine_ rich milk, and is perfectly harmless; but when allowed to stand one night, or, at most, twenty-four hours, it partakes (with the exception of the colour, which is whitish,) of the quality and flavour of champagne, and that of a far superior sort than is usually offered in the british markets. this date-tree wine, (for so it may be called,) procured at so little trouble and expense, is to be found in every house, and has its victims reeling through the streets of tozar, just as the stupifying porter has in the streets of english cities. but the curious part in connexion with this is, that "the faithful" persist in their justification that they do not transgress their prophet's precept! "_lagmi_ is not wine," they say, "and the prophet's prohibition refers to wine." anglo-saxon umbrella. [illustration: [++] anglo-saxon umbrella.] in anglo-saxon times the traveller always wore a covering for his head, which, though in various shapes, in no instance resembled our hat, though it was characterised by the general term _hæt_. he seems to have been further protected against the inclemency of the weather by a cloak or (_mentel_). one would be led to suppose that this outer garment was more varied in form and material than any other part of the dress from the great number of names which we find applied to it, such as--_basing_, _hæcce_, _hæcla_, or _hacela_, _poell_, _pylca_, _scyccels_, _wæfels_, &c. the writings which remain throw no light upon the provisions made by travellers against rain; for the dictionary makers who give _scur-scead_ (shower-shade) as signifying an umbrella are certainly mistaken. yet that umbrellas were known to the anglo-saxons is proved beyond a doubt by a figure in the harleian mss. which we have engraved above. a servant or attendant is holding an umbrella over the head of a man who appears to be covered at the same time with the cloak or mantle. the hejira. the hejira, hegira, or hejra. the flight of mohammed from mecca to medina is the epoch of the mohammedan nations. omar, the second caliph, instituted the hegira in imitation of the christians, who counted their years from their persecution by diocletian, (a.d. ,) and who called it the era of the martyrs. thus the mohammedans wished to commence their calculation of time from the period of the most memorable persecution they had suffered. the learned mohammedan astronomers have been divided in opinion on the exact year of the christians which corresponds with the hegira. but the generality of writers place this epoch on friday, the th of july, a.d. . the ancient arabs counted time by solar months; these months always returned in the same season, and their names correspond with the employments which the seasons rendered necessary. since the epoch of the hegira was fixed the mohammedans count time by lunar months, the arabian year consisting of days, eight hours, and forty-eight minutes. the intercalary days are adjusted by a cycle of thirty lunar years, of which nineteen are of days, and eleven of days. the years of excess are in the following order:-- , , , , , , , , , , . chinese pailoos. [illustration: [++] chinese pailoos.] the pailoos, or, as they are commonly but erroneously called, triumphal arches, form an object of chinese architecture which, from its constant recurrence in views of chinese scenery, is almost as familiar to us as the pagoda. they are, in fact, monuments to deceased persons of distinction, generally of widows who have not married a second time, or of virgins who have died unmarried. the smaller and less important ones consist merely of two upright posts of wood or granite, supporting a flat board with an inscription, like, both in purpose and design, to the wooden rails which are used as substitutes for tombstones in some districts in england. the more important pailoos have three openings, supported by several boards, with more or less ornament and carving. sometimes they are wholly of wood; in others no material is used but stone, generally granite; and these two materials are combined in various proportions in other examples. sometimes they are raised on platforms as in the annexed example, from a peculiarly graceful one near canton. at other times they are placed on the ground, and even across roads, so as to form arches, if they may be called, though certainly not triumphal ones. remarkable grotto, and story connected with it. near lunel, in france, on the eastern bank of the river hérault, is the grotto, known in this part of the country as _la baume de las donmaisellas_, or _des fées_. this grotto consists of many large, deep apartments, some of which are indeed inaccessible; the second (and they are all one below the other), presents to the eye of the beholder four beautiful pillars, about thirty feet high, terminating at the top like palm trees; they are detached from the roof, which is only to be accounted for by supposing that the _bottom_, or _floor_, has, in some concussion of nature, sunk from its original level: the third chamber, still descending, and like the former only to be reached by ropes and ladders, presents, at the farther end, one vast curtain of crystal, to which the lights, carried on such occasions, give the appearance of all manner of precious stones. some of the stalactites of this apartment are solid and white as alabaster, some clear and transparent as glass; they are of every fantastic form and description, as well as displaying perfect representations of cascades, trees, festoons, lances, pillars, fruits, flowers, and even the regular arrangement of architecture in a cathedral. the fourth chamber is a long gallery covered with fine sand: beyond this three great pillars present themselves, and behind, there is a lake of thick muddy water. all these grottoes have been long known to the peasantry, but another was lately penetrated, in which every former variety of stalactite was seen, but, in addition to these was found an altar, white, like fine china, having regular steps to it, of the same material: it is composed apparently of layers of the opaque stalactite, of a dazzling white and exquisite polish: four twisted columns, of a yellow colour and transparent, whose height is lost in the vast roof; an obelisk, perfectly round, of a reddish colour, of a great height, and a colossal figure of a woman, holding two children in her arms, and placed upon a pedestal, completed the astonishment of the daring explorers of this subterraneous cavern. but alas! this astonishment was changed into feelings of a more melancholy description, when they recalled the circumstance, still current in the neighbourhood, that, during the religious wars, a family (whether protestant or catholic is not ascertained), consisting of a father and mother and one or two children, sought refuge in these subterraneous grottoes from the persecution of their enemies, and there preserved a miserable existence, far from the cruelty of man, whom nature formed of milder clay, with every kind emotion in his heart, and taught alone to weep. for some years they supported themselves with berries, and now and then they were seen endeavouring to secure a stray kid or goat for food. the solitude and silence of their almost inaccessible dwelling, imbued them and their fate with an awful character; and from being objects of _pity_, they became at length objects of _terror_, to the neighbouring peasantry, who told strange stories of the unfortunate beings thus consigned to cold and hunger, and compelled to seek a wretched home within the bowels of the earth. their spare forms, their pale countenances, their tattered garments waving in the breeze, all threw a mystic feeling over their appearance, and they were transformed into fairies and spectres. the shepherds fled when they appeared, and the children, as they clung affrighted to their parents, with strained eyes and parted lips, followed the rapid movements of the mountaineers, as they in their turn, alarmed at the sight of their fellow-creatures, fled from height to height, until they gained their rocky asylum. such an accumulation of suffering and misery was not, however, calculated to prolong existence: terror and fear destroyed the mind, as hunger and cold destroyed the body, and after the lapse of a few years, one by one, these _spectres_ disappeared: but still they figure in all the local stories and traditions peculiar to the neighbourhood, under the form of witches, fairies, and sorcerers. the question is, whether the altar and the figure are not the work of these unfortunate beings, who might find in this employment a transitory solace for their misery. cruelty of hindoo rites. we extract the following account from "the land of the veda," as it affords an extraordinary instance of the lengths to which the fanaticism of a gross superstition will induce men to proceed:-- "to satisfy ourselves of the sanguinary character of some of the hindoo deities, and of the influence they exert over the deluded victims of superstition, we must witness some of the cruel practices which the popular goddess, kali, imposes on her worshippers. the most remarkable festival is the one called _charak puja_. "this festival derives its name from _chakra_, a wheel or discus; in allusion to the circle performed in the act of rotating, when suspended from the instrument of this horrible superstition. being desirous of witnessing the ceremony in all its parts, i went to the spot where one of these ceremonies was about to take place. an upright pole, twenty or thirty feet in height, was planted in the ground, across the top of which, moving on a pivot, a long pole was placed. from one end of this transverse beam a long rope was suspended and left to hang loosely, whilst a shorter rope was attached to the other end, bearing a couple of strong iron hooks. a good-looking man, perhaps thirty years of age, came from the midst of the crowd, and doing obeisance beneath the instrument of torture, presented himself as a candidate for the honour he aspired to. the attendant, before whom he stood erect, struck a smart blow on the small of the back, and fixed one of the hooks in the flesh, and then did the same on the other side. the man then laid hold of the rope just above the hooks and held it, whilst certain persons in the crowd, seizing the loose rope, pulled him up, by depressing the other end of the beam. as he rose he relinquished his hold of the rope by which he was suspended, and resigned himself to the rotary motion, by which he was whirled round and round in mid air, suspended by the flesh of his own body. whilst he was thus enduring the torture incident to this horrid service, at once gratifying the cruel goddess kali and the crowd of admiring spectators, he drew from his girdle fruits and flowers, which he scattered among the attendants. these were picked up by the crowd, with the greatest eagerness, as precious relics that might avail as charms in cases of personal or domestic extremity. this wretched dupe of a foul superstition remained in the air at least a quarter of an hour, and, of course, in his own estimation and in that of the spectators, gained by this brief infliction a large amount of merit, and consequent title to certain rewards to be reaped in a future state of being. no sooner had he descended, than another was ready for the ceremony. these cruel practices are carried on in various parts of the native town, from day to day, as long as the festival lasts. it not unfrequently happens that the ligaments of the back give way, when the man, tossed to an immense distance, is dashed to pieces. in such cases, the inference is, that the victim of such accident, by virtue of demerit in a former state of existence, was not merely unworthy of the privileges attached to this privileged ceremonial, but destined to expiate his evil deeds by this dreadful accident." curious musical instrument. the musical instrument which we engrave below, is used in the burman empire, and is thus described by captain yule, in his "mission to ava," writing from the town of magwé, in burmah. the captain says;-- [illustration: [++] drum-harmonicon.] "this evening the members of the mission made their first acquaintance with the burmese drama; an entertainment which from this time would occupy a very large place in the daily history of our proceedings if all were registered. "the governor had provided both a puppet play and a regular dramatic performance for our benefit, and on this first occasion of the kind the envoy thought it right that we should visit both. "each performance was attended by a full burmese orchestra. the principal instruments belonging to this are very remarkable, and, as far as i know, peculiar to burmah. "the chief instrument in size and power is that called in burmese _pattshaing_, and which i can only name in english as a drum-harmonicon. it consists of a circular tub-like frame about thirty inches high and four feet six inches in diameter. this frame is formed of separate wooden staves fancifully carved, and fitting by tenon into a hoop which keeps them in place. round the interior of the frame are suspended vertically some eighteen or twenty drums, or tom-toms, graduated in tone, and in size from about two and a-half inches diameter up to ten. in tuning the instrument the tone of each drum is modified as required by the application of a little moist clay with a sweep of the thumb, in the centre of the parchment. the whole system then forms a sort of harmonicon, on which the performer, squatted in the middle, plays with the natural plectra of his fingers and palms, and with great dexterity and musical effect." burmese musical instruments. [illustration: [++] burmese musical instruments.] the two burmese musical instruments which we here engrave are thus described by captain yule in his "mission to ava:"-- "the bamboo harmonicon or staccato is a curious example of the production of melody by simple and unexpected means. its use, though unknown in india, extends throughout the eastern archipelago; and something similar is possessed, i believe, by the negro slaves in brazil. eighteen to twenty-four flat slips of bamboo, about an inch and a half broad, and of graduated length, are strung upon a double string and suspended in a catenary over the mouth of a trough-like sounding box. the roundish outside of the bamboo is uppermost, and whilst the extremities of the slips are left to their original thickness, the middle part of each is thinned and hollowed out below. the tuning is accomplished partly by the regulation of this thinning of the middle part. the scale so formed is played with one or two drumsticks, and the instrument is one of very mellow and pleasing tone. though the materials are of no value, a good old harmonicon is prized by the owner, like a good old cremona, and he can rarely be induced to part with it. "there was one example at the capital, of a similar instrument formed of slips of iron or steel. it was said to have been made by the august hands of king tharawadee himself, who, like louis seize, was abler as a smith than as a king. the effect was not unpleasing, and strongly resembled that of a large geneva musical box, but it was far inferior in sweetness to the bamboo instrument. "another instrument used in these concerts is a long cylindrical guitar of three strings, shaped like an alligator and so named. it is placed on the ground before the performer." dress regulated by act of parliament. the foreign knights and visitors who came to windsor in edward the first's reign, and brought with them a continual succession of varying fashions, turned the heads of the young with delight, and of the old with disgust. douglas, the monk of glastonbury, is especially denunciative and satirical on this point. he says that in the horrible variety of costume,--"now long, now large, now wide, now straight,"--the style of dress was "destitute and devert from all honesty of old arraye or good usage." it is all, he says, "so nagged and knibbed on every side, and all so shattered and also buttoned, that i with truth shall say, they seem more like to tormentors or devils in their clothing, and also in their shoying and other array, than they seemed to be like men." and the old monk had good foundation for his complaint; and the commons themselves having, what the commons now have not, a dread of becoming as extravagant as their betters in the article of dress, actually sought the aid of parliament. that august assembly met the complaint by restricting the use of furs and furls to the royal family and nobles worth one thousand _per annum_. knights and ladies worth four hundred marks yearly, were permitted to deck themselves in cloths of gold and silver, and to wear certain jewellery. poor knights, squires, and damsels were prohibited from appearing in the costume of those of higher degree. as for the commons themselves, they could put on nothing better than unadorned woollen cloth; and if an apprentice or a milliner had been bold enough to wear a ring on the finger, it was in peril of a decree that it should be taken off,--not the finger, but the ring,--with confiscation of the forbidden finery. the consequence was that the commons, being under prohibition to put on finery, became smitten with a strong desire to assume it; and much did they rejoice when they were ruled over by so consummate a fop as richard of bordeaux. all classes were content to do what many classes joyfully do in our own days,--dress beyond their means; and we find in old harding's "cronicle" that not only were "yemen and gromes in cloth of silk arrayed, sattin and damask, in doublettes and in gownnes." but that all this, as well as habits of "cloth of greene and scarleteen,--cut work and brodwar, was all," as the chronicler expresses it, "for unpayed;" that is, was _not paid for_. so that very many among us do not so much despise the wisdom afforded us by the example of our ancestors as didactic poets and commonplace honest writers falsely allege them to do. and those ancestors of richard the second's time were especially given to glorify themselves in parti-coloured garments of white and red, such being the colours of the king's livery (as blue and white were those of john of gaunt); and they who wore these garments, sometimes of half-a-dozen colours in each, why they looked, says an old writer, "as though the fire of st. anthony, or some such mischance," had cankered and eaten into half their bodies. the long-toed shoes, held up to the knee by a chain and hook, were called _crackowes_, the fashion thereof coming from cracrow in poland. the not less significant name of "devil's receptacles" were given to the wide sleeves of this reign, for the reason, as the monk of evesham tells us, that whatever was stolen was thrust into them. a cat-clock. the following curious incident is to be found in huo's "chinese empire:-- "one day when we went to pay a visit to some families of chinese christian peasants, we met, near a farm, a young lad, who was taking a buffalo to graze along our path. we asked him carelessly, as we passed, whether it was yet noon. the child raised his head to look at the sun, but it was hidden behind thick clouds, and he could read no answer there. "the sky is so cloudy," said he; "but wait a moment;" and with these words he ran towards the farm, and came back a few minutes afterwards with a cat in his arms. "look here," said he, "it is not noon yet;" and he showed us the cat's eyes, by pushing up the lids with his hands. we looked at the child with surprise, but he was evidently in earnest; and the cat, though astonished, and not much pleased at the experiment made on her eyes, behaved with most exemplary complaisance. "very well," said we; "thank you;" and he then let go the cat, who made her escape pretty quickly, and we continued our route. to say the truth, we had not at all understood the proceeding; but we did not wish to question the little pagan, lest he should find out that we were europeans by our ignorance. as soon as ever we reached the farm, however, we made haste to ask our christians whether they could tell the clock by looking into the cat's eyes. they seemed surprised at the question; but as there was no danger in confessing to them our ignorance of the properties of the cat's eyes, we related what had just taken place. that was all that was necessary; our complaisant neophytes immediately gave chase to all the cats in the neighbourhood. they brought us three or four, and explained in what manner they might be made use of for watches. they pointed out that the pupil of their eyes went on constantly growing narrower until twelve o'clock, when they became like a fine line, as thin as a hair, drawn perpendicularly across the eye, and that after twelve the dilation recommenced. when we had attentively examined the eyes of all the cats at our disposal, we concluded that it was past noon, as all the eyes perfectly agreed upon the point. we have had some hesitation in speaking of this chinese discovery, as it may, doubtless, tend to injure the interest of the clock-making trade, and interfere with the sale of watches; but all considerations must give way to the spirit of progress. all important discoveries tend in the first instance to injure private interests, and we hope, nevertheless, that watches will continue to be made, because, among the number of persons who may wish to know the hour, there will, most likely, be some who will not give themselves the trouble to run after the cat, or who may fear some danger to their own eyes from too close an examination of hers." early english helmet. [illustration: [++] twelfth century english helmet.] the above is a correct representation of a helmet of the latter part of the twelfth century, resembling those seen on the great seals of richard i. the _aventaille_, or moveable grating for covering the face, has been lost, but the hinges, staples, and other means of fastening it still remain. its form may be seen on the great seals of henry iii. and edward i. illustrious farmers. adam was a farmer while yet in paradise, and after his fall was commanded to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. job, the honest, upright, and patient, was a farmer, and his firm endurance has passed into a proverb. socrates was a farmer, and yet wedded to the glory of his immortal philosophy. cincinnatus was a farmer, and the noblest roman of them all. burns was a farmer, and the muse found him at his plough, and filled his soul with poetry. washington was a farmer, and retired from the highest earthly station to enjoy the quiet of rural life, and present to the world a spectacle of human greatness. to these names may be added a host of others, who sought peace and repose in the cultivation of their earth. the enthusiastic lafayette, the steadfast pickering, the scholastic jefferson, the fiery randolph, all found an el dorado of consolation from life's cares and troubles, in the green and verdant lawns that surrounded their homestead. ancient couteau-de-chasse. [illustration: [++] couteau-de-chasse.] as the chase was regarded as the honourable and most instructive occupation of an age in which warlike prowess was deemed the principal object of emulation and applause, every respectable mansion had, in former times, its hall decorated with hunting implements. one of these we here present to our readers. it is a couteau-de-chasse of the time of william iii. the left-hand figure represents it in its sheath, which is highly ornamented; the other figures represent the blade drawn, and the three knives, fork, and bodkin, which the sheath also contains. the form is precisely like those engraved in the "triumph of maximilian," which shows that no variation had taken place since the commencement of the sixteenth century. erasmus, in his "praise of folly," thus alludes to this weapon, kennet translating it "a slashing hanger." speaking of those engaged in the chase, he says, "when they have run down their game, what strange pleasure they take in cutting it up! cows and sheep may be slaughtered by common butchers, but what is killed in hunting must be broke up by none under a gentleman, who shall throw down his hat, fall devoutly on his knees, and drawing a slashing hanger (for a common knife is not good enough), after several ceremonies, shall dissect all the parts as artistically as the best skilled anatomist; while all that stand round shall look very intently and seem to be mightly surprised with the novelty, though they have seen the same an hundred times before; and he that can but dip his finger and taste of the blood shall think his own bettered by it." division of time in persia. time is of no value in persia, from which reason it must be that so complicated a system has been maintained as that of counting by solar time, lunar time, and the toork cycle. the first is observed by astronomers, and was in general use in persia until it was superseded by mahommed's lunar year. it consists of twelve months of thirty days each, with the required number of intercalary days. the second, which is now in general use, consisting of three hundred and fifty-four days, is therefore perpetually changing: an event commemorated in one year will come round ten days earlier the succeeding year. the third is a curious method of counting introduced by the toorks into persia, but which we are told has been forgotten in turkey. they divide time into cycles of twelve years, each year having a separate name, but they have no designation for the cycles. thus, if they wanted to describe an event which happened sixty-five years ago, they could only mention the name of the fifth year. these years are solar, and are thus designated:-- sichkan eel year of the mouse. ood eel " bull. bars eel " leopard. tavishkan eel " hare. looee eel " crocodile. eelan eel " snake. yoont eel " horse. kooree eel " ram. beechee eel " monkey. tekhakoo eel " cock. eet eel " dog. tenkooz eel " hog. it seems strange their number should be twelve, as if there were a zodiac of years, instead of months. this method of marking time is preserved only in government documents, such as firmans, grants, &c. no one seems able to account for its origin, excepting that, according to tradition, the toorks of old brought it from tartary. different sorts of horses in the sixteenth century. the different sorts of horses in use among the nobility and others, may be collected from the following entry in the northumberland household-book, first printed in the year . it is entitled the regulations and establishment of algernon percy the earl of northumberland, . "this is the ordre of the chequir roule of the nombre of all the horsys of my lordis and my ladys, that are apoynted to be in the charge of the hous verely, as to say gentill hors, palfreys, hobys, naggis, clothsek hors. "first, gentill hors, to stand in my lordis stable, six. item, palfreys of my ladys, to wit, oone for my lady, and two for her gentill-women, and oone for her chamberer. four hobys and naggis for my lordis oone saddill, viz. oone for my lorde to ride, oone to led for my lorde, and oone to stay at home for my lorde. item, chariot hors to stand in my lordis stable yerely: seven great trottynge hors to draw in the chariott, and a nagg for the chariott-man to ryde, eight. again, hors for my lorde percy, his lordis sonne. a great doble trottynge hors to travel on in winter. item, double trottynge hors, called a curtal, for his lordship to ryde on out of townes. another trottynge gambaldyn hors, for his lordship to ryde upon when he comes into townes. an amblynge hors, for his lordship to journey on daily. a proper amblyng little nag, for his lordship when he gaeth on hunting or hawkin. a gret amblyng gelding to carry his male." the _gentill_ horse was one of superior breed, so called in contrast to such as were of ordinary extraction. _palfreys_, were an elegant and easy sort of horses, used upon common occasions by knights, and others, who reserved their great and managed horses for battle and the tournament. _hobys_, were strong, active horses, of rather a small size. they are said to be originally natives of ireland. _nags_ were of the same description. _clothseck_, was a cloak-bag horse; as a _male horse_ was one that carried the portmanteau. horses to draw the _chariots_, were waggon horses; from the french word _charrette_, whence, the english word _cart_. _a great double trottynge_ horse, was a tall, broad horse, whose best pace was the trot, being too unwieldly to be able to gallop. _a curtail_, was a horse whose tail was cut, or shortened. _a gambaldynge_ horse, was one of shew and parade; a managed horse. _an amblynge_ horse, received this appellation, from the ease and smoothness of its pace. in former times almost all saddle horses were broke to perform it. the naora. the oasis of tagius or wodian, in the desert of sahara, in africa, comprehends these villages--d'kash, krees, wozorkan, owlad, majed, sedadah, zowiat elarab, and sidy bohlan. these villages are situated at short distances from each other, numbering together a population of between , and , , whose chief employment consists in cultivating the palm, or date tree. at kreez they have an excellent spring, but which does not suffice to water all their plantations, and hence they are forced to have recourse to the _naora_, so common on the coast. the naora is the name given to the rude, though ingenious contrivance, by means of which, through the agency of either a camel, a mule, or a horse, water is raised from a deep well in earthen jars, which, as soon as they have emptied their contents into a wooden trough, descend for fresh supplies. the water from the trough is then conducted by the planters into channels and trenches, as occasion requires. these are again easily diverted, and as soon as it is considered that the trees in one particular direction have had a sufficient supply, fresh trenches are opened in another direction, and in this manner the whole plantation receives the requisite moisture and nourishment. we here engrave the naora. the pain and labour which the inhabitants of such an oasis take with their vast date plantations are immense, but their toil is amply repaid by the "lord of the vegetable world." independent of its picturesque appearance, grateful shade, luscious fruit, and agreeable beverage, it supplies them with fuel, and wood for the construction of their houses. from its leaves they manufacture baskets, ropes, mats, bags, couches, brushes, brooms, fans, &c. from the branches they make fences, stools, and cages. the kernels, after being soaked in water for two or three days, are eagerly eaten by camels. every palm-tree shoots forth a number of suckers, which are removed at the proper season and transplanted. with care, these will produce fruit in about ten years, whereas those raised from kernels will only yield dates when they reach to the age of twenty. the tree reaches its vigour at thirty, and continues so till a hundred years old, when it begins to decline, and decays about the end of its second century. during its vigorous years, a good tree will produce between twenty and thirty clusters, each weighing about thirty pounds. [illustration: [++] naora.] mr. morier relates an anecdote, which greatly illustrates how highly the date-tree is appreciated by those who are from their infancy taught to value it. an arab woman who had been in england, and who returned in the suite of the english ambassador to persia, on her reaching home, told her countrywomen of the riches and beauty of the country she had visited, and described the roads, the carriages, the scenery, the splendour of the cities, and the fertility of the well-cultivated soil. her audience were full of admiration, and had almost retired in envy, when she happened to mention that there was but one thing wanting to make the whole almost a paradise. "and what is that?" said they. "why, it has not a single date-tree. all the time that i was there, i never ceased to look for one, but i looked in vain." the charm was instantly broken; the arabs turned away in pity for men, who, whatever might be their comforts, or their magnificence, were doomed to live in a country where there are no date-trees. primitive pair of bellows. [illustration: [++] bellows.] atmospheric denudation and weathering have produced remarkable effects on the lower part of the nonkreem valley, in the khasia mountains, in india, which is blocked up by a pine-crested hill, feet high, entirely formed of round blocks of granite, heaped up so as to resemble an old moraine; but, like the nunklow boulders, these are not arranged as if by glacial action. the granite is very soft, decomposing into a course reddish sand, that colours the boga-panee. to procure the iron sand, which is disseminated through it, the natives conduct water over the beds, and as the lighter particles are washed away, the remainder is removed to troughs, where the separation of the ore is completed. the smelting is very rudely carried on in charcoal fires, blown by enormous double-action bellows, worked by two persons, who stand on the machine, raising the flaps with their hands, and expanding them with their feet, as shown in our cut. there is neither furnace nor flux used in the reduction. the fire is kindled on one side of an upright stone (like the head-stone of a grave), with a small arched hole close to the ground: near this hole the bellows are suspended: and a bamboo tube from each of its compartments meets in a larger one, by which the draft is directed under the hole in the stone to the fire. the ore is run into lumps as large as two fists, with a rugged surface: these lumps are afterwards cleft nearly in two to show their purity. preservation of dead bodies. about a mile distant from palermo in sicily, is a celebrated monastery of capuchins, in which there is a vault made use of as a receptacle for the dead. it consists of four wide passages, each forty feet in length, into which the light is admitted by windows, placed at the ends. along the sides of these subterraneous galleries are niches, in which the bodies are placed upright, and clothed in a coarse dress, with their heads, arms, and feet bare. they are prepared for this situation by broiling them six or seven months upon a gridiron, over a slow fire, till all the fat and moisture are consumed. the skin which looks like pale-coloured leather, remains entire, and the character of the countenance is, in some degree preserved. the cagots. in the department of the hautes pyrénées in france is sometimes to be met with a creature about four feet high, with an enormous head, stiff, long hair, a pale countenance, a dead-looking eye, legs that have the appearance of being in the last stage of a dropsy, and an enormous _goitre_ on the neck, which sometimes hangs down below the stomach. this unhappy being begs for charity by extending his hand, smiling vaguely, and by uttering inarticulate sounds or suppressed cries, which his desolate and degraded situation alone interprets. these _cagots_, for so they are here called, live isolated from the rest of the world; twenty years ago, if any one of these unfortunate beings left his hut, and ventured into the towns or villages, the children would exclaim--_cagot! cagot!_ and this cry would bring the smith from his forge, the shopkeeper from his counter, the private individual from his fireside; and, if the poor being did not hasten his flight, and slow was his progress, he not unfrequently lost his life by the stones that were flung after him. there was, however, one day in the week--sunday, the lord's day--and one asylum--the church, the lord's house--that was free to them; yet man there made a distinction between him and his fellow man. a narrow door, through which no one passed but the _cagots_, a chapel, which no one entered but these unhappy _cagots_, was reserved for their sole use, where they offered up their imperfect prayers, without seeing or being seen by any one. even in these days, they are still considered an outcast race; and an alliance of a peasant girl of the plains with a _cagot_, would excite as much commotion among the inhabitants of the valleys of the pyrénées, as the famed one between idamore and néala, in m. delavigne's celebrated tragedy of the paria. yet it is strange that these deformities do not show themselves until a child has passed the age of six or seven: he is before this period like other healthy children; his complexion is fresh, his eye lively, and his limbs in proportion; but at twelve, his head has increased prodigiously, his complexion has become sallow, his teeth have lost their whiteness, his eye its fire. three years later his skin is shrivelled, his teeth open with difficulty, and he pronounces all the consonants with a whistling indistinctness, that renders his language unintelligible to strangers. his mind partakes of the deformity and weakness of his body, for he is, at fifteen, little better than an idiot. such are the _cagots_ of the _pyrénées_. discontinuance of torture. torture had been applied, down to the close of elizabeth, to the investigation of all kinds of crime; but after that time it was chiefly confined to state offences. its favourite instrument was the dreadful rack, or break, traditionally said to have been introduced under henry vi. by john, duke of exeter, constable of the tower, whence it was called the duke of exeter's daughter. a _milder_ punishment was inflicted by skevington's gyves, which compressed the victim closely together, whilst the rack distended his whole frame in the most painful manner. in the manacles were introduced, and soon became the most usual mode of torture, but their precise character is not well understood. a variety of instruments of torture are still shown in the tower, taken, it is said, out of the spanish armada, but at all events admirably suited to the gloomy dungeon wherein they appear, and in which half-starvation, and the horrid cells called little ease and rat's dungeon (the latter placed below high water mark, and totally dark, so that the rats crowded in as the tide rose,) added to the sufferings of the poor victim when released for a brief space from the fell grasp of the prison-ministers. torture was not abolished in scotland till ; in france till ; in russia till ; in bavaria and wurtemberg till ; in hanover till ; nor in the grand duchy of baden till . the modern names of regiments. the modern names of regiments were first given to them in the reign of charles ii., the coldstreams or foot guards being formed in , when two regiments were added to one raised about ten years before by general monk at coldstream on the borders of scotland; to these were added the st royal scots, brought over from france at the restoration. the life guards were raised in , with the oxford blues (so called from the first commander, aubrey, earl of oxford); and also the nd or queen's foot. the rd or old buffs were raised in , and the st foot or scotch fusileers (from their carrying the fusil, which was lighter than the musket), in . in that year the grenadiers (so named from their original weapon, the hand grenade) were first brought into our service, and in the th or king's own were raised. james ii. added to the cavalry the st or king's regiment of dragoon's guards, and the nd or queen's ditto in ; and to the infantry, in the same year, the th and th, or royal fusileers; and in the rd or welsh fusileers. watch presented by louis the thirteenth of france to charles the first of england. [illustration: [++] watch made for charles i.] the annexed engraving represents the watch which was made for louis xiii. to present to king charles i. it is of silver, richly gilt, the ornaments covered with transparent enamel in white, red, green, blue, and yellow. the numbers are on a band of deep blue; the wheel-like ornament in the centre on a ruby ground. the back is chased in high relief with a figure of st. george conquering the dragon; the horse is covered with white enamel; the flesh tints on st. george are also of enamel; his tunic is red, and his scarf blue. on the side of the watch is the motto of the order of the garter; the _fleurs-de-lys_ above and below it on a ruby ground. the interior of the case is enriched by a delicately executed arabesque filled with black enamel upon a dotted ground. the entire works take out of the case, being secured thereto by springs, and are all more or less decorated with engraving, the whole interior being chased and gilt. the maker's name is s. vallin. a wedding a hundred years ago. on the th june, , was married at rothbury, mr. william donkin, a considerable farmer, of tosson, in the county of northumberland, to miss eleanor shotten, an agreeable young gentlewoman, of the same place. the entertainments on this occasion were very grand, there being provided no less than one hundred and twenty quarters of lamb, forty quarters of veal, twenty quarters of mutton, a large quantity of beef, twelve hams, with a suitable number of chickens, which was concluded with eight half ankers of brandy made into punch, twelve dozen of cider, and a great many gallons of wine. the company consisted of five hundred ladies and gentlemen, who were diverted with the music of twenty-five fiddlers and pipers; and the evening was spent with the utmost unanimity. grace knives. there is a curious class of knives, of the sixteenth century, the blade, of which have on one side the musical notes to the benediction of the table, or grace before meat, and on the other the grace after meat. we here engrave a specimen. [illustration: [++] grace knife.] the set of these knives usually consisted of four. they were kept in an upright case of stamped leather, and were placed before the singer according to the adaptation of each part to the voice indicated upon them. garden at kenilworth when in its prime. gossiping laneham is very eloquent about the kenilworth garden, at which he took a timid and surreptitious peep. it was an acre or more in extent, and lay to the north of the stately castle: a pleasant terrace, ten feet high, and twelve feet broad, even under foot and fresh with trim grass, ran beside it along the castle wall. it was set with a goodly show of obelisks and spheres, and white bears of stone, raised upon goodly bases. at each end was a fine arbour, redolent with sweet trees and flowers. the garden-plot near had fair alleys of turf, and others paved with smooth sand, pleasant to walk on as the sea-shore when the wave has just retired. the enclosure was divided into four even quarters: in the midst of each, upon a base of two feet square, rose a porphyry square pilaster, with a pyramidical pinnacle fifteen feet high, pierced and hollowed, and crowned with an orb. all around was covered with redolent herbs and flowers, varied in form, colour, and quantity, and mixed with fruit trees. in the midst, opposite the terrace, stood a square aviary, joined to the north wall, in height twenty feet, thirteen long, and fourteen broad; it had four great windows, two in front and two at each end, and each five feet wide. these windows were arched, and separated by flat pilasters, which supported a cornice. the roof was of wire net, of meshes an inch wide; and the cornice was gilded and painted with representations of precious stones. this great aviary had also eaves in the wall, for shelter from sun and heat, and for the purpose of building. fair holly trees stood at each end, on which the birds might perch and pounce. they had a keeper to attend to their seeds and water, and to clean out their enclosure. the birds were english, french, and spanish. some were from america; and laneham is "deceived" if some were not from the canary islands. in the centre of this miniature paradise stood a fountain with an octagonal basin rising four feet high; in the midst stood the figures of two athletes, back to back, their hands upholding a fair marble bowl, from whence sundry pipes distilled continual streams into the reservoir. carp, tench, bream, perch, and eel disported in the fresh falling water; and on the top of all the ragged staff was displayed; on one side neptune guided his sea-horses with his trident, on another stood thetis with her dolphins. here triton and his fishes, there proteus and his herds, doris and her daughter, and half the nereids, disported in sea and sand, surrounded by whales, sturgeons, tunnies, and conch shells, all engraven with exquisite device and skill. by the sudden turn of a tap, the spectator could be drenched at the pleasure of any wit. egyptian antiquities. it appears from a paper recently read in the academy of archæology, at rome, that father secchi has found a new interpretation of the egyptian hieroglyphics, which enables him to declare, that most of them are not mere tombstone inscriptions, as is generally assumed, but poems. he has given several of his readings, which display great ingenuity, and professes to be able to decipher the inscriptions on the obelisk of luxor, at paris. the bayeux tapestry. the cathedral at bayeux is a gothic building, dedicated to the virgin. the portal and three belfries, which belong to it, are objects of curiosity. it is in this cathedral that the celebrated tapestry, denominated _of bayeux_, is kept. its length is one hundred and thirty-two feet; its breadth, seven and a half. "i had," says dr. ducarel, "the satisfaction of seeing that famous piece of furniture, which, with great exactness, though in _barbarous needlework_, represents the history of harold, king of england; and of william, duke of normandy; from the embassy of the former to duke william, at the command of edward the confessor, to his overthrow and death, at the battle fought near hastings. the ground of this piece of work is a white linen cloth, or canvas. the figures of men, horses, &c. are in their proper colours, worked in the manner of the samplers, in worsted, and of a style not unlike what we see upon the china and japan ware; those of the men, particularly, being without the least symmetry or proportion. there is a small border, which runs at the top and the bottom of the tapestry; with several figures of men, beasts, flowers, and even fables, which have nothing to do with the history, but are mere ornaments. at the end of every particular scene there is a tree, by way of distinction; and over several of the principal figures there are inscriptions, but many of them obliterated. it is annually hung up on st. john's day, and goes round the nave of the church, where it continues eight days; and at all other times it is carefully kept locked up in a strong wainscot press, in a chapel on the south side of the cathedral, dedicated to thomas à becket. by tradition it is called, _duke william's toilet_, and is said to be the work of matilda, his queen, and the ladies of her court, after he had obtained the crown of england." mr. strutt, in his "complete view of the dresses and habits of the people of england," affirms, that it is the work of half a century later than the time of the conqueror. roman stamp. this curiosity is preserved in the british museum. it is the very earliest specimen we possess of printing, by means of ink or any similar substance. it is made of metal, a sort of roman brass; the ground of which is covered with a green kind of verdigris rust, with which antique medals are usually covered. the letters rise flush up to the elevation of the exterior rim which surrounds it. its dimensions are, about two inches long, by one inch broad. at the back of it is a small ring for the finger, to promote the convenience of holding it. as no person of the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in roman history, he is therefore supposed to have been a functionary of some roman officer, or private steward, and who, perhaps, used this stamp to save himself the trouble of writing his name. a stamp somewhat similar, in the greek character, is in the possession of the antiquarian society, of newcastle-on-tyne. tyrian purple. the shell-fish portrayed on next page is that from which the tyrian purple dye is obtained. the ancients were very devoid of chemical knowledge; their list of adjective dye-stuffs was therefore restricted, and all the most celebrated dyes of antiquity belonged to the substantive division, of which tyrian purple was undoubtedly the chief. the purple dye of tyre, which admits with great propriety of being included amongst the dyes of greece and rome, was discovered about fifteen centuries before the christian era, and the art of using it did not become lost until the eleventh century after christ. it was obtained from two genera of one species of shell-fish, the smaller of which was denominated _buccinum_, the larger _purpura_, and to both the common name murex was applied. the dye-stuff was procured by puncturing a vessel in the throat of the larger genus, and by pounding the smaller entire. having been thus extracted, salt was added, also a certain amount of water. the whole was then kept hot about eight or ten days in a vessel of lead or tin, the impurities as they rose being assiduously skimmed off. the dye-stuff was now ready to receive the texture to be dyed (wool, universally), and the operation of dyeing was simple enough; nothing further being required than the immersion of the whole for a sufficient time, when, at the expiration of a certain period, the whole of the colouring matter was found to have been removed, and to have combined with the textile fabric. the tints capable of being imparted by this material were various--representing numerous shades between purple and crimson. amongst these a very dark violet shade was much esteemed, but the right imperial tint, we are informed, was that resembling coagulated blood. the discovery of tyrian purple dye is referred to the fifteenth century before christ. that it was known to the egyptians, in the time of moses, is sufficiently obvious from the testimony of more than one scriptural passage. ultimately, in later ages, a restrictive policy of the eastern emperors caused the art to be practised by only a few individuals, and at last, about the commencement of the twelfth century, when byzantium was already suffering from attacks without, and dissensions within, the secret of imparting the purple dye of tyre became lost. [illustration: [++] shell-fish from which tyrian purple is extracted.] the re-discovery of tyrian purple as it occurred in england was made by mr. cole of bristol. about the latter end of the year , this gentleman heard from two ladies residing at minehead, that a person living somewhere on the coast of ireland, supported himself by marking with a delicate crimson colour the fine linen of ladies and gentlemen sent him for that purpose, which colour was the product of some liquid substance taken out of a shell-fish. this recital at once brought to the recollection of mr. cole the tradition of tyrian purple. he, without delay, went in quest of the shell-fish, and after trying various kinds without success, his efforts were at length successful. he found considerable quantities of the buccinum on the sea-coast of somersetshire, and the opposite coast of south wales. the fish being found, the next difficulty was to extract the dye, which in its natural state is not purple, but white, the purple tint being the result of exposure to the air. at length our acute investigator found the dye stuff in a white vein lying transversely in a little furrow or cleft next to the head of the fish. the incarnations of vishnu. there is a part of the mythology of india which seems to be blended with the history of that country. it relates to the different _avatars_ of vishnu, or his incarnations and appearances on earth. [illustration: [++] incarnation of vishnu.] the first of these _avatars_ has reference to that general deluge of which all nations have preserved some traditions. vishnu, we are told, metamorphosed himself into a fish. the second incarnation is that of _kourma_, or the tortoise. the gods and the giants, wishing to obtain immortality by eating _amourdon_, delicious butter, formed in one of the seven seas of the universe, which the indians call sea of milk, transported, by vishnu's advice, the mountain of mandreguivi into that sea: they twisted round it the serpent adissechen, and alternately pulling, some by his hundred heads, others by the tail, they made the mountain turn round in such a manner, as to agitate the sea and to convert it into butter; but they pulled with such rapidity, that adissechen, overcome with weakness, could no longer endure it. his body shuddered; his hundred trembling mouths made the universe resound with hisses; a torrent of flames burst from his eyes; his hundred black pendent tongues palpitated, and vomited forth a deadly poison, which immediately spread all around. the gods and giants betook themselves to flight. vishnu, bolder than the rest, took the poison, and with it rubbed his body, which became quite blue. it is in memory of this event, that this colour is given to his image in almost all the temples. the gods and the giants, encouraged by vishnu's example, fell to work again. after they had laboured a thousand years, the mountain was on the point of sinking in the sea, when vishnu, in the form of a tortoise, quickly placed himself beneath, and supported it. at length they saw the cow camadenu, the horse with seven heads, and the elephant with three trunks, coming out of the sea of milk; also the tree _calpaga vrutcham_; lacshmi, goddess of riches, wife of vishu; saraswadi, goddess of the sciences and of harmony, married to brama; mondevi, goddess of discord and misery, whom nobody would have, and who is represented riding on an ass, and holding in her hand a banner, on which a raven is delineated; and, lastly, danouvandri, the physician, carrying a vessel full of _amourdon_, which the gods instantly seized, and greedily devoured, without leaving a morsel. the giants, disappointed in their expectations, dispersed over the earth, prevented mankind from paying worship to the gods, and strove to obtain adoration for themselves. their insolence occasioned the subsequent incarnations of vishnu, who endeavoured to destroy this race, so inimical to the gods. he is adored in this second metamorphosis, by the name of _kourma avatara_. the followers of vishnu believe that this god, though omnipresent, resides more particularly in the _vaicondom_, his paradise, amidst the sea of milk, reclined, in contemplative slumber, on the serpent adissechen, which serves him for a throne: in this state he is called _siranguan_. in all the temples of vishnu is to be seen the figure of this god; but as the serpent on which he lies cannot be represented with his hundred heads, he is delineated with only five. there are altogether ten incarnations of vishnu; nine of these have already been fulfilled, and one is yet to be manifested, it is expected about ninety thousand years hence. the account of many of the transformations is exceedingly extraordinary, but we have room for no more than the one we have given. origin of long-toed shoes. long-toed shoes were invented by fulk, count of anjou, to hide an excrescence on one of his feet. these toes were so long as to be fastened to the knees with gold chains, and carved at the extreme point with the representation of a church window, a bird, or some fantastic device. the house of hen's feathers. there exists at pekin a phalanstery which surpasses in eccentricity all that the fertile imagination of fourier could have conceived. it is called ki-mao-fan--that is, "house of the hen's feathers." by dint of carrying out the laws of progress, the chinese have found means to furnish to the poorest of the community a warm feather-bed, for the small consideration of one-fifth of a farthing per night. this marvellous establishment is simply composed of one great hall, and the floor of this great hall is covered over its whole extent by one vast thick layer of feathers. mendicants and vagabonds who have no other domicile come to pass the night in this immense dormitory. men, women, and children, old and young, all without exception, are admitted. communism prevails in the full force and rigour of the expression. every one settles himself and makes his nest as well as he can for the night in this ocean of feathers; when day dawns he must quit the premises, and an officer of the company stands at the door to receive the rent of one sapeck each for the night's lodging. in deference no doubt to the principle of equality, half-places are not allowed, and a child must pay the same as a grown person. on the first establishment of this eminently philanthropic and moral institution, the managers of it used to furnish each of the guests with a covering, but it was found necessary to modify this regulation, for the communist company got into the habit of carrying off their coverlets to sell them, or to supply an additional garment during the rigorous cold of winter. the shareholders saw that this would never do, and they should be ruined, yet to give no covering at all would have been too cruel, and scarcely decent. it was necessary therefore to find some method of reconciling the interests of the establishment with the comfort of the guests, and the way in which the problem was solved was this. an immense felt coverlet, of such gigantic dimensions as to cover the whole dormitory, was made, and in the day time suspended from the ceiling like a great canopy. when everybody had gone to bed, that is to say, had lain down upon the feathers, the counterpane was let down by pulleys; the precaution having been previously taken to make a number of holes in it for the sleepers to put their heads through, in order to escape the danger of suffocation. as soon as it is daylight, the phalansterian coverlet is hoisted up again, after a signal has been made on the tam-tam to awaken those who are asleep, and invite them to draw their heads back into the feathers, in order not to be caught by the neck and hoisted into the air with the coverlet. this immense swarm of beggars is then seen crawling about in the sea of dirty feathers, and inserting themselves again into their miserable rags, preparatory to gathering into groups, and dispersing about the various quarters of the town to seek by lawful or unlawful means their scanty subsistence. the useful and the beautiful. the tomb of moses is unknown; but the traveller slakes his thirst at the well of jacob. the gorgeous palace of the wisest and wealthiest of monarchs, with cedar, and the gold, and ivory, and even the great temple of jerusalem, hallowed by the visible glory of the deity himself, are gone; but solomon's reservoirs are as perfect as ever. of the ancient architecture of the holy city, not one stone is left upon another, but the pool of bethsaida commands the pilgrim's reverence, at the present day. the columns of persepolis are mouldering into dust; but its cistern and aqueducts remain to challenge our admiration. the golden house of nero is a mass of ruins, but the aqua claudia still pours into rome its limpid stream. the temple of the sun, at tadmore, in the wilderness, has fallen, but its fountain sparkles in its rays, as when thousands of worshippers thronged its lofty colonnades. it may be that london will share the fate of babylon, and nothing be left, to mark it, save mounds of crumbling brickwork. the thames will continue to flow as it does now. and if any work of art should rise over the deep ocean, time, we may well believe, that it will be neither a palace nor a temple, but some vast aqueduct or reservoir; and if any name should flash through the mist or antiquity, it would probably be that of the man, who in his day, sought the happiness of his fellow men, rather than glory, and linked his memory to some great work of national utility or benevolence. this is the true glory which outlives all others, and shines with undying lustre from generation to generation, imparting to works some of its own immortality, and in some degree rescuing them from the ruin which overtakes the ordinary monument of historical tradition or mere magnificence. cromwell's bridge at glengariff. [illustration: [++] cromwell's bridge at glengariff.] the village of glengariff, near bantry bay, consists of but a few houses. the only "antiquity" in the immediate neighbourhood is the old bridge, now a picturesque ruin, which, in ancient times, was on the high road to berehaven; it is called "cromwell's bridge." it is accurately represented in the above engraving. history being silent as to the origin of the name, we must have recourse to tradition. when oliver was passing through the glen, to "visit" the o'sullivans, he had so much trouble in getting across the narrow but rushing river, that he told the inhabitants, if they did not build him a bridge by the time he returned, he would hang up a man for every hour's delay he met with. "so the bridge was ready agin he come back," quoth our informant; "for they knew the ould villian to be a man of his word." the turban in arabia. a fashionable arab will wear fifteen caps one above another, some of which are linen, but the greater part of thick cloth or cotton. that which covers the whole is richly embroidered with gold, and inwrought with texts or passages from the koran. over all there is wrapped a sash or large piece of muslin, with the ends hanging down, and ornamented with silk or gold fringes. this useless encumbrance is considered a mark of respect towards superiors. it is also used, as the beard was formerly in europe, to indicate literary merit; and those who affect to be thought men of learning, discover their pretensions by the size of their turbans. no part of oriental costume is so variable as this covering for the head. niebuhr has given illustrations of forty-eight different ways of wearing it. stoneware. stoneware was made at a very early period in china, and is much used as a basis on which a paste of porcelain is laid, to save the expenditure of the latter material, as well as to give strength and solidity to the piece. most of the larger pieces of oriental production are found to be thus formed. the red japan ware is a very fine unglazed stoneware, and has raised ornaments, which are sometimes gilt. a curious coffee-pot of this ware, imitating a bundle of bamboo canes, and not unlike the chinese musical instrument called a mouth-organ, from the collection of the late mr. beckford, is here represented. [illustration: [++] stoneware coffee-pot.] stoneware is supposed to have been made at a very early period in england by dutch and german workmen; and from this circumstance it is almost impossible to distinguish the earlier fabrics of these respective countries. the discovery, in , of an economical process of glazing this ware by means of common salt, which made it impermeable to liquids, soon brought it into general use, and displaced all the manufactures of the delft and soft paste fabrics. a mottled-brown stoneware, known to collectors, is stated to be the manufacture of the age of edward vi., in consequence of some of the specimens having a silver mounting of the make and fashion of the period of elizabeth's reign. there is also a large flagon in the museum of economic geology, ornamented with the royal arms of elizabeth in relief, with the date . these specimens cannot, however, be deemed conclusive of so early a manufacture in england. the first-mentioned specimens, though the mounting is english, may have been of german manufacture, as pieces of similar description of ware are to be seen in various collections of german pottery abroad. the latter specimen may either have been made at cologne for the use of the queen's household, or if of english manufacture, it must, in the opinion of a very eminent manufacturer, have been made at a much later period than the date upon it. in a letter received, he states "that it is a common practice even now among potters to use moulds of all dates and styles, which have been got up originally for very different kinds of ornamental work, and that he is strongly inclined to think that the mould from which the devices on this vessel have been pressed, was modelled many years before the vessel was made, and that the vessel itself is comparatively modern." stoneware, ornamented with devices in white clay, was made in the seventeenth century at fulham, also at lambeth, and subsequently at staffordshire; but there is no satisfactory evidence of any earlier manufactory in england. towards the end of the seventeenth century, some specimens of red japan ware were imported into europe. both dutch and english manufacturers attempted to imitate them, but failed for want of the proper clay. about this period, two brothers of the name of elers, from nuremberg, discovered at bradwell, only two miles distant from burslem, a bed of fine compact red clay, which they worked in a small manufactory, established in a retired situation upon the bed itself. they took every precaution to prevent any one seeing their process or learning their secret. they went so far as to employ none but the most ignorant and almost idiot workmen they could find. astbury, the elder, had the talent to counterfeit the idiot, and, moreover, the courage to persevere in this character for some years during which he continued in their employ. from memory he made notes of the processes, and drawings of the machinery used. in consequence of the secret being thus discovered, numerous establishments arose in competition with that of the elers, and, owing to the general prejudice against them as foreigners, they were finally compelled, in , to quit their establishment. they retired to the neighbourhood of london, and, it is supposed, contributed by their skill and industry to the establishment of the chelsea porcelain manufactory. great bell of rouen. the grand entrance to the cathedral of rouen is flanked by two towers, the one was erected by st. romain; the expense for constructing the other, which bears the whimsical name of _tour-de-beurre_, was raised by the product arising from permissions granted to the more wealthy and epicurean part of the inhabitants of the city, to eat butter in lent. it was in this tower that the celebrated bell, the largest in the world, was erected; it weighed , lbs.; it was converted into cannon in the year . the founder of this bell died of joy on seeing its completion. it went by his name, that of george d'amboise, and round it was the following distich in gothic characters:-- "je suis nomme george d'amboise, qui bien trente-six-mille poise, et celui qui bien me pesera, quarante mille trouvera." variations in the coinage. henry viii. greatly debased both his gold and silver coins, which he alloyed with copper to a great extent. the proportions of the pound, indeed, in , amounted to oz. of alloy to oz. of silver, which constituted, a positively base coin, the old allowance having been but pennyweights of alloy to oz. and pennyweights of silver. his depreciations were equally daring, for out of the pound of silver he now coined pennies or s. the gold coins of this monarch were sovereigns, half-sovereigns or rials, half and quarter rials, angels, half and quarter angels, george nobles, and forty-penny pieces. in this reign the immemorial privileges of the sees of canterbury, york, and durham, for coining small money, was abandoned, the last bishop that used it being wolsey's successor, edward lee. edward vi. carried both depreciation and debasement still farther; but towards the close of his reign he was obliged to restore the currency to something like the ancient standard. he was the first that issued crowns, half-crowns, and sixpences. little alterations were made by mary, beyond striking coins with her husband's head as well as her own; but under elizabeth the coinage was, at length, completely recovered from its debasement, the old proportion of pennyweights of alloy being restored, which has continued to the present day. the number of shillings struck out of a pound of silver was not lessened, however, for it continued to be sixty, as in the preceding reign, till , when it was increased to sixty-two, at which rate it went on to , when it was raised to sixty-six, at which it now remains. her gold coins are much the same as before, but are distinguished by having the edges milled for the first time. shortly before her death she had intended to coin farthings and other small pieces of copper, a metal which had not yet been made use of in this country. chaffinch contest. at the town of armentières, in france, there is a _fête du pays_, called _hermesse_, or _ducasse d'armentières_, in which the chaffinch and its fellows are the chief actors and objects of attraction. numbers of these birds are trained with the greatest care, and no small share of cruelty, for they are frequently blinded by their owners, that their song may not be interrupted by any external object. the point upon which the amusement, the honour, and the emolument rests, is, the number of times which a bird will repeat his song in a given time. a day being fixed, the amateurs repair to the appointed place, each with his bird in a cage. the prize is then displayed, and the birds are placed in a row. a bird-fancier notes how many times each bird sings, and another verifies his notes. in the year , a chaffinch repeated his song seven hundred times in one hour. emulated by the songs of each other, they strain their little "plumed throats," as if conscious that honour was to result from their exertions. expensiveness of dress in the time of james i. dress, indeed, must have swallowed up almost every thing at a time when james and his courtiers set the fashion of appearing in a new garb almost every day. when the duke of buckingham was sent to france to bring over henrietta maria, he provided, amongst others, one suit of white uncut velvet, and a cloak set all over with diamonds, valued at £ , ; besides a feather made of great diamonds, and sword, girdle, hat-band, and spurs, thick set with the same. another suit of purple satin, embroidered all over with pearls, was valued at £ , . at the marriage of the princess elizabeth with the palatine, lady wotton wore a gown profusely ornamented with embroidery that cost £ a yard; and lord montague spent £ , on the dresses of his two daughters for that occasion. by this account it would seem that the ladies were, at all events, not more expensive in their attire than gentlemen. ingenuity of the tunisians. a stranger visiting a city like tunis, cannot but be struck with the various peculiarities, which present themselves to his view, wherever he turns. in their government, mercantile pursuits, professions and trades, the tunisians are centuries behind. but, with all their disadvantages, the traveller, in traversing their crowded _sooks_ (market places) and serpentine streets, finds numerous illustrations of the proverb, "necessity is the mother of invention." in every workshop some tool, or implement, presents itself, which is as curious in its formation as it is strange to see the peculiar use for which it is intended, and the manner in which it is employed. we may illustrate this by a sketch of a turner. [illustration: [++] ingenuity of a turner.] the extraordinary ingenuity here exhibited by the remarkable use which the artisan makes of his feet and toes, as well as of his hands, cannot fail to attract attention; and the display of his lathe and tools is equally curious. shÁnÁr musical instrument. two acts seem essential to the demon worship of the shánárs of tin-nevelly (a portion of the aborigines of india)--dancing and bloody sacrifices. they have no priest. the person who conducts the ceremony, which is undertaken from choice, is called the rotator of the demon. the head man of the village, or any other person, male or female, may officiate. the dress is grotesque, consisting of a sort of coat of various colours, a cap, and other vestments, arranged so as to strike the spectators with their comic appearance. in this service several musical instruments are used, but the most notable among them is one called a _bow_. it consists of a bow strung and ornamented with bells. this is placed on a brazen vessel of a globular form. the bow is struck with a plectrum, and the bass is produced by the application of an instrument to the brazen pot, another person keeping time by playing a pair of cymbals, as seen in the annexed cut. [illustration: [++] shánár musical instrument.] the jarring, discordant, uproarious and cacophonous character of this musical accompaniment exceeds description, and when the parties are vieing with each other for pre-eminence, it is indeed the most horrid din that can be produced. at first the movements of the dancer may be slow, but as the music waxes louder and takes effect, he becomes gradually more excited, urging himself to phrenzy by striking himself violently, and applying his mouth to the neck of the decapitated sacrificial victim, he drinks its blood, and possibly a potation of ardent spirits. the afflatus thus acquired, its effects become visible in the frantic glare and the convulsive gesticulations of the possessed. this is greeted by the spectators with the loudest acclamations. the dancer is now deified or demonized, and he is consulted by the eager and delighted worshippers who do him homage. each one puts his questions as his fancy or his needs may dictate. the possessed or demonized dancer, being more like a maniac than aught else, and subject to various contortions of body, utters his oracles with much indistinctness, rendering it necessary that some one initiated into these mysteries should interpret his wild and incoherent utterances. his ambiguous sayings and curious innuendos are so indefinite as to need interpretation. singular local customs. in the department of the hautes alpes of france, in the commune of _guillaume-perouse_, at the village of _andrieux_, where the inhabitants are deprived during one hundred days of the bright beams of the sun, there is a fête, called _le retour du soleil_, on the th of february. at the dawn of day, four shepherds announce, to the sound of fifes and trumpets, the commencement of this joyous day. every cottager having prepared an omelette, the eldest inhabitant of the village, to whom the title of _vénérable_ is given, leads the way to the square; here they form a chain and dance the _ferandola_ round him: after the dance is concluded, he leads the way to a stone bridge at the entrance of the village, the shepherds playing upon their rural instruments the while. every one having deposited his omelette on the stone coping, they repair to a neighbouring meadow, where the dancing re-commences and continues until the first rays of the sun gleam athwart the velvet turf: the dance then instantly ceases, each one hastens for his pancake, and holding it up, presents it as an offering to the god of day; the _vénérable_ holds his up with both his hands. as soon as the sun shines upon the village the procession returns to the square, where the party separates, and every one repairs to his own home, to eat his pancake with his family. this ceremony cannot fail to recal the heathen mythology to the reader, who must see in it the offerings made to apollo; or, perhaps, it may be the remains of some druidical superstition, as the druids paid particular devotion to the sun; at any rate, it is a curious vestige of some religion long since gone by. in some of the communes of this department the dead are wrapped in a winding-sheet, but are not inclosed in a coffin. in the valleys of _queyras_ and of _grave_, the dead are suspended in a barn during five months in the winter, until the earth be softened by the sun's rays, when the corpse is consigned to its native element. all funereal ceremonies are closed by eating and drinking. in some communes the people carry a flagon of wine to the churchyard; and on the return of the guests to the home of the deceased, it becomes a scene of bacchanalian revels, in which the groans and sighs of the mourners mingle with the songs and jests of the inebriated guests. at _argentiere_, after the burial, the tables are set out round the churchyard; that of the curate and the mourning family over the grave itself. the dinner concluded, the nearest relation takes a glass; his example is followed by the rest, repeating with him, _a la santé du pauvre mort_. severity of russian punishments. the russians are remarkable for the severity and variety of their punishments, which are both inflicted and endured with a wonderful insensibility. peter the great used to suspend the robbers upon the wolga, and other parts of his dominions by iron hooks fixed to their ribs, on gibbets, where they writhed themselves to death, hundreds, nay thousands, at a time. the single and double knoute were lately inflicted upon ladies, as well as men of quality. both of them are excruciating, but in the double knoute, the hands are bound behind the prisoner's back; and the cord being fixed to a pulley, lifts him from the ground, with the dislocation of both his shoulders, and then his back is in a manner sacrificed by the executioner, with a hard thong, cut from a wild ass's akin. this punishment has been so often fatal, that a surgeon generally attends the patient to pronounce the moment that it should cease. another barbarous punishment practised in russia is, first boring the tongue of the criminal through with an hot iron, and then cutting it out: and even the late empress elizabeth, though she prohibited capital punishments, was forced to give way to the necessity of those tortures. from these particulars, many have concluded that the feelings of the russians are different from those of mankind in general. first rhinoceros in europe. the first rhinoceros ever seen in europe was that of which pliny speaks as having been presented by pompey to the roman people. according to dion cassius, augustus caused another to be killed in the roman circus, when celebrating his triumph over cleopatra. strabo states that he saw one at alexandria, and he has left a description of it. all these were of the one-horned species. at a later period the two-horned species were introduced, as appears from medals bearing their effigies struck in the reign of domitian. during the time known as the dark ages, investigations in natural history and every other department of science and learning were utterly neglected, and the rhinoceros was as mythical to europe as the phoenix or the salamander. on the revival of letters, however, and the extension of maritime discovery, a lively interest was manifested in the productions of foreign countries. in the king of portugal presented the roman pontiff with a rhinoceros captured in india; but, unfortunately, the ship was wrecked on its way to italy: the pope lost his present, and the rhinoceros his life. all that was preserved was a rough sketch, engraved by albert durer; and down to a very recent date, nearly all our representations were taken from this rough draft. in a rhinoceros was captured and brought to england. in and two others were exhibited in various parts of europe. in a young one was brought from india, intended for a menagerie at vienna, but died at london on the way, and was dissected by mr. thomas, who published the results of his investigations, and thus gave the public a better idea of the animal than they ever had before. turkish carriage. the curiously-shaped vehicle which we have engraved on the next page, is a turkish _araba_, a carriage chiefly used by ladies. an account of one of them is pleasantly introduced by mr. albert smith in his "month at constantinople" when describing the visit of the sultan to one of the mosques:-- "every friday the sultan goes to mosque publicly. it is not known until the very morning which establishment he means to patronise; but your dragoman has secret channels of information, and he always informs you in time to 'assist' at the ceremony. "the first time i went, abdul medjid had selected for his devotions the mosque of beglerbeg, a village on the asiatic side of the bosphorus, the temple of which stands in the same relation and bearing to st. sophia--to use a very familiar simile--as rotherhithe church does to st. paul's. it was a perfect english morning--foggy and cold (oct. ) with muddy streets and spitting rain. i crossed into asia--one learns to speak of asia, at constantinople, as he would do of the borough--in a two-oared caique, and on landing went up to the mosque, which is close to the shore. a crowd of people, consisting principally of females, had collected before the mosque, and a square space was kept by the soldiers. some little courtesy was shown to visitors, as the franks were permitted to cross this enclosure to a corner close to the door, by which the sultan was to enter. [illustration: [++] turkish carriage.] he was not very punctual to his time, but there was enough to amuse the visitors; more especially in the arrival of the women, who came up as near as they could to the building, in all sorts of odd vehicles. several were like those i had seen on the bridge at pera, but one was very fine indeed. it was more like a waggon than a carriage, and painted bright blue, with red wheels and awning. in it were five ladies of the sultan's harem, very gaily dressed, and laughing loudly as the vehicle shook them about over the rugged road. it was drawn by two buffaloes, and they had a singular arrangement of worsted tufts over their heads, of various bright colours. this was the first waggon of the kind i had seen, but i afterwards found them very common. other women were on foot, and a number of these had collected upon a hillock under a tree, where they talked and quarrelled incessantly. one very pale and handsome girl arrived alone, in a car, preceded by two or three attendants: and, whilst trying to pass a narrow thoroughfare amongst the other vehicles, the wheel of her own got smashed to pieces. she was then close to the frank visitors, and, as she appeared likely to be overturned, two or three gentlemen from misseri's hotel, ran forward to offer their assistance. in a minute they were put back by the attendants, who could not think of allowing their mistress to be touched, even from chance, by a christian. the carriage was propped up, as well as it could be; and its inmate, who had remained perfectly tranquil during the accident, fixed her large eyes on the enclosure, and never moved them again, to the right or left." curious indian comb. [illustration: [++] indian comb.] at the foot of the himalayas, and not far from the european station of darjeeling, there is a tract of country which is still inhabited by a tribe of very ancient origin, called the mechs; they are rapidly degenerating, and indeed may be said to be even now almost worn out as a distinct tribe. they are but rarely visited by europeans; but dr. hooker inspected their district in , and gives the following brief description of its appearance:-- "we arrived on the third day at the mechi river, to the west of which the nepal morung begins, whose belt of sal forest loomed on the horizon, so raised by refraction as to be visible as a dark line, from the distance of many miles. it is, however, very poor, all the large trees having been removed. we rode for several miles into it, and found the soil dry and hard, but supporting a prodigious undergrowth of gigantic harsh grasses that reached to our heads, though we were mounted on elephants. tigers, wild elephants, and the rhinoceros are said to be found here; but we saw none. "the old and new mechi rivers are several miles apart, but flow in the same depression, a low swamp many miles broad, which is grazed at this season, and cultivated during the rains. the grass is very rich, partly owing to the moisture of the climate, and partly to the retiring waters of the rivers; both circumstances being the effects of proximity to the himalayas. hence cattle (buffaloes and the common humped cow of india) are driven from the banks of the ganges miles to these feeding grounds, for the use of which a trifling tax is levied on each animal. the cattle are very carelessly herded, and many are carried off by tigers." we give a sketch on previous page of a pocket-comb which dr. hooker obtained from one of the natives: it is, at all events, much more tasteful in its form and ornamentation than the usual run of english pocket-combs. singular hindoo vow. the following extraordinary vow is performed by some of the hindoo at their festival of _charak puja_:--stretching himself on the earth on his back, the devotee takes a handful of moist earth, and placing this on his under lip, he plants in it some mustard-seed, and exposes himself to the dews of the night and the heat of the day till the seed germinates. in this posture the man must lie in a fixed motionless condition, without food or drink, till the vegetable process liberates him, which will generally be about the fourth day. the arrangement of abbey buildings. at the dissolution of the abbeys in england, under king henry viii., were dissolved, of from £ to £ , a year; amounting to an aggregate sum of £ , , per annum. the principal buildings of an abbey, were, first, the church, differing little from one of the cathedrals of the present day. attached to one side of the nave, commonly the southern, was, secondly, the great cloister, which had two entrances to the church, at the eastern and western ends of the aisles of the nave, for the greater solemnity of processions. over the western side of the cloister, was, thirdly, the dormitory of the monks; a long room, divided into separate cells, each containing a bed, with a mat, blanket, and rug, together with a desk and stool, and occupied by a monk. this apartment had a door, which opened immediately into the church, on account of midnight offices. attached to the side of the cloister, opposite to the church, was fourthly, the refectory, where the monks dined; near to which, was the locutorium, or parlour, an apartment answering to the common room of a college, where in the intervals of prayer and study, the monks sat and conversed. beyond, was the kitchen and its offices; and, adjoining to it, the buttery, &c. on the eastern side of the cloisters was, in the centre, the chapter-house, where the business of the abbey was transacted; and near it, the library, and scriptorium, where the monks employed themselves in copying books. on this side, also, was the treasury, where the costly plate and church ornaments were kept. the abbot and principal officers of the convent, had all separate houses, to the eastward of the cloister; in which part of the building, were usually the hostelry and question hall--rooms for the entertainment of strangers; and, also, the apartment of novices. westward of the cloister was an outward court, round which was the monks' infirmary, and the almery. an embattled gatehouse led to this court, which was the principal entrance of the abbey. the whole was surrounded with a high wall, including in its precincts, gardens, stables, granary, &c. some of the great abbeys--as glastonbury, and furness--covered sixty acres of ground. the situation chosen for the site of an abbey was as different from that of the castle as the purpose to which it was applied. the one meant for defence stands boldly on the hill; the other, intended for meditation, is hid in the sequestered valley. the abbots were originally laymen and subject to the bishop. tame fish. in sailing down the river irawadi, in the neighbourhood of amarapoora, the capital of the empire of burmah, captain yule met with some tame fish, which he thus describes:-- "having gone over the little island, i returned to my boat, where a sight awaited me, that i confess astonished me more than anything i have ever seen before. "on nearing the island as we descended the river, the headman in the boat had commenced crying out _tet-tet! tet-tet!_ as hard as he could, and on my asking him what he was doing, he said he was calling the fish. my knowledge of burmese did not allow me to ask him further particulars, and my interpreter was in the other boat, unwell. but, on my coming down to the boat again, i found it surrounded on both sides with large fish, some three or four feet long; a kind of blunt-nosed, broad-mouthed dog-fish. of these there were, i suppose, some fifty. in one group, which i studied more than the others, there were ten. these were at one side of the boat, half their bodies, or nearly half, protruded vertically from the water, their mouths all gaping wide. the men had some of the rice prepared for their own dinners, and with this they were feeding them, taking little pellets of rice, and throwing these down the throats of the fish. each fish, as he got something to eat, sunk, and having swallowed his portion, came back to the boatside for more. the men continued occasionally their cry of _tet-tet-tet!_ and, putting their hands over the gunnel of the boat, stroked the fish on the back, precisely as they would stroke a dog. this i kept up for nearly half an hour, moving the boat slightly about, and invariably the fish came at call, and were fed as before. the only effect which the stroking down or patting on the back of the fish seemed to have, was to cause them to gape still wider for their food. during march, i am told, there is a great festival here, and it is a very common trick for the people to get some of the fish into the boat, and even to gild their backs by attaching some gold leaf, as they do in the ordinary way to pagodas, &c. on one of these fish remains of the gilding were visible. i never was so amused or astonished. i wished to have one of the fish to take away as a specimen, but the people seemed to think it would be a kind of sacrilege, so i said nothing more on the point. the phoongyis are in the habit of feeding them daily, i was informed. their place of abode is the deep pool formed at the back of the island, by the two currents meeting round its sides. and it is, it appears, quite a sight, which the people from great distances come to see, as well as to visit the pagoda, which is said to be very ancient and much venerated." ancient weapon. the formidable weapon which we here engrave, is a concealed ranseur of the time of henry viii., from genoa. it forms one long instrument, but our limits have compelled us to divide into three parts. , is the butt: , the middle; and , the point. the upper part is an iron cylinder, with a cap on the top. this is opened by touching the bolt seen a little below it in front, and then, by giving the weapon a jerk forwards, the blades fly out, and produce the form of the partisan. upon those, on each side, is written, "al segno del cor"--"to the mark of the heart." when in the state seen in the engraving, the blades are held so firmly that they cannot be thrust back; and the only mode of returning them into the cylinder is by striking the butt end against the ground, when they instantly fall in. [illustration: [++] concealed ranseur.] this weapon, we apprehend, must have been more formidable in appearance than useful in action. once let a man get a fair thrust with it at his enemy, and, it is true, the effect of that one stroke would be fatal, but in battle it would most probably prove fatal also to the man who wielded the weapon, for before he could have time to draw it back, a comrade of the wounded man would have plenty of opportunity to rush in and cut the striker of the blow down. on seeing this and other clumsy weapons which were so much in vogue in former times, we cannot be surprised that none of them have continued in use to the present day. weapons such as the one we here engrave, have long been thrown aside, and short weapons are now only used for all hand to hand encounters. the babes of bethlehem. it is an ancient custom at norton, near evesham, worcestershire, on the th of december (innocents' day) to ring a muffled peal, in token of sorrow for the slaughter of the hapless "babes of bethlehem," and, immediately afterwards, an unmuffled peal, in manifestation of joy for the deliverance and escape of the infant saviour. gauntlet of henry prince of wales. [illustration: [++] gauntlet of henry prince of wales.] the highly interesting relic of which we here give a sketch is of a russet colour, engraved and gilt, the ornamental parts being sunk lower than the surface. the initials of the owner, surmounted by a coronet, occur in two places, as do also the rose and thistle. henry was born on the th of february, and was nine years of age when his father ascended the throne of england. when seven, he commenced the acquirement of martial exercises--as the use of the bow, pike, firearms, and the art of riding; and at ten applied to colonel edmondes to send him a suit of armour from holland. on the discovery of the gunpowder plot, lord spencer made him a present of a sword and target; and, in , louis, the dauphin, son of henry iv. of france, sent him a suit of armour, well gilt and enamelled, together with pistols and a sword of the same kind, and the armour for a horse. his martial and romantic disposition displayed itself on the occasion of his being created prince of wales in , when he caused a challenge to be given to all the knights in great britain, under the name of mæliades, lord of the isles; and on the day appointed, the prince, assisted only by the duke of lenox, the earls of arundel and southampton, lord hay, sir thomas somerset, and sir richard preston, who instructed his highness in arms, maintained the combat against fifty-six earls, barons, knights, and esquires. henry himself gave and received thirty-two pushes of the pike, and about three hundred and sixty strokes of the sword, not being yet sixteen years of age. from the size of the gauntlet, the initials h. p., and a prince's coronet, if not made on this occasion, it could not have been much anterior; and, from most of his armour being sent from abroad, the impression would be that it is of foreign manufacture. yet there is in the state paper office an original warrant ordering the payment of £ , the balance of £ , for a rich suit of armour made for henry prince of wales, dated july , , he having died on the th of november, . this document is directed by king james i. to the commissioners for the exercise of the office of high treasurer of england, and states that, "whereas there was made, in the office of our armory of greenwich, by william pickeringe, our master workman there, one rich armour with all peeces compleate, fayrely gilt and graven, by the commaundement of our late deere sonne prince henry, which armour was worth (as we are informed) the somme of three hundred and forty poundes, whereof the said william pickeringe hath receaved of our said late deere sonne the somme of one hundred and forty poundes only, soe as there remayneth due unto him the somme of two hundred poundes"--therefore they are ordered to discharge the same forthwith. the simoom. arabia is frequently visited by the terrible simoom, called by the natives _shamiel_, or the wind of syria, under whose pestilential influence all nature seems to languish and expire. this current prevails chiefly on the frontiers, and more rarely in the interior. it is in the arid plains about bussora, bagdad, aleppo, and in the environs of mecca, that it is most dreaded, and only during the intense heats of summer. the arabs, being accustomed to an atmosphere of great purity, are said to perceive its approach by its sulphureous odour, and by an unusual redness in the quarter whence it comes. the sky, at other times serene and cloudless, appears lurid and heavy; the sun loses his splendour, and appears of a violet colour. the air, saturated with particles of the finest sand, becomes thick, fiery, and unfit for respiration. the coldest substances change their natural qualities; marble, iron, and water, are hot, and deceive the hand that touches them. every kind of moisture is absorbed; the skin is parched and shrivelled; paper cracks as if it were in the mouth of an oven. when inhaled by men or animals, the simoom produces a painful feeling as of suffocation. the lungs are too rarefied for breathing, and the body is consumed by an internal heat, which often terminates in convulsions and death. the carcases of the dead exhibit symptoms of immediate putrefaction, similar to what is observed to take place on bodies deprived of life by thunder, or the effect of electricity. when this pestilence visits towns or villages, the inhabitants shut themselves up, the streets are deserted, and the silence of night everywhere reigns. travellers in the desert sometimes find a crevice in the rocks; but if remote from shelter, they must abide the dreadful consequences. the only means of escaping from these destructive blasts, is to lie flat on the ground until they pass over, as they always move at a certain height in the atmosphere. instinct teaches even animals to bow down their heads, and bury their nostrils in the sand. the danger is most imminent when they blow in squalls, which raise up clouds of sand in such quantities, that it becomes impossible to see to the distance of a few yards. in these cases the traveller generally lies down on the lee side of his camel; but as the desert is soon blown up to the level of its body, both are obliged frequently to rise and replace themselves in a new position, in order to avoid being entirely covered. in many instances, however, from weariness, faintness, or sleepiness, occasioned by the great heat, and often from a feeling of despair, both men and animals remain on the ground, and in twenty minutes they are buried under a load of sand. caravans are sometimes swallowed up; and whole armies have perished miserably in these inhospitable deserts. boiling to death. one rouse, who had attempted to poison fisher, bishop of rochester, who was afterwards murdered in his th year, (by henry viii.)--was actually boiled to death in smithfield, for his offence. the law which thus punished him, was afterwards repealed. sikkim priests. the sikkim country is situated on the frontiers of thibet and nepal and on a portion of the himalayas. dr. hooker, who visited it a few years ago, gives the following account in his journal of some of its scenery:--"january st, .--the morning of the new year was bright and beautiful, though much snow had fallen on the mountains; and we left sunnook for pemiongchi, situated on the summit of a lofty spur on the opposite side of the ratong. "the ascent to pemiongchi was very steep, through woods of oaks, chesnuts, and magnolias, but no tree-fern, palms, pothos, or planntain, which abound at this elevation on the moister outer ranges of sikkim. the temple is large, eighty feet long, and in excellent order, built upon the lofty terminal point of the great east and west spur, that divides the kulhait from the ratong and rungbee rivers; and the great changachelling temple and monastery stands on another eminence of the same ridge, two miles further west. "the view of the snowy range from this temple is one of the finest in sikkim; the eye surveying at once glance the vegetation of the tropics and the poles. deep in the valleys the river beds are but , feet above the sea, and are choked with fig-trees, plantains, and palms; to these succeed laurels and magnolias; and still higher up, oaks, chesnuts, birches, &c.; there is, however, no marked line between the limits of these two last forests, which form the prevailing arboreous vegetation between , and , feet, and give a lurid hue to the mountains. fir forests succeed for , feet higher, when they give place to a skirting of rhododendron and barberry. among these appear black naked rocks, between which are gulleys, down which the snow now descended to , feet. the mountain flanks are much more steep and rocky than those at similar heights on the outer ranges, and cataracts are very numerous, and of considerable height, though small in volume. "pemiongchi temple, the most ancient in sikkim, is said to be years old; it stands on a paved platform, and is of the same form and general character as that of tassisuding. inside, it is most beautifully decorated, especially the beams, columns, capitals, and architraves, but the designs are coarser than those of tassisuding. the square end of every beam in the roof is ornamented either with a lotus flower, or with a tibetan character, in endless diversity of colour and form, and the walls are completely covered with allegorical paintings of lamas and saints with glories round their heads, mitred, and holding the dorje and jewel. "the principal image is a large and hideous figure of sakya-thoba in a recess under a blue silk canopy, contrasting with a calm figure of the late rajah, wearing a cap and coronet. "pemiongchi was once the capital of sikkim, and called the sikkim durbar: the rajah's residence was on a curious flat to the south of the temple, and a few hundred feet below it, where are the remains of (for this country) extensive walls and buildings. during the nepal war, the rajah was driven east across the teesta, whilst the ghorkas plundered tassisuding, pemiongchi, changachelling, and all the other temples and convents to the west of that river. it was then that the famous history of sikkim, compiled by the lamas of pemiongchi, and kept at this temple, was destroyed, with the exception of a few sheets, with one of which dr. campbell and myself were each presented. we were told that the monks of changachelling and those of this establishment had copied what remained, and were busy compiling the rest from oral information, &c.: whatever value the original may have possessed, however, is irretrievably lost. a magnificent copy of the buddhist scriptures was destroyed at the same time; it consisted of volumes, each containing several hundred sheets of daphne paper." [illustration: [++] sikkim priests.] of the figures given in our article, the one on the extreme left is a lama, or sikkim priest, having in his hand a _dorge_, or double-headed thunderbolt; next to him, a monk; next to the monk, a priest, with a praying cylinder; and at the extreme right, another monk. a head-breaker. [illustration: [++] head-breaker.] with many savage nations it is a custom when prisoners have been captured in war, to keep them in confinement for some time, till the preparations for a grand festival have been completed, and then to put them to death in the presence of the great men and chief priests of the country. they were slaughtered, sometimes as offerings to the gods, sometimes as sacrifices to the spirits of those slain in the war in which they were captured, and at other times as incentives to the young warriors who were to be the future defenders of the nation. in all these cases, appropriate and peculiar ceremonies were prescribed, and the victims were generally despatched by a particular official, whose especial duty it was to perform the bloody deed. a particular weapon was also used, and one of these is sketched at the head of our article. it was used by one of the tribes which inhabit the shores of nootka sound. it is intended to represent the sacred bird of their nation, and is made of wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, with a blade of basalt. the lower end is hollow for the insertion of a handle. ancient stone collars. perhaps the most singular relics of that pagan period in scotland when the use of metals was in a great measure unknown, are two stone collars, found near the celebrated parallel roads of glenroy, and now preserved at the mansion of tonley, aberdeenshire. we here give an engraving of them. [illustration: [++] stone collars.] they are each of the full size of a collar adapted to a small highland horse; the one formed of trap or whin-stone, and the other of a fine-grained red granite. they are not, however, to be regarded as the primitive substitutes for the more convenient materials of later introduction; on the contrary, a close imitation of the details of a horse collar of common materials is attempted, including the folds, the leather, nails, buckles, and holes for tying particular parts together. they are finished with much care and a high degree of polish, and are described as obviously the workmanship of a skilful artist. mr. skene, who first drew attention to these remarkable relics, suggests the peculiar natural features of glenroy having led to the selection of this amphitheatre for the scene of ancient public games, and that these stone collars might commemorate the victor in the chariot race, as the tripods, still existing, record the victor in the choragic games of athens. but no circumstances attending their discovery are known which could aid conjecture either as to the period or purpose of their construction. the offspring of drunkenness. from an interesting lecture on drunkenness, and on popular investments, recently delivered by the rev. j. b. owen, m.a., of bilston, we select this impressive enumeration of the crimes mainly springing from drunkenness. drink was the desolating demon of great britain. they had spent in intoxicating drinks during the present century as much as would pay the national debt twice over! there were , gin drinkers in london alone, and in that city three millions a year are spent in gin! in thirteen years , males and , females were taken into custody for being drunk and disorderly. in manchester no less than a million a-year were spent in profligacy and crime. in edinburgh there were , whisky shops-- in one street--and yet the city contained only bread shops. of , cases of pauperism, , of them were traceable to drunkenness. in glasgow the poor rates were £ , a-year. "ten thousand," says alison, "get drunk every saturday night--are drunk all day sunday and monday, and not able to return to work till tuesday or wednesday." glasgow spends £ , , annually in drink, and , females are taken into custody for being drunk. and what were some of the normal results of such appalling statistics? insanity, pauperism, prostitution, and crime. as to the insanity affiliated on drink, the bishop of london stated, that of , maniacs, whose previous histories were investigated, , or more than half of them, wrecked their reason in drinking. as to its pauperism, it is estimated that not less than two-thirds of our paupers were the direct or indirect victims of the same fatal vice. as to its prostitution, its debauching influence was remotely traceable in the , harlots of london, and in their awful swarms in all our large towns and cities. its relation to crime was equally conclusive. in parkhurst prison, it was calculated, that out of juvenile prisoners, were immured there, as the incidental results of parental debauchery. the chaplain of the northampton county gaol, lately informed the lecturer, that, "of prisoners in this gaol, during the last six months, attributed their ruin to drunkenness; spent from s. d. to s. a week in drink; spent from s. to s.; and spent all their savings. is it not remarkable," he added, "that out of prisoners in this gaol, i have not had one that has had one sixpence in a saving's bank, nor above six that ever had sixpence in one? on the contrary, i have many members of friendly societies, of course of unsound ones, which with two or three exceptions, all met at public houses; and there they learned to drink, and became familiarised with crime." judge erskine declared at the salisbury assizes in , that cases out of every were through strong drink. judge coleridge added, at oxford, that he never knew a case brought before him, which was not directly or indirectly connected with intoxicating liquors; and judge patteson capped the climax, at norwich, by stating to the grand jury, "if it were not for this drinking, you and i should have nothing to do!" of the , charges entered at bow street police office, in the year , half of them were for being drunk and incapable; and if they added to these the offences indirectly instigated by intoxication, the proportion rose at least to per cent. an old pike. in the year a giant "jack-killer" was captured in the vicinity of mannheim, with the following announcement in greek appended to his muzzle:--"i am the first fish that was put into this pond by the hands of the emperor frederic the second, on this rd day of october, ." the age of the informant, therefore, if his lips spoke truth (and the unprecedented dimensions of the body left little doubt on that point), was more than two hundred and thirty-five years. already he had been the survivor of many important changes in the political and social world around, and would have swam out perhaps as many more had the captors been as solicitous to preserve his life as they were to take his portrait. this, on the demise of the original, was hung up in the castle of lautern, and the enormous carcase (which, when entire, weighed three hundred and fifty pounds, and measured nineteen feet) was sent to the museum at mannheim, where, deprived of its flesh, and caparisoned _de novo_, it hung, and haply yet hangs, a light desiccated skeleton, which a child might move. burmese boat. the curious boat which is here depicted in full sail is one of those which is used by the burmese on the river irawadi. they are called _hnau_, and captain yule gives the following description of them in his "mission to ava:"-- "the model is nearly the same for all sizes, from the merest dinghy upwards. the keel-piece is a single tree hollowed out, and stretched by the aid of fire when green, a complete canoe, in fact. from this, ribs and planking are carried up. the bow is low with beautiful hollow lines, strongly resembling those of our finest modern steamers. the stern rises high above the water, and below the run is drawn out fine to an edge. a high bench or platform for the steersman, elaborately carved, is an indispensable appendage. the rudder is a large paddle lashed to the larboard quarter, and having a short tiller passing athwart the steerman's bench. "the most peculiar part of the arrangement of these vessels is in the spars and rigging. the mast consists of two spars; it is, in fact, a pair of shears, bolted and lashed to two posts rising out of the keel-piece, so that it can be let down, or unshipped altogether, with little difficulty. above the mainyard the two pieces run into one, forming the topmast. wooden rounds run as ratlines from one spar of the mast to the other, forming a ladder for going aloft. "the yard is a bamboo, or a line of sliced bamboos, of enormous length, and, being perfectly flexible, is suspended from the mast-head by numerous guys or halyards, so as to curve upwards in an inverted bow. a rope runs along this, from which the huge mainsail is suspended, running on rings like a curtain outwards both ways from the mast. there is a small topsail of similar arrangement. [illustration: [++] burmese boat.] "the sail-cloth used is the common light cotton stuff for clothing. of any heavier material it would be impossible to carry the enormous spread of sail which distinguishes these boats. at menh'lá one vessel was lying so close to the shore that i was enabled to pace the length of the half-yard. i found it to be feet, or for the length of the whole spar, neglecting the curve, feet. the area of the mainsail in this case could not have been very much less than , square feet, or one-eleventh of an acre. "these boats can scarcely sail, of course, except before the wind. but in ascending the irawadi, as on the ganges during the rainy season, the wind is almost always favourable. a fleet of them speeding before the wind with the sunlight on their bellying sails has a splendid though fantastic appearance. with their vast spreading wings and almost invisible hulls, they look like a flight of colossal butterflies skimming the water." dancing dervishes. [illustration: [++] dancing dervishes.] the dancing dervishes at constantinople are a remarkable instance of the lengths to which superstition and credulity will proceed. the saltatory ceremony which they perform at their religious services is thus admirably described by mr. albert smith in his "month at constantinople:"-- "i have said it was friday; and so, on my return, i had an opportunity of seeing the dancing dervishes at pera. they exhibit--for it is rather a sight than a solemnity--on this day, as well as on tuesday, in every week. their convent is facing the scrap of burying-ground on the road from galata to pera, and any one may witness their antics. having put off our shoes, we entered an octagonal building, with galleries running round it, and standing places under them, surrounding the railed enclosure in which the dervishes were to dance, or rather spin. one division of this part of the building was put aside for christians, the others were filled with common people and children. when i arrived, one old dervish, in a green dress, was sitting at one point of the room, and twenty-four in white, were opposite to him. a flute and drum played some very dreary music in the gallery. at a given signal they all fell flat on their faces, with a noise and precision that would have done honour to a party of pantomimists; and then they all rose and walked slowly round, with their arms folded across their breasts, following the old green dervish, who marched at their head, and bowing twice very gravely to the place where he had been sitting, and to the spot opposite to it. they performed this round two or three times. then the old man sat down, and the others, pulling off their cloaks, appeared in a species of long petticoat, and one after the other began to spin. they commenced revolving precisely as though they were waltzing by themselves; first keeping their hands crossed on their breast, and then extending them, the palm of the right hand and the back of the left being upwards. at last they all got into play, and as they went round and round, they put me in mind of the grand party we have seen on the top of an organ, where a _cavalier seul_ revolves by himself, and bows as he faces the spectators. "they went on for a long time without stopping--a quarter of an hour, perhaps, or twenty minutes. there was something inexpressibly sly and offensive in the appearance of these men, and the desire one felt to hit them hard in the face became uncomfortably dominant. at the end of their revolutions they made another obeisance to the old man, and all this time the players in the orchestra howled forth a kind of hymn. this ceremony was repeated three or four times, and then they all sat down again and put their cloaks on, whilst another dervish, who had walked round and round amongst the dancers, whilst they were spinning, sang a solo. during this time their faces were all close to the ground. this done, they rose and marched before the old green dervish once more, kissing his hand as they passed, and the service concluded, occupying altogether about three-quarters of an hour." extraordinary malady. digne, the principal town in the department of the basses alpes in france might be passed by the traveller without exciting one observation, its walks and its warm mineral waters being the only objects worthy of notice. its inhabitants do not now exceed , ; but, in the year , , industrious citizens followed their numerous avocations within its precincts. at that period, however, an extraordinary plague broke out, in the month of june, which lasted till october, committing the most awful ravages, so that in that short space of time the wretched inhabitants were reduced to the number of , , among whom six only had escaped this very singular malady, the effects of which are thus described by a french writer:--"this malady strangely affected the invalids; some fancied they could fly; others, climb from one object to another like squirrels; some sunk into a profound lethargy, even for so long a time as six days; and one young woman who had been hastily interred in a vineyard, rose three days afterwards, for the grave-diggers were content just to cover the bodies. during these four months the town was covered with a thick fog: the heat was suffocating, accompanied by frequent and dreadful storms; and in order to complete the horrors of such a situation, the parliament forbade any of the inhabitants to quit the city, or the small territory belonging to it. guards placed upon the _bléonne_ fired upon those who attempted to escape. the magistrates abandoned their functions; the clocks no longer sounded the hours; the neighbouring springs dried up, so that the mills could not work; and famine began to add its fearful horrors to the miseries which already desolated the city, now become a living sepulchre, for the dead bodies lay in the streets unburied, and the few remaining persons who still paraded the streets appeared more like the spectres of those departed than living beings. many persons not only prepared but put on the habiliments of death, and quietly awaited the approach of the _king of terrors_. a new edict condemned the pestilential city to the flames; but this inhuman decree was countermanded, after the destruction of one country house, with all its inhabitants. the disease having somewhat abated in the surrounding villages, humanity at length dictated the necessity of making some efforts to save the remaining few, who had escaped the contagion, from the no less frightful evil of famine. the scene that presented itself was appalling; several little children, whose parents were dead, were found sucking goats; in short, the desolation was so great that, although two centuries have passed away since this fatal scourge devastated the country, _digne_ has never recovered its effects." quackery in the olden time. in the reign of henry viii. many of the medical practitioners were mere horse-farriers. a distinguished patient, the great lord burghley, secretary of state to queen elizabeth, was addressed by one audelay, on a certain occasion, in this wise, "be of goode comfort, and plucke up a lustie, merrie hearte, and then shall you overcome all diseases: and because it pleased my good lord admiral lately to praise my physicke, i have written to you such medicines as i wrote unto him, which i have in my boke of my wyffe's hand, _proved upon herselfe and mee both_: and if i can get anything that may do you any goode, you may be well assured it shall be a joye unto me to get it for you." "a good medicine for weakness or consumption:--take a pig of nine days olde, and slaye him, and quarter him, and put him in a skillat, with a handfull of spearment, and a handfull of red fennell, a handfull of liverwort, half a handfull of red neap, a handfull of clarge, and nine dates, cleaned, picked, pared, and a handful of great raisins, and picke out the stones, and a quarter of an ounce of mace, and two stickes of goode cinnamon, bruised in a mortar, and distill it with a soft fire, and put it in a glass, and set it in the sun nine days, and drinke nine spoonfulls of it at once when you list!" "a compost:--item--take a porpin, otherwise called an english hedgehog, and quarter him in pieces, and put the said beast in a still, with these ingredients: item--a quart of redde wyne, a pinte of rose-water, a quarter of a pound of sugar--cinnamon and two great raisins." "if thore be any manner of disease that you be aggrieved withal, i pray you send me some knowledge thereof, and i doubt not but to send you an approved remedie. written in haste at greenwiche, y{e} of may, , by your trewe heartie friend, john of audelay." a poison weapon. [illustration: [++] poison weapon.] the instrument sketched forms one of the curiosities in the splendid museum of the late sir s. r. meyrick, and is a singular instance of that refinement of cruelty which is too prominent a characteristic of the sixteenth century. it is a weapon for throwing poisoned needles among a crowd. where the lid at the top is seen lifted up, is the chamber in which the needles are kept stuck into a cork at the bottom. on the opposite side a needle is seen put through a hole in a strong spring, held in its place by a catch above, which, when pressed by the thumb disengages it and ejects the needle with considerable force. as the fore-finger goes through the centre ring, and the thumb is at the top, the weapon is almost entirely concealed by the hand. the spring can be adjusted by a screw at the side. this cruel instrument was used by men on horseback, or from a window, and as the needles were poisoned, many painful injuries must have been inflicted without the sufferers being able to discover by whom their wounds were caused. ancient sword-breaker. [illustration: [++] sword-breaker.] the immense two-handed swords of former times were most fearful weapons, and far more easily used than the appearance of them would lead us to suppose. they were admirably poised, and the position in which they were held may be learned from various writers of their times. one hand was placed close to the cross-bar, while the other held the pommel. de grassi, in , tells us that those who use them contrive to "amase with the furie of the sword, and deliver great edge blows down-right and reversed, fetching a full circle or compass therein with exceeding great swiftness, staying themselves upon one foote, sometimes on the other, utterlie neglecting to thrust, and persuading themselves that the thrust serveth to amaze one man onlie, but those edge blows are of force to incounter many. the hand towards the enemie must take hold fast of the handle neere the crosse and underneath, the other hand above and near the pomell." silver, in his "paradox" gives the following as the proportions of a two-handed sword in his day: "the perfect length of your two-handed sword is the blade to the length and hilt of your single sword." the instrument which we have sketched on previous page, was used in the time of henry viii., for the purpose, not only of defence against one of those "great edge-blows down-right" but of catching the blade between the teeth, and then breaking it by a sharp turn of the wrist. origin of the ballot. the origin of electing members by balls may be traced to the grecians. when a member was to be elected, every one threw a little pellet of bran, or crumb of bread into a basket, carried by a servant on his head round the table, and whoever dissented flattened their pellet at one side. ancient dagger. the weapon which forms the subject of the woodcut is a dagger of the time of philip and mary, ornamented with engraving. after being thrust into a person, by pulling a little catch, it is made to open within him, and the prolongation of the blade allows means for a second blow. the two small hooks at the inner side of the two blades would admit of the dagger being thrust deeper in, but would prevent its being drawn out. [illustration: [++] ancient dagger.] at the period these daggers were most in vogue, personal combats were very sanguinary and determined, seldom terminating without the death of one, and in some cases of both, of the parties engaged. they first used the long sword, and when that weapon was broken, they closed with one another, and used their daggers by stabbing at the most mortal part of their foe they could manage to reach. the temple of pou-tou. pou-tou is an island of the great archipelago of chusan, on the coasts of the province of tche-kiang. more than monasteries, more or less important, and two of which were founded by emperors, are scattered over the sides of the mountains and valleys of this picturesque and enchanting island, which nature and art have combined to adorn with their utmost magnificence. all over it you find delightful gardens, full of beautiful flowers,--grottoes cut in the living rock, amidst groves of bamboo and other trees, with aromatic banks. the habitations of the bonzes are sheltered from the scorching rays of the sun by umbrageous foliage, and scattered about in the prettiest situations imaginable. thousands of winding paths cross the valleys in various directions, and the brooks and rivulets, by means of pretty bridges of stone or painted wood, and for the communications between the scattered dwellings. in the centre of the island rise two vast and brilliant edifices--buddhist temples--the yellow bricks of which announce that their construction is due to imperial munificence. the religious architecture of the chinese does not at all resemble ours. they have no idea of the majestic, solemn, and perhaps somewhat melancholy style, that harmonizes so well with the feelings which ought to be inspired by a place devoted to meditation and prayer. when they wish to build a pagoda, they look out for the most gay and smiling site they can find on the declivity of a mountain or in a valley; they plant it with great trees of the evergreen species; they trace about it a number of paths, on the sides of which they place flowering shrubs, creeping plants, and bushes. it is through these cool and fragrant avenues you reach the building, which is surrounded by galleries, and has less the air of a temple than of a rural abode charmingly situated in the midst of a park or garden. the principal temple of pou-tou is reached by a long avenue of grand secular trees, whose thick foliage is filled with troops of crows with white heads; and their cawings and flapping of wings keep up a continual clamour. at the end of the avenue is a magnificent lake, surrounded with shrubs that lean over its waters like weeping willows. turtle and gold-fish gleam through them; and mandarin-ducks, in their gaily-coloured plumage, play over their surface, amidst the splendid water-lilies whose rich corollas rise majestically upon tender green stalks spotted with black. several bridges of red and green wood are thrown over this lake, and lead to flights of steps, by which you ascend to the first of the temple buildings--a kind of porch, supported upon eight enormous granite columns. on the right and left are stationed, like sentinels, four statues of colossal size, and two side gates lead to the vestibule of the principal nave, where is enthroned a buddhist trinity, representing the past, the present, and the future. these three statues are entirely gilt, and, although in a crouching posture, of gigantic dimensions--at least twelve feet high. buddha is in the midst, his hands interlaced, and gravely placed on his majestic abdomen. he represents the past, and the unalterable and eternal quiet to which it has attained; the two others, which have the arm and the right hand raised, in sign of their activity, the present and future. before each idol is an altar covered with little vases for offerings, and cassolets of chiselled bronze, where perfumes are constantly burning. a crowd of secondary divinities are ranged round the hall, the ornaments of which are composed of enormous lanterns of painted paper or horn--square, round, oval--indeed, of all forms and colours; and the walls are hung with broad strips of satin, with sentences and maxims. the third hall is consecrated to _kouang-yu_, whom the greater number of accounts of china persist in regarding as a goddess of porcelain, and sometimes also of fecundity. according to the buddhist mythology, kouang-yu is a person of the indian trimourti, or triune god, representing the creative power. finally, the fourth hall is a pantheon, or pandemonium, containing a complete assortment of hideous idols, with ogres' and reptiles' faces. here you see, huddled together pell-mell, the gods of heaven and earth; fabulous monsters, patrons of war, of the silk manufacture, of agriculture, and of medicine; the images of the saints of antiquity, philosophers, statesmen, warriors, literary men--in a word, the most heterogeneous and grotesque assembly conceivable. oracles of apollo in france. towards the frontiers of auvergne and velay, upon the high rock of polignac, there was formerly a temple of apollo, famous for its oracles. the time of its foundation ascends to the first years of the christian era, since, in the year , the emperor claudius came hither in great pomp, to acknowledge the power of the god; and he left proofs of his piety and munificence. the débris and mysterious issues that are found even now upon the rock, in the heart of its environs, reveal the secret means employed by the priests to make their divinities speak, and to impose upon the people. at the bottom of the rock was an ædicula: it was on this spot that the pilgrims took up their first station, and deposited their offerings and made their vows. a subterranean passage communicated from this ædicula to the bottom of a great excavation, pierced, in the form of a tunnel, from the base to the summit of the rock. it was by this enormous opening that the vows, the prayers and questions, pronounced in the very lowest voice by the pilgrims, reached instantly the top of the rock, and were there heard and collected by the college of priests; the answers were then prepared, while the believers, by a sinuous and long path, slowly arrived at the end of their pilgrimage. the answers being ready, the priests commissioned to transmit them repaired to profound and deep apartments, contiguous to a well, the orifice of which terminated in the temple. this well, crowned by an altar, being enclosed by a little hemispherical roof, supported in its external parts the colossal figure of apollo; the mouth of this statue being half open, in the middle of a large and majestic beard, appeared always ready to pronounce the supreme decrees. it was also through this opening, by the means of a long speaking-trumpet, that the priests at the bottom of this den of mystery and superstition made known those famous oracles so imposing and so powerful in their effects upon the human soul as to impede for centuries the substitution of the more pure and holy precepts of the gospel. best position for smoking opium. opium is not smoked in the same manner as tobacco. the pipe is a tube of nearly the length and thickness of an ordinary flute. towards one end of it is fitted a bowl of baked clay or some other material, more or less precious, which is pierced with a hole communicating with the interior of the tube. the opium, which before smoking is in the form of a blackish viscous paste, is prepared in the following manner:--a portion, of the size of a pea, is put on a needle, and heated over a lamp until it swells and acquires the requisite consistence. it is then placed over the hole in the bowl of the pipe, in the form of a little cone that has been previously pierced with a needle so as to communicate with the interior of the tube. the opium is then brought to the flame of the lamp, and after three or four inspirations the little cone is entirely burnt, and all the smoke passes into the mouth of the smoker, who then rejects it again through his nostrils. afterwards the same operation is repeated, so that this mode of smoking is extremely tedious. the chinese prepare and smoke their opium lying down, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, saying that this is the most favourable position; and the smokers of distinction do not give themselves all the trouble of the operation, but have their pipes prepared for them. executioner's sword. [illustration: [++] executioner's sword.] the weapon engraved below forms one of the curiosities in the superb collection of ancient armour belonging to the late sir samuel r. meyrick, at goodrich court, herefordshire. it is the sword of an executioner, having on it the date . the blade is thin, and exceeding sharp at both edges; and engraved on it is a man impaled, above which are the words, in german, of which the following is a translation:-- "let every one that has eyes look here, and see that to erect power on wickedness cannot last long:" a man holding a crucifix, his eyes bandaged, and on his knees; the executioner, with his right hand on the hilt, and his left on the pommel, is about to strike off his head; above is written-- "he who ambitiously exalts himself, and thinks only of evil, has his neck already encompassed by punishment." on the other side, a man broken on the wheel; over which is-- "i live, i know not how long; i die, but i know not when:" and a man suspended by the ribs from a gibbet, with the inscription-- "i move, without knowing whither; i wonder i am so tranquil." origin of exchequer bills. in the year and , the silver currency of the kingdom being by clipping, washing, grinding, filing, &c., reduced to about half its nominal value, acts of parliament were passed for its being called in and recoined, and whilst the recoinage was going on, exchequer bills were first issued to supply the demands of trade. ancient etrurian bust. [illustration: [++] ancient etrurian bust.] if we look backwards to the most remote times of greek industry, we find that long before fire-casting became customary, almost every kind of work was carried out by the simple means of the hammer and tongs, wielded by skilful hands. even products of art were created in this manner; and as statues, vases, and the like could not be put together by the process of soldering, nails were used for the purpose, as we learn not only from ancient writers, but even from monuments which have lately been discovered in etruria, and the most important specimens of which are now possessed by the british museum. in one of the tombs belonging to the vast necropolis of vulci were discovered, about twenty years ago, a great many bronzes of this very ancient workmanship; one of them represents a bust placed on a basement covered with thin copper plates, and adorned by a row of figures, which are likewise chased; long curls fall down over the neck and shoulders, and these parts especially are formed in the most simple manner: one would be tempted to call it child-like, did not the whole composition show a certain character which enables the experienced eye of the art-philosopher to distinguish in these rude attempts at plastic metal work the very germ of those wonderfully-styled productions of a later period. the engraving here annexed, giving a side view of this remarkable, and as yet unique monument, is intended to show the arrangement of the hair, which, in spite of its simple treatment, presents as a whole some trace of grace, and principles of fine proportions. we perceive that the curls are formed by rolling and twining together small strips of bronze plate, connected with the head itself by the mechanical means we have alluded to. there is no trace of soldering; and we may be sure that we possess in this figure a good specimen of those hammer-wrought sculptures of old which were spoken of by the greeks themselves as belonging to a fabulous period. the hairy woman of burmah. the following account of this remarkable freak of nature is taken from captain yule's "mission to ava." writing from the city of amarapoora, the capital of burmah, the captain says:-- "to-day we had a singular visitor at the residency. this was maphoon, the daughter of shwé-maong, the "homo hirsutus" described and depicted in crawfurd's narrative, where a portrait of her, as a young child, also appears. not expecting such a visitor, one started and exclaimed involuntarily as there entered what at first-sight seemed an absolute realization of the dog-headed anubis. "the whole of the maphoon's face was more or less covered with hair. on a part of the cheek, and between the nose and mouth, this was confined to a short down, but over all the rest of the face was a thick silky hair of a brown colour, paling about the nose and chin, four or five inches long. at the alea of the nose, under the eye, and on the cheek-bone, this was very fully developed, but it was in and on the ear that it was most extraordinary. except the extreme upper tip, no part of the ear was visible: all the rest was filled and veiled by a large mass of silky hair, growing apparently out of every part of the external organ, and hanging in a dependent lock to a length of eight or ten inches. the hair over her forehead was brushed so as to blend with the hair of the head, the latter being dressed (as usual with her countrywomen) _à la chinoise_. it was not so thick as to conceal altogether the forehead. "the nose, densely covered with hair so as no animal's is that i know of, and with long fine locks curving out and pendent like the wisps of a fine skye terrier's coat, had a most strange appearance. the beard was pale in colour, and about four inches in length, seemingly very soft and silky. "poor maphoon's manners were good and modest, her voice soft and feminine, and her expression mild and not unpleasing, after the first instinctive repulsion was overcome. her appearance rather suggested the idea of a pleasant-looking woman masquerading than that of anything brutal. this discrimination, however, was very difficult to preserve in sketching her likeness, a task which devolved on me to-day in mr. grant's absence. on an after-visit, however, mr. grant made a portrait of her, which was generally acknowledged to be most successful. her neck, bosom, and arms appeared to be covered with fine pale down, scarcely visible in some lights. she made a move, as if to take off her upper clothing, but reluctantly, and we prevented it. her husband and two boys accompanied her. the elder boy, about four or five years old, had nothing abnormal about him. the youngest, who was fourteen months old and still at the breast, was evidently taking after his mother. there was little hair on the head, but the child's ear was full of long silky floss, and it could boast a moustache and beard of pale silky down that would have cheered the heart of many a cornet. in fact, the appearance of the child agrees almost exactly with what mr. crawford says of maphoon herself as an infant. this child is thus the third in descent exhibiting this strange peculiarity; and in this third generation, as in the two preceding, this peculiarity has appeared only in one individual. maphoon has the same dental peculiarity also that her father had--the absence of the canine teeth and grinders, the back part of the gums presenting merely a hard ridge. still she chews pawn like her neighbours. mr. camaretta tells some story of an italian wishing to marry her and take her to europe, which was not allowed. should the great barnum hear of her, he would not be so easily thwarted. according to the woundouk, the king offered a reward to any man who would marry her, but it was long before any one was found bold enough or avaricious enough to venture. her father, shwé-maong, was murdered by robbers many years ago." a traveller's passport. the following document, included among the rolls, is dated , from whitehall:-- "dame mary yate, having asked his majesty's permission to pass beyond the seas, for the recovery of her health, his majesty was most graciously pleased to grant her request, under the usual clauses and provisoes, according to which ye said dame mary yate having given security not to enter into any plott or conspiracy against his majesty or his realms, or behave herself in any such manner as may be prejudicial to his majesty's government, or the religion here by law established, and that she will not repaire to the city of roome, or return unto this kingdome without first acquainting one of his majesty's principal secretaries of state, and obtaining leave for the same, in pursuance of his majesty's commands in council hereby will and require you to permit and suffer the said dame mary yate to imbarque with her trunkes of apparel and other necessaries not prohibited at any port of this kingdom, and from thence to pass beyond the seas, provided that shee departe this kingdom within days after the date hereof."--april . if the above refers to the celebrated lady mary yate (a daughter of the house of pakington) who is commemorated on a monument in chaddesley church, worcestershire, as having died in , at the age of , she must have been years old when these precautions were taken by the government against the poor old lady attempting to invade the country, or to comfort the pope with her presence and support. dame mary yate was no doubt a roman catholic, and the permission above referred to was granted under the seventh section of the statute rd james i, chap. , which was virtually repealed by the statute rd george iii, chap. , which exempted roman catholics from all the penalties and restrictions mentioned and enjoined in the older acts, if in one of the courts at westminster or at the quarter sessions they made a declaration which to them was unobjectionable. curious provincial dance in france. the inhabitants of roussillon are passionately fond of dancing; they have some dances peculiar to themselves. the men generally commence the country dance by a _contre-pas_, the air of which is said to be of greek origin; the women then mingle in the dance, when they jointly perform several figures, passing one among the other, and occasionally turning each other round. at a particular change in the air, the male dancer must dexterously raise his partner and place her on his hand in a sitting posture. accidents sometimes happen upon these occasions, and the lady falls to the ground amidst the jokes and laughter of her companions. one of these dances, called _lo salt_, is performed by four men and four women. at the given signal, the cavaliers simultaneously raise the four ladies, forming a pyramid, the caps of the ladies making the apex. the music which accompanies these dances consists of a _lo flaviol_, a sort of flageolet, a drum, two hautboys, prima and tenor, and the _cornemuse_, called in the country _lo gratla_: this instrument, by its description, must somewhat resemble the bagpipes. the dance called _segadilles_ is performed with the greatest rapidity: at the end of every couplet, for the airs are short and numerous, the female dancers are raised, and seated on the hands of their partners. ancient instrument of punishment. [illustration: [++] whip of steel.] the instrument which we here engrave is a whip of steel that was made and used as an engine of punishment and torture about the middle of the sixteenth century. it is composed of several truncated cones, grooved with sharp edges, and held in opposite directions, so as to give sufficient oscillation without rising so far as to strike the hand of the executioner. it seems to have been held by a strap; but its barbarity is evident. punishing by wholesale. henry viii. is recorded, in the course of his reign, to have hanged no fewer than , robbers, thieves, and vagabonds. in the latter days of elizabeth scarcely a year passed without or criminals going to the gallows. in , in the county of somerset alone, persons were executed, burnt in the hand, and severely whipped. monks and friars. there was a distinction between the monks and friars, which caused the latter to become the object of hatred and envy. both the monastic, or regular, and parochial clergy, encouraged the attacks made upon them. the monks were, by most of their rules, absolutely forbidden to go out of their monasteries, and, therefore, could receive only such donations as were left to them. on the contrary, the friars, who were professed mendicants, on receiving notice of the sickness of any rich person, constantly detached some of their members, to persuade the sick man to bequeath alms to their convent; thus often, not only anticipating the monks, but, likewise the parochial clergy. besides, as most of them were professed preachers, their sermons were frequently compared with those of the clergy, and in general, not to the advantage of the latter. in these sermons, the poverty and distress of their order, were topics that, of course, were neither omitted, nor slightly passed over. considering the power of the church, before the reformation, it is not to be supposed that any of the poets, as chaucer, &c., would have ventured to tell those rediculous stories of the friars, with which their works abound, had they not been privately protected by the superior clergy. curious turkish contrivance. [illustration: [++] curious turkish contrivance.] wonderful are the appliances by which ingenuity contrives to supply the evasions of idleness. we give one of them, as described by mr. albert smith, in his "month at constantinople." "passing some cemeteries and public fountains, we came to the outskirts of the city, which consist chiefly of gardens producing olives, oranges, raisins and figs, irrigated by creaking water-wheels worked by donkeys. to one of these the droll contrivances which attracted our notice was affixed. the donkey who went round and round was blinded, and in front of him was a pole, one end of which was fixed to the axle and the other slightly drawn towards his head-gear and there tied: so that, from the spring he always thought somebody was pulling him on. the guide told us that idle fellows would contrive some rude mechanism so that a stick should fall upon the animal's hind quarters at every round, and so keep him at work whilst they went to sleep under the trees." figures of dogs on ancient tombs. in attempting to assign a reason for the frequent occurrence of dogs at the feet of tombs, we shall most probably be right if we simply attribute the circumstance to the affection borne by the deceased for some animal of that faithful class. that these sculptured animals were sometimes intended for likenesses of particular dogs is evident. sir bryan stapleton, on his brass at ingham, norfolk, rests one foot on a lion, the other on a dog; the name of the latter is recorded on a label, _jakke_. round the collar of a dog at the feet of an old stone figure of a knight, in tolleshunt knight's church, essex, letters were formerly traced which were supposed to form the word _howgo_. in a dictionary of old french terms, we find that the word _gocet_ means a small wooden dog, which it was customary to place at the foot of the bed. now it has been thought that something of this kind was intended in the representation of dogs on tombs, and that this support of the feet merely indicates the old custom of having that sort of wooden resting-place for the feet when in a recumbent position. but our first supposition appears the more natural, and is supported by the fact that a large proportion of these sculptured dogs, instead of being placed beneath the feet, are seated on the robe or train, looking upwards with the confidence of favourite animals. judith, daughter of the emperor conrad, is represented on her tomb ( ) with a little dog in her right hand. on the tomb of sir ralph de rochford, in walpole church, norfolk, his lady is by his side, dressed in a reticulated head-dress and veil, a standing cape to her robe, long sleeves buttoned to her wrists, a quatrefoil fastens her girdle, and a double necklace of beads hangs from her neck. at her feet is a dog looking up, and another couchant. in the chancel at shernborne, norfolk, the figure of sir thomas shernborne's lady ( ) has at the right foot a small dog sitting, with a collar of bells. on a large antique marble in the chancel at great harrowden, northamptonshire, are the portraits of a man in armour, and his wife in a winding sheet. the man stands on a greyhound, and the woman has at her feet two little dogs looking upwards, with bells on their collars. this monument is that of william harwedon and margery, daughter of sir giles st. john of plumpton. she died in the twentieth year of henry vi. the fate of the last may-pole in the strand. the may-pole, which had been set up in , having long been in a state of decay, was pulled down in , and a new one, with two gilt balls and a vane on the top of it, was erected in its stead. this did not continue long in existence; for, being in judged an obstruction, to the view of the church then building, orders were given by the parochial authorities for its removal. sir isaac newton begged it of the parish, and it was conveyed to wanstead park, where it long supported the largest telescope in europe, belonging to sir isaac newton's friend, mr. pound, the rector of wanstead. it was feet long; and presented to mr. pound by mr. huson, a french member of the royal society. means of attracting custom. before houses were numbered, it was a common practice with tradesmen not much known, when they advertised, to mention the colour of their next neighbour's door, balcony, or lamp, of which custom the following copy of a handbill will present a curious instance:-- "next to the golden door, opposite great suffolk street, near pall mall, at the barber's pole, liveth a certain person, robert barker, who having found out an excellent method for sweating or fluxing of wiggs; his prices are s. d. for each _bob_, and s. for every _tye wigg_ and _pigtail_, _ready money_." music of the hindoos. among the fine arts of india, music holds a distinguished place; and although its cultivation has declined, and but few are now found who have attained to eminence either in the science or art of this unequalled source of recreation, refinement, and pleasure, yet no people are more susceptible of its charms than the hindoos. reading is with them invariably, as with the arabians and other eastern nations, a species of _recitativo_, a sort of speaking music, delivered in dulcet though not measured tones. the recitation of lessons in a school or academy always takes this form. the man at the oar, women beating lime, the labourer engaged in irrigation, alike accompany their toil with song. the word _sangíta_, symphony, as applied to music by the hindoos, conveys the idea of the union of _voices_, _instruments_, and _action_. musical treatises accordingly treat of _gáná_, _vádya_, _uritya_, or _song_, _percussion_, and _dancing_; the first comprising the measures of poetry; the second, instrumental sounds; and the third, theatrical representation. the ancient dramas of the hindoo exhibited the union of these in their unequalled poetry, modulated with the accompaniments of voice, and instruments, and the attractions of appropriate scenery. the music of the hindoos includes eighty-four modes, each supposed to have a peculiar expression, capable of moving some particular sentiment or affection. the modes take their denomination from the seasons, or from the hours of day or night. musical composition is supposed capable of adaptation to the different periods of the day, and therefore its provisions are regulated by the hours. the ideas of the hindoos on music, as promoting the pleasures of imagination, may be inferred from the names applied by ancient authors to their musical treatises. one is called _rágárnava_, the sea of the passions; another, _rágaderpana_, the mirror of modes; and a third, _sóbhavinóda_, the delight of assemblies; a fourth, _sangítaderpana_, the mirror of song; and another, _rágavibódha_, the doctrine of musical modes. some of these works explain the law of musical sounds, their divisions and succession, variations of scales by temperament, and the enunciation of modes; besides a minute description of the different _vínás_ (lute), and the rules for playing them. this is a fretted instrument of the guitar kind, usually having seven wires or strings, and a large gourd at each end of the finger-board. its extent is two octaves, and its invention is attributed to náredá, the son of brahma. there are many varieties, named according to the number of their strings. of one of them we give an engraving below. music, like everything else connected with india, is invested with divine attributes. from the sacred veda was derived the upaveda, or subsidiary veda of the gandharbas, the heavenly choristers. the art was communicated to mortals by sarasvati, the consort of brahma. she, as before stated, is the patroness of the fine arts, the goddess of speech. their son, an ancient lawgiver and astronomer, invented the víná. the first inspired man, bherat, invented the drama. 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[++] indicates a caption added by the transcriber. variants unchanged: -- pages xiii and : colebrook and colebroke. -- page : tchang-tchin and tchang-tching. -- pages , and others: southwark and southwarke. -- pages and : mahomed, mahommed and mahomet. -- pages , and others: hindostan and hindoostan. -- pages and : rossellina, rosselini and rossellini. -- pages and : ivil and ivel. -- pages , and others: brama and brahma. -- pages and : bolinbroke and bollinbroke. -- pages and : clothseck and clothsek; gambaldyn and gambaldynge. -- page : krees and kreez. -- multiple pages: shakespere/shakspeare/shakspere. other notes: -- pages v and xi: removed entry "architecture for earthquakes" as no such engraving or description could be found. -- page : bénéficiare changed to bénéficiaire. -- page : hatherly changed to hatherley. -- page : sackvile changed to sackville. -- page : clarencieux changed to clarenceux. -- page : shaftsbury to shaftesbury. -- page : hasselquiet changed to hasselquist. -- page : + iona + ihoat + iona + heloi + yssaray + + mephenolpheton + agla + achedion + yana + bachionodonavali m ilior + bachionodonavli m ach + changed to + iona + ihoat + lona + heloi + yssaray + || + mephenolpheton + agla + achedion + yana + bachionodonavali [m*] ilior + || bachionodonavali [m**] ach + [m*] denotes counter-clockwise rotated m and [m**] clockwise rotated m. also rendered in other texts as the letter z or the number . sources: thomas r. forbes, "verbal charms in british folk medicine." proceedings of the american philosophical society, vo. , august , , p. . and frederick w. fairholt, ancient, medieval, and renaissance remains in the possession of lord londesborough. drawn, engraved and described by frederick w. fairholt. london: chapman and hall, , p. . -- page : strasburgh changed to strasburg. -- page : "drake coloured satin, and [illegible word] coloured satin." changed to "drake coloured satin, and [...] coloured satin." -- page : "into his elar;" changed to "into his celar. -- pages - : "the slaughtered sun hulls become...." "hulls" changed to "bulls." -- page : "according the the indication" changed to "according to the indication." -- page : "as with the [illegible word]" changed to "as with the [...]." -- page : "it said to have been made...." changed to "it was said to have been made...." none [illustration: the aurora borealis in the arctic regions.] a catechism of familiar things; their history, and the events which led to their discovery. _with a short explanation of some of the principal_ natural phenomena. for the use of schools and families. enlarged and revised edition. new york, cincinnati, and st. louis: benziger brothers printers to the holy apostolic see. copyright, , by benziger brothers. preface. this book, a reprint of a successful english publication, has been so enlarged as to be to all intents and purposes new. it has been carefully revised by a reverend gentleman, who for some time filled the chair of physics and chemistry in one of our colleges. recent inventions and improvements are described in a simple, popular style, so as to be easily understood by all, and short notices are given of prominent inventors and scientists. the paragraphs relating to doctrinal matters conform in every respect to the teachings of the church. a feature which will commend the book to every teacher is the definitions of difficult words and terms, following the paragraphs in which such words occur. technical language is avoided as much as possible, so as to enable young pupils to become familiarly acquainted with the various phenomena of nature, the leading characteristics and general history of the objects of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, and the fundamental truths of the arts and sciences. the illustrations are of a superior order, and a very complete index, which will be appreciated by every teacher, supplements the book. in a word, no pains have been spared to enhance the value of the work, and render it an important auxiliary in the dissemination of useful and entertaining knowledge. the publishers beg to acknowledge their obligations to the sisters of mercy, loretto, pa., to whose kindness they are indebted for many valuable suggestions. in the hope that the book may be found suited to the accomplishment of its aim, it is respectfully submitted to schools and instructors of youth, who are the best judges of its merits. contents. chapter i. dew, water, rain, snow, hail, atmosphere, wind, lightning, thunder, electricity, twilight, and the aurora borealis ii. corn, barley, pearl barley, oats, rye, potatoes, tea, coffee, and chocolate iii. calico, cotton, cloth, wool, baize, linen, flax, hemp, diaper, holland, canvas, and flannel iv. cocoa, toddy, cherries, bark, cork, cochineal, cloves, cinnamon, and cassia v. bombazine, crape, camlet, cambric, lace, silk, velvet, and mohair vi. currants, raisins, figs, rice, sugar, sugar candy, &c., sago, millet, ginger, nutmeg, mace, pimento or allspice, pepper, and cayenne pepper vii. glass, mirrors, earthenware, porcelain, needles, pins, paper, printing, parchment, and vellum viii. capers, almonds, oranges, lemons, citrons, limes, olives, oils, melons, tamarinds, and dates ix. hats, stockings, shoes, gloves, leather, furs, and ink x. asbestus, salt, coal, iron, copper, brass, zinc, and lapis calaminaris xi. yams, mangoes, bread-fruit, shea or butter tree, cow tree, water tree, licorice, manna, opium, tobacco, and gum xii. spectacles, mariner's compass, barometer, thermometer, watches, clocks, telescope, microscope, gunpowder, steam engine, and electro-magnetic telegraph xiii. soap, candles, tallow tree, spermaceti, wax, mahogany, india rubber or caoutchouc, sponge, coral, lime, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, gas, hydrogen, chalk, and marble xiv. gold, silver, lead, tin, platina, sulphur, gems or precious stones--as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, turquois, pearls, mother-of-pearl, and ivory xv. starch, arrow-root, tapioca, isinglass, caviare, the vine, wine, gin, rum, brandy, vinegar, indigo, gamboge, logwood, tar, pitch, camphor, musk, myrrh, frankincense, and turpentine xvi. bricks, mortar, granite, slate, limestone, or calcareous rocks, steel, earths, volcanoes, and earthquakes xvii. architecture, sculpture, use of money, and navigation xviii. music, painting, poetry, astronomy, arts and sciences, art of writing, and chemistry xix. attraction, tides, gravity, artesian wells, air, aneroid barometer, ear-trumpet, stethoscope, audiphone, telephone, phonograph, microphone, megaphone, tasimeter, bathometer, anemometer, chronometer xx. light, lime light, magnesium light, electric light, rainbow, prism, spectrum, colors, photography, camera obscura, stereoscope, kaleidoscope xxi. electricity, electric currents, electric battery, electrotyping, stereotyping, telegraph, ocean cable, lightning rod, the gulf stream, the mt. cenis tunnel, the suez canal, suspension bridges, eminent americans a catechism of familiar things. chapter i. dew, water, rain, snow, hail, atmosphere, wind, lightning, thunder, electricity, twilight, and the aurora borealis. what is dew? moisture collected from the atmosphere by the action of cold. during the day, the powerful heat of the sun causes to arise from the earth and water a moist vapor, which, after the sun sinks below the horizon, is condensed by the cold, and falls in the form of dew. dews are more copious in the spring and autumn than at any other season; in warm countries than in cold ones: because of the sudden changes of temperature. egypt abounds in dews all the summer; for the air being too hot to condense the vapors in the day-time, they never gather into clouds and form rain. _horizon_, the line which bounds the view on all sides, so that the earth and sky appear to meet. a greek word, from the verb signifying to mark boundaries. _temperature_, degree of heat or cold. _condense_, to cause the particles of a body to approach or unite more closely. what are its uses? it cools and refreshes the vegetable creation, and prevents it from being destroyed by the heat of the sun. all hot countries where there is little or no rain are therefore blessed with this provision by the all-bountiful creator, to render them luxuriant and inhabitable; and the dews which fall are so copious, that the earth is as deeply soaked with them during the night as if a heavy rain had fallen. for this reason also it is, that we so often read in the bible of the "dew of heaven" being promised to the israelites as a signal favor. _luxuriant_, fertile, flourishing. _signal_, remarkable, eminent. from what does the vapor originate? vapor is water, combined with a still greater quantity of caloric,--that is, an imponderable and subtile form of matter, which causes the sensation of heat; and which, driving asunder the particles of the water, renders it aëriform. _imponderable_, without sensible weight. _subtile_, thin, not dense, or compact. _particle_, a small portion of matter. _aëriform_, having the form of air. what is water? the fluid which covers more than three-fifths of the surface of our globe, and which is necessary for the life and health of the animal and vegetable creation; for without water there would be neither rain nor dew, and everything would perish. it is likewise a necessary beverage for man and the inferior animals. _beverage_, drink, liquor for drinking. in how many states do we find water? in four: st, solid, as in ice, snow, hail, &c.; d, fluid, as in its common form; d, aëriform, as in steam; and th, in a state of union with other matter. its most simple state is that of ice, which is water deprived of a certain portion of its caloric: crystallization then takes place, and the water becomes solid and is called ice. _crystallization_, the process by which the parts of a solid body, separated by solution or fusion, are again brought into the solid form. if the process is slow, the figure assumed is regular and bounded by plane and smooth surfaces. _solution_, the diffusion of a solid through some liquid. _fusion_, melting, or rendering fluid by heat. from what cause is the water deprived of its caloric? from the coldness of the atmosphere: underneath the poles of our globe it is mostly solid; there it is similar to the hardest rocks, and may be cut with a chisel, like stone or marble. this great solidity is occasioned by the low temperature of the surrounding air; and in very cold countries ice may be ground so fine as to be blown away by the wind, and will still be ice. _poles_, the extremities or ends of the axis, an imaginary line, supposed to be drawn through the centre of the earth; or when applied to the heavens, the two points directly over them. is ice the only instance of water existing in a state of solidity? no; it is found in a solid state in many minerals, as in marble, &c., and is then called _water of crystallization_. it is essential, in many cases, to their solidity and transparency. _essential_, necessary. _transparency_, clearness, the power of transmitting light. does nature decompose water in any of her operations? yes: every living vegetable has the power of decomposing water, by a secret process peculiar to itself. fish, too, and all cold-blooded amphibious animals are gifted with the same power. _decomposing_, separating a mixed body into its several parts. _amphibious_, able to live both in water and out of it. of what use is this power to vegetables? the water which they decompose affords them nourishment for the support of their vital juices, and enables them, by combining the fluid gases which compose it with those of the air and the soil, to form their different products; while the superfluous gas is abundantly given out by their leaves, to refresh the spent air, and render it wholesome for the animals that breathe it. _vital_, belonging to life, necessary to existence. _superfluous_, unnecessary, not wanted. what is rain? the condensed aqueous vapors raised in the atmosphere by the sun and wind, converted into clouds, which fall in rain, snow, hail, or mist: their falling is occasioned by their own weight in a collision produced by contrary currents of wind, from the clouds passing into a colder part of the air, or by electricity. if the vapors are more copious, and rise a little higher, they form a mist or fog, which is visible to the eye; higher still they produce rain. hence we may account for the changes of the weather: why a cold summer is always a wet one--a warm, a dry one. _aqueous_, watery; consisting of water. _collision_, a striking together, a clash, a meeting. _electricity_, a natural agent existing in all bodies (see page ). what seasons are more liable to rain than others? the spring and autumn are generally the most rainy seasons, the vapors _rise_ more plentifully in spring; and in the autumn, as the sun recedes from us and the cold increases, the vapors, which lingered above us during the summer heats, _fall_ more easily. _recede_, to fall back, to retreat. what is snow? rain congealed by cold in the atmosphere, which causes it to fall to the earth in white flakes. snow fertilizes the ground by defending the roots of plants from the intenser cold of the air and the piercing winds. _congealed_, turned by the force of cold from a fluid to a solid state; hardened. _fertilize_, to render fruitful. _intenser_, raised to a higher degree, more powerful. what is hail? drops of rain frozen in their passage through cold air. hail assumes various figures according to the degrees of heat or cold through which it passes, being sometimes round, flat, &c. what is the atmosphere? the mass of aëriform fluid which encompasses the earth on all sides: it extends about fifty miles above its surface. air is the elastic fluid of which it is composed. _elastic_, having the power of springing back, or recovering its former figure after the removal of any external pressure which has altered that figure. when the force which compresses the air is removed, it expands and resumes its former state. what are the uses of air? it is necessary to the well-being of man, since without it neither he nor any animal or vegetable could exist. if it were not for atmospheric air, we should be unable to converse with each other; we should know nothing of sound or smell; or of the pleasures which arise from the variegated prospects which surround us: it is to the presence of air and carbonic acid that water owes its agreeable taste. boiling deprives it of the greater part of these, and renders it insipid. _variegated_, diversified, changed; adorned with different colors. _insipid_, tasteless. what is wind? air in motion with any degree of velocity. what is lightning? the effect of electricity in the clouds. a flash of lightning is simply a stream of the electric fluid passing from the clouds to the earth, from the earth to the clouds, or from one cloud to another. lightning usually strikes the highest and most pointed objects, as high hills, trees, spires, masts of ships, &c. what is thunder? the report which accompanies the electrical union of the clouds: or the echoes of the report between them and the earth. thunder is caused by a sudden discharge of electrical matter collected in the air, by which vibrations are produced, which give rise to the sound. what is electricity? one of those agents passing through the earth and all substances, without giving any outward signs of its presence, when at rest; yet when active, often producing violent and destructive effects. it is _supposed_ to be a highly elastic fluid, capable of moving through matter. clouds owe their form and existence, probably, to it; and it passes through all substances, but more easily through metals, water, the human body, &c., which are called conductors, than through air, glass, and silk, which are called _non_-conductors. when bodies are not surrounded with non-conductors, the electricity escapes quickly into the earth. to what part of bodies is electricity confined? to their surfaces, as the outside may be electric, and the inside in a state of neutrality. the heat produced by an electric shock is very powerful, but is only accompanied by light when the fluid is obstructed in its passage. the production and condensation of vapor is a great source of the atmospheric electricity. _condensation_, the act of making any body dense or compact; that is, of bringing its parts into closer union. in what other sense is the term electricity employed? this term is also employed to designate that important branch of knowledge which relates to the properties shown by certain bodies when rubbed against, or otherwise brought in contact with, each other, to attract substances, and emit sparks of fire. _designate_, to point out by some particular token. _emit_, to send forth, to throw out. [illustration: cutting and gathering ice, on the hudson river, new york.] whence is the word derived? from _electron_, the greek word for amber, a yellow transparent substance, remarkable for its electrical power when rubbed: amber is of a resinous nature, and is collected from the sea-shore, or dug from the earth, in many parts of the world. it is employed in the manufacture of beads and other toys, on account of its transparency; is of some use in medicine, and in the making of varnishes. _transparent_, clear, capable of being seen through. _resinous_, containing resin, a gummy vegetable juice. name a few substances possessing this remarkable property. silks of all kinds; the hair and fur of animals, paper, sulphur, and some other minerals; most of the precious stones; the paste of which false gems are made; and many other substances used by us in the common affairs of life, are susceptible of electrical excitement; among domestic animals the cat furnishes a remarkable instance. when dry and warm, the back of almost any full-grown cat (the darker its color the better) can be excited by rubbing it with the hand in the direction of the hair, a process which is accompanied with a slight snapping noise, and in the dark by flashes of pale blue light. when a piece of glass is rubbed with silk, or a stick of red sealing-wax with woollen cloth, each substance acquires the property of attracting and repelling feathers, straws, threads of cotton, and other light substances; the substances just mentioned as highly electric are, however, merely specimens. all objects, without exception, most probably are capable of being electrically excited; but some require more complicated contrivances to produce it than others. _electric_, having the properties of electricity. _susceptible_, disposed to admit easily. _repelling_, the act of driving back. _complicated_, formed by the union of several parts in one. is there not a machine by which we are enabled to obtain large supplies of electric power at pleasure? yes; the electrical machine. it is made of different forms and sizes: for common purposes those of the simplest form are the best. a common form of the machine consists of a circular plate of glass, which can be turned about a horizontal axis by means of a suitable handle. this plate turns between two supports, and near its upper and lower edges are two pairs of cushions, usually made of leather, stuffed with horse-hair and coated with a mixture of zinc, tin, and mercury, called an _amalgam_. these cushions are the rubbers for producing friction, and are connected with the earth by means of a metal chain or rod. two large hollow cylinders of brass with globular ends, each supported by two glass pillars, constitute the reservoir for receiving the electricity. they are called the _prime conductors_, and are supplied with u-shaped rods of metal, furnished with points along their sides, called _combs_, for the purpose of receiving the electricity from the glass plate, the arms of the u being held upon either side. the other ends of the conductors are connected by a rod from the middle of which projects another rod terminating in a knob, for delivering the spark. on turning the plate, a faint snapping sound is heard, and when the room is darkened, a spark is seen to be thrown out from the knob projecting from the _prime conductors_. many curious and interesting experiments may be performed by means of the machine, illustrating the general properties of electricity. for instance: a person standing on an insulated bench, that is, a bench with glass legs, or having the legs resting on glass, and having one hand on the conductor, can send sparks, with the other hand, to everything and everybody about. this illustrates communication of electricity by contact. a wooden head, covered with long hairs, when placed on the conductor, illustrates electrical repulsion, by the hairs standing on end. if the hand is held to the knob, sparks will pass from it in rapid succession, causing in the hand a sensation of pain. this is called an _electric shock_, and is caused by the electric fluid occasioning a sudden motion by the contraction of the muscles through which it passes. the force of the shock is in proportion to the power of the machine. what are the muscles? bundles of thin fleshy fibres, or threads, fastened to the bones of animals, the contraction and expansion of which move the bones or perform the organic functions of life. _organic_, relating to organs or natural instruments by which some process is carried on. _functions_, employments or offices of any part of the body. _contraction_, drawing in or shortening. _expansion_, extending or spreading out. what is twilight? the light from the first dawning of day to the rising of the sun; and again between its setting and the last remains of day. without twilight, the sun's light would appear at its rising, and disappear at its setting, instantaneously; and we should experience a sudden transition from the brightest sunshine to the profoundest obscurity. the duration of twilight is different in different climates; and in the same places it varies at different periods of the year. _instantaneously_, done in an instant, in a moment's time. _obscurity_, darkness, want of light. how is it produced? by the sun's refraction--that is, the variation of the rays of light from their direct course, occasioned by the difference of density in the atmosphere. _variation_, change. _density_, closeness of parts, compactness. what is the poetical name for the morning twilight? aurora, the goddess of the morning, and harbinger of the rising sun: whom poets and artists represent as drawn by white horses in a rose-colored chariot, unfolding with her rosy fingers the portals of the east, pouring reviving dew upon the earth, and re-animating plants and flowers. _harbinger_, a forerunner. _portals_, gates, doors of entrance. _reanimating_, invigorating with new life. what remarkable phenomenon is afforded to the inhabitants of the polar regions? the aurora borealis, or northern lights, a luminous appearance in the northern parts of the heavens, seen mostly during winter, or in frosty weather, and clear evenings; it assumes a variety of forms and hues, especially in the polar regions, where it appears in its perfection, and proves a great solace to the inhabitants amidst the gloom of their long winter's night, which lasts from one to six months, while the summer's day which succeeds it lasts in like manner for the same period of time. of what nature is the aurora borealis? it is decidedly an electrical phenomenon which takes place in the higher regions of the atmosphere. it is somehow connected with the magnetic poles of the earth; and generally appears in form of a luminous arch, from east to west, but never from north to south. _phenomenon_, an extraordinary appearance. the word is from a greek one, signifying, to show or appear. _magnetic_, belonging to the magnet, or loadstone. _luminous_, bright, shining. in what country is it seen constantly from october to christmas? in siberia, where it is remarkably bright. on the western coast of hudson's bay, the sun no sooner disappears, than the aurora borealis diffuses a thousand different lights and colors with such dazzling beauty, that even the full moon cannot eclipse it. chapter ii. corn, barley, pearl barley, oats, rye, potatoes, tea, coffee, and chocolate. what is corn? corn signifies a race of plants which produce grain in an ear or head, fit for bread, the food of man; or the grain or seed of the plant, separated from the ear. what is generally meant by corn? in this country, maize, or indian corn, is generally meant; but, in a more comprehensive sense, the term is applied to several other kinds of grain, such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, &c. where was corn first used? it is uncertain. the athenians pretend that it was amongst them it was first used; the cretans, sicilians, and egyptians also lay claim to the same. from the accounts in the bible, we find that its culture engaged a large share of the attention of the ancient hebrews. _culture_, growth, cultivation. _hebrews_, the children of israel, the jews who were the athenians? inhabitants of athens, the capital city of greece. who were the cretans? the inhabitants of crete, an island of the archipelago. who were the sicilians? inhabitants of sicily, the largest island of the mediterranean sea, now a part of italy, and separated from the mainland by the strait of messina. where do the egyptians dwell? in egypt, a country of africa. it is extremely fertile, producing great quantities of corn. in ancient times it was called the dry nurse of rome and italy, from its furnishing with corn a considerable part of the roman empire; and we are informed, both from sacred and profane history, that it was anciently the most fertile in corn of all countries of the world. the corn of syria has always been very superior, and by many classed above that of egypt. for what is barley generally used? it is very extensively used for making malt, from which are prepared beer, ale, porter, &c.; in scotland it is a common ingredient in broths, for which reason its consumption is very considerable, barley broth being a dish very frequent there. _ingredient_, a separate part of a body consisting of different materials. what is pearl barley? barley freed from the husk by a mill. what are oats? a valuable grain, serving as food for horses. oats are also eaten by the inhabitants of many countries, after being ground into meal and made into oat cakes. oatmeal also forms a wholesome drink for invalids, by steeping it in boiling water. what are the uses of rye? in this and some other countries it is much used for bread, either alone or mixed with wheat; in england principally as food for cattle, especially for sheep and lambs, when other food is scarce in winter. rye yields a strong spirit when distilled. _distilled_, subjected to distillation--the operation of extracting spirit from a substance by evaporation and condensation. of what country is the potato a native? potatoes grew wild in peru, a country of south america; whence they were transplanted to other parts of the american continent, and afterwards to europe. the honor of introducing this useful vegetable into england is divided between sir francis drake, in , and sir walter raleigh, in , some ascribing it to the former, and others to the latter. it is certain they were obtained from virginia in the time of raleigh; they were cultivated only in the gardens of the nobility, and were reckoned a great delicacy. they now constitute a principal article of food in most of the countries of europe and america; in ireland, they have long furnished nearly four-fifths of the entire food of the people. what part of the plant is eaten? the root, which, when roasted or boiled, affords a wholesome and agreeable meal. what is tea? the leaves of an evergreen shrub, a native of china and japan, in which countries alone it is extensively cultivated for use. the tea-plant was at one time introduced into south carolina, where its culture appears to have been attended with but little success. it may yet become a staple production of some portions of the united states. _evergreen_, retaining its leaves fresh and green through all seasons. how is it prepared for use? by carefully gathering the leaves, one by one, while they are yet small, young, and juicy. they are then spread on large flat iron pans, and placed over small furnaces, when they are constantly shifted by the hand till they become too hot to be borne. what is next done? they are then removed with a kind of shovel resembling a fan, and poured on mats, whence they are taken in small quantities, and rolled in the palm of the hand always in one direction, until they cool and retain the curl. how often is this operation repeated? two or three times, the furnace each time being made less hot. the tea is then placed in the store-houses, or packed in chests, and sent to most of the countries in europe and america. describe the appearance of the tea-tree. the tea-tree when arrived at its full growth, which it does in about seven years, is about a man's height; the green leaves are narrow, and jagged all round; the flower resembles that of the wild rose, but is smaller. the shrub loves to grow in valleys, at the foot of mountains, and on the banks of rivers where it enjoys a southern exposure to the sun; though it endures considerable variation of heat and cold, as it flourishes in the northern clime of pekin, where the winter is often severe; and also about canton, where the heat is sometimes very great. the best tea, however, grows in a temperate climate, the country about nankin producing better tea than either pekin or canton, between which two places it is situated. what produces the difference between green and bohea, or black? there are varieties of the plant, and the difference of the tea arises from the mode of preparation. what nation first introduced it into europe? the dutch in ; it was introduced into england in what is coffee? the berry of the coffee-tree, a native of arabia. the coffee-tree is an evergreen, and makes a beautiful appearance at all times of the year, but especially when in flower, and when the berries are red, which is usually during the winter. it is also cultivated in persia, the east indies, liberia on the coast of africa, the west indies, brazil and other parts of south america, as well as in most tropical climates. _tropical_, being within the tropics, that is, in the torrid zone. who was the original discoverer of coffee, for the drink of man? it is not exactly known: the earliest written accounts of the use of coffee are by arabian writers in the th century; it appears that in the city of aden it became, in the latter half of that century, a very popular drink, first with lawyers, studious persons, and those whose occupation required wakefulness at night, and soon after, with all classes. its use gradually extended to other cities, and to those on the eastern shores of the mediterranean. towards the end of the seventeenth century, it was carried to batavia where it was soon extensively planted, and at last young trees were sent to the botanical garden at amsterdam. who introduced it into france and england? thevenot, the traveller, brought it into france, and a greek servant named pasqua (taken to england by mr. daniel edwards, a turkey merchant, in , to make his coffee,) first set up the profession of coffee-man, and introduced the drink among the english. how is it prepared? the berries are roasted in a revolving metallic cylinder, till they are of a deep brown color, and then ground to powder, and boiled. _metallic_, consisting of metal. what is chocolate? a kind of cake or paste, made of the kernel of the cacao-nut. describe the cacao-nut tree. it resembles the cherry tree, and grows to the height of fifteen or sixteen feet. the cacao-nut tree bears leaves, flowers, and fruit, all the year through. where does it grow? in tropical regions, where it is largely cultivated. of what form is the fruit? it is somewhat like a cucumber, about three inches round, and of a yellowish red color. it contains from ten to forty seeds, each covered with a little rind, of a violet color; when this is stripped off, the kernel, of which they make the chocolate, is visible. how do they make it into a drink? by boiling it with water or milk. there are various newly-invented ways of preparing chocolate, so that it may be made in a few minutes, by only pouring boiling water upon it. chapter iii. calico, cotton, cloth, wool, baize, linen, flax, hemp, diaper, holland, canvas, and flannel. what is calico? a kind of printed cotton cloth, of different colors. from what place did it take its name? from calicut, a city on the coast of malabar, where it was first made; much is now manufactured in the united states, england, and many other countries. what is cotton? a downy or woolly substance, enclosed in the pod, or seed-vessel, of the cotton-plant. the commercial classification of cotton is determined-- , by cleanliness or freedom from sand, dry leaf, and other impurities; , by absence of color; both subject also to character of staple, length, and strength and fineness of fibre. these together determine relative value. there are two general classifications, long-stapled and short-stapled. of the former the best is the sea island cotton of the united states. the _short staple cotton_, grows in the middle and upper country; the long staple is cultivated in the lower country near the sea, and on the islands near the coasts. how is it cultivated? the seeds are sown in ridges made with the plough or hoe; when the plants are mature, the pods open, and the cotton is picked from them. where did cotton anciently grow, and for what was it used? in egypt, where it was used by the priests and sacrificers, for a very singular kind of garment worn by them alone. in what manufacture is it now used? it is woven into muslins, dimities, cloths, calicoes, &c.; and is also joined with silks and flax, in the composition of other stuffs, and in working with the needle. how is the cotton separated from the seed? by machines called _cotton gins_, of which there are two kinds; the _roller-gin_, and the _saw-gin_. in the former, the cotton, just as gathered from the plant, is drawn between two rollers, placed so closely together as to permit the passage of the cotton, but not of the seeds, which are consequently left behind. in the _saw-gin_, the cotton is placed in a receiver, one side of which consists of a grating of parallel wires, about an eighth of an inch apart; circular saws, revolving on a common axis between these wires, entangle in their teeth the cotton, and draw it from the seeds, which are too large to pass between the wires. how is it made into calico, &c.? the cotton having been separated from the seed, is spun by a machine for the purpose. it is next woven, then dressed, and printed. what is cloth? the word, in its general sense, includes all kinds of stuffs woven in the loom, whether the threads be of wool, cotton, hemp, or flax. to what is it more particularly applied? to a web or tissue of woollen threads. _web_, any thing woven. what is wool? the covering or hair of sheep. to prepare it for the weaver, it is first shorn, washed, and dried, then carded or combed by machinery into fibres or threads: formerly this was always performed by the hand, by means of an instrument, called a comb, with several rows of pointed teeth; this, though not much used now, is still occasionally employed, except in large factories. this combing is repeated two or three times, till it is sufficiently smooth and even for spinning. spinning or converting wool, or cotton, silk, &c. into thread, was anciently performed by the distaff and spindle: these we find mentioned in sacred history, and they have been used in all ages, and in all countries yet discovered. the natives of india, and of some other parts of the world, still employ this simple invention. what was the next improvement? the invention of the hand-wheel. in , a machine called the spinning-jenny was invented by a weaver named hargreaves; but the greatest improvement in the art of spinning was effected by mr. arkwright, in : these two inventions were combined, and again improved upon in ; so that by the new plan, the material can be converted into thread in a considerably shorter space of time than in the ancient mode; leaving to man merely to feed the machine, and join the threads when they break. the sheep, whose wool forms the material for nearly all woollen clothing, came originally from africa. does weaving differ according to the material used? the principle of weaving is the same in every kind of fabric, and consists in forming any kind of thread into a flat web, or cloth, by interlacing one thread with another; the various appearances of the manufacture arise as much from the modes in which the threads are interwoven, as from the difference of material. is not the employment of wool in the manufacture of clothing of great antiquity? in the earliest records we possess of the arts of mankind, wool is mentioned as forming a chief article in the manufacture of clothing; it is spoken of in the bible, as a common material for cloth, as early as the time of moses. the ancient greeks and romans are well known to have possessed this art. at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the manufacture was established in many parts of europe, particularly in spain, from which country it extended itself to france and italy. there is no doubt that it was introduced into england by its conquerors the romans, a manufactory being established at winchester, sufficiently large to supply the roman army. _manufactory_, a place where things are made or manufactured; derived from the latin _manus_, a hand, and the verb _facio_, to do or make. what circumstance contributed to the progress of this manufacture among the english? in , the english, being desirous of improving their woollen manufacture, invited over the flemings, by the offer of various privileges, to establish manufactories there. the skill of these people soon effected a great improvement in the english fabrics, so that there no longer remained any occasion for the exportation of english wool into flanders, to be manufactured into fine cloth; and a law was passed by the government to forbid it. both the cotton and woollen manufactures have, of late years, arisen to great importance in the united states. what country affords the best wool? the wool of germany is most esteemed at the present day: that of spain was formerly the most valuable, but the spanish breed of sheep, having been introduced into germany, succeeded better there than in spain, and increased so rapidly, that the spanish wool trade has greatly diminished. australia is one of the principal wool-growing countries in the world, for the breed of sheep sent out to that country and tasmania has succeeded remarkably well. what part of the world is meant by australia? a british island in the south pacific ocean, comprising the colonies of queensland, new south wales, victoria, south australia, and western australia. it is the principal of the group of large islands, in the oriental archipelago. tasmania is another of the same group, separated from new south wales by a channel called bass's strait, and also belongs to great britain. what is meant by an archipelago? a part of a sea studded with numerous islands; but the term is more particularly applied to that lying between europe and asia, which contains the greek islands. the word is a corruption from the greek, signifying the Ægean sea. is the wool of the sheep all of one quality? no; it varies according to the species of sheep, the soil on which they are fed, and the part of the animal from which it is taken: the chief distinction is between the long and the short wool; the long wool is employed in the manufacture of carpets, crapes, blankets, &c.; and the finer and shorter sorts for hosiery, broadcloths &c. where were carpets originally made? carpets are of oriental origin, and are made of different sorts of stuffs; they are woven in a variety of ways. persian and turkey carpets are most esteemed; they are woven in a piece, in looms of a very simple construction. formerly the manufacture of these carpets was confined to persia and turkey; but they are now successfully made, both in europe and the united states, &c. great britain is the principal seat of the carpet manufacture of the world. brussels, wilton, and kidderminster carpets derive their names from the places where they were invented. is not the art of weaving very ancient? it appears to have been known from a period as early as the time of abraham and jacob; its inventor is not known, but it is possible that men took a lesson from the ingenious spider, which weaves its web after the same manner. the ancient egyptians appear to have brought it to great perfection, and were even acquainted with the art of interweaving colors after the manner of the scottish plaid. what is baize? a coarse, open, woollen stuff, with a long nap. it is chiefly made in the united states, england, france, &c. what is linen? there are various kinds of linen, made from cotton, flax, and hemp; but the term is chiefly applied to that woven with the two last mentioned. linen means cloth of flax; hence its derivation from the latin word _linum_, flax. what is flax? an annual plant, the fibres of which are beaten into threads, spun, and afterwards woven into linen; it is extensively cultivated in the united states, russia, and some other countries of europe. hemp is a plant of a similar nature, equally used with flax, in the manufacture of linens. russian hemp is cultivated to a larger extent than that of any other country, and is considered the best that is grown. how long has the use of hemp and flax been known? those plants are said to be natives of persia, and introduced from some parts of the east into europe, over which it is now widely distributed: it existed both in a wild and cultivated state, in some parts of russia, as early as five centuries before christ these products form a considerable article of exportation, besides the quantity used in russia itself; a considerable part is wrought into linens, diapers, canvas, and other manufactures; and even the seeds are exported, both in their natural state and as oil. in various parts of russia, hemp-seed oil and flax-seed (or linseed) oil are prepared in very large quantities. what is diaper? a sort of linen cloth, woven in flowers, and other figures; it is said to have received its name from d'iper, now ypres, a town of belgium, situated on a river of the same name, where it was first made. what is holland? a fine, close, even, linen cloth, used for sheets, &c. it obtained its name from being principally made in holland. what is canvas? a hempen cloth, so loosely woven as to leave interstices between the threads, in little squares. it is used for working in patterns upon it with wools, &c.; by painters for a ground work on which they draw their pictures; for tents, sails, and many other purposes. there are several sorts, varying in the fineness of their texture. what is damask? a sort of silken stuff, having some parts raised on its surface to represent flowers or figures. it took its name from damascus, in syria, whence it was first brought. is there not another sort of damask? yes, made from linen; and so called because its large flowers resemble those of damask roses. it was first made in flanders, and is used for table linen, &c. what is flannel? a slight, loose, woollen stuff, used for warm clothing; it was originally made in wales, where it still continues to be manufactured in great perfection. chapter iv. cocoa, toddy, cherries, bark, cork, cochineal, cloves, cinnamon, and cassia. of what form is the tree which bears those large nuts, called cocoa nuts? it is tall and straight, without branches, and generally about thirty or forty feet high; at the top are twelve leaves, ten feet long, and half a foot broad; above the leaves, grows a large excrescence in the form of a cabbage, excellent to eat, but taking it off kills the tree. the cocoa is a species of palm. is not the indian liquor called toddy, produced from the cocoa tree? yes, between the leaves and the top arise several shoots about the thickness of a man's arm, which, when cut, distil a white, sweet, and agreeable liquor; while this liquor exudes, the tree yields no fruit; but when the shoots are allowed to grow, it puts out a large cluster or branch, on which the cocoa nuts hang, to the number of ten or twelve. _distil_, to let fall in drops. _exude_, to force or throw out. [illustration: the cathedral of milan, italy.] how often does this tree produce nuts? three times a year, the nuts being about the size of a man's head, and of an oval form. of what countries is it a native? of asia, the indies, africa, arabia, the islands of the southern pacific, and the hottest parts of america. what are the uses of this tree? the leaves of the tree are made into baskets; they are also used for thatching houses: the fibrous bark of the nut, and the trunk of the tree, are made into cordage, sails, and cloth; the shell, into drinking bowls and cups; the kernel affords a wholesome food, and the milk contained in the shell, a cooling liquor. from what country was the cherry tree first brought? from cerasus, a city of pontus, in asia, on the southern borders of the black sea; from which place this tree was brought to rome, in the year of that city , by lucullus; it was conveyed, a hundred and twenty-eight years after, into great britain, a.d. . what is the meaning of a.d.? a short way of writing anno domini, latin words for _in the year of our lord_. who was lucullus? a renowned roman general. is the wood of the cherry tree useful? it is used in cabinet-making, for boxes, and other articles. what is bark? the exterior part of trees, which serves them as a skin or covering. _exterior_, the outside. does it not undergo some change during the year? each year the bark of a tree divides, and distributes itself two contrary ways, the outer part gives towards the skin, till it becomes skin itself, and at length falls off; the inner part is added to the wood. the bark is to the body of a tree, what the skin of our body is to the flesh. of what use is bark? bark is useful for many things: of the bark of willows and linden trees, ropes are sometimes made. the siamese make their cordage of the cocoa tree bark, as do most of the asiatic and african nations; in the east indies, they make the bark of a certain tree into a kind of cloth; some are used in medicines, as the peruvian bark for quinine; others in dyeing, as that of the alder; others in spicery, as cinnamon, &c.; the bark of oak, in tanning; that of a kind of birch is used by the indians for making canoes. what are canoes? boats used by savages; they are made chiefly of the trunks of trees dug hollow; and sometimes of pieces of bark fastened together. how do the savages guide them? with paddles, or oars; they seldom carry sails, and the loading is laid in the bottom. are not the savages very dexterous in the management of them? yes, extremely so; they strike the paddles with such regularity, that the canoes seem to fly along the surface of the water; at the same time balancing the vessels with their bodies, to prevent their overturning. _dexterous_, expert, nimble. do they leave their canoes in the water on their return from a voyage? no, they draw them ashore, hang them up by the two ends, and leave them to dry; they are generally so light as to be easily carried from place to place. were not books once made of bark? yes, the ancients wrote their books on the barks of many trees, as on those of the ash and the lime tree, &c. which part did they use? not the exterior or outer bark, but the inner and finer, which is of so durable a texture, that there are manuscripts written on it which are still extant, though more than a thousand years old. is it not also used in manure? yes, especially that of the oak; but the best oak bark is used in tanning. what is cork? the thick, spongy, external bark of the cork tree, a species of oak. there are two varieties of this tree, the broad-leaved and the narrow: it is an evergreen, and grows to the height of thirty feet. the cork tree attains to a very great age. where is the tree found? in spain, italy, france, and many other countries. the true cork is the produce of the broad-leaved tree. what are its uses? cork is employed in various ways, but especially for stopping vessels containing liquids, and, on account of its buoyancy in water, in the construction of life boats. it is also used in the manufacture of life preservers and cork jackets. the greatest quantities are brought from catalonia, in spain. the uses of cork were well known to the ancients. to what particular use did the egyptians put it? they made coffins of it, lined with a resinous composition, which preserved the bodies of the dead uncorrupted. what is cochineal? a drug used by the dyers, for dyeing crimsons and scarlets; and for making carmine, a brilliant red used in painting, and several of the arts. is it a plant? no, it is an insect. the form of the cochineal is oval; it is about the size of a small pea, and has six legs armed with claws, and a trunk by which it sucks its nourishment. what is its habitation? it breeds in a fruit resembling a pear; the plant which bears it is about five or six feet high; at the top of the fruit grows a red flower, which when full blown, falls upon it; the fruit then appears full of little red insects, having very small wings. these are the cochineals. how are they caught? by spreading a cloth under the plant, and shaking it with poles, till the insects quit it and fly about, which they cannot do many minutes, but soon tumble down dead into the cloth; where they are left till quite dry. does the insect change its color when it is dead? when the insect flies, it is red; when it is fallen, black; and when first dried, it is greyish; it afterwards changes to a purplish grey, powdered over with a kind of white dust. from what countries is the cochineal brought? from the west indies, jamaica, mexico, and other parts of america. what are cloves? the dried flower-buds of the clove tree, anciently a native of the moluccas; but afterwards transplanted by the dutch (who traded in them,) to other islands, particularly that of ternate. it is now found in most of the east indian islands. describe the clove tree. it is a large handsome tree of the myrtle kind; its leaves resemble those of the laurel. though the clove tree is cultivated to a great extent, yet, so easily does the fruit on falling take root, that it thus multiplies itself, in many instances, without the trouble of culture. the clove when it first begins to appear is white, then green, and at last hard and red; when dried, it turns yellow, and then dark brown. what are its qualities? the clove is the hottest, and most acrid of aromatic substances; one of our most wholesome spices, and of great use in medicine; it also yields an abundance of oil, which is much used by perfumers, and in medicine. _acrid_, of a hot, biting taste. _aromatic_, fragrant, having an agreeable odor. what is cinnamon? an agreeable, aromatic spice, the bark of a tree of the laurel kind; the cinnamon tree grows in the southern parts of india; but most abundantly in the island of ceylon, where it is extensively cultivated; its flowers are white, resembling those of the lilac in form, and are very fragrant; they are borne in large clusters. the tree sends up numerous shoots the third or fourth year after it has been planted; these shoots are planted out, when nearly an inch in thickness. how is the bark procured? by stripping it off from these shoots, after they have been cut down; the trees planted for the purpose of obtaining cinnamon, throw out a great number of branches, apparently from the same root, and are not allowed to rise higher than ten feet; but in its native uncultivated state, the cinnamon tree usually rises to the height of twenty or thirty feet. how is the cinnamon tree cultivated? by seed, sown during the rains; from shoots cut from large trees; and by transplanting old stumps. the cinnamon tree, in its wild state, is said to be propagated by means of a kind of pigeons, that feed on its fruit; in carrying which to their nests, the seeds fall out, and, dropping in various places, take root, spring up, and become trees. _propagated_, spread, extended, multiplied. what else is obtained from this tree? the bark, besides being used as a spice, yields an oil highly esteemed, both as a medicine and as a perfume; the fruit by boiling also produces an oil, used by the natives for burning in lamps; as soon as it hardens, it becomes a solid substance like wax, and is formed into candles. camphor is extracted from the root. cassia is cinnamon of an inferior kind. chapter v. bombazine, crape, camlet, cambric, lace, silk, velvet, and mohair. what is bombazine? a stuff composed of silk and wool woven together in a loom. it was first made at milan, and thence sent abroad; great quantities are now made in england and other countries. where is milan situated? in italy, and is noted for its cathedral. for what is bombazine used? for dresses. black bombazine is worn entirely for mourning. the original bombazine has, however, become much less used than formerly, on account of the numerous newly-invented fabrics of finer or coarser qualities, composed of the same materials mixed in various degrees, as mousselines de laine, challis, &c. what is crape? a light, transparent stuff, resembling gauze, made of raw silk very loosely woven, or of wool; by raw silk is meant, silk in the state in which it is taken from the silk worm. where was crape first made? at bologna, a city of italy. what city of france was long celebrated for its manufacture? lyons, the second city of france, where there are large silk manufactories. great quantities are also made in england, principally in the city of norwich, which has long been distinguished for the beauty of its crapes. what is camlet? a stuff made sometimes of wool, sometimes of silk and hair, especially that of goats. the oriental camlet is made of the pure hair of a sort of goat, a native of angora, a city of natolia, in turkey. the european camlets are made of a mixture of woollen thread and hair. what countries are most noted for them? england, france, holland, and flanders; the city of brussels, in belgium, exceeds them all in the beauty and quality of its camlets; those of england are the next. what is cambric? a species of linen made of flax; it is very fine and white. from whence did it take its name? from cambray, a large and celebrated city of french flanders, where it was first made; it is now made at other places in france; and also in england, scotland, ireland, the united states, &c. what is lace? a work composed of many threads of fine linen or silk, interwoven one with another according to some particular pattern. belgium, france, and england are the principal countries in which this manufacture is carried on; vast quantities of the finest laces were formerly made in flanders. from what is silk produced? from the silk-worm, an insect not more remarkable for the precious matter it furnishes, than for the many forms it assumes before and after it envelopes itself in the beautiful ball, the silken threads of which form the elegant texture which is so much worn. _texture_, a web or substance woven. what are the habits of this insect, and on what does it feed? after bursting from the egg, it becomes a large worm or caterpillar of a yellowish white color, (which is its first state;) this caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree, till, arriving at maturity, it winds itself up in a silken bag or case, called a cocoon, about the size and shape of a pigeon's egg, and becomes a chrysalis; in which state it lies without signs of life; in about ten days it eats its way out of its case, a perfect butterfly, which lays a number of eggs and then dies. in the warmth of the summer weather, these eggs are hatched, and become worms, as their parents did at first. _maturity_, ripeness, perfection how much silk is each ball said to contain? each ball consists of a very fine, soft, bright, delicate thread, which being wound off, extends in length six miles. what is meant by chrysalis? the second state into which the insect passes before it comes to be a butterfly. the maggot or worm having ceased to eat, fixes itself in some place till its skin separates, and discovers a horny, oblong body, which is the chrysalis. where was silk first made? the culture and manufacture of silk was originally confined to china. the greeks, under alexander the great, brought home, among other eastern luxuries, wrought silks from persia, about , b.c. it was not long unknown to the romans, although it was so rare, that it was even sold weight for weight with gold. the emperor aurelian, who died in , b.c. refused the empress, his wife, a suit of silk which she solicited with much earnestness, merely on account of its dearness. heliogabalus, the emperor, who died half a century before aurelian, was the first who wore a _holosericum_ or garment all of silk. who introduced the silk worm itself into europe? two monks, engaged as missionaries in china, obtained a quantity of silk worms' eggs, which they concealed in a hollow cane, and conveyed in safety to constantinople in ; the eggs were hatched in the proper season by the warmth of manure, and the worms fed with the leaves of the wild mulberry tree. these worms in due time spun their silk, and propagated under the care of the monks, who also instructed the romans in the whole process of manufacturing their production. from the insects thus produced, proceeded all the silk worms which have since been reared in europe, and the western parts of asia. the mulberry tree was then eagerly planted, and on this, their natural food, they were successfully reared in greece; and the manufacture was established at thebes, athens, and corinth, in particular. the venetians, soon after this time commencing a trade with the greeks, supplied all the western parts of europe with silks for many centuries. where were the cities of thebes and athens situated? thebes was an ancient city of beotia, in greece, founded by cadmus, a phenician, though of egyptian parentage. sailing from the coast of phenicia, he arrived in beotia, and built the city, calling it thebes, from the city of that name in egypt. to this prince is ascribed the invention of sixteen letters of the greek alphabet. athens was the capital of attica, founded by cecrops, an egyptian. it was the seat of learning and the arts, and has produced some of the most celebrated warriors, statesmen, orators, poets, and sculptors in the world. since the emancipation of greece from the cruel bondage of its conquerors the turks, who had oppressed it for three centuries, athens has been chosen as its capital, and is still a considerable town adorned with splendid ruins of the beautiful buildings it once possessed. thebes and corinth, another celebrated city, are now only villages. _warrior_, a soldier. _statesmen_, men versed in the arts of government. _orator_, a public speaker. _poet_, one who composes poetry. _sculptor_, one who cuts figures in stone, marble, or ivory. who were the venetians? inhabitants of venice, a city of italy. did this manufacture continue to be confined to the greeks and venetians? by no means. the rest of italy, and spain, by degrees learnt the art from some manufactories in sicily; and about the reign of francis the first, the french became masters of it. it, however, long remained a rarity; their king, henry the second, is supposed to have worn the first pair of knit silk stockings. the fourth henry encouraged the planting of mulberry trees; his successors also did the same, and the produce of silk in france is now very considerable. when was the manufacture of silk introduced into england? there was a company of silk women in england as early as the year ; but they probably were merely employed in needlework of silk and thread, for italy supplied england with the broad manufacture during the chief part of the fifteenth century. the great advantage this new manufacture afforded, made king james the first very desirous for its introduction into england, particularly in , when it was recommended, in very earnest terms, to plant mulberry trees for the rearing of silk worms; but unhappily without effect. however, towards the latter end of this reign, the broad silk manufacture was introduced, and with great success. the revocation of the edict of nantes contributed greatly to its promotion, by the number of french workmen who took refuge in england; to them the english are indebted for the art of manufacturing many elegant kinds of silks, satins, velvets, &c., which had formerly been imported from abroad up to the year . the silk manufacture has also been successfully introduced into some portions of the united states. _revocation_, act of recalling, repeal. _imported_, brought into. what was the edict of nantes? a law made in favor of the protestants, the repealing of which drove many of their most skilful workmen to take refuge in england. they were kindly received, and settled in spitalfields, and many other parts of england as well as ireland, where they carried on a flourishing and ingenious manufacture. were the attempts to rear silk worms in england successful? no; after many trials, all of which failed, attention was directed to the establishments for procuring both raw and wrought silks, in the settlements in india belonging to britain; this was attended with complete success, the climate being extremely favorable, and the price of labor cheap. raw silk is imported in quantities from india, china, italy, &c. how is the silk taken from the worm? the people who are employed in the care of these insects collect the golden balls from off the mulberry trees, (to the leaves of which the insects glue their silk) and put them into warm water, that the threads may unfasten and wind off more easily; having taken off the coarse woolly part which covers the balls, they take twelve or fourteen threads at a time, and wind them off into skeins. in order to prepare this beautiful material for the hand of the weaver to be wrought into silks, stuffs, brocades, satins, velvets, ribbons, &c., it is spun, reeled, milled, bleached, and dyed. _milled_, worked in a kind of mill. _bleached_, whitened. what is velvet? a rich kind of stuff, all silk, covered on the outside with a close, short, fine, soft shag; the wrong side being very strong and close. the principal number, and the best velvets, were made in france and italy; others in holland; they are now brought to great perfection in england. an inferior kind is made by mixing cotton with the silk. velvet has been known in europe for some centuries, but its manufacture was long confined to some of the chief cities of italy. from that country the french learned the art, and greatly improved it. whence is the word velvet derived? from the italian word _velluto_, signifying velvet, which comes from _vellus_, hair or fleece. what is mohair? the hair of a kind of goat, common about angora, in turkey. it is used in the manufacture of various kinds of stuffs, shawls, &c. is there not another animal much celebrated for the material it furnishes in the making of shawls? yes; the thibet goat. the wool is sent to cashmere, where it is spun and dyed. cashmere is situated in the north-west extremity of india, and has long been celebrated for the beautiful and valuable shawls bearing its name which are manufactured there. the goats are beautiful creatures, with long, fine, wavy hair, reaching nearly to the ground, so as almost to conceal their legs. the material of which the shawls are made is a fine silky down, which grows under the long hair, next to the skin. chapter vi. currants, raisins, figs, rice, sugar, sugar candy, &c., sago, millet, ginger, nutmeg, mace, pimento or allspice, pepper, and cayenne pepper. what are currants? a kind of small raisins or dried grapes. whence are they brought? from several islands of the archipelago, particularly zante and cephalonia; and from the isthmus of corinth, in greece. do they grow on bushes like our currants? no, on vines like other grapes, except that the leaves are somewhat thicker, and the grapes much smaller: they have no pips, and are of a deep red, or rather black color. when are they gathered, and how are they dried? they are gathered in august, and laid on the ground in heaps till dry; they are then cleaned, and put into magazines, from which they are taken and packed in barrels for exportation. what do you mean by exportation? the act of conveying goods for sale from one country to another. what are raisins? grapes prepared by drying them in the sun, or by the heat of an oven. raisins of damascus, so called from the capital city of syria, near which they are cultivated, are very large, flat, and wrinkled on the surface; soft and juicy inside, and nearly an inch long. raisins of the sun, or jar raisins, so called from being imported in jars, are all dried by the heat of the sun; they are of a reddish blue color, and are the produce of spain, whence the finest and best raisins are brought. there are several other sorts, named either from the place in which they grow, or the kind of grape of which they are made, as those of malaga, valencia, &c. in what manner are they dried? the common way of drying grapes for raisins, is to tie two or three bunches of them together while yet on the vine, and dip them into a lye made of hot wood-ashes, mixed with a little olive oil. this makes them shrink and wrinkle: after this they are cut from the branches which supported them, but left on the vine for three or four days, separated on sticks, in an upright position, to dry at leisure. different modes, however, are adopted, according to the quality of the grape. the commonest kinds are dried in hot ovens, but the best way is that in which the grapes are cut when fully ripe, and dried by the heat of the sun, on a floor of hard earth or stone. _lye_, a liquor made from wood-ashes; of great use in medicine, bleaching, sugar works, &c. what are figs? a soft, luscious fruit, the produce of the fig-tree. the best figs are brought from turkey, but they are also imported from italy, spain, and the southern part of france. the islands of the archipelago yield an inferior sort in great abundance. in this country they are sometimes planted in a warm situation in gardens, but, being difficult to ripen, they do not arrive at perfection. the figs sent from abroad are dried by the heat of the sun, or in furnaces for the purpose. _luscious_, sweet to excess, cloying. what is rice? a useful and nutritious grain, cultivated in immense quantities in india, china, and most eastern countries; in the west indies, central america, and the united states; and in southern europe. it forms the principal food of the people of eastern and southern asia, and is more extensively consumed than any other species of grain, not even excepting wheat. _nutritious_, wholesome, good for food. does it not require a great deal of moisture? yes, it is usually planted in moist soils, and near rivers, where the ground can be overflowed after it is come up. the chinese water their rice-fields by means of movable mills, placed as occasion requires, upon any part of the banks of a river; the water is raised in buckets to a proper height, and afterwards conveyed in channels to the destined places. what is sugar? a sweet, agreeable substance, manufactured chiefly from the sugar cane,[ ] a native of the east and west indies, south america and the south sea islands; it is much cultivated in all tropical countries. the earliest authentic accounts of sugar, are about the time of the crusades,[ ] when it appears to have been purchased from the saracens, and imported into europe. [footnote : most of the sugar in europe is made from beets.] [footnote : see chapter xvii., article navigation.] _authentic_, true, certain. _crusades_, holy wars. _saracens_, turks or arabs. how is it prepared? the canes are crushed between large rollers in a mill, and the juice collected into a large vessel placed to receive it; it is then boiled, and placed in pans to cool, when it becomes imperfectly crystallized, in which state we use it. this is called raw or soft sugar: loaf sugar, or the hard white sugar, is the raw brown sugar, prepared by refining it till all foreign matter is removed. is the sugar cane the only vegetable that produces sugar? all vegetables contain more or less sugar, but the plant in which it most abounds is the sugar-cane. in the united states, a large quantity of sugar is prepared from the sap of the sugar maple tree. the trees are tapped at the proper season by a cut being made in the bark, and the juice runs into a vessel placed to receive it; it is then prepared in the same manner as the juice of the sugar cane. what is sugar candy? sugar purified and crystallized. what is barley sugar? sugar boiled till it is brittle, and cast on a stone anointed with oil of sweet almonds, and then formed into twisted sticks. what is sago? a substance prepared from the pith of the sago palm, which grows naturally in various parts of africa and the indies. the pith, which is even eatable in its natural state, is taken from the trunk of the tree, and thrown into a vessel placed over a horse-hair sieve; water is then thrown over the mass, and the finer parts of the pith pass through the sieve; the liquor thus obtained is left to settle. the clear liquor is then drawn off, and what remains is formed into grains by being passed through metal dishes, with numerous small holes; it is next dried by the action of heat, and in this state it is exported. the sago palm also produces sugar. what is millet, and in what countries does it grow? millet is an esculent grain, originally brought from the eastern countries. it is cultivated in many parts of europe, but most extensively in egypt, syria, china, and hindostan, whence we are furnished with it, it being rarely cultivated among us, except as a curiosity. _esculent_, good for food. for what is millet used? it is in great request amongst the germans for puddings; for which it is sometimes used amongst us. the italians make loaves and cakes of it. what is ginger? the root of a plant cultivated in the east and west indies, and in america; it is a native of south-eastern asia and the adjoining islands. describe its nature and use. it is a warm aromatic, much used in medicine and cookery. the indians eat the root when green as a salad, chopping it small with other herbs; they also make a candy of it with sugar. the ginger sold in the shops here is dried, which is done by placing the roots in the heat of the sun or in ovens, after being dug out of the ground. quantities not only of the dried root, but also of the candied sugar, are imported. what are nutmegs? a delicate aromatic fruit or spice, brought from the east indies. the nutmeg tree greatly resembles our pear tree, and produces a kind of nut, which bears the same name as the tree. [illustration: glass blowing at the glass-works, pittsburgh, pa.] what is the appearance of the nutmeg? its form is round, and its smell agreeable. the nutmeg is inclosed in four different covers; the first, a thick fleshy coat, (like our walnut,) which opens of itself when ripe; under this lies a thin reddish network, of an agreeable smell and aromatic taste, called mace; this wraps up the shell, which opens as the fruit grows. the shell is the third cover, which is hard, thin, and blackish; under this is a greenish film of no use; and in the last you find the nutmeg, which is the kernel of the fruit. what are its uses? the nutmeg is much used in our food, and is of excellent virtue as a medicine. it also yields an oil of great fragrance. is the mace used as a spice? yes, it is separated from the shell of the nutmeg, and dried in the sun. it is brought over in flakes of a yellow color, smooth and net-like, as you see it in the shops. its taste is warm, bitterish, and rather pungent; its smell, aromatic. it is used both in food and medicine, as the nutmeg, and also yields an oil. _pungent_, of a hot, biting taste. what is pimento or allspice? the dried unripe berry or fruit of a tree growing in great abundance in jamaica, particularly on the northern side of that island, on hilly spots, near the coast; it is also a native of both indies. the pimento tree is a west indian species of myrtle; it grows to the height of twenty or thirty feet; the leaves are all of a deep, shining green, and the blossom consists of numerous branches of small, white, aromatic flowers, which render its appearance very striking; there is scarcely in the vegetable world any tree more beautiful than a young pimento about the month of july, when it is in full bloom. when is the time to gather the spice? about the month of september, not long after the blossoms are fallen, the berries are gathered by the hand; one laborer on the tree, employed in gathering the small branches, will give employment to three below (who are generally women and children) in picking the berries. they are then spread out thinly, and exposed to the sun at its rising and setting for some days; when they begin to dry, they are frequently winnowed, and laid on cloths to preserve them better from rain and dew; by this management they become wrinkled, and change from green to a deep reddish brown color. great quantities are annually imported. what are its uses? it forms a pleasant addition to flavor food; it also yields an agreeable essential oil, and is accounted the best and mildest of common spices. _essential_, pure; extracted so as to contain all the virtues of the spice in a very small compass. why is it called allspice? because it has been supposed to combine the flavor of cloves, nutmegs, and cinnamon; the french call it _round clove_, from its round shape, and the taste being somewhat like that spice. what is pepper? the product of a creeping shrub, growing in several parts of the east indies, asia, and america. in what manner does pepper grow, and what part of the shrub is used? pepper is the fruit of this shrub, and grows in bunches or clusters, at first green; as it ripens it becomes reddish, until having been exposed for some time to the heat of the sun, (or probably gathered before perfectly ripe,) it becomes black, as in the condition we have it. there are two sorts, the black and the white. what is the white pepper? the white pepper is merely the black deprived of its outside skin. for this purpose the finest red berries are selected, and put in baskets to steep, either in running water, or in pits dug for the purpose, near the banks of rivers. sometimes they are only buried in the ground. in any of these situations, they swell and burst their skins, from which, when dry, they are carefully separated by rubbing between the hands, or fanning. what is cayenne pepper? the dried fruit of a plant called bird pepper, a native of both indies. it is more pungent than the other sorts. chapter vii. glass, mirrors, earthenware, porcelain, needles, pins, paper, printing, parchment, and vellum. what is glass? a transparent, solid, brittle, factitious body, produced by fusing sand with an alkali. the essential ingredients of glass are silex and potash, or soda; a few other substances are sometimes added. silex is found nearly pure in rock crystal, flint, and other varieties of quartz; for the manufacture of the better kinds of glass in this country, it is generally obtained from sand, especially the white sand of new jersey. _factitious_, made by art, not found in a state of nature. what is potash? the saline matter obtained from the ashes of wood, by causing water to pass through them; the water imbibes the salt, which is then obtained from it by evaporation. when purified by calcination, it is termed pearlash. in countries where there are vast forests, as in america and russia, it is manufactured on a very large scale. what can you say of the origin of glass? the period of its invention is quite unknown. pliny relates that some merchants, driven by a storm to the coast of phenicia, near the river belus, made a large fire on the sand to dress some food, using as fuel some of the plant kali, which grew there in great abundance; an imperfect glass was thus formed by the melting of the sand and ashes together. this production was picked up by a syrian merchant, who, attracted by its great beauty, examined the cause of its origin, and, after many attempts, succeeded in its manufacture. who was pliny? a celebrated roman naturalist and historian. at what place was glass first made? some authors mention sidon in syria, which became famous for glass and glass-houses; but others maintain that the first glass-houses noticed in history were built at tyre; which, they add, was the only place where glass was made for many ages. it is certain that the art was known to the egyptians. what is phenicia? a sub-division of syria in asia. what is an author? a person who writes a book. what is signified by a glass-house? a building erected for the making and working of glass. what countries had glass windows first? italy, then france and england; they began to be common about the year . in what year, and where, was the making of glass bottles begun? in , in london. the first glass plates for mirrors and coach-windows were made at lambeth, in . what is a mirror? a body which exhibits the images of objects presented to it by reflection. the word mirror is more peculiarly used to signify a smooth surface of glass, tinned and quicksilvered at the back,[ ] which reflects the images of objects placed before it. [footnote : see chapter xii., article mercury.] are they a modern invention? the use of mirrors is very ancient; mention is made of brazen mirrors or looking-glasses in exodus, the th chapter and th verse. some modern commentators will not admit the mirrors themselves to have been of brass, but of glass set or framed in brass; but the most learned among the jewish rabbins say that in those times the mirrors made use of by the hebrew women in dressing their heads were of metal, and that the devout women mentioned in this passage made presents to moses of all their mirrors to make the brazen laver for the tabernacle. it might likewise be proved that the ancient greeks made use of brazen mirrors, from many passages in the ancient poets. _commentators_, explainers of passages in the bible, &c. _rabbins_, doctors among the jews, their learned men or teachers. what nation invented the large looking-glass plates now in use? the french. what city of italy excelled all europe for many years in the making of fine glass? venice. the manufacture of fine glass was first introduced into england by venetian artists in . of what is earthenware composed? of clay, and those earths which are capable of being kneaded into a paste easily receiving any form, and acquiring solidity by exposure to fire: sand, chalk, and flint are likewise mixed with clay. in what manner is it formed into such a variety of shapes? the flint or sand, and soft clay, are mixed together in various proportions for the different kinds of ware; this paste is afterwards beaten till it becomes fit for being formed at the wheel into plates, dishes, basins, &c. these are then put into a furnace and baked; after which they are glazed. what nation so greatly excelled in the manufacture of a beautiful species of earthenware? the chinese,--who, as far as can be ascertained, were its inventors. porcelain is a fine sort of earthenware, chiefly made in china, whence it was called china or china-ware; it is also brought from many parts of the east, especially from japan, siam, surat, and persia. the art of making porcelain was one of those in which europe had been excelled by oriental nations; but for many years past earthenwares have been made in different parts of europe, so like the oriental, that they have acquired the name of porcelain. the first european porcelains were made in saxony and france, and afterwards in england, germany, and italy, all of which differed from those of japan and china, but each possessing its peculiar character. they are now brought to great perfection in europe, particularly in england, france and prussia. before the invention of earthenware, what supplied its place to the early inhabitants of the world? the more civilized the inhabitants of any country became, the more they would perceive the convenience of possessing vessels of various descriptions for holding or preparing their food; some of the objects which first presented themselves would be the larger kinds of shells; and, in hot climates, the hard coverings of the cocoa-nut or gourd. in some cases the skins of beasts were used, as they still are in the east, where they are sewed together, and formed into a kind of bottle to hold milk, wine, &c.; but the people of colder climates would not be able to avail themselves of these natural productions, and would be obliged to make use of other substances. what, then, would they employ? clay, which in many countries is found in great abundance, from its adhesive property, and its retaining its form when dry, and becoming insoluble in water after having been baked in the fire, would naturally attract the attention of an improving people: from this it arises that the early remains of culinary and other vessels which have been discovered have been formed of this material. among the remains of ancient egypt, numerous vessels have been found formed of common clay baked in the fire; and, though of rude workmanship, extremely elegant in form. _adhesive_, sticky; apt or tending to adhere. _insoluble_, not capable of being dissolved. _culinary_, belonging to cooking or domestic purposes. of what are needles made? of steel; and though exceedingly cheap, they go through a great number of operations before they are brought to perfection. it was in the reign of queen elizabeth that the english learnt the art of making needles. of what are pins made? of brass wire, blanched with tin. they are manufactured in england, france, the united states, and other countries. though there is scarcely any commodity cheaper than pins, there is no other which passes through the hands of a greater number of workmen; more than twenty persons being successively employed in the manufacture of each, from the drawing of the brass wire to the sticking of the pin in the paper. pins are supposed to have been made in england about , or even earlier. before this art was invented, the ladies made use of wooden skewers. _blanched_, whitened. of what is paper made? of linen and cotton rags beaten to a pulp in water; also from straw, wood, and many plants. what materials were used for writing, before the invention of paper? various were the materials on which mankind in different ages and countries contrived to write: stones, bricks, the leaves of herbs and trees, and their rinds or barks; tablets of wood, wax, and ivory; plates of lead, silk, linen rolls, &c. at length the egyptian paper made of the papyrus, was invented; then parchment; and lastly, paper manufactured of cotton or linen rags. there are few sorts of plants which have not at some time been used for paper and books. in ceylon, for instance, the leaves of the talipot; in india, the leaves of the palm (with which they commonly covered their houses,) were used for books. in the east indies, the leaves of the plantain tree, dried in the sun, were used for the same purpose. in china, paper is made of the inner bark of the mulberry, the bamboo, the elm, the cotton, and other trees. what is papyrus? a large rush, chiefly growing in egypt, on the banks of the nile. the ancient egyptians made sails, ropes, mats, blankets, and canvas, of the stalks and fibres of the papyrus. their priests also wore shoes made of it; and even sugar was extracted from this plant. moses, the deliverer raised by god to rescue the israelites from the bondage of egypt, was exposed to the nile in a basket of papyrus. the plant is now, however, exceedingly scarce. where was the first paper mill erected in england? at dartford, by a german named spilman, in . the only sort made, however, was the coarse brown; and it was not till , when the french protestant refugees settled in england, that their own paper-makers began to make white writing and printing paper. the manufacture has been brought to great perfection, both for beauty and substance, in england and the united states. _protestant_, a name given in germany to those who adhered to the doctrines of the apostate monk, martin luther, because they protested against a decree of charles v. and applied to a general council. _refugee_, from refuge, a place of safety from danger; an asylum. here it more particularly means those french protestants who quit their homes and sought other countries, after the revocation of the edict of nantes, which deprived them of their religious liberty. [illustration: the dome of pisa, italy; with the famous leaning tower, in the distance.] is it known to whom we are indebted for the invention of linen paper? not exactly. it has long been disputed among the learned when, and by whom, it was invented; some authors say it was discovered by the germans, others by the italians; others ascribe it to some refugee greeks at basil, who took the idea from the making of cotton paper in their own country; some, that the arabs first introduced it into europe. perhaps the chinese have the best title to the invention, inasmuch as they have for many ages made paper, and in some provinces of the same materials as are now used by us in its manufacture. in what place was the art of printing first practised? who were the inventors of printing, in what city, and in what year it was begun, has long been a subject of great dispute. mentz, harlem, and strasburg, cities of germany, all lay claim to the invention, but mentz seems to have the best title to it. what was the first book that was printed from metal types? a copy of the holy scriptures, which made its appearance between the years and . who introduced printing into england? william caxton, a merchant of london, who had acquired a knowledge of it in his travels abroad. of what does printing consist? of the art of taking impressions with ink, from movable characters and figures made of metal, &c., upon paper or parchment. what is parchment? sheep or goat's skin, prepared after a peculiar manner, which renders it proper for several uses, especially for writing on, and for the covering of books. the ancients seem to have used the skins of animals as a writing material, from a remote period. from what is the word parchment taken? from pergamena, the ancient name of this manufacture, which it is said to have taken from the country of pergamus; and to eumenes, king of that country, its invention is usually ascribed, though in reality, that prince appears to have been the improver, rather than the inventor of parchment; since some accounts refer its invention to a still earlier period of time. herodotus, an ancient greek historian, who lived about years before christ, relates that the ancient ionians made use of sheep and goat-skins in writing, many ages before the time of eumenes; the persians of old, too, wrote all their records on skins, and probably such skins were prepared and dressed for that purpose, after a manner not unlike our parchments, though not so artificially. who were the ionians? the inhabitants of ionia, an ancient country in the western part of asia minor. in what manner is parchment now prepared? the sheep-skins are smeared over with lime[ ] on the fleshy side, folded, laid in heaps, and thus left for some days; they are next stretched very tight on wooden frames, after having been washed, drained, and half dried. the flesh is then carefully taken off with iron instruments constructed on purpose, and the skin cleansed from the remaining hairs that adhere to it. after having gone through several operations till it is perfectly clean and smooth, it is fit for writing upon. [footnote : see chapter xvi., article lime.] what are the uses of parchment? parchment is of great use for writings which are to be preserved, on account of its great durability; the writing on it remaining perfect for a great number of years. it is also used for the binding of books, and various other purposes. what is vellum? a finer sort of parchment than the former, but prepared in the same manner, except that it is not passed through the lime-pit. it is made of the skins of very young calves: there is also a still finer sort made of the skins of sucking lambs, or kids; this is called _virgin_ parchment, and is very thin, fine, and white, and is used for fancy-work, such as ladies' fans, &c. chapter viii. capers, almonds, oranges, lemons, citrons, limes, olives, oils, melons, tamarinds, and dates. what are capers? the full-grown flower-buds of the caper tree, a small shrub, generally found growing out of the fissures of rocks, or among rubbish, on old walls and ruins, giving them a gay appearance with its large white flowers. it is a native of italy: it is also common in the south of france, where it is much cultivated. how are they prepared, and for what are they used? they are gathered, and dried in the shade; then infused in vinegar, to which salt is added; after which they are put in barrels, to be used as a pickle, chiefly in sauces. what are frequently substituted for capers? the buds of broom pickled in the same manner, or the berries of the nasturtium, an american annual plant, with pungent fruit. what are almonds? the nut of the almond tree, a species of the peach, growing in most of the southern parts of europe; there are two kinds, the bitter and the sweet. what are their qualities and use? the sweet almonds are of a soft, grateful taste, and much used by the confectioner in numerous preparations of sweet-meats, cookery, &c. both sorts yield an oil, and are useful in medicine. of what country is the orange a native? it is a native of china, india, and most tropical countries; but has long been produced in great perfection in the warmer parts of europe and america. oranges are imported in immense quantities every year, from the azores, spain, portugal, italy, &c. they are brought over in chests and boxes, packed separately in paper to preserve them. the oranges in common use with us are the bitter or seville, the china or sweet orange, and those from florida. where are the azores situated? in the atlantic ocean, about miles west of portugal. these islands are very productive in wine and fruits. where is seville? in spain; it is an ancient and considerable city, the capital of the province of andalusia. the flowers of the seville orange are highly odoriferous, and justly esteemed one of the finest perfumes. its fruit is larger than the china orange, and rather bitter; the yellow rind or peel is warm and aromatic. the juice of oranges is a grateful and wholesome acid. _odoriferous_, sweet-scented, fragrant; having a brisk, agreeable smell which may be perceived at a distance. who first introduced the china orange into europe? the portuguese. it is said that the very tree from which all the european orange trees of this sort were produced, was still preserved some years back, at the house of the count st. laurent, in lisbon. in india, those most esteemed, and which are made presents of as rarities, are no larger than a billiard ball. the maltese oranges are said by some to be the finest in the world. who are the maltese? the inhabitants of malta, an island of the mediterranean, situated between africa and sicily. whence are lemons brought? the lemon is a native of eastern asia, whence it was brought to greece, and afterwards to italy; from italy it was transplanted to spain, portugal, and the south of france, whence lemons are imported in great plenty. what is the citron? the fruit of the citron tree, resembling the lemon, but somewhat larger, and having a finer pulp. the citron was also brought originally from the east of asia, but has since been produced in the warm parts of europe, like the orange and lemon; genoa especially is the greatest nursery for them. its rind is principally brought to this country in a candied state, and is applied by confectioners to various purposes. where is genoa? a city of northern italy, on the mediterranean, between the rivers bisagno and polcevera. what is the lime? the lime is by some thought to be a species of lemon, by others not; it is a smaller fruit, and in the west indies is greatly preferred to the lemon. it is cultivated in the south of europe, the west indies, and the warm parts of america. the agreeable scent called bergamot is prepared from the rind of a small species of lime. what are olives? the fruit of the olive tree, an evergreen, now common in the woods of france, spain, and italy; but in the wild state producing a small fruit of no value; when cultivated, however, (which it is extensively, both for the fruit and the quantity of oil which it yields,) it forms one of the richest productions of southern europe. the olive came originally from asia. its use is very ancient; it is frequently spoken of in the bible, both as in a wild and cultivated state. the promised land of the israelites was "a land of oil, olive, and honey." from the time that the dove returned to noah in the ark with an "olive leaf plucked off," in all ages and countries, wherever this tree is known, down to the present day, has an olive-branch been the favorite emblem of peace. what nation holds the olive in great repute? this tree was a great favorite with the ancient greeks, and scarcely an ancient custom existed in which the olive was not in some way associated: at their marriages and festivals, all parts of their dwellings, especially the doors, were ornamented with them, and the same custom prevails at the present day, both in public and private rejoicings. it was also scarcely less a favorite with the romans, although it was not held in the same sacred light as amongst the greeks. the olive-branch has likewise been universally considered the emblem of plenty, and as such, is found on the coins of those countries of which it is _not_ a native. two centuries after the foundation of rome, both italy and africa were strangers to this useful plant; it afterwards became naturalized in those countries, and at length arrived in spain, france, &c. olive trees sometimes attain a great age. how are the olives eaten? the olives while on the tree are intolerably bitter, without any of that peculiar taste which gains them admittance at the richest tables; to fit them for which they are pickled. ripe olives are eaten in the eastern countries, especially amongst the greeks, as an article of food, particularly in lent. the oil, which they yield in great quantities, is very highly esteemed; being that chiefly used for salads, &c., in medicine, and in various manufactures. _lent_, a time of fasting; the time from ash-wednesday to easter. how is the oil drawn from the olive? by presses or mills made for the purpose. the sweetest and best olive oil comes from the south of france, from naples, florence, and lucca; quantities are also brought from spain and the ionian islands. where is naples? in the south of italy. where are florence and lucca situated? in italy. florence is a very ancient, large, and celebrated city, the capital of italy; lucca, formerly a republic, belongs now to the kingdom of italy. _republic_, a state in which the supreme power of government is lodged in representatives chosen by the people, instead of being vested in an emperor or king. you said that the olive is an evergreen: to what plant or shrub is the term particularly applied? to any shrub or tree whose leaves continue fresh and green all the year round, winter and summer, as the laurel, pine, cedar, holly, &c., which do not shed their leaves in autumn as other trees. is oil a production confined to the olive alone? by no means. oil is a fatty, inflammable matter, drawn from many vegetable and animal bodies. the oils in common use are of three different kinds. the first are mere _oily_ or fatty bodies, extracted either by pressure, or by decoction: of the first kind are those of almonds, nuts, olives, &c.; and of the other, those of different berries, &c., which are procured by boiling the substance in water, which causes the oil to collect on the top. _decoction_, act of boiling--a chemical term. what are the second and third kinds of oils? the second are those drawn from vegetables by common distillation in the alembic, with the aid of water; these contain the _oily_ and volatile part of the plant, and are called _essential_ oils. the third sort are those produced by distillation, but of a different kind in an open vessel, and without the help of water. they are likewise divided into _vegetable_ oils, _animal_ oils, and _mineral_ oils; which last are those drawn from amber, and a few other substances partaking both of the vegetable and mineral natures, as petroleum, commonly known as kerosene or coal oil. _alembic_, a chemical vessel used in distilling. it consists of a vessel placed over a fire, containing the substance to be distilled; the upper part, which receives and condenses the steam, is called the head; the beak of this is fitted to a vessel called a receiver. _volatile_, easily escaping, quickly flying off. whence is the word oil derived? from the latin _oleum_, formed from _olea, olive-tree_, the fruit of which abounds in oil. what immense fish is it that furnishes us with a quantity of _animal_ oil? the whale, the largest and noblest inhabitant of the waters. it is protected from the cold by a case or coating of blubber, that is, a thick oily fat from which the oil is made; numbers of them are caught for the sake of that. ambergris, highly prized in perfumery, is a product of the sperm whale. in what seas are they found? chiefly in the northern seas: extensive whale fisheries are carried on by the americans, english, dutch, &c., and numbers of vessels are sent out for the purpose of taking the fish: they usually sail in the latter end of march, and begin fishing about may. the whale fishery continues generally from that time till the latter end of june or july. there are also other fishes and animals which afford us oils of different kinds, which are used for various purposes in medicine and the arts. is the oil called _castor_, which is so much used in medicine, the product of an animal or a plant? castor oil is expressed from a west indian shrub, called palma christi; and especially from the ripe seeds, which are full of this oil. it is prepared by collecting these ripe seeds, and freeing them from the husks; then bruising and beating them into a paste; they are next boiled in water, when the oil rising to the surface is skimmed off as it continues to appear. the castor-oil plant is found growing abundantly in sumatra, particularly near the sea-shore. where is sumatra situated? in the oriental archipelago, off the south eastern part of the continent of asia. in what other countries is this plant found? in some parts of africa, syria, and egypt. it was anciently cultivated in the two last-mentioned countries in large quantities, the seeds being used for the oil they yielded, which was burnt in lamps. [illustration: beavers building their huts.] is not the palma christi much affected by soil and situation? greatly so. in some places it attains the stature of a tree, and is not a biennial plant, but endures for many years, as in the warm plains of irak, arabia, and some parts of africa. _biennial_, lasting for the space of two years only. what are melons? a species of the cucumis, a genus of plants to which the cucumber belongs. there are great varieties of this fruit cultivated in different parts of the world; that sort called the cantaleup (so named from being cultivated at a place of that name in the neighborhood of rome, whither it was brought from armenia,) is a species of musk-melon; the mature fruit is juicy, and delicately flavored. where is armenia situated? armenia is a large country situated in asiatic turkey, to the west of the caspian sea. what species of melon is that which almost makes up for a scarcity of good water in hot countries? the water-melon, which affords a cool, refreshing juice, and quenches the thirst produced by the excessive heats. it requires a dry, sandy soil, and a warm climate; the pulp of the fruit is remarkably rich and delicious. what are tamarinds? the fruit of the tamarind tree, a native of both the indies, asia, africa, &c. it is of a roundish form, and composed of two pods inclosed one within the other, between which is a soft pulpy substance, of a tart but agreeable taste; the inner pod contains the seeds or stones. _tart_, sharp, acid. for what are they used? we use them only as medicine; but the africans, and many of the oriental nations, with whom they are common, make them into a kind of preserve with sugar, which they eat as a delicacy, and which cools them in the violent heats of their climate. from what nation was the knowledge of their use in medicine obtained? from the arabians. what does the word oriental signify? belonging to the east; therefore those countries of the globe situated in the east are called oriental, those in the west, occidental, from _oriens_, signifying east, and _occidens_, west. what are dates? the fruit of the palm, a beautiful and graceful tree, peculiar to the warmer regions of the globe; the growth of the palm is extremely singular, for although some species attain to the height of the largest forest trees, their structure differs materially from that of a tree, properly so called. the leaves of the young plant arise directly from the surface of the ground, and there is no appearance of any stem for several years; this stem once formed, never increases in size, the growth of the plant being always upward, so that the stem itself is formed by the prior growth of the green portions of the palm. _structure_, the manner of formation. how often does this tree cast its circle of leaves? every year; so that the number of years a palm has existed is known by the scars which are left by their falling off. the palm is an evergreen. what are the uses of this tree? the palm is of the utmost importance to the inhabitants of the tropical regions; the fruit and sap providing them with food, the fibrous parts with clothing, and the leaves forming the greater part of their slightly-constructed huts; the leaves of some species are formed into fans, hats, and parasols; others are written on, in the same manner that we write on paper; artificial flowers are made of the pith of some; the light and supple rattan walking-cane is the slender shoot of another kind; and solid and useful utensils are made of the shell of the cocoa-nut. the fibres of the date palm are formed into ropes and twine; a liquor is drawn from the trunk, called palm wine; the trunks of the old trees furnish a hard and durable wood; and even the nuts or stones of the fruit are useful for feeding cattle; a wholesome flour is also made of the fruit, when dried and reduced to powder. _constructed_, put together. whence is its name derived? from the latin word _palma_, a hand, given to these productions of the vegetable world, from the supposed resemblance of their broad leaves to the human hand. the date, the fruit of the date palm, derives its name from the greek _dactylus_, a finger, from its mode of growing in clusters spreading out like the fingers of the hand. the palm sometimes forms impenetrable forests; but more frequently is found in small groups of two or three, or even singly, beside springs and fountains of water, affording a kindly shade to the thirsty traveller. _impenetrable_, not easily penetrated or got through. from what countries are dates brought? from egypt, syria, persia, africa, and the indies. among the egyptians and africans, they make a principal article of food. dates, when ripe, are of a bright coral red, of an oblong form, and possess a sharp biting taste: they are usually gathered in autumn, before being perfectly ripe. chapter ix. hats, stockings, shoes, gloves, leather, furs, and ink. of what are hats made? of felt and wool. dress hats for men's wear, were formerly made of beaver-fur, but the increasing scarcity of this article led to the introduction of silk plush as a substitute, and the result is that beaver is entirely superseded, and plush is used altogether. they possess many advantages over the beaver hat, as they are light, glossy, and durable. hats are also made of straw, plaited and sewed together. when did hats come into general use? the first mention made of hats is about the time of the saxons, but they were not worn except by the rich. hats for men were invented at paris, by a swiss, in . about the year , they were first manufactured in london, by spaniards. before that time both men and women in england commonly wore close, knitted, woollen caps. they appear to have become more common in the reign of queen elizabeth. it is related, that when charles the second made his public entry into rouen, in , he wore a hat lined with red velvet, surmounted with a plume or tuft of feathers; from which entry, or at least during his reign, the use of hats and caps is to be dated; and from that time they took the place of chaperons and hoods, that had been worn before in france. where is rouen? in the province of lower seine, in france; it was formerly the capital of normandy. describe the castor, or beaver, and its habits. the beaver has a broad, flat tail, covered with scales, serving as a rudder to direct its motion in the water; the toes of its hind feet are furnished with membranes, after the manner of water-fowl; the fore feet supply the place of hands, like those of the squirrel. the beaver has two kinds of hair, of a light brown color, one long and coarse, the other short and silky. the teeth resemble those of a rat or squirrel, but are longer, and admirably adapted for cutting timber or stripping off the bark from trees. _membranes_, thin, flexible, expanded skins, connecting the toes of water-fowl and amphibious animals, and thus enabling them to swim with greater ease. where do beavers usually fix their habitations? their houses are always situated in the water; they are composed of clay, which they make into a kind of mortar with their paws: these huts are of an oval figure, divided into three apartments raised one above the other, and erected on piles driven into the mud. each beaver has his peculiar cell assigned him, the floor of which he strews with leaves or small branches of the pine tree. the whole building is generally capable of containing eight or ten inhabitants. on what does the beaver feed? its food consists of fruit and plants; and in winter, of the wood of the ash and other trees. the hunters and trappers in america formerly killed vast numbers for their skins, which were in great demand, as they were used in making hats, but as the only use they are now put to is for trimming, and for men's gloves and collars, the demand has fallen off. of what are stockings made? of cotton, silk, or wool, woven or knitted. anciently, the only stockings in use were made of cloth, or stuff sewed together; but since the invention of knitting and weaving stockings of silk, &c., the use of cloth has been discontinued. from what country is it supposed that the invention of silk knitted stockings originally came? from spain, in . the art of weaving stockings in a frame was invented by william lee, m.a., of st. john's college, cambridge, england. explain the signification of m.a. master of arts, a degree of honor conferred by the universities. what are shoes? a covering for the foot, now usually made of leather. in different ages and countries, shoes have been made of various materials, as raw skins, rushes, broom, paper, silk, wool, iron, silver, and gold. what nation wore shoes made of the bark of the papyrus? the egyptians. the turks always take off their shoes, and leave them at the door, when they enter mosques or dwelling-houses. the same custom also prevails in other eastern nations. what is a mosque? a mahomedan church or temple. what is meant by mahomedan? belonging to the religion of mahomed, the warrior and prophet of arabia and turkey, who was its founder. he was born at mecca, a city of arabia, in ; and died in , at medina, a city situated between arabia felix and arabia deserta. his creed maintains that there is but one god, and that mahomed is his prophet; it enjoins the observance of prayers, washings, almsgiving, fasting, sobriety, pilgrimage to mecca, &c. what do the appellations of felix and deserta signify? arabia, a country of asia, lying on the borders of the red sea, is divided into petræa, deserta, and felix; petræa, signifying the stony; deserta, the desert; and felix, the fortunate or fruitful. what is leather? the skins of various animals, as oxen, cows, calves, &c., dressed and prepared for use. how is the leather prepared? by tanning; that is, steeping the skins in an infusion of tan, by which they are rendered firm, durable, and, in a great degree, impervious to water. _infusion_, a liquor made by steeping anything in water, or other liquids, without boiling. what is tan? the bark of the oak-tree, &c., ground by a mill into a coarse powder. what is lime?[ ] a white, soft, friable, earthy substance, prepared from marble, chalk, and other lime-stones, or from shells, by burning in a kiln. [footnote : for a further account of it, see chapters xiii. & xvi.] _friable_, easily powdered. for what is it used? its greatest use is in the composition of mortar for building; it is also much used by tanners, skinners, &c., in the preparation of leather; by soap-boilers in the manufacture of soap; and by sugar-bakers for refining sugar. what is a kiln? a fabric of brick or stone, formed for admitting heat in order to dry or burn materials placed in it. of what are gloves made? of leather, silk, thread, cotton, worsted, &c. what skins are generally used for gloves? those of the chamois, kid, lamb, dog, doe, and many other animals. what are furs, and how are they prepared? furs are the skins of wild animals, dressed with the hair on, and used as apparel, either for warmth, ornament, or distinction of rank or dignity. name a few of the principal furs in use. the fur of the ermine, an animal inhabiting the cold regions of europe and america, is highly valued, and much used for ornamental purposes. in summer, the upper part of the body is of a yellowish-brown color; the under parts white, slightly tinged with yellow. it is then called a _stoat_. in winter, the fur is closer and finer, and is of a snowy white color; the tip of the tail is black throughout the year. in europe the fur is much used for ornamenting the state robes of sovereigns and nobles. the sable is another animal much prized for its rich fur; it is a native of northern europe and america. the skins of the marten, found in north america, as well as in northern asia and the mountains of kamtschatka; and also of the bear, fox, raccoon, badger, lynx, musk-rat, rabbit, hare, and squirrel, which are all procured in north america, are valuable. one of the most valuable descriptions of fur is that of the seal. how is it procured? by hunting the animals, which is the employment both of natives and settlers from other countries; the hunters sell the skins for money, to a company established for the purpose of trading in furs, or more frequently exchange them for clothes, arms, and other articles. the alaska commercial company of san francisco is granted by the united states government the exclusive privilege of catching the fur seal. what is alum? a kind of mineral, of a strong, sharp taste. it dissolves both in cold and boiling water, but best in the latter. it is of some use in medicine; a principal ingredient in dyeing and coloring, neither of which can be well performed without it, as it sets and brightens the colors, and prevents them from washing out. it is also extremely useful in many arts and manufactures. are there not different sorts of this material? the principal kinds are native alums: _viz._ those prepared and perfected underground by the spontaneous operations of nature; as the roch, commonly called rock alum, from rocha, in syria, whence it is brought. _spontaneous_, unassisted by art. _orientals_, inhabitants of the eastern parts of the world. what is ink? a liquor used in writing on paper or parchment, made of copperas, galls; and gum arabic[ ] mixed together. there are likewise several plants that may serve for the making of ink, as oak-bark, red roses, log-wood, &c. it is also made from an infusion of oak galls and iron filings: there are also many other ways, as well as materials, employed in the making of this useful article. ink is the name applied to all liquids used in writing, of whatever color they may be, as red, blue, &c., though black is the most used for common purposes. the ink of the ancients seems to have been of a thick, oily nature, unlike the modern ink; it consisted of nothing more than a species of soot, or ivory black, mixed with one fourth of gum. [footnote : see chapter xi.] what is copperas? a kind of vitriol. copperas is the name given to green vitriol, which is a preparation from iron. the blue vitriol is a sulphate of copper, and the white vitriol a sulphate of zinc. for what is vitriol used? in the making of glass, to color it; in many arts and manufactures; and in medicine. what are galls? excrescences formed on a kind of oak tree in certain warm climates; perforations are made by an insect into the bark of the tree, whence issues a liquid which hardens by exposure. they are used in dyeing, making ink, and other compositions. there are two sorts of oak galls in our shops, brought from the levant, and the southern parts of europe. what does the word levant signify? a country to the eastward. it is applied to the countries of turkey, greece, asia minor, syria, egypt, &c., which are washed by the eastern part of the mediterranean. is the ink used in printing the same as writing ink? no; it is more of the nature of paint, being thicker and more glutinous: it chiefly consists of a mixture of oil and lamp-black, or some other ingredient, according to the color required; and is remarkable for the ease with which it adheres to paper that is moistened. _glutinous_, gummy, resembling glue. what is indian, or chinese ink? an admirable composition, not liquid like our ink, but solid, and made into cakes somewhat like the mineral colors we use in painting. it is made into all sorts of figures, usually long, and about an inch thick; sometimes gilt with the figures of birds, flowers, &c. to use this ink, it must be rubbed with water, on stone or earthenware, till it produces a beautiful, liquid, shining black. it is used in drawing, &c., and is brought from china. it is composed of lamp-black and size, or animal glue, or gum, to which perfumes and other substances are sometimes added. chapter x. asbestus, salt, coal, iron, copper, brass, zinc, and lapis calaminaris. what is the name of the remarkable stone of which a cloth has been made, that resists the action of fire? the asbestus, a mineral substance of a whitish or silver color. there are several species of this mineral, which are distinguished by different names, according to the appearance of each, as fibrous asbestus, hard asbestus, and woody asbestus; it is the fibrous sort which is most noted for its uses in the arts. it is usually found inclosed within very hard stones; sometimes growing on their outside, and sometimes detached from them. _fibrous_, full of fibres or threads. what are its qualities? it is insipid; will not dissolve in water; and exposed to the fire, it neither consumes nor calcines. the industry of mankind has found a method of working upon this untoward mineral and employing it in making cloth and paper; the process is, however, difficult. _insipid_, without taste. was not this curious mineral better known to the ancients than it is at present? the linen made from it was highly esteemed by them; it was not only better known, but more common, than among us, being equally valuable with the richest pearls; but the superiority of all other cloths to this in every respect, except the resistance to fire, has caused incombustible cloth to be regarded in modern times merely as a curiosity, but it is still employed in chemical preparations. _incombustible_, remaining undestroyed in fire. to what use did they put it? in royal funerals, it formed the shroud to wrap the body in that its ashes might be prevented from mingling with the wood, &c., that composed the pile. some of the ancients made themselves clothes of it, particularly the brahmins among the hindoos; it formed wicks for their perpetual lamps; thread, ropes, nets, and paper were also made of it. pliny, the roman naturalist, says he has seen napkins of asbestus taken soiled from the table after a feast, which were thrown into the fire, and by that means better scoured than if they had been washed with water. _naturalist_, a person who studies nature, especially in what relates to minerals, vegetables, and animals. _brahmins_, hindoo priests. where is the asbestus found? this mineral is found in the greatest quantity in the silver mines of saxony; at bleyburg, in carinthia; in sweden, corsica, and sometimes in france, england, and the united states; also in tartary and siberia. what method is used in preparing the asbestus? the stone is laid in warm water to soak, then opened and divided by the hands, that the earthy matter may be washed out. this washing is several times repeated, and the flax-like filaments collected and dried; these are easily spun with the addition of flax. the cloth when woven is best preserved by oil from breaking or wasting; on exposure to the fire, the flax and the oil burn out, and the cloth remains of a pure white. the shorter threads, which separate on washing the stone, may be made into paper in the usual manner. what is salt? a saline crystallization of a sharp, pungent taste, and cleansing quality, used to season flesh, fish, butter, &c., and other things that are to be kept. it is distinguished, with reference to the general sources from which it is most plentifully derived, into three different sorts, namely, fossil, or rock salt; sea, or marine salt; and spring salt, or that drawn from briny springs and wells. _marine_, belonging to the sea. _saline_, consisting of salt. _briny_, consisting of brine; which means water tasting of salt; it is used to signify the waters of the sea, or any salt water. what is fossil or rock salt? that which is found in large beds in the bowels of the earth, and which has not undergone any artificial preparation; it is sometimes colorless, but more frequently red, yellow, or blue, and mixed with earthy impurities; this salt was entirely unknown to the ancients, who by rock salt meant that which adheres to the rocks above high-water mark, being lodged there by the spray of the sea, which is evaporated by the heat of the sun; this is the purest salt, and is to be found on the rocks of sicily, and several islands of the west indies. _artificial_, produced by art, and the labor of man. _evaporated_, converted into vapor and dissipated. what is marine salt? that which is made from sea-water, concentrated by repeated evaporations, and at length crystallized. what is spring salt? that salt which is not made from sea-water, but from the water of salt wells or springs; large quantities of this salt are made in the united states, in some parts of which saline springs are numerous. in what manner is it obtained? the means employed for extracting the salt from the water vary according to circumstances. in hot countries, the water is merely exposed to the action of the sun, until the water is evaporated; the salt procured in this manner is considered the best. what method is usually employed in countries where the sun's heat is not sufficiently powerful? in climates where the rays of the sun do not afford sufficient heat, the water, which has been partly evaporated in large shallow reservoirs formed in the earth, called salt-pans, is poured into enormous coppers and boiled for four or five hours: when the contents of the copper are wasted to half the quantity, the liquid begins to be crystallized; the vessel is again filled up, and the brine again boiled and purified: this is repeated three or four times. after the last purifying the fire is kept very low for twelve or fourteen hours, and when the moisture is nearly evaporated the salt is removed, and, after the remaining brine has drained off, is placed in the store-houses. in what countries is salt generally found? this substance, so necessary to the comfort of mankind, is widely distributed over the face of the earth, and nothing, except, perhaps, the air we breathe, is more easily placed within our reach. the ocean is an exhaustless store-house of this valuable article. those nations of the earth which are placed at a distance from the sea, find themselves provided with magazines of salt, either in solid masses, or dissolved in the waters of inland lakes, or issuing from the solid rocks in springs of brine. at salina, syracuse, and other places in onondaga co., new york, salt springs are remarkably abundant, and yield annually several millions of bushels; immense quantities are also obtained from the salt-wells on the great and little kanawha, and other places in western virginia; it is also extensively manufactured in the western part of pennsylvania, and throughout the western states. name the countries most noted for mines of salt. poland, upper hungary, and the mountains of catalonia, have extensive salt mines; those in the village of wieliczca, in poland, about five leagues from cracow, are of a surprising depth and size. in the interior of hindostan, there is a remarkable salt lake; and in several parts of the globe there are spots of ground impregnated entirely with this substance: an island of the east indies contains a singular kind of fossil, or native dry salt; the soil there is in general very fruitful, but in certain parts of the island, there are spots of ground entirely barren, without the appearance of anything vegetable upon them; these spots taste very much of salt, and abound with it in such quantities, as to supply not only the whole island, but the greater part of the adjacent continent. in utah territory, especially in the neighborhood of the mormon city, at the great salt lake, are found extensive plains thus impregnated with salt, which is procured in great abundance. _fossil_, the remains of minerals or shells dug from the earth. _impregnated_, filled, saturated. _catalonia_, a considerable province of spain, situated to the north-east. _adjacent_, adjoining, lying near, or contiguous. to what use did the ancient inhabitants of africa and arabia put this substance? the large slabs of rock salt, with which their country abounds, were employed by them instead of stones, in building their dwellings, the pieces being easily cemented together by sprinkling the joints with water, which, melting the parts of the two surfaces that opposed each other, formed the whole, when dry, into one solid block. does rock salt undergo any preparation before it is used? yes; when taken from the earth it is dissolved in cold water, and afterwards drawn off into salt-pans, and refined in the same manner as the sea salt. what is coal? a hard, black, sulphurous and inflammable substance, dug out of the earth, serving in many countries as fuel. it is common in most of the countries of europe and america. in some parts of the united states, it is found in beds having an area of several thousand square miles. from what is coal supposed to have originated? its origin is supposed to be derived from gigantic trees which flourished in the swamps and forests of the primeval earth. these having been torn away from their native bed, by storms and inundations, were transported into some adjacent lake, river, or sea. here they floated on the waters until, saturated with them, they sank to the bottom, and being buried in the lower soil of adjacent lands, became transformed into a new state among the members of the mineral kingdom. a long interment followed, during which a course of chemical changes, and new combinations of their vegetable elements, converted them to the mineral condition of coal. _primeval_, original, existing before the flood. _gigantic_, extremely large, greater than the usual size. _interment_, burial under the ground. _elements_, the several parts or principles of which bodies are composed. what is a coal mine? a subterraneous excavation, from which coal is obtained. do the terms coal and charcoal signify the same substance? no; charcoal is an artificial fuel, made in imitation of coal, by burning wood covered with earth so as partially to exclude the air. it is used for various purposes, as the making of gunpowder,[ ] polishing brass and copper, &c., and when a clear and bright fire is required, as it burns with little or no smoke; it is dangerous, however, for one to remain many hours in a close room with a charcoal fire, as the fumes it throws out are hurtful, and would destroy life. charcoal, in fact, is the coaly residuum of any vegetables burnt in close vessels; but the common charcoal is that prepared from wood, and is generally black, very brittle, light, and destitute of taste or smell. it is a powerful antiseptic, unalterable and indestructible. [footnote : see chapter xii.] _residuum_, the remaining part, that which is left. _antiseptic_, that which prevents putrefaction. what is iron? one of the most useful and abundant metals; being found in all mineral earths, and stones; in plants, and animal fluids; and is the chief cause of the varieties of color in all. iron is found in great masses, in various states, in the bowels of the earth; it is usually, however, compounded with stone, from which it is separated by the action of fire. in some parts of the world, whole mountains are formed of iron; among these may be mentioned the pilot knob and the iron mountain, in missouri, being unsurpassed by anything of the kind found elsewhere. what are its characteristics? it is hard, fusible, not very malleable, but extremely ductile, and very tenacious; it is of a greyish color, and nearly eight times heavier than water. without iron, society could make no progress in the cultivation of the ground, in mechanical arts or trades, in architecture or navigation; it is therefore of the greatest use to man. iron tools have been used in all european countries as long as their histories have existed; this metal appears likewise to have been known and used by the inhabitants of the world in the earliest ages, being frequently mentioned in the holy scriptures. in the fourth chapter of genesis, tubalcain is spoken of as "a hammerer and artificer in every work of brass and iron," and thus their existence was evidently known at that early period of the world. _artificer_, one who works or makes. _fusible_, capable of being melted by fire. [illustration: the salt mines of wieliczca.] what do you mean by metals? useful substances dug from the bowels of the earth, being sometimes found pure, but mostly combined with other matter. they are distinguished by their weight, tenacity, hardness, opacity, color, and peculiar lustre, known as the metallic lustre; they are fusible by heat, and good conductors of heat and electricity; many of them are malleable, and some extremely ductile. those which were first known are gold, silver, iron, copper, mercury, lead, and tin. _tenacity_, the firmness with which one part adheres to another. _opacity_, want of transparency or clearness. what are metals called in their natural state? ores; so named because the metal contained in them is either mixed with other metals, or with mineral earths, from which they are separated and purified by various means: such as washing, roasting, &c., but the method is always regulated by the nature of the ore. what is copper? a hard, heavy, ductile metal, found native, and in many ores; of these the most important is _copper pyrites_, which is a sulphuret of copper. next to gold, silver, and platinum, copper is the most malleable and ductile of metals; it may be drawn into wires as fine as hair, or beaten into leaves as thin as those of silver. the rust of copper is very poisonous. copper, mixed with a certain quantity of tin, forms bell-metal. with a smaller proportion, it forms bronze, a substance used in sculpture for casting figures and statues. it is an abundant metal, and is found in various parts of the world. native oxides of copper are found in cornwall, siberia, and in north and south america. _oxide_, a substance combined with oxygen,[ ] in a proportion not sufficient to produce acidity. _sulphuret_, a combination of sulphur with a base. [footnote : see chapter xiii., article oxygen.] what are the uses of copper? they are too various to be enumerated. in sheets it is much used to sheathe the bottoms of ships, for boilers, and other utensils. copper coin was the only money used by the romans till the th year of their city, when silver began to be coined. in sweden, houses are covered with this metal. what is a mine? a cavity under ground, formed for the purpose of obtaining metals, &c.; mines are often very deep and extensive. the descent into them is by a pit, called a shaft; the clues by which mines are discovered, are, mineral springs, the discoloration of vegetables, the appearance of pieces of ore, &c. _clues_, signs or means by which things hidden are brought to light. what is brass? a factitious metal, consisting of copper and zinc. brass is lighter and harder than pure copper, and less subject to rust; owing to these properties, together with its beautiful color, it is extremely useful in the manufacture of many utensils. _factitious_, made by art, not found in a natural state. what is zinc? a metal of a brilliant bluish white color. its name was unknown to the ancient greeks and arabians. it is mixed with other substances in the ore, from which it is obtained by smelting in the furnace. it has never yet been found native or pure. for what is zinc used? from its readiness to dissolve in all acids, and unite with other metals, it is used in alloy with them in the composition of brass, &c. thin sheets of zinc are also used to cover roofs of houses, and in the manufacture of various household utensils. what is lapis calaminaris? lapis calaminaris, or calamine stone, is a native carbonate of zinc, of some use in medicine, but chiefly in founding. it is, sometimes brownish, as that found in germany and england, or red, as that of france. it is dug out of mines, usually in small pieces; generally out of those of lead. calamine is mostly found in barren, rocky soils. _founding_, the art of casting metals. chapter xi. yams, mangoes, bread-fruit, shea or butter tree, cow tree, water tree, licorice, manna, opium, tobacco, and gum. what are yams? the roots of a climbing plant growing in tropical climates. the root of the yam is wholesome and well-flavored; nearly as large as a man's leg, and of an irregular form. yams are much used for food in those countries where they grow; the natives either roast or boil them, and the white people grind them into flour, of which they make bread and puddings. the yam is of a dirty brown color outside, but white and mealy within. what are mangoes? the fruit of the mango tree, a native of india and the south-western parts of asia; it also grows abundantly in the west indies and brazil. it was introduced into jamaica in ; where it attains the height of thirty or forty feet, with thick and wide-extended branches. the varieties of the mango are very numerous,--upwards of eighty are cultivated; and the quality of these varies according to the countries and situations in which they grow. the mangoes of asia are said to be much better than those of america. describe the appearance of the mango tree. the flowers of this tree are small and whitish, formed in pyramidal clusters. the fruit has some resemblance to a short thick cucumber, about the size of a goose's egg; its taste is delicious and cooling; it has a stone in the centre, like that of a peach. at first this fruit is of a fine green color, and some varieties continue so, while others change to a fine golden or orange color. the mango tree is an evergreen, bearing fruit once or twice a year, from six or seven years old to a hundred. _pyramidal_, resembling a pyramid. how is this fruit eaten? when ripe, it is eaten by the natives either in its natural state, or bruised in wine. it is brought to us either candied or pickled, as the ripe fruit is very perishable; in the latter case, they are opened with a knife, and the middle filled up with fresh ginger, garlic, mustard, salt, and oil or vinegar. the fruit of the largest variety weighs two pounds or upwards. the several parts of this tree are all applied to some use by the hindoos: the wood is consecrated to the service of the dead; from the flour of the dried kernels different kinds of food are prepared; the leaves, flowers, and bark, are medicinal. _medicinal_, fit for medicine, possessing medical properties. _consecrated_, separated from a common to a sacred use. is there not a tree which bears a fruit that may be used for bread? yes; the bread-fruit tree, originally found in the southeastern parts of asia and the islands of the pacific ocean, though introduced into the tropical parts of america. it is one of the most interesting, as well as singular productions of the vegetable kingdom, being no less beautiful than it is useful. this tree is large and shady; its leaves are broad and indented, like those of the fig tree--from twelve to eighteen inches long, rather fleshy, and of a dark green. the fruit, when full-grown, is from six to nine inches round, and of an oval form--when ripe, of a rich, yellow tinge; it generally hangs in clusters of two or three, on a small thick stalk; the pulp is white, partly farinaceous, and partly fibrous, but when ripe, becomes yellow and juicy. _indented_, toothed like the edge of a saw. _farinaceous_, mealy, consisting of meal or flour; from _farina_, flour. how is the bread-fruit eaten? it is roasted until the outside is of a brown color and crisp; the pulp has then the consistency of bread, which the taste greatly resembles; and thus it forms a nourishing food: it is also prepared in many different ways, besides that just mentioned. the tree produces three, sometimes four crops in a year, and continues bearing for fifty years, so that two or three trees are enough for a man's yearly supply. its timber, which at first is of a rich yellow, but afterwards assumes the color of mahogany, is used in the building of houses and canoes; the flowers, when dried, serve as tinder; the sap or juice serves for glue; the inner bark is made, by the natives of some of the islands of the pacific ocean, into a kind of cloth; and the leaves are useful for many purposes. one species of the bread-fruit, called the jaca tree, grows chiefly on the mainland of asia. _mainland_, the continent. describe the jaca tree. this kind grows to the same, if not a larger size than the bread-fruit of the islands, but is neither so palatable nor so nutritious; the fruit often weighs thirty pounds, and contains two or three hundred seeds, each four times as large as an almond. december is the time when the fruit ripens; it is then eaten, but not much relished; the seeds are also eaten when roasted. there are also other trees in different parts of the world, mostly of the palm species, which yield bread of a similar kind. is there not a tree which produces a substance resembling the butter which we make from the milk of the cow? the shea, or butter tree, a native of africa: it is similar in appearance to the american oak, and the fruit, (from the kernel of which the butter is prepared,) is somewhat like an olive in form. the kernel is inclosed in a sweet pulp, under a thin, green rind. how is the butter extracted? the kernel, being taken out and dried in the sun, is boiled in water; by which process a white, firm, and rich-flavored butter is produced, which will keep for a whole year without salt. the growth and preparation of this commodity is one of the first objects of african industry, and forms a principal article of their trade with one another. you have given me an account of a useful butter prepared from a plant; is there not also a tree which can supply the want of a cow? in south america there is a tree, the juice of which is a nourishing milk; it is called the cow tree. this tree is very fine; the leaves are broad, and some of them ten inches long; the fruit is rather fleshy, and contains one or two nuts or kernels. the milk is very abundant, and is procured by incisions made in the trunk of the tree; it is tolerably thick, and of a glutinous quality, a pleasant taste, and agreeable smell. the negroes and people at work on the farms drink it, dipping into it their bread made of maize. _glutinous_, having the quality of glue,--an adhesive, gummy substance, prepared from the skins of animals: it is used in joining wood, &c., and for many other purposes. what time of the day is the best for drawing the juice? sunrise; the blacks and natives then hasten from all quarters with large bowls to receive the milk; some drink it on the spot, others carry it home to their families. what island possesses a remarkable substitute for the want of springs of water? ferro, one of the canary isles, situated in the atlantic ocean. in this island there is no water, except on a part of the beach which is nearly inaccessible; to supply the place of a fountain, nature has bestowed on the island a particular kind of tree, unknown in other parts of the world. it is of a moderate size, with straight, long, evergreen leaves; on its top a small cloud continually rests, which so drenches the leaves with moisture, that it perpetually distils upon the ground a stream of clear water. to these trees, as to perennial springs, the inhabitants of ferro repair, and are supplied with abundance of water for themselves and cattle. _perennial_, lasting through the year, perpetual. what is licorice? a plant, the juice of which is squeezed from the roots, and then boiled with sugar, and used as a remedy for coughs, &c. great quantities are exported from spain, italy, &c. the dried root is of great use in medicine, and makes an excellent drink for colds and other affections of the lungs by boiling it with linseed. what are the lungs? the organs of respiration in man and many other animals. there are two of these organs, one on each side of the chest. _respiration_, breathing; the act of inhaling air into the lungs, and again expelling it, by which animal life is supported. what is manna? a sweet, white juice, oozing from the branches and leaves of a kind of ash tree, growing chiefly in the southern parts of italy, during the heats of summer. when dry, it is very light, easily crumbled, and of a whitish, or pale yellow color, not unlike hardened honey. is manna peculiar to the ash tree of southern italy? no. manna is nothing more than the nutritious juices of the tree, which exude during the summer heats; and what confirms this is, that the very hot summers are always those which are most productive of manna. several different species of trees produce a kind of manna; the best and most used is, however, that of calabria, in italy. what are its uses? it was much esteemed formerly in medicine, but it has now gone nearly into disuse. the peasants of mount libanus eat it as others do honey. the bedouin arabs consume great quantities, considering it the greatest dainty their country affords. in mexico, they are said to have a manna which they eat as we do cheese. at briançon, in france, they collect it from all sorts of trees that grow there, and the inhabitants observe, that such summers as produce the greatest quantities of manna are very fatal to the trees, many of them perishing in the winter. is there not another tree which produces manna? yes: the tamarisk, a tree peculiar to palestine and parts of arabia. this remarkable substance is produced by several trees, and in various countries of the east. on mount sinai there is a different species of tamarisk that yields it. it is found on the branches of the tree, and falls on the ground during the heat of the day. where is mount libanus? mount libanus, or lebanon, is situated in asiatic turkey; it was anciently famous for its large and beautiful cedar trees. the "cedars of lebanon" are frequently mentioned in holy writ. there are now scarcely any remaining of superior size and antiquity, but they vary from the largest size down to mere saplings; and their numbers seem to increase rather than diminish, there being many young trees springing up. how is manna gathered? from august to september, the italians collect it in the following manner, _viz._: by making an incision at the foot of the tree, each day over that of the preceding, about four inches from one another: these cuts, or incisions, are nearly two inches long, and half an inch deep. when the cut is made, the manna directly begins to flow, at first like clear water, but congealing as it flows, it soon becomes firm: this they collect in baskets. manna has been found to consist of two distinct substances one nearly resembling sugar, the other similar to a gum or mucilage. what nation was fed with a kind of manna? the children of israel, when wandering in the desert wilderness, where no food was to be procured, were fed by a miraculous supply of manna, showered down from heaven every morning on the ground in such quantities as to afford sufficient food for the whole host. what is opium? a narcotic, gummy, resinous juice, drawn from the head of the white poppy, and afterwards thickened; it is brought over in dark, reddish brown lumps, which, when powdered, become yellow. _narcotic_, producing sleep and drowsiness. in what countries is it cultivated? in many parts of asia, india, and even the southern parts of europe, whence it is exported into other countries. the turks, and other eastern nations, chew it. with us it is chiefly used in medicine. the juice is obtained from incisions made in the seed-vessels of the plant; it is collected in earthen pots, and allowed to become sufficiently hard to be formed into roundish masses of about four pounds weight. in europe the poppy is cultivated mostly for the seeds. morphia and laudanum are medicinal preparations of opium. what is tobacco? an herbaceous plant which flourishes in many temperate climates, particularly in north america; it is supposed to have received its name from tabaco, a province of mexico; it is cultivated in the west indies, the levant, on the coast of greece, in the archipelago, malta, italy, france, ceylon, &c. it was not known in europe till the discovery of america by the spaniards; and was carried to england about the time of queen elizabeth, either by sir francis drake or sir walter raleigh. tobacco is either taken as snuff, smoked in pipes or in the form of cigars, or chewed in the mouth like opium. there are many different species of this plant, most of them natives of america, some of the cape of good hope and china. tobacco contains a powerful poison called nicotine. _herbaceous_, like an herb or plant, not a shrub or tree. what part of the plant is used? the leaves, which are stripped from the plant, and after being moistened with water, are twisted up into rolls; these are cut up by the tobacconist, and variously prepared for sale, or reduced into a scented powder called snuff. who was sir francis drake? sir francis drake was a distinguished naval officer, who flourished in the reign of elizabeth. he made his name immortal by a voyage into the south seas, through the straits of magellan; which, at that time, no englishman had ever attempted. he died on board his own ship in the west indies, . who was sir walter raleigh? sir walter raleigh was also an illustrious english navigator and historian, born in . he performed great services for queen elizabeth, particularly in the discovery of virginia, and in the defeat of the spanish armada; he lived in honor and prosperity during her reign, but on the accession of james the first, was stripped of his favor at court, unaccountably accused of high treason, tried, and condemned to die; being reprieved, however, he was imprisoned in the tower of london many years, during which time he devoted himself to writing and study. receiving, at last, a commission to go and explore the gold mines at guiana, he embarked; but his design having been betrayed to the spaniards, he was defeated: and on his return to england, in july, , was arrested and beheaded, (by order of the king, on his former attainder,) october ; suffering his fate with great magnanimity. _high treason_, in england, means an offence committed against the sovereign. in the united states it consists in levying war against the government, adhering to its enemies, and giving them aid and comfort. _reprieved_, respited from sentence of death. _magnanimity_, greatness of mind, bravery. what is gum? a mucilaginous juice, exuding from the bark of certain trees or plants, drawn thence by the warmth of the sun in the form of a glutinous matter; and afterwards by the same cause rendered firm and tenacious. there are many different gums, named after the particular tree or plant from which they are produced. _mucilaginous_, consisting of mucilage. _tenacious_, adhering closely. what is the character of gum? gum is capable of being dissolved in water, and forming with it a viscid transparent fluid; but not in vinous spirits or oil; it burns in the fire to a black coal, without melting or catching fire; and does not dissolve in water at boiling heat. the name of _gum_ has been inaccurately given to several species of gum-resins, which consist of resin and various other substances, flowing from many kinds of trees, and becoming hard by exposure to the air. these are soluble in dilute alcohol. gum is originally a milky liquor, having a greater quantity of water mixed with its oily parts, and for that reason it dissolves in either water or oil. another sort is not oily, and therefore dissolves in water only, as gum arabic, the gum of the cherry-tree, &c. _viscid_, thick, ropy. _vinous_, having the qualities of wine. are the last-mentioned sorts properly called gums? no, though commonly called gums, they are only dried mucilages, which were nothing else than the mucilaginous lymph issuing from the vessels of the tree, in the same manner as it does from mallows, comfrey, and even from the cucumber; the vessels of which being cut across, yield a lymph which is plainly mucilaginous, and if well dried, at length becomes a kind of gum, or rather, a hardened mucilage. _lymph_, transparent fluid. what is gum arabic? the juice of a small tree of the acacia tribe, growing in egypt, arabia petræa, palestine, and in different parts of america. are there other plants or trees which produce gum, besides those already mentioned? a great number, though not all commonly in use. the leaves of rhubarb, the common plum, and even the sloe and the laurel, produce a clear, tasteless gum; there are also a number of different gums, brought from foreign countries, of great use in medicine and the arts. most of the acacias produce gums, though the quality of all is not equally good. what is rhubarb? a valuable root growing in china, turkey, and russian tartary. quantities of it are imported from other parts of the world: that from turkey is esteemed the best. rhubarb is also cultivated in our gardens, and the stalks of the leaves are often used in tarts; but the root, from the difference of climate, does not possess any medicinal virtue. chapter xii. spectacles, mariner's compass, barometer, thermometer, watches, clocks, telescope, microscope, gunpowder, steam engine, and electro-magnetic telegraph. when were spectacles invented, and who was their inventor? it is supposed that they were first known about the thirteenth century, and invented by a monk of pisa, in italy, named alexander de spina. spectacles are composed of two circular pieces of glass set in a frame. what are these glasses called? lenses. they are either convex or concave, according to the kind of sight requiring them. old people, and those who can only see things at a distance, from the flatness of the eye, which prevents the rays of light converging so as to meet in the centre, require convex lenses. people who can only distinguish objects when viewed closely, from the eye being too convex, require concave lenses to counteract it by spreading the rays, and thus rendering vision distinct. _convex_, rising outwardly in a circular form; opposite to concave. _concave_, hollow; round, but hollow, as the inner curve of an arch, &c. _converging_, tending to one point from different parts. _vision_, the faculty of seeing. what is the mariner's compass? a most useful and important instrument, by the aid of which the navigator guides his ship on the sea, and steers his way to the place of his destination. the inventor of the mariner's compass is not known, nor the exact time of its introduction; it was employed in europe in navigation about the middle of the thirteenth century, and has been in use more than five hundred years. the chinese are said to have been acquainted with it much earlier, but no reliance can be placed on their dates. the power of the loadstone to attract iron was known to the ancient egyptians, but it was not applied to any practical purpose. _navigator_, one who guides a ship. _steer_, to direct or guide a vessel in its course. _destination_, the place to which a person is bound. _practical_, capable of practice, not merely speculative. what is the loadstone? an ore of iron which possesses the peculiar property of attracting iron, namely, of drawing it in contact with its own mass, and holding it firmly attached by its own power of attraction. a piece of loadstone drawn several times along a needle, or a small piece of iron, converts it into an artificial magnet; if this magnetized needle is carefully balanced, it will turn round of itself, till its end points towards the north. the magnetized needle also possesses the power of attracting iron, and of communicating this power to another piece of iron or steel, similar to that of the loadstone itself. _contact_, touch. _magnetized_, rendered magnetic. describe the mariner's compass. the mariner's compass consists of a circular box, enclosing a magnetized bar of steel, called the _needle_, carefully balanced on an upright steel pivot, and having that end which points to the north shaped like the head of an arrow; attached to this needle, and turning with it, is a card on which are printed the divisions of north, south. east, and west; called the points of the compass. by simply looking at the position of the needle, the mariner can see the direction in which his vessel is sailing, and regulate his helm accordingly. _helm_, the instrument by which a ship is steered, consisting of a rudder and tiller. what is a barometer? an instrument for measuring the weight of the atmosphere, which enables us to determine the changes of the weather, the height of mountains, &c. it consists of a glass tube hermetically sealed at one end, filled with mercury, and inverted in a basin of mercury; according to the weight of the atmosphere, this mercury rises or falls. how is the hermetic seal formed? by heating the edges of a vessel, till they are just ready to melt, and then twisting them closely together with hot pincers, so that the air may be totally excluded. the word is taken from hermes, the greek name for mercury, the heathen god of arts and learning, and the supposed inventor of chemistry,[ ] which is sometimes called the hermetical art; or perhaps from hermes, an ancient king of egypt, who was either its inventor, or excelled in it. [footnote : see chapter xviii., article chemistry.] what is mercury? quicksilver, or mercury, is a white fluid metal, the heaviest except platina and gold; it readily combines with nearly all other metals, and is used in the manufacture of looking-glasses, barometers, thermometers, &c.; in some of the arts, and in the preparation of several powerful medicines. it is found in california, hungary, sweden, spain, china, and peru. the quicksilver mine of guança velica, in peru, is one hundred and seventy fathoms in circumference, and four hundred and eighty deep. in this profound abyss are seen streets, squares, and a chapel, where religious worship is performed. the quicksilver mines of idria, a town of lower austria, have continually been wrought for more than years. the vapor which is continually arising from the mercury is very hurtful to the miners, who seldom survive many years. _abyss_, a gulf, a depth without bottom. in what state is mercury usually found? either native, or in the form of ore; it is often found mixed with silver, but more frequently with sulphur in the form of sulphuret, which is decomposed by distillation. running mercury is found in globules, in america, and is collected from the clefts of the rocks. mercury has the appearance of melted silver; it is neither ductile nor malleable in this state; it is a substance so volatile, when heated, that it may be evaporated like water; it is always seen in a fluid state, even in temperate climates, as a very small portion of heat is sufficient to preserve its fluidity. it is used to separate gold and silver from the foreign matter found with those metals. calomel, a valuable medicine, and vermilion, a color, are both preparations of mercury. _globules_, small particles of matter having the form of a ball or sphere. what is a thermometer? an instrument for measuring temperature. it consists of a fine glass tube, terminated at one end in a bulb, usually filled with mercury, which expands or contracts according to the degree of heat or cold. on the scale of the fahrenheit thermometer, the freezing point of water is marked ° and the boiling point at °. in both the centigrade and the reaumur scales the freezing point is at , and the boiling point at ° in the centigrade and at ° in reaumur's. the invention of this instrument dates from about the close of the sixteenth century; but it is not known by whom it was first brought into use. _terminated_, finished, ended. when and by whom were watches and clocks invented? watches were invented about the year , but who was the inventor is disputed. they were, however, of little value as time-keepers, before the application of the spiral spring as a regulator to the balance; the glory of this excellent invention lies between dr. hooke and m. huygens; the english ascribing it to the former, the dutch, french, &c., to the latter. some assert that pocket-watches were first made about , at nuremberg, in germany. the most ancient clock of which we possess any certain account, was made in by henry de wycke, a german artist; it was erected in a tower of the palace of charles v., king of france. the pendulum was applied by huygens, in . what is a pendulum? a weight so suspended from a fixed point that it may easily swing backward and forward; its oscillations are always performed in equal times, provided the length of the pendulum and the gravity remain the same. it is said that the idea of employing the pendulum for the measurement of time, was first conceived by galileo, while a young man, upon his observing attentively the regular oscillations of a lamp suspended from the roof of a church in pisa. it was not, however, till the time of huygens that a method was devised of continuing its motions, and registering the number of its oscillations. _oscillation_, a swinging backward and forward. _gravity_, the tendency of a body toward the centre of the earth. _registering_, recording. [illustration: charcoal burning.] [illustration: gold miners washing ore.] to whom is the invention of gunpowder ascribed? most authors suppose it was invented by bartholdus schwartz, a monk of goslar, a town of brunswick, in germany, about the year ; it appears, however, that it was known much earlier in many parts of the world, and that the famous roger bacon, who died in , knew its properties; but it is not certain that he was acquainted with its application to fire-arms. who was roger bacon? a learned franciscan, born at ilchester, england, in . he studied at oxford, and afterwards became professor at that great university. he was familiar with every branch of human knowledge, but was especially distinguished for his extraordinary proficiency in the natural sciences. to him we owe the invention of the telescope; that of gunpowder is ascribed to him, as stated above, although we have no evidence to show whether he discovered its ingredients himself, or whether he derived the knowledge from some ancient manuscripts. bacon suffered some from the ignorance of the age in which he lived, many of his experiments being looked upon as magic. he died at oxford in the year . what is understood by magic? magic is a term used to signify an unlawful and wicked kind of science, depending, as was pretended, on the assistance of superhuman beings and of departed souls. the term was anciently applied to all kinds of learning, and in particular to the science of the magi or wise men of persia, from whom it was called magic. _natural_ magic is no more than the application of natural active causes to passive things or subjects, to produce effects apparently supernatural. _supernatural_, beyond the powers of nature; miraculous. of what is gunpowder composed? of saltpetre,[ ] sulphur, and charcoal, mixed together and powdered; its explosive force when fired, is owing to the instantaneous and abundant liberation of gaseous matter by the intense heat resulting from the action of the combustibles upon the saltpetre. it is not known by whom it was first applied to the purposes of war, but it is certain that it was used early in the fourteenth century. cannons were used at the battle of cressy, in ; small guns, or muskets, were introduced into the spanish army in . [footnote : see chapter xiii.] _explosive_, bursting out with violence and noise. _liberation_, a setting at liberty. is not gunpowder highly combustible? so combustible is gunpowder, that a single spark of fire, lighting upon any of it, will cause it to explode with immense force; and instances have occurred, when any store or magazine of it has taken fire, that have been attended with the most fatal effects. it is useful to the miner and engineer as a ready means of overcoming the obstacles which are presented in their search for mineral treasures, and in procuring materials for building. from many passages in the ancient authors, there is reason to suppose that gunpowder, or a composition extremely like it, was known to them; but it does not appear to have been in general use, and the invention of fire-arms is comparatively modern. dynamite, a recent invention, has a still greater explosive force than gunpowder. _engineer_, one who works or directs an engine. _obstacles_, hinderances, obstructions. what is saltpetre? a bitter kind of salt, called by the ancients nitre, but more commonly among us saltpetre. it is composed of nitric acid and potassa.[ ] it is found in earthy substances; sometimes native or pure, in the form of a shapeless salt. vast quantities are found in several of the marly earths of the east indies, china, persia, and also in south america. in india it is found naturally crystallized, and forming thin crusts upon the surface of the earth. it is especially abundant in the united states, being found in immense quantities in the limestone caves in the south-western states. [footnote : see potash, chapter vii., article glass.] what do you mean by _marly_? consisting of marl, a kind of earth composed of different proportions of clay and carbonate of lime; it is much used for manure. there are several different-colored marls, each possessing different qualities. the most common are the red and the white, though there are grey, brown, blue, and yellow colored marls. what is a telescope? an optical instrument, which serves for discovering and viewing distant objects, either directly by glasses, or by reflection. the invention of the telescope is one of the noblest and most useful of which modern ages can boast, since by means of this instrument the wonderful motions of the planets and fixed stars, and all the heavenly bodies, are revealed to us. the honor of the invention is much disputed; it is certain, however, that the celebrated galileo was the first who improved the telescope so as to answer astronomical purposes. the name is formed from two greek words, one signifying _far_, the other _to observe_. _optical_, relating to optics, the science of vision. _astronomical_, relating to astronomy. who was galileo? a most eminent astronomer and mathematician, born at florence, in italy. his inventions and discoveries in astronomy, geometry, and mechanics, contributed much to the advancement of those sciences. he died in . _astronomer_, one versed in astronomy. _mathematician_, one versed in mathematics; a science which treats of magnitude and number. what is astronomy?[ ] that science which teaches the knowledge of the heavenly bodies, with the nature and causes of their various phenomena. [footnote : see chapter xviii.] what is geometry? an ancient, perfect, and beautiful science, which treats of the relations and properties of lines, surfaces, and solids. what is meant by mechanics? the science which investigates the laws of forces and powers, and their action on bodies, either directly or by machinery. when the term _mechanic_ is applied to a _person_, it means one skilled in mechanics, accustomed to manual labor. _investigate_, to search, to inquire into. _manual_, performed by the hand. what is a microscope? an optical instrument, by means of which very minute objects are represented exceedingly large, and viewed very distinctly according to the laws of refraction or reflection. nothing certain is known respecting the inventor of microscopes, or the exact time of their invention, but that they were first used in germany, about . _minute_, small, diminutive. _refraction_, a change in the direction of a ray of light, when it passes through transparent substances of different densities. _reflection_, a turning back of a ray of light after striking upon any surface. what is the steam engine? a machine that derives its moving power from the force of the steam produced from boiling water, which is very great, especially when, as in the steam engine, it is confined within a limited compass: this useful machine is one of the most valuable presents that the arts of life have received from the philosopher, and is of the greatest importance in working mines; supplying cities with water; in working metals; in many mechanical arts; and in navigation. by the aid of steam, vessels are propelled with greater swiftness than those which are wholly dependent on the winds and tides; and thus trade is facilitated, and we are enabled to communicate with distant lands in a much shorter space of time than was formerly consumed. on land, railroads are constructed, on which steam carriages run with astonishing rapidity, so that a journey which by coach and horses formerly required two or more days, may now be performed in four or five hours. _mechanical_, belonging to mechanics. to whom are we indebted for its invention? its invention is by most writers ascribed to the marquis of worcester, an englishman, about ; but it does not appear that the inventor could ever interest the public in favor of this, or his other discoveries. the steam engine of captain savery, also an englishman, is the first of which any definite description has been preserved. it was invented in . since that period it has been successively improved by various persons, but it is to mr. watt and mr. boulton, of england, that it is indebted for much of its present state of perfection. by whom was the steam engine first applied to the purposes of navigation? by john fitch, of pennsylvania. from papers in the historical collections of pennsylvania, it appears that the first successful experiments were made at philadelphia, in , three years before the attempts at falkirk, and on the clyde, in scotland. the boat made several trips on the delaware and schuylkill rivers, but owing to repeated accidents to her machinery, and the want of funds and competent mechanics for the necessary repairs, she was abandoned. in , robert fulton, also of pennsylvania, made his first experimental trip on the hudson river, with complete success. to this distinguished and ingenious american justly belongs the honor of having brought navigation by steam to a state of perfection. in , the first steamship crossed the atlantic from savannah to liverpool; and in , a regular communication by steamship was established between great britain and the united states. since that period, ocean navigation by steam-vessels has made rapid progress, and, at the present time, numbers of steamers connect our various seaports with those of other nations, and with each other. what is the electro-magnetic telegraph? an instrument, or apparatus, by means of which intelligence is conveyed to any distance with the velocity of lightning. the electric fluid, when an excess has accumulated in one place, always seeks to transfer itself to another, until an equilibrium of its distribution is fully restored. consequently, when two places are connected by means of a good conductor of electricity, as, for instance, the telegraphic wire; the fluid generated by a galvanic battery, if the communication be rendered complete, instantaneously traverses the whole extent of the wire, and charges, at the distant station, an electro-magnet; this attracts one end of a lever, and draws it downward, while the other extremity is thrown up, and, by means of a style, marks a slip of paper, which is steadily wound off from a roller by the aid of clock-work. if the communication is immediately broken, only one wave of electricity passes over, and a _dot_ is made upon the paper; if kept up, a _line_ is marked. these dots and lines are made to represent the letters of the alphabet, so that an operator employed for the purpose can easily read the message which is transmitted.--the electro-magnetic telegraph was first introduced upon a line between baltimore and washington, by professor morse, in ; at the present time, it is in successful operation between nearly all the important cities and towns of the united states and of europe. an _electro-magnet_ is a piece of soft iron, rendered temporarily magnetic by being placed within a coil of wire through which a current of electricity is passing. chapter xiii. soap, candles, tallow tree, spermaceti, wax, mahogany, indian rubber or caoutchouc, sponge, coral, lime, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, gas, hydrogen, chalk, and marble. of what is soap composed? of soda or potash, and various oily substances; it is so useful for domestic and other purposes, that it may be regarded as one of the necessaries of life; immense quantities of it are consumed in all civilized countries. soft soap is generally made of a lye of wood-ashes and quicklime, boiled up with tallow or oil; common household soap of soda and tallow, or of potash and tallow; when potash is used, a large portion of common salt, which contains soda, is added to harden it. the finest white soaps are made of olive oil and a lye consisting of soda and quicklime; perfumes are sometimes added, or various coloring matters stirred in to give the soap a variegated appearance. the ancient greeks and hebrews appear to have been acquainted with the art of making soap, or a composition very similar to it; and also the ancient gauls and germans. a soap-boiler's shop, with soap in it, was found in the city of pompeii, in italy, which was overwhelmed by an eruption of mount vesuvius, a.d. . what is soda? soda, or barilla, is obtained from the ashes of marine plants, and by the decomposition of common salt; its great depository is the ocean, soda being the basis of salt. the marine plants from which the soda is obtained, are endowed with the property of decomposing the sea-salt which they imbibe, and of absorbing the soda which it contains. it is found native in egypt, and is there called _natron_; a name similar to that which it bore among the jews and greeks. _depository_, store-house, place where anything is lodged. _imbibe_, to drink in, to absorb. of what are candles made? of tallow, which means animal fat melted and clarified, that is, cleansed or purified from filth. tallow is procured from many animals, but the most esteemed, and the most used, is that made from oxen, sheep, swine, goats, deer, bears, &c.; some of which tallows or fats are used in medicine, some in making soap, and dressing leather; others in the manufacture of candles, &c. for the last-mentioned article, that of sheep and oxen is most used; candles of a better sort are likewise made of wax and spermaceti. candles are kept burning by means of a wick of cotton or rush, placed in the centre of the tallow, which is moulded into a cylindrical form. _cylindrical_, having the form of a cylinder. is there not a tree which yields a vegetable tallow? yes; china possesses a tree producing a substance like our tallow, of which the chinese make their candles; this tallow is extracted from the stone of the fruit, the tallow being a white pulp which surrounds it. in america, likewise, there is a shrub, a native of the temperate parts, especially towards the sea-side, the seeds of which contain a waxy substance used for the same purpose, and which is extracted by boiling; this shrub is a species of myrtle, and does not attain to any great size. _extracted_, drawn from. what is spermaceti? a whitish, flaky, unctuous substance, prepared from an oil of the same name, drawn from a particular kind of whale, distinguished from the common whale by having teeth, and a hunch on its back. _flaky_, having the nature of flakes. what is wax? a soft, yellow, concrete matter, collected from vegetables by the bee, of which this industrious and useful insect constructs its cell. wax forms a considerable article of trade; it is of two kinds, the yellow and the white; the yellow is the native wax as it is taken from the hive, and the white is the same washed, purified, and exposed to the air. _concrete_, grown together, solid. what tree produces the beautiful and well-known wood so much used in making the various articles of household furniture? the mahogany tree, growing in america, and the east and west indies; it frequently grows in the crevices of rocks, and other places of the same description. this wood was not used for making furniture till near the end of the seventeenth century. a london physician had a brother, the captain of a west india ship, who, on his return to england, having on board several logs of mahogany for the purpose of ballast, made him a present of the wood, he being engaged in a building project; his carpenter, however, threw it aside, observing that it was too hard to be wrought. some time after, the lady of the physician being in want of a box to hold candles, the cabinet-maker was directed to make it of this wood; he also made the same objection, and declared that it spoiled his tools. being urged, however, to make another trial, he at length succeeded; when the box was polished, the beautiful color of the wood was so novel, that it became an object of great curiosity. before this time, mahogany had been used partially in the west indies for ship-building, but this new discovery of its beauty soon brought it into general use for making furniture. _crevice_, a rent, a crack. _ballast_, the heavy matter placed in the hold of a vessel to keep it steady. what is india rubber or caoutchouc? an elastic, resinous substance, produced from a tree, growing abundantly at cayenne, quito, and other parts of south america; and also in some parts of the indies. the tree which produces it is large, straight, and about sixty feet high. there is, however, a small species found in sumatra and java, and some of the neighboring islands. how is the caoutchouc obtained from the tree? by making incisions in the trunk of the tree, from which the fluid resin issues in great abundance, appearing of a milky whiteness at first, but gradually becoming of a dark reddish color, soft and elastic to the touch. to what use is this substance put? the indians make of it boots, shoes, bottles, flambeaux, and a species of cloth. amongst us it is combined with sulphur, forming the vulcanized rubber of commerce, which is used for many purposes. a greater proportion of sulphur, produces vulcanite, a hard black substance, resembling jet. _flambeaux_, torches burnt to give light. what is sponge? a marine substance, found adhering to rocks and shells under the sea-water, or on the sides of rocks near the shore. sponge was formerly imagined by some naturalists to be a vegetable production; by others, a mineral, or a collection of sea-mud, but it has since been discovered to be the fabric and habitation of a species of worm, or polypus. what do you mean by polypus? a species of animals called zoophytes, by which are meant beings having such an admixture of the characteristics of both plants and animals, as to render it difficult to decide to which division they properly belong. they are animal in substance, possessed indeed of a stomach, but without the other animal characteristics of blood-vessels, bones, or organs of sense; these creatures live chiefly in water, and are mostly incapable of motion: they increase by buds or excrescences from the parent zoophyte, and if cut off will grow again and multiply; each part becoming a perfect animal. myriads of the different species of zoophytes reside in small cells of coral, sponge, &c., or in forms like plants, and multiply in such numbers as to create rocks and whole islands in many seas, by their untiring industry. polypus signifies having many feet, or roots; it is derived from the greek. _myriads_, countless numbers. whence are the best and greatest number of sponges brought? from the mediterranean, especially from nicaria, an island near the coast of asia: the collection of sponges forms, in some of these islands, the principal support of their inhabitants. they are procured by diving under water, an exercise in which both men, women, and children are skilled from their earliest years. the fine, small sponges are esteemed the best, and usually come from constantinople; the larger and coarser sorts are brought from tunis and algiers, on the coast of africa. sponge is very useful in the arts, as well as for domestic purposes. what is coral? a substance which, like sponge, was considered as a vegetable production, until about the year , when a french gentleman of marseilles commenced (and continued for thirty years,) a series of observations, and ascertained that the coral was a living animal of the polypus tribe. the general name of zoophytes, or plant animals, has since been applied to them. these animals are furnished with minute glands, secreting a milky juice; this juice, when exuded from the animal, becomes fixed and hard. _series_, a course or continued succession. _glands_, vessels. _exuded_, from exude, to flow out. is this substance considered by naturalists as the habitation of the insect? not merely as the habitation, but as a part of the animal itself, in the same manner that the shell of a snail or an oyster is of those animals, and without which they cannot long exist. by means of this juice or secretion, the coral insects, at a vast but unknown depth below the surface of the sea, attach themselves to the points and ridges of rocks, which form the bottom of the ocean; upon which foundation the little architects labor, building up, by the aid of the above-mentioned secretion, pile upon pile of their rocky habitations, until at length the work rises above the sea, and is continued to such a height as to leave it almost dry, when the insects leave building on that part, and begin afresh in another direction under the water. huge masses of rocky substances are thus raised by this wonderful little insect, capable of resisting the tremendous power of the ocean when agitated to the highest pitch by winds or tempests. _architect_, one who builds. how do these coral rocks become islands? after the formation of this solid, rocky base, sea-shells, fragments of coral, and sea-sand, thrown up by each returning tide, are broken and mixed together by the action of the waves; these, in time, become a sort of stone, and thus raise the surface higher and higher; meanwhile, the ever-active surf continues to throw up the shells of marine animals and other substances, which fill up the crevices between the stones; the undisturbed sand on its surface offers to the seeds of trees and plants cast upon it by the waves, a soil upon which they rapidly grow and overshadow the dazzling whiteness of the new-formed land. trunks of trees, washed into the sea by the rivers from other countries and islands, here find a resting-place, and with these come some small animals, chiefly of the lizard and insect tribe. even before the trees form a wood, the sea-birds nestle among their branches, and the stray land-bird soon takes refuge in the bushes. at last, man arrives and builds his hut upon the fruitful soil formed by the corruption of the vegetation, and calls himself lord and master of this new creation. _surf_, the white spray or froth of the sea waves. where is the coral insect found? in nearly all great seas; but particularly in the mediterranean, where it produces corallines of the most beautiful forms and colors: it is in the pacific ocean, however, where these tiny workmen are effecting those mighty changes, which exceed the most wonderful works of man. what is that part of the pacific called, where the coral rocks are most abundant? the coral sea, from the number of coral reefs and sunken islands, with which it abounds; it includes a region of many miles in extent, the whole of which is studded with numberless reefs, rocks, islands, and columns of coral, continually joining and advancing towards each other. all navigators who have visited these seas, state that no charts or maps are of any service after a few years, owing to the number of fresh rocks and reefs which are continually rising to the surface. the wonderful instinct of these animals leads them to continue working without ceasing, until their labors are finished, or their lives extinct. _reef_, a chain or line of rocks lying near the surface of the water. _extinct_, at an end, dead. what are the names of the principal islands of coral formation? the new hebrides, the friendly isles, the navigator's isles, the society islands, the marquesas, the gambier group, and others. these groups are separated from each other by channels or seas, wider than those which divide the individual islands which form the respective groups; but all these waters abound with shoals and minor islets, which point out the existence of a common base, and show that the work by which they will afterwards be united above the level of the sea is continually going forward. _shoals_, shallows; places where the water is of little depth. _minor_, less, smaller than others. _existence_, being. what is a singular characteristic of the coral islands? on all of them a plentiful supply of sweet and fresh water may be obtained by digging three or four feet into the coral; and even within one yard of high-water mark such a supply is to be found. they are mostly covered with a deep rich soil, and well wooded with trees and evergreens of different kinds. these islands vary in extent, as well as in the degree of finish to which they have arrived; some of the largest being about miles in diameter, and the smallest something less than a mile;--all of various shapes, and all formed of living coral. _diameter_, a straight line through the middle of a circle. is coral put to any use by man? white coral, which is nowhere so abundant as about the shores of ceylon, and others of the neighboring indian coasts, is employed as lime by the inhabitants of that part of the world, for building houses, &c., by burning it after the manner of our lime. this coral lies in vast banks, which are uncovered at low water. coral, particularly the beautiful red sort, is likewise made into various ornaments, as necklaces, &c. of what is our lime composed? of a useful earth, which absorbs moisture and carbonic acid, and exists as limestone, or in marble and chalk, which, when burnt, become lime: in its native state it is called carbonate of lime, and is burnt to disengage the carbonic acid; when made into a paste, with one part water and three parts lime,[ ] and mixed with some other mineral or metallic substances, it forms plastic cements and mortars; and afterwards, imbibing carbonic acid from the atmosphere, it becomes again carbonate of lime, as hard as at first; and hence its use in building. [footnote : see chapter xvi., article lime.] _plastic_, yielding, capable of being spread out or moulded. what do you mean by carbon? a simple substance, whose most common form is purified charcoal: it is, in fact, the base of charcoal, divested of all impurities; combined with oxygen, it forms _carbonic acid_ gas, formerly called fixed air. it is diffused through all animal and vegetable bodies; and may be obtained by exposing them to a red heat. in its pure, crystallized state, it constitutes the diamond, and as graphite, is used in making the so-called lead-pencils.[ ] [footnote : see chapter xiv., article diamond.] what is oxygen? air, mentioned in the first chapter of this work as the gaseous substance which composes the atmosphere, is formed by a mixture of two distinct elements, one called nitrogen, or azote, the other oxygen. oxygen is, therefore, an element or simple substance diffused generally through nature, and its different combinations are essential to animal life and combustion. it is, in fact, the most active agent in nature, and the principle of acidity and combustion. so wholesome and necessary is oxygen to life, that it is often called vital air. _agent_, an actor; a person or thing possessing the faculty of action. _essential_, necessary. what are the properties of nitrogen or azote? nitrogen is a substance also generally diffused through nature, and particularly in animal bodies, and causes great changes in those absorbing or exposed to it. this gas, combined with oxygen and hydrogen, produces neither light, heat, nor combustion, but serves to dilute the others: of itself, it is hurtful to animal life. nitrogen makes the principal part of the salt we call _nitre_. what is meant by combustion? the decomposition of bodies by the action of fire; the union of combustible bodies with the oxygen of the atmosphere. the greater access the air has to a burning body, the more rapid and complete is the process. _combustible_, capable of taking fire. _access_, the means or liberty of approach to anything. are all bodies equally combustible? no; some are more so than others, and burn with a bright flame; as wood, dry vegetables, resins, oils, fats, &c.; others with difficulty, and without any sensible flame, as soot, coal, the ashes of plants, &c. there are bodies, also, which are incombustible--that is, incapable of taking fire, as some alkalies, earths, &c. what is caloric? caloric is that invisible agent which produces the sensation of heat. it exists in all bodies; it is a force we are ever in want of, and thus it is hid in everything around us, and penetrates all matter, however different may be its nature or properties. what is meant by gas? all highly elastic fluids are called gases. some are salutary, but many extremely noxious, especially such as those arising from the putrefaction of animal bodies; the burning of charcoal; corrupted air at the bottom of mines, cellars, &c. the inflammable gas, which lights our streets, churches, shops, &c., is procured chiefly from coal, burnt in furnaces for the purpose the gas being passed through metal pipes, conveyed underground to the places where the light is required: escaping at the orifice prepared for it, it is lighted when wanted, and burns with, a brilliant flame. this gas consists of hydrogen and carbon; and the oxygen of the air, combined with the hydrogen, causes light as long as hydrogen and oxygen exist and combine. _salutary_, wholesome, healthful. _noxious_, hurtful, unwholesome. _putrefaction_, decay. _orifice_, opening, hole. [illustration: diamond cutting and polishing.] what is hydrogen? one of the most abundant principles in nature; one part of it, and eight of oxygen, form water. it is only met with in a gaseous form; it is also very inflammable, and is the gas called the fire-damp, so often fatal to miners; it is the chief constituent of oils, fats, spirits, &c.; and is produced by the decomposition of water. _constituent_, that which forms an essential part of anything. what is chalk? a white fossil substance, by some reckoned a stone, but of a friable kind, which cannot, therefore, be polished as marble; by others, more properly ranked among the earths. it is of two sorts, one a hard dry chalk, used for making lime; the other a soft, unctuous kind, used in manuring land, &c. chalk always contains quantities of flint-stone, and the fossil remains of shells, coral, animal bones, marine plants, &c.; from which circumstance there can be no doubt that _chalk is the deposited mud of a former ocean_. the chemical name of chalk is carbonate of lime. it effervesces strongly with an acid. _effervesce_, to froth or foam up. _deposited_, placed on anything. where is chalk found? in large beds or strata in the earth. chalk, on account of its abundance in england, forms an important feature in the scenery and geology of that country; it causes the whiteness of its sea-cliffs. scotland and wales are entirely without chalk. the white chalk is found, with interruptions, over a space above eleven hundred miles long, extending from the north of ireland, through england, france, belgium, germany, poland, and southern russia, to the crimea, with a breadth of more than eight hundred miles. the island of crete, now called candia, situated in the mediterranean, was formerly noted for its chalk. this substance is very useful in many of the arts and manufactures. where is the crimea? the peninsula of the crimea is a part of russia, lying on the black sea, by which it is bounded on the west and south. are there any other kinds of this earth besides the common white chalk? yes; there are various kinds of chalk, distinguished by their different colors, as white, black, red, &c., found in various parts of the world, of great use to the painter, both in oil and water colors, and for drawing on paper, &c. what is marble? a kind of stone remarkable for its hardness and firm grain, and for being susceptible of the finest polish. it is dug in great masses from pits or quarries; and is much used in ornamental buildings, and for statues, altars, tombs, chimney-pieces, &c. the word is derived from the french _marbre_, marble. marble is supposed to be formed, deep within the bowels of the earth, from a loose and porous carbonate of lime, subjected to enormous heat and pressure. _susceptible_, easily admitting anything additional. _porous_, full of holes, or interstices. are there different sorts of this stone? marbles are of many different kinds, usually named either from their color or country; some of one simple color, as white, or black; others streaked or variegated with different colors. they are classified as ancient and modern: the ancient are those found in quarries now lost or inaccessible to us, and of which there are only some wrought pieces remaining;--the modern, those from quarries still open, and out of which blocks of marble continue to be taken. in what countries is marble found? the united states, great britain, france, spain, italy, africa, egypt, and many other countries, produce marbles of different colors and qualities; some more beautiful, valuable, and more highly esteemed than others, as those of egypt, italy, &c. those, also, of different places in the same country frequently differ from each other in quality and appearance of the european marbles, that of italy is the most valuable. what kind appears to have been held in the greatest esteem by the ancients? a beautiful white marble, called the parian; of which the grecian statues were mostly made. by some, it is supposed to have taken its name from the isle of paros, in the mediterranean; but by others from parius, a famous statuary, who made it celebrated by cutting in it a statue of venus. parian marble is often mentioned by ancient authors. _statues_, figures of men, animals, &c., cut in stone or marble. _statuary_, one who makes statues. who was venus? the goddess of love and beauty, who was an object of adoration in the idolatrous ages, when men ignorantly knelt down and worshipped stocks and stones, which their own hands had fashioned after the likeness of things on the earth, or imaginary creations of their fancy;--or, again, the sun, moon, and stars, instead of the one and only true god. in those times, every nation had its peculiar deities, to whom were paid divine rites and honors, and to whose names costly temples were dedicated: these deities were divided into two classes, superior and inferior. venus was one of the grecian goddesses, supposed by them to have sprung from the froth of the sea. kings and celebrated warriors, and sages too, after death, frequently received divine honors; as confucius, the founder of the chinese empire, who, after death, was worshipped by that people as a god. romulus, the first king of rome, likewise, was thus adored by the romans; and many similar instances of the same species of idolatry amongst other nations might be recorded. _deities_, fabulous gods or goddesses. _idolatrous_, given to the worship of idols. _superior_, higher in rank. _inferior_, of a lower rank. _sage_, a wise man. chapter xiv. gold, silver, lead, tin, platina, sulphur, gems or precious stones, as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, turquois, pearls, mother-or-pearls, and ivory. what is gold? the purest and most precious of metals: it is sometimes found in solid masses, as in california, peru, hungary, &c.; in a shape resembling the branches of plants; in thin plates covering other bodies, as in siberia; sometimes in a crystal form. it, however, generally occurs in a metallic state, and most commonly in the form of grains. what is it called when found in a perfect metallic form? native gold: it is, however, seldom met with perfectly pure, being frequently alloyed with silver, copper, iron, or platina; sometimes concealed in other minerals; from which, if sufficiently abundant, it is extracted by art. where and in what manner is gold generally found? all parts of the earth afford gold; though with great difference in point of purity and abundance. it is chiefly obtained from mines. many rivers contain gold in their sands, especially those of california and guinea. gold mines are of rare occurrence in europe, but the metal is found in some of its rivers; among its mines, those of upper hungary are the most considerable. china and japan are rich in this metal; many parts of asia also possess it. australia produces quantities of the metal. it is also found in the eastern parts and interior of africa, where gold dust is collected in great quantities from earth deposited by the rivers. but it is in america that gold is found in the greatest abundance, particularly in the state of california, and in some parts of south america, as brazil, peru, chili, &c. _guinea_, a country of western africa. what are the uses of gold? it is used for money, jewelry, plate, &c. it is also employed in various ways in the arts. what is the character of gold? gold is so ductile and malleable, that an ounce of it may be drawn into a thread of leagues in length; or beaten into leaves of inches square, and thin enough to be carried away by the slightest wind. it readily assumes any form that human art can bestow upon it: its color is unalterable, and the beautiful polish of which it is susceptible, renders it the best of all metals for ornamental purposes. it is indestructible by air, water, or fire. gold is the heaviest of all metals, except platina; it is neither very elastic, nor very hard. _league_, a measure of length containing three miles. _indestructible_, incapable of being destroyed. is not the use of gold quite ancient? yes; it appears to have been very early known to the inhabitants of the world. in the th chapter of genesis, abram is spoken of as very rich in silver and gold; and in the d chapter of the same book, the "land of hevilath" (now in the eastern part of arabia felix,) is pointed out as having gold. arabia was famed for the fineness and quality of its gold. in the time of solomon, the gold of ophir seems to have been much esteemed, as it is recorded that the gold used in the building of the temple was brought from that place by the merchant-vessels of hiram, king of tyre. ophir is supposed to have been situated somewhere in the east indies. what is silver? a beautiful white shining metal, next to gold in value, and, like that precious substance, of great antiquity. it is found in sweden, norway, and the polar latitudes: when it occurs in hot climates, it is generally amidst mountains, covered with perpetual snow. _latitude_, breadth, width; in geography, the distance of a place in degrees, north or south, from the equator. where are the richest silver mines found? in south america, especially among the andes; the mines of mexico, and those of nevada, also, are rich in this metal. the richest and most important silver mines in europe are those of königsberg, in norway, and of andalusia, in spain. with the exception of gold, silver is the most ductile of all metals: a single grain may be extended into a plate inches long, and half an inch broad. it is capable of still further extension, but its tenacity is inferior even to that of iron or copper. a silver wire one-tenth of an inch thick will scarcely bear a weight of pounds, whilst a gold wire of the same thickness will support nearly double that weight. like some other metals, it is unalterable by air or moisture, but by an intense heat may be volatilized, being sometimes found in the soot of chimneys where large quantities are melted. _volatilized_, made to fly off by evaporation. in what state is silver usually found? it is rarely found in a state of purity, being generally mixed with other metals, as gold, lead, &c. masses of native silver are of no determinate form; being found sometimes in small branches, sometimes in threads, or very frequently in leaves, as in the siberian mines. native, or pure silver is chiefly found in the mines of potosi. silver was used as money in commerce years before the foundation of rome. _commerce_, trade of one nation with another, or different persons, &c. with each other. what is tin? a white metal, softer than any other excepting lead, more elastic, and more sonorous. though tin is the lightest of all metals, its ore is, when rich, the heaviest of all metallic ores. it has both smell and taste; is less ductile than some harder metals, though it may be beaten into very thin leaves; and it fuses so quickly, that it requires a heat much less than is sufficient to make it red-hot. was not the use of tin very early known? tin was found in britain from the earliest ages; the phenicians traded to cornwall for this metal years before christ. where are the principal tin mines? in saxony, cornwall, and bohemia. tin is also found in spain, sumatra, siam, mexico, and chili. a few specimens have been found at goshen, in massachusetts. _specimens_, samples. in what state is tin generally found? tin is sometimes found native or pure, but most frequently alloyed with other metals: the working of tin mines is attended with much difficulty, on account of their great depth, and the hard rocks which obstruct the progress of the miners, who are often obliged to cut through them. this metal is very useful in the making of domestic utensils, for coating the inside of copper and iron vessels, and for various other purposes. _obstruct_, to stand in the way. what is lead? a coarse, heavy metal, of a bluish grey color: it is so soft and flexible, that it is easily cut with a knife, and rolled out into sheets, &c.; it is very fusible and inelastic, but less ductile and sonorous, than any other metal. next to gold, platina, and mercury, it is the heaviest of the metals, being eleven times heavier than an equal bulk of water. this metal loses its malleability in proportion as it is heated: as soon as it melts it calcines, and greyish-colored ashes are formed on its surface; when returning from a fluid to a solid state, it is easily divided into small grains or powder, or formed into shot, &c. lead was in common use among the ancients. _flexible_, yielding, easily bent. _sonorous_, giving sound when struck. where is lead found? in various countries; but it abounds principally in great britain and spain; the lead mines of illinois, wisconsin, and iowa, are among the richest in the world. lead is a metal of great utility; it easily melts and mixes with gold, silver, and copper; hence it is employed in refining gold and silver, as it separates all the dirt and impurities from them; it is much used in building, particularly for covering gutters, pipes, &c.; lead is also used in varnishes and oil-painting, and makes the basis of the glazing of all the earthen and pottery wares. _refining_, cleansing, purifying. _varnishes_, preparations for beautifying and preserving various articles. what is peculiar to the ore of lead? the ore of this metal is so poisonous, that the steam arising from the furnaces in which it is smelted infects the grass of all the neighboring places, and kills the animals which feed on it: culinary vessels lined with a mixture of tin and lead, are apt to convey pernicious qualities to the food prepared in them. there are various preparations of lead, serving for different purposes. _infects_, corrupts. _culinary_, adapted to the purposes of cooking. _pernicious_, hurtful, dangerous. _ore_, the mineral soil, earth, or stone dug out of the mines, which contains the metal. what is black lead? it is a kind of mineral, of a deep shining black or bluish color, soft and unctuous to the touch; it is insoluble in acids, and infusible by fire. black lead has been found in many parts of the world, in a state of greater or less purity, but it is the english black lead which is the most esteemed. _insoluble_, incapable of dissolving. _infusible_, not capable of being melted. is black lead a proper term for this mineral? no; because, in reality, there is not a particle of lead in it. on the spot where it is procured, it is called by two or three different names, but the most usual is plumbago. where is the best black lead found? the best and greatest quantity is found in england, in a mine near keswick, in cumberland. it is much used for pencils or crayons, for writing, drawing, &c.; for this purpose it is sawn into slips, and fitted into a groove in a strip of soft wood, as cedar, &c., over which another is placed and fastened with glue. what is platina? a metallic substance, more recently discovered than the metals already described; and analogous to the perfect metals, especially gold,--many of whose properties it possesses. _analogous_, bearing a resemblance. whence is its name derived? it is the diminutive of _plata_, silver, to which it appears very similar; platina being a silver-colored metal, in small grains. _diminutive_, a word lessening the meaning of the original. whence is it obtained? mostly from russia, and, also from south america. its color does not tarnish by exposure to the air, and appears to be equally permanent with that of pure gold; the metal is indestructible by fire. platina is capable of being alloyed with all metals; is fused with difficulty, but by great labor may be rendered malleable: it is also the heaviest metal, being times heavier than water. _permanent_, lasting. are there any other metals besides those already mentioned? in addition to the metals known and used by the ancients, the chemical science of later ages has, by decomposing other earths, added more than thirty to the number of metals, some of them more curious than useful; several of these are lighter than water. all the metals possess different and distinct properties from each other. they are divided into two classes, the malleable and the brittle metals. these last may be again divided into two others,--namely, those which are easily, and those which are with difficulty fused. what do you mean by metallurgy? the art of obtaining metals from their ores, comprising the processes of assaying, refining, smelting, &c. by assaying is meant, the particular manner of examining an ore or mixed metal, according to its nature, so as to discover not only what metals and what proportions of metal may be obtained from it, but also what other mineral substances or earths may be contained in it. what do the terms refining and smelting signify? refining is the art of rendering the metal free from all impurities. smelting means the melting of a metal from its ore in a smelting furnace, in order to separate the metallic parts from the sulphur, arsenic, and the earthy and stony substances with which they may be combined. what is sulphur? an inflammable, fossil substance, of a dry, solid, friable nature, melting with a small proportion of heat;--when fired in the open air, burning almost entirely away with a blue flame and noxious vapor. it is abundantly diffused in many places, especially where metallic minerals are found; but more particularly in those districts where subterranean fires and volcanoes exist. it is also found combined with many different substances. describe the nature of sulphur, and the places where it is mostly found. sulphur almost pure, called native or virgin sulphur, is found in volcanoes and grottoes, in the form of transparent crystals; but the greatest quantity which exists naturally is combined with metals in ores. sulphur is both fusible and volatile,--which qualities enable us to procure it from those minerals by the process of sublimation: it unites easily, in different degrees, with all metallic matters, excepting gold, platina, and zinc. _sublimation_, the act of bringing a solid substance into the state of vapor by heat, and condensing it again by cold. are not its uses very extensive? yes, both in the arts and in chemistry: it is well known to be a principal ingredient in the preparation of gunpowder and fire-works; it is also used for whitening wool, straw, silk, &c.; many other matters exposed to the vapors of sulphur when burning, quickly lose their color, which no other substance had been able to destroy. sulphur is also frequently found in mineral waters. whence are the greatest quantities of sulphur brought? the largest quantities are brought from saxony, in irregular masses, which are afterwards melted and cast into small rolls. there are about four species of sulphur; namely, the yellow native sulphur, which in its purest state is clear, and of a pale straw color, found in the gold mines of peru; in hungary, and some other places: the green native sulphur, which is harder than the other, is found in small crust-like masses; this sort is chiefly confined to mount vesuvius: and the grey native sulphur, common in iceland and many other places. native sulphur is also found at the coal mines, near richmond, virginia; in connecticut, pennsylvania, and other parts of the united states. which is the most rare and beautiful of all the kinds? the red native sulphur; it is mostly of a fine glowing red, very bright and transparent; it is found, like the first-mentioned sort, in the gold mines of peru. common sulphur, such as is used in trade and the arts, is of a pale yellow color; and possesses a peculiar and disagreeable smell, particularly when heated or rubbed. this is mostly extracted from the metallic sulphurets, and is commonly called brimstone. it is the sort employed in making matches. is there not another substance also employed in the manufacture of matches? yes: phosphorus, a peculiar substance, chiefly of animal origin. it is mostly procured by the decomposition of the phosphoric acid which is found in bones. it was accidentally discovered at hamburgh, in , by an alchemist named brandt. _alchemist_, one skilled in alchemy.[ ] [footnote : see chapter xviii., article chemistry.] what is the nature of phosphorus? it is a solid, inflammable substance, which burns when in contact with atmospheric air. it is used in various chemical experiments, and for making matches; for various kinds of fire-works, &c. it will combine with all metals except gold and zinc; and also with some earths. some animals, as the glow-worm, possess very peculiar phosphorescent qualities. _phosphorescent_, having a phosphoric property, emitting peculiar light like phosphorus. what is arsenic? a heavy metallic substance, very volatile, and highly inflammable; so caustic or corrosive to animals, as to become a violent poison in all its states. in its metallic state it is used in several of the arts: it is employed in the manufacture of factitious metals: it is of use to the dyer in forming some of his colors; and for that purpose is generally combined with potassa. it is used in the making of small shot, and also in the manufacture of glass, to which it gives transparency; in whitening copper; in calico printing; in the preparation of colors for the painter; and in the working of platina, and some other metals, to render them more easily fusible. _caustic_, dry, burning. _corrosive_, apt to corrode, to eat away, to penetrate. how is the white powdered arsenic prepared? by submitting the ore to a strong heat in a peculiar kind of furnace; this produces a dark grey powder, which is again heated in close iron vessels; this separates it from its impurities, and the arsenic is obtained in thick, solid masses; these, by exposure to the air, fall into a fine, white powder. from what is the word arsenic derived? from a greek word, signifying _masculine_--powerful (as a poison). arsenic is dug out of mines in saxony, near goslar; in bohemia; in england, in the mendip hills, in great quantities. it has so strong a corrosive quality as sometimes to burn the hands and feet of the miners; it is a deadly poison for all known animals. this poisonous mineral is not found native in its perfect form, being generally united with metallic ores. what do you mean by gems? the word gem is used as a common name for all precious stones or jewels; they consist of the siliceous earths; and are much valued for their lustre, transparency, color, hardness, and rarity. there are many different kinds of precious stones, each distinguished by its peculiar character. how are they divided? into the pellucid gems, which are of great lustre, and extremely hard, as the diamond; the semi-pellucid, those which are not so transparent, but yet of great beauty; those of one color, as the emerald or turquois; and those variegated or veined with different colors. gems are sometimes found of regular shapes, with a natural polish, near the beds of rivers after great rains; these are of the pebble kind. sometimes they are found of irregular shapes, with a rough coat, in mines and the clefts of rocks. pearls, though not stones, are also ranked among the number of gems. _pellucid_, clear as a drop of water. _semi-pellucid_, half pellucid. describe the diamond. the diamond is a precious stone, the first in rank of all the gems, and valued for its beautiful lustre; it is the hardest of all stones, as well as the most valuable. the most esteemed are colorless. a diamond in its natural state as it comes out of the mine, and before it is cut, is called rough, because it has no brilliancy, but is covered with an earthy crust. the diamond is the adamant of the ancients; hence the expression "hard as adamant," from its being the hardest substance in nature. the cutting of diamonds is a work of labor, and requires great skill; the polishing is performed by a mill of simple construction. where are they mostly found? in yellow ochreous earths; in mines; and likewise in torrents, which have torn them from their beds. in former times, all the diamonds that were known were brought from the famous mines of golconda, in hindostan; the islands of molucca and borneo have also produced many valuable stones. the diamond mines of golconda are now so exhausted, that they are not thought worth the expense of working; these gems are now brought chiefly from brazil, in south america. what is meant by ochreous? consisting of ochre, a kind of earth with a rough and dusty surface, composed of fine, soft, clayey particles, which readily separate in water. there are various colored ochres, as red, yellow, blue, green, &c.; they are very useful in many of the arts. what term is used to denote the quality of the diamond? in speaking of the value of diamonds, we distinguish them as "diamonds of the first water," meaning those which possess the greatest perfection and purity, which ought to be that of the clearest drop of water: when they fall short of this perfection, they are said to be "of the second or third water," and so on till the stone may be properly called a colored one. what is the ruby? a beautiful gem of a red color; in its perfect state it is of great value. the ruby is often found perfectly pure and free from all spots or blemishes; but its value is much more frequently lessened by them, especially in the larger stones. it is very hard, being second only to the diamond in this respect; and is often naturally so bright and pure on the surface as to need no polishing; it is often worn in rings, &c., in its rough or native state. the color of rubies varies from the deepest to the palest red, all having more or less of a purplish tinge, which is more plainly perceived in the deeper colored specimens than in the paler ones. where are rubies found? they are mostly found in gold mines. we have the true rubies only from the east. the isle of ceylon has long been celebrated for these gems; they are found in a river which descends from the mountains; they are brighter and more beautiful than those obtained in other parts, but are very rare. some crystals are frequently found tinged with the true color of the ruby, but these want its lustre and hardness. describe the emerald. it is a precious stone of a beautiful transparent green color, and, when in a state of perfection, nearly equal to the ruby in hardness. the finest and best are found in america, especially among the mountains of peru; they are also obtained from a few places in the east. these gems are often counterfeited, as are most of the precious stones, there being even false diamonds; the genuine may be known by their extreme hardness and brilliancy. _counterfeited_, imitated with a view to defraud. _genuine_, true, real. what is the turquois? a beautiful blue stone; it is one of the softest of the gems, and some varieties are often used for seals, as they admit of being engraved upon. the turquois is easily imitated, and that often so perfectly as to render it very difficult to distinguish the counterfeit from the true gem. in what countries are they found? the oriental turquois comes from persia, the indies, and some parts of turkey; the turquois is also found in various parts of europe, as germany, spain, and france. what is engraving? the art of cutting metals or precious stones, and representing thereon figures, letters, and devices; the term is, however, more particularly applied to the art of producing figures or designs on metal, &c., for the purpose of being subsequently printed on paper. the ancients are well known to have excelled in engraving on precious stones; many specimens have been preserved, which surpass anything of the kind produced by the moderns. this art is frequently alluded to in the bible. engraving on wood, according to some authors, was introduced into europe from china by venetian merchants; it is certain the art was practised in eastern and northern italy as early as the thirteenth century. the invention of copper-plate engraving has been ascribed to a goldsmith of florence, about the year . _device_, that which is formed by design. _design_, a representation of a thing by an outline; a sketch. describe wood engraving. the subject is drawn on a block of box or pear-tree wood with a black-lead pencil, or with a pen and indian ink; the wood is then cut away, so as to leave the lines which have been drawn, as raised parts. the ink is next applied, and by pressing damp paper upon the block, the impressions are obtained. albert durer, a celebrated painter of germany, brought the art of engraving on wood and metal, and taking off impressions on paper, &c., to great perfection. how is engraving on copper, steel, &c., performed? this sort of engraving is performed with a sharp-pointed instrument called a _graver_, by means of which figures, landscapes, &c., are traced upon a flat surface of the metal: the lines are then filled with ink or a similar composition, and the paper pressed on the plate. when taken off, an exact copy of the plate is impressed upon its surface. [illustration: cochineal insects and plants.] what is lithography? a species of engraving on stone, from which impressions can be taken much more expeditiously and economically than from metal. the process depends upon the following principles:--first, the facility with which calcareous stones imbibe water; second, the power of oily substances to repel water. when drawings are executed upon the stone with crayons composed of oily materials, and the surface of the stone is washed over with water, the moisture is imbibed by the stone, but repelled from the engraving; and when the ink, which also contains oily substances, is applied, it adheres only to the drawing, and not to the other portions of the stone. the block is then passed through a press, and the impressions are taken off; as many as , perfect copies have been obtained from a single stone. _expeditiously_, with celerity or dispatch. _economically_, with economy; with frugality. you describe pearls as being ranked among the number of gems, although they are not stones; what kind of substance are they? pearls are excrescences found in the shells of a large species of oyster, which are supposed to be produced by a disease of the fish. the best pearls are generally taken from the most fleshy part of the oyster, near the hinge of the shell, but inferior kinds are found in all parts of the fish, and adhering to the shells. pearls, from many allusions made to them in the old testament, were not only known to the ancients, but were regarded by them as costly and precious gems. how do they get the oysters which contain them? by diving under water and picking the oysters from the large beds at the bottom of the sea; or the rocks to which they adhere. the divers cast all the oysters they take into their boats, and carry them ashore, where they deposit them in heaps; they are then left till they become putrid, this being necessary in order to remove the pearls easily from the rough matter by which they are surrounded. what sea produces the best and greatest number of pearls? the finest and greatest quantities are obtained off the coast of ceylon; the pearl oyster is also found in the seas of the east indies; in those of america, and in some parts of the european seas; but these last are much inferior. the oriental pearls are the finest on account of their size, color, and beauty, being of a silvery white; while the occidental pearls are smaller, and frequently tinged with a yellow or blackish hue. _tinged_, slightly colored. does not the pearl oyster produce a substance called mother-of-pearl? no; the beautiful substance so much used for inlaying boxes, and for ornamental knife-handles, &c., is produced from the shell, not of the pearl oyster, but of another sea-fish of the oyster kind. what is inlaying? the art of ornamenting a plain surface of wood, or other material, with thin slices or leaves of a finer wood, of a different kind; as mahogany inlaid with ebony, &c., or with ivory, and other substances. there are two kinds of inlaying; one, of the more ordinary sort, which consists only of compartments of different kinds of wood, inlaid with one another; the other, requiring greater skill, represents flowers, birds, and other figures. the thin plates of wood or other substance, being sawed into slips, and cut into the required forms, are carefully joined, and afterwards strongly glued down on the block of wood, &c., intended to be thus ornamented. _compartment_, a division, a separate part. what is ebony? a hard, black-colored wood, growing in the countries of the levant, &c.; there are, however, several black woods of different kinds which are also called ebony. what is ivory? the tooth or tusk of the elephant, which grows on each side of his trunk; it is somewhat like a horn in shape. ivory is much esteemed for its beautiful white color, polish, and fine grain when wrought. it has been used from the remotest ages of antiquity; in the scriptures we read of solomon's ivory throne, and also of "vessels of ivory," and "beds of ivory:" by which it appears to have been a chief article of luxury, as well as of trade. _remotest_, most distant. of what countries is the elephant an inhabitant? of many parts of asia and africa. the elephant is the largest quadruped now in existence; it is extremely sagacious, docile and friendly: in the countries where they live they are trained to useful labor, and by their great strength are enabled to perform tasks which a man or horse could not accomplish: among the native princes they were, and even still are, used in war: with them the inhabitants are able to hunt and destroy the lion, tiger, and other beasts of prey. with their long trunk, or proboscis, they can perform almost everything which man can with his hands. _quadruped_, an animal with four feet. chapter xv. starch, arrow-root, tapioca, isinglass, caviare, the vine, wine, gin, rum, brandy, vinegar, indigo, gamboge, logwood, tar, pitch, camphor, musk, myrrh, frankincense, and turpentine. what is starch? a white, powdery sediment procured from the bottom of vessels in which flour or meal has been steeped in water. pure starch is of a fine white color, without taste or smell; it will not dissolve in cold water, but with warm forms a jelly, in which form it is generally used; it is made by crushing, soaking, and fermenting the grains of the cereals, and then washing in pure water; the water is then evaporated, leaving behind the starch. _sediment_, matter subsided to the bottom of liquors. for what is starch used? to stiffen linen after washing; to make hair powder; and for other purposes in the arts. from what vegetables is starch obtained? all farinaceous vegetable substances afford it, as the potato, horse-chestnut, &c. starch being the nutritive part of the vegetable, forms an excellent food for invalids, and constitutes the principal part of arrow-root, tapioca, &c.; the different flavor of these substances being derived from the mixture of a small portion of foreign matter peculiar to the plants which yield them. starch is procured from potatoes by crushing them to powder, and then proceeding as in the manufacture of wheat starch. what is arrow-root? the starch obtained from the root of an american plant by pulverization. it is often adulterated with potato starch, and the latter is even sold instead of it, for the two kinds resemble each other so closely that they can hardly be distinguished. _pulverization_, the act of reducing to powder. _adulterated_, corrupted by foreign mixture. what is tapioca? tapioca is another kind of starch, obtained from the root of the manioc plant, which is cultivated in most hot climates, in asia, africa, and america. a flour is also prepared from it, which is used for making bread. it is particularly cultivated in the tropical parts of america, and in the west india islands, where it forms a very important article of food for the negro population. _negro_, a name given to the black inhabitants of africa and their descendants. _population_, inhabitants of a place or country. what is isinglass? one of the purest and finest of _animal_ glues. it is the produce of several kinds of fish, but especially of the sturgeon, which inhabits the seas of northern europe and america. from what part of the fish is it prepared? from the air-bladder, and certain parts of the entrails; these are taken out while fresh, cut open, washed, and exposed to the air a short time to stiffen; the outside skin is then taken off, and the remaining part formed into rolls, fastened together with pegs, and hung up to dry. the isinglass is then separated into threads of different sizes, or formed into flakes. immense quantities are annually prepared in this manner in russia. what are its uses? dissolving readily in water or milk, it yields a mild nutriment for the sick, and enters into the composition of many delicacies for the table, such as jellies, &c. it is mixed with gum to give lustre to silk and satin; it is also used in making court plaster, and for clarifying various liquors. gelatine, now much used on account of its being less expensive, is a similar preparation, but of an inferior quality. what else does the sturgeon supply? its roe furnishes the delicacy called caviare, which is in fact merely that part of the fish separated from the membranes and washed in vinegar and white wine, and dried in the air. it is then well salted, and packed up in barrels ready for sale. this is the method of preparing it in russia, where large quantities of it are consumed. it is largely exported to italy, where it is highly esteemed. it is unwholesome, and at present the demand for it, except in russia and italy, is very limited. the best is dry and of a brown color, and is eaten with lemon juice on bread. to what other uses is the fruit of the vine applied besides drying it for raisins, as described in the sixth chapter? the well-known plant, called the vine, has been an object of culture from the earliest ages of the world, for the sake of the fermented liquor obtained from its fruit; soon after the flood, noe, who appears to have been the first "husbandman," is mentioned as having "planted a vineyard," and drank of the juice of the grape; in all those countries where it flourishes, it is inseparably connected with their religious rites, and wine, like corn, formed one of the principal articles which they offered on their altars to the gods whom they worshipped. _husbandman_, one who cultivates the fruits of the earth. _altar_, the place where sacrifices were anciently offered to some deity. what countries produce the best wines? the wines of france are generally admitted to be the finest; the principal ones are champagne, burgundy, and claret. of each of these, there are several varieties, celebrated for their peculiar flavor; they are generally named after the places where they are made. spain, portugal, italy, germany, hungary, sicily, greece, and california, also produce their various sorts of wine, each esteemed in its kind. may wine be extracted from other vegetable bodies? the word is appropriated in a more particular manner to the fermented juice of the grape; but nearly all vegetable productions may be made to afford wine. that produced from apples is called cider; that from pears, perry. a kind of wine, called mead, is prepared from honey and water. _appropriated_, applied to. what is honey? a sweet vegetable juice, collected from the flowers of various plants by the bees. what honey was reckoned by the ancients the best in the world? the honey of hybla, on the east coast of sicily, and of hymettus, a mountain of greece, near athens. what other fluid is drawn from wine? spirits; by this term is understood, a volatile fluid called spirits of wine, or alcohol, obtained by distillation from wine, beer, and all fermented liquors. it is colorless, and of a strong penetrating taste and smell. it is of great use in chemistry; in dyeing to prepare the stuff for receiving colors; and in many of the arts. what is the vessel called which is used in distilling? a still. it is a vessel so formed as to collect the vapor, which is the spirit, or alcohol, separated from the liquid from which it is drawn. this liquid product is itself returned to the still; and the same process is several times repeated, till the alcohol or spirit is sufficiently strong and pure. there are three principal spirits used in this country, as gin, rum, and brandy. _product_, thing produced. what is gin? a spirit procured from raw barley, oats, and malt, mixed together in certain proportions: there are several varieties of this spirit, all obtained from grain. the peculiar flavor of gin is given by infusing a few hops and some of the berries of the juniper fir. what is malt? malt is barley prepared by being steeped in water and fermented, and then dried in a kiln. it is used for making beer, &c. of what are hops the produce? of a graceful climbing plant, the blossoms of which are used in making beer, to preserve it and improve its flavor. what is rum? a spirit obtained from molasses, the fluid which drains from sugar while it is crystallizing. what is brandy? a spirit distilled from any wine; but the best is procured from weak french wines, which are unfit for exportation. brandy, from whatever wine it has been obtained, is at first colorless; different methods are employed to give it the color by which it is distinguished. _exportation_, the act of sending articles from one country to another. what is vinegar? an agreeable, acid, penetrating liquor, prepared from wine, beer, &c. to make vinegar, the wine or beer is made to undergo a second fermentation, called the _acid_ or _acetous_ fermentation; the first which the vegetable juice had to undergo, in order to convert it into wine or beer, being called the _vinous_ fermentation. vinegar is of great use in cookery and medicine; the word is derived from the french for wine, _vin_, and _aigre_, sour. the ancients had several kinds of vinegar, which they used as drinks; but it is most likely that these vinegars were different from that so called among us, and were more probably a kind of wine. _acetous_, sour. _vinous_, wine-like. what materials are used for the dyeing and coloring of our manufactures? there are many mineral and vegetable earths which furnish mankind with different colors for beautifying their various manufactures, and assisting them in the arts, &c. some species of insects also come to their aid, as for instance, the cochineals; these insects are killed by the application of heat, and thus form the drug used for giving red colors, especially crimson and scarlet, and for making carmine. the beautiful and permanent blue called indigo, is the produce of a small shrub, two or three feet in height. from what part is the dye obtained? from the leaves; the color is produced by soaking them some hours in water, in large vessels constructed for the purpose; the sediment of the blue liquor drawn from them is afterwards dried and sold in the form of small grains for the painter, they are mixed with oil, or diluted and made up into small cakes with gum water. in what countries is indigo cultivated? it is native in both indies, and in south america, where its cultivation affords employment to many of the inhabitants. it also grows wild in parts of palestine, and is much cultivated both in syria and egypt. it once formed one of the staples of the southern states, but has in a great measure given way to the cultivation of cotton. has indigo been long known? the culture and preparation of indigo were known to the oriental nations long before it was introduced into europe. the inhabitants of ancient britain painted their bodies with the blue dye which they obtained from woad, a plant which grows wild in france and along the shores of the baltic, and which greatly resembles indigo in all its properties, except its brilliancy of color. _brilliancy_, brightness. what is gamboge? the concrete resinous juice of a species of gum-tree, growing in cambodia, and other parts of the indies. it is brought over in large cakes or rolls of a yellowish brown color outside, and inside of a deep yellow or orange, which changes to a pale bright yellow on being moistened. what are the uses of gamboge? dissolved in water, it forms a beautiful and useful color for the painter. it is also used in medicine. gamboge is soluble in either water or spirits of wine. mixed with a blue color, it forms green, in various shades according to the different proportions of the ingredients. what is logwood? the wood of a tree which grows in parts of america and the west indies. it is imported in great quantities, and employed in dyeing purple and the finest blacks. what is tar? a coarse, resinous liquor issuing from the wood and bark of pine or fir-trees; it is in fact the oily juices of the sap thickened and colored by the heat of the sun or by age; it is extracted for use by burning the wood of the trees under a heavy covering of turf or earth; the tar exudes during the slow combustion, and is collected into a cavity dug in the ground for the purpose. tar is exported in great quantities from norway, sweden, and our southern states. what are its uses? it is applied to the sides of ships and boats and their rigging, to preserve them from the effects of the weather; it is used instead of paint for palings, &c.; and sometimes also in medicine. a kind, called _mineral_ tar, is also drawn from coal by the process of distillation. mineral tar is also found native in some parts of the earth. what is pitch? a kind of juice or gum, likewise drawn from unctuous woods, chiefly those of the pine and fir; it is used for nearly the same purposes as tar in shipping, medicine, and various other arts. pitch is properly a juice of the wild pine, or pitch tree; it is of a glossy black color, dry brittle, and less bitter and pungent than the liquid tar. what is camphor? a vegetable substance, chiefly procured from a kind of laurel, (laurus camphora,) growing in borneo, japan, and many east indian islands; it is also produced from other plants and shrubs, though in very small quantities. how, and from what part of the tree is it taken? all parts of the tree are impregnated with camphor; but it is principally extracted from the roots and trunk, by distillation; it is white, and of a crystal form: its odor is extremely fragrant. in this state it is called _rough_ camphor, and is thus exported. the greeks and romans do not appear to have been acquainted with this valuable drug; and we are indebted to the arabians for a knowledge of it. what are the properties and uses of camphor? it is a firm, dry, crystal matter, with a hot, sharp, aromatic taste. it is highly odorous, and so inflammable as to burn and preserve its flame in water; it totally vanishes or evaporates in the open air, and in spirits of wine it entirely dissolves. camphor has various uses--as in fire-works, &c.; it is an excellent preservative of animal and vegetable bodies, as it resists worms and other insects. in the courts of eastern princes it is burnt at night with wax. its principal use with us is in medicine. _preservative_, a preventive of decay. what is musk? a dry, friable substance of a dark color, taken from a little bag under the belly of a small animal called the thibet musk, which is a native of the indies, tonquin, and china. it inhabits the woods and forests, where the natives hunt it down. musk is so strong a perfume as to be agreeable only in the smallest quantities, or when mingled with some other scent; it is used in perfumery, &c. is there not another animal which produces a similar scent? yes; an animal of arabian origin produces an odoriferous substance called civet, from which it takes its name of civet cat; there are several species of this animal which produce it, but it is from the civet cat that it is most commonly taken. civets are found in all the warm parts of asia and africa, in madagascar, and the east indian islands. it was formerly in high esteem, but is at present very little used, except to increase the power of other perfumes. what is myrrh? a kind of gum-resin, issuing from the trunk of a tree growing in arabia, egypt, and abyssinia; it flows either naturally, or by incision; and is sent to us in small lumps of a reddish brown or yellow color. its smell is strong, but not disagreeable. our myrrh is the same drug that was used by the ancients under the above name. its chief use now is in medicine. the ancient egyptians employed it as an ingredient in the embalming of dead bodies. _embalming_, preserving the bodies of the dead from decaying or putrefying, by impregnating them with aromatics and other substances which resist putrefaction. where is abyssinia? abyssinia is a large kingdom situated in eastern africa. what is frankincense? an odoriferous, aromatic gum-resin, which distils, in the heat of summer, from incisions made in the bark of the tree which produces it: notwithstanding the great use of the gum, both in ancient systems of religious worship and in modern medicine, authors have been much divided in opinion with regard to the kind of tree from which it is obtained; it is a species of turpentine tree belonging to an order of resinous and fragrant trees and shrubs inhabiting the tropical parts of the world. for what was it formerly used? the ancients burnt it in their temples as a perfume, and to do honor to the divinities that were worshipped in them: it appears to have been applied to the same purposes by people of all religions. myrrh and frankincense were reckoned by the eastern nations amongst their most costly perfumes. we are informed by st. matthew's gospel in the new testament, that the wise men who came to bethlehem to worship our saviour at his birth, brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. many of the primitive christians were put to death because they would not offer incense to idols. in the catholic church we still retain its use in many ceremonies. _primitive_, early. _incense_, perfumes burnt in religious rites, or as an offering to some deity. what is the appearance of frankincense? it is generally imported in white or yellowish pieces, or drops, which possess a bitter, disagreeable taste; it is very inflammable, and burns with a strong, and pleasant odor. that brought from the indies is inferior to that from arabia, and inclines to a reddish color. the common frankincense is softer, more resinous, and possesses less value than the former. what is turpentine? the resinous juice of many trees, as the pine, larch, fir, &c.; it is, in fact, the juice that renders them evergreen, and when in an over-abundant quantity, bursts through their bark, and oozes out. common turpentine is that procured by incisions from the wild pine; there are several kinds of turpentine procured from various resinous trees; some are of use in medicine, and most of them in making different kinds of varnishes, for preserving and beautifying boxes, paintings, &c. _ooze_, to flow gently. is there not a tree more particularly designated the turpentine tree? yes, the terebinth or turpentine tree of palestine and the east. it is one of the most common forest trees of those regions, and is regarded with respect and distinction similar to that awarded to the oak in england. what part of it produces the gum? the gum, or rather the resin, distils from the trunk. it is called cyprus or chian turpentine, much of it being brought from the isles of cyprus and scio, or chios, and is procured, by incision, about the month of july. this turpentine, owing to its superior quality, as well as its scarcity, each tree seldom yielding over two or three pounds, is very costly. _incision_, a cutting. _costly_, expensive. chapter xvi. bricks, mortar, granite, slate, limestone, or calcareous rocks, steel, earths, volcanoes, and earthquakes. of what are bricks composed? of clay, dried by the heat of the sun, or burnt in kilns; their color varies with the different degrees of heat to which they are subjected in burning. in the east, bricks were baked in the sun; the romans used them crude, only laying them to dry in the air for a long space of time. _crude_, in the rough, unbaked state, just as they were formed. how long have bricks been in use for building? bricks appear to have been in use at a very remote period of antiquity, both from the account of them in the holy scriptures, and from the remains of them which have been found; the tower of babel and the walls of babylon were built of them. they were in early use among the egyptians, as appears from the history of the jews before their deliverance by moses. in the book of exodus, we are told that this captive people were compelled to make bricks for that nation. the romans, under their first kings, built with massive square stones; but towards the end of the republic they began to use brick, borrowing the practice from the greeks; and the greatest and most durable buildings of the succeeding emperors were composed of them, as the pantheon, &c. _massive_, bulky and heavy. by whom was the tower of babel erected, and why? by the descendants of noe's three sons, sem, cham, and japheth; they were extremely numerous, and dwelt in the land of sennaar; becoming ambitious of distinguishing themselves, they set about building a tower whose summit might reach to heaven. sennaar was the original name of the country about babylon. _descendants_, those descended from a particular person or family. what remarkable event followed their foolish pride? the almighty suddenly frustrated their purpose by confusing their language and causing them all to express their words by different sounds; hence arose the numbers of different languages spoken by the nations of the earth; and thus what they imagined would be a monument of glory, was made an awful memento of their pride and folly. _frustrated_, prevented. _monument_, anything by which the memory of persons or things is preserved. _memento_, a hint to awaken the memory of anything; that which reminds. what good effect did this event produce? god, who at all times can bring good out of evil, by this means caused the other parts of the earth to be peopled; for this visitation having effectually broken up their scheme, they emigrated in parties, and dispersed themselves over different parts of the world. _scheme_, plan, intention. _emigrated_, removed from one country to another. _dispersed_, separated. where was babylon? this celebrated city, so often mentioned in holy writ, (and remarkable for the minuteness with which its destruction was foretold by the prophets,) was the capital of the assyrian empire, and situated on the river euphrates. after the destruction of nineve, the ancient capital of this empire, babylon became the most famous city of the east. _minuteness_, particularity. what is meant by the assyrian empire? the country of assyria, in asia. for what was this city particularly celebrated? for its hanging gardens, palaces, temples, and walls, the latter of which are said to have been three hundred and fifty feet high, and so broad that six chariots could go abreast upon them. the city was so strongly fortified, both by nature and art, as to be thought impregnable. _fortified_, defended. _impregnable_, incapable of being taken or destroyed by an enemy. by whom was it destroyed, and when? by cyrus, years before the birth of christ, just fifty years after nabuchodonosor had destroyed the city of jerusalem and its temple. who was cyrus? the founder of the persian empire. who was nabuchodonosor? the king of babylon. what was the pantheon? a temple of a circular form which was dedicated to all the gods, or all the saints. that of all others the most celebrated, is the pantheon of ancient rome, and its remains are the most perfect amongst the wonders of that city at the present day. _circular_, having the form of a circle, round. by whom was it built? by agrippa, the consul of rome, twenty-five years before christ; it was dedicated by him to jupiter: the name pantheon was given on account of the great number of statues of the gods ranged in niches all round it; and because it was built in a circular form to represent heaven, the residence of the gods. it was afterwards converted into a church by pope boniface iv, and dedicated to the blessed virgin and all the martyrs, under the title of "our lady of the rotunda." agrippa likewise built the pantheon at athens, which was but little inferior to that of rome. the greek christians afterwards converted it into a church, dedicating it to the blessed virgin; but the turks, when they subdued greece, changed it into a mosque. _dedicated_, appropriated to a particular person, or to a sacred use. _residence_, dwelling, habitation. _martyr_, one who is put to death for the cause of religion. _mosque_, a mahommedan temple. [illustration: a slate quarry.] what is understood by a consul? the chief magistrate of the roman republic or commonwealth. after the romans had expelled their kings, they were governed by two consuls; these were established in the year of rome . the consuls were the head of the senate; they commanded the armies of the republic, and judged all the differences between the citizens: they held their office for the space of a year; at the end of which time, new ones were elected. consuls were even continued under the emperors after the republic was destroyed; but it was then little more than an honorary title, and at last was totally abolished. _expelled_, turned out. _abolished_, annulled, made void. to what is the term consul applied at the present time? to an officer established by a commission from a king or state, to reside in foreign countries of any considerable trade, to facilitate and despatch business, protect the merchants of the state, &c. _commission_, a trust imposed, command, authority. _facilitate_, to render easy. what is meant by a senate? an assembly or council of senators, that is, of the principal inhabitants of a state, who have a share in the government. what is the government of the united states? it is one of limited and definite powers, defined by a written constitution. how are the legislative powers, granted to the government, vested? in a congress, consisting of a senate of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof; and a house of representatives, consisting of one or more members from each state, elected by the people in equal electoral districts. _legislative_, giving or enacting laws how are our laws made? bills passed by the house of representatives and the senate, on receiving the sanction of the president, become laws; or, if vetoed by the president, may be passed by two-thirds of both houses. _vetoed_, withheld assent to. who was jupiter? the principal deity of the pagan world. what is used to cement bricks firmly together? mortar; a composition of lime, sand, gravel, &c., mixed up with water; the ancients had a kind of mortar so very hard and binding, that, even to this day, it is next to impossible to separate the parts of some of their buildings. what is granite? a rock which has been formed by the union of three different minerals in a state of fusion; these, on cooling, have crystallized and become distinct from each other in the mass. it is remarkable for the beauty of its colors, its hardness and durability. there are granites of many different colors, as red or rose-colored, grey, green, variegated, &c. _fusion_, a melted state. _mass_, a body, a lump. what form does it bear? granite does not, generally, form one extensive mass, but remains in separate and large fragments, rudely compacted together; besides the three minerals of which it is composed, particles of other stones, or metallic earths, are often accidentally mixed with it. it is called granite from its granulous structure. _compacted_, joined together. _granulous_, consisting of small grains. where is granite found? granite occurs in all the larger mountain ranges, and in isolated masses in every country; not being a stratified rock, and being excessively hard, it is difficult to get it out in manageable masses. in arabia petræa, the whole country abounds in masses of different granites. _isolated_, alone, separated, detached. _stratified_, consisting of strata or beds. what mode is usually employed in this country in obtaining it? blasting, or blowing up with gunpowder; the force of which detaches pieces from the rock, which are hewn roughly into forms on the spot by a small pickaxe. granite is also quarried by cutting a deep line some yards long, and placing strong iron wedges at equal distances along this line; these wedges are struck in succession with heavy hammers, till the mass splits down. another method of detaching masses of rock, is by driving wooden wedges into a deep artificial or natural crack, or fissure; the wedges are then wet, and, in consequence of swelling, burst the rock asunder. _quarried_, from _to quarry_, a term used for the getting of stone from a quarry, or place where stones are dug from the earth, or detached from a large mass of rock. _detach_, to separate. for what is this rock used? on account of its great hardness, it is used for large public structures, as bridges, churches, &c. the ancient temples and other buildings in egypt, asia, and italy, were built of different colored granites, especially the beautiful oriental red granite. what is slate? the common name for a bluish fossil stone, very soft when dug out of the quarry, and easily cut or split into thin plates,--a property which renders it invaluable for a variety of purposes. _invaluable_, extremely valuable. for what is it used? slate has superseded the use of lead for covering roofs, even of the largest buildings; being lighter and more durable, it is preferable to tile: it is also employed for slabs to form cisterns, shelves for dairies, and other purposes, on account of its strength, coolness, and the ease with which it can be cleaned; the latter quality renders it also of great value in the business of education, as a cheap substitute for paper. the ancients were unacquainted with the use of slate. what other kinds of stone are used in building? limestone, or the calcareous rocks of the geologist: of these there are many varieties. those which are easily cut and polished are termed marbles, and are used in sculpture and in ornamental architecture. the coarser marbles are used for the common purposes of building. _calcareous_, partaking of the nature of calx or lime,--a term employed to describe chalk, marble, and all other combinations of lime with carbonic acid. _geologist_, one who studies the science of geology. of what do calcareous earths or stones consist? calcareous earths, stones, or rocks consist of lime, or pure calcareous earth, carbonic acid, and water. what is quick-lime? limestone deprived of its carbonic acid and water by being subjected to an intense heat in a kiln. how are these stones wrought? to whatever purpose the stones are to be applied, the larger blocks obtained from the quarry must be cut into smaller and more manageable pieces by sawing: the saw used is a long blade of steel, without teeth, fixed in a heavy wooden frame. these huge saws are worked by one or two men who sit in boxes to shelter them from the weather; water is caused to drip constantly into the cut, to facilitate the motion of the saw, and keep it cool, so as to prevent it from losing its temper. _huge_, very large. _temper_, hardness; in speaking of metals it signifies the state to which they are reduced, especially with regard to their hardness. what is steel? iron combined with a small portion of carbon; its chemical name is _carburet of iron_. it is not so malleable as iron in its ordinary state; but is much harder, more elastic, and susceptible of a higher polish. of this material are manufactured knives, swords, and all kinds of cutting instruments and edge tools, used for domestic purposes and in the arts, from the ponderous pit-saw to the finest lancet. good steel is much more ductile than iron; and a finer wire may be drawn from it than from any other metal. the excellence of edge-tools depends upon their temper. _ponderous_, heavy. you say that a geologist is one who studies geology: what is meant by this term? a science which enables us to read, in the simple language of nature, the changes which have taken place on the surface of the earth, in its structure and mineral constitution. it describes the different materials and the strata of which the crust of the earth is composed, and investigates the causes of its physical features. _simple_, easily read. what are strata? layers of rocks and other substances of which the whole earth seems to be composed. these rocks are found lying one above another in regular order; beneath them are the _unstratified_ rocks, which seem to form the basis or foundations upon which the others have been deposited. the various layers seem to have been formed during progressive stages of vegetable and animal organization. these rocks and strata are divided into five classes or formations. _progressive_, moving forwards. _organization_, formation or structure of bodies. name them. the primitive, or lower formations, supposed to have been formed in the chaotic state of the earth, because they have no trace of organized beings or petrifactions; they are chiefly composed of silicious and argillaceous earths, as granite, slate, &c.--transition rocks, supposed to have been formed during the transition of the earth into a habitable state; they differ from the primitive, in containing the remains of marine animals:--the secondary rocks, containing the remains of animals and vegetables, and consequently formed after their creation;--the tertiary formation, composed of layers of clay, sand, gravel, and marl, and containing peculiar organic remains;--and the alluvial formation, constituted of parts of previous rocks separated by water, &c., and deposited in beds. _petrifaction_, an animal or vegetable substance turned to stone. _silicious_, consisting of flint. _transition_, change from one state to another. _argillaceous_, clayey, consisting of clay. _chaotic_, resembling chaos, confused. _chaos_, confusion, a mingled heap; a term used in speaking of the world while yet without form; a greek word, signifying a confused mass. _alluvial_, deposited from water. of what is this last compounded? the alluvial formation is composed of sand, gravel, loam, clay, turf, &c., and contains plants, roots, moss, bones, petrified wood, and skeletons of animals. it is distinguished from the tertiary formation chiefly by its superior position, and by extending over regions where existing streams or other causes now in action could have produced it. some geologists mention another formation called the volcanic, because composed of minerals thrown from the crater of a volcano, such as pumice stones, lava, &c. _crater_, the mouth or opening of a volcano. _petrified_, hardened into stone. you mentioned silicious and argillaceous earths: is not, then, the earthy covering of our globe of one common character? no; by earth is understood a combination of many distinct bodies. chemists, by separating earths from each other, and from foreign matters connected with them, have discovered nine or ten primitive earths; all of these, except silex, are compounds of oxygen with metallic bases. _chemist_, one who understands the science of chemistry. of which of these simple or primitive earths are the solid portions of the globe principally composed? of flint or silex, lime or calcareous earth, and clay or argil, in various degrees of combination, the greatest parts of the mountains and plains, and the whole of what we commonly understand by soil, mould, earth, &c. are composed. these, however, though forming nearly all of the solid portions of the world, are constantly mixed with foreign matters, as metals, (particularly iron,) and acids, (as carbonic acid.) what are the properties of silex? silex, or pure flint, will not dissolve in water, nor can it be melted by itself in any heat; but combined with alkalies, as soda or potash, it forms glass. it is the principal ingredient of most of the precious stones. what are the chief uses of silex? it is the most durable article for the formation of roads; a necessary ingredient in earthenware, porcelain, and cements; and the principal material of glass and vitreous substances. the making of pastes or artificial gems is a branch of the art of glass-making; the basis used is a very hard and pure silex. _basis_, that part of any mixture which is the ground or base; the first principle or element of a substance. describe the properties of lime. it is of a white color, and possesses a hot, caustic taste. it forms peculiar salts with acids; changes vegetable blues to green; will not fuse; gives out a quantity of caloric when united with water; and absorbs carbonic acid when exposed to air. lime is very useful in the arts and manufactures, in medicine, &c. the farmers use it as manure to fertilize land. _caustic_, burning, corroding: a term applied to substances which eat away and burn any thing with which they are brought in contact. in what state is lime found in nature? never native, but combined with other substances;--generally with an acid, and most plentifully with carbonic acid, as in chalk, marble, &c. it is also found in vegetables, and is the basis of animal bones; it likewise occurs in the water of the ocean, and in that of all springs and rivers. the method of procuring _lime_, from chalk, marble, limestone, oyster-shells, &c., has already been described in a former chapter. what are the properties of clay? argil, or pure clay, also called _alumina_, from its being the basis of alum, is soft to the touch, adhesive, and emits a peculiar odor when moistened;--forms a paste with water, and hardens in the fire. its uses are so various and important, that it would have been almost impossible for man to have attained his present degree of civilization, if it had not been given him by nature in such abundance. its uses have already been described in the arts of brick-making, pottery, &c. besides these three principal primitive earths just described, there are seven others, having several properties in common, yet each possessing its different and specific properties, and evidently designed by nature for different purposes of utility. _specific_, belonging to its particular species. _utility_, usefulness. what is a volcano? an opening in the surface of the earth, or in a mountain, from which are ejected smoke, flames, stones, lava, &c. beneath the outer crust of the earth inflammable materials appear to exist, which different causes excite into combustion. volcanoes are supposed to owe their origin to the metals and minerals which form the basis of earths and alkalies; and which, when ignited, expand,--shake the rocky foundations,--and sometimes, bursting through, produce all the destructive effects of earthquakes. they break forth under the sea, as well as the land, and throw up mountains which rise above the level of the water. during an eruption of vesuvius, a.d. , three cities, herculaneum, pompeii, and stabiæ, were overwhelmed, and lay buried beneath the matter ejected from the volcano until within a few years, when excavations were made and many relics discovered;--streets, houses, papyri, (manuscripts,) grain, fruit, bread, medicines, &c. &c., all in a remarkable state of preservation, have been found just as they were left by the terrified inhabitants at the time of the eruption! _eruption_, an issuing or breaking forth with violence. _ejected_, thrown out. are there many volcanoes? there are upwards of two hundred volcanoes upon the globe; more than one half of them are in america and oceanica the most noted volcanoes in america are cotopaxi (the highest in the world), near quito; popocatapetl, in mexico; cosiguina, and the water volcano, in guatemala. in france, spain, portugal, and many other countries, there are districts which show the former existence of volcanoes, which have long been extinct; near naples, in an area of two hundred square miles, there are sixty craters, some of them larger than vesuvius; in one of these, the town of cumea has stood for three thousand years. what can you say of new islands formed by volcanic agency? many examples of new islands rising out of the sea by volcanic action are on record. some of them are permanent, but others, after a time, disappear. teneriffe, iceland, sicily, st. helena; part of sumatra, java, japan; and the sandwich islands, seem to have been upheaved by volcanic agency; hawaii, the largest of the last-named group, contains an area of four thousand square miles, and rises eighteen thousand feet above the ocean. what are earthquakes? shakings or vibrations of the ground; sometimes accompanied by rents, and rockings or heavings of the surface, so as to overthrow buildings, and swallow up towns and large tracts of country. they are attended with a terrible subterranean noise, like thunder, and sometimes with an eruption of fire or water, or else of smoke or winds. _subterranean_, underground. what is supposed to cause them? an electrical action between the atmosphere and some deep sub-strata; or the sudden formation of gaseous matter beneath the surface of the earth by internal volcanic fires. many hot countries, where much electrical disturbance takes place, are very subject to them: earthquakes almost always precede volcanic eruptions; an open volcano, also, probably diminishes the force of earthquakes, by the vent which it affords. earthquakes, at different times, have been productive of the most terrific effects: towns and cities have been swallowed up, and thousands of people destroyed by them. the island of jamaica is remarkable for the earthquakes which frequently happen there. _precede_, to go before. _vent_, opening. _terrific_, full of terror, dreadful. where is jamaica situated? in the west indies,--a large group of fertile islands which lie between north and south america. jamaica is the principal one of those which belong to the english. chapter xvii. architecture, sculpture, use of money, navigation. what is meant by architecture? the art of building or erecting edifices fit for the habitation of man, to defend him from the weather, and for his domestic comfort and convenience; for devotion, trade, and other purposes, and for the use of civilized life in every capacity. _capacity_, state, condition. is not this an art of great antiquity? it is almost as ancient as human society; the changes of the seasons first led men to build themselves huts or cabins, into which they might retire for shelter; in process of time, their manner of building gradually improved, and habitations were constructed of more stately forms and elegant proportions, and greater skill and variety were displayed in their ornaments hence arose the five orders or manners of building. of what were the first huts composed? probably of the branches of trees driven into the ground, and covered with mud and stubble; at length, as men became more expert, they placed trunks of trees upright, and laid others across them to sustain the outer coverings; from this they took the hint of a more regular architecture, and built edifices of brick and stone; the trunks of trees which supported their dwellings gave them a notion of pillars or columns, which they afterwards erected of more durable materials. among uncivilized tribes at this day, some reside underground, having their dirty dwellings entirely closed during the winter months; in warmer regions, their habitations are built of stakes, leaves, and turf, in the shape of a soldier's tent. in africa, their kraals or huts are constructed in this manner, but of a circular form, with a hole at the top to let out the smoke. in many of the south sea islands, the natives, when first discovered, had progressed still further, having learnt to elevate the roofs on poles, and to fill in the sides of their houses with boughs or rushes, mud or sods. _probably_, most likely. _edifice_, a building. _notion_, idea. _durable_, lasting. what people are represented by the ancient writers as having brought the art of building to a greater state of perfection? the inhabitants of the city of tyre, to whom solomon had recourse for workmen to build the temple. isaias, in his twenty-third chapter, speaks of the tyrians and egyptians, as having brought it to a great degree of magnificence; as may be drawn from the various accounts handed down to us, and the remains of their obelisks, pyramids, &c. what is an obelisk? a very high and slender four-sided pyramid, raised as an ornament in some public place; and frequently covered with inscriptions and hieroglyphics.[ ] this kind of monument appears to be very ancient; they were first made use of to declare to posterity the principal precepts of philosophy; to mark the hours of the day by the shadows which they cast on the ground; and, in after-times, to immortalize the actions of heroes, and perpetuate the memory of persons beloved. [footnote : see chapter xiv.] _inscription_, something written or engraved. _hieroglyphics_, emblems by which words were implied. they were used before the invention of alphabets. _implied_, signified, denoted. _posterity_, succeeding generations, descendants. _immortalize_, to render immortal,--which means never-dying; to perpetuate the memory of anything. what is a pyramid? a solid, massive edifice, rising from a square, triangular, or other base, gradually diminishing in size till it ends in a point at the top. like the obelisk, pyramids were sometimes erected to preserve the memory of singular events, or to transmit to future ages the glory and magnificence of princes; but oftener as funeral monuments and receptacles for the dead, particularly kings. _triangular_, three-sided, having three angles. _diminishing_, growing smaller. _receptacle_, the place in which a thing is deposited. is it known who were the erectors of these buildings? no; it is a curious fact that the egyptian pyramids, so celebrated for their size and great antiquity, should have the time of their erection and the names of their founders wrapt in such complete mystery. all the different authors who have written concerning them, disagree in their accounts of those who built them, and nothing certain is known of their history. _founder_, one who establishes or erects. _mystery_, profound secresy. what other nations excelled in the art of building? the greeks and romans, from whom we derive it, also greatly excelled in this art. grecian architecture was in its highest glory under pericles. among the romans, it arrived at its greatest perfection under the emperor augustus. the five orders of ornamental architecture invented by the ancients, at different times, and on different occasions, are of grecian and italian origin. they are the tuscan, the doric, the ionic, the corinthian, and the composite; each possessing its peculiar form and beauty, and found in all the principal buildings of the christian world. _christian_, professing the religion of christ; the term is applied to those who believe our lord jesus christ to be the only true god and saviour of the world. who was pericles? a celebrated athenian statesman, orator, and general, who gained several victories over the lacedemonians and other enemies of his country. are all the species of ornamental building confined to those nations already mentioned? by no means; besides the grecian and roman orders, other civilized nations possess their separate styles; as the hindoos, chinese, moors, &c.; and nothing can be more grand, harmonious, and picturesque, than each of these in the beautiful specimens which are to be seen in their several countries. the saxons, also, had a simple style of architecture, distinguished by semi-circular arches, and massive plain columns; the normans, too, invented a beautiful kind called the gothic, distinguished by its lightness and the number of its ornaments, and by its pointed arches and pillars carved to imitate several combined together; the gothic style is found in many old cathedrals. _hindoos_, inhabitants of hindostan, in india. _moors_, inhabitants of morocco, a kingdom of barbary, in africa. _harmonious_, corresponding in all its parts with equal beauty and elegance. _picturesque_, like a picture. _saxons_, inhabitants of saxony, a portion of germany. _semi-circular_, only half circular. describe the five orders of architecture. the tuscan (from tuscany,) is the most simple and devoid of ornament, and its columns or pillars are plain and massive. the doric (from the dorians, in greece,) is durable and noble in appearance, having its columns plain like the tuscan, but the upper parts more ornamental. the ionic, (from iona, in greece,) is neither so plain as the doric, nor so richly elegant as the corinthian; but is distinguished from the first two orders by having its columns or pillars fluted instead of plain, and the upper part of them (called the capitals,) adorned by the figures of rams' horns carved on them. the corinthian is very rich and delicate, with fluted pillars, and the tops beautifully ornamented with leaves, &c. the invention of this order is ascribed to callimachus, a corinthian sculptor. the composite is compounded of the other four; it is very much like the corinthian, and is also called the roman or italian order. _devoid_, free from, destitute. what is sculpture? the art of cutting or carving wood, stone, and other materials; and forming of them various figures or representations of men, beasts and other objects. the term is mostly limited to carving images or statues in stone. this art is of great antiquity; the sacred writings inform us of it in many passages, as for instance in those in which are mentioned laban's images, carried away by rachel; the golden calf of the israelites, &c. sculpture as an art is probably more ancient than painting. what country was the most highly celebrated for its sculpture? greece, which produced many celebrated sculptors, of whom the most eminent were phidias, an athenian, the great master of this art, who lived in the time of pericles, years before christ; lysippus, a native of sicyon, near corinth; and praxiteles, a native of magna grecia. what event proved fatal to this art? the death of alexander the great was followed by a visible decline in all the fine arts; but the fatal blow to their existence was given by the success of the conquering romans, who reduced greece to a roman province. was sculpture always performed in stone? no; at first statues and other figures were formed of wood or baked clay, afterwards of stone, marble and metals; though these last were not brought to any degree of perfection, till about three hundred years before christ. the greeks were famous for their works in ivory; the great master of the art of carving statues in it was phidias. what progress did the romans make in sculpture? sculpture, during their early history, existed rather as a plant of foreign growth, partially cultivated by them, than as a native production of their own land. they collected, indeed, some of the most exquisite samples of grecian sculpture, and invited to their capital the yet remaining sculptors of greece, by whose labors not only rome itself was embellished, but also many of the cities of asia minor, spain, and gaul, then under the roman dominion; yet the taste for sculpture does not appear to have been cultivated in any measure corresponding with the advantages thus afforded them in the study of the best models of the art. the best works were produced by greek artists, and chiefly athenian, while the attempts of the romans were unskilfully executed. _gaul_, the ancient name of france. _model_, pattern. did it always continue thus? no; from the time of the emperor constantine, sculpture, and the rest of the fine arts, gradually revived. while inspired, perhaps, with a taste for sculpture by means of the scattered remains of grecian art, the roman artists drew, at the same time, from their own resources, and were by no means servile copyists of the sculptors of a former age. the first academy of the art was founded at florence, in , and at the close of the same century, sculpture was firmly established in italy, and itinerant sculptors, not unskilful in their art, wandered from thence to germany, france, and even to england. the most eminent master of the art was michael angelo, born in , who was also a painter and architect; from his time, to the latter end of the last century, sculpture again gradually declined, but under canova, a native of possagno, in the venetian alps, it revived. he was born in . besides the above mentioned, were a number of others of various degrees of talent, as well as some still living. _servile_, slavish, mean. _itinerant_, wandering. when was the knowledge of sculpture introduced into england? at the time of its conquest by the romans; but the art appears to have been very rude and imperfect. from the time of the norman invasion, and still further in the time of the crusades, an improvement, however, began to show itself in british sculpture. but it is probable that most of their best architectural and sculptural works were executed by foreigners, members of those societies of wandering sculptors before mentioned. under edward the third, the art appears to have been much cultivated by englishmen. it is well known that two italian sculptors were employed in england during the sixteenth century. john of padua, a pupil of michael angelo, was master of works to henry the eighth. in the reign of charles the first, english sculptors flourished, although their works are of a very low order. _invasion_, hostile entrance upon the rights or possessions of another. _architectural_, belong to architecture. _sculptural_, belonging to sculpture. [illustration: gathering turpentine by scraping.] [illustration: distilling turpentine.] with whom may the school of british sculptors be considered as commencing? with banks, born in , and bacon, born in ; these were in every respect english artists. but the most eminent worker in the art which that country has yet produced, was john flaxman, born in . our own country also may boast of sculptors of superior talents, and from the beautiful specimens of the art which have appeared, the attainment of a high degree of excellence in it is to be anticipated. _attainment_, the act of arriving at or reaching. _anticipated_, expected, foreseen. give me a short account of this art in germany, france, and spain. in these countries, as in england and the united states, during their early history, many of the best works were executed by italians. germany appears to have made little progress in sculpture before the seventeenth century; since that period, it has produced sculptors of some eminence, although it is more celebrated for its writers on the art, than for artists of eminence in its practice. in france, sculptors of some talent are mentioned as early as the sixteenth century. girardon and puget were the most celebrated artists of this period. spanish history gives a long list of native sculptors, from the commencement of the same century, but many of them are but little known beyond their own country. berruguete, a pupil of michael angelo, appears to have founded the first regular school of the art. paul de cespides, and in the eighteenth century, philip de castro, were the most eminent among them. when was the use of money first introduced? it is not known with certainty: there is, however, reason to believe that both gold and silver were very early used as money in egypt and asia: it was afterwards introduced into carthage and greece; whence it was brought to rome; and from that city spread gradually westward, through all the roman dominions. before the use of money was introduced, the only means of trade was by barter, or the exchange of one commodity for another, a custom long retained by uncivilized nations. in time, however, men discovered the necessity of something which would enable them to trade with greater facility; the first mention of money is in the time of abraham, who, we are told in the bible, paid "four hundred sides of silver of common current money," for a burying place. _current_, generally received, passing from hand to hand. where was carthage? carthage, now tunis, was a commercial city, situated on the northern coast of africa, which long contended for the dominion of the mediterranean with the romans; but, after three wars, it was taken and destroyed by the roman general, scipio africanus, in the year before christ. _commercial_, carrying on commerce or trade. of what substances was money usually made? of metals, especially the precious metals, because they possess great value in small bulk; may be kept for any length of time without loss; and their value, although not altogether invariable, yet, generally speaking, changes only by slow degrees, and is less susceptible of fluctuation than that of most other articles. at different times, and amongst various nations, however, other things, in the scarcity of metal, have been substituted for it, as shells, wood, leather, paper, or even pasteboard on extraordinary occasions. _fluctuation_, unsteadiness; a wavering. of what form was money generally made? the form of money has been more various than its materials; the ancient britons used as money, rings or bars of iron or tin; the lacedemonians used iron bars quenched with vinegar. the money of most nations usually bore an impression peculiar to themselves, as, for instance, the sicle of the jews was marked with the golden pot of manna on one side, and aaron's rod on the other; other coins with the figures of animals, &c.; in shape, coins were either round, irregular, or square. have the terms money and coin the same signification? not exactly; by money is understood any matters, such as metal, wood, leather, glass, horn, paper, fruits, shells, &c., which have currency as a medium in commerce. coin is a particular species always made of metal, and struck off according to a certain process called coining; it is not of equal antiquity with money. in fact, the very commodities themselves were the first moneys, that is, were current one for another by way of exchange. coin is a piece of metal converted into money, by the impression of certain marks or figures thereon. the first coining of silver took place at rome, two hundred and sixty-nine, and of gold, two hundred and six years before christ: the romans, after the commonwealth, stamped their coins with the image of the reigning emperor, which custom was followed by most civilized nations. coins were, and are, frequently, struck in commemoration of a particular event or celebrated person. when was the use of stamped coin introduced into britain? after the arrival of the romans in that island, the natives imitated them, coining both gold and silver with the images of their kings stamped upon them; but the romans, when they subdued the nation, suppressed also their coins, and obliged them to use their own; hence the number of roman coins found among the relics of antiquity in that island. _suppressed_, put aside, hindered from circulation. _relics_, remains. what does the first coined money in ancient britain appear to have been? copper money; but after the arrival of the saxons in england, scarcely any copper money was used for many centuries, nor did it become common till ; it was first used in scotland and ireland in . what is a mint? a place established by public authority for coining money. in the united states, the first mint was in philadelphia; branches have been established in other parts of the union. in most countries, the privilege of coining money is regarded as a prerogative of the sovereign power. formerly, in great britain, cities, towns, and even individuals, were allowed to coin money for the convenience of trade; but now this is forbidden, except at the mint in the tower of london. what is meant by navigation? the science or art by which the mariner is taught to conduct his ship from one place to another. some, perhaps, will consider the formation and use of the ark, as a first step towards the invention of this art; but it is an erroneous idea, because the direction and means for accomplishing this immense work were afforded by god, for the preservation of righteous noe and his family. besides, nothing is recorded of any means or of any necessity for its occupants _navigating_ it to any particular place, or from one place to another; no intention of this sort is apparent, the ark being merely a vast shelter, rendered capable of floating on the water. _erroneous_, wrong, in error. _apparent_, manifest, made to appear. what probably gave the first idea of navigation? accident most likely showed that wood always floats; and on the fallen trunk of a tree, perhaps, some one ventured beyond his depth, away from the land. the trunk of a tree, hollowed out, for a more convenient position of the body, formed the canoe, usually found among uncivilized nations to this day. from this rude beginning, at great intervals of time, and a slow pace of improvement, the art has at length arrived at its present state of advancement. what nation first applied this art to the purposes of trade? the phenicians (especially those of tyre, their capital city, and sidon,) were the first who adapted it to the purposes of commerce, and constructed vessels fit to make voyages to foreign countries; the poverty and narrowness of their land, as well as their vicinity to two or three good ports, and their natural genius for traffic, urging them to seek foreign supplies. we hear of them trading to arabia, india, persia, greece, africa, spain, and even as far as britain. _vicinity_, nearness, neighborhood. _traffic_, trade, commerce. who were the phenicians? the inhabitants of phenicia, a country of syria, in asia. which was the more ancient city, tyre or sidon? sidon,--having been built, as is supposed, soon after the flood, by sidon, the eldest son of chanaan. tyre, about miles to the south, was built about the year before christ, by a colony from sidon. the phenicians planted numerous colonies on the shores of the mediterranean and the atlantic, and diffused, to a great extent, among their uncivilized neighbors the arts and improvements of civilized life. one of their most celebrated colonies was that founded by them on the northern coast of africa; and it was this colony that built the famous city of carthage. _diffused_, spread abroad, scattered. did not carthage afterwards become as flourishing as the parent city of tyre? in time, carthage not only equalled tyre itself, but surpassed it,--pursuing the course the phenicians had begun, and sending its merchant fleets through hercules' pillars, (now the straits of gibraltar,) along the western coast of africa, and northwards, along the coast of europe, visiting particularly spain, gaul, &c. they even undertook voyages, the sole object of which was to discover new countries and explore unknown seas. the carthaginians appear to have been the first who undertook voyages solely for the sake of discoveries. were not both these celebrated cities destroyed? tyre, whose immense riches and power were the subject of many ancient histories, was destroyed by the grecian emperor alexander the great, and its navigation and commerce transferred by him to alexandria, a new city which he meditated making his capital. alexandria, in a short time, became the most important commercial city in the world. thus arose navigation among the egyptians; it was afterwards so successfully cultivated by them, that tyre and carthage (which last, as before mentioned, was subdued by the romans,) were quite forgotten. _transferred_, removed. _capital_, chief city or town in a state or kingdom. who was alexander the great? the son of philip, king of macedonia, in greece; he was celebrated for his great ambition, and the number of his conquests; he overturned the persian empire, and subdued many cities and provinces in the east. did not alexandria undergo the same fate as tyre and carthage? egypt was at last reduced to a roman province, after the battle of actium, and its trade and navigation fell into the hands of the emperor augustus, in whose time alexandria was little inferior to rome; and the magazines of the capital of the world were supplied with merchandise from the capital of egypt. alexandria, however, at last underwent the fate of tyre and carthage, being surprised by the saracens, who overran the northern parts of africa; and though it continued, for a while, to enjoy a considerable portion of the commerce of the christian merchants, it afterwards remained in a languishing condition: but still, even at this day, it is a place of considerable trade. who were the saracens? a mahommedan nation, occupying a portion of what is now called arabia. they extended their conquests over a large portion of asia, northern africa, and spain. their name is derived from the word _sara_, a desert. what effect had the fall of the roman empire on navigation? the fall of the roman empire not only drew along with it its learning and the polite arts, but also the art of navigation; the barbarians, into whose hands the empire fell, contenting themselves with enjoying the spoils of those whom they had conquered, without seeking to follow their example in the cultivation of those arts and that learning which had rendered rome and its empire so famous. what other people, about this period, distinguished themselves in the art of navigation? the saracens or arabians, whose fleets now rode triumphant in the mediterranean; they had taken possession of cyprus, rhodes, and many of the grecian islands, and extended their commerce and their discoveries in the east, far beyond the utmost knowledge of their ancestors. what other circumstance also prevented commercial intercourse from ceasing altogether? constantinople, though often threatened by the fierce invaders, who spread desolation over europe, was so fortunate as to escape their destructive rage. in this city, the knowledge of ancient arts and discoveries was preserved; and commerce continued to flourish there, when it was almost extinct in every other part of europe. _desolation_, destruction, ruin. did the citizens of constantinople confine their trade to the islands of the archipelago, and the adjacent coast of asia? no, they took a wider range; and, following the course which the ancients had marked out, imported the productions of the east indies from alexandria. when egypt was torn from the roman empire by the arabians, the industry of the greeks discovered a new channel by which the productions of india might be conveyed to constantinople. did not the barbarians, after a while, turn their attention to navigation and commerce? no sooner were the brave among these nations well settled in their new provinces--some in gaul, as the franks; others in spain, as the goths; and others in italy, as the lombards,--than they began to learn the advantages of these arts, and the proper methods of managing them, from the people they had subdued; and that with so much success, that they even improved upon them, and set on foot new institutions for their advantage. to the lombards, in particular, is usually ascribed the invention and use of banks, book-keeping, and exchanges. thus the people of italy, and particularly those of venice and genoa, have the glory of restoring to europe the advantages that had been destroyed by their own ravages. _institutions_, laws, regulations. _exchange_, a species of mercantile transactions by which the debts due to persons at a distance are paid by order, draft, or bill of exchange, without the transmission either of money or goods. who were the franks? a people who settled in gaul; from them it took the name of franconia, or france. who were the goths? an ancient people, who inhabited that part of sweden called gothland; and afterwards spread themselves over great part of europe. who were the lombards? the lombards, or longobardi, were, like the franks, a nation of germany; who, upon the decline of the roman empire, invaded italy, and, taking the city of ravenna, erected a kingdom. where is ravenna? in central italy. it is the capital of a province of the same name; it is an ancient town, and the see of an archbishop. _see_, the seat of episcopal power; the diocese of a bishop. _episcopal_, belonging to a bishop. _archbishop_, the presiding bishop of a province. [illustration: the grand canal, venice, italy.] what was the origin of the city of venice? in the adriatic sea were a great number of marshy islands, separated only by narrow channels, but well screened and almost inaccessible, inhabited by a few fishermen. to these islands the people of veneti (a part of italy, situated along the coasts of the gulf,) retired when alaric, king of the goths, ravaged italy. these new islanders, little imagining that this was to be their fixed residence, did not, at first, think of forming themselves into one community, but each of the islands continued a long while under its respective masters, and formed a distinct commonwealth. _adriatic sea_, a name given to the gulf of venice. _commonwealth_, a republic, a government in which the supreme power is lodged in the people. what circumstance caused them to unite? their commerce becoming considerable enough to awaken the jealousy of their neighbors, they united in a body for their mutual protection: this union, first begun in the th century and completed in the th, laid the foundation of the future grandeur of the state of venice. from the time of this union, fleets of their merchantmen sailed to all the ports of the mediterranean; and afterwards to those of egypt, particularly to cairo, a new city, built by the saracen princes, on the banks of the nile, where they traded for spices, &c. the venetians continued to increase their trade by sea and their conquests on land till , when a number of jealous princes conspired against them to their ruin; which was the more easily effected in consequence of their east indian commerce, of which the portuguese and french had each obtained a share. _conspired_, united together in a plot. what is the signification of mediterranean? inclosed within land, or remote from the ocean. it is more particularly used to signify the sea which flows between europe and africa. had not venice a formidable rival in a neighboring republic? genoa, which had applied itself to navigation at the same time with venice, and with equal success, was long its dangerous rival, disputed with it the empire of the sea, and shared with it the trade of egypt, and other parts, both of the east and west. jealousy soon broke out; and, the two republics coming to blows, there was almost continual war between them for three centuries: at length, towards the end of the th century, the strife was ended by the fatal battle of chioza; the genoese, who till then had usually the advantage, lost all, and the venetians, almost become desperate, at one decisive blow, beyond all expectation, secured the empire of the sea and their superiority in commerce. _decisive_, final, conclusive. where is genoa situated? in the north-western part of italy. it was formerly a flourishing republic, but belongs now to italy. what event likewise contributed to the more rapid progress and diffusion of navigation and commerce? the crusades: for the genoese, pisans, and venetians, furnished the fleets which carried those vast armies, composed of all the nations of europe, into asia, upon this wild undertaking, and also supplied them with provisions and military stores. other travellers, also, besides those whom religious zeal sent forth to visit asia, ventured into remote countries, from motives either of commercial advantage, or those of mere curiosity. _zeal_, devotion, enthusiasm. who were the pisans? inhabitants of pisa, an ancient town of tuscany; it was once a great independent republic, and is still adorned with noble edifices. pisa has long been celebrated for its remarkable leaning tower. tuscany is a beautiful and fruitful territory of italy; its capital, until the year , was florence. what were the crusades? holy wars, or expeditions, undertaken by the christians against the turks and saracens, to recover palestine, between the years and . what causes led to these wars? many circumstances contributed to give rise to them. they were undertaken, first, with a view to protecting the devout christian pilgrims, who were in the habit of frequenting the venerable places where our saviour had lived, taught, suffered, and triumphed, from the fury and avarice of the heathens; secondly, with a view to getting possession of the holy land itself, and of annexing it to christendom; and thirdly, to break down the power of mohammedanism, and to elevate the cross in triumph and victory over palestine. _avarice_, an excessive desire of gain. _annexing_, adding, joining. what badge or sign was worn by those who engaged in the crusades? they distinguished themselves by crosses of different colors, worn on their clothes; from which they took the name of croisés, or cross-bearers; each nation wore different colors: for instance, the english had white crosses, the french red, and so on. to what invention is the art of navigation much indebted? to that of the mariner's compass, in the beginning of the th century; and from this period may be dated the present perfection of this useful art. you have given me an account of the restoration of navigation in southern europe: did not the inhabitants of the north also turn their attention to it? yes: about the same time, a new society of merchants was formed in the northern parts, which not only carried commerce to the greatest perfection of which it was capable, till the discovery of the indies, but also formed new codes of useful laws for its regulation. _codes_, books or writings setting forth certain laws or rules respecting particular subjects; books of civil laws. are navigation and commerce inseparably connected with each other? it may be considered as a general maxim, that their union is so intimate, that the fall of one inevitably draws after it that of the other; and that they will always either flourish or decline together may be seen, by examining the reason of their passing successively from the venetians, genoese, &c., to the portuguese and spaniards, and from them to the english, dutch, &c. _maxim_, rule, an established principle. _intimate_, close. _inevitably_, without possibility of escape, unavoidably. chapter xviii. music, painting, poetry, astronomy, arts and sciences, art of writing, and chemistry. what are the earliest accounts of musical instruments on record? the earliest accounts of music which we possess are to be found in the bible, in which the state of the world before the flood is noticed. jubal is said to have been "the father of them that play upon the harp and organ;" but it is not to be supposed that these instruments at all resembled the harp and organ of modern times. musical instruments, in the times of david and solomon, were used in religious services; and music was certainly employed by the jews on many other occasions, as at funerals and weddings, at harvest home, and at festivals of all kinds. _modern_, opposed to ancient, pertaining to the present time, or time not long past. _festival_, a rejoicing, a feast, a season dedicated to mirth. what nation was particularly celebrated for musical talents? the ancient egyptians; who were so celebrated for their talents in music, that the distinguished philosophers of greece braved many dangers, in order to study the science in egypt; and this, at a period when the egyptians were far from being in the same high state of civilization as their forefathers had been in earlier times. the history and monuments of ancient egypt have many accounts and representations of musical instruments, and remains of these have lately been discovered, so that we have ocular demonstration both of their existence and form. _civilization_, freedom from barbarity, polish, politeness, possession of knowledge and the arts of life. _ocular_, known or seen by the eye. _demonstration_, the act of proving with certainty. in how many divisions may musical instruments be arranged? there are three kinds, namely, _wind_ instruments, as the trumpet, and the organ;--_stringed_ instruments, as the harp or lyre, violin, &c.; and instruments of _concussion_, in which the sound is produced by striking a sonorous body, as for instance the drum, bells, &c. which of these three kinds was the first invented? it is impossible, at the present day, to decide which; but it is most probable that instruments with strings were the last invented of the three kinds; and it is most likely, that of those in which sound is produced by the application of wind, the trumpet or horn was first used. this instrument, in its rudest form, was ready fashioned to the hand of man; the horn of a ram or of an ox, or some of the larger kinds of sea-shells, were soon discovered to possess the power of producing sound, by being blown into through a small hole at the pointed end. what improvement in this instrument would naturally follow? mankind having discovered the property possessed by a hollow tube of producing a certain sound, soon found that the note varied according to the length and capacity of the tube. a much greater improvement soon after took place; it was discovered that one tube answered the purpose of many by boring holes in the course of its length, and producing various musical sounds by stopping with the fingers certain of these holes. most of our modern wind instruments are but improvements on the ancient inventions. _tube_, a pipe; a long hollow body. was not vocal music used before the invention of instrumental? _vocal_ music, namely, that produced by the human voice, (so called to distinguish it from _instrumental_, that produced by instruments,) was undoubtedly the first: for man had not only the various tones of his own voice to make his observations on, before any art or instrument was found out; but the various natural strains of birds to give him a lesson in improving it, and in modulating the sounds of which it is capable. _modulating_, forming sound to a certain key. to what circumstance did an ancient poet ascribe the invention of stringed instruments? to the observation of the winds whistling in the hollow reeds. as for other kinds of instruments, there were so many occasions for cords or strings, that men were not long in observing their various sounds, which might give rise to stringed instruments. those of concussion, as drums and cymbals, might result from the observation of the naturally hollow noise made by concave bodies when struck. what are the most ancient stringed instruments? the most ancient instruments of this kind, whose form is known, are those of the ancient egyptians; among these the harp stands pre-eminent. one of the most celebrated representations of an egyptian harp was drawn from a painting discovered in one of the caverns in the mountains of egyptian thebes, by some travellers: it is called the theban harp, and has thirteen strings; its form is extremely elegant. this harp is supposed to be one of the kind in use before and at the time of sesostris. remains of egyptian harps of a more simple construction, with only four strings, have likewise been discovered. among the monuments of ancient rome, there are representations of stringed instruments resembling the harp, but not equal in beauty of form to the famous egyptian harp already mentioned. _pre-eminent_, surpassing others. who was sesostris? a king of egypt, who is said to have reigned some ages before the siege of troy. he appears to have been celebrated for his conquests, and for the number of edifices he erected to perpetuate his fame. _perpetuate_, to preserve from extinction; to continue the memory of a person or event. where was troy? troy, anciently called ilium, was the capital of troas, in asia. it became famous for the ten years' siege it sustained against the greeks; the history of this event is commemorated in the poems of homer and virgil. is not the harp an instrument of high antiquity in great britain? yes: it was a favorite instrument with the ancient saxons in great britain. the celebrated alfred entered the danish camp disguised as a harper, because the harpers passed through the midst of the enemy unmolested on account of their calling. the same deception was likewise practised by several danish chiefs, in the camp of athelstan, the saxon. the bards, or harpers of old, were the historians of the time; they handed down from generation to generation the history of remarkable events, and of the deeds and lineage of their celebrated chiefs and princes. the harpers of britain were formerly admitted to the banquets of kings and nobles: their employment was to sing or recite the achievements of their patrons, accompanying themselves on the harp. no nations have been more famous for their harps and harpers than the welsh and irish. _recite_, to repeat or chant in a particular tone or manner. _achievement_, a great or heroic deed. _patron_, benefactor, one who bestows favors. what instrument was famous among the ancient greeks? the lyre: the invention, or rather discovery, of this instrument is ascribed by them to their most celebrated deities. it is supposed to have originated from the discovery of a dead tortoise, the flesh of which had dried and wasted, so that nothing was left within the shell but sinews and cartilages: these, tightened and contracted, on account of their dryness, were rendered sonorous. some one, mercury or apollo, they affirm, in walking along, happening to strike his foot against the tortoise, was greatly pleased with the sound it produced: thus was suggested to him the first idea of a lyre, which he afterwards constructed in the form of a tortoise, and strung with the dried sinews of dead animals. the stringed instruments already described were made to give out musical sounds, by causing a vibratory motion in their strings by means of the fingers. _sinew_, a tendon; that which unites a muscle to a bone. _cartilage_, a gristly, smooth, solid substance, softer than bone. _vibratory_, shaking. who was mercury? the heathen god of eloquence, letters, &c., and the messenger of the other gods. who was apollo? the god of music, poetry, medicine, and the fine arts. [illustration: picking cotton.] [illustration: gathering tea.] what is a tortoise? a well-known animal, with a thick shelly covering, belonging to the order of reptiles; there are two species, the sea and the land tortoise; the first named is called a turtle, and affords delicious food; land tortoises live to a very great age. it is only one sort which furnishes the beautiful shell so much prized. tortoises are found in many parts of the world. the turtles on the brazilian shore are said to be so large as to be enough to dine fourscore men: and in the indian sea, the shells serve the natives for boats. of what are the strings of the lyre, &c., composed? sometimes of either brass or silver wire, &c., but most commonly of catgut. what is catgut? the intestines of sheep or lambs, dried or twisted, either singly or several together. catgut is also used by watch-makers, cutlers, and other artificers, in their different trades. great quantities are imported from france and italy. are there no other kind of instruments besides those already described? yes, music and musical instruments have progressively improved; and it would be a needless task to enumerate the numbers of instruments of each kind now in use; many, as for instance the organ, the piano, musical boxes, &c., are exceedingly complex and ingenious in their construction, as well as remarkable for the sweetness of their various sounds; some, as the two first-named, are played with the fingers, and produce any melody or combination of sound at the will of the performer; others, as the musical-box, barrel-organ, &c., produce a particular melody, or a certain number of melodies, by means of machinery. in the use of the last-named the performer is not at all indebted to his own musical skill, as he has only to turn the handle which sets the machinery in motion, and the musical box, or barrel-organ, will continue playing till it has finished the tunes to which it is set. upon what principle do these last-mentioned instruments perform? the barrel-organ and musical box both play on nearly the same principle, though the former is turned by a handle, and the latter only requires a certain spring to be touched, in order to set it off or to stop it. their machinery consists of a barrel pricked with brass pins; when the barrel revolves, these ping lift a series of steel springs of different lengths and thicknesses, and the vibration of these springs when released, produces the different notes. what is painting? the art of representing objects in nature, or scenes in human life, with fidelity and expression, either in oil or water colors, &c. _fidelity_, truth, faithfulness. _oil colors_, those colors which are mixed up with oil, as the others are with water. is not this art of great antiquity? there is not the slightest doubt of it; but to name the country where it was first practised, or the circumstances attending its origin, is beyond the power of the historian. about a century after the call of abraham, greek and egyptian tradition tells us of a colony planted at sicyon, by an egyptian, who brought with him the knowledge of painting and sculpture, and founded the earliest and purest school of greek art. the walls of babylon were adorned with paintings of different kinds of animals, hunting expeditions, combats, &c. allusions to this custom of the babylonians, of decorating their walls with paintings, are found in the bible. _tradition_, a history or account delivered from mouth to mouth without written memorials; communication from age to age. _allusion_, reference. _decorating_, ornamenting. _sicyon_, a kingdom of peloponnesus, in ancient greece. were the egyptians acquainted with this art? it is now little doubted that, although painting and sculpture existed in egypt, and were probably at their highest condition, eighteen centuries before the christian era, yet, at a still earlier period, these arts were known in the kingdom of ethiopia; and it is considered likely, that the course of civilization descended from ethiopia to egypt. there is, however, no record of any egyptian painter in the annals of the art; and it does not appear that it ever flourished in that country, or that other nations were much indebted to egypt for their knowledge of it. _era_, age, period. _ethiopia_, the ancient name of the kingdoms of nubia and abyssinia, in africa. _annal_, record, history. _exploit_, action, achievement, deed of valor. have we any notice of this art among the hebrews? there is no allusion made to the existence of painting among this people, and no proof that it was cultivated among them: it is supposed that the neglect of this art arose from their not being permitted to represent any object by painting. what progress did the generality of the eastern nations make in this art? the art of painting among the phenicians, persians, and other eastern nations, advanced but slowly. the chinese appear, until a very recent period, to have contented themselves with only so much knowledge of the art as might enable them to decorate their beautiful porcelain and other wares; their taste is very peculiar, and though the pencilling of their birds and flowers is delicate, yet their figures of men and animals are distorted, and out of proportion; and of perspective they seem to have but little idea. latterly, however, a change has taken place in chinese art, and proofs have been given of an attempt to imitate european skill. the japanese figures approach more nearly to beauty of style than chinese productions of a similar kind. _distorted_, having a bad figure. _perspective_, the science by which things are represented in a picture according to their appearance to the eye. who are the japanese? the inhabitants of japan, an empire of eastern asia, composed of several large islands. they are so similar in feature, and in many of their customs and ceremonies, to the chinese, as to be regarded by some, as the same race of men. the japanese language is so very peculiar, that it is rarely understood by the people of other nations. their religion is idolatrous; their government a monarchy, controlled by the priesthood. the people are very ingenious, and the arts and sciences are held in great esteem by them. in all respects, japan is an important and interesting empire. _monarchy_, a government in which the power is vested in a king or emperor. by what nations was the art of painting practised with great success? by the greeks and romans. greece produced many distinguished painters, among whom apelles was one of the most celebrated; he was a native of cos, an island in the archipelago, rather north of rhodes; he flourished in the time of alexander the great, and witnessed both the glory and the decay of ancient art: the leading features of his style were beauty and grace. but painting was not at any period so completely national in greece, as sculpture, its sister art; the names of one hundred and sixty-nine eminent sculptors are recorded, while only fifteen painters are mentioned. zeuxis, of heraclea, was another famous greek painter, who flourished years before christ. the romans were not without considerable masters in this art, in the latter times of the republic, and under the first emperors. what nation is supposed to have known and practised this art even before the foundation of rome? the etruscans, inhabitants of etruria, whose acquaintance with the arts has excited great astonishment among those who have most deeply searched into their history, and traced their progress by means of the beautiful specimens of their works still extant. their early works were not superior to those of other nations; but either from their intercourse with greece, or the original genius of the people, they had attained considerable eminence in the arts of painting, sculpture, &c., before rome was founded. pliny speaks of some beautiful pictures at ardea and lanuvium, which were older than rome: and another author also says that before rome was built, sculpture and painting existed among them. where was etruria situated? in italy, on the west of the tiber, which separated it from the territory of ancient rome, to which it was afterwards annexed by conquest. etruria was the ancient name of tuscany. _annexed_, united. was not the art greatly obscured for some centuries? the irruption of barbarians into italy and southern europe, proved fatal to painting, and almost reduced it to its primitive state; it was not until after a long period that it was fully restored. the first certain signs of its revival took place about the year , when greek artists were sent for to adorn several of the cities of italy. cimabue, a native of florence, in the thirteenth century, caught the inspiration of the greek artists, and soon equalled their works. he was both a painter and an architect. _irruption_, inroad, invasion. to what did this revolution in its history give rise? it caused it to be distinguished into ancient and modern. the ancient painting comprehends the greek and roman: the modern has formed several schools, each of which has its peculiar character and merit. the first masters who revived the art were greatly surpassed by their scholars, who carried it to the greatest state of perfection, and advanced it not only by their own noble works, but also by those of their pupils. who were the principal masters of the italian school? raphael and the celebrated michael angelo buonarotti; the former is regarded as the prince of modern painters, and is often styled "the divine raphael;" he was born at urbino, in . michael angelo was born at florence, in , and united the professions of painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and musician. besides these there were many other illustrious italian painters, the principal of whom were leonardo da vinci, titian, correggio, the three caracci, guido, parmegiano, salvator rosa, &c. was not raphael also reckoned as excellent an architect as he was a painter? he was not only esteemed the best painter in the world, but also the best architect; he was at least so admired for skill and taste in architecture, that leo the tenth charged him with the building of st. peter's church at rome. who was leo the tenth? a great pope, who was an ardent lover and patron of learning and the arts. he was born at florence, in , and died in . give me a list of some of the most celebrated painters besides those already mentioned. the great painters of the _german_ school were albert durer, holbein, kneller and mengs, with several others. of the _dutch_ school, were rembrandt, gerard dow, mieris, ostade, polemberg, berghem, and wouvermans. of the _flemish_, rubens, teniers, jordaens, and vandyck. the admired painters of the _french_ school, were claude, poussin, le brun, and many others. the _spaniards_ also have had their murillo, velasquez, &c. the _english_, hogarth, wright, reynolds, wilson, northcote, gainsborough, morland, barry, and others. the _americans_, washington allston, benjamin west, gilbert stuart, john singleton copley, john trumbull, g. stuart newton, thomas cole, henry inman, and a number of others; besides many now living, or but recently deceased. upon what materials did the ancients paint their works? principally upon wood; the boards or tables were prepared with a thin ground of chalk and size of some kind. linen cloth or canvas was also employed, but there is no evidence of its use before the reign of nero. parchment, ivory and plaster were the other materials. _evidence_, testimony, record. who was nero? one of the roman emperors, a monster of cruelty, extravagance, and debauchery; he raised a dreadful persecution against the christians, in which st. paul was beheaded, and st. peter crucified. at last, being deserted by his army and the senate, he destroyed himself, after a reign of fourteen years. _debauchery_, wickedness. what is poetry? the glowing language of impassioned feeling, generally found in measured lines, and often in rhyme. most ancient people had their poets. _glowing_, warm, energetic. _impassioned_, full of passion, animated. _rhyme_, the correspondence of the last sound of one verse to the last sound or syllable of another. name a few of the ancient poets. david was an inspired poet of the hebrews: homer, one of the earliest poets of the greeks: ossian, an ancient poet of the scots: taliesen, an ancient poet of the welsh: and odin, an early poet of the scandinavians. who were the scandinavians? the inhabitants of scandinavia, the ancient name of denmark, sweden, and norway. what people are regarded as the fathers of poetry? the greeks. homer was the first and the prince of poets; he celebrated the siege of troy in the iliad and odyssey, two epic poems which have never been surpassed. in the same kind of composition he was followed, nine hundred years after, by virgil, in the eneid; by tasso, after another fifteen hundred years, in the 'jerusalem delivered.' the greeks also boasted of their pindar and anacreon in lyric poetry; and of aristophanes, euripides, sophocles, and eschylus, in dramatic poetry. did the romans possess any distinguished poets? yes; among the epic poets were ovid and tibullus; among dramatists, plautus and terence; of didactic and philosophic poets, lucretius, virgil, horace, and silius italicus. all these were so many miracles of human genius; and their works afford the models of their respective species of composition. most of the works of the ancients have in sentiment, if not in spirit, been translated into english. _miracles_, wonders. _genius_, natural talent. _respective_, particular. _sentiment_, thought, meaning. did not the same revolution which undermined the greek and roman empires, and destroyed learning, the arts and sciences, and the taste for elegance and luxury, also prove fatal to poetry? it did; the hordes of barbarians who overran europe wiped out civilization in their progress, and literature, art, and science fled before the wild conquerors to find a refuge in the monastery and the convent. here knowledge was fostered with the love and ardor which religion alone can impart. finally, when the rude barbarians were converted, it was to the religious orders that the world turned for the establishment of schools, and it is to the church alone, in the person of her popes, her bishops, and her monks that we are indebted for the preservation of learning, and its revival in the fifteenth century. what celebrated poets marked this revival? in italy, dante, ariosto, petrarch and tasso. these were followed, in france, by racine, corneille, boileau, voltaire, la fontaine and delille; in england, by chaucer, spenser, shakspeare, milton, dryden, pope, thomson, young, collins, gray, byron, coleridge, &c; in scotland, by sir walter scott; in ireland, by thomas moore; in germany, klopstock, goethe and schiller. name some of the distinguished poets of our own country. henry wadsworth longfellow, william cullen bryant, james russell lowell, john g. whittier, fitz-greene halleck, and many others whose meritorious works will be impartially judged by a future age. _impartially_, justly, without prejudice. name the different kinds of poetry. epic, or historical; dramatic, or representative,--from drama, the name of all compositions adapted to recitation on the stage--in which are displayed, for instruction and amusement, all the passions, feelings, errors, and virtues of the human race in real life; lyric poetry, or that suited to music, as songs, odes, &c; didactic, or instructive; elegiac, or sentimental, and affecting; satirical, or censorious; epigrammatic, or witty and ludicrous; and pastoral, or descriptive of country life. _historical_, relating to history. _lyric_, pertaining to a lyre. _didactic_, doctrinal; relating to doctrines or opinions. _elegiac_, relating to elegy; mournful, sorrowful. _elegy_, a mournful song: a funeral composition; a short poem without points or affected elegance. _satirical_, severe in language; relating to satire. _satire_, a poem in which wickedness or folly is censured. _epigrammatic_, relating to epigram,--a short poem ending in a particular point or meaning, understood but not expressed. _pastoral_, from _pastor_, a shepherd; relating to rural employments and those belonging to shepherds. what is astronomy? the science which treats of the heavenly bodies, their arrangement, magnitudes, distances and motions. the term astronomy is derived from two greek words, signifying the _law_ of the _stars_; _astron_ being the greek for star. what can you say of its origin? its origin has been ascribed to several persons, as well as to different nations and ages. belus, king of assyria; atlas, king of mauritania; and uranus, king of the countries situated on the shores of the atlantic ocean, are all recorded as the persons to whom the world is indebted for this noble science. its origin is generally fixed in chaldea. some choose, however, to attribute it to the hebrews; others to the egyptians,--from whom, they say, it passed to the greeks. what country is meant by mauritania? mauritania is the name formerly given to a country in the northern part of africa. chaldea is the ancient name for babylonia, now called irak arabi, a district of asiatic turkey. by whom were the heavenly bodies first divided into constellations or groups? by the ancients. the phenomena of the heavens were studied in very early ages by several nations of the east. the chaldeans, the indians, the chinese and the egyptians have all left evidence of the industry and ingenuity with which their observations were conducted. _phenomena_, appearances. _ingenuity_, skilfulness. what progress did they make in astronomy? they built observatories,--invented instruments for observing and measuring with correctness,--separated the stars into different groups or constellations, for the more easily finding any particular star,--gave particular names to most of the moving stars or planets, and noted the periods which each took to move through its apparent path in the heavens; and in many other ways the ancients helped to lay the foundations of that mass of astronomical knowledge which men of later ages have brought to more maturity. _constellation_, a cluster of fixed stars; an assemblage of stars. _observatory_, a place so built as to command a view of the heavens. who first taught the true system of the universe? pythagoras, one of the most distinguished philosophers of antiquity. he is thought to have been a native of samos, an island in the archipelago; he flourished about years before christ, in the time of tarquin, the last king of rome. pythagoras was the first among the europeans who taught that the earth and planets turn round the sun, which stands immovable in the centre;--that the diurnal motion of the sun and fixed stars is not real, but apparent,--arising from the earth's motion round its own axis, &c. after the time of pythagoras, astronomy sunk into neglect. _philosopher_, one who studies philosophy. _philosophy_, all knowledge, whether natural or moral. the term is derived from the greek, _philos_, lover, and _sophia_, wisdom. by whom was it revived? by the family of the ptolemies, kings of egypt, who founded a school of astronomy at alexandria, which produced several eminent astronomers, particularly one named hipparchus. the saracens, on their conquest of egypt, became possessed of the knowledge of astronomy, which they carried with them out of africa into spain; and thus, after a long exile, it was introduced afresh into europe. did not astronomy from this time make great progress? yes; it made considerable advances, being cultivated by the greatest geniuses, and patronized by the greatest princes. the system of the ptolemies, called the ptolemaic, had hitherto been used, with some slight alterations; but copernicus, an eminent astronomer, born at thorn, in polish prussia, in , adopted the system which had been taught by pythagoras in greece, five or six hundred years before the time of ptolemy. about the same time with copernicus flourished tycho brahe, born in denmark, . _geniuses_, men gifted with superior mental faculties. _mental_, belonging to the mind. _faculties_, powers of doing anything, whether menial or bodily; abilities; powers of the mind. what next greatly forwarded this interesting science? the introduction of telescopes by galileo, who by their means discovered the small stars or satellites which attend the planet jupiter; the various appearances of saturn; the mountains in the moon; the spots on the sun; and its revolution on its axis. _satellites_, attendants. what celebrated astronomer arose in england? the immortal sir isaac newton, born in , at woolsthorpe, in lincolnshire, who has, perhaps, contributed more to the advancement of this science than any one who had before existed. dr. william herschel, a native of hanover, in germany, born in , likewise made many useful discoveries in astronomy: it was he who first discovered the seventh primary planet, which he named, in honor of king george the third, the georgium sidus. george the third took him under his especial patronage, and constituted him his astronomer, with a handsome pension. he resided at slough, near windsor, where he died, in . _patronage_, support, favor. _constituted_, appointed to any particular office or rank. _pension_, yearly allowance of money. what other circumstance contributed to the advancement of astronomy? the increasing perfection of our astronomical instruments,--by means of which, the most important and interesting discoveries with regard to the heavens have been made. it is now supposed that the myriads of the heavenly bodies are all distinct worlds; it is certain, from observations made by the aid of the telescope, that the moon has its mountains, valleys, and caverns. one of the greatest astronomers of our day was the eminent father secci. what are generally meant by the arts? systems of rules designed to facilitate the performance of certain actions; in this sense, it stands opposed to science. the terms _art_ and _science_ are often incorrectly used. science relates to principles, and art to practice. the word art is derived from a greek word signifying utility, profit. arts are divided into liberal and mechanical. what are the liberal arts? the liberal arts are those that are noble and ingenious, or which are worthy of being cultivated without any immediate regard to the pecuniary profit arising from them. they are poetry, music, painting, sculpture, architecture, grammar, logic, rhetoric, astronomy, and navigation. the arts which relate more especially to the sight and hearing are also called fine arts. _pecuniary_, relating to money. _military_, belonging to soldiers, or to arms. what do the fine arts usually include? all those which are more or less addressed to the sentiment of taste, and whose object is pleasure; these are more especially music, painting, sculpture, and poetry. what are the mechanical arts? those in which the hand and body are more concerned than the mind, and which are chiefly cultivated for the sake of the profit attending them. to this class belong those which furnish us with the necessaries of life, and which are commonly called trades, as carpentry, weaving, printing, &c. there are also many other arts, as the art of writing, &c. when was the art of writing invented? it is supposed that the art was invented before the deluge: it was certainly practised long before the time of moses. there were, doubtless, many steps taken in slow succession before the invention of alphabetic writing. perhaps the earliest method might have been that which is still employed among the untutored tribes of north american indians, who record events by picture-painting of the rudest description. picture-painting was afterwards gradually converted into the hieroglyphical system, which is still the only kind of writing among the chinese. it is not known who invented the alphabetic system of writing. _deluge_, a flood: the term used in particular to denote that mighty flood of water with which god swept away the first nations of the earth for their wickedness. _alphabetic_, from alphabet, the series of written signs of language called letters. the word is formed from _alpha_, _beta_, the names of the first two letters of the greek alphabet. _untutored_, ignorant, unlearned. were not the egyptians quite early acquainted with this art? yes, they were acquainted with two or three kinds of writing, as well as the one in which symbolical characters were employed, which was not used for common purposes. on the contrary, such symbols had something of a sacred character about them, being unknown to the common people, and only to be deciphered by the priests. obelisks and pyramids were the great national records; and on these the hieroglyphics were constantly used, because unintelligible to the people, until expounded by those who had the exclusive office of explaining them. _symbolical_, having the nature of signs or symbols--that is, representations of different things. _deciphered_, read, understood, made out. _unintelligible_, that cannot be understood. _expounded_, explained, interpreted. were hieroglyphics employed before or after alphabetic writing? they were undoubtedly employed at first from necessity, not from choice or refinement; and would never have been thought of, if alphabetical characters had been known. this style of writing must be reckoned as a rude improvement upon picture-writing, which had previously been used. hieroglyphics were employed by the egyptian priests in after times, as a kind of sacred writing, peculiar to themselves, and serving to give an air of mystery to their learning and religion, though fallen into disuse for other purposes. what materials were employed by ancient nations in writing? the eastern nations used tables of stone, brass, and wood, so that the characters were engraved instead of being written in the usual manner. the instrument used in writing on wood, was made of metal, and called a _style_. for stone, brass, &c., a chisel was employed. when the bark and leaves of trees, skins, and other materials of a more pliant nature, superseded the above-named tables, the chisel and the style, or stylus, gave way to the reed and cane, and afterwards to the quill, the _hair_ pencil (as now used by the chinese,) and the convenient lead pencil. _engraved_, inscribed with the graver, a tool used in engraving on stone, &c. _pliant_, yielding, easily bent. have not the various nations among whom this useful art has been cultivated, adopted different ways of arranging their written characters? yes. the hebrews, chaldeans, syrians, arabians, and egyptians, begin each line on the right side, and write towards the left. the greeks, latins, and all european nations, write from left to right. the natives of china, japan, cochin china, corea, &c., write from the top to the bottom of the page. where are cochin china, and corea? cochin china is a country situated in eastern asia. corea is a peninsula of asia, subject to china. what is meant by science? a clear and certain knowledge of anything founded on self-evident principles, or demonstration. the term is, however, more particularly applied to a systematic arrangement of the principles relating to any branch of knowledge, and is employed in this sense in opposition to art: thus the theoretical knowledge of chemistry is ranked as a science, but the practical part is called an art; thus it is sometimes spoken of as a science, sometimes as an art. _practical_, relating to action, not merely speculative. what is chemistry? a science which enables us to discover the peculiar properties of natural bodies, either in their simple or compound state, and the elementary or first principles of which they are composed, by the processes of analysis and combination. chemistry treats of those changes in natural bodies which are not accompanied by _sensible_ motions. _compound_, mixed. _analysis_, a separation of a compound body into the several parts of which it consists. is not the knowledge of chemistry very ancient? chemistry, as far as it regards the separating of metals from foreign matters in the ore, smelting and refining them, is of the highest antiquity; it is even supposed to have been understood and practised in the antediluvian world. _antediluvian_, before the flood. what nation appears to have excelled in chemistry in early times? the egyptians were no mean proficients in many chemical operations, especially in the arts of working metals, softening ivory, vitrifying flints, and imitating precious stones. chemistry, however, experienced the common fate of all the arts, at the decline of the eastern empire. _proficients_, those who have made great progress in any art or science. by whom was it revived? after having long lain buried, the famous roger bacon revived it; and from his time to the present day it has gradually progressed to a state of perfection. in former times, the art of chemistry consisted only in the knowledge of working metals, &c.; but in latter ages, its bounds have been greatly enlarged. the knowledge of chemistry leads to many interesting and important discoveries, and the arts and manufactures are greatly indebted to its aid; indeed, it is requisite to be a good chemist, in order to attain to perfection in many of them. _requisite_, necessary. by what other name has chemistry been known? it was sometimes called _alchemy_; by which is properly understood a refined and mysterious species of chemistry, formerly much practised. what were its objects? the discovery of the art of converting metals into gold, including the search after the "philosopher's stone," by which this change was to be effected; and the discovery of a panacea or medicine for the cure of all diseases. what was the philosopher's stone? a substance, for numbers of years eagerly sought for, which was to convert metals, such as lead, copper, &c. into gold. this unknown substance was called the philosopher's stone, probably on account of the number of learned men who engaged in the search after it. [illustration: united states signal station, pike's peak, colorado.] was this search successful? no; but the delusion lasted several centuries, notwithstanding the failures, losses, and disappointments of those engaged in it. indeed, so severe and ruinous were these, in many instances, that laws were passed to forbid the study. in germany, many of the alchemists who had the unfortunate reputation of possessing this wonderful stone were imprisoned and furnished with apparatus till they should purchase their liberty by making an ounce of gold. _delusion_, an error arising from false views. _apparatus_, a complete set of instruments or tools, by which anything is made, or any operation performed. was any gold ever produced by this method? not a particle; the story of a stone having the property of converting the baser metals into gold being merely an absurd fable: yet, although the pursuits of alchemy were the most preposterous that can be conceived, the ardor with which they were followed, and the amazing number of experiments made in consequence, led to the discovery of many facts to which chemistry is highly indebted. _preposterous_, absurd, foolish; contrary to nature or reason. you inform me that chemistry enables us to discover the properties of bodies by means of _analysis_ and _combination_: what do these terms imply? if a chemist wishes to examine the properties of a compound body, he proceeds by analysis--that is, by a separation of the substance to be examined into its constituent parts. the chemical examination of bodies is generally effected by producing a change in the _nature_ or _state_ of the body under examination. this change is frequently brought about by the addition of some _other_ substance which forms a combination with a part of the substance examined, and leaves the remainder in a detached state. by what _means_ do chemists effect a change in the qualities or states of natural bodies? it is generally effected by means of _heat_, which has a tendency to separate the particles of bodies from each other; or by the _mixture_ or _combination_ of some other matter with the matter intended to be examined. the mixture of two or more compounds often produces a decomposition by means of chemical _affinity_, a property which different species of matter have to unite with each other; and which is sometimes called _elective affinity_. thus it may be observed, chemists have not only the power of decomposing natural bodies, but of producing by combination various other substances, such as are not found in the kingdom of nature. what do you mean by _decomposition_? in chemical language, it means the separation of a compound body into its simple elements. give me an example. water may be decomposed, and reduced into oxygen and hydrogen,--both of them simple substances incapable of further decomposition. is not the work of decomposition perpetually going forward? yes; and _combustion_ is one of the great agents in this work. by it animal and vegetable substances are converted into water and carbonic acid, by the union of their hydrogen and carbon with the oxygen of the air. these, in time, are again absorbed by vegetables, and again decomposed to set the oxygen at liberty to produce fresh combustions. of what use are the two remaining substances, hydrogen and carbon? these are appropriated by the vegetative organs to their growth and nourishment, while the oxygen with which the carbon was combined is abundantly given off to purify the air and render it fit for the respiration of animals. give me an idea of the mode in which chemists ascertain the _affinity_ of bodies, by relating an experiment. dissolve a tea-spoonful of sugar of lead in water, and pour the clear solution into a decanter or large glass bottle. then take a small piece of zinc, and twist round it some brass or copper wire, so as to let the ends of the wire depend from it in any agreeable form. suspend the zinc and wire in the solution which has been prepared; in a short time, metallic lead will deposit itself on the zinc and along the wire. this is a beautiful illustration of chemical affinity; the acid, which constitutes a part of the sugar of lead, has a stronger affinity for the zinc than for the lead, and, consequently, will combine with the zinc, and form a compound which remains in solution, while the lead is precipitated on the zinc and wire in the form of a brilliant tree of metal. _affinity_, in chemistry, that attraction which takes place between the elements of bodies, and forms compounds. what does the word nature signify? in the above sense, the system of the universe; the creation, the works of god. by the kingdom of nature is meant the world and all things in it: nature is divided into three kingdoms, the animal, vegetable, and mineral. what are the different states of natural bodies? all bodies are either solid, liquid, or aeriform. by solid bodies are meant those whose parts unite so firmly as to resist the impression or penetration of other bodies; by liquid, those substances whose parts do not unite firmly, but have free motion among themselves; by aeriform, fluid substances, having the form or nature of air. liquid substances are nothing more than solids converted into liquids by heat, a certain increase of which would convert the liquids into vapor. what other name is given to liquids? they are likewise called fluids: we call the air, also, a fluid, because it flows like a fluid, and light substances will float in it. what is the cause of bodies floating on liquids? it is an established law of nature, that all substances which weigh less than an equal bulk of any liquid, will float on the surface of this liquid. thus a cork will float on water, while a stone sinks to the bottom. the cork will not float in the air, though lighter than water; and the stone is not heavier than the _whole_ of the water, but more so than a portion of water of its _own bulk_,--and thus it sinks in it. stones also differ in their weight or gravity: for instance, some of the asbestus kind are _lighter_ than water. iron, brass, indeed, nearly all substances, except gold and platina, will float upon mercury, because they are lighter than this liquid. what is the cause of bodies being either solid, liquid, or aeriform? when the principle of _attraction_ prevails, it causes them to become solid; when caloric prevails, they become aeriform. fluidity is, apparently, a medium between the two. how is the state of solidity in bodies accounted for? the particles of all bodies are subject to two opposite powers, _repulsion_ and _attraction_; between which they remain in equilibrium. while the _attractive_ force remains strongest, the body remains in a state of solidity; but if heat destroys this force, the particles lose their cohesion, and the body ceases to be solid. _cohesion_, act of sticking together, union of the constituent parts of a body. which is supposed to be the most natural state of all bodies? solidity; for by the _combination_ of caloric with them we can reduce most substances to the fluid state; while the greatest number of _liquid_ substances take a _solid_ form by the loss of caloric. thus, water congeals and forms ice; and even the gases show this disposition to become solid, when they lose their _elasticity_ by forming some _combination_. explain the terms _repulsion_ and _attraction_. repulsion is a peculiar property in the particles of matter, which gives them a constant tendency to recede from each other. attraction is an unknown force, which causes bodies or their particles to approach each other. the particles of all bodies possess this property, which causes them to adhere, and preserves the various substances around us from falling in pieces. what different kinds of attraction can you mention? attraction may be distinguished into that which takes place between bodies at sensible distances, and that which manifests itself between the _particles_ of matter at insensible distances. give an example of the first kind of attraction. one of the most familiar instances of attraction at sensible distances is seen in the descent of heavy bodies to the ground. when a stone is lifted up in the hand, the earth's attraction, which previously caused it to remain at its surface, is overcome; but, as soon as the hand is withdrawn, the stone falls to the earth. the force which causes this is called the _attraction of gravitation_, or simply _gravitation_. how is the second kind of attraction, or that between the particles of bodies, subdivided? into the _attraction of aggregation_, or _cohesion_; and _chemical attraction_, or _affinity_. the former takes place between particles which are _similar_, and the latter between those which are _dissimilar_. all the operations of chemistry are founded upon the force of affinity which nature has established between the particles of different kinds of matter, and which enables the chemist to produce _new_ compounds differing more or less from the substances by whose union they were formed. is it, then, necessary for chemists to understand the relative nature of all substances? yes; because the basis of this science consists in an _analytical_ examination of the works of nature; an investigation of the properties and uses of all substances we are acquainted with; and the study of the effects of _heat_ and _mixture_, in order that we may find out their general and subordinate laws. _analytical_, relating to analysis. _investigation_, act of searching, or tracing out. _subordinate_, inferior in nature, dignity or power. relate a few more of the advantages obtained by a knowledge of chemistry. many of the wonderful operations of nature, and the changes which take place in substances around us, are, by its means, revealed to us. in every manufacture, art, or walk of life, the chemist possesses an advantage over his unskilled neighbor. it is necessary to the farmer and gardener, as it explains the growth of plants, the use of manures, and their proper application: and indispensable to the physician, that he may understand the animal economy, and the _effects_ which certain _causes_ chemically produce; and the nature of animal, vegetable, and mineral poisons. the study is, therefore, an invaluable branch in the education of youth: it is useful, not only in the active, but the _moral_ life, by laying the foundation of an ardent and inquiring mind. even an everyday walk in the fields can be productive of instruction, by a knowledge of it;--and let us always remember, that "knowledge is power." _indispensable_, necessary, not to be done without. chapter xix. attraction, tides, gravity, artesian wells, air, aneroid barometer, ear-trumpet, stethoscope, audiphone, telephone, phonograph, microphone, megaphone, tasimeter, bathometer, anemometer, chronometer. what is attraction? by attraction is meant that property or quality in the particles of bodies which makes them tend toward each other. are there several kinds of attraction? yes. attraction has received different names, according to the circumstances under which it acts: the force which keeps the particles of matter together to form bodies or masses, is called attraction of _cohesion_; that which makes bodies stick together only on their surfaces, is called _adhesion_; that which inclines different masses toward each other, as the earth and the heavenly bodies, is called _gravitation_; that which forces the particles of substances of different kinds to unite, is known under the name of _chemical attraction_; that which causes the needle of the compass to point constantly toward the poles of the earth, is _magnetic attraction_; that which is excited by friction in certain substances, is known as _electrical attraction_. how do you know that attraction exists through the whole universe? this great universal law was first discovered by sir isaac newton. the sun and planets and other heavenly bodies are only guided in their path by gravitation. do we experience this attraction upon our earth? yes; because our earth is carried around the sun by it; and, further, the tides show it very clearly. what are the tides? the ebbing and flowing of the sea, which regularly takes place twice in twenty-four hours. the cause of the tides is the attraction of the sun, but chiefly of the moon, acting on the waters of the ocean. what is gravity? gravity is the attraction between the earth and the bodies on the earth, which makes what we call weight of bodies. what do you understand by specific weight or gravity? it means the weight of a body as compared with the weight of an equal bulk of some other body taken as a standard--commonly water. why do we say that certain metals--as, for example, platina or gold--are heavier than others, say, lead or iron? because the former have a greater specific gravity. but is not a pound of gold as heavy as a pound of lead? yes; but a lump of gold will be heavier than a lump of lead of equal bulk. can we explain by this what we call floating? a body will float in water if its gravity is less than that of water; for example, wood floats for this reason in water, and a balloon in the air. why does a portion of the floating body sink below the surface of the water? because the body in order to float must displace a portion of water equal in weight to the whole floating body. but why do iron steamers float--iron being heavier than water? because the steamer is not a solid piece of iron, but is hollow, and so increased in bulk; for that reason the weight of the vessel and its contents is less than that of an equal bulk of water. how can you ascertain that air has weight? we can do it by the barometer and by very many experiences in daily life. if one end of a straw be dipped into a vessel of water and the other end be sucked, the liquid will rise to the mouth. there we see the pressure of the outside air forces the liquid through the straw where the air was removed by sucking. can you show the same by another instrument? yes; the common water pump demonstrates the same as the straw. a tube is placed into the water, the air is sucked out from the tube by the movement of the pump, and the outside air presses the water through the tube. what are artesian wells? wells so named because they were made first at artois, in france. they work on the principle that every liquid seeks its level. of the rain which falls, a part soaks into the soil of mountains, until, coming to a layer of rocks or clay through which it cannot pass, it will collect and be stored up. if a hole be bored into this reservoir the water will rise in it. do you know some other properties of air? it is the most necessary substance for our life; it is the vehicle of all odors and smells; it is the medium of all sounds, and brings to our ear and so to our mind an immense knowledge of the outside world; it is the cause of the beauty of the blue firmament or sky, of the aurora and twilight; it is the great nurse of the whole vegetable kingdom by clouds, rain, and dew. what is an aneroid barometer? it is a barometer in the construction of which no quicksilver or other liquid is used. it consists of a metal box, exhausted of air, the top of which is of thin metal, so elastic that it readily yields to alterations in the pressure of the atmosphere. when the pressure increases, the top is pressed inwards; when, on the contrary, it decreases, the elasticity of the lid, aided by a spring, tends to move it in the opposite direction. these motions are transmitted by delicate levers to an index which moves on a scale. this barometer has the advantage of being portable. what is the ear-trumpet? a trumpet-like instrument used to aid deaf persons in hearing. its form is conical, and the larger end is of a bell shape; the small end is placed in the ear, and the person talks in the large end. it acts by concentrating the voice on the listener's ear. what is a stethoscope? an instrument used by physicians for ascertaining the action of the lungs, judging by the sound of their motion whether they are healthy or not. describe the audiphone. it is a fan-shaped instrument to help deaf people, and is made of flexible carbonized rubber. fine silk cords attached to the upper edge bend it over, and are fastened by a wedge in a handle. the top edge of this fan rests upon the upper teeth, and the sound waves strike its surface; the vibrations are thus conveyed by the teeth and the bones of the face to the acoustic nerve in the ear. describe the telephone. it is an instrument by which conversation may be carried on at a distance, and is composed of three parts--a thin disk of soft metal, a small coil or bobbin of silk-covered copper wire, and a small bar magnet about four inches long. the bobbin is placed on one pole of the magnet, so that the wire is as it were steeped in the magnetic space round the pole. the metal disk is placed face close to the pole and bobbin, so that when it vibrates in front of the pole a series of wave currents will be set up in the coil of wire on the bobbin. the whole is encased in wood, and a mouth-piece is provided for speaking against the disk. the coil of wire on the bobbin is of course connected by its two ends into the circuit of a telegraph line. who invented the telephone? it was invented, almost simultaneously, by alex. graham bell, a native of scotland, and professor of vocal physiology in the boston university, and elisha gray, of chicago. what is a phonograph? it is an instrument for recording the vibrations of sounds, and consists of a revolving cylinder covered with tin-foil. to this cylinder is attached a mouth-piece, fitted with a thin plate or disk, on the outer side of which, next to the cylinder, is a needle or point. the cylinder runs on a screw, so that the whole length of it, from end to end, may pass under the point. on speaking into the mouth-piece the voice causes the disk to vibrate, and the point to trace marks corresponding to these vibrations on the tin-foil. by turning the cylinder so that the point again passes into the marks in the tin-foil, the sounds that entered at the mouth-piece can be reproduced at any time. by whom was the phonograph invented? by thomas a. edison, who was born in ohio in . mr. edison is the inventor of many improvements in telegraphy, which have been adopted into general use, and are to him the source of a large income. to him, also, we are indebted for the megaphone, microphone, tasimeter, an improvement in the telephone, a system of electric lighting, and many other inventions. what is a microphone? this instrument is a variety of telephone by means of which faint sounds can be heard at a very great distance. it consists of a small battery for generating a weak current of electricity, a telephone for the receiving instrument, and a speaking or transmitting instrument. the last is a small rod of gas carbon with the ends set loosely in blocks of the same material. the blocks are attached to an upright support, glued into a wooden base board. this instrument is connected with the battery and the telephone. so wonderfully sensitive is it, that the ticking of a watch, the walking of a fly across a board, or the brush of a camel's-hair pencil can be heard even though it be hundreds of miles distant. will you describe the megaphone? it is a substitute for the ear and speaking trumpet. it consists of three paper funnels placed side by side. the two larger ones are about feet inches long and - / inches in diameter, and are each provided with a flexible tube, the ends of which are held to the ear. the centre funnel, which is used as a speaking-trumpet, does not differ materially from an ordinary trumpet, except that it is larger and has a larger bell mouth. two persons, each provided with a megaphone, can, without other apparatus, carry on a conversation at a distance of one and a half or two miles. what is the tasimeter? it is an instrument, sensitive to the smallest degree of heat, and is mostly used in astronomy. attached to a telescope it will show the heat coming from the stars. what is a bathometer? this ingenious instrument, the invention of prof. siemens of london, enables those on board of ships to read from an index the depths of the ocean beneath them. it consists of a highly sensitive steel spring to which a heavy piece of metal is attached. the changes in weight to which the latter is subject in consequence of the variations of attractive force (the deeper the ocean the smaller the latter, and vice versa) are registered on a scale by the indicator that is in connection with the steel spring. what is an anemometer? an instrument for measuring the velocity and force of the wind, and by which storms, at a distance, can be predicted. what is a chronometer? a time-piece of delicate and exact construction, chiefly employed by astronomers and navigators. it differs only from an ordinary watch in its delicate springs, in not being so much influenced by heat and cold, and consequently in its accuracy in giving the time. chapter xx. light, lime light, magnesium light, electric light, rainbow, prism, spectrum, colors, photography, camera obscura, stereoscope, kaleidoscope. do you know something about the nature of light? light is a mere form of vibration like sound, and like sound it requires some source to set this vibration going, and some medium to carry this vibration as air carries sound. is not the air this medium? no, it is supposed that there is an elastic fluid called "ether" which pervades all space and matter, and if the molecules of a body are in motion they have the power of setting this ether in motion. the movement thus produced will appear either as heat or light according to its velocity. what sources of light do you know? we are told that the principal source of light on earth is the sun, either directly with its own beams or indirectly by supplying us with combustibles to produce light; for oil, gas, candles, and most of the substances used for producing light and heat when burning are but sending forth in another form the rays of the sun which were stored up in nature's economy. another source of light is the result of chemical action, such as the lime, magnesium, and electric light. a third source of light is phosphorescence, as we see it in the glow-worm and fireflies. what is the drummond or lime light? it is one of the most brilliant of artificial lights. when a stream of oxygen and one of hydrogen under pressure are brought together and mixed within a few inches of the end of a blowpipe, the mixture on lighting burns with a colorless flame possessing intense heat. if this flame be made to play upon a ball of carbonate of lime, the lime on becoming white hot gives off a powerful incandescence. _incandescence_, the glowing whiteness of a body caused by intense heat. what is a blowpipe? a tube, usually bent near the end, terminated with a finely-pointed nozzle, for blowing through the flame of a lamp or gas-jet, producing thereby a small conical flame possessing intense heat. it is used in soldering silver, brass, etc. a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen when ignited constitutes the hydrogen blowpipe, invented by dr. hare of philadelphia. what is magnesium light? when the metal magnesium is rolled out into a fine ribbon and heated to red heat it burns with a dazzling light. which is the most powerful artificial light? the so-called electric light. this light, whether produced by a series of galvanic cells or by dynamic power, is the most brilliant and useful. what is a rainbow? the rainbow is that beautiful semi-circular band or arc of different colors in the clouds during the occurrence of rain in sunshine. when the clouds opposite the sun are very dark and rain is falling from them, the rays of the sun are divided by the raindrops as they would be by a prism. there are often two rainbows at the same time, because the primary bow is again reflected to another layer of clouds. what is a prism? a triangular solid piece of glass, on which if a ray of light be cast it will be distinctly divided into the seven colors we see in a rainbow. by this fact we see that white light is composed of different rays which have different reflective susceptibilities. what is a spectrum? it is this beautiful band of seven colors obtained by the refraction of a ray of light through the prism. whence come the colors in the objects we see in nature? they all come from light; every object has a power to absorb certain rays and to reflect others. a red cloth, for example, absorbs all the other colored rays except red, and this it gives off, thus appearing red. why are the leaves of plants green? because a peculiar chemical substance called chlorophyl, formed within their cells, absorbs all other rays of light, reflecting only blue and yellow--which mixture produces the different green tints. what is photography? the word means "light drawing." it is a mode of fixing on certain substances the lights and shades of any object by means of a lens inserted in a camera obscura. this process was first called daguerreotype from the name of the inventor, daguerre. a plate of copper thinly coated with silver is exposed to the vapor of iodine, then placed in a camera obscura, where an image of the object to be presented through a lens is cast upon it. ambrotype is the same application to glass. there are now different variations of method in the use of the same agents. now photography consists in taking the images on what is called a negative--that is, a glass coated with a silvered collodion (gun-cotton dissolved in alcohol and ether) film. from this plate another image is taken on silvered paper, which we call the positive image. there are also other chemicals used instead of silver. what is a camera obscura? a small box or dark room into which the light is admitted through a lens. what is a stereoscope? it is an instrument exhibiting the effects and advantages of seeing with two eyes. the instrument is so constructed that from a flat picture we may see the solid body in its reality in nature. what is a kaleidoscope? an instrument invented by sir david brewster, consisting of a tube with slips of reflecting glass so arranged in the interior that small beads, bits of colored glass, and similar things are, by revolving the tube, thrown into an endless variety of beautiful shapes. chapter xxi. electricity, electric currents, electric battery, electrotyping, stereotyping, telegraph, ocean cable, lightning rod, the gulf stream, the mt. cenis tunnel, the suez canal, suspension bridges, eminent americans. what is the nature of electricity? a form of energy into which all other forms can readily be converted. what is an electric current? electricity manifests itself in a variety of ways, but all may be arranged under two heads, _viz._, , as a charge; , as a current. by means of friction, many bodies become electrified--that is, have acquired an electrical charge. if this charge is in great quantity we call it high tension. when a body containing an electrical charge is brought in contact with other bodies through which electricity is capable of passing, there ensues a current of electricity. such bodies are called conductors. what are the sources of currents? there are currents produced by chemical action called voltaic currents; by the action of heat, or thermo-electric currents; by the motion of magnets, or magneto-electric currents. [illustration: removing the earth from the canal by means of dromedaries.] [illustration: opening the suez canal--procession of ships.] what is positive and what negative electricity? no difference in electricity in itself. when a body has more than its natural amount of electricity, it is said to be charged positively; when it has less than its natural amount it is negatively charged. what is a cell; what a battery? if a piece of zinc and copper joined by a wire be dipped in a liquid--generally weak sulphuric acid--which will act chemically on the metals, a current is produced. such an arrangement is called a couple, or cell. if many cells are connected, then it is called a battery. what is thermo-electricity? if two bars of any unlike metal--for example, antimony and bismuth--be soldered together at one end, and the other ends be connected by a wire and then the soldered end heated, a current will flow. what effects are produced by currents? they produce heat, light, decomposition and combination in liquid chemical compounds; they melt all metals, excite magnetism, and in the animal body excite movements of the muscles. can you specify these effects? a strong battery produces heat in such a degree that all metals can be melted. light is produced in flashes, or if the end of the leading wires are connected with two pencils of hard carbon, and brought very near together, then a brilliant light, or arc, called the voltaic arc, is produced. this is the dazzling bright light which we call electric light. the chemical effect of a current in decomposing compound substances is called electrolysis. in this way water can be decomposed into its compounds, hydrogen and oxygen; copper sulphate into sulphur and metallic copper, etc. in this way we can deposit strong adherent films of metal on the surface of any conductor; for if the article to be coated be attached to the negative electrode of a battery, and dipped into a solution of the metal with which we desire to coat the article, say copper or silver, and the positive electrode be attached to a plate of copper and also dipped into a liquid, when the current passes, the metal will be decomposed and deposited in a uniform layer over the article at the negative electrode. this process is called _electro-plating_. what is electrotyping? it is the process of copying medals, type, wood-cuts, engraved copper and steel plates, etc., by means of electrical deposition. it is chiefly used for making, from the ordinary movable types, plates of fixed metallic types, for printing books. describe the process. the article to be copied is first covered with black-lead, and then a mould is made of it in wax or gutta-percha. this mould is placed in a solution of sulphate of copper, and attached to the negative pole of the battery, while a plate of copper is hung from the positive pole. the electric current decomposes the copper, which is deposited in a thin film upon the mould. this film is removed and stiffened by being backed with metal. what is the difference between electrotyping and stereotyping? in stereotyping, a plaster of paris mould is taken from the types, and upon this mould melted type-metal is poured, which, when hardened, makes a solid plate. is there any other method of stereotyping? yes; that known as the paper process. a uniform sheet of soft matter is formed by pasting together sheets of thin, tough tissue paper. the types are oiled, and the soft, moist sheet is placed on them and beaten down with a stiff brush until it receives an impression of the type-form. both are then run through a press, and on being taken out the paper is found to form a perfect mould. into this mould the type-metal is poured and the plate formed. can you tell me some magnetic effects of the current? all conductors become magnetic during the passage of a current through them, and thereby acquire all the properties of a magnet. there are bodies which are natural magnets, and they are called permanent magnets. those which become magnets only during the passage of a current are called electro-magnets. do you know any application of those magnets? they are employed in a great variety of electrical apparatus, principally in telegraphy. when was the first telegraph established? it was made in , being invented by prof. steinheil, of munich, and adopted by the government of bavaria. it was miles long, and the signals were made by small bells. who was the inventor of the telegraph in this country? samuel f.b. morse, who was born at charlestown, mass., april , . he began life as a painter, but did not give his whole attention to art--chemistry and experiments in electricity and galvanism claiming much of his time. he first conceived the idea of the telegraph in , and exhibited his invention to congress in . he struggled on with scanty means, and was about to give up in despair when congress appropriated $ , for an experimental line, which was opened on may , , between washington and baltimore. prof. morse died in , but not before he had reaped honors and fortune from his invention. how rapidly does the electric current travel through the wires? from experiments made it appears to be about , miles in a second. can more than one message be sent at the same time on the same wire? yes; it is possible now to send several messages at the same time. what is a cable? it is a telegraph wire under water. prof. morse, in , laid a wire insulated by a covering of hemp coated with pitch-tar and india-rubber between governor's island and the battery, new york. several attempts were made in other countries. what was the greatest telegraphic undertaking? that of connecting europe with america by a submarine cable spanning the ocean, which was commenced in and completed august , . to whom do we owe this grand undertaking? this honor is entirely due to mr. cyrus w. field. mr. field was born at stockbridge, mass., on november th, . in he became interested in ocean telegraphy, and after many reverses succeeded in laying the first cable in august, . the message sent by queen victoria to the president of the united states, consisting of words, occupied minutes in transmitting. in september of the same year this cable ceased to work, but the energy of field restored confidence, and another cable was made and laid down in july, , but after miles were deposited it was lost. in another was made and successfully laid in july. in august the lost cable was found and spliced, and carried to the western shore. what is a dynamo-electric machine? a machine by which very powerful currents can be obtained directly from mechanical power. in these, by means of a steam-engine or other power, a number of coils of wire called the armature are set into rapid revolution between the poles of powerful electro-magnets. all currents are caused to flow from the armature in one direction by means of a contrivance called the commutator. very successful machines of this sort are the gramme machine, the siemens, and, principally, the so-called brush machine. by these the electric light is now generally produced. what is a lightning rod? it is a rod of iron placed against a building to protect it from lightning. three or four feet of one end is in the moist ground or in water, while several feet of the other end extend above the highest part of the building. the upper end of the rod is pointed with copper or some other metal which will not easily corrode. by whom was it invented? by benjamin franklin, and first announced by him in his "poor richard's almanac" for . franklin was born at boston, mass., in . by his talents, prudence, and honesty he rose from humble beginnings to be one of the foremost men of his time. he was one of the committee of five chosen by congress to prepare the "declaration of independence" which he with other patriots afterwards signed. towards the close of the year he was sent as ambassador to the french court, and remained in europe some time. he returned home in , and died at philadelphia on the th of april, . what is the gulf stream? it is a warm current in the atlantic ocean. what is its origin? it may be considered as beginning on the west coast of africa, within the region of the trade winds. these cause a westward flow, known as the equatorial current. on reaching the coast of brazil, the greater portion of this current bends northward, carrying with it the waters of the amazon and orinoco, and passes through the caribbean sea into the gulf of mexico. here it is further heated, and rushes out through the only outlet, the straits of florida. describe its course. deep and narrow, it runs by florida with a velocity varying from two to five miles an hour, and pressed by the cold current between it and the shore, flows parallel to the coast as far as cape hatteras. meeting shoals near this point, the banks of sand extending as far as newfoundland, it there turns abruptly to the east, and with diminished speed and increased width, rolls onward towards the coast of europe. before long it divides into two great branches--the northern and southern. the former extends as far as spitzbergen; the latter, sweeping along by the madeira and canary islands, returns to the equator, completing the circuit. what influence has the gulf stream on the climate of europe? various opinions have been expressed as to this. it has been estimated that the amount of heat arising from the stream on a winter's day, is sufficient to raise the atmosphere over the british isles from the freezing point to a summer temperature. how may the gulf stream be distinguished? it can be distinctly traced in the ocean by its dark indigo color, its temperature, and the swiftness of its waters. which is the largest tunnel in the world? the mt. cenis tunnel, or the tunnel of col de frejus, by both of which names it is known. it is the longest subterranean route for commerce and travel yet constructed, being - / miles in length. it is on the crest of the cottian alps, about miles south-west of the summit of mt. cenis pass. it was begun in , and finished in . _col_, a defile. what other great engineering work can you mention? the suez canal, a ship canal running across the isthmus of suez, and connecting the mediterranean with the red sea. the canal is miles in length, and through it an uninterrupted communication is established whereby large sailing vessels and steamers may pass from sea to sea, and thus avoid the long and dangerous voyage around the cape of good hope. to whom is the world indebted for this canal? this great work owes its inception and completion to the enterprise and indomitable energy of ferdinand de lesseps, who was born at versailles, france, on the th november, . in january, , he obtained a charter from the egyptian government for a company to construct the canal, and began work in . though beset by many difficulties, the persistent energy of de lesseps fought its way to success, and in he had the satisfaction of seeing the waters of the mediterranean and the red sea mingle in the bitter lakes. he has since been engaged in many engineering projects, the latest being a canal across the isthmus of panama to connect the atlantic and pacific oceans. _inception_, beginning. _indomitable_, not to be subdued. _persistent_, inclined to hold firm. what is a suspension bridge? a bridge supported by wires, ropes, or chains, which usually pass over high piers or columns at each end, and are secured in the ground below. name some of the largest bridges of this kind. that at niagara, those over the allegheny at pittsburg and the ohio at cincinnati, and the great east river bridge, which connects new york and brooklyn. who planned these bridges? john a. roebling, who was born at mulhausen, prussia, june , . in he emigrated to this country, and to his genius we are indebted for the bridges above named. the reports, plans, and specifications of the east river bridge were completed, and the work begun, when roebling was severely injured in the foot while directing his work. lockjaw succeeding amputation, he died in brooklyn, july , . to what great civil engineer has the west given birth? james b. eads. born at lawrenceburg, indiana, may , , he began life as a clerk on a mississippi river steam-boat. in he entered a firm engaged in recovering sunken property, and with such success that he retired with a fortune in . during the civil war he devised a plan for the defence of the western waters, and constructed several iron gun-boats with many novel features of his own invention. he has since acquired reputation as projecting and constructing engineer of the illinois and st. louis bridge, and by building jetties at the south pass of the mississippi, by which the depth of the river is increased, and it is made more navigable. these jetties are projecting dikes of brush, fascines, and stone. _fascines_, bundles of rods or of small sticks of wood, bound at both ends and at intermediate points, used in filling ditches, etc. give the names of some distinguished american inventors. eli whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, born in westborough, mass., ; died . jethro wood, the inventor of the modern cast-iron plow, born at white creek, n.y., ; died . cyrus h. mccormick, inventor of the mowing machine, born at walnut grove, virginia, in . who was the inventor of the sewing machine? elias howe. he was born at spencer, mass., july , . when a boy he worked in a cotton mill at lowell, but afterwards entered a machine shop in boston. here he conceived the idea of the sewing machine, and after long days of labor, part of which time he and his family lived on the kindness of a friend, he completed his invention. after many struggles, his talent, industry, and perseverance were rewarded, and long before his death, which occurred in october, , he had acquired a large fortune. index. abyssinia, adhesion, affinity, chemical, , air, fixed, albert durer, alchemy, alcohol, alexander, alexandria, allspice or pimento, alluvial formations, almonds, alphabet, invention of, alum, alumina, amalgam, amber, ambergris, analysis and combination, anemometer, angelo, michael, anno domini, apelles, apollo, arabic, gum, arabia, felix and deserta, archipelago, architecture, orders of, , argil, armenia, arrow-root, arsenic, artesian wells, arts, liberal, fine, mechanical, art of writing, asbestus, , astronomy, science of, athenians, atmosphere, attraction, audiphone, aurora, the, aurora borealis, australia, author, azores, islands of, azote gas, babel, tower of, babylon, bacon, roger, baize, barbarians, , barilla or soda, bark, peruvian, barley, sugar, barometer, aneroid, barrel organ, bathometer, beaver, , , bell, a.g., black lead, blowpipe, bodies, natural, bombazine, books first printed, books, of what made, , bottles, box, musical, brandy, brass, bread-fruit, bricks, butter, vegetable, tree, cable, cacao-nut tree, cadmus, calaminaris, lapis, calcareous rocks, calico, caloric, , calomel, cambray, cambric, camera obscura, camlet, camphor, candles, candy, sugar, cannon, canoe, cantaleup, canvas, caoutchouc, capers, carbon, carbonic acid, carmine, carpets, carthage, cashmere shawls, cassia, castor or beaver, castor oil, cat, civet, domestic, singular property of its fur, gut, caviare, cayenne pepper, chaldea, chalk, charcoal, chemistry, - cherry-tree, chinese or india ink, china orange, chocolate, chronometer, chrysalis, cider, cinnamon, citrons, clay or argil, clocks, cloth, cloves, , coal, cochineal, , , cocoa-nut tree, coffee, cohesion, coin, combustion, compass, mariners', commerce, constellations, consul, roman, copernicus, copper, copperas, coral, - cork, corn, cotton, gins, cow-tree, crape, cretans, crimson, crusades, , crystallization, currants, cyrus, damask, dates, , decomposition, deluge, dew, , diamond, diaper, distillation, process of, drake, sir francis, dyeing, things used in, dynamite, dynamo-electric machine, eads, jas. b, earths, argillaceous, calcareous, silicious, earthenware, earthquakes, ear-trumpet, ebony, edison, thos. a., egyptian pyramids, egyptians, electrical machine, properties in bodies, electricity, , electric battery, current, electro-magnet, magnetic teleg'ph., , electron, electrotyping, elephant, emerald, engraving, ermine, etruscans, evergreen, fermentation, acetous, vinous, ferro, field, cyrus w., figs, fine arts, fitch, john, flannel, flax, flint, floating, florence, fossil or rock salt, franks, frankincense, franklin, benj., fulton, robert, fur, galileo, , galls, gamboge, gas, hydrogen, nitrogen or azote, oxygen, gelatine, gems, genoa, , geologist, geology, geometry, gin, ginger, glass, house, windows, looking, gloves, goat, angora, gold, goths, granite, , gravitation, gravity, gray, elisha, gulf stream, gum, arabic, gunpowder, , guns, hail, harp, hats, hemp, herculaneum, hermetic seal, herschel, sir william, hieroglyphics, holland, honey, hops, howe, elias, hybla, hydrogen, hymettus, ice, idria, quicksilver mines of, india rubber, or chinese ink, indigo, ink, used by the ancients, inlaying, insect, coral, - ionians, iron, isinglass, islands, volcanic, ivory, jaca tree, japanese, jetties of the mississippi, jupiter, kaleidoscope, kiln, lace, lapis calaminaris, laudanum, laws, how made, lead, black, leather, legislative powers, lemon, lenses, leo the tenth, lesseps, ferd. de, levant, libanus, mount, licorice, light, drummond, electric, , lime, magnesium, lightning, rod, lime, a fruit, lime, an earth, , quick, linen, liquids, , lithography, loadstone, logwood, lombards, lucca, lucullus, lungs, lyre, mccormick, cyrus h., mace, magic, mahogany, malt, maltese orange, mangoes, manioc plant, manna, , marble, parian, mariners' compass, marine salt, marl, mathematics, mead, mechanics, mediterranean, megaphone, melons, mercury, the god, metals, primitive, metallurgy, microphone, microscope, milan, millet, mineral oil, tar, mines, coal, mint, mirrors, , mohair, mahomed, money, morphia, mortar, morse, s.f.b., mosque, mother-of-pearl, mt. cenis tunnel, muscles, music, vocal, musical instruments, boxes, musk, myrrh, nantes, edict of, natron, nature, kingdom of, navigation, - nabuchodonosor, needles, nero, new south wales, newton, sir isaac, nicotine, nitre, nitrogen, northern lights, nutmegs, oats, obelisk, oils, oil, olive, oil, castor, mineral, olives, , olive branch, the emblem of plenty, opium, orange, ore, organ, barrel, oxide, oxygen, painters, celebrated, painting, art of, palm, , palma christi, , pantheon, paper, invention of, mill, linen, papyrus, parchment, pearls, pearl oyster, barley, pendulum, pepper, cayenne, pericles, perry, petroleum, phenicia, philosopher's stone, , phonograph, phosphorus, photography, pins, pimento, pisa, pitch, platina, pliny, , plumbago, poetry, - poets, celebrated, polypus, pompeii, porcelain, potash, potatoes, primitive earths, printing, prism, protestant, ptolemies, pyramid, pythagoras, quicksilver, rabbins, rain, rainbow, raisins, raleigh, sir walter, raphael, , refugee, republic, resin, gum, rhubarb, rice, rock or fossil salt, calcareous, transition, roebling, john a., rubies, rum, rye, sable, sago, palm, salt, , marine, rock, spring, saltpetre, saracens, scarlet, schools of painting, sciences, arts and, sculpture, seal, an animal, senate, sesostris, seville orange, shoes, sicilians, sidon, silex, silicious earths, silk, , worm, - silver, slate, snow, soap, soda, specific weight, spectacles, spectrum, spermaceti, spinning-jenny, spirits of wine, sponge, starch, steam engine, navigation, steel, stethoscope, stereoscope, stereotyping, still, stockings, strata, suez canal, sugar, candy, barley, maple, sulphur, sumatra, suspension bridges, tallow, tree, tamarinds, tan, tapioca, tar, tasimeter, tasmania, tea, telegraph, , telephone, telescope, thebes, thermometer, thermo-electricity, thibet goat, thunder, tides, tin, tobacco, toddy, tortoise, tower, leaning of pisa, troy, turpentine, turquois, tuscans, twilight, tyre, united states government, vapor, vellum, velvet, venice, venus, vine, vinegar, vitriol, volcanic formations, volcano, vulcanite, watches, water, melon, decomposition of by vegetables, tree, wax, weaving, - whale, whitney, eli, wieliczca, wind, windows, wine, woad, wood, jethro, wood engraving, wool, - writing, art of, yams, zinc, zoophytes, the end.